RWBY Volume 9 Episode 10 Reaction
Added 2024-12-21 17:00:09 +0000 UTCThanks for all your input on our poll. After this episode we are watching the Epilogue and then RWBY Beyond before the Soundtrack reaction we do for every volume.
Then, Chibi won the poll so we will be reacting to that first before moving on to either the movies or Ice Queendom.
Comments
Eddy Rivas tweeted something about this volume after it ended that i really liked: “It's cheesy, but one of my favorite writing phrases is Tolkien's idea of the "eucatastrophe" - the turning point /moment you realize that despite the darkness, you're reading a happy story. Really wanted this Volume and specifically this episode to be that moment.”
Rachel Mae
2025-01-11 23:21:43 +0000 UTCYes. we are actually going to do the epilogue and beyond before the soundtrack now. 😅
Bethany and Ken
2024-12-26 16:27:55 +0000 UTCOur pleasure! 🙂
Bethany and Ken
2024-12-26 16:27:35 +0000 UTCIt's pretty great how much RWBY packs into their songs. Really making the soundtrack an enhancement of the series and not just for the scene you are watching but afterwards for when you really can pay attention to the lyrics 🙂
Bethany and Ken
2024-12-26 16:24:22 +0000 UTCyeah the Cat was a great character. Had some funny moments. Some unsettling moments. and then some sad moments. For a character appearing in only one season it was very effective 🤩
Bethany and Ken
2024-12-26 16:22:59 +0000 UTCWell now we need a RWBY and Elden Ring crossover 😜
Bethany and Ken
2024-12-26 16:21:13 +0000 UTCWell said 🙂
Bethany and Ken
2024-12-26 16:20:37 +0000 UTC😂
Bethany and Ken
2024-12-26 16:17:46 +0000 UTCLots of good thoughts. I actually have the JLxRWBY films but I've been hesitant to watch them in fear they wouldn't be as enjoyable, so thanks for suggesting they are worth watching. As far as Raven's Semblance: While we know Raven can portal to the people she has a bond with, I'm not convinced that's the only portal she can create. Remember when she meets Qrow in the bar? And then she portals away? I suspect in general she can portal to locations she knows / knows well, which would include the Bandit Camp (and would NOT include "the inside of a random Relic vault she's never been to"); but she can't just "portal to Random Joe Person somewhere in Remnant" -- that latter is probably where the rule about "needing a close bond" comes in as far as people are concerned. So she can portal to Tai, Yang, and Qrow no matter where they are (and she doesn't even need to know where they are). That would make more sense to me -- they are the anchors when she doesn't know where she is gating to. Which leads me to think she might not have been zoning to another close person when she takes Summer wherever they go. I want so bad to know where they went and what happened. Based on the After episode (that was blocked out but not animated), we might be in a position to learn this in the near future. as a side thing, I think it's fascinating that our anti-social personality (Raven) has a Semblance that she can portal directly to people she CARES about. Oh, the irony there...
Jennywocky
2024-12-26 06:11:38 +0000 UTCTotally agree on Weiss and Jaune. There's a LOT of little interplay between them that can pass unnoticed but that subtext seems to be there, at least to me. I'm curious to see how it plays out. And yeah, that Vacuo shot is just so tremendous... :)
Jennywocky
2024-12-26 05:58:20 +0000 UTCI named the Cat one of my top five chars for the season basically for this kind of reasoning. Really interesting backstory and motivation. The Cat was created well, and did its job well, performing one of the most important functions in the Ever After (to find the broken creations and either ease their pain or send them back for a makeover) -- a responsibility originally falling on the Brothers before they left. And then the Brothers (its creators) departed without explanation ... and then some long time after THAT Alyx shows up. Where the Cat finds out that The Brothers didn't just leave it, they abandoned the Cat to go make <i>other</i> beings... which I think the Cat read as it being an early inferior creation in some way. At least, it turned the Cat's normal curiosity to a near-obsessive level because the Brother's moving on was now a very personal thing to it -- and it desperately needed to return with Alyx to find its makers and ask them why. And then she lied to the Cat and broke its heart over the one thing it so desperately wanted, and there was no one to return it to the Tree for repair. I mean, the Cat does become the "villain" of Season 9 once Neo's role is done, but so many "villains" in RWBY are people who have been hurt deeply and respond out of their hurt rather than learning acceptance and/or healing in some way. You have to wonder if the Cat would have just gotten worse after RWBY's departure or if it would have found another way to deal -- but Neo took care of that as she viewed the Cat (understandably) as a huge threat to her well-being. It's interesting to watch RWBY Beyond and see Somewhat's role and how that might change/replace what the Cat had been doing.
Jennywocky
2024-12-26 05:55:32 +0000 UTCLets be real..we all know neo will be redeemed sometime in volume 10. And hope they don't kill her off. The the reason I'm still "watching "this show. I say that because only watch the episodes with her in it anyway
Reggielacey22
2024-12-25 17:56:01 +0000 UTCI literally paused the video to come say basically the same thing! I must be the same kind of evil as Bethany though because when she started the analogy, I knew where it was going to end up. XD
Callie Summers
2024-12-25 08:04:17 +0000 UTCNeo and the Curious Cat were both put in similar scenarios and eventually became hellbent on revenge, one against their enemy and one against their maker. Not much is stated about Neo’s backstory but it is quite tragic. Plus her getting used by Cinder was the icing on the cake to make her go fully psychotic.
Sting Eucliffe
2024-12-22 15:16:27 +0000 UTCThank you for your wonderful RWBY reactions! I really hope there will be more volumes so this journey can continue! I'm definitely looking forward to you reacting to the shorts, Ice Queendom, and the JL movies. I honestly hadn't thought I would like the JL x RWBY movies just because those two things crossed over seemed really weird to me, but I actually REALLY enjoyed the movies and have ended up watching them multiple times. I loved Little, but honestly Somewhat is SO much cuter! I demand Somewhat plushies lol. And Juniper plushies! I am dying to know more about Summer's secret mission with Raven, for that alone I need another season. Based on what we know about Raven's semblance, she can only open portals to people she has a strong bond with. Yang said that Raven had a portal for three people: TaiYang, Yang, and Qrow. But I think it is obvious that there is more. When Raven saved Yang in Volume 2, Raven teleports away, possibly to Vernal (the chick who pretended to be the Spring Maiden until she got killed by Cinder). But Vernal couldn't have been the one Raven teleported to in the flashback since she would have been too young. And obviously it wasn't to TaiYang or Yang cuz they were back at the house. So this leaves Qrow, or a mystery person. I personally think it was Qrow because there have been a number of breadcrumbs dropped over the course of the series: 1. Qrow hates his bad luck semblance and emphasizes what it has done to those closest to him, making him withdrawn. 2. Qrow's drinking seems very guilt and pity based, and it doesn't seem to have been there is whole life since he was able to hold down a job as a teacher and be present in the lives of his nieces. 3. When Qrow was poisoned in Volume 4, he kept muttering about how "she isn't coming back". This could be about Raven abandoning Tai, or it could be about Summer. 4. When everyone was celebrating having be made fully fledged Huntsmen and Huntresses, Qrow and Ruby were talking about Summer and Oz and Ruby asked if Summer's last mission was for Oz, but Qrow said he thought it was more of Summer's own personal mission, which it now seems like it was due to the flashback. Even if Qrow wasn't there on the last mission, I do think he knows more and isn't sharing with the class. I also think that due to the mission going south it had a profound effect on Raven. She seemed MUCH more quippy and less cold than what she did when Yang ran into her at the bandit camp. Raven had willingly gone on the mission with Summer while actively trying to stop Yang from continuing hers. We NEED more volumes so that Ruby can sit the Branwen twins down and get some answers. Did Salem flat out kill Summer? Did she try to turn Summer into a Grimm? What went so wrong, and why was Summer the only one who didn't come back? So many questions!
Lady RedShee
2024-12-22 00:43:48 +0000 UTCI have plenty of things about this volume I love but I wanna focus on one that I see people gush over less, the cat. I love the blacksmith's simple explanation of how one lie can have such terrible consequences. I see many people attributing the cat's malice in part to how the brother's made it, which makes sense I guess given it's what the cat itself exclaims but that's confusing the symptom with the cause. The cat was perfectly happy being curious, up until Alex promised him knowledge she had no intention of providing. The lie is what broke the cat. And yeah it can be argued that is a critical failure in its creation, as is its inability to return to the tree but nothing is built to handle every conceivable problem in existence, and afterans in particular are much more simplistic, what is conceivable to them is much more limited. Within the space it was made, it was no more flawed than the brothers themselves. The reason I like this is not because I have some great hate for lies. Lying is a tool like any other, some appropriate uses and many many more inappropriate ones. But it shows the heavier negative toll comparably benign acts can have on the more ambitiously kind. The cat was arguably the most helpful being in the Ever After aside from perhaps the tree itself. It was designed to be. And with but a few thoughtless, selfish words... it still was. But it was hurt. In a way it couldn't process and in a way it couldn't heal. It's quirk became a curse. Not because it was mismade but because a more complex being abused it.
Jeff
2024-12-21 20:14:09 +0000 UTCRemember about RWBY ep 10 and RWBY Beyond right after soundtrack!
Moonas
2024-12-21 19:42:43 +0000 UTCI've loved your RWBY reactions, thank you so much!
Tone
2024-12-21 19:40:32 +0000 UTCAs things stand, Neo has no real reason to return to Remnant. It's not to say one can't be reasonably presented but I expect she remains in the Ever After, or perhaps is simply never addressed again. As for volumes, I wouldn't expect more than 2 and honestly just 1 wouldn't really surprise. There isn't enough narrative space left to take as much time on things as they have previously; The main characters have grown too much. And unfortunately the elephant in the room is the cost, which is likely going to be higher than ever (both because of the times and because finales tend to cost extra... and suck if they don't). VIZ may have purchased the property and intends to finish the story but if they were in the habit of bankrolling animation... They're best known as a distributor is all I'm saying. The Mcguffin's will almost certainly be accounted for but don't count on them getting nearly the buildup the prior two have.
Jeff
2024-12-21 19:33:01 +0000 UTCI wanted to say that too, very on point) Ruby's mom was her idol, and Ruby found out that her idol was, in fact, fallible or flawed, for lack of better words. The clear message was - you don't have to be perfect to be enough. Real good writing, I would say)
Alexey Taranushchenko
2024-12-21 18:49:39 +0000 UTCBoy I loved this episode. Some things to say: 1. Great to see the message was "you are enough". I struggle with that in my own life, so it spoke to me, and was somewhat (pun intended) inspiring. 2. How awesome were the last shots of the episode, the ones where they return to Remnant? You see them in Vacuo, where there's a fleet of ships and the Amity Colisseum in the distance, showing that the world has heeded Ruby's warning at the end of Volume 8, and hope is not lost. And all that set to an epic arrangement of the original intro song? I mean, how amazing is that? "This will be day we're waiting for, this will be day we'll open up the door..." 3. Can we talk about Weiss and Jaune? After this volume I kinda started shipping them. I recently found out that this ship is called the "White Knight", which I think is super cool and super on point. The incident in the middle of the season where Weiss notes how he's now "mature" was hilarious in an "oh how the tables have turned" kind of way) After all those school days when he was head over heels for her, but she was flat out rejecting him) But there's more - the way she hugged him tightly after they found out that the Paper Pleasers haven't really died, and the like. Both characters have grown tremedously and long established a close and trusting friendship. I mean, Jaune literally saved her life once, even if she called it "annoying")) And that sweet little laugh she let out after he realized how high his younger voice was? I mean, come on! Don't know what the future of the show will hold (and hope it arrives soon), but I will be thrilled to see those two end up together.
Alexey Taranushchenko
2024-12-21 18:45:56 +0000 UTC😂 Bethany out here trying to cut off soccer players’ legs
GrimmxLaw22
2024-12-21 18:40:23 +0000 UTCNeo ending up in the tree, makes it seem like she'll be coming back later, so it'll be interesting to see what a Neo re-design will look like. And hopefully they figure things out and get set up for another 2 or 3 volumes. We've still got to do a Vacuo arc, and then I figured they'd want to go back to Beacon to do something with the relic there. Would be weird to just leave that mcguffin laying around and never use it.
Alex Smith
2024-12-21 18:39:39 +0000 UTCYeah most of them are about 3-5 minutes each
SavvySpark
2024-12-21 18:18:40 +0000 UTCOn Neo’s character, Something I think worth reflecting back on is her theme from Volume 6: “One Thing” It’s the song that plays during her fight with Cinder before Cinder recruits her — where we get the reveal shot of her wearing Roman’s hat at the end and all that. The song’s lyrics are all from Neo’s perspective and — even if a little bit vaguely — touch on how Neo feels and where she was at mentally after Roman died. I don’t know if any other commenters have ever mentioned it before, but there’s a number of side books that have been made for the RWBY series and one of them was about Neo’s backstory. I find it really unfortunate that it ended up being one of the only outlets for this series where we got some of these details about her as opposed to finding some way to include it into the show, the main function of the series that will reach the most people. But, I actually think you don’t even have to go there thanks to the lyrics of “One Thing” — in the song, Neo stresses that before all of this (before she even went along with Roman) she was “lost, without a voice, and on my own.” Neo seemed to be someone hopeless, someone directionless, someone alone. But then Roman found her and gave her a purpose. Like Neo says through her illusion of Roman’s mouth in Volume 9 Episode 8: she always wanted a sense of freedom. The ability to live whatever way she wanted. She claims Roman gave that feeling to her back on Remnant. Going back to “One Thing”, Neo constantly stresses in the song that Roman became everything to her. He became her hope, her direction, her escape from loneliness. He became her everything. And then he died. He died in battle with Ruby, under Cinder’s orders. So Neo blamed the both of them. She went after Cinder first, which is why they fight in Volume 6, but Cinder convinces her the blame is solely on Ruby and that they should work together. Throughout Volumes 7 and 8 after that, we do often see Neo protest whenever Cinder wants to do things besides go after Ruby. And when Maria asks Neo what she wants during the fight at Amity in Volume 8, Neo just uses her semblance to look like Ruby. I think the seeds were there enough to piece the story together. But I really think what could have helped her was greater exploration of just who exactly she is and how she feels by the story itself and obviously more screentime in the story. I’m not even sure she’s technically in most of the episodes in this Volume (especially if we discount split second appearances like Volume 9 Episode 7 where she literally just appears to do a finger gun at Ruby and then leave) and she’s one of the main antagonists.
Hunter
2024-12-21 18:09:40 +0000 UTCSorry this is long, lol. There is just so much to unpack! As painful as Episode 8 was, I felt like Episode 10 just made up for it. “Red like roses fills my dreams” – series’ BEST musical cue harkening back to the very first trailer lyric [Red]. That hopeful look as Ruby reclaims Crescent Rose breaks me every time -- and then she just KICKS Furious Cat's ass! She also wears Summer’s emblem again (“a mother’s promise,” she called it in e5 -- AKA “I love you just the way you are – always”). She doesn’t have to be anything more than what she is now. Maybe not perfect… but complete. Summer Rose is captured so well -- nurturing mom, loving partner, yet not a "goody goody" (lying as needed, giving Raven a smackdown). Qrow once called Summer a "brat," even when holding deep affection for her. Summer feels so real and you can see her presence in her two girls. We still don’t know what happened to her… but I bet Raven does. Raven shows remorse for leaving Yang and regrets she wasn’t good at motherhood. (Again… expectations?) Meanwhile, Jaune finally accepts he can’t save everyone and it’s okay. This season was so much about resetting expectations. I hope Jaune reflects some of his earned wisdom in later seasons. Glad you both saw value in Neo’s journey. Her internal pain has SO terrible that the Cat immediately vacates her body to stop experiencing it, it’s just been masked by her cool outer demeanor and sadism towards Ruby and Little. While she immediately destroys the Cat because he’s proven himself a huge threat, she has her awakening here -- vengeance didn’t salve her pain, it just made her more empty. When she touches Torchwick's face (modeling Summer touching Tai's face earlier), it's clear that she loved him and never recovered from his loss. She takes responsibility to abandon the facade and returns to the Tree for a fresh start, with Ruby and the Blacksmith both extending her grace… Now I will be laughing over the thought of peg-leg soccer players…! "One small kindness, in one small moment, led to such a marvelous transformation..." The evolution of Little into Somewhat reflects the courage and compassion that led to their original death when they refused to abandon Ruby. When they tell Jaune, “I will never leave [Juniper’s] side,” we know it’s True. I love that they still instinctively recognize Ruby as a "Huntress" despite having only traces of memory. (My guess is that the Blacksmith was forging Somewhat (sans ears) last episode, when Ruby first arrived.) The little background animation touches in this season just abound, like when Jaune spares a glance back to Juniper and wipes away a tear. Great Rent quote! Yeah, the Cat was broken by (1) the Brother’s abandoning it to make new creations elsewhere [it resented Ruby and the others] and (2) Alyx’s broken promise to help it leave, to demand answers from them. The realization that the Brothers are the Tree's creations (and thus still evolving too) might give hope for the endgame. I don't think it's accidental that the Blacksmith views balance as four intertwined flowers matching RWBY's four colors (red, white, purple, and yellow). Maybe bringing the four relics together won't be a death sentence for humanity after all -- something Ironwood failed to understand, stuck in his rigid tactical mindset. Maybe the battlefield is evolving. Maybe humanity has shown it's not all bad, maybe the Brothers might grow and change their views... IOW, bringing the four relics together might not be the end. My faves this season were Little/Somewhat, Neopolitan, Jaune, Ruby, and the Cat. The VA for The Cat was just phenomenal and made them seem so real. It is still lingering with me how the Cat felt abandoned by the Brothers / supplanted by the new creations, and it was that hurt that drove a lot of its choices... Again, so much of this series explores how people respond to hurt/loss.
Jennywocky
2024-12-21 18:04:48 +0000 UTCThat is such a great finale for the Volume. We got foreshadowing, answers to some old questions, massive lore drops, somehow got Red Like Roses part 3 as well as a reprise of the very first opening. It's basically a way to use nostalgia to say "look at the story so far", and then say "We're opening a brand new chapter of the story". What little we see from Vacuo even shows that there's been some big changes in the world. We have ships from Atlas, Vale and Mistral hovering over Shade, the Amity Colosseum is still around (which means Pietro and Maria as well) but seems to have been turned into a massive fortified... I guess battleship of sort? Which could lead us to believe that Remnant has united to fight against Salem, thanks to Ruby's message to the world. But the biggest thing, to me, is still the fact that the Everafter predates Remnant. Which means that the universe that is host to Remnant is probably not something of the scale of our own universe, and may simply contain Remnant, its moon and its sun. Unless the brothers have created other worlds in the same universe. The Everafter also very much feels like the world of Elden Ring, with a massive tree that is a source of life and rebirth, and even the blacksmith gives vibes of Radagan / Malika as we see them in the game when we enter the tree. Either way, I can absolutely see why people greatly appreciate this Volume. It felt weird and quite detached from the rest of the story so far at first, but it was one heck of an adventure and a much needed change of pace for our protagonists, especially given the state they were in after Atlas got destroyed.
KeterLordFR
2024-12-21 17:58:35 +0000 UTCRuby's journey to me has felt as though one of the most important lessons in the entire show, I always cherish this volume for the weight and the impact they delivered in the themes and lessons they wished to convey. The two of you emphasized a lot how much she is a beacon of light, the positive spark of hope, the small yet honest soul the show speaks about so much. That's why it's so powerful to me to see the true reality of that. Breaking down the fairy tale, the fantasy of who she is, which is just a person. Her need to be the one who carries and guides is but another illusion she placed onto herself crumbling as she and us as an audience can see the story by proper lenses. There's no "great hero" to this story, there's no happy ever after, there's no right thing to do. It's so PERFECTLY emphasized to me, getting to see the truth of her mother's passing, the fact she lied, Ruby coming to terms that not even her hero was perfect. There's nothing that will truly meet her expectations, that will lift the weight off her shoulders for her. There's no one else that Ruby needs to be because who she is already can do everything a warrior can ever do and more, perhaps even more than her mother. Nothing can be more Ruby than Ruby herself. Sometimes we should allow ourselves the change we need, try something new, not be afraid to let go of old personalities. We must also be aware of the qualities we have that do define us, what we have and only neglect. And we many times forget we already have everything we need. That who we are may be enough. The ending speaks of the living organism that is balance, the equilibrium we are constantly chasing for. All sides, negative and positive are part of it, and it will perpetually change, perpetually rebuild, much like the Ever After, much like Remnant, much like our characters, much like any story, much like us. I will always love this volume for this cherished lesson, through their imaginative, creative expression of what it means to create, and then to grow.
Ender
2024-12-21 17:57:14 +0000 UTCI remember watching this and some what going through the same thing Ruby was going through. So seeing her like this was hard to watch but I understood why. After the Black Smith told Ruby she was enough that brought a tear to my eye. Ruby and Jaune were my favorite in this volume, especially Jaune. Seeing Jaune like this just makes me want to give him a hug, dude's been through so much and has been alone in the Ever After. I hope after this volume he show more maturity in the future volume and doesn't go back to the guy we knew him before. Ruby, Weiss, and Jaune has always been my favorite due to character growth, especially Ruby now after this volume. 😁
Joaquin Benally
2024-12-21 17:42:22 +0000 UTCI love that this episode had Ruby shed the impostor syndrome she seemed to suffer from. She’s chased a shadow of Summer Rose the entire show and strove towards this ideal of who she saw her mother as, some kind of super mom and the pinnacle of a huntress. But now she sees that Summer Rose WASN’T perfect. She lied to her family and ultimately failed in what she set out to do. And if Summer Rose wasn’t perfect, why should Ruby have to be?
supasaiyajin jay
2024-12-21 17:23:56 +0000 UTC“Like a happy dream I can’t remember” kills me everytime 😭
Elias Aguirre
2024-12-21 17:22:56 +0000 UTCLove how Remnant essentially came about because a parent got exasperated with its kids and told them to go play outside.
SavvySpark
2024-12-21 17:22:12 +0000 UTCLol Chibi after volume 9 is going to give you guys some major emotional whiplash. You guys plan on doing a couple of episodes a pop? They're all really short, about 5 mins each
Serpent King
2024-12-21 17:21:46 +0000 UTC
