To be fair, I feel like we're learning more stuff or getting more things done in V4 than we did in V1 or 2.Those were sloooooow. Remember the Jaundice arc?
Let the joy of love give you an answer! Check out my book!Well "Breather Half-Season" and "Breather Two-Thirds Of A Season" didn't roll of the tongue. I suppose "breather arc" might have worked.
I probably shouldn't have called it a "breather season" in the first place. A Breather Season would basically be RWBY Chibi.
edited 27th Jan '17 1:01:40 PM by Soble
I'M MR. MEESEEKS, LOOK AT ME!I mean, would you rather Salem and her posse do nothing for an entire season? Because that would be bad writing.
We're going to be in the middle of Salem stuff until things come to a climax or Salem ends up becoming a non-issue (which I don't see without the former).
The Vytal Festival was cool and something that had been built up to. Also, how was it pointless? The events of the tournament are the cause for the chaos that Volume 3 closed on.
Let the joy of love give you an answer! Check out my book!Alright, speculation time!
THEORY 1: The episode is about Cinder trying to escape from Salem because she believes she's in too deep now after all that's happened. Likeliness of this being the case? 25%
THEORY 2: The episode is about Weiss finally making her escape from Atlas with the POWER OF HER STAND [GLORY KN-(shot)] ...Likeliness? 40%
THEORY 3: OZPIN ASSUMES DIRECT CONTROL OF OSCAR. LIKELINESS 110%
That's what I said. :)
While I don't dismiss the Merlin theory by any means, I'm just going to point this out:
The Great War episode tells us that the king founded the Academies. Ozpin tells Oscar that he helped build Haven and once gave the Haven headmaster a gift of a tea set. Qrow tells Team RNJR that Ozpin's predecessor founded the Academies. Both Ozpin and Qrow want Oscar and Team RNJR to go to Haven.
So, taking all of those statements together, The King of Vale became the headmaster of Beacon Academy, and put three very trusted confidantes in charge of the other three Academies. Ozpin replaced the King of Vale as headmaster of Beacon Academy but the Haven headmaster might — might — actually be one of the King of Vale's confidantes (it depends how old the guy is).
If Ozpin's predecessor is not the King of Vale, then I think the Body Surf went from the king to Beacon's first headmaster, to Ozpin, to Oscar.
Otherwise, the Body Surf has gone from the King of Vale to Ozpin to Oscar.
Either way, while I don't dismiss the Merlin theory, I do think it's more likely that the King of Vale and Ozpin share a Body Surf experience. The Great War episode went out of its way to say the King of Vale tried to avoid sending in the troupes even though people kept telling him to do it. That's Ozpin and Ironwood repeating history.
It would have been interesting to see what Ozpin would have done had the Grimm Dragon not appeared because he clearly made a decision to intervene in the invasion until he saw the dragon. At that point, he seemed to change his mind about what to do next. The Great War episode makes it sound like the King held off a personal intervention for as long as possible until he had no choice.
And, yes, I am still expecting the Haven headmaster to be Salem's informant. Then again, I'm expecting Hazel to turn out to be an evil version of the protagonist leader from Watership Down....
Well, this originally would have been Volume 3, but Volume 2 got split into two volumes (Volume 2 and Volume 3). That was before the addition of the Maidens (although I get the impression that they didn't have to rejig much and, reading between the lines, the Maiden solved some kind of plot hole they all had which is why the story didn't need much rejigging to accommodate the new addition).
I really don't understand the complaint that the story has come to halt and there's been nothing 'chill' about it. I've found it to be a very plot heavy volume, and the storytelling format the writers are using is quite traditional. Nothing about it surprises me or seems strange. And I personally think the pacing is fine.
I also don't really understand why this is regarded as a 'breather season'. It's not a breather point by any story definition I've personally ever dealt with. Breathers are sideways to the plot, not 'less fighting' and, to be honest, most of the pacing complaints I've been seeing in my Internet travels end up distilling down to 'less villain fights = less plot development'. By the time I get to the end of post-chains, I'm left wondering if people are talking about RWBY or a level-grinding video game.
edited 27th Jan '17 3:09:54 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.Regarding the new episode, my own guess would be that the title is a dual meaning, in that it'll be both about Ozpin's personality beginning to impose on Oscar to a greater extent, and perhaps also about Cinder trying to maintain control over whatever it was Salem said needed to dread her; the spirits of the previous incarnations of the Fall Maiden perhaps?
edited 27th Jan '17 2:59:16 PM by CaptainCapsase
Personally, I'd prefer stuff like that wasn't linked. And isn't there a rule against doing that anyway?
Edit: Just a thumbnail this time, but still. As for the episode, probably Mostly Weiss and Cinder stuff. Ozpin "taking control" over Oscar, at least this soon, would be really off to me.
edited 27th Jan '17 3:13:54 PM by LSBK
It's a good job I switch off spoilers before I come on to this thread. Since it seems some kind of information is out about the new episode, I'm out of here until Sunday. Hope it's a good episode!
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 don't know about anyone else, but I find the idea of someone else's soul infiltrating your body, and making you turn into them (or at least forcing you to be more like them) to be a really scary concept when you think a little more about it.

The show does need "breather seasons" though to avoid the escalation trap many series fall into, where each season or instalment needs to have higher stakes than the one before it, inevitably reaching the point where they can't escalate any further and suffering for it.
Or to put it another way, this is season 11 of Red vs Blue. A less intense plot for the first 90% with the last 10% heating up and setting up the next two seasons.