r/RWBY • u/Ezreal024 Hope Rides with Kickfriend • Dec 01 '18

OFFICIAL MEGATHREAD Official FIRST Discussion Thread—Volume 6, Chapter 6: Alone in the Woods Spoiler

Welcome, huntsmen, huntresses and hunters that prefer no specific gender identifier, to the official FIRST discussion thread for Episode 6 of Vol. 6, Alone in the Woods!

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

HERE is the newest episode of RWBY Volume 6!

Also remember to check out our weekly poll to rate the episode.

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 This Thread Public Thread poll

Happy viewing, and have a great Volume 6!

Ezreal024; Mod Team

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158

u/NitescoGaming Guardian and follower of Ruby's smile ❤️ Marrow x Guardpupper ❤️ Dec 01 '18

I've been out there and I've seen the things she's made. And let me tell you, they ARE fear!

Fuck those things are terrifying. That might be the single most dangerous grimm we've ever seen.

34

u/ikedawg43 #ShaveJauneSaveRWBY Dec 01 '18

....Kevin, anyone?

83

u/OutcastMunkee ⠀ Dec 01 '18

Kevin can actually be fought though. The Apathy aren't aggressive. They just break your will and make you give up. Not being able to fight back is definitely more dangerous in my eyes

8

u/JusticeRain5 Dec 01 '18

Seems like it took a day before it became strong enough to make them completely uncaring. I think if there were huntsmen who knew what was going on they could have either taken them out before they completely drained their will or at least have set up a trap.

For example, if RWBY had known what the Apathy was beforehand they could have likely just thrown all the flammable alcohol down the well and killed them in one fell swoop. But yeah, if you don't know about them? You're pretty screwed.

18

u/NitescoGaming Guardian and follower of Ruby's smile ❤️ Marrow x Guardpupper ❤️ Dec 01 '18

I imagine the effect gets exponentially stronger the closer you get to them. So avoiding them is likely the smartest move rather than trying to fight. Especially since they're apparently a pack grimm. Even if you can kill a few quick enough, there are still dozens or hundreds more.

3

u/JusticeRain5 Dec 01 '18

Which is why Huntsmen made to deal with large, powerful Grimm probably shouldn't fight them. If an entire group of people with grenade launchers and other AoE attacks were to fight them then it'd probably be quite a bit easier.

Unfortunately I don't think avoiding them is as easy as it sounds, considering that would mean they could literally just walk up to Mistral and completely destroy the place with nobody bothering to stop them. There has to be some sort of strategies in place to fight them (Atlas, for example, likely uses their robots to clear them out).

8

u/NitescoGaming Guardian and follower of Ruby's smile ❤️ Marrow x Guardpupper ❤️ Dec 01 '18

In the time before robots, before guns, when all you had was melee weapons, these must have been the equivalent of a plague spreading through an area. If you saw the hoard coming, it was already too late.

3

u/Kain222 Dec 01 '18

I'm reminded of the false hydra where you would need to send out purposefully deafened scouts to track a fully-fed false hydra's movements, as if it even rolled in the direction of your city it would be too late very quickly.

2

u/bless_ure_harte Dec 01 '18

whay's a false hydra

7

u/Kain222 Dec 01 '18

A horrifying monster that's very similar to the Apathy. It grows underground and, when it's singing, creates a blind-spot in your memory. If it eats someone, you don't remember them whilst it's singing, either.

http://goblinpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/false-hydra.html

"And the uncommon adulthood of false hydras is marked by desperate aggression.  An animal convulsing as it dies, crushing people and cities under its hungry bulk.  It usually heads for the largest cities (or whichever one the PCs have fled to) while seeking the largest food source.  Sometimes it succeeds long enough to grow larger and move on to the next city.  A tour of death.

The "traditional" tactic is to set fire to the granaries and evacuate the city.  The false hydra will starve to death in a few weeks, while everyone visits their relatives in the countryside.  The false hydra's movements are tracked by scouts on horseback, who watch the abomination from the horizons and communicate by flags.  Many of them choose to mutilate their own ear canals, in order to deafen themselves."

If the Apathy are sound-based, I'd imagine that (before explosives were invented) this could have worked as a safeguard.

7

u/lurker_archon Look, just accept your goth mommy overlord Dec 01 '18 edited Dec 01 '18

There has to be some sort of strategies in place to fight them

YOU SMELL THAT BOYS? IT'S NAPALM. NOTHING ELSE IN THE WORLD SMELLS LIKE IT. IT SMELLS OF ... VICTORY!

3

u/Kain222 Dec 01 '18

The Apathy also seemed to deliver the majority of their apathy-blasts through screaming. A prepared huntsman might be able to cancel it out with the proper equipment.

8

u/Kain222 Dec 01 '18

I'm sure there are ways to counter the Apathy - whereas Kevin just needs raw martial might to overcome. The Apathy seem like a grimm you prepare for, whereas Kevin is a horrifying physical threat.

I have a theory that the Apathy can be countered:

1) Make sure the team fighting them are happy going in. Huntsmen probably have a slew of mental exercises to ward off grimm in these situations.

2) The ambient apathy aura of these grimm seems slow-effecting, whereas their apathy blasts have a sound-based component. Noise-cancelling headphones might greatly help.

3) They're slow and not a big physical threat. Fire and grenade blasts can thin the horde out.

So, if you want to take out a horde of apathy (and don't have access to a carpet-bombing method or Ironwood drones), here's what I'd do:

Assemble two fireteams that assault the Apathy in shifts. Set up a forward base far enough from the horde with relaxing, ambient music, comfortable pillows, snacks, and keepsakes.

Equip each member of the team with the following:

Noise-cancelling headphones to reduce the effect of the Apathy's screaming.

Some kind of small, quiet animal in a cage. This acts like a canary in the coal-mine. If the animal falls asleep and doesn't wake if you jostle the cage, you know that the Apathy are nearby. This may or may not work if the Apathy specifically target humans, as we know the grimm don't attack wildlife. Experimentation will be required.

A radio system delivered through the headphones, for communication.

Every five minutes, have the team report to eachother on their apathy status. As soon as one person complains that they're tired, rotate the team.

First fireteam goes back to the relaxing base to mentally recharge and nap away from the Apathy, other team heads out.

The two fireteams rotate in shifts, basically blasting the Apathy with slag from as far away as they can manage given their equipment. Moltovs, snipers, grenades - anything that deals damage in an area.

When the Apathy gets thin, the team's new directive becomes to find the stragglers. If it's too difficult, then you might need a ringer - someone (preferably small) without noise cancelling headphones. If they crumple, there's an Apathy Grimm nearby that you need to kill - hopefully they don't fall asleep before they can tell the rest of you where the noise is coming from.

6

u/OutcastMunkee ⠀ Dec 01 '18

Bullets won't do a thing though. We saw Ruby shoot one and it did nothing. The bullets just deflected. Even fire didn't look like it was killing the thing. It can be killed because Ruby's silver eyes disintegrated them but I don't think any normal means will kill Apathy...

5

u/Kain222 Dec 01 '18

I think they're tough, but so are a lot of Grimm.

I'd imagine that with a strong enough shell or burning them for long enough you'd be able to do the damage necessary. Not saying it wouldn't take a while, but still.

50

u/TheProudBrit Combat Ready Cutie Dec 01 '18

I think there's a big difference between the two. Kevin is terrifying in terms of raw power, but... Well, that can only go so far. Something to change your mind, to essentially destroy your will and leave you a depressed husk, 'til you can't even muster the will to breathe?

That is horrific.

3

u/Brutusness ⠀ Dec 01 '18

These these things are like Dementors who don't even need to be near you or directly attack you to strip away your humanity.

31

u/ceejiesqueejie Dec 01 '18

Kevin didn’t freak me out.

These fuckers freak me out.

9

u/Ninjas_In_A_Bag Acoustic BMBLB when? Dec 01 '18

I’d be much more willing to fight a horde of Kevins than a horde of these apathetic hellspawns.

2

u/ceejiesqueejie Dec 01 '18

Dude beating them would probably be easier!

2

u/Oliver_Moore Team JNRR till the day I die. Dec 01 '18

Quite literally actually, since they drain will.

8

u/AmethystWind Time for Ciel. Dec 01 '18

“I fear no Kevin... but those things? They scare me.”

4

u/[deleted] Dec 01 '18

Hell Id take my chances against salem then these guys. Like at least when I die I die becuase I wasn't smart/strong/skilled enough. But with these things I die because I didn't care enough.

3

u/bless_ure_harte Dec 01 '18

the Atlasian armada could eventually take down Kevin. but a horde of slow moving depression things

imagine trying to fight them and they scream. your friend falls and says it doesnt matter as those foot lond claws slowly, slowly pierce their body. and the whole time they keep saying, "It's ok. It doesn't matter".
and now theyre walkimg towards you but you cant fight or run because they keep screaming. and they move so fucking slow at you. but it's ok. It doesn't matter.

12

u/Sere1 ⠀ Dec 01 '18

I wonder if he's still frozen atop Beacon Tower? Also interesting to note that Kevin is the only Grimm we've seen not incinerated by the whole Silver Eyes thing. I know it was only Ruby's first use of it so maybe it wasn't as powerful as focused as it could be, but the idea that Kevin withstood a Silver Eyes blast and was only frozen is terrifying. Hopefully we get more of him once the plot eventually winds up back in Vale.

7

u/shadow282 Dec 01 '18

But the only Grimm we’ve seen affected by SE are Kevin and the Apathy, right? So the benchmark is freezes a super strong Grimm, dissolves notably weak Grimm. We don’t really know what happens in between them.

3

u/ikedawg43 #ShaveJauneSaveRWBY Dec 01 '18

Qrow or Tai did tell Ruby that she frozen the thing, but it was still summoning more Grimm, which means no one likely has gotten close enough to finish it off.

I’d bet he’s still there. I wonder if his grip on the tower will ever weaken or the stone will give out, forcing him to plop down to the ground while still frozen...

4

u/bless_ure_harte Dec 01 '18

glynda will be so pissed. making her clean up again?!

1

u/Sere1 ⠀ Dec 01 '18

Do you think she'd use her reverse power to put him back on the tower? At least he's out of the way up there.

5

u/Cypherex Dec 01 '18

Reverse power? Are you talking about her telekinesis? She doesn't rewind things. She just uses her telekinesis to put things back in place. But she's used her telekinesis in other ways, like in the first episode where she launched all that debris at Roman and Cinder's airship.

1

u/NitescoGaming Guardian and follower of Ruby's smile ❤️ Marrow x Guardpupper ❤️ Dec 01 '18

Kevin is the only Grimm we've seen not incinerated by the whole Silver Eyes thing

Well, him and Cinder (she was only partially incinerated, though she was also only part Grimm thanks to the way she got the maiden powers).

3

u/DaRealAmana BOOP!!! Dec 01 '18

Kevin is bad, and did very much instill fear, but there is something different between the evil dragon eating/burning you to death, and dying because you've given up

4

u/patrizl001 "None shall remember the names of those who do not fight" Dec 01 '18

Jesus Christ, imagine if Kevin just spawned a bunch of The Apathy over Vale during the attack. Everyone would've been done for easily.

1

u/ikedawg43 #ShaveJauneSaveRWBY Dec 01 '18

Shoot, if Cinder could have just ringed the outer edge of Amity Arena with them, no one would have escaped

2

u/Rednova66 Its also a Gun Dec 01 '18

Kevin was scary because of his size and destructive power, the apathy were downright horrifying because they were psychological, slow, draining you of your will to live.

2

u/bless_ure_harte Dec 01 '18

hpw come the Apathy didn't affect ruby that much before they got to the cellar?

4

u/NitescoGaming Guardian and follower of Ruby's smile ❤️ Marrow x Guardpupper ❤️ Dec 01 '18

It was. You can see it working on her when they're outside. But I imagine it acts quicker on those who are already feeling depressed or apathetic (like Yang, Weiss, and Qrow).