Board Thread:Episode Discussion/@comment-4141313-20181229081856/@comment-4010415-20181230022436

Gundam Legilis wrote:

Also, it just makes everything kind of redundant, so that either Saffron can dispense some advice that translates into RWBY using non-violent ways of confronting Salem, or so Jaune can have his Pyrrha moment with the identical redhead, which is also kind of redundant. It's as if Oscar leaving only leads to these two scenarios on purpose, which were boring and takes up time, given how not much new info is given out compared to the villains. 1. JNR felt like real people because of the emotional strife that the revelation about Salem caused in them, and MMK needed a way to pull them back into the fight (remember that Monty, Miles, and Kerry all three planned the outline for the entire story ahead of time).

Also, I don't know if you roleplay or write character-driven stories, but there comes a point where your characters just kind of take on minds of their own and react to situations however the hell they want to react to them. If you're a good roleplayer/writer, you don't force them to act out of character just to move them where you want them to go. You find a way to manipulate the circumstances and story around them to get them to decide for themselves that they want to go in the direction you want them to.

It's like playing The Sims, without a setting to turn off free will, and with more influence on the world around them.

I used this example years ago when talking about this phenomenon, but basically, imagine if they want Weiss to take the story down a certain path, but she would normally refuse to do whatever that path requires. Maybe MK could pair her with a character who causes her to go down that path or create circumstances around her that make her feel like she has no better choice.

2. Jaune having his moment with the mysterious redhead voiced by Jen Brown was a way for MK to introduce that character before she becomes super important.

They try to make a habit out of establishing the existence of characters who will be important later, hence awkwardly forcing a mention of Winter in Volume 2.

People complained about the "pointlessness" of Oscar's introductory scene where all we do is watch him do his farm chores, but the point of that scene was to introduce us to Oscar as a character before his importance and relevance came to light as Ozpin's new host. That way, he wouldn't come so out of the blue.