I loved volume 5 in terms of story and character development. But the one thing i hated was the fact that they turned Gambol Shroud from an awesome Katana gun in volumes 1 - 3, into something that now looks like an over glorified butter knife. Evidence Gambol Shroud Black Trailer
Gambol Shroud Volume 5
Thanks for reading, rant over.

Honestly think about it. How has the plot and conflict between the heroes and villains/the world progressed at all throughout this eight season show?
Well, Beacon fell. But that seemingly doesn't matter, seeing as no one seems to really care and none of the other Kingdoms seem to have even batted an eyelash at it.
Ozpin is in Oscar. Doesn't really affect the world that much and it doesn't really have much of a major affect on the plot.
The "heroes" found the first relic. Okay cool, but they have only used it once and it literally told them that the main villain can't be defeated. So that was pretty pointless.
Adam died. Okay, but killing off one dude and completely dropping an entire subplot that was heavily built up for 6 years isn't what I would consider progression.
And... that's it. Adam dying was honestly the last major thing that has happened in the plot that affects the world significantly, and it didn't even do that.
Now, you could come at me saying that a lot of character development has happened over those 8 years, but I disagree.
Ruby has literally never changed significantly since episode 1 of the entire show. Sure, she has the Silver Eyes power now, but that's not really character development, it's a level up. In fact, Ruby's character has gone backwards since her social awkwardness and weapon nerdiness is completely absent. Crescent Rose literally has had no upgrades. It is the EXACT same weapon from episode 1.
Weiss has had probably the most significant development, but it's still barren and a giant leap back in many places. Her prejudice against Faunus was dropped off camera and into the void, never to be mentioned again. Her abuse from her family is rarely ever really explored beside surface level stuff and is mostly forgotten about. Her snobbishness is now completely gone as well, which just makes her more bland. Her stubbornness and hard-headed drive to be perfect is also absent. Not to mention her fighting-style is literally just summoning now. I can't even recall the last time she actually used Myrtenaster.
Blake has literally gone nowhere. She had an entire subplot with turning the White Fang back into a peaceful organization, but it didn't change her character in any significant way. Her trauma with Adam was barely brought up, and when she and Yang kill him, it doesn't have a long lasting effect on her, besides her crying. Her being a introverted bookworm is gone. Her being the strong silent type is also gone. In battle, she acts no different than any of her teammates, despite the fact she should essentially be the stealthy rogue of the group. Her fighting style has also been heavily botched and watered down, being more simplistic, barely using the full potential of Gambol Shroud. She also almost never uses her Semblance.
Yang has just completely spiraled. Her subplot with Raven went completely nowhere. She stood up to her, sure, but it was so underwhelming and was done over the course of only a few episodes. Her arm being cut off didn't really affect her either (despite being the only thing that was actually paced okay when it came to development), since it's barely explored. Adam's death never really affects her and her relationship with Blake is never really explored that much. It's gotten to the point where I can't even tell if they're romantically involved at all or not with the way the show weirdly tip-toes around it. Not to mention her sistership with Ruby is almost never mentioned or acknowledged and ESPECIALLY her relation to Qrow. Her fighting style has never developed past her V1 days, even with the mechanical arm. And like the rest of the weapons, Ember Celica has never been upgraded since V1.
So Team RWBY, the title characters of the entire show, have BARELY developed in 8 years. Okay, what about the supposed side characters?
Well, Jaune has been the most noticeable when it comes to development, but he still is bland and quite barren. Much different from the weakling throughout the first volumes, he has really grown and matured into being a Huntsman and we have watched him grieve and move past the death of Pyrrha. All of that stuff is great and is way more development than any of the main four have gotten in 8 years. Also, hey, Crocea Mors actually got upgraded! Also his fighting style has developed! It's not much, not by a mile considering how long this show has been going, but Jaune Arc is the most fleshed out character in the entire show.
Ren and Nora are better done a pair since they are constantly associated with each other. We actually got to see their relationship develop over the course of 8 years and the writers are now bringing attention to it by having their relationship hit a serious bump. Nora, at least, seems actually concerned about it and is having her own arc currently. Ren doesn't seem to care one bit, but he's still getting an arc (even though it's horribly written). So yeah, the side characters' relationship is getting more writing attention than Blake and Yang... you know, one half of RWBY?
That's not even mentioning Qrow or Oscar and their arcs. Even though they are written like garbage, they're still arcs. Like Winter. Or Ironwood. Or Pietro. Or Penny. Or even Whitley.
See a pattern here? Almost every single character has at least some kind of significant character arc that has changed them in some way. Well, almost every single character, besides Team RWBY, the namesake of the show. Oh, and the villains.
What's Salem's motivation? She's evil.
What's Cinder's motivation? She wants power.
What's Tyrian's motivation? He's crazy.
What's Arthur, Hazel, and Neo's motivations? Revenge.
What's Emerald and Mercury's motivation? They're just followers.
I am now going to be breaking down each volume of RWBY to their basic components.
V1 - Mostly school stuff, minor character development, worldbuilding, introduction to White Fang and Faunus, fight with Torchwick at the end.
V2 - Mostly school stuff, minor character development, fight with Torchwick at end.
V3 - Arena fights, worldbuilding, minor character development (mostly Pyrrha and Jaune), Beacon Falls.
V4 - Walking, character development for Ren and Nora and Yang, worldbuilding, Blake hangs out in Menagerie.
V5 - Hanging around in Mistral and Menagerie, minor character development, minor fights in Menagerie and Mistral, relic obtained.
V6 - Walking, worldbuilding, minor character development, Adam dies and White Fang plot dropped.
V7 - Hanging around in Atlas and Mantle, Arthur and Tyrian scheme, Ironwood turns, fight, Salem shows up.
V8 (first half) - Three-way struggle between Salem, RWBY, and Ironwood, hanging around in Schnee manor, Oscar kidnapped, minor character development.
Now, I don't know about anyone else, but I expect a little more content in my show seasons than that.
I think I've made my point with this long-ass post, but do you see the problem here? This show has been around for 8 years... 8 YEARS. Look, I know I keep saying that but I want to hammer in how damning it is for a show that has been going on for this long having had this little happen in it. It's honestly pathetic in the grand scope of it all.
You want to know where One Piece was in it's 8th year? In one of the most pivotal story arcs of the entire series after having multiple other arcs that significantly changed the world and the characters that live in it.
Is that an unfair comparison? Okay, let's take a different one.
Cobra Kai has had more plot, character development, purpose and stakes in only 3 years and 30 episodes than RWBY has ever had in 8 years and 99 episodes.
I've said it once, and I'll say it again. Rooster Teeth NEEDS to regulate the runtime of episodes of RWBY to being a minimum of 22 minutes each. There is literally no excuse for them at this point to have their episodes be so short. I do think this is partly to blame for the horrendous pacing of the show. However, it's not the biggest reason.
The biggest reason is simply the writers, who have no idea what they are doing and clearly have no plan.
Sorry for the long post, but I'd like to see your take on this, so please feel free to discuss it with me and others in the comments.

Let me preface this by saying "I am not a Bumblebee shipper". I can see why people like it, I enjoy it when it's on-screen (Because Yang + any of the main two teams aside from Ruby is adorable), but I don't ship them in my free time and write stories about them. I just don't like when people pretend to know Monty and say 'This wasn't what he wanted' (Seriously, you don't know WHERE the story was going. Stop acting like Miles and Kerry are ruining RWBY when they're not). Anyway, onto evidence in only the first 3 volumes.
One: The pairs in Volume 1 allude to actual pairings in the show. Jaune paired up with Pyrrha, they kissed in Volume 3 before she died. Nora and Ren were paired up, and they're slowly being worked into a relationship. Blake and Yang paired up, and it's all but confirmed at this point.
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Two: Yang has always had a purple cloth tied around her leg. Blake's Aura is purple. I know that this specifically isn't much, but still. It proves that this was planned when they DESIGNED the characters.
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Three: The two of them have a specific combo attack that's commonly used where either of them grab one end of Gambol Shroud's Kusarigama form and swing the other around. This is technically just their Team Attack, and not really much in the way of evidence, but I think it's worthy to look at considering it's the only Team Attack we consistently see (We never see anything like Checkmate or Freezerburn anymore).
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Four: Only Ruby + Weiss or Blake + Yang really interacted before they tried to change that in V5-6. After the first few episodes, Yang stops really talking to Ruby or Weiss only, and Ruby doesn't even talk to Blake in the first 3 volumes. And for Weiss: Yes, the whole 'Blake's a Faunus' thing happened, but that was a 2-3 episode long arc that was ended by Weiss herself. The only other time I can think Weiss interacts with Blake alone for the first 3 Volumes is when Weiss asks her what's wrong in V2, which leads them to do their whole solo mission thing.

Hello RWBY Fans! Welcome to the first review of Volume 8. Just like last year, these reviews are going to follow a Summary->Analysis->Predictions format, with any extra thoughts or observations tacked on at the end. Today’s review will be a little longer, because we also have a new opening sequence to talk about, but I’ll try to keep this manageable.
With the housekeeping out of the way, let’s dive right in!

Episode 1: Divide

We open on soft music and the slow sound of a brush against a floor. We see a frail girl brushing a wooden floor in a dark void, lit by a spotlight above. The girl has ragged and barely-restrained hair, is covered in dirt smudges, and has several bandages and discolorations across her skin. A few seconds in and we can place her color scheme. Her hair, and the red sash at her belt, remind us of Cinder’s wardrobe. This is confirmed a moment later when we transition to Cinder present-day, flying up to Salem’s whale-in-the-sky. The scrape of her grimm hand against the airship’s seat beats to the same rhythm as the floor brush, and her determined look is a sharp contrast to the absolute dejection on the simple servant’s face.
Neo and Cinder land their airship on a hanger-like protrusion and enter the grimm whale proper, giving us our first look at Salem’s mobile HQ. The walls are fleshy and sinuous; more reminiscent of the gory hellscapes of the Doom franchise than any of Salem’s usual abodes. Calcified bone forms the hard surfaces, blood stains the floor like an open wound, and nearly every structure has the nonlinear curves of organic design. I can’t wait to spend more time here. No, seriously! Neo looks well out of her depth as the pair enter the throne room, and is taken aback when the powerful maiden who browbeat her into service takes a knee to this imposing pale figure.
Salem’s relationship with Cinder is immediately reestablished in the grimm queen’s first lines. Salem doesn’t ask if Cinder has a gift for her, she knows Cinder has a gift for her, because she has made her wrath and displeasure known to the fall maiden in the past. There are no hellos, no welcome backs, just a simple “show me that you are still useful.” Cinder similarly establishes her defining character traits early in the exchange. She presents Salem with the Lamp of Knowledge, claiming she took it from Ironwood while omitting any mention of Neo’s involvement. Neo, obviously, takes non-verbal but quite-visible issue with her account of events.
Tyrian interjects to throw some demeaning insults at Cinder, and the two banter back and forth with the same barely-restrained contempt we saw back in Volume 4 during Cinder’s recovery. Tyrian also is the first to acknowledge Neo when he implies that she may end up as another expendable underling.
Cinder introduces Neo as an “asset” with “very useful abilities,” again to Neo’s irritation. Salem remarks that Cinder enjoys collecting “assets” and the throne room’s door suddenly opens to reveal Emerald, Mercury, and Hazel, all with Volume 8 redesigns.
Emerald can barely contain her excitement as she rushes to Cinder’s side, but the Fall Maiden’s first word to her is a barking order to be quiet. Emerald falters, and Tyrian derides Cinder some more, leading her to outline her current goal; return to Atlas, kill Penny, and secure the Winter Maiden’s powers. However, their simmering argument is abruptly ended when Salem lifts her finger. “This game is mine to play, not yours. Just because you are more valuable than a pawn does not make you a player. All you need concern yourself with is your ability to act when I tell you to.” Cinder is quick to capitulate, and utters the most out-of-character words we’ve ever heard her say; “without you, I am nothing.”
The scene transitions to the Atlas crater, where several refugees are already building fires to stay warm. As we zoom in, we see that almost all the occupants are faunus. All but a small, green-clad farmboy. The arrival of an airship causes the faunus to scatter, but Ruby quickly reveals herself and offers Oscar a lift. The airship heads into Mantle, where heavy snowfall and leisurely grimm remind us of the two immediate problems; heat and monsters. Oscar brings Ruby and Weiss up to speed off-screen and laments that he seems to have made all the wrong choices. Ruby consoles him by saying that “we all did what we thought was best.”
Joanna of Robyn’s Happy Huntresses flags the airship down and ushers our heroes into a safehouse, destroying a security drone along the way. As the Beacon students make their way deeper into the safehouse, an abandoned bar, we see May coordinating Mantle’s unofficial evacuation. The rest of the heroes look pretty somber, and Nora even opts to gently hug Oscar rather than tackle him to the ground like normal. Oscar, who hasn’t finished his V7 discussion with Ozpin, declines to tell the gang about his newly awakened abilities. Oscar asks after Qrow, and the Beacon students all look dejected as Ruby explains that they don’t know where he or Robyn are.
Joanna re-enters and asks if the gang is ready to work. When all she gets in response are defeated looks, she starts to explain the situation in careful but direct terms; the citizens of Mantle are cold, threatened by the grimm, and no longer have Ironwood’s protection. The Huntresses are happy to give our heroes a place to crash, but they also have a job to do. She tells them that the Huntresses are evacuating the people to the crater, where they’ll be warm and consolidated for protection. As she speaks, we get a look at all our heroes. Nora, Weiss, Oscar, Ren, and Jaune all look attentive and resolute, if not exactly confident. There’s a mission in front of them and people to help. Blake, Yang, and Ruby, however, look more troubled. Weiss tries to lighten the mood with some humor, commenting that “they’re never going to sleep again,” but Joanna bluntly smacks her down. “You’re either helping or your baggage.”
Joanna leaves the group to talk and Yang finally resolves herself to help Mantle. Ruby asserts that they need to help everyone and reminds the teams about Amity. Blake agrees, citing the big picture. Yang points out that Amity isn’t completed yet, and Ruby asks Pietro what it would take to launch the communications platform now. Pietro comments that construction and launch fuel problems are manageable, but that they would need authorization from Ironwood’s Terminal to launch the satellite. Yang starkly tells Ruby that getting Ironwood’s cooperation isn’t possible, but Ruby posits that they may not need it, suggesting a break-in instead.
Yang incredulously asks if Ruby wants to go back to the academy, and Pietro offers a secondary target; a terminal inside the main Atlesean military compound at the base of Atlas. Of course, even the “easy option” comes with a bevy of security defenses and obstacles, all of which add to Yang’s argument. She tells her sister that it’s hopeless, and that there’s no guarantee help would even come. Ruby starts to get frustrated at Yang’s comments and lays out the big picture threat of Salem. They need to warn the world that the literal apocalypse has started.
Then the music drops out and Yang hits us with a gut punch. “Ruby, when we came here we said we’d follow your lead. But things haven’t exactly worked out.”
Everyone reacts. Ruby looks heartbroken, Weiss looks shocked, Oscar tries to look elsewhere, and Nora only looks determined. Even Penny, who hasn’t spoken or faced us yet, bows her head.
Yang starts to elaborate, but Ren cuts her off, citing the immediate (and attainable) evacuation mission in front of them. Nora steps in on Ruby’s behalf, stating that the entire world needs to know what’s coming. Sensing a brewing argument, Jaune steps between them all. With a cool head, he suggests pursuing both plans; launching Amity and evacuating Mantle. Ruby is hesitant to separate, but Oscar reminds her that the real danger is clashing with each other. It is still possible to work together on separate objectives.
Penny, unable to meet the group’s eyes, offers another alternative; let her give herself and the Staff of Creation up to Salem in hopes that she would spare Atlas. Everyone agrees that giving up either Penny or the Staff is a non-starter, but the comment speaks volumes about our favorite robot’s state-of-mind. Agreed on their current objectives, Ruby takes Nora, a fiercely determined Penny, Blake and Weiss on the Amity mission while Jaune, Ren, Yang and Oscar head to Pietro’s workshop to collect some extra gear.
Throughout this entire discussion, we’ve been seeing small cutaways to scenes of each character out in Mantle. As each character defines their position on the Ruby/Yang argument, they appear beside either sister in their respective scenes. These segues finally resolve themselves into our final scene transition, putting Ruby’s team on a rooftop somewhere below Atlas’ floating mass. Maria comments over the radio that she can get Pietro up to Amity to start repairs, which cleanly sidelines the two of them but leaves Ruby’s team without transport to Atlas.
Weiss starts to suggest an idea for that, but the group is interrupted by a ringtone. It’s Penny’s scroll. The general is calling. Penny answers, and the man who starts speaking is as cool and calm as a veiled dagger. Ironwood starts to appeal to Penny, first telling her he’s concerned for her safety, then asking for her location, before finally invoking her sense of duty to Atlas.
Ruby steps in to comfort Penny and address Ironwood, but the general starts to unravel at the mention of Mantle. Clearly still ruled by fear, Ironwood tells Ruby that Remnant is doomed and that Atlas’ destruction would mean the loss of humanity’s last hope. Ironwood tells Ruby that if Atlas’ defenses are breached, she’ll be responsible for what follows. This final comment is too much for Penny, and Ruby moves to hug her friend.
We transition from Ruby’s worried face to Marrow’s mournful mug. We’re in an Atlas hospital now, beside the AceOps. Vine and Elm look stoic, but Harriet can’t conceal her anger. Before them lies Clover, dead. Across the hall, Ironwood watches his AceOps mourn. Winter is behind him, being swarmed by nurses and swaddled in bandages and braces. As Ironwood looks down at his right hand, now a starkly robotic prosthetic, a brassy leitmotif of Hero plays in the background, reminding us that the general will do whatever it takes to win. A soldier arrives to inform the general that “the prisoners” have arrived and are being placed in stockade B. Winter speaks up, confirming that the prisoners are Qrow and Robyn.
Winter still looks pretty beat up from her fight with Cinder, as well she should. A nurse painfully tests the range of motion in her right hand while her left, the one that Cinder directly slashed, appears to be cocooned in a metal arm guard mounted to a chest brace.
Ironwood asks to speak to Winter privately, and the specialist is quick to assure the general that she’s fine. However, when Winter tries to close her sabre-holding hand, her arm trembles and she can’t make a fist. The general thanks Winter and begins to confide in her. Salem’s hoard is the largest collection of grimm ever seen, and Atlas’ hardlight shields won’t last forever. Winter asks what the general will do, but they are interrupted by the arrival of Sleet and Camilla, the remaining Atlas councilmembers. As the two argue with hospital staff, Ironwood tells Winter that he will do “everything he can to defend this kingdom, no matter the cost.”
And then he steps out and shoots Councilman Sleet. In front of Camilla, the AceOps, Winter and everyone else. And then he just walks away. Harriet makes brief eye contact with Winter, but neither of them say anything.
Our final scene of the premiere is plucked straight from the trailer. Our POV emerges from a gooey, amniotic sac aboard Salem’s whale. Salem holds the Lamp of Knowledge aloft and tells “us” that she has questions. A bony snout sniffs the lamp, and Salem tells the grimm to bring “the one who can show me how” to her. Unlike the trailers, we get one more piece of footage to go with her command.
We see Salem standing, looking down on the grimm and us. Our view of Salem is blocked somewhat by the grimm’s two crooked ears, which look canine in nature. More on this in the Loose Threads section.

Thoughts

At roughly 16 minutes excluding OP and credits, this is the shortest volume premiere since Volume 3. Add in the lack of a fight scene or action piece, and volume 8’s first impression is a little on the lighter side. On the one hand, I understand the need to budget resources, and perhaps that it’s not as important to hook new viewers with the premiere of a show's eight season. On the other hand, I am left wanting a bit more. Just like how Volume 7’s finale initially felt like a mid-season cliffhanger, this feels like we’re picking up where we left off. I suppose that’s pretty fitting given that the larger conflict has already arrived; we don’t need a new inciting incident. Still, the absence is noticeable.
Like any good premiere, this episode establishes the current goals of our heroes and antagonists, as well as the current dilemma facing each side.

• Salem needs the Staff of Creation (and thus the Winter Maiden powers) as well as the information on how to summon Jinn.
• Ironwood is dead set on protecting Atlas, and will do anything necessary to accomplish that end. He needs the Winter Maiden powers to access the Staff of Creation and raise Atlas into the sky.
• The heroes have two goals; launch Amity by infiltrating Atlas, and rescue civilians down in Mantle.

Like I mentioned in the Predictions post, this Mexican stand-off of narrative conflicts makes for a very interesting environment, perfectly set up for tenuous alliances and sneaky double-crosses.
Speaking of characters, we see the return of several in this episode. Not only are the three major factions from the last volume established, but we see the return of Hazel, Mercury, and Emerald. Given how many opponents each faction has, it makes sense to bring them back now. Not only does a full roster call reinforce the idea that this volume is a full-out war, it also gives the animators and choreographers more freedom to split the groups up and fight in smaller teams. I doubt the CRWBY is eager to repeat the Battle of Haven, and suspect that they will instead break Salem’s team up in order to oppose Ironwood and the Beacon gang at the same time. Who knows, we may even get some cool rematches out of it.
While this episode might not have an action sequence, we still saw a pretty important fight. The argument in the barroom marks the start of a growing rift between the usually inseparable members of Team RWBY. Yang is Ruby’s sister; her first friend and closest ally. In volume 5, Yang did everything she could to meet up with Ruby. Ruby was so ashamed of leaving Yang behind that she babbled nervous apologies when Yang finally did show up. And even then, all Yang cared about was that Ruby was safe. Yang has been Ruby’s strongest advocate since the very beginning and she just told Ruby that she’s having doubts about her leadership.
Ruby and Yang’s disagreement also rekindles the argument that’s been brewing between Ren and Nora since the middle of volume 7. Once they each take a side in the sisters’ fight, both teams are split in a way they’ve never been split before. Fundamentally, the gang is divided between those who prioritize the big-picture fight with Salem and those who are focusing on the immediate need to help civilians in Mantle.
This is important, so I want to establish it now; neither of these sides are wrong for thinking the way they do. Sure, we may find that they have their own reasons for disagreeing, but both of these groups want to do the right thing, and have chosen the task that they think is the most important right now. Just like Oscar said in the episode, they can have different goals and still be working together. Both of these objectives need to be accomplished. We might just have some character development to get through along the way.
Penny is also clearly going through a crisis of identity, being pulled in two directions by her duty to Atlas and Mantle. Her only identity before Volume 8 was as a shining warrior of Atlas, and later the Protector of Mantle. Now she’s left the general behind and embraced her role as the Winter Maiden, but her identity is still wrapped up with the safety of Mantle’s citizens. So long as they’re in danger, Penny feels like she’s letting them down. She entertains ideas like returning to the general or giving herself up to Salem because they might give Mantle a chance at survival and thus fulfill her own goal.
Ironwood has committed hard to the antagonist role. I’m not sure if he can redeem himself in a believable way, and it’s clear he doesn’t really want to. As an aside, killing Sleet, while cold-blooded, is likely a calculated move. Sleet was the most vocal of the councilmembers opposing James, and without the results of the latest election, there are now only three filled seats on the Council. Ironwood has ⅔ of those seats, granting him a veto-proof supermajority. The general likely left Camilla alive in case there are any two-person security authorizations he needs to access. Think of it in terms of real-world security. It doesn't matter how powerful or well placed any one person is, you still need two people to launch a nuclear missile. Ironwood's now got a compliant councilmember and has subverted the council's political procedures in one fell swoop.
Winter still trusts the general and looks up to him, but her doubtful expression makes it clear she is concerned about his current behavior. Harriet "It's not excessive if it's necessary" Bree, on the other hand, seems to resolve herself after Ironwood takes his shot. Winter may be looking at a conflict with the AceOps before this volume's through.

Opening Analysis

Now let's take a look at that OP sequence. The opening begins with Ruby looking out on Atlas and Mantle. As she watches, the kingdom flashes between a scenic winter day and a dark red, war-torn wasteland crawling with grimm. Ruby blinks and finds herself in an open space, separated from her friends and facing a different direction. This distance reinforces how emotionally distant Ruby is feeling from her friends right now.
Next we get a sequence of each member of team RWBY mid-action, all with their past self imposed somewhere on their bodies. Ruby’s cape is covered with a scene of her visiting Summer’s grave in her Beacon-era outfit. Weiss stands with her V5 character short imposed on her heart. Blake swings with Gambol Shroud while it’s scabbard shows her days in the White Fang. Yang looks cheerily into the distance while a pre-Beacon memory from Patch is imposed on her hair. Then Ironwood appears, the picture of Atlas on his chest transforming into a smoldering ruin. Clearly, we're seeing fragments of what drive each character and inform their motivations.
Clover’s hand drops his four-leaf pin and as it falls we see each of the remaining AceOps. Elm looks wary, Vine is meditating, Marrow looks downcast, and Harriet looks enraged. We also see Qrow looking dejected, but Robyn lifts him to his feet.
We pan over to Oscar clutching his head in pain while a menacing winged Salem looms over him. If we had any doubts that Oscar was going to be captured, they’ve been dashed.
The next shot shows us Jaune, Ren, and Nora standing apart in a triangle shape. Jaune is framed in between them, facing the camera and presumably Salem’s army. Meanwhile, Ren shies away from looking at Nora, and Nora glances over her shoulder at Ren, a worried look in her eyes. Nora turns to face him, but the scene cuts away with a flash of pink lightning.
Winter and Weiss approach each other from across a Schnee glyph, but we see that their paths don’t cross. Both look confident as they approach, but as they pass each other, Weiss has her head raised high while Winter looks down in regret, or perhaps shame. Willow and Whitley also look on, worried expressions on their faces.
The shot zooms out to show Salem commanding a black chess board, the pieces quickly turning into different kinds of grimm. Across from her stands Ironwood, but his white pieces quickly dissolve along with the chessboard, leaving him alone.
We get a quick sequence of Watts and Pietro on either side of a mirror, presumably both trying to win back control of the Atlas network. Pietro’s reflection spares a glance at the nearby Penny, who, while outwardly resolute is betrayed by her shattering reflection.
Back on the tundra, a snowflake falls into Ren’s hands and quickly turns into a lotus petal. Jaune puts a hand on Ren’s shoulder, and as Yang and Oscar pull up beside them, Ren smiles. Another lotus petal blows past Nora, who cannot grab it before she’s joined by the “Atlas” team. She grins and readies her weapon as both teams get ready to face down a tundra full of grimm.
As we get a full spread of Atlas, Salem’s whale, Mantle, and a whole mess of grimm, Penny suddenly flies away from our heroes and turns to face them, weapons drawn.
The gang quickly descend into a short combat sequence against the grimm which freezes mid-action. Cinder emerges to observe the frozen heroes, passing by a cross Neo and a hopeful but ultimately rejected Emerald. Before she can walk away, however, flames erupt as Cinder grabs her grimm arm in pain. The other members of Salem’s retinue flash by as we zoom in on the witch’s eyes where we see her goal; the relics.
Jinn’s lamp spins around the Staff of Creation, and they both start to emit their own shades of blue smoke before the camera cuts away to Ruby and the gang, now standing alone on the tundra.
Team RWBY then falls through the ice into darkness, each plunging into dark waters that seem to glow like the Brother of Light’s reflection pool. Ruby opens her eyes and reaches for a distant Staff of Creation, but she is enveloped by grimm arms and dragged deeper.
The OP ends with an artsy sequence of sketches alternating with the words “Happy? EveNever, AfteAgain.” We see a canine grimm’s mouth opening wide, a closeup of Penny’s eyes turning from green to red, and team RWBY’s weapons all falling to the ground.
Let's talk for a minute about the music itself. The melody is energetic and the vocals seem much clearer than in earlier volumes, which is great since the lyrics foreshadow volume 8's tone. The lyrics are about useless sacrifices and the fear that evil will triumph over good. Lyrics like “Roses will never bloom, some dreams will die on the vine” really set the mood. It reminds me a lot of “When It Falls” in tone. But while that song started out ominous and unsettling, which fit the show's drastic tone shift in volume 3, volume 8’s opening has a much more immediate sense of urgency. This also fits the current narrative. Salem’s here and we’re under attack. Our heroes sacrificed a lot to get here and we still don’t know if it will all turn out fine in the end.
But even still, some hope remains. The song ends with these lyrics: “Sometimes it’s worth it all to risk the fall and fight for every life.” In fact, there’s several lyrics in the opening that sway between hopeless and hopeful. We follow “Maybe the path home will finally be clear” with “maybe the end we tried to avoid is already here.” That’s this opening’s theme; uncertainty.
It’s a good thing none of us have a habit of trying to predict RWBY or anything...

Predictions

In the immediate future, I expect the next episode to continue advancing every faction’s progress. We’ll probably get team JOYR (Joyride) entering Pietro’s shop and picking up the new equipment, team RNBWP (Rainbow) will start heading up to Atlas, the AceOps will probably get their new marching orders (and thus defining their immediate narrative goal). We’ll also probably see more of Cinder and Salem’s retinue. Fight-wise, I think we’re most likely to see small skirmishes with teams JOYR and RNBWP, but I suspect we’ll have to wait a little longer for the meatier fights. The narrative gears only just started turning. I will say that I expect Salem’s “seeker” grimm to pop up next episode, maybe as it hunts around for Oscar.
If we start working the OP into our predictions, we can set our gaze a little farther out. We obviously see Mantle under attack, spotlighting the main conflict of the volume. Oscar’s torment by Salem supports the “captured farmboy” theory that’s been around since the trailers dropped, and implies that the young wizard is about to have a rough time.
We also see conflicts growing between several characters, which seems to be setting up the larger emotional struggles our key characters will face in this volume. We can see Ren’s doubts physically manifesting in his isolation, as well as Nora’s concern at their straining relationship. However, Ren cheers up when Jaune and the Mantle team show up, which seems to point towards them helping him overcome his emotional roadblocks.
We also see the Schnee siblings a few times. Unlike volume 7’s opening, when they made eye contact, Weiss and Winter seem to be walking divergent paths in this OP. What’s even more telling is that the normally confident Winter looks crestfallen, while Weiss confidently holds her head high. Throw in Winter’s behavior in the hospital, and I think it’s pretty clear which schneebling is starting to question their life’s direction.
The final character conflict in the OP that I want to focus on is Cinder’s. Ever since her introduction, Cinder has used people as tools to further her goals. What’s more, we know she’s been doing this for even longer thanks to Fall (V3E6). Just like we saw this episode, she sees people as “assets” with “useful abilities.” That’s what Neo is, that’s what Mercury is, and that’s what Emerald is.
Now, we’ve seen what Mercury thinks of Cinder and Salem in Lost (V6E9); he joined both to be on “the winning side” when a new world order is created. Emerald has a deeper emotional investment in Cinder, given that she rescued Emerald from a life of poverty. No matter how abusive Cinder acts or how one-sided the relationship is, Emerald has clung pretty closely to Cinder. But Neo is different. Neo had a comfortable life before Cinder came into the picture. If anything, Cinder’s appearance forced Torchwick into the big leagues, into jobs and crimes that he had no business involving himself in. And we KNOW that Neo feels this way, because she attacked Cinder back in Miss Malachite’s bar in volume 6. The only reason she switched focus to Ruby is because Cinder convinced her to join forces (and, more importantly, because Neo couldn’t beat Cinder’s Maiden powers).
So Neo’s working relationship with Cinder is strictly business, and she’s certainly not happy about Cinder calling her an “asset” and stealing the credit for the Lamp’s capture. More and more, it looks like the only thing keeping Neo from backstabbing Cinder is the power dynamic. Unfortunately, Neo’s in deeper than ever now that the rest of Salem’s crew has arrived. She could sure use allies of her own right now…
At the same time, we have Emerald’s meeting with Cinder. Now, Emerald hasn’t seen Cinder since the Battle of Haven back in Volume 5. She’s been desperate for news about the closest thing she has to a mother figure. And what’s the first thing Cinder does when Emerald sees her and tries to run to her side? She tells Emerald to shut up and stay away, because the adults are talking. Mercury may have given Emerald the “she doesn’t care about you” talk back in Lost, but Cinder just gave her a solid reminder of that sentiment.
Now, we don’t know how or where Emerald’s faith in Cinder will break, but I do think that falling-out is coming. Cinder has always ruled by fear. When Adam, Torchwick, and Neo rejected her initial offers, she threatened them. She’s never built any relationships on trust, because she trusts no one but herself. Now, it appears, the bill is starting to come due.
Finally, let’s talk about Penny. I think we’ve gotten “Penny gets hacked” theories ever since volume 3, but this volume those ideas seem to have more merit than usual. Not only does the OP show Watts hacking, implying that Salem will rescue him from jail, but Penny is absent from the team-based fighting sequence. Instead, Penny turns to face the gang right before the fighting starts. And all of that is leaving aside the eye-color change we see in the OP’s final seconds. We clearly watch Penny’s color scheme go from her normal orange/green to full red, and we know this isn’t an art choice because her facial expression goes from animated to serious when the color switches.
My ideas about how this might happen and what the ramifications could be are still forming; I don’t want to throw out a theory with only one episode of evidence. However, given how powerful and important Penny is to the kingdom’s current conflict, much hinges on where her loyalty lies. What’s to stop Ironwood from using Watts to take Penny back by force? What’s to stop a hacked Penny from pretending to return to Ironwood, retrieving the Staff, and flying the relic back to Salem? Strap yourselves in, RWBY fans, because the twists are going to get gnarly if any of this comes to pass.

Loose Threads

• My guess is that Salem’s “seeker” grimm is a black dog; a creature of British folklore that was said to haunt graveyards, crossroads, and places of execution. It appears to actually be quite small, which would be a nice change of pace for a threatening grimm; kind of a support creature to ferret out the quarry and report its location before the inevitable wyvern pick-up. A specialist within Salem’s larger plan, like the seer grimm.
• It wouldn’t be a RWBY episode if I didn’t have to pause and read something. The bar is full of little details, posters, and pictures that add a level of life and history, which in turn add to the level of tragedy and loss we viewers and the characters are currently feeling. They include:
  • A Six Swans Vodka label, like the brand that Willow was drinking
  • Several Robyn posters, either brought in by the Huntresses or the previous owners. Speaking of which...
  • A big picture on the wall of two women, one with an eyepatch and one with fox ears. I'd assume these are the owners, but they could be local heroes, favorite customers, or something else. Part of me thinks they must be important if they have distinct designs, but it may just be the art team fleshing out the world. Gone are the days of shadow people. (EDIT: Eddy Rivas has confirmed on Twitter that the picture is of the bar's owners, and that they aren't terribly important. Oh well.)
  • A poster for Rumple Stilltskin Whiskey. We're just filling out the whole liquor cabinet, aren't we.
  • There's also another poster on the back wall, though I can't make out the figure in it.
• I am glad to see Ruby wearing her hood up. I am, really. But her sneaking is slightly undercut by her bright red cloak.
• Winter’s new armor has a very N7/Commander Shepard vibe, and I’m all about that. Throw in the ponytail and I’m just waiting for the fanart. On a more analytical note, it looks like the "armor" may be a powered brace that's hooked to a chest mounting. It's probably something to assist her while she recovers.
• Winter’s recovery may answer some questions about aura. Do you have to heal completely before you can generate an aura? Is your aura weaker when you’re also healing an injury? What does an aura-less hunter’s capabilities look like? Depending on when she gets back in the fight, we may get answers to these questions.
• I liked seeing the elderly mole faunus down in the crater. His faunus trait is easy to miss at first, but I can absolutely see something that distinct causing a lifetime of prejudice and mistreatment. Reminding us of how unique and un-human-like some faunus can be does a lot of legwork in making their oppression seem understandable within the world.
• It’s a small moment, but I really appreciated that it was Jaune who stepped in to deescalate the growing argument in the barroom. This man praised Ruby for being an anchor in volume 4 and keeping Team RNJR going after the Fall of Beacon. His own journey has always been about being there for his friends. I doubt this is the last time Jaune will have to intervene this year. It may be his turn to be the gang’s rock.
• In the opening, we see Jinn’s smoke start to emerge from the Lamp of Knowledge. However, we also see a darker blue smoke start to emerge from the Staff of Creation. I think this is hinting at a Jinn-like consciousness inside the Staff, which would imply that all the Relics have an intelligence inside them, which would honestly be very fitting. Maybe it’s the dungeon master in me talking, but nothing says high-magic like living magic items.

Conclusion

That’s going to do it for this week’s episode review. It might not have been the action-packed “kickstart” I was hoping for, but we’ve now got a lot of drama simmering on the backburner. That all but guarantees that future episodes will be a wild ride.
Sorry this review was a bit of a monster, but between the premiere and the new opening we had a lot to analyze. This was also a bit of a busy week for me, which is why this is coming out a few days later than I’d like. Hopefully as the volume progresses I’ll get back into the swing of things and can put these reviews out in a reasonable timeframe.
Thank you all again for reading. If you enjoyed my writing, you can find my masterpost [HERE]. Until next time, be safe, be creative, and be excellent to each other!

Apologies in advance, this post is pretty long and there's not much to tl;dr. This also obviously spoils the fights from Volumes 4-7. I have no idea how many people actually realize just how rare hits from bladed weapons actually are in RWBY, I just found it interesting so I made this.
At one point I suddenly realized how rarely blades seem to make contact in RWBY, at least during combat when the fighters still have aura. Blades do of course make contact pretty often once aura is broken and people need to get wounded, like when Qrow gets sliced with Tyrian's stinger or Weiss is impaled by Cinder's spear. But in actual combat other kinds of attacks hit way more often than blades. Characters get punched, kicked, shot, or sometimes smashed with big hammers or other blunt weapons.
So I started going through the show and making notes on how often blades actually make contact. I also had to set some rules on what I considered a "valid hit" for the sake of this post. I actually started taking these notes like two months ago but stopped before Battle of Haven because I had better stuff to do. As it says in the title, this weirdness only seems to appear in Volumes 4-7. In the earlier Volumes characters like Weiss and Pyrrha could land multiple hits with their weapons in a single fight. I started to take more detailed notes at Battle of Haven, so the stuff before that is pretty brief. I included hits from other types of attacks to make it clear just how often those kinds of attacks land hits compared to blades. All direct hit descriptions should be bolded to make them stand out, since the lists got pretty long. Each fight should also have a bolded mention of how many valid hits landed in that fight.
So in order for an attack to count as a "valid hit" as I called them, it must follow the three rules/guidelines I came up with. Sometimes it was also hard to tell if a hit landed or not, even when watching the fight slowed down or frame by frame.

1. The fight must be between named human/faunus characters, mooks and Grimm do not count.
2. In combat while the fighters still have aura and are protected by that aura.
3. Only direct hits with blades count, other parts of bladed weapons such as pommels do not count. Unarmed parries are a grey area and not counted as valid hits. No bullets or energy attacks.

​

Volume 4

RNJR vs Tyrian (V4:E6 - Tipping Point)

• Bunch of kicks and tail strikes
• Tyrian’s arm blades only hit weapons, and Ruby’s scythe and Ren’s blades don’t hit anything. No valid hits!

Qrow & RNJR vs Tyrian (V4:E7 - Punished)

• Tyrian’s tail comes to contact with Qrow’s sword when Tyrian uses it to parry or Qrow parries attacks from the tail, but no valid hits.
• Punches and kicks from both Qrow and Tyrian.
• Tyrian wounds Qrow with his stinger after Qrow’s aura is broken.
• Ruby severs Tyrian's stinger after Tyrian's aura is already broken.
• No valid hits!

Blake & Sun vs Ilia (V4:E9 - Two Steps Forward, Two Steps Back)

• Ilia’s weapon may have touched Sun’s face slightly, when Sun falls on his back trying to avoid the weapon.
• Ilia wounds Sun after his aura has been depleted by his semblance.
• No valid hits!

​

Volume 5

Menagerie fights (V5:E9 - A Perfect Storm & V5:E10 - True Colors)
Ghira, Sun and Blake vs Albains

• Ghira gets hit by a fireball, which breaks his aura.
• No valid hits!

Blake vs Ilia

• Blake is hit with Ilia’s weapon in whip mode. (Unclear if it’s supposed to have an edge, I’m not counting this as a valid hit.)
• No valid hits.

Ghira, Blake and Sun vs Albains & Ilia

• Ghira is stabbed, but his aura already broke earlier.
• No valid hits.

Battle of Haven fights (V5:C11 - V5:C14)
Entrance and courtyard

• Ruby gets fireballed by Cinder.
• Ruby is entangled in Emerald’s chain and slammed to the floor.
• Qrow is kicked by Raven.
• Weiss is smacked by Vernal’s weapon. Direct hit!
• Weiss is shot in the back by Vernal.
• Weiss is hit with a beam attack from both of Vernal’s weapons, which causes her aura to break.
• Ruby is knocked out by Emerald’s weapon after using her silver eyes. Direct hit! (Unless using silver eyes lowered her aura for a moment, in which case this hit is not actually valid.)
• Jaune slices off a tiny piece of Cinder’s eyepatch when she’s weakened by silver eyes. Not a direct hit since the area doesn’t seem to be protected by aura during the strike. I think getting blasted by SE made Cinder drop her defenses for a moment.
• Cinder steps on Jaune. Kinky.
• Hazel parries Ren’s attacks with his arms, no valid hits.
• Weiss is impaled by Cinder’s spear. Not a valid hit since her aura is already broken.
• Oscar smacks Lionheart’s head with the cane.
• Mercury kicks Yang on her head.
• Hazel punches Oscar, sending the poor boy across the room.
• Hazel block’s Qrow’s attack with his arm, not a valid hit.
• Qrow kicks Lionheart.
• Ozpin smacks the shit out of Hazel.
• Mercury kicks the shit out of Yang.
• Oscar is hit on the shoulder by one of Lionheart’s flaming rocks.
• Qrow gets hit on the fucking spine by Hazel’s lightning punch! You can see Qrow’s skeleton!
• Ruby headbutt’s Mercury’s smug face.
• Ren gets hit by Hazel’s lightning punch, and then by a ranged lightning blast immediately afterwards.
• Ozpin is hit by Hazel’s lightning punch.
• Hazel uses his shocking grasp on Nora. Big mistake.
• Nora hits Hazel with the hammer, blasting him through the wall.
• Blake smacks Adam. Very nice.
• Hazel is impaled by the Queen Lancer summon.
• Sun smacks Adam in the face with a gunchuck.
• Hazel murders the Queen Lancer summon with a ranged fire/lightning blast.
• Blake kicks Hazel in the face, thus avenging the Queen Lancer summon.
• Yang tears Raven apart with words, causing more damage than any other attack in this fight. And yes, that includes Weiss getting impaled and Qrow getting punched in the fucking spine.
• Ruby shoots Lionheart’s weapon, breaking his aura.
• Lionheart gets tentacled to death by the SeeSalem.
• Emerald attacks the good guys with a hallucination depicting a giant floating nightmare Salem. Psychic damage is the real winner in this fight.
• Two valid hits! (Or possibly only one.)

Raven vs Cinder

• Vernal is mortally wounded by Cinder’s Grimm arm.
• Cinder’s Grimm arm is wounded by a shard of her broken weapon. Not a valid hit, aura can’t protect the arm since it’s Grimm. Thanks for the help Raven, maybe you aren’t so bad after all.
• Raven is slammed to a wall and gets some of her aura/magic drained.
• Cinder is smashed by some falling rocks.
• Raven kicks Cinder with both legs. And then does it again.
• Both Raven and Cinder are slammed to the vault floor with the falling rocks, and their auras flicker.
• Raven hits Cinder with a badass lightning facepalm.
• There’s a whole bunch of sword fighting in this battle, but I can’t find a single direct hit. Every strike from an edged weapon is either dodged or parried. No valid hits!

​

Volume 6

Cinder vs Neo (V6C5: The Coming Storm)

• Neo doesn’t use the blade in her weapon, and Cinder doesn’t use her sword until the second half of the fight when they go outside.
• Cinder kicks Neo in the face. Other unarmed strikes may have landed too.
• Cinder’s sword attacks are either dodged or parried, no valid hits.

Maria vs Tock + goons (V6C7: The Grimm Reaper)

• Maria lands a hit on Tock with one of her small scythes, but I’m not sure if I should count this. Tock specifically has a semblance that makes her invulnerable and Maria’s weapon literally bounces off on impact. Definitely a grey area though.
• Tock kicks Maria three times in the fight, the third kick causes Maria’s aura to deplete.
• Tock headbutts Maria and slashes her eyes, blinding the Grimm Reaper.
• Tock’s aura is depleted when her invulnerability minute runs out.
• Maria buries one of her scythe blades in Tock’s back, and then most likely decapitates her with the second scythe.
• One ambiguously valid hit.

​
Blake & Yang vs Adam (V6:C10 - V6:C12)
Chapter 10 - Stealing from the Elderly

• Blake kicks Adam.
• Adam launches his sword at Blakes and hits her head with the sword’s hilt. (The sword doesn’t really have a pommel so I just say hilt.)

Chapter 11 - The Lady in the Shoe

• Adam cuts Blake’s coat with the sword and Blake kicks Adam.
• Blake shoots Adam multiple times, landing two hits but Adam deflects the rest with his sword.
• Adam hits Blake’s head with his sword’s hilt.
• Adam cuts Gambol Shroud’s blade in half.
• Yang enters the fight by landing a direct hit on Adam with a motorcycle.
• Yang parries all of Adam’s cuts with her gauntlet and prosthetic, and lands a whole bunch of punches and kicks on the goatboy.
• Yang lands some more hits on Adam, including a really nice kick to the head.
• Adam uses Moonslice on Yang twice, but she blocks both with her gauntlet and prosthetic arm. The second attack damages her metal arm, but I consider the ranged Moonslice to be an energy attack, rather than an attack with a bladed weapon.

Chapter 12 - Seeing Red

• Blake and Yang double team Adam, landing multiple punches and kicks on him.
• Blake is blasted to a cliff, which causes her aura to break.
• Adam lands two kicks and another strike on Yang. I’m not sure about the third strike, it’s either with the sword hilt or his head, but definitely not with the blade. (at 9:02 in the episode)
• Adam hits Yang with a Moonslice from point-blank range, but I don’t think the blade itself hits.
• Yang blocks another ranged Moonslice, and then catches the blade with her metal hand.
• Yang uses her semblance and lands a solid hit with her gauntlet, breaking Adam’s aura. Her own aura is also depleted immediately afterwards.
• Blake returns to the fight and punches Adam in his stupid face.
• Blake and Yang stab Adam with the broken halves of Gambol Shroud.
• Adam falls to the sea and smashes on the cliff on his way down. Goatboy is super dead.
• Even in a long fight that included two sword-wielding characters, every strike with a blade was either parried or dodged. No valid hits!

​

Volume 7

Blake and Yang vs Robyn (V7C7: Worst Case Scenario)

• All strikes from blades are either dodged or parried. There’s one instance at 12:05 when Blake may have landed a hit, I’m not sure if Robyn parries it with her weapon or not.
• Robyn kicks Blake.
• Robyn hits Blake’s fire clone but shields herself with her weapon.
• Blake kicks Robyn.
• No clear hits, but one ambiguous hit that I’m not sure about.

V7:C11 - Gravity
Ironwood vs Watts

• No blades are involved in this fight, but I’m including it in the list because it helps to show how often other types of attacks land proper hits. Also it’s a really cool fight, so I wanted to watch it again.
• Ironwood punches and kicks Watts, the hits even cause visible shockwaves.
• Ironwood is hit by one of the arena geysers.
• Watts shoots Ironwood with a fire dust bullet, which bounces off of Ironwood’s aura.
• Ironwood shoots Watts with a gravity dust bullet. This blasts Watts off his feet, slams him to the floor and then smashes him to a wall.
• Ironwood kicks Watts to the same wall again, punches him in the face and torso, and finally lifts him by the neck with one hand.
• Ironwood shoots Watts in the right shoulder from behind, which causes his aura to flicker.
• Ironwood grabs Watts in the air and punches him, Watts retaliates with a headbutt.
• Ironwood catches Watts by the ankle and smashes him to the floor, finally breaking his aura.
• Ironwood tackles Watts and they both plummet to the center of the arena. This finally breaks Ironwood’s aura.
• Watts hits Ironwood twice with the butt of his revolver, first in the face and next in the torso.
• Ironwood retaliates with four strikes to the face, two with his revolver and two with his left fist. He then finishes the combo with a punch to the torso.
• The fight is basically over after this. No valid hits from blades obviously, but a pretty brutal fight with both bullets and melee attacks.

Qrow, Clover and Robyn vs Tyrian

• Qrow delivers the first hits with a punch to Tyrian’s face, followed by a knee and a pommel strike to Tyrian’s torso.
• After Clover grapples Tyrian with his weapon, Qrow attacks again. Tyrian blocks his sword strike but Qrow manages to land a second punch to the face.
• Tyrian escapes the grapple and kicks both Qrow and Clover.
• Disarmed Qrow lands a kick to the back of Tyrian’s head.
• Qrow delivers a third punch to Tyrian’s face.
• Robyn shoots a bolt to Tyrian’s face by ricocheting the bolt off of Harbinger, causing Tyrian’s aura to flicker from the hit.
• Qrow lands a kick to Tyrian’s torso, followed by a strike and shotgun blast with Harbinger’s tonfa mode but Tyrian manages to block those with his weapons.
• Qrow punches Tyrian in his midsection and then kicks him.
• Clover wraps Tyrian with a bola and then grabs his arm with the fishing line of his weapon, allowing Qrow to punch the immobilized Tyrian in the midsection again.
• Tyrian escapes the grapple again, and catches Robyn’s bolt with his teeth. The bolt explodes and finally breaks his aura.
• Robyn kicks the prone but laughing Tyrian in the head, apparently knocking him unconscious.
• All strikes from blades are either dodged or parried. No valid hits!

V7:C12 - With Friends Like These
Qrow and Robyn vs Clover

• All strikes from blades are either dodged or parried.
• The only important thing that happens here is Tyrian getting free. Clover launches his hook at Robyn, the hook is deflected and hits the metal bar where Tyrian’s restraints are attached to.

RWBY vs The Ace-Ops

• Harriet kicks Ruby in the head which also smashes Ruby to an elevator door.
• Yang punches Elm in the face.
• Elm retaliates with a headbutt, followed by a hammer strike that sends Yang flying.
• Elm runs through Yang’s explosions without slowing down.
• Elm jabs Yang with the hammer, and then pulls Blake closer and smashes her too.
• Vine grabs Blake with his glowy arms and smashes her to a wall, causing her aura to flicker.
• Yang grabs Elm’s hammer and fires her gauntlets to blast Elm away.
• Blake blows Vine away from his position with Yang’s explosives. Yang then wraps him with a bola and smashes him to the floor, breaking Vine’s aura and knocking him unconscious.
• Weiss blasts Marrow with four fireballs, breaking his aura and knocking him unconscious.
• Harriet smashes Ruby to the floor.
• Ruby wraps Harriet with a bola and punches her head.
• Yang smashes the floor which launches Elm upwards. Yang and Blake then punch Elm from opposite directions, breaking her aura and knocking her unconscious.
• Harriet charges Ruby but hits an ice wall created by Weiss, which breaks Harriet’s aura and she falls unconscious almost immediately.
• No valid hits, blades were barely used.

Qrow vs Clover vs Tyrian

• Clover hooks Harbinger and punches Qrow in the face.
• Qrow tries to hook Clover’s legs with his scythe but Clover avoids it by jumping. However the jump leaves him open and Qrow manages to land a kick to Clover’s torso.
• Tyrian also kicks Clover when he’s jumping.
• Clover punches Qrow in the torso, and Tyrian then kicks Clover in the head.
• Qrow hits Clover with a blast from Harbinger’s shotgun part.
• Tyrian kicks Clover. Qrow punches Clover. Clover punches Qrow.
• Qrow lands a hit with Harbinger’s blade on Clover’s back. Direct hit!
• Clover kicks Tyrian and punches Qrow.
• Clover hooks Qrow’s leg and throws him away.
• Tyrian shoots Clover in the back with a burst from his weapons.
• Clover hits Tyrian’s head with Kingfisher.
• Qrow punches Clover, breaking his aura.
• Tyrian impales Clover with Harbinger. Not a valid hit since Clover’s aura was already broken.
• Almost all strikes from blades are either dodged or parried, but Qrow does actually manage to land a cut with his sword. One valid hit!

V7:C13 - The Enemy of Trust
JNR and Oscar vs Neo

• This is a pretty short fight with very few attacks, so I don’t go into detail.
• No valid hits!

Winter and Penny vs Cinder

• Cinder catches Penny’s fist and throws her through a wall.
• Cinder kicks Winter after a short clash of blades.
• Cinder kicks Winter and then Penny soon afterwards.
• Cinder grabs Winter and Penny and then flies through the wall while holding them.
• Winter stabs Cinder’s Grimm arm. Not a valid hit since the Grimm arm doesn’t have aura.
• Cinder creates a sword and kicks it towards Penny. Penny catches it but the sword explodes.
• Winter’s summoned Manticore hits Cinder with an energy attack. After a brief clash the Manticore scores a second hit with a similar attack.
• Cinder murders the summoned Manticore. She then launches a fireball at Winter, breaking Winter’s aura.
• Winter severs Cinder’s Grimm arm. Again not a valid hit.
• Cinder wounds Winter. Not a valid hit since Winter’s aura was already broken.
• Cinder smacks Winter to an ice wall.
• Ruby arrives and Cinder flees because of the silver eyes.
• No valid hits!

Hello friends!
​
Its been a while since I've made an opinion/theory post, but for far from the first time a certain idea has been brought up to me, one that I wholeheartedly disagree with. So, I would like to here make a rebuttal to it.
In Volume 7 some of the weapons of our cast were upgraded with new abilities and functions. Crescent Rose can spin a new way, Ember Celica can now attach sticky bombs, Crosea Mors can now use different types of dust for a number of effects, and Storm Flower got grapnel hooks.
Some however were left out. Such as how Gambol Shroud only got repaired without any real difference from before, and Magnhild doesn't seem to have had anything done to it as well.
But the focus of this post is Weiss's Multi-Action Dust Rapier; Myrtenaster.
Just like with the two last aforementioned weapons, there doesn't appear to be anything done by Pietro at the beginning of Volume 7 to have improved or upgraded the sword in any way. The model itself has not changed (as all of the upgraded weapons and the repaired Gambol Shroud have) and Weiss does nothing with it we haven't seen before.
Some might believe that in the fight with the centinals in "Ace Operatives", when we do see Ruby's and Yang's new abilities, that we see one for Weiss as well; when she shoots what appears to be an ice shard at of the Grimm to kill it. We have indeed never seen this specifically before, however there have been several comparable time Weiss has shot dust from her weapon before: Several times including in "The Emerald Forest" she blasts a wave of fire from her blade, against Flynt in the Vytal Tournament she fires wind, and in "Battle of Beacon" she makes what appears to be a hardlight shield that repels some White Fang grunts. So while it might be theoretically possible that this specific ability, as unseen before, is new: the most logical conclusion is that it is just a slight variation on what we've seen before. Thus; Myrtenaster has gotten no upgrade
For many, this is fine. Weiss already has the most versatile/adaptable abilities, so she doesn't need an upgrade. Personally, I think its unfair and unfun if only some of the team get upgrades, but this is a completely reasonable viewpoint. Weiss doesn't need an upgrade.
However; where I have issue is the argument that Myrtenaster doesn't need an upgrade because it is "perfect" already.
Firstly, this implies that the weapons that were upgraded already weren't perfect or at least not as much as Myrtenaster. Sure, one can definitely argue the weakness of Crosea Mors and Storm Flower. The former lacks nearly any utility and was the weakest weapon of any of them, the latter likewise lacked utility (though IMO it's being relativity weak has always been more of an issue). Myrtenaster however fits Weiss quite well and has proven incredibly useful.
But I don't think one can reasonably say it's always been more perfect than Crescent Rose and Ember Celica. Ruby and Yang have both used their weapons to great effect in the past, and have both gotten added utility out of them by using the firing to propel themselves and/or the weapon itself. Ruby can fire different types of ammunition and snipe, where as Yang's robotic arm has proven itself a good shield.
I don't think that Myrtenaster can be said to be more "perfect" than these.
Then comes the next part of any of such debate; that is as to what could be done to upgrade Myrtenaster in the first place. Indeed; being the non-transforming weapon of the group as well as a light and elegant one it is more of an issue to upgrade, but I don't think this task near insurmountable. And to see some potential, let us look at ways that Myrtenaster is possibly not so perfect in the first place.
The first of which is that, uniquely for the weapons of the main 4, Myrtenaster very well might not have a ranged ability that doesn't require (as it isn't quite a gun). Using raw dust and the manner we see these glyphless attacks; it is probable that Weiss has to put her aura into the dust to do these; a disadvantage from the cartridge firearms of others. Now this might not seem such a disadvantage; Weiss has numerous ranged abilities, what need does she have for a gun? Well, Weiss is also the character who has run out of aura the most. So if that were to happen again, which is very probable, it leaves her with only a pointy metal stick.
Second isn't as much a failing but simply something that could be improved upon; Myrtenaster appears to only be able to use one type of dust at a time. While not in and of itself an issue; it is something that could be upgraded.
Thirdly; when summoning Myrtenaster is in the ground and unavailable. While of course the best case scenario is that Weiss needn't worry about having another option when summoning, and her fight against Marrow shows she has learned how to better cover her weakness while summoning, she could still have another option. And on this, do note that Weiss can be seen being able to divert at least some attention from her summoning and still able to keep it active; specifically an example is in "Our Way" when she keeps her lancer up for Ruby but has her attention drawn to the still living leviathan.
Now, some potential upgrades:
The least invasive (only a minor visual change on the guard would suffice) and easiest would be to solve the second one; if a second port is added to the weapon then it could potentially fire two type of dust at a time. This could give the ability to more quickly make different types of glyph. Or a combination attack like firing water and lightning dust at the same time. Or, potentially, since we know that certain types of dust are simply combinations of others, she could use more types than she has chambers (like firing fire and water at the same time to make steam dust; which could be used even more quickly to make a smoke screen to hide her summoning like used against Marrow).
Another that could upgrade could solve the third issue, and maybe the second; add a secondary blade like Winter's. It's already been stated that Weiss based her weapon on Winter's, so why not take it just a step farther? Visually the only change might be a slightly extended hilt to the sword, and then it could be pulled out to reveal another blade (like Winter's sword or Hush) or maybe it's even part gun (it would quite small, but better than nothing). I think it could work within her fighting style too.
These are the two that I can think of, but more creative people could probably think of others as well.
As I said at the beginning; Weiss doesn't need an upgrade. She is a very capable fighter as she is. The main reason I want her to have one is mostly that it would be most fun for all the characters to have them at once. It's perfectly reasonable to say that.
But: I will always assert that Myrtenaster isn't more perfect than the weapons that got upgrades, and there is the potential there for upgrades to be made in a logical and reasonable manner.
Honestly, I don't really think I'll convince any of you of anything, but I hope we can have a good discussion none the less :)
Thank you for reading,
Rune
(I apologize for any mistakes)

Okay, so I know the RWBY wiki isn't 100 present accurate, but when I was looking at the individual character pages of team RWBY I noticed something. When I got to the weapon section for Ruby, Blake, and Yang it says:

later received an upgrade in Atlas.

and

In Volume 7, after being upgraded, Cresent Rose's blade is now capable of rotation, allowing Ruby to swing her weapon more freely when in cramped spaces such as caves.

and

In Volume 7, Yang's arm is modified. It is now larger with more mass and more gold plates around. It more resembles the design of Ember Celica

First one is from the Blake's Page, second is from Ruby's, and third is Yang's page.
Anyways so my question was what about Weiss's weapon upgrade, but then I looked at the weapon pages themselves. Both Crescent Rose and Ember Celica's pages go into detail about there upgrade, but Gambol Shroud section says:

After arriving in Atlas, Gambol Shroud's blade was fixed by Pietro Polendina and now has a golden line where the blade was broken.

Which is weird since it doesn't talk at all about an upgrade just the repair.
My question now is did Pietro actually upgrade all the weapons like he said he did or did he only upgrade Ruby, Yang, Jaune, and Ren,? If not what are the upgrades for the other's and will we see them/did I just not notice?

So, pre-emptively, this does not apply to all of Blake's fights. But it's becoming more of a habit as the show goes on. Basically, Blake is made to look bad so her fight partner gets to look cool. And it's happened in nearly every volume of the show to date. Let's break it down:

• Volume 1, Black Trailer- Blake pretty much spends her own trailer as Adam's hype man, doesn't get the glory shot of the trailer and just isn't as impressive visually as Adam. Still, it's the one time the show properly remembered her ribbons so points for that at least. But for the most part, while Blake does get cool moments, they're all drastically overshadowed by her sparring partner.
  
• Volume 1, dock fight: While Blake is taking cover from Roman's rocket fire, Sun shows up and lays the smackdown on the White Fang. Then it leads into the 2v1 with Torchwick. Less egregious than some of the other examples as Roman gets the upper hand on both Blake and Sun at different points but... well it still happens.
  

(also wow I forgot how hilariously bad Ruby's made to look to prop up Penny. In her own show's season finale, no less.)

• Volume 2, RWBY vs Paladin: Blake actually gets a really good showing here, I'm just marking it down for, on a character level, Blake needing her partner's Semblance explained to her. I know it was meant to be Sun or Neptune who freaked out at Yang getting smushed but rigging meant it was easier to cut them out of the fight, but it still makes Blake look really oblivious at best that she never noticed Yang's hair lighting on fire before, when they've been partners for an entire semester.
  
• Volume 2, train fights: I'm just noting this as another aversion as Blake actually has the best showing of any of the RWBY girls here (especially compared to Ruby who doesn't even get a cool 1v1). She flatterns Torchwick in seconds while Weiss begins her Cross-Continental-Jobbing-Streak and Yang loses to a mute with a Femdom OnlyFans. Go Blake! More of this please!
  
• Volume 3, Blake and Yang vs Adam: Gets impaled in the side so Adam can lure Yang in and get her to join his radical weight loss regime. In this case it's the enemy who's exploiting Blake for a glory shot so... that's unique. Weird thing is that right after this, Blake gets her Aura back and uses her Semblance to evade Adam. Instead of using that Aura to not get impaled.
  

Aura is weird.

• Volume 4, Blake and Sun vs the Sea Dragon: Blake's in general made to look pissy and like she wasn't doing a lot of damage until Sun shows up. Blake's first instance of suffering from the Maya Nerf rears its head. Also this fight just has really weird physics. Less egregious than some of the other instances, as like with the dock fight both Blake and Sun have moments of being made to look weak to prop up the other.
  
• Volume 5, Blake vs Ilia: With the caveat that Blake is clearly holding back and not trying to turn Ilia into paste, it still makes her look weak and it's not helped by the fight just being really slow in general. There's also the segment where she takes a single kick into a table (only just hard enough to rattle a chair) and that's enough to weaken her enough that Sun has to break out the gunchucks and lay a smackdown on Ilia so hard, the resulting concussion gave her character development.
  
• Volume 6, The Apathy: Blake is the character most visibly affected by the Apathy second to Qrow, she's the one who nearly gets gored on its fingers until Ruby goes SEW. Could have happened to anyone, but that it's Blake specifically means it's only fair to add it to the list. Also it probably would have been better had they picked... a character Ruby actually has an onscreen bond with.
  
• Volume 6, Blake and Yang vs Adam Round 2 (Haven didn't count, fuck you Volume 5): Adam dominates a lot of the fight when it's just him and Blake. Makes sense, he did help train her and all, but it does still mean she's on the backfoot. Then when Yang shows up, Blake is too weak to fight for a few minutes so Yang gets to beat up Adam and it's really one-sided here- Adam barely lands any strikes on Yang outside of whenever he uses his Semblance. Then when it becomes a full 2v1, Adam nearly instantly takes Blake out and it becomes an Adam vs Yang fight, leaving Blake to scramble on the cliffs while Yang gets the glory shot and the 'Gotya' moment. Quite literally, all Blake adds to the final part of the fight is having her sword broken so her and Yang can kill Adam, and punching him once really hard after Yang already broke his Aura. It's kind of irritating how weak Blake is made to look while Yang gets all the cool stuff and Adam even breaks out the Shadow Clone crap (actually wait, how was Adam breaking out those shadow clones? He never uses them otherwise) but... hey author favoritism is a hell of a buff.
  
• Volume 7, RWBYJNROQ vs Sabres: Blake is made to look weak because Gambol Shroud is still broken and she's the one who gets pounced by a Grimm so Penny can pull a save. Much like the Apathy, innocuous out of context and could have been anyone, but Blake is made to look weak to prop up Penny so here we are. I'm fairly sure Blake is tied with Oscar here for lowest kill-count this fight, as even Ren gets more kills.
  
• Volume 7, RWBY vs the Ace Ops: This is a complete slaughterhouse in RWBY's favour: Four Aura breaks from the Ace Ops, and only one Aura flicker... from Blake. And again, she's made to look far weaker than she should be so Yang can be propped up (and by extension Vine and Elm) and given a reason to look Angry for a second. Yang then gets the glory shots against Vine and Elm (with Blake barely helping take Elm out), and most of her contributions are just to set up moments where Yang looks badass. Blake barely even fights during the battle, and just spends most of it running around or swinging her grappling hook.
  

In short, the show has a bit of a dirty habit of having Blake look weak. It's not as egregious as Weiss and her perpetual jobbing record, as Blake rarely outright loses her battles and simply takes a bad hit, but she rarely ever comes back from that blow and usually another character steps in for the coup de grace. The battle with Adam is the worst case of this as Blake loses a lot of her grace and finesse even during the 2v1 when she's back to full strength, just to prop up Yang and let Yang overshadow Blake. And given that Yang has yet to lose a fight since Volume 3 when Adam cut her arm off, she really doesn't need another character being made to look bad to prop her up.
Blake as a consequence is hard to care for in a fight, especially when she's working as a team, because her usual role in a battle is to get hit and make the team fight harder. And by 'team' I mean entirely Yang and Sun.
It's not impossible to reverse this, even- just don't have Blake be the one getting hit and let her be the one getting the finishing blow. Let someone else be the damsel for five minutes. Make it Yang even, just to be interesting and call back to the whole 'we're protecting each other' stuff instead of just having it be that Yang has to save Blake's ass all the time. Let's have more of the Blake from Volume 2 who kicks ass, takes names, and forgets about Semblances, and less of the Blake who gets benched once a year on average to prop her allies.
tldr- Blake is often made to look weaker than she is to boost her fighting partners, far more than anyone else has to, and the consequence is that Blake looks like a weaker character than she should be. At this point it's just getting annoying.

Tl;dr: Blake got nerfed hard. She has no crutch, unlike the rest of her team. Yang and Weiss relied too much on their semblances, Ruby does well against Grimm but not people, Weiss rarely uses her sword, and Yang doesn't/ only uses one type of dust.
Of course she's not on Qrows level, but Blake has shown the most versatility and aptitude fighting both Grimm and humans. She just hasn't been brought back to her Beacon level of skill. That's not saying the animators are bad, in fact her most recent fight was full of character and style. It's about how many of her abilities were dropped throughout the show.
Let's start with Blake fighting Grimm. The first time we see her kill one is by throwing Gambol Shroud at the back of an Ursa, killing it in one hit. Obviously this is done for comedic effect and timing, but it still stands to show she's no scrub when fighting Grimm. Volume 4 has some weird physics going on, but Sun and Blake fight a very powerful Grimm with the help of their boat captain.
Then there's her incredible success versus human opponents. She actually boasts the highest number of wins in the show (okay, maybe Yang actually wins that.) She beat Torchwick twice, once with help from Sun and Penny. In "No Breaks" Blake charges Roman and combines fire dust with her semblance to knock Roman into the air, she then attacks him mid air throwing him to the ground. Torchwick fires a round from Melodic Cudgel, Blake takes cover behind a stone copy of herself. She again engages in close quarters, this time using ice dust to trap Roman's cane in her clone allowing her to a long range "wave strike" to dispatch him.
Now for the most controversial statement in this post: there's no reason she shouldn't have been able to take on Adam, she's a smarter and faster fighter. There have only been 3 instances of Adam fighting, Black Trailer, his short and of course Volume 6. In Volume 3 "Heroes and Monsters" Adam stabs Blake during their fight, but we never actually see them fight, so I will not be counting it.
In Black trailer, Blake and Adam act as a well oiled machine, taking out multiple SDC bots efficiently, then Blake distracts the spider droid and gets a fair number of hits on it while Adam uses it's beam to charge Moonslice. That is what sets the two apart. Adam is a one trick pony with his OP semblance, while Blake's semblance is not only evolving, but is under utilized throughout the series.
When she fights Fennec and Corsac in Volume 5, her first action against them is to bait them into stabbing her then using ice dust to freeze their weapons in her clone, like she did with Roman in V2. Blake's fight with Ilia is a beautiful commendation to her skills. She uses her semblance a few times to take a hit, but otherwise saves her dust for other purposes. Ilia turns out the lights and blends in with the background, so Blake decides to start a fire to illuminate the room. Her plan was brave, not stupid, because it worked. Deciding she didn't want to hurt the smol chameleon, she freezes Ilia's whip and then disarms her before pinning her to the ground in a scene with absolutely no unintended subtext.
Her versatility within team RWBY is second to none. She has partnered moves with each of her team in both support and offensive capabilities, and Yang unfortunately doesn't have one with Ruby.
--Checkmate: Weiss and Blake engage Roman in close range, Weiss uses time dilation on Blake to take out the missiles at mid range.
--Ladybug: Blake and Ruby dart back and forth sharing synchronized close range attacks against the Paladin's limbs.
--Bumblebee: Blake and Yang put centrifugal force to use by building up momentum and launching Yang at the Paladin. No wonder she's shipped with so many characters; Blake's compatible with everyone.

Ok, let me start out by saying the title is a little click baity as this has nothing to do with the way Blake actually looks. Instead I want this to be a discussion about her character, her story arc, her fighting, and her weapon because I’m sure many of you have seen that Blake gets a rather large amount of hate compared to the rest of the team. Almost every month I see at least one new post about how she is bad in some way, shape, or form, and rather than talk about how bad she is, what can be done to make her more likable and enjoyable to the FNDM while giving her more of a purpose in the story.
So let me start off with her character, so let’s start off with the basics. Like many of the main characters she has some cliche she is partially based on, this one being the mysterious, guarded, introvert. Now we all probably realized that there was more to her than just the cliche and that this mold that was set for her would eventually be broken. As it happens, it was. Eventually she was shown to be a kind, loving, caring, person Just like the rest of team RWBY. Now there is nothing wrong with that the heroes should be loving and caring but what sets her apart as a character? She’s sarcastic, loves books and reading, she fights for the underdogs, and people who have been treated unjustly. Now you may say there seems to be nothing wrong with that, and you are right these are good personality traits, but the issue with her personality lies in what the show is trying to present. Let me explain using Yang, Weiss, and Ruby. All three are much more extroverted and are easier to write snappy, funny, dialogue that makes the viewer laugh. However it’s extremely hard to do that with someone who is rather introverted. To me this means that something needs to change. Much like what happened to Weiss after Volumes 1-3 she needs a reinvention, and let me just say a haircut and a few cute moments in the background are not enough for me. The fact is Weiss went from being viewed as a stuck up snob to the crown jewel of the series in Volume 4. Ideally the same thing needs to happen to Blake, and the question I want to ask all of you is how is that possible? What steps could be taken to lead to this much needed reinvention of Blake's character?
Now, admittedly, the rest of what i’m going to talk about are my opinions on how this question can be answered. Please feel free to leave an idea you have down below. Now I want to talk about her importance in the overall plot. Rather than look back at how her story could have been improved, I wanted to discuss how she could be more involved moving forward. The biggest problem I think she has throughout V7 is that she was downgraded to a side character that has no personal stake, or investment, in the plot other than to follow Ruby and save the world. So what I suggest is that she needs to double down on helping and protecting the lower class; whether that be faunus, humans, or anyone who is mistreated by the ones in power and she should stand firm on her beliefs, not waver when someone like Ironwood shouts at her. Another idea is her talking to Ruby for once. The fact that it has become such a meme should show that this is a serious problem, and the fact that they have only had around 5 minutes of character interaction is appalling. If her and Ruby had more interaction it would help the audience in believing why Blake is invested in Ruby’s goal of trying to save the world.
Now another big topic that should be discussed to improve Blake’s public image is how she fights. As many people point out her fighting style is not what it used to be, and I think everyone has accepted this as a fact. While bringing back her old style would most certainly help I don’t think it would be enough. She needs a serious upgrade to her fighting style, semblance, weapon, and just herself if you ask me. Many would rank her as the least powerful and worst fighter and that, to me, is an issue. However, there are a few options to this that I think can help, but as always feel free to agree or disagree, and leave your ideas down below. So to me the first, and most obvious thing that could happen, is they just buff Blake up and make her attacks look and feel more powerful. Now this is the easy answer in my eyes and basically a cop out. So, while it is there, I don’t feel like this will happen, and I kind of hope it doesn’t. Another option that I know at least a few people like to entertain is to basically get rid of Gambol Shroud and replace it with something far more powerful. While deep down I may want this to happen, since the design of GS isn’t very attractive, I know this will most likely never happen. Weapons are just as much part of the characters as their semblance is, and GS is just as much a part of Blake as Crescent Rose is to Ruby. So if getting rid of GS and buffing Blake aren’t really the best options, well, what else is there? You’ve probably already guessed that the best answer would be extensive weapon and semblance upgrades. Now when I say extensive, I mean something that literally changes her whole style fighting going forward. Something on the scale of Weiss and her guardian or Ruby and the phase petals, or how Yang got both the bombs and learned to use her semblance more sparingly. The rest of the team, even JNR, got huge upgrades and are all way better fighters now as a result. Now it’s Blake’s turn. She needs a serious upgrade, not just some yellow tape slapped over her sword to hold it together. (Please don’t attack me for calling it that. I love the symbolism, but let’s be honest. It’s disappointing that the yellow band is all she got.)
So, in conclusion, I think the hate and the dislike Blake gets is rather cruel to an otherwise amazing character. So rather than talk about why she is bad, and continue the cycle of hatred and salt. I want to start a discussion on how to make her better. Blake is my favorite and I’d love to see her get some well deserved TLC in the show as well as some well deserved love by the FNDM. I recognize that for that to happen something needs to change, and I hope that with your help we can figure out what that is.

The fandom seems to be in a bit of a negative time lately over controversies, so one way to help combat that negativity is with positivity, and that's what this post is here for. Appreciation post to the CRWBY for all the cool details in the fights which I've noticed! (Originally I had screenshots to add to this post but there's too many to add without an Imgur album and creating an account for that isn't working.)
RWBY, JNR, + QO vs the Sabyrs: After stabbing his scythe into the ground, Qrow uses his leg to lift it back up and then spear the next Sabyr | Ruby uses her semblance to zoom through one of the Sabyrs and it seems like her semblance killed it. | When Ruby turns the corner you can see Oscar, Qrow, Yang, Blake, and Jaune in the background during this. | After slamming down on more Sabyrs, you can still see Qrow, Yang, and Blake in the far distance behind Ruby. Even though those three are just blurs from that distance you can still see Qrow swing his scythe at a grim and Yang does a gauntlet shot.
Ace-Ops vs the Gheist: Not really a hard to see detail, but man the Grimm death effects look amazing this volume. They're smoky like V3 but also particles like V6 and it's so good looking! | After Clover jumps into the fray you can see him maneuvering in the background. You can also see RWBY and JNR in the background watching as the fight unfolds in the same spot as they were before. Much better compared to the teleporting in V5.
Blake and Yang vs Robyn: Blake jumps onto one of the moving vehicles to give her more momentum to swing past the traffic and over to the alleyway. | Blake's elemental clones now have detailed faces and her fire clone even carries copies of her weapon too! | Yang jumps onto Blake's back to enter the fight.
Battle of Mantle: Following the return of Blake's elemental clones for the first time since V2, she also uses an electricity clone we haven't seen before. | The impact from Elm catching the Megagoliath grimm (I think that's what they're called?) is so strong it shatters the nearby windows.
Robyn, Qrow, and Clover vs Tyrian: Tyrian uses the recoil of his guns to dodge one of Qrow's sword swings. | Harbinger changes to a different sword form, with the sword's panels extended making it an even longer sword. | Then Harbinger changes partway to scythe mode, without the staff pole for easier use in small spaces. Tyrian's blades gliding over the ground make sparks which is also a nice little detail. | Robyn manages to do even more of a trick shot than I first realized. Tyrian dodges the first arrow, but then the second bounced off of a pipe and then bounces off of Qrow's scythe to hit Tyrian. | Tyrian sits atop of the mini-scythe mode of Harbinger before Qrow reverse fires at him. | Clover throws one of those gravity ties to bind Tyrians first arm, then when he tries to fight back Clover grabs a hold of Tyrians other arm to tie him up. | At the end of the fight it looks like Qrow switched his weapon back to sword, but it's really tiny. Mini sword!
Ironwood vs Watts: After Ironwood slams his fist down, he throws his gun up and then catches it. | Ironwood is seen to use the recoil of his guns and gravity dust to move around and avoid falling off of the platforms. | Watts grabs a hold of Ironwood's gun to guide his arm so he doesn't get hit by Ironwood's bullets in such a small space, then Watt's shoots electricity dust to break free of Ironwood's grip. | Watts shoots a combination of fire and ice dust to knock Ironwood's black gun from his hand. Interestingly, the arm that he lost the gun from is also the arm he breaks near the end of the fight. Gotta love foreshadowing/symbolism! | At times they shot each other's bullets from out of the air.
RWBY vs Ace-Ops: After being chased by Vine, Blake drops down to the ground, rolls, flips/spins and then catches her weapon which was in the air. | When Ruby gets kicked into the room the first thing she does even before getting up is to watch what Marrow is doing so she can block his attack at Weiss. | Elm drops Gambol Shroud and Yang cartwheels over to pick it back up and later return it to Blake. | Dodging Elm's attack with a backflip, Blake grabs onto her hammer and uses it to swing to the opposite side of where Elm is standing. | After slamming Vine into the ground there is a brief shot showing where the real Blake was after their clone sleight of hand combo. | Yang's eyes appear more glowy when her semblance activates. | Blake and Yang's finishing move poses them similarly to the Yin and Yang symbol.
Qrow vs Clover vs Tyrian: Clover jumps onto Tyrian to give him more leverage to try and pull Qrow's scythe away |Clover throws a horseshoe at Qrow, he deflects it, and then Clover catches the horseshoe. | Qrow also jumps onto Tyrian, throws his sword into the air, and then kicks it down. This is a super fast animation so I always thought it was just Qrow jumping and then landing with Harbinger in his hand the whole time. | After being punched by Clover in the 1v1v1 turned 2v1, you can see Qrow put a hand on his head in pain. This is also in a very brief timeframe during fast animations. They didn't even have to have that detail, but I love that they did anyway. Makes the fights and characters feel much more real. | The hook of Kingfisher wraps around the hole in Harbinger's sword design and Clover uses this to disarm Qrow.
ALPN vs Neo: When Oscar gets the relic back you can see him clip it back onto his waist | When Neo!Nora walks past Oscar you can see he no longer has the relic because Neo stole it while Oscar was panicked thinking he had been caught by the guards. | Atlas Guard!Neo can briefly be seen with the other guards before the camera changes to them opening fire on ALPN.
Winter and Penny vs Cinder: The flurry of birds Winter summons have more detail to show that they are in fact Nevermores, and not just regular birds. | Winter uses the dagger part of her weapon to stab Cinder's grimm arm and free herself from it's grip. | Later when Cinder continues to lash out at Winter, you can see Winter's clothes get more damaged and scuffed after each hit she takes.

So next volume RWBY and ALPN(alpine, JNR+oscar) are going to fight a hell of a lot of grimm, mommy salami, the atlas military, and probably the ace ops. So it would make sense that they got their weapons modified to be more versatile and as pietro said at the beginning of the volume he said he had another modifications in mind. so I have thoughts on some mods that I have in mind are:
Ruby: when her scythe is on halberd mode she can make the blade spin and use it as a fucking drill to penetrate grimm armor more efficiently and effectively, probably a dust infusing sistem to for example heat up grimm bone armor, and maybe a sword mode like a khopesh or something.
Weiss: an anti-personnel blast that pushes enemies back, maybe a built-in gun mod or knife inside the pommel maybe even an small hard light dust shield generator.
Yang: a heat wave that charges up over firing ember celica and when it's fully charged it releases the heat in a non-lethal but very harmful blast that damages grimm armor, probably a full-auto mod for ember celica.
Blake: aura cut mod for the blade to swing the sword around and an aura blast follows her cutting motion through the air and harms the enemy from a distance, maybe a higher caliber mod for gambol shroud.
Jaune: idk he has a lot of mods already so... Y'know.
Nora: guided munitions, grenades which have a timer and can be bounced off of surfaces, cluster grenades.
Ren: his guns are peashooters so amping up the firepower would be recommended so either change the type of bullets to .50 AE or use a smaller higher penetration rounds like the 5.7mm or 4.6mm rounds, maybe concussive rounds.
Oscar: idk he certainly doesn't need a mod, maybe a sidearm like a pistol or a submachine-gun like an mp7
Tell what are your thoughts

Problem with your shitty kitty? Instead of trying to fix her, why not just replace her?
Greetings, everyone! I am your host, The Man Called Ghost, here today with my first installment of RWBY: Revised. For this series, I’ll be taking you through a hypothetical alternate timeline where M+K actually had the time, money and backbone to question, edit, rearrange and overall improve Monty’s ideas for RWBY.
Now I know I’m not the first to say any of this stuff, but unlike all those jokers, I won’t be pathologically lying to any of you or myself that “iT’s WhAt MoNtY wOuLd’Ve WaNtEd!”, since like it or not, everything that is usually hated about post-Monty RWBY is usually the result of Mr. Oum and his "Rule of Cool over common sense" direction :
- The obvious plot armor and lack of real stakes/power scaling
- The abrupt tone shift in Vol. 3
- Characters and plot elements getting worked in at the last minute
- Adam being the connective tissue for Bumbleby's shared arc; not Monochrome, Bumbleby!
No, I do not mean to bash Monty either, just to point out his weakness as a creatostoryteller.
To quote u/Meatshield236, “whenever I see these sorts of rewrites, the kind that praises Monty and claims that HE was the sole driving force behind their enjoyment of RWBY and claim that something was lost between Volumes 3 and 4, I just sigh and shake my head. RWBY wasn't some amazing thing that got worse, the story was always that bad, the fights just hid it. Do they not remember the setting-destroying anti-climax that was Volume 2's ending? What about the utter crap animation of Cinder's "infiltration"? Or the fact that it took nearly 10 episodes for them to actually show a fight outside of the opening? What about the whole focus on Jeane and him getting more character development in 6 episodes than Ruby has in 7 Volumes?”
Now I don’t expect RWBYcritics to agree with everything I say, considering my first post made me look to all of you like the salty Yang fanboy I probably am. Although, you were asking for it when you claim be a haven of mature critical discussion that looks down on the likes of Hack Hei and Adel Aids, yet you gobble up a half-blind-12-year-old’s-surface-level “analysis” from Vox Voyeur like a fresh plate of cookies! And that’s coming from me: a hardcore Anti-Bee who’d like nothing more than to slap on the Infinity Gauntlet, go back to when the first Faunus crawled out of Remnant’s primordial ooze, and snap the little demon out of existence!
“But Ghostler,” you’re probably asking, “What you’re suggesting . . . You can’t have ‘RWBY’ without the ‘B’!” Implying we really need Blecch as the ‘B’?
No, what RWBY – neigh, what RUBY needs is an equal, yet opposite; a night to her day, a Sasuke to her Naruto . . . . a Blue Oni . . . to her Red Oni.
Everyone, let’s . . .
MEET BLUE
Name: Blair MacLeod
Voice: Ashley Burch (w/ Scottish accent)
Age: 17 (at the start of the show)
Apperence: Same model as Vol. 1 Blake with the following differences; Vol. 7 hair with blue highlights, golden eyes with a visible scar running vertically across the left eye, black leather jacket with a hood and blue trimmings over a blue t-shirt, blue jeans, black army boots with blue straps, and a black leather glove on her right hand
Weapon: Coldsteel (basically Gambol Shroud with a long, blue chain instead of that silly little streamer)
If Ruby Rose is said to be “the essence of purity” (Primus, I feel dirty just typing that), then Blair MacLeod, her roommate and mortal frienemy at Beacon, is her exact opposite. With the manners of a goat, the smell of a dung heap, and the vocabulary of a drunken sailor, Blair is that stereotypical bad kid who sits quietly in the back of the class, yet somehow always manages to outshine everyone else.
Already a seasoned combatant before attending Beacon, Blair is far more focused on honing her skills than socializing. When she’s not out training or attending class, you’re more likely to find her sulking in a dark corner by herself. With her keen instinct, ninja-like skills and strategic thinking, she’s probably among the best potential Huntress in the academy next to Pyrrha Nikos. Yet despite all her laxity and coolness, Blair is still prone to fits of animalistic rage, thanks in no small part to the true nature of her right arm . . .
In truth, Blair is a disgraced exile of the Amon Zah’Kuul, an ancient warrior culture scattered throughout the wilds of Remnant that deifies the Creatures of Grimm. As part of their ceremonial Right of passage, young Zah’Kuul are made to sacrifice a piece of themselves – be it a whole limb or otherwise – and replace them with Grimm parts, essentially rejecting their humanity in exchange for greater strength.
For much of her formative years, Blair was personally trained by her wicked elder sister Morgan (Tara Platt) in the arts and other customs of their people. Unlike Yang’s motherly affection towards Ruby or Winter’s tough love towards Weiss, Morgan purposefully made Blair’s life a waking nightmare in order shape her little sister into a remorseless killer worthy of Amon Zah’Kuul. The only bright spot in this period of Blair’s life was Ilia Amitola (Cherami Leigh), her childhood friend and eventual lover, who Morgan saw as a distraction and forbade Blair from seeing. When she saw that that fruits of Blair’s training were poor in her eyes, Morgan banished Blair from their tribe, much to her and Ilia’s dismay, believing isolation was the best choice for her little sister. What Morgan hadn’t considered though, was where her little sister’s time away would take her . . . like a Huntsmen Academy.
Thanks to her Hellish upbringing, Blair is far more savage yet pragmatic than her piers at Beacon. As stated above, she provides a stark contrast to the more cheerful and idealistic Ruby, a contrast that brings the two girls in near-constant conflict with each other. Primus only knows if these two can survive living in the same dorm, let alone working in tandem . . .
Notes:
Technically, Blair is Blake, just with a different coat of paint.
See, the first thing I did was switch up Team RWBY’s dynamic to Ladybug and Freezerburn; one relationship would be a complex friendship/rivalry between idealism and cynicism, the other would be a more light-hearted odd couple involving a pampered princess and a kickass biker chick. From there, I decided to change Blake’s colour from Black to Blue, since she would be serving as the Blue Oni to Ruby’s Red Oni. But then it wouldn’t make sense to keep calling her ‘Blake,’ thus she was rechristened as ‘Blair.’
Next thing that had to change was her background; instead of having her people be naturally part animal for sake of making her a cat-girl, I had Blair come from a people who made themselves part Grimm as a form of worship – an idea I got from the WF’s Grimm masks and Cinder’s Grimm hand – thereby giving her actual stake in the larger plot. Since Blake’s hippie speeches would never fly in a Grimm-based society, Blair would need to be much more hostile as a result.
Finally, the last big change I made was the relationship with her abuser. Rather than stick with the awkward edge-angsty romance of Toradanna, decided to add a more interesting familial connection to their dynamic; whereas Yang represents motherly love and Winter represents tough love, Morgan, Blair’s elder sister, represents no love!
Now before anyone asks, yes, I totally pealed off Weiss’s scar and slapped it on to Blair. I also intend to have her slice off her Grimm-arm much later and go a full volume as an amputee before adopting an Atlas-tech cyber-arm for the final three volumes, thereby negating Yang’s injury.
Any who, that’s it for now! Feel free to leave any critiques and/or suggestions below. If you like what you see, be sure to recommend to any friends and/or other fans. If anyone happens to know any artists and/or fanfic authors, that would be greatly appreciated.
Join me next time as we dive head first into Remnant’s history . . . .

Hello RWBY Fans! Welcome to another weekly episode review! I plan to have the Jaune Analysis completely planned out by Sunday, so look forward to that release in the next week or two. Character analyses are big undertakings, but I want to get the Jaune Retrospective out before we get too deep into Volume 7, so it's full steam ahead there. With updates out of the way, lets get to work.
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Point of Order

Before we talk about Episode 3, there are a few points I'd like to address about Episode 2 that were unfortunately left out of last week's review. The problem with taking so many notes is that you sometimes loose track of your ideas. Still, I really wanted to talk about these points before they became any less relevant.

• During the meeting in Ironwood's office, everyone is chiming in, asking questions and making counterpoints throughout the conversation. I think this is a fabulous way to handle exposition, and this method ensures no one is standing awkwardly around while the "important" characters do the talking. The conversation could have just been between Ironwood, Ruby, and Qrow, but instead everyone is involved. It feels much more organic, and wastes no screentime when every character moment counts.
• Looking again at Ace Ops' conversation in the hallway, I realized that Harriet was shaking her head at Marrow's story, implying friendly disbelief. I'm guessing Marrow tells a lot of tall tales, which lends credence to the idea his inspiration is The Boy Who Cried Wolf.
• This one was pointed out to me by someone in the episode Megathread. If you listen closely to Tyrion's conversation with Watts, you can hear stabbing noises in the background. Tyrion is effectively holding a normal conversation with Watts while he commits murder. The scene works perfectly fine without this detail, but hearing it only adds to Tyrion's character and the scene's tone. I really wanted to highlight an excellent subtle addition.

Episode 3: Ace Operatives

The episode opens In Media Res, or "in the middle of things". Three Mantas approach the SDC dust mine as we flash back to the mission briefing. Clover tells Jaune, Ruby, and Qrow that their objective is to secure the mine, which will act as the future launch site for Amnity Stadium. Atlas military and lesser Hunters are securing the surrounding territory, but an old, smart Geist has hidden from the military in the mine, requiring a smaller elite team. RWBY, JNR, and AceOps will be intermixed into three teams that will corner and eliminate the Geist. Clover mentions that he trusts Ironwood with his life, and since Ironwood has vouched for the gang, he is extending that trust to the heroes. Perhaps it's foreshadowing and perhaps it's harmless, but once again the theme of Trust pops up in a big way.
Several things are going on during this briefing that merit attention. First, the scene cuts back to the present, showing Atlas personnel fighting Sabertooths on the Tundra while Clover mentions their role. This is a great example of show-don't-tell, and reenforces both the scope of the world and the stakes of the mission. Everything feels more real when we can see the logistics of the mission for ourselves. Plus, it's a big advantage of a visual medium.
We also see another viewscreen, and since I'm contractually obligated to pause and read everything, you all get the benefit of a few extra details. On the mission screen, we see that RWBY, JNR, and AceOps are all listed next to their License statuses. RWBY and JNR are listed as "License Status: Active" while AceOps are listed as "License Status: Military". This tells use two things. First, the formal distinction lets us know that there are Hunters in Atlas that don't serve the military. Ironwood likely just scoops up as much as he can with competitive job offers. Second, we see that officially, RWBY and JNR are operating as licensed Hunters. Whether this is a provisional condition or Ironwood granted them their licenses in recognition of their journey so far is uncertain, but it does open up some interesting creative possibilties. I'd especially like to see the heroes, who's education has been as far from conventional as possible, interact with Atlas students on the more traditional track.
In the final flashback before the mission starts, we get what I was most excited for this week, gear upgrades. The montage is fairly brief, but we see Pietro has given everyone a visual and practical upgrade. He also implies that there are further upgrades he'd like to propose, but is satisfied with his current work for the mission ahead. We get a few quick glimpses of individual characters reacting to their changes; Yang attaches her newer, beefier arm with a pleased look, while Blake looks at her reflection, brushing her hair in contemplation. Given that it's the last time we'll see long-haired Blake for now, I'd venture that the CRWBY went the extra mile to make her locks look especially photogenic.
We also get a brief scene with Jaune on his bunk, rubbing at Pyrrha's sash and growing frustrated at his blonde mop. I may be biased, since I just took a TON of notes on Jaune, but I think this scene is his own reflection on how much he's changed. In Volume 4, Jaune had similar reservations when donning his new armor. I'd imagine that every time he's confronted with a physical representation of his growth, he's reminded of who helped him get there.
We cut back to the present as the Manta's bay door opens, and we get a superbly cinematic reveal of team RWBY's new looks. Seriously though, I think the blocking on that reveal is super creative and great to look at. It's like every member of the team gets their own personal curtain drop in succession, building up to a crescendo as the mission starts.
The team bails out and we get Landing Strategies 2.0, now with character development. Their descents tells us a little something about how each member of RWBY has grown from their Beacon days. Ruby still uses Recoil to descend, but it's a more relaxed motion; she's been team leader for a while now and doesn't have anything to prove to anyone. Yang shows similar restraint, and uses only a single, wisely timed shotgun blast to kill her velocity instead of soaring over treetops, hollering to the wind. Weiss shows off a more practical development by using her Summoning to create a path down. By only summoning Arma Gigas' sword arm, we can see Weiss has a much finer degree of control over her powers than she could have dreamed of at Beacon. Blake's landing shows off the repair to Gambol Shroud, and while the maneuver is nothing special, we should talk about the new accent on her blade.
I'm far from the first to point it out, but Blake's use of gold to repair her sword draws a strong comparison to the Japanese art of Kintsugi, which uses gold and other high-contrast precious metals to repair broken pottery. The technique highlights, rather than masks, the item's flaws, as the practicing artists believe that the break is as much a part of the piece's history as it's original design. Blake herself has accepted her past mistakes and decided to live with them rather than run away from them. Through this lens, her weapon is a great visual representation of her journey and what she's overcome.
As RWBY lands, we see that they are joined by Marrow and Hare. Indeed, the rest of AceOps is split up amongst the other groups of main characters, with Clover joining Qrow and JNR accompanying Elm and Vine. JNR's Manta flies overhead, and we see their own dismount. In a great character moment, Elm and Vine show off their personalities as they leap from the airship. Vine calmly exits, like a diver stepping off a boat. Elm, meanwhile, proclaims that "this is her favorite part" (mine too, Elm) and back flips into the open sky. The camera pulls back through the other open door (another fantastic shot) and we see JNR revealed. Continuing the display, each team member exits in an appropriate manner. Ren is calm like Vine, while Nora makes a cannonball. Jaune looks apprehensive, but psychs himself up and swan dives out majestically, followed closely by the camera. During the free fall, Jaune shows off his own upgrade. He deploys the hard-light extensions of his shield like a glider, before rolling at the last moment, using a pulse of gravity dust to kill his momentum. My boy lands on his feet, ready to fight; a far cry from being nailed to a tree.
Elm reacts positively, positing that JNR "may not get themselves killed after all!" Vine tells JNR that her remark was intended to be a compliment, but Jaune looks deflated and Nora can't help but pout. No one likes being demeaned, even if it was unintentional. We get some more dialogue before the mission starts proper, and Clover informs everyone to stay in contact using their new scrolls. Initially, I thought this might be a big focus of the post-episode discussion, as those who don't trust Ironwood might suspect the new scrolls are bugged. However, the following exchange has completely eclipsed the implications of any technology upgrade.
Blake notices Yang staring at her, which Yang attributes to Blake's new hair cut. The two go back and fourth a little, fumbling over words in that adorable, newly awkward kind of way. That said, you'd be forgiven for thinking the exchange was a tad saccharine, as Marrow expresses his own frustration with the girls' banter. Harriet takes the wind right out of his sails, however, with a comeback of her own. The whole landing scene in general is a great lead-in to this episode's purpose; exploring the AceOps Team.
From the little bit of dialogue and expression we get from AceOps, we can already start to see their personalities come through. Harriet is tolerant if not patient, and more than a tad competitive. Marrow means well, but acts boastful and aloof sometimes. Vine is calm and collected, but also very distant, even from his teammates. Elm is friendly and boisterous, but her bluntness can rub people the wrong way. Clover is a special case, but we'll get to him in the Predictions section.
We see several establishing shots as RWBY/HM approaches the main mine entrance, and what stands out to me the most is the level of detail. The industrial park outside the mine is filled with railings, stairs, dented containers, and all kinds of detritus that shows the place has been abandoned for a long time. The environmental effects are also impressive, with the same attention to footprints and snow physics we saw early in Volume 6. The long hours of work that certainly went into this environment have paid off in spades. The level of detail also makes me think that we'll be returning to the mine before the Volume is over. We know that Amnity will launch from here, and it would be a great excuse to reuse assets and get more mileage out of the CRWBY's work.
Ruby comments on the cold, and we're treated to a little bit of worldbuilding. Weiss tells Ruby that without heating or a projected Aura, the cold of Solitas can kill in hours. I like this exchange, both because it clarifies that Aura protects against one's environment (thus hand-waiving the practicality of several outfits), and because the two having the conversation naturally fit. Ruby grew up far away from Atlas, and wouldn't be used to the cold, while Weiss would be very knowledgeable as both an Atlas native and Aura user. This is how you drop your worldbuilding nuggets.
Ruby's mention of the cold brings up Oscar's absence from the mission, as well as the secrets she chose to keep from Ironwood. A brief flashback to Oscar's talk with Ruby points out how similar her choice was to Ozpin's and questions the justification of that decision. Ruby doesn't give a quick answer, but her team supports her decision, citing the state of Mantle as reason enough to take their time getting to know Ironwood.
As Alpha team enters the mine, Clover asks Qrow if he's ever worked with a team before. I, like many, assumed this was leading to more information about Team STRQ, but instead Qrow subtly implies it's better for him to be separate from people. Clover disagrees, and given what we find out about his Semblance later, it's easy to understand his position. Clover calls for an update, and the scene shifts to follow JNR, Elm, and Vine. I really dig the use of the radio as a means of transition. Moving between scenes feels more natural when it's part of an ongoing conversation.
Nora is excited to be on her first mission, and tells her teammates that it feels like "they're a real Huntsmen Team". Given that JNPR's V2 field assignment was interrupted by the Breach, I wonder if this is the first formal mission JNR's been on. I'm also interested in how Nora puts emphasis on the word "Team", rather than say she feels like a real Huntress. Nora tries to strike up a conversation with Ren and compliments his outfit, but Ren pushes her to focus on the mission. Nora, like me, is frustrated by this response, though I could maybe cut Ren some slack if I thought he just wanted Nora to be safe and alert. Jaune doesn't help things when he returns Nora's compliment with a well-intentioned but misplaced remark of his own.
Moving back to Harriet, Marrow, and RWBY, we find that the Mine's main entrance was blocked by some past accident. Blake elaborates, and we learn that this is likely the mine where Ilia's parents were killed. Weiss adds her own perspective of the accident, relaying how Jacques reacted to the tragedy. The conversation shifts to the treatment of Faunus and Weiss apologizes for her inaction and complacency. Marrow interjects, offering a rather philosophical outlook of his own, before bringing the group's attention back to the task at hand. Blake is sent in to recce the mine shaft, and we get our first encounter with the target Geist. Blake reacts and Harriet charges to her rescue, smashing through the rubble with her own weapon; an exoskeleton frame for her arms.
With the hornet's nest kicked, Grimm start pouring out of the walls. We're introduced to the Centinal, a new centipede-themed Grimm, in a cool spiraling Camera movement that tracks the drilling motion of one of the creatures. More weapon upgrades are seen as the Grimm attack all three teams. Yang uses explosives in her ammunition to create manually triggered cascades, while Crescent Rose's new swivel-head lets Ruby re-position for strikes faster than ever. Marrow and Harriet show off their own weapons and skills, including Harriet's flash-like Semblance and Marrow's power to apparently freeze creatures in stasis.
We cut back to JNR, via Radio again, and see the rest of AceOps in action. The group leaps down an ice slide (or is pushed by Nora, in Ren's case), and Centinals appear at the bottom in ambush. Elm literally roots herself to the ground, and Vine releases glowing extensions of his hands to catch himself, but JNR charges ahead. In a brilliant tactical display, Jaune brakes with his sword while covering his approach with his shield, disrupting the ambush with a Gravity Dust pulse and clearing a landing zone for his teammates. Ren leaps into combat as well, closing the distance with newly integrated grappling hooks. Still, Nora's not one to be left out, and she saves Ren from an unseen Grimm.
Vine comments on the directness of JNR's approach to combat. Elm flashes Ren a thumbs up and a smile, but otherwise the AceOps don't really acknowledge JNR or their explanation. The young team sighs together, likely exasperated by both the pressure to prove themselves and AceOps' lack of feedback.
While the teams fight the Centinals, Clover and Qrow encounter the Geist itself. The Geist begins drawing ice to itself to form a body, and Qrow spots a support beam coming loose above Clover. He shouts a warning, but when the dust clears, it appears the warning was unnecessary; the beam missed clover by a wide margin. Qrow blames the near-miss on his Semblance, but Clover tells him not to worry. See, Clover's Semblance turns out to be "Good Fortune", which explains all the symbolism he's been carrying around since the premiere.
The group convenes in the mine's central chamber, and we're treated to a neat bit of visual storytelling. We already know from Ruby that the environment is very cold, so when we see Jaune visibly sweat, and that sweat evaporate in moments, we know something has changed. We can already guess the room is hot before Vine says anything about highly active dust and the volatility of their surroundings. This is another great example of show-don't-tell, and shows the CRWBY trusts their audience to put two and two together before a character explains it all.
Ironically, there's not many specifics to talk about once the final fight starts. The combat is entirely handled by the AceOps team, and exact difference between a coordinated team, and a coordinated experienced team is laid bare. Using a flawless combination of their abilities and weapons, the AceOps team quickly disassembles and destroys the large Petra Gigas. I suspect the triumphant music that mixes with the rock of the fight is the AceOps theme, which bares strong similarities to both the Atlas and Ironwood themes. It's all very fitting, seeing as this fight celebrates AceOps, not RWBY.
However, the spotlight is not only for AceOps, as Ruby manages to save the day with a clutch catch at the end of the fight. Harriet notices Ruby's semblance, and implies that her "Scatter" is more than just super speed. Given how unique Ruby's semblance has always appeared, I'm betting that there's an undiscovered ability that's been overshadowed by the more obvious speed power.
Once again, the final scene of the episode is reserved for our villains. We see Forrest, post-incarceration, being dropped off in Mantle by the cops. I won't lie, the second I saw the flickering alley light, I yelled "This is where you gonna die, son!" I'm not sure anyone could miss the scene's tone, but that didn't make Tyrion's reveal and the accompanying musical sting any less impactful (if anything, what we know about Tyrion should make us more concerned). When Forrest asks Tyrion who he is, the Scorpion-Faunus replies that he, like Forrest, wants to mix things up in Mantle. As Tyrion lunges at Forrest, his eyes turn from gold to purple, possibly giving us the sixth new semblance this episode. I'm not sure I can make a guess at what the ability is, but given that the glow's color is closer to Tyrion's Aura than the purple of his tail, I suspect this the killer's natural power, rather than a cybernetic contact lens or something like that.

Thoughts

This was not a RWBY episode. This episode was clearly focused on introducing the audience to the Ace Operatives, both individually and as a whole. One one hand, I think this episode was very necessary and accomplishes it's objective. Five new secondary characters at once would be a lot to handle, even in a show with half the roster that RWBY does. Episode 3 introduces AceOps' weapons, semblances, personalities, and flaws in a succinct and quickly paced manner. The episode is also fairly self-contained due to the nature of the mission, meaning our introductory look at AceOps won't spill over into the rest of the volume. Sure, we'll get more character interactions, and the team is sure to play a heavy role in the "Trust"-conflict being set up early, but most of the heavy lifting is already out of the way. We can spend the rest of our time with our main heroes.
Of course, that also means that we don't get as much RWBY or JNR this episode as we might like. Given that the gang just got re-outfitted, I was really hoping for a slower moment for everyone to react to the new clothing and equipment, maybe talk about how far they've come. The first three episodes of this volume have formed a very combat-heavy and plot-heavy arc compared to Volume 6, so here's hoping the next episode kicks off a break for the gang.
Now, a slower middle to the Volume is a tough thing to manage, as we saw with Volume 5, but given the plethora of opportunities for character interaction in Atlas, I'm confident that we can keep up a satisfying pace of development without letting the mid-season droop. In this episode alone, we have three possible character arcs that have been seeded:

• We have a Chekhov's Gun in the form of Ruby's Semblance, which could potentially evolve before the Volume's up.
• We have a potential conflict between Nora and Ren, and could see some solo development for Nora after Ren's arc in Volume 4.
• Finally (and most likely), we have a possible conflict brewing between Qrow and Clover. Their opposite semblances have likely resulted in very different upbringings, and given how deeply Qrow's semblance has affected his outlook on life, I suspect an argument between him and Clover is almost inevitable.

Without taking the election plotline, the Schnee family conflict, or the ongoing secrets kept from Ironwood, we have lots to address while the characters are in Mantle. Now we just have to wait and see which comes up first.
Before we dive into predictions, I'd like to once again highlight the camera work and cinematography. Whether it was moving the camera through screens and doors to emphasize the characters, or holding the long shot at the end of the Geist fight, the filmcraft has been consistently and noticeably effective. This is another episode that just looks and feels great.

Predictions

Since Episode 3 is the bookend to Volume 7's opening arc, I don't have many specific details to base my predictions off of. I was hilariously wrong about the "Dust Mine arc" lasting to episode 6, but I'm very satisfied with this episode's pacing, and after listing off the other plot threads and larger conflicts we have to get to, I'm glad we didn't linger. Besides, Clover's own dialogue suggested that the mines will be plot-critical later, so we might still have a few more episodes left to spend in the now-familiar caves. I've already addressed that there are several plot threads we could shift focus to next, but which gets priority is little more than speculation.
I do think Episode 4 will be a breather, it almost has to be after the pace of the first three episodes. RWBY has done a little talking amongst themselves, but JNR has only really had moments as part of the larger group. Perhaps as things settle down, the teams can break apart and have their own moments adjusting to the big city after fighting for so long. I would really like to see a character arc for Nora before things ratchet up near the finale. We saw a little of her past during Ren's arc in Volume 4, but for the most part Nora has always been half of a pair. Relationship troubles would not only make her connection to Ren feel more realistic, but would also give Nora a chance to define who she is, absent of everyone else. Samantha Ireland, Nora's voice actress, has already hinted via a Q&A panel that we may explore Nora's past in Atlas, so here's hoping our favorite thunder goddess gets some time in the spotlight.
I'm very happy we've had an economical exposure to our villains this season. Only catching glimpses of their actions after the episode's main plot wraps makes it feel like they are constantly active in the shadows, working away while the gang is none the wiser. Surprisingly, Forrest's death may give us the insight we need to start piecing together their plan. We know that journalists have been dying, and now we see that Tyrion targeted someone who was incarcerated by Atlas and vocal against Ironwood. I suspect Salem's plan for Atlas is to discredit Ironwood by making it look like he's gone full autocrat, and is killing anyone critical of him. If Watts and Tyrion succeed, then Ironwood's announcement could be misconstrued as an excuse to grab power. Oh sure, citizens of Mantle, there's definitely a big evil baddie out their controlling the Grimm, and only I, Ironwood, have the power to protect you all. So just tolerate my little police state, it's the only way you'll survive. The General's apathy towards his own personal image may be exactly what undermines his plan.
My other big prediction concerns Qrow and Clover. Based on their interactions this episode, I think we're ramping up to a full argument between the man who was cast out for his luck and the man who is celebrated for it. Ever since his semblance was confirmed in Volume 4, and especially as he's become more open in recent volumes, Qrow has made it very clear his semblance made life hard. He was shunned from his tribe, he feels forced to go on missions alone, and he blames himself for any harm or inconvenience that those around him befall. Because of his "curse", his victories have come from quick thinking, clever placement, and raw skill. Qrow's worked hard to become the pro he is today.
Clover is similarly skilled, as this episode demonstrates, but has seemingly had a fair amount of help. His comment after catching the dust crystal, "what would you guys do without me?", could be seen as friendly banter, or perhaps as snark colored by a touch of arrogance. Qrow calls the catch "lucky" after the fight, but Clover is assured that he succeeded on talent. I don't doubt that Clover has worked hard to become Ironwood's point-man. He may even be insecure about his victories, if enough people blame his semblance and ignore his skill. However, he does have an inherent advantage in life, and the people around him do benefit from his presence. He seems to know this too, if his "lucky you" comment to Qrow is any indication. Seeing as Clover is literally the antithesis to Qrow, I wouldn't be surprised if the young man's arrogance leads to a much larger, "you-don't-know-how-good-you've-got-it" kind of outrage. This argument may even be a contributing factor to the larger fallout between Ironwood and the gang, once their secrets come out. Though, even if the larger plot wasn't involved, I would like to see Qrow confront his obvious opposite and grapple with how their semblances have affected their lives.

Loose Ends

Now comes the part where I talk about all the little things that don't have a larger place in this writeup.

• Right after the support beam collapses, Clover kicks a rock down the hole left by the Geist. I realized on watch-through two that this was to gauge how deep the hole was based on how long the echo took to hear. Since Clover has a grappling hook on his weapon, it makes sense he'd gauge distance to see if he could rappel down.
• I'm naming Jaune's new Hard-Light shield his "Kite Shield Mode" after yesterday's episode. I know it's not the same shape as a historical Kite Shield, but he used it like a hang-glider, and I'll default to puns any day of the week. Plus it's shorter than saying "Hard Light Dust Extensions".
• Speaking of Jaune, I love our noodle-boy in this episode. We get to see how much he's grown, but at the same time we see his flaws and younger self poke through at times. He's uncertain before he jumps out of the Manta, he yelps when deploying his shield for the first time, he even puts on his "fake-confident" accent when Vine comments on JNR's headstrong approach to combat. I'll talk more about this in Jaune's analysis, but he continues to be a very real, relatable character despite his impressive growth.
• So... Marrow's commentary. On one hand, I'm impressed that a character who's been so goofy up until now gets to show his intelligence. However, I did feel the his comment about "not solving systemic societal issues" was a little on the nose for my taste. I am glad that the CRWBY is treating the Faunus Racism conflict with the seriousness it deserves, especially given past criticism, but the comment did take me out of the episode for a moment. It's abruptness did get a chuckle out of me, however, and Marrow immediately followed it up by highlighting how a Faunus like Blake might help with their current problem. Perhaps there's more to this good boy than we initially thought? Only time will tell, though if Papa Schnee is going to get involved later this Volume the Faunus topic WILL come up.
• The soundtrack team continues to kill it. I can't decide whether I want the full version of "Trust in Love" or "Touch the Sky" more. Then I remember that we have just shy of year to wait, and I feel like cryogenically freezing myself until then.
• I like how only the team leaders are present at the briefing. With everyone in the know and traditional team structures left behind, the leader position has been left behind a bit. Having only Qrow, Jaune, and Ruby present elevates their positions and gives gravity to their responsibilities.
• As much as RWBY and JNR have grown since Beacon, I think AceOps is a good reminder of what they will eventually become. I can't wait for our favorite murder babies to grow into proper badasses in their own right.

That's it for this week. A bit lighter on the analysis portion of the review, but that's inescapable now that the opening arc is winding down. Next week we'll likely see the start of a new arc, with probably a better idea of what the future immediately holds for the gang.
Edit: Since the initial writing of this review, we've gotten a title, description, and thumbnail for Episode 4. I won't spoil it here, but it looks like we are shifting gears to focus on the more social conflicts of Mantle and Atlas. Here's to more personal stories!
As always, if you enjoy my writing, you can check out more at the Masterpost HERE.
Until next week, be safe, be creative, and be excellent to each other!

Here we go again. This is gonna be long, so grab some popcorn.
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With every popular show, there will always be naysayers. That much isn't new. But RWBY seems to have a very active "hatedom". A lot of this is because of the circumstances behind the scenes. Monty passed before the stakes of the show got real, and many blame the show's subjective shortcomings on the remaining writers, Miles and Kerry. These two - correct me if I'm wrong - helped write the show from the very beginning, alongside Monty. However, many in the hatedom like to think they "usurped Monty's legacy" or something along those lines, corrupting what could have been a much different show to suit their whim.
...Even though Monty planned out about thirteen volumes and was only a third of the writing force behind the show. Has anybody considered the reason Miles and Kerry worked on the writing with Monty because, I hesitate to say this because it might be controversial, but perhaps Monty wasn't a good writer, therefore he had two other writers to help refine his vision?
The point I'm trying to make out the gate is the writing was always headed by Miles and Kerry, as well as Monty before his passing. So if you blame them for your opinion on the latest episodes, it does not show that they are incompetent or bad writers. As a writer myself, I will say, not with objective authority, but with confidence, that they have had shortcomings in the past (looking at you Volume 5), but the recent finale was not one of them.
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There are three big factors that seem to drive people's hatred for this finale: Adam, the Bees, and the Mech fight. I will talk about each of them and why there is criticism for these things. Then, I will respond with my opinion, be it in agreement or disagreement.
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I will start with the interactions between Blake, Yang, and Adam, the most divisive topic at the moment. You've seen what I've seen, folks. RWBYtubers losing their damn minds over the death of Adam, how his character was ruined and it was all just a big pandering to those damn Bumbleby shippers, and Yang's PTSD vanished when convenient, am I right? Well, let's start with Yang and her emotional issues. PTSD is a more broad term than people realize, in that it has varying effects on people. Not every person with PTSD will shut down when faced with the source. Many go into fight or flight. Many become emotionally hardened and do what needs to be done. As for Yang, she developed a mean streak when it came to conflict and comfort. Her fire went out in Volume 3. Adam *broke* her.
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It took an entire volume for her confidence to return. Those were the times where the PTSD was the most typical; visions, panic, etc. After learning to control her emotions, Volume 5 displayed how cold and bipolar she had become as a result of stress and fuming rage seeping through the cracks. She would be mean to those who tried to comfort her, and would light up in rage whenever provoked. After reuniting with her team, she felt safer in Volume 6. She still displayed cold behavior, like her interaction with Blake in the house when she swore to protect her. But that was because Yang was strong, as strong as she's always been. She has *always* been shown to do what needs to be done. Why would that change when confronted with the source of her PTSD? Even when plagued by visions of Adam, she still had emotional balance, not to mention she was emotionally assisted by the only other person who could understand her pain when faced with Adam: Blake. If anything, her PTSD was showcased here. It all led up to a re-ignition of her anger. After finally taking control over what once snuffed her fire, she exploded in anger, her hair alight for the first time in three volumes as she took Gambol Shroud's blade and plunged it into his heart. Her PTSD drove her to kill (not murder, btw), her source of pain.
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Yang warned him, Adam poked the dragon, and the dragon's fire was lit at last. For those saying Yang's PTSD was wasted, useless or unrealistic, I would raise that her PTSD was one of the best character arcs and payoffs in the entire show.
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Let's move on to Adam. Many are upset because he went from a misguided terrorist leader, and past mentor to Blake, to an abusive ex who dropped his cause because he was hung up on his past squeeze. He was killed just as he was getting interesting, to boot.
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Well, let's keep in mind Adam was written by three writers. With different visions per writer, it's not unusual that Adam was both a leader as well as a past romantic partner for Blake. If anything, that adds to him as a villain. Not much of his backstory is spelled out, but it is implied throughout little moments here and there, including his character short. "Why is his story not clearly defined like others?" the Adam fans cry.
Because Adam is not the main antagonist. Adam was always an antagonist specifically to Yang and Blake's story. He was a threatening background presence before Volume 3, but without characterization other than a leader of a splinter group of the White Fang and a negative feature in Blake's past, only mentioned very briefly. The most prominent being to establish a parallel to him and Yang when Blake was unsure of her innocence after "breaking" Mercury's leg. So, we can establish that the first major thing mentioned about him was in direct comparison with Yang.
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The next time we see him not being a one-liner dispenser telling the White Fang to bring Beacon to its knees, it was when Blake reunited with him. First line out of his mouth was confirming a romantic past with Blake and his desire for revenge. Therefore, his first spoken motivation was revenge, his first characterization was to show his impulsive and unstable tendencies. So what is left if you take away his first impression as a character? A completely hollow and edgy skilled swordsman with an ambiguous leader position in the White Fang. So, not much. Why do people say his character was destroyed? He never had a character before those intentions in the first place.
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People say he was "nerfed" in a sense around Volume 5, when Blake decked him in the finale. While I did not really like the Volume 5 finale, this was not even an issue for me. It was shown from his first interaction that he only has power when he has control, and this has been consistent throughout his existence within the show. This is one of the main features of Adam as a character, and it directly causes his downfall. He was decked so easily because his plan dissolved all around him in an instant. He slaughtered the remaining White Fang because they would not accept him as leader after getting humiliated by that incident. Because he slaughtered the one group that would accept him, he continued on to his one motivation: Revenge on Blake. Thus, he snuck onto the train, stalked Blake, and made his move the one time she was alone. After Yang shows up, and she is undeterred, the already unhinged Adam loses more and more control until he attacks in pure rage and anger, just like Yang did before she lost her arm. This resulted in his aura breaking. With his gun out of ammo and his sword over the cliff, he dove for the last thing to help save him: Blake's broken sword. Blake was faster and stabbed out of self defense. Yang stabbed out of pure anger and rage. And he died. This was a good death. It displayed how unstable obsession of control can result in a catastrophic downfall. It is a chain reaction that is commonly seen in emotionally unstable people. And emotionally stable, Adam was never.
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Many say his death was pandering to toxic and overbearing Bumbleby shippers, and that Yang and Blake have no chemistry. I would like to point out that while there are toxic members of *every* ship and fandom, there is a reason Bumbleby is the most popular out of every other one in this show. For most, it isn't because they're lesbian, or their colors compliment each other. It's because they have the most emotional and romantic chemistry out of any ship, established as far back as Volume 2, when Yang winks at Blake, promising to save her a dance. This was a long time coming, and of course people would blame this ship when they kill their favorite character, completely forgetting that Adam existed solely to be a plot device for Yang and Blake's development. Obviously his death would draw them together. But, forgive my french, it isn't like Yang and Blake are happily scissoring over his soggy corpse. It is clear that Adam's death was tragic, for it showed how lost and corrupt he was. If the show was trying to pander to anyone with his death, it would be a much more celebrated move within the show itself. But the emotions the characters feel during that moment aren't "Yay, we killed the bad guy!"
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Blake burst into tears after killing him. He was once everything to her. The finale credits song, Nevermore, attests to the nature of his death further. Afterwards, Blake and Yang embrace. It was a moment of bonding, but not necessarily romantic. Whether the show goes that way canonically remains to be seen, but *many* signs point to yes. But Adam's death wasn't pandering, and the shipping aspects were situational.
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Now that I have that B.S out of the way, I should mention the mech fight people are upset about. Mostly people are upset because this took too long and felt unnecessary. While the Metal Shoe portion of the finale was hardly the most interesting, it helped a lot with not only character dynamics, but even things such as world building. We get to see the many features of Earth Dust, the most underused Dust in the show, last seen all the way back in Volume 2. Hard Light dust makes a reappearance, last seen in Volume 3 by Velvet, and is defined as a dust rather than some arbitrary energy. We get to see the Leviathan Grimm, showing that there are great forces in the remote parts, or depths, of Remnant. Many abilities and relationships between characters are shown while fighting the Mech, and that is always enjoyable. The most noteworthy of these dynamics is Ruby and Qrow. Qrow seems anxious for some reason as Ruby becomes more and more daring. And after seeing Summer in her memories during the finale, we can probably guess where Qrow is coming from.
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When Cordovin says the Grimm attack is RWBY's fault, she is correct, and that's a good thing. It shows that while their cause is noble, they still broke the law and others are still affected by their actions. The characters are becoming less and less innocent with each volume. And I am loving every second of it. Moral nuance is what makes characters amazing, and this show is the type that was supposed to get darker, volume by volume. Yang and Blake have taken a life, as has Maria and I would wager probably Qrow as well. Caroline was prepared to kill children in a bout of nationalistic anger. The rest have committed felonies. It shows that this is a brutal world where the innocent rarely stay so. I loved how Caroline had a change of heart by the end as well. While she loves her kingdom, and was prepared to do anything to protect it, she also prioritized protection against the legitimate threat after she realized the intentions of RWBY were pure rather than malicious. Also, I personally just loved the drill finisher on the Leviathan. It was a very nice moment, and it showed that Caroline is not just a crazy lunatic, she is just a cocky and passionate, slightly crazy soldier, but a soldier nonetheless. When she stood high and dignified after killing Grimmzilla, it was quite a nice touch to her character, and it spoke for the nature of Atlas as a whole.
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Overall, I loved this finale. It sits alongside Volume 3 and 4 for me as my favorite finale episodes, and I will say that this is my favorite season out of all of them. If this finale is what caused you to drop the show, I just want to know why it did so. Perhaps I'm overlooking something or you just simply have a different opinion. Well, I marked this as a discussion, so I really want to see some. What do you all think about the finale?