User blog:SomeoneYouUsedToKnow/SYUTK's V5E12 - OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN - Impressions/Recap

PREVIOUSLY ON RWBY

In other news, this thing.

For newcomers to this thing, this is basically me, making an informal recap of what happened in the episode, while giving my thoughts about what happens. It also includes fancy color speak, the Language of Truth, of which 2 colors are particularly notable:

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

Blue means a guess, an hypothesis, a theory.

If you've read these blogs of mine before, you would realize the captions in each pic look different from usual. And they do.

A constant problem in a gallery is that when Pic 1 is "tall" and Pic 2 isn't - or better said, when one of the pics in a row is not square or rectangular (tall) - then the captions for ALL the pics in that row end up very separated from their respective pics, which can make it annoying to read at times.

This time I'm testing out using the captions within the pics instead of below them, to see if that problem is solved while there's still a good chunk of the actual pic left visible.

Feel free to say what you feel about it, whether it's better or worse.

Now, this was written as I saw the episode, for those who don't know....and it would've been finished sooner, but....spoiler alert, I couldn't handle the episode around the 6:30 mark when I watched it on Sunday, I needed to stop, my brain, my patience, couldn't tolerate it for much longer.

That said, let's move on to the episode. We start our day with:

Triumph (or Triumph!)
Right before I watched this ep, I realized....after being beaten up a bit by Oscar, Leo said: ''This can’t be… I knew you would be back, but… you made it here! You found Qrow! How?''

"Found Qrow"..........we know that Ozpin had sent him to scout Salem's base during/before Vol.1 and 2. Yet Leo says "Found", as if Qrow had been missing instead.

At first, I thought that Leo didn't know that Qrow was sent on a mission. But that makes no real sense. Being part of Ozpin's Ozluminati he should know what kind of missions Qrow does for Ozpin.

At the same time every line he said back in Episode 1 gave the impression that he never assumed Qrow was missing, instead it more or less states that he knew they were coming.

So then I thought, that maybe that was just part of how surprised/impressed he was with Ozpin. Which makes sense; Ozpin didn't just come back, he made it to Mistral and even met up with Qrow, in less than a year at that.

Though then the line that comes inmediately after - Ozpin's "what happened to you?" line - feels a bit....strange. Like, a bit lacking in coherence when alongside the previous line on the script.

Maybe it was just me being confused. Or maybe it was just weird word choice by Miles. Considering he thought it was a good idea to say "Terminated" to state "everyone's dead", it seems believable.

2) Compost King vs ZEUS (or Thor, or Meganada, or whtv)
I still can't believe so many people thought they would kill off Weiss. She has main protagonist privilegies.

If anything, people should've been more worried about Jaune, going off to fight a Maiden by himself. Or Oscar, whose Aura dropped after Leo blasted him with a Meteor, because Oscar wanted to show off instead of rolling to the side.

Meawhile, on the elevator...
"After you", said Cinder to the raven-haired lady beside her, before the two Maidens walked away into the Vault, leaving Raven behind.

........I'm no CinemaSins, but I'm perfectly sure there would be a DING right here. She says "after you", then they walk in before her.

That aside....this is the Relic's Vault, not a Maiden Vault. Why does Cinder speak as if she saw the Relic's Vault at Beacon?

What Cinder saw was a Vault, where Amber was located, kept on life-support. She never even tried to obtain the Relic, or better said she ended up Silver Blasted before she even could start.

This Vault, meanwhile, wasn't made to hide an injured Maiden, it was made to harbor the Relic of Knowledge. So, why is Cinder comparing it to the Vault she saw at Beacon?

Red means truth, fact She's comparing apples and oranges: A Vault to keep a Maiden and a Vault to keep a Relic. And if the Vault at Beacon led to the Relic, why didn't Cinder stay and look for the Relic after killing Ozpin?

It's not really a huge plothole that ruins the story, but it feels like the writters forgot what they wrote in Volume 3.

Assuming, of course, that the Relics existed back in Vol.3. If they didn't it explains why Cinder didn't look for the Relic of Choice if she was in the Vault and Ozpin was dead.

Now back to the kids
Ooooh....finally, she gets downright angry. Not "sad-angry" like with Penny. Outright angry.

....Though personally it's quite the tremendously-tranquil fury. If she didn't outright said she was angry, I would've never realized she was truly angry and not just serious.

In any case, at least they're finally going to fight AS A TEAM (or as a pair, at least). Took their sweet time.

3) Did you actually believe...?
I'm going to admit, compared to the previous twist....this one's not so bad. Pretty good, actually.

Conclusions
This, really is one of the worst episodes of this season, in quite a lot of ways.

On a technical level it feels rushed, and many technical problems become worse due to the questionable writing that accompanies them.

The Shot Continuity Errors that have been prevalent for years and were everywhere back in Volume 4, aren't just also present here, they are present in some of the most unforgivable, unbelievable and inexcusable ways possible.

For example, Qrow saves Oscar and pulls out his Scythe, facing Hazel, all 3 standing at the center of the room. Then we inmediately switch to Yang's PoV, who looks from left-to right as Cinder and co. enter the elevator. And when she looks at the center of the room, neither Qrow, Hazel nor Oscar are visible.

Which is inexcusable because it's just matter of grabbing their models, and putting them there (or better said, leaving them there). It's literally one of the most basic and trivial parts of animation, analogous to copy-pasting a picture.

And then we cut to Oscar trying his damnest to not get Lightning-Pounded into the ground by Hazel, Qrow nowhere to be seen. Until Oscar is sent flying away, where, if you have a good eye or pause the video at the right time, he's suddenly crouching near the right side of the room, weapon in Sword-mode.

<font style="color:#DC143C">Not only is it a very lazy and cheap way to "explain" where the hell he was, it makes the Scythe feels like it was just teasing us, because despite Qrow pulling it out, he never uses it at all and after the tease, he spends the rest of the ep with the weapon in Sword-mode.

Actually, when was the last time we saw Qrow actually fight someone using the Scythe? I can't recall at all at this point.

Another technical problem, at least in my eyes, is the facial animation here. Not that it's bad, but rather, when you hear the VAs, <font style="color:#DC143C">you can feel the passion and emotion they all put into their lines.

But the characters's faces don't reflect that level of emotion, which just makes it more obvious than normal how in RT no one talks to anyone during production.

With Hazel this isn't the case at all, and neither it is with Jaune IMO though in his case it makes sense. But there were a few times with Oscar and Ruby where it was, sometimes not too bad, sometimes pretty bad.

Then there's the moments where it's either bad writing or people being freaking stupid. For example, Ruby sees Yang getting her ass kicked around, and does nothing but watch for more than a minute before she even thinks about helping her out.

<font style="color:#DC143C">The same girl who took some initiative and tried to jump-attack Cinder after Jaune attacked her, in the previous episode. You'd think she would've done the same sooner if she saw her sister being beaten up.

And in a more general sense, there's Nora. <font style="color:#DC143C">Who stays off-screen for nearly the entire episode and until like the last 4 minutes, never even tried to help anyone. Never tried to throw a grenade at Emerald, or help Oscar out with the guy WITH LIGHTNING HANDS, and she only even thinks of doing the latter after many minutes.

What the hell, seriously.

Now, it's pretty obvious that this episode is shit, and only avoids being the worst episode of this Volume by virtue of the fact that stuff actually happens. (The honor of Worst Episode still goes to Ep6)

BUT, whether it's better or worse than the previous episode is a better question.

Narratively, well...<font style="color:#DC143C">it had more narrative, for starters. It actually has twists and interesting parts, like Hazel using Dust Infusion to get an abominable voice and lightning arms. Or Raven being the Maiden all along.

But in last ep, <font style="color:#DC143C">the biggest problem was either momentary stupidity or the fact that the Teamfight did not feel like a Teamfight at all, with massive lack of teamwork and all.

But this time it's not momentary stupidity or lack of teamwork. The characters <font style="color:#DC143C">outright just watch their teammates get beaten up for hours before even thinking to do anything.

Nora outright vanishes and does nothing for almost the entire episode when she should've been the first one to try to help Oscar once Hazel pulled out the Lightning Dust. And Ruby watches Yang get her ass handed to her instead of jumping at her to help her out.

So, overall, I'd say this episode is more INTERESTING, but at the same time, It's WORSE than the previous episode. Worse written, for the greater most part.

That said, I need to give an applause to RT for the Raven twist. It caught me and likely you off-guard, <font style="color:#DC143C">and it's not bullshit, it was something that made sense. And in fact it can change perception of Raven herself, at the very least makes her look less stupid than before.

Since the Opening, we all thought Vernal was the Spring Maiden, <font style="color:#DC143C">they made it as obvious as they could, and we are so used to them making things painfully obvious, that we thought they did it again.

But now, it turns out she wasn't, it was Raven. And it's something that when you look back, it doesn't come out of nowhere, it was a reasonable possibility.

1> The Spring Maiden ran away long ago. Qrow thought she ended up finding Raven's camp. We assumed Raven added her to the clan, even though it's retarded for someone who doesn't want to be part of Oz-and-Sal's fight to do that. <font style="color:#6495ED">But what if Raven killed her instead? She gets the powers and uses them as subtly as she want.

There's the question of her age, but given she was at least 21 when she graduated from Beacon, and we don't know how long she stayed before returning to DA TRIBE, that means <font style="color:#6495ED">she could've found and killed Spring when she was about as old as Cinder is now.

On the matter of age, we also know now that the Maiden powers can stay even if one is like 40 years old. The question is <font style="color:#6495ED">if they just stay or if they stay if someone stays young in mind (I legit can see Raven being all "I'm forever 17!").

2> On the topic of subtlety, her mask. We all assumed that Vernal didn't show the Maiden Mask because she had far more control of her powers than Cinder did, and because she wasn't so obsessed with showing off. Since we don't know jack-shit about the Maiden Powers beyond "Elements", it sounded plausible.

But now, we know Vernal was never the Maiden, Raven was. And while it might've been the lighting in the area, her Maiden Mask looks far more <font style="color:#FF0000">Red and far less <font style="color:#FFA500">Orange than Cinder's. In fact, her Maiden Mask isn't even yellow, it's <font style="color:#FFFFFF">White -and-<font style="color:#FF0000">Red.

Now consider how the eyes in her mask <font style="color:#DC143C">seem to light up Red everytime she puts it on. And the fact that <font style="color:#DC143C">she had her mask on when Vernal showed off her powers.

Overall, <font style="color:#DC143C">Miles played us like a damn fiddle here. It was an expert abuse of expectations to deceive and trick the audience. Granted, <font style="color:#DC143C">said expectations were based on disappointment, but still. It was a good twist.

Now, read this. The hottest color possible for organic materials in general, is <font style="color:#FFFFFF">White. The flame is white at the shortest, closest distance from the body. If not <font style="color:#FFFFFF">White, then it's <font style="color:#FFFF00">Yellow , but still it's the hottest region of the flames. Above it, lies <font style="color:#FFA500">Orange which is cooler, and <font style="color:#FF0000">Red which is even cooler. And above red combustion no longer occurs.

Basically, the difference between Red fire and White fire, is about 1000 degrees, with temperature dropping the further away you get from the "heart" of the flame. Now consider how Cinder's is mostly Orange, while Raven's is mostly White.

Assuming this means anything, Raven is a more powerful Maiden than Cinder. And that's leaving out all the skill/training/experience difference between them.

Overall, this twist is pretty much the best part of the episode in terms of narrative and writing. Or the only good part.

THAT SAID, I do like more the idea that Vernal really was the Spring Maiden, and that the Maiden Powers don't stack (Fall Maiden can't get Spring's powers and vice versa).

Because then that means that Cinder just killed the Spring Maiden for nothing, before getting the Relic, and thus her decision to be an asshole for POWAAH UNLIMITED POWAAH, ruined their entire plan.

It just sounds so poetic to me.

Now, the other twist...Jaune's healing. Let's assume <font style="color:#6495ED">that's his Semblance and not just Magic he pulled out of his ass.

Now, on one hand, I do admit and agree, <font style="color:#DC143C">that it's extremely convenient, was never implied or foreshadowed in the slightest, and in fact it goes against what was foreshadowed in Volume 1 - a Shield or Counter ability - which MONTY HIMSELF said was a glimpse of his Semblance.

.........However, in terms of "bullshit introduced out of nowhere that it's perfectly convenient", <font style="color:#DC143C">this is probably the most tolerable and acceptable case in the entire show. For these reasons:

1> Personality: <font style="color:#DC143C">Semblances reflect aspects of one-self, or better said can. Back in Volume 1-3, he wanted to be the Hero, the Knight in Shining Armor who swoops down upon Ebil and saves the day. And a Shield Semblance reflects that idea well-enough.

But, after Pyrrha died, Jaune became far less focused on being a Hero, and overall cares more about no one dying on him again. <font style="color:#DC143C">His character changed, at least in this regard. And it would make sense that if one's character changes, their Semblance could change too, especially when it hasn't been discovered yet and is thus in the "anything can happen" stage.

2> Theme: Jaune, with his appearance (especially his Vol.4+ one), his use of a Sword and Shield, and not having an aggressive fighting style (at least after he learned how to fight), <font style="color:#DC143C">isn't really much of a Warrior, but rather more of a Paladin. The Archetypical, Stereotypical White Knight of Fantasy Fiction.

Paladins historically have been portrayed with Light powers, of which a very common one is Healing magic, even if not on par with an actual Healer's. So Jaune having a Healing Semblance, <font style="color:#DC143C">fits him thematically.

Also, there's a more hypothetical but still possible idea. See, originally that "glimpse" of his Semblance didn't just involve Cardin's hand hurting, but also Jaune apparently healing.

Supposedly, that was an animation mistake that they never fixed. But, what if <font style="color:#6495ED">they took advantage of this, and changed the idea for Jaune's Semblance into something that did involve Healing?

Which would be in line with what we saw in the show, in spite of the commentaries, and it'd be preferred since not everyone watches (or cares about) the commentaries.

And more optimistically....<font style="color:#DC143C">it covers Weiss entirely. Like a veil of sorts. She hasn't been attacked, and the idea is that she isn't, but leaving aside the Healing, it looks quite like a barrier, like a Shield.

So perhaps <font style="color:#6495ED">it IS still a Shield-like Semblance, only that it doesn't just protect, but instead it also Heals whoever is being shielded.

Hence why I'm not exploding in a rage or anything about Jaune healing Weiss by touching her up for the entire episode. <font style="color:#DC143C">It's not that bad this time.

Then comes Hazel doping with Dust.

It makes his manliness feel rather fake, if you ask me, but <font style="color:#DC143C">the idea in itself, is very damn cool even if it's different from what I was expecting. I already talked about it before so I'll focus more on what we see:

1> <font style="color:#DC143C">It involves literally stabbing yourself with Raw, Uncut Dust. Whether it can be done in other ways needs to be seen.

2> <font style="color:#DC143C">It alters your voice, and at least with Hazel it caused his scars (Which I originally thought were Dust Tattoos....guess I wasn't too far off?) to ocasionally glow yellow/golden like the Lightning Dust, on top of all the sparks running across them.

3> <font style="color:#DC143C">Elemental energy is released with every attack, but not just as small shockwaves when you hit something. Hazel twice or thrice, shot some small Lightning a small distance forward, just by punching.

4> While stabbing yourself with Lightning Dust looked painful, <font style="color:#DC143C">it doesn't seem like it has any noticeably-bad side effects. Unless I somehow missed Hazel having an epileptic attack at some point. So it's painful, but that's it.

Now, the parts regarding the Voice and the glow and stuff are likely not as obvious-looking or as severe, if one doesn't inject 8 Dust Crystals. But everything else still stands.

And, that's pretty much it with this episode. Oscar vs Hazel and Ozpin vs Hazel looked good, the latter outright cool, and this episode had some interesting things shown or revealed (and one that should have never been done).

But in an overall sense it feels rushed technically, and sloppily written. It's not really a good episode. It's interesting, but not a good episode at all.

FUNNY V5E12 PICS :D !!!
Now, Hazel screams a lot so there's far more places to take pics from. Feel free to take another one.

Vernal also has many moments where she makes "Are you kidding me" faces, but I already took one the previous episode so I didn't need any.

Cinder though. She really was enjoying the trip to the Vault.