Quick thoughts on the vol 3 DVD commentary summary.

- A lot of the commentary for the early eps makes RWBY sound poorly planned as a show. What was Cinder’s original plan? Was there one? How do you suddenly shoehorn the maidens, a major plot point, into the show without fully considering its impact on all other aspects of the RWBYverse and the way powers work in it? What does it have to do with silver eyes, if at all? Was the original plan to focus more on the silver eyed folk?

- Until vol 3, no pre-production and storyboarding was not done for every scene, nor was director at each mocap session. Wow. 

- I’m actually glad they scrapped the alternate ending to the NDGO/SSSN fight. That outcome would’ve been terrible. 

- Alas for the Pyrrha/Nora vs Sun/Neptune fight. Wonder if that could make it into an extended edition.

- They really love Qrow and think he’s a great character. I foresee being salty in vol 4. Just when they made Jaune decent tsk.

- They’re trying to make the manga’s canon stay canon. Hopefully that remains true because manga Weiss is awesome.

- Kind of want to see more about Mercury now but at the same time I’d rather they spent more time developing Ruby first. 

| perma ⇒ (Apr-14-2016) | Notes: 18 | filed under: rwdevol 3musings

Warning. Spoilers for The 100 below

So for the first time, I’ve decided to stop watching a show because they killed off a character.

And not just because I shipped the character. I can get over characters I like - even those in my favourite ship - dying when it’s done well. I still watch GoT, and I’m still following Reign despite Francis’ death.

It wasn’t the death that bothered me, it was how it was done and what it told me about how the show handles minority representation in general.

Keep reading

| perma ⇒ (Mar-04-2016) | Notes: 30 | filed under: the 100clexalong postmusings

What I loved about RWBY Volume 3

- Drastically improved writing. Plot development! Background! World building! Cinder did have a plan™! 

- Weiss development, Winter turning out to be a loving big sis

- Holy shit give Yang a break 2k16 but my god all that drama

- Heavy Monos moments, Freezerburn, Bees almost confirmed. Yes kids, it is possible to enjoy different ships without being rude. 

- NDGO NDGO NDGO

- Velvet’s semblance reveal

- Improved Jaune, with a reasonable amount of screentime.

- No Jaune arc! Our girls actually got time to develop!

- The animation. Gr8 job considering the circumstances. 

On the fence

- The CFVY and SSSN fights

- Neptune

- Pyrrha. I loved what they did with her but alas, that ending

- Salem. Cool, big villain behind Cinder but omfg more questions with questions. Please give her a proper motivation and not just “females are evil for the sake of it”

- The set up to have Ruby run off with JNR in vol 4 instead of oh I don’t know, HER OWN TEAM??? Or even just making sure Yang’s ok first considering she’s feeling abandoned by Blake rn. 

What I hope they light on fire and forget it ever existed

- Anything to do with canon Qrow. I really wanted to like him but wtf happened man.

- Any intention to focus on Ruby and Jaune’s adventures instead of bouncing POVs to bring the four mains back together. 

| perma ⇒ (Feb-14-2016) | Notes: 68 | filed under: rwbyrwby3rwby spoilersmusings

Crack Theory Sunday: Will Yang be the new Adam?

The more I think about it, the more I think Adam saying he will “destroy” everything Blake loves was intentional. Destroy, not kill.

Yang was presenting a hugeass target throwing herself at him like that, and the precision his fighting style implies, he could very easily have killed Yang, but he chose to maim instead.

I believe he wasn’t going for the kill, he was looking to destroy Yang for Blake. In the process, he would show her that her choice to turn away from him and his ideology was a huge mistake.

Keep reading

| perma ⇒ (Feb-07-2016) | Notes: 31 | filed under: rwbyrwby3yang xiao longblake belladonnaadam taurusmusingsrwby spoilers

As much as the Clexa proposal scene (yes yes it was Lexa swearing personal fealty to Clarke tomato tomatoe) slayed me, the fact that all the ambassadors were with the Ice Queen at the end of the ep makes me fear for Lexa’s continued survival in Season 3. Especially since Clarke’s existence as Wanheda is now seen as a sign of Lexa’s weakness.

That said, if the commander is chosen through the previous’ spirit choosing the next, might it be a set up to have Clarke be chosen by the end of the season? The term “reincarnation” was Clarke’s attempt to understand the concept after all, it wasn’t exactly confirmed.

Although if Lexa dies the writers had better hope reincarnation is a thing because there will be BLOOD. 

| perma ⇒ (Feb-05-2016) | Notes: 12 | filed under: the 100spoilersclarkelexamusingsI really hope not thoi love theclexaso much

overachieversloth:

npc016:

overachieversloth:

npc016:

*Underaged student goes after dangerous robber*

Ozpin: Glynda, go save the girl from these dangerous people while I get the cookies for her.

*Bad things are afoot in Vale*

Ozpin: Qrow, go find out then phone home.

*Team RWBY fucks up the dining hall*

Ozpin: Glynda, clean this up while I play the cool headmaster.

*Team RWBY tries to take on a mission too advanced for their year*

Ozpin: Ok here’s an override so you can go to the Grimm-infested area. Oobleck, you make sure they come back alive. I’ll be here, sitting on my gear dick chair.

*Qrow and Winter tears up shit in the courtyard*

Ozpin: Glynda, clean this mess up.

*Grimm invades Vale*

Ozpin: James, use your army ffs. I’m uh, not doing anything. Pyrrha is. 

Ozpin is like that nightmare boss who can’t really do anything but give vague directions, then somehow ends up getting the credit for the successes his people pull off in spite of him. 

Oh my god NPC, Ozpin is the pointy-haired-boss from Dilbert.

Considering the character he’s based on had the initials “OZPINHEAD”, probably more literally true than you’d think.

Okay, but who is writing the wbry crack theory on this.

Uh it’d basically be:

Ozpin is based on the Wizard of Oz

The original Oz wasn’t actually a wizard, he was just a travelling salesman who was good at making mechanical shit which fooled the magical residents into believing he had great powers.

Therefore going with the running theme, Ozpin is essentially the leadership equivalent of a snake oil salesman - his reputation far exceeds his actual abilities. 

Do you really want the full crack theory on this lol.

*Underaged student goes after dangerous robber*

Ozpin: Glynda, go save the girl from these dangerous people while I get the cookies for her.

*Bad things are afoot in Vale*

Ozpin: Qrow, go find out then phone home.

*Team RWBY fucks up the dining hall*

Ozpin: Glynda, clean this up while I play the cool headmaster.

*Team RWBY tries to take on a mission too advanced for their year*

Ozpin: Ok here’s an override so you can go to the Grimm-infested area. Oobleck, you make sure they come back alive. I’ll be here, sitting on my gear dick chair.

*Qrow and Winter tears up shit in the courtyard*

Ozpin: Glynda, clean this mess up.

*Grimm invades Vale*

Ozpin: James, use your army ffs. I’m uh, not doing anything. Pyrrha is. 

Ozpin is like that nightmare boss who can’t really do anything but give vague directions, then somehow ends up getting the credit for the successes his people pull off in spite of him. 

closetofheroes:

npc016:

Watching The Abominable Bride is like watching someone trying to protest that he’s not a male chauvinist by mansplaining feminism badly.

- Suffragettes dressed in KKK-style hoods murdering abusive husbands in vengeance. 

- Depicting said suffragettes as part of a shadowy secret society, as though all feminists are in dark conspiracy with each other to bring down men. Which, I might add, isn’t the point of feminism at all?

- Framing feminism as “one half of the human race at war with the other”. Sure, Sherlock and Mycroft say it’s a war they must lose, but the militancy and petty vengeance isn’t helping the cause. Quite the opposite.

I don’t think Mofatt is sexist or a misogynist, but I do think he’s another example of a male writer with a blind spot when it comes to the treatment of women in his stories. 

Sherlock is a crime series starring two men, and I go into it without any expectation of them pushing messages of female empowerment, although strong females are always a fantastic bonus. 

As long as the mysteries stay engaging and the treatment of women isn’t deliberately misogynistic (because let’s face it, a lot of current media can be construed as sexist and/or misogynistic if we look for it), that’s good enough for me. Please leave the feminism to a writer better suited to portraying those issues onscreen, Mofatt.

I agree completely. In a show that revolves around a brilliant egotistical male and his male best friend, I’m not looking for the greatest female characters ever, and I don’t even need those who are there to be particularly strong - all I ask is that they be realistic and not just eye candy or pieces of cardboard. If you’re going to start making statements about female characterization, do your research first, rather than throwing out a few clumsy statements in that hope that’ll stop people from complaining. I disliked this in particular: 

“I’m taking Mary home.”

“What?”

“Mary’s taking me home.”

“Better.”

This to me is terrible, because it suggests that feminism is an insistence that men ‘let women win’ and take a subservient role. No-one’s asking men to do that, and I really hope by now there isn’t still the idea every relationship requires one party to always be in control of the other.

Thank you! You put your finger on what made me cringe at that interaction. Feminism is much more than women making petty power plays over perceived verbal slights. 

To me, it’s another indicator that the writer has no idea of what a truly strong female in a relationship is like. Perhaps I’m generalising, but it seems to be a typical male chauvinist mindset that for someone to “win”, the other party must “lose” rather than working toward true parity. 

I know I said I don’t believe Mofatt is consciously sexist but I have to wonder, given the amount of feminist stereotypes in this episode, whether he was actually going for a parody of feminism rather than trying to espouse the actual thing. 

| perma ⇒ (Feb-02-2016) | Notes: 25 | filed under: sherlockmusings

Watching The Abominable Bride is like watching someone trying to protest that he’s not a male chauvinist by mansplaining feminism badly.

- Suffragettes dressed in KKK-style hoods murdering abusive husbands in vengeance. 

- Depicting said suffragettes as part of a shadowy secret society, as though all feminists are in dark conspiracy with each other to bring down men. Which, I might add, isn’t the point of feminism at all?

- Framing feminism as “one half of the human race at war with the other”. Sure, Sherlock and Mycroft say it’s a war they must lose, but the militancy and petty vengeance isn’t helping the cause. Quite the opposite.

I don’t think Mofatt is sexist or a misogynist, but I do think he’s another example of a male writer with a blind spot when it comes to the treatment of women in his stories. 

Sherlock is a crime series starring two men, and I go into it without any expectation of them pushing messages of female empowerment, although strong females are always a fantastic bonus. 

As long as the mysteries stay engaging and the treatment of women isn’t deliberately misogynistic (because let’s face it, a lot of current media can be construed as sexist and/or misogynistic if we look for it), that’s good enough for me. Please leave the feminism to a writer better suited to portraying those issues onscreen, Mofatt.

| perma ⇒ (Jan-26-2016) | Notes: 25 | filed under: sherlockthe abominable bridemusings

a-bag-of-dice asked: The problem is it wasn't a decent motivation. She is just scaring people so she can make it easier to get what she really wants - Amber. This has nothing to do with 'nations and wars' this is a plan to finish getting godlike powers.

Power is like money. You don’t actually want the money for money’s sake, you want what money can get you. People want power so they can do something they couldn’t without it. 

I’ve written previously about the (arguably) chauvinistic coding in the way the show has set up the system for transfer of the Maidens’ powers. Cinder’s speech points out something similar. Not the chauvinism, but the fact that a few men in a secret organisation controls the world’s important institutions with little accountability.

Regardless of any gender issues, that’s rarely a good thing. So while I’m sure Cinder wants the power, I think her speech contains some of her internal justifications for doing what she does.

Also, personally I do hope that Cinder has a more complex motivation than “MOAR POWER”. I don’t really have high standards for RWBY’s writing but vol 3′s improvement has surprised me.

It would be disappointing to me if her sole motivation was just power, because it means the show has a cardboard villain, and if anything vol 3 has shown the writers are capable of better.

| perma ⇒ (Jan-16-2016) | Notes: 10 | filed under: rwbyrwby3musingsa-bag-of-dice

I keep thinking about how Weiss showed such a huge amount of faith in Yang when so much of her characterisation indicates that Weiss would be the voice of disbelief. Especially since she saw Yang break Mercury’s leg like everyone else.

After all, unlike Blake, Weiss hasn’t been shown to have a lot of development with Yang. Most of their interactions have actually been sort of antagonistic. 

Yang yelling at Weiss for yelling at Ruby.

Yang arguing with Weiss over prom prep.

Yang calling Weiss “Ice Queen” for not giving boys a chance. 

Their sole one-on-one conversation revolved around Yang telling Weiss to ease up on Blake rather than them getting to know each other better.

Weiss has major trust issues because of how people treat her due to her family name. She also tends to judge quickly based on what she sees, changing her mind only when shown new facts or perspectives. (vol 1 with Ruby and then with the Faunus)

Then Weiss goes and throws herself on a geyser to save Yang and is the first to declare her belief in Yang despite what she saw with her own eyes.

Which, considering everything I’ve just said, means only one thing to me.

Weiss is secretly in love with Yang. 

Confirmed. 

| perma ⇒ (Jan-15-2016) | Notes: 105 | filed under: rwbyfreezerburnweiss schneeyang xiao longmusingsTHIS IS A JOKE

bisexualowain asked: Do you think it's possible that Summer thought of both Ruby and Yang as she was dying? Ruby for obvious reasons and Yang because now this means Yang has lost two mother figures, and it made the Summer maiden powers go wonky because there wasn't a clear cut answer? (I'm super in it for the Gay Moms ride but this is another alternative I see). The Brotherhood of Dick(bag)s says the power was never split before, admittedly, but I´m not too sure of how reliable they'd be.

Heh I think a maiden thinking of several people may have happened several times, I’m sure Summer wasn’t the only Maiden with several children, although the power would then just choose one candidate. Won’t say it’s not a possibility, but on this I’d take the word of Team Garbage Old Men that there has been no precedent on a split.

It might mean that Ruby isn’t the only possible candidate for Summer Maiden though, and Raven might be fucking around with Yang because of it.

Cinder didn’t have to choose Yang, any of the other candidates could’ve broken Merc’s leg and gotten the same effect. If Raven and Cinder are connected, I think Raven either has plans for Yang or is trying to make her stay out of whatever’s coming. 

And all this presumes Summer was a Maiden, which the show hints at but has never been 100% confirmed. What if she wasn’t? 

| perma ⇒ (Jan-12-2016) | Notes: 12 | filed under: rwbysummer roseruby roseyang xiao longraven branwenmusingsjackjerripher

Looking at the tags on my posts about Jaune this volume and sigh. 

Just because Jaune is much more likeable in vol 3 doesn’t necessarily mean there should be MORE Jaune development. He’s doing just fine with his limited screen time this volume. That is very much part of the improvement.

As it is, he’s shown more positive development as a character this volume than the whole of volume 2. He’s no longer totally useless in combat, he’s showing good leadership skills in the way he handles his team on and off the field (more so than Ruby in some aspects). He has some modicum of self-awareness. 

He’s also still a B-character that’s been given far too much prominence vs the main characters. He really needs to stay in the background at this point while everything else develops.

The only B-character that should take up any significant screen time at this point is Pyrrha since she likely has an important part to play in the near future. The only reason for Jaune to show up is to support her story, not impose his perspective on it. 

I’m reserving my judgement on whether vol 3 will change my mind about Jaune until after the entire volume has aired, but no matter what IMO, he’s taken up enough screentime to last till volume 5 at least. 

Crack Theory Sunday: Raven, the Bigger Bad?

Cinder’s use of the red and black portal in the fight against Amber may have shown us a connection between her and Raven, who has used a similar looking portal in Vol 2.

With Qrow telling Yang in the latest episode that Raven is a dangerous person with a view of the world he doesn’t agree with, the show is likely telling us not to expect her to be on the side of the angels.

So how might she be connected to Cinder, and might she be the real mastermind behind what’s happening?

Keep reading

| perma ⇒ (Jan-10-2016) | Notes: 130 | filed under: rwbyrwby3cinder fallraven branwenyang xiao longmusingslong postcrack theory sunday

I kind of wonder why Hank/J'onn J'onzz keeps saying he’s vowed to look after Jeremiah’s daughter. Singular, not plural. He also calls Jeremiah “Alex’s father”, not “your father”, as in for both women. 

It’s interesting to me that despite Kara being Jeremiah’s foster daughter, Hank doesn’t seem to include her in his definition of Jeremiah’s family. It might make for some drama down the road if there’s ever a situation where he has to choose between helping Alex or Kara. 

| perma ⇒ (Jan-08-2016) | Notes: 1 | filed under: supergirlmartian manhunterkaraalex danversmusings