Board Thread:Episode Discussion/@comment-24573226-20171012080158/@comment-4010415-20171014191229

Okay, okay, so, the premiere was pretty good. Gonna rewatch and type up the impressions I had on the first watch and any new things I notice.

A bit disappointed that the various shots of Mistral show 2D people. But animation is harrrd. The designs for the 2D characters are pretty nice, though. I saw a few that I could point out as my favorites. Like, in the first shot, the black girl with short black hair. She's so pretty. :3 And oh my God, in that "They really made the most out of these mountains" shot, is that Zuko on the left?! Without the burn scar, but still! The couple with the heart-shaped bamboo made me go "Awwww!" And I like the black girl with pink hair in that shot.

Stay away from the lower levels, but the higher you go, the nicer it gets. Some may say this sounds like Ba Sing Se (and, to be fair, in, I believe, the PlayerOne interview, Miles said they took some inspiration from that for Mistral). However, both are similar to how ancient Japanese cities were specifically built to have a section for the rich and a section for the poor. I'm pretty sure there's a name for it, but I can't remember what it's called, and I can't find it on Google, and I really don't have all day.

The lake that the airship Weiss is flying over is called Lake Matsu. I had to rewind and relisten to catch what the pilot was saying. Not very good enunciation there. The mayday says that their Huntress is down and they were attacked 400 klicks (military slang for kilometers) from the northern shore. They're screwed. When the pilot talked about how someone else probably picked up the transmission and will help them, that really evoked some kind of emotion in me (I'm not sure how to describe it?) because I try to live by a philosophy of not acting on "Someone else will probably help". If everyone says that, then no one will help. I adopted that philosophy after tons of people saying "Someone else will help" resulted in someone dying in my city, so that's kind of a personal thing for me that hits me really hard. Honestly, if I was Weiss, I would've tried insisting on helping, telling him I'm a Huntress.

So, I guess Qrow looking around in the courtyard was him looking for Lionheart, since he said he was supposed to meet them outside. And that would be why Qrow got everyone into fight mode.

I'll admit, the bit with Qrow kicking the door open and everyone freaking out made me laugh.

So, when it cuts to Blake's scene and keeps panning across those flower beds on the wall in the Belladonnas' front room, that was a bit excessive, and I dunno how many people caught on very quickly where that was, since not everyone stares at every little detail of the environments in this show. I only knew about 'em 'cause I had to help write the descriptions of the Belladonna home. Yes, yes, those are pretty flowers, now where the Belladonnas at?

So, I'm wondering... And this is something that I thought of on the first watch, so maybe this is dumb. But I'm wondering... have the White Fang swayed a large portion of Menagerie's population? Is that why Blake's plan to reveal Adam's plot to the public isn't going to work? And now, on the second watch, I'm wondering if Ilia telling Blake to leave "before it's too late" means that the Belladonnas are gonna be in danger for some reason. Actually, that's dumb, Blake will be in danger because, I guess, Adam will have someone in Menagerie go after her.

I'm glad they had Lionheart explain what I've been explaining to people: Salem targeted Beacon first because that's where the tournament was being held that year. The tournament is broadcast live across the world, which gave them the perfect platform to spread simultaneous worldwide negativity.

Whoa, I just noticed the dust floating around in the rays of sunlight. Nice detail.

So... Monty's idea for the Maidens has led to the show having these super special McGuffin people who are the only ones who can reach the Relics. How exactly did the King of Vale devise chambers that can only be opened by specific Maidens? Also, let's see...


 * Winter - Creation
 * Summer - Destruction
 * Fall - Choice
 * Spring - Knowledge

If we go by this and assume that they keep each Maiden near the kingdom that has the Relic they unlock the chamber for, then that would mean Vale has Choice and Mistral has Knowledge. I'm gonna go ahead and guess that Atlas has Creation and Vacuo has Destruction. After all, the Maidens' seasons can line up with the the four kingdoms.


 * Winter - Atlas - Snowy tundra climate


 * Summer - Vacuo - Desert. Even before Vacuo was ruined, it was still a desert, but it had an oasis.


 * Fall - Vale - Forever Fall Forest


 * Spring - Mistral - I guess Mistral's culture's respect for nature and stuff? Spring is a season that brings to mind a strong connection to nature, after all.

I still theorize that the sword the King of Vale used in the Great War was the Relic of Destruction, and that's why it was colored orange (Vacuo's color) in the WoR and why he was able to cause so much destruction and death.

Spring couldn't handle the responsibility and ran away. Hmmm. Reminds me of Aang. "Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them. But when the world needed him most, he vanished... A hundred years passed and my brother and I found the new Avatar, and Airbender named Aang."

Wait wait wait wait, shit, Watts was listening in on the whole conversation, which means he heard Qrow tell Lionheart where the Spring Maiden is. Fantastic...

Also, seems Ruby knows about Raven... and... told JNR for some reason...? Wha... Why? I don't think that's any of their business, and I can't imagine how that came up in conversation. The fuck?

Wait a minute!! I had been wondering why Lionheart was typing something! As he types, Qrow's Scroll shows text that says "Copying files" and then "Disconnected"! He copied the files to send to Watts!! And this is why it pays to rewatch the episodes, friends.

So, Watts' symbol is that fancy W that was on Cinder's Scroll at the end of It's Brawl in the Family.

Yo! In the hallway, the trophy to the right on the bottom shelf has the Vytal Festival symbol on it!

Volume 4 after credits scene, woo.

Sleazy drunk guy. "Not to bulky, not to lean, you're..." "Just right." Goldilocks. I was right that she punched him for trying to touch her hair. Figures. So, Yang's hand shakes, and on my first watch, I just thought "Yang...? Are you okay?"

Wasted Qrow is best Qrow. He's so funny like this.

Ruby reads comics. How much you wanna bet the Japanese dub will have her saying manga?

Oh, I just noticed, the background music is like a chipper drunk version of Bad Luck Charm.

Opening's pretty good. Looks like Adam finally has proper horns. Also, he unsheathes his sword during the opening. ... PFFT, there's a random zipper across his sleeve! Not gonna make fun, though. I don't have a right, when I love the clothing design in Kingdom Hearts.

The girl Cinder is looking at in the opening must be the Spring Maiden. Can't tell if her tattoo is a phoenix or a raven. Speaking of, a raven flies toward the screen at this part, sooo Raven probably does have connection to those ravens with the darker red eyes, while Qrow is more connected with the crows with light red eyes.

Who is in that painting that Ilia is looking at, I wonder?

Yang fighting Mercury. Is he actually gonna have a role this volume, or did they just need to show Yang fighting somene too?

Credits say the female pilot is just called Mistral Pilot. Alright.

Wellp, now I post this and get ready for work.

TL;DR version:
 * One of the 2D background characters totes looks like Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender, minus the burn scar. The couple holding a heart-shaped bamboo is cute.
 * In the PlayerOne interview, Miles said they took inspiration from the city Ba Sing Se in Avatar: The Last Airbender for the City of Mistral. I'd like to note that both have that style of being build specifically to put the rich in one section and the poor in another, from ancient Japanese cities. I forget what that structuring is called, and I'm pretty sure there's a word for it, but I can't find it on Google.
 * The lake that Weiss is flying over is called Lake Matsu. The enunciation there was not good.
 * The mayday says their Huntress is down and they were attacked by Grimm 400 klicks (kilometers) from the northern shore of the lake. The Atlas pilot brushing it off with "Someone else probably heard the transmission and will help" hit me personally because of how everyone thinking "Someone else will help" has actually resulted in someone dying in my city before. I try not to act on the thought of "Someone else will help". I respond to it with "What if they don't?"
 * Blake's conversation with Ilia has me wondering if the White Fang has swayed a large amount of Menagerie's population, and if the Belladonnas are in danger or if just Blake herself is in danger.
 * Lionheart explained exactly what I've been explaining about why Salem targeted Beacon first.
 * Monty's Maidens idea led to quite the McGuffins.
 * Through the Maidens' connections with the Relics, I'm assuming Vale has Choice, Mistral has Knowledge, Atlas may have Creation, and Vacuo may have Destruction, especially considering my theory that the sword the King of Vale used was the Relic of Destruction. I explained my reasoning above. This is just the TL;DR.
 * Watts was listening in on the whole conversation.
 * Why did Ruby tell JNR about Raven?
 * I'd wondered why Lionheart typed someting, and on second watch, I see that Qrow's Scroll said "Copying files" and then "Disconnected", which means Lionheart copied the files to send to Watts.
 * Wasted Qrow is best Qrow. Background music is a chipper drunk version of Bad Luck Charm.
 * Opening shows that Adam finally has proper horns.
 * The girl Cinder is looking at in the opening is probably the Spring Maiden.