#rwde?

It's very frustrating, as someone who's been obsessed with RWBY since they were 12, to make the concious choice not to support the show and be told in response that they're a bad person.  Cause i loved RWBY, and even though it was very very flawed i put my faith and money in the crew and company behind it to make it something good.  I have almost every rwby-related book/manga (pr sure theres only two i dont have) and had at least 10 RT-related articles of clothing over the years.  Pretty much my entire family knows about it cause of me and my parents were shocked when they saw me watching a video critical of it, cause it was the thing i'd been obsessed with for years.  

And now here i am, someone who's supported RT for probably a decade.  I'd seen all the bullshit they did and put my faith in them to do better time and time again.  At this point i can't comfortably do that anymore.  I can't trust them with my time and money to treat the people working there well.  How much of that money they're making off of my viewtime is actually going to the workers that need it vs the shitty higher ups who only want to make the most profit with the least losses?  (Lets be honest, considering all the animators were either under contracts that've ended or fired, probably none.)  

But despite this i still want to watch RWBY.  There'd been themes that were annoying, and uncomfortable, and outright disgusting but i saw good in the show and saw the creators acknowledging their wrongdoings and put my faith in them that they'd learn.  And then Vol 8 came out, i fucking hated it, not only did it have more disgusting themes but ones that hurt me personally, and EVEN THEN I DECIDED TO CONTINUE WATCHING THE SHOW.  Because i thought even if the writers are shitty, bigoted people who don't want to do their proper research or take criticism or maybe they just don't care as long as they're making money- at least i can still support the smaller workers on the crew.  Like i said, i've been in love with the characters and world since i was 12, it's not something that's going to go away that easily.  And then Kdin and all the workers came out about how shitty and bigoted RT was and that was it.  

Why?

Because the first time we see him, he’s arresting RWBY and Co. for “unauthorized weapon use” despite the fact they saved Mantle from a Grimm attack.

Red flag #1.

Then, in episode 3 (? It was the episode where Jacques first appears in V7), he’s told by Ironwood to not take Marrow on a mission that has to do with Faunus and just... doesn’t question and that becomes a staple of his character later on because he never says anything, even when the orders are questionable at best. Why was Marrow not allowed to go? Does Ironwood question question his loyalty? Or does he not want him to get upset about something and needs someone who doesn’t get too emotional? None of this was answered in the last volume and I don’t think it will be answered this Volume, either.

Red Flag #2.

And, finally, the infamous Chapter 12. The one where Clover decides against all reason to arrest Qrow even though he has no reason to but decides to be a Good Little Soldier and do what he’s told. He refuses to give medical aid to an injured opponent until Qrow surrenders. That’s not only a war crime, but hella manipulative. He’s so caught up in following orders that he doesn’t care about the BIGGER threat who happens to be a batshit insane Faunus serial killer. And because of his priorities being skewed he gets killed.

That is three- THREE- red flags all wrapped up into one, making the total count five.

This very much upset Clover Stans and I know how it feels to have your favorite character dies but I’m sorry to say that whatever you thought was going to happen didn’t. You were too blind to see that Clover was never going to side with the Good Guys. And to say he “acted out of character” when he was only in RWBY for 12 episodes is hyperbolic and just plain wrong since we barely knew his character. He wasn’t that deep. I really am sorry- I truly, truly am- but your personal headcanons not being canon is not the fault of writers.

You may think "oh but Roman's a villain, you're not supposed to like him." Which you're right, but at the same time, the manga is going against his character. For example, in the show, while he's laughed while causing chaos, his overall attitude for the most part is just trying to get his job done and move on to the next crime job (which we can see in his fights with the heroes many times) In the manga, he pretty much goes on and on about how he loves causing misery and chaos and seeing everyone bleeding, suffering and/or dead on the ground which... Jesus I know he's a violent person but he's not morbid... Christ.... And when he went close to that territory, it was cuz he was angry at Ruby for throwing Neo off the airship, sending her into a sky full of Grimm where for all he knew, Neo was already Grimm food.

Speaking of Neo, let's not forget that in the latest chapter, she saved his life and you know what he says?:

He threatens to kill her for "interfering." And notice how she's in focus the whole time Roman's talking. So it wasn't just the WF Lt., he was also threatening her too. Which is COMPLETELY out of character for him! Like, Roman in the show wouldn't threaten to kill her! He'd be grateful!!! Like in the show when she hopped in to save her from Yang's dust blast, he smiled and cheerfully says, "LADIES! Ice Queen! Always a pleasure! Neo, if you would?"

And don't forget that Amity Arena pic of their Legendary card cuz he looks so proud of her there:

Like... A lot of people who watch RWBY, even the people who work on the show know how much those two mean to each other, and to see this shitty manga bastardize Roman into a total hatesink to the point that he's so cold towards Neo??? His partner in crime??? Someone he's implied to have saved???? He literally died b/c he was so worried about her flying in the sky surrounded by Grimm who might eat her???

And this "official" manga decides to spit all of that in the face by having Roman straight up threaten to kill Neo just because she "interfered" to save his life because if she left his ungrateful ass alone, he would have been bisected by Ruby's scythe, dead.

And he's not the only one that this manga's bastardized. Blake's arc in V2 has been cut altogether. Yang's talk with Blake that explains her backstory about how her search for Raven when Yang and Ruby were kids almost got them killed in order to snap Blake out of her obsession towards the WF that's costing her wellbeing. Oobleck is more rude and condescending than he was in the show instead of caring of the girls. Even the scene where WBY discusses their motivations of being huntresses, gone (and a lot of fans love that scene so much. One of the best scenes in the show)

Bunta Kinami has the audacity to call it the "official" RWBY manga when in reality, this "official RWBY manga" has bastardized the characters into lifeless soulless caricatures. I remembered that this manga promised to adapt the story like never before where we get more interactions. This made me hopeful that we might see more of the girls talking, more JNPR interactions, more Roman and Neo interactions, more Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury, more SSSN, CFVY! More world building!! The manga added additional scenes like Sun and Neptune being included in the paladin fight so why couldn't it add more interactions???

Mr. Bunta Kinami, you apparently had all of the time in the world to add more content in the manga and also change the characters and motives of Yang, Blake, Sun, Oobleck, and Roman. You could have done so much more and you ended up making it worse.

whyyyyyyy did the argument between Yang and Ruby even happen

Adam was never the beast in Blake's story. He was first the cursed rose then he was Gaston ever since volume 3.

It's perfectly clear in that regard. Trying to salvage what is essentially a broken and evil character with some justification because he has a slight backstory is just lame. He was evil through and through and it looks like it didn't take much to turn him into that.

Should Winter go and start hurting people because Jacques was probably a douche to her at some point? Should Weiss turn into a serial killer because her face was branded with her father's hand mark?

Characters still have a choice and Adam chose the dark path. He is in by no means redeemed. He killed innocents and wanted to slaughter all of humanity.

Adam is dead now so let's end the discourse and put this to rest. If you want to enjoy Adam as a character do so, but don't try to glorify him or claim he's "bi" or try to argue his case in posts. You don't know enough of what you're talking about.