Let's Talk About Tyrian's Tail I Guess?

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Imma keep it real, I honestly don't think this is really that big of a take to make, Some real vanilla stuff in terms of RWBY discussions, idk.

[@Alandus64]

Given that Ruby wields the most dangerous insane murder weapon ever created, it’s weird that she’s the kind of protagonist who’d rather talk her way out of fights.

[@quiet_calamity]

"You can’t truly call yourself “peaceful” unless you are capable of great violence. If you’re not capable of violence, you’re not peaceful, you’re harmless. A very important distinction." -Stef Starkgaryen

[@Alandus64]

@@quiet_calamity I get that, but like the only other option aside from peace is brutally maiming her opponents. It’d be cool if we got to see her use non lethal dust types more.

[@nevermore7285]

I mean, is she? The only times she tries to talk it out is with former or supposed friends. She kicks Roman and his gangs as immediately in episode 1. She might prefer fighting Grimm certainly, but she’s never shown that much apprehension at fighting people

[@eduard60]

you mean the most dangerous insane farming tool ever created

[@LEGATVS]

It's not made to use against people.

[@YourLadyStar]

Honestly, I would be perfectly fine with Ruby cutting off Tyrian's tail if she did it in a moment of panic or on accident. She sees Tyrian about to stab Qrow with his tail and, knowing that scorpions are poisonous, she rushes at Tyrian to attack him and try to save her uncle, maybe charging at him with her semblance while wildly swinging her scythe. She collides with Tyrian, hitting him with a powerful force, and is knocked out of her semblance and falls to the ground a few feet from him. As she regains her composure, she hears Tyrian screaming in pain and looks back at the scene. She sees Qrow clutching his side in pain and Tyrian holding his tail, and notices his stinger is gone. She then looks at the ground and sees his severed stinger on the ground in a puddle of blood and poison and immediately realizes what she's done. Tyrian runs off as the remainder of RNJR rush to Qrow and Ruby, Ren and Nora holding Qrow up while Jaune helps Ruby, who is staring off in shock, stand. He can't get her to respond and it's only Qrow's voice that snaps out her shock. When they're at the campfire in the next episode, Ruby can abruptly leave to take a walk in the forest and Jaune follows her and ask her what's wrong. She tells him about how she feels frustrated and disgusted with herself, for being unable to save Qrow from getting poisoned and for cutting off Tyrian's tail. Her best friend was dismembered and killed and her sister lost her arm and was left an emotional wreck, both caused by people who wanted to hurt them. And now she's done the same thing. She partook in the same act that killed Penny and left Yang scarred for life. Jaune tries to reassure her that this isn't the same since those people acted out of malicious intent and she acted out of protection, but it doesn't soften her fears and anxieties. Can the actions she takes be justified because they were done with good intentions? Are the crimes she commits really excusable by the reasoning for them? Is it truly alright for her to do the same things her enemies do just because they're needed to save the day? Shouldn't she be striving to be better than the people she's fighting against? These are questions that can hang over her for the remainder of the series, that can affect the actions and decisions she makes and show her growth and faults as a person. These are things I would love to be explored, but unfortunately can't because the show is run on the mentality that the main characters can never do no wrong.

[@keona5560]

God that would have been phenomenal. I saw another comment mention that it's ironic she DOESN'T react like that since it shows how little regard the characters in show have for the faunus and the fact that their extra appendages are just that, appendages. How it's almost like to them they are just cute quirks that make them different instead of indicators to a racial minority and had it have been a human man's leg or something the reaction might not have been so nonexistent. Oh well, nothing we can do I guess :/

[@flaws699]

That would be awesome, but the writers do not have that many braincells Although I do love your take on it. It makes sense and flows cohesively.

[@sev1120]

A potential idea would be in a later episode, when Tyrion has his prosthetic tail, Ruby can't bring herself to raise her weapon against him

[@YourLadyStar]

@@sev1120 That would be great. Especially if Tyrian realizes that she can't bring herself to attack him and uses it to his advantage. Maybe he even gets Emerald to use her semblance on Ruby during a fight with a cluster of Grimm. Give her visions where every time she goes to attack an enemy, they're replaced with a member of RWBY, and she dismembers them in some way. Yang losing her other arm, Blake losing one of her ears, and Weiss losing one of her eyes; breaking Ruby mentally and making her easy to take hostage.

[@user-pr4cu9tb3b]

If only they didn't try Speedrun story.

[@UnicornofWar]

The Audience: "Just a little nuance could go a long way to better depictions of actual moral grayness." RWBY: "Moral grayness? I hate it say it, I hope I don't sound ridiculous - idk who this man is."

[@TheWarmachine375]

Whenever Tyrian Callows goes for a walk, he asked his enemies how's their health plan. Apparently it was great.

[@childlikesaiyan]

With a sick ass piano in the background

[@cutiepie120048]

🤣🤣🤣

[@Noobmasterdp]

I don't get it?

[@TheWarmachine375]

@@Noobmasterdp Hellsing Ultimate Abridged reference

[@zerotohero1483]

Yeah, my big problem with is moment-pretty much the same problem i have with the majority of the show-is that it goes unaddressed. If you are gonna have your character make a choice, and if that choice is presented as a big moment, like it is here given that it ends the fight, then it would benefit your story and characters to address it at some point. That way it makes the characters feel more like real people and less like pieces of cardboard moving around a DnD play mat

[@genesis2398]

Hey that is really unfair. The average DnD character has tons more depth than team RWBY.

[@ThuTran-bk7me]

@@genesis2398 probably because they're played by real people and their choices are an extension of the people playing them unlike a rwby character where they're written to be a set way

[@4444ez]

Minus the DnD bit, yup

[@antondevonlh]

Here's something I thought as you were going through the details (because I don't really seek out RWBY discord, so this is my "hot take" on a topic I really knew nothing about before this video). Is the taking of Tyrian's tail racist? Not on Ruby's part, mind you. The Faunus are shorthanded as oppressed minorities. We see it called out across episodes. However, from a human-centric view, taking a tail is not the same as taking an arm, because humans don't have tails. So Ruby doesn't fret about it the way we expect her to, because it was just a villain's villainous tail. Never mind that, IN the world of RWBY, a scorpion Faunus is not inherently evil, and a scorpion losing its tail (especially as we see Tyrian using it) would absolutely be as devastating as losing an arm or leg. Ruby, as a supporter of Faunus rights, should know better, and should care that she did it. I don't think it is intentional, of course. Like a lot of things, writing is influenced by personal experience, and the writers of RWBY don't have a lot experience with losing limbs, tails, or systematic oppression. It's just a thought. Anyway, thanks for the video, can't wait for the next one!

[@theshire9173]

I thought the same thing. Since the writers don’t actually have tails, they didn’t realize that losing one should be taken as seriously as losing a limb. I guess this is the downfall of making a racism metaphor instead of depicting normal racism. There’s no real life person to ask about how they’d feel about this. Also, if they made a Faunus specific racism subplot that doesn’t relate to real life, like if some racist humans purposefully amputated Faunus to make them look human, then it would feel like the message about real life racism would be lost

[@h34dhunt3rstudios8]

@@theshire9173 Not to mention how said racism is usually justified by the anti-racists being evil all the time. Talk about a mixed message. No wonder HBomberGuy said what he said.

[@snowboundwhale6860]

@@theshire9173 ngl that amputation subplot sounds horrifying and gives me major "conversion therapy" vibes, or those stories of surgeries like lobotomies to forcibly change a person's behaviour. Using mutilation to reshape the victim's body into something regarded as more "acceptable" by the perpetrators as a metaphor for what people have done/ tried to do to their victim's minds.

[@theshire9173]

@@snowboundwhale6860 yeah, it would have been horrifying and a good example of Faunus racism that the show seems to only put in the background because they’re too scared

[@g_Cloud326]

“Oh no! She’s doing it again! Being so mean about my 3D anime!” I can see Twitter now

[@Slyarno2795]

Like that worthless or thin skin people on Twitter.

[@jamestomato1744]

You know, you do bring up a good point. From a character perspective, it actually would make some sense for Ruby to flinch and be caught off guard from dismembering someone - even if it was in self defense. It would kinda harken back to an idea presented by the show in earlier volumes (either in the songs or via the show itself) that the children are effectively trained killing machines, but against the grim - given that in Atlas, at least, huntsman are integrated with the military effectively making them soldiers. It would've been an interesting moment to have Ruby do something that's completely within her skillset, but is not something she was trained to ever deal with. He'll, it could also have lead to some interesting introspection and character development.

[@OneTaker]

Ok, so from what I get from this, is Critter is more annoyed that nothing is done to develop the characters from this action, rather than the action it's self? Fair enough, I can agree with that. Even if it was a quick mention that it happened and Ruby asking while looking at Yang " was that wrong?" And everyone reassuring her it was not, for any of the myriad of reasons I'm sure people have given. Also pretty sure people have brought it up before Critter did that video, but with it being barely anything, and I guess Critter's video being in more resent memory, people think Critter started it?

[@twinodoom]

With Tyrian ending up attacking people at Robyn's Rally, she could've taken a page from Thor and wondered if it was her fault for not going for the head.

[@bucketofcalzones457]

Comparing her to Adam is a great point. I think that gives Adam an interesting character dynamic with EVERYONE in team RWBY. He cut off yangs arm, has disagreements with Blake on how to make change for the Faunus. Has specific beef with the schnees. And has the same color scheme as ruby and both are willing to sacrifice life and others limbs to protect what they think is right. I get why people get so obsessed over adams waisted potential. There was a lot of interesting stuff he could do for the story if he had nuance and wasn’t just an abusive ex.

[@themightypancake5695]

Right when I don't think I can be more disappointed in Adam's missed potential...

[@CURSEOFSANOGAWA]

too bad he only ever met…. 2 of the 4 main characters😀 i live in spain without the s

[@bucketofcalzones457]

adam could have replaced torchwick as rubys rival marvelously. He opposes rubys optimistic outlook in the same ways but unlike torchwick who accepted the world as how it is and adapted to it. Adam wants to change it, make it a better place (well, in cannon he mainly just wants to kill his ex. But we’re in Adam copium headspace right now; roll with it), like ruby does, and now she’s afraid of becoming more like him. Then it gives her interesting discussion topics with Blake who expressed fear of her team mates being merciless like Adam in the past. And blake and ruby DESPERATELY need more to talk about since they don’t have time to read anymore; The one thing they ever had in common. It’s either this or have rwby be really into laser pointers. (I said this as a joke, but she’s a weapon freak and a sniper. She could totally geek out about laser sights attachment suggestions for Blake’s gun for a scene, Thad be cute.) a show with Ruby as the actual protagonist would have pushed Ruby and Adams parallels. The more I think about it the more I like the idea.

[@VenathTehN3RD]

@@CURSEOFSANOGAWA And neither of the two he met was...you know...the heiress to the company infamous among faunus for its poor treatment of their kind, and which was responsible for literally branding him with their logo. It's a crime that there was never so much as a single interaction between Adam and Weiss.

[@TheSingingBUn]

the irony of the moment, is the accidental genius the tail cutting scene was to the social commentary to Remnant's flawed society as a whole. Ruby cutting off his tail showcased how much humans have little regard to a faunus's feature, let alone their 'faunus' traits and how these physical traits are part of their being. How there was nothing mentioned, no remorse or realisation that a tail of a faunus is still a part of their body shows how little empathy they have to the physical needs of the average faunus. If I have the opportunity to world-build remnant in terms of species, I'd remove the notion that the extra tail, ears, wing or paw are no more than a 'quirk' of a faunus character. there's gotta be setbacks to just having a 'cute' trait like 2 pairs of ears like them being over-sensitive to loud or high-pitched noises, or a faunus with fish scales can't stay too long out of the sun or else they suffer painful heatstrokes or something. But that's not what faunus traits are made for, in remnant, just a quirk for a character to make them special despite the fact they represent a minority in a racially aware society. But that's obvious a little too off-tangent to some of your points, so my bad. the most recent discussions did rile my head to thinking further into solutions to the plot contrivances/holes.

[@Alandus64]

I agree 100%. If Ruby like cut a dude’s leg off it’d probably be a huge issue, but since Faunus aren’t real, the writers find it hard to relate to a tail getting cut off.

[@Burscutum]

Ruby's unintentionally one of the most on-screen xenophobic/racist characters with this unintentional context 😭

[@MeemahSN]

@@Burscutum And it’s really sad

[@PlagueBunny]

Yeah I was thinking about this too. The Faunus truly feel like an afterthought in this show, or just a way to make cute character designs.

[@thesealky6445]

You put more thought into the faunus with this comment than the show runners have

[@ceddiebear]

Don't also forget that Ruby dismembers a FAUNUS TAIL. She was shocked that Tyrian was a Faunus, but she never exactly gave any introspection in what BLAKE would think because she is basically a Faunus activist who just wants peace between Faunii and Human. So having it that Ruby: 1. Has seen her dearest friend Penny be into pieces (that didn't develop anything with their v7 reunion to the point that Ruby barely cared about her wellbeing and didn't defend her from being accused of murder, gaslit her to turn against Ironwood, and gave her a killable body in exchange for the destruction to two cities...) 2. Saw how Yang's personality stopped being her loving caring fun sister ONCE Adam chopped off her arm and how Yang supposed to have serious personal PTSD issues with losing a part of her... only to be magically cured when she and sortakindacatgirlfriend killed the source of their problems and Yang just being kind of uncaring towards anything and anyone but her after. 3. Knew how Blake cared about Faunus rights and have a LENGTHY arc on v1 about it to the point that we could have a genuine arc for both Blake and Weiss... only for Weiss to stop being racist, and Blake to just be a Faunus Princess who now has it all... only to stop caring about being a Faunus Activist Princess once she killed Adam and got a sortakindagirlfriend who was always kinda ignorantly racist towards Blake. Yeah idk how people like the later volumes so much if they can't let team RWBY even feel the weight of what they are doing long-term. Doubt v9 would even let them get that introspection either.

[@thomasraines1396]

At the very most Ruby should’ve reacted somehow, if she’s really meant to be a “simple soul” and has the view of a wide eyed idealist have her start to feel guilty about it but have Qrow tell her that that’s just how fights go sometimes. Just something other then her doing it and it not mattering afterwards.

[@JohnSmith-dz2dc]

This reminds me of the first Doctor Strange movie where Strange gets angry for killing an enemy bc of his “do no harm” moral as a doctor. It very much made him more interesting in a universe where heroes killing people isn’t really considered a big deal (Tony’s body count in IM1 is over 50). The writers used that situation to give Strange that nuance of how a doctor would react to killing somebody even if it was in self defense.

[@EternalFireseal]

Actually, my problem with with Ruby cutting off Tyrian's tail is that it _stops_ at his tail. Tyrian is supposed to be the scorpion from the tale of the scorpion and the frog, right? Someone who follows his urges even when they're wildly self-destructive? I would have preferred it if he continued to lose limbs as he hurled himself at Salem's enemies. Ruby isn't trying to take Tyrian down, after all, just do enough damage that he stops being a threat to the people around her. An arm in one battle, a leg in the next; each being justified in the moment, but harder to justify in retrospect as things piled up. It would have been a good way to integrate his fable into the progression of the story, with Ruby having to question if refusing to kill her opponents is actually the moral decision. Would have been hell on the modellers, though. It also would have been a nice parallel with the Tin Woodsman's story if, you know, they had actually included that.

[@user-pr4cu9tb3b]

He would Block next attempt, too strong. But yes, Even intent and tryin to continue to mismembering would great for self Questioning in good story.

[@JDWalker495]

There’s also the fact that the body part she maimed was the Faunus part specifically. You think being friends with Blake for so long and hearing about her people’s activism and abuse she might be a little hesitant at cutting off the part that makes them a Faunus Feels like a Guy friend tells you how much it hurts to get kicked in the balls, so you stab the next guy you fight in the nuts with a rusty knife 😅

[@evrint]

"Good thing my guy friend told me about this weakspot!" "Ow"

[@mauriceisaac3646]

Ruby has never had any real stance on Faunus racism as she's always been the most detached from that plotline.

[@pdpgb]

True but that body part was at the same time literally the weapon he was using to try and kill them all. Probably felt similar to disarming him or maybe she would have been fine just killing him at that point since it's a literal life or death battle. Sure this could have been addressed later but it has to be one of the least important issues this show has.

[@ChigoIEbere]

I mean in fairness, it's mostly a poisonous thing, he technically doesn't need and will grow back. Without the stinger.

[@pdpgb]

@023 Studios Not as lethal as a pointy tail that he can stab you with and kill you with poison if it even scratches you. Point is you're not restraining this guy. Other option is go for the kill immediately or I guess best case try to knock him out by some miracle while your uncle is dying and everybody else is being useless.

[@kaiserz0154]

I remember in Vol 7 when Blake and Yang were in the truck, talking about Robyn. Blake mentioned how she’s not a fan of taking lives, while Yang responds with, “we did what we had to do.” That surprised me on a first viewing because it strangely sounded like something Adam would say, and it made me realize that this could’ve been an interesting topic between them. The scary idea that Yang could end up just like Adam Taurus, Blake’s former partner, which Blake would find very concerning for Yang. And it’s not even a concept that comes out of nowhere, it was already brought up in Vol 3 when Yang “broke” Mercury’s leg. Hell, the show even brought up how their semblances are basically the same. This could’ve been a really interesting character arc between Blake and Yang to develop as a couple and show how impactful Adam could’ve been even after his death. But no, all we seem to be getting is just flirting and blushing without actually developing or talking about their relationship throughout the show. What’s even the point in having a 8+ season show when you’re not going to give these characters the development they deserve?

[@thiagovenancio2375]

It would be a better way of potraying the theme of loss of humanity instead of Ironwood s ableist plot

[@pickyphysicsstudent201]

I'm reminded of an analogy used by Super Eyepatch Wolf in his video on Jojo Battle Tendencies. Micky Mouse does stuff because it is entertaining to watch while Felix the cat decides to do things because he is a character. There is an internal mechanics which makes a character feel alive and not just a puppet on a string doing X, Y & Z because the script demands it. RWBY characters don't have that, most of the time. It's why RWBY & friends seem so much like a hivemind, in recent volumes. Just different shades of the same character. A village where everyone has different body types but the same face - off-settaling.

[@KaiserShounen]

Rhymes like poetry don't it?

[@DinoDave150]

This whole situation is just Superman snapping Zod's neck again. "What else could they have done?" Well, whatever the writer decided they could do!

[@h34dhunt3rstudios8]

Now that I think about it, why is it WB has the writers who make the most psychotic protagonists? I mean, I know I swear up and down by Skorge's first cutscene in Gears 2 where he fights Dizzy and Tai, and it bears repeating for good reason: It contrasts the actions of the heroes and villains, at least in my opinion. This is also accomplished WITHOUT having Skorge being dismembered in the middle of the fight BECAUSE he has the upper hand and he's trying to intimidate his enemies, not kill them outright. If anything, Ruby should've just bodyblocked Qrow or told him to dodge the tail AND have her look at him weird when Qrow cuts off his tail. Otherwise, ignoring it and missing the opportunity for a daughter-son dynamic is tactless, even for RT. If anything, I almost find people's takes on how Ruby is a saint quite insulting to read, and of course, all the masses want are villains constantly getting ripped apart by the so-called heroes on a whim.

[@xxhaxonxx8345]

What baffles me the most about this is that this is the same Volume where Blake calls Ruby "The definition of purity" (I could be wrong and mistake it for volume 5, but my point stands). Not what I would call her, but if they were going for that route then how did Ruby feel after cutting Tyrians tail? Calling your main character pure and then having her doing some extreme gory violence seems like an interesting set up, but in the end they do nothing with it, so we just have a random "cool moment" with no pay off and Blake being whatever the hell she was when she tried to summarize her friends with one single word, what a waste

[@3ds_fellgod-myhopewillneve617]

While this whole discussion about the tail is ultimately just about a very minor thing that hardly matters in the long run, the fact that one of the small things in this show that hardly matters in the long run to one of our characters is the fact THE main character literally dismembered someone and it hardly ever gets introspected on by said main character is kinda sad. It's yet another moment in RWBY that HAD the potent for some interesting character writing, but the writers never take advantage of it. Which is truly a shame because just this one moment could have given us several interesting interactions between the main cast.

[@nahte123456]

I've noted this a few times on this comment section, but Ruby KILLED THE WF PEOPLE ON THE TRAIN by flinging them off as grimm flooded through, she had no way of knowing the grunts in episode 1 had Aura, no way of knowing Neo could survive being flung off the ship, Volume 5 she has no hesitation attacking Emerald or Mercury in a group. Ruby has never, not ONCE, cared about that. Her whole character is that she was ready to fight monsters in an unfair world, literal Volume 1 had this discussion with Blake where Ruby says the world isn't fair. I hope that doesn't come off as aggressive or anything I just really don't get why so many people think Ruby would care, she's been doing this exact thing since the literal first episode.

[@pocketmonster1088]

To me, one of the many dumb things about this tail issue is that he gets a cybernetic one instead of a Grimm prosthetic like Salem gave to Cinder. Idk why but it irks me that Salem can give people cool aura-disrupting limbs but chose not to for Tyrian.

[@thomasraines1396]

It makes even less sense considering Tyrian is basically an assassin, give him more avenues of killing people.

[@magmaspacer1967]

Can a Grimm one still harness his poison though? We don’t know how Grimm biology and human/Faunus biology works with the transferring of liquids like blood or venom. Also I assume the metal one is a lot better as a defense since it shouldn’t be chopped off as easily. We see Cinder’s Grimm arm be cut off don’t we? It’s only purpose is to help her absorb.

[@thomasraines1396]

@@magmaspacer1967 considering we see those centipede looking things spit acid and Salem can create new Grimm I would think she would be able make it possible for the hypothetical new tail to have venom in it. Also it wasn’t even his full tail, just his stinger. And yes we did see it get chopped off but it regrows.

[@user-pr4cu9tb3b]

I would say Grimm limb would very obvivios, but then u remember that Cinder hand could mimicry. Maybe metal could channel aura for defence while Grimm flesh cant? With how many times he defend with tail, metal would be Best choice.

[@TheWarmachine375]

1:12 It sucks to see Qrow lose that way because Ruby had to get in the way despite being told not to interfere in a battle between two veteran warriors as she (and JNR) was just a Beacon Academy dropout.

[@vorobuh_the_1]

RWBY characters feel like they have no long-term memory because usually whenever something that should be impactful for a character happens, it is in the middle of a storm of terrible events, and so the “character event” is swept under the rug to deal with the “world event”. The “character event” is then never addressed because RWBY (or the writers) forgot. For example, right after Ruby cuts off Tyrian’s tail, Qrow falls down poisoned and the team is stranded in an abandoned town, so they have to power through and then they have to deal with the Nuckelavee and power through, and so the major character point of Ruby having cut a man’s limb off is swept under the rug cause the characters gotta overcome the circumstances. Of course, it would be awesome to have them address those later during a customary sitting around session, but by the point the moment has passed and everybody forgot. Another example is Yang shooting Mercury in the foot and Blake feeling uncomfortable about it. There are more pressing concerns to deal with (the Fall of Beacon) and then Blake runs away, and so by the time the two reunite, they don’t address that, not because they’ve grown, but because other things need doing, like getting the Relic to Ironwood. For that matter, the “Blake ran away” and how that affected Yang isn’t addressed either, because in the prime conversation opportunity - the investigation at the farm - the characters are LITERALLY under an “I don’t care” Aura from the Apathy, which is an amazing device to force your characters to never address their problems like the healthy people they are

[@esorkgonzalez2262]

2:48 So glad you addressed this. This is a problem in just about any fictional universe be it Star Wars, etc. but I think it's been especially prominent in RWBY. When someone points out an action a character makes or critiques something, they handwave it by saying "oh but uh realistically" or "in real life this" this and this and that, all these cross-referencing nonsense to wave away lazy writing. I don't know why people forget that when someone has an issue with a character behaving, well, out of character, we're not criticizing the character themselves. We're talking about the WRITERS. The writing is under scrutiny. I've had rather silly arguments like "Put yourself in Ruby's shoes! What if you" this and this and that. If Ruby Rose were a person, (I mean the character, not the actress), then yes, her actions might make sense. People in real life can be fairly inconsistent from time to time. But this isn't real life. She doesn't exist. Neopolitan does not exist, nor does Ozpin, nor does Salem, Torchwick, Melanie, Winter, etc.

[@urbew3752]

I think the reason why the writer’s treat it as such a trivial thing is because they themselves don’t understand how Faunuses (fauni?) ‘work’. Like, functionally, I feel like they’re looked at as humans with extra animal features, but no, a Faunus is a Faunus, and the animal parts are still part of their body. Admittedly Tyrian is pretty much written in the former context; I kinda forget he’s a Faunus myself, which is why a lot of people think him getting his tail cut off isn’t that big of a deal, but i guarantee you if one of the villains cut off Sun’s tail, the emotion around it would be a lot different, cuz people see Sun’s tail as a part of Sun, not an extra feature/ tool/ weapon etc. that Sun just ‘has’.

[@skysiren4113]

Personally I really think the moment could've work if it was more of a accident where Ruby tried to swing her scythe to knock him back from Qrow in a fit of anger and frustration, but she unintentionally would've cut his tail. That could've lead to Ruby being horrified of the fact she did the same thing that the villians did to Penny and Yang It could've been really interesting arc for her but like most stuff in the show it was brushed aside and not addressed

[@jamesalfred9947]

To that point where people are saying Ruby didn't have any other choice. You're a thousand percent right where it's the writers for writing her where she had no other choice. It could have been done well if after Ruby took off the tail she's emotionally distraught. It could have had an interesting depth into her character which she has a moment where she decides to rise above the villain's actions. It could have given her a more interesting dynamic with Tyrion. Instead she has a very shallow reaction, and keeps on living her life as if nothing happened.

[@Jordan-gp3mj]

Nora usually talks about breaking legs so I feel like she’s the most into it. Ren is all about zen and balancing emotions so he’d probably be indifferent. Jaune would only NOT care about doing it when it pertains to killing Cinder (pre season 6 Jaune, at least). Lol and she definitely deserves it😂🤷🏾‍♂️ In Ruby’s defense tho, she accurately devised that Tyrian’s most dangerous weapon is his tail. So she got rid of it to weaken him.

[@DrBodyshot]

I mean, that can also just extend to lopping people's limbs off in general, no? If someone's using a sword to attack Ruby with, her cutting off their arm does the same trick

[@DavidJohnson-cd4ze]

Might as well cut off the arm of an enemy using a weapon or since people use their legs for mobility, cut off a leg or two. If we're targeting weak spots, might as well shoot his bollocks off into the 6th dimension.

[@Jordan-gp3mj]

@@DrBodyshot Can only assume it was one of those « it all happened so fast » moments. Qrow was injured, no one else could stop him and he was coming after her. But she never felt any type of remorse or anything, kind of how when Yang fell, only Blake got to LOOK sad.

[@Jordan-gp3mj]

@@DavidJohnson-cd4ze Exactly. But then, that wouldn’t be heroic if she went for those specific crippling blows. Cause let’s be honest, we all wanted her to do more to Cinder, and instead they had her « fighting » Emerald, fighting Cinder with her team, or just letting the silver eyes do the work for her. And then gave the Cinder fighting to Weiss and Jaune (because they’re clearly the main protagonists). It’s unfortunate, really.

[@DavidJohnson-cd4ze]

@@Jordan-gp3mj It is. Ruby was the one to see Pyrrha fucking die. Straight up seeing her friend get turned into ash. Ruby literally burned half of Cinders body and she would much rather go for the retard who wasn't even there to see Pyrrha die. Honestly Jaune should've seen or been a minor cause of Pyrrha's death.

[@clan741]

For the first half of the video I was checked out, I was like “I don’t see the issue, she cut off the weird crazy guys tail, whatever” but then you went deeper with the missed character development it could of had for Ruby and yeah I agree. I’m so used to the series never questioning or doing much introspection that I myself never introspect on it, cause usually it’d lead to the frustration of the missed potential this series is filled with.

[@orionporion6284]

ruby's fighting style in the red trailer pretty clearly shows her dismembering grimm with the scythe. even just ruby comparing how dismembering monsters feels to dismembering a person would be interesting. if it felt any different, or if pulling the trigger felt exactly the same, and her being horrified with that fact. anything to talk about ruby's morality. it would even provide a good stepping stone for her being met with the hound, and then eventually how she deals with salem. so much wasted potential :(

[@nahte123456]

Like in Volume 2 where she throws the WF off the train and they almost certainly die? How about in Episode 1 where she attacks the random grunts before knowing if they have Aura? Volume 3 when she basically tried to kill Neo, she had no way of knowing Neo could survive that. Like I could go on but Ruby's morality has ALWAYS been this way, she has never had issues with using potentially lethal force on 'bad' people before. I don't know why you think she should now, Ruby isn't some pacifist just cause she's cute.

[@orionporion6284]

@@nahte123456 i mean in early rwby those are mostly just mooks for her to plow through to show off the cool fight scenes. we don't really need to question if it's okay for her to fight some copy-and-paste criminals in the action cartoon. but the fight against tyrian is given much more weight to it, in how it was directed, animated, shot, etc. it's like you're comparing looney tunes violence to a horror movie right now. the tone of the scenes are completely different, and like critter said in the video, a choice by the writers to put that emphasis on the scene.

[@nahte123456]

@@orionporion6284 That's just silly to me. I mean first I flat disagree, the mooks on the train were trying to kill a LOT of people, that was very clearly said I don't know how you get much more "serious" than that, but even beyond it the show that talks about racism, the MC's mom was presumably torn apart by grimm(as far as she knew anyways), Ruby herself almost dies to the Nevermore, and so many more dark themes. Just because it's not focused on doesn't change the tone, you don't get to have Blake's story on racism, Yang's on abandonment, and Weiss's on trauma, all in Volume's 1 & 2, and then just decide things don't "count" because they are dark or serious.

[@orionporion6284]

@@nahte123456 those are completely different scenes? i meant that the fight scenes you mentioned were light compared to ruby vs tyrian. when a grunt got knocked off the train, they added in a wilhelm scream. when oobleck tells the girls there's a bomb, they have the dramatic-comedic jumping back animations reminiscient of first meeting penny. yang punches a grunt and flirtly winks. oobleck uses zwei as a cannon. the writers clearly didn't want us to take "ruby knocks a grunt off a moving train" as an act of manslaughter, but just wacky fight choerography. you're just bringing up more scenes that have no bearing on ruby vs tyrian. obviously yang talking about her mother in v2 was serious, the acting, direction, and everything else makes it a serious scene. again, this is about the choice of the writers and the tone they put into the moments. i don't expect ruby knocking a grunt off a train to be taken seriously as a viewer, because the directors added a wilhelm screen and a goofy animation of him flailing. i expect ruby chopping off tyrian's tail to be taken seriously, because we linger on the blood splatter, the way the stinger twitches on the ground, and tyrian's screams of pain.

[@nahte123456]

@@orionporion6284 My point is you don't get to decide that. The WF are a terrorist group trying to kill a LOT of people over racism, just because you found it to be comedy doesn't change that it's a serious scene from a series that does use serious themes.

[@selena44842]

I never really thought about it but you bring up a good point. It actually reminded me of an anime I watched when I was younger where a similar scene takes place, though I can't remember the name right now Basically the main character (who has some combat experience but has never intentionally gravely harmed or killed anyone) is forced to (non-fatally) wound an enemy solider to protect a friend. It's a minor moment but it serves as a catalyst for their character arc. not only do they spend the next few episodes in shock over what their actions, even if it was self-defense, but they reflect on that moment later on, which gives them the resolve to try to solve things non-violently and without bloodshed, and to be seen as a symbol for hope rather than vengeance. imagine if we got something like that for ruby, it could have been amazing, oh well.

[@gorkil1245]

On why Ruby didn't have any sort of moral introspection after cutting off Tyrian’s tail, I have two different perspectives on the same explanation - that Tyrian’s tail wasn’t perceived as a limb in the first place. 1. From the Doylist (writers’) perspective, Miles and Kerry just didn’t think that cutting off an arm and cutting off a tail held the same significance because tails aren’t commonly thought of as limbs - if you asked a person what a limb is, they’d probably only say arms and legs. Furthermore, tails in the real world aren’t used in the same way as human arms and legs. Their main function (for primates), besides providing balance, is to grab branches for climbing while arms and legs are used for more dexterous activities. Therefore, they didn’t see a problem with Ruby cutting off a tail, even though those closest to her just lost limbs. And since they didn’t see a problem with the action in the first place, they certainly wouldn’t see any need for Ruby to ponder over its morality. And to be fair, I don’t really expect them to realize the arm to tail limb connection. It would’ve been really interesting if they did so that they could write the characters that way as well, but expecting that depth of writing from them is sort of setting yourself up for disappointment. 2. From the Watsonian (character’s) perspective, Ruby also didn’t think that cutting off an arm and cutting off a tail held the same significance, but the reasoning behind her lack of connection isn’t as sound. Ruby lives in a world with tons of people who have fully-functioning tails that commonly use them for the same actions for which they would use an arm (e.g. Sun holding tea cups with his). While Tyrian’s tail probably wouldn’t be that dexterous, given the large stringer on the end of it, Ruby should possess some associative awareness between faunus’ tails as fully-functional limbs. So the fact that we don’t see her making the arm to tail limb connection, means two different things: 1. That I’m wrong and Ruby does recognize that cutting off a faunus’ tail is akin to cutting off an arm, but either committing this act doesn’t make her morally uncomfortable and/or she actually thinks she’s justified in maiming a villain. If this is the case, it doesn’t paint her as very heroic. 2. I’m right and Ruby is incredibly ignorant of the faunus perspective despite the multitude of faunus she has undoubtedly met even just while traveling to Haven. From a charitable perspective, this explanation keeps her moral character intact, but still harms her overall character by displaying a lack of basic awareness. However, if you interpret this ignorance as Ruby comprehending everything, even the faunus, through a purely human perspective (e.g. only arms and legs are considered limbs), then that could open Ruby up to criticism based on her racial awareness. TL;DR - When it comes down to it, this scene and its seemingly ignored underlying moral dilemma is an example of the writers’ limb association ignorance and their failed attempt at the story’s faunus/racism subplot. While the Watsonian explanation allows for a much more interesting exploration of Ruby’s character, the more mundane Doylist explanation of Miles and Kerry just not realizing the arm to tail limb connection is much more likely.

[@cartergilderubio1103]

In the same exact way this conversation started, I think actively having Blake and Yang address the fact that they like, you know, killed Adam , should've been addressed more. Like I don't really care what people think about Adam, if he deserved it etc. Blake and Yang were the ones who ended his life. They drove the sword through his body both ways. He died at their hands. Yes, it was self defense, but I think the act of having Team RWBY *kill people* in any fashion isn't one I particularly love given how the team is basically named after their leader and their leaders special powers literally activate over the idea of preserving life Thematically speaking, having Blake and Yang kill Adam goes directly against that. It's not a pretty moment and the fact it's handwaved away by them literally saying "we had to do it" feels awful. These are the people I'm supposed to root for? People who do this and then the show wants me to believe they're the beacons of hope and light in the world? It really frustrates me and I wish this series actively took an interest in showing people that RWBY the characters are flawed and not "the good guys" like everyone paints them to be when they justify every single crappy action they make that directly harms people.

[@acoolnameemm]

Why is this video so on point? It hits all the bullseyes.

[@jairusjackson7799]

I really don't mind Ruby cutting off Tyrian's tail, when it comes to self defence morals can go out the window. But I understand for this character specifically it was an interesting thing to write in. Still I'm not sure I see it as a problem, because Ruby can understand the severity of cutting off someone's limb but that doesn't mean she incapable of doing it. In this scene's defence, I think it shows Ruby is willing to bring that kind of suffering to someone if it means defending someone she cares immensely about. Like you said Yang just lost her arm, so maybe she's feeling more protective than usual. So the minute Qrow was hit she went fuck that, not again and cut Tyrian's tail before he could do anymore damage with it. Though I understand your point, just thought I'd give a different perspective to the situation. I always admired how fast Ruby acted when she saw Qrow get hurt

[@derrickdaniels3955]

I agree

[@matijasostojic4288]

I completely agree with You. I honestly Like the second half of this vid more than the first simply because she talks about the aftermath rather than if And why she would do that. Like take a character that holds back And usually doesn't use unecesary force. Superman. Even though he doesn't usually kill that doesn't mean that he never does. If his family, friends And even the world/Universe itself was in danger he would kill Someone. Why is Ruby different. Just replace killing with taking a limb And in these types of situations she would do it. I even think that if she was closer to his body rather than tail that she would, just because od instinct And adrenalina she would go For the kill.

[@derrickdaniels3955]

@@matijasostojic4288 That analogy with Superman is perfect, at some point the heroes will come to terms with their morality and how much can they stay true to it when the situation gets more and more dire. Blake and Yang had a similar conversation about Adam in this exact same thing back in Volume 7 in the Atlas transport vehicle.

[@brandonontama2415]

@@matijasostojic4288 Ruby isn't Superman. Superman has his own set of values that established how far his willing to go. The same can't be said for Ruby, so exploring what she thinks about having to cut off someone limb could of been good characterization. Also I'm pretty sure Superman only stops holding back when against super powered beings like Darkseid it's rare to see him cut a humans body part off.

[@matijasostojic4288]

@@brandonontama2415 The reason in used him was to show that even characters that don't kill Will do so if needed. And Ruby also holds back against weaker Humans. But in fights Like these she wouldn't be holding back, which combined with adrenalina And the desperation to Save Qrow, would lead to her hurting tyrian. Maybe even killing him if the situation was right. SM only goes full power when he has to And kills in rare situations. Ruby would never actively kill or dismemeber but she would do it on instinct And desperation.

[@FiercesomestDragon]

Total agreement, tail-cutting-off scene (like so many other scenes) would have been fantastic in the light of some introspective follow up. Ruby has cut a lot of limbs off! But only of literal monsters, or robots or whatever-- not people. Would have been fantastic to watch her come to terms with that.

[@skyslasher2297]

I mentioned Obi Wan Kenobi before when discussing my views on the tail. I think a better way to explain myself is the moral dichotomy of Starwars and how that applies to RWBY at least in this scene and maybe shed some light on the writers thought process. In Starwars wether or not it’s right or wrong to chop off limbs ultimately depends on wether or not a hero did it or a villain did it. When a hero does it they’ve non-lethally subdued a threat when a villain does it they just mutilated our beloved protagonist what a bastard. I Imagine that’s what’s going on here oh it’s fine Ruby cut off his guys limb so he has to suffer like her sister did because he’s a villain (In hindsight I probably should’ve said it like that instead of wording it like a baboon playing into Tyrians masochism) Switching subjects onto character self awareness I feel like another good idea playing into Rubys actions in how she try’s to justify it in particular establish wether or not these characters have no killing rules which is just too ambiguous. Like I don’t think these characters mind killing people which is again another thing the hero’s and villains share. But I think this is ignoring the big problems with the scene is that with the ambiguity of how his Faunus traits influence his biology it’s entirely possible Ruby cut off a guys ass leaving him unable to poop right for the rest of his life our hero everyone good night. (Ya fun fact this discourse opened up thank you A.G Nonsuch for this go check out their art. A Scorpions anus is located right before the stinger and honestly with that flat ass I believe that tail was his only ass)

[@thesealky6445]

Oh dear poor Tyrian and his ass tail

[@MaveraceAnimation]

As far as we know this was Ruby's first time attacking someone who didn't have aura up. So the slicing of a tail could've had some sort of impact on her.

[@nahte123456]

She didn't know the grunts in the first episode had Aura, they were just random thieves as far as she knew. And they had aura but those WF guys she flung off the train just died, right? Why would this cause her issue?

[@MaveraceAnimation]

@@nahte123456 it's one thing when I throw you over a ledge and never see what happens to you. I could just say we'll you have aura. You'll be fine. It's entirely different when I come up to you and swing a blade and suddenly you're 10 pounds lighter.

[@user-pr4cu9tb3b]

@@nahte123456 open aura is Easy, and any criminal wil be with aura Atleast for 1 attack.

[@nahte123456]

@@user-pr4cu9tb3b Why would that be true? Jaune was the stand in for "normal people" in volume 1, that was the whole point of him and he'd never even heard of aura. If normal people don't even know what Aura is why would random criminals not just have Aura, but also enough to not get murdered by Ruby, who's massive weapon and insane speed means she hits harder than almost anyone else?

[@thesittingtraveller3467]

@@nahte123456 I think Ruby think they were fine since she didn't use the scythe part to attack.

[@senorsiro3748]

I don’t necessarily think it’s wrong for trained warriors in a war to maim each other independent of their purposes for being there. Frankly, I wish the show was willing for Ruby to have aimed her slice to kill (and then that becoming a big deal), but that would have rocked the boat of making everyone blindly cheer for everything the protags do. The larger point of the protagonist-centered morality is totally true and I think it’s the single biggest problem for the show’s writing. Even the few times the protags are allowed to question if their decisions are acceptable, it is quickly undercut by the secondary antags sacking villages (with everything a sack entails implied), being a an abusive ex-boyfriend, or threatening to nuke refugees.

[@garishhellscream3432]

We also still don't know if Ruby was responsible for all of Cinders injuries at the end of V3. Could make her question what her eyes are capable of.

[@skyslasher2297]

I know right. Legit I thought Salem did that to her as both a punishment and to make stealing the rest of the maidan powers easier in the future.

[@mauriceisaac3646]

It's never been consistent how strong her eyes are. If anything, it seems like they get weaker every time she uses them.

[@TheWarmachine375]

Tyrian Callows - one of the few RWBY villains who's quite competent, dangerous and someone having a blast.

[@skyslasher2297]

VA not to bad a chap too since he left the dumpster fire that is RT

[@thomasraines1396]

Watts fit that description as well, unfortunately he got hit by the stupid stick to make Cinder look cool.

[@Vigriff]

@@skyslasher2297 That's because like the character he voices, he's got a good bead on people.

[@MattSayYay]

Before watching, I honestly don’t know if this is about the whole Ruby cutting off Tyrian’s tail thing you mentioned, or how his tail works with an actual scorpion’s anatomy, because I saw discussions on both those subjects on Twitter.

[@thefactory7221]

Ruby not reacting to her own acts reminds me of the latest trailer, specifically the second half, which feels like a reactionary step to this bit of critique against Ruby. RWBY's a weird cartoon, sometimes I wonder what I saw in it.

[@wilburforce8046]

Cool fight scenes

[@thefactory7221]

@@wilburforce8046 ohey you're on to something. the fight scenes were cool. Formerly.

[@wilburforce8046]

@@thefactory7221 volume 3 had the last good ones. But after the amazing final fight with Cinder it all went to poopoo

[@cyndrick7373]

A rwby artist I follow just posted some joke comics about tyrian’s tail and real scorpion facts, I don’t follow the show that closely anymore so I thought there was some big reveal about his tail in a new trailer or something 😆

[@casualfanatic4217]

This actually reminds me of the discussion happening in the recent mecha anime Witch of Mercury MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR THE ENDING At the end of the anime our mc Suletta protects her friend Mio from a soldier trying to kill them. She does this by controllingher mecha to smash the soldier into a red puddle. Afterwards Suletta climbs out of her mecha, accidentally slips on the bloody floor which she laughs off and greets her friend. In which Mio responds to the horror by questioning Suletta how she can still laugh after having become a murderer. A lot of people have argued in trying to defend or attack Suletta for what she did, similar to RWBY. Was Suletta right in killing the soldier, was this an act of self defence, couldn’t she have protected Mio in any other way. All of this does have ground to stand on but the one thing you can’t defend is her reaction after. Despite killing a person in a gruesome way and having slipped and covered herself in his remains, Suletta was completely unfazed and nonchalant and even tried to greet her friend while literally having blood on her hands. This is what you can’t defend, not Suletta taking a life but her indifference to taking it. You are able to justify murder if it’s in the act of self-defence or to save others but to be completely unfazed and not question what you did at all, that is not excusable. Both Suletta and Ruby were in the wrong not because they took a life or a limb, this is was self defence, it’s they didn’t question or were horrified by their actions. And the difference between the two is while WoM is setting up Suletta as a morally questionable MC, RWBY will never question what Ruby did and she’ll forever remain in the right

[@ExcelHedge]

Oh good I thought this going into a popular fact going around about Scorpion anatomy that's been going around lately. 😅 I dunno why I thought that...

[@anderkid1090]

I honestly felt like I had a heart attack when I saw the title

[@theshire9173]

I’m out of the loop. What’s the fact?

[@anderkid1090]

@@theshire9173 Scorpions’ tails are their anuses

[@theshire9173]

@@anderkid1090 oh

[@timotheebrasseur6188]

It's baffling to me just how many people talk about fictionnal characters like they're real people and don't take into consideration the fact that their actions were decided by someone who wants to tell a story

[@TheRockhound119]

Tyrion vs Qrow was one of my favourite fights in the series... However, I fully agree with this.

[@scarfhat1]

I know it gets addressed in the video but i just wanna concur that cutting off the tail isn't an issue but it never being brought up again is. At worst its quite an issue for ruby's character and at best its a huge missed opportunity. It's an incredibly small example but imagine if after she did it she just grimaced about it. Thats all. Just that 2 second shot would have been a nice inclusion and an implication of something deeper going on

[@giz1006]

Oh boy here goes my hyper optimistic and pretty much lying to myself mind again, in the volume 9 trailer there’s a line of “you’ve never been the hero” maybe they’ll finally address how shitty and hypocritical the heroes act

[@h34dhunt3rstudios8]

If that. Odds are, it's a point in Salem's favor the writers just use to play lipservice to the idea, while giving Ruby more BS pep-talks.

[@vicentetemes5793]

There's many moments in which I feel stuff like this could, or should, have been addressed. Have the lads hit up the huntsman board to inform them the Nuckelavee was dead and they didn't need to keep sending Huntsmen during the lull of volume 5, and that's how they learn most local Huntsmen have gone missing; have them look for the Brunswick family's next-of-kin in Argus, and that's how they come across Pyrrha's family or how they deal with Qrow's sudden abstinence or Oscar's wjdfshiufsijbg that he had on that volume or something. But... No, I guess.

[@timotheebrasseur6188]

Your Nuckelavee idea is really really cool !

[@vicentetemes5793]

@@timotheebrasseur6188 :3

[@SaiyanGamer95]

I'm somewhat reminded of Persona 5. In the game, the characters reflect and often ask themselves if they're doing the right thing; changing the hearts of people who do bad things and have them confess. They worry if they're no different from whomever is causing the mental shutdowns. But they find the resolve to continue. They're helping the helpless and stopping bad people from getting away with their crimes.

[@nevermore7285]

I think the thing here is it always felt more to me they were meant to be more classical/Brother’s Grimm type fairy tale heroes, who were willing to kill if they had to, not superheroes with strict no kill rules. Aura protects a lot of the people they fight from dying, but they’ve never really been shown to throw their punches. Penny certainly kills people in the dock fights, and the train fight especially showcases this from RWBY’s side. They knock the mooks off the train cars where they get killed by Grimm, knock them into the train cars where they explode, and knock the piloted Mechs down where they got straight ground up by the train wheels. This particular fight showed, at least to me, that Huntsman very much do not have any sort of no kill rule. While they don’t execute people, and the people they fight tend to be more spared due to their own Aura or being outmatched/low enough stacks that Team RWBY can afford to go for incapacitations. But in cases like Tyrian, who showed he was dangerous opponent who just won his fight with Qrow, Ruby when for the attack that would take him out of the fight and force him to retreat or fight with a severe disadvantage and injury.

[@Kaito_Fox555]

The weird thing is that This isn't even the first time Ruby dismembers a villian. The first time was with Cinder. Yeah, everybody (including the writers) seem to completely ignore the fact that Ruby somehow cut off one of Cinder's arms AND cut our one of her eyes, something that has had a huge impact on Cinder's appearance and design as a whole. Even Ruby herself seems to have completely forgotten and/or ignored this fact in the EXACT SAME EPISODE in which she dismembered Cinder. Cinder herself doesn't even seem to care that much about losing one of her arms or eyes, well besides the fact that she's got a hate boner for Ruby...or at least she's suppose to.

[@nevermore7285]

Her arm and eyes got fried by Ruby’s silver eyes, which also seemed to have knocked Ruby out immediately. She didn’t know for a while, though she seems to have clued in considering Ruby didn’t hesitate to try and fry Cinder again in the Winter Maiden fight. Which considering everything Cinder has done and the stakes, isn’t really surprising.

[@Kaito_Fox555]

@@nevermore7285 What source states that her eyes "fried" Cinder's arm and eye? also, it has been shown that silver eyes does nothing to human flesh and bones. Cinder had that beetle grimm inside her, yes, but then I'd imagine either the grimm inside her would have been destroyed which would no doubt release the Maiden Powers to someone else in the world, or all of Cinder would have been gone along with the grimm. But lets say that Ruby's Silver Eyes did target only the Grimm inside Cinder, and that grimm is for whatever reason inside ONLY Cinder's left arm and eye. The beetle Grimm is the one holding the Maiden Powers for Cinder, not Cinder herself, so like what I said earlier the Maiden powers should not have remained with Cinder after Ruby's silver Duex Ex Machina.

[@nevermore7285]

@@Kaito_Fox555 The beetle Grimm had fused with her completely, which gave her the weakness. Salem explicitly stated that the Maiden power came with a crippling weakness and said it was why Ruby was able to defeat her so easily. Now, why it only did partial damage other than the fact the Cinder wasn’t and isn’t full Grimm hasn’t been explained. However, as Ruby was knocked unconscious, and as she doesn’t have anything else that could do that kind of damage, it could have only been the silver eyes, which Salem herself did also state.

[@Kaito_Fox555]

@@nevermore7285 fair point, but I'd argue that the way Salem explained it was so vague and like you said, it still doesn't explain why it only specifically destroy Cinder's arm and eye. It just makes no sense with the information given, and it's been like 7 years and still no explanation as to what exactly happened between Ruby and Cinder on the tower. Also, Ruby does indeed have something that can do that level of damage to Cinder: Her Scythe. She could easily have chopped Cinder's arm off and cut her eye out.

[@nevermore7285]

@@Kaito_Fox555 Crescent Rose would have done a lot more damage to her face, and it wouldn’t explain the fact that the side of her body is burned so badly. It also wouldn’t explain what Salem was talking about when she said Cinder gained a crippling weakness. At that very least, it’s at least heavily implied that Ruby’s use of the power knocked her out immediately. If it instead caused her to go berserk instead to the point she doesn’t remember it, you’d think they would talk about it. The best explanation I could give is perhaps the Beetle wasn’t evenly distributed, or Cinder tried blocking with that arm and that’s what burned that side of her up from the since Ruby only had enough power to fry that much of her. Or, at that point, all it did was damage Cinder’s control over the Maiden power and the injuries were partially self-inflicted by her power going haywire mid-spell cast. Or, Salem or someone/something else was pulling Cinder away when it sensed the Maiden power and couldn’t get all of her out in time, as it’s also never been explained how she escaped with injures like that. Honestly, I doubt they may ever give a full explanation for the reason, if only because it would come off as awkward at best or weirdly specific. The only time I think it would make sense would be for some flashback or nightmare of Cinder’s part about what happened immediately after the tower when she had to flee. But volume 9 seems to be more of mental journey/total mindf*ck, so who knows, maybe they will go on about it.

[@thelowestbattery806]

I feel like I watched rwby with such a one track mind that it didn't even occur to me to think about whether Ruby would regret cutting off Tyrian's tail. It just seems like a no brainer reaction considering he stung crow with it. The show moved on to the next thing before giving audience members like me a chance to stop and think about the character's actions so I never thought much of it until now. To be honest, I don't really think Ruby would have cared even if she reflected on it because it's Tyrian's tail. Tyrian the psycho. Tyrian who just came through to kidnap her. It would probably be a waste of time to think about because it would mean humanizing a person who's very unlike anyone she's crossed paths with before. Tyrian is very clearly missing a screw in the noggin because of his murderous tendancies which makes him difficult to humanize. Then again, I think it might be more interesting if she had to think about whether or not it mattered because he was a faunus. Hearing Ruby go "it's just a tail" would be insane because she'd have to reckon with the fact that it's same as cutting off an arm for a regular human. It would at least ensure that faunus discrimination isn't something that's limited to specific locations or big organizations in the plot. Imagine it! It would demonstrate that the main character isn't some established moral compass. She's on a journey to learn about how tough that actually is when making difficult calls in the heat of her battles. Nice vid Critter! It really WOULD have been nice to see it tackled in the show in some way. Wouldn't have thought about it if it wasn't for this video

[@golddragon8702]

Well I get what you're saying from a character perspective of after loss and suffering between family members. Ruby will be unease. However, one can argue that between production and time of a show one can't just bring out every little detail and talk about every little feeling that character may have within heat of a situation or a uncomfortable to what they may have done. Personally I think it would be typed of revenge, Tyrion coming back and taking something of Ruby like an eye for an eye. However it doesn't feel like he doesn't have that motive in later Volumes. This like the writers forgot about the side plot that they set up.

[@Ch1l1C0nCarnag3]

You can have your heroes perform some seriously morally grey, or even just outright evil acts and have them still be heroes. But to make that work, they need to address the act themselves in-universe. A random example: Someone they know is abducted by a group of bandits and they go on a whole mission to find them, and when they finally find the bandit's hideout they go through sneakily knocking them out to avoid alerting anyone. But the further they go into the hideout the more captives they come across and the worse state they're in, and it makes the main character angry, violently angry; so much so that they only barely manage to stop themselves from killing the next bandit they come across. They keep going deeper and deeper, forced to ignore more captives as freeing them now would just cause problems. Then they finally find the one they've been looking for, and they're in a far worse state than anyone else thus far, and the main character just snaps. By the time they leave the hideout they've freed every captive, but they also slaughtered every single bandit in the hideout, including the ones they had already incapacitated. They should feel some sense of relief they found their friend and they're alive, they should feel disgusted with themselves for the acts they just committed even if they "deserved it", but instead they just feel empty and start worrying about if they're going to be able to stop themselves from killing again in the future. You've given them a reason as to why they perform a horrific act, and set up personal, moral and emotional consequences for them. It also raises the question as to whether or not their actions were justified depending on how the legal system would have handled the bandits, since those deaths could end up saving many more lives in the future if their punishments somehow allowed them to continue. It sets up multiple conflicts.

[@stickthelanding4785]

I find it weird how this scene in particular is brought up again.

[@skywise001]

I understood what you meant - but it was nice having you expand on your thoughts.

[@aaronzheng6168]

Hi! I really like your ever after high review and I really hope you can do more :)

[@Symia_ChaosAMVs]

RWBY: if "Wouldn't it be interesting" was a constant case of blue balls.

[@VicEntity]

I think it's absurd that Ruby cuts off Tyrian's tail and then Volume 5 proceeds to not give us an "Tyrian dying of costipation" subplot to be accurate to irl scorpions that die constipated if their tails get cut off.

[@roosiniimiamiciii6666]

If they were going to do this as a “Heat Of The Moment” decision, they needed to actually have a pay off.

[@astereotypicalgamer1708]

One thing that needs to be cleared up is whether Ruby realized Tyrian's tail delivered poison. One could then argue she was disarming a dangerous weapon rather than trying to maim and dismember her opponent.

[@Kushrada]

I share your sentiment though it didn't bother me at the time I first saw it. I kinda hoped it would be brought up again, hell even in volume 7 when both Qrow and Ruby see Tyrian again its not brought up or referenced. Volume 4 started the trend of ruby never internalizing anything and its gotten worst each volume. And from what the screenshots of the new volumes show she is going to do that with magical animals thus removing any self actualization on ruby's part since magic animals are the catalyst and not her own will.

[@KevinLockamy]

from the vol 9 trailer just released, we just might be getting this exact introspection.

[@silversaber5076]

Always thought of “most dangerous weapon designed” as most injury to the user not to its effectiveness in killing Grimm. Would reason why we only have 2 (maybe 3) scythe users. Maria’s I think fit more of Sickles instead of a full blown scythe.

[@theshire9173]

I never thought about this. But this is the same show where two of the main characters strait up killed a man and barely cared afterward. Just like you said, I don’t want to debate with strangers whether or not that was the right thing. I want the characters to do that

[@sonicspeedproductions2.04]

Would you care if someone caused you trauma and you managed to kill the person.

[@theshire9173]

@@sonicspeedproductions2.04 Yes. Killing any human being is sure to cause you trauma even if that person were garbage. I've seen so many shows and movies depicting this kind of conflicting emotion, but the writers of RWBY seem to think that killing is easy.

[@drakingp2119]

That last point and the basis if this video has been the defining issue I run into discussing things with the fandom, and it's the fact that we the people have to discuss things the shoe doesn't bring up or really explore, or worse yet, they talk about a sub plot that likely doesn't exist.

[@fishnewt1331]

Huh….. Never thought we would get a video about the tail of a RWBY character….. Not a complaint. Just very surreal. How you managed to make this an interesting discussion amazes me.

[@keve5534]

It feels like they wrote backwards from Ruby cuts his tail off because it's cool for her to use her weapon like that rather than approaching it from a character perspective. If there was any discussion in addressing it they didn't value it very highly and instead kept going. It could've been a nice build up of violence for season 6 with Adam if the girls where struggling with employing their lethal moves on people. Maybe they reconsider things like the Vital Festival and how the schools didn't cover these problems.

[@MrLightningbob]

To be honest, when I clicked on the video I thought it was going to be more about how Tyrian’s tail seems to extend at random times. But as far as Ruby cutting off his tail… I recently wrote a chapter that covered the fight and Qrow was stabbed in the leg rather than a shallow cut across the stomach. Ruby’s reaction to the tail was to try blocking it but was too slow but Pyrrha used her polarity to guide the blade to cut and sever the tail. Currently, things from the fight are still running high and questions are being answered in the 69th chapter of Big Issues about Salem and the Relics with the Maidens, so the real reflection on what happened during the fight hasn’t quite happened yet. Side note… in my story, Ruby doesn’t know Yang lost her arm yet. The cut from Adam was slightly too shallow to sever the limb completely and she had it reattached through surgery… but problems forced her hand to remove it. So when they meet again it will be really emotional

[@qwefg3]

For me? I thought this was the first point which we see the decline and rise of odd decisions. In some ways it would make sense as it would give Tyrian A reason to further hunt them and act as the filler villain for the arc. They could even have Salem give him a grim tail (Why mechanical tail?) As we could have had him fill the spot Roman had previously. As for hacking off the tail? Maybe it could have been better done if they even talked about it afterwards instead of just shrugging it off as if it was no big deal. Maybe it could have helped access the stress Ruby was feeling after the fall and help give a character moment.

[@JoshtheOverlander]

The content draught is getting to the fanbase, for sure. The recent trailer and final arrival of V9 will give them all more to talk about, but then V10 hasn't even been greenlit, so who knows what will happen afterwards.

[@jonathanrobinson198]

The moment I saw the thumbnail I immediately knew this had something to do with tweets I saw in passing 💀

[@thatguyjk6198]

I mean honestly, heroes making bad decisions, even if their a kind person, works. Because heroes often make bad decisions. No matter what they’ve seen or acted.

[@EJsGameplay]

I think you made great points all around. The only thing I can think of to "justify" the situation, is that it feels like it's actually a double call-back to the two teams' initiation battles. JNPR faced the Death Stalker, and during the fight Pyrrha cut it's stinger off. RWBY fought the Nevermore, and that was one of the only other times we've seen her use her scythe so brutally, I think. In RNJR case I think it's supposed to show unity in the new team comp maybe?. Personally I didn't like trying to be sold on RNJR right after, well, the end of Season 3 in general.

[@MDiarmeid]

I do agreed 100% that introspection, or rather lack of it onscreen, is an a issue, many event would be more interesting if they did discuss about the decisions right and wrong alike, totally agreed....this instance, like this specific singular example...i really dont think so, i get the argument, but even if the writters decided to make it a big deal for Ruby and/or the others, i personally would feel like kind of waste of a good discussion (discussion being "Even when justified, what does this action make it diferent when it happened to someone i knew") Even if we take away that Qrow colapsed from the poison the second after the fact (and then throw the exposition of the relic later on), and let say that the writter decided to focus Ruby cutting the tail off instead.... would still feel wierd (at least for me) since the answer for that discussion (again, in that intance) was honestly obvious, of course it is diferent, 100%, any member of the cast would probably be perfectly fine with it, even Yang she would probably would focus more on why he was after her sister, and focusing from Ruby pov, i think she would feel wierd about it true, but would procees to add to the pile of repressed stuff rather to feel the need to discuss it. Ok long post short: agreed that having introspectic discussion that would be really interesting to have between the main team (one of many also true) but again, this specific example, even with the writter focusing on the fact, would feel wierd, for that, it would be better to use any other situation with any other enemy character instead (or heck for that, just save that moment for a better encounter to deliver that discussion point)

[@ProjectLethargic]

I think her cutting off his tail being her only choice in the moment could've worked if she was horrified by her actions once the battle ended, like has a realization of "oh fuck I just cut off someones limb" and it kind of shakes her almost or something, my point is they could've done something interesting by forcing her into a situation where she has to do something that realistically she'd be against

[@Raycifer]

I say this literally every time talking about Tyrians tail, but Ruby basically castrated him

[@lloonneeyyzoozoo]

Considering that Ruby(*) lacks the self-awareness to acknowledge that, by not listening to him, and thinking she knew better, she got her uncle poisoned, it doesn't surprise me that she would not have had any deep philosophical thoughts or inner conflict about cutting off Tyrian's tail. (*) as written

[@alexbraun55]

Absolutely outstanding video, perfect script, I can't believe it's only 8 minutes long, I agree with everything you say and I think you should be president, thank you for being so validating.

[@saithorthepyro3264]

Two main things. 1). The fact that people keep on using this against you is just stupid. It was a random bit of a video that at worst, is a bad take. The fandom has this weird thing with obsessing over videos trying to pick them apart for reasons 2). I came into this thinking I was going to disagree with your point as I thought it was going to be about the morality of the action, but now, your point is very correct. The show has this weird thing with passing by story events or ideas that should be interesting. Volume 9 might change this, but honestly, who knows what that's going to be like.

[@shalahmattnet]

I think it would be interesting if Blake confronted Ruby about this and it makes her realize that she has some internalized racism with the faunus. Like the reason she didn't have a problem cutting off his tail is because she didn't really count it as a real limb (as in she never stopped to consider that his tail was a part of his body as apposed to just an extra element of his person) idk if I'm explaining this well.

[@timvision98]

Seeing how the V9 trailer implies Ruby will have a moment of self reflection, maybe Tyrian's tail will be adressed as well.

[@fenjaminvonwhippersnapper]

Accidental prejudice against faunus because it was a faunus tail, not a human arm. Or maybe I'm thinking too much about this...

[@jauneork278]

You know they reflected about their actions and things that happened to them in volume 1, 2 and 3. All that stopped after Monty passed.

[@chrisriley2321]

I actually don't mind her doing it. I personally like to think it was a quick spur of the moment decision to keep anyone else she cares about from dying. She lost Penny to the Fall and watched Pyrrha die in front of her and now her beloved uncle was just attacked by a deranged psychopath I think you can even see it in her expression before she does it. Plus she had no way of knowing he would be able to get his tail replaced with a robotic one. In that moment she decided he wouldn't sting anyone else and poison them I actually think this isn't even out of character for her too much given that Huntsmen and Huntresses don't just fight Grimm. They also fight bandits, be a crosswalk guard (sorry Jaune had to bring it up) and even as Qrow put it "Do less than respectable jobs for less than reputable people" meaning they abandoned their sworn duty And a Huntress is something Ruby has wanted to be since day 1. She has that natural instinct to protect and help no matter what

[@oneofmanynone5082]

To summarize blunty Protagonists: That would be against my moral compass. Audience: YOUR FUCKING MORAL COMPASS IS A ROULETTE WHEEL!!

[@KillamriX98]

Hmmm... I agree that it's awkward for sure. Vol 3 multiple people she cares about get chopped up. Vol 4, suddenly she's doing the chopping. In some cases, this would just be a character escalating in response to the oppositions' actions, but Ruby is sort've depicted as pure, naive, and wanting to be a storybook hero. So I get your point of view there. That said, Ruby... might not have ever been that kind of hero. She has a smile on her face while bashing Torchwick's goons in Ep1. She loves weapons. She throws a small tantrum when she meets Weiss and casually chops down a tree. Her first response to seeing a Goliath in Vol2 was "let's kill it." Ruby's a vicious little thing when it comes down to it. She might have just seen "icky scorpion tail" and gone "kill." In her mind, if someone's the enemy and the fight has gotten to the point where people are bleeding, especially after the hell she went through in the prior volume, then the gloves come off. Maybe that really does fit with her. Maybe she's never been all the gentle with her enemies, but she's just never been in a situation where she had to make a choice like this so it feels more out of nowhere. And quite frankly, storybook heroes can be pretty brutal too. This is where the train scene in Vol 2 where they're throwing the White Fang to their doom really comes back to bite, because one could argue that after that, all of RWBY are killers a few times over, but it's never properly addressed so we can't really use it as evidence one way or the other. However, then we can come back into agreement. Maybe after the fact she still feels off about it because Tyrian, evil, icky scorpion thing or not, is technically still a person and she did just see what happened to Penny and Yang. Could've lead to a sort've discussion of what kind of hero she wants to be. As of this moment, we still haven't really had a chance to learn how our heroes feel about REALLY putting the hurt on other people in life or death fights. So in short, I can see how some might find it strange that Ruby just cuts a person's limb off and doesn't bat an eyelash, but I feel like, recent events or not, it's not... that out of character for her regardless of the pressure of the moment. The story really just needed to better address the characters' stances on violence if it was going to escalate the violence in the show to this degree. Edit - Was a little too confrontational at first. Removed that bit.

[@artistanthony1007]

It obviously has some synthetic Venom Gland tubes in place of what has been destroyed/gone.

[@KeeKage37]

Here’s the thing. I’m all for Ruby having introspection, and questioning the path she’s on and the choices she’s made. I just don’t agree that Ruby snipping the tip of Tyrian’s tail is the same as ether Yang loosing an arm or Penny getting dismembered. The reason why is that there’s a good enough disconnect between the two. Yang and Penny were good people who were friendly to others and wanted to help those in need. Tyrian on the other hand only ever wanted to spread death to others and make his “goddess,” happy. When bad things happen to good people, it’s a tragedy. When bad things happen to bad people, it’s a karmic comeuppance. So Ruby cutting off Tyrian’s tail doesn’t bother me. As a matter of fact two scenes in other anime are similar to this. FMA Brotherhood were Ed fights the Slasher brothers. And in DBZ, ironically, when Vegeta gets his tail cut off. DBZ has it as something that needed to be done in order to save everyone from being killed by a giant ape Vageta. FMA Brotherhood does have some introspection. We’re yes Ed is fighting someone in a similar situation to his brother, and uses the same alchemy that a murder used in order it win the fight. But when questioned by the Slicer brothers as to why he didn’t just finish them outright when he won, Ed replied that he sees them as humans too and if he denied the fact that they were humans he’d be denying the humanity in his own brother. It’s kinda the flaw that Miles and Kerry have been making in Ruby’s direction. They want to make her the beacon of light in a dark world. But they don’t give her any hard convictions to root her arguments. Or showing that there is another and better way to go about things. However there could be another way to do this scene and make it more interesting. But rather than have Ruby be upset at the idea of dismembering someone. I think it should go harder in the other direction. Have Ruben’s up cutting off Tyrian’s tail, but she was trying to go for his head. Have her adopt a more colder and more ruthless mentality in dealing with enemy’s, be them grimm, Faunus, or human. Essentially making Ruby more jaded as a result of everything that happened after volume 3. She tried to be open and friendly to Emerald and Mercury, but as a result they only took her for a fool, framed her sister, destroyed her friend, and helped set off the fall of beacon. Have Ruby wonder that if Torchwick was dead, maybe he wouldn’t have been able to be such a huge part in beacons fall. After all she tried to reach out to him but he was dead set against it. Have her see enemies like Cinder’s crew and Tyrian as threats no different from grimm, that need to be taken out permanently. And have her question on whether a real hero is one that saves everyone, or just destroys those that are a threat to others. This mentality also gives Ruby’s friends and family the opportunity to try and convince her to go back to the way she was. And have her realize the real reason she fights. Ultimately I can’t help but wonder if Miles and Kerry are even capable of understanding the values of characters with introspection. After all these are the same people that dropped the white fang plot entirely, and speed ran Yangs PTSD and her plot with Raven. They’ve dropped the ball so many times. In the past few volumes. Penny’s return and it’s impact on others. Cinders backstory. Emeralds redemption. REN’s head space and motivation. Clovers death and how it affected Qrow and Harriet. The fight between Ruby and Yang. There problems with Ozpin. Yang’s motivation in general. Ironwood in general. Weis’s family issues. Penny’s transformation. Penny’s death, again! I can’t help but wonder if just one volume is really capable of fixing so many problems with there characters.

[@spoopyspades5740]

I've never even thought about this. I guess it is like, wtf??? I think they focused too much on scorpion man's reaction that they just forgot about Ruby's.

[@mediadetective6104]

Okay, you say “oh Ruby has seen so much dismemberments that she would never do it herself and if she did she’d feel bad for it,” but couldn’t the argument also be made she’s seen so much destruction that it hardens her to make decisions she might not have done before? We’re also treating Tyrain’s tail as if it was a hand or leg, which it technically is, but we’re disregarding the fact that this limb is also a dangerous weapon with poison. Do most arms and legs stab/cut people and poison them? No, of course not, it’s literally a dangerous weapon and Ruby had every right to cut it off in the moment, it was a fight they were losing. You say “it’s the writers fault and I don’t want to be stuck in what if scenarios” but honestly how would you do this, would you have had Qrow beat him in a 1v1 either killing him, wasting a potentially fun recurring villain, or simply beat him and escapes which would make him less of a genuine threat, or have Qrow be beaten then RNJR beat him which wouldn’t make sense because they were getting there asses kicked by him before Qrow showed up, if Ruby didn’t do that they would’ve lost, gotten killed, etc. They honestly made the perfect decision, showing Tyrain as a threat and basically being Qrow’s equal in combat, and they basically end it on a draw with no real victor, because of this Tyrain still feels threatening while also having all the characters survive. Finally about the “she should feel bad” part, yeah no, her only interactions with Tyrain are him trying to capture her and kill her loved ones, he comes off like a complete psychopath and Ruby figures out he’s at least on Cinder’s team (in the scene she questions if he works for Cinder and he responds “only in her dreams” which implies enough familiarity to realize they’re working together to some extent), she has no reason to sympathize for this asshole. And even if she felt a little bad, that feeling would go away pretty quickly once they realize Qrow’s been poisoned, sure he survives but I feel like I’d really hate the guy who nearly killed my uncle and feel somewhat happy that he won’t do the same to anyone else again (she doesn’t know they have a tech wizard on their side so until V7 she could easily believe that his tail is out of commission permanently). So yeah, no there is no moral ambiguity about this, or at least barely.

[@nadieimportante1979]

Yeah, like a "how am I different from fucking Addam if I'm willing to do the same?"

[@gamerzgames]

I’ve seen Tyrian’s tail get cut off so many times i wanna gag

[@user-Jay178]

Yeah I can understand what your saying and how it doesn't really get addressed at all. Great video

[@flyingfist4203]

Which minute detail do you guys think Critter will be roped into making a full on video for next? My money is on aura healing. In the same video that "started" Tyrian's tail discussion, aura healing was brought up and claimed to be thrown into the show in Volume 5. But healing with aura was something done way back in Volume 1 when Jaune had his aura unlocked and the camera zoomed as the cut on his cheek was healed. I'm pretty sure Unicorn of War made the same claim of aura healing being retconned into volume 5 in one of their major RWBY videos. And both channels have a lot of talent and effort put behind them. So that leaves many questions to be had: Why didn't aura healing in the volume 1 leave a lasting impact? Was it maybe a bad idea to introduce a concept and then wait well over 3 full seasons/years before bringing it back into the show? Why were our cast put in a SCHOOL setting if we/they never LEARN anything onscreen/in school about the major mechanics of Remnant? Anyway great video! A lot more scenes in the show would be better if it impacted team RWBY enough for them to think back on it meaningfully.