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52 – Volume 8, Episodes 11 and 12 | Table of Contents | Volume 8 Final Thoughts (Part I)
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With this post, Volume 8 will be finished. All that will be left will be to do the Final Thoughts and Volume 9… However! There’s also my own advisory, which is that this post contains mentions and descriptions of violence and gore. Please be warned.
Also, this is one of my most image-heavy posts ever, since it’s a finale that’s, well…a nonstop mess. Constant action it would be a disservice to not relay to you—resulting in a post layered with over 50 of the fucking things. I might post a gif-less version later.
Well. Let’s do this. There’s another epilepsy warning in front of this one.
JNPR, plus Emerald, is debating the portals and how to get people in the know about them. Emerald asks if they’re positive things work, and then we get a huh-larious cut-in of Jaune being thrown through the portal.
Broke-Ass Clowns: 34
And finding the interstice beyond with the rest of them.
J: Okay, we can do this. Nora and I will get people through the gates. Everyone else, keep to your roles. Remember, the evacuation is priority one no matter what else happens.
What are their roles, though? You never told us.
It’s pointed out that Shade Academy (which is not necessarily where they’ll end up, given they never told Ambrosius that) has huntsmen, but will need help if they’re brought a bunch of fear onto their doorstep via the refugees. They all move along to their respective jobs.
At the subway stations, a fearful man tries to test the portal by throwing a rock through, only for it to hit Jaune when he comes through, which is actually mildly funny. Jaune flashes his huntsman’s license, and begins arranging the evacuations. RWBY, meanwhile, are arriving in the interstice—Penny still with her maiden powers and holding the staff. 
Weiss comments that she thought there would be more people by now, but Ruby opts to focus solely on getting Penny and the staff to Vacuo, and to let the others handle the rest. Everything is STILL working out fine despite best efforts. How will Miles and Kerry drag this volume out further, you ask?
Os: We should end up just outside the city limits of Vacuo. Enough space for refugees but still within range of communication.
They never told Ambrosius that. I’m beginning to think someone forgot to put it in the script when it came time for the voice actors to record.
Oscar, Ren, and Emerald go through the gateway to Vacuo…
The lack of thought put into this is made apparent the second they cross. They end up in the desert somewhere, in the middle of a sandstorm, with visibility null and signal down, meaning they don’t have a map or a way to call for help.
Back in the interstice, Nora is giving directions to the refugees pouring in from Atlas, and fails to notice a hooded Cinder among them. Cinder quickly fixes that.
By causing an explosion, knocking plenty of people off the walkways and into oblivion, never to be recovered. RWBY order Penny to get through the gate, saying they’ll handle this, but she does not. Meanwhile, Cinder makes a beeline for Ruby. Ruby uses her semblance
LuLaRwe: 60
to get herself and her team up onto the central plaza, where Cinder meets them. 
The battle begins, and we cut to a flashback scene. There’s been an awful lot of those lately.
Neo is confronting Arthur and Cinder, and the latter apologizes for not upholding the ‘kill Ruby’ end of her bargain. Cinder promptly moves the goalposts, and says that in order to do that, she’ll need to ask the lamp a question.
Neo retrieves said lamp from her hat, which a) does not make sense because that wouldn’t fit between it and her head, even shrunk down and b) would have to be uncomfortable either way. Neo hesitates the hand the lamp over, staring Cinder down, but eventually relents. 
She summons Jinn, and asks her question.
C: What have Ruby and her teammates planned?
Jinn seems surprised, but answers, showing the flashback detailing RWBYJNPRE’s plan for the evacuation. Cinder spots Emerald among their crew, and realizes she’s been betrayed. During this sequence, she also suggests Watts get to work on finishing the destruction of Atlas and Mantle. We cut to the three of them entering the CCT for Atlas, and killing everyone inside, and taking down the network—hence how they stopped Jaune’s broadcast.
Watts is ecstatic to have full reign over the CCT. Cinder and Neo leave, Cinder with the promise that they’ll return. We then cut to Robyn’s and Qrow’s scenes during the takedown of Ironwood.
Robyn and Qrow are tying up the Ace Ops, who are panicking about the staff being used, when a guard robot walks in, controlled by Watts. It starts to beep ominously, and sprints towards them—and then detonates. 
I don’t know why the next thing to happen happens, but suddenly the whole place tilts. I mean, I think this is probably due to Atlas’ gravity field failing, but it would be weird for that to affect only one place on the whole landmass. The hangar they’re in opens up, and the ships start falling out, into open sky and Mantle below. Harriet, free from her bonds, quickly charges into one ship, and starts it up, while Vine latches on and drags himself in as it takes off.
Meanwhile in his cell, Ironwood wakes up, having noticed the rumbling of Atlas’ failing gravity. Jacques decides to be very stupid and taunt Ironwood:
J: Atlas is falling under your watch. How does it feel, James?
Ironwood panics that the heroes have the staff. The rumbling, however, is shorting out certain walls of his hard light cell. As if by the hand of God (because that’s what this is—I see you, Miles and Kerry), the cell wall fails, and Ironwood walks out, a free man. Then he walks over to his bigass handheld cannon that was for some reason left in the room just out of reach.
Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Veil: 108
That’s bullshit. When Qrow and Robyn were locked up, their weapons were kept in lockers in a small command room.
Ironwood then murders Jacques.
For literally no goddamn reason.
Dragged Kicking and Screaming: 32
I defy anyone to tell me that this is in-character. That this isn’t an example of derailment and, furthermore, Miles and Kerry lying again. Because this? This literally fits nowhere in the whole Alleged Narrative about Ironwood’s fallen hero qualities and desire to defeat Salem at all costs. The story I'm supposed to be buying is that Ironwood's paranoia and control issues have driven him to seek the most direct course of action for what he believes is necessary to defeat Salem--even if you buy nuking Mantle somehow factoring into that, this doesn't. Even with the nonsense about Ironwood’s semblance later, this doesn’t make any sense, because Jacques is literally no obstacle and no threat to Ironwood or his plans. He has no power to interfere. He was locked in a cell. James just murdered him, for no reason.
The blinders people have on when it comes to Ironwood are insane. This is basically a puppy-kicking scene, where a character is being villainized by having them do blatantly villainous things even if it makes no sense within the scope of their character or motivations. It’s not hard to spot! It's really not difficult at all!
Miles, Kerry, y’all have really not let this thing with Ironwood go, have you? You swept Salem out of the way to make room for him so he could be the evil of the volume, then had him beaten, and are now going to have him do it all over again. Is Ironwood based on someone you guys hate? Does Ironwood spark really personal memories?
In what will surely be a stunning victory for Cinder Fall, who has a great record when it comes to those, she’s engaging RWBY 4-on-1 in the interstice. 
C: I knew your plan would be bold, but I never could have predicted all of this... At least, not without a little help from Jinn. I suppose I have all of you to thank for one last lesson.
Unconcerned about the chaos, Neo walks forward. Only Yang notices her un-cloaking and drawing her blade. Realizing Neo is about to go for a deathblow,
C: Sometimes, if you want to win…you simply can't do it alone.
Instead of just shooting her,
Your Fight Scene Sucks: 139
Yang runs in front of Neo’s strike, saving Ruby but at the cost of her aura—
Your Fight Scene Sucks: 140
Threatening Enemies: 46
—which is total bullshit. They’ve been doing this all volume—in fact, for several volumes. Once Miles and Kerry got called out on ignoring aura whenever a character needed to be killed in Volume 5, they just switched to having auras break after ten seconds of fighting and maybe one or two landed hits. That’s what they’re doing now—Yang hasn’t fought anything all day and it’s very doubtful Cinder has been focusing on her enough to drain her aura that far, and Neo hasn’t ever been shown strong enough to wipe someone’s whole aura in one strike before.
But anyway, Yang takes the hit and goes tumbling off of the platform, into the void, who will save her—?
Let’s face facts here, you guys are just homophobic enough to try this. But no, Yang doesn’t get saved, though she does live. There’s like 20 whole seconds of just slow-mo of Yang falling off the platform and Blake with her kusarigama failing to save her. This is the beginning of a long, long chain of the heroic cast taking dives, and I'm sure you know why.
You guys are going to totally ignore Weiss again, aren’t you? Yep, they do, and they also ignore Ruby, too. Two characters who could easily save Yang from falling into the void,
Your Fight Scene Sucks: 142 (+2)
Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Veil: 110 (+2)
and neither one does.
Dragged Kicking and Screaming: 33
Yang falls into the depths, disappearing into golden glitter, which I’m suuuure means she’s dead. She’s not, but ssshhh. They want us to think that.
Unsurprisingly at this point, the person who calls out in terror and grief for Yang is not Ruby, her sister, but Blake, her not-girlfriend.
How To Piss Off Gay People: 84
Penny, who was just about to go through the gate, hears this. She decides to intervene.
Ruby is allowed no time to grieve her sister, because Neo is attacking. She's not going to react to it at all, in fact, even though being in the middle of battle shouldn't completely inhibit her from processing that her sister just fucking died, or at least the viewers getting the picture that she even realizes that happened. But don’t worry about Blake—she’s at the edge of the platform, in tears, Weiss nearby but unsure of how to help, and then looks to Neo with rage in her eyes and—OH MY FUCKING GOD, YANG IS RUBY’S SISTER!!!
How To Piss Off Gay People: 85
THIS IS LIKE JAUNE VS. CINDER ALL OVER AGAIN, ONLY WITH MANPAIN SWAPPED OUT FOR GAY BAIT. STOP IGNORING RUBY ROSE’S ANTAGONISTIC RELATIONSHIP WITH CINDER!!! STOP HAVING OTHER CHARACTERS EXPRESS RAGE AND GRIEF THAT SHOULD RIGHTFULLY BE HERS!!! THE LAST TIME THIS HAPPENED, RUBY’S SILVER EYES TORE CINDER HALF TO DEATH AND FROZE A DRAGON!!!
AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGH!!!!!!
I need to ask something--on the off chance some Bumbleby shipper is reading this spork, and I know at least one or two probably are out of pure spite--do you really not see the plainly obvious here? Did you really watch what just happened onscreen, and not get that a huuuuuuge Blake-shaped carrot was being dangled in front of you? Do the people that Rooster Teeth were blatantly baiting at this point seriously not find anything remotely suspicious about just how much Blake's terrible, awful, horrible grief over Yang is being focused on right now to the point Blake doesn't even resemble herself?
Blake’s attempt to attack Neo fails, and this leaves Weiss the sole person in charge of beating up Cinder. She seems to manage fine, blocking her fire blasts with glyphs. Hey, Miles? —Hey, Kerry?
Remember when Winter could’ve easily done this but never did? Remember how Winter had instantaneous shields at her disposal but never used them?
Weiss does get some help that she quickly tries to usher away via Penny, who is using her maiden powers to make a very fine point by punching Cinder Fall in her ugly mug.
P: Why'd you have to come back? Why didn't you just learn your lesson?
Lacking her swords, Penny makes them out of…ice? Black and green ice? Glass? I don’t know. But she duels Cinder for the third time. Weiss intervenes, dragging Cinder into place with a black glyph that Cinder burns away in anger.
Weiss is then forced to block, trying to shield the civilians behind her. Jaune is forced to do the same to defend people when some of her glass knives make it through the portals.
The knives that landed in the ground, however, detonate. Astonishingly, Weiss—the most fragile member of RWBY, if memory serves—does not have her aura eliminated by this, further underscoring what utter bullshit that it was when Yang’s broke earlier with Neo’s attack.
Blake hears the cries of her friends and, noticing Penny and Weiss in trouble, is forced to decide who to help. 
We then cut away. Remember that airship Harriet and Vine commandeered?
Harriet puts the autopilot on and closes the hatch, going to meet Vine. She tells Vine to watch for anyone tailing them while she makes sure the bomb is still armed. Okay, seriously?
Dragged Kicking and Screaming: 34
Those points aren’t only for Ironwood, you know. And speaking of, as far as you know, he was last seen defeated and being led into a prison cell. Your commanding officer mutinied against him. You no longer have a mission to blow up Mantle because Penny didn’t cooperate—and I’m utterly astounded to think you’d still try to go through with it. You look damn near as much of a mass murderer as Ironwood now. More, in fact, because if we play along with Miles' story, Ironwood honestly thought blowing up Mantle was for the good of Atlas. You don't.
But this is all happening so that she can see the light, even though it makes her look ridiculous that she hasn’t already. Vine tells her that yeah, this is the wrong thing to do. Naturally, Harriet is resistant.
H: It's the principle, Vine! It's about loyalty. Clover understood that. Clover would see this through.
Okay, number one, what the fuck does Clover have to do with any of this? You’re very certain Clover would’ve tried to blow up a whole city, and so you’re going to do so as well? Because of loyalty???
Dragged Kicking and Screaming: 35
Vine suggests that maybe this makes Clover a shithead, too, and Harriet gets all upset, and starts crying when Vine says Clover was important to Harriet—even though we never saw that in Volume 7 before he died. He doesn’t have time to continue comforting her before Robyn, in a stolen ship, rams the fuck out of theirs.
What the fuck, she literally just tried to kill him?!?!?
Dragged Kicking and Screaming: 36
For suggesting that maybe she shouldn’t blow up a whole city because of her grief over Clover?!?!
Vine clinging to one of her airship’s poles, Harriet rushes to the controls, only for a bird flying towards her windshield to turn into Qrow, who smashes in and engages her.
Watts, meanwhile, is ready to intervene. He starts taking control of Harriet’s airship remotely, and we cut to a new scene.
Winter is in the vault, with nobody responding to the calls she’s sending out, all of them busy with fights of some sort. But she’s not alone.
Ironwood, in his latest fit of madness, has come to kill Winter for betraying him.
Dragged Kicking and Screaming: 37
I: I've chased a lot of shadows over the years, always expecting betrayal. But never once did I think it would ever come from you.
That’s because, were you behaving in-character, she never would’ve betrayed you.
I: I know what's best for Atlas, and I'm going to do whatever it takes to get that Staff. So, consider this my last order: step aside.
We’re still pretending this has something to do with protecting Atlas?
Dragged Kicking and Screaming: 38
W: I've never wavered in fighting the enemies of this Kingdom—and I won't start now.
Winter prepares for battle, and then: 
You catch that? That’s a tear rolling down Ironwood’s cheek. And I don’t know why. What the hell is that supposed to be? Regret for having to kill his subordinate? Some measure of pathos knowing that her labeling of him as Atlas’ enemy is correct? A fearful exposure of the real Ironwood as he tries to fight the Grimm parasite that’s still controlling his brain? I guess we’ll never know. It doesn’t matter, because it’s not going to undo anything we’ve had to endure to get this far.
They clash, and we cut to Vacuo. The sandstorm is still in place, and Ren’s aura fails trying to cloak everyone from the Grimm. Emerald asks where the hell Penny and her weather powers are, and Oscar tries to go back through the gate, since Penny should’ve been there by now. But he gets knocked on his ass—it’s a one way gate. Ozpin remembers Weiss’ specific instructions, despite not having been present for that—
Ill Logic: 189
And realizes Ambrosius must’ve taken ‘one way ticket’ to mean that the gate should only go one way. Worse still, the Grimm are coming, emitting truly unearthly screams as they wing their way towards the civvies. 
They descend on the population, attacking and carrying off refugees, and Oscar, Ren, and Emerald get their weapons out. The episode ends.
*dragging hands down face* Why do we somehow still have another one of these fucking things to finish? And it’s twenty-three fucking minutes long, too.
What a very purposeful title. Fitting, considering this is where everything literally just crashes and burns. I’ll have my words on it in the Final Thoughts. The warning this time is not for epilepsy, but themes of death.
Amidst the fog from Ozpin’s cane nuke, the still-dissolving corpse of Salem’s mothership (I finally looked this up—apparently it’s called “Monstra”) can be seen. In a ditch, darkness begins to coalesce…
Meanwhile, Winter and Ironwood are going at it.
Ironwood demands she not blame him for doing what is right, ranting that he’s sacrificed everything for his kingdom. Winter corrects him: he sacrificed everyone else. 
I: I’ve only done what’s best for Remnant, and no one is grateful!
Grateful?! When the hell has Ironwood ever been concerned about gratitude?! He can't seriously thought any of his actions since the end of Volume 7 would be well-received or excused. This is what I'm talking about with Miles and Kerry, they don't even try to make this sound like Ironwood.
Ironwood bashes Winter across the head with his cannon, and we cut to a new scene. Penny and Cinder are still fighting in the interstice. 
Cinder makes another bid to drain Penny’s maiden powers, but Weiss saves her with her queen Lancer summon. Nora sees this, and looks ready to intervene, but Jaune reminds her their first priority is the evacuation. I don’t see how stopping Cinder wouldn’t be helping the evacuation—she’s a danger to the refugees.
Ill Logic: 190
Penny says to Weiss that all Cinder wants is the maiden power, and that she can buy them time. Weiss makes to tell her no, but a fire blast hits them in the back.
Both their auras are broken, despite the fact that Penny whooped Cinder’s ass the last time they fought, her aura not breaking once even despite the amount of abuse she took. Cinder lands with an evil smirk, and Penny throws herself in front of Weiss to protect her, reminding her that it’s herself Cinder wants.
C: I want it all.
Blake intervenes, and tells Weiss to take the staff and get lost. Blake, still in fighting shape, and Penny, still with her maiden powers, ready to take on Cinder. Meanwhile, Qrow and Harriet are fighting.
Qrow seems to be losing. Despite his pleas for her to not do this, she is still hellbent on blowing up Mantle because Clover is no longer around or some shit. You know what? You’re pissing me off. Double points.
Dragged Kicking and Screaming: 39
How To Piss Off Gay People: 86
Don’t think I can’t see where this is going, with all of Harriet’s heartbreak over Qrow’s deceased man friend who may or may not have been attracted to him.
She cuts the cables holding the bomb in place and bangs on the back of the ship to tilt it, with Qrow trying to stop her. 
They also have a tail in the form of Robyn, with Vine having grabbed the poles leading from Harriet's airship, and Elm holding him rooting him to the roof of Robyn's airship. Elm begs Harriet not to do this. Harriet asks why they won’t just let her do her job—
Dragged Kicking and Screaming: 40
—and Elm says it’s because she’s their friend and won’t let her. This stalls Harriet, who has never heard of the concept of a friend before *eyeroll* Qrow’s strength fails because he doesn’t do enough push-ups, and for some reason he grasps Clover’s pin and stares at it as the bomb falls.
I have no idea what this is supposed to mean. Well, I know it means this:
How To Piss Off Gay People: 87
Well, apparently Qrow’s prayers to his ex-boyfriend in Heaven worked, because the bomb doesn’t quite make it off the edge before it stops. Everyone’s saved! Well, except not really, because Watts remotely starts the countdown.
Meanwhile, Ruby and Neo are still going at it in the interstice. Neo wins, because no one can have nice things and none of Ruby's awesome training or natural battlefield capabilities matters given that she needs to lose for Miles to achieve what he wanted out of this.
However, Weiss does kick Neo back into Mantle or Atlas, not sure which, by skating by on her glyphs—which she shouldn’t be able to do, because her aura ran out, remember?
Ill Logic: 191
While this is happening, Blake is getting her ass kicked by Cinder—who will still not focus on Ruby despite her goddamn grudge. Penny gives chase.
Weiss is just helping Ruby up, saying “We have to do this for Yang” when Cinder targets them with a fire trap. Weiss pushes Ruby out of the way—quickly having her aura eliminated because she, again, won’t move herself out of danger. I’m getting flashbacks to Flynt and Neon’s fight in the Vytal Tournament, only that didn't suck near as bad as this.
Your Fight Scene Sucks: 143
Threatening Enemies: 47
Dragged Kicking and Screaming: 41
Weiss’ aura breaks (again), Neo comes back, and she promptly shoves Ruby off the platform. Actually, you know what? You’re getting this again:
Your Fight Scene Sucks: 148 (+5)
Threatening Enemies: 52 (+5)
Because you are nerfing your heroes to give the villains a win, like some kind of reverse-Volume 5. Yang having her aura broken by Neo and falling, Neo continuing to trounce Ruby despite the latter’s training—and despite the latter being able to just use her semblance to fly to another platform—and absolutely failing to take into account Penny’s abilities, especially partnered with an ally, in favor of Cinder—who somehow has not taken any hits the entire last two episodes despite the fact that she couldn’t take Penny alone, or Penny and Winter together. Penny can clinch a win alone against Cinder with Emerald and Neo backing her, but Cinder and Neo flawlessly beat up RWBY and Penny together? Not flying with me, and you know it.
Anyway, Neo grabs the staff and knocks Ruby off the platform, and while Ruby makes it onto another platform, her scythe does not. Will all of that hand-to-hand training finally kick in and be useful? I doubt it.
Road to Nowhere: 27
Harriet is still causing problems for literally everyone else. 
She falls to her knees, realizing there’s no time to make it out of the blast radius and that she has killed everyone here. Vine gets himself onto Harriet’s ship, then lifts her down onto Robyn’s. Elm starts saying he can’t do whatever it is he’s about to do.
V: I can… if it means saving all my friends.
What, is he about to sacrifice himself? Do I care…? Wow, no, I don’t. I literally don’t care. I was right when I said Clover would at least evoke sadness in death and the rest of the Ace Ops wouldn’t. Fuck it, I’m already over this. I have no idea why this big sacrifice from Vine of all people is supposed to move me. It doesn't.
Harriet realizes she’s about to lose another friend and starts screaming her big nooo, and I still don’t care. Qrow wings off, and Vine uses his semblance to make a big balloon surrounding the ship, for some reason, and then dies when the bomb explodes.
Harriet and Elm sadly watch this from Robyn’s ship. Let’s check on Ruby.
R: Whatever you wanted… I hope it was worth it.
She’s backed up against a ledge, with Neo bearing down on her. We are somehow only seven minutes into this. Ruby lets herself fall, and then uses her semblance—
LuLaRwe: 61
—with similar ill regard for her aura, and sweeps up behind Neo and knocks her off, so that she hangs on by a single hand. Before Ruby can attack her any further, a fire blast hits her in the back, dispelling what little of her aura she apparently managed to recharge.
Ruby is hanging onto Neo’s ankle by one hand, with Neo in turn hanging into the ledge by another hand. Cinder comes over to offer help, completely uncontested. Where the fuck are Blake and Penny? And Weiss, while we’re at it? Why do they just vanish when it would inconvenience Cinder?
Your Fight Scene Sucks: 149
Threatening Enemies: 53
Neo reaches out for Cinder’s Grimm arm…which extends past her to grab the lamp. Cinder says Neo never should’ve threatened her, and as Ruby’s eyes glow white, says she should’ve never been born, swinging the staff to knock them both off. Blake and Penny finally get back in the picture in time for Penny to launch Blake to grab Ruby, and then grapple onto the platform again. 
But Cinder cuts the ribbon holding Gambol Shroud together (despite Blake’s aura presumably channeling through it), and despite the fact that Blake could still potentially leap off of a shadow clone, (since her aura was not shown breaking), guess what?
Your Fight Scene Sucks: 150
Dragged Kicking and Screaming: 42
Blake and Ruby nonetheless fall into oblivion. Could it be any more obvious that they’re not dead?
Well, it’s basically just Weiss and Penny now, with only the latter having any ability to fight back. However, Cinder finds herself stalled by Weiss, who has grabbed Blake’s Gambol Shroud and is furiously shooting at her. 
Jaune paraglides down to the entrance to Vacuo, and you know what?
Jaune: 75
Because he or Nora could’ve helped while still leaving one to escort citizens. Like a dumbass, he tells Nora to bring back May and Joanna and any other huntsmen that went through, which we know Nora won’t be able to do. Meanwhile…
C: It figures that a Schnee would be the last one standing, letting all her friends die first.
Mhm. You know what I say to that?
Band-Aid Brigade: 55 (+5)
I said we'd be coming back to this matter, and now it's time for it.
Have you guys noticed something? In Volume 6, Weiss was instrumental in every encounter—she helped kill the Manticores and the Sphynx (a point), she was the first to reach the cellar and then set the Apathy on fire (another point), and she was the MVP with her wasp summon in the giant mecha fight against Cordovin (a third point). She’s had no trouble whatsoever in Volume 7—no form of Grimm held her back, and she dominated Marrow quite easily during their fight, being in control the entire time (a fourth point). Even in encounters where she doesn't end up with the final word (such as the mutant wolf Grimm), she’s reasonably confident and indications are that she’ll do fine. Now, here she is, holding off Cinder (albeit still not using the full range of her powers, as she hasn’t throughout the last two episodes) with no aura at all and very noticeably not dying (a fifth point).
I waited until now to point this out because it’s here that it’s the most obvious. If M&K had written this the way they would have before 2018, Weiss would’ve been the first one dunked in that dimension juice—but for the past three volumes, Weiss has been performing phenomenally. Even though she could have done more, she in particular has had her fighting skill preserved and highlighted, up until this exact altercation, and even then we’re making sure via Cinder to show the viewer how she held up longer than anyone else.
And this is all because, as I said before, the fandom gave Miles and Kerry unrelenting hell for what they did in Volume 5 with Weiss vs. Vernal, forcing her to fight like an idiot so that Vernal, someone she logically should’ve easily trounced, would beat her and open her up for a Cinder javelin—all so that Jaune could get a power-up. The fandom never forgot that and likely never will, and it apparently was such a headache that it made the permanent Band-Aid list. Which just goes to show that criticism, however much people might not like to hear it, can improve the quality of a project.
It’s just a shame that this is Miles and Kerry we’re dealing with here, and that this just ends up highlighting how they’re doing the exact same thing they did in Volume Five with said nerfs--but rather than Weiss taking a dive so Cinder can impale her, it's everyone taking dives so Cinder can impale someone else.
Cinder is menacing Weiss, and is defended by Penny, who tells her she wouldn’t know anything about friends. Jaune finally gets involved, and I’m giving him another point, because apparently three-quarters of RWBY had to seemingly perish just so that Jaune could be afforded a moment to shine.
Jaune: 76
I cannot believe Miles Luna hasn’t learned his lesson about this yet. First it was Weiss in Volume Five, now it’s the whole damn team. 
Despite it being three on one and Jaune still having plenty of aura, and Penny having maiden powers, Cinder gets exactly what she wants with pretty much minimum effort, impaling Penny and draining power from her. 
Here, have another five points.
Your Fight Scene Sucks: 155 (+5)
Threatening Enemies: 58 (+5)
Two episodes and maybe less than an hour in-story after being reborn, Penny Polendina is going to die again, because Miles and Kerry’s plan comprised Winter as the winter maiden, they did not appreciate changes to that itinerary, and now they are course-correcting without a goddamn care in the world.
Dragged Kicking and Screaming: 43
That’s all this is. That’s all any of this is. It’s just blatant railroading, nerfing the absolute fuck out of everyone that has good reason to whoop Cinder’s ass and plenty of ability to do so, so that no one can stop Penny from exiting the story again. That’s why I awarded those Dragged points, because it was being made abundantly clear RWBY were made to take dives to force the issue on this.
Railroading. That’s all.
Weiss interrupts the draining process as Penny looks on, but she’s bleeding out. Jaune tries to heal her, but Penny says there’s not enough time.
P: She can’t get the Staff and the power… but there is something you can do…
*frosting over*
Jaune says that Weiss will buy them time. We get cut-ins of Weiss and Winter both blatantly losing their battles.
P: Let me choose… this one thing… trust me…!
*frozen solid*
Yes. Penny Polendina is asking Jaune Arc to kill her.
Just let this sink in, why don’t you? Just try and consider everything that’s happened here—because I’m sure Miles Luna, or one of his utterly batshit fanboys, would say that this is feminist, because Penny has the right to choose, and gets to make one final choice. Penny has been utterly broken over and over this volume—harassed and manipulated by Ironwood, attacked with intent to kidnap by the Ace Ops, attacked by Cinder, forced to hold her allies on her shoulder, hacked and stripped of all free will, beaten to unconsciousness by Salem’s silver-eyed Grimm mutant, and when the heroes finally break the goddamn story to ensure that she’ll stay around, it’s rendered moot because Cinder immediately deals her a deathblow. Literally the only choice she gets to make is how she dies, and who it will benefit.
That is not a choice.
Fauxminism: 61 (+10)
There has been a hideously fetishistic bent to how much abuse Penny has gone through since this volume started. It starts and it just doesn’t stop, ever. Now Penny has been forced to watch her friends die—at least as far as she knows—and she’s dying too. So she has to resort to begging fucking Jaune Arc to kill her. Jaune Arc! These two barely even know each other!
Jaune: 81 (+5)
Things have been derailed and re-railed constantly throughout this volume, but despite how I and a lot of other people focus on Ironwood, a lot more of us should see the utter bullshit happening around Penny Polendina—a character that wanted nothing except to help people. And for simply being in the story, and being in the way of what the original plan was, she received the greatest torment of anyone before finally being booted out of it—for the second time.
Love To Be a Part of It Someday: 102 (+10)
*icily* Miles Luna and Kerry Shawcross did not care about Penny Polendina, and they do not care about women. You know how I know? I mean, besides all of the evidences up until now.
Because this is a tactic I’ve seen plenty before. I’m very familiar with this angle—the one that involves breaking a character over and over and over again so they can go peacefully to death and at least find relief in its cold embrace. You see it with female characters, you see it with nonwhite characters, you see it with gay characters. But most of all, you see it with characters the writers just don’t like, or find burdensome. It’s a writing tactic that starts with the character’s death and then tries to find a means to make that palatable, make audiences want them simply not to suffer anymore.
It is, itself, a form of railroading.
Dragged Kicking and Screaming: 44
And it’s also a form of kicking Penny out, completely shutting the lid on her part in the plot. Any desires she may have had to live her own life? Pietro’s desire to see his daughter live, and learn, and grow? Anything the fans were hoping for from Penny’s revival at all, let alone her becoming the winter maiden?
Road to Nowhere: 30 (+3)
For those now-atrophied subplots. Let’s go back to the story for a bit before we finish awarding points, because no, we’re not done.
Cinder has sent Gambol Shroud down into the depths and floored Weiss. Ironwood has broken Winter’s aura. Cinder is given pause by the cry of sorrow and grief Jaune emits, tears and drops of blood hitting the floor. The scene fades to white.
We see a happy, healthy Penny Polendina in a white void, which Winter also joins. This is the part where we get assurance that it’s okay that Penny’s dead, because she’s happy! See?
P: It seemed fitting that it should be you. It was your power, after all.
Dragged Kicking and Screaming: 45
God, I felt the bitterness seeping through the screen with that line.
Winter says that Penny was the rightful winter maiden, and that she herself was the machine, always following orders, but Penny says that Winter was her friend. As the maiden’s power flows into Winter, she thanks Penny. Then we get that lovely little line,
P: I won’t be gone. I’ll be part of you.
I love how Ruby went to such great lengths to make sure Penny wouldn’t die, yet was shunted out of the story specifically so she wouldn’t be able to stop Penny dying. Really makes the railroading all the clearer.
Penny begins to fade as Winter accepts the power, and back in the vault, Winter gets back up.
I: So, the destiny I chose for you has arrived.
Dragged Kicking and Screaming: 46
Get it? Because Ironwood’s EvilTM, he doesn’t get that Winter’s choice factors in. But of course, it's also another form of derailment--we were supposed to take Winter at her word in Volume 7, where she indicated Ironwood wasn't choosing her destiny for her. That's been retconned now because why stick to the story when you can villainize instead?
Winter calls it a gift, and easily repels Ironwood’s blast back at him.
Cinder is ready to kill Jaune for killing Penny and taking the maiden’s power away from her. Though Jaune’s shield holds up, his sword breaks trying to hold her back. And unfortunately I have to stop and yammer on again, because what is this?!
We have gone so far off the rails that I can’t even tell what the point of this scene is. Like, what is this here for? The rest of the scene (and the volume) goes on without comment on it and it contributes nothing to the surrounding scenes. It doesn't get any comment in Volume 9, either.
Number one, it doesn’t make sense—and that’s how far off the rails we are, that I’m actually sitting here saying Jaune should’ve been more effective against Cinder than he was. Jaune’s sword has held up against everything so far, and Cinder’s swords are made of glass. Hell, Raven’s swords were easily able to break Cinder’s, and hers were made of dust.
But beyond that, I’m not sure what this moment is even for. To make us feel something for Jaune? We already did this with Gambol Shroud—which was a lot more meaningful given that it was her abusive ex that broke her sword, and that much was already pissed away by devoting no screentime or meaning whatsoever to its repair, just giving her a fixed sword three episodes into the next volume. What exactly is this for, what plot can you even construct with this? What even is this besides Jaune undoubtedly getting another upgrade he didn’t really need at this point?
Cinder is about to kill him when Winter arrives through the portal and intervenes. 
And now all is right in the world, I guess, except for all the shit that’s wrong with it. Winter and Cinder charge each other, and now that the train is finally on the tracks Miles intended, Cinder’s invincibility hack will finally drop. Just kidding, she’s going to get everything she wants again.
But before we go on, let’s just take into account something: Cinder is, yet again, having a big fight with people who are very concretely not her nemeses. She downed Penny, who qualifies, but now she’s fighting…Winter?
Okay, first Pyrrha, then Raven, then Winter. When the hell is Cinder Fall going to fight Ruby 1v1??? Why has that not happened yet?!?
*sigh* We know why it hasn’t happened. Because Ruby would win. 
Winter summons a swarm of miniature Nevermores to harass Cinder. Though Cinder tries to shoot them down, more come, surrounding her until she is forced into creating several fire blasts to dispel them. Then they charge each other again.
While Weiss leads Jaune out to Vacuo, Cinder and Winter’s clash results in Cinder dropping the staff. Cinder opts to try and fire at Jaune and Weiss, which Jaune only barely blocks with another portable holo-shield. Cinder then activates a fire trap underneath the two, which Winter notices. Rather than try to slash Cinder so she can’t detonate it, or drag Jaune and Weiss onto another glyph from a distance, Winter makes a mad dash to get to them.
Your Fight Scene Sucks: 156
Threatening Enemies: 59
Naturally, she fails.
Dragged Kicking and Screaming: 47
Jaune’s aura is drained to nothing, while Weiss, of course, is knocked off the platform and into oblivion below. Winter, rushing and desperately screaming her name, is too late. She floats back up to the platform, and we have somehow found ourselves in a situation in which all of Team RWBY lost, Penny died, and Jaune fucking Arc is the last one standing.
Jaune: 82
Winter collapses into tears in her grief. There are somehow still seven more goddamn minutes of this show to go.
Cinder is just retrieving her staff when Winter experiences some of that maddening rage from grief that Blake was going through. There is a hellacious scream that pierces through the interstice, apparently being the rage of Salem after pulling herself back together somewhere in Atlas. Jaune says they need to go, but Winter swears vengeance before she leaves.
Rather than follow them through Vacuo’s door, Cinder takes the staff in hand and goes to Atlas, after which the portals start disappearing. 
Jaune doesn’t quite make it to Vacuo on time. How’s he gonna steal the main cast’s thunder if he’s in another dimension, after all? So yeah, he falls into the darkness, where RWBY and Neo will be waiting for him.
*slowly cracking a smile* And Neo will get to be redeemed, ‘cause she’s a chick and that means titties and that means heroism. Cinder betrayed her, so now Neo will fight for the valiant cause! *bursts out into laughter* No, I'm kidding. What actually happens is much worse.
Oscar, Ren, and Emerald cannot repel all of the Grimm coming for the refugees. However, Winter easily repels them once she’s there. Klein and the Schnees walk up to meet her, and she sheds tears knowing that she failed to bring Weiss with her. More Grimm swarm forward, and Winter unleashes her rage.
We cut to black. Time to find out what happened to Ironwood!
He wakes up just as a smirking Cinder is walking down the steps of the vault, bearing both the lamp (now useless) and the staff (very much not useless). A black wraith comes down the elevator shaft and begins to circle Cinder, who admits that she failed Salem. Then, as Ironwood listens, she spins a tale that involves Ruby’s team using the lamp’s final question, before Ruby herself was killed by Neo without Cinder being able to stop her.
The notes of “Divide” play as Cinder presents the lamp and the staff to Salem.
S: In pursuit of a new world, no cost is too great. You’ve done well, Cinder. Our work here is done.
While they walk away, Ironwood starts crawling towards his white gun.
S: You said they used the Staff. I assume you rid the world of their creation. (glances back at Cinder) What did you create in its stead?
You know, that reminds me—Atlas falling and crashing. Wasn’t that a thing that was supposed to happen, I don’t know, maybe an hour ago in-story? Maybe longer? Two whole episodes? How is this place even still here?
Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Veil: 111
Ill Logic: 192
And, of course:
Dragged Kicking and Screaming: 48
Because damn it, Atlas needs to be here for this scene to happen, so to hell with it falling and crashing! It’ll crash to the ground when Miles and Kerry are finished with this bullshit and not a second sooner.
Anyway, what Cinder created with the staff that caused the portals and the interstice to start disappearing? Just a bunch of fire. We see Arthur Watts, trapped in Atlas’ command room, trying to break out of the burning building with a chair and failing. This, despite the fact that the rules about destruction are so clear that Ambrosius has to bend other rules to avoid breaking that one.
Yep. Because absolutely nothing Volume 7 actually fixed about RWBY will be allowed to stay intact, we're killing off Watts. Despite the fact that he was easily the most effective and compelling villain this show ever had. We're cutting off our noses to spite our faces again/.
Of course, he doesn't stay gone, but only because of some emergency fixes being put in place. Turns out hideously abusing your staff does have consequences. As I said before somewhere, Kdin Jenzen's revelations about Rooster Teeth's work environment and the abuses she suffered there resulted in yet more catastrophe for them, and one consequence was Jessie James Grelle--formerly Josh Grelle and openly trans--leaving in disgust. She was Tyrian's voice actor, Tyrian having noticeably been sent to Vacuo, but with his VA leaving, any plot potential he had was cut off with her. Thus, Watts was miraculously revived for that RWBY x Justice League movie that many have (not incorrectly) pointed out appears to be the attempt at cheating the lack of greenlight, a pseudo-Volume 10 if you will.
As Ironwood tries to lift his gun, Cinder looks back at him.
C: And that’s checkmate.
Of course she had to get in that one last line. Let's talk about that, why don't we?
We made a big deal out of the fact that Ironwood is, you know, traumatized in Volume 7. Yeah, it was used to springboard into every horrible thing we've endured in Volume 8, but the fact remains that Ironwood has PTSD and one of his greatest regrets was watching Salem take Vale down with him being able to do nothing to stop her, Cinder making merry chaos and rubbing it in his face with that stupid chess piece.
And the last words ever spoken to Ironwood, the last thing he'll ever hear, is effectively that trauma and failure being rubbed in his face. I cannot express to you the supreme spite that is radiating through the screen right now.
Of course, it's not just spite from Cinder, but Miles and Kerry. Don't think I missed the real undertones here--checkmate. The story is theirs once again, and can't be fixed considering what's about to happen.
Then Cinder and Salem leave, and Ironwood, the evilest of evil villains who so totally deserved everything that is about to happen to him for being evil, gets to watch them go before what we’ve all been waiting for finally fucking happens. 
Atlas falls, destroying both itself and Mantle. 
So, what’s left to tally?
Dragged Kicking and Screaming: 49
One for Salem and Cinder winning flawlessly despite literally having every reason not to—that’s how badly we were railroaded.
Dragged Kicking and Screaming: 50
One for Ironwood being stuck there while Atlas falls—naturally, he has to be killed off, to prevent the chances of him ever having a redemption arc. He doesn't have tits, after all.
Dragged Kicking and Screaming: 51
And one for Atlas being crashed into Mantle—a final “fuck you” to make sure that Atlas is no more and there is no more “Atlas arc”. I gave that a point before, at the end of Episode 11 preceding Ruby’s execution of her plan. But we have to give it another one, because that, along with the interstice fading, naturally provides Miles and Kerry the benefit of forcibly separating the casts again—that way no one can intervene in the various subplots that will happen next volume, by which I mean what all of that SUBTLE FORESHADOWING about a different world and what RWBY (but mostly Jaune) will go through there. And Qrow and Robyn will probably hook up offscreen.
The credits roll. Naturally, there is a stinger. 
Ruby’s scythe, washed up on a beach on some island. You didn’t actually think the team died, did you?
There’s more to be said here, but I’ll save it for the Final Thoughts. I’ll see you there.
Counts:
- Jaune: 82
- It Was Right There: 63
- Fauxminism: 61
- Hypocrisy: 47
- Reliable Leaders: 80 + 17
- Prowling Wolf Fallacy: 17
- Threatening Enemies: 59
- Love to Be a Part of It Someday: 102
- Your Fight Scene Sucks: 156 + 33
- Evisceration Evasion: 34 (RETIRED)
- Ill Logic: 192
- Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Veil: 111 + 89
- Wink Wink, Nudge Nudge: 34
- Band-Aid Brigade: 55
- RSVP: 71
- Road to Nowhere: 30
- Dragged Kicking and Screaming: 51
- Y.A.S. Queen: 18
- Rooster Tease: 31
- LuLaRwe: 61
- The Lovegood Fallacy: 15
- How to Piss Off Gay People: 87
- Invisembl: 14
- Broke-Ass Clowns: 34
- Shut the Fuck Up: 18
____________________
52 – Volume 8, Episodes 11 and 12 | Table of Contents | Volume 8 Final Thoughts (Part I)
no subject
Date: 2023-11-09 02:17 pm (UTC)From:As for the rest of the episode... I wasn't a fan of Penny coming back to life, in fact I was quite bitter about it; so bitter, to be honest, that I felt a degree of mean-spirited schadenfreude when she died again and broke the hearts of so many people who had so enthusiastically cheered on her return.
But, with a little more distance, and having calmed down a bit... this whole thing was really stupid. Why bring her back just to kill her off again? To kill her off, arguably, three times (depending on whether you count the robot that is made of her parts by Ambrosius, which gets quite a heart-wrenching death scene considering that we're not meant to see it as Penny at all), twice in quick succession, once after having opened up a ton of plot-threads for her what with her Maiden-ness, her human-ness, all of which are unceremoniously dropped. It's just... it's kind of bizarre really, and even worse than that it approaches the level of parody 'Oh my gods, you killed Penny, you bastard!'
Also, the fact that it's Jaune who gets to kill her, and Jaune who gets to angst about it, is just... it wouldn't be good if Ruby were the one to kill her but it would at least be better than Jaune doing it. Ruby wasn't able to save Penny from her first death, and now she has to actually take Penny's life, it would be ugly, to be sure, and difficult, but considering that the next arc is supposedly about Ruby crumbling beneath the weight of all the things that she's done and lost and sacrificed I'm not sure you can call it inappropriate.
Whereas Jaune is just adding one more fridged girl to the pile of fridged (or almost fridged) girls on which he's built his character development, and unlike Pyrrha he didn't even have any meaningful interactions with Penny.
It's just a mess, especially when you consider the theme of the volume as stated by the OP: 'sometimes it's worth it all to risk the fall to fight for every life'. That's debatable, but it's a position you can argue for, that it's better to try and save people even if you don't succeed rather than, as Ironwood does, give up on them. But they don't even try to save Penny! Jaune is the party healer, but he just cuts Penny's throat, accepting her assertion - an assertion from someone whose been trying to get people to kill her for the past six episodes! - that this is the only way, that it has to be done. Surely he should have broken his sword trying to defend Penny? Wouldn't Cinder taking the Winter Maiden powers after Jaune (or preferably someone else, like Ruby or Weiss) had made a forlorn stand to try and save Penny's life have been a much better illustration of the theme of 'doing the right thing, even though it costs you'?
Such a mess.
Although I will say one good thing about these episodes: when Jaune does the deed and kills Penny, Cinder gets this shocked look on her face and it's very easy to read it as even Cinder thinks that what Jaune did is beyond the pale.
no subject
Date: 2023-11-09 03:00 pm (UTC)From:Oh, I already knew that part. If it had involved actual resurrection from death full-stop, I'd have had waaaaay more outrage.
Every life except Penny's, amirite?
The stink of derailment is all over Penny in Volume 8, and it disgusts me. There's no purpose to it, no meaning, and it's insipidly clear that Penny's babbling about "let me make this one choice" at the end is just a veneer. The choice of who you should die to benefit isn't a choice--and it came with no respect to her character considering that the people who most cared about Penny's agency were kicked off the dimension platform so that Jaune could shine in the most perverse, awful way possible.
I hate it when authors try to bullshit me. Especially when it's because they know fans will hate what they're writing and have decided to write it anyway. There's no reason Penny has to die because there's nothing Winter can do with the maiden's power that Penny can't, and there's no compelling plot developments her death can bring about. It's pettiness, plain and simple.
no subject
Date: 2023-11-09 04:31 pm (UTC)From: