RWBY 47 – Volume 7 Finale

[surgeworks]

46 – Volume 7, Episodes 11 and 12 | Table of Contents | Volume 7 Final Thoughts

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Alternate Title: The Train Crash Continues

*muffled, behind a veil* The text is staying blue because I’m that pissed off. You just couldn’t fucking let it be, could you? You had to kill him off. I wasn’t even that into him as a character, but by god, you’d better believe I am ready to unleash unholy fury now.

We are still on the twelfth episode of Volume 7, “With Friends Like These”. Qrow has to choose between chasing Tyrian or being with Clover in his dying moments.

 

 

C: Someone had to take the fall…

Q: James will take the fall… I’ll make sure of it.

If you had any doubt about whether this was supposed to be a romantic moment, the sun starts to rise just as Clover dies, staring up at his lonely man friend, and Qrow’s eyes fill with tears that stream down his face, and he screams his sorrow to the skies.



How To Piss Off Gay People: 56 (+5)

Whoever was responsible for this character death had better not wander into any dark alleys anytime soon.

The episode finally ends and we get to the finale proper.
 

V7E13, “The Enemy of Trust”

J: Give up. We’ve got you outnumbered.

Is that supposed to be a threat? I don’t think Neo’s very scared.



If there was ever a moment the Clown wasn’t Broke, I guess this is it. It is pretty funny to see Neo just trying not to laugh while casually dismantling JNPR.

Your Fight Scene Sucks: 122

That being for how Nora’s grenades just burst into cartoon smoke against Neo’s parasol. Nora hasn’t seemed to use a single actual explosive grenade since Volume Four. I guess she just doesn’t like them anymore and nobody told us, 'cause if she had access to them now, Neo would at least have to work a bit harder.



Oscar does pull a neat little trick by hooking the lamp around his cane and keeping it from Neo. Neo then responds to the only trip-up in this scenario—Oscar falling to the floor and locking his arms around her legs—by just shattering to pieces as usual, having already flitted off somewhere else.

Security guards are pouring in, ready to arrest JNPR, and they flee. Meanwhile, Penny is fighting Cinder.



Rather than just carve Cinder into so much fish fillet, she appears to have tried a head-on tackle and gotten thrown around for it.

Your Fight Scene Sucks: 123

Winter fares slightly better, though still not to the standard I’d expect from her.
 

C: You Atlas elites think hoarding power means you’ll keep it forever, but it just makes the rest of us hungrier!

What could Winter do to improve this situation, guys?
 

• Use both her swords
• Use her time dilation glyphs
• Trap Cinder in a cage of glyphs, like Weiss did when training with her
• All of the above.

Your Fight Scene Sucks: 126 (+3)



Winter actually does use both her swords, and Penny does begin using her knives, although I don’t know why it took them this long. The two-on-one pressure gets to Cinder, who rockets herself and her two foes straight through the wall and into open air.



As they fall, Winter stabs Cinder through her aura-less Grimm arm, forcing her to let go. Penny is slung away, actually catching one of Cinder’s thrown glass knives, but is knocked away when it detonates. Nonetheless, Cinder is starting to get the picture that she can’t just bulldoze through either one of these girls, let alone both of them, and expresses her rage.



Winter comes flying in on a manticore summon, which alters the play of battle for a moment before Cinder, sliding underneath it, slashes it away, and makes sure to throw a fire blast at Winter, eliminating her aura. This is an absolutely pathetic showing, and in line with Miles-and-Kerry tactics since Volume 5: Since the fandom will chew you out for ignoring aura, just have it break is as pathetically few hits as possible!

Your Fight Scene Sucks: 127

But Penny is the only one left in the fight. Rather than hold off Cinder, she zooms off to get Winter, who will fall to her death otherwise. Winter, when caught, tells her to stop Cinder because her own life doesn’t matter. Penny disagrees.



Meanwhile at Atlas Academy, JNPR are fleeing the cops, Oscar lagging behind due to having been beaten up by Neo beforehand. Eventually, Oscar appears to have lost the group, but is quickly pulled into a hiding space by Nora.



Psych! Nora was Neo!



She’s got the lamp, and swipes at Oscar before bypassing Jaune and Ren—using Nora’s face to psych out Ren, making for an easy trip-up. In the chaos, Neo is easily lost once she switches her disguise to that of a guard.

Back in Fria’s chamber, her pod has been ripped open, and she sees Cinder’s face when she wakes up. The latter tells her her time is over.
 

F: Yes. I've been waiting here... for some time, I think. What was I waiting for?

C: Me.

But Fria halts Cinder before her stab can land, grabbing her Grimm hand in an unseemingly strong grip.
 

F: No. [eyes glowing with icy cold mist] I had a job to do.

Cinder tries to get a knife in the old woman, but is repelled—and then Fria gets pissed off.



If Cinder thought it was hard dealing with a pissed off Raven, with as many as ten years of experience with a maiden’s power, she has a big storm comin’ in the form of a woman with untold decades of using it.

Winter, who Penny drops near this whirlwhind of ice that Fria has summoned, says that this is the power of a fully-realized maiden (translation: the Avatar). She gets as close as she dares, but she can’t reach Fria due to the intensity of the cold—it freezes and shatters the gloves right off of her fingers.



Penny, looking at her own hands, does what Winter can’t and dives into the cyclone, with Winter calling for her in concern and helplessness.

In another room at Atlas Academy, we see JNPR exhausted, having finally given the guards the slip. Ren is enraged at their helplessness.
 

• R: We weren't ready to become Huntsmen.
• N: That's not true!
• R: Then why aren't we holding the Relic? Now Salem has the lamp, Ironwood has the staff, and we have nothing!
• J: Ren, that's enough.

I would ask if Ironwood is planning to make an appearance in this show again soon, but I know I'm not gonna like when he does.

Pietro comes in over the radio, having hacked his way in and called Jaune. We see the ship she and Pietro are in, welcoming Yang and Blake aboard to avoid more guards. It turns out that JNPR are in the academy’s training halls, and they promptly get caught by guards again. Yang and Blake say they’ll be on their way and to just stick together.

Jaune, shielding the others with his wide-frame shield upgrade, is contacted by Oscar, who has already fled. There’s something he has to do alone, he says.

Back in Fria’s hospital room, which has become completely covered in walls of ice, the mechanical Penny finds herself stalled by the intensely cold winds, having to free a frozen leg with a laser thruster.



She grasps Fria’s leg, getting her attention, and asks if she’s okay. Fria again responds that she had a job to do. She rambles a bit, saying she was supposed to protect the power of the maiden, and may have lost track of time, age clearly affecting her awareness of her surroundings.
 

F: …But you can tell James that I’m ready, now.

P: Ma'am, if you do that...

F: I'll be gone. [smiling] I know I have a hard time remembering, but I remember that.

Fria lets the power of the maiden fade, and descends to the floor, where Penny catches her. The power transfer pod flickers behind the wall of ice, and Fria asks Penny’s name. Then she asks if Penny’s the one who will receive the power. Penny, looking towards the hole in the ceiling where Winter was at the edge of the vortex, hesitates.

We finally get an update on Ironwood, who is at the vault of the winter maiden. He stares at the door on its platform, and he hears the elevator rumble behind him, and assumes it’s Winter.
 

I: Winter, thank you. I know that must have been difficult. I... I'm so sorry.

But it’s not Winter who’s come to meet him. It’s Oscar. When asked, Oscar confirms that it’s still just him, no Ozpin.
 

I: It was smart of you not to bring the Lamp down here. I wouldn't trust me either right now.

You’re damn right! Put your ass in a 180 and go back to your original, better character immediately!

Oscar says he wants to fix that trust, and says they can still work this out together. He’s holding Ozpin’s cane, which for some reason he says makes him comfortable. When asked if Oscar wants to fight him, he says no, because that’s what Salem wants, and when he asks him if he thinks Ironwood’s afraid, Oscar says they all are. He tries to say that it’s what we do with our fear that matters, but Ironwood cuts him off, saying that’s easy for him to say.

He descends into a rant that’s almost more of a breakdown, yelling that Salem was poised to strike the second he let his guard down, and Oscar tries to get through to him.
 

Os: If you abandon Mantle, you abandon our best chance of reuniting the world. You abandon Remnant, leaving millions to fend for themselves so a few can survive. What kind of—

I: All excellent philosophical points that won't matter if Salem wins!

Ironwood cuts him off when he tries again, saying he’s done listening to people who can’t see the bigger picture.
 

Os: Then you're as dangerous as she is, James.

I: James is what my friends call me. To you… it's General.

And that, my friends, is where the patchwork stitching finally unravels.

What the fuck. We didn’t need to do this. We had a good plot going—I was prepared to see Oscar break Ironwood’s conviction and have him admit he doesn’t know what to do. But I guess we’re just committing to the Ironwood villain fantasy.



AND WE DIDN’T NEED TO DO THAT EITHER! WHAT THE FUCK?! IRONWOOD JUST SHOT A CHILD AND SENT HIM HURTLING INTO AN ABYSS!!!

*tears out hair* WE HAD A GOOD FUCKING THING GOING, GOD DAMN IT.

It will be Volume 8 before this really takes off, but this is where it officially begins: railroading. Or rather, derailment.

Spoiler alert, guys: Volume 8 was originally going to be this Volume, Volume 7. There are multiple admissions of this on the Volume 8 crew commentaries. However, you’ve got a big storm comin’ if you think Miles and Kerry changed anything about their own volume to suit what Volume 7 would introduce or develop. Volume 8 is, in fact, a grand middle finger to this one—but it doesn’t start there. It starts here, with the half-ass attempt at a justification out of the way as of Episode 11, and M&K now free to write Ironwood as…doing this, and worse later on.

And people didn’t like this. When things get through the protective bubble of praise a company with very good PR tends to have, you know it’s serious. The first rumblings I heard of angry fans told me all I needed to know. And Rooster Teeth really shouldn’t have done this, shouldn’t have allowed this. Ironwood the flawed leader setting down his prior convictions to do what’s right? That works! We had a solid character arc already, which is now being totally ripped off its hinges and thrown into a garbage compactor. And a lot of people saw this for what it really was.

No, despite Miles Luna’s assertion, this is not a fallen hero, and I don’t think he actually thinks this is a fallen hero. I think that’s a veneer. There is a very caustic air of deliberate-ness in this scene, and in pretty much every scene in the coming volume, with the bent of portraying Ironwood as negatively as humanly possible, even in violation of established plot points. And with Miles’ record of trying to bullshit his audience…

It’s too much for me to ignore. When I’ve already sat through years’ worth of watching Rooster Teeth’s obvious schisms make their way into the show—most prominently with Raven, Winter, SSSN, and Adam Taurus—I don’t feel the need to hide behind the safety of downplaying and doubt and dismissal. I’d love it if I could, but I can’t. No, this was very much on purpose, and very much in direct defiance of what we had going on up to this point.

Road to Nowhere is not a count that works for this. We’re introducing a new count.

Dragged Kicking and Screaming: 2

All of the previous plot points and their merits, all of the great characterizations, they’re all being swept under the rug Smeyer-style. Only, when Smeyer did it, it was because she wanted to get rid of any and all potential problems, since conflict didn’t have a place in her fantasy life. What’s being done here is the creation of conflict for an already-resolved plot because what we had now does not fit the end goal that, much like Meyer’s Forever Dawn, is one that M&K apparently refused to change once interceding material came into play. And this subcount is going up every time in the coming season that it’s made clear Miles and Kerry stormed into the engine room and took the controls back by force.

Multiple counts fit the rough angle of what they’re doing here—Road to Nowhere for the refusal to play ball with established material, Pay No Attention for how abundantly obvious it is that they’re course-correcting, and Y.A.S. Queen for how, at least regarding Ironwood, they’re trying to play it up as compelling drama and character development when it isn’t. But a lot of the upcoming events that account for the derailment angle are wild, and all of those counts would be making constant five- and ten-point leaps if I didn’t adjust my strategy. Honestly, this is a count I should’ve introduced much earlier—as far back as “Hello my darling” in Volume Three—but I didn’t think I’d end up using it this much.

So, one point for Ironwood abandoning Mantle to Salem, and another for him just…shooting a child. A child who wasn't a threat, for no reason that I can discern other than Ironwood = Evil now.

Back at Fria’s hospital room, Cinder has finally reappeared, and burst through the wall of ice. She screams that Fria is hers, and tries to reach her Grimm arm out to stab—but!



Winter, with the vortex dispelled, gives her a cold steel cockblock and slashes off the Grimm arm, causing Cinder to scream out in pain. Winter looks from Cinder to Fria and Penny, then back to Cinder, whose Grimm arm is regrowing out of the stump.

Cinder, in the grip of madness, starts slashing wildly at Winter, who steps back, deflecting most of her strikes but getting wounded by the ones she doesn’t.



Knowing that Fria doesn’t have enough time, Penny grasps her hand, and lets her maiden’s power flow into her as she dies.

We check in on Oscar, who is not dead, but will soon get there given that he’s still falling. We see a flash of gold behind Oscar’s eyes, and hear Ozpin call his name. Oscar, determined not to die yet, reaches for the cane that is falling next to him.

Back in Fria’s hospital room, Winter is getting the shit kicked out of her. Cinder stalks over with a knife, only to realize the winter maiden’s power has already transferred. The two scenes overlap, with Oscar gripping the cane tight and activating it, and Penny’s eyes glowing with green flames. Cinder, enraged and preparing for a fight, is distracted by the appearance of Ruby and Weiss—the latter calling out in concern for Winter.

Oscar activates some sort of magic, while Cinder prepares to fight…basically everyone.





Ruby will have none of it, though, and her desire to protect others activates her silver eyes—Cinder is a goner if she doesn’t blitz it. At the same time, Oscar activates some kind of magic as he falls to the bottom of the shaft. The screen goes black.
 

Oz: The single quality that is common across every living creature on this planet... is fear.

NO! No more speeches! No last-minute filler! No Ozpin!

SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!

Shut the Fuck Up: 8

Oscar seems to be falling through some kind of pink, cloudy sky. I mean, I think they’re clouds. They look more like rocks. Cinder, naturally, escaped because we can’t have nice things, and the others stare at a hole melted through the ice wall. You will notice that Penny, who is now a maiden, is completely unaffected by Ruby’s silver eyes, putting to rest that bizarre revelation from Salem in Volume Four that such a power makes Cinder more vulnerable, and any nonsense about this garbage being planned out at length. Weiss runs to Winter’s side, and Winter, bruised and hair falling over her face, asks what Weiss did. Penny looks at Ruby, the green eye flames fading.
 

Oz: It's funny then, that as common as fear is... we so easily underestimate its power.

Shut up! Shut up!

Shut the Fuck Up: 9

Penny is overcome, lamenting that Fria is gone, but Winter corrects her: she’s a part of Penny now.
 

Oz: Fear of growing close to someone…

Shut the Fuck Up: 10

We see Qrow, standing in solemn despair in the snow as policemen approach, and that with Ozpin’s remark pisses me off.

How To Piss Off Gay People: 61 (+5)

We see Robyn, however, waking up. Well, thank fucking god she’s okay!
 

Oz: ...a subsequent fear of loss.

Shut the Fuck Up: 11

We see Cinder flying above Atlas, screaming in mad rage that the winter maiden’s power is out of her reach, and she has no relics nor Ruby’s life.
 

Oz: Fear of failure.

Shut the Fuck Up: 12

We see JNR boarding the ship Blake and Yang are on, which quickly takes off. Yang asks where Oscar is, and where the relic is, to no answer.
 

Oz: And as more people depend on you, those fears can take on greater power.

Shut the Fuck Up: 13

We see Qrow, not resisting arrest as he’s cuffed and led into the van, Clover’s pin clutched in his hand. Robyn puts a hand on Qrow’s shoulder to comfort him, which literally drives me to insane rage. I’ll be right back.



*returning with no veil, and a very bloody mouth* I am going to give this a single point and hope that’s the last I have to see of this buried gay matter, because if this goes any further it’s going to be the highest count.

How To Piss Off Gay People: 62



We see the police airship fly up to Atlas as stormclouds gather on the horizon.
 

Oz: But fear itself isn't worthy of concern. It is who we become while in its clutches.

Shut the Fuck Up: 14

Nice one, Miles. A truly seamless blend. I totally believe the mock-up you’re going for.

We see Oscar clip the cane to his back as he falls, but take no other action. Winter, in the hospital room, leans up against the ice walls and recommends RWBY surrender and comply with Ironwood’s orders. Weiss, refusing to do this, is then told to run instead. Weiss doesn’t want to leave Winter, who is wounded, but Winter says she’s just getting a head start. She then radios command, saying she needs immediate medical assistance…and reinforcements. Weiss realizes that though Winter will be okay, she will not defy Ironwood.

The airship JNRBY are in arrives, and everyone but Fria and Winter, bless their souls, gets in.
 

Oz: Will you be proud of that person? Will you forgive them?

Shut the Fuck Up: 15

I am steadily getting more pissed off at Miles Luna, who I know for a fact was on record defending this bullshit and would not want anyone being proud of or forgiving Ironwood, and is going to try to enforce that very hard next volume.
 

Oz: Will you understand why they felt the need to do the things they did?

SHUT UP.

Shut the Fuck Up: 16

Cinder is still furiously looking out over Atlas, but she shapes up pretty quickly when Neo arrives, handing her the lamp with a flourish.


 

Oz: Will you even recognize them? Or will the person staring back at you be the very thing you should have feared from the start?

Shut the Fuck Up: 17

In the vault, Ironwood reads a text from Winter that says “It’s gone”, and screams out in rage.
 

Oz: I suppose we all find out... sooner or later.

Shut the Fuck Up: 18

It turns out Arthur Watts is alive—Ironwood didn’t manage or didn’t choose to kill him. He’s sitting in some prison cell or other, looking out a window and smirking at the oncoming storm. Oscar, finally having arrived in the skies over Solitas, activates some magical kind of green barrier, and slams to the ground unharmed.



Oscar speaks to Ozpin, asking if he’s the one that saved him, but says Oscar saved himself. Oscar doesn’t need any further details, just advice on how to save Atlas.

The coming storm doesn’t look good. RWBYJNR, with Pietro and Maria in their ship, overhear a transmission from nearby pilots, showing confusion and fear at some readings or other that they’re getting.



An utterly massive—and I mean, bigger than the Atlas air fleet’s military juggernauts, by far—Grimm, akin to a flying whale, moves out of the storm clouds, Salem herself standing at its crown.

Fuck.

Salem smiles evilly as she marches on Atlas, and the episode ends, the credits rolling.

This image closes out the season.



An image so disgustingly manipulative that I think I just had an aneurysm.

Counts:

• Jaune: 67
• It Was Right There: 52
  
• Fauxminism: 50
  
• Hypocrisy: 36
  
• Reliable Leaders: 40 + 15
  
  • Prowling Wolf Fallacy: 17
    
• Threatening Enemies: 33
  
• Love to Be a Part of It Someday: 80
  
• Your Fight Scene Sucks: 127 + 33
  
  • Evisceration Evasion: 34
    
• Ill Logic: 150
  
• Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Veil: 53 + 62
  
  • Wink Wink, Nudge Nudge: 29
    
  • Band-Aid Brigade: 33
    
• RSVP: 70
  
• Road to Nowhere: 25
  
• Dragged Kicking and Screaming: 2
  
• Y.A.S. Queen: 16
  
• Rooster Tease: 20
  
• LuLaRwe: 39
  
• The Lovegood Fallacy: 12
  
• How to Piss Off Gay People: 62
  
• Invisembl: 12
  
• Broke-Ass Clowns: 27
  
• Shut the Fuck Up: 18

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46 – Volume 7, Episodes 11 and 12 | Table of Contents | Volume 7 Final Thoughts