I like how he has a full sleeve of armor but only on one arm, again like they thing that's practical and wouldn't severely throw off balance. My guess is they needed to fully redesign Jaune because otherwise some of them would explode from the rage they feel simply thinking about him.
RWBY - The Hindenburg on which Rooster Teeth rests its hopes, dreams and future
- Thread starter Fougaro
- Start date
Random Internet Person
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2019
Man, the show really poisioned the well in terms of Jaune, didn't it?
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2019
Believe me, my inner medieval history nerd is having a stroke especially over the poor excuse of a gambeson and the haphazard displacement of armor. Rule of cool and suspension of disbelief could only get you so far in writing.
Knowing the mongoloids in that server and their ineptitude to deal with things maturely, I can't help but to
hard, that they literally cope and seethe towards anything that is remotely related to Miles Luna. He's living rent free inside their heads and he doesn't even put any effort at it.- Joined
- Aug 2, 2021
I honestly hate Jaunes design the most. That outfit just clashes so heavily.
I would expect that to be on a rouge-like character. It's good for quick movements, and daring manuevers, but that's not Jaune. I second Decepticon. Jaune really ought to be in heavy plate if he has to be armored at all. That helmet looks ugly as fuck.
Give me a bit, and I'll have the next bit of analysis out.
I would expect that to be on a rouge-like character. It's good for quick movements, and daring manuevers, but that's not Jaune. I second Decepticon. Jaune really ought to be in heavy plate if he has to be armored at all. That helmet looks ugly as fuck.
Give me a bit, and I'll have the next bit of analysis out.
Random Internet Person
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2019
Something Monty and CRWBY seemingly could never get a grasp on.
Meanwhile, some of Miles' mistakes is being repeated with Roman Torchwick apparently.Knowing the mongoloids in that server and their ineptitude to deal with things maturely, I can't help but to
I know Floof and a couple others enjoy fantasizing about Jaune being tortured and murdered. Jaune is definitely a terribly-written character, but that kind of venom is incredibly off-putting and just weird. Jaune as a person is fine. I've had characters I hate too, ones that are terrible people as well, but I've never sat around daydreaming about them being tortured. They claim it's fine because Jaune is fictional, but I honestly think that's much stranger than violent fantasies about a real person. If you have a horribly abusive boss or a politician passed a harmful law, that's a real source of stress in your life. It would be perfectly understandable to have intrusive thoughts like that, as long as they aren't acted on of course. A fictional character cannot hurt you. Even Jaune.Knowing the mongoloids in that server and their ineptitude to deal with things maturely, I can't help but to
He who fights monsters...
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2019
I don't know whether to find this tidbit sad or hilarious, either way, it just further solidifies my previous statements about Floof needing therapy, and Miles living rent-free inside the fractured minds of those actively involved in making FRWBY.
Mega Black
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2022
I hate Jaune and wish he'd never been included but the autistic seethe that a lot of the anti-RWBY sphere holds is unsettling to say the least. Floof in particular seemed to have a real case of it, endlessly stewing over being clowned on by Barbara that one time. His hate is more directed at BMBLBY as a result, but still. Those negative heads paces can't be good for you.
- Joined
- Aug 2, 2021
Your TLDR for this is that episode two is meh. Thoroughly and resoundingly ‘meh’. There’s nothing terribly wrong with it, it needs some polish, but it’s not a trainwreck like episodes one.
I have some minor nitpicks with Celtic’s worldbuilding, something is off about Qrow’s characterization, but nothing is really mangled.
But the end… The end of this episode leaves me with questions. Questions I wanted answered. Questions like “Why the fuck is Roman dragging Qrow home?” and “WHY THE FUCK IS ROMAN DRAGGING QROW HOME”. Questions I expected to be answered in the next episodes.
So I did that one too. And Celtic, thinking I’m intrigued, doesn’t answer them in the next episode, which really is an error on his part because I’m not intrigued, I’m confused, and confused audiences are audiences that stop watching.
Episode three however, I have a bone to pick with Celtic, who has, once again, managed to fail to meet my already rock bottom expectations, because the man has a pickaxe and, by god, he is going to use it to make a tunnel to china.
It’s meh. I actually liked some of the worldbuilding here, and the aesthetics of our suspiciously hawaiian sounding city, but Celtic decided to showcase his utter incomprehension of basic tone.
Minor nitpick; Commedy in a scene that could be emotionally powerful.
MAJOR RAGE BAIT, titling the episode “Watergate”, and then just blue balling the audience. Forget the audiences reaction, -I- want to pick up a pitchfork and murder Celtic (in minecraft of course, go away glowniggers,) for this. I thought he was being as subtle as the invasion of Moscow, he wasn’t. Instead, he was larping as Hitler while the man planned a Landwar in Asia with winter coming.
I hate him. Just hate him.
EPISODE TWO
Aight. Initial impressions.
The city;
All things considered, I don’t actually mind the city. Sure, the logistics of this; “
Aren’t exactly kosher for a realistic story, but whimsy is something easy enough to account for, and narrative wise, this isn’t a bad setup.
However, that impression quickly sours the second Celtic reminds me of something; the grim. Vale has fallen, or at least Beacon has, and Leo says this;
“Mistral has been in a state of disarray since the Fall of Beacon, with initial panic in the streets bringing a significant number of Grimm to the city’s border.”
Considering the description of the mountain, it’s imperative to understand why it was settled despite it’s inhospitality. City locations are chosen for reasons. Proximity to water, traderoutes, etc, etc. And all things considered, this location is horrible for one reason: logistics. It takes an awful lot to move supplies and gear around. Mountains make that exceptionally difficult, especially in pre-modern times, which, considering the stone aqueducts, this is. Which means that the only real reason this city was founded where it was would be tactical reasons.
The high ground.
So, Mr Celtic, who is writing in a world where the grim attack on a regluar basis, where are my fortifications and weapon emplacements? For fucks sake, you could not pick a better place for artillery emplacements of -any- kind.
Even if Minstral stopped doing stuff like that because they become modern and -enlightened-, bare minimum, I expect to see old stone forts at the base of the city.
Otherwise, the location of the city (Surrounded by swamp and wetlands, horrible for commerce, but ideal for military defence, on a mountain, same reason as before) make absolutely no sense.
Moving on.
Lionheart indicates that war between Minstral and Atlas is a possibility due to a dust embargo.
I don’t actually mind this. It’s stupid considering the circumstances, but history has parallels, namely the japanese attacking Pearl Harbor due to US oil embargos.
Scene cuts to black after Torchwick takes Qrow home. Honestly, it’s more of a flat “what” moment, leaving me with an awful lot of questions, but I still have some time, so I’ll do the next chapter and see if they get answered to my satisfaction.
Episode three, titled “Watergate”
Already, I am cringing at the title because, good lord, that title has so many political implications attached to it. I have no doubt that by the end of the episode, my reaction is going to be “well, that wasn’t subtle at all, was it?”
There’s some stuff about Wiess, but nothing of note on a technical level.
Then we get to Blake is in a flooding city, in ankle deep water, and there are soldiers making sandbags, gun turrets, and grim.
I quote; “Blake finishes off all but two of the Beowulves, using Gambol shroud to escape up the side of the wall, while flood waters sweep the two grimm away, with comical little ‘arf’ sounds as they flow downstream.”
I am slowly coming to the conclusion that Celtic has no idea what tone is, and why it’s important. Or comedy for that matter.
Any tension this scene might have had, the emotional impact of the very real suffering of the people of “Kuo Kuana”, anything real, and emotionally powerful, has been traded for a joke that falls flat at best, and is actively irritating at most.
Celtic had a decent setup, and the ‘comical’ barking makes me go from Mele Kalikimaka to Wedu Nagivafaka.
On to the next thing of technical note.
“In front of her is Trifa, who gives Blake an absent stare. Blake slams her hands on the table and orders a change of prisoner. Trifa gives Blake a smirk before we cut to Yuma being brought into the room. He obnoxiously ask to see his lawyer, smug grin on his face the whole time. Blake says that he’s a terrorist; he doesn’t get a lawyer. He leans back in his chair and asks if that means she wouldn’t get a lawyer either? Blake twitches at the barb, and he continues saying they still haven’t read him his rights, so they have to let him go by law, right? Don’t want your citizenry getting mad at prolonged detainment, do you? Biting her tongue, she orders him away and calls for Corsac. However, when Corsac is led to the doorway, Blake takes one glance at the wild look in his eyes and orders him back in his cell, saying that she wants to see Ilia instead.”
The important thing to note here is the worldbuilding aspects of it.
I get that Remant isn’t a bad place, but it’s not a -good- place either. The circumstances are radically different, and yet I get the feeling Celtic is not asking what makes sense for remnant, and is instead lifting things wholesale from earth cultures, and then proceeding to do it in the most retarded fashion possible.
This bit here; Blake says that he’s a terrorist; he doesn’t get a lawyer. It implies the citizens have a right to lawyers. I can believe that, if the society is quite free. However, there are a few problems with that.
The fall of Beacon, (and maybe Vale.) A recent grim attack. Grim in general.
Combine that with this; “Don’t want your citizenry getting mad at prolonged detainment, do you? “
It tells me that Celtic is drawing from a western liberal democracy framework, one likely with a bill of rights. That’s enlightened as fuck for -Remnant-, and clashes like hell, but whatever, don’t really care because it doesn’t matter.
The city should be under martial law at that point. Which means, in order of importance; near total military control, military laws apply, and due process is suspended.
These people shouldn’t have rights, but what the hell do I know?
Bla- bla- bla-, Blake sympathizes with a known member of a terrorist organization, sure why not? Ghira tells the council to get fucked, okay, sure, casts some doubt on the ‘western liberal frame work’, but okay.
“The scene goes dark, and the episode ends.”
Excuse me Celtic, but what the fuck?!
He titled the episode WATERGATE! FUCKING. WATERGATE. This is a rewrite, it’s meant to be a script. Presumably, that means that he intends to show the audience the title, because that’s what TV shows do for their episodes.
This whigger is going to show his audience “Episode three; Watergate”, priming them for political scandals, and then just blueball them for no good reason.
At -best-, you can say that Ghira has just committed a coup. At best. Watergate had -nothing- to do with usurping power. Nothing.
Trying to explain this is like trying to explain to a dumb, retarded puppy why breathing is important, and how it can be done. Some things are so basic that a child could understand them, and then you have this whigger who, contrary to my expectation, isn’t being the most unsubtle foreshadower I’ve ever seen. Nope. He’s just retarded.
I’m going to break this down for the uninitiated.
This is called priming. It’s an element of foreshadowing. By indicating that the upcoming episode has to do with major political scandal, Celtic made an unspoken promise with the audience, promising them political scandal. The audience is then anticipating said political scandal, they are ready for it. Then Celtic never delivers, instead giving them three different viewpoints that are probably on entirely different continents, an interrogation that utterly fails to deliver, and Ghira telling the council “no.”
The end. That’s it.
This is called breaking a promise with your audience. I do it all the time, but you better have a damn good reason for it, because the consequences of this is your audience getting (rightly) peeved at you when you fail to deliver something worthwhile.
I started this little project of mine with an opinion that was already at rock bottom, but each knew episode shows me that Celtic has a pickaxe, and by god, he’s ready to -dig-.
I have some minor nitpicks with Celtic’s worldbuilding, something is off about Qrow’s characterization, but nothing is really mangled.
But the end… The end of this episode leaves me with questions. Questions I wanted answered. Questions like “Why the fuck is Roman dragging Qrow home?” and “WHY THE FUCK IS ROMAN DRAGGING QROW HOME”. Questions I expected to be answered in the next episodes.
So I did that one too. And Celtic, thinking I’m intrigued, doesn’t answer them in the next episode, which really is an error on his part because I’m not intrigued, I’m confused, and confused audiences are audiences that stop watching.
Episode three however, I have a bone to pick with Celtic, who has, once again, managed to fail to meet my already rock bottom expectations, because the man has a pickaxe and, by god, he is going to use it to make a tunnel to china.
It’s meh. I actually liked some of the worldbuilding here, and the aesthetics of our suspiciously hawaiian sounding city, but Celtic decided to showcase his utter incomprehension of basic tone.
Minor nitpick; Commedy in a scene that could be emotionally powerful.
MAJOR RAGE BAIT, titling the episode “Watergate”, and then just blue balling the audience. Forget the audiences reaction, -I- want to pick up a pitchfork and murder Celtic (in minecraft of course, go away glowniggers,) for this. I thought he was being as subtle as the invasion of Moscow, he wasn’t. Instead, he was larping as Hitler while the man planned a Landwar in Asia with winter coming.
I hate him. Just hate him.
EPISODE TWO
Episode 2 opens similar to how the original episode 1 does, with darkness and Nora excitedly demanding that everyone hurry up. The darkness eases up so we can see our heroes approaching the tunnel’s end. We can tell from the slouched poise and heavy bags under everyone’s eyes that they’re just now really getting out of bed for the day and they’re all exhausted. Jaune asks Nora to settle down, but Ruby yawns while waving him off; she’s just as excited to see the city proper as Nora, Nora just has the most energy of everyone. Ren adds, looking just as tired as Jaune, that Mistral is a wonderful sight, and he’s sure it’ll lift all of their spirits after having been stuck in a house for an entire day.
Qrow backs this up, from the literal back of the group, by saying the city’s a real sight to see. Ahead of them, Nora has already exited out on to the veranda and is calling them all forward. With a flourish of his arm, Qrow properly introduces the team to “The City of Mistral”. The group emerge onto a balcony overlooking the expansive interior of Mistral’s dual-mountain structure.
Buildings litter the mountainside, spreading vertically, horizontally, and every which way they can cram space. The top of the mountains are capped by a massive, bridge-like building that supports a number of structures, referred to as the ‘Chouchin’ by the characters, and though unseen here the Chouchin is topped by Haven Academy and the city’s CCT tower. Waterfalls cascade from the highest levels of the mountains and the Chouchin, spilling through the heart of the city. Shops and houses pocket the ridge, entire centers of commerce connected by bridges between the two mountainsides, all showered with the spray from the waterfalls. The water all trickles down to the bottom of city, where a mixture of urban sprawl and overgrown wetland have merged together into a veritable swamp where the walls of one building blur into the trees of the house next door. All of this is tethered together by a series of pipes that are well maintained near the top of the mountain, and deteriorate more and more as they descend into the urban swamp below, ending in crude stonework aqueducts that peek out from around the foliage and buildings.
Ruby and Jaune are in awe of the sight, while Qrow just lays his hand on Ruby’s head. Softest yet is the expression of Nora, who is sitting on the balcony’s ledge, admiring the view and holding Ren’s hand as they overlook the city. Qrow asks if it was worth the wait, and Jaune says that it’s nice, but it could have been worth even more of a weight, motioning to the fresh bandage around Qrow’s waist. Qrow waves them off, saying the poison’s almost completely out of his system, even motioning to his flask; “See this kid? All-in-one painkiller and disinfectant,” before taking a sip.
Jaune and Ruby look unamused, but Nora quickly pulls them out of their reprieve, eager to get up to the Chouchin; her and Ren have never had the chance to go all the way up there until now! As they enter one of the many glass elevators that pocket the mountain, Qrow tells her to temper her expectations till they’re done at Haven; seeing Lionheart is their first priority. With that, they board the elevator, and take off.
The elevator emerges on the top of the Chouchin, where Haven’s clean, aesthetically pleasing campus awaits the crew. Things are quiet, however, and the crew are unsettled, standing on edge until they arrive at Leo’s office. He’s actually just leaving it, staring at his watch in concern as he bumbles out the door and into Qrow. There’s a brief surprise for all parties, and RNJR even reach for their weapons, but no one draws them and no one falls on the ground; we’re keeping the slapstick to a minimum for now. Leo, dusting himself off from the run-in, apologizes, explaining that time got the better of him and he forgot to meet them out in the courtyard.
Qrow is quick to forgive it, though he’s steelier about the lack of people on campus, asking where all of the teachers and students are. Leo replies that they’re out on missions at current, all of them; it’d be easier to explain if everyone got situated in the office. So, the group crowd in and Leo begins to explain.
Mistral has been in a state of disarray since the Fall of Beacon, with initial panic in the streets bringing a significant number of Grimm to the city’s border. Those were repelled and order was somewhat restored, but the outward normality of everyday life hasn’t tamed the unease in the hearts of the people. Grimm attacks have been up and growing worse, to the point that the Council made the hard decision to nationalize the Huntsmen missions to better fend off the threat.
Ruby speaks up, asking if that’s why he pulled back support for the railway and couldn’t send them an airship. This is the first time we see Leo really hesitate to respond, a brief flash of guilt on his face before he says that yes; there was a particularly bad fight out at Kuchinashi that severely strained their resources. Sending a simple medivac when Qrow was injured was the best he could do even after that particular crisis had receded; the Grimm have been relentless.
Qrow pinches his nose and asks where the students are if that’s the case, and Leo explains that someone had to start taking care of the private huntsmen missions being put on the boards. Qrow slams his hands on the desk, asking what Leo means by that! Leo says that the pragmatic solution was to make the students to take on the everyday complaints so the people of Mistral aren’t suffering while the trained huntsmen are busy. It serves as a good learning experience about real Huntsmen work and solves a demand in the marketplace in one go.
Qrow is taken aback, saying that there are missions on those boards that students couldn’t possibly handle, hell there are criminals on those boards, the kids have no practical way to know what missions to take and not take! He’s thrown children to the wolves! Leo hardens his expression and stands, saying, “As much as I would love to go galivanting around the countryside, Qrow, I have an entire city to manage, half the population of which already hate my guts. Unlike you I can’t just shirk my position and lapse into unemployment, people are depending on my decisions to keep them safe, and if it means those who have pledged to protect our world make that sacrifice early, then so be it!”
Qrow raises his hands in the air and growls about how great the situation is; a school without any teachers or students, absolutely wonderful. Then who, he asks, is guarding the relic? Just little old retired Lionheart.
Leo takes indignance to that, puffing out his chest that he’s not too old he can’t fight! Besides, Ozpin’s idea of security is laughable; the vault already need the Spring maiden to open, everything else around that is just redundancy. And it isn’t just him, students are still frequently on campus, they’re just busier than normal; a quiet campus isn’t a deserted one. Qrow says that the redundancy is vital when Jaune finally asks what Lionheart is talking about.
Realizing the discussion had gotten far more heated than he’d intended, Lionheart straightens up and asks how much Qrow let them in on. Qrow says he hit the most important parts, and he’d have told them more if he hadn’t been, well, you know, motioning to the bandage at his waist. He turns to the kids and explains that only the maidens can open the vaults where the relics are stored. Pointedly, he turns to Leo and seethes that they’re supposed to be the last line of defense protecting the relics, but Lionheart stands strong against the glare. Leo continues that only the Spring maiden can open the Mistral vault, and she vanished years prior, running away from her duty a decade prior, but it’s clear she didn’t defect either or else they’d already have her kicking down the door.
“Which is why we have teachers to guard it, just in case,” Qrow grouses, crossing his arms. Before Lionheart can retort, though, he rolls his eyes. He brushes by his own point, sick of the argument, and says that he might actually know why that is. He had a chat with Raven before he linked up with the kids, and he’s pretty sure the maiden fled to the Branwen tribe.
Ruby steps in, asking “Yang’s… mom?”
“One and the same,” Qrow replies. With the kind of damage the tribe has been wrecking recently, most notably Shion, they have to have a maiden backing their plays, and Raven all but confirmed it when they talked. The only problem Qrow sees now is finding where the Branwen tribe is and ‘convincing’ the Maiden to rejoin the Yellow Brick Bunch. Fortunately for them, Qrow knows the tribes habits. Unfortunately for them, Raven knows he’s onto them and the usual haunts haven’t panned out from what he could see. He’s sure he can find them, but it’s going to take some digging.
After that it’s just a matter of scrounging up enough willing huntsmen to assist in case talking with Raven goes south and they’ll be golden. Leo’s not keen on that idea either, since Mistral needs every huntsmen it can get right now. Even if they get lucky and there’s a pocket of time where the Grimm are easier to deal with, there’s uneasy political tensions between Mistral and Atlas, what with the trade embargo going into effect. They won’t feel it immediately, but the squeeze on imported dust is going to make the people of Mistral quite distressed. There’s even talk of starting war with Atlas, to reopen the dust flow by right of conquest and to bolster the spirits of the populace once and for all behind a jingoistic cause.
Ren balks at the idea of open war, and Nora helpfully chimes that yeah that’s a bad idea; remember the last major war? Ended bad for everyone. Lionheart agrees, but Beacon’s fall and Vale’s absence from the political stage have made the international scene an absolute mess.
Qrow asks about any leads they have in the other direction; the infiltrators from Mistral during the Vytal Festival. Leo shakes his head. Cinder and Emerald were unknown quantities with clean transcripts coming in, and though Mercury’s father was a known assassin, the combat academies have seen their fair share of bad seeds turn good. But the fact that Cinder managed to worm her way onto the faculty without a problem contributed to his vote in the council nationalizing the huntsmen; his trust in his own subordinates had been shaken thoroughly. Regardless, their personal effects on campus have already been searched and nothing of use could be found; it’s as if they vanished into the wind.
At this rate, the best course of action would be to find the Spring Maiden and find a way to get her as far from Mistral as possible. Qrow sighs and says that they can start looking into where Raven and the gang might be, but he’s adamant that Leo start looking into bolstering the school with some kind of security. Leo promises to do what he can with his limited free time, but there’s only so much he can do at this rate and so few people anyone can trust. Qrow agrees that those seem like they’re in short supply before waving the kids out of the room. They give warm goodbyes to Leo, which only seems to make him feel more guilty. With the door closed, he collapses into his chair and Watt’s logo appears as a hologram over his desk, chiding him for his flimsy acting ability.
In the hall, RNJR discusses how they should go about investigating for clues to the Branwen camp location, and Qrow just tells them to leave it to him; the four of them have been through enough as is for the last few weeks, they deserve a little time off. When they ask what he’ll be doing, he just waves them off and says he’ll be “self-medicating” in a local dive. Ruby watches, concerned as he pulls away from them, towards the elevator. Jaune asks if he’s going to be okay, and Ruby says that she doesn’t know. Nora jumps between their shoulders and says he’ll be fine. Besides, hey, they have the house all to themselves until he gets home, and that means slumber party!
Jaune refuses since they’ve been backpacking for weeks together at this rate, and during this debate a curious pair of shoes come into focus further down the campus. The feet approach and call out to them and the camera lifts to show Arslan Altan, as well as Scarlet and Sage, all three of which look tired and bedraggled. While greetings with Scarlet and Sage are amenable, what with cracks about Sun taking off and well wishes that Neptune’s recovery is going well back on Patch. They’re also quick to explain they’re only popping onto campus between missions. They’ve been run ragged and this’ll be their only night in the whole month provided the schedule stays steady. They were just on their way from the dorms to the Onsen in the Chouchin’s mall when they ran into each other, and Sage recommends they check it out if they get the chance; it’s super relaxing.
Arslan’s greeting is quieter and reserve, looking on Jaune, Nora and Ren with some amounts of pity, sadness, and regret. Pyrrha’s death lingers heavily over the whole conversation. Arslan expresses regret that the last time they all worked together it wasn’t under better circumstances… and that they have to meet with just as unpleasant circumstances as well. Jaune agrees, but it’s nice to know team ABRN made it home safely. She just seems to nod through that concern, and finally asking if they know who did it. Surprisingly, Ruby butts in, answer with Cinder’s name, with Nora adding, confidently and with no small hints of rage that they’ll get the people responsible for what happened.
Arslan responds, half playfully, half seriously, only if she doesn’t get those people first; they took away her chance to rematch Pyrrha ever again, they better watch out for the real Mistrailian champion coming their way.
Before this could come off more as an insult towards Pyrrha, Ren and Nora, Scarlet rolls his eyes and grabs her by the elbow, telling her to tone down the machismo. He says that as much as he’d love to chat with the crew, they really needed to get going; the rest of ABRN were already at the hot springs and were probably waiting for them.
The groups say their goodbyes and hope they run into each other again soon, then ultimately part ways.
Nora caps the scene by bringing back up the idea of a slumber party as they get into the elevator. As the elevator descends, we far outpace it with the camera and transition to the slums of Mistral to a storefront called ‘The Chop Shop’ and the attached apartment building. Presumably a vehicle repair company, we quickly learn its serving as a front for a White Fang base… as well as a workshop for Watts, slaving on a scroll while seated at a workbench. He pulls up the soldering goggles to admire his work before speaking to a different, active scroll besides him. One the other end is Leo, who is asking if it’ll be hard to find the Branwen tribe.
Watts says that it’ll take some time no doubt, but Salem has reinforcements on their way to the city proper to do more on-the-ground work. Once they’re here he has faith they’ll be able to at the very least outpace Qrow and his children’s investigation, if only by a slim margin; it’s clear in his inflection he doesn’t have a high opinion of the reinforcements in question. When Leo then asks how the White Fang are doing, Watts replies they’re doing quite well by his understanding, and when he’s done with these modified scrolls they’ll be unstoppable. He lifts the scroll and activates it, checking it’s signal to make sure it’s strong before saying “Oh, I’m sure the city will be in for quite the surprise indeed.”
We transition through the glass screen and into the glass arboretum of the house RNJR is staying at, which from now on I’ll call the Oz House, because it’s the home Ozpin would use while in the city. This factoid will be brought up in incidental conversation, but I’m sick of referring to it as just ‘the house’.
Nora is towering over the rest of RNJR, proudly holding her game piece high and boasting about her victory. Ren comments that it’s only turn one and she’s quick to sush him before rolling the dice. Jaune replies that she’s won the last three games, no reason she won’t win this one, and Ruby is quick to point out she only won the second game because Nora tried to eat Jaune’s game piece.
There’s a knock at the door, and when they ask who it is, a muffled voice asks if this is where he can find Team RNJR. They hesitantly tell him he’s in the right place, and Ruby goes to answer the door. She opens it to find someone carrying a drunk, giggling Qrow, who’s blabbing about ‘finding him’ and ‘I did it’. Ruby, seeing her uncle in such a state, sighs and thanks the stranger, motioning Jaune to come over and take Qrow to the couch.
However, when they lift Qrow off the man, his and Ruby’s eyes meet… revealing Roman Torchwick. The two freeze and stare at each other. Roman just mutters a confused “Red?” before the scene cuts to black.
Qrow backs this up, from the literal back of the group, by saying the city’s a real sight to see. Ahead of them, Nora has already exited out on to the veranda and is calling them all forward. With a flourish of his arm, Qrow properly introduces the team to “The City of Mistral”. The group emerge onto a balcony overlooking the expansive interior of Mistral’s dual-mountain structure.
Buildings litter the mountainside, spreading vertically, horizontally, and every which way they can cram space. The top of the mountains are capped by a massive, bridge-like building that supports a number of structures, referred to as the ‘Chouchin’ by the characters, and though unseen here the Chouchin is topped by Haven Academy and the city’s CCT tower. Waterfalls cascade from the highest levels of the mountains and the Chouchin, spilling through the heart of the city. Shops and houses pocket the ridge, entire centers of commerce connected by bridges between the two mountainsides, all showered with the spray from the waterfalls. The water all trickles down to the bottom of city, where a mixture of urban sprawl and overgrown wetland have merged together into a veritable swamp where the walls of one building blur into the trees of the house next door. All of this is tethered together by a series of pipes that are well maintained near the top of the mountain, and deteriorate more and more as they descend into the urban swamp below, ending in crude stonework aqueducts that peek out from around the foliage and buildings.
Ruby and Jaune are in awe of the sight, while Qrow just lays his hand on Ruby’s head. Softest yet is the expression of Nora, who is sitting on the balcony’s ledge, admiring the view and holding Ren’s hand as they overlook the city. Qrow asks if it was worth the wait, and Jaune says that it’s nice, but it could have been worth even more of a weight, motioning to the fresh bandage around Qrow’s waist. Qrow waves them off, saying the poison’s almost completely out of his system, even motioning to his flask; “See this kid? All-in-one painkiller and disinfectant,” before taking a sip.
Jaune and Ruby look unamused, but Nora quickly pulls them out of their reprieve, eager to get up to the Chouchin; her and Ren have never had the chance to go all the way up there until now! As they enter one of the many glass elevators that pocket the mountain, Qrow tells her to temper her expectations till they’re done at Haven; seeing Lionheart is their first priority. With that, they board the elevator, and take off.
The elevator emerges on the top of the Chouchin, where Haven’s clean, aesthetically pleasing campus awaits the crew. Things are quiet, however, and the crew are unsettled, standing on edge until they arrive at Leo’s office. He’s actually just leaving it, staring at his watch in concern as he bumbles out the door and into Qrow. There’s a brief surprise for all parties, and RNJR even reach for their weapons, but no one draws them and no one falls on the ground; we’re keeping the slapstick to a minimum for now. Leo, dusting himself off from the run-in, apologizes, explaining that time got the better of him and he forgot to meet them out in the courtyard.
Qrow is quick to forgive it, though he’s steelier about the lack of people on campus, asking where all of the teachers and students are. Leo replies that they’re out on missions at current, all of them; it’d be easier to explain if everyone got situated in the office. So, the group crowd in and Leo begins to explain.
Mistral has been in a state of disarray since the Fall of Beacon, with initial panic in the streets bringing a significant number of Grimm to the city’s border. Those were repelled and order was somewhat restored, but the outward normality of everyday life hasn’t tamed the unease in the hearts of the people. Grimm attacks have been up and growing worse, to the point that the Council made the hard decision to nationalize the Huntsmen missions to better fend off the threat.
Ruby speaks up, asking if that’s why he pulled back support for the railway and couldn’t send them an airship. This is the first time we see Leo really hesitate to respond, a brief flash of guilt on his face before he says that yes; there was a particularly bad fight out at Kuchinashi that severely strained their resources. Sending a simple medivac when Qrow was injured was the best he could do even after that particular crisis had receded; the Grimm have been relentless.
Qrow pinches his nose and asks where the students are if that’s the case, and Leo explains that someone had to start taking care of the private huntsmen missions being put on the boards. Qrow slams his hands on the desk, asking what Leo means by that! Leo says that the pragmatic solution was to make the students to take on the everyday complaints so the people of Mistral aren’t suffering while the trained huntsmen are busy. It serves as a good learning experience about real Huntsmen work and solves a demand in the marketplace in one go.
Qrow is taken aback, saying that there are missions on those boards that students couldn’t possibly handle, hell there are criminals on those boards, the kids have no practical way to know what missions to take and not take! He’s thrown children to the wolves! Leo hardens his expression and stands, saying, “As much as I would love to go galivanting around the countryside, Qrow, I have an entire city to manage, half the population of which already hate my guts. Unlike you I can’t just shirk my position and lapse into unemployment, people are depending on my decisions to keep them safe, and if it means those who have pledged to protect our world make that sacrifice early, then so be it!”
Qrow raises his hands in the air and growls about how great the situation is; a school without any teachers or students, absolutely wonderful. Then who, he asks, is guarding the relic? Just little old retired Lionheart.
Leo takes indignance to that, puffing out his chest that he’s not too old he can’t fight! Besides, Ozpin’s idea of security is laughable; the vault already need the Spring maiden to open, everything else around that is just redundancy. And it isn’t just him, students are still frequently on campus, they’re just busier than normal; a quiet campus isn’t a deserted one. Qrow says that the redundancy is vital when Jaune finally asks what Lionheart is talking about.
Realizing the discussion had gotten far more heated than he’d intended, Lionheart straightens up and asks how much Qrow let them in on. Qrow says he hit the most important parts, and he’d have told them more if he hadn’t been, well, you know, motioning to the bandage at his waist. He turns to the kids and explains that only the maidens can open the vaults where the relics are stored. Pointedly, he turns to Leo and seethes that they’re supposed to be the last line of defense protecting the relics, but Lionheart stands strong against the glare. Leo continues that only the Spring maiden can open the Mistral vault, and she vanished years prior, running away from her duty a decade prior, but it’s clear she didn’t defect either or else they’d already have her kicking down the door.
“Which is why we have teachers to guard it, just in case,” Qrow grouses, crossing his arms. Before Lionheart can retort, though, he rolls his eyes. He brushes by his own point, sick of the argument, and says that he might actually know why that is. He had a chat with Raven before he linked up with the kids, and he’s pretty sure the maiden fled to the Branwen tribe.
Ruby steps in, asking “Yang’s… mom?”
“One and the same,” Qrow replies. With the kind of damage the tribe has been wrecking recently, most notably Shion, they have to have a maiden backing their plays, and Raven all but confirmed it when they talked. The only problem Qrow sees now is finding where the Branwen tribe is and ‘convincing’ the Maiden to rejoin the Yellow Brick Bunch. Fortunately for them, Qrow knows the tribes habits. Unfortunately for them, Raven knows he’s onto them and the usual haunts haven’t panned out from what he could see. He’s sure he can find them, but it’s going to take some digging.
After that it’s just a matter of scrounging up enough willing huntsmen to assist in case talking with Raven goes south and they’ll be golden. Leo’s not keen on that idea either, since Mistral needs every huntsmen it can get right now. Even if they get lucky and there’s a pocket of time where the Grimm are easier to deal with, there’s uneasy political tensions between Mistral and Atlas, what with the trade embargo going into effect. They won’t feel it immediately, but the squeeze on imported dust is going to make the people of Mistral quite distressed. There’s even talk of starting war with Atlas, to reopen the dust flow by right of conquest and to bolster the spirits of the populace once and for all behind a jingoistic cause.
Ren balks at the idea of open war, and Nora helpfully chimes that yeah that’s a bad idea; remember the last major war? Ended bad for everyone. Lionheart agrees, but Beacon’s fall and Vale’s absence from the political stage have made the international scene an absolute mess.
Qrow asks about any leads they have in the other direction; the infiltrators from Mistral during the Vytal Festival. Leo shakes his head. Cinder and Emerald were unknown quantities with clean transcripts coming in, and though Mercury’s father was a known assassin, the combat academies have seen their fair share of bad seeds turn good. But the fact that Cinder managed to worm her way onto the faculty without a problem contributed to his vote in the council nationalizing the huntsmen; his trust in his own subordinates had been shaken thoroughly. Regardless, their personal effects on campus have already been searched and nothing of use could be found; it’s as if they vanished into the wind.
At this rate, the best course of action would be to find the Spring Maiden and find a way to get her as far from Mistral as possible. Qrow sighs and says that they can start looking into where Raven and the gang might be, but he’s adamant that Leo start looking into bolstering the school with some kind of security. Leo promises to do what he can with his limited free time, but there’s only so much he can do at this rate and so few people anyone can trust. Qrow agrees that those seem like they’re in short supply before waving the kids out of the room. They give warm goodbyes to Leo, which only seems to make him feel more guilty. With the door closed, he collapses into his chair and Watt’s logo appears as a hologram over his desk, chiding him for his flimsy acting ability.
In the hall, RNJR discusses how they should go about investigating for clues to the Branwen camp location, and Qrow just tells them to leave it to him; the four of them have been through enough as is for the last few weeks, they deserve a little time off. When they ask what he’ll be doing, he just waves them off and says he’ll be “self-medicating” in a local dive. Ruby watches, concerned as he pulls away from them, towards the elevator. Jaune asks if he’s going to be okay, and Ruby says that she doesn’t know. Nora jumps between their shoulders and says he’ll be fine. Besides, hey, they have the house all to themselves until he gets home, and that means slumber party!
Jaune refuses since they’ve been backpacking for weeks together at this rate, and during this debate a curious pair of shoes come into focus further down the campus. The feet approach and call out to them and the camera lifts to show Arslan Altan, as well as Scarlet and Sage, all three of which look tired and bedraggled. While greetings with Scarlet and Sage are amenable, what with cracks about Sun taking off and well wishes that Neptune’s recovery is going well back on Patch. They’re also quick to explain they’re only popping onto campus between missions. They’ve been run ragged and this’ll be their only night in the whole month provided the schedule stays steady. They were just on their way from the dorms to the Onsen in the Chouchin’s mall when they ran into each other, and Sage recommends they check it out if they get the chance; it’s super relaxing.
Arslan’s greeting is quieter and reserve, looking on Jaune, Nora and Ren with some amounts of pity, sadness, and regret. Pyrrha’s death lingers heavily over the whole conversation. Arslan expresses regret that the last time they all worked together it wasn’t under better circumstances… and that they have to meet with just as unpleasant circumstances as well. Jaune agrees, but it’s nice to know team ABRN made it home safely. She just seems to nod through that concern, and finally asking if they know who did it. Surprisingly, Ruby butts in, answer with Cinder’s name, with Nora adding, confidently and with no small hints of rage that they’ll get the people responsible for what happened.
Arslan responds, half playfully, half seriously, only if she doesn’t get those people first; they took away her chance to rematch Pyrrha ever again, they better watch out for the real Mistrailian champion coming their way.
Before this could come off more as an insult towards Pyrrha, Ren and Nora, Scarlet rolls his eyes and grabs her by the elbow, telling her to tone down the machismo. He says that as much as he’d love to chat with the crew, they really needed to get going; the rest of ABRN were already at the hot springs and were probably waiting for them.
The groups say their goodbyes and hope they run into each other again soon, then ultimately part ways.
Nora caps the scene by bringing back up the idea of a slumber party as they get into the elevator. As the elevator descends, we far outpace it with the camera and transition to the slums of Mistral to a storefront called ‘The Chop Shop’ and the attached apartment building. Presumably a vehicle repair company, we quickly learn its serving as a front for a White Fang base… as well as a workshop for Watts, slaving on a scroll while seated at a workbench. He pulls up the soldering goggles to admire his work before speaking to a different, active scroll besides him. One the other end is Leo, who is asking if it’ll be hard to find the Branwen tribe.
Watts says that it’ll take some time no doubt, but Salem has reinforcements on their way to the city proper to do more on-the-ground work. Once they’re here he has faith they’ll be able to at the very least outpace Qrow and his children’s investigation, if only by a slim margin; it’s clear in his inflection he doesn’t have a high opinion of the reinforcements in question. When Leo then asks how the White Fang are doing, Watts replies they’re doing quite well by his understanding, and when he’s done with these modified scrolls they’ll be unstoppable. He lifts the scroll and activates it, checking it’s signal to make sure it’s strong before saying “Oh, I’m sure the city will be in for quite the surprise indeed.”
We transition through the glass screen and into the glass arboretum of the house RNJR is staying at, which from now on I’ll call the Oz House, because it’s the home Ozpin would use while in the city. This factoid will be brought up in incidental conversation, but I’m sick of referring to it as just ‘the house’.
Nora is towering over the rest of RNJR, proudly holding her game piece high and boasting about her victory. Ren comments that it’s only turn one and she’s quick to sush him before rolling the dice. Jaune replies that she’s won the last three games, no reason she won’t win this one, and Ruby is quick to point out she only won the second game because Nora tried to eat Jaune’s game piece.
There’s a knock at the door, and when they ask who it is, a muffled voice asks if this is where he can find Team RNJR. They hesitantly tell him he’s in the right place, and Ruby goes to answer the door. She opens it to find someone carrying a drunk, giggling Qrow, who’s blabbing about ‘finding him’ and ‘I did it’. Ruby, seeing her uncle in such a state, sighs and thanks the stranger, motioning Jaune to come over and take Qrow to the couch.
However, when they lift Qrow off the man, his and Ruby’s eyes meet… revealing Roman Torchwick. The two freeze and stare at each other. Roman just mutters a confused “Red?” before the scene cuts to black.
Aight. Initial impressions.
The city;
All things considered, I don’t actually mind the city. Sure, the logistics of this; “
Buildings litter the mountainside, spreading vertically, horizontally, and every which way they can cram space. The top of the mountains are capped by a massive, bridge-like building that supports a number of structures, referred to as the ‘Chouchin’ by the characters, and though unseen here the Chouchin is topped by Haven Academy and the city’s CCT tower. Waterfalls cascade from the highest levels of the mountains and the Chouchin, spilling through the heart of the city. Shops and houses pocket the ridge, entire centers of commerce connected by bridges between the two mountainsides, all showered with the spray from the waterfalls. The water all trickles down to the bottom of city, where a mixture of urban sprawl and overgrown wetland have merged together into a veritable swamp where the walls of one building blur into the trees of the house next door. All of this is tethered together by a series of pipes that are well maintained near the top of the mountain, and deteriorate more and more as they descend into the urban swamp below, ending in crude stonework aqueducts that peek out from around the foliage and buildings.
Aren’t exactly kosher for a realistic story, but whimsy is something easy enough to account for, and narrative wise, this isn’t a bad setup.
However, that impression quickly sours the second Celtic reminds me of something; the grim. Vale has fallen, or at least Beacon has, and Leo says this;
“Mistral has been in a state of disarray since the Fall of Beacon, with initial panic in the streets bringing a significant number of Grimm to the city’s border.”
Considering the description of the mountain, it’s imperative to understand why it was settled despite it’s inhospitality. City locations are chosen for reasons. Proximity to water, traderoutes, etc, etc. And all things considered, this location is horrible for one reason: logistics. It takes an awful lot to move supplies and gear around. Mountains make that exceptionally difficult, especially in pre-modern times, which, considering the stone aqueducts, this is. Which means that the only real reason this city was founded where it was would be tactical reasons.
The high ground.
So, Mr Celtic, who is writing in a world where the grim attack on a regluar basis, where are my fortifications and weapon emplacements? For fucks sake, you could not pick a better place for artillery emplacements of -any- kind.
Even if Minstral stopped doing stuff like that because they become modern and -enlightened-, bare minimum, I expect to see old stone forts at the base of the city.
Otherwise, the location of the city (Surrounded by swamp and wetlands, horrible for commerce, but ideal for military defence, on a mountain, same reason as before) make absolutely no sense.
Moving on.
Lionheart indicates that war between Minstral and Atlas is a possibility due to a dust embargo.
I don’t actually mind this. It’s stupid considering the circumstances, but history has parallels, namely the japanese attacking Pearl Harbor due to US oil embargos.
Scene cuts to black after Torchwick takes Qrow home. Honestly, it’s more of a flat “what” moment, leaving me with an awful lot of questions, but I still have some time, so I’ll do the next chapter and see if they get answered to my satisfaction.
Episode three, titled “Watergate”
Episode three picks up with Weiss, on her way to Mistral. This scene is basically unchanged from the original, with the caveat that the airship she’s stowing away on is not a flying dumpster in design. Instead, Weiss is riding in the ‘world-class luxury’ of an Atlas military cargo ship, which more or less matches the aesthetic of Atlas technology and resembles a C130 Hercules. This makes it slightly less maneuverable than the flying UPS van, but way more appealing aesthetically, and instead of having a sound mixer, it has actual flight controls. But yeah, other than that, the scene goes on normally; Mention of congested airspace around Northern Anima from Pilot Boi, the distress signal from a nearby ship being attacked by Grimm, Weiss wanting to go save it and Pilot Boi shutting her down hard.
Weiss stares forlornly out the cockpit window, sees a storm on the horizon, and we hard cut to a different storm above Menagerie, as the first of the Spring monsoons hits the city of Kuo Kuana. We pan down to find Blake, exhausted, in ankle-deep water, just outside the walls of the city. The wall itself is made of a heavy wooden frame reinforcing large sarsens, capped with aged gun turrets for aerial defenses. She’s fending off the remains of a small pack of beowulves, periodically calling back to Sun and other guards who are busy building sandbag barriers around the wooden gate to keep the water out of the city, as well as other workers bucketing water out before they close the gate for the season.
Soon enough Sun and the other guards finish with the sandbags, closing the door. Blake finishes off all but two of the Beowulves, using Gambol shroud to escape up the side of the wall, while flood waters sweep the two grimm away, with comical little ‘arf’ sounds as they flow downstream. Blake braces herself against the city wall while Sun walks up beside her and says she “Really Swept them off their feet, didn’t she?” Blake gives a glare that only a wet cat can. Sun backpedals, but only slightly, defending his need to inject some levity in things. He promises to be the one outside the wall next time and Blake throws her soaked hood at him before snickering at his disgruntled face.
We transition over to the police station where the two grab towels to dry off and Sun asks if they’re going to take another shot at interrogating the White Fang members in custody again tonight. Blake says yes, but she’s not sure how much they’ll get out of them; they’ve all been incredibly tight-lipped… well… except Ilia and Corsac, but one was just a pawn to the leadership and the other won’t shut up about things that don’t matter. “I swear,” she says, “it’d be easier to talk with these people if they were mute!”
So, then we cut over to Mistral, where we hear Yang complaining with no small amount of disbelief, “How could you get us lost?!” We get a little more perspective where the two of them have stopped beside the walls of Oniyuri, and Neo seems genuinely remorseful and shamed as she quickly signs to Yang that she’s not good at reading maps. Yang sighs and grabs her face, groaning that it really shouldn’t be that hard. Neo puffs her cheeks out and waves the paper in Yang’s face, signing that there’s a lot going on with the maps, and it’s really hard to read while holding onto a moving motorcycle.
Yang takes the map from Neo and walks beside Neo, folding it in her hands to look at just the local area. On the back of it we can see a number of circled sites crossed off. Yang points to a spot and says “Look here, we can get back on track at this town called…. Kuro… yuru? Whatever. We can get back on track there and make it before sundown.” Neo nods at the suggestion, and Yang challenges her to memorize the route before they get back to it. She’ll do the same, but she wants an extra set of eyes on this one. Yang makes a casual remark that she never thought she’d find someone worse at maps than Ruby, and Neo puffs her cheeks out, signing “at least I’m a better fighter.”
Yang raises a brow and challenges that, asking when the last time she fought Ruby was? Neo raises her hands to ‘speak’, only to put them back down, repeating this a couple of times as she decides to word things better, ultimately settling on saying that Ruby cheated. Yang folds her arms and nods, smug knowing that Ruby bested Neo, and Neo just stamps her foot that Ruby didn’t fight fair! Yang asks when Neo ever fought fair, and Neo brushes back a lock of her hair, signing that she always gives her opponents a fighting chance… just not the most balanced chance; just ask the last three bandit tribes.
Yang rolls her eyes and says that there’s a stream nearby and she’s going to fill up their canteens; Neo should have that map memorized by the time she gets back. Neo sends her off with a raspberry. As Yang walks past the entrance to Oniyuri, she slows down and looks into the desolate settlement, and in the background we hear a rising white noise, as the settlement begins to blur and overlay with the Beacon Cafeteria. Before it can consume her, she blinks out of it, shakes her head, and continues her way towards the stream. We hear an echo of Blake’s scream when she got stabbed, overlayed with Blake’s frustrated groan, and we cut back to the Kuo Kuana guard precinct where Blake is frustrated with interrogating the prisoners.
In front of her is Trifa, who gives Blake an absent stare. Blake slams her hands on the table and orders a change of prisoner. Trifa gives Blake a smirk before we cut to Yuma being brought into the room. He obnoxiously ask to see his lawyer, smug grin on his face the whole time. Blake says that he’s a terrorist; he doesn’t get a lawyer. He leans back in his chair and asks if that means she wouldn’t get a lawyer either? Blake twitches at the barb, and he continues saying they still haven’t read him his rights, so they have to let him go by law, right? Don’t want your citizenry getting mad at prolonged detainment, do you? Biting her tongue, she orders him away and calls for Corsac. However, when Corsac is led to the doorway, Blake takes one glance at the wild look in his eyes and orders him back in his cell, saying that she wants to see Ilia instead.
Ilia is sat down in the chair, and across from her Blake has her head in her hands, groaning. Ilia asks if the interrogations are going well, to which Blake groans more. Ilia leans forward and rests her hands in front of Blake, saying she wish she could do more. Blake hesitantly pats Ilia’s chained wrist, saying that Ilia seems to be the only sane member of the White Fang left. “For all the good that’s doing you,” Ilia jokes. Blake admits she doesn’t have anything to ask Ilia, since she’s already given up all she can; it’s just nice to hear a friendly voice in a cavalcade of crazy people. Ilia narrows her eyes and reminds Blake that those people are her colleagues; Trifa and Yuma are genuinely friends of hers.
“Friends, huh…” Blake pulls away from Ilia and wonders briefly if she’d have been more like Ilia or if she’d be more like them if she hadn’t left the White Fang… what would have happened if she had stayed. Ilia says Blake wouldn’t have set her house on fire, and Blake blushes from that, saying Ilia didn’t make things easy on her! Ilia laughs, but it peters out and she says that as much as she tries to imagine Blake back in the White Fang… she can’t see it. Every time she does, she sees only the old Blake she thought she knew, not this Blake in front of her… and if that Blake was in her the whole time, it’d probably have been impossible for her to stay in the Fang.
Blake takes those words to heart and thanks Ilia, and sends her back to her cell. She and Sun link up on their way to the lockers and start a small conversation about how poorly the interrogations are going. They’re making zero progress and today was the last day they’d have carte blanche to interview them. The new Captain of the guard is being appointed today by the Elder Council, and word has it that a White Fang sympathizer is the likeliest candidate. Blake scowls at the idea of fighting corruption from the inside again, and they round the corner where they see a news report airing from the town hall of Kuo Kuana. Ghira is mid-speech, and while it sounds like normal politician pleasantries at first, he mentions that he has elected to not heed the council’s decision and made an executive choice for leader of the Kuo Kuana guard and Menagerie Militia. He steps aside and declares that Kali Belladonna will be made the new Captain in Saber Rodentia’s stead.
Blake, Sun, the precinct, and the universe stare in shock as Kali steps on stage and evolves from CatMom to CopCatMom. The scene goes dark, and the episode ends.
Weiss stares forlornly out the cockpit window, sees a storm on the horizon, and we hard cut to a different storm above Menagerie, as the first of the Spring monsoons hits the city of Kuo Kuana. We pan down to find Blake, exhausted, in ankle-deep water, just outside the walls of the city. The wall itself is made of a heavy wooden frame reinforcing large sarsens, capped with aged gun turrets for aerial defenses. She’s fending off the remains of a small pack of beowulves, periodically calling back to Sun and other guards who are busy building sandbag barriers around the wooden gate to keep the water out of the city, as well as other workers bucketing water out before they close the gate for the season.
Soon enough Sun and the other guards finish with the sandbags, closing the door. Blake finishes off all but two of the Beowulves, using Gambol shroud to escape up the side of the wall, while flood waters sweep the two grimm away, with comical little ‘arf’ sounds as they flow downstream. Blake braces herself against the city wall while Sun walks up beside her and says she “Really Swept them off their feet, didn’t she?” Blake gives a glare that only a wet cat can. Sun backpedals, but only slightly, defending his need to inject some levity in things. He promises to be the one outside the wall next time and Blake throws her soaked hood at him before snickering at his disgruntled face.
We transition over to the police station where the two grab towels to dry off and Sun asks if they’re going to take another shot at interrogating the White Fang members in custody again tonight. Blake says yes, but she’s not sure how much they’ll get out of them; they’ve all been incredibly tight-lipped… well… except Ilia and Corsac, but one was just a pawn to the leadership and the other won’t shut up about things that don’t matter. “I swear,” she says, “it’d be easier to talk with these people if they were mute!”
So, then we cut over to Mistral, where we hear Yang complaining with no small amount of disbelief, “How could you get us lost?!” We get a little more perspective where the two of them have stopped beside the walls of Oniyuri, and Neo seems genuinely remorseful and shamed as she quickly signs to Yang that she’s not good at reading maps. Yang sighs and grabs her face, groaning that it really shouldn’t be that hard. Neo puffs her cheeks out and waves the paper in Yang’s face, signing that there’s a lot going on with the maps, and it’s really hard to read while holding onto a moving motorcycle.
Yang takes the map from Neo and walks beside Neo, folding it in her hands to look at just the local area. On the back of it we can see a number of circled sites crossed off. Yang points to a spot and says “Look here, we can get back on track at this town called…. Kuro… yuru? Whatever. We can get back on track there and make it before sundown.” Neo nods at the suggestion, and Yang challenges her to memorize the route before they get back to it. She’ll do the same, but she wants an extra set of eyes on this one. Yang makes a casual remark that she never thought she’d find someone worse at maps than Ruby, and Neo puffs her cheeks out, signing “at least I’m a better fighter.”
Yang raises a brow and challenges that, asking when the last time she fought Ruby was? Neo raises her hands to ‘speak’, only to put them back down, repeating this a couple of times as she decides to word things better, ultimately settling on saying that Ruby cheated. Yang folds her arms and nods, smug knowing that Ruby bested Neo, and Neo just stamps her foot that Ruby didn’t fight fair! Yang asks when Neo ever fought fair, and Neo brushes back a lock of her hair, signing that she always gives her opponents a fighting chance… just not the most balanced chance; just ask the last three bandit tribes.
Yang rolls her eyes and says that there’s a stream nearby and she’s going to fill up their canteens; Neo should have that map memorized by the time she gets back. Neo sends her off with a raspberry. As Yang walks past the entrance to Oniyuri, she slows down and looks into the desolate settlement, and in the background we hear a rising white noise, as the settlement begins to blur and overlay with the Beacon Cafeteria. Before it can consume her, she blinks out of it, shakes her head, and continues her way towards the stream. We hear an echo of Blake’s scream when she got stabbed, overlayed with Blake’s frustrated groan, and we cut back to the Kuo Kuana guard precinct where Blake is frustrated with interrogating the prisoners.
In front of her is Trifa, who gives Blake an absent stare. Blake slams her hands on the table and orders a change of prisoner. Trifa gives Blake a smirk before we cut to Yuma being brought into the room. He obnoxiously ask to see his lawyer, smug grin on his face the whole time. Blake says that he’s a terrorist; he doesn’t get a lawyer. He leans back in his chair and asks if that means she wouldn’t get a lawyer either? Blake twitches at the barb, and he continues saying they still haven’t read him his rights, so they have to let him go by law, right? Don’t want your citizenry getting mad at prolonged detainment, do you? Biting her tongue, she orders him away and calls for Corsac. However, when Corsac is led to the doorway, Blake takes one glance at the wild look in his eyes and orders him back in his cell, saying that she wants to see Ilia instead.
Ilia is sat down in the chair, and across from her Blake has her head in her hands, groaning. Ilia asks if the interrogations are going well, to which Blake groans more. Ilia leans forward and rests her hands in front of Blake, saying she wish she could do more. Blake hesitantly pats Ilia’s chained wrist, saying that Ilia seems to be the only sane member of the White Fang left. “For all the good that’s doing you,” Ilia jokes. Blake admits she doesn’t have anything to ask Ilia, since she’s already given up all she can; it’s just nice to hear a friendly voice in a cavalcade of crazy people. Ilia narrows her eyes and reminds Blake that those people are her colleagues; Trifa and Yuma are genuinely friends of hers.
“Friends, huh…” Blake pulls away from Ilia and wonders briefly if she’d have been more like Ilia or if she’d be more like them if she hadn’t left the White Fang… what would have happened if she had stayed. Ilia says Blake wouldn’t have set her house on fire, and Blake blushes from that, saying Ilia didn’t make things easy on her! Ilia laughs, but it peters out and she says that as much as she tries to imagine Blake back in the White Fang… she can’t see it. Every time she does, she sees only the old Blake she thought she knew, not this Blake in front of her… and if that Blake was in her the whole time, it’d probably have been impossible for her to stay in the Fang.
Blake takes those words to heart and thanks Ilia, and sends her back to her cell. She and Sun link up on their way to the lockers and start a small conversation about how poorly the interrogations are going. They’re making zero progress and today was the last day they’d have carte blanche to interview them. The new Captain of the guard is being appointed today by the Elder Council, and word has it that a White Fang sympathizer is the likeliest candidate. Blake scowls at the idea of fighting corruption from the inside again, and they round the corner where they see a news report airing from the town hall of Kuo Kuana. Ghira is mid-speech, and while it sounds like normal politician pleasantries at first, he mentions that he has elected to not heed the council’s decision and made an executive choice for leader of the Kuo Kuana guard and Menagerie Militia. He steps aside and declares that Kali Belladonna will be made the new Captain in Saber Rodentia’s stead.
Blake, Sun, the precinct, and the universe stare in shock as Kali steps on stage and evolves from CatMom to CopCatMom. The scene goes dark, and the episode ends.
Already, I am cringing at the title because, good lord, that title has so many political implications attached to it. I have no doubt that by the end of the episode, my reaction is going to be “well, that wasn’t subtle at all, was it?”
There’s some stuff about Wiess, but nothing of note on a technical level.
Then we get to Blake is in a flooding city, in ankle deep water, and there are soldiers making sandbags, gun turrets, and grim.
I quote; “Blake finishes off all but two of the Beowulves, using Gambol shroud to escape up the side of the wall, while flood waters sweep the two grimm away, with comical little ‘arf’ sounds as they flow downstream.”
I am slowly coming to the conclusion that Celtic has no idea what tone is, and why it’s important. Or comedy for that matter.
Any tension this scene might have had, the emotional impact of the very real suffering of the people of “Kuo Kuana”, anything real, and emotionally powerful, has been traded for a joke that falls flat at best, and is actively irritating at most.
Celtic had a decent setup, and the ‘comical’ barking makes me go from Mele Kalikimaka to Wedu Nagivafaka.
On to the next thing of technical note.
“In front of her is Trifa, who gives Blake an absent stare. Blake slams her hands on the table and orders a change of prisoner. Trifa gives Blake a smirk before we cut to Yuma being brought into the room. He obnoxiously ask to see his lawyer, smug grin on his face the whole time. Blake says that he’s a terrorist; he doesn’t get a lawyer. He leans back in his chair and asks if that means she wouldn’t get a lawyer either? Blake twitches at the barb, and he continues saying they still haven’t read him his rights, so they have to let him go by law, right? Don’t want your citizenry getting mad at prolonged detainment, do you? Biting her tongue, she orders him away and calls for Corsac. However, when Corsac is led to the doorway, Blake takes one glance at the wild look in his eyes and orders him back in his cell, saying that she wants to see Ilia instead.”
The important thing to note here is the worldbuilding aspects of it.
I get that Remant isn’t a bad place, but it’s not a -good- place either. The circumstances are radically different, and yet I get the feeling Celtic is not asking what makes sense for remnant, and is instead lifting things wholesale from earth cultures, and then proceeding to do it in the most retarded fashion possible.
This bit here; Blake says that he’s a terrorist; he doesn’t get a lawyer. It implies the citizens have a right to lawyers. I can believe that, if the society is quite free. However, there are a few problems with that.
The fall of Beacon, (and maybe Vale.) A recent grim attack. Grim in general.
Combine that with this; “Don’t want your citizenry getting mad at prolonged detainment, do you? “
It tells me that Celtic is drawing from a western liberal democracy framework, one likely with a bill of rights. That’s enlightened as fuck for -Remnant-, and clashes like hell, but whatever, don’t really care because it doesn’t matter.
The city should be under martial law at that point. Which means, in order of importance; near total military control, military laws apply, and due process is suspended.
These people shouldn’t have rights, but what the hell do I know?
Bla- bla- bla-, Blake sympathizes with a known member of a terrorist organization, sure why not? Ghira tells the council to get fucked, okay, sure, casts some doubt on the ‘western liberal frame work’, but okay.
“The scene goes dark, and the episode ends.”
Excuse me Celtic, but what the fuck?!
He titled the episode WATERGATE! FUCKING. WATERGATE. This is a rewrite, it’s meant to be a script. Presumably, that means that he intends to show the audience the title, because that’s what TV shows do for their episodes.
This whigger is going to show his audience “Episode three; Watergate”, priming them for political scandals, and then just blueball them for no good reason.
At -best-, you can say that Ghira has just committed a coup. At best. Watergate had -nothing- to do with usurping power. Nothing.
Trying to explain this is like trying to explain to a dumb, retarded puppy why breathing is important, and how it can be done. Some things are so basic that a child could understand them, and then you have this whigger who, contrary to my expectation, isn’t being the most unsubtle foreshadower I’ve ever seen. Nope. He’s just retarded.
I’m going to break this down for the uninitiated.
This is called priming. It’s an element of foreshadowing. By indicating that the upcoming episode has to do with major political scandal, Celtic made an unspoken promise with the audience, promising them political scandal. The audience is then anticipating said political scandal, they are ready for it. Then Celtic never delivers, instead giving them three different viewpoints that are probably on entirely different continents, an interrogation that utterly fails to deliver, and Ghira telling the council “no.”
The end. That’s it.
This is called breaking a promise with your audience. I do it all the time, but you better have a damn good reason for it, because the consequences of this is your audience getting (rightly) peeved at you when you fail to deliver something worthwhile.
I started this little project of mine with an opinion that was already at rock bottom, but each knew episode shows me that Celtic has a pickaxe, and by god, he’s ready to -dig-.
Smith Wesson
kiwifarms.net
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Jaune Arc: WHAT FUCKING ARMOR!? His chest is still unprotected. And there's no yellow. Great. Remember all the shit we gave Canon!Weiss for having Blue be her main color instead of white? Or Canon!Blake for having White be her main color instead of Black? There you go. Just some ghetto blue vest-thing and nothing to contrast his yellow color palette. His black hoodie was an excellent contrast to his yellowish hair and armor. But this? Meh.
Also, the setting is in the future, so why must he wear something so bland and blase from a few centuries ago?
The flip over helmet fucks up the weight distribution as well and makes him look silly.
Ren: God. Long capes. Barely any intricate patterns on the damn ensemble. No modernity to his design. His top draws from the Japanese patterns, which everyone has seen for the umpteenth time. And Raymond can't even pronounce "wuxia" right, for all his weebery. Monty had self-deprecating humor about his skin tone in his interview, and he even designed Ren as your stereotypical Asian Martial Artist with a sense of honor and justice.
But this doesn't scream "stoic Kung-Fu, rational thinking Wizard". It's just meh.
Nora: If Volume 1 was iconic, and Volume 4 was Grease, and Volume 7 was Kingdom Hearts, then this design is bland to the bone. Nora is supposed to represent girly pink hearts, with the power of thunder.
This design has barely any patterns of both, and is ... blase at most. Nora never screamed "Asian" to me, so I doubt this style of dress absolutely suits her. Nora was all about bombastic, cute, powerful energy. Most designs in Asian cultures are about subtlety and quiet submissiveness. Nora is neither of those.
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One armored sleeve could work as a design/combat option, but not with light plate. Justification would require heavy plate armor so that arm could still be used as a shield of sorts. But at that point, just go for the trope of "demonic left arm" so it's less awkward and doesn't give wankers arm jokes.
Sleazy Car Salesman
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True & Honest Fan
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The armor is also on the wrong arm for a heater shield. If one arm is going to be armored it should be on the side that's facing the enemy and more likely to take a hit, IE: the left. The helmet is probably supposed to be a sallet and honestly it isn't the worst helmet design since it at least looks somewhat functional as a helmet but it still needs refinement if not a full redesign since the idea is stupid to begin with. Don't understand why they couldn't give him a brody helmet since those can be worn slid back on the head rather easily, or why they didn't do something like extend the gambeson up into a hood to give him a padded coif. Or better yet just don't give him a helmet since literally no one else has one and this isn't real life so why worry about TBIs?
If they were gonna go that route it would have been better to effectively make him adopt the hoplite look of Pyrrah and become a more dex based fighter as a nod to his training with Pyrrah or something. But really if the character is supposed to be "knightly" then visual language demands steel plate.
I think it's supposed to be either gambeson or brigandine armor, both of which were widespread and effective for a poor man at arms or a mercenary, and were far better for travel than steel plate. His chest is protected just fine unless he's facing an archer because bows and crossbows are insanely strong against even modern soft body armor such as kevlar. With that said it really undermines his knightly look since the visual art of animated storytelling would have you make him wear something more substantive to assert his role as a knight, regardless of realism.
This right here is probably the best criticism against the flip over helmet, even in the eighties and nineties if a soldier was wearing NODs he typically would have to hang a small counterweight off the back of his helmet since those systems weighing only about two pounds were heavy to cause neck strain hanging off of the front of the helmet.
As far as long capes go, who gives a fuck? They look cool, and RWBY has always operated on rule of cool. It even gives the enemy something to grab onto for a really brutal ground slam to flip the momentum of a fight when Ren is getting too good, there's no reason not to have it, except for this case. They're trying to sell their designs on realism and groundedness but they're still having the long flowing tails. That's why they're stupid, not because they are there but because these designs are supposed to be "realistic" and "practical".
Well it will please you to know that Nora Valkyrie (Northern Valkyrie), the girl who wields a powerful hammer and the power of lightning, is based off of the Nordic god Thor. How the fuck you missed that particular bit of subtlety is beyond me but they wanted her in a more substantive dress with that bit of fur trim as a reference to her nothern heritage. I agree on everything else that it's totally bland and lacks any semblance of character but come on man, how could you miss that?
As far as JNPR's designs go Nora's hair in FRWBY is honestly the biggest mistake I feel. Her cute little bob cut with the flair out on the bottom is wonderful for her practical and tomboyish nature combined with her youthful exuberance, but it's still a mature looking hairstyle that you'd expect to see on a young professional or sports star. Giving her pigtails makes her too girly and infantile.
I've made cracks about Floof self-actualizing his backstory as Sasuke Uchiha, betrayed by the ones he venerated and now on the warpath to destroy his former home.
@The Periodic Gamer To answer your question about Qrow I think it's two things; He uses way too many words and he's not nearly sardonic enough.
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Random Internet Person
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To all those talking about designs and story, you ain’t seen nothing yet until you reach Vernal.
Smith Wesson
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@Sleazy Car Salesman Forgive me if I'm as blind as a bat, but mind showing me which Nora picture you're talking about? All I see from the FRWBY design are pleated fabric skirts, flat coloring with no shading, and ... that's it.
@Random Internet Person Oh, I think I have an idea with where we're going with this. But first, after we've had our fill with shitting on JNPR, let's shit on Adam next before we touch on Vernal and Salem.
@Random Internet Person Oh, I think I have an idea with where we're going with this. But first, after we've had our fill with shitting on JNPR, let's shit on Adam next before we touch on Vernal and Salem.
Xenomorphs Are Cute
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Jaune's design is a bloody clusterfuck, hard to even talk about. Ren is just a fucking femboy trap, Nora is fucking bland. The designs are shit.
That said, no offense, but you sound like a seething Geewunner who dilates at everything that isn't the "original" G1 stuff.
Random Internet Person
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I believe that was by design. There was the onsen scene where Roman thought Ren was a chick, and there was a scene where Ren walked out a drunken Qrow out of a bar, and IIRC one of the SH mentioned Qrow seeing Ren as some hot chick.
They tried for this but I don't see it. The long face and muscular arms are a giveaway. A part of me wonders if they just think Asian is more "feminine" and thought it would work.
Xenomorphs Are Cute
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It's kinda laughable that they can't do a femboy right, but then again, what can they do right is a question at this point.
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None taken, I really don't mind the movies, I liked Barricade's look in the last knight and their take on Hound, also there's no point getting mad over a glorified toy commercial and flames on a truck, but I digress.
The reason I brought Bayverse up in the first place is because the retard that drew them thought that these designs are better than the original and pays more homage to "Monty's Vision™" when in reality the designs from Bay's movies did a better job on paying respects towards the original works in comparison. If they're oh so confident enough to call their garbage Fixing RWBY, then it's only fair for all of us to call them out on their fart huffing.
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I could have sworn that they said in one of their videos that was what the thick white line on her dress was supposed to be, I thought it was in one of the Volume 4 videos but I can't seem to find it. So I'll take that one back for now.
I don't think he's supposed to be a femboy so much as he's supposed to be Fujo bait. Which is worse to be honest. They might have claimed to try to make a femboy, but I think they meant to make him Fujo bait.