I would hope so. It was an artificially designed arena created for the intention of having trainee Hunters of all ages and ability levels going flat out with their weapons and powers to win a competition.
The seating had to be shielded, so the arena was definitely designed with violence in mind. Those were not real trees.
If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.Bullet proof trees, the way of the future.
Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.Maybe they were artificial? I mean, the arena has to be replacable between every match, and trees are hardly something that can be quickly replaced, so fake trees and grass designed to emulate a forest or plain don't seem totally unlikely. I feel like we can't really say she has weaker bullets though, since no one else mentioned anything like that and they all seemed to be fighting at full power.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/lb_i.php?lb_id=13239183440B34964700 Alfric's Fire Emblem Liveblog Encyclopedia!All living things have aura, but does that include trees in any reasonable capacity (i.e. enough aura to tank anything)? I mean, Ruby pretty easily chopped down that tree early on.
edited 16th Apr '16 6:52:54 PM by Alfric
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/lb_i.php?lb_id=13239183440B34964700 Alfric's Fire Emblem Liveblog Encyclopedia!We still know so little about Aura in people, let alone animals and plants... and, let's face it, in a fantasy story based on fairy tales, myths, legends, and the like, the chance of the world itself having an Aura is going to be very high.
edited 16th Apr '16 7:00:46 PM by Wyldchyld
If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.I assume if Merc accidentally beat her by miscalculating his kick shot barrage the backup plan was just for him to break her arm instead. It would have gotten the same result from the crowd, and they weren't planning of letting the tournament finish anyway.
But it seemed like that was the plan, beat her up enough to trigger her rage and let her pummel him till his aura broke, then have Emerald trick her. That's also why he got flustered and got more aggressive once she nearly ring outed him. If he lost that way their plan wouldn't work.
However Penny vs Pyrrha was their real show. Even if the Yang thing didn't work out, it wouldn't have ruined much. The plan was just to make hunters look bad, not discredit team RWBY specifically.
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It's very doubtful that all of them can, including people, given Jaune's history. It does seem he was raised as an ordinary person before going to Beacon, so he's probably a good example of the kind of lack of Aura knowledge the general population has.
The idea of Aura not being well known or understood by the general public despite the common knowledge of the existence of hunters is something I find interesting. Jaune could have been deliberately raised in an exceptionally ignorant way (which would raise massive flags about who is family really is - although he already has massive flags about that), but the possibility does exist.
If Mercury had gone through with a plan such as breaking Yang's arm, they wouldn't have been able to do the other part of their plan. It wasn't just about raising negativity to trigger the Grimm, it was about framing Ozpin as well. Cinder finding out about Pyrrha just enabled her to frame Ironwood more easily - but in a way that further framed Ozpin.
edited 16th Apr '16 7:08:26 PM by Wyldchyld
If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.Thinking about trees with aura has made me think of something...
I forgot about that...
edited 16th Apr '16 8:46:42 PM by WillDeRegio
On the topic of the heroes not being able to beat the villains and the lack of drama from it, consider the following:
- With Adam vs Blake the former goaded the latter into getting involved in a close quarters sword fight, which played to Adam's strengths and to Blake's weaknesses. It also charged Adam's limit break and Yang rushed in and left herself wide open for it (had she ran towards him instead of leaping she might have been able to dodge it for instance). In both cases the heroes fought stupidly and allowed themselves to fight on their opponents terms and to his strengths.
- With Blake vs Roman round 2 Blake focused on her strengths, using the element of surprise to get a strong hit on Roman and then not giving him a chance to recover. A superior fighter defeated by not just charging at him and running right into his attacks.
- With Amber vs Cinder, Emerald and Mercury the latter three set a trap, coordinated their assaults, attacked form multiple directions and took advantage of their numbers to defeat a much more powerful opponent.
- With Mercury vs Yang despite it obviously being a trap, Mercury lacked the brute force to take Yang down, while Yang just stuck with her tried and true method of "punching the other guy until he drops".
- With Yang vs Neo, the latter used her speed to dodge all of the former's attacks, and despite seeing that this was exactly what was happening Yang didn't try switching up her tactics. This was pretty much the same thing that happened with her and Neon Kat, except Neo didn't run into a hazard that didn't immediately nullify her speed.
- And finally with Cinder vs Phyrra we saw that Cinder did the most damage when Phyrra was further away and used tricks and distractions to her advantage and Phyrra had the upper hand whenever the fight got into close range. In short both fighters did best when they forced the fight into their preferred fighting styles, and Cinder by virtue of being better at it. Key evidence for that is right before the dragon attacks the tower. Phyrra has Cinder in a chokehold with the sharp end of her weapon having a clear path to her neck, Cinder doesn't seem to have the strength to escape and has to use her maiden powers to break the weapon. The way the fight went down the Grimm Dragon distracted Phyrra from what Cinder was doing and allowed Cinder to break Phyrra's weapon which took away her big advantage. Had Cinder not had the Dragon to distract her then Phyrra would have noticed what Cinder was doing and hopefully would have done something to avoid losing her weapon.
So I have to dispute the notion that the villains are so strong we've entered Only the Author Can Save Them Now territory. So far all villain victories have had the villains fighting to their strengths and the heroes failing to do anything about that, because they're all first year students fighting hardened criminals, terrorists and masterminds. Now that they've all lost we'll see them adapt their fighting styles and start working to avoid their previous mistakes.
To take the Adam fight, Blake should not be trying a brute force approach and stick with hit and run tactics. Add in Yang as a partner to keep Adam's attention with a front on assault at the start before he has a chance to charge up Moonslice and hopefully being able to recognise when he's about to attack with it and you now have a fight that the heroes can win without it coming off as the author's pulling things out of the ether to justify the heroes winning.
As for Fall Maiden Cinder I'd predict that she'll be defeated in the same way that Amber was; superior numbers fighting smartly to wear her down.
Someone had a theory that Ruby being a Grimm killing machine but failing to even dent a White Fang grunt isn't just because Grimm aren't as skilled as trained human killers but also because her Silver Eyes have been giving her a constant passive boost to killing Grimm, making her able to fight them by instinct that doesn't activate when fighting people.
Which is why amongst other things she was able to take that giant Nevermore, Roman owned her but she was able to down the Grimm that ate him with a single kick and why she blasted Cinder (because she stole her maiden powers through a Grimm parasite)

Yeah, given his smirk when Yang went Saiyan on him, the one-on-one fight went according to plan. She didn't win. He threw the fight to set up the frame.
If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.