If you don’t already know, I have a thing about hero-villain dynamics, I love them and usually am obsessed with them

I’ve been rewatching a lot of rwby recently, so I can’t stop thinking about Cinder and Ruby’s dynamic while also thinking about Tomura and Izuku. I’m not comparing, I’m just on total brainrot with these two dynamics from separate shows

So now I’ve got double the hero and villain brainrot going on in my mind lmao

Nitpick November: said this a million times but why have most of the characters’ gotten worse hair? I think a lot of it looks too thick from V4 onward. Like Neo’s hair specifically looks bad. Yang’s hair thickness looks good, but Blake’s hair looked a little too thick after the animation switch. And then to add insult to injury, they have her the haircut instead of Weiss. I don’t even need to comment on Weiss’s braid. I want Blake’s long hair back and Weiss with a cute bob

Okay, I was totally planning on talking about hair changes in general as a nitpick eventually, but I'm just gonna talk about it now and do different numbered nitpicks later. I hate most of the hair changes in RWBY. I have a ton of pictures and gifs and rant about hair, so I went ahead and put this post under a keep reading, since it wound up being long. I didn't know you could only use ten images in a post, before I tried to talk about it. XD

Neo's hair originally didn't look too thick, it curled some in the back, it looked particularly shiny, with cute distinctively styled hair near the front that was shorter. Not a lot of movement, but this was poser era, so there are allowances.

And even when she first came back in V6 when she still had her same look, her hair didn't look too bad, though it did seem to lose a bit of its shine. (Side note, but Neo is still off the charts one of the hottest people in RWBY just look at these gifs!)

But what did they do with her hair when she changed outfits?

Seriously, why did they make it three times thicker while completely changing the iconic styling of her bangs at the front, and making her hair come out past her shoulders when originally it was hard to tell from the front that her hair was even long? It looks like they made her hair out of playdough! (Don't get me wrong, she's still gorgeous, just her hair looks not nearly as good and I'm still not sold on the outfit either.)

And with the other hair changes, James is one of the only people who got a hair change that wasn't freaking ugly or wholly unnecessary. For instance, despite the general idea that Yang would never cut her hair, her hair has gotten much shorter over the years as well as losing some curl itself.

And as for Blake, it's at least not too bad, but it defintely lost some curl and dude, why does the pick of Blake without a jacket look almost exactly like the hair for late season Neo just with different bangs? Weird.

But then IT GETS SO MUCH WORSE.

We need to be rescued from this monstrosity. And that's not even getting into Jaune's horrible haircut, or Nora's hair getting cut back to its original length because God forbid somebodies hair changes in minor ways instead of suddenly being completely different, Weiss's hair suddenly becoming super thick over night and the horrible braid, or Hazel's horrible hair change, or Cinder's haircut that was just like her flashback vision in volume 3... And I don't really actually mind Ruby's hair change that much, but it still isn't super good and seems kind of... Pointless? I'd happily say she's 'emulating Qrow,' but like, with how she treated Qrow and was so insistent that she didn't need him in volume six, I'd say that we're not supposed to see him as a mentor figure she's trying to be like anymore, so the symbolism doesn't work anymore than Blake cutting her hair after Adam's death works when the way they animated it makes it look more contained and heavy and boxing in her face than her long hair did.

I agree that Weiss should've one hundred percent had her hair cut short, it would've been so cute and nice looking and very good with her character.

But also, I just want to say with my whole heart that I hate Penny's long hair.

I'm sorry, but her hair looks like the fake plastic hair I might've gotten on a loving family toy figure as a nine year old for Christmas. All of it just... Looks bad. I have a bit of a problem with Penny's new look, but for the most part, I think it's fine. But the hair? The hair is a pretty big offender. If it wasn't for Weiss's horrible braid, I'd say it's my least favorite hair in the series.

My favorite hair changes? James's bird shaped hair in V7-V8. Winter's V8 high ponytail. Nora and Ren's V4-6 hairstyles. However, most of the time, the hair changes in RWBY are very disappointing.

What makes the RWBY community difficult to write for or be part of?

(this includes everything about rwby; Being a fan, RT, the Fandom, fellow artists, fellow writers and authors, haters, newcomers, etc)

This is a lot😅 Also it isn’t a rant. I’m just speaking. Feel free to disagree, be nice in the comments. Skip all the way to the bottom if you want the simple answer. 😂

Okay, how do I put this. It’s like this fandom is a train with multiple very specific railroad tracks. If you make something that doesn’t fit on any track then it is almost always essentially dead. Or if you pick a popular track, people assume you never want to go down the other one. This fandom also can’t take even constructive criticism about their favorite characters.

I’m not trying to bash any ship or anything of the sort right now but I’ve seen exceptional art of characters like Oscar or Nora get maybe 200 likes; meanwhile some says “Imagine if Blake’s ears wiggled every time Yang shows up.” And that gets 800. That’s always a little upsetting to see. Artist try so hard.

Outside of shipping, RWBY has a strong energy of “this is someone’s first anime thing” because there’s just so many hot takes I’ve seen that only makes sense of that person has never seen a shonen. On the flip side, there’s plenty of people that try making RWBY a full shonen and they are also missing the point that it isn’t 😅

All in all I think the problem this fandom has is a similar one to MHA fandom where people paint their own narrative so intensely and stan for certain characters so hard that they ignore what’s actually being presented on screen. Then get upset when the show isn’t doing what they want. The worst case of this has be everything about Clover, Cinder’s backstory, and Ironwood shenanigans. It creates this situation where you have a big hive mind of people being pretty basic most of the time, a small minority of people that try to make valid points on both sides, and then another large hive mind on the other that are actually toxic so the minority looks bad by association.

A majority of my Adam posts talking about him and even Jaune several years ago have comments like “you hate women and probably gay people” which is so dumb, but I know why they think that. It’s because there’s actual crazy people that think Adam was right and Jaune should sleep with every woman. I am not that person! Don’t put me with them and don’t assume everyone thinks like that. It’s as close minded as those individuals. I wish this fandom was as open minded as the people in it claim to be.

Rooster Teeth make things hard in their own way by letting the main characters either have no real consequences for their attitude, or giving them dialogue that sounds okay if nobody thinks about. V6 Yang and onward has so many lines that make me go “that doesn’t actually help your case. It makes it worse.” Or how Ruby goes against Ironwood just to devise a play that requires her to prioritize the world instead of going to help Mantle; the very thing she was upset about Ironwood for doing. She didn’t do anything for Mantle until the staff plan but I digress. I could make an entire post about the things characters say in this show that make no sense considering their situation or actions, but I know many people in the fandom will defend them anyways.

None of this would be a problem if the writers realize the heroes aren’t being that good and character’s call them out on it instead of saying “you’re right!” That’s why I liked it when Ren got angry and basically said “We suck at this! People are going to die because of us!” Also CRWBY fucking stokes the flames of so many different things it’s ridiculous. Not just shipping, but everything from hype moments to their own opinions that certain people will try to take as fact. I wish they were more careful with their words.

I’m not gonna really blame content creators much because everyone has their own taste and that’s fine. I certainly have mine. However I just hope they do their best to not promote any kind of real hate towards others and their interests as long it’s harmless. It’s actually interesting hearing varying opinions and seeing variety. Hating something is fine. Just don’t be rude about it just cause. My friends are newcomers. I tell them to ignore the fandom because at this point it’s a loop of the same thing. I rarely go on the hashtag. The top trending things all fall on the same railroad as usual. This show has so many characters but you would never know by scrolling. You will get the same 3-4 ships. Where’s the flavor lol!? Draw Ruby with Nora or something. Let Ren and Blake hangout. I see Ilia art once in a blue moon.

Lastly, I will finish this with something I may regret because I honest to god do not know how to write this without sounding obtuse. Now I know this isn’t necessarily the case, but it really feels like at times the fandom and even the show have this inherent stigma I guess is the best word; towards the male characters. More so the fandom than the show. Over the years I just get that impression from the way I’ve seen characters like Oscar, Ren, Sun, and even Tai, criticized for flaws or actions that are similar to female characters who don’t get looked on as harshly. Or how are so quick to point out Adam being an abuser and murder, but nobody talks about how Cinder has no problem hitting Emerald and killing people. Some even want her to have redemption after hearing her backstory even though her crimes are just as bad as Adam’s. Fans will understand Ruby lying to Ironwood and call it a good choice as a leader, but call Oz a piece of shit for having the same concerns. People use Yang’s trauma as a way to justify her actions and defend her, but uses Qrow and Ironwood’s as a way to vilify them and prove why they are problems. Oscar is pretty generic and Jaune is pretty cookie cutter in a lot of places; Ruby somehow isn’t like most young anime heroes that want to save the world with bright eyed ideals though? People hated Whitley until the show said that you shouldn’t, even though it was obvious he was a product of his environment just like V1 Weiss was. The one that floors me the most is how people think Tai is bad parent and completely invalidate nearly all his trauma and hardships as a single father who’s depressed about both of his previous wives. Meanwhile every poor parental choice Willow has done is okay because she did two good things recently and Jacques was the source of the pain. At least Tai actually raised his kids, help or not. Now I’m not saying don’t point out flaws and criticism on those guys, just don’t stop pretend like they are the only people with those flaws.

I guess I never really tied this all back into writing, but what makes it difficult is just the many pitfalls caused by people to look outside of themselves to see a different yet equally valid perspective.

I got into RWBY way later than others like I binged with my family and we got caught up last December as v6 was wrapping up. And we all genuinely enjoyed the later seasons especially v4 onwards and when I heard about the hate the newer volumes got I didn't understand it at all. Like I loved those volumes a lot and the world building and detail going into it, I'm more intrigued and drawn into the story than I was before and I'm genuinely excited to watch v7 with my family

Yeah!!! I can understand not being interested in the path the story took (it WAS a pretty big change in plot from a happy academy fighting anime to ‘EVERYONE’S DYING THERE’S A WAR AND THE TEAM SPLIT UP’), but that doesn’t make it BAD. If anything, I think it made the show even more engaging.

RWBY V6 Chapter 01 - Argus Limited

RWBY is back!

First things first: I’m writing this liveblog the day of the FIRST premiere (October 27) and it’ll probably get posted next Saturday.

Please don’t send me spoilers about an episode before I’ve posted the liveblog of that episode. While this time I was able to watch the episode immediately after release, that may not be always the case.

(If you still want to talk spoilers, join the discord!)

I have no idea what to expect from this season. While there are many things that _could_ happen and many things I want to see, the plot hook (”Go to Atlas!”) was vague enough that it could go anywhere.

So, without further ado, let’s do this!

20 seconds intro to show off their trees. And it's working, it looks really good!

New Grimm design! Based on manticores, maybe?

I think Blake's face looks slightly better but maybe it's the angle. I guess this implies it's their first fight after The Battle of Haven (since Yang didn't see her fight there).

Wow, that was a minute-long long take and it was amazing. From V3 onwards the fights have always been full of camera cuts, only slowly getting better at imitating the more fluid way they worked in the early volumes. This is like their graduation.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH The flying is back! That looked so cool! And the rose petals are white and red!

Welp, they are dead. And this is more setup for Adam to come back.

Adam is being more Kylo Ren than ever.

Yessssss, Ruby's casual use of speed is back. I have no idea how they are going to balance it but I love that effect.

And Weiss finally has red in her outfit again!

I love that we're getting Weiss complaining about going back to Atlas considering it was one of the first things the fandom thought about.

The chances that they'll have to leave her alone for some reason just jumped to 90%.

same

I was going to comment about how fluid the animation looks when this made me completely lose my train of thought. This episode is on fire.

Huh. His voice sounds more Ozpin-ish than usual.

My new 2013 Mercedes CLS63 AMG, or - How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Depreciation and Love Launch Control via /r/cars

My new 2013 Mercedes CLS63 AMG, or - How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Depreciation and Love Launch Control

Pic here!

Alas, my beloved 2005 VW Phaeton 5.0 V10 TDi is no more. While it lasted, it was the best car I had ever owned. As it got towards 100,000 miles, the niggly little issues started building up, and it had gotten to the point where I was spending £300 ($500) every month to fix something else that had broken. The last straw was when a radiator hose clip worth about $10 broke - whilst taking my parents to a funeral, of all times to go - and put the car in the shop for 3 weeks while parts were back ordered from Germany. Total cost of repair: $500. I realised that I had a car full of these components, just waiting to break. So it was time to move on.

It was only 18 months ago that I traded in my beloved 2000-reg Mercedes CL 500 for a Porsche 911. They said it was a supercar you could use every day, but they tend not to talk about the overly hard ride, so I sold that one after less than six months. Since then, I have spent significant time driving two different BMW 318i's, a Hyundai Sonata, a BMW 116d, then a VW Phaeton.

After the Phaeton died, I didn't want another stop gap. I didn't want to drive yesterday's technology either. I wanted something in its prime, and didn't mind opening the purse strings to do so.

Along the way, I test drove a Maserati Granturismo, Audi A7 and Porsche Panamera. I even rented a Corvette C7 Stingray Convertible whilst on holiday. Out of all of these fine automobiles, the CLS63 edged a victory.

The Audi A7 is an excellent secondhand bargain, and I had it pencilled in as a replacement to the Phaeton. Turning back the clock six years, when I bought my old Merc CL 500, I initially went shopping for an Audi A8, test drove one, didn't like it (too dull and disconnected) and bought the Merc instead. In a bizarre example of history repeating itself, the A7 is still dull and disconnected to drive, at least by my standards. (I also own a TVR Cerbera, and most cars seem pretty dull after that.) The A7 is still technically a great car, and I would recommend it to anyone except myself.

On to the Maserati Granturismo, which I rented for a four day weekend to see if it was really right for me. It's a blast to drive and makes any journey an event, but never felt anything less than big and heavy. The engine revs to 8,000rpm and makes a soul-rousing noise, but you just can't get there in everyday driving. It felt surprisingly sluggish around town, to the point where I swear that my wife's old Hyundai Sonata had more get-go off the line.

Next was a Porsche Panamera. This one was a big disappointment. It felt disconnected from the road, not as much as the Audi A7 did, but still unforgiveably so for a car with 'Porsche' stamped on every panel. The PDK (dual-clutch) box was absolutely terrible, and I can't believe any German engineer could proudly put one in a flagship car like this and say "Finished!" It lurched horribly, especially when going around roundabouts at fairly modest speeds. The engine felt suspiciously underpowered too, though admittedly I drove the bottom-of-the-range 3.6 V6. Perhaps the 4.8 V8 could remedy this, but I honestly think a more powerful engine would make the gearbox even worse.

Finally, the Corvette C7 Stingray Convertible made a fine case for itself as an everyday driver. I rented one whilst on holiday for a week, and was amazed by what a brilliant all-rounder it was: fast, fun, comfortable, and surprisingly well equipped. It was the best car I had ever driven ...

... until I drove the CLS63 AMG. I had the CLS recommended to me by Auto Trader. I had test driven a first-gen CLS and was unimpressed, but the second gen (2011 onwards) is an entirely different animal. I was hooked from the first test drive. There was something just fundamentally 'right' about it.

The 5.5 biturbo V8 provides Corvette-matching levels of power, mated to a much, much better gearbox. The 'Vette has a very, very good seven speed auto, but can't escape the slight slushiness of a torque converter, and is a generation behind what rivals are offering. The Merc's MCT gearbox is, quite simply, the finest I have ever had in a car, and blows Porsche's PDK out of the water. It shifts unbelievably quickly - 100ms is the quoted time, and I don't doubt it - and yet is never lurchy. It provides a connection between man, machine and road that I did not think was possible in an automatic.

The ride is just about perfect too. Not too harsh like my old Porsche 911 and the BMW M5 (V10) that I test drove. And yet it is sporty enough to handle well in the rain, an area that caught my old CL500 out. I could type forever about the levels of kit, so I will just single out my three favourite features - radar adjusted cruise control, seven speaker Harmon Kardon stereo, and automatic headlights that swivel and rotate to give you the best possible view of the road.

And finally, 0-60 in 4.4 seconds? Never gets boring.