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Beacon Arc
Volume 1
- Ruby will do anything for cookies. Explanation The very first episode showed Ozpin bribing Ruby with a plate of cookies that she thoroughly enjoyed scarfing down. They're now her fanon Trademark Favorite Food. Later on it's revealed that her mother was a great baker of cookies, reinforcing the meme.
- I. Drink. Milk! Explanation When Yang suggested Ruby needed to become more mature, worded as "you need friends to grow up," Ruby denied it because she drinks milk! Drinking milk is therefore the answer to every problem!
- Great Weiss Shark Explanation A tumblr user combined a gif of Weiss slowly appearing behind Ruby in Episode 3 with Jaws music. Puns quickly followed, and Weiss suddenly became associated
with great whites. At this point there even exists an RP blog for a shark Faunus Weiss. - Ozpin is a Troll: Proof◊. Explanation Ozpin's first lesson for the new students is to throw them off a cliff into a Grimm-filled forest, forcing them to devise a landing strategy while in the air, with only the "helpful" advice to kill or die. The gif is the moment when he watches the students, especially the clueless Jaune, being thrown through the air into the forest.
- Character X is a dick to trees. Explanation Within the first volume, we have Ren carving up a tree trunk to land, Pyrrha smashing through multiple trees to land and pinning Jaune to another tree, Weiss starting a forest fire, Yang punching a hole through a few trees, and also Ruby slicing a tree in half out of frustration.
- Suggesting Character X should offer to break Target Y's legs. Explanation The ultimate declaration of support and protection when faced with bullies, criminals, or other undesirables. Comes from Nora's offer ("We'll break his legs!") to break Cardin's legs when he's bullying Jaune.
- Becomes an Ascended Meme as a battle cry for Yang's fight against Mercury. Explanation The problem is that she succeeds, and, being evil, Mercury and his team are able to make it look like Yang did it without any reason, demonizing her and spiking negative emotions high enough to attract Grimm.
- Ren not having much stamina, often depicting him falling face-first onto the ground. Explanation Monty mentioned early on that Nora's energy exhausts Ren, and in Episode 8, he falls flat on his face from exhaustion when Team JNPR defeat the Deathstalker. Miles and Kerry later revealed that, when they came up with Ren's personality, they thought it would be funny if Nora was so full of energy and excitement to the point she left Ren with almost no energy or anything to be excited about.
- Blake being fed up with everyone around her making cat puns. Explanation From the moment the fandom suspected she was a Cat Girl, and especially after the moment it was confirmed she was a Cat Girl, fans speculated whether the show would make cat jokes at her expense. Ultimately, RWBY delivered.
- "Boop!" Explanation When Nora and Ren first pair up in the forest, Nora taps him on the nose and says "Boop!". The fandom's been booping ever since. It's now a Ascended Meme, as Nora now sometimes wears a T-shirt with "Boop" written on it, and her Image Song is called "Boop"
- "It's also a gun." Explanation This line from Ruby showing off Crescent Rose (sniper rifle/scythe) to Jaune has been used for basically every weapon in the series, because of the preponderance of Swiss Army Weapons that can be described as 'X but also a gun'.
- Further running with the joke, fans have been wondering when an example of a "gun-gun" (a gun which is also a gun) will show up in the series.
- Fight, fight, fight! Kiss kiss... Explanation A video edit mixing Ruby and Weiss' argument from "Players and Pieces" with Joel Heyman interrupting an argument between Gus Sorela and Burnie Burns from the Rooster Teeth Podcast, specifically the version seen on Rooster Teeth Animated Adventures.
Volume 2
- Volume 2, now with DIVERSITY! Explanation Volume 2 revealed that there are now multicultural characters, burying complaints about every character being either distinctly white or background black silhouettes.
- Poipoipoipoi Explanation For the second season of RWBY, Japanese fans often commented, "Poipoipoipoi" when the opening song, "Time to Say Goodbye", starts to play, because of the opening lyrics: "There's a point where it tips, there's a point where it breaks There's a point where it bends, and a point we just can't take!"...
- "Notice me, Cinder-senpai!" Explanation Fandom agrees that Emerald has a bit of a crush on Cinder. This is a variation of an older meme.
- "You just activated my trap card!" Explanation The legendary line from the English Dubs of the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise was said by Yang. Whenever this scene is mentioned or referenced in a video, there WILL be a scene from the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime. Some people even took the liberty to edit Yugi's hair onto Yang.
- IT'S JUSTIFIED? Explanation As it turns out, there's a totally justified reason for everyone's name being a color, rather than just because. It's in homage to a war eighty years ago that, at least part of it, was to stifle the arts.
- You think just because you've got nuts and bolts instead of squishy guts makes you any less real than me? Explanation The scene where Penny reveals her nature to Ruby, and Ruby's immediate reassurance, is extremely popular among Penny's fans, being screencapped and quoted for all sorts of reasons.
- Oblivious Blake Explanation Blake freaks out when Yang takes a big hit during the Paladin fight, until Ruby assures her that Yang's Semblance makes this a good thing. It's led to a lot of jokes about how oblivious Blake must be or how little she talks with Yang that she didn't know her own partner's Semblance (Sun and Neptune were meant to be the ones freaking out at the hit but they got cut from the battle).
- Neptune is the key to everyone's bisexual awakening. Explanation It became a popular joke on Tumblr that Neptune could turn the straightest guys gay and gayest girls straight, with Weiss (his canon love interest, who's more commonly shipped with Ruby), and Jaune (who he had some Ho Yay with) being the more frequent "examples" of character's experiencing an "awakening." Became somewhat of a Discredited Meme by Volume 4.
- The Scene. Explanation Cinder's infamous parkour animation from "Dance Dance Infiltration" has become so meme-worthy that most fans refer to it in shorthand as just "The Scene." The official subreddit discord has a special GIF emote that's just the running.
- Ozpin's weapon is his coffee mug. Explanation Originally, he was never seen without it and his mug and cane were never in the same shot together. When fans asked Monty if the mug was a weapon or just holding coffee, he said "Who said he's drinking coffee?" Then Dr. Oobleck was revealed to have a thermos flask (full of coffee) that transforms into a flamethrower/blunt spear. Weaponised coffee might be a thing!
- CRY SOME MORE!!! Explanation Fans started associating Coco with the Heavy from Team Fortress 2 following the scene where she touts a minigun to mow down the opposition, so it follows that this Catchphrase would be borrowed, even though Coco herself doesn't say it. Hilariously enough, The Other Wiki's images page indulges in Alt Text that includes this line.
- Ruby's a prison lesbian. Explanation The other Ruby Rose plays a lesbian love interest in the show. Cue, or rather continue the shipping.
Volume 3 (First 8 Episodes)
- Volume 3, now with MORE DIVERSITY! Explanation At RTX, there were a number of characters shown off, all noticeably diverse.
- Dad.jpg Explanation Taiyang's first appearance in the show did not use a CG model, so Japanese viewers on Nicovideo joked, "Otousan.jpg." This also carried onto Weiss' father in the volume's finale.
- "X is the main character." Explanation Whenever someone gets the spotlight in the show, Japanese viewers on Nicovideo would often joke, "X is the main character", especially during the points where Pyrrha is asked to become the fall maiden.
- Brace yourself, Winter is coming. Explanation Weiss' sister Winter has been associated with the phrase "Brace yourself, Winter is coming" ever since her name was revealed in a single line of dialogue in Volume 2. With her imminent arrival in Volume 3, the FNDM went wild.
- The One Explanation Despite the song I'm The One is both Emerald's and Mercury's "I Am" Song, the RWBY community at 4chan acknowledges Mercury Black as The One. It's unlikely to see fans referring to him by any other name.
- "You can't catch me, gay feelings!"Explaination There was a short Photo Comic about May Zedong being an Armored Closet Gay, running away from her "gay feelings" only to get attacked by them (in the form of Nora's heart-shaped barrage of glowing pink grenades). Somehow the whole thing went memetic. This is most likely a reference to the Family Guy cutaway gag in which Tom Cruise runs from his "gay thoughts"
- "You think they're scared of your little ships?!" Explaination Qrow says this line to Ironwood regarding how pitiful his army would be in comparison to the villain's plot. However, the pairings (Arkos, Iceflower, Bumblebee, etc.) done in this show are also called "ships". Basically, the fan base picked up the line to empower the shipping FNDM.
- Top Heavy becoming an Unusual Euphemism for Yang's chest. Explanation During the doubles battle against Neon, she remarks that Yang wouldn't be good at skating because she's "Top heavy." *cue angry Jiggle Physics*
- Pyrrha vs Qrow. Explanation When Pyrrha says "I wouldn't have made it this far without my team", Qrow snidely remarks that he thinks it's the other way around. Even ridiculously forgiving Pyrrha looks like her endless patience is being tested.
- The Yang vs Mercury aftermath has spawned several memes for each side.
- Break a leg sis! Explanation Ruby says this line before the fight and it serves as dark foreshadowing.
- "MY LEG!" and "I used to be a Huntsman like you..." Explanation After Mercury's kneecapping, these two memes sprung back to life once again.
- Yang did nothing wrong. Explanation After the events of Fall, the fans rallied that Yang was innocent.
- Mercury did nothing wrong/Yang Shot First. Explanation The other side. Played for Laughs, naturally.
- Yang did nothing Xiao Wrong. Explanation A pun based on the above.
- Stand with Mercury.
- Amber going into the Maiden State Explanation Amber's full use of her Fall Maiden powers bears a striking resemblance to the Avatar State from The Last Airbender, so many fans have compared it as such.
- Amber using Diamond Storm Explanation During her fight as a maiden, Amber pulls in a bunch of leaves, freezes them to a razor point, and hurls them all at Cinder in a Flechette Storm. This is nearly identical to Renamon's Diamond Storm move, using razor-sharp leaves as a projectile attack.
Volume 3 (Last 4 Episodes)
- Bad "Penny Dying" Jokes Explanation Many Gallows Humor jokes occurred at her expense. Popular ones include how "Pyrrha turned Penny into Quarters", how everyone was really "torn up about it", etc.
- Oh my god! They killed Penny! (You bastards!) Explanation In the episode "PvP", Pyrrha accidentally tears Penny to pieces in their tournament fight. Being a robot, there's also a possibility Penny won't stay dead, much like South Park's Kenny McCormick.
- "There are no strings on me." Explanation Penny's body was destroyed by her wire strings. "No Strings" is a common song associated with Ultron, another popular robot in the Marvel Universe. For bonus points, the song originated from Pinocchio, the character concept which Penny is based off of.
- Scumbag Mercury Explanation The scene where Ruby watches helplessly as Penny is torn apart has Mercury slipping away through a door with a shit-eating grin on his face.
- Kevin the dragon Grimm. Explanation Since we don't have a name for the massive grimm dragon yet, the subreddit decided near-unanimously to name it "Kevin".
- IT'S JUST A FUCKING GUN. Explanation After an entire series of weapons that could best be described as "An X but also a gun", the fact that Ironwood's weapon is just an enormous Hand Cannon threw the FNDM for a loop.
- Ragtime Adam. Explanation Fans noticed the similarity between Adam's "Hello, my darling" line to Blake and the opening lyrics to the song Ragtime Gal. Many parodies ensued.
- Execute Order 66. Explanation With the uploading of Cinder's virus causing the Atlesian Knights to turn against the Huntsmen in the middle of the invasion, it's easy to see the comparison to the clone troopers turning against the Jedi in Revenge of the Sith.
- Velvet will steal your soul. Explanation Velvet's camera and her tendency to take pictures at inappropriate moments have reached joke status in the fandom. One common joke involving her habit is that the camera steals a person's soul. Hilariously, it turns out her Semblance is Power Copying, so maybe they were onto something...
- Bad "Yang losing an arm" jokes. Explanation Once "Heroes and Monsters" came out and the shock of Yang losing her right arm ended, these came out.
- Yang Skywalker Explanation After "Heroes and Monsters", people have been comparing Yang to members of the Skywalker family, infamous for having most of their family members losing a limb or two at some point in their lives. Hilariously, the arm Yang loses is her right, which is the one that gets cut off the most in for the Skywalker family.
- Punished Yang Explanation Another character mentioned is Punished Snake from Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
- The Yellow Knight Explanation Of course, many people are screen-capping Yang onto the infamous Black Knight of Monty Python and The Holy Grail with quotes from the point where he loses his arm.
- Yes, even Barbara made jokes about it.
- I may fall... But not like this, it won't be / Bye, your hand Explanation One of the lines from the song I May Fall was repurposed into this Yang-worthy pun.
- "7.8/10 too many arms" Explanation A common comment, parodying the infamous IGN review of Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, jokingly critiquing any post-season-3-finale fan art of Yang that shows her with both of her arms.
- "You had one goddamn job, Jaune!". Explanation Jaune was ordered by Ozpin to stand guard while the aura transfer was in progress. After hearing Pyrrha scream in pain, Jaune turns around to the contraption, letting his guard down. This allows Cinder to sneak an arrow into Amber's chest and blow the whole operation.
- Thank you very much! Explanation Every time a character stomps, kicks, or hits someone, you can be sure that there'll be a comment saying, "Thank you very much!" (Arigatou gozaimasu) on Nicovideo as a joke to sadomasochism. This was often posted near the end of Volume 2's run, though in Volume 3 it's recently picked up again.
- Where's my goddamned hat?!? Explanation Many fans are hoping for the return of Roman in a Pacific Rim shout out since he was swallowed whole, just like Hannibal Chau was in that movie
- Happy Valentine's Day Explanation The Arkos ship got its biggest push on the episode that aired, for the public, on Valentine's Day. Unfortunately, it was also cruelly sunk when Pyrrha died.
- Bad "Pyrrha getting shot" jokes. Explanation Similar to the Yang jokes, after Cinder shoots Pyrrha in the heart with an arrow, there has been a flood of puns.
- The redhead curse. Explanation All three major deaths in Volume 3 (Penny, Roman and Pyrrha) were red-headed characters, which led some fans to joke that RT is intentionally killing the redheads. When one redhead introduced the Atlas Arc by saying it would be "just like Beacon again", the meme kicked off again... sure enough, of the three named redheads in the arc, only one made it out alive.
- Protect the redheads! Except Adam. Explanation Due to the tendency for redheads to die in this show, there is now a redhead protection squad, and speculation about which redhead will be the next one to die is rife. The exception is Adam, who's subject to the FNDM's wrath.
- Qrow is watching you. Explanation After the season finale's reveal that Qrow can turn into an actual crow, its become a theory that Qrow (or Raven) has been watching over the cast from the beginning, which may be supported by sightings of a bird in each Color Trailer.
- GREAT GOOGLY MOOGLY ITS ALL GONE TO SHIT Explanation The Tumblr fandom plastered this as the major reaction to the last two episodes of Volume 3.
- YOU CAN'T IRK THE MERC!!! Explanation Fans have noted that, as of the events of V3, Mercury is the only one of the still-living characters (even amongst the villains) who doesn't have some reason to completely feel like shit. Barbara also referred to him as Smirkury in a response to a fan video.
- "The Merc has been irked", in response to his disturbed reaction to the creation of Grimm in Volume 4.
- #RelightTheTorch Explanation A rallying cry used by fans hoping for Roman's return.
- Cortana was the main villain all along! Explanation The revelation that the mysterious narrator who's voiced by Jen Taylor is actually the Big Bad of the entire series leads to this. What makes this one even funnier is that this was probably determined way before Halo 5: Guardians was even thought of!
- Thanks, Salem.Explanation Sarcastically thanking Salem for everything that went wrong in Volume 3.
- "IT'S BEEN THREE HOURS!" Explanation The fandom has a tendency to have a VERY quick turnaround for art. For example, less than three hours after the finale aired, there was already someone with their face painted as Salem. Even earlier, when ABRN was revealed at RTX, full cosplays appeared by the last day.
- Neckury Explanation Mercury became◊ the subject◊ of several edits where his neck was obscenely stretched out.
