So I didn't know about RWBY, much to my shame, until a fellow MuseHack author pointed it out. Just another sign of the important of keeping up on things.
RWBY is a cgi-animated series by the famous Monty Oum of Rooster Teeth. There's many ways to describe it, but basically it's what you get when a team of people get together with their voice talent, design talent, and modern software, and do an anime-inspired series using CGI. There's a lot of Rooster Teeth personnel involved in this, so if you're acquainted with them, you've heard of them.
(Yeah, you'd think *I* would have kept up on something this professionally geeky. I am filled with shame).
So anyway, what is RWBY? It's a mixture of re-interpreted fairy tale characters in a world where humanity is beset by horrible creatures known as The Grimm. Specialists who stand against them are known as Huntsmen and Huntresses, and humanity's big edge over The Grimm is magical Dust, which powers weapons and provides a numbers of effects. Helping train potential Huntsmen and Huntresses are various academies, including Beacon Academy, where the story kicks into gear.
(A lot to keep track of? There's a wiki already.)
The story centers around Ruby Rose, which as you may guess is a Little Red Riding Hood concept. Only Little Red Riding Hood did't build a giant reconfigurable scythe/sniper rifle under tutelage of her uncle. When she tangles with the criminal gang of charming-but deadly Roman Torchwick, she gets the attention of Beacon Academy and gets moves ahead a few years . . . and you get to meet many fellow students who may seem a bit familiar in some fairy tale ways . . .
So it's a lot of elements we've seen before. But is it good or not?
And here's the odd thing in reviewing it; the best way to describe the series is sincere. There's actually a lot of good stuff here, and there are flaws, but the sincerity really makes it something different. I enjoyed it, but part of the fun was I felt I was having a great time with the people who make it. It connects.
RWBY pretty much bursts with love for what it's doing, for doing crazy stuff, for having a ball with it. You can see lovingly created craziness and little details, stylistic takes, and plenty of references. I consider it enjoyable because the staff is taking you along for the ride. There's a personal, hand-crafted feel to this that adds a special something.
Now it's not going to be for everyone. You may not like the CGI animation, or the use of tropes, or whatever. But I think it's something to appreciate and to check out - also because it's made by people like us.
So to make this review complete, let's list the pros and the cons of the series.
Pros:
Cons:
So that's my take. Personally, if you're any kind of anime, game, and CGI enthusiast you should check it out. It really is a great example of what people can do when they team up and cut loose, and you might find it's something you've been looking for.
Because it's made by people who ask what'd happen if you gave Little Red Riding Hood a gun-scythe, or armed Goldilocks with wrist-mounted blasters.
You know. US.
- Steven Savage
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
Relationships became strained in last week’s episode of Lost Girl: Bo and Lauren realized their biological limitations, Kenzi found herself out of the loop, and office pets were once again proved to be a bad idea.
The case of the week involved a series of – shall we say – interesting suicides. Dyson and Tamsin come across a man trying to walk a tight rope between buildings, at some point it got into his head that this was a good idea. Like several people who have all died under mysterious, insane, and borderline self-inflicted circumstances, Dyson smells the scent of another Fae at the scene, and since all the victims have one thing in common, a new age therapy clinic, he reaches out to Bo to go undercover.
Posing as a couples therapist, Bo thinks she’s found a suspect in the clinic’s receptionist, a suicide Fae that feeds on the despair of people who kill themselves. But after another attempted murder/suicide, Bo begins to suspect another force. The bad guy turns out to be a Rakshasa, a shape-shifter who gets his victims jazzed up and euphoric before driving them to death. The Rakshasa lived at the clinic in the form of Dr. Bob, the clinic’s resident cat who spent most of his time in the office of hypnotherapist Dr. Palmer, setting the good-natured doctor up as a patsy. Dyson later goes undercover as a patient, but before he himself falls victim, and after being driven to believe that he can turn into a Griffin and flyaway, he’s saved by Bo and Tamsin in the nick of time.
But while all’s well that ends well for our heroes during their thrilling heroics, things were a little less certain on the home front. After getting into a fight over the ethical grey matter in posing as a doctor, Bo is seriously injured saving a potential victim of the Rakshasa. Unable to feed as well as she needs to off the utterly human Lauren, Dyson insists that Bo feed off of him so that her injuries heal completely. At the end, it’s time for true confession. Bo tells Lauren about the purely clinical dalliance with Dyson, to which Lauren reacts in a slightly stung, but utterly mature way. As a doctor, Lauren knows that biologically she can’t be all she needs to be for Bo for them to be monogamous, so they agree to find a way to make sure Bo gets what she needs while still being a couple. There’s just one rule: no Dyson. Bo can never feed on her ex-boyfriend again.
In other news, Kenzi tries to talk to Bo about her own growing medical condition. The rash on her arm is getting worse, the same rash that was inflicted on her after Kenzi’s confrontation with the Norn. With Bo busy, Kenzi reaches out to Hale, who’s bogged down with his new and very important duties as Ash. But when Kenzi interrupts a key ritual, she wears out her welcome with Hale too, and wandering alone at night on the streets, she takes another look at that rash before being dragged away by some unknown force.
And now that we know where we’ve been, let’s find out where we’re going. Here’s the preview of tonight’s new episode, “Faes Wide Shut”:
1) Swingers – Following last week’s realization that, for the time being, monogamy isn’t in the cards for Blauren, Bo and the Doc go trolling for tail at the Dal. Lauren’s putting on brave face as they try and find a Fae strumpet for Bo to feed on, but she’s hoping this kind of night out is temporary till science can offer an option to make a more traditional relationship possible. Still, a couple going out to the bar to pick up a third is little throwback to 70s sexy fun, which leads us to…
2) The Case of the Week - A human man comes how to his -ahem- eager wife, who sees him spontaneously turn to green slime and splatter all over the kitchen floor. The key, literally and figuratively, to the case is a sex club run by a Fae named Roman. Roman is a Bacchus, so named after the Ancient Rome counterpart to Dionysus, Greek God of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, ritual madness and ecstasy.
3) The Unusual Suspects - Although Roman is Light Fae, and been a fine purveyor of debauchery for hundreds of years, don’t expect that he’s not up to no good. Still, a good mystery comes with a twist, and this episode is no exception. Let me give you a clue: Octopussy.
4) The Other Case of the Week - Another body turns up, this one not gooey, but as Dyson discovers, it’s got Bo’s scent all over her. Tamsin is obviously excited about this prospect, but Bo claims to have no idea about how the girl in question ended up dead. By the end of the episode, someone ‘s going to get a clue that everyone’s favorite succubus may not always be in the driver’s seat of her own life.
5) Speaking of Identity Crises... – You’ll remember that last week’s episode ended with Kenzi in trouble. Her Norn inflicted arm rash looked like a full-blown case of flesh-eating disease, and that was right before – something – tripped her and took her away. But this week, Kenzi’s back to normal, hanging out at home, looking for strange cases for her and Bo to solve together. But if you notice that there’s something off about Kenz you might be on to something. Watch her interactions with the gang for subtle hints.
6) Terrible Double Entendre Pun of the Week – Courtesy of Trick after finding out what his granddaughter and her girlfriend are up to: “So many glasses… Must polish.”
7) Burning Questions - “What’s your show again?” “How about a little privacy?” “You wanna get kinky at a sex club with your granddaughter?” “Did you really see that girl leave?” “How much do I owe you for the beer, bar keep?”
8) How Does it End? - “So tell me bitch, where the hell is Kenzi?”
Next Week: Well, that would be telling. Especially seeing as how next week is about everybody spilling secrets. (Shhhhut up.)
