(cross post of a thread I made on the r/rwby subreddit)
Dear certain members of RWBY's Youtuber community.
You have probably been told through your fellow compatriots ranting on Twitter or on your video service website that the RWBY subreddit is not a place open to discussion. That this is a place that shoots down negative criticism of the show, that it's only a place where people jerk off to reposted Bumblebee fanart, and that RWBY Youtubers are never welcomed here.
Of those, I can safely say that only the second one of these is actually true and it excludes the reposted White Rose and Neo art.
My name is RWBY Conversations. It's a blog about RWBY, where I share news about the show, behind the scenes snippets and yes, analysis posts that indulge in criticism. I'd recommend checking some of them out if you have some time for light reading.
You might also notice that many of those posts have been cross-posted over onto this here subreddit (my profile, for reference, so you can find the essays). And something that might stand out is the ratios. They do quite well, averaging between 75 to 80% upvotes. A few even get close to a 90% ratio overall. I also share a lot of videos from RWBY Youtubers who discuss the show that I find appealing, and I like to share their content to spread it to a wider audience and give them more traffic or just to start a conversation- it is in my blog's name. I'm not trying to brag about my traffic or anything, it's just to highlight that my essays- which can get quite biting in their critique of the show- do well and are appreciated by a fair few people here.
But I would like to explain something. There is a reason stuff I write and share gets upvoted and has positive comments under it, and why a lot of RWBY Youtuber content otherwise gets downvoted and mocked, in some cases even flat out removed.
It's because a lot of you come off as complete jackasses.
Good critique should ideally never classify itself as a rant, even if done for the sake of ironic "comedy"- you're not being funny, you're just being a dick and no one likes hearing someone be an asshole about stuff they like. Good critique should never hide behind the face of a dead man so that they can insult his living friends and say "You're doing his thing wrong that you've been an essential part of since the inception of the show says I, a person who never even met the dead man." (a lot of people use Monty as a shield to insult Miles and Kerry and it's quite disheartening) It should never rely on twisting the words of a man half-mad with grief to push an agenda about the evil corporations (or, you know, go so far as to consider breaking the law to make a point, isn't that right MuffinManDan?). And it should definitely never cause an objective review to be infected with the idea of what you would have done better (Goddamnit EruptionFang get off Adam's dick and stop referring to lesbian sex as crotch snot exchanging I used to like your videos).
Ultimately, the reason a lot of RWBY Youtube content does poorly on the platform is because of a lack of respect for the source material or the audience the content is for. Again, no one likes hearing someone be an asshole about stuff they like. No one likes being told that the show they enjoy is dumb, that its showrunners are digging up the grave of their friend, or that they're bad for liking it. Intentional or not, a lot of RWBY Youtube reviewers who hate the show fail to approach it from an angle of genuine analysis. Compare the average video by FatManFalling to something like a video from Judgmental Critter or Unicorn of War. Attitude matters a lot, and I'm more inclined to sit through content about something if I feel it comes from a position of genuine interest in analysis. Critter and Unicorn both have things about the show they dislike, topics they've covered at length in the past, but when they cover those topics their tone is reasoned, they back their arguments up with facts from in-and-out of the show, and it doesn't feel like... well, for lack of a better word, bashing. And that shit doesn't interest me, or a lot of people here. If you're gonna write, record and edit a video about why you dislike RWBY, the least you can do is not be a prick about it.
Yeah, RWBY's flawed. No shit, I've gone off about it plenty of times for what it does wrong and the show should never be forgiven for the mess that was Volume 5's back half. But if you're a dickhead about it people don't tend to give you the time of day. That's not "censorship" or "review bombing" or whatever, it's the court of public approval. People didn't like your stuff and throwing a tantrum when not every community likes your content is just part of being a content creator, so grow up and do better next time. Different strokes for different folks as the saying goes.
I'm someone who wants RWBY's Youtube community to be something that gets the community excited when they talk about the show, but being blunt a lot of people the show has inspired to make videos just aren't very good at it. Either they fail to properly explain their point, mess up their audio quality, mumble their lines or talk too quickly. I want it to be a better community, but it still has a long way to go. And unfortunately, some choice elements are making it a far more inhospitable place than it should be. RWBY's Youtube community is like gold panning. Now and again you find a great nugget but a lot of the time you're standing in the middle of a river chugging past you, looking like an idiot as you keep looking while some sharp rocks dig into your feet.
Hello Muffin Man Dan. It's been some time since you’ve entered into my sights huh?
So you wanna try and fight now? Fine then, let’s see if you can even begin to challenge me then.
“This video is a huge video project I’ve been working on with multiple RWBYtubers helping out.”
So that means, by how you treat the CRWBY, you’re not allowed a single mistake or misstep.
Good to know Dan.
Chapter 1: Flaws of RWBY
So Dan, with a target this fucking huge and easy to hit, surely you can do have a percentage of at least 10% valid arguments nd not just throw a bunch of shit at the wall and pretend you did something great when one out of a hundred pieces sticks to the wall right?
… NOPE!
Dan doesn’t even make ONE valid argument. The man had a bullseye the size of Texas and somehow managed to miss it while also shooting himself in the head.
His first arguments consists of him saying ‘Well, you were supporting a small company and a fledgling show before so being positive about them then was okay!’ … You know, ignoring how RT was being supported by the creators of HALO, had made the internet sensation Red Vs. Blue for ten years to this point, Monty had made Haloid and Dead Fanatsy among other things ect. Everyone EXCEPT the writers (you know, the people you attack the most) had experience before this so by your own argument you’re wrong. Not to mention the fact that not only didn’t stop assholes from attacking the first two Volumes but the first two Volumes are STILL what you need to get through in order to get to the latter more professional Volumes so it STILL affects the show long after Rt has grown.
This all ignoring the NUMEROUS fans who started the show after Monty died and had no nostalgia or bias for the man to sustain them unlike you and they all almost UNANIMOUSLY agree the later Volumes are better. And before you try to argue that I’m using the fallacy of ‘Argument Ad Populum”: A. ‘Good’ is inherently subjective so the audience defines what is good and what isn’t. And B. You USE the audience in your argument later so you can’t exactly claim that with my argument without also destroying a latter argument of your own.’
He also tries to peddle off FloofArtist as someone whose trust worthy. For those of you who don’t know, FloofArtist’s beef with the creataors started when he asked Miles for info on Dust and Aura over TWitter and never got an answer...even though he went to an RTX beforehand and asked the CRWBY a question to their faces. The question? ‘How did Qrow get Pyrrha’s armor?’
So he basically pulled that nerd scene from the Simpsons. And then decides to get pissy when he doesn’t get answer on a social media site when the guy is doing something else. I ask, does that sound like someone who is intellectually honest? Or does that sound like someone who tries to put people into dishonest situations and would logically lie his ass off? Yeah Dan is basically saying ‘Oh you don’t know why this politician is bad, go watch CNN/Fox News!’
He then tries to say that ‘ever since V3, the fandom has generally agreed the fight scenes were missing something’ so, you know, he’s using the fanbase here to prove his point even though the same fandom contradicts him everywhere else and he’s gonna smack talk said fandom later on. Also the fanbase generally agrees the fight scenes got back on track in Volume 6 so uh, your point fails.
I could go into his talk about chorography but all he does is talk about interpolating, the neo vs. yang fight, some cuts and just generally does nothing wrong arguing.
And that’s it. This whole segment was supposed to be all about the flaws of the show and he made TWO points. Two points that were deader on arrival than Michael Jackson. Congrats Dan, you completely glossed over so many other issues that naming them all and explaining myself would take me longer than this video in a chapter named ‘Flaws with RWBY’ in a video supposedly a third talking about RWBY the show. Couldn’t even do the bare minimum huh Dan? Fucking pathetic.
Chapter 2: Unprofessionalism
Oh boy, am I gonna have fun here...
So he begins this off by showing a tweet from Lindsay that you can barely read where he claims she’s smack talking people who don’t like the ‘forced diversity’ in RWBY, saying that they’re the people giving them money. You know, ignoring the fact that not all of these people contribute to the show by buying merch, the show is FREE so no, just watching it doesn’t mean you support the show financially, they’re actively trying to strangle money from the creators by lying about them and using them for their political bullshit, you’re USING the fanbase to make this point (the same one you are smack talking and dare gonna smack talk) and this is Lindsay’s PERSONAL Twitter.
Oh an, not like Dan will go on HIS twitter to bitch about every single person who criticizes him, acting far worse than anything he shows here or will show, actively attacks his own critics individually and as a group and shows FAR FAR worse cases of what he’s bitching about.
He then goes onto say that the creators all live in an echo chamber and they lash out before returning to safety. So you know, basically everyone single one of the RWBY critic’s Twitters. No seriously, go onto any video made by a RWBY critic and treat them with 1/1000th of thee contempt and harshness they treat the CRWBY. You’ll end up on Twitter with a snap. So once again, Dan can’t even BEGIN to live up to his standards.
He then plays the Miles clip where he lashes out against critics of the show which seems bad..until you remember that Dan alone has accused them of abusing Monty, using their dead friend as a weapon against them, repeatedly lied about them, riled up his fans into attacking Miles and so much more. And again, this is JUST Dan. And THEN remember that when Dan gets called a single name, he goes on twitter to whine about it, calls everyone else names and then makes videos mocking them so he STILL has no right to say this shit.
He then tries to claim that everyone tells them the same shit which means he’s once again using the fanbase he smack talks for his point even as it contradicts him as damn near everyone loved Volume 6 and many have even said it’s the best Volume of RWBY.
He then tries to deflect criticism against him because he KNOWS he’s setting himself up for a roasting by saying ‘well. I’m criticizing rich people with attitudes so it’s okay!’ … which doesn’t work when you realize that I have about $7 to my name and he gets YouTube money every month and yet I’m still not allowed to criticize him. Even ignoring how fallacious this argument as it somehow means he’s above criticism even as he’s FAR worse in the EXACT same ways: not only does this apply to his OWN critics (you know, the gusy he treats worse than RT has ever done) but Dan is being EVEN MORE divisive than how he sees RT being.
He also tries to make some talk about how them being popular means they deserve to be criticized because betterment of society and our culture and celelbrities and blah blah blah. So basically, “I can ignore your humanity because you’re popular and you don’t act as my slave.” Once again, I only have under 200 followers and at my peak on my old blog I barely had around 500 whereas Dan has 10k subscribers and the people on reddit who criticize him probably have even LESS than me and yet he acts EVEN WORSE so...why should anyone listen to you?
He also tries to leech off the Vic situation by criticizing them for firing Vic. Let’s ignore how this is pandering to the anti-SJW people mobbing around this and look at it like this: Vic is the voice of Broly and Edward Elrich. Meaning he’s far more famous than Rooster Teeth. Sso by Dan’s own logic, they’re ALLOWED to do this stuff since Vic is more famous and more of a celebrity than the entire company. Great job Dan. Also he tries using the fanbase again. We already went over why he lost that right. Oh and uh if you look at Dan’s Twitter feed: ‘https://twitter.com/Obiwanjezz/status/1106810239418945537‘ ‘https://twitter.com/maidmeta/status/1081040501745188864‘ Oh look at what Dan retweeted. Hm, seems pretty damn contradictory to what Dan seems to be projecting. Almost like he’s just pandering to people with an irrational hate of RT to get an echo chamber around him...
Then he goes on and on about a bunch of barely connect bullshit about lesbian fetishists supporting the show just because ‘lesbians’ (even though so many praise Volume 6 without mention Bumbleby) and how even the most venerated RWBYtubers are sick of the show (only citing the lair Floof from before), R/RWBY agreeing with him (with him citing a post that utterly denies him because ‘durr I upvoted it’ even though you can CHANGE YOUR VOTE.) You know, bunch of bullshit that isn’t worth talking about.)
The he tries smack talking the entire RWBY reddit for slander and such (when the worst he’s gotten is accusations of datamining which he’s shown to be talking about) while hes accused the CRWBY of basically grave robbing and disgracing their dead friends work. Again, look in the damn mirror Dan.
Then he makes this big compliation of people in the reddit being sensitive...
Which I can blow out of the water in ONE blow:
Dan has made and removed from his channel no less than THREE videos on me alone.
A comment takes about a minute to type. A video takes HOURS. So uh...yeah, pretty sure Danny boy here takes the cake.
So then Dan proceeds to say that the fandom is responsible for the ending of Volume 6 (so the fandom is responsible for one of the most conclusive endings to a Volume we’ve ever gotten? Maybe this fandom is worth saving after all!) because they’re all horny and need to fuck. (gee, strawman much?) Even though he’s thrown massive shits for not getting the same treatment.
Chapter 4 (guess I missed the chapter 3 mark. Meh): Representation.
I’m just gonna summarize this entire last part for you guys:
Strawman about entire fanbase liking Volume 6 = gay pandering (ignoring people like Unicorn of War again...)
Talks about homophobes
Leech off Vic
RT is desperate.
Gives doctored screenshots of tweets cutting out any context.
Contradictions (criticizes people for using memes are arguments while using memes as arguments).
And that’s it.
To which I respond by:
You’re the same guy whose going back against everything he’s said on his twitter about politics PRECISELY when it benefits you while you contradict yourself numerous times, your video devolves into pointless rambling and you destroy your own arguments.
Sounds like you’re the desperate one here.
Gee I wonder why? is it because the fanbase liked the Volume even without Bumbleby and you figured out you couldn’t rely on them to support your egotism anymore? Certainly explains your contradictory political stances and how you suddenly start talking about Vic and Adam just as the topics can net you an echo chamber to hide in and protect your ego.
And really, that goes to show why you fail on a fundamental level Dan. You have no convictions, no standards, no morals, no integrity to give substance to your words. Everything you’ve said here either contradicts what you say before or after/applies to you on a much greater scale. And really, your community is no better. You are all willing to throw away what you supposedly fight for and what you stand for when it becomes inconvenient for you, preaching values of self reflection, humility and improvement through criticism...all while failing to embody those values or give any meaning to them beyond lip service.
Nothing about you feels real or genuine Dan. NONE of you assholes feel real or genuine in what you say or do because you’ve been proven to contradict yourself and betray your values when you need something. And thus, everything you and your friends do and say just becomes ‘Do as I say because I think I’m always right.’
And guess what Dan? People, especially the artistically attuned, don’t resonate or accept that. The people who actually care about RWBY, who want to see an artistic vision flourish and grow, sense your insincerity and ego and instinctively reject you because you accept your words would be to accept your toxicity into themselves. And look now. The CRWBY have earned back the fandom’s love and trust while your toxicity consumes you and all but your ilk abandon you to pastuers greater than you.
And it makes sense why you seem to hate RWBY on a fundamental level now because the show challenges people to grow and evolve, to become better people, to live up to their ideals, to prove themselves right. And before, RWBY never put those messages to the test. But now that it has, you reject it because it indirectly calls you out and your ego can’t take it. You can give lip service to quality, to artistic integrity and to Monty all you want now but it’s become certain what you actually mean.
It’s pretty damn pathetic to see you break down little by little over these past few months as you desperately try to bend the world to your vision only to get smacked in the face. And to be truthful, I‘m kind of proud of the fact that I played a pretty big part in your degradation as you crumbled more and more from the pressure I and eventually reality pushed on you. All while I continued to grow and evolve. Wanna know why?
Because I stuck to my ideals and morals.
I think it’s time I finished this little battle or ours for the most part. You’re no longer worth fighting. Just like RWDE for the most part has lost all it’s strength now.
So with this I say adieu. Come join the adults when you’re ready to grow up Dan.
