#antibb

Bumble/by

This is my personal opinion, disagree with it if you wish but it’s probably not going to change. I have never seen B/lake and Y/ang’s relationship as romantic and I probably never will. Here’s why.

So, let’s start in a bit of a different direction. I think part of why I don’t ship BB is because of the way I identify with Yang’s character, specifically her past. She’s a girl who has lost her mother not just once but twice, and felt like she needed to pick up the pieces afterwards. I lost my own mother five years ago and this is the exact same way that I felt- Yang’s talk with Weiss hit me really hard. I had a friend who also lost her mother a little over a year ago, and I wanted to do anything that I could to help her through it.

I saw this in Blake and Yang’s conversation in volume two. Yang saw herself in Blake’s situation and felt like she could help Blake because no one else could in that scenario. It’s the same way that I wanted to help my friend. You never want a friend to be sad or angry, losing sleep over something they can’t control. Sometimes you need to be there for them even if they don’t realize it/want it. “But what about the wink?” you say. “Why would Yang wink at Blake if it wasn’t romantic?” Look, we know that Yang is a very upbeat girl. Pre-volume 3, it’s rare to see Yang in a bad mood. She’s trying to cheer Blake up. She’s promising Blake that it will be okay if she comes to the dance, she’ll have fun with her friends.

Onto volume 3 and the first Adam vs. Blake/Yang. Adam says “I’ll make it my mission to destroy everything you love, starting with her.” What evidence does Adam have of that “love”? The fact that Yang is calling for Blake? It could’ve been Ruby or Weiss looking for Blake and it wouldn’t have made a difference. I guarantee you that if any of the RWBY girls were in Blake and Yang’s situation, everything would’ve been nearly the same. That’s why I don’t see that scene as romantic. Later on, when Blake grabs Yang’s hand, literally sobbing that she’s sorry- how is that romantic? Again, it could have been any pairing of team RWBY and it wouldn’t make any sort of difference.

Yang is obviously upset by Blake leaving. Why is she more upset about that than say Weiss leaving? Because Yang understands that Weiss didn’t have a choice- it was her fathers decision. Blake, on the other hand, did have a choice. She’s leaving Yang just like her two mothers did, so of course Yang is going to be torn up about it. Blake is her partner, her friend, her teammate, her sister. We saw how close team RWBY had become. You don’t lose someone like that easily.

Now, this is probably where a lot of people are going to start disagreeing. I want to talk about the brokenness of Blake and Yang’s friendship. At the end of volume 5, Ruby says that them being all together is all that matters, but Yang hesitates. Ruby and Weiss even look at her expectantly, and Blake shys away at it. Eventually, Yang agrees, but we see at the beginning of volume 6 that she’s still not completely okay with it yet. She even tells Blake that it’s going to be a while before things are back to normal, but it’s good that they’re all back together- emphasis on ALL. “Blake is so attentive to Yang, she must really like her!” Okay, no. The last time Blake saw Yang, she had just lost an arm due to Blake’s crazy ex. Of course Blake is going to be super attentive to Yang. She wants to make things up to Yang however she can- that’s how Blake feels she can mend their friendship. So she pays attention and tries to help, but it doesn’t always work out all the time. We know that Blake isn’t the best at navigating social interactions. This is how she works.

Adam vs. Blake/Yang part 2. First off, Blake holding Yang’s hand. Yang is shaking because she’s facing her biggest fear. Is Blake just going to do nothing? No- she grabs Yang’s hand to let her know that she’s not alone in this fight. Blake is not protecting her, but she will be by her side. Secondly, “what does she even see in you?” Again, I bring up the point, what evidence does Adam have of Blake and Yang being a “thing”? They looked at each other? They’re fighting together? Nothing that they’ve done in front of him says “hey, we’re a couple”. So, to me, Adam’s line refers mostly to Yang being a human, the race that he despises more than anything. She’s a human who’s not only Blake’s teammate, but has foiled his plans to take Blake back twice. Adam doesn’t understand why Blake would team up with and trust a human. (Side note: it’s why he gets more angry at Yang than Sun. At least Sun is another faunus, but Yang is human) Lastly, after they kill Adam, we have the hug. Blake and Yang just KILLED someone, someone who Blake has an extensive past with. Of course she’s going to be shaken up and almost in shock. Yang is doing her best to comfort Blake in this situation. It’s not romantic and shouldn’t be taken as such. They both just faced a lot of trauma and need that comfort- they’re not just going to sit there and catch their breath and suddenly be okay.

The airship stuff. This is good because they’re much closer to mending their friendship than before. They were forced to forget their experience with Adam for a moment in order to fight the Leviathan Grimm, but once that’s taken care of and they’re back in the airship, everything starts to come back. Blake is blaming herself for everything since she didn’t take out the tower, so Yang is still doing her best to put Blake at ease, and so does Ruby. Handholding again- “we were there for each other”. Yes they were. And what does this mean? They have learned that they don’t have to face things alone, that they are stronger together, AS A TEAM.

What is the number one reason why I don’t ship BB? The show is about team RWBY: a group of girls from different walks of life who truly need each other to be the best that they can be. BB completely takes away from the force that is team RWBY. These girls love each other. They have learned from each other, they have lost each other, they have fought, they have laughed, and they have grown. They are such a force to be reckoned with and they wouldn’t be the same without each other. Having a couple within the team throws off that whole dynamic, two people care about each other more than the rest of the team. That is not what RWBY is about.

And more generalized opinions. Girl with abandonment issues + girl who literally runs away from her problems + romance = all issues magically fixed? Blake and Yang have already learned their lessons at this point- they do not need romance to do it for them. Is it abusive? No. Is it kinda bad writing? Little bit. I think it would actually be nice for Yang to not end up with anyone romantically- it would be a nice contrast to her kinda flirty nature in the beginning, showing how much she has grown. Plus, she’s very independent, we heard that in volume two. She wants adventure, to travel and get wrapped up in crazy situations. Does romance fit into that? I’m going to leave my opinions on Blake’s romance out of this one because it does not contribute to the intention of this post.

Like I said, it’s likely that they chose to do BB because it’s the most popular ship and it would get the most attention

Admittedly, BB is the most popular ship in the fandom so it’s likely that RT chose that one to showcase cause it would get the most attention

I applaud you, my good sir

Like honestly, B/lake and Y/ang’s entire “romance” is built off of a traumatic experience that ended in murder, not to mention the murder of someone Blake used to care about deeply. Is that really how you want your OTP to take off?

Nice to get messages like this

If by “think same way” you mean we look at things objectively and actually are able to read subtext properly, underlining the techniques used in the show.

The polar opposite of Beyond Birthday.

Likes: L, pastries, cats, justice, drawing, relationships, playing the violin, dressing nicely, hot weather.