Tag Archives: Qrow

Ranking all of the RWBY Episode 3s

Posted on by
Reply

It’s time for episode 3 as I continue this journey down memory lane with comparing each volume. By episode 3 it’s still more of a toss up on if the season’s going to have its next big action moment or if it will be more set up. Which volumes will come out on top and which will fall short? It’s time to find out!

9. Volume 2

Volume 2 has the team splitting up to check on different things as they approach the White Fang issue. It’s always nice to see them all working as a team like this and as always Sun is a great character. He just dove in and inserted himself and Neptune into the team mission and made it look easy. The guy is made of confidence and you love to see it. In the subplot we got more hints that Penny was a robot as she stopped the car although in universe she probably could have just played it off as a super strength semblance and everyone would believe her. No reason not too right? Weiss and her family drama is also set up a bit more here since she doesn’t want to talk to her father. A lot of setup going on and it’s a solid episode but would quickly be overshadowed by volume 3 the next year.

8. Volume 5

This was the episode where Volume 5’s pacing really started to slow down a bit. We got updates on the various plots but because of that there wasn’t a whole lot to all of them. In Ruby’s plot we had Ozpin decide to teach Ruby how to fight in hand to hand (I never bought that Ruby couldn’t fight tbh), for Blake she tried convincing the Faunus to fight back against the White Fang, but I can see why they weren’t on board. Sure the White Fang are evil but infighting among themselves would leave them wide open to attack from the humans. This was definitely a setup chapter but it was nice to see the Weiss plot. Her figuring out a way to escape was a great way to end things off.

7. Volume 1

Volume 1 is mainly still setting up the big forest fights here as the group actually begins the test. We get a lot of fun scenes to introduce the various characters like Nora and Ren while also giving Pyrrha some more screen time. This is definitely more of a character building episode and the humor from this era is still unmatched. I always did wonder where Ruby just vanished off to during the forest though. If she went off to fight it must have been really far away since Weiss couldn’t hear her at all. The place just went dead silent.

6. Volume 4

Volume 4 is a lot more low key which makes sense as that volume took this approach for the most part. In Yang’s plot she is still trying to cope with just having one arm now and it’s been a tough adjustment. Her trauma over losing to Adam is still raging strong as well. Meanwhile Blake gets her first fight as a giant serpent Grimm appears and Sun helps her out. Unfortunately this would be the beginning of the end for her character as she went from being very brave and ready to fight in the first 3 volumes to someone who was running away from fights here. She also seemed to get a lot weaker so don’t expect a lot of big wins for her in this volume. As it is the serpent Grimm seemed to have the edge for most of the fight. The actual fight is one of my least favorite fights in the series (Something had to be right?), there’s a lot of jumping around but it felt like very little actual fighting. Still reasonable but the fight doesn’t elevate the episode quite as much as you would expect. It’s still the best subplot in the episode though.

5. Volume 6

This was a really important chapter because we finally got the origin of Salem. Now this one was a doozy. I also blame Ozpin quite a lot here. I’m always harsh on the old guy but seriously, he really didn’t do anything to slow down Salem’s descent into madness. When she uses her powers recklessly he should have tried to talk her down or talk things over rationally. Instead he tries to run off with her kids in the middle of the night? No….that’s not a good idea at all. Additionally both of the gods just seem cruel (which is not surprising) so I can see why Salem wants to take them out. Ozpin deciding to avoid them is another option I suppose but yeah this episode wasn’t flattering for him. Still, it was a lot of fun because I’d been waiting for the origin story for a very long time.

4. Ice Queendom

Naturally Ice Queendom has a lot going on here as it wraps volume 1 up but makes the very unfortunate choice of cutting out the fight at the docks. I think they definitely should have kept that in but at least we did get the fight between Weiss and the Grimm which was really solid. The animation really shone during that part and this episode had a lot of good development for the characters. The cliffhanger was also really epic. We’re getting into the original plot now so I’m definitely hyped to see how that plays out. Ice Queendom is off to a fast start and has been keeping up rather well so far.

3. Volume 8

The AceOps got their big rematch here after being absolutely dominated by Team RWBY. I don’t buy their excuse about holding back to be honest but it’s still good to see them using more teamwork here. They were actually overwhelming Penny who is a maiden so that’s fairly impressive. Penny didn’t look great here but that’s how it goes. Nora also had her best moment in quite a while here as she handled the electric entrance. With a good amount of action this was definitely going to be a high ranking episode. You can see how Volume 8 started off really strong already.

2. Volume 7

This time we get to really see the AceOps in action. I do think the team is rough even if I always thought Team RWBY was stronger. We got to see their updated landing strategies as well and had some fun fights in the caves. There weren’t a lot of stakes here or anything but it was still nice to see the team all get to take down some Grimm. With all the big plots going on you sometimes just want to see them being Huntresses and taking these monsters down. They also start to feel some guilt over lying to Ironwood the whole time which is really good. They should be feeling bad about that since so far he’s been doing a good job. I would say it was clear from this episode that they were setting up an eventual fight though and we’ll talk more about that in a future episode!

1. Volume 3

Volume 3 jumps us right into the mix as Qrow takes on Winter. Still a great way to introduce us to the power levels of an adult huntsman. Ultimately Qrow would end up getting nerfed in the future but I still appreciated seeing the power gap right now. The music was on point and it was a great spectacle. Meanwhile we also got to see Cinder making her first move in rigging the tournament match as well as Ironwood have a chat with the other characters. His moves seem reasonable considering that Ozpin never seems to want to really have a conversation here. He thinks that Ironwood should not have brought his army but doesn’t say much to really make his case. To make this more convincing we would need some more good reasons since under Ozpin’s eye the villains have already infiltrated anyway. Qrow and Winter’s rivalry in addition to the fight easily makes this the best episode 3 of the bunch.

Well, I guess volume 3 has done it again. This was such a strong episode 3 and it reminds me why the volume had the best pacing. Something was always happening here to keep you excited. The other volumes will start to make some more competition for it as the volumes go on though because all of them tend to have great climaxes and the length varies so there should be a good amount of back and forth. Now the wait begins for the episode 4 comparisons!

Top 10 RWBY Characters

Posted on by
3

All right, it’s time to head back into the world of RWBY as I look at the top 10 characters in the series. There are a lot of quality characters and I’m sure that the list will continue to change and evolve as more volumes come out. 5 volumes is a good amount of content to make such a list though so here is how it is right now.

1. Mercury

I liked this character as soon as he showed up. His hairstyle and personality is very similar to Sasuke from Naruto. At this point we had already had quite a few villains, but none with the smug and confident nature of Mercury. His fight with Yang also showed just how skilled he was and solidified him as a true threat to any hunter or huntress. Unfortunately he hasn’t gotten a whole lot to do as of late but he is a villain that just hits all of the right notes. At most he just doesn’t make for a very convincing hero but that is probably low on his list of priorities.

2. Adam

This guy was pretty cool as soon as he showed up in the Black trailer. He was an experienced veteran whose abilities were even higher than those of the main characters. He’s also a villain who is fighting for a good cause. It doesn’t justify his actions but at least I can understand his motivation and why he feels like he had to succeed. Volume 5 didn’t really seem to understand this all that well as Blake became more of a priority for him. Still, at his core he is just a man trying to fight for equality by destroying everyone who stands in his way. Taking down Yang in a single hit was an insane feat and he is a character who just seems untouchable. Next to the 4 Maidens he is very likely the strongest character in the series. He is definitely a divisive one in the series but I dare say that he might have the strongest drive. Whenever he shows up you know that it’s bad news for the heroes.

3. Yang

At 3rd we have the best hero, Yang. As early as the Yellow trailer is was clear that she was going to be the best of the main 4. She is very confident and always eager for a fight. Her hand to hand combat skills is a nice way to make her unique from the others. Yang did lose her fighting spirit for a while during volume 4 which threatened to hurt the character a bit but she recovered for volume 5 and quickly got back to acting like her usual self. It is a shame that she lost her arm as the robotic one just isn’t as fun but I am eager to see Yang get a proper rematch with Mercury. She didn’t seem to be doing too well in the recent bout but it was hardly a fair 1 vs 1 fight.

4. Raven

Out of all the characters in the series Raven likely has the best debut of them all. Saving Yang just in the nick of time from Neo was pretty hype. Still, it wasn’t until volume 5 that Raven really came into her own as a great character. We got to see her as a master strategist and as a wild card who was dangerous to both sides. Obtaining the Maiden’s power and then keeping it quiet was genius. Honestly her plan would have been flawless if she has attacked Cinder right away in the vault as she would have gotten away with Vernal scot free. I am looking forward to what I feel is an inevitable confrontation with Salem although admittedly her odds don’t look great for winning such a fight. Raven has a lot of experience with her abilities though so if any maiden can beat her it would be Raven.

5. Torchwick

Torchwick isn’t one of the strongest villains at this point as he has long since been surpassed but his charisma is certainly one of a kind. He delivers a lot of clever dialogue whenever he is on screen and the fact that he can fight so well without aura is also really impressive. He was able to defeat Blake and Ruby while also proving to be an even match for Sun. It’s a shame that he didn’t stick around a little longer because maybe he could still hold his own with some of the heavy hitters. RWBY originally started out with a lot of humor to complement the action and Torchwick is a large part of why it worked so well.

6. Cinder

Cinder has really been the main villain of the RWBY series. Until volume 3 she seemed to be the leader of the villains. While we eventually found out that she had a leader, it didn’t change the fact that Cinder got the most screen time. As with Yang she took volume 4 to recover and came back better than ever in volume 5. Her vendetta against Cinder has caused her to be a little more aggressive and unhinged as of late but having half of your face burned off will do that. Cinder is probably the smartest character in the series and even before her Maiden abilities she was a considerable threat. Her presence will be missed in the future but at the same time I do think that her character arc had a perfect ending. Naturally if they decide to bring her back which is fairly likely I would have no qualms with that.

7. Neo

Neo is a relatively minor villain who instantly became a fan favorite during her fight with Yang. Her character is pretty unique as she can’t speak so her fighting style and facial expressions have to be used to decipher her character. She goes into action only on special occasions when she is trying to prevent the heroes from reaching an objective. Given how she effortlessly defeated Yang it’s clear that her abilities are at a very high level. As she is still alive I am hoping that she finally gets a big fight in volume 6.

8. Qrow

Qrow is definitely a fun character to have around who is a big contrast to the rest of the heroes. He is often very sarcastic to everyone and openly critical of any hero who isn’t Ozpin. There was a time where he was my favorite RWBY character but the days of him being a great solo act appear to be over. He’s turned into a bit of a yes man for Oz and has also been severely nerfed in the process. Nevertheless I won’t forget his great volume 3 debut where he fought Winter. Seeing a competent huntsman is also nice since half the time you wonder how useful the grownups really are.

9. Pyrrha

Pyrrha is a genius fighter and a true prodigy. Despite this, she surprisingly wasn’t cocky or super aggressive the way you would expect her to be. Instead she is one of the nicest characters in the series and has a great character arc. Pyrrha is definitely the most interesting character of team JNPR and made their plot a lot more interesting. While her odds of returning to the main cast get slimmer with every season, there is certainly always the chance that she will return. Her magnetic abilities served her well and I believe she would still be a threat to many of the current villains. Her abilities were ahead of their time.

10. Weiss

Finally we have Weiss. She started out as a very antagonistic character who was really critical of Ruby but gradually became one of her most loyal supporters. She’s had a lot of character development throughout the series and may be the most mature member of the group at this point. Even when she was out of practice Weiss was able to put up a bit of a fight against Vernal. Honestly I think she should have been able to win that fight but depending on what metrics you look at it may have been over 6 months since she had last fought a real opponent and Weiss had no time to train during that gap either. That really didn’t put her in top form for the fight. With her special rapier, Weiss always has the potential to become the strongest member of Team RWBY.

So that’s my list of the Top 10 RWBY characters. There are quite a lot of villains on that list but the balance between light and dark isn’t too skewed. (6-4 is pretty equal) The series does a great job of developing both sides and many characters in this list aren’t separated by all that much which is why the placements in the list tend to swap a lot. For example the gap between 4 and 7 is very small and that’s a big chunk of the list. At least now when someone asks who my favorite RWBY hero and villain is I will be able to quickly respond or take a peak at this list.