Round One
A very well-earned meal.
Written by Miles Luna, Monty Oum & Kerry Shawcross
Directed by Kerry Shawcross, Gray G. Haddock & Miles Luna
Directed by Kerry Shawcross, Gray G. Haddock & Miles Luna
"The tournament is divided into three distinctive rounds; teams, doubles, and singles. Age and school year are irrelevant! In this tournament, your only attribute being tested... is skill."
— Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck
It's the first day of the 40th annual Vytal Festival Tournament and its team RWBY vs. team ABRN. But, away from the light of the arena, shadows are beginning to gather...
Tropes in this episode include:
- As You Know: Port and Oobleck telling the viewers, ostensibly in universe, but really to the show's viewers, how the tourney works.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Emerald continues this act with Team RWBY, first pick-pocketing Ruby's wallet while pretending she's returning it to her, then engaging in small talk to get information out of them.
- Combo: Team RWBY uses a 4-woman finishing move that hurls Yang and her punch into Team ABRN using Weiss's instant terrain, Blake's ribbon, and Ruby's Recoil Boost.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: It's implied that Cinder's team did this to their first round opponents, with Disguised!Neo giving her unfortunate victim a literal face-stomp.
- Epic Fail: Reese of Team ABRN performs a badass acrobatic jump that involves her breaking her hoverboard into twin pistols and firing them at Blake... only to land right on her tailbone.
- Face, Nod, Action: When Blake orders her custom noodles, she wordlessly looks at the shopkeeper then nods; he does the same and, after a quick spurt in the kitchen, he returns with a bowl of noodles topped with several whole fish.
- False Friend: Emerald has become this to team RWBY, acting friendly with them to gain information.
- Foreshadowing: Nora's Color Failure during her hopeless rant foreshadows the later reveal Ren's back story and Semblance.
- Geo Effects: The tournament arena randomizes its biome and terrain to be Hailfire Peaks.
- Grave-Marking Scene: The episode begins with Ruby visiting Summer's grave, giving her an abridged version of what's happened over the past two seasons.
- Hailfire Peaks: The randomized arena is set up to produce these. For the battle RWBY vs. ABRN the combo was the literal Hailfire.
- The Load: Nadir doesn't contribute much to the fight against Team RWBY and ends up getting frozen twice, making Reese then Arslan un-freeze him mid-battle.
- Mr. Exposition: Professor Port and Doctor Oobleck carry out this role as tournament commentators and announcers instead of teachers.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Mercury acts like a socially-awkward dimwit by sniffing boots with a puzzled look on his face so Emerald has an excuse for her team to not further mingle with Team RWBY.
- Oh, Crap!: Team ABRN collectively has this reaction to their knockout blows - Reese after noticing Blake's trap, and the rest as Yang flies towards them.
- Psychotic Smirk: Disguised Neo gives a half-smug, half-sadistic grin before stomping her victim in the face.
- Randomly Generated Levels: The arena utilizes a modular system of various environments, selecting two at random for each half of the battleground.
- The Reveal:
- Ren and Nora are orphans with nowhere to return to should they be kicked out of Beacon.
- The Elegant Gothic Lolita from the trailers? She's the fourth member of Cinder's team and her eyes reveal she's Neo in disguise.
- Surrounded by Idiots: Implied by Arslan rolling her eyes after noticing Bolin and Nadir trapped in an ice ball. This is also after Reese got herself eliminated through carelessness.
- Tempting Fate: Pyrrha notes that it's good to be participating in some structured, non-lethal tournament matches, instead of battling murderers. However, it's clear that Emerald and Mercury — who are murderers — have been fishing for information from Team RWBY to stack the fights the way the villains need to carry out their plans.
"Three, two, one, begin!"
