The Greatest Kingdom
With a new Kingdom, comes new rules.
Written by Miles Luna & Kerry Shawcross
Directed by Kerry Shawcross
Directed by Kerry Shawcross
"Atlas is the greatest Kingdom in the world, alright?!"
— Drunk Mann
The heroes travelled to Atlas hoping that General Ironwood could protect the Relic of Knowledge. However, what they find upon setting foot in Mantle makes them rethink whether that's the case.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Absent-Minded Professor: Pietro is an unparalleled roboticist responsible for building Penny, the first synthetic life-form to produce an Aura. He also created Yang's state-of-the-art cybernetic arm, and is responsible for keeping Maria's cybernetic eyes functioning and tuned. Despite the fact Maria has been returning to him for decades to get her eyes readjusted, he doesn't initially recognize her or understand the purpose for her visit until after she has jogged his memory several times.
- Alternate Catchphrase Inflection: Penny usually says her catch phrase "Salutations!" in a quick and chipper tone. For her first saying after returning Penny says it slowly and draws out each syllable to emphasize her return.
- Arrested for Heroism: Despite defending Pietro's pharmacy against a swarm of Grimm, the heroes are busted by the Ace Ops team for illegally entering Atlas, ditching their stolen ship in Mantle against Atlesian orders, engaging in vigilantism, and allowing unlicensed Huntsmen to fight. When Pietro tries to defend them, Ace Ops tells the heroes that they must wait until they're taken to Atlas so they can properly explain what they've been doing.
- Back from the Dead: Pietro explains that, as long as Penny's core is salvageable, it doesn't matter how badly torn up she is. She can still be restored to working order, given enough time. She now claims to be as good as new, perhaps even better than before, and is currently assigned to protect the city of Mantle.
- Big Brother Is Watching You: In Mantle, there are not only robot soldiers on patrol, but also drones flying about, and Ironwood and Winter making propaganda speeches on television.
- Call-Back: Pietro is introduced as a close ally of Ironwood and, when he sees Yang, he exclaims that she painted the cyberarm. In Volume 4, Yang's arm had arrived unpainted; Yang painted it herself to fit into her color scheme.
- Dynamic Entry: When the heroes are fighting the Grimm, one launches itself at Blake's back. However, Penny uses her laser to kill it along with the rest of the Grimm the heroes are fighting, before she lands in front of them all.
- Fantastic Racism: A drunkard in the streets of Mantle accosts Blake for saying their town looks awful and starts to insult her Faunus nature until Weiss hurls him into a dumpster. What's more, there is a no Faunus allowed sign visible over one of the stores.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Dr. Pietro Polendina, a master inventor who works alongside General Ironwood as well as helping out the locals of Mantle. As Penny's father, he is the man responsible for creating the world's first synthetic lifeform that is capable of generating an Aura, and he also constructed Yang's state-of-the-art cybernetic arm. He also services Maria's cybernetic eyes every ten years to keep them in working order.
- The Glomp: When Penny spots Ruby, she uses the full force of her rocket boosters to slam Ruby into the ground in a very enthusiastic hug. Ruby regains her feet... painfully.
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Once Penny helps the heroes fend off the Grimm, she greets them (more specifically Ruby) with a friendly "Sal... u... TATIONS!!!"
- Rocket Boots: In earlier volumes, Penny did show moments of being able to boost her way through the air when she had to. However, she only did it once and it's therefore ambiguous as to how she could do it and to what extent. In this episode, however, she's not hiding what she's capable of, so her rocket boots are fully active and openly being used to confirm she's capable of full flight rather than just boosting her at speed across a tournament arena.
- Tempting Fate: After taking care of the first wave of Grimm attacking the city and leaving Penny to take care of the rest, Qrow remarks that he thought things would go a lot worse. The heroes are then immediately captured by the Ace Ops for engaging in vigilante behaviour with unlicensed Huntsmen. As they're locked in the transport to be taken to Atlas for processing, Qrow glumly concludes this is exactly what his original expectations had been.
- Verbal Backspace: Penny cheerfully declares that she "cannot wait" to catch up with Ruby now that they've finally met up again. Then sirens go off, and in the exact same tone, she says "It seems we will have to wait."
- Worth It: After Blake's comment on Mantle insults a drunk bystander she tries to calm the situation down by apologizing. He starts to call her a stupid Faunus which causes Weiss to send him flying into a dumpster. The others look at her in surprise. She just says it was worth it before they run off.
- Wrecked Weapon: Blake dramatically draws Gambol Shroud as RWBY prepare for battle against the Grimm... forgetting in the heat of the moment that the blade was shattered into bits during the fight with Adam. She can still use it in the pistol configuration however.
- Wretched Hive: Mantle is poor, grimy, and heavily monitored by soldiers. People keep to themselves and the miners that are ferried to and from their workplaces are exhausted, dirty and demoralized. When Blake comments on how awful the city is, she is immediately accosted by a drunkard for this insult.
"This is much closer to what I was expecting."
