#There's another gif I made of this scene where Weiss is looking at them like 'What are you two even doing'

[kitkatopinions]

New rwby ep dropped V9 ep6, my thoughts, praise, and criticisms (as well as obvious spoilers) beneath the keep reading.

Praise:

I'll give it to rwby, the twist that Alyx had a brother was not expected! I'm proud of them, actually, the two falling lights and the guy in the portrait, and even the footprints in the sand, that was all well done foreshadowing! Good on them.

The blink and you'll miss it reflection of Summer in the water is well done, not a lot of attention drawn to it.

Might hate that Jaune is here, but his line delivery of things like "I was the Rusted Knight" is well done too. Perfectly captures Jaune having wanted to be that, it captured his old feelings of pride that he must've felt, while obviously still bittersweet.

The thing is that I'm half-convinced that Jaune is going to be a secret accidental antagonist, and that his story about Alyx is him being an unreliable narrator, and if that's the case then to me the scene where he talks about Alyx seems - as of right now - pretty good!

The animators are once again knocking themselves out of the park on Blake's facial expressions.

I've already said it in another post, but it deserves repeating that after ten years, rwby confirmed main characters as queer. No matter how it's done (and I talk about my problems with it below) and how badly it's been handled before, it's a point blank period good thing and every bit of rep we see on screen helps normalize it and encourage it as expected for future media.

Again, I have very little praise.... Um, the sound effects remained good? That's all I've got tbh.

Criticism:

Me seeing even a moment of Jaune's POV going through a similar thing to Ruby in the beginning of ep1 was a curse. I am sincerely starting to hate him, and that's such a sad thing because I'm one of the few rwby critics who ever liked him at all (mostly as a concept, he's been used so badly,) but I just get so sick of seeing him and now me at Jaune is like:

Honestly they really just wanted Jaune to get a time-skip and be super old but needed an excuse for why the same thing didn't happen to Team RWBY so they went with special time fruit that he picked that sent Jaune back in time in the Ever After and created himself as the rusted knight he knew from the story in a time-loop worthy of Doctor Who. But I think it's stupid as hell. Sure Jaune jus yank a clock-fruit off of a clock-tree, that sounds like a good idea. /s Sure writers, just make a clock-tree that sends Jaune back in time, that sounds like a good idea. /s

Little is still an annoying intrusion.

Weiss being into Jaune is a bad choice.

I know it's hard for these writers because Jaune fans make up like fifty percent of their most loyal fans (the other fifty are bees shippers,) but if they could stop trying to convince us that Jaune is hot that would be great. Especially because let's not forget that Jaune was a total nice guy to Weiss, bothering her when she'd made it very clear she wasn't interested and I know 'times change' or whatever but it's a bad look to have her thirsting after him now and again it's just gonna feed the more misogynistic Jaune fans.

They cut away from Jaune actually telling Team RWBY what happened of course. Why would the audience want to see characters react to things when we can just understand they had emotions off screen? /s This is just like Yang's story about landing in the Ever After, we just brush it aside, but it makes the emotions so shallow and lacking.

Ruby: "We lost Atlas and the Relic." Blake: "But we got everyone out safely." NOOOoooooo babygirl, you did not do that. Not only were tons of soldiers sacrificed to try and hold her back, but Cinder attacked citizens on that bridge and apparently they were dead in the explosion, and also the Mantle and Atlas citizens were tossed into the middle of a sandstorm and got attacked by Grimm and that last one might not something the girls know, but they know the rest and nobody protests that Blake and Jaune both just think everyone is safe? This is especially weird to me considering that they don't know that Qrow, Robyn, Maria, and Pietro are safe (and they might not be!) And Penny is literally fucking dead. Like no, you guys are just delusional tbh and at this point I legit feel like the writers are trying to manipulate their fans into thinking that what they watched wasn't actually what they watched.

Ruby: "What good is saving anybody if Salem just destroys the world anyway?" Yang: "That's how Ironwood thought." So that's boiling down the volume 7 problem to being incredibly simplistic and tbh in not a very fair way (this is acting like Ironwood didn't want to save anyone in volume 7 and it's acting like Team RWBY had any real plan in volume 7 themselves,) but it's also.... Not wrong. If Salem gets all the Relics, the world could end and kill literally every person alive, Ruby is just saying 'we should've prioritized her not getting a doomsday key because not doing that could lead to Salem KILLING EVERYONE ALIVE ON THE PLANET. Yang is acting like being slightly realistic for two seconds is being on the path of villainy!

Blake's like "Hope the Cat is okay." I understand that the girls are processing a lot, but some of them didn't even think about the Cat risking itself, risking death, after having been freaked out by the Jabberwalker, and now the most they can muster when they remembered it existed at all is "yeah hope it's okay." Shouldn't they be slightly more worried about the life of an ally?

Jaune needs to take a million chill pills. Mr. Trauma he may be but if it's a choice between him or the Cat... I'm taking the cat. And he needs to not pull a "team RWBY" and draw his weapons on people. What was he gonna do, kill the cat? Nice thought, that Jaune might want to be a cold-blooded out-of-anger murderer as well as a it's-what-she-wanted out of kindness murderer.

Weiss: "We've been following this story the whole time and it's not even true?!" Okay, let's review. They arrived in the Ever After and a couple of things that happened to Alyx also happened to them so they assumed that they were going through the story in the same way as her - which is why they played the game with the Red Prince - but then when they beat the Prince's game same as Alyx, they got wildly off track without any of them mentioning it while none of them recognized the Cat right away and encountered a whole character who didn't exist in the book and then said they were off book, and then they went to a market to get a growgurt with none of them even sort of saying Alyx had done the same iirc, And now Weiss is insisting that they have been following the story? No, they stopped doing that like two episodes ago, right? The only thing they've been trying to do in the story is just go to the Tree, and they've been relying on the Cat for that since they ran from the Prince, not the book. So why is Weiss now acting like they've been following in Alyx's footsteps the whole time? They already know the Ever After contains lots of things that weren't in the original book - like the concept of Ascencion and the Caterpillar and other things they act like they don't know about like the loop, so why are they now acting like the story not containing everything in the Ever After is new?

So because of people being mad at the Cat, either the Cat or Ever After itself put everyone in a "punderstorm" (stupid name,) which is a "physical manifestation of a mental or emotional problem" (It's implied the Cat did it, but I'm unsure.) This is another thing that isn't in the Ever After book based on the reactions of the girls, and it immediately punishes Weiss for saying its the pits? Implying that the Ever After itself is an entity with enough consciousness to be offended? Also the gag where Weiss falls through the hole and then reappears falling on her back is very Marvel, very Spongebob. Oddly enough Weiss is just like "yep my bad lol" and doesn't say something like "omg did the Ever After itself just punish me for insulting it?!"

Jaune says the only way out is to fix the problem or 'wait for the storm to pass' before he directs them to keep moving before saying that Blake and Yang must've had 'something bigger' to work out. Here's the thing with that. Yeah, Blake and Yang did have their feelings to talk to each other about, but the Ever After forces them away from the others to talk about their emotional problem, and didn't like, force Jaune and Ruby into a place where he tells her he killed Penny? It doesn't force Ruby to stand across from her teammates and tell them she can't take everything anymore and it isn't fair that she's carrying them on her shoulders? The Ever After doesn't trap Weiss until she works out her clear emotional problems about losing Atlas? The Ever After doesn't put Jaune across from the Cat until they make up again over the situation with Alyx and Lewis? Why is it that Blake and Yang get singled out? Oh yeah, because the writers are singling them out. They might as well have had the RWBY writers appear on screen and shuffle Blake and Yang away from the others while breaking the fourth wall to tell the camera Office-style that they just can't write for characters to do things naturally so please stick with 'em for this brief intermission.

Blake and Yang need to get to the platform in the middle!

It's too bad that they aren't hunters who can launch themselves into the air or have weapons that help them with that!

Yang earlier: "Wasn't Alyx bad? She lied and cheated her way through the whole book." Jaune now: "She wasn't just a little petulant, or inconsiderate. She was selfish, cruel." Either Jaune misread Alyx in the book or Yang did, lol. 'A little petulant' is a minor character flaw (and every character ought to have at least one character flaw,) being a bad example for little kids on what not to do and a liar and a cheat through the whole story is something else entirely! This is hilarious, Jaune and Yang would've been out there accusing the other of being brainless antis who didn't read the same story. XD

So Alyx poisoned Jaune and he died? He says "I was dead" So... how did he come back to life? Is he alive?

Also it's worth noting that Blake and Yang don't even call for Weiss, Ruby, or Jaune and don't act worried about them at all despite the fact that "punderstorms" and their role is clearly also not part of the book. That's not helping the 'no they do care about other people' argument tbh.

Yang: "I like that you've never been intimidated by me." No lie, when I heard this, I burst out laughing. Blake has never been intimidated by Yang? She acted like Yang would hit her because Yang chose to go on a separate mission! Blake has been animated to make worried faces all season long while she tries to patiently coax Yang into not losing her temper like one would talk to a five year old. Blake has acted hesitant to express her worries with Yang - heck, throughout most of season six, Blake was acting like she was waiting for Yang to hit her, and their 'triumphant' moment in volume six was Blake sobbingly trying to assure Yang that she wouldn't ever leave her. Again, these characters are acting like they're delusional. Yang claiming that Blake has never been intimidated by her when Blake as recently as three in-universe days ago at least was ducking her head with a sad face and hunched shoulders while she waited for a scolding looking like she feared being hit because Yang had left her... It just makes Yang look like she doesn't pay any attention to Blake really, and during their love confession, that's a very bad look!

I would so much prefer a love confession where Blake and Yang naturally just told each other how they felt or kissed in the heat of a moment or something rather than having them forced into it, not only is it very fanfic in the worst way but it's also.... Cutting it kind of close to uncomfortable. If I was forced to confess my attraction to another girl, then no matter how sure I felt about my own feelings or how sure I felt that she felt the same way, I'd be pissed off. The fact that Blake and Yang are just like "aww I think we have to tell each other how we feel uwu" and not being like "god the Ever After doesn't even know if we're out and they're forcing this on us?" is weird lol.

Blake and Yang start telepathy communicating with each other?? I think??? And neither of them reacts to it????

Also here's the thing, being completely honest when I don't ship something, the attention and focus the ship gets and the shipping scenes are annoying to me. It's the same thing with Arthur and Gwen in Merlin, it's the same thing with having to watch Aragorn kiss Arwen. It's a complaint that I don't expect or even want to be adhered to because I'm not the only person in the world and I do think Blake and Yang needed the confirmation they got (though with most ships I don't ship my problems usually extend to not thinking they're super well done,) but it did lessen my personal enjoyment of the episode that such a large chunk of it was devoted to this ship that I honestly don't really like. This would be a skip on every watch through tbh.

Jaune: "Feels like I've been waiting forever for that." Buddy, when have you talked to Blake or Yang for more than a minute? Jaune is not only like twenty years removed from this situation but has very little established closeness between either girl involved. I feel like this would be like if I went back to my hometown in ten years and saw two friends of my sister kissing and I was like "I've been waiting forever for that!"

At first I thought I liked the Celtic Women style song that plays when Blake and Yang kiss, but on my second watch of this ep, I feel like I don't.

Anyway, those are my thoughts.... 2/10 episode. Pretty bad generally.

[almea]

[and-i-stare-at-your-hands]

THE VAMPIRE LOVERS

// PART ONE // PART TWO // PART THREE //

Welcome back to me making unhinged parallels between the lesbian vampire trope and Joan Ferguson. Looks like I have managed to fall a little too deep into this information pit. Joan is a vampire. Of sorts. I’m convinced. This post is a continuation on my previous post and references the book Vampires and Violets: Lesbians in Film by Andrea Weiss.

The next point made in the chapter, focuses on how the camera frames and ‘fragments’ the physical form of the lesbian vampire.

‘When the lesbian vampire is about to seduce their victim for the first time her image […] is fragmented onto different spatial planes through framing of the foreground and mirror images. This symbolic dismemberment of her body foreshadows her eventual destruction’

Joan is especially fragmented in scenes where she victimises with a degree homoerotic subtext or sadistic pleasure. Whether she is torturing Jodie, attempting to murder Bea, degrading Allie, or cutting out Juice’s tongue, she aims to seduce them to be docile to her will. All of which are performed on women. Cell windows and mirrors are used to frame and fragment her form as well as extreme close-ups which are used on her facial features and gloved hands.

The remaining question is: by the end, Was Joan Ferguson destroyed? She is certainly changed. If we consider losing her memory and sense of self as a kind of destruction. Visually, production does not fragment her much if at all in season eight after her memory loss. It is as if the old Joan has been destroyed and is forever changed. Something else to note is how much they framed the gloved hands in the foreground of the shot being the most important image relating to Joan, but by the end season eight, both of her hands had being burnt as a result of Kaz in season four and then Lou in the final season. It’s kind of a symbolic destruction of the part of herself that she performed all her crimes with.

Another point that is made in the book is that the lesbian vampire representation ‘maintains’ the cultural notion that lesbian sexuality equals innate narcissism. Women loving women, oh my! you must be obsessed with yourself! This is shown when the lesbian vampire’s victim becomes under their influence, and they are then visually depicted as ‘narcissistically matched’ via costume or hair. This is very relevant to after Vera’s metamorphosis whereby she attempts to replicate Joan’s hair.

Weiss continues to explain that these kind of scenes aim to minimise their physical differences. Differences that had previously been emphasised. In the shot (above right), the positioning of the camera means the pair’s height differences are less stark. Whereas if you compare to a previous scene (above left) shot prior to Vera’s metamorphosis, Joan looks down onto Vera which serves to assert their difference in size. I hypothesise that in the scenes where Vera is obedient to Joan’s will, their differences in height are lessened but that’s a few hours of me being anally retentive and checking every scene they share with a magnifying glass and also there is a gif limit of ten so I’m going to finish this post up. I am actually obsessed with lesbian vampires. Send me to Romania to be sucked dry.

Wentworth (2013-2021) // 3.03 ‘Knives Out, 3.06 ‘Evidence’, 4.08 ‘Plan Bea’, 4.11 ‘The Eleventh Hour’, 5.06 ‘Happy Birthday, Vera’, 5.07 ‘The Pact’, 2.08 ‘Sins of the Mother’, 2.01 ‘Born Again’ // Andrea Weiss, from Vampires And Violets: Lesbians in Film, 1992 //

[essu-rwby-desu]

                                 Chapter 4: Lighting the Fire Reaction  

                                                    -LONG POST-

ITS SO COLD IT BURNS SO GOOD. (?????)

THE FASTEST IVE PROBABLY PUT OUT A REACTION POST BECAUSE HOLY SHIT BALLS, MOM.

“You wait here, I’ll go check if the coast is clear.”

Yang is totally not buying into your bullshit, buddy.

Better get ready, just in cas-. THE GLOVE. AND THE ASS CAPES ARE COMING OFF.

You know what would be neat? Since Yang is kind of the ‘tank’ in the group, her new arm could use like, oh I don’t know, maybe a small shield?

“I can’t believe you were dumb enough to let me lead you here.”

Sorry buddy, but you’re the dumb one for leading her there.

They’re scared of the small barrel popping out of her right arm? I’d be more terrified of her, oh, I don’t know, HER OTHER ARM WITH A BELT FULL OF SHOTGUN SHELLS???

…Or maybe they’re all surprised because “OH, IT’S ALSO A GUN.”

LOOK AT THIS STRUT.

See, a small shield would be nice, but I guess she’s still fending off the bullets.

This string and percussion version of I Burn tho.

LOOK AT THIS BAKUGO ASS MOVE THO. APPROVE.

AND THEN THIS SLOW GUITAR OF ARMED AND READY.

You mess with the wrong bird, and I don’t mean Yang.

Ruby, please, you can-

RUBY, YOU LITTLE SHIT.

AND AT THIS MOMENT, OSCAR KNEW, HE FUCKED UP.

SMASH.

“You forgot to engage your aura, again.”

“WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME?!”

“Because this method makes you less likely to forget.”

I mean. Oz isn’t wrong. But.

“Not bad, Ms. Rose. But Oscar doesn’t have the years of training that you do. Or I do.”

HACKS ON. ENTERING THE AVATAR STATE.

THIS IS WHAT FEAR LOOKS LIKE. AT THIS MOMENT, RUBY KNEW. SHE WAS GONNA GET FUCKED UP.

YOU’RE A THOUSAND YEARS TOO EARLY TO BE FIGHTING ME. 

Like. Literally a thousand years. Or more. Cuz Ozpin is apparently fucking immortal.

Sometimes I feel like everyone should rewatch the episode just for like, not necessarily screen shots, but to look for frames like these. Like. Even though it’s a straight forward shot, this is a nice shot.

Does anyone else do this in real life? I mean the whole talk and look at the person with one open eye thing. Me only? Ok, let’s just. Keep moving forward.

Idk why, but when Nora said Ren’s semblance can mask emtions, I immediately started playing Reflections from Mulan in my head. It really has nothing to do with the fact that Ren is supposed to be designed off of the idea of Mulan. Or maybe I did subconsciously. Hm. The song has NOTHING to do with his semblance either! Brain, what are you doing.

Two songs from Mulan in 2 review posts. And I haven’t watched the movie in ages.

WHOOOOOOOOOO ISSSSSSS THAT GIRRRRRRRRLLLLLLL I SSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEE-

MORE POSITIVE REIGNFORCEMENT RUBY. YES.

5 Volumes in and we get an in-show description of what Semblances are. I know they talked about it in the World of Remnant shorts, but they were just that: Short. It’s nice to have it actually explained in the show since not many of us watched the short seri-

“Oh. Struck by lightning, didn’t die, Crazzzzzzy Thursday/”

NORA. PLEASE.

“Unlocking your semblance isn’t the end. It can still grow and evolve.”

HMMMM.

Just because Ruby.

THEY’RE. THEY HAVE GOT TO BE WITHIN 50 FT OF EACH OTHER BY THIS POINT.

OK. She’s opting for the stealth escape route.

THE LITTLE *DINK* SOUND EFFECT IT MADE. OMG. HAHAHAHA. YOU CAN DO IT LITTLE BUDDY. YOU’RE DOING GREAT.

“So after all this time, you decided to visit me.”

Mother- What?! YANG DIDN’T EVEN KNOW WHERE YOU WERE. IT’S NOT LIKE YOU WERE AT A RETIREMENT HOME OR SOMETHING?

“They started it.”

I heard this and was like “HAH. Like how a kid would try to make an excuse to their parent.”

“I’m not here for you. Ruby is somewhere in Mistral. She’s with Qrow and she’s going to need my help. I just need you to take me to her.”

You know, I get the feeling that a lot of people are gonna be like

“YOU FINALLY FOUND YOUR MOM. THE PERSON YOU’VE BEEN LOOKING FOR, FOR YEARS. AND YOU’RE JUST GONNA ASK HER TO TAKE YOU TO RUBY? DON’T YOU HAVE ANYTHING ELSE TO SAY OR ASK?”

I do feel that to a certain extent, but at the same time I feel like Yang may also have grown out of it. Whatever the reason she had for looking for her mom before isn’t the same now. Yang obviously has questions for Raven, but she also knows how important it is to find Ruby, and she probably feels like that outweighs whatever personal things she has with her mom, it just so happens that Raven was also the answer to finding Ruby.

And besides. Yang now knows where Raven’s camp is. I suppose she could just come back, albeit she may not be welcomed with open arms. Or arm. Just the one. I’m sorry.

“Because we’re family.”

OHHHH, GET FUCKED, RAVEN. Your own daughter throwing that sarcastic shade at you.

So we’ve seen what Raven’s semblances is, but not how it works, until now. She ‘bonds to certain people’ and can make warp gates to them. Yang says that she has her, Tai, and Qrow marked.  Yang also says to teleport her to Qrow, NOT Ruby. It could simply be that Raven had no reason to mark Ruby as someone to teleport to, or maybe it’s because Raven can only teleport to people that are close to her: Her Family.

That begin said, Raven seems to not like the whole family thing since she does say “Family - only come around when they need something.” Maybe her semblance was found due to the opposite nature of her personality. Having a semblance that literally takes her back to her family when she has such disdain for the idea does raise a few questions. But I’ll leave it at that.

Yeah. The way her face was animated and sass she threw in with her words. Badass/Evil mom status.

Before we move on I just want to know: What the fuck is that thing on her head? Like. I get it. RAVEN. FEATHERS. BUT LIKE. WHAT. IS THAT? Is it just like one giant super long hair extension or is that literally all part of her hair?

I laughed. SO HARD. At how long this shot was held for. Like.

Oh. Hi. Uhmmm. Uhh. Hello?

“Yang?????”

“…WHYiss you here?!”

THERE IT IS. FIRST CONTACT. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-

THE ILLUSION OF CHOICE IN VIDEO GAMES: CHOOSE STEALTH OR BUST OUT? OH YOU CHOSE STEALTH? TOO BAD, YOU’RE GOING TO BUST THE HELL OUT.

YASSSSSSS. IDC IF YALL HAVE SEEN GIFS AND SCREENSHOTS OF THIS ALREADY, THIS IS V IMPORTANT.

W: “What are you doing here?”

Y: “Well. That’s my mom. And she can take us to Ruby.”

-Slowly taking in what Yang just said.-

“That’s my mom.”

“That’s…

My….

…mom.” ?!?!?!?!?!?!

“… uhhhhhhh”

 Never in my life have I thought I would hear those words. In any form of media.

Also let’s not forget that Raven straight up curb stomped Weiss in the face.

W: “YOUR MOM CURBED STOMPED ME. SHE KICKED ME IN THE FACE.”

Y: “… YOU DID WHAT!?”

Weiss’s knight could EASILY cleave through half that camp at that size. Jeez.

Spring Maiden putting a halt to this BS.

Weiss giving that stern anime look and pose.

“If you’re really going after your sister, then you need to know the truth.”

HMMMM. OKAY. SO HERE’S ANOTHER CHOSE YOUR ADVENTURE MOMENT:

So we know everything’s that been going on with Salem and Cinder and Ozpin and yaddie yaddie yadda. So once Raven tells Yang and Weiss everything, what’s going to happen? Are they still going to regroup with Ruby and join her with Qrow to fight against Salem’s assault on Haven with the White Fang? Or are Weiss and Yang going to try and convince Ruby to pull away from Haven because shit is about to get real and they shouldn’t haven’t to deal with it?

I HIGHLY doubt that Raven is going to tell them about how literally the Spring Maiden is within the camp grounds. But if she does, then??? Do the 2 of them stay? Or will Raven teleport Yang and Weiss, just to then later pick up camp and move to a new location? Cuz by then EVERYONES gonna know who and where the Spring Maiden is.

SO MANY POSSIBILITIES. 

YES. FUCKING. FINALLY. YASSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. ONE OF THE MANY MOMENTS WE’VE BEEN WAITING FOR.

I TEAR UP. EVERY TIME. AND IT DOESN’T HELP THAT THE BACKGROUND SONG IS “HOME”.

-UGLY HYSTERICAL SOBS-

I maybe reading into this too much, cuz you know, emotions rising, and with knowing the lyrics to the song, I want to talk about the symbolism in this last shot.

Weiss has gotten quite a bit of development coming from Volume 4 to now. And in my opinion, it started all when she was able to successfully summon her knight. 

After being told she was no longer the heiress to her family’s company, she was held against her will to stay in her room. As soon as she was able to summon her knight, she decided to take action. She was able to escape with the help of Klein. He was probably going to be the last trust worthy person she knows that she’s going to see in a while. Even while doing so, she’s had her guard up the whole time because she knew she’s no longer in a safe place. All the way up to being captured by bandits, she still shows initiative to get out. 

Then she reunites with Yang. She has finally found someone she cares and trusts. Someone she probably considers as part of her family, the family being Team RWBY. So the knight fading away in this last shot is visual representation of Weiss finally letting her guard down because now she’s with family. AND WHERE DO YOU USUALLY FIND FAMILY? HOME. THE TITLE OF THE SONG THAT’S PLAYING. AND I JUSTLKSA:LSKDJA:SLKJDWOIASK jEXCUSE ME WHILE I GO REPLAY THIS SCENE FOR THE REST OF TIME UNTIL MORE OF THE TEAM GETS BACK TOGETHER.

TL;DR: Weiss’s knight fading away at the end of this scene is the visual representation of  Weiss finally letting her guard down now that she’s found Yang; a team mate, a friend, a person she might consider as family.

But I may just be reading into this too much. I MEAN HOW COULD YOU NOT?

GIVE ME THE NEXT EPISODE, PLEASE ;A;

P.S.:

I SUPPORT

SMOLS GETTING HUGS FROM SWOLS.