#partymage

(2/2) And if everyone is selfish, then what’s the point in making an argument about anyone? I see in this point a recurring trend in the arguments: the focus is on proving a theoretical concept at the expense of psychological nuance. Pages are active, active is selfish, therefore all actions of a Page are selfish. Yet I feel, from Dave’s final comment to Rose about character arcs, that all these characters are meant to be more complex and messy than the abstractions of their mythological roles.

Yeah, talking this stuff out with Viko has made me realize I’ve been overemphasizing the selfishness/selflessness angle a bit more than I think is accurate, or at least like, clearly posited in the comic. Not every single behavior an Active player engages in is necessarily selfish, and vice versa for Passive players. In particular, I think Viko raised a very good point about Jake’s dying for Jane. The Masterpiece/Dirk moment I feel is somewhat different, specifically because it’s so coded with romantic subtext. 

I don’t think the distinctions are meaningless, but Alt!Calliope and Caliborn are the only characters I’d say really hold to the Selfless/Selfish mentality absolutely (well, besides Gamzee, who never seems motivated by anything but Caliborn when he has motivation to speak of). Everyone else is, by and large, more complicated. Which makes sense, since engaging with others and having that push and pull of wills is bound to bring out different facets of an individual. 

So I think I’d say as with everything else, the Active/Passive describes a tendency or predisposition with Selfishness/Selflessness, too. It still seems like a pretty consistent established element, but I think it reads a lot stronger as one element that also takes others into account--such as how proactive vs. reactive a player is, how self-focused vs. group-focused they are, the “benefit oneself” vs. “benefit others” behavior in terms of mechanics, and so on. 

Makes for less concise and easily transmitted analysis, but then Homestuck inherently resists reductive takes, so that makes sense. So yeah, I’ll readily admit I’ve gotten carried away and made some pretty poor overwrought arguments–It’s a bad habit of mine. Honestly the strongest arguments for Jake being selfish are his treatment of Jane early on during the session (which directly parallels Horruss) and what he does when power-boosted by Aranea: Make Brain Ghost Dirk exclusively to make himself feel safe and protected when he had the power to pretty much win the whole session by himself, if he were so inclined.  

Since those points together describe both Jake’s largest impact on the session over time, AND Jake’s impact at his most effective being to his own benefit, I’m pretty comfortable resting Pages’ active status on those particular points, as far as Jake’s concerned.That said, with regards to your statement

I see your reasoning on that idea, but my issue is the idea of abstraction, which was brought up in the critique but which you did not, imo, address.

(2/2) He also is uncomfortable when Roxy seems to flirt with him (TG: eeaauuuuurghh you are so fuckin adorable / GT: Um… wrings at kerchief with perspiring mittsNEW //// and then again with TG: im totals your bee eff effsy jake / TG: i am like / TG: AT PEACE with that reality fromerly known as a raw fuckin deal for what avenues it closes betewen u and i that bein your bffsy has got to mean but yeah / GT: Wait what?) He definitely isn’t attracted to Jane, and probably doesn’t want Roxy either.

When I say Jake wants all his friends, I don’t mean to suggest he wants them all equally. In his right mind, understanding the nuances and demands of intense emotional relationships, Jake consistently, constantly prioritizes the idea of being with Dirk over Jane or Roxy. Dirk is who Jake wants to be dating when he’s in control. 

But Jake does say himself he’s fancied the idea of relationships with all of them, and I don’t really think that’s very unlikely. There’s a difference between fancying someone/finding them attractive and reciprocating their intense emotional feelings. Jake feels the former for all his friends, and that shines through in a situation where all of their sexual instincts are put into overdrive (and where it gives him an easy peasy way to make everyone “happy”, conflict free!). 

So we start out in the Vault of the Spring Maiden. One of the most noticeable differences is that the door to the vault itself where the Relic of Knowledge was kept is gone- perhaps now that the Relic isn’t there, the space shut down?

 Cinder has just finished explaining what went down, and more than likely twisting the facts so that Neo would see Ruby as the one to blame. “You’re not the only one who wants Ruby dead.” Projecting much, Cinder?

As for Cinder’s plan- allying with Neo and having her kill Ruby via loophole abuse- there are several ways it could go wrong.

1. Salem clearly knows Cinder’s wherabouts and why Haven went pear-shaped. Even if she didn’t have the seer Grimm, Salem is smart as hell and could see through Cinder’s “explanation”.

2. Neo could very well be bidding her time in order to stab Cinder through the back. If Roman had never come across Cinder, then they wouldn’t be in this mess and he might still be alive.

3. Even if Neo does ally with Cinder and try to kill Ruby, she’s not going to succeed. She could kill someone else (Maria) or be driven off/killed by someone from QRWBY or JN_R.

4.  @kaen-ace-of-ravenclaw​ also brings up the possibility of Cinder actually bringing in Ruby alive if things go south and gets welcomed back by Salem. I think that could happen... but not in this volume.

However her plan unfolds, all that’s certain at this point is that things are not going to go down how Cinder wants them to.

After that, we get to see the Grimm Reaper (wordplay!) in her prime. And she was a sight to behold, and not just because of the kickass outfit or battle prowess. It looks like scythe-like weapons, hoods and corsets might be a female SEW aesthetic and I am all for that. And the gravity dust that also doubles it as a psuedo kusarigama?! ALL OF THE YES FOREVER.

It doesn’t end there, though. 

Three mooks, along with Crocodile Faunus Tock (based on the Crocodile from Peter Pan apparently- badass design+ similar moves to one Tyrian Carrows), ambush Maria and treat us to another incredible fight. Little to no wasted energy or hesitation and incredible moves on both sides (DOUBLE-ENDED SCYTHE IS AMAZING BUT IMPRACTICAL)

I’ll be honest, I did not expect Tock to blind Maria or live up to her “last sixty seconds of your life”. This is owed to her semblance as seen in the beginning when Maria tried to cut into her shoulder with one of the sickles and it’s definitely one of the more clever we’ve seen: A full minute of invulnerability? It’s like the Invincibility grant from Sonic DX (Don’t judge me, it was the only computer game we had)

I honestly didn’t expect Maria to lose her eyes in battle, mainly because of my subscribing to the theory that the more the power of SE are used, the greater the risk of blindness becomes.

Still, Maria manages to take her down. 

Qrow is in awe of Maria, and with good reason: he idolized her, to the point where he based his weapon, Harbringer, off of her sickles. Maria brushes this off however (with a self burn no less). As a huntress, she was supposed to fight to the end and protect others. Yet even when she had the surgery and gained new eyes, Maria was too afraid to return to the field and faded into obscurity. 

“You shouldn’t aspire to be like me... especially when some of you are clearly stronger already.”

I am all for the parallels between these two. Yang needed time but she got back on her feet and is still trying to be a huntress.

Ruby, bless her heart, tries to perk Maria up and give her a chance to do more: by mentoring her in Silver Eyes. If you’ve read my earlier works, you can tell I’ve been waiting for this conversation since the first theory that Maria was a SEW.

Jaune better have Ruby as “Crater Face” in his contacts.

But with his call, this means they’ve got a signal and that means...

They’ve finally made it to Argus.

(The Attack on Titan Vibes are strong here)

We quickly have QRWBY and Oscar reuniting with JN_R- Nora glomping Oscar (who is sore need of comfort and kindness), Ren and Yang hugging, Blake and Jaune’s side hug, Ruby and Jaune’s reunion. God, I am so glad they’re back together after the first episode. At this point, they’re less two close teams and more one whole unit and I am all for it- these kids need all the support they can get.

As for Argus, this is a gorgeous city and Rooster Teeth continues to flaunt it’s ever-growing budget. Apparently, they based it off of San Fransisco- with the lanterns alluding to Chinatown- and while I’ve never been there, I’d love to see it if Argus is doing it justice. And the lore behind the city’s prosperity is amazing world-building and I hope there are more cities like this in Remnant: symbols of people working together to create something in their cruel world.

(Too soon, Fall of Beacon. Way too soon.)

As for where they’ll be staying in the meantime, and keeping with Rooster Teth promising Arc family screen-time-

JN_R’s been staying with Saphron Arc, Jaune’s sister, and her family since arriving! And everything after meeting her in-episode had me smiling ear-to-ear.

As the third in a family of seven kids, every single one of these images is relatable to me some level- Sibling flailing, cooing over babies, the photograph with all eight Arc kids, the light teasing.

The atmosphere only gets warmer once we meet Saphron’s wife and Adrian’s other mother (shut up), Terra Cotta. CinemaWins once commented that the best way to do representation was to show it but not overly draw attention to it. Terra is given her introduction, everyone says hello casually- showing this is a norm in Remnant- and the scene moves on.

There is a slight snag when Terra questions the legality of seventeen-to-nineteen year olds already being out in the field and Qrow- trying to be a responsible adult after episodes 5-6- just barely flubs out an answer.

They also learn that communications and the relay tower are currently experiencing technical difficulties and the technicians- like Terra- are being falsely blamed for this. Ruby cites their plan to try to get to Atlas and to start by inquiring with Atlas’ military base. According to JN_R, their attempts didn’t go well. And by that, they mean-

- this. And by the preview, they didn’t even hear them out.

Abrupt and somewhat amusing ending via Gilligan Cut aside, this was a good episode- half dedicated to RWBY’s darker fare and half dedicated to a more lighthearted tone.

Tock’s master is more than likely Salem- not just because of hunting silver Eyes, but because several people have already pointed out the similarities between her and Tyrian, theorizing that the two are either related or trained together under Salem. One post in particular- I can’t find it, but I will edit this post once I do to give credit- gives a theory that Tyrian’s family has been serving Salem for quite some time. As in children are taught to fight on her behalf and carry out her orders.

Still, there’s a chance Salem isn’t the one who ordered this attack. @teapartypenguin​ suggests that SEW could be hunted by other hunters and huntresses because they were too powerful- the ability to NERF Grimm is game-breaking already, but to be strong enough to take them down even without the Silver Eyes would put a lot of hunters and huntresses out of jobs.

Because if this

is any indication, then the Silver Eyes are more broken than we thought. This could wipe out literal herds/hordes on the spot! It’s be interesting to see, showcasing how humanity’s self-destructive traits, greed and pride.

Qrow idolizing the Grimm Reaper and basing Harbringer off of her sickles was a really cool tidbit and now I’ve got images of young! Qrow with posters of the SEW anywhere he had space. It’s sweet and ironic- a bandit comes to Beacon to learn how to kill hunstmen and huntresses only to end up idolizing one of them.

@partymage brings up that the volume has been focusing on the fallibility of heroes. Qrow drinks himself into such a stupor that he has to be pulled away from the booze even when the Brunwick farms were on fire, Maria completely gave up on being a huntress after her fight with Tock out of fear and that’s not even touching on Ozpin and everything around. All three have made mistakes and retreated because of them, but that doesn’t invalidate the good they’ve done or prevent them from doing their best.

So we’ll definitely be seeing Ruby training with silver eyes, we’ll see Qrow stepping back up on things after letting himself go... and we’ll see Ozpin make amends.

The second half of this episode was so damn cathartic. Ever since the first episode, these kids have been put through the wringer, had their entire world view altered, and ran right into Grimm that should only appear in nightmares... and it hasn’t even been two days since they left Haven. Seeing them safe, cheerful, relaxing made me so happy. And the interactions between them and a sweet and wholesome family was just the maraschino cherry atop it all.

I noticed some people worried about the Arc-Cotta family being in danger, but as @thuskindlyshescatters​ pointed out, the CRWBY is doing their damnedest to avoid the dreaded Bury Your Gays trope. 

As for Jaune... I have a feeling we’re finally going to get to the part where the opening depicts him shoving Oscar against the wall. @dustypotion​ brings up a worrying point in that while we- the audience- know that Jaune has suicidal tendencies (shown best in The More The Merrier in his fight against Cinder), none of his team or his friends are aware of this. Ruby had a glimpse in Volume 4 during his training with Phyrra’s video, but I doubt she knows the full depth of it. And if he learns of what Ozpin did and the truth behind Salem and the full scope of the fight they’re involved in... it could very well push him over the edge.

Going off of this, I hope we get more stuff on Oscar. @littlemisssquiggles​ showed an interest in flashbacks to Oscar’s past and his family and situation, and considering how the poor kid is worrying about losing his identity as another of Ozpin’s lives, that would be great for him and the audience as well. I’d love for Oscar to be the one to get Ozpin to come back out and reignite his hope for humanity- and in turn, Ozpin will start to rely on Oscar and the two truly become partners on equal footing.

Now going off of the preview for the nest episode (and those two guards who definitely rehearsed saying their lines together and their goose-stepping march), it’s more than likely we’ll be seeing Winter Schnee... unless Rooster Teeth is trolling us and it’s someone completely different. I really wouldn’t put it past them.

And speaking of disappointments and wasted potential, @i-am-the-entertainer​ brings up that the reason Volumes 4 and 5 were so cluttered was because so much was happening. Entire story lines had to be dropped for others or pushed up to later in the series. But I would be down for Rooster Teeth eventually doing a sort of recap movies (Like with Attack on Titan or Code Geass) or shorts that expand on that time lost.