RWBY LVL Up 2019 Expo Panel Summaries
So, first one of these for the 6-7 hiatus. This took place on the weekend of April 27th-28th, and saw two panels with the four RWBY girls. Most notably, the panel actually fielded questions from the r/RWBY subreddit prior to the Q&A.
Saturday
Twitch VOD here. Keep in mind Twitch auto-deletes VODs so this link may be dead if you’re coming back to this in a few weeks The Twitch channel mentions a user called SoraKasaiSkyFire is going to upload them on Youtube. It’s a short little interview session done on the show floor.
This was Kara’s first time in Vegas.
The host is actually an long-time fan of RWBY and opens by talking about how Monty’s legacy has carried on. He highlights Grimm Eclipse and asks if we’ll see RWBY go into other games. Lindsay hopes for an MMO and mentions Amity Arena and Blazblue Cross Tag Battle. Barbara also mentions the Combat Ready board game and Vicious Circle, an unrelated RT project.
What jobs besides being a Huntress do you think your character would have? Barbara thinks Yang would be a personal trainer. Arryn thinks Blake would be a civil lawyer. Kara thinks Weiss would become a Broadway star, and Lindsay goes for Ruby going into a bakery.
If you could bring back any dead character at the cost of a living one, who? Lindsay immediately offers Pyrrha in exchange for Salem (Kara gets ticked off because she was going to say that). Arryn jokingly says “Kill Zwei,” while Barbara mulls over Torchwick. Kara says kill Jacques and bring back Pyrrha.
What advice do you have for people who want to get into the entertainment industry? Lindsay talks about how it’s overwhelming that RWBY took off when they envisioned it as a small passion project and says to keep an eye out for more side-projects.
Sunday
VOD link here. They’re playing some Smash during the Q&A.
Host Guy’s shirt offends me on a spiritual level. The whole “Stars of such anime like RWBY, Red Vs Blue and Camp Camp” line makes me snicker. That’s my token anime elitism moment out of the way.
Apparently it’s a semi-infrequent thing for the VAs where they’ll meet people cosplaying as RWBY characters and the cosplayers won’t recognize them.
What is the current biggest flaw your character has going into Volume 7? Kara thinks Weiss needs to learn how to get along with her family. Barb thinks Yang is a bit too caring for her friends and talks about how Yang is particularly going through some self-discovery and her abandonment issues in relation to Raven.
What advice would you give aspiring voice actors? Barbara talks about how hard it is to get into VA work, but there’s always something out there, even if it’s just a car commercial or a friend doing some small animation project. It mostly comes down to being in the right place at the right time. Arryn quips that she could use some advice herself.
They get interrupted a lot by the Smash play.
What was your favorite volume to record for and why? Barb- Volume 5 because of Yang’s arc with Raven. Arryn- Volume 5 as well, since that’s when Blake heads home and has to work through the eternal problem of Daddy Issues, (”Since that’s what everyone has.”) and that Blake got to rally the troops.
How do you deal with emotion in the studio? Barbara explains how challenging it is. Camera acting lets you act through your body language and face, but with VA work you have to carry everything through your voice. Arryn mentions how Blake is very monotonous in the early volumes and how she had to take a few tries to get that level without it falling into sounding asleep.
If RWBY’s Aura had a scent what would it smell like? Barbara thinks Yang’s would smell like citrus. Arryn goes for a newly opened book. Lindsay and Kara were too distracted by Smash to answer so Barb and Arryn opine that Ruby’s would smell like cookies and Weiss’s Aura would smell like a waterfall or hot linen.
What are the best and worst qualities of your characters in your eyes? Barbara thinks Yang’s best quality is how much she cares for the people in her life, but that’s also her weakness since she needs to learn when to draw the line and work on her temper. Arryn thinks Blake doesn’t talk about her feelings a lot and had a bad problem to run from her problems, but she’s unfailingly honest when she does stick around.
Which outfits of Team RWBY do you like the most? Barbara holds a soft spot for her OG outfit but bluntly says that she’s looking forward to the new Atlas outfits (they’ve really not been trying to hide that Atlas will mark new outfits for RWBY at least). Arryn has apparently seen Blake’s new gear but thinks her favorite Blake outfit was her PJs.
What jobs besides being Huntress would your character have chosen? This got asked the day prior. The only new addition is Barbara and Arryn joking a mechanic Yang would be sexy.
I think this was actually my question- I asked Arryn if she thought Adam was ever a good person or if he was always a psycho. Arryn firmly believes he was always a monster who “dissected animals as a kid,” like Sid from Toy Story. Arryn also mentions the people who were bitter at Adam not getting a redemption arc, while Barbara talks about how people try and find the good in villains.
They go off topic and talk about games for a long bit. Barbara used to love Smite and played in a few tournaments in-house in RT, while Arryn loves Animal Crossing and Borderlands. Lindsay has been undefeated for the entire Q&A to this point.
What’s the hardest challenge your character’s faced. Kara thinks just going to Beacon was a big challenge for Weiss, and also her confrontation with Jacques at the fundraiser. Barbara mentions confronting Adam at the end of Volume 6. Arryn talks briefly about going home to her family in Volume 4 before getting interrupted by Lindsay’s winning streak being broken.
The guy host decides to ask a few questions exclusively to Ruby- she agrees with how Ruby’s Aura would smell. Ruby’s greatest challenge has been trying to find herself and move out of her socially awkward/lone wolf shell through becoming a leader and finding that inner strength, which manifested in Volume 6 with her arguing with Qrow.
Final question- any common fan opinions about your characters you don’t like? Kara refuses to let White Knight die and is sure that Weiss has a small crush on Jaune. Barbara isn’t very fond of when people’s headcanons or theories are proven wrong and they criticize the show because of it. “Difference between criticism and hate.” Arryn hates that some people still ship Blake and Adam. Lindsay doesn’t enjoy some people’s takes of characters being bad and that they shouldn’t be in the show, it’s more than just black and white for some characters (someone tell whoever’s writing Cinder that -_-).