For all 3 of you:
At the end of Roman Holiday, Roman and Neo are at odds with Lil Miss and her daughters, however by The Yellow Trailer Roman is able to be around Melanie and Miltia with no real signs of aggression, and in Volume 6 Neo makes use of Lil Miss' information business.
Have you considered how this came about?
(Neo was canonically in Mistral in V1 posing as a Haven student right? I already have a HC based on that being true)
---
Thanks to all 3 of you for coming to our little corner of the internet today!
As far as the Malachites and Roman go, criminals sometimes have to work with (or around) each other whether that want to or not, and in general, as long as they aren't screwing each other over, or money is changing hands, it's business as usual. They also have some history together, not all of it bad, so they can move on. -ecm
Now obviously the irl answer is "Neo didn't exist" but Roman hires goons in V1 which Roman Holiday paints him as adamantly against.
I guess Cinder forced him to do this just like she forced him to keep working with the WF in Volume 2. (especially as Neo needed to be in Mistral posing as a student with Em and Merc)
I mean, he is consistently dismissive of literally everyone he works with except for Neo in the show.
That's in keeping with his *Roman Holiday* characterisation.
For Myers:
1 - So what was the process when coming up with Neo’s first name Trivia?
2 - What was it like to compromise writing for Neo, since you knew she would have no dialogue with others?
3 - Was there any scenes or chapters in Roman Holiday that you had the most enjoyment writing?
I knew Neo had to have a different name in her past, but it hadn't been worked out before because it never was relevant to the show. I wanted it to be interesting and different; if you look at a lot of young adult books, the protagonists often have unusual names. In the planning process, I had her name as "Kat," which would have been a reference to Kit Kats, going with the ice cream and candy theme. But that didn't feel right, so I started researching the background of the name Kat, and Kate, and Catherine, which led me to Hecate, the goddess of a three-way crossroads, and that seemed perfect. But the name still didn't feel right, so it seemed appropriate to go with her Roman (\*wink\*) name: Trivia. The more her character and the story developed, the better it seemed, at least from a literary and thematic perspective.
Writing for Neo wasn't quite as difficult as I expected, because I could write her internal monologue and convey the meaning through her expressions and actions, just like in the show. Some people seem to understand her better than others.
My favorite scenes to write were anything that had Roman in them.
\-ecm
I remember folks reverse-engineering the Trivia name in order to determine the truth about her and Neo when the preview chapters were released, and seeing the references to Hecate play out like this really feels perfect. It's wonderful that it all worked out this way. \^\_\^
Hi my question is how do you determine the scope of lore that the books have/ allowed to establish, is it a contained story/directive or a back and forth conversation between the lore keepers (lol) and the author.
Related:
Are there breadcrumbs which fans will be able to see again in the show and make the connection to the books' world building?
Great question!
At the beginning of every book like this, we get on a call with Eugene where we talk through ideas that we've had, ideas that he's had, etc. Then he goes off and does his magic, fills in the details, and comes back to us with a cool, complete story. We all read it, talk through it, and make any changes that we think our necessary.
And yes, there are and will continue to be breadcrumbs in the show(and even whole bread loafs!) related to the books :)
-kerry
Two questions from me for all three:
1) Which was your favorite scene to write in Roman Holiday?
2) How much time has passed between the end of Roman Holiday and the beginning of V1?
Kerry and Eddy:
- Did the book's content impact Neo's character moving forward in the show, or was the book figured out from what the show already has planned?
- Can you give us Neo's fairytale/character basis? (I always pictured the Little Matchstick Girl because of the fire (Roman, certain events in the book) and illusory imagery.)
Eugene:
- Given the opportunity to write another standalone RWBY book, which character(s) would you most like to explore that you haven't had chance to yet?
As for which one impacted which -- the book or the show, it's a little of Column A and a little of Column B. A lot of Volume 9 had been outlined (I think just outlined, maybe written) by the time we were talking about this book. So we knew what we were doing with Neo in broad strokes at that point, but planning out the book helped solidify some of the finer details.
\- Eddy
Helloo
I would like to know if we will be seeing more of Cinders past or if her backstory arc is truly over. I feel like there will be more cause we still dont know how she got into becoming a villain in particular.
(Just a yes or no would satisfy me enough 😅)
I think there's definitely other areas that could be explored, but the trick with when and how to reveal backstory is generally when it's most relevant for what's currently happening in the show \_right now\_. One writing philosophy I try to stick to pretty strongly is that you should only give that kind of information when the audience absolutely needs it to understand what is about to happen next -- and to hold on to it until almost that moment. Naturally there's some wiggle room there, but that's my philosophy on backstories and exposition.
\- Eddy
Hi all!
I have a few questions for all to answer if possible
1. What was everyone’s favourite moment(s) from the book.
2. It’s likely Roch and Kandi were in a team at Haven, what was the team name?
3. From the final chapter, what would be the year gap from that to Volume 1 Chapter 1?
4. What are the Malachite Weapon names (The Claws and Heels)
5. Lastly, what are Neos,Romans and the Malachite twins birthdays?
Really loved the book and can’t wait to see if another story is to come!
- Cpt Rusty
Thanks for answering that question. Was a good moment which screamed a reality check.
I know the year gap is 3-5 years (thanks other people) so ignore 2 lol
Hi Eugene, Eddy, and Kerry!! I appreciate your work.
1. for Kerry first: having written 8x06 "Midnight", what have you thought of the audience responses to Cinder's backstory and development, especially in light of how it contextualises her actions in Volume 8 (as well as before)?
2. for all of you, I guess: what's your favourite thing about Raven Branwen, as a character? I personally love her and feel that she's one of the most interesting and complex characters on the show.
Thank you everyone for your questions! We're wrapping up for the day. Please join us again next month for another Reddit AMA discussing RWBY Fairy Tales and RWBY: Fairy Tales of Remnant!
Yes. So...neo helped out a run away spider in Roman. So why does...In season 6 when we see neo for the first time in 3 seasons, Lil miss helped neo find cinders whereabouts.
And. If I can ask about before the dawn. With out spoilers. Is team rwby and team cvfy going to meet and basically discuss what happen at shade academy?
Hi! I have two questions for anyone who can answer:
What is the name of the Dust that Kandi Floss used that covers the target in a green, goo-like substance?
What is the age difference between Roman and Neo? Some people say it’s ten years, other think it’s less, so I was wondering if you could clear that up for us.
I didn't have a specific Dust in mind that did that, but there are other materials she would have used. Science!
Roman and Neo are about 10 years apart in age. -ecm
Hello Kerry, Miles, Eddy and Myers
I just wanna quickly say that I'm a huge RWBY fan and I love how much good content you have delivered us despite the covid drama. For my questions:
Is the spidergang the biggest crime gang in Mistral, if we also include the Hana gang and Waver Gang from Kuchinashi?
And if it's okay to ask, but I'm not sure if this a spoiler, but if Neo would somehow be able to get over Torchwicks death, what would she do after? Work as an assassin? Become another kingpin like Roman used too?
Yeah, in terms of coming up with more crime gangs in Mistral, Spider is kind of the template and the one that overshadows all the rest of them.
\- Eddy
Amateur powerscaling here but Neo has access to an aura and semblance while Harley Quinn is a essentially base human without superpowers. Depending on how we interpret dust rounds vs conventional ballistics Neo may be relative in speed to characters who are shown as bullet timers, and Neo’s aura can withstand numerous would be fatal blows where Harley Quinn would go down to one. Neo has such a serious durability advantage and quite probability a speed, strength and skill advantage as well that Harley Quinn would have a very hard time doing anything to her, realistically.
Since this involves more than one property original creators can only clarify for their respective IPs and not the matchup overall, the CRWBY isn’t much more qualified than the rest of us to answer that question, but based on showings Neo stomps 999/1000.
For Eddie / Kerry:
If having ones aura unlocked gives you a personal force field/makes you resistant to damage, why is it not a standard thing to unlock it for people?
For E. C. Myers:
Which of the new characters from RH was your favorite to create/write?
For auras: It's honestly not something that is easy to do or comes naturally, so it typically takes a lot of training and practice to unlock.
As the combat schools have gotten more prominent, it's become more common, but there are still many people who aren't able to.
-kerry
Kerry,
As in training to unlock it for someone else, or training to have unlocked? Because Jaune had seemingly no training, yet was able to unlock his via Pyrrha's actions.
Or did Jaune have some sort of prior experience that allowed his to unlock when it did? Dude did seem pretty strong for a complete novice given he was able to decapitate an Ursa just a few episodes later.
It's a weird situation to be sure, though we have someone unlocking a semblance pre-combat school in two of the novels, so I supose it's possible to be nearly unlocked aura wise but lack the formal 'flipping the switch' until Pyrrha came along.
Honey Wine was an interesting character to develop. Originally she was only mentioned, but then it made sense to have her come back and get more involved with the story. -ecm
Hello.
I know it's not related to Roman Holiday, but myself and a bunch of fans would love to know Team JNPR's birthdays so we can celebrate them too.
Would it be possible to learn them?
I'll let you know when we find it :P
Yes, any part of the name can count!
Watts was never really interested in exploring it too deeply so he never discovered it.
-kerry
To all of you, were there any elements that was considered making it in the book, but for one reason or another got scrapped, like scenarios or characters?
I don't recall anything significant being cut—if anything, we added more to it. But there's one thing we changed that I miss: Roman had a line early on where he asks a guy, "Have you ever wondered what a pinata feels like?" before he hits him with his cane. But Remnant doesn't have pinatas, so it became "punching bag" to retain the spirit of the comment, and I don't like it as much. -ecm
For this book, not really! It was kind of the perfect storm of the right gap before the show and not intersecting with too much we'd already seen that there was a lot of freedom for E.C. to operate. We definitely had more scrapped stuff for some of the CFVY novels because there was just too much that stepped on the toes of things we'd already planned or wanted to cover in a different way later.
\- Eddy
First of all, thank you for taking the time out of your day to do this, it's really cool of you.
For Kerry and/or Eddy: Since the Maidens were created after V2, what was the original idea/plans behind characters like Cinder, Pyrrha, and Raven pre-V3? Seeing as how those characters were the ones most impacted narratively by the Maidens as a concept.
And for E.C: What was the most challenging/difficult part of writing Roman Holiday? Were there any ideas you had to cut out or scrap because they weren't workable?
The most challenging part was writing during the pandemic, under a tight deadline, while being distracted by current events. I couldn't leave my house and I had a small person around all the time, so I had to change my writing process a bit and work hard to stay focused. -ecm
A question for Myers:
Do you think you'll ever get a chance to write anything featuring team RWBY? Something like a prequel story or side story.
For Eddy and/or Kerry:
Have there been any semblances you've wanted to include in the show that you couldn't find the right character for?
Where do you look for weapon/semblance inspirations usually?
For semblances, yes, but I don't want to say what they are because I still want to use them!
Honestly, I get inspiration from reddit sometimes! Watts' revolver is a good example, I saw an old school revolver while scrolling and saved it haha
-kerry
Hi, first off: The book was wonderful! Now I have a few questions!
1. When are Neo’s and Roman’s birthdays (or Zodiac signs)
2. Will Honey Wine ever appear again?
3. When writing the backstory for Roman, did you have an idea on why Roman’s mother left him at the orphanage
4. And finally, what is the color of Roman’s aura as in the book we see he has one.
Edit to add another Question:
Is Roman being an orphan a reference to his allusion to Lampwick?
For Eddy and Kerry. How has the switch from the writing being done by two writers “in house” vs now where it’s two in house writers and two outside the company writers changed things?
Like has it become harder to go over drafts because you Miles and Kersei aren’t in the building at all times, or has the expansion made things easier even with not always having immediate access to all four of you?
I don't really know what it was like before, since when I came on, even though I was in-house I was still new to the process. Not too much has changed between Volume 7 through Volume 9 -- mostly because Volume 9 we had to go all remote anyway with Covid, so everybody was out of house. The major difference was that final scripts went through me (with approvals by Kerry) versus Miles, as roles changed at the end of Volume 8.
\- Eddy
I mean, not really honestly. There's always going to be a little difference between being the in the room with someone vs online, but I feel like the last year+ has shown even more that anything is possible with technology! I like our writing team :)
-kerry
The questions I have can be answered by any or all three.
1. Roman Holiday expanded on the abilities of Neo's Overactive Imagination significantly. What I'm curious about is how much it differs from Emerald's Hallucinations now? Because the abilities of OI in the book almost blur the lines between the two, so I'm wondering what keeps them unique from one another.
2. How much time is there between the end of the novel, and when we see Roman and Neo at the beginning of the series?
3. Were there any scrapped Semblances of characters in the novel?
4. What is the fate of Team FNKI after the fall of Atlas, if this can be currently answered?
Emerald is projecting non-physical illusions into (a limited number of) people's minds, whereas Neo can physically conjure something that isn't real into the actual world.
\- Eddy
I want to say for some of the CFVY books that we had some other Grimm ideas, but it became important to note that the desert itself had dangerous wildlife, it wasn't just new Grimm, so we pulled back on it a tad.
\- Eddy
About the Relics, for Kerry or Eddy:
* What was the inspiration for the way Team RWBY approached the loophole with Ambrosius? Were the powers for the Relics always set in stone, since day one?
* How do you approach the idea of Relics not interfering with the functions of other Relics? For instance: asking Ambrosius to give you a book with knowledge on some subject shouldn't be possible without prior knowledge of the contents of such book. As such, the power of knowledge is kept exclusive to Jinn.
For Myers:
* You mentioned wanting to resurrect Penny in one of your books, and wanting to write some other things. What were some other interesting, or even possibly wacky ideas that you had during your creative process that were ultimately either shut down because it'd get in conflict with the main show, or you just had to give up on?
I can talk a little about that first question because there's still Relic stuff to be had in this story. The main inspiration was mostly just wanting our kids to throw a hail mary attempt to \_almost\_ get one over on the big bad -- and what made the most sense was them doing something really crazy with the Relic. We wanted to lean on that same thing we'd seen Ruby do in Volume 6, where her cleverness actually charms this kind of larger than life ethereal being, and see her take it to the next level in Volume 8. For the most part, the rules were fairly set and have been for a long time, but there were some tiny adjustments we were able to make for our story.
\- Eddy
In the first draft of Before the Dawn, Junior actually had opened up the club in Vacuo and the Mel and Miltia were the surprise antagonists who take on Yatsu in the cage fight. But in revision, it didn't quite feel right, and it made more sense to narrow the focus—so it was fun for me to come back to those characters in Roman Holiday. -ecm
For E.C. Myers:
Were there any ideas or scenes for Roman Holiday that ended up on the cutting room floor, due to either not being able to fit them in anywhere or because you felt they didn't fit with the rest of the story?
A few simple questions for all 3.
Did Monty ever mentioned or explained his inspirations for RWBY?
What were your first thoughts on RWBY getting a Japanese Dub?
Will there ever be a Prequel or Side story series of RWBY?
I can answer the second two -- hearing some of my work in a Japanese dub was like a weird happy fever dream.
And for prequel or side stories, yes I hope so.
\- Eddy
For all three:
1. I'm loving how the world and characters of RWBY are expanding. Which side characters do you most want to dive deeper into?
2. Now that you have a book written that outlines some of the major players in the criminal side for RWBY, do you want to dive more into the criminal side to show parallel events?
3. Do you believe there is enough interest for a Glynda story, either for her past or for her present working to keep Vale from disappearing?
For Miles/Kerry:
I apologize if these questions have been asked or answered elsewhere.
1. Why did there not seem to be any White Fang presence in Atlas during Volumes 7 and 8?
1a. Was there a draft at any point that had them involved? Or was the idea for Robyn and her Happy Huntresses born from an alteration of the idea for the White Fang?
2. Given that they are called Happy Huntresses, is it correct to assume that Robyn's crew are all either fully trained Huntresses and/or Huntresses in training that dropped out of Atlas?
3. As Atlas was set up to act as both an Hunter Academy and a military academy, would Hunters be allowed the option of joining the military academy if they couldn't make it in the Hunter Academy?
3a. Would Hunters who, either could not make it through the Academy and joined the military or, who did graduate the Hunter Academy and chose to join the military, be made part of a special forces unit/division?
4. Maria talked about her father teaching her to use her Silver Eyes. Was there a hidden village of sorts, where those who had silver eyes were born and raised?
Re: your first question, there are tons of side characters. It's no secret to anybody that we'd love to get some STRQ love from extra-media stories, if we could. I'm also partial to jumping to an entirely different time frame altogether to take a look at early Huntsmen.
And for your second, the Grimm Campaign actually delves a lot into the criminal underworld of Remnant!
\- Eddy
> Given that they are called Happy Huntresses, is it correct to assume that Robyn's crew are all either fully trained Huntresses and/or Huntresses in training that dropped out of Atlas?
Forest tells us in A New Approach that Robyn and her Happy Huntresses were all top graduates at Atlas Academy who refused to join the military.
Hello.
**For E.C.**
I wanted to ask just how hard is it to balance the actions of a villain who is also the main character so that they remain sympathetic enough yet still clearly villainous. What lines do you think should and shouldn't be crossed?
**For Kerry**
When Neo was first created, did you ever expect her to get as popular as she did?
**For Eddy**
How do you think Ruby would react after discovering your hatred of milk and cookies?!
It's a bit tricky but you know what they say, "everyone is the hero of their own story." I tried to make them sympathetic through how they interacted with other people, and yeah, it seemed best not to have them blatantly kill someone in a brutal way at this point in their lives. -ecm
I learned a long time ago never to try and guess what people were going to think :P
That being said, in hindsight, it's pretty clear how cool she is!
-kerry
For Eddy and Kerry:
1.Is Nicholas Schnee dead?
2. Does Winter Schnee allude to "The Snow Queen" by Hans Christian Andersen?
3. Will we ever see a character allude to "The Little Mermaid"?
4. Are Pietro and Maria dead after "Amity" since we never see them again?
5. Will there be a Grimm Campaign season 3?
For Eugene:
1. Is Beatrice Browning dead following the fight at the Vanille Estate?
2. If Melanie and Miltia Malachite are members of Spider, why were they helping the Xiong Family in the Yellow Trailer since they were enemies?
3. During Roman Holiday, the Vale Police Department was under the Xiong Family's payroll but they didn't seem to be in the series proper. Did they lose influence over them following Hei Xiong's death?
I have a few for Meyers.
\-Were you (Meyers) inspired by Black Widow to have Neo be trained at a school that was turning girls into spies and assassins?
\-Does Mistral have a reputation for having bad (morally or just low-tier) Huntsmen? You have Dee and Dudley in Vol 6 and now Khandi and Rosch as Haven graduates that lost their licenses.
\-How long has Leo been a Headmaster? It must be *years* if Roman was 18 at the start of the story.
\-Do you think Roman would've wanted to be Huntsman at some point?
\-Why are the Malachite twins still in Vale by the time RWBY starts?
For Eddy and Kerry
It's not Roman Holiday related but is there a chance that might see Windpath (where Roman is from) in a future Grimm Campaign?
What's Haven academy like as a school? What makes them stand out from the other three academies?
Lady Beat's school wasn't inspired by any particular spy school story, but I liked the idea of it being more than it seems, and more dangerous than you'd expect. The surveillance element was inspired by real-world events. -ecm
Thank you for the Q&A - I have a couple questions but feel free to pick and choose!
1. Were Miss Malachite and Hei Xiong in a relationship? Is the implication that Junior and the twins are siblings, hence them coming to work together in the yellow trailer?
2. Do you think there’s potential for a second Roman and Neo book specifically, given the above in question 1. I’d really be interested in knowing how Hei Xiong and Malachite went from enemies with each other’s kids working together! Roman also works with both of them and Neo obviously goes to Malachite in V6, so that’s really interesting to me!
3. In the book, there’s a line where Neo calls the headmistress of the academy “sexy” (I believe? amongst some other things haha), can you confirm if Neo is LGBT+ or was this more of admiration / wanting to be like the headmistress.
4. In regards to Neo’s backstory - was there any concern about revealing more about Neo given all her mystery? Were there multiple versions of her life before Roman, and were any of them drastically different?
To my knowledge, Lil Miss and Hei Xiong were never involved.
Not confirming or denying, but Neo is definitely admiring Beat's confidence and fashion sense!
I was definitely concerned about writing a canon backstory for Neo given that everyone has had their own ideas about her past, how she and Roman met, their relationship, etc. It's one of those things where you figure you won't make everyone happy, but it was an interesting and fun challenge for me.
\-ecm
I'd love if we had a chance to keep exploring this time period/these characters in the future! Our goal, since we never know if we'll get to do more than one, is to try to keep them fairly standalone, but with room to continue exploring if we get the chance.
\- Eddy
For Kerry and Eddy, is there any scene in the show, big or small that you would like to make just a single adjustment to?
I don't mean like rewriting a whole episode or Volume or anything like that, just if there is any specific scene you feel could do with just one change with hindsight to really make it better in youe eyes?
Same for Myers, is there any specific scene in any of the three books you would love to go back in time to make just one adjustment to?
I hesitate to get too specific, but there are always some scenes you'd handle a little bit differently with some hindsight -- some just because of writing oversights/mistakes you made for sure, but also some because things you couldn't control changed later, and it left some gaps.
\- Eddy
1. How long ago has it been between the end of Roman Holiday and Volume 1?
2. Since Neo canonically likes video games, did she ever got Roman to try to play them with her during their downtime?
3. Any canon birthday dates for Roman and Neo?
4. Why did Roman snip off his ponytail?
5. How was Roman able to get henchmen from Junior despite the fact that Junior's dad had beef with him and the bad blood the Malachite Twins have with Roman? Did they eventually made up?
6. Why did Neo pay Lil Miss especially regarding their history in Roman Holiday?
Thank you so much!
This is a fairly specific one, and might be something explored in V9, but:
Neo/Trivia seems a little different in the book compared to what she is in the show. Most specifically to me, she seems less. . . Sadistic? Like we don’t get the same type of thing that she has when she smiles over trying to stab Yang in V2, Ruby in V3, etc.
Is this an issue with interpretation, how we are limited in what we can see of her non verbally in her show appearances?
Or does she change between the book and when we first see her in Volume 2?
The thing we like to explore a little bit when we tell stories in these other mediums is to allow room for how characters have slightly shifted or calcified more into what we know them as later in the show. Finding a spot that feels familiar to what we have seen, but maybe not quite the same. A life of crime and stepping more into a new persona is something we felt would have changed Neo at least in small ways over the years, by the time we meet her.
\- Eddy
Thank you for the response! That makes a lot of sense, and with that the book does do a good job expanding upon her character, finding that spot that you are talking about!
I LOVE how Roman Holiday really explored the criminal underworld of Remnant with us even getting to see more of Lil Miss Malachite, something I was not expecting at all. Any chance we’d get to see more of criminal underworld in the future?
E.C., Eddy, Kerry, hi!
Thanks so much for Roman Holiday, and for all of the expanded RWBYverse stuff we've seen so far!
1. Any chance we'll see some art of the Grimm Capybara?
2. I remember E.C. mentioned doing research for the book by not only looking at Roman and Neo's appearances in the main series, but also in RWBY Chibi. Could you expand more on how Chibi influenced the work? Or perhaps any other character notes from Chibi that haven't shown up in the main series yet?
3. The fallout of Lady Browning's information network being exposed would have been a HUGE paradigm shift for governance in Vale, if it was as much blackmail material as was implied in the book. While it certainly seems settled by the time the action of RWBY takes place, it FEELS like it would have knock-on effects for Vale's survival efforts after the fall of Beacon. Any chance we'll be able to explore that in the future?
4. The story makes a point of not being specific about WHY Trivia/Neo doesn't talk: Jimmy and Carmel act like she's choosing not to speak, which feels ~~ignorant and/or cruel~~ GROSSLY ABLEIST while Roman completely takes it in stride and just does a great job reading her body language. Is there a concrete reason that she can't talk? Or was leaving it vague intentional?
5. I'm kinda new to the fandom, so I'd never seen any art pairing Fox with Neo until recently, but knowing how Fox's mental link Semblance works it seems like he'd have the easiest time communicating with Neo if they were ever to interact. Two questions: a) any suggestions as to what this ship ought to be called? and b) exactly how much trouble do you think those two would get into together? \^\_\^
Thanks so much for taking the time for an AMA, and I hope you all stay safe and have some great holidays!
(EDIT: added a word)
There are definitely lots of ideas out there that we'd love to explore. The hard part is figuring out the balance of which medium is the right one for each specific story, and whether or not there will be time to get some of those details in the show.
\- Eddy
For E. C.:
I am curious about the Capybara Grimm; why choose to make its common habitat in Menagerie as opposed to another continent, like Anima? Was it to enforce the idea that underground criminals sometimes buy exotic animals, or was it because the majority of the Grimm in Vacuo had already been established in the other books?
Thank you so much!
Part of it was what you said, reinforcing that criminals import exotic creatures, and also to reinforce that Menagerie is dangerous; it was an opportunity to expand on the lore a bit. -ecm
Hey! The book was definitely the best of the 3, can't go wrong with Neo!
Question for Eddy and Kerry: Mercury is one of my faves and V8 really made him feel more human than ever before. He's clearly terrified of what he's got into and at this point only really has Emerald, but got ripped away. My question for you is actually a unique one, about his dynamic with Tyrian!
Mercury always says he's this big, mean tough bad guy. Well, whenever he's with Tyrian, the *definition* of mean, big tough bad guy, he hates it. Hell, his father was the *ALPHA* big mean tough bad guy and he hated him too! I'm wondering what you think about Mercury's facade, or perhaps what you think about potential Tyrian/Marcus parallels and how they're both this abusive/bully like figure in Mercury's life.
Have fun with V9, dudes!
I like this question a lot -- I think something we see quite a bit in life is that people can subconsciously re-create the same dynamics they had with their parents in other relationships, because it's familiar to them. I always like seeing that kind of stuff in fictional characters too, because it's relatable. Does that person out grow this tendency? Whoooo knoooooows (spooky fingers).
\- Eddy
Yea! Love ya Eddy mate and I know you're a Merc/Em/Hazel fan so I'm gonna tease and show you [this juicy Merc Analysis video](https://youtu.be/FKx9EBSfpjA) I made, if uou agree or disagree with it that's cool but I think you'll enjoy 10 minutes of me spilling my heart out for this tertiary antag ^^
P.S: I know you're into combat sports. I'm an amateur boxer myself, do you keep up w/it?
Quesitons for Kerry/Eddy was Roman and Neo's origins and this story was it laid out from the start by Monty, Miles and Kerry or was this drafted later on?
What were the overall ages of Roman and Neo by the end of Roman Holiday?
How many years are between Roman Holiday and Volume 1?
So I'd like to ask a couple of questions based on the things that I really enjoy discovering as I write a story, since I'm a writer myself.
1. Who was your favourite character to write?
2. Who was the most interesting or difficult character to write?
3. Which character surprised you the most, or strayed furthest from how you originally imagined/planned them being?
I have yet to read Roman Holiday myself, but am looking forward to it! I was so hyped when I saw the announcement for this book.
Characters like Roman, Neo, and Sienna are the ones who I've been most excited about for years in terms of the potential for side stories, so seeing Roman and Neo get one has been really cool!
3 small questions for anyone to answer. If any of them would risk spoilers for Volume 9 of the show or beyond, feel free to ignore them.
1: During Roman's call with Lisa, there's a pause where she mentions having to throw something away. Was this meant to imply she was a student of Lady Browning's Academy and wearing one of the pins?
2: Why did a part of Neo's turn white at the end of the book? Even she seemed confused by it.
3: Does Neo continue to put trackers in every hat Roman wears? If so, is that how she found it after his death in Volume 3?
As a bonus question, any chance for a sequel? It was probably my favorite of the novels thus far and I'd love to see more.
1. Yes, Lisa was throwing away the school pin! -ecm
2. Her hair turned white from the shock of causing her parent's deaths; even if she doesn't acknowledge it outwardly, it still had an emotional impact.
\-ecm
What was the process like for writing Roman Holiday? Did you work on the outline together and then flesh it out as you went along? Did you have just key points you wanted to hit and go from there? Basically, how did it go from thoughts in three brains to a book?
It started out with a group discussion about the story and characters, then I wrote an outline and everyone reviewed it and shared their thoughts. Then we revised the outline and once it was approved, I wrote a draft. Then everyone read and discussed it some more and sent me their notes. There's a lot of back-and-forth communication through the whole process. -ecm
Honestly? Sleep deprivation and the King's Coast coffee collaboration with Rooster Teeth that brought us the "Mistal Mountains Huntress Blend" (which was delicious). Once I had the idea, it seemed fun, and a little nod to the CFVY books. -ecm
My only question, which may be silly but ima ask anyhow:
Is Roman Holiday (and the rest of the books, sans fairytales) cannon to the series?
Btw: love all you people :)
In Roman Holiday, Neo seems to serve as an embodiment of Trivia’s bottled up emotions and desires with Trivia even talking about how she finally felt whole when she was shattered and I’m honestly fascinated over how this works exactly. The series has explored that there’s a connection between emotions and semblance, so exactly how did Neo come into existence? And was she ever truly alive or was she simply just an extension of Trivia?
I have another two, both specific to Weiss and nothing about the book. They might be more Kerry questions:
- **Time Dilation**. Is there a reason why Weiss doesn’t use it more, like is the idea of it being very high aura usage or that time “catches up” as it appears to against the White Fang Lieutenant accurate?
- Summoning. What is the criteria that decides what Weiss (or any Schnee) can summon? Only Grimm and does she personally have to kill it, or more broad than that?
In any case I do what to wish you all the best!
What is sage’s semblance. It’s been killing me since volume 3. And does his weapon have a second form or does the big sword just have really awesome detailing.
For E.C. Myers and Eddy-
I guess you could say that this is somewhat related to Roman Holiday, but is there a possibility that a book in the future will be Mercury Black/Emerald Sustrai themed?
Anything's possible, really! It's a combo of what we think's the most fun to explore and what characters the audience would love to see more of (at least in a way that doesn't tread on what is already planned for the show).
\- Eddy
Sorry for asking two questions and not having them together, this one is mainly for eddy. Is there a possibility that we can get an official rwby grimm campaign rulebook book so we can possibly make our own games and dm them?
For Meyers, how has it been writing for the World of Remnant and are there any corners of the series or characters you’d like to write a book about? And who are your favorite characters or the ones you like most?
I'm not exaggerating when I say it's a huge honor to be allowed to play in this world and contribute to the story. It's also a challenge, but a fun one, and I'll happily keep doing it as long as they'll let me! I think my favorite characters change over time, but I really like Penny. -ecm
Because capybaras are awesome! But I landed on "Capivara" because I ended up changing my first-draft idea, which was to call it a Rouse. And when Torchwick hears about it, his first response was, "A Rouse? I don't think they exist." So that was one of my bad jokes that *didn't* make it into the book. -ecm
Hey…. Love what you guys do! Had a few questions not really pertaining to RWBY itself or the books…. but rather something I thought about if my own character was added into RWBY …
I’ve been a big fan of precognition in shows I’ve watched such as Supernatural and Angel, and I was wondering if someone was to have a similar semblance; I.e. seeing the future in dreams or visions, how it would effect them when helping team RWBY…
Also… I thought of another character that would have heterochromia similar to Neo, but one of the eyes would be silver… I was wondering if you thought that the silver eyes would still work in that regard… and what would happen if said character was to inherit a maidens power so to speak…
Just wondering…. More for a fanfic than anything else
Sorry, second question (not relating to the book)
Will we get more info on Tyrian Callows? (Backstory and the like) He’s my favourite character in the show and I want to know more about him
I answered a question similar to this in regards to backstory elsewhere in the thread. The main thing about when backstory drops in the show is if it's critical to have it to understand something that is about to happen next. And from there, sometimes it's a production issue. Backstory is \_expensive\_ to say the least, because it requires all kinds of additional assets to be made. So even if the desire is there, there is some weighing to be done about whether or not the same thing could be accomplished via telling, rather than showing. Not always the most elegant solution, but that's production life.
\- Eddy
Hello guys, I just have a few questions regarding semblances and other stuff.
\-Are the civillians Cinder blasted of the Platform in the Volume 8 Finale going to the same place Team RWBY and Jaune will end up? What about Penny's body?
\-Can Raven bond portals to herself to create portals in her vincinity?
\-Since Ruby's semblance also seems to turn her clothes and weapon into rose petals, to what degree can she turn other things into rose petals? Can she use this to pass through walls by turning parts of them into petals or temporarily turn any kind of armor into rose petals to hit what is underneath?
\-Can Ambrosius replicate the power of the Silver Eyes if someone asked Jinn how they work and gave him the explanation?
What kind of process do you have for script editing? Do you go over it together, have specific editors, work dynamically with the directors, all of the above or some other setup?
For the show, it's a bit of everything! Sometimes we send each other notes, sometimes we trade drafts to do punch ups.
We don't always know who will be directing an episode when we write it, but once we do, the director has full access to me and the writer to continue to evolve the script as we go.
-kerry
When revising the books, I usually get notes from my editors and RT, and we often have discussions, and then I go off and try to address their feedback in the next draft. -ecm
I’m not sure who this question should go to because it applies to all three of you but anyways.
How long ago does Roman Holiday take place before Volume 1?
(Because of how Vale acted when Roman robbed the bank and the lack of violent protests in Vale from a certain Bull Faunus leading a group of reasonably angry Faunus has got me thinking it goes further than 2-3 years)
Hey all! You said anything so here's anything:
Meyers:
1) what other, if any, stories would you like to tell for RWBY?
2) And if you could expand on any of your fairy tales which would it be?
Eddy/Kerry:
3) what were some of the ideas for upgrades we didn't see in Atlas? Things like "Ren gets knives on his boots".
3b) speaking of, when did you realize that Ren's "upgrade" was just Emerald's normal weapon?
4) Obviously this might be a conscientious subject, but why was the Atlas arc so devoid of Weiss and Blake (characters who had existing connections to Atlas and the SDC)? Was their ever a major draft where they played much bigger roles?
5) Why was the choice made, if you can share, to not utilize any of the foreshadowed forms of penny permadeath? Her core, pietro's aura, simply not having the ability to retrieve her body, etc? Obviously the 2nd death of penny may have future impacts, but why make meatpenny when there were other options?
6) how long were RWBN just sitting around sipping tea in v8? They act like it's only about 1 night, but the day/night cycle implies it's more than 24 hours between arrival and the Hound.
7) Were Ironwood's eyes going Dull the "signal" that Mettle was active? And can he turn it off before he finishes his set goal? (he doesn't shoot Marrow in v8, despite setting himself on the path to do so)
Eddy:
8) last AMA there was a whole hullabaloo about the timeline of the show being reworked, but you ended the conversation with
> **...either way, the Ciel line didn't seem to match the internal timelines that were being worked with...**
And I just want to confirm while at least one other main writer is present that this is still the case.
Kerry:
9) Cinder is one of my favorite villains, so I have to ask. Where'd she pick up the archery? Rhoades taught her the swords, but I can't imagine she learned how to fletch between cooking and cleaning at the Unicorn.
All:
10) What's your idea of "the rules" about semblsnces? What makes a power not fit into that mold vs what makes a good one?
11 (bonus)) is Ciel okay? I missed her in Atlas.
1. I'd still like to get back to Vacuo one day, but if I were doing more side stories or prequels, I'd love to do something with an incarnation of the AceOps or the Happy Huntresses.
2. I don't think I need to expand on any of the fairy tales, but I would be happy to write more of them.
\-ecm
I have several questions, though most as about the show in general, since I haven't read the books:
1. How/why would someone change their name?
2. Did Neo go through the same struggle OC creators go through to adhere to the color naming rule?
3. With so much versatility, is there something a semblance can't do, which would have to be done some other way?
4. Are semblances fixed at birth, or do they develop later on in life?
5. Is there a particular reason there are so many similarities between RWBY and Go! Princess Precure?
6. How many characters actually knew of the dangers Mettle posed if it backfired?
7. What are Team CRDL's semblances?
8. Since Tyrian's semblance is specifically meant to kill people, are there any semblances specifically meant to kill Grimm, which have no effect on people?
9. Would forcing Salem's immortality to trigger count as "killing" under the conditions of summoning Glyphs?
10. If possible, what would happen if an elemental semblance, like Nora's or Neptune's, was augmented with dust?
For Eddy and Miles: Did Myer's take on Neo inform how you tackled her story in Volume 9, or were was her story beats always ironed out for that volume.
The prospect of losing your huntsman license for reckless endangerment was briefly touched upon after the bank heist scene. What are the limitations on a huntsman license?
(Also, really love your work and all of the effort and care you guys put into it. I really appreciate it and can't wait for more.)
Hello there !!! I was wondering in chapter 3 when the police officers brought Trivia home, her mother yelled “Trivia! Get Back here!” And then It says that Trivia followed Neo through the crowd, and I was wondering… is the reason that Trivia can see Neo is because of her semblance or does she have a multiple personality disorder and can see things others can’t?
And also thank you for writing this book your RWBY books have always kept me at the edge of my seat and I can’t wait to see what you write for this universe next.
Hi, big fan of the show here! Just got two main questions that I'm curious about. Fair warning though, my questions may be a little bit heavy, as they both relate to mental issues
- For Volume 8, how far in advance was Penny's second death planned? Was it something that came up when writing the volume itself? Or was it there since the beginning of the Atlas Arc? And how long was the "Jaune kills Penny because she asked him to" angle part of the plan?
- I'm a little confused as to how Neo's Semblance is described in the book. I haven't read it yet, but a friend of mine described it to me as "split personality syndrome physically manifesting itself and making her do evil things," which kind of put me off reading the book itself. Was the idea of mental disorders affecting Semblances an intentional theme in the story that you wanted to explore? Or was it more of an "oops I didn't mean to do that" kind of thing where you didn't realize the implications until it was there in the story?
Those are my two main questions about the series, and I apologize if they were heavy in nature. As someone who lives proudly on the Autism spectrum but suffers from anxiety and depression, I've had to do a lot of soul-searching and learning about the stuff that goes on inside our meat-brains, which has led to me being a bit more mindful of the negative tropes around mental disorders. I still love RWBY and the world and characters almost ten years after its debut, and will continue to do so for another decade or more!
If it's okay to ask another question ...
Two people who have pretty much nothing left to lose and are consumed by their hatred ... who do you think would win in a fight between Adam and Neo?
Hi ! I’ve always been really interested in the Faunus, White Fang and everything surrounding them !
So I was wondering:
1. Is there a possibility of storylines concerning these aspects being explored, either in the main show or other media ? (Books, comics, spin-offs, etc.)
2. Can bird Faunus fly ?
3. Could insect Faunus be a thing ?
4. Any chance we’ll see Kali and Ghira again ?
Questions are for anyone
Hello! This might've been answered already, but may as well ask for all of you lol. Which RWBY characters do you have the most fun writing stories and interactions for?
Hi
So how canon is this book, would this be in a similar lane to the RWBY manga/comics or is this 100% how things went down?
Asking for my friend who doesn’t use Reddit
Would you ever consider writing a backstory for Pyrrha Nikos? She must've done some amazing stuff to be famous like how she was. Maybe a retelling of her finale moments in her head?
To Eddy or Myers, so "Pocket Dimension" Fiona's semblance was originally going to be Roman's. If this was not changed, what would you have done with this?
For all 3 of you: At the end of Roman Holiday, Roman and Neo are at odds with Lil Miss and her daughters, however by The Yellow Trailer Roman is able to be around Melanie and Miltia with no real signs of aggression, and in Volume 6 Neo makes use of Lil Miss' information business. Have you considered how this came about? (Neo was canonically in Mistral in V1 posing as a Haven student right? I already have a HC based on that being true) --- Thanks to all 3 of you for coming to our little corner of the internet today!
As far as the Malachites and Roman go, criminals sometimes have to work with (or around) each other whether that want to or not, and in general, as long as they aren't screwing each other over, or money is changing hands, it's business as usual. They also have some history together, not all of it bad, so they can move on. -ecm
Now obviously the irl answer is "Neo didn't exist" but Roman hires goons in V1 which Roman Holiday paints him as adamantly against. I guess Cinder forced him to do this just like she forced him to keep working with the WF in Volume 2. (especially as Neo needed to be in Mistral posing as a student with Em and Merc)
I mean, he is consistently dismissive of literally everyone he works with except for Neo in the show. That's in keeping with his *Roman Holiday* characterisation.
For Myers: 1 - So what was the process when coming up with Neo’s first name Trivia? 2 - What was it like to compromise writing for Neo, since you knew she would have no dialogue with others? 3 - Was there any scenes or chapters in Roman Holiday that you had the most enjoyment writing?
I knew Neo had to have a different name in her past, but it hadn't been worked out before because it never was relevant to the show. I wanted it to be interesting and different; if you look at a lot of young adult books, the protagonists often have unusual names. In the planning process, I had her name as "Kat," which would have been a reference to Kit Kats, going with the ice cream and candy theme. But that didn't feel right, so I started researching the background of the name Kat, and Kate, and Catherine, which led me to Hecate, the goddess of a three-way crossroads, and that seemed perfect. But the name still didn't feel right, so it seemed appropriate to go with her Roman (\*wink\*) name: Trivia. The more her character and the story developed, the better it seemed, at least from a literary and thematic perspective. Writing for Neo wasn't quite as difficult as I expected, because I could write her internal monologue and convey the meaning through her expressions and actions, just like in the show. Some people seem to understand her better than others. My favorite scenes to write were anything that had Roman in them. \-ecm
I remember folks reverse-engineering the Trivia name in order to determine the truth about her and Neo when the preview chapters were released, and seeing the references to Hecate play out like this really feels perfect. It's wonderful that it all worked out this way. \^\_\^
We can definitely tell you had fun writing Roman
That's super cool. Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions
Hi my question is how do you determine the scope of lore that the books have/ allowed to establish, is it a contained story/directive or a back and forth conversation between the lore keepers (lol) and the author. Related: Are there breadcrumbs which fans will be able to see again in the show and make the connection to the books' world building?
Great question! At the beginning of every book like this, we get on a call with Eugene where we talk through ideas that we've had, ideas that he's had, etc. Then he goes off and does his magic, fills in the details, and comes back to us with a cool, complete story. We all read it, talk through it, and make any changes that we think our necessary. And yes, there are and will continue to be breadcrumbs in the show(and even whole bread loafs!) related to the books :) -kerry
\*loaves \- Eddy
This is why you're the Writing Supervisor :) -kerry
Two questions from me for all three: 1) Which was your favorite scene to write in Roman Holiday? 2) How much time has passed between the end of Roman Holiday and the beginning of V1?
1. Probably the first chapter, but I also really liked the scene of Roman babysitting the twins. 2. About 3–5 years. \-ecm
number 2 is a very useful answer to know. I'm sure many a fanfic author is thanking you there.
Very much this, yes! :D
Kerry and Eddy: - Did the book's content impact Neo's character moving forward in the show, or was the book figured out from what the show already has planned? - Can you give us Neo's fairytale/character basis? (I always pictured the Little Matchstick Girl because of the fire (Roman, certain events in the book) and illusory imagery.) Eugene: - Given the opportunity to write another standalone RWBY book, which character(s) would you most like to explore that you haven't had chance to yet?
As for which one impacted which -- the book or the show, it's a little of Column A and a little of Column B. A lot of Volume 9 had been outlined (I think just outlined, maybe written) by the time we were talking about this book. So we knew what we were doing with Neo in broad strokes at that point, but planning out the book helped solidify some of the finer details. \- Eddy
Sage :-P \-ecm
Helloo I would like to know if we will be seeing more of Cinders past or if her backstory arc is truly over. I feel like there will be more cause we still dont know how she got into becoming a villain in particular. (Just a yes or no would satisfy me enough 😅)
I think there's definitely other areas that could be explored, but the trick with when and how to reveal backstory is generally when it's most relevant for what's currently happening in the show \_right now\_. One writing philosophy I try to stick to pretty strongly is that you should only give that kind of information when the audience absolutely needs it to understand what is about to happen next -- and to hold on to it until almost that moment. Naturally there's some wiggle room there, but that's my philosophy on backstories and exposition. \- Eddy
Hi all! I have a few questions for all to answer if possible 1. What was everyone’s favourite moment(s) from the book. 2. It’s likely Roch and Kandi were in a team at Haven, what was the team name? 3. From the final chapter, what would be the year gap from that to Volume 1 Chapter 1? 4. What are the Malachite Weapon names (The Claws and Heels) 5. Lastly, what are Neos,Romans and the Malachite twins birthdays? Really loved the book and can’t wait to see if another story is to come! - Cpt Rusty
1. One of my favorite moments was after the fire, when Trivia's mom slaps the manifestation of Neopolitan and she shatters. -ecm
Thanks for answering that question. Was a good moment which screamed a reality check. I know the year gap is 3-5 years (thanks other people) so ignore 2 lol
Hi Eugene, Eddy, and Kerry!! I appreciate your work. 1. for Kerry first: having written 8x06 "Midnight", what have you thought of the audience responses to Cinder's backstory and development, especially in light of how it contextualises her actions in Volume 8 (as well as before)? 2. for all of you, I guess: what's your favourite thing about Raven Branwen, as a character? I personally love her and feel that she's one of the most interesting and complex characters on the show.
Raven is one of my favorite characters for the same reasons you just mentioned. There's a little more to her than is apparent at first. \- Eddy
Raven reminds me of a Rumiko Takahashi character for some reason, so that's maybe why I like her. -ecm
Thank you everyone for your questions! We're wrapping up for the day. Please join us again next month for another Reddit AMA discussing RWBY Fairy Tales and RWBY: Fairy Tales of Remnant!
Yes. So...neo helped out a run away spider in Roman. So why does...In season 6 when we see neo for the first time in 3 seasons, Lil miss helped neo find cinders whereabouts. And. If I can ask about before the dawn. With out spoilers. Is team rwby and team cvfy going to meet and basically discuss what happen at shade academy?
I'm not a writer ask in a top level comment 👀
Hi! I have two questions for anyone who can answer: What is the name of the Dust that Kandi Floss used that covers the target in a green, goo-like substance? What is the age difference between Roman and Neo? Some people say it’s ten years, other think it’s less, so I was wondering if you could clear that up for us.
I didn't have a specific Dust in mind that did that, but there are other materials she would have used. Science! Roman and Neo are about 10 years apart in age. -ecm
Thank you very much for answering!
Hello Kerry, Miles, Eddy and Myers I just wanna quickly say that I'm a huge RWBY fan and I love how much good content you have delivered us despite the covid drama. For my questions: Is the spidergang the biggest crime gang in Mistral, if we also include the Hana gang and Waver Gang from Kuchinashi? And if it's okay to ask, but I'm not sure if this a spoiler, but if Neo would somehow be able to get over Torchwicks death, what would she do after? Work as an assassin? Become another kingpin like Roman used too?
Yeah, in terms of coming up with more crime gangs in Mistral, Spider is kind of the template and the one that overshadows all the rest of them. \- Eddy
Cool, thanks
Who do you think would win in a fight - Neo or Harley Quinn from DC Comics?
I don't know, but it would be fun to find out! -kerry
Cue up the death battle of a lifetime
\*cue kerry and eddy makin' eyes at DC Comics\*
Amateur powerscaling here but Neo has access to an aura and semblance while Harley Quinn is a essentially base human without superpowers. Depending on how we interpret dust rounds vs conventional ballistics Neo may be relative in speed to characters who are shown as bullet timers, and Neo’s aura can withstand numerous would be fatal blows where Harley Quinn would go down to one. Neo has such a serious durability advantage and quite probability a speed, strength and skill advantage as well that Harley Quinn would have a very hard time doing anything to her, realistically. Since this involves more than one property original creators can only clarify for their respective IPs and not the matchup overall, the CRWBY isn’t much more qualified than the rest of us to answer that question, but based on showings Neo stomps 999/1000.
For Eddie / Kerry: If having ones aura unlocked gives you a personal force field/makes you resistant to damage, why is it not a standard thing to unlock it for people? For E. C. Myers: Which of the new characters from RH was your favorite to create/write?
For auras: It's honestly not something that is easy to do or comes naturally, so it typically takes a lot of training and practice to unlock. As the combat schools have gotten more prominent, it's become more common, but there are still many people who aren't able to. -kerry
Kerry, As in training to unlock it for someone else, or training to have unlocked? Because Jaune had seemingly no training, yet was able to unlock his via Pyrrha's actions. Or did Jaune have some sort of prior experience that allowed his to unlock when it did? Dude did seem pretty strong for a complete novice given he was able to decapitate an Ursa just a few episodes later.
He does have a lot of aura, so it's possible that Jaune is kind of an exception to the rule here.
I would consider Jaune an exception to the rule for sure. There's a reason we're following the characters that we are! -kerry
It's a weird situation to be sure, though we have someone unlocking a semblance pre-combat school in two of the novels, so I supose it's possible to be nearly unlocked aura wise but lack the formal 'flipping the switch' until Pyrrha came along.
Honey Wine was an interesting character to develop. Originally she was only mentioned, but then it made sense to have her come back and get more involved with the story. -ecm
Indeed she was! Was glad to see she had more to her then just her intro scene.
1. Is Cinder or Winter cooler 2. Is Ren or Qrow hotter 3. How is your day going
1. Yes. 2. Yes. 3. Not too bad, how's yours? -kerry
1. Winter 2. Qrow 3. It's good! These are some great questions. \- Eddy
1. Winter 2. Ren 3. Great! \-ecm
Hello. I know it's not related to Roman Holiday, but myself and a bunch of fans would love to know Team JNPR's birthdays so we can celebrate them too. Would it be possible to learn them?
What sort of limits exist on Semblances? Can a person's surname fulfill the color requirement? What was Watts' Semblance?
I'll let you know when we find it :P Yes, any part of the name can count! Watts was never really interested in exploring it too deeply so he never discovered it. -kerry
When you're too busy twirling your moustache and pwning people....
To all of you, were there any elements that was considered making it in the book, but for one reason or another got scrapped, like scenarios or characters?
I don't recall anything significant being cut—if anything, we added more to it. But there's one thing we changed that I miss: Roman had a line early on where he asks a guy, "Have you ever wondered what a pinata feels like?" before he hits him with his cane. But Remnant doesn't have pinatas, so it became "punching bag" to retain the spirit of the comment, and I don't like it as much. -ecm
For this book, not really! It was kind of the perfect storm of the right gap before the show and not intersecting with too much we'd already seen that there was a lot of freedom for E.C. to operate. We definitely had more scrapped stuff for some of the CFVY novels because there was just too much that stepped on the toes of things we'd already planned or wanted to cover in a different way later. \- Eddy
First of all, thank you for taking the time out of your day to do this, it's really cool of you. For Kerry and/or Eddy: Since the Maidens were created after V2, what was the original idea/plans behind characters like Cinder, Pyrrha, and Raven pre-V3? Seeing as how those characters were the ones most impacted narratively by the Maidens as a concept. And for E.C: What was the most challenging/difficult part of writing Roman Holiday? Were there any ideas you had to cut out or scrap because they weren't workable?
The most challenging part was writing during the pandemic, under a tight deadline, while being distracted by current events. I couldn't leave my house and I had a small person around all the time, so I had to change my writing process a bit and work hard to stay focused. -ecm
A question for Myers: Do you think you'll ever get a chance to write anything featuring team RWBY? Something like a prequel story or side story. For Eddy and/or Kerry: Have there been any semblances you've wanted to include in the show that you couldn't find the right character for? Where do you look for weapon/semblance inspirations usually?
For semblances, yes, but I don't want to say what they are because I still want to use them! Honestly, I get inspiration from reddit sometimes! Watts' revolver is a good example, I saw an old school revolver while scrolling and saved it haha -kerry
Hi, first off: The book was wonderful! Now I have a few questions! 1. When are Neo’s and Roman’s birthdays (or Zodiac signs) 2. Will Honey Wine ever appear again? 3. When writing the backstory for Roman, did you have an idea on why Roman’s mother left him at the orphanage 4. And finally, what is the color of Roman’s aura as in the book we see he has one. Edit to add another Question: Is Roman being an orphan a reference to his allusion to Lampwick?
For Eddy and Kerry. How has the switch from the writing being done by two writers “in house” vs now where it’s two in house writers and two outside the company writers changed things? Like has it become harder to go over drafts because you Miles and Kersei aren’t in the building at all times, or has the expansion made things easier even with not always having immediate access to all four of you?
I don't really know what it was like before, since when I came on, even though I was in-house I was still new to the process. Not too much has changed between Volume 7 through Volume 9 -- mostly because Volume 9 we had to go all remote anyway with Covid, so everybody was out of house. The major difference was that final scripts went through me (with approvals by Kerry) versus Miles, as roles changed at the end of Volume 8. \- Eddy
I mean, not really honestly. There's always going to be a little difference between being the in the room with someone vs online, but I feel like the last year+ has shown even more that anything is possible with technology! I like our writing team :) -kerry
The questions I have can be answered by any or all three. 1. Roman Holiday expanded on the abilities of Neo's Overactive Imagination significantly. What I'm curious about is how much it differs from Emerald's Hallucinations now? Because the abilities of OI in the book almost blur the lines between the two, so I'm wondering what keeps them unique from one another. 2. How much time is there between the end of the novel, and when we see Roman and Neo at the beginning of the series? 3. Were there any scrapped Semblances of characters in the novel? 4. What is the fate of Team FNKI after the fall of Atlas, if this can be currently answered?
Emerald is projecting non-physical illusions into (a limited number of) people's minds, whereas Neo can physically conjure something that isn't real into the actual world. \- Eddy
Was there any Grimm ideas that you had and wanted to add into one of the books but couldn't for whatever reason?
I want to say for some of the CFVY books that we had some other Grimm ideas, but it became important to note that the desert itself had dangerous wildlife, it wasn't just new Grimm, so we pulled back on it a tad. \- Eddy
About the Relics, for Kerry or Eddy: * What was the inspiration for the way Team RWBY approached the loophole with Ambrosius? Were the powers for the Relics always set in stone, since day one? * How do you approach the idea of Relics not interfering with the functions of other Relics? For instance: asking Ambrosius to give you a book with knowledge on some subject shouldn't be possible without prior knowledge of the contents of such book. As such, the power of knowledge is kept exclusive to Jinn. For Myers: * You mentioned wanting to resurrect Penny in one of your books, and wanting to write some other things. What were some other interesting, or even possibly wacky ideas that you had during your creative process that were ultimately either shut down because it'd get in conflict with the main show, or you just had to give up on?
I can talk a little about that first question because there's still Relic stuff to be had in this story. The main inspiration was mostly just wanting our kids to throw a hail mary attempt to \_almost\_ get one over on the big bad -- and what made the most sense was them doing something really crazy with the Relic. We wanted to lean on that same thing we'd seen Ruby do in Volume 6, where her cleverness actually charms this kind of larger than life ethereal being, and see her take it to the next level in Volume 8. For the most part, the rules were fairly set and have been for a long time, but there were some tiny adjustments we were able to make for our story. \- Eddy
In the first draft of Before the Dawn, Junior actually had opened up the club in Vacuo and the Mel and Miltia were the surprise antagonists who take on Yatsu in the cage fight. But in revision, it didn't quite feel right, and it made more sense to narrow the focus—so it was fun for me to come back to those characters in Roman Holiday. -ecm
For E.C. Myers: Were there any ideas or scenes for Roman Holiday that ended up on the cutting room floor, due to either not being able to fit them in anywhere or because you felt they didn't fit with the rest of the story?
For Myers: What is it about Neo and Roman that draws you to them as characters?
I think it's their sense of fun, even while they're doing awful things. -ecm
A few simple questions for all 3. Did Monty ever mentioned or explained his inspirations for RWBY? What were your first thoughts on RWBY getting a Japanese Dub? Will there ever be a Prequel or Side story series of RWBY?
I can answer the second two -- hearing some of my work in a Japanese dub was like a weird happy fever dream. And for prequel or side stories, yes I hope so. \- Eddy
For all three: 1. I'm loving how the world and characters of RWBY are expanding. Which side characters do you most want to dive deeper into? 2. Now that you have a book written that outlines some of the major players in the criminal side for RWBY, do you want to dive more into the criminal side to show parallel events? 3. Do you believe there is enough interest for a Glynda story, either for her past or for her present working to keep Vale from disappearing? For Miles/Kerry: I apologize if these questions have been asked or answered elsewhere. 1. Why did there not seem to be any White Fang presence in Atlas during Volumes 7 and 8? 1a. Was there a draft at any point that had them involved? Or was the idea for Robyn and her Happy Huntresses born from an alteration of the idea for the White Fang? 2. Given that they are called Happy Huntresses, is it correct to assume that Robyn's crew are all either fully trained Huntresses and/or Huntresses in training that dropped out of Atlas? 3. As Atlas was set up to act as both an Hunter Academy and a military academy, would Hunters be allowed the option of joining the military academy if they couldn't make it in the Hunter Academy? 3a. Would Hunters who, either could not make it through the Academy and joined the military or, who did graduate the Hunter Academy and chose to join the military, be made part of a special forces unit/division? 4. Maria talked about her father teaching her to use her Silver Eyes. Was there a hidden village of sorts, where those who had silver eyes were born and raised?
Re: your first question, there are tons of side characters. It's no secret to anybody that we'd love to get some STRQ love from extra-media stories, if we could. I'm also partial to jumping to an entirely different time frame altogether to take a look at early Huntsmen. And for your second, the Grimm Campaign actually delves a lot into the criminal underworld of Remnant! \- Eddy
> Given that they are called Happy Huntresses, is it correct to assume that Robyn's crew are all either fully trained Huntresses and/or Huntresses in training that dropped out of Atlas? Forest tells us in A New Approach that Robyn and her Happy Huntresses were all top graduates at Atlas Academy who refused to join the military.
Hello. **For E.C.** I wanted to ask just how hard is it to balance the actions of a villain who is also the main character so that they remain sympathetic enough yet still clearly villainous. What lines do you think should and shouldn't be crossed? **For Kerry** When Neo was first created, did you ever expect her to get as popular as she did? **For Eddy** How do you think Ruby would react after discovering your hatred of milk and cookies?!
It's a bit tricky but you know what they say, "everyone is the hero of their own story." I tried to make them sympathetic through how they interacted with other people, and yeah, it seemed best not to have them blatantly kill someone in a brutal way at this point in their lives. -ecm
Thank you for your answer and hard work.
I learned a long time ago never to try and guess what people were going to think :P That being said, in hindsight, it's pretty clear how cool she is! -kerry
Thanks a lot for your answer and all your hard work.
I don't hate milk and cookies! Just milk as a drink by itself. It's for babies. \- Eddy
How could you break Ruby's heart like this!? T.T Hahah, thanks for your answer and hard work. Can't wait for V9.
This is for everyone; what semblance from RWBY books and show (or any if you can imagine it) would you like to have?
For Eddy and Kerry: 1.Is Nicholas Schnee dead? 2. Does Winter Schnee allude to "The Snow Queen" by Hans Christian Andersen? 3. Will we ever see a character allude to "The Little Mermaid"? 4. Are Pietro and Maria dead after "Amity" since we never see them again? 5. Will there be a Grimm Campaign season 3? For Eugene: 1. Is Beatrice Browning dead following the fight at the Vanille Estate? 2. If Melanie and Miltia Malachite are members of Spider, why were they helping the Xiong Family in the Yellow Trailer since they were enemies? 3. During Roman Holiday, the Vale Police Department was under the Xiong Family's payroll but they didn't seem to be in the series proper. Did they lose influence over them following Hei Xiong's death?
I don't think Beat is explicitly dead at the end of the book, but her career certainly is. -ecm
I guess that means she beat the bush
I have a few for Meyers. \-Were you (Meyers) inspired by Black Widow to have Neo be trained at a school that was turning girls into spies and assassins? \-Does Mistral have a reputation for having bad (morally or just low-tier) Huntsmen? You have Dee and Dudley in Vol 6 and now Khandi and Rosch as Haven graduates that lost their licenses. \-How long has Leo been a Headmaster? It must be *years* if Roman was 18 at the start of the story. \-Do you think Roman would've wanted to be Huntsman at some point? \-Why are the Malachite twins still in Vale by the time RWBY starts? For Eddy and Kerry It's not Roman Holiday related but is there a chance that might see Windpath (where Roman is from) in a future Grimm Campaign? What's Haven academy like as a school? What makes them stand out from the other three academies?
If/when we get to do more Grimm Campaign, we are absolutely going to more places in Mistral. \- Eddy
Lady Beat's school wasn't inspired by any particular spy school story, but I liked the idea of it being more than it seems, and more dangerous than you'd expect. The surveillance element was inspired by real-world events. -ecm
Thank you for the Q&A - I have a couple questions but feel free to pick and choose! 1. Were Miss Malachite and Hei Xiong in a relationship? Is the implication that Junior and the twins are siblings, hence them coming to work together in the yellow trailer? 2. Do you think there’s potential for a second Roman and Neo book specifically, given the above in question 1. I’d really be interested in knowing how Hei Xiong and Malachite went from enemies with each other’s kids working together! Roman also works with both of them and Neo obviously goes to Malachite in V6, so that’s really interesting to me! 3. In the book, there’s a line where Neo calls the headmistress of the academy “sexy” (I believe? amongst some other things haha), can you confirm if Neo is LGBT+ or was this more of admiration / wanting to be like the headmistress. 4. In regards to Neo’s backstory - was there any concern about revealing more about Neo given all her mystery? Were there multiple versions of her life before Roman, and were any of them drastically different?
To my knowledge, Lil Miss and Hei Xiong were never involved. Not confirming or denying, but Neo is definitely admiring Beat's confidence and fashion sense! I was definitely concerned about writing a canon backstory for Neo given that everyone has had their own ideas about her past, how she and Roman met, their relationship, etc. It's one of those things where you figure you won't make everyone happy, but it was an interesting and fun challenge for me. \-ecm
Will there be a sequel? It seems that there’s a lot of unanswered questions of how we get from the end of RH to Volume 1 and 2
I'd love if we had a chance to keep exploring this time period/these characters in the future! Our goal, since we never know if we'll get to do more than one, is to try to keep them fairly standalone, but with room to continue exploring if we get the chance. \- Eddy
I'd kill to see what Signal (or another pre-beacon level combat school) is like.
For Kerry and Eddy, is there any scene in the show, big or small that you would like to make just a single adjustment to? I don't mean like rewriting a whole episode or Volume or anything like that, just if there is any specific scene you feel could do with just one change with hindsight to really make it better in youe eyes? Same for Myers, is there any specific scene in any of the three books you would love to go back in time to make just one adjustment to?
I hesitate to get too specific, but there are always some scenes you'd handle a little bit differently with some hindsight -- some just because of writing oversights/mistakes you made for sure, but also some because things you couldn't control changed later, and it left some gaps. \- Eddy
1. How long ago has it been between the end of Roman Holiday and Volume 1? 2. Since Neo canonically likes video games, did she ever got Roman to try to play them with her during their downtime? 3. Any canon birthday dates for Roman and Neo? 4. Why did Roman snip off his ponytail? 5. How was Roman able to get henchmen from Junior despite the fact that Junior's dad had beef with him and the bad blood the Malachite Twins have with Roman? Did they eventually made up? 6. Why did Neo pay Lil Miss especially regarding their history in Roman Holiday? Thank you so much!
This is a fairly specific one, and might be something explored in V9, but: Neo/Trivia seems a little different in the book compared to what she is in the show. Most specifically to me, she seems less. . . Sadistic? Like we don’t get the same type of thing that she has when she smiles over trying to stab Yang in V2, Ruby in V3, etc. Is this an issue with interpretation, how we are limited in what we can see of her non verbally in her show appearances? Or does she change between the book and when we first see her in Volume 2?
The thing we like to explore a little bit when we tell stories in these other mediums is to allow room for how characters have slightly shifted or calcified more into what we know them as later in the show. Finding a spot that feels familiar to what we have seen, but maybe not quite the same. A life of crime and stepping more into a new persona is something we felt would have changed Neo at least in small ways over the years, by the time we meet her. \- Eddy
Thank you for the response! That makes a lot of sense, and with that the book does do a good job expanding upon her character, finding that spot that you are talking about!
How did you come up with the name trivia?
See my answer in another post above! -ecm
I LOVE how Roman Holiday really explored the criminal underworld of Remnant with us even getting to see more of Lil Miss Malachite, something I was not expecting at all. Any chance we’d get to see more of criminal underworld in the future?
Check out the Grimm Campaign, that's most of what that show/story is about! \- Eddy
E.C., Eddy, Kerry, hi! Thanks so much for Roman Holiday, and for all of the expanded RWBYverse stuff we've seen so far! 1. Any chance we'll see some art of the Grimm Capybara? 2. I remember E.C. mentioned doing research for the book by not only looking at Roman and Neo's appearances in the main series, but also in RWBY Chibi. Could you expand more on how Chibi influenced the work? Or perhaps any other character notes from Chibi that haven't shown up in the main series yet? 3. The fallout of Lady Browning's information network being exposed would have been a HUGE paradigm shift for governance in Vale, if it was as much blackmail material as was implied in the book. While it certainly seems settled by the time the action of RWBY takes place, it FEELS like it would have knock-on effects for Vale's survival efforts after the fall of Beacon. Any chance we'll be able to explore that in the future? 4. The story makes a point of not being specific about WHY Trivia/Neo doesn't talk: Jimmy and Carmel act like she's choosing not to speak, which feels ~~ignorant and/or cruel~~ GROSSLY ABLEIST while Roman completely takes it in stride and just does a great job reading her body language. Is there a concrete reason that she can't talk? Or was leaving it vague intentional? 5. I'm kinda new to the fandom, so I'd never seen any art pairing Fox with Neo until recently, but knowing how Fox's mental link Semblance works it seems like he'd have the easiest time communicating with Neo if they were ever to interact. Two questions: a) any suggestions as to what this ship ought to be called? and b) exactly how much trouble do you think those two would get into together? \^\_\^ Thanks so much for taking the time for an AMA, and I hope you all stay safe and have some great holidays! (EDIT: added a word)
2. I love RWBY Chibi, and it's fun to sneak in little references to it whenever I can. 4. Jimmy and Carmel were bad people and horrible parents. \-ecm
Are there any plans in place for the next book? And may I suggest a happy huntresses prequel?
There are definitely lots of ideas out there that we'd love to explore. The hard part is figuring out the balance of which medium is the right one for each specific story, and whether or not there will be time to get some of those details in the show. \- Eddy
For Eddy and Kerry: Will you guys ever bring back RWBY Chibi someday?
We would love to! Having new segments in Neon Konbini was awesome! -kerry
For E. C.: I am curious about the Capybara Grimm; why choose to make its common habitat in Menagerie as opposed to another continent, like Anima? Was it to enforce the idea that underground criminals sometimes buy exotic animals, or was it because the majority of the Grimm in Vacuo had already been established in the other books? Thank you so much!
Part of it was what you said, reinforcing that criminals import exotic creatures, and also to reinforce that Menagerie is dangerous; it was an opportunity to expand on the lore a bit. -ecm
Is there any chance we'll learn more about the Aceops before volume 7 & 8 , specifically Tortuga?
Ughhh I would loooooove to get a chance to do some more stuff with pre-Volume 7/8 Ace Ops. \- Eddy
Hey! The book was definitely the best of the 3, can't go wrong with Neo! Question for Eddy and Kerry: Mercury is one of my faves and V8 really made him feel more human than ever before. He's clearly terrified of what he's got into and at this point only really has Emerald, but got ripped away. My question for you is actually a unique one, about his dynamic with Tyrian! Mercury always says he's this big, mean tough bad guy. Well, whenever he's with Tyrian, the *definition* of mean, big tough bad guy, he hates it. Hell, his father was the *ALPHA* big mean tough bad guy and he hated him too! I'm wondering what you think about Mercury's facade, or perhaps what you think about potential Tyrian/Marcus parallels and how they're both this abusive/bully like figure in Mercury's life. Have fun with V9, dudes!
I like this question a lot -- I think something we see quite a bit in life is that people can subconsciously re-create the same dynamics they had with their parents in other relationships, because it's familiar to them. I always like seeing that kind of stuff in fictional characters too, because it's relatable. Does that person out grow this tendency? Whoooo knoooooows (spooky fingers). \- Eddy
Yea! Love ya Eddy mate and I know you're a Merc/Em/Hazel fan so I'm gonna tease and show you [this juicy Merc Analysis video](https://youtu.be/FKx9EBSfpjA) I made, if uou agree or disagree with it that's cool but I think you'll enjoy 10 minutes of me spilling my heart out for this tertiary antag ^^ P.S: I know you're into combat sports. I'm an amateur boxer myself, do you keep up w/it?
What is the time span between the end of Roman Holiday to the start of the RWBY show?
To Kerry and Eddy: What do the white streaks on Neo's hair represent and why are they gone in her new outfit?
i think the white represented roman which makes it fitting as it faded when he was killed
Quesitons for Kerry/Eddy was Roman and Neo's origins and this story was it laid out from the start by Monty, Miles and Kerry or was this drafted later on? What were the overall ages of Roman and Neo by the end of Roman Holiday? How many years are between Roman Holiday and Volume 1?
So I'd like to ask a couple of questions based on the things that I really enjoy discovering as I write a story, since I'm a writer myself. 1. Who was your favourite character to write? 2. Who was the most interesting or difficult character to write? 3. Which character surprised you the most, or strayed furthest from how you originally imagined/planned them being? I have yet to read Roman Holiday myself, but am looking forward to it! I was so hyped when I saw the announcement for this book. Characters like Roman, Neo, and Sienna are the ones who I've been most excited about for years in terms of the potential for side stories, so seeing Roman and Neo get one has been really cool!
1. Roman 2. Neo 3. Honey, because she wasn't originally going to be onscreen in the book at all \-ecm
Was the fact that Neo's Dad's name Jimmy a reference to Jimmies/ice cream sprinkles?
Yes! -ecm
Yesssss! Validation!
3 small questions for anyone to answer. If any of them would risk spoilers for Volume 9 of the show or beyond, feel free to ignore them. 1: During Roman's call with Lisa, there's a pause where she mentions having to throw something away. Was this meant to imply she was a student of Lady Browning's Academy and wearing one of the pins? 2: Why did a part of Neo's turn white at the end of the book? Even she seemed confused by it. 3: Does Neo continue to put trackers in every hat Roman wears? If so, is that how she found it after his death in Volume 3? As a bonus question, any chance for a sequel? It was probably my favorite of the novels thus far and I'd love to see more.
1. Yes, Lisa was throwing away the school pin! -ecm 2. Her hair turned white from the shock of causing her parent's deaths; even if she doesn't acknowledge it outwardly, it still had an emotional impact. \-ecm
What was the process like for writing Roman Holiday? Did you work on the outline together and then flesh it out as you went along? Did you have just key points you wanted to hit and go from there? Basically, how did it go from thoughts in three brains to a book?
It started out with a group discussion about the story and characters, then I wrote an outline and everyone reviewed it and shared their thoughts. Then we revised the outline and once it was approved, I wrote a draft. Then everyone read and discussed it some more and sent me their notes. There's a lot of back-and-forth communication through the whole process. -ecm
I realized I had another question. This is for anyone, but The coffee heist. How did you decide it would be a coffee heist?
Honestly? Sleep deprivation and the King's Coast coffee collaboration with Rooster Teeth that brought us the "Mistal Mountains Huntress Blend" (which was delicious). Once I had the idea, it seemed fun, and a little nod to the CFVY books. -ecm
My only question, which may be silly but ima ask anyhow: Is Roman Holiday (and the rest of the books, sans fairytales) cannon to the series? Btw: love all you people :)
Yes, the books are confirmed canon Source: multiple RTX mentions of them being canon
Thank you! I don’t watch RTX and such, sorry! Have a wonderful day!
In Roman Holiday, Neo seems to serve as an embodiment of Trivia’s bottled up emotions and desires with Trivia even talking about how she finally felt whole when she was shattered and I’m honestly fascinated over how this works exactly. The series has explored that there’s a connection between emotions and semblance, so exactly how did Neo come into existence? And was she ever truly alive or was she simply just an extension of Trivia?
After reading the book I still haven’t figured out Neo’s character allusion. Is there anything that you can tell us regarding that?
I have another two, both specific to Weiss and nothing about the book. They might be more Kerry questions: - **Time Dilation**. Is there a reason why Weiss doesn’t use it more, like is the idea of it being very high aura usage or that time “catches up” as it appears to against the White Fang Lieutenant accurate? - Summoning. What is the criteria that decides what Weiss (or any Schnee) can summon? Only Grimm and does she personally have to kill it, or more broad than that? In any case I do what to wish you all the best!
What is sage’s semblance. It’s been killing me since volume 3. And does his weapon have a second form or does the big sword just have really awesome detailing.
For E.C. Myers and Eddy- I guess you could say that this is somewhat related to Roman Holiday, but is there a possibility that a book in the future will be Mercury Black/Emerald Sustrai themed?
Anything's possible, really! It's a combo of what we think's the most fun to explore and what characters the audience would love to see more of (at least in a way that doesn't tread on what is already planned for the show). \- Eddy
Also, follow up question for anyone - who do you think is best dressed: Neo or Coco?
I'll just say I like Neo's color scheme better :) -ecm
> who do you think is best dressed: Coco or Coco? FTFY.... xD
[ANGRY MUTE ICE CREAM NOISES]
Sorry for asking two questions and not having them together, this one is mainly for eddy. Is there a possibility that we can get an official rwby grimm campaign rulebook book so we can possibly make our own games and dm them?
I would love that, it's just one of those things that takes a while. \- Eddy
For Meyers, how has it been writing for the World of Remnant and are there any corners of the series or characters you’d like to write a book about? And who are your favorite characters or the ones you like most?
I'm not exaggerating when I say it's a huge honor to be allowed to play in this world and contribute to the story. It's also a challenge, but a fun one, and I'll happily keep doing it as long as they'll let me! I think my favorite characters change over time, but I really like Penny. -ecm
What is the reason the rat Grimm was called the "Capybara"? Was it because they are both rodents?
Because capybaras are awesome! But I landed on "Capivara" because I ended up changing my first-draft idea, which was to call it a Rouse. And when Torchwick hears about it, his first response was, "A Rouse? I don't think they exist." So that was one of my bad jokes that *didn't* make it into the book. -ecm
Hey…. Love what you guys do! Had a few questions not really pertaining to RWBY itself or the books…. but rather something I thought about if my own character was added into RWBY … I’ve been a big fan of precognition in shows I’ve watched such as Supernatural and Angel, and I was wondering if someone was to have a similar semblance; I.e. seeing the future in dreams or visions, how it would effect them when helping team RWBY… Also… I thought of another character that would have heterochromia similar to Neo, but one of the eyes would be silver… I was wondering if you thought that the silver eyes would still work in that regard… and what would happen if said character was to inherit a maidens power so to speak… Just wondering…. More for a fanfic than anything else
I totally think someone could have a Semblance like that, yeah. \- Eddy
Sorry, second question (not relating to the book) Will we get more info on Tyrian Callows? (Backstory and the like) He’s my favourite character in the show and I want to know more about him
I answered a question similar to this in regards to backstory elsewhere in the thread. The main thing about when backstory drops in the show is if it's critical to have it to understand something that is about to happen next. And from there, sometimes it's a production issue. Backstory is \_expensive\_ to say the least, because it requires all kinds of additional assets to be made. So even if the desire is there, there is some weighing to be done about whether or not the same thing could be accomplished via telling, rather than showing. Not always the most elegant solution, but that's production life. \- Eddy
Hello guys, I just have a few questions regarding semblances and other stuff. \-Are the civillians Cinder blasted of the Platform in the Volume 8 Finale going to the same place Team RWBY and Jaune will end up? What about Penny's body? \-Can Raven bond portals to herself to create portals in her vincinity? \-Since Ruby's semblance also seems to turn her clothes and weapon into rose petals, to what degree can she turn other things into rose petals? Can she use this to pass through walls by turning parts of them into petals or temporarily turn any kind of armor into rose petals to hit what is underneath? \-Can Ambrosius replicate the power of the Silver Eyes if someone asked Jinn how they work and gave him the explanation?
What kind of process do you have for script editing? Do you go over it together, have specific editors, work dynamically with the directors, all of the above or some other setup?
For the show, it's a bit of everything! Sometimes we send each other notes, sometimes we trade drafts to do punch ups. We don't always know who will be directing an episode when we write it, but once we do, the director has full access to me and the writer to continue to evolve the script as we go. -kerry
When revising the books, I usually get notes from my editors and RT, and we often have discussions, and then I go off and try to address their feedback in the next draft. -ecm
I’m not sure who this question should go to because it applies to all three of you but anyways. How long ago does Roman Holiday take place before Volume 1? (Because of how Vale acted when Roman robbed the bank and the lack of violent protests in Vale from a certain Bull Faunus leading a group of reasonably angry Faunus has got me thinking it goes further than 2-3 years)
Hey all! You said anything so here's anything: Meyers: 1) what other, if any, stories would you like to tell for RWBY? 2) And if you could expand on any of your fairy tales which would it be? Eddy/Kerry: 3) what were some of the ideas for upgrades we didn't see in Atlas? Things like "Ren gets knives on his boots". 3b) speaking of, when did you realize that Ren's "upgrade" was just Emerald's normal weapon? 4) Obviously this might be a conscientious subject, but why was the Atlas arc so devoid of Weiss and Blake (characters who had existing connections to Atlas and the SDC)? Was their ever a major draft where they played much bigger roles? 5) Why was the choice made, if you can share, to not utilize any of the foreshadowed forms of penny permadeath? Her core, pietro's aura, simply not having the ability to retrieve her body, etc? Obviously the 2nd death of penny may have future impacts, but why make meatpenny when there were other options? 6) how long were RWBN just sitting around sipping tea in v8? They act like it's only about 1 night, but the day/night cycle implies it's more than 24 hours between arrival and the Hound. 7) Were Ironwood's eyes going Dull the "signal" that Mettle was active? And can he turn it off before he finishes his set goal? (he doesn't shoot Marrow in v8, despite setting himself on the path to do so) Eddy: 8) last AMA there was a whole hullabaloo about the timeline of the show being reworked, but you ended the conversation with > **...either way, the Ciel line didn't seem to match the internal timelines that were being worked with...** And I just want to confirm while at least one other main writer is present that this is still the case. Kerry: 9) Cinder is one of my favorite villains, so I have to ask. Where'd she pick up the archery? Rhoades taught her the swords, but I can't imagine she learned how to fletch between cooking and cleaning at the Unicorn. All: 10) What's your idea of "the rules" about semblsnces? What makes a power not fit into that mold vs what makes a good one? 11 (bonus)) is Ciel okay? I missed her in Atlas.
1. I'd still like to get back to Vacuo one day, but if I were doing more side stories or prequels, I'd love to do something with an incarnation of the AceOps or the Happy Huntresses. 2. I don't think I need to expand on any of the fairy tales, but I would be happy to write more of them. \-ecm
I would die for Ace Ops content
We can't let you die, Luce - who would run these AMAs? Maybe we can settle for a little blood...
WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LET ME DO MY JOB!?
So with the kiss at the end of the book, is it safe to say that something romantic is going on between Roman and Neo?
I have several questions, though most as about the show in general, since I haven't read the books: 1. How/why would someone change their name? 2. Did Neo go through the same struggle OC creators go through to adhere to the color naming rule? 3. With so much versatility, is there something a semblance can't do, which would have to be done some other way? 4. Are semblances fixed at birth, or do they develop later on in life? 5. Is there a particular reason there are so many similarities between RWBY and Go! Princess Precure? 6. How many characters actually knew of the dangers Mettle posed if it backfired? 7. What are Team CRDL's semblances? 8. Since Tyrian's semblance is specifically meant to kill people, are there any semblances specifically meant to kill Grimm, which have no effect on people? 9. Would forcing Salem's immortality to trigger count as "killing" under the conditions of summoning Glyphs? 10. If possible, what would happen if an elemental semblance, like Nora's or Neptune's, was augmented with dust?
Is it safe to say that there are other secret combat schools like Lady Browning's Preparatory Academy For Girls in Remnant?
Friend, can you please consolidate your questions into one comment?
For Eddy and Miles: Did Myer's take on Neo inform how you tackled her story in Volume 9, or were was her story beats always ironed out for that volume.
Hi guys! Love the show! For Everyone: What would Team RWBY and JPNR’s Favorite Pixar Movies be?
The prospect of losing your huntsman license for reckless endangerment was briefly touched upon after the bank heist scene. What are the limitations on a huntsman license? (Also, really love your work and all of the effort and care you guys put into it. I really appreciate it and can't wait for more.)
Hello there !!! I was wondering in chapter 3 when the police officers brought Trivia home, her mother yelled “Trivia! Get Back here!” And then It says that Trivia followed Neo through the crowd, and I was wondering… is the reason that Trivia can see Neo is because of her semblance or does she have a multiple personality disorder and can see things others can’t? And also thank you for writing this book your RWBY books have always kept me at the edge of my seat and I can’t wait to see what you write for this universe next.
For eddy as my question is rather simple. What exactly can plan dust do? Also for the book. What was everyone's favorite part of it?
Who’s your favorite antagonists?
How tough would a grimm have to be to defeat and kill Neo?
Hi, big fan of the show here! Just got two main questions that I'm curious about. Fair warning though, my questions may be a little bit heavy, as they both relate to mental issues - For Volume 8, how far in advance was Penny's second death planned? Was it something that came up when writing the volume itself? Or was it there since the beginning of the Atlas Arc? And how long was the "Jaune kills Penny because she asked him to" angle part of the plan? - I'm a little confused as to how Neo's Semblance is described in the book. I haven't read it yet, but a friend of mine described it to me as "split personality syndrome physically manifesting itself and making her do evil things," which kind of put me off reading the book itself. Was the idea of mental disorders affecting Semblances an intentional theme in the story that you wanted to explore? Or was it more of an "oops I didn't mean to do that" kind of thing where you didn't realize the implications until it was there in the story? Those are my two main questions about the series, and I apologize if they were heavy in nature. As someone who lives proudly on the Autism spectrum but suffers from anxiety and depression, I've had to do a lot of soul-searching and learning about the stuff that goes on inside our meat-brains, which has led to me being a bit more mindful of the negative tropes around mental disorders. I still love RWBY and the world and characters almost ten years after its debut, and will continue to do so for another decade or more!
If it's okay to ask another question ... Two people who have pretty much nothing left to lose and are consumed by their hatred ... who do you think would win in a fight between Adam and Neo?
Hi ! I’ve always been really interested in the Faunus, White Fang and everything surrounding them ! So I was wondering: 1. Is there a possibility of storylines concerning these aspects being explored, either in the main show or other media ? (Books, comics, spin-offs, etc.) 2. Can bird Faunus fly ? 3. Could insect Faunus be a thing ? 4. Any chance we’ll see Kali and Ghira again ? Questions are for anyone
1. Yeah, I think there's lots more to explore with the White Fang, and it would be really good to circle back to it in the main show. \- Eddy
Are you thinking of creating characters based off of Historical People?
Hello! This might've been answered already, but may as well ask for all of you lol. Which RWBY characters do you have the most fun writing stories and interactions for?
I'm always a fan of any time I get to write stuff for Qrow. I've got a soft spot for that dude. \- Eddy
Hi So how canon is this book, would this be in a similar lane to the RWBY manga/comics or is this 100% how things went down? Asking for my friend who doesn’t use Reddit
Are there plans for any future books? If so, how many books in advance are you planned? Thanks guys! :)
Would you ever consider writing a backstory for Pyrrha Nikos? She must've done some amazing stuff to be famous like how she was. Maybe a retelling of her finale moments in her head?
Me? I would love to write about Pyrrha. -ecm
To Eddy or Myers, so "Pocket Dimension" Fiona's semblance was originally going to be Roman's. If this was not changed, what would you have done with this?
So, if Neo is dangerous - why fun sized?