#rwby volume 9 beyond

[four-cats-in-a-trenchcoat]

The way I screamed. Me when Pyrrha is on screen for 0.2 seconds: *incoherent high pitched noises*

This episode made me so happy for a number of reasons.

1. JNPR content because I adore them (Nora telling everyone Jaune was the Rusted Knight and people believing it's some kind of inside joke because there's no way this guy is an actual fairy tale character right? >>>>>>)

2. Jaune talking to his fellow man out of time, Oscar. (Or, well, Ozcar would perhaps be more appropriate at this point)

And, most importantly

3. Jaune's time (and trauma) in the Ever After being addressed properly, even with the little time they had on their hands. I was SO scared they would just...go back to how he was before, as if nothing had happened, but I'm glad to see they acknowledge the devastating impact all that happened must've had on him. And let's not forget he's like forty now. I had seen people speculating about whether or not he would've lost some of his memories after being reverted to his nineteen/twenty-year-old self, and while I didn't think that would happen, it's nice to see a confirmation that he did, in fact, retain all of his memories.

Bonus: the journaling bit was a welcome surprise. It's therapy time.

While I would've liked some mention of Penny, I'm more than happy with what we got.

[jayz4dayz]

RWBY Volume 9 Was A Total Missed Opportunity:

Putting this out there right now. Volume 9 is by far my favorite volume of RWBY for many reasons which I will not be addressing in this post, but there are a few things that have been on my mind since it's been released where I feel the storyline went wrong and could have been something so much more meaningful for the character's story arcs and development.

Starting off with our main man or should I say our old man Jaune Arc. His presence throughout Vol. 9 felt out of place not just for his character, but also the way his development was handled didn't feel right in the slightest. Becoming a crazy old crackpot because he foolishly made bad decision after bad decision, completely altering and undoing a lot of his character's timeline, and turning into this sort of secondary antagonist for Team RWBY made no sense to me. The way he said so many out of pocket things throughout the different episodes, including completely crossing a line with Ruby and being insensitive towards her mental and emotional condition instead of showing genuine concern like he normally would have, made me cringe to where I wasn't enjoying what I was watching anymore. Not in a good way!

Here's how I would have done it:

Going back to the very end of volume 8 where we see Jaune running towards the portal and barely missing it by mere inches, followed by seeing him fall into the dark abyss and joining the same fate as Team RWBY and Neo. Instead of that, we see him jumping through the portal at the very last second and making it to Vacuo by the skin of his teeth. The others see him and question why he's alone and where Team RWBY was, only for him to go "Uh..." and then the screen cuts to black and the credits start rolling.

We're gonna skip the three year hiatus and jump right into the beginning of Vol. 9 where only Team RWBY and Neo have fallen into the Ever After. For the first few episodes leading up to the reveal of the Rusted Knight, I don't think much needs to change except for the fact that they won't ever encounter Jaune, but they will still encounter the Rusted Knight who, in this version, is someone that would have had the entire fandom shook to their core when the big reveal of the Rusted Knight's identity happened: Pyrrha.

Now, how would she get to this point, you might ask? Well, remember when she got pierced by Cinder's Arrow and her body seemed to disintegrate? This scene:

This death compared to all the other characters who were killed off was unique in the fact that there was no body left behind and it almost appeared her energy was transported to another place. Hmm, perhaps another realm such as the In Between or the Ever After? Why this happened, in my opinion, was because of the use of someone else's semblance. We know very little about Pyrrha's family and have only seen her mother on screen once, so we don't know much about her backstory or semblance either. However, if her semblance worked anything like Raven's to where she needed to be attached to someone in order for her semblance to work and transfer her loved ones to a safer location to escape a deadly threat, now we have something. What if her mom's semblance transported the body to another realm of her choice right before the moment of death? (I like to call it a "divine intervention" semblance.) If that's the case, then why wouldn't it make sense for a mother's love to send her daughter somewhere familiar and (relatively) safe and still accessible to Remnant? The Ever After was based on a children's tale that everyone knew growing up and Pyrrha being as smart as she is would instantly recognize where she was transported to. Maybe she had knowledge of her mother's semblance and knew this might have happened one day, or maybe not. I find the one scene her mother is in to be very interesting because while she was talking to Jaune, she had a very bitter-sweet attitude about it and almost talked as if she knew more than she let on, but I digress.

In the story's timeline, when Team RWBY arrives in the Ever After, Pyrrha would have been there already for a couple of years. That would have given her enough time to establish herself and explore the different acres because let's be real here, Pyrrha wouldn't have stumbled upon the time travel fruit and messed around with it like Jaune did, nor would she have focused all her energy into the people of the land even though she would protect them with her life if she had to, but at the end of the day, she was just trying to figure out a way home. Once she stumbles across Team RWBY, it would all make sense why the Tree didn't let her return to Remnant yet. By this point, I'm sure she would have encountered Alyx, Lewis, and the Curious cat, probably handled the situation a lot better than Jaune did, and give Team RWBY a cautionary tale about the Curious Cat in a way that wasn't bitter or vengeful. The bee's having their special moment still would have happened, the team's fallout with the Curious Cat still would have gone down, and then we get to the scene with Neo's Jabber Walker clones and Ruby has her mental breakdown and identity crisis. I don't see Pyrrha blaming Ruby for what happened to the Paper Pleasers despite her immense sorrow for the loss of her only friends she had during her time in the Ever After. Her experiences with the Paper Pleasers would have been way different too because there's no way she'd be a gold-hearted tyrant like Jaune was painted out to be. I do see Ruby blaming herself and still running off anyway because she feels like a burden and a failure as a leader. I didn't enjoy the way Jaune was the center of focus when Ruby was very clearly in a dangerous state of mind and I'm positive Pyrrha would have picked up on it right away and address it to Ruby's team after the fact and not go off on her for not doing enough.

Team RWPY would go on the search for Ruby and still find her in Neo's torture dungeon, which would have been just as painful to watch, especially from Pyrrha's point of view. Ruby having to watch Pyrrha die in Vol.3 and now she had to witness Ruby "die" in Vol. 9 is kind of a trippy coincidence that fits so well. The only difference being Pyrrha immediately taking the initiative to find Ruby before the cat does and the final battle being way more epic. Jaune certainly gained a lot of battle experience throughout the series, but Pyrrha was always ahead of him in that respect and without a doubt would have sharpened her skills to perfection while she was on her own in the Ever After. Ruby emerges as a new version of herself, they defeat the Curious Cat, Neo ascends, and all of the girls finally get to go home together, hand in hand.

I can even go as far as to say this would have made Vol. 9 Beyond so much better too. Picture it, Team RWBY and Pyrrha leaving the portal and the first person to see them is Jaune. The potential for Arkos here is so strong it kills me inside! They'd have a raw moment between each other, there'd be lots of crying on Jaune and maybe even Pyrrha's part too, a long hug, and most definitely a romantic kiss that would have tied their relationship arc together in such a perfect way. It would have brought Pyrrha back and that's honestly all I want.

Of course, this is all just for shits and giggles, but I'd love to hear what y'all think or if you have something else to add! ^-^

[bluearc009]

Jaune talking to Ocasr about his trouble adjusting, there's no doubt about these two are brothers.

[engisanic]

this is what the announcement felt like

[satoshi-mochida]

RWBY Volume 9 Beyond- 'RWBY: 10 Years Later'.

2+ hours of the CRWBY and others talking about the show, with some updates about going forward.

[tr33hvgger]

they could never make me hate you jaune

[neptunevasilias]

Wait wait, there are some interesting implications from this episode.

Sun and Neptune talk about “the night they got the case.” “The case” either means the day they decided to start looking into RWBYJ’s whereabouts, or (more likely) it’s a euphemism for the day this became a problem, aka the day Atlas arrived to Vacuo but RWBYJ didn’t. They said it was “stormy” the day they got the case, and although the visuals use a rainstorm, there was in fact a sandstorm the day everyone arrived (plus, Vacuo rarely gets rainstorms).

They said they got this case yesterday. Which means that this takes place the day after volume 8. This explains why Qrow was so quiet and angry.

This also means that a lot got done in one day: Raven arrived, the summer maiden was summoned to the academy, and most importantly, Ozpin’s whole deal was explained. Sun and Neptune kept correcting each other on calling him Oscar/Ozpin, like it’s new information that they’re just getting used to. But also, it’s something that they know about. They know about the maidens, too.

This means they also probably know about the relics.

[ketoopsart]

ruby rose in my style / headcanons!

[r0semultiverse]

Ambrosius (and Cinder?) in the Ever After

If it’s only Ambrosius, I believe this could potentially take place after the RWBY series finale, when the gods are finally confronted on their unfair bullshit & things get sorted out properly without wiping our Remnant again.

No need for relics if the conflict is over so they either get destroyed & the spirits are freed or they get set free from their chains to the relics, allowing Ambrosius to create whatever he wants, whenever he wants, how he wants, & by his own design.

In the very least, we know Ambrosius has to be involved, unless it's a relic spirit we haven't met yet! Those are relic spirit style doors. All the spirits we've met so far have had that light blue color theme & energy.

I'm thinking back on these interactions & quotes from Volume 8 & it's so intriguing. I'm sure I'm not the first person to say this but, Ambrosius knew about the Ever After!

This all but confirms that Ambrosius not only knows of the Ever After, but has been there before! He probably thought team RWBYJ wouldn't survive down there. If Somewhat isn't talking about Ambrosius, I'm going to look so goofy. 🤡

Wait, what if all the relic spirits or at least Ambrosius were part of these secret creations? Are Jinn & Ambrosius technically afterans? Is Blacksmith tree god lady also their grandmother in this case? 👀

The only possible person I can think of besides Ambrosius is Cinder, unfortunately. She has the staff of creation & the lamp (though as far as we know all the questions are used up).

Though this gives me a few questions if Cinder found her way into the Ever After. How did she get the same or similar blueprints as RWBY & gang? Was it Watts before he died off screen in a spinoff movie?

Also, is she about to use the clock fruits to get more questions from Jinn? 👀 Though I'm not sure how she'd know that information.

Maybe Salem is coming with her & she's had plenty of life times to potentially learn stuff about the Ever After. Salem could also be the only one going for all we know. Salem could absolutely know about the time fruit. 👀

Poor Somewhat is so happy to see whoever it is, but it's probably Cinder or Salem behind Ambrosius.

So anyway this either is a blip because of time dilation or the Ever After is getting invaded. I'll look so silly when I'm wrong on both accounts. 😂 I just know Ambrosius is involved somehow.

[birder-of-remnant]

A Knight's Tale (Remnant Version)

I have been pondering for weeks who would be the focus of these three tales. I was so looking forward to seeing what everyone else had been doing in Vacuo the whole time. I'll admit, I was slightly taken aback to see that episode 2 was to be about Juane, something that I would have expected to have played more into Volume 10 (hopefully) rather than taking up one of the three valuable slots. I was so very wrong about my misgivings. This episode just came out and I do not want to say too much about it until it has made the rounds. But it has a soft but powerful undertone. It plays on many of the themes that I was expecting from Juane's post-v9 character arc. But I was not expecting how carefully woven they would be with the people he knew and how it affects his relationships now. The struggle he has for his identity and meaning was expected, but not his path to resolution.

I loved the first Beyond episode. It was whimsical and fun in a time when we needed hope. It gave us our first look at Theodore and our new mysterious maybe-maiden-maybe-not character for Vacuo. But this one struck a softer, more heartfelt yet strikingly poetic tone that has made me happy.

People are shaped by the world they live in. And Juane and RWBY are no exception. But what I love so much about these characters is also how they shape the world they live in just as much. Not through being the most powerful or the most inexplicably skilled, but by their indomitable depth of character. Thank you for reading this! If you have not checked out this episode, go do so! Now!

Side note: I also adore having our first true look at Shade! Not just the Academy, but the city itself. Atlas was magnificent/ While Shade's charm i more subtle, I think they really nailed it! As someone who loves deserts, I deeply appreciate the unique and diverse look at this city.

[dyscomancer]

it is actually pretty comical that most of the reactionary hatred RWBY’s narrative gets is that it is somehow a fault that the show is not a shonen fight-academy show with static characters and no meaningful conflict outside of power level stacking

people get pissed off about... complicated interpersonal drama, imperfect people in imperfect relationships, and a give-and-take battle with the antagonizing force (that the show’s soundtrack has been blatantly stating to be a brutal war of attrition since episode 1, btw)

and hell, even when we do get some standard anime trappings like power-of-friendship power boosts, the same people find this an unforgivable sin of cliches. like, which is it?

[neosmallitan]

VOLUME 9 BEYOND RELEASE DATE!!!

[balis77]

You know a lot of people are theorizing about Tai having something to do with Relics or shit but have you considered his assignment is possibly to get into position so Raven can portal to him and allow our heroes to gank the absolute shit out of Salem and/or Cinder?

[satoshi-mochida]

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

[tr33hvgger]

jaune confiding in oscar was so sweet, but it hurts that they lost their connection with their team. that was their, their peers. those were the people they were able to relate to the most.

but now theyre so much older than them all. they even raised kids while in the ever after. jaunes not the same kid jnor used to know.

yet theyre still not the old man. they might not be able to make any meaningful bonds with people like raven or winter because theyve matured naturally unlike jaune. jaunes a combination of the tortured old man in the ever after and the optimistic teen from remnant.

jaunes both 19 and 39. and the only person that can truly get that struggle between mind and body is oscar and ozpin.