RWBY Review - Start To Finish -

RWBY Review - Start to Finish -

RWBY VOL 1; CHAPTER 3 -

So ... We meet Nora.

Mother, Mary of God, grant me strength.

The only thing balancing out the horror that is Nora is Pyrrha Nikos. SHE is now my favorite character instead of Jaune.

This is impressive because I generally do not like female main characters, and Pyrrha is obviously the main character of the show now because the title character still hasn't done anything to really impress three episodes in.

Chapter 3; The First Step -

An interesting title since the episode only had enough time for the plot to progress exactly one step.

It is the morning after the 'slumber party' in Beacon Academy's great hall. Now, the aspiring Huntsmen are going through their morning routines in Beacon's locker rooms. Preparing for whatever the Academy is going to throw at them next.

We start with Nora and Ren. But that's a jazz tune I ain't playing until I have to, so let's talk about Ruby.

Ruby and her sister, Yang, have a brief discussion about socializing. Here, we see a little more about Ruby's fixation with her weapon and how her weapon makes it less awkward for Ruby to deal with life in general. Yang tries to convince Ruby that breaking out of her shell would do Ruby a world of good, but Jaune interrupts that conversation, and I suddenly hate him.

Jaune then starts blowing his trombone in an attempt to bone Weiss. Interrupting a perfectly civil conversation between Weiss and a new girl, Pyrrha Nikos. Despite Jaune's hot air initially, Weiss manages to deflate him a little and Pyrrha sweeps him off his feet.

From Beacon's lockers, the Huntsmen find themselves standing on a cliff overlooking the Emerald Forest. After a blatant case of Negligence on the part of Ozpin, the Huntsmen are launched off the cliff, thus taking their 'first step' on their journey to become Huntsmen.

Building on from Chapter 2 -

After the attempt of Chapter 2 to progress the Huntsman storyline, Chapter 3 takes an immediate sharp left off the beaten path to introduce Ren and Nora. Or Nora and Ren, to be precise, because we get far too much of Nora in this Chapter.

Out of a 7-minute episode and a 30-second opening, Nora takes up a minute and a half of the remaining 6 minutes of the Chapter with pointless rambling about sloths, and an attempt by the writers to start a ship between Nora and Ren.

The ship isn't the problem, the inefficiency is the problem. Just keep the part about Sloths and the noises they allegedly make. 19 seconds would have been enough to get across that Nora is thirsty for Ren.

The Chapter attempts to address Ruby Rose's character development. Seemingly, this time, to focus on Ruby's love of weapons. Expressed by the girl in the first half of Chapter 2. Whether the writers would stick to this particular trait would be a bridge to cross when we come to it. This is because Jaune interrupts the conversation between Ruby and Yang so the writers could set up something as equally irrelevant as Nora's ramblings earlier.

Funnily enough, Pyrrha being irrelevant to the story is what makes her such a likable character in this Chapter. There is no attempt by the writers to do too much with Pyrrha at this stage, so Pyrrha is just a polite girl who is endearingly attractive because of it.

Her weapon is also a spear. How elegantly simple!

Jaune is an ass in this chapter though, which is a 180 turn when compared to his character in Chapter 2. I get it, Jaune likes Weiss, but why is he so dismissive of Pyrrha during his conversation with her and Weiss? Jaune wasn't interested in Ruby, but he was perfectly pleasant with Ruby when he first met her.

All in all, Chapter 3 is the first step onto the narrative of Ruby Rose. However, Ruby is not the focus, and we as the audience are taking the first step with the wrong foot forward, it seems.

What I liked -

Pyrrha Nikos. A little simple, but you get more out of a simple dish, I believe.

What I did not like -

Ruby Rose is not the main focus of her own show.

I don't know what noise a Sloth makes, but I'm sure it would come up with its own noise to tell Nora to leave it in peace. Say it with me everyone, "Nora, no talking!"

I do not approve of Jaune being mean to Pyrrha.

"Kuvira would not be a Dictator for very long if you HAD NOT PUT ME IN PRISON."

Douche.

Essentially.

What “Legend of Korra: Ruins of the Empire” should end like in 5 panels(?)

Being sorry is not enough. You need to take responsibility for what you’ve done.

Man, that is funny.

Excuse me?

I think it is hilarious that YOU are berating me about taking responsibility for one’s actions since all of this is your fault.

WHAT?

If you are done riding your high horse, let me educate you: Evil prevails when good men do nothing.

Um, yes. I don’t see-

And when the Earth Kingdom was in chaos, what did you do?

… I’m not sure where this is-

You DECLINED to take an active role in reuniting the Earth Kingdom.

Yes, because I knew I would be seen as a conqueror and only be greeted with war.

THERE WAS ALREADY A WAR! Stop trying to justify it, you declined because you wished to keep your hands clean. You thought the best way to not be part of the problem was staying away. But not doing something IS STILL doing something! A person who watches a house burn without trying to kill the flames is just as guilty as the arsonist. I made mistakes, but I actually tried to do something for the Earth Kingdom. You are all acting as if I’m a Hitler, but I’m actually a Castro.

Nothing excuses conquest.

Oh, really?! Hey, Korra!

Please keep me out of-

You KNOW what Avatar Aang did to stop the Firelord?!

Um… he…

Attacked the Fire Kingdom, dethroned Ozai and Azula, and made Zuko the new monarch! What do you call that?!

Ah…

I CALL IT CONQUEST! YET EVERYONE TREATS HIM LIKE A HERO AND BUILDS HIM MONUMENTS AND SHIT! SO YOU CAN ALL TAKE YOUR HOLIER-THAN-THOU HYPOCRITE BULLSHIT AND STICK IT UP YOUR ASS!

Wait, who is Hitler and Castro?

Was Ironwood right? Part 2 -

It's difficult to say if Ironwood's plan was the right plan during v8 like it was during v3. v8's theme was about how plans could get ruined due to no fault of anyone's, or perhaps the fault of everyone, and you can't do anything about it.

As it is said; "Man devises, but Heaven decides." Everyone was going to fail in v7 and v8. If RT had not intended it, then the fan outcry ensured it. After Ironwood proved himself more sympathetic than the main characters due to some freak of writing.

Perhaps it is better when discussing whether Ironwood was right in v8, to ask if Ironwood was the villain? Or was he the Hero of the story, in a 'Superman dying to stop Doomsday' kind of way and not 'a Villain is the Hero of his story' kind of way?

Heroism in fiction is selfless action, but must that action be morally right? Our heroes have historically committed acts which we wouldn't consider morally right. Yet fantasy is meant to be unrealistic, and our heroes in our stories should be held to a higher standard.

But ultimately, our Heroes should not be condemned for actions that are immoral. The legends of our historical Heroes are just as fantastic as our comic heroes, and they taught lessons that are as valuable as they are timeless.

So was Ironwood the Hero of v7 and v8? Well since this is a Pro-Ironwood blog ... But to be fair, let's address the two main incidents of Ironwood's 'villainy'.

Ironwood arresting RWBY seems to be a moment that was caused by RWBY. Not in a negative sense, but more in that RWBY were the ones who took the initiative to break the stalemate. There was no right course of action in that situation, and Ruby should have offered to go and evacuate Mantle's citizens to Atlas if Ironwood delayed the launch by an hour. Like any action hero worth his salt would do.

Ironwood would then have said; 'you have ONE Hour, not a second more. Ruby would then reply with a one-liner and shot off to save the world.

But what about Ironwood shooting down the SDC ships heading to save Mantle refugees, and threatening to nuke Mantle if RWBY did not hand Penny over?

First; Ironwood kept his word when RWBY 'kept' theirs, and RWBY followed up the backstabbing streak with a 2-0 score against Ironwood.

Second; Even if Ironwood nuked Mantle, would he be a villain if he did it to save another island city's worth of civilians? Boudica killed three cities worth of innocent Romans for the Iceni Tribe of Britons, and she is still considered a bally heroine today. Ironwood would also have destroyed Mantle for pretty good reasons, as he would have destroyed the key to opening the Vault and would have thus prevented Salem from taking the Staff.

In any case, we won't really know if Ironwood was playing a particularly brutal bluff. I'd say he was bluffing but I like Ironwood so that's a nut and a half. The more important question is whether such a bluff made Ironwood a villain.

I say, no. If Heroism is defined by Selfless, Ironwood in v8 more than fits the bill. Ironwood unironically puts himself on the line to keep Atlas, and in the process Remnant, safe. He is willing to literally tear himself apart to stop Salem. Ironwood is selfless if nothing else.

But if Ironwood is the hero, what does that make RWBY?

No. We don't have to work with the shills who provide SJW content, whether its Disney or RoosterTeeth.

Ideologues can only be ignored, not bargained with.

@ the people who write (writers, if you will) do you ever have a moment of clarity when you finally manage to connect one plot point to another and the words finally flow seamlessly somehow?