#li'l miss malachite

[howlingday]

Cold-Blooded Killers

Many moons ago...

Jaune: (Playing with a puppy) Friend~! Friend, Papa~! Friend~!

Papa Arc: I don't like this, Bella.

Mama Arc: Oh, come on, Nicky. It's cute.

Papa Arc: Cute?! My son is supposed to grow up to represent all sea-faunus kind in the future Survival Wars! It is my duty as a member of the Tooth and Claws Allegiance that I cannot enter wars any longer! And yet, despite my giving this boy the needed attributes to survive such games, I look at him now and all I see is SOFT!

Jaune: Haha! Mama! Papa! Look~!

Mama Arc: Give him time, Nicholas. In the meantime, why not leave Jaune alone to get better acquainted with his new friend?

Papa Arc: No. There is no time for patience or pleasure. ...I've made my decision, Lil Miss.

Mama Arc: Lil Miss? Lil Miss Malachite? Wh-Why are you talking to that awful woman? (Sees bullhead approach) Nicholas, what did you do?!

Jaune: (Watches Lil Miss approach) M-Mama? Papa?

Lil Miss: Hello Jaune. We're going for a ride.

Jaune: (Carried off by Lil Miss) NO! MAMA! PAPA! NO!

Papa Arc: (Holding his wife) Don't fight this, Isabella. This is for everyone's benefit.

Lil Miss: Don't you worry, Mister Arc. When I'm done with this one, he'll be everything you want him to be.

Lil Miss: He'll be just like me.

Jaune: (Screaming from the bullhead) MAMA! PAPA! FRIEND!

Mama Arc: (Sobbing) Why, Nicholas... Why...

Papa Arc: Because he needs to understand that his life is above all else, a game of survival. (Glares at barking dog) Kill or be killed. (Grabs dog by the collar, Opens wide)

Jaune: Papa... No...

Papa Arc: ...There is no room for friends.

[saltwukong]

Hey salt I have a question: how would you rewrite Cardin Winchester?

Looking back I really didn’t like the whole bully arc because of how pointless the arc was and how some character’s personality got hurt in the long run. (I really didn’t like how Pyrrha pointed out she hates bullies but didn’t nothing to stop it)

Matter of fact: it was also strange that he was the only “racist antagonist” in the school? No professors, no other students, it was just one guy which isn’t realistic.

I guess I seen how you analyze characters that I want something like that for cardin: more potential then what canon gave.

I would not rewrite Cardin, I would write him out.

Cardin can be cut because the arc where he appears can also be cut. It took up pointless space and wasted time, and the only part of it that served the wider story was the terming of individual powers as "Semblance" and the reveal of Pyrrha's, which could've easily been accomplished any number of ways. One-off characters like Li'l Miss Malachite or the Atlesian Pilot are often necessary; Cardin really wasn't.

Could racism have been better demonstrated in the world of RWBY? Sure, but Cardin's hardly the point where that conversation starts, or its hottest topic. Nor do I really see a point in back-and-forth about it when Miles and Kerry and Rooster Teeth as a whole are, well, racists, and whose portrayals of racism likely weren't ever going to be good regardless of who or what Cardin was as a character.

Quite honestly I fail to see a lot of the point of the proselytizing done by a lot of rwde posters, with the stated aim of 'fixing' elements or capitalizing on wasted potential. A lot of the times, that potential isn't there, or there isn't a reason for any of the elements they talk about to actually be in the story.

I know this wasn't the question you asked, but I just want to say it because I think it needs to be said: proper criticism isn't finding a silver lining or hidden good thing for every two bad things, or trying to find ways to 'improve' every bit of material. Sometimes things just suck outright and were poorly-conceived from the word 'go' and need to be cut.

'Constructive criticism' if often misunderstood as such--basically, the idea that criticism should be at least mildly encouraging. That's not what constructive criticism is. Constructive criticism is criticism that lets the person it's directed at know why a stated element doesn't work or will piss the audience off, or what about it isn't flowing well. It's less "this is nice, but this part didn't work" and more "this shit sucks, here's why, throw it out and start over". That's why editors need to be blunt to the point of rudeness and why people like Miles Luna need to grow a spine.

Think less about how Cardin could've been utilized better and start asking what the authors (Miles Luna and Kerry Shawcross) hoped to accomplish with him, whether the purpose they had in mind was really necessary, and whether he got the desired reactions out of the audience.

[guesstherwbycharacter]

[luimnigh]

Something I've been thinking about a lot since her only appearance in the show - do you ever think we'll see li'l miss malachite again? I always thought she seemed like she was going to be more important than she ended up being.

We'll probably see her again when we return to Mistral, which I fully believe we'll do before the end of the series.