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Ranking all of the RWBY Episode 2s

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It’s time to rank all of the episode 2s! The episodes in general are shorter than the premieres so there is less opportunity for quite as much plot development and action but at the same time that means we can really judge how the series tries to follow up the big premiere. Do they go small scale and try for character development or blow it all up and go as big and bombastic as possible? IN general I’d say the series goes for the former and that definitely makes sense. It’s rare that you do back to back battle episodes like that.

9. Volume 4

It’s been a rough start for Volume 4 as it has to come in at the end here. Mainly that’s because not a whole lot happens in this episode. We get a lot of info-dump as we learn a bit more about Atlas and Ruby’s team visits a village that was destroyed by bandits. Not the most exciting episode 2 but it’s not irregular. It was nice to see Whitley being supportive to Weiss though. Low key he never seemed like a bad guy throughout the show and he went through a whole lot while she was gone. Everyone ditched him but he still warned her about Ironwood’s arrival and genuinely seemed to care so that was nice. I think he tends to get a bad rap. It’s also nice to see the seeds about Ironwood getting a little aggressive start here.

8. Volume 6

In this episode the gang catch Ozpin lying to them again as usual and so we get quite a few heated arguments here. It eventually even leads to the genie finally appearing and the cliffhanger lets us know that we’re about to learn the truth about Salem’s past. So it’s a very important episode but the main reason it’s low is because it’s all set up for more exposition. Build up for a fight can be pretty hype but build up for knowledge is less so since you wish they could just fit it all into one episode. Ozpin is always annoying with his secrets as well since you’d think he could trust them more at this point. He also just made a big mistake with Lionheart so you feel like he should probably own up to that a little more.

Instead he goes on the defensive side right away and it looks suspiciously like he was going to attack Ruby at the end. So all in all it is a very important episode to be sure and a very interesting one at that but without any real action it couldn’t quite keep up with the others. The Cinder subplot was very intense though and since the opening was already hinting at the fight with Neo coming up, that’s definitely something that everyone was looking forward too.

7. Volume 1

The original volume’s a bit low this time around but that’s because it’s more of a build up episode. Aside from being super short, we don’t even get to the first challenge yet. The episode is mainly about the main characters finally meeting up a bit. It’s got a lot of nice humor like Ruby and Weiss meeting up or Yang dashing off with her friends. Since Weiss would eventually mellow out, it’s always nice to see her during her mean phase where she and Ruby didn’t get along at all. The banter between them is always a lot of fun. The show has a lot of spirit at all times and it was a fun appearance for Jaune as well. He cements himself as the big comic relief character right away here and can’t keep up with the others. Little did anyone realize that he would eventually become one of the big characters.

6. Volume 2

Like Volume 1, Volume 2 has a lot of that classic humor that I enjoyed. If it’s one thing that RWBY hasn’t captured nearly as much since the old days, it’s that fun humor that it always had. The heroes playing that Yugioh homage game was a blast. They got the trap cards and everything. There aren’t any big fights this time around and it’s a short episode so it’s not going to rank too high but it’s still a pleasant watch. We also have Cinder and the gang infiltrating the school at the end which is a big deal.

We even get a brief Ironwood appearance where he tries to talk with Ozpin but that conversation doesn’t really go anywhere so he leaves. It feels like nobody really wants to have an actual conversation with him which is rough since it does seem like he is trying hard at this point in time. It was also nice to have the team get Blake to open up to them instead of flying solo again. Flying solo is always fun but since the rest of the group is ready to help out, there isn’t really a need for that.

5. Volume 8

This was a fairly somber episode as the heroes are still trying to pick up the pieces in Mantle. The hero groups are also split up since they have different approaches to things. While it’s mainly a low key episode, we do have a very intense climax with the new hybrid Grimm coming out. There were a lot of fun theories about this possibly being Summer or another old character back in the day because of how it could talk and strategize. It was a great way to end the episode even if I think that Yang and friends looked a little too weak now. I have a hard time believing that they would have so much trouble against a single Grimm, even if he does have intelligence. The fight did boost this episode above a few of the other episode 2’s.

4. Volume 7

In Volume 7 we finally got to go inside of Atlas and actually talk to Ironwood. This is definitely a very dialogue based episode but it was a super important one with the major players finally getting to decide what to do about Salem. As interesting as it is, it can also be a frustrating one though with the heroes lying to Ironwood at literally every turn. By this point there is no reason to think he would make the wrong move and moreover, I don’t think he would have gone down the wrong path. Ironwood’s big plan here is to let the world know about Salem and the heroes are absolutely appalled. (In volume 8 they end up going with his plan anyway)

This is before Ironwood went off the deep end and I was supporting him every step of the way right now. Look, Ozpin’s plan of keeping everything a secret just didn’t work and he ended up just putting everyone in danger. In just about every other series, letting the world know the truth is the good option and even here it would be in the next volume. If Ruby and friends had sat down with Ironwood and told him the truth of all that they learned then they all could have finally started to do something. They could have come up with a plan and I believe they also could have figured out a way to help Mantle as well. They just didn’t help Ironwood at all and ultimately that would come back to bite them.

3. Ice Queendom

Once again the quick pacing really helped this one jump up near the top. You could feel the budget already dropping from episode 1, however they quickly increased it again for the climax which I appreciated. The fight with the Nevermore was a lot of fun and it’s always nostalgic to see the group in the old days. The episode speeds through several from volume 1 and makes for a really satisfying watch. It still feels like a best hits montage but of course we’re getting closer to the original story so then we can see how that stacks up. Will Ice Queendom still be one of the best or will this be where it falters?

2. Volume 5

Volume 5 is rather high this time eh? Well, we get a good mix of plot and action this time around. Weiss got to fight the hornet queen which was a lot of fun with that epic song playing in the background. Things may not have gone well for pilot boi but he did good while he was around. We also got the really epic subplot with Adam finally taking control of the White Fang. This would be one of his last really hype moments before the series started to drop the ball with him. This was a great example of his strategic awareness and making everyone his pawns. Even Hazel from Salem’s cabal wasn’t able to keep him in check. His speed was also really good since Sienna Khna wasn’t able to stop him.

It was a natural progression for Adam’s character and a big part in why this episode was so good. He really made a name for himself here and I was super eager to see how things would play out. The cliffhanger was also massive with Raven finally appearing for the first time. That’s something everyone had been eagerly awaiting for a very long time and the appearance lived up to the hype.

1. Volume 3

Volume 3 is on top again eh? Well, it’s not too surprising as this is the tournament volume though so you can expect a whole lot of action. We get two tournament fights in this one with Jaune’s team first and then Sun’s team. The fights themselves are on the weaker side of Volume 3 and aren’t even taken as seriously but it’s still fun to see the characters fight. The team that fought Sun’s group even got to appear quite a bit in the novels so it was interesting to see them here even if they still feel like NPC’s. The fight choreography of the old volumes is always just so good! The new volumes eventually did manage to catch up but for the most part the other volumes don’t have big fights in volume 2. That should slowly start to change though and then I think you’re going to see more of a shake up in the rankings.

So that’s all of the episode 2s. We’ll see how the episode 3s go. As always it’s nice to see how the animation style and tone changes throughout the volumes. You can also try to see common elements or strategies in the episode 2s for each volume but as of now I wouldn’t say there’s much of a pattern. It makes sense since each volume is all so different and so it’s not like you can always call episode 2 the setup episode or anything like that. Some will jump straight into the fights while others go for a more emotional feel.

Ranking every RWBY premiere

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So we all know just how impressive the RWBY series is. It’s to the point where if someone asks you what the definition of peak fiction is….you’d show them an episode of the show. It’s that good and still reigns as the greatest show of all time. I figured it would be a good chance to try checking out every season premiere and rank them. I’ve thought about doing something like that for a long time but ultimately I just kept putting it off over and over again until now. I finally had the time to go in and watch all of these episodes. Below I’ll talk about each premiere and be they stack up against each other. Volume 3 may be my favorite season but it doesn’t necessarily mean it will win for the best premiere and that’s what makes everything pretty interesting here. So without further adieu, lets take a look at the rankings.

9. RWBY Volume 5

Volume 5 had less action than I remembered and by that I mean it had almost none. We get to see each member of Team RWBY in their various plots and the hype for this volume was that the group would finally be reunited. It had been a while after all so the build up had to be on point and the premiere does well with that. We see Weiss on her trip, Yang gathering intel, Blake preparing to make a stand, and Ruby getting to meet Lionheart.

Lionheart’s definitely not my favorite character to put it mildly so his scenes aren’t very interesting. The guy is nervous right out of the jump and the only time he talks tough is when he is trying to convince Qrow that everything is a bad idea. This premiere is really solid at the serious moments but can be a bit weaker than previous volumes on the humor side. Give me the bobble head RWBY scene over Yang bouncing the bandit across all the walls any time. It’s a solid premiere but not quite holding its own against any of the others.

8. RWBY Volume 7

Low ranking for volume 7 eh? Well, there’s not much action here either. We do get a brief skirmish with some Grimm and then the heroes are taken down by the AceOps. I was always a bit skeptical at how quickly they were taken out. Sure, it was a cheap shot but even taking that into account….I’m just a bit unsure about that. The humor also didn’t land quite as well as earlier volumes. I like Penny as a character quite a bit but her humor style doesn’t work as well.

Mostly this premiere was about seeing the tough state that Atlas was in and learning that maybe there is reason to doubt Ironwood. Granted, as a viewer I didn’t think so but you’re meant to be a bit wary at least. The place is under secure watch but given that the Grimm are around that makes sense. It’s an interesting premiere but for the first episode you usually want to start out with a bang and this one didn’t have that explosive impact.

7. RWBY Volume 4

Volume 4 is fairly low key on the action scenes as well. There is a fight as the heroes go up against a rock creature but the bulk of the episode is really about set up. We have the evil council meeting for the first time on screen so we get to see Salem’s cabal. That made for a pretty intense scene and of course it was a rough start for Cinder since she has lost her voice for a while by this point. Seeing her get picked on just feels so odd when usually she is the mastermind. Then you have the heroes having a little fun and stopping by a town.

It’s a very complete episode and fits in with the heavier focus on the story for the later volumes. That said, it still ends up being a weak premiere next to the other ones because it just isn’t as exciting. The rock fight just didn’t have the same energy or hype as the fights that came before it. I would say part of that is because as a rock giant it had no way to actually defend itself or fight back so the whole thing just didn’t feel very satisfying. Still nice to see the group work as a team of course and later on Volume 4 would go on to have one of the best team fights in the series against Tyrian.

6. RWBY Volume 8

Volume 8 has one of the more tense premieres but it’s also very light on action. There aren’t any big battles for the heroes as they’re starting to turn on each other and the pressures of protecting mantle are getting to them. The AceOps got whopped last time so they’re also still very sore about the whole thing. Clover only has himself to blame for being taken out but that’s just how it goes. The series decided to start making Ironwood more of an extreme villain in this episode by having him shoot someone which was also a bit on the weak side.

Still a very intense episode all around though. It has a lot of replay value that’s for sure. Ultimately for the heroes you’re rooting for them to save everyone but without a concrete plan to achieve this, it’s easy to see why a lot of the heroes were mixed on what to do. Salem really had the advantage here and her experience came in handy. If Ozpin had been more honest with the characters then things probably wouldn’t have gone this far.

5. RWBY Volume 2

Volume 2 brings in the famous food fight in the series. This one is talked about often and for good reason. It’s a really impressive group fight where everyone gets to have their moment to shine. It’s cool to see each character use their signature fighting style with the foods and they all have a moment to shine. Even though they are fighting for fun you can still gauge the power levels pretty well from this. For example, it’s clear that Yang and Pyrrha are a cut above the rest with how they handle themselves in this fight. Ruby probably gets the most surprising amount of hype given that she is able to effectively wipe out the whole team once she gets serious. To date it’s one of her most impressive feats.

The fight takes up most of the episode but we also have some fun humor moments here. Ruby trying to make things fun for the team as leader goes a long way and they all have some fun banter throughout. It keeps up that blend of humor and action that the series is so well known for. I’d also say the series was at its funniest during these opening volumes so this was really a solid premiere that could get anyone on board the RWBY train. Then there’s also the opening scene where Mercury and Emerald assassinate a bookstore owner for trying to leave Vale. It’s a fairly ominous moment all things considered and showed that the villains weren’t playing around. Bumping someone off in the opening episode already set the tone that things were going to be more dangerous in season 2.

4. RWBY Volume 6

Volume 6 really started off with a bang as it feels nice to have the full RWBY squad together again. They get to take on a bunch of Grimm to protect the train and it felt like the show was proving that the fight scenes were back on track. It definitely succeeded with this and that would continue to be the case as the fights in volume 6 were incredible. The enemies may have had no shot here but it was nice to see all of the teamwork and combos that we hadn’t gotten to see in a while.

This really ended up being one of the stronger premieres as a result and was an ideal way to start the season off. The song that plays during the fight (Miracle) was a blast and of course the opening was really good but that’s no surprise in the slightest. Volume 7 would have to work hard to surpass this one and it ultimately wasn’t up to the task.

3. RWBY Volume 1

RWBY’s first volume really starts off on a nostalgic note. I’ve seen Ruby take out those thugs many times in the past and the episode is a good way of introducing her character. She is clearly tough as she was able to take out the whole gang right off the bat and she even kept her composure enough to try and take some shots at Cinder and the ship in the end. The way the episode used the theme song as something Ruby was listening to was great as well.

The narration at the beginning gives the episode a very ominous feeling and the whole city seems rather shady as well. I’d say one of the advantages to the old animation style was that everything felt rather sinister so it was hard to know what was going to happen next. The fights are excellent here and the episode manages to cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time so I really don’t have many issues here. This will always hold up as one of the most important episodes for obvious reasons but also one that has a lot of replay value.

2. RWBY Ice Queendom

I thought about it for a while and figured I should add Ice Queendom into the mix. No, I’m not adding RWBY Chibi but this one works like a volume so it makes sense. It’s also so high quality that it more than holds its own against the numbered volumes. The visuals were fantastic and it definitely moves through a good amount of material by knocking out 2 of the specials and the first episode plus some material from a volume 4 special.

The fights look great as Ruby takes down some goons and Blake destroys a bunch of mechs. A lot of effort went into this one and at least at this point and time you can really feel the high budget effort behind this. I would also say it does work well as someone’s introduction to the series. You quickly get the plot and learn about the characters so that’s a win/win. I was quite satisfied here. If I am recommending someone to the series I would actually show them this episode first and then transition over to volume 1 from where this one left off. If episode 2 is as strong then I may do the same for that one.

1. RWBY Volume 3

Volume 3 will always be known as one of the all time RWBY greats because of how much action was in each episode and how memorable the whole thing was. There were high stakes and it felt like the story really began here. The lore started to kick in and we even learned the end game boss. That said, would the premiere already be starting things in the fast track? I would say yes. Starting off with the tournament underway is a great way to start a season. It’s also one of the very few times in the series where we actually get to see the team…fight as a team. Usually it’s just 2 of them or something like that so having a 4 on 4 fight was a lot of fun.

The animation is top tier of course and the music is really energetic so you can get right into the mix of things. We get the instructions breakdown from the announcers on how this will work out and we also get some more foreshadowing that Mercury and Emerald are going to be making a move soon. The heroes are really unaware of what’s going to go down and could say that the villains have a pretty big lead right now on the information side. So I guess volume 3 did end up winning after all.

The original volumes mainly seemed to be higher ranked here as they always started out with big fight scenes. Volumes 1-3 all had big fights, 4 had a brief one, 5 had none, 6 had a lot of action, then 7 had a quick fight and 8 went on empty. Ice Queendom had a ton of action which is a benefit of being so fast paced. It was pretty fun to revisit each of the opening episodes for the series. RWBY is always peak fiction after all and you can really see the animation, story, and tone change throughout the volumes.

After all, the list is fairly relative as I enjoyed all of the episodes but there are definitely ones that are clearly stronger or weaker. So what are your thoughts on each of the premieres? Leave them below and I’ll see you in the next rankings.

RWBY: Before the Dawn Review

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At long last I have finished the second RWBY novel and am one step closer to being caught up with the novels. It feels like a big accomplishment to me at least since I’ve had them checked out since forever. I thought this one improved upon the first book too. It expanded the cast so we got to see more of the classic characters and we also got more fights. That’s a win/win in my book.

In this adventure Team SSSN is not having a good time. The various members are upset at Sun for always ditching them to do his own thing. In particular Scarlet is super upset about this and keeps on taking shots at Sun. Meanwhile there are a lot of people vanishing from Vacuo so Team CFVY is on the case. They also have to find out more about the Crown, a mysterious villain group. Sun has been investigating the vanishings too so he volunteers his team to help….without telling them first. With all of the drama and disagreements that this team brings to the equation, should Coco even let them join in? Also, can they possibly save the world while they’re all fighting each other like this?

It felt like there was always a lot happening in this book which was nice. After all we have the vanishings going around, the Crown mind controlling people, and the school acting really shady. The Beacon students have even opened up a little counseling session where they all talk about how badly they feel. Now some characters like Sun take shots at this and have fun names for it like the Baby room but it was a nice bit of world building. We see how this move to Shade Academy has not been easy for them. Apparently they’ve even been excluded and bullied to an extent.

Now, when it comes to the counseling room I can see why Sun finds this to be a bad idea. The group all huddling together does seem like this will further widen the gap with the other students. At the same time, it seems like they wouldn’t be included either way so it gets tricky. I would say they don’t need this room to be honest. It doesn’t hurt anything but I’d probably be skipping to do more training and everything. Got to keep on getting stronger and stronger after all.

The school environment is something that does limit what the heroes can do for a while. Unfortunately they are still students so there isn’t a whole lot that they can do outside of the rules. They could try to escape but then they may have pro huntsmen after them. I’m sure the heroes could beat them up but after a point you start doing more good to the very people you are trying to protect. I was glad when the heroes finally make a stand but it certainly takes a while since the school is so bad most of the time. Forcing the heroes to change teams, not doing any investigating, etc.

Now, there are some twists and dynamics here but in the end I would not say that the school looked good. For example I did not like the principal Theodore all that much. Sure, he talked really tough and was ready to fight at all times but you have to do a whole lot more than that if you want to score a big win. When the going got tough and the villains attacked, he didn’t beat a single strong fighter. That’s a really bad look for a headmaster. He’s better than Lionheart but that’s really all that I can say for him here. Bravado without anything to back it up is basically pointless.

His secretary Rumpole also doesn’t look good. She’s at a high rank but doesn’t really know how to balance her time and lets her guard down too easily. She is skilled to be sure but ultimately tends to just get in the way the whole time. Some events later on help her make a bit of a recovery but ultimately she’s got some work to do for me to consider her to be a very strong character. Shade Academy loves to hype itself up as everyone in Vacuo is a resident tough guy but they don’t seem to be on the front lines when it counts.

As for Team CFVY, they are still the main characters even if they have to share with Sun’s team at times. So they get a lot to do and are reasonably solid. Coco has to go through a lot with her new team as not being the leader anymore is quite the experience. You can tell that she likes being leader and won’t take orders very well. She gets some solid fights here and ultimately takes control when necessary so I would give her a lot of credit here. She may not be my favorite RWBY character but I would say she did better here than in the first book.

Fox’s role is greatly reduced here but he still gets to have some action scenes here. Being blind is a great advantage in battles where everyone’s vision is gone due to the sandstorm always around. Fox ends up coming through for his team more than once so he’s still the MVP here. Without him the heroes would really be in trouble. He’s got more of a mean streak than the others and that’s always entertaining.

Velvet still has some issues with not being the leader and so she’s always trying to prove herself as a big fighter. Unfortunately this does lead to her being defeated multiple times but she does always get up. Velvet is a strong fighter after all so you won’t be keeping her down for very long. I’m glad about her enthusiasm but I would like to see her get a big win soon. In Volume 3 she was able to take down the Atlas robot because of how good her copy abilities were. She needs to tune into that and just take out her opponents.

Finally you have Yatsuhashi and he gets a big role here. After all, his ability to alter memories is really the perfect counter to mind control if you think about it. Just rewind to before they were controlled. It’s even easier in the book since just making contact with someone allows him to overwrite the control. He was definitely crucial here, no doubt about that. He’s often very quiet but I appreciate his loyalty towards helping Velvet. You can always count on him to show up.

As for Team SSSN, Sun gets a really big role here. As always he is dodging his responsibilities and tackling things solo the whole time. It’s always tended to work out for him like helping Blake and stopping Torchwick but his teammates still aren’t thrilled. This means he has no real time for them and doesn’t really want to talk about it either. Ultimately I was cool with that as Sun is more of a loner. He shouldn’t be the leader for sure but Ozpin’s the one who made that decision. I don’t think Sun would think twice about it if he was kicked out. He barely cared when they switched teams after all.

He ultimately still gets more done than the others because he is always running towards the action and doing his best to fight. What does hurt is that he looks so weak here. Remember that in the show he was overwhelming Torchwick who had been crushing Blake. Then he effortlessly defeated Ilya who had been going even with Blake. In the show Sun is shown to be a true powerhouse that people put on Yang’s level for a while there. In the book he looks like a complete weakling which also ends up making the rest of his moments look worse. That’s where the book made a mistake if you ask me. He should have been a lot more impressive and that would have helped make him more reasonable.

As for the other members, well Sage barely talks at all. You could write him out of the adventure entirely and barely notice the difference. He’s not happy about what Sun’s doing either but doesn’t really talk about it. Neptune’s with Scarlet on this but is more of a pushover so he just lets Sun toss him around. He has a sad moment where Team CFVY jumps him and then beats the poor guy up. Losing isn’t bad in itself but he was humiliated and threatened a lot. The guy even sold Sun out in the end. This book did not help Neptune’s case at all.

As for Scarlet, I thought he went out of his way to attack Sun a lot. He clearly took the whole thing the hardest so you do feel bad for him but he probably could have rebelled in a better way. I wouldn’t have minded seeing them fight, that could have been interesting. Ultimately Sun would usually let the insult slide though. Their dynamic should be interesting when they return in the show if there is still any tension between the characters.

As for the villains, there are two main ones here in Jax and Gillian. So Jax wants to rule Vacuo because he believes that it’s his birthright so he should rule over everyone. His semblance is pretty good since he can mind control people. He can’t fight very well directly though and that’s where his sister comes in. Gillian can use her abilities to drain someone’s aura or give it to someone else. So together they can mind control people and then give them extra abilities. With extra aura you remain invincible from opposing attacks for a longer period of time which is really handy. As a result they make for a very dynamic duo in combat here.

Gillian appears as the more reasonable character the whole time. Ultimately she will follow whatever Jax says but she knows when to run away. Then you have Jax who figures that he can just keep on fighting and lose like a hero but it’s far better to escape and fight another day than to just lose like that. He wasn’t the best villain but I did think that this plot made for a more urgent one than in the first book. After all this is a full invasion this time with a ton of villains taking part. It wasn’t just your average fight and it was also a good way to finish up the plotline with the characters wondering if they could have done more in the first invasion. This was their chance to save a kingdom instead of letting it fall. (Not that there’s more that they could have done the first time. They’re just really hard on themselves about it)

Aside from the two main villains you’ve also got Umber who was a solid foot soldier. Her ability to freeze her opponents in place was extremely handy. After all if you can’t move then you can’t fight back. There aren’t many fighters who have a semblance that can counter this. I assume if you are strong enough then you may be able to break free but there’s no guarantee.

Then you have the villains from the last book. Carmine is still running around and causing as much trouble as always. You have to respect her dedication here, she just never gives up and always looks good in a fight. She crushes Coco here and shows that she is one of the more versatile villains around. Bertilak shows up as well but since he was betrayed last time, he isn’t really doing very well when the heroes see him here. He never lost his confidence though and heads off for revenge so maybe he will appear again at some point. There’s certainly more that you can do with this guy.

Ultimately these two books may not have made Team CFVY jump up the charts all that much but it’s nice for their fans that they got these two adventures. Additionally, a lot of random students from the background got some roles here like Olivia. Good luck remembering all of their names but if they ever get big roles in the TV show, now you will have more context on their abilities and personalities which is always handy. It helps expand the universe which is always good. There was also just a lot of action in this book and I’m always up for that. Maybe one day we’ll get an animated adaption of the novels, that would certainly be cool.

Overall, Before the Dawn is a solid follow up to the first novel. It felt like every plot line was addressed and the characters are all in a better place now. They’ve finally been able to come to terms with everything that happened and got to hone their skills. Everyone should get along a lot better at Shade Academy now and they will be ready for the future adventures. I’m definitely ready for the third book now. It might be a little while before I get to check that one out since the library doesn’t have it yet but I’ll be waiting. I definitely recommend reading this one in the meantime.

Overall 7/10

RWBY: After the Fall Review

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I rented this book many months ago but it was hard to find the time to check it out. Well, I finally got to red the book and it’s always nice to have some more RWBY adventures. I’m personally not a big fan of Team CFVY, never have been since they got humiliated over in the tournament but I suppose this was the chance to explore their characters. They get a lot of development and we also get to see more of their abilities this time but I’m still not sold on any of the characters. I don’t think they’re ready to contend with the kind of threats that team RWBY goes after.

The main plot has the team heading over to the Vacquo desert after receiving a distress call. They save an old lady named Slate from a monster and then head into the village. The issue is that the Grimm keep on attacking the settlements. Peoples emotions are also going crazy for some reason and these events have been attributed to “Mood Bombs” The heroes have to figure out what is causing this to occur while also staying unified as a solid group. One of the more difficult aspects of this is that their teamwork has never been the greatest before now. Throw in their tempers and the mission will get a lot more dangerous.

Vacquo is a region that hasn’t gotten to appear much in the main series so this was also a chance for the book to flesh it out a bit. It’s also fitting because the next RWBY volume may be taking place there so the book is like a preview. We already know some of the lore like how most people don’t want to live here and everyone ends up being a loner but it’s good to see this place first hand. In the book we clearly see how the desert is super dangerous since there’s nowhere to hide when a Grimm inevitably shows up. Even without the mood bombs going off, you know that Grimm will eventually appear.

Between chapters the book will also give you some flashbacks for the characters. We see their point of view when they met up with the main cast in volume 2, their point of view during initiation from a year before volume 1, Velvet and Blake have a conversation on why Velvet’s always getting bullied, etc. They even helped out with the dance festival a bit. While you may just be waiting to get back to the main plot sometimes, it was nice seeing the familiar faces like Ruby and friends in the flashback so that part was nice.

The book’s a pretty decent length at close to 300 pages so there’s a lot that goes on here. There are quite a few new characters as well and the plot has a good amount of twists and turns. How good it is will depend on if you’re able to follow this team for a while. While I’m not the biggest fan, they did hold the book up well enough. We also get some quality fight scenes so that’s always fun.

As the leader a lot of responsibility is put onto Coco at all times which is part of the tension here. The other members aren’t always crazy about Coco giving out the shots and they aren’t afraid to say so. It’s also fair to say that she probably isn’t even the strongest member of the 4. I think that would have to go to Yatsuhashi. The others do need to realize that Coco was the best bet though as none of them would really fit in the leader role. Coco certainly makes her share of mistakes as things go on but all in all she tries her best and that’s what counts. Coco’s still learning and should get better as her adventures continue.

Then we have Velvet who is the nice member of the group but I’ve definitely got some more issues with her. Now, I cut everyone some slack on account of the mood bombs with how they attack each other but my issue with Velvet is that she’s too passive. For example, she actively allows herself to be bullied while at the school. Keep in mind that she could quite easily beat up just about any of the students who mess with her. We get a flashback where Blake has to step in and save Velvet, then Velvet still defends her inaction. She tries to say that it’s just easier to allow herself to be bullied so the bullies won’t go after anyone else. She also hopes to stop violence with peace.

Perhaps these are nice sentiments but it’s not the right way to go. Now, to an extent I think this is the novel trying to explain away the really early scene in the show where we see Velvet being bullied by the weak students at the class. I suspect this was before she was planned to be one of the year 2 powerhouses. So this is sort of an excuse for that scene but I would have just not acknowledged it. It exists though and the book double downs on it so Velvet ends up being the biggest pushover in the series. That’s not the kind of character I can get behind. Velvet really needs to toughen up and soon.

Then we have Fox and I didn’t even realize he was blind in the show. His role was extremely small though so I think that’s a fair reason for not noticing. The show delves into how tough it is to fight while blind and how he gets around it. His ability to use telepathy is certainly handy and by the end I would say he was the best character. He has a lot of witty dialogue and isn’t afraid to call the other characters out. By sensing his opponent’s position, he can get past his weakness of not being able to see. You feel like he had to put in a ton of work to get to where he is so that’s impressive.

Finally you have Yatsyhashi and his memory alteration ability. More specifically, he can cause you to forget things. It’s definitely a power that you have to use carefully as it can easily be something that villains end up using at will. His origin story is delved into here and we see that he did make a big mistake with it once. Now he is really cautious about using the power at all. Fortunately he is quite powerful even without that semblance so he is still able to protect his friends. He is also able to block the mood bomb far better than any of the other characters since he controls his emotions well.

So the characters have their moments and the only one I have significant issues with is Velvet. The other characters are decent but I just don’t find them too interesting even after reading the book. They get to clown on both Weiss and Ruby in the flashbacks to show why this team is so much better but of course I wasn’t buying that. If it was a fight then things would go pretty differently. Maybe they can finally get a role in the next show volume. Since these 4 are attending Shade Academy, you’d expect them to appear at least.

As for the antagonists, Bertilak and Carmine were both solid. They appear as corrupt Huntsman/Huntress at first and then continue to go downhill from there in terms of how they’re not exactly heroes. They have a bit of a good cop and bad cop routine going. Bertilak doesn’t give the main characters any respect and is always badmouthing them. Meanwhile you have Carmine who talks and acts really nice to the heroes but is still hanging out with Bertilak and not exactly going against him so….you have to keep that in mind. I imagine it is a tough situation for her as well but she could do more.

I did like these two characters though. Bertilak’s a tough fighter and he does have a lot of confidence in himself. It’s easy to see how he has survived so long in the world of Remnant. His fire semblance is also very handy in a fight. Carmine was good as well. Even if her pleasantness may not be genuine, she at least knows how to connect with the characters and get them to lower their guards. Her ability is also solid involving the wind. It’s hard to say what her semblance was exactly from the fight but it was definitely useful and a threat to the others right from the jump.

For the settlement characters there were 3 main ones. Slate was the unofficial leader and while she may be old, she does a good job of leading the troops and keeping morale high. That in itself is always a good trait for a leader. She was decent enough. Then there’s the old man Edward who used to be a tough fighter back in his day but he’s old now and his mind is slowly leaving him. This does make the situation rather difficult as he’ll randomly start walking away or zoning out. It’s certainly really frightening for his grandson Gus who isn’t sure how to really handle this. I wasn’t really a fan of both characters even if there’s not a whole lot they could have done to make things better. I do think their plan was not very good from the start though.

As a final note, we got to see Ozpin being shady as always. Calling in Velvet alone right after a heartbreaking mission where everyone died seemed rather harsh. This way she had nobody to rely on. Of course his reasoning was that he could definitely get an accurate story this time with no interference but the timing was rather abrupt. You also feel like Coco should have been called in as the leader instead. I was glad when the rest of the team burst in to protest against this.

Overall, After the Fall is a pretty good book. Alternating between flashbacks and the main story was a good way to give the characters a lot of development while also providing us with some action and real stakes in the present. Even if I would rather be reading about Ruby and friends, I understand the reasoning behind using these characters instead since it could be a very long time before they get the spotlight in the show if that ever even happens in the future. For all we know there just won’t be any time for that but I am hoping they could return for a fight. If you’ve only watched the show then their team has never beaten a real (Non-Grimm) opponent in the series which is unfortunate since they’re supposed to be one of the top teams around. I’ll definitely be reading the next book sooner than later.

Overall 7/10

RWBY Review

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RWBY may be the greatest TV show of all time but I hadn’t gotten around to checking out too many of its other media endeavors before now. I played a few of the games which were mostly all solid and have read the manga titles but not the comics yet. Well, it was time to check this one out from the library and it is definitely a fun read. It’s nice to see what the characters were up to around volumes 3-5 with a lot of stories spread in throughout different time frames. It’s a fun way to see more of Team RWBY.

So there are 14 issues in the comic, you’ve got the intro and epilogue, then each character gets 3 stories. The intro is really a quick catchup for people who may not be too familiar with the franchise. We get a recap of what happened in the first few volumes and where the characters are at currently. There’s not much to say about this story but I think it does cover all of the big events well enough where you should be able to follow along well enough.

The first RWBY story splits itself between present and past. It starts the collection off with a bang because it has my single favorite scene in the collection. In the present Ruby and team Jaune manage to defeat a bunch of Hollow wasps and we see how far she has come. It’s a good segment and I always like a good action scene. In the past segment Ruby is still torn up about losing Summer so Yang tries to cheer her up by lying about a lot of great things Summer has done.

It’s all well intentioned but the problem with stories that are fake is that it leads to Ruby being crushed when she finds this out. How does she find this out? Raven decided to fly over and start tearing these lies to shreds while also badmouthing Summer. This just comes out of nowhere to the point where it’s funny. It’s so exaggerated that you think Ruby is dreaming but it was all real. On a more serious note, it does show that Raven was watching over Yang at least to the point of being around the house on a regular basis which was cool. It adds a little development to their relationship and maybe Raven is more of a caring parent than she lets on.

The second Ruby story involves the team heading to a village that won’t let them in because the people believe that all huntsmen are evil after the events of volume 3. As a result they are isolated when fighting the grimm and it isn’t going well. Ruby and co. fend the grimm off and Ruby gives them a stern lecture. I remember her speech made a lot of waves because people said it was too harsh and seemed out of character. I think it seems harsh because of how the art makes Ruby look extremely angry at these people. The actual speech isn’t too bad, admittedly it is hard to picture Ruby lecturing them to this extent though. It’s another solid story though with good action and a realistic look at how some villages would have treated the heroes. It’s nice to see the call backs and references to volume 3 since the tournament was on tv so a lot of people would have seen it.

Ruby’s final story has her take a walk through a garden as she deals with all of the friends she has lost up til now. The bird gives her a pep talk and it all seems to just be an illusion caused by the magical garden. It’s the most low key of her stories. It’s a good way to wrap up her stories here and she had to deal with the feelings of loss at some point. It may not stand up to the other stories but it’s not really supposed to.

The first Yang story has her go help an old lady with her harden and other miscellaneous tasks. At first she resents this because she figures Tai only did this to patronize her. Later on she thinks that maybe there is a prize waiting for her and this was a test. Ultimately it was neither one of those things and Yang realizes that he is just treating her normally which is what she wanted. Yang may not look great here but she is coming off a traumatic incident so it makes sense. It’s low key but a decent story.

The second Yang story actually shows us the aftermath of Yang ditching Ruby in episode 2. It was nice to see Tai confront her about this because while it worked out and was more of a gag than anything else, it was a bit distressing for Ruby. The issue has Yang overcorrect the whole time by being really clingy to everyone until Blake helps to set her straight. It’s a fun issue and really shows how Yang can mean well and still go way too far the whole time. It’s probably the most light hearted comic in the bunch and fits her personality well.

The final Yang story has her thinking about the morals from the first two as she continues to search for Ruby and Raven. She’s confronted by a biker gang member which turns out to be a big mistake on his part. She beats him while also trying to teach him the lessons she learned but of course it’s hard to just get someone to learn that straight off the bat. It doesn’t work but the rest of the bandits know not to mess with her after that. It’s another fun story and while the bandit never stood a chance, it’s always fun to see Yang getting more wins.

The first Blake story deals with how she first met Adam…so you can probably sense some retroactive retcons coming in. Adam is one of those characters that is strongly disliked in universe as well as out of it. While he was a very nuanced character initially that is not the case in the present and this comic makes it seem like he was insane from the beginning. He cries and also revels in how many humans he murders. I’d say he was out of character the entire issue and it also makes Blake look worse because suddenly she knew he was crazy from the start but stayed with him anyway. This would have to be the weakest story in the collection because I have a hard time buying any of this. It’s nice to see more of Blake growing up since we don’t know as many details on her past but Adam just doesn’t seem consistent.

The second Blake story is about her finally confiding in her mother about why she was so nervous to come back home and how she ditched her friends. Her mom consoles her about this and reminds her that she’s always welcome there. It’s effectively an expansion to her coming home moments in the show. It’s a good emotional read but is probably the second weakest story in the bunch. What are the odds that Blake would have the weakest stories right? She’s always been my least favorite RWBY member (Although she started out great in the first two volumes) and her volume 4 plot didn’t help matters. I suppose even the comics couldn’t make this part more interesting.

The final Blake story has her and Sun save a group of travelers from some Grimm. That’s when she realizes that one family she recognizes from her days with Adam when he murdered one of them. She decides to come clean about this much to Sun’s horror and allows the mother a chance for revenge. The traveler decides not too since she doesn’t want to continue the cycle of violence. It’s another decent emotional story and I’d say it beats the first two. I do think Blake put herself in a tricky spot here since if the mom wanted vengeance then what? Blake has a lot of responsibilities at this point so she can’t just let herself die. Hopefully she would have split or volunteered to help out from time to time or something.

The first Weiss story takes place in early volume 1 as we see a bit of rivalry between her and Cardin. Cardin was basically insulting everyone as usual and showing off but this time he went after Weiss and she wasn’t having that. So she humiliates him in the next round and everyone is thrilled about it except for Blake who thinks it went too far. I was not on Blake’s side in this one though. Weiss didn’t cheat and simply beat Cardin. She used her abilities to trick him but it was all technique. I understand you don’t want to always go for revenge but Cardin really makes everyone’s lives miserable. Maybe he would think twice after this. It was super nostalgic seeing everyone back in their volume 1 costumes. I’d say this was one of the stronger stories.

The second Weiss story has her and Willow go on a hunt. It’s one of the rare times Weiss has to bond with her but then she gets stabbed in the back as Willow claims the credit. Willow’s personality here is certainly interesting. She is still drunk as always but instead of being hopeless she seems to have a very fake sense of happiness? Like she’s completely faking it but doing a decent job of it. I was not expecting her to betray Weiss like that either. It’s easy to see why Weiss does not trust her family at all after this. It was a good story as it leaves you just as confused as Weiss at why Willow acts the way that she does. Definitely makes for a toxic relationship.

The final Weiss story is one of the highlights of the collection. She decides to finally have a big act of defiance against the family before leaving and she does so by freeing a bunch of Faunus and animals from the estate. She even has to fight Willow to pull this off and naturally wins that battle. It was a good way to show how Weiss has developed and will defend herself now. She has come a very long way from her old self and the comic captures that. Seeing her summons in action is always cool.

The epilogue story is wholesome as we see each character gear up in the present and a few more moments from when they were kids. I think the scene of Willow finally standing up to Jacques may be a bit early since in the show she never takes a stand like that but the book probably wanted that to cinematically close out Weiss’ part. It’s not really a big deal either way and you close the book feeling good. It was a solid choice to end the collection with.

Really my only issue is that the artwork’s not very good and is even bad in some instances. Personally it just didn’t match the artstyle of the show very well and was going for more of a water paint kind of look that just isn’t as streamlined as it could have been otherwise. A smoother and more colorful artstyle would have been perfect for a RWBY adventure like this. It’s not awful or anything though with characters usually staying on model. The quality writing keeps this up anyway.

Overall, This was a fun collection. The scene with Raven badmouthing Summer has to stand out as the best in the whole thing. That was just a blast. The art may not really be my thing but the writing is solid enough where I can get past that. It’s just great to see the gang again and I look forward to checking out more RWBY comics in the future. There are a whole lot of stories you could tell in this universe that there wouldn’t be time to expand on in the show. Hopefully the franchise continues to expand.

Overall 7/10

RWBY Volume 8 Review

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It’s always great to have RWBY back in action because the world of entertainment just isn’t the same without it. RWBY is the greatest show of all time and Volume 8 continues to operate on that high level. The show just has the perfect blend of action, story, and excellent musical themes to accompany the scenes. Throughout the season it’s always fun to watch reactions and learn new things about the show through interviews and such. There’s just a lot to take in and you can bet like last year I’ll have a few editorials for the show up before the next volume ends. Lets dive into Volume 8 and what it added into the table. Keep in mind this review is meant to be read after you have seen the show as it will go into a detailed discussion of important plot details

The show starts off with the heroes still in a dangerous spot. They are currently on the run from Ironwood and the Aceop’s but ultimately they do have more leverage since Penny is now the Winter Maiden. Ironwood orders the heroes to give her back or he will be forced to take drastic measures. Meanwhile Salem has finally arrived and intends to destroy Atlas while obtaining the next relic which is the staff of creation. Team RWBY is also having some issues among their team with each person wanting to try a different plan. Ruby wants to go with Ironwood’s initial plan of getting Amity Tower up to try and contact people around the world to help out while Yang wants to prioritize saving Mantle first. They’ll need to split up which is dangerous.

Naturally quite a lot happens along the way from there. So lets take things one step at a time. The first half of the season deals a lot with a new villain called The Hound. It’s a powerful Grimm to be sure and it was really giving the heroes a hard time. It’s got a cool design and I like the concept behind it. I would argue that Team RWBY shouldn’t have had as much trouble with it as they did though or team Yang when the Hound embarrassed them in the first skirmish though. Ordinarily I’d expect Yang to have taken the creature out pretty quickly but they ended up freezing for a little too long. With this Hound out of the way I expect Salem to be bringing in more of them soon. Potentially at least different Hound variations for Summer and Hazel.

We also get Cinder’s backstory at long last. It’s a play on the Cinderella fairy tale but a much darker twist. Cinder was effectively a slave working for a rich family that would torment her with a shock collar for quite a while. Eventually she was able to harness her abilities and escape but not before having to murder a huntsman as well. It was a pretty intense origin story to be sure and had one of the most impressive tracks in the season. Interestingly that song is one that already existed as opposed to most RWBY songs debuting in the volume they appear in. Cinder’s backstory shows that she didn’t quite start out being as evil as she is now but that certainly escalated quickly.

Rhodes really helped push her to the next level here since he was very quick to attack her. I would have to put pretty much all of the blame from the origin story on him. He knew about all the crazy things that were being done to Cinder or at least it would be hard to miss since they spent so much time together. Additionally he was telling her to be careful and such so he had an idea that things were dangerous but he never tried to help her out. Escaping with her or something like that would have solved the issue but instead he just trained her and told her to wait a few years. Ultimately she did try to wait but one day the family caught her with the swords so she had no way out. He was also the first one to draw his weapons and prepare to attack after this.

In the current story Cinder’s certainly an absolute villain and an unrepentant one so since then she has clearly taken it to heart that she needs absolute power. We can see why she is always trying to get stronger now. Her role in this season is really good. While she does have a rep for taking quite a few losses over the years she has also earned quite a lot of great wins. Up until now she has beaten Pyrrha, Ozpin, Winter, Jaune, and a whole lot of other fighters. I would say that she has certainly earned the amount of hype that she has gotten and is still one of the best characters in the show.

Another big event in the season is Salem finally arriving. We are 8 volumes into the show so this was definitely a big deal. Everyone is always very afraid of Salem but we’ve always had to wonder exactly why. The Maidens are incredibly powerful after all. It was hinted that the reason everyone fears Salem is because she is immortal but would there be more to it than that? So far it doesn’t appear so. I would make the case that right now Salem really isn’t all that impressive. Of course she will have plenty of time to show off more of her abilities soon since I don’t see her going away anytime soon. I still think Cinder will ultimately be the one to take her down though in a big betrayal scene.

Salem dies here and we find out that she has been destroyed several times by Hazel. Due to her immortality she is able to regenerate pretty quickly though so it’s only a minor setback. She showed some decent speed in the fight before going down, but as of right now I would still take any of the Maidens over her in a fight. Salem’s a fun villain though. She may not be quite as interesting as Neo or Cinder but as an immortal leader of the Grimm it’s nice how she manipulates the other villains so well. She also got a pretty tragic backstory a while back so you can potentially see why she wants the relics. We don’t know for sure yet of course but in theory she will want to bring the gods back so she can try to wipe them out or so they can wipe out the planet.

This volume introduced some pretty interesting new angles since we now know what the staff of creation can do. It can create pretty much anything although at the expense of something else. So now you have to start asking yourself some questions because it seems like this could easily destroy Salem. Create a box filled with fire or holes where you can put weapons in and keep destroying her over and over again, have her fall into the endless void. Well, the void leads to another realm seemingly so that might not do the trick but if that place isn’t connected to the main world that would be interesting. Finally, just open one of the vaults, throw her in and then close it again. Presumably if she could open a vault then she wouldn’t be searching so hard for the Maidens. None of these plans would be all that easy but this is why Salem needs more than just immortality. To recover from her showing this volume she’s going to need to go all in during the next volume.

Ironwood gets a big role in this volume as you would expect. After all, in the last volume he and RWBY really differed on their approaches on how to do things. He even went as far as to shoot Ozpin so he wouldn’t get in his way anymore. He went from being a fairly unremarkable character to completely stealing Volume 7 and helping to escalate it to the second best volume of the series. Well, it seems like his approach may have went too well. This volume decides to take him to the extreme of being a complete villain filled with ominous backgrounds like in his TV broadcast to suddenly just shooting people for not much of a reason.

Now you could say part of this is his semblance but despite being confirmed on a writer’s zoom call, I don’t put much stock in it. Ultimately there is no visual or audio queue to the semblance in the show and it is never referenced so for all intents and purposes it just does not exist. What seems to have happened here is that they wrote Ironwood too well as a morally gray character to the point where a lot of people were rooting for him. You’d look online and almost nobody was supporting Team RWBY in their debates against him.

The main reason for this is really that Ironwood at least had a plan but whenever Team RWBY was asked for specifics they didn’t seem to know what to do next. That happens in this volume as well when Mantle is being attacked so one of the Happy Huntsmen shows up to tell them it’s time to evac but Ruby insisted on staying. When they pointed out that they have been getting wrecked by the normal Grimm and the numbers are about to multiply Ruby didn’t have an answer except a vague “We’ll get through this”. Not having a plan is always the quickest way to lose support. It’s similar to a debate that happened in Attack on Titan although there we still have the gray character staying that way.

Maybe it was always the plan for Ironwood to go totally off the rails but I do feel it’s more likely that the writers saw how a ton of people were rooting for him and knew they needed to weaken his case quickly or people wouldn’t be happy with Ruby and co. So in this volume Ironwood is just straight up evil most of the time but he’s still a fun character to have around. He’s a little on the gullible side at times but at the end of the day he’s still a fighter. His battle with Winter is really solid and really cements him as one of the strongest characters in the series. To think, at one point he was considered the heavy underdog in that battle. Personally I think there’s still a decent chance he is alive. His ending was intentionally rather vague with no body shown so it’s not beyond the pale to say that he would have escaped. I doubt Watts would be as lucky though.

Ruby gets a solid role here. She does lose her will to fight at one point again but it is a pretty tough time for the team. At this point Weiss would probably be the best option for the leader as she’s gone through the most and has really matured into being a character everyone can count on. She’ll always support Ruby though so the team is in good hands. Ruby’s speed also makes her a very capable opponent in any fight. I look forward to her getting to fight more in the next volume. Here she may have mostly just taken losses but when up against foes like Neo and Cinder that is to be expected.

Weiss is great as always. She may be a little hard on Whitley but it’s hard to just get over something like that with what she had to put up with over the years. I’m glad that we’re seeing her use her glyphs more in combat now like the old days. If she keeps that up I could see her potentially becoming the strongest member of the team since those abilities are just so versatile. There’s a lot you can do with glyphs from gravity control to elemental attacks. Then she always has her summons available too.

Yang has a lot to do here since she gets her own solo quest and also has the task of cheering up Ruby. I would have liked her to have fought more in the climax but it also makes perfect sense that the villains would try to take her out of play right away. If you take out the strongest hero on the team that will always be the safest path to victory. She has to be the mediator quite a lot in this volume since Ren also deals with some issues here.

Blake gets to fight the Hound and has some good blows in the finale as well. Her role here is quite solid. She may not have quite as many individual moments as the other 3 but she did just have her big volume with Adam back in 6 so that makes sense. She still makes the most of her moments although she absolutely needs a new weapon soon. I still say she should use Adam’s sword since that would be cool but either way she has come a long way from her early days on the team and isn’t really a loner anymore. I expect she’ll be getting more hype battles in the next volume.

Jaune’s role here is small for the most part but he’s low-key a very solid leader. He knows how to handle each character and add moral support. He’s just a very well rounded character but I have to admit that I heavily disagreed with his choice at the end of the volume. Effectively Penny asks Jaune to murder her to that Cinder won’t be able to do so. The idea is that you die when you are killed so this can Penny can control who she gives the maiden powers to. I’m pretty surprised that she didn’t give the powers to Ruby to be honest but maybe she knew Winter was going to need those abilities more. Jaune just shouldn’t have obliged her in this case. By stabbing her like that he was basically conceding defeat to the villains and admitting that there was no way out. There’s always a better way and he should have just fought til the bitter end.

I have to say this was a very weak volume for Ren though. He looks pretty bad the whole time. Ren started his path of panicking ever since last volume but here it gets worse as he intentionally attacks each character using their pasts like Jaune and Yang while not actually contributing to the situation. It looks like he’s getting back to his usual self by the end of the volume so he should do better next volume but he was easily one of the worst characters here. Nora does a lot better as she is also attacked with feelings of self doubt but just pushes through them and helps the heroes as much as she can. Now that she is close to fully recovered I expect to see her fighting more soon.

Penny is a character I’ve never been a huge fan of. Her super cheerful persona isn’t a bad thing per say as I still like characters like that but I guess she just felt hollow. I don’t know, I got more from her in the first few volumes before her first death. It’s quite ironic that she was brought back only to die again although a lot of people did suspect this would be the case. At least she got to briefly wield the powerful abilities of a Maiden. I’ll still take her over Oscar/Ozpin though. I’m still waiting for Ozpin to betray the heroes but at this point I’m not sure if he could. Part of the issue for Ozpin is that he has not done very well at all against Salem over the last thousand years. Evidently he’s not as great a tactician as he thinks he is. He really accomplished nothing over many years which is why so many people left him. It looks like he is trying to do better this time but I have my doubts.

Oscar’s at least trying his hardest but every time he uses magic, the two of them fuse even more so at this point I wonder if Oscar still exists. Is he still really separate or at this point are they basically the same character? I could see the next volume delving into that a bit more. The AceOps are all still here of course but you could make the case that Harriet is the only one with a real role. She is the most extreme of the group and the only one who is ready to listen to Ironwood without hesitation. While the others are portrayed more as following orders, I would say Harriet goes into full villain mode. She just wants to blow everyone up as part of the mission so she fits in with Ironwood.

I like her as a villain though. She keeps the heroes on their toes and having super speed is such an incredible semblance to have. Aside from Ruby’s which has super speed as well as flight, I don’t think there’s any other semblance I would take over that one. It’s just way too good. The fact that she was dunking on Qrow is still solid even if the guy can’t catch a break lately. Qrow went from being one of the best characters in the series to fading fast. Qrow was fantastic in Volume 3, Excellent in Volume 4, and then I liked him quite a lot in Volume 5. The cracks in his armor began to show a bit as he had trouble with Lionheart but you could attribute that to animation. Fine, I can accept that.

Volume 6 Qrow was brutal though. He was so lost in his own misery and apathy that he nearly let Ruby and Yang die right under his nose. That would have happened without him doing a single thing about it. His depression just held him back real hard and when mixed with the fact that he seems to have been extremely nerfed, it’s not a good look for him. Losing to Harriet is just yet another loss to the mix and since Ruby was winning/put up a way better fight…that’s not good for him. I’m hoping he can make a comeback because he needs it.

Now Winter is a character who looks really good here. I’m not really a fan of when characters just follow rules even if they are evil ones. It can be a bit much or when a character goes against the rules but does so too late. Here Winter ultimately made a stand before that happened and then stood up to Ironwood. Since that goes against everything she had been working towards, I can appreciate her resolve and drive to stay on the path. I think she’ll make for a fantastic Winter Maiden as well and look forward to her going up against the villains more soon. It’ll be a tough matchup against Cinder though with the whole fire vs ice thing but if anyone can pull it off, Winter can.

Emerald also gets a considerable role here as she finally joins the heroes’ side. It’s definitely been a long time coming. Originally she was the pure evil one while Mercury was the guy questioning if this was the right path like in Volume 2 when Emerald was having a blast watching people get eaten by the Grimm while Mercury didn’t seem happy. That changed in Volume 3 as Mercury began to revel in the misery while Emerald no longer enjoyed it. Her only real tie here was to Cinder the whole time and Cinder really treats her poorly so the other side would definitely sound better. Now, if Cinder comes back asking Emerald to join her, will she stay strong or defect again? Personally I think Emerald’s a hero to stay now. She may end up dying for it but I think she may get to live through her redemption arc. If Mercury goes for a similar position, I don’t think he’ll survive as the guy has a lot of death flags written all over him.

Meanwhile Hazel finally got his big ending here. I was never a big fan of the guy personally, just because he’s ultimately working for the lady who murdered his sister. He blames Ozpin for sending her on a suicide mission and yes that’s fair, but how can you work for the one who ultimately orchestrated her death? Hazel would make a lot more sense as a third party kind of villain. Still, he eventually saw the light and I have 0 complaints about the way he went out. Hazel ultimately went out on his own terms and you can’t really do much better than that. Again, we don’t see his body so he may be alive but with Salem right there at best he can hope to be a living grimm or something but death would probably be preferable for him.

For Robyn there’s nothing much to say. You may still be confused why she is in the show since she’s had close to 0 impact on the entire franchise. Well…maybe next volume will be when she finally pops off. I have my doubts personally but she has to have been kept alive for a reason right? Watts had a solid volume as well. I like him as a charismatic villain. He may not go into the field a whole lot but the guy has guts to talk to Cinder the way that he did. I can respect that and while he may have ultimately been manipulated, I don’t think he would have had much of a way to escape anyway.

Finally there’s Neo who is always fun. I’ve always considered her to be a demi maiden power-wise just because of how effortlessly she handled Yang back in the day and how she even had the upper hand against Cinder until she activated her maiden abilities. This volume continues to support that as she completely shattered Yang’s aura in a single hit (Surprise attacks don’t affect aura as far as we know so that’s still a power feat) and then she was handling both Blake and Ruby teaming up with ease. I really hope she doesn’t die anytime soon because I want to see her get some more action. Her moveset is just very unique and I like the fighting style. Ruby just needs to convince Neo that Cinder is more to blame for Torchwick’s death which is fair since it’s a Grimm that ate Torchwick. It’s not like Ruby did anything to cause that.

Now for the volume ending stinger, I think the safest bet is they’re now in some kind of lost pocket dimension that the gods built but forgot about. That’s probably why they were warned not to go there since it’s so desolate the whole time. It is for the best that the show quickly confirmed the team was alive though because I don’t think anyone ever thought they were really dead. Even if the show only kept Yang as the one who had fallen down, she’s just too important of a character to go down like that. If a member of RWBY dies it wouldn’t be until the last arc and even then I would be surprised to see it. It’ll be interesting to see what’s down there especially since Neo and Jaune are crashing the party. If Jaune gets a big power up that will definitely be cool to see.

In theory with the delays to this volume and all the next one probably won’t start until November but hopefully it debuts earlier since that would be great. At least in the meantime we should be getting the CD soon so the full music tracks will be online. We’ll see if the next volume has any animated shorts like the Adam special or if those are going to be gone for good. If it helps to speed up airing the season then it’s worth it I suppose but those are always a lot of fun.

Now lets compare the volumes. It’s always fun to update the rankings as each volume airs. Naturally Volume 3 is still the all time best if you ask me. It was the absolute peak of the series’ nonstop action along with the plot settling in. The stakes were raised immensely and you just could not change the channel. The second best volume would be 7. Ironwood was just developed into a fantastic character here and the battle with RWBY vs AceOps is still the best one in the series. Mix that in with one of the best OSTs and it’s hard to see this volume getting beat.

3rd place would be Volume 6. It’s a pretty close one but the Adam climax was a really powerful one to end the series on. Additionally, the Grim Reaper’s origin as well as the return of Neo are scenes that are hard to be beat. Bringing her back into the fold was a fantastic idea. It’s also when the new animation style really got going. 4th would be Volume 8. It was a great volume and we got to have the heroes make a comeback and take a big win. It’s been a while since they made any serious headway against the heroes so it was nice to see how they could coordinate here.

5th would go to Volume 5. I tend to waffle between this one and 2 a lot because it’s pretty close. I would say 2 probably had longer stretches of hype fights and action but 5 had the better climax. The Raven vs Cinder fight is just fantastic. The More the Merrier episode is probably the biggest missed opportunity in the show just because the setup was absolutely perfect with all of the battles going underway but then there wasn’t really any animation to them. Volume 5 will always be the most awkward volume for fights in that sense but the story beats were still right up there. 6th is Volume 2, the big Neo fight was hype as well as the battle with the Giant mech. I always liked seeing Torchwick in the focus as well and it’s just a volume that really holds up quite well.

7th would be Volume 1, where it all began. The climax with Torchwick is a lot of fun and it’s always easy to forget that at the time you could make a legitimate argument for Blake being the most powerful member of Team RWBY. She had more real life experience than the other 3 and even went on her own to fight Torchwick. It didn’t go well until Sun stepped in but it was a good effort. Last place would be Volume 4. A very solid volume to be sure since this is all relative by RWBY standards but there was a lot of info dumping here and not a lot of action. The Tyrian fight is really the only big battle in the volume until the final episode. Qrow vs Tyrian was worth it though as it’s still one of the best fights in the season but it just couldn’t keep up with the others.

So that’s the rankings for now. 3, 7, 6, 8, 5, 2, 1, 4. I imagine as I continue to revisit each volume that could change but the rankings are pretty solid. Really the closest ones that I can see changing is the middle group (6-2) but the top two and bottom two volumes would be pretty hard to move at this point. I imagine with the series in the middle of so many events all future volumes will be in a pretty good spot as well as they aim for the top. Can any possible dethrone 3 though?

As always the animation is top notch here. The character models are really smooth and I wonder why all CGI shows can’t look this sharp. I understand it’s now using MAYA technology as opposed to POSER from the first 3 volumes which is completely open software, but it should still be possible for professional studios. Yet, I have yet to see a CGI show look as good as RWBY. It really shows how talented the staff is to make this a reality.

The writing is excellent as well. While I have my share of complaints with how Ironwood was written into a villain, that’s a narrative choice more so than a writing flaw. They just wanted him to be as evil as possible. The episodes are all very engaging and you want to see what happens next. The soundtrack is also excellent. I wouldn’t say it matches 7 quite yet but I liked the theme that played during the snow chase with the hound as well as the one during Cinder’s origin. Every volume usually has at least 2 stand out themes and those would be the ones for me. I’m definitely looking forward to the CD coming out though since I’m hoping some of the normal episode themes also make it in since there are a few instrumental battle themes that also stood out like the one in the final episode.

There’s certainly always more to talk about but I’ll start wrapping it up here. There will be at least 2-3 editorials about RWBY before the next volume comes up so if there’s any big discussion topic I need to bring up I’ll certainly write something about it. The possibilities for going forward are definitely pretty endless. With Atlas down the villains are also one step closer to destroying all 4 of the kingdoms. Haven is all but destroyed, Beacon isn’t doing great, and Atlas is certainly over. Vacuo is the last place standing in full health and it’s less of a formal kingdom and more of a bandits lair type of place so that’ll be different anyway. That’s why I definitely want to see their reaction to all of this.

Overall, RWBY is definitely as great as ever. The toughest part here is going to be waiting for the next volume. Each volume continues to be excellent so I look forward to seeing what they’ve got coming up for Volume 9. Ideally I’d like to see Raven return and for Yang’s Dad to finally get a fight. As a member on such a powerhouse team that guy has got to be a good fighter. Then once we get the team back to the surface I’m expecting a lot of big battles for sure. It feels like we’re getting closer to the ultimate climax although I would still expect that not to happen until around Volume 11 or 12.

Overall 10/10

Transformers: War for Cybertron Trilogy: Earthrise Review

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All right, we’ve made it to season 2 of the War for Cybertron trilogy. The first season started things on a high note as we had some good debates between Prime and Megatron. Both characters were written really well so you could legitimately choose which side you were on. Both of them made moves that even their own sides questioned. This season adds in a lot of extra elements. Both teams have their own plots for most of the season before converging at the end. It’s really hard to say how things will play out from here but one thing’s for sure, it’s definitely going to be interesting to see how this ends.

The season starts off with Megatron’s plot. Since Prime stole the All Spark, Cybertron is slowly dying. Megatron has been stalling the inevitable by using the sparks of robots to power up his rocket ship. He intends to find Prime once and for all to bring the All Spark back or at least avenge his planet. However, this is one of those times where the end doesn’t justify the means. He’s effectively slaughtering many members of his own people as Elita points out and this causes a lot of friction even among the Decepticons. Can Elita stop him or is Cybertron really doomed?

Meanwhile, Prime and his crew exit stasis but find that they have been taken prisoner by a group of bounty hunters. These hunters are going to sell them off to the Quintessons. The Autobots will have to find a way out of this predicament and soon but the issue is that these villains are actually quite powerful. Both Autobots and Decepticons are at their wits end here which ends up leading into the solid climax. It’s clear from the start of the series that there are more Decepticons than Autobots so they have the edge there but they are consistently a lot weaker so it helps balance things out in the end.

I feel like there was more action here than in season 1 although it’s close. We got to actually see Shockwave get his own fight which was really nice. Additionally, we have a guest star show up from the future or another dimension. That’s easily the most intriguing plot for me right now. When this character jumps out of a portal and starts fighting Megatron it’s just really interesting. It’s also rare to see Megatron be dominated so completely but it makes sense that he wouldn’t be able to defeat this opponent. This fighter is one of the stronger Transformer characters out there and he really lives up to the hype. He leaves as suddenly as he appeared but not before leaving something. Personally I take this to be a warning from a possible future as opposed to the present. It would work out well with all the distortions taking place.

Of course, the ending of the season is pretty open at the moment. You can have a lot of different theories on what just happened here. Personally I’m going to assume time travel once more. That’s pretty much always my default response but I feel like it just makes a whole lot of sense. Then there’s an equal debate on if the characters are going to the future or the past. I would say past personally. Of course we should know pretty soon once season 3 starts. There’s so much going on that it’s almost a bit hard to picture the series already coming to a close. Maybe we’ll get a sequel series or something.

There’s one part of the show where the characters enter another dimension where willpower is how you fight. This was pretty neat and reminds me a bit of Accel World’s Incarnate system or even the one SAO invented later on. Megatron really adapted to it quite well. At the same time I was really underwhelmed by another character who was in this universe for a very long time and claimed to have mastered his mind. Despite this, he was easily dispatched in a single move. You’d think that in a world where mental power is absolute experience would be vital. I guess the difference in their abilities was just that drastic though.

The animation here is definitely solid as expected. The designs are very full and detailed so the robots really feel sturdy. You can feel the power behind all of the blows. We get another solid Prime vs Megatron fight here as well as a whole group battle with Scorponok. If we ever get the mental world again, I’d like to see more of the energy effects there. The colors were pretty striking so it worked out quite well. The soundtrack is a little less memorable but it works well enough for the scenes that are present. I certainly had no complaints at least.

There are quite a few character arcs at play here as well. Naturally for Megatron we’re seeing him go on a darker path. He’s slowly going from more of a misunderstood anti-hero to full villain. The instant he decided to destroy an entire factory worth of Cybertronians you knew there was no turning back for him. He doesn’t yet realize it but Megatron is now a villain simply justifying his every move. He is a very interesting villain though and the character arc’s been handled well. As always he is still quite confident and self assured in his own power.

For Prime, his arc is a little different from what you may expect. He’s had to live with the fact that a lot of Autobots don’t support his decision to remove the All Spark and then to search for it, including Elita. These feelings of guilt seem to have made him even more obsessive now such as when he was beating up on Megatron. Prime was really losing control there to the point of going crazy, even begging Megatron to forgive him before murdering the guy. Prime is done taking prisoners although circumstances ensured he didn’t finish things off yet. I’m assuming in the next season Prime will regain control of himself although if he doesn’t then things are really going to get crazy around here.

Naturally we have a lot of other characters on both sides. Some characters like Bumblebee and Soundwave don’t get a whole lot to do this time. Bumblebee already had a good amount of screen time in season 1 though so that’s fair. He is also around in every episode so it’s not like he goes missing. I would say the Autobot with the biggest role after Prime would have to be Elita. Not only does she get her own big fight scene but with Prime gone she is effectively the Autobot leader on Cybertron. She’s also doing a good job in this role as well. She does her best to be fair to everyone and take the villains down without hurting anyone in the middle. Perhaps she can be too trusting in these times of war, but she is focused on not losing her ideals even if it means her defeat and I can certainly respect that.

Jetfire also has a sizable role here. As a former Decepticon he’s definitely not as quick to offer mercy as Elita. He makes a lot of good strategic points. Technically his methods are correct if you simply wish to win the war. Particularly with how the Autobots are totally outgunned in terms of energon and numbers they do need every advantage they can get. Continuing to hit every base to free Decepticons does truthfully sound like a task that will backfire horribly. He continues to help though and never turns away so this guy is quite good.

Naturally Starscream gets quite the role here as always. You’ll probably think he gets off a bit easy and that’s exactly why Starscream continues to pull these stunts. He knows that nobody is going to mess with him. This confidence is part of what makes him such a solid villain. His abilities know no bounds. Then you have Shockwave in what’s his best appearance in a long time. We get to see him using his tech in the field of battle instead of in the lab for a change. He has to be one of the most fearsome opponents to have to face here because of the fact that he has no emotions. He will do whatever it takes in order to claim victory and doesn’t care what the price is. There is no negotiating with this guy.

Quick shoutout to Scorponok as well for being a very interesting villain. He even got his own origin story where we find out that things didn’t go well for his people and then he goes right on the attack. He’s not the kind of villain to get overly sentimental or anything like that. His sheer defenses are also pretty crazy considering just how many opponents he was taking on at once. Right now you would have to put him as the strongest fighter in the series. The Quintessons get a solid mention for being powerful as well. Although in their case it’s more due to prep time and tech than sheer fighting ability. Don’t underestimate them though. There’s a pretty intense scene involving in-fighting among the group and lets just say we definitely know the hierarchy of the group now.

Naturally with so many spoiler filled events here I had to keep things vague. Still, there’s a ton to unpack here and most importantly, the story is just very engaging. Transformers has a lot of lore and characters within the franchise so it’s nice to see the show taking advantage of this. It’s also cool to have a different kind of story line here as opposed to the usual Autobots vs Decepticons story on Earth. That one’s a classic too of course, but with a space setting you’re free to branch out a whole lot. There are enough villains and plots going on now where it’s hard to say who the next opponent will be. The heroes may need some kind of power up to come out on top though.

At most the only thing I would say against the show is that the Decepticons look a little too weak most of the time. Aside from the named bots like Megatron and pals, the rest are treated quite poorly. A single Autobot will beat half a dozen Decepticons with ease. I don’t see why the gap would be so large. It explains why a group of a dozen or so Autobots who are all almost out of energon are beating 5-7 times that amount of fighters on the Decepticon side but I just don’t think it adds up all that well. Particularly since the Decepticons have more energon which powers up most functions. In a way I think this was the easiest way to keep the Autobots in the fight as otherwise they all should have been taken out a long time ago. The show paints a very drastic picture of just how massive a disadvantage the heroes are at. It’s a fairly minor thing in the grand scheme of things though but I wouldn’t mind seeing the Decepticons make a comeback in the third volume.


Overall, Season 2 of the War for Cybertron trilogy continues to take things in the right direction. I would say it even beats the first season. With the introductions and world setting out of the way, this season was able to jump right into the action. Seeing the Quintessons again was fun and the bounty hunters were also pretty interesting even if they didn’t look great in the end. This is exactly why you must never underestimate your opponent and keep your guard up at all times. Scorponok was given a ton of hype here being able to take on the combined forces of Autobots and Decepticons for so long. Now with the ending we can look forward to more characters being introduced to the action. Again, I’m not sure how everything can be addressed in the next season but I look forward to seeing how it plays out.

Overall 8/10

10 Things that need to happen in RWBY Volume 8

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Volume 8 of RWBY is quickly approaching and that means it is almost time for us to witness some epic fights and plot threads. The series has continued to excel with each passing season. Personally Volume 3 is still my favorite one but 7 rose all the way up to my second favorite. The series has been on a steady uphill trend ever since Volume 5. 4 was a bit of a low point for the series with all of the exposition and lack of action but we’ve gone away from that pretty well. That said, Volume 8 can’t let its guard down and I expect it to still give me 100% effort with every scene. Here are 10 things that needs to happen with this upcoming volume.

1. Salem needs to have an onscreen fight scene

I’d like this to be done along with an onscreen invasion from her forces. If we were to suddenly timeskip away from this that would be a really awful decision.n I trust that the series won’t do this though. What I’m more concerned about is Salem actually having a fight. We’re 8 volumes in now, at this point we need a legitimate reason to fear her. A no holds barred fight scene with someone would be the perfect way to illustrate Salem’s power. She has a great design and based on the abilities that the two gods had I’m sure we can expect great things out of her. I’d place my bets on her either taking down Cinder or Ironwood in the next volume. Either fight would be pretty hype to see although Cinder would have more of an impact since she is so much stronger than Ironwood.

2. Finally get the full backstory for Summer

We’ve been teased with what happened to Summer for quite a while now. I think this is a good time for us to finally learn exactly what happened to her. It would be a good way to finish off Ozpin’s plot as well where he is always shady and nobody can trust him. By learning her past that should seal his final questionable moments away with ease. We’ll then have a leader that the team can rally behind although if I was team RWBY I still wouldn’t trust him. At this point Ruby has proven that she is more than capable of leading the team on her own.

3. It’s time for Raven to return.

While Raven’s return could spell the end of her character as I don’t see her living through many more fights, she needs to return at this point. I want to see her choose a side and then weigh in on the battles. She could make for a great third party like Ironwood if she chooses to fight for herself although I’m expecting her to aid the heroes. Salem taking Raven down would be a good way to build up her hype. I don’t see a Raven vs Cinder rematch and otherwise Raven should be able to easily defeat most of the other villains. Maiden abilities are on a league of their own after all with very few characters even being close.

4. 1 villain should be taken out of the picture

It’s fair to say that the series will still keep on going for a while from here on out. Supposedly the series will run for 12 volumes but that quote was a long time ago so things certainly could have changed. That being said, I think it’s about time we take down a villain. It seems like we haven’t had a major villain go down since Adam in Volume 6 and he was a third party. If we’re talking about one of the villains from Salem’s unit then that’s all the way back in Volume 3. Last volume missed its chance to take Watts out of the picture by arresting him but I think the heroes need to start whittling down the numbers. The fewer active members you have running around, the more we can focus on the final few big fights.

5. Time to get an update on Vale

Last we saw, Glenda was rebuilding the city after the destruction during Volume 3. It’s been a long time since then and she should have the place built up pretty well by now. In that case, it’s time for the crew to rejoin the battle. The heroes have made it clear that Atlas is really one of the last safe havens on the planet. If it goes down then humanity is really on the brink. It’ll take time to get there but it would be perfect to have the reinforcements appear near the end. Coco and her team are professionals so I’m sure they could deal some damage. If the heroes lose here that would make for some interesting plot points but I would like to see what Vale’s doing right about now.

6. Ironwood can’t do a 180

Ironwood’s made his controversial choice. He’s chosen to save Atlas and abandon the people beneath him. He believes there is no way to save everyone and is doing what he thinks is best, even if it’s taken him down a dark road. Now that he has made his choice, I don’t want to suddenly see him agree with Ruby and turn this whole thing around. It’s just too late for that, especially after shooting Oscar. Ironwood’s made his choice and for his character to have a proper ending he needs to stand by it and live with the consequences. He’s been a fantastic character throughout the series but last volume is really when he stood out. I am really looking forward to seeing what he does next and I’m hoping he gets a replacement arm so he can get a proper final fight.

7. Yang vs Neo rematch

Yang and Mercury need a proper rematch as well but they had a brief skirmish in volume 5 which will have to do. At this point I’m more interested in seeing her take on Neo. Neo was exceptionally powerful in all of her fights so far and has appeared to be pretty much untouchable. However, Yang’s grown far more skilled as time has went on. Now that she has her confidence back it would be an ideal time for these two to trade blows once more. If Yang were to win now I think that would be a pretty fair victory since she will be fighting a lot smarter now. I would be fine with either fighter winning. I’d say Neo has the edge but I could believe it either way.

8. Qrow needs to break out of jail and take the fight to the villains.

It’s no secret that Qrow’s had a very rough last few volumes. He got heavily nerfed in Volume 5, looked really bad in Volume 6, and was finally starting to do a little better last volume before everything went sideways. He did what he had to in the fight and I blame the leader of AceOps for everything that happened with Tyrian. While I’m not sure if we will really get a 4th Qrow vs Tyrian fight (We honestly don’t need one. I think almost any other matchup would be more interesting at this point) I’d like to see Qrow go on the attack. Maybe have him go right up to Salem and attack. Such a move may mean his end but he should be fighting with a vengeance at this point.

9. Make Jaune’s team relevant

Without Pyrrha around his team have gotten completely surpassed in every possible way against Team RWBY. None of them are all that powerful. Any member of RWBY would have a solid chance of taken down their entire team. Only Blake may have trouble and I still think she could probably pull it off. So whether it’s through a power up or teamwork, I need them to do something here. We’ve got a few plots to think about here. Jaune might want to do what he can to save Ruby so a team up could be fun. Ren’s been pretty mixed on the strategy the heroes are doing right now so him defecting to Ironwood could be interesting. Nora’s also trying to keep Ren with her so there could be a rift there soon. Pick a plot and then make it interesting.

10. No off screen fights

I’m sure the series learned its lesson from Volume 5 but I want to see all of these fights. You can skip skirmishes with the Grimm and all but otherwise I really want to see these characters mixing it up. Volume 8 should be the next Volume 3 in terms of how action packed it is. The writers said the whole volume takes place over the span of 2-3 days I believe so that hints that a lot is going on. The volume should be pretty nonstop with the intensity and cutting out a fight would wreck the flow.

So long as the volume has all 10 of these areas in play I don’t think we’ll be seeing any problems here. I’ve got some pretty high hopes for the volume and can’t wait til we’re finally in October. A lot is going to happen here and maybe we’ll even see the return of Adam. I didn’t include that as one of the top 10 things that needs to happen because odds are that it won’t, but personally I think that would be a good move. He’s still one of the most intimidating villains out there and has definitely earned his reputation.

RWBY Volume 7 Song Rankings

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It’s time to look at the songs from the new RWBY soundtrack that came out. In particular I am ranking the 9 new lyrical songs and won’t be counting the remixes from previous volumes. I’ll rank them from last to first as we see where they all stack up. The 1st and second place entries are quite easy and then after that is when it’s time for some serious thought. I can definitely say right now that the series continues to have an absolutely stellar soundtrack. You’d be hard pressed to find anything that even comes close to this in another title. This volume’s probably got one of the happiest overall soundtracks compared to the others I suppose reflecting the hope found here. I think the theme of the volume was supposed to be Hope unless I’m thinking of the last one. Either way that makes sense. All of the songs below can be found on Youtube or any other CD as well as for purchase online. I’ve attached a link next to the top ranked song where you can listen to them online.

9. Let’s Get Real

I have to say that the very beginning of this song feels like something out of Megaman. I like the quick techno strum there. After that this song slows down quite a bit though and definitely isn’t really my style. I like the overall aesthetic of the song but it’s not going to stop this one from bringing in the last spot on the list. Speed up the tempo and I think this song will rank a little higher though.

8. Celebrate

Well, we’ve definitely got another party tune showing up here. It’s definitely the kind of song you’d expect to hear at the disco. That said, it’s the kind of song that doesn’t sound as good outside of that context. It will be good for a play or two but next to the songs coming up it definitely can’t stack up well enough. When I’m celebrating I’ll probably be playing a song closer to the top 2 coming up. Still, with the more party feel of this soundtrack that should help for when playing the soundtrack at parties.

7. Brand New Day

This is probably one of the weakest of the group for me. It’s more loud than catchy. It’s going for more of a party feel but one that doesn’t gel as smoothly as the rest of the songs. This is one of the tunes that I wouldn’t really be listening to all that often. Still, it’s not as if it means the song’s that bad. It’s not able to keep up with the others but it’s still a pretty decent song in its own right.

6. Touch The Sky

This is definitely one of the happier songs we’ve got in RWBY. It shows that the team is finally back together and having a good time. That’s good because it’s been a little bit since they were able to just have fun. It’s got a nice beat to it. I don’t see this becoming one of the more popular songs down the road or one that I will have on loop for very long but it’s a solid inspirational song. You don’t want everything to be super rock….well I wouldn’t mind, but most people want some variety and this song does a good job of providing that.

5. Until The End

This is a very somber song. In some ways it may be the most somber one in the series because it never transitions into Rock the way that a lot of the others do. It’s just a song that doesn’t leave the heroes full of hope afterwards as things don’t look like they’re about to get better. Regardless I thought it was executed pretty well. I’m usually more of a fast paced song kind of guy but when it’s a sad song then that can absolutely work without a fast tempo.

4. Trust Love

It’s time for the opening of the Volume. My favorite intro of all time is still the very first one but the series has always been pretty good with these. I’d put this song in the top half of the new ones. It’s definitely very fast and also nostalgic to an extent because I’ve heard the song very often while watching the episodes. This is not one that you want to skip when starting the episodes.

3. Fear

This is definitely a pretty intense theme and one that’s fitting for Salem’s return. She’s only had two themes now but between this and Divide they’re definitely both incredible. It really shows how Salem gets into the heads of her opponents. One line is about “Who will you see in the dark when you’re all alone” and quite a few of the characters likely see Salem. It’s why betraying her would be pretty much unthinkable and why the heroes fear her so greatly. I am looking forward to seeing her live up to the hype in the next volume. At this point you can’t really be satisfied with anything less than her completely overwhelming the heroes. This is the perfect time for her to prove her power once and for all.

2. Hero

This is one song that I think loses a bit of the intensity from the full version. The opening lyrics are going for a very emotional/sad kind of tune. Still, once we get to the good part of the song it rocks on from start to finish. It was a great song and does a good job of depicting the self sacrifice Ironwood was able to go through to accomplish his mission. Being a hero is often a lot harder than it looks and is often not a glamorous task. You gotta be ready to not be very popular at times and it can be very easy to lose perspective and become like the villains you work on stopping.

1. War
Click here for the song
This is easily the best song and it’s not even close. I remember being shell shocked when it shows up in part because it shows up with the greatest fight in the entire series. I do wish we could have kept part of the intro music for that scene but I suppose it’s technically a different part of the OST for that. Either way it’s a powerful song about thinking someone was your friend and trusting them, only to be betrayed in the end. I know hero vs hero fights may get a lot of critiques, but that’s why I love the concept. Unlike a hero vs villain fight where you’re clearly meant to root for one team who is in the right, a matchup like this is interesting because both sides are doing what they believe is the correct decision.

In a logical sense AceOps has some points here. The heroes were already being overrun by a bunch of normal Grimm who were being summoned. Salem is on her way with an army many times larger than that. It seems unlikely that the heroes can last for long and they allegedly don’t have enough time to evacuate everyone either. Thus, their decision to leave and save who they can makes some sense. It also doesn’t help that Team RWBY’s leader burst into tears right when Salem showed up and mentioned her mother. There’s nothing more soul crushing for a team than to have their leader drop out just like that.

Of course Team RWBY is ultimately in the right here because you should never sacrifice anyone. If they die then at least they die together as opposed to just some people managing to survive this round. If you had to throw a lot of people away in order to survive then it’s just not worth it. The song talks about never trusting someone again and after being betrayed like that it would definitely be hard to make new friends. It takes a long time to trust someone but only an instant to lose that for good.

So, that’s definitely my top song and it concludes the rankings for Volume 7. I look forward to seeing what songs we get in the next volume since there are always some real All Stars in every volume. It’s going to be very hard to top this one though. Of course, there’s usually a song in every volume that makes me feel the same way. The series is just always ready to hit the next level.

RWBY: The Official Manga Review

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It’s time to look at the recent RWBY manga that ended. The series has now had a few different manga titles although it has yet to have a breakout hit. Unfortunately while the series is still the greatest TV show of all time it has had mixed outcomes to the other mediums. The video games have ranged from pretty good to super low budget and the manga titles before this one were very short and didn’t have solid art. The comics at least sound like they’ve been really solid although I haven’t checked them out yet. This manga covers the first two seasons so it was a shame that it didn’t get to go further. I’m always up for a re-adaption as this could hopefully get the show on people’s radars. That said, the art for this one was also pretty sub-par and while it had some interesting changes, there was nothing to really hook you.

The basic premise of the series is that the world of Remnant is inhabited by a ton of monsters known as the Grimm. The people who fight these creatures are known as Hunters and Huntresses. As a result, each country trains them up through school so that we will have a solid army of people ready to take back the land. This introduces us to our 4 main characters, Ruby, Yang, Weiss, and Blake. Together they make up Team RWBY and will put their effort into stopping Grimm. They’ll have to overcome many hardships but they’ll also make some new allies along the way. Are they ready to save this planet?

RWBY’s main story arc wouldn’t really start until the second half of Volume 3 so this is what I’d consider to be pre-arc. We do get to the first big boss though so that was good. It’s always nostalgic to see the characters in the original adventures. The manga also has the benefit of knowing what’s going to happen in the future so it can always add some foreshadowing or change a few things. There are a lot of little changes in the manga but nothing really major until the final two chapters as we shuffle some fights a bit. We now know that it’s because the series was ending so in a way this helped to close things off a bit more. Arguably anyway, season 2 had a pretty resolute ending either way.

I’ve already touched upon it, but I should get my main negative out of the way here. After all it’s really my only qualm with the series, it’s just a pretty significant one. The art is just really bad. It’s easily one of the weakest I’ve seen in a very long time. Most of the manga titles that I read have very solid artwork. It’s a bit rare to see titles where it’s a little hard to see anything or where the character models are all wrong. Usually you just see that in cash-ins/tie-in manga. Unfortunately that’s at the level where this one is and it feels like the title was thrown together to get some sales as with all the rest. I’m just surprised that RWBY couldn’t get a bigger artist. Perhaps it’s because the series already exists so almost by default it wouldn’t get the same budget as a brand new idea. Either way it’s always a shame because I think the series had a ton of potential to be far better with real art. After all, the series is a 10 star title so with good art I don’t see why the title couldn’t at least get a 9.

Part of the problem is that RWBY got to be amazing in part because of its great humor and solid fight scenes. The art isn’t really able to capture any of that which leaves the series in a bit of a pickle. There’s only so much you can do if the art isn’t up to snuff because even the best scenes falter a bit. It can’t capture the same intensity. For example, all of the fights are still present but none of them are particularly exciting. I dare say that they would be even lower if I didn’t already know the series quite well. I think with Season 3 the series could have still jumped though, it just wasn’t meant to be. I really hope we get a sequel soon because I don’t get how you can just suddenly end like this.

For the positives, Team RWBY is still fun. Ruby is a solid leader who doesn’t compromise in her sense of justice. She always does the right thing and helps out those in need. Towards the end of the series Torchwick tries to mess with her through a bunch of mindgames and Ruby doesn’t buy into them for a second. I can always appreciate that level of determination. When you’re click to waver then it means that your convictions simply weren’t that strong. If you are absolutely confident in yourself then nobody should be able to shake you so easily and also not for long.

The rest of the team are also solid. Yang’s still my favorite member who’s always up for a fight. Weiss hasn’t gotten to most of her character development yet, but she’s still solid. I always like that she has a bit of edge to her. Blake is also pretty good and I consider these volumes to be when she’s at her best. She’s a bit of a vigilante, but Blake’s fighting the good fight and trying to stop the criminals since nobody else is doing much to stop them. Team Jaune is also around to provide backup support even if they don’t get quite as much focus as Ruby’s group. The series has to move fast so we mainly skip to the main chunks of plot and fights. As an abridged series you should definitely be able to get a good feel for all of the characters and the writing is still solid.

Overall, I was expecting this RWBY manga to adapt at least the first 6 volumes, but to hopefully keep going alongside the show. It would have been cool to have gotten the whole series in manga format to hopefully draw new viewers into the series. Unfortunately that didn’t end up happening which is pretty unfortunate. The actual story is good but it really feels lifeless the whole time. The characters aren’t really able to save the series. It’s a decent read and you should find it entertaining, but I don’t think it’s a series that you would ever end up re-reading. For that you can just watch the show which is way better. Hopefully Rooster Teeth learns from this and gets some really good art for the next series.

Overall 6/10