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

It’s no secret that RWBY is not the show it once was. Sure, we can all disagree about the degree to which it has declined. Some would argue that it’s become trash, some would have you believe that it’s taken an ever-so-slight step down, and most others will say that, simply put, it’s lost the spark that made it special in its heyday. But the one thing we all agree on, the central thesis that we all coalesce around: The Beacon Arc was the best RWBY has ever been. Nobody I’ve seen will tell you anything contrary, and nor should they. Though, to be fair, I haven’t visited any mental institutions recently; so who can say for sure?

Point is, you’d have to be super-duper-bananas to prefer what has come post-Volume 3. It has been a disappointment, and while the magnitude of that disappointment may vary from person to person, we are all, collectively, very disappointed none-the-less. But, why? Why has the show dropped off so precipitously? And perhaps more importantly, what can be done to mitigate and reverse the damage?

There are many—I won’t say excuses because that carries a negative connotation—explanations for why RWBY has declined. Some will say that the loss of Monty Oum crippled the series, and it simply couldn’t recover. I’ve never bought into that theory for two reasons. A: Monty was already gone before Volume 3 was even put into production, and B: Miles Luna has proven adept at taking over and carrying other people’s work into the future. Just look at what he did with Red Vs. Blue; it was at its absolute best under his command.

I will admit this: the fight choreography has taken a significant hit since we lost Monty, and that should not surprise anyone. When Monty left RvB to make RWBY, the fight choreography in that show took a big hit too. The difference, of course, is that the three seasons of RvB that followed Monty’s exit are considered by many to be the best in the show’s history. Contrast that with RWBY, where the three seasons proceeding Volume 3 are considered to be the worst. So, no, the fight choreography is not the reason the show is failing. There’s precedent for shows surviving that sort of deficit.

So if Monty’s absence is not the reason RWBY is in free-fall, what else could it be? My explanation is simple. It’s the show’s setting. Volumes 1-3 were anchored and stabilized by Beacon. A school with a simple layout, with very few sociopolitical themes, and with a premise everybody could instantly relate to. Beacon acted as the perfect foundation for a series focused on its characters. Miles and Kerry didn’t have to worry much about environment, or about world building. They could focus all of their efforts on the characters; their dialogue, their ethos, and their relationships.

That all changed after Volume 3. Without Beacon, the safety net that allowed the focal point to be on the characters was destroyed. Suddenly, Miles and Kerry had a new prime objective: world building. Up until this point, Remnant was largely veiled in shadows. But now, with the characters scattered and traveling, the writing became about creating and developing the various cities and regions of Remnant.

Which left them no time to develop the characters.

No longer was RWBY a character driven show about relationships and introspection. It had become a show about relics, maidens, gods, and odysseys. It had become solely about the journey, rather than the explorers. It had become a husk of itself. And it still is.

Until, perhaps, Volume 7. You see, Volume 7 provides something that the previous three volumes could not provide: the very stability that Beacon exuded. Atlus may not be Beacon, but it carries many of the same advantages Beacon did. It’s an isolated, simple design with exuberant potential; a two-tiered city with the potential for disastrous cataclysm on a scale that would dwarf what happened in Volume 3. And Atlus could prove to be a relatable environment for the viewers as well, if and only if the socioeconomic nuances between the two tiers of the city are developed the right way. That’s a tough task, especially for two writers who have struggled to develop similar dichotomies in the past.

Volume 7 is also uniquely set up for success because of the pieces it has (and in some cases does not have) in play. Not only are all the main characters united with a common purpose, but we have Winter (and the rest of Weiss’ charming family), Ironwood, Cinder, Neo, Watts, and Tyrion all converging on the same location. It’s a recipe for all the things that make a show great: character interaction, glorious fights, heartbreak, backstory, etc. Not to mention there could be a certain overly optimistic and cheerful android involved in all this.

Add to that the absence of Adam (god, I’m glad that we’re rid of that annoying pissant), the irritating socioethnic faunus crap, and hopefully any additional giant robot fights; and it’s clear that everything has lined up perfectly in this volume. The pieces are there for Miles and Kerry to run wild. They could do a seemingly limitless amount of things with these character combinations, and integrated with the setting stability, it could prove to be a harkening back to the good ol’ days of RWBY. If they execute on the writing front, which is a big if.

The danger, of course, is them falling back in the same trap that’s ensnared them for the past three years: world building. If Miles and Kerry focus too heavily on the relics, the maidens, and Atlus’ sociopolitical system (I’m not sure if it’s a military dictatorship or some variant; it was never clearly described) then this volume will probably disintegrate faster than Pyrrha did **ha ha**. The key is to get back to the same character driven plot that powered the Beacon Arc. It’s a simple proposition, and one that they have experience with.

The point is, Volume 7 is the last, best chance for Miles and Kerry to save RWBY from descending forever into narrative mediocrity. There are no more excuses. The chaotic setting shifts and demand for more defined world lore are gone. They have their stability, they have an extensive cast of characters we love, they have villains lurking around every corner, and they have a floating city that could come crashing down to earth and kill thousands of people in an instant. That is an overall premise that most writers salivate over.

My fear is that they are going to flub it anyway. My fear is that 20 years from now we’re all going to look back at this series and say, ‘the Beacon Arc was the best part of this show’. That can’t happen because, as much as we all love the Beacon Arc, it wasn’t the end-all-be-all. It was a glorified prologue. And any series that can say that its prologue is the pinnacle of its existence is a complete failure. Miles and Kerry can create something better than the Beacon Arc. Problem is, if they don’t do it in Volume 7, I’m not sure they ever will. The circumstances will probably never be better than they are right now. 