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primalinfinity · 5 years

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HUGE HUGE RWBY SPOILERS BELOW. And this is a LONG one.

Okay, watching the finale was an EVENT. The last few episodes have been the sort where I’ve paused a few times to do a lap of my apartment. This one I sat frozen in place the entire time.

It’s...strange. I got huge satisfaction from the things I got right, but it’s hollow in a way because not all of them are good.

So yeah, thoughts on the finale:

- I’m actually really satisfied that Penny got the powers of the Maiden, it pretty much closes off her Pinnochio story arc because she is now a fully realised ‘real girl’.

- Watching Cinder fail feels sooooo good. But god damn she had the best lines this episode in her opening encounter with Penny and Winter, her lines about power. Even the delivery stole the episode for me. Seeing Cinder crack is satisfying because we’re seeing more of her personality again instead of just “Bwahaha I’m the villain” which it feels like she’s been since she recruited Neo. We finally saw some of HER again. God I’m happy to see her fail. Her just snatching up the Winter powers as well would have made me roll my eyes.

- I’m pretty disappointed the fight between Robin, Qrow and Tyrian never happened. We saw it in the intro and CRWBY are normally pretty good about that sort of thing. I guess they did it just to surprise us with Clover’s death but...boo. Disappointment for that.

- Still processing Ironwood’s descent into madness and paranoia. I get that he’s fully cracked, but shooting Oscar/Ozpin? Bruh, that seems a bit much even for how far he’s fallen. He goes from simply arresting team RWBY, to attempting to kill a kid, in a single episode? Gehhh not sure how to feel about it.

- I thought the fight between RWBY and the Ace Ops last episode would be my favourite fight of the volume, but god damn did Cinder vs Winter & Penny steal that podium. It was great to see Winter show her true power, since we only got a glimpse of it back in volume 3 against Qrow when she wasn’t even going full strength. After all this time of hearing how good she is over and over, it was great to finally see it. I’m glad she survived, but now Weiss has no-one left in her family on her side except PERHAPS her mother, for all the good that will do.

- WHY DIDN’T IRONWOOD KILL WATTS. Two episodes. Two episodes it took from him APPARENTLY sparing Watts, to shooting a kid. DUDE. What the HELL. Honestly the more I think about it, the more I twitch about Ironwood’s descent.

- We got maybe 2 minutes of interaction with the previous Winter Maiden before she died, and it took less than that for me to fall in love with her to a degree that her passing hurt my heart. And that’s twice now Cinder has seen what a TRUE Maiden can do, and fallen hilariously short in front of it.

- Neo continues to be utterly unstoppable and the least beaten character on the show except for Raven, I desperately want to know her backstory and how she got so STRONG. We know nothing about her except her attachment to Roman and being part of his crime gang, and yet she can go toe-to-toe with not just Cinder, but the entirety of JNOR too.

- So, Ozpin returns! I was completely convinced that we were going to see Oscar’s semblance, and that he’d be able to fly to stop himself from falling to his death, but seeing him use magic was amazing. What was the glow with the staff’s mechanics activating? We know Ozpin’s magic is green, as is Oscar’s aura, so what was the gold glow? And I really like how one of the first things Ozpin was going to say, was to apologise. And he sounded so sincere, but I’m also glad Oscar cut him off. Oscar has grown a lot since Ozpin vanished and he clearly sees himself as Ozpin’s equal now. Which is really good. I’ve grown fond of Oscar and I can’t wait to see what his dynamic with Ozpin is now.

- Also a note on Ozpin’s return; he didn’t take over Oscar while they were falling as he returned. We saw the eyes flash so clearly he was really present, but he DIDN’T TAKE OVER. He simply clearly told Oscar what could be done, and guided him. He let Oscar do it, with simple guidance. Going back to when we saw Ozpin’s backstory from the Lamp, there’s a line about how he ‘learned to live WITH the people he was bound to’ Which implies he learned to let them live their own lives and make their own choices, but with trust they’ll also do their responsibilities. And he finally did that here with Oscar, trusting him. Ozpin has decided to trust Oscar and respect him. He’s clearly been watching.

- Ren isn’t having a good time, ever since his kiss with Nora. He hesitated in regards to their feelings for each other for so long because he feared complications and he feared they’d be distracted and overall weakened because of it. But ever since she finally kissed him and he kissed her back, he’s been proven right again and again. And the final time this episode, hesitated to stop Neo when she used Nora’s appearance, Neo got away with the Lamp. His rage about that was believable, but he didn’t need to lash out directly at Nora. I understand he fears weakness, because of his childhood trauma, but he’s spoken to Jaun in the past in front of the Pyrrha statue about teamwork and now he doesn’t trust his team to be able to do the job. It’s frustrating. But I also understand it.

- The fight with Neo felt ‘off’ with me, and I don’t know why. There was something unbalanced about it from the start and I truly don’t know why I feel the way I do about it. Something about it was just off-kilter and ‘wrong’ with it. It’s a strange feeling that I’ll think over when I rewatch the fight a few times.

- I hate that Tyrian is still alive. The D&D DM in me hates it because he’s a villain that’s done enough. He’s taken enough away from the heroes, done everything he was meant to do. He was a big impacting force this volume. Ever since he was truly introduced in his fight with Qrow and team RWBY this volume is what it was building up to. He scared the audience and the characters, wreaked havoc, and took enough away from the protagonists again and again that if he had died this volume it would have been a release of tension.

His escape and survival isn’t a cliffhanger, it’s a sour ending. Robin & Qrow killing him in the streets of Mantle, as we see their fight in the intro, a fight which never happened, would have been a perfect symbollic ending to his arc as a villain. Symbolic for dying in Mantle where he ruined Robin’s life (in a way), and dying at Qrow’s hands after everything he’s done.

He should have died this episode.

- On the note of villains surviving, there IS a part of me relieved that Watts isn’t dead. In contrast to Tyrian, Watts HASN’T done enough as a villain. Sure, he was a major player this volume, more major than Tyrian, but we don’t know him. Tyrian radiates his personality, we got a grasp of who he was early, but we still don’t KNOW Watts. Will Salem let him live? Will we see more of him? All questions I want answered. I’m curious what they’ll do with him now after this staggering ‘failure’ of his.

His strength is technology. Specifically the technology of Atlas. But the next destination after Atlas is Vacuo, said to be the most run down of the cities (probably because of the relic of Destruction). What could he possibly do to them there?

- Ruby’s silver eyes flashing at the end when she saw Cinder did NOTHING to her. Cinder seemed fine later when she was raging in the sky. So. Uhh. Alright then. That happened.

- So far we’ve met the Cowardly Lion, and the Tinman. And both have failed and given in to their weaknesses. We’re yet to meet the Scarecrow, who’s almost certainly the Headmaster of Shade. The Scarecrow lacks a brain. Are we about to encounter an idiot, after the Atlas story is resolved next volume? Fun fun fun.

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All in all, this volume satisfied me a great deal. It had a lot of spectacular moments. There are a few that left sour tastes, as mentioned above, but overall I was really impressed.

Some of my favourite fights in the show, although the original fight between Tyrian and Qrow still owns that title overall, and a lot of fantastic character moments. And some of the best dialogue so far said in the show.

I loved it from start to finish, with only those few moments disappointing me.

Can’t wait for Volume 8

#RWBY #RWBY Spoilers #RWBY volume 7 #RWBY finale

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real-jaune-isms · 5 years

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RWBY Volume 7 Chapter 10 Rundown

Another great and satisfying episode, yet it leaves us with a better cliffhanger than even the one going into this last winter hiatus. I have to commend them for that, even if I hate how badly I couldn’t wait for the next episode. But while so many of the scenes were really good, it almost feels too good to be true. The heat going off and Watts being as in control as he was could be the worst things get this volume, but I can’t help but anticipate the moment it goes from bad to worse. Spoilers for next week, that moment is coming soon.

Fortunately for my recurring annoyance at their bad habit of doing this, the episode does not start in the aftermath of this Grimm attack like they had for the one following Penny being framed and the riots after Jacques laid everybody off. Instead we open to Mantle still in turmoil and distress. Grimm are running and flying everywhere, Atlesian soldiers are killing a few but still taking casualties, and people are running for their lives in mass, one group barely avoiding getting trampled by a stampede of Mega Goliaths, or Megoliaths for short. We briefly see the Happy Huntresses doing a good job of defending civilians before a Sabyr runs by them. Another Sabyr tries to attack a Faunus mother and son before getting literally cat-called by Nora who jumps from the top of a building to bash it to dust. Marrow and Weiss are with her, and get back to work as they see another wave of the vicious cats running in. Speaking of cats, Blake is being chased by a Megoliath and 3 Ursai, and only dodges the smaller beasts by using Dust based clones to take them down or put them in the path of getting trampled by the larger pachyderm. The Megoliath can’t handle corners as well as she can and crashes into the front of a building in trying to keep following her. The beast is closing in, but she dodges to the right and it instead runs right into a rooted Elm who stops it dead in its tracks and even lifts it into the air by its tusks. Yang rushes in and plants her sticky bombs on the thing’s belly before Elm throws it a few dozen feet into the air where Yang blows it up. The three are winded but still urge civilians to get to the nearest shelter, knowing full well that even if those shelters are going to fill up fast there’s not much safe alternative right now. Qrow and Clover are taking Teryx out from the rooftops before getting unheard new orders and leaping away. Back to the first group of heroes, Weiss shows off a little and impales a Sabyr that had leaped over Marrow’s head on her Knight’s sword. She then looks at him from behind the blade and laughs that he had gotten scared by that and is holding his tail for safety. Ruby had done the same peeking around the edge of something to laugh 4 episodes ago. Guess some of her partner’s habits are rubbing off on the Ice Queen~ The civilians they’re protecting are backed against the border wall as alarm lights are still turning on all around them, making for a very panic inducing environment. They beg Nora to let them be taken to Atlas where it’s safe, saying they won’t survive here and decrying Ironwood for not doing anything to help. Nora tries to quell the outrage, promising they will be taken to safety, just give the huntsmen and huntresses a little more time.

But they soon get something better than “a little more time”, screens all over Mantle lighting up with a broadcast from Robyn Hill and General Ironwood who are hand in hand to prove there will be no lies. Such a useful Semblance Robyn has~ Ironwood is telling everyone about Salem right here and now, though he leaves out the part about her being Ozpin’s immortal evil ex and just says she’s the ancient and malicious force behind the attacks on Beacon and Haven. We see shots of our other heroes killing Grimm in Mantle, like Ruby with Harriet, and Ren and Jaune with Vine, as they realize Ironwood is coming clean. Even the villains are shown hearing what he has to say, Cinder and Neo watching the broadcast on the latter’s Scroll while Watts and Tyrian hide out in an alleyway. Speaking of those two bad boys, Ironwood publicly outs them as being responsible for all the recent hardship and freezing in Mantle and says that the panic and distrust they’ve sewn is exactly what Salem wants. It’s a pretty rousing speech, especially when he says that the people have what it takes to overcome this threat if they all work together. A pack of Sabyrs had been charging up the street to attack the people Ren and Jaune were protecting, but Vine uses his aura arms to spread them apart and press them against the buildings on either side so there is a clear path down the middle. As the General starts to inspire people, Jaune uses all his training and experience... from preschool crosswalk duty. It does help here though, since everyone gets into a single file line and keeps track of one another through a hand on the shoulder so they all stay close together while Jaune boosts Ren’s Semblance to mask the entire group from the Grimm pack they’re walking right through the middle of. He even has a few of the preschool kids there to “show’em how it’s done~”. The whole thing has a bit of a biblical Exodus vibe if I may be honest, and it’s kinda satisfying to see Jaune has skills and strengths no one saw coming from taking the work others thought was beneath them. Ironwood also admits why he wasn’t doing much to help Mantle, that being that he was focused on the Amity Tower that he says is now complete and ready to launch. The renovation of the Amity Coliseum is not news to Watts, but he didn’t know it was to become a communications tower and he pulls up the schematics in disbelief that James was working on such a big project without him noticing. Ironwood declares that he is taking all security ships away from Amity, and sending a dozen more down with them, to evacuate everyone in Mantle up to the safety of Atlas. Robyn publicly endorses and fully supports the plan and says now is the time to come together for peace, and the once terrified crowds cheer.

Someone who is NOT cheering is Tyrian, who punches a wall hard enough to leave cracks out of anger and frustration. All their work causing death and chaos, and the people are more united than ever. Peace like that is sickening to him. But Watts quells his rage for the moment, he’s still got a scheme in mind. He just needs Tyrian to cause a bit more trouble and keep the public’s eye on Mantle while he pays a visit to Ironwood’s pet project. Tyrian raises the valid point that this is already about as chaotic as you can get, but Watts plays to his ego and says if anyone can accomplish the task it’s a master like him. Robyn’s still on screen saying that the people still in shelters should stay put and transports will come to them, and that she will personally be coming to help in Sector 17. And that’s enough to inspire the psychopathic scorpion’s next move.

Meanwhile, we go back to Atlas where the cycloptic pyromaniac... I mean Cinder, is pissed that Watts and Tyrian have already started a grand plan before she arrived and she had no idea. Last she had heard Salem would be targeting Vacuo and she would have Atlas all to her secret self in the meantime. But she realizes that since she was left for dead at Haven Salem has changed the plan. She’s been out of the loop, but she’s not out of the game. Since everyone is focused on the trouble Watts started down in Mantle, no one will be paying attention if she makes her move in Atlas. Neo lets her disguise powers do the talking for her by turning into a perfect doppelganger of Ruby. She wants to go after Ruby now and get her revenge, but Cinder insists that they will be following HER plan dammit. First the Maiden powers (so she can become stronger and hopefully be able to kill Ruby at last), then they can indulge in cathartic revenge. So Neo will go after Oscar to get the lamp, since they want to take that from the heroes too, and Cinder will take advantage of Ironwood’s paranoia to expose Fria’s hiding spot. As we see next episode, she actually has a really good subtle plan for that. What is less subtle is the foreshadowing of how Neo will achieve her part of the plan: she’ll pose as one of the heroes she saw at the dinner party and thus can turn into to get close to Oscar and catch him by surprise, most likely that’s going to be Ruby.

Back down in Mantle, dozens of ships indeed start arriving and landing to evacuate the civilians to safety. We hear a sonic boom and see a streak of green dash across the sky. Another three Megoliaths charge at the ship Blake and Yang are helping herd people onto, but Elm reveals that her hammer is also a rocket launcher and uses it to blow the Grimm away. She even roots her feet down to brace herself against the recoil. Then she gives the cheering people an okay sign and a smile, it’s all in a day’s work! They hear a sonic boom too and the green streak soars by them too. Ruby and Harriet are looking for the closest landing zone to bring their group of civilians to, but instead find a bigger and meaner Megoliath than the last few. Maybe they were actually just Goliaths and this one is a real Megoliath... Regardless, it’s blocking the way to the LZ and charging at them. Luckily, the green streak soars in and is revealed to be Penny!! She shots a beam in front of the Grimm to disorient and stop it before landing with her friends. Harriet and Penny rush in to try and take the monster down, while Ruby tries to focus and tap into her Silver Eyes. Unlike last Volume, she can’t keep her focus for very long and abandons that strategy in favor of flying up to a rooftop to shoot the Grimm. It does next to nothing, as does Penny stabbing all her swords into the elephant’s exposed skull. Instead it pulls the poor android in close by the wires her swords are still attached to and sends her flying a few blocks away. Ruby dashes over to check on her, but she’s fine. She just cheerfully says ouch and comments on how dangerous the mammoth’s tusks are. This gives Ruby a great idea and we get one of those confidently nodding in agreement without even having to ask what the plan is moments from Penny... before she asks Ruby to tell her what it is. Harriet is still zooming around and weaving between the Grimm’s legs, trying whatever she can to stop or even slow the beast, to only detrimental results. Her Aura breaks, but Penny blasts the Megoliath’s head before it can trample the speedster and gets it to turn down a different street toward her. It does so, and she fires a Kamehameha at it. No, really. She moves her hands to one side and behind her to charge it, then keeps them cupped together to fire the blast in front of her! Admittedly the energy is coming from her swords spinning in a circle in front of her, as she has done since her first fight in Volume 1, but the hand movement was different here and more in line with Dragon Ball’s most iconic technique. Still, she one ups the reference by diverting 3 swords further down and to her left to fire a smaller beam at one of the Grimm’s tusks. The single point on tusk starts to heat up, while the larger beam seems to be mostly for slowing the Grimm. At Ruby’s signal, Penny stops the attack altogether and the speedster zooms right up to the Megoliath’s face to cut off the tusk at the point weakened by the heat of Penny’s beam. Clever strategy, weakening the density at that point to make it vulnerable. What comes next makes the plan epic though, as Penny grabs the severed tusk and impales it into the ground with the tip facing up while Ruby trips the mammoth’s back leg and it falls onto its own sharp body part. Much like the Omnidroid from the Incredibles, the only thing strong enough to kill it is itself. With the dangerous beast defeated, the people cheer and Penny’s reputation is restored as the Protector of Mantle. They can safely evacuate their group, and they hear similar good news from Nora and Yang’s squads. Hooray!

As Penny gives Robyn this good news over the comms, we cut to the hometown hero herself as she tells Joanna to bring the people they’re with to safety while she “checks for stragglers” and runs down an alley. Tyrian arrives to ambush her and bemoan how he hates all the hope and happiness she brings as he dodges her crossbow bolts and even catches one between his fingers before bending it with his thumb. But as he charges at her, a fishing hook almost snags him and he realizes he is the one being ambushed. Qrow and Clover are here to back Robyn up and she purposefully revealed her location to, no fishing pun intended, lure the killer in. She wants first crack at the bastard who killed her followers, but Clover wants to settle his grudge first. Unfortunately, neither can compare to the chip on Qrow’s shoulder after this punk poisoned him in Volume 4 so he’s earned the first shot. Tyrian does not like this new development one bit, and it’s possible he might just be outmatched... but we have to wait until next episode to see how that goes.

For the final storyline of the night, Doctor Watts is flying up to Amity to give the new communications tower a check up of sorts. With carpetbag in hand he makes his way to the center of the arena and surveys the renovations. They are... rather lackluster, and that’s the point. Ironwood lied about the tower being finished so he could bait Watts into coming to try and sabotage it, and the doors lock so the evil genius can’t escape. You might be wondering how the General could have lied when he was on video with a human lie detector, but they were sneaky and used a close up of just his face when he said the tower was completed so neither Watts or the audience saw that it was a lie!! Ironwood leaps down from the commentator’s booth to face Watts in the arena, and Watts uses his hacking rings to activate the biome system so their duel can be a bit more interesting~ A couple geyser and volcano biomes, and four gravity platform sections. The gravity biomes were apparently the only type CRWBY didn’t get to show off during the Vytal Tournament, so they made them the focal point of this fight. Ironwood has the good sense to try and shoot Watts while he’s bent over to touch the ground and activate the biomes, but the scientist is nothing if not ingenious and has a hexagonal shield of hard light Dust to project out of his right glove that stops the bullet. While Ironwood is checking what biomes are coming up, Watts runs off the edge and leaps onto one of the rising platforms in a gravity section. When all the mechanical changing is said and done, Watts has the high ground and both men draw their weapons. Ironwood of course has his two thick hand guns, while Watts is revealed to carry a flintlock pistol with gold vine designs up the double barrels and about... 18 or 20 chambers for bullets. That is way too much gun for one gun. From what small glimpse we get of the bullets, they seem to be hard light dust based, so who knows how much of an oomph they will pack? As he starts spinning the chambers, Watts admittedly indulges in cliche to say he won’t be going down without a fight. And that’s where the episode ends, a great cliffhanger leaving us in enthusiastic high spirits. I loved this episode a lot, and lots of other fans seem to have too.

Shame I have existential dread from the next one...

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