TVTropes Now available in the app store!
Open

Follow TV Tropes

Following

RWBY General Discussion

Go To

BlackYakuzu94 CHADhan Player. from Easy Coast/NY Since: May, 2013 Relationship Status: Longing for my OTP
CHADhan Player.
#44001: Jan 9th 2017 at 12:29:56 PM

For the record, I do agree with the criticism that Sun doesn't have much to show as a character despite his prominence and that's a problem.

A lazy millennial who's good at what he does.
LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#44002: Jan 9th 2017 at 12:35:32 PM

Sun getting hit was really poorly done. Early in the season he could spawn a half dozen clones long enough to set up an elaborate Fastball Special routine to fight the sea dragon without wiping himself out, but this time he has four active for about ten seconds and completely drains his aura to zero?

We've never seen Sun make more than four clones at a time. Against the dragon for his surprise attack he used two that quickly disappeared. With his team attack with Blake he used three, and presumably each one dispersed as soon as it served his purpose. The first time we saw he used his Semblance it was two again, and again, they disappeared quickly.

His Semblance seems to require great concentration and he can't maintain it long to begin with, with each clone only shortening his time. Which is probably why he uses it rarely, and only in short bursts.

But, yes, after looking at the sequence of events again it did seem pretty bad, like everyone involved suddenly started moving at a snail's pace for drama's sake.

Now, on Yang and Weiss' contributions to the season, I think they've done well with Yang, less so with Weiss. Overall, I probably agree with people who have said that they think Weiss' storyline is the weakest of the four.

And as for the season's pacing as a whole, at this point we have to accept that this is a set up season, more akin to season 1 or 2 than season 3. I'm okay with that, but I get why other people wouldn't be. Still, we should probably be talking about it for what it is and not what we thought it was going to be.

edited 9th Jan '17 12:42:14 PM by LSBK

CaptainCapsase from Orbiting Sagittarius A* Since: Jan, 2015
#44003: Jan 9th 2017 at 12:39:05 PM

It may also be solar powered based on some obscure thing from the mythology he came from, or so I heard.

FergardStratoavis A Fluff Ringer from Bellveins (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: A gay little love melody
A Fluff Ringer
#44004: Jan 9th 2017 at 12:50:49 PM

Do consider, the clones were doing physical work in keeping a person restrained for a period of time. Considering all four of them were there to hold her, Illia is either really strong or Sun's not used to prolonged usage of his Semblance.

NativeJovian Jupiterian Local from Orlando, FL Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: Maxing my social links
Jupiterian Local
#44005: Jan 9th 2017 at 12:54:30 PM

I bet almost everyone would complain about Yang suddenly doing a 180
I think some would have complained about skipping Yang's adjustment to her one-armed life
We at least know Yang has some issues rather than just "she was moping around the house before she put on the hand and now she's better."
That's kind of the point of timeskips, though? Things happen during them. That's my complaint about Yang and Weiss — there was theoretically a timeskip, but those two we picked up exactly where we last saw them. Quite frankly, watching Yang be sad and Weiss being bad at dealing with her family were both boring — which is why I would have rather they skipped over the boring parts and jumped straight to the bits where the characters are doing something and taking an active role in their own lives again.

You could literally have started Yang's volume four plot on this exact scene and all you would have needed to change is add a line from her dad saying something to the effect of "are you sure you're okay? Because you spent the first six weeks after you came home staring at the wall and not talking to anyone, and then you wouldn't even try on your new arm when it got here" and you wouldn't have really lost anything from Yang's plot.

Weiss you'd need a bit of retooling to introduce Whitley and the butler whose name I forget, but at this point I'll be seriously surprised if Weiss's semblance going out of control comes up again because they seem to be completely ignoring the fact that that happened, so it looks like they were just using it as cheap one-shot drama for the scene rather than as setup for a plot point to be revisited later.

Imagine if all of that had happened in the first episode of season four? Team RNJR is making progress on their way to Mistral, Blake is headed home to Menagerie to get herself sorted out, Yang is getting herself into fighting shape again, and Weiss is refining her use of her semblance, plus we get the reveal that Cinder actually got hurt at the end of volume 3. (Okay, that's a lot going on. Maybe the first two episodes.) It would have been a huge "yeah, we're back, baby!" moment instead of the long plodding Four Lines, All Waiting season that we've gotten.

Actually, I would have preferred seeing Cinder's injuries as part of the epilogue to volume 3, just to temper the "haha, bad guys win, good guys lose, fuck you" feeling that volume 3 ended with. But I seem to be in the minority there.

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.
VeryMelon Since: Jul, 2011 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#44006: Jan 9th 2017 at 12:56:36 PM

I'm not disagreeing with you, but some people would complain about it nonetheless. We'd just have to deal with it.

BlackYakuzu94 CHADhan Player. from Easy Coast/NY Since: May, 2013 Relationship Status: Longing for my OTP
CHADhan Player.
#44007: Jan 9th 2017 at 1:25:12 PM

I would kind of have an issue with most of Yang's development being offscreen as opposed to seeing it firsthand ( no pun intended).

Weiss I agree with tho.

A lazy millennial who's good at what he does.
NativeJovian Jupiterian Local from Orlando, FL Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: Maxing my social links
Jupiterian Local
#44008: Jan 9th 2017 at 1:25:49 PM

Regarding Sun's semblance, I rewatched the dragon fight and you're right, he does only have three during that — I thought he had more because the three he does have are jumping around and appear more than once. (Sun uses three to throw himself upwards, one of which sticks around to give Blake a boost as well, then a second gives her another mid-air boost, and the third redirects her to Sun.)

Still, it seems arbitrary that he can do three without any evidence of strain whatsoever even when all three clones plus Sun himself are doing acrobatics, but having four clones do not much but dogpile on Ilia while Sun sits there in a meditation pose kills his aura entirely in just a few seconds.

[up]What development, though? She hasn't changed as a character at all. She didn't have any big epiphanies or go through any personal struggles or anything like that. She was just sad for a while, then a little less sad for a while, then back to normal. If we had seen her grappling with any sort of issues... Maybe she was afraid of going back into combat, or was dealing with self-loathing for not being strong enough to protect herself or her friends, or had her confidence completely shot so she couldn't get back into the rhythm of things. There are any number of ways for her to react to what she went through. But none of them actually happened, which is why I think it would have been better to just skip over it if they weren't really going to do anything with it anyway.

edited 9th Jan '17 1:32:03 PM by NativeJovian

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.
Demongodofchaos2 Face me now, bitch! from In a Cultivation World (Ancient one) Relationship Status: 700 wives and 300 concubines
Face me now, bitch!
#44009: Jan 9th 2017 at 1:35:54 PM

[up] You just don't seem to see the development some others are seeing, i guess.

Watch Symphogear
randomness4 Ghost '11 from The Land of Inconvenience Since: Sep, 2011
Ghost '11
#44010: Jan 9th 2017 at 1:36:12 PM

It could've been done better is a nicer way of saying "skip it"...

The progression was underwhelming.

Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.
Shaoken (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Dating Catwoman
#44011: Jan 9th 2017 at 1:36:50 PM

It was Blake's slaps, she took down most of his aura with them.

To be serious for a moment, going off previous fights Sun tends to use his copies for quick one-use purposes and then dissolves them instantly. Here he's using what might be his max limit at the moment to hold down a target that's struggling back. His semblance might be like Emeralds in that it requires concentration and is draining, which fits with him only using it sparingly.

LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#44012: Jan 9th 2017 at 1:37:04 PM

Well, I don't think and hope, she's not done with her issues, but I liked how they did it.

They had it take months for her to get some semblance of, not comfort, but used to her situation. Then when the arm is presented it takes a bit for her to be willing to put the arm back on: namely that she doesn't want to be burden on Taiyang, and is maybe ready to start getting back to normal.

Yeah, there wasn't some great big epiphany, but I think that might work better.

As for Sun's three clones, it's probably just better to assume each disappeared after it served it's function. We don't see them again anyway, so that's probably what they were going for.

[up]They make it a point for him to always being in a meditative position when creating them, and he seems not to try and move while they're around. It taking a lot of concentration/being taxing on aura seems to be the implication for Via Sun.

edited 9th Jan '17 1:39:18 PM by LSBK

NativeJovian Jupiterian Local from Orlando, FL Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: Maxing my social links
Jupiterian Local
#44013: Jan 9th 2017 at 1:49:48 PM

Yeah, there wasn't some great big epiphany, but I think that might work better.
Sure, they don't need to have her be a radically different person after recovering from her injury. People absolutely can and do go through traumatic experiences without being forever changed by them after they have some down time to get back on their feet. But if they're not going to do any character development with Yang's recovery, then we don't need to see it, which makes it perfect timeskip fodder. I was presenting an either/or thing — either they needed to actually show her developing, or they needed to skip past her recovery. They didn't do either, which comes off as just a waste of time.

As for Sun's three clones, it's probably just better to assume each disappeared after it served it's function. We don't see them again anyway, so that's probably what they were going for.
Well, sure, but they're still around for about as long (roughly ten seconds) and they did about the same amount of activity (throwing Sun and Blake around vs holding Ilia down). The only real differences in the situations are that it was three clones vs four clones and with three there was a lot more movement (both by the clones and by Sun himself) compared to the four.

Even if using four clones is just super hard compared to three, it still doesn't make any damn sense, because he could have made three and then taking the fourth spot himself instead of using a fourth clone. Either way, it comes off as the action bending in order to fit the plot's demands rather than the plot being a natural consequence of the on-screen action.

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.
LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#44014: Jan 9th 2017 at 1:57:46 PM

I don't think so. After they through him up it seemed like he was just waiting to catch her. Then they each did one thing (and proceeded to disappear, let's assume). Compare that to him maintaining four against a struggling person.

Eh, I suppose it depends on what you're willing to believe/let slide. But even without that, it doesn't invalidate your general point of the whole fight being wonky.

edited 9th Jan '17 1:58:24 PM by LSBK

unknowing from somewhere.. Since: Mar, 2014
#44015: Jan 9th 2017 at 2:44:34 PM

So, I saw the episode and here are my thoughts:

-So pretty much a author saving throw about yang, it adress what many fan thing about here: she is good but atack power but otherwise is predictable, the way he talk fit every defeat she have so far "what if someone move around(Neo) or is stronger(Adam)" if something, it make her death battle against Tifa WAAAAAAY more awkard, also is just me or Tai is the johnny cage of RWBY?

-So...yeah, it feel right now that Jacques is the evil stepmother(well, father) trope here, he is not a real schnee but usurper who got in the good side of the family for worst, if you compare the way other talk to him(as a jerk) with Raven(jerkish but in the good guy side) this could led to Aseop breaking territory like Naruto.

-...I like chameleon girl, a lot and I feel Sun was nerf as hell since he just throw his clone and fall back? I feel they didnt want a fight scene and got as far they could, it was....awkard.

Anyway about blake and sun, what it bother more is the implication of being a creep, people are annoyed about Sun antics but for diferent reason, to me is that the show try to force the situation with him only for cheap humor(which it happen because it take a low from anime), really im expecting Blake to shout "BAKA!" any moment now, is pretty much the "dude try to do something, stumble and make situation worst".

and about Yang skiping her arc....nope, I mean they could have done a better job with it, but having her ready after that would be awfull since it pretty much setting thing to exploration of her, sure charartrer should be active but not at the expenses of chararterization, it also mess with the tone of volume 4(healing), is the problem with being badass: being round take time.

also, who things Jaunce semblence is healing and is going to use on Qrow?....nobody? just me?

"My Name is Bolt, Bolt Crank and I dont care if you believe or not"
LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#44016: Jan 9th 2017 at 2:46:45 PM

Also, I totally buy four clones being way harder than three. He's not a cloning factory character, as we've been over, his ability has always seemed pretty limited.

Soble Since: Dec, 2013
#44017: Jan 9th 2017 at 3:06:16 PM

So...yeah, it feel right now that Jacques is the evil stepmother(well, father)

Now now. He could be the evil stepmother. I mean it's not like Weiss's actual mom is around enough to argue the matter.

also, who things Jaunce semblence is healing and is going to use on Qrow?....nobody? just me?

I'm still of the mind it's going to be a suped-up forcefield.

edited 9th Jan '17 3:06:51 PM by Soble

I'M MR. MEESEEKS, LOOK AT ME!
unknowing from somewhere.. Since: Mar, 2014
#44018: Jan 9th 2017 at 3:17:55 PM

Also to Cap and Wyld: is just me or Raven and Qrow look a lookw like the dark and light brothers?, Qrow is apathic, jerkish and somewhat shady with a power than only bring bad luck to everyone, while Raven is strong, powerfull and depending if the headcanon is right, she may bring luck to people.

But she abandon her daughter and Qrow is pretty much a father to ruby.

"My Name is Bolt, Bolt Crank and I dont care if you believe or not"
LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#44019: Jan 9th 2017 at 3:21:32 PM

[up][up]I've seen people speculate that before. I wouldn't like it, but given the writing for the villains/antagonists here, it's more likely than I would like.

edited 9th Jan '17 3:25:44 PM by LSBK

Prime_of_Perfection Where force fails, cunning prevails Since: Jun, 2009 Relationship Status: Maxing my social links
Where force fails, cunning prevails
#44020: Jan 9th 2017 at 3:22:10 PM

I'm fine with the speed of Yang's given she has had a lack of focus and I think she had the story which can't be rushed.

Weiss, meanwhile, I feel has had decent ideas which were poorly handled. It would help if, for instance, Whitley was proactive in his manipulations.

Improving as an author, one video at a time.
unknowing from somewhere.. Since: Mar, 2014
#44021: Jan 9th 2017 at 3:28:39 PM

[up]For me, I would like to see more of atlas, know what the hell happen to penny and how ironwood kept is job(I mean, everyone pretty much jeez is pant when he show up) her arc is too self contain for my liking.

With Yang...I feel they are going to do something like korra: she is "cured" but the mental scar are still there, also the way taiyang talk make me thing she is going to help Blake against Adam.

"My Name is Bolt, Bolt Crank and I dont care if you believe or not"
Soble Since: Dec, 2013
#44022: Jan 9th 2017 at 3:31:33 PM

Nvm.

edited 9th Jan '17 4:48:30 PM by Soble

I'M MR. MEESEEKS, LOOK AT ME!
LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
Prime_of_Perfection Where force fails, cunning prevails Since: Jun, 2009 Relationship Status: Maxing my social links
Where force fails, cunning prevails
#44024: Jan 9th 2017 at 3:41:15 PM

[up][up][up] My reason for not being as concerned about that is because they aren't protagonists. At the end of the day, they're supporting characters and I dislike stories that lack focus. Not that rwby is always the best on focus, but I figure you know what I mean. Shit is getting divided between about 5 narratives as is. It would be nice to learn more through the frame of Weiss, but her narrative doesn't support that.

I do wish we got way more with faunus discrimination shown back home, as opposed to just talked about, but that's another matter entirely.

Improving as an author, one video at a time.
Wyldchyld (Old as dirt)
#44025: Jan 9th 2017 at 4:23:03 PM

m I the only one who feels like this is where Weiss and Yang should have started the season instead of finally getting to this point nine episodes in? The whole setup of the two of them moping around doing not much for half a season didn't add anything and could easily have been skipped over.

People would have hated it being skipped over, so there would have been no way the writers could have won on this score. Some people think it's too slow, some people are enjoying it. If it had been skipped over, the reverse would be the case... and I'm betting some people who aren't satisfied now would also not be satisfied if it had been skipped over.

The truth is that Volume 3 put a lot of students in very different places. And I don't mean geographically. If anything, the geographic separation serves to highlight that characters have some very different issues to sort out before they can come togethere.

Or, put it another way: Taiyang says that, for all Raven's strengths and good points, it was Raven's faults that tore apart the team. He didn't say the team split up or went its separate ways. He says that Raven tore the team apart. That's very strong wording to use.

Right now, Team RWBY has its very own Raven: Blake. Worse, Weiss runs a pretty close second. Which basically means Team RWBY is more vulnerable than Team STRQ was (as far as we know). For all their good points, for all that they do show a learning curve, it hasn't been a good enough one. Those two came to Beacon Academy because they were running from things they were in no position (emotionally) to properly confront. By confront, I mean face up to and acknowledge (the first step before you can even begin to address a problem).

A separation has been forced on Team RWBY by circumstances beyond their control. It's forcing them to begin to acknowledge their faults. What would the outcome for Team STRQ have been had such an event split them up early and forced them into a position like this? Would they have come out the other end stronger for it and more united on a permanent basis?

Ultimately, that appears to be what's happening here: the girls are acknowledging their demons in a personal journey unique to each other. That should bring them out the other side more capable of committing long-term to each other as a team.

The benefit for the audience is that we get to see Salem's global reach. She has a global plan, after all, and the global reach isn't a single travelling line, it's a spider web, spanning the world. With the girls in different locations we can see the setting and how Salem's plot unfolds; the weakness she's exploiting, the suffering she bounces off to achieve new heights of misery for everyone.

People say that Weiss's storyline is unconnected to the plot. I completely disagree. Weiss's presence in Atlas has given us an idea of where the stress points are on Solitas. It tells us what both White Fang and Salem can exploit to further their plans. This isn't simply Jacques' conflict with SDC workers, or the brewing conflict between Mantle and Atlas (which has been aggravated by Jacques' employment practices). This includes the way Ironwood reacts to problems in the world - the embargo, directly a result of the villains stealing Dust in Vale and using it to terrible effect - that is playing right into Salem's hands (because Jacques may be a dick but he's right about Ironwood's embargo causing conflict between Atlas and the rest of the world).

That doesn't just make Ironwood a weak point, it also sets up a conflict between Ironwood and Jacques, and we know those two both have seats on the council, so that means the Atlesian Council has fractures in it as well.

So, Atlas is a realm where cracks are appearing in the walls from the very bottom of the society (underpaid Mantle workers) to the very top (the Council of Atlas). Atlas portrays strength and control to the world, but we're beginning to see that in some ways, it's potentially a paper tiger.

It's a place that's waiting to burn.

The real powder keg, however, is Ruby. We've seen what some of the faults are with the other three girls. We can see they're being forced to address at least a few of them. Ruby, however, is the silent watcher. She's seeing more than people realise. She's thinking more than people know. The audience is allowed to see hints of it, but we're not allowed to see more.

At some point, when the other three girls appear to be just beginning to get a handle on their situations, we're going to see Ruby triggered. While Ruby appears to be leading the plot, she's not: she's the one who's behind the other girls. For the moment, anyway.

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.

Total posts: 81,767
Top