RWBY - The Hindenburg on which Rooster Teeth rests its hopes, dreams and future

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So punchy blondie wins the best sister award. I guess a half sister is not worth much.
 
Wow, back-to-back good episodes. Are the writers feeling okay? Things are finally happening again in this show.
So that's two Maidens that Cinder's lost to. Sure hope Emerald and Neo ain't going back to Salem with their tails between their legs. I feel like Salem is well within her rights to execute them for disobedience.

If Salem kills Cinder, does Salem become the next Fall Maiden? She's going to need an eligible bachelorette on hand, assuming she still needs to get into the Vault at Beacon.

Kinda miffed we didn't get a team CVFY cameo during the communications scene. But hey, we got to see 5 seconds of Vacuo. That's cool, right? Also given how that brief glimpse of Vacuo looked, I have a suspicion that's where the God of Destruction's fountain lies, as well as Salem's headquarters. But that wouldn't make any sense: why wouldn't they go for that Vault next after the fall of Beacon? Geographically speaking it would be closer to their own front door.

I'm willing to suspend my disbelief that everyone in Remnant would still have their phones or TVs up and powered on to catch this international broadcast when global communications have been down for a year. The sad thing is, if help does somehow arrive, it'll be another shark-jumping moment for the series, since how the HELL do you mobilize an army with the kind of firepower necessary to meet Salem's forces at Atlas?
 
I know everyone has super strength, but was it ever established that Penny had "Can lift up a structure the size of a small town" strength?

If Cinder could easily burn through Amity's walls and thruster, how the fuck was this plan gonna work? Literally all Salem would have to do to stop it is have a Grimm ram the fucker.

And Mariah was combat capable this whole time, able to kick Neo's ass even after getting smashed inside an Alien's Refrence mech (we even have a "Get away from her, you bitch!" quote)

Lucky for the good guys that Cinder didn't blow up any other part of Amity she was trying to destroy, or attack Peatro since she was going out of her way to fuck with Penny.

It's annoying to constantly hear characters going "Hey, Penny's had enough people telling her what to do!", including characters who have never interacted with Penny before, like telling Penny not to endanger the plan is comparable to treating her like an obedient machine.

As always, Ruby's speech is utter shit. Instead of actually telling the world about the threat they're facing, she instead just tells them that there is a villain called Salem that's manipulating everything, Atlas is under attack and to not lose hope because friendship and gumdrops and crap.

Salem pats Tyrian's head because he is truly a good boy.

Cinder gets stomped by Penny (because Cinder fucking sucks even when she's holding all the advantages), but not finished off or captured because Emerald says that she can totally shoot the machine BEHIND PENNY about a shit ton of feet up and away before Penny can do anything. Yeah, sure.

Salem's been pumping the Grim Candy river underneath Atlas that spawns Grimm. Is this supposed to be an explanation for why she didn't take the easy win?

It's an episode where the visuals are pretty good, just ignore the dialouge and context and you'll enjoy it fine.
 
Arachnophile said:
Wow, back-to-back good episodes. Are the writers feeling okay? Things are finally happening again in this show.
So that's two Maidens that Cinder's lost to. Sure hope Emerald and Neo ain't going back to Salem with their tails between their legs. I feel like Salem is well within her rights to execute them for disobedience.

If Salem kills Cinder, does Salem become the next Fall Maiden? She's going to need an eligible bachelorette on hand, assuming she still needs to get into the Vault at Beacon.

Kinda miffed we didn't get a team CVFY cameo during the communications scene. But hey, we got to see 5 seconds of Vacuo. That's cool, right? Also given how that brief glimpse of Vacuo looked, I have a suspicion that's where the God of Destruction's fountain lies, as well as Salem's headquarters. But that wouldn't make any sense: why wouldn't they go for that Vault next after the fall of Beacon? Geographically speaking it would be closer to their own front door.

I'm willing to suspend my disbelief that everyone in Remnant would still have their phones or TVs up and powered on to catch this international broadcast when global communications have been down for a year. The sad thing is, if help does somehow arrive, it'll be another shark-jumping moment for the series, since how the HELL do you mobilize an army with the kind of firepower necessary to meet Salem's forces at Atlas?
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Let's not forget that Ironwood's got Penny back, only time will tell what happens next regarding that plot thread.

Also Ruby's speech suuuuuuuucks. I mean I get the intent- rally the troops to Atlas to fight off the world ending of world ending-est threats in Salem. But it's painfully obvious that no one, much less Miles himself, knows how to actually write for their lead character.
 
Jewelsmakerguy said:
Let's not forget that Ironwood's got Penny back, only time will tell what happens next regarding that plot thread.

Also Ruby's speech suuuuuuuucks. I mean I get the intent- rally the troops to Atlas to fight off the world ending of world ending-est threats in Salem. But it's painfully obvious that no one, much less Miles himself, knows how to actually write for their lead character.
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Its also just a stupid waste of time to try and mobilize an army AND get it to Atlas in a few weeks. Strike that, Its just impossible. But, Ruby is fucking stupid and doesn't recognize that this is an impossible task because power of friendship and other cliché garbage.

Atlas is lost and if she really wanted to help the world her real message should have been "The queen of the grimm is real, she is planning on coming for Vacuo, we will do our best to hold her off at Atlas, rally together and get a united army ready at Vacuo for when she comes". You know, if she was an ACTUAL hero who ACTUALLY gave a shit about saving lives this would be the only logical direction you could give to the world. But she is so inexperienced and naïve that she gives an impossible request that will only lead to way more deaths if anyone is stupid enough to follow through.
 
Amazing that so close to the shutdown by AT&T the episodes actually start to get good. lol in advance at RT.
 
Did the writers forget that part of Ironwood's plan is that they needed to mobilize the entirety of Atlas's army and go country by country to stop civil unrest, therefore drawing Grimm?

Why did Ironwood need an army to stop people from panicking about Salem but Ruby doesn't?
 
Kingu Cinnamon said:
Did the writers forget that part of Ironwood's plan is that they needed to mobilize the entirety of Atlas's army and go country by country to stop civil unrest, therefore drawing Grimm?

Why did Ironwood need an army to stop people from panicking about Salem but Ruby doesn't?
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We have already established that Ruby's entire plan is just Ironwood's plan, but stupid and impractical.
 
Live reaction to Episode 5:
Oh, right, I guess I haven't talked about the opening yet. Let's see...Alright so their past selves are showing off in their clothes. It's kind of cute and nostalgic but at this point RWBY hasn't grown enough from where it was for us to think that these minor costume changes really represent a later stage of the character. It's not like the younger versions of these girls are the OG Naruto crew and we're in Shipuuden. Yang still punches stuff. Ruby still runs around and hits things with her scythe. Weiss can summon now, which means she never uses her glyphs and for some reason only uses ice-based Dust now in the opening even though she has all sorts of Dust elements in her sword, and Blake is useless.

Clover is dead and his symbol shows the Ace Ops. The Ace Ops were originally a cool idea but they definitely needed more character development between their introduction and now for me to care about them. Like, they are a team of huntsmen that don't like each other and cooperate to get the job done. That represents a sort of Atlas structure, the kind that we should have gotten back in Never Miss a Beat but was lampshaded instead because of humor. Not that I'm complaining, Never Miss a Beat has all of the reasons why I love RWBY in it and Flynt Coal remains the most unique semblance/weapon combination in the cast in my opinion.

Salem hovers over Oscar, who is conflicted. Spooky. You know, she's a witch who has crazy strong powers, an army of Grimm, and her skin is pale white. It's pretty hard to make Salem not scary, but they definitely did so with her weird neutral expression here and her cringey outstretched arms. Salem is terrifying because she is cruel, like Cinder. Having her face devoid of the sort of anger or malice she regularly displays does not fit in this shot at all. Wow, it's been five minutes and I haven't gotten past the intro yet. Good thing I don't have a life.

Jaune, Ren and Nora are split up, a far cry from the Volume 4 opening where they were all standing together, with a sort of empty space between Ren and Nora where Pyrhha would have stood. And Ren and Nora both look conflicted. This feels so...forced. Yes, they're not on the same wavelength in this chapter but I don't understand why. If this was being hinted at, if there was some indication in the previous volumes that Ren and Nora were having issues, maybe it would make sense. But they've only grown closer throughout all their trials together. Before this volume we basically never saw Ren and Nora have an issue with each other that wasn't played off for laughs. They are a stable, happy couple. I don't have any reason to worry about how they're doing because RT hasn't shown me any of their struggling. It's another case of the "tell don't show" shit that they get criticized for, like discrimination against faunus.

Winter's outfit changes as she walks past Weiss. I don't know...why. Is that a sign that she's going to switch sides? Abandon James and join The Resistance(TM)? I guess since she's a girl and girls have to be in the right (except when they are strong and empowered main villains) that she would have to leave Ironwood sooner or later. It hasn't happened yet, so I'll reserve my judgment, but I don't like what this shot foreshadows.

And the rest of this title sequence is boring. Weiss only using ice, and the only thing that really sticks out to me is the line "some roses will never bloom". Not sure what that refers to. Ruby is only getting more powerful by the day. Regardless, the shot of actual Salem (vs Oscar's mind Salem) captures her perfectly, so I don't see why RT fucked up the earlier shot of her.

Then there's the text, which is bizarre. Happy/Happy? Ever/Never After/Again So deep, RT. Your cast hasn't been happy since you killed Penny. Even if you managed to have a perfect ending to this plot where no one dies, Yang makes amends with her mother, Qrow stops drinking for good, Blake gets a threesome marriage with Yang and Ilia, and Weiss takes over her father's company and boots out her brother while keeping her mother and sister together, none of your characters would be happy. They are emotionally traumatized and scarred from years of war. It's almost sociopathic how you still try and have them make jokes despite everything they have seen.

Episode finally starts. Gepetto says "there is a difference between a good idea and a best idea", once again demonstrating what this volume has unintentionally hammered on over and over, that the girls who are doing all the fighting are immature idealistic kids with zero sense of nuance and all the adults who are too old to get into the fray are making decisions for them.

Penny tries to make a stupid case for going back to Mantle, again. Even though Ruby and her other friends, who were idealistic shit heels in the first place, even realized that that particular idea is absolutely terrible. Thus, Penny is currently the worst character in the show. Great. Thanks RT. Really glad you resurrected her so she could be sacrificed to the plot again. At least Cinder is going to kill her personally this time.

"Don't you think Penny has had enough of people telling her what to do?" Apparently not, four eyes, because she's still talking about going back and fighting for Mantle! One person is not going to make a difference in an all out war. If Ruby, Jaune, Nora, Ren, Yang, Blake, Weiss, Oscar, and all the gang members are unable to protect the people of Mantle, then you being there probably won't make things too much better, Penny. But they could make things much, MUCH worse. Do you not understand that?

Oh, hey. It's Cinder. That makes absolutely zero sense!

Here is my live reaction to Cinder showing up, having paused it right after she appeared. All she's done is blast a hole through the structure and say 'And where do you think you're going?'

Ahem.
1) This is going to turn into a fight, which either Penny directly or RT indirectly is going to use to justify the idea that Penny was right all along and she should have stayed in Mantle, despite the fact that the only reason she is at more risk here than in Mantle is because RT is inexplicably having Salem be patient with her Grimm. RT has used bad writing to make a point about their bad writing. That is not a win for you, FNDM.
2) Cinder, how many fucking times does Salem have to tell you to sit before you sit? You are a disgusting arrogant mutt that bit through your leash for the last time. I cannot wait to see Cinder run home to Salem, looking smug and triumphant with the Maiden power only for Salem to fuck her up seven days from Sunday for disobeying her. Everyone in this chapter has problems with authority despite their leaders (Ironwood, Gepetto and Salem) displaying absolutely zero negative traits for their leadership so far.
3) Penny is going to try and fight using maiden powers, and I bet Watts is going to pull something here. Regardless, Penny is likely going to find out the hard way that she doesn't have as much control over winter as she thinks, and her dad is in the splash zone.

Okay. Moving on.

OH MY GOD ROOSTERTEETH. Literally the next frame. Penny looks back at her dad, and he is a mixture of fearful and sad. "Penny, no!" and Penny just fucking dives off right to Cinder. Are you kidding me? Penny, do you not care that this man used part of his soul to bring you back to life? Does that love not mean anything to you? I understand that Pinnochio was a snot-nosed little shit who didn't appreciate Gepetto either, but he was also a young puppet not a teenage woman.

Looks like Cinder isn't interested in a maiden fight quite yet. She opens up the battle with the most excessive use of Scorching Caress we've ever seen. She burns off a ton of little spikes off the metal platform and sends them hurling to Penny all at once. ...Huh, this is making me curious. Her semblance just lets her superheat objects. How is she able to throw them all? Do we just hand telekinesis out as a prize now? I guess if it makes the battle choreography look cooler. I remember when Cinder had to use the weapons she created in hand to hand.

Oh, shit. Just in time for Christmas, it looks like Grandma Got Fucked Over by a Cinder. Look, Reaper Girl, you may feel big and bad in that giant mech but you are well and truly outgunned. Though I guess no one ever told her who Cinder was, so that's fair that she doesn't know any better.

Oh, Neo is here. I thought Emerald offered to come with because Neo actually knew better than to question Salem? Well, that's three girls who are going to be permanently scarred by Salem's grimm claws or whatever. Assuming none of them die. Actually no, I'm pretty sure there's no reason for Emerald to be here except to die so Cinder feels some genuine pain for defying Salem here, despite the audience having no reason to care about Emerald's death because she hasn't been in the show in like four seasons.

"And what do YOU want?" Granny asks, as Neo brings her mech down. Neo transforms into Ruby, and then drags her out to fight hand to hand. And with that cute little use of her semblance, the mute Neo has more character this entire season than Emerald does. Just saying.

What the fuck? Now Cinder can create flaming shockwaves with blades created by her semblance? If the blades were really that hot as to burn the air when they touched it, before she even made the slash mark they would char her skin alive. Cinder is not somehow magically immune to fire. Or is this her maiden ability? Which one is she again? Autumn? I really don't understand the show at this point. They seem to make up whatever stupid magic bullshit they want for their characters on the fly.

Oh, Cinder's fire arrows explode now. That totally makes sense, with her very basic semblance of "I can superheat things and change the shape of metal".

Cinder immediately realizes Penny's weakness and heads back to Gepetto. And instantly, Penny realizes how badly she has fucked up. Too late now, bitch. We all tried to warn you.

Reaper girl actually lands a blow on Neo, making her better at fighting when she's 70 than Yang is in her prime (with both arms).

Classic "mindfuck the AI by making them question if they really have free will or not". It's over done at this point, but sure.

WOW. Has it really been so long since the plot that I forgot Cinder's disgusting Grimm arm and how she basically rapes the power out of people's eye socket? Ugh, I don't want to watch this.

Neo proves she is the baddest of all bad guys by getting a cheap shot on an old, blind short woman who is distracted.

Instant Karma with a full powered Penny beam to the side. Fantastic.

...Huh. I think that's the first time in a while we've heard a scream of pain from these people. They fight like crazy, blowing each other up, stabbing and punching and biting, but they almost never act as though they've taken any damage. Anyway Penny sees through Emerald's illusions because robot and blasts Cinder point blank in the chest.

Emerald pulls out her gun and fires a shot at Penny, making me suddenly remember that this show used to treat her as a genuine fighter that had a spot in the opening rather than as a cheap one-sided lezmance with Cinder and a deus ex machina with her semblance.

Penny suddenly swaps roles with Pietro. Now she cares more about Amity than Mantle, and is willing to sacrifice herself to hold Amity in place long enough for the broadcast to happen. Pietro says no because that would mean Penny dying. And again there is a huge disconnect between the main cast and the rest of the world. Penny has not once behaved like she was in the middle of a warzone with real stakes and real consequences for her actions. Meanwhile, Pietro actually cares that Penny is going to die. This is really, truly bizarre, it's like they slipped a bunch of paid actors into a world and had them read the same lines as everyone else but the actors have no sense of urgency, fear or doubt while everyone else is a regular human.

Wow. Look at that. Pietro says that he wants to see Penny grow up. He doesn't want to lose her again. Does Penny show even the slightest hint of guilt (misplaced though it may be) or regret, or concern? No. She says "I'm trying to (live my life)" as a way to press forward and not be told what to do. Then she gives her father a silent kiss on the forehead. That's it. No "I love you". No "thank you for building me or bringing me back". Not even a "If I don't come back...I want you to let me go." NOTHING. Penny is not part of the emotion of this scene at all.

Wow, that entire message to Remnant was a mess. "I know the idea of maidens and relics might sound crazy". What idea? You didn't explain anything. You just brought up maidens and relics at random and didn't tell the people about magic or relics, unless all that happened off screen for literally zero reason. Then, again for ZERO REASON, she says that General Ironwood can't be trusted, sewing unnecessary doubt, fear and division into the peoples of the world when this should be a time for unity and hope. This message is about bringing people together, Ruby, why are you making people feel like they would need to take a side between you and James? Isn't Salem the more important factor here?

Penny dies, and cheaply whispers "I love you" to her Dad, ten minutes after it mattered.

And now there's a river of Grimm. That's pretty fucking metal.
 
Don't Tread on Me said:
Before this volume we basically never saw Ren and Nora have an issue with each other that wasn't played off for laughs. They are a stable, happy couple. I don't have any reason to worry about how they're doing because RT hasn't shown me any of their struggling.
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This conflict is another example of RT not knowing how to write something genuine. It’s another shallow attempt to manipulate their remaining fan base into giving a shit akin to how Ruby suddenly developed a trauma over her mother in Volume Whatever.

Ren and Nora’s collective appeal were that they were ‘those two guys’, a straight man, funny guy dynamic with shipping fuel. It’s not unique combination or one that was always written well, but that provided early RWBY with a form of comedy that wasn’t shitty, out-of-place slapstick and creepy Maya faces. Now they’re being forced apart because RT wants RWBY to be *grittier and more mature and DARK* and that means 0 positivity allowed, everyone has to be tragic and anguished all the time. The two of them basically spent half their lives* growing up together so I just don’t believe the disagreement over Atlas would drive them apart so badly. Nora is basically a bleeding heart for a foreign country out of nowhere; imo I’d try and make it seem like this stems from regrets about not being able to save the village they came from.

*Based on V4 or 5 where they look between 8-10 when they first met and this was shortly before the attack that destroyed Kuroyuri.

RT keep writing themselves in knots so badly I almost feel sorry for them. I’m not sure just what you’d do with a le epic randumb troll xD like Nora if you *have* to include one in a serious combat setting because I’d assume a good writer would never create the need of a soft-reboot that caused this issue to begin with. And I wanted to say that Jaune is actually much more agreeable to me now. His character role may be completely redundant and forgotten but at least he’s competent in a fight, appears to have people skills now, and doesn’t steal precious screen time from the protagonists. The haircut thing is interesting, I don’t like his new style but I like that he *has* it because it reminds me of when a lanky emo high schooler finally trims his greasy bangs, graduates and grows up a bit. V4-V6 could’ve easily been Jaune’s adventures of getting over Pyrrha while he morphs into a JRPG antihero, I quite like him as the support.
 
Don't Tread on Me said:
Then there's the text, which is bizarre. Happy/Happy? Ever/Never After/Again So deep, RT. Your cast hasn't been happy since you killed Penny. Even if you managed to have a perfect ending to this plot where no one dies, Yang makes amends with her mother, Qrow stops drinking for good, Blake gets a threesome marriage with Yang and Ilia, and Weiss takes over her father's company and boots out her brother while keeping her mother and sister together, none of your characters would be happy. They are emotionally traumatized and scarred from years of war. It's almost sociopathic how you still try and have them make jokes despite everything they have seen.
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When you think about it, there's a lot of baggage to go around:
  • Ruby lost her mother at an early age, and if Red Like Roses 2 is any indication, she didn't take it very well.
  • Weiss had an alcoholic mother, a father who only married for status and tried to raise her as a prime heiress in a very controlling manner, along with a terrorist group who made Weiss resent the Faunus to the point where she could have been a full on racist.
  • Blake was the top accomplice of Adam Taurus, the leader of a sect of that terrorist group the White Fang, Meaning that Blake would have to use an alias if she wanted to be at Beacon since a typical dig into her would reveal who she really is. Not only that, but V4 reveals herself to be a princess with loving parents from a place that's basically Hawaii, so her spiel of "I was raised outside the kingdoms. If you can't fight you won't survive" could be technically true, but at the same time, you could write Blake as someone who's very insecure and likes to paint an image of herself that she thinks will make people think highly of her.
  • Yang had to deal with her losing her stepmother at an early age, and her biological mother walking out of her life shortly after she was born, leaving her to basically grow up really early in order to care for her little sister. And then she had to realize searching for biological mother wasn't really worth it because Raven seems to only be a coward who cares for just herself (and then there's the matter of Vernal if you want to develop her character further).
  • Phyrra seems to be burdened by her reputation as a great fighter and was attracted to Jaune for not caring for her celebrity.
  • Ren and Nora are an orphan and a kid on the streets who seemingly went their entire lives with just each other, so you could easily write a plot of separation anxiety for either of them if you really wanted to.
  • We don't know enough of Qrow's origins to cement anything, but you could easily write him as being the one in the shadow of the preferred Raven in their tribe (or have them be like how Ozai saw Azula and Zuko where "one was born lucky, and one was lucky to be born"), or you could copy Devil May Cry and have Qrow as Dante, Raven as Vergil, and Yang as Nero.
  • Jaune wants to live up to his family's legacy, and is willing to do whatever is necessary to do so.
So if you think about it, there are MANY DEEP SCARS AND WOUNDS that don't heal easily, and can't really be 100% cured with a fight scene, as Monty Oum would have you believe. I can only imagine the bills from therapy.
 
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Random Internet Person said:
When you think about it, there's a lot of baggage to go around:
  • Ruby lost her mother at an early edge, and if Red Like Roses 2 is any indication, she didn't take it very well.
  • Weiss had an alcoholic mother, a father who only married for status and tried to raise her as a prime heiress in a very controlling manner, along with a terrorist group who made Weiss resent the Faunus to the point where she could have been a full on racist.
  • Blake was the top accomplice of Adam Taurus, the leader of a sect of that terrorist group the White Fang, Meaning that Blake would have to use an alias if she wanted to be at Beacon since a typical dig into her would reveal who she really is. Not only that, but V4 reveals herself to be a princess with loving parents from a place that's basically Hawaii, so her spiel of "I was raised outside the kingdoms. If you can't fight you won't survive" could be technically true, but at the same time, you could write Blake as someone who's very insecure and likes to paint an image of herself that she thinks will make people think highly of her.
  • Yang had to deal with her losing her stepmother at an early age, and her biological mother walking out of her life shortly after she was born, leaving her to basically grow up really early in order to care for her little sister. And then she had to realize searching for biological mother wasn't really worth it because Raven seems to only be a coward who cares for just herself (and then there's the matter of Vernal if you want to develop her character further).
  • Phyrra seems to be burdened by her reputation as a great fighter and was attracted to Jaune for not caring for her celebrity.
  • Ren and Nora are an orphan and a kid on the streets who seemingly went their entire lives with just each other, so you could easily write a plot of separation anxiety for either of them if you really wanted to.
  • We don't know enough of Qrow's origins to cement anything, but you could easily write him as being the one in the shadow of the preferred Raven in their tribe (or have them be like how Ozai saw Azula and Zuko where "one was born lucky, and one was lucky to be born"), or you could copy Devil May Cry and have Qrow as Dante, Raven as Vergil, and Yang as Nero.
  • Jaune wants to live up to his family's legacy, and is willing to do whatever is necessary to do so.
So if you think about it, there are MANY DEEP SCARS AND WOUNDS that don't heal easily, and can't really be 100% cured with a fight scene, as Monty Oum would have you believe. I can only imagine the bills from therapy.
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Yes and that's the issue. Literally none of this would be a problem if we started this show in Volume 4. The insane divide between as late as Volume 3 Episode 5 and the rest of the show gives me whiplash. I liked Ruby from almost the beginning, I watched Seasons 1 and 2 a month before Season 3 aired and I watched every episode since then as they aired (except Volume 6 because I had given up on RT after Volume 5).

It's just...I don't know. This has to be what Simpsons fans feel like, I assume. To watch the characters you know and love act like hollow shells of what they are supposed to be.
 
Well, finally got to posting this. 70152397-16A7-417D-BEB7-76780D7E9672.png
 
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