Just saw the episode. The fight between Tyrian and Qrow was really good — while the choreography wasn't Monty/Shane level, it was close, and they made great use of the more fluid animation of the new engine. It had a lot of fun and cool stuff, and Tyrian blocking Ruby's shot with his tail and a vacant C: grin on his face only for Qrow to deck him afterwards was hilarious. Liked that they fought till Aura break and Ruby could put in a great little contribution there at the end and made him go full Gollum. Best fight in the volume to be sure.
Now on the other topic, I'm disappointed in the direction they seem to be taking the Schnee family conflict. With Jacques being straight-up abusive, Weiss completely in the right, and Whitley a manipulative little shit (validating the fandom's previously unfounded concerns), I can't help but feel they're missing out on a great chance at some more deep and ambiguous drama here. Which, granted, isn't RWBY's forte, but they've certainly been improving, so I dared hope.
Also, Qrow's totally poisoned and out of commission for the rest of the volume if not dead outright. Let's hope Vic Mignona didn't ask for a raise.
edited 26th Dec '16 4:00:28 PM by Ninety
Dopants: He meant what he said and he said what he meant, a Ninety is faithful 100%.I thought this was a great episode, and this is definitely my favourite fight of the series. I could definitely understand if Tyrian was blind and compensating with some special sense. If so, it appears to be metal that he's tracking in particular given that he appears to be unable to attack Qrow until Qrow picks up his sword again. I'm skeptical of that though, it could be that reaching for his sword was when Qrow took his eyes off Tyrian and left an opening.
I also appreciate how this fight went to Aura Break for both parties at the same time. I knew that Ruby interfering would cause Qrow to get injured, I did not expect her to then make up for it by injuring Tyrian so badly. That was awesome and justifies both Qrow's desire to keep it out and her desire to jump in - she's not a liability, and with both combatants at aura break that honestly could have gone either way. I don't think Qrow will die here, so I think Ruby did make the right decision to jump in, because otherwise they very well could have lost.
You know I just realized that Team RWBY are pretty much an inversion of the source fairy tales. Though Yang's relevant arc hasn't quite started yet.
Little Red Riding Hood is victimized by a wolf, and the moral of the story is not to stray too far from the course. Ruby is introduced killing a Beowulf and her journey this volume is forging her own path.
Snow White has the heroine's biological father as a kind man who protected her from her stepmother from alive. Here her father's a dick and her mother's the one powerless in her own despair.
Blake is Belle from Beauty and the Beast. There the Beast (often given the name Adam) is a monster at first but over time he reveals his better nature. Here Adam started off being reasonable and grew extremist and (more obviously) abusive over time.
Yang I feel might have an arc about this in the future but it's less vague right now. Yang is considered Goldilocks I believe. I suppose Goldilocks in a sense inserts herself into the bears lives, while here Yang is abandoned by people she cares about? That one's definitely a reach.
The Crystal Caverns A bird's gotta sing.I know there was some talk about fans and non-fans of Matt a few pages ago, but
◊ this
◊ last
◊ recap
◊ was
◊ completely
◊ on
◊ point
◊ . Some pretty funny analysis outside of just jokes, too:
edited 26th Dec '16 4:45:09 PM by Ninety
Dopants: He meant what he said and he said what he meant, a Ninety is faithful 100%.Yea, I'm glad Tyrian ended up a lot more entertaining than we all pegged him to be, he's hella fun. I hope he sticks around until the end of the volume at least. Here's hoping the rest of Salem's circle are just as entertaining.
I swear, does the team step up their animation whenever Qrow's involved? Because he's only real had two fights, but both of them are some of the best in the post-Monty era.
A lazy millennial who's good at what he does....heh heh hee heh.
Eh I don't know. I have to hold candles for Yang vs Neo and Mercury and Emerald vs Coco and Yatsuhashi.
0_0 And here I thought I was the one who nerdgasmed over fight choreography.
edited 26th Dec '16 5:20:34 PM by Soble
I'M MR. MEESEEKS, LOOK AT ME!Nah-nah, I can't hear you over my post-successful character shilling victory fanfare
.
I mean, if you find giggling maniacs who leap out of their chairs in sadistic glee boring. Everybody else was just sitting at the table waiting for Marceline the Vampire Queen to walk in. Cinder and her posse changed facial expressions once or twice during that scene, I think.
Tyrian seems doomed to remain a Disc 2 Boss, and Watts and Hazel are looking more Disc 3-ish. Which makes me even more curious what their powers are supposed to be. Guessing Watts will turn out to be some kind of sniper just from his resemblance to that guy from the first episode of Trigun.
Magic eye powers. Magic eye powers spontaneously awoken within the body of a fifteen year old girl during a traumatic event. Iwishtheywouldexplainexactlywhatthefrackhappenedinthatfinalealready
edited 26th Dec '16 6:20:48 PM by Soble
I'M MR. MEESEEKS, LOOK AT ME!

So, seeing as Ozpin and Oscar's souls are apparently linked, think he has Ozpin's weird Semblance that has yet to be explained? Or will he have a power all his own?