I'm Still Tired of RWBY

Ain't enough hot sauce and Ironwood Tears to fix this...
Funnily enough, there were a lot of things to enjoy about this volume, but there were also glaring issues too...
Chapters
0:00 - What is the definition of Insanity?
1:31 - Actual Positives
3:46 - So... About that last Volume?
9:46 - Neo and the Lore
14:38 - Failure and Self-Discovery
18:39 - Ruby: This is Disgusting
25:04 - So... Now What?
27:59 - End Credits
Thanks to Mr Cake Dragon man For Editing The Video MRcakeDragonMan ➤ / thelastcakegames t.co/6CVT7G8Ow4
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#RWBY #Rwbyvolume9 #roosterteeth

[@Mangakamen]

Be sure to like, share and leave a comment for the video - It really helps out the channel.

[@jansswag139]

So the cat voice actor is akechi?!

[@DemonMankeyMan]

Why? Why the BoRap bit at the end? Why bring Queen into this?

[@kingj9664]

Now that I think about it this is the 1st time they've done the whole suicide is the answer they remember gen lock season 2. Michael B Jordan should not have been in that show he was too good for it and a wasted helm

[@mosesmm5473]

In Fatmanfalling's group review for the last episode, Tom said something that really stuck with me, that was that volume 9 is just a recolour of volume 5 as if you break down their base plot points, it's the same which I'm not sure was meant to be a joke, or is an example that the writers will even rip off their universally hated volume because they couldn't come up with something different.

[@georgemeyers7172]

Are... Are you okay MangaKamen? You seemed really dejected after realizing that nothing matters...

[@metamaster5469]

This volume's message brings to mind a quote from Bojack Horseman: "You can't keep doing this! You can't keep doing shitty things and then feel bad about yourself like that makes it okay! You need to be better!"

[@thomasraines1396]

I thought about saying that.

[@theghost358]

Good to see you metamaster. Love your fanfics bro

[@metamaster5469]

@@theghost358 Aww, thank you!

[@poolturtle5772]

Honestly, that whole monologue is probably one of the most memorable quotes from anything to me. That whole thing just… hits.

[@georgemeyers7172]

That show gets it. Why can't this one?

[@silverscorpio24]

This is what should've happened during the "past selves" sequence: Yang - Beacon Yang should've pointed out how Yang's failed at protecting Ruby as a sister and questioned her love of Blake, given how she abandoned them after Beacon fell and her history of being a criminal. Also there should've been a mention of her arm being a gift from Ironwood and how she showed her gratitude for having a normal life thanks to him. Blake - Blake's whole goal in life was to fight for Faunus equality. Confront her on how her approach differed from Adam and Ghira's ideas. Point out that she STILL tends to run away from her problems and how all the Faunus from Atlas are now abandoned in Vacuo. And why she feels so sorry for Yang, and is it sympathy or genuine love. Weiss - Her home is gone. Her family is displaced. Her father is DEAD. Her entire life outside of being with RWBY is gone. *She* should be questioning her responsibilities and decisions just as much as Ruby. And realize just how much of that was her fault. Ruby - Questioning whether she wants to be a Huntress should not be her hangup; being a leader should be. All of her decisions from the past two Volumes have led to destroying Atlas and now Salem has half of what she needs to destroy the world. And all those people in Vacuo are in the crossfire. She knows Huntsmen screw up and that life isn't easy, given what she knows about her mom, her dad, her uncle, Raven, and Maria. Again, Ruby should've been questioning her choices of *being a Huntress* back in Vol 4. Now... she should either not want to be leader, or not want to live altogether.

[@randomcenturion7264]

Thank you. WBY got the most softball Mirror Match and shrugged it off entirely.

[@thomasraines1396]

It feels like W/BY’s were there just as a contrast to Ruby and so the writers’ could point and say “Look! They developed!”

[@DocMicrowave]

Great HISHE recommendations! Indeed it would have been great to see that. But remember what show we are talking about. This is RWBY, where they get about as deep as pothole on the street.

[@lanytai2010]

Only problem with that is if Yang questions how she deals with Ruby at that point, she would've prevented Ruby's breakdown. The way the story is structured here, Volume 10 is the window of opportunity for that to happen.

[@silverscorpio24]

@@lanytai2010 You're right. Wouldn't want Yang's "protective older sister" role to get in the way of Ruby's seppuku arc and her tiresome love ship.

[@romancapulus5577]

The fact that no one bothered to help Ruby while she was depressed and even tried to stop her from committing seppuku… As a writer, I have to ask: What the actual hell RT?

[@Axel_Kasai]

Someone said there was a animation error and ruby was supposed tea drink the tea just as the other characters showed up. But I don't know how that happens since they had more time to look over the volume thanks to covid 😅

[@Lajos_Kelemen]

@@Axel_KasaiThat tells me that they are either lazy or incompetent, perhaps both.

[@romancapulus5577]

@kingkaza That’s understandable. But I’m just speaking from experience having gone through true depression myself.

[@romancapulus5577]

@kingkaza If you’re asking if I feel like the depression has passed here’s my answer… My true depression has passed yes, but lately I feel like it’s been creeping up on me these days, mostly because of my living situation. That being said, when it comes to my writing, I have to ‘draw’ on my depression whenever I have to make one of my characters feel powerless. Hopeless if you will.

[@DocMicrowave]

​Axel_Kasai. They have used that excuse of "animation error" before. Like in the case of Ozcar being able to sucker punch Neo. Interesting how it is called an error after the fandom start talking about the logic and calling it out. I don't accept that their writers and animators are that inept that they didn't realize a ludicrous scene during planning sessions, proof reading, story boarding, animation, and then review. An animation error is Cinder's mask appearing, disappearing during a fight with guards in V2x7. Or Ooblek's disappearing backpack. Vernal's shifting dead body. No, someone (The CRWBY trsm) crafted this scene and thought it made perfect sense when they posted it. To them it made as much sense as Neo getting sucker punched. Or Yang falling and only Blake trying to save her has Weiss and Ruby stand by and watch. It was quite intended. That is how they wanted it to play out. No error in their view.... Until there is enough questioning of the logic in the fandom about it. Then the animation error excuse comes out. I am not sa

[@carbodude5414]

The main flaw with Ruby's so called "arc" is that Ruby thinks she failed because she "wasn't good enough" rather than because she was wrong

[@thomasraines1396]

Shit that’s terrifying.

[@goncalocarneiro3043]

The wording is weird but I think one implies the other. As in, "not being good enough" implies not making enough right choices, which in turn implies being wrong. No?

[@themphantom9138]

Great guards of heaven and hell, this is even worse The hardest part in life is Being Wrong and ADMITTING you were Wrong, that's how you Learn, That's How *I* Learned! You have to know the mistakes you've made and deal with them accordingly, and not think for a moment that "You were Never Wrong"

[@patchmoulton5438]

@@goncalocarneiro3043 Not really. By saying she "wasn't good enough," implies that she still believes she was right but couldn't act on it. But she was just straight up wrong, it had nothing to do with her ability to impact the world.

[@goncalocarneiro3043]

@@patchmoulton5438 I mean, she was right there making the bad choices. She very much acted on them, bad as they were. It's not very feasible to ask more unless she was like two tiers of power over everyone else.

[@Egalia_1]

I can't believe we live in a time where the main character literally committed suicide and it was the *CORRECT THING TO DO*

[@Jwoosle]

**this is the second RT show where this has happened**

[@Canibar13]

@@Jwoosle Not to mention that joke in CampCamp.

[@Jwoosle]

@@Canibar13 I’m not even sure which one you’re referring to but I’m sure it’s not great

[@Jeremyskye]

Just like Cammie did in gen:LOCK

[@KritoSkywaker]

Yeah...And it made me mad... Suicide is something, we should not treat as a joke. But RT did, and they get away with it, because of the fans' and the reactors' lack of judgement.

[@jacobtheorangeyoshi8710]

Honestly it’s completely disgusting that the writers thought a ship was more important than Yang getting to actually be a sister or feel like a sister again. She hasn’t had a character since Volume 4. It almost seems like the writers know that the shipping community is basically all they have left.

[@oscarborjajr1176]

Exactly. It's not only completely disgusting but also insulting as well for yang character. There is no way in god green earth that yang would be forcuse on blake or care more about blake than her own sister. They never shown any romance between the two. It was never build up, they have no chemistry and not only that but it also a toxic and unhealthy relationship. If this was actually yang xiao long she would be with her sister every step of the way in this volume try to help her and comfort her. She would be broken if something bad happens to her like her killing herself yang would be not only destroyed mentally she would be depressed and even suicidal for not protecting ruby. The writers care more and forcing this stupid shipped than making a good story and treating the characters woth respect.

[@Masterchiefandcommandershepard]

@@oscarborjajr1176 Amen, my brother. 👍

[@DocMicrowave]

The live-for-the-ship community, an often very toxic one, don't believe it is possible to be in a relationship without cutting meaningful ties with family and even friends. CRWBY knows this so it is reflected in the writing. Yang must have nothing but eyes and thoughts on Blake in order to prove the ship. By any means necessary. So if it means cringy scenes like Yang running out of a Grimm filed house of horrors with Blake in tow leaving behind Her sister, family and teammate, quite logical. Not having more than a couple of words with Ruby for 2+ volumes to highlight her interest in Blake, perfectly normal. Jaune talking to Yang about the end of the world as they know it as well as concerns about Ruby, while clearly Yang is only thinking about what Blake thinks of her. Perfectly fine. Yang, Blake and Marrow out on a mission fighting Grimm. Marrow notes that Yang and Blake only fight together, makes a perfectly logical and reasonable suggestion that they get some practice working with others. Only to have Yang go red-eyed and combo a Grimm with Blake. Then both stand there glaring at Marrow as he back tracks the statement. Clearly a scene written to give any BB critics in the fandom a slap. 95% of all scenes in V7 (and now V9) have Blake and Yang standing next to each other or in close proximity. But always in the same frame of view. While Ruby and Weiss are mostly shown standing separately. Optics are everything! And of course the dependency. They must always fight together. All of Blake's development through the Mistral arc as a confident leader thrown out as she is turned into a wimp who can no longer fight on her own. And in fact usually needs to be rescued, assisted or protected. Mostly by Yang. So much for female empowerment. Two decent characters wrecked for a ship.

[@Masterchiefandcommandershepard]

@@DocMicrowave Everything is just like that.

[@KritoSkywaker]

​@@DocMicrowave Amen on that. And that's not just the issue. The issue is how many people gobbled up the BB Kiss Scene. When I first saw it, it made me furious. 😔😡

[@stickthelanding4785]

My main gripe with this is how yang still seems to care more about blake than anyone else. Seriously the fact that she was more worried about her cat girlfriend’s feeling than her own sister breaking down pisses me off.

[@riotkitty]

Oh that started back in Volume 6. That doesn’t surprise me, she grabbed Blake and didn’t pay any mind to her sister and half asleep drunk uncle when monsters were coming up from the cellar and they set the house on fire.

[@stickthelanding4785]

@@riotkitty yeah ever since volume 6 yang honestly became my least favorite team rwby member. She’s an awful person and she is no longer fun.

[@chukyuniqul]

@@stickthelanding4785 they literally turned her into a homophobic stereotype. I don't even...

[@Jacob_G9]

@@goldsrc-l2m you know for a fact that if Blake was gonna be hit, she would have Actually struggled against Neo.

[@chloeainslie1513]

@@goldsrc-l2m The problem is the inconsistency with Yang. As you say, will take a hit to protect Ruby but shows no emotion upon seeing her again even when she assumed SHE herself was dead. Also it's BLAKE who gets the big emotional tackle upon seeing Yang again. All of her major character moments revolved around Blake and you cannot deny that that is essentially Yang's character now: the other half of Bumblebee. The few moments she is trying to express emotion for her sister, she still can't separate from Blake which is what people are having issues with. Especially the lack of emotions for Ruby's suicide (essentially) and the generally distant and awful attitude she has. The writers haven't been able characterise Yang properly or consistently since she lost her arm and it's a damn shame. But that's just how I see it

[@rebekahscheu4245]

What's so aggravating about that tea drinking scene is that her friends and sister did nothing but watch, and while there were people trying to defend that scene saying that they were in shock, that's only a legit reaction if they found her AFTER the fact, not before were at the very least they could have called out to her or something.

[@carbodude5414]

"Shock" is the standard excuse the fans use every time the protagonists are being dumbasses standing still and just watching while something bad happens i.e. Ruby about to be killed by Tyrian, Cinder slowly getting ready to kill Weiss, Oscar getting mauled by the wolf Grimm

[@Conbuilder10]

This. I know a former cop and he told me stories about suicides he went to. Shock is an accurate description for what people go through but not in the way applied here. Shock means an incongruent reaction for a given situation. Warning my next message is going to get a bit gruesome with stories.

[@Conbuilder10]

Some things I have been told. A wife found her husband after he took his head off with a shotgun and she was literally scooping up bits of his brain trying to put them back in. A father found cops at his house when he came home and when he found out he burst into tears punched a wall and a cop had to restrain him as the father went for his gun to follow his son. A father who was blocked from seeing the scene went and grabbed his baseball glove, sat in his recliner and just kept repeating "it's gonna be ok". Shock manifests itself in many different ways and no matter what those who watch or find out about the suicide directly after it happens have some sort of reaction.

[@KritoSkywaker]

​@@Conbuilder10 Holy frack... That's dark as hell... 😰

[@ericrodriguez4566]

​@@carbodude5414to

[@qliphalpuzzle5453]

It just confirms to me that RWBY is one of the very few series that have whole alternate fanfiction written better than the main

[@Exceed492]

Considering Couer Al'Aran's track record of genuinely good fanfics (and dozens of others written by other people), I'm inclined to agree.

[@AmbroseSimpson]

What about Miraculous Ladybug?

[@sandwichmonster7067]

My favorite is Celtic Phoenix's Fixing RWBY series! Sticks as close to canon as possible while making much-needed adjustments.

[@jamesvanitas]

Add “Roze From Remnant” to the list…..

[@OniLifes]

SAO abridged fits that too

[@vickyshinoa1270]

I always hated that nobody asked Ruby if she was okay THIS WHOLE VOLUME. I got mad. And for Yang, you can have a relationship with someone but you can still check up on your sibling. It pisses me off that Yang never stopped and was the first to ask and to apologize.

[@KingChiggy]

Right? They literally watched her blow up, run away, be attacked by Neo and the Cat, give herself to the tree and then when they get there they see her wooden statue and they are like "Nah she's fine. We'll just wait for her to get out and then we can go to exposition land". Not a single one of them cared!

[@BryonYoungblood]

Yeah. Anytime it was gonna happen, the group was distracted or shifted attention from it to help someone else or do something else, and yet they can just take a bit to check on Ruby?

[@thomasraines1396]

@@BryonYoungblood they spent all night at Jaune’s shack: Weiss was just… there and Yang and Blake did nothing but lounge by the fire and hold hands.

[@BryonYoungblood]

@@thomasraines1396 Which is a shame, considering you'd think Yang could tell Ruby is hurting and talk with her.

[@thomasraines1396]

@@BryonYoungblood not just Yang, all of them should’ve been able to tell, she was being really unsubtle over the fact something was wrong. Ruby’s whole arcs this volume only happened because the characters were made out to be uncaring, oblivious assholes It feels like something off the CW out of character characters all in the name of creating artificial melodrama.

[@artgurusauce]

Their attempt to liken ascension to suicide was probably the worst mistake they made with this volume. I understand the intent, but no one seriously looked over this script and thought "Maybe we should try something else"? I don't even understand why Team RWBY think ascension is a good thing just because the citizens say so. They are literally programmed to _want_ to go to the tree. Their identities and personalities are erased and replaced. And it isn't always for the better like the Paper Pleasers. Team RWBY know for a fact it is not always for the better, because the cat told them the Red King became the Red Prince after losing to Alyx and went from kind and benevolent to cruel and outright psychotic and they themselves remarked that they remember him being a nice King from the story, something that was almost immediately corroborated by one of his Pawns. And all they have to say to Yang's perfectly valid question of "What if she isn't Ruby anymore when she comes out?" is "It's her choice, not ours." No wonder Ruby wanted to kill herself, not only did all her friends and her _fucking sister_ ignore her and treat her like crap, they could care less if their friend turns into a complete stranger. Not to mention that Ruby is _not_ in a good place at the moment mentally speaking, and should _not_ be making that sort of decision regardless. Absolutely sick, what a _baffling_ way to assassinate your entire main cast in one fell swoop. This allegory simply doesn't work because the implications are horrific. I think their message was intended to be "Even if it seems like you're not enough, you can become enough if you work hard and improve and learn from your mistakes" but thanks to their terrible writing and poor foresight, it comes off as "Do you think you're not enough? Just kill yourself! If you don't wanna do that, pick yourself up by your boot straps and suck it up. And if your friend wants to die, don't do anything about it. Sit back and let it happen, don't talk them out of it, it's not your decision so you have no right to stop it."

[@izilladkilla]

The funny thing is this is not the first show where Rooster Teeth portrayed suicide as a good thing. Just look at Cammie's story arc in gen:LOCK S2.

[@twinodoom]

@@izilladkilla They both called it "Ascension".

[@vla1ne]

I'm not even against suicide as a joke or a plot point, but when it's used in such a terrible way... Twice now, this show has hamfisted a suicide into the plot, not because they couldn't have done anything else, but because the writers have made every character so braindead that the corners they end up written in at the end of every season could only be accomplished with mid winter, below room temperature iq levels. The terrible writing is what makes these suicides so ignorant to observe, as you know the characters ought to be smarter than this, but sadly, whomever is responsible for the writing clearly isn't.

[@Raximus3000]

It speaks volumes of their mentality, they are suicidal but cannot admit there is smth wrong with them and so it shows on their crappy show.

[@samflood5631]

@@izilladkillaI watched that episode and it felt like a huge middle finger to not only Cammy fans, but people who lost loved ones to suicide.

[@TwilightWolf032]

I will continue to say this, but when I first saw the teasers that hinted Neo and Ruby were in the same desolated island together, I had in my head the idea that they would be forced to team up in order to survive, figure out they work well as a team since their powers complement each other (Ruby's speed paired with Neo's illusions can give them a chance to escape threats they are not equipped to deal with) and we could get some flashbacks for Neo that explains why she was so loyal to Torchwick in the first place and maybe even why she can't speak. But alas, that's just some rando on the internet having better ideas than the actual writers of the show that are paid to think about that!

[@Jules279]

They should hire y'all for the writing team. That all sounds way better than the Bumblebee bs we got.

[@TwilightWolf032]

​@@Jules279 Thanks for the compliment. Since Neo doesn't speak and there's no way they no would try to communicate with each other, I thought about making an entirely new Grimm to force them to pair up, based on the idea that the creatures of Grimm evolve alongside humans, with each side adapting to the other's changes that V2 introduced with Oobleck. Since Hunters are (supposedly) trained to work in teams, some rare Grimms that work to counter their numbers would inevitably show up at some point in history, so I thought about a stationary Grimm uncapable of attacking on its own having the ability to link the minds of a pair of humans, making them revive each other's most painful memories while their bodies are left unconscious, with the negative emotions generated bringing in other Grimm that will kill the prey and leave the rest of their carcasses for the stationary Grimm to feast on. So, Ruby and Neo are stranded on this island and all they can do is fight each other. Their fight takes them near that Grimm I mentioned before and Ruby recognizes it thanks to her lessons in Beacon, she tries to warn Neo but she has no reason to believe Ruby and continues attacking, waking up the sleeping creature. Once it wakes up, it activates it powers, causing Neo to see Ruby's memories and Ruby to see Neo's. I figured it would be interesting if the first time the audience learned about this Grimm's ability was after it used its powers, shifting from the moment it triggers them to Neo sitting down in school wearing Ruby's clothes and speaking with her voice, watching Oobleck or Port describing its powers and origins. After that we get to see Ruby going through Neo's thoughts, where we learn why she's so loyal to Torchwick and maybe how she lost her voice as well. And as a means of escaping the threat, since the memories they see are selected at random, we could have the other Grimm creatures in the vicinity approaching their unconscious bodies at the same time Neo sees a memory of Ruby preparing a flash bomb with the Dust cartridges she has in her belts, that stuns all Grimm creatures, allowing the two to wake up and run for it. Then, when they calm down they decide the island is too dangerous for either one of them alone, Neo needs Ruby's academic expertise in Grimm, her Speed and Silver Eyes, while Ruby needs Neo's refined combat abilities, Solid Illusions and field experience. No two people sitting at a table telling each other their backstories, saying stupid stuff like "I can describe people with one word", or having a flashback for the sake of the audience that doesn't change anything about the character in question (we all knew Cinder was a murderous bitch, having a flashback that shows us she was a murderous bitch doesn't do jack for the sake of the story). Everything is placed in order to further the narrative, do a bit of world building, raise the stakes as it explains why they're in danger, and gives room for character development as two sworn enemies have to learn to fight together, now with a better understanding of their situation.

[@DarkStarInsomniac]

I really wanted to Jaune to stay older, it would've represented a real impact in the physical and mental sense on his character, something that couldn't be reversed no matter what and the writers would have to contend with. Especially since, with decades being referenced, I thought he was at least in his late thirties or early forties. That's not a small thing - he's gone from being hopeful and idealistic to jaded and frankly teetering on the edge of madness. With them reversing this change, they now have a theoretically mentally almost middle-aged man in a teenage boy's body, and that should be reflected in the writing of his character. Unfortunately, I worry the reversal will be written as having reverted him entirely to what he was while ignoring what he became.

[@walterhellsing3399]

True, really wanted Jaune yo stay older, could you imagine everything that would change, the show would actually have stakes to it. Also with Jaune looking to be late 30's to early 40's I have a feeling he was there for MUCH longer. Alyx and Lewis aren't color based names and Jaune was The Rusted Knight in the fairytale and we know that Ozpin knew about the fairytales long before Modern Day. So I think Jaune was most likely 300+Years. I don't believe RT's "10 to 20 Years" since they can't even get Remnants Lore Right. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

[@josegallegos6010]

Taking a page from the Demon slayer in 5 minutes video. -Ruby: I give up. -Ghost Mom: But don't though. -Ruby: Ok. *Revived now happy again* -Ruby: Thanks Ghost mom.

[@krampusapprenticeofdarksan7870]

Ruby: "I know longer want to be myself..." Also Ruby: "I'm just going to keep being myself!"

[@CompSomAnichi]

that would havev been much better lol

[@Jules279]

@@CompSomAnichi That'd be a funny ass Abridged version.

[@KarmaSpaz12]

"Mankind knew that they could not change society. So instead of reflecting on themselves, they blamed the beasts." Seems kind of fitting for the state of RWBY right now. Both in the story and in the writers room. Surely more writers could smooth out the black holes rather than create a too many cooks in the kitchen scenario. Create apathetic characters and the audience will follow. That's a good rule for writing unless you're making a character study out of it.

[@georgemeyers7172]

That's one way to say that they aren't looking for reflection... they are looking for scapegoats.

[@idunno9251]

That... actually makes a lot of sense! Great job with the rule for writing. also Guilty Gear Strive, based.

[@walterhellsing3399]

​@@idunno9251yea it's great, until they turned my favorite character into Trans. I got nothing against those are trans, but if you want to represent the Trans people, make one originally Trans rather an already loved Male character and turn them Trans. I will always be salty about it but what can I do about it. I'm a mere voice amongst millions, I just go with the flow.

[@toughbreaker3378]

I mean RWBY literally based on Blazblue and Blazblue based on Guilty Gear

[@lucky9293]

RAHHHHHH GUILTY GEAR POSTING RAHHHHHHH HAPPY CHAOS

[@dragonicdoom3772]

Remember when Yang, Blake and Weiss realise that maybe constantly saying that they believe in Ruby and how she's so great might be putting too much of a burden on her? And then how the minute she comes back they all start doing that EXACT THING!? Yeah I'm sorry but CRWBY should just stay away from complex topics and stick to making a fun battle show.

[@thomasraines1396]

Exactly it’s crazy.

[@Lajos_Kelemen]

Ironically, the show was actually lot better when it was just about the adventures of shcoolgirls with big guns

[@kidprime6863]

They didn't mean to put too much on her. Her optimism, cheerfulness and leadership has always gotten them through thick and thin. They look up to her. She's inspired so much in them. But now they have to do likewise. Ruby should've opened up and told them what was going on instead of sitting around and expecting them to notice. Let alone give them hints. That bottled it all up. But then again Ruby was afraid that doing so would make her look weak in front of them, making them lose hope. If she loses hope, she loses hope. So the way I see it, Ruby wanted help and didn't at the same time.

[@ChaffyExpert]

​@@kidprime6863that's pretty in-character and could have been done well. Problem is this should've been a plot point of when they were at Beacon. It's also not executed well if that's the case.

[@kidprime6863]

@@ChaffyExpert It kinda has been a plot point since Volume 1. Ozpin gave Ruby relatively poor advice on what leadership is: "Being a team leader isn't just a title you carry into battle, but a badge you wear constantly. If you are not always performing at your absolute best, then what reason do you give others to follow you?" Ruby believed that he meant that if she screws up or shows any signs of vulnerability, her teammates will lose hope, become uncooperative and drift apart. Thus, she mustn't fail and must maintain a brave face, no matter how much it hurts on the inside. She took this unhealthy piece of advice to heart. Yes, Ozpin had good intentions and was only trying to help. But he should've approached it with a little more tact like giving her an example or a demonstration.

[@Hashbrown1682]

V9 in a nutshell: - You're perfect the way you are - Nothing really matters - When things get tough just self-delete

[@genoob5843]

Certified “13 reasons why” writing

[@red14carbluebattleship76]

And homophobic Ruby. Can’t forget about that.

[@Hashbrown1682]

@Red14car BlueBattleship that was the best part ironically

[@jackb.207]

"kill yourself now!" RWBY

[@InterdictionAirsoft]

Sounds familiar oh wait. Those are the values of the woke.

[@silverscorpio24]

*WHY* was Ruby depressed? *WHY* didn't she want to be a huntress anymore? *WHY* was she frustrated with her teammates? *HOW* did she and Neo know Penny was dead? The audience knows why she should be breaking down, but the show never acknowledges that. Instead, they baited people with "Ruby is depressed and wants to kill herself!" thinking that will get them to keep watching the show.

[@Omega-ig6rp]

Ruby was told by Weiss about penny, but yea neo knowing makes no sense

[@animezilla4486]

​@@Omega-ig6rp yes it doesn't make sense but I do enjoy the volume

[@Jwoosle]

I was honestly good with why she was depressed, frustrated, questioning herself, etc. Constant failure and loss when you view yourself as responsible will do that to you. My question is why does she NOT feel that way in episode 10? Why does hearing that her mom loved her somehow help her get over the deaths of her loved ones/allies? How does that absolve her of the pressures of leadership? How does that repair the rift with her team? Ruby wasn’t depressed just because, it wasn’t just in her head, she was depressed because of the multiple very real issues happening around her so why is she suddenly fine despite none of those issues going away? Hell it’s not even like you see her process or get a new perspective on those issues, she’s just suddenly better and THAT’S what really bothers me.

[@silverscorpio24]

@@Jwoosle You're not wrong; all of her problems were literally magically solved once she died. And yes, she should be depressed and frustrated and tearing herself apart over how she screwed up. But she never says why she's feeling this way. She should've been depressed about Penny back in Vol. 4, and while her dying again is sad, that should've led to Ruby being more upset about how she didn't think of Cinder and why Penny was able to be fatally wounded and why they had to use the Staff to create her a human body etc.... It's a chain reaction of screw-ups that should've knocked Ruby flat on her ass. But she doesn't say anything about that. And no one else asks her about it. So for all we know Ruby is sad because the Cat was psychologically manipulating her, and wasn't due to deep self-reflection on her part. Her quick comeback after killing herself just reaffirms that theory. Rooster Teeth, and therefore Ruby, don't really think what they did in Vol 7 and 8 was wrong.

[@quarreneverett4767]

@@silverscorpio24 thats interesting :) tha ks for explaining

[@BoxyBrown717]

I love that after queerbaiting the bumblebee ship for years we finally get the confirmation in the most convoluted set up where the world literally forces the two to out themselves, and instead of them having a conversation where they have to work out any lingering issues they may have with each other, they just give each other surface level compliments and suddenly it's all good. Not only do I feel like this volume was a very inappropriate place to solidify this relationship, I cynically feel like the reason they did so was for marketing since the series seems to be struggling.

[@thomasraines1396]

What makes it worse in my opinion is that nothing they said to each other during their little confession was true.

[@s3studios597]

That and outside controversy considering some ex-employees have outright confirmed that all the "progressive" stuff is just for clout and money

[@saiyanscaris6530]

@@s3studios597 would also explain why they thought the ruby suicide thing was ok too

[@vashviper9346]

Yeah I've had a cynical view on the shipping of the two for a while and this only confirms it. It could've been interesting to have more organic interactions between the two, like why DOESN'T Blake question her feelings for Yang as pity or an unhealthy dependency on Yang? Orrr something? No really, ask these questions, same with Yang, truly think about if this is what you want, and if its what you want, if its what she wants or needs. Or at the very least don't make it happen as simple as surface level compliments. Their relationship has no internal strife or struggles that linger, its infuriating.

[@Thunderous333]

Honestly it was probably just done to stop the death threats the VAs kept getting

[@hennyzhi2261]

The sheer amount of character assassination even after volume 8 has me a bit disturbed. I've just been taking bits of pieces of volume 9 because me and my friend group has basically had enough of it by this point - one of us even having sit on several watch parties with other people who likely bowed out because he's a writer and wants to get all the experience he can. He hasn't watched volume 9 and I think this would legit depress him. They would go so far as to ignore the past conflicts and have their main character commit sodoku if it meant keeping the face of the show alive. She doesn't have to change and be endearing to us for her growth or the content of her character. She doesn't have to rely on ostensible "friends" or experienced elders to help her through her problems and come out stronger due to their shared suffering. She has to be a brand, a lifeless doll who will consume the role thrust upon her because meta narratively that's all the people who write for her likely care about. Even if they don't realize it themselves which is a far more disturbingly pessimistic outlook than it ever being intentional. Now go consume product - watch her and her quirky friends punch Lex Luthor with Superman and buy our flanderizing merch.

[@lilsmurfy8349]

imagine how Tyrian and Mercury would be if they were screwed with by Roosterteeth that would make a mess with their already flood of messes

[@georgemeyers7172]

"Just Consume Product, move on to the next one and consume more product."

[@royaldance26]

my most mid - disappointed scene (because everything else is a trainwreck) was when Curious said shit like "i called humans weak, confused, incomplete!" after getting his ass beat and WBY shut that down so fast saying "no, you're wrong. ruby was never any of those things!! it's why we follow her." when it would've been so much stronger (and the closest thing to an apology i guess) for them to say "and you're right, but so what?" (yang) , "it just means there's room to grow, room to love." (weiss) , "and we do that by being together, by helping each other." (blake) which would've connected greatly to their older arcs (since the writers don't wanna touch the recent ones with a ten mile radius) or at least what they were meant to stand for. yang knowing what it feels to be broken & learning how to change her perspective once coming to terms with what's before her. weiss having learned that there's more to love than just family & that blood =/= love but that love is for people you trust & connect with. and blake having learned to have hope again thanks to the people who believe in & care for her that she learned to keep moving forward. it's honestly the epitome of rwby's lack of seeing anything between black and white. not even allowing things That Are Objectively True to be taken into consideration with a more hopeful perspective (y'know, the hopepunk message fans SAY rwby has) - instead simply saying No, We're Just Right with no fucking proof or groundwork to support that take in spite of all the evidence stacked against them.

[@thomasraines1396]

They just double down.

[@riotkitty]

I’m tired of RWBY as well, though I still have a sort of morbid curiousity to see if they can top what I consider to be the most terrible of each season. And Roosterteeth in all its infinite wisdom totally topped what was bad in Volume 8 in dumpster fire glory with Ruby self deleting herself while everyone stands there and watches with mild concern on their faces. The most basic thing that they needed to was to reveal Jaune killed Penny. And they didn’t do that! It doesn’t matter anymore! Nothing matters!

[@KritoSkywaker]

Yes. Friends of mine and I were theorizing, that if BB became canon, then one of them will be killed off, but that didn't happen. Then I theorized, that Jaune will be antigonized and it went...nowhere...Instead, we got the stupid Meme with Ruby, and then the most offensing BS I have ever met. And you right... Nothing matter, because the "You are perfect in the way you are" is the perfect message for showcasing, RT's ultimate cowardice. And how did they tried to fix everything in V9? Other than giving the toxic shippers what they want and argue that "It was planned from the start"? They did not even bothered with fixing. No concequences. No setup. No buildup. RT...You are made of stupid!

[@DocMicrowave]

LOL, same here. Just a morbid sense of curiosity to see where a show I once really enjoyed will end up. It's like watching a major train wreck - in slow motion.

[@kielbasamage]

I've been told this information was told to Ruby... Off screen. Like always.

[@tsunekune5753]

There's also the ascending aspect where the Paper Pleasers turned into gems via the Blacksmith and this could have indicate the tree meaning/representing rebirth, change, and growth which would honestly be a better metaphor for Ruby and Jaune acknowledging their flaws/faults and becoming better people but episode ten pretty much reverted that

[@riotkitty]

@@kielbasamage I call BS nobody even mentioned Penny this season aside from one scene where Ruby looks at her sword 😓

[@Nizati]

THANK YOU. I .. i felt the exact same way. The last episode just... just... pissed me off. Ruby is the postergirl for toxic positivity, and has never allowed herself to really cry, or mourn. And even her panic attack isn't accepted or processed. The entire SEASON builds on the fact that change means accepting who you are, letting go of the bad (letting a part of you essentially die), and changing into something new! THATS HOW HEALTHY GROWNUPS WORK. And they drop it all, and slap on the excuse that there is 'nothing wrong' with her. That... that is such an unhealthy message. That's like telling a PTSD soldier, to 'get over it' and 'just keep being that positive person you always were' That's... THATS MESSED UP.

[@thomasraines1396]

It’s crazy also everyone else reaches the conclusion of essentially “Even the best fail, so we shouldn’t be to hard on ourselves”. The self acceptance/self love message would be easier to take if Ruby and the rest weren’t just awful.

[@mosesmm5473]

Celtic Phoenix in his reviews of the episodes as they came out did point out that it's...depressingly on brand for Weiss, Yang and Blake to not notice that Ruby was far from okay. The fact that the literal god of their entire universe, and mother of the two morons' brother Gods told them to basically not sweat their mistakes and just keep doing the same thing was annoying and seemed like it was RT basically telling its critics they'll rather die then ever allow their characters to accept their faults and grow from them. Although, thinking back on it, I think that RT's known for a while that they don't know what they're doing as notice how almost all new RWBY products are set in the beacon days, even the new Justice League crossover is set during beacon...despite the fact Yang in the movie is shown to be using her prosthetic which should break the timeline but when the movie has the JL aged back to teenagers and has unnecessary tension between Cyborg and Ren over Nora, you lower your expectations.

[@Castersvarog]

It's honestly infuriating, the entire point of a characters story is to struggle, it is Fundamentally a part of even half decent story telling top have this. So much so that even fanfic writers know to follow at least subconsciously. But here's RWBY not doing any of that, being told by the inuniverse god that, no they're still the heroes and never once fucked up. It's borderline insulting

[@saiyanscaris6530]

@@Castersvarog when it makes fanfiction look good with storytelling thats saying something

[@marlom7882]

Wow this really is just shitty fanfiction

[@2097Pyros]

"seemed like it was RT basically telling its critics they'll rather die then ever allow their characters to accept their faults and grow from them" Have you seen what happens when they use a character as a critic mouthpiece? THEY DIE. Just ask Arthur Watts after his teardown of Cinder. Just ask RUby (even if that one didn't stick). I used to think that team RWBY differed from the modern activists that are supposed to project onto them in one way: that they are ignorant of the damage they cause in their crusade. Now, they don't have that distinction. They are no longer ignorant, they are UNCARING.

[@2097Pyros]

@@Castersvarog Pyrrha: "I'm the only one who ever paid for any of our mistakes, and mine was a f*cking ACCIDENT!"

[@alextatakai1155]

After witnessing Adam's character assassination by being turned from an interesting antagonist with understandable motives that did everything for the sake of the Faunus to a pathetic evil ex-boyfriend that never cared about the Faunus in first place (to which the whole Faunus plotline was dropped all together) and then killed off to prop up a badly written and executed romance between Blake and Yang as well as the aweful handling of Yang's PTSD and Ruby's Depression (somethings that should have never gone away that easily) and everything Team RWBY has done up until this point without facing any consequences for their actions, there are no amount of words I could use to describe how disgusted and annoyed I feel at this point.... Honestly, I have mentally checked out since the end of Volume 4 and the writing has only gotten progessively worse afterward.

[@DocMicrowave]

Lol, I feel you. To be honest, the last few volumes have been so bad, I have a new found respect for V4 and even V5.

[@marlom7882]

You still feel things about it? I don’t feel anything. Ironic I dropped the series after you did and I’m more jaded than you are

[@Sorain1]

I check on videos discussing things on occasion just to marvel at how bad the writing has gotten and stayed. Mostly out of intellectual curiosity over what examples of writing failure they've made this time.

[@vampiragoddess]

I always thought Adam was an awesome character and the way he was made put a sour taste in my mouth cause all he wanted was the best for the Faunus and even that was yeeted out the window. They should have left him as being in charge of the Faunus to give them a better life because thats what he was originally written for. Cause from what I gathered he had no romantic notions for Blake to begin with as far as I was concerened and by the end of Volume 3 he was more condensing and sarcastic than crazy ex bf.

[@blazichaos7181]

@@marlom7882 To be fair, that makes sense, he got off early and is saddened to see a show he like be ripped to piece since he has more memories about it being good then memories of it being bad, you already have gone through that phase and then more bullshit has pushed you past that and ended at possibly the worst "emotion" that any show could "evoke", indifference.

[@mobsterlicous]

I honestly miss Sun as a character, and his interactions with Blake

[@blkasixn9839]

YESSSSSS OMFG, THEIR CHEMISTRY WAS GREAT AND IT WAS AMAZING BUT NOOOOOOOOO THEY WANNA MAKE SHIT WITH YANG WITH NO PLOT NOR TIME TO QUESTION HOW THEY FEEL FOR EACH OTHER.

[@masterblaster3508]

I don't. Blake hit Sun whenever she felt like it. She ignored his attempts and felt her way was the best way, and she becomes so pathetic of a character when we see Adams flashbacks. Adam attempted to help her father but rather than thank him she berates him, making him feel like he didn't do good enough. She knows full well Adam is not okay but runs away rather than continue to help in which we see Adam always going to her to talk about things. Adam was then left to lead his forces alone until Cinder forced him to work with them, but rather again ask Adam why this is all happening in volume 3 she just berates him more. She is a very bad person who puts her need above other without having any remorse, or care in the world unless it is something she gets. While I am aware being selfish in securing your needs can be good and also important there is still some lines you shouldn't cross to obtain happiness when tou had everything to begin with. 1. Blakes mom and dad happily married 2. A stable family and friends 3. People willing to die for you no matter how bad you treat them/brush them off. 4. Growing up as a nobel family that leads other Fanus 5. Being accepted by others even if you did bad things like stealing dust that could have costed workers their jobs due to layoffs, family homes that relied on the dust, and much more. Sun deserves better than her any day and should stay away for his loyal nature will get him killed for Blakes gain.

[@jacobtherrien5419]

Master Blaster ) Exactly and that’s a big part of the reason why I take back all the nice things I said about Blake. So now both blake and yang deserve each other as a shit character couple.

[@jorgezaldivar3113]

Definitely! If that is how they were gonna do it, they should've at least let her be with Jaune while Sun moves on to the lovely Ilia. Sunprism (Sun × Ilia) needs to happen!

[@Snoozytube]

​​@@blkasixn9839not to mention Blake all of a sudden being abusive in volume 4. I really felt like sun and Blake were going to have something and then they just shit all over that. I'm also kind of glad that sun isn't in this awful show anymore

[@amelieshuman3324]

At the finale the first thing I said was “is anyone going to apologize to Ruby? No. Reaffirm the perfect perception of her and hug her in place of an apology and telling her you love her? Yep; this is still same old rooster teeth.” One of the worst things about it is I read multiple comments from people saying that there’s nothing wrong with the execution being bad since they understand the intent. I’m talking about parts of the volume like the suicide fixing your depression, the tonal whiplash and the inaction of the other girls when Ruby drank the tea. Someone unironically wrote that they had to make Ruby come back the exact same to not show suicide as a good thing then when I pointed out they already did that with the Paper pleasers they said “they don’t count” 😑

[@carbodude5414]

A person coming back exactly the same as they were after a suicide attempt IS showing it as a good thing

[@dootdoot3065]

@@carbodude5414 Good point. It comes off as just "give it a try, worst-case scenario is that nothing will change, so why not?"

[@BryonYoungblood]

Hell, old Rooster Teeth was better with Red vs. Blue in something similar during Season 12 when Church and Carolina came back, and how Tucker and Church were just bickering BIG TIME because Tucker had actually being doing stuff and felt mad Church left the guys without even saying why he did, and Church just unable to handle him or Caboose as well as the others being able to do *ANYTHING* with Tucker calling Church out just as much as Church called him out, yet Tucker was also growing as a leader in Season 12, even as he had a lot of crap to deal with.

[@bobi200samatar6]

I really hate what they did to Neo. First of all, how does she know about all these dead people and their connection to Ruby? She wasn't there for Penny's death, she never looked at Ironwood or Clover, and she has no reason to think Pyrha was special to Ruby. She knows what the writers know because she's a tool for fanservice and plot convenience. Secondly, despite being a terrorist directly responsible for the fall of Beacon, attacking minors, assisting an evil witch, and driving someone to suicide, the writers think she's sympathetic enough to have a nice and peaceful send off. The cat who is far more likable and sympathetic, gets torn apart by monsters, Watts who is far better villain, gets killed off screen without ever meeting the heroes, Torchwick who is the actually charismatic and important villain, gets killed off as a joke, Ironwood who was mostly in the right and did everything to save the world, gets an undignified death alone in the wilderness. But little miss eye candy gets a nice little send-off? Between her and Emerald, there's clearly a bias favouring the cute girls that the writers fantasize about, where as the actually important characters that happen to be guys get treated like dirt. Screw that noise.

[@thomasraines1396]

Neo is also a sadist. So yeah after all that she’s the one who’s gets to “find herself”.

[@markwebber3862]

It made me felt sick to the stomach that the lazy writers done to villains like Hazel, Adam and Watts to be rushed and wasted. I’m not impressed for them, I’m disappointed. 😕😞😒

[@dereksue4877]

She literally said in penny form " I died didn't I?" She literally knew because she was her enemy during atlas and cinder was literally spying on her idiot. Ofc she knew, your criticism on neo is stupid.

[@KingoftheBashful]

You know something's wrong when the biggest buzz this season had online was when people were making Homophobic Ruby memes.

[@randomcenturion7264]

Based Ruby is the best thing we’ve gotten since the Hentai

[@marlom7882]

@@randomcenturion7264 good lord that is sad

​@@randomcenturion7264 what?

[@Ammy-q4w]

@@randomcenturion7264 Of course someone who takes a homophobic meme seriously would say this. Not even surprised anymore.

[@SonToshi_46]

​​@@randomcenturion7264 no just no

[@dariengonzalez2456]

Honestly, at this point, Yang and Blake depend on each for character development. They have nothing else really going on for them

[@BabyGirlTiny]

But they don’t have characters to develop so they can’t depend on each other for something that doesn’t exist

[@JONATAN-VELAZQUEZ]

@@BabyGirlTiny well they only exist cuz ships like Star with Marco

[@dariengonzalez2456]

@@BabyGirlTiny On god

[@DocMicrowave]

The formation of BB has resulted in character regression for both Yang and Blake.

[@dariengonzalez2456]

@@DocMicrowave They only focus on one another, blocking out the rest of the world. They share a brain cell

[@Dynaman21]

You would think that after countless scandals ranging from sexual harassment to embezzlement, a complete inability to get any franchise going besides RWBY, declining ratings, the complete failure of their premium service, trademark QUALITY animation after Ice Queendom that almost feels like a middle finger to anyone hoping the Urobutcher would just remake the series from scratch, and most recently, a crossover with DC that happens to be the worst thing ever released from the DC Animation label since Brainiac Attacks, that Zaslav would gut the property for a tax write off and mothball Rooster Teeth once and for all. At the very least, it has been heavily hinted this will be the last season, I’m sorry, VOLUME (so damn pretentious) and our long national nightmare of having to pay attention to RWBY may be over.

[@MelonTartVA]

Honestly, RT has fallen so far.... I remember the 2008-2009 days when Red vs Blue was at its highest. And then the company began it's slow fall....... To the point where it's an empty shell of what it used to be.....

[@cioplasmmajic8327]

License gets sold off to ArcSystem Works, and they reboot it as a fighting game series on the level of BlazBlue. BUT Jaune is the main character. Do you take the deal?

[@MelonTartVA]

@@cioplasmmajic8327 ha! No. Make Weiss the main character and I might consider Joking aside, they became about money.

[@Dynaman21]

@@cioplasmmajic8327 It’d be better than this meandering mess of Poser level visuals and ridiculous plots. Would probably mean a lot less cast abuse and harassment with Rooster Teeth six feet under as well.

[@PlahaKumar]

That crossover with DC makes the Phineas and Ferb/Marvel crossover look like a masterpiece.

[@EliteSwordsMen5]

I think the whole "off yourself" scene with Ruby is what really gets under my skin. The 'topic' should always be handled carefully and with a good message. This? This is far from what I'd consider to be a good message... I understand the want to use the 'topic' as a way to write a story. To show just how messed up a character's mindset could be, but this is not how to properly do it. This just screams 'BuT cHaRaCtEr DeVeLoPmEnT!!!' And it doesn't feel like the writers really understood just how difficult and drastic the subject could be. It’s more upsetting to myself as well due to personal experiences. I just wish the RT team treated the scene with a bit more care...

[@vla1ne]

you can drop the ball with self delete and still get the message across, the issue here, is that they didn't just drop the ball, they dropped it off a cliff, into a spiky ravine with a lava flow at the bottom. imagine if the characters who were supposed to be like family to her, actually reached out and did/said some "family" things. a couple "are you ok's", a few "If you need anything i'm here for you's" ect. lending into her gaining mental fortitude in the moment that she was about to self delete, and the crew actually trying to stop her instead of just watching like random passerby. the writing might still have been bad, but holy hell, just a couple lines and actions could have gone a LONG way.

[@vvgirl6173]

Rip Billy Kametz. Didn't realise he voiced Torchwood but his passing was a heavy one as i was really into Monkie Kid last year where he voiced Macaque one of my favourite characters. A week after the season 3 finally which blew my mind, he passed away and i was upset that I'd never hear his voice again. Found out that he was able to voice for season 4 which hasn't been released in english yet before he passed, so I'm looking forward to his last hurrah so to speak. Playing Persona 5 Royal and seeing Maruki is also a nice way to remember him, even if i have to punch him in the face for being a idiot.

[@clarehidalgo]

I mean, he only voiced Torchwick this season. His original voice actor was Gray Haddock, the producer who was abusing the animators with constant crunch time

[@mystery8820]

@@clarehidalgo Not to mention the embezzlement to greenlight Gen:Lock.

[@Benzodrewd]

Man it is so telling how one of the writers’ self inserts is routinely the show’s best written character

[@Naillwin7768]

No he’s still the worst character

[@Gofaw]

Weiss is not a self insert

[@moritzbayer5658]

I find rwby a really interesting show to hear about, since it's not the best written show but it still got so popular so it had to do something right. That's why I loved Hbomberguys video on rwby. To hear that it was the story of a really talented fight scene animator who didn't want to do the story and instead of hiring an experienced writer to guys with zero writing experience started to write it and often times they would just do stuff to get to a fight scene the animator would want to do and focusing more on side character since they were their OC's. It's wild to hear about how it came to be.

[@mattwo7]

The state of RWBY and RvB over the years seem to reflect RoosterTeeth as a whole. People always blame the people who took over after Oum died for RWBY's downfall but is that really the full story? I don't think that's all there is to it. Only one piece of a bigger puzzle. After all, Oum passed shortly after RoosterTeeth started to go corporate and RWBY didn't get particularly bad until RoosterTeeth got particularly bad.

[@saiyanscaris6530]

its more so with the scandels as well in the more recent years. especially with what was brought to light starting around octobor 2022

[@palitodequeso1234]

My theory it's always been that rwby was mostly a proof of concept from Monty. A small proyect to see if he could make a story where he could implement his crazy animated fights and if people would watch that story. It would explain literally every flaw on the show, especially after he died as this particular story doesn't feel like it deserve taking more than 10 frigging years to finish.

[@RandoGrunt]

@@palitodequeso1234 If I remember right, Monty was heavily inspired by SMBZ to make RWBY, hence why the big appeal on big crazy animated fights. At least, I guess that's what the foundations were built upon and then just... go from there?

[@vla1ne]

@@palitodequeso1234 I don't even write and i could do more with the lore and characters that we currently have than the writers of the past several seasons seem capable of. even assuming they're milking the story, wouldn't it be FAR easier (or at least more profitable) to make a story that isn't written like they threw darts on a board for plot points?

[@fumikarisawa475]

as someone who struggled with depression blust, seeing all the solution of ruby's is just a simple"I love the way you are" from summer rose years ago makes me so...uncomfortable. From my personal experience, that kind of expression makes me feel very. ashamed of myself (like feeling very sorry that I fall into that shitpile and cause that much trouble, in other words, REFLECT MYSELF even harder), even tho I clearly knew the person who speaks that truly meant it. Depression isnt something that you could deal easily. ONLY some loving sentences(in ruby‘s situation, ONE) can not magically reset you back to your totally happy pre-depression stage. it might even make it worse, especially in ruby‘s case, where the writer is trying to tell us that she is depressed because her flaws（and failed eventually）. But RT fails so hard at that and make cure of depression a fantalized suicide.

[@CloudyWolf713]

I hope you’re safe. Just wanted to say that.

[@OurDarkGoldenHero]

Volume 9 is basically team RWBY and Co. reaffirming their narcissism.

[@thomasraines1396]

They just double down.

[@Ammy-q4w]

Do you even know what that word means? Probably not, because you probably are one of the idiots who think Adam is cool, and not an abusive narcissist.

[@xXFlameHaze92Xx]

@@thomasraines1396 cuadruple down would be more exact amte.

[@thomasraines1396]

@@xXFlameHaze92Xxdear god.

[@ecthox-1mork909]

Exactly. I don't think I'd be even remotely depressed if someone showed me an AU ending for V9 where the Curious Cat won, killed RWBY and went to Remnant. Hell, the Curious Cat was more sympathetic than the actual "heroines" and Neo at the end of this volume!

[@krampusapprenticeofdarksan7870]

I have a question. If God explained the backstory as to how the brothers came to be since she was asked, why didn't Ruby or any of the crew ask how to defeat Salem? The show kept saying she is immortal yet the entire cast doesn't know how to defeat her.

[@Cain1134]

Because that would require the writers to actually put some real thought into that plot point.

[@chukyuniqul]

@@Cain1134 do we really need it spelled out? Ever since v7 at the latest, the story's end point was laid bare, barring some moronic last-minute twist: team rwby will seem to have failed, they will make one last stand against salem summoning the brohers, the brothers will emerge, poised to destroy the world, but all four kingdoms graced by our "heroes" will be united, team rwby will have cured racism cuz of course they fucking did. The gods will hold to theit bargain, either just removing salem's immortality or also getting some kicks in themselves, leaving her weakened for one of rwby's "team attacks" which will really just be taking their own turns for kicks in. Maybe the final attack will be ruby's silver eyes because hype, even if it doesn't make sense cuz you don't use a finishing move to protect what you hold dear if you are mentally sane. We will get salem finally repenting, together with ozma as they fade to the afterlife while oscar is left free to be ruby's boytoy, unless they just decide to make all the girls into lesbians so ruby gets together with weiss. And then, a final tribute to monty oum, almost like a spit in the face of everyone he held close. Then an announcement that the story isn't over and we'll get some spin-off with, like, pyrrha or some shit because the IP is too lucrative.

[@HenshinFanatic]

​@@chukyuniqulit really is that f'ing textbook trash writing.

[@Specsboy1999]

Here is a plan they won't do (my guess is canon will just use power of friendship + silver eyes+ gods) but solves the immortality problem. JUST! LOCK! HER! IN! A! VAULT! The vaults can only be opened by maidens, so once you have Salem locked up in one then she is imprisoned with no known way to communicate with the outside world. Then move the academy to a new location while convert the old academy into a facility that guards the vault entrance and only opens up to allow access to the Salem vault if all four principals, all four maidens, all four kingdoms and whatever incarnation of Ozpin (if he is still around) agree to do so.

[@littlebabyman8494]

​@@chukyuniqul “Oscar is left free to be ruby's boytoy” jeez, that’s low.

[@sockducttape9681]

With how ungracefully rooster teeth handled the topic of racism im not surprised that them covering depression was absolutely atrocious

[@camharkness]

I mean, im not suprised they screwed up with depression, since like.... Yang got over her ptsd really really fast because gay.

[@animezilla4486]

Gay has nothing to do with it

[@camharkness]

@@animezilla4486 legit, Blake made her PTSD just vanish. And trust me, as a gay man with PTSD, it doesn't go away as fast as it went away with yang. In fact, it never goes away.

[@animezilla4486]

@@camharkness I blame the writers when it comes to their decisions for character development. Believe me in this ain't the first time you see entertainment treating characters with PTSD as something that can be easily overcome

[@elapidpython4378]

I mean lets also not forget that ironwood's semblence was just ADHD

[@marocat4749]

the gay isnt the problem, its badly written romance erasing them acting as characters. And i am ine i yang uses humor to dealwith that, just, make it not love solves everything magically. And whats about her caring about her sister? And what about blake, she was a character once. The gay isnt the prroblem, the shows bad romance is. imaginr they get together like jaune and pyra.

[@JSPaul49]

Seeing Jaune viscerally react to Ruby's rant followed by him apologizing once he regained his senses, it gave me hope for the later resolution. It really did.

[@animationdude9]

I see the sunken cost fallacy still has control over everyone who still watches RWBY😂

[@billydonuts4965]

I said I would stop watching after volume 8 and that’s what I’m doing. Good to know people are enjoying it somewhat though.

[@punkysnarks]

In no way is he trying to control RWBY fans dude, he is just giving his opinion. No piece of media is perfect/exempt from criticism.

[@billydonuts4965]

@@punkysnarks I know and wasn’t trying to say he was . I was just stating my current status with Rwby. Sorry if It came off that way.

[@Jwoosle]

@@punkysnarksthat’s not what they meant. They didn’t say he did, they said the sunken cost fallacy did. Basically people will still watch because “will I’m already in this deep I might as well continue” or “maybe if I just watch a little more it’ll pick up, surely next volume/episode it’ll get better”. Basically the mindset that leads people to keep gambling after losing money

[@billydonuts4965]

@@Jwoosle you get me.

[@joshuajohnson4431]

The major thing I didn't appreciate in this volume was Neo's resolution as a character. She was my favorite character in terms of appearance, ability, and overall mannerisms. And this ending felt so hollow and meaningless to a character that had so much potential imo.

[@googleisevil8958]

That sums up RWBY rather well actually. A series that had so much potential only to turn out hollow and meaningless. The ONLY thing they have going for them are ships. That's it. The show is as deep as a kiddy pool.

[@RandoGrunt]

@@googleisevil8958 Yeah, I second that. Lots of potential and interesting ideas, but hollow and meaningless. So damn unwilling to go all out and actually hits where it's supposed to hurt. Nothing more than stale bread that disguised itself as something juicy and delicious.

[@riotkitty]

Yea, there goes the last character worth following in my opinion.

[@ecthox-1mork909]

@@RandoGrunt Thankfully, the fandom of this show is capable of writing plenty of fics than manage to write the characters a lot better than the actual show and do more with the world of Remnant's potential.

[@maxord11]

Back when Blake and Yang were dealing with Adam, I thought that they were going to develop Ruby by having Adam interact with her. They contrast each other the most with their ideals about the hope and the future. But then they killed him. So then I thought they were going to have Ruby develop trust issues with half of her team since they straight up murdered an ex-slave and she is all about "helping people who can't help themselves." But they just ignored it. In fact, if you think about it, Adam didn't really have any impact at all.

[@heavenlyusurper]

Dude literally only interacted with 2 of the four main characters. 2. Neither of whom were the daughter of the family he was ENSLAVED BY. Everyday I wake up and I-

[@KingChiggy]

I thought it was really weird that Ruby has all these thoughts and doubts about herself to the point where she actually offs herself, and then when she's talking to the tree itself she just starts going on and on about her mom. This isnt about your mom, this is about you! And then the thing that breaks through to her was...her mom! It's like it wasnt even about Ruby anyways, she was more worried that she wasn't living up to her mother and then magically somehow her mom reassures her that she's great and then shes magically better. No changes, no new outlook on life or her actions, no reflection on all of her MANY past mistakes, and weirdly no dialog between her and the rest of the group about her mental state, anything that might have changed or anything. Just a hug and a "we gotta go through the door because the volume ends in 9 minutes and we have 12 minutes of LORE EXPOSITION to get through.

[@thomasraines1396]

They did try to make it seem like Summer “lied” and Ruby was all shocked about it, but even that fails Ruby knows Summer wasn’t just on a “standard mission”: Qrow talked about her in Volume 7 and no one (not Taiyang, Ozpin or even himself) knew what she was up to, also Salem talks about her at the end to taunt Ruby (if the big bad is taking about someone and even mentions something they said you know it’s bad news).

[@andyknightwarden9746]

RWBY is full of great ideas, but all of them are executed *terribly.*

[@goodlion335]

That's the whole problem. This is the curse of the show since the first volume. You can't build a story on ideas alone. Monty Oum was a brilliant animator and had great ideas, but he lacked someone who could develop those ideas. And ten years later, they still haven't found anyone who would stop and try to blossom these ideas instead of shitting a hundred more ideas without meaning.

[@PlahaKumar]

Couldn't agree more.

[@kidprime6863]

​@@goodlion3351. Be careful bringing Monty's name into this. 2. It's because all RT cares about is the show's marketability.

[@isaiahwarner5051]

I just want to say this and I hope someone will notice. RWBY Volume 9 is basically RvB Season 9. Think about it, it's practically the same story, yet despite the higher budget and the Ever After being a more interesting setting, RWBY somehow botched it. Ruby, Jaune, and Church (Epsilon) all had the same character arc. However, unlike Ruby and Jaune who are practically told by God that they are right, Church had to accept his failure and let Tex go. He spends the entire season trying to recreate Blood Gulch (seasons 1-5) and fails at every turn. It was so bad that he was ready to accept death when it seemed that the virtual reality was going to collapse, only to be "saved" by the Reds and Blues at the last second. Other things such as: * Ever After practically being the Memory Unit. * The STRQ and Alyx flashbacks are similar to the Project Freelancer segments except done poorly. * And the fact that both seasons are technically filler LOL. It hurts more because RWBY is a fully animated series where as Red vs Blue is using the multiplayer settings from the Halo series. That fact alone is just awful. P.S.: Miles only worked on seasons 11-13 for RvB. He did not work on seasons 1-10 and seasons 14-17

[@craneisthename]

It’s almost impressive how a web show that started out as friends fucking around on halo with no grand story planned managed to be a better show than one with a whole team of writers, producers and animators. How did rooster teeth’s writing team atrophy so badly.

[@Downfall466]

One major thing I really hate about this volume is not only the fact that it's a big filler but how the writers try to make us, the audience, feel bad for Neo. Her backstory is no different from Cinder's. She had a bad childhood and was abused by her rich parents and meeting Torchwick led her down a dark path. Even after everything she did and all the people she killed just to get to Ruby, the writers decide to redeem her when she literally did nothing to deserve redemption. Had the writers had a spine they would've just killed her off because she's a useless character that's extremely over powered and is even strong enough to top Cinder. According to the directors they wanted to turn Neo into a "Good Antagonist" but this is nothing more than a lazy tactic to make us like Neo.

[@thomasraines1396]

Also she’s canonically a sadist.

[@Downfall466]

@@thomasraines1396 I've never read the novel about her origin story but regardless she made the choice to kill other people just like Cinder did.

[@thomasraines1396]

@@Downfall466 she smiles as she’s about to stab Yang in volume 2 and smiles before she stomps on a guy’s face in volume 3 during the Vytal Festival.

[@ecthox-1mork909]

The Cat was a way better antagonist, and the Cat was also way more sympathetic than Neo when you really look at their backstories and characterisations. Neo was a sadistic assassin and terrorist accomplice who is responsible for her own actions and life choices, she helped to destroy two whole kingdoms, and she never actually repented over ANY of those crimes. The Cat is one of the most tragic villains in this show (having no choice in being created flawed, abandoned without explanation, and left to go mad from giving and giving their heart without getting any back, before a betrayal broke the camel's back), and as far as we know, the Cat never hurt anyone besides Alyx, RWBYJ, Neo herself, and that bird-Afteran, and when the Cat DID hurt them, it was either to further the Cat's goals or because the Cat had very personal reasons to want them dead. Also, let's not forget that Neo was the one who went the whole hog with stomping Little to death and driving Ruby all the way to ascension-suicide, NOT the Cat. And that Neo murdering the Cat in cold blood was completely contradictory to her realising previous from Ruby's ascension-suicide that vengeance only leaves her emptier.

[@kielbasamage]

Honestly, they should've done a thing where Jaune see's Ruby's wooden form, and the way she's posed makes him see Pyhrra in his minds eye. Then he yells at WBY for being so blase and limp over their friend (and SISTER, assuming Yang still remembers she has one) and leaping headfirst into the tree after her, despite his fear that it's akin to the belly of the beast for Jaune, if not offing himself as well. Cut to the blacksmith and that evil hallucination Ruby trying to carrot and stick Ruby into ascending herself. How she failed so far, how Remnant doesn't, no, MUST NOT have someone like her, and it can only survive if she erases her memories and ego and effectively sends a clone in her stead (kind of like SOMA, now that I think about it.) Insert Jaune coming in and fighting off evil Ruby and telling the Blacksmith to pound sand, and telling Ruby that she's screwed up a lot, and she doesn't feel like she can do it or her friends believe in her and all that, but she can still become what she thinks she needs to be without giving up everything because she can still grow with her friends, and all that. And subtly, the rust and filth on Jaune's armor washes off while he's holding Ruby's hand and dragging her away from the row of weapons and the blacksmith. Maybe throw in them stumbling through a memory of Summer and Raven like they did. Then you have both of them bust out of the wooden Ruby statue, with Ruby unconscious, with Jaune's armor immaculate and spotless, with a new determination in his (and later Rubies) eyes. Make him go from the Rusted Knight to the Knight in Shining Armor. Or you can not do a weird Jonestown thing, but eh, potato potahtoe.

[@darkhorseman90]

I've always held the opinion that Vol.9 should have been the end of Jaune's character. He and Ruby are p much foils when it comes to being "heroes", but where they let Ruby succeed because she's the star child, Jaune has almost utterly failed. If anyone were to give the biggest pep talk to Ruby, it'd be him, especially after the fallout of the fight in ep.7. It'd probs be a bit hamfisted, but with him accepting his futility at even being a make-believe hero, he would have confessed to Ruby his shortcomings but still saw her as one who could truly become a hero. tl;dr Jaune could never be the hero many deserved, but he could've been the hero Ruby needed to regain her drive. I haven't seen all of RWBY to really know whether or not the writers plan to have Jaune become something bigger, but what I've read and seen so far, he'd been so much of a punching bag that I was begging them to put him out of his misery (his inadequacies compared to his lineage, stuff he did to get into Beacon, his bunglenut disposition, his lackluster leadership, the loss of Pyrrha, the loss of Oscar, the killing of Penny, failure to uphold the Rusted Knight development, Alyx's betrayal, holding back the Paper Pleasers for selfish reasons, and then being unable to save Ruby from killing herself).

[@kielbasamage]

@@darkhorseman90 I HAVE heard that there was a possible plan for Jaune to be shelved or killed off this volume, from a guy who also shared stuff like Neo being possessed by the Cat and changing her legs into wheels and stuff. Perhaps it would've been poetic in a way for Jaune to stay in the Ever After. He couldn't really cut it or keep cutting it as a real hero, but he ends up becoming the fairy tale that inspires countless children and huntsmen in Remnant, culminating in the transformation by inspiring and picking up Ruby so she can do what he can't. Although it sounds at odds with how he views the Ever After throughout the Volume, maybe you could have it be all "People who ascend become part of the Ever After, and they cannot leave no matter how attached to Remnant they are" and Jaune accidentally changed to save Ruby, so she could stay the same and get to Vacuo. Ehh.....

[@christopherbravo1813]

problem is, Ruby is a *"strong and independent female character,"* so we can't just have a *man* come in to save her, can we?

[@kielbasamage]

@@christopherbravo1813 And if we made Jaune a girl, nobody else in the cast could compare, unfortunately.

[@christopherbravo1813]

@@kielbasamage I don't get what you mean

[@Cheerful_Bliss]

“We leveled a kingdom because we lied but let’s just not acknowledge that fact”

[@2097Pyros]

When Pyrrha Nikos, who is now the NEW standard for "Women in Refrigerators", ends up the most effectively-written character in the show, and she A) hasn't been in the narrative for six seasons, and B) in hindsight, wasn't much to begin with.

[@thomasraines1396]

That’s really, really sad.

[@2097Pyros]

@@thomasraines1396 I found it VERY amusing that Jaune got paired up with Green Lantern, given that the Green Lantern comic was the source of the panel that gave that trope its name.

[@thomasraines1396]

@@2097Pyros wow that’s fucked up.

[@idunno9251]

​@@2097Pyros "Oh boy, I can't wait to try the food my wife made! The corpse in the fridge:

[@2097Pyros]

@@idunno9251 I am officially well within my rights to have a commission of a complete recreation of the infamous "Stuffed in the Fridge" Green Lantern page, but with Jaune and Pyrrha. I feel no guilt or shame about even thinking of doing this, because why would I feel guilt about the truth?

[@SwitchbackCh]

I think 17:10 onward hits the nail on what I found off about how this Volume concluded. Ruby went through this entire journey only to learn that... she didn't need to change anything. Not to say that the protag can't just be reaffirmed of their resolve and reasons for fighting, but... the show is telling me that the Ruby, the SAME Ruby that caused the destruction of an entire Kingdom and whose negligence as a leader led to Cinder slipping through the cracks, didn't need to change ANYTHING. Didn't need to be smarter or more trusting of others. Ruby was basically absolved of all her doubts and wrongdoings, not just by the plot but now by the literal supreme God of this universe. How do you EVER grow from that point?

[@lyndonluquin4091]

Here's a better question: If you get a script about something, or someone, that's like God to say that you did nothing wrong and it was just a thing called 'growth' that literally caused the end of the world, the question is not "What did we do wrong?" It would be instead "How did you fuck up this badly and worse?" After going thru this volume, I'm going to fanfics. I'm pretty sure 70% of the fanbase inspired by Monty can give us a better finale than what the 10th, and LAST, volume will deliver.

[@kirbyisamazing.]

@@lyndonluquin4091 I too am sticking to fanfics. way better stuff over there than whatever rotten cavities pooped out here. --_--

[@lyndonluquin4091]

@@kirbyisamazing. My man, someone is speaking sense with me!

[@Lord_Numpty]

Agreed, the setting had- no, _has_ a lot of potential and can very easily work if written by people with more understanding of how characters and world-building work than Druckman. As for characters, I miss how they used to be. Yes, Ruby was a block of wood with a smiley face drawn on it, Yang was still an egomaniac and Blake was still The Worst, but there was some fun around their characters. Yang was boisterous and pun-loving, Blake enjoyed RWBY’s antics despite her demeanour, things like that. And then there was Weiss. My favourite character, who was initially portrayed as an up-herself bitch but quickly proved she had flaws, insecurities and that she took advice to heart, swallowing her pride on several occasions by giving Ruby a chance and (after a day) doing the same for Blake despite learning she was a Faunus, who she’d only had experience with through the White Fang, and member of said White Fang, who had been abducting and murdering her family and family associates. She had every right to hate Blake, but still decided to disregard all her prior knowledge for the sake of her friend and teammate. And on multiple occasions, she was shown placing her focus on others to her own detriment. Once saving Blake at the cost of impacting the ground face-first, another in defence of Velvet when she placed herself between the Faunus and a mini-mech, fully expecting to be injured or killed. And we can found her saving Ruby from the Deathstalker as well. And you say she barely brought up losing her home, her company, everything she worked for and her kingdom? And that she just watched while her best friend died? What the hell did they do to my girl?

[@KritoSkywaker]

And what the hell did they do to my girls...? Yang and Ruby.... 😭They did not deserved the character butchering....Especially not Yang... 😭

[@thomasraines1396]

She also ends the Volume with the logic of “Even the best failed, but they were still brave and good”. It’s sad to because she was the only character who had some semblance of self awareness.

[@KingLycoris]

My whole gripe with Neo is that I thought for the longest time the writers were just playing the long con with Neo. Something like her plan being to work with Cinder just long enough under false pretenses to get her into a checkmate situation and then work with RWBY and crew to potentially defeat Cinder since she knows she couldn't do it alone... But that would've been much too smart a set-up for how the previous seasons treated Neo and her absolute lack of character. She's more a plot device than anything, if even *that*.

[@blacksaint3070]

I feel that volume nine for the showrunners addressing all the criticism about team RWBY mistakes and actions that had a negative effect on the people around them instead of being specific, they use broad brushstrokes and weak talking points to avoid change and being the same as they are

[@thomasraines1396]

I think they did what is called lamp-shading.

[@Mr.Inktail]

Truth be told, the worst part is that despite the backlash of what RT did to Ironwood, the CC got it almost as bad. While they were manipulated, we are told after their death that they were broken hearted and grew tired of giving everything and getting nothing in return. They could have been a great tragic villain. or, and hear me out, Ruby actually gets Neo to not kill CC as it would not bring her any fulfillment and ruby brings CC to remnant, giving him back a heart that he sorely missed.

[@christopherpeelerii9700]

did you forget that the curious cat killed alyx

[@Mr.Inktail]

@@christopherpeelerii9700 no. Why?

[@ecthox-1mork909]

That would've been much better. The Curious Cat really was a tragic character with a lot of potential - in some ways, I'd say they're the MOST tragic villain in the show. And yeah, they were absolutely more deserving of pity and a chance at redemption than Neo, a sadistic assassin who (unlike the Cat) had full agency over her actions and choices, was complicit in the deaths of THOUSANDS, and never really answered or repented for THOSE crimes when Team RWBY let her off the hook for torturing their leader and setting Jsbberwalker clones on the Afterans.

[@heavenlyusurper]

Honestly the best thing this volume did for me was when one episode made me so mad and bored it actually broke my writers block and made me finish and publish chapter one of my fanfiction/rewrite/whatever. I currently have 3 chapters of it up, and thank god, because I needed to cope from this awful awful volume.

[@edgehead2695]

I feel the exact same way. I, alpng with my brother, have been brainstorming ways to almost completely overhaul this show entirely at this point.

[@azliaheaven]

L

[@christopherbravo1813]

what a coincidence! I'm also developing my own ideas for a rewrite, though I have yet to write anything down. XD

[@speed_queen]

The fact that Bumblebee actually became canon this volume and I felt literally nothing for it I think speaks volumes of how far the writing quality has fallen. It always feels so disappointing to see how much potential is wasted in this show when it could’ve been great and it still can be but idk.😞

[@RedTheWeeb]

Bumblebee was almost entirely lazily hollow and only used as blatant pandering/used as a weak plot device like setting up killing Adam. Blacksun worked slightly better since it was actually faunus focused but rooster teeth couldn't write racism stories so they threw that plot away. At the end of the day every ship in RWBY is crappy besides maybe renora but that was still specifically used to set up 2 back stories with very little work.

[@speed_queen]

@@RedTheWeeb I agree. Even White Rose would’ve been better honestly because Ruby and Weiss had way more chemistry and interactions than Blake and Yang ever did. And I wish we got Blacksun instead but yeah it is what it is I guess.

[@naynay9133]

​@@speed_queen I haft to be honest with you RWBY truly has no good ships with Weiss WhiteRose is still kinda weird because your paring a 16-17 year old with a 18-19 year old it's like putting a 11th grader with a super senior it's weird the only Bumblebee is the outcome of what happens if your too much of a cuck to put your foot down against your own Fandom the only ships that make any sense is Ruby X Oscar ,Weiss X Juan (now it's weird because of what happened to him but story wise it make sense), and Blacksun but I have very bad feeling that RoosterCuck will suck up to the Fandom again and put Ruby with Weiss even tho it kinda makes no sense as they haven't show anything other than being best friends I hope volume 10 will do better but I have a bad feeling nothing will change Rwby can't make a come back anymore and will probably go down as how to not do your webshows just like RVB

[@XDarkEcho]

Especially with all that interesting worldbuilding, and lore, that the earlier first 4 seasons established, and then it got retconned over and over.

[@MrLightningbob]

@@RedTheWeeb I never saw any reason to want or like BeeS (the spelling is intentional). Even most of their interactions could only be seen as 'romantic' by the desperate. But yeah, BlackSun actually had proper setup and chemistry while Bees was just blatant pandering to the worst of fans. WhiteRose, I like because we saw how they developed and could have been said to be one step away from a romantic relationship for most of the series.

[@superboyx2837]

It’s funny how they technically show ironwood was right but still see him as the villain. Ruby brought up a good point but it’s like “hey, you sound like Ironwood” BUT he was right. If they were honest from the beginning things would’ve played out differently. I’m still mad that Blake and Yang told Robyn a secret so she can trust ironwood but they all lie to ironwood for the longest

[@thomasraines1396]

They also let Robyn stupidly run away even though she says she won’t stop what she’s doing until she knows the “whole truth”. They also don’t apologize or feel regretful about telling Robyn they just double down by claiming “she’s on our side! She always has been!”

[@riotkitty]

What’s hilarious is Robyn up until that point did nothing to suggest that they could tell her a secret. She held them at gunpoint, she snuck around nabbing military vehicles with an armed militia group. Meanwhile Ironwood gave them new clothes, upgrades, Huntsmen certificates, allowed them to tag along with his elite force, was open and honest about what he was doing…Yet they tell Robyn cause vagina and lied to Ironwood…for some reason.

[@clarehidalgo]

Not to mention Yang straight up backstabbing the man who gifted/made her robot

[@thomasraines1396]

The entire point about “self love”/“self acceptance” and just in general not letting your mistakes define is lost when all of the main characters are so self righteous and delusional. I honestly wanted Ruby to have a “Spec Ops: The Line” type of realization but she didn’t get that, none of the characters do instead they just double down on the fact that what they’re doing is alright and even the greats fail so they shouldn’t be to hard on themselves.

[@mercenarygundam1487]

Your not the only one. Salem: Ruby, you're here because you want to feel like something your not: A hero.

[@thomasraines1396]

@@mercenarygundam1487 I really wanted Ruby to have flashbacks to all the times things have gone bad when her and the help got involved while she was getting the crap beaten out of her. If any character is in the place of Konrad I think it would be Ironwood.

[@mercenarygundam1487]

@@thomasraines1396 Yang being Adams, Blake and Weiss being Lugo, and Jaune being Riggs.

[@thomasraines1396]

@@mercenarygundam1487 personally I feel all of Team RWBY would be Adams (minus Ruby obviously) Ren would be Lugo in my opinion. Adams was willing to back Walker’s more outlandish decisions, Lugo was perfectly willing to call out the insanity of the situation. Unfortunately Ren (unlike Lugo) gets shat on by the story.

[@mercenarygundam1487]

@Thomas Raines I pick Yang because physically strong. Also, it would be more fitting of YANG, her closest sister, blaming Ruby for Blake and Weiss's death.

[@mattwo7]

2:53 For those who don't know, Little is based on The Dormouse, the least-remembered participant of the Mad Tea Party. The narcoleptic victim of the Hatter's and Hare's physical but not really physically harmful (fitting of wonderland) abuse.

[@Lh0000]

Yeah… now that you mention it, why DO so many people forget about dormouse?

[@mattwo7]

@@Lh0000 He doesn't exactly leave much of an impression. I forgot about him being in the movie even after watching Batwoman with Alice's accomplice's alias being "Mouse" after The Dormouse, I thought he was a book-exclusive character but I looked it up before posting that comment and no, he was in fact in the animated Disney movie.

[@GameHunterDeathhunter]

In short, it went from self reflection and improvement to doubling down

[@kitt5567]

RWBY has become like digging for treasure with the plastic toys from your kids sandbox. It doesn't dig deep enough and it just barely scratches the surface.

[@SM-cv8sv]

You also look stupid for coming back to it year after year, long past the point it was cute.

[@SuperHaoken]

-RWBY starts to develop its characters -The writers: Oh no! We don't do that here.

[@BNuts]

A main problem I think CRWBY and RT have is that they forgot the meaning of 'family.' Seriously, Team RWBY are both friends and family, to the point they had built their whole lives, and fighting techniques, around each other. The same was true of Team JNPR and Oscar, and even friends outside of that one group. Their teamwork, their love and respect for each other, as well as for their more experienced elders, those drove their development and growth as they, and the audience, learned more about the world of Remnant. But then, starting in Volume 7, CRWBY just... forgot. They forgot about their characters and their capabilities and relationships. They forgot about the world they'd built and their lore. They started to try to make _RWBY_ darker and more depressing, more like _Game of Thrones_ , and not the good seasons, season 8. The one where the writers didn't know what to do with characters between the points where they wanted to put them, so they just started skipping around, and still didn't know what to do with some characters because messaging became more important, and so you have someone like Jon running around without a plan, just wasting time. In Volumes 7 and 8, that's what _RWBY_ felt like to me, and so, apart from clips and reviews, I stopped watching. I advised my niece, who loves _RWBY_ , to drop it too, and she said she already had. CRWBY, when people who love your series stop watching, you know you done goofed. I think RT and CRWBY could learn many things about character writing from Mihoyo's writing staff, in particular from _Honkai Impact 3rd_ , now my favourite game despite how I only got into it about two years ago (coincidence with the similar setting and characters? I think not). Like _RWBY_ , _HI3_ features a bunch of young women at a high school setting, learning to fight monsters who want to destroy humanity, and yes, like _RWBY_ , _HI3_ also starts off on the silly side, and even does some fanservice. Hey, it was 2016, and Mihoyo knew what would sell. They, um, they still do. The story really starts going around Chapters 3 and 4, and the arc from Chapter 6 to 9 puts things into full swing, and suddenly you start to learn the scale and the stakes of what they're fighting against, and what they're fighting for. The titular Honkai are a force of nature that tries to balance against humanity's advancement, and which also wants to bring humanity into communion with the Imaginary, but the only way it knows how to do that is by destroying humanity. Which, of course, doesn't like that. Humanity developed weapons that use the power emanated by Honkai Beasts to fight them. Men who fight the Honkai are called Knights, but there are far more women resistant to Honkai energy, as well as compatible to using it, and they are called Valkyries. These are who you play as fighting in _HI3_ . There are also three main organizations who fight the Honkai using different methods: The Schicksal send out Knights and Valkyries, even though the same Honkai energy they use can corrupt and kill or turn them. Anti-Entropy, not liking this, use Honkai-powered mechs. Then there's the secretive World Serpent, who will use any means to purge the vile Honkai, even if it means sacrificing most of humanity to do it. SPOILERS BELOW So the stakes are humanity's survival. Despite that, the journey we follow the characters on through the story in _HI3_ is immensely personal. We follow Kiana Kaslana, Raiden Mei, and Bronya Zaychik; Bianka 'Durandal' Ataegina with Rita Rossweisse; Seele Vollerei and the Vodka Sisters... it's a fairly large cast, and they all get their time in the limelight, somehow. Even the antagonists get their time, and they might just be the best-written in fiction. Otto Apocalypse is a great example of antagonistic character writing, anti-heroic, or even heroic to some perspectives: He committed a number of massive atrocities, deceiving and manipulating those closest to him and outright sacrificing billions of lives, all for the objective of trying to get back his beloved Kallen Kaslana. Over a period of 500 years, he failed many times, but he kept trying different tactics, and after all his manipulations and villainous acts, with everything going according to his plans every step of the way? Does he win? Does he succeed? Play and find out. The point is, among the many Captains (players) who have gone through the story, there are people who love Otto because he's hot, there are many who hate him for the things he's done. But all Captains respect him for his tenacity and intelligence. Otto is a character well-crafted and executed. And oh boy, it's so strange hearing his voice from Kamisato Ayato in _Genshin_ , and to see a version again in _Honkai: Star Rail_ . I also have to talk about the characterization for Kiana, Mei, and Bronya, and I'll try to keep it brief. These are the main three we spend the most time with, and they're all Tyke Bombs who have attempted suicide at one point in the story, only to be stopped by someone who showed they still cared about saving the person despite the risk their being hosts to Superpowered Evil sides represented. For Bronya, it was trying to find and rescue a precious friend, Seele, who had been lost in the Sea of Quanta. For Mei, it was becoming strong enough to protect those precious to her, but especially Kiana, who would recklessly put herself into danger and laugh off any wounds. For Kiana herself, it was the fear that the Herrscher personality inside her would take over again, and kill millions more people, including those she cared for, and it hurt especially hard for her because Kiana losing control before had cost her her teacher and mentor, Murata Himeko, who sacrificed herself giving Kiana one more chance to regain control. Such are the depths of Kiana's despair, her gear of losing control and once again unleashing the Void Queen, that she puts her gun to her head. Only Fu Hua's spirit and memory, attached to her at a critical moment using Hua's Divine Key's power, stops Kiana from pulling the trigger then and there. Fu Hua teaches Kiana some tricks to maintain better control, and she starts going around saving more people again, while still struggling for control. It's not easy, but with her friends coming after her to help, she's convinced that she can fight, both for herself and for humanity, that there is something in the world that is beautiful, and that it is worth fighting for all that is beautiful in the world. Kiana and the others face many trials, including separation and fighting each other at points, and they come out with greater understanding of themselves and each other, and even of the Honkai and the Herrschers who lead them. And yes, they gain full control of their empowered Herrscher forms as well, and even that's not so easy. Mei's because that meant working against her friends for awhile, but she also learned about the Previous Era in the process. Bronya because her Herrscher Core's nature was different from the others, since it houses the consciousness of 300,000 humans, and was never perfected before. And Kiana because she struggled with the other personality, and with inheriting Himeko's will, as well as the legacy of House Kaslana, whose oath is "Kaslanas may die, but never yield." And going through this journey with 'our' girls, I have never heard of a single Captain who does not feel very real pride and love for them, for persevering despite everything they go through. Yes, pride and love for pixels. It's not so unbelievable a writing a ccomplishment for Mihoyo, when they got us to fall in love with a simulation of a fictional character who died 50,000 years before the start of the game's story. _RWBY_ had the same writing potential, I think, but I don't know if there's a character in it I still even like.

[@garretstevens742]

Knowing crwby they think that they are better and don't need to learn

[@BNuts]

@@garretstevens742 One may always learn more, and improve, as long as one is open to doing so. While 'perfection' is a fine goal to set conceptually, to attain perfection would mean no further improvement is possible, and from there the only way to go is down. I refuse to accept that. I would rather strive for perpetual improvement over perfection. But why should I say it, when someone else said it better already: "There is no true perfection in reality, but those who accept their flaws, face their agony, and carry their burdens with courage and wisdom are the ones closest to perfection." - Elysia, Honkai Impact 3rd

[@Ammy-q4w]

How did they forget? If anything, the team has only gotten stronger as they faced greater challenges in later volumes. Just because you don't like the characters doesn't mean their bond isn't strong. Also, family have disagreements and sometimes fight, but that doesn't mean they still don't love each other.

[@BNuts]

@@Ammy-q4w 'Stronger?' Then why couldn't they beat Neo and Cinder in the bridge network? Why didn't they use the their team attacks and training? Why didn't they use their Semblances effectively? I'll tell you why: It's because the writers said they had to fall., that's why. And if they had fought with all their abilities, they'd have beaten Cinder and Neo. But they couldn't win, so they forgot what they were capable of instead. And it cost us Penny, among others. Do you know _why_ the characters got weaker instead of stronger? It's because at every single possible opportunity, CRWBY ground the plot to a halt, usually for BumbleBY moments. Everything else got put on hold, or worse, they reversed previous character development. Volumes 7 and 8 made me hate Jaune because he was acting like a child, not a Huntsman. Also, I hate his Cardin haircut. They didn't just butcher him, though, they made Ren and Nora fight for reasons that wouldn't have worked in previous volumes, and in the books they made Sun into a simp for any 'strong' woman who told him what to do. Sacrificing story and character development to promote your ship in-canon is the last thing a franchise's writers should be doing, but that is what they did in the last four or so volumes. It wasn't quite so in your face until the end of Volume 6, but it _was_ there. The shame of it is they showed they know how to do LGBT+ representation with Saffron and Tera: They were just there, nobody made a big deal of it, and the plot moved on. Volume 9 is no better, since they forgot all the lessons they'd learned on the road to Atlas, and nobody thought to make a mental check-in on Jaune and Ruby, leaving them to stew in their own thoughts. They treat Ruby as though she'd learned nothing previously, and maybe try to get her to learn something, but in the end it's just 'you're fine as you already are?' What utter garbage. And then, in the end, they come out with exactly the same mentality that they had when they went in. That is _zero_ development, which means the whole arc for the volume is rendered meaningless and a waste of time, because nothing of note or consequence happened. You can remove the whole thing, it changes _nothing_ in the overall story, at least that I know of. A person is never perfect, and perfection should never be your goal, it should be continual improvement. Also, imperfection is perfectly fine. It makes someone who they are. It makes characters relatable and more real. But _RWBY_ characters don't get to be their imperfect but improving selves, they're told they're already perfect even though they have partial (at least) responsibility for the fall of Atlas. But then I'm not watching _RWBY_ since they chose to do everyone dirty in Volumes 7 and 8. Especially Ironwood and Penny, but everyone was treated poorly as characters. Everyone. I'm also surprised they haven't come up with a way to stop Salem yet. I came up with one ages ago. All the pieces are there, they just have to bring them together in the right order. Want a clue? The aura machine under Beacon and Project PENNY. Basically all you need. Oh, and Salem's cooperation. I kinda assume she's long-since been tired of living in constant pain as the annihilation goop inside her body continuously tears her apart, and that's why her skin has more cracks in it than it used to.

[@thomasraines1396]

@@BNutsthey had to handle the situation in the dumbest way possible so Cinder could have her little “win”.

[@mray4784]

I only know that Yang is one of the worst sister in all fiction.

[@BabyGirlTiny]

@@goldsrc-l2mso she saved Ruby once and that makes her a good sister? The same sister who couldn’t care less about her sister in volume 3 during a legit war zone

[@loiiysailor1177]

​@@goldsrc-l2m have a great day

[@mray4784]

@@goldsrc-l2m The good sister that only exist when Blake is near.

[@roofrekt3818]

You mean best fiancee for Blake

[@The_Hush_Dragon]

​@@BabyGirlTiny There are so many volumes where she is a horrible sister and you chose the one where she was literally looking for her the entire time until she heard Blake Being stabbed in the gut by her ex.

[@MontyJojo]

I've been thinking about this for a while, hence why this comment is two months late. But, to me at least, the writers of RWBY have this mentality of "women can do no wrong" or "if they did do something wrong, they can be redeemed" when it comes to their characters. This happened with that chameleon girl from a while back (who is the most believable one so far), Emerald, and in this volume, Neo and Alex. When Jaune and the cat were retelling the events that had actually happened, they painted Alex as a child who ruined and destroyed everything she came across with no remorse. A girl who essentially went insane and poisoned the "Rusted Knight" for fear that he was going to betray her. I honestly thought that the ending of her story was that when they reached the tree, she would turn on her brother on the same fear that caused her to poison Jaune, but in the scuffle would get herself killed in the process. Her brother would curse the Neverafter for corrupting his sister and leave without honoring the promise between Alex and the Cat, and instead would make up a fable about what happened, instead of what actually did. Instead the writers made her have cold feet at the last second and tried to redeem her just so that the cat could seem more evil and cruel, instead of a cat thats desperately trying to find out why his owners abadoned him. If you still don't believe me, just look at Neo and Ruby's arcs this volume. Neo MURDERED innocents but gets to rediscover herself, while Ruby just got a "if at first you dont succeed, try again" lesson. By the end of the series, I can see Salem and/or Cinder getting a redemption.

[@thomasraines1396]

Neo is also canonically a sadist.

[@Karak-_-]

Yes, the "confront your past self" could be so much F'kin better, if there was some actual temptation or self reflection.

[@jamalshelton5746]

Man. I didn't think I'd cry watching this review. Seeing Mangakamen lose hope was painful. He may be hilarious when you see him fight back against pain but seeing him slowly crumble under the flames and bad writing of the show was like watching a brave soldier hold the line only to die from exhaustion. I get the feeling that these characters are written like this as a reflection of the writers. Despite the world around them they refuse to truly change or make meaningful impovements beyond the bare minimum. I like the creative designs and improved animation, but I wish those who did that got paid better to do a better show.

[@Mangakamen]

@gold_src Tough words for someone who's clearly using a sock account that was made only two months ago. Back it up or walk away bitch.

[@littlebabyman8494]

@@Mangakamen jeez, what did they say?

[@Rhyusfox]

@@Mangakamen wow. Probably better the comment was deleted if it actually got Kamen to react like that.

[@Mangakamen]

They essentially insulted Jamal and claimed that I lied for over 90% of this review.

[@ecthox-1mork909]

"I get the feeling that these characters are written like this as a reflection of the writers. Despite the world around them they refuse to truly change or make meaningful impovements beyond the bare minimum." Honestly? I'm pretty sure the Brother Gods are a close approximation of what the writers themselves are like, because I honestly don't think the writers themselves acknowledge just HOW reprehensible the Brother Gods' actions as deities are, and they see the Brothers as benevolent but flawed beings who were in the right when they left Salem to become a monster and cursed Ozma.

[@MysteryMedia2001]

I am so glad I got out of rwby when I did. Also side note, the bit you showed of them talking to their younger selves just made me realise how much better the OG designs are. They’re so full of personality and just look more fun than what they’ve got going on now.

[@gunnarschlichting9886]

Damn, you right. I stopped watching before they got to Atlas, so in my head the "new designs" were the 2nd set of outfits. OG outfits look really good and have a lot of character, but the 2nd set of outfits weren't bad either. Ruby and Weiss I prefer as OG, but their 2nd outfits weren't bad either once I got used to them. Blake I have no strong opinion either way, I never loved either of her outfits but I also never hated either of them, probably lean OG just because of the bow and more used to it. Yang, on the other hand, I think has a sick new design that I like better than her original. Especially the two tassel things, which looking back they of course removed because they were probably too hard to animate, so I guess now it's just a slight preference. sigh. So, with these thoughts, I decided to take a look at their Atlas and beyond outfits, and I now remember part of why I had no desire to keep watching. Blake actually looks better, but Ruby has constant bed head, Yang now looks like a mechanic, and not a cool one either, and Weiss' ponytail has gained 20 pounds in the process of becoming a braid and looks like it could do a pushup, and oh yea, IS NO LONGER A SIDE PONYTAIL BUT NOW A STRAIGHT BACK BRAID. Like, the whole point of the side tail was a form a asymmetry to break up the otherwise relatively bland pale-on-white (in addition to splashed of color as highlights), and as an intentional break from a "flawless" image, similar to how her scar functions, which is also now basically invisible. Plus, the puffy shoulders/sleeves that make her look oddly bulky/wide, when Weiss is all about grace/elegance and precision? Ugh, I don't get what they are doing either.

[@animationdude9]

Don’t see the issue with the designs. They look fine.

[@animationdude9]

@@gunnarschlichting9886 agreed. Both sets of outfits look fine. Not perfect but they’re each distinct enough to work

[@topcat59]

It always hurt’s seeing what you love fall from Grace, all we can do is just remember what they used to be then what they are now.😔🐱

[@DocMicrowave]

I feel that hurt every time I watch a reactor reacting to the earliest volumes.

[@XDarkEcho]

Yeah, but, at this point, it's already fell, hit the ground, decayed, and became an unrecognizable skeleton.

[@twilightguardian]

It certainly fell from somewhere. I don't know about 'grace' though lol

[@grifgaming436]

9:06 It’s like how the characters in Persona 4 are confronted by their shadows, but flat. It wouldn’t have been a bad Idea to have these character be confronted by exaggerated versions of themselves that blow their failures wildly out of proportions.

[@dantheman9795]

As someone that writes fanfiction of RWBY a good chunk of us think that the show has done some very stupid decisions, and so we change stuff, even if we like a famous ship also doesn't mean we like another famous ship, the best example I can give is myself and another writer known as Power taco, even though both of us like WR both of us have heavy problems with bumblebee and both of us have tried to fix some off the problems the show has. Also the series reddit is toxic as fuck dont go there, if you say something ANYTHING negative they will harras you.

[@saiyanscaris6530]

guess iv been one of the few lucky ones

[@KitsuneAdorable]

That’s why as a fanfic writer myself have decided to stray away from the main canon of the series. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I found myself liking my own fanon over the series. 😂 But yes, I understand your point completely.

[@saiyanscaris6530]

@@KitsuneAdorable yeah about that kzbin.info/www/bejne/oKq8gZmmZdl1pMU

[@VioletAeonSnowfield]

I still find it fucking hilarious that Blake's 'offer' was being made into a cat. Like what? It's also seriously annoying that the characters are apparently only allowed to develop in self-contained stories that completely separate them from the actual plot; only to then discard that development at the end anyway. Not to mention it really makes me wonder just what the hell is up with Ruby's so-called friends that none of them notice the very obvious signs of Ruby suffering throughout the volume. It's like the writers were worried the audience might be too stupid to notice subtlety so they didn't bother with it and just made Yang - Ruby's supposedly overprotective big sister, even though that character trait seems to have been forgotten ever since Yang started fawning over Blake - as well as Weiss and Blake just not notice anything she's very obviously dealing with. And at no point in the actual volume while 'confronting' her mistakes does Ruby ever actually admit to being wrong. The crux of the issue for her is that she wasn't good enough. But being good enough was never the problem, the problem was that they were just objectively wrong multiple times throughout the last volume.

[@thomasraines1396]

They just double down.

[@arnowisp6244]

The left does not believe in Objective reality. Only your truth VS my truth

[@easterntitan8308]

Rwby is one of those shows that falls under what I like to call The Blazeblue Theorem, characters with interesting designs/personality traits that are stuck in a bad storyline. And while you could argue that it shouldn’t apply since it would mean that Rwby was bad to begin with which it’s not. It was just bad ever since volume 4. 5 depending on your taste.

[@lightninggear0131]

But 4 and 5 wasn't bad

[@easterntitan8308]

@@lightninggear0131 That’s just my opinion.

[@lightninggear0131]

@@easterntitan8308 ok

[@esteban8471]

I wouldn't necessarily say Blazblue has a "bad" story, but more so that it just has way too much going on at the same time. It's way too complicated for it's own good, especially given it's inherent nature as a fighting game. Granted, I can see your point of view considering you could watch a two hour video talking about the story and unironically call it "the short version" with a straight face. I will definitely agree with you that the characters are the best part though.

[@DragonsGuy]

It's crazy how much this reflects my own thoughts. Only thing missing is mentioning how messed up the endings for the Cat and Neo were in relation to each other, with the guy who was straight up said to have been fine before being betrayed (and also did nothing but help until Ruby did the same) but turned on them afterwards getting executed with no reincarnation, but the girl who has been antagonizing them for years, helped destroy two major cities, both of which caused numerous deaths including friends and family...gets a time-out to think about herself. It's just...how can anyone be so bad at writing? lol

[@2097Pyros]

And also forgets that she held Cinder responsible for Roman's death, as much as she did Ruby. Revenge feels empty? B*TCH, YOU'RE NOT DONE YET!

[@thomasraines1396]

@@2097Pyros it’s insanely stupid that apparently she didn’t have any reason to return to Remnant when she has all the reason to do so seeing as Cinder is still alive.

[@ecthox-1mork909]

My thoughts exactly.

[@danielferrieri7434]

RWBY Back Then: Epic Showdowns, Humor, Plot, and Amazing Characters. RWBY Now: Let's Crossover with DC because why not

[@bilfbunter2248]

The plot of volume 1-3 wasn't anything crazy its good for what it was and wasn't really trying to be something super serious

[@animezilla4486]

​@@bilfbunter2248 I may want to get that a watch

[@bilfbunter2248]

@@animezilla4486 I meant the volumes 1 through 3 but i had a stroke while typing lol. I saw the movie and it's bad

[@Ammy-q4w]

Ah yes, because having a crossover with a very reputable franchise is such a terrible thing. Do you people even hear yourselves? Just don't watch it if you don't like it.

[@bilfbunter2248]

@@Ammy-q4w For me the reason i don't like the crossovers just because they don't feel or act like the characters. This is a problem with crossovers in general so it isn't that big of a deal i just won't be re-watching (or reading in the crossover comic) the crossover again. Though i might watch part 2 because of sunk cost and the need to at least see it through

[@BobbyCorwen42]

I'll die on the hill that Bumblebee is a mistake that undid all character development Blake hadwithin volumes 4 & 5, and that Blake friendzoning Yang would have made for a much, much more interesting dynamic within the group

[@Axel_Kasai]

I was sad that they turned the cat into discount palpatine. There were parts to him that could be sympathetic and they just expected people to ignore them 😅

[@camnunes8847]

Love how they made the cat the main villian, not making Neo the main villian. Then later the show told us the Cat was actually denied its goals and dreams by Alyx (who is either so forgettable or so awful MangaKamen didn't mention her this video) and thats what caused him to turn evil and try to trick RWBY. Literally another victim of betrayal, just like a certian James Ironwood, and the show refuses to acknowledge it

[@thomasraines1396]

Also everything he said about the heroes was true but every interesting thing about him was squandered as he got fucking mauled while the sadistic psychopath gets to “find herself”.

[@georgemeyers7172]

Is that really surprising? They been doing this since Volume 6.

[@Axel_Kasai]

@@georgemeyers7172 it wasn't that surprising but people were talking about how good the volume was so I had hope lol

[@georgemeyers7172]

@@Axel_Kasai Eh. That's fair I suppose.

[@damonsonnier34]

RWBY did crack on top of a train, became either Dora or Blues Clues, and the entire cast fell into a book.

[@cybercritic8834]

I'm gonna be honest. Ruby's self offing was the final nail in the coffin for me, especially with how no one reacted to her doing the act and how they comforted Jaune instead. I'd even go as far to say RT was EXTREMELY offensive for saying "offing yourself doesn't matter, and your own loved ones won't give a crap about it". How RT tried to pull the "self offing is the way" TWICE after people rightfully got upset about genlock is beyond me.

[@KritoSkywaker]

Indeed... For me, I thought that BB becoming canon was the nail for me, because now the toxic shippers can weaponize this fact, and say "It was all planned, according to the VAs of Yang and Blake". But then Chapter 8 happened and BOOM! It made me super pissed...I was literally shouting, for someone to help Ruby. *"YANG...DO SOMETHING!"*

[@Nicodiangelo128-r9g]

Ruby needs new friends

[@saiyanscaris6530]

@@Nicodiangelo128-r9g most of her other friends like pyrrha and penny are dead

[@Shatteredmyths]

For the ruby drinking the tea scene, I swear I thought that was Neo making it seems like her friend didn’t care if she drank it, then they didn’t shatter and I realized they were real and bad friends

[@Zerosknight5]

That speech from God of War Ragnarok where Sindri unloads his issues should have been what Ruby had. Her teammates take and take and she has to give up so much for nothing. Not even a thank you. The volume should have ended with Ruby being more resolved to save the world but telling her teammates that they haven't had her back. She should be saying she has to find a way on her own because when the chips were down and she was contemplating unaliving herself, not a single one of them even tried to stop her. Her teammates should have a reflection in the next volume where they face having to function without Ruby because she doesn't trust them anymore.

[@FentySeroquel]

Here's a really dumb idea I wanna send back in time to volume one. "Write Team RWBY together more often and bring them closer together with more adventures and experiences instead of introducing several different characters and giving Jaune four episodes." The fact that we have issues with our main characters doing ridiculous shit constantly I feel stems from not FOCUSING on them as a unit so that the writers have better ideas on what to do when drafting notes.

[@capt.artemislivius7601]

I hope to God that the writers see this video even though they probably won't...

[@dootdoot3065]

First of all, this is a pretty long comment, so I'll just put the most important part in the beginning: for those who may be suffering from s**icidal thoughts or tendencies, I'm here to promise you, yes, PROMISE you it gets better, no matter how long it takes. Just hang in there, I guarantee there's a good reason for you to stay. I'm gonna be honest... I've been avoiding stuff related to RWBY since the episode after Ruby commits you-know-what. Both official content and fan discussions and the like. After a while I thought I thought I was feeling better about what these scenes had made me feel (I still found it disgusting, but I thought I could actually stomach it now) and I find MangaKamen's videos entertaining so I decided to finally try again. Don't get me wrong, I did find the video entertaining (and I especially agreed on that disgusting part), but it made me remember why I decided to step away from this series in the first place. In a vacuum, the scene where Neo psychologically tortures Ruby (minus the conclusion) is some pretty good psychological horror, which is actually one of my favourite genres. But taking the rest of the volume into account? It becomes one of the most sickening portrayals of depression and s**cidal tendencies. They not only romanticised s**icide with all the ascension nonsense, but even gave us THAT scene and its conclusion for nothing more than shock value. Nothing to say about how such an intense feeling of despair could be hiding in plain sight, nothing about the terrible consequences it brings, nothing about the painfully slow but sure recovery that comes from surviving something like that. I don't want to make this too long since most of it was addressed in the video, but this whole ordeal proved to be too much for me. Not because of its delicate subject matter (I can actually handle these themes surprisingly well, if handled with care), but because they handled it with the same care that a dog treats a squeaky toy. I may even go as far to say that they produced something potentially dangerous. People who suffer from these thoughts often long for a way out and truly believe that the world would be better without them. And what did this volume do? Gave us an entire village of no longer "useful" residents, killed them off and brought them back as "better". Needless to say, I was so sickened by it. Oh, and if you're reading this, MangaKamen, thank you for talking about this specific issue with sincerity. It's comforting to know that there are people who agree that this is disgusting. People are allowed to have their opinions, but it honestly hurt to see people defending this.

[@Mangakamen]

I appreciate it. Thank you. I even had one person claim that suicide wasn't a touchy issue.

[@dootdoot3065]

That's... I don't even know what to say. How can someone be that insensitive?

[@Saltedroastedcaramel]

I agree with you with how bad the scene with Ruby was. Not only did RT do the same thing in Gen Lock, but today a lot of people are mentally vulnerable. Back when 13 reasons why was a thing, there were copycat seppukus because the producers neglected the guidelines

[@parkermaisterra8532]

Well that ended on a depressing note. Also yeah what is it with RT and suicide? One of the antagonist in RvB blows out his brains, one of the MC's in Gen:Lock apparently off's themselves or something (don't know didn't watch it), Penny ask's to be killed by Jaune (which makes me wonder why she even came back in the first place), and now the Ever After.

[@saiyanscaris6530]

its like they want to use it as a joke or use it as a plot device and do it so badly. heck each time it happened it gets worse and worse

[@thiccthighssavelives5866]

At least the RvB one made sense

[@samflood5631]

And the Gen:lock part, the show had the nerve to show a Suicide Prevention Hotline, after Cammy took her own life.

[@Ixarus6713]

How RWBY should have gone: The school arc, discover a conspiracy, escape, work to build allies, fight, meet struggles (repeat until characters developed), fight, defeat big bad, happy ending. How RWBY actually went: _(This mess)_

[@someguy8428]

Placing the bet right now Everything that happened in vol 9 will be mentioned once in the first episode of vol 10 and then damn near everything that happened will never get brought up again until/if Neo's reincarnation comes back as a good guy. I'm both going to be laughing hysterically and fucking furious that me and my buddies from the millisecond we found they fell into the void and went to another world that the whole volume was gonna be filler Like full on the only thing that's really changed about our protags is Yang and Blake are maccin on each other and Jaune might not be piss poor in combat. like at least give them some new equipment or abilities to try and pretend the characters have acquired something

[@2097Pyros]

The fun part is that the whole ascension thing essentially lets you come back as someone else entirely, EVEN IF THAT PERSON HAS ALREADY DIED. It'd be so funny if Neo ascended, and came back as Pyrrha. One, I get to drink in all the tears of the a*sholes that wanted SO BADLY for her to stay dead. Two, it would have actually been, on its own, an effective piece of writing for many reasons (but of course, being heavily weakened by all the ineffective writing surrounding it). Three, it shows that Plot Armor is in full swing for Ruby and her team (as if Pyrrha dying when Yang should have wasn't an obvious indicator, this was just a "mask off" for that concept).

[@shawnwykoff8744]

The "Ruby This is Disgusting" part is the same issue I had with Genlock. The Cyber Bunny Blond Girl feed herself to nano machines, in order to get over the pain, then come back as a god and tell the others to do the same.

[@kidprime6863]

That's because new writers took over and weren't allowed to go back and watch the previous season. Plus, the guy in charge of Gen:Lock got fired.

[@samflood5631]

Not to meant the episode where Cammy was killed off had the gall to show a Suicide Prevention Hotline.

[@kidprime6863]

@@samflood5631 Same thing happened in the finale of RWBY V8 with Penny dying. And worst part was that they made Penny act like she had no regrets about how consequential it was. Let alone hesitate.

[@samflood5631]

@@kidprime6863 So wait a second, writers aren’t allowed to watch a previous season before writing the new one? So is that why both Gen:lock and RWBY had a lot of plot holes and characters acting stupid and unlikeable? Since when is that a rule?

[@kidprime6863]

@@samflood5631 It's very complicated. But believe me, it does happen a lot in media. Example: The show Beast Machines, which is considered to be the Tron: Legacy of Transformers, turned out be inferior to its predecessor Beast Wars because the staff wanted a fresh new take as they felt Beast Wars too continuity heavy. Thus, they didn't want the new writing team to watch the previous series. While Beast Machines is still a sequel to Beast Wars. But there were a lot of controversial changes to the characters, story and lore because of this decision. Such as Cybertron having an organic past, Maximals getting downgraded abilities, Optimus Primal changing from a wise military commander to a spiritual hippie who wants to convert Cybertron into a techno-organic paradise without question, Megatron spontaneously seeing Beast Modes as a poison, etc. The show even tried to tackle philosophical subjects and had a "Nature vs. Technology" feel. It had its moments but it's all bizarre. I can buy that RT was on a deadline but without giving the new writers the rundown of the show, it can cause hiccups in the continuity, characters, arcs and lore as the writers don't know much about the show. It's bad enough that RT doesn't give RWBY's main story a break so the show can have time to breathe and allow new people time to catch up. The lack of downtime makes RWBY's universe feel small. World Building, Lore Expansion, Character Development are just as important as the plot and drama. Otherwise, RWBY would just be a generic Science-Fantasy Action-Adventure series. Plus rushing the story like this will put the show in a dead end. There is supplemental material of RWBY but there's not enough of it. Hell, they don't even expand upon the info we saw in those WoR videos in the show. RT needs to slow down and stop pandering to toxic fans. They need to listen to the people who the show to be better and interesting. Also, I would like to point out that Volume 9 is the Duke Nukem Forever of RWBY. It's script suffered many rewrites and delays all thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. RT had to do everything from the safety of their homes. During that time some of their employees got fired for various reasons. From sexual misconduct to budget cuts. (Glynda's original VA got fired for drunkenly insulting her coworkers on Facebook. Seriously look it up) They were working on tie-in spin-offs such as part one of that Justice League crossover movie, the novel Roman Holiday, the video game Arrowfell and that Fairy-tales of Remnant animated anthology. Finally, RWBY V9 was slated for 2021 but got postponed to 2022 due to COVID-19 still happening. Then it got postponed to 2023 due to the virus' Delta variant. All of this forced RT to trim it down to ten episodes instead of twelve like they planned. In short, Volume 9 was a production nightmare.

[@casternova4347]

I'll say this the fan animations have been top and Monty inspiring many animators have been a positive. Rwby lives through those people and I'll always look forward to their work. DARK, NYON, SLVR, and PTCH.

[@MrCovi2955]

This is why it's important as a writer to understand tropes, archetypes, and the hero's journey. Its as integral to writing a proper plot as understanding how an engine works is integral to fixing a car. A story isn't just a series of events that happen.

[@PajamaZam]

23:38 The show wouldve been better if Jeff Jarrett hit the team over the head with a guitar and called them slap nutts

[@Starcraftgamer97]

"A random Grimm did the job and killed Torchwick" Thanks for reminding me about that shit. Roman being killed in the most retarded fashion ever created was one of the biggest steps in the show's downgrade in quality. Also Bumblebee being made cannon was stupid given the fact the two are basically sociopaths at this point. Also Justice League x RWBY did the whole message of Volume better and in a more condensed fashion. And Jaune and Jessica really were handled well (the writing didn't seem like it was handled by the RT team). Rooster Teeth should be fucking embarrassed. Also the best thing that came from this show and volume is the Homophobic Ruby meme.

[@camnunes8847]

When RT writes a character from another property better than their own main character

[@Starcraftgamer97]

@@camnunes8847 I don't even know if RT handled the writing on JLxRWBY personally. It said Eddy Rivas was a consultant but given he couldn't write himself out of a paper bag (cough, genocidal general, cough), I don't think he did much. The movie actually seemed competent!

[@camnunes8847]

@Starcraftgamer97 i thought I saw on the cast list that Kerry was the director but I think there was a different writer. TO THE IMDB PAGE! Edit, the writer is someone named Meghan Fitzmartin whos works on DC super hero girls, Justice Society WWII, Supernatural, and Monkie kid. Not a bad resume

[@Starcraftgamer97]

@@camnunes8847 her resume is already better than any of the RoosterTeeth writers that's for sure

[@camnunes8847]

@@Starcraftgamer97 honestly if the crossover sucks I wont blame her, Rwby is a whole mess to try to convert DC into

[@mauriceisaac3646]

Took a lot of words right out of my mouth. It's frustrating how they tease self-reflection and character development, only to either brush it off or toss it away at the last minute in favor of more self-affirmation that nothing they ever do is wrong. I won’t be surprised if they end up destroying Vacuo and putting another relic in Salem’s hands and will still learn nothing from it.

[@ecthox-1mork909]

Honestly, if the Curious Cat (who ultimately ended up being WAY more sympathetic than the heroines and Neo) won, killed all of RWBY and went to Remnant, Remnant probably wouldn't be much worse off in the war against Salem with those narcissists out of the picture for good.

[@dizzyizzy7403]

This volume was terrible in fact it’s probably one of the worst ones but not because of what most people think. This volume hyper focuses on the biggest issues that has plagued RWBY since volume 4. The writers mistakenly conflate guilt with shame. This becomes incredibly obvious in volume 9 episode 7 and onwards. Episode 7 has Ruby rip into everyone but gets upset at Jaune’s comments and runs off. But not because she feels guilty about her actions no if you pay close attention to what is happening she runs off because she doesn’t like getting shamed for her actions. There’s a difference between guilt and shame as guilt is a moral self evaluation while shame is a non moral evaluation often times not even a self evaluation as someone else can do the evaluation instead of yourself. Shame is not focused on responsibility issues it is rather concerned with a perceived discrepancy between one’s actual and one’s ideal self. In fact, one may feel ashamed of one’s ugliness, disability, or any other flaw for which he or she is not responsible. However, one may also feel ashamed (rather than guilty) of a responsible fault. ashamed people do not focus on responsibility issues, but on the disappointing fact that such fault reveals their defectiveness with regard to their ideal self. Meaning in that episode and in that entire volume Ruby isn’t upset that she messed up leading to people suffering she’s upset that she messed up because that means she’s not perfect she’s upset because Jaune is pointing out that she’s not perfect (which makes the ending even worse because she’s told she is perfect). This is further shown in episode 8 where she feels no guilt at her actions and doesn’t feel any negative emotions until everyone else (technically just Neo but it’s basically them) is telling her her actions make her a terrible huntress which goes against her ideal self of a perfect huntress (symbolized by her mother). So she drinks the tea to run away from the shame of not being perfect hopping to become someone who is but then the tree validates her by basically telling her she’s perfect just the way she is mass killings an all through her mother who is the embodiment of Ruby’s ideal self (the perfect huntress) telling her she loves her just the way she is. And that is why this volume in my opinion is the worst because intentional or not the writers created the most selfish, cowardly, and morally bankrupt character in a show that is full of selfish, cowardly, and morally bankrupt characters and then told us we need to treat her like the perfect person she wants to be because she’s the hero because we say so not because she actually did anything heroic or has any heroic traits or is a decent human being. The writers are trying to convince you to praise bad behavior from bad people and they have been doing it for a wile (anyone remember Black smacking Sun around as a joke?) it’s just way more obvious at this point. Sorry for the length but I think this is something that needs to be pointed out.

[@quarreneverett4767]

Thanks for sharing

[@2097Pyros]

They know who their audience is: bad people exhibiting bad behavior. They wanted it that way.

[@quarreneverett4767]

@@2097Pyros there is truth to that

[@ecthox-1mork909]

To paraphrase the 'Owl House' series finale where the God archetype spoke of the series villain; "You assume Team RWBY's goal comes from a genuine place, but those girls don't care about anything except their need to be the heroes of their own delusions."

[@maxanderson3733]

Honestly just surprised people who dislike a series so much manage to stick with it for this long. Feels like a strange waste of time but hey. Props to keeping your promises. Glad to hear some parts of this volume were actually enjoyable

[@Ramsey276one]

Sunk Cost Fallacy

[@stickthelanding4785]

Yeahhh I get asked that a lot and it’s honestly a variety of reasons. 1. I kinda just want to see how it ends. 2. I like to make my own ideas of what the show could have been. 3. I like listening to other people talk about it.

[@maxanderson3733]

@@Ramsey276one yeah and I’m aware of that but I just don’t get that mentality. Call me robotic, but when it comes to the media I consume I feel the same way Anton Ego felt about eating food. If I don’t like it I’m not going to keep watching it.

[@N_DAnimationEnthusiast]

Due to Alan Moore’s statement for watching bad media. For Kamen tho, us subs want him to (more times than not, it’s just to suffer tho whenever it’s bad media).

[@maxanderson3733]

@Chibi Abel OK but may I ask why though? In order to have hope in the first place don’t you need evidence that the series is going to get better?

[@thefanwithoutaface8105]

Series really ruined Blake and Yang as characters. Went from being a smart/snarky at times character with a love of books along with a Spitfire Tomboy who loved living dangerously and hated her hair getting ruined along with a fast love of puns....to just shipping fuel. RT sucked all the personality out of both Yang and Blake and just made them a couple and that's it.

[@lightninggear0131]

I wouldn't say ruined as they are still great characters I enjoy

[@Ammy-q4w]

Just admit you hate lesbians and stop watching the show already

[@Dave-bd2eo]

@@Ammy-q4w No No. They’re right. Blake and Yang’s relationship came out of nowhere. And only exists due to fan pressure.