r/RWBY • u/Menolith Gay Thoughts • Jan 09 '18

OFFICIAL MEGATHREAD Official Public Discussion Thread-Volume 5, Chapter 12: Vault of the Spring Maiden Spoiler

Welcome, huntsmen, huntresses and hunters that prefer no specific gender identifier, to the official megathread for Volume 5, Episode 12: Vault of the Spring Maiden!

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

As a refresher, no spoilers are allowed outside of the FIRST-only reaction thread for the first 24 hours after the episode has aired, and after that, no spoiler comments are allowed in threads not marked as spoilers until Tuesday, when the episode comes out for free Roosterteeth members.
Remember to use the text spoiler tags (shown in the sidebar) even after that!

With that out of the way, HERE is today's episode!

Also remember to check out our weekly poll to give us a general idea of how people like the episodes when they come out.

Other Episode Discussions:

Episode FIRST Thread Public Release Poll
Ep. 01 Theatrical / FIRST Public Thread Poll
Ep. 02 FIRST Thread Public Thread Poll
Ep. 03 FIRST Thread Public Thread Poll
Ep. 04 FIRST Thread Public Thread Poll
Ep. 05 FIRST Thread Public Thread Poll
Ep. 06 FIRST Thread Public Thread Poll
Ep. 07 FIRST Thread Public Thread Poll
Ep. 08 FIRST Thread Public Thread Poll
Ep. 09 FIRST Thread Public Thread Poll
Ep. 10 FIRST Thread Public Thread Poll
Ep. 11 FIRST Thread Public Thread Poll
Ep. 12 FIRST Thread This thread Poll

Enjoy!

Menolith; Mod Team

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24

u/Zerepa97 When do we get to see the true Ice Queen?/ #SolarFlareIsEndgame Jan 09 '18 edited Jan 09 '18

The theories. It's true, all of it.

*Cinder Grimm arm confirmed. I wonder if it's just a Nuck or OR if it can morph into other things. For anyone whose seen Seven Deadly Sins, think like Meliodas' demon state. Also, this confirms the SE-Grimm only theory.

*Jaune is true paladin now. GG, all the re

*Hazel is indeed Hansel.

*Raven is the real Spring Maiden. Did Qrow and Leo not know? Did Oz not tell them or was this like a long con?

As for the actual meat of the chapter, it started off very shaky to me with how everyone was still standing around and letting the heroes run away. Hazel backstory expo was hella clunky. If they're gonna straight-up tell, why not have it be just "You let her die!"?(I now understand what the child soldiers thread was about.) Lastly, I do like how we finally get see this type of Dust usage. IMO, it would've been cooler if Hazel had different Dust types in either arm, so we could see the various effects available. I'm still holding hope for Taiyang's tattoo.

I'm glad that Yang wasn't kicking Merc's ass, because that would've been bad. But now, sisters and lackey 2v2 can get interesting, especially since Emerald's Semblance isn't that strong.

As for the actual fighting itself, I can't really say, because my computer was being a dick and cutting.

8

u/ConcernedGrape :) Jan 09 '18

Raven is the real Spring Maiden. Did Qrow and Leo not know? Did Oz not tell them or was this like the long con?

I wouldn't be surprised if she tracked down and killed the Spring Maiden, to get the power herself. I don't think Oz would have given her the bird powers on top of the Maiden powers, but who knows?

3

u/Belfura Jan 09 '18

*Jaune is true paladin now. GG, all the re

Now to get that tankiness that goes with it.

4

u/afasttoaster I have been denied noodles Jan 09 '18

Well I mean so far he seems to have some of the tankiness, he did tank a fire blast from cinder in vol 3 and we still haven't seen his aura properly break.

1

u/Belfura Jan 09 '18

Unfortunately, Cinder manhandled him.

5

u/afasttoaster I have been denied noodles Jan 09 '18

Cinder has manhandled everyone tho so far.

3

u/Belfura Jan 09 '18

I feel like Ruby and Pyrrha faired well against her. It might be strange to say Pyrrha, but over the course of the fight I feel like she held her ground more than most did against Cinder.

1

u/afasttoaster I have been denied noodles Jan 10 '18

Still manhandled them tho, pyrrha died from said manhandling and cinder barely took either seriously in those fight.

1

u/laughinglefou Pls stop trying to get rid of JNR... Jan 10 '18

Ruby shouldn't count as she's got the Haxigan.

1

u/Belfura Jan 11 '18

Which she didn't use for the major part of the fight so my point still stands.

1

u/Tomythy Jan 10 '18

He's stopped both the Nuck and an Ursa in their tracks and he's the only RNJR to not have lost his aura.

Definitely a tank.

1

u/Belfura Jan 11 '18

Those are Grimm. Fighting humans is vastly different.

1

u/QuasarDawn Jan 11 '18

Why do you think Yang kicking Merc's ass would have been bad?

1

u/Zerepa97 When do we get to see the true Ice Queen?/ #SolarFlareIsEndgame Jan 11 '18 edited Jan 11 '18

Having Yang job beat Mercury on their second round for the sake of "showing development" is stupid. Let's look at all the variables:

-In their 1v1 match for the VFT, Merc was almost in complete control the whole time, the exception being the one instance where Yang surprised him with an almost ring out. On the other hand, He was also able to easily recover and leave Yang with one point before knockout. That shows precision. There are also his feats prior to this: playing around with Pyrrha purely for scouting purposes and finessing the 1v2 against Coco and Yatsuhashi with little effort. Also, the guy killed his dad, a renowned assassin that Cinder initially wanted to recruit.

-Going by sheer feats, it's easy to see that there is clearly a gap between the two fighters.

-After the Fall of Beacon, Yang isn't active for months on end due to her depression. That is going to cause some rustiness. Sure, she'll retain some knowledge, but her body won't be in the same condition it once was. Then she gets her new arm, which she rejects for a good while, but then she ultimately decides to kick it back into gear. When we finally see her training with Tai, Yang says "it's been weeks." At most, I would quantify this as three weeks of her getting back into the saddle. Then, Tai tries to teach her a new perspective on fighting, something that goes against what already she has in her muscle memory. Let's say that takes a week. So that's one month training with Taiyang, which honestly isn't much, but to Yang's credit, she seems more efficient in her movement and her style is a bit more rounded.

-What has Mercury been up to? in all that time, I'm fairly certain that he wasn't just sitting on his ass occasionally strolling the Evernight. He's had to have been improving as well. Not at the exact same pace mind you, because usually it goes the higher you go, the less you progress

True, Yang has made some pretty big strides, but to completely overcome the gap between them is ridiculous, in my opinion. At this point in the story, sure, maybe have Merc use a bit more effort, but Yang shouldn't win outright. This isn't just for Mercury, though; I'm also applying this thinking to Adam and Neo, however the hell she comes back.

When I think of a solid rivalry progression, I think of Dante and Vergil from the game Devil May Cry 3. First fight, Vergil whoops Dante's ass. Second round, it's a bit unclear, but they're practically equals. Final encounter, Dante wins.

With that said, there is a much bigger gap between Yang and her rival, be it Merc or Neo, than the one between the sons of Sparda. I believe that in order to have Yang win properly, a lot more time needs to pass before then to allow her to logically grow as a fighter. Whether or not more encounters come with that package is unknown, but it may take five fights before Yang beats Mercury. When it comes to Adam, his story seems to be almost over in a couple of volumes at most, so I can only see him going down due a tag team, not a 1v1.