| 1 | %% Folder images removed per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1517783641050009500 |
| 2 | %% Please do not replace or remove main image without starting a new thread. |
| 3 | %%f |
| 4 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rwby_v4_clean.jpg]] |
| 5 | [[caption-width-right:350:[[TookALevelInBadass Looks like someone's been hitting the]] [[MemeticMutation milk.]]]] |
| 6 | |
| 7 | ->''"But you're still here, despite everything you've lost, everything you could still lose, you chose to come out here. Because you felt like you could make a difference. You didn't drag us along. You gave us the courage to follow you."'' |
| 8 | -->-- '''Jaune Arc''' to '''Ruby Rose''' |
| 9 | |
| 10 | It was created by Creator/MontyOum, man. ''Of course'' WebAnimation/{{RWBY}} will have lots of badass moments. |
| 11 | |
| 12 | List the examples in a chronological order, if possible. |
| 13 | ---- |
| 14 | |
| 15 | !! Warning: Administrivia/SpoilersOff applies to this page. Proceed at your own risk. |
| 16 | ---- |
| 17 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 18 | |
| 19 | [[folder:Trailers / Character Shorts]] |
| 20 | * The first we saw of the series was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYW2GmHB5xs this trailer]], which is already ''dripping'' with the awesome stylized violence Creator/MontyOum is known for. Moments of note include: |
| 21 | ** Ruby embedding her scythe into the ground, dodging a lunging attack while on top of her weapon and then firing to shoot one wolf and send herself spinning through the air to kick another one in the face. |
| 22 | ** Catching one wolf with a scythe hook and firing to both cut the first in half and blow away the one advancing. Said bifurcated wolf's top half then flies into another one and knocks it down. |
| 23 | ** Performing a full rotational flip with her scythe to bring it under a wolf's head, then firing for the decapitation. |
| 24 | ** ''Flying with recoil.'' |
| 25 | ** Loading a new type of ammunition and firing, which sends her soaring at near-mach speeds. She then fires again which causes her to spiral violently in the air, transforming her into a flying guillotine that sends shells, limbs and heads in every possible direction, ''decimating'' fifty wolves in just over ten seconds. By this point it's clear the wolves are not the apex hunter. It's ''Ruby''. |
| 26 | ** The ending, where she pulls off a few flips as she finishes one last wolf, and then we realize she's literally taken them all out while staying ''completely and utterly unharmed.'' And then just for punctuation, it starts raining spent shells... |
| 27 | * The second [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt9vl8iAN5Q trailer]] did not disappoint. |
| 28 | ** Weiss using InstantRunes to enhance her speed and agility, along with using them to make [[SteppingStonesInTheSky steps in mid-air]], ''including at right-angles to the ground.'' |
| 29 | ** Weiss's BloodUpgrade, using her Rapier to full effect: |
| 30 | *** Red setting not only blocked an overhand sword strike (delivered with a {{BFS}}, no less!), it sent the Black Knight reeling backward. |
| 31 | *** Light Blue setting encased the Black Knight in ice. |
| 32 | *** Yellow setting increased her speed even higher, going so fast that she simultaneously dodged a sword slash and ''got on top of the sword as it was swinging''. She follows this up by depriving the Black Knight of his sword with the Purple setting. Plus, this single attack ''shattered the ice she summoned seconds ago,'' '''but it never made direct contact''' |
| 33 | *** The Blue setting placed a rune on the ground where she was standing, having predicted that the knight would do a downward punch at said location. Which after contact (and her dodge), sent the Black Knight up into the air. Followed by Weiss immobilizing him in mid-air with the same setting. |
| 34 | *** And finally, finishing him off with the [[SnowMeansDeath White setting]]. |
| 35 | * Where do we even ''start'' with the third [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImKCt7BD4U4 trailer]]? |
| 36 | ** Blake: |
| 37 | *** She does not even draw her weapon at first; she simply slices robots apart with her metal sheath! And after she ''does'' draw her sword, ''she dual wields them to devastating effect.'' |
| 38 | *** Throughout the trailer, Blake shows great speed, even to the point that she's able to make ''afterimages of herself''. Not to mention single-handedly deflecting machine gun bullets. |
| 39 | *** When firing at range, her sword '''transforms into a gun on a ribbon'''. Which skillfully uses recoil and momentum to fling the sharp edge onto enemies, firing into others ''without need of a trigger'', and otherwise clearing the area around her with tremendous speed. |
| 40 | *** When facing a SpiderTank to buy Adam time, despite not putting a scratch on it, ''she successfully dodges every single attack it launches at her''. '''And this was while running, flying, and otherwise flinging herself around'''. And she does all of the above IN HEELS. |
| 41 | *** Her defection at the end counts as an emotional awesome moment, once we learn [[WhatYouAreInTheDark the context behind it]]. This is a girl who has been degraded by humans her entire life, yet she has the courage and moral integrity to recognize that killing innocent humans is wrong, and to abandon the White Fang when Adam won't listen. She is willing to put her safety and livelihood on the line to do the right thing. On top of that, given the implications in Volume 3 of just how abusive Adam was towards her, the moment of Blake defying him becomes even more awesome. |
| 42 | ** Adam: |
| 43 | *** When asked to identify themselves, Adam merely smiles, ''then his sword shoots itself out of its sheath''. Adam then effortlessly slices the drone up, sheathing his sword before the cut even fully showed itself. |
| 44 | *** Much like Blake, he deflects machine gun bullets like they're nothing. |
| 45 | *** Throughout the trailer, Adam moves and destroys robots with relaxed, conservative movements while subtly displaying his speed. He effortlessly sliced through six drones so fast that each of them blew up at once, and even manages to juggle three robots mid-air with his sword swings. |
| 46 | *** The swordsman also displays the ability to cut opponents outside of his blade range. Either he can [[SwordBeam charge up his sword]], or ''[[ImplausibleFencingPowers he sliced the air so fast]]'' ''[[RazorWind that only the shockwaves made contact]]''. |
| 47 | *** Despite his conservative fighting style, he {{flash step}}s twice to save Blake, displaying tremondous speed as well as his soft side. Although this is later [[{{Domestic Abuser}} subverted]]. |
| 48 | *** When about to be crushed, he unleashes an EnergyAbsorption LimitBreak that not only completely absorbs the {{spider tank}}'s WaveMotionGun, it proceeds to demolish the immediate area ''and'' the droid, causing them to '''dissolve into rose petals mere milliseconds after contact'''. |
| 49 | *** His laugh right before said LimitBreak just sells the entire scene. |
| 50 | * The fourth [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCw_aAS7vWI trailer]] doesn't disappoint, either. |
| 51 | ** Monty and the team put the [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic music]] to astounding use: the nightclub somehow changes the colors of the area Yang's fighting in, changing the music to go with it, with each change corresponding to the correct color. And listen carefully. The music in the trailer is dance remixes of the previous 3 trailer songs (Red Like Roses, Mirror Mirror and From Shadows). Plus each time the colour changes, it changes to the colours used in the corresponding trailer. |
| 52 | ** Yang lures in Junior what he thinks is a kiss, he's literally an inch away, ''then she sucker-punches him square in the jaw'', '''and he goes flying'''. |
| 53 | ** Kiss fake-out aside, she gets info out of him by grabbing his balls and ''squeezing''. Damn, that is '''brutal'''. |
| 54 | *** You don't call Yang "sweetheart". When she's interrogating you and has your balls in her grasp, you call her "sir". |
| 55 | ** Immediately afterward, Yang takes on a large amount of mooks in one of the best ways possible: ''with gun gauntlets''. Not only does she simply punch with them, ''she effortlessly fires shots not just as bullets, but as a recoil-boost to increase her strike's power''. |
| 56 | ** Special mention should go to the DJ in the bear suit. After watching Yang effortless beat the piss out of a dozen other mooks, he doesn't run. He whips out a machinegun and hoses down the dance floor. Yang still takes him out without much trouble, but that one mobster in his funny suit had a spine of steel. |
| 57 | ** During their fight, Melanie impressively manages to [[MirrorMatch perfectly mirror Yang's footwork]]. Yang quickly realizes this, throws her off balance, ''then promptly ends the fight by spinning Melanie around herself, and kicking her in the head''. |
| 58 | ** As Yang fights Junior, she gets faster and faster with her punches, ''then her eyes turn red in slow-mo...'' '''and her punch breaks his weapon in half'''. |
| 59 | *** And then she sees he mistakenly pulled out a few of her locks. Junior smirks to himself, having finally managed to touch Yang and even [[WorthIt coming away with a small trophy of sorts]]. Unfortunately, this results in Yang ''destroying the area around her and throwing a screaming MegatonPunch that knocked Junior out''. |
| 60 | *** And her anger briefly broke the ''color spectrum!'' |
| 61 | *** And what's more, the look we get of the club immediately afterwards shows [[KungShui every single window blowing out]] with a bright yellow flash from that one punch. ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill. |
| 62 | *** And if that wasn't enough, notice how he is [[DestinationDefenestration sent flying through the first storey window]] while they were fighting on the ''ground'' floor. Either a mere continuity error, or Yang ''punched Junior so hard he crashed through the ceiling''. Owie. |
| 63 | * The trailer for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNAX4EQF2r8 Volume 2]]. [[note]] Possible spoilers, so you've been warned [[/note]] |
| 64 | * [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ziz6GGwu35g The official Japanese Volume One Trailer]] came out to much fanfare in Japan and revealed an all-star cast of voice actors for the characters. |
| 65 | * [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0WeiG2-HRQ The Volume 4 Ruby Character Short]]: |
| 66 | ** Ruby once again rides into battle on a Nevermore, only this time, she uses Crescent Rose, and instead of just falling off, she slices the Grimm's wing off, and falls down into the middle of the town with enough force to shatter a statue in the town square. |
| 67 | ** While fighting a pack of much [[TookALevelInBadass smarter and meaner]] Beowulves, Ruby launches herself at one atop a rooftop using her Semblance... only to split apart into three red blurs in mid-air, converge behind the Beowulf, and slice it in half. |
| 68 | ** A new, terrifyingly-strong Grimm called a Beringal shows up, like an enormous armored gorilla, and is so tough it {{No Sell}}s Crescent Rose's blade and gun components and is fast enough and strong enough to keep up with Ruby and nearly kills her. |
| 69 | ** Ruby manages to defeat the aforementioned Beringal by smashing through the tower window of a church, tripping the Beringal with her scythe, then using her Semblance to create a massive tornado to launch it into the air, then spears it through the chest with Crescent Rose in spear mode and impaling it to the ground, and finally delivering the kill shot with a point-blank bullet to the chin. |
| 70 | * [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZAS_rzgCE0 The Volume 5 Weiss Character Short]]: |
| 71 | ** Aside from starting off showcasing some gorgeous wind, hair, and cloth physics, the way Weiss flows during her attacks, using actual fencing techniques and stabs along with spinning slashes is nothing short of beautiful. |
| 72 | ** The wide shot where Weiss leaps between glyphs, slaughtering Beowolves, is something right out of classic Monty Oum choreography. Rooster Teeth's animation team is doing him proud. |
| 73 | ** Weiss' use of Dust and her Aura, burning through a wave of Beowolves and then impaling another charge on spikes of ice. |
| 74 | ** And, just to demonstrate the gulf between where she was and is now, the revelation that all of these Beowolves were Winter's avatars. Going by this short, she was going ''easy'' on Qrow when they dueled. |
| 75 | * [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTJzFCebdvQ The Volume 5 Blake Character Short]] has the cat Faunus and Sun going after a member of the White Fang. During their pursuit of him, when he detaches a cart and sends it rolling towards them, Sun spawns two light clones to help him stop it. |
| 76 | ** It can vary depending on the person, but Ilia's backstory where she talks about how she finally revealed her faunus nature to her racist friends in the Atlas prep school right after they laughed at several faunus dying in a mining accident. Her delivery at the end when she says "don't be (sorry). I ''broke their teeth''." is chilling yet awesome. |
| 77 | * [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Sn8BGKOv6Q The Volume 5 Yang Character Short]]: |
| 78 | ** Yang takes on a colossal Ursa, probably the biggest we've seen on-screen, brawling with the monster single-handedly, and this is before she ever even attended Beacon! |
| 79 | ** When the Ursa spots an unarmed and weakened Ruby and charges her, Yang [[TakingTheBullet jumps into it's path and right into its jaws]] to stop it. |
| 80 | ** Then, [[EnergyAbsorption using her Semblance]], Yang leaps at the Ursa and punches it so hard in the arm that she shatters its bones, and the shockwave traveling through its body kills it. |
| 81 | * [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=st5OBtPfVcA The Volume 6 Adam Character Short]]: |
| 82 | ** Adam's descent into darkness is depicted wonderfully, starting with him killing a racist human via his Semblance (after knocking out a number of other humans), in order to prevent Ghira from getting killed by said racist. It's set to "Lionize", a fittingly aggressive ImageSong for Adam. |
| 83 | *** The aftermath proves to be the exact moment that Sienna starts doubting Ghira's leadership, because the latter immediately chews Adam out for the murder. Sienna rightly points out that Adam saved his life, and calls him a hero. Even Adam seems surprised by the adulation he gets. |
| 84 | ** Later, we get to see Sienna, Adam, and Ilia lead a raid on an SDC facility. |
| 85 | *** We finally get to see Sienna in action. Her weapon is a rope dart ... where the rope is a chain, and the dart is infused with Dust. It's as awesome as it sounds. Sienna even pinches a gun from one of the human guards with the rope dart, and uses the combo like a chain scythe. It suddenly becomes clear as to who taught Blake her weapon skills. |
| 86 | *** Adam's in top form, twirling his blade like a pinwheel to block a hailstorm of bullets from the SDC droids. A few seconds later, he then charges in following up Ilia's advance, slices three droids as he passes through, and ends this display with firing his sword pommel-first into another robot's face, sending the blade twirling in midair as he leaps on the same droid, shoots it in the face on the way up, and roundhouse kicks the sword into another android's face. When he and his party gets a smoke bomb in their face, he and Sienna brave it and unleash one hell of a CurbStompBattle against the guards. |
| 87 | ** And later, we see what happens after Sienna got killed. Adam's informed by some of his guards that Hazel's learned of [[Recap/RWBYV5E9APerfectStorm complications to the plan]]. Adam's response? |
| 88 | --->'''Adam:''' Don't worry; nothing will stop us now. [[TemptingFate It's time I]] [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor got what I deserved]]! |
| 89 | *** Naturally, the last shot is of Adam throwing his mask away as he staggers into the woods, alone. |
| 90 | * The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQh6EYwCQ10 Volume 6 Trailer]]: |
| 91 | ** People bowing down to a figure who seems to be ''flying'' (possibly one of the two other Maidens). |
| 92 | ** Salem saying, presumably to Emerald, that their desires will be lost to them if they put them before hers, not as a threat, but a statement of truth. |
| 93 | ** The TraintopBattle snippets, especially when Ruby is seemingly using her Semblance with someone. Then there's her response when Blake asks what the plan is: |
| 94 | ---> '''Ruby:''' Don't let anyone else die! |
| 95 | ** A karmic example, seeing Adam ''scream his lungs out'' in frustration and agony during the trailer is very, very satisfying. |
| 96 | [[/folder]] |
| 97 | |
| 98 | !!Beacon Arc |
| 99 | |
| 100 | [[folder:Volume 1]] |
| 101 | [[AC:Ruby Rose]] |
| 102 | * Ruby kicking the crap out of the mobsters. |
| 103 | ** Specifically, the moment she crashes out of the window and unfolds her scythe, all while the show's [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic new theme 'This Will Be The Day' plays over her speakers]]. That very fight is what propels her enrollment into Beacon. |
| 104 | * The WizardDuel between Glynda and the mysterious woman. Glynda's mastery of her telekinetic abilities enables her to deliver some incredibly impressive attacks on the ship, ranging from controlling debris and turn them into projectiles, to creating thunderstorms to rain down hail shards onto the ship. The mysterious woman, while at first appearing to just be Roman's lackey, is able to put up an impressive fight on her own with her Fire based attacks, destabilizing the ground beneath Glynda and Ruby to catch them off guard, causing a shockwave that destroys the debris attacks from Glynda, and ultimately giving the impression she's more than she lets on. |
| 105 | ** Fridge awesome kicks in when you realize this was probably after team Cinder attacked Amber outside of the kingdoms, meaning that Glynda was holding ground against a maiden at half power single handedly. |
| 106 | |
| 107 | [[AC:The Shining Beacon Parts I and II]] |
| 108 | * Blake coming to Ruby's defense against Weiss, who is harshly insulting the former over an honest mistake. She brings up the fact that the Schnee company uses controversial labor practices and has contact with shady business partners, causing Weiss to throw a mini tantrum and storm off. |
| 109 | |
| 110 | [[AC:The First Step Parts I and II]] |
| 111 | * Aside from Jaune, each one launches with looks ranging from determination to excitement. |
| 112 | * Ozpin calmly watches the kids get thrown off a cliff into a monster-filled forest. He's sipping coffee. He's smiling. And somehow it makes him look awesome in a very terrifying way. |
| 113 | * The way everyone actually lands is pretty cool. Ruby uses Crescent Rose to slow herself down before swinging through the branches, Weiss creates SteppingStonesInTheSky, Lie Ren latches onto a tree and doing a BladeBrake spin down the trunk, Yang uses her gauntlets to propel herself [[NotQuiteFlight even faster and further into the forest]] before {{wall jump}}ing from tree to tree down, and Pyrrha just tanks everything in her way with her shield. |
| 114 | * Pyrrha safely pinning Jaune, a spinning aerial moving target, to a tree from long range via spear throw aimed with nothing more than her thumb... and her only response is a small apology to his fainter-from-distance "Thank you!". |
| 115 | * Pyrrha's weapon changes from a sword to a rifle to a spear in one scene, showing the versatility of her fighting style. |
| 116 | * Ruby's confidence counts as a minor one. She cheerfully tells Weiss that she knows Weiss dislikes her, and that's okay because she'll prove to Weiss that she's a useful partner. She even hugs her! It takes courage to love like that, especially when you take into consideration how harshly Weiss has treated Ruby so far. |
| 117 | |
| 118 | [[AC:The Emerald Forest Parts I and II]] |
| 119 | * Do not mess with Lie Ren. If you do, he'll [[TheToothHurts rip out your fangs]], [[EyeScream stab you through the eye]] with one, and finish by making YourHeadAsplode with a palm strike to said tooth-impaled eye. |
| 120 | * Yang fights against two Grimm Ursae (bears the size of minivans), and with only a few punches, tosses them around like rag dolls while she engages in CasualDangerDialogue. She good-naturedly taunts them, until she notices they got [[NobodyTouchesTheHair one of her hairs]]... then she explodes, sending the Grimm flying before recoiling herself after it. [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown What follows can only be described as her destroying that creature]], the final blows sending it through several trees. |
| 121 | ** The Japanese Dub added another moment of awesome, instead of shouting and grunting, what does Yang say? [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders ORA ORA ORA]]! Watch Yang enter her inner Jotaro Kujo in all it's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZecH0ciFVjk glory!]] |
| 122 | ** Then when she demands if the other Grimm wants some of her, he suddenly topples - to reveal Blake, having killed him with a ''single'' well-placed strike. And she doesn't even say anything; [[AsideGlance she just smirks]]. |
| 123 | * Weiss for having the wisdom to cut her and Ruby's losses after accidentally setting the forest on fire, rather than attempt to salvage the increasingly dangerous situation by trying to exploit the Grim's disarray amid the flames. |
| 124 | * Pyrrha unlocking Jaune's aura. There's nothing spectacular about the action in and of itself, but the combination of dialogue, camera angles, and soundtrack will leave you in a state of quiet awe. |
| 125 | |
| 126 | [[AC:Players and Pieces]] |
| 127 | * The first half of the episode included: |
| 128 | ** Nora riding an Ursa around the forest. |
| 129 | ** Ruby and Weiss riding Nevermore. |
| 130 | ** Weiss saving a pinned Ruby from Death Stalker by freezing its claws and stinger in place. |
| 131 | *** Not to mention the fact that she dashed across the length of a track field ''in mere seconds'' to do it. |
| 132 | ** Ruby and Weiss stepping up as leaders leading to Yang pausing to admire her sister. |
| 133 | * The JustForFun/HolyShitQuotient kicks in for the second half: |
| 134 | ** Team JNPR vs. Death Stalker. |
| 135 | *** Nora unveils her weapon, and uses it to launch her and Jaune to help Pyrrha and Ren, and hits the creature in the head. |
| 136 | *** Pyrrha blocks a hit, then throws her spear straight into [[EyeScream one of its eyes]]. |
| 137 | *** Jaune actually being able to hold himself in a fight, by blocking one of the Death Stalker's claws and allowing Pyrrha to counter attack. |
| 138 | *** Ren purposefully hitches a ride, firing point-black at the base of the stinger. |
| 139 | *** Jaune quickly notices this, calling for Pyrrha, who throws her shield Captain America style and slices it off, impaling it in the Death Stalker's head. Then he calls for Nora, who with a boost from Pyrrha and her weapon's recoil is launched in the air, then fires her weapon as she descends from the arc and ''drives the stinger right through the Death Stalker's brain and kills it''. |
| 140 | ** Team RWBY vs Nevermore. |
| 141 | *** When accidentally knocked off, Blake embeds Gambol Shroud in the stonework, slinging and landing herself on her flying opponent. |
| 142 | *** Yang purposefully blasts the Nevermore's head, [[WeNeedADistraction drawing its attention into coming straight at her.]] Inches away, the giant bird opening its beak, attempting to make a meal out of her, Yang unflinchingly leaps ''forward''... [[EatMe wedging herself in its open beak.]] ''Then she '''force-feeds''' the explosive power of her gauntlets down its throat.'' |
| 143 | ---->'''Yang''': [[PunctuatedPounding I! HOPE! YOU'RE! HUN! GRY!]] |
| 144 | *** Their master plan: Weiss freezes its tail, pinning the Nevermore right near the cliffside. A distance away, Blake throws Gambol Shroud which Yang catches, making a makeshift slingshot. Ruby [[FastballSpecial gets herself to be the projectile]], and with the aid of Weiss, launches herself hundreds of feet, wrapping Crescent Rose around its throat and slamming it against the cliff. Weiss makes more runes appear, in a line straight up. Then Ruby starts firing Crescent Rose and runs ''straight up the cliff, completely defying gravity and dragging the 20X larger Grimm with her, screaming the whole while''. '''Then at the top, with sheer momentum, Ruby [[OffWithHisHead takes the Nevermore's head clean off.]]''' This is topped off with the SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic of "Red Like Roses Part II" hitting the vocals as Ruby takes flight. |
| 145 | ---->'''[[AudienceSurrogate Jaune:]]''' "...Wow." |
| 146 | * The sheer amount of punishment the Death Stalker and especially Nevermore were able to take. Both took a pretty heavy pounding from all of them, and JUST. KEPT. GOING. The Death Stalker's armor made all bullets/grenades/weapons launched at him bounce off, and a hit to an eye barely slowed him down beside the expected pain. The Nevermore had ''explosive bullets fired down its throat'' and was stunned at best... plus, it crashed into the side of a cliff (something that would ''shatter most birds' bones at that velocity''), was barely winded, and could otherwise crash through massive stonework without slowing. |
| 147 | * Jaune and Ruby being made leaders of their respective teams. It makes more sense when you realize that ''they'' were the ones who figured out how to kill the monsters, while the rest were just attacking, and that being able to tactically assess a situation is a good virtue of a leader. |
| 148 | |
| 149 | [[AC:The Badge and the Burden Parts I and II]] |
| 150 | * Despite being a little taken aback by the boar monster's armored hide at first, Weiss ultimately dispatches the beast. Plus she doesn't panic under adversity, as seen when her weapon was knocked away. |
| 151 | ** Additionally counts as one for Ruby, because--despite Weiss' initial belief that Ruby's childish--she spots the monster's weak point and tells Weiss exactly what to aim for. |
| 152 | * Due to her frustration from the previous episode, Weiss says she should have been picked leader of Team RWBY. Professor Port just looks at her a moment... then turns things on their head by bluntly stating "That's preposterous", and only proceeds to lay it on thick from there. He takes Weiss down a peg, ''without'' making her defensive/even angrier OR outright scolding her, even slipping encouragement by the end, with just the right words + patience. Being a character played almost entirely for laughs the previous episode, Monty + the RT gang deserve mad props for pulling it off so well. |
| 153 | -->'''Weiss:''' ''Excuse'' me!?\ |
| 154 | '''Professor Port:''' I've believed in Professor Ozpin for many years, and he's never once led me astray.\ |
| 155 | '''Weiss:''' So you would just blindly accept his decision, even after seeing how ''exceptional'' I am?\ |
| 156 | '''Port:''' With all due respect, your "exceptional" skill on the battlefield is matched only by your ''[[AlphaBitch poor]]'' attitude.\ |
| 157 | '''Weiss:''' HOW DARE YOU!?\ |
| 158 | '''Port:''' [[DeadpanSnarker My point exactly.]] I see a girl before me who's spent her entire life getting ''exactly'' what she wanted.\ |
| 159 | '''Weiss:''' That is not even ''remotely'' true! ''[{{beat}}]''\ |
| 160 | '''Port:''' ''[remains unfazed, except for a [[FascinatingEyebrow small brow]]]''\ |
| 161 | '''Weiss:''' Well... not ''entirely'' true.\ |
| 162 | '''Port:''' So the outcome did not fall in your favor. Do you ''really'' believe acting in a such a manner would cause those in power to reconsider their decision? Instead of fretting over what you don't have, savor what you ''do''. Hone your skills, perfect every technique, and be not the best 'leader', but the best ''person'' you can be. |
| 163 | |
| 164 | [[AC:Jaundice Parts I and II]] |
| 165 | * [[JetPack Rocket-propelled]] [[MundaneMadeAwesome lockers]]. Volume 2 goes to show just how useful and awesome they are. |
| 166 | * One for the Faunus in the backstory, as revealed in the history lesson: apparently badly outnumbered, they were able to emerge victorious in what turns out to be a turning point of their struggle for freedom by taking advantage of their superior natural night vision. |
| 167 | * Pyrrha gets one when she gives Cardin Winchester a verbal smackdown. Also, Blake gets in some pretty good jabs at Cardin's expense. TakeThatScrappy at its finest. |
| 168 | * Oobleck proves just what the Beacon teaching staff is all about. They're eccentric as all hell. They're also exceptional educators capable of getting to the point almost instantly. Oobleck only needed two-seconds out of his hyperactive antics to say three words. "It stops now." His power of authority radiated from that simple phrase. |
| 169 | |
| 170 | [[AC:Forever Fall Parts I and II]] |
| 171 | * Jaune caught a bunch of Rapier Wasps offscreen and put them in a box without getting stung. |
| 172 | * Jaune refusing Cardin's blackmail and throwing the sap at him instead. Considering he could be kicked out of Beacon if he didn't listen to him and in the last five seconds looks like he's about to become the victim of a four-on-one beatdown, the fact that he still didn't go against his friends (and especially Pyrrha, the intended victim) is admirable. |
| 173 | * Jaune continuing to stand up to Cardin even after being punched hard. |
| 174 | ** Then his aura kicks in, hurting Cardin's fist. |
| 175 | * The Ursa utterly curb-stomping Cardin who can't even fight back. |
| 176 | * Ruby proving that she ''is'' without doubt a Grade-A leader by immediately taking command of the situation when it became apparent there's an Ursa wrecking Cardin and Jaune. |
| 177 | ** The first thing she does? Send Ren and Nora to get Professor Goodwitch. Team RWBY and Team JNPR are badass super-powered warriors... '''in training'''. Ruby knows this might be something they can't handle, and they might need backup. It's nice to see the kids doing as much as the teachers to avert AdultsAreUseless. |
| 178 | * Jaune coming to the rescue of the guy who was just a few moments ago, threatening to destroy him in the worst ways. |
| 179 | ** He checks his Aura meter. Sees it's low. [[{{Determinator}} He keeps on fighting.]] For a guy with no combat training, Jaune is showing a ton of potential. |
| 180 | ** Pyrrha subtly using her 'polarity' power to guide Jaune's shield. |
| 181 | ** Jaune taking the Ursa's head clean off. Notice that Pyrrha only manipulated his shield, that sword stroke was all Jaune. |
| 182 | *** Part of the fight was done in slow motion, all to emphasize how awesome the moment is. |
| 183 | ** Also, the Ursa in this episode is much larger, stronger, and more armored than the Ursa we've seen before. Jaune not only stops one of its strikes with his shield, but also takes off its head with a single slash. |
| 184 | ** Jaune follows up by [[TranquilFury quietly]] telling Cardin never to mess with his team. At the start of the episode, Cardin just mocked Jaune's "bravery" but now he's completely lost for words. Jaune certainly made his point with the Ursa. |
| 185 | *** Specifically, just before the Ursa shows up, Cardin taunts Jaune, with "[[FiveSecondForeshadowing Let's see how much of a man you really are]]." Then the Ursa shows up, Cardin's team run away, and Cardin gets [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass his answer]]: Just when it's about to kill him, [[WhatYouAreInTheDark Jaune saves his life, despite having every reason to just let him die]]. For all his self-doubt, Jaune's more of a man than Cardin could ever be. |
| 186 | * Heck, this entire episode was a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome for Jaune, considering, for the first time, he actually killed a Grimm (almost) entirely by himself. And this was the same creature that was giving Cardin trouble. |
| 187 | |
| 188 | [[AC:The Stray]] |
| 189 | * While many may consider the series take on the issues of racism and inequality as simplistic and juvenile, RWBY does a fantastic job of averting the common stance of "white guilt" that plagues so many books, movies, and shows. Instead of a cut and dry answer that Weiss is supremely racist against the faunus and the White Fang (read: minorities/unions) have every right to take militant action against the SDC (read: middle-upper class whites/big business), viewers are treated to a description of how dark Weiss's childhood actually is (which in previous episodes is stereotyped as being entitled and spoiled). This gives her views a lot of motivation and reason, and the common belief that being rich and privileged = happy and carefree is shot down rather bluntly. Instead of the White Fang being shown as being purely inspirational/"for the common people," its darker and deadlier militant side (a side that has many parallels to real life movements such as Civil Rights) is described as taking actions common for a militant organization. In the end both Weiss and Blake descend from bad blood, but the moral proves that one's ancestry does not determine one's future. Despite the cartoon aspect of the show, its conclusion and message are surprisingly mature, and one must applaud Monty and Rooster Teeth for taking a balanced stance on issues that often are given a slanted view in media. |
| 190 | * In a weird way, how quickly Blake goes from zero to gone after she accidentally outs herself as a former member of the White Fang. She's just ''gone''. That's not her semblance. And it [[TearJerker certainly]] isn't comedic exaggeration. That's how fast she can ''actually run''. |
| 191 | |
| 192 | [[AC:Black and White]] |
| 193 | * [[BadassAdorable Penny.]] |
| 194 | -->'''Penny:''' [[PreAsskickingOneLiner Don't worry, Ruby!]] [[{{Callback}} I'm combat ready!]] |
| 195 | ** She proves it. Very easily. But the crowning moment of the scene is when the airships attack her: she cuts the first two in half with fricking lazer beams, and then pulls the struggling third down to the ground through sheer strength, with little-to-no grounding at that. |
| 196 | * Sun cuts loose. |
| 197 | ** To start with, he fights barehanded pretty competently, knocking away the first wave of fighters without using his weapon at all. And then when he does go for his weapon what does Sun have? A staff that breaks apart into [[ShotgunsAreJustBetter shotgun nunchaku]]. Three weapons in one, and he kicks ass with ''all'' of them. |
| 198 | ** Also, remember that funny moment in the previous episode where Sun drops a banana peel on the police who are trying to arrest him? [[ChekhovsGag He does that again,]] and this time, he does it to Torchwick to divert his attention away from Blake. Sun then follows it up by using ''Roman's face'' as a landing cushion. |
| 199 | -->'''Sun''': [[PreAssKickingOneLiner Leave her alone.]] |
| 200 | * Roman manages to hold his own against Blake and Sun. [[CaneFu With his cane.]] To put that into perspective, he held out against Blake and her afterimage technique from several directions, punched out her afterimage and hit Blake several times, then briefly knock her down. Then he held out against Sun, who off-loaded ''several dozen shotgun blasts/nunchuck strikes in the space of seconds'', '''at point-blank range''', ''but not one touched him''. Only Blake's surprise attack managed to get him. Hell if Ruby and Penny hadn't intervened he would have killed Sun (and presumably Blake since he could easily hold against her). |
| 201 | ** Commentary from [[WordOfGod Miles and Kerry]] after Volume 4 made this scene even more awesome, retroactively, as Roman [[BadassNormal never learned his Semblance]] and thus didn't have any sort of special powers. He handled everything Blake and Sun threw at him on pure skill alone. |
| 202 | [[/folder]] |
| 203 | |
| 204 | [[folder:Volume 2]] |
| 205 | [[AC:Best Day Ever]] |
| 206 | * This episode features [[MundaneMadeAwesome the most epic]] FoodFight ever, and also one of the most iconic fights in the entire show. They use [[ImprobableWeaponUser food]] to [[ImprovisedWeapon mimic the abilities]] of their regular weapons, with many [[{{Callback}} nods]] to previous fights. Nora manages to create a makeshift hammer from a flag pole and watermelon, knocking away Ruby, smashing Weiss into a pillar and sending Yang hurtling so far into the atmosphere through the ceiling that she doesn't return for a minute and a half. It even includes foreshadowing, such as hinting at what Ruby and Pyrrha's Semblances are capable of when they stop holding back, as well as demonstrating Jaune's improving combat skills by having him flip-throwing a watermelon. Ruby ending the fight by transforming a wall into a cracked mosaic pattern of food colours and the defeated Team JNPR immediately became iconic, as did Glynda's equally impressive use of her Semblance to fix the entire room in seconds. |
| 207 | * At the beginning of the episode, Emerald steals from the same old man from the pilot episode. Near the end, Roman snatches something out of ''her'' pocket with just about as much difficulty. And then, at the very end, he goes looking for his lighter only to see that Emerald had snatched it herself. Blink and you'll miss it, but Emerald actually pickpockets Roman first. |
| 208 | |
| 209 | [[AC:A Minor Hiccup]] |
| 210 | * Despite the size of Crescent Rose in any of its forms, Ruby is shown to be capable enough to draw it, slash once, and put it away in a single motion, all while sprinting. She uses this to create an impromptu barricade during the ChaseScene. |
| 211 | * As a result of too much speed, Ruby rolls onto the middle of a road, in front of an upcoming truck... Penny pushes her aside, and takes it head-on. The result? ''Penny stops it'' '''cold''' ''with her bare hands.'' And even better, she did it in such a way that the driver (the old man who owned the robbed Dust shop) wasn't injured at all. This is an awesome enough moment that ''everybody'' present is left staring, and Ruby is shaken from her [[GenkiGirl usual behavior around cool things]] to demand to know what the ''hell'' is going on with Penny already. |
| 212 | |
| 213 | [[AC:Painting The Town...]] |
| 214 | * Team RWBY (along with Sun and Neptune) taking down one of the MiniMecha introduced in the previous episode, using new full-team tactics in the process. Ruby has certainly been doing her job as team leader. Bonus for Ruby calling out various ship names within Team RWBY, and the two members of that ship tag-teaming the mecha at various points. |
| 215 | ** "Freezer Burn": Weiss freezes a patch of ground, then Yang hits with fire to create a thick icy fog bank. |
| 216 | ** "Checkmate": Weiss and Blake attack alongside each other, forcing the robot backward -- Weiss even directly goes for the [[AttackItsWeakPoint targeting sensors]] at one point. |
| 217 | *** Then Roman launches [[MacrossMissileMassacre barrages of missiles]] at them, forcing them backward, and then lands a hit on Weiss. While still flying away, Weiss has enough sense to send a glyph Blake's way, who's going up against yet another barrage... but Blake takes a page out of Adam's book, [[SuperSpeed thanks to the glyph]]: slashing the air so fast that she creates shockwaves, slicing the missiles in half mid-flight. |
| 218 | ** "Ladybug": Ruby and Blake work together directly after this, moving past each other repeatedly and slashing at high speeds... then just as Roman attempts to hit them, they land an aerial attack [[note]] with the moon directly behind them for bonus points [[/note]] that cuts off its left arm. |
| 219 | *** Yang leaps right to the top of the mech, before deciding to pummel the outside of the cockpit with multiple recoil-powered punches. Roman recoils from each impact, but then shoulder-tackles Yang into a pillar, before punching her through another one. As Yang gets up, Roman aims to get her again... before Yang's PunchParry stops it cold. Then with a yell, Yang ''destroys its other arm with one punch, using the energy she was just hit with to augment her punch.'' And Roman still has enough sense to kick her away after this. |
| 220 | ** "Bumblebee": Blake swings Yang at the end of her ribbon, with Yang boosting the speed to let herself get in a powerful punch, essentially turning herself into a wrecking ball. Roman manages to dodge the first swing, but the second one (after "Ice Flower") ''demolishes'' the robot at the seams. |
| 221 | ** "Ice Flower": Weiss puts up a series of white glyphs that Ruby shoots through [[CombinationAttack creating blasts of ice]] to freeze the target. |
| 222 | * Sun's Semblance. Specifically, he starts glowing and two light clones fly off to do his work for him while he holds a badass pose. Bonus points for the glowing fading out over the rest of the scene instead of cutting off as soon as his clones are destroyed. |
| 223 | * The revelation of the true nature of Yang's Semblance. Until now people had assumed it was just her fiery power-up (which, admittedly, was awesome enough on its own), but now Ruby reveals that Yang absorbs the energy from every hit she takes, and uses it to grow stronger (evidence of this can actually be seen in the Yellow trailer, if you know what to look for). She went from being punched through several concrete pillars by Torchwick's mecha to blocking it without even flinching, and then ''punching its arm to scrap'' in a single blow. |
| 224 | * A villainous example occurs at the end of the fight. Torchwick's Mecha is completely destroyed around him, and he turns his momentum into a roll, lands on his feet completely unharmed, and then cracks a one-liner as if he's only been mildly irritated. |
| 225 | ** The amount of punishment [[MiniMecha the Paladin]] was able to take. Like the Nevermore, it shrugs off massive amounts of damage before finally shattering. Even when it loses both of its arms, it is still capable of fighting. |
| 226 | ** Roman as a whole comes out as extremely competent for a recurring villain in this episode. When Blake shoots out the lights at the White Fang meeting, he actually reacts faster than the White Fang soldiers (having already recognized two spies in a large crowd when they were wearing masks) who can see in the dark, immediately activating the mecha to go after them. He pilots the mecha rather well, only really lost ground when RWBY teamed up against him and even then, he manages to ''lose'' with style; calmly landing as the mecha collapses, dusting his suit off with a one liner and taking up his stance against RWBY. |
| 227 | *** Once they all got together, Team RWBY was pretty much in control for the whole fight, quickly adapting to all of the mech's capabilities and weaponry. But Roman made them pull out all the stops and ''work'' for that victory, then negated it by [[KnowWhenToFoldEm knowing when to GTFO.]] |
| 228 | ** Roman coolly walks out in front of a mob of anti-human terrorists who immediately show their hostility. By the time he's done talking, he has them cheering his name. |
| 229 | * Neo's entrance. She calmly blocks a shot from Yang with her parasol, bows, and then [[MasterOfIllusion creates a false image of her and Torchwick]] [[VillainExitStageLeft allowing them both to escape]]. And in all of this she simply smiles silently, seemingly completely unconcerned by any of team RWBY. |
| 230 | * Credit should go to the creative team for the Paladin's whole design. Its not just a Mecha with a design whose only purpose is to look cool. It has a wide array of weaponry, can move very fast despite its size, seeming awkwardness and obvious weight, has multiple sensors to detect movement within 360 degrees and takes monumental amounts of damage. Design examples include its cannon-to-arm transformation, using moving machine parts that are part of the 3D model itself and not just pulled out of the air like in most animations. |
| 231 | |
| 232 | [[AC:Extracurricular]] |
| 233 | * The beginning, basically Pyrrha taking on the entirety of Team CRDL by her lonesome, and winning. That being said, Team CRDL also shows that they ''are'' competent enough to be at Beacon -- they're just at a major disadvantage vs TheAce. Special mentions include: |
| 234 | ** Pyrrha taking out Sky while escaping a blade lock with Cardin. |
| 235 | ** Russel and Dove managing to keep Pyrrha on the defensive with a surprising show of teamwork. |
| 236 | ** Cardin casually deflecting Pyrrha's bullets with a twirl of his mace. |
| 237 | ** Pyrrha knocking Cardin in the air and finishing him off with a piledriver. |
| 238 | ** If you look closely, you realize that with the rest of Team CRDL, Pyrrha is all-business, quickly and soundly repelling all their attacks. But with Cardin himself - the one who bullied the man she loves - she is brutally squashing him each time he comes up against her, finishing him off with a completely unnecessary flip-kick. The message is delivered: it's a ''very bad idea'' to mess with anyone Pyrrha Nikos cares about. |
| 239 | * Then directly after that, it's Pyrrha vs. Mercury in a friendly little exhibition. The first blows are fairly standard testing-the-waters, until Mercury unleashes a flurry of kicks, never once letting up. At the right moment, Pyrrha [[ReverseGrip prepares her weapon]], before intercepting a kick to the head with her ''wrist'' (something clearly not lost on him). Then she counterattacks, but he keeps up the pressure, and manages to kick her weapon out of her hands. It's almost a shame he threw the fight for whatever reason. |
| 240 | ** Mercury proves to be more than just muscle when he figures out Pyrrha's entire fighting style after this one bout. |
| 241 | ** Pyrrha also uses her Semblance to redirect Mercury's kick by fiddling with the metal studs ''in his boot.'' |
| 242 | ** The '''way''' Pyrrha uses her Semblance to enhance, not replace, her fighting style. She could go big and flashy, full-tilt ComicBook/{{Magneto}} (and she does in the Food Fight), but she keeps it subtle and hidden. Using it in perfect combination with her own skill, strength, and agility is impressive enough... but keeping it hidden means her opponents will underestimate her (no mean feat when you're [[FamedInStory acknowledged in-universe]] as the greatest warrior of your generation). She thus also keeps a weapon in her arsenal few people know even exists, giving her an Eleven to dial up to as needed. |
| 243 | * Jaune's training. Pyrrha still kicks his ass, but you can see how much better he's gotten. |
| 244 | |
| 245 | [[AC:Burning The Candle]] |
| 246 | * Yang breaking Blake out her funk and getting her to see reason. The most heartwarmingly awesome moment to date. |
| 247 | ** And more subtly, in her story, it looks like child!Yang and Ruby are about to be hurt by Grimm... [[BigDamnHeroes then said-Grimm are suddenly sliced,]] followed by the signature whir of a ''gun-scythe'' unfolding. As Yang confirms moments later, that was their uncle Qrow, come to rescue them. |
| 248 | *** That flashback scene is also an awesome moment for the artist, as the entire thing just looks gorgeous from start to finish. |
| 249 | |
| 250 | [[AC:Dance Dance Infiltration]] |
| 251 | * Jaune keeping his joked-about promise to Pyrrha by wearing a dress on the dance floor. While it doubles as a SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming Moment|s}}, there's an undeniable level of awesome to do so, facing the ridicule of the entire student body in attendance, and not show a single hint of embarrassment or concern about future ridicule. Once he gets to dancing, the ridiculing laughter [[HellYesMoment is completely replaced with cheers]], to boot. |
| 252 | * Team JNPR busting out some sweet moves on the dance floor in perfect sync with one another. It's nice to see their teamwork is on par with RWBY's (though it's a different flavour of teamwork). |
| 253 | * Seeing how a rocket-propelled locker can be useful is pretty awesome in itself when Ruby calls it with her scroll for Crescent Rose. |
| 254 | * Getting to see Cinder fight. Yes, we saw her WizardsDuel with Goodwitch in the pilot, but this is the first time we've seen her actually ''fight'' and the first time we've seen what she's truly capable of. |
| 255 | ** To elaborate, she doesn't seem to have any definite style. Her hand to hand, swordplay, archery, and dust manipulation are all absurdly powerful and she can switch to whichever best suits the situation at hand. Her hand to hand in particular is very reminiscent of [[WebAnimation/RedVsBlue Agent Texas]] in power and effectiveness. We may be looking at the most dangerous fighter yet seen on the show. |
| 256 | ** Also, her weapons appear out of nowhere and appear to be made of volcanic glass. |
| 257 | ** And props to Ruby for holding her own against her, especially in heels. Ironically, Ruby's use of Crescent Rose to BladeBrake makes her the best suited to fight in heels. |
| 258 | |
| 259 | [[AC:Field Trip]] |
| 260 | * Ozpin shows off that while team RWBY may think they are getting away with sneaking around, it's actually because he is letting them. He then personally gives Team RWBY his permission to venture into the southeast region, seeing that they'd go, regardless of the rules. |
| 261 | ** Then there is Ozpin's warning to the team that he is ''not'' giving them leeway, but that he expects them to live up to the level they are setting for themselves and should they prove inadequate there will be consequences. |
| 262 | * After realizing the potential connection between Roman Torchwick and the disguised Cinder Fall she fought in the last episode, Ruby decides to plant the information Blake got from Torchwick into her retelling of her encounter. Ozpin catches on easily but doesn't say a thing, while Ironwood, on the other hand, doesn't notice in the slightest. Ruby's playing adults now, and she's not bad at it. She even departs with an upbeat and rather cocky "any time you need me, just call". |
| 263 | |
| 264 | [[AC:Search and Destroy]] |
| 265 | * Each member of Team RWBY individually taking out dozens of Grimm under Oobleck's watch. |
| 266 | ** Oobleck himself, being incredibly calm while Grimm drop like flies around him, and still having the time to casually question the girls about why they became Huntresses and exposit on the many idiosyncrasies of Remnant and Vale. |
| 267 | * Oobleck's explaining why he is a huntsman to Ruby. Rather than focus on using weapons (though he can when needed), the doc has chosen to arm himself with something different: knowledge. He wants to study humanity's past so mistakes aren't repeated, and understand the creatures of Grimm, not just kill them, so that innocent people can be effectively protected. What's more is that he's a ''teacher'', passing on whatever he learns to the next generation to make use of. It shows that, [[EccentricMentor eccentric]] as he is, Oobleck is a huntsman of genuine conviction. |
| 268 | * The Goliaths. Massive, intelligent Grimm that stalk the borders of civilization and quietly wait for something... |
| 269 | ** The incredible awe that is inspired for them in that scene. One of them looks their way, right at Oobleck and Ruby... then keeps on walking. As if it could crush them without a thought, but they aren't worth its time, and it will wait until the chance comes to crush all the puny humans in one blow. Even the Nevermore or the Deathstalker were little more than EliteMooks. But the Goliaths are not mooks like the rest of the Grimm. And this is all conveyed with one look. |
| 270 | |
| 271 | [[AC:Mountain Glenn]] |
| 272 | * Oobleck's thermos transforming into a weapon is as much a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome as it is a SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}}. |
| 273 | * Even though it ultimately failed, credit must be given to the inhabitants who tried to expand beyond Vale: when Grimm attacks increased, they retreated underground, managing to rebuild a second city settlement down in the vast cave system. |
| 274 | * A retroactive one for Zwei. When Oobleck saw that Ruby snuck a dog in, he was ecstatic because dogs are great trackers. Guess who helped Ruby find the base of the White Fang. |
| 275 | * An unnamed White Fang guard who catches Ruby without her weapon demonstrates they're a cut above the {{mook}}s she sent flying in the very first episode by [[PunchPunchPunchUhOh shrugging off a punch]] (albeit a standing punch compared to a flying kick), punching her out and dragging her off to Torchwick. |
| 276 | * A subtle one for Oobleck: by simply [[ArmorPiercingQuestion asking Yang, Weiss, and Blake]] about their motivations for becoming Huntresses, they began to puzzle out their own motivations for themselves, talking and bonding as a team over what drives them. By simply posing those questions, he let them become stronger and more determined on their own, and his quiet smile at the end confirms that was his intention the entire time. |
| 277 | ** Even more impressive: he doesn't ask Ruby what drives her to be a Huntress. Her motivations are already clear to him, and are one of the reasons why she's the team's leader. |
| 278 | |
| 279 | [[AC:No Brakes]] |
| 280 | * When Ruby makes a break for it after she sees the rest of Team RWBY and Oobleck coming to rescue her, Torchwick and his {{mooks}} start firing at her. [[ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy Not a single shot hits or even grazes Ruby]], who is somehow dodging everything ''with her back turned''. |
| 281 | * Neo fighting Yang, and not even uttering a single sound throughout. |
| 282 | ** And more than that, Yang is a BoisterousBruiser, who gets stronger the more she's hit. Neo is all technique, often misdirecting Yang's blows and following up with counters to disorient and irritate her. Neo only really hits her with relatively light blows in return as if toying with her, and actually manages to kick her to the ''ground'' completely effortlessly. Yang gets incredibly annoyed, while Neo uses her umbrella to deflect Yang's strikes, and unleashes several barrages of blows that keeps Yang from even reacting. At one point she backflips into a very lady-like sitting position on a crate, still giving Yang that [[http://31.media.tumblr.com/3b2b24cce624ee17d4258eddef28de4a/tumblr_ndxfn8bLgm1shdfeho1_500.gif cocky little grin.]] |
| 283 | *** What makes this sequence extra awesome is that all Neo's attacks [[ShownTheirWork are perfectly sound from a martial arts perspective.]] |
| 284 | ** Eventually, she succeeds in throwing Yang onto the ceiling, and ''totally knocking her out''. That's right, Neo soundly defeated one of the main characters! |
| 285 | ** And then Neo [[OhCrap promptly backs up]] upon seeing a mysterious, masked woman intervene. Right before Neo could kill Yang, the Samurai parries, forcing Neo back. All the Samurai does after that is ''[[MundaneMadeAwesome draw her sword]]'', and Neo ''decides to high-tail it''. Neo is last seen with an uncharacteristically shocked and distressed expression before quickly leaving. Keep in mind, Neo was smiling throughout her fight with Yang. But when the mysterious, masked woman intervenes to save Yang...Neo left. This is the woman that makes short work of anything handed to her, and this woman's appearance unsettled her enough to make her leave. Since her brother is Qrow, the man who threw a wrench into Cinder's plans, it's likely Neo knew something about her and decided to leave a dangerous situation. |
| 286 | * Weiss and the Lieutenant, who was wielding a [[ChainsawGood chainsaw sword.]] Special mention goes to her putting up a bunch of runes around him, then she rushes forward, ricochets off one opposite her (hitting the Lieutenant on the way), then off another, and repeat. |
| 287 | ** The Lieutenant {{No Sell}}s Weiss' barrage and knocks her out by slamming her into the floor. To elaborate further, Weiss is ready to put the Lieutenant down and enters a dramatic slow motion scene. The Lieutenant then shows that [[TransformationIsAFreeAction Slow mo is not a free action]], grabs her by the ''face'', smashes her into the ground and nearly bisects her with his chain saw. |
| 288 | * Blake combining Dust and her semblance for new effects, putting them to good use against Torchwick -- he doesn't see those coming, and with his attacks thrown off, she gets in some good hits and basically destroys him. This is in contrast to the finale of the first volume, she struggled against Torchwick, even with help from Sun. Then when given the choice between him and saving Weiss, [[ShutUpHannibal she kicks Roman in the head and knocks him unconscious]], then doesn't hesitate in saving her friend. |
| 289 | * One Paladin was enough to give Team RWBY trouble. Dr. Oobleck defeats several on his own and some more with some help from Ruby and Zwei. He may believe in knowledge being more valuable then strength but he still proves why he's both a Hunter and a teacher. |
| 290 | * Oobleck shows off a new attack: he hits Zwei with his weapon, [[FastballSpecial turning him into a fireball]] (Zwei isn't even harmed by this.) that gets launched at a Paladin, causing it to not only get destroyed but also crushed underneath the train. |
| 291 | * Weiss protecting her entire team from the explosion caused by the train crashing through the last barrier by encasing them all in ice from Myrtenaster's ice mode. |
| 292 | * Something has to be said for the artwork in the credits of this episode. Being a great drawing of the four RWBY girls and their respective voice actresses is awesome in its own right. But not only is it that, the picture is drawn so that when you turn it upside down to see the other group of girls, the text still reads the same. Repeat: Both "RWBY" and "Rooster Teeth" are written in such a style that you can read them correctly upside down. |
| 293 | * The entire ending of the episode, for both the good and the bad sides. On one hand, Torchwick's plan worked, with his train bomb blowing a hole in Vale and allowing Grimm to ran rampant. On the other hand, we get the final shot of the episode, with Ruby's initially horrified expression quickly turning into [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rwbydeterminedexpression.JPG quiet determination]]. At that point, it shows she would be willing to fight back, whether it results in victory or failure. |
| 294 | |
| 295 | [[AC:Breach]] |
| 296 | * Pretty much every character's screen time during the battle against the Grimm is a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome |
| 297 | ** Of course, to start with, we have team RWBY: Ruby takes down an entire pack of Beowolves with a bicycle step, Weiss [[SpontaneousWeaponCreation creates a giant ice blade]] that slashes through a horde, Blake easily dispatches groups of Beowolves and Ursae and Yang destroys hordes of Grimm with both fire blasts and PUNCHING A GODDAMN CAR. |
| 298 | ** Nora freaking flies into the battle on Magnhild and slams it on a King Taijitu. |
| 299 | ** Jaune faces an Ursa, just as he does in ''Forever Fall Pt.2''. Last time, it damn near killed him, and it took a timely intervention from Pyrrha for him to win. [[TookALevelInBadass This time]], [[CurbStompBattle he wipes the floor with it]] ''[[CurbStompBattle without taking a single hit]]'', and with no help from Pyrrha (or anyone else for that matter). Sure, his technique still needs work, and it's the only one he kills onscreen, but the fact remains: he killed an Ursa by himself ''in five seconds'' and came out without a single scratch. |
| 300 | ** The [[BadassArmy Atlasian military]] arriving, stealing Sun's and Neptune's introduction scene. |
| 301 | ** Zwei jumping out of a mech and casually headbutting a much larger Grimm, sending it flying while Zwei just wags his tail. |
| 302 | ** Port and Oobleck roasting several Grimm with their weapons. |
| 303 | ** [[TerribleTrio Cinder, Mercury and Emerald]] show up part way through the fight and we finally get to see Emerald fight. She clears a street full of Grimm in about 15 seconds using her Kopis/Revolvers. |
| 304 | ** Team CFVY' debut battle. Most notable is Coco's [[MoreDakka entire fight scene]]. She completely wrecked a whole horde of Grimm and looked ''fabulous'' while doing it. Fox went directly for the biggest Grimm in his group, sliced it and took a page out of Ren's book -- ie, [[YourHeadAsplode the thing puffed up and exploded]], raining spikes upon the others. Yatsuhashi created a [[ShockwaveStomp shockwave]] merely by slamming his sword into the ground. Velvet even got in a [[KickChick few kicks]] on a number of them. And when Coco breaks out her weapon...in Season 1, it took all 8 members of RWBY and JNPR a whole episode to defeat a Deathstalker and Giant Nevermore. Coco obliterates a Deathstalker, assorted Beowolves and ''three'' Giant Nevermores within seconds of breaking out the BFG. |
| 305 | *** A subtle one for Velvet. She knocked Beowolves around using only martial arts. Compared to how first year teams need to use weapons to fight Grimm, it's pretty obvious she puts up with CRDL's bullying because of school regulations, ''not'' because they're a threat to her. Gets even better when you remember she's confirmed to be team CFVY's mage, i.e., ''not primarily a physical fighter''. Velvet ''was'' going to break out her weapon, but Coco basically tells her that ''the city being overrun by Grimm'' is [[TooAwesomeToUse too trivial a situation to use it on]] |
| 306 | *** One for Coco's team for not even flinching when the above-mentioned Giant Nevermore corpses hit the ground behind them. They don't even turn, and that's even more awesome because that implies that Coco has killed multiple Giant Nevermores ''before.'' |
| 307 | *** Yet a third one! Though it's demonstrated by CFVY, it's more one for Huntsman everywhere. Given Coco's utter beatdown of a dozen Grimm without breaking stride, Yatsuhashi's simple groundbreaking slam and Velvet's kicking around some Grimm, it implies that by the time a student graduates Beacon, they could fight a Grimm on its own terms without a weapon. |
| 308 | ** And then there's Glynda...strolling in with her usual grumpy face, knocking away two Beowolves ''[[OffhandBackhand without looking]]'', and proceeds to fix the breach. Note, she doesn't just put the pieces back together; ''she literally sealed up the breach and cracks completely, as if it'd never happened in the first place''. In roughly ten seconds. |
| 309 | ** Port and Oobleck join up, and clear a street full of Grimm in ''one shot'' each. |
| 310 | ** Really, what this entire scene does is it shows how [[HumansAreWarriors badass humanity is in RWBY]] and why the Four Kingdoms even exist in the face of all these threats. This massive horde of seemingly unstoppable monsters are destroyed and the breach is cleaned up with remarkable efficiency by several Huntsmen and Huntresses, a pack of teenagers-in-training, and [[MoreDakka a whole bunch of firepower.]] There's a reason why the Four Kingdoms live in a time of remarkable peace. |
| 311 | * Adam Taurus is back, reappearing at the end before the credits reassuring Cinder that this is not the last time we will see the White Fang. |
| 312 | * We finally find out who the mystery woman who saved Yang before was: Raven Branwen, whose appearance combines Yang's face and hairstyle, but with Ruby's colour scheme. |
| 313 | [[/folder]] |
| 314 | |
| 315 | [[folder:Volume 3]] |
| 316 | [[AC:Round One]] |
| 317 | * After all these months and Monty Oum's tragic passing, Volume 3 kicks off with a ballistic, intense fight that proves that RWBY is back in form. |
| 318 | ** Team RWBY: |
| 319 | *** Weiss shows off exactly how powerful she can be, creating massive ice constructs with ease. And before that, basically manipulating gravity with her black-colored repulsor glyphs, knocking Nadir and Bolin together before she traps them. |
| 320 | *** Blake tricking Reese with a shadow double, eliminating her with both a ring out AND knocking her aura into the red. |
| 321 | *** Yang (with help from the rest of her team) taking out three opponents in one blow, [[CallBack with the ribbon trick Blake helped her use against Torchwick's Paladin]]. Not only is this an awesome moment for her, but for the coordination of Team RWBY as a whole, able to discern their roles after Weiss created an ice arc and shouted "Yang, now!" |
| 322 | ** Team ABRN: |
| 323 | *** Arslan proves she can go head-to-head with Yang in a fist-fight, where their PunchParry sends out a sonic boom, then she later saves her two iced-over teammates by taking a stand, and one-hit-KO'ing the giant ice ball barreling toward her. She also proves to be a GeniusBruiser, staying on the ice after the initial blows knowing that Yang can't keep up with her. |
| 324 | *** Before Reese falls on her rear, she proves quite versatile with her weapon; a hover-board that can be used for offense + defense as well as movement, then when it's 'sliced apart' from a blow, she recovers and unloads with their gun form. |
| 325 | *** Bolin easily slides past them both without trying, giving Reese a fire crystal, not only powering her up but allowing her to free Nadir. |
| 326 | * When Team RWBY is talking to Emerald, there's a brief flashback to [[CurbStompBattle Cinder's team absolutely wrecking another team.]] |
| 327 | * When Team RWBY goes for lunch and Weiss's credit card gets declined, the shopkeeper doesn't just hand it back like a ''normal'' human being. No, he ninja-stars the card back hard enough that it gets embedded and cracks the wooden counter. |
| 328 | |
| 329 | [[AC:New Challengers]] |
| 330 | * Team JNPR |
| 331 | ** In the fight against Team BRNZ, Jaune is very on top of the situation, giving orders to his team according to the situation, which often work to their advantage. He manages to locate May's position, directs his team to avoid her sniper bullets, uses their side of the battlefield to their advantage, diverts May's attention with Ren, and protects Nora when she's trying to get to the top of the mountain. He does all of these ''while'' facing two melee fighters of BRNZ and only receives a single hit during the entire battle. |
| 332 | *** Also worth mentioning that, a few months ago, Jaune barely knew the basics of combat yet here he is fighting against two genuine huntsmen in training and holding his ground against them. |
| 333 | ** The reveal of Nora's Semblance. One of members of BRNZ, Nolan, incapacitates Ren with an electric prod, then hits Nora with it... [[NoSell nothing happens]], and Nora suddenly flashes him a ''terrifying'' CheshireCatGrin. As Oobleck then explains, her Semblance is to [[FeedItWithFire draw power from electricity]], boosting her speed and strength. Nolan has just enough time for a [[OhCrap suitable reaction]] before being sent flying. |
| 334 | ** Ren shows once again how deadly he can be when he makes a run for Nolan. May and Roy work together in an attempt to stop him with their own ranged weapons but not no avail and when he finally reaches Nolan, he easily [[ChokeHolds subdues him]] with his own weapon. |
| 335 | ** After Ren tries to warn Nora about May aiming for her on the mountain, Jaune notices his warning and coordinates with Pyrrha to use his shield as a springboard to position her between Nora and May, blocking the shot with her own shield. Not to mention that the springboard launches Pyrrha high enough to reach the top of the mountain. A feat that Nora originally did with the help of her hammer's grenades. Pyrrha and Jaune, on the other hand, managed to mimic this with only their ''raw strength''. |
| 336 | ** Nora jumps from the top of the mountain combining gravity with her own charged Semblance which results in a ShockwaveStomp that shatters the entire center of the battlefield and sends three members of BRNZ flying. And little after that, she ends the match by knocking out ''the whole of Team BRNZ [[CurbStompBattle in a single hit]]''. |
| 337 | * Team BRNZ |
| 338 | ** Nolan's strategy for dealing with Ren is to have May fire near him in order to control his movement. This allows Nolan to get the upper hand by catching Ren off-guard while he's moving, and temporarily incapacitate him. |
| 339 | ** [[TruthInTelevision Not entirely unlike real life]], May, Team BRNZ's sniper, presented such a huge threat to the point that as soon as the battle started, JNPR was forced to retreat and change their strategy to avoid her bullets. Almost the entire battle was JNPR trying to hold their ground while Nora's on her way to put the forest on fire to force May out of her cover. And as soon as BRNZ loses fire support, they're eliminated by Nora. Shows just how important she was to the team's overall effectiveness. |
| 340 | * Team SSSN |
| 341 | ** Sun uses the arena's fake sun to his advantage, and catches Octavia off guard, hitting her with a hard boot to the face, and proceeding to [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown knock her]] [[CurbStompBattle out effortlessly.]] He also manages to go the whole round without ''a single hit taken.'' The only other person to do that was world-famous fighter Pyrrha--not even RWBY did that. |
| 342 | ** Scarlet's introduction leaves a pretty good first impression. When he's caught in the twister that [[RingOut sent Sage flying out of the arena without much effort]], he balances himself in midair without missing a beat and lands on the mast of the ship in the ocean sector. He skillfully manages to hold off Nebula, NDGO's leader, intercepts Gwen when she attempts to attack Sun and Neptune, and immediately after pulls a very nice save from Gwen's falling daggers. It's kind of unfortunate that Sun indirectly got him eliminated, providing Dew with the ammunition to bludgeon Scarlet with coconuts... ''in'' [[GroinAttack the nuts]]. |
| 343 | --->'''Sun:''' Nuts. |
| 344 | ** Comic relief material aside, credit must be given to [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass Neptune]]. After staying back during the majority of the fight due to his fear of water keeping him from entering practically half the battle, he manages to take down the remaining three members of Team NDGO with a single hitwhen they tried to take advantage of that fear by staying in the waterand didn't know about his weapon's ShockAndAwe feature. Even before that, he shoots Dew ''out of the air'' right out from above Sun's head. |
| 345 | * Team NDGO |
| 346 | ** Dew is the one responsible for ''both'' of her team's victories (throwing Sage out of the area and knocking Scarlet out [[GroinAttack with a redirected coconut to the nuts]]). |
| 347 | |
| 348 | [[AC:Brawl in the Family]] |
| 349 | * Qrow: |
| 350 | ** He basically becomes a walking moment of awesome throughout the first half of this episode, beginning with completely destroying two of Winter's Knights without any obvious effort, or even using his weapon. He then proceeds to fight Winter to a standstill, easily keeping up with her in a high-speed battle (just short of a SpeedBlitz even).. And the whole time, ''he's still drunk.'' |
| 351 | ** At the middle of the battle, Mercury walks nearby and initially ignores the whole thing. However, the moment he recognizes Qrow, an [[OhCrap uncharacteristic expression]] appears on his face. He immediately turns back and runs to inform Cinder of Qrow's arrival. Considering how laidback Mercury normally is, the fact that Qrow's mere presence made him react like this shows how much of a threat he can be to those he's ''hunting''. |
| 352 | ** At the conclusion of the battle, Qrow begins the TransformationSequence for his blade, resulting in a lot of ominous ticking gears, the blade starting to fold, and a growing hum... and then he immediately [[TheUnreveal cancels the transformation]], powers it down and sheathes it, baiting Winter into attacking him. Ironwood promptly arrives and calls her out on it. When she tries to tell him Qrow started it, but he retorts that in actuality she attacked first her expression changes having realized that not only did Qrow play her, he left her with some awkward explaining to do. (And indeed, while Qrow goaded her into it, Winter '''did''' strike first. He played her, ''but she let him.'') |
| 353 | * Winter's no laggard either. She manages to hold her own against Qrow, and shows herself to be extremely well-versed in using the same Glyphs Weiss does, without Dust or visibly tiring. Moreover, when Qrow's smug confidence doesn't have her raging, her own has him taking her very seriously--case in point, she manages to land four hits on Qrow, while he lands ''none'' on her. By the time she summons her final glyph and a fierce wind can be heard howling, he appears to be jarred enough to consider trying a different strategy, beginning the transformation sequence mentioned above. |
| 354 | ** Similar to Weiss, gravity is nothing to Winter, only rather than needing to use glyphs to propel herself upward, she simply runs up the wall, then launches herself halfway across the courtyard, ''separating her weapon into its dual form in midair'' without losing momentum or needing to use her glyphs for balance. |
| 355 | ** And right after she does that, she smashes right into Qrow, who blocks her attack, and for a {{Beat}} it seems he succeeded in stopping her cold. Nope. She then smashes him right off the rampart and into a crater as if she'd never stopped in the first place. |
| 356 | ** She also displays a technique recognized the next episode as an extremely advanced application of the Schnee semblance, using a Glyph to summons dozens of miniature Nevermore avatars that stop Qrow in his tracks while she prepares another attack. |
| 357 | ** When Ironwood calls her name, Winter goes from moving at a blur to stopping in ''less than a second.'' That's just the discipline an Atlas specialist and a Schnee is capable of. |
| 358 | * The entire high-speed, property-destroying fight is a demonstration of exactly what the ''real'' Huntsmen and Huntresses are capable of when they go into combat. Running up bridge posts, casually wrecking the courtyard with a BladeBrake, swinging their blades faster than the eye can see -- [[SerialEscalation this is the world that Team RWBY is entering into]]. However, there is the implication that Qrow and Winter were not yet fighting at full capacity, which may mean that not even this is a true demonstration of what a true, fully trained Huntsman/Huntress with years worth of experience can do. |
| 359 | * Ozpin reasoning against Ironwood's excuse for bringing an entire fleet to the Vytal Festival, electing to once again fight with his words and wisdom without things descending into a shouting match, [[DividedWeFall what with the mood of the scene]]. Considering the conclusion of Volume 2, it especially feels like a punchy response to how Ironwood effectively screwed him out of being able to work effectively. |
| 360 | -->'''Ozpin''': "A guardian is a symbol of comfort. But ''an army'' is a symbol of conflict. There's an energy in the air now. A question in the back of everyone's minds: if '''''this''''' is the size of our defenses, '''''what is it we're expecting to fight?'''''" |
| 361 | |
| 362 | [[AC:Lessons Learned]] |
| 363 | * Mercury: |
| 364 | ** In a two versus two match, Emerald goes into hiding and leaves Mercury to fight against Coco and Yatsuhashi on his own. Not only does Mercury dominate the two, but it really feels like he's mocking them during the entire fight. |
| 365 | ** He proves once again how smart he is by using his enemies' own movements to his advantage. This is best seen when Yatsuhashi finally manages to land a hit on Mercury. During those seconds before the strike comes, Mercury jumps and curls into a defensive position ''knowing perfectly'' that he would get hit. Yatsuhashi didn't truly manage to reach Mercury; it was all part of Mercury's strategy to get pushed by Yatsuhashi's own attack so he could grab onto Coco's minigun and shove it into her teammate's stomach. She ended up putting her gun away as a result. |
| 366 | ** The previous outcome gives him enough time for a brief demonstration of his ranged capabilities. He first fires two projectiles from his boots which distract Coco and Yatsuhashi as they deflect them with ease. When they look back, Mercury is break dancing and surrounded by dozens of the same projectiles which can't be dodged this time. And by the time Coco and Yatsuhashi recover from those, he's casually standing behind them smirking before continuing the beat down. |
| 367 | ** He also shows the extent of his physical strength when he catches Yatsuhashi's {{BFS}} with the soles of his boots even though Yatsuhashi's [[ShockwaveStomp strike shatters the entire section of ground]] they're both in. Mercury doesn't even flinch at this extreme force. |
| 368 | * Emerald: |
| 369 | ** She remains hidden for the majority of the fight by using the grass and the forest biomes to the point not even the audience are able to find her. And everytime Coco manages to get a glimpse of her, she vanishes in mere seconds. It's almost impossible to target her. |
| 370 | ** Yatsuhashi appears out of nowhere in the middle of the encounter. Coco assumes it's indeed her teammate and continues her search for Emerald while Yatuhashi is seen slowly walking up to Coco... then Port announces [[ParanoiaFuel he's been defeated by Mercury]]. Surprised, Coco turns back to look at who she thought was her teammate, only to find nobody there. Her hands begin to shake in fear. |
| 371 | *** The mere fact that Coco, the same girl who kept a cool and deadpan attitude even in the midst of a Grimm invasion, ends up ''terrified'' of Emerald mere seconds after their fight begins. Emerald doesn't ''fight'' Coco, she ''stalks'' her. Like [[Film/{{Predator}} the Predator]]; little wonder Coco starts to lose her cool. |
| 372 | ** At this point, Coco's Aura is still at 70 percent but Emerald manages to sneak up behind her and knock her out with a [[OneHitKill single hit]]. |
| 373 | * Yatsuhashi: |
| 374 | ** Tanking Mercury's kicks and even retaliating by grabbing him by the necktie and tossing him several feet away is no small feat, considering Mercury was able to take on both Yatsuhashi and Coco with little effort beforehand. He probably could've gone on a little longer if not for the geyser dazzling him. |
| 375 | *** [[http://40.media.tumblr.com/204ede6857bf2a53a78fed8788d7bec0/tumblr_inline_nzfdhgCUjQ1shbv29_250.jpg Here's a closeup of Mercury's face when Yatsuhashi grabbed him]]. Case in point, Qrow is ''not'' the only thing that can shake him--apparently the thought of getting shitkicked by a seven-foot monstrosity will do the trick. |
| 376 | * Winter: |
| 377 | ** Winter basically encourages her sister to continue defying her father's wishes and having him control her, and showing that she detests her father just as much as her sister does and wants what's best for Weiss overall, showing that Winter loves her little sister to the point that she willing to defy her father behind his back and basically giving him the middle finger for all the trouble he's been causing them. |
| 378 | ** Just the sight of her [[SummonMagic Beowolf avatar]]. Amazing how a simple PaletteSwap [[GoodColorsEvilColors changes things about them]]. |
| 379 | ** Winter was in a similar situation like Weiss when she joined the military, likely the Atlesian military's Special Operatives unit, so she can be free from her father's influences as well. |
| 380 | * Weiss: |
| 381 | ** Near the end, after claiming she can't summon anything, Weiss manages to unknowingly use her Semblance's summoning ability. Specifically, she summons a miniature avatar of the sword used by the Knight in the White Trailer. |
| 382 | |
| 383 | [[AC:Never Miss A Beat]] |
| 384 | * Penny: |
| 385 | ** At the beginning we see Penny in her fight against Russell and Sky of Team CRDN. While we don't see the entire fight, explosions are happening around the ring, and she forces them both to take cover behind boulders. Then she uses her swords to lift up both boulders and smash them onto the ground. |
| 386 | ** Pretty minor example, but her partner doesn't seem to do anything, apart from making sure that Penny doesn't waste too much time curb stomping the opposition. Penny is so badass, that she doesn't even need a partner. |
| 387 | ** Also it seems like she's not even trying, given the fact that she has a smile the entire time and that her partner needs to remind her not to take too much time. There's also her BondOneLiner: |
| 388 | --->'''Penny:''' ''(Bows to her downed opponents)'' Thank you for a wonderful time. |
| 389 | * Yang: |
| 390 | ** In the climax of the fight, activating her Semblance and absolutely ''owning'' both Flynt and Neon all to a jazz remix of ''I Burn''. For Flynt, she literally propels herself through his Killer Quartet-powered sonic waves, using her shotguns' recoil, before crushing his weapon's barrel with her bare hands - for Neon, the moment she's airborne and helpless, she blasts her with a one-hit-KO. |
| 391 | * Weiss: |
| 392 | ** Weiss repeats her sigil-spamming, speed-blitzing trick she first used in her clash on the train in ''No Brakes'' but this time it's even more impressive. |
| 393 | ** She also [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifices herself]] to save Yang, who was about to be targeted by Flynt, by diving at him and sending the both of them into a flame-spewing vent. |
| 394 | ** Using her black glyphs to stand her ground against Flynt's sonic waves and slowly advance ''through'' them. |
| 395 | * Flynt: |
| 396 | ** Flynt is just made of CrazyIsCool. He's like a fighting jazz musician, and his weapon is a magic trumpet that can unleash massive sonic waves. |
| 397 | ** And then there's his Semblance: he creates three additional copies of himself to form a jazz quartet, combining their power to send Weiss flying. |
| 398 | ** Flynt begins the fight showing his grudge toward Weiss and the Schnee family, and spends a lot of it trash-talking her and her lack of skill, even going so far as to ignore her after he hits her with his Semblance and keeps her from getting to her weapon. Then Weiss tackles him into the lava geyser, and while that doesn't take him out, it weakens him enough that Yang can finish him. And when he gets back up, his response? |
| 399 | --->'''Flynt''': [[GracefulLoser That was a gutsy move, Schnee. I dig it.]] |
| 400 | ** Also, the fact that he was caught by a lava jet that depleted Weiss's entire aura ''and stood back up''. |
| 401 | *** While he does have a higher Aura level than Weiss when we're shown the Aura counter, that speaks to his skill even more. The only time he was hit by an actual attack (except for being tackled and Yang blocking his trumpet) was Weiss' 360° blitz, and even that barely seemed to affect him. |
| 402 | * Neon: |
| 403 | ** Neon Katt is closer to the crazy end of CrazyIsCool, but she still has her moments. She spends the entire first half of the fight running rings around Yang, mocking her and making her angry, only to thwart all of her attacks. |
| 404 | ** After the fight, she takes her defeat well, and quite literally calls Yang and Weiss CrazyIsCool. |
| 405 | |
| 406 | [[AC:Fall]] |
| 407 | * Pyrrha, despite being terrified and having absolutely no prior knowledge of what's going on around her, knowing what kind of danger she's [[LossOfIdentity exposing]] herself to, and knowing that agreeing to it would attract more special attention to her (a.k.a. the very thing she resents about her life) agrees to have the Fall Maiden's power transferred to her, simply because she cares about the good of humanity that much. |
| 408 | ** There's a particular shot during this scene where Pyrrha touches Amber's life support pod and [[https://youtu.be/moxtu3AuA4s?t=12m32s the shot overlays the two's faces]] that can be marveled at just for the cinematography alone. |
| 409 | * Yang vs Mercury is another spectacular fast paced fight in which both combatants give it their all. The crowning moment is when Mercury creates a huge vortex of homing missiles that comes crashing down on Yang with a huge explosion. Mercury seems to think he's won and brushes himself off, and then immediately [[HellYesMoment flames rise behind him]] as Yang comes out swinging with her Semblance. |
| 410 | ** Remember the Yang Dempsey Roll from the ''Yellow'' trailer? Yep. She does it again. |
| 411 | * Mercury willingly letting Yang shoot him in the kneecap, despite having no Aura left, thus getting genuinely injured, took some serious guts. This turns out to be subverted in the next episode, knowing that that was actually a prosthetic leg, and he was acting as if he was in pain. |
| 412 | ** One for Cinder too: with just a simple illusion, she's demoralized RWBY (taking out their powerhouse to boot), spreading enough fear and panic to get the Grimm's attention, and (unless substitutes are picked) reduced the remaining matches in the finals, giving Pyrrha even less time to decide to become the new fall maiden- accelerating her plans. As people have noted on the Fridge page, pitting RWBY against FNKI gave the public a chance to see Yang's temper early, making the attack more credible, and Yang's own uncle has shown a love of fighting too when he started a fight over personal disdain. Yang is screwed at this point. |
| 413 | |
| 414 | [[AC:The Beginning of the End]] |
| 415 | * During her fight against Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald, Amber shows off the power of the Fall Maiden, floating in mid-air while she throws around localized lightning storms, bursts of fire, as well as freezing leaves to make a storm of knives. When blasted down to the ground, she goes against all three in melee, and proves herself more than a match for them - even when wounded afterward, out of Aura, she gets back up and blasts them all back with wind, hits Mercury with lightning so fast he couldn't dodge in time, then hits Emerald's illusion ''and'' her real self only a second after that. If Cinder had been a few hairs slower with her arrow shot, she probably could have killed them all. And as later revealed in Vol. 4, this was while she was still ''inexperienced''. |
| 416 | ** Even before the fight, Amber is very aware of her surroundings. She became suspicious when she saw dirt move behind the illusion, and the second it disappeared, she jumped back and prepared herself for a fight. |
| 417 | * Cinder deserves some credit for repeatedly landing serious, damaging hits against someone pretty much described as a goddess. Sure she relied on her team a lot for cover, but one shudders to think that she's even ''more'' powerful now. |
| 418 | * Mercury's dad was an assassin so feared that Cinder sought to recruit him, but Mercury ''killed'' him before she got the chance. The fight itself ruined his legs and was so fierce that somehow their house caught fire. That's one epic origin story! |
| 419 | * The OneDegreeOfSeparation between Cinder and Qrow. Cinder was this close to stealing the entirety of Amber's power, when lo and behold Qrow comes sprinting in. [[DidntSeeThatComing Cinder doesn't even see him]]. It's likely that Qrow's singular moment of being [[BigDamnHeroes a Big Damn Hero]] caused the entire plot of RWBY's first three volumes, [[SpannerInTheWorks and has so far been the only wrench to end up in Cinder's otherwise flawless plan]]. |
| 420 | |
| 421 | [[AC:Destiny]] |
| 422 | * The rest of Team RWBY one by one standing up to Ironwood in Yang's defense. Special mention goes to Weiss, who sounds outright ''pissed'' at how her teammate is being treated. |
| 423 | -->'''Weiss''': You're hotheaded, but not ''ruthless''. |
| 424 | ** Blake's hesitance to just accept Yang's word is this in a very different way. As we'll find out soon, she has personal experience with people JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope, and while she likes and trusts Yang and ''wants'' to believe her, for her own peace of mind, and potentially for the safety of entire kingdoms, she has to make '''absolutely certain''' Yang is not distorting or obfuscating the truth as she remembers it. [[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone It takes courage to stand up to one's enemies, but more to stand up to one's friends.]] |
| 425 | * Jaune showing his growth both as a leader and partner. He's the only one who notices Pyrrha's distress and instantly takes control of the situation at JNPR's dorm room when it starts to get out of hand. Later, he gives Nora a brief glance that just speaks ''I must take care of this'' to earn himself some time alone with Pyrrha to confront her about what's bothering her and hopefully help her to overcome it. |
| 426 | * [[SpannerInTheWorks Ruby discovering the truth about Mercury]]. Now it's a race against time AND safety. |
| 427 | ** Ruby connecting the dots between Yang's word, Coco's account, and Emerald's appearance at the arena. Even before running into Mercury, she figured out something's up before anyone else did. |
| 428 | |
| 429 | [[AC:[=PvP=]]] |
| 430 | * Cinder's plan begins to unfold with horrific brilliance. Emerald uses her Semblance to get Pyrrha to believe she is being attacked by a gigantic number of Penny's swords, when there's actually far less, causing Pyrrha to use her own Semblance to send them back at Penny. Unfortunately they are reflected with such force that the strings attached to the swords literally ''tear Penny apart'', all while the fight is broadcasted to the entire world. Cinder then highjacks the communications network and delivers a [[ReasonYouSuckSpeech scathing]] [[BreakingSpeech speech]] to Ozpin, Ironwood, and anyone else involved in the maiden secret creating even more public unrest. While this is going on the Grimm, previously riled up from Yang's attack on Mercury, start arriving in force and begin attacking the coliseum, Neo kills the entire crew of an Atlesian ship and breaks Torchwick out of prison allowing him to turn the ship's weapons against the other battleships in the air, and finally Adam arrives not only with the White Fang, but also a ship full of ''Grimm''. This could essentially be called FromBadToWorse: The Episode. |
| 431 | * Some credit to Penny, please. She flawlessly holds off Pyrrha even with Pyrrha manipulating her strikes with magnetism, and disarms her, before speeding back into the fray right as Pyrrha thinks she's been knocked off the platform. |
| 432 | * Credit to Ruby in this episode; even though she was weapon-less and outclassed by Mercury, she actually manages to hold her own for a while and escape from him. Considering that the last time Ruby lost Crescent Rose she ended up getting [[OneHitKO KO'ed]] instantly by a {{mook}}, holding her own against Mercury is a pretty big accomplishment. It's just a shame that she ultimately couldn't stop Cinder's plans or save Penny. |
| 433 | ** Ruby dodged a kick from Mercury. On its own, not impressive. However, the last person to do that was Pyrrha, and she had to use her Semblance to achieve it. She also leaves him failing to catch up when she speeds the other way. |
| 434 | ** Speaking of Mercury, the first time Ruby uses her speed to try and get past, he manages to ''hit her'' while she's going that fast. We later find out that her Semblance works by reducing her body down to a molecular level and negating her mass. In other words, Ruby was basically a big ol' blob of atoms and Mercury ''kicked the massless form''. |
| 435 | * The two [[{{Redshirt}} nameless Atlesian soldiers]] patrolling in the wilderness when the Grimm begin to attack. They turn around to see a massive wave of Beowolves coming at them, and they [[LastStand stand their ground and go down shooting]]. They even get a few kills. |
| 436 | * Ozpin's little jab at Ironwood, complete with TranquilFury: |
| 437 | --> "You brought your army to my kingdom, James. ''Use it!''" |
| 438 | * The return of Torchwick, immediately followed by him commandeering the airship he's in to shoot down two ally ships. |
| 439 | -->"Ooohhh, it is ''good'' to be back!" |
| 440 | |
| 441 | [[AC:Battle of Beacon]] |
| 442 | * When the Nevermore breaks into the stadium and attacks Pyrrha, teams JNPR, ABRN, FNKI, SSSN, and CFVY call their lockers, which pins it down, and then they work together to bring the creature down for good. |
| 443 | ** Before this, Ruby used her speed to plunge one of Penny's swords right into it, and was fully intent on taking the thing on ''alone'' [[LeeroyJenkins armed with just that.]] But even more badass was what she said right afterwards: |
| 444 | --->"''Leave her '''ALONE!'''''" |
| 445 | ** From the start of the series, Ruby had NoSocialSkills and Weiss [[JerkassHasAPoint wasn't wrong when she said she was impulsive.]] This moment shows how far she's come from the former and how the latter is a strength. Instead of staying in a HeroicBSOD at the sight of Penny in pieces, she realizes that another of her friends is about to die, snaps out of it and wastes no time in making sure that doesn't happen again. After they kill the Grimm, the students head into battle at Ruby's command, raises Penny's sword in the direction they move... Except Velvet, who took a picture of Ruby in her pose before following them. |
| 446 | * Port and Oobleck hold off a horde of Griffin Grimm to let the students escape, going full BackToBackBadasses and casually joking about taking bets on the fight. |
| 447 | * The students working together here is awesome and heartwarming at the same time. After days of competing against each other, Cinder broadcasts a speech meant to sow paranoia and division among the kingdoms. Whether intentional or not, the students rallying serves as a nonverbal ShutUpHannibal. |
| 448 | * Ironwood {{curbstomp|Battle}}s an Alpha Beowolf. He starts off by charging head-on at it with a challenging shout to hold its attention on him and off the students, casually dodges its swipes, and then catches one with his hand, swings the damn thing around like a rag doll, and finally finishes it off with a headshot at point blank! FourStarBadass is in full effect. |
| 449 | ** The kicker, [[SimpleYetAwesome he does this all with a gun]]. As far as we know it doesn't [[BoringButPractical transform into anything else]]. It's just a good [[RevolversAreJustBetter old]] [[HandCannon fashioned revolver.]] |
| 450 | * Ironwood tells the students to either stay and fight to defend Vale and Beacon or run away like everyone else, including other students, have already done as no one could blame them for choosing the same. It takes a few seconds of reflection before Sun casually shrugs off the second option followed by Jaune leading everyone to a ship to reach Beacon. |
| 451 | * [[BackToBackBadasses Weiss and Blake working together]] and speed-blitzing the hell out of the attacking White Fang, the Grimm and Ironwood's hijacked security robots. The two girls are a blur as whole ranks of baddies are sent flying. |
| 452 | * Ruby uses her Semblance to jump from a ship back to the stadium in midair, and then uses a rocket locker to fly toward Torchwick's ship. |
| 453 | * New Grimm! First we're introduced to a griffin type, and the other is a ''dragon'' that can spawn lesser Grimm like Ursa on its own. |
| 454 | ** The way that the Dragon is introduced. The ground starts rumbling. Ozpin's in the middle of a badass walk toward the elevator when the rumbling makes him ''stop'' in shock. Then Glynda notices it, and all she can mutter is [[OhCrap "No..."]]. Then we pan out to Mountain Glenn, and cracks begin to form in the side of the mountain. Then a massive black arm breaches the rock. Then a massive glowing eye becomes visible. Then the entire top of the mountain shatters, revealing a ''massive'' Grimm Dragon that lifts into the sky and flies toward Beacon, shedding other Grimm from its body as it flies. Grimm are definitely a threat when they have the numbers advantage (which they usually do), but many times that ZergRush is composed of the weaker, younger, impulsive Grimm. ''This'' however, is an ancient, powerful, ''intelligent'' Grimm well beyond even the Goliath - these are the kinds of monsters that everyone's completely and totally terrified of, and exactly the reason why they do their absolute best ''not'' to let any Grimm live long if they can help it. |
| 455 | |
| 456 | [[AC:Heroes and Monsters]] |
| 457 | * Reese and Neon can't do much overt offense, but they help out the rest of the fighters by zooming around the battlefield, freezing Grimm limbs and robot parts in place so they can more easily be taken out by the other fighters as they pass. |
| 458 | * We finally see Velvet's fighting style in action. She's a [[PowerCopying Power Copier]]/DittoFighter and she uses her ''camera'' to copy those powers, weapons, and fighting techniques by taking photos of others!. Hell, when she uses Team RWBY's weapons, she strikes the same poses that were seen in each of their respective trailers. |
| 459 | ** And what better way to have her display this power than to have her effortlessly and ''single-handedly'' take down an ''Atlesian Paladin''? |
| 460 | *** 1: The camera copies fighting styles, meaning she can copy even the most experienced of hunters methods |
| 461 | *** 2: She is so well trained she already knows know to handle ''all'' the weapons in her arsenal. |
| 462 | ** The capstone to the whole scene is that Velvet's and Weiss' entire display of asskicking is done to "I May Fall" rocking in the background. |
| 463 | * Weiss finally uses an avatar, even if it was only the arm and sword. But even with it just being that little bit, bisecting the mech. ''How'' that happens is an awesome moment for Weiss's character development. She angrily, desperately, ''selflessly'' rushes in to protect Velvet - a Faunus - from the Paladin. She planned on defending against the mech with only Myrtenaster. She wasn't even aware that she'd summoned the sword until she saw it; [[DieOrFly she did it purely on instinct]]. She's come ''so far'' from the haughty, self-centered princess in Volume 1. |
| 464 | ** Weiss did with one avatar arm what even Velvet couldn't do with Anesidora--she cleaved a Paladin in two with one goddamn swing. |
| 465 | * Ruby holding her own against Neo. Then her figuring out how to take Neo out of the equation, for now. |
| 466 | ** Before Neo shows up, Ruby solos one of the Griffins. Sure, she's out of breath afterwards, but this is still a Huntress in training taking on one of the tougher Grimm species encountered (remember that one took hits from Coco's minigun at point blank range and barely looked scratched) and ''winning ''. |
| 467 | ** Two Nevermores assault Ruby during her fight with Neo and Roman. Reminder, these Grimm are ''massive''. Ruby casually dodges one, and when the other tries to get at her when she's hanging off the ship, she ''kicks it in the face and sends it on its way''. That's ''it''. Not only that, but when Ruby's down and Torchwick tries to attack her, she swats ''him'' away too! Ruby Rose, everyone. |
| 468 | ** Her ShutUpHannibal to Roman is also fantastic: |
| 469 | ---> '''Ruby:''' I don't care ''what'' you say! We ''will'' stop them and I ''will'' stop you! '''BET ON THAT!''' |
| 470 | *** Roman then counters with an impressive ShutUpKirk of his own. |
| 471 | ---> '''Roman:''' You've got spirit Red, but this '''is the REAL WORLD!''' The real world '''is COLD!''' The real world '''DOESN'T CARE ABOUT SPIRIT!''' You wanna be a hero? Then play the part and '''DIE LIKE EVERY OTHER HUNTSMAN IN HISTORY!''' As for me, I'll do what I do best. Lie. Steal. Cheat. '''AND SURVIVE!''' |
| 472 | *** Unfortunately for Roman, he gets a harsh lesson in the consequences of his actions. At the end of his rant about how he always survives, a Griffon Grimm lands behind him and swallows him in a single bite. |
| 473 | ** For the first time since Beginning of the End, we see villains working together, and not only does Ruby hold her own against Neo (and Torchwick), she stands up to Roman without her weapon. |
| 474 | *** Roman demonstrates a lot more creativity with his weapon in this fight than anywhere else. In one instance he slams Melodic Cudgel into the ground, and fires a round. This launches the cane square into Ruby's head and bounces it back into Roman's hand who doesn't miss a beat and fires another round right into her while her guard's down. Later still, he shoots a round from Melodic Cudgel, ''grabs it by the cane's handle'', and uses it to create a wave of fire to counter Ruby's zipping in multiple directions with her Semblance. Talk about SuperReflexes. It also illustrates how much more dangerous he's become since his first appearance; rather than attempting to escape, he's completely on the offensive (although, to be fair, there isn't anywhere to escape to this time). |
| 475 | *** Some attention needs to be paid to Ruby vs Neo in particular. Neo holding her own against Yang is expected, with the other's powerful but short-range combat prowess. But holding her own against Ruby is ten times more awesome--what makes Ruby such a great combatant is that it's impossible to get near her without being in imminent danger of that massive scythe, and Neo knows this. But it's also for this that Ruby ''does'' deserve some credit for keeping Neo back. When Ruby's actually attacking, Neo's entirely on the defensive, not taking any hits but unable to get in close and land hits of her own. It's only when Ruby's been distracted by Roman and is getting up from the previous assault that Neo goes in and disarms her. |
| 476 | ** Also, Ruby single-handedly stopping the ship by stomping the giant griffin through the hull, just after it ate Roman. By doing this, she shuts down all of the rogue robots, saving countless lives and unknowingly saving her friends quite a bit of lethal trouble with another Paladin. |
| 477 | *** For extra bonus points, every time up to this that Ruby's been forced into unarmed combat, she's been heavily on the losing side of the fight. The fact that she managed to punt a griffin through the hull of the ship goes to show that she's no slouch even without her scythe. She might only be losing fights unarmed because other humans are better than her in terms of raw unarmed combat skill, whereas the more bestial Grimm ''aren't''. |
| 478 | ** Roman and Neo deserve a mention as well. Their teamwork is absolutely flawless. At one point Neo sends one of her illusions on to distract Ruby while she circles around and Roman is so in tune with her that he doesn't even flinch when Ruby shoots at Illusion!Neo but waits until it shatters and sends Ruby flying. The only reasons they lost were because, yes Neo, a parasol on top of an airship is a bad idea and that Roman had let his guard down in a sky full of Grimm. |
| 479 | *** And the kicker? Roman's entire RoaringRampageOfRevenge is sparked by Neo's possible death. Which makes it something of an evil SugarWiki/{{heartwarming moment|s}} that he's doing this for HER. Puts his KarmicDeath in a whole new light, doesn't it? |
| 480 | * Though he may be a prejudiced brute, Cardin taking out an ''Ursa Major'' with one swing of his [[CarryABigStick mace]] shows he's improved a bit since cowering from one in Volume 1. |
| 481 | * We see Ironwood's survival when he walks into battle calmly shooting down his own rogue robots. Not only that, but the reveal that not just his right arm (as theorized by much of the fandom), but the entire right side of his body from the neck down is robotic. |
| 482 | * Qrow finally unveiling his scythe and using it to save Ironwood from a Griffon. |
| 483 | ** This moment actually contains several layers of awesome, from both Ironwood and Qrow; when James sees Qrow unveiling his scythe he immediately jumps to the conclusion that Qrow is about to attack him, believing him to be at fault for the Atlas robots running wild and attacking them. James implores Qrow to listen but it appears to fall on deaf ears as Qrow launches an attack. What does James do? Does he attempt to dodge? Does he counter-attack Qrow? No, he simply flips his gun around and assumes a defensive, non-threatening posture. This speaks volumes of Ironwoods character; rather than defend himself or attack a known ally (in a situation where every ally needs to be working to save as many lives as possible), James Ironwood would rather take a lethal blow than escalate the situation due to a misunderstanding. He is also trusting enough of both Qrow's intelligence and skill as a Huntsman that he hoped Qrow would see reason in time ''and'' have the skill to turn his blade aside before it landed. Considering the amount of animosity between these two, the trust involved here is ''massive''. |
| 484 | *** It's also a crowning moment for Qrow at the same time, as Qrow ''wasn't'' attacking James; he was in fact saving his life from a Griffin Grimm that had gone unseen by James. He then tells him he's an idiot and he knows he's not behind this attack. |
| 485 | * Adam shows just why the White Fang listens to him as he effortlessly defeats Blake and then cripples an enraged, powered-up Yang by cutting off her arm mid-punch with a single strike moments later. |
| 486 | * [[TheChessmaster Cinder]] succeeds in yet another major goal of her plan, killing Amber and becoming the Fall Maiden. |
| 487 | * Even after Blake gets stabbed in the abdomen, she manages to not only run while carrying an injured Yang over her shoulder [[note]] For the record, Yang is 5'7 inches/1.73 meters tall, and given her physique, her body weight is probably somewhere between 150-165 pounds or 68-75 kilograms... although she probably weighed a little less sans one arm.[[/note]], but creates the advanced illusions to trick Adam so they can escape.. To say she's tough would be an understatement. |
| 488 | ** Not only that, but she also manages to recover her own weapon. |
| 489 | * Ozpin standing off against Cinder, after she has attained the full power of the Fall Maiden. |
| 490 | * While we've seen some of what a full-fledged adult Huntsman/Huntress is capable of, there are a few subtle instances that make it even more apparent. |
| 491 | ** Ironwood is half robot. That means at some point, he survived losing half his body before being treated. Also, he survived his robots turning on him. Which means he either killed an entire dropship full of Atlas robots before they could react, or he survived being inside of an exploding airship. Or both. |
| 492 | ** Looking closely at the airship crash in the previous episode shows a lot of gunfire flashing in the cockpit. He was fighting them off the whole way down. |
| 493 | ** Qrow takes a Huntsman's usual SuperSpeed and SuperReflexes up a notch. When he uses his scythe to save Ironwood, the scene goes into slow-motion. Qrow then bifurcates the Grimm so fast the viewer can barely see the movement, ''while still in slow-mo''. |
| 494 | *** He didn't even cut the whole thing in half, his scythe only reached the Griffon's flank. The rest of the bisection was accomplished with RazorWind. |
| 495 | |
| 496 | [[AC:End of the Beginning]] |
| 497 | * We finally get to see Ozpin in action, and it's glorious. Even though he's facing the full power of the Fall Maiden, he puts up the best fight against Cinder yet, matching her blow for blow. It apparently doesn't end in his favor, but he stood a better chance than anyone else did previously. Yes, the fight may have been short, but they made every second count. |
| 498 | ** Ozpin demonstrates superhuman speed, even by this series standards, [[https://45.media.tumblr.com/0d1f7364a122411baf013fc24ffb288b/tumblr_o2hy2fy6Ux1tjtzvlo6_400.gif calmly shattering a huge barrage of glass shards Cinder throws at him. We barely even see him move, he just flickers between positions almost instantly]]. And then he strikes back at Cinder at the same speed, and gets in what seems like ''hundreds'' of blows before she can even react. It needs to be seen to be believed. |
| 499 | ** Cinder must be given some props as well. Hopped up on the Maiden's power, she goes toe to toe with a man cursed with immortality and several thousand years her senior and still wins. |
| 500 | * Pyrrha finally growing a spine and confessing her feelings to Jaune through TheBigDamnKiss. It's both a RelationshipUpgrade and a damn good reason for Arkos shippers to celebrate [[TearJerker (for the time being)]]. |
| 501 | * Pyrrha using her Semblance to move the Tower's elevator upwards to the top of the building so she could fight Cinder. |
| 502 | ** The Grimm Dragon coming to Cinder's rescue backfires horribly, as Pyrrha can now wham on Cinder with the massive gears from the clock tower, after knocking her off guard by taking her legs out from under her with her shield. Seeing the usually implacable Cinder beaten around with giant gears is nothing short of awesome. |
| 503 | ** Pyrrha's actual skill level needs to be commented on. Cinder may have the full power of the Fall Maiden at her disposal, but Pyrrha's had years and years of training and practice controlling her magnetic power with subtlety and skill in combination with her formidable physical prowess. She gets the drop on Cinder twice not without overt power, but with intuition, creativity, quick reflexes, and powerful strikes, even with Cinder hurling waves of fire at her. |
| 504 | ** Pyrrha ''striking Cinder's arrow mid-air with her shield''. Now, to reiterate, she did this '''without her Semblance'''. Unlike Maiden's powers, Semblances are a direct extension of Aura and can't be used without it. So since Pyrrha's Aura was already drained, that means she struck down an arrow flying at her with nothing but her own skill. |
| 505 | ** Remember back in Volume 2, when it was shown how subtly Pyrrha uses her Semblance, so no one even knows what it is? How it gives her a hidden weapon, an Eleven to dial up to as needed? Well, here, she finally twists that dial all the way up, bringing to bear all her prodigious strength, skill, and speed, as well as the awesome power of her Semblance unleashed, against Cinder, and comes pretty damn close to winning. |
| 506 | * Cinder using both brute force and precision strikes to overwhelm Pyrrha, from blocking every attack with her bare hands and blasting her way through and out of Pyrrha's polarity attacks, to shattering Miló with sheer heat while keeping Pyrrha from choking her. Finally, when Pyrrha attempts one final shield toss when her aura is depleted, Cinder stopping the shield with an arrow, before using her powers to shatter said arrow, move the fragments around the shield, and then reform it to continue its course - straight into Pyrrha's ankle. She then puts an arrow straight through Pyrrha's chest and seemingly vaporises her. Keep in mind, this is ''after'' she fights against Ozpin. Yes, Cinder defeated two of the most powerful characters shown yet in the series back-to-back by herself and didn't even have her aura break. |
| 507 | ** The fact that Cinder only used regular flames and hand-to-hand combat. Her massive flames, [[DeathOfAThousandCuts waves of projectiles]], inhuman speed and weapons are all missing here. Cinder wasn't giving her best in that fight. Either because she was tired from her fight against Ozpin or because [[JustToyingWithThem she never considered Pyrrha a threat]]. |
| 508 | ** Cinder's extremely badass slow-motion dodge of Pyrrha's sword, which is what started the fight. Her face just reads "effortlessness". |
| 509 | * Pyrrha's last words facing Cinder certainly qualify, both as a call back and for being defiant to the end. And for a few moments Cinder seems almost surprised by them. |
| 510 | -->'''Pyrrha:''' Do you believe in destiny? |
| 511 | ** It's easy to miss, but right after Ruby arrives and right before Cinder shoots her Pyrrha calmly closes her eyes and waits, [[FaceDeathWithDignity perfectly serene in the face of her death]]. It doesn't last when the arrow pierces her, obviously, but that was an involuntary response. After all that happened to her this volume, she went out with grace. |
| 512 | * Cinder's OhCrap face as everything goes white is nothing but satisfying. Doubly so thanks to this being the first time she's really lost her cool. After months, possibly years of planning, it's the same simple, honest soul who got in her way at the beginning who now undoes her plan at the end. |
| 513 | -->'''[[BigWhat WHAT?!]]''' |
| 514 | * Oobleck and Port did indeed survive, and are organizing an evacuation to a safer spot in Vale. |
| 515 | ** Not only did they survive holding off the Griffons, but the two of them look like they haven't even been touched, nor are they worn out in the least. Compare to how almost everyone else is either critically injured or just too worn out to do anything more. Easy to see how these two ended up as teachers. |
| 516 | * Ren, Nora, Blake, and Yang are all injured. Sun is the only one nearby to guard them, and his team is nowhere to be seen. Blake can't even stand, but her wounds and Yang's are both bandaged. Did Sun get them back past all the Grimm himself? |
| 517 | * Upon seeing Pyrrha's death, Ruby [[SayMyName screams out her friend's name]] [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge at the top of her lungs]] and manifests her Silver-Eyed Warrior's power for the first time. We later learn that the Grimm Dragon was frozen as a result as well as that Ruby's mother, Summer, also possessed this power. |
| 518 | ** Based on what Qrow says, the Silver-Eyed Warriors predate Huntsmen and the kingdoms. The ''Grimm themselves'' feared them, which seems to put this power on par with that of the Seasonal Maidens. Amber might have been strong with her Fall Maiden powers, but she was inexperienced and ultimately overwhelmed by three people, while Ruby pretty much one-shot the Grimm Dragon. And Ruby had never even heard of the Silver-Eyed Warrior legend, much less the fact that both she and her mother had the power itself; she only unlocked this power after seeing a close friend get shot and then turned to ash right in front of her. If Pyrrha hadn't gone back to fight Cinder and Cinder hadn't gone so far as to kill Pyrrha in such a brutal fashion, then it's likely Ruby's power would've remained dormant. So ''it's completely Cinder's fault that Ruby awakened a power that rivals her own and threw a wrench in the whole plan.'' Pyrrha's death wasn't for nothing. |
| 519 | * Ruby had some heavy shit thrown at her in a very short space of time. Her sister Yang was framed for attacking a downed opponent and was later mutilated. Her friend Pyrrha was tricked into killing Penny, another friend. The school was overrun by a tidal wave of Grimm. Ruby herself fought for her life on an airship, watched a man get ''eaten alive'', and despite her best efforts, arrived moments too late to prevent Pyrrha's death. Qrow then lays some blunt information on her, telling her that she possesses a strange power, and also that Ozpin is missing and now Qrow himself has to pick up where Ozpin left off. Ruby's response to all of this is to say: "And what can I do? If I'm so special, then I can help!" Ladies and gentlemen, '''this''' is our heroine. Knock her down as hard as you like; ''she will get back up''. |
| 520 | * The narrator closing off the episode... and then her speech takes a dark turn as she reveals herself to have been a key character all along. Then we get to ''see'' her: she has a strange, inhuman appearance, and is standing in a mysterious land of fog and crystals. She delivers some chilling last words: |
| 521 | -->'''Salem:''' This is the beginning of the end, Ozpin. And I can't ''wait'' to watch you burn. |
| 522 | ** Also who voices this mysterious narrator? Jen Taylor, Cortana herself. The fact that Creator/RoosterTeeth managed to get such a prolific voice actress since the very beginning of the series before it became as big as it is now is a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome. |
| 523 | ** Also in TheStinger we learn that Qrow has the power of VoluntaryShapeshifting. |
| 524 | * Props must be given to the animators: "The End of the Beginning" is the longest RWBY episode yet, clocking in at 28 minutes and 5 seconds. |
| 525 | ** Even better; the crew confirmed on the season finale hype marathon stream that they were working down to the wire to get the season finished, sending out the finished project to the dvd/blu-ray production companies ''that very morning''. It really goes to show how hard the team has to work to get each episode out there, much less an extra-long season finale. |
| 526 | [[/folder]] |
| 527 | |
| 528 | !!Anima Arc |
| 529 | [[folder:Volume 4]] |
| 530 | [[AC:Pre-release]] |
| 531 | * While the fandom was very positive about the new outfits that Ruby, Blake, and Weiss were sporting in the promotional material for Volume 4, the reaction to [[https://twitter.com/RoosterTeeth/status/781508877758009345 Yang's outfit]] was overwhelming enthusiasm. After being put through the wringer throughout Volume 3, [[HesBack Yang is back and ready to wreck someone.]] |
| 532 | * [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0WeiG2-HRQ The first trailer for Volume 4]]. Both Ruby and the Grimm she fights have [[TookALevelInBadass taken several levels in badass]], plus an AnimationBump to show it off. Oh boy, where do we start. |
| 533 | ** Ruby rides in to a flaming village, on the back of a giant Nevermore. Not only that but, to dismount, she ''rips its wing off'' with her weapon. |
| 534 | ** To emphasize her development, Ruby used to need to shoot [[SinisterScythe Crescent Rose]] to gain enough power to slice through an unarmored Beowolf. Here, however, she slices through them like nobody's business. However, this may be [[JustifiedTrope justified]]. Since RNJR has been exploring for over six months, they likely don't have easy access to Dust. |
| 535 | ** Ruby fighting an enormous, previously unseen Grimm called the Beringel. She wins. |
| 536 | ** Ruby has become so fast with her Semblance, that she can split in to three pieces, spring in to the air, and ''create tornadoes''. |
| 537 | ** Remember how it took all of Team RWBY working together to take down one Nevermore? Well, Ruby is now able to OffhandBackhand two over the course of the fight, and she barely even acknowledged the second one. |
| 538 | * The AnimationBump caused by switching from Poser to Maya, and the improvements it opened up. From the lighting effects seen on the Grimm in the Character Short, to things like Sun's necklace is no longer glued to his chest, and Blake's ears move and help show expression. |
| 539 | |
| 540 | [[AC:The Next Step]] |
| 541 | * In an understated way, Salem's scene at the episode's beginning. Without actually displaying her powers, it establishes just how terrifying and dangerous she is. Her entrance alone has even LaughingMad Tyrian immediately rising to attention in silent deference. Despite perfect serenity and an [[AffablyEvil affable tone]], she radiates regal authority and an eldritch menace, underscored by a ''chilling'' [[OminousMusicBoxTune music box]] version of her {{Leitmotif}}, "Divide". |
| 542 | * A belated one from Volume 3: Ruby unleashing her powers for the first time ''wrecked'' Cinder: possibly missing an eye, a scar over said eye and it physically hurts to talk. [[LaserGuidedKarma In fact, given her scar almost exactly mirrors the one she inflicted on Amber in her first murder attempt, the result is almost karmic!]] |
| 543 | * Special mention goes to Josh Grelle's ''chilling'' performance as [[AxCrazy Tyr]][[LaughingMad ian]]. |
| 544 | * Salem reveals that Tyrian is hunting the Spring Maiden by himself. Fall Maiden Amber needed Cinder and ''both'' of her cohorts to be taken down. |
| 545 | * In the fight against the Geist, the members of Team RNJR have all clearly [[TookALevelInBadass taken levels in badass]]. |
| 546 | ** It's unclear whether Ruby really knows what her "Silver-Eyed Warrior" powers can do, but certainly she's gotten a lot more powerful. For starters, her Semblance is revealed to not be just speed, but ''flight''. Or at least, [[NotQuiteFlight mid-air movement]]. |
| 547 | ** Nora has apparently received a large upgrade in the intervening months. Magnhild is now able to create an electrical discharge on its own. |
| 548 | ** Ren is nimbler than ever, pulling off acrobatics that would make [[Franchise/AssassinsCreed Altaïr]] proud. Or, as the comments put it, he's not getting constantly knocked around anymore. |
| 549 | ** Even Jaune is doing noticeably better, despite not actually fighting. He takes several hits that would probably have killed him before, and is able to identify and counter the Geist's abilities within minutes. |
| 550 | |
| 551 | [[AC:Remembrance]] |
| 552 | * A subtle one for the slain Huntsman. His wound was obviously human-inflicted, which means that he was fatally injured by the bandits when they attacked. But the Grimm who invaded the town did so after the bandit raid. The fact that there's no Grimm in the village and he's still alive means that, after taking a lethal injury, the Huntsman still managed to [[LastStand kill every single one of the Grimm attacking the town.]] [[DyingMomentOfAwesome He might not have been able to save the village, but]] [[Film/TheAvengers2012 he damn well avenged it.]] |
| 553 | * A small moment, but it seems that Weiss now sees through her father's manipulation. When she asks if he's "''asking'' her if she wants to sing or ''telling'' her", it shows that she has grown from her experience at Beacon. Doubles as a TearJerker, since she caves in to his demands. |
| 554 | * Given the song she sings and her reactions at the party, it's very likely she did it out of a genuine desire to, as her father said, "Make a lot of people happy". |
| 555 | ** Equally small (and earlier), but Ironwood does much the same thing in regards to Jacques, reminding him that there are other points-of-views equally important to - and even more than - his own. |
| 556 | --->'''Ironwood:''' You forget [that] I hold two seats on the council.\ |
| 557 | '''Ironwood:''' So this ''is'' about ''you''. |
| 558 | * Jaune showing the results of his training over the past months. He's become so physically strong and skilled with his sword that his swings create {{Razor Wind}}s. |
| 559 | |
| 560 | [[AC:Of Runaways And Stowaways]] |
| 561 | * The entire battle against the Sea Feilong Grimm: from Blake's skillful use of her clones, to Sun making his grand debut in Volume 4 by saving Blake, to their teamwork in taking down the Grimm, to the Grimm's wing reveal and BreathWeapon, to the Grimm finally dying by being point-blank blasted in half by the ship's biggest cannon... AFTER being [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice speared prow-first by the ship itself.]] |
| 562 | ** The ship's captain. As far as we know, he doesn't have any Semblance or special abilities. What he does have is a loyal crew, a CoolShip, and a lot of determination. |
| 563 | * Minor, yet Sun has improved his [[MesACrowd Semblance from 2 to 3 clones]] - and moreover, seeming has them able to last a bit longer, actually able to take a hit (or give a leg-up) instead of instantly 'exploding' upon contact with anything real. |
| 564 | * The Captain addressing Blake and Sun as "Huntsmen" in the middle of the battle. It's a recognition that they aren't cadets anymore, but qualified adults in their own right. |
| 565 | * The execution of the entire battle is actually quite brilliant. While Blake and Sun are leaping around and fighting the Sea Feilong, the entire battle still takes issues like gravity, momentum, and propulsion into account. Blake bounces and kicks off both her and Sun's clones to reach the heights she needs, and she uses her ribbon's elastic nature to propel her through the air more quickly than her legs would allow. Conservation of momentum is maintained when Sun first jumps at the dragon, as he keeps flying upward from his leap even after he releases his clones. When Sun catches Blake, the impact on the ground is enough to crater the rock around them. Even when Blake is dropping down toward the sea-dragon, the maneuvers she uses to dodge the beams from its breath weapon are identical to how skydivers maneuver and change direction in mid-air. |
| 566 | |
| 567 | [[AC:Family]] |
| 568 | * Ozpin is alive... somehow. |
| 569 | * Team RNJR have noticed a distinct lack of Grimm on their journey, and put it down to luck. Cut to Qrow nearby stabbing a Beowolf. Turns out, he's the reason RNJR have been having so little trouble. And then we see just how ''many'' Grimm he's killed recently. |
| 570 | -->'''Qrow:''' Huh, luck... |
| 571 | * Qrow's barbed speech to Raven over her treatment of Yang demonstrates exactly what he thinks of his sister's parenting. He starts by asking if she knows about Yang losing her arm, and interrupts her when she tries to change the topic to tell her in no uncertain terms that, with how she treats her daughter, she can go to hell with all her talk about "family". |
| 572 | * On the opposite end of that spectrum, Taiyang's small speech to Yang is this for him actually leaving Yang speechless as well as showing just how good of a dad he is. |
| 573 | * Yang putting on the robotic arm. You go girl! |
| 574 | |
| 575 | [[AC:Menagerie]] |
| 576 | * Blake and Sun telling Blake's father about the White Fang's role in the fall of Beacon, right in front of two representatives and his {{tranquil fury}} upon learning the news. |
| 577 | * Blake, this entire time, was essentially a princess. |
| 578 | * In a way, the existence of Menagerie. The island itself is essentially the {{fantasy counterpart| culture}} to [[LandDownunder Australia]]. Not only is it two thirds desert, the wildlife are apparently ''even more'' dangerous than elsewhere. And given [[DeathWorld what type of world]] Remnant is... |
| 579 | |
| 580 | [[AC:Tipping Point]] |
| 581 | * Weiss' song during the charity event is one not-so-subtle "fuck you" to her father and indicative that her royal test is about to reach its breaking point. A song saying that her life is hers and that not his money or his influence have any hold of her anymore. |
| 582 | * Weiss [[ShamingTheMob telling off all the elite party-goers]] for their arrogance and lack of genuine concern for Vale was an extremely satisfying sight (though it doesn't seem to get through to them), as well as her being able to fully summon Grimm avatars that she's killed before, like a Boarbatusk. |
| 583 | -->'''Weiss''': You don't have a clue! None of you do!\ |
| 584 | '''Trophy Wife''': Excuse me?!\ |
| 585 | '''Weiss''': You're all just standing around talking about nothing! Worrying about your hair, your money, your stupid problems that don't mean '''''ANYTHING'''''! |
| 586 | ** Remember what Weiss said to Ruby about her not being fit to lead Team RWBY back in Volume 1? That was her being a SpoiledBrat throwing a tantrum because she didn't get her way. Here, her anger is justified, because these uncaring and ignorant aristocrats of Atlas callously enjoy their meaningless lives while they dismiss the suffering of the people of Vale. |
| 587 | ** Weiss's Boarbatusk goes out of control and tries to attack one of the guests that she was arguing with, only for Ironwood to blast it out of the air. When the guest accuses Weiss of [[YoureInsane going mad]] and demands she be arrested, he bluntly tells her (along with everyone else in the room) off, before casually walking out of the party. |
| 588 | --->'''Ironwood''': ''She's'' the only one making sense around here. [[SarcasmMode Thanks for the party, Jacques.]] |
| 589 | ** Ironwood's single line is also awesome in the fact that it was ''his'' defenses the lady was making fun of. |
| 590 | ** Even before that, Weiss tells off a guy hitting on her. Not for that, but because he has '''no fucking clue''' what the charity is for, what happened to Vale, or why he should care... he's just there for the drinks and food. Weiss looks about ready to hit him as she coldly tells him to get out, or she'll have security escort him out. |
| 591 | * As in Volume 1 Ren has shown his ability to apparently sense his enemies. Only back then the King Taijitu was right behind him, whereas Tyrian was still quite a ways off. It shows how much he's improved AND what an extremely useful skill it is to have. Just imagine how bad things could've gotten if Team RNJR ''hadn't'' been prepared for a fight. Even the moment of mobilization is pretty cool: As soon as Ren puts his hand on his weapon, the other three prepare theirs. Bonus points in that this all happens without him needing to say a single word. |
| 592 | * Villainous example: Tyrian wiping the floor with RNJR, until Ruby charges Nora with an electric shot. Though it initially looks like one strike should be enough to send this madman scurrying, if not outright dead, the dust clears and we see him effortlessly blocking Nora's super-charged strike with a stinger. He's revealed as a scorpion faunus and proceeds to utterly obliterate the team in a terrifying display of speed, agility, and power with all five of his limbs. Had Qrow not intervened, things would have ended right then and there. |
| 593 | ** One complaint with Volume 3's ending was that Pyrrha's death at the hands of Cinder and Ruby's Silver Eyes meant skill seemingly meant nothing in RWBY anymore. Here, Tyrian completely disproves that. Since he is neither a Grimm nor a Maiden, he cannot be affected by the Silver Eyes, making Ruby no more to him than a Huntress-in-Training. And to show how little that means, he utterly thrashes team RNJR by himself. To repeat, he beat three of the strongest Hunters at Beacon ([[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and Jaune]]) whose skills have improved greatly since Volume 3 and Nora even received a power boost from her Semblance. Tyrian was outnumbered and under-powered and not only did he win but he won effortlessly. |
| 594 | ** A small, easily overlooked one. Near the start of the fight, Tyrian enters Bullet Time and appears behind Jaune. Everyone else is moving too slow to stop him... except ''Ren'', who not only spots Tyrian, but has enough time to warn Jaune, draw his guns, ''and start shooting.'' |
| 595 | *** To recap, Ren has a faster reaction time than [[SuperSpeed Ruby]]. |
| 596 | ** The moment when Ruby charges Nora with an electric shot. At first, it looks like Ruby fired a shot intended for Tyrian which he ''just barely'' dodged that hit an oblivious Nora instead. Tyrian laughs maniacally and triumphantly, calling the situation ironic and thinking he got out lucky. However, we see Nora wreathed with lightning standing behind him as Tyrian slowly realizes what's just happened. The badass smirk Nora does before charging forward is the icing on the cake. |
| 597 | ** Qrow [[BigDamnHeroes dropping in at the last second to save the day]]. Right when it looks like Tyrian is going to [[EyeScream take out Ruby's eye]] with his stinger, all of a sudden Qrow swoops in, sword in hand, and blocks the strike with his back turned toward Tyrian, in an echo of how he casually blocked Winter's attacks during their duel in Volume 3. |
| 598 | --->''"Hey."'' |
| 599 | |
| 600 | [[AC:World of Remnant: Schnee Dust Company]] |
| 601 | * Weiss's grandfather, Nicholas Schnee, was a true RenaissanceMan. He studied in combat school, worked in his father's dust mine, and learned "everything he didn't know" in the spare time he had. When he inherited everything his father owned, Nicholas led an expedition into an untapped dust vein that saved Atlas from dependence on the other kingdoms for resources. He ''personally'' led every business venture for his company with his huntsman training to ensure his team's success and well-being, and is the clear inspiration for what his granddaughter thinks the Schnee name truly stands for, and her desire to bring it ''back'' to that image. |
| 602 | |
| 603 | [[AC:Punished]] |
| 604 | * Even though the rest of her situation is hopeless, Weiss manages to retain Myrtenaster. This means that she will definitely return to the field. Spoiler alert: by the end of the volume, she does. |
| 605 | ** While the consequences are severe, Weiss hits Jacques where it hurts by telling him the Schnee name is her legacy, not his, because she was born a Schnee while he married into it. |
| 606 | * Tyrian is an awesome villain, but none of the other villains in the series are as athletic and as flexible as him. The guy can jump in the air and do a 180 split, with his ability to fight Qrow head-on also commendable. |
| 607 | * The whole fight sequence between Qrow and Tyrian is ''easily'' the best one this season. |
| 608 | ** Special mention has to be made of when Tyrian manages to disarm Qrow, his response is to simply start ''beating the shit out of Tyrian with his bare hands'' before casually walking over to retrieve his sword. The best part is how Tyrian is completely taken off-guard by it and has no real defense. |
| 609 | ** Yet another villainous one for Tyrian when Ruby tries to snipe him from afar, he simply ''[[OffhandBackhand blocks all her shots without looking in her direction]]'', all with a smile on his face. |
| 610 | ** Worth noting is that Tyrian managed to break Qrow's Aura... and Qrow kept fighting without missing a beat. |
| 611 | ** Qrow also broke Tyrian's Aura, allowing Ruby to cripple him (as explained below). |
| 612 | ** Qrow tricks Tyrian into jumping onto a cracked roof beam, causing him to fall into the house. Tyrian promptly turns the tables right back by dragging Qrow down with him. |
| 613 | ** When Qrow was sent bouncing out of the collapsing building by Tyrian, he makes a ''awesome'' comeback by throwing his weapon which lands with its blade in the ground, using it to stop his momentum and then perch himself on top of it in a badass pose. |
| 614 | ** Also worth noting that Qrow didn't bring his scythe out during the fight, he fought Tyrian to a stand still without using the weapon he specializes in. |
| 615 | ** A subtle one, but during most of the fight, neither Qrow nor Tyrian can land a blow on each other, until Tyrian gets Qrow's sword. Despite this, by the time Qrow bursts through the wall, Tyrian's managed to destroy his aura in an incredibly short amount of time. Faster than it took for him to knock Ruby's out. |
| 616 | * Ruby inflicts a ''[[GameBreakingInjury devastating]]'' handicap on Tyrian, by means of slicing off his tail. |
| 617 | ** Of particular note is how exactly she did it. Tyrian gets in a wound with his stinger while Qrow is distracted saving Ruby. While allies are caught in a state of shock and Tyrian is grinning about his victory, Ruby calmly and reflexively puts her blade around his tail and pulls the trigger. Yang's been shown to be capable of serious brutality when angered; Ruby can do it without so much as a growl. |
| 618 | ** This is also the second time Ruby takes a body part from Salem's group: Cinder's eye and Tyrian's tail. |
| 619 | ** Some people have pointed out that a scorpion's tail is directly connected to their anus. If this holds true for Tyrian, then Ruby literally ripped him a new one. OUCH! |
| 620 | |
| 621 | [[AC:A Much Needed Talk]] |
| 622 | * The reveal that Amber was inexperienced makes two moments more awesome in hindsight. 1) Amber was able to fight Cinder and co. for quite a while even though she was inexperienced. 2) The Spring Maiden which Tyrian was hunting is most likely experienced, and he was still hunting her ''alone''. |
| 623 | * The entire CreationStory of Remnant, told in simple yet gorgeous animation and giving a whole new perspective on everything we've seen so far. |
| 624 | * Although the result is horrifying, you ''have'' to give credit to a God of Destruction managing to ''create'' something. |
| 625 | * Ghira acknowledges Blake's leaving the White Fang and setting herself back on the right path as her crowning moment of awesome, noting that few would have the courage to do the same. In light of knowing that Blake's relationship with Adam was an abusive one, and knowing that the White Fang would likely come after her for revenge, Blake having the moral strength to do what she felt was right and try to face her own problems really is awesome. |
| 626 | * Sun's love for (and sense of protective duty towards) Blake qualifies. Even after she slaps him around for his bad timing, throws away his scroll, and generally acts coldly towards him, he still runs after her when she unwisely decides to chase a White Fang scout. And even though her parents aren't much better at tolerating him, Sun still has the presence of mind to warn Kali about the Fang's activities and promise to bring Blake back to her. |
| 627 | |
| 628 | [[AC:Two Steps Forward, Two Steps Back]] |
| 629 | * The first scene shows something the fandom have been waiting for since the end of Volume Three: Yang is back on her feet and training to fight again! |
| 630 | ** The fight has a few minor but important moments of awesome: Yang blowing back her father, Taiyang tripping her up and Yang then doing the same. |
| 631 | ** Taiyang's deconstruction of Yang's reliance on her Semblance and his advice to his daughter is both this and a SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming Moment|s}}: The man knows how to help his child. |
| 632 | * Weiss manages to ''completely'' summon the Knight avatar. You go, girl! And it kneels before her. This one is completely under her command, unlike the wild avatar at the party. Weiss' smile as Klein comes in to see what happened sells it, as if she'd just acquired exactly what she needed. |
| 633 | * Weiss glyphing the door shut on Whitley. |
| 634 | * The chase scene between Blake, Sun and the White Fang spy Ilia has Sun pinning the spy down with a dogpile of ''four'' of his own Semblance clones. Not bad for such a trickster. |
| 635 | |
| 636 | [[AC:World of Remnant: The Great War]] |
| 637 | * The alliance between Mantle and Mistral was so powerful they were able to settle all of Anima and even part of Sanus safely. They also almost defeated Vale and Vacuo. |
| 638 | * The invasion of Vacuo failed because the [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething King of Vale]] during the Great War personally led the defense force at Vacuo. Nobody knows exactly what happened, but apparently he was so awe-inspiring some historians have attributed his actions to ''freak storms'', and by the end of the battle the rulers of the other Kingdoms were prepared to let him rule the entire world. Even better, he refused and opted to found the Huntsman Academies. |
| 639 | |
| 640 | [[AC:Kuroyuri]] |
| 641 | * The first thing we see is Oscar walking to a train station to go to Mistral, having finally [[ResignedToTheCall resigned himself to Ozpin's direction]]. After being refused a ticket for lack of lien, Oscar is told to be on his guard by Ozpin. The camera pans around to show Hazel walking up behind him. As terrifying as it is to know he's there, he doesn't know Oscar and doesn't realize he's just steps away from Salem's opponent. He thinks he's just some kid unable to pay for a ticket. So what does he do? [[PercussiveMaintenance Punches the machine]] so that a ticket flies out and gives him advice on overcoming obstacles. |
| 642 | * Ren's father's [[DyingMomentOfAwesome death]]: fending off a Nuckelavee Grimm with a bow and arrow. Although we know his attempts were futile, you have to admire his bravery [[PapaWolf and his willingness to protect his son]]. To his credit, at least one of his arrows found its mark since we find it years later in the Nuckelavee's den. |
| 643 | * After nearly four volumes of speculation, the audience ''finally'' learns Ren's Semblance; the ability to hide himself and those he chooses from the Grimm. This not only explains how he and Nora survived in the lead up to their arrival at Beacon, but it provides much more hope for their survival without Ruby or Jaune around in the present day. |
| 644 | * Consider young Ren's situation for a moment. His hometown attacked and destroyed, his parents dead in the chaos and now all alone. And yet, he finds the courage to run over to little Nora while Nevermores are flying in the sky, and one having just landed on top of the building Nora was hiding under, who could easily fly down and swallow him whole, and both protect and comfort her. Is it any wonder why Nora is in love with him, and likely has been since that very moment? |
| 645 | |
| 646 | [[AC:Taking Control]] |
| 647 | * Cinder wipes the floor with some Grimm with her newfound powers and even kills the very same Grimm that Ruby had a hard time fighting in her Volume 4 trailer in one shot. And according to Salem, that's her ''holding back''. |
| 648 | * Tyrian is still plenty dangerous without his stinger, even in the middle of a full-blown VillainousBreakdown. Just ask that poor Beowulf. Oh wait, you can't, because he BUTCHERED it. |
| 649 | * With Klein's assistance, Weiss has escaped the mansion, and is on the way to Mistral, acting on Ironwood's information by finding Winter. |
| 650 | ** Speaking of, Ironwood ''finally'' puts Jacques in his place by closing all borders on Atlas and forbidding people from leaving or entering without the Council's approval, effective in the following week. Since Ironwood owns ''two'' seats at said council, that basically means Jacques has to get on Ironwood's good side and ''stay'' on it in order to actually conduct his business now. And considering [[TheSociopath what kind of person]] Jacques is, it's going to be difficult at best. In short, he's now going through what he put Weiss through. LaserGuidedKarma at its finest. |
| 651 | *** It's also one for the people of Atlas. They're self-absorbed people who pretty much created a social bubble to hide in while the rest of Remnant suffers, even laughing at their misfortune as seen with the trophy wife. Ironwood pretty much enforces said bubble by turning it into a GildedCage. |
| 652 | ** A subtle one, but when Weiss bars the office door with a black glyph, it managed to hold out on Ironwood's PercussiveMaintenance long enough for Weiss to enter the library before Ironwood and Jacques broke out. That's an encouraging sign for her skill set going into an unsafe Mistral. |
| 653 | * Yang paints her arm to match her outfit, gets ready to leave on Bumblebee and (as we later learn) is hellbent on finding Ruby in Mistral. |
| 654 | * Sun has managed to recover somewhat from his wound. Given how close he came to dying ''instantly'' last time we saw him, that's impressive. |
| 655 | ** When Blake rants again about [[ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies how she "needs" to keep her friends distant to avoid Adam's wrath]], Sun shows a ''huge'' amount of backbone and calls Blake out for alienating those same friends, even stating outright that he'd get injured all over again if it meant protecting her. And Blake, for once, listens to Sun's words and reconciles with him. |
| 656 | --->'''Sun:''' You think you're being selfless, but you're not. Yeah, that chameleon friend of yours got me pretty good, [[ThePowerOfFriendship but I'd do it all again if it meant protecting you]]. And I could promise Yang would say the same. You get to make your own choices, sure. But you don't get to make ours. When your friends fight for you, [[TrueCompanions it's because we want to]]. So STOP pushing us out! [[YouAreNotAlone It hurts more than anything the bad guys could ever do to us]]. |
| 657 | ** And when Ghira tells her about Adam's plot to overthrow Sienna Khan and destroy Haven, Sun talks about destroying the White Fang. Blake will have none of that, and instead vows to take the White Fang ''[[HeelFaceTurn back]]''. |
| 658 | *** A subtle one; when Ghira and Kali enter the office, Kali mentions that Ghira wanted to talk to both Blake and Sun. The first thing we hear Ghira say is "I'm afraid you were right to be suspicious." and we see him turning his head towards Blake after she asks why. That means that he was acknowledging that Sun was right about the Albain brothers, and indirectly apologizing for mistrusting him. |
| 659 | *** A small one for the villains; the Albain twins were ''actually'' telling the truth when they called Adam a renegade. This made their false loyalty to Sienna Khan even harder to detect. Of course, it's pretty likely that Ilia's scroll spilled the beans to the Belladonnas and Sun about the Albain's allegiances. |
| 660 | * And then there's Ren. What does he do after spotting the Nuckleavee moving for Kuroyuri? He puts his well-founded fears aside and runs to Ruby and Jaune's aid with Nora alongside him, and the pair managed to ''outrun the Nuckelavee'' by almost a minute. Also, the sight of Team RNJR reuniting at full fighting strength qualifies. [[OhCrap Heaven knows they'll need it]]... |
| 661 | |
| 662 | [[AC:No Safe Haven]] |
| 663 | * The fight between RNJR and the Nuckelavee. It's the first fight they've been in since the one with Tyrian and it's worth the wait. |
| 664 | ** Ren using his semblance to mask Jaune and Qrow from the Grimm so they can get Qrow out of the line of fire. |
| 665 | ** Two for Jaune, the first for unveiling Crocea Mors' new two-handed form and using it to deliver massive damage on the Nuckelavee, forcing it to get serious. And the second for stopping the Nuckelavee's charge dead, even though the creature is enormous. That must've taken a ''lot'' of physical strength; clearly, he's come a long way from the boy who faked his way into Beacon. |
| 666 | *** And another very subtle for Jaune. Back then he nearly vomited all over the airship, earning him an EmbarrassingNickname. Now, him casually standing by the open hatch of a moving airship and admiring the view without even holding on anything shows that he got over his motion sickness completely. |
| 667 | *** His sword's two-handed mode has its blade formed by his shield. His white shield, now bordered and highlighted with the metal from from Pyrrha's circlet. Pyrrha is still with Jaune, aiding him and keeping him safe. |
| 668 | ** Nora's Aura is depleted, so she leaps off a tower and lets gravity do the work. All while giving a happy grin and laughing because despite the horror they're facing and the emotional trauma it's caused to her personally, she's about to ''seriously'' wreck its shit. |
| 669 | ** How RNJR finally brings down the Nuckelavee. Ruby and Jaune impale its arms, Nora smashes the horse head to immobilize it, and Ren cuts its arms and head off, [[AndThisIsFor listing off all the people it killed with each cut.]] [[TranquilFury All without so much as raising his voice.]] And when the beast screams in his face, Ren doesn't even flinch. |
| 670 | --->'''Ren:''' For my mother. (''slash'') For my father. (''slash'') For all those that you've slain. (''slash'') ... ''For myself.'' ('''''[[OffWithHisHead SLASH]]''''') |
| 671 | ** The Nuckelavee itself was so dangerous that Mistral's air patrols never got near the region it lived in, since no one could survive in the area. The fact that someone was ''actually fighting it'' was strange enough that they came to investigate. |
| 672 | ** The Nuckelavee itself is incredibly powerful and awesomely terrifying. Between its mobility and the amount of reach and power in its arms, there's little doubt that it would have destroyed or at least driven off anyone short of Ozpin or a Maiden in a one-on-one fight. This was something that only a well-trained and coordinated team could have hoped to kill. No wonder that the region was left abandoned. |
| 673 | * Coco nonchalantly facing down a Beowolf at the end of Season 2 is rightly considered awesome, but Ren easily tops it, coldly staring down the most hideous Grimm yet seen in the series, the creature that has killed countless people including his family and is responsible for annihilating multiple settlements, as the abomination is screaming at ''deafening'' volume inches away from his face. And he takes it down, not with fancy or elaborate weapons, but with a simple knife his father gave him. |
| 674 | * Credit where credit is due, Salem continues to prove her cunning even in an episode without a single line of dialogue for her. She's turned the Headmaster of Haven Academy to her side, a man well trusted by Ozpin and Qrow. |
| 675 | * The SurprisinglyHappyEnding. Qrow is alive, and Oscar finds him and gets Ozpin's cane back, Weiss is able to get on a ship out of Atlas (though she pretty much burned her bridges with both her family and Klein and [[YouCantGoHomeAgain Ironwood's strict policy will make it hard for her to return if she even feels like it]]), Blake is on her way to restore the White Fang to what it once was, and Yang is on her way to meet either Ruby or Raven, saying she's "in sooo much trouble" when they meet again. |
| 676 | * Qrow giving Oscar Ozpin's cane. |
| 677 | [[/folder]] |
| 678 | |
| 679 | [[folder:Volume 5]] |
| 680 | [[AC:Welcome to Haven]] |
| 681 | * Once again, the animation quality has jumped upwards. And we get to see this in the first scene, where Qrow takes team RNJR on the scenic route towards Haven Academy, capped by a ''stunning'' vista of the city of Mistral. |
| 682 | * Qrow managed to work out that the Spring Maiden teamed up with Raven, and the location of their main base, whilst recovering from Tyrian's poison. It also counts as one for Raven, having managed to gain many followers as a result of the Spring Maiden's recruitment. |
| 683 | * Another bombshell got delivered about the Maidens; they are the only beings capable of opening the hidden chambers of the Relics (Winter for Creation, Spring for Knowledge, Summer for Destruction, and Fall for Choice). That's right; they are ''living, breathing links'' to the Two Brothers. |
| 684 | * When the lecherous thug at the gas station tries to [[BerserkButton touch Yang's hair]], her response is to [[TranquilFury calmly]] punch him so hard that he bounces off the floor and ceiling and flies out of the building like a pinball. |
| 685 | ** Just the sound design and editing in this scene. As soon as Yang grabs the thug's hand heading for her hair, a shrill ringing noise begins as Yang's eyes flare red. It stops as soon as Yang punches him, with the blow causing the scene to occur in BulletTime. This stylistic choice just highlights the simple brutality and penance that Yang has dished out, and informs the audience of two things. If you want to get on Yang's good side, give up your pining after she politely refuses, and stay away from her hair, ''at any costs''. |
| 686 | * The opening sequence is likely the closest the series has gotten to full-blooded Japanese anime. The theme song, The Triumph, adds to the awesome. Specific Highlights include: |
| 687 | ** Oscar wielding Ozpin's cane looking ready to start training. |
| 688 | ** Ren and Nora taking on Hazel, as he fights barehanded. |
| 689 | ** Blake swiftly maneuvering around Ilia's whip. |
| 690 | ** Yang having a Rematch with Mercury. |
| 691 | ** Weiss showing off the Arma Gigas in its original size, then riding its ''sword''. |
| 692 | ** Team RWBY together again, charging at Salem. |
| 693 | ** The lyrics hint that Team RWBY, after two volumes of failures and separations, are going to reunite and strike back against the villains. |
| 694 | |
| 695 | [[AC:Dread in the Air]] |
| 696 | * When the ship Weiss is on gets chased by a host of Lancer Grimm (wasp-like creatures with grappling-hook tails)[[note]]the same Grimm that were attacking the airships who sent out the distress signal in the previous chapter[[/note]] in an archipelago of floating islands, she and the pilot put up one ''hell'' of a fight. We get to see a ''marked'' improvement in Weiss's ability to use glyphs, some ''gorgeous'' shots of aerial maneuvers and combat, and Weiss pulling off the best use of avatars ever seen. She summons her Arma Gigas, which jumps out of the upside-down plane and dives towards the Queen Lancer. Weiss then gets it to ''teleport behind the Lancer'' and replicate one of her signature fighting techniques to take out the Queen. |
| 697 | ** Of particular note is the amount of physics used in this battle, and [[MagicAIsMagicA how consistently Weiss' Semblance is used]]. While Weiss is in the cargo bay of the ship, she roots herself in place using her black glyphs, while firing Dust blasts with her white ones. Later on, in order to get into place to launch a volley of Dust-laden crates, Weiss uses another white glyph to throw herself to the back of the bay, roots herself in place with a black glyph, and launches the crates with a volley of white glyphs channeling Wind Dust. Then, when the airship is crashing, Weiss even uses her black glyphs to try to catch and hold it in place in a manner akin to a net. This is an amazingly well-thought-out battle scene using the physics of Weiss' glyphs in a beautifully consistent manner. |
| 698 | * We get to see Sienna Khan chew Adam Taurus out for his actions in the Battle of Beacon, along with flat-out rejecting his plan for attacking Haven and questioning his involvement with Salem. |
| 699 | ** Even after she's been mortally wounded by Adam, we see Sienna Khan's expression go from one of shock to pure fury as she tries to lift her arms up as if to strangle him. ''The woman has a sword through her gut,'' and she seems to be attempting a TakingYouWithMe with her final breath... and even before that, made clear that despite being surrounded by White Fang turncoats, she intended to fight back. Whatever you think of the White Fang under her leadership, you can't deny the woman was a badass. |
| 700 | * An especially evil example occurs when Adam murders Sienna Khan in response to the above and claims leadership of the White Fang, with Hazel calmly voicing his disapproval at Adam's actions. |
| 701 | ** It gives some tiny insight into Hazel's character; he didn't want anyone to die, which is odd when he works alongside people who have no qualms about killing. If this is his base personality, then he may be the only pacifistic member of an organization that seeks to bring ruin to the world. If what Ozpin told Oscar is true, then Hazel's reasons for siding with Salem may be personal rather than power-seeking. |
| 702 | ** During the meeting, when Sienna Khan threatens Hazel, he is entirely unfazed by her threats. When she tells him that the longer he stays the less likely he is to leave alive, his only response to the death threat (which is backed up by four of Sienna's guards leveling spears at him) is a completely unperturbed [[BadassBoast "I'll take those chances."]] Judging by his tone, if it somehow came down to a fight, it sounds like ''Hazel'' would be the one walking away. |
| 703 | ** And he's nothing but polite and respectful the entire time. Powerful villains typically love throwing their weight around, but Hazel knows he's playing ball in someone else's court right now, and he'll get farther with respect and diplomacy than shows of force. This could well be the reason Salem sent him specifically to ensure Sienna's cooperation. |
| 704 | |
| 705 | [[AC:Unforeseen Complications]] |
| 706 | * We get to see a small taste of Oscar's true powers: he can summon forth Ozpin to talk to people (as he does with team RNJR), and we also get a ''massive'' bombshell: Ozpin was cursed to forever reincarnate by the gods as punishment for failing to defeat Salem in the past. |
| 707 | ** Aaron Dismuke also gets to display his chops as a Voice Actor, flawlessly imitating Ozpin's accent and inflections. He speaks with Oscar's voice, but the tone is definitely for a man much older than he. |
| 708 | * Weiss gets a subtle Awesome Moment as well in the confrontation with Vernal. When the latter mentions that Weiss would do well in the tribe, the Schnee heiress gets a dig that shows that no matter what rumors surround her family, Weiss still has her own integrity. |
| 709 | -->'''Weiss:''' I would ''never'' sink to your level. |
| 710 | * The last shot we get is Weiss, whose wrists are bound, summoning a miniature Arma Gigas avatar at night while the bandits are sleeping. Then she looks past it, outside the cage, and smiles confidently. |
| 711 | |
| 712 | [[AC:Lighting The Fire]] |
| 713 | * On the whole, the action scenes in this episode are a wild departure from the series' usual fare. RWBY's distinctive focus on weaponry and Semblances is downplayed in favour of straightforward, slick, well-choreographed hand-to-hand combat with only a tiny amount of weapon use... and ''it works'', without missing a beat. |
| 714 | * Yang leads the bandit to a clearing near Raven's camp. He runs off and tries to sic a group of six bandits onto Yang. [[MuggingtheMonster Emphasis on "tries"]]. |
| 715 | ** What's more, Yang is absolutely ''not'' fooled by the guy's ruse; the moment he runs off, Yang shakes her head disapprovingly and starts casually removing some of her excess gear, and even stretches a little, in anticipation of an ambush. Sure enough, one of the bandits takes a potshot at her, which she effortlessly blocks with her new arm. |
| 716 | ** The ensuing fight is simply awesome. We get to see Yang flex her hand-to-hand skills, showing off her agility as well as her strength. |
| 717 | *** What makes it even better, is that it shows that Yang took her father's lessons to heart. Unlike her fights in the past, she's no longer [[AttackAttackAttack charging in all offense]]. Instead, she evades blows instead of trying to tank them and conserves her energy. Only moving and attacking when she needs to and being as efficient in taking down the bandits as possible. |
| 718 | *** Yang spent several months (and an entire Volume) in a near comatose depressive state. This is her first proper fight since she lost her arm, and her first time putting her new, less reckless combat strategy into practice outside of training with Tai. Yet, despite all of this, Yang dishes out a CurbStompBattle against several opponents, alone, without any sign of being rusty. '''[[ShesBack Yang is back.]]''' |
| 719 | *** Even better, pay close attention to her facial expressions during this fight. Initially, she looks highly concentrated and might not even be listening to the bandits at all, instead readying herself for the fight mentally. Shady Man's gunshot causes her to glare in his direction, yet her eyes do not go red with fury this time and she manages to keep enough of a cool head to win fighting strategically. After the battle is over, she closes her eyes, steadies her shaking arm and breathes an uncharacteristic, genuine sigh of relief. In short, neither Yang's temper nor her PTSD have magically gone away. Her awesome performance is simply the result of hard work and an earnest desire to overcome her issues and improve as a person; something far more difficult than merely learning new moves. |
| 720 | * We see Oscar/Ozpin slugging it out against Ruby during training, with the former both giving ''and'' receiving advice from Team RNJR (depending on which entity is being addressed). |
| 721 | * During a conversation about Semblances, Nora reveals how she discovered hers - she was randomly struck by lightning one day, and shrugged it off like it was no big deal. |
| 722 | * A number of these occur when Yang ''finally'' meets her mother; |
| 723 | ** First, Yang isn't there for answers; She's looking for Ruby, and has learned from her father that Raven's Semblance is opening portals to people she's bonded to, such as herself, Tai, and Qrow, who promised to look after Ruby. Rather than waste time searching the entire continent on the chance Ruby never made it to Mistral, she's going to get Raven to warp her there instantly. Even Raven is impressed by Yang's guts by marching into her camp and demanding favors. But when Raven refuses to do that (possibly out of distrust for Ozpin's group that Qrow is part of), Yang makes it clear she's not asking. She's ''telling.'' "Send me to Qrow, damn it!" |
| 724 | ** Then, when Yang decks a bandit with her right arm, she sends him flying so hard he knocks over a tent - thereby revealing Weiss trying to escape with her tiny Arma Gigas. After the surprise wears off, Weiss increases the Knight's size enough to shatter her cell, and wards off all comers from the duo. |
| 725 | *** Also, Weiss's reaction to figuring out Raven is Yang's mother. If not for Vernal, it looked like Yang was ready to outright ''deck'' Raven: |
| 726 | ----> '''Weiss''': Your ''mom'' kidnapped me?!\ |
| 727 | '''Yang''': ''(is absolutely '''livid''')'' You ''kidnapped'' her?! |
| 728 | ** Both in this scene and the first scene, we see Yang clutching her left arm and ''successfully'' warding off her PTSD. "Lighting The Fire" indeed. |
| 729 | ** When it seems like a fight is about to break out between Weiss, Yang and the Branwen tribe, a lightning bolt strikes the ground, followed by an echoing shout of "ENOUGH!" from Vernal. ''Everyone'' stops. |
| 730 | ** Finally, Raven orders everyone to cool down before their anger attracts Grimm, then has Vernal return Myrtenaster to Weiss before telling her and Yang to come into her tent. She clearly doesn't want to do it, but she knows that if the girls are that determined to go after Ruby, then they need to know the truth. |
| 731 | |
| 732 | [[AC:Necessary Sacrifice]] |
| 733 | * After Oscar has a freak-out over the situation he and team RNJR are facing, Ruby gives him a pep talk to rival the one she received from Jaune last volume. |
| 734 | * One for the CRWBY; the scenes in Menagerie contained a number of new faunus designs, including (but not limited to) mermaid and bat faunus. They, plus the visuals of the dockside, are absolute eye-candy. |
| 735 | * That the Albains are using Adam as a figurehead, and have no problem replacing him after he's [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness outlived his usefulness]] and/or he [[SanitySlippage gets too unhinged to lead]]. It shows they're not as insane as the leader they follow and that [[EvenEvilHasStandards they have standards]]. |
| 736 | |
| 737 | [[AC:Known By Its Song]] |
| 738 | * The bartender manages to seriously intimidate Qrow with a simple kitchen knife. |
| 739 | * As Raven recounts to Yang and Weiss, Team STRQ were essentially Team RWBY's counterparts when they were students at Beacon - to the point where they received special missions from Ozpin, and their mistakes and rule-breaking got ignored, and so on. |
| 740 | -->'''Raven:''' [[LampshadeHanging Sound familiar]]? |
| 741 | * Qrow and Raven were initially sent to Beacon to learn how to kill Huntsmen, but did so well that they attracted Ozpin's attention. |
| 742 | * Ozpin ''somehow'' managed to grant Raven and Qrow the ability to shapeshift into birds, adding yet another testament to his true power. |
| 743 | * Credit has to be given to Weiss for her calling Raven [[SmugSnake obnoxious ]] [[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu to her face]], especially given how strong and manipulative the bandit leader is. |
| 744 | * Despite Raven offering Yang a chance to start a proper maternal relationship, Yang refuses. With Raven's begrudging cooperation, Yang saddles up on Bumblebee with Weiss riding pillion, and they successfully teleport to Qrow. They enter his safe house and tearfully reunite with team RNJR to a slow, piano-only chorus of Gold. |
| 745 | |
| 746 | [[AC:Rest and Resolution]] |
| 747 | * Weiss spooking Nora with a Boarbatusk avatar, right after Nora [[TemptingFate refused to believe Weiss's section]] of "Tipping Point". |
| 748 | * Yang detaching her arm while Nora is arm-wrestling with her, causing her to freak out. Also, Yang's comfortable enough to make practical jokes ''with'' her arm now, which is a good sign for her mental state. |
| 749 | * A long-standing FNDM theory got confirmed in this episode; Ozpin indeed ''was'' the Wizard that granted the first Maidens their powers. Additionally, he states that the power he bestowed onto Qrow and Raven, though hard to part with, is ''miniscule'' compared to the powers he gave to the Maidens. |
| 750 | * Despite her misgivings, Yang agrees to side with Ozpin, but on the condition that he and Qrow are completely honest with her, Weiss, and Team RNJR. Thankfully, the pair of men agree to those conditions. |
| 751 | * The blond bandit Yang bashed up defies Mercury and Emerald when they try to enter the camp. But then Cinder and Watts arrive, and [[CliffHanger Emerald twirls her weapons as she advances on the guard]]... |
| 752 | |
| 753 | [[AC:Alone Together]] |
| 754 | * When Yang gets angry and storms inside after Ruby mentions Blake, ''[[DefrostingIceQueen Weiss]]'' is the one who calms Yang down and helps her try to understand Blake's reasons for leaving. |
| 755 | * Blake finds a note Ilia left her on the balcony, telling her to meet up somewhere quiet. Upon arrival, Ilia captures her with the aid of three White Fang members. After Ilia rants and leaves with Yuma the bat Faunus, Sun jumps in and rescues Blake from the two remaining members - showing that Blake didn't fall for it completely and asked Sun to shadow her off-screen. They then run to the Belladonna mansion, calling the cops on the Fang attacking Ghira and Kali - thereby blowing a hole into the White Fang's plans. |
| 756 | ** Blake using her very real fear of Adam to sell the ruse, only calling for Sun once the White Fang have split up. And in a rewatch bonus, she collapses after Yuma drops right on her spine, an injury that would cripple most people, but as soon as he leaves she knocks out the spider Faunus not showing a hint of weakness or pain. The entire thing was a gambit and she completely committed to it so she could help her friend. |
| 757 | * Kali manages to pin down a White Fang mook with a gun, after the guard who owned said gun got KO'd by the mook. |
| 758 | -->'''Kali:''' '''''Get out of my house!''''' |
| 759 | * The last scene shows that Menagerie's chieftain [[GentleGiant may be a giant]], but he sure ''isn't'' [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness gentle when the chips are down]]. Ghira knocks out a few of the Fang troops barehanded without getting hurt or losing his cool, showing that even the peacetime White Fang wasn't toothless. And when the Albains show up with daggers in hand and take out the other guard with him, Ghira extends his claws, throws off his cape and unleashes an ''earth-shaking'' roar while his eyes narrow. |
| 760 | |
| 761 | [[AC:A Perfect Storm]] |
| 762 | * Ghira's sheer strength is shown off when a female White Fang member charges at him with a spear: he grabs the spear just behind the head with one hand, bringing it to a dead stop, ''lifts her completely off the ground'', swings her around like a flail and tosses her across the room right into Fennec Albain, knocking him over, before throwing the spear itself at Corsac and pinning him to the wall. |
| 763 | ** At the same time, Corsac sends a blast of fire at Ghira, resulting in a projectile version of a CrossCounter. Ghira has no time to dodge, so he just stands there and tanks it with his Aura. That bears repeating: Ghira, who as far as we know is not a trained fighter, has a strong enough Aura to absorb fireballs that knocked lesser fighters out instantly. Just because he's a pacifist doesn't mean he's weak. |
| 764 | * Sun and Blake make it back to the house, and Ghira orders her to find Kali. He them teams up with Sun to take on the Albains in the foyer. |
| 765 | ** Sun's entrance has him taking out a White Fang goon out before he could attack Ghira. |
| 766 | * Blake using an ice clone to trap the Albain's blades. |
| 767 | * We get to see Raven and Vernal plan and begin to carry out one hell of a BatmanGambit. After wringing the flaws out of Cinder's plans and demanding Qrow's death in return for their services, Raven has Vernal track the villains and discovers that they're staying in an airship west of the camp. They then plan to use the pending attack on Haven to their advantage by whisking the Relic from under Cinder's nose during the thick of the battle. |
| 768 | ** The TakeThat Raven gives Cinder when the latter starts dishing out threats. And the fact that Watts concedes the point. |
| 769 | * The fact that Emerald mentions Ruby separate from the other students just shows how much of a threat they consider the ''little girl'', as Watts once put it, to be. |
| 770 | ** Which makes sense since she injured not just one, but two of Salem's ''top'' associates. |
| 771 | |
| 772 | [[AC:True Colors]] |
| 773 | * This episode was a huge conga line of these for the Belladonna family as they fight the White Fang assassins. |
| 774 | ** Blake fighting Ilia to a standstill is filled with these moments on both sides. With Ilia keeping Blake constantly on the defensive at the beginning with her whip, Blake making full use of her semblance to dodge attacks, Ilia using her weapons electrical properties to disarm Blake, Ilia turning off the lights and camouflaging herself to become practically invisible even with Blake's improved sight as a faunus, to Blake deliberately setting her house alight with fire dust to counter this and freezing over Ilia's whip with ice dust to make it useless, this one fight proves to be a massive standout in an episode full of awesome moments. |
| 775 | *** This entire fight is capped off with an epic statement from Blake. |
| 776 | ---->'''Ilia:''' Why couldn't you just leave?!\ |
| 777 | '''Blake:''' Because I run away too much. |
| 778 | ** Ghira's badassery continues to increase, with his entrance involving throwing the Albain brothers into the room. He then knocks Corsac out cold early in his brawl, and [[NoSell tanks]] a dagger in his back without missing a beat. But the best is saved for last; when Sun pins Ilia to a pillar hard enough to cause a section to collapse onto Ilia, Ghira emulates Atlas by ''holding the entire section of the balcony on his arms and shoulders'', allowing Ilia to get to safety, and Sun helps prop up the load with his semblance. |
| 779 | ** Kali herself gets a moment by taking Yuma by surprise and knocking him out with a ''tea tray'' of all things while the Bat faunus was in the process of strangling a guard. |
| 780 | ** Sun, while not a member of the Belladonna's, shows off his skills just as well and after not being seen since volume 1, Sun's gun-chucks make a grand return as they are used to absolutely dominate Ilia in their short clash. |
| 781 | * When Fennec charges Ghira during his Atlas moment, Blake latches onto her father with Gambol Shroud and pulls him away at the last second, causing Fennec to [[DroppedABridgeOnHim land into the path of the falling balcony]]. That's an ''insane'' amount of strength on Blake's part. |
| 782 | ** And when Corsac rises to attack them immediately afterwards, Ilia begins her redemption by frying him into unconsciousness with her weapon. |
| 783 | * When the crowds gather outside the wrecked mansion, Blake delivers a speech that rallies the entirety of Menagerie to her cause, and publicly forgives Ilia for everything. And when Kali brings up the issue of ferrying an entire island of Faunus to Haven in two weeks, Blake points out that there's a [[Recap/RWBYV4E3OfRunawaysAndStowaways ship captain who owes them a favor]]. |
| 784 | * Saber Rodentia, the chief of the Menagerie guard, gets a small one when he delivers a TakeThat to a defeated Corsac. |
| 785 | -->'''Saber:''' Was it worth it? |
| 786 | * In a rather small moment, Raven tells Lionheart that he did what he needed to do to survive. Lionheart's response is a simple question, but it makes Raven leave the room without a word: |
| 787 | -->'''Lionheart:''' Who are ''you'' trying to convince? |
| 788 | * The ramifications of the events of this episode are easy to understate: the failure of the assassination attempt on the Belladonnas is probably the single worst thing that could have happened to the White Fang. To recap: |
| 789 | ** Any credibility they had as merely a group of radicals 'gone too far' in pursuit of equality has been shot to hell, as the attempt on the Belladonna Family has made the Fang's true colors clear: they don't give a damn about Faunus life, and they'll step on anyone, human or faunus, to achieve their goals. Ghira, a beloved leader of the faunus, now has all the ammo he could ever want for galvanizing them against the Fang. |
| 790 | ** With the Albain brothers removed from the picture, there's nothing stopping Adam from completely losing his mind and do whatever he wants on a whim, to the detriment of the organization. And considering Hazel's disapproval of Adam's murder of Sienna Khan, all he has to do is let the truth slip and Adam's support base would crumble entirely. After a stunt like this, no one but the most fanatical people could honestly say Hazel would be lying about it. |
| 791 | |
| 792 | [[AC:The More The Merrier]] |
| 793 | * Ruby tries to convince Raven to work together with them against Salem. It fails, but it's impressive that she even ''tried''. |
| 794 | * Oscar confronting Headmaster Lionheart on his own with little input from Ozpin. From tanking Lionheart's flaming projectile with complete indifference, to making Lionheart [[OhCrap gape in horror]] upon seeing Ozpin's cane, to Oscar's GrinOfAudacity and declaration that ''he'' was fighting Lionheart, not Ozpin, is pure unadulterated awesome. And then he proves that Ozpin wasn't kidding when he said that Oscar would quickly inherit his abilities. |
| 795 | -->'''Lionheart:''' Ozpin?!\ |
| 796 | '''Oscar:''' ''[flashes a GrinOfAudacity]'' Not quite! ''[proceeds to handily batter Lionheart]'' |
| 797 | * Cinder's team has ''immediately'' prioritized Ruby's threat, and Emerald makes extremely sure that Ruby can't get in a fight with Cinder. When the latter breaks out the Silver-Eyed Warrior, Emerald promptly knocks her out. |
| 798 | * There's also Vernal facing off against Weiss, which makes for ''quite'' an awesome fight. |
| 799 | ** Weiss opens up with a BadassBoast that shows how far she's come since her Beacon years; she doesn't let the Schnee name define her at all. And Vernal, not so impressed, simply accepts the challenge. |
| 800 | --->'''Vernal:''' Let's see what the Schnee name ''really'' means.\ |
| 801 | '''Weiss:''' [[BadassBoast I'm more than just a name]].\ |
| 802 | '''Vernal:''' [[BringIt Prove it.]] |
| 803 | ** Weiss does her best to stay in the fight, and is in her element keeping track of the boomerangs Vernal throws as she zips around from glyph to glyph. Kudos to her for trying to push Vernal aside with her black Gravity glyphs, and for trying to bring up an ice wall to keep her safe as she summons her Arma Gigas avatar. |
| 804 | ** [[CurbStompBattle However, it is Vernal who controls the tempo]]. [[AttackAttackAttack She pins her down]] [[GunsAkimbo with suppressing fire]] and forces her to stay mobile and pirouetting, not letting her use her more powerful Glyphs. Knight avatar? She cuts it and the ice wall in half. If there's an opening to be found, she will use it, like shooting her InTheBack when she's behind the Schnee Heiress, or punishing her for using avatars again by blasting her with [[EnergyWeapon Frickin' Laser Beams]], taking out her Aura and leaving her defenseless for an opportunity that Cinder is all too willing to take later on. |
| 805 | * Jaune angrily confronting Cinder and ending up the person who fights her. He doesn't even use his sword-and-shield combo, he just goes straight in with his two-handed form even though he knows he has no chance of beating the woman who has maiden powers and managed to kill Pyrrha. |
| 806 | ** A somewhat missed, but still awesome opportunity, once Ruby unwittingly activates her eyes and gives Jaune an opening he doesn't hesitate to try to stab his sword into Cinder's skull face first. She manages to recover to dodge in time but [[OhCrap the look on her face]] says it all and even though she dodged, Jaune still catches the mask covering her eye meaning if he'd been a second faster he would have had revenge for Pyrrha right then and there. |
| 807 | ** The episode is also a moment of awesome for Jaune's voice actor. Miles Luna is at the top of his game in this episode as he perfectly nails the anguish and outrage Jaune feels when confronting Pyrrha's killer. Jaune's speech to Cinder at the beginning is as chilling as it is awesome. |
| 808 | --->'''Jaune:''' What is ''wrong'' with you? How can you be so ''broken'' inside?! To take ''so many lives'', and then come back here and rub it in our faces like it's something to be proud of?! '''''ALL WITH THAT DAMN SMILE ON YOUR FACE!''''' I'm gonna make you ''pay'' for what you did! Do you hear me?! |
| 809 | ** Let's not also gloss over the fact that, [[VillainousBreakdown even though it has horrible consequences]], Jaune took a stab at Cinder's face and ''came only inches away from a direct hit''. Jaune, arguably the weakest fighter of the heroes, very nearly killed one of the biggest and most dangerous villains of the series. |
| 810 | * For fans who were concerned Cinder may have gone through BadassDecay, she returns to top form in this episode. She handily reminds the audience that, for all of RNJR's, Yang's, Weiss's, and Oscar's CharacterDevelopment and [[TookALevelInBadass rapid increase in skill as fighters,]] they're still heavily outclassed. No matter how righteous their cause may be, a handful of students who only made it through the first year and change of their advanced combat training school's curriculum and someone still growing into their powers will be outmatched by a well-trained group serving directly under the BigBad. |
| 811 | ** This culminates in [[HeroKiller Cinder]] scoring a serious wound on Weiss, with framing shots designed to terrify the audience into direct comparisons to Pyrrha's death. |
| 812 | |
| 813 | [[AC:Vault of the Spring Maiden]] |
| 814 | * Upon seeing Ruby knocked out, Oscar gets a look of pure fury on his face and hits Lionheart. The latter not only goes tumbling down the stairs but actually hits Hazel dead center, with enough force to make him stumble back a few steps. ''Hazel'', who had been casually catching Nora's wrecking ball of a weapon bare handed. And it was Oscar who did this, not Ozpin. |
| 815 | * Back in the World of Remnant episode about Dust, it was mentioned that some wield Dust by fusing it with their own bodies. In this episode, we finally see this happen. Hazel pulls out four lightning Dust crystals and stabs his arms with them, injecting their power into his veins. His [[OneWingedAngel muscles and eyes glow]], [[VoiceOfTheLegion his voice distorts]] and he becomes a literal LightningBruiser, capable of shooting shockwaves and even electric projectiles from his bare hands. Despite the {{Squick}}, it's great to finally see this concept come to fruition. |
| 816 | ** Just how dangerous is Hazel? Even Ozpin has a ThisIsGonnaSuck moment when Hazel finds out that he's been there the whole time. |
| 817 | *** Even while a clearly worried Ozpin tells Oscar to run, Oscar refuses and instead chooses to stand his ground. It doesn't go particularly well for him until Ozpin takes over, but while he's still got a lot of training ahead of him, he's already got the heart of a Huntsman. |
| 818 | ** Once Ozpin takes over Hazel can't even touch him and Ozpin quickly turns their bout into a CurbStompBattle for a bit. And if that's just now with only a little bit of training then Oscar is going to be nightmare for the villains once he's at full power. |
| 819 | ** Oscar actually manages to halt Hazel for a bit on his own by asking whether or not his sister knew the risks of being a Huntress and goes on about how she chose to put the lives of others before her own. Hazel's reaction makes it clear that this definitely hit close. |
| 820 | * Jaune '''''FINALLY''''' unlocking [[HealingHands his Semblance]], as hinted all the way back in Volume 1, and using it to heal Weiss. |
| 821 | ** Even better is that Cinder's own spiteful nature has managed to once again empower one of the heroes because her desire to KickTheDog led them to unlock a new power. And the chain of events that led to Jaune gaining his Semblance can be traced back to her decision to murder Pyrrha so Cinder can really only blame herself if she finds out. |
| 822 | * Ruby's response to Yang asking if she was all right. |
| 823 | -->'''Ruby:''' No ... ''[[BewareTheNiceOnes I'm angry]].'' |
| 824 | ** Ruby sees Weiss on the verge of death, Oscar and her uncle only barely holding off Hazel and Lionheart, and Yang being beaten down by Mercury and Emerald. She freezes for a moment in shock and despair ... and then shifts gears completely. She orders Ren to assist Oscar and Qrow and asks Nora to cover Jaune and Weiss, then charges right back into battle to help her sister against Emerald and Mercury. As young and inexperienced as she is, Ruby was born to lead. |
| 825 | --->'''Ruby:''' "Let's go, RNJR." |
| 826 | * An understated example: despite seeing her half-sister getting knocked out cold by Emerald, her teammate and close friend getting impaled by Cinder and nearly killed just like her friend Pyrrha, and the fact that she's in the process of getting beat down by two of the people who started her HeroicBSOD two Volumes ago, Yang is still in total control of her fury. Her eyes don't even change color; despite having all the reason in the world to finally explode into righteous fury, she's still capable of keeping herself on a tight leash. She's come a long way since Beacon. |
| 827 | * Whilst approaching the vault, Cinder encases Raven in ice, and plunges her ''freaking Grimm arm'' into Vernal, trying to steal her power. Suddenly, Cinder's expression changes, and she demands where the power is in shock. Cue Raven breaking free of the ice and revealing one '''''hell''''' of a surprise. |
| 828 | -->'''Raven:''' You won't find it. Because Vernal ''isn't'' the Spring Maiden.\ |
| 829 | ''Raven unmasks herself, revealing that her eyes are flickering with red fire.''\ |
| 830 | '''Raven:''' '''''I AM!''''' |
| 831 | ** Even better is that this happens right after Cinder had mocked Raven for not living up to the stories about her (Being a good leader, being strong, being clever). That one dialogue instantly shows that Raven ''is'' a good leader (she was able to inspire genuine loyalty from Vernal as well as the rest of her tribe), strong (she is one of the Maidens), and clever (she definitely OutGambitted Cinder's own plan) - she played Cinder ''and'' the audience. |
| 832 | ** It also gives Raven's comment about Cinder Fall being "a Fall Maiden with a surname so appropriate, she probably picked it herself" an all-new meaning. While Cinder is implied to have taken the name 'Fall' for herself because of her egomania involving becoming the Fall Maiden, Vernal is now implied to have taken the name [[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vernal 'Vernal']] because she is Raven's ''Decoy'' Spring Maiden. Not only did Raven out gambit Cinder, she gave her, Watts, Mercury, and Emerald a ''clear'' hint that Vernal was a decoy through her own commentary on Cinder's assumed surname. |
| 833 | ** The matchup overall is an interesting one. Cinder has enraged an older, more experienced maiden who hasn't been subjected to a direct weakness the way Cinder has, and is now trapped without backup or the element of surprise she was intending to take advantage of (as Cinder rarely goes into a fight she doesn't know she can win). However, given Raven reaching for her sword, they were planning to ambush Cinder anyway, and Cinder managed to even the odds before the fight even started - though if the façade had gone on any longer, Cinder would have discovered Vernal wasn't the Maiden anyway when the door didn't open, so Raven's intended ambush wasn't necessarily to take advantage of superior numbers. After several seasons of teasing, it seems the show is about to finally show us its first Maiden vs Maiden fight. |
| 834 | * Despite ultimately being outsmarted, Cinder still manages to fatally wound Vernal with her Grimm arm and freeze Raven solid in a split second, taking out a fighter who effortlessly trumped Weiss and an older, more experienced Maiden simultaneously. Although Raven broke free quickly, it's clear by her panic over Vernal that she was not expecting Cinder to do what she did. Given she would have been unawares that Cinder would have the capability to snatch the Maiden powers, Raven having Vernal act as decoy was probably a way of securing her safety by making Vernal seem invaluable to the enemy that they wouldn't ''try'' to kill her. Unfortunately for her, Cinder is greedy. |
| 835 | |
| 836 | [[AC:Downfall]] |
| 837 | * Mercury tries to take Ruby out by disarming her. Not too long ago that probably would have worked. [[TookALevelInBadass Now?]] She just headbutts him and grabs Crescent Rose back. |
| 838 | -->'''Mercury:''' ''(Mocking)'' Uh oh, what're ya gonna do now?\ |
| 839 | ''(Mercury punches at Ruby, who ducks under his fist and headbutts him before picking up Crescent Rose)''\ |
| 840 | '''Ruby:''' Whatever it takes to shut you up. |
| 841 | * Hazel is defeated by Nora in spectacular fashion. First, he electrocutes her by grasping onto her head, only for her to grab onto his wrist and hurl him across the room. He charges at her again, only for Nora to send him crashing through the wall, much to Adam's surprise. |
| 842 | ** The above moment where Nora crashes Hazel through a wall has Ozpin warn her that his semblance makes it so he can't feel pain. Nora's response is a million shades of badass. Bonus in that this happens immediately after she watches Hazel shock [[LoveInterest Ren]] sharply enough for him to outright ''scream'' in agony. |
| 843 | ---> '''[[ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend Nora]]:''' I don't need him to ''hurt'', I just need him to ''go down!'' |
| 844 | ** And later on, Weiss drags Hazel into the building by ''impaling'' him with her new Queen Lancer avatar. |
| 845 | *** Worth noting is that even a second or two after she does that, the place she hit him appears to be completely uninjured. Could be an animation glitch... or perhaps his Dust-augmented [[HealingFactor Aura's]] just that powerful. Doesn't explain the clothes though. |
| 846 | * After Hazel dismisses the White Fang's concerns, Adam gets confronted by Blake, who orders him to stand down whilst standing atop a building. After he refuses, Sun and Ghira each lead in a section of the Menagerie army, cutting off the White Fang's escape on both sides. Then Kali comes in from the rear with the Mistral Police, riding in on a number of airships. When he realizes that there's no way out, Adam tries to detonate the explosives ... only for Blake to reveal that Ilia had shut off the explosives whilst he got distracted. At this point, Adam is forced to ask Hazel for help, and the latter [[IronicEcho puts him in his place]]. |
| 847 | --> '''Hazel:''' This is ''your business'', not mine. Fix it. |
| 848 | ** Now furious at getting OutGambitted, Adam charges Blake, only for her to easily dodge it with her Semblance. One double-fist punch is all it takes to render him disarmed and on the ground. Then Hazel gets impaled and roped inside the building, and it leads Blake to her teammates and friends. Team RWBY is finally reunited. |
| 849 | * Yang outsmarts Mercury in [[BoringButPractical a simple yet effective way]], as well as showing her character development. When Mercury grabs her mechanical arm, Yang's eyes flare up in rage as if she's going to fight him, but one blink later, her eyes return to normal as she calmly detaches her arm before going on her way into the vault, causing Mercury to lose his balance and failing to stop her from going into the vault when Weiss forms an ice wall to block him and Emerald. |
| 850 | ** In addition, Yang knew that Cinder, the Fall Maiden, the person responsible for killing Pyrrha, was in the vault, yet she charges in without her prosthetic arm, even though this means that she's effectively going to fight at half-strength. |
| 851 | *** Also, factor in how long she was falling. It was apparently long enough for the whole maiden fight below to happen, complete with a flash back up to the ground floor. And she has her semblance of 'taking damage to dish it back out later.' She supercharged herself on the way down. |
| 852 | ** Not to mention the setup for next time: Weiss is not just healed and sitting out the rest of the battle out. She's not okay, she's ''better'' than okay. She's practically radiating power from Jaune's treatment. And she's squaring up to Emerald and Mercury on her own. Those two are so screwed. |
| 853 | * Raven and Cinder's fight is the best fight we've seen since the TimeSkip. It proves to be an absolute masterclass on swordsmanship and magic-slinging from two angry Maidens throwing everything they have at each other. |
| 854 | ** We ''finally'' get to see Raven's weapon in action, and it is so cool. She fires it from the sheath just to catch it while flying through the air, and every time she sheaths it, she draws it in a different color (as it has a Dust cylinder), however, she's not coating it in Dust - closely observing the fight reveals that in her clash with Cinder, her sword ''shatters'' multiple times. She simply sheaths the hilt and pulls out another blade. Raven doesn't just have ''one'' sword; she has several ''dozen''. |
| 855 | ** One little awesome detail for the animators that almost everyone misses on first viewing; at one point Cinder and Raven exchange blades, before shattering both, but in the next scene we see that Raven has her blade hilt back in its sheath. Animation oversight? No. Going frame by frame reveals that Cinder did in fact drop the hilt and Raven caught it, allowing her to continue using her own weapon properly again for the rest of the fight. The entire thing happens in less than a second. |
| 856 | ** After this, the two summon swords three times as big as them, with Cinder's built from magma and Raven's from ice. They charge one another mid-air and cause a BladeLock powerful enough to cause an earthquake. |
| 857 | ** Pay close attention to the fight. Both Cinder and Raven seem equally matched, but keen observers will note that Raven is rarely on the defensive. While they are both Maidens, this fight truly shows that experience is just as important as power. This is most notable when Cinder summons a giant sword and visibly struggles to do so, while Raven is calm and far more efficient in doing the same. Raven has had this power for up to a decade, while Cinder's only had hers for just over a year (and the full complement for less than that). The only time Cinder has the advantage is using her Grimm arm to pin Raven and try to drain her power. This works for about two-seconds before Raven realizes that the Vault cave is being shaken apart and freezes Cinder in place, with an enormous falling stalactite doing the work for her. |
| 858 | ** After Cinder tanks the aforesaid stalactite, she and Raven take to aerial combat. They leap from rock to rock (all of which are plummeting all the while) whilst going all-out with their swords. A new song plays in this scene (which is noted in the SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic page), combining Raven and Cinder's themes into a fitting backdrop for the Maiden Battle. |
| 859 | ** The fight itself ends with Cinder getting some well-deserved comeuppance for her crimes. The last rock she and Raven were fighting on during the aerial sequence crashes to the ground, causing both women to lose their Aura (though Cinder is visibly exhausted, while Raven just barely seems winded). While Raven [[IronicEcho throws Cinder's insults back at her]], Cinder gets shot at by Vernal in the latter's last moments. The distraction gives Raven the opening to blast Cinder off the platform with her lightning powers, destroying the latter's eyepatch. A [[{{Pun}} completely shocked]] Fall Maiden is then frozen solid by Raven before she [[{{Pun}} falls]] into the abyss. |
| 860 | |
| 861 | [[AC:Haven's Fate]] |
| 862 | * Blake finally puts Adam in his place: |
| 863 | -->'''Blake:''' You can try and make me regret coming here Adam, but honestly ... I've got more important things to deal with. |
| 864 | * Hazel is ''still'' fighting despite having just been ''impaled through the chest'', apparently forcing his Aura to recharge through sheer ''willpower'', ''and'' still has the strength to carry the unconscious Emerald away during the escape later. |
| 865 | * Blake, Weiss, and Ruby taking on Emerald, Mercury, and Hazel, which is mostly off-screen. Earlier, there's a wideshot from outside Haven Academy that shows Ruby taking the three of them on by herself, and not ''once'' does she appear to be overwhelmed. She's definitely [[TookALevelInBadass come a long way]] from the klutz at Beacon. |
| 866 | * Using only her wits and words, Yang manages to talk Raven out of taking the Knowledge Relic. After Raven washes her hands of the conflict and teleports out of there, Yang claims the Relic for Ozpin's side. Her speech is also a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech due to her finding out that her mother basically ''killed a young girl'' to get the Maiden Powers, a speech that actually causes Raven to be taken aback and not only loses her cool, but breaks down upon [[HeelRealization realizing]] that everything Yang said about her was right. |
| 867 | ** At the start of the conversation, Yang has already figured out that Raven is the Spring Maiden just from context clues and her knowledge of the transfer rule. She then proceeds to rip Raven's arguments apart, having figured out the kind of person Raven is, and even if she ''does'' care about Yang, it wouldn't matter because Raven will always run and prioritize herself. While the show has hinted at it before, this is the most outright demonstration of how smart Yang is, and so it's fitting that she be the one to take the Relic of ''Knowledge'' and emerge triumphant from the Vault. |
| 868 | ** Combining a moment of awesome with an interesting bit of role reversal, the whole conversation between Raven and Yang very much had the feel of a disappointed mother chewing out her teenage daughter for everything she's done wrong, with ''Yang'' in the mature, maternal role, rather than Raven. |
| 869 | * Lionheart gets a double-serving of karma after fleeing to his office. All the Huntsmen and Huntresses he sent to their collective doom got avenged in one fell swoop, by means of Salem's Seer Grimm killing him slowly off-screen - and from the sounds of it, very painfully - exactly as he had feared. Though the disproportionately cruel nature behind his death does earn him some sympathy... |
| 870 | ** Lionheart himself gets an example for trying to shoot the Seer Grimm. He was cowering the entire season, so to see him do that shows there was still some [[FallenHero hero]] left in him to effectively try shooting death in the face. |
| 871 | * A cross between this and NightmareFuel, but Emerald's ''insanely'' scary illusion counts. She managed to spread her Semblance (which gives her headaches when used on even two targets) to nine people, kept it up long enough for a wounded Hazel to pick her up and run with Mercury, and ''still lived'' - even though [[TraumaticSuperpowerAwakening it took the loss of Cinder to spark it]]. |
| 872 | * Although Haven's salvation proved to be a victory for the heroes, they couldn't prevent Adam, Hazel, Emerald and Mercury from escaping and regrouping outside of Mistral. Ultimately, Salem only lost two pawns (one done in by her own hubris, the other by Salem's own hand) and [[CannonFodder the White Fang]] in this battle; her war's still going on. And with Atlas in lockdown, Vacuo desperate for supplies, Vale compromised and Mistral's huntsmen decimated, it won't be pleasant for anyone now. |
| 873 | ** The Battle for Haven was still a significant setback: she lost a Maiden loyal to her cause (no small potatoes given the power displays on show in Cinder's fights with Ozpin, Pyrrha, and Raven), her primary contact in Mistral that enabled her to run rampant in its borders as she did in the first place, and the Relic of Knowledge (the entire point behind her activities in Mistral) with nothing to show for it but one of her lieutenants dead, another and two useful underlings on the run, Adam's faction decimated or arrested (leaving her with no cannon fodder/shock troops that can function inside society undercover), and no means by which to lower a kingdom's defenses until a new dupe can be found. Meanwhile, she ''still'' hasn't gotten hold of Vale's Relic, Oz-car and the rest are on their way to secure Atlas's Relic (where it's very likely they'll find a sympathetic ear in James Ironwood rather than a willing traitor), and there's a Maiden powerful enough to take down one of Salem's lieutenants without really breaking a sweat out there in the unknown. It took five volumes but the heroes have finally scored a solid victory against their enemy. |
| 874 | [[/folder]] |
| 875 | |
| 876 | [[folder:Volume 6]] |
| 877 | [[AC:Opening]] |
| 878 | * The ''amazing'' opening sequence features sights such as: |
| 879 | ** A massive implication that the ancient woman on the train is a Silver-Eyed Warrior. |
| 880 | ** Ruby fighting off what appears to be a multi-eyed Grimm with an array of clawed tentacles similar to the Nuckelavee. |
| 881 | ** A hooded figure - hinted to be either Cinder Fall, Neopolitan, or the new character promised for Volume 6 - walks within a town at night, only to react to Torchwick's hat flying past. Later on, that same figure duels with someone ''[[FreezeFrameBonus wielding an umbrella]]'', with all the implications that ensue. |
| 882 | ** Salem losing her temper after Cinder's defeat and the loss of the Relic. It's pretty clear that after suffering a stinging defeat in the previous volume, Salem is '''done''' playing TheChessmaster and may decide to take matters into her own hands. |
| 883 | ** We also get a shot of presumably the preceding four incarnations of Ozpin before Oscar, including the Ozpin we knew in Volumes 1-3 rendered beautifully in Maya and [[FreezeFrameBonus the same man seen floating and being worshipped in the trailer]]. |
| 884 | ** Immediately after that, it fades to the newest incarnation, Oscar, who is seized by Jaune and slammed into a wall. Seems Jaune's finally had enough of the enigmatic headmaster's secret-keeping. |
| 885 | |
| 886 | [[AC:Argus Limited]] |
| 887 | * The repercussions of last season's events include the news that Ghira took most of the official credit for foiling the White Fang attack with his militia, and that their actions caused a large shift in racial attitudes in Mistral. Even after a couple of weeks, Ilia is still in disbelief about it. |
| 888 | * The entire TraintopBattle against a flock of Manticore Grimm led by a Sphinx Grimm. Highlights include: |
| 889 | ** Ren and Jaune pull off an amazing plan when the gang splits up. Jaune boosts Ren's aura enough for him to mask the emotions of everyone aboard the passenger carriages. Even Qrow admitted it was a great idea. |
| 890 | *** It also shows us just how ''powerful'' Jaune's aura amplification Semblance truly is. Ren strained himself to hide Jaune and Qrow from the Nuckleavee in "No Safe Haven"; this time, Ren masks the passengers, crew, and ''the train itself'' with the boost. One can only imagine what combat-oriented Semblances, like Ruby's speed and Yang's rage, can achieve with Jaune's assistance. |
| 891 | *** Also, it's been only two weeks since Jaune first discovered his Semblance, and now he's using it almost ''casually'': no preparations, no warm-up, he just reaches for another person and within a second his Aura is pouring into them for healing or boost. |
| 892 | *** As added impressive, you can see Jaune in the background as they are discussing the lamp healing one of the Huntsmen assigned to the train for protection. He did all of the above ''after'' expending Aura to heal someone. Pyrrha was ''not'' kidding about him having a large amount of Aura. |
| 893 | ** The Sphinx Grimm is defeated in a glorious example of teamwork; Yang and Blake ground the Grimm by trapping it with Gambol Shroud, Weiss uses her glyphs to freeze its wings which are then ''shattered'' by Qrow and Ruby before they unleash a perfectly synchronized pair of scythe attacks that [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe cut the huge Grimm in half]]. |
| 894 | ** The train still derails due to the Sphinx's last fire ball, but thanks to Weiss' glyphs, Qrow, Oscar and Team RWBY are left relatively unharmed. As they ask whether they're okay, an unknown voice states they're still alive. Cue an ancient-looking woman walking out of a wrecked carriage ''completely unharmed'', despite not receiving the glyph support everyone else did. |
| 895 | |
| 896 | [[AC:Uncovered]] |
| 897 | * Two words: ''Cinder survived''. |
| 898 | ** After she kills another woman and steals her clothes, Cinder arrives at the underworld of Mistral a month after the attack ... only to hide herself as best she can because her picture - along with those of Hazel, Mercury, Emerald and Adam - are displayed on wanted posters. It's refreshing to see Ozpin and the gang displaying some foresight. |
| 899 | ** Cinder then hires a [[TattooedCrook spider-themed gang]] to go searching for RWBY and JNR. After Cinder leaves, the leader of the gang then reveals to her subordinates that ''someone'' is looking for her. |
| 900 | *** Said leader actually ''threatens'' Cinder when she feels the latter is getting a bit too condescending. |
| 901 | ** When the leader gives her tale about making the spiders work for ''her'', Cinder suddenly notices all the spider tattoos at the bar... |
| 902 | * When we get to [=RWBY=]'s scene, it starts with Weiss, Blake, and Yang calling Ozpin out for keeping secrets again. When Ozpin plays his usual "I didn't want you to feel bad" excuse, the girls do ''not'' buy it. They've hit their limit on Ozpin's patronizing, and make no effort to hide it. |
| 903 | -->'''Weiss:''' You know, I'm getting real tired of people choosing what's best for me. |
| 904 | ** And then there's Yang ripping into Ozpin's decision to lie to the people of Mistral over Lionheart's betrayal and while he has his reasons, Yang shoots them down, particularly how Ozpin worded said betrayal, which involved helping orchestrate the fall of Beacon, the culling of Huntsmen, and the near-fall of Haven, as a "misstep". |
| 905 | ** In a small example, team RWBY don't allow their fury to blind them to reason, and they at least hear Oz out once he reveals that Leo wasn't the first traitor he'd trusted. |
| 906 | * We finally see the true power of the Relic of Knowledge; Oscar and Ozpin independently reveal that it contains a being called Jinn that can answer three questions every century, but not about future events. Despite Ozpin's ''insistent'' requests not to, Ruby summons Jinn and asks her what Ozpin's still hiding from her and her friends. Jinn responds by shrouding team RWBY and Qrow in white light. As Jinn begins to narrate, a blonde girl sheltered in a tower appears before their very eyes. Her name? '''''SALEM'''''. |
| 907 | ** Oscar also gets one for resisting Ozpin long enough to tell the rest of the stranded heroes about the being within the Relic. |
| 908 | ** When Qrow tries to intervene with Ruby's request of Jinn, he instantly finds himself on the business end of Myrtenaster, Gambol Shroud and Ember Celica. He backs down and simply asks Ruby to do what she feels is right. |
| 909 | ** When Ruby is about to ask the Jinn about his past, Ozpin rushes to stop her and moves so fast that he managed to slip through Yang, Blake, and Weiss. The latter two can only react with surprise and slight fear as he nearly touches Ruby and they don't even have the time to pull their weapons. If it weren't for Jinn, Ozpin would have succeeded in stopping Ruby. The fact that he accomplished this action with Oscar's untrained body makes one wonder how powerful Ozpin was at his prime or how strong Oscar will become once he masters his power. |
| 910 | *** It also raises the question: how strong are the Maidens? Cinder ''killed'' Ozpin in volume 3 in an all-out fight, with power to spare to fight Pyrrha. Raven stalemated with Cinder last volume, the latter pushed to her limit unlike the former, who may have held back to protect the dying Vernal. The other two are unknowns, but could be even stronger. |
| 911 | |
| 912 | [[AC:The Lost Fable]] |
| 913 | * Ozma rescues a young Salem from the clutches of her father. They fell in love after the fact, and went on adventures together for many years. |
| 914 | * After Ozma suffers an untimely death, Salem ends up [[DidYouJustScamCthulhu playing both the gods for mugs]] and succeeds - momentarily - in getting Ozma back. For her trouble, she's cursed with immortality. |
| 915 | ** And even then, her gambit simply ends up being using ExactWords on the Brother of Darkness - she ''really did'' consider him her only option (albeit as a last resort), and be the one to answer her prayers. FromACertainPointOfView, she ''was'' telling the truth! |
| 916 | * When Salem leads an army against the Brothers, the God of Darkness demonstrates why you absolutely ''don't'' want to use his gifts against him: he strips the army from their magic, then creates a [[ApocalypseHow/Class3A Class 3A Apocalypse How]] that wipes out all of humanity sans Salem in one fell swoop. When the Dark God leaves shortly afterwards, he ''shatters part of the Moon'' without suffering injury. |
| 917 | * The God of Light creates and hides the four Relics on Remnant, telling only Ozma about them - they are the Spear of Creation, Sword of Destruction, Lantern of Knowledge and Crown of Choice. They confirm a popular fan theory (both on this site and the RWBY Wiki) by matching the respective logos of Atlas, Vacuo, Mistral, and Vale. |
| 918 | ** They are also revealed to be able to summon the Gods to Remnant when wielded together - but with the caveat that if the gods find that humanity hasn't improved beyond their expectations, the Gods will destroy them totally. |
| 919 | * The fact that Salem has the mental fortitude to spend countless eons '''by herself''' as an immortal (with the desire to destroy, mind you) waiting for the next generation of mankind and Ozma's reincarnation remaining calm and composed (as opposed to breaking down into a raving lunatic) is nothing but impressive. Bear in mind she ''hates'' being alone. |
| 920 | * When Ozma incarnates again for the first time, he effortlessly takes out a Grimm threatening a villager. |
| 921 | * After Salem becomes infused with Grimm essence and Ozma reincarnates for the first time, they put their differences aside and start up a kingdom, and have ''four'' magically gifted daughters. |
| 922 | ** Just the idea that Salem spending so much time ''alone'' as an immortal contaminated with ''Grimm essence'' and Ozma reincarnating in another's body, yet still manage to start a family is amazing. It goes double for Salem, who despite having the Grimm's ''constant urge'' to destroy, ''still'' has enough kindness and empathy to care for her family and '''suppress''' it for as long as she could during their time together. |
| 923 | * However, when the Light God's warning about his judgment gets revealed, the resultant disagreement turns into a thunderous, palace-wrecking battle between Salem and Ozma. The fight itself shows glimpses of just how powerful Ozpin and Salem truly are and contrasts the differing natures of their immortalities. [[WorldsBestWarrior Ozma proves himself the superior fighter]] as the end of the fight shows that he has completely incinerated Salem at least once while she has only dealt him moderately heavy wounds. However, Salem's [[CompleteImmortality curse resurrects her almost instantly,]] making her the victor of their bout and forcing Ozpin to experience [[ResurrectiveImmortality a new life in a different body.]] |
| 924 | * Ozma's first two incarnations seen in the opening respectively were an impressive warrior and a God-King. The other incarnation seen with them didn't stand out as a combatant or leader, leaving people curious as to why he was featured ... until now. It transpires that [[GadgeteerGenius he built]] [[LegendaryWeapon Ozma's cane]], which has lasted for at ''least'' four incarnations. That's some ''wicked'' engineering skills on display. |
| 925 | * Finally, Jinn reveals to team RWBY just how powerful Salem is; she cannot be destroyed. Though not all victories are done through [[ExactWords destruction]]... |
| 926 | |
| 927 | [[AC:So That's How It Is]] |
| 928 | * After his dirty laundry got aired, Ozpin gets sent flying into a tree courtesy of one annoyed Qrow. |
| 929 | ** Of course, this is downplayed by the fact that Qrow (who was previously trying to get the group to calm down considering their situation) is now falling into the same pit of anger the rest of the group is in AND ended up harming Oscar. |
| 930 | * When the rest of the heroes are getting angry over what they've just learned, [[ScrewPolitenessImASenior Maria's]] the one who browbeats all of them into moving forward and finding shelter for the night. |
| 931 | * Mercury proves to be ballsy enough to stand up to ''Tyrian'' after he threatens Emerald. |
| 932 | * Hazel is willing to take the blame for Cinder's mistakes to spare the other lieutenants from Salem's wrath. Too bad Salem knew it was Cinder. |
| 933 | ** When Salem demands that Emerald tell her who was responsible for the failure at Haven? Emerald actually tells the truth that it was Cinder, showing that even though she lets her loyalty to Cinder blind her to the immorality of the situation she's in, she's not blind to Cinder's faults. |
| 934 | * While also terrifying, Salem's wrath is truly a sight to behold. Imbued with raw strength due to having absorbed the pools of annihilation, she flips over the table in the meeting room so quickly that even a LightningBruiser like Tyrian wasn't able to react in time, and easily subdues Hazel with a set of Grimm arms she summons from the floor. Her rage is powerful enough to break windows, and terrifying enough to dissuade even the rowdiest of her subordinates from engaging her. |
| 935 | |
| 936 | [[AC:The Coming Storm]] |
| 937 | * Lil' Miss casually dropping Cinder's name, as if to say, "yes, I know who you really are". |
| 938 | * Three words: Neo versus Cinder. |
| 939 | ** Neo's return actually invokes ''stunned disbelief'' out of Cinder. |
| 940 | ** What's noticeable is that [[TookALevelInBadass Neo]] has ''Cinder'' on the defensive for basically the entire fight. Cinder has to break out her Maiden powers in order to force Neo to stand down ... and that was after Neo ''threw Cinder through a window''. |
| 941 | *** It's also possible that it's actually one of Neo's illusions fighting Cinder in the bar. If that's true, a ''copy'' of Neo was enough to keep Cinder on guard, completely fooling her into thinking it was real! [[note]]After they get thrown out of the bar, Neo smashes into pieces and appears on the other end of the alleyway, now wearing Roman's hat and her clothes showing damage that wasn't present during the fight. This means Neo from inside the bar must've either been a copy, or the actual Neo using her semblance to disguise herself [[CoolButInefficient for style's sake]].[[/note]] |
| 942 | *** If you look carefully, you will see in a FreezeFrameBonus that immediately after Cinder catches a bowl, a grey blur can be seen on the tip of Neo's umbrella. This can only mean one thing - Neo was trying to swipe at Cinder with her ''hidden blade'' as soon as she was distracted. It's a vast improvement in her fighting style, compared to [[FlawExploitation when she used the blade as a coup de grace long ago]]. |
| 943 | *** Not to mention that Neo quickly bashing Cinder ''in her blind spot'' counts as another moment as well. It's ''here'' that Cinder breaks out her powers. |
| 944 | ** Cinder's off-hand remark that Neo has gotten ''stronger''. The woman who could make any one member of Team RWBY look like a rookie has only continued to grow like them; since she [[DefeatMeansFriendship teams up with Cinder]] at the end of the fight, this bodes very poorly for them. |
| 945 | *** Of course, let's not dismiss Cinder here - out of the three fights Neo has been in, she is the only one who can actually ''land a hit'' or two on Neo, and the second one since Yang to actually grab her. Ruby and Yang have consistently failed to actually land a solid hit in combat and were only saved by outside forces (Raven for Yang, the winds for Ruby), while Cinder did so on her own! Cinder also deserves props for [[FightsLikeANormal not resorting to her powers right away]]. After consistently flaunting her Maiden abilities and flame weapons during Volume 5, she dials it down to hand-to-hand combat so as to not draw unneeded attention to herself. It's a blunt reminder to the audience that even without the superpowers, Cinder has always been one of the most versatile combatants in the show. |
| 946 | ** From an animation standpoint, take a look at how well made the fight is. No one wastes time and energy stopping to talk, react and process information, or even strategize. They keep up a very fast, consistent pace trying to simply fight, with a level of improvisation that would make Jackie Chan and Monty proud. |
| 947 | ** Cinder learning to be a better villain. Once the two were alone, she could have crushed Neo with her maiden powers like her idol Salem would have crushed her. Instead, she followed Lil' Miss' example of making her enemy work for her. |
| 948 | *** Recall that in Volume 5, Cinder balked at the idea of working with bandits until Salem told her the value of using people instead of just killing them. Seems like Cinder is finally applying that lesson now. |
| 949 | ** It's a small thing, but seeing just how unfazed Lil' Miss Malachite is by two Aura users getting into a brawl in the middle of her bar speaks volumes about the woman's nerves. She generally treats the whole thing like a show put on for her amusement, and it isn't until they start roughing up her place that she tells them to take it outside. |
| 950 | *** She even keeps her men from acting when Cinder gets shoved into her table, her expression not really changing. |
| 951 | * Weiss lighting every candle in the abandoned bar simultaneously. |
| 952 | * In an understated example that's also [[BlackComedy darkly funny]], Maria's response when learning that the town they're staying is occupied with corpses of villagers that appear to have died in their sleep? |
| 953 | -->'''Maria:''' "[[NervesOfSteel Well, might as well get comfortable.]]" |
| 954 | |
| 955 | [[AC:Alone In The Woods]] |
| 956 | * Ruby, upon discovering Qrow got himself too drunk to wake the group up as he promised, shatters the bottle that startled her awake. It's brief, but it shows that no matter how much Ruby adores her uncle, even ''she'' has limits with his behavior. |
| 957 | ** Furthermore, she doesn't take her anger out on Qrow himself when he awakens. Instead, she hugs and consoles him over the whole mess with Ozpin. That's some serious maturity on display. |
| 958 | * Ruby displays some ''incredible'' HeroicWillpower this episode. Throughout the episode, Ruby shows herself to be somewhere between resistant to outright ''[[NoSell immune]]'' to the [[EmotionBomb effects of the Apathy Grimm]]. While nearly everyone else is succumbing to the Apathy's passive effect, Ruby is utterly unfazed, only faltering for a brief moment, which she snaps out of almost immediately. Even when the rest of her team is outright paralyzed by the directed power of the Apathy Grimm, Ruby is ''still'' able to move around. Weiss and Yang are even shown struggling to move and failing while being influenced by the entire pack just to highlight this. |
| 959 | * In a moment which blends with NightmareFuel, we finally discover what caused the fall of Brunswick Farms. If you can imagine a slow-moving zombie horde with a pack mentality that can force people into catatonia, you get the Apathy Grimm. |
| 960 | ** As Maria notes after discovering the diaries of the farm's owner, the Apathy Grimm are neither strong nor quick ... and yet their apathetic aura and sheer relentlessness was strong enough to make four Huntresses ''run'' for their lives, and caused Ruby to drop the Knowledge Relic down the well in the first place. |
| 961 | ** One for the CRWBY: the Apathy Grimm have one of the best monster designs seen within the series, with the CRWBY somehow taking a zombie horde and making it ''even scarier'' than normal. Furthermore, [[WordOfGod Miles Luna]] went on record as saying that ''this'' species of Grimm is his favorite, and was amongst the first types planned before the show started. |
| 962 | * Once Ruby discovers the Grimm, her scream manages to snap Yang, Weiss and Blake out of their drowsiness ''instantly''. That's commendable, given how bad the catatonia was affecting them. |
| 963 | * Maria again proves her awesomeness by jumping down the well without injury, ordering the girls to high-tail it, and finding the cellar exit. |
| 964 | ** When the horde all converge on the heroes and close in for the kill, Maria gives Ruby the focus she needs to ''completely vaporize'' the Apathy Horde with her silver-eyed powers. |
| 965 | ** The Apathy get one just for how insanely durable they prove to be. They shrug off bullets from Crescent Rose, which even the Nuckelavee couldn't boast. It takes a spike of Ruby's silver eye power ''just'' to stagger them for a moment. Bear in mind that the first use of her powers froze the Dragon Grimm in place and crippled Cinder for months and a smaller spike hurt a recovered Cinder badly enough to bring her to her knees. They outright ''needed'' to be hit by a focused blast to die. |
| 966 | * In a small moment, Oscar managed to get the popped trailer tire replaced ''just'' in time for the rest of the heroes to reach him and tell him to haul arse, while presumably still suffering the effects of the Apathy like everyone else was. Not bad for such a pipsqueak. |
| 967 | * While the rest of the heroes get to their transport, Weiss slows the Grimm down by breaking a few bottles of alcohol over the cellar doors and setting the horde ablaze when they come through. She and Ruby then drag a sozzled Qrow out of the burning building, and all seven heroes escape the farm. |
| 968 | ** It's also a bit of a two-fer CMOA for Weiss in-universe. Given that for the last 8 years of her life she had been robbed of a proper childhood due to her father's abuse driving her mother to alcoholism, it's probably not a stretch to imagine that smashing those bottles must have been ''really'' [[InUniverseCatharsis cathartic]] for her. |
| 969 | ** In the first volume, we see Weiss being rather mechanical in the way she fights, relying on past training experience. Her ability to think creatively on her feet has improved. |
| 970 | |
| 971 | [[AC:The Grimm Reaper]] |
| 972 | * Cinder executes a ''perfect'' case of LoopholeAbuse; since Salem's ordered Cinder to leave Ruby alive, she agrees to let Neo kill Ruby, in exchange for Neo giving her safe passage to Atlas. |
| 973 | * The title of this episode is the moniker a younger Maria Calavera went by. As we learn, she wasn't called ''[[RedBaron The Grimm Reaper]]'' for nothing. |
| 974 | ** Her weapons were a pair of one-handed scythes imbued with gravity Dust, that could also be combined into one weapon ''and'' could pull herself (or her enemies) towards each other. Qrow later confesses that he based ''his'' weapon off of it. |
| 975 | ** The Nevermore that Maria takes on in the flashback didn't ''just'' get turned to stone after it was blasted with her silver-eyes, but was stopped dead in its tracks midair and got ''pulverized'' under its own weight. |
| 976 | ** After the Nevermore crumbles to dust, Maria gets attacked by a crocodile Faunus called Tock and her heavies. |
| 977 | *** Tock [[BadassBoast boasts that she'd kill Maria in 60 seconds]] as she sets a timer for her Semblance. While she ultimately fails, she ''does'' successfully slice out Maria's eyes in ''one hit'' during her timed attack - after ''biting away the shaft of her combined scythes for an opening.'' |
| 978 | *** Now, Tock did something in this flashback episode that Tyrian ''failed'' to do in ''"Punished"'' - deal some lasting, permanent damage to a member of the party. While Tyrian failed to kill ''Qrow'' with his stinger, Tock managed to blind and traumatize Maria - and neutralize a ''Silver-Eyed Warrior'', to boot! Bonus points for scarring Qrow's inspiration as well! |
| 979 | ** However, Maria manages to ''impale Tock through the back'' with one scythe using the gravity Dust, drag her forward, then one-handedly slice her head off with the other scythe - ''while blinded''. |
| 980 | ** Another one for the CRWBY: the pacing of the fight between Maria and Tock. From the moment Tock starts her clock to the moment the alarm rings, ''exactly'' 60 seconds pass in real-time. A beautiful aversion of MagicCountdown. |
| 981 | * Maria calling Qrow out for his recent behavior. |
| 982 | * One for the CRWBY: the visuals of Argus are absolute eye-candy, looking like a mix between Victorian design and San Francisco. |
| 983 | |
| 984 | [[AC:Dead End]] |
| 985 | * Weiss gets given a chance to take the Lantern of Knowledge back to Atlas ... but Specialist Cordovin, the CO of the Argus base, then states that her friends of "questionable character" can't come, whilst looking at Blake. This pisses Weiss off enough to refuse a chance to complete the mission. |
| 986 | * Jaune ''finally'' lashes out at Ozpin's machinations once he puts two and two together. [[DownplayedExample However]], it's too bad he's lashing out at Oscar, just as Qrow had done. |
| 987 | * Maria reveals to Ruby that she never went to an academy like Beacon or Haven, instead being taught by her father, but she managed to score higher on the Huntsman licensing exams than any other applicant who tried that day. |
| 988 | ** She then reveals something she figured out [[AwesomenessByAnalysis on her own]] while watching Jinn's flashback in ''The Lost Fable''; the Silver-Eyed Warriors were somehow given their gift by the God of Light as a counter-measure against the Grimm. |
| 989 | * Maria reveals her Semblance, [[SpiderSense preflexes]], by effortlessly catching a falling fruit without once looking toward the tree. |
| 990 | ** This makes Tock's fight against Maria ''even more impressive in spite'' of Maria's advantages - because no matter how trained she was, no matter how fast her reflexes were, Tock and her henchmen ''still'' managed to get the drop on the ''Silver-Eyed Warrior.'' Tock's henchmen gave her a lot of trouble and Tock herself not only kept up with her pace, but also whittled down Maria's Aura to nothing, and opened her for the blinding strike within ''60 seconds.'' And bear in mind Maria stated that she could ''can sense everything better than most and react to attacks almost before they happen.'' |
| 991 | |
| 992 | [[AC:Lost]] |
| 993 | * Mercury [[BrutalHonesty bluntly telling Emerald]] that Cinder never really cared about her. |
| 994 | ** There's also the fact that Mercury, known for having [[ExtremityExtremist a kick-heavy fighting style]], is practicing how to punch during his training routine. |
| 995 | ** Later, we discover that Mercury's Semblance was ''stolen'' by his father ... and he managed to train harder to become ''even'' stronger. Just look at how Mercury not only killed his dad for his abuse, but also kept up with Pyrrha and Yang, all as a BadassNormal - and he lost to the last two ''only because he was holding back the entire time.'' |
| 996 | * Tyrian's rather brutal breakdown of [[DarkandTroubledPast Mercury's backstory]] and him supposedly being fine where he is right now under Salem's command. Tyrian notes that for all of Mercury's claims to the contrary, that in truth for all of his implied belief in his maturity due to [[AbusiveParents suffering under his monster of a father]] and recognizing Emerald's delusions about Cinder, he's really just a scared child who's become so used to the world of pain and violence that he's lived in all of his life that he's simply too afraid to leave it. Tyrian proceeds to knock Mercury down after the latter retaliates angrily, and notes that in order to truly thrive as a monster, one has to truly embrace it wholeheartedly, or else they're "in the wrong field". It demonstrates that despite his AxCrazy demeanor, he's a very calculating and cunning individual in his own right. When Emerald asks if that means they should leave, Tyrian (after talking to Watts a bit), only gives a chilling response. |
| 997 | --> '''Tyrian:''' [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere Do what makes you happy children.]] ''[[ImpliedDeathThreat Please. I'm begging you.]]'' *raises his new cybernetic stinger* |
| 998 | ** Given [[UndyingLoyalty Tyrian's nature to Salem]] and [[SerialKiller his sadistic past]], it's very ''very'' clear that he'd have no qualms hunting them down and slaughtering them if they tried. |
| 999 | * After suffering through two volumes on the sidelines, Tyrian's finally replaced his tail with a metallic version - complete with mechanical venom-laced stinger and armor plating around the spine of the tail. The design ''alone'' counts as one for the CRWBY. |
| 1000 | ** Speaking of, he reveals to Emerald and Mercury that Watts and him are also being sent to Atlas. Looks like Salem had the same idea as Ozpin about where to go next. |
| 1001 | * After Jaune converses with someone ''heavily'' implied to be Pyrrha's mother, he and what's left of his team resolve to carry on with the quest, much to the pleasant surprise of team RWBY. |
| 1002 | ** In a small moment, Qrow's awesomesness kicks in again. Despite getting more tanked than Yang or Ruby's ever seen, Qrow ''still'' remembered where Saphron and Terra's house was and made it back before he passed out. That's pretty darned impressive. |
| 1003 | * When Jaune, his family and team show up, they and the rest of the heroes discover that Oscar's been waiting for them. It turns out that he simply left to get himself a combat outfit and join the fight as well. Again, his garb is another eye-catching design from the CRWBY. |
| 1004 | * Later on, Jaune suggests that since Atlesian ships are the only ones that can enter Atlesian airspace, that he and the others steal one and blaze it to the border. This meets from some resistance from Qrow and Weiss (and not without reason), but Ruby tells Qrow to shut up and hear Jaune's idea out. It's refreshing to see Ruby grow a spine and stand up to her mentor. |
| 1005 | -->'''Ruby:''' Look, I know that you're trying to protect us, that you're afraid we can't do it, but right now, ''I don't really care what you think!'' Just because ''you'' don't have an idea doesn't mean ''we're'' out of options. Oz hasn't been here to tell us what to do, but we still managed to get this far anyway! We've been in bad situations before, and we didn't need an adult to save us or tell us what to do. We just did it our way! And I say we do it our way. And if you think you can keep up with us ''kids'', we'd be happy to have you.\ |
| 1006 | '''Maria:''' ''(Chuckles)'' Looks like you didn't give her enough credit, either. |
| 1007 | |
| 1008 | [[AC:Stealing From The Elderly]] |
| 1009 | * TheCaper that the heroes kick off qualifies. Jaune gets one merely for planning this out. |
| 1010 | ** Weiss feigns to accept Cordovin's offer of personal escort through to Atlas, and sneaks Maria in a giant suitcase. When the guards offer to take her suspiciously heavy suitcase, Adrian distracts the guards while Weiss quickly boards the plane. Once out of range of the comms systems, she throws out the weird guards and lets Maria out who then plugs a transmitter into her eyes, and begins to see ''everything'' the plane can sense and pilots the ship quite well. |
| 1011 | ** While the above happens, Yang gives Blake a ride to the radio tower and the latter infiltrates on Terra's advice to disable it so that the military base cannot track the hijacked ship thus allowing Maria to return to Argus and pick the rest of the gang. Unfortunately, no one could've predicted Adam would interfere and ruin Blake's part but, if he hadn't been there at the worst time, the gang would've successfully stolen an Atlesian airship right under Cordovin's nose. |
| 1012 | * The fact that Adrian can apparently cry and make a fuss on command, and with a ''lot'' of volume to boot, even for a baby! |
| 1013 | * Maria's knowledge of Atlesian military jargon's was completely up-to-date too, and even the soldier who caught her admits so; the real issue was that the military doesn't let old women fly planes. |
| 1014 | * Once Cordovin twigs to the plan through Maria sounding too elderly to fly an Atlesian craft, she activates a mech hidden within the base and gives chase. |
| 1015 | ** Maria gets another one by loudly chewing cashews through the radio, [[{{Troll}} just to piss Cordovin off even more]]. |
| 1016 | * Adam makes his return by killing the guards at the radar tower, and the fight he and Blake engage in is the most even-handed of battles they've ever had. They ''both'' survive a fall through the trees without destroying their Auras, and the last shot shows that they're ready to let everything fly. |
| 1017 | ** Despite everything she suffered at his hands, Blake gives Adam a chance to walk away and let go of the past. That's a level of maturity that few in her position would've ever displayed. |
| 1018 | |
| 1019 | [[AC:The Lady In The Shoe]] |
| 1020 | * The battle between Cordovin and the heroes has these moments: |
| 1021 | ** Cordovin launches a missile to destroy the Atlas Airship with Weiss and Maria still inside. Ruby simply snipes it. Qrow is absolutely impressed by his niece's marksmanship while she is completely casual about it which only makes her look more badass. |
| 1022 | *** Cordovin later points a massive cannon at Ruby Rose, who's hanging helplessly off a cliff face where none of her friends can get to her. And then Maria swoops in and fires one tiny missile. Sure, it doesn't hit the mech - Cordovin catches the thing easily - but Maria knew it would be enough to get Cordovin's attention away from Ruby and on her. By exploiting their rivalry to save the girl's life, the old woman shows a stellar grasp of psychological warfare. |
| 1023 | ** Ruby leaping between the mech's missiles ''mid-flight'', after nearly shooting out Cordovin's windshield. |
| 1024 | ** Weiss's Lancer avatar proves to be solid enough to hold four people, and she uses it creatively throughout the battle with the mech. |
| 1025 | ** Ren and Qrow team up to destroy the mech's shield generator... after stumbling across it by complete accident. |
| 1026 | ** Jaune shielding Nora from the mech and tanking its slap. Note that he's amplifying her Aura at the same time so he's absorbing the damage of both. Both of their Auras break regardless, but consider that it took an enormous mech striking with full force ''while he's protecting someone'' to take him down and cause Jaune's first onscreen Aura break. That is impressive. |
| 1027 | ** Maria jumping into the fray by firing a missile from her Manta airship at Cordovin in order to divert her attention, let alone damage the Colossus. |
| 1028 | *** Pay close attention to the Manta's missile pods as she fires. Each Manta carries fourteen missile pods in six batteries for a total of ''[[MacrossMissileMassacre eighty-four missiles]]'' ''per ship.'' Talk about having this much firepower per squadron, and that's not even counting the Colossus! No wonder the Atlesian military is well-equipped to fight off the Grimm in Argus! |
| 1029 | * The fight between Adam, Blake and Yang has these moments: |
| 1030 | ** Adam's in top form this episode, nearly killing Blake and Yang at least once, as well as ''destroying Gambol Shroud''. |
| 1031 | ** Blake disarms Adam by catching his blade in her sheath and then wrenching it out of his grip, forcing him to rely on his sheath's shotgun until he can steal it back. |
| 1032 | ** Yang joins the fight in the most awesome way possible: [[CarFu flattening Adam with her motorcycle]]. |
| 1033 | * Adam and Yang's fight is lightning-fast and quickly became received as one of the best fights of the ''entire show,'' with both fighters going at each other in top form; Adam pulls some [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry Vergil]] tactics out by spamming doppelgängers, using Iaijutsu and at one point making his sword spin so fast it resembles a buzzsaw, while Yang shows how she's changed her fighting style as a consequence of Beacon, moving through the air like [[Manga/MyHeroAcademia Bakugou]] and launching a blistering array of machine-gun punches. |
| 1034 | ** Yang has learned from past experience: Knowing that Adam is able to tank hits at ''least'' as well as she can, she refuses to play his game, instead fighting in a parry-focused style reminiscent of Neo, who was previously able to easily handle Yang's [[LightningBruiser traditional fighting style.]] |
| 1035 | * Yang at one point charges at Adam just like in Volume 3, but this time Yang uses recoil to dodge to the side and get in close, letting her launch a blistering combo against Adam. |
| 1036 | ** If you pay attention, [[MythologyGag several of Yang's moves]] are based on her attacks in ''VideoGame/BlazBlueCrossTagBattle''. |
| 1037 | ** Yang using her prosthetic arm to block the same move from Adam that caused her to lose her original arm in the first place. |
| 1038 | ** We finally get to see what is under Adam's blindfold, after a lot of buildup: His left eye is [[EyeScream branded by the Schnee Dust Company.]] |
| 1039 | *** This makes his fighting skills ''even more'' impressive; a wound like that would've at least resulted in his depth perception getting damaged (or even destroyed), if not entirely taking out half of his vision. Despite that, Adam's fighting skills are sharp enough to pose a severe danger to the heroes. |
| 1040 | *** Blake shuts down any attempt by Adam to gain sympathy thanks to his branded eye, proving that his suffering does not justify his actions. |
| 1041 | * Yang displays great control over her emotions once she chances upon Adam. Keep in mind, she's unexpectedly faced with the man responsible for her trauma, someone she still fears up to now, and Blake is again injured because of him. She doesn't freeze up, she visibly calms herself after getting upset, and her eyes don't turn red at any point. She even offers him a chance to escape, like Blake did last episode! Her hand does tremble, but she still shows true strength by standing before Adam. |
| 1042 | -->'''Yang:''' [[PunctuatedForEmphasis Leave. Us. Alone.]] [[TranquilFury This is your]] ''[[TranquilFury last]]'' [[TranquilFury chance.]] |
| 1043 | |
| 1044 | [[AC:Seeing Red]] |
| 1045 | * How does Ruby deal with the mech? By jumping down the barrel and blasting it as it's about to fire, then speeding out of there with her Semblance as the Dust destroys the cannon. |
| 1046 | ** The moment just before that; the airship is down, and it looks like the fight is basically over, with the teams objective taken out, where instead of surrendering, Ruby squares up to Cordovin, plants Crescent Rose in the ground and basically tells her, "No, ''you'' back down!" The tiny girl, facing off against the truly gigantic mecha and her deranged, power mad pilot, and she actually offers her an ''ultimatum.'' Cordovin obviously refuses and the look on Ruby's face sells it, as she doesn't even flinch when Cordovin powers up her main cannon and points it directly at her; she just sighs, with an expression that reads, "Well, you brought this on yourself." Absolutely badass. |
| 1047 | * Yang and Blake's teamwork in general during the fight with Adam, but a key moment is Yang grabbing what's left of Gambol Shroud out of the air when Adam sends it back to Blake when she throws it at him, then using it to swing Blake at Adam with such speed that when their weapons separate, the force released sends Blake flying into the cliff hard enough to break her Aura. |
| 1048 | * Adam's sword skills are still on par this episode. At one point, he and Blake clash, and he sends her flying. He also manages to briefly knock Yang down with a quick use of Iaijutsu and his Semblance. This, of course, is reversed on him. |
| 1049 | * Yang maneuvering Adam into attacking her in a way that lets her use her robotic arm to pull a BarehandedBladeBlock on him (which he couldn't see due to the dust cloud he threw up), then deck him with a Semblance-charged punch that sent him flying and making a trench in the earth upon landing, separating him from Wilt and breaking his Aura. As she says herself, she may not be faster than Adam is, but she's ''smarter''. |
| 1050 | -->'''Yang:''' ''[[PreAssKickingOneLiner Gotcha.]]'' |
| 1051 | ** Adding on to this, before the three resume their clash, Adam tries to make more verbal jabs at them by claiming Blake broke her promise to him about always staying by his side, saying that Yang shouldn't take Blake's word at her promises. Yang [[NoSell shoots this]] [[ShutUpHannibal down]] by pointing out that Blake only made that promise to the man she ''thought'' Adam was, not to who he really was. Yang's become quite the psychoanalyst. |
| 1052 | ** It should be noted that this is also the first time we've seen Yang use her Semblance since Beacon. She obviously took her dad's lesson to heart about relying too much on her Semblance to win fights by fighting smarter since then, and when she finally uses it now, it is ''glorious.'' |
| 1053 | * Five words: Blake and Yang ''kill Adam''. |
| 1054 | ** Adam doesn't just die either. He's run through twice, falls to the rocks below with a SickeningCrunch, and plummets into the freezing waters of Argus. A fittingly brutal death for such a monstrous character. |
| 1055 | ** Sienna Khan, a cat faunus, was killed by Adam via impalement with a katana. Blake, a cat faunus, ultimately [[KarmicDeath impales Adam with a katana.]] |
| 1056 | ** When you consider the fact that Adam stabbed Blake back in Volume 3, the fact that Blake killed Adam by ''stabbing him right back'' makes it even more of a KarmicDeath. |
| 1057 | ** Adam, for his part, almost manages to reach Gambol Shroud, and, when run through, only reacts with a shocked [[MajorInjuryUnderreaction "Oh."]] and manages to [[TheDyingWalk stumble forward for a while.]] He may have died, but he did not go down that easily. |
| 1058 | ** Adam's glorious VillainousBreakdown once Yang takes his sword and throws it over the waterfall. For the first time on the show, we see Adam Taurus truly vulnerable and afraid, without the weapon that he hid behind. |
| 1059 | |
| 1060 | [[AC:Our Way]] |
| 1061 | * Not only does Neo manage to pinch a Mistralian airship, but she succeeds in ''imprinting'' an illusion of an Atlesian ship onto it, so she and Cinder can infiltrate Atlas with ease. |
| 1062 | * Jaune is back in action and amplifying Ren's Aura again, which means one of two things: either tanking a full-powered slap from a mountain-sized mecha was ''not enough'' to break Jaune's Aura, or he just recharged some of it in minutes through sheer willpower, like Hazel. |
| 1063 | * Maria's piloting skill proves good enough to avoid damage from multiple Manticore and Sphinx Grimm, as well as steady enough for Weiss to use her Lancer avatar to transport Ruby to the Leviathan. |
| 1064 | * Ruby using the TimeStandsStill aspect of summoning Jinn to buy herself the time she needs to down the Leviathan. |
| 1065 | ** Jinn gets one for giving Ruby help without charge and even admitting Ruby had a good idea. |
| 1066 | * Despite the odds, Ruby encases the Leviathan in stone. When it tries to break free, ''Cordovin'' jumps in with her mech minus the cannon, and uses a ''gigantic drill'' in the left arm to kill it for good. For added bonus, Cordovin gratefully grants the heroes entry into Atlas. |
| 1067 | ** One for the animators: Ruby summons her powers by thinking of the people she loves, which we see in the form of ''beautiful'', manga-esque drawings of scenes from the first 6 volumes - capped off with the first full shot of '''Summer Rose''' after six years of suspicions. |
| 1068 | ** The music playing during Ruby's Silver Eyes activation. There is plenty of orchestral build-up during the flashbacks of peaceful days gone by, a quiet interlude during Summer's cameo, and then... '''''the chorus blares as Ruby opens her eyes, emitting a gigantic flash of white light that envelops a large section of the Argus ocean'''''. If that doesn't perfectly sum up Ruby's {{determinator}} attitude, we don't know ''what can''. |
| 1069 | --->''♫ There's a light that shines\ |
| 1070 | And its power is mine\ |
| 1071 | Though our body's weak and breakable\ |
| 1072 | '''The spirit is indomitable!''' ♫'' |
| 1073 | * Atlas ''itself'' qualifies. The capital's literally a floating city-state that's tethered over a caldera that borders with Mantle. The design is jaw-dropping, even more so than that of Mistral. |
| 1074 | * The stinger shows Salem creating a horde of Beringel Grimm ''with wings''. This process disturbs Mercury and Emerald severely; and Hazel himself looks uncomfortable as he explains Salem's actions to them. |
| 1075 | -->'''Hazel:''' There's an old saying. "If you want something done right, [[LetsGetDangerous do it yourself]]." |
| 1076 | [[/folder]] |
| 1077 | |
| 1078 | !!Solitas Arc |
| 1079 | [[folder:Volume 7]] |
| 1080 | [[AC:Opening]] |
| 1081 | * The opening is absolutely ''spectacular'', with many highlights: |
| 1082 | ** An absolutely gorgeous shot of Team RWBY flying through the air, transitioning from their Volume 1-3, to their 4-6 outfits, and finally to their new Volume 7 looks. |
| 1083 | ** Yang activating her semblance and getting ready to wreck shop. |
| 1084 | ** Team JN_R taking out a horde of Grimm, while also sporting some awesome new looks. |
| 1085 | ** Jaune effortlessly slashing his way through several Grimm. He's definitely come a long way since his [[EmbarrassingNickname "Vomit Boy"]] days. |
| 1086 | ** Ironwood and Oscar fighting, though on closer examination it appears that they're smiling while trading blows, implying that Ironwood will take it upon himself to train Oscar so that the latter can keep up with the rest of the heroes. |
| 1087 | ** Weiss using her semblance to ''surf'' through a tunnel full of Centinels. |
| 1088 | ** Tyrian and Qrow will apparently be getting a rematch this Volume, with Qrow getting back up from new character Robyn Hill. |
| 1089 | |
| 1090 | [[AC:The Greatest Kingdom]] |
| 1091 | * The fight that the heroes have against the Sabyrs feature these highlights: |
| 1092 | ** Weiss and Ren perform an excellent combo where the former lifts four Sabyrs into the air, while Ren jumps from Sabyr to Sabyr as he gores them. |
| 1093 | ** Oscar manages to one-shot a Sabyr while flipping over it, showing how his training is paying off. |
| 1094 | ** Qrow catches a Sabyr on his ''spinning'' scythe mid-jump, briefly buries it in the ground before hitting another Sabyr with two punches, then flips his scythe back into his hands with his foot (without looking) and laying waste to several more. |
| 1095 | ** But the best comes for last; out of nowhere a green laser blasts a Sabyr in half. More scything blasts rain hell on the remaining Grimm before their source flies into shot. '''Penny. Is. ALIVE!''' |
| 1096 | *** No, you know what? This one deserves greater elaboration: not only does she effortlessly wipe out the remaining Sabyr pack in seconds, but follows it up by flying, yes ''flying'', into view, twirling in mid-air like a master ballerina with the moon behind her in utterly gorgeous shot, and gracefully and elegantly comes to rest on the ground. That's a crowning moment for her ''and'' the animators ''Then'' we find out she's become the defacto protector of Mantle, the slum city beneath Atlas. Not only is she alive, she's been upgraded, and has effectively become a '''superhero!''' |
| 1097 | |
| 1098 | [[AC:A New Approach]] |
| 1099 | * To the fanbase's surprise, Ironwood managed to create a plan to unite humanity against Salem that gets in due to its sheer ballsiness. To wit: |
| 1100 | ** After cluing in Penny, Winter and the Ace Ops team about Salem and securing the Winter Maiden, Ironwood is repurposing the Amity Colosseum as a high-atmosphere satellite CCT broadcast tower, designed to be so powerful that the system will still work if another tower's destroyed. |
| 1101 | ** Once that's accomplished, Ironwood intends to reveal Salem's existence to the populace of Atlas, with the whole of Atlas's military on hand to destroy any Grimm invasion that results from the panic. He then intends to repeat the process with each kingdom on Remnant, with the end goal of uniting humanity against Salem. |
| 1102 | ** Even better, this plan was so unexpected that as "As Above, So Below" reveals, not even Dr. Watts realized what Ironwood had been up to. |
| 1103 | |
| 1104 | [[AC:Ace Operatives]] |
| 1105 | * Pietro redesigned everyone's weapons on their requests, while also making some additional touches based on what he saw in the Vytal Festival Tournament. Everyone gets to show off the new toys this episode: |
| 1106 | ** Crescent Rose can now rotate its blade, letting Ruby attack from new angles faster than before. |
| 1107 | ** Myrtenaster can now fire small projectiles of Dust, giving Weiss faster ranged attacks. |
| 1108 | ** Ember Celica has a new ammo type: small explosive darts that Yang lodges into her victims before remotely detonating them. |
| 1109 | ** Jaune's shield can now project HardLight barriers, increasing the area of protection, letting the shield serve as a glider to improve his landing strategies, and creating small shockwaves. |
| 1110 | *** This improvement is especially noteworthy as Jaune is now finally able to pull off a landing strategy. It goes to show just [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1oWFJfVQFc&feature=youtu.be how far he's come as a Huntsman]]. |
| 1111 | ** [=StormFlower=]'s blades can now function as grappling hooks to pull Grimm in for the quick kill. |
| 1112 | ** Magnhild is given a sharpened point at the opposite end of her hammer, letting Nora use the explosive force to impale Grimm easily. |
| 1113 | * The Ace Ops all demonstrate what a true ''team'' of professional Huntsmen are capable of, all working together in harmony to render an old and powerful Geist completely helpless against them - ''without'' the use of Dust. |
| 1114 | |
| 1115 | [[AC:Pomp and Circumstance]] |
| 1116 | * When Jacques tries to guilt trip Weiss with telling her how her mother [[DrowningMySorrows "dealt"]] with her departure, Weiss's teammates won't have ''any'' of it and hold hands with her, silently declaring themselves Weiss's real family. |
| 1117 | -->'''Jacques''': So these are the little friends you threw ''everything'' away for?\ |
| 1118 | '''Weiss''': [[ShutUpHannibal Not friends...]] '''''[[TrueCompanions Family]]'''''. |
| 1119 | ** Even before that, when Ironwood hears Jacques building up to a threat against Weiss, he instantly interrupts the man. The sharp edge in his voice just screams "Go ahead, you bastard. Finish that sentence and just ''see'' what happens." |
| 1120 | --->'''Jacques''': How dare you speak to me that way!? I've half a mind to-!\ |
| 1121 | '''[[PapaWolf Ironwood]]''': ''(coldly)'' Half a mind to ''what'', Jacques? |
| 1122 | * With current tensions in Mantle, and in recognition of everything our heroes have been through, General Ironwood uses his status as Headmaster of Atlas to grant Teams RWBY and JNR official Huntsman licenses in Amity Colosseum. Everyone finally has what they sought at the beginning of the series; they are ''true'' Huntsman. |
| 1123 | |
| 1124 | [[AC:Sparks]] |
| 1125 | * Flynt Coal and Neon Katt return in a DynamicEntry with the former blasting through the wall with his Semblance, and alongside their teammates Kobalt and Ivori. Their sparring match with team JNPR is also a moment of awesome for CRWBY: not only is it beautifully choreographed, but the most of it consists of a [[TheOner single continous shot]] with the camera following the characters all around the training room. |
| 1126 | * Speaking of JNPR, their strongest fighter was replaced by a 14-year-old rookie with several months of training, their leader himself had less than two years of training and discovered his Semblance a couple months ago at most, they're facing the Atlas's finest - and they ''win'', fully proving Ironwood's decision to grant them licenses. Specifically, Jaune beats Flynt who's given both Yang and Weiss trouble, and Oscar knocks Kobalt, who's strong enough to pick him up one-handed, across the room, after which the whole team corners Neon, allowing Nora to finish the fight. |
| 1127 | ** Nora flying after Neon on Magnhild like a witch on a broom is both this and a funny moment. |
| 1128 | ** Oscar himself has gotten much more comfortable with fighting, as both this scene and an earlier one with Ironwood shows: the general takes them to the training room and talks about "jogging Oz loose", Oscar asks what he has in mind, only for both of them to get in combative stances with eager smiles. |
| 1129 | * Penny gets points for defusing a tense stand-off between Ruby's and Robyn's Huntresses teams. Before she got revealed it could have gone either way, but politely asking Robyn to stand down ''while'' revealing she'd spotted the invisible Huntresses sneaking up quickly took the wind out of the ambush. |
| 1130 | * Weiss' Arma Gigas vs. Winter's giant Beowolf. At first it seems to an even match, but Winter gains the upper hand and deals a fatal blow to the suit of armor via a slash from her Beowolf. Then the knight fades away to reveal its sword stuck in the lupine simulacra's hide, [[TakingYouWithMe leaving it to fade away as well.]] As Winter notes, Weiss has managed to turn tactical errors to her advantage, earning her the closest thing to a compliment from the former. |
| 1131 | |
| 1132 | [[AC:A Night Off]] |
| 1133 | * During a training session, Weiss actually beats Winter! While the two are having a supernatural tug-o-war with one of Winter's Beowolf avatar, the tiny Arma Gigas avatar cuts at Winter's ankles, knocking her down. |
| 1134 | * Jaune's Aura Recovery. All it takes to recharge a quarter of his maximum Aura is to concentrate and breath for a second. Considering how large his Aura reserves are, that is undoubtedly an impressive recovery time. If he continues to train, what will it take to knock him down? |
| 1135 | * Watts may be an evil ManipulativeBastard but you can't deny that he is an evil manipulative bastard with style. He makes his hacking look like a work of art of a musical composer. |
| 1136 | * Speaking of music - that guy singing alongside Casey on the track when Nora, Ren and Ruby enter the party? That's Santi C, who you might know as the writer on [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B__LiwUMtJg My Home]], a song Casey guested on! |
| 1137 | * After seven whole volumes of UnresolvedSexualTension, Nora ''finally'' takes the initiative and gives Ren a BigDamnKiss to snap him out of his depressive funk over Salem. A RelationshipUpgrade in its finest. |
| 1138 | * The first time we saw Marrow's Semblance, it was a chill command for a pair of Grimm to 'stay'. Here, faced with a sudden, very angry group of armed people, Marrow ''yells'' the line and the ''entire mob'' slows to a crawl. |
| 1139 | |
| 1140 | [[AC:Worst Case Scenario]] |
| 1141 | * The debut of Fiona's Semblance, which allows her to break down objects with the touch of her hand and transport them to a miniature void, which she uses to aid the heist of an Atlas military supplies truck and its Dust while May uses her {{Invisibility}} field to shield them from detection. A pretty nifty Semblance, all things considered. |
| 1142 | * Nora losing her temper and [[WhatTheHellHero yelling]] at Ironwood about how his actions have been affecting Mantle. And what's more, it actually gets through to him, as he stands down from declaring martial law. |
| 1143 | -->'''Nora:''' You keep talking about how we just need a little more time, but you're not the one having to struggle.\ |
| 1144 | '''Ironwood:''' We have all needed to make sacrifices for the greater good. Mantle has had to bear a lot of the burden, but- \ |
| 1145 | '''Nora:''' ''They're bearing all of it!'' The longer this waiting game goes on the harder each day gets for people down there, and now you want to send in ''more'' soldiers?! You can't force people to fall in line! If you do that, '''''you'll just be trading all these problems for the Grimm!''''' |
| 1146 | * Blake and Yang hold their own against Robyn, a much more experienced Huntress. Even if she was focused more on escape, it's still impressive. |
| 1147 | * The Staff of Creation is apparently the real thing holding up all of Atlas, and Ironwood implies it could lift the city even higher up. The only thing keeping him from using its power to do the same for Amity Tower is a limitation built in the Staff itself. Not too shabby for a millennia-old relic. |
| 1148 | |
| 1149 | [[AC:Cordially Invited]] |
| 1150 | * Suspecting that Jacques is involved in the villainy plaguing Atlas, Weiss manages to sneak into her father's study without him noticing, only to encounter her drunk mother once she enters the room. Rather than being a hindrance to Weiss's plans, Willow Schnee reveals she'd long since hidden a camera in her husband's study and captured footage of Dr. Watts meeting him earlier in the volume, which she promptly hands over to Weiss without complaint. |
| 1151 | ** Willow also politely calls Weiss out for leaving Whitley behind to suffer Jacques's abuse alone, as well as acknowledging her own negligence, which led to his antagonism in Volume 4. |
| 1152 | * Just as his cover gets blown, Dr. Watts shuts down Mantle's entire heating grid - thereby changing Mantle's usual rainfall into snow and heralding certain death for non-Aura users within a matter of hours. For reference, Cinder had to cause murder on a live broadcast and enlist the White Fang to attack Vale and ravage Beacon, necessitating over a year of preparation. All it took for Arthur to start putting Mantle to the sword was the flick of a switch and his own coding skill. |
| 1153 | ** Do note that this is mainly due to Arthur having written most, if not all of the heating grid's code himself. Which, in all honesty, is rather awesome in and of itself. |
| 1154 | * Credit to Jacques himself for turning Winter's outburst back at her, and using it to slam Ironwood further. |
| 1155 | ** It should also be noted that Jacques manages to remain composed the entire conversation all while listing many of the same points against Ironwood that have hurt the continent as a whole (something that other characters have pointed out before) - in spite of the fact that his layoffs and rigged election (with Watts' help) helped worsen matters as a whole. |
| 1156 | |
| 1157 | [[AC:As Above, So Below]] |
| 1158 | * Jacques Schnee's richly deserved arrest for election fraud, treason, and as an accessory to the murders of Robyn's supporters is a long moment of this for the Schnee women. Weiss, Willow, and Winter all take a hand in ensuring their patriarch's fall from grace, and the sight of Jacques getting hauled into the paddy wagon as the heroes go to defend Mantle is the icing on the proverbial cake. |
| 1159 | ** Winter telling Jacques to shut the hell up must have been very cathartic for her. |
| 1160 | ** Dr. Watts is shown to have played Jacques like a fiddle. Since the latter is quite a ManipulativeBastard himself, this warrants a mention. |
| 1161 | ** Jacques tries to make a run for it, only for Weiss to have an Arma Gigas avatar right outside the door. She proceeds to personally arrest him while flashing her new Huntress license, though she does still have to ask if she's actually allowed to do that. |
| 1162 | * Neo gets one for infiltrating the Schnee gala as a waitress and getting the information that she and Cinder need to succeed in their missions. |
| 1163 | * Not only do Ruby and Oscar convince Ironwood to confide in Robyn and the other two councillors about Salem, but they both agree to spill about Jinn's revelations. When Oscar does that, Ironwood resolves to solve the immediate problem of the Grimm invasion before anything else. |
| 1164 | |
| 1165 | [[AC:Out in the Open]] |
| 1166 | * This episode is full of awesome moments, as might be expected in such a huge battle, but there's also a more subtle one. Salem's lieutenants have spent most of the series manipulating everyone around them; this is the episode when the heroes turn it around. Ironwood tells the Kingdom about Salem, and paints a target on the Amity Colosseum in the process, while Robyn tells everyone where she's going to be. Arthur tries to sabotage the CCT project, and sends Tyrian after Robyn. But both moves have been predicted; Ironwood is waiting for Watts within the arena, and Hill is ready for Tyrian with backup from Qrow and Clover. It's a glorious BatmanGambit. |
| 1167 | -->'''Robyn:''' Sorry, Callows. I really wanted to pummel you on my own, but the general insisted that I share.\ |
| 1168 | '''Clover:''' You're not the only one holding a grudge.\ |
| 1169 | '''Qrow:''' (readies Harbinger) You'll ''both'' have to get in line. |
| 1170 | ** Watts, meanwhile, refuses to be intimidated. Using his computer-rings, he takes control of the arena's stage set-up, loads a glorified revolver, and takes aim. |
| 1171 | --->'''Watts:''' At the risk of sounding cliche, James...I ''won't'' be going down without a fight. |
| 1172 | * Jaune gets a subtle one for getting a whole line of civilians out of the way by boosting Ren's Semblance while Vine holds back Grimm, and two kids from his preschool route show the other civilians how to do it. |
| 1173 | ** The same scene shows that Ren's skill with his Semblance has improved to the point that he can suppress the emotions of others without having any sort of contact with them. |
| 1174 | * Elm stopping a Megoliath's charge so Yang can plant bombs in it, then ''throwing'' it above the rooftops so it can detonate. And she doesn't even have a strength Semblance! |
| 1175 | ** She later shows Timber's alternate mode is ''a freaking RPG'' that fires two rockets at once, each one blowing a Megoliath to ashes. |
| 1176 | * A much larger and older Megoliath, meanwhile, gives Ruby, Penny, and Harriet the fight of their lives, shrugging off everything they can throw at it including Penny's WaveMotionGun and breaking Harriet's Aura. Which promptly turns into one for Ruby and Penny when Ruby gets the idea to impale it on its own severed tusk. |
| 1177 | |
| 1178 | [[AC:Gravity]] |
| 1179 | * Ironwood vs. Watts was nothing short of amazing. Duking it out in Amity Arena's previously [[WhatCouldHaveBeen unused]] gravity biome, the level geometry invites all kinds of crazy angles. Watts tries to stay on top of the fight by messing with the gravity around James, and keeping track of his bullet count. But no matter what gets thrown at him, James keeps out-maneuvering him and getting some solid punches in. It's cathartic to see Watts finally getting his tail kicked after volumes of watching him smugly manipulate people from the background. |
| 1180 | ** A special mention could go to how easily and fluidly Ironwood uses RecoilBoost to navigate the arena despite Watts' manipulations. Ruby and Yang have to do the same trick with a sniper-scythe and shotgun gauntlets while he just uses a very powerful revolver. And looking closely, every time he uses the black revolver (the one loaded with Gravity Dust), it's with his left arm. You know, the one that's still flesh and blood? |
| 1181 | ** While not anywhere near the level of most of the regulars, Watts demonstrates passable hand-to-hand skills once Ironwood gets up close and personal. Right before trapping Ironwood's arm in a hard light shield. Even when he's cornered, Watts doesn't go easy. |
| 1182 | ** It's brief, but at one moment when they're rushing at each other (after Watts briefly froze Ironwood's leg), each shoots a bullet that then collides ''[[ShootTheBullet with each other]]''. |
| 1183 | ** To add a cherry on top, Ironwood undergoes excruciating pain, forcefully pulling his arm through the shield (which results in burning his arm completely) to take Watts by surprise, slam his head down and scrape the doctor along the floor like he was [[Franchise/{{Metroid}} Ridley]]. He's not the general of Atlas for nothing. |
| 1184 | ** To make this even ''more'' epic, it's later revealed in an interview that Watts never had a Semblance and Ironwood's has no actual combat applications save for [[TheDeterminator sheer determination]]. In other words: The entire fight is between two {{badass normal}}s. |
| 1185 | * Tyrian vs Qrow, Clover and Robyn. Despite being outnumbered, Tyrian actually manages to fight all three of them at once and though it ultimately results in a bit of a [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomp]], he doesn't for a second let up or even seem to consider retreating. In fact, he appears to be [[BloodKnight enjoying it]]! Highlights include; |
| 1186 | ** Clover grappling Tyrian's tail with his hook and repeatedly wrapping him up to allow Qrow to land multiple blows against the deranged Faunus. |
| 1187 | ** Qrow deliberately launching his weapon into the air directly in front of Tyrian, then roundhouse kicking him in the head whilst he's distracted. |
| 1188 | ** Tyrian breaking out some Capoeira moves to simultaneously knock Qrow and Clover away and escape from Clover's fishing line. |
| 1189 | ** Robyn being the one to land the finishing blow, with an exploding crossbow bolt... that Tyrian caught ''with his [[ArrowCatch teeth]]!'' Then Robyn finishes the fight by kicking a cackling Tyrian in the face, knocking him out cold. |
| 1190 | --->'''Robyn:''' Where's that smile now? |
| 1191 | * Just when things are looking up for our heroes, Cinder throws Ironwood completely off-balance. How? By making a black queen chess piece and leaving it on his desk. We've already seen this volume that Ironwood [[ShellShockedVeteran hasn't fully recovered mentally from the Fall of Beacon,]] and this little toy reignites all of his anxiety and paranoia. After Team RWBY and part of the Ace Ops arrive, Ironwood is already second-guessing their actions and distrusting the former. And why leave the CallingCard? It's a BatmanGambit. By alerting Ironwood of their presence in Atlas Academy, the General calls Winter and instructs her to go to Fria to take the Winter Maiden's power, leading Cinder right to her prize. |
| 1192 | * As the negativity increases, out of Watts' bag (which Ironwood had brought with him from his fight) pops a Seer Grimm, which summons forth a giant vision of Salem. She in turn briefly congratulates our heroes for beating Watts and Tyrian, only to reveal that they were only meant to destabilize Atlas; she is the real imminent threat. Salem then gently threatens Ironwood to hand over the staff and the lamp, or Atlas will fall. Even after Ruby reveals they know of her past and immortality and proclaims they will stop her, Salem appears unimpressed and reduces Ruby to a sobbing wreck with just two short sentences. Ladies and gentlemen, the BigBad of RWBY. |
| 1193 | -->'''Salem:''' ''(to Ruby)'' Your mother said those words [concerning Ruby's conviction to defeat Salem] to me. She was wrong, too. |
| 1194 | ** Even so, the fact that all Salem could come up with is a “your mom” comeback suggests that Ruby was completely right. Yes, she managed to hurt our protagonist, but she couldn’t properly refute her. Salem is fallible, and she can be stopped. |
| 1195 | ** Credit where credit is due, even though he is injured, exhausted and clearly terrified, Ironwood point-blank refuses Salem's offer. Man's definitely got some iron balls. |
| 1196 | * And props to Ruby at the end of this episode. She's been fighting Grimm and helping with evacuations nonstop, then learned that Salem likely killed her mom. She still has enough resilience to defy Ironwood by warning JNR, Qrow and Robyn about Ironwood's plans before he cuts the line short. |
| 1197 | |
| 1198 | [[AC:With Friends Like These]] |
| 1199 | * To whit, the battle between Team RWBY and the Ace-Ops. It starts with this BadassBoast, and only goes up from there. |
| 1200 | -->'''Harriet:''' You think you can stop us? Please, we're the best huntsmen in Atlas.\ |
| 1201 | '''Ruby:''' You were. Then you trained us. |
| 1202 | ** When Elm manages to get ahold of Blake, Yang uses a well-aimed burn to free her; |
| 1203 | --->'''Vine:''' If you come peacefully, we won't hurt you.\ |
| 1204 | '''Elm:''' Speak for yourself! They betrayed us!\ |
| 1205 | '''Blake:''' ''You're'' betraying the people you've sworn to protect!\ |
| 1206 | '''Yang:''' It's not worth it, Blake. ''(Bitterly)'' They're just ''following orders'' now.\ |
| 1207 | ''(Furious, Elm lets Blake go to charge at Yang)'' |
| 1208 | ** Special mention goes to Weiss vs. Marrow in Ironwood's office. While Weiss has historically struggled with one-on-one battles, here she holds the clear advantage throughout, making creative use of her glyphs and Knight avatar to control the terrain and keep Marrow from going on the offensive, then distract him long enough to knock him out with a barrage of fireball glyphs. She even manages to maintain control of the Knight when Marrow uses his Semblance to freeze her in place. |
| 1209 | ** Blake and Yang working as well-coordinated pair to take down first Vine, then Elm. For the former, Yang loads a piece of rubble with her bombs and Blake kicks them at Vine. Vine knocks it aside, but when he grabs Blake, it turns out to be a Shadow ''carrying those bombs''. The explosion blasts Vine off her perch, and Yang first ties him with his bola, then epically slams him into the ground. For Elm, first Yang destroys the stability of the floor, rendering Elm's rooting semblance useless. Then, Yangs uses ''her'' semblance to explode the floor, sending Elm flying into the air. With Blake jumping down from above and Yang jumping upwards, BY land a cross-blow on Elm that takes leaves her to flop awkwardly on the ground in defeat. |
| 1210 | ** Despite having a bit of trouble with her opponent's aggression, Ruby manages to keep up with Hare for the most part and even when she is separated from Crescent Rose and about to be restrained, she breaks free and ties ''Hare'' up instead. Ruby's come far since being completely dependent on her weapon. |
| 1211 | *** More subtly, it's ''Ruby'' who takes charge of the fight, not Hare. Right from the start, she baits Harriet's temper and zips away before Marrow can even ''think'' of immobilizing the entire team with his Semblance, enraging Harriet to cloud her judgment and forcing her to chase after Ruby instead of using her SuperSpeed against the other three. The two proceed to race around and trade blows until Harriet knocks Ruby through a door... showing that Ruby had led her around in a circle, back to where Marrow was fighting Weiss. Ruby immediately moves to block an attack aimed at Weiss, then zips off again as soon as she's sure her friend is okay, implying that she took the hit intentionally to give her an excuse to check up on her partner. Hare seems to get the upper hand and pins Ruby to the floor, only to be tied up with her own restraints the instant she pulls them out... by Ruby ''casually phasing through her'' with the "scatter into [[PunnyName Rose petals]]" part of her Semblance. Overall, it gives a strong impression that Hare had zero control of the fight up to that point, and that the entire thing was an IndyPloy by Ruby to get Hare to drop her guard so Ruby could take her out of the fight without actually hurting her. |
| 1212 | ** Not that being tied up actually ''stops'' Hare in any way, as she continues bringing the fight to Ruby despite her bonds. |
| 1213 | ** Hare finally knocks herself out when she charges full-speed at Ruby and [[InertiaIsACruelMistress collides with an ice wall Weiss created]]. |
| 1214 | * Oscar foils Neo's attempt to deceive Nora and steal the Relic of Knowledge with a fast MegatonPunch that shatters Neo's illusory disguise ''and'' sends her [[PunchedAcrossTheRoom flying down across the hall]]. For a fourteen-year-old kid who has yet to unlock his semblance and has only been training for a couple of months, successfully going up against someone like [[OneManArmy Neo]] is a ''very'' impressive feat. What makes it even more satisfying is the (albeit brief) [[OhCrap shocked]] [[DidntSeeThatComing expression]] on Neo's face as Oscar's fist makes contact. |
| 1215 | * The MeleeATrois between Clover, Qrow, and Tyrian features some of the fastest combat choreography yet seen on the show, and when Qrow and Tyrian pull an EnemyMine, though clearly outmatched, Clover still manages to hold them both off for an extended period and disarm Qrow. |
| 1216 | ** Qrow for his part fights Clover and to a lesser Tyrian with both sword, scythe, and [[GoodOldFisticuffs his bare hands]]. Even after Clover knocks Harbinger out of his grip and briefly ties up Tyrian, Qrow breaks his Aura with one well-placed punch. Not bad for [[TheJinx a bad luck charm]]. |
| 1217 | ** Tyrian's behavior throughout the episode is a masterclass in [[IndyPloy improvising]]. He kills the pilot and crashes the jet the group is riding while completely restrained except for his feet, then breaks and resets his thumb to get out of his restraints without the slightest sign of pain. ''Then'' he manipulates Qrow into helping him fight Clover, allows the disarmed Qrow to score the knockout blow, and kills Clover by stabbing him InTheBack with Qrow's sword, all timed perfectly with the arrival of another Atlas jet that will leave Qrow framed for the murder as Tyrian flees the scene. He does all of this while completely alone, having his Aura recently broken, and (initially) tied to a bench. |
| 1218 | |
| 1219 | [[AC:The Enemy of Trust]] |
| 1220 | * The opening fight pits [[TheStrategist Jaune]], [[CuteBruiser Nora]], [[FragileSpeedster Ren]] and [[UnskilledButStrong Oscar]] against [[DanceBattler Neo]]. Even with the numbers disadvantage, Neo is not only able to hold her own (silently taunting her opponents all the while), but with some clever use of her [[MasterOfIllusion Semblance]] and capitalizing on Ironwood's troops trying to arrest the heroes ''manages to steal the Relic of Knowledge'', scoring a big victory for the villains, [[OneManArmy all by herself]]. |
| 1221 | ** Props to Oscar for briefly keeping the Relic out of her hands, and Jaune for repelling her with his shield upgrade. |
| 1222 | * The mid-air fight with Cinder against Winter and Penny. Cinder mostly manages to maintain the upper hand due to sheer power, but both Penny and Winter put up a good fight, with Winter showing her avatars include a Manticore Grimm. |
| 1223 | ** Cinder nails Winter with a fireball from quiet some distance as she's falling, destroying her Aura - impressive aiming skills for someone [[HandicappedBadass with only one eye]]. |
| 1224 | * Fria may be an old woman and suffering from dementia, but as she proves to Cinder, she is still a Maiden. First she effortlessly stops Cinder's Grimm Arm, then blasts her across the room before ''summoning a raging blizzard''. |
| 1225 | * Penny becoming the next Winter Maiden, and siding with the heroes against Ironwood. |
| 1226 | * Winter is an impressive fighter as well. Early on in the fight with Cinder, her aura is shattered. Most people in this show stay down once their aura gets shattered-but not Winter. The first opening she gets in Fria's blizzard, she gets herself down to the same level as Cinder and Penny, and holds Cinder at bay, ''even managing to slice her Grimm arm clean off in the process'' and, if Cinder's scream is any indication, does some serious damage as well. |
| 1227 | * For those who were worried that Salem's ShutUpKirk moment shut off Ruby's eyes, those worries are put to rest; when she and Weiss confront Cinder in the infirmary, she only takes a moment to glare at Cinder before bathing the room in silver light, sending the latter running. |
| 1228 | ** Cinder gets one here as well. Last time she went against Ruby solo, it cost her an eye, an arm, and her voice. This time, after the smoke has cleared, Cinder doesn't seem any worse for wear (aside from being righteously pissed off). Whether she's learned to resist the Silver Eyes, or she was fast enough to evade them, either way it's impressive. |
| 1229 | * Oscar managing to unlock Ozpin's power and save himself when Ironwood shoots him, breaking his Aura and sending him on a deadly fall. Ozpin even makes it clear that ''Oscar'' was the one who saved them. |
| 1230 | ** After fighting a murderous mute, being shot point-blank by an ally and landing safely on the ground from a thousand-feet fall, this is the first thing on Oscar's mind. |
| 1231 | ---> '''Oscar:''' All I want to know is how we save Atlas next. |
| 1232 | * In the very last scene of the volume, a black and red storm front as large as Atlas and Mantle combined appears out of nowhere. Emerging from the hellish haze is an ''enormous'' winged whale Grimm with a horde of aerial Grimm at its back ... and ''Salem herself'' at its helm. The smug grin on the Grimm Queen's face says it all. Not only is the reveal shot nothing short of jaw-dropping, the shot proves what Hazel said at the end of last volume - when Salem wants something done right, she'll do it herself. |
| 1233 | * The very fact that the villains made Ironwood fall to the metaphorical DarkSide, ''without'' having to do anything like directly threaten him or his loved ones, unlike Leo and Roman before him. Through sheer cunning and emotional manipulation, Cinder [[Film/TheDarkKnight took Atlas' white knight and brought him down to her level.]] He's not acting out of cowardice, or rage, or even really fear (though that definitely plays a part), but rather just doing what he honestly believes is best, even if the costs are unbearably high. His logic is sound, his points difficult to refute, and he leaves you with one large question: has James Ironwood truly become exactly what he sought to [[HeWhoFightsMonsters fight against]], or is he just the only man with the grim determination to win by [[WellIntentionedExtremist any means necessary?]] |
| 1234 | [[/folder]] |
| 1235 | |
| 1236 | [[folder:Volume 8]] |
| 1237 | [[AC:Divide]] |
| 1238 | * After Cinder states that the Winter Maiden's power will be hers, after she goes against Penny next time, Salem simply states that she's given no such command. Then when Cinder tries to protest, Salem puts her in her place in a manner not unlike [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender Azula]]. |
| 1239 | -->'''Salem:''' This game is not yours to win, Cinder; it's mine. Just because you're more valuable to me than a pawn, does ''not'' make you a player. Everything is already in motion. All you need concern yourself with is the ability to act when I tell you to. |
| 1240 | * When Ironwood calls Penny, he's acting very nice, perhaps a little too nice for a man who just tossed an entire city under a bus. He's clearly playing on Penny's desire to help people to do what he wants, but Ruby ain't having it. She takes the scroll and tells him point-blank that he's getting no help until he agrees to help Mantle. |
| 1241 | |
| 1242 | [[AC:Refuge]] |
| 1243 | * The Hound all the way. |
| 1244 | ** First, it's just Jaune, Yang, Ren, and Oscar dealing with some stray Grimm, and they prepare to finish up the last ones, but said Grimm suddenly pause before [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness running away from our heroes]]. They're unnerved by this, before suddenly the Hound [[JumpScare pounces on Oscar from above]], and ''viciously'' mauls him with quick, relentless attacks until his Aura breaks and he's knocked unconscious. |
| 1245 | ** Then after a ''freaky'' transformation with Oscar in its grasp, the others try to rescue him but they quickly learn this Grimm is ''[[ItCanThink smart]]'' when it not only uses Oscar as a shield, but also counters their attacks with relative ease. |
| 1246 | ** Finally, Ren demands it give Oscar back. The Hound regards him for a moment, before its response [[WhamLine leaves them]] ''[[WhamLine and]]'' [[WhamLine the audience shocked and horrified]]: |
| 1247 | --->[[ItCanThink "No."]] |
| 1248 | |
| 1249 | [[AC:Strings]] |
| 1250 | * Given how powerful Maidens are as a whole (even newly starting out Maidens), the fact that the Ace Ops not only hold their own against Penny but also manage to beat her (albeit via Marrow's [[StoryBreakerPower "Stay" Semblance]] as a trump card) is pretty cool. |
| 1251 | ** For her part, Penny holds her own against the Ace Ops with minimal and strategic use of the Maiden powers such as creating a wind tunnel to blow away her opponents, creating hailstones to obfuscate Marrow's vision while she gets in close to strike, and forcing everyone away from her with a burst of magic when she's pinned. For the rest of the time, she's fighting four expert Huntsmen using only her natural abilities and skill. |
| 1252 | * Nora overcharging herself with the electricity from a power grid and smashing through the whole thing, scarring herself in the process and getting Team RWB inside at a critical moment, sparing Penny from getting arrested. |
| 1253 | |
| 1254 | [[AC:Fault]] |
| 1255 | * When Robyn's offer to use her Semblance to determine whether or not Qrow killed Clover is denied, she has ''this'' to say; |
| 1256 | -->'''Harriet:''' If I open this cell, it won't be to shake hands.\ |
| 1257 | '''Robyn:''' Yeah, because you don't care about the truth. You just want someone to be mad at. Easier than taking an honest look at what side you're on. |
| 1258 | ** And judging from Harriet's expression, Robyn's words really touched a nerve. From the looks of things, if Marrow hadn't been there, she would have opened Robyn's cell to throw down. |
| 1259 | * Yet again, when Cinder tries to speak of what she wishes to do, Salem delivers the sick burns: |
| 1260 | -->'''Salem:''' ''(to the Hound; amused)'' Did you hear that, my pet? She "thinks", she "wants"... as if she's ''done'' something that warrants me caring about either of those. |
| 1261 | * Jaune stepping up as leader when Yang and Ren's argument spirals out of control, shutting down Ren's emotional breakdown and directing them all to keep moving forward to shelter, at which point he takes the time to try and bolster both his friends' spirits. Dude's come a long way as a leader since both his Beacon days and the suicidal recklessness of the Mistral Arc. |
| 1262 | |
| 1263 | [[AC:Amity]] |
| 1264 | * While getting Amity set up for launch, Pietro pulls a BecauseISaidSo on Penny when she expresses a desire to stay behind and help. Maria bluntly calls him out on this, saying that Penny has been ordered around enough by others and should have a say in her own life. |
| 1265 | * Pietro's solution for getting Amity up in the air. The thrusters don't have enough power to get them into the atmosphere so what does he come up with? Position Amity over the abandoned Dust mine and blow the thing sky high so the explosion can naturally push them upwards and the thrusters can just keep them aloft. |
| 1266 | ** Thanks to all the different kinds of Dust, the explosion itself is a visual wonder. |
| 1267 | * Trouble arrives when Cinder, Neo and Emerald arrive at Amity and Penny seems to be the only one able to fight them. Things seem dark after the g-forces send Penny to the floor and Cinder seems to have drawn first blood with a barrage of flaming glass blades. Cue Maria doing her best [[Film/{{Aliens}} Ellen Ripley impression]] and dropping down in a MiniMecha to join the fight. The ensuing battles of Penny vs. Cinder and Maria vs. the other two are amazing. |
| 1268 | ** The villains arrive courtesy of Cinder melting a hole from the outer layer of Amity straight through to the center. And it's implied to have been from throwing off ''one'' especially powerful fireball. |
| 1269 | * For the Penny vs. Cinder fight: |
| 1270 | ** Their battle starts with a midair dogfight between the two, both of them flying under their own power and throwing off attacks. A lucky hit knocks Penny off course before she catches herself with one of her blades and stays mobile enough to avoid Cinder's exploding arrows. |
| 1271 | ** Penny tries to lure Cinder as far away as possible but the latter realizes what she's trying and returns to Amity, forcing Penny to stay locked in their current fight. |
| 1272 | ** Cinder melts the support towers holding up the main tower, forcing Penny to use her blades to hold it in place and start using ice magic to reconnect the towers. This leaves Penny open for Cinder to attack yet even with that threat, she still defends as much she can while freezing the towers. Unable to overcome Penny's robotic strength with her Grimm arm, Cinder burns Penny's arm to get the opening she needs to start draining the Winter Maiden magic. While being drained Penny regains her composure enough to conjure up ice replicas of her blades to force Cinder off of her. |
| 1273 | ** Penny and Cinder gear up for a midair charge. Cinder prepares a flaming javelin and multiple copies of her appear, with Emerald using her Semblance on Penny to confuse her. Penny keeps her focus and uses her Maiden powers to charge up her weapons. When Cinder charges Penny is able to use her built-in thermal vision to find the real Cinder and fires with her Maiden-charged WaveMotionGun, bringing their fight to an end. |
| 1274 | ** Penny pulling a ShutUpHannibal on Cinder both times the latter tries a BreakingSpeech on her. The second time is especially poignant and she rejects Cinder's JustAMachine insult by insisting she's choosing to fight for her friends. |
| 1275 | ** Winning the battle is extra impressive for Penny. Cinder is able to consistently keep Penny on the backfoot throughout their fight, yet in the end Cinder loses because Penny is sharp enough to use ''her'' abilities in creative ways to counter everything Cinder tries throwing at her. |
| 1276 | * For the fight between Maria and the other two: |
| 1277 | ** Neo keeps Maria from interfering by ramming her with their stolen ship. Maria turns the tables by overpowering the ship, only for Neo to turn them back by turning the ship in reverse to escape Maria's grip. |
| 1278 | ** After Neo gets clear and seems to have disappeared, it's shown that Emerald is using her Semblance to hide her. Maria realizes something is going on and focuses for a moment, using her Semblance to pick up on Neo's incoming attack and blocking her. |
| 1279 | ** With the MiniMecha too damaged to continue Neo exits the ship for a one-on-one fight. Maria defiantly asks the mute what she wants and Neo tosses her out. Maria gains her footing and a defiant grin that says "Haven't had this kind of fun in years." |
| 1280 | ** Maria's fight with Neo has her literally blocking all of the assassin's attacks not just with her cane, but with an arm behind her back. Neo tries to send her flying by hooking her cane but Maria outdoes her by activating her scythe blade, hooking Neo's parasol handle in return to land a flying double kick to her face. Then she blocks another attack, jabs Neo's face with her cane and then hooks Neo's parasol to send her tumbling. |
| 1281 | ** Their fight ends when Maria gets distracted by Penny being attacked and Neo lands a sucker punch. While bearing down on Maria Neo gets blasted by Penny's WaveMotionGun, which breaks her Aura and knocks her out. |
| 1282 | * With Cinder defeated Penny bears down, ready to finish her off. She's stopped by Emerald opening fire on her, which misses and nearly hits Pietro. Emerald outright admits she knows she has no chance of winning, but she can fight to the end and keep Penny from getting what she wants. Even with all of that, it's clear Penny only backs down because she sees Emerald isn't an irredeemable monster but instead someone loyally fighting for who they love, much like Penny herself. Cinder would have been dead if it weren't for Emerald's abused loyalty and Penny's compassion for Emerald. |
| 1283 | * Cinder's entrance to Amity damaged one of the stabilizers so they can't stay aloft. The solution here? Penny '''lifting''' Amity up by using the Winter Maiden magic to supercharge her thrusters. |
| 1284 | * Penny convincing her father to let her go through with such a dangerous plan, talking the man through his fear of losing his daughter. |
| 1285 | * With Amity up and running the heroes are finally able to send their message. Said message is Ruby revealing the truth, ''worldwide'', about everything involving the SecretWar with Salem. |
| 1286 | ** We get to see characters we haven't seen in a while as Ruby's message goes out: Neptune and Sun in Vacuo, Ilia in (presumably) Menagerie-as well as Ghira calling her on her scroll, Terra and Saphron in Argus and Glynda and Shopkeep in Vale. |
| 1287 | ** Ruby reveals the truth about Salem's CompleteImmortality, something Ozpin considered so horrible and demoralizing that he never dared to share it with his closest allies. Ruby is able to use it as a DareToBeBadass rally saying that Salem being unkillable doesn't make her unbeatable. Not a bad way of declaring the BigBad is NotSoInvincibleAfterAll. |
| 1288 | ** During the speech, Ruby's words make it clear that she's aware that Atlas may well fall despite their ongoing best efforts, and this message is meant as a way for the rest of the world to get ready and have a fighting chance. Yet even if Ruby and the gang don't get the same, she's ready to go down fighting no matter what. |
| 1289 | ** Ruby also reveals Ironwood's actions during the broadcast. Even if he does manage to live and Atlas is saved one way or the other, there is no way he's going to escape consequences for his actions now. |
| 1290 | ** Not even halfway through the broadcast Ghira is seen calling Ilia. Reinforcements may well be on the way sooner than anyone would think. |
| 1291 | * While Penny is holding up Amity Watts begins his hacking. While it starts taking effect Penny tries to fight it as much as possible, right up to the point that she finally shuts down. |
| 1292 | * Watts gets a villainous one after his hack seems to short out Penny. Ironwood is naturally suspicious about her going offline but Watts plays it off as just a programming error he had no control over. Then Watts starts insulting Pietro, which cause Ironwood to throw his Scroll at Watts and issue orders to try and salvage the current mess. While everyone is responding to Ironwood, Watts secretly grabs some tools while no one is looking and also grabs the broken Scroll. He gets taken back to his cell with no one any the wiser that he just played them. |
| 1293 | * Think the Wyvern, Leviathan and Monstra were as bad and big as Grimm could get? Well Salem one ups herself at the end episode when the heroes discover that an '''entire liquid river''' of Grimm is making its way to Mantle. |
| 1294 | |
| 1295 | [[AC:Midnight]] |
| 1296 | * Rhodes finds Cinder after she swiped a sword from him and convinces her that he can offer her a better way to escape her current life. The Huntsman then trains her extensively so that she can enter an academy when she's old enough. Considering Cinder's skill even before she acquires the Fall Maiden's power, much less the fact her training is done in secret while she should be resting from all the hard work she has to do in the hotel, this is quite impressive for Rhodes. It's a true shame what happens later... |
| 1297 | * While it was a terrifying StartOfDarkness for Cinder, her choking out her horrendously abusive stepmother [[NotAfraidOfYouAnymore even through all her frantic attempts to shock her into submission]] is satisfying. |
| 1298 | --->'''Cinder''': [[IronicEcho Without you... I am nothing.]] [[TheDogBitesBack But because of you... I am]] '''[[TheDogBitesBack everything.]]''' |
| 1299 | * Ozpin implores Oscar to let him take over so Oscar doesn't have to suffer from Hazel's torture. Oscar refuses, noting that Hazel is holding back because he realizes that Oscar is the one in control instead of Ozpin. Oscar is willing to take whatever Hazel throws at him and point-blank ''refuses'' to break and give up. Not bad for a farm boy who's only known how to fight for a few months. |
| 1300 | * While in captivity and getting a breather from Hazel's beatings, Oscar comes up with a plan to counter Salem. He notes that powerful as she is, she can't [[NotSoInvincibleAfterAll fight the entire world and win]] so she has her agents sabotage whatever powers could work against her. Oscar's solution to battle this strategy? [[BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame Use it for themselves]]. With this we start to see how Ozpin and his past lives have managed to stand against an immortal witch like Salem for millennia. |
| 1301 | * The first target of Oscar and Ozpin's new strategy? Hazel, someone who hates Ozpin with a searing passion. And it actually stands a decent chance of working from what we see. When Ozpin takes over, Hazel predictably loses it and tosses him around. Ozpin questions how, for all the reasons that Hazel hates him, Salem is the better choice to follow given her methods. Much like at Haven this actually stops Hazel, who reveals his views on such a thing. Hazel sees no possible way to fight against Salem and win, outright saying she's a force of nature. By contrast, he blames Ozpin for so much because the wizard recruits others for a war that he knows can't be won against an enemy that can never fall. Ozpin doesn't even try to deny Hazel's valid condemnation and instead just says that ''someone'' has to stand up and fight because Salem's victory will mean the death of everything. If Salem herself hadn't shown up, Hazel may well have been convinced to pull a HeelFaceTurn right then and there. |
| 1302 | * After she wakes up from the fight with Penny, Cinder as usual talks down to Emerald and Mercury, only for the latter to bluntly reiterate to Emerald that the one who dragged them into all this obviously doesn't care about them and he for the matter is done taking orders from Cinder anyways. He's gotten promoted, after all. Kinda dickish, but hard to feel sorry for Cinder. |
| 1303 | * Watts has used the damaged Scroll he swiped from Ironwood to inform Salem of what he did to Penny, presenting a window of opportunity for Cinder: she breaks out her colleague, and the two of them will track down the Winter Maiden. |
| 1304 | ** Salem also makes it painfully clear to Cinder that for all the power she currently holds, she is ''still'' Salem's vassal. How Salem does this is chillingly subtle; she first punishes Cinder for her insubordination and failures...and then appears to claim that it's her own fault for why Cinder is being this way. With Salem clearly being paralleled to the Madam of Cinder's backstory, it's evident that Salem is infinitely smarter at taking advantage of Cinder's desires, allowing her to keep Cinder under control with a mixture of psychological manipulation and false affection that the [[ItAmusedMe more sadistic and aloof Madam could never do]]. |
| 1305 | * A small but no less awesome one, Winter telling the Ace Ops off for their behaviour, telling them to 'act like' the Atlas Elite they are, and them actually listening to her. |
| 1306 | |
| 1307 | [[AC:War]] |
| 1308 | * Emerald is seen sneaking around, trying to get answers. Despite the immense fear Salem causes in her she is trying to find out the truth about the war she's fighting in. |
| 1309 | * Ozpin is in worse straits after his outburst last episode, visibly bleeding from Hazel's torture. He proceeds to verbally school the brute in spite of all his injuries. |
| 1310 | ** Ozpin asks why Hazel specifically was recruited by Salem. Hazel claims they share a vision of a new world order, one where no one is dragged into Ozpin's impossible war against Salem. Ozpin actually laughs at the idea and lays out the truth that Salem is nothing more than a DeathSeeker and Hazel's vision means nothing to her. |
| 1311 | ** Hazel lashes out when Ozpin claims Salem seeks death, revealing that he killed her over and over and only managed to get rid of her for a few hours. While Salem certainly let him do so to make a point, the fact that she was able to reform a few seconds after being incinerated means that Hazel must have gone to insane lengths to try and put her down, without the benefit of magic like Ozma had. |
| 1312 | ** Ozpin bluntly tells Hazel that he's just being used, and calls him out on the MoralMyopia of threatening so many innocent people and the world itself. |
| 1313 | --->'''Ozpin''': [[SecretlySelfish You haven't done what you've done for justice. You've done it for yourself.]] [[TheScapegoat Because she pushed you to think it would help you.]] Well, has it? |
| 1314 | ** Ozpin reveals the full truth about Salem's CompleteImmortality and how her entire quest is no more than a SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum to finally end her curse. Hazel naturally doesn't believe him but Oscar takes over and reveals how the Lamp of Knowledge works. While Hazel balks at the idea Oscar is giving in, Oscar reveals that he's hoping Hazel will take what he's learned to heart and confirm the truth for himself. Hazel's expression shows that Oscar did get through to him and Emerald, who was listening in, is doing the same. Oscar, not Ozpin, has just successfully planted the seeds of doubt in two of the most dangerous assets in Salem's forces and the wicked witch is none the wiser. |
| 1315 | ** Both in the previous episode and this one, we start seeing a remarkable bit of teamwork between Ozpin and Oscar. They each let the other talk when the moment is right, with short notices to each other for the switch. Not bad considering their [[TeethClenchedTeamwork previous tension]]. |
| 1316 | * When Emerald reveals what she overheard to Mercury, the latter doesn't believe that Salem wants to destroy the whole world. Tyrian shows up and gleefully reveals that it is actually Salem's plan. He then mocks them for assuming anything else as her intentions are blindingly obvious and any assumption otherwise is pure madness. Psycho or not he's not wrong, and more than likely just pushed Emerald far enough for her to actually leave this insanity. |
| 1317 | * Jaune, Ren and Yang argument with the Ace-Ops to let them go rescue Oscar before they try bombing Monstra. |
| 1318 | ** Jaune tries pointing out the tactical advantage of having someone scout things out before placing the bomb, instead of resorting to emotional or moral arguments as the best way to convince them. |
| 1319 | ** Ren [[TranquilFury quietly and firmly]] declares that they are going to rescue Oscar no matter the risk to themselves, because he is their friend and that is all there is to it. UndyingLoyalty and TrueCompanions at its finest. |
| 1320 | ** Harriet [[KickTheDog mocks Ren as naive and tells him that you replace your teammates when they fall]]. Ren snaps back that [[ShutUpHannibal "No One Is Replaceable!"]]. Given what happened to Pyrrha, and the expressions on his and Jaune's faces, they would have outright attacked her if they had the chance. |
| 1321 | ** During the argument, Ren gets a mystified expression on his face as he discovers something: his Semblance has on-the-spot evolved to let him see the true emotions of others as [[AuraVision energy projections of petals]]. He discovers what the Ace-Ops are truly feeling and delivers a ReasonYouSuckSpeech that doesn't even sound like one, where he notes that by fighting their emotions they can't work as a team, and that's the main reason why RWBY was able to beat them. |
| 1322 | ** Winter agrees to let them go and try to rescue Oscar, while warning them that the bomb is being deployed whether they succeed or not. When Harriet tries to object, Winter quickly shuts her down. |
| 1323 | --->'''Winter''': [[TranquilFury I outrank you.]] |
| 1324 | * May confirms on screen that she's transgender, revealing at the same time that her family [[IHaveNoSon wasn't willing to see May as their son for helping Mantle]], so she made sure that [[YoureNotMyFather everyone would know she wasn't their daughter, either.]] |
| 1325 | |
| 1326 | [[AC:Dark]] |
| 1327 | * This episode could easily be subtitled: When the Schnees shine. |
| 1328 | ** Even ignoring Weiss' contributions (which are awesome, of course), Whitley and Willow really step up, despite neither of them being anything close to combatants, and having spent most of their lives miles from any sort of real combat. |
| 1329 | ** Despite some very bad shakes and being on the verge of a nervous breakdown most of the episode, Willow keeps it together enough to go to the console room when the Hound breaches the mansion, telling Weiss where to go to track it, as well as spots Whitley in trouble. The instant she does, she [[MamaBear rushes to her baby boy]], using her glyphs (proving once and ever more she is her father's daughter) to save him, and then with his help laying waste to the Hound by crushing it under an armored statue. |
| 1330 | ** Whitley also shines magnificently, starting off with the rather low-key awesome moment of deciding to use Schnee company resources (which Jacques put at his disposal) to rescue everyone in Mantle's crater. He continues to do this when the Hound attacks, even risking his life going back to activate the final (''Y/N'') command when it's thrashing about wildly. Later, he is visibly the one who comes up with the plan to drop a huge armored statue on the Hound, albeit with some assistance from his mother. |
| 1331 | ** One could argue the same of their loyal Klein, who does his best to treat Penny despite her being an android, and trying to keep her calm when she is capable of throwing him around the room and having a Hacked!Maiden-Hurricane freakout. |
| 1332 | * Of course, we cannot forget Ruby either. Though initially freaked out by the Hound (and why not, it was after her), when she sees it's after ''Penny'', and threatening to kill her no less, she declares "Enough" and hits it with a silver optic blast that ComicBook/{{Cyclops}} would be proud of, frying the Hound and sending it flying out the window, all without harming Penny. This [[LittleRedFightingHood Little Red Riding Hood]] ain't afraid of no Big Bad Wolf. True, she has a HeroicBSOD when she sees what the Hound is made of afterwards, but that doesn't negate what she did. |
| 1333 | ** Of course, we can't forget about the Cenitaur, an upgraded version of the Centinel. It was able to fight against Blake to a standstill and had her on the ropes, were it not for an Aura-less Ruby to save Blake in the nick of time. |
| 1334 | ** A hacked Penny can fight off the Hound, before it ruthlessly pummels an ''android'' down. |
| 1335 | ** Speaking of the Hound, the fact that it can at first, NoSell the Silver Eyed Warrior power by not disintegrating is a feat in and of itself. |
| 1336 | *** Not to mention that '''in spite of Silver Eyes being an AchillesHeel to the Grimm's darkness''', ''Salem'' managed to turn a ''Silver Eyed Warrior'' into her personal attack Grimm. |
| 1337 | |
| 1338 | [[AC:Witch]] |
| 1339 | * Hazel does indeed get his answers, reasoning that whether Oscar's lying or not, it's best to make him summon Jinn. The moment she comes out, he immediately relents that he was telling the truth, that all his questions are answered now... [[HeelFaceTurn and that it's time to get Oscar and Emerald out of there]]. He also knows that getting out won't be as easy as just walking away, so he has Emerald leave with Oscar - who uses her Semblance to mask him as Hazel, including on ''Salem herself'', and briefly on Yang/Jaune/Ren at the same time [[note]]Previously, even using it on two people at once gave her a headache. Salem herself even notes that Emerald's been honing her Semblance.[[/note]] - while he catches up later, [[CrazyPrepared just in case something goes wrong]]. |
| 1340 | * The moment things do go wrong, Salem catches up to our heroes, but Yang immediately goes on the offensive, planting her delay-bombs upon Salem's torso before exploding them, leaving a giant wound that went as deep as the ''bone''. And then shortly after, while she's restrained and Salem is ranting at Oscar about why he keeps coming back to defy her, Yang calls her out: |
| 1341 | -->'''Salem:''' (''To Ozpin'') [[WhyWontYouDie Why do you keep coming back?!]]\ |
| 1342 | '''Yang:''' Why do ''you!?'' All this endless death, because something bad happened to you once upon a time!? Nobody gets a fairytale ending! Everything I've lost, every person I've lost, is because of ''you!''\ |
| 1343 | '''Salem:''' [[ButForMeItWasTuesday And who is it that I've taken from you, girl?]]\ |
| 1344 | '''Yang:''' Summer Rose, my ''mom!'' |
| 1345 | ** During the fight, Oscar reveals on-screen he can channel magic into attacks like Salem can. While talking about it in the prison cell earlier, he clearly disliked the idea of using it, as it accelerated the process of him merging with Ozpin. Here however, he doesn't hesitate to put that aside and fight Salem with it, even without the cane. He's willing to speed up his potential LossOfIdentity if it means saving his friends. |
| 1346 | ** Hazel comes across this scene, and Salem says to take Oscar back to his chamber, while he goes along with this... only to give Oscar his cane back (whispering [[HeroicSacrifice "No more Gretchens, boy."]]), before he ''decks'' Salem across the room and tells the others to leave. Then he supercharges himself with half-a-dozen Dust crystals and goes toe-to-toe with Salem, almost [[FlashStep flash-stepping through her attacks]], slamming Salem into the ground with a spiky, fire-earth-Dust wrecking ball, then repeatedly ''[[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown bashing her face in]]'' with blows that splatter the ground. Yet even not ''that'' stops Salem for long, as she manages to trap Hazel, stun him and bash his head against the ground repeatedly, before she rounds on Oscar... but Hazel grabs her from behind and restrains her, then with a fire Dust crystal hidden in ''his mouth'', '''''lights them both on fire!''''' His last words to Oscar are [[FaceDeathWithDignity "Do it."]], before Oscar charges up and unleashes magical hell upon the two as the screen goes white... |
| 1347 | ** Right before the pair fight, Salem taunts Hazel over his decision, but he makes it perfectly clear that he's not backing down. |
| 1348 | --->'''Salem:''' So, you've decided against vengeance for your sister after all this time?\ |
| 1349 | '''Hazel:''' ''(activates Fire Dust around his hands)'' I'm doing what Gretchen would have done! |
| 1350 | |
| 1351 | [[AC:Ultimatum]] |
| 1352 | * Qrow makes good use of Cinder's breaking Watts out to dispatch Atlas soldiers and evade capture alongside Robyn. |
| 1353 | * Ozpin's cane is revealed to be charged with kinetic energy, stored over in-numerous lifetimes. Using most of that stored energy, Oscar released a ''nuclear-level blast'' that vaporized most of Monstra's body from the inside-out, while minimizing collateral damage. |
| 1354 | * After tolerating Cinder's bullshit for four seasons, Watts tears into Cinder, giving her a massive TheReasonYouSuckSpeech over her entitled, spiteful attitude and how she's not worthy of her stolen powers. By doing it while being held over the side of a building, and after deliberately releasing Cinder's arm, he's making it clear that he's willing for these words to be the last thing he ever says to her. The bold slap to the face is so effective that, instead of causing Cinder to chuck him off the building in anger, it causes her to spare him, walk away, sit down, and ''cry''. The audience resonates with this speech because it's a CallBack to Cinder claiming [[Recap/RWBYV5E12VaultOfTheSpringMaiden Vernal wasn't worthy]] of the Spring Maiden's power, while summarising the complaints fans have had with Cinder over the years -- the proof she's [[PsychologicalProjection not as worthy as she thinks]] is considered [[CatharsisFactor cathartic]] by the fans. |
| 1355 | -->'''Watts:''' Oh, of course you are! Because that's just what you do, isn't it? And how has that worked out for you? You stormed into Fria's room thinking you could take on Ironwood's top fighter and war machine. But you couldn't. And that machine became the Winter Maiden! Oh, and let's not forget your deal with Raven Branwen. Get all your enemies in one place, so you'd have a shot at revenge! If only someone could've warned you against such a miserable idea. Oh, wait... ''I did''! But ''you'' pushed ahead, and ''you'' lost it when all you had to do was your job! You think you're [[EntitledBastard entitled to everything]] just because you've suffered, but [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse suffering isn't enough]]! You can't just be strong, you have to be smart! You can't just be deserving, you have to be ''worthy''! But, all you have ever been... ''is a bloody migraine''! |
| 1356 | |
| 1357 | [[AC:Risk]] |
| 1358 | * Marrow calls out Ironwood, at the point where he has no qualms about shooting someone who disagrees with him, and tries to walk away from it. Behind Marrow, we hear the distinct click of Ironwood's gun signaling that he will ''literally'' ShootTheDog... then Winter suddenly slugs Marrow to the ground and "arrests" him, saving his life and maintaining her front as Ironwood's loyal officer. |
| 1359 | * Just the fact that Winter [[ToBeLawfulOrGood has finally decided whose side she's on]]. |
| 1360 | * Penny succumbs to the virus again, and once more tries to escape, open the vault, and self-terminate. Ruby and the others jump to try to stop her, tying her down with a combination of gravity dust, Ren's ropes, and Ruby holding on for dear life. Penny unleashes her Maiden power and almost breaks free, but then all of a sudden a second pair of chains latch onto her to help keep her in place... |
| 1361 | -->'''Emerald:''' [[HeelFaceTurn DO SOMETHING!]] |
| 1362 | ** Nora has a moment where she calls out to Penny that her machinery is just a part of her, and that the fact that she's fighting back proves she's more than that. This makes Ruby to realize that Penny's fighting the virus from not just her machinery, but from her soul, causing her to call Jaune that he should boost her aura (and thus have her soul become strong enough to overpower the virus's command). In other words, it was Ruby and Nora's quick thinking that helped Penny. |
| 1363 | * '''Emerald''', of all people, being the one to rally Teams RWBY and JNR when they seem on the verge of giving up. Sure, she's opposed them a lot, that just means she knows firsthand how much it sucks for a bad person when they see that bad person doing bad things and decide to get involved. |
| 1364 | |
| 1365 | [[AC:Creation]] |
| 1366 | * The entire [[ThePlan plan]] that our heroes come up with is nothing short of glorious, basically solving all of their (immediate) problems in one fell swoop: |
| 1367 | ** Pre-Plan - Coming off of last episode, everyone discusses using the Staff for their immediate needs. As such, Ozpin tells them of the being within the staff - Ambrosius - and the nature of his powers: he can create ''anything'' provided he has a reference/blueprint of ''how'' to do so, and gives them advice about the nature of his [[ExactWords wishes.]] Meanwhile, Winter and Marrow run into Qrow and Robyn, just before the former contacts her sister and get them in on what they're planning to do. |
| 1368 | ** Confronting Ironwood - While still pretending to be on Ironwood's side, Winter convinces the Ace Ops to go after Qrow and Robyn, which they do... only for them to be blindsided by Marrow's "Stay!". Back to Ironwood, Penny arrives... except she's actually Emerald, who masked her, Jaune, Ren, Nora, and Oscar's arrival. Emerald promptly bicycle-kicks Ironwood and takes his fancy gun away before the others one-by-one wail on him, including Winter assisting Nora into ''hitting Ironwood in the face with her hammer'', and Oscar rapid-fire hits Ironwood's chest with his cane as payback for last Volume, before Winter breaks his Aura and knocks him unconscious with a Zantetsuken-style finisher. |
| 1369 | --->'''Ironwood:''' You've done the right thing.\ |
| 1370 | '''"Penny":''' ''(with Emerald's voice/smirk, shortly before ending the illusion)'' [[PreAssKickingOneLiner I have. Feels weird.]] |
| 1371 | ** The Staff of Creation - At nearly the same time as the above, Team RWBY take Penny to the Vault, and have her open it. The instant the seal opens, Ruby uses her Semblance to take the team inside the dimensional space and touch the Staff, freezing time so that Penny won't terminate, and allowing them to summon Ambrosius. Then, with a ''heavily''-thought-through request that will save Penny - not just for now, [[LoopholeAbuse but also avoiding her disappearing if someone uses the Staff again]] - they ask Ambrosius to make a new body using Penny's preexistent machine parts, transferring the virus to this new body, leaving only Penny's soul and Aura behind, in the hopes that with both Ambrosius's help (who is genuinely wondering if that would even work and just how much what would be left would be his work or Penny's) and Penny's soul, she would remain. Since Ambrosius can't ''destroy'' anything, Penny's self is remade anew, turning into a genuine human, while the robot copy of her terminates from the virus' influence. Then with Ambrosius' help again, they create an interconnected series of dimensional portals that open up across all of Atlas and Mantle, which will lead the refugees straight to Vacuo before Atlas falls. Penny's robot copy than disappears, as per the Staff's rules. |
| 1372 | |
| 1373 | [[AC:Worthy]] |
| 1374 | * In a truly villainous SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome, Cinder finally seems to take Watts' earlier criticism to heart and comes up with a perfect counter to the heroes' plan: |
| 1375 | ** First, Cinder apologizes to Neo for not keeping her promise, and promises that she will get her revenge on Ruby in exchange for the lamp, which Cinder then uses to learn what the heroes are planning. Even she admits that she would have never have figured out a plan as bold as theirs without Jinn's help. |
| 1376 | ** Next, she enlists Watts and Neo's help to finish what the former started by taking over the command office, giving Watts everything he needs to cause all manner of technological hell by shutting off communications all over the kingdom; hacking a drone to self-destruct and neutralize Marrow, allowing Harriet to get away with the payload; and taking over the autopilot on the ship so that the bomb will continue heading for Mantle and no one can do anything about it. |
| 1377 | ** Finally, when the time is right, Cinder mingles in with the evacuees and begins attacking them, completely sending the heroes' plan off the rails and distracting Penny from leaving with the staff. Then, while keeping the heroes occupied with her EvilGloating, Neo manages to sneak up on them and very nearly gets the drop on Ruby. If it wasn't for Yang [[TakingTheBullet taking the hit]] for her little sister, Neo and Cinder would have gotten their revenge right there. |
| 1378 | * When they're caught in a sandstorm with no way to contact Shade, Ren manages to hold his Semblance over the entire crowd of refugees. It breaks his Aura fairly quickly, but it is still a notable growth in power from someone who once needed Jaune's assistance to mask more than two people. |
| 1379 | |
| 1380 | [[AC:The Final Word]] |
| 1381 | * Though the build-up to it is tragic, seeing Winter become the new Winter Maiden is an awesome moment, with her flattening Ironwood (who she had been struggling against up to that point), and then arriving in the Void Between Worlds to fight Cinder. To add to this, Winter doesn't even get a minute to adjust to receiving the power and uses it like a master. |
| 1382 | * Awesome as Maiden powers are, Team RWB and Jaune do a pretty good job fighting Cinder, with Penny's aid. In another arena, with fewer civilians and drops to be mindful of, and without Neo running interference for Cinder, they may well have been able to defeat her. Awesome magical power still doesn't entirely trump skill, teamwork, and firepower. |
| 1383 | * After almost five seasons of being the underdog, Cinder's victory can be seen as an exceptional [[{{HesBack}} return to form]] for her. She fatally wounds Penny, obtains both Relics, sends Neo, Jaune, and all of Team RWBY falling into the void, ensures the death of anyone still left in Atlas and Mantle who didn't make it through the portals, and leaves Watts to die in the command center as it burns around him. Though she didn't get the Winter Maiden powers, Salem is still very pleased by the results. She even pawns off the parts of her plan she knows Salem wouldn't approve of (using Jinn's last question this century, killing Watts, maybe killing Neo, letting the new Winter Maiden get away) on the opposition, and no one's really in a position to inform Salem otherwise. Cinder basically just did more damage to Salem's faction than the heroes have, ''and gets praised for it''. Though she did also hand over fifty percent of Salem's goal, so there's that. |
| 1384 | |
| 1385 | [[/folder]] |
| 1386 | |
| 1387 | [[folder:Volume 9]] |
| 1388 | |
| 1389 | [[AC:A Place of Particular Concern]] |
| 1390 | * Yang's dynamic entry, which implies she’s been single-handedly kicking the Jabberwalker's ass with ''one arm''. No wonder it retreated when three more huntresses showed up. |
| 1391 | |
| 1392 | [[AC:Rude, Red, and Royal]] |
| 1393 | * The entire chessboard fight between team RWBY and the chess pieces. |
| 1394 | ** It starts with Blake pulling off a "Bumblebee", swinging Yang around in a circle to clear some space. |
| 1395 | ** Weiss dodging the swords of half a dozen chess pieces by standing on her sword, blowing some hair out of her face, and then knocking them around like bowling pins. |
| 1396 | ** When the Red Prince cheats by summoning extra pawns and the three are cornered by overwhelming numbers, the Red Prince tries to convince Ruby to give up. Ruby isn't having it. |
| 1397 | ---> '''Ruby''': No. We. Won't. ''Kick their wooden butts!'' |
| 1398 | ** Weiss actually getting to use her partial Nevermore avatar, floating above the battlefield like an angel and using its FeatherFlechettes to strike down enemies and free Yang. |
| 1399 | ** The entire FinishingMove, in one beautiful CallBack to "Players and Pieces". Weiss anchors herself and Blake above the battlefield, Blake tosses Gambol Shroud to form the slingshot, and Yang fires up to be the ammunition. Weiss summons the Knight's sword for Yang to grasp, and then they fire her at the ground, ''smashing'' the board in a brutal GroundPound that takes out all their remaining enemies. |
| 1400 | |
| 1401 | [[AC:A Cat Most Curious]] |
| 1402 | * Weiss, Blake, and Yang all reject the temptations in their VisionQuest and declare themselves as Huntresses. |
| 1403 | ** Yang's younger self offers to help her go back to when she had two arms and to let her be "whole" again. Yang rejects that, saying that her losses and failures made her who she is and that if there's anything missing it's because she just hasn't found it yet. |
| 1404 | ** Blake's vision offers to make her a human or a cat, so she won't have to live the hard life of a Faunus anymore. Blake states that her friends, family, and culture are a part of her and that she refuses to leave that behind. |
| 1405 | ** Weiss' younger self says that she can shed the burden of being a Schnee. Weiss' response is an awesome summation of who she is, and her own determination to keep moving forward even after the loss of her home. |
| 1406 | ---> '''Weiss''': I am the granddaughter of a hero and the child of a villain. I am a citizen of a fallen kingdom and an heir to nothing. I will not be defined by my name, because ''I'' will be the one to define it. |
| 1407 | |
| 1408 | [[AC:The Parfait Predicament]] |
| 1409 | * The Rusted Knight makes his debut in the Ever After by riding a giant jackalope to ram the Jabberwalker as it corners Team RWBY. That he is revealed to be a much older Jaune is icing on the cake. |
| 1410 | * Neo has not only tamed the Jabberwalker, but empowered it with her Semblance and turned it into her own army. And her illusions now require a Yang-powered punch to shatter. |
| 1411 | |
| 1412 | [[AC:The Perils of Paper Houses]] |
| 1413 | * Jaune and Team RWBY easily hold their own against Neo's Jabberwalkers, even without Ruby's assistance. |
| 1414 | ** Weiss uses Myrtenaster and her Knight avatar to kill numerous Jabberwalkers. |
| 1415 | ** Yang and Blake coordinate perfectly to take on their foes, showing off how becoming a couple has improved their skill. |
| 1416 | ** Jaune has learned to fight on the back of Juniper, and has just as little difficulty against multiple Jabberwalkers as he does against one. |
| 1417 | |
| 1418 | [[AC:Tea Amongst Terrible Trouble]] |
| 1419 | * Ruby easily holds her own against Neo's illusions of those who died, despite their skill. It's clear that, if not for her mental breakdown, she would be a match for Neo. |
| 1420 | * Villainous example: The Curious Cat is able to blast Neo through the wall of the house, and later grows to a massive size and evades _WBY+J's attempts at fighting it. Its skills at manipulation also deserve props, as a rewatching shows just how effectively it's been breaking Ruby down over the course of the volume. |
| 1421 | |
| 1422 | [[AC:A Tale Involving a Tree]] |
| 1423 | * The fight against Neo!Cat is epic. The heroes show off incredible skill, and the Cat proves themself a deadly foe: |
| 1424 | ** Blake distracts Neo!Cat with a hail of gunfire and then uses Gambol Shroud to yank herself forward for a kick. Neo!Cat escapes via an illusion clone, which the kick shatters. |
| 1425 | ** Yang shoves Neo!Cat backwards and then destroys several illusions of zombie-like Ruby clones. |
| 1426 | ** Jaune fares surprisingly well, landing several hits on Neo!Cat and knocking them backward. One goes to them, though, for giving as good as they get and easily springing back from Jaune's blows. However, Jaune eventually manages to keep Neo!Cat down and tries to finish them off. Neo!Cat promptly disguises themself as Penny for a distraction and has a Pyrrha illusion stab him InTheBack before knocking him away with a kick. |
| 1427 | ** While Yang and Blake deal with the last of the Ruby illusions, Weiss attempts a Fire Dust attack, but Neo!Cat evades it and causes Jaune to take the blast. |
| 1428 | [[AC:Of Solitude and Self]] |
| 1429 | * Summer has Raven help her out on a mission, where Raven asks if Summer is okay leaving Tai, Ruby, and Yang alone and in the dark about her true intentions. Summer glares at Raven and speaks with so much venom that it’s apparent Tai still hurts from Raven’s absence. |
| 1430 | --> '''Summer''': [[TakeThat You’re one to talk.]] |
| 1431 | * A small but pivotal moment for Ruby: after learning that Summer, as anyone else, had her own share of burdens and failures, Ruby ''angrily'' asks if "the big lesson" she's supposed to learn is that everything is pointless and she shouldn't even try. At her absolute lowest, exhausted, confused, heartbroken, Ruby '''''still''' refuses to give up'' - and this leads her to realize that she doesn't want to become something else either... |
| 1432 | * WBY+J vs. Neo!Cat, Part 2: |
| 1433 | ** Blake shatters a Neo!Cat illusion using a maneuver with her shadows. |
| 1434 | ** Weiss and Yang pull off the same Freezerburn move from V2 to create a smokescreen, which they then leap through to attack the Cat. |
| 1435 | ** Jaune figures out how to beat Neo!Cat; He has Blake (using a Fire Dust clone) and Yang burn the Tree's leaves and Weiss blows the smoke at Neo!Cat. The Cat boasts that they are immune to the leave's effects, but as Jaune points out, ''Neo'' isn't. The re-awakening of Neo's suppressed feelings prove too much for the Cat, and they are forced out of the mute's body. |
| 1436 | * A villainous example, but the fact that the cat was able to break Jaune’s aura. He’s been established to have huge reserves of it compared to others to make his semblance work, shown in how he took a thrashing from Cinder Fall in volume 5 and still had enough to not only raise Weiss from the brink of death, but turbo charge her, but the Cat managed to actually break down such a gargantuan barrier. |
| 1437 | * After everything she’s gone through and everything she’s learned, Ruby finally realizes the person she needs to be the most is… herself. Taking up Crescent Rose once again, [[HesBack she emerges from her wooden cocoon in a flash of blinding light]] before she and the rest of her team proceed to utterly decimate the Cat, finishing it off with an epic CrissCrossAttack that slams it into the ground. |
| 1438 | ** What's notable is how ruthlessly Ruby ends up fighting, being more akin to how she typically fights when she's alone, like in the [[Recap/RWBYRedTrailer Red Trailer]] or the [[Recap/RWBYVolume4CharacterShort Ruby Short before Volume 4]]. There is none of the restraint she would display when around other people; this is Ruby fighting with everything she has, and she pretty much keeps the empowered Cat on the defensive for the entirety of their short solo fight. |
| 1439 | ** The moment where she baits the Cat into an attack, only to teleport and leave them wide open to a point blank rifle shot. Right before pulling the trigger, she genuinely smiles for perhaps the first time in the volume. |
| 1440 | ** Weiss finally busts out her full Nevermore avatar after freezing the Cat's feet to the ground. |
| 1441 | ** The music can't be understated, either: the moment of Ruby's reawakening is scored by a ''beautiful'' TriumphantReprise of... well, what else? |
| 1442 | -->'''Casey Williams:''' ''Red like roses fills my dreams...'' |
| 1443 | * Upon returning to Remnant, RWBYJ are greeted by the sight of Vacuo under protection from numerous airships. This proves that Ruby's plan to alert the world of Salem from the previous volume bore fruit after all. Even when attacking Atlas, Salem had the advantage of remaining anonymous to the rest of the world thanks to the lack of inter-kingdom communication; this time around, there's a kingdom that's ready for her. |
| 1444 | ** This deserves special mention as it's effectively caused more damage in one move to Salem's plans than Ozpin likely has in decades. Salem can ''only'' win in the event she gets all the Relics ''and'' humanity is still divided. It doesn't matter how many Relics Salem has if humanity is ''united'', and in fact would make gathering them all ''detrimental'' to her. |
| 1445 | [[/folder]] |
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