#rwde nitpicks

[kitkatopinions]

Okay! Bad things are happening and I'm going to try to distract myself with some Nitpick November, so let's talk about Patch.

Patch is essentially a pit stop in Ruby and Yang's stories, it's not that big of a deal that we don't see much of it. But I think it is a bit of a missed opportunity because it would make Yang and Ruby's lives feel so much fuller if we got to see some of the place they grew up, if we got to see neighbors, the places they would spend their time, the people they've known all their lives. And maybe we don't have the time post Fall of Beacon to really see Ruby exist in that, but it would've been especially good for Yang in V4. We could've seen her and Tai in the grocery store, some older woman asking after Ruby, some twelve year old neighbor popping over the fence outside Yang's house that starts talking about the Vytal Tournament, maybe well wishers dropping off casseroles for her and Tai, an old school teacher who asks if she's heading back to combat school... Idk, I just wish that they had taken the time to establish Patch as this place Yang and Ruby can feel nostalgic for so we could get more of a feel for what their life was like.

[ironwoodprotectionsquad]

Kind of a nitpick but kind of tied to a larger issue but still kind of a nitpick so nitpick November.

If it is true that they where friendship bracelets….it’s a very very odd thing to cut out especially if everything including volume 9 was pLaNeD fRoM tHe BeGiNiNg they could have been used in volume 9 to remind Ruby of the love of her teammates and how she’d lose all that if she took a different weapon from the Blacksmith instead of a random line from Summer. Also having an item that justifies having flashbacks would be helpful no? Because flashbacks just reuse old clips.

Like the Legend of Korra has a flashback episode specifically to help save the budget and a show that regularly struggles with the budget you’d think they’d want something like this? Like yeah yeah the apathy but what about when she’s trying to use her silver eyes? Having it be something she regularly looks at and uses to remind herself of her friends and their love for each other? It seems like such a waste to scrap.

[thoughts-of-loyalty]

Sorry for the delay in getting this out, things have been things and I've been having trouble staying on top of stuff. But heck it, let's go, time for another Nitpick November, Number 8!

And here's what I've got for y'all today: despite establishing there is a relationship between Semblance and Aura, that connection feels half-baked at best and poorly explained, especially when various Semblances are brought into the picture.

So, as we all know, RWBY describes Aura as being one's Soul being channeled, either for offensive or defensive purposes. Semblances, meanwhile, are described as Aura being made to take on a more tangible form, explicitly so in the World of Remnant video on Semblances and Aura. So there is no arguing there isn't a connection, right?

Now, in general that isn't all that big an inconsistency: the series may go back and forth on things, but the general idea is that one can use their Aura like a battery of sorts to fuel their abilities, and as Semblances are a part of one's Aura, that's something their Aura fuels. All well and good so far.

But then we get to the idea of Semblances that work oddly and things start to fall apart, I feel.

For example, Qrow and Ironwood have passive/involuntary Semblances - Qrow can influence/spread misfortune around him, even if he doesn't want to, while Ironwood's Mettle "strengthens his resolve" (so dumb...) without any explanation about what triggers it. But like... how does that interact with their Aura? It should, given Semblances comes from Aura, but like... does that mean their Aura is on a constant drain from having a passive Semblance that can't be turned off, or does it just trigger whenever their Semblance does something? Or does it just not drain their Aura at all, despite Semblances literally coming from their Aura, which I wouldn't put past the writers?

What about Yang's Burn? She gets stronger and deals more damage the more damage she's been dealt, but we tend to see her activating her Semblance at critical Aura levels, right? Wouldn't it make her weaker overall to be using it at critical because she's got less Aura to power her combat with? Or is it just more powerful regardless of Aura levels? I know in-universe Yang's been taught to control and use it better, and that her prior usage was overall iffier, but it still doesn't exactly explain what sorta relationship her Semblance has with Aura levels.

It's just stuff like this that bugs me sometimes, where they want to do stuff like Ki or Chakra, but also wanted to get so expansive with options that it makes figuring the ins and outs of the two's relationship so very complicated. Especially since other series with power systems like Ki and Chakra didn't go so crazy with stuff like passive powers that would theoretically be a constant drain on their energy.

[mylittlerwde]

Nitpick November

Yang feels disconnected Day 8

This has been said by all, but it's too true. Yang really isn't tied to anything outside of her sister and now Blake. Her design is so disconnected from the others. She doesn't really have a goal by goal , I mean, RWB wants to save others, whereas Yang acts more like it is a chore being given to her. It always RWB pushing to help others, and when she does do it, it too makes Blake feel better. She's so disconnected. She feels like she is just taking up space in the show.

And the worst thing is I can't even come up with an au without getting stuck on her. I try to make the theme and the other fit perfectly only for Yang to never fit it at all. I do love Yang. I just wish they gave her... more? I just hate how Jaune feels more connected to the plot than Yang.

[justkarama]

Nitpick November day 8 second nitpick

So we all remember Yang line about how she had to be the one picking up the pieces she said this back in volume 5 and that line has always bugged me Yang says her mother left summer left ( basically saying she died) tai was busy with school Ruby couldn't talk yet

The problem with this is that we don't know at what point in time summer died or how old Yang and Ruby were now assuming Yang had to start picking up the pieces right after summer died and tai buried himself in work and his depression and going off of Yang statement on how Ruby couldn't even talk babies don't start talking until around this time

Yang and Ruby have a two year age gap Ruby is 17 Yang is 19 so there is a two year age gap between the both of them if Ruby couldn't even talk was mostly likely still a baby Yang would have been two but that isn't the case

This is Ruby and Yang concept art that was created and used for volume two in the comics we see a panel of a Yang and Ruby together with summer and Tai

And the rwby comics published by DC are stated by Kerry to be Canon or more accurately considered canon

Remember Yang says that summer left tai was too busy and Ruby couldn't even talk but Ruby in both the comics and even in the art for volume 2 looks very much old enough to not only talk but even form full sentences so Yang line about how Ruby couldn't even talk around the time summer left and tai become neglectful is impossible

Now their ages around this time was never specified by the writers I've seen some speculation others have said Yang was five and Ruby was three others stated Yang was six and Ruby is four I personally believe the latter I highly doubt a six year old could take care of themselves let alone a four year old

We also aren't given a proper timeframe of how long Yang had to be the one to pick up the pieces who was cooking cleaning if we're going by Yang statements tai become a very neglectful parent dose CPS even exist in remnant because we're tai become neglectful people on patch would have to have figured something wasn't right and was Yang going to school there's no way she could have taken care of Ruby and have gone to school she would have to Miss many days of school leading to calls about Yang well being they would have to send someone to that house.

[unofficialadamtaurus]

how does Adam see through his blindfold

[kitkatopinions]

Nitpick for Day #29

The fact that the game that Ruby plays against the Red Prince in V9 isn't actually chess is such a sucky thing that this might not even be a nitpick because it's so disappointing.

Chess requires actual strategy and also sacrifice. Chess is a game that could hypothetically - played with the sentient fake pawns as well as Ruby's friends - be used to talk about Ruby and co's unrealistic world view of 'we have to save everyone/why not go for both' that can't always work and can't always be treated as the only morally good option. And it could also be used to make Ruby have some realizations about people like Oz and Ironwood and being in charge that she previously didn't seem to have, about the fact that being leaders in a war - like chess - is going to require sacrifice and you're going to have to make moves that might hurt people and that there are no easy and perfect solutions that fix everything in a snap of your fingers.

Instead what we got is a 'pretty much anyone can move pretty much anywhere' game where the only purpose was pretty much brute force and the little guys obviously weren't that much of a challenge for Team RWBY and nobody really cared about the stakes of them beating on unwilling sentient creatures.

What a shame.

[kitkatopinions]

Nitpick for Day #13

I'm sure this has been talked about before, but the fact that there's like... No religion in RWBY is weird.

Qrow handwaves it away by saying 'not a lot of people are religious these days,' but like, it does not make sense. We have Team RWBY, Team JNPR, Oscar, Oz, Qrow, Sun, Penny, the rest of Oz's inner circle, the Ace Ops, Ilia, Blake's parents, Tai, Raven, Neptune... None of them talk about religion or are religious like at all?

The closest we get to religion is beliefs about aura, and even those seem generally across the board accepted, like nobody questions it much. It's so weird! Even if most people aren't religious, there are religions, and you'd think that somebody would follow some religion.

This is one of those things where world building just got totally bypassed, and it's a real shame.