Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-98.235.191.26-20140721085214/@comment-28792888-20140721195824

About there being little to no character development:

Where would you like them to squeeze in more? You're already compaining that there's not enough action and too much HS drama. What you seem to have missed is that most of that high-school drama is character establishment and character development. If they cut some of the HS drama to put in more fight scenes, as you suggested, then there would be even less character development. The same thing would occur if they tried to put in more character development: there would be less fight scenes. No, they can't really make the episodes longer: they're already struggling with writing and animating one episode a week, and for good reason. As an author myself (of both fanfiction and original fiction), I could NEVER write a chapter per week, even if each was as short as the RWBY episodes, not to mention animate it and get the voices recorded, too. Also, this is only the first half of the first season: I don't see anything wrong with not having much character development. Before you have development, you have to have characters. If they had tried to establish all of the characters, there wouldn't have been ANY fighting this volume. As it is, Jaune got over his arrogance, Weiss got over her arrogance and began to care for her team and also loosened her hold on her bigoted views, Ruby learned about being a leader and started taking her studies more seriously, Blake started to trust her team more and learned more about how humans don't have it peachy keen either, and all of the characters' base personalities have been distinguished.

About the "Wolverine" guy:

I don't see why having a middle-aged character with claws is instant copyright infringement. This is a world where there exist humans who have animal attributes; a clawed character would have to show up sooner or later. As for his "short temper," which is apparently due to his overreaction, you don't even know what he was reacting about. For all we know, he could be a very calm person whose family and friends have been kidnapped and threatened by Cinder and Roman. All we saw was his attack; he could have been very provoked. Given the fact that Roman was already seen insulting his own men openly, I wouldn't put it past him to do such a thing.

About the false advertisement:

I see where you're coming from, but I wouldn't say it's so far as "false advertisement." What was advertised with the trailers were teenage girls who used awesome weapons to fight supernatural monsters, androids, and other humans. What we got was just that; the only difference is the school setting, and that's not really "different," per se. In the trailers, it never said that there wouldn't be a school setting or high-school drama. It never said that the story would be about a journey of any kind. It never even really implied those things too much. Your argument about false advertisement is all about how you percieved these trailers. Myself, I watched the trailers one by one as they came out, and I actually expected it to be about a school setting. I can't really explain why--that was just the vibe I got from it. My point is: you can't claim it was "false advertisment" if the thing that they "falsely advertised" was never actually advertised. I can understand your frustration, but I don't think you can really call it false. "Misleading" is probably a better word.

About the dance:

Um... this was a few-second clip. I don't really think it was that important. You said that trailers are supposed to show the main points of focus, but I don't entirely agree. Sure, trailers should give a decent idea of what the show is about--and it did: it's about RWBY and co. fighting bad guys while having internal conflicts about whether or not they should wait to graduate like they're supposed to. But small clips like the dance clip that illustrate a few other plot points are also to be expected. Just look at, say, the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows trailer. There are clips of Hagrid flying his motorbike, of the Olivander stumbling through his wand shop, of Voldemort stopping a train, etc. None of those are "major plot points"-- they're just cool scenes of things that happened meant to create hype. The same can be said for the dance scene, the "Wolverine" scene, the falling from the sky scene, the "Weiss in Ruby's arms" ship tease, etc. I highly doubt any of these scenes are the "main focus" of the volume; they're just scenes of things that happened meant to create hype, like I said. Plus, a dance could add in some of that character development that you yourself said the show needed--not just for Pyrrha and Jaune, but for other characters as well.

About Summer Rose, Adam, etc:

Again, this is the first season we're talking about. I see no reason for any of the mysteries or enigmas of the RWBY trailers to be explored so soon. Then they wouldn't be as alluring and mysterious. It would be like if the Elder Wand was described in detail in the first Harry Potter book--it would take out the mystery and some of the fun. It's just like the "white cloak" in the Vol. 1 opening--if the first volume explained who this was, what they were doing, etc., then it would take out the intrigue, the spectulation, and the fun fanfiction. I have a feeling--one that's supported by the "Yang in the club" scene from the Vol. 2 trailer--that the mysteries of the trailers (Weiss's lonliness, Summer Rose, Adam, and the Transient Princess (the girl Yang was looking for; this name is confirmed by Monty, you should look it up on DeviantArt)) will be alluded to in Vol. 2 to create even more suspense, then be built up in the following volumes until finally being explained in a much later season.

About the mech:

I see your reasoning here. Myself, I don't mind, but I don't have any reason to dispute this argument here. The mech does admittedly look rather standard for an anime mech, and the gray isn't very creative. I just don't mind because those two things are standard for a reason: they make sense, and they work. Think about it: a mech in vibrant colors would never be taken seriously. Maybe a mech that was colored and also gray/black, like the robots in the "Black" trailer, would work, but it wouldn't make any sense. Why would you paint a mech? There's no point. It's actually counterproductive: it would waste money and make the mech easier to spot and, therefore, destroy before it gets close enough to be a problem. That said, given the coloring of the character's weapons, this point is pretty much moot for the RWBY world. That is, a gray mech in any other anime would be understandable, but it doesn't make quite as much sense here. In any case, like I said, I still understand why you don't like this, and I think you're in the right, logic-wise. I just don't personally agree.

About originality:

This one actually angered me when I read it, but I think you're perfectly in the right for making this complaint: I'm just tired of seeing it so much, so I'll try to keep this as unbiased as possible. If I fail, I apologize in advance. In any case, I don't see why originality is such a big issue for the RWBY fanbase. Sure, many things in RWBY aren't terribly creative; they've been done plenty of times before. But it doesn't really matter whether or not it's been done before. The quality of a show is just that--its quality. The characters and plot points can all be cliche as crap as long as they're either done very well or put a new and unique twist on the idea. I personally think that RWBY delivers on this. That is to say: it doesn't have to be original to be good, in my opinion. It's still funny, the characters are still likeable, the story is still investing, the fights are still awesome, etc. Originality, when it's there (like with the weapon design) is like whipped cream on the top. Calling something "unoriginal" isn't a true mark of quality--or lack thereof. Besides, there's nothing original under the sun. Just go on tvtropes.org and you'll see that almost every idea ever has been used and is known.