RWBY Podcast Volume 8 ft. Twiins iink and Allison Are You

[@thejudgmentalcritter6584]

Time Stamps! 0:30 here we are. 1:15 Allison's thoughts on Volume 8. 3:35 Twiins' thoughts on volume 8. 5:30 Powder Tangent. 6:13 Critter's thoughts on the volume. 7:03 Mid-volume conspiracy theory. 9:10 Continued Critter thoughts. 10:23 Discussing the writing. 15:00 Penny. 19:00 Volume 7 feels pointless. 19:54 Penny's death. 23:10 Penny's death feels like an afterthought. 24:37 Pietro who? Anyways, the ACE OPS. 29:40 Background characters, no matter how cool they are, need to stay in the background! 31:22 Spoilers for Full Metal alchemist Brotherhood. 32:24 The Hound. 35:06 Ruby jumping to conclusions. 36:09 Mercury and those crazy M names! 36:31 Upgrade the hound like the new iphone! 37:17 The most important element to Mercury's character. 41:00 Neo and Emerald. 42:45 The Heros forgive Emerald because Ren's semblance says they should. 45:21 RT knows you're just here for RWBY. 46:32 Stranger hood. 47:10 Critter's thoughts on Ren and Nora. 48:30 Allison's thoughts on Ren and Nora. (Also some legitimately great life advise!) 52:30 Twiins' thoughts on Ren and Nora. 1:00:15 Final episode. (Twiins gets hiccups). 1:01:05 Winter is winter. 1:03:53 Weiss' poopy pants. 1:06:22 Back to Winter. 1:08:14 How Penny died. Twiins' thoughts. (Jaune's writing) 1:12:25 Allison's thoughts. (Jaune's development as a character.) 1:15:58 Critter's thoughts. (Jaune is supposed to be a healer.) 1:19:20 Aura breaking? 1:21:14 Hazel and aura. 1:22:17 J-Juane? Jwuan? Jim? 1:23:14 The order of falling. 1:24:44 Fudgmental Bitter the pooptuber!!! 1:26:19 Destiny Island. 1:27:22 Hot, shirtless Jaune. 1:28:09 Better outfits. 1:28:55 End credit island theories. 1:30:13 Neo, and a serious talk about discussing disabilities. 1:32:53 Watts. 1:35:00 CFVY? 1:35:32 BMBLB 1:36:35 Hazel's death. 1:40:24 Why did Mercury get a new outfit?! 1:41:17 Maybe Sun will FINALLY get a new outfit! 1:41:49 CFVY! 1:44:25 Ironwood. 1:53:28 Ironwood never found out Ozpin came back. 1:55:54 What was the point of the hiatus? 1:58:40 Animation errors in the final episodes. 2:02:30 Conspiracy theory. 2:05:47 Will production be shorter between volume 8 and volume 9? 2:10:31 Remember the grimm river? Allison does.

[@randomstuff063]

Thank you for the time stamps.

[@fishnewt1331]

Your efforts are incredibly appreciated. Thank you for this podcast and for your work.

[@zerotohero1483]

Thank you very much for the time stamps.

[@GollyJolly]

Glad I’m not the only remembering the Grimm River

[@kirbycat1977]

In response to CFVY, they're doing RWBY chibi which is awful for money. I know RWBY chibi is for comedy but adding Coco there is literally just for the fandom talking about Coco

[@romulusnuma116]

The way to tell the difference between Critter and Twiins is the level of disgust in their voices when talking about Volume 8

[@mittenvonscrufflears7233]

I HAVE FOUND THE FORMULA!

[@sushigivesmelife2131]

I'm STILL trying to really pinpoint the difference ... I'm embarrassed

[@youraveragenickel2177]

@@sushigivesmelife2131 Not sure if this'll help but Twiin's voice is slightly deeper than Critter's. It's especially noticeable whenever the two of them laugh. (Also, Critter's audio is usually slightly louder than Twiins though obviously this may not always be consistent.)

[@CoolerStar-lz1jr]

XD

[@sushigivesmelife2131]

Hey thanks that's really nice :3

[@mittenvonscrufflears7233]

"it's not like she sat there and looked at her robot legs and thought, 'Golly, I wish I needed to shave those'" I'm dead 😂😂😂

[@mittenvonscrufflears7233]

Oh wow, I got a heart from "Fudgemental Bitter"! 😂😂😂

[@sushigivesmelife2131]

The use of the word “Golly!” Just really makes me laugh

[@mittenvonscrufflears7233]

@@sushigivesmelife2131 Ik I love it when people say golly lol

[@kirbycat1977]

My favorite line has to be Allison saying ' you know what, my sister Gretchen loved children.' I died at this

[@ragingmonkeycritic]

"let's talk about the only interesting thing about Mercury, Emerald" I hate that your right

[@TheVTable]

Yeah 🤦

[@claudiathomas2529]

💀💀💀💀💀

[@thecalloutkid4952]

Not only was she right, no one even tried to interject. That was priceless.😂

[@Rangerj04]

Well Mercury for his whole stay in the show, plotwise have been irrelevant. The fight with Yang at the vytal tournament, she could fight someone else and still have brutalized a defeated opponent with the help from Emeralds semblance. But other than that he is nothing more than a background henchman with a non-copypasted character design who could be removed and nothing would have changed Only thing that could be used to defend his existence is his scenes with Emerald where he tries to make her realize that Cinder does not care about her

[@BabyGirlTiny]

Which sucks because emerald isn't even interesting

[@hypeman1825]

"Mercury isn't getting a redemption because he isn't a cute girl" lol Thank you! Even I've noticed that trend in this show. Just saying it is a thing when you think about it. Emerald - redeemed Illia - redeemed Winter - redeemed Neo - likely to be redeemed in V9. Compare that to their male counterparts or their partner's that they worked for. Merc - likely going to die Adam - dead Ironwood - dead Roman - dead

[@pink05432]

Tyrian is definitely going to die next in season 9

[@frogradar]

Don't even know why Winter NEEDED Redeemed... She was literally groomed since youth to be a top elite soldier and she did it flawlessly. If anything, her change of heart makes less sense when you consider her complete indoctrination.

[@romulusnuma116]

There was Hazel who was redeemed but he was a hot guy

[@Mr.EintheMorning]

I have said it before, and I will say it again. Rwby suffers greatly from the Females Are More Innocent stereotype. It doesn't hold the female antagonists to the same standards of accountability and punishment as the male ones. Apparently, being female and attractive makes you exempt from your sins.

[@pink05432]

@@Mr.EintheMorning if they somehow manage to redeem Salem/Cinder I don't think im going to be able handle the bullshit

[@its5am48]

One thing I absolutely HATED about the volume 8 finale was that Harriet (And the other Ace Ops) suddenly cared about friendship out of nowhere just so the audience could be sad about Vine dying when most of us couldn't actually give a fuck

[@Scaring-Crows]

In universe Harriet kicked Vine out of a ship and had he not caught himself he would've died like 5 minutes earlier. Then all of a sudden she cares about his safety. Feels like character whiplash

[@kirbycat1977]

Yea that really made me not care, she was pretty much a child causing problems with temper tantrum and then her friend dies because of her

[@Ethan-nl2wg]

The only reason I kinda care about Harriet is because her voice actress is very good

[@silvereyes242]

Elm: Please don’t do this, we’re your friends! Vine: Don’t blow up the city, we care about you Harriet! Dog boy: We need you UWU Harriet: Awww thanks guys.... what are your names again?

[@groynin]

I gotta say, I literally phisycally cringed for the first time watching a show during that scene with Elm saying Harriet was their friend or something. Holy shit on the last episode with all that shit going down, even.

[@Scaring-Crows]

Oh my god Allison why on earth would you make me think about the potential conversation between Oz and a defeated, fallen from grace Ironwood. That could've been so cathartic and a great way to bring back their difference in philosophy from volumes 2 and 3

[@Ethan-nl2wg]

For real, I completely forgot that ironwood wanted to talk to ozpin in vol 7, and now I’m depressed.

[@ProxyDoug]

The fact Ironwood didn't even talked to Salem while she walked right past him. His character was given no respect.

[@Step43099]

Oh goddamn it

[@shesjustafrienduhhafriend8655]

Fr i didnt put to and two and with ironwood dead we wont be getting that

[@miadaorerk1681]

I completely forgot about the grimm river. I thought it was going to be a thing that tainted Mantle and slowly poisoned their supplies or something while the flying monkeys attacked Atlas.

[@kylebarton1106]

I thought they were gonna invade Mantle and Atlas via the sewer system. But nope, I forgot about it soon after. And they never did anything with it so.... :/

[@johannesseyfried7933]

I expected the flying Beringel to play a bigger Role, but nope. They barely appeared at all.

[@samaragiggles8617]

I thought that it was going to flood the place where team JOLY brought all the civilians causing mass panic

[@frogradar]

The Renora thing feels more like a Punishment for Ren being more open. Like, he very clearly struggles to open up probably due to childhood trauma of watching his parents being crushed by a roof. So when the person who has been by his side since that day is like "you're so distant and repressive why wont you talk" and then he does talk and it's like "yikes well... that was too open. Yeah I love you too but like, I don't love me so bye" It's yet another plot point in this volume were it's like "so what was the point here?" Because quite frankly we could have just had Nora telling Ren that since he found her she has never left his side, and she needs to learn who she is without him and that spending time with the girls has allowed her to see something that she didn't want to show when she was always with Ren. Like the capacity to hurt herself to save people because she doesn't want Ren to see her hurt herself. But at the end of it all it just comes across like a middle finger to Ren for finally showing emotion which quite honestly is a TERRIBLE message to send out and is actually something people deal with. "open up more" *opens up* "ew no, not like that"

[@senorsiro3748]

Not to mention that while yes, sincerely “needing to work on [ones]self” does exist in an honest capacity, irl it’s still often just a way of saying “I’d like to reserve you for settling down if I can but *I’m* not done f*cking strangers at parties yet.”

[@Umbran]

did you just fix that scene between ren and nora????

[@sdbzfan1]

I don't even watch the show anymore post vol 5 but hearing what happened to Ren and Nora is such a piss off, if I didn't watch Vexed Viewer for long Critter still wouldn't convince me to like what happened to the two of them after what Twin described and seeing comments like yours makes me feel like Rooster Teeth are just appealing to the fanbase that eats up what ever shit they put out because just like the Yang scene before all this does is send the message "never distrust team RWBY, they don't make mistakes" Ren thinks the group is over their heads and thinks Ironwood is doing the right thing, have Yang berate him for not lashing out at everyone for being stupid only to make him lash out at everyone and then have Nora the one person who should know more than anyone else why he is the way his is basically tell him, "I know you communication issues but that's your fault and you need to fix that talk to me more, also I need to find myself so stay away from me for a while" the fuck it doesn't make sense, you can't do both

[@redcarp9867]

“Miles being incapable of writing any character other than the one he voiced.” I hate how true that’s become. Because I also didn’t want to believe that. Because I always bring up Felix from RvB. Because Felix wasn’t a black hole that consumes the plot so he can have all his moments. Felix was one of two antagonists from the Chorus Trilogy. He was part of a duo, and was beloved because of how fun and interesting he was. Felix had importance because he was one of the villains. He got the right amount of screen time. And is one of my favorite RvB characters. Jaune however, is the exact opposite of that. How do you go from doing something so right, and now so wrong? Yes, RvB lasted longer than RWBY. But Felix and Locus had tough shoes to fill after The Meta and Director. If anything, Felix and Locus were at a disadvantage because the standards were high, and they delivered. How can the same person who made Felix, make Jaune? Because Jaune is my least favorite RWBY character. The plot bends over backwards for Jaune and his team. Hell, many times Ren and Nora don’t do shit. It’s always Jaune.

[@andrewrogers3067]

There’s an answer to your question right here. RvB (And Halo as a whole) was an established series with its own main characters long before Miles took the helm and Felix became a character. He can’t come in and be a main character with this many parts of the cast. Miles was placed with limits and was given a character he had to write for, and he decided to write them as great as possible. Great for a more restricted character. But in RWBY, a Universe that him and others created from the very beginning, with characters he created and him as a main character….Now without limits and with the ability to make his character far more impactful then Felix….He fucked it up.

[@takkarsasori8961]

man i really dislike what they did with jaune. he Was my favorite character in V1-3 and bits of 4 but after that he became one of my least favorited characters. also the hair.. why ;(

[@T-Jex]

"Why you keep watching RWBY? Everytime you do it you get upset" " *BECAUSE I LIKE IT* "

[@MrTigracho]

Suffering at it´s finest.

[@TheVTable]

The more RWBY’s writing goes like this, the more Jelloapocalypse is right and probably as the ability to read the future

[@timothyc5274]

I think its been like this since the beginning

[@applegoblinjeans]

I can't wait until torchwick's ghost come back for weiss to fall for him.

[@MelralCT-]

@@applegoblinjeans pls no...... Neo's character was already predicted......

[@TheVTable]

@@timothyc5274 at least with Vol. 1 and 2, RWBY still looks like a show that still needs growing

[@grantlauzon5237]

If RWBY was ever rebooted he’d be a great writer. Epithet Erased has solid and fun character dialog. I say rebooted because I don’t think he’d touch it in it’s current state.

[@constantdisappointment5658]

I wish the maidens were less like keys and more like guardians. What if the vaults had trials to open, and the maidens were exclusively able to use the relics? They'd have more significant roles after the relics were retrieved, instead of just dying immediately after or passing it off to the heroes and disappearing.

[@grandempressvicky6387]

I had that idea for my rewrite/AU without even thinking about it. It would give Cinder/Salem genuine reason to want all the Maiden powers. Why didn't the writers do this?

[@constantdisappointment5658]

@@grandempressvicky6387 I know Barbara said stuff in RwBY was planned from the beginning, but I'm almost certain Raven and Fria weren't planned to be the maidens. I think they wanted Raven to be fleshed out more, and have a fake out between Winter and Penny that ended up just going to Winter anyway.

[@artemisvsvenus]

@@constantdisappointment5658 They could have done so much with Raven and her connections with Yang and Qrow. there was so much meat there to create a truly heart wrecking story about family healing, but I think they just forgot all about Raven

[@arturohernandez473]

so like borderlands with the sirens and the vaults in a way where anyone can open a vault but it much more easier for sirens since they are sort of connected to the vault sort of

[@MagicRiverofRadiantBrightness]

The relics were not of Oz' creations. I don't think there's any possible way to like, make them work exclusively for maidens.

[@DeepthroatC]

This podcast has so much negative emotion in one condensed area that if Grimm didn't exist beforehand, they sure do now...and I love every second of it😂

[@sammywatokohom172]

I love this character arc.

[@casualfanatic4217]

Writers: So Salem attacks Atlas with her giant whale and then- Director: Wait What happened to the Grimm River? Writer: Oh well you see what happened was- Director: Did you forget about the River? Writer: I forgot about the River, they forgot about the River, it’s a very forgettable River GODDAMMIT it’s Star Wars and GOT all over again. I feel like I’m living in Ground Hog Day

[@groynin]

Director: I mean, at least we have a GIANT WHALE, I bet it will be difficult for our heroes to defeat that. Writer: No actually it's gonna be super easy, BARELY an inconvenience. Director: Oh really? Writer: Yeah Oscar will just finally reveal that Oz's magic cane is actually a nuke on demand and blow it up. Director: Wow wow wow. Wow.

[@btrando1]

@@groynin References are TIGHT.

[@ragingmonkeycritic]

Director: Whoops Writer Whoopsie

[@saikq5380]

this is funny but the grimm river exploded up to atlas and started spawning grimm... remember??

[@ragingmonkeycritic]

@@btrando1 Yea

[@tvboxmimic7887]

1:29:50 "I can't wait for volume 9's equally earned moment when Weiss gets to hook up with Torchwick's ghost"

[@romulusnuma116]

As someone who just started the video I can't wait for the context

[@johannesseyfried7933]

Well, they are supposedly in the Spirit Realm now..... Who knows what might happen? 😆

[@artemisvsvenus]

@@johannesseyfried7933 Ghost babies!

[@Spitfire_94]

"It's like if the Ginyu Force went through a friendship character arc!" Funny enough they did in TFS and a parody of a popular show has done it a million times better than RWBY which I find hilarious.

[@Hoontor]

This, with Vegeta tossing Dog-biscuts at Guldo before and after killing him.

[@heyarnold7256]

Goodness. RWBY can't even beat an abridged series from youtube in terms of quality.

[@Thatalbinodude]

Gildo dies: G Force is kinda shocked but not surprised Recoom dies: Stunned Burter: Jeice is VERY upset. Jeice : Ginyu is angry and that anger feuls every action he takes until he takes Goku's body All done very well, played for laughs yes, but not dragged out and certainly not shoved into ONE EPISODE contradicting earlier ones.

[@triggerfairy4070]

TFS DBA is not an average abridge though. It's normal for RWBY to not be on their level.

[@ajmoore9758]

When Vine died my boyfriend just started laughing

[@ShizuruRavenRobin026]

Same i think its caz i new i felt nothing 4 him or the other ace ops

[@Pystoria]

king

[@zerotohero1483]

I care so little for some characters that if they kill off some characters or never bring them back I probably wouldn’t even notice

[@upjohn1715]

@Games The nothingness of nothing characters.

[@Mica_T]

I remembered my sis and I just laughing when Yang fell into the void because we both disliked her. It was like a brief moment of victory before meta logic kicked in.

[@beyond_sol]

A personal headcanon of mine is that for most of vol 8 Miles is just kept in a cage before they have to start crunching cause of deadlines and then they begrudgingly let him out for him to only focus on Jaune

[@DGenHero]

Funny but mean, lol

[@SaggyYouTube]

Please let fudgmental bitter be a reoccurring character in your videos

[@mittenvonscrufflears7233]

Plot twist: The heart you got was given to you by the newly created Fudgemental Bitter and wants to slowly take over Critter's channel

[@KrazyKelor]

Fudgmental Bitter is Judgmental Critter’s Hound form.

[@mittenvonscrufflears7233]

@@KrazyKelor :0:0:0:0 AND ONLY ALISON'S SILVER EYES CAN STOP HEEEERR!!!!!!

[@princesssparrow4530]

I BEG!

[@constantdisappointment5658]

My #1 favorite pooptuber

[@Pystoria]

Winter becoming the Maiden infuriated me because unless I missed something, Penny had NO reason to choose her given what was happening. Weiss was literally out of aura and was being repeatedly assaulted by Cinder, who just decimated their entire team and as far as they thought killed half of their friends, while Penny had no reason to believe Winter would be in any danger considering Ironwood got arrested.

[@cookiesandcream7668]

The only reason for winter being the maiden is penny taking the maiden from her, winter was waiting and wanting to be the maiden, and didnt get it (+ they would have had some relationship beforehand ) and assuming they did penny would have known winters skill and known she could have helped as she was in on the plan and probably would have also been seen as a warning for winter As jn winter gets the powers, she knows penny died, and she knows the rest are in trouble since penny should have been passed the gate by then

[@katecampbell6464]

I really think that Nora deserved to be the winter maiden. She had way more set up than Winter did.

[@jexelbur6872]

Volume 8 felt a lot like volume 6 in that it starts off really good, then midway it starts to deteriorate.

[@yuukichan12]

Damn I loved v6 up until the moment they got to Argus. Then it just started sucking out of nowhere lol it was so bizarre. This volume I just...constantly didn't enjoy. I was more invested in whatever convoluted mess was happening with the villains, since the heroes were doing absofuckinglutely nothing for the majority of it.

[@ragingmonkeycritic]

Vol 8 is just Vol 6 but more extreme

[@7-BIT]

Tbh that happens with the most recent RWBY Volumes. Volume 7 fell apart in its 2nd half as well.

[@ragingmonkeycritic]

@@7-BIT I disagree with Vol 7 but ever since Vol 5 their endings have been worse than the beginnings I feel

[@YesNani]

Wasn’t Volume 6 the arc with Oz and Salem’s backstory

[@MuuToo]

While I struggle to call this the worst RWBY volume, it definitely for me feels like it started off decently strong but upon coming in for landing, one engine cut out and the landing gear was only half way out. I think what really just solidified that feeling for me was that when Penny died, I didn’t even feel sad. I got up, messaged a friend, and just asked “why?”

[@Henry-hm7kc]

I really wished that Weiss never fell. Imagine a journey of Weiss, having to get stronger while also mourning her best friends, who she presumed are dead, with the others. She’d actually have something to do and something to grow from. Maybe they’d stop keeping her as a support. Have her train her aura to be stronger and build a relationship with her brother and mother again. It would have been a better idea to have her make it especially after Cinder’s line of “it figures a Schnee would be the last to die” or whatever. That could eat at her. Have her think that maybe her decisions were a bit selfish in the fight and caused her friends to “die”. I don’t know but it would’ve been interesting to separate her in that way.

[@Henry-hm7kc]

Also the whole thing about who kills Penny. Ruby could have easily killed Penny with Blake’s weapon, so then they could get their eyes-on-sword reflection and maybe then spark up conversation between Blake and Ruby. (Something along the lines of Ruby being unable to look at Blake’s sword anymore. I’m really trying my best to improve the scene.) Then the writers could’ve had Cinder knock Blake’s sword away. The whole Winter scene occurs and right there we could have Ruby and Weiss get blasted, but rather now Winter could rush to Weiss and carry her out while Ruby falls to the abyss. Is there clear bias for Weiss here...? Maybe... but it sounds better and makes for a more interesting dynamic in the story.

[@Mica_T]

It would also allow for her relationship with her siblings and mom to further develop. Most of what we have so far is surface level.

[@Henry-hm7kc]

@@Mica_T it would also force Ruby to interact with Blake and Yang without Weiss’ presence as her best friend. It would’ve made for some interesting dynamics

[@slipskolt7300]

Weiss has this interesting ongoing motif of loneliness too, this would've been so goood.

[@NurseValentineSG]

As a person who doesn't really know RWBY outside of what people say on the internet, no matter if positive or negative, it seems like that show DESPERATELY needs an editor that forces the writers to do a second draft. Like, I give season 1 and 2 a pass on the bad writing because they were fairly new to all of that stuff. But now we're at season 8, and it's still the same bad writing. Someone needs to sit them down and say that this cannot continue, else you will get a Game of Thrones-esque final season where everyone is unhappy and the story just kinda ends and everyone forgets about the franchise.

[@TheSonicfan91]

I think that’s why I like the shonen jump manga (so far) cos it’s feel as like the second draft

[@pyrexo]

About the aura breaking thing, Winter's aura breaks during her fight with Ironwood (at 10:03 in the episode), yet she uses her semblance (the birds at 12:50) against Cinder. So the idea that "Unbroken Aura = Can use semblance"...not even consistent this last episode.

[@WixWasterWike]

They've consistently broken that rule as far back as the Yang character short for V5. At this point it feels more like a drinking game lol.

[@romulusnuma116]

I remember people saying that along with the Maiden powers winter also got Penny's aura so would explain it I guess

[@yuukichan12]

@@romulusnuma116 They gotta like...make that shit apparent in the series' canon and stop leaving it up to the fndm to fill in their countless gaps. I can still hear Barb's condescending "it's a cartoooon" echoing in the back of my mind.

[@maximillionare7547]

Can we talk about how Emerald and Penny don’t talk to each other a SINGLE time?

[@casualfanatic4217]

At first I thought “Why would they need to talk to each other?” Seconds I realised “Ohhh that’s why.” And unlike me the writers didn’t have that second realisation

[@Ethan-nl2wg]

@@casualfanatic4217 I’m dumb and I still haven’t figured it out. What is it?

[@miadaorerk1681]

@@Ethan-nl2wg I'm guessing because Emerald directly had a hand in killing Penny.

[@tvboxmimic7887]

@@miadaorerk1681 Yeah, we don't get anything on how Penny is working with the girl who manipulated someone into killing her.

[@Ethan-nl2wg]

@@miadaorerk1681 ohhh yeah that makes sense

[@btrando1]

Having 4 writers seems difficult to manage. Like it feels like they divided the episodes, talked about a general outline of each episode, and then do their own thing without talking to each other.

[@zerotohero1483]

It’s a problem when the episode is written by multiple people. It can be done, and I’ve seen it done well, but I’ve found that most of the worst episodes have been written by multiple people. It’s especially bad when the episode feels like it’s written by different people and you can see it during the runtime.

[@heyarnold7256]

@@zerotohero1483 To my knowledge thats actually how it works for most TV shows. Theres always a number of writers working on the script.

[@zerotohero1483]

@@heyarnold7256 to mine as well. But I also know that actual writers communicate with each other and work together to create the plot and map out what’s going to happen with the characters. I’ve done a lot of that in college.

[@GoneRampant]

I have a friend who knows people in CRWBY. The hiatus was out of pure necessity- they were *not* ready to release more episodes because their work-from-home pipeline was too slow, and those extra weeks were needed to avoid another Volume 5 tier season. Ironically that still happened. Also fun fact, the credits did include the writer credits for the finale. It was Eddy, Kerry... and *Miles.* So yeah, good chance he wrote Jaune killing Penny.

[@jquan44]

My major problem with the volume is the Ozcar cane scene. A major point of Ironwoods character in volume 2-3 was that he believed in military might. So, it felt incongruous that the heroes destroyed Salem using their own superweapon. I also felt the cane unintentionally proved both Ironwood and Ren right. Without the cane and Ozpin, the heroes had no plan to deal with Salem's army(that the Atlas army was sacrificing their lives to fight). So Ironwood was right that they only had philosophical points. Meanwhile, Ren was right they had no plan and in over their heads, since none of the main characters wanted Ozpin back and nobody knew the cane was a superweapon. It also felt odd when the main characters were making jokes with Emerald that they suddenly switch back to them having to think hard about trusting Oz. Emerald helped directly with the Fall of Beacon, framed Yang, and tricked Pyrrha into killing Penny. And the main characters wouldn't really know that much about any of Emerald's redeeming qualities, since most if not all of them happened when she was alone with the rest of the villain's. Ozpin's major sins were lying to them and running away after Qrow told him he was the worst thing that ever happened to him.

[@ProxyDoug]

What's worse about Ozpin's cane is that they made a point of having Oscar say that using magic makes him merge with Ozpin faster, but he used a spell so powerful, people thought it was a nuke and it had no repercussion on him. Also, no one thought the spell would kill the whale, it just happened so it was mostly a bonus from that whole thing. Almost like a Deus Ex Machina made to take the whale away from the plot.

[@jquan44]

@@ProxyDoug I agree it was a deus ex machina. However, I felt the deus ex machina was was made so the payload didn't destroy the whale. Because then that would mean RWBY and JNOR wouldn't have done anything to try and destroy the whale. Also, it would have meant Ironwood and the Altas army took down Monstra and suffered heavy casualties, fighting an enemy that RWBYJNOR forced them to fight.

[@Hashbrown1682]

New lore added to this podcast: Fudgmental Bitter, the real evil twin.

[@youraveragenickel2177]

Or in this case, evil triplet.

[@johannesseyfried7933]

Her evil Clone from the Mirror Dimension. She is easy to identify by her Goatee and the Eyepatch. 😄

[@maxs2d2ace]

The breaking part for me was the Ambrosius scene. Why would you set up these complicated particular set of rules, only for the rules to be broken a minute later. Also, who's big idea to create entire civilization on top of a temporary floating DEATHTRAP.!!!

[@del78magnum95]

They're being ... creative 🌚

[@aidanmattson681]

Ozpin, it was Ozpin’s idea.

[@KikiCatMeow]

I absolutely love these podcasts, I love listening to them while I'm drawing or doing school work I HEAVILY agree with the "she's a cute girl she gets redeemed" point. I think the ONLY (and correct me if I'm wrong) female antagonist to die was Tock, and it was in a goddamn flashback. As a girl, I want more female deaths in this series l m a o I personally liked this volume, though I'm one of those people who just shut my brain off and watch something without questioning anything so that isn't really saying much. I liked the Hazel V. Salem fight, mainly because of the kinda new way they used Hazel's semblance. I absolutely LOVED the Hound, easily my favorite part, he was so cool and he might just be a Venom rip off but I don't care, him mauling Oscar was one of the first times I've felt worry in this series for awhile. Ironwood wrestling the Manticore summon for .2 nanoseconds was pretty cool, Watts telling Cinder to go fuck herself was very satisfying. The volume definitely had a lot of objective, undeniable failures in it, but I liked a few parts. In my opinion it still isn't worse than volume 5 That's mostly why I watch your (and other's) reviews; to get that critical outlook on the episodes that I'm too dumb to muster lol

[@heyarnold7256]

You can bet that Neo is going to be redeemed just by hanging out with Ruby's magical chosen one awesomeness.

[@Hashbrown1682]

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!! *ITS BEEN 84 YEARS!!!!!!!*

[@jonnjones8263]

The biggest problem with this show imo is that they try to tell too much story that they just don't have time for. WHY did we need Ironwood and all of Atlas to be Villains? WHY did we need a whole story about how Atlas is evil instead of focusing on Salem? The villain they hyped up for years? By trying to do both at once they end up created two half-assed stories instead of one really good one. If they had just PICKED ONE antagonist to go with they could have at least told a coherent story.

[@shesjustafrienduhhafriend8655]

I agree i wanted the heroes to work with ironwood

[@scailerboy]

Love this trio

[@adventure4509]

Just a simple comment about the writing of the show: Miles is no longer RWBY's head writer. Eddy Rivas took over that responsabilty VOL 7 onwards (Miles himself left RT and is working on RWBY under contract like Kara and Arryn) which is why during VOL 8 Eddy would talk about the volume on twitter more than Miles

[@fishnewt1331]

So, is Miles continuing after volume 8 or is he leaving completely after this? It seems like a lot is going on behind the scenes at Roosterteeth. I wouldn’t normally care, but it seems to affect their work on RWBY.

[@Alexandru-T.]

@@fishnewt1331 He will still write and voice, but that's about it from what I can tell.

[@adventure4509]

@@fishnewt1331 I dunno. He was more involved with Volume 8 than 7 (in that Volume he only had one solo writing credit), but he was also a lot more low-key about RWBY and he has stated in interviews since his departure a wish for writing games. If he gets hired by a major gaming or animation company (like Obsidian Entertainment or Powerhouse Animation) as a writer, than chances are he would stop writing for RWBY and only stay as Jaune's VA. But he will still write Vol 9 because of his contract with RT

[@adventure4509]

@@imtired927 If you only consider RWBY, then yes. But he has also wrote other shows like Red Vs. Blue, Camp Camp and Nomad of Nowhere. And in those shows he's really good. I think Miles is a good writer, when he's either in full control or has the right people behind him

[@alexjd1278]

@@adventure4509 exactly

[@kanden27]

I did feel emotional when Winter realized what was happening with why she was talking with Penny in the Maidenverse. The “oh, Penny.” Was sad when she realized Penny was dead and handing her the power.

[@Everythingwillsurelybealright]

This was the most cathartic experience! After this volume I was full of so much exhausted confusion at all the writing decisions that seemed almost deliberately nonsensical, so hearing you all unpack each issue and really break it down was such a nice way to process it all. I love these every time!

[@GameMaster-ig8oo]

Monty did say he had a voice actor planned for Neo. But yes, it's way too late to give her a voice. It's part of her identity now. Deal with it.

[@cookiesandcream7668]

In the credits scene of the train fight neo had a voice actor put down And in her song Wasnt the person who sang the song also the voice actor put down? But yeah, it's too late

[@moonmoon2479]

It’s because there’s nothing. Maybe she should have a voice. Maybe not. But why should we care anymore?

[@thetypicallifeofcousins2703]

1:32:30 I cannot express how glad I am that you said that. Thank you! I have autism, and I can tell you; if you get rid of my autism I will not be the same person. My autism is a part of me, just like being mute is part of Neo. That’s why I love her character so much. I really hope the writers don’t give Neo a voice

[@cookiesandcream7668]

I like thinking of it like that, Taking away her being mute is taking away a core aspect of her like autism is for many people, and would take away the character built for her

[@strawberryqueen0382]

Exactly it’s like saying “when will Yang get her arm back”

[@cookiesandcream7668]

@@strawberryqueen0382 true, Omg do you think in the new magical world yang will be able to regrow her arm 👁👄👁 It makes no sense for physical disabilities and it makes no sense for mental disabilities

[@strawberryqueen0382]

@@cookiesandcream7668 or my favorite “when will Mercury get his Semblance back” he doesn’t have one! That’s perfectly fine!

[@cookiesandcream7668]

@@strawberryqueen0382 I never actually thought of it like that, but yeah that comes on the same lines, to be fair I wish they gave mercury more character around that

[@opaldragon009]

God I'm so glad you guys talked about the decision to have Jaune kill Penny. They've NEVER been close friends, I can't even remember the last time they spoke to each other before the finale! It should've 100% been Ruby because not only have they been best friends since the beginning of the series, but it would've been an amazing way to give her some ACTUAL DEVELOPMENT. Not to mention Penny asked Ruby to kill her a few episodes earlier, like you'd think that'd be foreshadowing????

[@bendavis9569]

Omg, I actually thought this was overall pretty solid with some glaring issues (the hound fight, blake being useless, Weiss not getting a damn thing to do in her own home, the entire Harriet plot ect.) but this podcast is really fun to listen to and you all have great points.

[@alexjd1278]

This is how i felt I thought I was weird for liking this volume overall 😂

[@gommyboi380]

they could’ve given ruby the maiden power because penny literally offers it to ruby and it would make one of are main characters actually relevant to the plot

[@WintersHarmony7474]

I thought about this too. But Ruby fell and Penny thinks she's dead.

[@gommyboi380]

no in the episode before the vault penny offers for ruby to mecry kill her

[@WintersHarmony7474]

@@gommyboi380 I know that happens. I though you meant at the end before Winter gets the powers and after Ruby falls.

[@groynin]

@@WintersHarmony7474 Just make Ruby be the last one to fall wth

[@WintersHarmony7474]

@@groynin I know. They really should've.

[@grantcollins3088]

I like how Yang pushed ruby out of the way instead of hitting Neo because Neo did not know that Yang was coming or else she would have tried to push yang out of the way and hit ruby of the road thingy

[@liamharris-iveson5205]

V8 nora: ren talk to me V7 nora: ren talk to me V2 rwby: penny talk to me V1 rwby: weiss talk to me V6 blake: yang talk to me V5 raven and crow: raven qrow talk to me

[@johannesseyfried7933]

V5 Jaune: "Ren, talk to me."

[@crunchevo8974]

V6 Qrow and Jaune: imma physically assault a child

[@AppleJuice-uo9zz]

Ironwood and oscar not interracting with each other besides fighting was the biggest disappointment in this volume for me. I mean did ironwood even know that oscar survived? Was he surprised when he saw him again? We saw in episode 10 that he was wondering who had done enormous explosion, but we never hear him mention it ever again (I don't so think anyway) My only guess is that winter and the ace ops told him about jaune, ren and yang going into the whale to rescue oscar from salem offscreen, if that's the case, than it was stupid to build a relationship between oscar and ironwood if it was never going to come around again in the next volume.

[@KwakyWacky]

The ace opps are like if the ‘Fake batmen’ in the start of the Dark Knight had a whole character arc seperate from the plot.

[@justapotato1176]

I was quaking to watch the first half's episodes, skipping the intros. Second half, I just was like. "please...a fight.." or "can this be any better?" and watched through the intros wanting to die Like the whole finale was a fuck up.

[@rosesongoku6980]

Salem deserved better. Move over, Cinder.

[@JanizMakudomaru]

How about that contest winning Grimm design that was so well implemented into the season they said would be in this season that you only saw it BRIEFLY in two eps with one ep separating them and they did nothing?

[@upjohn1715]

That whole contest was a scam, it makes me glad the original winner didn't get her work on the show because of how poorly the actual winner's work was handled.

[@JanizMakudomaru]

@@upjohn1715 In two eps, at the beginning of then, in blink and you'll miss it fly over scenes.

[@kylebarton1106]

Yeah. If they were going to have that Grimm be the winner of the contest, why couldn't it have had a cool fight scene? The Beringal, Geist & Sea Serpent Grimm got big fight scenes to show off their power. But the contest winner gets a few seconds with no fight scene.

[@JanizMakudomaru]

@@kylebarton1106 But that weird hit my gut Grimm that no one knew about, yeah, that nearly killed Blake. It gets that. Not that contest winning Grimm that someone had their thing get disqualified from.

[@strawberryqueen0382]

I honestly have a conspiracy theory that CRWBY wanted the Sulfur Fish to win all along and the vote was just arbitrary. They knew that the other two choices(more humanoid Grimm) wouldn’t fit the Vacuo aesthetic.

[@Waterrd]

I can't imagine the emotional strain you'd have after being called a pooptuber, hope you stay strong. And I can't agree more with how poorly they chose to go about Penny. At least the character theme was nice.

[@liamharris-iveson5205]

You know you messed up when hazel does more than all four of your main characters

[@hermitcrab_213]

RT had the perfect opportunity to lead up to Emerald switching sides with the Cinder and Penny fight. Emerald finally built up the courage to defy Salem and follow Cinder out of her love for her. She risks literally everything. If they hadve added just one scene, one fucking scene, of Cinder throwing Emerald under the bus, or using her to save herself, or something selfish to show Emerald that despite everything she was willing to sacrifice, Cinder didn’t really care about her. It would’ve worked well without changing the pacing of the volume too much, and made the episode order flow so much better. I was so shocked to see Emerald defect that I genuinly had to go back to watch the Cinder and Penny fight because I thought I must’ve missed something of the sort. A lost opportunity.

[@cookiesandcream7668]

Yeah! And she could have started being a good liar by then, as she was in the ending scene of giving the 2 relics to Salem, that would have helped us see Salem can be lied to by cindee

[@aconcept1579]

I was so excited and happy at the start of the volume THE PAIN

[@diveintobricks8216]

All I'm going to say is that Penny should not have died. Not, "I think Penny should have lived because I'm a Penny fan!" but I think that Penny should not have died. I mean, come on! The girl didn't even canonically live as a human for a full day!

[@GG-vt1tc]

She wasn’t even a canonical human for an hour. She was a human for maybe 5 or 10 minutes

[@diveintobricks8216]

@@GG-vt1tc I know, absolutely annoying. Something I would have loved to see is how Penny would have reacted to all the downsides of being human, like sickness and real pain.

[@GG-vt1tc]

@@diveintobricks8216 I wanted to see how Pietro would respond to seeing her human and fighting Cinder again. He definitely should have been there to share in the fact that she was human and should have been there to comfort her and Jaune when she died

[@poofan5086]

@@GG-vt1tc i knew penny was going to die because of spoilers, but i do think they just dropped the ball with pietro here-

[@izilladkilla]

I also don't like how Ruby and Pietro (the two most important people in Penny's life) weren't there in her final moments. It would've been way more emotional if Ruby had to be the one to kill Penny, since she's her best friend, but it got reserved for Jaune... Are we still pretending he's not Miles' self-insert character? He gets all the best moments while Ruby (the main protagonist) gets sidelined.

[@courtneycalvert185]

I feel like Volume 8 was akin to Volume 6, it starts out really promising and interesting and ends really badly. I would say Volume 6 was good then CRASHED abruptly at the end, and Volume 8 just kinda peters out, like a dying match. I think my expectations were so much higher for Volume 8 because there was so much set up for things to happen, so having it sputter at the end was SO disappointing. I really don’t know which one is worse! What do y’all think?

[@shesjustafrienduhhafriend8655]

I like v8 overall better but s6 had a stronget start but a ehh ending but ur right they have the same payoff

[@romanmeneghinister1584]

Ironwoods turn made sense to me purely because i hadnt seen the other seasons in years and forgot who his character actually was and upon going down memory lane, I think the writers also forgot. Literally a completely different character.

[@alyssamarie8124]

I'm upset that Oscar never got to hug anyone after literally almost dying. (I'm not that upset).

[@mittenvonscrufflears7233]

Yeah I kinda expected people to care about them more as he was literally stuck in the terrifying base of the most evil and powerful person in the world with her armies and she was torturing him. You'd think they were desperately terrified for Oscar's safety but NOPE

[@Im_bor3d0]

Fr. I got so pissed off when rwby was about to hug Oscar but stopped when she saw emerald. Like, he LITERALLY had his arms out for a hug 😭

[@bleppeli5536]

@@Im_bor3d0 im surprised that noone has made a meme of When your husband comes home You go in to hug him He brought another woman home OH HELL NO That scene really made me laugh for a good few minutes after i imagined that scene

[@Im_bor3d0]

@@bleppeli5536 Yes 😂😂😂

[@shesjustafrienduhhafriend8655]

@@bleppeli5536 lol when you put it that way 😂

[@tdawgmaster1729]

I still hold that the only reason Vine was killed was to kill off all the white Ace Ops

[@BarkingGinger]

Something that really frustrated me that wasn’t touched on that much here, is Qrow’s teeny-tiny little subplot. They set him up to fight ironwood, and instead give him nothing to do but have his mourning spotlight stolen by Harriet. They couldn’t have at least given him a brief skirmish with James? What was the point of giving Qrow a bromance/boyfriend who he had to watch get brutally murdered then? Was it just to make him suffer? Was it to have Robyn pull him out of another depression to set up a flaccid relationship between them? What the heck was the point besides torturing the poor guy 😂. He didn’t grow, he didn’t realize anything new about himself, he didn’t lean into the darkness he was feeling very much. WHAT WAS THE POINT? xD 🤬

[@ReticulatedViper]

And now he thinks his nieces are probably dead. It’s just too much, they’ve done the “make Qrow suffer” bit too many times now. It’s repetitive to the point where I really hope we don’t see them next volume. Qrow moping again? No thanks, been there, done that. And if they use his trauma to springboard a romance between him and Robyn, that’ll be doubly infuriating. As if that storyline didn’t already feel classically queerbaity enough 🤣.

[@sumsum3873]

it’s super disappointing yeah :(

[@johannesseyfried7933]

@@ReticulatedViper Does he even know they fell into the Void?

[@ReticulatedViper]

@@johannesseyfried7933 I don’t see how he would, but the way he’s screaming into his mic at the end makes me think Qrow thinks they’re still in the city as its coming down.

[@johannesseyfried7933]

@@ReticulatedViper I guess that *does* make Sense. Qrow and Robyn have been sitting in Jail the entire Volume. He probably only has a vague Idea of what is happening. For all he knows, Ruby and the others are still on Atlas when it crashes.

[@sagastar4108]

God I hate Weiss’ outfit when can we get rid of it and have her fight without twirling her sword like a wand?

[@midnightstudio1701]

Did anyone else think having Jaune and Weiss fall with everyone else felt like overkill? Like if they didn’t throw all of the team down, I would have a little more respect for the finale, but it just became a generic ending.

[@WintersHarmony7474]

I definitely agree there.

[@kylebarton1106]

Jaune going down was stupid because why didn't Winter just carry him or use her glyphs to save him? That part was dumb.

[@WintersHarmony7474]

@@kylebarton1106 I mean, alot of it was dumb. Weiss could save Yang and Ruby and Blake with her glyphs too. But eh, you know, RWBY writing. But yeah, Juane shouldn't have fallen.

[@rashan141]

@@WintersHarmony7474 I think the worse part about that is what is Jaune's story for the next Volume? I love the boy but what's the story gonna do with him? Hav ehim do that ONE thing and tell Ruby that he killed Penny? Is he going to find an actual magical sword? Are they in the Vacuo Vault and the Destruction Sword will choose him? I liked, and didn't like, that his sword finally broke. I kind liked the idea of it being a symbol of making it through the story the same being that it was in the beginnning... That and I thought it magical but headcannons aren't important. The only reason I can see Jaune being here is for telling Ruby the truth, that's it. It's that and, _maybe,_ redeeming Neo somehow by bonding through misery of dead loved ones. I want to know WHY, right now.

[@WintersHarmony7474]

@@rashan141 I definitely agree with you. I did like that it broke, but he could always tell Ruby whenever she gets back from Wonderland or wherever the hell they are.

[@secondaegis9190]

2:07:12 Anime is actually divided into 4 seasons : Spring Summer Autumn and Winter. When the season starts, virtually every show of that season starts in the same month

[@annimu9081]

I feel like Volume 8 is just the clearest showcase of the writer's issue of "listening" to criticism and try to undo their mistakes but once they do the damage control they just revert back to doing the same thing fans and critics have long been complaining about. Edit: Actually human Penny would not justify her not being able to come back. If what makes Penny Penny is Pietros' soul then Pietros can just rebuild Penny and make her a robot all over again and give her the last of his aura. Not saying that's what's happening but the writers are still not thinking this through.

[@casualfanatic4217]

“Doing damage control?” I feel like I’ve heard that before, a long long time ago

[@i_am_you_you_are_not_me6043]

Actually that isn’t accurate Pietro’s soul became Penny’s. His aura allowed her to awaken her soul in a way. Basically because I’m bad at wording things. I’m trying to say that Pietro’s soul adapted into Penny’s. Penny developed her own personality and became her own person. So making a new robot and injecting it with Pietro’s last bit of aura would make a different person not Penny. Penny developed her personality but everyone is unique. It’s basically like giving birth to Identical Twins. Just because they look the same does not make them the same person. The new “Penny” could develop a personality completely different from the original. What I’m trying to say is that Penny is what made Penny well Penny. Because by you saying that Pietro’s soul is what made Penny Penny your giving into the logic that Penny should act exactly like Pietro. But she doesn’t because Penny developed her own personality and made his soul hers. So the new “Penny” would be someone else named Penny because she would have developed her own unique personality just like the og Penny.

[@BabyGirlTiny]

@@i_am_you_you_are_not_me6043 except, that's not what happened. If that was the case the penny in this volume wouldn't be the penny from volume 3, But she is. Nothing differentiated her from volume 3 penny and she wss treated like volume 3 penny. That logic doesn't work, because it goes against what was seen.

[@psychedahlia]

I have a feeling CFVY will new outfits since in the book Velvet specifically complains about how dumb their outfits are in the desert

[@saphario188]

You guys forgot to talk about Robyn 😂 I find the fact that she ruins every scene she's, quite literally, rammed into hilarious. Aside from that, I agree with almost everything. I think my main issue was the way they handled Ironwood since the Ace Ops nothing-plot was due to him or rather a result of how the writers handled him. Also as someone whos favorite character was Penny, the way they treated her just had no logic behind it what so ever. There were sooo many ways they couldve handled her from Pietro fixing the virus to Penny deactivating to pass the powers to wintet, ect. Personally I wish they would just go through the story at a slower pace across volumes. They could take their time and set more events up leading to the finale and cross off whatever loose ends they have to tie up.

[@malestorm95]

I'd just like to point out that our "heroes" are actually terrorists. Salem didn't cause the fall of Atlas and Mantle, Ruby did because Ironwood couldn't be trusted. Hell Salem could've been written out of this volume entirely and not a damn thing would change. Then they decided "Hey let's take all these people out to a desert because that's where we need to go next."

[@WixWasterWike]

I wonder how much the writers/production dudes talk to the animators about the story, because if anything, the animators will know how ridiculous/how good a plot point might look in actuality since they're making the scene. Like if they have a huge dialogue dump, are the animators just like "alright, bet" or do they get input and are able to ask shit like, "What are they doing while they're talking?"

[@hbkwheels6603]

Next to the Deadlock podcast. This is my favorite podcast. I bailed on RWBY after V5 and I've been enjoying listening to you 3 about what's happening. I'm actually looking forward to the next volume. Because I wanna hear the next podcast. Fingers cross they give you a reason for another character design episode. XD

[@NickAnimechan]

I actually really liked Jaune in the early Volumes but right now his "moments" feel forced. But I think you are right Ruby should have had that moment.

[@Nyahahameha]

Imagine for fun, what if instead of bringing back Penny, they introduced a new robot girl with a new appearance and set of powers like extendo arms or something, made by Pietro just like Penny was. She could have had Penny's memory drive recovered from Beacon, but due to being brought to life using a different part of Pietro's soul (since the part that Penny had was lost when she was killed), and also not having been just Penny rebuilt, her personality would have both some similarities and some differences with Penny. It could have been a really interesting way to examine the effects of nature and nurture on a person's identity, and they could have used her to explore the very concept of self from a cool angle. Not to mention it would have probably made her interactions with Team RWBY more interesting and awkward, since she would have Penny's memories of them, but she'd technically be introducing herself to them for the first time.

[@tamagotchi2505]

LOVEEEEEE this discussion, keep it up guys ❤

[@jamescampbell6728]

I assumed Ironwood would actually do something in the finale since they kept him around. But he didn't so I don't get why they didn't just keep him in the cell lol

[@shesjustafrienduhhafriend8655]

Fr i could accept everything even threatning to blow mentle even though that was crazy but whatever but what did he have to gain by killing jauque like he didnt kill watts why would he kill him like i dont get it

[@vex452]

Honestly I enjoy these so much I wish you guys would do this more often

[@pranavkarmarkar]

Really needed this following a tough workday! Love what you guys do! ❤️❤️

[@Skullgril019]

I always like hearing what others say about RWBY, and its good to know that I'm not the only one who was also very infuriated with this volume (and Team RWBY's outfits, too). I also like how y'all point out things that I hadn't even noticed until now, like how Maria and Pietro were nowhere to be see. Also, I too felt incredibly saddened by what happened to our boi, Watts. Hopefully he pulls a big brain move, and survives somehow, though I doubt it .

[@Legacy_of_Yata-Garasu]

So this is we’re Fudgmental Bitter was born

[@Leppa10]

For some reason, the thing that pissed me off the most was them forgetting about Pietro and Maria. There were some redeeming qualities of the second half (liked the Salem v Hazel fight even though it was short). I have no idea why there "wasn't enough time" to heal though. Or why we never saw Penny's aura break before her death.

[@tobiis-a-good-boy4960]

Ah this was a fun video to listen to while drawing weapon designs! And yeah, for me I had a problem with Penny becoming human too (besides her dying). As one of you mentioned, it betrays the old message of being accepted for being different. I made a comment about this a while ago on a reddit so I'll copy-paste what my thoughts were when I was replying to someone. "It's almost as bad of an idea as using Ambrosius to convert Blake from a Faunus to a Human (hot take, I know). It takes away an integral part of what makes any sentient being unique, to fit in with others while sacrificing what makes you you. It sends a message of not being able to accept yourself for who you are. The idea that "it's just a part of you" sounded good initially, but not when it comes with a payoff. It doesn't matter if you're a robot, a cat girl, a demon, a ghost - being able to accept that you're different from others is important and to be able to be happy with it. And when you take that uniqueness from them away, it creates an identity crisis. It's not a transitional choice that Penny went under either, it was something that was forced upon her. Because her original body "wasn't good enough". That is something I have problem with, besides the whole "making her entire journey and struggles a pointless rehash". She barely even gotten to become accustomed to her transition as a Human either, which makes it even more tragic. It's a character assassination, all for shock value." To add to that copy-pasta of mine, why I think Penny not being a robot anymore is as bad of an idea as Blake turning human is the implications (intentional or not by the writers). Imagine a hypothetical scenario where Blake has gotten so much harassment from other people for being a Faunus that she regressed to her Vol1 self but took a step further - using Ambrosius to become human, to blend in with the majority to be accepted because her previous identity didn't fit in with the status quota. It's not a victory, it's just avoiding problems to be introduced to whole other problems. It goes against a message of being happy for you are. Picture Faunus Discrimination as a virus, a virus that brought harm to Blake due to how she was born - forcing her to become something else instead to make things work. Hope I explained that well for some to understand that hot take I made in comparison to the problematic implications of Penny turning Human.

[@alyssamarie8124]

They created problems to fix problems with problems they created. That is the entirety of this volume. (also the ACEOPs are basically My Little Pony. Prove me wrong)

[@johannesseyfried7933]

Elm is AJ. Or....is she supposed to be Pinkie? Vine would probably be Fluttershy. A really *weird* Fluttershy. Harriet is obviously Rainbow, and Clover would be Princess Twilight. 😄 But who would be Rarity?

[@StoogesFan]

To steal a quote from The Lost World: Jurassic Park: Hammond: "well we won't make the same mistake again" Malcolm: "no, instead you're making all new ones"

[@fishnewt1331]

22:30 Damn it, Allison! Why do you gotta give us a what-if?! (I know why. There has to be good reason for her criticism and her criticism is good. Too good!)

[@shesjustafrienduhhafriend8655]

Ikr lol

[@YesNani]

I have listened to this podcast so many times and it cracks me up everytime 😂😂😂😂

[@jsigg4106]

I lost it when you compared the ace ops to the ginyu force. I really liked the first half of the volume. Penny vs the ace ops was probably the best fight or the volume. While I don't think it was a bad fight, it definetly didn't deserve to be the best of the volume. I would have LOVED to see a well coriographed fight between a bunch of people and iron wood, and what we got was pretty bad. I think the only thing I liked about it was that Winter used her glyphs with other people, and wish weiss would do that. We shouldn't see winter fight so much differently than weiss when they have such similar weapons and powers

[@tomonghajarom9615]

If you ever need to listen to something to wind you down, listen to this

[@leeartedwards]

On the Nora and Ren relationship thing, maybe it would have helped if their arc happened in like volume 6 or something. So they’re not dealing with all this during the FALL OF ATLAS, and also so they don’t feel so drawn out like it took 8 volumes to get where they are

[@shesjustafrienduhhafriend8655]

Yh everyone me included one of them would die

[@victoriac8563]

the amount of unspoken ableism in this volume and in fandom (giving Neo a voice) is kinda sick ngl especially because everyone just seems to gloss over it- like we KNOW RT is capable of avoiding it and being good about it but then this volume they just??? Let's make Penny a human! Let's have Yang diminish the importance of her prosthetic! Like??? God the audacity

[@martirecu3010]

I remember feeling actually disgusted at how blatantly they were trying to get an emotional reaction out of people using Monty's quote during the Oscar rescue mission. It wasn't even that they used it, I can live with that as long as they don't overdo it, but they were in the middle of a conversation about where to go and in response to what someone had said I think it was Jaune (not sure, but I think it was Jaune answering Ren) basically went "I would've preferred if you had phrased it like MONTY QUOTE" Like, it might have been annoying if they'd just used the quote outright, but they went out of their way to find another way to say basically the same thing but then went "BUT WE HAVE THE MONTY QUOTE DO YOU GYUS REMEMBER MONTY? BE SAD NOW PLEASE". It felt like when you can tell a sequel was made exclusively as a cash grab - it's fine to want to evoke emotions with phrases or words that are meaningful to the audience, but it feels a bit much when it's done like this

[@martirecu3010]

@@umwha "Keep moving forward", if I remember correctly Ren had told Jaune to go straight ahead when asking for directions and Jaune said he would've preferred if Ren phrased it as keep moving forward. To me it felt both like a cheap way to get an emotional reaction and a really bad way to go about it because they COULD have just had Ren say that in the first place instead

[@TylerrTazer]

Aura breaking was the singular thing that completely invalidates very literally every interaction...ever. Without an aura shield Ruby literally can not fight anyone slower than her, she'll bisect them. Weiss has not done anything with her rapier since learning summoning, the last time Blake hit anyone worth hitting was the aceops fight, Yang is truly the only person that can hit someone without killing them immediately. But all of team RWBY has pretty gravity defying movement abilities, Ruby can literally atomize to move around or scythe hop, Blake can very literally jump off her clones, Weiss can friggin create solid surfaces wherever she wants, and Yang has proven multiple times to be able to yeet herself around with her gauntlets alone.... but y'know if aura break they for whatever reason lose all movement options outside of using their semblance... but also can use their semblance sometimes? Also CINDER why was she gigabuffed???? Like I don't genuinely think that Tyrian is less capable in combat than Cinder, Tyrian is roughly equal to Qrow in a 1v1 if not a little weaker, who is presumably just as strong as Winter if her first fight is anything to go by, who AGAIN would presumably be roughly equal in combat prowess as Raven who literally bodied Cinder. Why is she able to 1v2 Winter + Penny and consistently keep on causing more problems? also also Neo, 100% thought she was going to turn on Cinder but just... didn't? Neo would more than likely win a fight with Cinder, being a literal escape artist + assassin... They've tarnished so many characters in the recent season and accomplished nearly none of their original goal - Imaging travelling across multiple countries and notifying exactly 0 hunters/huntresses, not even finding a way to contact the old Beacon teams, and Blake literally just left Sun and for what reason...

[@underdev3744]

I feel like their way too many characters to juggle at the same now.

[@Azothic]

Yeah love the podcasts!

[@Ethan-nl2wg]

Yeah the podcasts are probably my favorite content I definitely wouldn’t mind if they did the podcast weekly but they probably don’t have enough time for that

[@exquisitetoast3859]

I totally agree

[@kir8095]

32:00 I started watching Fullmetal Alchemist thanks to Twiins recommendations throughout her videos, so yeah, THANKS FOR THE SPOILER ALERT, GUYS >:-((( (Jk I deadass do not remember any of the names lmao)

[@datalich]

Holy what!? I didn’t even notice that the hounds eye was silver. Now I see it though.

[@vinny_s]

Volume 5 was like a car on fire: a disaster, but entertaining cause of the crap we have seen The latter half of volume 8 was just a plain old car crash: I would see it and just walk away cause I do not have time for this ☠✋🏽 That's the best way i can think about this Also i have been saying this for weeks, but they had to turn penny into a human to nerf her for cinder to win without an asspull Also, my biggest issue WHY IS EACH EPISODE LIKE 16 MINUTES INSTEAD OF LIKE 20-23???? Likee we barely have episodes. We need more episodes and more time to properly do everything. Additionally, they need to give themselves more time to write the show for god's sake. I swear, if they mess up Glynda in the future volumes, I am gonna riot Also, the Jaune staying behind to battle Cinder. IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN RUBY AND NORA NORA COULD HAVE HAD HER SELF DISCOVERY JOURNEY WITH TEAM RWBY

[@casualfanatic4217]

I ain’t sticking around long enough to find out what they do to Glynda and neither should you

[@khomozhea5216]

i am worry of the things you would do if a disaster happens. actually i am worried of the things you wouldn't do.

[@vinny_s]

@@khomozhea5216 I would simply sleep tbvh

[@tevineleven11]

I've known about Rooster teeth for YEARS and i have never heard of the Strangerhood before in my entire life

[@my_artflare]

52:07 LMAOOO I love this part “Okay smarty pants. I got my degree. It fell down” 🤣💀

[@lanecarter0]

Plot Twist: Penny is coming back a third time

[@goldpharaoh9203]

honestly critter wasn't even saying all negativity in volume 8 she liked some of the episodes even cinder backstory

[@lafirecracker3249]

I remember that at first I thought Neo could talk but just didn't (you know the 'cool silent one'). But then when it became known to me that she was actually mute, I thought that was cool. It would also force the writers to have to do more show don't tell.(You know, the thing they hate doing.) So the idea that that cool aspect about her needs to go away when it's never even been shown that she has any resentment for the fact that she can't talk is stupid. Sure it's a disability and can make things hard but she has powered through it and that makes her seem empowering. Making it 'easier' by giving her her voice back would take away the notion to viewers(especially young ones) with disabilities that even with those hardships, you don't have to feel like you need to be fixed. You live slightly different that others, but you're still you. And you c an make it by being just you. And that's what important. So please writers, for the love of God do NOT 'fix' her muteness.

[@princesssparrow4530]

There are fans who are really overprotective about RWBY while I'm just sitting here like " YeeeeeSssssssss tear it to Ssshreeeeds!!"