“Bumbleby is bad writing!”
In the months since volume 6 we’ve heard it all. Bumbleby is rushed, they aren’t even friends, they were over shadowed by b/lacksun, it has no development, it has development but it’s less than b/lacksun’s, they’re throwing away b/lacksun’s development, bumbleby is forced, it’s pandering...you name it we’ve seen it, and chances are we’ve seen it multiple times. It gets repeated over and over again but honestly? None of it holds up.
I’ve said before that b/lacksun never really had as much development as people act like it did, but let’s take a look at how b/lacksun and bumbleby develop volume by volume. No soundtracks, no outside comments made by the crew. Just the show itself (heads up, this is really fucking long)
Volume 1:
There isn’t much to say about volume 1; neither really have a whole lot of teasing between Sun’s late introduction and the lack of focus on Yang. There is something very interesting though about both relationships in this volume: both end up subverting Blake’s expectations of them.
With Yang, Blake’s first reaction is a little chilly. She sees this loud young woman walking up to her while she’s trying to read and their first interactions reflect that. However, Blake quickly realizes that Yang isn’t what she seems and goes out of her way to choose her as a partner. They get along perfectly and in the Emerald Forest we see Blake enjoying herself more than she had up to that point. They could’ve been a bickering pair because of their differences (and we’re lead to think they will be at their introduction), but those differences end up being complementary and it shows in their easy teamwork.
For Sun, it’s almost the exact opposite. His entrance couldn’t scream “love interest” any more if it tried and Blake clearly thinks that as a Faunus he would understand her. Only, he doesn’t. That’s something that’s emphasized multiple times in their volume one interactions (and reinforced in later volumes) and they lack the teamwork that came so easily to Blake and Yang. He’s introduced as a very blatant love interest type but his inability to understand Blake has her spend a lot of their volume 1 time annoyed with him.
Volume one is arguably the only volume where b/lacksun has a potential edge, but even that isn’t as big of a one as people act like it is. Not with how quick the turnaround is from “obvious love interest entrance” to “Blake glares at him enough that Sun comments on it in the very next episode” (and regardless of what the media might tell you, that’s not a good basis for a relationship).
Volume 2:
One of the biggest events for both ships in this volume is the dance arc. However, the most important part of the dance arc is not that Blake goes with Sun or that she saves her first dance for Yang or even that she dances with him and Yang; it’s that she finally decided to slow down. Dancing with Sun (and again, even Yang) is unimportant to the overall plot and is never brought up again, while Blake pursuing Torchwick in a healthier way is something we see throughout the rest of volume 2. She’s less exhausted and doesn’t run herself ragged, and that’s because of her talk with Yang.
Another key result of that arc is Blake learning about Yang’s abandonment issues. This is major because it’s setting up their main conflict a volume and a half before Yang loses her arm and Blake leaves. We get another building block for it in Mountain Glenn when Blake expresses that she always runs away, and you don’t have a character that’s always left behind paired with someone who always leaves if you aren’t going to take advantage of it. As of volume 2, Blake and Yang have the setup for their relationship to go through a conflict that will change everything for them but that can ultimately make their relationship stronger in the long run (setup that we see delivered on later on).
Meanwhile, Sun and Blake’s relationship gets no further development after the dance arc this volume (Sun’s only appearances afterwards he’s excited with Neptune about being Junior Detectives), and what they have in the dance arc is both self contained (Sun’s main goal in his interactions with Blake is to get her to go to the dance with him, which he succeeds in thanks to Yang) and not relevant beyond it. We don’t get anything from them that sets up any future development.
None of this is to say that the dance itself is completely meaningless when it comes to their relationships. Sun asking Blake to the dance shows that he is still interested in her in his casual way (and honestly, there’s really no question that Sun likes/liked Blake in earlier volumes). This is the first time though that we really start getting hints that Yang likes Blake. Between her flirting with Blake in episode 2 (”I love it when you’re feisty”) and the soft, genuine manner in which she both winks at Blake and promises to save her a dance the show has begun to establish that Yang has feelings for her (and in a way that no one would question if she were a guy).
Like in volume 1, we continue to be shown that Sun doesn’t understand Blake. In addition to him not being the one to get through to Blake (that honor going to Yang instead), we also have Blake’s reaction to him asking her to the dance. She straight up says she doesn’t have the time and that she “thought that [he] of all people would get that” since he saw first hand how passionate she is about finding answers and stopping Torchwick in the previous episode. Once again she expects him to understand her and again he shows that he doesn’t. Another instance is a little more subtle and spread throughout a couple of episodes. In the first episode, Sun comments that the best part of Blake is that she’s a faunus while in the very next episode Blake says she wants be seen for who she is, not what she is. Meanwhile, in that same episode Yang compliments her for being feisty and later on in Mountain Glenn tells her she’s not one to back down from a challenge, both compliments on who Blake is (even if she can’t see that Yang’s latter comment is true just yet).
This is the volume where the differences between the two ships really start to show. Blake and Sun have a few moments in the first half, but their relationship is pretty shallow when compared to the depth that Blake and Yang’s has already developed and lacks the the setup for anything to change that.
Volume 3:
This volume along with volume 6 are by far the most lopsided in Bumbleby’s favor. Blake and Sun have only two interactions, one of which is Sun watching Blake tearfully clutch Yang’s hand while ignoring the outside world and him (and obviously, Blake only having eyes for Yang isn’t something that supports romantic b/lacksun). The only sort of teasing or development they get is Sun winking at Blake and Blake blushing. It’s actually a good moment for b/lacksun as it suggests a mutual crush is there, but that’s undermined by the fact that they get no other romantic development for the rest of the volume.
Blake and Yang on the other hand start out a little slow this volume but once the halfway point hits we get a lot of important moments very quickly. Yang is framed for attacking a downed Mercury but she holds it together well until Blake is hesitant to believe. She needs Blake to believe her; she trusts her and cares about her opinion. But the biggest part of this is not on Yang’s side but Blake’s.
Blake explicitly parallels Yang, her new partner, to Adam, her old partner. We know she’s watched Adam make excuses for hurting people (hell we literally see that parallel in the Adam short) and now she’s watching something similar unfold with Yang. But where Adam turned it on her and hid his insincerity behind a mask Yang is open and honest, and never blames her for being suspicious. She’s upset yes, but she cares about Blake and knows she has her reasons. This conversation helps establish Yang as Adam’s foil (something that had been built on earlier with things like both being Blake’s partner, the visual similarity of their semblances, etc. that’s now made explicit), something that’s even more meaningful with the revelation that Adam is Blake’s ex lover. It adds a whole new level to Blake not wanting Yang to be another Adam, and ultimately Blake decides to trust her (a huge sign of how far she’s come since leaving Adam).
The biggest moment of course, is the entire encounter with Adam. Every bit of it is filled with romantic coding, from Adam’s “I will destroy everything you love, starting with her” to Blake’s reaction to seeing Yang to Yang throwing herself at Adam and losing an arm trying to save Blake to Blake defiantly getting between Adam and Yang’s unconscious body, and all of it’s compounded thanks to the context of Adam being Blake’s possessive and abusive ex. There’s a reason b/lacksun shippers were so insistent that Sun would take place in the final showdown with Adam, because even if they won’t admit it with Blake and Yang who fights at Blake’s side has serious romantic implications. It’s important to note that Sun’s absence isn’t even because he’s unavailable (in fact he’s right by Weiss when she tells Yang where Blake went...he could’ve gone instead and Yang could’ve been sidelined in another way if the writers wanted to go that route) so the fact that it’s Yang is very substantial.
I honestly believe that the fight with Adam is the point of no return. In addition to setting up an entire intertwined arc for Blake and Yang, I’ve said before that the intensity of the moment makes it very difficult to establish a romance for Blake and Yang that doesn’t involve each other. In the case of b/lacksun, how do you show the audience that Blake cares about him more that Yang, who Adam singles out as a person to hurt if he wants to hurt Blake and who she throws herself in front of when Adam, her abuser, tries to kill her and whose dismemberment by Adam is a huge part of what undos Blake’s character growth and convinces her she needs to run to protect her? The answer is you don’t (and the writing gets two different chances to try in volumes 4 and 5 and neither come anywhere close).
In the rest of the volume we get the previously mentioned moment of Blake holding and unconscious Yang’s hand, apologizing profusely and ignoring everything else as well as Yang’s devastated reaction to her leaving. Both continue to emphasize how important they are to each other (note Yang’s obvious lie that she doesn’t care, because if she didn’t care it wouldn’t hurt so much that Blake was gone), and the former includes a very interesting shot of Sun seeing the way Blake is focused on Yang.
Overall, there’s a very clear difference this volume. Sun and Blake have one cute moment but it absolutely doesn’t hold a candle to the incredibly major Blake and Yang moments, all of which have lasting ramifications on their relationship. This is also the second volume in a row to suggest that Blake and Yang’s feelings are more than platonic with Adam’s choice of words and the general romantic coding of the scene, suggesting that the romantic phrasing in volume 2 was intentional (and thus that information should be kept in mind when interpreting their later scenes).
Volume 4:
This volume, Blake and Sun spend the entire volume together while Blake and Yang won’t meet again until the end of the next volume. However, that doesn’t mean that suddenly Blake and Sun suddenly get more romantic development at all.
One of the first things this volume establishes is that Blake and Sun’s relationship hasn’t developed much in previous volumes. When Sun says he gets why Blake left, Blake believes that he understands her and he immediately proves her wrong. She spends most of the volume irritated at him and in the fights they have together there’s a clear lack of teamwork and communication. All of these things have been present in their relationship since volume 1. For all the supposed development they’ve had in three volumes they’re no closer to understanding each other than when they first met.
There’s three main moments/aspects to look at for any potential romantic development: the “meet the parents” shtick, Sun getting injured against Ilia, and their talk after he wakes up. The former is incredibly shallow and relies on a comedic trope to even be interpreted as romantic. After the intensity and drama of the Adam fight, it’s very lacking in comparison when you’re talking about furthering a romantic relationship and honestly feels like it’s there to try to add some lightheartedness to Blake’s arc.
The other two run into a different issue: both end up circling back to Yang. The lead up to Sun’s injury isn’t doing their relationship any favors (at this point they’re really at their lowest with Blake being done with his invasiveness) and Blake’s reaction to him getting hurt doesn’t further a romantic relationship between them. Not when her immediate reaction is “no, not again”, a clear callback to Yang losing her arm. As I mentioned earlier, it would be very difficult to convince the audience that Blake cares more about Sun than Yang, and having her reference Yang right away does the opposite of that (not to say that she doesn’t care about Sun, just that if the writers were building a romance between them having Blake clearly thinking about Yang isn’t constructive to that). In addition, the scope of Sun’s injury (just a stab wound to the shoulder) makes it a much less dramatic scene in general and mainly happens to get Blake to open up to Sun about why she left.
When she does open up again it ends up circling back to Yang. We get the crack on her name but more importantly Sun himself brings her up, saying he’d get get hurt again protecting Blake and promising (very surely) that Yang would say the same. He’s putting Yang’s dedication to Blake on at least the same level as his, and if you interpret Sun having romantic feelings for Blake it adds to the idea that Yang does as well (on its own it could be taken as romantic or platonic, but we’ve had moments already in volumes 2 and 3 that also lend themselves to the idea that Yang has feelings for Blake). He then continues by talking about how Blake leaving hurts “us” and “we”, not just him, turning their heartfelt conversation into one focused on Blake and her friends. They do end on a much better note here and even have a cute callback after Sun talks about wanting to get even with Ilia (setting himself up as a foil for Blake’s friend and not her ex). At this point they’re settling into a more comfortable friendship and it shows.
Blake and Yang may not interact this volume, but there is still some development. Besides the above mentioned scenes in Blake’s arc, we have Yang’s ptsd and nightmare. While they aren’t romantic teasing at all and are instead part of her own character arc, they are setting up Yang’s eventual rematch with Adam, something Blake will be deeply involved with. What happened in Beacon intertwined Blake and Yang’s character arcs, and even things that aren’t romantic or about each other further their shared plot. He’s both of their monsters at this point, and the final showdown with Adam was always going to be him versus Blake and Yang together from the moment he took Yang’s arm. Additionally, before Yang or Blake even appear in the volume we know that Blake’s mind is on her thanks to the intro, which is reflected by her scenes with Sun.
We see a lot of the ramifications of volume 3 here in volume 4, and even though they are apart we still get development for Blake and Yang while Blake and Sun spend most of the volume fighting. While they do get some development at the end of the volume, the fact that both of their biggest moments have a callback to what happened with Blake and Yang doesn’t scream romantic development, especially given the intensity of what’s being referenced. Blake and Sun’s last conversation also serves to develop Blake’s character in the same way Jaune and Ruby’s and Tai and Yang’s are meant to as opposed to being focused on building a romance with Sun.
Volume 5:
This is the volume that would’ve been the time to canonize b/lacksun if that was the goal. Blake’s in a better place mentally than in volume 4, she and Sun are getting along better, and it’s really the last chance to do it before Sun steps out of the plot for who knows how long (which was always inevitable once Blake reunited with her team and Sun’s role as her support outside of them was no longer needed). Instead, everything stays pretty damn platonic and even the slight romantic coding of his interactions with Blake’s parents are toned down.
Volume 3 makes it very clear that Adam is Yang and Blake’s fight, and volume 5 has several opportunities to try and make it Sun’s too and doesn’t take them. When Blake tells him a little about Adam Sun shows no further interest in him. Instead, the focus shifts to Ilia and Blake wanting to help her the way Sun helped her. Sun is clearly tied to Ilia, Blake’s friend, and not Adam, Blake’s ex which says a lot about how his relationship with Blake is meant to be seen.
There’s still one more opportunity this volume to connect Sun to Adam, one that also would’ve been a great way to establish Blake’s feelings for Sun as stronger than her feelings Yang: the skirmish with Adam. Yet when confronted with Sun, Adam’s incredibly dismissive of him going so far as to call him a “classmate”. This is a huge contrast to how he treats Yang in both encounters with her, and it makes it clear which one he sees as the bigger threat when it comes to Blake. The Haven encounter is also very focused on the White Fang side of the Adam conflict, and lacks the personal and emotional stakes the Blake and Yang vs Adam ones do.
Despite still being separated for the majority of the volume, there’s some very significant development in Blake and Yang’s relationship. However where last volume most of what is there is on Blake’s side, this time it’s Yang where we really see it. Alone Together is the first time we see Yang talk about Blake since volume 3, and it’s very clear that what happened still affects Yang. Her feelings about Blake are complicated; she’s still hurt by Blake leaving but makes it clear that she does still care about her. Her and Weiss have an entire conversation about her messy feelings about Blake and how she wanted both to be there for Blake and for Blake to be there for her (and her desire for a mutual relationship gets plenty of payoff in volume 6). What happened in volume 3 and how it affected Blake and Yang’s relationship is still something that’s being dealt with. It also parallels the conversation Sun and Blake have at the end of volume 4, with Sun and Weiss both able to give Blake and Yang a look at how the other is feeling.
Those conversations help Blake and Yang be in a better place when they finally see each other again, and boy is their reunion something. Blake walks into a room filled with her friends that she hasn’t seen in almost two volumes, some enemies she hasn’t seen in just as long, a whole bunch of strangers, and a spectral Grimm that blew a hole in the wall and immediately focuses on one thing: Yang. Which is followed by a slow closeup of Yang’s reaction, and the framing makes it look like they’re the only two people in the world. Once again their relationship is emphasized in a way that’s unmatched by anything Blake and Sun have.
This volume takes what little alone time Blake and Sun will have for years and does nothing to further a romantic relationship and instead emphasizes how important Blake and Yang’s relationship is. Sun was there to help Blake get back to her team and now that she’s reunited with them in his own words she doesn’t need him anymore.
Volume 6:
I said earlier that volumes 3 and 6 are where we get the biggest differences both in quality and quantity for bumbleby vs b/lacksun, but even volume 3′s massive imbalance ain’t got nothing on this.
Sun shows up in exactly one scene this volume and the fact that Blake kisses him on the cheek has been highly talked about. However, what this scene does is end any potential romance between them. The kiss itself is incredibly zoomed out, too out of focus to be meant to be seen as a grand romantic gesture and Neptune and Sun’s conversation is the final nail in the coffin. Neptune says it feels like Sun is letting her go, something he wouldn’t say if he saw that kiss as the start of something and not the end of it. Sun’s “It was never about that” just adds to it. Blake and Sun will see each other again some day (and their friendship has had some good development in the past two volumes!), but they won’t be starting a romance when they do.
From the very first episode we know that a major part of this volume is going to be Blake and Yang rebuilding their relationship. Yang’s feelings are still complicated; she’s glad that Blake’s back but she’s still hurt by what happened while Blake’s trying to make things up to her but goes about it in not quite the right way at first. The fact that their relationship is the center of one of the major arcs of the volume is huge. It’s not about Yang helping develop Blake’s character or Blake developing Yang’s or even about taking Adam down, no, it’s an entire arc dedicated to their relationship. Even Pyrrha’s arc and relationship with Jaune in the first three volumes is mainly there to lead up to her sacrifice, while Blake and Yang’s end goal this volume is to better their relationship.
Another aspect of their arc that’s unprecedented is just how tactile they are. We see them hold hands on four different occasions, and three of those four are either the focus of the shot or the only thing in the shot (with special mention going to Blake grabbing Yang’s hand in front of Adam being the only thing in the shot two episodes in a row). While handholding isn’t necessarily romantic in and of itself (though it is frequently used that way as seen in the canon romantic pairings of Ren and Nora, Ozma and Salem, Terra and Saphron, and the could-have-been Jaune and Pyrrha), the sheer amount of times they do it is very notable especially in contrast to how Blake and Sun acted. Blake and Sun get a few shoulder touches, most of which aren’t emphasized, and one out of focus cheek kiss and that’s pretty much it. Meanwhile handholding isn’t the only sort of close contact Blake and Yang have. In the finale, the two stay very close and almost constantly maintain physical contact and at the end of Seeing Red their positioning (legs intertwined, Yang’s hand on Blake’s face, Blake’s hand on that one, foreheads touching) is incredibly intimate.
Throughout the volume we see them taking steps to improve their relationship. On the train we get the setup and are shown what their current awkward dynamic is, then in the barn they start making progress. They open up to each other about Adam and they make huge steps when Blake asserts that she’ll be there for Yang if they see Adam again. They take a few steps back when she fumbles with “I’ll protect you” (because we know Yang wants their relationship to mutual) but we do see a large change after they escape the Apathy (likely in part because Blake almost died and also because their previous tension was probably partially a result of the Apathy starting to get to Yang). By the time Blake leaves for the tower, the two are playfully bantering with each other. Blake reaffirms her promise to Yang by promising to hurry back, while Yang’s reaction shows that she’s ready to fully believe her.
When they finally confront Adam, there’s manages to be even more romantic coding than there was in volume 3 in addition to it showing how much Yang and Blake have grown since then. Blake hearing Yang coming and defiantly declaring “I’m not alone” is a far cry from her begging Yang to leave, and Yang telling her to catch her breath reinforces that Yang wants their relationship to be mutual instead of weighted in one of their favors. Blake’s absolute horror at Adam targeting Yang and Yang’s panic when Adam deflects Gambol Shroud remind us how much they care about each. Their teamwork is flawless (improvising a reverse Bumblebee on the fly is insane!) and both their verbal and nonverbal communication allows them to work together to take Adam down when neither could do it alone. The biggest moment though, is Blake reaffirming her promise and declaring “We’re protecting each other”, standing hand in hand with Yang as they stare down Adam.
Blake and Yang’s actions aren’t the only thing to look at here. Adam’s words and actions speak volumes and reinforce that he views Yang as a romantic rival in his twisted way. From the moment he sees her he recognizes her, and why wouldn’t he? This is the woman that Blake threw herself in front, that he promised to destroy because Blake loves her. And here she is, not destroyed and Adam is ready to rectify that. Just watching Blake and Yang look at each other is enough to send him into a murderous rage and his jealousy is even more emphasized with “What does she even see in you?!”, which is so blatantly romantic (and no, it’s not “what does she even see in you [because you’re human]” because he never once comments on the fact that Yang’s human) it’s not even funny. He even tries to manipulate Yang by positing that he was in the same position as her once (”she made a promise to me too, to always be at my side”) which makes it even clearer how he interprets their relationship.
I’ve already said before that the way they embrace after Adam falls is incredibly intimate, and it also reinforces that their relationship is now stronger than ever. We get Yang making sure Blake knows that Yang believes she’s not gonna break her promise, including looking her in the eyes to be sure (something that’s very important after Blake’s relationship with Adam). They end the volume with Yang echoing that they were there for each other to Weiss, who of all people knows how important that is to Yang. Yang and Blake aren’t in a relationship yet (so calling it rushed is very odd), but the groundwork is there and the narrative has made it clear that’s where it will progress.
The show has consistently given Blake and Yang’s relationship more substantial development than Blake and Sun’s. None of this is to say that b/lacksun is a bad ship or that people shouldn’t ship it, just that the argument that bumbleby is somehow less developed than it isn’t supported by the show at all. Blake and Yang’s relationship is incredibly dynamic; we’ve seen them go from strangers to friends to facing a seemingly insurmountable obstacle to struggling to repair their friendship to having an even stronger relationship now, and it isn’t done evolving. There’s so much emphasis placed on their relationship, and it’s going to be beautiful to watch it continue to blossom.
