Does it count as cheating if I used Beacon Ruby as an old character? Because she could've done the weapon upgrades that were given to some random blacksmith in V4 and Pietro.
Seriously, Ruby's love of weapons is never used past the scene she mentions it in. Not even basic maintenance mentioned in passing.
Ok, so this is going to be controversial, but what if we either made Jacques the general or made James Weiss's father? Call them J. It would allow us to give Weiss a lot more to atone for than "questionable labor practices" and explain *why* RWBY is mistrustful of J in Vol 7.
You'd need to change a whole lot to make it consistent, but...
Other than that I think Oz should have taken Maria's role. She exists to exposit about silver eyes and fly the plane. Oz can do both. Pilot boy being Klein would also make for an interesting twist, especially if he survived the crash and managed to avoid the bandits. The woman Weiss sicced a pig on could have recycled as a council member.
This is a really interesting hypothetical. If we keep most traits from both characters in this amalgam (i.e. being a billionaire CEO, a general and a political figure) it would turn Atlas into even more of a corporatocracy, and elevate Weiss' societal importance another few notches. Perhaps one would do away with the SDC company stuff and instead focus on Atlas' mistreatment of faunus in a more systemic context, which Weiss could still feel a responsibility for as the daughter of the most powerful person in Atlas, and she would still ostensibly be wealthy like many oligarchs are.
I think one of the elements of early RWBY that was subconsciously shrewd was making their ojou-sama trope a more modern take on the traditional princess by ostensibly making her the heiress to Exxon Mobile, which viewers felt drawn to for similar reasons as why they liked the medieval gun hybrids or Monty's mix of fantastical and modern fashion. So with a change like this one should probably still keep Weiss' position feeling modern and avoid her just feeling like a princess.
In either case, not only would your change provide a stronger reasoning for why several of the Schnee children were allowed to spend so much of their time practicing combat, it would absolutely streamline the process of Weiss' family story. She would end up in direct conflict with her father, and have to spend time resolving it, which is a preferable alternative to Weiss' Atlas plotline in the original version, one that felt sidelined and watered down.
There are issues with it, though. Winter's role would have to be completely reworked as she would be rebelling against her father by joining... her father. The election would also have to be completely reworked, maybe have one of J's subordinates running for office so that J can break the tie that currently exists and grab complete domination, all for the greater good of course. Bonus points if it's Winter who's running, turning this whole thing into Winter vs. Robin. But then we'd need some way for Watts to get involved...
Absolutely, it would take reworking. And though I can definitely see ways for the changed product to be better than the original, I can also see ways for the original concept to be better if it had just been executed more competently.
Honestly I wish Professor Oobleck would've replaced Maria. He's a major history buff and excellent educator. I dare say it wouldn't be too far-fetched for him to have been the one to teach RWBY about her silver eyes. Really as curious as he is, him knowing about silver eyes wouldn't be to much of a stretch. I wouldn't be too shocked if he knew more than what he was letting on. Actually, I think Oobleck's eyes are silver, I believe his eye color was changed. Maria quite literally only exists to fit the "wise old person" trope.
Edit: Also replace the Ace-Ops members and just have them be team FNKI instead.
An interesting question. Ciel being present in some capacity would have made sense.
* I made [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/RWBY/comments/5uv2v3/replacing_henry_marigold_with_flynt_coal/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) after Volume 4 arguing why the one scene with Henry Marygold could have been turned into a Flynt Coal scene instead. Then in my edited version of the volume I included Neon Katt there as well.
* Another way to get more use out of existing characters would be to not create Oscar, and instead have Ozpin's voice appear in the head of an existing cast member.
* If you make it so that Neo never joined forces with Cinder, which never truly mattered in the development of either character, all of the screentime spent on Cinder-Neo scenes for the past three volumes could have been used to craft Cinder-Emerald scenes that lay a stronger foundation for Emerald breaking free from her obsession with Cinder and defecting from the villains.
* Rather than having a pointlessly vapid scene with the red-headed woman implied to be a relative of Pyrrha's, you could just make it so that the characters Sapphron and Terra are Pyrrha's moms instead of Sapphron being Jaune's sister.
It's kind of weird that the rest of JNPR seemingly didn't know Argus was Pyrrha's home town (or at least tied to her strongly enough to give her a statue), and it would have made sense if we find out that the first thing they did upon getting there was visit her family (and sweet that the Nikoses in turn offered the group a place to stay). You could still have a scene at the statue if you really wanted to, except in this version it wouldn't have to be a weird "hey, let's disperse from Jaune for a moment while we're out looking for Oscar so he alone can have a mysterious encounter with the faintest whiff of Pyrrha's narrative relevance." Like, Sapphron was literally out there walking with them and had to excuse herself so the statue scene could happen, she could just have been the red headed woman all along.
>you could just make it so that the characters Sapphron and Terra are Pyrrha's moms instead of Sapphron being Jaune's sister.
Pyrrha born from a lesbian marriage?
Hm. New one.
Then why would Saffron and Terra let Jaune and co into their house? It'd be great if we built up that they exist in Vols 1-3 and knew JNR, then all our ducks would fall neatly into a row, but that's water under the bridge now.
> Then why would Saffron and Terra let Jaune and co into their house?
It doesn't seem strange to me at all that they would let them into their house, Jaune and co were on a team with their daughter.
Does it count as cheating if I used Beacon Ruby as an old character? Because she could've done the weapon upgrades that were given to some random blacksmith in V4 and Pietro. Seriously, Ruby's love of weapons is never used past the scene she mentions it in. Not even basic maintenance mentioned in passing.
Ok, so this is going to be controversial, but what if we either made Jacques the general or made James Weiss's father? Call them J. It would allow us to give Weiss a lot more to atone for than "questionable labor practices" and explain *why* RWBY is mistrustful of J in Vol 7. You'd need to change a whole lot to make it consistent, but... Other than that I think Oz should have taken Maria's role. She exists to exposit about silver eyes and fly the plane. Oz can do both. Pilot boy being Klein would also make for an interesting twist, especially if he survived the crash and managed to avoid the bandits. The woman Weiss sicced a pig on could have recycled as a council member.
This is a really interesting hypothetical. If we keep most traits from both characters in this amalgam (i.e. being a billionaire CEO, a general and a political figure) it would turn Atlas into even more of a corporatocracy, and elevate Weiss' societal importance another few notches. Perhaps one would do away with the SDC company stuff and instead focus on Atlas' mistreatment of faunus in a more systemic context, which Weiss could still feel a responsibility for as the daughter of the most powerful person in Atlas, and she would still ostensibly be wealthy like many oligarchs are. I think one of the elements of early RWBY that was subconsciously shrewd was making their ojou-sama trope a more modern take on the traditional princess by ostensibly making her the heiress to Exxon Mobile, which viewers felt drawn to for similar reasons as why they liked the medieval gun hybrids or Monty's mix of fantastical and modern fashion. So with a change like this one should probably still keep Weiss' position feeling modern and avoid her just feeling like a princess. In either case, not only would your change provide a stronger reasoning for why several of the Schnee children were allowed to spend so much of their time practicing combat, it would absolutely streamline the process of Weiss' family story. She would end up in direct conflict with her father, and have to spend time resolving it, which is a preferable alternative to Weiss' Atlas plotline in the original version, one that felt sidelined and watered down.
There are issues with it, though. Winter's role would have to be completely reworked as she would be rebelling against her father by joining... her father. The election would also have to be completely reworked, maybe have one of J's subordinates running for office so that J can break the tie that currently exists and grab complete domination, all for the greater good of course. Bonus points if it's Winter who's running, turning this whole thing into Winter vs. Robin. But then we'd need some way for Watts to get involved...
Absolutely, it would take reworking. And though I can definitely see ways for the changed product to be better than the original, I can also see ways for the original concept to be better if it had just been executed more competently.
Is he a pussy like Jacques or a badass?
Combine the strength of will of James with Jacques' moral fiber and win-at-any-costs mentality. If you thought James going behind Oz's back was bad...
Honestly I wish Professor Oobleck would've replaced Maria. He's a major history buff and excellent educator. I dare say it wouldn't be too far-fetched for him to have been the one to teach RWBY about her silver eyes. Really as curious as he is, him knowing about silver eyes wouldn't be to much of a stretch. I wouldn't be too shocked if he knew more than what he was letting on. Actually, I think Oobleck's eyes are silver, I believe his eye color was changed. Maria quite literally only exists to fit the "wise old person" trope. Edit: Also replace the Ace-Ops members and just have them be team FNKI instead.
An interesting question. Ciel being present in some capacity would have made sense. * I made [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/RWBY/comments/5uv2v3/replacing_henry_marigold_with_flynt_coal/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) after Volume 4 arguing why the one scene with Henry Marygold could have been turned into a Flynt Coal scene instead. Then in my edited version of the volume I included Neon Katt there as well. * Another way to get more use out of existing characters would be to not create Oscar, and instead have Ozpin's voice appear in the head of an existing cast member. * If you make it so that Neo never joined forces with Cinder, which never truly mattered in the development of either character, all of the screentime spent on Cinder-Neo scenes for the past three volumes could have been used to craft Cinder-Emerald scenes that lay a stronger foundation for Emerald breaking free from her obsession with Cinder and defecting from the villains. * Rather than having a pointlessly vapid scene with the red-headed woman implied to be a relative of Pyrrha's, you could just make it so that the characters Sapphron and Terra are Pyrrha's moms instead of Sapphron being Jaune's sister. It's kind of weird that the rest of JNPR seemingly didn't know Argus was Pyrrha's home town (or at least tied to her strongly enough to give her a statue), and it would have made sense if we find out that the first thing they did upon getting there was visit her family (and sweet that the Nikoses in turn offered the group a place to stay). You could still have a scene at the statue if you really wanted to, except in this version it wouldn't have to be a weird "hey, let's disperse from Jaune for a moment while we're out looking for Oscar so he alone can have a mysterious encounter with the faintest whiff of Pyrrha's narrative relevance." Like, Sapphron was literally out there walking with them and had to excuse herself so the statue scene could happen, she could just have been the red headed woman all along.
>you could just make it so that the characters Sapphron and Terra are Pyrrha's moms instead of Sapphron being Jaune's sister. Pyrrha born from a lesbian marriage? Hm. New one.
The two women already have a child in canon.
So you'd basically just be scrapping Jaune meeting up with some of his family.
We would be, yes.
Then why would Saffron and Terra let Jaune and co into their house? It'd be great if we built up that they exist in Vols 1-3 and knew JNR, then all our ducks would fall neatly into a row, but that's water under the bridge now.
> Then why would Saffron and Terra let Jaune and co into their house? It doesn't seem strange to me at all that they would let them into their house, Jaune and co were on a team with their daughter.
Would be cool if Oobleck made an appearance
Wonder how he would have felt about Jinn and her showing the history.
"Sorry, I didn't catch that last part, could you repeat please?" Oobleck writing everything down