Rwby

[LKK]

No matter what side of the issue you are on, personal attacks aren't going to win you any points and could win you some Infractions. So I would advise everyone to back off on the personal comments. ("You" is plural and includes just about everyone who has posted lately.)

[Mach56gs]

Thanks, LKK.

I feel that people are being carried away and forgetting that RWBY characters aren't exact reflections of our world. Yes in many cases this episode was a bit strange to comprehend but a suspension of disbelief is necessary in watching RWBY.

I think people are jumping the gun at criticizing Taiyang and need to understand that Yang's presentation isn't aligning with what watchers view as a person suffering from PTSD - it appears Yang is much more composed and seems to have been recovering long before the events of Vol 4.

So yeah - Yang's recovering. Recovery doesn't mean perfection or lack of trauma, but it does mean that she can take a joke and laugh. Let's not blind ourselves and latch on to tropes because I feel everyone was expecting so long, drawn out plot of Yang rediscovering her bravery and good humor, when it already seems that she's been doing that for the past 3 months.

Edit:

Which I think should make people excited. No mopey angst and us waiting for some dues ex machina scene or long winded cathartic session of re-discovery, instead we get to see her test her mettle and punch faces to find herself. The plot benefits from putting all of that slow-moving scenes in the timeskip. Of course we'll see some of this - that illustrates depth and continuity and helps tie Yang's character together, but it doesn't needlessly dominate her screentime.

[Harry Dresden]

I'd rather watch characterization and characters actually facing their problems than explosions though. I am not here for explosions.

Yang's self-worth issues and abandonment issues have always been the focus of her character arc. Just glancing over them with "she stronk and got back up" is a disservice to her character if that happens, to be honest. Also saying this needs "suspension of disbelief" is incorrect in a way - suspension of disbelief can be used for lore reasons or convenience. Not characterization. Because if one keeps using it for characterization the characters become unrecognizable, inhuman and unrelatable. Since all narrative is a way to progress characters that is the biggest sin in writing one can commit.

Volume 3 finale was the end of the first season. A lot of things happened. Just glancing over the consequences would be a disservice to the show overall so far.

[RDNexus]

Erm... You know RWBY has always been about action and crazy&cool stunts, right? So much it took them Season1&2 to actually start developing the plot properly.
There can some nice characterization, but I highly doubt RT is gonna put the action aside to spend time on angsty stuff. And this episode seems to show a bit of that.
But, hey, nobody is saying they'll stop hitting on Yang's problems. They may simply do it in some other way, during her recovery back to full spunk. Who knows?

[DMurphy]

In fairness, I think RWBY has always tried to balance 'character development' with 'crazy explosion hijinks' and 'mysterious plot shenanigans.'

I'd still say it's probably the wrong show to watch if you're not interested in crazy explosion hijinks, but I would also say that those three elements are roughly on equal footing.

[Harry Dresden]

RWBY is a smuch about crazy action as Korra is about "crazy bender battles".

Volume 1 had two fights. The rest was character development and build up.
Volume 2 had 3 fights. The rest was character development and build up.
Volume 3 was arguably most action heavy but even action was more about twists and turns and what happens than actual "fighting".

Claiming RWBY is only about action is frankly a disservice to the show. RWBY always had crazy things happening, but it has always put the characters first.

[Mach56gs]

While Dresden is right, its all about nuance.

Of course we have character development - problem is that there are 7 characters to develop and all have pretty important roles in the plot. We have to partition and be fair.

"Glossing over" Yang's initial recovery in the first few months after Vol 3 isn't so bad as long as we accurately portray her as she is ~6 months after - which is a woman recovering, not a woman in crisis. We'll see Yang kick but and struggle with her trauma, but what matters is that we're not going to see Yang completely immobilized by her PTSD. If we were to put ourselves in that narrative we'd have to go through 3 whole months of slow recovery - and remember it's just her and Tai. It'd get stale for watchers real quick.

So yes, I understand that the characters and their growth are important - but we have to make it palpable - there is a lot of character development that is incredibly important, but also incredibly boring... Or just an incredible investment.

That's why time-skips exist, so we can jump forward and enjoy these new developments in character, but not necessarily have to go through the entire day-by-day, month-by-month progression that realistically occurs when characters mature.

...Did you really want an angsty Jaune Arc arc? xD (Along with Ren and Nora)

Chapter 4 was supposed to highlight this. Yang isn't completely broken - she's moving forward with resilience. She's taken another step, although the journey is far from over.

[Harry Dresden]

We already got "Angsty Jaune Arc" stuff. Arguably more than needed.

Its only fair to get development for the actual main characters(RWBY) whose character arcs have been developing through entire show.

[Mach56gs]

Originally Posted by Harry Dresden

We already got "Angsty Jaune Arc" stuff. Arguably more than needed.

Its only fair to get development for the actual main characters(RWBY) whose character arcs have been developing through entire show.

But operating in the period of Yang's initial recover would also mean that we would have to view everyone in the same period - otherwise the time-gap would be waaay too much.

[Harry Dresden]

Originally Posted by Mach56gs

But operating in the period of Yang's initial recover would also mean that we would have to view everyone in the same period - otherwise the time-gap would be waaay too much.

Thats why we got six month timeskip in between seasons. Still does not explain what happened this episode.

[Mach56gs]

Originally Posted by Harry Dresden

Thats why we got six month timeskip in between seasons. Still does not explain what happened this episode.

As I had said, it's nuance. There was a balance of negativity (nightmare sequences, blank emotionless stars, and brief moments of terror) with positivity.

Most people freak out over Tai but we've never seen him interact with Yang before other than Vol 4 Chapter 3. Think about that for a moment. We have no idea how their chemistry plays out as father-daughter.

Him jawing off to Yang and jokes-aplenty is probably how Yang became so bashful to begin with. Let's be real a bunch of her jokes did step on people's toes or often surprised people with how radical they were - it's not really surprising that she might have gotten that from her pappy.

The fact that Tai and Yang are comfortable enough to joke on the grittier side of things is a sign that their relationship isn't dead in the water and that Yang, while still having problems to solve, isn't as despondent as we saw her in the end of Vol 3.

[MeoTwister5]

Y'all need to chill.

[Raviel]

Well that didn't take long at all.

Anyway guys I guess you could say we're heavy-handed when they dealt with Yang's recovery.

...

I'm sorry I had to.


On a more serious note, I'm beginning to get this idea that Tai is actually the only one from from team STRQ that's out of the loop when it comes to what is going on behind the scenes.

Do we know how Summer died? Maybe she died running missions for Ozpin?

[~Yami~]

I got lots of weird vibes regarding the newest episode

Somehow I think Qrow, Raven, Summer, Taiyang are fighting Salem, where Summer ended up passed away
Raven looks like a stern girl that protecting her tribe closely, that makes me wonder what kind of incident that made someone like her and her brother to travel with Taiyang and Summer (and even become a mother of Taiyang's child! how did he seduce her?!)

I think Yang would make a trip to find her mother, to find out more about her inner power (I believe there is more than red-eyes-berserker power in Yang).
Meanwhile, Ozpin has become a wandering soul?

[The 48th Ronin]

So Ozpin is basically this show's Orochimaru (and Salem is Kaguya)?

[DMurphy]

-- Okay, after a very odd conversation elsewhere where someone decided to tell me about their RWBY otherkin thing, talking about Raven seems like a good palate cleanser.

We know that Raven left the team a while before Summer died, so I wonder if it was the birth of the Spring Maiden that prompted that. Spring does seem to be part of her tribe, if her and Qrow's conversation is anything to go by.

[Harry Dresden]

Originally Posted by DMurphy

We know that Raven left the team a while before Summer died, so I wonder if it was the birth of the Spring Maiden that prompted that. Spring does seem to be part of her tribe, if her and Qrow's conversation is anything to go by.

Unlikely. More than likely it has to do with something Ozpin did and Ozpin's side losing Raven's trust, essentially making her faction a third party. Summer's death was most likely the final straw in associating with them.

That's pretty much what her song, Sacrifice, seems to indicate.

Originally Posted by The 48th Ronin

So Ozpin is basically this show's Orochimaru

Most likely in more ghostly way but most likely yeah. An entity that takes over suitable hosts upon death. Like maiden powers do but this time with actual consciousness too.

[DMurphy]

Iii don't necessarily consider song lyrics to be particularly compelling evidence.

We know that Raven must have cut off content with them long, long before Summer died, though. When Yang's talking about it, she implies that Raven didn't so much break up with Taiyang as she did just vanish without a trace and without any warning, and if she was still in touch with Ozpin's group, I can't imagine that none of them would have told Taiyang what was going on.

What seems to have happened is that some time, probably not long after Yang's birth, Raven just very abruptly but very completely cut ties with everyone, apart from very occasionally talking to Qrow. Something must have happened to precipitate that, and it can't be Summer's death, because Summer was still alive afterwards to marry Taiyang, and give birth to Ruby.

Ruby seems to have known her mother, too, so Summer's death couldn't have happened until at least, what, five, six years after Raven left?

[Romanticide]

Originally Posted by DMurphy

Ruby seems to have known her mother, too, so Summer's death couldn't have happened until at least, what, five, six years after Raven left?

IIRC Summer died when Yang was probably around 6~8, and Ruby doesn't remember Summer at all. Ruby would have been around 4~6 at this time, and her memories of Summer would not have been concrete, due to how children develop memories that don't stick at that age.

[Fenrir_valindri]

I'm pretty sure she remembers Summer, you are doing a lot of assuming of Ruby/Yang's age when that happened.

Also, its not like you are mindwiped of memories from when you are that young, I remember several things from when I was that age, though obviously they aren't super clear due to the passage of time.