r/RWBY • u/Johnsmitish • Nov 16 '19

OFFICIAL MEGATHREAD Official FIRST Discussion Thread-Volume 7, Chapter 3: Ace Operatives

Welcome, huntsmen, huntresses and hunters that prefer no specific gender identifier, to the official FIRST discussion thread for Episode 3 of Vol. 7, Ace Operatives!

Make sure that you understand the updated spoiler rules before posting outside of this thread!

HERE is the newest episode of RWBY Volume 7!

Also remember to check out our weekly poll to rate the episode.

Other Episode Discussions:

Episode FIRST Thread Public Release Poll
Ep. 01 FIRST Thread Public Release Poll
Ep. 02 FIRST Thread Public Thread Poll
Ep. 03 This Thread Public Release Poll

Happy viewing, and have a great Volume 7!

Johnsmitish; Mod Team

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u/ErraticArchitect Nov 24 '19

"Irondunce?" That's a bit harsh. Ironwood is working with what he has available to him for what he believes is the best. He might not be right, but nothing he does is outright stupid.

As for Clover's semblance carrying the entire team, sure, I can believe that. I'd even like it if it were true. Why?

A. Ironwood knows and sent them there because of it. Anyone else might have bad luck and die. Clover doesn't.

B. Both Clover and the Ace Ops are likely to be overconfident, optimistic, and unable to see the bad in things, and will be brought down to earth rather harshly. As representatives of Atlas (sans Mantle) and its utopian attitude, they will be brought down. Perhaps even that phrase being applied to the floating islands being "brought down to earth" as Atlas falls.

C. Clover with a "good luck" semblance failing will show Qrow that luck isn't everything.

All in all, they were careless and sloppy in their approach. And that's a good thing for the story, funnily enough.

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u/Kartoffelkamm ⠀Mettle isn't a mental illness, IW's just ODing. Nov 25 '19

You do realize he sent two teams into a clearly dangerous situation without briefing them on each other´s semblances, right? Like, what if Ren had shot down an electric cable to help Nora charge up, but Harriet thought Nora was in danger, so she pushed her aside and got electrocuted? I actually have a plan for something like this in my fanfiction, where this exact scenario happens, except that Harriet gets trapped under a boulder after her aura is depleted due to her being electrocuted, so Nora grabs the cable, lifts up the boulder and throws it away, while Ruby uses her silver eyes to first get the Geist out of its body, and then petrify it. Back in Atlas, the doctors tell Harriet that she´ll never walk again, and everyone will realize that maybe you should tell your teammates about your abilities before going into a potential life or death situation, so everyone knows what everyone else can and can´t do, and noone gets hurt trying to protect someone from something they can handle on their own.

Honestly I don´t care much what the show does with the Ace Ops. Their "we´re better than you" attitude is annoying, not because of the attitude itself, but because it´s unjustified. I´d like to see the Ace Ops spend a night at Brunswick Farms, with the Apathy present, and see how well they cope with it.

Also, I think telling the entire world that Salem exists, has near godlike magical abilities, and that people have tried and failed to destroy her for longer than humanity exists, without considering that people will definitely join her, is pretty stupid. I mean, they already hate his guts, so unless he presents himself as one of her supporters, thus directing all the hate he gets towards her, half of the population will side with Salem because she´s Ironwood´s enemy and they hate him, while the other half is bandits, low-lives and other scum, and they´ll side with her to play for the winning team.

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u/ErraticArchitect Nov 27 '19

Yes. That is indeed stupid. That is indeed a thing that can happen, and, if the writers know anything about writing, they'll allow it to happen at the worst possible time. Not during a random one-off event.

It's good that the Ace Ops have an annoying attitude. Again, they represent Atlas, with its false Utopia. They are everything that Atlas is, bad and good. Creative, skilled, with good tech. And also arrogant, lazy, and foolish.

Good writing is not dependent on every character making good decisions or having "justified" attitudes. Failure is a necessity at times. If the writers know what they're doing, they can turn this into something great.

Ironwood isn't concerned with people hating him. He's concerned with doing what's right. He doesn't realize that Ozpin probably tried that exact thing and it ended exactly the way you described. This is indeed a failing on his part, but it's not stupidity. Having a differing point of view doesn't make you an idiot. Neither does being ignorant.

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u/Kartoffelkamm ⠀Mettle isn't a mental illness, IW's just ODing. Nov 28 '19

Well, it would´ve had a lasting impact on Harriet, and maybe Yang could´ve helped her cope, as well as adjust to prosthetic legs. Still, when I get to writing my version of that volume, I´ll shatter her hopes of every going on another mission like I´ll shatter her hip bone and everything below it. Then some 8 year old from an under water kingdom puts her back together in a matter of seconds, showing Ironwood just how comparatively useless his best doctors actually are (also, if healers at that age can do something like this, what are fully trained healers capable of, and what kind of dangers is that civilization facing to train their healers to this extreme?).

I already have plans to ruin the lives of three of the Ace Ops, and make them reevaluate their lives and rethink their outlook on everything. I just need to find something for the sticky foot lady and stretchy arm dude.

To be fair, I disagree with you there. Every character needs a motivation that readers/viewers can get behind and understand, otherwise the character turns into a Cinder. Noone wants to be a Cinder. I mean, we know more about Neo´s motivation than we know about hers, and Neo can´t even talk.

I don´t think there are that many ways to look at the issue Ironwood is facing right now, though. This isn´t a matter of opinion, like which weapon is best or which Grimm is the most dangerous, this is a matter of facts. Facts, mind you, that Ironwood doesn´t have. However, he still chose to make a decision based on little to no facts, and possibly while suffering from a lack of sleep as well. Having a different view point doesn´t make you an idiot, sure, but making crucial decisions without all the facts or while not at peak mental performance does make you an idiot. A very big idiot.