Snippet 106
Author's Discussion 6
Top 12 Worst Characters of RWBY
Genre: Metahumor/Commentary
Tags: Questions will be raised for the viewers to answer, Retrospective, A bit of an Author's Words, Consider the Top 5 Best List and my first Worst List irrelevant, Opinions Change
Mirai is exhausted as he looked to the pile of work that has to be done. Such is life of a college student.
Allow me to quickly explain something before we get to the list. I'm prematurely cutting the poll due to a lack of votes. To be fair, I've talked around and Application of Logic was clearly showing to gel with many people. However, I've come to a realization that giving any of these pilots a fic is too much of a load. So, I've decided to simply to keep them here under as miniseries. Yes, all of them. I'll explain more later, but for here. Here's my list.
Mirai says this before flipping on the television with the recorded footage. He already stated this beforehand and left the record to show the audience. He was going to get some sleep after…a few minutes of scouring some fanfiction.
#12 – Weiss Schnee (and by extension her family)
Yes, I know Weiss is considered best girl, and certain friends of mine will want to deck me. However, she is "best girl" because by RWBY's standards, she's written the least poorly. She is given development, but her arc with her racism is rushed. There's also the matter of her end goal. She wants to become a huntress to…run her company instead of just going to business school. Of if her father's such a scumbag, gather evidence and send it to the authorities. Also doesn't help that combat wise, she's a complete joke. Against Grimm? Just fine. People? Absolute jobber. It's rather sad considering her weapon has the potential to be a game breaker, but Weiss is just…ugh. Put Myrtenaster in Winter's hands and you got an unstoppable force. But speaking of her family, yeah, they've here as well. Mostly due to lack of exploration and the fact that Jaccques is being built up as evil but not doing anything notably evil. (Aside slapping Weiss, but that's subjective.) Whitley's on the same boat. Willow's a ghost, and Winter's too good for this series. Though they are all at the bottom as they have most potential out of this list…unless V7 botches it up.
#11 – Jaune Arc
Yes, he's back on this list. My issues are the same as last time for him, but there's a bit more perspective put in. Many accuse Jaune of being a self-insert and I don't mind many for it. However, if you think about it, Jaune has better set up for a protagonist then Ruby does…at least in a technical sense. A classic underdog story does tug at the strings more. Sadly, Jaune suffers from a disjointed story in part from poor planning from the get-go. His origins, his underutilization, his overuse, I could go on. One could write a short essay on his issues alone. However, to sum it up: him not knowing what aura and semblances are despite being from a family of heroes, his sisters never coming to play except for damage control, and the writers giving him the "Idiot Ball". Ironic, that both Jaune and Weiss are so alike as both got lousy solo win/loss records. He's at the bottom with her as neither one has elicit anger out of me, though Jaune's above her for a reason.
#10 – Emerald Sustrai
One word: Neo. Neo makes Emerald redundant. Now one could argue that Emerald has more to offer. That she has backstory and a connection to Cinder. Yeah, that's laughable. Considering that Emerald is basically Cinder's toady, and her backstory is boring compared to Mercury. I actually considered Emerald for my best list, but the more I thought about it, I had to put her here. The writers had simply done nothing for since V5. If they want to redeem her, it's a bit too late as she a bit past of Moral Event Horizon line by having a hand in Vale's fall. Funny, that they try to have her remorseful again in V6, but it just doesn't work when V4 and V5 have her blatantly not showing any. But what does she have doing for her? A nice design and decent voice acting. Yeah, not enough.
#9 – Adam Tarsus
This character is a victim of bad writing and possibly the biggest loser since things changed in Volume 3. I still have the same issues, but I also have a few more. His characterization is supposed to be Blake's mentor that lost his way. Despite this, he's supposed to care about his men. Yet in V2, he clearly doesn't care that tons of faunus are dead due to Cinder's hands. He also doesn't try to backstab Cinder at any point, and he's strangely loyal to her (and by extension) all the way to V5 where he has a mental breakdown. I have to ask though, did Adam ever meet Salem? They had ample time to do so in V4. Honestly, I just can't get that mad at Adam anymore because other characters and the the writer's (except Monty, possibly?) hate for him just made into a complete joke of a character. Adam did not die in V6, but that was a shell of what died in V5. Speaking of his death, Ruby and especially Weiss never even get to meet the man. His facial scar? Pointless and complete joke. What would it matter to Blake? She mostly saw it already. Yang? What she has to do with the SDC? What a frace…(If they end up calling a Cinder, I can shake my head at the thought.)
#8 – Maria Calavera
This character is a bad case of coming way too late into the fray. It's nice she's here, but she could shown up much earlier. She's also a victim of the show's writing in making Silver Eyes a thing, but barely explaining it. Her semblance should also literally make her unbeatable all considering. You're telling me Tock somehow had enhanced reflexes superior to the woman who has it as a semblance. Invinciblity doesn't give you enhanced reflexes!
REFLEXES Or: What I should already have with my Huntsman training/Aura.
Also, Avatar called. They want their stolen design back for Katara and Gran Gran. Lastly, she comes right the hell out of nowhere with no build up despite being a legendary huntress. And why didn't have pass word around that Silver Eye Warriors were being hunted? Would have been a nice warning!
#7 – Oscar Pine
Farm boy is here and is a total waste. He's just a lesser Jaune, to where I ask if Ozpin was supposed to end up in Jaune's head. Oscar's a blank state, and he's just being used as Ozpin's meat suit. I get it was a way of showing Ozpin's curse, but…Oscar's just not interesting and they keep having his character arcs off-screen.
#6 – Hazel Reinhart/Raven Branwen
They tied because they simply have the same issue of being both stupid for the sake of the plot and wasted characters.
Hazel: Hazel truly suffers stupidity and backstory issues. I still don't get the logic in how Hazel decides to work for Salem when she (and by extension, the gods) are partly the reason Gretchen had to fight Grimm in the first place. If anything, he would make a good anti-villain wanting to fight both sides. A third option, if you will. But as is, he's a waste of a good voice talent and semblance.
Raven: On's a similar boat for different reasons. If she did not want to get involved in the war, why isn't she far out of reach for either one. Why take in the Spring Maiden? Why kill her for her power?! You'd be literally asking for either one to come after you. Her character is of an inconsistent coward hiding behind Darwinism. She insists that Ozpin put on them the curse of being birds, yet it's never shown any downsides. She's meant to be a third party, but she's so easily stringed to Salem's side that it's a joke. Her treatment of Vernal really shows what could have happened had Raven took in Yang. Meat shield. She pretty much only cares for herself as she pretty much using and manipulating everyone. By the way, for a feared bandit leader, only Vernal and herself were worth being feared compared to the rest of those jokers. Which is turn doesn't help when her only notable win is Cinder.
Now we get to the top five, the worst of the worst.
#5 – Ilia Amitola
I still think the idea of just making a character for representation and nothing else is a completely stupid idea. So here we have the "psycho lesbian antagonist". Ilia is basically Adam's replacement to be redeemed when they decided to butcher Adam's character to make him an abuser. However, it didn't work for a few reasons. One is we learn very little about her. Let's get to one of the important missing detail, why she's in love with Blake. Ilia doesn't get any flashbacks to her past for her character to build and it's all through exposition. It's worse because like Adam, they are not reliable narrators. Ilia also gets the "Steven Universe" treatment of being rather easily forgiven despite doing horrible things namely nearly killing Blake's parents and put Menagerie and Mistral in peril by taking part in Adam's plan. For a woman who loves her, she pretty much as psychotic as Adam. And at least the comics bothered to explain Adam and Blake coming to be, even if that comic further shot Blake's character.
Ilia's plus is she does points out how crappy a person is Blake (considering Volume 1's actions and her general cowardice, but was not enough to save her.
Ilia as a character doesn't work because of two other characters, Velvet Scarlatina and Neon Katt. Despite my disdain for Velvet, she makes Ilia look thick-skinned by comparison as Velvet had to put up with a lot more on-screen. And then there's Neon. If Atlas is supposed to be "racistland", then why the hell is Neon the way she is with no issues? (I fear V7 will simply retcon this.) Neon's existence calls what Ilia told us into question. Did Neon had wealth to back her up or was Ilia full of shit? It also doesn't up that the Adam short for V6 clearly shows Ilia is clearly older than Blake (in fact she's most likely Adam's age). Wow, they wanted to make a better alternative only to repeat the same mistake. And people wonder why I call Sapphron damage control?
#4 – Yang Xiao Long
Yes, like mother, like daughter. Yang used to be a favorite of mine out of Team RWBY. She had a fun aura to her, but over time, she fell out of favor. Simply put, Yang's a hotheaded brat. Let's start from the Yellow Trailer. She waltzes in underage, sexually assaults a man after he doesn't have the information he wants and trashes his club. I know it's supposed to make Yang look badass, but looking back, it only made her temperentmenal. And she never faces any consequences for it. But what about the Mercury fight and losing her arm? First off, despite that, Yang is never called up about them after V3. Nobody recognizes her for doing that, but everyone is aware of who Cinder and her team are in V6. There's also her horrendous PTSD arc, her sulkier attitude in later volumes ripping off Jaune's, forced Bumbleebee movements, and I could go on.
#3 – Blake Belladonna
Same number, same reasons. Although, I will add the fact of forced Bumbleebee and the comics proving my fact that Blake's a spoiled brat is also what aided to keep her here.
#2 - Salem
Now that we know Salem's goals, does this spare her from the list? Absolutely not. Her ambitions are bland as toast. If anything, it further perpetuate Salem being a spoiled brat. I still ask what's the point of her wasting time with Ozpin. Because If she's immortal, why bother with the relics? Just wage war on the world since you lead the bane of humanity and force them to hand over the relics and Maidens. Also, she did not even warn Cinder about Silver Eyes until after Cinder was cripplied by it. Real genius.
-RWBY-
And here we are, the number 1 pick and it's a tie. But before we do so, here are some dishonorable mentions:
Sienna Khan - Literally created to die.
Glynda - While she was horribly cliche, she was a bit more forgettable. Most of her scenes could be skipped.
Cardin Winchester – Originally in my previous list, I've dropped him on account on there's worse characters.
Pyrrha – I wanted to put her on this list, but considering Weiss. I had to acknowledge the fact that all four of the main characters are rather disappointing. Besides she's not much of a character as is a plot device.
All of CFVY – Wasted characters, dropped Velvet out of the list because I got bigger fish to fry.
Caroline Cordovin – Cliché
The Brother Gods – Bleh
Tock – Plot device
-RWBY-
#1- Cinder Fall/Ruby
Ok, we all know I hate Cinder and why. Let's skip ahead to the main Rose herself. In short, she's static. She keeps that optimism and cheeriness that should have been jaded post V3. Ruby has no true personality other than being the designated Chosen One to which Jaune has better set up than her. (It hurts to admit that.) She's designed well and got a great weapon, but it's all icing on the bland cake. Never asked about her Silver Eyes until V6 and never gets her fight with Cinder in V5. She's more of a mascot than a character. She's just being used to development everyone else and that's not becoming of a main character. Man, it must suck to be a side dish in your own show.
(A/N: It had to be done, and man it feels great. Not looking forward to V7, but I will be marathoning V1-V3, maybe V4, and skip V5-V6. I'll leave V7 alone for now. Penny's back…and RT looks to be ripping off JPDE. Not surprising.)