Board Thread:Episode Discussion/@comment-4141313-20181110034633/@comment-25936766-20181112154246

Ok, finally saw the episode. Not much for meme potential or anything, sadly. Honestly I don't really have much to think about this episode.

1) I like the story (though it can easily be summarized as "It's all The Gods's fault"), but the special effects are fucking AWFUL in this episode. Multiple times the effects are 2D, which stands out severely when put alongside the 3D characters and environment. It's like taking a picture of a cube and drawing a line on Microsoft Paint over it.

And at one point, around the 13:45 mark, we see Grimm walking on the spot, not to mention that they do so in front of a completely 2D background that has no depth whatsoever. I even took a pic that shows that one of the Nevermores isn't even properly aligned with the house it's standing on.

That's the kind of shit we got back in Volume 1. Back then it was tolerable, since there was little budget and manpower. At this point in time? It's just unacceptable, and looks much uglier than it did back then.

And on a smaller note, there's no blood or wound or cut on Salem after she stabs herself.

2) The episode is 100% Ozpin-and-Salem. It shows us why the Moon is broken, which is cool, as well as showing us Bob the God of Light and Steve the God of Darkness. It shows us a bit more about Magic, also cool.

....But, it also ignores the question of how Dust came to be. There's the implication that it's derived from magic, since those spheres of light that Salem and her daughter make have the same colors as the different Dust elements (Red, Yellow, Blue, Green, Purple, Cyan). But we still are never told or shown just where did they come from.

And of course, the Faunus. We are literally just told that they suddenly showed up. It's nice to see real Faunus discrimination, having them locked in cages, but that question is still quite up in the air.

We also have no idea of why Aura and Semblances even exist. The best we have is Salem showing the same visual effect as the one for Aura when she's granted her Inmortality, but that doesn't explain why everyone else would have the same power (to a much more limited extent, but still).

3) It also confirms which Relics are which, which is great. Assuming Ozpin didn't, say, hide the Sword in the Kingdom with the spear symbol to troll Salem, Vacuo has Destruction and Atlas has Creation....which is pretty much what most of us had concluded already.

4) I find it interesting that Bob's dragon form is an Eastern Dragon while Steve's is an European one. I could assume that MK did it because it was cool and nothing more, but assuming it actually has a symbolic reason behind it, it makes sense for those choices.

European dragons are creatures of destruction, basically. They come, they ravage and burn down. Sometimes they also double as symbols of other things, but in the end dragons were usually seen as powerful monsters.

Eastern dragons are also seen as symbols of power and authority, but in China they are seen in a positive light, as symbols of prosperity and good luck in a general sense. It's pretty hard to find any negative depiction of an Eastern dragon in the east.

5) Let's count Ozpin's known incarnations. First, he was a Knight. Then a farmer. Then a hobo. Then a drunk. Then a hipster family man. Then a businessman with fancy moustache. Then we skip to Oscar.

Including Ozpin that's a minimum of 8 incarnations up to now. Quite the interesting list. However, I can't help but wonder why all of the ones that spoke, had the same voice as Oscar....except Ozpin. It makes little sense.

6) I feel it's rather clear that Salem and Ozpifarmer's 4 daughters are the original Maidens. It's not just because they can use Magic though; when Salem made the tiny balls of magic show up, it was 6 colored like Dust elements, along with the 4 that stand for the "gifts from the Gods". When the daughter does the same, she only has the Dust elements.

It fits pretty well. The daughters, and thus the Maidens, only have the elemental powers. They don't have the powers of Creation or Destruction, like Ozpin and Salem do. Speaking of which, Salem having magic explains some other things as well. Like that glove Cinder used that released the Maiden-sucking Grimm bug. "Salem made it with magic!".

However, let's consider another thing: Ozpin mentioned that his magic was diminishing. For all that it has lasted, it's ultimately limited. The question is, does this apply to Salem as well? It would mean that eventually she would be invulnerable, but powerless to do anything.

7) Speaking of which, it's already kind of obvious how the series will end. Salem cannot be killed, they can't just go fight her because she won't die. So, RWBY and co. will go around the Kingdoms to get everyone to get along together. Then they will call the Gods and they will see humanity as "redeemed", and fix everything.

The alternative is that Ruby goes up to Salem and uses her Cheap Optimistic One-Liners to make Salem learn to let it go. Which should make her Inmortality go away since that was the whole point behind it. And then they kill her.

8) Also, now that everyone knows Ozpin's lifestory, I wonder how Yang and Weiss will react. They already were willing to attack him for keeping things to himself (sometimes for good reason, sometimes not). Will any of the things they saw change anything, or will they really spend the rest of the Volume being the resident "Ozpin sucks" characters in Jaune's absence?

I hope it's the former, the latter was quickly getting old and going beyond reasonable.

Also, I noticed Maria never showed up in the visions. Did she....see nothing? Seriously, she must be the most confused and weirded-out person in Remnant right now.