If Penny does come back, it should be as an AI. like from HALO/Red vs Blue, an artificial intelligence computer program that can freely move between machines and so forth.

My reasoning is that the process used to save Penny from Watts' virus was to have Ambrosius use Penny's robot body to make a new body, and her aura becomes a 100% flesh and blood construct. The new robot body then vanishes. But here's the thing. Ambrosius is the spirit of creation, not destruction. So how could he destroy Penny's robot machinery? What if it became pure data itself, and went to the nearest appropriate receptacle.

Also, it would be the ultimate bait-and-switch. After we are told that Penny's robot half was "just extra" that would be the only part still existing. But as Ruby said, "You think just because you've got nuts and bolts instead of squishy guts makes you any less real than me?"

Dr. Bunsen Honeydew's Gorila Detector, intended to ring to warn you when a gorilla is due to attack, was a re-use of the costume head of Mecha-Kong from King Kong Escapes.

RWBY Relic Pieces in Volume 1, Symbolism of the Pieces, and How It Ties To the Broader Narrative.

Did a quick searchup on the symbolism of chess pieces, and taking what I saw into consideration (note that this is very abridged, and possibly not entirely correct):

CRDL and the Black Bishop

Bishops are representative of religion, as well as spirituality, morality, and wisdom, and a direct reference to Cardin's mythological reference, the Cardinal of Winchester. In regards to the broader narrative that RWBY sets up, he can be considered V1's partial representation of the institution of Huntsmen, more specifically the deeply flawed and darker side standing opposite to the better/neutral aspects of Huntsmen that RWBY/JNPR represent, due to being a racist bully who stands against Grimm, yet also willfully persecutes and harms the people he's supposed to fight for, such as minority groups like Faunus and (given Jaune at this point is basically a civilian in huntsmen's clothing and training wheels) the people depending on the circumstances. Also acts as a form of foreshadowing to the other deeply flawed or outright bad huntsmen we'd come to see later in the series, as well as highlighting the lack of wisdom and morality that can blight the institutions that Huntsmen are supposed to be, represent and protect.

The Black pieces in chess always move second, which highlights how the Huntsmen are a highly reactive organization, and how this severely limits their ability to truly tackle the bigger problems regarding threats like the Grimm, Salem, society's deep internal problems, and in the bigger picture, Ozpin's divine mission.

JNPR and the White Rook

Rooks are representative of the land, being symbolic of the fortress that guards a city or land and its royalty, and how they essentially "guard" the other pieces, as well as representing stability. The majority of JNPR come from civilians compared to the likes of RWBY, with this becoming completely the case after Pyrrha's death and Oscar's inclusion, and they're shown consistently throughout the series as having the strongest connections to civilians on a personal level. They also frequently as the bedrock and stabilizing influence, through Jaune, Nora and Ren's friendships and roles as supporting characters. Being white pieces also highlights how as time goes on, they would develop an increasingly proactive role through the questioning of the narrative told to them by the metaphorical "royals" (in this case, Ozpin's secret circle) and the latter's failure to actually protect them.

This is especially notable in regards to Jaune, Nora, and from a story perspective Ren, given how the former consistently questions Ozpin and his inner circle's shadier actions throughout most of V4 - V8, and Nora and Ren were failed miserably and made orphans due to the lack of huntsmen and the society around them failing to protect them, while putting them into a situation where their only recourse is to become part of the system that failed them.

RWBY and the White Knight

Knight pieces are representative of the medieval military, fitting given the status of Huntsmen, as well as being considered adventurous, valorous, and unpredictable due to their unique fighting style allowing them a level of unpredictability that other pieces don't have, fitting of how RWBY are the main proactive force to pushing Ozpin and the true nature of the secret war against Salem out into uncharted territory, forcing them to actually change and grow.

Knights are also often historically drawn from nobility, much like how every major character in RWBY has some kind of tie to Remnant's most illustrious groups or some kind of major player (Ruby and Yang being part of major Huntsmen lineages, Weiss being a rich heiress to the most powerful corporation in the world, and Blake being effectively the Princess of the Faunus, as well as having ties to the most prominent civil rights activists and movements in all iterations of the White Fang).

Much like JNPR, they are far more proactive compared to the royals they serve, actively pushing the latter outside their comfort zone in a two-pronged attack alongside JNPR, but the series also strives to highlight and deconstruct the messier aspects of their relationship as huntsmen (and thus a form of warrior caste/mercenary, with the following tension in that relationship with the people they are trying to protect) and how the unpredictable nature of their changes results in as much positive and messier forms of change, for better or worse.

This got way longer than I thought it would.

Just learned about this

The predicted dynamic between Raven and Winter

Winter: All hands report to the firing range!

(Nobody moves)

Winter: Come on, people! DOUBLE TIME! MOVE IT!

(Still nobody moves)

Raven: You heard the lady. Firing range. Now.

(Everyone bolts)

Winter: I hate you, Raven.

Raven: That's not hate, Winter. That's envy.

Tax evasion, and feeding tax collectors to the beast of unspeakable horror he keeps in his basement.

What is the most illegal thing your OC has done?

Just to remind everyone that I am still writing my TMNT x RWBY crossover.

But just for fun, if the cliche comic book 'heroes throw down for some convoluted reason' event happens, who would win?

For this match up to be even, let's say that the Turtles have the mystic powers they had during the TMNT 2003 "Demon Shredder" arc, AKA, the fifth season, but they only have their normal weapons, not the mystic ones.

Donatello doesn't NEED to wear glasses. He just wears them to protect his eyes while doing hi-tech engineering stuff.

Behold, the Son of Man

A man in time you'll be.

The only thing worse than a third wheel on your date is TWO third wheels.

Mega Man Legends (1998)

All Sewn Up

I've seen some takes wondering why Cinder doesn't sew dust into her clothing the way she did in Volume 2. But during the Beacon Saga, Cinder only had half of the Maiden's powers. So of course she needed a little extra to help her out. And she couldn't use the dust-clothing combo again for when her team fought in the Vytal Festival, there would be too much of a risk of someone recognizing her. (Given that Ruby figured out Emerald made Yang flip just from Velvet's half-hearted testimony, that was smart)

And after Beacon, Cinder's got the full set of Maidenhood. So why would she need dust again? It's like how she doesn't use her Midnight weapon combo since becoming a Maiden- those were tools humans use to get by.

And Cinder doesn't want to be a weak human.

(After returning from the Ever After, Jaune Arc went to the bathroom)

Jaune: (Gazing lovingly at the toilet and toilet paper) Thank you. No more banana leaves...

One aspect of science fiction that has fallen out of practice is the concept that what substances are safe for humans to eat, might be toxic to extra terrestrials.

Such as in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, where according to the story, "Wrong Turn" cranberry juice has the same effect on Utroms as booze has on humans.

This would be interesting factoid, made even more interesting by the Utrom in question, Glurin, having drunk quite a bit of juice before testing a dimensional portal on Raphael, Donatello, and Casey Jones.

The Ace-Ops, the "Best Huntsmen in Atlas": Let's go indulge in the buffet table and not do anything productive.

Teams RWBY/JNPR, a ragtag group of teenagers with attitude: Let's investigate the corrupt businessman's home and see if we can find evidence of wrongdoing.

Lately I’ve been rewatching Monster Rancher, an anime I enjoyed in college, first in English, and later (once I finish the dub) I’ll be watching it in Japanese. In the apparent absence of an active English-language fandom, I’ve been reading a bit of old discussion and meta about it, and there was one thing that struck me the wrong way. Someone called Holly a Mary Sue because she has a tragic backstory (but so does Suezo), almost never gets involved in the actual fighting even when she says she’s willing to, plus she got captured a couple of times.

Well, it’s true that Holly doesn’t fight much. She did fulfill that one town’s plan to defeat Bajarl by setting off the explosives the dead townspeople had prepared, but otherwise, her only real contribution is the ability to use the magic stone to look for the Phoenix.

But here’s the thing: Bilbo Baggins didn’t do a lot of fighting either. He was a noncombatant that the others had to protect throughout the journey. He had his little magic ring of invisibility, but every single time he rescued the (entire) group along the way happened only after literally everyone else was out of action and he had no one to fall back on but himself. Sound familiar?

Nobody calls Bilbo a Gary Stu for needing to be protected all the time. Yeah, he had a sword (Holly has a dagger), but it’s not as if he really knew how to use it, and there’s only so much training he could have done while simultaneously traveling as far as practicable virtually every single day. Bilbo only had one real function in his Quest, too: to be a burglar and steal back the dwarfs’ treasure from Smaug, and he couldn’t even try to do that until the Company got to Erebor–near the end of the story.

I don’t remember how Holly’s arc ends; and for that matter, the third season of Monster Rancher didn’t even get dubbed in English, so I have no idea what I’m in for when I move on to the sub, but I’m pretty sure she played a reasonably meaningful role in the end.