Aha! I made Weiss now :DI wanted to play with the song names and their initials but… the rest of BY won’t be possible I think haha
I hope at least here the resolution is good since Twitter and Instagram decided they didn’t like the drawing :/ Not sure what is happening with these pff
Made this Fairgame comic a few days ago and never posted it, but I feel like the Fairgame part of the fandom could use something to help cope with today’s episode
Interesting point I saw on twitter, that got me thinking about the Ironwood Debate.
Ironwood spends Volume 2 criticizing Ozpin for inaction, and ultimately uses the Breach as evidence of his incompetence. He uses this single incident as the damning evidence that Ozpin has failed, and swears that “I will keep our people safe”.
But what people does he mean, exactly?
Because we have volumes of build-up to the arrival in Atlas, giving us hints about how Mantle suffers. We have Ilia’s backstory about her parents working in unsafe conditions that ultimately killed them, while she was forced to hide her Faunus heritage. How that was her one chance to move up in the world, and live a better life. We have Adam’s similar tale of abuse in the mines, and world-building about how Mantle has essentially rotted from neglect over time.
Then we actually arrive in Mantle, and see how the city is quite LITERALLY falling apart. Its people live in poverty, struggling to survive with neglected infrastructure. We’re told again and again that things have gotten WORSE since Ironwood began his Embargo and then locked the kingdom down entirely.
But “worse” doesn’t mean these are new problems. We keep hearing about the holes in Mantle’s defensive walls, and see them a few times. They’re massive and evidence of long-term neglect. YEARS of being neglected, being allowed to reach a point where the people are facing regular Grimm attacks. These things have been happening under Ironwood’s watch for YEARS, while he goes to Vale and criticizes Ozpin for a single incident.
Roman Holiday further paints Vale as having been incredibly prosperous and safe under Ozpin’s watch. Even organized crime was, until Roman started screwing around, basically subtle and with an understanding of not rocking the boat. It was there, but it was a kind that knew to stick with white-collar crime or back-room deals instead of theft and violence.
Ironwood comes to Vale stating his intention to protect the people, then undermines Ozpin and risks getting him kicked off the Council. All while HIS OWN kingdom is rotting away, while his people are unsafe and unprotected and living and dying in horrific conditions.
Becausethose people don’t matter.
Mantle doesn’t matter.
Ironwood sees himself as doing an exceptional job, as being the man to be the World’s Protector and Champion……because he protects his shining city in the clouds. Atlas and its citizens live charmed lives, safe and protected from not just the Grimm but the harsh conditions of Solitas.
He makes grand speeches about keeping the kingdom safe, but did he really?
Because most of his people lived in poverty, struggling to survive in the harsh cold and unsafe mines. With defenses severely compromised defenses, with broken walls and hacked systems, and robots patrolling their streets.
But he gave them Penny as their “protector”, smiling and cheerful but not allowed to really befriend them. A PR campaign that didn’t do much to address the worsening situation.
Ironwood cited the Breach as Ozpin failing, while his own kingdom was seeing a significant increase in Grimm attacks. One incident in Vale was enough to prove Ozpin couldn’t handle things, but Ironwood’s failure to address the worsening conditions in Mantle meant nothing. After all, no one IMPORTANT cared about Mantle.
It was easy to ignore, since he could barely even see it most of the time. Just a few city blocks, without any strategic value. (Until it did have value, because his enemy knew People matter and not things.)
Ironwood ultimately cared more about another Kingdom than he did his own people. And then, when that backfired on him, he turned so far inward that he couldn’t save anyone much less himself.
It says volumes that even after Atlas’s cyber-security failed in front of the world Ironwood refused to update Mantle’s.
And by the end, when he made his speech about blowing up Mantle he let’s it slip. He says how he wants to defend the kingdom, it’s technology, but never mentioning the people.
I’ve already made TWO huge posts about Ironwood, talking about his hypocrisies, his contradictions, his huge messiah complex, his massive arrogance, his unwillingness to change, improve or take responsibility; as well as comparing him to REAL LIFE examples of Ironwood’s character, like Maximilian Robespierre from the late 1700s late revolution. So I’m not gonna do ANOTHER one again, at least not right now.
All I’m gonna say is this… Ironwood was NEVER MEANT to be a Hero in this story, he was NEVER MEANT to be a Shining Light of Hope or the thing that would inevitably stop Salem once & for all, save Remnant from itself & be its great savior… Kaosi recently made an amazing character study video on Ironwood, which i HIGHLY recommend watching (I’ll post the link to it below, just make sure to have subtitles on) & How different he is from Ozpin, as well as what Remnant would’ve become if MANTLE won The Great War instead of Vale. As well as how for all of his talk about sacrifice, making tough choices “for the greater good” (Goodness gracious, i loathe that ridiculous statement) he never TRULY does ANY of that. He NEVER truly sacrifices something that’s HIS (Or as Winter stated, Ironwood has sacrificed EVERYTHING & EVERYONE else) nor has he made any REAL hard choices & No, his arm back at V7 against Watts doesn’t count!
Sorry for the delay @bardock1991 had a lot going on
first the video link no longer works and i think the video had been deleted
But in short as i have talked about this in many posts about the subject and in similar posts Yes ironwood despites his protests or arguments wasn’t meant to be anything more than a team beneficiary or the guy who can lend you some resources and assets like $100k or a private jet
But instead he tried to start a war and make power grabs to give meaning to his life which in other words can be described as sad, mediocre, boring and meaningless because of the way rwby story has been set up
At his core Ironwood was a soldier and conqueror in a word than didn’t need those things as they only cause more harm and damage and make it easier to lose what little the people of said world had
Like what do you do with a soldier when there’s no war or purpose
what does a conqueror who has conquered all the land he can do now that he has conquered what he can but still wants more
V6 already foreshadowed and confirmed Ironwood’s irrelevance and needless purpose in the world of remnant and instead of accepting it and stepping back and down for the people who can help and do what he couldn’t he just made things worse to save face
these are my thoughts let me know what you think?
But in short as i have talked about this in many posts about the subject and in similar posts Yes ironwood despites his protests or arguments wasn’t meant to be anything more than a team beneficiary or the guy who can lend you some resources and assets like $100k or a private jet
This in particular stood out to me, because I think it highlights the times when Ironwood is at his best. He’s the most effective when he’s a SUPPORTING player, when he’s providing the heroes with logistical support or being a field commander working alongside others.
IE: Where does he have the most positive impact in the story?
When Ozpin gives him a direct order to oversee the defense of VALE (not Beacon) and the evacuation of students and festival-goers. He shines at the Fall of Beacon, because he’s supporting everyone else in making sure the PEOPLE escape harm and that the nearby capital city is protected. He’s working with RWBY, with Qrow and Glynda, to carry out Ozpin’s orders.
When he’s working ALONGSIDE Robyn, when they have a plan TOGETHER. When he is providing the logistical support and manpower to deal with the larger plan that everyone came up with together.
Ironwood is a Support that desperately wanted to be the leading man, the lone hero of the story, instead of excepting that his strengths lie in figuring out how to give THE ACTUAL HEROES what they need to succeed.
The last arc of Volume 7 is a tragedy that shows what could have been. How Robyn Hill is the LEADER and the hero that Ironwood wanted to be, only the real deal and working with incredibly limited resources. When given Ironwood’s unlimited support, she accomplishes so much in such a small amount of time. Robyn is the kind of person that needed to be in charge all along, a capable leader that could see what people really needed and simply lacked the kinds of logistical support and resources to make it happen.
Ironwood’s a man that simply wasn’t suited to this particular story. He’s a soldier in a world without war, from a culture that valued Stoicism and Pride over all else, that saw emotions as a weakness instead of a strength.
It also kinda makes him a more direct parallel to Weiss in Volume 1, where she wanted to be the leader despite not really having the character growth or mindset needed to be a good leader, being more at the time about validating her own self-worth to a father who would never truly value her than being any good at leadership. And her ultimate growth leads her to be a powerful support character to her leader Ruby, using her vast resources (at least until Jacques cut her off) to try to aid her team, and ultimately being willing to put others before herself.
I’ve always thought that the Wizard of Oz reference only presented Ozpin, Glynda, Qrow, and general Ironwood. But I was wrong.
Another crazy thing I just realized is that they all got what they were asking for through this adventure that Ozpin put them through.
Rubyunited the team to go on this journey
Yang learned to control her emotions and semblance and become smarter
Weiss had the heart to change herself and go againts her father and run away and fight with her team. She doesn’t even care about not being the heiress of the Schnee company anymore
And last but not least. Blake gains the courage to go againt Adam, her abuser, the shadow that haunts her
And of course with the help of her Scarecrow ;)
BLESS THIS SHOW!!!
They’re all also Connected or have Similarities to the other Oz Allusions.
Weiss and James are both From Atlas.
Leo and Blake were both Faunas.(And Lions are a type of Cat)
And Qrow is both Yangs Uncle and both of there arcs have themes of trauma and dealing with it.
A City of Atlas anti-Travel poster! It’s not worth it, guys
(don’t think too hard about when this is supposed to be taking place)
Image description:
A lineless illustration, RWBY fanart. A party in Atlas with Atlas Academy in the background. In the foreground is Weiss Schnee, angrily stalking away while her family, Ironwood and a couple of the Ace Ops (harriet and marrow) are behind her, with various expressions of either concern or judgement.
Text reads, top: THE CITY OF ATLAS. In a much cheerier font: Just don’t go there! Text at bottom: Message brought to you by Concerned Happy Huntress Advertisers.
