User blog:SomeoneYouUsedToKnow/SYUTK's V4E8 - Questions, Answers(?) - Impressions/Recap

Hey, wanna see graceful Weiss being graceful?

Sooo, happy new year. Did you guys eat until you felt 2 steps away from vomiting? Did you guys empty your gun magazines shooting at the stars? Did you guys fire some fireworks that almost hit some cables and caused a blackout? Did you guys eat cake?

I only did the former and the latter:

-We got the pork ASAP so there was no trouble there, though I heard some people couldn't find any (supposedly, pigs aren't being killed now, for some reason). Some used Chicken instead, though I've heard of some lethal bacteria found in them.

-We had some mashed potatoes that were....bicolored, for some reason. I'm pretty sure they shouldn't be grey-and-yellow when only potatoes are used.

-My sister managed to make a Red Velvet cake (we managed to find the cheesecream and eggs at the last minute). Delicious, but it had this turquoise cream on top that was so...ironic, I almost didn't realize it was Red Velvet.

Besides that, there were fireworks....sadly, 9/10 of them were the horrible kind. The kind whose spark lasts less than 1 second and it's tiny as well, yet the sound is like a nuclear bomb was dropped on us. :/ I know the situation was harsh so not many of the cool ones could be bought, but come on.

And, that was my New Years Eve, pretty much. Ah, yeah, also drank some strawberry cider.

Language of Truth:

Red means truth, fact , in the eyes of the user.

Blue means hypothesis, guesses, speculation, pondering, wondering.

This would've been done MUUUUCH sooner. Like, a day sooner. But my internet decided to welcome 2017 by trolling me, ditching me for more than 3 hours and returning for like 5 seconds, just long enough to update the Recent Activity. Asshole Internet.

Now, let's begin:

1a. Explanations (for once)
We start our episode with a perfectly-fine Qrow and an understandably-angry Jaune.

Apparently, Qrow explained to RNJR about the Maidens. RNR gives a summary, though Qrow clarifies to Ren that when one dies, the powers don't necesarily go to whoever they care about, but to whoever they were thinking of last.

What follows that, however, is an important part: "Regardless, their Souls become...combined, in a way". This is...interesting. It can be interpreted in different ways. I personally think of 2 ideas:

1) The powers combine with their Souls, and Aura by extension. This explains how when Cinder took Amber's powers, Amber was left in a coma; it wasn't just the powers, but her very Soul.

2) The Maiden's Soul combines with whoever Soul was (un?)lucky enough to get the powers. Which....could be similar to Ozpin and Oscar's situation. If this is true, it would mark a relation between Ozpin and the Maidens, and by extension the Wizard. Maybe Ozpin got into Oscar that way.

Although....wouldn't that make Ozpin like a Maiden? (Ha! I told you any man could be a pretty maiden, Mini!)

Regardless, Jaune is in Serious Mode tonight, and spends pretty much the entire scene like that. He points out the more noteworthy stuff. First, that the Ozluminati forced Pyrrha into trying to get what remained of Amber's powers. While Qrow says they didn't force her, which is true...

...they kinda did emotionally trip her into doing so by Appealing to Consequences. Sure, she had a choice....but they did basically tell her that if she didn't do it, they would be doomed, and only she could do it, so in the end, she had no choice.

Jaune isn't in the mood to tolerate fallacies, so he storms out. And by that I mean just step a few feet away from the camp.

Ruby then asks the next set of questions: Why was Tyrian kicking their asses in the first place? He gives the obvious answer: "You're a SEW, Ruby. SEWs are powerful. Which means you're a target".

1b. LIGHT AND DARKNESS
Qrow then starts talking about something many people here have been wondering for ages: RELIGION. The art of superstition. The practice of sedition.

He mentions that the world's old enough for people to have created dozens of different gods over the times. But according to Ozpin, 2 of them, at the least, are not inventions, but facts.

Those 2 are a pair of brothers. "The Older Brother of Light", who enjoyed creating life, and "The Younger Brother of Darkness", who enjoyed creating destruction. Obviously, they disagreed on things. The Older One, Bob, created animals and plants while The Younger One, Steve, spent his time erasing them.

Yes, humanity. Not Faunus. They are never mentioned in the story. If those 2 are real, and they didn't make the Faunus, then the Faunus came after humanity...but from where?

Ren, then, asks what does all that have to do with them, or anything. Qrow....doesn't quite answer that. Instead, he then mentions that those 4 concepts: Creation, Destruction, Knowledge, and Choice, are not just concepts. But actual powers, with physical form, and if someone were to gather all 4, they could even play God and change the world.

It does make me wonder what exactly the powers give individually however. I mean, Creation and Destruction is simple enough, and Knowledge could be "know everything", but what would Choice give? Give someone the power to choose? .....Or maybe the power to force people into doing something ("denying them" the ability to choose)? Maybe even go beyond that, and manipulate the choices people make, esentially controlling them while giving the ilusion of free will.

Qrow also mentions a few other interesting things:

1) The academies exist to both train Hunters and guard the relics. This also means there's more than just 1 relic. At least, 1 per academy.

2) They were built around the relics, like fortresses, implying the relics are not artifacts that can just be carried and taken. This means Ozpin's cane is not the relic.

3) The academies have existed before Ozpin. Taking the wording literally, they were built by Ozpin's predecessor. Now, Ozpin is implied to be at least 80 years old, so the academies are older than that.

The question is if his predecessor was like him, with very damn long lifespan. <font style="color:#6495ED">The academies could be relatively recent, only 1-2 centuries old. Or they could have been created ages ago.

The idea behind the Academies being built around the Relics, was that that way, they could prevent them from being used by Humanatee against itself...and from being used by Salem. Which sounds <font style="color:#DC143C">foolishly idealistic, because it means <font style="color:#DC143C">every Academy has possession and control over a Relic. It's a wonder that they didn't abuse them.

...or maybe they did, and that led to some wars. <font style="color:#6495ED">Maybe that led to the Great War?

Ruby gets in on the funny mispronounciations, calling Salem "Seiloom" when asking Qrow if he means her. He responds with "that's right", and mentions how not much is known about her....then trolls us by dropping the subject by pointing out it doesn't matter, and that the only thing that matters is, that she must not get the relics or <font style="color:#DC143C">they'll all be dead.

2. OHANA MEANS FAMILY
Now we return to Polystralia.

We see Blake thinking about the inmortality of the crab, while staring at the empty bird cage in front of her in absolute serenity, before being startled by the sudden arrival of her mother, slightly trying to convince her to go in and talk instead of Forever Aloning outside.

For whatever reason, though....Blake went from the stressed-though-relatively-calm (as long as WF are not involved) girl we saw in Ep5....to the easily-triggered kiddophobic scaredy cat she was in Ep3. For reasons I cannot understand at all, she's suddenly triggered by her own father's voice.

Granted, <font style="color:#6495ED">it may have been the "dear" part. <font style="color:#DC143C">Adam makes everything sound creepy.

So...she...quietly...goes inside...and Alexander notices her. He inmediately drops all the paperwork he has left, and invites her to a conversation, Blake keeping her nervous face all this time.

The beginning is pretty comical, if only by how Blake is so nervous and awkward. After Blake ends up with sugary tea (when she apparently doesn't drink hers with sugar anymore), and burns her tongue when taking a sip, Alexander begins...the good, old "why don't you wear more clothes" conversation.

<font style="color:#DC143C">Goddammit Sun, you're really getting dumber every episode.

3. No one likes the crow
Back to the camp with the RNJRs and their dusty old crow.

They begin launching the next set of questions. "Why is no one doing anything?", "Why aren't we hurrying to Haven?", "Why keep it a secret?". Only the second question is a good one.

(Also the very first time I see Nora shitting her pants noticeably. <font style="color:#DC143C">Weird sight ).

Qrow admits, he has no idea what they should do now (besides heading to Haven, at least). After explaining the base of Remnant's current geopolitical situation, he expresses how he hopes Haven's Headmaster has answers. <font style="color:#6495ED">I assume he knows about Salem, so hopefully he can tell something about her. Like if <font style="color:#6495ED">she's really a parasite Grimm or Super Geist or something.

Then it becomes somewhat clear that RNJR, at least half of it, <font style="color:#DC143C">doesn't quite trust Qrow. Jaune spent an entire scene angry, Nora's tone after Qrow says "it's a long story" doesn't sound too friendly, and even Ruby questions why Qrow seemingly didn't trust them.

Ren...probably indiferent.

Qrow then starts talking about how crows are considered a sign of back luck. Which...it's rather questionable. I won't disagree it <font style="color:#DC143C">could just be Remnantese superstition, or something from his tribe, but are Crows really associated with misfortune?

-The Greeks associated them with Apollo and thought they were a symbol of GOOD luck.

-The Irish associated them with the Goddess Morrigan and by extension, with warfare and death. Which isn't necesarily bad luck. More like "your fate is sealed".

-The Welsh have Bran the Blessed, whose name means Raven or Crow, who is associated with Death and....Ravens and Crows.

-Some Native American cultures see the Crow as a Trickster God or even a Creator God.

-In the Middle Ages they were believed to be able to predict the future, predict the rain, predict ambushes, and live a very damn long time.

Overall...I see more <font style="color:#DC143C">positive views about Crows culturally than negative views. Qrow shouldn't feel so sad about it. He then goes onto a small tangent similar to Blake's in V2, about how "he's unlucky, and that's my Semblance".

Yes, you read right, his Semblance was <font style="color:#DC143C">not "turning into a crow". I knew we couldn't just jump in the bandwagon and say "that's his Semblance"...Of course, being "unlucky" is not a Semblance I like. Luck-related Semblances are a whole new level, and not in a good way.

-Watsonianly, it means <font style="color:#DC143C">Qrow's Semblance is to make the Winds of Destiny change so something bad happens. Yes, relative control over FATE itself

-Doyllistically, it means <font style="color:#DC143C">the writers can freely throw in Diabolus Ex Machinas around him without needing to explain themselves.

Overall, it's cheap, it only works to provide cheap excuses, and I don't like that. Which is why I'll bring this question: <font style="color:#6495ED">Is that true? Some people are lucky, others are unlucky. But that's just life. And life is full of coincidences. Things happen just because, most of the time.

<font style="color:#6495ED">Is his Semblance truly being unlucky? Or is he simply unlucky and only believes that's his Semblance, like some kind of Confirmation Bias? If a retcon ever came and made the second part true, it would probably be the first Ass Pull I would like.

...This does also bring the question of how did he seemingly turn into a crow, however. <font style="color:#6495ED">I'm perfectly sure it's some kind of magical BS, but...mmm...maybe it's some secret technique he learned in the tribe. If so, Raven likely knows how to do it too. <font style="color:#6495ED">What if she has also been watching so far? Not every crow would be Qrow.

Then Qrow just ditches them and "goes for a walk".

4. Conspicuous Hidden Ninja
We return to Polystralia, with Blake doing what I've wanted to do since Sun first appeared this Volume: Punch him in the face. Granted, she only slaps him (why can't women ever PUNCH someone's face instead, for once? Besides Yang, at least), though at least she does it twice.

Once the obvious ninja is obviously discovered, she jumps away and Blake gives chase. Kali appears and asks Sun what's going on. Instead of giving <font style="color:#DC143C">something useful like "WF Spy, Blake went after her", he simply says "WF ARE EVIL! I TOLD YA!"

5. Convenient Venom is Convenient
We begin our final scene with an example of what I meant before with Qrow's Unluck Semblance.

At what is probably 5-6 am, Team RNJR gets up. Everything seems fine, until Qrow starts coughing. Once Ruby gets close, we see his wound has become...purple. <font style="color:#FF69B4">Tyrian left his mark on him, even though his tail only <font style="color:#DC143C">grazed him instead of actually injecting anything.

That's not how it works, but whatever, <font style="color:#DC143C">Convenient Venom is Convenient.

He only manages to say "That's unfortunate" before <font style="color:#6495ED">dying. Woohoo, Happy New Year guys.

Conclusions
1) <font style="color:#DC143C">Jaune's favorite ice cream flavor is salt-water ice cream.

2) The whole idea of "God of Light who created life" and "God of Darkness who destroys it/made the monsters"....<font style="color:#DC143C">is so HORRIBLY cliché. It's disguting. There's nothing new, nothing even trying to be creative. At most, the part of humanity being made by both.

I've seen tales about Santa Clauss that are more original than that shit. Like this one: ''There were 2 Santas, a Black Santa and a White Santa. The white one gave gifts to the people who behaved well every Christmas, and was loved because of it. The black one instead gave charcoal to the ones who misbehaved, leading to him being hated by everyone.''

''The Black Santa resented his brother. He was jealous of all the love he received, while he only received disdain for doing his job. Eventually, it reached beyond his limit. The Black Santa grabbed some of his charcoal, and attacked the White Santa with it. He did not stop, he did not slow down. He just kept hitting and hitting.''

''Finaly, the Black Santa stopped. He realized what he had just done, and could not believe it. A flood of emotions flushed inside him. Happyness? Relief? ....No. It was sadness. Guilt. The Black Santa dropped his charcoal, and on his knees, cried for hours. Eventually, he stopped.''

''He knew that regardless, they still had duties to uphold. Overriden by guilt, the Black Santa took the clothes of his dead brother, now painted red with his blood, and decided to take on both of their responsibilities. He would bear the love, and the hate, of both, for all days to come.''

.....See it's more creative? Jeezus, they could've spiced things up with their gods at least.

3) Now that I think about it.....why are those 4 concepts available in physical form for seemingly-anyone to grab and abuse? Actually, why are those powers even available to begin with? <font style="color:#DC143C">Bob and Steve must be either apathetic or plainly stupid.

4) Mmm...there are 4 Academies....there are then 4 Relics....and there are 4 "Conceptual Powers". <font style="color:#6495ED">What if each Relic holds the power of each Conceptual Power? Building beyond that, <font style="color:#X6495ED">what if each Kingdom's general development was influenced by each power?

For example, <font style="color:#6495ED">Mistral had Creation, thus the supposed connection and love for nature. <font style="color:#6495ED">Vacuo had destruction, hence why it's pretty much a desert with little life. <font style="color:#6495ED">Atlas had Knowledge, and they are the most technologically advanced Kingdom, plus have more scientific knowledge on different things, like Aura, as a result.

Vale would then have Choice, though I'm not quite sure how that influenced them. Then again, I'm not even sure what Choice would even do.

5) Arryn...Blake's VA...she sounded <font style="color:#DC143C">a bit narmy during Blake and Alexander's conversation. Michael too, far more actually, after Sun knocked down the door. I can understand Arryn sounding narmy, it wouldn't be new, but Michael? <font style="color:#DC143C">Even when Sun was being a dumbass, he used to sound great anyway. What happened?

6) Ugh...Qrow's Semblance was disgusting. Without any slight foreshadowing, he suddenly reveals his Semblance is being Unlucky. <font style="color:#DC143C">Just so when he does turn out to be poisoned after all, people don't cry "Bullshit".

But I will, because <font style="color:#DC143C">that Semblance is bullshit, and was only thrown in to excuse the Diabolus Ex Machina, just like I said it was going to do. It's nothing but fucking bullshit, pulled out of nowhere, to justify bullshit pulled out of nowhere.

And they'll likely abuse his seeming death to make RNJR feel guilty about "not trusting him", when they had every reason not to (Ruby at least had some reasons herself). Ugh, fucking disgusting. The only good thing I can hope if he truly died is <font style="color:#6495ED">that Raven becomes more active, and I don't even like her, so that's a terrible consolation prize.

7) That ninja...she sounded femenine enough, and has a femenine hairstyle...but unless I looked wrong, she has vague-looking boobs and diminute ass.  When Weiss has more T&A, her femeninity becomes questionable. <font style="color:#6495ED">Maybe that ninja was a man?

Last year was terrible.

Mostly bad news after bad news.

Hope this year's better.