“Hey maybe you should see a therapist or something” alignment chart

New RWBY character art by concept artist Ein Lee; continues to be amazing and make me yearn for a 2D RWBY comic/show in her style

For your consideration: Raven turns out to be Nora’s mom as well.

Thinkin bout... Nora and Cinder. Both of them being starving orphans trying to survive, Cinder being physically abused through electric shocks on a daily basis, and defining her sense of self worth in the abuse that she endured ("Without you I am nothing... But because of you I am everything") and how that fuels her own self destructive behaviour throughout her life.

And then Nora having a semblance which allows her to absorb electricity and channel it into strength, and defining her sense of self worth in that when she's questioning who she is outside of her relationship with Ren, ("Be strong... and break stuff") which results in her channeling way too much electricity and causing herself harm to prove her self worth.

How in both scenarios they're left with scars from the electrical shocks, with Cinder having a scar around her neck that she constantly conceals and is likely very self conscious of, while Nora's scars are all over her body and impossible to conceal or hide from the world.

Imagining the idea of Cinder joining our heroes and how Nora would've likely have grown to be more confident in herself at that point, and the two possibly finding a strange sense of solidarity, with Cinder maybe being inspired by her to stop hiding her scars from the world, to stop hiding herself and be bare and unashamed to the world, as Nora is. Yeah.

If you think about it, Team ORNJ are like... the perfect team to unwittingly kickstart Cinder into a redemption spiral. Jaune has the parallels to Cinder and now the emotional maturity to face her again, Oscar has the resolve to separate Salem's forces from her (and you can bet that it includes taking away her key to the Beacon vault and "victory"), Nora has the experience with identity crisis and lightning to make Cinder possibly tense up and be thrown off, and finally, Ren can spill the tea on what I'm sure is a blizzard of petals around Cinder.

Throw Ruby into the mix and she'll be down that Grimm Arm too possibly.

Okay but like, my ideal order of them pushing Cinder into a redemption arc would probably go

- Oscar attempting to stir doubt in Cinder again, when Emerald has also left and she's more inclined to listen, saying she can choose a different path but refuses

- Pyrrha pushing Cinder to help Oscar or seek help from RWBYORNJ

- Pyrrha/Oscar acting as the mediator/bridge between a Cinder seeking help and the group being reluctant to do so given what she's done

- Ruby figuring out how to use her eyes to help Cinder rather than hurt her (to literally see her as someone who needs help being freed rather than a monster to be punished, like Rhodes did)

- Jaune helping her to heal, maybe for a while being reliant on his semblance for physical recovery after losing the Grimm arm, but unintentionally helping her heal emotionally too, likely with Ren and Nora's help, what with Nora's past and Ren's semblance.

Cinder and Nora is just the very definition of “there but for the grace of god” though, holy fuck

Rwby Vol8 is following Mulan[1998]

Beat for beat, and often frame for frame, Rwby Volume 8 is visually mimicking Mulan[1998]. Like, really really following it, not only in general terms of ‘hey this scene is similar to X’, but legitimately frame for frame and thematically. They’ve done callbacks to characters’ origins before, of course (it’s RWBY, everyone is based on something), but this is A Lot, in just a couple episodes, and I just want to compare just how similar they’ve gotten. There’s a whole bunch of other callbacks to it in previous volumes, but for my own sanity I’m going to stick to Volume 8.

(thanks to Disney+’s ban on screenshots, please forgive my photos of the relevant frames)

In episode 2, Refuge, there’s a couple specific points:

1. When they’re walking through the abandoned city and the camera zooms in on the lost toy,

compared with when they enter the burnt city and Mulan finds the lost doll and the camera zooms in on it.

2. And then when Oscar is grabbed by the Hound and carried off,

it sure comes across as similar to when the Emperor is grabbed and dragged off into the palace

This is not the only time that Oscar fills that role in this comparison, either. 

[the image limit is too small for one post, so see you in the reblog]

In episode 4, Fault, it’s not just a couple of shots. It’s blatant, and it’s great.

1. First, The Cliff Scene. You know it, I know it, but let’s take a look at just how many frames are, if not absolutely identical, but so close that they may as well be.

We’ve got: 

1. underneath shot of them tumbling over the edge

2. Close up of Ren aka “Mulan” shooting ropes at something at the cliff’s edge to stop the fall

3. Close up of the anchored line

4. and a double shot of them hanging from the line. 

Which, when you look a Mulan, you’ve got:

1. The underneat shot of them falling off the cliff

2. Close up of Mulan shooting the line (and they’re even shooting the same direction, from the same side of the screen)

3. Close up of the anchored line

4. And everyone hanging from the rope

[once again, i’m at the image limit, so look for the reblog]

Still in episode 4, only 2 scenes later, we have the argument in the snow, where Ren outs Jaune as having snuck into Beacon. It may not be a perfect mirror, like the cliff scene, but thematically, it still follows the next major beat in Mulan. 

vs

Personally, I find it very interesting that Ren, as the ‘Mulan’ character of RWBY, is the one to reveal Jaune’s deception, rather than having a secret of his own revealed. However, it will be interesting to see if he later has something similar revealed about him in the same fashion.

Immediately following that, we go back to Oscar. Remember when I said Oscar fills the role of Emperor more than once? Yeah, Salem circling and threatening him almost perfectly mirrors Shan Yu circling and threatening the Emperor. 

We have:

1. Standing menacingly in front of him as underlings hold him in place,

2. Circling behind him to make a demand (”I need to know where [the Relic] is” / ”Bow to me”)

3. A sassy response that essentially translates as ‘Fuck you’ (”That’s not something I know about” / “The mountain cannot bow to it”)

4. Physical threats/attacks when told ‘no’

(unfortunately, episode 4 doesn’t have closed captions yet)

(once again at the image limit so look for the next reblog)

If you thought we were done with episode 4, well, not quite yet. Fault is mostly just the latter half of Mulan. 

Two scenes after Salem vs Oscar, we jump back to Ren and Jaune and Yang. Interestingly, Jaune jumps between the role of ‘Mulan’ and ‘Mushu’ in this conversation, acknowledging the mistake he made with his deception, and then trying to comfort and reassure Ren.

“You’ve got people around you too. You don’t have to force yourself to be strong.”

vs

Essentially, “You’re not alone in this.” Though not a perfect mirror, the conversations are thematically similar enough that the connection is pretty blatant.

Of course, immediately after Jaune says this, Ren goes outside, and perfectly mirrors Mulan once again.

Let’s just sit and brood in the snow, shall we?

And then, let’s continue the mirror, with the Ominous Crack In The Snow,

And The Ominous Hands Popping Out Of The Snow

Zoomed in on it. We love parallels. 

The final mirror between the two is, of course, the realisation that the enemy is headed toward the city.

“It’s heading straight for the kingdom” 

That’s all I’ve got for mirrors and parallels… so far.

 But honestly, it’s perfectly following along, and I’m loving it. Finally getting to see the connection between Ren and Mulan is so satisfying, but the minor differences that RWBY is doing makes watching the whole thing come together and play out intense and exhilarating.

@aevon-ottercat​ you’re so right and thank you for saying it. I can’t believe i missed it.

Nora, in episode 5, Amity,

and Mulan. 

I would also like to point out that now two very prominent characters (Nora and Cinder) who have little to no backstory/character development are both unconscious, and both are slated to go on the path of re-discovering/reminiscing who they once were outside of the two people (Ren and Salem) they’ve known for most of their remembered lives.

This one is for you @misstrashchan

RWBY vol 8. ch3: Pulling the Strings

WIP

So, Nora stans who have waited until now for character development crumbs, how are we feeling tonight?

Nora Valkyrie was like “i’d rather stick a fork hammer into a power socket than have one (1) more thought about my personal feelings or identity” and honestly…………….that is very hashtag relatable

“Be strong and hit stuff” - Nora Valkyrie 

Things arent looking up for Ren

[id: A search bar, with the phrase "how to tell your wife you lost the kid" typed into it. end id.]