#Salem's faction

[supersaiyanjedi14]

RWBY COMBAT ANALYSIS: NEOPOLITAN

"Your boss won't stay dead… but you will without this ;) If you want her name, you know what you owe me."

*Just as a disclaimer, a good deal of this profile will reference events from the novel Roman Holiday by E. C. Meyers. However, I do not own a copy of the book myself, so the information here is from second-hand sources, specifically the plot summary presented on the RWBY wiki. If anything I present here is inaccurate, please feel free to correct me, as there is always the risk of someone editing a Wiki page in order to dupe people into buying into fan-made trivia. With all of that out of the way, let's begin*

PHYSICAL

Neopolitan, born Trivia Vanille, was a human female hailing from Vale, approximately twenty-five years of age during the Atlas Crisis, two years after the Fall of Beacon.  The only child of the Vale city manager Jimmy and his wife Carmel, her muteness led to an incredibly tense relationship with her parents, ranging from neglectful to abusive.  Her only solace was in the form of her imaginary friend Neopolitan, whose influence led to increasingly prominent episodes of rebellious criminal behavior before she was forcibly enrolled in Lady Browning’s Preparatory Academy For Girls.  Conscripted as an agent by headmistress Beatrix Browning to subdue Roman Torchwick, she instead joined forces with the young criminal and aided in dismantling the academy, her parents, and Hei Xiong’s shared criminal enterprises.  Taking the name of her imaginary friend as her own, Neo served as Torchwick’s right-hand woman for 3-5 years, making names for themselves in the criminal underworld before being press-ganged into Cinder Fall’s operations.  Content with her place in life and her relationship with her employer, Neo’s world was thrown upside down during the Fall of Beacon, suffering a catastrophic defeat at the hands of the aspiring Huntress Ruby Rose, followed shortly by Torchwick’s death at the hands of a rogue Griffon.  Hardened and embittered further by this loss, she initially hunted down Cinder for revenge, but was convinced by the Fall Maiden to switch her ire to their shared enemy, Ruby.

Youthful yet hardened, Neo stood at a rather diminutive 4’10” but was primarily distinguished by her waist-length pink and brown hair, heterochromatic eyes, and muteness.  Possessing a petite physique, Neopolitan was nonetheless athletic and vital, proving her mettle on multiple occasions as a formidable physical combatant.  Her primary attributes were agility and dexterity, leveraged through precision attacks and nimble acrobatics.  Neo’s highly developed reflexes were her bread and butter, preforming subtle evasions to avoid attacks even at close quarters, avoiding everything from gunfire to blades to unarmed strikes, while intentionally aggravating her opponents.  She has definitively outpaced Yang Xiao Long, outmaneuvered Ruby Rose on multiple occasions, and was able to keep Cinder Fall in her crosshairs during their brawl in Miss Malachite’s tavern.  When confronted by multiple adversaries, Neo relied on more active gymnastics to spring around her environment, managing to outmaneuver the combined work of Team JNR and Oscar Pine in Atlas.  While her most impressive falls were only survived thanks to using Hush as a parachute, I won’t deny her talent at acrobatic recoveries to regain her footing.  The only time Neo’s agility failed her was during her confrontation with Maria Calavera at Amity Colosseum, and even this was only due to the elder woman’s precognitive Semblance.  Neo’s dexterity was best expressed through her dynamic and precise fighting technique, wielding her parasol as fluidly as a master duelist would wield a sword.  She has easily slipped in counters against even the most domineering adversaries, batting around Yang and Ruby without strain, was able to acquit herself well against Cinder’s dual blades, and has shown particular skill with snagging techniques, catching and manipulating Lie Ren and Maria Calavera’s weapons during their duels.

However, while she possessed respectable levels of stamina and discipline, holding down several intense long-term battles while maintaining her composure under fire, Neo’s strength and endurance were middling.  She obviously understood how to respond to injury, her acrobatic recoveries demonstrating her ability to bounce back from disruptions, and her emphasis on psychological warfare proves that she’s aware enough to keep her own cool even against aggressive dervishes.  However, while Neo could certainly take a hit, she couldn’t take a beating.  Cinder was able to bully through her interference with raw hand to hand combat in Miss Malachite’s bar, and a single punch from Oscar Pine was enough to completely stun her, giving NJR time to take up positions.  Even Yang Xiao Long, an opponent that Neo dominated, was able to manhandle her and throw her off balance, prompting her to stop toying with her and simply end the fight.  Given her ability to stagger Ruby and Yang with unarmed combat, Neo could certainly hit with great force, but she really couldn’t jockey for dominance in a direct contest of strength.  Though she was only subdued at Amity by Penny Polendina’s energy blast, the series of strikes she took from Maria Calavera beforehand were still enough to seriously disrupt her momentum and frustrate her.  At the Evacuation Central Location, Neo held down the bulk of the battle without tiring, but a single strike from Weiss Schnee, armed with the Staff of Creation, was enough to stagger her, and she was rendered helpless when Ruby tackled her from behind.  While by no means weak or fragile, Neo cannot handle a slugging match, simply because she can’t hold her ground.

Neo’s approach to battle was best supplemented by light, practical clothing that left her unencumbered, as her fighting style relied heavily on her acrobatics and balletic poise. In Atlas, she wore fitted white pants and ankle boots, a pink and white halter top with an attached brown jacket, and elbow length brown and white gloves. This outfit was topped off with a gray scarf and Roman Torchwick’s signature bowler hat, final lasting reminders of her late Dum-Dum.

RANKING: Tier 3, Advanced Human Fitness

Neopolitan is a high-level athlete who can easily outpace and outmaneuver just about anybody in the setting, to the point where the best most of her adversaries can hope for is to simply contend. However, her limitations also mean that that’s all she can do. All she’s bringing to a fight is agility and dexterity, with her strength and durability are average at best, making her a glass cannon physical combatant. To be fair, Neo is clearly aware of her shortcomings and has built her fighting style around avoiding the slugging matches she knows she can’t win.  Neopolitan’s success is ultimately determined by her ability to keep her foes at bay and off balance, avoiding her weak spots by preventing the opponent from bringing their full might to bear.

MARTIAL

Neopolitan wielded a parasol with a pair of concealed blades as her primary weapon, an instrument that she named “Hush”.  Gifted to her by Roman Torchwick, the umbrella appeared to be about three feet long with the blade in the tip retracted, growing another foot in length with the blade extended.  The hooked handle of Hush served as the hilt for the secondary foot-long misericord, housed in the hollowed-out shaft of the parasol. Despite its lacy appearance, the panels were extremely durable, capable of withstanding direct hits from Yang Xiao Long’s Ember Celica and Nora Valkyrie’s grenades and serving as an effective shield in close quarters combat.  Furthermore, Hush was strong enough to serve as an effective glider in case of emergency, this trait going so far as to save Neo’s life during the Fall of Beacon.  Elegant, cute, yet deadly, this weapon was as much a reflection of its owner as it was a killing tool.

While giving the outward appearance of a simple reform school for upper-class girls, Lady Browning’s Preparatory Academy For Girls was in truth a training ground for elite underworld spies and assassins for the Spider criminal cartel, their motto being to “be seen, not heard”.  Select students, of which both Neopolitan and her mother were counted, would be offered advanced training in martial arts, escape artistry, fencing, and espionage to aid in their missions, training under headmistress Beatrix Browning and the corrupt Huntress Manda Rin.  Though ultimately responsible for dismantling the program, Neo served as a testament to the institution’s teaching capabilities, standing as one of the most dangerous combatants of her day.  Prior to the fall of Beacon, Neopolitan had spent three years as Roman Torchwick’s primary aide and enforcer, making a name for herself as an escape artist, infiltrator, and assassin in the criminal underworld.  Though denied the meatgrinder of hard combat that her more respectable contemporaries possessed, she was still a highly talented and vicious fighter, having completely mastered the various functions of her weapon.  Befitting Rin’s training, her primary fighting style was a slippery and subversive mixture of classical fencing, cane fighting, and hand-to-hand combat, using every trick in her arsenal to disrupt and dissect her opponents.  With just her parasol, she favored swift batting strikes and probing stabs to whittle away at the opponent’s blind spots, either to wear them down or aggravate them into overextending. When defending, as she almost always was, she combined fencing style parries with solid two-handed blocking sequences, as well as suddenly opening up the umbrella to break her opponent’s momentum and even using the hook of the handle to trap and manipulate the opponent’s weapon.  While perfectly willing to use her concealed blades in live combat, notably shooting the tip out at Cinder Fall and Ruby Rose face during their duels, she typically reserved them as assassination tools to execute a helpless opponent, such as when she prepared to execute an unconscious Yang, or to keep them at relative gunpoint, using the blade to hold Ruby at bay on the air carrier.  Her unarmed skills she used far more heavily, regularly employing sudden heavy kicks to strike out at her opponent’s blind spots and joints.  Rather than overtax her lack of muscle mass by trying to punch above her level, she took the path of least resistance and hit where it was most effective.  This deceptive defensive fighting style was reinforced with the heavy integration of her Semblance, using her solid illusions to trick her target and leave them open to a retaliatory attack.

I would describe the mindset of Neopolitan’s tactics and conduct as “Provoke and Erode”.  She was a showboating troll, perfectly happy to toy with and annoy her foes by canceling out their offensives.  As Neo’s light build left her poorly suited for slugging it out, she focused on evasion and retaliation, slipping in light counters to wear her opponent down while using silent psychological warfare to goad them into overcommitting.  In single combat, Neo would open defensively, baiting her opponent into making the first move and giving way before their assaults, often making them think they were gaining ground before abruptly turning around and catching them off guard.  despite her cheery demeanor, Neo was shockingly ruthless, perfectly willing to execute helpless opponents and taking backstabs whenever possible.  In this manner she casually subdued Yang Xiao Long on the Mountain Glenn train and fended off Ruby Rose’s heavy scythe offensive during the Fall of Beacon, taking advantage of the Patch sisters’ frustration to keep them fruitlessly wailing on her while she danced around their assault.  After Torchwick’s death at the Fall of Beacon, Neo blamed Cinder Fall, training and improving her style in preparation before tracking her down to Lil' Miss Malachite’s tavern in Haven.  Ambushing the Fall Maiden, Neo managed to fight evenly with Cinder, forcing her to unleash her magical powers to force a draw.  As a larger strategic operative, Neo was an expert spy and infiltrator, at her best by sneaking past enemy lines to silently undermine the defenses.  During the Fall of Beacon, she successfully snuck aboard the Atlas flagship and butchered the bridge before freeing Roman, and in Atlas, she infiltrated the academy dorms to steal the Relic of Knowledge from Oscar Pine.  When confronted by the combined efforts of Pine, Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren, Neo managed to outmaneuver and subvert all of them to facilitate her retreat.  Later, after stealing the Lamp as a bargaining chip, Neo broke into the Atlas military compound to get Arthur Watts into position, massacring the support staff with Cinder before hiding among the evacuating civilians to attack Team RWBY.  The only reason Neo’s attempt to murder Ruby failed was because of Yang, who saw her coming and took the hit for her sister, falling into the void.  Neo’s success in battle was heavily tied to the logistics at play.  As most Huntsmen and Huntresses are offensive heavyweights, they were extremely vulnerable to Neo, as her slippery defensive fighting style enabled her to dance around their attacks, get inside their guard, and slip in devastating counters all while deliberately aggravating them.

However, while this made Neo a serious threat to just about anybody, it was also based on her own inability to handle a head-to-head engagement.  Because of Neo’s lack of offensive might, she relied on the path of least resistance to get the most bang for her buck, and her greatest challenges have been when the enemy fails to give her the openings she needs.  Raven Branwen’s mere appearance was enough to frighten Neo into a retreat, and Cinder Fall was able to disrupt Neo’s momentum by leaning on focus and intensity to bully through her interference.  In Atlas, Jaune Arc momentarily got the better of Neo by intercepting her assault on Oscar and activating the gravity Dust repulsor in his shield, sending her flying down the hall.  Though Neo recovered quickly from the latter, it demonstrates that she wouldn’t be able to make much headway against a more capable defensive fighter, while also ironically being vulnerable to the very counters she herself employed.  This was all brought to a head in her duel with Maria Calavera at Amity Colosseum.  When confronted by Neo, Maria was decades over the hill physically and was obviously out of practice as a fighter, yet her own defensive technique allowed her to fend off Neo’s assault without serious difficulty.  Furthermore, as Neo’s entire approach is to catch her enemies off guard, Maria’s precognitive Semblance allowed her to intercept Neo’s attacks before they were even executed, effectively making her Neo’s nightmare opponent.  Additionally, Neo’s pride and vindictiveness had a tendency to undercut her otherwise capable tactical prowess.  She sometimes went too far with her smug posturing to the point of outright gloating, while her narrow focus on her personal vendettas led to tunnel vision, giving many of her opponents the chance to fight back and blindside her in turn.  These weaknesses, along with her great strengths, came about in the battle at the Evacuation Central Location, during which she fought a vicious duel with Ruby Rose.  She successfully ambushed Ruby at several points, even disarming her of her weapon while taking advantage of her emotional distress, but Ruby successfully goaded Neo into rushing in and attacking her, leading to an overextension that gave Ruby the chance to use her Semblance to run up behind her and tackle her off the bridge.  Neo was betrayed by Cinder Fall immediately afterwards, kicked into the void with the rest of RWBY.  Even with all this, Neo obstinately continued her grudge, spending her fall into nothingness trying to pointlessly kill Ruby.

RANKING: Tier 3, Standard Mastery

Neo is easily one of the most dangerous opponents active in the show right now, especially given how unorthodox her defense-oriented fighting style is.  She is patient, devious, and shockingly ruthless, perfectly willing to drag her opponents through a war of attrition to induce them into making a fatal oversight.  However, Neo’s technique is still fairly singular, and she is held back by certain practical limitations that limit her overall combative viability and can allow lesser fighters like Jaune and Maria to get the better of her.  Her tactics are brilliantly constructed and point to a highly developed game plan, but her narrow ego has led to her making costly oversights. Neo’s a subversive fighter, not an overwhelming one, and while this makes her tricky to engage, it also means she can and will crumble when put between a rock and a hard place.  That said, these weaknesses are tied to logistics rather than oversights, and Neo has specifically built her tactics to compensate for these shortcomings.  Neo is a living example of Roman��s philosophy of “lie, steal, cheat and survive.”  While no coward, she's perfectly willing to fight dirty, and if she can’t win, she prefers to cut her losses and flee.

SPECIAL

Neopolitan’s Semblance is called Overactive Imagination, the ability to create realistic illusions with physical properties to them.  By enacting a field of energy around her body or outside objects, she can alter its appearance and disguise it to the point where it even has the outward mass to resemble it.  Neo’s powers manifested during her isolated childhood, the lonely Trivia unconsciously projecting her imaginary friend to become a semi-tangible playmate.  After Trivia’s mother broke her Aura, Neopolitan never manifested again, with Trivia understanding that her playmate was in fact a piece of herself repressed by her parents’ influence.  Taking the name Neopolitan for herself, she cast aside her old life, embracing her full self along with her power.  As a criminal agent, Neo developed her Semblance to an extremely high level to aid in her and Roman Torchwick’s schemes.  Easily the most prominent demonstrations of Neo applying her powers was her ability to take on the appearance of other individuals as a form of disguise, allowing her unparalleled skill as an infiltrator.  She successfully took on the form of a paramedic during the Vytal Festival to spirit the supposedly crippled Mercury Black away, an Atlas military officer when she rescued Torchwick from Ironwood’s battleship, and later as a waitress at Jacques Schnee’s party, gaining intelligence on Ironwood’s plans and the status of Team RWBY.  In addition to simply disguising herself, Neo was also capable of projecting illusions upon inanimate objects to alter their appearance, arguably her greatest display of power in this regard being her transformation of a Mistrali airship into an Atlas Manta ship.  Even more impressive was how she could maintain the illusion long enough to slip through the Atlas blockade with no-one the wiser with no evidence of a toll on her stamina. The only serious limitation to these illusions were their brittleness, shattering with even minor amounts of blunt force trauma, and the fact that they could not mimic sound, making Neo’s muteness all the more palpable.  Alternatively, Neo appeared to have some ability to render herself invisible, disappearing from Raven Branwen and blending into the walls of the Monstra.

While Neo’s Semblance possessed extremely potent uses as an infiltration tool, it was not simply a utility power, and has been leveraged as a weapon to great effect.  In battle, Neo has used Overactive Imagination as a form of active defense, creating realistic illusions to draw her opponent’s attention and either open them up to a deadly ambush or facilitate her own retreat.  Her typical tactic was to form a realistic copy of herself and leave it standing while she ran away, tricking the opponent into attacking the dummy while leaving her free to blindside them.  In Vale, Neo successfully enabled her and Roman’s escape by tricking Yang Xiao Long into attacking her afterimage instead, giving the duo time to reach their bullhead, and during her duel with Ruby Rose, she drew Ruby’s attention with a double that left her exposed to Roman’s follow up strike.  During her time on her own, Neo learned to refine her body doubles as an active weapon in battle, using one as a feint against Cinder Fall at the start of their battle and later to slip away when they took the fight outside, though Cinder sussed it out and halted her with a fireball.  In the Evacuation Central Location, Neo disguised herself as a civilian in order to sneak up on Ruby, very nearly stabbing her in the back.  Far more insidious were her uses of her disguise illusions as a form of psychological warfare, taking the form of people her opponent had deep connections with to make them drop their guard.  During her theft of the Relic of Knowledge and subsequent battle with Team JNR, she tricked Oscar Pine into handing over the Relic and caught both him and Lie Ren off guard by transforming into Nora Valkyrie.  Exploiting Ren’s relationship with her, Neo managed to break his composure just as he was about to deliver a critical blow, enabling her escape. When falling into the Evacuation Central Location void, Neo spent the bulk of their weightless fist fight transforming into Ruby’s close friends and family, deliberately attempting to get under her skin by having her loved ones attempt to strangle her.

Neo’s use of her Semblance in battle served as a direct supplement to her fighting style, undermining and tricking her opponents into making mistakes by attacking something that isn’t there.  Her psychological warfare tactics demonstrated her ability to apply her subversive means of battle to both physical and ethereal combat to great effect, while her variety of applications allowed her to adjust her approach to suit the situation and opponent.  However, Overactive Imagination was not an unbeatable power, as its effectiveness is predicated on Neo’s ability to deceive and surprise her opponent.  Oscar caught her off guard when she tried to pass herself off as him and took a punch to the face for her trouble, tipping her hand and forcing her to confront JNR directly.  To be fair, Oscar had previously been tricked by Neo and knew she was a fraud, making his ability to expose her circumstantial.  Regardless, her inability to speak still limited her ability to impersonate people, making her pressed for time to accomplish her goal before the gig was up.  She may have fooled Nora at first, but I have no doubt that she, Ren and Jaune would have been able to sus her out eventually had she failed to slip away.  Furthermore, much like her theatrical posturing in her martial arts, Neo could sometimes go too far with the silent taunts, simply annoying the opponent rather than actually undermining them.  At Amity, Neo took on the appearance of Ruby Rose to screw around with Maria Calavera, but instead of intimidating her, this only made the ex-Huntress more determined to fight her off.  Furthermore, like any psychological warrior, Neo’s barbs are most successful when she has a strong familiarity with her target. If dropped in cold, she has nothing to work with.

RANKING: Tier 2, Flexible Combat

Neo’s special abilities are among the most versatile and dangerous in the setting despite having no direct offensive advantages, which she compensates for with an unprecedented degree of skill.  Her powers can be used for a variety of purposes for both basic utility and active combat, and she can and has leveraged the full range of her Semblance to great effect.  While a relatively simple power at first glance, Overactive Imagination is in fact incredibly multifaceted, and her use of it is extremely inventive, allowing her to exploit circumstantial factors and control the flow of the fight.  While Neo’s Semblance is not without limitations, her encounters with JNR and Maria proving that its effectiveness can be overruled or negated with enough force or a focused enough mind to not be subverted, Neo makes sure those limitations rarely come up through quick thinking, treacherous subversion, and shocking ruthlessness.  And I freely concede that the number of potential adversaries who could reliably see through Neo’s tricks is pathetically small.

OVERALL RANKING: TIER 3, ADVANCED HUNTRESS

Neopolitan’s overall ranking is determined from the average set by her physical abilities and martial skills.  While her flexible and powerful Semblance is easily a support factor on par with the likes of Qrow Branwen or Winter Schnee, she is held back by her status as a relative lightweight in all other areas.  Neo’s speed and agility makes her an extremely dangerous physical threat, and her fighting style is a deceptively powerful method that can threaten just about anyone, but she is at a severe disadvantage against more physically powerful or stronger defensive opponents.  Because of her lack of power, Neo is forced to adopt a defensive and underhanded strategic outlook to avoid the head-to-head engagements she is guaranteed to lose.  While her use of her Semblance elevates her fighting method to something greater than the sum of its parts, her uses are more the result of necessity rather than chosen support tools.  Neo can’t take a beating, so she built her skill set around making sure she never had to take one.  She is analogous to Oberyn Martell from Game of Thrones, as both are glass cannons who compensate for their lack of power with clever tricks and underhanded tactics to bypass stronger opponents.  In many ways, I consider Neo to be a Tier 2 in the making like Pyrrha Nikos, though the thing holding her back is holes in her skill set that can be exploited by lesser opponents rather than a lack of development.

Despite all her limitations, Neo’s threat level is not to be discounted, especially given how alien her approach to combat is among the RWBY battle arena.  Almost every other combatant in the setting operates on heavy offense and meeting their foes in direct combat, and almost nobody willingly gives ground and baits them.  What makes Neo so dangerous is that she effectively works at cross purposes with the common trends of her day, and her specific strengths and weaknesses come into play against pretty much everyone.  The only reliable way to combat Neopolitan is to use her own tactics against her, with Maria Calavera and Jaune Arc making more headway against her than pretty much anyone had beforehand.  And given her talent for goading her opponents into making the first move, her smug cheerfulness a sharp contrast to the cold killer she is, finding someone to fight her that way is like finding a needle in a haystack.  Neopolitan is one of those really infuriating fighters where you think you’re on top of her, that you just need to hit a little harder or move a little faster, and all the while she’s hitting you with sucker punches until you fall to the ground in a heap.  Essentially, the most dangerous troll in the world, dragging you along with a shit-eating grin as she prepares to gut you.  If she opens up that umbrella, watch the hell out.

*originally posted on RoosterTeeth community page on 1-9-21*

*all images taken from the RWBY wiki*

RWBY Combat Analysis

[bobauthorman]

Whenever I see people debate the actions and morality of Oz and Salem's groups, I am reminded of this quote from 'Red Vs Blue':

[notaplaceofhonour]

A reminder that Anti-Israel doesn’t mean “Pro-Palestinian”.

The militant faction referenced here is Ansar Allah (aka The Houthi Movement, commonly known as just “the Houthis”), a totalitarian theocracy that does not mince words about hating not just Israel, but the Jewish people. Their slogan, which they display as the symbol for their movement, is “God is the Greatest; Death to America; Death to Israel; A Curse On the Jews; Victory to Islam”.

Also no, the Houthis didn’t risk jack shit for Palestine. They’re one in a long line of militant factions who are directly responsible for the humanitarian crisis in Yemen. Abandoning their own people’s humanitarian needs to wage war isn’t a “risk” for them; it’s standard operating procedure.

The people obscuring this fact to position them as heroes for opposing Israel are engaging in dishonest, manipulative, and immensely antisemitic propaganda. (Also, like, “puppets”? Really? That’s not even subtle.) You do not even have to scratch beyond the surface of just “who is this referencing, and what is their slogan that they plaster everywhere on everything?” to know this. The fact that anyone would fall for it demonstrates gross negligence & a deep & unserious lack of curiosity on their part. There’s no excuse.

But what if you did actually spend more than 5 seconds to know more than 2 facts about the government of Yemen? Well, you might find:

There is a long history of antisemitic violence in Yemen. It culminated in 1949, and roughly 47,000 of Yemen’s 50,000+ Jews fled to Israel. A few remained, but the Houthi regime (which formed in the 90’s and is the one that is now attacking Israeli ships) is so openly, explicitly, & genocidally antisemitic that it forced even that remnant to flee.

The last Jew in Yemen, Levi Salem Musa Murhabi, is currently rotting in a Houthi prison where he has been illegally detained & tortured for the last 7+ years. Our last sign of life was in 2022, so we don’t actually know if he’s still alive.

The country that tried to murder all their Jews & continues to torture the only one that remains is now attacking the country where all those Jews went, all the while chanting “death to Israel, a curse on the Jews.” Do the math. They didn’t “show up” for Palestinians. They pulled up on Israel because that’s where all the Jews they’ve been trying to murder for years live.

[anthurak]

Takeaways from the Volume 9 Epilogue:

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One thing I really like about Oscar’s ‘If there was anything I wish I could borrow from you…’ monologue is that it laid out/confirmed something I’ve always felt was a major aspect of Oscar’s dynamic with Ruby that I nonetheless feel a lot of the fandom has missed: That Oscar very much sees Ruby as a mentor and an example to follow, and how their dynamic is specifically a foil to what we saw between Ruby and Ozpin. That Ruby acts as a mentor and example to Oscar in the same way Ozpin was to Ruby, and that Ruby is a far BETTER mentor and example to Oscar than Ozpin ever was to her. Which, as an aside, is a dynamic I can’t help but feel a lot of people have been misinterpreting as ‘ship-teasing’ and is one of the main reasons I’ve simply never been able to see Oscar as any kind of viable love-interest to Ruby. Frankly the dynamic of ‘Ruby is the mentor and example to Oscar that Ozpin couldn’t be for her’ is simply so much more INTERESTING than any kind of romance could ever hope to be.

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Even in animatic form, Winter basically going overdrive on the maiden powers was a sight to behold. And her own monologue had all the self-deprecation we were expecting. Our girl is clearly holding on by a thread and it’s going to be REAL interesting seeing how she reacts and adjusts to her sister not actually being dead. As in, I can imagine a situation where Winter tries to throw herself into a heroic sacrifice with the belief that Weiss would make a better Maiden than her.

Also, Winter’s monologue giving major focus to how Penny is super-super-dead-dead-and-definitely-not-coming-back-for-really-realsies, as she is talking to the sister who she ALSO believes is DEFINITELY also dead? Specifically with the words that Penny is gone, when Penny’s last words to her were that she’d be ‘part of you’?

Yeah, there is no way in hell we’ve seen the last of Penny XD

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The CROWN. Like it was only a few shots, but as someone who read the CFVY Books (which you totally should if you haven’t, they’re great), holy shit I was NOT expecting them to pop up here.

I mean, in hindsight it makes perfect sense that they’d be involved in Volume 10. They’re basically Vacuo’s equivalent to Vale’s criminal element and the White Fang splinter faction as Salem’s co-opted insurgency group, with Jax and Gillian joining Roman, Adam and Jacques as the latest of Salem’s unwitting patsies. It’s definitely going to be real interesting seeing the crew deal with them. Like it’s really fun to imagine Team RWBY in particular being kind of exasperated at seeing Jax’s probably doing a whole ‘With Salem’s help I shall be King!’ shtick after everything they’ve seen with Roman, Adam and Jacques.

Oh and if you don’t know, Jax has a mind-control semblance, so him trying to use that on Yang could actually lead to a sneaky callback to the Justice League crossover, ie; Yang doing a ‘Yeah, I’m not doing THAT shit again.’ XD

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Qrow’s whole vibe through this is fascinating. Like his section may have been the one we already saw, but after seeing the abject depression and growing despair of all the other characters, Qrow actually being OPTIMISTIC hit so much harder.

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Raven showing up at the end is… interesting.

I’ll admit that ever since we saw that specific clip a few months back, I’ve been rather conflicts about Raven showing up to deliver RWBY+J to Vacuo, particularly after Ruby’s tree vision. Like for one it felt a bit random and unnecessary. The tree already deposited the Ever After team outside of Vacuo so they didn’t exactly need help getting there. Not to mention that it kind of clotheslines the story-thread set up by Ruby’s vision; that she now has a reason to track Raven down to get the ANSWERS to what happened to Summer. Finally, it’s just kind of… random? Like where did Raven even come from to get the team?

But now having seen the clip with its intended context, I’m definitely more on board with it. Particularly hearing from Kerry and Eddy that the original ending for the penultimate episode had RWBY+J going through the portal to arrive at their memorial stone, and met by a ‘Mysterious Figure’, ie; Raven. Here it feels like were getting more set up to get answers later as to what Raven was doing at the memorial.

And really, now that I’ve thought about it more, this method kind of puts the thread of Ruby going to Raven for answers even MORE into focus. Like the story reintroduces Raven in the present right after Ruby got a vision basically saying ‘hey, Raven is important’. And now going into Volume 10, we’re pretty much perfectly positioned for Ruby to pull Raven aside for those all-important ‘Why were you fucking my mom? What happened to my mom?’ questions.

--

Finally… yeah that ending hit me a LOT harder than I was expecting. Like that ending was HOPE in its purest form and it was honestly beautiful to see. Particularly right now with the future of the show seeming so uncertain. I’ve personally been optimistic about RWBY’s future (in a manner not unlike Qrow’s vibes I suppose lol), but damn the hopefulness of that ending hit especially hard, and was something I’ll admit I needed. And I imagine the rest of us could use as well.

We'll be getting Volume 10. And 11, and 12, and however many more it takes to finish this story. At this point, I have no doubt of that.

[brokentrafficknight]

Well, since you created female Tyrian.

Jaune x Fem!Salem's faction.

A Grimm Tryst of Fate

[aspoonofsugar]

RWBY Volume 9 Epilogue: The Five Stages of Grief Again

As @greenteaandtattoos's friend noticed, volume 9 epilogue has its five narrators embody the five stages of grief:

Negation - refusal to aknowledge the truth, while clinging to a preferable reality.

Anger - lashing out on others in an attempt to channel one's pain and frustration.

Bargaining - being ready to negotiate, to give something in order to avoid loss. When death already happened, it is about exploring what ifs scenarios.

Depression - sadness, desperation and refusal to engage with others. It often comes with low energy.

Acceptance - coming to terms with one's loss and finding a new stability.

This isn't surprising, as volume 9 as a whole uses this motif. In particular, Ruby herself goes through the 5 stages twice. First to grieve over Penny and then to face her emotions towards Summer. Finally, RWBYJN reach acceptance (the main theme). Acceptance of death, loss, pain, change and of themselves. All in all, RWBYJ's journey in the Ever after is a metaphor for the process of grieving. Well, the epilogue shows us how the other characters have been dealing with this emotion.

So, here comes NORWQ as the 5 stages of grief:

Nora = anger: tbf she is the most difficult to pintpoint, as she fits the pattern less than others. Still, her section focuses on how Vacuans and Atlesians are both reacting with anger at the new status quo. Vacuans are frustrated that Atlas brought its own problems into their Kingdom. Atlesians are furious nobody came to help them. Nora herself enters into a short confrontation with two angry Vacuans and clearly projects her own past into the conflict. What's wrong with orphans? What's wrong with her?

Oscar = negation: our Little Prince is the only one that believes Ruby and the others might be alive. He even looks for an answers into books (mirroring how RWBYJ is grieving through a fairy tale). On a personal level, he and Ozpin are both fighting the merge, so they are negating a transformation, which is bound to happen.

Ren = bargaining: Lotus boy is trying to replace Jaune as the glue who keeps the team together. He is conscious of everyone's feelings and problems, but is not sure on how to handle them. Moreover, his section deals with how Salem's faction goes through a bargain. Sure, it lost some people in Atlas, but Tyrian and Mercury free the Crown, so that new forces are ready to fight for the Evil Witch of the West.

Winter = depression: our Winter Maiden is dealing very very badly with Penny and Weiss's lost. She blames herself for everything and is far away from accepting Penny's final teaching: "I won't be gone, I will be a part of you". Winter is struggling to honor both Penny and Weiss's legacy. If anything, she feels she isn't the right person to do so. Her section is also the most somber on a macrochosm level. As a matter of fact through her we discover Vale was destroyed by Salem and we see how the refugees are not handling their new situation well.

Qrow = acceptance: Qrow is Winter's opposite, as he is the closest to find acceptance. On a personal level, he shows he has integrated with Clover. He has embraced his friend's optimism and has learnt to love himself through him. This is why his semblance evolved and he is now able to bring both good and bad luck. This new found balance lets him find hope even in the bad situation the world is in. He sees how people are showing kindness and realizes Ruby's message is the first step into uniting Remnant.

Of course, our five narrators all foil each other in different ways. I have discussed Qrow and Winter here, so let's see what to say about Nora, Ren and Oscar.

RENORA = LONELY TOGETHER

Nora and Ren are going through an inversion of their dynamic. Nora is now repressing her feelings and avoiding Ren's attentions and offers of support. Ren instead is grieving openly and is trying to be open with his feelings.

Nora isn't even able to speak directly with the person she lost, but narrates talking to no-one in particular. She mostly speaks about the macrochosm and uses plural forms. "We buried our friends", "I think everyone lost someone that day", "For us it was a relief, but for the Vacuans", ""What if we can't go on, what if we are too scarred?". She is in a sense the embodyment of everyone's grief. At the same time, she is so disconnected from her own trauma, that she can only read it while projecting it on the world:

Ren: Nora, she is putting the world on her shoulders.

Ren instead is the one more focused on the feelings of the people around him. Through his point of view, we discover how the other main characters are doing. We realize Nora is too focused on the macrochosm, while Oscar has trouble with the microchosm (he just isn't himself). Ren is trying to balance out the two dimensions. He is grieving for Jaune and is inheriting his legacy. At the same time, he understands that just like his friends are fighting to overcome anger and pain, so is the world. By doing this, he once again draws a parallel between Nora and the World:

I think the epilogue of volume 9 (or the prologue of volume 10?) sets up Nora as a strong symbolic character in Vacuo. She is Vacuo itself, struggling with pain, grief and anger. She is Atlesian orphans, nameless children too scarred to go on. Ren's role will probably be to step in and remind her how beautiful she is.

OSCAR = STAGNATION

Oscar's conflict permeates both the microchom and the macrochosm. It is synthesized by this phrase:

Oscar: "You always believed in the best. You saw people for who they really were. Some of us don't know anymore."

Here, Oscar is speaking both:

Of himself, who is slowly and painfully merging with Ozpin

Of the world, which finds itself in "uncharted territory"

Oscar is uncertain. Of who he is. Of what to do. So, he looks up to Ruby, who was always certain and could "see the world through better eyes".

At the same time, Oscar's situation strongly suggests he is stagnating. He refuses to accept RWBYJ's death (he is right, but it isn't a healthy reaction). He fights the merge unsuccessfully. He can neither go back to the person he was before nor can he progress towards a better version of himself. Basically, just as Ruby is finding the path back to herself in the Ever After, Oscar is losing himself in Vacuo. This is (just like in Renora's case) an inversion to their previous dynamic. Back in Atlas, Oscar was the one progressing, whereas Ruby was stagnating. Right now, they start their stories in Vacuo in an inversed situation.

OTHER POSSIBLE FOILINGS

Of course, the epilogue/prologue offers several possible foilings that could be explored in volume 10. Here are some (but they aren't all).

Ren and Winter are both talking to the "sibling" they entered a conflict with in volume 8. Both grew distant from Jaune and Weiss, only to reconcile later on. Now, they realize how much Jaune and Weiss did to keep their respective families together. They celebrate their legacies and wonder if they might be able to live up to it. This might also foreshadow some foiling of Jaune and Weiss themselves, once they come back.

Qrow and Oscar are both talking to Ruby (to be fair, Qrow speaks to everyone, but thematically Ruby is her interlocutor). However, Qrow has managed to integrate (with Clover), while Oscar fights integration (with Ozpin (understandably so)). At the same time, Qrow focuses on how Ruby has changed the world, whereas Oscar focuses on how Ruby has changed him.

Nora and Qrow open and end the epilogue. Nora is the one who struggles to grieve the most (she is the only one who never visits the memorial, after the cerimony). She insists she must move on, but also wonders if she will ever be able to. Qrow instead is the one who deals the best with the situation. He finds serenity while at the memorial and grieves in a hopeful way thanks to the murales realized by the community. Both are very involved with helping people and the refugees. Nora is shown helping children and states she wants to help Velvet before eating herself. Qrow keeps going into meetings with Theodore, he spends time with Robyn and the kids and helps the Schnees giving out free food. Still, Nora is clearly wearing herself out, whereas Qrow genuinelly finds hope and energy. Nora is symbolically one of the orphans trying to carry the world. Qrow is instead a mentor, who has learnt he doesn't have to face the world alone.

OTHER THOUGHTS

Happy to see the Crown. I think Jill and Jax have the potential to foil Emercury to an extent, so I am happy to see them (it's them, right?) with Merc. It is also something I had always thought that Tyrian and Mercury's mission to Vacuo might have been to find some new allies there. The Crown were the obvious choice.

I feel neutral about team CFVY appearing so much in the epilogue. My guess is that they are set up to be minor foils to RWBY, kind of like the Happy Huntresses and the Ace Ops were in Atlas. I think the books give them enough set-up to solve their arc in a quick way, while commenting on those of the main characters.

I was surprised about the revelation of Salem attacking Vale. I wonder if she found the crown. I doubt it, so far and I think Glynda missing is clearly set-up as a future plot-point. In any case, we'll see. I am open to everything.

[n6918]

Jaune using Cinder after she chose to leave Salem's Faction and wanted to prove her loyalty to the new cause

"Fuckkkk~ Cinder! Your throat is so tight" Jaune moaned out. The muscularly blonde warrior held onto the former villains throat with both hands, as he thrust his cock deep down her throat. Savage fucking her face as she lay on her back completely naked before him. Apart from his sword and shield which were used as a spreader bar to keep her legs apart well he savaged her throat.

"OHHHHH FUCK MEEEE" Jaune screamed out to the room as he orgasm down her throat again. Falling forward onto her to get his cock as deep as he could; tossing his head to her wanting pussy and licking it real quick causing her to jerk up trying to get more attention.

But Jaune didn't give her anymore, standing back up right he pulled his cock out and lay it on her fucked silly face. "Hooooo how many dose that make my little ash queen?" he asked looking down at her with a cocky smile. "Gulp huhu agh three hahhha that makes gukp three" Cinder said trying to catch her breath. "Welp I think one more for today then~" Jaune told her lining up his cock. Cinder could see him using his semblance to get his manhood back up, and all she could do is try to take in as much air before they started again. 

[workersolidarity]

🇵🇸⚔️🇮🇱 🚀🚀🚀 🚨

PALESTINIAN RESISTANCE FORCES FIRE BARRAGE OF MISSILES INTO THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES AND POSITIONS OF THE ISRAELI OCCUPATION ARMY

📹 Scenes from the mujahideen of the Al-Quds Brigades, belonging to Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), publish a video giving an overview of their operations during the Israeli occupation's assault on the Jabalia Camp, in the northern Gaza Strip, over the last several weeks.

According to PIJ, the Al-Quds Brigades conducted 21 targeting operations using RPG and TPG shells against the positions of the Israeli occupation forces and their armored vehicles in the Jabalia Camp.

Additionally, the Al-Quds Brigades conducted 6 sniper operations against Israeli soldiers in their positions in the camp, while also carrying out 13 engagement operations at point-blank range in the alleyways of the Jabalia Camp.

Al-Quds Brigades also said they launched a total of 9 barrages of missiles fired towards the cities and settlements of the Israeli occupation around the frontlines of the northern Gaza Strip, and also carried out 35 targeting operations using mortar bombardments.

Similarly, the Al-Quds Brigades said the implemented 10 targeting operations using anti-tank and anti-personnel improvised explosive devices, along with 40 Saqib guerilla warfare devices and Ababil projectiles against Israeli military vehicles and soldiers invading the Gaza Strip.

The Brigades said they'd also targeted several Mavic Pro quadcopter drones equipped with explosive devices and bombs.

Meanwhile, according to the Iranian Mehr News Agency, following 240 days of the Israeli occupation's ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip, several other Palestinian Resistance factions launched a multitude of attacks against the positions of Zionist army in Gaza this weekend

The Shaheed Abu Ali Mustafa Battalions, belonging to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PLFP), a Marxist-Leninist Palestinian resistance faction, announced its missile detatchments targeted the soldiers of the Zionist regime around the Karm Abu Salem border crossing using Type-107 missiles.

Meanwhile, the forces of Martyr Omar al-Qasim Brigades, belonging to the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), another ML-Resistance group, announced the targeting of the Israeli occupation forces' positions in "Sofa", east of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, using Type-107 short-range missiles.

Additionally, the forces of the Mujahideen Brigades, belonging to the Palestinian Mujahideen Movement, announced the targeting of a gathering of Israeli soldiers west of the Salah al-Din Gate, south of Rafah, using mortar shells.

According to reports, the sounds of gunfire and explosions were heard coming from the area around the "Netzarim Corridor", south of Gaza City, followed by the arrival of rescue helicopters which landed near the positions of the Israeli regime's soldiers.

Reports in the Hebrew media also acknowledged that a military rescue helicopter arrived carrying wounded Zionist soldiers as a result of ongoing battles in Gaza. The helicopter was seen landing at the Shaari Tsiddaq hospital in the occupied territories.

#source1

#source2

@WorkerSolidarityNews

[dragonking10]

Jaune The Black Knight

An AU where Jaune and Ruby decided to say Fuck the world, got married after going rogue (they left Beacon after being betrayed by their friends) and had a daughter together named Olivia.

Salem was watching everything through her Grimm and decided to personally invite them to join her faction in turn they will get their revenge. With nowhere else to go they accepted now Ruby leads a battalion of Grimm with Jaune as her Second in Command.

And yes Salem cares about these two adorkable couple and vowed to never let anyone hurt them ever again.

I have baffled long enough, let's get this show on the road.

This particular day Salem ordered for Ruby to get some needed rest after capturing a few villages in her name, Jaune got up from bed and got ready for another day of spreading fear around the world

He showered, brushed his teeth, puts on his black armor, his wife changed Crocea Mor's color scheme, instead of a white shield it's now black with a gold outline and their combined family symbol, instead of a blue hilt it's now blood red, instead of a silver blade it's now a black sword (like the one Sokka made from Avatar the Last Airbender)(As for Jaune's armor, it's the Rusted Knight armor but it's polished and the color is black and gold, helmet included)

Jaune walks into the kitchen where his wife made him some food to go, he grabbed the bag, kissed his wife and turned to leave when suddenly his wife stopped him

Ruby: Wait Jaune, do you know what day it is?

Jaune: Uh... Wednesday?

Ruby: No dummy it's take your daughter to work day!

Jaune: Uh I don't think it's a good idea to bring our daughter to our kind of work, at least not yet.

Ruby: I know, but she has been wanting to come with us for a while and since it's take your daughter to work day I figured now is the best time, plus she'd have my big strong dark knight as her protector~.

Jaune: Well yeah but-

Ruby caressed his face: Jaune you RoseArc-promised.

Jaune sighed: I did didn't I?

3 Hours Later

The scene shows a metal door to one of Atlesian's military bases exploded with Jaune rushes in while holding his daughter's hand but hit his head on the top of the door-way

Jaune holds his head for a second before activating his shield protecting his daughter amd himself from the bullets from the AK's

Jaune: Keep your head down Olvia!

Olivia holding a stuffed Ursa toy: Okay daddy-Whoa!

Jaune quickly dragged Olivia to cover but Olivia lost grip of her best friend.

Olivia: MR. CUZZYBOTTOM!!!

Olivia was about to run out to grab her friend but her father stopped her

Jaune looked down to his daughter and saw her pointing at her stuffed animal which is laying on the ground near the Atlesian Knights

Jaune sighs and looks at Olivia: I'll get him, you stay here where it's safe.

Jaune rushes out of cover, raised his shield and charged at the robot knights

Jaune quckly cut and sliced through the knights, grabbed the toy and rushed back to his daughter

Jaune out of breath and his daughter her toy: Here you go baby.

Salem: Who's the little girl?

Jaune nervous: Oh Lord Salem! Uh... it's bring your daughter to work day and uh I'm sorry for bringing, but my wife says we barely had time to spend together and let's be honest she's right, okay she's right!

Salem:...

Jaune even more nervous laughs a bit: Do you have kids? Cause heh I mean they change your world.

Salem:...

Jaune facepalms and mutters: Ugh I'm probably gonna get either fired or killed for this but... Fuck it.

Jaune grabs his daughter's hand: I love my daughter!

Salem brought her fist to her chest and smiles a bit: That really hits me where I'd live.

Salem noticed a survivor and used her powers to grab his neck

Salem: What have you done with those plans!? Jaune here never gets time to spend with his daughter because of PEOPLE LIKE YOU!!!

Salem snaps the survivor's neck and quickly realized there was a child present

Salem raised her other hand to her mouth: I'm so sorry you had to see that.

Salem drops the body

Salem kneels down to Olivia's eye level: Are you having fun being at work with your father?

Olivia gets nervous because she doesn't like talking to strangers and hides her face behind her father's leg

Salem chuckles: I know I'm pretty scary.

LATER IN MENAGERIE

Jaune was holding his daughter's hand as he and a White Fang goon was patroling a town looking for their targets when suddenly they come across an old man (Ozpin) wearing a hood with Weiss, Blake and Yang behind him also wearing hoods

Jaune stops them: Hold up you all seem familiar.

Ozpin uses his magic: These are not the students you're looking for.

Jaune: These are not the students we're looking for.

Olivia: Yes they are.

Ozpin: Move along

Jaune: Move along!

Ozpin and the three bitche- uh I mean students moved along going into the tavern for intel

Olivia: Daddy, You're not even trying!

Jaune: Honey, It's 110 DEGREES IN THIS CONTINENT!!! I CAN'T HEAR IN THIS THING!!! *points at his helmet* I WAS JUST REPEATING WHAT I THOUGHT THE GUY WAS SAYING! IT'S NOT LIKE IT'S MY OWN MOTHER FUCKING THOUGHT IN THE MATTER, OKAY!?

Olivia runs off crying and Jaune realized what he had done

Jaune feeling guilty and runs after his daughter: HONEY!!!

White Fang Goon: See? That's why I don't take my daugher to Jack Shit!

FEEL FREE TO ADD MORE IF YOU WANT

[bestworstcase]

is there anything about rwby that you would have done differently as a writer? i.e. introducing certain ideas of characters earlier, complete wholesale changes, etc.

in terms of major narrative choices, adam attempts to assassinate sienna as in canon but her personal guard remains loyal, there’s a scuffle, and she’s able to escape wounded but alive, showing up at haven to pincer adam’s forces with the faction of the white fang that refuses to go along with his coup.

the albains are loyal to sienna but still weird and disliked – not for sinister foreshadowing but because sometimes people are just sort of weird and off-putting, and that’s a fun trait to give a couple of good guys who show the fuck up to defend an ally who’s hitherto been a bit distrustful and cool toward them when the violent splinter group tries to assassinate him; narratively the albains being like this while aligning themselves firmly with sienna also provides an opportunity to cast the belladonna’s alliance with and support of sienna into sharper focus and perhaps allows for blake to bounce off and talk to some guys in the “yes direct action and tactical violence, no whatever the fuck adam’s doing” camp to refine her understanding of the white fang and make it clearer how adam corrupted what sienna does and believes.

and the arc resolution is sienna reclaiming leadership of the white fang and preparing to clean house while ghira and ilia plan a second, separate but allied organization focused on advocacy with the overall point being that expecting one group to do and be everything is part of the problem.

i talk about this more here. the white fang arc really isn’t as bad as its frequently maligned but suffers from a lack of clarity in how it’s intended message is delivered; the point of sienna surviving and having genuine allies to represent her side in menagerie is to address that lack of clarity by articulating her philosophy and underscoring that the belladonnas support her and ally themselves with her because the objection isn’t “violence in bad” but rather “indiscriminate violence that materially harms the cause and violent infighting are bad.”

aside from that, i wouldn’t change anything significant presuming that i had to work under the same conditions as the actual writers (<- if they hadn’t lost those two episodes in v9, 9.10 wouldn’t feel so rushed and we’d have got that animatic as a full episode; if there hadn’t been budget issues in v5 mistral wouldn’t feel so empty; etc it’s very easy to fix problems like this in hypotheticals where you imagine you have infinite time and money, but in the real world if this were my story and i faced these sort of logistical challenges it would be to the detriment of the narrative in the same ways and i have no interest in pretending otherwise).

all that said

if i were the one writing this story and either i had more money or it was, like, a series of novels (<- which is what i’d be writing, realistically) – the religious layer of the story would be a lot more overt, not just in terms of the religious conflict with regard to the brothers but i would flesh out 1-2 other religions too. blake’s arc would feature wrestling with complicated feelings about god-of-animals-worship. ruby and yang would’ve been raised monotheistic light-worshippers; weiss would be a lapsed orthodox brother-cultist (in my head this is comparable to, say, the chasm between evangelical protestants and a lapsed catholic). oscar would be stolidly practicing some other religion that has nothing to do with the brothers, to ozma’s consternation, because that’s funny. salem would be still a polytheist but pointedly not worshipping Those Two, because that’s also funny.

<- this is not to “”fix“” anything i just think it’s important as a writer to be self-indulgent. and i like fantasy religions. bfrgscbk

[supersaiyanjedi14]

RWBY COMBAT ANALYSIS: MERCURY BLACK

“I'm sorry you didn't have a mommy that loved you, but I had a father who hated me! He never went easy on me! Every day of training was a beating. And when I unlocked my Semblance, he stole it with his! ‘This is a crutch!’ ‘This makes you weak!’ He told me I could have it back when I was strong. So I got strong, but I never got it back! I've had to work harder than anyone to get where I am. You may not like it here without Cinder, but I think I'm right where I'm supposed to be!”

PHYSICAL

Aged in his early 20s, Mercury Black is a human male hailing from the kingdom of Vale, the son of the noted assassin Marcus Black.  The young Mercury lived a life of violence and abuse, his early combat training colored by physical beatings and verbal beratement.  In the Black household, natural strength and personal achievement were all that mattered, with Marcus going so far as to strip his son of his Semblance to force him to develop the hard way.  Despite his utter failure as a parent, Marcus did succeed in crafting Mercury into a highly capable and ruthless combatant, making it only appropriate that he fought and killed his father roughly a year before the Fall of Beacon.  Immediately afterwards, Mercury was approached by Cinder Fall, who recruited him as one of her primary agents in service to Salem.  Though born as a typical human specimen, Mercury’s legs were amputated right above the knees at some point prior to the attack on Amber, necessitating a pair of cybernetic replacements.  The legs were strong enough to endure a sustained blast of fire from Amber’s staff and likely possessed superhuman striking strength, which his fighting style fully leveraged.  Given that he was able to attack Amber at range despite clearly not having his weapon attached, it is entirely possible that the legs were outfitted with wind Dust cannons, reinforcing his combat evasions.

Above the knees, Mercury was a baseline humanoid, standing at 6’2” and distinguished by his gray hair and eyes, pale skin, and slim athletic build.  An exceptional athlete, his primary physical attribute was his remarkable agility, leveraged through his dynamic fighting style and intense yet nimble acrobatic jumps and lunges.  He has dodged lighting strikes from Amber, evaded gunfire from Coco Adel, tagged Ruby Rose while she was using her Petal Burst (head-on I might add), and has casually kept pace with the likes of Pyrrha Nikos and Yang Xiao Long.  Though seemingly excessive and flashy, Mercury was nimble enough to perform intricate contortions and spins while balanced on his hands alongside his parkour amid his combat sequences, fighting as a bizarre mix of freerunner and breakdancer.  Though he favored kick-based martial arts, rarely employing punches, Mercury possessed sufficient dexterity and reflexes to leverage his hands for close-quarters defense, redirecting Yang’s punches during the Vytal Festival and holding off Emerald Sustrai in a fist fight.  The only time Mercury’s mobility failed him was when Tyrian Callows pounced on him in Salem’s castle, and even this example was because he was caught off-guard.  Mercury’s physical strength varied depending on which of his appendages he is hitting with.  With his legs, he has staggered even heavily armored opponents with the force of his kicks and was able to shatter the arena floor with a single strike during his battle with Yang.  With his arms, however, he had nothing to write home about, and in fact has been overpowered on several occasions, albeit only from dedicated heavyweights like Yatsuhashi Dachi and Yang.

Hardened by years of physical abuse, Mercury was all too familiar with pain and injury and knew better than most how to take a hit.  Despite his laid-back sarcastic attitude, he possessed the martial discipline to roll with the punches and would break before he ever bent.  Against Amber, he soaked up several elemental attacks that forced him to his knees, yet still maintained his composure and was still vital enough to escape from Qrow Branwen after the fight.  Though he was manhandled by Yatsuhashi during the Vytal Festival, Mercury recovered quickly and continued to fight with no visible drain on his performance, digging deep and managing to overcome Team CFVY’s juggernaut.  In his subsequent battle with Yang Xiao Long, Mercury had to be pounded into submission, taking the full brunt of Yang’s Burn-enhanced onslaught before going down.  Even after his Aura was broken, Mercury was able to regain his feet and trick Yang into seemingly attacking a defenseless opponent, enduring the pain of her point-blank Ember Celica into his right leg and only needing cosmetic repairs before getting back on his feet the following evening.  At Haven Academy, Mercury worked through a rematch with Yang and endured a headbutt from Ruby, and by the end of the lengthy battle was spry enough to retreat with only minor signs of fatigue.  At the end of the day, I think we can agree that there is a reason why Salem paired Mercury up with the only one of her lieutenants able to reliably overcome him quickly when she dispatched him and Tyrian to Vacuo.

As he operated primarily as an assassin and infiltrator, Mercury’s MO was to be inconspicuous rather than imposing, blending in and striking unexpectedly.  Accordingly, he favored simple clothing that minimized encumbrance and allowed for casual appearance. When he was dispatched to Vacuo with Tyrian Callows, he wore an orange trimmed blue shirt underneath a double-breasted gray leather jacket, accessorizing with gray vambraces with fingerless gloves, black cargo pants, and an orange keychain. Though they were typically concealed beneath his clothing, the durability of Mercury’s legs allowed them to function as built-in armor, providing a margin for error for his fancy feet.

RANKING: Tier 1.5, Partially Augmented Human

Mercury’s youthful athleticism is easily equal to or greater than the most capable human Huntsmen, and even though he only specializes in a single arena, he is still well-rounded enough to function in any role required of him, balancing forceful aggression with dynamic flexibility.  His capabilities are further augmented by his cybernetics, his legs providing extremely durable bludgeons in combat and functioning as natural armor.  Where Yang Xiao Long’s prosthetic was limited to only her right arm, Mercury’s paired set offers him greater protection and more leverageable options in combat. Though not enough to classify him as truly superhuman, he still has a literal leg up on your standard human.

MARTIAL

Mercury Black was armed with Talaria, a set of black metallic greaves outfitted with built-in firearms.  Approximately 15 inches long, each greave was equipped with a circular drum of ammunition, while the metal plating extended to about halfway between his ankles and knees. The weapons appeared to be based around similar technology to the Ember Celica wielded by his rival Yang Xiao Long, with the obvious difference being that the triggering and reload mechanism was built to accommodate kicks rather than punches.  By the time Salem’s forces arrived in Atlas, Mercury had added a set of sharpened metal wings to the heels, though whether these held combative purposes or were purely cosmetic is unconfirmed.

With every day of training being a beating in practice, Marcus Black taught his son how to be a fighter at a very early age, emphasizing physical conditioning and hand to hand combat.  Despite amounting to an alcoholic thug of a human being, Marcus’s reputation as a combatant was well-known, and Mercury clearly benefitted from his father’s training, demonstrated when he narrowly defeated him in the burning ruin of their house.  It was there that Cinder Fall found him, recruiting him as her primary enforcer and assassin in the leadup to the Fall of Beacon.  Mercury served Cinder faithfully during that year, where he cut his teeth against the Fall Maiden Amber, acquitted himself well in a sparring match with Pyrrha Nikos, and fought evenly with Yang Xiao Long during the Vytal Festival.  Despite his young age, Mercury was a hardened killer and utterly ruthless, his skill gaining the appreciation of his peers and even Salem herself.  Like his rival Yang, Mercury was an unarmed martial artist first and foremost, his weapons being a literal extension of his body.  His physical moveset was powerful yet fluid, alternating between an array of kicks and leg sweeps to trip up, stagger, and bludgeon the opponent. Highly mobile, Mercury often employed flying acrobatics to add power to his strikes, best seen when he slammed into Fulcrum at full force during his battle with Yatsuhashi Dachi and later an overhead scissor-kick when squaring off with Yang, in addition to nimble evasions to avoid injury.  Despite this brutal offensive stance, Mercury also utilized his flexibility for disorientation and defense. He favored breakdancing-like spins and gyrations to distract the opponent while he slipped in counters, executing his kicks with great precision when necessary.  When he adopted more grounded stances, Mercury used these same maneuvers in the form of sweeping roundhouse kicks, staggering the opponent and setting up for a powerful follow-up.  His control and finesse was further expressed in his marksmanship, turning his upright hammer kicks into projectile volleys that he has used for both focused takedowns and to create his Dust whirlwinds.  This sophisticated yet vicious style was reinforced with hand-based defensive parries, intercepting upper body attacks with deft deflections and light punches, setting up for counters while their attention was taken up.

“Raised” by a murderous assassin, Mercury Black had little regard for honorable conduct or the well-being of others, a callousness that was reflected in his tactics.  He favored ambush and surprise, catching the opponent with their pants down and hitting them where it hurt most. His use of psychological warfare was emphasized by his tendency to interrupt the opponent and kick them while they were down, messing with their concentration and preventing them from bringing their full might to bear.  In pitched combat, he used his erratic fighting style to blindside the enemy and keep them guessing while giving himself an opportunity to bypass their defenses.  When the situation allowed for hit, he employed verbal taunts to distract and provoke, keeping you off balance by being a sketchy asshole.  Subvert and overwhelm.  Though he was silent during the attack on Amber, Mercury still kept the Fall Maiden on her toes by rushing in to blitz her when she least expected it, forcing Amber to lean heavily on her Maiden powers to compensate.  When sparring with Pyrrha Nikos, Mercury’s stronger core technique allowed him to bully through her standard sword-and-board technique and disarm her, though Pyrrha turned the tables by leveraging her Semblance to deflect and repel him, prompting a forfeit after he took her measure.  During the Vytal Festival, he and Emerald Sustrai went up against Coco Adel and Yatsuhashi Dachi in the Doubles Round, and they proceeded to turn the battle into a guerrilla ambush.  They opened by slipping into the grasses and goading Coco into focusing on that while they slipped away.  They followed this up with Mercury blindsiding their opponents from the sky, expertly pinballing between the two in close quarters while leaving Coco vulnerable to Emerald’s BFR yank.  Though Yatsu managed to gain ground and nearly overpower him, Mercury recovered his momentum and squared off evenly with the giant before kicking him into an environmental hazard, leaving him open to a finishing kick.  Arguably Mercury’s greatest display of skill as a martial artist was his duel with Yang Xiao Long in the Singles, fighting evenly with RWBY’s heavyweight and overbearing her several times, only losing when she used her Semblance to brutalize him.  While it is true that Mercury threw the fight as part of Cinder’s plans, this does not change the fact that the two were clearly on equal footing and pressuring such a talented up-and-coming fighter is no mean feat.

Mercury was devious and tricky, but he was often afflicted by his own cocky attitude.  He tended to go too far with his taunts and get careless, which has given many of his opponents chances to rally from setbacks and fight back before he wised up. Though Yang’s Semblance may have granted her the win regardless, Mercury let his guard down immediately after kicking her to the ground, making their final bout a series of hits he didn’t need to take.  During their rematch at Haven Academy several months later, Mercury pressed his advantage, exploiting Yang’s shock of Weiss Schnee’s impalement, but his and Emerald’s attempt to encircle her was interrupted by Ruby Rose, who rushed in to defend her sister.  In the ensuing melee, Mercury managed to disarm Ruby, but chose the moment to mock her for her supposed helplessness, leaving him exposed to a retaliatory headbutt, a failing made even more egregious given Ruby’s middling unarmed combat skills.  While Mercury continued to acquit himself well, fighting through the eventually arrival of Blake Belladonna and escaping with the others, this incident demonstrated how careless Mercury could become when his success went to his head, especially against opponents ostensibly below his own level.  Furthermore, he himself was vulnerable to psychological taunting, especially when the comments were directed towards his deep-seeded issues regarding his father.  His brief exchange with Emerald saw him angrily berating her for her blind loyalty to Cinder, yet a few choice words from Tyrian Callows were enough to set him off and leave him flat on his back.  Mercury preferred to keep things close to the chest, preventing his opponents from digging their psychological hooks into him even as he tried to hook them himself.  In his fights with Yang, Mercury drew a fine line between messing with Yang’s head and actively provoking her, the anger he stoked in her putting him on the hot seat against a level of force he wasn’t prepared for.  Mercury was at his best when in his comfort zone, his fighting style and tactics allowing him to off-balance the opponent while dismantling their defenses.  If the opponent refuses to be provoked or can work through his interference, he can get in trouble very quickly, the leg Yang blasted at the Vytal Festival being an uncomfortable reminder of his oversights.

RANKING: Tier 3, Standard Mastery

Mercury’s training, technique, and feats speak to a highly skilled martial artist who is, at worst, still comparable to the great masters of his day.  His core fighting style balances out dynamic energy with deft flexibility, while his tactical outlook tempers his vicious aggression with ruthless pragmatism. Mercury Black’s priority is always to come out ahead, without a thought to being elegant or nice.  He will take you down however he has to and if he doesn’t have to fight fair, he won’t.  However, his success is predicated on his control, and if he is confronted by an opponent who he can’t overpower or undercut, he can get into trouble very quickly, while his arrogant posturing makes him prone to tactical blunders.  Though given his parity with the likes of Yang and Pyrrha, getting Merc into that kind of trouble will still be an uphill battle.

SPECIAL

The day his son unlocked his Semblance, Marcus Black used his own to steal it, telling the young Mercury that it was a crutch that interfered in the way of obtaining true strength.  Regardless of whether Marcus was expressing his personal philosophy or simply being a manipulative bastard, these words would be taken to their natural extreme when Mercury killed his father before he had a chance to restore his powers.  As a result, Mercury Black spent his entire career without a Semblance, a factor that made him extremely unique among his peers.  Though his lack of special abilities left him somewhat handicapped, Mercury was not helpless and had learned, or rather been forced to learn, to work within him limits.  Like his former associate Roman Torchwick, Mercury primarily compensated for his lack of a Semblance by dedicating himself wholly to his mastery of physical combat, to the point where he was able to contend with more powerful adepts by dominating them and preventing them from bringing their full power to bear.  Against Amber, he simply evaded her lightning strikes, powered through her flame burst, and endured the flurry of frozen leaves she threw.  Against more conventional Huntsmen, he dialed up his precision and control, aiming for critical strikes that would screw with their attempts to use their Semblances.  When confronted by Ruby Rose during the Vytal Festival, he intercepted her Petal Burst and kicked her back, delaying her long enough to allow Pyrrha and Penny Polendina’s duel to escalate.  Ruby only got around Mercury by dodging around and generating an exceptionally powerful burst of speed, but by then it was too late.

Though Mercury lacked a Semblance, he was not completely lacking in the supernatural plane.  Like many of his contemporaries, Mercury readily incorporated Dust into his primary loadout, using elemental gunpowder to weaponize nature itself.  In his case, steam Dust, crafted by mixing fire and water, was his weapon of choice, outfitted into Talaria to create instantaneous smokescreens with just a pump of his foot.  When choosing to resort to a more direct approach, his preferred tactic was to fire a volley of Dust projectiles into the air, often used in conjunction with grounded gymnastics, to create a whirlwind of area-effect power.  Furthermore, I believe that wind Dust was also a component in Mercury’s arsenal, enabling his fine control over his storms by directing the air currents.  This extended to being able to direct his shots to specific targets, a possibility glimpsed when two shots against Yatsu and Coco took on almost heat-seeking properties.  Also seen in the Doubles Round of the Vytal Festival, Mercury closed the distance by unleashing a contained tornado before condensing it into a dense fog, using the cover to ambush his targets and providing Emerald an opening to ensnare Coco.  Additionally, this Dust-augmented attack could be used for offensive purposes as well, concentrating the blasts into a steamy blitzkrieg.  During his fight with Yang, Mercury encompassed the brawler with his storm, distracting her and leaving her open to a surprise kick before immediately directing the bursts to target her once she hit the ground, briefly pummeling her into submission.  Otherwise, Mercury has been seen using his Dust for tactical support and improving his acrobatics, using the bursts to propel himself around the battlefield.  The best example of this was in his battle with Yang, where he used a burst of air to save himself from falling out of the ring, turning a flying takeoff into an acrobatic recovery.

Despite his limited special abilities, Mercury was intelligent enough to utilize what he had effectively, working around his lack of personal powers by overbearing the enemy in physical combat and blindsiding them with elemental force to enable his treacherous ambushes.  However, much like his general tactical outlook, Mercury was at his best when he had the element of surprise, and his tendency to let success go to his head had sometimes prevented him from utilizing his tools effectively.  Despite their distraction, Coco and Yatsu were still able to maintain their composure and intercept his follow up strike, and it was only Emerald’s sneak attack that properly separated them.  Furthermore, even though Dust is incredibly powerful, it does not always bring the exact power needed to overcome the enemy.  When Mercury threw that storm at Yang, she was briefly disabled but unimpeded, using the hits to power up her Semblance and pound Mercury into the mat.

RANKING: Tier 5, Limited Combat

Mercury Black’s special abilities are wholly tied to his use of Dust, his lack of a Semblance meaning that he has nothing to bring to the table in turn.  Like Roman Torchwick, Mercury owes his success to mundane countermeasures and external forces he can manipulate, though his regular Dust armament means that he has a step above the crime lord.  As visually spectacular as Mercury’s Dust storms are, they clearly aren’t powerful enough to decisively end the conflict, instead owing more to tactical support and just another way to shoot a gun.  Dust Ammunition is easily the most limited combative application of Dust, with Mercury’s success determined by his creative uses rather than his destructive might.

OVERALL RANKING: TIER 4, EXPERT HUNTSMAN

Mercury Black’s final placement is determined by his exceptional performance levels as well as his practical shortcomings.  Mercury has all the trappings of a great master-level fighter, his combat feats and elevation within Salem’s inner circle speaking for themselves, but he is severely limited by what his father stole from him.  Physically, his cyborg legs put him a cut above most adversaries, but his athleticism can still be challenged by normal humans with similar training.  His martial skills are versatile and deadly, more than enough to contend with the best of the best, but his arrogance and pessimism have on occasion undercut his otherwise capable tactical skills and gotten him in over his head.  And with his Semblance stolen, all he is bringing to the table is Dust ammunition, an exhaustible resource with limited capabilities.  To be fair Mercury’s use of his Dust is very creative and flexible, making it a very valid tool in his arsenal, but its ability to decisively end the conflict is restricted.  Due to his Semblance being stripped away, Mercury’s success in combat is tied to his supremacy as a physical combatant and the mundane countermeasures he has adopted.  While he deserves a great deal of credit for what he has been able to accomplish despite his disability, he does have significant limits.

Despite his similarities to his rival Yang, I actually find Mercury’s more direct analogue to be his late contemporary, Roman Torchwick.  His cyborg legs provide him with a similar anatomical edge to Roman’s physical hardiness, both are high-performance and treacherous martial artists who can operate well in both general and single combat, and both get around their lack of ethereal powers by undercutting and countering the powers of others.  Even their tactical outlooks are superficially similar, teaching them that the best way to score a win is to fight dirty.  However, where Roman’s loftiness led to him growing complacent and simply being good enough, Mercury’s drive to prove himself and rise above what his father thrust upon him allowed him to stack the building blocks of greatness, coming into his own as one of Salem’s direct subordinates and even casually walking away from Cinder Fall’s direct orders.  Mercury Black has more than escaped from the shadow of Marcus Black as a warrior.  All that remains is to see if he can do the same for his soul.

*originally posted on RoosterTeeth Community page on 05-31-21*

*all images taken from RWBY Wiki *

RWBY Combat Analysis

[howlingday]

Last time on Rose-Arc Blood War:

The lines between the Chocolate Chip Lovers & Oatmeal Raisin Lovers briefly blurred as Weiss showed off her impressive orator skills, but things swiftly took a turn for the worse as Salem randomly swooped in to reignite tensions.

Will this (so-far) bloodless blood war ever come to an end?

Will a mysterious 3rd faction take advantage of the current chaos, and rise to the top?

Find out... Later

-----

Blake: ...

Ren: ...

Blake: Honestly, I like tea the most out of every sweet treat people have been fighting over this whole time.

Ren, tearing up: Finally, someone who speaks my language.

Nora: GIVE ME COFFEE!

Ren: Nora, you're not allowed.

Blake: Have some tea.

Nora: FUCK YOUR TEA!

Blake: ...

Nora: ...

Blake: ...

Nora: ...

Blake: (Sniffle)

Nora: Uh...

Blake: (Leans into Ren, Sobs)

Nora: Uh, should I apologize?

Ren: I THINK YOU'VE DONE ENOUGH.

Thus the Valkyrie-Belladonna Disagreement began... This would not be as physically devastating as the Rose Arc Blood Feud, though some would argue that it was far more emotionally charged.

[ficretus]

Might be wishful thinking, but I feel like we might see Cinder with bit longer hair during Vacuo arc. Nothing too extreme mind you, probably shoulder length hair.

If you look at Cinder's hair style during the volumes, only time she had long hair is during the Beacon arc. And it makes sense since that was the arc in which she had the most freedom. Salem had minimal presence during that arc so Cinder got to play the role of big bad pulling all the strings. She also got to roleplay as Huntress as part of her disguise, something she associated with being free in her backstory.

But come the next volume, and she now has short hair. Of course, there is logic behind it, her hair likely being scorched when she was struck by silver eyes. However it also represents her losing her freedom by having both Grimm arm grafted to her and being relegated to one of Salem's agents narrative wise. It can also symbolize her vendetta against Ruby, her appearance morphing to look more similar to her enemy (especially during the Atlas arc, her appearance there can almost be described as dark Ruby).

However, end of the Volume 8 changed a status quo from Cinder's perspective. She not only destroyed Atlas (place where she was enslaved) she also finally got rid of Ruby, ending her vendetta. She also got rid of Neo and Watts, both of whom threatened her position during the arc. Her success in delivering both Relics to Salem also gave her some breathing room and returned her to somewhat of a stable position within the faction.

From her perspective she is freer since she got rid of all of people she perceived as her abusers and her vendetta is over. Way I see it, her appearance should somewhat represent her current mindset. Give her shoulder length hair to represent her current illusion of freedom and make her appearance start diverging from Ruby's.

[lipeg]

Vacuan 1: You're the girl who sent the message! The one who brought the world together!

RWBY Volume 9: Beyond Episode 4 Boba

Atlas most technologically advanced kingdom.

Statue: Destroyed

Lost Items: Relic of creation and knowledge

Those responsible are still on the loose.

Vale

Statue: Destroyed [ Off screen ]

Winter and Marrow Amin look at graffiti on a wall, stating "ATLAS GET OUT" and "LONG LIVE THE CROWN". Winter hears an airship in the distance, and flies off to investigate. As she lands, she is greeted by Peter Port, who takes a step back.

Port: (chuckles) The Winter Maiden, Miss Schnee. (takes a step forward and bows)

Winter: What's happened?

Port: (sighs) When Salem left Atlas, she came for Vale, and now there's nothing left.

Port looks behind him to Bartholomew Oobleck, who is looking down.

Winter: Where's Glynda?

Port: Gone. Trying to find help. We led the civilian retreat, brought as many people with us as we could, and uh, this, this is the only place we could think to go.

Possible missing item: Relic of choice

Mistral

Far west location of Remnant

Status: Weakened

Due to the betrayal of HEADMASTER Leonardo Lionheart, Haven Academy was closed and ALL of its students were transferred to Vacuo.

Before the start of the series, Ozpin invited Lionheart into his group, involving him in his shadow war against Salem and her faction. However, at some point he betrayed Ozpin and sided with Salem for about two years following the events of RWBY: The Grimm Campaign, working for her as a spy to save himself out of fear. While he wasn't present in Vale during the time of the 40th Vytal Festival, he helped forge documents for Cinder's Faction to infiltrate Beacon Academy without raising suspicion and inadvertently helped cause the Fall of Beacon.

Lionheart had given Salem the locations of Huntsmen and Huntresses dispatched throughout Mistral, in which they'd be slaughtered by Tyrian Callows and Hazel Rainart.

The relic from the kingdom was taken.

Vacuo

Status: Crisis

RWBY Volume 9: Beyond Episode 2 A Knight's Journal

The kingdom received refugees from two kingdoms, most from Atlas and the few remaining in Vale.

The relic of destruction remains awaited under seven keys, the maiden remains hidden.

Dangerous prisoners were freed and joined Salem.

Jax Astúrias, semblance Mind Control.

Gillian Asturias, semblance Aura Siphon.

Gillian's Semblance, Aura Siphon, allows her to transfer Aura between different people, much like Jaune Arc. However, she is also able to drain Aura from others to recover her own, as well as storing it for herself.

Vacuan 1: You're the girl who sent the message! The one who brought the world together!

The world is more divided and weaker than ever before.

I had a theory that current Rwby fans don't care about history and this is the result.

They left Miles Luna and Kerry Shawcross as writers and directors it was a mistake. Just Kerry Shawcross stayed to write and direct RWBY Beyond.

Indirectly and directly, team RWBY was responsible for the annihilation of their own world.

My honest reaction it would be the same as the joker laughing until he fell to the ground.

I just want to see people cursing me

[cosmicmordecai]

I don’t know what is about witch covens and the inherent idea any complications they have with a well-known religious faction of any sort is an allusion they’re getting persecuted ala the Salem Witch Trials but thinking the Acolyte shows the the Jedi actively engaging it and its inherent to them is not only incorrect in terms of Lucas’s “intended vision” of them but the High Republic quite LITERALLY introduced/re-introduces other force sensitive groups.

The Jedi aren’t alone & those groups made it known

The High Republic comics explore other force sensitive groups and in one of the very first issues, it is made clear various force sensitive groups don’t hesitate to remind Jedi that they don’t rule. Now you might think the sentiment means at one point, they’re perceived as that and it may come from SOMETHING but the same is later accused of all those within the Covocation of the Force, a group based on Jedha established to promote dialogue & understanding between different cultures.

The Chairman is a representative of the Church of the Force, notably mentioned in The Force Awakens movie, whom is non-Force sensitive but believes in the Force nevertheless. The Convocation is also joined by other factions including the: Disciples of Whillis, the Lonto, Matukai, Fallanssi, Sorcerers of Tund, Guardians of the Whillis, and of course the Jedi Order. That is nine Force Sensitive groups and a few of them have complex histories.

The Jedi have aren't actually THAT judgmental

In the same second story in the High Republic comic that introduces the Convocation, we see a Yacombre representative apply to join the Convocation and while two of the representatives of both the Fallansai and the Matukai were quick to regard them as a dangerous threat due to their alignment with the dark side, both a Jedi representative's aide and a Lonto representative physically and verbally vouched for them while the Church of the Force and Disciple of Whillis representatives also vouched for them, revealing that the Yacombre have rejected the dark side generations ago and strive to be both neutral and balance and spoke through proxies because that's how they are. We don't learn a whole lot but we see the (then) Jedi representative's aide be among the voice of reason and at no point, does their dark side affiliations, former or current, has her involved in the "oppress the dark side".

Later in the comic series, after dealing with a openly bigot group aiming to cause trouble for them and accuse them of misusing the Force before unleashing a monster that preyed and feeds off Force sensitives, the new Jedi representative (who had a initial bias against Sorcerrs of Tund for a traumatic event as a child, which he works through in the same comic) also advocates for a a independent member who was a former Guardian disgraced for a crime later proven he didn't commit.

Given people are complex and nuanced, it's hard to say NO JEDI EVER could be a bit more judgmental or hold inherent biases or notions because the character development for the eventual new Jedi representative included him working through trauma and learning to disassociate the evil acolyte he encountered as a child from the rest of the Sorcerers of Tund, as it both made him act strange around a simple member of them and later impeded his full connection to the Force in a situation that was life and death for him and others BUT the order, as a whole, is clearly for supporting the allowing, understanding, and respecting fir other force sensitive groups.

This stayed until the very end

What's more, the Prequels Jedi showcased they kept this idea intact: they were okay with the Nightsisters enough, they respected the Bardottans and the Dagoyan Order, and they held high regard for the Guardians and Disciples of Whillis as well as the Church of the Force. This isn’t even addressing the cultures that held the Force highly like the Chalactans, the Miralians, the Lasats, and more, which has influences on both Jedi culture & some of the characters in LEADERSHIP.

Many forget that despite being accused of kidnapping Bardottan children, they left them alone for a millennia and it was MACE WINDU himself whose selfless actions with Jar Jar Binks at his side led Julia to consider the Jedi Order and the Dagoyan Order to interact once again. People were quick to pick out the accusation but not the fact that Mace Windu’s actions rectified that after a milennia & they found themselves wrong about them.

I’ll see posts every week about how so called pro Jedi blogs can’t accept Jedi being “deeply flawed” but blaming a religious minority for shit perpetrated by elected officials of a government, implicitly thinking they simply enabled the behavior, and accusing them of things like child kidnapping & persecution of other religious groups like that’s a flaw when that’s a actual crime is a bit too crazy.

Then it’s done when discussing events in the literal period they were restraining others from jumping down other people’s throats for having connections to the dark side.

[satellitebroadcast]

Martyred under torture: Telegram

58-year-old Ayman Rajeh Abed from Kafr Dan in Jenin was subjected to a complex crime today [September 2] leading to his martyrdom. Ayman was taken hostage by the IOF to pressure his wanted and wounded son to turn himself in. Ayman was beaten, tortured, and executed. Prisoners' institutions stated that "visible marks of handcuffs were found on his hands, and signs of beating and torture were evident on his body, confirming that he was martyred as a result of the physical abuse he endured." His family confirmed that he did not suffer any health issues previously. His body was handed over at the Salem military checkpoint. Previously, the IOF repeatedly raided his home to pressure his son. Ayman is the father of prisoners Islam and Ihsan Abed, while his third son is wanted and wounded. Glory to the martyrs.

Hamas leader Mahmoud Mardawi: Telegram

The field execution of citizen Ayman Abed from the town of Kafr Dan, west of Jenin, is a continuation of the systematic criminality against our people. This crime coincides with the escalation of attacks by the occupation's prison administration on our heroic prisoners, as part of the extremist policies of the occupation government led by Ben Gvir and Smotrich, which gives the green light to abuse the prisoners, even to the point of killing them in cold blood. These crimes will ignite an explosion in the face of the occupation, and the resistance will not forfeit the blood and rights of our people. What our people, especially the prisoners who are being held for interrogation by the occupation, are facing—along with the previous martyrs who suffered abuse and medical neglect—indicates that the occupation government is pursuing a policy of attacking our heroic prisoners out of revenge, following their failure to break the resistance in Gaza and the West Bank. We call on our heroic people, our active factions, and human rights and humanitarian organizations to fulfill their responsibilities in confronting these systematic attacks and putting an end to them.

September 2