YMMV / Emergence (RWBY)

• Anti-Climax Boss: Cinder and her associates spend all of 3 chapters in the overall series before being killed (or arrested, in the case of Roman and Neo).
• Broken Base:
  • The mention of current world affairs and ISIS, in particular. Some see it as too soon, others see it as adding a shade of realism to the fic.
  • Some readers think Cinder and co. got killed too anticlimactically. While others point out just how much firepower was put into doing so, those who didn't like that particular plot point state that the issue was that it didn't take enough weapons to do so, it was that Cinder and co. acted like the Terrans could not possibly be a threat to them and having a firm grasp on the Villain Ball. There's also the fact that they did not even get to spend more than a few chapters on Earth before being killed.
  • The pairing of Yang and Gavin, and indeed, any Remnant-Terran pairing at all. Some view it as okay, but a Vocal Minority seems to be against the idea due to the two races having never been meant to mix at all and a Terran-Remnan hybrid being against the natural order. There's even some hate for Rosalind Drake's child for being half-Terran.
  • There is much disagreement over the author using low-end calculations for the Remnans. It is because of said calculations that Earth is capable of taking on Remnant, which has also led to some debate.
• Canon Defilement: Yang's portrayal as a Dumb Blonde Hard-Drinking Party Girl, especially in Aliens Among Us. This characterization comes from making very shallow assumptions about Yang's character even though nothing from canon supports this. While most of the fic was written when only Volume 1 was out and Volume 2 was still in progress, that is still no excuse since the Yellow Trailer opens with a quote which clues in viewers that there will be more to Yang than just surface-level assumptions and Yang's ditzy flirtatious behavior demonstrated in said trailer was just an act to extract information.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Weiss getting drunk becomes this after Volume 5 of RWBY confirms that Weiss' mother is an alcoholic. The same goes for Yang drinking since Volume 6 would stop playing her Uncle Qrow's drinking for comedy.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • A plot point in the story is that the government, rather than cut up RWBY or antagonize them in any way like the cast feared, actually talk to them peacefully in the hopes of recruiting them. A similar thing happens in Re:CREATORS that, coincidentally enough, has the main plot be centered around the Refugee from TV Land.
  • Gavin dismissing the idea of Yang being a lesbian because she's not butch enough is rather hilarious considering Yang's outfits would be much more masculine post-Volume 3 as well as the fact the writers would later confirm that Blake is Yang's First Love.
  • The series' acknowledgment of the Bumbleby ship, but Yang ending up with a male love interest, who at one point denies the possibility of Blake and Yang being a couple, becomes this with the increased Ship Teasing of Blake and Yang in the later volumes of RWBY, culminating in their simultaneous Love Confession and Big Damn Kiss in Volume 9 as well as comments from the writers and voice actors that Blake and Yang were planned from the beginning to be involved romantically.
  • On a similar note, the fics' insensitivity regarding the LGBT+ community can be this considering the show proper would have more LGBT+ representation.
  • Cinder being on the receiving end of a Curb-Stomp Battle becomes hilarious after Volume 3, in which she becomes one of the most powerful villains in the show.
• Padding: There are quite a few chapters where nothing plot-relevant happens.
• Strangled by the Red String:
  • Yang and Gavin. Gavin initially has no attraction to Yang outside of her physical traits, but then suddenly they get together and their relationship is suddenly treated like it has more depth; the most Gavin says about what he likes about Yang is that she's a hot girl who doesn't like stereotypically feminine things. Not helping matters is that Gavin only appeared a few chapters at a time in Aliens Among Us.
  • Blake and Weiss. They just decide to get together when there was hardly any indication that they were attracted to each other in that way.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Despite Word of God saying near the start of Aliens Among Us that the human characters would have more depth than they would appear, this doesn't happen. Jason and Lisa in particular are just one-note bullies. And the characters who do have "depths" have them explained in narration rather through character interaction.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Cinder and her associates are only on Earth for a few chapters before being killed or arrested.

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