K, so as much as the rest of season 1 and the entirety of season 2 would suck with Cisco being dead, now that this thought is in my head, I can't stop thinking about how wild that would be if they literally killed him off for just that period of time, with the intention of bringing him back via Flashpoint and keeping him on for the rest of the show, but making the audience think he was gone for good for a whole entire season. That would've been CRAZY, yo.

How do you excuse the fact that despite not being a murderer, Garou's first actions were breaking a man's arm to splinters and ripping off another man's hand? Not very best boy behaviour (although he hasn't done anything similar ever since, even when he was defending himself).

Seeing the commonly parroted phrase ‘how can you excuse that?!’ when it comes to countering/refuting people’s favs is pretty funny, cause no one seriously holds fictional characters accountable to the same moral standards as real people, or blindly ‘forgets’ whatever labeled ‘problematic’ thing they might’ve done, just because we happen to like them, have fun with them, or appreciate their character arcs. When that’s not how this works; no one’s ‘excused’ anything. Instead, what’s established is an introductory baseline with which to compare the rest of his character development. That’s how this has always worked for any significant character whose purpose is having an arc focused on growth and change. (Same deal for any other asshole and/or ‘controversial’ character in media; their growth, either in a positive or negative direction, should be expected. And if not, then they’re just static and uninteresting. But witnessing and relating to their growth is another common reason why people take interest and like them.) So everything’s all written in perspective and built on what comes before it.

That said, it’s also just as you said, ‘he hasn’t done anything similar since’ (except when he literally ate the arm of a monster, that was metal) because interestingly, he hasn’t shown the same brutality facing hero/human opponents ever since he met Tareo. 👀 Hmm~ (Curious why that might be! Like he might be softening and exhibiting mercy because of the kid just like in the Darkshine fight! 8D Character development is a thing!) Also to clarify, the hero who broke his arm in that criminal meeting did so from the force of punching the ground after Garou dodged, not cause Garou directly broke it. :O But it’s also true: Garou reacts defensively and accordingly when others attack him first. Rarely you’ll actually see him preemptively jump and strike people without warning (real monsters a different story), cause in truth he’ll often theatrically announce his presence/intent to hunt, goad/challenge others to act first, or try to grab their attention if they dismiss him or don’t take him seriously (such as Metal Bat and Saitama, he was like ‘hey! pay attention to me.’) Because oh, to fight otherwise would be unfair (another consistency with his views). And he hates when things are unfair, including cowardly and backstabbing tactics (which the monsters do use on him), or in this case, cheap ‘parlor tricks,’ which he disabled at the source when directly aimed at him. Was ripping off Blue Fire’s arm in response to that attack extreme? Yep, but so was Blue Fire’s intent to kill/exterminate/use deadly force on everyone ‘bad’ in the room, which is ah, another thing Garou hates when so-called heroes unjustly pull their violence card (hm, abuse of power?) on others without showing any kindness/mercy. 👀 All in perspective. (The difference with Garou though, is he’s not parading around calling/seeing himself as a hero when he fights with violence; he’d see that as far too hypocritical with self-disgust, so he takes up the monster/villain role instead. Tareo sees him as a ‘fighter for justice’ though, but Garou could never admit that about himself, nor is he ready to face the truth yet. Mm, what a tasty dilemma.)

So hmm, as violent as his beginning actions may be (bashing Mumen’s head as a demonstration for the tank toppers in response to getting attacked from behind is another one of those actions that gets viewers reacting), the explanations for them still seem pretty consistent when looking back in retrospect. Garou’s since adjusted his approach when facing targets and directs (even more) deadly force/brutality towards other monsters now instead. (An interesting change when he previously never wanted to fight monsters.) We’ll just have to see how much he currently compares when facing and confronting the rest of the S Class in these upcoming manga scenes. Will his actions remain consistent with the behaviors already established + developed for him, or will his newfound ‘monsterization’ affect how he fights in any way? Things could proceed much differently from how it went in the wc so just gotta stay tuned.

What's Happening in the Finale?

What's happening in 0713? First of all, kick-ass fighting, usually the best of the season. Last of all, an end credits scene. In between we've got three confrontations. One is centered around Cinder in Fria's room, another between JNPR and Neo (although I think that's likely to end up at the first location), and a third between Qrow and Ironwood. Extra Grimm may or may not show up for the climax. (Personally I think not. Salem would like them to do the maximum amount of damage to themselves before she shows up with her reverse paratrooper brigade, and that could mean letting them tear themselves apart over Ironwood's drastic plan without a worthwhile enemy in sight. "Never underestimate the usefulness of others.")

But what happens in between? There's a lot of ways we can approach that question, but I'm going to start with things CRWBY mentioned but hasn't shown yet. Then I'll move on to things I want to see.

First, the ending. There's a rumour going around that a member of CTWBY said that one of the last two episodes would be a cliffhanger. Well, it wasn't last episode, so if true they're going to pull a Josh Whedon and give us a season cliffhanger. Which is cool, if CW can do it I don't see why RT can't as well. But it means there's going to be substantial plot points left dangling.

CRWBY dropped a lot of hints before the volume started, and three sets haven't paid off yet, regarding Maria, Nora, and Oscar.

Melissa Sternberg, Maria's voice actress, told us to expect "sassy granny shenanigans". Aside from the first episode we haven't seen her involved in anything that could remotely qualify as shenanigans, so I hope we get more from her.

Samantha Ireland, Nora's voice actress, told us we would be getting some of Nora's backstory. It hasn't happened yet, and we're at the last episode. That limits the possible information sources to already named characters who Nora hasn't met, which on a practical level limits it to Neo or Fria. I was hesitant to jump on the "Fria is Nora's granny" bandwagon, but we're running out of other possibilities.

We were given three strong hints that Oscar would do something impressive this volume. Kerry said he was excited about the "small farm boy" this volume, and while Oscar has been a significant presence even I would hesitate to call him exciting. Then in Chapter 6, we got a mention that Oscar hasn't unlocked his Semblance, which was the same clue we got back in Volume 5 that Jaune would unlock his Semblance before the Volume's end. Finally, there is this note from Amity Arena about their current lack of Oscar in the game, "We are waiting on Volume 7 for him to show off something iconic that we can base his card off of!" (They also implied it was different from whatever Ozpin does, which is far too OP for the game's current levels.). So it looks like Oscar will unlock his Semblance as part of the final episode.

That's all the remaining hints, now let's move on to the plot.

Qrow wants to set Jimmy Ironwood down and give him a talk on "The Inherent Problems With Blind Obedience, Complete With a Visual Aid". It's a hard sell for a paranoid dictator, but given RWBY's optimistic nature it might actually work. Ironwood is basically going down the same path as the Director in Red vs. Blue, and Rooster Teeth has already followed that path to it's bitter end with him. It's possible the intervention Qrow is planning may stick. I can't really call it at this point.

There's the Neo vs. JNPR confrontation, which may turn into a fight but may not. Neo allowed them to get close to her, even hit her, while seeming uncharacteristically hesitant to fight. She does withdraw from fights where she is overpowered (a common trait among professional criminals such as herself), however she should wipe the floor with JNPR. But does Neo want to fight JNPR? In Volume 6 her target was Cinder. Cinder tried to convince Neo to assassinate Ruby instead, and it appeared as if she might have succeeded. But did she really, or is Neo just playing along to stay close to Cinder and strike the Fall Maiden down when she is vulnerable? Looks like we may get an answer to that question. If she is, she may well just play JNPR a recording of Cinder announcing her plan to go after the Winter Maiden and send them on their way.

The big fight looks like it's going to be Round 4 of Cinder vs. the World complete with the Winter Maiden Power as the prize, and with all the young Huntresses converging on her location it could be anybody's game. Previously Cinder had always arranged for her foes to have multiple targets to concentrate on besides her, but that doesn't look like it will be the case this time.

There's multiple things to consider about this fight. First, the location. A cramped hospital room is hardly a suitable arena for a Maiden fight. You know it's going to get trashed in order to create more space. Then there's her three opponents, Fria, Penny, and Winter. I include Fria because I honestly expect her to get in at least one lick in this fight. We've already had Cinder kill one Maiden who was lying helpless in one of those transfer tubes, a repeat would be boring. Besides, Fria has held the power for around 50 years. You don't last that long in that job without being a badass. At the same time she is old and feeble, so I don't expect her to get in many licks.

Cinder's main opponents, Penny and Winter, both have crippling weaknesses. Penny is metal, and Cinder's favorite tactic involves superheating substances. To quote Mercury, "That could be bad." Winter's weakness is tactical. She focuses too much attention on what is going on in front of her and too little on what is behind her. Qrow used it to win against her in Volume 3, and Weiss used it to win against her in this Volume. It shouldn't take Cinder long to find and exploit Winter's weakness. On the bright side, with Cinder's tendency to gloat she will probably tell Winter exactly what the other woman is doing wrong, especially considering that Vernal used it against Cinder. If Winter survives this fight she might even listen.

Will Cinder win, lose, or die? Honestly I'm expecting another power split, like with Amber, only this time the Maiden remains conscious. I don't see Cinder completely winning or losing, and I don't see us getting another fully powered Maiden in the cast at this time. (But that raises the question of who can open the Vault. It would be ironic if neither woman could.) So I'm expecting whichever woman Cinder tries to steal the power from to be rescued by the others, ending in a tactical retreat on Cinder's part.

That leaves the current Grimm invasion, possibly with bonus flying Beringals, to wrap up. This may involve Ruby's silver eyes. It may involve Oscar's Semblance. Or it may just be a bunch of nameless Atlesian military forces. It's anyone's guess at this point.

That brings us to the remaining nonviolent resolutions. There's Ren's newfound fondness for Ironwood, which I don't see surviving Ironwood's decision to abandon Mantle, although it might. Hopefully this will lead to a resolution of Ren and Nora's romantic tension as well. There's Robyn and the Happy Huntresses, whom we may or may not see again this Volume but probably won't. There's the Schnees, at least one of whom we probably will see again in this Volume. And last but not least there's the political problems, which is heavily intertwined with the fates of Qrow and Salem. If Qrow does turn Ironwood around and/or Salem does bring the flying Beringals to give them a strong enemy to unite behind, they may survive the political storm. But if Qrow does not get through to Ironwood and/or Salem does NOT bring the flying Beringals to unify the populace in terror, Ironwood's political career is over. Even if he's still in power at the end he will have sustained too much damage to keep it for long.

So that's my take on things. What's yours?

So here it is. this is only like 5 songs Katie and hasn't been spell checked and needs a lot of development but these are the rough ideas basically.

UsUK cardverse Raleigh Ritchie au

Story begins before music plays, with a monologue of sorts from narrator[Arthur] set out like a fairytale beginning, but with mentions of darker things, death and famine and plague.

Werld is mine-light intro and humming like a heartbeat to the song. Begins on the light piano with Arthur stalking through a lavish castle, passing deep, age old tapestries hung up, with the view being glimpses of Arthur caught, a glimpse of a crown, the footfalls of soft leather riding boots in black that reach mid calf, a ring finger weighed down by a deep cobalt sapphire. All dark ambient lighting, as if something sinister is unfolding. As the bass kicks in more, enter a glimpse of Alfred, just as passing as of Arthur, both glancing over at one another as servants rush around, preparing and preening the monarchs ,heated loaded looks between the two rulers.  1st verse delves into memories that correspond with the lyrics. ‘Fucks given at an all time low’ flashes back to Arthur, head held high and a dangerous glint in his eyes. At ‘sticks and stones.. I don’t know any better’ more flashbacks to show glimpses of their journeys to being together, of how they started apart, with hatred, and have grown closer, how they are now in love and in power. Slow focus in on both getting dressed and made into their royal images. ‘Take take me away’ Arthur is shown leaning in for a deep kiss and Alfred inhales as if Arthur’s his oxygen, as the ‘I wanna live forever...but honey this world is mine’ plays, and the focus is back again on Arthur, who has a small smirk and a put upon self confidence that carries his hidden past, and the audience sees the first real look at both monarchs together, something dark and fiercely protective and utterly in love between them.  Back to piano is focused on their achievements. ‘I wanna live forever’ focus on their deep relationship, flashbacks of their love. ‘I wanna be better’ their royal relationship focus on their crushed velvet robes and glinting crowns. ‘I wanna be scared’ personal turmoil, war, plague, famine, all part of a rulers plight. Ending of the two walking out to face a full audience of court, heads held high as last line is sung, ‘this world is mine’.

[the next ones Stronger than ever and it shows their bond and sort of delves into their relationship. its introduced by another monologue, which speaks of a pair of lovers so deeply infatuated that theyd tear the stars from the night sky if they should so scald the other. a king and queen so deeply in love that the ruled alongside one another, in tune with one another, as no such monarchy had done before, or with such a deep dedication]

Stronger than ever-Beginning to show how they got to the throne, Alfred’s background as hes growing up and trained from a young age how to be a king, how he must be a soldier from a young age and fulfil his duties to his kingdom. and Arthur’s brief background, how he was on the verge of death so often, a bastard child of some nameless whore, thrown out onto the streets from the day he could walk, growing up on an empty stomach and only his own grit and wits. and now how they have so much power and grace, and how they support each other, how their pain has brought them to where they are. When gets soft ‘this is easy’ shows a scene of marriage, a softly illuminated scene in a grassy field, beneath a silk canopy and the softly setting sun. both are in crowns of wildflowers and loos white clothing without shoes or any significance of royalty, the lighting surrounding them orange and gentle as they look over at one another fondly. (note arthurs bouquet.White lilies - Virginity; Purity; Majesty; It's Heavenly to Be with You.Yellow lilies- I'm Walking on Air; False and Gay. ORANGE BLOSSOM IVY - Wedded Love; Fidelity; Friendship; Affection. FERN - Magic; Fascination; Confidence and Shelter.FERN Maidenhair - Secret Bond of Love - Innocence; Eternal Love; Marriage and Fruitfulness. AMBROSIA - Your Love is Reciprocated. AZALEA - Take Care of Yourself for Me; Temperance; Fragile Passion) then the drop in the music, and theres a sudden flash of two perspectives, both of theirs, of war and pain, and then the mention of family is them back to back, looking as though the shaodws falling across their faces were closing in on them. The soft next part shows them facing trials together and rising better from their experiences.

Was not always this way . cue some dramatic monologue

Bloodsport- shows forced marriage between the prince who is grieving, and despises the impoverished background of Arthur. Arthur is trying to earn his respect, fighting against him, for the people, in political matters. Shows shouting and sparring, until soft part where they dutifully pick each other up. I am all yours is Alfred knighting Arthur, begrudgingly. As the song picks up again they seem to keep disagreeing and fighting, yet still picking each other up, though Alfred still distrusts Arthur greatly which causes them to fail as one monarchy unit. They’re shown in a carriage in soft silence, Alfred refusing to look at Arthur, Arthur looking out of the window resignedly.  Just before slow soft part around 230 the scene breaks to heavy bootfalls and fire, the monarchs being ambushed on their carriage ride. Alfred thrown out the carriage and Arthur grabs his hand helps him up, beginning to kill their ambushers, ‘ill protect... might need me later’ Arthur takes a knife wound instead of Alfred, both meeting eyes, alfred gaining respect. Flashbacks to their sparring at the castle as outro plays, then Alfred catching Arthur before he falls.

[Arthur gets medical help as narrator talks of this event spurring on the beginning of an alliance between the two monarchs, and then a conversation can be overheard between the two monarchs in the carriage ride home, Arthur pale and leaning heavily against Alfred. The scene is slow and soft and the beginning of a curious love between the two. ‘So where are you from, Arthur?’ ‘N- Northern peninsula.. Albion- in a fishing village not far from one of the main ports.. i.. I forget the name of it..’ ‘oh? Friends, family there? What’s your story?’..’ my story?’] 

I Can Change- focuses on arthurs upbringing, parents no where to be seen, a starving toddlers, turning to a street urchin, up to a sneaky teen, to a 16 year old kissing a girl against an alley wall. ‘see my lady’ focuses on the lovesick daft grin on his face despite their surroundings. Arthur leans in again and resurfaces signing contracts he cant even read to be enrolled in a higher purpose. Switch to ‘this is my calling’ and ‘more mature’  enrolment into the army, and an aggressive  fight between Arthur and his lady, as she screams and tells him hell never find better and that no poor man gets in and that to even attempt is showing her how little worth she is to him ‘cant live without..’ shows clips of the army training, and how he almost beats a man to death whilst thinking back to the fight, having to be dragged away by officers. Cut to the officer speech as Arthur is displayed before the rest of the army, being beaten and flogged. Cut to him ‘rid of the excess pain’ boarding a sailors ship, when the outro plays it shows arthurs ship getting blown to pieces by a pirate ship, and Arthur being tied up with the rest of his ships crew, when a pirate offers him a hand ‘seen enough of those army pigs to know a good fighter flogged.. make your choice, well not cause you that flogging..’ the music fades as Arthur grabs the pirates hand, being welcomed with a warm  embrace to the pirates family.

[’they’re the family I ‘ad, that ship.. ‘til we got cocky, too far intae naval waters. Captured us in th’name of th’ king, s’mthin’ about a queen’s mark. Course I ‘ad it. Took me aboard, locked t’others in dungeons..’scene is Arthur lying, bandaged, in the castle, drifting into sleep with Alfred sat beside him ‘ill get them out, I swear, arthur’ ‘ta, Alfred’ and shows Arthur fall asleep. narrator speaks of how since then the two found company in one another, visiting more often through the weeks of arthurs recovery, culminating at a soft warm early summer evening, when Arthur and al sneak out in the evening]

Keep it simple- Alfred and Arthur sneak into the small seaside town, grinning and playing as commoners, Alfred grabbing arthurs hand at ‘I know I don’t know you’ marvelling at the sights, sounds, the gaslamps and the seaview, walking along the ports promenade, following the lanterns above their head celebrating the beginning of summer, until ‘im full of shit sometimes...’ when Alfred glances over at arthur fondly, as Arthur looks around in quiet awe and soaks in the smells of fresh food and the salty breeze off the sea. Alfred is pulling Arthur onto a ship, and Arthur grins as they pull it away from port, Alfred watching in slow gentle awe of love as Arthur controls the ship with practiced ease, hanging from ropes in commoners clothes with practised ease as if this is comfortable for him more than riches. Alfred smiles, and shakes his head- scene cuts to Arthur laughing and shaking his head at Alfred fondly as Alfred shoves food into his mouth, both adorn in flower crowns, walking back to the castle arm in arm, tipsy and warm and looking both at each other with the same awe and love that was never before realised. Scene fades to the night sky, and then to Arthur smiling up at Alfred as Alfred presents him with plans to improve the naval fleet, with Arthur being allowed his old crew and ship back, and free reign over spades expansive seas of spades and the whole naval fleet, and a faint, sincere thank you is heard as the scene fades to narrator.