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Givens Watts comments a few episodes back about security in Mantle not being really upgraded, I suspect it didn't even take that much.
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Givens Watts comments a few episodes back about security in Mantle not being really upgraded, I suspect it didn't even take that much.
V07C05 Sparks
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michaelb958
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V07C05 Sparks
I thought for a moment we were getting titles subtitles, but no, just "(intense rock music)".
Team RWBY, all in matching Atlas Academy sleep shirts, would be unhappy at Penny waking them up, but in order to be unhappy they'd first have to be more awake. (I assume they arrived at a team decision to pile into a team dorm room instead of the individual rooms Penny mentioned on the tour.) Naturally, Ruby is the one who is snapped out of it when reminded that they're fully graduated Hunters now.
I sense a montage coming on. Jaune wanders into a briefing room with coffee, then for some reason surrenders it to Marrow. Clover starts the briefing by welcoming them to "the new normal in Atlas". He continues briefing from offscreen:
- Amity Tower is the important thing. Ruby ensures Qrow is awake in a plane to somewhere.
- They'll be guarding the launch site and supply deliveries to it. Ruby and Weiss do exactly that.
- With construction focused on Amity, Mantle will need more protection to fill the gaps. Nora and Ren look very slightly intimidated by a gathering Grimm attack on a section of wall.
- Briefing pauses. Marrow starts suggesting to Blake and Yang that their combat styles don't match well. They disprove him, then look judgemental that he dared to bring it up. (And to be fair to them, wouldn't you?)
- Meanwhile in Mantle, Jaune can hardly escort children in between all the casseroles from their mothers. "It's totally the haircut," says Nora. I have no idea to what degree she might be kidding. {{Obligatory commentary courtesy of an author's note:
You said it, random fanfic author.}} - Clover graciously gives them time off sometimes. Ruby and Yang hunt Grimm deep in Mantle, while Weiss shows off her summons in the hope of Winter's approval.
- Ironwood and Oscar (one more informed than the other) try to flush Ozpin out of hiding by putting Oscar in danger (ah, so they were sparring in the titles). Clover briefs that they all have use of Atlas' training facilities, one of which is hosting these two. Later, Jaune has a bad time at the hands of Vine ("Have you ever thought about extending your Aura?"). Then Ren drills some particular technique with Elm (calm down Nora that's not a euphemism), then Harriet runs circles around Weiss as the other Ace Ops (except Clover) watch on.
- It is another morning in Team RWBY's dorm. Ruby and Penny are having enthusiastic storytime as Team WBY haul each other off to prepare for the day ahead.
- Back to the briefing room. This time Jaune has thought ahead and brought coffee for Marrow as well.
Anybody remember Flynt Coal and Neon Katt (whom surely somebody on this Earth has referred to as Rainbow Dash at some point)? Well, as the music changes, here they are in a training room, their team (yes, they have a full team) opposing Team ALPN in some variety of training match. Nora appears to be riding her hammer around like some kind of witch's broomstick, which doesn't surprise me nearly as much as perhaps it should. This is a response to Neon continuing to be her usual combat self. Above the chaos, Ironwood watches and approves.
Neon parks in the centre of the arena and considers her options as Jaune, Oscar, and Ren enter the centre room from three directions, implied to have defeated the rest of Team FNKI. Neon considers a moment too long - once more, stopping doomed her, because here's Nora leaping over a wall to take her out.
Post-match, Neon reckons Team ALPN have considerably improved since the Vytal Tournament. I was expecting some Pyrrha angst, but what we got instead is Neon rolling on to call Oscar cute. Flynt invites the teams out to lunch, but Team ALPN have to decline due to being summoned for a mission. Team FNKI (whose other members seem to be named Kobalt and Ivori) don't seem too put out by these eight randoms coming in from outside (despite border closures) and leapfrogging them in clout and possibly academic progression.
Poor Nora, I don't think there's still time for sandwiches.
Penny explains that they can't justify airlifting everything to the launch site - they don't have infinite Dust, and can better use what they do have for the launch and its defence, rather than using air transport where trucks would do. Ruby, stuck with her in a truck cab for hours, is still not suited to it in any way.
There are penguins on the "scenic" tundra. Not what I was expecting from the northern parts of Remnant - IRL penguins reside near the South Pole. If the scenic tundra also has polar bears (IRL, North Pole) I'm going to be baffled.
At least Penny is the perfect person to be alert in a truck for hours, and help keep others alert as well. I wonder how things are for the driver.
"General Ironwood says I don't have time for friends." Oh no Penny. (Ironwood why are you like this.) Fortunately Ruby is here to be friends.
Meanwhile in the back of the truck, Qrow and Clover are playing a card game to pass the time. Clearly neither of them spent five seconds thinking about what their Semblances would do to that. Clover is also trying to shore up Qrow's self-esteem. It seems to be working.
The fun (which, for once, I am not saying in the Dwarf Fortress sense) is interrupted by Ruby noticing something on the road ahead. Clover declares it worse than Grimm and tells Penny to remain in reserve.
There are two people standing in front of a barricade built where the road passes through a narrow gap between two expansive rock features. I recognise one of them from the titles (just before throwing rocks at the Ironwood hologram) and the other from when they had binoculars last Chapter. Given the former's first line, this appears to be a truck robbery of some kind. Clover gets out of the truck, backed up by Qrow and Ruby, and addresses them as "Robyn... Mantle's hometown hero".
Robyn would like to know why construction materials are being trucked to the middle of nowhere instead of Mantle's walls. "Are you lost?" she asks, not at all sincerely. Clover plays along and hopes to get on with the trip. Robyn dashes his hopes by revealing that binoculars gang told her what they saw, which amounts to 'Ironwood, Amity, mine' but is still more than Clover was hoping she knew.
Clover dissembles that Amity Colosseum is undergoing routine inspection. Robyn does not buy it in the slightest: there's no Vytal Tournament in the near future, security is tighter than expected for routine inspection, and explain again the truckloads of construction materials that Mantle could use for its defences. Clover, Qrow, and Ruby twig that Robyn's been investigating.
Robyn offers to meet them halfway: just tell her what's more important than the walls of Mantle. She holds out her hand; given the weird glove configuration, this must be more important than wanting to shake on it. Clover declines anyway. Robyn then asks the others, and Ruby starts on a Ruby speech that might have brought tensions down without revealing anything, or might not have, but Clover cuts her off.
Clover now drops that Robyn is running for election to the Council as well, and somewhat condescendingly tells her to focus on that instead of them. Robyn says no, the supplies are going to Mantle one way or another. Clover suggests Robyn pursue that as a Council member, if she even gets there. Robyn says that's no fun, in about as many words.
I think there might have been a truck robbery coming on, but Penny deploys herself to shut that right down, standing atop the truck and demanding Robyn call off "the Huntresses approaching the rear of the truck". Everybody else is confused - there's nothing and nobody behind the truck. Robyn signals Joanna and May into visibility (literally) before implicitly accusing Penny of not protecting Mantle very well. Penny is immune to such implications, so Robyn reluctantly calls off the robbery and has her unnamed companion open the barricade.
Clover wishes Robyn good electoral fortune. Clearly there aren't that many hard feelings. Or he's being insincere, but I hope not.
After the truck passes, Robyn resolves to her team to find the truth, by whatever means necessary.
Weiss and Winter are having their summons spar. Winter's wins.
You can tell these two are sisters by how many half-barbed lines they're trading.
The conversation turns to a mutual antipathy for Jacques Schnee and his worldview. It's going very well until Winter implicitly offers Weiss a military/academy job on Ironwood's behalf, then it goes slightly less well as Weiss expresses her uncertainty at how Atlas is going nowadays.
Winter is sure that Atlas will start helping the world again "once we've weathered the storm". The problem is, who decides when the storm has been weathered? Winter doubles down by thinking that it's any kind of good explanation that Ironwood is "doing what he thinks is right". Weiss calls this out for the non-statement it is, then goes onto the much shakier ground of accusing Ironwood of keeping secrets, possibly from Winter. Look Weiss, I get it, I really do, but your teams don't have that much room to talk.
Something seems to get through to Winter, for she instructs Weiss to follow her. Deep within what looks like a hospital (I am pretty tickled by those square concentric vent covers on the ceiling - they seem to be universal), they reach an extremely well-guarded section. Winter gestures Weiss into a viewing room over the single-bed ward while she (Winter) enters the ward proper. I can barely hear the conversation between Winter and the (female, somewhat elderly) occupant, which I think is an intentional choice to reflect how Weiss can barely hear it either.
Weiss snaps to the realisation that was just tickling at the back of my mind: this is the current Winter Maiden. And given that nobody has raised an eyebrow at Winter Schnee being in the ward, I have my theory as to the intended successor. The names.
Winter (Schnee) pretty much confirms it in the viewing room, stating in as many words that she's the only person that "Fria" is allowed to see. When Ironwood broke it to her (Winter) after Beacon fell, she was initially quite bothered by the implication that the entire career she chose for herself had been twisted - without her choice - into a stepping stone to phenomenal cosmic power. This implication also bothers Weiss. Winter made her peace with it by choosing - once she was given the choice - to knowingly accept it.
I'm more concerned for Fria's welfare. The setup is to prevent her from even thinking about anyone else, seeing as if her last thought is even about someone ineligible for the Maidenship, it goes to lottery. This implies that Fria does not get to see or hear so much as a recording of anyone other than Winter Schnee, who spends most of her time not there. (What happens if the thought-target is dead? Does the succession skip them and look for the last person thought of who still lives, or does death merely count as ineligibility? Does it recurse if they were eligible at time of death?) It's state-enforced near-perfect loneliness, which both Schnees here ought to know plenty about. There's a point where euthanasia becomes less cruel, and I think it's on this side of the horizon.
Anyway, Winter's scroll signals that Ironwood has sent her a link to the news, broadcasting a Jacques Schnee speech. (Hey look, something approaching an exterior view of the Schnee live-in trophy cabinet.) As the news ticker below exposits on the slow breakdown of Mantle's defences, Jacques announces a lockout of all "nonessential" operations of the Schnee Dust Company unless and until he is elected to the Council, taking every opportunity to all but call for Ironwood's impeachment. Given the SDC's alarming monopoly power on the Dust that makes Remnant go 'round, this is a massive threat to Atlas.
I somehow doubt the ability of Atlas to meaningfully act against even the most major national security threat from a mega-wealthy businessman who is running for (an imminent) election to high office. Of course, that presumes matters have time to proceed that far: suddenly there are an awful lot of people with nothing to do and every incentive to make their displeasure known. Speaking of throwing rocks at holograms, Winter foreshadows the rioting in Mantle by about five seconds. I foresee lots of Grimm.
Next time: Increasingly brutal political satire.
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I think Penny meant individual team rooms. Which seems like a weird thing to advertise, but hey, it's not a military barracks?
Saying all sort of horrible things about how bad off Mantles defenses are in passing...
Haven't seen this angle brought up often... but yeah.
Yeah, that's Noras Pietro provided upgrade. A flight mode. Nora is now airborne. BE AFRAID.
Fantasy setting has its advantages.
Also note that Qrow has given up drinking entirely. Sadly, due to being a supporting character, it's not given much focus, but I hope that aura makes the withdrawal symptoms easier to bear.
Not just 'could be'. SUPPOSED to be. They're diverting supplies budgeted for Mantles defense to a secret military project. Even as important as Amity is, is it so time crucial they need to leave Mantles civilians hanging?
Well, she's out here in the wilderness, escorting resources meant for Mantles defense. If she's supposed to fill the gap those resources being moved caused, she's really in the wrong place.
And so, we have our first encounter with the Happy Huntresses. Aka Robin Hood and his Merry Men. Which implies certain things about the situation in Mantle. The real question is, who's the Sheriff in this scenario, Ironwood or Clover?
Because James was apparently taking suggestions from Cinder about being hilariously obvious.
Phenominal cosmic power that has been trained over the years to be an obedient soldier. I don't think James consciously realized that, but the thought is likely somewhere in the back of his mind...
About that, take a look around the hospital cell. You might recognize a pair of large pods in the corner. We last saw Amber in one of them. James isn't taking any chances...
See earlier 'WTF?' from Robin.
Only billionaires are allowed to threaten everyone with their wrath if not elected!
'Luckily', Jacqueass is up in Atlas, where anyone angry can't get at him. And once again we see what happens when government representatives aren't required to live in their district.
Lots of grimm, while Mantles defenses are full of holes. Jacqueasses scheming just got a lot of people killed.
just to note, V7 came out in late 2019. Someone on the writing team was laughing very bitterly when the future caught up with them.
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There was the auk, a very penguin-like bird native to the northern hemisphere before humans hunted them into extinction, maybe evolution went the other way this time due to which atmosphere had a continent this time?
Not "could be used for," explicitly meant to be going to it if not for this secret project of questionable legality she just learned about.
Ironwood is not a subtle man.
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... You know, it says something we all forgot to mention the serial sex pest finally having consequences catch up to him after decades of shitty behavior, reducing him to a guy that whines on twitter. Something about how he's banished from our lives, never to be seen again
michaelb958
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That seemed a strange interpretation - the first half of the sentence was Penny playing up Atlas Academy's budget, carrying the implication that the second half of the sentence was something that wouldn't be possible on the inferior budget of a clearly-inferior academy. But I went back and checked, just for you. According to the subtitles, the wiki transcript, and my own best efforts to listen to the exact sound Penny made at the crucial moment, what she said was:
My emphasis on "teen", with an N. Penny was reading from a promotional brochure in her head that clearly said individual rooms for individual students. (Weird choice for the fairly explicit pipeline to the military - bastion of non-individual rooms that that is - but okay.) Team RWBY appear to have scared up a team (with an M) room anyway.
I am now!
I meant "could be" in a somewhat more pointed sense than that, in the kind of way that one might say 'I could use a hand here!' while being overwhelmed. I shall have to choose better words in future.
Clearly (says the guy who knows nothing about Robin Hood), Clover is the Sheriff and Ironwood is whoever's in charge of the Sheriff.
Play it again, me!
...if you spell "subtly" like this:
(fiery background visuals, rocking background music, various interesting text effects)
(fiery background visuals, rocking background music, various interesting text effects)
SUBTLY
Fun fact for everyone else: in Australia, it is a somewhat regrettable constitutional oversight that members of federal Parliament aren't even required to live in the same state in which they run for election. The AEC officially advises that a candidate for office who doesn't visit their target seat at the other end of the country is fairly unlikely to win election.
(I think a district requirement is slightly too granular, because districts change regularly - I've heard of shenanigans in an American state at least once where a district boundary got deliberately nudged a little bit to exclude a troublesome representative's house. But I like a state requirement - those don't change much, and it's something.)
As I will shortly allude to, a great deal of the events that I am implying to be satirised here had already occurred by 2019.
Y'know, I think I must have seen something about that at the time, because when I saw the guy in the credits of an early Chapter of V3, I thought 'hey, that name sounds familiar in the context of being a horrible person'. Then I looked him up briefly and had my hunch confirmed.... You know, it says something we all forgot to mention the serial sex pest finally having consequences catch up to him after decades of shitty behavior, reducing him to a guy that whines on twitter. Something about how he's banished from our lives, never to be seen again
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Always sounded like team to me. Especially since in the context of the statement, student would have worked better than teen.
Officially advises, but we've had more than a few operate that way without somehow crashing and burning. Often without the excuse of holding a major position in parliament that could explain it/provide enough benefit to the electorate.
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SolipsistSerpent
Endlessly Devouring
Usually Prince John, who gets an unfair bad reputation as the guy left holding the bag and having to raise taxes to make up for all the money King Richard blew on crusades, while Richard was away due to said crusades.
There was also a corrupt bishop in earlier versions of the story.
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There's no real match there, although you could go with Jacques maybe...
V07C06 A Night Off
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michaelb958
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V07C06 A Night Off
We must be doing non-simultaneous storytelling - I can't see how anybody would get time off with Mantle in hopefully-metaphorical flames.
This time the title music is subtitled as "upbeat" rather than "intense". I remain in some disbelief that they didn't subtitle this sequence once (which they did for the YouTube upload) and copy and paste into each Chapter.
Oh I see, the flames are out. A crackdown has made election day physically safe. Robyn, on camera, denounces rioting and makes it clear that the best way to show displeasure with Jacques Schnee is to not elect him.
Our protagonists train. Yang and Blake acrobat around for some unclear objective. Weiss disrupts Winter's summon control using her own summon in stealthy miniature size. Nora plays hammerball with Jaune, who bounces it back on his shield; eventually Nora supercharges and hits Jaune with the ball hard enough to shatter the ball. Jaune loses some Aura, and then self-Amps to get it right back. Neat trick. Oscar says Jaune's getting faster at it.
Ren meditates at the base of a training-hologram pillar. Ruby avoids Semblance-ramming him by breaking into three to go around the pillar. Oscar asks if she could always do that; she's not sure. (Probably part of the reason she doesn't think about it is to avoid wondering whether she should have while the last match of the Vytal Tournament was on.) This leads into Oscar being a bit jealous that he's the only one without a Semblance. Jaune used to be in that club with him, but not for a while now. Ruby reassures him (Oscar).
Ironwood and Clover enter. For Ironwood, seeing is believing their dedication to training. Ruby feels pushed to it "with the way things are going". Ironwood agrees they're not going well, bringing up a holoscreen of early results for the Council election which indicates that Robyn Hill leads Jacques Schnee 70-30. There's plenty to speculate on here, including how that's being calculated: the earlier scene with Robyn's interview was intercut with the electoral process. A voting machine made clear that there were more than two candidates; and did not make clear the rules of voting, so I'll assume that the writers went with their American sensibilities and assumed first-past-the-post. (As an Australian, there are so many things to shudder about in that sentence.) I refuse to believe that even these two well-known candidates collectively raked in the minimum of 99% of the vote necessary to round to 100% (citation: single-winner elections in two-party systems all over the place IRL). The next plausible explanation is that 70-30 is a two-candidate preferred summary, but that rather implies preferential voting, which did not seem to be in evidence. Regardless, two things are clear:
- Unless counting is highly skewed between areas of highly different opinions, Robyn Hill is on track to win in a landslide.
- Given that the voting precinct map is the same map (in the same colour scheme) that appeared on Watts' screen in his section of the titles, I still wouldn't count on that.
Ren gets them out of that conversational minefield by asking about the missions that Ironwood and Clover are no doubt here to give them. All are stunned when the mission is mandatory time off for the rest of the day. Ironwood, the last person you'd expect to sign off on such a thing, explains it as being ready for the inevitable !!fun!! tomorrow.
As counting continues, Robyn Hill's election becomes all but certain (at least in-universe). Weiss wonders why Jacques would shoot his campaign in the foot on election eve; Yang reckons he just didn't think his power play through.
Blake and Yang are taking their minds off politics by going out dancing with Team FNKI. Ruby is confused, citing that Yang had said Team FNKI were annoying. It's a dance club, says Yang, Team FNKI will be inaudible despite their best efforts. Meanwhile, Weiss is still not quite over Ruby's imminent departure with Nora and Ren to what is implied to be Robyn's victory party (and now it's made explicit). With Yang trying to teach Blake some kind of club dance, Weiss is torn between awkwardly putting up with a politician she dislikes, awkwardly third-wheeling on club preparations, and awkwardly being alone; she jumps at Jaune and Oscar's open invitation to a movie.
On the streets of Mantle, Ren thinks Weiss has a point that a victory party seems "premature". Nora and Ruby disagree, seeing as there will be precious few more chances for parties before the planned Amity broadcast about Salem. (The news board they walk past indicates the electoral margin has narrowed to 67-33.)
Ren now brings up their lack of ideas for defeating Salem. Nora is thinking that Jinn's statement that Ozma can't destroy Salem does not necessarily preclude anybody else from doing it, or even Ozma from defeating her without destroying her. Ruby isn't sure. Ren just thinks they should still be training - exactly why you've been forced not to, sir. An argument begins to brew between Nora ("We've trained enough! Take some time to-") and Ren ("We don't have time!").
By the time they reach the party, the margin has narrowed to 64-36. The camera drones in the building have been adorned with hats and/or "Kick Me" signs, which is adorable and/or funny respectively. Correction, even as Team RNR walk in it's down to 63-37.
Penny is completely blind to the implications of only herself and Marrow being sent as security for this party. Penny's blindness would be sweet if those implications were less concerning.
Penny wonders where everyone else is, to which Nora explains. Ruby sinks into the floor as Nora starts shipping Bumblebee to Ren as a bladed metaphor for their continuing argument. Ren grabs the metaphor and turns it back on Nora. Ruby, resurfacing next to Penny, shares some of Penny's confusion. Suddenly the electoral margin visible behind them is 57-43.
Marrow calls Penny back over for a security chat, and is exasperated to get Ruby as a bonus. He's even more exasperated to get either Joanna or May (subtitles say May) soon after that, as Robyn's idea of security for her party. (The writers have forgotten how to do natural-sounding dialogue interruptions again.) Robyn and Joanna soon converge on the brewing argument. Robyn is dismissive of Ruby, but does not join her teammates in being dismissive of Marrow (and indirectly Ironwood); she opines that they'll have to be able to work together "if I get elected tonight". The margin is still 57-43.
Robyn dismisses May and takes over the argument with Marrow herself. They have a decent back-and-forth about the law and its bounds (and shortcomings) before Robyn's yet-unnamed teammate calls attention to the stage. Joanna and then Robyn take to the stage. Marrow follows, irritated, dismissing Ruby on the way. Ruby blows a raspberry at him behind his back before leaving (which would probably endear her to most partygoers, if they were paying any attention).
Speaking of arguments, Ruby is very disappointed to find Nora and Ren still going at it. "I should've just gone to the movies," she mutters to herself. The margin is now 59-41.
Unnamed Teammate starts thanking everyone for voting as the margin goes back to 57-43. She seems nervous to be speaking in public, which makes her a good choice for intro speaker - get everyone's sympathy to ease them into the program. Soon enough, she invites Robyn to speak. Robyn starts with her own public speaking joke. What are you talking about Robyn, if this has been any indication at all then you have it in the bag. The thing that's not in the bag is, I fear, the election itself: now 55-45.
{{Foreknowledge is a curse. I remain comfortably seated in my comfy chair, 40 bpm above my resting heart rate.}}
Robyn's speech is remarkably reluctant to claim victory. As this becomes clear, the big screen behind her ticks to 54-46.
Robyn leaves the stage. A newscaster's voiceover notes that the result will be closer than expected, which seems to be the first Robyn noticed of it. Joanna and May assure her she has it. As if to contradict them, the screen ticks to 53-47.
Meanwhile, Nora would like Ren to at least talk to her. Ren opens by saying he's never been good at talking. We knew from the start that he's not prone to saying very many words, but that doesn't have to be the same thing if those words are well-chosen. "Then screw talking!" says Nora, and kisses him. Fortunately for both, Ren quickly recovers from his surprise and reciprocates. (raucous cheering from the comments section)
Watts, set up with a bunch of Scrolls in the back of a warehouse somewhere, prepares to do something. Ohhhhh no, Tyrian's here. As in right here, at this very party.
I now understand why Robyn's victory party was described as "premature" - apparently voting is still open! It concerns me greatly that even preliminary live election results are coexisting in the same media space and time as voting in the very same election. This is textbook accidental election interference, even before we get to whatever fully deliberate election interference Watts is going to commit in the next twelve seconds.
Nothing starts in the next twelve seconds, giving Ruby just enough time to notice a prosthetic scorpion's tail, follow it back to its owner, realise that Tyrian is in the house, and shout "Watch out!". At the stroke of zero, Watts cuts the lights and Tyrian starts cutting the people.
Far too many people are cut down before Penny can get a clear look at Tyrian. She orders him to surrender. In response, he vanishes from her sight. That's very concerning. He soon reappears on stage with Robyn and Unnamed, going straight through Unnamed's aura and preparing to do the same to Robyn. Penny tackles Robyn out of the way. I might have tackled Tyrian instead, but I'm not really in the business of questioning first responders making urgent decisions in no-win scenarios. Tyrian leaps into the rafters and disappears.
Watts, who swiped at an election map in the middle of all that, graciously permits the power to come back on. Center stage, Penny with swords drawn. Robyn is lying in a defensive position on one side; Unnamed Teammate is lying unresponsive on the other. Far too many more lie unresponsive before the stage. As the cherry on top of this clustertruck, Jacques Schnee has won the election. {{In case you're wondering, that's the only part I foreknew. Watching election coverage is stressful.}}
Ruby, who wound up slumped against the stage somewhere in there, barely has time for her eyes to widen before some bright spark shouts "It's Ironwood's robot!" I predict either a panicked stampede to escape or more rioting, either of which will kill more and draw Grimm. Also Marrow was around somewhere and has also wound up just below the stage. Robyn has done the obvious thing and blamed Penny for the massacre, fortunately not out loud yet. At least Nora and Ren instantly believe Ruby (now treating Unnamed) when she says Tyrian happened. (And why wouldn't they - Tyrian has previously happened to them all.)
As Joanna, May, and more rush for the stage, Marrow stays them all, and orders Nora and Ren to evacuate Penny. None of those three protest. Robyn pushes Ruby away and starts treating Unnamed herself. Marrow tries to get closer and is discouraged by a crossbow bolt from Joanna; Ruby drags him away as he tries to dig a deeper hole for himself. No, that was not a dog joke.
Watts presses Upload on a video and declares that their work is done for the night. I wonder what fresh hell that will be.
I think I recognise this drunk guy from Chapter 1. He's standing in front of a news board proclaiming Jacques Schnee's "dark-horse victory".
Meanwhile out the back of the party place, Penny is incapacitated by the knowledge that she's just been framed for a massacre. Remember last time someone got framed for a massacre? That was Penny's death. History doesn't repeat, but it certainly rhymes. Eventually Marrow gets her to leave for Atlas. That's just the start of the night's !!festivities!!, as Grimm are clearly audible.
You shut your lying mouth, Jacques.
Credits: "Additional vocalist"? Did someone finally tell Casey Lee Williams she can't do it all on her own? That would be so on-brand for RWBY.
For anybody still wondering where the increasingly brutal political satire was: In the wealthiest and most militarily powerful nation on the planet, a democracy designed when the ideals of democracy as we know them were relatively new and untested, an unconventional female candidate is unexpectedly defeated in an election to high political office by a wealthy bigoted business tycoon, as the result of fairly blatant election interference by an old enemy of said nation. I've seen that film before.
Next time: Many games of trust.
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One has urged the public to remain calm and issued warnings to Ironwoods elite huntstmen in private to obey the law. The other has publicly inflamed tensions. There are not the same. The fact James sees them both as a threat in kind of worrying.
Behold, 'DANCING'
Remember in V2 when Jaune was outright harrassing her for a date? He'd be so jealous of future him. And Modern Jaune would be cringing at the memory.
While you could make the argument the kids should have discussed this issue sooner, they haven't really had downtime (On-screen outside a montage) to stop and properly think on the matter.
And here we see Ren's character arc start to really enter the next stage...
At the same time, I'm kinda surprised Marrows white uniform hasn't 'accidentally' had drinks spilled on it. Repeatedly. Not a very pro-AceOps crowd
The perils of still being younger than a first year academy student. Although it's not ENTIRELY dismissive. Robyn gives everyone nicknames. She'd probably have nicknames for Salem if she knew about her.
While she might not agree with James decisions and such, she does recognize that he's a member of the Council she's running for election too. It also runs as an interesting counter to Ironwood earlier this episode.
I think it's less 'just noticed' and more 'Oh God it got closer while I was on stage.' If nothing else, being in Mantle, I suspect she's very used to having her hopes dashed even when things looked promising.
At the same time, random kissing often doesn't help actually resolve the issues he's having trouble talking about. On top of that, I suspect that the fact he's distracted here will lead him to think he could have caught Tyrians presence in the crowd. Which I doubt, but given how he's focusing on the mission...
... Seriously, Atlas's political system has some serious structural flaws.
And so, from the outside perspective, Ironwood's mechanical soldier and one of his Ace Ops just made an assassination attempt on a political rival for the Council, the one from Mantle itself who had a great deal of public support, just in case she managed to beat the Atlas Import. That theory has holes in it, but those holes are plugged by the bodies of civilians that got in 'Pennys' way.
And that's just from Jacques being elected, given word of the party fustercluck probably hasn't spread yet. Despair and anger are just as good at luring in Grimm as fear.
Oh, we knew. The part that had me noting the writers were laughing bitterly was because they ended up releasing a plotline about election interference in early 2020. Which yes, led to fandom nonsense later that year from people who see something in fiction, something in real life, and decide the two things are utterly identical. There are several other plotlines from this volume that accidentally did that, but I'll discuss that when the key elements become relevant.
Also, the various Happy Huntresses;
Robyn Hill: Robin Hood.
Fiona Thyme: Friar Tuck.
Joanna Greenleaf: Little John.
May Marigold: Maid Marian.
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It could be ranked choice with Robyn and Jaq being the ones who have the most presence compared to the others, or the other options are for other positions?
Might be people were concerned about police brutality or the like?At the same time, I'm kinda surprised Marrows white uniform hasn't 'accidentally' had drinks spilled on it. Repeatedly. Not a very pro-AceOps crowd
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True, but all it would take is Drunk Mann to decide he's mad again... And, to be fair, Marrow is the best one it could happen to. He at least tries to understand and make peace. Can you imagine it Harriet was sent down to provide security?
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Mizu
Software Developer
- Location
- Victoria, Australia
It's definitely a slick plan Watts has here. Sabotage a moderate politician voice by staging an assassination on election night - if not actually a thwarted intended assassination - then upload the recorded video of moments after your minion vanished from the scene, which paints a damning picture of the protectors as said assassins at a glance.
Mainly because the public associate Penny with Atlas and rich folk.
Mainly because the public associate Penny with Atlas and rich folk.
You know while hindsight is 20/20 Jacques scheme does show how short-sighted he can be.
By that I think we can all agree Atlas system is not the greatest but he had one very obvious other choice to oppose Ironwood, Robin. If he supported her candidacy he would have helped empower someone who opposes some of Ironwood's policies and more importantly put her in his debt.
Sure I don't think she would have been a puppet but instead of trying to gain a political ally he decided to trust someone who he thought was dead who promised him the election.
By that I think we can all agree Atlas system is not the greatest but he had one very obvious other choice to oppose Ironwood, Robin. If he supported her candidacy he would have helped empower someone who opposes some of Ironwood's policies and more importantly put her in his debt.
Sure I don't think she would have been a puppet but instead of trying to gain a political ally he decided to trust someone who he thought was dead who promised him the election.
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And all he had to do was make himself an accomplice in election fraud, leaving himself blatantly vulnerable to both Ironwood should he ever find out, but also Watt's mysterious backers, who could in no way be related to the kingdom destroying threats Ironwood ranted to him about in that scene in Volume 4... Oh, wait. I think this was a bad idea on his part.
michaelb958
(Verified Michael)
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...I did not remember that.
Sometimes I'm really not good at this 'noticing parallels' thing. In case anybody hadn't noticed yet.
It doesn't really look like either of those things is true, sadly.
Jacques might have thought about it, and then rejected it because why just hand someone else the privileges of a Councillor, what exactly are the odds that Robyn stays bought by the SDC, and why settle for opposing some of Ironwood's policies when you can have it all?
(that is why)And all he had to do was make himself an accomplice in election fraud, leaving himself blatantly vulnerable to both Ironwood should he ever find out, but also Watt's mysterious backers, who could in no way be related to the kingdom destroying threats Ironwood ranted to him about in that scene in Volume 4... Oh, wait. I think this was a bad idea on his part.
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The bit with the guitar... I don't blame you for not remembering. Jaune's had a LOT of character development since then, and would also like to not remember it
V07C07 Worst Case Scenario
New
michaelb958
(Verified Michael)
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V07C07 Worst Case Scenario
{{What an optimistic Chapter title.}}
Penny is in what seems to be a robotics maintenance facility. I'm guessing this is what passes for her quarters. A ceiling-mounted robotic arm comes and pats her head, which is up there with the saddest things in this show. It doesn't help her mood, and I can see why.
Ironwood has done an Ironwood and revoked Mantle's right to assembly.
Ah brilliant (/s), Watts was uploading doctored video of Penny doing the massacre. This is just not a good start to the Chapter.
A truck speeds through Mantle as at least two figures pace it on rooftops. The truck stops to avoid running over May, who is standing in the middle of the road. Clearly she drew the short straw this time. Its PA announcement for her to move aside draws the attention of two soldiers on the next street, but they can't see anything.
They can't see anything because Robyn's team has the truck under cloak. They kick the driver out (plausibly the driver is a robot) and then Unnamed's Semblance - good to see her recovered - just eats the entire truck. Neat trick.
Clover, Ironwood, Nora, Qrow, Ruby, Ren, and Winter are in the headmaster's office. Ironwood is furious as he drops the episode title. "More people are dead, Penny's been framed, and somehow Jacques Schnee is sitting on the council!" Couldn't have put it better myself.
Clover comments that the truck Robyn's team just made off with was the second one today. He ascribes it to Robyn going full vigilante now that her bid for Council's failed. What isn't being stolen is being redirected to repairing Mantle because military suppliers there are refusing to supply until that happens. In short, no progress on Amity any time soon.
Ruby is dismayed to hear that Amity has stalled so close to the finish line. Fortunately, Winter has a plan. Unfortunately, that plan is martial law. That totally won't inflame Mantle further. /s
It is left to Nora to try to talk Ironwood out of it. Nora's been to Mantle and knows its situation; she has firsthand experience with being in the lowest classes of society; and she doesn't just have a moral point like an IRL equivalent would, she can correctly point out that jackbooting Mantle into line means dealing with more Grimm as well, doubly straining the military.
With Nora opening up that chink in Ironwood's armour, Ruby can finish the job, pointing out that sowing division between Mantle and Atlas is exactly what Salem would want, which is why Tyrian is here doing things that push Ironwood into it.
Speaking of, says Clover, Tyrian is why they're here. Atlas knows exactly who he is - a depraved serial murderer (yep!) - and how they lost him back in the day - his prison transport was attacked by Grimm and he went missing. Qrow backs up Ruby: they know Tyrian works for Salem and they know he's in Atlas. Now they can tell everybody about the real suspect. Would that work, though? People who are inclined to distrust Ironwood already probably aren't about to trust him deflecting blame onto a "long-lost serial killer"; and as Clover rightly points out, even if folks believed that, they'd freak out at the implications.
Nora would just like to tell people things, starting with Amity i.e. where the goods need to be going. It does tend to make things easier when you can tell people why. Also some irony in that we know there are secrets on her side as well. Is she sick of those, too?
Ironwood raises his voice to shut her right down. Declassifying Amity now, he says, would only draw Salem's forces to sabotage it, and declassifying Salem now would bring in approximately all the Grimm. Ironwood has a plan, current step 'finish Amity', and he will stick to it in the face of all setbacks. Protip, readers, be willing to admit you need a new plan.
Ironwood's overlay plan is to arrest Robyn and use her as a stick to get Mantle into line, and everyone not doing that will find Tyrian and find out what on earth he's up to and how. Ruby and Nora feel pretty betrayed when Ren agrees with Clover and Winter at that. At least he seems to have been talked out of martial law...?
Blake and Yang are in the back of a truck, implied to be one of many, as Clover reminds them of the op goal: bait out Robyn's team and capture them. When Clover finishes and calls for radio silence, Yang starts having second thoughts about not telling Ironwood the truth about, at minimum, Salem. Blake doesn't agree, reckoning that Ironwood would have overreacted even more than he currently is.
Yang reckons Ironwood doesn't have a lot of good options either way. Blake isn't sure any of them do. Aside from the secrecy, she's still grappling with having killed someone, even if it was Adam (especially if it was Adam - remember he was Blake's emotional abuser for quite a while). Yang reassures her that they did what they had to do, which is a slope she ought to be careful about sliding down. Blake is quite aware of that slope, what with currently being part of an op to capture Robyn, who is ultimately in it for Mantle.
"Then maybe we shouldn't," says Yang. Ooh, are we doing a mutiny now? Colour me weirdly excited.
Ruby and Weiss visit Penny in the robotics facility. Pietro is currently pulling Penny's visual recordings, which will prove her innocent - but in the time it's taken for that truth to get its boots on, the lie has circled the Kingdom. Pietro is angry about many aspects of the situation, including that Penny is getting no credit for saving Robyn from Tyrian.
Ruby doesn't think Robyn was being targeted: the goal was just general carnage for which Penny could be framed. Ruby has drawn the connection between here and the Vytal Tournament: both times, Penny was manipulated into place. Pietro draws the extra connection that both times, somebody subverted Atlas' technology to do it. Here's Maria for some Comedy™.
In particular, the Penny video was constructed from surveillance footage that only a handful of people should be cleared to access in bulk: the Council (including Ironwood), those in charge of the surveillance system, and perhaps a few others in charge of critical infrastructure. Weiss has something: one item of critical infrastructure is the Mantle heating grid, which has SDC grubby fingerprints on it. This is a potential lead, but only that for now, as Weiss makes clear.
Ruby now circles around to Pietro's personal state. It's not great. He's been run off his feet with Amity, the public hate Penny now, and he's got the kind of cough that kills fictional characters like flies. The best Ruby's got is that if Penny's rebuilding can be done once, it can be done again. This is not true, as Pietro tells her. Turns out Penny's Aura is not wholly synthetic: it must be kickstarted by a permanent donation from Pietro. He hasn't got enough left to do it again. If Penny is executed or otherwise destroyed again, that will be it for his daughter. He's crying, and I nearly am too.
Pietro puts down the photo of his old colleagues he was waving about. It cannot be a coincidence how much the guy on the far right, whose face was obscured by Pietro's grip until now, looks like Watts.
Maybe they don't draw straws - maybe it's always May's job to be nearly roadkill in Mantle. Robyn opens the back of that truck and is greeted by Blake and Yang in the universal not-armed-don't-shoot pose. Robyn understandably doesn't process that far, she just sees Hunters and tells her team to scatter.
Blake and Yang attempt to pursue the retreating Robyn, but are stymied by traffic on a crossing road. Blake pulls a ribbon trick to get past it and into the alley they just managed to see Robyn fleeing into. After dodging a few attempted ribbon tricks to capture her, Robyn decides that fine, she'll make it a fight. Yang catching up doesn't help not make it a fight, although it does help with the fight. Apparently Yang has micro-missiles now. Cool.
With two opponents Robyn has to find a way to disengage. She sticks around for a moment afterwards to taunt "a couple of kids". She's not impressed when the kids stall, then pivots directly to baffled when they tell her about the Amity communications tower project - "That doesn't make any sense...".
Robyn insists one of them take her hand, or she leaves. This has to mean something, given how she implied such a demand to Clover two Chapters ago. Blake does. Purple Aura is visible at the handshake.
The purple Aura turns green, convincing Robyn that Blake is truthful, which startles her (Robyn). Her Semblance is being a lie detector? Going into politics was either a brilliant or terrible idea.
Robyn is somewhat receptive to claims that Ironwood is short on trustworthy people, and that whoever's doing massacres in Mantle would burn down the Amity Tower project if they knew about it. She is much less receptive to not being told who 'whoever' is yet. Yang has to stretch the tiny amount of trust that exists to its limit to get Robyn to even temporarily back off from that; she (Robyn) promises to keep searching for the whole truth as she leaves, shortly ahead of Atlas soldiers who were intending to reinforce Blake and Yang to capture her.
Ironwood has brought Oscar to the Vault of Creation in an attempt to bring out Ozpin, casually dropping that Atlas is not kept afloat by gravity Dust - it is the Relic of Creation that does it. The Amity project - a communications tower that Grimm could never reach (not that I believe that) - was inspired by a remark by Ozpin (or an Ozma before that?) that the Relic could probably take Atlas as high as they wanted. When Oscar asks why they're not using it for Amity, Ironwood gets another pretty heavy lore drop: the Relic of Creation gets to do exactly one thing at a time.
Ironwood wishes he could ask Ozpin for advice. Oscar has advice: don't try to hold all the world's secrets and executive power. Ironwood is pretty sure that anything is justified in the pursuit of stopping Salem. Oscar thinks otherwise: what use is stopping Salem if they lose their humanity like Salem?
Ironwood wonders if it isn't to Salem's advantage never having to feel human things like fear and hesitation. I don't like what this implies about his mindset. He has an actual flashback to the Fall of Beacon, watching helplessly as a black chess piece spilled all his secrets and subverted all his assets.
On that mildly reassuring note, Ironwood and Oscar take the simultaneously over- and under-engineered lift up from the Vault.
Winter paces behind Penny. She stops as, behind them both, a normal lift arrives and Ironwood and Oscar emerge. Winter hand-delivers a letter with the Schnee seal: Jacques has sent an impeachment cleverly disguised as a dinner invitation. Looks like Ironwood will be having exactly that sit-down-and-talk.
Next time: The gates of hell.
dragonx99
Actually Satan
Yea so fun fact that comes from out of universe commentary: Ironwood has an 'invisible' semblance, not to be mistaken with an invisibility semblance which woulda been much cooler. Rather his just has no visible indication it is on, has no observable effects to let you know he is using it, and will never get mentioned in the show itself.
It's effect? Increasing Ironwood's resolve so he doesn't think twice about what he is doing and hyper-focus on the task at hand.
You cannot imagine the amount of arguments that have spawned from them revealing this is a thing.
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This is a shining example of Ironwoods need to take action shooting himself in the foot. Remember, it's not just fear that attracts the Grimm, it's all the darker emotions. Loathing, resentment, anger... In this case, locking down the city doesn't address these issues in any way, thus drawing in the grimm still, AND the people are angry and resentful at the military, leading to drawing in even more grimm.
Mays semblance at work. She's the short straw automatically because the 'invisibility bubble' is around her.
Yeah, faith in the government has broken down completely between the 'assassination attempt', Jacques winning the council seat in what all of Mantle sees as election fuckery, and Ironwood (exactly as Watts anticipated) pulling an Ironwood in an effort to maintain control.
Just... What the hell Winter. Martial law because businesses are refusing to do business with a government failing to protect them from the man eating monsters.
Of special note here is Ironwood dismissing Mantle as 'a few city blocks'. Which is all he can see from his office, and helps to convey the fact that he's rather detached from the people involved in this situation.
And also wouldn't work really. Trying to force a city of angry civilians into giving you want you want is going to end with a lot of soldiers dead, even more civilians dead, and the things you wanted to have broken.
I don't think it would be a total success, but getting the news about Tyrian out there will at least stop some people in Mantle from taking more extreme options, and plaster his face everywhere so he can't move as easily.
Given how poorly James is handling Tyrian here, and rolling down the authoritarian slope, I'd say it's becoming clear waiting to assess if James could be trusted was the right call.
Wouldn't work, I suspect. Robyn isn't leading Mantle like he treats Atlas. The people are rising up against him. Putting her in a jail cell would just leave someone else in charge.
Also, his choice of words here had a lot of people raising eyebrows at the military officer who was never elected. "How exactly that video of Pennt got all over my kingdom."
Shockingly, the former member of the White Fang has severe doubts about the Atlas Military and its leader. Some people had complaints about Blake not taking a larger role with Ironwood, the role instead going to Nora. But I think that even with the best of intentions, James would have trouble listening to a former member of the White Fang, regardless of how she left the organisation and then went back to basically drag the Fang by the ear out of extremism. That said, I do wish we'd seen her and Nora discussing the issue together, as I imagine they must have been off screen.
Yeah, I figure it's Especially as well.
Yeah, the aura-transfer pods that were used to try and save Ambers power? They were built for this, for Pietro to provide the spark for a new soul to ignite. Ruby was right all along. Penny is REAL.
How many times could she derail an opponents bs agenda by going 'take my hand and say that again.'?
Hiding it in plain sight. And keeping it in use, preventing temptation for misuse. Very Oz.
Yeah, no one does.
And amusingly, as we've seen before, Salem feels all the human emotions.
And here's a big one. James has PTSD, now confirmed on-screen. Absolutely understandable, we've seen more than a few characters grapple with it. But he's letting it rule him, hiding it from most people, and he should not be in charge in his current state.
And that PTSD is, I suspect, a major part of why he's unwilling to change his plans for Amity. All his plans at Beacon blew up in his face, so he NEEDS to be right about this.
I've never taken that as as a big deal as some people claim it is, to be honest. His semblance isn't some power separate from him, it's an expression of his natural stubbornness.
Pretty sure his eyes get duller, and he still has to chose to activate it himself.
Yeah I know people have pointed out before that there are times where Ironwood just suddenly calms down, his eyes change a little, and he just in general becomes more able to do the task he set out to do. So it is in the show, its just so very hidden that most people can't find it without first knowing about his semblance.