How to Waste a Character | Mercury Black

Mercury Black was an interesting addition to the RWBY franchise, being one of the first competent male villains ever show cased, and using a unique fighting style that fans adored.
But what happened in recent volumes? Why does his character seem less important than ever, and why did Roosterteeth and RWBY decide that he was now only backseat?
Let's dive in and discover how you properly waste a character with bad writing.

[@shakieltaylor9995]

I feel like RT should really stop hiring well know voice actors and hire like good writiers

[@munem939]

They clearly don't care about the voice actors either, considering they cut ties with Qrow's VA after the sexual allegations (Which, 4 months in after the allegations, *still* don't have any evidence against him)

[@jobertmartir9021]

They didnt do that at all for rwby. They use people from their own company, and we have carrie and miles. Also remember that the creater of rwby(monty omm) passed

[@Dragonage2ftw]

They already have good writers.

[@mordredvonumbra154]

@@Dragonage2ftw The evidence seems to prove otherwise.

[@Cklert]

@Jeffrey.C.Amicitia Adam sounds different because the writers made him completely out of character. His VA is the same. Michael plays Sun.

[@brianbrush5107]

Honestly I think his DAD was wasted. I mean, sadistic Assasin who can steal people's powers for himself? That SCREAMS potential for an awesome villain.

[@cleanbishop7874]

Counterpoint. If Mercury can beat a guy like that... doesn't that put him on a different level?

[@mysticflow467]

@@cleanbishop7874 if your son surprise attacks you in your sleep that doesn't really make him a better fighter, I'm not saying that him and his dad didn't duke it out 1 on 1 but I'm sure mercury didn't just challenge him to a fight like "I'M GOING TO ATTACK YOU, GET READY!"

[@CombatSportsNerd]

@@cleanbishop7874 Mercury would never fight a guy like that fair and square lmfao

[@azuko2372]

@@CombatSportsNerd then again his legs were bleeding, he was beaten so how much surprise could he have had in the fight.

[@dicksimmons3147]

MysticFlow but in the flashback cinder says that she saw his FIGHT from the tree line meaning that there must have been a fight

[@FracturedO1]

Mercury was tactical, witty and yet had a subtlety to his methods that always made me believe he was willing to play the part of the fool to get what he needed. -- The talented hawk hides its talons. It would be a shame if RT dropped this ball

[@CombatSportsNerd]

When the hell did he ever play the fool?

[@marlom7882]

The Otaku Dragon Slayer I think he means like the easy going jokester

[@CombatSportsNerd]

@@marlom7882 Class Clone or Two Faced Trickster would've made more sense imo but I see what he means now

[@IrrelevantOaf]

Mercury is probably going to get killed off like all the other interesting characters.

[@CampaignerSC]

​@@CombatSportsNerd Unlike Emerald, he knows he's being used by Cinder. We don't know what his motive for sticking around is.

[@chinyereugwu9431]

Yang didn't beat mecury. Mecury took a fall we saw that with how he left her with just enough Aura and power for their plan.,

[@UnifiedEntity]

Should've just let Yang ringed her out. But no. Or could've been hit with a illusion early on like Pyrrha. So that whole "took the fall" is hard to believe. Was a mere opportunity.

[@Dragonage2ftw]

@@UnifiedEntity No, they definitely planned for him to lose, since the whole point was to make the Hunters look bad.

[@UnifiedEntity]

@@Dragonage2ftw They couldve rigged every other matches though with the illusion.

[@acegren2489]

@@UnifiedEntity No they couldn't, emerald got a bad headache after just the yang and Mercury fight. Could you imagine if she had done that for every single one?

[@kamakazines4901]

I agree, he was showing off and in control the entire fight. He was showing off. He got Yang down to within one point of losing. One more hit, and their plan would have failed.

[@jackchase5727]

You know your show is bad when the fanfic of said show is objectively better.

[@hihelo5131]

Rwby alternate?

[@jackchase5727]

@@hihelo5131 That's a really good adaptation!

[@sebas8225]

LUNA

[@CombatSportsNerd]

@@jackchase5727 Not really. U have any idea how easy it is to take an already done show and just fix the flaws after watching review videos for a few days? It would more pathetic if a fan fic did an even WORSE job than the og writers

[@svalfish1716]

*Real SAO abridged hours*

[@raulbastidas853]

Mercury (as well as the rest of the show) I feel is suffering from the same problem, decent ideas but piss poor execution.

[@catsintei]

The Battle of Haven was honest to God bullshit, the fights and writing was bad, and should be ignored in general.

[@catsintei]

Also shouldn't be used for power scaling of any sort.

[@joaocbcneto]

yeah, turns out making 3 animated trailers instead of focusing on animating the show can do that to something. (Plus torchwick s VA stealing money for Gen LOCK.)

[@petergeramin7195]

@@joaocbcneto What do you mean Torchwicks VA stole money for Genlock

[@joaocbcneto]

@@petergeramin7195 Gray haddock,Torchwick s VA used to be the animation director until volume 6, he sent a good part of the budget for volumes 5,6 and Nomad of Nowhere into Genlock (dont remember if V4 had it happen too) while threatening employees to not tell anyone. Gray got fired once word actually got around to one of the higher-ups at Roosterteeth (dont remember who it was) which led to a giant argument between said higher-up who burst into the office and Gray,unsurprisingly he got fired and Volume 7 onwards has someone else on board for animation director.

[@MercuryBlackN]

I clearly threw the match. Notice how I only really slightly try after Yang almost ring outs me. She didn't get a single hit in until I stopped attacking right after her aura reaches minimum level allowed to keep competing.

[@Shadowrun71]

It's true, if you look at the arena jumbo-tron Yang is LITERALLY 1 percent of aura away from losing the match. Mercury legitimately was playing with Yang the whole fight.

[@UnifiedEntity]

If you "threw" the match, ya shoulda just let Yang ringed you out.

[@MercuryBlackN]

Ragin my aura needed to be depleted. There plan wouldn't have worked if I lost so early on.

[@UnifiedEntity]

@@MercuryBlackN ....Then deactivate your aura >_>.

[@Shadowrun71]

Ragin.....their aura levels are on the jumbo-tron, if he just dropped it utterly it would become zero. That's not very good smoke screen. Also I don't know if you've noticed it or not but Mercury is a bit of a dick, if he's gonna let someone win he wants anyone who's worth anything in a fight to realize he could've won that at any time.

[@illuzions1615]

This animated series is honestly a cluster of incoherent ideas forced together

[@DriedPlank]

Anime

[@bnashtay2278]

Wdym anime

[@carloshernandez-kr7ug]

Based'nt

[@velvetcross174]

I feel like Mercury's semblance will have something to do with a sure kill lethal attack, or maybe even something to do with Mercury Poisoning. I would go as far as to assume that Mercury's own semblance was dangerous to himself, which was why his father stole it from him. But, that's actually writing. Lmao

[@obito101man5]

the poisoning idea is interesting. maybe the semblance makes him able to cause people's body to shut down slowly.

[@teamdimension8519]

@@obito101man5 It also fits his character as he seems like the one to slowly verbally destroy someone

[@jamesmcmillin796]

If Mercury’s dads semblance was “All for One” 😂 (could steal/seal semblances) Will Mercury’s be something akin to that? Or that fact that papa wanted him to become strong enough to use it does that imply strengthening his body to be able to handle a burden it puts on him while active or to develop a technique were it can be fully utilised as so it is not hazardous to himself. The fact that you brought up that the option that it may have been his dad that gave him bionic legs is interesting. Maybe it was to do with his legs being too weak and couldn’t handle to impacts the semblance provided. Or maybe that was to augment his fighting style idk.

[@teamdimension8519]

@@jamesmcmillin796 That makes me think. Does yang have a sub-semblance of Explosion

[@jamesmcmillin796]

Team Dimension8 Yellow hair Red eyes Basically female Bakugo

[@TwilightWolf032]

HOW DO YOU STEAL SOMEONE'S SEMBLANCE! A semblance is the manifestation of your aura, one per person! How do you steal someone's semblance?! One for All?!

[@thedarklordx]

Basically, yeah.

[@CloudyDaze]

I don’t understand how you steal a semblance without stealing aura... they’re the same thing. Oh wait. Miles and Kerry retconned it :)

[@A-Bot779]

TwilightWolf032 they’re probably bullshitting it cause they actually don’t know what his ACTUAL semblance is. They’re doing it so they have more time to think of what semblances he’s gonna have

[@wizoneri2062]

@@CloudyDaze you're telling me in this whole world of magic and different semblances that there's not a possibility of a semblance that can still inhibit the semblance without draining the aura?

[@CloudyDaze]

Geeky Poptart i was referencing how the one time we got a world of remnant video that explained how aura and semblance’s worked, Miles and Kerry retconned it after Monty’s death, no nothing makes sense or matters. Normally I’d be happy to agree with you but when the writers can’t keep their own rules consistent then the argument would be moot. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@BlankEmporium]

Imagine how powerful Mercury's Dad could be. Let's assume he can only steal two semblance's, that's still incredibly powerful. Imagine if he stole Weiss's glyphs alongside Glynda's telekinesis. He'd be one of the most powerful characters in the show, alongside his assassin training and coldblooded personality. He'd be like Cinder on steroids. H*ll, imagine if Strq fought him, now THAT would be an epic fight.

[@brainflash1]

I'm pretty sure he could only take semblances, not use them. If the later was the case, Mercury would never have been able to beat him.

[@kamakazines4901]

It seems to me that Mercury is being set up to be either redeemed, or at least a double agent/freelancer, while Emerald is being set up to be a tragic villain who's loyalty traps her to the dark side... Murcury hates being dismissed, controlled, intimidated and used as a pawn, as evidenced by his relationship with his father. It fits his character to rankle and rebel against Salem's iron grip. But Rooster Teeth REALLY dropped the ball with him. Really. He's the amalgamation of Sasuke, Edward Elric, a greek god, and both Zuko and Azula. He should be awesome. He's been royally screwed by poor writing and lazy fight chorography and camera framing. It's such a shame. Also, I have an admittedly tinfoil theory that Mercury is the child of a silver-eyed warrior, and Markus Black kidnapped/adopted him after carrying out a hit on his silver-eyed parent (probably for Salem). Mercury's eyes are ambiguously grey/silver enough that Markus kept pushing Murcury harder and harder in hopes of unlocking silver-eyed powers he could use as a weapon. Markus didn't understand the power properly, though, and either Mercury is legitimately not silver eyed, or is, but has no positivity/protective goodness to draw on, so keeps failing. That's why he's liquid silver, and not true silver. But that's just a theory. A crackpot theory. Thanks for reading.

[@Dave102693]

Sounds better than what RT could come up with.

[@ProfRainestorm]

Objectively better than RT. Fact.

[@CombatSportsNerd]

@@Dave102693 nah that feels like a pointless addtion tbh

[@CombatSportsNerd]

"He's the amalgamation of Sasuke, Edward Elric, a greek god, and both Zuko and Azula. He should be awesome." Mixing good and bad shit together doesn't automatically yield good results. The fact Sasuke is in that mix was a bad sign 2 begin with

[@kosmicamv6451]

@Phillip Leite Like what happened with Adam, for Blake And Yang? To satisfy Bumblebee fans?

[@ErenYeager-rx2dv]

Rwby died when monty did honestly Mercury was the best thing about the show for me he was the main Reason I became interested in the first place.

[@minecraftWithDanielD]

Monty played the long game when it came to his writing, or at least that’s how it feels to me. I feel like he had more planned for these characters, but there was corporate meddling and general scumbaggery occurring at RT after Monty’s death. I mean Raven was rumoured to have a fight scene with JNPR during Vol 3 because it would’ve worked later on, but RT felt it was too out of place so it was cut

[@switchblade3626]

Also when pyrrha died apparently from montys assistant he said jaune was supposed to be the reason she died cause they fought cinder together and he wasnt strong enough which lead to pyrrha dying for jaune

[@brainflash1]

@@switchblade3626 Jeez, I'm glad they changed that. Can you imagine how guilty Jaune would feel if that had been the case?

[@switchblade3626]

@@brainflash1 I think they would have made him better writing wise 😭 and we would have suffered pretty good

[@alinahlamis783]

I just realized that despite Emerald being a thief with a nifty semblance (one that, mind you, could be used to trick an arena of people), she was still taken in by Cinder for _poverty,_ when she could have easily used her skills to get herself rich without consequence (outside having a CCTV/possibly a robot spotting her), instead she chose to steal wallets- why? We may never know, because apparently the writers can't think up interesting avenues for characters.

[@arkansatriahardiputra9703]

RT showing that Mercury is a witty and highly skilled villain right before having him act dumb and lose off screen Me: its false advertising

[@rareitem_]

Perfect 😂

[@Stinger20638]

Mercury for a bit seemed as tho he was to be like the Bane from Dark Knight Rises. "Born in the dark, molded by it." While Emerald was, "adopted by it."

[@totallytubular8760]

My only thing about Mercury vs Ruby is that when has he ever thrown a punch? I just rolled my eyes.

[@rareitem_]

He threw one quick jab into a sky rocket kick when he launched yang in the air but yeah that punch was sad with no plan behind it. It even looked low effort.

[@SkaterBlades]

I wish they gave us more content with emerald and mercury, especially in the later volumes. They aren't the strongest villains but they are actually human beings who have empathy and appear to feel guilt, fear and shock at times

[@SkaterBlades]

I also love how all of their scenes together feel natural. Most scenes with other characters almost sound like speeches at times

[@LuckiSir]

I think Mercury's getting better, we may not have seen a lot but I like how whenever he's on-screen theres a purpose. Though Volume 5 definitely left a dent in his credibility as a fighter

[@triela7502]

Cough cough Adams death cough

[@jt_mendez]

Master Lox facts. he was only used to make bumblebee shippers happy :/. what. a. waste.

[@thexdqueen2512]

What hurt me was his fighting animation went downhill after Volume 3 and I was like "I KNOW YOU CAN FIGHT BETTER THAN THIS BECAUSE I'VE SEEN THE ANIMATION" DX

[@Ariii443]

thexdqueen tbh all the fighting went down hill

[@Hazyla]

thexdqueen I think Monty liked animating kicks

[@HannahTheFlabebe]

Spoilers ahead I've seen theories that Mercury's semblance was flight, adding a bit more to the Roman god Mercury lore. Also, whatever his semblance may have been, I would love to see him get it back in some sort of redemption arc. I think, based on how he and Emerald looked horrified at what they had helped create at the beginning of volume 4, maybe they didn't want to fight for this anymore and that's why they fought so poorly. This kind of regret could drive a redemption arc if they were ever able to get away from Salem's group. Also, I've heard talk that stealing a semblance seems kind of unplausable since a semblance is an extension of a person's aura and Mercury still had his own aura. Maybe Marcus's semblance wasn't to *steal* semblances, but to *seal* them. Like, make them unusable. It would be a great explanation with a chance of reunlocking his semblance in this proposed redemption arc. idk, maybe I'm biased with Mercury being my favorite villain and also having a soft spot for Emerald. I may not relate to them at all, but I do feel for them and want to see more of them. More development, more character building, more redemption than just a regretful look. I've only watched up to the end of volume 5 so far, but I hope that someday we'll get more from Mercury and Emerald. All in favor say I!!

[@azuko2372]

I!!!!!!!

[@olafgurke4699]

Aye!

[@maxwellsterling]

Mercury always came across as this sort of anti-hero prototype to me. He's a skilled douchebag, but also expressed this certain fear, distaste or whatever for his current situation, and since he's with Cinder just for the lulz, I don't see why he wouldn't tag along with RWBY also for the lulz. The banter potential between Yang and Mercury would be like playing Dragon Age Origins with Morrigan and Alistair in your squad 24/7, and probably open up the shit literally everyone doesn't want to talk about: shipping. I mean, we all know those two kids that can't stop getting into fights and end up dating years later, because the fights somehow were a "I care about you"... but that's already going too deep. Mercury deserves a proper writing and priority when compared to characters like that weird Atlas officer and Jaune's lesbian sister that nobody asked for.

[@kodathebodybuilder]

I don't think Mercury siding with Team RWBY would work. He's been part of a cause and effect sequence that ended with the death of Team RWBY and JNPR's friend. And caused Beacon to be overrun with grimm and robots, and literally now works under satan incarnate. It just wouldnt be right to make Mercury a good guy, not anytime soon anyways. Tho I agree he needs more developement

[@joshuafrimpong244]

Seriously give Mercury the semblance he deserves P.S. I don't care if his father stole it. Also give back his skill

[@venomsilverisawesome4766]

The audio is really lagged behind.

[@nodermark8922]

this is to prevent copyright strikes

[@vmeixiao]

I'm pretty sure that later in the series Mercury talks about his father and that his dad took his semblance with his own; meaning that he doesn't have a semblance anymore, for he never got it back from his father. I think it was like Vol. 7 or something. I'm not quite sure if we will ever know his semblance but idk.

[@FishInDaToilet]

10:02 you can actually pinpoint the time where all hope was thrown to the wind and abandoned

[@shonnew]

After the Monety passing things went downhill with most characters being wasted, killed off in the worst way possible, or completely changed to appease a small section of the fanbase.

[@clintcarpentier2424]

Watch his semblance be something mortifying to an assassin; something like fairness, or chivalry, or some other gawd-awful shitbar of a skill.

[@marlom7882]

Clint Carpentier considering Maria had essentially what was the spider sense and still lost in close quarters combat I wouldn’t doubt this theory

[@CombatSportsNerd]

@@marlom7882 Not even remotely close to what spider sense can do lmfao

[@SwitchbackCh]

You know, half of me isn't sure Merc's dad stealing his Semblance was actually intended for Merc the whole time, or they realised Merc has no Semblance and they thought "Oh, what if his dad stole it or something?" But listening to your video, I am inclined to believe it was intended in some way from the start. That said, your "It's false advertising!" joke gives me ideas for some memey goodness... As for his Semblance, I do agree with another poster below and think it's some kind of instant-kill move like Cu Chulainn's Gae Bolg from Fate, which his father took away. Sounds like the ultimate Semblance for an assassin to have, and Marcus took it away from Merc, only for Merc to prove he didn't need it by killing his old man himself. It's either that or teleportation, if we're going by his Hermes inspiration.

[@BlankEmporium]

I would place my money on Mercury's semblance being speed, something like Ruby's, do to his Hermes similarities.

[@GAMEPRO24X]

Miles and Kerry "Learn to Write"

[@kit6818]

I stopped watching RWBY after Montys passing, im not a big fan of what has continued.

[@wildstorm3486]

Snow Leopard Stories I stoped watching when Blake and Yang killed Adam in V6. I think the show could possibly be salvaged if you got the right people heading it but that’s not going to happen. I’ll just use my time to watch an actually good anime. Like Overlord or that Slime one or even Shield Hero.

[@kit6818]

@@wildstorm3486 Initial D has a pretty good score (doing it for the meme). so is Legend of Korra and Girl und Panzer, and they have great scores too.

[@marlom7882]

I mean volume 3 is really good

[@jordanfirebomb4950]

@@wildstorm3486 watch d grayman or read blue exorcist manga(the anime is different). D grayman is pretty similar to RWBY with akumas being a series danger and have an organization to take care of the threat. Blue Exorcist is just like so good that I really don't want to spoil so I'll just say read the manga.

[@MrTigracho]

I stopped in volume 5. It ruined what would been a climatic fight. Build up mediocre to regular, and the fight sucked ass, with thr exception of Raven vs Cinder, which was ok, but not good enough to save the story.

[@wammygames7627]

Emerald:Follow Cinder's orders because Cinder gave her a home and likes her. Mercury:Follow Cinder because he felt like it. If he wanted to he could always leave.

[@Ilinca6]

his fighting style is called taek wan do, he is hwoarang from tekken.

[@olafgurke4699]

It's actually Tricking, which uses kicks and Flips form taek wan do, among others.

[@Morbius-Tension]

Seems more of a Eddy gordo to me

[@marlom7882]

He also uses capoeira since he combines break dancing with kicks and using complex kicks whilst flipping and sometimes having his hands on the ground

[@esaiqwerty]

Bad writing is the nice way of saying the choreography became the reason they had to plug more cringe-drama and dialogue. A lack of any ambitious mocapping. A lack of fit true fighter-dancer spirits like Monty. Its actually the shortcut to good fight scene choreography. Being able to execute proper techniques in real life extends directly to the anime....all those moves in season 1-2 were all made in motion capture. Accentuated by rotation, speed and jump height using the animation software to give it that crisp frame by frame tweaked solid cause and effect poetry we saw early series. Sadly, as simple as getting fit and dawning the mocap suit should be, no one can match the editing and ambition Monty donated to the DNA of RWBY. Its was very charming. While it lasted. I studied fighting and writing myself. I saw a heart on screen when RWBY trailers dropped. I saw the better than sex desire to execute life in motion like perfectly executing a technique from an incomplete and relatable character.

[@slimjimjr96]

Me, everytime I see what RT has done to Mercury: ....look at how they've massacred my boy....

[@bizzyg5751]

In Rooster Teeth's defense, based on some statements they've made (particularly regarding the Faunus), it seems they don't really care about real life issues they aren't familiar with. RWBY is filled with relatable characters like this, and it'd also explain why V4 and onward are filled with so many cliches, archetypes done to death, and mediocre writing, fight scenes, and animation. RWBY's lost its passion, imagination, and has a new heart. Anything you aren't willing to learn about will be difficult take-over. That's why RWBY became a product to sell, no longer someone's spectacularly unique brain-child.

[@connorharnage6697]

Honestly, both Mercury and Emerald would benefit if Cinder stayed in her little exile. It'd give them time to do what THEY want and not what SHE wanted

[@AoAstar]

this is a shamless plug but... after vol 5 I made a mercuryxyang fanfic (before i thought bumblebee would ever be cannon) and ive been trying to explain his sudden character change- and it just fits so well in this video i had to tell ya lol

[@HestiaVesta]

I think his power might be flight or a limited variant teleportation kind of sitting his name and mythological character reference

[@kosmicamv6451]

*Trained by an assassin to be an assassin.* Yep. Sounds like Killua to me 🤔

[@wammygames7627]

Lol same here but Killua has brothers and actaully has powers. While Mercury is a single kid and got his semblance stolen

[@zenzonerzz4789]

I dont know if you know this but rwby hasn't ended yet...i know shocker plus merc is still alive,he's not dead. He can still be used,just because it didn't happen yet doesnt make him a waste.

[@boush1177]

There is still some hope for his character to be redeemed but I think the point everyone makes is that his character should not have been dragged down the mud like this. His cringey dialogue and piss-poor performance in recent volumes is a contradiction of what was there before. He was always a bit snarky but in older volumes his dialogue was at least kinda clever, provoking, or funny, whereas most of his recent dialogue is to me just lame playground insults, and as Regular Dude pointed out possibly even out-of-character. If we were properly shown why the main cast have become stronger than him it would be fine but we were not, since in the Volume 5 climax he was put down to his knees off-screen with little explanation of how that happened, thus I claim that the main cast did not deserve their victory over him and Emerald. I am fine with him and Emerald being weaker than Salem's top generals since those 4 must be really powerful to fit that position, but we have not been properly shown why the heroes deserved to defeat them in Volume 5 due to most of it happening off-screen. Mercury is IMO such a cool character for having a unique battle style AND being able to hold his own without a Semblance and yet he has been tossed around like a toy, that is disappointing and makes it harder for me to feel any threat about him as a villain. Serious villains with grim backstories like Mercury should be seen as a threat, a menace for the main cast to overcome, but yet his poor dialogue and performance make that hard to believe. They have wasted so much time with him that making him look credible in future volumes is harder. I hope you understand, the point I am making with this rant is that the writing has made Mercury look like a joke or a pushover and while it can maybe be fixed in the future we have every right to be worried that it will not, and we should be able to critique the poor writing done with this character.

[@chemix4314]

I honestly hate how RWBY uses it's male villains. We've had three competent male villains in Mercury, Watts, and Hazel as well as 3 semi-competent villains in Tyrian, Torchwick, and Adam. Where are they now? Mercury hasn't done anything since volume 3, Watts hasn't even fought yet, Adam and Torchwick are dead (Torchwick could be alive but for right now...), Hazel is an emotional wall half the time and has 1 actual fight in the entire series all though it's cool how he does have a moral compass... which went out the window once he found Ozpin. That's why Tyrian is the best villain, thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

[@JesseGolo]

Honestly, my problem with Mercury isn't that he is an underutilised character, it's that his character makes the major villain's look horrifyingly bad by comparison. I have a whole video where I try to figure out who's the beat villain. Check it out.

[@redmorgan8843]

I think if Mercury gets a redemption it would be a heroic suicide for Emerald since Hermes is the god of thieves as well as the other hats he wore. Really hope the writing crew sees this because they’ve talked about watching critiques and taking notes; and Mercury is too cool to not be used right.

[@illuminaticomfirmed6948]

Not not the hot one!

[@andrewsharpe7630]

Agreeable video. Disappointing how Mercury was made unintelligent, thuggish, and unimportant after Vol.3. That scene in Vol.6 giving more of his backstory was good, but I didn't like how much of a dick Mercury was to Emerald. Their rapport was one of the main things they had going for them. Making Mercury a thuggish evil male with no sympathy for his partner was dumb. I want ambiguity and complexity in RWBY, but Miles and Kerry are hacks.

[@danieltaylor4185]

Mercury has to be a microcosm of everything wrong with RWBY Volume 5. The fights have slowed down and involve a lot of reaction shots, character teleporting, and inconsistencies. Characters just stand around waiting for stuff to happen sometimes, especially when Cinder is throwing a spear at Weiss. When she does, Jaune just stands there. I mean, it's Jaune... but even he could figure out that he should do _something_ right there. All of Volume 5's fights are slow and I can barely remember any of them. The only fight that's on par with previous volumes that didn't involve a giant Grimm was Raven vs Cinder, and even that might have been pushing the "on par" descriptor. Not to mention, this is the kind of fight I'd expect to see in a one-on-one in like.. a tournament setting or like, one of the main cast against someone of fairly even skill. Not 2 maidens, powerful beings that control the power of elements and have real freaking magic, unhindered by needing to use dust or semblances to conjure fire, ice, or lightning out of thin air. It's a good fight overall, but a mediocre fight between maidens.

[@jiiva1063]

I love mercury black

[@weirdtree8611]

I think RT would do it for like one chapter then "NEXT!" Idk they do stuff so that the fans can shut up about it.

[@Skitzotech]

I dont think mercury's semblance is gone. Isn't it supposed to be a manifestation of someone's "soul"? I somehow doubt that some "assassin" has the ability to steal semblances and yet just remains an "assassin" He would literally be a "King of bad guys"... "All for one" type villain. The only way ANY of this could even remotely hold water is if the glove that Cinder used to take the maiden's power was some how made my Mercury's dad. If that's the reason Cinder went looking for his dad then i can buy it a TINY bit more. If it had zero connection then no Mercury still has his semblance but his father either sealed it somehow or Mercury is straight lying.

[@Champsr0ck2247]

I mean Marcus was considered to be a very famous assassin, so he's not just a random in-universe. He also could just, not be that power hungry. He's still limited by Aura (and all Semblances cost Aura) so he can't be AfO who has some ungodly level of Stamina on top of being centuries worth of Quirk Mastery. That said, its likely just stealing a Semblance just means Marcus copies it and the stolen Semblance is re-locked. There's no clear cut method of discovering your Semblance (Ren was nearly eaten vs Ruby randomly gaining her powers vs Yang just being angry about a haircut vs Qrow basically being born with his) so having it locked is *basically* the equivalent of losing it forever. There's no way for any of Marcus' victims to realize there would be a difference since they would be dead.

[@thedarklordx]

Basically it's like one of those times where the lore is far more interesting than the story. Mercury's dad is more interesting than anything that happened in volume 4, 5 and maybe 6

[@eddleegarcia4986]

@@Champsr0ck2247 I mean...maybe the person has to do something similar to what their semblance does to unlock it? Nora got struck by lighting, which is how she discovered she gains strength through electricity. Ren was in a highly stressful situation, his semblance calmed him down. Yang got mad about a haircut, her semblance is usually shown through anger/activated by anger, though, it's actually hitting someone back with twice the force she got hit with. Ruby did indeed randomly get her powers, but it's speed so...she probably had to avoid an attack as quickly as possible, so that unlocked it? Idk....but anyways, my point is that Mercury probably needs to re-create the same event that happened to him when he got his semblance in order to unlock it again. Edit: That is, if he actually still has his semblance

[@BabyGirlTiny]

@@Champsr0ck2247 Maria was also a famous huntsman and she had no worl impact so Marcus being a famous mercenary means nothing as his character has no world impact

[@Champsr0ck2247]

@@BabyGirlTiny Maria was so good that Qrow based his entire fighting style and weapon off of her, so I have no idea what you're trying to say.

[@Symbolic-Sky]

can you do a rewrite episode on Hazel? I love his concept behind the fairy tale but, I HATE how he was wasted.

[@HexManiac-nf1yg]

Hold up. If mercury doesn't have his semblance how does he do that spinny tornado bullet thing in his fight in season 3

[@TTYDpapermario]

dust in his robotic legs

[@wammygames7627]

He use his legs. Its his weapon

[@MrMasslee]

To PROPERLY answer your question, more than likely its momentum plus spin, and depending on the dust itself it may get trapped in a sort of tornado like spin. But that is an answer, RT does not do good when questioned especially with the whole AT&T Deal. Old money controlling and manipulating new money as one of its toys. That is what RT has become.

[@kcirtaplivez-1713]

Mercury's current writing makes him feel like Dollar store Killua

[@fr00t_salad]

i clicked on this video expecting to disagree because they're jsut delaying mercury's character development for a few volumes, but honestly i agree with basically everything you've said. mercury feels like a completely different character after volume 3, and a much less enjoyable one. and the fight at haven academy was so poorly done

[@dicksimmons3147]

If mercury pulls a quicksilver and jumps in front of a fatal attack and dies I’m gonna riot

[@pyropsycho9292]

Great video :)

[@janeyvtrigt]

OOOOO thats how they did the beacon fight thing! I was always so confused how Eerald made everyone see her attacking him, but it was the other way around!

[@nugwuga]

Lol. I hope he doesn't die. 😔

[@marlom7882]

… I kinda hope he does so he doesn’t suffer the same terrible writing fate of Adam

[@juliangarcia1619]

Deity Saturn fr

[@dekeking9416]

I kinda understand what they did with Salem as they wanted to make her menacing and appear to be a threat so they gave all the power literally all the all the power but to it felt kinda half assed how she got it

[@insertnamehere1736]

I know this video is deep,but why isn't anyone talking about the chains in the background?

[@theberrby6836]

12:03 Haven't watched v6, but did you say that Mercury's father switched his semblance with his own? Yeah, what was Mercury's; but what was is father's? That would mean Mercury has whatever his father's semblance was, now. Unless he took and held it, but that didn't switch them, so then, Mercury *would* have no semblance at all. Either his father's was: ¹•switching semblances for how ever long, him having his opponent's and them having his taking-ability[if so, why doesn't Mercury use it? If he's traumatized.. then develop that darnit!]... ²•Taking semblances for how ever long/how ever many, but nothing (or nothing explained so far) limiting happening to his, or himself. Actually leaving to person empty, possibly forever. wonder many semblances he had? lol... Or ³•anything else that I cannot think up at the moment...

[@toshido_yamada]

i don't think he switched his semblance, rather his father stole it, maybe his father has the power to steal others semblance

[@cameronmcindoe6119]

Mercury said his semblance was stolen not swapped, and he expected to get his semblance back once his father died but it didn't. Then Cinder and emerald turned up and he figured it must be destiny so he followed. All of this was said in a short argument with Emerald, half of the stuff mercury said (probably more) about it was in this video. Maybe it will be expanded on next Volume but in 6 Emerald was focused on more heavily and her connection/feelings to cinder.

[@jonathanhamilton6190]

V3 Mec and Em we may be the bad guys but we arn't psycos. V4 castle we may be working with the worst guys possible

[@deundrekid2973]

Completely Right about Mercury

[@jackchase5727]

I believe his semblance could be super speed, contrary to believe that is not Ruby's semblance.

[@eddleegarcia4986]

Him being super fast reminds me of Quicksilver, since they both have the gray/silver color scheme lol

[@scrambledEgg69]

I feel as if Miles and Kerry needs some slack. Yeah they don’t know how to write worth shit, but that was Monty’s thing. When Monty died, they had to quickly pick up the pieces and had to do the best they could. V6 is pretty good. It has its moments but doesn’t every volume? Their still learning.

[@starboy693]

Kalaika Allin That's The problem though, they even admit to being beginner writers, which is fine. But then they openly admit to try and make Rwby like Game of Thrones. Why even try if you're not a professional writer? That's like a moderately okay driver trying professional racing. They dug their own grave trying to be immediately like GoT.

[@alinahlamis783]

@@starboy693 I don't know if this adds any consequence to that statement, but I remember someone saying that Monty had to give them anime homework since, y'know, they didn't know anything about it despite it clearly being one of the inspirations of the show.

[@mikebottomlesspitdunham2954]

Truthfully I hope that him and Emerald don't turn good

[@Morbius-Tension]

Same

[@jackofalltrades417]

To be honest, I never saw potential in any of the villains.

[@jamesmcmillin796]

If Mercury’s dads semblance was “All for One” 😂 (could steal/seal semblances) Will Mercury’s be something akin to that? Or that fact that papa wanted him to become strong enough to use it does that imply strengthening his body to be able to handle a burden it puts on him while active or to develop a technique were it can be fully utilised as so it is not hazardous to himself. The fact that you brought up that the option that it may have been his dad that gave him bionic legs is interesting. Maybe it was to do with his legs being too weak and couldn’t handle to impacts the semblance provided. Or maybe that was to augment his fighting style idk.

[@vsarachnos5414]

Honestly it's not even just Villain characters. All of team CFVY were so cool that they got a book, and just seem so much more fun than half of Team RWBY and yet they show up in two fight scenes and nothing else, they could have their own spin off show.

[@kbakba1343]

ive always hated the whole illusion knee cap shatter thing. just felt cheap. also not that sensible

[@davidajayi6516]

KBA KBA it was so the audience would panic making Grimm notice so that when penny dies the panic will be high enough to attract as many Grimm as possible

[@kbakba1343]

david ajayi i understand the goal of it, i just feel like the event in of itself is cheap. if emeralds powers are on such a level that she can affect so many people and even technology then there are less round a bout ways of acomplishing the same goal. it especially annoys since she never uses it on any such level ever again.

[@davidajayi6516]

KBA KBA she didn’t use her powers on the ENTIRE stadium she just used it on yang to make it seem like mercury attacked her

[@kbakba1343]

david ajayi cept that doesnt make any sense either if that were the case her attack would have landed jn an entirely different spot. AND she makes a direct comment to mercury while facing him before turning and walking away then turning back around again to retaliate. thus shouldnt the audience wonder why shes talking to an empty space? also the placement of where shr thinks she is and where everyone else sees her and mercury doesnt even begin to come close to matching. and If it were acurate mercury would have been floating over the side of the arena. so now this implies emerald can cause people not to just see things that arent there she can change the ENTIRE world around them in terms of their perception. thus we also arrive back at why she doesnt use this a bit more creatively then just making someone shoot someone else in the leg. why not make them see themselves as surrounded by grimm thatd be a pretty damn quick way to stir things up

[@davidajayi6516]

KBA KBA the audience can’t hear her she isn’t yelling the illusion could have begun as soon as mercury “lost” so where they were in relation to each other can’t be trusted as we se it from yangs veiw because emerald can change how we perceive including how far away something is

[@1libra.]

I love him too

[@andrewsung7324]

how will you improve mercury character?

[@NatyaVT]

To be fair, they already showed that she can detach the arm from its socket at will. Remember when she arm-wrestled Nora?

[@1libra.]

I hope ice queendom fixes stuff

[@16JPE]

It’s false advertisement.

[@jiiva1063]

😂 😂 😂

[@andrewsung7324]

news flash people should show how or why mercury defeated?!?!?!?

[@makaylareitman1232]

Could have made this video about Adam but whatever

[@r.u.s.e3586]

I think it was implied that he got it back when he killed his father.

[@thedarklordx]

He said that he never got it back didn't he?

[@neofulcrum5013]

thedarklordx yeah

[@wammygames7627]

Moron he said he never got it back

[@MountainMan-bz9lk]

Flight

[@zakyandell6544]

I'm an optimistic guy, I really wanted to like Volumes 5&6, I really did, but ultimately, I couldn't even recommend the series without saying only watch the first 3 Volumes maybe the 4th the rest of them are just weak, lazy, chaotic and strange. Volume 5 worst writing I've seen/heard and what I've seen of Volume 6 still lazy as ever. Both had moments or episodes, maybe, that was touching or was interesting, but, could ultimately not repair the damages that were done. I see no return for RWBY without Otter-Media and Fullscreen backing off and returning the majority of overall decision power of RWBY's story over to those who knew Monty Oum and will remain more true to his Vision for RWBY. I want the redemption arc for Emerald, I've always seen hints of one for her, and Mercury, I saw less for him until recently.

[@samuelowen6620]

Mercury and emerald will be zukos

[@davidinchley7464]

Mercury's semblance is kinetic control and manipulation it's shown when he kicks rapid-fire shots into the arena and manipulates the shots to target yang

[@frostywing8941]

He doesn't HAVE a semblance. He says so himself.

[@MountainMan-bz9lk]

The only reason people even kept watching it after it was so disappointing and slowly got worse was because it was made in Texas

[@theguyof360]

8:46 nomad of nowhere episode 8

[@user-js7zw2zk1c]

Mercury is Lof

[@switchblade3626]

Lmao hes still my favorite character too

[@sparks6477]

Merc and emerald are awesome it sucks

[@davidinchley7464]

Mercury black uses taekwondo

[@olafgurke4699]

I believe it's actually Tricking, which is based upon taek wan do, among others.

[@rareitem_]

Its a mixture of taekwondo and capoeira

[@neofulcrum5013]

It makes me laugh how worked up people were by Mercury getting headbutted by Ruby. As if the characters on this show are untouchable in any way. Even though we have already seen it’s the opposite. That even the best can come up short.

[@Kodaiva]

I personally think I like myself more than you

[@joedoe4361]

Wrong you are. Fake you are. speak like that Yoda does not. Hmmm much to learn

[@noahthekitkatbar9886]

Clover got killed

[@zenfaku4526]

2023 and they still wasting good characters

[@youarethegreatest2633]

this video was definitly made in a closet

[@josebochas3347]

While i agree the writing has gone down, it more for ruby not the other characters. Also are you kidding me, no his dad or him did not replace his legs with robot legs. His injurys were not from a surgery but because his dad purposely aimed to cripple his sons legs and succeded during the fight. The only reason he was able to walk to cinder was probably because of the adrenaline was still in his system but after he would have two useless legs. Most like the had watt amputee his legs and build him new ones.

[@itsjustvin7630]

Was that ever stated?

[@Shadowrose54321]

I'm also curious if this was ever mentioned in the show.

[@seasalticecream]

... where was it stated that mercury has his legs amputated by watts?

[@josebochas3347]

It's not. That's why I said properly. However we do know that tyranny tail was rebuilt by watts when it was cut off by ruby so is it rely unlikely that cinder had watts do mercurys legs. Although i will agree that it is still possible that he had it done somewhere else or did it himself (after the fight with his dad), But Watts always struck me as the guys to go to for technological and medical needs in salems team so why go to anyone else.

[@Chris_MarMar]

Definitely agree that they wasted and ruined Adam but Rooster teeth is not leftist lol. Take it from me, who is one. They are not leftist. They are liberals at best. Also, your talk of sjws reveals your own politics. Were I you I would not bring up such things in your videos.

[@CloudyDaze]

Fix your audio

[@junkoenoshima4457]

Bruh, your Microphone xD