#throughout all of this i do think v1 sees him here and there

[muzzleroars]

How long would it have taken for V1 to get a clear grasp of Gabe's real personality? He is described as charismatic and heaven's specialist boy, which could be something of a act brought on by the expectations to be perfect placed on him, but when V1 first encounters him, Gabe has spent 100+ hours killing every machine aka probably really tired turning to pure rage at it and then immediatly he has a breakdown after losing before teleporting away, and then the next time it sees him he gets way too into the fight, has an awakening before abruptly leaving again. and the third time we dont know yet but it may be something closer to how Gabe really is.

V1 probably looked at the Terminal description and thought 'really? that guy?' V1 would still like him and how challenging he is to fight but it really is a sharp contrast! Seeing Gabe in the worst 24 hours of his entire existence compared to literally any other day, adding on the fallen au events that is more of Gabe having the worst possible time.

SUCH A GOOD QUESTION like honestly i think people tend to forget that as v1, we're seeing gabriel at what's essentially his lowest point, which can't be overstated in explanation of the way he behaves vs his terminal entry. fundamentally, he is a being completely adrift in existence - angels are not like humans, they are beings of pure service to their god and act often as an extension of him, to the point where the bible interchangeably refers to them as "angels of the lord" or simply "the lord" though he is acting through them. they are his will, they are the role they fulfill for him, and so gabriel has, at his root, lost his foundational identity. but it's severely compounded by the fact that he has been forced to fight possibly THOUSANDS of machines without any end in sight. he has almost been abandoned in hell, he's likely stationed at that checkpoint indefinitely to not only fight mindless, numb battles over and over in such apathetic repetition he barely thinks anymore, but he's stuck in the miserable halls of a nearly forgotten part of god's kingdom. it's a ridiculous outpost for an archangel of his stature, but he works tirelessly still because it's some kind of structure, hell must be maintained too even if it seems no one cares for it anymore (he's aware, somewhere, how much the council doesn't care and how insulting the position is, but whatever.) SO in short. v1 meets him at the worst possible juncture, and so sees the worst possible side of him.

regardless, it's intrigued by him if only for his strength alone with, at first, likely little interest in his personality - it reads about him on the terminal and takes what it presents as fact enough, but it doesn't truly care about how "radiant" he supposedly is. however...it is fascinated by him, and i think their second encounter is what fully engages its mind with him because he becomes something so much more. their initial encounter was at first mechanical, which morphed to frustration quickly turned into a temper tantrum. but their second fight shows a vile hatred, something deeply personal and grown out of an angel that has been teetering on the edge of his obsolescence for centuries at this point only to shoved over the edge in the most unceremonious way possible. honestly? it's kind of heartbreaking for him, after his exalted history and his adherence as one of god's brightest, that he falls after spending so long burning himself down to ash without esteem or even any thanks, worked to death in pointless, tedious tasks, until he fails once and is reduced to a faulty tool to be discarded. so now v1 sees him truly at his nadir before he is launched into a paradoxical zenith. he presents his extremes to it, v1 sees the wrath and cruelty he's capable of as well as the euphoric joy he can find side by side in battle. it's a captivating combination, it speaks to someone that can understand its own deep, fundamental attachment to the battlefield...so it loves, in some way, what it sees in gabriel at that moment. yet that's not. him. it's his most intense sides, but hardly typical or indicative of his personality.

WHICH I KNOW IS ALL BESIDE OF THE POINT OF THE QUESTION, but it illustrates how much v1 really DOESN'T know him by the time they meet again. canonically it's of course all speculation, but i agree with you - v1 will likely see something of a closer approximation of who gabriel is before he finally burns out, but in that case it would likely never truly know him. for my au, it takes actually,,,,quite a bit of time, at least to get a full picture of who he is, but it follows a similar line at first. there is extremely little time left before he falls when he goes to meet v1 after his slaughter of the council, and for me there is something of a peace offering in the only way they know how - battling one more time, with gabriel no longer robotic nor overcome with emotion. he is simply himself, he is the weapon he was fashioned to be against the weapon forged by humanity, where they meet in the middle and there is a calm in him, there is genuine words and genuine laughter, yet v1 has no standard to put them at. it is just gabriel, a new gabriel, once again like all the other times they had met. and v1 feels its first semblance of sadness, aware that gabriel is fighting to his death now despite a lack of hostility - one of them will die, but there is no vitriol. for gabriel, despite his regrets and all of his vast mistakes, he can do no more but entwine himself with v1, as he truly is. he wants it to see him, not as the council's guard dog or as a broken apostate, but who he believes himself to be...and he hope that clicks for it. i'm pretty partial to v1 actually killing him at this point, since i don't think gabe's death could be any other way (plus he honestly is heading (lol) toward decapitation so), and he would be grateful to it. i also really like v1 pausing there with him, just standing where he falls as though waiting to hear his typical post-battle speech, but instead it almost holds a moment of silence for him before it must move on.

but then for the au, it must contend with a resurrected gabriel who, even after their battle, is stuck lamenting for quite some time. he's morose, grieved, angry, everything a fallen angel should be, especially as his transformation is ongoing. and its completion brings v1 no closer to seeing the gabriel it caught glimpses of in the last fight he had as an angel - doing away with who he once was, gabriel fully embraces his demonic status by v1's side to meet its cruelty where it stands. they spend some time terrorizing the halls of hell without a set place to stay, going wherever calls them and taking little rest in the meantime. thrilling for v1, but again....now seeing him at crisis point instead. it all mellows eventually, with gabriel actually taking time to self-reflect and determine who he wants to be, rather than superficial rebellion or falling into old habits. who is he? he discovers that while he does love to live in a good fight, he also is kind at heart, he is someone that wishes to help and to protect, and so v1 finally begins to see the gabriel the terminals told it about a long time ago. it's odd at first, an adjustment to be sure, but v1 begins to settle in to being treated...with kindness. he is gentle with it, he offers sweet words (he's very good with his words, it finds out), and he's quite interested in its personal life. so i actually think it would be pretty well into him being a fallen angel before his true personality comes through day by day...and it loves this gabriel too. he's so different from it, so generous, so loving, so bright and compassionate, so radiant as the terminals had said. it admires him they way he admires it, learning from each other and trading little personality traits, until they grow into one another and their true selves incorporate the other

[lilithfairen]

A while back, I mentioned I had thoughts on how I'd rewrite RWBY: Ice Queendom. My main problems with its plot and writing boiled down to three main factors:

The plot felt like a meandering chain of inconsequential events. Rather than building towards a conclusion, it feels like it was written on the fly, with plans that fail just to take up air-time, and later events don't feel like they were properly built-up at all. For instance, Jaune having an "immunity" to the Nightmare and his sword and cloak having anti-Nightmare properties comes out of completely nowhere.

The characterization isn't faithful to the original. Weiss is made into more of a jerkass, and the idea of her being willing to act the way others want her to be clashes with her refusal to be what her father wanted. Ruby is infantilized and spends plenty of time being useless, while Ice Queendom's Yang coddles her in ways the real Yang never did.

Despite the premise of the show focusing on Weiss...Weiss basically isn't a character throughout the entire story, and goes through no character development whatsoever as a result. The "Weiss" that appears throughout the story is just the evil Nightmare version of Weiss, while real Weiss has effectively no impact on her own story. Overcoming the Nightmare doesn't involve her growing as a character, and the story ultimately adds nothing to her character.

So here's how I would change the plot of Ice Queendom to be more faithful to the characters, give a better sense of story progression, and give actual character development to the protagonists...

The initial episodes—the Beacon episodes—would be largely unchanged from the originals, and that means excising the bits about Weiss pretending to learn from her talk with Oobleck about Ruby and Yang about Blake. As I mentioned, having this be a part of Weiss's character doesn't fit her in my opinion.

I also don't think I'd have Jaune be the first victim of the Nightmare, largely because my version wouldn't give him the abrupt significance that IQ did. This is something that just popped into my mind, as something that would fit further ideas*, but I kind of like the idea of Cardin Winchester as the first victim of the Nightmare, with him ending up saved by his CRNL teammates.

Things go up to the aftermath of the V1 ending, and that's when Weiss get Nightmare'd. The Nightmare world would remain the same, the fortress city run with an iron fist by Weiss, watched over by the image of her father and of Big Nicholas. When Ruby encounters Nightmare!Weiss, Weiss isn't hostile to her, per se—but orders her robots to escort Ruby out of the city/into imprisonment. (I don't think I'd include the dumb "Ruby thinks Weiss doesn't really care about them" bit, because that went pretty much nowhere.) Pyrrha would still be doing her singing thing, and the rest of JNPR would be locked away.

Rather than a MacGuffin hunt, Ruby, Blake, and Yang would explore her Nightmare world, learning more about how she "sees" others and encountering her. Each time, they try to break through to the real Weiss, but Grimm end up attacking and Weiss vanishes in the aftermath. They eventually fight an animated statue of Big Nicholas, a la the Arma Gigas, but when they break its helmet, the statue beneath has the face of Jacques Schnee.

Outside of the Nightmare, Blake explains Jacques and the SDC to Ruby and Yang, who begin to theorize that Weiss feels dominated by her father's influence. When they bring it up in their next encounter with Weiss in the Nightmare, Weiss finally lashes out at them for real—and in the battle, the other three get infected by Nightmares.

This leads to Nightmare sequences for each of the three, and rather than the way Ruby's is just rushed through and means pretty much nothing, each of the three defeat the Nightmares by affirming who they are and their commitment to each other and Weiss:

Ruby's tries to convince her that she's a failure of a leader, doesn't deserve to be leader, and that she's a mere child who could never understand what it means to be a hero. Ruby retaliates by acknowledging her success at leading Team RWBY against the Nevermore, how she chose to become a better leader for her team after her clash with Weiss, and swears to save her teammate and friend from the Nightmare—even knowing the danger.

Blake's (which would evoke the Adam imagery, without the stupid fanservice-y design) would lambast her for "abandoning" the Faunus cause, not understanding the White Fang's motivation, and how she's now trying to save the heiress of a company that exploits the Faunus. Blake counters by insisting that she's committed to furthering the cause, just not in the way the White Fang and Adam in particular (as she believes) have come to fight for it. She admits she never saw herself saving a Schnee, but that is her duty as a Huntress—to help those in need.

Yang's treats her like she's a bad sister over not constantly coddling Ruby, about letting her younger sister take the lead in such a dangerous scenario and risk her life for a jerk like Weiss. Yang responds by insisting that she knows her sister's capabilities, doesn't need to hold her hand all the time, and is there for Ruby when Ruby needs her—however Ruby needs her. And while Weiss may be a bit of an ice queen, she still wants to save Weiss.

The three escape the Nightmares and wake up, discussing with JNPR what they've learned so far. From JNPR's insights, coupled with their own discussions (and maybe another sojourn into the Nightmare to learn more), they discover what's at the root of Weiss's Nightmare.

The control over all around her. Putting Pyrrha, a woman Weiss empathizes with, on display to perform. Her distancing herself from the rest of Team RWBY, and lashing out when they show empathy. How the statue of Big Nicholas had the face of Jacques Schnee within.

Weiss's Nightmare isn't based on her father's control over her, and feelings of being trapped within it. Rather, Weiss's Nightmare is a reflection of her coming to believe that, despite her rebellion against him, she has become exactly like him. Her treatment towards her teammates is about how she's come to see herself as someone who doesn't deserve them, their support and friendship.

In their next trip into the Nightmare, they confront Weiss about this, with the three of them insisting that they believe she is a good person at heart and is growing into a better person. Blake tells her how she has made an effort to not treat Faunus poorly, Yang says that while they might rib her it's because she's their Ice Queen, and Ruby insists that she sees Weiss as a friend and wants them to be teammates throughout and beyond Beacon. This breaks through to Weiss, but the Nightmare itself summons Grimm to overwhelm RBY and forces them to retreat.

This leads to the climactic battle against the Nightmare, where RBY and Shion enlist Team JNPR's help. JNPR fends off the swarm of Grimm** while RBY plunge into the heart of the Nightmare. Though they initially struggle, seeing Ruby continuing to fight despite growing weaker causes Weiss to flash back to her grandfather Nicholas—similar to the one in the original, save for being at a time when Nicholas's health was failing. He gives the whole seed-of-kindness or whatever it was speech, and then Weiss imagines a seed sprouting into a white rose (obligatory Imagery)—a flower with thorns, but one beautiful and sweet nonetheless. The flower shatters as if ice, revealing the real Weiss's Myrtenaster, which she seizes and joins the fight against the Nightmare against. Yadda yadda, Team RWBY kicks its butt.

The aftermath would have Weiss talk things over with the others—affirming to Ruby that she wants to be part of Team RWBY and that she believes in Ruby as a friend and leader, thanking Blake for her acceptance despite her earlier prejudice, and icily teasing Yang when she expects something sentimental too. Conclusion leads into V2, yadda yadda, this story is happy end thank you.

There's probably a few good ideas I had when I first thought this up but have forgotten by now, but this is the gist of it. Something that, at the heart of it, gives some extra depth to the titular Ice Queen and becomes an adventure that truly brings the team closer together.

*The idea being that just because someone is a jerkass doesn't mean it's not the right thing to help/save them~

**Oh, and that part about JNPR fighting off the Grimm? The four of them kick butt...save for Jaune, whom in Weiss's Nightmare is even more incompetent and bumbling than in real life. Jaune, of course, completely fails to grasp the significance of this~

[the-firebird69]

And the smaller ones you can see here directly to the right of wedding site number one and not only horizontal because branch of the roots go vertically in different angles there's several scattered throughout this park and a big one and the other big one is nearby and that would be mine and this big one that they're in this my wife and she's having him post it no she had me do it.

It's a measure of greatness he wants to just post it but really he's listening and it says this we here listening to them and they're full of crap that are idiots and they don't think they have to do anything and their lives are Jeopardy 24 hours a day and they're not very bright so we're going to have to clobber them and this is going to be one way the other is the cage you that are a little deeper Godzilla and more and we're going to beat them up with them and it works very well in New Zealand right now they're trying to find stuff and they're calling an equipment to lashley Park and they're talking to people about it and say the clothes act very strange here like they have it all and they're doing stuff and it's going to be a fight I really really big one

Savage

And he is his first born and he came out very happy and shining in a baby and we like babies of ours develope but we do monitor. We have several funny skits that he does he doesn't do anything mean to people it's very nice person and there's been a lot of evil done to him in his life he feels a little sad about it it looks around and says he did the right thing every time and inside he's thinking I couldn't have done anything else and I did do the right thing and it's wonderful and he can't wait to get out of here. The one is pointing out is my Galacticius and we kick butt and we're also on Saturday but she's from there and he's from Jupiter I guess you'll have to figure it out. And we're off to the little park and they're coming out there apartments it's about time for them to get up anyways get up early to go to sleep early they're pest late at night really disgusting people and all the max do it cuz they mess with people at night. There's a few things that are going on one of them is Friday the 13th and Halloween couple favorites of our mother and father and they love the series they don't get back at you people you're always tormenting them and you're stupid you end up dead. And you should see it and stop doing what you're doing but you know so you must be stopped and these biomechanical weapons will stop you, we use them and you do not and our children have them lots of them and the smaller here but other places they have large ones and we have a whole bunch of them that really father and mother have them too tons of them and they're going to break theirs out in the same model too and they have their own lots of them have their own and use this one too but some of them use this exclusively like Allah and goddess wife they love it because it's emulating them and they're coming up after the order of the Rose key use and it will be the hellraiser box that my father and mother brought two of when it's hers to FYE store but you never paid him for you said you would and you all don't pay him so he's taking everything from you and your lives and you don't seem to care because you're sick and stupid. I saw it go in there and I saw them go out and we know who has them one of them is Tommy f and he has it stored right near where the program starts the other is Trump and his is in it looks like a dumpster inside a building in Manhattan and people are going to search for it and try and find them and they're going to try and use them and they're lethal they're all so keys to ships and one of them is on the Florida border and they're not George ships no. Well they might be but our father and mother designed the boxes and they were not aware of that they also designed the keys and we know what those go to they are Warhammer starcraft Warcraft he's to the cathedral chips and he calls in that sometimes really we call them the spaceships that look like ships they're beautiful beautiful ships that these two keys operate and one is a man one is a woman and they don't stick together but our father and mother have them made that way and you will be amazed at the beauty of these ships if you ever get to see them and they will be a big fight over them

Oppress

Olympus we publish now

[aceironwood]

Hi! Hope your teeth are fine. So, in this AU, what is gonna happen to Ozpin's Wonder Magi, seeing as you intend for him to be become the next Oz incarnation? Is he gonna dual wield The Long Memory? Will James add form variety to his weapon arsenal, Due Process, or will it remain the same? Who are the Maidens in this story? Will we see team RWBY and JNPR? Will Amber have a significant major role here? What about team WTCH? Who will be in Salem's inner circle? Is team STRQ gonna be losing one of their members, or will all four of them stay together? On a scale of "two left foot with the grace of a newborn giraffe with broken legs" to "gravity and physics have no command over me", which team OCIN and STRQ have better footwork and/or dancing skills? Will Chaeng's family situation be involved in this, like Weiss's was in canon?

Alright, there are a couple of more spoilery questions in here, so some answers will be vague at best lol

Weapons While I’m not giving any details on Wonder Magi vs the Long Memory yet, it’s not likely that they’ll be dual wielded. As for what happens so he only uses one? Spoilers With Due Process, I haven’t decided yet on if there’ll be different forms. On one hand, I would love him to have the canon from v8 bcs the gun-gun, but on the other hand I feel like that particular weapon upgrade is representative of a lot of his negative traits in v8 and James’ll be moving away from those more throughout this au

Team Questions RWBY and JNPR will all be appearing in the story, though the size of their roles will vary. Jaune and Nora have already appeared and Pyrrha and Ren will too, but RWBY’s role will definitely be more significant in terms of plot The STRQ question is a spoiler though, so you’ll have to stick around for future volumes to find out

Dancing With the dance question, the answer depends a little on if you’re asking about it for the teams as a group or individual members. Chae-Yeong is easily the best among all of them since she has a background in ballet, and that's not even getting into her experience with other types of dancing I'd say that STRQ overall are the worse dancers though-- while I think that Summer and Qrow are good dancers, Tai strikes me as a guy with two left feet when it comes to dancing even if he's good with footwork for combat, and Raven has zero interest in dancing (unless perhaps she's interested in wooing the person she's dancing with 👀) On the other hand, I think that Amber is a great dancer and tbh I could see her doing some musical theater stuff, and Ozpin's got moves from learning bits of circus routines. The only real mystery in terms of dancing skills would be James, but during a rwby guess who game at rtx a year or two ago they said that Ironwood would be good at dancing and while I think that comes in part from him being involved in Atlas' world of the social elite in the show, he doesn't have that here. So while I definitely has potential to be a good dancer, at the time he's a little stiff

WTCH and the Inner Circle Consider this part of the trailer for volume 2, but Watts, Tyrian, and Hazel will all be appearing there as undercover in a similar way to Emerald, Mercury, and Cinder in canon. And speaking of those three, they’ll be appearing in the future as well. They are part of the older generation in this story though, so take that as you will for the inner circle question

Future Questions The Maidens question is unfortunately a spoiler, but I will say you have met at least one person who is or will be a Maiden in the story so far Amber also will have a significant role to play in the future! I feel bad that she hasn’t gotten to have a pov in a chapter yet, but unfortunately there haven’t been any points in v1 where it’s felt right. She’s very important for things to come though, and will be getting some pov chapters in upcoming volumes Chae-Yeong’s family will also definitely be involved in a major way in the future. Along with them being important for her personal character arc, with how rich and powerful they are, it’d be pretty much impossible for them to not be relevant come the Atlas storylines

[sineala]

Is 616 Tony a Democrat or Republican or neither? I’ve seen posts comparing him to Trump (barf!)

Wow. Geez. You don't ask easy questions, do you, anon?

First off, I am going to assume that whoever was comparing 616 Tony to Trump was trying to slander Tony. And I will tell you that we do in fact have 616 Tony's canonical opinion of Trump -- yes, Donald Trump exists on Earth-616 and has been referenced in several comics -- and he doesn't seem to like him much. I mean, this is back when Trump was primarily being known for being a New York businessman. They canonically ran in the same circles and Tony canonically knows him. He doesn't like him.

Here's Tony in Iron Man v1 #227 complaining that Trump bought him out of a building:

And here's Tony again in Iron Man v3 #37 being not especially thrilled when he thinks that the person he is about to meet is Trump:

(The person he is actually meeting is Tiberius Stone, which is also a very bad idea.)

I am also going to point out that due to the way Marvel likes to handle politics in its comics, I don't think we can say anything about the canonical political affiliation of most characters, because Marvel deliberately leaves that undefined. So to the best of my knowledge, we don't have a canonical statement about Tony's political affiliation and we probably won't ever get one.

But we can speculate based on canonical evidence, can't we?

My very long answer is under the Read More.

Your question is sort of framed as "tell me if Tony is a good or a bad person," and I would like to suggest that this is not really a useful framing for several reasons: (1) what the political parties currently stand for is pretty recent, actually, and Tony as a character predates a lot of the modern conceptions of the two parties; (2) the history of the Democratic Party specifically in New York, where Tony is from, is, let's just say, not 100% pure and unproblematic; and (3), when we're talking about someone with the amount of money, connections, and influence that Tony has, party affiliation generally doesn't mean the same thing it would mean for us ordinary mortals. What I mean by that last point is that there is a big, big difference between every one of the following list of statements: "I would vote for Republicans," "I am a registered Republican," "I would give very large amounts of money to Republicans," and "I would accept a political appointment in a Republican administration." For most of us, the last two of those points aren't ever going to be something that comes up in our lives, but they are going to be things that matter very much for someone like Tony Stark. And we have a canonical answer for at least one of those things. We can theorize about at least some of the rest of them.

I'm saying all that because I suspect you're really not going to like my answer.

I think that there is a very, very high chance that 616 Tony is a Republican.

I mean, I don't think he'd be a Republican right now at this exact moment in time, are you kidding me, but I feel like he has definitely been a Republican at some point in the past. Say, before Trump. One of those socially-liberal fiscally-conservative types. With a conscience. Sort of like Mitt Romney. Picture the kind of Republican Massachusetts likes to keep electing as their governor.

Yes, is possible that, since Tony is from New York, he's a lifelong Democrat. It is definitely possible. New York is heavily Democratic in our world, and barring contradictory evidence, that is probably also the case on Earth-616. But I think that, specifically because of the rest of Tony's background and the ways that Tony has interacted with the world of politics in 616, he is most likely to be a Republican. It doesn't mean he couldn't be a Democrat! I have no proof either way! In terms of several elements of his characterization -- say, his commitment to social justice and fighting inequity -- I would say he definitely leans Democrat, because these days that sort of thing is mostly the province of the Democrats, although I suspect that back when Tony was created it wouldn't have been out of character for a lot of Republicans. I'm just saying that Republican seems more likely. If you gotta pick one. I think you could definitely argue for either. He doesn't fit completely into either but his canon interactions with politics push me toward thinking he's a Republican, because he does several specific things that I think it would be unlikely that anyone other than a Republican would be given the opportunity to do at the specific time that he does them.

Yeah. I know.

Right. Okay. Tony is extremely, extremely rich, and even though I know that he is basically the fantasy of The One Good Ethical Billionaire (more on this in a sec), it's probably worth thinking about what actual real-life rich people do with their money in ways that intersect with politics. And the answer to that is, well, generally they give money to politicians who are favorable to, say, helping them continue to have money. Now, yes, as far as I know there is no evidence of Tony doing this in canon -- this is where all the conjecture comes in. So we ask ourselves, okay, if Tony were to endorse particular politicians because of this, what party would he give money to? Who would he want to get in good with? In most parts of the country, that would probably be the Republican party. But, specifically in New York, it's the Democrats.

So, yeah, one of the big points in favor of him being a Democrat is that, well, Democrats traditionally run New York. The class of old-money New York elites are pretty stereotypically Democrats. And that would include Tony. Which is not to say that he couldn't be a Republican, but if he wants to get anywhere with New York politicians, and I suspect he probably does because he is trying to run a series of very large businesses and he owns a fair amount of real estate including several buildings whose permitting processes I can only imagine fall into the category of “probably highly irregular" -- I mean, he has multiple jets that he regularly lands on his house and secret underwater tunnels for a submarine -- he has to cozy up to Democrats. If he gives money to anyone involved in politics, that's who he gives money to. Making superhero bases probably took a lot of money. A massive amount of money. The city planners probably cry when they see him coming.

(At one point I believe they did ban him from keeping the Quinjets in his house. That was when the Avengers had the Hydrobase.)

I tend to assume most people know something about the history of the Democrats in New York, or at least the history of US political parties in general, but the tl;dr version is that the parties haven't always stood for the same things that they do now. They also weren't always the same parties. And historically, in New York, the political machine gives you Democrats. That's just the way it is. The Democratic Party of the past was not really, um, devoted to all the same causes as the current Democratic Party. And it was very hard to get anywhere in New York and not be a Democrat. It still is. If you haven't read up on Tammany Hall, maybe you should. There was a lot of corruption. I mean, yeah, it's not currently a thing, but the Democrats remained in power in New York; it dissolved probably around about the time the Republican Party explicitly decided that the way to win the South was to appeal to the racism of white voters ("the Southern strategy"). Because, yes, before that a lot of white, conservative Southerners were traditionally Democrats. And then the Democrats split about civil rights, and, uh, the Republicans took in the racists.

Anyway! US political history is sure a land of contrasts! Rich New Yorkers are traditionally Democrats! That is a point for Tony possibly being a Democrat, yes. Moving on!

But Tony is not just a random old-money New Yorker. He inherited Howard Stark's money and Howard Stark's company. And Howard was, well, a defense contractor. And so was Tony, until he stopped making weapons. And, uh, being a defense contractor is, um, one of those things that is extremely, extremely Republican. No, I don't have stats to back this up. Just trust me. So, yeah, he's a rich New Yorker -- but he's also a defense contractor from a family of defense contractors. I would be amazed if Howard Stark were anything other than a Republican. Which is not to say that Tony could not be a Democrat anyway, but the job does come with a certain predisposition.

(Incidentally, one of the other things Tony inherited from Howard was his membership in the Hellfire Club, which is one of those things I keep forgetting about until canon smacks me in the face with it every few years.)

We all know that the conception of Tony, as a character, is basically the fantasy of the Ethical Billionaire. He is The Best At Capitalism. He has money and he is not corrupted by it. He has money and he uses it to do the maximum amount of good in the world because that is what he really, deeply wants to do. He supports a large number of philanthropic causes! He has a foundation named after his mother! He funds programs for low-income youth! He runs a homeless shelter for women! Throughout his history, he has been consistently portrayed as a deeply, deeply kind human being, who wants to help people. A lot of people! People who aren't like him! People who might not even like him! That is just... who he is, as a person.

And these days we tend to associate that kind of push for systemic change and caring about social issues and remedying inequity with Democrats, but that wasn't always the case. I think it still would have been believable coming from a Republican, oh, around about the time Tony came into existence. He was created back when you could be an elected Republican and, uh, push social policies that I think these days we would consider progressive. I mean, Eisenhower was the one who started integrating schools, right? The Republicans are the party of Lincoln! It's not like Republicans are prevented from doing good things. And I think we need to keep in mind that Tony dates from the early 60s when socially-progressive was still a thing Republicans could conceivably be.

So, yes, Tony is very kind. It's nice. We all like that about him. But also many of the ways in which he is kind to people are very much Republican fantasies. Like, yes, he's a great boss. He's close to his employees. They're like family. If any of his employees have problems, he helps them out on a personal, individual level -- and that, as an ideal, seems very Republican to me. I mean, he's a CEO, right? He's owned a lot of companies. Are any of them unionized? Combing through Wiki, I find one reference to a union in ToS 63, which is really, really early -- you know, back when unions were more popular. I can't find anything after that. And nothing is coming to mind. So, I mean, yes, we have now established his employees were at one point unionized, but he's certainly not known for, say, running a union shop. Part of the fantasy of the Ethical Billionaire is the idea that Tony's employees don't need unions because Tony is so kind and so generous and so personally selflessly good that he takes care of everyone who works for him. And the thing is, Tony actually does do this. He is fictional and therefore capable of achieving perfection.

Okay. He's a fictional character. Let's step back a little and think about fictional characters, and specifically the way Marvel Comics depicts fictional characters interacting with well-known real people. Many real people from our Earth do seem to exist in 616. Earth-616 is not our Earth in a vast number of ways, but one thing it shares with our Earth is presidents. Whoever is the real-life president when a comic comes out is pretty much generally president on Earth-616 at the time. Yes, I'm going somewhere with this.

Now, for whatever reason, Marvel often does not canonically refer to presidents by their names in dialogue, but the artists pretty much draw whoever is president at the time when someone in canon needs to meet the president. (Captain America seems to get to meet the president a lot. I'm sure you're shocked.)

There are a couple exceptions to "everyone who looks like the president is the president,” namely that Marvel says that the villain who was Number One of the Secret Empire in Captain America v1 #175, who attempted to conspire with aliens to take over the Earth, whom Steve watched commit suicide -- anyway, the official Marvel word is, I believe, that this guy is not Richard Nixon, but Steve Englehart, who wrote the comic, says it absolutely was:

And, yes, this is the incident that causes Steve to lose faith in America and become Nomad. You can kind of see why that would be traumatic. Marvel clearly had some feelings about Watergate they needed to process.

Anyway, I just wanted to put in a picture of that time Ronald Reagan was turned into a snake person. It's Captain America v1 #344:

I love comics.

More recent presidents still make appearances in the comics, and they are the president who was the real-life president at the time. For example, the president who pardons Steve for all his SHRA-related crimes in Who Will Wield The Shield is definitely Obama:

And that means that I must also unfortunately inform you that Hydra Steve also received a presidential pardon:

Though the issue in question (Captain America v9 #8) does not specifically name the president, following the "whoever is the actual president is the 616 president" rule, the president who canonically pardoned Hydra Steve is... Donald Trump.

Let's just pause here to contemplate this. Take as long as you need.

(I was today years old when I learned that Hydra Steve has been dead in comics for over a year. Since the issue in which he was pardoned, actually. Which is an issue I am sure I read the day it came out, but somehow I missed the four entire pages where Hydra Steve is set on fire and burns to death while hailing Hydra with his last breath. I guess it wasn't memorable! I mention because I am pretty sure I am not the only one who missed this.)

Anyway. I do have a point to make here, and my point is this: Tony has received political appointments. Two of them, in fact. In the 2003-2004 Iron Man arc "The Best Defense," Tony becomes Secretary of Defense. He does get Senate confirmation; it's not a deputy appointment. He actually gets unanimous confirmation. And I know that Tony had this job is a fact that everyone knows about Tony, but I feel like a lot of people may not be totally conscious of the timeframe involved here, and by that I mean that he is absolutely, positively, the Secretary of Defense for Earth-616's George W. Bush. Yes, I am sure of this.

Here is Tony with the president in Iron Man v3 #78, being told he got the job:

Yeah. That’s George W. Bush.

Can a Cabinet appointment cross party lines? I mean, sure, it's possible. I am not the kind of giant politics nerd who has this memorized, but there is in fact, a Wikipedia page for US political appointments across party lines. And it looks like there have been five cross-party Secretaries of Defense and five Secretaries of War. So, I mean, yes, it's happened, but it's fairly rare. None of the cross-party Secretaries of Defense (deputy secretaries excluded, since they weren't confirmed, obviously) were ever Democrats appointed by Republicans. And since we're looking at Dubya's administration specifically, it looks like only one of his Cabinet appointees (Transportation) was cross-party. So it looks like he in particular would not have been especially likely to appoint a Democrat to his Cabinet, since in real life he only had the one.

So to me it seems that the most likely party affiliation for Tony has to be Republican, because of this. Sure, the appointment could have crossed party lines. But I feel like it's just... not likely. Being a Republican Secretary of Defense in a Republican administration just seems way, way more possible.

(Also I'd like everyone to remember that Tony is replacing the previous Secretary of Defense because the previous Secretary of Defense was secretly the Red Skull and released an engineered flesh-eating virus at Mount Rushmore. Just, y'know, to set the mood.)

What's more, Tony gets a second political appointment from the Bush administration. It's not a Cabinet position, but he does become the Director of SHIELD in 2007. Here Tony is with the president, slightly earlier, in Civil War #1:

This is not really as good a likeness of Bush as the previous and I guess you could argue that the artist was drawing A Generic Politician but I feel like, y'know, it's probably still meant to be Bush. And Tony may not have wanted this particular job -- we know he definitely didn't -- but he absolutely wanted to be Secretary of Defense. So we know that he is definitely fine with serving in a Republican administration.

So, yeah, that's my argument: odds are pretty good that Tony has, at some point in his life, been a Republican. Maybe not right now. But probably in the past.

Having said that, given the way Marvel handles politics, I don't think it's likely to ever be much of an issue in canon; the Avengers mostly just tend to get to get along with whoever the president is at the time and I can't recall really anything about partisan issues. However, you're never going to convince me 616 Steve was anything other than a New Deal Democrat -- even though I know that in Cap #250 he turns down both the Democrats and the Republicans when they ask him to run for president -- because, I mean, come on. I assume that he and Tony probably try not to discuss politics ever anymore, because we all know how the SHRA went. They probably mostly agree, but when they disagree, people have a tendency to end up dead.

That was probably more than you ever wanted to know about my thoughts on this topic.

[oddlyhale]

Ironwood for the Ask game? (If somebody already asked you that, then... Watts?) :)

What are my top four favorite non-romantic relationship dynamics for them?

Glynda, Clover, Winter, and Weiss.

They all have the same reasons, that being that they've all seemed to be more aware of James' mental state and how it's affecting him. Clover and Glynda, however, do the most of supporting James and being the ones that finish his sentences when he can't. Winter and Weiss are there to analyze and understand, but truthfully they hadn't done much to put themselves into being supportive, other than from afar.

What season were they at their best and why?

Season 7, if I had to choose.

I would've said Season 2, but Season 7 is truly James' volume. While I enjoyed him in previous volumes and how it set up how firm he is with his rules, V7 really showed just how kind he can be when he's given the chance to shine. Stern but supportive of those he is the toughest on - dad energy at its finest. Not to mention, James has one of the best fights in RWBY, followed by showing us how planned and particular he is with his tactics and Due Process, even if all of it was off the cuff. He gave a lot of himself to others, and sadly they didn't want to return the favor.

What season were they at their worst and why?

Ahaha... Season 8, the worst volume that is a big fat second to Season 5.

To put it short - the writing worked against James to make him a poorly written villain (for no reason,) make him suddenly murderous (for no reason,) and made him irredeemable with actions that nobody could morally stand behind (for no reason.) I always assumed that the writers were very hurt in the ego when they realized they accidentally made a well-made hero that wasn't Team RWBY, and so they had to kneecap him to make their little heroes look good.

Here's the problem - the more worthless you write your villains, the more worthless their defeat with be because the heroes look pathetic in comparison. If the heroes can only fight against pathetic villains that make them look good in a cheap way, then imagine a very impressive villain they'd have to face. They'd be dead. (Tangent done.)

How would I rank their outfits from worst to best?

James' V4 outfit is the worst, hands down.

Listen, these wack ass writers took time to make James wear such an ugly uniform, but they still left Sun in his V1 outfit? They may as well of just left James in his first outfit to spare us the weird outfit malfunction.

James V7 outfit is the best.

While I enjoy his first outfit for being so simple, I think V7 really works to show his authority. It even gives more of an aura of respect when you see him in his greatcoat. Not to mention, how his new beard just boosted it. Ah, hamsum burded JimJom, my leov.

Which Hogwarts House would I sort them into (optional; what would their wand be?)

So, I'm stuck between Gryffindor or Ravenclaw. While I can definitely see James being in Gryffindor for his courage and strength, I can also see him being in Ravenclaw for being quick and methodical. Plus Jason said that he could see a young James being athletic but also very nerdy, so I'm torn.

What do I think this character would be like if they were on the opposite side (good characters are bad, bad characters are good)

This is a tough one for me to answer properly.

From how James was written throughout the beginning and end of RWBY, he's always been morally grey. While people could be intimidated by how assertive he is with his own ideas, you can understand why it would be a good idea than the other person's idea. You may not like how tight his rules are, but you get that he's only doing it to protect others. Being firm doesn't mean he's mean, it just means he takes many things more seriously than others.

I would actually hate it if he was 100% a good guy because that means he's always agreeing and working within the hivemind of others and having no authority of his own. What makes James unique is because he always fought against the norm - making him agreeable constantly just kills me.

Him being 100% evil, however, would be just as bad. I really hate it when writers need to make the villain so obvious - as if we just can't tell they're evil. James has no evil bone in his body, so him suddenly acting wacky baddie from the get-go would disservice his character. That means there's NO interesting character in RWBY.

So, I guess the real answer would be to keep him the way he is.

If I suddenly had control of RWBY, what would I want to do with this character after the events of Volume 8?

*/rubs hands together like a pepsi mafia mobster overlord/*

So obviously, James does not die in the fall of Atlas, and he somehow survives any drowning. As he surfaces and sees that he is alone, James realizes that he's lost everything, even himself. Metaphorically, the fall of Atlas took what was left of him with it. Now he finds shore and feels like a shell of his former self. He still has spite towards the kids that destroyed two cities, but there's nothing he could do about it now. James decides that he would have to rebuild, as in he would just leave it to them to figure out the rest while he ventures away from what was once Mantle and Atlas, to do what he wants. I had an idea before that James becomes a lone-ranger that works as a vigilante for some small towns in Vacuo, where he lives pretty much peacefully and as a wicked gunslinging masked man.

[samikozume-todoroki]

Those bugs hc were amazing ( i was laughing so hard), what about some headcanons where the reader is now too small to reach something and the boys have to help her 👉👈

(Thank you so much! Glad it made you laugh🥺 as a smol bean; I am an inventor or spidermonkey no in between. And by boys I assume Shouto and Katsuki at the least, but I’m also doing Izuku and Kirishima!)

Characters: Shouto Todoroki, Katsuki Bakugou, Izuku Midoriya, Eijirou Kirishima

Masterlist | Request rules | Gen. Taglist

Shouto Todoroki:

Mans walked into the pantry, fully intent on destroying the endeavor cereal that UA just stocked up

See you climbing on the shelves, hands losing their grip

Yoinks you so fast you don’t even realize he entered

(All I hear is the “STOOPID IM NOT GONNA LET YOU GET THE CHANCE” audio as I type this💀)

Actual photo of shouto yoinking you

Mans holds you by the collar of your shirt, staring at you with his beautiful eyes which are full of concern and worry

iTS NOT FAIR HES BOTH HOT AND A DECENT PERSON ITS NOT

“C-c-can you hel-help m-me?” Pouty and flustered the words are spit out

He puts you on the ground and goes behind you

!!! What r yO-

oh, okay

Mans picks you up by the armpits and you grab that yummy yummy Cinnamon Toast Crunch and the nasty bitch e*deavor cereal

He is so focused on how to destroy the cereal that when you lean up to give him a peck on the jaw, he stumbles

His heart just went DokiDoki!Precure

Scurrying out of the room like a rat (same😌💅✨) you don’t know that his left side flared up- destroying half the pantry

“Well at least the cereal got destroyed”

“YO! WHO DESTROYED THE MAC N CHEESE?! NOT COOL BRO”

“Half the pantry is burnt to a crisp and youRE comcerned about the Mac n cheese??”

“Ya??? Isn’t everyone??”

*everybody nods*

“Sigh”

Katsuki Bakugou:

Katsuki firmly believes in “fuck everyone, it’s every man for himself”

But there’s a secret clause hidden in page 101, paragraph 2, sentence 3, section FU-ck; 666

(I have no idea how shit like that works, so let’s roll with it🥰)

It states “it’s every man for himself unless the short stack can’t reach jack shit, then I could lend a hand if I want”

He enters the cleaning closet and sees you banging the broom on the bleach on the top shelf

“Thread the needle what the fuck broom fuck the handle sis it ain’t hard please-“ this close to tears and suddenly

Katsuki enters, grumbling about who knows what

“What? Did you see a speck of lint in the hallway that reminded you of Izuku?”

“No” (yes actually, damn nerds lint)

Now that a hot and more importantly tall boi was here

You banged on the bleach hoping it would annoy Katsuki enough to get it for you

✨backfired bitch✨

“You could just ask for help short stack”

😳😠🥺”pls help me”

He went to reach for the bleach, doing that “cage them in by getting super close” thing and

gETTING WAY TOO CLOSE LIKE SIR PLS BACK UP

I AM TRYING TO B R E A T H E

“I-I-I tha-thank y-you” 😳

“You’re welcome”

Said with such a cocky smirk, all embarassment is gone.

Pulling him down a bit by the collar of his shirt, and then

Kissing his cheek, you linger for a few seconds, releasing him skipping out the door

Mans blew up a shelf on accident

“Why is the shelf broken?”

“Bakugou”

“Ah, normal Tuesday then”

Izuku Midoriya:

Izuku was going into the kitchen for a snack

When he stumbled upon a snacc😍

A snacc that was on their knees on the counter (no feet on the counter, nasty bitch 🤢) and tipping backwards

Full cowled over and caught you, bridal style

“Y/n be more careful! What if I didn’t catch you?! You could have cracked your head open, broken your neck, or-

“But that didn’t happen because you were here!”☺️

“gotten an concussion fall asleep and slip into a coma, got a stroke that we didn’t notice and di-“

Blushy boy becomes a tomato

Not only from your words

But your beautiful eyes that shine so warmly and a smile that always cheers him up and lips that he’s imagined kissing a couple of times-

And your voice which is so gentle and happy and holds no doubt. The way you said he was there like he would always be there and you’ll always count on him and trust him

He’s just 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

(TAKE MY KITHES IZUKU BABIE ILY)

He sets you gently on the counter

“Can you get something for me?”

Man full cowls and within a second all the items on the top shelves are taken down and out on the counter

“I-I just needed salt??”

“Oh”😳 full cowls everything back but the salt.

You offer him some food and ask him to eat with you and this blushy simp boy is in

✨heaven✨

God y’all ain’t even dating and make everyone feel so so so single

“Oh my god, somebody please make them kiss already”

“Izuku and y/n are in the kitchen?”

“The sexual tension and mutual pining is infuriating and disgusting”

“Retweet”

“Even bakugou agrees”💀

Eijirou Kirishima:

You regret throwing stuff on the top shelf of your closet

Why did you, oh right because “you’ll never need it, and you don’t use it”

Well you need it now

Fuck.

Normally you would be an

😌💅✨independant woman✨💅😌

And get a chair and do it yourself

But the only chair is the rolling chair,

and idk man it’s slightly cloudy and Mars is in retrograde so you don’t really think it’s a good day to snap your neck

So you go to the common area to steal a boy 🤩

Seeing Eijirou first, his freshly showered appearance (the hair!!!) blessed your eyes

😍

“Ei~ Ji~ Rou~”

“Slightly scared, but yes y/n?”

“I need a tall, muscly man to help me”

He never got up so fast in his life, eyes sparkling

Eijirou’s man ego and pride was stroked and he was t h r i v i n g

His grin was so big and eyes so happy and please please please praise him and stroke his ego more I beg

Going to your room

Eiji was in heaven, first time in your room and he loved it already everything screamed you and he loved you so he loved it

(Hi I love simp Eiji and ack, I’m actually crying I simp for him so so so hard i🥺😭)

After grabbing your stuff,

You flashed him the prettiest smile

Your eyes reflected back his and it was the most beautiful piece of artwork he had ever seen

And softly, “thank you”

GAJSGHAHS Y/N TAKE ALL MY LOVE AND MY HEART I DONT NEED IT ANYWAYS

(Give him kithes rn 😠 I swear)

you invited him to stay and chat

All throughout it you were like

“Sir??? You do not get to be so handsome and pretty and funny and nice and a super good person”

Omg you actually teared up a little bit when Eiji was smiling and laughing boisterously

It was so cute and you were so in love and🥺🥺🥺

You guys were first on the floor, then the bed and desk chair, then across from each other on the bed, then next to each other on the bed and

wow now you both are sleeping and cuddling.

Kiri is wrapped around you and if he woke up in the middle of the night and snuggled your small form closer it’s not anyone’s business but his

“I hate them”

“Kirishima and y/n?”

“Who else?”

“Good lord you would think they are newlyweds”

“Always rubbing it in our faces that they are soulmates”

A/n: Shouto is emotionally constipated 😠 he doesn’t know he’s crushing😠 all he knows is that he feels things😠 that are nice and warm and make his fire activate😠 this is the second version, the first got deleted because of my own stupidity. I think After fiddling with this version for around an hour, I like it more than V1. 🥺 if anyone wants anymore boys from BNHA, or some HQ boy versions send a request! I’d be happy to do it!

I am in the process of planning out a Kid Krow songfic collection for BNHA and Haikyuu (separately) and I want to hear suggestions for which character for which song! Drop an ask or find the post I talk about it (under Sami speaks) and comment!

General Taglist (open! Ask or comment on this post to be on it): @mssyprsn

[remnantoforario]

Too Many Cookies: RWBY’s Problem with Excess Part 1

So Volume 8 is over and...it was a rushed mess to say the least. There’s really no other way to describe it. There were some good bits, but they were overshadowed by all the bad things. Which seems to be the formula for RWBY since V5. 

RWBY has never had the strongest writing, I think that’s safe to admit at this point, but after V3 there seemed to be a concentrated effort by CRWBY to improve on that front, which has yielded very mixed results. 

V4 was good (minus the timeline shenanigans), V5 was awful, V6 was divisive to say the least (IMO the first half was good and the second was mostly terrible), and V7 was a mixed bag.

But I’m not here to talk about the plot today (mostly). As the title stated, this post is about RWBY’s problem with excess, more specifically character excess. 

Jellopocalypse mentioned this problem forever ago in their “This is Basically RWBY” video (which is hilarious and you should watch it already if you haven’t) as well as Vexed Viewer around a couple of years ago when he was exploring possibilities for V6. 

As stated in both of those videos (and i’m sure many other videos and posts), RWBY has a problem with introducing a bunch of characters and not doing anything with them. This was mostly forgiven in the first three volumes because of the show’s school setting, but the problem has slowly been growing as of V4.

Just to set the stage, here are the main characters in each volume (essentially those that got the most focus) since the show left Beacon:

V4 - RWBY, JNR, Qrow, Oscar/Ozpin, Salem, Cinder, Tyrian, Sun, Ilia, Ghira, Kali, and the Albains

V5 - RWBY, JNR, Qrow, Oscar/Ozpin, Sun, Ilia, Ghira, Kali, the Albains, Raven, Vernal, Salem, Cinder, Adam

V6 - RWBY, JNR, Qrow, Oscar/Ozpin, Maria, Salem, Cinder, Neo Politan, Adam

V7 - RWBY, JNR, Qrow, Oscar, Maria, Ironwood, Penny, Pietro, Winter, Ace-Ops, Watts, Tyrian, Jacques, Robyn Hill, Cinder, and Neo

V8 - RWBY, JNR, Qrow, Oscar/Ozpin, Ironwood, Penny, Pietro, Maria, Winter, Ace-Ops (Minus Clover), Watts, Neo, Willow, Whitley, The Hound, Salem, Robyn Hill, Happy Huntresses (mostly May), Hazel, Emerald, and Cinder

Now compare these lists to V1-3: RWBY, JNPR, Ozpin, Cinder, Emerald, Mercury, Torchwick, and Penny. Thats it. 

Starting to see a pattern? There are way too many hands in the pot, and all of them are fighting for relevance in the story. Leading to a mess of scenes that take too long on certain characters and push others that should be getting focus to the back.

If we count each person individually with a SHRED of relevance to the plot of V8, we were following a total of 33 characters this volume (If you want to take out Pietro, Maria, Joanna, Fiona, The Hound, Whitley, and Willow, that still leaves 26). 

Now normally in shows with ensemble casts like this (MHA, One Piece, Bleach, Naruto, DB, Black Clover, etc.) this number isn’t really a problem, in fact this number is VERY small considering how big those casts gets (especially OP). 

Why its a problem with RWBY though is that most of these characters have little or nothing to do, or havent done anything since certain volumes. So they are essentially window dressing.

In my opinion, this should have been the main casts for Volumes 7 and 8: 

V7: RWBY, Oscar, Maria, Pietro, Ironwood, Winter, Jacques, Willow, Whitley, Watts, Tyrian, Happy Huntresses, Penny, Ace-Ops, Qrow. 25

V8: RWBY, Oscar, Ozpin, Maria, Pietro, Penny, Ace-Ops (minus Clover), Willow, Whitley, Jacques, Happy Huntresses, Ironwood,  Emerald, Hazel, Winter, Salem, Cinder, Watts, Neo, Qrow. 28

The main thing here is that we took JNR out. Mostly because they haven’t served a purpose since Volume 6. 

Once RWBY got back together JNR lost any real plot importance they had. Jaune takes away scenes that should be given to other characters and Ren and Nora are just here at this point to have meaningless relationship drama that hurts both of their characters.

I know some people reading this will complain about me jettisoning Nora’s character “development” in V7, but in all honesty you could have given all of her non-Ren related scenes with pretty much the exact same dialogue to either Yang or Blake and nothing would have changed. 

Jaune didn’t do anything much of anything in Volume 7 and the one moment he had in Volume 8 was instantly met by hate from fans and non-fans alike. Best to just get him out of here. 

As for Ren, his character was fine throughout the two volumes but the time spent on his “I can see character arcs” semblance evolution could have been better served, you know, ACTUALLY fleshing out those character arcs.  

Honestly, I’d cut out more characters than just them...but that’s for part 2. 

[doneses]

Who were the Schnee’s meant to be?

So with V7 having drawn to a close, I wanted to try and sort out my thoughts on how the Schnee’s that we know in the show today, might not be the one’s that Monty had originally intended to make.

This is not meant to be a dig at CRWBY or to say that CRWBY are mangling Monty’s vision. Monty was constantly introducing different ideas to RWBY (like the Maidens) so it is entirely possible that the Schnee’s we got are one’s he would have ended up making, it’s impossible to say for certain.

But looking over V1-2, some behind the scene information involving Monty, and later volumes, you begin to see evidence of where things appeared to have been... reshuffled.

The Winter Issue

Most of the ‘changes’ that occured in the Schnee family can be traced to a single character; Winter Schnee, as what we are presented about her character and her relationship with Weiss in the first two volumes is wildly different than V3 and onwards.

In V1/2, what Weiss mentions about her home life is vague and she generally tries to avoid that subject due to unhappy memories. In V1, after seeing how serious about leading Ruby is, Weiss brings up how she wanted to have bunk beds as a child, but what’s interesting is the sad look she gets before telling Ruby this.

While one could say that Weiss and Winter weren’t able to have bunk beds due to Winter being much older than Weiss, however, I think it might be less due to an age difference and more just due to a more distant relationship between the two sisters, a relationship that Weiss wished was more sisterly.

The reason I think it is due to Weiss and Winter being distant is due to one of the best scenes in V2, and arguably the entire show.

This scene in V2, and the follow up, show us Weiss’ entire relationship with her family members involved in the SDC; she’s nervous, she’s scared, she has to fake happiness and put on a face to interact with them.

Seconds before the line goes through, you get to see how awful the prospect of interacting with her family is for her.

And here is where thing’s get interesting.

Why would Winter be at an SDC building alongside her father? And as Weiss specified, it isn’t any random SDC building but

The main headquarters of the entire SDC.

Given what we know about canon Winter, she actively despises her father and arguably the entire Schnee family outside of Weiss given how distant she keeps herself and buries herself in the military. Given how close she is to Ironwood and how aware he is of her volatile relationship with her family, he most likely wouldn’t be having her do missions with the SDC, which I’m not sure what Ironwood would even need done at the SDC headquarters back in Atlas at the time of V2. On top of that the way that the secretary mentions Winter seems to imply that she works there.

The other interesting aspect of this scene, is Weiss’ face after getting the information she needed from the SDC and refused to talk with her family.

She looks miserable. Just as miserable as when she was mentally preparing herself for the possibility of talking to them.

The reason I find this so interesting, is how Weiss in V3+ is the complete opposite when it comes to Winter.

She’s excited, the mere sight of Winter’s ship sends her running from the arena and across Beacon’s campus.

And it’s here we learn Winter is part of the military, and can infer that she’s the one who trained Weiss prior to her leaving for Beacon.

So why does Winter being different matter?

This change in the relationship between Weiss and Winter is the reason why I think Whitley even exists as a character, and why Willow is an alcoholic.

Did you notice that throughout the first 3 volumes, when discussions about her family, Weiss never mentions having another sibling? A sibling who would be of a similar age to her and would be able to share a bunk bed with her?

Unless of course, said sibling was close to their father, and was rather cold and distant with Weiss.

I remember that there was a lot of confusion back when V4 first aired at who Whitley was; everyone was confused that Weiss had this other sibling who she had never mentioned before.

As we have seen, Whitley has a closer relationship with his father than he does with the rest of the Schnee family, and is more involved in the actual business aspects of the SDC than his siblings. Hmmm. Now that seems to line up a bit with what the implication for Winter was in V2.

And as we can see, Weiss isn’t as friendly with Whitley as she would be with Winter; she doesn't enjoy talking with him or being around him.

Now the next source should be taken with a grain of salt given who it is from, but in Shane’s letter, he mentions and covers a lot of things that were changed from the original script for V3 that Monty had done (Jaune seeing Pyrrha die, Yang fighting Adam before losing her arm, etc), and what CRWBY made.

V3 had begun pre-production in 2013, shortly after V1 finished airing. And the main thing to take away from that part of the letter is that the Winter that Monty had originally created, was changed. Whether it was just her design or her character as a whole is left unclear but, I do believe that this change in Winter’s character lines up with the change in Weiss’ behavior in relation to Winter, and why Whitley was not mentioned until V4. If this original version of Winter was meant to be a Whitley like character, a sibling that is groomed by their father and hostile toward Weiss, then when they changed Winter to being a military woman, they needed to create a new sibling to still fulfill that character role in Weiss’ story.

How does this affect Willow?

From Pyrrha’s voice actor, we know that a lot of story elements, like the Fall of Beacon and Pyrrha’s death were moved from V2 to V3, and that Monty was working on V3 content while V2 was airing. We know Monty was working on content for V3 due to his tweets in 2014, sharing character files that were on his computer.

Do you see it? The names listed?

Willow Schnee, and Winter Schnee.

It’s through this list of character files that we were able to learn Willow’s name prior to V7 and also how we learned Taiyang’s name prior to V3. Monty is very much a ‘pants’ style of creator, he makes things up as he goes along and tosses things in because he thought it would be cool, just look at Neo or CFVY. The entire reason that M&K were brought into to the show and help him with the writing was due to him needing people to help him with getting the plot to each of its major plot points, as he (like most content creators) just had the major plot points thought out.

Which is why I find the inclusion of Willow on the list of character files that were being worked on for V3 and shown during V2 to be interesting. Why would Willow be on that list of characters meant to show up soon or are in the current volume if Willow would be a minor character who wouldn’t appear until near the mid- to end of the show? And if Whitley is meant to be Weiss’ rival for control of the SDC as the show seems to be setting him up to be, then why is he nowhere to be found on that list of character files?

Winter in canon for the most part took over the maternalistic role in Weiss’ life after Willow fell into depression and started drinking. It can be assumed that she is the one who trained Weiss in her glyphs, swordplay, and attempted to do so with summoning, as shown in the V5 character short.

Winter helped train Weiss so she would be strong enough to leave home.

But if Winter was originally meant to be a rival to Weiss and have a strained relationship with her, then who would have been the one to have trained Weiss in her semblance and weapon?

If my theory is correct, I believe Willow was meant to have taken the role Winter had in V3, to have visited Weiss for a bit and help teach her summoning like she had done so with her glyphs and swordplay. That Willow was originally meant to have been a mentor figure for Weiss, instead of being uninvolved in her life.

But why change Winter so much?

Now this is something I do not have an answer for as I don’t work for RT, and honestly this all entirely speculation on my part just based off bits of behind the scenes info that we’ve been given and what I’ve noticed during my own watchings of the show. If I am correct and Winter’s character was changed and took the role Willow was meant to have and her own character was given to Whitley, that is indeed a pretty drastic change, and from an outside perspective seems like it’d be creating a lot more work for a writer instead of having the more simplified version that Monty had (if I’m correct).

And the only answer I can think of, is from this scene.

While it might sound nice to have Weiss be trained by her mother, and her sister be her rival for control of their family company due to them being their father’s favorite and Weiss being abused by him, it does create the question of “If Willow is so skilled at Huntsmen things, why doesn’t she defend her children, or simply get a divorce?”

And I think it’s due to that question, of how to keep Weiss being abused by her father and it playing out realistically, that led to the decision to have Winter’s character cut out and made into new character, and for Willow’s role to be grafted onto this new Winter, and the remnants of Willow being turned into a neglectful alcoholic to add more drama to Weiss’ life and make her difficult childhood even harder.

I didn’t know Monty on a personal level nor will I claim to know how his mind worked, but I do believe based off the evidence I provided that the Schnee family that we have in canon are different than what Monty might have originally envisioned and was working towards in V1/2. And that’s not to say it’s a bad thing if I am correct about these changes, as the Schnee’s are arguably the best part about RWBY and the intense family drama is something that draws a lot of people into the show.

[libermachinae]

An Abundance of Prowls

I remembered the first time I read IDW, feeling like I couldn’t get a hold on Prowl’s character, like he existed as a general concept but I was never really sure what his goals were or why he did... anything he did. I mentioned it to my girlfriend, who was delighted to introduce me to the discourse of our local cop car/war criminal.

Months later, in anticipation of Prowl Week, I said to myself, “Well, I could read through all of Prowl’s appearances, in the order they were published in, and see how the writers developed him over time. That could help make sense of his character.”

Friends. It did not. Here’s a summary, plus my thoughts. [Spoilers ahead!]

Infiltration: Prowl’s first appearance in IDW is him yelling at Ratchet for exposing the Autobots to the humans. We’ll call this guy Rule-Abiding Prowl, and he’s very steady/boring throughout the rest of the -ation series. His main function is to try to stop kids from being involved in the plot. Thanks Furman.

Spotlight: Kup: Our first glance of Spec Ops Prowl. Though he’s not physically present for most of the issue, Nick Roche still delivers a Prowl who is behind the scenes, pulling the strings. I was honestly surprised by how early on this was set up, considering everything we’re about to trudge through.

Megatron Origin: More Rule-Abiding Prowl, this time by Eric Holmes. He has a job, he does as he’s told, he clings to the chain of command like a padlock.

All Hail Megatron: Seven instances in which we’re victorious! It’s number-cruncher Prowl time; also anxious, war-weary, slightly hopeless Prowl. Maybe Shane McCarthy was trying to do a combination Roche and Furman? It’s all for naught, in the end, because Roche got brought back in to follow up on Kup’s story and he dove all the way in with Prowl being a sneaky bastard.

Spotlight Prowl: Can’t get too far ahead of ourselves, though! Mike Costa wanted Prowl to be a hardboiled detective with a a spark of gold SO BAD. Also the point at which Prowl falls into his terrible cycle of learning a lesson only to learn the opposite thing in the next issue. In this case, it’s between doing what’s right regardless of the rules, and sticking to the rules because order is paramount. Is this unresolved internal conflict going to haunt our boy for the rest of the continuity? Mmmm. Transformers V1 is more of the same, except now Prowl has a little buddy. Can’t lie, Streetwise delights me and I wish he’d stuck around.

Death of Optimus Prime: Co-written by Barber and JRo, so it’s tricky to say who exactly was responsible for what, although I have a feeling JRo was all over that Peaceful Resolution backstory. This does provide a perfect bed in which to sew the seeds of who Prowl will be in the coming arc.

MTMTE: Okay, full disclosure? I jotted this guy down as Warm Prowl in my notes. Through flashback, JRo gives us a gentler version of the character whose blunt nature and vow to regulation are underscored by a hidden concern and appreciation for his partner, Tumbler. Don’t look at me, I think about the conversation about the coming war and them leaving together all the goddamn time. Also, JRo waves at his buddy Roche’s Spec Ops Prowl from afar.

RID: War’s over, everyone can (literally!) go home! Prowl? Hey, bud, did you hear the news? No, ofc not, because this is Endless War Prowl, the guy who is convinced the Neutrals are out to murder everyone and also that Bumblebee sucks at his job. This is also the arc where Bombshell happens :(

Dark Cybertron: Prowl Buries His Trauma

Spotlight Bumblebee: Rude boy. Doesn’t like Bumblebee? Doesn’t respect the chain of command?

Autocracy/Monstrosity/Primacy: Prowl wants to follow rules! He trusts Optimus’ judgement! Babey Prowl.

RID Pt 2: It’s hard to classify this Prowl because so much of what he does in this arc is in response to things that have been done to him. The Decepticons mind controlled him, so he has to keep them from getting the Engima. He’s been saddled with gestalt coding, so now he needs to have the Constructicons along wherever he goes. Spike Witwicky betrayed him years ago, so dammit, now he’s gotta spend a Saturday trying and failing to squish one tiny human. He’s Renegade Prowl in my notes, because this is definitely the point where he stops giving a shit about rules. (Get a teeny bit of Warm Prowl, tho, when he calls Bumblebee his best friend. Kinda comes out of nowhere, the guy could have used your support like, any time over the last few years, but it’s a nice moment.)

Combiner Wars: Absolutely loses his goddamn shit. It’s like Spec Ops Prowl, going behind everybody’s backs, making the “hard choices” (he’s literally deciding to kill off the Cybertronian species; please keep this detail in mind), but he does it all as a giant combiner who solves problems by smashing them, so we’re gonna stick with Renegade Prowl. Barber wants to blame this on gestalt coding. I shrug and say sure, though I do raise a hand to question it when Optimus proceeds to beat him up for it.

Sins of the Wreckers: NAUGHTY SPIDER TIME. Roche takes all of Barber’s Bitch Prowl energy and embellishes it with those sweet spec ops tactics we’ve been missing so dearly. Gone are giant combiners smashing shit: now it’s just Prowl having ideas, making deals, and twisting morality to suit his own needs while desperately trying to avoid the fact that he has a conscience. Roche also makes the fascinating move of highlighting Prowl’s shittiness while subjecting him to Tarantulas’ arguable shittierness. There’s a nice moment at the end when he decides he wants to do better going forward, though Roche leaves it open for other authors’ interpretations via violent interruption by Impactor. Nick Roche never writes Prowl again, and an infinitesimal part of the internet grieves.

MTMTE Pt 2: AKA the misadventures of Luna I, AKA the one scene where Prowl’s helping with the dishes and actually seems comfortable for the first time in centuries. JRo takes a comedic approach to the character which is evocative of his Warm Prowl invention. Just one thing. Remember that detail I told you to remember earlier? About how he was entirely ready to bring Cybertronians to extinction? Here to Sentinel, Prowl says, and I quote, “And unlike you, I don’t feel the urge to kill the rest of my species.” I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this, so rather than risk turning this into an actual literary essay, I’m going to leave it at that.

Optimus Prime: Two versions of Prowl in here: one from the past, where he describes himself as “unpopular” and beats up Jetfire, and present-day, where he somehow ends up in a ship with Stardrive, Garnak, Wheelie, and a vamparc gun from Autocracy. No one bothers to explain how this came about, the same way no one explains how by the books, rule-driven Prowl started battering prisoners before the war ever started.

Unicron: The most bizarre. Prowl does his whole logic thing, gotta sacrifice Devisiun so we can save everyone else, y’know. But then, in the showdown with Shockwave, he gives a whole speech about how the real battle is within the self, to make sure goodness prevails or something like that. It comes out of nowhere and I guess is a follow up from the Wreckers, but honestly idk?

Lost Light epilogue: Rule-Abiding Prowl! Hey dude, how you been? Work for Windblade now? Have an official job reviewing Functionist Cybertron and establishing ties with the Galactic Council? Neat!

Optimus Prime epilogue: Giving this one its own thing because it’s one of Prowl’s most memorable moments for me, personally. He begins by acknowledging his own multifaceted nature through an argument with Shockwave, arguing that every one of an individual’s identities are “real” and rendering this entire exercise moot. After I dragged myself off the floor from that realization, I went straight into the line that has always stuck with me, “We are our actions... not our hopes.” Barber wraps up Prowl’s character by having him acquiesce to the criticism he’s been facing since the beginning of the continuity. It places a heavy emphasis on Spec Ops Prowl, the one who made “hard choices” in hope of possibilities that rarely came to pass, but is not entirely bound to that identity. Every aspect of Prowl I’ve described here performed actions that influenced the overall plot of the comic, though his motivations throughout are rarely transparent. What do we make of it, now that the character himself is now saying they didn’t matter? Is Prowl the sum total of the crimes he committed, friends he betrayed, and lives he sacrificed? In our calculations of Prowl, is there any variable that represents an unclaimed seat on the Peaceful Resolution?

Answering that question isn’t what I set out to do here, though, and I’ve already had to stop myself from writing an English essay once. I hope someone finds this useful, because putting it together was like building a puzzle of pieces that don’t quite fit together. You could even argue that not all of them are important, and that some bring down the integrity of the whole. They’re all in the box together, though, so we’ve gotta make something out of them.

[gorogues]

The Confusing History of Al and Al

Hi. It’s me again, trying to see if I have the history of Dr. Alchemy, Mr. Element, and the two Als down correctly.

-Showcase #13: Mr. Element debuts.

-Showcase #14: The same character reappears with a new identity, Dr. Alchemy, but he isn’t implied to have a split personality.

-Justice League #21-22: Dr. Alchemy appears as a member of the “Crime Champions”, teaming up with Felix Faust, Chronos, the Icicle, the Fiddler, and the Wizard. Again, there’s no implication of him having a split personality. 

-Flash #147: “Our Enemy, the Flash”. Mr. Element/Dr. Alchemy reforms. I believe that this is the first issue where his actual name, Albert Desmond, is revealed. His fiancee, Rita, is also introduced here. Professor Zoom the Reverse-Flash tries to make Albert revert to evil (and more specifically his identity as Mr. Element) via hypnosis. Throughout the issue, Albert is described as having an evil side of his personality, but it still doesn’t seem to quite be an actual split personality.

-Flash #153: “The Mightiest Punch of All Time”. Eobard uses a machine to bring out the evil in Albert Desmond’s nature, causing him to briefly become Mr. Element before Barry uses a future device to return him to the side of good. Again, he still doesn’t appear to have a full-on split personality. In this issue, it is implied that Al and RIta will soon get married. 

-Flash #166: Albert and Rita (now married) attend Barry and Iris’ wedding. 

After this I get fuzzy on issue numbers. 

-Albert Desmond becomes Mr. Element due to a pulsing star that is stated to have influenced his previous forays into crime. Also, he almost explodes and destroys the Earth. This is the first issue where Albert appears to have a full-on split personality, with Mr. Element and Albert Desmond acting quite differently from one another, behaving as separate individuals. Barry somehow solves Al’s star problem and allegedly destroys Mr. Element as a personality. 

-Desmond becomes Dr. Alchemy for some reason (it’s been awhile since I read the issue) and tries to use green fire to burn everything. Again, Dr. Alchemy is implied to be a separate personality rather than just Desmond’s costumed identity, and Barry allegedly rids Albert of Dr. Alchemy by the end of the story. Also, he and Rita almost get crushed by a falling gargoyle at the beginning of the story. 

-Albert and Rita attend Barry’s birthday party in a one-panel appearance. 

-Flash #287-289: The debut of Alvin Desmond, Albert’s “psychic twin”, who frames Albert for a series of crimes before finally being defeated by Barry Allen and Albert Desmond, who uses his Mr. Element costume and identity without activating an apparent split personality. 

-Flash vol. 2 #19: Alvin attends the Rogues’ party and turns Connie Noleski’s bracelet first into gold and then into pure platinum. 

-Then there’s a two-parter where it’s revealed that “Alvin” is actually a physical manifestation of Albert’s evil side/split personality(ies) created by the Philosopher’s Stone. Wally West helps Albert to destroy Alvin. Rita does not appear; the two may have divorced by this point. 

-Flash vol. 2 #71-72: A guy called the Alchemist shows up, having stolen the Philosopher’s Stone. He’s defeated by Wally and is explicitly neither Albert nor Alvin. 

-Towards the end of Mark Waid’s run (during the “Dark Flash” arc) Dr. Alchemy shows up without explanation. It’s not clear if it’s Albert or Alvin under the hood, but he turns apples into gold before getting beaten up by Walter West. 

-During Geoff Johns’ run, Dr. Alchemy made sporadic appearances, usually in Iron Heights and doing nothing but reading books. For awhile it wasn’t clear who was under the hood, but then an issue of Gotham Central revealed that he was in fact Albert, acting far more sadistically than he had anywhere else. (I wasn’t crazy about that; Alvin would’ve seemed much more appropriate.) 

-And except for a few cameos, that was the last time Albert/Alvin appeared (until the upcoming run with him in it). 

Is this right? If so, what in the world is going on in Al’s head? (This was going to be a question, but it got too long, so here it is.) 

*** gorogues’ reply begins after this line! ***

Yeah, you've got the gist of it.  Alvin also had a two-part story in Blue Beetle v1 #3-4 in 1986, and a cameo in Manhunter v1 #7 in 1988.  

Albert had a major appearance in the Brave and the Bold v3 #7 in 2007.  The Gotham Central arc was #28-31 (2005) so it was a fair-sized story, but I agree with you, Albert comes across as an absolute psychopath and I wasn't thrilled with that.

Albert or Alvin appeared as Dr Alchemy in Justice League of America v1 #219-220 in 1983 as well.

There's also a Silver Age Mr Element story AND a present-day Dr Alchemy story in Flash v2 annual #8 (1995).  Presumably Mr Element was Albert, but it wasn't clear to me whether that Dr Alchemy was Albert or Alvin.

And there's a long-running story arc called "Silver Age" which ran through a bunch of books with that title (Silver Age: Justice League, Silver Age: Flash, etc) that had Albert as Mr Element.  It's not clear when exactly those happened, other than sometime in the Silver Age.

Al and Rita apparently divorced off-panel, so we don't know when it happened.  But I'd guess it was between her last appearance in Alvin's first arc and the arc in which Alvin is seemingly destroyed (Flash v2 #40-41).  Thing is, we don't know for sure that Alvin was destroyed, because in that story with the golden apples (Flash v2 #152) he sure looks like Alvin...but Alvin was supposed to be gone by then.  So it was either an art or a continuity error, or maybe Alvin wasn't really destroyed or he was later re-created.

Dr Alchemy had a significant appearance in Flash Secret Files and Origins #2 (1999), but it's not clear whether it's Albert or Alvin.  His hair is dark like Albert's, but it's curly like Alvin's.

And then Johns muddied the continuity waters further by putting Albert into Barry's past in Flash: Rebirth and the 2010 Secret Files issue.  In this new version of continuity, Albert was Barry's mean co-worker before Barry became the Flash, and he may have even been one of Barry's childhood bullies (it wasn't clear if that was our Albert or a random kid with the name).  In the present, Albert made a sinister comment about Barry "I wonder if you remember me -- and if you're still angry about what I did to her", but we never found out who or what he was talking about because Flashpoint happened.

So as you may have surmised, the history of Al is kind of a mess and absolutely confusing.  He's been a good man who struggles with evil impulses, he's been affected by an evil star, he's had an astral twin and the good/evil flowed between them, he's learned that the twin was merely a construct of his Stone to give form to his evil impulses, and he's been a completely amoral jerk who cares about nothing other than knowledge.  I think there's some room to pick and choose how you interpret him since he's been so different over the years, but the way comics continuity is supposed to work is you take the most recent version...while knowing that it may change in the future.  But I'm not going to lie, I stubbornly consider stuff like the Roscoe-possesses-Henry-Allen story at least sort of canon even though it was clearly erased with the Eobard-killed-Nora-Allen retcon, so I think the same can be done with Al if you choose.

What is clear is that Al has significant mental health issues, and possibly Dissociative Identity Disorder.  He may have compartmentalized his negative thoughts or urges into another personality in order to rid himself of them or perhaps to deflect blame for them, and certainly the Philosopher's Stone is powerful enough to create a simulacrum of life to make that alter ego real (temporarily or permanently).  If so, maybe the more amoral Dr Alchemy we saw under Johns is just his 'bad' personality having seized control, and maybe the original Albert is buried and can still re-emerge.  I think that'd be an ideal solution to make sense of all the various continuities and leave room for a more nuanced Al who isn't solely amoral.  I hope we see something like that when Al finally returns in a few months.

[sorin-thru-the-sky]

Adam Taurus and pretending to be someone he is not

Since the DC comic issue #4 came out this week, I’ve been seeing a lot of people saying how Adam’s character was changed in v3, how he was never abusive to Blake and how his behaviour is inconsistent (and all other bad takes we’ve seen throughout this hiatus). As an abuse victim, I know perfectly well how manipulators and abusers behave. I’ve had enough and I’m here to explain how a manipulator an abuser, like Adam, pretends to be someone they are not.

So to start off, we don’t see Adam at all during V1 and V2 (only like few seconds of him in V2 finale), but what we do see is how Blake talks about him.

In V2 Ch10 when talking to Yang and Weiss she says: “I had a partner…named Adam. More of a mentor, actually. He always assured me that what we were doing would make the world a better place. But of course, his idea of a perfect future turned out to be…not perfect for everyone.”

And in V3 Ch8 after Yang was framed for attacking Mercury: 

From this we know that Adam changed in Blake’s eyes, but what really happened is he gradually stopped pretending to be someone he isn’t. This is a common thing manipulators and abusers do, they pretend to be good, charming, they will be generous and do things for you without asking for anything in return. This way the rope you in and you become trapped. After they know that you are under their control, they slowly start to pretend less. They become more and more abusive, they blame you for things, make you believe that you are the one hurting them and that you are ungrateful. Before you know it, they finally reveale their true colours to you. This is the same Adam did to Blake.

If we look at further evidence, like the Adam short, where he lied and gaslit younger Blake into believing that she is the one who is wrong, that her memory is false and turned the whole focuse on blaming her.

A lot of people bring up the scene in V3 Ch7 where he refuses Cinder’s offer as evidence that Adam’s character was change, that he was a righteous WF leader, but a lot of people forget that he wasnt alone in that scene with Cinder:

If you look closely, you can see some oh his men are with them in the tent. Adam wanted power, he wanted to be lionized, to do so he needed people to follow him so he could climb ranks and become more powerful. If he had told Cinder his real motives then and there, his men would’ve heard that and would they still think that he is the Revolutionary righteous leader that he pretends to be? After he gained almost all of the WF following, he killed Sienna and became the High Leader. He was finally able to do whatever he wanted, and he had power over the whole brotherhood.

The song Lionized perfectly sums up Adam’s motives.

After Adam lost control over both Blake and WF he decided to exact reveng on them. Firstly, by killing off the WF members in V6 CH1 and then going after Blake to kill her.

We should also bring Blake into this picture. In the comics, when she meets Adam, she is still a child. What happened is she got infatuated by him, this is also because Adam was charming and she believed he wanted to fight for equality, something that was her goal. But yet again that was just pretending on Adams part. 

And the line in Nevermore:

“ Youth and infatuation / Kept me too blind to see”

After a long time of them being together, he revealed his true self to her.

And Lastly, if you are gonna be like “Oh BuT tHiS iS aLl JuSt An OpInIoN oF YoUrS, iT wAsN’t PrOvEn In ThE sHoW tHaT hE wAs PrEtEnDiNG.”

Yang layed it out loud and clear.

TL;DR: Adam’s character was never changed, he was pretending to be someone he wasn’t and managed to fool a lot of the people in the FNDM.

[doctorofmagic]

I have to ask, what is it about Stephen Strange that draws you to him? I've always been a fan of Marvel, and I even like the magic side (I'm mostly an X-Men fan), but Strange always came off as a little arrogant to me. Do you have any recommended reading to help change the opinion?

Hello! Well, if you don't mind a long post ahead haha

I gave a quick view on why I love Stephen so much here but I think perhaps it's worth writing a new analysis and go deeper this time since it's been a while now.

Also thank you for the background, I believe it will help me explain why some people indeed perceive him as arrogant.

Long story short, when you mostly read comics that are not centered around Stephen's character, it's quite easy to assume he's arrogant and nothing else. And that characterization got SO MUCH WORSE thanks to Waid and his v5, which can also be perceived in Strange Academy, both runs that didn't escape my criticism. I'm very loud about how unhappy I am to see him portrayed like that.

Because if you go into the past, like, really into the past, you'll see that even in Strange Tales, Stephen is not that arrogant as a sorcerer. In fact, he's confident when it comes to the enemy. He is SO SURE he'll prevail because he utterly believes that good will triumph over evil. Also he's smart. He's not the most powerful sorcerer out there but boi, he's truly cunning. And this is why he ends up defeating incredible enemies like Dormammu and Nightmare, and even Mephisto, Satannish and so many others. But when it comes to TAO? He's deeply humble. He respects TAO and treats him like a master and a father figure. To the point that he needed to have a whole arc (Into Shamballa) just to be able to question TAO's methods and say no to him. And I kid you not, TAO did some shady stuff.

But the thing that gets into my nerves when some writers merely portray Stephen as arrogant is the fact that there's actually no character growth. I'm not saying Stephen is perfect, of course. But there's something shallow and one-dimensional when you decide to write a character without actual development. This is why I'm pretty much okay with Stephen as an Illuminati. Because yes, his arrogance led him to do terrible things, and said things still haunt him to this very day. He regrets it fiercely. There are actual consequences to his acts and he pays for it daily, because it affects his mental health and his own notion of worthiness. This is a panel that I post quite often because it represents everything I just said. He became aware of his mistakes due to his arrogance, and he cannot forgive himself for it.

From New Avengers v1 Annual #2.

So Stephen steps back as the Sorcerer Supreme because he needs to learn humility again. And throughout New Avengers v1 and v2, you see that Stephen is sorry and constantly afraid of bothering people (which I consider his first steps into what could later be read as his depression in v4).

From New Avengers v2 #7.

And after that we have Stephen yet again allowing his arrogance to get the best of him in New Avengers v3, until he loses everything but he keeps going. And that's one of the reasons why I love him so much. He doesn't care about himself as long as he's able to save something. And although he didn't manage to defeat the Beyonders, he found his way to be one out of the three people who saved it all in Secret Wars. And he could have been a god but he saw power and ran away, because he was afraid of what he could have become (and so he allows Doom to do it).

He doesn't hesitate to serve Victor and calls him a god and savior, which is also something quite unthinkable for someone who is perceived as arrogant.

And that's the whole point. After Secret Wars, Stephen is miserable. He degrades himself, he constantly throws himself into danger without any regard towards his own life, he tries so hard not to screw things up because the monster in the cellar keeps growing (Mr. Misery is absolutely a metaphor for his depression).

From Doctor Strange v4 #18.

Basically, v4 is a lesson about self-love and forgiveness. Stephen went through so much, well, misery, that he needs to be reminded that he actually is loved and his existence is valid and important.

From Doctor Strange #390.

This is exactly what draws me into Stephen. The fact that he struggles with self-worth but he still literally gives his own life to do good? And NO ONE knows because he does it all in secret, in the dark when people are not looking. He doesn't need glory or acknowledgement, but the world truly needs him because the mantle of the Sorcerer Supreme is a burden and only Stephen is willing to sacrifice his entire life for it. And no one has ever portrayed that notion so perfectly as Jed in his DODS: Spider-Man tie-in. I deeply recommend checking it out because it shows how Stephen cares not only for magic but ordinary people. He goes every night to a bus stop to protect a lady while she waits for her bus. And only she knows about it. That's what people who are not into Stephen miss and this is why he may look arrogant. But I assure you, this man is... ugh, he's magnificent.

From Death of Doctor Strange - Spider-Man #1.

Yes, Jimena. He's a lovely man.

And since you mentioned X-Men... My last argument for it is simply... Magik. She's not one to take bs from people but she always displays the utmost respect for Stephen, which means a lot coming from someone like her. Stephen has always helped and cared for her, and their bond is strong till this very day. Mostly because he's kind around her and he does not hesitate to be there for her.

From Extraordinary X-Men #8.

My point is, yes. I can understand why people have this idea of Stephen being arrogant. It takes some digging to see his deeper layers tho. And also avoid some writers (Waid, Skottie, I'm looking directly at you). But if you dig Jed's Death of Doctor Strange, you'll see a love letter to the character and how important he truly is to people who knew him.

Stephen is really sorry about the mistakes he has made. He apologized to Hulk and he knows he will never be able to repair their friendship (detailed analysis about this here). This is why he keeps wallowing in self-pity whenever he looks at Clea's picture. This is why he avoids people and teams. He's trying, and that makes him human. And that's the main reason why I love him so much.

Oof, that's it. I hope it helped you see him through a new perspective. Thank you for passing by!

[powerbottomblake]

top 5 bumbleby moments

God ok:

1. “I’m not gonna break my promise, I swear” “I know you won’t” but specifically the part right before where it seems like Yang can’t get to Blake fast enough and you see the urgency in the way she slides like:

this is my header for a reason I couldn’t stop rewatching this specific part 100 times when I was rewatching the fight it’s like. I don’t even have the words idk it’s just. a lot. Especially with how we know what Yang wanted above all else was to be there for Blake and now they’re here and they’ve just killed a man that always cast a huge shadow (hehe get it) on Blake’s whole life and Blake is down on her knees and Yang knows how much it hurts to fall on your own and she just can’t seem to get to her fast enough and be close enough and let her know she’s there idk it just GETS me

2. Yang grasping Blake’s hand to get the hell out of the farm during the Apathy episodes I loved it especially with how it came right after she saw Blake essentially give up on herself and she almost lost her for good. But also I love how the moment was framed as a Moment like it takes central stage in the scene and you even have Ruby pointedly look back at it it’s like Yes Yang is Grabbing Her Wife and Fucking Out of There and Everyone will Know it’s just an important beat in the story and to their relationship’s development and I lovd it.

3. Blake putting herself in between Yang and Adam when Adam was going in for the kill after he severed Yang’s arm and her whole pose being so threatening it gave him pause like:

She literally snarled at him and this was arguably the moment the control he had over her broke (which is so ironic since he was setting out to break her...he went after the one person he shouldn’t have and that person is Yang). Blake quickly and bodily put herself in his way even with an injury and despite freezing so bad in fear and bc of trauma literally moments prior to this that she couldn’t even muster enough strength to properly defend herself! Going after Yang was the last straw and the thing that gets me here is that Blake’s love for Yang is what made her snap out of Adam’s control. Her love for Yang literally saved them both that night.

4. Think you can’t make one of these without Burning the Candle but ok I am super fond of this underrated moment here:

she’s dancing with Sun but it’s Yang she’s looking at which honestly is like. Blake’s feelings in V1-3 in a nutshell.

5. Listen idk if this technically counts as a bumbleby moment but Adam screaming “what does she even see in you” literally that moment was what killed off whatever remaining doubt I had with where rt are taking bumbleby like that’s it that’s literally the most obvious romantic trope of “stilted lover turned enemy goes after current love interest in a fit of jealous rage” like all throughout the fight Adam recognized Yang as his romantic rival but fuck that moment sealed it my heart literally stopped the first time I watched the episode bc that’s it we’re doing this we’re really going there and doing this blake and yang are a love story and you can’t take it from these grubby goblin wlw hands even if you wanted anyway ye 

[kaiowut99]

99% - GX Season 2 Opening: “I Fits I Sits” (WIP) 

this scene is still adorable ngl

So, I’ve been at work the past three weeks since finishing my 5D’s Dub-Uncut Ep. 24 getting ready to finalize my Season 2 subs, which means it’s time to revisit 99%’s Season 2 opening video for translating! In my first go-around, while I did use the textless video to fully translate the credits and lyrics, I opted to use subtitles on Chronos’s placard here and the names that pop up for each character since I wasn’t all that versed in Photoshop and was limited with Sony Vegas.  Now, about (...however long ago I first subbed episode 53 how has it been that long) and quite a few animation fixes later, I thought my particular set of skills has expanded quite a bit--enough so to try and realize what I’d wanted to do back then but couldn’t by fully translating the OP, names included!

Here, you see some of that in action--after I took time to recreate the name boxes throughout the opening (text and a transparent box on a transparent background to overlay), I took each frame involving placard (after a still) or Chronos movement and Pharaoh’s name sliding in and edited it to both translate Chronos’s placard (which involved getting more familiar with Vanishing Point lol) and digitize out Pharaoh’s name box, which meant also redrawing Chronos’s uniform/hair/pants ruffles and Pharaoh’s tail accordingly on top of it.  I also used the frame as Chronos jumps in which he disappears for a second as backup to consistently edit the chair behind him in each frame.  Admittedly daunting since it was about 14 frames to edit, but as you see above, I think it came out really well! Gif #1 is the original while Gif #2 is my translation; as a bonus, Gif #3 is the translation with Pharaoh’s name covered up, since I thought it’d be neat to include.  Had 4Kids thought to use this in their OP, it might be how it’d look, lol.

And, being in Rome and all, once I wrapped up the V1 of this scene (used in 53-84, the one with gloating Chronos and annoyed Napoleon), I figured like a madman that I may as well take care of the V2 for later (used in 85-104, the one with dejected Chronos and a gloating Napoleon after Samejima comes back).  Having done most of the scene already, it just involved me taking the first few frames of dejected Chronos moving from the in-episode opening (since it wasn’t released textless; once Chronos starts to jump up, both versions use the same footage) and, because the in-episode opening is zoomed in a bit compared to the textless version I’m using, resizing them in Photoshop for easy matching with my previous edits, as I then put a bigger crossout on his placard, redrew Chronos’s hair to wipe out the credits, and copied Napoleon’s right eyebrow with some slight tweaks to cover up the credit on his left one (thanks for being so symmetrical).  I also took the frames from the IEOP with Pharaoh’s name sliding in/the extra-crossed-out placard flying and resized them to fit into the textless frames; that lets me get a textless version of this V2 OP ready to release for folks.  Gif #4 is how that looks, while Gif #5 shows my translation with an extra layer of marker crossout.😂 (poor Chronos)

Once the frames were edited, I just plopped everything into Sony Vegas to get everything moving; I touched up a few spots here/there, but overall, once I put in the frames, it looked pretty solid!

I added photos 6-9 to show an example of the coverup I did while the placard was in mid-air; in this frame, Pharaoh’s tail and Chronos’s hair were redrawn to cover up Pharaoh’s name, while the placard was blanked so I could put my translation on, then match the crossouts.  For the V2 crossout, I mostly matched the placement on the Japanese one, just tweaked a little for consistency with how I’d made it go just past the L on top and on the bottom.  For the frames after where Chronos is in view fully standing, I did redraw his ruffles and think I did a good enough job there; luckily, the name will be blocking much of the view of any drawing slipups I made, lol.

But yeah, so there’s this; I think this might’ve been the toughest one to do, but I’m going to work on the one with Chronos and his deck next.  That’ll be interesting, since it’ll involve perspective Vanishing Point work with the placard, and then in V2 dealing with Chronos as he moves and pouts, haha.  Stay tuned!

Also, BONUS:

[littlemisssquiggles]

RWBY Musings #77: The Puppet Who Wanted to be a Real Girl. Is Penny Polendina really back?

jade-rosepine asked “ While I didn't mind penny and all, I can't help asking; what was the point of bringing her back? I mean yeah wasn't beyond the realm of possibility. Only thing I could think of was to make ruby be forced to make a difficult choice - kill a friend to keep her from being used by the villians (she is still a robot and could, theoretically, be hacked by a way more advanced virus. Basically the cyber-version of brainwashing or possession!) OR let her live and be a slave to the baddies?”

Squiggles Answers: 

@jade-rosepine​ Whelp I was going to save this bit for my musing on the first episode of RWBY V7, but since you brought it up, I might as well voice my thoughts here. I’m going to be honest with you, fam. This squiggle meister has mixed feelings about Penny’s return.

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Heart of Machine

In the past, I was a big fan of the idea of Penny being rebuilt and returning for the Atlas Arc. However back then, I liked it under the pretence that she wouldn’t exactly be the same Penny Polendina that we all met back in V1. I figured she’d be an entirely different character and the justification for her being this way was so that the plot could’ve allowed for Ruby Rose to finally have some semblance of closure since it’s been shown throughout previous seasons how much Penny’s death has affected her emotionally.

As a matter of fact, as evidenced by her ‘Indomitable’ moment in V6, Penny’s death (along with Pyrhha’s and the events of the Fall of Beacon) are still a visible mental block to Ruby being able to fully utilize her Silver Eyes. Since Ruby was shown to still have much growing with mastering her unique power, I was hoping that part of her arc for this season would be coming to terms over her loss over Penny as I was certain being within her old friend’s home kingdom was bound to bring back memories of their time together.

Now I’m not so sure whether or not closure with Penny will still be in the cards for Ruby. It’s not he fact that Penny returned that troubles me. It’s the fact that she returned and is presumably supposed to still be her old self but fixed now. I’m sorry but I’m just not actively buying that at all. I mean, like you, I get that this feat wasn’t entirely impossible to do given that Penny was a robot and technology can be easily repaired; especially in a kingdom as technologically advanced as Atlas and especially by the hands of Pietro Polendina---the man who was literally described as the Greatest Mind in the kingdom. So yeah, Penny returning--- totally could have seen that coming. But that don’t mean I’m not heavily suspicious about it knowing these writers.  I still feel like there’s something’s awfully fishy about this whole plot twist.

This brings me to my hunch about Penny 2.0. I don’t believe that that’s Penny. I mean, she is her. She looks like her (albeit with a more updated design that is reminding me a lot of Bach Do’s design of her from her RWBY 3.0 art series). Talks like her and of course, acts like her. But I feel like this version of Penny is merely a shadow of the soul she once was. I still feel like the old Penny that Ruby befriended perished at the Fall of Beacon and what we’re seeing now before us is just a copy mimicking the behaviour of its original predecessor.

When Penny 2.0 first appeared, after getting over my initial shock and excitement of seeing the character again, I couldn’t help but shake this icky feeling in my gut that something was off about the new Penny. I know the series is trying to get me to think that Penny is back here but…I don’t know. I’m not entirely buying it. I feel like something is awry about this and not even her bright and shining smile in the opening is enough to quell my lingering suspicion. I can’t help but feel like something is going to happen to Penny…again.

Perhaps your theory will be correct here Jade. Perhaps it will be a case where Arthur Watts creates and implants his strongest computer virus yet into Atlas’ system which not only corrupts all the Atlesian Battle Droids in Atlas but all technology within the whole kingdom; Mantle included. This is inclusive of Penny 2.0 and possibly even Pietro Polendina’s mechanical wheelchair which goes haywire and knocks the poor old soul man off of his seat leading to Maria Calavera having to defend him and help him to safety.

Perhaps it will come down to Ruby having to fight an infected Virus Penny 2.0. However I don’t think Ruby will be forced to kill Penny. I think a moment like this will boil down to what’s stronger---hardware and programming or the soul.

It was stated back in V2 that Penny is the first (and possibly only one) of her kind. The first artificial lifeform to produce an aura. As we know, aura is described as the manifestation of one’s soul. Penny is supposed to be a soul within the body of a machine. While her body may be synthetic, at her core, she is supposedly human or the closest thing to it.

And since the V7 opening hinted at love being a major theme for this volume, it makes me wonder if we’re going to get a potential moment where a mind-controlled Virus Penny tries to harm Ruby but in the end, it’s the strength of the profound friendship shared between both girls that ultimately allows for Penny to combat the virus corrupting her machine software with the love she feels in her soul for her dear friend. Y’know love conquers all.

I wouldn’t even be too surprised if it’s a case where Penny ends up sacrificing herself to put a stop to Watts’ tyranny. Like Penny uses her core to cause a chain reaction that obliterates Watts’ powerful virus.

Dr. Polendina mentioned in the first episode that the only reason he was able to fix Penny in the first place is because Atlas was able to salvage her core from Amity Arena. Penny’s core is obviously an important part to her. I’m assuming it’s the part of her that contains the soul that’s keeps her alive. So no matter how many times Penny’s body is destroyed, so long as her core is still intact, she can be brought back. Why mention that little detail at all if it wasn’t going to be relevant later, ey?

What if … Penny’s core does eventually get destroyed. If that gets obliterated, then Penny---or at least the version of her that Ruby knew and loved--- will be gone for good this time.

I feel like the V7 finale could set up for a Terminator II type of conclusion where the machine our protagonist has grown to know and love over the course of their story is forced to sacrifice itself for the greater good of saving our hero from a dark fate. I feel like should your headcanon be made reality in the canon, we’re likely to see Penny sacrifice herself on the grounds that this time, there’s no coming back.

I can imagine Penny’s core being used as the key to stopping Watts reign over Atlas and this time, Ruby is allowed to do what she couldn’t do back in Vale. Not only would she get to save Penny but she would also get to officially say goodbye to her friend and tell her how much she loved her before tearfully watching her give herself up for the purpose she was built to do---save the world.

That’s how I’m more seeing things going down for Ruby and this newly rebuilt of Penny for their shared storylines this season. As per usual, these are only my headcanons here and I can very well be very much wrong in my prediction. But nevertheless, for now, I’m leaving this thought and theory on the table.

Then again, I’ve also gotten ahead of myself here.

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More Machine Than Man

Now that I’ve discussed how I figured Ruby and Penny’s story may conclude for V7, allow to me to voice my views on the build up to it.

As I’ve said, I feel very off about Penny being back. While I’m relishing in seeing her again, I also can’t feel a sense of this is too good to be true; y’know what I mean?

I feel like this is all a set-up. Like right now, both the audience and our main gaggle of heroes are left to believe that Penny had returned and she’s all good as new---almost like she never died at all, right?

But I feel like there’s a catch to that. I feel like at some point, in a later chapter of V7, Ruby is going to have her chance to spend some quality time catching up with Penny. At first, things seem pretty normal between them. They’re both laughing. Swapping stories…having a grand ole time with their heart to heart girl talk…only for Ruby to notice something quite off about Penny.

Like I have this scene imagined in my head. A scenario in which Ruby is supposed to head back down to Mantle to hang out with Penny P who’s finally have some free time to catch up with her old friend and desires to take Ruby on an official fun tour of Mantle---the nicer parts that is.

As a matter of fact, let’s say Penny invites the whole squad---JNPR_RWBY down for a night of fun and dancing down in Mantle with her and father. Pietro did mention in the first episode that he’s been working on shows that dance. Given his enthusiasm, dancing must’ve been one of Pietro’s favourite pastimes prior to losing function in his legs. So maybe, at some point, since the kids have all been working hard with their huntsmen duties and training, Pietro decides to treat them all to a nice of entertainment.

 Imagine if …Pietro and Penny take the group to an old fashioned Mantlese Carnival which is basically RWBY’s version of Mardi Gras with a big parade of bands with nonstop musical entertainment.

I was kind of hoping that our heroes would have reunited with Team FNKI while they’re in Atlas. But it doesn’t seem like they’ll be present at all for this season. Unless, it’s a case where our heroes run into them while out with the Polendinas.

Resuming my Mantlese Carnival idea, let’s say after the group finished watching the parade, the Polendinas lead them to an old-fashioned snazzy little joint whose taste in jazz music is as sweet as its food.

I couldn’t help but be reminded of jazz music and the blues by Pietro Polendina’s design and the way he talked. His sense of fashion is giving me mega New Orleans type of vibes. Like he walked straight out of the set for the Princess and the Frog.

Anyways, like I said, our heroes are treated to a night of music and dancing by the Polendinas but while out and about in Mantle, they also happen to run into none other than Neon Katt and Flynt Cole.

Like imagine the group enjoying a nice performance by a local jazz band in Mantle only to find out that one of the musicians is Flynt.

Neon is also there to either show Flynt support (as my headcanon is that the two are dating) or perhaps she’s part of the performance with him as a singer as she and Flynt deliver a sort of Jazz/Blues rendition of Neon’s classic theme. Why not, ey?

After briefly exchanging pleasantries and catching up with their ole pals from Vale, Flynt and Neon invite everyone to an underground Mantlese rave. So unfortunately for Pietro and Maria (who was his date/company for the night), the younglings end up ditching the old folk for a night of partying. Not that they minded. Even Penny was allowed to join the group at the rave.

So as promised since V2, Neon and Flynt take JNR_RWBY plus Oscar and Penny out partying. As a side note, I’m not sure if Oscar would even be allowed to set foot inside a club given his age as a minor. Like I can just imagine Oscar, innocent as ever like the country munchkin that he is, walking up to the club bouncer only to be immediately barred from entering for being both underage and looking the part. Like would you believe Oscar is actually his age given his short stature and baby face?  

As a matter of fact, the only way I can see Oscar being allowed inside of a rave is if a) he faked his age by having one of Flynt and Neon’s friends hack into Atlas’ s system and alter his birth date by two years (since I’m imagining Atlas using electronic ID scans that instantly verifies a person’s personal records by just scanning them on the spot) or b) Flynt and Neon pulls some strings to have Oscar allowed in as they’re known regulars of the club. Why not?

So the group are out having a grand ole time, and while enjoying themselves Ruby and Penny sort of skedaddle for a bit up to a private place where they can just talk to one another. Since y’know…it’s been so long since they shared a chat since one of them was presumed to be dead and all. Anyways, it’s during their talk that Ruby noticed something peculiar about Penny’s behaviour.

She keeps recalling memories of times she and Ruby shared in excruciating detail. But that’s not the part that threw Ruby off. No matter how many times the Silver Eyed huntress attempted to deviate the conversation and get Penny to talk her more about how she’s been doing since what happened at the Vytal Festival, Penny kept reverting back to recanting the same stories.

The hunch I had in mind here is: What if…Penny 2.0 is actually a copy of original Penny. Rather than being a soul mimicking human nature from within a mechanical body, it’s more a machine operating purely from memories that were transferred to it from its old former self.

When we first met Penny, while the implications of her being an humanoid were clear as day from the instant she first bumped into RWBY (I mean I certainly called that she was a robot from day one), you could also still tell that there was something remotely human in nature about Penny. I got that sense the first time Penny revealed to Ruby that she wasn't a real girl. You heard the strong tinge of genuine sadness in her voice as she said it which was what made her friendship with Ruby all the more pure. Their bond was wholesome and important to each other inspire of only knowing one another for a short space of time.

And when Penny died in V3, you didn't feel as if it was a machine being destroyed. You actively felt like a character---a real person died. We, as the audience, got to feel the same sense of sadness that Ruby Rose felt watching her dear friend die before her very eyes after failing to save her in time.

Ruby failed to protect Penny (and eventually Pyrhha too) which was what made her answer to Maria’s question in V6 all the more meaningful.

She wishes to master control of her Silver Eyes, not just for the sake of being able to vanquish the Grimm but for the sake of protecting the people who matter most to her---her friends and family. The people who love her as much as she loves them.

This also kind of presents another reason why I’m conflicted on Penny’s return. Penny being back all fixed and good as new as if the Fall of Beacon didn’t happen kind of puts a bit of a damper on Ruby’s trauma as a result of what happened. It’s one of those things that made me question why show Ruby suffering from flashbacks of her friends’ deaths just to have said friend return good as new.

As we saw during her ‘Indomitable’ moment in V6, thinking about Penny and her death caused Ruby to lose focus. Yes Ruby managed to summon her light to petrify the Leviathan. But not before using Jinn to buy her some time so she can concentrate and let’s also not forget that Ruby’s power didn’t work.

While she succeeded in petrifying the Leviathan, she failed to kill it. This to me was a clear indicator that Ruby hasn’t full mastered her unique power and still has much to grow. A detail that I was relieved the CRWBY kept since I never felt like Ruby’s indomitable moment was rightfully earned so it almost felt like a waste of a good moment, in my opinion

I’m probably in the minority here when I say this but I actually disliked Ruby’s Indomitable scene from V6. As I said, it wasn’t properly earned and that took me out of the whole moment.

Instead of watching Ruby go through an arc of learning to fully master control of her newfound abilities, struggling at first but also learning more about herself and her heritage in the process building up to this grandiose moment where she finally perfects her power.

Instead we spent two whole seasons with our little red rose being written to be rather neglectful of her eyes, never once further questioning its mysterious origins; not even when in the face of the very person who told the last person who first told Ruby about her eyes.

Ruby learnt about the Silver Eyes from Qrow during the finale of V3. Qrow, on the other hand, said he learnt about the Silver Eyed Warriors from Ozpin. Ruby had her chance to ask Oz for more on the Silver Eyes at any point during V5 or even V6. Instead the Writers have her question everything but her Silver Eyes…despite showing her using it again later in the season during the Battle of Haven.

It is such a darn shame that Maria Calavera was only brought in for V6. I honestly feel like her character and role as Silver Eyed mentor to Ruby should’ve been better utilized as early as V4. 

Instead I was left feeling that Maria’s presence in Ruby’s development was made irrelevant especially by the end of V6 when Ruby had her big brain idea to use her Silver Eyes on the Leviathan…despite having zero prior training. I don’t think that’s how progress is supposed to work? 

And let’s not forget the fact that Ruby has only known Maria for only four days since the entirety of V6 (and the start of V7) only took place over the course of four days in RWBY’s timeline.

So yeah, Ruby’s Mastery of her Silver Eyes has much more groundwork to do and I have a feeling the Writers brought Penny back to aid with that

Did they necessarily have to though? No not really. As a matter of fact, Penny 2.0 unfortunately falls into the ball park of how the Writers brought back Neopolitan in V6 for me. While it’s nice to see Penny again, I didn’t honestly need her back especially since her death was framed in such a symbolic way to the plot in terms of how it affected Ruby’s character these past few seasons. Now I’m left questioning what the whole point of all of that was.

Listen, I’m not trying to imply that bringing Penny back was a terrible idea on the Writers’ part. I’m more saying, I don’t 100% buy into it. Not exactly.

I honestly feel there is going to be a catch with this. The Writers can’t have Penny’s death still affecting Ruby only to just magically have that trauma and mental block magically disappear now that she’s back in the picture. They’re not gonna do that, right? 

They’re not gonna undo that big detail established in previous seasons, right?  I mean…it’s not like they’ve done things like this before, right?

Nuh uh. Not buying it. Hence my theory on Ruby having a moment with Penny 2.0 only to realize that she’s not exactly all good as new as she was proclaimed to be.

Either that or it’s a case where even though Penny is back, Ruby herself can’t seem to look past the past.

She can’t seem to shake the haunting fact that she once saw her friend die before her very eyes because she failed to help her. Like I’d figure that that memory would still remain as a nightmarish lingering thought in Ruby’s psyche. Right?

Like imagine this scene. A scenario where Ruby and Penny are out exploring Mantle together, catching up only for Penny to be called back to the line of duty when another alert of Grimm attacking the city blares it ugly head. As Penny flies off to do her thing, Ruby follows her below on foot determined to help her out. When Ruby finds Penny, she arrives just in time to see her down a couple of Saybers from attacking a couple of fleeing civilians.

Ruby calls out to Penny. Penny, in turn, spins around to wave to Ruby. But while Penny is distracted greeting her friend, she is neglectful of one stray Sayber that suddenly comes in from behind and slashes Penny straight through the chest.

Ruby looks on in complete horror as Penny 2.0 is once again cut down in front of her; the nightmares of her decapitation at the Vytal Festival resurfacing. And for a moment, Ruby freezes on the spot. She doesn’t even react as the same Sayber charges at her.

But before the Sayber could get to Ruby, it’s killed before it could lay a bloody talon on her. As Ruby looks up  slowly from her daze at her saviour , she sees that it was Penny. In spite of her damage, Penny was still functioning enough to protect Ruby.

Let’s say, for the sake of the scene, the rest of the heroes---JNR_WBY plus Oscar were down in Mantle too and overheard all the commotion from the emergency alarms; all seven huntsmen and huntresses arriving at the scene to aid with the rescue. 

Let’s say the others had seen what happened to Penny and immediately came to her side to quickly gather up her severed parts to take her immediately to Dr. Polendina so he could repair his daughter. 

As the others handled Penny, let’s say…Oscar approaches Ruby as he noticed the disturbed expression on her face. Oscar urges Ruby on the matter of them taking Penny to her father as quickly as possible. At first, Ruby reacts like she didn’t hear Oscar; apparently too lost in her own wild thoughts. It wasn’t until Oscar gently touched Ruby’s shoulder did she finally stir out of her stupor. Long story short, the heroes manage to get Penny 2.0 to Pietro in time. 

After studying her injuries, Pietro reports to everyone that Penny was going to be fine. She may be off duty for a couple of days given that he’ll need time to repair her. 

But beyond that, Pietro assured the group that Penny was going to make a speedy recovery; much to the relief of the heroes. But in spite of hearing the good news, this doesn’t serve to uplift Ruby’s mood and her bothered expression of deep concern is still apparent on her face. Even as JNPR_RWBY depart from the Polendina residence to return up to Atlas. 

As the group look to head back home, Oscar is the one to take notice of Ruby’s awkward silence. 

 I say Oscar of all people rather than her teammates or Yang since it’s been highlighted before that when Ruby is feeling pressured or looks distressed in some shape or form, Oscar is quick to pick up on that.

He’s also been shown to act out on trying to help Ruby in this type of emotional scenario. This is why should we ever get a moment like this in the canon, I can picture it being another prime chance for the Writers to show Oscar being an emotional crutch for Ruby.

If a scene like this ever comes to pass in the series, the way I see it going down is Oscar confronting Ruby again about Penny and the two sharing another heart to heart moment where he gets her to open up about her true feelings. I’ve been itching for another V5 Dojo-esque scene between the Rosebuds.

I’d love to see another example of Oscar helping Ruby through another emotional rut; particularly if it involves Penny.

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So to conclude…

I guess the main point I’m really trying to get at here with this musing post is that I don’t believe Ruby’s arc revolving around her grievances about Penny’s death is over. Even with her being back in her life.

It can’t be. Just because Penny was repaired and has returned doesn’t instantly erase the fact that she did die nor does it erase Ruby’s memory and clear trauma over it.  At least, I hope that’s not how the Writers are going to portray it. Ruby’s thing is that she sees Penny as a real girl. She sees her as a person. But Penny isn’t entirely a real person.

She possesses a soul of her own, yes (and I’m curious to learn the origins of said soul) but she’s also a machine. Her body is fake but at her core, she is a living being. Sort of---really need an origin episode on how Penny was created and where Atlas and Ironwood got the soul that’s a part of her.

Did it come from the Relic of Creation? Was Penny an unexpected by-product of the Relic’s power; brought to life by an experiment tested by Ironwood using the Relic of Creation? 

Is the Relic of Creation the RWBY equivalent of the Blue Fairy from Pinocchio? Is the being of the Relic of Creation inspired by the Blue Fairy from Pinocchio? 

Who knows? These are all questions I’m looking forward to this season answering for me.

But in the meantime, in regards to Ruby’s bond with Penny, We got to see Ruby grow to care for Penny as a person and what’s interesting to note is that Ruby has always valued Penny as more human than machine.

Keeping that in mind, picture if part of Ruby’s story with Penny for V7 is her leaning to accept that Penny isn’t a real person. This is why I like my theorized scene of having Ruby witness Penny 2.0 being cut down again; highlighting she’s still not over what happened at Beacon. Imagine if that creates an issue for Ruby where she actively feels uncomfortable at the thought of losing Penny time and time again since she can’t handle watching her friend getting destroyed in spite of the fact that she’s a machine that’s built to protect humanity.

I know this concept probably sounds rather farfetched based on how I’m describing it. However, that’s how I’m choosing to look at it; for now. Perhaps the story for this season might change my mind on that. We’ll see.

Anyways, that’s all I have to say on this subject matter for today. For the most part, I hope I managed to answer your question, Jade. As usual, please let me know if I did. I’m always open to hearing other FNDM fam members thoughts on my thoughts on my thoughts.

Similar to you, this squiggle meister is also left pondering why the Writers’ brought back Penny. It’s actually kind of sad that I have to question it. If I wasn’t so skeptical over the CRWBY Writers’ writing decisions given their recent track record then I wouldn’t be questioning this decision so much.

Right now my theories are my best bet at understanding why this decision was made for the plot but that don’t mean that that will be the case in the canon. I’m praying there is a good narrative reason for Penny’s return and that it wasn’t done as a gimmick to hype up the fans for the new season---y’know bringing back another fan favourite character just because they thought it would be quote, unquote, ‘cool to do’.

I didn’t like that that was the rationale for Neo’s return, as mentioned in the V6 DVD Commentary, and I’d be equally peeved if that was the rationale for Penny’s. Then again, maybe I’m getting too ahead of myself here. We’re only one episode into V7 so let’s not jump the gun. Let’s just be patient and wait and see what the rest of the season brings, ya?

Until then, hope you at least enjoyed my new musing post.

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 ~LittleMissSquiggles (2019)