User blog:SomeoneYouUsedToKnow/"They are just standing around and talking"

So, as I was writing my Impressions/Recap for V5E7, decided to read up on some of the commentaries about the latest ep in RT's website. And it seems that the complains about lack of action are getting bigger.

Since V4 many have complained about the lack of action, and the decreasing quality of said action compared to Monty's. I even saw at least 3 people basically describe Vol.5 as if it was Red vs Blue: "they're just standing around and talking". So, I wondered....is the action actually decreasing? Did this show go from an action series with a story, to a story with a few action scenes?

Now, even action series don't need to have a fight literally every episode, but this is a show that became popular due to it's action scenes, and was created by a guy who became famous for his action videos. People came here expecting fights, and the show delivered fights.

But how much does it deliver nowadays? That's the point of this blog. A comparison between Volumes of how many fights do they have, and how spread out and separated from each other those fights are within a Volume.

I am not taking into account the quality of those fights. But solely their numbers, and how many of them count as "Major" fights IMO. It's one thing for the action to get worse. It's another for the action to become more scarce. And that's what I'm focusing on.

Now, note: I call "Major fight" those that, due to the scale, weight and/or length compared to the rest, stand out. They aren't necesarily a 1vs1 duel or even a fight between named characters. Also note, that I am including the character trailers and shorts in this.

Volume 1

 * R-W-B-Y trailers.


 * Ep1, fight between Ruby and Junior's mooks then Glynda vs Cinder on a plane.


 * Some very minor "fights" that don't really count in the Emerald Forest.


 * Ren's fight with the Taijitu in Ep6 or 7.


 * RWBY + JNPR's fight with EdgyBirb and Scorpion in Ep8.


 * Weiss's fight with the Boarbatusk in Ep10


 * Jaune's fight with Cardin in Ep11 and wit


 * h the Ursa Major in Ep14


 * Blake and Sun's fight with Roman in Ep16.

Total: 11 fights, if we count Ruby vs Mooks and Glynda vs Cinder in Ep1 as 1 fight, and do the same with both fights in Ep8, as well as counting Jaune getting his ass trashed by Cardin. If you don't, it's 10, and 12 if you separate the aforementioned ones in Ep1 and Ep8. Of those 11 fights, I count Ren vs King Taijitu, the fight in Ep8, and the fight with Roman in Ep16 as Major Fights.

Spacing: Pretty small. Ep 1 is mostly a fight, and while there's quite some waiting for a Good fight afterwards, starting from Ren's fight with the Taijitu each fight comes only a few episodes after the last, especially if you condense the Part 1-and-2 eps into 1 single episode.

Volume 2

 * Food fight in Ep1 that was practically the whole episode.


 * RWBY vs Paladin in Ep4.


 * Pyrrha vs CRDL in Ep5 followed inmediately by Merc vs Pyrrha in the same episode.


 * Cinder's fight with the Atlesian guards in Ep7, followed by her "fight" with Ruby in the same episode afterwards.


 * Minor fights in Mt.Glenn that don't really count here.


 * No Brakes and Breach as a whole, the former throwing in Neo vs Yang, Banesaw vs Weiss and Roman vs Blake, though I can't call the last one a fight.

Total: 9 fights, if you count Pyrrha vs Merc, Ruby vs Cinder and Blake vs Roman. If you don't, it's 6 fights, of which I consider RWBY vs Paladin, and No Brakes and Breach in general, as Major fights.

Spacing: We literally start with a fight in Ep1, and there isn't much action until Ep4. However, then we get Ep5 that throws a Twofer if you count Merc-Pyrrha's sparring session. Then there's Ep7 giving us another pair of action scenes, even if smaller than the previous ones.

There's a few action bits of questionable quality afterwards, but they are followed by one of the most action-packed episodes in this show in Ep11, 4 eps after Cinder's moment, with 2-3 fights even if leaving out all the demolition of WF mooks. And then comes Breach, which is a terrible episode but it was a big fight nonetheless.

Volume 3
...Hoooo boy. Every single episode, from 1 to 7, have a fight.


 * RWBY vs ABRN in Ep1.


 * JNPR vs BRNZ in Ep2 followed by SSSN vs NDGO in the same episode.


 * Qrow vs Winter in Ep3.


 * Emerald/Merc vs Coco/Daichi in Ep4.


 * Weiss/Yang vs Flynt/Neon in Ep5.


 * Yang vs Merc in Ep6.


 * CME vs Amber in Ep7.

And this is when we get a pause. A pause that last literally only 1 episode, because at Ep9 we go back to getting weekly action, of bigger scale too.


 * Pyrrha vs Penny in Ep9.


 * The Battle of Beacon in general in Ep10 and 11, with multiple small conflicts here and there, but I'm going to count just the fight in the Beacon Courtyard and Ironwood vs AlphaBeowulf for Ep10.


 * For Ep11 there's Ruby vs Roman and Neo, and Blake vs Adam.


 * For Ep12, Ozpin vs Cinder and Pyrrha vs Cinder.

Total: 15 fights, depending on which ones you count in the entire Battle of Beacon, and whether you count Blake vs Adam or not. Of those 15 fights, I consider The Battle of Beacon in general (for obvious reasons), and especially Ozpin vs Cinder and Pyrrha vs Cinder, as Major fights, which is a minimum of 3 fights depending on how you slice BoB.

Spacing: The absolute minimal. Literally every episode had at least 1 fight with 1 exception, all without sacrificing the writing much, if at all, when it comes to the main plot of the show.

Volume 4

 * Ruby's Character Short.


 * RNJR vs Geist in Ep1.


 * Black Sun vs Ao Kuang the Sea Dragon in Ep3


 * RNJR vs Tyrian in Ep6


 * Qrow vs Tyrian in Ep7


 * Yang and Tai's Practice session in Ep9.


 * RNJR vs Nuckelavee in Ep12.

Total: 7 fights, because "Black Sun vs Ilia" was not really a fight, just a chase. Of those 7 fights, I count BS vs Ao Kuang, QRNJR vs Tyrian and RNJR vs Nuck as Major fights, meaning 4 or 3 if you don't divide the 2nd one.

Spacing: A fight in Ep1, another one 2 eps later with Ep3, another one 3 eps later in Ep6 that carries into the next episode, then a sparring session 2 eps afterwards in Ep9, then the Finale's boss fight 3 eps later. Not a bad spacing, it's roughly like in Vol.2 but more balanced.

Volume 5

 * Weiss and Yang's Character Shorts. Ilia's Character short didn't really have a fight, just another chase.


 * Weiss vs Lancers and Queen Lancer in Ep2.


 * Yang vs Worst. Bandits. Ever. in ep4.

Total: 5 fights so far, of which only 1 was Major.

Spacing: Weiss fight was followed by Yang's just 2 eps later. That's....good. Yet there was no fight in the following 2 episodes.

Fair Comparison
Now, it would be unfair to compare V1-4 with V5 since V5 is only halfway done and the last ep is still in the Spoiler zone. So let's judge every Volume all the way up to their halves.


 * >V1: From Ep1 to 8, and adding the Trailers, there's about 7 fights, up to 9 if you separate them like I mentioned before. Of those, 2-3 fights were Major: Ren vs Taijitu, and RWBY vs Nevermore + JNPR vs Deathstalker, the last one being considered one of the best fights in the entire Volume, if not the show in general, and the one that really brought in the hype for this show.


 * >V2: From Ep1 to 6, there's 3-to-4 depending on if you count Pyrrha vs Merc. And of those, the fight against the Paladin is a Major fight.


 * >V3: From Ep1 to 6 there's a fight every episode, leading to 7 fights in just the 1st half, the last one of which is a very good setup for what would come later in the same Volume.


 * >V4: Only about 3-and-half fights, or 4 if you separate RNJR vs Tyrian from Qrow vs Tyrian. None really outstanding, or at least about as outstanding as RWBY vs Paladin, and onl arguably.


 * >V5: Just 4 fights. Of those, only Weiss's fight in the airship stood out in terms of scale and length, while Yang's short stood out for being done in a style more reminiscent of V1-3. Weiss's short and Yang vs Bandits just suck, and only the former has a story-excuse for it.

Conclusion
Focusing on the amount of action in a Volume, and not necesarily the quality of said action, then so far Volume 5 seems to be on the same line as Volume 2 and 4 were at their halway-points. However, it pales compared to Volume 1 and especially Volume 3.

Vol.2 was incomplete and literally much of it had to be pushed back into what we call Volume 3. And with Vol.4 the team was getting used to the different, superior animation program known as Maya. So them not having as much action is somewhat justified. Volume 5 doesn't have the same excuses.

This IS just the halfway point, 7/14, so V5 could turn out to have as much action as Vol.1 did. But so far, the future doesn't look too bright. This show, made famous by it's action, it's seemingly ignoring said action in favor of "standing around and talking".

Yes, conversations here and there are fine, and the info is great (unless we're told old info for 6 whole minutes instead), but RWBY is an action series, people don't think of it's "amazing" writing or "spectacular" characters when they think of it's good points, their 1st thought is the action and OST.

Things should be like in Volume 3, or hell, even Volume 1, which wrote their plot arcs decently (in a general sense) without seeing the need to cut the number of fights while at it, even with the smaller budget and team work put into them.

Overall, I have to say: The people who complain about the lack of fights, they have every right to complain. The conclusion is esentially this: