#Fria not realizing she wanted to have a friend before her end

[theseerasures]

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.

[itsclydebitches]

Punch a hole through her chest.

"Clyde wtf that's so dark."

Just to add onto this, that's literally what happened to Clover just last volume.

If Jaune had been there for that fight, I'd have no trouble believing that Clover was too wounded for him to save in time. He had a hole punched through his chest with a broadsword. RWBY could've done the same thing here--have Cinder shove her entire fist through Penny's heart. The only reason she doesn't die almost immediately is Jaune there trying to heal her, but she's cogent enough to realize she's dead in a few minutes no matter what. And instead of having Jaune kill her, since Weiss is keeping Cinder busy, just beg him to stop prolonging her death. She's suffering and in extreme pain and she knows he's not gonna be able to actually heal her--"Let me go. Let me pass on the powers to someone else so Cinder doesn't get them."

Idk, it's just one option, but like. They have had an entire broadsword shoved through a man's chest in gruesome detail on screen. No one can tell me they couldn't have made Penny's injury excruciating, severe, and lethal enough that even an accomplished healer couldn't save her.

Coming back to this conversation now that I've finished my review!

Excellent point. Yes. This exactly. And as you say, this is just one option of many. Give us a Clover-esque injury that makes it abundantly clear she's not surviving this (RWBY can even continue the visual trend we've gotten with him and Yang's arm). Have Jaune's aura break so he can't heal at all. Have Cinder actively attacking Penny. Let Jaune try to pull her through the portal, but fails. Something else—preferably a couple of somethings else—to sell this "She has to die" moment. Especially for a character that has a) already died once before and b) spent the last two volumes all but begging the group to let her sacrifice herself (let me go to Salem, let me burn up to hold Amity, just kill me so I never open the vault). Many fans are uncomfortable with Penny's death because that self-sacrificial characterization, combined with these ambiguous details of the scene, equals a moment that can easily look like Penny choosing to die—Jaune choosing to kill her— when, in reality, that never actually needed to happen. Every time this conversation comes up, the disagreements stem from how each fan approaches RWBY. Some fans take whatever is said at face value: if Penny says it's hopeless, it's hopeless. No reason to doubt her word. Others (like me) prioritize what we see over what we're told: is Penny a reliable source when it comes to her own self-worth? No. Should she have any knowledge of what's actually lethal to a human body? No. Has Jaune healed life-threatening injuries before? Yes. Does he still have his aura? Yes. Do they have time? Arguably yes, given that Cinder isn't paying any attention to them and they have a whole conversation about this. So...

Change a single detail, like the severity of Penny's injury, and all that goes away. Add in a couple of details, really thinking about how you can sell this moment to the audience, and you'll craft something poignant and heart-breaking... not confusing and frustrating.

Also, just as a sidenote... I personally still don't buy transferring the powers as a justification here. Simply because, like the construction of this scene, RWBY has been iffy and somewhat contradictory about how this transfer works. If I'm meant to believe that the powers transferred to Penny from Fria because Penny was holding her hand and kneeling at her side when she died... then why didn't the powers transfer to Jaune when he's kneeling at Penny's side, killing her? Obviously they can't, he's a guy, so why not go to the closest woman (Weiss), the closest woman connected to Maidens (Cinder), or someone random? Well, it's supposedly because Penny was thinking about Winter. It's easy for Fria to think about Penny, she's right there, but Penny manages to think about Winter despite her still being in the vault. Despite Jaune having her attention. Despite not even knowing if Winter is still alive.

So if Penny has the mental fortitude to think about Winter despite all this, but specifically while Jaune is killing her, I fail to see why she can't think about Winter while Cinder is killing her instead. From there, Penny's entire justification falls apart. She wants to die now so Cinder won't get the powers... but Cinder shouldn't get the powers so long as Penny keeps her thoughts on Winter! And so long as they keep Cinder's power stealing arm away from her. Given the supposed justification the show sets up, the answer here isn't for Penny to die by Jaune's hand (him killing her is a distraction), but to survive—because surviving is good—and keep her thoughts on Winter at all costs, in case she doesn't. Thus, it makes way more sense for Jaune to try and get Penny through a portal. Give her a chance to survive by getting her to relative safety/to a place where he can focus on healing. Get her away from Cinder so she can't snag Penny again with her arm. Get her away from Cinder so she can more easily focus on Winter, should the worse happen and she perishes in the next few minutes as she thinks she might. If Penny had been left alone to die from her injuries, I'd more easily buy her focusing on Winter with no one else there to distract her. But by introducing this concept that Jaune killing her somehow helps the transfer, but Cinder killing her would mean the powers are lost, just muddies the waters further. A kill is a kill. Sorry, but whoever is murdering/mercy killing me is going to be the one at the forefront of my thoughts.

Which, you know, could have been a consequence of Penny and Jaune buying into this foolish idea. The powers go to someone random because, oddly enough, it's hard to focus on a successor when another friend is killing you. Rather than Winter receiving the powers when she could have just gotten them at the end of Volume 7, they're lost to someone the group doesn't know about yet.

[sullustangin]

I believe I have (unsurprigingly!) a soft spot for Fria. Would you write something more about her?

Day 15:  Kyllfria “Fria” Whitcord

Sure can! Thanks for asking!!

 Fria is probably my newest OC, and I've actually created her in game to get a vibe for the consular in general. She’s Mirialan in game, but I leave her exact appearance open in the fan fic -- she is whoever you want/need her to be. 

Fria describes herself as "real Tython" and "baby in a basket, sent to Tython." That isn't wholly accurate. She was born 4 years before the Treaty of Coruscant, and it was at the time of the treaty's finalization that she 'manifested'.

What that means, Fria doesn't know. She doesn't remember anything before she turned 5. She doesn't remember her parents; she understands that they died in the war. She remembers the Temple at Lothal prior to arriving to the Temple at Tython. She remembers being alone on Lothal, not being alone on Tython; there were more children at Tython.  Therefore, she’s ‘real Tython’ -- all of her connections, everything meaningful she learned, all the dreams she had regarding her future: they all came from Tython. 

There isn't anything sinister about Fria not remembering her family (despite me just finishing KOTOR!). She's a child of war. Her Force manifestation may well have been set off by some sort of life-threatening danger. When she arrived at Lothal, she was little more than a preschooler with the nametag of "Kyllfria" in the custody of a galactic cruiser attendant, who wanted to get back to work. There was no 'return address' or indication exactly from where in the galaxy she'd come from. She'd traveled on the second leg of an open return ticket, marked "Lothal."

Nobody ever started a galactic cruise on Lothal.

The Jedi decided not to do an extensive search; Fria may well have come from a family whose planet was overrun by the Sith and were desperate to get a Force-Sensitive child away. By reuniting her, they might endanger her. So they assumed the intent of her parents/guardians and took her on at Lothal, then ferried her off to Tython at first opportunity.

Nobody was sending a child to the Temple at Coruscant.

Fria chose to go by Fria because the alternative was "Killie” and she did not like that.  Fria always had friends on Tython.  She keeps in contact with many of them, all the way until Eternal Fleet....

When she was old enough to read, Fria loved the books written by Staelegos Whitcord and decided she wanted that last name for her own. Whitcord is a fairly common name in certain corners of the galaxy, and so the Jedi had no qualms.  Shortly before leaving for Yavin 4, she became a Jedi consular for her continued work with the Twi’lek colony on Tython.  

Up until the Yavin 4 operation during the Revanite Crisis, these were the most exciting events to happen to Fria.  The galaxy’s trajectory was all downhill from there for awhile: Ziost, the Eternal Empire and the fragmentation of the Jedi Order...  What a time to become a consular. Based upon the advice of a dear, dear friend, Fria did not go to the front lines.  Rather, she kept to the padawans and the younglings, those too young to fight.  She disappeared with them.

Fria did not join the Alliance immediately.  She felt like she needed to serve the Jedi Order, even as so many came of age and left to go fight in the conflict.  After hearing the galactic broadcast from the Alliance Commander (who sounded strangely familiar, as did the Alliance’s Operations Manager), Fria made her way back to Coruscant to rejoin the Temple there before being sent to Corellia to work with the Green Jedi and Master Sumalee.

It wasn’t until the Nathema Conspiracy that Fria fully realized who these Alliance figures were.  At the end of it, Fria was relieved that Theron Shan was loyal to the Captain and vice versa, as they ever had been; she realized they were totally doing something on Yavin 4. 

But that came with the loss of someone Fria had considered a dear friend.  This friend had helped her resume her duties as a Jedi after so many years in hiding and exile:  Master Sumalee, who sacrificed herself to try to avenge herself on the Captain for the formation of Voidfleet all those years ago.

Despite the loss of one friend, there was still another who had never left her. 

And tomorrow, I’ll publish that fic. :D  I’ll be sure to tag you.  Thanks so much for the ask!

[itstimetotheorize]

Pennys future, The fate of the maiden powers

When Penny first revealed herself to be a robot it was clear to us she felt conflicted about her identity, the reason being of course because she was aware of the fact that she was created for the sole purpose of being used as a weapon. However, after Penny befriended Ruby, Ruby gave penny the comfort she needed by letting her know how despite her physical robot body, Penny was in fact alive as she carried with her a soul and a heart just like any other human being.

Naturally, just as any other character in the RWBY series, Penny's inspiration came from a fairy tale story, Pinocchio . Once we knew this, many of us felt at some point in the series Penny would have the chance to fulfill her dream of becoming a real girl, just as Pinocchio did in the story. However, near the end of the beacon arc, when penny met her tragic fate at the hands of her own weapon in her fight with Pyrrha, that dream felt like it was just that , a dream. 

However ! , many years later and at the start of the atlas arc in volume 7, we all got the news of our lives, penny was alive!

Now, many of us had originally theorized because Penny was a robot, it could have been very possible for her to rebuilt. After all, her father/creator Pietro was clearly shown to still be alive and would most likely have made the effort to recover penny from beacon in order to piece her back together. When ruby and the other met Pietro for the first time, Pietro reveals to ruby and the others how  he had in fact made the effort to recover pennys body after the city had become over run with grim. .

However, even after revealing to us penny was alive  there was still one major problem.... penny was still being used as a weapon and was seen as nothing more than a tool to help protect Mantle and Atlas. Despite the friendships she made in her time at Beacon, penny was still stuck with the title of “war weapon” in Atlas rather than being recognized as the young girl so many people close to her knew to be. 

Regardless of the situation, we knew something was being planned for penny in the RWBY series, we just didn't know what... until the volume 7 finale. In V7C13,  cinder made an attempt to steal the winter maiden powers from the current winter maiden Fria, However, unbeknownst to cinder, Fria still had some fight left in her despite her elderly age. As Fria fought back, she created an icy vortex around herself in order to prevent any living thing from coming near her, including Winter who was the very person ironwood chose to wield the winter maiden powers after Frias death.

Knowing fully well the threat at hand and seeing how not even Winter herself could enter Frias icy vortex, penny had made the quick decision to use her robotic body to her advantage and leaped straight into Frias icy vortex in an effort to snap Frias fragile mind back into reality. Despite Fria having already been set up to transfer the maiden powers to Winter, Fria confuses penny as the next holder of the winter maiden powers!. Now, we had originally theorized penny could be a candidate for the winter maiden powers. However, knowing the maiden powers could only latch onto the auras of young girls, we weren't to sure if penny could even receive the power, after all, pennys soul/aura was a piece of Pietros. Knowing pennys aura was a part of Pietro, many of us continued to struggle with the idea on whether or not penny could obtain the winter maiden powers, then again...Qrow did say the maiden transfer was based on a “series of stupid and convoluted rules”, meaning they had a very small idea on how the transfer worked, meaning ozpin and the others didn't fully understand the nature of the maiden powers ...so then, could there have been something to the maiden powers we hadn’t yet thought of?...well....as a matter of fact....there was...

  Despite penny having been given orders to protect Fria as winter acquired the maiden powers, penny ultimately makes the quick decision to accept the winter maiden powers from Fria before cinder got a second chance at killing both Fria and Winter. This was big news as it confirmed to us how the maiden powers could be transferred to those who were not just biologically born girls!

As penny received the winter maiden powers, many of us began to discover that perhaps Fria was symbolized as the “Blue Fairy” who used her powers to make penny a “real girl”.  After all, the winter maiden powers could only be transferred to another living human girl with a soul, so in the end it was through this transfer of the winter maiden powers that finally made penny, as well as those around her, realize she truly was a real girl.

Unfortunately, Penny soon began to regret her quick decision of accepting the winter maiden powers. Before, penny was the protector of Mantle, but now she was so much more than that, she was the winter maiden and despite her desire to help the people around her, penny did not like the fact that she was still being viewed as as an item with a power that everyone wanted. The winter maiden powers had forced penny to realize how this power she possessed was capable of turning friends and allies into bitter enemies. As penny expresses her distress to ruby, we fans began to realize something, something  we hadn't thought about since V7C8... despite penny having realized she really was a real girl...penny... never had the chance to live her own life as a real girl! Penny has always had her life planned, it has always been watched, SHE has always been watched!

As a result, Penny has had little to no experience in what it truly meant to live as her own person and learn about the things everyone else has had the chance to do, such as understanding complicated emotions and the emotions of others. In V7C8, when winter expresses her conflicting emotions towards her father, penny has difficulty understanding why she would feel conflicted about speaking from the heart.

 Winter tries to express to penny the environment they are in brings back very unhappy and conflicting emotions she has towards Jacques, her sudden burst of emotions allowed Jacques to take advantage of his meeting with the council members and make himself look like he was the one in the right as he criticizes ironwood and his teams lack of results to protect the people. Despite it being made clear to us that Winter is restricting a lot about herself in favor of Ironwoods opinions and her duty as a soldier, penny does not understand why she would do such things and feel such things. As a result, penny does not know what to say to Winter because she has never had experience with those kinds of emotions herself, in the end, penny simply says to Winter, “your right...I don't understand...”. In V8C5, Penny finally explains to Pietro her frustration, how she IS trying to live her life, but there are just so many people and so many things  preventing her from doing so, because of this, penny is now trying her best to do what little she can that counts as living, such as making her own choice to help save Mantle and Atlas rather than abide by ironwoods commands. 

Knowing this, many of us felt pennys moment had yet to be completed, something else needed to happen to penny in order to fully cement her identity as a “real girl”, or at the very least, give her the chance to feel like she could start it for real. Well, one volume later, it seems as though our suspicions were correct...something did happen to penny...something which completed her tale as the “Pinocchio” of the RWBY series...as ruby and the others got a hold of the staff of creation, they used its power to finally help free penny of her robotic body, in other words.... penny...had become a genuine real REAL girl!!

 In the mid season of volume 8, many of us had begun to believe if penny was doomed to succumb to Watts virus, then maybe Ruby and the others could take the risk of removing the staff from the vault and use it to rebuild penny... and they did!. What’s even more interesting and comedic about this whole situation, once it did unfold, was how many of us had begun to realize Ambrosius, the spirit of the staff, could very well have been revealed to be the real “blue fairy” who used its magic to give penny a new body while her old body was left to face the doom of the virus. After all, in the story of Pinocchio, Pinocchio was also given a new body while his old empty puppet body was left behind.

Now, we are still unsure about whether or not pennys new body is flesh and blood, but what we do know is how penny is no longer a robot, what's more is that penny appears to have all the bodily functions of any normal human body. When penny hugs ruby in happiness she asks ruby if hugs always felt  so warm, meaning that penny can feel touch!

Unfortunately... there is one thing that we hadn't realized about pennys miracle...something important....something we might not have wanted to think about in the midst of her joyous moment ...penny...is now in more danger than she has ever been before! what do I mean by this? well,  if penny is now capable of feeling and doing all the things any other person with a human body can do, then this also means penny now has all the weaknesses of a human body! meaning penny can now take on physical damage and feel pain!. Whats even worse is how this means penny is now fully capable of dying by another persons hands if she is not careful! And of all the things to happen and see after penny is turned into a real girl, what do we see?

We see Cinder in the crowd of people preparing to enter the portals created by Ambrosius where she will not only find ruby....but non-robot penny!

Granted, penny still has all the knowledge she was programmed with for battle, but now that she is likely to feel the affects of human pain during combat, well, lets just hope penny will have the will to fight through any injuries she will experience for the first time.

Knowing all of this, Penny is by no means in the clear just yet, due to the maiden powers, penny will continue to be a target for cinder, however, considering the RWBY series has already made us witness penny die twice, once at Beacon and again when her robot body was left to self distrust at the hands of Watts virus, its possible? they will not try to kill penny again now that she has finally become a real girl? But considering CRWBYS track record in twist endings, its more than likely that something surprising will happen to penny. So then, what will happen?...well, in order to save Penny, something needs to happen to not just cinder, but the maiden powers as well, but what? . Will cinder take pennys maiden power without killing her?... perhaps, I mean cinder did try to take pennys power before by just touching her.

Then again, it is a grimm arm created by salem, so it is likely that it will aim to kill the previous maiden once cinder latches onto them. Cinder is also the type of person who is easily willing to kill others and considering penny had already brutally beaten her in battle,...well... cinder will most likely aim to kill her.

However, given the circumstances, there is also the chance the maiden powers will be transferred to someone else, but can the power go to someone else? or will penny make a sudden decision which will not only save everyone but deny cinder the satisfaction of winning?! maybe...

Then again, perhaps there is an additional factor we hadn’t thought about, or rather an additional person who we hadn't realized had been suspiciously missing for quite a while now, where am I going with this? well.........where is salem?! 

Salem should’ve revived herself from the blast Oscar set off inside Montstra, and yet, salem has still not reappeared, but why, what is she planning? what is she doing? and most importantly, what will she do to cinder and penny if she finds them? up to now we have only suspected what will happen between cinder and penny, but will salem intervene at the last minute and do something horrifying that will leave everyone  in complete and utter shock?! or will her presence cause cinder to reevaluate her plans?...maybe... but hey thats just a theory, a RWBY theory!!

[lucky-jiku]

OKAY I’M NOT OKAY.

RoosterTeeth why...

Why did you do this to me?

Spoilers below the cut.

The start of this episode was very expected. I realized that it would have to pick up right where it left off from E13. 

I can’t be the only one who expected Cinder betraying Neo and her lying to Salem, right? Because I already knew that this was going to happen the moment Neo decided to trust her. It’ll be interesting to see what happens to RWBY + Jaune and Neo in the next season.

Also can someone please explain where NORA is? Because the only thing we can assume is that she went through the portal to Vacuo, but I didn’t see her there with Ren, Oscar, and Emerald. Maybe she did and is just somewhere else? idfk I just hope she’s okay.

EDIT: Because I’m stupid... I just re-watched it with my roommates and saw Nora banging on the portal. So she’s good, but definitely might think that Jaune and the others are dead because they didn’t make it through.

BUT ON THE NOTE OF BEING OKAY...

I am horribly wounded at what happened with Penny. I had the feeling she would die because of the death flags that were placed upon her (after her getting her real body and shit like that). 

But having Jaune help her most definitely did not help Jaune. Gods I can only imagine what it’ll be like to tell Ruby that Penny is gone.... I will cry even more. I did actually cry during this episode... something that happens a lot with RWBY so it seems.

Also speaking of deaths, my gods... Vine sacrificing himself tore me apart... and seeing how it tore Harriet apart made it worse. I’m happy that Marrow, Harriet, and Elm survived. But, Vine deserved to live just as much as everyone else... poor man. His sacrifice will not be forgotten.

Also can we assume that Watts is dead too? Based on what happened at the end with him being trapped and not being able to break the glass, he’ll eventually burn to death or suffocate. And even if he is able to find a way out, there’s no telling how long he’d last since Atlas fell. With that being said, can we also assume Ironwood is dead? We didn’t see him escape the falling city and, with the water flooding in, I doubt he had time to get out. He’d likely drown trying.

CRWBY literally was like “you want trauma, we’ll give you trauma” and decided to kill like... 5 characters (Hazel, Penny, Watts, Vine, and Ironwood... am I missing an--- WAIT I forgot Jacques.... oh that’s right nobody cares and everyone is happy he died, right? lolololol)

That sudden realization that we have no clue what happened to Pietro and Maria. Granted, I think most of us assumed the worst and assumed they both perished when Amity fell. But, who knows...? They could have both survived. At least that’s the hope. 

Also, Cinder said something along the lines of “And that’s... checkmate” before she left with Salem. Very much a reference to the opening sequence with Ironwood being on a chess board.

Speaking of the opening, I was wrong in my predictions that the order for the fall would match. It was only slightly off (with Ruby falling before Weiss). But, the post-credits scene with Crescent Rose stuck in the sand(?) is very much a mirror of what we saw in the opening with it stuck in the ground. I wonder what that place is btw. It looks interesting and kinda funky.... I like it but I’m also concerned about it.

Alright.... now that we’ve got my episode thoughts and raging out of the way, lemme get to the shit that made me fucking cry:

- Penny’s death... Obviously I have an attachment to our sweet angel and seeing her suffer like she did this episode made me want to scream. I had my hands over my mouth the entire time because I was so worried and I didn’t want to scream. When she interacted with Winter to give the Maiden powers to her, I burst into tears. Especially with the line that Penny stated: “I’ll be part of you”. That’s a direct reference to what Winter told Penny when she received the powers initially from Fria (if not being a direct re-quote... I can’t remember if it is or isn’t right now).

- Jaune’s reaction to what happened with Penny... Obviously our boy Jaune has been through a shit ton of trauma in the past five volumes. He loved Pyrrha dearly and lost her to Cinder. Now he had to help someone die.... and he saw Penny as a very close friend. Obviously the trauma from having no other choice but to “kill” her is going to weigh heavy on his mind. In fact, he might be the one who has to tell Ruby and that’s going to be even more heartbreaking. Jaune has had some serious character development and I cannot wait to see what is in store for him in V9.

- Winter’s reaction to Weiss falling + how she reacted around her family... Winter has really been a stoic character since we first met her. I was happy to see her finally gain a more “human” side (citing that she said she was the machine/robot this episode) and let her emotions out. Seeing her break after her sister fell caused me to break as well. She and Blake both turned that sadness into rage and determination, but Winter had a better handle on it because she realized what she had to do was important. She probably also thinks that Weiss is dead (since she has no idea what exists down there or if anything at all does exist down there). Adding on to that, when she saw her family (Willow and Whitley + Klein) was heartbreaking. She will have to tell them eventually and when she does, I’m sure Willow will be broken even more.

- Qrow’s reaction... You couldn’t hear what he was saying when he heard something in his earpiece, but you could tell what he was told by his reaction. And just by reading his lips, you could tell he was calling out for Ruby and possibly Yang (it was hard to tell, but I would assume he was saying Yang’s name as the second thing he said). He’s already distraught by Clover’s death last volume. Now he’s saddened by Vine’s sacrifice. And now he’s thinking that both of his nieces have died. The poor man has suffered enough. Please just let him heal, CRWBY. We need him to be happy. :(  

Edit because I forgot this part for a second. Fuck my mind lmao:

- Harriet’s agony and Elm’s pleading when Vine made up his mind.... between Harriet’s agonized screaming and Elm’s basically begging her friend not to sacrifice his life, I had so many emotions. I wanted to cry and I did. I felt so bad for those two. They had to deal with the loss of Clover and now they’ve got to deal with the loss of Vine. It’s heartbreaking.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Welp... hiatus time and then onward to V9. Any predictions y’all? I know it’s early, but I feel like now’s a great time to start theorizing and formulating what could possibly be thrown our way... But, as we learned with this volume, CRWBY is willing to throw anything at us... and I mean anything.

[wu-sisyphus-gang]

Motion Sickness Chapter 51

The Schnee-Shinra analogue is already there so let's let the good times roll. You'll find that Monty did most of the work for this crossover for me, at least in the now, phase.

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My friends were in Atlas after less than a day. It had hurt to be thousands of miles away from them. I waited out on the landing pad for them with Penny. She'd been overjoyed with the news that Ruby was on the way.

The plane set down and my friends came waltzing out.

"Penny?!" Ruby called. She dashed forward and the two met in an enormous hug. I felt a touch snubbed but only a touch. Penny had been killed after all. Ruby was right to worry after her.

"It's so good to see you again, Penny. I thought you were dead!"

"I was!" Penny chirped. "My father rebuilt me."

"Just like that?"

"It wasn't that easy. They are limits to it. But suffice to say I'm back and more combat ready than ever!"

Penny hovered in place on jets from her legs, spinning once, before she landed again.

"That's incredible, Penny."

"My father worked very hard on my new body. He didn't want me hurt again. But enough about me. How have you been Ruby?"

Ruby's face fell.

"Ruby… is something wrong?"

"Yes. A lot." Ruby croaked out. I took that as my cue. I walked forward and put a hand around Ruby.

"You heard about Jaune didn't you, Penny?" I inquired.

"The turncoat?" Penny asked.

Ruby let out a noise of protest.

"Penny, Ruby and Jaune were together."

Penny raised both hands to her mouth. "Oh no. That means..."

"She's still recovering," I said. "It was a short time ago."

"Don't worry, Ruby, I'll help you anyway I can."

"Thank you Penny. And Weiss, how were things up here?" Ruby asked, desperate to move on in the conversation.

"They were fine. The whole operation went smoothly. How were things in Argus?"

"We were attacked by these three girls. They were after the relic."

"The relic…? But…" I trailed off.

"We don't know either. Ozpin says it's enemy disorientation."

"You're all alright though, aren't you?"

"Yes, the fight was short and they were focused on their objective. So we all made it out okay."

"But if the enemy doesn't know that they already have the relic what does that mean?" Penny asked.

"It means that they don't really have it," I realized. "They don't know where it is."

"That's what Ozpin thinks too," Ruby agreed. "He's just not sure what to do about it."

"Maybe General Ironwood will have an idea," Penny said. "Here he comes now."

"James," Ozpin greeted. "It's good to see you again."

"And you as well old friend. I have to confess that I feared the worst when Beacon fell," the General responded. He looked visibly relieved and at ease. More so than I'd seen him when I'd delivered the news of Ozpin's return.

"I think we all did," Qrow said.

"Qrow…" the General walked up and looked like he wanted to embrace the raggedy man. Qrow pulled a flask and eyed the General back. The General did a double take and stepped back and looked Qrow up and down. "What happened to you? You were injured. Your legs..."

"I picked a bad fight and got saved by some kids." Qrow rolled a shoulder and looked away. "It happens."

"Well it's good to see you in one piece." Ironwood acknowledged with a nod of his head. "All of you."

"This is a warm reception and so on but I'm afraid there is much for us to discuss. The relics and the maidens, I take it Ms. Schnee filled you in on our end but what about yours. Is the staff safe? And what of the winter maiden? When you sealed the country's borders I feared the worst for you. I thought you may be slipping as Leo did."

"Yes, come with me. Conversations like this are best handled behind closed doors." Ironwood agreed. He led the way off the airstrip.

We followed him into Atlas Academy and to the headmaster's office. The academy was all cool blues and greys laced with silvers. As much of Atlas was.

It was as though the entire city had formed a coalition and which colors they wanted to convey to the world and this was it. The cityscape was laced with those same colors in primary. If my friends thought it was just I and Atlas Academy which embraced them, they would be sorely mistaken.

"Ah here we are." Ozpin said as we entered the headmaster's office. It had a scenic view over Atlas and notably not over Mantle. "Let's start with the winter maiden."

"She's safe. She's in a bunker not far from here. The current plan is to transfer her power to Winter Schnee. The only person Fria is allowed to see each day is Winter," Ironwood responded. "I considered using the same process we were going to use with the fall maiden but this seemed more elegant."

"Very good James. Well done. That means that the relic of creation is safe?"

"It is. And I have more plans. Some for getting communication back up and running between the kingdoms. I plan to use Amity as a satellite. I've already begun to modify the colosseum for this purpose. Using dust supplies to keep it airborne, I believe we will be able to restore communication between the kingdoms."

"Incredible James. This is what you've been working on? You've been very busy."

"Yes. It has been difficult. Listen to me complain like I was the one who was killed. I'm sure you have all had a rough time of it. Ms. Schnee implied as much."

"No more than you," Ozpin disagreed. "This plan of yours is incredible. I couldn't ask for more, except of course…"

"Except what?"

"Opening the country, James."

Ironwood sighed. "I needed to keep her agents out of the state."

"This won't stop her agents. They'll find a way in. The only thing the embargo does is escalate tensions."

"After Amity goes up I'll lift the embargo and open the borders."

Ozpin tapped his staff. "Good enough. I won't press you. When will the satellite launch."

"Four months is the target deadline."

"James you've done so much. I was wrong to put you in the same category as Leonardo."

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We were put to work by General Ironwood. I had been right when I said there was no shortage of jobs coming our way.

We worked closely with another group. Ace operatives they were called.

Weeks went by and I watched Ruby get better. The missions were good for her. She grew strong again. And I found myself in love with it. My heart ached for her so much my chest hurt. I knew it would be too soon for her but I knew at some point I needed to tell her how I felt, lest I start avoiding her. She would be able to tell something was off with me.

She had a sixth sense about such things.

Her short hair was cropped to one side in a wolfish fashion. Her hood was done lower on her corset. She was beautiful. Tragedy had turned her into a woman just as I saw it had once turned Jaune into a man. Or whatever it was he became. My feelings about him were obtuse and deeply confusing. I imagined it was worse for Ruby so I kept my mouth shut about it.

I still could see the laughter in his eyes that early morning in Mistral. How could I forget it? Sure he had a harder edge to him but underneath it he still seemed soft.

I knew what Blake thought. I even knew what Yang believed. But even so… even so…

"What's our mission today?" I asked in the briefing room. My older sister was there staring at a data pad.

"You've all been doing great work…" Winter began.

"Here it comes," Yang said.

"So the General believes it's time you had a break. Take the day off. Do whatever it is people your age do to relax. It's as important as fighting the Grimm."

"There it is," Yang finished. She crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. She had a thicker jacket on than she used to wear and longer pants, too.

"What about you? Will you be getting any R and R?" I asked.

"Not today. A prisoner break just occurred and it requires my attention. A new face in Atlas our soldiers identified as a 'Cloud Strife.'"

"Never heard of him," Ruby murmured.

"Well he's working with another person of interest. Neapolitan."

"Her we do know," Yang's eyes narrowed. "I fought her once."

"You did? You are certain?" Winter was surprised.

"The umbrella girl? Sure did. Back when she worked for Roman Torchwick," Yang said. "She nearly killed me. Could go for some revenge." She punched her fists together for a resounding clank .

"Well she's working for someone new now. She has a new boss. This Cloud Strife character. I don't want you to worry about it. It's becoming my responsibility, however." Winter tapped away at the pad.

Working with my older sister has been a good experience so far. She always shared the big mission details with me where she could and no one was hiding things from us which was a nice change of pace. We were persons of interest too. Just for the good team. It was nice. It was where we belonged. Doing the most good possible.

"If you say so," Blake mumbled. She'd cut her hair as well. She also changed her outfit to better match the cold of Solitas.

"I do. Go out and relax. Hit up a club and dance or visit one of our movie theaters." The words seemed awkward coming from my sister's orderly lips. But orders were orders. If they wouldn't assign us a mission then we had little choice.

"I might just stay in tonight," I said. I might bathe or find a good book and light some candles. Maybe both.

"I'll join you," Ruby murmured. "If you want my company, that is."

I nodded in her direction. I'd been dodging her a little but I did always want her companionship. Besides… this might be my opportunity to talk to her. I had to tell her how I felt at some point. My heart raced a little. Out of a combination of excitement and fear.

"I might go out and dance. I heard of a club some of the men sometimes hit up when they have the day off," Yang said. Yang was used to that kind of life. I remembered she used to go clubbing back in our Beacon days and before.

"I'll go with. If that's all right. I'm not much of a dancer, though." Yang nodded at Blake.

"I can show you some moves. Pretty girls like us just need to avoid moving our arms around like idiots and we look fine," Yang told Blake. "I'm sure you'll look good."

Blake looked away, a tad embarrassed. She rubbed her neck with one hand as she sat in one of the briefing room chairs. "If you say so."

"I do, just relax and enjoy the ride. You're on the Yang train now."

"Can I get off or…?" Blake trailed off. There was a laugh in her voice, however.  

"Would you want to?" Yang challenged, a little red on her neck and in her cheeks.

"Perhaps not," Blake blushed. Yang offered her a hand and pulled her out of her seat.

I watched them with a contented feeling in my heart. I'd seen them dance around each other with a small amount of trepidation. They were my team. It was my place to worry about their feelings. Looking at them now I realized I had little to be concerned about. They were approaching the other with care and a little respectful fear.

They would be alright. They were taking their time in exploring each other. That was better than fine.

I just wanted the same to be able to be said for me.

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I washed at my neck with a wet, warm cloth and sighed. True to myself I'd lit some candles and was sitting next to the bath with my scroll, just dipping my feet in the warm water while I washed my bare back with the rag.

I was wearing my loose nightgown and had my hair still back in its braided ponytail.

I moaned as I dipped the cloth in the water and rubbed at my shoulders. It was good. I held my scroll in one hand and read on it. I knew Blake would say something about an analogue page having superiority but I was a digital girl. That is how I liked to read and it's the hill I would die on.

I moved the cloth against my stomach and shuddered a little as I read from my scroll. It was waterproof so there was really no risk. I even showered with the device everyday to sanitize it. Scrubbing it down with soap like any other part of my body.

Lavender candles were blooming around me. Just two or three. Enough to set the atmosphere while I worked the cloth against my pale skin and let out little noises.

I dipped the cloth in the water and ran it up my long smooth legs. I let out another tired groan.

"Ah…"

There came a knock at the door.

"Weiss it's me…" Ruby's voice came in soft and mellow.

I was decent so… "Oh? Come in Ruby."

She did, closing the door gently behind her. She was in her night clothes too, and she looked like a treat in them.

I turned away and went back to washing myself down with the textile. I felt Ruby watching me for a long moment as I eased it against the skin of my shoulder and back where I could reach.

She sat down behind me and stuck her fingers against my scalp. "R-Ruby." I partly protested.

"Yes, Weiss?" She asked. She slowly started to undo my braid with deft fingers.

I leaned back into her touch as she worked gently against my skin. She was sitting with her body in contact with my own. I could feel her aura. A soft red which matched the tips of candles and the far reaches of her bangs.

I set my scroll down by my side, the device slightly forgotten as Ruby worked undoing my braid.

"I used to braid Yang's hair when we were younger. I've got some practice with long hair. Your hair is so pretty, Weiss," She said, her voice came in low, soft, and sensual.

She worked quietly. Unfastening the bobby pins that held my braid tight one by one. I shuddered as she worked. My head slowly became less and less taut. As she toiled she'd place the bobby pins on the counter by the bath with soft metallic clinks .  

I could smell her aura. Roses and a touch of something sweet like cinnamon. I breathed it in deep with the scent of the lavender candles. It made me feel light headed, even more so than my hair becoming less rigid and unbound did. Or maybe it was the combination of the two.

Soon my pale hair was all hanging free and the pins I used to fasten it we're all in a small pile by the bath. Her task complete she took the rag out of my hands and dipped it in the water.

She rubbed it against my back softly, in all the corners I couldn't reach. Under my shoulder blades. Near the clasp of my bra. I felt her work her way under the string of it and let out a noise I was partly ashamed of.  

"Oh…"

I felt my face flush with heat. I knew a rosy pink would be coloring my cheeks and the beginning and end of my neck.

She rubbed at the back of my neck with it and I pressed back against her.

"I missed you Weiss. You've been so far away from me lately."

"I missed you too Ruby," I choked out.

I couldn't help it. I turned around and took her face in both my hands and kissed her with temperature.

I think she was surprised for a moment but then she gave in and leaned in with a tired drawn out moan.

"Mmmhmmm...mmhmm...Weiss..." She whimpered.

She whispered my name against my own lips and it lit something in my chest. I brushed one hand against her hair and grabbed the back of her head right with it.

Do it again.

I thought by degrees.

Moan my name again.

For a moment her tongue brushed against my lips. I let my own out a little and where they touched they burned like fire.

"Ruby…" I purred.

I felt her aura flare up and my own did too. I wondered briefly what my own resonance felt like. Her's felt good. Really really good. It touched mine all over and I leaned in a little more. Her aura dazzled against my own flesh and essence. Blazing against my skin and the very heart of me, it was like nothing I'd ever felt before.

A rose petal fell from her aura and landed on one of the wax candles. It burnt up.

My hand touched the inside of her thigh.

"Weiss wait." She broke it off, the burst of the petal burning seemed to be the trigger for it for her. That or my touch. "I'm not ready. I'm not there yet."

I knew she wasn't. I'd made my move anyway. I looked away with some shame.

"I will be. I promise I will be," she tried, hurriedly. Like it was her fault.

"I know you will Ruby. I just wanted you to know." I whispered. "Whenever you are ready I'll be there. And even when you're not I'll still be there for you."

"About Jaune…" I said nothing, just waiting for her to finish. "I-I never thought I'd have to experience life without him. But I feel that way about you too. I don't want to imagine my life without you. I'm just so worried about him."

She was crying a little.

"I understand," I told her.

"You do?" She sounded shocked. Like she was sure I wouldn't have been able to get it.

"I do," I promised. "I think I know how you feel. You were-are attracted to the both of us," I corrected mid-sentence.

"Yes." She whispered. She wiped her eyes and I helped her. "I'm just so confused. Especially with what happened to him."

"I was a little confused as well," I confessed.

"You were?" She sounded incredulous. "But you never liked Jaune."

"I told you I started to see what Pyrrha and you were on about towards the end. He was so hard, yet soft in the center."

She laughed. An honest sound.

"You saw it too, then. What made him so great."

"I also see what makes you so great." I wiped her tears away and kissed her cheeks without passion. "I was… confused a lot. Especially when you told me you were both having sex. I still am confused."

"We'll figure it out." Ruby whispered. "Together, you and me. I just need more time."

"Whatever you need, Ruby."

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-WG

[real-jaune-isms]

RWBY Volume 8 Chapter 10 Review/Remix

WHAT the ever loving FUCK was that just now RT?? You give us several great answers and scenes we really wanted to see, and then rip all that joy away in the last 3 minutes!!! I want to sue for emotional damages, but I really can’t be mad cuz it’s very masterful writing on their part. After years of shows doing redemption arcs we finally have it... the bastardization arc~

We open, perhaps to the disappointment of some, on Ironwood staring out the windows of his office at the battlefield and city in turmoil below. He’s being given a situation update on the destruction of the cellblock two episodes back, and he takes the news a little differently than might have been expected (read: worse). Jacques apparently stayed right where he was and let himself be put back into custody, while Qrow avoided much harm by being a bird and ending up in a spot where the rubble wasn’t landing directly on him. Robyn was only slightly lucky, she was under some large debris but doesn’t seem terribly hurt and is actually conscious when Atlas soldiers uncover her and say she’ll be moved to a new cell elsewhere. Qrow isn’t about to be put back in a cage though, and flies right at the soldier who finds him. Behind a conveniently placed piece of wall he turns back and, as I was somewhat praised for phrasing it in a discord chat, he tackled that man as a man. We can assume he knocks out the guy about to apprehend Robyn, and the two make a getaway. Ironwood doesn’t like this news one bit, though he focuses more on recapturing the two huntsmen he had arrested on paranoid treason charges than the actual war criminal he lost an arm catching whose dangerous work on the city of Mantle still hasn’t been undone. Not cool, dude. He yells at the soldiers who had come to report this, and they leave to try and find the jailbirds. He stares out the window again in contemplation and tries to calm down a little before turning on his earpiece to get an update on the status of some thing or another, probably the bomb, when something massive happens.

With a blinding flash and an array of gold and green, Oscar’s staff goes off with whatever he was charging up. It’s as bright and forceful as you’d expect a nuclear bomb to be, and it knocks Winter and the Ace Ops off their feet as they were heading towards Monstra lugging their own bomb. Weiss and Nora see it from Schnee Manor, and it seems to do a real number on the Grimm around Monstra and in the city. Rooster Teeth had to give a flashing lights warning at the start of the episode for those it would adversely affect, and I can totally understand why after the crazy display this gave us. When the light fades and the noise settles, Monstra has been snapped and is fading away to dust, and in that dust cloud we hear and barely see Neopolitan skipping away with the Lamp in hand. What a little punk... Winter gets back on her feet and is quick to ask her squad for their status, she doesn’t want to have lost anyone or suffered serious wounds from whatever the hell they just saw/felt. No one is hurt, though Elm’s ears seem to still be ringing. But Marrow is very distressed, realizing they still hadn’t heard back from Jaune and the others and they may have been killed in that blast. Nobody has anything to say that would appease him, so they stay silent. Vine tries to put a reassuring hand on Elm’s shoulder but she brushes him off. Guess after they got called out by Ren she wants to show even less emotion and sentimentality than before. Ironwood contacts them under the false assumption this was the result of their bomb, and requests they return to HQ for an update on the new problem he wants to deal with. Marrow naturally points out that the destruction wasn’t their doing, and Winter decides that will be news best delivered in person, so they load the bomb back on the airship and take off. 

Cutting into the city, we see Watts and Cinder viewing the destruction of their mobile HQ from a distance. Nobody is returning Cinder’s calls but they know Salem will be back so Watts suggests they come up with a plan in the meantime. But Cinder is fully confident that they can still do what they originally intended, that being having her kill Penny and take the Winter Maiden powers after Watts brings the synthezoid to her. But this was a plan made under false assumptions, because apparently she misunderstood the terminology in his message and thought he could puppeteer Penny to go wherever he demands when really he just laid a new prime directive to send her straight to the Vault as we saw two episodes back. Hearing this pisses Cinder off immensely, especially the part about Penny being set to self destruct as soon as the Vault is open since that means the next recipient of the powers will be randomized again and she’ll have lost her chance to yoink them. Watts is too busy grumpily musing to himself about Penny having free will and a spirit that doesn’t want to succumb to his leet hacks to notice Cinder growing more and more enraged, until he turns around and she pulls him in close to yell at him. But Watts is having none of that, he works for Salem not her, and his plans weren’t made to give this flaming whining goth what she wants every single time. He’s just supposed to get the Vault open for Salem, and this is how he’s doing that. This is not the kind of answer Cinder wanted to hear, and she stretches her arm out to shove Watts to the edge of the roof and leave him on the verge of falling over to his demise. He doesn’t seem terribly fazed, calling her bluff and saying her mission was to bring him back and Salem won’t be a bit pleased if he dies. But you know what Salem is not? Here right now to stop Cinder from dealing with this arrogant self righteous prick once and for all. So she fully intends to drop him and then tear up Atlas on a fiery path to the Vault where she can intercept Penny and steal the Winter powers before tearing her to pieces herself and being the triumphant follower getting everything done that Salem really needed. And Watts just... laughs. Chris Sabat must have had a great time in the VO booth for this one, because he gets to have an absolute roast session the likes of which he hasn’t delivered since Majin Vegeta tore that clown Kakarot a new one. Naturally Cinder’s plan would be to brute force her way to victory and get glory for none but herself with her every whim satisfied along the way. Because that’s always her plan. And it always fails. She tried to storm Fria’s hospital room like that and got her ass handed to her by some teenagers and a dying woman before Penny took the powers before she could. She did the same damn thing 2 Volumes ago when she tried to massacre all her enemies under one roof in an alliance with a woman she thought she could outwit, but ended up blindsided by a surprise Maiden reveal and almost died while her outnumbered forces were on the verge of surrendering without her. And did anyone warn her not to do that? YES! WATTS DID!!! WATTS IS ALWAYS RIGHT, YOU FOOL!!! Well, okay, he’s really not. But he’s more clever and meticulous so he saw the flaws her arrogance left her blind to. And then Watts really tears into her by saying she isn’t smart, she isn’t worthy, and she isn’t entitled to what she wants because she’s suffered in the past. The one thing she is is a goddamn migraine. I’m a little mad Tyrian stole the show’s first cuss 4 years back cuz I really would have liked for Watts to cap this off by calling Cinder a bitch. This roasting literally lights a fire under Cinder and she seems ready to snap and kill Watts here and now, but instead she pulls him back onto the roof and stares off blankly into space before her fire fades and she walks off to sit on the ledge of a different side of the building to really think about his harsh words and shed a single tear. It’s a little unclear if she’s just feeling sorry for herself and realizing she’s more of a failure than she wanted to admit, or if she’s just overwhelmed by Watts reminding her of her childhood trauma. Maybe she’s realizing how powerless she’s truly remained all this time after fighting so hard for her own freedom and independence, and crying at the fact that she seems unable to escape that role she hates so much. Whatever the case, it’s real rough for her but I don’t feel like shedding any of my own tears for her sake. She doesn’t seem like she’s gonna change her allegiances so I don’t feel much need to cheer for her, but maybe she’ll reevaluate her strategy and become a force to be reckoned with as a villain because of this. I wouldn’t mind that. We’ll have to wait and see.

Back in the ruins of Monstra, we see Yang Ren and Jaune are all doing alright, and Oscar seems to be as well. Jaune is using his Semblance to help Oscar heal up quicker so that’s good to see too. Yang answers a call and sees Blake anxiously hoping she’ll pick up. The biggest smile comes to her face when she does, and the two halves of the group are ecstatic to hear the other is still alive and well. Neither are quite ready to tell the full tale of what they’ve been up to, but Weiss pulls up a map of the city and lays out a safe route through the subway tunnels that will take OYRJ straight to the mansion so they can actually reunite. Oscar isn’t about to leave Emerald behind though, and we see her knelt in the chaos holding out her hands as if hoping to catch some of the dust that was once her father figure. Yang is vocally against the idea of bringing Emerald with them, but Oscar advocates for her being every bit against Salem as them so the enemy of their enemy should be their friend. Emerald actually doesn’t seem to want to keep hanging around them and says they should just part ways, but Jaune isn’t about to let her walk free without facing any kind of justice for her past crimes. Ren thinks they need to be able to see past their emotional hang ups and consider the value in having her as an ally, and Yang is quick to remind them all that Emerald is part of the reason she lost her arm. Technically that is true, Adam was working with Cinder and if Yang hadn’t been framed as a brutal criminal she would have been around the rest of the team when everything popped off so maybe that first fight would have gone differently. But I do feel like it’s a bit of a stretch. Yang keeps going about why she can’t just forgive and forget when Em had been such a snake in the grass back at Beacon, but that’s not what Oscar is asking of her. He just wants her to try and give the girl a second chance to be better. He gets a little cryptic about how they’ve already gotten help from someone they haven’t had the best track record trusting, and Ren perfectly guesses he means that Oz has reemerged in his mind. This takes the blondes by surprise, and Oscar stands up for the old soul by saying he took the brunt of the beatings and told him how to impede Salem like he did just there. Turns out we’ll be finding out the secret of Ozpin’s cane today: It’s been made into a magical repository for kinetic energy stored over dozens of past lives to be made into a sort of bomb to set off when needed. I don’t know quite enough about physics to describe how exactly that would work, but it seems to make sense that it does. But the blast that took out Monstra used up the majority of what was in there so he can’t rely on it for that kind of attack again. It seems likely that was what Ozpin used against Cinder in the Beacon Vault, but didn’t use very much of it, and again what Oscar used to bust a hole in the bottom of the pit Ironwood shot him into. Oscar finishes making his case that Oz really does want to aid them, and the others seem convinced. What’s worth noting is that all eyes had been on him during this, but Emerald made no attempt to run away or even lower her hands. Guess she might really want to stick around after all... The moment is interrupted by the not so distant sound of a crying baby, and they all run further down the tunnel to find a subway station where the people of Atlas are taking shelter on Ironwood’s orders. Emerald starts to feel the weight of her action and those she used to side with, especially when she sees kids scared and hungry like she was before Cinder found her. They continue past the station on their way to the manor, and Oscar offers some encouragement to Emerald that they need her help in this war considering what she’s capable of. Considering the feats she performed under stress back in Volume 5, I’m inclined to agree. 

We fade away from that scene to Ironwood’s office and the camera rises up the stairs as if being held by the Ace Ops as they and Winter come through the still broken doors to give their report to the general. He’s looking at multiple holographic screens projecting from his table: one with graphics telling him the status of all the airships mechs and soldiers, one pulling up news articles and any other info they can get on Monstra presumably for the purpose of cataloguing it in case they ever need to worry about another one, the third seems to be a map of city to monitor the damage so far, and the last is all the info they have on Cinder. He congratulates the team for their work destroying the Grimm, but Winter admits it wasn’t their bomb that did the job, they still have it intact for him. This confuses Ironwood greatly, but he sees an opportunity in this twist of fate. Penny hasn’t come to the Vault like he wanted her to be programmed to do, so he assumes Watts did a shit job of reprogramming her or just intentionally screwed them over. Yet the truth is something he can’t seem to imagine, she has free will and doesn’t want to do as she’s told. Who’s the real tool now Jimmy? He informs them that Cinder broke Watts out, and he seems to consider Qrow and Robyn escaping to be an even worse consequence. Harriet seems ready to sprint out of the room and haul them back here herself, but Ironwood stays her hand... or foot in this case. With Salem temporarily halted, now is the best time they’ve got for him to have the Winter Maiden open the Vault and use the Staff to lift Atlas higher than she can reach like he wanted so badly. So he wants Winter to bring him Yang Jaune and Ren. Winter doesn’t see the purpose of that, or she does and hates to imagine it’s truly what he intends, but either way she knows she can’t do what he’s asking. He plans to make full use of the lives they hold in their hands, and he’s going to use Jaune and the others as leverage to make Penny do what he says. He acts as if he’s actually proud of himself for realizing this is an option available to him, and I think it’s his Semblance that’s partially blinding him to the moral reasons why it should not be an option worth considering. Winter is left wilting under his unaware and proud gaze, and then Harriet pipes up to tattle on her commanding officer. Winter gave the kids a chance to try and rescue their friends from inside the whale(they don’t mention that friend was Oscar so he still doesn’t know the kid survived his attempted murder), and they weren’t seen exiting before it blew up. I want to say I’m shocked and disgusted that Harriet snitched on Winter just for the brownie points of being honest and taking Winter down a peg, but I’m really not. She’s been a loyal bootlicker since this time last Volume, and this feels like payback for that whole “I outrank you so you can’t stop me from giving them a chance” thing in chapter 7. Ironwood removes the proud and probably intended to be comforting hand he had placed on Winter’s shoulder, as if ashamed to be touching her after she let him down like this. This was his last plan for his definition of success, and now it’s ruined so he can’t do anything. In a fit of rage he smashes his table like the goddamn Hulk and the Ace Ops are left to watch and wonder just how in his right mind he actually is. As he tries to catch his breath, the general gets an urgent transmission that dozens of non-military aircraft have shown up on radar. I and probably a few dozen other people watching this hoped this was an Avengers Endgame moment of tons of allies coming to the rescue of the down and out heroes. But no, its the Schnee Dust Company ships Whitley sent out. Almost forgot about that plan, whoops. Ironwood immediately recognizes this as Weiss’ handiwork for the sake of saving Mantle, because nobody would have guessed Whitley would show some humanity and make this plan himself. Winter immediately shows attentive concern hearing her sister has done this, and Harriet gives her a look as if to say “you are such a bleeding heart for these little criminals...” Ironwood makes the very one dimensional assumption that everything Ruby and the others have been doing is simply to protect Mantle, as if they didn’t have a serious conversation with May about helping Atlas as well as Mantle 3 episodes back. With that knowledge in mind, he decides he needs to make a call. 

Speaking of phones, Cinder gets a cheeky text and an accompanying selfie from Neo revealing she has the Lamp and she knows Salem will tear Cinder to pieces if she doesn’t bring it back to her. So she’s proposing a trade; Cinder gets the name to activate the Lamp, and in return she has to bring Neo to Ruby for the revenge she so deeply craves. Watts can’t see Cinder’s screen so he wonders who among their comrades has survived. Unclear if Cinder is going to tell him.

At last, we see Ruby throw open the front doors of Schnee Manor with Weiss and Blake flanking her, to see Yang and the others on the front steps. The sisters immediately embrace and Ruby sheds a tear of relief and joy that they’re all okay. Yang tells her she missed her too, and that seems to be that for the distrust and argument they had back in chapter 1. Ruby goes to greet the guys, and Yang gives Weiss a nice hug too. Then she sees Blake has taken a few steps away from the group and seems ashamed or embarrassed, unable to even look in their direction in Yang’s direction. Yang puts a hand to her cheek, her thumb softly stroking up and down as she turns Blake’s head to meet her gays gaze. Yang blushes and smiles, Bake returns the smile, and the two softly press their foreheads together. The intense sapphic energy of this deeply intimate moment was almost overwhelming, and many couldn’t help but adore it. I know I couldn’t stop myself from being a little giggly. Ren notices Nora isn’t there to greet them, and Weiss seems like she’s going to bring him up to her room and possibly even explain what happened along the way. Ruby takes this chance to go and greet Oscar with a hug, but stops short when she sees Emerald behind him. She seems real mad and is about to go on the attack, but Oscar steps between them and insists he can vouch for her, or maybe he’s saying he can explain? We don’t quite know because they get cut off by the sound of Ruby’s Scroll ringing. May is calling from the crater to say that the SDC freighters aren’t the only thing in the air right now, and she seems very panicked by what she sees. She yells for everyone to run into the mines for shelter, and an explosion is hear before the call is cut short. Before anyone has time to try and puzzle out what they just heard, a loud alarm tone goes off on all their Scrolls. It’s a fun detail that as a Faunus Blake covers her ears cuz the loud noise is especially bad for her. An emergency CCT broadcast is coming in for everyone in the kingdom, and Ruby magnifies her Scroll’s playing of it to be projected into the air for all of them to watch. The cargo ships are shown being shot down by military ships, and then the feed cuts to Ironwood standing ominously under a single light to deliver a downright villainous speech. He claims he has been trying his best to protect the technology and future of the kingdom from those who would do it harm, but I think it is VERY telling he never mentions protecting the people. Because that’s not what matters to him anymore. Not really. He says the only person stopping him from finishing his plans of making sure the currently crippled Salem can’t hurt them anymore is Penny. So he has an ultimatum for Penny and her friends, because he knows they will be listening right now. Either she turn herself over to him so he can have her do her “duty” and save as much of the Kingdom as possible and forget about trying to save Mantle, or he will nuke Mantle as punishment for her selfishness. The more he talks the more angry Ruby and the others get, and we are right there with them. He somehow thinks that if Mantle is destroyed then Penny will be free to only care about Atlas and its protection and will gladly work with him to do so. What a delusional bastard. And if anyone tries anything other than what he has said to do, he will use the bomb. 1 hour to decide how they will respond, and a hell of a lot riding on that choice.

There can be absolutely no question now, Ironwood will be the villain for the rest of the Volume and Salem will probably return at the end to ruin whatever hope putting him down will have raised in our heroes... And I’m kinda excited for how that’s gonna play out. Let’s see how team RWBY get out of this one~

[calliecat93]

Top 5 Things I Liked About RWBY Volume 7

(Top Dislikes)

Gosh, we are so close to Volume 8 now, and it’s driving me crazy! But we’re not there yet. So let’s continue to remember what Volume 7 delivered upon us. Last time I did the Dislikes post, so now it’s time for the Top 5 Likes post! Which this was so, SO much easier to come up with than the Dislikes list! Like I said there, this volume is so well-written and jam-packed full-on content. It was a rollercoaster of a ride where even though I didn’t want to get back on for a while, that thrill was everlasting. Whether V8 will give the same result will be determined soon, but for now let’s go over the Top 5 Likes of RWBY Volume 7. As always, just my opinion, so take with a grain of salt~

Okay, let’s go!

#5. Oscar Development

By far one of the biggest criticisms against Volume 6 was how it handled Oscar. There was a LOT of good setup concerning his identity crisis as he struggled with keeping control, maintaining his own identity, and the potential burden of just being another of Oz’s wasted lives. While he DID reach a new confidence by the end which was nice, it... was more or less offscreen. To many, myself included, Oscar felt wasted and I specifically criticized how the execution made it feel like depite what Ruby said and what the narrative is trying to say, it DOES feel like Oscar’s viewed as just Oz’s vessel and that’s all his importance amounted to. I was hoping that Volume 7 was going to rectify this like they did with Ruby in Volume 6. Did they do so?

Absolutely yes.

While they still have a bad habit of setting up Oscar in trouble but it turning out to be a fake-out (his disappearance due to Neo), the volume did a LOT to improve his position. With Oz gone, Oscar has to be diplomatic on his own. He’s in a position where he can get close to Ironwood in a way that the others can’t and see him actually vulnerable. Unlike the others, who keep just pointing out to Ironwood how his actions are problematic to varying degrees, Oscar can see what’s really causing it: fear. Which is something that Oscar can relate to. After all, he was terrified when his quest began, but he always faced it and went forward everything to do what was right. Even when it meant leaving home, even when it meant facing unjust anger from others, he did so.

Oscar tries to reason with Ironwood. He tries to have him realize that it’s okay to be afraid. That it’s okay  to be honest with those around him. That it’s okay to be vulnerable. Ironwood isn’t the only one either. In the beginning, he’s worried about Ruby’s lie because of how much it reminds him of what Oz did to them. You could argue that he’s developed into the conscious of the group, but he knows how to reason with these matters in a peaceful way. He’s becoming more of a diplomat similar to Ozpin, which even Ironwood points out in Chapter 9.

Then there’s the finale. Sadly, despite all of his pleas and how much he reached out to him, Ironwood ultimately rejected him and Oz. He rejected the route of trust and embraced fear, sealing the deal by shooting Oscar. But while he couldn’t help Ironwood, he did help someone else: Ozpin. His words convinced the former headmaster to at last return and face his own fears, saving them both. It also allowed Oscar to gain more of Oz’s power and memories. The boy has gone form a scared teenager entering a world he doesn’t truly understand, to becoming a courageous young man filled with compassion and hope for those around him. And this time, we got to actually see that growth unfold. He’s still got a long path ahead of him, but this greatly amended Oscar’s character and I am grateful for it.

#4. Penny Polendina

SHE CAME BACK! YAY!!! I MISSED HER SO MUCH!!!

Every since hr death in V3, I fully expected Penny to come back at some point. And indeed, she did! And with her memory intact, thank goodness! While I do wish we got some more exploration in how she felt about dying and such, her role int his volume was so well done I can forgive it. She has more screentime in this volume than Volumes 1-3 combined, and I love it! A cute new design, her struggling between duty and her own wants, trying to understand feelings and finding them to be a beautiful thing, there is SO MUCH going on with her here.

Penny is part of Ironwood’s inner circle, having been assigned as he Protector of Mantle. She takes her job seriously and does her best to protect the citizens. She’s elated to see Ruby and the others again and tries to assist them as much as she can. But as the volume goes, we see how much she struggles between her dedication to Mantle and Ironwood’s orders. It’s especially clear fter she is framed for the massacre during the elections. The poor girl is mortified, everyone viewing her as just another of Ironwood’s robots. Even Ironwood feels this way with his insensitive comment bout her being ‘under his control’ during the Council Meeting. The poor girl just needs a hug.

But this helps set Penny apart from Atlas. Unlike the others, who are following orders, Penny is trying to follow her heart. She tries to encourage Winter to do the same when she snapped at Jaques, even saying that all she did was speak form the heart and has no reason to feel ashamed of it. After Ironwood declares martial law, she is clearly upset and outright says that it’s wrong. She even asks Winter if this bothers her, and isn’t very convinced by her argument about the general taking on the burden. Penny chooses to embrace her feelings, not reject them as Winter, the Ace-Ops, and Ironwood have done.

It ends with Penny comforting Fria as her Maiden powers go out of control. How does she do this? She simply goes up to her and gently asks her if she’s okay. She shows the old woman more compassion and care than she’s probably had in quite a while. As a result, Fria ultimately transfers the Winter Maiden powers ot her. It proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that despite being a robot, Penny is a real girl. Hell, she is by far the most human of the Atlesian characters in this volume. She ultimately feels disheartened by Fria’s death, but still goes with Ruby and the others because that’s the right thing.

Penny’s character arc was a delight. There were so many expectations with her return, and I am so happy with the result! Penny feels so much more three-dimensional now. She still has the sweetness that made us love her before, but she also grew as a character. She embraced her feelings, she made choices for herself after having to abide by Ironwood’s rules for so long, she even managed to get some payback on Cinder for her death. Her good-heart and kindness was rewarded at the end. I do worry for her, especially since Salem’s Whale Grimm is absolutely a Montstro reference, but I’m still so happy with her in this volume~

3. The Atlas/Mantle Conflict

I am... not good at talking about this kind of thing, so I apologize if this seems rambly or all over the place. The big conflict pf the volume was the division between Atlas and Mantle. We knew going in how Atlas was seen as a bastion of civilization, but also full of snobs and an army leader who doesn’t exactly have his priorities straight. We knew that Mantle was the former capital and it was easy to assume that it probably wasn’t in the best state... and HO BOY were we right.

While Atlas looks futuristic and pristine, Mantle is run-down and out-of-date. The former capital and it’s people have not been treated well and worse, Atlas controls everything including their heating system. Ironwood has forced the city to be without essential provisions for Amity, and has therefore left them vulnerable to the Grimm. It’s easy to see why Mantle would resent Ironwood and Atlas as a whole, and why it was easy for Watts and Tyrian to widen the divide. It’s like the Chorus conflict in the Chorus Trilogy in RvB, only we’re there to see the division outright instead of coming in many years later. Our heroes are trying to mend the divide, but it’s so much easier said than done when neither side will budge.

There’s a lot of contrast with the two sides. Ironwood is a seemingly cold man with an authoritarian streak. Robyn is more laid-back, if a little cocky but her heart is very much set on helping Mantle. Both can be very brash and place trust above all else. But they both run their respective groups very differently. Robyn views the Happy Huntresses as her friends, while Ironwood trained the Ace-Ops to be his loyal attack dogs. Robyn is willing to give her trust until it gets broken, while Ironwood is wrapped by his own paranoia. We see how these two groups function. They have similarities, but are also very different especially when it comes to how their leaders treat their respective groups.

There is a HUGE class issue between Atlas and Mantle. It’s not helped by Ironwood’s plans causing further suffering, and of course in the end he chooses to leave it open to Salem in favor of saving Atlas. The fandom has fought back and forth for months over if this was right or not, which only proves the point of the division. You can see where each side is coming from, and we care for the people on each side. The conflict was presented throughout the volume with the heroes trying to help, but they sadly fail. The moment Tyrian’s slaughter happens in Chapter 6, you can break the tension with a butter knife and it doesn’t let up. We’ll probably only see more of it with Volume 8 now that Mantle has no protection. But as far as this volume goes, it was presented very well and very strongly.

#2. The Fall of James Ironwood

Love him or hate him, Ironwood is by far one of the strongest written characters in the show. Ever since his intro in Volume 2, we have been building up to this moment. The man has a LO of flaws. He’s arrogant, brash, favors military might over being discreet, and has a bad tendency to not learn form his missteps. These flaws contributed to the Fall of Beacon. But we also saw a man who was honest, righteous, respected Ozpin, and for all had flaws seemed to have good intentions. He was always willing to put himself on the front lines and took none of Jaques’ elitist shit. Sure he caused the Dust Embargo and closed Atlas down, but he also defended Weiss in Volume 4 and was clearly upset about the Fall fo Beacon. We saw a flawed, but still good man and if he could just embrace his flaws and open his heart, he could have been the great hero that he appeared to be.

Sadly thought, that wasn’t meant to be.

Ironwood is shown to be dishelved and plagued by paranoia, but he HAS created a plan to re-establish communications and expose Salem. But his police state with Mantle has the heroes concerned, so they lie to him about Oz and the lamp. The man continues to make questionable decisions, like I already said about his treatment of Mantle. But he still seems devoted tot he cause and like despite these calls, his intentions are still good and it will pay off even with the bad press. Heck, after Robyn tells him to trust her in Chapter 9 and with a push form Oscar, he seemed to FINALLY be doing the right thing. he revealed the truth about Salem to everyone, he worked alongside Mantle, and he faced Watts in the same place where his greatest failure had occurred. It seemed like all the begging and pleading had worked.

Sadly though, it all fell apart once Ironwood saw the glass chess piece.

Ironwood’s greatest enemy isn’t Salem. It’s not Robyn. It’s not he council. No, it’s himself. He has closed up his emotions and his hear to everyone around him. He has buried himself in his paranoia and his pursuit in defeating Salem. With every mistake, Ironwood failed to learn and move forward. He just became more and more consumed by his own fear. He wanted to be a strong leader. To be like Oz. But like Oz, he ended up losing himself and unlike Oz, he couldn’t acknowledge where he went wrong. In many ways you can sympathize with him because of the bleak situation and him trying to do what he can with what he has. But sadly, none of that can justify the path that he ended up taking.

Ironwood is angry at Team RWBYs lies. This and Salem’s approach pretty much causes him to snap. He’s going to let Fria die so that Winter had the Maiden powers. He's going to abandon Mantle to their demise in a futile plan to raise Atlas into orbit. When RWBY opposes this, he orders them to be arrested. He even coldly confirms that he’s leaving Mantle to die. However one feels about this choice, as a cruel but necessary choice to save what can be saved, or a needless sacrifice made by a fascist dictator, one can at least make an argument about either point that makes it hard to say who was right. Him snapping at Oscar and knowingly shooting the kid to his demise? No. That one cannot be justified at all, especially since he was as cold as steel when he did it.

This moment has been built-up since we met him all those years ago. We wanted Ironwood to do the right thing. We all hoped that he would. But he didn’t, and it isn’t shocking at all. We saw enough to like Ironwood, but to also be very much aware of his faults that he just never seemed able to conquer. His fall form grace is tragic, yet done in such a satisfying way as well. I felt for him, but there was no justifying his actions. I kept hoping that he’d pull through, but once Chapter 11 hit, I knew we were at the point of no return. The James Ironwood we once knew is no more, consumed by his fear. What will happen to him next? Will he manage to realize his wrongs? Or will he continue to fall until there’s nothing left to salvage? It’s hard to say. But for now, the tin man has lost his heart,. A very sad, but very well done, character arc for sure.

1. The Theme of Trust and Fear

When I first heart this volume’s opening, Trust Love, I liked it... but the more the volume went, the more the optimistic song felt out of place for the dark volume. Considering this IS an anime, that’s probably intentional. But the more I examined the lyrics, especially after the full version came out, the more I truly realized how it fits with this volume. The song speaks of one trying to live in their dream world, but they need to face reality and trust those around them. They need to stop waiting for a miracle, they need to take control of their life now and move forward. hey need to... well, trust in love. Then you have the finale song, Fear, which  outright asks ‘who will you be when you are faced with fear? Will you see the person you hope to see? Or will you see a stranger?” Will you feel proud? Or will you feel betrayed?

This is the theme of the volume. The theme of trust and the right thing against fear. Ironwood claims to trust the heroes, yet he can’t trust anyone else and his own fear is slowly consuming him. The heroes are mistrustful of Ironwood, but they trust each other and want to help mend the divide between Ironwood and Mantle. But at every turn, fear gets ii n he way. Tyrian’s slaughter makes Mantle afraid and enraged. Ironwood’s fear keeps him from opening up and it leads to his downfall as I already described. The Ace-Ops don’t fight together as a team, which leads to Team RWBY who DO trust each other to defeat them. Clover is blinded by his loyalty to Ironwood to recognize that he’s doing the wrong thing, and it leads to his death. Not to mention the mistrust between him, Qrow, and Robyn lead tot he crash to begin with.

As Oz says in his monologue, fear is the greatest thing that everyone shares. We see everyone afraid. Ironwood is afraid. Ruby is afraid. Ozpin is afraid. Even Cinder is afraid. It’s all for different reasons. Ironwood is afraid of Salem. Ruby is afraid of the uncertainty ahead. Ren is afraid of failing Nora and the others. Cinder is afraid of failing to achieve her foals. Qrow is afraid of bonding with others, especially considering what happened to Clover. Ozpin...d o I even need to elaborate on him? The title to Chapter 13 is ‘The Enemy of Trust’. What is that enemy? Fear. Recently, I’ve been feeling that same fear of trust. Fear of being hurt. Fear of being betrayed. Fear of the unknown. It’s a VERY powerful force, and a tempting one at that.

The message of the volume ultimately si that it’s okay to be afraid. It’s perfectly human to feel that way. You don’t need to get over it. It doesn’t matter if you’re afraid, it’s what you do in the face of it that matters. Will you face it? Will you do what’s right? Will you find it in yourself to trust and love again? Or will you succumb to it? Will you end up repeating your mistakes because of your fear? Will you make the wrong choice? What will that say about the person you are? One way or another, we all will find out the answer to that question. We may not know the answers for a long time, but you ultimately need to try and do what’s right. You can’t let the fear control you. You need to decide who you will be when ti comes, and if in the end you will be happy with who you are left with.

Ironwood chose to repeat his mistakes, and is now a heartless tin soldier. Ozpin ultimately chose to return and face it and while only time will determine how that goes, it’s a step in the right direction. People like Ruby and Oscar still tried to do what thy knew was right. Weiss was afraid of her father, but faced him to gain her freedom. Blake feared Adam and the White Fang and chose to run, but eventually decided to fight back and ultimately won. Yang was afraid after losing her arm and of being abandoned, and while she struggled she ultimately faced it, proving herself stronger than her cowardly mother. Even after Ruby broke down when it became clear that Salem killed her mother, she still faced the wicked witch, told her off to her face, and pulled herself together enough to warn everyone about Ironwood and stand her ground. And there’s so any other examples that I could list. 

I think considering the times right now, this message is incredibly important. It’s been a major part of the series since the start, but Volume 7 especially made it prominent. We need to trust in love. We need to be courageous enough to do the right thing. We need to be able to express our fear and doubts with others to become better. In a world where everything 9si uncertain and everyone is on edge, I think that the themes here are more relevant than ever, and was handled very well. Especially with that monologue in Chapter 13. As such, this is my favorite part of RWBY Volume 7 without a doubt.

Well, that’s it folks! It was nice to revisit Volume 7 again after so long~ But as we close the book, we’re about to open another for Volume Eight. What’s gonna happen? I don’t know. Am I scared? Oh big time. But I’ve come this far, I’m not backing out until the very end. So I hope that you all enjoy Volume 8, and as always I look forward to reviewing it all~ See you all on premiere day~!

[magnhild]

let’s talk about nora valkyrie

warning: this post is not a solid, coherent discussion. it is simply a mess of my thoughts and ideas and is rather messy. also, it contains spoilers for volume 7 of rwby, but if you can see this post then you’re probably all caught up and don’t have spoilers tagged.

so anyway let’s get into it.

I’ve always loved Nora, there’s never been any doubt about that. but at the same time, she’s always off to the side, hasn’t done too much to contribute to the plot and arguably hasn’t had any character development either. This volume though is where I think that changes. Volume 7 is truly taking steps to make sure we know she’s part of the main cast alongside her teammates and RWBY, to the point where she’s now joined Yang and Blake as one of my top favourite characters. And I think she’s going to be far more important in this volume and possibly the next ones than any of us anticipated.

Some of us had already picked up that there was more to Nora than one would first think. We’ve picked up on her brutal honesty and her surprising perceptiveness, both when it comes to people’s feelings and how to potentially solve issues. She’s certainly smarter than most people give her credit for. But volume 7 is bringing all this to the surface so that everyone can see, and I don’t think they’re just doing so for no reason. They could easily have Blake taking her role in the story, or maybe even Ruby or Weiss. But of all people, it’s Nora who’s standing up more than any of the main cast for Mantle’s wellbeing and calling Ironwood out for what he’s doing to harm it. For her, it almost seems personal, with episode 7 seeing her get angrier than we’ve ever seen her before. In fact, aside from direct confrontation with villains, we’ve rarely seen any character get this angry so far in the show. I’ve seen people say that it’s because she was an orphan and she doesn’t want to see the people of Mantle go through what she did, but I don’t think it’s that simple. After all, Ren was an orphan too, but he seems to be taking the opposite stance to her (and that’s a whole other can of worms). No, I think- and disclaimer, I’m not claiming to have come up with this- that Mantle is Nora’s original hometown and where she spent her life before somehow winding up in Anima. After all, we have absolutely no knowledge of where she came from or went through before meeting Ren aside from the fact that she was not from Kuroyuri. As for further details on her backstory, there are several possibilities. Maybe her family were extremely poor and suffered greatly from the city’s circumstances. Maybe she’s the child of a human-faunus couple and faced discrimination from both humans and faunus as a result, especially given the racism of Atlas. Maybe her parents died early on in her life and she was an orphan long before meeting Ren. Or maybe her parents died early, but she was taken in by other family. Perhaps a grandmother who might just be on her deathbed deep within Atlas who’s constantly thinking of her lost granddaughter.

Yes, the Winter Maiden Nora theory sure is a good one and if my personal theory (the human/faunus child one) falls through, I’d be very happy with it. It certainly makes sense. Not only did we never get a mention of the current Winter Maiden’s last name, but her first has some interesting origins. Fria is one of the modern spellings of Freyja, a Norse goddess, who, according to some scholars, was one of the Valkyries of Norse myth. Interesting, huh? There’s also the fact that it seems a little too easy and obvious for Winter to get the powers. Not to mention, it would certainly be a very interesting choice for the story if the powers go to someone who is beginning to oppose Ironwood rather than his most trusted lieutenant. And if Nora does indeed become the Winter Maiden, the whole game changes. Atlas’ fate is suddenly going to pretty much be in the hands of this 19-year-old woman who isn’t looking to be a very big fan of Atlas right now and is already getting stressed enough as it is. I don’t actually know much about proper Norse mythology, but I know that, in the Marvel movie at least, it’s Thor himself who causes Ragnarök. Whether or not it’s the same in the actual folklore, I don’t know, but it’s definitely something to think about.

So yeah, there are a lot of possibilities surrounding Nora being from Mantle but now let’s talk about where she could be headed with these possibilities in mind. I think it’s clear at this point that she is regretting allying with Ironwood with each passing day. In the very first episode of Volume 7, she expressed her dry disappointment with the state Mantle’s in and she’s continued to do so as time’s gone on. We also know that she supports Robyn Hill and it’s been implied that she thinks she’s doing a much better job at helping people than Ironwood is. And then there’s Ren. Despite their kiss in episode 6, it’s clear that they’re still having problems, especially now that Ren’s showed a worrying amount of support towards Ironwood- it even seems to have surprised Ruby. With all this coming to a head, I don’t think Nora’s going to be staying with the team for long. Something’s going to happen, something like a huge argument or a break of her trust and it’s going to push her right to someone who she knows is doing the right thing- Robyn. After all, Nora expressed frustration with all the lies she and the others are having to keep in the very same episode Robyn’s Semblance was revealed to be the ability to know the truth. There’s also my personal headcanon of her, May and Joanna all being trans girls and bonding over it, but I’m not getting my hopes too high for that.

Honestly though, if Nora joins the Huntresses, I think it’ll be great, both inside the show and out. I personally don’t think that what Ironwood’s doing is a good idea at all, nor do I agree with his methods and I think Nora rebelling could be the push the others to do the same (especially since Yang and Blake have already done it a little bit). It could be the cause of some really interesting conflict and we could get a lot of character building. Would she leave in secret or make it very clear where she’s going? Would her friends be able go after her or will Ironwood insist that the Amity project is more important? Will Ren feeling deeply betrayed and angered or will it be the wake-up call he needs? The choice opens so many doors and if it’s the direction they take and I’m very much here for it

Then there’s Ren. I’ve already mentioned him several times in this post, so all I’m gonna say is that I don’t think their conflict will doom them, not at all. Ren and Nora have been best friends since they were young kids and were all each other had for the longest time. They’re not going to let this ruin their friendship after all they’ve been through together. And despite what I keep seeing people saying, I think episode 6 made it clear that Ren does return Nora’s romantic feelings and it’s all in the kiss. There’s no way he’d have reacted the way he did- wrapping his arms around her and staying in the kiss for several seconds- if he didn’t feel the same way. He’d have pulled away or at the very least looked uncomfortable with it. I honestly think that, once Ren realizes that how he’s acting is risking him losing her for good, he’ll come to his senses. Every friendship and every couple have their arguments but that doesn’t mean it has to end. I have faith that they’ll get through this, even if it takes a while.

So yeah, there’s all of my jumbled-together thoughts about Nora and where I think she could be headed. I actually didn’t get down quite all of what I wanted to say, but there’ll be time for that when I eventually make Nora’s episode of my ‘Why I Love’ series on YouTube, though that’ll definitely be after volume 7 in case anything more important happens with her. For now, I hope this satisfies you guys and gives you something to think about in the seven weeks (yes, seven- they’re taking a break after episode 8) that we have to go of Volume 7.

bye nerds

[im-the-king-of-the-ocean]

In the Name of Love

@nuts-and-dolts-week Day 6: Angst

(actually semi-canon compliant for once)

.

Fifteen minutes into their silent advance into the crater tunnel, May whispers, “They’re just up ahead.”

Robyn nods.  “Her sensors will probably pick up on our presence before we see her.  We need to be careful.  May and I will go first, with our weapons sheathed.  Fiona, Joanna, linger back, but stay ready.  Penny’s a friend, so it shouldn’t come to a fight, but just in case it does…” she lets her statement go unfinished.

Penny Polendina isn’t someone Robyn wants to fight.  Even after the massacre at the failed victory party, when it seemed like Penny was responsible for all the deaths, Robyn hadn’t completely considered the mechanical girl an enemy.  She found it hard to believe Penny would do such a thing.  On her own, at least.  A direct, inescapable order from Ironwood seemed more likely at the time, and then Robyn was more of the mind to go about freeing Penny from the general’s authority than deactivating her completely.

Finding out someone else entirely was responsible for the attack hadn’t come as a total surprise.

This is different.  Though, if Robyn’s being honest, she’s not exactly sure what this is.  Reports of an incoming giant Grimm whale surrounded by hordes of flying beringels led to chaos in Atlas, which granted her the opportunity to escape custody.  She regrouped with her huntresses and start getting those left—abandoned—in Mantle to safety.  A freak snowstorm gave them enough cover to run for the crater mine caverns.  Caverns that are far from ideal as a hiding spot, but the people of Mantle know, and can navigate, them far better than the Grimm, so they are their best hope.

Things settled in the quiet, tense way they do right before a siege truly sets in, and then everyone’s scrolls lit up with a warrant for Penny Polendina’s immediate arrest.  Not a minute after that, May rushed to inform Robyn that she’d found Penny while scouting tunnels and Penny attacked her.

Aggression is definitely not normal for Penny.  Robyn knows something had to have happened to cause the abrupt change in character (and that something is likely related to the arrest warrant).  She hates not knowing what it is.  Again, Penny isn’t someone Robyn wants to fight.  She will if it comes to that.  But, mostly, Robyn just wishes she had enough information to prevent the outcome.

The shiiing of numerous blades unfolding right before she and May round the last bend makes Robyn grimace.  She readies her weapon, but keeps it lowered.

“Penny, it’s Robyn Hill,” Robyn announces her presence.  “We mean you no harm.”  She walks around the corner to put herself in full view.  She holds her hands up, palms open wide.

“Where are the others?”  Penny’s voice doesn’t have it’s usual cheer.  It doesn’t quite make it to ‘threatening’ either, but it comes extremely close.

“Penny.”  Robyn slowly advances.  “You know us.”

“Not another step!”  Penny snaps.  Fire sparks from nowhere and engulfs Floating Array’s swords. Robyn blinks, unbelieving of what she’s seeing, but, yes, the swords are now on fire and green flames surround Penny’s eyes as well.  “I need you, all of you, to identify yourselves.  Verbally.  Now.”  Penny commands.

“Okay,” Robyn agrees, trying to stay amicable.  She signals to May.

May crosses her arms, but states, “May Marigold,” anyway, which seems to satisfy Penny.

“Joanna, Fiona,” Robyn calls back to the others.  The two join her and May.  Fiona speaks her name first, and then Joanna does.

Only after Penny has heard all four of them speak does she relax.  The flames disappear from around Floating Array and her eyes.  She keeps her swords out and at the ready.  Robyn decides to consider it progress anyway.

“We did what you wanted, Penny.  Now, help us understand.  What’s going on here?”  Robyn asks gently.

“I…” Penny looks away from her.  Her eyes turned downcast.  “I can’t…”

“You don’t have to be scared.”  Fiona steps forward.  “I think everyone here is, at least a little bit, of the situation on the surface.“  Joanna snorts at her statement, but Fiona ignores her.  “But we’re not alone either.  Trust us, we can help you.”

Penny gazes at Fiona, and then back at Robyn.  “You promise?  You promise you’ll help me?”

“It depends on what it is,” Robyn replies evenly.  “If you need shelter, we’ll ask that you pitch in just as much as everyone else, but you’re welcome with us.  If you’re going to ask us to turn ourselves in to Ironwood, that’s a hard ‘no’.”

“Oh no!  Nothing like that!  At all!  I just need medical supplies!” Penny says in a rush.

“Medical supplies?  But aren’t you…” Joanna searches for the right words, doesn’t find a polite way to say it, and just goes for blunt, “…a robot?”

“Well, yes, but they aren’t for me.”  Penny’s eyes dart to a corner of the cavern, where three boulders rest in an unusually strategic position, almost as if someone had placed them there to block something from view.  She notices the huntresses following her gaze, and quickly steps to block their view of the boulders.  “A friend of mine needs them!  And I said I would go out and search and bring back what I could find!  So, if you could give me what I need, I can go back to my friend!  Who is not here!”  She hiccups.

Robyn frowns.  “Right.  Penny, if you want our help, you’re going to have to be completely honest with us.”  She steps forward and holds out her hand.  “So, tell me, you’re not hiding anything behind those boulders?”

Penny steps back.  “I…” she looks between all four of them again and gulps.  “I want to trust you, but…but you have to promise you won’t hurt her!  Promise me!  Promise me, right now!”

Robyn advances, reaches over and takes Penny’s hand in her own, activates her semblance, and states, “We will not harm whoever you’re protecting.”  Their hands light up green.  “Okay?”

“Okay,” Penny stares at their hands a long moment.  Then, she pulls out of Robyn’s grasp and leads her back to the boulders.

Robyn recognizes the pipsqueak before Penny says the name ‘Ruby’.  Ruby is wrapped in makeshift bandages that are already starting to bleed through.  She’s not conscious, but her breathing is steady.  That’s good, at least.  What’s not is the fact it looked like someone tried very hard to slash her eyes out.  Whoever it was failed, but not before leaving Ruby with quite a few cuts that’ll leave some nasty scars.

“We need to get her to camp.”  Robyn finishes her assessment.  “Our medics can—“

“No!”  Penny shouts.  She freezes, realizing she just yelled at the person trying to help her.  “I—you can’t!  The one who—Neo Politan can change to look like other people!  She…” Penny hesitates, and then continues in a quieter tone, “She can look like anyone.  Anyone.  The only way to know for sure is that she never speaks.  She’ll…” Penny hugs herself.  “Ruby isn’t safe anywhere Neo can get to.  I have to keep her away from other people. That’s the only way to stop Neo from finding her and finishing…”  Her lower lip trembles.  “Do you understand?  Please?”

Robyn puts a hand on Penny’s shoulder.  “I understand, but your friend needs more help than we can give her here.  I know you’re scared, and that you think staying alone is the answer.  It isn’t.  It just means you have no backup when things go bad.  Trust me.  We’ll be discrete.  May?”  Robyn looks back to her.

May nods and comes forward.

“Joanna.  Fiona.”  Robyn addresses her other two huntresses.  “Go back ahead of us.  Find a doctor you trust and bring them to my tent.  Tell them to prepare for a patient.”  Robyn turns back to Penny.  “We’ll keep you, both of you, concealed until you’re ready.  No one will know you’ve joined us.  Alright?”

Penny hesitates.  She looks down at Ruby, and then back up at Robyn.  Finally, she nods.  Her eyes light up with green fire again.  For a second, Robyn thinks she’s going to attack and braces herself.  Penny doesn’t.  She turns, closes her eyes in focus, and the earth surrounding Ruby rises into the air as a makeshift bed.

“We’re ready to go,” Penny tells Robyn.  The earth holding Ruby follows her hand as it moves.

After she’s activated her semblance to conceal them as they travel, May whispers to Robyn, “That’s a new trick, right?  She wasn’t able to do that before?”

.

The doctor finishes his preliminary examination of Ruby.  “The girl’s wounds aren’t good, but not life threatening if we act now.”  He rights himself, and nearly trips over Penny, who’s hovering by his elbow and peering over his shoulder to watch everything he’s doing.  “Although it would be easier to work if I had some space.”  He exhales and tells Penny, “I know you’re worried, but I assure you she’ll be fine.  If you allow me to do my job uninhibited.”

“Come on, Penny.”  Robyn puts a hand on Penny’s back and guides her towards the back exit of the tent.  “I’ll wait outside with you.”

Penny takes one last worried look at Ruby, hesitates, but doesn’t protest.  She follows Robyn out of the tent.  They sit in awkward silence.  Penny jerks up every other minute, depending on sounds coming from inside the tent.  Robyn ends up keeping a hand on her shoulder to keep her from rushing back inside.

“So,” Robyn begins.  “That stuff you did earlier, with the fire and the earth, that’s a neat trick.”

Penny stares down at her hands.  “It’s magic.  I…it’s hard to explain.”

“Well, we do have time.”  Robyn offers a reassuring smile, which doesn’t seem to do the job it was intended for.

Penny seems to consider her options in her head, and then tells Robyn, “There are maidens, one for each season, who were once given enormous magical power.  When one dies, the magic gets passed on to a successor.  The Winter Maiden, her name was Fria.  I was with her when…when she passed.”  Penny holds up a hand and summons a flurry of snowflakes out of nowhere.  “So, I have the magic now.”  Her eyes turn downcast.  “I wasn’t supposed to.  None of this was…” she trails off.

Robyn prods gently, “I know you probably don’t want to talk about it, but, if you could tell me what happened?  If there’s an attack coming, I need to know what to prepare for.”  

For a long moment, Penny doesn’t reply.  Then, “General Ironwood…”  Penny wraps her arms around herself.  “He…he made a deal.  With Salem.”  She squeezes her eyes shut.  “Silver-eyed people have a special power against the Grimm, so Salem wants them destroyed.”

Robyn has an idea where this is going, but she waits for Penny to say it anyway.

“Ironwood’s plan was to use the staff to raise Atlas, but he needed…”  the next word, ‘me’, comes out so quietly Robyn isn’t sure she heard it at all.  “…but I…I wasn’t there.  I…” Penny inhales a large breath.  “He ordered his ships to chase us and shoot us down.  My father was…injured.  In the crash.  Ruby, she tried to protect me.  There was too many of them.  We were captured.”  Penny starts to tremble.  “But Salem was already here.  Ironwood was out of time.”  She balls her hands into fists.  “So, he made a deal.  He…he would hand over Ruby to her, if she gave him an extra hour.  Salem agreed.”  Penny presses her forehead against her knees.

Robyn wraps an arm around Penny’s shoulders and squeezes her gently.

“Neo came for Ruby,” Penny goes on.  “Instead of taking her, Neo tried to kill her.  I intervened.  I couldn’t just let her…” Penny chokes up.  “I called a snowstorm and got us out of there.  I didn’t know where to go, so I hid.”  She whimpers.  “It’s all my fault.”

“Penny,” Robyn starts slowly.  “No.  None of this is your fault.”

“But, I—“

“It’s Ironwood’s.  He decided to abandon Mantle.  He decided to sacrifice Ruby.  Not you.  You did the right thing.  You saved her.”

“I’m the reason she’s hurt!”  Penny protests.  “If I had just followed orders,  if she hadn’t tried to protect me, if I…if we…” her voice goes quiet.  “Neo chose me.  When she attacked Ruby.  She chose to look like me.  Ruby—my death was hard for her.  She mourned me.  She didn’t know.  How could she?  She couldn’t…Ruby wouldn’t…even if it was Neo just using my face.”  Penny stops and looks at Robyn.  “I’m the reason Ruby is hurt,” she repeats.

“You’re also the reason she’s alive,” Robyn gently reminds her.

They fall into silence.

After some time, the doctor emerges from the tent.  “I’ve done all I can for now,” he announces.  “She’s resting now and will likely sleep for the next few—“  Penny rushes into the tent before the doctor can finish the word ‘hours’.  He huffs.  “Do keep an eye on them,” he grumbles to Robyn before leaving.

.

Tentatively, Penny approaches Ruby’s bedside.  She hesitates, and then places her hand overtop Ruby’s.  “I’m sorry.  For everything,” she whispers.

“Don’t be.”  Ruby’s eyes flutter open.  Her gaze is weary.  She’ll likely fall asleep again in the next few minutes, but, for now, she’s awake.  “You mean so much to me, Penny.  You have no idea.  I lov…” Ruby’s eyes drift closed again.

Penny kisses Ruby’s forehead.  She murmurs, “I love you too.”  She curls up in a makeshift seat that’s been placed by the cot and settles in.

There is much yet that has to be done.  Atlas and Mantle need to be saved.  Penny and Ruby need to find and reunite with their friends.  What will perhaps be one of the biggest fights of their lives is still ahead of them.

For now, though, they will rest with the relative safety of knowing that the other one will be there when they wake up.

[littlemisssquiggles]

Hi! So I know that at the beginning of the vol Whitley stans were very adamant about NOT having Whitley a villian but right now I'm a little open to the idea. His set up could go down the villain origin route and it would likely make a lot of sense. We didn't want Whitley to be a villain bc we thought he would be written as a mini Jacques. What would your thoughts be if Whitley was turned a villain, but bc of what's happened to him, and not bc he's a mini Jacques? Do you think it could happen?

Hello anon-chan. Here’s the thing with that idea. I used to be open to thethought of Whitley potentially playing villain…but only as an accomplice to Jacques in his crimes. 

Once upon a time, I shared a Whit-tyheadcanon describing a scenario in which Whitleyhad unlocked his Schnee family semblance, giving Jacques a golden opportunityto exploit his son’s newfound abilities and his grandfather’s powerful familybloodline for his own selfish gain. Since the World of Remnant episode on theSchnee Dust Company teased a secret criminal underbelly connected to thebusiness involving nefarious schemes against competitors and abuse of Faunuslabour, I was banking on the story delving more into that for Weiss’ side ofthe story for the Atlas Arc.

Unfortunately, the PLOT for V7 neverreally touched upon the topic of Faunus abuse or any of the other crimes of theSDC.

As a matter of fact, all that was previousestablished groundwork seemed to have been rolled into Jacques one plot to workwith Watts in order to gain a seat for himself on the ruling Council of Atlasand…that was it. Sure, we got to see Jacques get his just desserts by beingarrested but that was mostly for assisting Watts by granting him access toAtlas’ and Mantle’s key mainframe. Even now, there still hasn’t been any moreproper acknowledgement of the Faunus abuse under the SDC as teased last seasonby Adam Taurus’ revealed scar.

The conclusion with Jacques is anotherexample of the PLOT providing the audience with an outcome without anot-so-good build up to it. It’s like eating a cheeseburger without the meatand cheese. All you get is the two dry buns. While it’s edible and serviceable toyour hungering appetite, it’s still not as good as it could have been if youhad the filling to complete the full burger you were expecting; y’know what Imean? This is how this subplot felt to me. I got the intriguing beginning andthe befitting ending but the middle that should’ve better sold ending for meleft more to be desired, in my opinion. But that’s just me.

Anyways, going back to Whitley, why Ibring up the Crimes of the SDC, I was originally opened to the idea of Whitleytemporarily playing the villain role as a means of helping his father. Heck Ieven had one idea that I never shared in which Whitley was blackmailed intohelping the villains capture our heroes as a means of protecting his familyinclusive of his father.

However given how the show has wrappedup this subplot, I’m not for Whit temporarily playing villain anymore. What Imostly wish for Whit right now is for himand Weiss to reconcile their relationship and start things on a new page. With the PLOT having Willow urge Weiss to look out for heryounger brother, I’m banking on them delivering on that; possibly going forwardtoward V8.

Like imagineif…by the end of V7, with Jacques now inthe custody of the authorities charged for his crimes, Willow decides to checkherself into rehab so that she could finally get help for her alcoholism. Sonow with all of his family leaving him behind, Whitley is even more alone thanhe ever was before and it takes a toll on him emotionally. During this time,Weiss attempts to extend an olive branch to Whit. However each time Weiss makesan attempt for her and Whit to finally connect, Whit shoots down Weiss’propositions; metaphorically slamming the door on the two potentially sharing agood relationship. I likedthis idea since it synonymously hearkens back to the timeduring V4 when Whitley extended help to Weiss only to have her use hersemblance to slam the door on his face. While I know Whit approaching Weiss backthen was right after she had been punished by Jacques and accused him ofmanipulating her, nonetheless, I’d still like to think that Whit genuinelywanted to help his sister back then only to have her refuse him.

So if Weiss were to do the same withWhit right now, I’m certain he would slam the door in on her. As a matter offact, I can even picture Whit being less willing to have any kind of associationwith Weiss especially since she was the one responsible for their father’simprisonment.

Instead of there being a villain subplotwith Whit, I’d much rather watch Weiss try and be a better, more supportive bigsister for her little brother and have the plot focus on her working to repairtheir bond; possibly even with flashbacks to their childhood together.

Plus I don’t want Whit to be a villainsince it would more or less lend to the impression that folks originally had ofhim. As a Whit myself, I’d like to believe that part of the reason why Whitleystans don’t favour the villain angle with him is because it plays into the FNDMassumption that Whitleywas going to turn out exactly like his father–-as you said, a mini-Jacques Schnee.

It is for this reason why I fell inlove with the idea of Whitley unlocking his family semblance. It could give himsomething to connect with his sisters on since Whit’s original belief was thathe was exactly like their father. It’d be interesting if in the end, Whit isactually no different from his sisters as he shares in their power. Who knows?Perhaps this could’ve even lent to Weiss training Whitley on how to use hispowers, similar to how Winter taught her.

I’d also loved to think that growing upWeiss was also trained by her grandfather: Nicholas Schnee. As a matter offact, I like the idea of Weiss originally being trained on her powers by Nickbut after he passed away, Winter—who had already joined the military at thetime—returned to take over her sister’s training in Nick’s place and that’show the two were able to bond.

I also have this idea in my head where whenWhitley was younger, he used to be more like Nicholas in terms of personalityand thus this lent to him and Weiss originally being close as children untiltheir father forced a wedge between them the instant Nick has passed away. Orsomething like that. I just thought it would’ve been nice to see Whitley beingtrained to use his powers, gaining a different impression of his family powerand his sister’s desire to become a huntsman. While Whit still doesn’t become ahuntsman himself, his main takeaway ends up being his newfound appreciation forthe huntsman and what they represent as inspired by his older sister. I likedthe idea of Whitley taking over as CEO of the SDC but through his time withWeiss, he is reminded of the side of him that had more in common with NicholasSchnee than all the Schnee Siblings. So basically the SDC undergoes a return toform with Whit as its new head; mirroring the same level of brilliance andcompassion that his grandfather once had. That’s one idea.

As a Whit, part of the reason I eventuallylatched onto his character was because I felt sympathetic toward Whitley. I never really pegged him as the manipulativelittle bastard that the PLOT wanted me to believe he was after V4 especiallysince I reviewed that whole volume and realized that Whitley had done nothingto deserve the backlash he received from both his sister and the FNDM.

I always liked to idea of Whit beingmore of a misunderstood character and even now, I still believe that. If I had to picturethe villain card being played for Whitley, I can only see it from the angle ofWhit being a pawn— manipulated by other more antagonistic characters preying onhis vulnerability and insecurities surrounding his relationship with his familyto use Whit to achieve their own selfish desires. At least as a pawn Ican still empathize with Whit over him just going flat out evil.

This is why I liked my original headcanon of Whit unintentionally unlocking his own abilities and Jacquestaking advantage of his semblance to bank on more success for himself. But sinceJacques’ out, so is that idea. 

The one concept I’m willing to chum up to now asan alternative is one where an emotionally vulnerable Whitley; starved forproper support and attention by the women in his life, is seduced byNeopolitan and manipulated into helping her and Cinder somehow.

I’m still waiting for that so-called “super-duper irredeemable thing” that Neo does to shock the FNDM that was teased last V6. Still notsure where folks heard that rumour but I’m waiting on it. It’d be interestingif Neo gets her mittens on Whit and preys on him especially if he is very vulnerable right now.

I don’t know how old Neo is supposed tobe. I keep hearing people imply that she’s supposed to be young, probablyaround the same age as our young heroes. Cinder even called her ‘girl’ backin V6. If I had to guess Neo’s age, she’s probably around 18-19 years old for theyoungest.

And if I had to guess Whitley’s age, I’vealways pegged him as being around the same age as Ruby. Some folks peg Whit tobe closer to Oscar’s age but for me, I more placed Whitley between Ruby and Oscarleaning closer to Ruby’s age. So if Ruby’s currently 17 years old, I peg Whitto be probably be around 16-17.

That being said, I’m picturing ascenario where Cinder convinces Neo to chum up to Whit; play into using herfeminine wilds to makefriends with Whitley especially now that he’sall alone with not even mommy dearest to really look out for him. Not saying this willbe a possibility. I mean I can’t even picture a prospective PLOT motive for Neoand Cinder to even need Whitley.

Outside of Ruby, the only other personI can picture Fire andIce-cream targeting is the Winter Maiden. Andunless the hospital facility Fria is currently housed in is somehow connected tothe Schnee Dust Company then I can’t really see a reason to have Whitley beaffiliated with Neo and Cinder. If Weiss Schnee had been Neo’s target insteadof Ruby then I could’ve easily seen Neo getting to Weiss through manipulatingher little brother; sparking furthertension between the Schnee Siblings.

However that’s not the case. I dunno.

I think for now I’m just going to stickwith my earlier aspiration. Just having the PLOT more focus on rebuilding Weissand Whitley’s relationship and let that be the focal point of their conjoinedstory. Toss in the idea of Whitley unlocking his semblance and being unable tocontrol his powers leading to Weiss having to help him get that under controldespite their tension and that could be a cool subplot to see play out. I’drather that than Whit being a villain entirely.

A pawn, maybe. But not a villain. Even with all that’s happened to him now, I wouldn’t expect that of Whit. That’s my verdict anon-chan.

~LittleMissSquiggles(2020)

[mclteen]

The Manchester Libraries’ Most Popular YA Books of 2018

Like last year, I ran some statistics and see what our best-performing YA books published in 2018 were, as well as our best-performing books overall. Here's the list:

Top Books Published in 2018:

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi (33 checkouts, 2 copies) Seventeen-year-old Zélie, her older brother Tzain, and rogue princess Amari fight to restore magic to the land and activate a new generation of magi, but they are ruthlessly pursued by the crown prince, who believes the return of magic will mean the end of the monarchy.

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert (16 checkouts) Seventeen-year-old Alice and her mother have spent most of Alice's life on the road, always a step ahead of the uncanny bad luck biting at their heels. But when Alice's grandmother, the reclusive author of a cult-classic book of pitch-dark fairy tales, dies alone on her estate, the Hazel Wood, Alice learns how bad her luck can really get.

Tempests and Slaughter by Tamora Pierce (16 checkouts) Arram Draper is on the path to becoming one of the realm's most powerful mages. The youngest student in his class at the Imperial University of Carthak, he has a Gift with unlimited potential for greatness—and for attracting trouble. At his side are his two best friends: Varice, a clever girl with an often-overlooked talent, and Ozorne, the "leftover prince" with secret ambitions. Together, these three friends forge a bond that will one day shape kingdoms. And as Ozorne gets closer to the throne and Varice gets closer to Arram's heart, Arram realizes that one day—soon—he will have to decide where his loyalties truly lie. In the Numair Chronicles, readers will be rewarded with the never-before-told story of how Numair Salmalín came to Tortall.

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black (15 checkouts) Jude was seven years old when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King. To win a place at the Court, she must defy him—and face the consequences. In doing so, she becomes embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, discovering her own capacity for bloodshed. But as civil war threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.

The Smoke Thieves by Sally Green (15 checkouts) The fates of teens Tasha, Catherine, Ambrose, and March, whose lives would never intersect, are intertwined in a war between kingdoms.

I Have Lost My Way by Gayle Forman (13 checkouts) Around the time that Freya loses her voice while recording her debut album, Harun is making plans to run away from everyone he has ever loved, and Nathaniel is arriving in New York City with a backpack, a desperate plan, and nothing left to lose. When a fateful accident draws these three strangers together, their secrets start to unravel as they begin to understand that the way out of their own loss might just lie in helping the others out of theirs.

Restore Me by Tahereh Mafi (13 checkouts) It's been sixteen days since Juliette Ferrars killed the supreme commander of North America and took over as ruler of the Reestablishment on the continent...Juliette thought she'd won. She took over sector 45 and now has Warner by her side. But she's still the girl with the ability to kill with a single touch—and with so much power in her young hands, the world is watching her every move, waiting to see what happens next.

The Burning Maze by Rick Riordan (13 checkouts) The Greek god Apollo, cast down to earth as the ungifted human teenager Lester Papadopoulos, and his demigod friends must go through the Labyrinth to find the third emperor—and an Oracle who speaks in word puzzles—somewhere in the American Southwest.

I Stop Somewhere by T.E. Carter (11 checkouts) After she is raped and murdered, fifteen-year-old Ellie Frias, who felt invisible in life, finds herself caught in Hollow Oaks, New York, observing other brutal attacks, the police investigation, and more.

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson (11 checkouts) Ellingham Academy is a famous private school in Vermont founded by Albert Ellingham, an early twentieth century tycoon, who wanted to make a wonderful place full of riddles, twisting pathways, and gardens. Shortly after the school opened, his wife and daughter were kidnapped. The only real clue was a mocking riddle listing methods of murder, signed with the frightening pseudonym “Truly, Devious.” True-crime aficionado Stevie Bell is set to begin her first year at Ellingham Academy, and she has an ambitious plan: She will solve this cold case. But something strange is happening. Truly Devious makes a surprise return, and death revisits Ellingham Academy.

Furyborn by Claire Legrand (11 checkouts) When assassins ambush her best friend, Rielle Dardenne risks everything to save him, exposing herself as one of a pair of prophesied queens: a queen of light, and a queen of blood. To prove she is the Sun Queen, Rielle must endure seven elemental magic trials. If she fails, she will be executed...unless the trials kill her first. One thousand years later, the legend of Queen Rielle is a fairy tale to Eliana Ferracora. A bounty hunter for the Undying Empire, Eliana believes herself untouchable—until her mother vanishes. To find her, Eliana joins a rebel captain and discovers that the evil at the empire's heart is more terrible than she ever imagined.

The Fates Divide by Veronica Roth (11 checkouts) When Cyra's father Lazmet Noavek, a soulless tyrant thought to be dead, reclaims the throne, Cyra Noavek and Akos Kereseth are desperate to stop him from igniting a barbaric war.

Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli (10 checkouts) When it comes to drumming, Leah Burke is usually on beat—but real life isn’t always so rhythmic. She’s an anomaly in her friend group: the only child of a young, single mom, and her life is decidedly less privileged. And even though her mom knows she’s bisexual, she hasn’t mustered the courage to tell her friends—not even her openly gay BFF, Simon. So Leah really doesn’t know what to do when her rock-solid friend group starts to fracture in unexpected ways. It’s hard for Leah to strike the right note while the people she loves are fighting—especially when she realizes she might love one of them more than she ever intended.

Not if I Save You First by Ally Carter (10 checkouts) Six years ago Maddie lived in Washington D.C. with her father, a Secret Service agent assigned to the President's family, and her best friend was Logan, the President's son; but after her father was wounded in an attempted kidnapping the two of them moved to a remote cabin in Alaska and Logan never replied to her letters—but now he has suddenly turned up on her doorstep, and, while she has no intention of forgiving him for his silence, she soon realizes that first she has to save him from the winter wilderness and the men who are pursuing him.

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland (10 checkouts) Jane McKeene was born two days before the dead began to walk the battlefields of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania—derailing the War Between the States and changing the nation forever.  Now laws like the Native and Negro Education Act require certain children attend combat schools to learn to put down the dead.  Jane is studying to become an Attendant, trained in both weaponry and etiquette to protect the well-to-do.  But it's not a life Jane wants.  When families around Baltimore County begin to go missing, Jane is caught in the middle of a conspiracy...and the restless dead are the least of her problems.

Bloom into You, Vol. 4 by Nakatani Nio (10 checkouts) The script for the student council play is finally finished! To make sure it is a success, the council holds a practice camp during summer vacation. Touko, Sayaka, and Yuu soon find themselves faced with sleeping together in the same room. Whatever happens at camp, it promises to be three days of super-charged emotions!

Whisper by Lynette Noni (10 checkouts) A girl known as Jane Doe who has the power to change reality has been held in a secret government facility for more than two years, but everything changes when she gets a new handler, the mysterious but kind Landon Ward.

Top Books Published Any Year:

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi (33 checkouts, 2 copies)

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green (29 checkouts, 2 copies)

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (20 checkouts, 2 copies)

Tokyo Ghoul, Vol. 1 by Sui Ishida (19 checkouts)

One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus (19 checkouts)

Tokyo Ghoul, Vol. 2 by Sui Ishida (17 checkouts)

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert (16 checkouts)

Project You: More than 50 Ways to Calm Down, De-stress, and Feel Great by Aubre Andrus (16 checkouts)

Tempests and Slaughter by Tamora Pierce (16 checkouts)

La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman (16 checkouts)

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black (15 checkouts)

The Smoke Thieves by Sally Green (15 checkouts)

Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas (15 checkouts)

[real-jaune-isms]

RWBY Volume 8 Chapter 8 Review/Remix

RWBY finally comes back from a 2 month break, and what does it do? It scares us all half to death and then obliterates the other half with insane new story concepts and body horror imagery. Gods I missed this show~...

We return to this chaotic mess with the scene you might be expecting the least, Qrow and Robyn in their prison cells. Qrow is awoken by the sound of ships and explosions outside, and find that his three block mates are similarly left sleepless. Jacques is particularly nervous, probably because he assumed Whitley would be here to bail him out by now. Qrow picks up on an incoming sound that sounds... different, and indeed a wall is blown down in a fiery explosions that starts sending down rubble. One section of the Hard Light cell walls have been taken down, but before anyone has time to act Robyn notices a crow vehemently cawing at her before some rubble comes down above her. And... that’s the last we see of Robyn or Qrow this episode. He transformed to be a smaller target for debris and she might not have made it out quickly enough even with his disguised possible warnings.

Back to more pressing matters, we take the perspective of... the Dragonborn in the opening of Skyrim?? Wait, no, it’s just Nora regaining consciousness to see Klein has given her an IV and is saying she’ll be on the mend real quick. So that’s some good news after a few months of worry, and hey! The fan theory was wrong, she didn’t go blind from the lightning! Before we can even dwell on her wellbeing for too long, Blake opens the door for Ruby Weiss and Whitley to carry in Penny’s unconscious body. As Blake points out, Penny is leaking a green fluid most likely comparable to blood. They set her down on a cot near Nora, and Whitley is pissed about getting his clothes stained again in the span of 48 hours. But I think robot fuel/blood is at least easier to wash out than red wine. Ruby of course wants to know if Klein can help Penny as well as he has Nora, but his wheelhouse of expertise does not cover advanced robotics. The saving grace is that Pietro made her so close to human so Klein has some idea what can actually be fixed, starting with sewing up the gash in her abdomen. A thunderous rumble is heard in the distance, and suddenly the lights go out. Whitely complains about this too, but it is rather valid. Nothing quite seems to be going right, even Atlas’ power grid is against them... Ruby gets a call from May, and we learn they parted ways so May could go regroup with the Happy Huntresses and save her city. They compare notes and it’s made clear a bombing run took out part of the city’s power, though less clear is who was doing that bombing, Atlas or the Grimm? Ruby apologizes for their current inaction while they tend to Penny, but May reassures her that this may end up being more productive than trying to find something worth doing outside the city. Great googly moogly, it’s all gone to shit, and there’s very little difference a few more huntresses can make to the Mantle efforts. Ruby is left in overwhelmed despair, there’s so many problems and she doesn’t know how to solve all of them. Klein butts in with a sneeze to say she should take it one problem at a time, focus on the most immediate and possible to achieve and work outwards. For one thing, it’d help a lot of they had lights and power. 

Willow surprises everyone by showing up in the doorway to let them know about a backup generator on the edge of the estate property. She’s still the lady of this house, and she has enough self respect to not lie around getting drunk in the dark. Whitley greets her with a mix of disinterest and distain, and she notices Klein has returned to the manor and offers an off guard greeting. Weiss backs up her mom’s info drop with the fact that SDC executive members indeed have access to backup power sources if the city ever suffered a power outage like this. She doesn’t like that they have that kind of privilege while other folks suffer, but it’s for the greater good this time. This gets Whitley thinking, and my boy has a full Jimmy Neutron BRAIN BLAST! Since Jacques made him heir to the company, and the man himself is possibly dead under rubble, Whitely has full access to the Schnee Dust Company and all its resources. Since Ironwood put down the Dust embargo in Volume 4, their fleet of cargo ships are sitting empty and ready for use in a hangar. As we saw earlier this very chapter, there are automated drones that answer to the SDC rather than the Atlas military. They can use those ships and drone soldiers to give all the people stuck in Mantle a way out to fly away safely. Fantastic work, young man! You make your family proud... well, the family members who don’t commit war crimes for profit. But to do that they need the power back on so he can use Jacques’ computer, so that’s what Ruby and Blake set out to do. Getting inside the small building outside of the mansion is easy enough, and its just the flip of a switch to get the generator booting back up. In the meantime, the two share a genuinely sweet conversation. Blake reassures Ruby that the fact she’s trying to make things happen is all the world could ask of her, and an optimistic attitude like that is hard to stick with for long in this harsh world. Life in the White Fang and with Adam robbed Blake of her own similar mindset, but she truly admires and looks up to Ruby for how great a woman she is. Sadly, like most things, this moment is ruined by a Grimm. While all the lights are coming back on and Whitley gets to work, a bolt of lightning reveals that the Hound is just outside the window behind Ruby... Willow and Klein are casually sitting around waiting I guess, when they hear the loud crash of glass breaking and Willow reflexively reaches for her bottle of vodka. Weiss checks in on her teammates over comms and they tell her they need some help so she makes sure Whitley will have the business handled before she rushes out to save her friends. Ruby is getting tossed through a fresh hole in the wall, and Blake’s attempt to attack it while she regains her footing is just batted away. Blake assures Ruby that it’s just a Grimm, they can handle it as long as she can stay focused. Blake goes on the offensive again while Ruby tries to get her Silver Eyes going, but the Hound swats the Faunus girl away and tackles Ruby before sprouting its wings again with her in its clutches Blake uses the ribbon on her weapon to do what Ren had earlier in the Volume, though she anchors the other end in the ground as a tether rather than ride along as it leaves.

Weiss finally arrives at the scene of this chaos and reports the Grimm sighting back to Klein. Hearing the news of this beastly intruder leaves Willow so shaken she drops the bottle and glass she was pouring herself. Klein tries to reassure and calm her, but she’s too overwhelmed and runs out of the room... just as Penny reactivates with red eyes. Full on hacked now, and  Klein gets shoved to the floor for all his concerns about her being on her feet again. But she barely takes two steps before the real Penny resurfaces and tries to fight back for control of her own body. The struggle is deep enough to summon a whirling wind around her much like Fria had last Volume, but this one is green because Penny. Back outside, Weiss is about to summon something when a couple Centinels burrow up behind her and tear through it. From the looks of it, I think it was going to be the Nevermore from all the way back in Volume 1, so that’s a pretty cool callback to how important that fight was, and the imagery of glowing wings behind her was beautiful while it lasted. The Hound breaks free of Blake’s tether and is about to soar away, much to her dismay, when it sees a bright green glow coming from in the manor, clearly Penny going through her identity crisis. Ruby puts two and two together and realizes why the Hound has been saying “Take the Girl.” The girl is Penny, whose blood is still on Ruby’s clothes so it got a little confused while tracking. She warns her teammates, but the Hound chooses that time to drop her like a sack of potatoes and there goes the last of her Aura. Blake tells Weiss to go back inside and stop the Hound while she handles the Centinels out here, and they split up, but before Blake can reach her leader a new creature erupts from the ground and it’s bigger and more gross than the last bugs. It spits acid that comes up through a tube along its belly, and I’m confident in calling it an Alpha Centinel. Back in the eye of the storm, Klein tries to reassure Penny that she’s okay, which is phrased a little but I assume he means as “you’re in a safe place and your injuries have been treated, you don’t need to defend yourself like this”. The man is just a butler, he doesn’t know what we do about her internal struggle against antagonistic programming and her wrestling with her sense of self. Whatever new orders Watts has given her, she really doesn’t want to follow them. Luckily, there’s someone at her side to comfort her and hold her hand, and that’s Nora. Passing along the comforting words she got from Blake earlier this Volume, she tells Penny she doesn’t have to just be and do what other people expect of her. She may feel like a part of her is making her do what she doesn’t want to, but don’t forget about the rest. She’s more than just that one part of her mind or persona. It’s nowhere near the same situation as Nora’s own identity crisis earlier, but the words have the same positive effect. Penny gains control again and the wind barrier subsides. Weiss reports in that the Hound is heading inside and she’s on her way to intercept, and gets the bad news that Willow fled the room to go who knows where. Well, we know now cuz we see it, she went to what I assume is her own bedroom (god forbid she and Jacques still share a bed after 8 years of the most sour their marriage has been). On her vanity there’s another bottle or two of booze, and her Scroll. She wants to retreat to what she knows best, but hesitates and then gets spooked by the shattering sound of the Hound breaking in through the window above the front door.

It picks up on Penny’s scent from the blood stained on the floor, but by the time Weiss charges in through the front door it’s gone. The next five minutes of the episode have major horror movie vibes, and I love it. Weiss slowly looks around the foyer for any sign of the beast, when Willow screams over her Scroll to look out above her and indeed the Hound drops down to backhand her into a piano. Instead of staying to attack her, it goes to follow Penny’s scent again and leaves Weiss to check in with her mom after that sudden warning. Biggest triumph thus far, Willow threw her bottle against a wall and instead pulled up the feed from her series of surveillance cameras around the manor on her Scroll to track the Hound. It’s near Winter’s old bedroom, and Willow doesn’t seem to understand that it’s tracking a scent like a bloodhound. Maybe she just doesn’t encounter Grimm a lot or they’re just usually not this competent and singularly focused. She recognizes the direction it’s heading next with great horror, and what we see next gives us that same dread. Whitley still has blood on his clothes, and he dismisses Willow’s warning cuz he probably doesn’t think she has anything to say worth hearing after his years of dealing with her drunken state. He’s almost done setting up the automated orders, when he hears the door starting to open and angrily snaps at what he assumes is Willow coming to check on him since he didn’t answer the call. But he is dead wrong and hides behind the desk immediately, because it is indeed the Hound come to potentially kill him. He’s doing his best to hide, but it expands its vocabulary to tell him it knows he’s here. Just as it’s about to round the corner, an Alpha Boarbatusk charges in and pins it to the wall. Weiss isn’t the only Schnee in the house who can summon, and Willow will not let her son die this day. He’s about to bolt out of the room while it’s preoccupied with the summon, but turns back to hit Yes on the computer and get the evacuation plans started. Good job kid, you did more to save Mantle than your father and Ironwood combined. The two sprint down the hall with the Hound in hot pursuit, but get some respite from an ice wall forming between them and the Grimm thanks to Weiss arriving from the opposite direction. She’s out of breath, but assures them she didn’t forget about either of them, most likely as a callback to the conversation she and Willow had last Volume about Whitley being left behind when Weiss and Winter sought independence. The unarmed Schnees express their gratitude and retreat from that wing of the house, and Weiss prepares her summons for combat with the beast breaking through the ice.

Back outside, Blake is struggling with the Alpha Centinel and complains about how gross it is. She avoids its scythe blade-like arms with some clever use of elementally charged shadow clones and begs for Ruby to wake up and give her some backup. But that can’t last forever and eventually it holds her by the neck ready to slice. Before it can, though, Ruby wakes up and bisects it first. She laughs weakly and tells Blake she heard what she was saying. They hear a scream coming from inside the mansion and head inside to meet up with the others. Weiss and the Hound hear it too, and the Hound stops doing its best “Here’s Johnny” impression through the hole in the ice to go chase down this new sound. We see the source of it, and it is in fact Penny losing control of herself again to the new programming. The red eyes stay this time, and she shoves Klein aside once again to stiffly and mechanically walk out to the foyer. As fate would have it, Willow and Whitely are there too, and they naturally question the fact that she’s emotionlessly walking past them when last they saw she was bleeding and unconscious. She responds that she’s going to open the vault, and then apparently self destruct. Not to state the obvious, but we really can’t let that happen so lets hope the power of love will break through to her. Before Penny can even get down the stairs, the Hound arrives to try and grab her and she catches his hand effortlessly, and then the other, so they’re stuck in a shoving match stalemate. The Hound solves this problem by growing a new arm out of its back and using it to grab Penny by the head. It slams her around like a ragdoll, still repeating “Take the Girl”, and holds a claw up to her throat when RWB arrive at the bottom of the stairs. Blake and Weiss are unsure how to intervene, but Ruby goes stone cold serious telling it that’s enough. In the literal blink of her eye, a Silver Eyed blast blinds it and sends it falling out the window behind it leaving Penny to tumble down the stairs unconscious again. They hope and pray the threat is over as they check her body, but the real horror starts now. 

The Hound claws his way back up through the window, and part of his head has been blasted away to reveal a dog faunus with one intact silver eye. In a voice likely not used in a long time, he continues to repeat his orders to “Take the Girl...” Ruby is mortified and shell shocked to see a living person within the frame of this beast unlike any she’s known prior, and I’m sure the wheels in her mind are turning to wonder if Summer Rose suffered a similar undying fate at Salem’s hands... and if that’s what will happen to her if she is captured? He begins shambling towards them and they try to carry Penny away from him but end up cornered. Whitley gets an idea and he and Willow start pushing on the knight statue nearest to them. Just as the Hound, whose human portion I have been inspired by a podcast to call Johnny, is about to grab the girls the statue falls down and crushes him to death. A choir chants in Latin as the Grimm fades away... and for the first time leaves behind a skeleton. Ruby seems shaken to her core as she confirms to the others that that was in fact a person they saw in there.

Ending that side of the story entirely for the week, we go back to the rubble in the jail cell to see Cinder has found Watts and the two make a flying get away. So that’s fun, we’ll have to see if they make it back in time to intercept JRY trying to sneak through Monstra. Until then, I’m gonna sleep like the dead. Ciao!

[calliecat93]

Well guys, we made it. We made it to the end. The ride to this point has been utterly insane. Political corruption, Amity Arena, thirsty moms, the uncertainty of who to trust at every corner. November feels like a long time ago now, but alas here we are. To say that last week was a shock would be an understatement. It set the stage though, cause while IDK how this is gonna end, I don’t expect it to be happy. Am I right? Only one way to find out. For the final time this volume, let’s do this.

Overview

It’s JNR+Oscar vs Neo, and she’s so far able to hold her own against them. But she is still outnumbered four to one, so she uses an illusion to escape. Before the four can truly ponder on it, the Atlesian guards come after them, forcing them to flee. Meanwhile, Cinder is fighting Winter and Penny and having no trouble, though her anger is slowly growing. She outright says to Winter that, like everyone else in Atlas, they try to expand their power but it just makes those wanting it as well hungrier. And Cinder refuses to starve. It eventually leads to Cinder charging them all through a wall and out of the building, though they each save themselves form following to their death (Cinder via Maiden magic, Penny with her boosters, Winter by Summoning) and the fight continues on. Unfortunately, Cinder is able to break both Winter’s Summon and her Aura, forcing Penny to let Cinder go back into the building to save her. Winter protests, saying that her life isn’t worth it, but Penny disagrees.

JNR and Oscar continue to flee from the guards, but Oscar can’t keep up and ends up losing the other. He seems to be saved by Nora… except not. It’s Neo in disguise, and she’s now got the Lamp. Oscar runs with Jaune finding him, but Neo gets past him. Ren tries to stop her… but when he gets close and sees her as Nora looking sad, he hesitates. As such, Neo gets past him. The three boys run into more guards, forcing them to flee once more. The real Nora catches back up… and notices a visibly distressed and tearful Ren. Neo, now disguised as an Atlesian officer, walks away with the Lamp now in her possession.

If that weren’t bad enough, Cinder has pried open the Aura Transfer Pod and Fria is now awake. The poor old woman doesn’t understand what’s going on or even really remember why she’s been waiting in the facility. Cinder gets her Grimm Arm ready to kill Fria… but Fria grabs her arm. She remembers that she has a job to do, and thus activates the full Maiden power. It causes a massive explosion of magical snow and ice that is so cold, Cinder has to back away from it. Penny and Winter see this as the power explodes through the rooftop. Winter realizes what’s happening, but she too can’t get through because of the cold. Penny, however? She jumps through the hole and into the storm, leaving a shocked Winter behind.

JNR and Oscar are hiding in the training room, the latter feeling guilty for losing the Lamp. Jaune tells him it’s okay, but Ren is much more stressed. He feels that they weren’t ready to become Huntsmen and freaks out about how the enemies have the Relic while they’re failing, forcing Jaune to tell him to calm down. Fortunately, our heroes finally get a breather as Pietro has restored the Comms. He, Maria, Blake, and Yang are commandeering a ship and plan to come and get JNR. Which is good since the guards just found them. One problem though, at some point during this, Oscar left. He comms JNR to tell them that he can’t go with them, having something that he needs to do alone. He doesn’t explain what or why, just running through the Academy corridors. 

Penny gets back into Fria’s room, even as the ice tries to freeze her leg. She approaches Fria, who seems to be in some kind of trance state, and asks her if she’s okay. Fria notices, remembering that she is meant to protect the Maiden powers until she was ready. She seems to realize that it’s time, and is ready to tell James this. Penny points out what’ll happen, but Fria despite her fading memories is fully aware of this. The storm dies down and Fria collapses, Penny catching her. Fria asks her if she is ‘the one’, and the Protector of Mantle is unsure of how to answer.

In the Vault, Ironwood hears someone entering. He assumes it’s Winter and starts to apologize for what he made her do… but he turns and sees Oscar. While he is holding the cane in an Oz-like manner, this is infact Oscar as he tries to convince Ironwood to stop and repair the damage. Oscar wants to restore the trust, even though at this point even James notes that he doesn’t trust himself. He asks if Oscar is going to fight him, but the farmboy refuses, having the cane just because it helps comfort him when afraid. Though it’s likely due to Oz. He puts it away, trying to reason with James… but once he mentions this, James snaps. He feels that he was right and when he let his guard down, ti cost him. Oscar tries to point out everything wrong that he is doing by doign Mantle… but it all falls on deaf ears. 

James continues to go off about how people like Robyn and the Council, those he deems unable to look at the larger picture, are in his way… and that includes the person standing before him. Does he mean Oscar? Oz? Or both? You decide. When Oscar, at this point backed to the edge, says “Then you’re as dangerous as she is James”, the man in question points out that his friends call him by his first name… and coldly says that Oscar can refer to him as general. Without any hesitation or emotion, Ironwood draws and fires his gun right at Oscar. This not only breaks his Aura but knocks him over the edge. Ironwood merely watches the boy fall into the chasm below, doing nothing nor expressing anything at all.

Back at the facility, Cinder tries to attack once more, but Winter re-enters and slices off Cinder’s Grimm arm. She is screaming in pure agony as the arm grows back, which gives Winter time to see Penny with Fria and realize not only is Fria about to die, but her chance of getting the Maiden powers is slipping. But Cinder, arm grown back, launches a violent, rage-filled onslaught onto Winter. Penny stays by Fria, wordlessly comforting her as the elderly woman peacefully dies. But it looks like she’s chosen who her Maiden power will go to...a s the blue energy begins to transfer form her to Penny. Cinder realizes this too late as the familiar eye mask ignites vis Penny’s eyes. Yes, my friends, Penny Polendina is our new Winter Maiden.

Oscar continues to fall, the cane alongside him and his expression is almost blank. It seems like he’s given up and he starts to close his eyes… until a familiar voice echoes in his mind. His eyes flare green and this seems to reignite his will to go on as he reaches for the cane. At the same time, Ruby and Weiss finally arrive at the facility and see a battered Winter. Weiss is concerned, but the second that Ruby sees Cinder, she wastes no time. Her Silver Eyes activate just as Oscar grabs the cane, a green glow emitting from it. He presses the cane forward, blasting apart the bottom of the chasm and plunging him out of Atlas and into the open sky,

Throughout these next few moments as Oscar falls, we get a monologue from Ozpin. About how the one constant of every living thing in this world is fear. How we fear so many things. Failure. Loss. Growing close to someone. And of course, what those fears will manifest into. But it isn’t fear itself that is the issue, it is what we do in the face of it. Who we will become once we are stuck with it. What kind of person will we become? Will we be proud of that person? Can we forgive them? Do we even recognize that person as ourselves? Or do we end up becoming the very same thing that we feared all along?

“I supposed we all find out, sooner or later”

Cinder escapes, enraged at her failures once again. Neo gives her the Lamp though, which helps her calm down, though Neo is still as un-thrilled as ever. Maria, Pietro, and the Bees pick up JNR and head to pick up the others. Weiss rushes to Winter, who demands to know what she did to become wanted. She tells them to stand down and comply to the General… but a clearly broken up Weiss tells her that they can’t. Therefore, Winter tells them to go. Weiss refuses to leave her, but Winter says she’s giving them a head start as she calls for both medical and reinforcements. Weiss realizes what this means… and she, Ruby, and Penny get on the jet. Penny is understandably conflicted by what happened, but Ruby and Weiss comfort her and her father is also close by. We also get a short, but beautifully somber ballad called Until the End that was not only sung by Casey, but also her first song as the songwriter. Beautiful.

Our heroes escape, but not all is well. Qrow and Robyn are arrested and taken back to Atlas, the latter now having Clover’s bloodied badge. We also find out that Watts is alive, though incarcerated, but he sees something outside that makes him smirk evilly. Oscar is able to create a kind of energy bubble that breaks his fall and land safely but he is now all alone… well, almost. Ozpin is back now and Oscar knows that he saved him… but Oz counters this. It was Oscar who saved /them/. Oz begins to say something, but Oscar cuts him off. Right now, all he wants to know is how they can save Atlas now. As our heroes flee from the Kingdom, a direct parallel to when they first arrived back in the beginning, reports come in of some kind of enemy approach. One like nothing that they have seen before. In the sky, dark clouds emerge as what looks like a giant Grimm Whale emerges from them. That can only mean one thing. The chapter, and with it Volume 7, ends with the arrival of the Wicked Witch, and she is ready to unleash her wrath.

Review

Oh Lord… this was… something…

There is so much to go over, so let’s get on with it. First is the Maiden stuff. I think we all knew that neither Winter nor Cinder would get the power, but I’m glad that Penny did. I predicted it a week ago, but I’m certianly happy to see it come true. And honestly? She’s earned it. Unlike anyone else in Ironwood’s lot, Penny followed her heart. She valued feelings and emotions, even if she was still learning the concept. She could have followed Ironwood’s orders, but she didn’t. She could have killed Fria to stop her power, but she didn’t. She simply went up to her and talked to her, asking her if she’s okay. Like a compassionate human being. She allowed Fria to have a peaceful death. A death that she accepted herself, and due to ti, rewarded Penny with her power. Penny got her own Blue Fairy, and has now been proven to be a Real Girl. It is the perfect way to conclude her character arc this season, and I am so happy about it.

But it, of course, comes at a cost. Winter doesn’t get it, and unfortunately, she stays by Ironwood. It’s clearly not a choice that she’s making lightly. As I’ve said so many times, she feels that she owes Ironwood and the military. She feels like the General is trying to dow hat’s right, despite her heart telling her otherwise. We even see here, with her constant worry for Penny and ultimately giving Weiss the chance to escape, that she isn’t heartless. Winter still has hope, and er not getting the powers is probably the best thing for her. She didn’t get the destiny she was groomed for, and hopefully, this will allow her to look at the bigger picture and begin carving her own destiny. But t won’t be right now. It hurts her. When she tells Weiss that she’s giving her a head start, she sounds on the verge of tears. But nevertheless, she won’t turn on Atlas. On James. So for now, she and her sister and now enemies, and they both know it. But hopefully, this will only be temporary.

Upside though, the fight with her, Penny, and Cinder was excellent. It’s been V3 since we saw Winter fight, and while she got beat up pretty hard, she managed to hold her own against Cinder. The fight was excellent, especially when it went into the air. Probably one of, if not /the/ best fight of the volume. Neo vs JNR and Oscar was also good. Neo knew that she was outnumbered, and resorted to using trickery and craftiness just as her mentor would. As such, she got out without a scratch and with the Lamp. But JNR definitely managed to put up a fight and it was a really fun watch. I do worry about Ren though. He was horrified when he nearly harmed Neo while she looked like Nora and the recent events have him frustrated and worn down. I’m pretty sure he’ll stick by the heroes’ side, but with how much more closed off he’s been becoming, I worry if this will make him worse. We can only hope that Nora and Jaune can pull him back if that’s the case.

Then we have Cinder. I expected her to not be happy by the end, but… man, she went Azula-esque insane here. I think it’s becoming more and more clear why. Whatever happened in the past, it made CInder desire power. She doesn’t want to starve. Considering her inspiration of Cinderella, I have a pretty good idea of what likely happened. But even so, Cinder again fails. She’s so obsessed with power, she won’t grow what she has or realize what got her the Fall power, to begin with. It wasn’t because she overpowered Amber, it was because she had Emerald and Mercury there aiding her. But she feels that she’s powerful enough on ehr own now, but she keeps being proven wrong. She’s failed twice now, and with each failure, her rage grows more and more. Not to mention once again, Ruby came in unexpectedly and like before, ruined her chances by forcing her to flee to not get Silver Eyes blasted. Which seeing Ruby use it with zero hesitation just from seeing Cinder? Perfection. Due to it, Cinder lost her biggest chance at getting more power, though she does have the Relic. That’ll likely get her back into Salem’s favor, but I worry for Penny int he future since Cinder knows that she has it…

But it emphasizes the thing about Cinder. She is desperate for power. Even though she has a great deal already, she wants more and more. No matter what she has to do to get it, or who she has to slay. This is going to be her undoing one day. There’s been some talk about Cinder being redeemed… but I don’t see it. Cinder has taken immense pleasure in killing people, ruining people’s lives, and even jut injuring people like Weiss in V5 out of pure spite. She’s pretty much… well, Adam. She uses and abuses people to get what he wants, she takes pleasure in harming others even if they did nothing to her, she is obsessed with power, and most of all she has zero remorse for any of this. She wants power, and that’s all the justifications he needs. She’s done too much to earn redemption, especially considering what Adam and even Tyrian have done. I just don’t see her doing so. At most, she may turn on Salem, but it ain’t gonna be out of remorse. This chapter confirms for me that there is absolutely more to Cinder’s quest for power than just wanting it for itself… but that will only explain it, not justify it. If anything, with two failures under her belt, I only see her becoming much, much worse…

But now we come to the big thing.

Oscar tries to appeal to Ironwood but it fails. It is here that Ironwood goes from a good man making all the wrong choices to true villainy. Despite what he may claim, fear has absolutely taken control of him. Everything he is doing is out of fear of Salem winning. Sacrificing Mantle? Trying to raise Atlas? Sacrificing Fria and grooming Winter to do it? Trying to arrest a bunch of kids who tried to reason with him? All of it is because he is afraid, and that fear has shaped him into the very thing he feared all along. He has become like Salem. The moment that proves this? Him shooting Oscar. He shoots a teenaged boy who did nothing to him and only tried to help him. Why? Because he didn’t want to even consider that he may be wrong anymore, Oscar tried to help him. RWBY trie to help him. Even Ozpin, back in Volumes 2 and 3, tried to help him. Even Glynda talked to him! And every single time, Ironwood ignored it. He refused the help or the one time he did he snapped all because of a chess piece.

James was a good man, but he kept failing. He refused to listen, outright overthrew people if he didn’t like what they said even when it wasn’t his kingdom (hi end of V2!), and continued to fail. This is the final step in his fall from grace. No longer is he the good man who despite his missteps has the best of intentions. Even though he knows that he’s causing hundreds of deaths, he’s too lost in his paranoia and fear to care. He not only shot a teenaged boy with zero hesitation but in his mind, shot the man who refused to listen to him from the start. The same person who, in his mind, allowed this all to happen. Despite Oz’s lies, he /did/ honestly try to reason with Ironwood so many times, and again, Ironwood didn’t listen. The only person to blame for his position is himself, but he won’t’ admit it. His hopes are shattered, and they can’t be mended any more. The James Ironwood we met in Volume 2 is dead, now replaced with a heartless tin soldier.

Indeed, the ending is bleak. Our heroes escaped, but they’re still wanted by the Atlesian military. Penny got the Maiden powers, but it paints a target on her back form all sides and Fria still died. Winter survived, but she stands by Ironwood and thus lets go of Weiss. Oscar awakened his powers, but he’s separated from everyone. Qrow and Robyn have been arrested, meaning RWBYJNR lost one of their best fighters and Ruby and Yang their uncle, and Mantle lost its hero and the Happy Huntresses’ their leader. Atlas doesn’t get raised, but James is as enraged as ever and he still condemned Mantle to die. But worse of all, Salem has arrived. She not only has the giant Whale Grimm, but her massive army of Flying Monkeys. The military is likely unprepared, Mantle is defenseless, and Salem looks more than ready to unleash her wrath. Things… do not look good, folks.

I think the thing that best describes this chapter, and the volume as a whole, is the credits song Fear. Which first, another amazing song! But the song talks about the same things as Oz’s monologue. About how we all feel fear, and do so for various reasons. But it’s what we do in its wake that matters. James gave into the fear and ended up becoming the exact thing that he fought against. If he realizes it like is implied, he’s past the point of caring anymore. As I said, he’s no longer the same man we met. But in contrast, look at Ozpin. He’s lived in fear even longer, and it cost him so much. Volume 6 alone demonstrates this. But it seems like he may have realized it now. He knows what fear can do to someone. What it can turn one into. He’s been there, and he hated the person that he saw. It turned him into someone so different he didn’t even go by Ozma anymore. Due to it, he quit trusting others, and in turn, the heroes no longer trusted him. But has he learned now? It’s hard to say, but he is correct that at some point, sooner or later, we find out what fear turns us into.

The finale did its job of wrapping things up while leaving things open for the next volume, and did so excellent;y. It wrapped up all the remaining major plot threads, but left a couple open and opened plenty of new ones. It was animated very well. It had so many different emotions and the monologue from Oz was absolutely perfect. The only real bummer is that we didn’t get a stinger for the first time but honestly? It didn’t really need one. I think it ended exactly where it needed to, as mean as that ending is. In the end, I felt… no happy or even sad. I guess the word is somber. I think that may be the perfect way to describe this volume and where it lead us to as a whole, somber.

Volume Eight Predictions

It’s going to be outright war.

So we have Salem invading, but IDT she’ll unleash all the forces immediately. She’s gonna be smart about this. With the Lamp, Cinder will be able to get back in her good graces I feel, though if Emerald and Mercury are there IDK how they’ll feel about Neo. Emerald especially. James is not only going to want to face Salem for obvious reasons, but he’s going to want RWBYJNRO for both the Maiden and for screwing his plans over as massively as they did. IDK what the heroes are gonna do, though my guess is they’ll flee to Mantle since they’re the most vulnerable and since Atlas won’t save them, they will. But it won’t be easy. The city is without heating still, and at this point, the people are likely broken. Hopefully, they can fix this and resolve any of their own issues like Ren’s problems and any issues that these events will cause amongst themselves. Oscar will likely catch back up with the others very quickly, but who knows?

Any specifics? Well, we have Penny with the Maiden powers, so that could result in who knows what. We have O back and while I think that Oscar is willing to listen to him and accept his help, the others… ehh. Very least, I don’t see either Yang nor Jaune immediately accepting him back. Ruby I cans ee still having her issues, but she’s always but what’s best for others over anything else, so I think she’ll at least listen. Everyone else is right down the middle. Not to mention with Qrow gone, the kids are pretty much on their own now, and considering none of them have been in a war, they’re… not gonna have an easy time. We all thought this volume was rough? IIRC, CRWBY described this as Part One. Up next is Part Two, and all I can say for certain is it’s gonna be wild.

Episode Stats

Favorite Character: Penny Polendina and Oscar Pine Favorite Scene: All the scenes during Ozpin’s monologue Least Favorite Scene: None. It was all fantastic Favorite Voice Actor: Shannon McCormick (Ozpin) Favorite Animation: Oscar falling through the sky Rating: 10/10

Final Thoughts

I loved this chapter. IDK where it ranks among other finales, but it was still amazing. The emotions were so well conveyed and despite the cliffhanger ending, it wrapped up all that it needed to perfectly. This entire volume has been one heck of ride, and this was the cherry on top. I was greatly satisfied with the ending, and it was another amazing chapter to another amazing volume of RWBY. So Volume Eight? Bring it on.

And… that’s it, guys. I only have one more RWBY related review to do until V8, and that’s the full Volume Seven review. Though to be fair I am splitting it into two parts cause there is a loooot to cover. But as far as Episode Reviews go, that’s it until RvB18 starts. I’m kind of glad cause boy do I need a breather. But thank you, everyone, who has read this and my previous reviews, and I hope that you’ll stick around for the Volume 7 review. I’ll see you then~!

[real-jaune-isms]

RWBY Volume 7 Chapter 12 Review/Rundown

Well well well, looks like it did NOT get much better this week than it was last week. And with Miles and Kerry saying Volume 8 will still have our heroes in Atlas, I don’t see much of a happy and satisfying end to the finale next week either. But you know what they say, the night is darkest just before the dawn. I will say, there are definitely some things in this episode that folks did not like one bit, and subject matter that must be taken quite seriously. We will get to that, and I will do my best to take care. But just to be safe we’ll save that portion of the narrative for last.

So since we’re skipping over the first scene let’s instead begin with Winter stood still in the hallways of Atlas’s research labs looking at her phone. Ironwood has sent out wanted posters for Team RWBY, JNR, Oscar, and Qrow. It was only RWBY that he saw oppose his plan, but Ruby did tell everyone else and he knows them well enough to realize they would agree with RWBY. Winter is concerned over what Weiss has done to cause this, which seems a bit rude to assume but she does know how vocal her sister is about not trusting Ironwood so... it’s a somewhat fair assessment overall. Penny is instead worried about Ruby’s warning of Ironwood leaving Mantle to die, and she can’t believe Winter seems unfazed by that news, that she is actually defending his actions. We get a reprisal of their conversation from a few episodes ago about personal feelings being discouraged in this line of work and how they need to instead do as they are told. But Penny seems to have more of a heart here than her superior, or is at least more willing to listen to it. Winter may be groomed to think that her terror about her sister’s safety is a liability and weakness and shouldn’t be allowed to affect her judgments and obedience, but Penny stands firm that regardless of what they’re told these feelings should matter. Winter tries to appeal again, saying that Ironwood is making the tough decisions as a leader so they don’t have to. But that’s taking away their power of choice. A political leader doesn’t get to just do as he pleases because he’s the leader so clearly his actions are for the good of the Kingdom... whoa. Got a little to topical there. The point is, it’s not up to Ironwood to decide these things for them. They need to be able to think for themselves, it’s part of human life to be faced with hard choices and grow from the mental turmoil of decision. Taking away that choice and forcing them to accept whatever decision he makes is taking away their freedom. Winter says this is for the good of everyone, though when Penny says this does not seem to be for the good of anyone she quietly agrees.

When we next see these two Atlesian maidens they are putting the actual Maiden into... an Aura transfer machine like the one Ozpin used on Amber and Pyrrha. Oh good, so that wasn’t in the room back in episode 5 just for funsies. But at least Winter isn’t actually killing Fria. She’s just attempting a scientific procedure that has never successfully worked before on a dying woman. That seems safer. She does say she hopes it will be painless for Fria, so at least she has some empathy and realizes this is a risky move. But Penny is still holding onto her earlier words and chooses now to throw them back in her face. Why express a personal sentiment for the comfort of another if your personal feelings don’t matter? Winter just says that she understands how serious the situation is and how necessary it is to put the Maiden powers into a healthier host so the Vault can be more effectively protected, even if it costs a good woman her life. But she admits that struggling to balance that duty with the importance of your personal feelings and your moral compass is essential and even she is having a tough time of it. But that’s what being human is. That’s not an especially comforting thought, but Penny understands. She’s doing that deadly dance in her own head too, and it’s not easily mastered. But their internal battles are interrupted by a great booming shudder outside, and Winter rushes out to check the situation. Only the flashing red emergency lights are on, and at the other end of a hallway filled with broken robots stands Cinder, who throws a fireball at Winter. She’s quick enough to dodge back into the medical room and lock the door, but that does next to nothing as a giant hole is blown in the wall where it once stood. Cinder of course believes this will be an easy slaughter of Ironwood’s “puppets”, which I think is a bit insensitive toward Penny after all the trouble she’s had with getting caught in her own strings. But of course Winter is ready to do her damn best to beat the Fail.. I mean Fall Maiden. Penny instead points out that Cinder was responsible for all the tragedy at Beacon, including her own original destruction, and Cinder laments how that was only temporary. But she assures Mantle’s protector that this time the annihilation will be far more total and leave much less to salvage. With little to no reason outside of it setting up Penny’s next line, Cinder asks what she thinks about that threat. All things considered, “it gives me personal feelings” isn’t the greatest epic one liner, though it does have the benefit of context and meaning something. Penny having the determination to stand for what she believes in is very satisfying, and I certainly hope she sticks to those convictions when Ironwood’s next orders come. But for now we have to wait on the epic fight sure to come until next week.

Now, if you want some really good banter and one liners, the return to Team RWBY’s story thread has that almost right out of the gate. Weiss is still trying for diplomacy and saying the Ace Ops should reconsider, but Harriet just sticks to what they were ordered, arrest Team RWBY. To this end, she puts the office in some kind of lock down with metal barricades covering the escape routes of the giant windows and the door. Vine doesn’t want his side to have to use force, but Blake makes it clear the girls won’t hesitate to fight if the Ace Ops don’t back off. Marrow is the only one who doesn’t draw his weapons at first, he really doesn’t want to have to fight their new friends. But Harriet says it’s up to the young huntresses if there will be any fighting or not, at which point Ruby finally walks back from behind the desk to deploy Crescent Rose. Marrow sees this is inevitable now and pulls out his gun too, but the first attack is verbal instead. Harriet laughs at the idea of Team RWBY trying to fight the Ace Ops since they are the best of the best in Atlas, but Ruby says they sealed their own fates by training Team RWBY and now they’ve been replaced. In a feat of strength that astounds many, Ruby petal bursts past the Ace Ops... and busts open the reinforced steel of the locked doors with her speed form. Imagine what she could do if she hit a person with that kind of force... Harriet of course gives chase, annoyed that the pipsqueak is trying to outrun her and escape to most likely catch Ironwood. Ruby is playing on Harriet’s competitive nature to goad her into acting recklessly, and it works. The older woman becomes obsessive about proving she’s better, and it costs her overall. The Hare is still falling victims to challenges of speed and superiority, it would seem. The others start fighting in the office while Harriet cuts Ruby off at the elevators and their brawl begins. Ruby tries to appeal to her again, saying this kind of division and internal fighting is exactly what Salem wants, but Harriet isn’t listening. She claims she was suspicious of Team RWBY all along and now she’s been vindicated. 

Meanwhile, Yang is fighting Elm in an open area back up the hall and Blake is trying to outmaneuver Vine as they both swing around and dodge each other. Elm isn’t budging much and Vine throws Blake into her grip to get Yang’s attention. He still wants them to just surrender, but Elm has taken this very personally. More than anyone else, she feels betrayed by this change of goals. I do feel a little bad since she was one of the more friendly members of the group. And when Yang says it’s not worth appealing to their better natures because they’re puppets blindly following orders now, she just gets more angry and charges the blonde down. Vine stretches out his feet to get to a vantage point while Elm lands a few hits with her hammer. We shift back over to the office where Weiss is fighting Marrow, including forming ice on the ground to make him lose footing and fire a wave of fire that he barely jumps over. It does singe the end of his tail though, and create a fog. He tries to insult Weiss, saying she’s always gotten everything she ever wanted as a Schnee so she should let something go for once. One, that’s not remotely true of her life but you never empathized enough to learn about those nasty little details. Two, You’ve spent time with her so you at least know she’s not the spoiled brat the world assumes she would be. Three, Weiss Schnee is a hard woman to bargain with and she summons her Knight to help her, saying she’s not giving up on her home without a fight.

Ruby and Harriet are seen fighting again as the latter kicks the former back into the office then berates Marrow to “cut the crap”, since he’s apparently not trying hard enough to beat Weiss. His perfectly logical excuse is that he’s just trying to incapacitate her, not the more excessive option of doing a murder. After having deflected Marrow’s boomerang from hitting Weiss, Ruby takes the chance to run for the exit again while Harriet is insisting the extra effort is necessary. Harriet of course notices and gives chase again, and we next see the Bees fighting again... where they are getting their butts kicked. Yang knocks Elm off her guard long enough to get a shot in at Vine so he’ll stop shoving Blake against a wall. Elm says now is the time to get serious and wrap this up, but Vine points out that she probably needs that pep talk herself. Blake and Yang reevaluate their plan and realize they have more teamwork than their opponents, so they’ll use that. The girls dodge their opposing pair’s attacks more successfully and throw one of the piece of debris Vine was chucking down back at him with some explosive guests. He avoids that and grabs Blake, but she’s actually a shadow clone decoy covered in sticky bombs. Without any time to dodge, Vine is sent flying and Yang leaps up to meet him. In one fluid motion she grabs his gravity cuffs/bolas and ties him up in them before slamming him into the ground hard enough to break his Aura. Everyone else takes notice. One down, three to go. This 3 pronged fight scene was already spectacular in terms of fluid animation and choreography, but this is where it goes up to 11, complete with a new song sung by 4 women including the voice of Elm herself. This new bop, called War, is sure to be a hit when the soundtrack comes out. I just wanted to let folks know since this whole episode deserves huge props even for those factors alone. Back to the combat itself, Weiss creates a bunch of sharp icicles along one wall and pushes Marrow against it with a Glyph. He manages to avoid getting skewered but then has to dodge the Knight’s sword as it chases him across the length of the icy wall. Marrow uses his Semblance to stop Weiss from sending any more glyphs or elemental woes his way, but the Knight is still after him so he jumps into the middle of the room and tells it to Stay. Unfortunately that means he’s no longer focusing on Weiss and she is unfrozen. A few fireballs and he is down for the count too. Halfway done, team! 

Harriet is still running circles around Ruby and getting plenty of hits in, even knocking her to the floor and trying to cuff her. But Ruby petal bursts out of her grip and wraps the bola cuffs around Harriet’s arms and torso instead. No more punching with those techno knuckle dusters, but she can still headbutt the Huntress and keep running around. Back to the Bees, Elm is standing her ground but it’s not staying so sturdy for much longer. While she’s been dodging Blake’s leaping attacks from above the big bruiser didn’t notice Yang was turning the footing around her roots to rubble. The blonde brawler runs in to knock her down since she doesn’t have her sure footing anymore, but Elm just brings out the rocket launcher to try and shoot Yang point blank. Luckily Yang is quick thinking too and uses her Semblance for a shockwave punch into the ground that sends Elm skyward. The fiery effect enveloping her hair is really really cool to see, but what is more impressive is Blake launching off of the ceiling and Yang leaping from the ground to catch Elm from both sides in a brutal punch-slice combo that decimates her Aura before she loses the last of it as she hits the ground. I can only imagine how much that must have hurt, seeing how her body bends when Yang wallops her in the face. Three down, only Harriet to go. And she’s not going down easy. She’s dodging every shot Ruby takes at her, and catches the younger girl in a flying leg lock that makes me greatly miss MCU Black Widow. Ruby recovers quickly and dodges most of the flips and kicks that follow until the two are staring each other down from across the hall. With a determined and enraged yell, Harriet charges at Ruby again... and instead runs into a wall of ice. Weiss came to back her partner up, and the blunt impact was enough to knock Harriet out. Triumph for Team RWBY! And it was enough of a struggle for both sides to make the win feel well earned, so I don’t wanna hear claims about this being a cop out plot armor win. The team is piling up all the unconscious bodies in the middle of the hall, when in come Maria and Pietro! I missed our sassy grandma, and she reminds us why in only a single line. “This is the part where they ask us to help”. Her tendency to state the obvious and just be so done wit everyone else’s shenanigans is quite endearing, and the fact that she and Pietro rushed over to check on them when they heard there was trouble shows she was going to offer help anyway. We love you Maria, and I wish we had gotten some more of you after how you snuck into our hearts last Volume. Maybe she’ll pull another grand scheme to create a distraction in the finale? Who knows, though I do have some thoughts on what help they will actually provide. Maybe Pietro has finished the weapon upgrades he said weren’t ready yet back in episode 3, or he can re-enable their Scrolls so they can get another warning out?

But for now, we instead shift to Jaune, Ren, and Nora. They’re still looking over the mess of broken robots in Oscar’s room, and Nora in particular starts calling his name and looking down the other hallways. Sure enough, they spot Oscar rounding the corner with the Lamp in tow. Our dear leg breaker runs to hug him, very relieved that their missing friend has been found... but they hear a desperate cry from where he had come from. Sprinting towards them is... Oscar? Okay, I act like it’s some big mystery when we had all kinda puzzled it out already, but we weren’t immediately sure what the situation was going to be. The real Oscar looks like he’s been through hell by the state of his clothes, but he’s got enough fight in him to sucker punch Neo in the face and send her flying down the hall. She lands on her feet, but he knocked the lamp off of her waist and reclaims it. So she’s gonna want that back. But it seems like Ruby shared a few stories around the campfire during the trip to Mistral, because Jaune and the others know Neo’s name and apparently her reputation precedes her. We’ve got a 4 on 1 fight on our hands for the finale, and it should be a doozy. But here’s where some perspective might be necessary. We have this picture in our heads of Neopolitan, the great agile fighter who outmaneuvered and beat Yang in Volume 2 and didn’t seem all that fazed by Ruby in Volume 3. We assume that since she’s held her own without taking much of a beating for it against two of the main cast’s best fighters she’s on a whole other level and she can’t be beaten. But I think it’s more of a matter of who she’s been paired against in the past, and how the odds have been. Ruby and Yang both have particular fighting styles that Neo is naturally pretty good at evading and countering. But Jaune and Ren both have vastly different ways of fighting that she might not be so ready for, not to mention the powerhouse that is Nora. Not to mention, every fight we’ve seen her win has been a 1v1 or 2v1 where she had help from Roman. She hasn’t fought multiple people at once before, this could very well be too much for her to handle on her own and she may very well fail or have to retreat empty handed. But defeating them isn’t her objective to begin with, she just wants to get the Lamp for Cinder. So it’s going to be a matter of playing keep away, and I do hope our good boys and girl can manage it.

And now, boys and girls, we must come to the tragic portion of the episode. And it starts with how this group left off. Qrow, Robyn, and Clover are in their airship escorting Tyrian up to Atlas when they hear Ruby’s warning. Robyn is of course vocally against Ironwood’s plan, but Clover defends his boss, says he surely understands how much these goals would effect the rest of the Kingdom. Or he would, except he gets the notification that RWBY, JNR, and the others are to be arrested. So he gets up to explain, and maybe he intended to arrest Qrow at that point too. Unclear. But when he mentions that RWBY have warrants it just cements in Qrow’s head that Ironwood has gone overboard. And Robyn understands why he would want to arrest the kids, because they’re opposed to the awful plan. She takes out her crossbow on Clover saying she won’t be taken in quietly. But she doesn’t actually load a bolt into it until Clover expressly says he intends to arrest Qrow. Now Clover has his weapon drawn too, and Qrow tries to talk them both down like a sensible person. They’re almost back to Atlas, they can try to reason with Ironwood there. Unfortunately, the peanut gallery won’t shut up and Tyrian says they should stop talking and just kill each other already. And because Robyn is a hothead, she takes that as an invitation. You can feel like you should say or do something daring all you want, but as soon as someone else brings it up that’s in the air now and you can’t go back. So she shoots, Clover blocks, and it looses the bolt Tyrian’s cuffs are tied to. While Qrow gets annoyed and jumps into the fray, the criminal they all just worked so hard to capture gets loose and kills the pilot. He even puts his hat on for a laugh... and then purposefully crashes the ship into the snow. Clover is the only one quick enough to jump out.

 We see Qrow walking out of the wreckage and finding Robyn’s body. She’s alive, but she needs medical attention. Clover confronts his friend and says they can get her to a hospital as soon as Qrow surrenders. Qrow points out how manipulative that is, but after everything he’s learned about tonight he’s not too shocked anymore. Like his teammates, Clover implores the other man to just give up, he doesn’t want to have to fight him. But Qrow has been through this song and dance with people he called friends before. This is the inevitable conclusion to associating with a bad luck charm like him, and that’s rather depressing. The two men resign themselves to this inevitable clash and charge each other down. Back in the ship, Tyrian seems to have nary a scratch on him but still has to figure a way out of his cuffs. And he has a very unsettling solution. He manages to dislocate his right thumb so his hand is able to slip out of the tight cords. And then he just hits his hand on the ground and pops it back into place. Personally, I’ve been watching Arrow for 8 years so the concept is nothing new after Oliver Queen has used it to escape from capture on several occasions, and I’m not that affected by seeing it here. But it is admittedly a rather gruesome body horror concept to see out of nowhere so I understand how it might have unnerved or sickened some people. The CRWBY did put out a warning on Twitter to warn people there would be something in this episode that might make people want to puke, and I can believe it would be this. Regardless, the madman unties himself completely and joins Qrow and Clover out in the snow. The two seem evenly matched, but once Tyrian makes his presence known Qrow shifts priorities to taking him down. That leaves him open to Clover’s attacks though, and it becomes an utter free for all. Unfortunately, this is when Tyrian starts talking again. With such a grudge between the bird and the scorpion, why not take Clover out together so they can settle their feud without interruption? It’s a terrible idea of course, and you should never trust Tyrian at his word. He can’t help but screw you over, it’s just his nature~. Qrow doesn’t want to side with this killer, as you would expect. But after Clover has the nerve to throw a goddamn lucky horseshoe at him, the poor guy suffers a lapse in judgement. Better the fight be 2 on 1 against Clover than every man for himself and Qrow having to guard against two opponents, I guess. So he stops attacking Tyrian and the bastard laughs his ass off at how the tables have turned and things have grown so chaotic before the two charge at Clover.

The makeshift teamwork does a good enough job of keeping Clover off his guard and they land a few hits on him, but he still fends them off fairly well and holds his own. The back and forth continues until Clover hooks Harbinger and knocks it out of Qrow’s hands. While he gets back to his feet and tries to decide if he can reach it, Tyrian is trying to claw at Clover with his hands. We see his hands glowing with his Aura so we can assume he’s trying to tear open a weak spot like he did against Fiona back in Chapter 6. But the Ace Op is nimble enough to dodge all that and wraps the faunus up in his fishing line again. To Tyrian’s apparent delight, Qrow decides to just run in and gut punch Clover instead of retrieve his weapon. And that gamble works for the moment, the punch breaks Clover’s Aura. Qrow tries one last time to talk to his former ally, to ask why he had to be so stubborn and loyal to the man telling him to do such awful things. But Clover says sticking to his convictions was a hard choice but the only right one in his mind. He trusts Ironwood after all these years, and even after knowing each other for so little time Clover really wanted to be able to trust Qrow. But their morals and ideals just aren’t aligned. In an instant, everything changes and tragedy has struck viciously and swiftly. Tyrian was left unsupervised again, and grabbed Qrow’s weapon... the same weapon that has just been thrust through Clover’s back and out his chest to leave a splash of blood on the snow. We see the reveal in a visually captivating silhouette shot where the only color besides the black of the bodies is the grey of the sky... and the bright red covering the blade. Harbinger is pulled back out of Clover’s back, he stumbles away dropping his now bloody lucky badge before falling onto his back, and Tyrian tosses the murder weapon into the snow. See, Tyrian thought it would be fun to frame Qrow for his friend’s murder and then run away while the incoming police arrest the huntsman instead of him. Only he would find that fun, Qrow is just enraged and wants to kill him where he stands. But he can’t give chase because he decides it would be better to stay with Clover in his final moments. So Tyrian gets away, oh goody... Clover seems to say he understands and he doesn’t really blame Qrow, but Qrow promises he will make sure James takes the fall for this. It was his paranoid overreacting and crazy plans to isolate Atlas from the world that lead to the arrest warrants and this whole fight after all. That’s not to say Qrow and Robyn don’t have some of the blame for getting riled up and fighting rather than surrendering to the law. But the initial problem was Ironwood. Clover wishes him good luck and breaths his last before succumbing to his wounds, and we see the sun rising behind them. Everything from the dinner party in episode 8 until now has taken place over a single brutal night... and a new day is here with new determination to make things better. But before that, we have to talk about what this whole scene meant for these two, and what they meant for the fandom.

Ever since they started interacting in Chapter 3, and even since people noticed all the good luck charms Clover carried, people had been shipping Qrow and Clover together. There is nothing wrong with doing so, their chemistry seemed quite healthy and playful and they seemed to bring the best out of each other. Clover’s good luck gave Qrow hope that he could bond with someone without that ending in misfortune like his presence has caused so often before. Even if you didn’t ship them and just thought they were good friends, you had to admit they worked well together. And a healthy male friendship is nothing to be discouraged by either. A mlm relationship is completely acceptable and to be honest is rarely seen in animated shows in comparison to wlw romances. We have a lot of female characters in this show especially so the shippers had a lot of fuel for lesbian pairings while Martial Arcs (Ren and Jaune) was one of the only gay male ships that got anywhere near as popular. But then Lucky Charm, or Luck of the Caw as I personally called it, came around and so many people were happily on board. And now Clover has died, and a few people are quite outraged. But here is what must be understood. This pairing had only just started and for all the flirting and chemistry we saw between the two men, they were not in a relationship. There was no more proof that they were headed that way than there was for Bumbleby after Volume 1. Sure there were plenty of good moments between those two in that Volume, but their bond had not grown and developed to what we see it is now. Lucky Charm was still in that early stage and we cannot explicitly say Qrow and Clover were going to be a couple. You can be sad they didn’t end up that way, no doubt about that. But this is not a case of that old tragic trope of “bury your gays”. We had no confirmation that Clover was a gay man, or that Qrow is either. We can infer things from their conversation, but that’s it. An unfortunate loss to the fandom, yes. But this was likely not intentional baiting. And it is too bad that we couldn’t have this ship become canon, it would be great to have more mlm relationships in cartoons. Even if it only stayed a friendship, we need more of those that aren’t just macho action heroes. These two were emotionally open with one another and expressed their thoughts and doubts. It was a great thing while it lasted, but hatred over what could have been should not be the response to it ending. Nuff said.

One has to also wonder how the other Ace Ops are going to react to their leader being killed. He was the most level headed of the bunch and the one to keep them all in check when egos or tempers ran high. What would they do without him? We will have to see. But as Qrow screams in sorrow and frustration in the cold snow, the fans are left just as cold on the inside while we wait for the finale where things will hopefully wrap up on a better note. Like I said at the top, the night is darkest just before the dawn. And we literally see the dawn coming over the horizon behind Qrow. This is tragic, demoralizing and polarizing. But it is sure to be the worst this Volume gets. So lets all band together and face the new day with optimism and hope. 

[calliecat93]

...nope, I got nothing. Last chapter winded me so much that even a week later I am still shaken. It feels like the last batch of RWBY V3 chapters aaalll over again… so needless to say, I am terrified over what’s coming. We’re at the penultimate episode folks, so let’s waste no time and get the show on the road.

Overview

We begin with the reactions to Ruby’s call. Robyn and Qrow are not happy. Clover tries to say that Ironwood would have his reasons… when he gets a notification. RWBYJNOQ are not all wanted, and are ordered to be detained on sight. Clover stands, ready to apprehend Qrow and informs him of this, much to Qrow’s shock. Robyn is miffed at all of this, raising her weapon even when Clover says that she herself in’ wanted. Robyn refuses to stand down, and while Qrow tries to calm them all down, a fight breaks out. Tyrian is having the time of his life with this before he makes his move. He gets into the pilot cockpit, gleefully making the jet crash. In Atlas, Winter is stunned… but nevertheless heads forward to claim the Winter Maiden powers. But Penny is upset, knowing that leaving an entire city to die is wrong and can’t understand how Winter can just shove this aside. Winter tries to talk to her, saying that Ironwood is doing what he thinks is right so that they don’t have to and for the good of Remnant. Penny follows, yet she remains conflicted.

Back at the Academy, RWBY tries to reason with Ace-Ops, but they aren’t listening and intend to follow their orders. As such, they all prepared to fight, with only Marrow being hesitant about all of this, but nevertheless both sides are armed and ready… no pun intended there. Harriet questions if they really think that they can beat the best Huntsmen and Huntresses of Atlas, but Ruby only replies “You were… but then you trained us.” and speeds out of the room. Harriet chases her, leaving Weiss against Marrow and the Bees against Elm and Vine. The girls continue to try to reason with them, Ruby pointing out that they’re playing into Salem’s hands and Blake pointing out that they’re betraying those who need them. But whether it be through blind duty, feelings of betrayal, or hesitation, the Ace-Ops don’t listen. Marrow even tries to convince Weiss to stand down, saying that he knows Schnee’s are used to getting what they want, but Weiss isn’t going to let her home go without a fight. 

Out in the tundra, Qrow emerges from the wreckage none the worse for wear. Robyn, however, has been knocked out though she is alive. Clover is also fine, telling Qrow to surrender and then he can get Robyn help. Yep, he’s trying to leverage Robyn’s safety to get at Qrow, which only makes said person more upset. Clover says they don’t have to fight… but Qrow isn’t hearing any of it, miffed that once more he pretty much got turned on by his so-called friends. As such, the two fight… but unfortunately for them, Tyrian also survived and he’s broken free of his cuffs. When he realizes this, Qrow tries to take him down… but Clover continues to interfere and apprehend him. Tyrian even suggests they team-up to get Clover out, though Qrow only tries to continue the onslaught. Only once it becomes clear that Clover isn’t going to let up does Qrow turn his attention back on him… and Tyrian as well.

Back with the fight, Harriet gets on Marrow for going easy on Weiss, though he counters that he’s trying to arrest her, not kill her. Harriet is getting excessive… but she doesn’t see any problem with that. Elm is running on blind hurt due to the betrayal, while VIne is trying to be more calm about this. In short, the Ace-Ops are not on the same page… and Team RWBY takes advantage of this. We get a new song at this point, an absolutley badass one called War. We not only have Casey, but three, yes three other vocalists. Adrienne Cowan (who did Nevermore with Case), Dawn M. Bennett (the VA for Elm) and a singer named Erin Reilly. I say this every week… but this is my fav song of the volume, and this one may just rank into my Top 10 RWBY songs of all time. The fights end with the Bees taking down Vine, and eventually Elm, Weiss defeats Marrow, and Ruby is able to bind Harriet though she is still able to fight via her speed. It ends when Weiss shields Ruby with an ice wall, knocking Harriet out.

With Ace-Ops down, the girls scramble. If they want to stop Ironwood, they have to make sure that the Vault doesn’t get open. As such, it looks like Ruby and Weiss are going to head for the Winter Maiden’s location while the Bees go to help the others. But the comms are still offline… though fortunately help arrives when Pietro and Maria show up. Back with JNR, they try to find Oscar… and it seems like Nora does… but the real one shows up and punches the other. Yep, it was Neo. She had gotten the lamp… but the punch makes her drop it and Oscar grabs it back. JNR recognizes Neo from what they’ve heard told to them before, and stand ready to fight her. Meanwhile, Winter has Fria loaded into the Transfer Pods and hopes that the process will be painless. Penny questions this since WInter said they have to ignore their feelings, but Winter clarifies that they need to acknowledge them still to know that they are on the right path. But before Winter can get into the pod… the facility goes into Red Alert. Yep, it’s Cinder. Only Winter and Penny stand in her way and recognizing CInder as the one behind the Fall of Beacon and her previous demise, Penny stands combat-ready for some payback.

The fight in the Tundra continues, with Tyrian continuing to make it so Qrow and Clover are fighting each other. Qrow is angry that Clover is blindly following Ironwood and refusing to do the right thing, despite knowing better. Clover is upset that Qrow won’t just come peacefully, declaring his loyalty to Atlas and says that he trusts Ironwood with his life… and those turn out to be his cruelly ironic last words. At this point, Clover’s Aura has been broken and Qrow has been disarmed of Harbinger… but unfortunately, Tyrian’s gotten ahold of it. He uses the blade to attack Clover, stabbing him fatally through the back. Qrow is horrified, charging at Tyrian and swears to kill him. Tyrian just asks “Like how you killed Clover?”, tossing the bloodied blade aside as the authorities begin to fly overhead. Tyrian flees… but Qrow decides to not give chase, instead going to Clover as he dies. Qrow says that Ironwood will take the fall for this, and Clover wishes him luck before succumbing to his injury. With one friend who just stood against him dead, another having betrayed him, and himself now framed to look like the killer, a tearful Qrow can only scream in sorrow as day breaks across Solitas.

Review

I have been… struggling with this review. Not because of the episode quality. Not because I’m at a loss for words. But… well… I had a feeling for a while now that Clover likely wasn’t going to survive. I wanna say it was around Chapter 3 that I suspected and was convinced in between Chapters 8 and 9. I even know when I realized it aside from the Semblance, it’s when I realized that he was a male Pyrrha. This guy who seems so good at what he does and like such a good, nice guy. Add that to him being the leader of Ace-Ops, his described fierce loyalty, and him being the anti-Qrow with a Good Luck Semblance, and it just seemed fated to happen.

Obviously, while everyone was horrified, some people… took it hard. Very hard. Fair Game blew up pretty fast. I think it did even before the two even interacted. But this isn’t about those people’s views, this is mine. And speaking from my own opinion… I am okay with it. I didn’t ship Far Game to begin with, nor did I view any of their interactions as romantic. However this is coming from a person who took over six years to ship Bumblebee and couldn’t tell what direction they were going with regarding Renora, or even Arkos until you know what. So maybe I’m just ship blind. I’m someone who doesn’t subscribe to most ships unless it is either confirmed, or it’s been long enough that canon or not I’m fine with it. Look at my fav RvB ship for proof. But no, I never saw anything romantic with Qrow and Clover. Now was Clover a character I really felt invested in. It just felt like one guy being a friend to this other guy because that’s the kind of person he was. He wasn’t looking for something like Pyrrha did via Jaune, he was happy with where he was. Believe it or not, sometimes two people can just be friends, and that’s it. That was always my personal take on it.

What Clover, in my opinion, was meant to be is the reflection of Qrow. He was this model soldier with a Good Luck Semblance, He blindly followed an authority figure, despite not understanding all of their actions. Just like how Qrow blindly followed Oz until all the lies came out. Clover followed his orders, and it cost him in the end. Qrow stood by what was right, knowing that Ironwood has lost it and he even tired to shift focus on Tyrian during the fight when he realized he was alive. Tyrian manipulating things to cause Clover’s death and pin it on Qrow. Qrow is the man cured with Misfortune, but he lives. Clover is the man blessed with Good Fortune, and he perished. What will happen in the wake? It’s too soon to say… and I get the feeling that this volume won’t leave a definite answer. But from a story perspective and character perspective, I see why CRWBY did what they did, and that has always come first. I’m not angry at CRWBY for it, and I plan to keep supporting them. If you are upset or angry, that’s okay. Your feelings are valid. Just remember to be respectful, and that includes to CRWBY, and move forward. Hopefully, if anything, they’ll take the reception and do some genuine, official m|m rep in the future. I think they’ve earned the right to at least give them the chance, at least.

I guess the big question now is, what happens with Qrow? Well… it’s hard to say. Tyrian’s pretty much framed him for murder, but Qrow was already wanted so unless he escapes, IDK how important that will be. But Qrow is going to blame himself. While his demeanor has improved, he still has a lot of issues that he hasn’t been able to properly get help for. This chapter alone has him express his bitterness over his various broken friendships His team, Oz, now Ironwood and even Clover. The latter, despite being an encouraging figure, still stood by Ironwood despite knowing that it was wrong instead of doing what was right. He kept doing this even when Qrow was trying to take down Tyrian because that’s how much blind loyalty has been hammered into him, just like his four teammates. That’s what cost him in the end… well that and Tyrian being a manipulative ass and playing mind games with them. He was the one offering team-ups that Qrow clearly was against and manipulating their every move that they made. It was an utter tragedy no matter what lens you look at it with, and it’s probably going to have repercussions for Qrow and his still-struggling state of self-worth. I do think that in the end, he’ll rise above it, but it’s going to be awhile. And especially right now, when James is probably at the point of ‘never forgiven’ with Qrow… yeah, it’s gonna be a looong while.

But that’s enough on that. Let’s go over everything else. 

To lighten the mood a little, the fight scenes were fantastic. After how I felt the Tyrian fight last week was anti-climactic, this made up for it tenfold. I hate the scorpion man more than ever now, but damn he’s an excellent fighter. The Qrow vs Tyrian vs Clover fight was just freakin’ fantastic especially with Tyrian’s manipulations both on the battlefield and on a psychological level. The man is crazy, but damn is he smart. But the best fight was RWBY vs Ace-Ops. Not just because of the choreography, which was brilliant. But it shows just how the two groups differ. Ace-Ops is more professional, but as Harriet said, they aren’t friends. They aren’t connected like Team RWBY are. And here, where they’re all emotional and not on the same page, they can’t work together. RWBY though? They are best friends. They love and trust each other unconditionally. They kept their wits and fought for what was right. That is why they won. Via trusting each other. The only one of the Ace-Ops who didn’t blindly follow was Marrow, and even then despite asking questions, he stood by the orders anyways. RWBY did what was right. The moment Ruby said they were the best? It’s not just to boast, it’s because the Ace-Ops threw away their duty as Huntsmen and Huntresses. They’re just Ironwood’s puppets now, while RWBY are devoted to their duty to the bitter end. That’s what this fight represented. Add that to the badass song, and you have a fight for the ages.

We also have Penny and Winter’s scenes. It’s just… sad. Winter is putting aside her own feelings, believing that what they’re doing is for the best for all of Remnant. She knows that it’s wrong. She hates having to do it. She acknowledges that. But in the end, she has her orders, and in her mind they are trying to do the right thing. Penny knows better. This isn’t right. People are going to die. People that she is meant to protect, and she calls Winter out on it. Sure she still follows Winter, but she is against it. Even at the end, where she says that she understands what Winter is doing, doing what she thinks is right above her feelings but still acknowledging their existence, you can tell that Penny is not on board with this. If Cinder hadn’t interfered, I wouldn’t be shocked if Penny tried to stop Winter. But of course, Cinder did interfere. Now it’s her against Winter and Penny. Ho boy, is next week gonna be a crazy ride folks.

Everything here is a major reflection of the themes of this volume: trust and the right thing. Clover blindly followed his orders despite them being wrong, and it cost him his life. Winter is doing the same, despite feeling bad about it, and this could very well end in her own demise. The Ace-Ops are blindly ignoring what’s right just because Ironwood told them to, and this and their lack of trust/teamwork ended in their downfall. It’s clear here that Atlas cares more about loyalty than it does feelings, and that is not good. It’s consistently shown that doing this, just following an authority figure without questioning it and opposing it if you know that it’s wrong, will only end in misery. Doing what’ best is not the same as what’s right, and the latter is what our heroes are trying to do. Heck, take Qrow at the end. It would have been best for him to chase after Tyrian… but he chose the right thing and comforted Clover as he died. Yeah, Tyrian getting away is bad, but it shows that Qrow is a good man. And it looks like in his final moments, Clover realized this and wished him luck. And boy, is Qrow going to need that.

Finale Predictions

From what I can tell, the White Rose duo is going to the Winter Maiden while the Bees go to help JNRO, with Maria and Pietro I assume getting the comms back online. Qrow and Robyn I imagine are about to be arrested, and I get the feeling that the heroes aren’t going to have the chance to bust them out right now. Qrow might be able to escape, but at the same time, he’s going to want to confront Ironwood. IDK if that’s going to happen, at this point it’s pretty likely that a LOT is going to be pushed into V8. I would imagine that Qrow’s part will continue then, but we’ll see.

As for how these fights will go… well even if the Bees don’t reach JNRO, I don’t see Neo winning. She may be a strong fighter and she may be crafty with her illusions, but four/six against one? Yeah… her odds look pretty horrible. Maybe he can nab the Lamp and escape, but I don’t see her actually winning the fight even if she plays dirty. Then for the others… IDK. I want to say that Cinder won’t get the Maiden powers, though IDT WInter will either, or at least not all of it I legit think that there is a very good chance that Penny may get the powers. After all, she’s acting more human than any of her colleagues, so I can see it. As for Ruby and Weiss… well… if Winter gets seriously hurt, Weiss will have to see it sot hat sucks. But Ruby? Well… we know that Cinder won’t kill her. But you know how we’ve all had ‘’Ruby loses an eye’ for a while now? Well… this may be the day.

Episode Stats

Favorite Character: Team RWBY as a whole Favorite Scene: RWBY vs Ace-Ops Least Favorite Scene: JNR finding Oscar and Neo, just cause it felt kind of anti-climactic after last week, but that’s the only reason. Favorite Voice Actor: Chris Wehkamp (Clover) and Jason Liebrecht (Qrow) Favorite Animation: All the fights and Clover’s death. It was animated perfectly and made it hit all the harder. Rating: 9/10

Final Thoughts

I get the feeling that I’m not gonna be able to look at this one for a while for the same reason as V5: negative connotations sour it for me despite my own feelings. But in the end, this chapter was a shock, but a well-executed one. The fights were amazing, the emotions were on point, and the ending was horrifying yet emotional. I know that a lot of people are upset, but as I said, I understand why they did this and I support CRWBY. This show hasn’t let me down yet, and when I felt it did they went and proved that there was no reason to feel that way. I’ve come this far not just with this volume, but this whole series. I’m not ready to back out yet. We’ve got one more chapter to go folks. Whatever happens, we’ll get through it together. So bring it on RWBY!