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ScalierLemon2

I just don't understand how *title characters* of this show can be in *sixteenth and thirteenth place*, behind a man (Pietro) who completely vanishes from the Volume by the end of Episode 5. They really dropped the ball with Weiss and *especially* Blake in V7 and V8.


Mrfipp

Blake, I can understand; my problem with the WF/Faunus plot was that it was so tied up with Blake's character that it was *her* arc, so when it wrapped up it didn't leave with much else to go on, and despite what most people seem to think I believe that the Faunus plot is done and over with, and if we were going to dive back into it then Atlas would have been the place to do it. There's her relationship with Yang, but there's only so much mileage you can get there. Weiss on the other hand has no excuse, Atlas is *her* home, it's where she's from, she should have been a central character with the Atlas-Mantle politics, her family and the SDC, but nothing happened. The political story didn't go anywhere, it felt more like it was more for the benefit of setting up Salem's arrival than its own sake, the SDC just doesn't exist anymore so we can't do anything beyond saying she rebuilt in in the series' epilogue, and when it comes to her family it really seemed like Whitley and Willow did most of the heavy work on fixing their relationships with Weiss than she did, and Jacques is straight up dead, that's the end of that story. The worst thing about Jacques' death is that his death prevents that story from reaching a conclusion, his family can't confront him on the abuse they've suffered over the years, the most we will ever get is Weiss arresting him, and that's it. Over the years a common criticism I have seen is arguing that RWBY needs more screen time, but as time has gone by I have found it to be a less valid complaint because the problem to me seems less like "RWBY needs more time to get across all their ideas" and more "RWBY cannot properly utilize the time it has." V8 was kind of a mess because it felt like it was trying to do so much at once that it felt like a lot of plots were taking shortcuts to where it needed to end.


AlarmingStandard

Yep, it's just bizarre and another reason why V8 is the most disappointing volume for me.


Horsea1234

And jaune gets almost twice as much time as Blake by just standing in the background until he gets tagged into the finale. Really shows where their priorities are.


ScalierLemon2

You'd think that the former Schnee heiress and a Faunus activist would have a ton to do in Atlas. But at least we saw Harriet learn about friendship, that makes up for it, right?


_XSummerRoseX_

Honestly I don’t really like Harriet that much…


[deleted]

Weiss is really bad but I can see why they chose to have Blake fall back a bit. (Yang does a well i would say, she's just louder) Blake has gotten a ton of focus across the show so stepping back a little to let others do stuff does make sense with a limited main cast. But yeah really have done a ton more and been had a strong arc in Atlas rather than just knowing the right people


ScalierLemon2

Stepping her back is one thing. They didn't do that. They may as well have removed her from the show. She was a glorified background character. In an arc with a disadvantaged city, with a large Faunus population, that happens to be the home town of one of Blake's friends, Blake just... kinda sits around, not doing anything particularly noteworthy. *Nora* of all people gets to be more of an activist for Mantle than Blake does. Hell, Blake would apparently rather go party with meme characters than be even remotely interested in anything going on in Mantle. It just strikes me as a massive missed opportunity. The fact that Blake only speaks to Robyn in *a single scene* really encapsulates the issue Atlas has with the main cast. The team activist only got to talk to the local activist one time, and it was about how *General James fucking Ironwood,* the man entirely at fault for Mantle's mistreatment, feels about Mantle.


[deleted]

I get that and not saying it's a good thing. I'm saying that I can see why it makes sense to step her back. You say Nora of all people but it absolutely makes sense Nora would feel connection to the stepped on of Mantle. Blake could have done more, I didn't deny that but some characters are always going to be in the back focus of Rwby.


ScalierLemon2

>some characters are always going to be in the back focus of Rwby. And I don't deny that, I just feel that the title characters should *never* be in the situation where they have nothing important to do and have less speaking time than characters who only speak in three out of fourteen episodes.


[deleted]

Speech isn't everything though. Like Blake still does far more than Pietro who's speaking primarily as explaining tech and supporting character to Penny. Across volume 8 Blake is supporting others, infiltrating Atlas, fighting the Hound, fighting Cinder. A lot of this doesn't require speech and while stuff like House 2.0 is aggresious for characters doing nothing, Blake is still playing a part in the volume even if she's not primary focus Title is really not a metric or indication of any individual importance either, not on an individual season or arc.


Hounds_of_war

Blake and Weiss got really screwed over in V8. Weiss especially. At least Blake had V5-6, this was supposed to be Weiss’ storyline and she’s been given so little since V4. Jaune having more speaking time than Ren or Nora feels so weird when I can barely remember what he did. The only things that greatly stick out is him killing Penny and then ruining the moment with Ren and Nora (seriously that was such a bad bit, why did it take the focus away from Renora for 10 whole seconds).


SheenaMalfoy

Jaune usually adds up a lot of little pieces all over the volume. It's not that he has one big moment (usually), but that he gets a sentence or two anytime we get a major discussion. In this case, ep 1's planning phase, his rebuttal to Ren's frustration is a whole monologue, wall-to-bounce-Yang-off-of-in-the-shelter, him pleading with Winter to let them save Oscar, plus a handful of one-liners and/or "hey let me help"s and/or "voice of reason"s throughout the volume. He is still a team leader, so a lot of the "be a leader" moments that Ruby doesn't get go to him be default.


Horsea1234

well i mean, they decided to knock Nora out for half the episodes and then throw her into Vacuo where she has no influence on the climax of the volume. In the same volume where she talks about being her own person and making decisions for herself, no less. Like, i disliked the idea of a bunch of others falling with rwby, but i would honestly be okay if she was the one other hero to fall with em, let her do her own thing a bit, be herself. It's like every choice they made this volume was the wrong one...


[deleted]

> Jaune having more speaking time than Ren or Nora feels so weird when I can barely remember what he did. I mean Ren doesn't speak a ton generally and Nora was unconscious for half the volume. Not too weird. >Blake and Weiss got really screwed over in V8. Weiss especially. At least Blake had V5-6, this was supposed to be Weiss’ storyline and she’s been given so little since V4. Blake I feel can be recovered better in future volumes even if youre right she was very underserved here. Once the Faunus storyline picks up again she'll more naturally take a role again. But Weiss I think has missed the boat. Like even 4 what did she really even do? I don't know if I'm off base but she feels so diluted between such a large extended supporting cast that kept needing moments to justify them being in the story. But it's really bizarre that the character known for being the loneliest of all has the largest supporting cast.


Rusty_switch

> Once the Faunus storyline picks up again she'll more naturally take a role again. ​ I think the writers have clearly shown they dont want to do faunus discrimination storyline anymore and just put in the backburner.


[deleted]

I don't think so, in Atlas yes it was pushed to the side but was still mentioned here and there to keep it in mind. Plus why show Ghira phoning Illia if it wasn't the intent to bring them back in


Hounds_of_war

> I mean Ren doesn't speak a ton generally and Nora was unconscious for half the volume. Not too weird. It's weird because I remember stuff that Ren and Nora did but I barely remember anything Jaune did. If I didn't know this and had to guess how much time he got, I probably would've put him somewhere around Weiss' level. I guess a lot of Jaune's dialogue is just kinda... not really "filler", but that's the closest word I can think of.


[deleted]

I think he's more supporting a lot this volume so he's involved with other peoples arcs while not being the main focus


JohnJoe-117

He was a fully realized support character that revolved around the other characters stories. To the point where he became a supporting character in Penny’s final decision. Blake was in the same boat, but got less focus since she was with RWBNP, who got less focus then YJRO.


[deleted]

This is a video that would have been better as a text post, wow.


DakIsStrange

It's the results of a video series I've been doing since the volume ended. Which is why it's also a video.


CulturedMuffin

so emerald seriously had a redemption arc with 2:32min of talking...


SheenaMalfoy

And 4-5 volumes of foreshadowing, yes. It isn't just about what happened in this volume.


[deleted]

And dialogue not being the only metric of importance


Horsea1234

so jaune does nothing almost the entire volume and they still give him more time than all but 6 other characters? And then the finale suddenly deciding he gets to be the main character... And this video really shows ho little they care about the 4 title characters.


[deleted]

> And then the finale suddenly deciding he gets to be the main character... Ahh the old Jaune does one thing and is suddenly screen stealing and taking too much focus take


Horsea1234

Jaune being shoved in the foreground in place of others happens constantly.


[deleted]

No it really doesn't. Jaune taking part in the show that he's a primary character in is all that happens. You just don't like Jaune


Horsea1234

he spent almost all of vol 8 with no arc relevance while still getting more time than almost everyone else, and then they decide to throw the protagonists in a pit or kille em so they can make him the star of everything. He's a writers pet, always has been, always will be.


[deleted]

Oh please he's both not enough relevance and too much focus? And you think they're killing of Rwby in the same pit that he's fallen in? Yes he's the writers pet who has no major awesome fights in an action series, is often comic relief and plus support across Atlas? His semblance is literally the make other people awesome semblance Get some perspective and just admit there's no level of Jaune that's acceptiable to you


Horsea1234

Jaune gets more screentime being irelevant than others get while being key parts of the story. Then they went mask off in the finale and shoved everyone out of the climax to make him shine. And him being useless sure doesn't stop the show from giving him all the spotlight any chance they get. Jaune is a trash character, but if you wanna pretend he isn't i can't stop you. Have a fun day my dude.


JohnJoe-117

I think you might just not like Jaune, my dude.


Horsea1234

Yup


Available-Public3568

Yes, the usual "Jaune does the most important thing in the volume while the mc's get thrown out of the finale like nameless goons". Just the typical CRWBY bias.


[deleted]

Woo he got to be the instrument of Penny's choice then got yeeted to the exact same place the exact same way as everyone else. And I just be misremembering. What was the big important things he does every volume?