Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-32346149-20190606062554/@comment-32346149-20190606181524

Raven?! Raven, in my opinion, was as botched as Adam was. Raven epitomizes the problem with this show. They developed her, sure. But it was how they developed her that ruined her character. They could have focused on her relationship with Yang. That's what we would call character-driven development.

But, no. That's not what we got. Instead, we got (as we always do) maidens and relics. Everything Raven does in volume 4-5 revolves around the maidens and the relics. She never acts in response to Yang. Hell, the coversation they have at the bandit camp is one of the worst one-on-one character interactions I've ever seen in this show. This is what we call plot-driven development, and it is the narrative equivalent to poison.

All of the best shows (Breaking Bad, The Wire, The Sopranos, Game of Thrones, Chernobyl, Billions) engage solely in character-driven plot. It's what they all have in common. Characters take action, and the plot moves accordingly. What RWBY is doing is story-driven plot, wherein Miles and Kerry create a plot device that causes the characters to move accordingly. This turns the characters into glorified marionettes, rather than autonomous creatures.

And it's why no matter how much time they spend developing any amount of characters, they will never truly develop those characters, because as the potato analogy goes, they're cooking at too low a temperature.

Now, I realize I might sound angry as I'm writing all this shit. I'm sure you all have noticed. But that's only because I've been eating a metric SHIT TON of RAW POTATOES over the course of THREE YEARS. You're goddamn right I'm angry. Get these rock hard spuds off my fucking plate! They're inedible! I shouldn't have to eat this shit, and what makes me more angry is that y'all aren't as indignant as I am. STOP EATING THE POTATOES! THEY'RE NOT OF STANDARD! SEND THE FUCKERS BACK TO THE KITCHEN AND DEMAND SATISFACTION!