RWBY IV: I Love These Guys

[Rawhide]

*shrug* I continue to disagree with you, but I'm not going to continue the conversation, because it's third on my list of reasons why Cinder is annoying, and I'm tired of getting bogged down in the one tiny piece of my opinion you feel like disputing with fog and phantasms.

You're trying to use fog and phantasms to dispute my opinions and theories? Because otherwise that paragraph makes no sense.

[Sith_Happens]

So... Uh... My brain just went to an extremely frightening place:

Spoiler: Speculation, Re: Pyrrha

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Seeing as you've all been talking about the possibility of Pyrrha going full mentor, I got thinking. From a writing perspective, the idea of putting her (or any other main character) out of commission for more than an episode or two raises a problem: Who would sub for her? I'd be surprised if either Beacon or RoosterTeeth policy was to just leave it as Team JNR, but for the same reason transferring someone from another team is out of the question. Which means we're almost certainly talking a solo character, and there aren't many of those so far...

...And that's when it hit me:

Spoiler: WARNING: Incoming SAN check.

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Jaune
Nora
Penny
Ren

[Math_Mage]

That's a disturbing thought. Would be a weird team dynamic, though.

You're trying to use fog and phantasms to dispute my opinions and theories? Because otherwise that paragraph makes no sense.

When I say "one tiny piece of my opinion", I'm not talking about your opinion. And when I say you are disputing that piece of my opinion with fog and phantasms, I'm not saying my writing consists of fog and phantasms.

My posts are not that hard to parse. Reconsider your parsing algorithm.

[Ninjaxenomorph]

Eh, Penny hasn't had any interaction with JNPR. Would kinda come out of nowhere.

[Rawhide]

When I say "one tiny piece of my opinion", I'm not talking about your opinion. And when I say you are disputing that piece of my opinion with fog and phantasms, I'm not saying my writing consists of fog and phantasms.

My posts are not that hard to parse. Reconsider your parsing algorithm.

Your post still makes absolutely no sense, because nowhere have I ever used fog and phantasms. If that is what you intended to say, then you are making a completely false accusation.

Initially, I did parse it as an attack on another poster, but I realised that there is no way you would stoop to that level, therefore, that you are using fog and phantasms is the only way to parse it. If I was in error, then please confirm that you did intend that as such and allow it to be actioned accordingly.

[Kd7sov]

"That lost without a purpose" -- They were one dorm over. It's their first time at the school, unless Cinder attended before. The encounter wasn't exactly orchestrated. If they want to leave open the option that Cinder went out of her way to meet Ruby specifically, they did a damn poor job of showing it.

They were inside the wrong building, and RWBY's room isn't on the ground floor (see: Sun, Neptune). Sure, it's a nearby building, but I doubt they'd have gone that far unless they were either truly lost or looking for something in the building in question.

[Durkoala]

I don't see how that's disturbing. Potentially funny and heartwarming, yes, but not disturbing.

[Math_Mage]

Your post still makes absolutely no sense, because nowhere have I ever used fog and phantasms. If that is what you intended to say, then you are making a completely false accusation.

Initially, I did parse it as an attack on another poster, but I realised that there is no way you would stoop to that level, therefore, that you are using fog and phantasms is the only way to parse it. If I was in error, then please confirm that you did intend that as such and allow it to be actioned accordingly.

...

Fine. My fog, my phantasms. Have fun with it. Non-contact seems the advisable policy again.

They were inside the wrong building, and RWBY's room isn't on the ground floor (see: Sun, Neptune). Sure, it's a nearby building, but I doubt they'd have gone that far unless they were either truly lost or looking for something in the building in question.

The paradigm where Cinder is out to meet Ruby doesn't dramatically decrease the coincidence of them actually meeting the way they did compared to Cinder ending up in the wrong dorm by mistake, or wanting to recon students in general. There's still no indication of such a motive anywhere in the narrative. But this is so far from anything I want to discuss that I can only conclude I've walked into my own fog again.

I don't see how that's disturbing. Potentially funny and heartwarming, yes, but not disturbing.

Disturbing implications for Pyrrha. Not for Penny.

[Rawhide]

...

Fine. My fog, my phantasms. Have fun with it. Non-contact seems the advisable policy again.

Thank you. Now, for the official mod text regarding this and earlier conversations with other posters.

Please refrain from making not-so-subtle attacks on posters as you carry on or attempt to disengage from a discussion. This is not the first time, nor is it only in your conversations with me. In a reply you made to Metahuman1, for example, you were unable to refrain from including a not-so-subtle jab at him. In addition, you directly referenced and attacked the words of his previous posts (as well as his post from an external thread) after I had explicitly asked everyone not to. It is my fault for not making it an official mod ruling in red text back then, but I had hoped to politely nudge people in the right direction instead of dictating it. Please be aware that this behaviour will no longer be tolerated, not towards the moderators, and definitely not towards the other posters.

It has been brought to my attention that I have been too lax in enforcing the rules in my attempt to resolve things without resorting to moderator actions. I'm sorry to drag you into this too, Metahuman1 and Gespenst Ritter, but in that three way conversation, neither of you were clean either, and I need to make certain that all of you are aware of this and that I will be running a tighter ship on attacks against posters in the future.

If any of you wish to discuss the intricacies of what I felt was inappropriate in your earlier conversations, or if you would like to talk about ways of changing your discussion tactics to avoid it in the future, then please feel free to send me a private message and I will be happy to discuss it.

[Sith_Happens]

I don't see how that's disturbing. Potentially funny and heartwarming, yes, but not disturbing.

It's disturbing because WHAT IF I'M RIGHT? WHAT IF THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT THEY'VE BEEN AND STILL ARE PLANNING THIS WHOLE TIME?

[Rawhide]

They were inside the wrong building, and RWBY's room isn't on the ground floor (see: Sun, Neptune). Sure, it's a nearby building, but I doubt they'd have gone that far unless they were either truly lost or looking for something in the building in question.

This, for one. They were right at RWBY's dorm, after Ruby had interfered with Torchwick's operations twice, including one where Cinder saw Ruby personally. There's far too much in play here, and it's far too far away from their real dorms for this to be a coincidence. There are many ways of increasing the likelihood of running into the person you wish to run into.

In addition, her words, voice acting, and expression screams "this was no accident, I intended to be here and I intended to run into you". When I first saw that scene, it being a deliberate attempt to scout out RWBY or Ruby in particular was my first thought.

[Durkoala]

...Disturbing implications for Pyrrha. Not for Penny.

Ok, but I thought that was part of the premise, not an implication. (and I may have forgotten to mention that there would be sad moments, too.)

JNR is very similar to JNHR. Just saying.

Spoiler: JNHR

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Jaune Arc
Nora Valkrie
Hei Xiong
Lie Ren

It's disturbing because WHAT IF I'M RIGHT? WHAT IF THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT THEY'VE BEEN AND STILL ARE PLANNING THIS WHOLE TIME?

Ah, that makes more sense. I think Penny is a bit too much like Nora: Cheerful, upbeat and not quite on the same wavelength as most of the cast; so I'm not too worried.

[Gespenst Ritter]

Your post still makes absolutely no sense, because nowhere have I ever used fog and phantasms. If that is what you intended to say, then you are making a completely false accusation.

Initially, I did parse it as an attack on another poster, but I realised that there is no way you would stoop to that level, therefore, that you are using fog and phantasms is the only way to parse it. If I was in error, then please confirm that you did intend that as such and allow it to be actioned accordingly.

Alright, Math_Mage did this for me earlier, so let me try this.

Math_Mage is frustrated because his disapproval of Cinder's role as a transfer student is rather low on his list of reasons why he dislikes Cinder, yet it's the only point that you continuously go after. Additionally, you attempt to dispute his claims by using information that either doesn't actually exist, or that makes little sense when put under scrutiny. These are the "fogs and phantasms" Math_Mage is speaking of. He is also annoyed that you repeatedly wildly misread his posts, respond based on that misinterpretation, and then put the onus on him to be more clear when he gets frustrated with you misinterpreting them. Even though his posts are quite simple, and the only ones that seem to misread his posts on a frequent basis are you and Metahuman.

[Rawhide]

Alright, Math_Mage did this for me earlier, so let me try this.

Math_Mage is frustrated because his disapproval of Cinder's role as a transfer student is rather low on his list of reasons why he dislikes Cinder, yet it's the only point that you continuously go after. Additionally, you attempt to dispute his claims by using information that either doesn't actually exist, or that makes little sense when put under scrutiny. These are the "fogs and phantasms" Math_Mage is speaking of. He is also annoyed that you repeatedly wildly misread his posts, respond based on that misinterpretation, and then put the onus on him to be more clear when he gets frustrated with you misinterpreting them. Even though his posts are quite simple, and the only ones that seem to misread his posts on a frequent basis are you and Metahuman.

I'm not attempting to persuade him to like Cinder. Math_Mage mentioned that the status as a transfer student doesn't make sense. I disputed that with information that does exist and does make sense when put under scrutiny. I will repeat, this was not an attempt to change his opinion of Cinder, it was an attempt to provide and explain a different interpretation of an aspect of the show which I disagree with, this disagreement is backed up with evidence from the show. If Math_Mage has incorrectly interpreted it as an attempt to make him like Cinder as a whole, then I am sorry, but he has not made his mistake clear and given me a chance to make it clear that this was not my intention.

As long as you are both ok with continuing the discussion here, rather than sending this via private message as I suggested, then let me say the following: I make every effort to understand Math_Mage's posts, I attempt to be as clear as possible, I attempt to explain my understanding of his posts when there has been a miscommunication, I clarify what I have said in an attempt to explain myself better, and I ask for clarification. Unfortunately, there has been no reciprocity in these attempts, with flat out refusals to explain. In addition, my attempts to explain my understanding of his posts and ask for clarification have been met with hostility.

For the record, this is not an isolated incident, while you imply that this is allegedly only myself and Metahuman1, I can confirm that this is not the case.

Sentences that imply a misinterpretation is entirely the fault of another poster, which you are both guilty of, are really not on. It is not a good way to communicate, it is not conductive to a friendly atmosphere, it doesn't improve the conversation, and it prevents you from learning from it. I take every misunderstanding and attempt to learn from it, to improve from it, but sadly I cannot say that everyone has demonstrated the same. Jabs and attacks at other posters are also not on. When you are disengaging from a conversation for any reason, this is not a good time to try to sneak in any such jab. Be polite about it, say something like "I disagree with you on this point, but I don't think we are going to persuade each other", and refrain from any negative swipes.

Misunderstandings will only grow when only one side of the conversation attempts to resolve it, while the other clams up and gets more hostile.

[Anyr]

I think the villains of RWBY would be much more imposing if they didn't talk. Remember how cool and mysterious Adam looked in the Black trailer? But then he made the mistake of opening his mouth; And so the illusion was shattered. Cinder's the same. Back in the first episode, that woman was a silent, shadowed mage of great power.

She should have quit while she was ahead...

[CarpeGuitarrem]

I think the villains of RWBY would be much more imposing if they didn't talk. Remember how cool and mysterious Adam looked in the Black trailer? But then he made the mistake of opening his mouth; And so the illusion was shattered. Cinder's the same. Back in the first episode, that woman was a silent, shadowed mage of great power.

She should have quit while she was ahead...

I don't think that's exclusive to the villains, mind you. I say this as someone who enjoys watching the series but is aware that it's still a work in progress. The best bits of RWBY have always been when nobody's saying anything, and there's just action. The Red trailer is still one of the coolest things I've ever seen. Striking, silent, and gorgeous.

[Mrc.]

So what we're saying is, they should make a silent movie of RWBY? Eh, I can see that working. Stranger ideas have been wildly successful.

EDIT: Damn, my custom avatar didn't work! Why does Photobucket hate me so?

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Well, they could do it, but it'd also be super-dramatic and not wacky high school comedy.

Totally unrelated, I just had a moment of "Fridge Brilliance" (as TV Tropes calls it).

The Wizard of Oz got his name by acronyming his ridiculously long name into O.Z.P.I.N.H.E.A.D. (and then dropping the "pinhead" part).

Ozpin is obviously the analogue to Oz, as we know.

Ozpin is apparently obsessed with creating acronyms out of the team names.

I really hope that was deliberate, because if so, that's an amusing allusion.

[HMS Invincible]

So what we're saying is, they should make a silent movie of RWBY? Eh, I can see that working. Stranger ideas have been wildly successful.

No talky films mean visual cues need to be upgraded to compensate. That's going to be hard given their stretched resources and that they are only recording via poser.

[CaDzilla]

Spoiler: V2E5

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Mercury knows the name of P's ability, meaning that polarity is a common enough semblance to be noticed by an experienced fighter.

Another thing, since all weapons in RWBY have metal in them, doesn't that make polarity the most broken of semblances?

[Metahuman1]

Thank you. Now, for the official mod text regarding this and earlier conversations with other posters.

Please refrain from making not-so-subtle attacks on posters as you carry on or attempt to disengage from a discussion. This is not the first time, nor is it only in your conversations with me. In a reply you made to Metahuman1, for example, you were unable to refrain from including a not-so-subtle jab at him. In addition, you directly referenced and attacked the words of his previous posts (as well as his post from an external thread) after I had explicitly asked everyone not to. It is my fault for not making it an official mod ruling in red text back then, but I had hoped to politely nudge people in the right direction instead of dictating it. Please be aware that this behaviour will no longer be tolerated, not towards the moderators, and definitely not towards the other posters.

It has been brought to my attention that I have been too lax in enforcing the rules in my attempt to resolve things without resorting to moderator actions. I'm sorry to drag you into this too, Metahuman1 and Gespenst Ritter, but in that three way conversation, neither of you were clean either, and I need to make certain that all of you are aware of this and that I will be running a tighter ship on attacks against posters in the future.

If any of you wish to discuss the intricacies of what I felt was inappropriate in your earlier conversations, or if you would like to talk about ways of changing your discussion tactics to avoid it in the future, then please feel free to send me a private message and I will be happy to discuss it.

Was gonna post responses to people (Cause I've now had a whole six hours of sleep after spending ten hours taking care of my grandmother, don't ever let anyone tell you adult diapers and feeding tubes aren't a blast to deal with incidentally, after an eight our shift at work. Hence the delay.) regarding the other stuff, skimmed the thread to make sure I caught all the reply's, saw this, won't be bothering beyond to say that I could swear I sent that PM awhile ago Gespenst Ritter, and to touch on a point with Lazodiac having now looked at it again on a reasonable sized screen.

Moving on.

Hawkflight: Yes, we should.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...


Lazodiac:

Spoiler: V2E5

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Upon rewatching that part of the ep, he doesn't glance over at him first before swinging, so, I concede it's at least possible he hit him by accident. And yes, if that's what he's doing, he's not really ready for a mission just yet. Especially if these missions aren't more closely supervised then the Forever Fall trip. That said, I still think it would be entirely fitting and in character for him to have done that on purpose cause he was mad and though he'd get away with it.

[Durkoala]

Spoiler: V2E5

Show

Mercury knows the name of P's ability, meaning that polarity is a common enough semblance to be noticed by an experienced fighter.

Another thing, since all weapons in RWBY have metal in them, doesn't that make polarity the most broken of semblances?

It depends. If it is just being able to grab whatever metal you feel like, it is ridiculously broken unless your opponent has some sort of countermeasure, or if you're fighting Grimm. Mercury implies that Pyrrha needs to have had contact with an object first, so that is a possible weakness.

[Gespenst Ritter]

Math_Mage mentioned that the status as a transfer student doesn't make sense. I disputed that with information that does exist and does make sense when put under scrutiny. I will repeat, this was not an attempt to change his opinion of Cinder, it was an attempt to provide and explain a different interpretation of an aspect of the show which I disagree with, this disagreement is backed up with evidence from the show.

You frequently back up your points with a lot of what ifs, and vague what ifs at that. Like the "What if she needed to do something at the school personally? Then things would make sense." But that's not particularly helpful since instead of forming a conclusion based on evidence, you form evidence based on your conclusion.

For starters, how'd Cinder and co. get into the school in the first place? Glynda has them on a student list, so they're officially in the records. Ozpin seems like a knowledgeable guy; he should know the schools and if a fake school showed up as part of the exchange. Does Team Evil have their own school or something? Cinder couldn't possibly be the headmaster of such a thing since she's masquerading as a student. Did they hijack some other school's (the one that just happened to have the most sinister-looking uniforms) entrance places? But it's not like they're even masquerading as people they replaced. How would that work? "Oh by the way, Ozpin, all of the students from our school that we said were coming to be exchange students can't make it. Here are some replacements. Replacements for the entire team."

"She needs to observe the students up close." Her two cronies are already doing that; she doesn't need to do it too. Delegate your tasks.

"She wanted to come in contact with Ruby." Assuming she actually does want to do this (I won't dismiss it as a possibility), this didn't require her to go to the school to do so. Students spend plenty of time out on the town. If she knows Ruby well enough to want to arrange a meeting, she could just hang out at a place she knows Ruby's going to go to. I also disagree with your assertion that their run-in in the dorm was planned. The only reason Ruby went out of the room in the first place was because she forgot something; she wasn't supposed to even be out of the room at that time. And what, did Cinder and co. camp outside her door, hoping that the first person to come out of the room was Ruby?

"She's out doing Big Bad stuff while her minions attend classes." So not only do we have a student who looks too old to be there (confirmed by Monty!), but also a student that cuts classes on a routine basis. Yeah, not suspicious at all.

For the record, this is not an isolated incident, while you imply that this is allegedly only myself and Metahuman1, I can confirm that this is not the case.

[citation needed]

Sentences that imply a misinterpretation is entirely the fault of another poster, which you are both guilty of, are really not on. It is not a good way to communicate, it is not conductive to a friendly atmosphere, it doesn't improve the conversation, and it prevents you from learning from it. I take every misunderstanding and attempt to learn from it, to improve from it, but sadly I cannot say that everyone has demonstrated the same. Jabs and attacks at other posters are also not on. When you are disengaging from a conversation for any reason, this is not a good time to try to sneak in any such jab. Be polite about it, say something like "I disagree with you on this point, but I don't think we are going to persuade each other", and refrain from any negative swipes.

Misunderstandings will only grow when only one side of the conversation attempts to resolve it, while the other clams up and gets more hostile.

Please stop with this A wakening of the Trailblazer BS. I mean, we've tried. We've certainly tried clarifying things whenever you misread something. In that very conversation Math_Mage attempts to explain himself after you fail reading comprehension yet again and his words just bounce off your skull. So he gives up. Honestly, I should probably give up too, but I'm not sane enough to know any better.

Was gonna post responses to people (Cause I've now had a whole six hours of sleep after spending ten hours taking care of my grandmother, don't ever let anyone tell you adult diapers and feeding tubes aren't a blast to deal with incidentally, after an eight our shift at work. Hence the delay.) regarding the other stuff, skimmed the thread to make sure I caught all the reply's, saw this, won't be bothering beyond to say that I could swear I sent that PM awhile ago Gespenst Ritter, and to touch on a point with Lazodiac having now looked at it again on a reasonable sized screen.

The last response I got from you is you saying that you would respond to the PM later since you were on mobile. Which you never did. So there's still a lot of things in dispute.

[Reddish Mage]

Spoiler: V2E5

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Mercury knows the name of P's ability, meaning that polarity is a common enough semblance to be noticed by an experienced fighter.

Another thing, since all weapons in RWBY have metal in them, doesn't that make polarity the most broken of semblances?

The most broken? Recall Yang's semblance is converting damage done to her into strength! I'm not even sure how Pyrra's ranks among the four semblances that have been revealed.

Ruby's - Speed. In just about any combat sport a substantially faster player is the automatic winner. Like Superman's speed there has to be some logical or nonsensical restrictions on this to prevent it from just being "Ruby wins or she's holding back!"
Yang's - Convert Damage into Power! Might just be invincible. That's pretty hard to top.
Weiss's - Glyphs. We've seen her use glyphs to speed up Blake, there's a good chance the glyphs may also allow direct power ups, that's in addition to doing Monty know's what else. Deserves first place for most broken potential!

I think we can argue that Pyrrha's ability is easily fourth place. Especially because we have no idea how strong it really is.

Spoiler: V2C5 The secret to Pyrrha's power and weakness

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We know she needs to touch the object before she can manipulate it. Also, we don't know how strong Pyrrha's semblance is, an aware opponent might just compensate against the pull of the polarity. The real power of Pyrrha's semblance may be in the fact that she has kept it a secret.

I think her (presumed) plan to stop Semblances can only be done by her. Then again, it may just be stupid.

Spoiler: V2C5 More Pyrrha

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I think its highly unlikely Cinder is intending to block semblances. The real meaning to what Cinder says about "taking away what power they have" is clearly that Pyrrha's real power lies in the fact that her semblance is a secret. So her opponents think she is just untouchable rather than the fact that she is making oh so subtle 3-ounce pulls on their weapons. Now that CME knows this, Pyrrha is defeatable.

As for my post in the speculation thread, it barely belongs as speculation, Wiess all but screamed it at us in ep 15. I'll be genuinely surprised if it doesn't turn out to be the case.

What speculation thread (I don't see it in the character theory thread) and what is this obvious thing about Weiss you are referring to?

[Rawhide]

You frequently back up your points with a lot of what ifs, and vague what ifs at that. Like the "What if she needed to do something at the school personally? Then things would make sense." But that's not particularly helpful since instead of forming a conclusion based on evidence, you form evidence based on your conclusion.

You appear to still be misunderstanding my intent. As I have explained previously, I am not putting forward an argument that things are this way and I am deliberately avoiding the use of definitive statements, because we simply do not know. I am merely showing that there is an alternative which makes perfect sense, sometimes multiple alternatives. I'm saying "Hey, have you considered this?"

For starters, how'd Cinder and co. get into the school in the first place? Glynda has them on a student list, so they're officially in the records. Ozpin seems like a knowledgeable guy; he should know the schools and if a fake school showed up as part of the exchange. Does Team Evil have their own school or something? Cinder couldn't possibly be the headmaster of such a thing since she's masquerading as a student. Did they hijack some other school's (the one that just happened to have the most sinister-looking uniforms) entrance places? But it's not like they're even masquerading as people they replaced. How would that work? "Oh by the way, Ozpin, all of the students from our school that we said were coming to be exchange students can't make it. Here are some replacements. Replacements for the entire team."

None of these points were even being discussed, they were irrelevant to the discussion. All of them can be explained, but there was absolutely zero reason to in the previous conversation. I do not even know why you are raising them now. If you want to discuss all of these possibilities civilly, and as possibilities not statements (because we simply don't know enough), then I would be happy to.

"She needs to observe the students up close." Her two cronies are already doing that; she doesn't need to do it too. Delegate your tasks.

I said wanted to, not needed to. So far we've seen her observe only one student up close, and I think that was most likely intentional. Also, I disagree with the "doesn't need to" in the sense that personal observation is always better.

"She wanted to come in contact with Ruby." Assuming she actually does want to do this (I won't dismiss it as a possibility), this didn't require her to go to the school to do so. Students spend plenty of time out on the town. If she knows Ruby well enough to want to arrange a meeting, she could just hang out at a place she knows Ruby's going to go to. I also disagree with your assertion that their run-in in the dorm was planned. The only reason Ruby went out of the room in the first place was because she forgot something; she wasn't supposed to even be out of the room at that time. And what, did Cinder and co. camp outside her door, hoping that the first person to come out of the room was Ruby?

The school is the perfect place for it, it's also easier, and yes, camping in the hallway is a very real possibility. They might even have followed them back to their room for unknown nefarious reasons.

"She's out doing Big Bad stuff while her minions attend classes." So not only do we have a student who looks too old to be there (confirmed by Monty!), but also a student that cuts classes on a routine basis. Yeah, not suspicious at all.

No, quite the opposite, that has not only not been confirmed by Monty, it has been confirmed by Monty that she definitely looks young enough to be there.

For all we know, she's not on the enrollment list, and just wears the uniform, or is on the enrollment list with no or very few classes. Yes, more "ifs", because we just don't know yet. Keep in mind that certain things do just slip through the cracks, particularly with an event as chaotic as this one.

Please stop with this A wakening of the Trailblazer BS. I mean, we've tried. We've certainly tried clarifying things whenever you misread something. In that very conversation Math_Mage attempts to explain himself after you fail reading comprehension yet again and his words just bounce off your skull. So he gives up. Honestly, I should probably give up too, but I'm not sane enough to know any better.

This here is a perfect example of how not to respond to someone. Do not accuse another poster of "failing reading comprehension", do not state things like "words just bounce off your skull", avoid swearwords even if they part of an acronym, particularly when directed at another poster. If you had said this to any other poster, I would have issued an infraction.

You also appear to have misinterpreted the problem in this particular instance. The conversation between Math_Mage and myself seemed to be going very well. We were discussing the finer points of a particular character and we were getting somewhere. Right up to the time he decided to disengage from the conversation with a not-so-subtle snide remark. There are much better ways to disengage if you are no longer interested in a particular line of conversation, and none of them involve snide comments.

Was gonna post responses to people (Cause I've now had a whole six hours of sleep after spending ten hours taking care of my grandmother, don't ever let anyone tell you adult diapers and feeding tubes aren't a blast to deal with incidentally, after an eight our shift at work. Hence the delay.) regarding the other stuff, skimmed the thread to make sure I caught all the reply's, saw this, won't be bothering beyond to say that I could swear I sent that PM awhile ago Gespenst Ritter, and to touch on a point with Lazodiac having now looked at it again on a reasonable sized screen.

Moving on.

Sorry about that. I don't want to stifle your ability to discuss anything.

Here are a few tips to keep the conversation flowing:

• Keep the discussion about the subject you are discussing. If you are presenting an argument, keep it like an academic argument and present your viewpoint with your reasons, don't make it about the other person. This is straight out of the Forum Rules.
• If you're upset, don't let it show in your words. You might mention that something upset you, but don't allow it to affect your writing style.
• No matter what you feel, do not attempt to include any snide remarks, jabs, or attacks on other posters, for any reason at any point in the conversation.
• If you wish to disengage from a particular conversation, do so politely and without attempting to blame the other people.
• Avoid the use of hyperbole or jokes. Hyperbole and jokes can be amusing when done right, particularly in throwaway comments, but avoid it in longer back and forth discussions. If you have used it and it has been misinterpreted as serious, be prepared to apologise and explain.
• Avoid using definitive statements, putting your viewpoint across as necessarily true, when you know that it is not necessarily true. Due to the quirks of the English language, this is not always easy or possible, but try to minimise it in longer back and forth discussions and be prepared to acknowledge that it is not necessarily true.
• Be aware that English is a very difficult language to convey accurate information to everyone all the time. There will be misunderstandings, there will be misinterpretations, and people will see things you did not see. Be prepared to be misunderstood and be prepared to explain.
• Never pass a misunderstanding off as entirely the other person's fault. As soon as you do that, it is entirely your fault.
• Be prepared to be told that you may have misunderstood something. This doesn't mean that it is your fault, or that the person is blaming you for misunderstanding them, it just means that there has been a misunderstanding.
• Be prepared to explain yourself again in a different way, sometimes more than once. If the person hasn't understood you, repeating the same thing again or simply saying that they have misunderstood with no explanation will not help.
• Don't point back at a previous conversation and say something to the effect of "but you said". If what you are reading now appears to conflict with something earlier then consider saying something to the effect of "Back here you said [DIRECT QUOTE], I took this to mean [EXPLANATION IN YOUR OWN WORDS], if this is not correct, could you please clarify?"
• Consider using non-definitive statements when referring to another's actions. Where possible you shouldn't for example, state that someone definitely did something. You should consider saying something to the effect of "it would appear that you" or "by my understanding you were".
• Remember that while you might be presenting a larger picture, someone may disagree with a finer detail. Be prepared to discuss the finer detail and realise that they may not object to the larger picture.
• Above all else, be excellent to each other.

[Metahuman1]

What speculation thread (I don't see it in the character theory thread) and what is this obvious thing about Weiss you are referring to?

Someone started a designated thread in the media section a couple of days ago for speculation on the series. I posted a theory that Wiess's mother was killed by the white fang, and that it was likely and entirely possible that she saw either video or live stream of it, and well with in the realm of possibility that she was tortured and Wiess got to watch this either live stream or after the fact video as well.

I had a couple of other speculations posted as well, but this was the one hardest to qualify as speculation. As I said, Wiess has all but screamed this at the audience before now.

[Durkoala]

The most broken? Recall Yang's semblance is converting damage done to her into strength! I'm not even sure how Pyrra's ranks among the four semblances that have been revealed.

Ruby's - Speed. In just about any combat sport a substantially faster player is the automatic winner. Like Superman's speed there has to be some logical or nonsensical restrictions on this to prevent it from just being "Ruby wins or she's holding back!"
Yang's - Convert Damage into Power! Might just be invincible. That's pretty hard to top.
Weiss's - Glyphs. We've seen her use glyphs to speed up Blake, there's a good chance the glyphs may also allow direct power ups, that's in addition to doing Monty know's what else. Deserves first place for most broken potential!

I think we can argue that Pyrrha's ability is easily fourth place. Especially because we have no idea how strong it really is.

Hmmm... (why isn't there a 'thinking things over' smiley?)
I disagree. Most of the semblances have weaknesses in them that make them a bit more balanced.
Ruby - We've seen that straining her speed too much drains her Aura and leaves her vulnerable, disorentated and often out of control. The biggest weakness is probably Crescent Rose: It's a big, heavy weapon and if she misses it's going to be hard to get back into position. It's also not good for close quarters.
Weiss - Without Dust, the Glyphs are almost entirely useless. She has a ready supply of dust available, but if it were to run out, she'd just be a girl with a sword. It's also confirmed to drain her Aura.
Yang - Probably the most broken, to be fair. However, it only boosts her melee prowess. If it drains her Aura it should also be possible to attck from range or be really good at dodging to force her to keep burning until she falls over.
Pyrrha - May or may not need to touch the target in some way. There's no way to stop it if she can catch you, beyond fighting it with muscle power. It also lets her reclaim her weapons whenever she feels like. If she decides to stop hiding it and cut loose, she can put openings in your guard at any time she wants, throw you around, and maybe even just force your limbs in ways they shouldn't go.

I rank Yang as most broken so far, then Pyrrha, then Ruby, then Weiss. If Yang does turn out to have the weaknesses I suggested, I would move her to second place. I don't know where Penny fits in this, but her string semblence is also badly unbalanced.

[Sith_Happens]

Another thing, since all weapons in RWBY have metal in them, doesn't that make polarity the most broken of semblances?

Versus people, definitely. Given [SPOILERS], that's kind of the point.

[Gespenst Ritter]

I'm waiting to see what kind of tricks Mercury pulls out of his sleeves in order to beat Yang's Level 3 X-Factor.

None of these points were even being discussed, they were irrelevant to the discussion. All of them can be explained, but there was absolutely zero reason to in the previous conversation. I do not even know why you are raising them now. If you want to discuss all of these possibilities civilly, and as possibilities not statements (because we simply don't know enough), then I would be happy to.

A part of the conversation was about how much sense Cinder's student status made. I am adding additional points of my own to that conversation. Don't tell me what's not relevant.

I said wanted to, not needed to. So far we've seen her observe only one student up close, and I think that was most likely intentional. Also, I disagree with the "doesn't need to" in the sense that personal observation is always better.

It's not always better when making that personal observation requires you to take unnecessary risks.

If something happens to go south and Team Evil is compromised before fully enacting The Plan, then the only one on the outside is Torchwick. And we all know how much of a team player he is.

The school is the perfect place for it, it's also easier, and yes, camping in the hallway is a very real possibility. They might even have followed them back to their room for unknown nefarious reasons.

So you're saying it's easier to forge the documents and create the cover stories necessary to infiltrate a prestigious academy without anyone suspecting anything, than it is to bump into someone on the street. Okay then.

But hey, I guess if someone like Jaune could do it, anyone can. Apparently Beacon plays fast and loose with security despite the fact that their entire job description is teaching people how to keep the world secure.

No, quite the opposite, that has not only not been confirmed by Monty, it has been confirmed by Monty that she definitely looks young enough to be there.

I recall the words being something along the lines of "She just a little too old to be a student there." Can't find the source at the moment. But essentially, Cinder's just barely scraping the average maximum student age. (Which I think is bull**** because she looks like she's in her late twenties at the minimum, but Word of God. What're you gonna do?) She's at just the right age where someone who looks at her might question if she's too old. After all, the audience did.

For all we know, she's not on the enrollment list, and just wears the uniform, or is on the enrollment list with no or very few classes. Yes, more "ifs", because we just don't know yet. Keep in mind that certain things do just slip through the cracks, particularly with an event as chaotic as this one.

If she's not actually enrolled as a student, and she's just wearing the uniform because, then she shouldn't be able to do a lot of the things that require student access, which is why she's posing as a student in the first place. And if she is still able to do these things, then chalk up another point to Beacon (in)security.

[CaDzilla]

I rank Yang as most broken so far, then Pyrrha, then Ruby, then Weiss. If Yang does turn out to have the weaknesses I suggested, I would move her to second place.

There's another weakness to Yang's semblance: If you oneshot her, then she can't build up the ability.