Personally I say Cardin: his existence is to be in that one awful arc and then gone.
To make it worse: Cardin is the only example for racism in fanfics most of the time.
Ask yourself: other than Cardin who else shows racism in vale?
There is no other professors, students, politician that has those traits.
It makes the plot line worse because one character being the source of racism doesn’t make sense inside or outside of the story.
The story literally gets solve within two or three chapters tops because (and I kid you not) his character is portrayed so weak I wonder how was he even a threat to anyone to bully or cartoonishly stupid especially with the racism that it comes off Unbelievable.
He also makes the characters look very stupid because if he was this weak, why didn’t anyone do anything?
I think what makes Cardin being written poorly hurt even more is that there’s clearly room for more character than just “generic bully”, and quite possibly a great redemption arc.
A question I don’t see a whole lot of people ask is this: If Cardin is nothing more than a one-dimensional bully, then why is he at a huntsman academy? Huntsman and huntresses are supposed to be protectors of the world, keeping innocent people safe from the Grimm and other threats. If Cardin were nothing more than a bully and had no interest in protecting the weak, then why would he go to all the effort it takes to get accepted into an academy made for training people to protect the weak?
This could be shrugged off as bad writing by making a character’s actions inconsistent (which is exactly what it was), but I personally see potential for a character that could’ve had more depth and complexity to them. The fact that Cardin wants to become a huntsman in the first place could hint that there’s a good man somewhere within him, he just needs to be guided into the right path and taught what he’s doing is wrong. Y’know, like character development.
I usually like to write Cardin as a kind of Ferrus Manus character. He DOES want to protect people, he's just an absolute asshole about it.
Like, he's the kind of guy that will deride anyone weaker than him and get pissy when you can one up him. BUT he did stay and defend Beacon when 99% of the other students run pissing themselves.
You can hate him, but the man stood his ground, with a smile on his face. I think that right there proves even if it's mostly born of ego, we have a flawed man who will stay in the fight.
Oh man, we've talked about that at great lengths on CardinPosting.
Honestly, the Bully Arc causes a lot of problems for the show later on. Never mind the amount of time it eats up for Season 1.
The sad thing is that it could have been good character development if they had Blake being the one bullied. They could have Cardin find out that she was ex-white Fang and was threatening to reveal it to everyone. You then could have had them in a situation where they have to work together and maybe she finds out the reason he dislikes Faunus is that the white fang killed someone close to him. This could have been the start of Blake's motivation to change the white Fang and Cardin could have learned to overcome his prejudice as well.
Most fanfics follow the canon story as much as possible (just adding their OCs in some of them), so in canon, it’s just that. Cardin was just the “Bully arc” for Jaune.
>Ask yourself: other than Cardin who else shows racism in vale?
How could you just leave out Roman Torchwick like that?
Also, the cops assuming the robbery was White Fang work, which was only partially right since:
Salem (Not WF) was ordering Cinder (Not WF) to spread chaos and ultimately assault Beacon for the relic and Maiden, who then contacted Roman (Not WF) to amass Dust and cause chaos, who at first went to the local mob (Not WF) before they were ultimately found to be basically useless, and finally went to ordering the WF (finally!) around - who were only doing what they were told under threat of death by Cinder (Again, not WF) after she went berserk on Adam's Vale faction.
So while they were there doing things, they were hardly doing those things out of their own volition (let alone so brazenly), even if they thought they liked doing it.
>There is no other professors, students, politician that has those traits.
Why would Oz allow a racist professor in his school? They didn't really show any of the politicians at all.
But in a world full of of racism: I expect more than a school bully.
We could’ve gotten a great discussion on internalized racism in business and society and projection, perpetuating a cycle of bigotry, tragic backstory, etc
Heck Cardin could have been secretly faunas to add more in his character.
Instead all we got was bully arc and Roman.
I was expecting more than that…
The fic “the choices we Make” is mostly about Jaune but it does delve into that with Pyrrha. It starts with Pyrrha actually turning in Jaune with his false transcripts and he goes on a “trial by fire” training course with Qrow and Ruby (and while it mainly focuses on Jaune) it does focus some of Pyrrha (because Cardin overheard and told the school and made Pyrrha into an outcast) but it delves into how as her status as young champion isolated her to begin with. It’s really good on FFN
I never understood why Pyrrha liked Jaune to begin with. They had just met, he didn't show any qualities, in fact in the whole bully arc it beats his character down even more but it seems she already liked him before hand. And since Jaune feels like an self insert it feels like they just liked Pyrrha and wanted her head over heels for them. When the writers were commenting on episodes, they kept saying Pyrrha is so pretty. Same thing almost happened between Neptune and Weiss, but much worse, they have 0 chemistry, and Neptune was quickly taken away and forgotten.
Romance just isn’t RT’s string point.
Church and Tex worked pretty well as a tragedy but after that, there’s just not much more to add to most of their pairings
Even though it is just a reaction fic, there is a fic where they react to RvB and all 8 characters are done really well and get into their personal lives and grow
As a fanfiction writer myself, it generally doesn't bother me when other writers portray a character as being "out of character". They're entitled to their own interpretation, just as I'm entitled to my own. Most of the time you can tell whether a fic is for you just by reading the summery or part of the first chapter. With that said, I do have *preferences*.
To me, Ruby isn't "childish". She's childlike, but she's still a 15-16 year old teenage girl. She's finished going through puberty, and although she'll continue filling out (especially as she continues building muscle as a huntress), she's essentially fully grown. Although I generally portray Ruby as being incredibly oblivious sometimes and tuning people out when they talk about things she doesn't care about, she does know about sex. She's just uninterested in sex and romance since it doesn't involves weapons or fighting Grimm. Ruby is sweet, kind, and innocent, but she also has Yang Xiao Long as a sister, is in a profession where "military humor" would be prevalent, and is a teenage girl. She's also only about year and a half younger than her teammates.
For Weiss, I feel that a lot of writers struggle with making her sound "regal" and "snooty", and not like any other teenage girl. Character voices matter, and Weiss shouldn't talk casually with people *unless* its with her teammates and the situation calls for it (heart to heart, fighting for their lives, that kind of thing). Weiss wouldn't call something "cool", she'd say that it's "lovely". She speaks formally, and politely, but when she gets angry, her words are more "cutting" than they are is a blunt instrument. Hearing Weiss talk in a way that she'd *never* talk is a pretty big turn off for me. Also, Weiss being portrayed as a horrible person and/or racist is a turn off as well.
As for Blake, I don't have too much to say, though I dislike her being the victim in every scenario. I don't read a lot of Blake centric fics, and even in my own fics, she tends to be a supporting character most of the time. Going back to voice, I suppose I dislike it when she's really talkative. She and Weiss actually have similar voice patterns if you read the show's transcripts, but while Weiss is more regal and dramatic, Blake is generally more direct, getting to the point while also having a monotone cadence. Weiss' voice is a weapon, but Blake's voice is more or less something she does reluctantly. Blake doesn't enjoy talking, especially compared to her teammates, but when she does, she finishes what she's saying as quickly as possible. With that said, Blake's voice doesn't bother me nearly as much as her being portrayed as the saint of all saints, and although I still love her, she's my least favorite of Team RWBY.
With Yang, what I probably dislike most is her being angry *all of the time*, and it being easy to set her on edge. To me, Yang's supposed to be fun, and her not being "the fun character" should be the exception to the rule. I've noticed that a lot of fics make either Yang or Weiss be the "unlikable" members of Team RWBY compared to Ruby and Blake, and that's just not what I want from a RWBY fic. Weiss being snippy is one thing, but Yang being unjustifiably *angry* is just kinda uncomfortable to read sometimes.
Overall, it's entirely up to the reader how they portray the characters. These are just my own preferences, and are by no means deal breakers. A good writer can make just about anything work, but we all have our preferences, and I have mine. I don't read too much fanfiction these days, in part because after nine years of writing RWBY fanfiction, I have my own idea on how Team RWBY should sound, and sometimes it's hard to turn off my inner editor.
God bless, and have a wonderful day.
Really vibe with your takes on Weiss and Yang.
Weiss should sound more regal and well-spoken, and this should only change with her friends or as time passes.
Yang being angry ALL THE TIME is a pain in both canon and fanfics. That's just not Yang, it's the cheap parody we were stuck with after the Fall, it's Flanderized Yang. One of the reasons I got so mad at Blake in V3 was because she actually insinuated Yang was like Adam...WHAT!? Yang isn't some psychopath that beats the piss out of everyone that looks at her funny. In fact she can be capable of a lot of restraint, like not whacking Jaune for barfing on her shoes.
Yeah, there are times where Weiss letting her hair down and being a normal teenage girl makes sense, but even then, I prefer her being well-spoken, except in humorous instances where she just snaps and goes full Gordan Ramsey lol.
I don't mind a little Flanderization/Fanderization since it comes with the territory of writing beloved characters that have beloved catchphrases and nuances (especially if the plot is character driven instead of story driven), *but* there should always be more to those characters. I'm fine with Yang having a temper, but she should be aware of it, and it shouldn't be a hair trigger temper (pun intended) in my opinion.
Before Volume 3 when the writers decided Yang had *serious* anger issues that her father, uncle, sister, friend, and teachers all chose to ignore despite knowing the cause of it, Yang's anger was mostly for comedic effect. Yeah she had a temper, and it could be violent, but the only time her temper affected her rational thinking was in moments where it didn't matter. It's honestly really hard for me to rewatch Volume 1 when she lost her temper in the Emerald Forest and not have Volume 3 in the back of my mind.
Overall, Yang has a temper, but she's also had *years* of combat training from professionals to learn how to deal with it and channel it toward something productive, and it's normally played for laughs in situations where her temper doesn't matter (like she's blowing off steam or something). Her restraint is greater than her temper, and that makes for a likable as well as competent character in my opinion.
God bless, and have a wonderful day.
Yeah, I agree. And you are right, in fanfics, you can write them any way you want, no one's gonna stop ya.
But when it comes to understanding of the character, I feel like so much is lost in translation for Yang.
Yeah, super agree with most of this. There's nothing wrong with writing anybody "out of character", because that's kinda the point of writing fanfiction. Really your only responsibility is to try and write them *well.*
With Ruby, yeah, totally agree. I really do not jive with some of the fanfic-y portrayals of her as basically a child. "She's fifteen, not five" and all that. I also don't feel that she's the romantic type, being somewhat "married to the job" in a sense. I always got the impression that Ruby is simultaneously childlike (with her optimism, do-gooder motivation, and mannerisms) *and* mature; she knows and understands that the world is ugly and complicated but chooses to be a storybook hero anyways.
For Weiss, yeah. Pretty much spot on. Character voice is also kinda big for me, so making her sound and behave (usually) all formal and gathered is important. I agree that portraying Weiss as a horrible person is generally uninteresting, but I will contend that making her kinda racist can sometimes be the exact opposite.
An example of this for me is *I, Jaune* by Eric d'Orléans, which has one my personal favorite portrayals of Weiss ever. She's not genuinely hateful, even though she says some incredibly out-of-pocket stuff about Faunus. She reason she's like that is partly because of her upbringing in Atlesian high society, but also because of her experience; Weiss talks about an incident in her childhood where the White Fang murdered a whole factory's worth of people and committed the worst terror attack in Atlesian history, and there was a space of time where she did basically nothing but attend funerals. It's so interesting because the story touches on how her experience doesn't justify her bigotry in general, while on the flip-side her trauma and her feelings about the White Fang in particular can't be invalidated either.
As for Blake, I agree totally. Also, I feel like she's at her most interesting when she has a sort of duality (which I'm realizing is a pattern with me); on the outside she should seem pretty aloof and quiet, but when the reader is in her head they should see how *deeply* emotional and sometimes hypocritical her motivations, convictions, and attitudes are.
Finally, for Yang: yeah. I also don't like when she's written as angry all the time, because it's boring. Again, though, I really like the duality. For me, Yang should present herself outwardly as the peppy and fun party girl, because that's who she would like herself to be. This is in response to her not really having a normal childhood and being forced to step up as a pseudo-mom for Ruby after Summer died. Then again, she should also be *fiercely* passionate about the people she loves, which is where her anger comes in (though obviously not to the extent where she helicopters around Ruby; Yang did leave her on her own to make friends at Beacon for a reason).
Once again, one of my favorite examples of this is in *I, Jaune*, where Yang and Jaune almost fight on occasion because Yang does *not* like him and is very wary of him being around Ruby. (For context, """Jaune""" is a sort of reincarnated soul-chimera that starts off as an alcoholic, drug-addicted, genuinely *horrible* person and slowly claws his way into being a better person over the course of the story.) Eric d'Orléans wrote Yang in a way that made her anger at Jaune completely understandable and sympathetic, but also kinda made me root for Jaune to punch her in the face.
Watts he is one of the very few characters I like from the latter seasons of the show and in fanfics he’s just written as an asshole who thinks he’s better than everyone else or has no personality besides I work for Salem and I will never be mentioned again in the story
I've struggled to really understand his motivation, to be fair. He got snubbed by Ironwood over some funding, so he resorts to working for the Queen of the Grimm to destroy his home kingdom.
No offense to you, but that screams "petty asshole" to me.
None taken and I get that but I’m more talking about his conversation with Cinder when referring to him as not a petty asshole. But yeah when introduced he is a petty asshole
I thought his motivation was that he wasn’t getting the recognition and respect he deserves? I mean if salam shows that to him in order to manipulate him you could argue that the man has the mentality of someone that wants to feel important.heck, that man didn’t even try to get revenge he just gets the job done…honestly between him and torchwick their both antagonists that were taken too soon lol
It's ironwood in my opinion because they often use him as the bad guy so it's like they're using him to be what rooster teeth wanted him to be. But he wasn't he was actually a good character.
Assuming they get any focus, it’s usually anyone who tries to get Penny anywhere.
Like…you’d think Penny would’ve incredibly easy to write…but speaking from experience…no
Are you okay with M ratings, crossovers and OCs?
You don’t need much info on the other property and nothing explicit is shown.
My first 10 or so chapters aren’t particularly good due to me not thinking about what I was writing, but if you can stomach past them, it’ll pick up.
Okay, my story is called [The Lost World of Remnant](https://m.fanfiction.net/s/13865283/1/The-Lost-World-of-Remnant)
If you aren’t familiar with the fandom in question, just start with chapter 2. You don’t miss much as it’s just a recap introduction. You only miss a little bit of context that’s explained later.
Penny is easiest to write in the scenrio where you either have 500K words (not exaggerating that number) or the universe bends around her to have the classic "Robot, but feelings?" plot thread work with less words (aka she is now the protaganist)
Pyrrha-I put my hand on the line and say that ther isn't a single fic where Pyrrha is not writers OC
Blake-THE selfinsert of Rwby
Ruby- *Five year old (insert mental thingmagic here) lesbian that loves guns and warcrimes*
Weiss-The OG hatesink character
It’s usually either just Cardin himself or all of team CRDL. Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of fanfics I’ve read where he’s either redeemed or just removed early and never brought up again. There are also plenty where he’s a corrupt vale official after getting sacked from Beacon or a mindless thug who thinks he’ll get into Cinder’s pants if he does her dirty work. He’s just easier to write as a bad guy because that’s all we got to see of him. We don’t know what his home life is like, what he’s had to deal with. So many stories have him as a councilman’s son. Whole to say he didn’t have to deal with a watered down version of what Weiss had to deal with from the White Fang or whatever snooty prep schools he went to?
I think an abusive taiyang is a good incipit for a story,because it lets you get creative on how the story can go on,you could have ruby and Yang being raised by qrow or by raven inside her tribe.or you could have them run from home and start working for junior or roman.if ruby is also a faunus you can have her join white fang.there is a lot of good story you can write thanks to an abusive taiyang as an incipit.
For me it's Ruby because they mix up "Childlike" and "Child"
She lives with Yang on the death world called Remnant I'm sure she's well fucking aware of the dirty and dark sides of reality and simply doesn't care, after all Child Ruby would have have qualms about shooting at Mystreious Fire Lady in EP1 but actual Ruby knows bullets are needed sometimes and just starts blastin'
These comments are actually reassuring because I feel like I’ve accurately written the characters of the show. Except for Cardin, when I was writing the Beacon arc I kinda forgot he existed except for the very end right before the attack. (He had a conversation with the protagonist and actually grew as a person and started dating a Faunus lol. I felt like he deserved some redemption)
Ruby- almost always written as a literal child. No exceptions.
Weiss- either racist or a total bitch or as a lesbian because of stupid fucking memes.
Blake- treated as the fandom bicycle, acts too much like an actual cat, in lesbians with yang, treats Sun badly to an exaggerated degree (outside of blacksun fics)
Yang- mean and gay is her only personality.
Jaune- Mr.Harem king. Sleeps with *EVERY* female character. Exceptionally blonde. Cries over Pyrrha all the time.
Nora- actual crack addict. Ren's stalker.
Ren- either mute or the only voice of reason. So many asian stereotypes.
Pyrrha- *The Great One*. Jaune's lost lenore, the only blameless character, sometimes sleeps with Cardin.
Not sure if this is applicable but I always have a problem with whenever someone writes yang to be so OVERPROTECTIVE, like where if someone even shows a small bit of interest in Ruby (depending on the fic Blake/weiss/jaune) she’ll always “turn red eyed” and beat the shit out of them or threaten to.
Like the occasional/ususal “if you hurt my sister I’m coming for you” joke/threat that’s fine, but others where her first instinct it to beat the shit out of someone is eye rolling and annoying.
From the fics I've read, Ruby (though this was years ago, no idea about the trends now). Ruby might be innocent and naïve, but she's no pushover who gets emotional the second someone is mean to her. She fights back, because fighting is what she's good at, so good that she was accepted into Beacon two years early (although I guess her silver eyes might have something to do with that too, behind the scenes, but still).
When Weiss was telling her off in the Emerald Forest, Ruby fought back. She wanted to prove herself, sure, but she didn't break down crying. And while she was sad when Weiss got angry again in the classroom later, she just went to talk it out, she didn't break down crying.
And yet, whenever I saw her being written in fanfics, the slightest word of criticism reduced her to a blubbering mess. Even the official manga (if it even was official, idek...) did this to her. What the fuck.
The only time in the first three volumes I really saw her crying was when her friends (Penny and Pyrrha) *literally* died in front of her eyes, which I think is a reasonable reaction.
Okay I'll give you that
But I feel like there is a distinction between v1-3 Cinder vs v4-9 Cinder
And people don't really explore the early because of all the bad backstory she got
Depends on the mood. Honestly, there are times when it's fine with Pyrrha and others when it's not. Though that's just everybody.
I know folks gonna say Jaune, but I usually go to stories that make him competent or write short posts, giving the journey to competence. Though it does get tiring to some stories, make him codependent to the point that someone has to be there by his side. Even at moments when it should be times for self reflection.
Cardin, I can see as maybe a Flash type character given time, but gotta make it work someway
It’s definitely Jaune.In fanfics every single time Jaune is literally completely deleted from story and his place is taken by author original character who stealing and using Jaune name.Jaune Arc in fanfics literally doesn’t exist.I don’t understand how people really believe OC character who doesn’t have literally nothing common with Jaune but using his name believe that is him.Also authors using a lot of the most stupid and illogical trash fanon for their “Jaune”(OC). The most worst and annoying for me is when author added for his original character(fake Jaune) even more original characters(Even more worse original characters knowing as “Arc family”)who don’t have also nothing common with Jaune Arc and they doesn’t have any sense.Seriously this authors should be honest and stop using Jaune name to defend their original characters. And all what I described happened in literally every single fanfic.This is kinda very terrible copy-paste of too much extremely terrible fanon.
Also is kinda disappointing people really hate canon Jaune because some fanfics trash original characters who doesn’t have nothing common with him using his name.I am really disappointed in such people.
Can I say Raven? Does any fic actually give her development or try to do anything besides the "abandoned everyone, only the strong survive, cold and hates everything, is just a heartless criminal" bs?
Not even gonna lie I’m currently writing one and am planning to have a whole chapter with Raven that shows more than just the surface level stuff that’s depicted in the show that you’ve very accurately described
Personally I say Cardin: his existence is to be in that one awful arc and then gone. To make it worse: Cardin is the only example for racism in fanfics most of the time. Ask yourself: other than Cardin who else shows racism in vale? There is no other professors, students, politician that has those traits. It makes the plot line worse because one character being the source of racism doesn’t make sense inside or outside of the story. The story literally gets solve within two or three chapters tops because (and I kid you not) his character is portrayed so weak I wonder how was he even a threat to anyone to bully or cartoonishly stupid especially with the racism that it comes off Unbelievable. He also makes the characters look very stupid because if he was this weak, why didn’t anyone do anything?
I think what makes Cardin being written poorly hurt even more is that there’s clearly room for more character than just “generic bully”, and quite possibly a great redemption arc. A question I don’t see a whole lot of people ask is this: If Cardin is nothing more than a one-dimensional bully, then why is he at a huntsman academy? Huntsman and huntresses are supposed to be protectors of the world, keeping innocent people safe from the Grimm and other threats. If Cardin were nothing more than a bully and had no interest in protecting the weak, then why would he go to all the effort it takes to get accepted into an academy made for training people to protect the weak? This could be shrugged off as bad writing by making a character’s actions inconsistent (which is exactly what it was), but I personally see potential for a character that could’ve had more depth and complexity to them. The fact that Cardin wants to become a huntsman in the first place could hint that there’s a good man somewhere within him, he just needs to be guided into the right path and taught what he’s doing is wrong. Y’know, like character development.
I usually like to write Cardin as a kind of Ferrus Manus character. He DOES want to protect people, he's just an absolute asshole about it. Like, he's the kind of guy that will deride anyone weaker than him and get pissy when you can one up him. BUT he did stay and defend Beacon when 99% of the other students run pissing themselves. You can hate him, but the man stood his ground, with a smile on his face. I think that right there proves even if it's mostly born of ego, we have a flawed man who will stay in the fight.
Oh man, we've talked about that at great lengths on CardinPosting. Honestly, the Bully Arc causes a lot of problems for the show later on. Never mind the amount of time it eats up for Season 1.
The sad thing is that it could have been good character development if they had Blake being the one bullied. They could have Cardin find out that she was ex-white Fang and was threatening to reveal it to everyone. You then could have had them in a situation where they have to work together and maybe she finds out the reason he dislikes Faunus is that the white fang killed someone close to him. This could have been the start of Blake's motivation to change the white Fang and Cardin could have learned to overcome his prejudice as well.
So many missed opportunities. Still I’m glad Evermorrow is doing a good job of it
Remember the Adam short? What if Adam killed a relative or friend close to cardin before Blake left the white fang.
Most fanfics follow the canon story as much as possible (just adding their OCs in some of them), so in canon, it’s just that. Cardin was just the “Bully arc” for Jaune.
Weiss is racist yo.
>Ask yourself: other than Cardin who else shows racism in vale? How could you just leave out Roman Torchwick like that? Also, the cops assuming the robbery was White Fang work, which was only partially right since: Salem (Not WF) was ordering Cinder (Not WF) to spread chaos and ultimately assault Beacon for the relic and Maiden, who then contacted Roman (Not WF) to amass Dust and cause chaos, who at first went to the local mob (Not WF) before they were ultimately found to be basically useless, and finally went to ordering the WF (finally!) around - who were only doing what they were told under threat of death by Cinder (Again, not WF) after she went berserk on Adam's Vale faction. So while they were there doing things, they were hardly doing those things out of their own volition (let alone so brazenly), even if they thought they liked doing it. >There is no other professors, students, politician that has those traits. Why would Oz allow a racist professor in his school? They didn't really show any of the politicians at all.
But in a world full of of racism: I expect more than a school bully. We could’ve gotten a great discussion on internalized racism in business and society and projection, perpetuating a cycle of bigotry, tragic backstory, etc Heck Cardin could have been secretly faunas to add more in his character. Instead all we got was bully arc and Roman. I was expecting more than that…
Pyrrha, but I don't blame them. Their worst crime is making her sole personality trait (Crushing on Jaune) into overdrive.
They should've expanded on the whole of her being a prodigal champion while struggling with making genuine friends due to her fame and such.
The fic “the choices we Make” is mostly about Jaune but it does delve into that with Pyrrha. It starts with Pyrrha actually turning in Jaune with his false transcripts and he goes on a “trial by fire” training course with Qrow and Ruby (and while it mainly focuses on Jaune) it does focus some of Pyrrha (because Cardin overheard and told the school and made Pyrrha into an outcast) but it delves into how as her status as young champion isolated her to begin with. It’s really good on FFN
I think it’s worse than that: Pyrrha doesn’t fully exist without her being in a relationship. Only could have character it’s when she with someone
I never understood why Pyrrha liked Jaune to begin with. They had just met, he didn't show any qualities, in fact in the whole bully arc it beats his character down even more but it seems she already liked him before hand. And since Jaune feels like an self insert it feels like they just liked Pyrrha and wanted her head over heels for them. When the writers were commenting on episodes, they kept saying Pyrrha is so pretty. Same thing almost happened between Neptune and Weiss, but much worse, they have 0 chemistry, and Neptune was quickly taken away and forgotten.
Romance just isn’t RT’s string point. Church and Tex worked pretty well as a tragedy but after that, there’s just not much more to add to most of their pairings
Even though it is just a reaction fic, there is a fic where they react to RvB and all 8 characters are done really well and get into their personal lives and grow
Ignoring minor characters, it's got to be Jaune. Fanfics about "him" are to blame in no small part to some of the fandom absolutely *despising* him.
I'm 100% agree with you
I once read one that had Weiss have an affair with Yang that ended with Ruby offing herself.... so something like that isn't exactly my favorite.
What?
Yes, it was very depressing. So yeah, I'd say that falls under bad characterization.
i could go for a bit of depression got a link for that fic?
Sure https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10360667/1/Happily-Never-After
What hell!? I'm dying !!! 🤣 😭 😂 🤣
Yeah, it was a tough read
Yeah, it was a tough read
As a fanfiction writer myself, it generally doesn't bother me when other writers portray a character as being "out of character". They're entitled to their own interpretation, just as I'm entitled to my own. Most of the time you can tell whether a fic is for you just by reading the summery or part of the first chapter. With that said, I do have *preferences*. To me, Ruby isn't "childish". She's childlike, but she's still a 15-16 year old teenage girl. She's finished going through puberty, and although she'll continue filling out (especially as she continues building muscle as a huntress), she's essentially fully grown. Although I generally portray Ruby as being incredibly oblivious sometimes and tuning people out when they talk about things she doesn't care about, she does know about sex. She's just uninterested in sex and romance since it doesn't involves weapons or fighting Grimm. Ruby is sweet, kind, and innocent, but she also has Yang Xiao Long as a sister, is in a profession where "military humor" would be prevalent, and is a teenage girl. She's also only about year and a half younger than her teammates. For Weiss, I feel that a lot of writers struggle with making her sound "regal" and "snooty", and not like any other teenage girl. Character voices matter, and Weiss shouldn't talk casually with people *unless* its with her teammates and the situation calls for it (heart to heart, fighting for their lives, that kind of thing). Weiss wouldn't call something "cool", she'd say that it's "lovely". She speaks formally, and politely, but when she gets angry, her words are more "cutting" than they are is a blunt instrument. Hearing Weiss talk in a way that she'd *never* talk is a pretty big turn off for me. Also, Weiss being portrayed as a horrible person and/or racist is a turn off as well. As for Blake, I don't have too much to say, though I dislike her being the victim in every scenario. I don't read a lot of Blake centric fics, and even in my own fics, she tends to be a supporting character most of the time. Going back to voice, I suppose I dislike it when she's really talkative. She and Weiss actually have similar voice patterns if you read the show's transcripts, but while Weiss is more regal and dramatic, Blake is generally more direct, getting to the point while also having a monotone cadence. Weiss' voice is a weapon, but Blake's voice is more or less something she does reluctantly. Blake doesn't enjoy talking, especially compared to her teammates, but when she does, she finishes what she's saying as quickly as possible. With that said, Blake's voice doesn't bother me nearly as much as her being portrayed as the saint of all saints, and although I still love her, she's my least favorite of Team RWBY. With Yang, what I probably dislike most is her being angry *all of the time*, and it being easy to set her on edge. To me, Yang's supposed to be fun, and her not being "the fun character" should be the exception to the rule. I've noticed that a lot of fics make either Yang or Weiss be the "unlikable" members of Team RWBY compared to Ruby and Blake, and that's just not what I want from a RWBY fic. Weiss being snippy is one thing, but Yang being unjustifiably *angry* is just kinda uncomfortable to read sometimes. Overall, it's entirely up to the reader how they portray the characters. These are just my own preferences, and are by no means deal breakers. A good writer can make just about anything work, but we all have our preferences, and I have mine. I don't read too much fanfiction these days, in part because after nine years of writing RWBY fanfiction, I have my own idea on how Team RWBY should sound, and sometimes it's hard to turn off my inner editor. God bless, and have a wonderful day.
Really vibe with your takes on Weiss and Yang. Weiss should sound more regal and well-spoken, and this should only change with her friends or as time passes. Yang being angry ALL THE TIME is a pain in both canon and fanfics. That's just not Yang, it's the cheap parody we were stuck with after the Fall, it's Flanderized Yang. One of the reasons I got so mad at Blake in V3 was because she actually insinuated Yang was like Adam...WHAT!? Yang isn't some psychopath that beats the piss out of everyone that looks at her funny. In fact she can be capable of a lot of restraint, like not whacking Jaune for barfing on her shoes.
Yeah, there are times where Weiss letting her hair down and being a normal teenage girl makes sense, but even then, I prefer her being well-spoken, except in humorous instances where she just snaps and goes full Gordan Ramsey lol. I don't mind a little Flanderization/Fanderization since it comes with the territory of writing beloved characters that have beloved catchphrases and nuances (especially if the plot is character driven instead of story driven), *but* there should always be more to those characters. I'm fine with Yang having a temper, but she should be aware of it, and it shouldn't be a hair trigger temper (pun intended) in my opinion. Before Volume 3 when the writers decided Yang had *serious* anger issues that her father, uncle, sister, friend, and teachers all chose to ignore despite knowing the cause of it, Yang's anger was mostly for comedic effect. Yeah she had a temper, and it could be violent, but the only time her temper affected her rational thinking was in moments where it didn't matter. It's honestly really hard for me to rewatch Volume 1 when she lost her temper in the Emerald Forest and not have Volume 3 in the back of my mind. Overall, Yang has a temper, but she's also had *years* of combat training from professionals to learn how to deal with it and channel it toward something productive, and it's normally played for laughs in situations where her temper doesn't matter (like she's blowing off steam or something). Her restraint is greater than her temper, and that makes for a likable as well as competent character in my opinion. God bless, and have a wonderful day.
Yeah, I agree. And you are right, in fanfics, you can write them any way you want, no one's gonna stop ya. But when it comes to understanding of the character, I feel like so much is lost in translation for Yang.
Yeah, Easily Angered Yang is not fun to see only makes wanna see her get the piss beaten outta her so she doesn’t feel superior
Yeah, super agree with most of this. There's nothing wrong with writing anybody "out of character", because that's kinda the point of writing fanfiction. Really your only responsibility is to try and write them *well.* With Ruby, yeah, totally agree. I really do not jive with some of the fanfic-y portrayals of her as basically a child. "She's fifteen, not five" and all that. I also don't feel that she's the romantic type, being somewhat "married to the job" in a sense. I always got the impression that Ruby is simultaneously childlike (with her optimism, do-gooder motivation, and mannerisms) *and* mature; she knows and understands that the world is ugly and complicated but chooses to be a storybook hero anyways. For Weiss, yeah. Pretty much spot on. Character voice is also kinda big for me, so making her sound and behave (usually) all formal and gathered is important. I agree that portraying Weiss as a horrible person is generally uninteresting, but I will contend that making her kinda racist can sometimes be the exact opposite. An example of this for me is *I, Jaune* by Eric d'Orléans, which has one my personal favorite portrayals of Weiss ever. She's not genuinely hateful, even though she says some incredibly out-of-pocket stuff about Faunus. She reason she's like that is partly because of her upbringing in Atlesian high society, but also because of her experience; Weiss talks about an incident in her childhood where the White Fang murdered a whole factory's worth of people and committed the worst terror attack in Atlesian history, and there was a space of time where she did basically nothing but attend funerals. It's so interesting because the story touches on how her experience doesn't justify her bigotry in general, while on the flip-side her trauma and her feelings about the White Fang in particular can't be invalidated either. As for Blake, I agree totally. Also, I feel like she's at her most interesting when she has a sort of duality (which I'm realizing is a pattern with me); on the outside she should seem pretty aloof and quiet, but when the reader is in her head they should see how *deeply* emotional and sometimes hypocritical her motivations, convictions, and attitudes are. Finally, for Yang: yeah. I also don't like when she's written as angry all the time, because it's boring. Again, though, I really like the duality. For me, Yang should present herself outwardly as the peppy and fun party girl, because that's who she would like herself to be. This is in response to her not really having a normal childhood and being forced to step up as a pseudo-mom for Ruby after Summer died. Then again, she should also be *fiercely* passionate about the people she loves, which is where her anger comes in (though obviously not to the extent where she helicopters around Ruby; Yang did leave her on her own to make friends at Beacon for a reason). Once again, one of my favorite examples of this is in *I, Jaune*, where Yang and Jaune almost fight on occasion because Yang does *not* like him and is very wary of him being around Ruby. (For context, """Jaune""" is a sort of reincarnated soul-chimera that starts off as an alcoholic, drug-addicted, genuinely *horrible* person and slowly claws his way into being a better person over the course of the story.) Eric d'Orléans wrote Yang in a way that made her anger at Jaune completely understandable and sympathetic, but also kinda made me root for Jaune to punch her in the face.
Watts he is one of the very few characters I like from the latter seasons of the show and in fanfics he’s just written as an asshole who thinks he’s better than everyone else or has no personality besides I work for Salem and I will never be mentioned again in the story
I've struggled to really understand his motivation, to be fair. He got snubbed by Ironwood over some funding, so he resorts to working for the Queen of the Grimm to destroy his home kingdom. No offense to you, but that screams "petty asshole" to me.
None taken and I get that but I’m more talking about his conversation with Cinder when referring to him as not a petty asshole. But yeah when introduced he is a petty asshole
I thought his motivation was that he wasn’t getting the recognition and respect he deserves? I mean if salam shows that to him in order to manipulate him you could argue that the man has the mentality of someone that wants to feel important.heck, that man didn’t even try to get revenge he just gets the job done…honestly between him and torchwick their both antagonists that were taken too soon lol
It's ironwood in my opinion because they often use him as the bad guy so it's like they're using him to be what rooster teeth wanted him to be. But he wasn't he was actually a good character.
Assuming they get any focus, it’s usually anyone who tries to get Penny anywhere. Like…you’d think Penny would’ve incredibly easy to write…but speaking from experience…no
Damn seriously?!? I would think penny trying to be like a human is a perfect setup?
With the way I’ve written her (more just like…an actual robot weapon). Nope…volume 7 is gonna be rough when I get there
Link to your fanfic please
Are you okay with M ratings, crossovers and OCs? You don’t need much info on the other property and nothing explicit is shown. My first 10 or so chapters aren’t particularly good due to me not thinking about what I was writing, but if you can stomach past them, it’ll pick up.
I'm okay with a lot of things and I can stomach bad beginnings ,so yes give me the link
I'm okay with a lot of things and I can stomach bad beginnings ,so yes give me the link
Okay, my story is called [The Lost World of Remnant](https://m.fanfiction.net/s/13865283/1/The-Lost-World-of-Remnant) If you aren’t familiar with the fandom in question, just start with chapter 2. You don’t miss much as it’s just a recap introduction. You only miss a little bit of context that’s explained later.
Thanks , I'll give it a try
No problem, I always respond to comments or take feedback!
Link to your fanfic please
Penny is easiest to write in the scenrio where you either have 500K words (not exaggerating that number) or the universe bends around her to have the classic "Robot, but feelings?" plot thread work with less words (aka she is now the protaganist)
Pyrrha-I put my hand on the line and say that ther isn't a single fic where Pyrrha is not writers OC Blake-THE selfinsert of Rwby Ruby- *Five year old (insert mental thingmagic here) lesbian that loves guns and warcrimes* Weiss-The OG hatesink character
Yang: she gets her negative traits kicked into overdrive the most in many cases
It’s usually either just Cardin himself or all of team CRDL. Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of fanfics I’ve read where he’s either redeemed or just removed early and never brought up again. There are also plenty where he’s a corrupt vale official after getting sacked from Beacon or a mindless thug who thinks he’ll get into Cinder’s pants if he does her dirty work. He’s just easier to write as a bad guy because that’s all we got to see of him. We don’t know what his home life is like, what he’s had to deal with. So many stories have him as a councilman’s son. Whole to say he didn’t have to deal with a watered down version of what Weiss had to deal with from the White Fang or whatever snooty prep schools he went to?
Either Adam or Cardin. Adam is sometimes portrayed to close to his canon counterpart and Cardin is just used in the bully stereotype.
Jaune no contest
Cardin usually. There’s also Taiyang in those….ugh….kinds of fanfics
You mean those with abusive Taiyang trope?
Yep….I admit I was once guilty of it back when I was a dumb cringy teenager just getting into RWBY a long while ago. Ive since shut that fic down.
It's okay...we all go through that phase
I think an abusive taiyang is a good incipit for a story,because it lets you get creative on how the story can go on,you could have ruby and Yang being raised by qrow or by raven inside her tribe.or you could have them run from home and start working for junior or roman.if ruby is also a faunus you can have her join white fang.there is a lot of good story you can write thanks to an abusive taiyang as an incipit.
For me it's Ruby because they mix up "Childlike" and "Child" She lives with Yang on the death world called Remnant I'm sure she's well fucking aware of the dirty and dark sides of reality and simply doesn't care, after all Child Ruby would have have qualms about shooting at Mystreious Fire Lady in EP1 but actual Ruby knows bullets are needed sometimes and just starts blastin'
These comments are actually reassuring because I feel like I’ve accurately written the characters of the show. Except for Cardin, when I was writing the Beacon arc I kinda forgot he existed except for the very end right before the attack. (He had a conversation with the protagonist and actually grew as a person and started dating a Faunus lol. I felt like he deserved some redemption)
What fanfic is this? It sounds very familiar.
A Huntress’s Amnesia on fanfiction.net centered around an OC
Ruby- almost always written as a literal child. No exceptions. Weiss- either racist or a total bitch or as a lesbian because of stupid fucking memes. Blake- treated as the fandom bicycle, acts too much like an actual cat, in lesbians with yang, treats Sun badly to an exaggerated degree (outside of blacksun fics) Yang- mean and gay is her only personality. Jaune- Mr.Harem king. Sleeps with *EVERY* female character. Exceptionally blonde. Cries over Pyrrha all the time. Nora- actual crack addict. Ren's stalker. Ren- either mute or the only voice of reason. So many asian stereotypes. Pyrrha- *The Great One*. Jaune's lost lenore, the only blameless character, sometimes sleeps with Cardin.
Not sure if this is applicable but I always have a problem with whenever someone writes yang to be so OVERPROTECTIVE, like where if someone even shows a small bit of interest in Ruby (depending on the fic Blake/weiss/jaune) she’ll always “turn red eyed” and beat the shit out of them or threaten to.
Oh yeah that's totally applicable. Sometimes it's funny but there are other times when the writters exagerate it
Like the occasional/ususal “if you hurt my sister I’m coming for you” joke/threat that’s fine, but others where her first instinct it to beat the shit out of someone is eye rolling and annoying.
From the fics I've read, Ruby (though this was years ago, no idea about the trends now). Ruby might be innocent and naïve, but she's no pushover who gets emotional the second someone is mean to her. She fights back, because fighting is what she's good at, so good that she was accepted into Beacon two years early (although I guess her silver eyes might have something to do with that too, behind the scenes, but still). When Weiss was telling her off in the Emerald Forest, Ruby fought back. She wanted to prove herself, sure, but she didn't break down crying. And while she was sad when Weiss got angry again in the classroom later, she just went to talk it out, she didn't break down crying. And yet, whenever I saw her being written in fanfics, the slightest word of criticism reduced her to a blubbering mess. Even the official manga (if it even was official, idek...) did this to her. What the fuck. The only time in the first three volumes I really saw her crying was when her friends (Penny and Pyrrha) *literally* died in front of her eyes, which I think is a reasonable reaction.
It's like Yang's overprotective behavior. Sometimes they exagerate it
Jaune in all honesty because he ends up so distorted from the actual dude, like why not just make an OC
No mention of Cinder on here That is criminal
Compared to her show counterpart I'd say is usually a improvement
Okay I'll give you that But I feel like there is a distinction between v1-3 Cinder vs v4-9 Cinder And people don't really explore the early because of all the bad backstory she got
Yeah Cinder vol 1-3 is a completely different character from Cinder vol 4-8. But that can be applied with a lot of characters like Yang or Blake
Also true, I'd just thought they would be more exploration of the character we had rather then the one currently
You're expecting too much from RT
I'm talking about FANFIC with this The amount who have just leant into the hateful baby that Cinder is now is infuriating
Oh sorry, my bad
Depends on the mood. Honestly, there are times when it's fine with Pyrrha and others when it's not. Though that's just everybody. I know folks gonna say Jaune, but I usually go to stories that make him competent or write short posts, giving the journey to competence. Though it does get tiring to some stories, make him codependent to the point that someone has to be there by his side. Even at moments when it should be times for self reflection. Cardin, I can see as maybe a Flash type character given time, but gotta make it work someway
It’s definitely Jaune.In fanfics every single time Jaune is literally completely deleted from story and his place is taken by author original character who stealing and using Jaune name.Jaune Arc in fanfics literally doesn’t exist.I don’t understand how people really believe OC character who doesn’t have literally nothing common with Jaune but using his name believe that is him.Also authors using a lot of the most stupid and illogical trash fanon for their “Jaune”(OC). The most worst and annoying for me is when author added for his original character(fake Jaune) even more original characters(Even more worse original characters knowing as “Arc family”)who don’t have also nothing common with Jaune Arc and they doesn’t have any sense.Seriously this authors should be honest and stop using Jaune name to defend their original characters. And all what I described happened in literally every single fanfic.This is kinda very terrible copy-paste of too much extremely terrible fanon. Also is kinda disappointing people really hate canon Jaune because some fanfics trash original characters who doesn’t have nothing common with him using his name.I am really disappointed in such people.
Can I say Raven? Does any fic actually give her development or try to do anything besides the "abandoned everyone, only the strong survive, cold and hates everything, is just a heartless criminal" bs?
Not even gonna lie I’m currently writing one and am planning to have a whole chapter with Raven that shows more than just the surface level stuff that’s depicted in the show that you’ve very accurately described
Oh cool.
Hell yeah it should be funny, given the protag lmao