#rvb:0

Overall, I think I'd give the season a solid C+

It wasn't a bad season, but there were a lot of little things that added up over time that I feel like could've been done a little bit better. The main two were the pacing and the animations.

Having a season that was mostly mocap was really cool! I know this is total blasphemy, since I'm an RvB fan, but regular machinima is kind of boring to me bc you can only do so much with it. On the flipside, it takes a lot of skill to nail down characterization with it alone. Mocap and keyed animation create the opportunity to show characterization through body language and the like, which is why I like it more (I'm a simple bitch, I acknowledge this.) That being said, the way both these forms of animation were utilized in Zero were kinda overdone.

Let's talk about exaggerated movement in animation as if it's a dial for a minute. 1 is characters standing still and talking with barely any movement. 10 is movement being HEAVILY exaggerated (example: https://youtube.com/watch?v=J8XxuW-Orww) Knowing that, I'd put the IDLE ANIMATIONS (where the characters are standing around and talking) for Zero at a 7, when they could have probably been at a 4 or 5. The only reason I'm criticizing this at all is that this was the case for pretty much every scene like this.

Now, obviously the Zero team had a LOT working against them. We're in a pandemic. Most of them were probably working from home during production. And said production ended WHILE THE SEASON WAS BEING RELEASED (which is a way RT has repeatedly shot this show in the foot across multiple seasons, but that's another conversation entirely.) RvB isn't exactly known for it's stellar animation like RWBY and Gen:Lock. It's a machinima. It started out as  some dudes fucking around on an XBox. That being said, when we compare Zero's animation to S9, the difference becomes very apparent. Now obviously these were two different teams, but I think S9's animations hold up far better than Zero's will in the long run, simply bc they seemed to focus more on realistic movement than trying to make their animations look cool. S9 and later seasons that use mocap/keyframed animation still look really cool! They're clunky in some parts, sure, but it's excusable. Zero's animations are admittedly less clunky, but they trade that out for being overdone in some parts, and are at times difficult to follow.

Overall, I hope the team grows and learns how to find a happy medium between what S9 and later seasons had going for them, and the animation they did for Zero. Making animations that look cool only get you so far, and overdoing them can cancel out all the work put into them. 

[Insert comment about me hoping I’m articulating well bc I have a headache bc I drank like one cup of water total yesterday bc I have no sense of self-preservation. Apparently.] :’D

This is already super long, but a quick note about the pacing is that I'm sure it'll hold up well once the season is condensed in DVD format. But as individual episodes, it tends to go a bit fast. If we see this same cast and crew again for the next season I hope they find a way to slow things down just a tad. I think some of the pacing issues come from the fact that they had to cut some things from the story. Which is why I'd like to reiterate the point about production wrapping up while the season is airing. Idk WHY it's a thing with RvB. Maybe they do it for other shows too. But it's a bad practice and it leads to similar issues like the aforementioned, and crunch. I'd be more than willing to wait longer for a season that doesn't finish production while airing if it means better pacing, writing, and animation. Not to say that the writing was terrible, the story was actually very cool, but it DOES go hand-in-hand with pacing. And when you're cramming exposition into each episode...it becomes a problem.

I'd like next season to have a story that's tightened up, that doesn't get anything cut out of it. Because I think, if given the time, the current team could make something really amazing.

I feel like I'm rambling/failing to get points across at this point (headache.) So I'll wrap up with some things I'd like to see from this team if they come back for another season;

More time for idle character interactions (to build on characterization and relationships)

Slightly slower pacing

Toned down idle animations (where appropriate)

And in a perfect world, they'd get to wrap up production before the season starts airing.

All in all, I'd like to see this team make another season! I think they did well with the odds stacked against them. RvB:0 is DEFINITELY one for the books in terms of technical execution and the amount of hype the production team had for it! But it could also use a lot of work. I'm sure the team learned a lot this season, and I'm looking forward to seeing what they come up with if they work on the next!

Also, in terms of how much fun the season was to watch? Totally an A-! It was SUPER fun to sit through! (And that's arguably the most important thing imo) The C+ is mostly for how the technical side of things was handled.

(I could continue on here and start nitpicking things that I wish they had done differently [like giving us a chance to see how Wash reacts to the implant/showing us why he changed his mind about having something jammed in his head,] but that’ll make this post even longer, and I need to go get groceries so...:’D)