King: Stereotypes!
Knox: Already? That's fun.
King: Naturally. Now, we ready?
Knox: It's Weiss's turn, right?
King: Yep. Oh! And side note, all the chapters are the same inspiration, so check chapter 1 if you need it.
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Yang grinned around to the group, "That was kind of neat."
Ruby nodded, "Weiss is next right?" She waited, but it didn't play. "Is something wrong?"
Jaune found a small remote to the side. "I guess we get to control this one."
Blake tapped her chair, "Might as well get it started now."
The next video opened to show Weiss waltzing down the same rails that Ruby had last time.
Yang's head tilted slightly, "I guess the taunt is different for each person."
Knox's voice followed soon after, "So… Weiss… One of the most difficult characters to master in the game. Two thirds of your weapons use six Dust ammo types and you can only fill the one you have equipped… I have serious respect for anyone that can master her."
Weiss thought it over and found that to be acceptable. She felt a certain pride that her character required more skill to use correctly. And it made sense given her fighting style.
"The only problem is the majority of Weiss mains are insufferably smug assholes."
This broke Weiss's pride for a moment and caused Yang to bust out laughing.
"Seriously. Something about Weiss just attracts the most toxic group of stereotypes. You'd think it would be Ruby, being the sniper and she has a few, but the entire cast has nothing on Weiss. But this is about the hats, not the character. Just… assume there's a side stereotype of smugness unless I say otherwise. So, let's get started."
The first Weiss hat appeared, showing her usual style, but with her hair tie / tiara being in the shape of a snowflake, [Snow Crown].
Ruby raised her hand, "I picked this one!"
"You couldn't afford the Icy Spire and got this instead. That's it."
"That's it?!" Ruby burst out, half expecting something, anything. But instead, she got nothing.
"Speaking of."
The next hat was similar to the last one, being something to hold her ponytail, but was instead an item resembling a blue icicle, [Icy Spire].
Ruby smacked her hand against her chair, "That's what's better than the one I picked?!"
Weiss rolled her eyes, "Oh calm down. I picked this one, by the way."
"This is the oldest cosmetic Weiss ever got, so you get the veteran players using this. But, people also figured out that this was the veteran hat, and you get some people trying to take advantage of that. Make people think they're better than they really are."
Yang laughed a bit, "So, Weiss, what do you think? You trying to fool us?"
Weiss shook her head, "For one thing, I would be one of the veteran players."
Yang's smile faded for a moment, but she was still happy, "I mean… you're not wrong."
The next hat to appear was a hair-based set, the tiara removed and her hair down, [Fallen Snow].
Yang, raised her hand, "Mine!"
"Fallen Snow Weiss is… an odd one. You'd think by the look that they were the lazy, I'm just going to sit back and let you guys take care of it, kind of player. And, they can be. But they're…" He seemed to taper off. "Oh, who am I kidding. No holds barred! Fallen Snow Weiss mains are the worst at their jobs. They're easy kills and will usually rush you down predictable lines."
Now it was Weiss's turn to chuckle at the offended look on her teammate's face.
Yang's eyes blinked to red for a moment, "What?! Seriously?"
Blake shrugged, "It's not that surprising when you think about it. I'd say it fits."
"Hey!"
Weiss calmed herself down again, a grin still on her face, "Oh, calm down Yang. It's a stupid video. We've seen much worse."
Yang's anger seemed to snap to confusion, then again to acceptance, in the span of about a second. "I mean… you're not wrong…"
The next hat was the standard Atlassian military cap, [Winter's Footsteps].
Coco raised her hand slightly, "This one's mine. Something to match the last one, you know?"
"Okay, and now we have our first tryhard hat. Now, that's not always a bad thing, it just means they'll try their hardest to win. I don't mean the good kind for this hat though. This is the loud, quick to rage type. You fuck up, you will be hearing about it."
Coco took it a bit better than Yang did. A bit. Hers was a silent anger and a pissed glare.
The hats swapped, now showing Weiss with her ponytail cut off and her hair in a pixie cut, [Fairy Princess].
Nora's hand shot up, "Mine!"
"This is the Weiss that doesn't take the game too seriously. No smugness, no crazy superiority complex. This is the Weiss that would be the default on any other character in the game."
This got a laugh out of Blake, "Nora? The default? That's a scary thought."
"But, that's about it, and that's kind of sad when you think about it. I mean… Weiss is supposed to be this poised, cool, graceful character. But the people that play her are usually the opposite. It's so bad that THIS has to be a stereotype… I don't know. Maybe Weiss and Ruby have like a Yin and Yang thing."
Yang's eyebrow raised, "A what thing?"
Knox popped in for explanations, "Yin and Yang." He spun his body around until it reformed as a ball half white and half black. The two halves seemed to flow into one another in a cycle, with small cores of each other within the two.
"That… looks disturbingly similar to a King Taijitu…" Ren's eyes narrowed.
"Technically, that's what the symbol is called. Taijitu. The principle is that of equal and opposite forces set in balance with one another. One is the Yin, the black half, representing the dark, passive, the cold, the feminine, and so on. The other half in white is the Yang, bright, active, heat, masculine, and so on."
This got a few snickers from those who know a certain pun-loving brawler.
"The point is that the two are always in flow with one another, but also within each other. That's why Yin has a bit of white and Yang has a bit of black."
"It's like… Ruby has all the good stereotypes, and Weiss ended up with all the bad ones. It sucks and I still don't get why. Now, does that mean that all of the stereotypes are good or bad? No. In fact, I was made aware of some I missed in the Ruby episode. And I'll probably do it again. So, I'm going to do a cleanup episode at the end of this to go over a few more. But back to Weiss."
The next hat showed Weiss with her ponytail retied on the back of her head in a French braid, [Neige Blanche].
Blake and Jaune raised their hands at the same time, causing them both to glance toward one another. After everything so far, they were at least happy they wouldn't be alone for this one.
"This Weiss is one of the few without the underlying smugness of the rest of the Weiss mains."
Jaune and Blake let out relieved sighs.
"But that doesn't mean they get away from it. They usually have to defend themselves from accusations of being a smug Weiss main, but they really aren't."
Jaune chuckled a bit, "I guess that's not too bad."
The hats swapped to show Weiss with a standard ponytail down her back, tied into place with a long red ribbon that hung down with her hair, [Rote Blume].
Ren, Sun, and Neptune all indicated this was there selection.
"A Blume Weiss is pretty rare…"
Yang laughed a bit, "Yeah. Rare. And it got a quarter of us."
"… You'll often see them in casual servers, rarely playing competitively. They hardly talk in the chats and just do their own things. They're not what you'd call team players, but at least they keep their issues to themselves. When they have to speak up, you know shit's gone fan-ward."
Ren shrugged, "Sometimes it's best to be succinct and straightforward."
Sun chuckled, "Nah! I'd totally be in the chats. Total team player!"
Neptune grinned with a side glance toward his team leader, "Says the leader that left us back in Mistral."
Sun turned to Neptune with a slight glare, but all he got was more laughter.
The next hat had Weiss with her ponytail cut shorter and dipped in an icy blue on the tips of her hair, [Frosted Tips].
Velvet raised her hand slightly, "This one was mine."
Yang snickered a bit, "That's a pretty punny name~"
Weiss sighed and shook her head, "Yang… Please."
Yang just laughed a little harder.
"Frosted Tips are usually seen on what I like to call, the Bipolar Schnee. One minute they're happy, kind of quiet, just having some fun. The next, they're pissed, loud, and you will be hearing about your fuck ups."
Coco started to laugh a bit, but Velvet used her eyes to plead for her not to. So, she relented… for now.
"Granted, there's usually a catalyst for it. Usually they end up getting focused and killed a bunch or someone on their team is fucking up so bad it gets everyone murdered. So, on one hand, you can't necessarily blame them. But at the same time, you really don't care."
Pyrrha took a breath, preparing herself for what was likely to come.
The next hat showed Weiss in a spartan helmet with what looked like white horsehair from the top and down the back of the helmet, [Singing Spartan].
Yang snickered a bit, "That your pick, Pyrrha?"
Pyrrha shook her head slightly, "No. I didn't."
Yang's grin fell off to one of confusion, then understanding. "Alright. I just figured after we all got picked last time that there was some weird connection between our stuff and the videos. Guess we were just lucky."
"Singing Spartan Weiss is notorious for being the most vocal try hard player and you will never hear the end of it. If you aren't preforming to her standards, you will hear about it in chat, and often. Your Ruby misses too many shots? Calls a kick vote. Your Jaune or Velvet aren't healing her 24 fucking 7? Kick vote. She gets fragged by a rocket from across the map? You guessed it! Kick vote!"
Text appeared on a black screen for a moment reading:
[Seriously, fuck you if you do this. We're all just trying to have fun. Don't be a dick, people.]
Nora chuckled, "Good thing none of us picked that one."
The next hat showed Weiss with a flattened hair style. Her bangs were cut parallel over her forehead and the rest of her hair framed her face, [Passione].
Pyrrha finally raised her hand, "This was the one I selected."
Yang snickered, "That's an interesting look for you Weiss."
Weiss just rolled her eyes.
Yang took a breath before smirking, "Guess we all still showed up though."
Return of the mocking voice, "Is that a JoJo…"
"Yes. It is. I said get used to them."
Nora's head tilted slightly, "So it's from the same show as the one Yang picked last time?"
"Looks that way." Blake tapped her heel against the ground.
"Now, for stereotypes. You'll usually find the team leader types gravitating toward this hat, very often a the tryhard-y types. But I actually mean that in a good way this time. This is the person that does her best to win. Nothing wrong with that. That said, there's an old saying that even the Buddha will lose his patience. Don't tempt it with this Weiss. You will be rolled."
Ren raised an eyebrow, "What's a Buddha?"
Knox popped in again, "A figure known for spiritual enlightenment. Well… figures? I'm not an expert in the subject. The point is, a Buddha is a good person, patient, and someone who focuses on enlightenment of mind and spirit. I think… Again, not an expert."
"Point is, play fair and don't be a dick and you'll be fine."
The next hat showed a small crown with three crystal spires, [Ice Queen].
Weiss groaned, her head in her hands, "Why? Why does everybody call me that?!"
"Okay, unlike the spire, these spikes aren't ice."
An arrow appears pointing to the crystals on top.
"They're actually Dust, so you can paint them in different colors. This will usually mean that the stereotypes change based on the color chosen. So, let's go over them. First is the white or light blue. These are the default colors and therefore the default Weiss. Smug attitude and all."
The crystals on the crown faded to pink, green, and orange.
"Pink, green, or orange are the casual Weiss. They don't play the character too often but they'll dabble with it now and then."
The crystals turned red and black.
"Red and Black… Well…"
The screen tinted red and started to shake as edgy music played in the background.
Yang sputtered before laughing her ass off. "What the hell?!"
The screen returned to normal.
"Yeah. Our first real 'edgy' hat. I mean, kind of. That joke is going to come up pretty often… And I think that's about it."
The dancing Weiss returned to the screen.
"That's all of the Weiss hats for this round. Blake is next. And again, I'll have a clean up at the end for any hats I missed. Keep that in mind. Anyway, play us out cello."
The screen cut to black with a calming cello playing out.
Yang laughed off the episode. "That was awesome~"
"I thought you didn't like your stereotype." Ruby shuffled in her chair to get more comfortable.
"It's not great, but it's just a dumb video. We're not even real in that world. Besides, I still got a good laugh. I'll take it."