#jaune got swept under the rug

[deathshallbethelastenemy]

Vol. 9 of RWBY was the biggest pile of dogshit they have ever created

[invested-in-your-future]

"character assassinate and write off her trauma" You mean something that didn't happen whatsoever? Please watch the show before you comment on it.

IDK what to say to this - asks that are basically "No, you!" are so hard to properly address.

The show literally had characters look at the camera and go: "All of our character's arcs that the show never bothered to address - don't matter because we're perfect and should never change or develop, and having doubts is evil!"

Like, the show literally made Ruby drink the dumb tea because of the trauma the show had not bothered developing or focusing on since the end of V3 - then the show proclaimed that all of that trauma doesn't matter and means nothing and should be wiped clean as if all the set-up is pointless.

V9 is one big case of the show just outright stating - "We aren't going to do anything with the characterization set-up or flaws that the show implied before as the character arcs are all over even though we haven't done anything with them."

Ruby gets told having very reasonable doubts is evil, gets neglected and treated like trash, shouted upon - her own sister favoring a writer's pet jaune over her. She then handwaves all of her issues, trauma, and mistakes and the show treats it as a positive.

Weiss literally has no character arc - she hasn't had one for years - which is hilarious as they had just destroyed her homeland, and her family is in ruins. Does Weiss look back upon it or question who she is now? Nope. Does Weiss reflect on her privilege or how her family shaped her? She hasn't during the Atlas arc, and Weiss sure doesn't in V9 - she's the comic relief now, somehow.

Blake hasn't had a character arc since her hilariously tone-deaf "burning and looting" monologue in Menagerie. V9 doesn't address her issues, the Faunus subplot, or the tension between Yang and Blake that SHOULD be there after V3.

Yang, likewise, has no character arc, too. Her issues with her mother? Not addressed. Her self-worth issues and aimlessness? Not addressed. Her relationship with her sister? Her issues with Blake leaving? Her trauma? The show has swept it all under the rug.

The characters proudly turn to the camera and say: "this doesn't matter, and the show will never focus upon any of these interesting characterization things because we are all perfect and should never change. We will now focus on this mission given to us by GOD!" - this is such a bewildering, unearned moment because nobody out of the four characters in the main cast has had any character arc or actual closure as the show has NEVER focused upon them at all.

And the writers clap.

Where's the characterization? Where's the show's FOUR LEAD CHARACTERS being treated with care and respect and given focus? Where's development and growth that has been missing since V3?

The writer's pet Jaune gets the focus. And even then all of that focus gets reset in the end because can't have the status quo change!

V9 is pointless at best and offensive and insulting at worst as far as characterization goes.

Any even remotely interesting story beats that COULD be here (Like Ruby learning of Penny's fate and actually confronting Jaune about it) are offscreened.

Oh yeah we got literally five seconds of Summer tease - something that is at least four Volumes too late and honestly I couldn't care less now because because look - Ruby's issues are solved and didn't matter - her trauma is gone now!

It's writers unintentionally flashing one huge red warning that says - "if you have followed us and stuck with the show for characterization or all the unexplained things possibly getting focus, then we hate you and don't want you here. - we will not address anything nor make characters grow. In fact we genuinely don't care about the leads and Jaune is clearly the only focus of this show now. And also we especially hate anyone with psychological trauma because trauma is not real!"

Brilliant strategy when your company is barely afloat, RT.

[chaoslordjoe]

RWBY - Do I Ship It #2? Ruby Rose

I’ve decided to continue this whole shebang with going over ships for individual characters each time. And for this one, we’re looking at our favorite cooking-deepthroating reaper, Ruby Rose...That may be one of my favorite character descriptions I’ve ever typed.

With introductions outta the way, let’s talk some Ruby ships.

White Rose

kinda leaves me indifferent?

overrated

would read a fic about it

Ideally, White Rose has become one of those ships that half of the FNDM loves to hate. But me, I’m not as triggered by it, let alone nowhere near as angered by it’s presence simply because it’s not Bumbleby.

Unlike BB, in which it’s presence makes me wanna slug my screen every time I see a comment thread screeching high praise about it, I can look at White Rose and just be more like: “Eh. It’s okay.” Simply because I have seen WR content that I enjoy, and that at least many WR shippers know when to shut up when they’re called out unlike Wasps.

Really, a lot of the content has a lot heart put into it to where I really can’t get mad at it. I know it’s a WLW ship. I know that’s become a thing to generally hate among RWBY fans. But I do think that WR is the lesser of two evils between that and BB not because I have a lot of friends who ship it, but because I think folks crap on it way too much compared to the demon that BB has become.

Am I saying there aren’t toxic WR fans still around? Hell no. They need to be called out on it, too. But I’m also generally more relaxed about the ship. Nothing major really.

Ladybug

I SHIP IT

CUTENESS OVERLOAD

underrated

hELL YES

Ladybug has become a recent addition to my ship list a while back. But I’ve fallen head over heels for it in such a short amount of time.

Even many folks I’ve spoken to who tend to gag at the mention of WLW ships in a fandom as egregious as RWBY’s agree that the Bugs are really harmless given soft the content of this ship often is. I’m not saying that Ladybug is all “wee-hee-we’re-a-couple-of-happy-go-lucky-dorks” because that would make it unoriginal and boring to read in many cases.

No, the reason I’ve grown to adore Ladybug so much is because I’m one of those who parrots how much of a missed opportunity (like the show is as a frigging whole) how many interactions there could be between Ruby and Blake.

Why wouldn’t they? They’re both into fantasy stories, both have darkened color schemes, and share some general views on why they fight. Really, Ladybug is just a good way for me to fill the void of just how much Rooster Teeth doesn’t give a fuck about how to organize their characters properly?

Volume 5 gets Freezerburn, and not onwards? Come on, RT.

But before I end up turning this into a rwde post, let’s just move onto the next ship.

Nuts & Dolts

I SHIP IT

CUTENESS OVERLOAD

Soulmates

I WOULD DIE FOR IT OKAY

Yeah this one was pretty obvious. But who cares?! I frigging adore Nuts & Dolts.

Let me just be clear in saying that I can ship it platonically/romantically, simply because I love the bond that Ruby and Penny share. They’re both hyperactive, kindhearted and strong-willed girls with a penchant for bladed weaponry and wanting to make the world a better place for everyone.

This initially made N&D into a guilty pleasure ship for me. But over time, I just couldn’t resist or get mad at it because I love how soft it feels. Same reason as Ladybug for the most part. But overall, I like N&D because of just how much soul there is between two people who were born differently with a set of powers that aren’t what you’d call “ordinary”.

As someone who’s been called “unique” or other labels with the disability I have, I usually find it very pretentious and downright grating to see stories that are supposed to be uplifting about being born in a different manner because that can be really damn annoying after a while.

Yeah, stuff like disability or other stuff is under-represented in pop culture. But often it’s portrayed in a very “Hollywood” fashion even if it’s not a work from that culture and work mindset.

I’m not saying N&D is one of those “unique” portrayals, but as something that shows what happens when two saviors who wanted a normal life have someone in each other that they can trust and even love for their shared experiences of being born differently.

Which is why I’ve grown to accept Ruby and Penny as the popular fan portrayal of being girlfriends or platonic friends. They have so much in common, which makes it that much more endearing for me personally.

Okay. Those are some Ruby/Other girl ships outta the way. Now let’s discuss some Ruby/guy ships...Here’s where it gets a little odd.

Lancaster

BROTP

overrated

no thanks

Oh boy. I’m probably gonna get some flak for this entry...

Let me just be clear that this is a post that is NOT meant to attack any particular shippers. This is me stating what I feel about certain ships and me occasionally talking about how I think they would turn out. 

It’s not my headcanon interpretations, per se. But instead it’s more how I picture it based on my experience with viewing relationships in my own life before I started discussing fandom ships.

Now that I have that out of the way, let’s discuss Ruby/Jaune.

When I first started watching RWBY, my first ship, like many others was Arkos (more on that when I cover Jaune). I felt that Pyrrha was just the right fit for a lovable dweeb like him with how it helped kick-start his character development and the framework for how he would improve himself overall.

Granted, I wasn’t really expecting Arkos to be canon since Pyrrha had died in V3. It was a tragic outcome for a ship that had so much buildup. And most of the FNDM agreed that Jaune needed a hug along with his friends to help him through it.

When I started to hear about the fact that Jaune was shipped with other girls in the main cast, I wasn’t really shocked since White Knight was already fairly popular. But when I found out about Lancaster, it was like: “Wait a second, people actually ship him with Ruby?”

Was more confusion than astonishment, to be honest. I didn’t really think that it would’ve been fitting despite how close and similar both team leaders were. But I decided to bite the bullet and give it a try with reading a couple of Lancaster works.

I got bored.

I’m not so much angry whenever I hear about Lancaster as I am just not impressed by how much fanon works recycle many tropes and plot elements.

Ruby is secretly in love with Jaune.

Jaune does something adorkable or manly which attracts Ruby.

Ruby makes/attempts to make a move on him with some crazy or titillating way that, while in-character for her, has been repeated one times too many in this or other ships featuring her.

Jaune is generally being a good boi throughout. I like Jaune, but I feel that he’s put in too many fanfics in which he’s overly good and pure. Again. It’s fitting for him, but sometimes a bit of difference in fan interpretation is nice. Make him angry, have him lash out at his friends at times. Just don’t make him a “perfect” boyfriend.

Both dorks often have to hide their relationship because of the possibility of Pyrrha being jealous, Yang going apeshit, or other characters reacting the way they do which is often buzzwords in a fic like that.

Lancaster shippers, I am not attacking you since this is your thing. If so, fine. But it’s not mine as I am giving an attempt to give constructive criticism about some of the ships listed here while talking about ships I like to make these posts all about even ground.

I prefer to see Ruby and Jaune as besties. Hell. I prefer to see them more like siblings considering how much Jaune acted like a big brother to Ruby on the road to Mistral with how Yang was bedridden with depression in V4. I also think that Jaune needs a friend right now rather than a love interest. The same could be said for a lot of characters right now, but that’s a different topic.

My biggest criticism for LC is that while I understand the similarities that they share, it’s the whole “opposite-gender-leads-fall-in-love” trope. This trope can be done right *coughRENORAcough* but is put in so many works that I’m not one of those fans who’s impressed with it.

The ship isn’t original, but it’s nothing to make me wanna rage-post like I’m Keemstar on Red Bull or the like. And I know people who are into it, to which I tell them: Good for all of you. It’s simply not my cup of tea.

Rosegarden

would read a fic about it

meh

not really my thing

Oh god, how I wish it wasn’t harvest season!

Kidding. Kidding. Rosegarden is legit, and all my friends in the group who ship it are wonderful people.

Another ship that I can’t really get angry at since compared to other ships that cover things like young love or ships of people who were born differently (see my Nuts & Dolts entry), RG is pretty fucking harmless and I can tolerate it more even though I’m not into it.

While I understand why it seems hypocritical of me to share and repost stuff related to RG on occasion, this is simply because I have reason to share it based on how much I’ve interacted with shippers and how I’ve actually had productive discussions with them outside of their ship.

It’s the community which I like more than the ship because of how much more chill they are. But there’s also a big reason why I know that some people crap on this one.

Ozpin.

Dude, if I had a Dollar for every “RG-is-pedophilia-because-Oscar-is-Ozpin’s-puppet” fallacy that was posted I wouldn’t be needing a stimulus check. Let me explain to y’all why that’s bullshit.

(RWDE mode online)

Is Ozpin eons of years old? Yes. He’s from Humanity 1.0 and was thrown into the bodies of men in the modern world in his war against Salem. It’s a rough situation with a lot of baggage to any relationship he puts up or wishes to even build-up and I don’t think it should be swept under the rug because there’s a lot of stuff that should be brought up about the guy.

Is Ozpin intervening on any potential interaction between Ruby and Oscar? No. Canon or no, Oz has been a neutral party in whatever interactions the two kids have because it’s not really his business. Do you honestly believe that if Ozpin would be the kind to boss his host around that he would attempt to butt in on their friendship?

As an Oz critic, I can say that while I understand both interactions, I draw the line at this ship being considered pedophilia.

I mean, come on! The FNDM ships Ruby with villains like Roman, Cinder and Salem, who are adults when she’s a teenager! And suddenly it’s okay to claim pedophilia just because Ozpin is present?! ARE YOU HIGH?

If we’re going with that logic, fine, just have Ozpin ascend from his brain after Salem is 86′d, THEN we can have a development in RG’s friendship whether it’s romantic or not. But leave the fans of this pairing out of it!

(RWDE mode offline)

The reason I don’t ship Rosegarden is because I’m not a fan of the whole “young love” trope either. I wouldn’t mind it so much if Oscar wasn’t relegated to a support role due to being an Oz host and he had more screen time rather than the old wizard.

Maybe I’m just too cynical about stuff like this to really care. But the point is, I can’t get mad at this ship either and I’m willing to read up on it in small doses.

Strawbana

I ship it

CUTENESS OVERLOAD

the sexiest pair

we need more of it

underrated

Sun Wukong, you magnificent monkey bastard! You always seem to brighten my day whenever I’m looking through critical discussions related to this show.

Much as I love BlackSun, I’m definietly curious to learn more about other ships involving my homeboy here. Solar Flare, I also like. But Sun/Ruby? Thank you sir, may I have another!

Ugh. Can’t believe I just quoted Animal House to describe my love for this painfully underrated ship. Somebody get me some soap...

Other than their VAs being married in real life, I like Strawbana/Red Sun the same reason as Nuts & Dolts with this being a ship that features two extremely upbeat characters finding love in one another with just how much they kick ass for the reasons of just being good people.

Kinda/sorta the only straight Ruby ship I’m into just because of how much they could rub off on one another, and how much I’d love to see them interact more in canon material. Not just the show but any other tie-in stuff.

Next time, we cover Weissu.

[littlemisssquiggles]

I might get some flack for this but, in hindsight, Oscar technically doesn’t need to be in chapter 4. He hasn’t gone to a huntsmen academy. He hasnt really been properly trained, and therefore he shouldn’t get a license and celebrate with everyone. I’m sure he’d feel it’d be weird to celebrate with them anyway since he hasn’t been with them for as long as they been with each other, and besides he hasn’t earned anything, at the moment. He’d be more comfortable congratulating them when they return

Hey Cora. Whelp, first of all, I don’t think you’re going to get any flack since you’re not the only Pinehead who’s tried to justify why it was a good thing that Oscar wasn’t present to join everyone in celebrating receiving their huntsmen licenses. So you’re good on that front.

Here’s the thing with that though. I get what you’re saying, and while I can’t speak for all Pineheads, I can speak for myself and explain why I didn’t particularly enjoy RWBY V7CH4 for Oscar’s absence from that scene. I didn’t like it when I first watched the episode yesterday and even now, after I’ve listened to this same rationale from other Pineheads such as yourself, I’m sorry but my feelings have not changed much from my initial first impression.

This episode only served to further justify a glaring issue with Oscar’s treatment within the show. I’ve heard other Pineheads (and in some cases, even Ozpinheads) voice this concern before and now I’m starting to see it too. 

Oscar is not a character. At least, often at times, he doesn’t feel like a character even after three seasons since part of his characterization involves him being used as a plot device for the purpose of either advancing the plot or aiding in another character’s development while his own gets swept under the rug.

With the exception of certain characters; like Ruby and to some extent Nora; the only time when the other characters are required to care about Oscar’s well-being is when it services the plot. Other times, the Writers are perfectly content with having the characters behave as if Oscar doesn’t exist and this is where it becomes bothersome to Pineheads like myself who take notice of this dribble.

This would explain why Blake mentioned him last episode since it led into Yang addressing the Mammoth Grimm in the room regarding hiding the truth about Salem from Ironwood which then led into her asking Ruby about Oscar’s feelings in all of this.

It serviced the plot since that’s how we were able to get the flashback to Ruby’s talk with Oscar…even though it was brief. And following that episode, Oscar wasn’t seen or mentioned again for CH4 since…well…his presence wasn’t required to advance the plot of this seemingly filler episode. CH4 definitely felt like one of those ‘cool down’ episodes especially coming off the high of the last three episodes that were pretty packed with lots of entertaining action and intriguing plot-heavy exposition.

So Oscar wasn’t a factor in CH4 since his character wasn’t needed. Still didn’t make his absence feel any less weird, at least to me since a) I genuinely missed my boy this episode and most importantly of all b) I don’t understand why he couldn’t be there with everyone.

Not even your rationale about Oscar being uncomfortable being there around everyone when they’re having their moment is helpful because it doesn’t really answer why he couldn’t be there. It’s just another hunch—another potential reason as to why Oscar couldn’t be there but we’re not sure if that’s the case since it’s not supported by the show.

This is why I have a better chance at believing the Pinehead hunch by @miki-13 and @maripr where Oscar wasn’t present for the celebrations because, at the moment, there might be some unspoken tension between him and Ruby that possibly arose because of their talk from CH3. 

I’d believe that reason since it’s supported by a bit of evidence from the show. The saddened expression on Ruby’s face and how defensive she got when Yang probed her about the topic definitely gives the vibe that she didn’t manage to win over Oscar as she did with the others. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the case as we’ve seen in the past how Oscar becomes when he senses that Ruby isn’t being completely honest with him. 

So I’m wondering if the two did get into a fight and now things are akward between them. I don’t really know and another thing that bummed me out about CH4 is that we got no further clarification of what went down between the Rosebuds. CH3 gave us a teaser and left us a cliff-hanger while CH4 dropped it all together. This all feels like the calm before the storm.

Like imagine if…in the next episode, it is revealed that things are indeed tense between Ruby and Oscar. Like picture the episode kicking off with Ruby standing outside the door of Oscar’s dorm this time to parallel him coming to her in CH3. 

Perhaps…the door is closed and Ruby has just been standing there for several beats, gearing herself up to speak to Oscar since, the last time the two chatted, it didn’t go as well as she remembered. 

But as Ruby goes to knock on the door, it suddenly slides open and there’s Oscar already standing before her. Oscar doesn’t even react to seeing Ruby there. 

As the audience, you can tell that there is some assumed strain between the little barn prince and his little red rose by their taut interaction but you don’t get a sense of what’s really going on until they speak to each other.

Imagine a dialogue exchange like this:

Oscar: *tersely* …Uh hey. What’s up?

Ruby: *awkwardly* Oh I…just wanted to show you this. *whips out her huntsman license* I got my license, see! Ironwood gave it to us after the mission. Isn’t that…great?

Oscar: *indifferently* Yeah. Nora and Jaune already told me. Congratulations.

Ruby: …Thank you.

Oscar: *dismissively* Anyways, I should get going. Got training.

Ruby: Oscar wait. C—Can we talk?

Oscar: About what?

Ruby: You know what. About…what happened…last time we—

Oscar: It depends. Did you tell Ironwood the truth about Salem?

Ruby: N—No but—

Oscar: *crossly* Then there’s nothing for us to talk about.

Imagine if...Oscar is mad right now at Ruby. It’d actually be interesting if there was currently a bit of bad blood between the Rosebuds. I’ve seen one or two Pineheads voice how much they’d like to see Oscar go off on everyone for how he’s been treated by the group since Argus. I doubt Oscar is going to be 100% okay with Ruby pulling an Ozpin. As a matter of fact, I’m expecting that to be a point of conflict for his side of things this season. 

The last time Ozpin pulled an Ozpin, Oscar technically was the one who instigated the reveal. If Oscar hadn’t stopped Oz from trying to retrieve the Relic back from Ruby and if he hadn’t also told Ruby the truth about the lamp then Jinn wouldn’t have been summoned. You can almost go so far as to say that Oscar was the reason the truth came out. 

While Ruby was the one who asked the question, Oscar was the one who fed her the information required for her to get the chance to ask that question.

The truth came out with Oscar’s interference. So I’m wondering if that’s going to happen again, only this time Oscar will be forced to do the same to Ruby. And I can imagine him being very conflicted on that due to how much he cares about Ruby. That could be cool. But for now, it’s only an assumption.

An assumption that I wished CH4 had kind of addressed. IT really sucked how the CRWBY Writers got us intrigued with the Rosebuds scene in CH3 only to go into CH4 with no mention of Oscar at all, not even in a flashback. This is why it all felt so jarring.  

When I first saw Ironwood there, my immediate reaction was “Oh! Is Oscar here too? Did he come down to the construction site and took a lift with James?“ 

But as we saw, Oscar wasn’t present. I kept waiting for him to pop up especially when the group were taken up into Amity Tower for their briefing. I kind of expected him to be present since all the people who knew the truth about the tower’s purpose were there in the arena room. 

Penny was there. Winter was there. The Aces, to some extent were there. But Oscar wasn’t. When I first saw this scene I figured it was going to be another follow up debriefing regarding the tower’s construction since that’s how it started off as before it went into the licence rewarding.

I’m not saying that Oscar should’ve been there to receive his license too since Oscar is still inexperienced. Even if he’s trained by Ironwood, he still hasn’t earned his license like the others and I understand that. That’s not why I was upset.

I was more upset at the fact that here were have yet another moment with the team together, bonding and celebrating an achievement they earned together and…Oscar, who we’ve been told is also a part of the team too, isn’t there to celebrate the moment with them. Not even to be shown congratulating them afterwards?

As I said on Twitter yesterday, this moment only served to remind me of my biggest nit-pick with Oscar’s treatment in the show. You have the series clumsily trying to tell me, as the audience, that Oscar is supposed to be a member of the team but then you get moments like this where everyone is together and he’s not there to share the moment with them.

It reminded me of why I strongly disliked V6CH9 and most of V6 for how they handled Oscar’s integration into the group. After two seasons with him going on three, I still don’t feel as if Oscar is really a part of the team. 

And your reasoning for Oscar only being with the team for a short time and shouldn’t be allowed to share in this moment further justifies that fact.

Oscar has only been with the team for roughly 48 or 49 days. That’s approximately one month, 2 weeks and four days. But if @_ebea over on Twitter is indeed correct about another month passing between the group’s arrival in Atlas and their first mission with the Ace Ops, then it would mean that Oscar has actually been with the team for two months.

So…why would it be better for him to not be present during a great moment for his team…when he supposed to be a part of the team??

I’m sorry Cora. Again, I know what you’re trying to say and I hear you m’dear. But, hand over heart, I’m not fully buying into this rationale because all it’s doing is making me think back to V6CH9 when Jaune Arc dead-ass says:

“…This team just isn’t the same without you Oscar.”

And yet, here we have this nice little moment of achievement for the team and Oscar isn’t even there to congratulate everyone and be there for his team even though he’s supposedly a part of it.

(Dude; Penny hasn’t seen the team in about the same amount of time as Oscar has been with them and yet she was allowed to share in this moment with them? So why couldn’t Oscar too?)

I’m sorry. This moment just does not compute with me.

As a team moment for JNR_RWBY, it doesn’t work for me since ALL the members of the hero squad are there, except Oscar.

And as a meeting of all the people who knew about Amity Tower, it doesn’t sit well with me either since, like I said, everyone who knew about Amity Tower and were present in Ironwood’s office for the meeting were there…except Oscar.

The one plausible reason for Oscar’s absence from V7CH4 is that he couldn’t be there because he didn’t know that JNR_RWBY were getting their licenses that day. 

If I recall correctly, the earning of the licenses was a shock to the heroes too since Ironwood surprised them with it…after just one mission with the Aces.

Still felt kind of weird that no one asked about Oscar again for this episode though. Especially when Ironwood, Winter and Penny all came down from Atlas which pegged the question of :

“If Ironwood was down at the site with our heroes; since the FNDM assumption was that Oscar was probably training with Ironwood while the heroes were with the Ace Ops; then does this mean that Oscar was left all alone up in Atlas while everyone was celebrating up in Amity Tower?”

My saving grace is that Oscar was actually with Pietro helping out in the lab and secretly being trained to become an inventor’s apprentice. 

Because as I said, we got everyone there except Oscar. Everyone who knew about Amity Tower and its purpose were present except him and that’s what mostly bothered me about this episode.

It just felt…like the Writers honestly forgot about Oscar…again and it just brought back a lot of bitterness for me because it reminded me of V6 all over again.

So yeah, your reasoning is cool Cora. If that’s how you look at it then great. Just don’t mind little ole me if I disagree with that outlook because from my perspective, leaving him out of team moments like this has the opposite effect.

To me, this just further highlights the disconnect between Oscar and the others and just shows how much he doesn’t really have a place on this team even though he’s supposed to (and especially since the show told us last season that he does). That’s my take on it.

Also, not to be that person but… bold of you to assume that the CRWBY Writers are actually going to show Oscar congratulating everyone on earning their huntsmen licences once they return up to Atlas Kingdom. We didn’t even get to see him sending off everyone before their mission or reacting to everyone’s new looks (particularly Ruby’s like most of us Rosegardeners had hoped).

We’d only be so lucky if next episode opens with a scene where Ruby shows up at Oscar’s room to show him her sparkling new license …who’s to say, right?

Only CH5 will tell and I’m curious if it will highlight Oscar training with Ironwood as part of the narrative. Unless that’s going to be it’s own focus episode which it should be at this point since…Oscar could use a focus episode that actually gives him full attention for once. But who knows.

I can’t really trust that with these Writers. Not after V6 and not after V7CH4. But we’ll see.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019)

[luminous777]

Time to stop talking about hair

Look we all have our opinions on the hair some like it others don’t some didn’t care but because of all the complaining they jumped in and took sides. 

Let us instead focus on the other piece of Jaune news that got swept under the rug with all this hair nonsense 

THIRSTY MOMS - Is it Mama Schnee? Is it random Atlas women? is It I dunno a drunk Raven who thinks its Tai and after this is when she goes to see Tai?Who knows but how about we talk about that instead of hair.

[kob131]

RWBY Volume 6 Episode e9 Review

Hey, Mod Quartz here!

So Episode 9...Yeah, although saying it’s the worst of Volume 6 isn’t saying much considering how well the Volume is going...

This is still not gonna be a very positive review.

So we begin this episode with Emerald and Mercury setting around in Salem’s Hell as Emerald bitches about being left in the dark. ... Why? Why is Salem keeping Emerald and Mercury in the dark, especially considering Salem’s way of going about things would benefit from having Emerald around with her Semblance? Seriously, one off handed remark of punishment would solve this issue.

I know this sound nitpicky but this sets up a series of little issues that snowball into one another, the second of which being Emerald’s question to Mercury about why he joined Cinder coming out of nowhere. I know she’s been set up as a partially unwilling player in all this, doing it more out of loyalty to Cinder than anything else, but we don't really get any build up to Emeral’s question in this scene. No looking frustrated after Mercury’s part or looking uneasy- it just cuts to the next question in the same shot without any proper build up.

At least Mercury and Emerald give answers that make sense for their characters which is more than I can say for the build up to their fight. The previous scenes with these two kind of established that Mercury and Emerald cared about on another to some degree beyond simple comrades but here Mercury is being oddly severe and harsh towards Emerald. I mean jesus, this was harsh even for him.

The actual fight between them is alright and makes sense given Mercury’s past but I do have to question HOW Marcus stole his kid’s Semblance? I assumed before Semblances were less supernatural in nature like magic and more like innate superpowers but you can’t just take a superpower away from someone when it’s something innate to them. It’s like trying to take away Superman’s super strength without using Kryptonite or red sun energy: it’s physically a part of him. So what exactly is a Semblance?

Then we have Tyrian coming in, saving the scene for a bit with his good ol’ Shakespearean performance, not to mention him making a mockery of Mercury and thoroughly creeping them both out is a good way of furthering how behind the heroes are in terms of power. He goes onto try and talk his juniors into enjoying the death and destruction they cause, warns them against defecting, gives just the creepiest fucking threat as he leaves with Watts for Atlas. So the ending of the scene was nice...Too bad about everything else which just kind of seemed off or poorly explained.

Next we cut to JNR and Sapphron walking through Atlas, calling out and looking for Oscar. Sapphron asks what happened to have caused this which leads to JNR dancing around the issue while expressing how much worse their situation has gotten. This is pretty neat considering that we’ve only had Ozpin’s betrayal as the reason why everyone has been so moody with the despair of such a task being swept under the rug so it’s good to see some variety in the team. Sapphron tries to convince JNR to stay in Argus, getting their licenses at Haven and help out in Atlas, which is good to see since it kind of feels like Sapphron is trying to look out for her little brother.

After a couple of somber moments, from Sapphron leaving to go pick up her son to Nora and Ren leaving to go take a break while leaving their leader behind at his behest, Jaune sits alone at the side of a street by himself, overwhelmed by everything that has happened. Then a small autumm oak leaf floats by, catching his attention before it floats away into a nearby park. Jaune follows it and discovers a big ol’  statue of our good friend Pyrrha. Jaune mourns over Pyrrha for a bit, looking lost until he’s joined by a red haired, green eyed woman bring flowers to Pyrrha’s statue. The woman talks about how Pyrrha wanted to go to Beacon and how glad she was that Pyrrha was surrounded by good people. Then we have Jaune being suicidal again, saying that Pyrrha should be standing there. The woman proceeds to tell him that she is, talking about how Pyrrha wouldn’t have regretted her decision and how she knew that there was no choices in how to handle her final moments. We then have Jaune tell her that while Pyrrha never graduated, she was sa Huntress. Making the woman tear up. This part ends as Ren and Nora enter the picture and the woman disappears from sight,

While this is a heartwarming scene...There is no shortage of issues here. First off, how did Jaune stick around Argus for so long without seeing thee Pyrrha statue? Did no one see it or mention it? Why wouldn’t Sapphron tell him, unless the implications that she doesn’t know about Pyrrha are true. In which case: why did Jaune or Nora or Ren NEVER say anything? Furthermore, why is the woman’s identity  a secret? They already had plans involving Pyrrha’s mom in Volume 2 so why not make the woman her mom? Why else would she have so many of Pyrrha’s characteristics? 

The issue with this isn’t because these questions come up. Just because questions come up doesn’t mean it’s bad. For example, the shattered moon was very hyped up by the fandom but in the show itself, it was just something cool in the background. While people were disappointed with how it was answered, it wasn’t relevant to the show up until that point. Answering thee question of how the moon got shattered before then would add nothing to the show.

Here, think about the scene for a moment. Certain lines like ‘she was surrounded by such amazing people’ and ‘she never graduated, but she was s a Huntress’ seem to have been made for a conversation where Jaune and this woman KNEW each other. And thus, their impact is that much more powerful WITH that context. Not just that but certain moments like the woman looking at Jaune at certain points like when talking about how Pyrrha’s comrades were amazing and how she teared up when Jaune talked about how Pyrrha was a Huntress: they seem made for the context that the woman is Pyrrha’s mom and they KNOW who the other is. And thus, it becomes a mutual moment of comfort and connection over a lost loved one. But no, it’s just two people with a vague connection who just so happen to be at the same place.

Moving on, we have a moment with JNR as Nora and Ren acknowledge Jaune’s suicidalness (Finally!) and they affirm that they are a family, loving Jaune as they did Pyrrha. So with that mutual comfort in hand, they walk off home... to find a drunken Qrow passed out in front of the door while Ruby looks even more exasperated. Everyone worries about Oscar for a moment...until the door opens to showcase Oscar in combat clothes, having just went out to buy them.

… Yeah remember the bitchfest that happened in Volume 4 Episode 10 because Ruby was gonna breakdown to Jaune and Jaune stopped ber by saying how great she was. Well, imagine that scene except the cut off benefits no one, the build up to it was more serious, it was over something more dramatic and it ended for a joke. SO yeah, serious fuck up there.

Everyone expresses their relief at Oscar being okay while Qrow does his impression of a grumpy old man, moaning about how they were still at the same point they were at before: unable to get to Atlas. Then Jaune pipes up and brings in his suggestion. That being....steal a fucking airship. … Are all the Arcs just criminals in making? Are we gonna have a spin off chronicling Sapphron and her adventures commiting bank heists?

Qrow for once has a good point, chewing them out on how fucking reckless the plan is. Then, as she looks back at everyone else, Ruby takes the reigns of the conservation and then proceeds to chew Qrow out on how he was giving up, saying that even without Ozpin  they had made it this far and how at that point she didn’t really care what Qrow thought (Ow...). Everyome looks to each other in agreement as the episode ends with Ruby staring down her uncle. Gotta say Ruby’s been getting the lion’s share of good episodes.

So that was Episode 9...Yeah, as you could probably tell, I was pretty disappointed in this episode. It just feels so...off, between the awkward beginning with Emerald and Mercury, the ridiculous missed opportunity with Jaune and the stupid end of Oscar’s arc. While it's telling about Volume 6 that despite being the worst episode, this still had quite a few good moments-that doesn’t make up for the bad writing here.