RWBY General Discussion

Hmm, so I suppose Salem felt it prudent to tell all the others exactly where she and they stand since Cinder went a bit off script.

Edited by LSBK on Oct 16th 2018 at 5:01:26 AM

Her Semblance first did it at the beginning of Volume 2, during the food fight.

We've already had indications that Semblances evolve beyond the basics of their initial manifestation and early uses — but only if the user wants to develop it further and works hard enough to do so.

Salem isn't gonna let Emerald make the mistake of leaving to find Cinder when she still has some use to her.

So based on that trailer I'm interseted enough to actually watch this volume. If it turns out that it's like volume 3 and packed with plot advancement (and works as well)...Well I kind of had a theory that the show was written to have arcs which consist of 3 volumes and due to poor pacing and structuring it ended up being more like 2 filler volumes + one that's substantial.

If that's the case I really hope the show's creative team sits down after V6 and figures out how they're not going to make the same mistake a third time.

@LBSK: My suspicion is that she's talking specifically to Emerald in explaining her expectations for taking over Cinder's role. Or possibly giving a Shut Up, Kirk! to Ruby, hopefully with something that actually establishes her motives (like, is this an MCU Thanos thing?), because once again they keep sending mixed signals; ie despite the ominous context in which we last heard about Tyrian he's seemingly fine.

Edited by CaptainCapsase on Oct 16th 2018 at 7:16:04 AM

Tyrian's not fine, he has a scratch on his face.

Okay, seen the trailer in full.

This trailer consists predominantly of a single fight (manticores on the train), with other plot scenes scattered in between. So, like other volume trailers, it's probably from the first couple of episodes at most and likely has airbrushing going on to disguise some of the context (because RT always do that for this show).

Other things:

• The snowy setting makes me think this is taking place in northern Anima, which is a land of cold, snow and ice.
• The journey starts with RWBY and JNPR together and travelling by train. Until manticore attack occurs (worthy of Qrow's scythe). Somehow, RWBY go from travelling by train to travelling by foot, and separated from JNPR. There's also a moment where Ruby is in a speed duel with a white counterpart (both speed and petal-esque scattering effect).
• Mysterious new character — either one or three, depending on whether or not the hooded figure talking to what frankly looks like a bordello madam is the elderly character that looks like a techno-shaman (my theory: it's the manifestation of the Relic of Knowledge, the skull-staff looks like part of the Mistral Kingdom logo is visible, and the Mistral logo is based on the Relic of Knowledge), and depending on whether Mr. Levitation is Watts or someone else (even be female).
• Most of the scenes show Ruby carrying the Relic. I'm still wondering if they have to share the burden because it becomes a problem if one person carries it for too long.
• The collapsing Oscar looks like he's reaching out to Ruby, but she's clutching the Relic, so it might be the Relic he's reaching for. While Yang looks like she's got her game face on, the others all looked alarmed or horrified (and Blake looks like she's reaching for her weapon, too). So something has Oscar screaming, probably something he can see that the others can't. So, either it's an Ozpin thing, or he can sense Salem, or the Relic is affecting him.
• Adam's clearly in meltdown mode, but it's interesting the dead White Fang body guards get associated with 'justice'.
• Reverence: someone can levitate. The thin legs and grey colour scheme suggest Watts, but his coat isn't that long and his shoes are the wrong colour.
• Salem's mention of motives is interesting as she's likely talking about the subordinates: Love (Hazel), Justice (Watts?), Reverence (Tyrian). And Cinder's implied to be 'power', given Volumes 3-5. In every case, it's twisted versions — the vice side of 'virtues'. Hazel's love has been twisted, Tyrian's worship is entirely twisted, etc. It likely reflects Salem herself, who is almost certainly a manifestation of twisted virtue.
• Salem's warning could be directed at a number of people given what happened: Hazel (Ozpin), Cinder (Power), Emerald (Cinder). She's acting like the fairy godmother, cautioning Cinderella about making sure she leaves the ball before midnight, or the magic will be taken away in front of witnesses. It's been my theory since Volume 3 that Salem can take away Cinder's power (since it's bound to her by a Grimm and Salem can control Grimm).
• Emerald's in for a bad volume: Tyrian seems to be a problem and Salem seems to be assessing her horror.
• Yang as a scene where she's looking pissed off at something/someone and her team-mates are looking at her in concern. It seems more like an ally situation than enemy, so I'm assuming Ozpin's the culprit.
• Ominous foreground shot of Relic, spent cartridges in the background and Ruby looking at the Relic pensively, almost nervously. Relic's causing trouble (probably attracting the Grimm, and there's Oscar's freakout).
• Ruby's Semblance use in the train station? That looks like a 'late for train' situation, not a battle situation.

Edited by Wyldchyld on Oct 17th 2018 at 10:36:22 AM

I wonder if OZ/Oscar are going to do soothing that makes team RWBY not trust them if you look closely at 0:50 in the trailer after Oscar falls no one seams to been in a hurry to help him up.

Ruby looks unsure of what to do Yang looks angry Weiss looks neutral and Blake looks like she going for her weapon.

I think they are going to take the relic (which is smaller now) a way from OZ/Oscar.

I also wonder who Cyber eyes Gamma is. (or Robot Katara)

@Wyldchyld: I'm going to guess that the scene of Salem approaching the camera with her arm outstretched is her "revoking" the power she gave to Cinder. She won't be killed of course, because if that were in the cards right now there'd be no point in having Raven fail to off her, presumably just demoted, but I've got to wonder if that'll result in Cinder starting to plot against Salem behind her back...In fact yeah, knowing what we do about Cinder that would probably cause her to resent Salem a lot.

@Shaoken: I do wonder where that came from; Emerald has her weapons out so maybe she did it after he got a bit too creepy, and is regretting it when he laughs it off like the maniac he is.

Edited by CaptainCapsase on Oct 16th 2018 at 11:01:18 AM

At first I thought the Ruby Semblance use was her extending it to cover Weiss as well, but upon watching it in slow motion I think its just her fighting someone else.

If Cinder is still frozen losing her powers would be death.

I figured it would be three-season arcs too, but after watching the trailer, I feel confident in saying that we're done in Haven. Both the snowy backdrops and the train suggest that this season is equivalent to season four, not three; the crew is on the road to Atlas and will have to deal with obstacles put in front of them.

That makes sense, since season five was pretty climactic for the Haven portion of the story. If they were planning to stick around and have one more season in Haven, it'd be pretty hard to top the dramatic stakes and action in the Battle of Haven Academy. Season five was already the plot-intensive game-changer.

The trailer also confirms my suspicion that the reason for keeping Cinder in shadow on the poster was because they honestly think we bought her Disney Death and want her return to be a shocking twist.

Edited by TobiasDrake on Oct 17th 2018 at 6:58:27 AM

My suspicion is that:

• Either Ozpin and Salem have a mental connection of some kind (but I have that theory anyway),
• The Relic is affecting Ozpin/Oscar and they're seeing something the others can't,
• Or Ozpin realises the Relic is doing something dangerous that the girls' don't understand.

That something?

Manifesting the techno-shaman. Look at the skull-staff. There are signs that there's some kind of symbol or logo on the skull's forehead, and it looks like the top rays of the Mistral Kingdom logo.

As we know, the Mistral Kingdom logo appears to be based on the appearance of the Relic of Knowledge. As a result, if that crest is the symbol of this techno-shaman, they're deeply connected to the Relic of Knowledge, which will explain why they're travelling with Team RWBY.

While the techno-shaman is manifested, the Relic shrinks in size.

And, for some mysterious and shady reason, Ozpin is not happy that the manifestation has occurred, resulting in behaviour from him that stretches the trust of the girls. That scene at the very start of the trailer when the girls are trudging through the snow with the old woman on the bike and Oscar trailing the rear? We see that scene from the front a little later and we can see that everyone is unsettled and Weiss is saying something. My guess is that this scene occurs just after or just before the collapse scene.

Where Oscar/Ozpin collapses, there's a building in the background, just past Weiss. Later on in the trailer, we see Ruby in the background with spent cartridges on the ground, and the Relic in the foreground. She looks at the Relic pensively, almost warily. So, that scene occurs in the aftermath of Oscar/Ozpin's collapse and scream.

She does look like she's ready to fight. While Blake seems to be going for her weapon, her expression is shock. Ruby looks concerned and surprised, and she's clutching the Relic tightly to her body. Weiss is ambiguous; she's in the process of turning (away or towards, it's hard to say). She almost has an 'I expected this' air to her, but she might also just be in the process of reacting and therefore a little behind the others. That said, it's also her pre-fight body language, that 'correct posture' stance she goes into when entering conflict.

Oscar's collapse is similar in body language to what happened when Ozpin forcibly took control of him during the fight with Hazel, but without the apparant loss of consciousness that seemed to momentarily happen. He looks like he's reaching out towards the Relic that Ruby is holding. What's ambiguous is whether this is Oscar we're dealing with, Ozpin, or both of them are in play.

It does seem to be about the Relic, however. After all, they're travelling with the Relic of Knowledge, and Ozpin's past is clouded in shadow. My guess is that the Relic makes those in proximity see truths (knowledge) about things related to their desires/fears, and that's going to lead to conflict.

While I do expect the Relic to act as a magnet for Grimm, I'm expecting the most dangerous threat to the heroes on this journey to be the Relic itself. And, of course, Ozpin.

Or, more accurately, the true danger and conflict of this trip is going to be 'knowledge'.

Most of all, what I'm suspicious about is how many people can actually see the techno-shaman. No-one is ever shown interacting with her, but she does once turn towards the 'audience'. Does she only appear to the person she's affecting with 'knowledge', like leading them on a vision quest through their own mind of events happening far away (potentially in either time or space)?

Well, I have been expecting the 'revoking' to occur, or a partial 'taste my power and don't do it again; you won't be warned a second time' revoking.

That said, the hooded figure is potentially interesting — it's not necessarily a new character but an existing one whose identity is initially being hidden from the audience. While that could be Cinder, it could also be Neo.

That said, the woman who looks like a bordello madam also looks like a knowledge-broker (and the two concepts would go hand-in-hand). Given the perspective ratio between the hooded figure and the madam, it's possible the figure is either a child or a woman — it looks on the small size.

That said, it could be connected to the levitater for all we know, or even the techno-shaman figure .

Yes, I did go back and forth when I first watched the trailer, and I watched the trailer a few times before deciding that it looks more like a battle than Ice Flower, so that's what I settled on.

Indeed. I did theorise that we'd have an equivalent to Volume 4 for the journey to Haven. If so, this will be for dealing with the Relic and Ozpin, which is why I wasn't particularly surprised or concerned at seeing Ozpin and Oscar take the centre of the volume poster — they're the 'big issue' of Volume 6, that's what the poster is saying, and what the trailer seems to back up.

The silhouette looks different to the Cinder we know. By that, I mean it's still 'obviously' Cinder, but there's just enough wrong about it to suggest that the silhouette may not be about hiding Cinder's identity so much as hiding Cinder's appearance.

Edited by Wyldchyld on Oct 17th 2018 at 11:33:06 AM

I don't really like the new character quotes. Not the fact that the quotes from the songs got removed, just some of the new ones in particular.

Yang: Way longer than it needs to be. Only the middle part carries any information about the character, rest can be safely thrown off.

Jaune: Not too bad, but there are other quotes from Jaune that represent his character just as well and aren't visibly addressed to a particular person. I would suggest something from Jaunedice Pt. 2, or maybe the "If I die buying them time, then it's worth it. They're the ones that matter." line if we want to emphasise his current persona.

Pyrrha: Would delete the part at the end when she refers specifically to Jaune. It would make the quote shorter and more about Pyrrha herself instead of her relationship with Jaune.

Ozpin: Ozpin lecturing Ruby about being a team leader is just one of his several lessons. Can't we use some quote that explains his nature or, in case we are wary of spoilers, ideology?

Well, I waited for feedback on the suggested quotes for weeks, but the only feedback I got was an indication people were just happy to let me get on with it. So I got on with it. The sandbox is still in my signature if you want to visit it.

That said:

• Most of Yang's quote is about her, not just the middle section, although I agree with concerns about length. The quotes in that page flow through the page from the top page quote to the bottom page quote, just telling the story of the team's self-assessments about becoming huntresses. The only one that's a bit of a shoehorn is the In General quote.
• I only changed the song lyrics. I did not touch anything that was already an actual quote. Ozpin is one such case — his quotes have been there for a very long time (I'm not a fan of the current quote, but I disagree with the idea that it doesn't say something about his nature).
• Some of the lyrics had been placed on the page after removing actual quotes. In those cases, I simply removed the lyrics by restoring the original quotes.

If you want to suggest alternative quotes, feel free. My suggestion would be that you list the quote that's currently there and your proposed quote after it, so everyone can see both together and decide which one they prefer, or if they can come up with another alternative to throw into the ring.

Edited by Wyldchyld on Oct 17th 2018 at 11:53:26 AM

One thing I seen people talk about Cyber eyes Gamma is that she may be a Maiden hiding her eyes like Raven or a silver eye warrior that is hiding her eyes I think that she is one of them but her eyes are gone or damage.

I do think people can see her if she could only be seen by people with 'knowledge' I think she would look more see through or ghostly and I would think she would disappear when ever she not need like most ghostly people. (like if no one can see her why is she one Yang's bike)

Sorry, wasn't really paying attention to the thread until just recently. I'll post my suggestions in the sandbox in a moment.

One of my favorite RWBY Fan artists Tiger Paw 90 finish Chapter one of their Cinder headcanon backstory (I thick posted parts of it before) [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

We got new trailer?

Yang: What's the plan Ruby?

Ruby: Don't let anyone else die.

Blake(laughing): That is not a plan.

Weiss: It's barely even a concept.

Seriously, it would have been less embarrassing if Ruby just admitted she didn't have a plan.

Glad I wasn't the only one who found that laughable. Was that meant to sound cool? Because it's just brain-dead obvious

"Oh yeah Ruby I was totally just going to wait until they mauled all the civillians, you know, for fun"

Edited by Saiga on Oct 19th 2018 at 7:36:54 PM

Well, given that Blake had participated in multiple terrorist strikes in her past, burned the house that probably had multiple unconscious people inside and was perfectly happy to throw quasi-trained civilians at the White Fang, she probably should be reminded not to let people die every so often.

They save the unconscious people you can see them dragging them out.

I'm down for putting the blame on Blake. Ruby's bad speech points will all be reminders that Blake was a former terrorist and burnt her family home down.

Not to mention blaming the burnt house on others.

Blake started the fire to smoke Ilia out. Considering it was the White Fang that put her in that position to begin with, I'd say it's more their fault than hers.

And Blake never killed anyone while she was working with the White Fang. Hell, Adam wanting to kill people is what made her leave.