Volume 3 Chapter 4 Quick Review

Welp, that was awesome. 

I was not expecting that level of badassery from Mercury and Emerald, but I'm glad I got to see it. And, next week should straight up be an new episode, which is always nice.

Animation: 

As I just said. Merc and Emerald. These two showed that they were most certainly a force to be reckoned with, and I hope to see more from the and Cinder in the future. The fight was extremely smooth and well paced.

I think Mercury's animations deserve a particular shout out for, well, everything about them. His break-dancing style has been carried over from volume 2 perfectly. I also liked seeing Yatsuhashi show a lot of skill when using his sword. The various other moments in the fight were just as impressive.

Aside from the fight, we had the artsy flashback with Qrow, which was a pleasant surprise. It was nice to see a lot of focus being put into the Schnee Glyphs, as well as Winter's summoned Grimm (which also mean that the "birds" she summoned against Qrow will have actually been small Nevermores). Other than that, the remainder of the episode was on par with the rest of the volume - ie. very good. 

Dialogue:

Unexpected feels from Qrow were unexpected. As were unexpected feels from Winter. However, they also showed that there is still a lot that has yet to happen, and that the possibility of RWBY continuing after the teams have graduated is ever present.

We also got to hear a bit more of how Weiss and Winter view their father. It seems that although neither of them are particularly fond of him, they don't outright despise him. It was also nice to hear the conversations between the two of them, as well as the one between Qrow, Yang and Ruby. It's clear where the members of RWBY got their personalities from.

In terms of voice acting, we got to finally hear Yatsuhashi's voice. Although it was voiced by Joe MacDonald instead of Grey, it still sounded suspiciously similar to the White Fang Lieutenant's :P Other than that, there's not much else to say.

Scenes:

So, during the fight we got to see some semblances. We definitely know now that Emerald's seems to be the ability to change her appearance to anyone else's. Mercury's could be to create those wind/ice (I couldn't tell which) energy attacks, although they could also be a type of ammo that he uses, as he does seem to fire them from his feet. In any case, the sound they made was awesome.

The arena showed that it didn't need to just be a two way split, meaning we may get to see all eight sections in use for the one on one fights.

We also had a quick glimpse of best gurl Raven, and had it confirmed that Qrow's team was team STRQ and was therefore led by Summer. We also got to see Yang's reaction to seeing her mother, which was hard to analyse.

Other than that, we were shown that Weiss has a lot left to learn, and may go on to become much more powerful. It was also ominously shown that when she was asked to summon an enemy, she began to conjure up at least the sword, of the metal armour she fought in the "White" trailer, making it all the more likely that she had to fight it as some form of test from her father. (Also, it must be said that the courtyard was very well designed)

Music:

Of course, we got the fight themes, which were all brilliant. There was also some reuse of old themes played in the more feelsy moments. Most noticeable of which was the re-edit of "Mirror, Mirror" played at the end of the episode.

Is Raven Evil? (Updated)

I feel that it's about time I re-edit my first ever post, seeing as I have had a lot more time to think about it, I can confidently say there was a lot more to this theory than I'd originally thought. So, I'm sorry if I repeat myself, but this is going to be a collection of thoughts that I both have and have not previously mentioned.

First things first, there is her semblance. We briefly see her use it when she scares Neo away from Yang. It appears to be the ability to create portals. On it's own, this doesn't mean a lot, but when you add in the fact that it has the same appearance as the glowing red orb in the openings. This red orb/energy thing also seems to be a pretty major antagonist towards RWBY and the gang, In each of the openings it shows their imminent downfall in some way or the other, and so when a character appears, showing great levels of power, as well as using this same power, I can't help but feel that she's going to cause trouble for the good guys.

This orb also is shown to attack RWBY whilst they fend off an army of Grimm. This would imply that Raven could do the exact same thing. In the second opening, it seems to replace the moon, and cause the entire world to crumble away. As this happens, team RWBY seems to glow, and are the one thing that doesn't disappear. All of this could easily be ominous foreshadowing for Raven to be the villain that destroys everything, leaving RWBY as the only hope to beat her. Finally, in the third opening, it is shown again, directly after we see the picture of Raven when she presumably wasn't an evil badass. The orb directly leads on to team RWBY and team JNPR falling from the sky in a very "We're doomed" kind of way. So even if Raven has nothing to do with the orb (which I personally don't think is the case), this orb is still likely to be related to the main threat of the series in some way. It should also be noted that in the third opening, the orb seems to come from Qrow's weapon, which I'll discuss in the next point.

Now, another thing that seems to show her evilness is Adam. Firstly, their appearance and skills. Adam uses iaido, a combat style designed for the katana that involves striking with the same movement that you use to unsheathe you weapon. From what we saw of Raven's style when she attacked Neo, we can assume that she uses the same style. This implies that Adam probably learnt his skills from Raven. Taking into account the fact that it seems like Adam was not trained at any academy, this makes more sense. Additionally, they both use a red bladed katana style weapon (Raven technically uses a nodachi when it fully extends, but meh, they'e the same thing, just one's bigger). In terms of appearance, they both wear a lot of red and black, and in a Shihakusho style. Additionally, Adam has a red rose on his back, a symbol used by Ruby and Summer, both of whom know Raven well. This was also apparently intended by Monty as Adam's original character design did not feature this, showing that they changed it in order to make the two match.

Next is their Grimm masks. From what we've been told, Adam seemed to wear a mask to show how the world had made monsters out of the faunus, yet this doesn't explain why Raven wears one. The only explanations I have is that either she secretly has bunny ears, or that she is in some way linked directly with the Grimm. Seeing as she doesn't seem to have aged since she disappeared, she could well have absorbed some kind of power from the big bad orb, thus giving her immortality and a load of powers we don't even know about.

The reason I suggest that she may have absorbed power, is also because of Adam. Well, Adam, and maybe his family. In a previous post, someone suggested that Adam could be Qrow's son. This got me thinking about the subject, and, well it actually makes quite a lot of sense. They both have a very similar hair style (especially when Qrow moves his hair back), but more importantly, they seem to have very similar semblances. There is a lot pointing towards Qrow's being absorption of energy, and physical attacks. Yang, as his niece, seems to be able to absorb physical attacks, and from the "Black" trailer, it seems that Adam can absorb energy attacks. This definitely points towards Adam being at least related to Qrow. Now, as Raven is Qrow's sister, we can also assume that she has an absorption based semblance as well. This also implies that Qrow could be working with Raven as, well, they're brother and sister. Therefore, it doesn't seem too much of a stretch to say that Raven could have absorbed the darkness that creates the Grimm, or something along those lines. In any case, she may well have absorbed the orb from the openings, and in doing so, become an immortal Grimm/human badass who goes around doing whatever she wants.

Seeing as Adam has a lot in common with Raven, I'm fairly sure that there is a definite link between the two, and if Raven has a link with Adam, whom has been shown to be a vengeful, angry monster, it's safe to say, Raven may not be perfectly good either. If Adam is Qrow's son, (or Raven's as this works too), then it would also add a lot of drama as Yang would be his half sister, and RWBY seems to love drama.

Speaking of Yang - Raven saved her life on the train. Now this may seem to point towards Raven being a heroine and not the villain. However, it is not uncommon for villains to have some slither of good within them, and seeing as Raven used to be praised as a legend when she was part of Qrow's team, she clearly had a lot of compassion. It only makes sense that she would therefore protect her daughter. Fending off Neo was likely to show Neo that she was crossing a line by trying to kill Yang. Although we don't know much about Raven's abilities, it's safe to say that she could have killed Neo if she wanted, yet instead she let her go.

It should also be noted that she saves Yang on a White Fang train. Although she can teleport, it would make sense that Raven knew about the train if she could accurately make a portal into one of its moving carriages perfectly in time to save Yang. This makes me suspicious as to whether or not she just happened to know about a train that have adopted her fashion sense and are lead by a man who seems to be directly linked to her.

This next thought is very far fetched, but I thought I could still put it out there. When Raven first looks at Neo, you see her blink. Now this could be her blinking to show that she was not happy with Neo (which is a common feature in animes), or it could have been there to show that she had red eyes behind the mask as it was quite difficult to tell. However, when she first blinks, you only see one eye close. This could be due to angles, or it could have been Raven subtly winking to Neo to tell her to leave. I know this one's probably not true in the slightest but hey.

Back to Yang. There is something that seems to be too detailed to be a coincidence, and this is Raven's similar appearance to Yang. Not only to they have almost the exact same face shape, but Raven also wears very similar clothes to Yang, save them being more Japanese, and Grimm related. This implies to me that they could quite literally be Yin and Yang. Seeing as Yang has a lot of good, yet also has her moments of cruelty, it could be suggested that Raven is evil, with only moments of good.

Due to the music and visual effects used when Raven removes her mask in front of Yang, I believe that it may not have happened yet, and may later occur in a dream, or during some kind of freeze-time ability that Raven has. This is also shown by the fact that Yang has shown no signs of meeting her long lost mother this season. Raven could be contacting Yang in order to try and convince her to join the bad guys. Yang's eyes turn red when they meet Raven's, this suggests that she is angry with her mother (for good reason). However, it would also be expected that Yang would be at least slightly happy for having her questions answered, instead she seems to look at Raven with rage. This could imply that Raven has just done something terrible, then trapped Yang inside some sort of dream/freeze-time state so that they can talk.

Yang's answered questions also brings me onto my next, albeit quite short point. This is one I didn't think of, but was noticed by another member of the RT site. They pointed out that when Yang went to Raven's cabin, they found Grimm. This could just have been a coincidence, but seeing as Raven seems to have several links to the Grimm, this seemed a bit suspicious. Especially so when Qrow appeared to save them.

As someone who has been searching for and fighting the enemy that "no one knows about", it's hard to imagine that he happened to take a break from this to walk along and find his sister's cabin where his nieces just were wandering to. I personally think that this scene suggests that Raven is the villain, and she had left Grimm in her cabin to stop Qrow, who is hunting her, from catching her.

Finally, I just have some various other comments. Firstly, Qrow suggests that Torchwick was the one head of a King Taijitu (presumably the white one from his attire), and that Cinder was the black head. Just as a thought, what if these Grimm connotations didn't only apply to Torchwick and Cinder, but the other villains as well. If this was the case, then Adam and Raven already have masks to suggest which ones they represent, and Raven's is the Nevermore - something that has been shown to be far more dangerous than a King Taijitu.

Additionally, the music that plays whenever Raven appears isn't exactly what you would call heroic. The use of minor notes, and certain crescendos and jarring notes (ooh look at me with my GCSE music) seems to imply that, well, she's more of an unstoppable force, than a loveable saviour.
One final point. Cinder appears after the end credits of volume one, revealing herself to be the "true villain". Raven also appears after the end credits, but of volume two... Hmm.

Anyway, this was both fun and tiring (I wrote more for this than I do for most school essays). Hopefully it all makes sense. This is probably the most effort I'll put into a post for a while :P

Now all I need to do is wait for Sod's Law to take effect and prove all of this wrong. Even if this does happen though, I think I'll just be happy to know that best gurl is getting more screen time.

Adam and Raven

So this was a quick thought I had - what if Raven and Adam were related? Or acquaintances/friends. I have several reasons for thinking this could be the case, and the first is of course, the masks. Both Raven and Adam wear distinctive Grimm masks. Although it has only been speculated as to why Raven wears the mask, Adam is probably the one who "had the idea" to give them all to the White Fang. This could mean that Adam was inspired to wear the Grimm mask and black clothes by Raven if he in some way idolized her, or was trained by her.

This brings me onto the next point - their combat style. Although we haven't seen enough of Raven in action to confirm as to whether or not she actually does use it, it seemed from her first attacks that she did. What she was using was iaido, the exact same katana centred style that Adam uses. In addition to the fact that Adam probably wasn't trained in an academy or everyone would know about him, then he could well have been trained by Raven.

Added to the fact that Raven's first appearance was on a White Fang train, she may well be linked to them in some way. This also supports the theory that Raven is evil, and anything that supports that is something I'm interested in.







I'm certain other people have had this idea (one person on RT's website beat me to it as I was typing this up!) but hey, the more theories people have about best grill the better :)

War in Remnant?

Very quick bit of food for thought here. So the newest World of Remnant reminded me of an idea I had had quite a while ago, and that was that War between the four kingdoms. This seems to have been hinted at throughout the World of Remnants. It has been said that the four continents will be safe from the Grimm as long as they stay united. This implies that Cinder may want to cause divisions between the kingdoms in order to start a war between the huntsmen and huntresses.

From what she has been doing so far, this could easily be her goal. This would lead the world into disarray and allow for the Grimm to easily destroy what is left. Ironwood and Atlas seem most likely to cause this issue with their military style set-up. With this in mind, a War could very well be started in this volume...

Qrow's Semblance

This is going to be a pretty quick theory and has probably already been thought of by many others. Anyway, Qrow's semblance has been something that I've been quite interested in working out. After Chapter 3 happened though, it seems that it may have been revealed. There are two times when Qrow shows signs of using an additional power. The first is where Winter punches him in the face, and his eye seems to glow red slightly, before he retaliates with an attack powerful enough to shatter the ground. This is obviously quite reminiscent of Yang's semblance. However, I'd always assumed that it was an unrelated animation effect to show that he was ready to retaliate (it's quite common in anime for people's eyes to glint with a bright colour for this kind of thing).

After this though, he also attacks Winter with a long range strike that seems to be made from the same energy as her glyph birds. This makes it very likely that Qrow's semblance is the ability to absorb attacks and counter-attack with them.

It's similar to his niece's except it's probably a bit more adaptable as he appears to be able to use the powers he is hit with against his enemy instead of just becoming stronger (as shown by the Winter counter-attack where he proved to be able to use this power to create an attack out of her own semblance). This means that he would be even tougher to deal with than Yang as her semblance isn't as well adapted for taking out enemies at long range, whereas with Qrow's, it doesn't matter how close or far you are, just know that if you attack him, you're going to be hit with the same force.

Is Ozpin Mercury's father?

So after thinking about Mercury's line: "Bad hair, used a scythe and smelled like my Dad after a long day" in description of Qrow. If you've seen any of my other posts, you'd know I'm pretty sure that there is a link between Qrow and Ozpin, even if it may just be similar personalities. Mercury saying that Qrow smelt like his Dad implies that he could tell that Qrow was similar to his father, and of course, the key candidate for someone being similar to Qrow is Ozpin.

Additionally, if Ozpin were Mercury's father, it would explain their similar appearance, and why Mercury joined Cinder. He clearly didn't like his father, and probably ran away from home at a young age. Grey hinted that we would get to see more about the villain's back stories, and right now this is the only lead we have for Mercury, so it makes sense. We also haven't heard Ozpin's last name. It was pointed out by Monty that his name didn't have anything to do with colour "for reasons". This of course could be because his name is Ozpin Black.


Update: It seems that several other people have had the same idea so hopefully this is theory may actually be right!

Volume 3 Chapter 3 Quick Review

So we got to see the newest episode this week. I'm expecting a World of Remnant next week, and I don't mind because this chapter was definitely enough to keep me happy for another two weeks.

Animation:

So, first up, we got to see a LOT today. A long episode, with an insane fight. So, I'll get this fight out of the way. It was awesome. I was worried that Qrow and Winter wouldn't prove that they really were legends in a world full of people who are already skilled to say the least, and I was able to put these worries to rest.

Not only was the choreography brilliant, but the pacing of the action was everything I could have asked for. Unlike some scenes in Red vs Blue Season 12, the speed of this fight was ridiculously fast, which is everything I could have wished for. Not to mention, the facial animations were still amongst the best we've seen in RWBY. It was clear that lots of effort had been put into everything, even the hologram of Vale and Beacon that was a pleasant surprise.

In terms of each of the individual character's movements, everyone had their own style. Qrow was sluggish when walking around, but showed similarities to Ruby's fighting style when in action, which was all spot on to what he should have been. Winter was a taller, less Ruby-influenced Weiss, and Weiss was Weiss. Ruby was just as energetic as she should have been (jumping onto Qrow's arm). This was even shown in characters who got a bit less screen time. The bad guys moved and had evil expressions. Glynda had some major sass in the way she walked and stood, and Ozpin was Ozpin. All around, very impressive.

Dialogue:

This revealed some interesting factors. First off, Ruby mimicking Winter and Weiss was fun, but more importantly, we got to see where Weiss learned her attitude from. Qrow was drunk and badass. You could pretty much use that as a description for any of his lines.

The dialogue began to get more interesting after the fight though. We were introduced to the inner circle. I'm not sure if we've met all its members, but I'll probably make a post on it when we find out more. However, it's what the inner circle was discussing that was most interesting. We were introduced to the fact that their is a person called "Autumn" with a particular condition, and that Cinder is probably to blame (see previous post). We learned that the enemy the inner circle is facing is probably much more dangerous than we realise, and that it may require all of Ironwood's forces if it is revealed.

Finally, Cinder and her friends got some more time. Mercury revealed his perception of his father, which seems to be bad. This will probably be revealed when we learn why he joined Cinder in the first place. Emerald didn't get to speak a lot, but Cinder had some interesting lines (see previous post). All in all, very intriguing.

Scenes:

Qrow vs Winter. asdasoidhs. It was good. Really good. The weapons were awesome, and we haven't even seen all they have to offer (I'm looking at you Qrow).
Other than that, we saw Ruby's affection for Qrow shining through, proving how much she looks up to him. In fact, everything Qrow did this episode was brilliant and thanks to him I'm no longer straight. Ozpin and Glynda made their return, alongside some other friendly faces we hadn't seen yet this volume. I also liked Mercury's expression upon seeing that Qrow was back. It showed that the villains had definitely had some history with our drunk badass. Beyond that, we got to see more from Cinder that I discussed in a previous post.

Music:

Pretty good. We got a nice mash up of themes, with a few extra motifs during the fight, alongside some electronic coolness. Around this, there were several other themes that definitely brought back memories of moments in previous seasons. Especially when we hadn't yet seen Qrow. Overall, very nice.

Black Queen

So Qrow confirmed that Cinder is the Queen that the inner circle has been fighting. What's more, it was suggested that she can do a lot more than just create glass weapons and burn stuff. Even after showing his utter badassery moments earlier, Qrow explained that the things that Cinder had made were pretty much fear incarnate.

This could mean that Cinder is the one creating Grimm. Or at least, designing new ones. As explained in the World of Remnant shorts, more and more kinds of Grimm are being found every day, and this could explain who is responsible. Her ability to weave dust embedded clothes in a very short time shows that she is probably some kind of artificer of sorts and can definitely create something that will cause the good guys trouble.

Additionally, we saw what her virus could do. She can control who fights who in the tournament, and clearly makes use of it. It also explains how she could say that she knew JNPR would beat BRNZ as she had planned it out that way. Unfortunately, this also means that we missed Penny and whoever her partner is vs CRDL. However, we now get Mercury and Emerald against CVFY, which should be good.

Upon mentioning that they had a new access point, it is also shown that this point was through Ironwood's profile. This could have been the goal of her infiltration of the tower, but I feel that this access may have been achieved later due to the work of either herself, Torchwick, or Neo off screen. And yes, Torchwick is a viable option as he definitely has some kind of trick up his sleeve, and manipulation from behind a cell door sounds like his kind of style.

Who is Autumn?

So we heard a new name today: Autumn. So the question is, who are they? Obviously I can't say anything for sure, but from what we've seen with the Branwen, a person's first and last name often share similarities. So it wouldn't be too far fetched to say that their surname is going to be similar, and there is a pretty major character who has a name to do with Autumn which is of course Cinder Fall.

I doubt that Cinder is working on the same side as Autumn, but I get the feeling that they are related. It would mean that Cinder could be the evil stepsister, or that Autumn is her adopted sibling whom her parents loved more etc. Either way, it seems all too suspicious that someone called "Fall" is to blame for someone called "Autumn's" condition without some form of relation.

Moving on to the condition itself. It's probably something to do with the Grimm as the inner circle made several references to the "true enemy" and right now, the Grimm are about as true as enemy as you could find.

I personally believe that Autumn's condition is similar to what caused Raven Branwen to become what she is today. An immortal Grimm/Human badass (see the post on it for more details). This would explain Raven's condition and her disappearance, and show that it can be spread.

I don't actually know who Autumn is, or their gender. My best guess would be that they are one of the other headmasters, or ex-headmasters as this seems like the type of person who would be in the inner circle.

Is Ozpin Jaune from the Future?

So I've seen a theory going around that Ozpin is Jaune from the future. This could be possible. In terms of appearance they have similarly shaped hair, with Ozpin's just being brushed in the opposite direction and some other minor differences. Additionally, Jaune is already one of the taller characters in the series, and with a few more years, he could easily reach his headmaster's height. Jaune's eyes could turn white and his eyes brown from excessive use of his power (like a certain Archer...)

In terms of ability, well we don't know about either of their semblances. Ozpin has been made especially mysterious in terms of being "more than just a man". The fact that it has been made clear that both of their powers are important, yet are purposefully being hidden, could show that they may be the same.

Finally, RWBY is based off of anime and uses many of its tropes. If you've seen Fate/Stay Night, then you'll be aware that its a series that has several things in common with RWBY. Even if it is just a coincidence, it is likely that Monty, Kerry and Miles will have seen some of the Fate series purely down to its popularity and animations. This means that they may be prone to taking a bit of inspiration from its main character, Shiro, who already has quite a lot in common with Jaune.

This was just a quick thought for you to mull over, and is riddled with problems, but has enough backing to be plausible.


Also, sorry about the delay, I'd been meaning to post some ideas after episode three, but forgot that the Extra Life stream was happening.

Qrow and Ozpin

Having thought about their similarities, and that we have yet to see either of their semblances, I began to think about them. Having thought of the idea that people could be semblances in other posts, it could be that Ozpin is Qrow's semblance. It would explain his lack of presence within Beacon, and his ability to randomly appear (such as walking up behind Ruby just after Weiss had been claiming he had made a mistake to her). As well as this, it would allow Qrow to do as he wished whilst having Ozpin watch over Beacon and his family, and why they are shown to often be in touch with one another.

As well as this, their symbols seem to hint at this. Qrow's symbol is basically Ozpins, but with a crow's wing, which pretty much follows the theory exactly. Additionally, Qrow's sword seems to have a striking clockwork resemblance to the tower in Beacon.

Finally, Ozpin has been shown to take a particular liking to Ruby and is especially protective of her. The issue with this theory is that he hasn't yet shown as much fondness towards Yang. The fact that Qrow trained Ruby to use a weapon similar to his own may suggest that he believes her to be the saviour against Cinder instead of Yang.

Just a thought, so don't take this one too seriously.

Is Neo Torchwick's Semblance?

So this one's just a bit of food for thought. The only reason behind why I suggest it is that Torchwick doesn't seem like to kind of guy who would happily be locked away in a high class military cell for  plan that as far as we are aware, he doesn't know. So it would make sense that he would be happy to do so if he in some way had eyes outside of the cell. Also, it has been sort of confirmed by Grey that he at least has a semblance.

Therefore I believe that Neo could either be a puppet of sorts, created by Roman as his semblance, or have some way of transmitting what she sees to Roman. There isn't much else to the plan so far, but I'll probably update this theory when more is found out about the two of them.

Fan Art - The Doodle Edition

One day. One day I'll be good enough. Until then, here are some doodles.

The Vytal Festival Arena - Biome Selection

This is something that I've only just realised and feel dumb for not picking up on it beforehand.

Basically, I've realised that in all cases so far, the Arena's biomes have been selected in order to best suit each team. This explained why the teams all seemed to have some form of unfair advantage, and balances out these advantages by giving them to both sides.

JNPR were given the storm biome, allowing Nora to use her semblance to the best of her abilities.
Meanwhile, Team BRNZ had the forest, allowing their sniper to use her weapon to great effect.

In the next fight, Team NDGO comment on the fact that the desert biome is the same as them fighting on their "home turf". With Team SSSN, it was slightly more difficult to see, but the water actually works to Neptune's advantage when it comes to his weapon (beating three members of NDGO in one go).

Finally, in the initial battle, it can be safe to assume that Team ABRN was given the fire biome to help with Reese Chloris' weapon. With Team RWBY, the ice biome allowed Weiss to do pretty much whatever she liked.

Hopefully, we'll get to see a lot more of this in the secondary rounds of the tournament. I would say the final round as well, but that's probably when Cinder's plan will begin.