My biggest question at this point is where the Cast Herds will end up landing. will Oscar join forces with JNPR to give us team ORNJ alongside team RWBY, or will the entire roster remain a single herd? 6-7 characters is manageable as a single unit, though certain people will definitely end up being Out of Focus at different points in time.
edited 4th Feb '17 9:17:18 AM by CaptainCapsase
No, 12 is, 11 just came out on youtube, 12 is next week.
Edit: Based on the ending credits song, volume 5 is likely to have a lot of Yang focus, since the song seems to focus on her still being traumatized from the events of volume 3. She does indeed seem to have gotten past the depression, but now it looks like she's angry, and she's out for blood; going from being depressed to being angry is a far more realistic rendition of The Five Stages Of Grief insofar as it has any relation to real psychology; not all people suffer in the same way, and while the five stages are common reactions, not everyone who is grieving goes through all of them, nor do they go through them in a particular order.
It also sounds like, in stark contrast to Ruby, Yang is seemingly doubling down on her flaw of looking before she leaps and living in the moment, whereas Ruby has learned that acting recklessly comes with consequences thanks to nearly leading RNJR to their untimely demise and coming within a hare's breath of losing her favorite uncle.
edited 4th Feb '17 10:18:35 AM by CaptainCapsase
That seems eerily similar to the picture "Armed and Ready" paints of Yang's current mindset; moving past self-doubt and mopey introspection through pure unbridled rage fueled by bloody minded vengeance.
Also, as far as Bloodborne parallels go, Jaune is now wielding Ludwig's Holy Blade, which also has a shield form.
edited 4th Feb '17 10:34:04 AM by CaptainCapsase
We know where Yang is headed. She drove towards Mistral.
Anyway, now that I know where Oscar stuff went, I agree with Jovian it can be cut. I feel he might work better appearing in the stinger, asking for the cane, and reveal there that Ozpin is back. It also goes with my thoughts we should have seen Cinder kill Ozpin. Anyway, I'm glad that final battle ended with teamwork. Something is very wrong with this season when it comes to pacing and balance, as said before, so I'm going into diagnosis mode more now.
Improving as an author, one video at a time.I never said stuff didn't happen. I argue that the execution is flawed. I start by considering what can be cut and why. Oscar's story can since it contributed nothing to this volume and I feel his impact would be greater as a surprise. With regards to his internal conflict with Oz, I feel that line alone about him getting to it would work to establish it and create curiosity that could be followed up on in next season when actually interacting with the main cast. So a less is more approach.
Improving as an author, one video at a time.@Prime: If the show wanted us to know where she was going, it wouldn't have panned away from the sign to a weird angle where we can't quite tell what direction she's headed in; the scene is deliberately done in a manner that keeps things ambiguous, and considering Yang meeting Raven was something that was apparently meant to happen in volume 3 until the post credits scene got retconned into being a dream, I think it's very likely she will end up going to see Raven.
Plus there's the lyrics of "Armed and Ready"; while on the surface it sounds like Yang's moved past her depression and her trauma, the lyrics are quite aggressive, and paint a picture of Yang being out for bloody vengeance, and doubling down on the "live in the moment" mindset; she may have overcome the most obvious phase of her grief, but her anger issues are still there.
edited 4th Feb '17 11:14:31 AM by CaptainCapsase
@Captain
So why did everything about the image point to Mistral? Why was she position towards Mistral? Why did she, when she choose to drive forward, head in that direction straight ahead instead of turning her motorcycle?
Goddamn no hotlinks... One moment, I took pictures of everything to go with the above.
And now too big.
I'm not in a mood to edit, but just go watch the scene again and look at Yang's bike. Where it's directed towards (Mistral), where she's pointed towards the entire time, and the fact she just drives straight as opposed to turning.
edited 4th Feb '17 11:52:44 AM by Prime_of_Perfection
Improving as an author, one video at a time.
They were in a rush and/or did it deliberately to fuck with people; the fact that the shot changes also means that she could've reoriented herself in a micro-timeskip between cuts, and the fact that we don't see the sign clearly means they intend to it to be up in the air which path she chose, and her particular line "When I find her she'll be in so much trouble" or something is also ambiguous. Basically everything else about Yang's bit, including taking the picture of her dad's team with her are signposting a "which road will she take" cliffhanger, and if they didn't want it to be ambiguous they'd have included the sign in the shot of her driving off.
edited 4th Feb '17 11:43:39 AM by CaptainCapsase
She doesn't reorient herself at all. It's always consistent in the direction she's pointing. If your argument relies on "They fucked up or didn't show us the shift", I feel the argument is weakened. I get what they are going for with the crossroads, but I'm not going to dismiss those details.
Improving as an author, one video at a time.
Considering the show is positively riddled with animation errors and other derpiness of that sort ie Yang not punching the same place in her perspective than she did on the big screen, as you yourself pointed out and make a big deal of recently, characters not doing anything when the camera isn't looking at them (ie Tyrian vs RNJR), and so on I don't think we can rule out mistakes being made or the rush causing issues.
edited 4th Feb '17 11:59:24 AM by CaptainCapsase
Kind of disappointed by how much of an Anti-Climax Boss the Nuckelavee came across as.
Id argue volume 2. At least here the heroes did the work themselves and show their own competence. I enjoyed the tactics and such in the fight. I'd say this subplot with that grimm though suffered from no Act 2.
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It's true about such wonky things, but for now, I'm just not sold on it. While I'll call them on mistakes I feel are there, I don't feel this one was one of them. It's consistent in the shot and she drives towards Mistral. I could as easily just say they fucked up when it came to your evidence as well to just dismiss it, which is why I'm not using that argument here.
edited 4th Feb '17 12:20:31 PM by Prime_of_Perfection
Improving as an author, one video at a time.Volume 2's finale ended in the exact same place as it started pretty much. That's not true of this season, thankfully, and while they told us rather than showing us, Ruby actually appears to have gotten some character development in regards to realizing that her recklessness and naivete almost got her entire team and her uncle killed, which is the opposite of the direction "Armed and Ready" implies for Yang post depression.
Nucks was probably the best Grimm fight thus far outside of Players and Pieces, and a lot of that has to do with the stakes being raised in volume 3 such that characters are actually in danger of being killed off.
edited 4th Feb '17 12:19:08 PM by CaptainCapsase
Nucks actually worried me a bit, partiI'dularly once the aura for Nora then Ren went down.
Oh yeah and @Jovian, I agree fighting trauma with trauma might not make for the best idea. Though I'd still have him attack. I'd do it because it would only provoke greater issues for her to overcome mentally and push closer to a dark path. I feel like something like that and feeling powerless combined with anger (plus her home no longer being safe and maybe Tai hurt) could push her further towards Raven.
At any rate, the core guiding principle behind things there is to try and weave plot points closer together and not take things too easy on the protagonist's. As I've learned from studying storytelling and experience from own failures, it helps to be a sadist to the characters and keep the pressure on.
Switching back to mobile is so irritating with spoiler stuff, so might end my posts for now. At any rate, if I had to grade this season, I'd give it a C.
edited 4th Feb '17 12:34:59 PM by Prime_of_Perfection
Improving as an author, one video at a time.WILL BLAKE, SUN AND BLAKE PARENTS STOP THE WHITE FANG?!
WILL WEISS SUCCESSFULLY ESCAPE ATLAS TO MEET UP WITH THE OTHERS AT MISTRAL?!
IS YANG GOING DOWN A DARK PATH TO STOP RAVEN, OR IS SHE MEETING UP WITH HER SISTER?!
WILL JUANE EVER GET LAID...Errr I mean...WILL HE GET A SEMBLANCE?!
WHO OF SALEM'S GROUP WILL BE THE NEXT VICTIM OF RUBY'S BLOODLUST?! I'D KEEP THAT MONOCLE SAFE AND SOUND DR. WATTS!
WILL OZPIN'S SPIRITUAL FUSION WITH OSCAR BE SUCCESSFUL?! AND WHAT OF HIS CANE?!
CAN REN SURVIVE ANOTHER SEASON OF DEATH FLAGS?! WILL NORA'S PAST BE REVEALED?!
IS TAIYANG EVER GOING TO FUCKING FIGHT?! HELL, WHAT HAPPENED TO GLINDA?!
CAN IRONWOOD MAKE ATLAS GREAT AGAIN?! AND JUST WHEN IS PENNY 2.0 COMING WITH ROBO-PHYRRA?!
HOW BADLY WILL JACQUES AND WHITLEY GET KILLED WHEN THE WHITE FANG TARGETS ATLAS NEXT SEASON MAYBE?! I HOPE IT'S BRUTAL!
WHERE THE FUCK WERE ADAM AND NEO THIS WHOLE SEASON?! DON'T LIE TO US NEXT TIME OPENING!
And most importantly...
WILL QROW STOP GETTING DRUNK?!
Find out (probably not) next time, in RWBY Vol. 5: Finally at Haven/Mistral/Wherever the fuck.
Okay so, best things about this season were Yang's story and the Tyrion/Qrow fight. And by best I mean well executed and properly used.
The Oscar stuff did not need to be spread across the season. It barely needs to be anything other than The Stinger. Everything about Blake's story is uninteresting until she meets her parents. Weiss' story....well I'm happy someone from Team Four Star voiced a character from it. The Nuck-ever was whatever, and I've gone over my problems with Ruby's story too many times to bother listing them again.

The renora ship seems to be setting sale as well, though I have a feeling that a One True Threesome Hurt/Comfort fic style will be done for Jaune, ren, and nora due to their last scene in the season.
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