Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-4141313-20180602232623/@comment-27144409-20180602232910

BlizzardDragon wrote: So, I was checking the tropes for Reality Ensues and found the RWBY section. While they look fine to me, anyone think there are any issues that need to be fixed? I'll edit what you said, and bold the changes to show what I think is problematic.
 * Pyrrha, being too shy to confess her feelings, simply cultivates a friendship with the object of her affections, hoping he'll someday ask her out. He does not, and her feelings remain unrequited until she actually mans up (in a manner of speaking) and tells him about them.
 * Jaune forges academic transcripts and cheats his way into an elite military school, in a shonen-worthy attempt to become a hero. And were it not for Pyrrha's intervention, he would have died on the first day of basic training, since the first test involves being launched into the sky without parachutes, and he didn't have a landing strategy. Though he does improve greatly in terms of combat skill over time, and shows good leadership, he never quite reaches the level of his peers, who trained for far longer than he has. Nora teasingly implies that he's the weak link of the team in the third volume.
 * Ruby's impulsive, scatterbrained approach to battle nearly gets her killed by one of Weiss's attacks, and nearly again later on by a Deathstalker. While she is incredibly talented with her Crescent Rose scythe, Ruby relies on it far too much; she proves to be nearly helpless in combat situations where she's unarmed. She makes some progress in that regard by Volume 3, but barely enough to make a difference.
 * Blake's Heroic B.S.O.D.s over her traumatic past as a White Fang terrorist occasionally get so bad that her teammates have to remind her to eat and sleep.
 * Some mooks do not survive when the heroes knock them off the train inside a tunnel full of Grimm. Similarly, when the Mini-Mecha used against Team RWBY early in the season is deployed on top of the train, one well-placed strike is enough to knock it onto the tracks and velocity destroys it.
 * When one of the Big Bad's plans goes awry, killing many mooks in the process, the villains are not able to handwave it by saying We Have Reserves. As in any real life army, the soldiers left alive afterwards seriously consider defecting.
 * Ironwood grows frustrated and distrustful of Ozpin (the Wise, Cryptic Mentor Who Refuses To Tell Him The Whole Story), leading him to betray Ozpin politically and take matters into his own hands.
 * Ozpin, acting like a typical fantasy teacher, allows the freshman Team RWBY to send themselves on a mission outside their skill level so they can pursue the villains they've been chasing for most of the season. Not only do they get worn out and exhausted on the mission itself, when they actually find the villains the team is outmatched by their older, more experienced enemies. They fail to stop the villains from enacting a terrorist attack, the backlash of which results in Ozpin's political disgrace.
 * Ironwood supports the idea of having a majorly militarized Hunter army and relies heavily on machines, such as his flying airships and the Ridiculously Human Robot Penny, the latter of which no one knows she's actually a robot save for a select few. When Penny is ultimately killed in her tournament battle with Pyrrha and her nature is revealed to the world, Cindermakes a brilliant point into asking the horrified crowd why Ironwood would ever need akilling machine disguised as an innocent teenage girl, which further discredits him. And then things get worse for the guy when his huge mostly robotic army and fleet get hacked by Cinder and put under her control, leaving most of Vale at the villains' mercy.
 * Neo, Torchwick's Perky Female Minion, typically fights with a Parasol of Pain, which also has a Sword Cane. During Volume 3 Chapter 11, Ruby is able to defeat her by opening it up. The two were fighting on top of a airship in motion, so the umbrella catches the high winds and pulls Neo out of the action.
 * After beating up Ruby, Torchwick pauses to give a huge monologue about how Ruby is a fool because in the real world, heroes don't exist. All this does is leave him open to being eaten by a Griffon, which (as a Grimm) is drawn to negative emotions.
 * Yang's personality and fighting style is all about taking the direct approach; she uses her fists and shotgun gauntlets to fight, and she gets more powerful as she takes more damage. She's the strongest of Team RWBY...assuming that she can touch her opponent. Neocurbstomps her by simply dodging and countering all of her attacks. Late in Volume 3, Yang charges straight at Adam in a desperate attempt to save Blake. As shown in the Black Trailer, Adam is a powerful, fast swordsman, armed with a long blade capable of cutting through seemingly anything. Not only does Yang fail to land a punch, but Adam cuts off one of her arms and ends the fight with a single slice. Thus the team's powerhouse is instantly left crippled and curled up on the floor. Protective aura or not, Yang made a huge tactical mistake, and it cost her dearly. Nor is it so easy to recover from; she's left depressed and bedridden. Even after the Time Skip at the end of the Volume 3 finale, she still hasn't left her room.
 * Sun ends up finally blowing up at Blake in Volume 4 because of her It's Not You, It's My Enemies ideals, stating that their foes can hurt them badly, but it's her constant running away that hurts her friends the worst because she's making the decision to run away and stay away from them without seeing how it will hurt them.
 * A conflict involving Qrow and Tyrian has multiple aversions of Talking Is a Free Action. When Qrow confronts Tyrian, he begins talking in flowery speeches, the two begin bantering. Midway through one of Qrow's taunts, Tyrian attacks him. Later on, after Qrow saves Ruby from a falling wooden beam, and the two share a momentary look of mutual relief... and then Tyrian stabs Qrow with his stinger tail. And then, while Tyrian is laughing, Ruby cuts off his extended tail.
 * Raven's plans throughout Season 5 eventually put the Relic of Knowledge within her grasp. However, the reason she wants the relic is so that she has the power to keep Salem away. As Yang points out, revealing herself as the Spring Maiden has painted a giant target on her back, and taking the relic will only make that target even bigger. After realizing this Raven decides to just leave the relic and run.
 * The same traits that make Adam a fearsome warrior also make him a horrible leader. His hotheadedness and spitefulness lead him to make poor choices and alienate his support. By the time of the season 5 finale, his failed assassination of Blake's family has rallied Menagerie against him and cost him Ilia and the Albain brothers, his plan to blow up the CCT fails due to this, his dismissal of Hazel's input leading up to this moment costs him the support of Salem's faction, his own men abandon him after his attempt to blow them all up, and his running away obliterates whatever support he had left. In the end, he's alone and on the run with nothing to show for it.