#rwtc

And now we're back for more after finishing V2! What why did it take me so long to do this? Well I was rewatching with a friend (methinks I mentioned that before) but for various lfie reasons we couldn't really meet up properly for a while so. Also, just a reminder: My friend is absolutely fucking loving RWBY so u know. It's not like I'm watching it with a hater. Yeah. ANYWAYS.

Last we left off: Grimm invaded like 2 blocks of a city! A warship showed up to kill like 2 grimm! A team of seniors stole protagonism for a minute or two and Glynda proved she's the most broken person in this universe by fixing the issue effortlessly! Team RWBY decided they'd go to sleep after a hard day, not knowing the worst was about to come. What will the future await us? Nobody will die, surely!

Ep 1: Why thanks Ruby, that IS the point we find ourselves at at this moment! The audience appreciates you for your reminder! Well that's definitely not a PNG of Tai. Clearly Ruby just brought a carbon cutout of him with her. Oh boi. Yeah, listen, I'll cut some slack to the fights this season because Monty had just passed away at this point. They're trying their best, and the fight choreography isn't awful. It's just… There's a certain energy missing. Monty was so… particular in how he did things. I'm not gonna say it's impossible to replicate him, but the very team that worked with him took years to even come close to matching his skill. Ruby, no time to flirt on the battlefield. Why is Roman working for Cinder, anyways? Is she paying him? He doesn't feel like the type that'd work for the love of it, or for Salem, you know? I don't hate the idea of a strange pairing and honestly Weiss and Yang are the strongest members of RWBY at the current time I think. Still, we haven't seem them doing many team things, so to the audience it feels weird. Is Blake only ever used for cat-related jokes? The laser, then the dog, now this with the fish. Oh hey look finally some Nora/Ren info. I don't like the Opening for the season, btw. V1 opening is a banger and iconic, V2 is catchy and well animated. I think V3's is kind of on the nose and I don't vibe with the song either.

On the Bees: They kinda do the combo attack again.

Ep 2: Jaune my guy we just saw the sniper guy blow up a rock I don't know how smart it is to hide behind another rock. THEY'RE GIVING EXPOSITION ON NORA'S SEMBLANCE? I DIDN'T REMEMBER THAT'S HOW WE FOUND OUT. WHAT THE FUCK. SO SEMBLANCES ARE IN NO WAY A SECRET. I was right to be weirded out by the supposed secrecy of Pyrrha's semblance! Anyways I know I said I'd cut them some slack but I'm not overlooking them just… not animating Nora's hit. I get it's a comedy thing and the action lasted a few minutes but… It feels kinda weird. The show's time was already tight and badly paced but team SNNN could have used some more scenes so that we could give a shit. Anyways they did not deserve that win. Oh right I forgot to mention Qrow's here. How nice. EVERYBODY TAKE COVER. SHOULD YOU MENTION THAT BLAKE BLUSHES AT SUN YOU WILL BE KILLED ON SIGHT. THIS HAS NO NARRATIVE IMPLICATIONS EVER! CLEARLY IT'S NOTHING. NO MEANING. THEY TOOK THE TIME TO ANIMATE IT FOR NO REASON.

On the Bees: The sun's looking kind of black right now innit?

Ep 3: Winter introduction! She's kind of a bitch ngl. I've been in the military, and no, not everyone in there acts like that. Does the Qrow/Winter thing ever… do anything? Like, they establish this thing and then… nothing? Like I can get it from Qrow's perspective, he's pissed at Atlas, but this feels more like a thing with Winter than anything else. That being said, it is such a shame that the first time we see these highly anticipated characters fight is after Monty's passing. I know this is the third time I spoke about it after saying I woudln't BUT IT IS A SHAME WHAT CAN I DO. Why thanks, Qrow! That IS the situation you find yourselves at at this moment! The audience apprecaites you for the info! You can tell Ruby learned from him. That being said, man, I really forgot Ironwood has always been kind of sleasy. Nice.

On the bees: Blake and Yang aint even show up this time around.

Ep 4: Fight scene happens. Nothing too important other than establishing Emerald's semblance I think? Why thank you Winter, that IS how your family semblance works! The audience appreciates the info. Maybe you did have a thing with Qrow at some point! So, why is the Schnees' semblance hereditary? If it's a manifestation of the soul, that has some… weird implications imo. I normally try not to think thaaat hard about it but, like, seriously. Does it imply some aspect of their soul is intrinsically so powerful that it overpowers the nascent ability of a newborn? I don't think we've seen Weiss's brother use his semblance but he's supposed to have the same, right? Well look at that Qrow gets to be very heterosexual here. Qrow: "They don't give medals for 'almost'" Ruby: "They do and they're called Silver!" OOOOOOF that's actually good foreshadowing holy shit. I like this Qrow scene. He really lays it on thick. I think I'd like the Weiss/Winter stuff more if it didn't feel so expository tbh.

On the bees: Blake did not show up this episode.

Ep 5: Penny too OP pls nerf. Anyways why wasn't Cardin here. Nuts and Dolts my beloved. Oh setting up that she's magnetic. Would say it's smart but we've seen Pyrrha manipulate aluminum cans so her power does not actually rely on magnetism and is most likely just metalbending. Anyways bluecap girl. She's important, surely! I'm sure we'll see a lot more of her :) Freezerburn fight! Against these dudes that show up once again in v7 I think. I did not remember the boobs joke. Don't know how to feel about it. Though I guess Yang is technically an adult. Think the animators played Jet Set Radio to get into the mood for this fight? What- What? Why did trumpet guy not finish Weiss off? Is he stupid? I know we need RWBY to win but what the actual fuck? That was… really anticlimatic. The rest of the fight was fun, but it kinda felt like it ended not because of Yang's skill but because of Neon's(?) stupidity. See, I think the Maiden Stuff is a bit of a retcon. Cuz in V2 they actually went to great lengths to show how Cinder could do her fire stuff… only to have it be maiden magic thing in V3.

On the bees: The short conversations Yang and Weiss had here gives more fuel to Freezerburn than Bumbleby has gotten yet. Insane.

Ep 6: What do you mean it's been months since I saw last chapter? Nonsense Now that I notice, isn't it HILARIOUS that team SNNN has the two randos nobody even remembers at their front in the OP? lmaooooo Ah yes the completely not out of left field maidens stuff we all know for a fact this was planned from the beginning and not introduced here in a strange attempt to make this story larger than it really needed to be. Despite the shit I give the random appearance of this, I don't immediately hate it. The fact that later on the powers aren't seasonal in the slightest is a big fucking annoyance (Why have them distinguished by seasons if there is no distinction between them) but this avatar-esque sort of powerful baton-pass is, at least, interesting. The fact it ends up being just a literal 'find the mcguffin power to get the mcguffin artifacts' is something I'll maybe tackle later. Ah, yes, Aura technomagical mumbo-jumbo. If only we actually understood how the fuck it actually works. Subtlest transition in the show. Hey, the choreography here is pretty neat! It could be a bit faster and the projectile tornado is not the best choice but we do get the return of the Dempsey Roll! Ok, before I go on a rant regarding the illusion here, I'll wait until it's properly explained, because I may be remembering how it went down incorrectly.

On the Bees: Naught.

Ep 7: Starting with the moment these characters meet is not necessarily bad, it kind of explains why they're with Cinder, but once again I think these scenes are hurt by pacing. I don't mind the Adam scene, I just find it hard to believe he'd ever accept to talk to humans at all at first. Like, I reckon Cinder would've been attacked on sight. And of course the idea that these guys would let a Maiden just go on alone without any vigilance for a while at any point is absolute nonsense. Maaaaaaan last episode I praised the fight but this was b a d jesus. Anyways see what I mean about the maiden powers? Them just being "yeah it's magic whatever" feels kinda underwhelming ESPECIALLY WHEN THIS CHICK'S BEATEN SO STUPIDLY. Anyways Mercury and Emerald dodge lightning here. Just… they just do it. I'm sure there'd be a powerscaler somewhere that would go through the trouble of actually thinking hard on that but let's not go down that route. (note: I asked a powerscaler friend and apparently all RWBY characters scale to FTL I am going to unalive meself) Anyways really girl? All that power and you get beaten by, basically, three grenades? WHY WOULD YOU GO AFTER THE ILLUSIONIST THE DANGEROUS ONE IS CLEARLY THE RED DRESSED ONE Anyways great timing Qrow WHY WEREN'T YOU WITH HER AT ALL TIMES M8. "Nooo his semblance-" IT WORKS AROUND HIM NOT WHEN HE'S AWAY. idk Adam ends up looking quite committed to the plan, it feels off that he was coerced into it. And hte aftermath of the fight… they don't actually explain exactly what happened, but I assume Emerald created the illusion for Yang? How real do her illusions feel? Anyways I was gonna say something more but I forgor, maybe it'll come back to me. Anyways Mercury's VA has actually gotten quite better since his introduction. Cinder… not so much yet.

On the bees: Nothing. literally fucking nothing for 7 episodes in a row I am going insane. Don't even let me count season 2 on the streak.

Ep 8: Honestly, Ironwood having a point aside, Yang got off easy. As far as everyone knows, she potentially maimed a downed student for no reason. Getting disqualified is like, a slap on the wrist by comparison. WAIT. STOP EVERYTHING. FUCKING FINALLY. ONE (1) ACTUALLY GOOD BUMBLEBEE MOMENT!!!!!!!!! UNHEARD OF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You can see where Blake is coming from, Yang's reaction is pretty telling. Hell, Blake comparing Yang to Adam is a romantically charged parallel. (also some freezerburn fuel with Weiss refusing to even consider Yang was in the wrong but we'll skip that) The scene with team JNPR is aight. Pyrrha is thoughtful about the maiden stuff, Nora and Ren are comedic, it's all fine. Oh right I just remembered what I was going to say before: NONE OF THIS ACTUALLY HOLDS UP TO SCRUTINY BECAUSE YOU LIVE IN A WORLD WHERE PEOPLE HAVE SUPERPOWERS. YANG MESSING UP LIKE THAT COULD BE EASILY EXPLAINED BY A SEMBLANCE. ESPECIALLY QROW WHO WAS THERE FOR THE EMBER ATTACK AND KNOWS SHIT'S ABOUT TO GO DOWN AND THAT HIS NIECE WOULD NEVER DO THAT. I'll proceed to ignore the part of my brain that knows this moving forward. Honestly, the scene between Jaune/Pyrrha here may be one of the best written in the show. They allow it to breathe, the conversation feels real, the music's great, the atmosphere is heavy. I've had my grievances with the pairing, and I still do, but this scene does manage to sell me on the heartbreak that comes later. See, this is what I mean? Bunnygirl gives one (1) hint of the semblance thing to Ruby and she figures it out. How can super experienced teachers and shit not even consider it? "Didn't you say you were going to ignore-" shut up. As much as I really like the buildup to the final scene here, I have one teeny tiny little problem with Mercury stopping Ruby. Come on now, say it with me: YOU. HAVE. SUPER. SPEED. MERCURY SHOULD NO BE ABLE TO STOP YOU. YOU CAN LITERALLY JUST GO RIGHT THROUGH AND HE CAN'T CATCH UP.

On the Bees: WOOOOOOO CELEBRATION TIME WE GOT IT DUDES AND GALS EVERYONE CHEER. Is it enough to make me believe they're already in love and that they're on-route for a romantic development? No, not really, but fucking hell this is the first time this rewatch I've been like "yeah I can actually ship that."

Ep 9: Ozpin: sees what's about to go down Also Ozpin: Does fuckall about it RUBY DON'T FUCKING STAND AROUND YOU HAVE SUPER SPEED THIS GUY IS CLEARLY SUS JUST GO "Mercury caught her-" YEAH BUT SHE GAVE HIM TIME TO GET READY, FFS. Anyways at LEAST she tried ffs. The fight here is ok-ish. Lots of fast and fancy moves that are sometimes hard to parse, but not necessarily in the same fashion as Monty's style. Enjoyable nonetheless. Never quite understood why Pyrrha didn't stop using her semblance after deflecting the blades? Or did she really give them that much momentum? Anyways, it's a fine scene. I'd say it's less impactful knowing Penny comes back to life (and then they kill her again) but I enjoyed Penny's 2nd run so much more so I'm happy for it. The fallout of the whole th- WAIT A GODDAMN MOMENT THE EPISODE IS CALLED PVP BECAUSE IT'S PYRRHA VS PENNY I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL MYSELF anyways as I was saying the fallout of the whole scene is, in my opinion, a bit subdued? Until the actual fallout kicks off but I think there should have been a riot from like, second 5. And we don't even get to see how Ruby got past Mercury actually, do we? Jesus fuck. Cinder's speech is kind of… overdone? Like, you could probably cut it to half the length and have it be more impactful. Also this is a perfect example of the fact that nobody in RWBY should actually be alive. Like, in a worldbuilding sense, even with Ozpin and Maidens helping out, no society should be able to get to the level of any of the big cities. I can't believe they left Roman in a cage for half a volume and then he'll die having done basically nothing. What a fucking waste man he's so much fun.

On the Bees: Nothing. Will we have anything else before the big moment at the end? We better fucking do because otherwise it's nothing for 2 more volumes lmao

Ep10: Once again I am proven right in my assessment that everyone should get their aura unlocked, because then this shitshow would be a lot more survivable. Anyways monochrome here standing still amidst a stampede of Grimm is kind of… a wasted chance? They should've been fighting while talking. Aight the scene of the lockers raining down on the nevermore is quite good. So I understand the civilians, but aren't all of the people in uniforms hunters? Even if they're in training, I reckon there should be a lot more fighting. Blake: "they're shooting at us! Lie on the ground without cover, that'll make them miss us for some reason!" And it works. Using the locker to fly is pretty smart! And we've seen Jaune being thrown in one before so it's not unbelievable- Wait actually why don't students do that more often. BLAKE, WEISS, NEVER SPLIT THE FUCKING PARTY. "My darling." Clearly nothing ever happened between Adam and Blake. OZPIN GET OFF YOUR ASS AND GO HELP YOU LAZY FUCK DON'T JUST STARE OUT THE DAMN WINDOW I love the dragon grimm, but if you know me, you know I just love dragons in general.

On the Bees: Great episode for Monochrome actually.

Ep11: Did Neo just flirt with Ruby? Like, come on. I've seen people insist Adam and Blake had nothing going on but all of these "my love" don't seem quite one-sided. Blake doesn't refute them. So, Velvet's ability is really fucking cool, and building a weapon that can take advantage of that is also really cool. If you know me, you know 'copying abilities' is pretty much my 2nd favorite superpower (behind superspeed), so I tend to use it a lot in TTRPG campaigns and such. Hell, I have a RWBY OC with the ability to copy semblances (One at a time, doesn't come with inherent understanding, it's quite underpowered as far as copy abilites go). So yeah, believe me when I say I think this is pretty cool. On the other hand, we have almost no investment in these characters, and I think it woudl've been cooler if her box mechanically transformed into these weapons rather than projecting them. It would also bypass the whole "one use only" deal. And Weiss finally using the knight feels quite nice. Well, only an arm. Don't remember when she summons the whole thing. End of V4, methinks? "It's not what I have to gain, it's what I can't afford to lose". Roman having the rawest fucking lines again and he's about to die this is so fucking sad man. Anyways does it really feel like Roman would work for these people just cuz he's scared? Idk he seems more like the kind to try to get profit off the end of the world. Let's be honests: Roman's death was a clear case of "we can justifiably bring him back if we want to". Just have the destruction of the ship kill the grim that ate him, while at the same time the body protected him from the explosion. Which they should have done because he's by far the most charismatic antagonist the show has had up to this point. For being the first time Qrow uses his scythe, it's quite confusing. He could have 100% done that with the sword. Ok, second big Bees moment! Lemme talk about it in the bees segment. JAUNE, YOU HAD ONE JOB. SEE? WE HAVEN'T SEEN YANG TAKE DAMAGE, HOW HAS SHE ACTIVATED HER SEMBLANCE? Jesus fucking christ have some consistency guys please. Yellow blood? Really guys? I mean I get she's yellow but that's kind of taking me out of it lmao. No Ozpin you don't get to be badass you were sitting around doing jackshit for too long, this is 100% your fault. Anyways, episode full of stuff. First real Salem foreshadowing.

On the Bees: Adam says "I'll destroy everything you love" and yang shows up. Is this shippy? Sure, I can give you that. Was it made with /that/ intent? Allow me to be quite clear: I doubt so. Thematically, it's just supposedly the person closest to Blake, her direct partner. Again, in 3 seasons so far, the show has done absolutely nothing to make me believe they give a shit about representation. Plenty of explicit hetshit going on, but not a single queer person making a clear appearance. So yeah, allow me to cast my doubts.

12: woo magic fight Oh these teachers are alive. Don't remember seeing htem in future volumes so I thought they dead. HANDHOLDING WHITE ROSE CONFIRMED NO MATTER HOW HARD THE WRITERS TRY NOT TO MAKE IT HAPPEN. "WE WILL FIND THEM" GAYASS See, Pyrrha was actually going to survive, the problem is that she inadvertedly set off the final Death Flag, 'kiss before an important moment', which usually isn't lethal on its own but can be when you already have more of them. SMH. The fight is badass. Maybe the gears move could have used a bit more, uh, actual using, rather than the usual "pile everything on top of her" thing. But yeah it's pretty good. And of course, Pyrrha's death. It's quite painful, really. Not too shocking but a good scene overall. Do I believe the show could have been more interesting should they have kept her alive? Yes, probably. Silver eyes! The one piece of foreshadowing I can actually believe. For once, someone infodumping the current situation makes sense. Infodumping about silver eyes which won't actually become relevant again for another 3 seasons. Sisterly reunion is alright. All this infodumping is a bit much imo, would rather have some other scene in the middle. Wow Weiss you and Ruby both have PNG dads, you have so much in common. Anyways yeah salem another actual piece of foreshadowing well done. She looked much cooler in this engine too.

On the Bees: Blake runs away from how guilty she feels towards the whole Yang thing, and Yang is clearly hurt. It's a good basis for some angst and yearning that they ABSOLUTELY squander in vol6.

Anyways yeah that's the season! Honeslty having split it down hte middle I don't feel like I can quite make a judgement on whether I enjoyed it more or less than previous ones, but it is overall better written. too bad we're now going into 2 of hte worst volumes of the show if memory serves me right.

Oh, and surprisingly enough, methinks Pyrrha finally passed the bechdel test. Third time's the charm, eh?

Now, for short things:

WoR "Aura": I've never been a fan of the aura/semblance thing. Aura and semblances are fine but this show just isn't very interested in actually exploring what a world with these abilities would feel like. They do a fine job of establishing dust-tech, but nothing regarding semblances? As stated during I think my V1 notes: You should be doing everything to unlock Auras and find useful semblances amidst the population. What if someone has a semblance that just lets them create food or water? or stuff like that. There are no rules attached to semblances other than "manifestation of the soul."

WoR "Vytal Festival Tournament": Oh, wait, were these meant to be seen before V3? or during V2? Whoops. Once again I am forced to ask about the viability of war in Remnant. Its logistics. With Grimm… it just doesn't feel plausible. Anyways this short seems mostly here just to explain Amity colloseum. Which like, fine, it can exist.

WoR "Huntsmen": Why was hunting only a profession after the war thing? Didn't people need to protect themselves from Grimm before? Surely there were already people doing that by then. Wait, what do you mean "now defunct mantle"? I mean it's not the best place to live but it was hardly dead.

WoR "CCTS": One tower going down meaning all towers go down is, in all honesty, incredibly fucking poor design. I get it goes with the themes but you can't tell me they figured out the tech without also figuring out how to isolate towers so that htem falling wouldn't collapse the others. Other than that, it's just a lengthy explanation for "we invented the internet."

WoR "Four Maidens": Nice animation and all, but this could have easily been a world of remnant for s1—except this story didn't exist back then, of course. Neither did the maidens. Other than that, it's quite the boring fairy tale, aint gonna lie. Not much going on, the show's version of it was better simply because it let you imagine what the actual story was. ANWYAYS SEE WHAT I MEAN? THIS THING IMPLIES THE MAIDENS HAD ELEMENTAL POWERS UNIQUE TO THEM. Ugh still angry about that. Way to make maidens indistinguishable from each other.

Time for the sequel! My volume 1 post did great, a grandiose 3 notes. I can already smell the internet fame. Clearly, the fans want what I have to offer (That being: incredibly random thoughts and my always correct opinions), and I am here to give it to them.

Anyways when we last left off: We'd just stopped a grand robbery of dust in the docks! Well, Penny did most of the work, but it's the thought that counts. The ending was kind of abrupt! What wonders will V2 have to offer? How much of a mess will it make of things? I wonder!

Ep 1: We start the volume and the first thing Mercury does is… flirt? The way the line is read is so fucking awkward tho, lmao. I know the tukson scene was meant to be tense and menacing but, and I know I said I wouldn't do this much, but it's important here: The voice acting doesn't really sell the scene. It's not laughably awful or anything, it's just not very strong. Wow, Blake and Yang actually get an interaction where Blake actively replies to her! How wonderful. Thank you Ruby, that IS the current circumstances in which you find yourselves! The audience appreciates you for the explanation. Wow Neptune look at you I'm sure you'll be a super important character moving forward, relevant, always in the depths of the plot. No comments about the food fight. 10/10. Still my favourite secene from RWBY. Now Glynda I understand your frustration but everyone else ran away, these eight stuck to the food fight and wrecked each other's shit, I'd be impressed if I was the teacher of a combat school. I love Roman. He's a little shit. I'd bash his head in if I could, but that's why I love him. He's underutilized but his VA is clearly having a lot of fun and it seeps into the character. Do you think cinder uses her powers to make her eyes glow for effect at all times or only when she's tryning to be menacing?

On the Bees: Wow look an interaction! Clearly this has convinced me the writers had planned for it all along.

Ep 2: I do like Ironwood's always had that subtle tension to him. He's a man with good intentions but too much goddamn power for his own good. Leaving aside te absolute stupidity of a 'semblance' they gave him which was of course never mentioned in the show because it makes no goddamn sense. This is a general complaint I have, not only with RWBY but with pretty much all shows I've ever watched: JUST USE REAL BOARD GAMES. PLEASE. CALL THEM SOMETHING ELSE BUT MAKE THEM THINGS THAT ALREADY FUCKING EXIST. The only person I've ever seen who makes 'fake board/card games' funny is ProZD and dude literally makes a living out of playing and reviewing those. Anyways that's a me thing, otherwise it's a fine scene. Better than fine, really, because WHITE ROSE BABEEE THAT'S 2 EPISODES IN A ROW WHERE THEY'VE HELD EACH OTHER LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOOO "But Neptun-" Nepwho? Ah, blue haired guy. Right. He exists. Aight I'll just say my piece here because I don't wanna be saying the same through the whole volume: The whole Weiss/Neptune thing is just horribly heterosexual people writting terrible heterosexuality. Neptune's entire personality is being heterosexual. Literally. If a gay character acted the same as him, he'd be criticized for having 'gay' be his personality, or he'd be considered a token gay, or smth. Seen it a million times. Comes out of nowhere, any time Weiss does or say anything involving Neptune I wanna unalive myself, the two have the chemistry of water, and I consider this fanbase got off lucky that Neptune ended up being only a plot device to get Jaune to move along his own arc. So yeah any time anything happens with Neptune, unless I state otherwise, assume I'm vomiting loudly. … Honestly Blake and Weiss are kinda shippable here. 'Nooo blake why won't you talk to me- I mean us you promised' gay ass. Anyways while I understand Ruby and Yang going with the stupid plan and Blake has personal reasons for it… It does feel a bit OOC for Weiss to agree because, well, she's fucking right. These four are just students and they only managed to deal with Roman and the White Fang last time because Penny came in clutch. They're fucked if they do this alone. How… old is cinder? I'd say she couldn't pass herself for a student due to credentials but we know salem has Lionhart by the balls so… ???

On the Bees: Weiss and Blake had a nice moment.

Ep 3: You know, I never understood what Jaune saw in Weiss. Like, ok, she's probably cute at first sight. But she's fucking insufferable otherwise. Her team can deal with her but I'd fucking despise her v1-3 self if I went to the same school as her. I prefer the other outfits tbh. Where… Where was Sun hanging from? He was like, some ways away from the window, but there was nothing there to hang to. I guess his semblance could help but would he really- Yeah he would. Ruby here know's what's up and she wants none of it. NONE. It may look like Ruby is making fun of Weiss, but she doesn't understand that's just flirting. But her heart pulls her two ways, OH NO. By the end of this story, she must choose- Well, no, not really, since one of the options is literally twice dead. (yes I ship Nuts n' Dolts too, sue me) Weird that Weiss didn't ask to see Winter when the woman said she was around, given that later it seems like she'd give an arm and a leg to speak to her. Ok, the reveal that Penny is a robot rings a bit… hollow, since, uh, we already knew that. Her back literally opens into blades, the weird thing really is Ruby not knowing.

On the Bees: Nuts.

Ep 4: OOOOH that's why it's called Nuts n Dolts, innit. Normally I'd say the Ruby/Penny friendship feels forced, but this is probably the only two people in this show where something like this works. Penny has no real frame of reference for friendship and Ruby is just like that. Once again Blake and Sun out here exploring Blake's past together, nothing narratively important going on! Roman is so charismatic. Honestly I'd like to pound his- Oh hi Neo didn't see you there. Ok, see what I mean with "Adam could've made the jump"? Look at Blake and Sun here. Jumping gaps way larger here. I guess he was too stunned for too long or smth idk. Cool fight scene. Gonna be honest, I fucking hate that the fandom took these combo attacks for ship names. Like the concept is cool and all but at least back in the day following ship discourse could be so fucking annoying. Anyways here we have our first canonical explanation of how Yang's semblance works. "With each hit she gets stronger, and she uses that energy to fight back". Which implies she needs to take the damage to get a boost, something something equivalent exchange, but it wasn't something that was happening first volume. Unless we count 'getting a hair cut' to be taking a hit. That being said, I still wonder what's stopping her from, idk, hitting herself or asking someone else to hit her before a battle (assuming she can predict a battle is coming, ofc) to at least have some energy stored up in a safe environment instead of having to risk tanking hits from her enemies. Never quite understood how Neo's semblance works. It's illusions but they leave behind a physical glass form. But how exactly does it make her vanish? In most cases it doesn't feel like she's creating a flat screen surface but just a second body and… teleporting away. Feels like Blake's semblance but more overpowered, but also she can make anything out of it as shown later… Ah, whatever, I don't think the writers think about it too hard, making sense of it is impossible.

On the Bees: Well, they had their ship name called out.

Ep 5: While I love Pyrrha winning against team Cardinal, I have to wonder… why was she even fighting all four? Were the teachers like "Cardin your team is so shit all four of you against Pyrrha seems fair, go fight" or what. See what I mean? Mercury clearly thinks of his discovery of Pyrrha's semblance as something interesting, but Ozpin himself says they make extensive tests to the people entering Beacon. Even if semblances aren't a matter of 'public' record, Cinder later gets into the systems, so couldn't she just have just… checked then? I understand the 'blake needs to relax' bit but also, trying to force her into the dance? Sun clearly has a crush on her so him asking makes sense but the rest of team RWBY probably should've been more like "you need to fucking sleep" rather than trying to get her into a dance. I really like Pyrrha and I am really sad the crux of her character is "crush on Jaune." She has a lot of interesting shit to explore WHY IS THIS HER FOCUS. Like it's RIGHT THERE. A girl prodigy with an amazing semblance that everyone places on a pedestal. But instead of being about her it's about fucking Jaune.

On the Bees: Well Weiss continues to be the one pressing Blake to be more open. Is their ship name Checkmate? No, doesn't sound right. Uh… Black and White? No. Grey… Monochrome? That one sounds familiar. May be it (Yes, I wrote this as I thought about it. No. I'm not cutting it down). Anyways whatever the ship name is, so far I kinda dig it more than bumblebee. It's amazing really.

Ep 6: Here it is bois the big chapter for bumblebee oh boi let's gooooo Aight Yang attracting Blake with a laser is pretty hilarious. The Jaune/Ren moment did make me chuckle too. Comedy seems to be on point (for my tastes) this episode. Nora/Ren not being 'together together' is a point they make many times and I only ask… why? Nora isn't subtle about her crush on Ren. I guess Ren is quiet and timid but it's clear- Hey wait why is their ship name 'renora'. Don't they get a combo name? I know I complain about them but like. Feels unfair anyways. Other ships involving them get the stupid combo names. Why not them? What was I saying? Oh right it's clear they have a thing going on and like, they've known each other all their lives. This isn't made a point of until like, 7 volumes in. Eh, idk. Honestly, very impressive Pyrrha can just walk and talk normally with that knife—well, more of a fucking sword—on her back. Bla bla Bees conversation comments at the end let's move on. Oh hey that's Qrow's emblem isn't it? Who designs the emblems anyways. The owners of them? Some are unique, some are inherited. They're kinda like Cutie Marks tbh. Jaune offering a White Rose to Weiss, clearly a reference to THE BEST SHIP. MAYBE 2ND BEST SHIP IDK I'M TORN HERE. ENDGAME CONFIRMED BOIS. Blake's first dance is asked for but she still goes to the dance explicitly with Sun. Of course that is meaningless, nothing here ever built them up to have a thing and it is clear Blake never had absolutely any interest in him whatsoever. Anyways look at those background characters. All heterosexual, not a single w/w m/m pairing dancing, other than the 5 seconds of Blake and Yang. The pinnacle of queer representation right here, folks! Ozpin is a little lying shit but I guess experience does let him give good advice.

On the Bees: Ok. I want you to understand something. This? This is the F I R S T time Blake and Yang have a long, one to one conversation. In the show. Volume and a half in. They're not only teammates, they're partners. Ruby and Yang had a couple of conversations. Weiss and Ruby have had many. Even Ruby and Blake, famously interacting very little, had that conversation about books and fairy tales when first meeting. I don't care about the fact that they've spent months together at this time. That's not the point. The point is this conversation? It's the first actually shippable moment between them. Anything prior is /nothing/. You couldn't fucking write a developing relationship out of them with the interactions they've had before this point. From here on out at least there's a base to work with. That established, it's not the best base. Blake isn't her 'usual self' here. She's exhausted and in a terrible mood. The scene is mostly taken over by Yang's backstory. The conversation is Yang trying to make a point. It's a good conversation, and it finally establishes an interaction between them that doesn't feel loose. It's just a conversation I think would've been far more effective if we'd first seen them have more interactions under normal circumstances. Yang does wink at Blake and 'saves her first dance'. I believe this is the only time in this show where she's flirtatious towards a girl. Wonder why they didn't go togehter to the dance, instead of, well, I already said it above.

Ep 7: What was Jaune gonna do here? Beat up Neptune? Don't get me wrong I find him vomitive, as stated before, but the guy doesn't really deserve a beating for not agreeing to a dance, you know? Or was he heading towards Weiss? Kind of unclear, but he did look kinda angry so I assume he was going after Neptune. Like I get Pyrrha being drawn to Jaune for his ignorance of her and I do think that now it makes some sense she may be into him but I still don't buy how into Jaune she originally was. I do like this conversation between Pyrrha and Jaune, though. And, despite everything, this may be the only moment with Neptune that's genuinely funny. The 'I can't dance' part I mean. Usual applies to everything else. Nora and Ren are dancing, and Blake and Sun are… /still/ dancing? I can only assume they took a break, or they just really like dancing. Still not a single background gay! Dress moment is another Top 10 scenes of the show tbh. Throwaway gag turned funny/wholesome moment. Normally I'd call out the synchronized dance but these are hunters I can assume they have the reflexes to pull it off… assuming Jaune leads, anyways. Ah, yes, the legendary terrible running across rooftops scene. Here it is. It's legendary and terrible and funny. For real though I think I've seen worse animation moments before. I think it's just that this one likes like 5 whole ass seconds and gets full focus. Really? Karate chop? I know it's probably for the memes but girl, you can summon crystal blades at a distance. I reckon using those would be more effective. So… who picks the lockers and brings them back to the school after they hit, anyways? Is tehre a fine related to misuse of the feature? It can't be cheap, between reparations to the ground of wherever the locker hits, the damage to the locker itself, and the fuel used to launch it. RWBY giving pursuit and not immediately throwing away the shoes is the most unbelievable thing that has happened yet in this show. I… what? I don't understand teh architecture here. Did Cinder run all the way back to beacon? is the tower connected to beacon? That cut was real strange. Still no background gays! No but guys RT was really forward thinking they were totally queer-minded and had planned bumblebee from the beginning, clearly caring about rep and all that! They just coudln't be bothered to spend a single minute making two men or two women dance.

On the Bees: WAIT IT'S CALLED BUMBLEBY? NOT BUMBLEBEE? WHY DID NOBODY TELL ME, I MUST HAVE LOOKED STUPID! I'm gonna keep calling it bumblebee, idgaf. anyways I think this may be the only time we see Jaune's knees? I'll keep you posted.

Ep 8: APOLLO JUSTICE TRILOGY WAS CRACKED! I WAITED FOR SO LONG!!!! What has that to do with RWBY? Uh, nothing. What was I doing? Oh right rewatching. Anyways- Never fully understood why Ruby wouldn't go to Ozpin about the info before. Sure they were breaking rules but sis this is a lot bigger than you four. The dog. Right. Forgot he existed. I will forget it again. How… how does war work in Remnant, anyways? If you take to a battlefield, Grimm would eventually overrun both forces. It'd be a three-way fight constantly. You'd think kingdoms in general wouldn't ever bother with war. Right? Ozpin giving the job to RWBY instead of a more experienced team could be considered as the reason it all fell apart really.

On the bees: I actually just finished ep 10 and thought this chapter's notes looked weird and that's cuz this episode had literally nothing despite ample chance and I forgot to add this section.

Ep 9: I like Ooblek or however that's written. He's never relevant again aftert his arc but this is how you make secondary characters memorable. "By giving them a gimmick?" Yes! That's actually exactly how you do it! Ace Attorney is an expert at this! Still don't like the dog. Also no huntsman we've ever seen has a dog, right? Weird. See, this seems to imply the Goliaths here are like, the same as Beowulfs or whatever that just lived that long. but… This is later retconned. As far as we know, Salem just creates whatever the hell she needs, and Grimm don't change forms over time. It does appear like they gain more armor over time… sometimes anyways. Like, they probably do grow within a single 'species', but these goliaths aren't any different than the newborns we see later. I also do like Ooblek's motivation. That is a valid reason to be a teacher in this shitty nonsensical world.

On the bees: They, uh. Talk. For like one minute. Weiss is also there.

Ep 10: I appreciate this conversation but here's the thing: Blake speaking of her semblance this way implies they're aware semblances are, well, tied to their characters. This isn't necessarily a problem, if maybe a bit on the nose, but then… wouldn't it also imply everyone should consider what their semblance means? What does Sun's semblance say about himself? That he's always willing to lend a hand? What about, idk, Pyrrha? How does metalbending (And yes, it's metalbending, not polarity, she makes shit levitate not just attract or repel from herself) tie to her personality? Is it just a reflection of her prodigious skill? You'd think it was the other way around. Yang's is obvious (She prefers rolling with the blows), Weiss's too (it's a hereditary semblance), and Ruby's… well, depending on whether we consider the V7/8 development a retcon or not it could change meaning, but let's say it's meant to represent how she's always rushing ahead. So, this being said, woudln't character development change one's semblance? It would be interesting, in fact. Maybe Ruby's semblance wasn't always what it later is, but her experiences changed it. Maybe the inconsistency in Yang's semblance is a reflection of this. I know I'm thinking too hard and nobody ever thought about it, but it's sort of a Jojo's stands situation. In Jojo, your stand is a manifestation of your soul and can develop alongside you. Ruby, girl, NEVER SPLIT THE PARTY. Ruby, girl, you have SUPER SPEED. HOW HAVE YOU NOT TRAINED YOURSELF TO ACTIVATE IT WHEN SHIT LIKE THAT HAPPENS TO YOU. Ruby, girl: you. have. SUPER. SPEED. RUN AWAY. I know he says he's stupid but he really kind of is. Wouldn't 'underground city' be the first place you look at when looking for crime organizations?

On the Bees: Uh… yang calls out to Blake first? Sure, let's go with that.

Ep 11: RUBY GIRL YOU HAVE S U P E R S P E E D RUN AWAY FUCKING HELL YOU'RE NOT EVEN TIED YOU JUST WOKE UP SO YOU CAN'T BE SPENT Jesus, FUCKING FINALLY WHY EVEN TRY TO FIGHT IF YOU'RE THIS USELESS. Which makes no sense, tbw. Crescent Rose, even if it was built with ultralight metals, would still require strenght to use just based on the recoil those shots have and the balance of the whole thing. Ruby should pack a punch. Anyways giving your MC super speed in any capacity is a problem because of shit like this. Superspeed is the most powerful of the 'basic' superpowers (That is: Strenght, Flight, Speed and Endurance. Most stories with superpowers include these 4 in some capacity and speed tends to be the most limited one). I like the bombs moment. It's pretty funny. See what I mean? Ruby shooting herself like that means her arms must take the recoil! Even if we take Aura into account this girl should be at least decently strong. I… could do without the dog moment. Like… it's just more offputting than anything else. Ooblek does take another paladin by himself, which is nice to see, in the 'oh yeah he's a step above the MCs' way. Why does Weiss suddenly give Blake the dust bullets? Why not before? Why not… idk, talk to her about it? Why even make them? Did Weiss ask for them? If so, again, why not give them to her before? I mean I know the answer is probably 'Monty fight scene had this thing and writers had to scramble to fill in the gap' but still. Why does Yang have that moment with Neo? They've only had that one 'interaction' which wasn't particularly personal before. See? The WF leader(?) here makes some sense. We know the Schnees have beef with the Faunus and the White Fang (That being, they're slaver pieces of shit and all that). And, uh, Blake against Roman is… I get what they're going for, but… Idk, I feel Ruby and Roman would've felt more natural. Given they do have that in V3 so I'll let it pass. Man, I love Roman so much. Have I said that before? The biggest crime in early RWBY is not giving him enough screentime, really. I love the theory that he doesn't even have Aura unlocked, since he's clearly not the best fighter out there, man's just very skilled at doing his job. Which doesn't often involve fighting wannabe hunter teenagers. It's why he's basically knocked out after so few blows. Weiss should do the 'haste' glyph thing a lot more often really. Action economy, girl! Everyone knows it's the key to win! I wish Neo had more of a… thing. Like, in general. Her fight against Yang is great, but how the hell did she get that skilled? Why's she working for Roman? Why does she care for Roman so much that she later becomes obsessed with killing Ruby so hard that when she thinks she's done she loses all purpose in life? Not really sure how to feel abotu Raven here. At least we got the Yang backstory to even explain there's something going on there but it feels so… random. And why is Neo so scared? What does she know? Why would she know it? SHE HAS NO BACKSTORY And THIS is why you want your general population with their fucking Aura unlocked!

On the Bees: Man the second Dual Destinies turnabout is kind of a chore so far. Like, I figured pretty much everything by the middle of the first day and I still got another day of investigation and trial to go through? I think the case could be improved considerably by just not showing the face of the killer. I know it's ace attorney tradition to show you the first couple of killers, but still. I like Simon well enough I guess. What happened to Gavin? I don't remember him being fired at the end of AJ.

Ep 12: Jaune taking command, nice. Was that foreshadowing for Ren's backstory? Honestly, not a huge fan of this fight. It's supposed to be super big in scale but I guess the budget didn't allow it? It also feels like it kinda lacks momentum. Also didn't we just spend like 3 episodes exploring Ruby doesn't have physical strength? Why's she kicking the Grimm like that? Don't get me wrong, this makes more sense, I'm just confused. I know it's a common complaint that team Coffee shows up here to steal the show for a bit, since they barely get any screentime ever. It's a fine complaint, understandable. I… actually kinda like it. Also ONE OF THE GUYS IS HOLDING OATHBRINGER. WHAT'S HIS NAME. GREEN GUY. Based. I feel like we should have seen a few adult hunters showing up, though. Non-teachers I mean. Huh. Ironwood did always have his sinister authoritarian vibes. I like that. I still love roman. And that ending dream thing huh. I'm sure the eventual meeting of these two will be totally worth it.

On the bees: Did you know I have written more Ami/Minori (from toradora) than the rest of the internet combined? Irrelevant to RWBY I just wanted to let you know.

For an extra this volume: I watched some of the shorts! I think these were the ones around by V2? Or maybe up to V3? Idk.

WoR "Dust": I assume V6 retroactively kind of explains Dust as the literal dust old humanity was turned into? Which is why it can interact with Aura? Very fucked up, but I like it. I'm on the fence on whether I think they had the creation myth figured by this point or not, but I do think they probably had the rough draft for it. Anyways this short doesn't really add much? It explains the 4 basic types and that you can mix them to make new ones, but everything else we probably could've figured ourselves.

WoR "Kingdoms": Ok so, Vacuo and Vale share a continent, while the other two are in split continets. Just taking note for later, not sure how relevant it becomes. In a worldbuilding sense, I don't think it's very reasonable to actually believe small towns could ever be built outside of big cities protected by natural barriers. Most people are clearly useless in a fight against Grimm, and honestly, just leaving the city shoudl be more than enough nervousness and doubt to attract hordes of them.

WoR "Grimm": Not much to say here, other than just generally wondering why Salem wouldn't just wipe out humanity herself sans a small amount of people who she could pin as Oz and the maidens. And don't say she couldn't have: If she can create that giant whale thing she could've done so a couple thousand years ago when technology wasn't so advanced. If you told me she was purposefully playing this game with Ozma, trying to keep it somewhat fair, I'd understand, but she clearly isn't. Oh well.

Anyways, I think I enjoyed this volume more than the last! Which is weird, I think people consider this to be the weakest of the first three. Idk, despite everything, I found the overall pacing to be slightly better, and we get some deeper info on our characters which is always appreciated. Not much else to say in general, but hey. Also yes, it's still a mess.

Also I'm fairly certain Pyrrha still not passing the bechdel test.

Also, if by any chance you're reading this, Crimson: 1) Why. Why do that to yourself. 2) Last volume you kept flipping your shit at me shipping whiterose and such (and other stuff but idrc about that). You seem to be unaware of the concept of chemistry. Ruby and Weiss are shippable because they have chemistry. Ruby and Penny are shippable because they have chemistry. Actually, all the characters I mentioned as potentially shippable displayed fair amounts of chemistry. And that's always my main concern with bumblebee. Sorry, but "vibing" while not interacting is very much NOT chemistry. It's kind of the opposite. Right now, with the information these two volumes have offered, I could write a lot of dynamics with a certain amount of ease. Bumblebee… not so much, because their interactions are still blank fucking slates. And I'm sorry to say this, but no, emptiness isn't 'complexity' or 'depth'. The only complex thing here is the fucking mental gymnastics you're doing to justify not only every bumblebee moment but also the show's writing as if it was flawless and perfect lmao.

Team Earthquake, led by former National Triathlon champion, Jason Gooding, led his team to a convincing win of the Alamo “Drive Happy” Tag team triathlon at Las Cuevas on Sunday 17th November, 2013.

The four-member mixed team which included Tamiko Butler of Antigua, Christiane Farah (Neal & Massy Rainbow Cup Sprint champion), and James Amow, won the 4 X (200m swim, 5km bike and 1km run on the beach) in a time of 1:24:05. Their total ages amounted to 102 years.

Giving Earthquake some stiff competition in the early part of the race was Fasttrack consisting of youngsters Jordan Van Reeken, Christian Gillette (Barbados Sprint Tri Champion), Lilly Stauble and Sebastian Bos, whose total age is just 57 years. They placed second in the Overall but won the Junior category in 1:24:35.

“This is the future of this sport,” said former TTTF president Ian Gooding. “And there are even a few more right behind them. Triathlon has a great future in this country.” Taking third Open spot was RWTC’s team Teamours, consisting to Nicola de Pass, Scott Marchack, Laura Kalef and former national triathlon champion Ancil Greene. Their total age was 101 years. Time was 1:46:08.

Team Hope “Young Stars”, the oldest team in race with a total age of 175, placed fourth in a time of 1:46:08. Their members included Cindy Xavier, Derek Daniel, Diane Henderson (former triathlon champion) and Stephen Welch.

Twenty-five teams, made up of two females and two males each, took part in the race.

Vans Era 48