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In regards to bb, I still don't like it. I think it's an overrated ship that had to destroy Blake's personal arc and Yang's personality in order to happen. While also removing sunny boy and all previous faunus characters and the racism subplot. I think it's responsible for much toxicity and division in the fandom and the LGBT community it's meant to represent. However I've come to terms with it being eventually canon. I had hopes they would pick up blacksun where it left off but that's unlikely.

Me hiding my anti-bb stuff behind a keep reading in the forlorn hopes I’ll avoid being stung

To be honest, I hate the bb ship. I don’t hate the concept; I very much think that, in an other life or alternate universe, this girl:

And this girl:

Could absolutely be amazing together. But we’re not dealing with an alternate universe, as much as I might wish we were. We’re dealing with what Rooster Teeth has decided to write into their story, and in that universe, I hate it.

I hate everything about that ship. I think it’s contrived in the story, unhealthy for both partners, detrimental to their personal characters, written with all the skill and polish of an episode of Axe Cop (which I also hate) is laden with false promises and queerbaiting galore, and - as you mentioned - is the source of a lot of toxicity within the FNDM at large.

But, this wouldn’t be a ‘me’ post if it wasn’t a deep-dive, so let’s examine all those things more clearly.

1. It’s contrived in the story.

According to some of the voice actors, as stated during some panel, in some convention, this ship was “planned from the beginning.” I don’t have exact references, because the sheer amount of information being constantly floated by the ‘professionals’ at RT is massive, and disorganized, and ever-changing. However, whether or not this is technically true, the idea that it was “planned from the beginning” has been generally accepted by the FNDM and is often presented as irrefutable proof that the ship is real. According to the bees, the ship has been end-game since before V1 even aired.

For my part, I just don’t believe that. Looking at the content we’ve been shown and nothing else, it seems pretty obvious to me that Blake and Sun were ‘meant’ to be, but the writers changed their minds somewhere along the way - and that’s fine! The writers do not owe their audience anything when it comes to the story they choose to tell. As a writer myself, I’m a firm believer in “writing the story you want to tell, not the story expected of you.” Creativity is art, after all, and freedom of expression is vital to that art. If the writers decided to ship Blake and Yang, more power to them! They didn’t sign some sacred oath upon release of the Red Trailer that specific characters were locked in to experiencing romance with other specific characters. Art suffers when held to that level of rigidity. I’m not saying “let the characters write their own destinies,” because... a mass of ones and zeroes that has been modeled after a pencil sketch and synced to prerecorded lines voiced by some random human can’t write their own destiny. Every ‘choice’ made by the character was actually a choice by a writer. But the writer should be free to make that choice, based on the traits, characteristics, ideas and messages they wish to express in their art - and they should be free to change their mind later on if they come to a choice they like better. If bumbleby was “planned from the start,” that doesn’t mean it’s destined to happen, and even if BlackSun was the original intention, that doesn’t mean bumbleby is inherently wrong.

I just wish the writers would be honest about what really happened.

And no, I can’t say for sure that BlackSun was the original intention over bumbleby. But what I can do is look at the content we were given and make deductions based on those observations.

a) The first three seasons of RWBY are massively heteronormative. It’s impossible to escape or deny. It just is. And when a show produces such blatant heteronormativity, I find it impossible to believe that a non-hetero ship was “planned from the start.” Especially when you take into account the writers saying “Bigotry never existed in Remnant,” so you can’t even watch V1-3 with a lens of “society is forcing everyone to hide their true selves and act in conformity with heteronormative standards, and they will be allowed to change that society and come into their own alongside it.” According to the writers, all types are accepted, free of persecution; they are not in hiding, so if you don’t see any, it means they don’t exist. And in the first three seasons, they don’t exist. So when I hear “two of the four main characters were always meant to be in a same-sex relationship,” I look back over eight seasons of character bloat (there are 147 characters in the list of characters on the RWBY wiki, not including the characters that are listed separately as ‘minor’) and I only see four characters who are canon-confirmed (in the show; ‘might have mentioned it at a panel’ doesn’t count as canon) it makes me go “Hm. They’re lying.”

b) Blake and Sun’s semblances are direct parallels to each other; Blake creates a shadow clone that she leaves behind, while Sun creates a light clone that he projects outwards. Additionally, Blake is heavily coded with ‘night’ imagery (The belladonna plant is commonly known as deadly nightshade) while Sun is coded with ‘day’ imagery (the freaking sun lol) and their character songs reflect this coding. They also did the traditional ‘slow-motion first meeting with a wink from one side and a wide-eyed blink from the other while angels sing’ meeting. They also specifically wrote Blake to confide in and trust Sun, spending a majority of the first five volumes with him while having very little screentime with Yang at all. They ALSO had Blake and Sun go on a real, explicitly stated date, where Sun asked Blake to the dance, Blake later waited at the door to meet Sun outside, he specifically asked her if they were going to the dance ‘together’ and she confirmed that they were, and after she fulfilled her obligations to dance the first dance with someone else, she and Sun were shown to spend the entire rest of the evening together having fun, while the other dancer was not animated to show any awkwardness or reluctance or regret when she walked away. And then they also had Blake give Sun a goodbye kiss. Yes it was on the cheek, but if you try to tell me that “giving someone who you’ve been on a date with a goodbye-kiss on the cheek before leaving on a train” was somehow meant to be a ‘friend’ thing that ‘friends’ do, I just don’t believe you. Again, I want to be clear: I do not think that these things mean BlackSun HAS to be end-game. I do not think the writers owe it to the audience to lock Blake and Sun into this relationship if they’ve decided they’d rather give Blake a different partner. There’s nothing wrong with writing Blake to change her mind, there’s nothing wrong with the writers changing their minds, but IF they expect the audience to objectively believe that Blake and Sun did not actually have a relationship, and that they were just good friends, and that Blake was always meant to be with Yang instead, then they were wrong to write “Blake and Sun go on a real, canon-confirmed, explicitly-stated-within-the-show-by-both-Blake-and-Sun, date,” and they were wrong to write “Blake and Sun have a romantic goodbye kiss in a train station.” If they cut out the date and the kiss, then I could absolutely accept “Sun had a crush on Blake but she didn’t reciprocate those feelings.” Because unrequited love is absolutely acceptable too; you don’t need both partners to feel something in order for one of those partners’ feelings to be valid. But... they didn’t cut those scenes out. They didn’t write it as if it was unrequited. They left in that Blake decided to go on a date with Sun, and they left in that Blake decided to give Sun a romantic goodbye kiss in a train station. All of this together is ample reason to deduce that Blake and Sun had originally been an intended ship. AGAIN, I’m not saying that locks them in, I’m just saying it’s a pretty obvious lie for the writers to now say that it wasn’t romantic at all actually and the audience is wrong to have noticed the romance they wrote.

c) Blake and Yang do not have any on-screen romantic interaction until V6 - unless you count the three seconds of them dancing on camera, which I would love to count, but unfortunately don’t because RT was very careful to write in a ‘best friends’ explanation of “Yang only said she’d save Blake a dance because she wanted to make Blake feel welcome and comfortable” and they were very careful to animate “Yang passes Blake off to Sun happily and unregretfully and walks away without a care in the world” and they were very careful to write “Blake only accepted the dance because uwu best friends trumps boyfriends but she didn’t start actually having a good time until she was with Sun and immediately started laughing and blushing and looking truly happy for the first time in the series” and they were very careful to write “Yang looks really happy and pleased with herself that she managed to get Blake on a date with Sun instead of sulking around the room.” Do you know what could have changed all of that? If they had Yang and Ruby standing up on that balcony together - you know, this one:

During the conversation where the two sisters talk about how much everyone’s a great time, imagine the following conversation: (In show:) Yang: You know? I think we really needed this. Ruby: Yeah, and you did a great job planning it too! Yang: Aw, thanks! (My contributions) Ruby: Seriously, you worked hard. And Blake looks like she’s having a lot of fun. *Camera shows Blake and Sun dancing, Blake having fun. Cut to view of Ruby and Yang, a satisfied smile on Ruby’s face, while Yang’s smile slowly droops as she sighs. Ruby notices, looks a little surprised.* Ruby: Er... Well, what about you? You deserve some fun, too! Why not go dance with somebody? Yang: Ehh... Ruby: Come on, Sis, I know you have your eye on somebody, heh heh heh... Yang: Well, kinda, yeah... Ruby: ...AHHH! Who is it?! Who is it?! Tell meeeeee! Yang: It doesn’t matter. She’s happier with Sun. *Ruby blinks, looks between Yang and Blake with a gasp* Yang: Gah! I mean - oh gosh, Ruby, you can’t tell anyone! Ruby: But - but - but you’re perfect with each other! Yang: Well it’s kind of a moot point, so whatever. Ugh, can something distracting happen so I can just forget about this?! *continue with the rest of the scene (though while I’m at it actually cut the rest of the scene because if Jaune wants to wear a dress he should have just been allowed to wear a dress instead of them turning it into an ‘embarrassing’ bet because oh ha ha funny because man in skirt laugh laugh now never speak of it again.) If bumbleby had been the plan from the beginning, it would have been easy to make it clear that Yang likes Blake. Jaune was allowed to tell Ren that he liked Weiss. Pyrrha was allowed to express to Nora and Ren that she liked Jaune. Sun was allowed to tell Neptune that he wanted to pursue a relationship with Blake. Why was it apparently impossible for Yang to tell Ruby - her sister - that she had a crush on Blake? I’m not saying RT had to write a love-confession from one directly to the other, but if they had at least had one admit to a confidant that they had a crush on the other would have gone a long way towards actually setting up this ship and avoiding the queerbaiting I’ll talk about later. And if you say “Yang winked at Blake though, so that’s already confirmation enough” then I guess Yang also has feelings for that rando from the White Fang.

And apparently for... ulgh... her sister.

Winking is within Yang’s character to do for completely unromantic reasons, so Yang winking at Blake literally means nothing. Also, if they were able to animate Yang to blush and make ‘pleased’ faces as she ogles at boys, but then decided not to animate her to ever act even sort of like that around Blake, I’m calling that “they didn’t write that Yang liked Blake.”

Just like with her conversation with Ruby at the dance, it would have been so easy for RT to make Yang act like she actually has a thing for Blake. Instead, they specifically animated her to like boys (and remember, “bigotry doesn’t exist in Remnant,” so the characters aren’t hiding, so Yang is not putting on an act.) And I’m not saying Yang couldn’t like both. But if RT was already perfectly comfortable with animating her to *show a physiological reaction* to boys, and if RT had already planned “Yang and Blake are end-game” from the start, why is there NO scene where Yang is shown to REACT to Blake?? They had Blake go on an explicitly stated date with Sun, and give him a goodbye kiss, but she showed absolutely no romantic interest in Yang, and - more than that - Yang showed absolutely no romantic interest in Blake. And again, I don’t think this means the writers were locked out, or that they couldn’t change their minds, or that it’s wrong for them to ship bb now. I believe the exact opposite: the writers are allowed to change their minds and write whatever story they want, with any ship they feel like writing. But for them to act like BlackSun never happened, and for them to claim that bb was the intention from the start, when there is no evidence supporting that claim, makes me think the writers are liars.

d) IT’S BEEN EIGHT YEARS and the most we’ve ever got for that ship are a couple of sidelong glances and a forehead nuzzle. There has still not been any confession of feelings despite both parties having had ample time for it (not only have they had plenty of downtime and opportunities to confess to each other, but they’ve also both been in situations with confidants where they could have confirmed on-camera that they had feelings even if they’re just asking a friend for advice. Again, Jaune confided in Ren, Pyrrha confided in Ren and Nora, Sun confided in Neptune... So why is it impossible for Yang or Blake to confide in Weiss or Ruby? Especially if we’re meant to believe that they’re all “such close friends.” There has been no canon-confirmation that either party actually feels something substantial for the other; especially if “going on a date with Sun” and “kissing Sun goodbye” don’t count either. By the end of Volume one we already knew that Jaune liked Weiss, but Pyrrha liked Jaune, and Nora liked Ren. None of those relationships were canonized or mutually expressed (or thoroughly rejected) until later volumes, but we already knew their feelings. In volume one. You’re telling me that we’re allowed to be told the romantic intentions of 3/4 of JNPR before V1 is finished, but the B and Y from RWBY are still resigned to ‘implications’ and ‘stolen glances’ eight years later? And yet I’m supposed to believe this was ‘planned from the beginning.’

All this to say, it feels to me like this is what happened: Blake and Sun were designed for each other as characters, but as time wore on and the fanbase grew, it became clear that - although historically, the Rooster Teeth brand’s fanbase was largely comprised of straight white males - the RWBY property was attracting a diverse range of viewers from all walks of life. This left RT in a position where their most loyal fans and RWBY’s most loyal fans were very different people. And in an effort to pander to both without losing either, they decided to just sort of... stall. Indefinitely. Continuing to write Blake and Sun as if they were together but without ‘sealing it with a mouth-kiss,’ until they were able to give a “will they won’t they,” “we’ll meet again,” “if we’re both still single in five years let’s meet back at this train station and pick up where we left off” style pause button, and then they immediately switched tracks and began writing as if Blake and Yang were together, but without making it ‘overtly obvious’ and without sealing it with anything, in an effort to maintain their more bigoted wallets I mean fans.

Which leaves the entire ship feeling incredibly contrived.

2. It’s unhealthy for both partners

I cannot stress enough how toxic this pair is, and how bad they really are for each other. And here’s the thing: it doesn’t have to be! The writers are choosing to write this story the way they’re writing it, so why the hell are they choosing to write it to be dangerous and harmful and unhealthy???

a) Yang has abandonment issues. Her mom went missing when she was young, and was presumed dead, leaving Yang to feel a deep sense of loss, specifically tied to ‘leaving for a mission and never coming back.’ Her father went through a deep depression because of it, and shut down for an unspecified amount of time, leaving Yang to feel a deep sense of loneliness, specifically tied to ‘the people I rely on aren’t always going to be able to take care of me.’ She shortly afterwards learned that her mom hadn’t been her biological mother; that the person who’d birthed her had left her and her dad shortly after she was born, leaving Yang to feel a deep sense of insecurity, specifically tied to ‘why would my own mother not love me enough to be a part of my life?’ Her uncle was always coming and going; a familiar presence she knew and loved, but one that wasn’t a source of stability or security, leaving Yang to feel a deep sense of uncertaintly, specifically tied to ‘sometimes he’ll be here to get me out of my messes, but other times I might not be so lucky.’ Because of all this, Yang has been shown to lose it if she feels like people are going to leave her. Specifically, she has been shown to lose it multiple times when faced with the prospect of Blake leaving her. And Yang is valid to feel this way, I’m not saying she isn’t. She isn’t to blame for what happened to her, and there’s nothing wrong with the way she feels. But she still does have those abandonment issues. A healthy partner for Yang would be a stable, attentive partner who doesn’t have a particularly dangerous lifestyle, who can stick around for the long haul and who can provide Yang with the security, reassurance, and long-term commitment she deserves. Yang is also notoriously violent, aggressive, prone to rages and tantrums, and physically abusive to the people around her - from her first appearance in the Yellow Trailer when she sexually assaults somebody(!) and then trashes the whole bar and beats up anybody and everybody who gets in her way

to the fact that she and Ruby got into a fist-fight right in front of Blake during their first meeting, to the fact that she was screaming and raging at the ursai when she and Blake became partners

to the fact that she had a fit of rage in front of the ‘relics’ because ‘too many things were happening’

To the fact that she was physically violent TO BLAKE and let her anger get the best of her when she was trying to talk Blake into slowing down

To the fact that she relied heavily on her semblance and used it to win nearly every major fight (and most minor ones) she had in almost the entirety of the first five seasons, even when it left her open and vulnerable, and that she always let her temper dictate what she did, even when it left her open and vulnerable.

Yang is just... so violent. And yes, they had Yang claim to have suddenly gotten better in the end of V4 when Tai told her she should be better, but she still had hints of it break through sometimes (like when she got mad at Ruby and Weiss for saying they wanted Blake to be there, and went red-eye on them, or when she legit screams at Oz for being an abuse victim) and now suddenly again in V8. Yang lets her emotions control her - and her emotions are usually tied to violence. Also Yang is racist.

It really says something that when I watched that scene, I thought “somebody found out she’s a faunus and bullied her” and then was stunned to find out it was Yang, and then when I was showing RWBY to one of my siblings later, she also thought “somebody found out she’s a faunus and is bullying her” and was stunned to find out it was Yang. If the narrative is “Faunus are people and don’t want to be treated like animals,” and Yang decides “I know how to control Blake and manipulate her into talking to me; I’ll treat her like an animal!” that means Yang is racist. It doesn’t help that Chibi Yang is even more racist than Canon Yang (she gives her a cat-toy as a present at one point.) I know it’s not the same universe, but it just adds to the pattern. Yang never addresses what she did to Blake, or apologizes, or says it was wrong. Yang seems to have the same philosophy Rooster Teeth does: “Just pretend it never happened, and make sure to say some ‘woke’ thing to somebody who’s even more racist later so people will think I’m better now.” Well, I don’t buy it.

b) Meanwhile, we have Blake. Blake is an abuse victim. She was coerced and manipulated within a relationship before, and her partner at the time, Adam, was a violent, aggressive person with anger issues, who got mad at Blake for leaving and also physically attacked her. He spent years isolating Blake from her family and manipulating her into thinking that if she wasn’t doing what he said was right, then she was in the wrong. He pushed her to do things she wasn’t comfortable doing, and when she finally did break free of him, he chased her down and attacked her, and swore to destroy everything and everyone she loved, as punishment for leaving. He made her believe that everyone else was better off without her, because she left. He made her think that getting close to people meant they would get hurt, because she left. He turned her oldest friends (Ilia and the others in the WF) against her, dismembered Yang, caused Sun to nearly die through Ilia, and tried to have her parents murdered, because she left. He stalked her and followed her to Argus, attacking her again and trying to murder her, because she left. And he spent the whole time telling her that she deserved it, that she had earned it, because he ‘loved’ her and she had ‘hurt’ him, because she left. The last thing in the world that Blake needs in a relationship is a partner that is violent, aggressive, prone to rage, and gets mad at her for leaving! Blake needs a partner who is willing to let her go. Blake needs a partner who is willing to give her space, or time, or whatever she needs. Blake needs a partner who is willing to let her take the lead. Blake needs to know that she can leave and that’s okay.

The two of them are terrible for each other. You can’t take a person who needs a present partner and a person who needs space and absence and expect them to have a healthy relationship - especially if you don’t DO THE WORK to MAKE IT HEALTHY! Rooster Teeth did not make the launching point of their relationship healthy. They did not fix Yang’s aggression, they just wrote in one scene where Yang announced “There! My anger and aggression and violence has been fixed now!” and then forgot to write any meaningful changes to her character, and then they wrote Blake to PROMISE NEVER TO LEAVE! What the actual fuck??? Blake literally had just been attacked and blamed and yelled at by Adam, to the point where she actually had to kill him in order to finally be free of his chains, and then she turns around and CHAINS HERSELF TO YANG?!?! This isn’t healthy! Making an abuse victim PROMISE never to ever leave a person who HAS HIT HER BEFORE is not a healthy relationship! It sets a horrifically dangerous precedent for impressionable viewers, as well. “Are you trapped in an abusive relationship? You should find a different abusive asshole and expect them to rescue you, and then promise to never ever leave them because they got mad at you for visiting your parents earlier.”

I know that last sentence paints Yang in a really bad light, but like... come on, you guys, I’m not the one with the paintbrush! I love the idea of Yang learning and growing and changing, until she’s not the abusive asshole you see in all those screenshots above this. I love the idea of Yang putting in the work and becoming a good, kind, gentle, stable partner for Blake. And I love the idea of Blake making active choices to stay, deciding to support or trust Yang through her own struggles, and being there for Yang even if it’s hard for her. But that requires character growth, and dialogue, and scene directing and a lot of little moments that all form the piece of one big puzzle. Rooster Teeth can’t just make a random announcement in the climax of season six like “HEAR YE HEAR YE! Yang is now going to be not-abusive! While Blake is now going to be mega-submissive!” and call that GROWTH! Especially not with characters like this. This relationship could have happened and still have been healthy. They could have made Yang actually change, slowly, with trackable moments, so that the audience can see that she has grown up, instead of just being told “btw Yang’s a grown up now” and they could have made her become understanding, and open with Blake, and - most importantly - they could have written her to let Blake go. And then they could have written Blake to actually see that Yang had changed, and choose to stay, and open a conversation, so that the things Yang did to her in the past are actually addressed and dealt with, and that could have been the basis of a strong, good relationship.

But they didn’t. And in V8, they double down on making Yang be sulky and upset that Blake didn’t pick the same mission as her, and then Blake is anxious and afraid that Yang will be mad about it, and it’s animated to be uwu cute. Ugh. This is so unhealthy.

3. It’s detrimental to their personal characters

The toxicity of this relationship is only compounded by the fact that both characters were stripped of their personal arcs once Rooster Teeth decided to start shipping them in V6.

With Yang, this wash-out was less obvious: She had been a thrill-seeker with abandonment and anger issues who experienced trauma that was in some part a result of her lack of control in those areas, and was thrown into a ‘bigger-picture’ adventure of gods and magic, while trying to find and protect a beloved little sister and come to grips with the uncle she thought wasn’t exactly reliable and the birth-mother who had abandoned her, struggling with her anger and abandonment and trauma along the way. And then, suddenly, her story was completely changed to being that she’s a ‘forgiving’ and ‘strong’ person who gets ‘stigmatized’ BY BLAKE and has to patiently wait for BLAKE to learn that it’s ‘not what’s on the outside’ that counts, and then rush to Blake’s rescue to prove that she’s totally strong and wonderful and forgiving, and that she can ‘graciously’ let Blake come back if Blake promises to never leave again. She also completely stops acting like Ruby or Qrow or Weiss matter to her anymore, as well, implying that Yang only has enough room in her heart for one person, and she has decided that person is Blake, so screw everybody else. So what if Qrow is drunk and depressed and under the spell of Apathy in a cellar while Ruby and Weiss try to fight them off and save him at the same time? Why would she care about her beloved little sister, or her uncle who she’s had problems with but who still ultimately loves her and takes care of her when he can (before they ruined him in V6 too lol), or the girl who talks to her and initiates meaningful discussions and shows her physical affection and has put the most effort into her relationship with Yang than just about anybody else ever has? She has a cute gf to save now. And then, in the second half of V8, Yang magically remembers that she has an uncle and sister and that she once had not one, but two absent mother-figures, and friends that aren’t Blake. But it’s too little, too late; having her start to remember that people other than Blake exist about five episodes before she (according to the character’s eyes) dies, is a cheap trick to try to make it seem more emotional than it really is.

Meanwhile, I’m not the right voice to speak on exactly why it’s so terrible that Blake’s entire identity as a character was just stripped away from her the minute she became a love interest for Yang. But suffice it to say, it’s disgusting. Blake had been a freedom-fighter that was disillusioned with her group but still impassioned for the cause, who was outspoken, full of purpose, and not content with sitting around waiting for others to save the world. She was willing to put in the work it took to inspire change - whether that work consisted of reconnaissance, infiltration, and outright warfare, or walking around town gathering signatures, she was there. Rooster Teeth wrote it all terribly and conveyed the wrong messages (again, I’m not the right voice to go into why, but there are plenty of other critics who are more qualified to talk about this) but that’s who she was. And then, all of a sudden, she was a simpering, wide-eyed, baby-faced nervous doll who couldn’t make eye contact with anyone and constantly had her head ducked and was always biting her lip and hunching her shoulders and acting uncertain and never knew what to do. And she also can’t land a punch anymore, unless it gets set up for her by Yang. Barf.

The second that these two were slotted for a relationship, one of two things could have happened: Rooster Teeth could have written a narrative where each person’s past failings were addressed, their incompatible traits worked on because the characters cared enough to change for each other, and they made it clear that they liked each other - even if they both agree they’re too busy with world-saving to fully commit to a relationship. OR, Rooster Teeth could just pretend their incompatible traits just never existed and completely change both characters so that they’ll ‘fit’ better. They went for the second. And also, Rooster Teeth has no idea how to write for an equal partnership; they only know how to write ‘dominant’ and ‘submissive,’ so they took away all of Blake’s passion, righteous anger, ambitious hope, and fiery drive, and made her shorter and more girly, so that she would be the ‘submissive’ half of the pairing, so that Yang could be the cool, confidant, decision-making partner. Disgusting.

4. It’s written terribly

I’ve already gone into this somewhat, talking about how Rooster Teeth very blatantly did not write the two to be a real ship in the first five seasons even though it would have been so incredibly easy to do so, and then they just... spiked it up, in V6, so that they’d be at the starting level of groundwork that Renora and Arkos had established in V1, and then it stagnates and now we’re still there. V8 bumbleby is at the same level as Renora and Arkos was in V1; It’s clear that at least one of them has a crush on the other, and maybe they’ll be a thing in the future, if they both live long enough to get there. Maybe they’ll be lucky and be another Renora. Maybe they won’t be as lucky, and Yang actually is dead for some reason even though nobody believes it at the moment. I don’t need to spend too much time on this, but I just need to reiterate:

It would have been possible for Yang to confide in a friend that she had a crush on Blake as early as V1. But they didn’t write that to happen. It would have been possible for Yang to get all blushy and pining for Blake as early as V1. But they didn’t write that to happen. It would have been possible for Blake to show some confusion regarding her own feelings regarding Yang/Sun/Adam as early as V1. But they didn’t write that to happen. It would have been possible for Blake and Yang to work towards an equal relationship based on mutual trust and understanding and a decision to better themselves in order to deserve each other. But they didn’t write that to happen.

Rooster Teeth didn’t write a convincing ship when it comes to bb. They’ve done the exact bare minimum of making sure that both partners are ‘mostly’ unattached to others, without confirming that they have any attachment to each other - so that they can continue to rely on bb shippers to shovel coal into the steam engine that keeps the money-making RWBY train running, without risking their more bigoted fanbase getting off at the next station. Which brings us to...

5. It’s guilty of massive queerbaiting

It would be different if everything above had been the only indication of queerbaiting. It’s still all a really big tell (Het ships getting confirmation in V1 while their only same sex ship among the main cast is still unconfirmed eight years in, only four of the one-hundred-and-forty-seven ‘major’ characters being canon-confirmed to be on the LGBTQ+ spectrum) but it’s not the only indication.

If you’re still reading this, odds are you already know about the whole merch situation. The jacket for Blake and Yang’s partnership basically saying “are they friends? Are they lovers? Who knows?? GIVE US MONEY!” and then quickly editing it out once they get called out on it.

There’s also the whole “will they kiss” situation. On a panel before V7 came out, the cast were all asked to give the audience a clue about what was coming by saying what they’re looking forward to the most, in only three words. And Barbara Dunkleman, the voice of Yang, who’s been on record as one of the people claiming to have ‘shipped bumbleby from the start’ and who has also said that ‘we threw bumbleby at [Adam]’ and joked about it being literal and figurative, said “Will they kiss?” as her three words. After the volume came out and it turned out that the answer was no, everyone rushed to justify it, by being like “she was talking about Renora, because they kissed.” But the damage was done.

Just to be clear, I consider ‘queerbaiting’ to extend to all situations in which a queer relationship is frequently hinted at or implied, but never confirmed; made worse if the voice actors and writing team say that they believe in the ship, that it was ‘planned from the beginning,’ and the marketing team uses the ship to sell merchandise - if the ship is deliberately dangled in front of the audience like a carrot in an effort to make the shippers continue to watch, but is never given to them for fear that anti-shippers will be upset at the existence of carrots, it’s queerbaiting.

Also, I’m being incredibly gracious by keeping my discussion to the bb ship alone, when I could talk about Fair Game. Baaad look for Rooster Teeth, guys. Real bad look.

6. It’s a huge contributor to fandom toxicity

You’re absolutely right that this ship contributed to fandom toxicity. It’s not the only thing, by no means, but it’s a big thing. Everyone knows about the wasps. Everyone jokes about ‘getting stung.’ Odds are nobody even batted an eye at my Animal Crossing opener - unless you chuckled, because the wasps have somehow managed to convince most of the FNDM that they’re right to be so abusive - that it’s endearing. That it’s funny. That it’s cute.

It’s not cute. People get death and rape threats over this ship. People get harassed for pointing out that Blake went on a date with Sun and kissed him on the cheek. People get legit attacked for pointing out that Blake and Yang haven’t been allowed to develop past what everyone else got in V1. And people get roasted for saying that Blake is bisexual. Because the homophobes among the BlackSun shippers are mad that we admit Blake has feelings for Yang, and the biphobes among the bees are mad that admit she had feelings for Sun.

The FNDM is notorious for blind devotion to RWBY, rewriting their own memories in an attempt to pretend that it has always been perfect, and attacking everyone who disagrees. And somehow, the wasps managed to take it to a whole new level. Everybody knows it. Everybody knows the wasps are out for blood. Everybody knows to run for the nearest building when we accidentally knock down a hive. They’re ruthless, and it doesn’t matter who you are, what you believe, whether or not you’re also part of the LGBTQ+ community. They don’t care. They want bumbleby to have always been real, and will say truly horrible things to anyone who ships something else - or who likes it for its potential but thinks it was wrecked by Rooster Teeth - or who even likes it for what it is and is just expressing hurt that they keep being told to ‘just wait’ year after year because it’s not getting any better.

Not every bumblby shipper is like this. I know people who do ship bb and who are content with what they’ve been given and they are willing to wait long periods of time before they get more, and still hate the other shippers because the wasps are bastards and everybody knows that. Every fandom has that one subgroup that rallies around a common cause (usually a ship) and attacks everybody else. And in FNDM, that subgroup is the wasps.

In conclusion

I hate bumbleby as a ship. It could have been great, and no one’s wrong to like it or ship it. But Rooster Teeth fucked it up bad. It’s horribly contrived. It’s disgustingly toxic. It’s out of character. It’s badly written. And it’s the source of a lot of toxicity about in the FNDM.

But it absolutely needs to be canonized, because of the queerbaiting. Not every bees shipper is a wasp, after all; and even if they were, nobody deserves to be strung along and exploited so horribly, and Rooster Teeth are cowards for having done it this long.

And fair warning, I’m just going to delete and block anyone who tries to sting me over this, so if anyone is mad about what you see, just disengage and block me first; you’ll save yourself a lot of time.

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