Surprised her Semblance never came into play. Though that would have rendered Mysterious Deus ex Machina Lady's intervention pointless if it had worked.
I was surprised her fighting experience and instinct didn't come into play. Right up until Yang lost it felt like she was getting a feel and an understanding for her opponent, but all of a sudden Yang couldn't take a hit and is KO'd with one blow.
Imagine my disappointment that Yang didn't get to demonstrate her smarts as a street brawler by figuring out her opponent's deal.
Kind of like with Weiss who is supposed to be smart getting dragged into a melee battle with an opponent who's only strength was brute force. Weiss is for all practical purposes a mage with a fencing sword, yet she fought an opponent on his terms for no reason.
I dunno man, I feel the complete opposite. Yeah, there are some things that could have been done better [I think episode 11 could have been done better for sure in some aspects], but I feel like it's a complete improvement over Volume 1 overall.
I'll give you an example of why Volume 1 is better than Volume 2; Jaune lying his way into Beacon because of his heritage and childhood dream is about a thousand times more compelling than him pining away for Weiss who for some inexplicable reason has a crush on the newly introduced nobody character. Never mind that this contrived scenario only exists to propel Jaune into Pyrrha's waiting arms, instead of, you know, him figuring out for himself that Pyrrha is fuggin' hot?
You make a solid point, Steak. I've been enjoying the cleaner appearance of Volume 2, but one gripe I had was with Blake's sudden regression into lonely moodiness after her teammates and friends already made it clear they'd be around to help her and that she shouldn't shoulder so much burden on her own. It seems that forgotten tidbit was meant to set up the silly 'get her to the party to relax' subplot.
Also, the specialized magazine of Dust rounds came straight out of nowhere.
Though that would have rendered Mysterious Deus ex Machina Lady's intervention pointless if it had worked.
She needs to get her shit wrecked for her semblance to activate. Neo was using akido, which means maximum damage for minimal effort. Yang wasn't taking as many hits to her aura that she needed.
Zephyr102 said: Also, the specialized magazine of Dust rounds came straight out of nowhere.
Wiess is a dust maven, and uses a sword that lets her channel six different dusts. It's not without reason she could throw together a magazine with dust rounds since she needs to make them for her sword anyway.
...Weiss who is supposed to be smart getting dragged into a melee battle with an opponent who's only strength was brute force. Weiss is for all practical purposes a mage with a fencing sword, yet she fought an opponent on his terms for no reason.
She didn't seem to have problems fighting such an opponent during her trailer...
Honestly, I don't find any of the teenage angst stuff compelling in any sense. It's a distraction from much more important stuff, and now that the plot appears to be in full swing I hope it never comes back.
Yang's battle reminds me of the final episode of Volume 1, actually, in that both were used to showcase new characters (Penny, Sun, and the Mystery Woman) where it would make more sense in terms of plot to have established characters shine.
In Volume 1, I feel it would have made more sense for the rest of team RWBY, Weiss specifically, to find Blake and fight the White Fang and Torchwick together, so they would show through action that they were a team, rather than Weiss saying after the fight that she didn't care about Blake's former membership in the White Fang after 'hours in which to reflect' that we didn't see.
In the same way, Yang seemed rather off her game, not really employing her usual fighting style that never gives her opponent a break or opening (unrelenting pummeling in the Yellow trailer) or figuring out and exploiting weaknesses (shooting into the mouth of the Nevermore).
cd_young said: Wiess is a dust maven, and uses a sword that lets her channel six different dusts. It's not without reason she could throw together a magazine with dust rounds since she needs to make them for her sword anyway.
It makes sense that she'd be able to throw the magazine together, but it's odd she didn't give it to Blake at the start of the mission for more of a Chekhov's Gun setup.
Well, character logic doesn't always line up with practicality, like Ruby and Ozpin taking time to fight the mechs when stopping the train was their priority.
Zephyr102 said: Well, character logic doesn't always line up with practicality, like Ruby and Ozpin taking time to fight the mechs when stopping the train was their priority.
Or how Obleck and Zwei figured out how to do team attacks.
cd_young said: She needs to get her shit wrecked for her semblance to activate. Neo was using akido, which means maximum damage for minimal effort. Yang wasn't taking as many hits to her aura that she needed.
Well, I personally thought Neo's style resembled Filipino Martial Arts (Arnis/Kali), but that might just be me wearing colored shades. Aikido explains Yang's semblance-failure better, and shows a vulnerability.
Zephyr102 said: Also, the specialized magazine of Dust rounds came straight out of nowhere.
The members of Team RWBY have known each for almost a year, during which time they've thought up and named various strategies (e.g. "Ladybug", "Ice flower", "Bumble bee") that play to their various strengths. It shouldn't be that strange for Weiss to prep ammo for her teammate and friend.
As to why Weiss handed it at *that* moment: They should have exhausted a lot of their ammo by then, and their opponents changed from Beowolves to White Fang grunts to White Fang lieutenants. It was the best time to pull out special ammo.
