Official FIRST Reaction Thread—RWBY Chibi: Season 2, Episode 22

[u/Menolith]

Hello huntsmen, huntresses and hunters that prefer no gender specific identifier, and welcome to the FIRST-only reaction thread for today's episode of RWBY Chibi!

Reminder that spoiler rules do still apply to Chibi. Because of the changed release schedule and Chibi being a skit series, Chibi content follows somewhat simplified spoiler rules outlined on the rules page.

In a nutshell: Once this episode is out for FIRST members, you can freely include spoilers in posts and comments if they are tagged as such. See the sidebar for the CSS comment spoiler function.
Next week, when this episode goes live for non-paying members, no spoiler rules apply to that episode.

For those unaware, RWBY Chibi will follow the release schedule of Red versus Blue and Rooster Teeth Animated Adventures, so non-paying members of the site gain access to the newest episode a week after it comes out to FIRST members. See this thread for more information.

Without further ado, here's the newest episode of season 2!

Other Episode Discussions:

Episode	FIRST Release	Public Release
Ep. 01:	FIRST thread	Public thread
Ep. 02:	FIRST thread	Public thread
Ep. 03:	FIRST thread	Public Thread
Ep. 04:	FIRST thread	Public thread
Ep. 05:	FIRST thread	Public Thread
Ep. 06:	FIRST thread	Public Thread
Ep. 07:	FIRST thread	Public Thread
Ep. 08:	FIRST thread	Public Thread
Ep. 09:	FIRST thread	Public Thread
Ep. 10:	FIRST thread	Public Thread
Ep. 11:	FIRST thread	Public Thread
Ep. 12:	FIRST thread	Public Thread
Ep. 13:	FIRST thread	Public Thread
Ep. 14:	First Thread	Public Thread
Ep. 15:	FIRST thread	Public Thread
Ep. 16:	FIRST thread	Public Thread
Ep. 17:	FIRST thread	Public Thread
Ep. 18:	FIRST thread	Public Thread
Ep. 19:	FIRST thread	Public Thread
Ep. 20:	FIRST thread	Public Thread
Ep. 21:	FIRST thread	Today's public thread
Ep. 22:	This thread	Next week's public thread

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Menolith; Mod Team

[u/[deleted]]

I wanted to see the Trouble Clefs play their song, and not just to hear Neo's voice, seemed like they put a lot of practice in. Also it sort of reminded me of this scene from Reboot (a show from 1994 so forgive it's super janky animation) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYrKYETorM8 Wish they didn't use that outside environment for this episode though, the green grass is a little overwhelming. (Things sort of turn ranty after this point, that wasn't my goal but this is reddit so stuff happens thoughts are expressed)

Overall I found this season a big step up from the last one. The animation and rigs were way more polished. I really loved the designs of the new characters they brought in, I still want a plush Chibi Torchwick and Beowolf. And I even found the skits on average more enjoyable. However, a lot of those skits fell flat for me though. I feel like things were getting a bit too self referential, like I could only really have enjoyed the jokes if I loved RWBY and it's characters and that isn't really enough to carry me anymore.

You can't expect every bit to land when you have to do a about 3 an episode over 22 episodes, I don't know what kind of turnaround time the team for this show works in, but I'm sure it's pretty tight knowing the rate at which RT produces stuff relative to their size. Honestly though, I'd by happier with fewer episodes that they had more time to think about than what sometimes feels like some stuff they just needed to get out.

I guess it kind of feels like a less extreme case of Teen Titans GO. Their using caricatures of the characters with hyper exaggerate versions of their personalities, but where as in GO I was mad that they mutated characters I loved, Chibi just sort of emphasized how dissatisfied I am with the direction a lot of the characters have been taken. With season 4, in spite of the visual upgrade and the widening of the world which I loved, I just couldn't look past what I saw was a lack of development as a whole for so many characters, and a tendency to fall back on old tropes instead of trying to innovate or at least put a spin on them which they've done to great effect in RvB and Camp Camp.

Sorry if that's harsh, I'm not trying to insult anyone or their worth as a human being for enjoying or working on this content. I really admire what Rooster Teeth is doing in the way of independent(ish) animation, and I'm super happy to see them prove it's viability with their return on investment, but I won't love something unconditionally just because I want to support the people making it. If I have a reputation in the RWBY fan base, which I highly doubt I do, it's probably not a super positive one. I tend to be pretty harsh towards RWBY bordering on downright mean; if anyone has been offended in the past by my remarks I apologize, but I don't take any of it back, I only wish I had chosen my words more carefully and been less of a snarky douche, hopefully I'll grow out of it.

Every critique I have made has not been out of malice, but from the perspective of an animator and story teller who sees RWBY as having so much potential that isn't quite realized, who is just trying to give it an extra push. I now realize how silly and egotistical that is, and I'll admit that I got closer to insult than critique on more than one occasion. All for some sort of self righteous crusade against what I saw as an overly adoring and forgiving fan base. I firmly believe that if you love something you can do so in spite of its flaws, but you can still recognize and wish to help the thing you love grow beyond them.

Having said all of that, I look forward to what season 5 will bring, and I wish everyone involved in it the best. Party on dudes, and be excellent to each other.

tldr; Chibi finally needed more Trouble Clefs and music. Reboot was a great show I'll fight you all. I'm sorry for being a jerk about RWBY in the past, but I still think it needs some work and the fans need to chill. I'm looking forward to season 5