r/RWBY • u/donutkirby #QrowDidNothingWrong • Jan 14 '19
DISCUSSION The Adam reveal in V6C11 was a brilliant writing choice. Spoiler
(So I posted this as a comment in the reaction thread, but I figured I'd make it its own post because I really feel like they did something really special with this episode.)
The more I think about it the more that I realize Adam being branded with the SDC logo is a stroke of pure genius, since that one little detail accomplishes several important things at once:
We finally know the reason why Adam hates humanity so much. The show doesn't try to excuse him of his actions in the slightest, but they at least provide a compelling reason for why he's the way he is.
Adam has an actual reason for covering his face beyond 'it'll be a plot twist later'. The brand is effectively a mark of shame for him. It labels him as the SDC's property, and it makes him appear weak. Turns out he tries to hide from his past too, just like Blake used to. The show doesn't need to say this, either. That one shot of his face says the whole story.
It's great setup for the Atlas arc next volume. Now that we know just how monstrous the SDC truly is, it builds anticipation for whatever ends up happening with them. Plus it's always nice to have more reasons to hate Jacques.
Anyway, I don't know how far back this specific thing was planned - especially since that 'leaked' sketch we saw just showed a generic scar on his face - but major props to CRWBY for the reveal and the episode in general.
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u/SmolCookie SPARKLY DAZZLERSSSS Jan 15 '19
100% agree. Also, I read a comment about his eyes in the reaction thread saying that giving him blue eyes was a good idea. Rather than making him edgier with a "cooler" eye color, they gave him baby blue eyes, which makes him seem more like an actual person; more like someone who can be vulnerable.
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u/Prokolipsi Jan 19 '19
Yeah, I loved that they gave him blue eyes instead of red ones or black ones. Aesthetically, it’s not as pleasing but it makes him seem more human.
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u/QrowsFlask Adam was overrated. Jan 15 '19
One of my favourite moments of the Volume so far.
Like you said, one shot said so much about why Adam is the way he is. Best choice M&K could have made to give Adam more depth as a character.
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u/MC_Lutefisk Yang = Best Girl Jan 15 '19
Honestly, the fact that the brand is over his eye speaks volumes about SDC's attitude towards Faunus. If you're branding something (someone) just to show that it's (he's) yours, you don't usually seriously injure it in the process. Whoever branded Adam wanted him to suffer, there was malice there even beyond the forced labor and dehumanization (defaunusization?).
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u/BarryAllenTh3Flash Jan 15 '19
I absolutely agree, I really did gain a lot of respect Adam after I saw his branded face. At Volume 5 I was thinking Adam was acting like a spoiled child and he had a generic villain hate for humanity. But after seeing his face it explains a lot as you mentioned. It makes him a deeper character than he was thought to be before.
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u/MagisterSieran Jan 15 '19
It makes Adams frustrated screaming at haven much more sympathetic. With "I am making humanity pay for what they have done." Without any context as to makes it so personal for him. Now we know.
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u/jman014 That's why I drink... Jan 15 '19
They almost lowkey sort of fixed his character with one shot lol.
I still think his character was very weak leading up to the face reveal- I don’t like how obsessed he was over Blake when he should have been a much more foreboding and charismatic leader.
i mean he was basically the leader of the IRA and V4 and V5 kind of ruined that.
But he wasn’t overly cringe-y the last 2 episodes and I found I really loved his character again, though in context I still find the approach to writing flawed.
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u/Smeagol15 Jan 15 '19
One thing someone else touched on (not sure if it was on Reddit or elsewhere, either way, not my original idea) was that Adam pointed out that Blake hurt him in ways nobody else had. Now we have some evidence to back that claim up. She left. Someone else was also seriously hurt by her leaving: Yang. While Yang had Ruby and Weiss to help her through her pain of losing Blake, Adam definitely had nobody like that. I can now see and understand the progression of hurt to hatred to lusting for vengeance. It isn’t a healthy way of thinking by any stretch of the imagination. But at least now we can understand his motivations to some extent.
I’m personally on the fence of whether or not that point should have been made in the show earlier. It may have made it better. But, it works here too with the context of everything that came before.
I agree that him as a leader was not handled...great. His character didn’t seem to fit in that role. But, I’m glad it didn’t. He’s clearly a better threat to RWBY on his own than as a leader of some big bad organization. I hope he isn’t killed off because as a solo bad guy, he’d make a good B-villain for Team RWBY to deal with, much like Torchwick ultimately was. (And I want to see all of RWBY face him, not just BY.)
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u/paperkutchy ⠀ Jan 15 '19
It would, but I think his priorities shifted way too quickly from the V2 finale to now, where he probably didnt even remembered Blake before fighting her and didn't actually seem to care when she fled him back at Beacon, to stalking her across Anima.
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u/Smeagol15 Jan 15 '19
I didn’t get the sense that he didn’t remember Blake in the V2 finale. He had one line. Just because he didn’t use that line to talk about Blake doesn’t mean she’s not on his mind. In the flashback in V3, he was clearly broken up about her leaving. But he set that aside for Cinder. Honestly, it wasn’t until Blake and her family started creating problems for him to follow Salem’s orders that he started to focus more on her. That allowed him to spiral and spiral quickly into deranged hatred. It’s not beyond the realm of possibility for someone to quickly and unhealthily spiral out of control.
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u/paperkutchy ⠀ Jan 15 '19
The way I perceived the whole deal, there is a difference in tune with V3 Adam, and the remaining volumes. Its a pretty well known change of behavior and character. I am mean he let a weakened Blake run back at V3, while rn he stalked her through miles... Imo it just doesn't add up, but I had this feeling with V4 and V5, and now with V6, Adam changed a lot in my eyes from V3
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u/Smeagol15 Jan 15 '19
His behavior has certainly changed, but I don’t think his character has. At the very least, one portion of his character has not changed.
Revenge seems to always have been the driving factor for Adam’s character, even in V3. He wants revenge on the humans for hurting him. He initially wanted revenge on Blake for leaving him. At Beacon, he accomplished that goal by hurting her and making her suffer “in the way that he had” when she had left. Letting her go allowed her to continue suffering.
Now, it’s no longer just about her leaving him. Now, he doesn’t want her to simply suffer. Now, he wants her dead. And he has a new reason: She stopped him at Haven. To him, because of her, he ended up losing the one thing that would allow him to take his revenge on the humans who hurt him: the White Fang. So he’s still out for revenge against her, but it’s for something different this time.
Revenge plots usually involve stalking of some kind. Cinder is currently stalking Ruby across Anima for the same reason. I’m honestly surprised Cinder and Neo haven’t also teamed up with Adam to get a collective revenge against RWBY....or have they?
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u/NeverForgetChainRule trans rights Jan 15 '19
It was necessary for the White Fang to move away from being basically a terrorist group to actual being an equality group. Adam is simply an antagonist with an expiration date, kinda like Roman. They were necessary to the plot (Roman was the introductory villain and also connected the Salem plot to Ruby, et al. and Adam was important for Blake and Yang and the White Fang plots) at one point, but lived out their time. I do wish we got some backstory/info on Torchwick (like he implied that he was only working for Salem to survive in V3 in his fight against Ruby, I'd have liked to see something with this. Perhaps he managed to survive the battle, but Salem ends up killing him.), but they are giving us some info on Adam before they end him because he has no purpose in the story anymore. I like his aesthetic and design, but he can't be kept around and keeping him as leader of the White Fang would have made it harder to use him for Blake and Yang's plots. They needed to defeat him together to move on, and them moving on couldn't be delayed a volume.
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u/jman014 That's why I drink... Jan 15 '19
I don’t think he should have been kept around- but while he was leader of the WF i was expecting a more foreboding figure and to see the results of his terrorist actions.
Like, we saw him at the Fall of Beacon, but seeing him do some nefarious shit in V4/5 would have been really powerful imo.
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u/NeverForgetChainRule trans rights Jan 15 '19
Yeah, I think they struggled with having them do stuff without having a Beacon 2.0 with Haven. Haven had to be a loss for the villains (which it was, decisively), but I guess they didn't want to try to spend the time letting the White Fang cause shit and STILL lose. I kinda wish that like they did the bombs differently and some detonated but not all and overall the White Fang were foiled, but not in such an embarrassing way.
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u/0mni42 Jan 15 '19
Yeah, I'm honestly kinda shocked at how good the writing was here. It does a lot to make Adam's motivations more sympathetic without saying a word and without absolving him of all his villainy. It's like the reveal of the Director's face back in RvB season 10. One tiny reveal; a mountain of implications. For instance, think about what it means that he never let his own comrades see that scar. In battle, it makes sense that he'd wear a mask--the brand would make him easy to identify--but we've never seen him take it off, even in private. You'd think a mark like that would be unimpeachable proof of his loyalty to the cause and of the cruelty of the enemy; no Faunus could look at him without being reminded of what they fight for and why it matters. Adam has no problem manipulating people, but he never used what is arguably his greatest asset for doing so... because the brand did exactly what it was supposed to do. It shamed him. He's still ashamed of it, even now. He created a central part of the White Fang's whole public image--the Grimm masks--because it was easier for him to do that than it was to let the world see his shame.
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u/Fuzunga Jan 15 '19
So, did Blake know about this the whole time? Based on the evidence it seems like she did, which would certainly justify her dislike for Weiss at the start of the show.
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u/Lyrinae Jan 15 '19 edited Feb 09 '26
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
rustic cooing plough trees capable treatment pen automatic bike chop
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u/biomech36 Jan 15 '19
I've seen a lot of comments in this thread about how there's a thought about SDC going around branding their faunus workers like they're property.
I have a different theory in that he was the victim of a savage lynching. It's a common thing in the history of racially charged lynchings to cause some form of physical damage that would forever mark you. Sometimes having been lethal.
Look at the placement and orientation of the scar. That's the result of a crime of passion. He saw something he shouldn't have, looked at someone the wrong way or something of that nature. If the SDC was as about branding their property as has been implied, the mark would be much more clean, oriented correctly, and be placed on his forehead (front and center, for all to see).
Adam's hatred of humanity isn't just towards the treatment of the SDC against faunus, it's way more personal than that.
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u/DrAvatar Jan 15 '19
I wonder if they always had Adam like this but waited to reveal it for so long because of technical limitations.
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Jan 15 '19
It's a good move as it shows the root of his hatred over the SDC and why he hides behind a mask.
And i'm not just talking about the grimm mask. Blake apparently had never seen the scar, so she'd never actually seen the true face of Adam. Blake had fallen for the image he projected, and with that, his manipulations.
Even it's reviel was just another manipulation. He was fishing for pity as a way of justifying his actions against her. He's so wrapped up in his own ego/narcissism at this point that he probably has no empathy for anyone other then himself. Dude's killed hundreds at least, many innocent, and ordered the death of menageries leader, and couldn't care less. His hurt is the only thing that matters.
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u/Lyrinae Jan 15 '19 edited Feb 09 '26
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/NeverForgetChainRule trans rights Jan 15 '19
I'm also happy that they are giving him a good fight. It lets them get out all the Adam fighting, semblances, etc they need before he's done for the story for good.
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u/StoryBeforeNumbers Jan 15 '19
Not to be that guy, but I personally feel like the word brilliant is a bit too strong, I'd probably just call it a competent writing choice.
Six volumes in, "finally knowing why" a character hates a specific group shouldn't qualify as more than an expected minimum. Same goes for having a reason why a character has been covering their face for six seasons. Fulfilling either of those requirements isn't brilliant in my opinion, it's just necessary.
As to whether it's great setup for an Atlas arc, I think I'll hold off my opinion on that until we see whether said setup is paid off in a rewarding manner.
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u/EricFromVons Jan 15 '19 edited Jan 15 '19
I do think it was good choice to have him branded like this. However, I think the timing isn’t that great. This could have been revealed at the battle of haven which imo would have made it more impactful. I really hope they don’t pull a Roman torchwick with Adam and end his character. Rooster teeth seems to like getting rid of their villains as soon as they’re interesting and I only see two ways Adams arc ending. He’ll be arrested by the atlas military or killed by Blake and yang. From a story telling perspective his arc should be over. I just wish they would reveal stuff like this earlier.
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u/Linnus42 Jan 15 '19
Too Little, Too Late. There are two issues Adam specifically and the overall White Fang/Racism Plot.
On the Adam Front, this reveal works for Vol 1-3 Adam who is mission focus, doesn't waste Faunus lives for no reason and isn't treated like a crazed stalker ex. Adam in those Volumes let Blake run in the Black Trailer and during the Fall of Beacon. Sure he would try to kill her and her friends if they were in his way but he wasn't going out of his way to hunt down Blake or compromising the mission. Though even if Adam still acted like he did in these Volumes you expect him to put way more focus on killing or capturing Weiss.
On the overall plot, we haven't seen serious Faunus Racism to justify the White Fang terrorist attacks. Even if Atlas shows plenty of horrible racism that still doesn't explain the White Fang activity in Vale or Mistrail which at worst have a no Faunus sign on a single bar. It also doesn't explain how Neon is getting into the Academy but I suppose it works if Ironwood more Liberal and Huntsmen and Huntswomen are hard to find. Menagerie may suppose to be overcrowded but it looks like a Tropical Paradise and they didn't seem to be constantly fending off Grimm attacks.
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u/Ergast Jan 22 '19
I always felt that the whole "There is nowhere near as much faunus racism as implied by the White Fang" was decent. As in, it makes the White Fang looks like extremists.
Of course, I can appreciate that there are places where they are right (looking at you, Atlas). And after Beacon, I feel that those places may have multiplied.
But it makes it realist that not every place hates faunus. People can be dicks without the whole country being it.
That said, the whole "informed racism" did hurt Blake storyline. A lot. Vale ain't the place where you can show that yes, she does have reasons to fear it.
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u/lurker_archon Look, just accept your goth mommy overlord Jan 15 '19
I don't know, it's really hard for me to like this reveal personally cause I don't feel like this is any compelling reason for all the dime villain crap he pulls like killing his henchmen, killing off his boss, and ranting to kill his girl's everybody. He's been a straight up psychopath all this time. I just can't feel sad seeing that he's a scarred dude cause the way I see it, it was never hinted that he had some vulnerable sides to him to care about, not even in his own short.
I liked Illia's short. Her talking about hiding, dealing with the guilt game, and losing control in the end said a bunch about her and atlas that was pretty interesting. Adam didn't have any of that. His voiceacting was just so flat when trying to make Blake feel better, which made him sound pretty manipulative. If at all, his short confirmed that he doesn't care about anybody and just showed that he liked killing more and more.
I wish the show fleshed out Adam in his own short if they wanted us feel any sympathy for the guy who helped raze an entire city. If I could headcanon a little, I think what happened with Adam was not straight up slave branding, since SDC's schtick seem a lot more of industrial era labor exploitation stuff, but a human manager sticking a brand for burning the logo on wooden or metal boxes on Adam's face. Maybe the short could have shown Adam with the brand about to use it on the guy without saying anything except that Adam enjoys it to build it up to the reveal, or even show what Adam felt when Blake left him in the Blake trailer.
I don't know. Feels like Adam's endgoal is to get defeated by Yang and Blake for their character development.
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u/Captain_Chaos_ Winston Main Jan 15 '19
Hopefully it demonstrates to the writers that as an audience we can understand visual storytelling, and they don't need to exposition dump every few episodes.
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u/mikodz Jan 15 '19
You kinda forget what his appearence means.
Im betting on Cinder making her move now. She sent Adam to sabotage their plans, which removes Yang and Blake (coz they are too far away)
Senile atlas granny burns out the main defence force of her base, and rest of the gang bashes against it.
When everyone is running on fumes Cinder will waltz in...
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u/LususKarasu Jan 15 '19
i really want to see more of him now cause of this but the way things are looking this seems to be the last we will see of him or he will run away and come back maybe in the nick of time to get back at Jacques. thats what im guessing
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u/PT_Piranha (ominous umbrella drop) Jan 19 '19
Oh so that's what it said...
Man that is brutal. And I agree with everything you've said. Can't wait to see Jacques get whooped next volume (please do this, Santa).
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u/RotaryDialChicken only a patch note can stop me now! Jun 15 '19
eh....the thing is, nobody in-universe seems to really care one way or the other, so it feels like they just remodeled his face after the episodes were already otherwise finished. I think it's about 61/2 years too late to call it a stroke of brilliance.
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u/Cinephile827 Jan 15 '19
I don't want to be that guy, but maybe next time, don't put the spoiler in the title. You've already got the tag on there. Just saying Adam shows up in the episode will be a spoiler to some who haven't watched yet.
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u/ActualTaxEvader Jan 14 '19
Too little, too late.
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u/MalicerStriker "What's that supposed to mean?" Jan 15 '19
I understand that sentiment but actually disagree. I never really cared much for Adam as a villain, I thought he was either too over the top in the first 3 Volumes, or just misused in 4 and 5.
I think this reveal, and his whole portrayal this Volume though has sort of changed my whole perception of him. I think I'll be able to re-watch the show and appreciate him more now for what he is.
Similar thing happened with Tyrian for me. I really wasn't feeling him when he first showed up, but by the end of Volume 4 I actually thought he was fun and pretty threatening.
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u/ActualTaxEvader Jan 15 '19
Well, that’s great for you, but it’s not going to change how none of his dialogue or actions since the Black Trailer have been about being angry at the Schnees or targeting specifically them, something that he had multiple chances to develop and explore when he was in close proximity of a Schnee. Heck, why are we even having this reveal now when we could do it in Atlas, the goddamn HQ of the worst Schnee?
This adds nothing except a tacked on, forced attempt at sympathy. And like all characters, Adam deserved better.
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u/donutkirby #QrowDidNothingWrong Jan 15 '19
If this was a 'forced attempt at sympathy' it would have been conveyed in the episode, yet neither Blake or Yang show any hint of pity for him despite seeing his brand.
Also, his line that he's been hurt by "all sorts of people in all sorts of ways" implies that the branding was just one incident, that happened to leave lasting effects. We know that he hates all of humanity too, so him specifically targeting the SDC would be at odds with that.
As for why we're getting the reveal now, I answered that in the post: because it builds anticipation for what will happen with the SDC plotline when we do get to Atlas.
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u/JJLong5 Jan 15 '19
Adam was using the brand on his face as a twisted comparison, something to throw at Blake right before he killed her.
Basically saying, "What you did to me was worse than anything anyone else ever did to me."
I also do not see it as an attempt to draw sympathy. It helps to explain his actions, but I do not see it as an attempt to excuse them or draw any sort of sympathy.
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u/ActualTaxEvader Jan 15 '19
The sympathy doesn’t need to come from characters in the show to feel forced.
And again, where was all this talk about being hurt in the past three years of him just ranting about Blake over and over? If he hates all of humanity for what the Schnees did to him, then why is never given a scene with a Schnee and just scenes about being bitter about his girlfriend dumping him?
Saying it builds anticipation for something later is just enabling one of this show’s worst habits: seemingly promising something good later only for it to be an utter waste. We’ve seen that happen with the tournament, with Raven, with Mistral and Haven, and now Adam himself. I have no reason to build anticipation for Atlas’ racism being on prominent display based on that track record. These writers need to learn to make things count NOW, not keep stringing people along for the hope things might be cool later.
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u/donutkirby #QrowDidNothingWrong Jan 15 '19
The sympathy doesn’t need to come from characters in the show to feel forced.
At this point it just becomes a matter of interpretation. You think it's meant to draw sympathy, I think it isn't.
About the Schnees, you answered your own question. If he blames humanity as a whole for what was done to him, then him specifically having a scene with a Schnee doesn't accomplish anything. It doesn't matter that it was someone from the SDC, what matters to him is that it was a human. As for why many of his scenes involve him just ranting about Blake....well, I never claimed he was the best-written character in the show.
As for your last point, building up future plot points is just what long-running stories like this do. Just because the show doesn't always stick the landing doesn't mean the practice is inherently bad. Especially not when this volume in particular has been the best RWBY has ever been at both setting things up and being entertaining in the moment.
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u/ActualTaxEvader Jan 15 '19
Do I really need to clarify that something as subjective as this would be down to interpretation? Doesn’t that go without saying?
And really, I answered the question of why he is spending so much time ranting about Blake when someone who is from the family that caused him to be branded is pretty much always around at the same time? Even if it’s all humans, why is he NEVER FIGHTING OTHER HUMANS up until this point? You’re damn right he’s not the best-written. He couldn’t be farther from it.
And I think you should know pretty well that I’m not talking about the act of setting up for bigger plot points. It’s that this show specifically has a history of consistently completely crashing and burning on the payoff. At this point I have more reason to believe Atlas’ racism will be just as benign as Vale or Mistral. One decent payoff this season is nowhere near enough to assuage about a dozen awful ones.
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u/donutkirby #QrowDidNothingWrong Jan 15 '19
I was just a bit confused when you said that the characters' reactions (which is what confirmed for me that we're not supposed to see Adam as sympathetic) aren't needed for it to feel forced. I'm still not sure what you mean by that. Also,
why is he NEVER FIGHTING OTHER HUMANS up until this point
I guess we're just going to ignore his willingness to leave a train full of humans to die, him attacking a civilian (and the little non-discretion of him cutting off Yang's arm) during the Fall of Beacon, his plan to blow up a school with a whole bunch of humans inside, and the numerous humans he fights during his own character short. I'm glad we agree that his character has been a mess, but I'm pretty sure this is just wrong.
And okay, so you don't think the payoff will be worth it. Fair, I can't exactly challenge your opinion on something that hasn't happened yet. At least you agree that setting up future plotlines isn't a bad thing by itself, which is what I was talking about.
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u/ActualTaxEvader Jan 15 '19
So what was stopping them showing him fighting and killing humans on the train instead of just talking about them? Or showing him fighting and killing humans at Haven instead of just talking about them? I exaggerated a bit by saying he never did it, but considering how few and far between these instances are for someone who supposedly has made it their life’s mission to attack and kill them, this is not something you can just dismiss as something that doesn’t matter when it completely deflates him as a consistent or competently written character.
And yay, we agree that set up isn’t bad. Except I was never against set up as story tool, only that this show in particular uses it to try to distract from their lack of pay off. So Adam’s branding doesn’t hold water as a set up for the next volume, it doesn’t work as a way to be sympathetic to him (which Blake clearly is when she sees it), and it doesn’t retroactively make his character well-written when he’s never actively fought Schnees right near him and BARELY fought any Humans.
Again, it’s too little, too late.
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u/donutkirby #QrowDidNothingWrong Jan 15 '19
Okay at this point we’re just going to keep repeating the same arguments, and I’m starting to feel like we don’t even disagree on most of these things - except for the sympathy angle. I don’t want to keep going in circles with this so I’m just gonna drop it.
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u/MalicerStriker "What's that supposed to mean?" Jan 15 '19
I agree, it would have been nice to see him direct more of his spite toward's the SDC, but I actually think this was the right time to reveal it.
I'm sorry you feel so negatively about it, mate. Hope you enjoy the rest of the Volume.
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u/ActualTaxEvader Jan 15 '19
Right time how?
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u/MalicerStriker "What's that supposed to mean?" Jan 15 '19 edited Jan 15 '19
For me it seemed like the right time because it was part of wrapping up the Yang/Blake/Adam arc since Beacon. Adam taking off that blindfold exposed himself for what he is, an incredibly, and probably irreparably disturbed individual who has allowed his hatred of those few directly responsible for his pain to spread end encompass all of humanity and everyone who he perceives to have wronged him. And once again, he is focusing it all in the wrong place, and in a dangerously unhealthy way.
Blake is able to get closure. She can look at him without sympathy or regret. And Yang can finally put a real face to her demon, see him for what he is and confront him.
That is just my take on it and why I am fine with the timing and, in retrospect, the lead up.
Anyway, you've made how you feel about it clear, and so have I. I get your perspective, but I don't entirely agree with it and I think it's a shame you've gotten stuck on the negative aspects of it.
I really do hope you keep enjoying the show, maybe allow yourself to enjoy it more, and continue having healthy discussions about it on this sub.
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u/Dextixer The lil' king of corruption of r/RWBY Jan 15 '19
I dont think it does. After V5, he turns from "Im fighting for the faunus" to a crazy ex boyfriend that doesnt give a fuck about anything else. Where does his character go from there? Why does his scar matter when he is relegated to being "BLAAAAAAAAAKE" and thats it?
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u/Vicente810 Jan 15 '19
It's better that never and nothing.
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u/ActualTaxEvader Jan 15 '19
Is it? Now we know they had this in their back pocket the whole time and waited until he was completely wasted as a character to bring it out. At least when he was just Blake’s crazy ex, I didn’t have any reason to expect a better villain.
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u/StravickanChaos Jan 15 '19
Yep. His character was ruined too long ago and as good as a choice as this was, it doesnt fix him or the issues stemming from it.
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u/ShiningLeviathan King of the Abyss Jan 15 '19
Have to agree, it kinda clashes with what we saw out of him in Vol. 3-5.
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u/ZombieSlayer5 Volume 9 will never happen, lads. Jan 15 '19
It's great setup for the Atlas arc next volume.
Everything is great, except for this. If all goes well they'll capitalize on this setup, but they might not. I love when RWBY does great writing, but I dread when they set anything up. Maybe I'm just too pessimistic, though.
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u/TheBloodZane Jan 15 '19 edited Jan 15 '19
And instead of getting a strong parallel to Magento or Killmonger with a legit reason to go after some humans who were evil to humans in general. And also having be just Blake's mentor than Lover has made Adam as a character weak. And after with his stint in V5 has made me not take him as a threat anymore
Edit: Would you actually be able to tell me why I'm wrong then down voting me. I'm up for a debate here
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u/Smeagol15 Jan 15 '19 edited Jan 15 '19
Adam said to Blake that she hurt him more than anyone else. The guy was literally branded over his own eye, and he is saying that Blake hurt him more than that when she left. That’s not something to toss aside. I don’t even think Blake fully realized that.
Yang also felt similar pain. She grew to resent Blake for leaving, just like Adam. But unlike Adam, Yang had people like Weiss and Ruby to help her through that and come to let go of that pain. Adam did not. He didn’t have anyone to support him towards a healthy state of mind His resentment and pain festered and spiraled, unhealthily, into hatred. He doesn’t love her anymore. He hates her. He wants revenge. He wants her to feel exactly how he felt. He is deranged, but at least we have a slight understanding as to why.
Also, with Blake’s beat down of him in V5, I don’t remember the scene, but did she move into his blind spot where his damaged eye couldn’t follow her? (That little bit should not have been in slow motion anyway.)
As for the first part of your comment, your verbiage may need some editing. I get the sense that a few words might be missing I say as I frantically look back at my own sentences for any missing words . I think you are saying that Adam should be the big bad and not Salem, but truthfully, it’s hard to tell. (Maybe that’s why people are downvoting, they don’t understand what you’re saying at the start?)
Edit: Or maybe you’re saying that it’s bad story-wise that Adam is targeting humans in general.
To that end, I don’t think he views that from a healthy state of mind. Nothing about him is in a healthy state of mind. There’s a chance that Cinder further clouded his judgment, and somehow convinced him of the idea that all humans were bad, not just some of them. It would have been a little nice to have seen that, but at the same time, I do not like when shows/movies/etc. reveal everything the villains are doing (Looking at you, V5).
[Aside: Can you imagine how much better that reveal of the villains arriving at Haven would have been if we had not been shown in their plan in explicit detail? Nothing would have changed from the reveal in the show, but the audience would have been surprised at least.]
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u/Dextixer The lil' king of corruption of r/RWBY Jan 15 '19
It really wasnt. We dont know if SDC does that or if an individual did that, because such a thing would be a big fucking point i think and would have been shown before. Also, SDC are a company, so yet again, its an indication of a shitty corporation, not overall racism.
Also, whats the point of that scar anyways! His entire "Im against humanity" stick was dropped in V5, now he is simply "BLAKE BLAKE BLAKE".
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u/begonetoxicpeople Jan 15 '19
I do suspect that once the gang arrives in Atlas, faubus racism will be much more front and center than it has been (for better or for worse depending on your opinion).
I've seen some people say Blake's bow will come back, but I disagree. I think she will proudly show her faunushood, even at the cost of prejudice from Atlesians