#ace-ops

Fixing RWBY though deleted them from the story, completely replaced except for Clover. Instead we have a stand-in for them called Strike Team 32, consisting of Neon, Flynt, Ciel, and Penny. This will be a post mainly about FNC rather than Clover or Penny who will get individual ones

First, this team is a mess of inspirations. The Ace-Ops were all based on Aesop's Fables, a consistent theme. Now we have Clover the only Aesop left, Penny AKA Pinocchio, Ciel whose inspiration is unclear (I could be totally wrong about this by all means correct me if I am), Flynt is based on a Roosterteeth inside joke, and Neon is Nyan Cat

Second, trying to retrofit these characters into an Ace-Op stand-in to serve a similar purpose in the narrative doesn't work because these characters fundamentally aren't meant to be like this. Flynt and Neon buck the expected trends of the Atlas military, and Penny is far closer to the heroes' ideals than Atlas'. Ciel is enough of a blank slate you could do whatever you want but that's 1/4 at best

Even their designs don't work for this purpose. The Ace-Ops' outfits all have the same color scheme as Ironwood's: Primarily white and dark blue, with black and red accents. This is a visual que of where their loyalties lie, and that they'll turn against the heroes when Ironwood does. Penny, Flynt, and Neon all lack this color scheme in canon and in FRWBY despite having the opportunity to change things. Ciel is the closest to the Ace-Ops here but again 1/4 at best

In canon the Ace-Ops are Ironwood's elite team of huntsmen, the best in Atlas' military (other than Winter who is directly stated to be Ironwood's top fighter). In FRWBY Strike Team 32 is nothing special. Atlas has 5 man teams with an experienced huntsman acting as leader for fresh graduates from the academy, that being Clover in this case

In canon the Ace-Ops weren't partners at the academy or anything, they were simply the best huntsmen in Atlas' military and had their designated partners based on their semblances and fighting styles being compatible on paper. This acts as a clear foil to how team RWBY was practically formed on a slot machine between the eye contact and chess piece rules, but they ended up forming far more natural relationships as a result. This dynamic is entirely removed with Strike Team 32 in FRWBY

Ciel's weapon is a pair of pistols that can combine to become a sniper rifle. Her Semblance is that she can slow down time for a few seconds, but she's affected by it too it seems to act more like a perception boost for her. She is very protective of Penny and hates pretty much everybody not in the Atlas military. She's pretty aggressive and hostile to everyone, especially Ruby. No doubt due to Penny dying in Amity. She also has a clear guilt over being unable to do anything to prevent Penny's death. She *might* have a thing for Penny but that could just be me looking too much into it. Nowhere near as explicit or clear as Melanie flirting with Cinder for example

Neon mainly serves as a contrast to Blake and their thoughts on faunus rights. Blake becomes increasingly angry and frustrated at all the discrimination that runs rampant in Atlas, and just wants it all done and over with as soon as possible. Meanwhile Neon ends up taking Ghira's canon stance of progress requiring time and taking pride in all the progress that's been happening. An Atlas faunus like her even being allowed past the first round of the Vytal festival would have been unthinkable ten years ago, although her team still had to fight the higher ups to allow her in round 2. However, this attitude she has also creates a mindset of allowing the authorities to abuse you and to just put up with it to avoid rocking the boat

Flynt by comparison doesn't have a ton going on. He's mainly just Neon partner and a mediator between her and Blake whenever they get into arguments, obviously siding more with Neon. I mean he does confront JNR on them doing "lame low level stuff" like acting as crosswalk guards, but that isn't exactly a lot

Throughout the volume we see RWBY and FNCP spending a fair bit of time together to develop these relationships and dynamics. Ruby with Penny and to a lesser extent Ciel, Blake and Yang with Flynt and Neon. Weiss doesn't really get this as her focus in the Atlas arc is almost entirely centered on her family

During the climax of the volume due to Ruby being framed by Neo an arrest warrant is put on all of team RWBY. Ruby and Weiss run across Ciel as they try to get to Atlas' vault to fix this mess. Ciel is winning for most of the fight until a team combo between Ruby and Weiss pins her down for awhile, giving Ruby an opening to escape while Weiss tries to handle her on her own

Blake and Yang are on a bullhead to Atlas HQ while this is happening and Neon and Flynt try to talk them into getting arrested. Neon says to not fight it and they'll try to sort it out. Obviously not okay with this, Blake and Yang fight Flynt and Neon and the bullhead they're in crashes as a result separating them

Weiss meets up with Blake and Yang as they're scaling the Atlas HQ building. What happened to Weiss vs Ciel exactly? Did Weiss just run away, did she think she had Ciel beat? Not addressed. WBY as soon as they meet up immediately get ambushed by FNC, losing one by one with little difficulty due to FNC 3v1ing them one at a time. At least it's consistent with FNKI's tactics in V3

FNC arrests WBY, probably writing them out of almost all of Volume 8 if I were to guess

In canon team RWBY beat the Ace-Ops for a multitude of reasons. For one, the training they receive in V7 has allowed them to reach the Ace-Ops' level, a sign of growth of how far they've come. For another, they win in service to the series' themes of unity and trust. Team RWBY knew exactly what they wanted and had each-other's backs throughout the fight, especially Blake and Yang

The Ace-Ops by comparison were a house divided because they all had different ideas on how to handle things. They didn't have a military commander giving direct orders like they usually do. And due to never sorting out their interpersonal issues they're clearly unprepared for situations where their emotions are running high, causing them to have arguments between each other mid-battle

In FRWBY though, WBY just gets their asses beat because they get ambushed and FNC 3v1s them one at a time. Should have played it "smart" like Celtic is obsessed with and used that tactic instead IDIOTS. There's no real thematic reason for WBY's loss here. It's not like there wasn't a theme set between them either. RWBY are all unsure of themselves in V7 if they're doing enough or just being Ironwood's mindless drones, while FNC are fully secure in what they're doing. But that doesn't play into the battle at all

I like Flynt and Neon, I'd like it if they got more screen time. I find them entertaining and they had a really fun fight. And I kinda liked what was going on with Ciel. But really? You're having characters based on memes beat the shit out of the main cast and send them to jail? Nyan Cat and a Roosterteeth Minecraft joke beat up three of your four main characters? As part of the climax to a volume? You don't see any problem with this? Are you fucking serious Celtic?

Clover is obvious, aside from having the opposite Semblance to Qrow's, he's also got a similar level of trust and sense of indebtedness in Ironwood as Qrow used to in Ozpin... the difference is that for Qrow, that broke after The Lost Fable, while Clover never reached his breaking point (and, imo, never would)

Harriet... I'm thinking Ruby, since they both have speed Semblances and they get a lot of interactions, but I'm not sure what the contrast between them would be

Marrow seems to me like a much more complacent Blake - it's worth noting that one of Blake and Yang's most memorable scenes in Volume 7 involves Blake expressing concern about how many moral lines they may have to cross. Marrow also shows concern about crossing lines but doesn't do as much about it well into Volume 8

Now in fairness to the first one, RWBY isn’t the only fantasy series with loads of characters that seem snuggly packed in. Many writing teams or authors want to show off facets of their world via characters born of various fantastical cultures. Y’know? Show and not tell what their world is.

But shows like RWBY can’t all be Shonen Manga designed to go on for as long as possible or at least as long as editorial wants. Especially in the age of eight episode seasons. That said, even if it’s a glimpse, I always appreciate when the world of Remnant does not stop nor end at four girls still figuring themselves out.

With Hunter X Hunter, Gon may be the face of the series with Killua as his number two but you also have Kurapika take center stage in their individual arcs like Yorknew or Leoreo sharing one with Killua in the Election arc. And even then, we will have other perspectives in any given arc.

The Chimera Ants may be the antagonists in a very fan favorite arc but they’re borderline protagonists of their own stories. Hell, Gon doesn’t even face off with the big bad but rather one he has a personal score to settle with. Instead a bunch of old mentor type characters take out the Chimera King.

RWBY clearly learned from Shonen Anime that the world doesn’t have to stop or end at the main character. After Dragon Ball, titles inspired by it afforded other characters to have their own time in the limelight rather than be purely foils for the main character.

Raven vs Cinder is relevant to them because they are important characters even if none of the titular characters are there to witness it. Furthermore, Cinder as a Maiden is connected to Ruby, Winter to Weiss, Yang to Raven, I bet the Summer Maiden will be close to Blake.

Basically, this choice keeps the world from shrinking and feel big, lived in.

And it’s hardly unique in this regard as Trixie The Golden Witch explains in her video: Is There Meaning In "Subverting" Shounen Tropes?

To argue against Team RWBY supposedly not feeling like protagonists, sometimes titular characters can feel too much like protagonists. I have been rereading Harry Potter to sort out my feelings regarding Rowling crowning herself TERF Queen. To keep it relevant, I have found the Harry only perspective both effective and limiting.

It’s effective at making the dramatic parts hit us hard as if we were in Harry’s shoes buuuuut it can feel limiting when there’s a whole school of magic with students of all sorts to get to know. It feels like there were potential side stories that could flesh out Hogwarts.

A similar criticism is often lobbed at Steven Universe. Effective but often limiting.

So… I prefer a cast bloat to there being no other characters for Team RWBY to bounce off of whether the budget calls for it or not. They call them character foils for a reason.

Circling back to RWBY, some characters are there for as long as they need to so they make the most of things to make an impression. If not, discourse would become how flat they are.

The Ace-Ops inform us of how huntsmen as basically super cops in Atlas, building up to Ironwood’s downfall. The Afterans inform us of the eccentricities of the Ever After.

One of the things critiqued was that Ironwood scorched up his arm/replaced it being used as a sign he was sacrificing more of his humanity. I can certainly understand that take but then I started ruminated on other facets of Atlas and the show overall. 

Like how when Yang lost her arm she wasn’t thrilled to receive the prosthetic because it seemed like everyone was just pressuring her to be OK and jump right back into the fight again. 

How Ironwood admires Salem’s seeming lack of humanity, her lack of fear, attachments and tries to emulate what he sees as her strength by being increasingly ruthless and willing to sacrifice ‘anything’.  

Or how the Ace-Ops were never given time to grieve or even granted the ability to admit they cared for Tortuga. Instead their ‘missing part’ was just forcefully replaced with Marrow. 

Plus how rather than letting Winter recover in anyway shape or form he just shoved her into a mobility aid. Not because he wanted to help her, but because she was his soldier and he needed to use her. 

What I am getting from it, thematically speaking, is less about the mechanical side of things. And far more about being denied or denying one’s one pain, grief and healing. 

The Ace-Ops can’t care about Tortuga, Yang has to start fighting again, Winter is not allowed to rest, Ironwood does not give himself time to heal. 

If something is causing a problem, be it emotions, a limb, or another person, Ironwood/Atlas’s ideology demands it be cut out and replaced by force. 

Ironwood: Alright then, who’s hiding them?!

Winter: Okay, I’ll tell you...

Winter: Do you know the Muffin Man?

Ironwood: The Muffin Man?

Winter: The Muffin Man.

Ironwood: Yes, I know the Muffin Man, who lives on Drury Lane?

Winter: Well, she’s married to the Muffin Man...

Ironwood: The Muffin Man?

Winter: The Muffin Man!

Witch

The clock is ticking on Jaune, Ren, and Yang's rescue mission. The Ace-Ops hold the line against against Salem's forces.