#and weiss.... WEISS HAS TO WITNESS IT ALL

[yeahbumbleby]

nothing broke me more in yesterday's episode than realizing that the only reason why ruby doesn't describe weiss to little when looking for blake and yang simply is because she thinks weiss made it to vacuo. girlie already racking up seven different kinds of breakdowns and she doesn't even know her best friend's presence on the island is going to introduce a brand new one... please pray for ruby rose because she's about to eat dust this volume

[powerbottomblake]

i think out of all the characters in rwby weiss' growth has been the most extraordinary to witness and the way it was pulled off so naturally is bonkers. weiss goes from the most self-centered entitled lead to becoming arguably the most empathetic member of the team, constantly here for support and the first one to see what things look like from the others' perspective (her talk with yang abt blake's motives for leaving, her being the first one to clue in on how much distress ruby has been in, her finding the words that could help jaune reconcile with himself). she's come such a long way and the progression was so gradual and natural that we just know this was always who she was supposed to be. i cannot wait to see her reunite with her family in vacuo.

[gffa]

Over the last week, I decided to go ahead with bookmarking all the fics I've recommended over the years on AO3 since I abide by tumblr poll results always (and man pour one out for all the fic that never made it to AO3 or has since been deleted, sooooo many gems lost to time!) and it was a bit more than the ~3,000 I was expecting:

Hopefully, this will be easier than browsing the hundreds of recs posts I've made, since you can filter for any of the author's tags now! These are mostly focused on Star Wars and DC fandom, but I did my time in the anime mines and occasional tours through some TV fandoms or movies. You can dig into everything unfiltered and start your own filtering, or the bigger fandoms you'll find:

MAJOR FANDOMS: Each of these should have 100+ at minimum and, in the case of Star Wars, literally almost half of them are in that fandom. Look, Star Wars fandom might be a trash fire in a lot of ways, but it is ON FIRE with some good fic. (Older bookmarks not guaranteed to match my current sentiments, especially re: the Jedi, but they did catch my fancy at that point in time!)

STAR WARS: - All Star Wars -OR- All Star Wars minus the Obi-Wan/Anakin ship - OR- Nothing BUT Obi-Wan/Anakin

BATMAN/DC: - DC can sometimes be tricky, but you can do a Batman* search and get most of them (though, sometimes Nightwing* or Young Justice* or Superman* will catch some of the others). Honestly, though, you might want to just do a search for what character or dynamic you like and have fun from there, because otherwise you're getting a face full of my Dick Grayson Is The Center Of The Universe And I'm Making That Everyone Else's Problem agenda. ;)

MARVEL/MCU: - Marvel* will probably get most of the various properties, though you may want to filter for Defenders* or Guardians of the Galaxy* if you're interested -OR- Marvel* without the Thor/Loki - These focus a lot on the Thor* fandom if you want to witness the results of like 8 years of constant voracious reading in that fandom (Minus the ship), because, seriously, I read a LOT of Odinson family fic. - Bonus, just do a search for Maximoff* to find some really good X-Men: First Class-verse because, listen, I have been ALL ABOUT the Maximoff twins since long before the movies or MCU brought them over and I will DIE ON THE HILL of "Marvel, make Magneto their bio-dad again or I'm never reading another comic of yours ever".

TOLKIEN/LORD OF THE RINGS/SILMARILLION/HOBBIT: - Tolkien* -OR- Hobbit* -OR- Lord of the Rings* searches will turn up most of my Elf-hunting, I primarily focus on the Sindar Elves, but look I can't resist my problematic Feanorian faves or that I will die on the hill that Fingolfin is the best ever. (You have NO IDEA how sad I am that so much fic on Stories of Arda or FFNET is not easily bookmarked on AO3, sob. I externally bookmarked a few of the bigger ones, but sooo many shorter faves are missing from my recs tag.)

CLAMP: - X/Tokyo Babylon legitimately bums me out because it's not a huge fandom and yet so much of what was written was pre-AO3 and lost when CLAMPesque went down or was never brought over from Livejournal, yet this fandom (well, the Seishirou/Subaru pairing) still burns brightly in my heart.

MINOR FANDOMS: Ones that probably only have under 100 bookmarks (often around the 20-30 bookmarks range), but will at least give you a place to start! ANIME/MANGA: Bleach | Cardcaptor Sakura | Dragonball | Finder no Hyouteki/Viewfinder | Katekyou Hitman Reborn! | Kuroko no Basuke | One Piece | Sailor Moon | Madoka Magica | Naruto | Princess Tutu | Trigun | Weiss Kreuz | Yuri!!! on Ice

BOOKS: Chrestomanci | Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint

DRAMAS: Nirvana in Fire | The Untamed -OR- Modao Zu Shi

TV SHOWS/MOVIES: Community | Game of Thrones -OR- ASOIAF | Good Omens | Hannibal | Highlander | The Old Guard | Our Flag Means Death | Stranger Things

VIDEO GAMES: Dragon Age: Inquisition | Final Fantasy 8 | Genshin Impact | Okami

BANDS: Arashi

All right, whew, that was actually a fun project, despite how much work it was to hunt down a lot of older faves to see if they were on AO3, hopefully you'll find this useful!

[rwby-encrusted-blog]

Weiss: The recipe says that to bake the cookies at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.

Whitley: I don't want to wait that long.

Weiss: We could try 4000 degrees for 1 minute?

Whitley: I don't see anything wrong with that.

~~~~~

Winter, after putting out the fire: What were you two thinking?

Weiss: We were trying to make cookies, but we didn't want to wait so we did it at 4000 for one minute!

Whitley: We're very sorry!

Winter: *Pinching her nose* That's because minutes move in increments of sixty, not ten. Do it at 24000 for one minute.

~~~~~

Lisa Lavender: This is Lisa Lavender reporting with breaking news! A large swath of the Vacuo has been Glassed- in the most literal sense, melted and reformed into a large hunk of glass. We have an eye witness on the ground right now!

Jaune: *On T.V.* yeah, I was just going to see how my friend was doing when all of a sudden it was like the sun was harnessed and brought to the surface of the planet!

Jaune: Luckily her and her siblings are alright!

The Schneeblings: *Covered in soot and ashes*

Weiss: *Cough*

[tequiilasunriise]

I am so in love with this volume because I am so in love with the way Blake Belladonna is finally allowing herself to love Yang, you feel me?

Blake has always had this love fer Yang, we all watched their slowburn unfold over several volumes, but she kept this love close to her heart and only let that affection slip through cracks of her walls and/or during dire life or death situations. The simple, domestic, everyday ways to express love? Holding hands just because and softer words spoken freely and casually? Blake couldn’t do it because she was still afraid.

Afraid to hurt Yang and scare her away with her affections, because she had hurt Yang so much already and couldn’t bear to risk burdening her even more. She had left, she had abandoned the one person who she trusted most, and she had to prove she was staying for good this time. They still had to repair their friendship first and foremost.

Afraid to be the one hurting for exposing herself, because love had burned her once so throughly before. She trusts Yang with her life, but that haunting nightmare that is Adam makes it hard fer her to trust the brightest thing in her life with her heart. Blake had to overcome the bullish knife hanging over her head before she could be in another relationship.

And then when these issues were slowly getting resolved, Blake still held back. Sure, there were more tender moments between them, but they were more brief and far between. Blake was still holding back because this slowburn slowdance was all she knew when it came to Yang. They had to focus on the threat of Salem, of Atlas falling, of all that. It was better to play it safe, now was still not the right time.

But then? But then Blake watched Yang die, and suddenly all those cautious moments of ‘playing it safe’ racked up to an indescribable amount of missed opportunities and regret. Suddenly waiting all this time for the ‘right’ time didnt matter at all anymore because Blake completely ran out of any time.

Blake isn’t going to hold back anymore, she’s finally comfortable enough to be who she always was deep down under those trauma walls, this openly affectionate silly goofy little book nerd who just wants to make her beloved smile, and she’s going to absolutely s h o w e r Yang with flirty tones and dumb jokes and longing touches and be such a dorky romantic because she doesn’t want to waste anymore time. As Weiss spoke fer all of us, it’s, “About time”. The ‘right’ time is right the fuck now screw that ‘not concerned with sands of time’ bullshit she wants to kiss this stupid pretty face and she WILL let Yang know. I think about Blake this volume and I’m just SO PROUD OF HER. Nothing like a little taste of death to push a slowburn along, huh? Seriously though, witnessing Blake’s arc come full circle to open up and be the person she once was before Adam crushed her into taking up as little space as possible, before she deemed herself as nothing but a coward and a fool, seeing her laugh and smile openly and shoot every damn shot she can- it’s so, so damn good.

Anyways, I am also in love with Yang Xiao Long having no idea how to handle Blake being incredibly openly in love with her. 10/10 watching experience, truly.

[wixhing0nastar]

Abuse Narratives in RWBY: Yang Xiao Long Edition (Feat. Ruby Rose)

We've all witnessed and talked about Blake and Weiss being abuse survivors for years. Blake escaping from Adam and Weiss escaping from her father were both huge, impactful events that have shaped the narrative of the story in many ways.

Yang on the other hand has managed to fly mostly under the radar with the abuse she's suffered up to this point. Her jokey, happy-go-lucky facade tricking the audience just as well as it has her friends and family for years.

(Note: this is going to be a long post, so strap in. Also this is your warning I am not going to be holding back in my criticism of Tai, so if you don't want to see me go into detail about how exactly he abused Yang, I highly suggest turning back now).

TL:DR: Yang was neglected and parentified (aka: abused) as a child and that’s the root of a lot of the issues that she’s currently struggling with in Volume 9 and a large part of her healing is going to be centered around her relationship with Blake going forward.

Let's start by establishing what exactly I'm referring to when I say that Yang has been abused. Because while I'm certainly referring to her being neglected after Summer's death, I'm more so referring to the years of Parentification that was caused by said neglect (in addition to the verbal and emotional abuse hurled her way).

Let's start by defining what exactly Parentification is since it's where most of Yang's current problems stem from.

[Parentification is] a disturbance in the generational boundaries, such that evidence indicates a functional and/or emotional role reversal in which the child sacrifices his or her own needs for attention, comfort, and guidance in order to accommodate and care for the logistical and emotional needs of a parent and/or sibling. (Hooper, 2007b, p. 323)

Ruby establishes in Volume 9, Chapter 1 that Yang was the one who raised her. It's important to note that in the context of her saying that, she's telling Yang that Yang was the one responsible for her moral development as a kid.

Research has shown that the building blocks for morality are generally in place by the age of 4. However, "children need adults to help them at every stage of childhood to nurture these seeds into full development." (Harvard, Raising Caring, Respectful, Ethical Children, p. 1) With "childhood" commonly considered infancy to age 12.

Using this we can reasonably assume that Yang was Ruby's primary caretaker or at the very least co-parenting with Tai from the time of Summer's death to at least age 14 (when Ruby was 12)... which mind you, is already over a decade total and only three years before the show starts.

Now that we've got some of the science out of the way, let's start looking at the show itself to see just how bad the situation was.

Burning the Candle

This iconic scene actually paints a fairly horrifying picture of Yang and Ruby's early childhood when you start to break it down.

I waited for dad to leave the house.

Meaning that by that point, probably only a few months after Summer's death based on the timeline Yang establishes, Yang already knows Tai will reliably leave her and Ruby alone without supervision for extended periods of time in order to pull this off.

I must have walked for hours.

Meaning that it likely took several hours for someone to even notice they were missing in the first place. The fact Qrow knew exactly where they were indicates that Yang either left a note or clue about where they were headed and I'm willing to bet the only reason it took Yang that long to walk was because she was like two feet tall at the time (since Patch is like... a tiny island... which brings me to the next line...

A toddler asleep in the back of a wagon

Again, to clarify, Ruby was a toddler. Toddlers are between 1-3 years old... meaning this all happened when Yang was a maximum of (and likely, based on their physical appearances) 5 years old.

So to summarize, Tai was regularly leaving Yang, his five-year-old, home alone and in charge of her three-year-old sister... which would be horrifying to think about on its own but this is Remnant.

Which means that Tai was regularly leaving his grieving five-year-old at home alone when they didn't live inside a kingdom's border and there were known wild Grimm in the area... who are attracted to negative emotions.

Wow... I wonder why Yang felt the need to try to diffuse the tension with humor and keep everyone in high spirits all the time. It’s almost like it was a life or death situation growing up. (/s)

Anger, Fear, and Burn

Before jumping into the next big narrative piece, let’s talk a little bit about Yang’s semblance, Burn, and how it works. Because it’s important to establish before starting to dig into Volume 4.

Let’s start with how Ruby describes it:

Don't worry! With each hit she gets stronger, and she uses that energy to fight back! That's what makes her special.

Notice how Ruby doesn't mention anything about Yang needing to be angry to use her Semblance? In fact, while it’s unclear if this is entirely true, it has been stated previously that Yang’s powers come in part from her hair and no one has refuted that claim in like 8 years so it holds some weight.

Moreover, recent volumes have actually been hinting that Yang likely doesn't even need to use her anger to activate/maintain burn. And that she just does so out of habit more than anything.

Now, why exactly would someone intentionally limit themselves by tying their semblance into in emotion like that? Well, first let’s answer the question, why anger?

And well... anger is a secondary emotion.

A secondary emotion is an emotion fueled by other emotions... masking your feelings of sadness, hurt or grief with anger can be easier than experiencing the primary emotion.

And moreover,

The feelings that anger commonly masks include fear, anxiety, guilt, shame, embarrassment, betrayal, jealousy, sadness, hurt, and worry. (Alta Loma, Understanding Anger as a Secondary Emotion, Web, emphasis added).

Fear is, of course, a bit of a running theme in RWBY, there was a whole speech and song about it at the end of Volume 7, after all.

But more than that, there've been two people on two separate occasions who've called Yang out for being scared when she's posturing: Ren and Raven.

And while Ren was pointing out that she uses humor to try to deflect when she’s scared, when Raven said this to Yang she was absolutely outwardly angry... and Yang admits to being scared in the moment yet still standing there.

Also note that humor = friends/winning, anger = enemies/losing.

Which makes you wonder, what was happening growing up that made Yang instinctively react to fear of danger with anger and planting her feet instead of running away? For that let's go back to what we learned from Burning the Candle and the V5 short real quick.

We know there are living Grimm on Patch. Maybe not as many as elsewhere, but both times we are given glimpses into Yang and Ruby's childhood on Patch they are attacked by Grimm, which isn't a great sign.

How old do you think Yang was the first time she or Ruby had a bad day and attracted one of them on accident and she had to fight it off on her own (because she couldn't run, she had to protect Ruby)?

How many nights do you think Yang would spend reading Ruby stories and telling her dumb jokes to get her to laugh to try to make sure they weren't attacked? How often did Ruby have to force herself to be okay? For both their sake?

Volume 4

Now let's talk about Volume 4, aka: when Tai had the chance to step up and didn't.

Now right off the bat he's okay. There's nothing inherently wrong with him bringing her the arm and being excited at the thought because he doesn't know how she's going to react to it though it is a little weird he opened her mail without permission.

The rest of Yang's first V4 episode, however, makes it very clear both to us as the audience and Tai that Yang isn't doing okay... but Tai doesn't do anything to attempt to help her.

Which is why what happens in the next episode is kinda messed up.

Yang wakes up from a nightmare about losing her arm in a seriously traumatizing event and goes downstairs when she realizes there's a distraction people are over.

Then we get the fight and despite Yang laughing it off in the end... honestly Tai is being very condescending towards her, which Yang even points out. Like, someone made a slightly adult joke in front of her and he flies off the handle and starts a fight with her and starts making digs about her not being a real adult ready for the real world and let's just break that down before dealing with the actual problems in this episode.

Yang, as established, has been fulfilling the role of parent (while barely getting any parenting herself) for years. She's been fulfilling the role of an adult since she was 5! And at this point in the show she's also legally an adult. So not only is it condescending, it's also untrue.

Then we get this line.

I guess you lost some brain cells along with that arm.

Not only is this beyond callus, Yang is clearly actually upset by this.

And notably, she only treats it as a joke after Oobleck dropped his cup. AKA: after being reminded that they aren’t alone in the room.

(And remember, Yang uses humor as a coping mechanism).

And both Oobleck and Port can clearly tell that this wasn’t appropriate at all and immediately following that, they pointedly step in to ask Yang how she is doing with everything.

Which Tai has not done.

And Yang opens up to them! And she tells them that she’s still struggling and coming to terms with what happened to her. Which in turn causes Tai to finally talk to her about it, but he’s being pushy about her getting back out and “being her new normal” and even refers to her PTSD as moping when she just got done saying she’s still trying to process and recover.

And it’s again Port specifically who steps in and gives her some genuine advice without trying to push her her into anything she’s not ready for and then Oobleck joins in and they go out if their way to ham it up to make her laugh.

So overall, Tai’s being extremely dismissive of the trauma that she’s gone through and minimizing her feelings at every turn.

Which then leads to this scene...

Which is when Tai’s dismissiveness starts to make sense (and I’ll come back to this when I’m analyzing the last episode).

Let’s break it down. To start, Tai knows that Yang is going up to her room, they pointedly have her call out goodnight from upstairs so Tai knows where she is physically and what her intentions are.

Secondly, there’s no way that Tai doesn't know you can hear people talking from the front door from Yang’s room. He’s owned this house for like two decades minimum at this point.

So when Oobleck and Port ask after Ruby, there’s no way he should assume Yang won’t be able to hear everything he says. And he very much lays the burden of Ruby’s safety at Yang’s feet. He’s not going after her because he has to “look after some things.”

AKA: Yang.

And then she comes to him literally the next day wearing the new arm and wanting to train and he doesn't question her at all, even though 12 hours earlier Yang was very much not ready?

We then don’t see her at all for five episodes until we get the scene where she’s training with Tai and honestly, his advice is kinda horrible.

To start, even he says his advice is based on watching her Vytal Festival fights, meaning that everything is based on watching three matches.

He points out she uses her semblance to win every fight after the qualifiers (which is true), and Yang rightly points out that everyone uses their semblances to help them win. Then Tai says this:

Because not everyone else’s is basically a temper tantrum.

Not only is this very unlikely to be true, but even if Yang does need to rely on her anger to activate her semblance, calling it a temper tantrum isn’t accurate at all.

In fact, the way Yang uses her semblance takes a great deal of emotional regulation to pull off. She not only is able to make herself angry enough to use it at will, she’s also able to stop using it at will. Meaning Yang is capable of instantaneously switching from one emotion to another.

That’s not a temper tantrum, that’s someone with superb emotional control choosing what emotion to feel when it’s most appropriate.

Furthermore, the “what happens if you miss” comment is so ridiculous I don’t even know how to start other than saying we literally saw exactly what happens when Yang misses her first attempt in Volume 2! When her semblance is being revealed! And the answer is... she gets another shot.

And if they’re stronger... like not using the thing that makes her ridiculously powerful is certainly not going to help.

And honestly... Yang doesn’t do what Tai says. He says it’s useful in a bind but Yang doesn’t use her semblance only in emergencies from here on end. In fact, what she actually does is pick up some tricks from Pyrrha and she starts hiding her semblance from people!

And noticeably, Tai isn’t the one who tells Yang to fight smarter. That’s a line of thinking she develops on her own between the first and second times she faced Adam.

And then Tai takes credit for her “suddenly” getting better like she hadn’t successfully hit him so hard he needed to take a pause and the fight he did win was only because he attacked her when she was being vulnerable with him... her father who she’s of course not going to assume is going to attack her while she’s opening up to him... because she wouldn’t do that to Ruby.

And then we get to Yang’s last (real) episode of the volume when she’s setting out to get Ruby. Remember when I said Tai’s dismissiveness started to make sense and we’d come back to it? Well we’re back to it.

Note how Yang pointedly doesn’t tell Tai that she’s leaving, despite him having indicated to Port and Oobleck that the only reason he wasn’t also going after Ruby was because he was staying with Yang?

And how in the end he doesn’t leave with Yang to go find Ruby even though supposedly the only reason he hadn’t was because he wanted to make sure Yang was okay? And now Yang’s going after Ruby? Alone?

Paired with how pushy and condescending he was acting towards her in the other two Volume 4 episodes he was in, on top of having neglected and parentified her for at least a decade, this really reads as him wanting Yang to get better so he can shove her out the door to go after Ruby, and not him caring at all about her as a person.

(Which is why I really struggle to feel bad for him in his V8 scene... if he was so worried he could have been there).

Yang’s Actual Temper Tantrums

Let’s address these really quick before moving on to the final section. We’ve actually seen/heard of four different instances where Yang actually was having something resembling a temper tantrum while using her semblance.

I’m going to start with the Neon fight because it’s the easiest. But Neon as a character relies on knocking her opponents off balance by getting under their skin in a fight. She tries to make them angry and yes, it does work on Yang in this instance. But that’s Neon’s whole thing, in any other match up Yang would have been fine.

The other three times all had to do with her hair (namely, when Junior gets her hair in her trailer, when the ursa gets her hair in the Emerald Forest and... in V4 when Tai refers to her having a rough first haircut).

Going back to the bit about how Yang’s powers, in part, come from her hair and this actually makes a lot of sense in the context of Yang’s childhood. If she was regularly in charge of protecting Ruby and some of the finite power she did have as a kid was because of her hair, of course she gets freaked out by losing some... and we’ve already talked about Yang using anger as a mask for fear.

Bumbleby and Volume 9

So let’s talk about where we’re going now, because of all three of the abuse survivors in this show, Yang is the only one who hasn’t really been confronted with and forced to deal with it yet.

Because at the end of the day, being parentified and neglected for years has left Yang scared to open up emotionally and more than that, uncertain of her identity outside of being Ruby’s parent.

Because up to going to Beacon, that was basically Yang’s entire life. It’s entirely possible the only reason she went to Signal was to learn how to protect Ruby better all things considered.

Which is why the development between her and Blake is so important this volume. Yang desperately needs to be valued as something other a caretaker and protector and so far they’ve been emphasizing the fact that Blake loves Yang because she’s a goofy dork who makes her smile, not because she’s strong enough to level a mountain.

And while Blake’s relationship with Adam was abusive, unlike Yang, Blake does have a framework for health relationships thanks to Ghira and Kali and she’s worked through her own trauma from being abused romantically enough that she’s in a place emotionally to help Yang start working though hers. Starting by giving Yang a person she can trust not to leave who also isn’t and has never been dependent on her to muck up Yang’s healing process.

Because there’s a difference between someone choosing to stay and someone not having any other choice because they were/are dependent on you. And (absolutely no shade to Ruby here) she’s already had someone in the latter position choose to leave her anyways.

In Conclusion

Yang was abused as a child and into her late teens and is in desperate need of some type of unconditional love and affection that she doesn’t feel there are strings attached to in order to finally begin healing...

And therapy, but they’re a little low on that for the foreseeable future.

[howlingday]

In regards to this post.

Studio C also made a volleyball sequel to their Scott Sterling video; link

You know what you must do Howling….

Oobleck: Welcome back to our coverage of another game between Teams RWBY and JNPR.

Port: If you're just joining us, it's been a roller coaster of emotions with both teams tied at two sets a piece, and the victor will be the Champions of Beacon Academy.

Oobleck: JNPR only needing to get the edge by two points with their team captain, Jaune Arc-

Port: Love that man!

Oobleck: Don't we all? -trying desperately to hold their position at the top, otherwise it's all over. Pyrrha Nikos ready to serve what may be the last game of her professional career.

Port: And here! We! Go!

Oobleck: Excellent serve!

Port: RWBY setting up the spike and-

Jaune: (Pounded in the forehead)

Oobleck/Port: OOOOOOOOOOOOH!

Port: Deflected!

Oobleck: Right into Jaune Arc's face!

Port: And JNPR ties it with Team RWBY! Unbelievable!

Oobleck: Fasten your seatbelts, ladies and gentlemen; Jaune Arc's face has entered the game!

Port: Just look at this instant replay! The angle at which Arc deflects the ball is nothing short of perfection!

Oobleck: Like watching a master painter masterfully painting his masterpiece... with his face!

Port: JNPR now on the prowl to take the lead with Nikos serving again! Team RWBY setting up a devastating return to the lead, and here it comes-

Jaune: (Nostrils pounded in, Slumps)

Oobleck/Port: OOOOOOOOOOOOH!

Port: Arc makes a tremendous save!

Oobleck: But it's not over yet as Team RWBY set up again for another spike, not wasting any opportunity to-

Jaune: (On his knees, Face pounded)

Oobleck: MOTHER OF PEARL!

Port: ARC SCORES!

Oobleck: Welcome to the heavyweight bout between Arc's face versus everything else!

Port: He looks like he could be pray on his knees!

Oobleck: The peaceful visage of TBI!

Port: We are ALL witnesses!

Oobleck: TESTIFY~!

Port: LET US ALL FEAST ON THE SWEET NECTAR! Of instant replay!

Oobleck: Just a perfect defense; the pinnacle of the word sacrifice.

Port: The ball flies right past the blocker, into Arc's awaiting face, back over the net, and then back into Arc's face like an obese homing Nevermore!

Jaune: (Stumbling about, Blind)

Nora: (Turns him to the net)

Oobleck: That man will leave here today, knowing he gave up everything he could! ...if he leaves at all .The crowd is on their feet, cheering for their hero, Jaune Arc!

Port: Much like the days of my youth when I held the entire Kingdom of Atlas on my back, so too does Jaune Arc carry the weight of his opponents upon his face!

Oobleck: JNPR has come back from the brink to put this one into the history books!

Port: It's one point for JNPR, can RWBY push past the Arc's defense to-

Jaune: (Knocked prone by Yang)

Port: Arc blocks it!

Oobleck: DID YOU SEE THAT?!

Port: Team RWBY deliver another spike to The Man!

Jaune: (Hit again by Blake)

Oobleck: The myth!

Jaune: (And again by Weiss)

Oobleck/Port: THE LEGEND!

Jaune: (...)

Nora: (Grabs Jaune's legs)

Pyrrha: (Grabs Jaune's arm)

Ren: (Grabs Jaune's other arm)

Port: His teammates haul him to his feet!

Oobleck/Port: NO!

Port: They raise him to his everywhere!

Jaune: (Jaune, I know that you're still... recovering, but please. The team needs you. I need you. So please, just this once... Just one more time, the world needs Jaune Arc on the court. Besides, this is a totally different game than what we were playing before. I doubt you'll have to worry about being hit in the face, especially since you've got a whole team around you to provide backup. Now come on, there world's waiting for you...)

Oobleck: HE'SDONEIT! ICAN'TBELIEVEIT! JAUNEARC! He's been taken through the air like a defensive angel!

Ozpin: (Fuming, Tosses over chair)

Port: An angel with the face of a devil!

Oobleck: Let's get an instant replay!

Oobleck: One is the loneliest number!

Port: Two tickets to paradise!

Oobleck: Three times a lady!

Oobleck/Port: FOOOOOOOOOR-

Ruby: (Slow-mo punching the ball into Jaune's face)

Oobleck/Port: -EEEEEVEEEEEEEER YOOOOOOOOOOOOOUNG!

Port: The crowd charges the court, and the people are weeping!

Oobleck: The tears of joy~!

Port: The Schnees are Schneeting!

Oobleck: Pound sign Jaune Arc~!

Port: The hospitals are preparing to receive the man himself!

Oobleck: The fifth relic himself!

Port: The great! Wall! of Jaune Arc!

Oobleck: I tell you, when the Brothers comes back, I want to be in a bunker made of Jaune Arc's face!

Port: Until next time...

Oobleck/Port: GOOD NIGHT, EVERYONE!

[wu-sisyphus-gang]

You Don't Need a Menu

Yang: What time is it going to be?

Ruby: Oh yeah. If we're going to be here all night we might want to order food.

Jaune: Chinese okay?

Yang: Yeah Chinese works.

Ruby: Sounds good.

Jaune: Lets do ming moon's. They close in five minutes so just tell me what you want to order and I'll call it in.

Weiss: I'll have the general so's combo.

Ruby: Uh sorry do they have a menu?

Jaune: I mean yeah presumably. But its a chinese food restaurant so they have chinese food.

Ruby: Okay let me just look at the menu and I'll decide what I want.

Jaune: Okay well they aren't on yelp so there is no menu but they have chinese food. You wouldn't need a menu for ordering pizza.

Ruby: Wait were getting pizza? Now I definitely need to see a menu.

Jaune: *Slams his table* No! We're not getting pizza. We have exactly four minutes until this place closes. We're not getting pizza and even if we were none of you should need a menu. Right? You know what kind of toppings you like, every place has the same toppings, and you should know generally what you like by now. Look, you've had chinese food before.

Ruby: Uh um I don't know I'm not sure!

Jaune: You're not sure???

Yang: Come to think of it I really want to see a menu too. Because what if I want to change things up?

Jaune: Yang, you can live in some magical universe where you try something new and make new and exciting decisions but we all know you're getting the steamed beef and broccoli fried rice and an egg roll like you do every time and Blake is getting the chicken lo mein.

Blake: Leave me out of this!

Weiss: What if they don't have general so's?

Jaune: They have general so's or something like it.

Ruby: But what if they don't?

Weiss: What if they don't, though?

Jaune: I promise you that they will have general so's or something like it.

Ruby: I just don't know what I want unless I pick it off a menu.

Jaune: Okay. Alright. Fine. Using the power of your imagination construct a menu in your mind's eye consisting of all the things you've ordered from chinese places in your entire life. Then using that mental menu, tell me what the fuck you want to order!

Yang: What if they don't have dumplings?

Ruby: What if they don't have dumplings, what then?

Jaune: As the gods as my witness they will have dumplings.

Weiss: But are they on the menu because it would be really rude to ask if it's not on the menu.

Jaune: Menus are for cowards and simpletons Weiss. Persons of character look in their heart and know what they want to order.

Ruby: So you always know what you want to order?

Jaune: I haven't looked at menu for ten years.

Ruby: Bullshit!

Jaune: Try me.

Yang: Tai food?

Jaune: Chicken pad krapraw.

Weiss: Indian?

Jaune: Chicken marsala with garlic knots.

Ruby: Italian?

Jaune: Chicken parm.

Yang: They're out of chicken parm.

Jaune: Feduccini alfredo.

Yang: Go to hell!

Jaune: You first.

Weiss: Genie grants you three wishes?

Jaune: Worlds greatest sorcerer, new magic lamp, freedom for the first genie.

Ruby: You're at a diner where you can mix and match. Menu is ten pages.

Jaune: Cheeseburger deluxe medium well bacon and grilled onions and wafflefries. If they don't have that, curly fries. If they don't have that, regular fries. And a chocolate godsdamned milkshake.

Weiss: You're going to give yourself a heart attack!

Jaune: You're going to give me a heart attack. Two minutes!

Ruby: So what? You order the same meal every time?

Jaune: I order the best meal every time.

Yang: You can't have a cheese burger for breakfast!

Jaune: Can too!

Weiss: What if you're not in the mood for a cheese burger?!

Jaune: Then I'd be in the mood for a cheddar omelette with two slices of plain white toast and a cup of coffee with some hashbrowns on the side. And you know what?! I wouldn't need a menu to know it!

Weiss: So you only have two moods? Is that it?

Jaune: Two moods is more than enough for anyone!

Ruby: You're insane!

Jaune: One minute!

Weiss: General so's combo.

Ruby: Wanton soup.

Yang: Beef and broccoli with steamed rice and an egg roll.

Blake: Chicken lo mein.

Jaune: I knew it you slime!

Jaune: *into his scroll* I'll have a number one, a number three, a number five, a number seven, and a wanton soup and an eggroll for pick up. Have a great night. *hangs up*

Jaune: You mother fuckers!

Yang: You know technically an egg roll is a sandwich.

Jaune: Oh go to hell.

[birder-of-remnant]

What is Yang's True Color?

This question has been bothering me for some time. Colors are important to all the characters, particularly for the main cast. For RWB, they each have their more obvious primary color which is the basis of their original character designs and their names. But these colors, while integral to their identity, generally have darker and more subtle connotations based on past trauma. As the series progresses, they all gain a secondary color that becomes more emblematic of who they actually are.

For Ruby, her principal color is obviously red. But it also (at least to some extent) represents her grief and resentment over her mother, as illustrated by the iconic line 'Red like roses fills my dreams' (yes I know the songs are not canonical, but v7-v9 also supports this point). Ruby's secondary color is of course silver, which represents her devotion to protecting those important to her.

Weiss's principal color in the beginning is white. This may represent her isolation, loneliness, and her naivety regarding how others see the world (for example, the faunists) stemming from her vaunted position in high Atlesian society. It may also have connections with the cold abuse and neglect she received from her family. During the Anima Arc, her color transitioned from white to greyish blue. Then for the Solitas Arc, she finally embraced blue as her new color, representing her more diversified perspective.

For Blake, her long hair, concealing ribbon, and black color scheme were meant to represent how she wished to hide from the world. This distrust for society and for others stemmed from the atrocities she has seen and witnessed by society against people just for being faunists. And perhaps more poignantly, the abuse she received from Adam. As the series progresses, not only does she cut her hair and become more cheerful, but her color scheme transitions towards violet (which is also her aura's color). This also symbolizes how she has been able to overcome the trauma of her past and become someone better.

Then there is Yang. For her, it seems that yellow is yellow is yellow. And this does not seem to change. Yes, her eye color is violet as a reflection of Blake's aura (and vice versa) but that is symbolic of her love for Blake. Like the others, she has had to overcome trauma to become the person she is now. But unlike the others (or at least W+B), she does not seem to gain a secondary color representative of her true self. But, I guess she does not really need a new one. She isn't going to let her past haunts define her, especially now that she knows who she is.

[novankenn]

Head Count

/== Master Post List ==/

Pyrrha, Glynda, Weiss and Penny were all standing around a table littered with pictures and dossiers. On the wall behind them were lists, showing the complete breakdown of who was part of the court of the "Red Queen" and "Golden King".

Glynda: So as you can see my Queen...

Pyrrha: Please Glynda we are sisters in this cause.

Weiss: I must object. You are the "Red Queen" spouse to be of the "Golden King" and we are you loyal advisors, and ladies in waiting.

Pyrrha: We are all united in the want to give the King Mother grand-babies. That makes us sisters.

Penny: I am sorry my majesty. You are betrothed to his Majesty Jaune. While we are happy and honored to be brood mare....

Pyrrha: NO! Do NOT speak of yourselves as such! You will sisters wives and the mothers to the greatest family Remnant has ever witnessed. You are NOT broodmares! Do not refre to yourselves as such!

Glynda: Understood, but you must also understand as Jaune's betrothed and the first accepted by his mother... you are the queen.

Pyrrha: We are sisters.

Weiss: Yet you are still our queen.

Pyrrha: Shall we continue? Neo will only be able to occupy Jaune for so long.

Glynda: Yes my queen. Our count is as follows. You and Jaune are not included as you are the progenitors of this family. Neo as well is not included in the listings as her semblance allows her... versatility.

Progenitors : Jaune Arc & Pyrrha Nikos The "Wild Card": Neopolitan

Weiss: So in the BBMs side we have...

Pyrrha: BBM's?

Penny: Blonde Baby Mamas.

Pyrrha: Ah. So then RBMs would be Red Baby Momas?

Penny: Correct.

Weiss: So in the BBM's we have, myself, Glynda, Arslan, Fiona and Dew. So five sisters.

Blond Baby Mamas: Glynda Goodwitch, Weiss Schnee, Arslan Atlan, Dew Gayl, Fiona Thyme

Penny: In the RBMs we have myself, Octavia, Neon, Ruby, and May, which also gives us a total of five

Red-Head Baby Mamas: Ruby Rose, May Zednog, Octaiva Ember, Penny Polendina, Neon Katt

Glynda: So not including myself, we have eleven young women capable of bearing children, with an estimated theoretical maximum of 15 pregnancies each... that is approximately 165 children if each pregnancy is of a single birth.

Pyrrha: Not enough.

Penny: My Queen?

Pyrrha: It's not enough!

Weiss: We estimate if we all start getting pregnant now, including Sister Glynda's age, we should be able to provide Jaune and the King Mother with around 172 children, again if every pregnancy only results in a single birth.

Pyrrha: It's still not enough. We MUST be a family of no equal. A force of our own!

Penny: How many do you feel would be an adaquate number to show our devotion, and be as you put it a "force of its own?"

Pyrrha: 200.

Penny: Then we will require two more sisters, at minimum.

Pyrrha: But the question sis whom. The King Mother has very specific requirements.

Glynda: We are aware. Blonde or Red-haired. But we considered that we may need to expand our ranks... so we have made a list of "potentials"

Weiss: For Blondes we have the following individuals... Robyn Hill, leader of the Happy Huntresses. Harriet Bree of the Atlas Ace-Ops, and possible in a young woman named Trifa, she is a member of the White Fang.

Pyrrha: Her hair appears to be bluish-grey.

Penny: It can be possibly considered as Ash-Blonde... but that is up for debate.

Pyrrha: Keep tabs on her, just in case.

Glynda: For Red-heads we have Deery, she is also a member of the White Fang, but unlike Trifa who is in Mengarie, Deery is here in Vale. We also have Carmine Esclados formerly of Shade and reputedly a member of a group calling themselves the crown.

Weiss: So how should we proceed?

Pyrrha: All of them. We NEED all of them.

Glynda / Penny / Weiss: As you wish.

/=====/ A/N so thank you again to @segmentaldragon for all his suggestions and research in finding "Probably Initiates"

Note on Trifa - if you guys want to "stretch" ash-blonde hair to include shades of blueish-grey... then she'll be brought in.

As for Salem... I'm not sure... yet, and I would need to locate a Red-Head to off-set her... maybe the "Blacksmith"? Don't know... but she's not forgotten.

[jayz4dayz]

Team RWBY will become the next generation of Maidens

(Disclaimer, none of the edited images above are mine! I just found them on google lol. Also, SPOILERS FOR VOLUME 9!!!)

So this is kind of just a random theory of mine that I’ve been brewing for a while and I’m sure someone has mentioned it before, but I’m simply gonna explain why this would be the logical and plausible ending for the entire show. 

We know the identity of the current three maidens. Cinder Fall is the Fall Maiden, Winter Schnee is the Winter Maiden, Raven Branwen is the Spring Maiden, but we have interestingly never had a confirmation on the identity of the Summer Maiden. Some fans (including myself) speculate one of two things: the Summer Maiden is someone completely random/character we haven’t been introduced to yet, or... Summer Rose is the Summer Maiden. Now if this were the case, then that means Summer Rose isn’t actually dead. 

The very first scene in the final episode of Volume 9, we see a private conversation take place between Summer and Raven about a secret mission Summer embarks on alone. We aren’t sure about the details of the secret mission except for the fact she had lied to her friends and family about it. To me, that sounds an awful lot like she either faked her own death or nobody found a body when she dissapeared and assumed she was dead. I think Mama Rose is still alive somewhere (possibly lurking around in the Ever After which I’ll circle back on)

As for the transference of the Maiden Powers to Team RWBY, I must address the elephant in the room. A few of our beloved side characters must die. 

I’ll start with the obvious. Raven and Yang.

This one is pretty self-explanatory. Raven takes a fatal blow in a battle either from Salam’s forces or possibly even a Cinder battle 2.0 or Salem herself. I know damn well the final person in her thoughts would be her daughter. Go ahead and tell me I’m wrong. She knows out of everyone, Yang is the most trust-worthy and deserving of such power. Even Ozpin himself had once told her “Your mother must trust you a great deal” when Raven told Yang about how Ozpin turned her and Qrow into birds. In this case, it will be Raven’s final act of protection for her daughter to assure she’ll have a better chance of survival. Not only this, the transference of powers scene between her and Yang would be the most memorable and meaningful moment between them in the entire series. (And gods, Yang out of all of Team RWBY would make the most sense to become a maiden. Her hair ignites on fire for crying out loud!)

Next we have Winter and Weiss.

This one will be considerably more painful to witness considering how strong their relationship is and everything they’ve been through growing up together. My best guess is Winter will die battling Salem or possibly alongside Weiss in battle against a different antagonist, but I’m confident it will happen the soonest. And I mean like Volume 10 or 11 kind of soon. Winter and Weiss will likely be reunited in Volume 10 and near the end Winter will meet her fate, giving the Maiden Powers to her sister who will benefit the most from them. With Weiss gaining these powers, imagine her dust glyphs on steroids. She’d be a fucking unit against Salem’s forces (as I’m sure Winter would be too.)

Then, Blake and Cinder.

I actually have quite a bit of evidence to back this one up. Cinder really doesn’t have anybody close to her that she would even consider giving up her powers for. She’s a greedy bitch and would probably think nobody would receive her powers if she just didn’t think of anyone when she died, only come to find out the final person to look into her eyes before her final breath is the one to take the powers from her. Ironwood once mentioned that it’s not uncommon for the powers to be transferred to an enemy who the Maiden faced in her final moments. Blake absolutely deserves the right to send Cinder to meet her makers and snatch up her Maiden powers. It would be so satisfying to see Cinder and Blake meet up in the holding space between life and death, but Cinder becomes furious when she realizes Blake will be the one to take HER precious power. It’s the ultimate justice and the best revenge Blake could ever obtain. (Also, Blake would become the first Faunus Maiden that we know of and she'd be such a girlboss for it ;p)

And finally, Summer and Ruby.

In the end, I think it would be a wonderful way to wrap up the entire series by making all of Team RWBY into Maidens and would be the most logical way they could defeat Salem. Of course, this is also assuming they somehow are able to get all of the relics and use that to assist them in defeating Salem once and for all. Also, for shipping purposes, it pretty much sums up the soulmate parallels for the four of them to become maidens. Blake (Fall Maiden) + Yang (Spring Maiden); Weiss (Winter Maiden) + Ruby (Summer Maiden). I think it just fits all of them so well!

As I previously mentioned, Summer being alive and the current Summer Maiden would open the door for Ruby to receive Maiden powers. I’m not entirely sure how it would look and I could theorize for hours to try and explain it, so I’ll keep this short. My current belief is that Summer is in the Ever After which would mean at some point Team RWBY would have to return to deal with Neo’s bullshit and at some point come across Summer. In a heated battle, Summer knows her time to ascend has come. If we take a look at Ruby’s ascension, she technically didn’t even ascend at all. She chose herself which means she didn’t become a new person with no memories of her past or who she is. However, I’m fully confident that Summer will choose to become a different person. She knows she would lose all her memories of her family, her Team, and everything that makes her Summer Rose. This includes her Maiden Powers. It would make the most logical sense that she’d transfer them to her daughter Ruby as her final act of a mother’s love. It would be poetic and the perfect character development for both Summer and Ruby. Plus, imagine how much more powerful Ruby’s silver eyes will become. With Maiden Powers, her petrifying glow from her eyes might be powerful enough to trap anything that’s Grim, including Salem. She wouldn’t be dead, but she’d be imprisoned in stone and petrify for the rest of time.

[Another minor theory in relation to this: Summer is actually dead and passed on her Maiden Powers to Ruby when she was still an infant which means Ruby's powers would be dormant until the time is right]

[spahhzy]

The Happiest Day.

-

Jaune had awoken to find himself, now outside the entrance of the old 'Merry Maiden's Pizza place'. What shocked him most was that it looked like it wasn't dilapidated or abandoned. It looked like it was in operation!

What was going on?

Last he remembered, he had stopped his 'mother' by burning down all of 'Merry Maiden's Haunt' and that a piece of the support beam hit him and then... nothing.

Jaune felt a tug on his pants, and he looked down to see a sight that made him almost tear up.

Jaune: P-penny?

It was a little girl, short ginger hair, freckles on her face and she held a big smile.

Penny: Salutations!

Jaune: W-whats going on? What's happening? Am I dead?

Penny: Nope!

They sat in silence as Penny just bounced on the heels of her feet.

Jaune: ...then w-what's going on?

Penny: The happiest day!

Jaune: What do you mean?

Penny: Close your eyes and hold out your hands, Jaune.

Jaune, seeing nothing else to do, closed his eyes held out his hands and, in an instant, felt something put into his hands.

Penny: You deserve to witness it.

Jaune: Witness what Penny?

Penny said nothing. All she did was smile before going behind Jaune and pushing him inside the pizza place.

The bright light blinded him for a moment, but his vision returned.

???: Woooooah! Look at the big cake!

Jaune let out a gasp as he felt his throat tighten up. He knew that voice, It may have been many years, but he always knew that voice.

Jaune looked to his right to see a young girl with black hair and red tips looking up at him in amazement. She was carrying a stuffed scythe he had helped her win.

It was Ruby.

Ruby: Mister? are you here for the party as well?

Jaune wanted to stop everything right then and there to give the small girl a big hug.

Penny: Keep going, don't stop. Ruby, my friend here has to give the birthday girl her cake will you walk with us?

Ruby eyes sparkled, and she nodded.

???: Woah sis, that's a big cake, you think birthday girl will eat all that?

That voice was Yang! Jaune bit back a sob.

???: obviously not, that's why she has us to help her eat it!

Jaune felt his throat constrict more as his eyes began to get all misty as Penny just kept pushing him forward. That was Weiss. He knew that tone anywhere.

Soon, two more small kids came into view as it was Weiss, and she had a small tiara on her head, he remembered winning won of those hard prize games and Yang had little mittens on her hands, something Jaune won for her in the prize corner.

Penny: Come along with us, guys it's time for the birthday girl to get her cake.

Yang and Weiss nodded.

Yang: Wait, we forgot Blakey!

???: I'm here!

Yang: Gah, don't spook us!

Blake: Sorry.

Jaune just wanted to sob, it was Blake and she was still wearing the cat ears he had gotten her,all Jaune wanted to do right now was to hug his friends and apologize for everything that had happened to them.

Penny: Come on, Jaune, almost their.

The sight of five small children following behind Jaune as the small Penny pushed him forward until finally, the pushing stopped, and suddenly Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang ran right past him.

Penny: You can set the cake down now Jaune.

Jaune looked down at Penny, who nodded to him. Tenderly, Jaune sat the cake down and stood up, now able to look around, Jaune felt his heart leap.

Seven seats at a big table with balloons and decorations.

Ruby, Weiss on one side, Blake and Yang on another, and at the head of the table was...

Jaune: T-trivia?

The girl In question titled her head, the big top hat on her head tilting over as well.

It was his best friend. She was here. They were all here, but She looked sad.

Ruby: Hey Trivia, why are you looking glum?

Yang: Yeah, it's your birthday you should be happy!

Weiss: Aren't we missing someone?

Blake: Penny's here, but...oh wait? We're missing Jaune!

Trivia sulked some more, and Jaune knew he had to do something anything.

Jaune: H-hey trivia?

Trivia looked at Jaune.

Jaune: I-im Jaune's older brother, I know he couldn't be here today and he is really sorry so he sent me instead a-and he wanted me to tell you Happy birthday! And that you are the best friend he could have ever hoped for, he said to pass on this big hug just for you is that okay?

Trivia looked at Jaune for a moment before nodding, and Jaune smiled before walking over to before giving Trivia a big, warm hug to which Trivia hugged back.

Penny and everyone smiled at the sight.

Penny: Alright, everyone, it's time to sing happy birthday!

Jaune stepped back before grabbing a lighter that was on the cloth table. He ignited the 12 birthday candles.

P/J/R/W/B/Y: Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you!

Jaune noticed that Ruby began to fade away, leaving only the stuffed scythe in her chair. He was shocked at first but a glance at Penny, who just smiled with tears in her eyes as well.

P/J/W/B/Y: Happy birthday, dear Trivia, Happy birthday to you!

Weiss and Blake soon began to fade away, the tiara and cat ears the only thing remaining.

P/J/Y: From good friends and true, From old friends and new, may good luck go with you and happiness too!

Yang faded away as well, her mittens remained, leaving Just Trivia their as she blew out her candles a happy smile on her face as she was surrounded by friends, it really was the happiest day of her life.

And just like all the others, she faded away as well, the top hat the only thing remaining.

Penny: Their finally freed, the happiest day.

Jaune sunk to his knees as the damn burst, and he let out a long, painful cry.

And Penny stayed with him until his cries were barely more than a whimper.

Jaune stopped soon after wiping his face of tears and snot as he looked back to Penny.

Jaune: Y-you said that their freed right?

Penny: Correct.

Jaune: W-what about you? Why aren't you free?

Penny looked away from him, seemingly unsure of what to say.

Penny: I-im not sure.

-

Jaune awoke from his slumber from his alarm. Looking at the clock, he saw that it was only 3am.

Grand opening was at 9am.

Jaune: Almost time for the grand opening.

Jaune sighed: I'll put an end to this Penny, and then you, too, can finally rest.

Jaune went back to a dreamless sleep.

[maxiemumdamage]

While the homophobes and incels jump on Ruby yelling at Yang and Blake as an excuse to trash Bumbleby and insist Yang is a terrible sister, I am actually gonna try to pick apart why Ruby said what she did to them specifically. I think that the issue is basically threefold for why Ruby said what she did and had such strong feelings about it. (Aside from her general frustration and need to express her trauma and unhappiness in any form, I mean. It wasn’t really personal or thought out at all, I just think there were some specific reasons she reacted as she did.)

First, they basically have worked out any issues. Even with the craziness of the Ever After and heavy task of getting back to Remnant, Yang and Blake are actually happy and in a good place mentally. Ruby at least knows that Weiss is also grieving and frustrated with herself, and Jaune’s breakdown was obvious even if it detracted from her own feelings. But Yang and Blake seem genuinely fine at this point, while Ruby is at her lowest. Of course she was gonna be frustrated by that.

Secondly, she’s probably feeling really resentful that their relationship is going so well when Ruby’s personal affairs have become a mess. Ruby hasn’t been able to help Weiss, her partner. Penny, person she was so attached to, who she loved — whether you believed in Nuts and Dolts or not, it was clear Penny and Ruby had a special bond — is dead. How can Ruby be happy that her teammates are dating when Ruby has no assurance of that kind of love or support, has no sense that she’ll be able to preserve relationships with loved ones?

Third…yeah, she might be a little threatened by so clearly seeing Yang and Blake placing each other as their number one people. I say this as a younger sibling who found it eternally unpleasant to meet my sister’s boyfriends, playing witness to a sibling’s romantic relationships is uncomfortable at the best of times.

It’s not that Yang or Blake did anything wrong. It’s just that Ruby had a lot of reasons to feel even worse about her own position and circumstances when faced with their relationship.

[itsclydebitches]

While I wish the show focused on RWBY and get side/secondary characters tf out of the spotlight, I can't help but personally find Jaune more interesting atm. It probably won't happen, but it'd be so interesting to see Jaune return home as he is and face his family. How would his dynamics change with his sisters now that he's the oldest? Is he now older than his own parents? How would they grieve not being able to witness even parts of his life? Would they be proud to know he's "lived up" to the line of warriors, and his parents don't have to wait to see him at his "best?" With the show having tone issues and putting comedy in objectively horrific circumstances, would Jaune jokingly flaunt his new maturity over his sisters? This is idea has so much potential that of course won't get developed or resolved satisfactory, as nothing in this show does. It's not even being done well with the immediately available characters.

Honestly... yeah. While I completely get why many fans dislike Jaune due to his meta problems (and why they might simply dislike him as a character, period) for me the result of giving him so much that should have gone to Ruby means that he's a more well-rounded character and, thus, more interesting to some viewers. Jaune has conflict to engage with. Just off the top of my head:

He's a classic underdog whereas Ruby's prodigy status means she's never really had to improve across the series. Even her one new skill, Silver Eyes, is mastered in a single fight.

Instead, Ruby's problem is that she's younger than her peers which has an impact for... three episodes? Especially since Weiss' issues with Ruby being leader seem to stem entirely from the fact that she wants to be leader, not because she's two years younger.

So Ruby gets a short arc about figuring out how to lead... which is what Jaune goes through too because he's also a leader.

Alongside this, Jaune gets a whole bullying arc that helps develop his character (even if it's pretty simplistic development).

Jaune is the love interest of Pyrrha who spends a ton of time with her whereas Ruby is just the kinda-friend whose relationship exists almost entirely off screen. Seriously, I know we all like to talk about how traumatizing seeing her die was for Ruby (and undoubtedly it was), but her "PYRRHA!" at the Vytal festival is the one friend-y moment I can think of off the top of my head.

Jaune accompanies Ruby on her Cinder quest, ensuring he's there to experience and grapple with everything our protagonist is experiencing and grappling with too.

He gets the armor upgrade and later new gadgets, despite Ruby supposedly being a weapons nerd.

As fans have pointed out in regards to the "Who is responsible for their failed plan?" debate, Jaune gets to come up with a lot of ideas across the series (good and bad) that Ruby then agrees to follow. Ruby was GREAT at coming up with cool combat strategies and plans at the start of the show and now that's all but disappeared.

Jaune has the extreme reaction to learning about Ozpin's secrets. I mean, I hate it, but I can't deny that it's more engaging than Ruby's reassurances that are immediately undermined by Qrow.

Jaune, Ren, and Yang are off LITERALLY FIGHTING SALEM AND NOT SAVING OSCAR'S LIFE while Ruby sits in a mansion drinking tea.

He's the one to kill Penny. Ruby might also have a grief arc this Volume, but that's lessened by the fact that it should have occurred six Volumes go and she only heard about this second-hand. That's a COMPLETELY different scenario from not just seeing the death, but causing it.

Jaune winds up in Ever After and immediately finds the contrived plot device that makes his life - as you've laid out, anon, - that much more interesting.

Ruby has a breakdown about how bad things are and so does Jaune... but to my mind he's got a lot more to complain about with a lot less responsibility too, so it resonates with me more. I mean, I don't really want to compare trauma - Ruby obviously has a LOT to be upset over - but I struggle to hone in on her "I hate having to cheer everyone up!" meltdown when Jaune is there having a "I've been alone for decades and now my village is dead!" meltdown.

And yeah, we can throw in a lot of Ruby specific things too. Sort of. She has Silver Eyes! ... which haven't been very important in the narrative and, you know, Jaune is the descendant of some great huntsmen family with hints that he'll be even more by the series' end. Ruby was targeted for kidnapping! ... once, while Jaune was there helping to defend her, and it's not something she ever reflects on. Ruby is the simple soul destined to save Remnant! ... and Jaune is now the Rusted Knight, a literal fairy tale hero who, as we've been reminded over and over this Volume, everyone in Remnant simply adores.

None of these are new complaints. Jaune gets too much screen time. He gets too much development compared to the girls. He's too perfect despite supposedly being a fuck-up at the start. No one who came to RWBY for the woman-led team focus is happy about this (or about Ozpin-Oscar being at the center of this fight). But the inevitable result of all that - if you can get past your frustration - is that Jaune is simply more interesting in a whole lot of ways. He's developed more across the series and now continues to have more engaging, logical conflicts. Jaune has lived a lifetime in a fairy tale and faces the possibility of returning to Remnant with an insane amount of baggage to overcome, to say nothing of how this would change how everyone interacts with him for the rest of the series. He still has a personal beef against the villains for Pyrrha's death whereas we haven't confirmed that Salem killed Summer, or that Ruby wants to hunt her down for that. Jaune is now falling apart for very legitimate, understandable reasons that none of us really need to nitpick because yeah, who wouldn't have a meltdown about spending decades in this place and then loosing a whole family? Meanwhile, Ruby is... sad about a death that already happened once and also that she "has" to be leader after demanding to be leader. One of these arcs is not like the other!! The fact that Ruby does have interesting things for the story to engage with - the mysterious death of her mother, the potential for her Silver Eyes to be the only thing that could hurt Salem, etc. - doesn't matter because the story isn't writing that. So yeah, hard agree, anon. The story is supposed to be about Ruby, I want it to be about Ruby, but the show continually goes, "Look at this more interesting, more developed, more conflict-laden character over here." Even if RWBY fails to do something good with all that - which inevitably it will - the potential is still more engaging than 99% of what Ruby has had going on since Volume 5.

[jj-lives]

omg that last episode was crazy! I'm still processing but I've been following your analysis here and I wanted to ask what you thought of Yang reacting to Ruby running off. It seemed like she blamed her for it kind of.

Ugh, I've been trying to wrap my head around this for hours. There is a reason most of my analysis are posted days after the show airs and I might have to expand on this later but here's how I see it.

I see people with a similar mindset, that Yang exploded and blamed Ruby, while Weiss was the one that understood and Yang is a bad sister because of it.

As the sister that had to look after everyone growing up, I want to say something on this.

Yang is not a bad sister. She just knows Ruby in a different light than the rest of them. It's easy for Weiss to see how they have put Ruby in a position of isolating herself, especially considering she played a major role in how Ruby feels responsible as a leader from volume 1 when she said she didn't deserve the title. And everyone except Yang has only witnessed Ruby in said leadership role.

Before Beacon Ruby and Yang were close, very close. We see that in many interactions between the two, in how Yang was worried, leaving Ruby behind and how happy they both were to be on the same team. When pre-team leader Ruby was scared or upset or didn't know what to do, she went to Yang. Evidence of her seeking Yang out in the forest for partners.

And though they have grown together and apart in some sense over time, it's only been like 2 years. And a large part of one year they weren't together. Yang still sees Ruby, not as the all-knowing powerful leader Weiss, Blake, and Jaune look up to, but simply as her little sister. The one that ran to her when she scraped her knee or had a bad day. The little girl that she read stories to and stayed up late at night to tell each other their dreams and worst nightmares.

And Yang has been trying to ask if Ruby was alright this whole time. Many times and either Ruby brushed her off, or they were interrupted. But now, almost unexpectedly, Yang is realizing Ruby isn't that girl anymore. She isn't going to run to her when she needs someone. She isn't Ruby's strength or her protector anymore, and it frightens her.

Yang is scared. She's trying to figure out where their crossroads split along the way. Was it her fault? Did she miss the signs?

"Why didn't she come to me like she always used to?" Most likely running through her head.

Then Blake says Ruby was just upset, and Yang loses it for a second because she's seen Ruby upset. She's seen her in far worse emotional turmoil than any of them, and this is something different. She knows it is.

She wasn't blaming Ruby for running, she's terrified because she practically raised Ruby. She knows her better than anyone and she's never seen her like this and even if she couldn't fathom Ruby choosing what she did, she knows something way worse is going on than any of the rest.

[howlingday]

The Trial of C. Fall

Ironwood: Will the defendant please rise?

Cinder: (Stands)

Ironwood: Ms. Fall, you stand in this court of law accused of the crime clearly caught on this camera mere moments ago.

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

Ironwood: (About to sit down)

Cinder: (Places whoopie cushion) Hee hee~!

PBRRT!

Ironwood: OOH!

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

Gallery: (Gasp)

Cinder: Oh, this is just for that? I thought this was about the school bus full of children I set on fire-

Weiss: (Coughs, Clears throat) Shut the fuck up!

OBJECTION!

Ironwood: ...Nothing's happened yet.

Ruby: S-Sorry, I got excited.

Ruby: It's just that this is the most obvious, clear cut, cut and dry, copy and pay, cock and balls case I ever did see. I don't even know why Ms. Schnee and her client bothered to show up, other than to make a mockery of this courtroom!

Weiss: Now that's just out of order!

Ruby: WRONG!

Gallery: (Gasp)

Ruby: If it were out of order, it'd be WRONG! I've gotta see Schnee's cock and balls, even-

Ironwood: ROSE! Stop! Sh- Shut up. Make your opening arguments to the jury.

Ruby: Alright! ...Wait, where is the jury?

Weiss: (Points at bathroom) Making jury doodie.

Ruby: Whatever. I'd like to call my first witness to the stand. Miss Clown Weiss Schnee.

Clown Weiss: (Honks, Points to empty case for her whoopie cushion)

Weiss: AWOOGA! I've got a bad case of clussy fever, and I wanna make whoopie with HER cushions!

Ironwood: ORDER, MS. SCHNEE! OORDEER!

Weiss: I order Miss Schnee to put her BUTT her whole BUTT and nothing BUT her BUTT on my face~!

Clown Weiss: (Honks, Hides her blushing face)

OBJECTIFYING!

Ruby: So, Miss Fall, you Mentos your innocence?

Cinder: (Stares as Ruby snickers)

Ruby: Well, I spoke to an old teacher of yours, a Miss Salem, and she said that you were always quite the troublemaker in her classes. ALWAYS MAKING THEM PRANKS.

Gallery: (Gasp)

Cinder: That's not entirely true.

Gallery: (Gasps)

Weiss: OOH! Too bad! Looks like Ruby Rose just Ruby SUCKED!

OBJECTION!

Ruby: She made fun of me!

Cinder: I was a bit of class clown-

Weiss: (Snaps her attention to the statement, Internal honking intensifies)

Cinder: -when I was younger, but I grew out of it.

Ruby: Well, I don't know about that, Cindy Fee, because I thought that joke you pulled with the school bus was pretty funny! Guess you're still a bit of a prankster after all!

Gallery: (Gasp)

Ruby: I GOT YOU NOW, YOU FUCKIN MORON BITCH!

Ironwood: Any arguments, Miss Schnee? OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH?!

Weiss: (Going through folders, Panicking) Um, that is, you see...

Ruby: Ooh! What's the matter, Weiss? I think you might be losing your winning streak... Schneak...

Weiss: Cut the crap, Rose! Don't give me anymore of your shit!

Ruby: Hmph! Fine by me, Miss Schnee. (Growing dark stain shows on her skirt)

Weiss: Whuh...?

Ruby: Heh heh... You didn't say anything about pee.

Gallery: (Gasp)

Weiss: The prosecution may have fancy tricks up her cock-sleeve like going potty on herself, (Performs her thumb removal trick) but can she do this~?

OBJECTION!

Ruby: Looks like defendant is becoming belligerent and has started dismembering her lawyer. Thumb. By. Thumb.

Gallery: (Gasp)

Weiss: (Folds in thumb) Pfft! That's not- (Looks at her hand) SHE'S RIGHT!

Nora: (Bathroom) We, the jury find beyond-

Yang: (Bathroom) UUUUUUUUUUUUUUNGH!

Nora: We the jury find beyond all reasonable doubt that the defense (Muffled by flushing sounds)

Ruby: (Dusts hands) Welp, that's one for the books!

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Cinder: (Behind bars)

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Jaune: Please... Let me home...

Clown Weiss: (Honks)