Board Thread:Off Topic/@comment-27082610-20160429173411/@comment-27447621-20160501005052

CushionySiren3 wrote: Thank you, I work hard to really flesh out my characters and make them seem realistic.

(Going to be skipping points we agreed upon and head right to the ones that I feel we can discuss) For Automne's semblance, the lack of a cue is meant to compliment his ability to fade from sight without warning. But if I had to think of one maybe his shadow could disappear before he activates his semblance. What do you think?

To address your final issue: With the exception of bullies, in a sense they're pretty much all of those. Team Taupe are background characters, to the show, who have their own goals and their own plot going for them. The plot being that the team is pretty much the laughing stock of Beacon since they constantly fail team exams and act like complete jackasses. To fix this Petunia, the proud megalomaniac that she is, ropes the team into a dangerous adventure that she believes will earn them the praise of the people of Vale and leave them all satisfied in the end. Problem is though that the adventure is too big for them too handle and between their constant in-fighting and lack of skill they're set up for failure.

The story is, very much so, a dark comedy/drama seeing as characters like Automne can suffer serious, gruesome injuries (i.e. falling onto a piece of rebar that pierces straight through his shoulder) which they will later be mocked for by their own teammates. They're not all horrible people though, and they're not even intended to be viewed as bad people. Eve for example is a wholesome, kind-hearted girl who struggles with the fact that she has to watch her teammates regularly get the shit beaten out of them only for her, the team medic, to be held responsible for their well-being. Even Petunia's quest for social recognition and approval stems from a need to impress an ex-girlfriend and prove that she can stand as her own person.

The intent of Team Taupe is to focus upon the motivations of characters as individuals and show how those individuals struggle to find happiness, satisfaction and balance in their lives. And what better way is there to do that than to throw four hormonally unbalanced, highly armed, extremely dangerous teenagers into one room and tell them they're going to be living and working together for the next four years? None I tell you. As Spirited said, the cue doesn't have to be seen by the other characters in the show, just by the audience. Heck, you could have a fireworks display before he disappears and only the Audience could know that he was activating his Semblance. However, I think the disappearing shadow is a really good idea for a stealth Semblance, and would work great as an activation cue.

To answer the last collection of points, that's actually a REALLY cool idea that deviates a lot from the classic story that still fits into the RWBY-verse.

But it has a major sticking point that I can see. If the characters are lackluster as Huntsmen and Huntresses, how do they get into the school in the first place? Ozpin mentions a rigorous entrance exam while talking to Blake after her first fight with Roman at the end of V1, so how did your characters pass that if they're bad enough to "Constantly fail exams"?

Besides that one problem, though, this is a neat new take on the story.