#These are the last two episodes. Both of RWBY Beyond. And RWBY. For now.

[satoshi-mochida]

RWBY Volume 9 Beyond-Episodes 3 and 4, 'The Adventures of Somewhat' and 'Boba'.

[anthurak]

An In-Depth Analysis of the Interpersonal Relationships of Team STRQ (and why Rosebird is DEFINITELY a thing)

So I’d like to do something of an analysis on the interpersonal relationships of Team STRQ. More specifically, analyzing Qrow’s, Taiyang’s, and Raven’s respective relationships with Summer, based on what the show has directly told, and shown us.

Starting with Qrow, as I think this analysis is the most straightforward. Now to get one thing out of the way, I think we can definitively say at this point that Qrow is NOT RUBY’S SECRET DAD. Beyond CRWBY thoroughly debunking the theory at this point, nothing we’ve seen or heard really paints Qrow as having been in any kind of romantic relationship with Summer. Or at least any that would supersede any romantic relationship with Raven and/or Tai in some ‘Poly-STRQ’ scenario.

To begin with what we’ve heard of Qrow’s relationship with Summer, we’ve actually heard quite a bit, relatively speaking. In terms of dialogue, we’ve heard more about Summer from Qrow than either Tai or Raven, which is helpful in getting a sense of what their relationship may have been like. From his conversations with Ruby in Volumes 3 and 7, we can say that Qrow views Summer with both admiration (“She was always the best of us…”) and fondness and affection (“Bit of a brat though. But hey, I like brats.”). But the detail I find most telling is the ease that Qrow has in talking about Summer, particularly in Volume 7. When Ruby asks him about Summer and her ‘last mission’, Qrow isn’t hesitant or all that uncomfortable with talking about his teammate. Which gives the impression that Qrow has actually coped with Summer’s (apparent) death fairly well.

Which in turn is notable because THE go-to narrative method of hinting that a character was romantically involved or had feelings for another character long missing/dead is to show them being clearly uncomfortable TALKING about that other character (something we’ll be revisiting in a little bit…). Something we don’t see from Qrow when he talks about Summer.

It’s also notable that while Qrow, along with almost all the other adults in the show, was something of an unreliable narrator in the early volumes, his talk with Ruby about Summer happened AFTER Volume 6 when Qrow opted to finally start being open with and trusting of his niece and protégé. Meaning that I think we can trust that Qrow is being genuine in his talk with Ruby in Volume 7.

And in terms of what the show has so far directly shown us about Qrow’s relationship with Summer, the answer is notably: Nothing. Because unlike Tai and Raven, Qrow was absent from the big important flashback giving us our first look at Summer. Which combined with what we’ve heard from Qrow, tells me that the narrative of RWBY considers Summer’s relationship with Qrow to be less dramatically important/significant than her relationships with Tai or Raven.

Moving on to Taiyang, what’s interesting is that Tai’s relationship with Summer is kind of in the inverse situation of what we see with Qrow’s. In that with Qrow we’ve heard some but seen nothing, with Tai we’ve seen some but heard almost nothing.

I mean, consider for a moment that prior to the tenth episode of the NINTH volume of the series, EVERYTHING we knew about Taiyang’s relationship with Summer Rose came to us second-hand from Yang in ONE conversation with Blake back in Volume Two! I’ve spoken before in other posts that if feels quite curious that while the overlying text of the story claims that Summer’s relationship with Tai should be very important, given that they are supposed to be Ruby’s PARENTS, yet we have heard effectively NOTHING about it. Other than a simple claim that ‘it existed’. I mean, forget how we’ve heard more about Summer from Qrow than we have from Tai; we’ve heard more about Summer from RAVEN than we have from Tai (more on THAT in a little bit XD)

Now of course, unlike with Qrow, as of the finale of Volume 9, we have actually SEEN a look at Tai’s relationship with Summer. Albeit a brief look, but enough to get something of a sense of it. What I find interesting is that despite this being our first look at Summer’s relationship with Tai, this scene/vision doesn’t really tell us, or Ruby, anything she/we didn’t already know about these two. That Summer and Tai were really close… and that’s pretty much it.

And what I find even more interesting is a curious amount of ambiguity towards the nature of Summer’s and Tai’s relationship in this scene. Despite the text of the show claiming that these two were lovers, this scene is notably lacking the kind of overt romantic gestures we might expect, such as a kiss or long held gaze. Yes, Summer and Tai have a very close hug, but let’s not forget that RWBY has used close, intimate hugs like this as a gesture of platonic or familial love/affection just as much if not MORE times than as a gesture of romantic love. Just look at Ren’s hugs with Jaune, or Jaune’s hug with Ruby, or even that time Ironwood hugged Qrow. Simply put, I don’t think that hug tells us nearly as much about Summer’s and Tai’s relationship as people might think.

Finally, we come to Raven. And funny enough, unlike Qrow and Tai, I would argue that we have both heard AND seen QUITE a bit about Summer’s relationship with Raven.

When it comes to what we’ve heard, it’s not just what we have heard from Raven about Summer that’s important, but what we HAVEN’T heard as well. Across Volumes 4 and 5, we see Raven all too happy to mock, criticize and generally smack-talk just about everyone from her old life, from Ozpin, Qrow, Taiyang and even Yang.

But not Summer.

For some reason, Raven NEVER has anything bad to say about SUMMER.

And the ONE time Raven does mention Summer, it is during a talk with Ruby, Summer’s daughter. Not only that, but rather than criticizing or mocking Summer’s memory, Raven’s line of “You sound like your mother,” is at worst neutral and might even have an undercurrent of respect.

Finally, Raven’s tone and demeanor when she says this line come off as very guarded and restrained. Combined with how she never mentions her outside of this scene, one thing becomes quite clear:

Raven does not like to talk about Summer.

Remember what I said back in the Qrow section about characters having difficulty/resistance to talking about another long-missing/dead character as an easy way to hint at a prior romance or romantic feelings?

Yeah, this is EXACTLY what I was talking about.

And then we come to the flashback/vision in Volume 9’s finale. The scene which, while also brief, showed us a LOT about Summer’s relationship with Raven.

Whereas Summer’s scene with Tai merely showed us things we already knew from Yang, her scene with Raven is a MAJOR reveal that establishes a whole new dynamic that both Ruby, and much of the audience had NO idea about.

That Summer and Raven were actually quite a bit closer than anyone ever realized. That Summer apparently trusted Raven more than ANYONE else to help on her secret mission while also having apparently taken Raven leaving Yang, Ruby and herself rather personally. And that Raven herself was actually quite a bit more upbeat and joking around Summer than we see her in the present, while also specifically showing a joking, awkward and even bashful side around Summer that has a lot of curious similarities to how Yang has acted around BLAKE.

And when we take this scene in conjunction with what we see of Raven in the present, a surprisingly consistent and complete picture emerges of Raven’s relationship with Summer.

In Volume 5, Yang notes that Raven is different from the woman she heard about from Tai and Qrow. Introducing the question that something changed Raven from the driven, determined and loyal woman Qrow and Tai knew to the bitter, angry and fearful woman we see at present. Well now we know almost for certain WHAT that something was:

Raven lost SUMMER.

Taking these two elements together, we can see that Raven CARED about Summer. Cared about her so much that loosing Summer almost certainly BROKE Raven. Whatever happened during that mission turned Raven from this…

…to this.

We also know that Summer encountered Salem during her last mission, and whatever happened during that encounter seems to have inspired Salem to begin her grimm-hybridization experiments. And now that we know that Raven was with Summer on that mission, it becomes pretty easy to guess why Raven is so convinced Salem cannot be killed, and is so utterly TERRIFIED at the prospect of facing her again:

Because Salem took Summer away from her.

Raven’s refusal to smack-talk Summer and the great difficulty she has in even mentioning her, Raven’s utter terror of the woman who did SOMETHING to Summer, that we now know Raven was almost certainly present to witness, and Raven being both quite friendly and awkward and willing to help Summer with her secret mission in the past.

All of it adds up to Raven having cared about Summer a GREAT deal. Likely cared about her the most out of her teammates. Given how she’s clearly taken Summer’s loss far harder than Qrow or Tai.

And when we add in Summer’s clear trust in Raven, that she trusted Raven above anyone else to help in her secret mission and even her clear resentment of Raven leaving Yang, Ruby and herself, we get a sense of just how close these were.

Summer and Raven were in all likelihood closer with each other than they were with anyone else. Sure, Summer certainly cared about Tai and Qrow, but it is Raven whom she TRUSTED above all others. And despite whatever caused Raven to leave her team, she still came back to help Summer with clearly no hesitation or reservation.

The funny thing is, with this scene we now know, or at least can reliably infer, more about Summer’s relationship with RAVEN, than we do about her relationships with either Qrow OR Tai.

And the thing is, this makes perfect sense when you consider the story arc going forward that this scene is almost certainly setting up:

That Raven is now THE pivotal figure in the mystery of what happened to Summer Rose. Because it is now clear to both the audience and to Ruby that Raven must KNOW what happened to Summer. Going forward, it is Raven whom Ruby and her team and family must pursue for the answers of what happened to Summer.

With this scene, the relationship between Raven and Summer just became THE most consequential among those of Team STRQ for the story going forward.

It’s one of the big reasons why Rosebird as a pairing just feels so fitting for these two. It’s why it suddenly makes sense we don’t hear all that much about Summer from Tai or Qrow, and why neither of them know what happened to her; because the story of who Summer was and WHAT happened to her isn’t theirs to tell.

That story is RAVEN’s. And of course, Summer herself once we find out she’s not actually dead.

And the crazy thing is, even Raven turning out to be Ruby’s father feels like a natural extension of this: The relationship between Summer and Raven is now established as this very significant and consequential element, and now Ruby will almost certainly be driven to seek Raven out for answers as to what happened to her mother.

(Note that I say RUBY specifically. Because while Yang will certainly be involved and invested in this search as well, it is ultimately Ruby and only Ruby who saw the vision. Thusly, SHE is the one ultimately driving this arc.)

So we now have Ruby on a quest to find Raven to find out what happened to Summer. The young girl seeking out the older woman whom she bares a curious resemblance to in order to find out what happened to her mother, whom this other woman was actually quite close with.

The writers might not have confirmed or directly hinted at Raven being Ruby’s secret dad, but they sure as hell put us on a narrative path the could absolutely lead to such a reveal.

[bestworstcase]

So! That new rwby beyond episode huh?

I can't do intros for shit. Do you think Ozcar's answer to Jaune's question of "Do you think we're gonna make it?" was, in part, them dodging the question? Not revealing how unsure they feel and instead choosing to comfort Jaune with "Around those campfires, did it really matter?" Do you think of that answer as a cop-out, or as a legitimate answer? Both perhaps?

oh oz absolutely thinks they’re not gonna make it. i am so sure about that.

bc the thing is, ozpin thought he’d been at war with salem for centuries, he thought he’d managed to keep her out and whittle away her influence down to almost nothing. right. his whole reason for handling the situation the way he did in v1-3 is he believed that salem wouldn’t leave the shadows, wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize her secrecy. the thing about his paranoia in seeing salem’s hand behind every grimm attack and every period of unrest or war is he had no idea what salem was capable of or how far she would go, but he believed that he did.

within the space of, like, maybe a year and a half, salem has. knocked down beacon academy, forced haven academy to close by assassinating most of its faculty, laid siege to atlas with a fleet of millions of grimm and directly caused atlas to fall, and within a few weeks of that razed vale to the ground. three of his four academies are either destroyed or defunct; two whole countries are just. Gone. it’s been a year and a half!

he. underestimated. really really badly, he underestimated salem and for him this past year has been a harrowing journey of discovering exactly how badly he underestimated her. a year and a half and they’ve gone from “unprecedented era of peaceful prosperity” to desperate last stand. oz hasn’t been in such dire straits since the final battle of the great war when he resorted to using two relics to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, and now one of those is within salem’s reach, and if they take the sword out of its vault that’s just one step closer to salem getting her hands on it.

like, oscar annihilated her millions of grimm in atlas and a few weeks later she turned around and flattened vale.

this is not a fight they can win. and i think oz is painfully aware of that. (the whole point is that the only way out is through negotiation. they have to stop fighting her and start talking to her.)

but i also think he meant “around that campfire, did it matter?” very genuinely because he found his hope again when he returned in atlas, and the situation being hopeless has no bearing on how he chooses to look at it or how he chooses to act. so things are very very bad but oz is, emotionally, in a much better place now than he was at the beginning of the story when things appeared to be okay. it’s the next step from “fear isn’t worthy of our concern”

[kaiyeti]

SO this is a rant to vent and is going to upset fans of a certain character in RWBY but I have to say this. That said, don't read in you are a Jaune fan, also no hate toward anyone who is a Jaune fan. You have been warned.

The second RWBY beyond episode makes me feel both happy and infuriatingly pissed off.

Happy because we get to see that the Ever After does have lasting effects on the characters and that they are dealing with some PTSD from it. Plus, we got some more interesting info on things that wouldn't have been talked about in the show.

But I am more infuriated and extremely annoyed and pissed off that no only was this episode taking place after volume 9 BUT ITS FUCKING FOCUSED ON JAUNE! For fuck sake's WHY!? WHY HIM!? I get that he has to deal with the being old soul in a young body and shit which is interesting but if you are going to have a character talk about there PTSD from the Ever After PICK THE GIRL THAT KILLED HERSELF GETTING SOME THERAPY! BECAUSE GODS KNOW RUBY HAS HAD THE WORSE WEEK OF HER LIFE SO MUCH SO THAT SHE FUCKING ENDED IT! THAT GIRL NEEDS TO TALK TO SOMEONE! I am not saying the episode wasn't good or that what Jaune went through is less important, it had a lot of info and it is good that they are showing him trying to get help with the trauma he has suffer which is good for him and proud of him. BUT FOR FUCK SAKE'S THIS IS NOT "THE ADVENTURES OF JAUNE and his friend team rwby." ITS FUCKING RWBY!

Don't tell us that rwby beyond is going to force of what happened on everyone still on Remnant, to save us some time when RWBY vol 10 comes out, only to give one of the last four episodes of rwby that we will be getting for years possibly on the one fucking side character that not only to they have kill another side character to keep them relevent, Yes I am still royally pissed they had him kill Penny as an excuse to keep in in the spotlight, but gets more character development than the four main characters!

THERE IS ONLY TWO EPISODES LEFT BEFORE WE HAVE TO WAIT WHO KNOWS HOW LONG BEFORE RWBY CONTINUES! ANd now I'm torn because I think they should defiantly give team RWBY an episode if that give one to fucking Jaune However I want them to do what they said RWBY Beyond was going to be about and focus on what the hell happened on Remnant while they were gone!

Gods its like they WANT me to despise Jaune! They did so well in vol 6, 7, and most of 8 making me not hate or dislike him only to throw it away because they want him to be a main character! ANd to everyone that is going to send me hate saying he is one, No he is not. This show only have four main characters and the first letters of their first names make the fucking title of this show.

[yuamusuzuran]

Some Amazing Anime Music of 2022

Now, if I’m being honest, last year felt a little lackluster when it came to music in anime, but that’s just me. But some amazing songs managed to deliver and catch my attention! I’m here to share them with you! Note though: I haven’t seen many of these anime series, but I’ll put a little *** next to the songs when that’s the case!

Please enjoy!

***Seeking the Truth by Taisei Iwasaki ft. YAHZARAH (Spriggan Opening)

Even though I haven’t seen this anime, this song randomly appeared on my shuffle and I had to include it. Really makes you pumped up!

Seeking the Truth

                                            ─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

***Presence by Superfly (Aoashi Opening)

I’ve known of Superfly since before so I wanted to check out their new song even though I didn’t plan on watching Aoashi, and of course I wasn’t disappointed. The intro is what got me instantly invested!

Presence

                                           ─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

***Mushoku Toumei by Yutaro Yamashita (Code Geass: Lelouch of Rebellion R2 Ending)

I need to properly sit down and watch everything that came out from Code Geass after the end of original series. I need to be mentally prepared for this one. But that still doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy the music and this is a beautiful ballad.

Mushoku Toumei

                                         ─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

***Masquerade by ClariS (Shadows House S2 Ending)

Similar to Superfly before, I’ve known of ClariS before and the concept of this one seemed interesting so I had to listen to it even though I didn’t watch this anime. It’s so cute yet sinister at the same time, just the way I like it!

Masquerade

                                         ─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

***Beyond Selves by Void_Chords ft. L (RWBY: Ice Queendom Opening)

I’ve heard of RWBY, but I have yet to watch it. I’ve known of Void_Chords though and I had to check this out and yes, I love it. The vocals are incredible on this one and the vibe is so hype!

Beyond Selves

                   ��                    ─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

***Face2 by Lozareena ( Code Geass: Lelouch of Rebellion R2 Opening)

As you all know, I didn’t watch this installment of Code Geass, but music is banging, both for opening and ending. What I love about this song in particular are the vocals and the buildup in the chorus. Amazing, chef’s kiss.

Face2

                                         ─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Deep Down by Aimer (Chainsaw Man Ending 9)

I love Aimer with all my being, I really do. She always delivers. And this is probably my favorite Chainsaw Man ending not just because of this song but because of Akira-esque visuals. Combining that imagery with Aimer’s vocals is an experience and I never regretted. Plus, this song has that classic Aimer per-chorus buildup only for her to hit it in the chorus. Love her to death.

Deep Down

                                          ─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Ibara Rinbukyoku by Makoto Furukawa (Requiem of the Rose King Opening 2)

This song is so beautiful and sinister, really sets you up for the plot of the second part of this tragic anime. You can feel every emotion Richard is playing with and every single anguish he will experience. And yet, the melody is so beautifully melancholic that you can’t get enough of this song. Sinister and addictive.

Ibara Rinbukyoku

                                               ─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Rasen by Nowlu (Requiem of the Rose King Ending 2)

If the opening was sinister, this ending song is just plain sad and tragic. Really showcases the way Richard is slowly succumbing to his despair. The vocals are so raw and emotional, it really pulls on your heartstrings and makes you ache and cry for Richard’s destiny. And yet, despite all that, you feel the intensity of these emotions and you can’t help but hope the poor king finally found closure.

(Let me say this song hits different at the last three episodes, many tears were shed)

Rasen

                                               ─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Natsu no Yuki by krage (Raven of the Inner Palace Ending)đ

Probably my favorite song of last year. It’s just crafted differently and so beautifully that I legit had it on loop for two entire days and I’m still not tired of it. You can feel all emotions the Raven consort is experiencing: wish to isolate herself yet to be close to other people, fear, longing for the times when things were simpler but also for the happiness of those she cares about. I said this year of 2022 was slightly lackluster when it comes to music, but this song came at the end of the year and smacked me across the face with it’s beauty. I couldn’t recommend it more than I already am.

Natsu no Yuki

Hope you found some good music here today!

[sparkthespork]

I don’t think Sasha’s parents are that bad. Not perfect, just not bad.

Hello amphibians, if you don’t have time to engage in a COLOSSAL reading right now please save this post for later and move along ‘cause I have never worked harder on an analysis and it’d mean the world to me if you read it but I’m not gonna lie to you it’s LONG.

So a solid forever ago I made this post and it gained enough traction that I decided to finally write it out!

I’m pretty much convinced beyond a doubt that Sasha’s parents aren’t controlling, or at least it wouldn’t make much sense if they were. I see other people say they’re neglectful which I understand much better, but wherever they’re doing wrong I think is done in a very well intentioned way, maybe they even think they’re doing something good! Allow me to give a lengthy explanation on why that may be true:

1. Bad parents is sort of “expected.”

I’m gonna refrain from using the word “trope-y,” since a rough childhood is definitely too broad to be a trope, but regardless, Matt Braly is no stranger to trope subversion and I could definitely see him pulling some fake-out like “Sasha’s parents are introduced as scary and intimidating but soon turn out to be sweethearts, confusing everyone.”

Still, the controlling parent is definitely the go-to backstory for Sasha’s character type. We see it in both of Amphibia’s sister shows, Gravity Falls and The Owl House, that also have a character who’s popular, domineering, and competitive. Yet they never have much of a voice at home.

Characters with that sort of home life go outside of Disney Channel too (I immediately think of RWBY but I know there’s more) so it clearly has appeal. It makes sense, but it’s not the only option, and Amphibia likes to explore new paths a lot.

Going the controlling parent route would also put Sasha in a similar scenario as Marcy, who doesn’t seem to be listened to at home as well. And if that’s a backstory that’s already going to be explored in the show, why do it twice?

Beyond that, I don’t think it even works for Sasha’s arc where it works for the other characters. As for the two I mentioned above, they both end up having some moment of defiance that serves as a turning point for their character, where they stand up to their parents.

But Sasha’s already pretty good at defiance. She’s rebellious and proud of it, and doesn’t take anything from authority. The only authority figure she listens to is Grime, and Matt has said himself that they are more like “equals,” so it comes from a place of respect instead of giving in. If anything, she has a habit of lashing out around authority too much, so I think the last thing she needs is more defiance. It would be much more impactful if her turning point with her parents was something “softer,” so to speak.

2. Sasha WANTED to go home

The biggest argument for Sasha’s bad home life is that she didn’t want to leave Amphibia, but this is false. Sasha says so herself:

So what changed? It would make sense for Sasha to decide that a dysfunctional family was better than actual prison. But it’s telling that she STILL wants to go home even after she’s second in command of a military fortress, with a giant room including a statue of her, all her favorite foods prepared whenever she wants and a shower.

There is in fact an obvious moment when Sasha changes her mind in Toadcatcher, after she and Grime decide to rule Amphibia, she says this:

This contrasts the ending of Prison Break when Sasha’s “path” was to get her and her friends home. Both she and Anne had wanted to go back, but now Sasha has decided to stay so she can overthrow the king.

This seems to be directly tied to her losing Anne. After all, Grime tells her in this episode that things will never be the same between them, and then later on, she attempts to restore some normalcy in their relationship by offering her friends to help her in her takeover in True Colors, just like how they always would have followed her beforehand.

Overall, I think Sasha decided to stay not because home was bad, but because Amphibia eventually became better. She says it herself that she would rather rule a Kingdom than a school, since she gains much more power that way. It’s also a power that’s more certain to always be there than what she had back home. She could lose her status at school if everyone has moved on, and now she might not even have her friends to stick by her through it. It’s better to stay somewhere where she knows what’s going on and can keep rising up.

3. Sasha needs to end up somewhere, and it’s not Amphibia

Not gonna hide it, I think Amphibia has been the worst for Sash.

She’s gained a positive lesson or two along the way, but for the most part she’s only been surrounded by those who either enable her or leave. Sasha’s never going to learn anything this way, and now she’s in a place where being manipulative and controlling become assets to her most of the time, so it’s rare that she has to break her mold.

Of course Wartwood will probably be better, but it can never really be Sasha’s place. She’ll always be second to Anne there, so while it could teach her plenty of good lessons (like how she can’t always be the best and that’s okay), it’s not a place Sasha can really settle in. Even if she gets over comparing herself, she’ll always be seen as “the other Anne” by the frogs just by being another human and her friend. She needs to find someone who will help her grow and change, but also be Sasha’s person/people, because everyone deserves that.

With only one season left, I don’t think there’s enough time to introduce an entirely new place. So the one spot left is Sasha’s home. This further makes me think that her arc is going to involve having a more heartfelt discussion with her family, and they’ll begin to learn from each other. All roads point to home for her.

At the end of the day, it would be a disappointment to see any of these characters end their stories with nowhere to go. Anne has two families to support her from now on, Marcy is a little more iffy but maybe has Yunan and Olivia, but who is there for Sasha? While the dad headcannons for Grime are awesome, he would not make a great father figure in the long run since he enables her so much. (And I just saw Turning Point while wrapping this up and heck, Grime’s encouraging Sasha to make the wrong decision when even she doesn’t want to) It would be nice if they still get to see each other by the end of the series, but Sasha really needs someone else, and currently we haven’t been presented with any other options besides her family or whoever is in her life back home.

4. Sasha’s strangely comfortable around adults

Sasha’s unique quality is that she doesn’t seem to care about authority at all, which makes her far different from previous characters like her.

I’m not going to analyze Pacifica because the only other adults we see her interact with aren’t her superiors, but Amity has a very different relationship with adult characters.

Amity admires the adults in her life and wants to impress them, even when it’s something small like a gold star. She’s also ashamed when she disappoints them. Even when she’s not with an over-controlling person, she recognizes her place beneath someone in a way that Sasha doesn’t. I certainly can’t imagine Amity putting her foot down in front of the highest ranking war general within seconds of meeting him, and Sasha was never even looking to impress even him as much as looking for her own power.

Other characters and Sasha share the desire for attention, but Sasha doesn’t care for a good grade or seal of approval like them. She’d rather become the authority figure than be rewarded by one. She sees adults on too equal footing as her for me to imagine that she had parents who would tell her this wasn’t so. Where a lot of characters will act above their peers but then readily accept that they’re below authority, Sasha won’t allow herself to be below anyone. She’ll trick a teacher, talk back to an army captain, and overthrow a king. Even when she’s kind to adults, she’ll talk more like their friend than as someone younger than them.

So... What ARE her parents like anyway???

In a nutshell, well-intentioned but doing something horribly wrong.

A little more Sasha analysis first: It’s important to understand, it’s not that she wants to be an adult, exactly. She naturally gravitates to so many typical “kid” things after all, no matter how much she tries to say she resents them.

It’s more that she thinks she NEEDS to be an adult, or might as well already be one. However naturally, as a kid who shouldn’t be in that position, she doesn’t recognize that adulthood as much more than being on top and admired.

I do have a previous analysis on how Sasha has a very limited idea on what she should be, a protector, a leader, and a hero. And notably, all of these are things that kids typically associate with their seniors. This isn’t to say that Sasha literally thinks she should be older than she is, but rather that she’s capable of (or even SUPPOSED to be) taking on some adult level responsibilities in spite of her age, because she is special in some way.

Needless to say, Sasha probably got this mentality from her parents. They treated her like an adult since she was very young. It could be that they were neglectful of her, which is a solid theory I’ve seen, but I’ve also wondered if it comes from something less apathetic than outright neglect. Maybe it all comes from them wanting to empower her.

In this case, Sasha thinks her parents are great, probably one of few adults she feels have earned her respect, but it’s all because they enable her bad habits. Sash is encouraged to reach her goals and her parents trust her to know when to stop. But thing is Sasha DOESN’T know when to stop, and instead she starts interpreting this constant encouragement as the irrefutable need to push forward despite everything and keep climbing up. Meanwhile, her parents don’t stop her and even support her in all this because it’s what their kid wants, and they think she’ll ask for help if she really needs it.

In a sense, Sasha’s spoiled. She’s never told “no” or that she “can’t,” even if achieving what she wants it’s coming at the expense of herself or her relationships with others. Her parents are probably too lenient, they trust her to do whatever she pleases with her day and be fine, because she still has passions and goals and works hard. Meanwhile this leniency is almost a rule in of itself to Sash. She starts to see it as she’s given this freedom because she HAS to know what to do with it, and she’s trusted like an adult because she really IS just a stronger, more authoritative person somehow. She’s probably never been told otherwise, and nothing seems wrong because her parents aren’t great at communication. Sasha probably never gets checked in on because she’s “entitled to her privacy” or something of that sort. All in all, Sasha has parents who want her to feel like her own, independent person, but take it so ridiculously far that she just ends up feeling completely alone and with unreasonably large shoes to fill.

Sasha generally only looks at what is on the surface. She has a very straightforward way of thinking where rising up to the challenge is always good, and the success she can physically see is what’s truly fulfilling. She probably has parents who think the same, hence also why they don’t realize that a lot of her success comes from trying to prove an impossible role to herself. They just see her feeling proud of herself and think that’s what’s best for her, since she seems content with it. And Sasha thought that that was the best too until recently.

I have more guesses beyond that, and I do also understand theories that Sasha is a victim of circumstances. (perhaps having divorced parents, overworked parents, no parents at all, etc) But what I like about this theory is that it gives Sash the chance to be vulnerable with someone who can help her, something I think is crucial to her arc. And it would benefit the arc of her parents as well when they realize that they can’t just sit back and assume everything’s fine, even when that’s what it initially looks like. Wartwood may be able to teach Sasha to be a good leader, but I think the best thing for her would be to have a moment of not needing to lead at all. And that’s something she’ll only get by being with someone who’s supposed to take care of her, like her parents are.

As for counterarguments...

The biggest thing that I can think of against this theory is that we are simply running out of time. A relationship like this would take a while to play out, and I wonder if it would have been set up earlier because of that. All the alternative theories I’ve heard are certainly much easier to cover in a single episode, which could very well be what happens since Sasha has never had much screentime.

I also initially saw a dent in my argument when Sasha says this line:

It implies that she’s resentful to parents in general, which would lead to hers probably not treating her especially well. However, my theory says that she actually thinks her parents are great and doesn’t realize there’s a problem, so how does that work?

I have one idea: right before that line, she teases Anne for having a party with more childish things.

She might just think of normal parents as the pestering “mommy and daddy” that don’t care what you think, but hers don’t count as regular parents. They treat her like an adult, so would never throw such childish parties! She is almost pitying Anne for being stuck with a more “typical” family. Going off my interpretation, it’s a line that is directed more at how “basic” Anne’s family is rather than that parents in general are just uncaring and stubborn. But I wanted to acknowledge that since it’s probably the biggest stretch.

Conclusion

I’ve never seen a family like this one on television, and I think it would make a fantastic addition to Amphibia’s unique cast. It adds a whole new layer to Sasha’s character. The season 3 trailer has pretty much guaranteed that she’s gonna realize that she’s been in the wrong, but it would be so compelling to watch her struggle to understand what exactly went “wrong” in the first place when her life has only ever been great (in her eyes).

Most of the time, antagonistic or morally grey characters end up working through some negative event in their past in order to become better, but that becomes so much harder when it seems like the past was something positive. It’s a route I’m dying to see explored and Sasha’s a great character to do it.

Anyway, thank you so much for getting to the end of this. This is the culmination of discussions I’ve had with friends for months, and it took me forever to pull all of my thoughts together and write this out. This analysis is quite personal to me, so any interaction with it honestly means the world. But otherwise, I really appreciate you just reading, thank you <3

[jdrizzle15]

Her Second Return

Just like all of you, and especially my fellow Penny fans, I am absolutely devastated by the Volume 8 finale. I had been in quite a state these last few days, utterly heartbroken, and actually nauseous at times. It feels strange to me to be legitimately grieving a fictional character, but it’s not a bad thing to feel this way. To me, this just shows that CRWBY loves her just as much as us to have written her so well that we connect so completely with her, that it feels like we lost an actual piece of ourselves when she’s gone.

But as you can probably tell by the title, this mega post isn’t gonna be about accepting this end, not in the slightest! Today I want to share canon evidence that can point towards another return of our beloved quirky red headed cinnamon bun! I’m here to spread this hope that I and others in the Nuts & Dolts dolts Discord server have!

I have this separated into many different sections to keep these thoughts organized. With that said, here goes…

A Father’s Words:

In Episode 7 of Volume 7, ‘Worst Case Scenario’ we learn the origins of Penny’s aura, and thus her soul. We also learn that it takes more aura each time she’s brought back. This leaves open an option that could be used at a later point.

Many people theorized that Pietro could indeed revive Penny one more time, which he would absolutely do. But there also lies the possibility that someone else could donate some of theirs, I’m not sure about this as I feel like it’s akin to blood donation where compatibility matters or there's a high risk of altering her, but the possibility is definitely there.

Now, the conversation in Chapter 5 of Volume 8, ‘Amity’ that Pietro and Penny have is an important moment for both Father and Daughter. It was there to show how her death in PvP all that time ago really did have a heavy impact on him and is still affecting him to this day.

Instead of continuing to pretend that everything is A-okay, like he had done for most of Volume 7, he finally lets his true feelings about how it come out to Penny for what is quite likely the first time. Even going so far as to say "Are you asking me to go through that again?" when she offers to take the risk of trying to lift Amity with her power. He wants Penny to be able to live her life.

This entire scene with Pietro established “this is what will likely happen” even if circumstances are much different now, it doesn’t negate the fact that this is a key part of Penny’s story. Scenes like these have a purpose beyond simply making an eventual death all the more heart wrenching. Her never actually getting to live her life makes those scenes basically moot. It makes them effectively pointless from narrative point of view. Unless there's more to it.

Building Relationship:

The build up between Ruby and Penny the last two volumes has been absolutely phenomenal with a definite destination in mind, and this doesn’t feel like that destination. So much of the arc of this season was to help Penny. This girl that our main protagonist absolutely adores and treasures, it would just be awful to throw all of that out for what amounts to an avoidable end. Why use so much of their precious and very limited runtime on deliberately building up this relationship only to end it abruptly, and permanently, when they’re separated?

In my opinion, RT is definitely smarter now than to intentionally set up what was really looking like a budding gay relationship only to kill one of them for good. If N&D wasn't actually going in a romantic direction, why would they leave in all of the romance-adjacent stuff that they got, that's not how ‘just friends’ act. And that is not something you use such valuable time building up for absolutely no pay off whatsoever...

Representation of Hope:

At its core, RWBY has always been about hope. It’s not at the forefront the whole time, but there's been an underlying theme of hopefulness that has persisted since it began. Some describe the show as a Hopepunk, I personally find this to describe RWBY really well. This genre of storytelling is about caring for things deeply and the courage and strength it takes to do so. It’s about never submitting or accepting the way things are. Fighting for what you believe in and standing up for others. RWBY fits all of this extremely well. How does this relate to Penny? She has been shown to be a sign of hope for everyone, but especially for Ruby, the main main protagonist. A prerequisite for a Hopepunk story is the hope.

Her first death in V3 was something that fundamentally changed Ruby. For the first time in the series, we see our main character all but broken by this event. With the loss of Penny, immediately afterwards, Ruby’s hope followed. She made up for it through determination and force of will. We see it affect her multiple times throughout the journey to Volume 7. But upon her return in V7, Hope reached a high point for everyone, the sheer relief on Ruby’s face is plain to see!

In V8 chapter 5 ‘Amity’, Penny literally raises hope by lifting the arena into the sky so Ruby could spread her message. And when she falls, and Amity with her, the connection is lost and hope plummets again. From there things take a very negative turn with the hack begins to take Penny’s agency.

In chapter 11 ’Risk’ is the point in the arc where everyone is reunited for the moment, so two separate hero stories are no longer a thing at that point in time. For the time being focus seemed to be shifted to care about the characters and how they’re going to solve the current problems. This is also where Ruby reaches her lowest emotional point in the season.

It’s not huge, but it’s interesting how connected this is. Before Ruby and Yang share a good cry over learning the possible fate of Summer, Yang brings up restoring optimism and hope to Ruby after the younger sister storms out of the room in frustration. This is where Penny’s scenes take up the rest of the episode. Getting Penny back in control of her own body and safe again is what makes the ending of the episode much brighter, when just 5 minutes before Ruby had been distraught and scared. This then spills over into the group coming up with the plan to use the staff, putting the main group in a much better mood. Of all the things to go right, it’s interesting that it’s Penny.

Things go wrong with the plan in the end and Penny dies. I find it interesting that once again, Penny got them hopeful in their chances of doing something right. Given said plan succeeded but at the cost of Penny of all people, Penny is shown to be the beginning and end of hope for them

The highest and lowest points for hope seem to directly correlate to when Penny’s around. When she comes back again, hope will return too, just like it had before. And because she’ll likely be back for good this time, the second return will probably be close to when Ruby is nearing the complete abandonment of hope. This would be pretty par for the course of the show honestly.

A little aside, but in a sense, Penny also represents Unity. The CCT in Vale fell after her first death, knocking out global communications and the unifying connection it gave. When it was restored for the briefest moment, she was there. Her body connected so she could allow for its launch, her soul lighting the night to hold up Amity with every ounce of her strength. So of course when the Hack succeeds and she falls, she takes global comms down again with her. At a smaller scale - even at the Hack's second last attempt to control her, she draws everyone in the Schnee Manor together. At the start of the volume, Yang states the one thing that they all agree on is not surrendering Penny.

Unity seems appropriate for one whose first song and wish was for but one friend, who would go on to find so many more in the process, and permit for a moment the possibility of all Remnant becoming friends once more. Where she first died, the name of the episode devoted to her story - Amity, "friendship", from the Latin root amicus, "friend" - she almost lives and dies with the very possibility of a united Remnant. It's no wonder she's a priority target for Salem, the great divider, and it seems natural that her next restoration may very well allow the next bid to bring the world together.

The Void Screams:

Moments after Penny's death, we hear a weird scream in the void space. It was a guttural, pained, angry scream, almost like the void space itself was crying out. All the portals shuddered and flickered when it happened.

Some think that this scream was Salem returning, but that happens earlier than Penny’s death, her return is signaled with cinder's arm acting up. We know this because after the arm finished flailing uncontrollably, Cinder said triumphantly "she's back." If it were Salem screaming, it would have happened after she fixed herself, but it didn't.

And I doubt Cinder would have been surprised or unsettled by it considering she was happy Salem returned not long before it. And why would a Salem scream affect the portals anyway, she has no connection to the staff or it's magic.

Another thing to consider is the fact sound is not transmitted through the portals. Otherwise, they would've heard Oscar and the rest calling for them, or the screams of the citizens of Mantle and Atlas. This lowers the possibility of that scream being from Salem even further.

The sound really seems to be coming from something else entirely within the void, and that something is not at all happy. There’s also the fact that Penny was the only person who died in the void space, everyone else was just thrown out of it like Ruby and Co. The only logical cause to me is Penny. Her body was a product (or byproduct) of the same creation magic that made the void space, her blood seems to have been a trigger.

Now I can't be sure about it, but this makes me feel like Penny is almost a part of creation itself? For whatever this thing is to be so angry, that is the only explanation I can think of currently. But all of this could possibly relate to the Narnia allusion of 'the willing victim killed in a traitor's stead' that others have brought up, which will be covered next.

Narnia Parallels:

Atlas has several parallels and references to fictional places (putting aside real world ones like the United States). One of those is that of Narnia, both on the surface and on a deeper level. It is a land of winter year round, where people struggle to survive and there is a present divide between those loyal to the current Monarch and those who are not. James is a parallel to Jadis, the White Witch, a ruler whose thoughts and cares aren’t exactly centered around the actual well being of the people. The hologram table in Ironwood’s office is designed to look like stone, like the Stone Table which features prominently in the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. He has a handpicked cadre of special agents/secret police, like how Maugrim and his wolves served Jadis. Another key parallel is how Jadis’s winter sets in to oppress and kill everyone in Narnia, but the Witch provides aid and protection to her loyal followers. She has all the power to spare harm to others, and uses it only for the loyal. As soon as Mantle splits from James and Atlas, no care is taken to protect them from the cold of Solitas even though he has every ability to turn the heating grid back on. His protection is only for the loyal.

Now that the parallel is established, let's look into the details. Starting with how James plays the role of Jadis.

"I had forgotten that you are only a common boy. How should you understand reasons of State? You must learn, child, that what would be wrong for you or for any of the common people is not wrong in a great Queen such as I. The weight of the world is on our shoulders. We must be freed from all rules. Ours is a high and lonely destiny." These are the words Jadis says in the Magician’s Nephew to justify the blood civil war she and her sister had waged for rulership of Charn, before she came to Narnia. She won that war, technically, but only after the last battle had been lost and her sister had marched right up to her so that they were face to face. Jadis’s troops were dead, her followers had surrendered, and the capital was under full control of her sister. But, she still had one card, one ultimate play to win and prove the throne of Charn was rightfully her. The Deplorable Word, a piece of old magic that killed everyone and everything except for her on Charn. It was monstrous, senseless, cruel beyond measure. But it got her that hollow victory. This mindset, the disregard for the people except as tools for her own will, the ultimate ‘aoe’ destructive move that no one had even considered her using, the unwillingness to stop even when by all practical measures the war is over, is a shocking parallel to James. In many ways, he is Jadis in mindset and deed.

Then there is the shared desire for A Thing that both James and Jadis have. For James it’s the Winter Maiden and control over her. For Jadis it’s the Silver Apples from the Tree of Youth. And funnily enough, the Maiden Powers parallel the Apples quiet well. These apples grant power and a life of eternal beauty, but should not be taken or eaten on one’s own initiative. They must be given, a gift granted by another, or only suffering will come from obtaining them. "For the fruit always works — it must work — but it does not work happily for any who pluck it at their own will. If any Narnian, unbidden, had stolen an apple and planted it here to protect Narnia, it would have protected Narnia. But it would have done so by making Narnia into another strong and cruel empire like Charn, not the kindly land I mean it to be.” Jadis’s immortality, and some of her power, come from the fact that she ate an Apple of her own will after stealing her way into the garden where the Tree of Youth had been planted. She gained the eternal life she had wanted and the power along with it, but she did so by taking it and was cursed because of it. Her skin turned pale and her lips blackened as if she were a frozen corpse given life. She will be trapped in a life of misery and hate according to Aslan- oh hey Cinder, how’s having stolen the Power you always wanted working out for you? Cinder had the power she wanted, but she only got hungrier, eager to claim more and increase her might. But in her pursuit she was defeated and humiliated by Raven, had to steal her way out of Mistral, and then suffered defeat after defeat while in Atlas. Only in the end, when she didn’t keep pursuing the Maiden Power, did she get any kind of victory.

The reason these parallels to Narnia are so important is one of the most famous events of the series. The cracking of the Stone Table and the rebirth of Aslan after his death. ‘When a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor's stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backward.’ Well, the ‘Stone Table’ in James’s office has cracked, and Penny strikes me as a pretty willing victim. She has never actually committed any actual treachery or harm, as she was the Protector of Mantle, and fought for its and Atlas’s people until the very end. And because of her death, the actual traitor, Winter, who loyally served James until he had gone too far, was saved. Through Penny’s self sacrifice, Winter was saved. So now Death itself will start working backward.

(Major props to my friend @catontheweb for writing this section, I was getting nowhere with it, if they weren't there this part wouldn't exist!)

Norse Mythology:

The tree we see in the post credit scene gives off some serious Yggdrasil vibes. Also called the World Tree, it is essentially all of creation in Norse Mythology. It connects all nine realms, including the God realms of Asgard, the human realm of Midgard, and the underworld of Hel.

Humans are born from the branches of Yggdrasil. The web of Wyrd is woven for every person once they're born, and their path is set from there regardless of how many times the souls cycle over. But at the end, they're destined to end up in one of the worlds, for a myriad of reasons.

I believe Penny landed closest to this giant tree. She was on the center platform in the void space, so if that space is directly above the island(?) the tree is on, it makes sense for her to fall by the center nearest to the tree. This would not only open up all kinds of possibilities for the volume in general, but it would also create options for Penny.

The whole of Yggdrasil’s representations fit well into Penny’s story. Birth, growth, death and rebirth. We can count Penny’s appearance in V7 as birth for now, her growth is all her development in leaving =the military and becoming a Maiden, her death just happened, and her rebirth would be her revival. And this is a cycle she’s gone through before.

The Norse god Odin and Yggdrasil have quite a connection. In one story, Odin cut out one of his own eyes to gain knowledge from a pool underneath Yggdrasil. The only one that fell whose eyes alone are incredibly significant to the story was Ruby. So, they could choose to have her allude to Odin by having Ruby make some kind of deal with whatever entity likely rules over this magical place. An eye for Penny’s life.

There’s another story about Odin, Yggdrasil and the pursuit of knowledge. Odin so loved knowledge, that he sacrificed himself in a quest to learn the deeper magic of runes. It was believed one could only learn the magic spells from runes in death. So, Odin hung himself on Yggdrasil for nine days as an offering, and teetered between life and death. After he mastered the last spell on the ninth night, he ritually died and all light was extinguished from the world. Odin’s death lasted until midnight, when he was reborn and light returned to the world.

This story doesn’t fit Penny perfectly, but allusions often don’t. So If she really did land near the tree, she could be another loose representation of Odin’s story here. What she did wasn’t for knowledge, but to save her friends and keep Cinder from getting the Winter Maiden power. She believed it necessary that she sacrifice herself to achieve this end. As we established, Penny represents Hope, so her death means the loss of hope. This parallels Odin’s story of his death meaning the loss of light itself. So if this theory holds up, it would make this death temporary, until her rebirth and the return of Hope with her once again.

Alternatively, Ruby has the potential of loosely representing Odin in this story as well. Odin later uses the knowledge of the runes to do many things, but the most relevant one right now is awakening the dead. Both of these stories are about making a personal sacrifice to gain something that is desired. Ruby would absolutely make such sacrifices if it meant saving Penny.

It is said that Odin lived “according to his highest will unconditionally, accepting whatever hardships arise from that pursuit, and allowing nothing, not even death, to stand between him and the attainment of his goals." This sounds like Penny's arc of accepting the WM powers. This is more just a general connection between Penny and Odin, but I found it interesting.

Side Note: I encourage anyone who’s interested to look into RWBY connections to Norse Myth, there’s a surprising amount of things that feel eerily similar to the show. Likely just coincidental, but it’s fun to think about!

(If I got any of this wrong, I sincerely apologize by the way. I researched as best I could, but I admit it could have been lacking.)

Ambrosius and the Staff:

Ruby told Ambrosius "we kinda wanna keep her around longer than that" as part of her very specific instructions. Then Penny died about ten to fifteen minutes, at the absolute most thirty minutes later in-universe. I don’t know about you, but to me that seems very short to be considered ‘longer than that’. Technically it is, but when writing a story and a character says something like that, you typically don’t just kill the character they were referring to basically right away. It makes sense for a week-by-week watch, but in a volume binge, which many viewers do, it becomes ironic how fast Penny dies after being removed from her robotic body.

The first time we see the staff of creation being used, it's to save Penny. Using the staff of creation to help Penny is a sign of how incredibly important she is.

They’ve even got this entire transformation sequence for her, so it wouldn’t make sense for them to throw all that away two episodes later. In a meta context, it’s a massive waste of time and budget considering the asset creation for Penny.

Penny is a character who has already hopped bodies two times. And now we're supposed to just believe that this time it really is a final death? Just two episodes after we were explicitly told her body isn't what matters, that "Her soul is who she is" and that "the mechanical parts are just extra"? From a writing perspective, it feels strange, like your breaking a promise right after making it. And frankly, CRWBY is better than that, which makes me think this is not the actual end for her.

A possible connection between Penny, Ruby, and the Staff (thus Creation) can be seen in the intro. As Ruby is falling and being dragged down into the darkness, she is shown reaching for the staff. In the void space, Penny is the one with the relic. So with Penny having this strong connection to Creation, and the lyrics “fight for every life” playing as Ruby reaches for the staff, it’s a safe assumption to make, with the knowledge we now have, that the Staff of Creation represents Penny in this particular moment. Which could mean that V9 will be about, at least partially, fighting for Penny’s life.

Musical Hints:

In terms of music, Friend, as a song for Penny, is very dissonant from the episode itself. The song is oddly cheerful for Penny’s recent untimely death, and it overall highlights the wrong parts of death. It’s simply too happy to be a song about losing one of the most, if not the most joyous characters in the entire show. The song also abruptly ends. There’s no outro, and while this could symbolize the fact that Penny died young, it could be that the song itself is unfinished in a story sense.

What do we hear just before the song finishes, though? A progression of notes that sounds eerily similar to the last line of the opening of Volume 8. The notes for “Fight for ev’ry life” and “Who fin’lly felt alive'' share a similar melodic structure, they aren’t perfect clones of each other, but they are incredibly similar, to the point where it seems intentional. Penny may very well be the life that the opening song is fighting for. It is also worth noting that the line “Fight for every life” comes just after “Sometimes it’s worth it all to risk the fall,” which is the exact wording used for the description in the Volume 8 finale. Team RWBY risked the fall, yet, strangely the opposite of fighting for every life happened with Penny’s sacrifice. Perhaps the time to fight for every life has yet to happen, and we will see it come Volume 9.

For another thing, the lyrics for Friend are entirely centered on Penny’s feelings for Ruby, to the point where they read very much like a bittersweet love song. The music itself is incredibly cheerful, as mentioned previously, creating a mood whiplash with the end of the volume. Why would we hear a song about Penny’s feelings for Ruby, sounding like a love song, if her death is supposed to be a tragic sacrifice akin to Pyrrha’s? The song may very well be giving a clue into its future use in the show proper.

If this was meant to be a good bye song, why make it so cheerful and romantic sounding? There's only one part about her dying and even then, it's just too accepting and goes right back into cheerfulness. The song is also pretty hopeful, telling Penny's story in a fairly chronological order. And the part where she talks about sacrifice is quite pointedly followed up by one about feeling alive. It also ends with the super cheerful chorus, the word "alive" being the last... (Remember the episode title: The Final Word)

(I want to thank my friend @shadow-0f-x for writing the majority of this section! I was struggling to choose how to tackle it as I am not well versed in music theory.)

What We Didn’t See:

It is likely that Penny understood Jaune's semblance better than him and figured something out about it’s abilities in the same way that she understood Ruby's semblance better than her. She had plenty of time to observe his semblance up close as he boosted her aura to stave off the virus. Because of that intentionally timed cutaway in the finale, we don’t get to hear her explain herself after her strained “Trust me.” All of that seems really suspicious to me.

Pyrrha Parallel:

Pyrrha and Penny both sacrificed themselves to stop or stall Cinder. Jaune tried to convince the both of them to stop. With Pyrrha, he failed, while with Penny he actively helped her sacrifice herself. Doesn’t make sense for the guy who was determined not to let anyone else do what Pyrrha did, unless of course Penny assured him she’d be alright.

The Moment:

RT including the suicide hotline in the description shows that they're aware that Penny basically committed assisted suicide, seeing it as a noble sacrifice worth doing to save her friends. They're aware, and I believe they're smart enough to condemn that decision to hell and back.

The best way to do that in my opinion is to pull her back into the land of the living and let her witness first hand the consequences of throwing her life away so freely. This would show Penny how her actions affected others so maybe she could learn to truly value herself. To not think herself expendable. It would be bold and unwise to portray this choice as something good, unless it was going to be called upon later and be pointed out for how horrible it really is.

On top of this, Penny was way too content with her death, happy even. There's no way team RWBY is letting her stay content with it. It’s almost as though we're supposed to join Ruby and Co. in calling bullshit on what Penny is saying and doing because no, Penny, this is not how things are meant to work. It's as if Penny was basically saying "I want to die for my friends" because most of the volume had been about everyone else making sure she didn't die. She knows it will hurt them. She knows.

At the peak of it all, a choice like this will totally destroy Ruby. It may very well be her breaking point for Volume 9. Curiously, the moment itself is written like it’s the first choice Penny’s ever made, yet the entire Volume shows this isn’t the case. However, this is the first choice that Penny’s made solely independently and it’s rather pertinent that the choice she makes is a mistake. Outside of giving Winter the Maiden gift and saving the day temporarily, this sacrifice will not have any lasting positive effects. Jaune will be saddled with the grief of killing Penny. Ruby will have to live with losing her best friend and not being able to protect her a second time, and Winter now has the burden of the Winter Maiden abilities, making her a target of Cinder. This is a bad thing, and Penny needs to see the long term consequences.

Transfer of Power:

As we all know, colors in RWBY are really important and get a lot of focus in the show. That means the yellow we see as Penny gives Winter the Maiden Powers was intentional and likely important, no matter how insignificant it may seem. It’s possible that the transfer effect being yellow could have something to do with Jaune’s semblance. When Fria gave the power to Penny, the effect was very much blue, so this transfer should have been green since she was the one giving it this time. The weirdness of this transfer and the focus on color in RWBY really makes it look like something’s up with how that went down.

A little off topic, but Penny saying "I won't be gone, I'll be part of you." makes me think... Winter is smart, so when she gets time to think about what Penny said, maybe she'll arrive at the same question many in the audience came to; if she's literally part of Winter, can they be separated again? If Winter starts questioning that, the possibility of Penny coming back just skyrockets.

Fria actually tells Penny "I'll be gone" before giving her powers up, which is an interesting contrast to Penny telling Winter "I won't be gone". She may have gotten that line from Winter be all philosophical in V7, saying Fria was now a part of Penny, but it hits differently coming from an actual Maiden. S5o it’s possible that Maidens usually actually will be gone, but Jaune's semblance did something to change that.

This could go well with the theory that they won't need to find an aura transfer machine, or build another one, because Jaune will have a semblance evolution allowing him to do the transfer instead. It might actually be that this evolution already happened and the golden light we saw was Jaune transferring penny's aura to Winter in some way?

An observation that I find interesting is when Penny gives winter the powers, not only is the aura yellow but penny completely glows yellow too, and she obviously starts to disappear, but she doesn’t seem to fully disappear, she just glows.

It's possibly a fading out effect and she does fully fade but animation makes bright light easier, and so we don't actually see her disappear because she's dead and not gone. But it does once again emphasize the color yellow here!

And the color is coming from Penny, it does go up Winter's arm a bit, but Penny is clearly the source. This transfer is so weird and I’m not really sure how to interpret it. There's just actually no reason that we are aware of to make the effect yellow here is the thing. Unless it has something to do with either Jaune or Ambrosius, or potentially a combination of both...

Jaune’s Aura:

The way we see Jaune's aura break in the finale is strange. His aura shouldn't be breaking here. It had been long enough since he was boosting Penny, he's had time to recharge, and it didn't look like it was a strain on him at all. Plus, we know he has a lot of aura, so there probably wasn't too much to recharge in the first place.

He has a massive amount of aura, it has never broken before as far as I remember. Even if it has though, that doesn’t make this occurrence any less odd. It should absolutely never be a one-hit KO. We didn't see anything that would've drained it, that should not have been enough to break his aura. Unless he did something - something that would require a huge amount of aura - that we just didn't see. That amount of aura drain is far more than just an attempt at healing would do, Jaune absolutely did something with his semblance that took up almost all of his aura.

Pinocchio Allusion:

As any Penny fan knows, her character allusion is Pinocchio, the puppet who became a real boy. Penny deviates from the allusion by having always been a real girl, as Ruby is quick to point out, but she shares many story beats with her original story including multiple deaths. In the original story, Pinocchio dies from being hung by his own strings due to his poor decision making and he dies. Sounds a little familiar, does it not? This is where his tale originally ended. Readers were unsatisfied with this ending however, so the author decided to change the story by reviving Pinocchio and teaching him to be more careful.

Unlike Pinocchio making all the wrong decisions, Penny often makes the right ones, or ones she thinks is right, when concerning others. While usually a good thing, this has meant Penny almost giving herself up multiple times during V8, her last attempt being successful. This is where Penny and Pinocchio begin to share similarities again. They are both very reckless when it concerns themselves. This carelessness comes from different places, but it ends with the same result of them endangering their lives and even sometimes losing them.

In the Disney movie, Pinocchio dies by drowning after going to rescue Geppetto and washes up on the shore (like the beach in V8’s post credit scene). His father is devastated and takes him home to grieve, but as a reward for his selflessness in rescuing his father, the Blue Fairy returns and brings him back to life, as well as granting him humanity. Penny sacrificed her life as well, and it stands to reason that she should be rewarded for it, much like her allusion was.

Penny got her maiden powers from someone with blue aura and then gave her powers to someone with blue aura. So it could be that not only Ambrosius, but Fria and Winter as well represent the Blue Fairy. It could be set up for Winter helping to bring Penny back to life once more. It’s an out there theory I admit, but it’s not outright impossible either. The Blue Fairy in Pinocchio saved him three times that I know of, so RWBY having three representations does make sense.

Geppetto wished for him to live as a real boy, but it depended on what path Pinocchio took. This is very reminiscent of Penny and Pietro. Pietro wants to see her live her life, and surely with him absent in V8C14 that didn't work, despite Penny choosing. Her father did not see her happy enough to live her life, and will only be able to learn her death through others. But Pinocchio's themes were life and being alive. So the likelihood that this is not her end yet is quite high!

A Girl That Fell Through the World:

Penny could be the girl who fell through the world. The girl in the story fled the consequences of a choice. The only person who chose her ultimate fate was Penny. The others were pushed into the void, but she chose to die. The consequence of her choice is Ruby’s grief first and foremost, which Penny won’t see. The girl who fell through the world does come back though, and the world will be changed severely with Penny’s absence. Alternatively, it could also be Penny coming back to Wonderland or wherever they currently are, as long as it’s unrecognizable to her.

What Returning Brings:

Others might say another return would have no story relevant purpose, but I wholeheartedly disagree. Penny gives a profoundly youthful, joyous, and wondrous outlook on the world and story that we hadn't seen since Ruby in Volumes 1-3(not the end), Penny returning would bring a much needed levity back in after the despair they will undoubtedly be going through. While not necessarily a huge thing in most other shows, for RWBY, a show largely about keeping up hope, an ounce of such relief is a necessity.

As much as I hate saying it, Penny’s death does actually make some narrative sense because she had to pass on the Maiden powers. (They could have done this in a number of ways, and I personally think they chose rather poorly, but I digress.) Throughout this whole volume, we can see Penny seemingly being set up to join the main cast, but would have been too strong with the powers. This also accomplishes ridding her of the burden of responsibility that comes with being a Maiden and lets her obtain the freedom that’s so important to her character.

Once she returns, seeing this grief that her actions caused, particularly to Ruby, will get her to realize more that her actions can have serious repercussions. She made a choice, but that choice hurt the people she loves. She must have known that it would but I’m not sure she ever realized just how much.

I didn’t want this post to be heavy in the shipping department, so I largely left it out, but I am going to say this one thing that could have an impact. If Nuts & Dolts is on its way to being canon, which this volume makes it feel highly likely, this could be a catalyst.

It could prompt an arc for the both of them in which Penny learns to live her life fighting for her loved ones, rather than sacrificing it for them. A relationship could potentially start from there. And Ruby seeing Penny learn these things may also help her to stop doing the occasional but very dangerous and reckless things she does. Ruby witnessing Penny coming to terms with what she did to the people that care about her would actually make her stop to think “wait, is this how everyone else would feel if I got myself killed?” That would be a very important moment of character growth for her.

I’m certain there are other significant things that Penny returning can bring to the show. And there are definitely more sections I could add to this. At this point though, assuming anyone even made it this far, I think I’ve been going long enough already. So let’s just roll into the outro!

As painful and hopeless as it seems, I'm choosing to trust them with this because there is absolutely no way they didn't see backlash coming. The way this finale went makes me think that they calculated for backlash and aren’t jumping into something they don’t have a plan to recover from. Whether this trust is unfounded or not remains to be seen, but I don’t think it is currently. I do think, however, that the cause of this backlash was a major misstep. Now that it has happened though, they have a chance to do something good with it.

I know for a lot of you, trust in CRWBY has been damaged, some even irreparably so. And for those that feel this way, I don’t blame you. My trust in them took a hit too, but isn’t broken completely yet. There are many ways that they can bring her back that would make sense with the narrative, they have the ability to make it right, and after going over all of the hints and general weirdness of things many times, I think they will.

I'm feeling pretty confident now and I really didn't expect that to happen at all to be honest. But discussing and theorizing with the discord server seriously helped get my hopes back up surprisingly fast! It’s actually thanks to all of them that this gigantic post even happened! So thanks a ton my fellow Dolts! And a special thanks to!!

@arcana-amicus

@catontheweb

@cosmokyrin

@gaydontmesswithme224

@jammatown919

@shadow-0f-x

They really helped get this thing across the finish line!

And thank YOU for reading all~ of this! I sincerely wish it gave you some of the hope and confidence that I now have!

[whitleyschn33]

RWBY8 Soundtrack

I did this last volume, might as well keep at it. Still don’t have any qualifications, so take this with a grain of salt, as always.

This is going to be interesting as someone that can’t actually remember any of the vocal tracks used in the show this volume aside from the OP. Let me know if I’m missing any.

1. For Every Life

Honestly... don’t really have a lot to say about this one. The weird beat it chooses for the chorus is still weird, and it hasn’t grown on me at all, feeling too jarring and off kilter to get into - which is a shame, because the normal verses sound good. I find myself half-humming the build up into the chorus under my breath because I genuinely like that section of the song, the tempo picking up slightly for “We failed to stop our own demise” in particular has gotten stuck in my head, and it sucks that the chorus choses to abandon that build up for this off beat music that doesn’t compliment the lyrics but instead makes the entire song feel disjointed. 

The lyrics are... laughably incompatible with the show, especially in the second verse. ”We sacrificed/Pledged our souls and gave up everything” - what exactly did RWBY sacrifice? They were given everything they wanted on a silver platter last volume and then betrayed the trust of those who gave them those things. You can’t call it sacrifice to lose trust that you betrayed. “Our plans of triumph torn apart” - what plans? RWBY never had any plans, Ironwood had plans that they decided to both support and tear down at the same time because for some reason they can’t understand the concept of limited resources but wanted everything. It really feels like the main cast has no self-awareness, painting themselves as purely victims in a way that feels disingenuous to the way things actually unfolded last volume. It’s self-righteous and self-pitying in all the wrong ways, but I can’t really bring myself to care at this point. It doesn’t piss me off like War did, but falls more into the same camp as the V6 opening, where I like it lyrically if I just pretend it’s not actually about RWBY - except “Rising” is a far better song musically to me.

I honestly spent more time looking at the album art and picking apart everything that I didn’t think worked about it. I dunno, I’m bored already, let’s move on.

2. The Sky is Falling

I like this one more than For Every Life - it keeps a constant, steady beat rather than whatever the hell was going on with the OP, and I like the idea of the story that it’s telling; a hellish landscape bathed in death and despair as the sky is literally falling down around you, no escape, no way to wake up from this awful reality. I can’t say we really saw a lot of this in the actual show, though. Atlas doesn’t fall until the last episode, and while we see some of this hellish imagery in the OP, we don’t really get to see this in Mantle as it’s being overrun by Grimm. The emergency lights aren’t on, we don’t see any bodies or any real indications of death beyond that one suitcase - they had the chance to go all in on the destruction a la Beacon but turned up to 11, but they just... didn’t. Still have absolutely no recollection of it being played in the actual show, so I looked it up, and apparently it plays during the bike chase. I almost wish that this had been swapped with the opening instead, since thematically the two feel like they’d fit better in each other’s place - “Sky is Falling Down” for the horror of the invasion, and “For Every Life” for JYR chasing down Oscar, not going to let him go.

I do like the refrain of “Better cover up your eyes, my friends, the sky is falling” and “Hold on now, the sky is falling down”, and again, it really makes me wish we had gotten a more apocalyptic feeling for this volume, maybe taking place over a few more days, Salem just letting her Grimm do the work because why bother when you have all the time in the world to just wait it out and let your army slowly devour the cities, using her centipede Grimm to literally tear Atlas apart from the foundations and have the pieces falling from the sky. Leaving that aside, the song is... fine. None of the lyrics offend me, though some feel a bit clunky and awkward. I wasn’t a fan of the rap section - it didn’t really feel like it fit with the rest of the song and was oddly slow for a rap? But I don’t know much about that genre of music since it’s not one I usually enjoy. 

So overall, serviceable, wish it had taken a draft or two more, but fine.

3. Be Strong and Hit Stuff

Who thought that was a good title, or a good line?

Once again, I feel like I don’t really have much to say. There’s nothing musically wrong with this song, it’s perfectly fine to listen to, but it just doesn’t really do anything for me either. It doesn’t actually feel like a Nora song despite starting out in the more bubbly style they use for her, because it quickly devolves into the usual rock/metal, and then ends with this weird outro that kinda comes out of nowhere? It feels generic in its style rather than a Nora piece if that makes sense. 

And then the lyrics... it really feels like they’re saying, “hey, don’t worry about it, you’re perfect just the way you are, no need to worry about yourself or the person you are right now, of course you’ll grow at some point but there’s nothing wrong with who you are now” which, for a character that’s meant to be feeling lost and unsure of who she is beyond her best friend/romantic interest, that’s not really all that reassuring to her future development. Maybe that’s why it doesn’t feel like a Nora song - because it’s really not. It’s not Nora’s voice, it’s the singer/the writers speaking to Nora, this character-less voice speaking to Nora’s anxieties and telling her not to worry about it or self-reflect too hard. Don’t try to self-reflect and work on yourself as a person, despite the fact that that’s really the only way you can truly grow, just be strong and hit stuff like you always have without thought. You’ll become a better character without having to put any actual work into the process.

4. The Truth

Oh hey, one I actually remember.

....They wasted that instrumental on a song about Cinder doing chores. That’s such a pretty piano piece, building up to a final crescendo and high note to leave you dangling, but the lyrics... uninspired, to say the least. Next.

5. Treasure

The one that the BB shippers were screaming over.

You know, this might have been super sweet and romantic if the show had actually let Blake and Yang have a few healthy talks about their relationship and work through their issues and cement them as finding their relationship worth working through the pain of separation, but as it is, it reads as incredibly unhealthy and creepy. 

They’ve been separated a day, two at most, and Blake (? That’s who everyone is saying this is from, but I don’t believe that’s been confirmed by anyone official and there really isn’t anything in this song that’s specific enough to pin to any specific character, more about that in a bit) is talking about how her life is on pause when “you”/Yang isn’t there, that her life doesn’t have a purpose or she doesn’t really exist unless they’re there, but that’s okay because she’s sure that they’ll be back real soon, but if they’re not, that’s fine, they’re willing to wait forever. I don’t think I need to point out how kinda fucked up that is, to have assigned so much of yourself to the presence of another person that them having left your side for A DAY would leave you feeling like you can’t go on with your own life until they come back. And again, if their relationship had been better defined at this point, if they’d been solidly together for the past couple volumes and had grown as characters, this could have been romantic - Lord knows there’s been plenty of songs about faithfully waiting for your true love to return to you after a long while away that have hit the mark far more effectively. This just isn’t working for me on that front, though, chief, not in the context that it’s been given. In a relationship that’s built largely on a trauma of abandonment, a song like this without any kind of resolution to those issues just comes across as creepy.

However... I do think that that context isn’t really evident in the song. If I hadn’t seen Tumblr blowing up about it being a BB song, I would not have guessed that it was a BB song, and I certainly wouldn’t have pegged it as a Blake song. Blake’s never had any kind of motif with “treasure”, and as far as I can remember she’s never had a theme of loneliness (”all alone in crowded rooms”) - that’s always been Weiss and to a lesser extent, Yang. This just doesn’t feel like a Blake song to me. If you had given me this song completely unattached to the show, I would have - well, honestly, I probably would have said it was a fan song for Merlin about Arthur from the BBC series - but if you had told me this was a song from RWBY and asked me to match the character, I probably would have guessed Taiyang. This feels a lot more like a song from Tai about Summer than a song about Blake to Yang - and I know that makes no sense for a V8 song, but this song doesn’t make sense as a BB song to me. Blake hasn’t ever waited for Yang, they were only separated for a day, Blake hasn’t had to wander through life numb waiting for Yang (especially when it was Blake that left but making this a Yang song would be so much fucking worse), Blake’s never been one to struggle with loneliness as a major part of her character, this just doesn’t fit Blake. Taiyang, though? Taiyang watched Summer walk out for seemingly an ordinary mission and completely vanish from his life, waiting night and day for any sign of her, any hint that she was coming home or that she was alive, and going through a depressive episode when it became apparent that she’d been lost. “Treasure” also just... seems more fitting a motif for Tai? I can’t say why other than “treasure” makes me think “gold” which is very much a Tai color (and there’s apparently a rumor that his allusion is King Midas which... makes absolutely no sense, if I was going to pick an allusion I would have said The Cowherd from The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, but I digress) but that’s honestly more than Blake’s got going for that motif. 

I dunno - just this fails so hard at being a good BB song due to how skeevy that context makes it, but it also fails so hard at explicitly being a BB song that it would honestly work much better as a Seasonal Depression song. Moving on.

6. Friend

I didn’t listen to this one when it came out because I didn’t want to hear it after what they did to Penny, and I’m not looking forward to listening to it now.

....Nope. Nope. Nope. Not a fan. A lot of people have discussed this at length in ways far better than I could, but I really don’t like this swerve that they took from V2 Ruby assuring Penny that she’s just as real and human as anyone else, that what she’s made of doesn’t affect her still being real, to this idea that Penny is real underneath the nuts and bolts, that Penny has to be freed from her body to be human - that she’s made human rather than having already been that from the start. This song tries to retcon it so hard - “ You saw my soul/Through the nuts and bolts”, “ But I found that humanity/It came with sacrifice” - and it honestly just makes me very uncomfortable paired with how RWBY treated prosthetics and Penny this volume. 

Throw in all the call backs to Beacon era that are blatantly trying to pull on your heartstrings like “See? See? Remember how much you loved Penny back then? How good of friends they were and how bright the future looked? How sad is it that it’s all been ripped away for good - again!” and I can’t feel good about it. Also, heh, funny that they have to make callbacks to Beacon rather than anything that happened between Penny and Ruby in V7 or 8... because nothing happened between them in V7 or 8 except Penny dying again. Aside from one line, you could have released this on the V3 soundtrack and no one would have batted an eye. Really shows you how well Penny was utilized for Atlas, right? How much she actually got to do and grow as a character instead of retreading the same ground from Beacon? •◡•

No thank you.

7. Awake

Does this one even count? This isn’t actually written for RWBY, just used in the show. 

Getting some real Evanescence vibes. It’s alright, I guess? Just not leaving much of an impact, and knowing it’s not actually written for the show doesn’t make me want to take the lyrics all that seriously. Although, if you don’t include this track, V8 only has 6 original vocal tracks, and one’s less than a minute long. Not great. I know that with That That Shall Not Be Mentioned, production for the volume and the release of the soundtrack was pushed back and complicated, but... still. It took a half year longer than it usually takes to get the soundtrack released, with two fewer songs than they usually produce (not including acoustic covers, remixes, and instrumentals, V1 had 12 songs, V2-6 had 8, and V7 had 9, for comparison) and only one remix. It feels fairly lackluster that this is all we’re getting out of the volume - and that’s probably why I only remember actually hearing two of these in the actual show, because there weren’t that many vocal tracks to begin with.

And that’s the end. Overall? Nothing about this volume’s soundtrack jumps out at me. I can’t see myself downloading any of these songs to listen to in the future, and while nothing on the list makes me as unreasonably pissed as War did last year, nothing captures my attention like Hero did either. Kind of a straight shot of “meh” with the occasional peak of interest (good or bad) every so often.

I’m kinda tempted to do a ranking for all the volume soundtracks, but I already know what my number one and bottom three picks would be, so it would only really benefit me to see what 2nd through 5th places would end up being. Let me know if any of you would even be interested in that.

And once again, I’d like to reiterate that this is all just my opinion. Music is probably one of the most subjective things out there, and again I have no musical training whatsoever, so my opinion is no more or less valid than yours.

Have a good night, everyone.

[itsclydebitches]

So I decided to do a quick, totally subjective, not very serious RWBY Thing™. Basically, we’ve had a lot of conversations the last few volumes about RWBY’s women-focused premise vs. its (arguably) man-driven plot. I keep seeing throwaway comments — which I am absolutely guilty of  — about how RWBY is/is not a show that is about and/or for women... so it got me wondering how the actual cast stacks up against these assumptions. What’s the gender divide in this show and, more importantly, how significant a role does each character play? 

Hence, some quick and dirty data. With the understanding that I use the term “data” here very, very loosely lol. 

I went through RWBY’s character list via the wiki and snagged everyone based on two criteria: 1. Do they appear in the main webseries? I’m eliminating characters that only appear in Myers’ novels, the mobile game, etc. (Theodore is a bit of an outlier. I included him because Ruby addressed him in her message and I assume he’ll be a significant character in Volume 9/10). 2. If I mentioned them to an average RWBY fan would they most likely know who I’m talking about, maybe with a one sentence refresher? So many of the fighters in the Vytal tournament didn’t make the cut, but characters like Neon and Flynt, who had conversations with Team RWBY, trained with them, and participated in the Battle of Atlas get to stay. Then I roughly divided everyone into three categories: Main Characters (in red), Secondary Characters (purple), and Background Characters (blue). MCs are connected to the majority of the plot, SCs are important for a significant portion of the story (even if they later disappeared), and BCs cover everything from “They were important for, like, three episodes but that was all the way back in Volume 1″ (Cardin) to “They literally only exist to look cute” (Adrian). Again, very subjective and I have no doubt people will disagree with my rankings, but the purpose here is to just get a general sense of things. 

Sidenote: Light blue indicates “I don’t think Gods and dogs have genders in any way we’d conceive of them, so they’re excluded from this.” 

The results were surprisingly even. (With the obvious disclaimer that I didn’t divide them with the intent to achieve that.) The girls have nearly twice as many main characters as the guys, but with a few notable caveats. Namely, that two of them are dead now (Penny and Pyrrha), one only just became a MC by my wishy-washy criteria (Emerald at the very end of Volume 8), and Maria is, once again, MIA from the story. The guys have more characters that I would consider somewhat significant without being a MC or a one-off plot device (that’s why Vernal didn’t make SC status), while both have a pretty even number of background characters. Both are pretty even in terms of numbers overall too: 43 guys and 41 girls. 

Why did I bother with this? Frankly, I don’t have a good answer. Boring Thursday night? What I definitely don’t intend is to make any nit-picky claims like, “Omg there are two more guys based on these totally subjective standards, RWBY has failed!” That’s neither true nor useful and, at the end of the day, I don’t think any story has to meet some arbitrary, statistical standard to be seen as progressive. Storytelling is far more complex than that. Example: we could look at the fandom’s desire to see more characters that don’t fit the very binary I’ve laid out, beyond the inclusion of May. Rather, I suppose if I have any point to make here, it’s that RWBY  — for me, anyway  — feels less like a webseries with a specific message to convey through its gender dynamics and more like a standard, ensemble cast. I believe RWBY started with that message and, depending on how forgiving we are, succeeded in conveying, “Here’s a story focused on the adventures of these four girls,” but we lost that in Volume 4 when the teams officially merged. Not only did we greatly increase the number of MCs, but we also skewed the gender dynamic by pulling Jaune, Ren, Ozpin, and Oscar into the core group. Regardless of whether anyone agrees with the arguments surrounding Jaune getting too much screen time, or Oscar being more important to the plot than Ruby, just from a numbers perspective this is no longer a show just about Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang. It’s also not a show just about women fighters who happen to not be our original MC(s) — think Sailor Moon expanding its still primarily women cast past Usagi. And that’s not inherently a bad thing, but it does change how we approach the show and the generalized assumptions we make about it. 

Anyway, happy boring Thursday, everyone. Peace ✌️

[coldgoldlazarus]

Of Maidens, Relics, and Lessons Learned

(And What That Could Mean For Volume 9 and the Vacuo Arc.)

I think I've picked up on something of a pattern here, with the post-Beacon Volumes. The Beacon Arc was of course something of a prologue without all this being involved, so I'm not really counting it as much, but there's been a sort of mirrored structure between the Mistral and Atlas arcs I couldn't help but notice. (Albeit the Atlas arc does better overall, given the production issues 4 and 5 had)

---

Volume 4 and Volume 7; introduction to the new kingdom and it's issues, along with a fatal flaw of the headmaster. (Things touched on in the WoR episodes about the kingdom, something to put a pin in.)

With Mistral, it's the wide land area and the difficulty with the Grimm beyond the main city's walls, and at the end Lionheart is established as a traitor.

With Atlas, it's the class disparity between Mantle and Atlas and the oppressive militarization, and Ironwood's lack of trust and refusal to accept help or criticism.

---

Volume 5 and Volume 8 have two main common themes. The issues established in the prior volume cause friction with the relevant Headmaster; meanwhile the Maiden (and her failings, as relating both to the relic she's tied to and the role of the original Maiden of that season) of focus for the arc is explored, ending in their relevant Relic being taken from the Vault.

Mistral; the land/grimm issues serve to draw out the local huntsmen to be eliminated by Salem's followers with the help of Lionheart's information, which he then uses as an excuse to delay going after Raven's bandits. Raven herself is (properly) introduced, with her worldview and motivations gradually being unraveled; she has knowledge of Salem that's led her to give up on hope of winning and strike out selfishly on her own. (Lionheart has similar reasoning, just defecting to her rather than trying to be an independent party.)

Atlas; Ironwood's paranoia and self-importance lead him on a self-destructive spiral and Mantle suffers for it. Penny's role as the maiden (and everything that comes of that, from Watts' hack to Cinder's hunting to her friends' well-intentioned but harmful meddling) restricts her agency and emphasizes her self-sacrificial behaviors until she dies.

---

Volume 6 (and Volume 9?); the use of the relic results in a massive status quo shift that team RWBY have to come to terms with, ultimately learning the lesson and triumphing where the Headmaster and Maiden from last volume failed to. The kingdom issue from two volumes ago comes into play again.

Mistral; learning the truth of Salem's immortality leaves the team feeling hopeless and tempted to give up much like Raven, but in the end decide it's still worth it to try to help in the here and now; when a big fight leaves Argus's protection spread thin against oncoming Grimm, RWBY step in to successfully help defend the city.

Atlas; using the Staff to evacuate leaves RWBY stranded in an otherworldly island, and...?

---

So my guess for Volume 9 is that, obviously they're gonna spend a while just dealing with the aftermath of everything that happened in 8, but in the long run they're going to figure out how to move forward in a way that ties into the themes of the prior two Volumes; specifically something to do with Penny's flaws, and possibly integrating and overcoming the issues established in Volume 7 as well.

For the latter, I feel like in the end they'll be faced with a choice of whether or not to trust Neo or fear and fight (be militant toward? Feels like a stretch but still) her, and choose trust and be rewarded for it.

For the former, I'm not quite as sure of exactly how they'll approach it, but the main thing that sticks out to me is that rather than stopping to contemplate her circumstances like the original Winter, (which to be fair, there wasn't a whole lot of opportunity to) Penny repeatedly threw herself into danger, which then got emphasized by the hack into outright suicidal tendencies. Plus there's Ironwood's isolationist behavior. So my best guess is that RWBY will be going into a recklessly self-destructive spiral at first and try to do everything alone (possibly not being able to trust each other thanks to Neo's impersonations), but eventually slowing down to properly confront their feelings and recognizing that they can lean on each other? And possibly leading into Neo redemption too as per the prior paragraph. Not completely sold on this, so second opinions would be appreciated here.

---

This brings me to the Vacuo Arc. Assuming I'm not talking out my ass here, I expect that to either follow the same pattern or actively subvert it as per Rule Of Three. Assuming it's the first, though:

- Volume 10 has them arriving in Vacuo and seeing all the issues there, and a core flaw of Theodore's being established.

- Volume 11 would see Theodore double down on that flaw, while the Summer maiden and her problems come into the picture.

- Then the Sword gets used, and Volume 12 deals with that fallout, with the team being on the way back to Vale for the finale arc in 13 onward.

Based on World Of Remnant, of course, I have a few guesses as to what all will be tackled, but we'll see how this pans out.

- Vacuo itself, it's established that it's been heavily exploited by other kingdoms, and is a very lawless place. Most of Atlas showing up on their doorstep is going to naturally create some clashes, though exactly what form that conflict will take is hard to say for sure.

- The Summer Maiden's relic is Destruction, and in the original fairy-tale, her lesson was for the Wizard to step outside and actually engage with the world again. So my best guess is that in opposition to that, both Theodore and the Summer maiden would prefer to keep to themselves and let things play out without their influence, scared by the destruction that's been wrought by Salem's attacks, or by the destruction she (the Maiden) could cause. At the same time, though, the ties between Creation and Trust as themes are kinda unintuitive, so I wouldn't be surprised if the issue here is similarly indirect, in which case I'd have to see Volume 10 before I can make any meaningful guesses.

---

Finally, I saw a comment from someone else bringing up connections between each relic, and kinda wanted to expand on that in the context of everything I just outlined. Even though Volume 5's relic is of knowledge, the central theme of the volume (and Raven's story) is of choice. The connection there makes sense though; having knowledge can inform your choices, in both good and bad ways.

But I want to apply this backwards; even though I've left the Beacon Arc out of things so far, it is still location-wise tied to the relic of Choice, but Volume 2's central theme can be argued to be Knowledge. Blake's knowledge of the White Fang's activities stresses her out, the Mountain Glenn trip gives us knowledge of how dangerous it can actually be beyond the Kingdoms, Oobleck has his whole speech, we gain more knowledge of the team's backstories, and the overall driving thrust of the volume is trying to learn more about what Torchwick is up to. Even though there's still so much they don't know about yet, they're beginning to step into the real world and learn about what's out there. See where I'm going with this?

We then extrapolate forward to Volume 8, where a big theme is risk. That isn't necessarily as direct a connection, but it still feels relevant to the idea of destruction. Destruction is omnipresent throughout the volume as all sides take more and more losses; more directly, risk inherently implies the possibility of destruction if that risk doesn't work, and arguably also in the sense that taking risks is motivated by fear of destruction if no action is taken to begin with.

I think it's fair to say that the Vacuo Arc may similarly include themes of or related to creation as an idea, and everything that must go into that. Resource shortages may be just one way that's expressed, though probably not the only one.

(It also makes me hopeful for Penny resurrection in Volume 10 or 11, though hopefully we won't have to wait that long to know if it's even possible. CRWBY please don't let me down)

EDIT: Extra note; Ironwood's flaws also relate to the idea of risk; while his actions like using Watts' hacking and trying to bomb the whale could be considered risks, his overall plan is the opposite, planning to try to stick his head in the sand and delay Salem rather than confront her head-on. And as the connection is made in V8C11, trust in of itself is a risk, that he also refuses to take. This furthers my idea of them taking the risk of trusting Neo at the end of Volume 9, and makes me think that however the idea of Creation is explored in Volume 11, it will tie into Theodore and the Summer maiden's core flaws.

[skye-huntress]

RWBY Ice Queendom Reaction

Episode 2: “This is Beacon”

Continuing on, finally, since these first two episodes are mostly fast-pacing us through to the formation of the titular Team RWBY, I am neither surprised or bother by the skipping of certain scenes and settings. And hey, if all the characters are already on the same airship, why not get through initial introductions immediately and go straight to the initiation?

Again, great that Yang actually tries to help Ruby make friends instead of just ditching her first chance she gets.

I got to say, from personal experience when I was in school, if I was reading, I didn’t want strangers walking up to me and trying to be my friend. And Yang is supposed to be the socially competent sister

In the main show, I noticed that Weiss never challenged anyone on the things they said about the SDC. However since Ruby didn’t knock over her luggage and explode on her, I suppose they needed to come up with some reason to initiate conflict. It’s not too far of a stretch, since Weiss looks up to her grandfather and has a lot of pride in the Company as he built it, she may be holding on too tightly to what it was, which isn’t too different from Blake trying to defend the White Fang because of what it used to be. And yet, Weiss distanced herself from her father while holding on to the heiress title, and Blake left the White Fang while never giving up on the hope she can find a way to help the Faunus another way, so they both know they’re partly in the wrong but also intend to be better. It’s quite silly when you think about how similar they are.

Got to hand it to Ruby, despite being reluctant to socialise in the first place (can relate), she still tried to play peacemaker and try to get all of them to be friends with each other.

So given Pyrrha was teased with having an outfit similar to Weiss’, I knew we’d be revisiting Weiss’ attempt to convince Pyrrha to team up together. Weiss fought harder than anyone else just to be there, the scar is undeniable proof of that, so she intends to make the most of this hard-won opportunity. Have the best teammates, be the best leader, get the best grades. If she doesn’t make the most of it, then what was all the extra effort for?

And then we have Jaune who we know cheated his way in and is woefully unprepared, and he is spending the last moments of his brief existence trying to flirt.

Okay, so now Jaune doesn’t like the Pumpkin Pete cereal, but he still has the PP hoodie and the PP pyjamas?

Those launch pads look and sound a lot more satisfying than than original, kind of like being launched out of cannon.

New character reveal. And here seems to be where the seeds are planted for Ice Queendom’s divergence from the main show’s story.

Some of those landing strategies are a bit underwhelming. Ruby’s seemed okay to me though.

And now the moment we White Rose fans were waiting for! Eye contact means they are now bonded for life. What’s that? Four years, you say? No, I’m pretty sure Huntress partnerships are for life.

I did find it interesting that Weiss still seemed determined to be on Pyrrha’s team. In the main show, that encounter is never brought up again but this is essentially Weiss’ show now, and it was already clear at this point they want to do something more with this.

So right after Weiss drags Ruby off with her is apparently the moment both she and Jaune were targeted. So the one who had the hardest path to get into Beacon and the one who took the easy path.

Beyond that, it’s more or less what I expected, since the focus is mostly only really on Weiss and Ruby at the moment, and the other partnerships don’t seem to be relevant for this story, things progress really quickly. Beowolves, Nevermore, relics, Deathstalker, running away and finally, boss battle!

In this iteration, they’ve made it more obvious how Jaune was directing his team to take down the Deathstalker. I like that. Helps further justify his appointment as leader despite how little he does himself.

There’s something about seeing Ruby finally ask Weiss for help that gets me. It’s the first time she actually tries to work with Weiss instead of just trying to prove herself to her.

So this time when the slingshot is set up, it’s a more serious note, since they didn’t do the part where Weiss saved Ruby from the Deathclaw and had that moment. Here, Weiss admits she already knows Ruby is capable. She wouldn’t go with the plan otherwise.

An interesting touch having Weiss needing to redirect Ruby’s trajectory after she was slingshotted. Having her improvising more on the spot was probably to further emphasise the point that this was a team effort, especially for Weiss making sure Ruby’s plan worked. Again, given this is kind of Weiss’ show, I’m mindful of all these little changes concerning her.

So now we have the teams and Weiss unfortunately did not get Pyrrha on her team as she hoped. And now she’s just been passed over for the team leader role, and she is not happy about that.

Also, how dare the show tease us with that. Now that I know best girl Weiss is infected with something, I’m naturally going to worry about her until it’s out. It doesn’t matter that I know she’ll be fine by the end, I just know I’m not going to enjoy the suffering she’ll definitely endure before her inevitable recovery.

[destinygoldenstar]

My Ranking Of Every MCSM Episode

So funny story, I wasn’t introduced to Minecraft the same way as other people were. First it started with me having a bad middle school phase in my life, and in the summer while I was recovering, my dad randomly bought me Minecraft Story Mode, a spin off series of the infamous Minecraft that didn’t seem to require knowledge of the original game to enjoy, as well as some terrible Disney license game that was, of course, terrible product placement. Maybe playing that first gave me lower expectations for Story Mode, as I thought it would just be a cute but frustrating license game with no semblance of story or good characters... at all. But then I played it, and OH MY GOSH IT WAS SO GOOD!! It had some problems, sure, but I just fell in love with the Minecraft universe through Story Mode’s depiction of it. Yeah, a few months later, I finally checked out the original Minecraft, but I still had a soft spot for Story Mode and it really shaped my personal enjoyment on media in both my middle and high school years, even after the company shut down. And... unfortunately I was the only person that seemed to know what it was. I even gained my hobby of writing essays like these, by making analysis on Story Mode, and even when I’ve moved on to other projects, including writing my own books, I still have Story Mode to thank for a lot of things. 

I’ve recently tried to get into shows my friends were in, since I zoned out of Ninjago after the awful season 11. So I spent a good chunk of the pandemic watching and trying to do the same for RWBY... and I didn’t like that show, though I might make some posts about it to explain why that is and hopefully not start a war with its fanbase. Might take awhile since Season 8 REALLY threw me over the edge and insulted me beyond instant repair, to the point where my only enjoyment of that show is just being a Mercury simp, and that’s very likely going to go over the edge as well once the writers kill him off for something stupid. That’s besides my point though, I just had to get away from the war that was going on there, and go back to something I genuinely enjoyed, and a game series that I think is WAY overhated. And I got to recheck a lot of lets plays to see if this game was actually good or not, and... it still holds up for me as a solid 7/10 game series as a whole. And yeah, judging by that number, I do have some issues with this series that I might go into detail about in the future, but for now, I wish to simply so something simple and rank all 13 episodes from worst to best based on my opinion. 

I mean I knew immediately what my favorite episode was and my least favorite episode was, but it was still a hard ranking given every episode is an hour or two long, and therefore so much to go over. And out of all these episodes of this series, I only found one episode of the thirteen I outright disliked all the way through, and lets get that out of the way.

13: A Journey's End-

I'm sorry for those who like this episode, but I just hate this one, and it's the last episode of season 1 too, not a good look. I'll be the one to say it, the Portal Arc is my least favorite story arc of the entire series, there are some things to like about it, but the lows frustrate me far more than any other lows in the Wither Storm Arc and Season 2, and that has to do with how filler this arc feels, I hate how they treated Lukas in this arc (I might explain why on a later date) I'm not the biggest fan of good guy Ivor, Jesse gets things handed to him/her and every obstacle he/she seems to mop over and gets to much praise and love whereas Season 2 took advantage of this to create the main conflict of that arc, I still don't understand why these Youtuber cameos are here, and of course, my biggest problem with this arc is that Episode 8 is an awful episode. With these other episodes, even if I may trash some parts of them, there's something I really like there that makes the episode worthwhile, but here? Nope. 

I'm a massive fan of The Hunger Games, and this episode immediately insulted me from how it blatantly knocks off that series without having a single atom of The Hunger Game's brilliance in world building, commentary, stakes, and everything really. What makes it worse is that right off the bat they reveal that the eliminated contestants don't actually die and they respawn, which may sound neat, but it takes away any and all stakes the games have. Maybe if they kept the idea in the players head that Lukas and Ivor (or Petra) were actually dead until like, halfway through the episode and then reveal the respawn zones, there would be the more tension, maybe, not really. But you know what frustrates me the most about this system? It's a blatant excuse to have the writers get away with X'ing out every character from the plot that isn't Jesse, leaving the rest of the Order to be left doing absolutely nothing, and forcing Jesse into the spotlight to be better than everyone else and hang out with these other side characters that are jerks from beginning to end where their redemptions feel hollow and artificial. Em fits the last sentence's description perfectly, Slab is uninteresting and I don't buy his turnaround either, and honestly, unpopular opinion, I don't like Nell, I really hate her accent and she's completely irrelevant to the plot, she's not funny either as she only has like one good line every twenty attempts. 

The whole 'Jesse was Tim all along' is as subtle as a plane crash, and why is Jesse the only one who fits Tim's description? Has no other contestant arrived in the games the same way he/she did and went against the rules without knowing them? I'll tell you why, because Jesse is just that special, and its so blatant that when I first saw this episode a couple times, I legitimately called Jesse a Mary Sue, and for this episode, I still do, even though Season 2 fixes this issue by taking full advantage of episode 8's awfulness to make its conflict and Jesse's overall arc. 

The Old Builders are the worst villains of Story Mode by a landslide (which granted is not a contest given how interesting the other villains are, I made a poll asking who people's favorite villain was, and last time I checked, Hadrian and Mevia had a 0%, so I don't think this is a controversial statement) These hateable idiots have zero motivations and no logical goal for what they do. They might succeed at making your blood boil, which is kind of what villains are supposed to do, but their unfairness is just a smoke screen on how shallow they are. 

'Oh well Harper said at the beginning of the episode that they let the spirit of competition get into their heads' Okay, but that's not a motivation for evilness. Why is nobody allowed to win these games? Why do they enjoy killing people so much and watching them suffer? Why do they want the Redstone Heart? What's even so special about the Redstone Heart in the first place compared to all the other treasure they seem to have? Do they want to make another PAMA? That's a fanfic I want to see, an alternate route where the Old Builders succeed at taking out Jesse and enslaving the Order where they revive PAMA to make so many useful for their games! (Maybe that fanfic does exist and I just don't know it) 

If they really don't want Jesse to get in the way of their games and give the competitors motivation to start an uprising, why don't they just kill Jesse then and there at the Spleef Challenge instead of making a deal with him/her? In fact, funny enough, THEY ACTUALLY END UP DOING THAT AT THE END! THERE WAS NOTHING STOPPING THEM FROM JUST KILLING JESSE ANYTIME BEFOREHAND!! 

I also get what they're going for with Jesse, and this kind of goes for the rest of the Portal Arc as well, as a Segway to season 2 that explores Jesse's newfound fame and newfound grief as a hero, the start of that being when Reuben died, and therefore Jesse feels the need to take matters into his/her own hands in order to not have the same happen to anyone else. He/she has to be perfect, or else he's/she’s back to being nothing but a hopeless loser. That's a compelling arc, and season 2 really goes into that, but here, with the exception of episode 7 and that once scene in episode 5, they don't do anything with it. In fact in this episode, Jesse's grief is only triggered when someone gets eliminated and he/she suddenly needs to go on a bloodthirsty vengeance. Which could have been meaningful to show that even the best of heroes don't always know the right solution, and they have to rely on others to pull them through their grief to point them towards hope that he/she can win. But nope, Jesse's completely in the right to slaughter old people, and all the power and praise go to him/her because he/she is just THAT special, where no one calls him/her out without being considered an enemy. Also, instead of giving Jesse one moment to process what had happened after being stabbed in the heart, and realize what he/she had done that led to this disaster, instead of giving Jesse significant development and reflection, the others break in immediately to give Jesse more power. At least episode 4 gave Jesse some time to reflect on the situation before receiving a power upgrade, even if it's a little played out too. All Jesse really learns from this is how to beat up and murder old guys, just like what they did to everyone else, which... I guess that's something we shouldn't consider because Jesse's never called out for that. (And if you want to say that Hadrian and Mevia being transported to another world to be forced to play their games themselves is a fitting end and its a taste of their own medicine, then fine, but it's still super ironic and regardless of who you are, TORTURING PEOPLE AND OUTRIGHT KILLING THEM IS NOT OKAY) 

Oh and before you say anything about the message being 'teamwork makes the dream work' No. That's not the message here. Or if it is, its portrayed horribly. Jesse wins the day completely on his/her own, and everyone else just sits on the sidelines and doesn't help at all. They're telling one message and showing another. 

The only good thing I can say about this episode is that its visuals are solid, but even at that, there are way better looking episodes than this. The effects here lack any sort of flare compared to other episodes, and I think that might add to a 'the fights are underwhelming complaint' As such, none of these challenges are interesting in the slightest, or have any unique puzzle or retrospection in them like The Hunger Games do in their arenas. Instead these challenges are made to be frustratingly unfair, and shocker, it’s frustrating! 

I'm sorry I'm starting off so negative, but THIS is the episode I feel like most haters of Story Mode point to in order to show how bad it is, which isn't fair when considering the series as a whole. Thankfully, we can only go up from here and discuss episodes that are fine at worst from here on out. And if you want my recommendation for this episode alone, just read The Hunger Games.

12: A Portal To Mystery-

This is probably the most filler an episode can get... and its fine. It's probably the best animated episode of the Portal Arc and I really like the opening with the zombie invasion, its really pretty. (Is that weird?) I like the ladder scene with Jesse and Petra (Jetra Shipper) The Murder Mystery setting is okay despite being predictable, the final battle is okay, I guess the Youtubers were okay despite being incredibly distracting in every single frame they're in, like seriously, why are these cameos here?! Nowadays, seeing how so many movies shoehorn in references to other famous stuff for the sake of advertisement and cameos for the sake of appealing to cringe, I can really appreciate Story Mode's cameos, because at least these Youtubers are legitimate side characters with personality and they play a significant part each in this episode (Except Stacy, but I like her sarcastic character so I don't really mind) But that doesn't change the fact that they are blatant YouTuber cameos, and frankly, annoying characters at that. When I watch Minecraft YouTubers, I expect something fun, lighthearted, and anything but complex so I can turn my brain off. This episode wants to be a dark fantasy, and as a result, these YouTubers are forced to act selfish, stupid, or try to be of assistance but only because the plot needs them to. I don't care about their drama with the flint and steel, and their need to be really secretive and point fingers at the others really got on my nerves, Also, someone was having a lazy day at work because no one there taught these people how to voice act. Everyone in this episode, is the dumbest person alive! "Can you guess who the murderer is? Hint: It's the only original character here." Which I could forgive if no one in universe knows that these are YouTubers, but then we get to everyone being okay with Jesse playing detective, walking into rooms with potential killers, and the actual dumbest thing in this episode. "Lukas was clearly chasing the real White Pumpkin and everybody saw that! Oh, but the White Pumpkin put the pumpkin on Lukas's head after that fact so clearly we can suspect that Lukas is the murderer even after Dan confesses that he pressed the button. And speaking of which, Lukas didn't see who the actual killer was when the mask was taken off... because I guess he's blind." In fact I can just insert Petra's line in this episode about this: "Those people think they're safe, but the White Pumpkin is still roaming around, and he could strike again at any time! Not to mention all those people have been so ungrateful! So petty! It's frustrating!" I love Petra. This episode overall is just really stupid. But I will give it this, there is one thing I really like about this episode, and that's Cassie Rose. She is arguably one of the most intriguing characters in the entire series, and she only appears in this episode, which goes to show how much she made of her screen time. If we had more of Cassie, and we just removed the YouTuber's drama, this episode would not be this low on the list because Cassie is THAT good. The origin of being abandoned and desolate to the point of losing her sanity is a very compelling narrative. And if she really is willing to murder everyone just to get back at the Old Builders after years only to find them trying to kill her, my notch, the emotional package they could impact there and even improve episode 8 by a huge margin! But that was not to be, unfortunately. (I said this before, but I really want her to be an antagonist in season three, if they're even making it) This episode is fine, it's far above the garbage that is episode 8, but I feel like I just got nothing from all this filler overall.

11: Assembly Required-

Yeah... sorry, this is just an episode for me. It really suffers from being too short, and it's probably the buggiest episodes of this entire ranking, where that's saying something. I also really dislike Ellegaard and Magnus as characters, it really doesn't help that the plot doesn't use them at all, plus they both have such annoying personalities and their rivalry with each other is never explained or resolved in any way. Magnus is incredibly loud and chaotic, where that overtakes anything logical he could do, plus his thing is apparently referencing swear words. You know what I'm talking about. Ellegaard is probably the better of the two, but she's still just as arrogant as Magnus and no one mentions that she nearly got them all killed to a far greater degree than Magnus did, and she's supposed to be the neat one. The bugginess, like I said, only adds to such underwhelming action scenes that are really hard to get into. I will say this though, its above the other to episodes I mentioned before because this one has better world building than those ones and even better character moments. Boom Town and Redstonia are very intriguing worlds that are nice to see, and it goes to show how great Story Mode's atmosphere is, and that's where some of the best gameplay of the episode is. Axel gets to be in his natural habitat where his selfishness gets questioned, Olivia's character progresses as her passion for engineering versus Ellegaard's expectations of her, and there's no such thing as enough Petra. (I don't care about Gabriel) I think these aspects are enough to keep the episode above the other two, but would I say it's good? Honestly, that's a no.

10: Order Up-

I think episode 5 has become the most infamous episode for me. On the one hand, this episode brings a lot of great ideas and has some really good scenes. On the other hand, there's some stuff here that really infuriates me that plagues the rest of the Portal Arc, and even season 2. Let's get the good stuff out of the way. I really like the gameplay for this episode, with one exception this is probably the episode of season 1 that plays with quick time events and puzzles in the most creative ways. Overall I highly enjoyed the world of Sky City, I really adore seeing both perspectives of this organized and strict world from both Isa and Milo, who are both neat side characters on their own, I especially love how they don't one side the situation and instead confess that both sides are flawed with the best intentions. Aiden makes a pretty good antagonist honestly, I wasn't a fan of Aiden at the start and thought he was just some forgettable bully character, but it's really intriguing to see him in a position where he isn't the most beloved of everything and has to grapple with his care for his passions and his friends against his resentment towards the new world Jesse was making now that people were becoming more dependent on heroes and never looking out for themselves. It's also great in the view that Aiden was kind of right at the end of the day, especially how Season 2 showcases this exact worldview, Jesse was becoming way too famous for everyone's own good, and Jesse did need to fall back and let others win and be themselves. Aiden might be my second least favorite villain, but that's not saying a lot because episode 5 really made me interested in Aiden's character. (If you want me to talk about him more, just let me know that you want me to do the 'Aiden, what matters to him?' essay on the list) Its nice to see Ivor's reaction to being an awkward social reject, and I really like the scene where Jesse talks about Reuben when they recall the framed porkchop on the wall, its so good. And that's all the good stuff that comes to mind. Half of the lore for this episode is really bad. I have never been a fan of good guy Ivor, and he never gets called out for being so greedy in this episode, which isn't even in character for him. I don't get how Sky City has never realized there was land below them the whole time, like... did nobody fall off this island? Or if someone did, why have they never stacked blocks to try and reach Sky City once more to let them know about the mainland? Jesse and the Order getting framed is pretty dumb and really cliched, and honestly as much as I like Aiden as a villain, I kind of don't get his plan. Like, what does Aiden hope to accomplish by framing Jesse? You could say it was to get the Eversource, but A) why would he want that in the first place? and B) Isa doesn't show Aiden where it is even after he frames Jesse, he's going to have to do better than that. But none of this is anything compared to the third act. The whole thing. After Lukas and Jesse fall off the island, the entire episode goes in the garbage bin. Aiden starts a monster swarm on Sky City... for some reason. Apparently its so he can rule it, but how can he rule something if its destroyed? Jesse duels Aiden on this conveniently places stone bridge, and while its nicely animated, Jesse completely mops the floor with Aiden (Again, the Mary Sue argument kind of shows here) and Aiden immediately gives up and surrenders to Jesse, which given his entire villain motivation, MAKES NO SENSE. Then at the end of the episode, they frame it as if Aiden is completely in the wrong, with Jesse outright shaming Aiden for not thinking highly of him and thinking that Jesse actively tried to hurt him, which... WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF YOUR ENTIRE RECENT DUEL WITH AIDEN, JESSE?!! Not only that, but this entire showdown is very unwarranted, it just feels like were giving Jesse more cool moments and screen time that he/she did not earn. Which brings me to my biggest problem with this episode, and that's that Lukas was RUINED. This was set up to be his episode, with Aiden, his former friend, as the antagonist, were told that he was ditched from his old friend's group, and we have the elaborate world that's all about organization and planning and synced union, gee, I wonder which Order member is related to all of these things! And I really got my hopes up from this, that it would give Lukas the moments that would make him my favorite character, just like how everyone else loves him, and he was almost there given how great his development was in the Wither Storm Arc, and how we just needed the climax and the ultimate payoff... and we never got it. Lukas doesn't interact with Aiden ONCE, and he spends most of his time locked up in Isa's prison, the only time Lukas does confront Aiden is when Aiden shoves him off the island. And I'm not going to lie, that is the most iconic moment of this episode for a reason, I was less shocked that Lukas fell off and might die, and more shocked to see that Aiden would do this to someone who used to be his friend, that Lukas tried to get through to him and failed, instead being shoved to his 'death' by Aiden in cold blood, and you can see the shock and hurt on Lukas's face. I was really intrigued on how they were going to follow that up, with Lukas finally embracing that he is a free man, and he can move on with his life beyond Aiden's influence and... he doesn't even go back up to Sky City. One word. WASTED. This is such a huge thing for me that makes my blood boil so much that I cannot go into any more detail about it here. I have an option on my post titled 'Lukas was disappointing' and you can reply down there if you want me to make that essay, we can have this discussion when that essay is made. Overall this episode barely works, because the Sky City stuff is very strong that it barely holds this episode in the air.

9: Above and Beyond-

The grand finale of the series! And don't fret that it's this low on the list and that it's my least favorite episode of season 2, because if anything that just goes to show my opinion on season 2 as a whole. Fun fact: Season 2 is actually GREAT, and its even way better than season 1. This finale as well is very good at being that, as its probably the most action packed of the season, it has a really fun elaborate fireworks plan, Axel and Olivia are back to... be there, but I just love that we get to have Jesse's eyes open at the BeaconTown that is essentially his/hers where he/she have taken over anything and stripped any other creative builds, I love the idea of the new Ocelots rebelling against Jesse, I love the scene where The Admin blows up Champion City for the sake of selling a cheap threat, I love Romeo's conversation with Jesse, I love the recording of Fred and the final battle, and the ending is easily the best thing about the episode. It's honestly a great ending for Petra and Radar as characters, and especially Jesse... if you hit the road (I don't like Jesse staying in BeaconTown because it goes against Jesse's entire arc that he/she doesn't have fame define him/her, and that he/she should follow their own choice to venture out in finding a path that truly aids the sense of freedom where the people in BeaconTown deserve to be independent once more) Yeah there are some things holding this episode back for me, I've always hated Jack's character and he's still very annoying and selfish here, Axel and Olivia despite being back are still given nothing to do, in fact most of these characters despite Jesse are given little to do, which isn't as bad as the other episodes I've mentioned, but its still there, and I really don't like how the Ocelot rebellion wraps up in just one scene and one hug before they're just okay with following Jesse now. Again, Lukas was disappointing. And honestly, this episode just isn't as emotional or even fun as the others for the first two thirds, where all of that was saved in the third act, which I guess makes it the polar opposite of season 1's episode 5. Still, its a good ending, and I think we can all agree that Romeo has the most accurate and the most hilarious impressions of Jesse.

8: A Block And A Hard Place-

One finale to another, and now we get to the great stuff. Obviously we have Reuben's death, that is both tragic and would shake up the rest of the series. Not only that but there's a lot of intensity in the episode from just the atmosphere, from the overly complicated maze, to the feeling of dread and survival issues of a swamp to the isolation of a cave to running from a literal storm, it's so good. I love the conclusion of Olivia's arc, I love the scene where Jesse comes out to Reuben as foreshadowing, I love the reveal of the Order being false and how it's both sided. Yeah that twist is predictable and really overplayed, and why else would they have erased Ivor from history? But it does fit. So yeah, the final confrontation of the Wither Storm is really good on its own. Yeah this episode has problems. The amnesia plotline is Ludacris, and there's not enough Petra in this episode as I would have liked. But I think my biggest issue with this episode is that Jesse doesn't really grow from it, or any of the situations in this episode. It definitely builds up future arcs for him/her with the scenes I already mentioned, but you'd think that he'd/she'd second guess his/her actions by learning that his/her idols, the very people they've looked up to and were the reason they wanted to be famous in the first place, are frauds, or at least he/she would question all of that by witnessing Reuben's death, but nope! He/she doesn't do that aside from being angry at Soren for like, a minute. All he/she does is get fancy new gear and a weapon that he/she will NOT shut up about on how awesome it is despite never using it again. It's kind of jarring that this is seen as character development, that's kind of how I expect RWBY to handle its character development if I'm being honest, and sure, I may not like that, but maybe its just a style of writing that show chooses to have, and if that's the case, fine, but it doesn't work in Story Mode. But that's really the only major complaint I have with this episode, it's a great finale for this arc, and probably one of the sadder episodes on this list... with one exception that I think did all of this stuff better, but we'll get to that one later.

7: Hero in Residence-

I can sense some people are going to be mad that this episode is this high. But oh well. This is probably the most underrated episode of the series, and from what I could gather, its because this is the most indie paced episode of any of the ones on this list. And a lot of people don't like it because of that, because it feels like nothings happening in the first half until suddenly the sea temple adventure starts. Honestly though, I prefer the first half over the second for this one. There's less going on to be sure, but I think its necessary to showcase the future these characters old and new ended up in and how they live their life. Jesse's the new greatest person in the entirety of the Minecraft Server, and these citizens refuse to choose for themselves at anything, so Jesse spends the day helping them out and that creates the atmosphere of BeaconTown, the slow boring tasks bore me as much as it bores Jesse, and it greatly sets up his/her arc for the rest of the season. I also find Petra's dilemma very compelling, and its also very ironic because she basically points out the same perspective Aiden had in episode 5, and you arguably understand her even more because she's been personally betrayed by Jesse and was left neglected in a cave for... 5-7 years?!! Geez Petra needs more love. Same thing can be said about Champion City and how it purposefully exists to rip off BeaconTown without understanding what made Jesse so well known, and that's kind of how I describe Stella's entire character, who while being an obvious arrogant narcissist who doesn't care about her people enough to even remember their names, I don't think she's that bad of a character. She's not on my top tier or anything, but I think Stella gets very overlooked and overhated, and there's so much more to her than people give credit for. Speaking of, this episode probably does the best at introducing characters, old and new, and yes... even Jack... but while Jack is the most interesting in this episode, he's still pretty annoying and unpleasant for me. (Sorry Jack fans.) Jesse is introduced through a story being told to him/her about how awesome and totally not arrogant he/she is, Radar is introduced literally in Jesse's background as just the cute second class intern, which sets up his arc, Petra's introduced in the shadows of isolated caves, of stone for that matter (Petra is greek for stone, so these caves kind of symbolize Petra's isolation and her desire to be seen as a hero towards everyone in her own image) Stella's city is perfected and strict, and we get to see the city before we meet Stella as a gateway that defines who Stella is. It all still holds up. Its kind of jarring that this is a more hated episode, because this indie pace really works for me. Some of my favorite scenes in Story Mode are when characters are just talking, and the atmosphere describes the complexity of their thoughts. The sea temple stuff is fine, though not nearly as interesting as the first half, the main point of this sea temple stuff was to be a gateway to Jesse's consequences for needing to be the one and only hero in the world, as well as introducing the Admin's origins, or part of it at least, and again, that's fine, though I do prefer the other Admin locations by a fair margin. Overall, this is a pretty solid episode and doesn't get nearly as much credit as I think it deserves.

6: Giant Consequences-

Out of all the episodes on this list, I think my enjoyment on this episode is impacted the most on what choices you make in the game. Unlike episode 9, this one feels like the opposite, with nonstop action, and that I enjoy the second half more than the first. Even then, the first half has some good things going for it like Lukas's moment in the titan fight, and honestly, as upsetting as it is, the Admin crushing Reuben's memorial to anger Jesse and push him/her into being more of a hero and appeal to the Admin's liking of his/her arrogance was genius. Again, Petra calls this out through her own actions of trying to escape her consequences and do her own thing, which is obviously shamed for because she should have been straight with Jesse about it, but it gives both characters to think about and how the consequences go further than just a simple argument, just like the title applies. That is, if you make Petra the Admin Champion, because otherwise this isn't really going to impact the player. Same thing with the Ice Palace itself, which is a ton of fun to explore, and I love the elimination set up on who gets to be the hero of the story. Honestly, this episode is basically everything episode 8 should have been, how did these writers make such a quality shift with this concept?! Its also brilliant on the level that this competition is so clearly bias, like the Admin wants Jesse to be the hero and no one else, to the point where he considers Stella a complete nobody, and forces Radar's elimination even after the kid proved himself, it makes Romeo both hateable while also understand his intentions and his perspective on how his story is supposed to play out. Speaking of which, I love that both Radar and Stella came along with this Ice Palace, they don't have physical purpose overall, but they're relevant in the sense of physiological worldview, seeing the perspective of second class citizens and how they each feel about their world and Jesse having all the spotlight, and later on it would lead to both of their downfalls and recoveries, and I think that's really neat. Like I said before, Stella isn't as bad as some people make her out to be and I think there's more depth to her point of view. This episode was also the one that made me really interested in Radar's character and genuinely really like this cinnamon roll, I thought I was going to hate him in the episode before and I just saw him as an annoying kid under Jesse's shadow that would never stop shutting up about how great Jesse is, but that was intentional for me to think that, wasn't it? Because this episode showed that there's so much more to this kid than just that annoying trope, that he has his own expectations he puts on himself and and how him being in the world Jesse rules all his life affected his viewpoints and his self esteem, which gets tested as he discovers himself that he genuinely IS competent at doing stuff. So AKA, the Lukas and Radar route in the Ice Palace is great. The Petra and Jack route isn't. That challenge is super uninteresting and bland, there's barely any interesting viewpoints explored in this one, and Jack is probably the most infuriating here. Why would he need to prove himself? He's a legendary explorer! Why does no one call him out for pretending he knows what he's doing but he just stands there and doesn't help out the team AT All?! And then were supposed to believe that the others are discovering that Jack IS competent, and they can trust him with things, when he places a light switch. GEE, I'M SURE NO ONE COULD DO THAT JUST AS WELL!!! Jack is honestly just a wasted character that frustrates me where all his substance is replaced by sheer annoyance. (reply on me doing the 'Jack is a Wasted Character' essay if you want more detail on this) Putting it simply, one route of the Ice Palace is great, and the other one is complete garbage, and I really don't blame anyone for picking the great route by a huge margin. Choose Wisely, or you will face Giant Consequences!

5: Jailhouse Block-

Okay... so I get why no one really likes this episode. Not much happens here, its ripping off The Walking Dead and The Office, Petra's (Jack's) confrontation is somewhat underwhelming, the ghast fight is a joke. I get it, there are some really stupid scenes here. But for me personally, I find those stupid things hilarious. I just think this episode is both really fun and really traumatizing. WHY DO YOU HAVE TO TORTURE A CHILD WARDEN?!!! Other things too such as Xara's introduction, Nurm's (Lluna's) sacrifice, and the Warden going insane after failing to get his freedom back is just dreadful to watch. Honestly I just really love the NPCs of this episode, the other prisoners in the Sunshine Institute are a ton of fun, and its also neat to explore these outcasts and how they've been affected by the Admin, some stay true to themselves, while others abandon themselves altogether to toughen up as a way to give them vague hope. Radar is one of these people that falls into the ladder, and its kind of ridiculous to the point where I have conflicted feelings about that persona as a whole, but it is relevant to his arc and it makes sense that he would fall to this. Plus Radar just has a lot of memeworthy lines that its hard for me to hate him for this. "Tell me something I don't know!" Yeah, overall I don't have a great reason to like this episode, but I just do. It's intriguing to see this prison, its traumatizing, and I'm just a sucker for prison breaks.

4: The Last Place You Look-

You know what the weird part about this episode is? That its the highest rated episode on IGN and yet nobody talks about it. So let me try to, aside from one exception, this episode of the Wither Storm arc is the one that focuses on characterization the most. Especially for Lukas's development, I really love it when this character's strategies clash with Jesse's and we get a clear sense that they were, in fact, rivals, something future episodes seem to forget. Not to mention I really love how Lukas genuinely feels guilt over not being the best person and that be blames herself for Petra, and it really pushes to his development for being braver and sticking out for himself, being great build up to (WHAT I THOUGHT) the payoff. Petra is interesting as usual with her lack of trust in others and that she has an ideal on what a hero is supposed to be, and overall its super interesting to see Soren's lifestyle. I don't love Soren as a character, but its hard not to get immersed by this End setting he has where he's put his building skills to an honestly depressing advantage, so much so that his guilt over what he did in the past has granted him a lack of socialization and a lack of trust in people, which obviously makes sense given what happened to him. Soren might be the most interesting member of the Order, Ivor excluded, and this episode almost made me forgive the Order for being annoying characters overall. (I said almost) Not to mention this episode might actually have the best gameplay in any episode of season one, definitely taking the quick time events to great use and honest challenge while also doing some really neat stuff with the camera here. Also this might be the episode where Jesse actually gets to be vulnerable and make mistakes that get called out, and I love that. Plus this episode actually establishes genuine stakes and is the first sign of the downfalls of being a hero by actually killing off a character. Yeah its a character I don't care about, regardless of whose armor you take, but I appreciate that they tried to redeem themselves in the end. I honestly don't know why this episode gets ignored so much.

Okay, so as you can probably tell, my top three is basically my favorite episode of each story arc, so lets get into that.

3: The Order of the Stone-

The one that started it all. Yeah, go figure that the first episode is my favorite from the wither storm arc. And I don't think its that hard to see why. This episode is just beautiful to look at as we are eyeing this world for the first time. The world building and how it cooperates different styles of Minecraft players into this world is still really intriguing. In fact this episode feels the most like Minecraft out of any of the episodes on this list with the recipe concepts, building, nether exploration, mob attacks, shelters, its great because admittedly the other episodes either make something up playing with Minecraft materials, or they use this stuff but exaggerate it or use it briefly. Jesse Axel and Olivia feel like actual friends with disagreements and desires, which we don't get anymore from this trio, Jesse feels like an actual amateur for once, Petra and Lukas both have great character introductions, and there's actual calm and quiet scenes where characters can interact. Jesse can interact with a team without being the center of attention, and shocker, that actually works. Admittedly I can kind of say that about my top two episodes as well, but still appreciate the effort. Ivor is a compelling antagonist with a ton of mystery, and yeah, its just a great start.

2: Access Denied-

Episode 7 is shockingly a great episode. And its especially shocking because of how low the other Portal Arc episodes are on my list. The redstone concept is a great idea and the most accurate Minecraft related world that's not infuriating next to Sky City, also Petra's robot voice is hilariously terrible and I love it. Harper is an interesting side character with a neat backstory, fun exists, the opening portal sequence is a ton of fun, Jesse and Petra are adorable together as usual, and I love every frame that has to do with PAMA. Plus, this is a great character driven episode with Jesse and Petra both learning something and accepting each others point of view. I know many hate this argument scene but I personally think it was something Jesse needed to hear. The dude lost his/her pig, he/she can't lose anyone else and the idea of letting others do their thing kind of upsets him/her, so of course he/she is going to try and take charge and give no one else a say in the matter. Then PAMA shows up acting as a symbol of what Jesse could become if he/she let arrogance and that need for control consume him/her. Again, plays a part in season 2. Speaking of which, Petra doesn't get any credit in this episode and I don't know why. Yes I know she was chipped the majority and left me getting so many laughs out of her brainwashed voice, but I bought everything Petra said and did. It's in character for her to yell at Jesse like this over simple frustration, as she's never shown to have a good temper with people, and again, Petra wants to be seen as a hero, she's obviously going to want to take charge when Jesse clearly has no idea what he/she is doing. I also love that she doesn't immediately take back what she said to Jesse, which humanizes her way more and really gets her to rethink her actions and how pathetic she was after being chipped in the head. She gets to witness Jesse actually try his/her hardest and ensuring her that her feelings do matter to him/her, and that makes her respect him/her way more and it kind of makes season two even sadder when Jesse breaks the promise of being by her side. Is episode 1 a better episode? It probably is, but I enjoy this one way more.

1: Below The Bedrock-

Okay lets get this out of the way. The cabin scene is the best scene in the entire series. There's a reason everyone has talked about this scene the most. Petra finally breaks down at the sight of a peaceful time of how things used to be, and the simple life she left behind, finally blaming herself and reflecting on herself through the Admins past, with Jesse helping her see that she deserves happiness of her own, and that her place isn't to be a hero and stay locked up, but to venture out into the unknown, her own freedom, to discover herself and embrace every fiery desire that she has... and yet, she hesitates to commit to treating herself, because she just can't lose her closest friend, the one person whose looked up to her and looked out for her despite every time she's tried to push him/her away. And Jesse, finally embracing his/her vulnerable side and that freedom has so many meanings, ensures Petra that no matter how far away her venture takes her... she'll never be alone, because Jesse will always be right there with her. I've watched this scene a thousand times over, and it still touches my heart because of how much I relate to this simple discussion and this simple breakdown and reflection. But I didn't put this episode on top just because of that scene, I really do love the entire episode. This is probably the most character oriented episode, which may sound weird given it only has three characters in the main group whereas episode 1 has twice as many. But here, less is more, because it makes room for nearly every interaction and reaction of a character matter. These three are able to call out each other and support each other with nearly every interaction, and I could tell that these are three great friends that need each other more than anything... yet they have to separate to better themselves. Radar is dealing with trying to impress his boss by copying his ego and then he finds a town that he promises to save that has his exact same obsession. He succeeds with his won skills and then uses that to save hundreds of people in his own selfless way. Jesse has an actual identity crisis with being replaced and finding his/her own path and what he/she really wants to do and be, looking for that by looking deeper into Romeo's backstory. Speaking of which, this episode really doesn't have a villain, and yet it feels like an antagonist is present all throughout this atmosphere as if someone had made so many regrettable mistakes that it literally destroyed their world and drove them into insanity. The world of this place is more alive than any other episode, as an apocalypse. The way these villages portray their adaptations to life and how they worship the only good people left in their lives is gross and yet strangely endearing. It knows how to portray a serious subject of abandonment, sanity, and permanent damage with respect and yet still have sparks of positivity and hope scattered without being jarring (Except maybe for the Ninja Ivor scene, but I love that so I don't know what my point is) Also Jack is barely on screen in this episode to have any sort of relevance, which is great. And you know what? Even if this episode had really jarring problems, I think I still would have put it on top because of how much this episode has spoken to me, tugged at my heart still to this day at multiple occasions, and honestly, its really helped me with a lot of things in my life. So I have to say that an episode literally called 'Below the Bedrock' is the one that sours the highest out of any others as my favorite episode...

This took me two days to make, and now I think no one is going to read it. Oh well. Feel free to disagree with me all you want, but that's my opinion, reply down below what your ranking is, and stay alive fandom!

[anthurak]

In my last post, I went into detail about how the popular theory of ‘Grimm!Summer’, that Summer Rose was turned into a Grimm Hybrid by Salem and is either being controlled by or even voluntarily working for Salem, might actually be one big red herring by CRWBY.

So, if Summer isn’t Salem’s secret drama-bomb, where is she? Well, ever since Volume 8 ended, I’ve noticed an interesting trend running through RWBY as a whole.

So far, the ‘Part 3’ of each major arc (Volumes 3 and 6 respectively) have introduced a new, mentor-esque character who happens to be VERY important to Ruby’s character. Qrow in Volume 3, and Maria in Volume 6. Not only that, but these characters are also ‘built up’ through references and allusions in the previous two volumes of the arc leading up to their introduction.

Well, guess who got referenced quite a bit over the last couple of volumes?

Across both Volumes 1 and 2, Qrow Branwen is a very mysterious figure. Mentioned and referenced a number of times by various characters, before finally making his first proper appearance in Volume 3.

Now while Maria herself isn’t mentioned in any way during Volumes 4 or 5, the Silver Eyed Warriors that she represents ARE. The warriors with Silver Eyes are these mysterious figures brought up a fair number of times during the two volumes, in turn setting the stage for us to actually MEET another Silver Eyed Warrior in Volume 6.

And wouldn’t you know it, after six volumes with barely a mention, suddenly Volumes 7 and 8 have brought up Summer Rose a number of times. From Qrow talking about her with Ruby near the start of Volume 7, to Salem dropping drama bombs on both Ruby and Yang at the end of Volume 7 and midway through Volume 8, to Ruby and Yang talking about Summer in what might be the show’s angstiest scene yet. Basically, Volumes 7 and 8 have been building up Summer in the same way that Volumes 1 and 2 built up Qrow and Volumes 4 and 5 built up Maria.

Which in turn primes Volume 9 as the volume where we finally meet Summer.

Now, how exactly could this play out?

Well, I think Summer also wound up in the same Void dimension that Team RWBY and co. fell into. Now this might seem a bit of a stretch at first but remember that we know basically NOTHING about what exactly happened when Summer met Salem, beyond that the meeting happened. Likewise, we also know NOTHING about the Void dimension, like how one might enter or leave.

I mentioned in the ‘red herring’ post that the Hound could just as easily be hinting Cinder’s grimmification as to could be to Grimm!Summer. And I’m thinking that Summer’s role in Volume 9 could itself tie back into that. Basically, I’m thinking that Summer has been partially hybridized just like Cinder is.

Summer was captured and experimented on by Salem, but Salem wasn’t able to get the grimm-corruption to fully ‘stick’ so to speak. And in the process of Summer either attempting to escape or getting ‘disposed of’ by Salem, or something else, she would up in the Void dimension. It’s also possible that in the years she’s been stuck there, Summer’s ‘grimplants’ have actually grown to the point where combined with simply being alone for close to ten years have left Summer more than a little loony by the time Ruby and co. meet her.

Imagine we’re two or three episodes into Volume 9. Ruby and co. are still just getting their bearings. Maybe Ruby hasn’t even found everyone yet. Everything is still very creepy, mysterious and unknown.

And then all of a sudden, Ruby encounters or is even attacked by this mysterious, crazed, possibly even feral figure in a ragged, dirty gray cloak. Ruby and whoever else might be with her are able to fight the figure off, but in the process, Ruby manages to spot what is clearly Grimm material under the cloak. Realizing that this thing must be a Grimm, Ruby unleashes a silver eye blast. The figure lets out a pained scream in what is clearly a woman’s voice.

The mysterious assailant stops attacking a falls to the ground. Ruby and co. approach cautiously before the woman raises a clearly human hand.

“Wait… I’m sorry I attacked you,” the woman speaks in a hoarse voice that clearly hasn’t been used in a while.

“I just… never thought I’d see other people again…” the woman stands before pulling down her hood.

Revealing a very familiar face, with silver eyes, a long, wild and unkempt mane of dark-red hair, and a few clear spots of grimm corruption.

And Ruby’s eyes go wide with shock and we end the episode on a single word:

“…Mom?”

(Side note: I can absolutely see Summer not recognizing Ruby at first. Remember that Ruby had to have been only about four or five years old when Summer left and it has been a LONG time. Heck, Summer might take a minute to recognize Yang.)

The thing is, I feel like this scenario fits both Ruby’s character arc and the broader narrative RWBY uses as a whole much better than Summer showing up as a surprise twist villain working for/being controlled by Salem.

RWBY’s approach to how it portrays the parents and mentors of its heroines (aside from the outright villainous ones like Jacques) as some combination of ‘well-intentioned but deeply flawed’. People who may have wanted to do good but went about it in the wrong way and wound up destroying themselves. They are, first and foremost, people.

Introducing Summer as some shocking, enigmatic minion of Salem’s treats her more as some kind of ‘prop’ who might end up becoming an actual character after she’s freed/redeemed. Instead, introducing Summer like this lets her start as an actual character right off the bat.

Also, introducing Summer this way fits RWBY’s trend of ‘de-romanticizing’ and ‘breaking the pedestal’ of the heroes and mentors that our protagonists have spent their lives looking up to. Introducing Summer as an outright villain still presents her as this incredible paragon, just one that’s now become an equally important threat.

Instead, THIS Summer is neither of those things. She’s simply a broken woman half-crazed from isolation, half-feral from cruel experiments who’s been destroyed by the torture she endured and the weight of her heroic convictions there were always far too heavy to shoulder alone.

In other words, everything that RUBY is in danger of becoming if she continues to be consumed by the Hero Complex we’ve been seeing play out over the last few volumes.

This positions Summer to play perfectly into the arc Ruby is likely to be on in Volume 9. Giving Ruby this connection she’s never really known while also showing her that she REALLY needs to rethink a few things. In this way, Summer could not only be filling a similar role to Maria in Volume 6 as a new mentor-figure, but ALSO fills a similar rug-pulling, pedestal-breaking, ‘our heroes aren’t the paragons we thought they were’ role that Ozpin and Qrow filled in Volume 6.

Additionally, introducing Summer in this way as a ‘failed test subject’ actually serves the whole ‘Salem is creating Grimm Hybrids’ plot-thread better than if Summer was introduced as a full-on villain. The ‘villain/Salem’s-minion’ route doesn’t actually reveal doesn’t really give us or the heroines any more information than could already be inferred from encountering the Hound. Instead, meeting Summer in Volume 9 presents the opportunity to build off the Hound reveal in Volume 8 with Summer providing more insight and information on just what Salem is doing. Instead of these reveals being put off until later, Ruby and the others can actually get an up-close look at what Salem has been doing. Hell, Summer might even have gotten an idea at what Salem actually WANTS to do with these Grimm Hybrids and what her broader goals are.

The ‘Part Threes’ of each arc (Volumes 3 and 6) have always delivered MAJOR revelations and lore-dumps. And Summer Rose providing insight into what Salem is actually after would certainly fit the bill.

Incidentally, meeting Summer like this and seeing what Salem has done to her would also give the heroines, and Ruby in particular, a reason to actually WANT to help Cinder and free her from Salem’s control. Even with all that Cinder has done, I can still see Ruby drawing the connection between the Hound, whatever grimplants Summer has and the Grimm-arm she’s seen on Cinder, and decide that NO ONE deserves that fate. Not even Cinder.

Now would this be an easy decision? HELL no. I can definitely imagine Jaune in particular being shocked that Ruby would even consider helping Cinder after all she’s done to them and getting into a heated argument with Ruby over it. An argument that probably wouldn’t get fully resolved before the group fights Cinder again in later volumes.

Finally, this route also gives an opportunity for both the heroines and us to learn more about the nature of Grimm in general through how the experiments have affected Summer. Obviously, Ruby would want to try and help Summer by removing her grimplants with her silver eyes, but it almost certainly wouldn’t be so easy. It could end up being a recurring issue in the volume; Ruby, Yang, Weiss and Blake trying to figure out a way to help Summer.

And funny enough, I actually have a feeling that Weiss is actually going to have a pivotal role to play here. For a while now, I’ve had a feeling that Weiss’s glyph semblance is actually the counterpart to Ruby’s Silver Eyes. A power that originates from the God of Darkness just as the Silver Eyes seem to have come from the God of Light. Namely, the fact that Weiss and other Schnees can summon Grimm is a pretty good indicator. If Volume 9 sees Weiss start to realize that her semblance is actually tied very closely to the true nature of the Grimm, I think her and Ruby could together be the key to truly undoing Grimm corruption.

[blue-rose-89]

RWBY Volume 8 Chapter 14 (The Final Word).....

The finale in which Volume 3 has been bumped off in terms of downer ending....

What Did We Learn......

Team RWB has fallen

This was to be expected but oof.

-Ruby loses Crescent Rose before she falls off the path. Blake tries to save her but she too falls with her.

-Weiss is the last of her team to fall in the finale (more on that in a minute)

Neo has fallen.

Just as I suspected, Cinder was faking the sincere apology from last episode and she wastes no time in knocking Neo off with Ruby into the void.

Vine has fallen

-The most logic-driven member of the Ace Ops sacrifices himself to save Harriet from the bomb that was going to detonate due to Watts hacking.

-The Ace Ops have finally acknowledged that they’re friends and that they went after Harriet with Robyn because they care about her.

-Qrow’s semblance may evolved in to using good luck like Clover. Could this mean that he can manipulate both versions of luck?

Penny has fallen

-Penny gets fatally wounded when Cinder attempts to steal her powers. Knowing that there’s know saving her, she asks Jaune to kill her so that the powers will go to the one she trusts outside of RWBY and JNPR. Jaune very reluctantly grants her final wish.

Who does the power of the Winter Maiden go to? WINTER SCHNEE

WINTER SCNHEE BECOMES THE NEW WINTER MAIDEN

When her fight against Ironwood seems hopeless, Penny meets Winter in a white void so that she can say goodbye to her and bestow her the Maiden’s power. Winter doesn’t want her to go but Penny makes a promise to her (”I won’t be gone, I’ll be a part of you.”).

-Winter uses her inherited power to defeat Ironwood and flee into the portal to help Weiss. She ends up being too late to save her.

Jaune has fallen

-Cinder gets the Relic of Creation and uses it to destroy the paths. Jaune doesn’t make it out in time and he falls. Winter tries to save him but by the time she notices the paths disappearing she gets locked out and is stuck in Vacuo.

-Jaune’s sword gets destroyed during the fight against Cinder.

-Nora makes it out but she’s not with Team ROE.

-Winter ends up with Team ROE and her remaining family. She begins to fight off the Grimm. 

Cinder Fall wins

After many setbacks that were caused by her ego, Cinder wins both relics by becoming more ruthless and manipulative than she was back in the Beacon arc. She is a villainous example of the “learning from your mistakes” lesson.

-To cover her tracks, Cinder lies to a now-revived Salem about Neo killing Ruby and using up the last question. She also kills Watts by using the staff of creation to create a fire in Atlas, which led to the paths to Vacuo disappearing from an earlier scene. 

-Atlas and Mantle are destroyed along with Ironwood.

-Cinder delivers The Final Word of the volume to Ironwood before leaving with Salem: “Checkmate.”

New post-credit scene

The final scene of the volume shows Crescent Rose landing on the shore of a beach with a very large tree in the background (a Tree of Yggdrasil reference, perhaps?). 

And with that Volume 8 ends. The bad guys win, RWBY and Jaune have been defeated and are now trapped in another world beyond Remnant, ROE and Winter are in Vacuo, Nora is somewhere else in Vacuo, and Robyn and Qrow and the remaining Ace Ops end up watching the two cities get destroyed. 

There’s really nothing much to say other than having no choice but to wait until Volume 9 to see what sort of journey RWBY and Jaune will take in order to get back to Remnant.

[kali-writes-meta]

Go Oft Awry: The Goals, Expectations, and Plans of Volume 8

The best-laid schemes of mice and men go oft awry -- Robert Burns

The first two chapters of Volume 8 were full of characters stating what they're going to do or what they expect to happen far more so than any other two consecutive episodes in RWBY have before. This is exciting from two different angles. It's exciting for the viewer who's just watching the series, and even more exciting from a writer's perspective. Y'all up for some scriptwriting theory?

There's a rule in scriptwriting that when it comes to the plot you NEVER repeat yourself. In practice this means that whenever a plan is spelled out in advance, it's not going to happen.

The classic example is the bride dreaming of walking down the aisle at her wedding. Anytime you see that, you know her wedding is going to be interrupted.

There are two exceptions to this rule. One is when the plan is being spelled out as a voiceover to scenes of the plan going down. Then it's okay, because the audience is still only experiencing it ONCE, not twice. We saw a bit of this technique used for the first time in RWBY in "Divide". The other exception is for an information-gathering plan when the new information distracts the audience, which we saw back in Volume 2 "Painting the Town".

What does this have to do with RWBY Volume 8? A lot, because we're hearing nothing but goals, expectations, and plans.

First, let's define the terms. A "goal" is what you're planning to do, not how you plan to do it. An infamous example from RWBY occurs in "The Argus Limited" when the Grimm attack the train.

Blake: What's the plan, Ruby?

Ruby: Don't let anyone else die!

Ruby, sweetie, I love you, but that's a goal, not a plan.

Confusion over goals and plans has only intensified since Volume 7 came out. Ironwood's GOAL of turning Amity into a communication satellite is brilliant, but his PLAN to do so by depriving Mantle's defenses was a disaster, and would have been a disaster even if what he thought was true about Salem really was the truth.

In stories, goals may be reachable -- but any expectation or plan that's spelled out in detail to the audience isn't going to happen exactly the way it's supposed to.

An "expectation" is what the character thinks is going to happen. In a story, if an expectation is stated out loud in detail, it's not going to happen exactly that way. A great example from RWBY is the introduction of Team FNKI.

Yang: You're from Atlas. What could we expect?

Weiss: Well, seeing as their Kingdom, academy and armed forces are all merged as one, I think we can expect strict, militant fighters with advanced technology and carefully rehearsed strategies.

At that very moment, a rainbow zooms past the two surprised Huntresses-in-training.

Weiss: ... Or whatever they are.

A "plan" is a detailed proposal for how to meet a goal. It's optimal for characters to have plans, but spelling a plan out in advance in detail to the audience is the kiss of doom. At that point you know they may reach their goal SOMEHOW, but it won't be by following that plan.

RWBY is full of concealed plans that work and revealed plans that fail. The best examples are probably the attacks on Beacon and Haven. Cinder's plan to attack Beacon was concealed from the audience and went off almost perfectly. Cinder's, Raven's, and Adam's separate plans for the Haven attack are all spelled out in detail to the audience, and all fail to go exactly as planned.

In "Divide" we start with the villains. Cinder has a goal to strip Penny of the Maiden power, but is thwarted by Salem. Salem already has a plan in motion and doesn't want Cinder's last-minute changes messing it up like happened at Haven. What's more worrying, Salem doesn't share her plan with the audience, so a large chunk of it just might work.

In Mantle, the Happy Huntresses have a goal to get everyone into the crater. We don't hear their plan spelled out in detail, although what we do hear in the background is a fairly standard evacuation model that's evolving to deal with changing circumstances, as such plans do. From a storytelling perspective, that's vague enough to the audience that it should mostly work. (The "mostly" comes not from any audience signalling that the writers are doing, but from the shear size of their endeavor.)

Ruby and Pietro have a goal to launch Amity via the military base command terminal. Not many details were spelled out in advance on camera, and much use was made of voiceover with action scenes, so we know at least part of the plan to get into the base will work.

Penny voices a naive goal to give Salem what she wants so she will go away, which is quickly shot down. The audience and most of the characters realize this would be a disaster, but does Penny?

Yang's team has a plan to help with the evacuation by doing what the emergency workers tell them to do. This is both a good plan for anyone assisting in an emergency, and from a storytelling perspective flexible enough to succeed.

Ironwood -- hoo boy. At this point it looks like he has a goal but nobody knows what it is, beyond "shoot anyone who says the F word." He's not jinxing any plans by sharing them. He's pretty free with his expectation that Mantle is doomed, but he doesn't go into enough detail to jinx that one.

Salem begins giving orders, but doesn't jinx it by telling us the whole plan.

Jacques spells out his expectation that Whitley will get Jacques' lawyers to free him. That means it won't happen exactly like that. (Personally I think Whitley is cooperating fully with the General and having the lawyers draw up divorce papers for Willow that remove Jacques from any custody considerations. It's the sort of thing that Whitley watched Jacques do.)

Ironwood has a plan for Watts, but we don't find out what it is.

Qrow states his goal to kill Ironwood, but doesn't spell out a plan.

Joanna steals a reporter's mic and announces the plan to retreat to the crater to the public. As this scene is intercut with scenes of people following that plan, it has a good chance of succeeding.

Ozpin spells out his expectation in detail for how the merge with Oscar will happen. That's been said often enough now that we know it won't happen exactly like that. He also states a goal to bring people together, but is candid about not knowing how. This is a goal in need of a plan, hopefully a plan that will be spelled out over scenes of it successfully happening.

May states an expectation that "between our secret weapon and my Semblance, you all couldn't be in safer hands." While this may be technically true, it also falls under the category of Famous Last Words. If we didn't know something was going to go wrong before, we do now.

Weiss states in detail a plan to get into the base which promptly goes sideways, as does Weiss herself. Hopefully that's all the jinxing that plan gets.

Fiona's evacuation plan is being adapted and carried out in real time, which saves it from narrative jinxing. Whether it will work against Salem is another matter. Getting everyone to the crater definitely qualifies as "the best bad plan we've got".

And we see one of Salem's unrevealed plans start to unfold with brutal, terrifying efficiency.

Finally, there's Ruby's nightmarish visions from the opening. Since these haven't been stated aloud, they also haven't been jinxed. There's no telling right now if these nightmares are prophetic visions or just bad dreams.

[kittyprincessofcats]

RWBY Volume 8, Episodes 8-12

All caught up with RWBY now! (Except for the premium only episode.)

So, two things first: 1. From now on, my blog will no longer be spoiler free for RWBY! I don’t have premium access, so no spoilers for that, but beyond that, I might now reblog spoilers for everything that’s been released to the public. Blacklist “#RWBY spoilers” if you don’t want to see them.

2. I was going to ask what the spoiler policy in this fandom in general is when it comes to premium access. From what I’ve seen, Youtubers usually wait a week before uploading their reaction videos, which I appreciate – but here on tumblr almost no one seems to hold back. I saw a spoiler for “Creation” before it was released publicly. The day episode 13 was released for premium access, I had to unfollow people for posting untagged spoilers for it. And when I went into a RWBY-related tag for one second, I saw a really big spoiler that put me in a very sour mood because it also happened to be very aggressively worded against fans of a certain character (basically, along the lines of “I’m glad X bad thing happened to Y character because I hate them and their fans”). So, that scared the shit out of me and I ended up looking up more specific spoilers about what exactly happened because I wouldn’t have been able to sleep otherwise. So, from what I’ve seen, this fandom’s spoiler policy is just “fuck anyone who doesn’t have premium access” 😒. Always nice to see people being so considerate.

With that said, let’s get into my thoughts on episodes 8-12. Under the cut, because unlike some people, I try to be considerate of others who might want to avoid spoilers.

- So, the Hound really was a person. Specifically, a person with silver eyes and that’s probably what happened to Summer. THANKS, I HATE IT. This is exactly what I feared it would be and what I didn’t want it to be. (I don’t want Ruby and Yang to have to fight and kill their grimm-ified mom, that’s too sad, okay?)

- I love that Whitley really came through and came up with a plan for evacuating everyone! He’s a good bean after all! And that he managed to press that button on the computer before running from the Hound? Amazing.

- Willow Schnee being one hell of a mama bear and summoning a thing to protect Whitley was epic. She was so close to breaking down before that, but then her child was in danger and she just jumped into action right away. Protective mom instincts ftw!

- Blake’s talk about how she looks up to Ruby and how she herself lost the youthful optimism Ruby still has was SO sweet! (Also, Ladybug is an underrated ship/friendship and I really don’t get why people say they never interact? Have you all just forgotten volume 1 and how Bumbleby’s first meeting happened because Yang was trying to wingman Ruby who was trying to befriend Blake??)

- Penny fighting the virus from the inside was amazing, she did so well! I also loved seeing Nora encourage her (and echo Blake’s earlier words back to her).

- Unrelated to these episodes specifically, but I tried to think about who my favourite RWBY charactes even are right now, and I find it super hard to narrow down because I love so many of them, but if I tried to somewhat narrow it down, then (in no specific order because don’t ask me to also come up with an order): all of Team RWBY (though Blake is a personal favourite), Ilia, Penny, Salem, Cinder. (But then again, I also love Winter and Qrow and Robyn and... you get it, it’s hard to narrow down. Oh, and of course Pyrrha, but... you know.)

- “Witch” was honestly my favourite episode of the bunch. That one was just so full of epic stuff. (And now I’m wondering if Salem being one of my favourite characters has anything to do with my love for witches. I used to be obsessed with witches as a kid. In every story I read that had a witch, the witch was always my favourite character.)

- Yang and her team sure found a way inside that whale fast! Also, really handy that Ren’s semblance evolved just in time for when they needed it. But hey, I don’t want to complain about convenient plot stuff too much. Sometimes the heroes are allowed to have a little bit of good luck.

- Hazel listening to Oscar and deciding to get both him AND Emerald out of there was amazing! He really does have a soft spot for kids and wasn’t kidding about not wanting more kids to die – we love to see it! I also think it makes for an interesting parallel that Hazel decided to do this right as Ironwood was sending students to fight on the front lines and Marrow was calling it out.

- I really liked Ren telling Yang she doesn’t have to hide her fear behind jokes. Ren being able to see emotions is going to bring about so many more good moments, I just know it!

- Emerald and “Hazel’s” talk with Salem gets so much better when you know “Hazel” is actually Oscar – Emerald has gotten so much better at illusions and fooled Salem herself! That’s impressive!

- It’s really practical that Ren could sense Emerald’s fear. But also, the group really didn’t have the time to discuss if Emerald was trustworthy – they needed to get out of there asap.

- The way Salem spits out the word “semblance” when she talks to Emerald shows again that she not only underestimates these “new humans” and their powers, but also considers them inferior. It’s a nice little detail how just her tone when she says that word says so much about her worldview.

- Yang straight-up running up to Salem and blowing her up was epic. It didn’t last of course, but it was still a super bold and epic move. I’ve talked before about how cool Yang is and she just keeps getting cooler.

- Yang calling Salem out was amazing and epic, too! And when she referred to Summer Rose as “my mom” that made me tear up just a bit 😢. (I really don’t like Salem’s smile when she says “her again”, though. I don’t want grimm-ified Summer, I really don’t want it, okay? keep it far away from me where I won’t have to see it.)

- I’m a bit sad about Hazel’s death, but it was a really fitting end for his character and a really cool way to go out. The way he looked at all of those kids in danger (proving again that that’s what it’s about for him), whispered “No more Gretchens” to Oscar, punched Salem in the face as she was about to hurt Emerald, injected all of those crystals into his skin (which looked epic, by the way), told Emerald to go, fought an epic fight against Salem and then grabbed her and set himself and her on fire, burning her like a witch – it was epic stuff! RIP Hazel, you died as a hero and went out in an incredibly epic way!

- Hazel’s sacrifice must have been super tough on Emerald. He died protecting her (and JOYR) and it worked. She got away from Salem, but only because someone else, a friend, died for her. Not only must it be awful for her to lose Hazel, she probably also blames herself. (And, as I’ve seen others point out, it was probably the first time in her life an adult did something to protect her. Wow. Someone get this girl therapy, please.)

- The whale getting blown up was an absolutely epic moment. From the music to the cinematography, I loved everything about it. (That said, I will miss the whale. RIP coolest villain lair ever.)

- I loved Watts’ speech to Cinder – and I’m saying this as someone who became a huge fan of Cinder this volume. I love her, but I also love roasting her, and a lot of what Watts said was stuff she desperately needed to hear. I honestly didn’t even like Watts before that moment, but that speech might have made me like him just a tiny bit. The way he just laughed when she dangled him from a building, the way he spelled it out for her that her methods haven’t been working and threw her failures in her face, the ending with calling her “a bloody migraine” – Like I said, I’m a fan of Cinder, but that was glorious and cathartic and beautiful to witness. But what makes it really perfect is Cinder’s reaction: The fact that you’d expect her to kill him or at least scream at him, but instead she spares him and just sits down and cries. I really love what they’ve been doing with Cinder this volume and that they’re finally showing her as someone way deeper than just a power-hungry villain.

- In general, let me quickly talk about Cinder, because even without having seen the last two episodes I can already tell you that she’s my standout character / favourite character of the season. (It was Ilia for Volume 5, Salem for Volume 6, Penny for Volume 7 – and now it’s Cinder.) I said back in my post about Volume 5 that I wish they’d do more with her because after becoming rather interesting in Volume 4 they just went back to making her a pretty flat villain – and I officially have to eat my words and apologize to RoosterTeeth right now! This volume proved to me that they know what they’re doing with Cinder and explained so much about her. I’m sorry for ever doubting the writing. I now want to go back and rewatch the whole show while paying more attention to Cinder and I can’t wait to see where her arc goes from here (yes, I want an eventual redemption, and what about it?). This volume is obviously setting up something big for her – I just have no idea what it is. And at the end of the day, she’s still the Maiden of Choice. She’s the key to the Beacon relic, and that’s going to become important eventually.

- Oh, and can I mention, just by the way, that I think Cinder looks amazing? I don’t understand all the people who say they miss her red outfits when this is clearly her best look yet. The black eyepatch, the cape, the earrings, the short hair, the high boots, the shorts instead of a dress, all the black – this is her absolute best look, period.

- I’ve also noticed that the scene between her and Watts is the first time Cinder has referred to Penny by name. She’s always referred to her with phrases like “some toy” or “Polendina’s creation” before, but this time she just called her “Penny Polendina”, then “Penny” again, and asked Watts how she’s supposed to take Penny’s power “if she’s dead” (not “destroyed”, which is what Watts said, but “dead” – something you say about a person, not a machine). I think somewhere down the line, Cinder has started to see Penny as a person and respect her as the Winter Maiden. Maybe it’s because of how Penny won the fight at Amity, or maybe (though this might be wishful thinking on my part) it’s because Penny questioned why Cinder serves Salem and showed her and Emerald mercy.

- Also, side-note: While I loved Watts’ speech, it sure is bold of him to call Cinder entitled when his own villain origin story is getting overlooked for a science project.

- Neo is an amazing little troll and I love her. From stealing the lamp and skipping along the ruins of the whale happily to those texts to Cinder, all of her moments were brilliant and hilarious.

- Some characters not just forgiving Emerald is totally fair and realistic. But, as I said before (and as Oscar also points out), they don’t have to. People think a “redemption” – or let’s just call it switching sides instead of using such a loaded term – has to include everyone’s forgiveness, but it doesn’t. If Yang and Jaune never want to personally forgive Emerald, that’s okay. They don’t need to forgive her to recognize that she’s changed and work with her. And, as Oscar and Ren point out, Emerald’s abilities would be very useful to have on their side. So, personal feelings are fine and all, but right now they don’t have the luxury to dismiss a potentially very useful ally. (And same for Oz, by the way. It’s fine if they’re still mad at him, but they also need his help.)

- Also, have I already said that I’m very happy for Emerald? Because I’m very happy for Emerald for getting out of there! (Mercury’s and then Cinder’s redemption next, please!)

- F*ck Harriet for trying to get Winter in trouble for letting JYR go. I’m hating her more every second. And then she seriously said “Who cares?” about Ironwood’s plan to nuke Mantle? She’s the most unlikable of them all.

- Everyone’s reunions were so sweet! I loved Ruby and Yang hugging 😭. And Yang cupping Blake’s cheek and their forehead touch had me all 🥰 🥰 🥰.

- After he threatened to nuke Mantle, I hope we can all agree that Ironwood is a straight-up villain now. The most infuriating part is that he didn’t even have to do anything! Whitley and Weiss had figured out a way to save everyone in Mantle and the SDC ships to evacuate people were already there. All Ironwood had to do was let them evacuate everyone to Atlas, and then Penny would have opened the vault willingly and Ironwood could have used the staff to raise Atlas as planned. Problem solved! He should have just sat there and ate his food – but he was so pissed about things not going his way (or maybe he just genuinely hates Mantle that much) that he thought sabotaging the rescue plan and threatening genocide was a better option.

- I loved Marrow’s arc in these episodes and how you could tell more and more that his conscience was making him turn against Ironwood. First he questioned Winter when she was going to nuke the whale before JOYR were back, then he seemed shocked when he thought they were dead, then he tried to talk sense into the other Ace Ops after Ironwood’s ultimatum, and then he straight-up called out Ironwood himself. That last one was dangerous though, and he was lucky Winter was quick enough to jump in and pretend to arrest him, because Ironwood was going to just shoot him in the back.

- Speaking of, I wonder how long Winter has been planning to double-cross Ironwood. How long was she already disagreeing with him, but waiting for the right moment to make a move? Either way, I’m glad she was there to save Marrow.

- The Renora confession scene was so sweet and got me a little choked up 😢. I’m glad they sorted out their issues and told each other how they feel. But like I said before, I think Nora’s arc of trying to find out who she is without Ren is really good and important and Ren respecting that was really good and important as well. It was just a very wholesome scene. Also, I like that we got a little bit more backstory for Nora (her mom abandoned her? that’s awful), and Jaune awkwardly leaving the room was hilarious.

- Robyn telling Qrow he’s a better Huntsman than Clover because he chose to do the right thing was a really important moment for Qrow, imo. (And just a side-note: I’m sure most Fair Game shippers are pretty chill – and I’m a strong believer in ‘ship and let ship’ – but a certain subset of them is starting to get on my nerves with how they ignore Clover’s canon character and story (acting like he would have rebelled against Ironwood if he were alive as if the whole reason he’s dead wasn’t precisely because he cared more about Ironwood’s orders than doing the right thing) and how they make every new plot point about their ship somehow (Oscar’s semblance? Better be a time-travel thing so Clover can come back. Staff of Creation? Better be able to bring people back from the dead so Clover can come back.) It’s so annoying.)

- Yang and Ruby’s talk about their mom was really intense. Ruby’s been holding all of these feelings in for so long, so seeing her say out loud what we’re all fearing (that Summer was turned into a Grimm) and seeing both her and Yang break down over it – that was a lot. I loved seeing Yang comfort Ruby and tell her that her plan for Amity wasn’t useless. Their sisterly bond is so sweet.

- Penny asking Ruby to kill her was another really intense moment. The look on Ruby’s face in that moment really said it all. Ruby has been through so much, has lost Penny before, so hearing that request – even though they fortunately didn’t have to go through with it – must have still been a lot for her.

- I really loved Emerald’s cute “newly reformed villain” moments. (“You guys have been getting your asses kicked… some of that my fault” & “I’m just going to be super pissed if you all finally decide to give up the moment I switch sides.”) I’ve said before (in my She-Ra posts) that my favourite part of any redemption arc is the “former enemies, now awkward around each other” stuff, so this was right up my alley!

- “The girl who fell through the world” was referenced twice now. Between that, the image of everyone falling in the opening, and the lyrics “sometimes it’s worth it all to risk the fall”, I’m going to predict that someone – most likely all of Team RWBY – will fall into that void and potentially end up in a different world.

- The group’s plan to defeat Ironwood, stop the bomb, and get to the vault was amazing all-around. I love the parts Emerald and Winter got to play in it, I love how we saw the plan’s execution before seeing how they came up with it and I love how everyone got to help, even the Schnees and Klein. I also love that the hole Oscar blasted through the ground of Atlas became relevant again.

- The design of the vault and the door are really nice and now I wonder what the other two are going to look like.

- Saving Penny like that was super risky, but they really were out of options. Just the fact that Ruby had to be quick enough to use her semblance and get to the staff before the virus kills Penny… jeesh, that was close.

- Ambrosius is a super fun character! I love that he looked at Penny and said “I’d love to meet whoever did this.” Also, the staff seems more useful than the lamp. The lamp only lets you ask three questions per century, while the staff can be used as often as you want – as long as you’re okay with whatever it previously created disappearing.

- I honestly still don’t completely understand what Penny is now. Is she meant to be human now? Or is she just a being made up of pure aura? How does this work? Ambrosius only created the copy that destroyed herself, so what’s left is Penny’s aura – but she somehow also has a body now? I guess we’ll find out more about what exactly this means later.

- Also, while I wasn’t sure how I feel about this decision re:Penny at first, now that I’ve thought about it for a bit, I think it works. It fits with the Pinocchio story, and I like that they didn’t phrase it as “she’s a real girl now”, but as “this is the girl who’s been in there all along”. Also, Penny saying “wow” after hugging Ruby and then going on a hugging spree was adorable.

- Watching “herself” self-terminate must have been really traumatic, though. Even if that copy was just a robot, it was still a disturbing scene.

- Who shut down communications in the middle of Jaune’s broadcast? I’m assuming it was Cinder, Watts and Neo.

- The whole dimension with the doorways that Ambrosius created looks amazing. (A while before watching this episode, I wondered if Raven could theoretically save Atlas by getting everyone to safety with her portals. It might not have been Raven, but I’m glad I was at least onto something.)

- “Do not fall.” So, about that… they’re all falling in the opening, (and we referenced “the girl who fell through the world” twice now), so I don’t have a good feeling about that. Also, Watts has been dangled from somewhere high twice now, so the third time has to be when he actually falls down.

- And Cinder is there to ruin the plan because of course she is.