User blog:Gundam Legilis/It's Brawl In The Family In Depth

''The following is a semblance of fatmanfalling style satire. Not a personal attack.''

So this week, Winter Is Here.

Now, first off, we get to see Winter and learn that she's not exactly the bitch we thought she was. Strict, disciplinarian, and professional to a degree, just like being trained at the Atlesian Military. I still wonder if she teaches at the local Academy. And yet, she still cares for Weiss, leaving her father the only other notable figure so far in the Schnee household to be quite the asshole. All that aside, I still wonder why Winter was still able to become Ironwood's subordinate instead of the heiress, since by a logical standpoint, Papa Schnee should be using any means necessary to force Winter to become one.

In terms of the dialogue, it's pretty funny Ruby attempts to be fancy in front of Winter, highlighting her poor social skills and lack of cultural awareness. That being said, Liz's delivery of the more lively parts of Winter's lines seem staler than molding bread. The stuff that she asks about Weiss' experience at Beacon indicates a more lively demeanor, yet, it's the same monotone, robotic voice for that too. Either Liz should shift tone when asking more informal questions, or the lines should be removed completely, because they currently don't fit in like a square block in a round hole.

Then comes Qrow. He summarizes what the inside politics of Ozpin and co. are, and I must say, this is a good way to deliver exposition. It's a shame that we already knew this material from the start.

Now, onto the fight. To be honest, I'm not completely sold on the fight. Despite having less close-ups and having a faster pace, not to mention clever usage of the environment, wide angles, and strategy, there are problems with it. First off, some of the sword strikes are choppy, and need more flow. Second, I want to know how Qrow and Winter can jump a fair distance on walls without some form of propulsion, like instant DBZ movement. Players and Pieces had our characters propelling themselves with their weapons and jumping smaller distances, so it maintains suspension of disbelief.

Third, the battle sometimes shift to wider shots, leaving the two combatants out of focus.

This is bad because A: it doesn't show a lot of the choreography. I admit I am quite the stickler for choreography, it also helps better explain Winter and Qrow's fighting styles, and means to counterattack the other.

B: The shot from Mercury's POV is heavily obstructed. If, from his eyes, we can clearly see who was fighting who, it would ease up confusion for some viewers, and helps to better distinguish the two from some other combatants.

Then we come to the Office talk. Yes, I think we already get that Qrow is a drunkard. But what is great is that they took the exposition summarization Qrow had before the fight, and took it to another level. They effectively summarize the events, and the fact that Ironwood's Scroll is infected with the Black Queen Virus is subtle visual exposition that Cinder now has leverage over Ironwood and his communication network.

But they do the same thing of introducing new terms (Queens, Autumn, Guardians) as vague as possible, leaving the audience in the dark-again. Not to mention, that 99 percent of this is already established material. They should really try and introduce new terms, and using this exposition method, clearly define summarize the basic concepts of said new terms, and avoid being too vague and/or obvious at the same time.

Finally, we get to Cinder's scene.

They should really explain what past experience Cinder and Co. had with Qrow, because this is exactly the same thing with Emerald insta-guessing Pyrrha's Polarity Semblance in Extracurricular, or Goodwitch attempting to connect the two times Cinder has fought Ruby, all based on one single data point.

But thankfully, there is something that saves the day. Cinder's rigging of the matches is subtle hints of visual exposition. It's a small step cuz we don't know the overall goal of the plan, but it steps in the right direction.

Next time, place your bets on who will win. Bad guys Merc and Em? Or super OP Coco and Yatsu?

Thoughts?

-Gundam Legilis