This video was made after the end of Volume 5 of RWBY.
I will already assume you're a fan, or have watched the show, so I will get straight to the point.
Lately for the past year or so, I have noticed more and more videos being made in the RWBY fandom pointing out the flaws in
this series and addressing them, though they have been around for quite some time already.
I am here to talk about the rising trend of these videos, and what it means for not only the RWBY fandom
but for the series itself.
I will not be talking about the specific flaws within RWBY, as there are many more capable than myself who can talk about these topics
who have an actual functional microphone, and do not have to call on the powers of Microsoft Mark to read this in a coherent manner.
But I am touching more on the meta aspects of it, about the world surrounding
the show - that is, its fandom, and its creators.
The spike in RWBY criticism arose, I believe, since Volume 3, when Monty Oum, RWBY's creator,
sadly passed away in the middle of Volume 3's production.
Fans all over were uncertain of the show's future.
Many were divided - some said the show will get worse, while many still had faith that Rooster Teeth would be able to carry on Monty's legacy.
What do I think? Do I think Rooster Teeth have been successful?
I think the answer to that is more complicated than what a simple response could accomplish.
The bottom line however, is that ever since Volume 3, many fans for the first time were able to separate the show from its creator,
allowing them to scrutinize it and allowing the show's flaws to be much more apparent.
I will admit. I may never look at Ruby objectively.
When I saw the show for the first time, I thought one thing to myself: "This is perfect."
Not because of the writing, or how the characters were handled. It was more intangible for me.
The fantasy world mixed with sci-fi elements, with interesting character designs with likable personalities.
The art style was unpolished, but appealing. The dynamic action scenes, and beyond that...
When I watched it, it felt like I was watching someone's dream come to life, and I was.
I knew at the time this was Monty Oum's passion project, and as a creator myself,
to see someone's passion being realized and being able to follow that journey every year,
it spoke to me very personally. I looked at RWBY, and I thought:
"This is the kind of project I wish I could make. This is the kind of thing I WANT to make."
But that all changed after his death.
Like everyone else, I was doubtful of the show's future, and I simply had to hope for the best from Rooster Teeth.
Volume 3 was good, but there was already something missing, namely in the action scenes,
but I obviously wanted to trust that Rooster Teeth were doing their best.
Monty was an exceptionally talented and hardworking animator, and they had big shoes to fill.
My doubts began to be solidified when Volume 4 was on the way.
Shane Newville, who worked closely with Monty and the person that a large portion of the fandom, including myself,
hoped would carry on Monty's legacy through his animation work, was fired by Rooster Teeth.
And to a lesser extent on the animation side,
Dillon Gu, who worked on many of Volume 3's better action scenes, also didn't return to work on RWBY due to his contract ending.
During this rocky time, several other Rooster Teeth employees also left the company in the months afterwards,
causing further uneasiness in the fandom.
I'm sure you've heard of Shane's open letter. I won't go into detail here.
After looking at both sides, I concluded there was no way to truly tell how faithfully Rooster Teeth is dealing with RWBY now.
I can't say whether Shane or Rooster Teeth were in the right.
I believe both had their reasons for doing what they did, and that is not what this video is concerned with.
We cannot say for sure whether Rooster Teeth has been faithful to Monty's vision,
But I will say this, and this is the main point of my video:
I believe they have not been improving on it.
There are two main things that concern me with the current state of RWBY: Monty's vision, and its quality.
Both are very different things.
Monty's vision is concerned with the show before Volume 3 and after volume 3 being different due to his death.
The quality of the show is concerned with all five Volumes of it, along with all future Volumes that will come afterward.
The first time I saw the four trailers for RWBY, I was captivated.
There was a sense of mystery, elegance and extreme care put into them.
They felt very personal, which is true since Monty largely worked on the Red Trailer's animation on his own.
I went into Volume 1, and I liked the characters straight away.
It was so surreal seeing something of its kind:
An anime-inspired passion project with Western writing and humor. Three of those things just sold it to me.
It was just so different, and it was something that I just couldn't help but be fascinated by.
Not only was I watching someone's labor of love being brought to life,
I was watching it grow.
Much of the fandom was fascinated by it as I was, and followed its growth and progress over the years very closely.
Every improvement in each subsequent volume was a milestone.
Every year we watched the visuals becoming more polished and the world kept expanding.
It felt like when the creators were exploring the world, we were too.
The fans fell in love with Monty's world, creating their own fan characters and universes within Remnant, and Rooster Teeth encouraged it.
They energized so much positive growth in the community - from the reactions, to character ideas,
to even hiring famous artists in the community to contribute to the actual show's production.
However, since Monty's passing, that connection was forever changed in some fans' minds.
We were no longer watching a personal story growing in the hands of the person who imagined it, being moulded directly by them.
Though it is true that Miles and Kerry worked very closely with Monty on the story,
we had to trust Rooster Teeth to bring that vision to life instead of its original creator.
As much as I want to, I cannot say that I connected to Ruby in a personal way ever since,
though this is obviously not as true in the rest of the fandom, who still remained very passionate.
Being a creator myself, I connected to RWBY through the fact it was Monty's passion project.
It was uplifting to me to see his work being able to affect so many people's lives
and encouraging others, like me, to create as well.
His death left a permanent mark on that connection,
which led me to believe that I could no longer see RWBY as it's meant to be, no matter how faithful Rooster Teeth were to his story.
Because carrying on someone's work is not just following their ideas and plot points that they wrote down.
It's about capturing the essence of the work itself, and this is the part I felt Rooster Teeth have struggled with ever since Monty's death.
Watching the original four trailers in Volumes 1 & 2 always felt a certain way that the other future Volumes failed to capture.
I cannot say further on what that is, because I don't know.
It could be my nostalgia or my biases.
Though Monty's action scenes play a very large part in making the series stand out the way it did, it wasn't just that.
The decision for Rooster Teeth to switch their 3D software from Poser to Maya was understandable,
given the fact that most of their animators were more familiar with Maya,
and Monty himself had to do a lot of different unconventional things with Poser to make it work the way it did to produce RWBY.
I think it was unavoidable, due to them wanting to create Ruby more efficiently,
but it was a further blow to my confidence for them to change the appearance of the show from the ground up.
We had followed the look of RWBY for three years only to have it drastically change.
That in itself wasn't a bad thing,
but because of us seeing it implemented in the Volume right after Volume 3, the last Volume Monty worked on,
it was unfortunate that such a huge change was brought to the fans before they could even adapt.
It's not a criticism, but it is a factor that I can't ignore
that plays a part in the growing doubts within the fandom who weren't excited for that sudden change.
With all that said, while RWBY was Monty's brainchild, and his talent as an animator was exceptionally good,
I cannot speak with the same confidence regarding him as a writer or director. This brings me to:
Despite everything I said about Monty, as more years pass and more volumes are produced,
I do realize that the world that he created has many flaws. You can say that RWBY has had problems from the start.
I, along with many other fans, were willing to overlook many of its technical flaws
like graphics and voice acting, because they were constantly improving them with each Volume.
(Which is why for a fan that was around since Volume 1,
it's so jarring to have that art style change completely due to the switch to Maya)
As the years went by, though, more and more holes began to appear in the show's writing,
which is something that is much harder to change once it is set in stone.
This has been the subject of numerous videos, addressing various topics
from the motivations of its villains, the story's pacing and progression, the character arcs,
the disparity between the expectations the show sets up and the actual payoff,
and even down to the fundamentals of the world and its lore.
It's safe to say that while Monty's idea for RWBY and its world is excellent, and got many people to immediately find it interesting,
it may not have been thoroughly inspected for plot holes and inconsistencies.
It does feel like Monty, Miles and Kerry were coming up with a cool world
with all the cool stuff they want in it, and there's nothing wrong with that.
But over time it starts to show cracks when put under scrutiny.
Like I said, this has been the subject of many videos, which is why I won't be inspecting those flaws here, but my main point is this:
Rooster Teeth needs to be responsible for these two things - Monty's vision, and the show's overall quality.
Since we as fans will have no idea of Monty's vision other than the trailers and Volumes 1 & 2,
It falls on them to uphold the second thing all the more,
as that is the only standard the fans can reliably hold them by.
I don't deny that these two can come into conflict.
Something that Monty may have originally created might be something that could cause problems in the consistency of the writing or lore.
Rooster Teeth has to essentially balance these two things and even choose between them at times, and I do respect them for trying their best,
but it's quite obvious at this point that they are struggling.
I can understand that with the fact that they have to produce a new Volume every year,
there's really not enough time to look through the entire lore and outline of the story
and edit it through numerous drafts and revisions.
Above all else, they are prioritizing getting the Volumes out,
which leaves them little to no time to actually stand still and scrutinize the flaws.
All they can really do is just keep working with what they've already got.
Because of this, I can understand they're in a tough spot.
Most of the fandom and viewership wouldn't like the show being put on hold either, even if it does improve the show.
But what I'm saying is that there will come a point where they may have no choice but to do so.
This time, more than ever, people have been looking at RWBY and found it sadly under-delivering on its potential.
More and more videos have come up criticizing Ruby's flaws, many of them from fans of the show who want to see it improve.
Long time fans are growing dissatisfied that many of the problems that have surfaced are not being addressed.
Newer fans are fascinated by its world and ideas, but are losing patience with some of its poor decisions.
People who haven't watched it yet are going to look at it critically and won't give it a chance.
I don't want to assume, but I do hope that Rooster Teeth isn't ignoring these very valid opinions from fans
who care enough about the show to put the time and effort needed to let their voice be heard.
We know that Rooster Teeth has always been involved with their fandom,
and yet they are oddly silent when it comes to this very important area.
I know, as creators with such high expectations you have to deliver on, not only to your fans,
but to the memory and legacy of a friend and colleague, that it's hard to approach a problem as complicated and ingrained into the show as this.
But that is why, I believe it's more important than ever to listen and improve NOW before it gets worse.
Before the point where, dare I say, RWBY becomes too big of a mess that even the earliest of its fans walk away from it.
I DO NOT want to see that happen, and that is precisely why I feel it's important to voice my thoughts on the matter.
I'm not here to make an analysis, or to insult Rooster Teeth for all of the hard work they've been putting into RWBY.
I'm here because I want these fans to be heard.
We want RWBY to improve, because we believe it can be a much better and fully realized story worthy of its ambition,
and that Rooster Teeth is capable of executing it.
If we hated RWBY, we would have walked out long ago,
but we chose to stay because we hope it can live up to all the potential it has set up for itself.
RWBY is a unique show in a very unique position,
being the first production of its kind to be so popular with fans all over the world,
and it is exciting to be a part of it!
RWBY is important to me.
It has inspired me as a creator and resonated with me as a viewer.
In the risk of sounding high and mighty,
I want Rooster Teeth to not only acknowledge these concerns, but to truly consider and address them.
I truly do believe Rooster Teeth listens to their fans and wants them to be involved in the world of RWBY.
Sometimes it happens to their benefit...
and sometimes to their detriment.
I made this video because I want them to listen,
not to me, but to the numerous fans who have already voiced their opinions,
who want to see the story that they've grown so close to, be the best it can be.
Is it overly optimistic?
But it is definitely worth a shot.
We know Rooster Teeth has interacted with their fans,
but more than anything,
more than making reaction videos,
more than retweeting,
more than giving a shoutout to fans by including in-jokes and all these nice gestures,
the most important, most valuable thing Rooster Teeth can do for their fans...
Is to improve RWBY.
If it means hiring more writers... If it means postponing the next Volume...
Even if it means changing the details of what Monty originally planned, for the benefit of the overall work,
then I believe it is something that will honor his legacy more than using everything he wrote, good AND bad.
Sometimes, carrying on someone's work means you have to sacrifice the smaller details in order to improve the whole.
You might even have to change some very fundamental things in order to make the entire work better.
As fans, we want to see RWBY grow and improve,
But the impression that I have, I could be wrong,
is that everything Rooster Teeth has been doing up to this point with RWBY has only maintained Monty's vision, not improved on it.
I will not deny that they have put an unbelievable amount of work and dedication to RWBY, but think of it this way.
It is possible to not only live up to Monty's vision, but even surpass it.
We put Monty Oum on a pedestal, but he was still human.
And there are flaws in Volumes 1 & 2 that were due to his decisions as a director.
It is natural that because Monty has left us early,
he only had time to execute his vision, but as a result he lacked the time to improve on it.
For him, I can only guess that focusing on Ruby's production and output,
in order to share it with the world as soon as possible was his sole priority, and I can understand that,
but with him no longer here, we have to work with what he has left behind.
These are bits and pieces of information that are, most likely, VERY rough.
Very likely, many ideas that are nothing more than notes on paper and text documents,
and many more that he may have never recorded.
Some given more thought than others, but nonetheless are mostly fresh out of Monty's imagination.
They had little time to be polished or to be refined.
By taking Monty's ideas wholesale and putting them into the final product as soon as possible,
I feel Rooster Teeth is making a big mistake. This is a big assumption.
But I feel this is exactly what we're seeing.
Half-baked ideas put straight into the main story in the hopes it will somehow work itself out.
I'm going to make a huge assumption here.
Because Rooster Teeth has no time to do anything with what was left of Monty's ideas, other than to commit them into the final product,
The overall quality of RWBY has suffered in the long run, which has led to many fans not only to take notice,
but to view these flaws as important enough to take the time out of their day to voice their concerns.
I might be completely wrong, and the true situation will no doubt be much more complex than this,
but this is what I am worried about.
If this is indeed true, then which would be better? That the ideas created by Monty, with Miles and Kerry,
be completely preserved, no exceptions?
Or that the intent and the essence of these ideas are preserved, while objectively looking at it to improve these ideas,
to bring out their best elements, and then implementing them into the work?
I'll conclude here.
It is obvious that there is a growing dissatisfaction in Ruby's fandom.
Many fans (and non-fans) have come up to voice their critique,
and though they are a small number compared to the passionate fans who love RWBY for what it is,
we feel it can be so much better. In fact, we KNOW it can be so much better.
I don't want this to be mere theory and speculation.
I hope Rooster Teeth is aware that these concerns exist, and will CONTINUE to exist at the rate RWBY is going now.
Not only are there fundamental flaws in the world itself, which are harder to remedy, but with each new Volume,
there are problems with the story being created as we speak, that can easily be remedied with more rewrites,
more time to fix the script and pacing, and greater consideration for the show's overall quality.
Even if the lore and setting of the world, and all the previous Volumes can't be changed,
everything that has yet to be revealed has the potential to be much, much better.
It will take more time, it will take more effort, it might even take more resources and more people.
It could very well drive away some people who are not willing to wait for the next Volume, and that is understandable,
But I truly believe this trade-off will be worth it in the long run.
And RWBY can truly live up to the potential we see in it.
My warning and fear is that if Rooster Teeth waits too long to acknowledge RWBY's issues,
Not only will it not be taken seriously by the various communities within anime, gaming and web series, among others,
especially with its constantly growing popularity, only for it to be treated as nothing more than
but also the fear that by the time these flaws are acknowledged, the people who have stood loyally by the show since the beginning,
and have eagerly watched it grow, hoping that these problems are taken seriously...
Would have already walked away.
Thank you for listening.
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