RWBY Volume 8 Chapter 7 – War Discussion
This is it, the final discussion of the first half of RWBY Volume 8, Chapter 7 – War. Sophie, Nathaniel and Clare braced themselves to dive in to this dramatic chapter!
RWBY Volume 8 Chapter 7 – War Synopsis
It’s all out war in Atlas. Our heroes face an impossible problem. Where do they go from here?
Picking up where we left off from the previous episode with wave after wave of Grimm attacking Atlas. Ironwood (Jason Rose) decided to evacuate the city into the subways – do you think he made the right call?
S – Yes, I mean what other choice did he have? I do wonder if he even had a plan for Grimm invading Atlas due to his arrogance and thinking that Atlas would save everyone.
N – I think it’s his only option but it could go one of two ways, sure they know the entrances to defend but if they get over run there trapped.
C – I’m really not sure, cos y’know… BIG PILE OF PANIC. I know he had to clear the streets, but perhaps acting earlier might have made more sense. Y’know… when they realised there was a giant floating Grimm fortress lurking just outside the city.
N – There’s two things I want to point out from the start of this episode, the First being the big NOPE that is the return of the Apathy. We haven’t seen them since volume 6 and I didn’t want to see them this volume but if that is the only glimpse we see of them I’ll be happy. The second thing is when the evacuation is called we see one of the Atlas citizens stop to call her Dad and show him the killer flying Grimm coming towards them, there was more curiosity in her voice than fear. For me this really did show the comparisons between the citizens of Mantle and Atlas, with the people of Atlas seeming to live a more sheltered life with no worries or fear of the threat of Grimm. Ironwood really has done a good job protecting Atlas but is it too protected?
C – Totally agree, I actually shivered when I saw the damn Apathy again. They are the scariest Grimm of all if you ask me!
And what about the “blow it up from the inside” plan?
N – It sounds like a good plan but how do you sneak a big bomb past more Grimm, unless Ren (Neath Oum) uses his semblance but I think it will be a struggle for him.
C – I mean it definitely smacks of “oh shit I am flying by the seat of my pants on this one” from Ironwood to me, like it’s total last resort time. I think it could work, but I don’t think everyone is getting out alive if they do try it.
S – Seems legit. I would probably try this too, hopefully our heroes won’t be in it when they do!
Emerald (Katie Newville) seems to be questioning things (at last) and listening in on Hazel (William Orendorff) torturing Ozpin (Shannon McCormick), and more importantly what Oz had to say about Salem (Jen Taylor) and her plans. Did you expect that?
N – We’ve seen her doubt Salem before. Personally I don’t think she does believe in Salem but she believes in Cinder and that’s who she cares about and all she cares about at the moment. I’m hoping she will step back from Cinder’s shadow for a second and see what she’s helping to do.
S – About time. We saw the look of doubt when she first went to Salem’s team and she saw Grimm climbing out of the pools. I didn’t expect Oscar to tell Hazel how the lamp works, I really hope he doesn’t go running to Salem with it. He needs to use it himself and find out what’s really going on.
C – I’m actually kind of hoping that, now Mercury has gone off with Tyrian and Hazel is still occupied with Oscar/Ozpin, Emerald is going to go find the lamp and use it herself. You’re right Soph, I think it needs to be Hazel, but I think it will be Emerald.
It seems that our heroes have finally learned that unity is the way forward, if Ruby (Lindsay Jones)’s declaration to May (Kdin Jenzen) is anything to go by. What did you think of that scene at the Schnee Mansion?
S – They were gonna get there eventually, even though they aren’t together they are working towards the same goal.
C – I thought it was really interesting and well done, Weiss isn’t the only one who has grown up, Ruby really has too and that was a very ‘adult’ moment I thought. I know she’s kinda the “chosen one” of the show, but it’s important that her character development actually backs that up, which it does appear to be.
N – I agree with Sophie, they are divided but in the big picture everyone is working towards the same goal. Even if it doesn’t seem like it at the moment.
Tyrian Callows (Josh Grelle) might be a total whackjob, but he certainly played an important part in this episode because it looks like even Mercury (Yuri Lowenthal) is now having second thoughts about following Salem’s orders.
C – I never thought I’d see the day when I’d be grateful to that absolute psychopath, but here we are. His confirmation that Salem is literally trying to destroy the world was the wake up call Emerald needed for sure. Perhaps when Mercury gets to Vacuo he’ll find a way to slip away from Tyrian. Perhaps join up with Team CVFY or SSSN (or both) since they are in Vacuo last we heard.
S – He really did. As crazy as he is, he was actually very useful this episode and I suppose it’s a good thing he isn’t there anymore. Otherwise Yang, Jaune and Ren would have a harder time inside Monstra.
N – I do wonder if we’ll see Tyrian or Mercury again this volume or if they’ll come back at a later date. But this was a massive turning point for the two newer members of team Salem and you can definitely see the hesitation in Mercury as he pushed towards the ship as well as the overall worry from Emerald about the safety of her friend and about what’s going to happen to Atlas and the events to follow. I will say however it’s worrying that it’s taken them this long to realize this.
Let’s talk about Ren’s big moment on the ship, and his evolved Semblance. What did you think?
S – It was awesome! I mean he has needed to step up for a while, I think finally doing this is what has caused his semblance to evolve. Everyone had singular emotions except Winter (Elizabeth Maxwell); she had several colours swirling round her. Also can I just add Yang (Barbara Dunkelman) jumping from the ship and activating her Ember Celica, I fangirled a little.
N – His semblance has already helped massively in helping his squad as well as helping the people of Mantle but his evolution is now helping him see people’s feelings as well as his own which I think is really going to help him center himself as he has in the past but one thing that stood out for me was Winter’s emotions; she’s mixed but it seems a controlled mix unlike her team mates who are using one emotion as their primary drive.
C – I loved his new Semblance, it makes so much sense given that he can mask emotions to be able to sense them too. I wonder if maybe there’s a way for Jaune (Miles Luna) to amp up THAT part of the ability, maybe boost happy emotions to counter the Grimm? (Oh god, we’re veering back to Ghostbusters 2 slime territory again)
Also yeah, Yang activating her Embers to jump from the ship was BAD ASS!
S – All they need is a Remnant version of the Statue of Liberty!!
Who yelled out loud when Klein (J. Michael Tatum) turned up at the front door? And when he said that Whitley (Howard Wang) was the one who called him?
N – Whitley has a heart! It’s taken a while but I think after seeing what his father had done and being left by himself to watch how his sisters are head strong and tackling the situation to help instead of trying to control or make profit from it, he’s finally seeing the right path. I do believe that even if his father is let go we will see Whitley either taking over completely or taking control of the family name with Winter (Kara Eberle).
C – That was such a sweet thing for Whitley to do I was really surprised. I did wonder what he would do after we saw him lurking outside Weiss’s room earlier in the chapter. Also Klein for regular character in the rest of Volume 8 please, I think he’s awesome!
S – Me!! I was so excited, I really didn’t think Whitley was redeemable but I might be starting to change my mind. All Weiss needs to do now is to snap momma Schnee out of her rut, if she is anything like her daughters they will need her skills! Did anyone else giggle when Weiss asked if he called anyone else?
And that cliffhanger?!
C – I was surprised to see Penny (Taylor McNee) if I’m honest, and confused as to what Watts’s “hack” actually achieved. Other than damaging her pretty badly she seemed to be in control when she saw Ruby and the others. I hope that someone can patch her up and get her back on side, but I worry that whatever Watts has done to her hasn’t fully shown itself yet.
S – Penny! OMG, I would have been straight into that crater to get her. Maybe Klein can help with that too? Once again Rooster Teeth going ‘oh you wanted a happy ending? Psssshh nope!’ I hate this game of emotions we play.
N – Well I’ve watched it twice now as a recap and the first time it crushed me and then the second time I had honestly forgotten (repressed) what happened but when I heard that explosion my heart sank and I just felt numb up to the build up of the reveal of Penny. And just like her, she apologises for doing what’s right because she thinks she’s failed.
On an important note if Penny dies or anything along those lines mark my words I’m going to rage quit and flip a table or something, please Rooster Teeth I barely survived before. I can’t do it again.
So that’s it for our RWBY Volume 8 Chapter 7 – War Discussion, and for the first part of Volume 8. The midseason premiere (and 100th episode) will be on RoosterTeeth.com this Saturday (Feb 6th) for FIRST members and then the week after for non-FIRST. Make sure you come back here after the next chapter to check out our thoughts.
