User blog:Gundam Legilis/WOR: Vytal Festival Reviews

''Any negativity is used for satire and should be treated as such, I love RWBY and Monty BTW. Ugh, I hate having to put these warnings.''

Hello everybody!

The time of year is upon us, and what better way to celebrate for Volume 3 than to review what's already out there?

So this week, World of Remnant returns with the Vytal Festival. And, I must honestly say that yeah, it's at least better than the Volume 2 poop dump ... I mean, exposition dump.

The first thing you notice are all the technical improvements. Well, actually, the first thing you notice is Shannon McCormick doing the narrating instead of Jen Taylor. Don't get me wrong, she's a wonderful actress, but at least an VA of her stature doesn't have to be bogged down by the godawful writing. (In all seriousness, it needs to be improved).

So yes, Ozpin's probably narrating these episodes, telling from the more positive, feel good angle, as if his "A Time Of Peace" propaganda wasn't already enough.

Anyways, where were we? Oh yes. The episode starts off with nice shit like the brighter Technicolor People and backgrounds, and special FX, instead of that monochrome mess finger painted in black and brown. (Brighter than Volume 2 at least)

Then we start off with the four Kingdoms being at war before the festival starts. While it's great that there was a reason for the Vytal Festival to exist, bear in mind that there's no specific details about this Remnant World War? Who started it? Which war was it? Unless this is elaborated in detail, then it's another war we know almost nothing about, like the Grimm War, of the Faunus Rights Revolutions, or the Color War. (Besides, they need to specify how many years ago the war was, for people who haven't seen the Vytal Festival poster.) Also, did each Kingdom specialize in only one specific form of combat? Cause' that's kinda retarded, to not have a diversified army that fights with many styles, if you know what I mean.

Then comes the part about Vytal. While we're glad that another dot on the planet of Remnant is identified and at least has a purpose, that's basically it. This is just another landmass that people give brief attention to but never go into detail. What happens on Vytal? Do people live there? Do they fend off the Grimm there? Is it the UN headquarters of Remnant?

And don't get me started on the inconsistency of the travelling to host Kingdoms sort of nonsense. If students start coming in 5 months before the actual tournament in the second semester, why do the Kingdoms open their doors to other Kingdoms during the start of the festival every two years? I mean come on! Is there no such thing as commercial travelling? What makes you think that commercial flights to the other Kingdoms, escorted by air fleets is not remotely possible? It was possible to guard cargo with androids, so why not add security to the planes, in case of Grimm attacks? (And boats. Don't forget boats.)

And for that matter, if it takes once per year for large amounts of civilians to travel to one Kingdom, what makes you think that they can be safe only around festival time en route to a Kingdom, and not on commercial flights on the rest of the year? And what about the safety of the foreign exchange students 5 months ago? What makes you think that they can get to Vale safely, with a minority of them actually able to defend themselves in the air?

Then there is the lack of globalization crap. Why do the countries insist on keeping minimal globalization practices, only trading for resources? There should be multi-national corporations setting up shops for all Kingdoms! There should be a mix of every single culture in all of the Kingdoms! Why do they insist on using isolationist practices *cough*North Korea *cough* and show their cultures once a year? This shouldn't be happening especially with the friendly bonds between the four Kingdoms in a technologically advanced society!

Next, we head to the Huntsman Academies. Why did they only come into existence after the war? I mean, I thought the academies were designed to primarily fight the Grimm, not to settle civil wars. Plus, isn't it technically possible to establish a Huntsman school (albeit a run-down one) in one's own Kingdom? Why does it take a war to do that? And we still don't know about the other three academies.

Also, they need to explain which war the CCT came after.

How many teams will be participating? What are the rules when deciding the representatives of the Kingdoms? And how many teams will be eliminated from the qualifiers? What's the prize other than national bragging rights?

While I do appreciate the reasoning behind Amity Colosseum, I have to wonder aside from the fact that it looks like a Beyblade, how they can actually hope to defend the Colosseum when they could barely contain that Grimm outbreak after the failed mission in Vale. I know that the obvious cliché is coming: Cinder's going to hijack it and use it to attack the Kingdoms via terrorist attack, mobile fortress, apocalyptic event, or framing a Kingdom back into civil war, and Penny is going to save the day (I'll speculate on that later).

If the four Kingdoms can make floating arenas, why can't they make floating colonies to explore the rest of Remnant? Why can't they work together and do that instead of making another Mountain Glenn situation? It would certainly help with not being fundamentally trapped inside Attack on Titan walls.

And that last line is so damn obvious. Not only is Cinder tempted, but it's practically impossible due to human nature. Clearly the narrator hasn't figured out that humans can still go to war at some point in time.

Overall, I have to give credit where credit is due. They started elaborating on the festival, and kept it less vague compared to last Volume. They started to use visual exposition too. The change in narrator also forces a change of perspective that's not all doom and gloom. It also focuses on giving exposition on something that we don't know a lot about, unlike the last few World of Remnant episodes, particularly Kingdoms.

But it may not be enough. It's still too vague, and there are now a shitload more questions than answers. I would hope that the next few episodes would be better, but who am I kidding ...

Thoughts?

-Gundam Legilis

P.S. How did you like my Fatmanfalling impression?