I've been wanting to jump-start my blog again, but after one of the busiest (yet best!) years of my life, I haven't had the space to sit down and type out my thoughts about media I care about.
Recently, something happened to pull me out of hiatus. I don't think I'll ever completely reboot my blog - after all, it's not like I had a huge audience, it really was just a thought experiment for me and my writing partner Briana (check out her blog here it's much better / consistent).
I just had to write about this.
When I was a high schooler bumbling around the Internet, I knew RWBY existed. I knew it had a dedicated fanbase. I knew it was a small production. I'll never forget when Barry and Ross from Game Grumps talk about Monty Oum on that one episode of "Pokémon Art Academy." But I didn't get into it.
As a first-year college student, one of the first things I learned about my roommate is that she was obsessed with the show. She got me to binge all the episodes that existed at the time - Volumes 1-4.
In short, RWBY is an action-adventure anime about teenagers training to be "huntsmen" and being sent off to fight monsters known as "Grimm." It's a fantasy/sci-fi show with heavy references to real fairytales from all around the world. The show gets its title from the names / color schemes of the four main protagonists: Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang.
My thoughts on the show greatly changed over time.
Volume 1...I thought this show was a joke and didn't take it seriously, recognizing the obvious limits of the crew. But the fight scenes absolutely dazzled me.
Volume 2...I was pleasantly surprised by the moments when characters actually got around to talking about their lives and dreams. It wasn't anything new or groundbreaking, but it felt like the writers were beginning to take things a bit more seriously.
Volume 3...Like many others, I was floored by the change in tone. I was heartbroken, distraught, and fully invested. I finally understood what people meant when they said "RWBY is a show that ages with its audience."
Volume 4...Was not impressed by the animation or fight choreography like before, but I still believed in this story and the characters.
Whether I intended it or not, RWBY had become part of my waking thoughts. It was the first way I bonded with my roommate (who would later go on to become one of my closest college friends). I looked up fanart, watched videos discussing theories, and even dressed up in cosplay for Las Vegas' Level-Up Expo.
So, what drew me to RWBY, when it's far from the best show ever written? Obviously there's lots of flaws in the writing and continuity errors that expose the showrunner's ineptitudes. But first, I want to focus on what I did love about RWBY:
- I love how it initially felt like a passion project produced by people who wanted to make a show for its own sake.
- I loved the balance between action and comedy, while still giving room for serious moments.
- I loved the worldbuilding and how it borrowed from many different fantasy tropes while still having its own identity.
- I loved the soundtrack and would listen to the songs almost every day.
- I loved how the characters were all unique and full of style.
- I loved how the story attempted to "grow" with its audience as darker themes and elements were introduced post-Volume 3.
- Maybe what I loved most about RWBY was how I shared it with other fans, including my then-roommate.
that gradually become more about saving the world.
It also didn't help that the year 2019 was a big year for RWBY backlash and every YouTube cartoon commentator seemed to be eager to rip it apart. Honestly, I don't blame them - as I said, the show does have serious flaws. And, though it felt bitter on my tongue to admit it, I finally broke down and admitted to myself, "You know what, the writing isn't that good after all!"
One of the most glaring issues I had was how some of the relationships were handled - Why did Yang call Raven "Mom," when her whole arc was about rejecting her as a parent? Why did Blake get so many love interests? Why didn't Taiyang go and try to find his daughters after they both ran away at separate times? Why do new characters keep getting introduced when our protagonists should've had more screen time?
My biggest issue is that the story seemed to be moving too slow. This is understandable, given the limitations of the staff, but when you're a viewer who has to wait a year at least for more story content, it can get a little disheartening when a whole Volume passes by only to just see characters just sitting around a house or fighting one-off bad guys.
Later in 2021, no longer living with that roommate, I decided to revisit RWBY on my own. Maybe I was nostalgic. Regardless, I entered Volume 8 with low expectations.
But as it turns out, I actually loved it.
There were real moments of suspense, a long-awaited backstory for one of our longest villains, and a nail-biting ending that left me desperate for more. From what I've heard, the upgrade in writing quality was due to the writing staff hiring more people with actual writing experience. Regardless, I was very pleased with the final product. But I didn't quite feel the same fangirl love that I once did.
So, here we are at the start of 2023. And what's the status of Volume 9, after being delayed?
RWBY Volume 9 will be released as a Crunchyroll Exclusive. New episodes of RWBY will no longer be airing on Rooster Teeth's website first. In fact, it will be 12 months until it is released for Rooster Teeth website subscribers. A base-level Crunchyroll subscription is $7.99 a month.
Here is a QnA on the Rooster Teeth website explaining why this change is being made.
Running a company is hard. Being a content creator in the age of the Internet is hard. But Rooster Teeth has shown us time and time again that they are incapable of keeping up with their own pace. In short, Rooster Teeth has a history for abusing its employees (of all departments) and not paying them for all of their hard work.
Now, what does RWBY's move to Crunchyroll tell us?
Well, it's hard to say what this means about media in the long run. Online content creation is still in its infancy, so there is no set rulebook to playing the game. Besides, I'm not exactly privy to the interworkings of this company - I'm just a career writer with dreams of having my own silly little stories getting the spotlight one day. My opinion isn't worth more than anyone else's, in fact it might be worth less, because I was never a fan of Rooster Teeth. I was just a fan of RWBY.
One lesson I am taking away from this is that RWBY as a project was never sustainable. It's had a relatively strong online fanbase, and has garnered some spinoffs, merchandise, and cameo appearances in some video games. But it seems that the peak of RWBY has long since passed.
Don't get me wrong, there are still fans of this show and want to see the story be resolved in one way or another. I, too, want to see a show that meant so much to me and my friends reach a worthy conclusion.
Since I recently digested all this information, I've been reeling with a few questions...
What does it mean to be a fan, when the creators are moving their IPs like pieces on a chessboard, while they themselves are just barely treading water?
What does it mean to support a show that was once free to watch on YouTube, but is now gatekept by third party platforms?
This is more than just one online show we're talking about. It's a discussion of larger trends. When you're an indie creator, no one is going to help you without something in return. So it makes sense to corporatize and conglomerate - how else has WalMart and Disney remained king all these years?
It's not easy. Nothing worthwhile is ever easy.
But is it possible to do it without hurting yourselves and screwing over your audience in the process?
My admiration for RWBY is being unbalanced by my disliking for corporate practices. Or perhaps I should have some sympathy for Rooster Teeth. After all, what company does have 100% ethical practices? Being a small group of friends to begin with, did Rooster Teeth really know what they were getting into? If they didn't, then was RWBY a doomed show to begin with, and I've invested all my time into a show that was always going to be half-baked?
I really don't know the answers to all these questions. Maybe, years from now, when this chapter of Internet history is closed, I'll understand. But for this moment, I'm not going to tear apart RWBY or its producers any more.
If there's one thing that RWBY and Monty Oum taught me, it was the value of work ethic and passion for your own art. So that's what I'll do right now.
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