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RWBY v9 chp8 Tea Amidst Terrible Trouble (Patreon)

Published:
2026-07-11 16:00:13
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2026-07
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I DON'T LIKE IT!!!

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Adrian ruiz martinez

atleast me can comfirm neo is a sapphic, cos she is the first character to eat pussy on screen

Adrian ruiz martinez

Neo is the biggest hater in this show, killing you is not good enough, i need the whole concept of you to go

SauceyRed

I AM SO READY FOR THIS REACTION GRAHHHH!!!

Dre

Omg 😭😂

RaisedEyebrow

Hoping you're with good people and in a good place. This episode is HEAVY, and it was hard for me to watch my first time around. Take care of yourself!

Rod

Sorry, we knew how this would affect you, and it did strike us hard too. I know you have your support around. Grab Hamish. It will be tense going on. We do love you, but we are also shits who spread our pain.

Artemis Delphinia

Still crazy to me that NONE of them noticed Ruby's depression the whole time aside from Little. Like guys, she's not paying attention, she always looks sad, it only rains around her, she GAVE UP her mothers emblem, she wasn't talking much or trying to come up with ideas or make ya'll happy like she used to and she had a panic attack while fighting. Like come onnnnnn. I do hope they touch more on this in Volume 10 and not brush it under the rug. Cause her willingly drinking the tea means a lotttttt.

Adrian ruiz martinez

Rwby volume 9 episode 8: when sapphics remember that the hot villian they simp for is till a villian

TheCasualNerd

Ah crap we should've given Mosco a trigger warning for this one huh. Sorry 😞 great reaction though

Anime Kid67

I love this show but at the same time fuck this show I love v9 for the character development we get for ruby but I hate how it kicked her ass from beginning to end and I love Neo but as I say every single time I watch this episode fuck Neo for doing this

Marceline_mother

Because Ruby was always the uplifting, she had unwavering strenght and conviction, so they didn't consider the possibility of Ruby breaking. Just shows how much confidence they have in her

Suplee215

The book with Neo certainly hits hard for me. As someone with a speech impairment, Roman taking the time and putting in the effort to understand what Neo is saying with the way Neo wants to speak (with hand gestures and illusions) is so freaking impactful.

Albedo12

Seeing Pyrrha again made me realise that Jean's hair tie was all that he has left of her sash after his time in the Ever After.

Adrian ruiz martinez

Mosco and elijah:NEO HAS GOOD IN HER. yeah, she physically and psychologically tortured a 17 yo but she feel sad about it afterwards.

Adrian ruiz martinez

Also its been literally a day since they got into the everafter. Like its been a busy day, like since the second half of volume 8 to v9 episode 6 is been a day or at least they been going without a break

defy4bees

They do try to ask her if she's okay several times over the volume, they keep getting cut off, distracted, or focused on Jaune or getting home. Ruby feels like she can't talk about her problems, that she has to be the strong one all the time. They need her, they rely on her. She's put a lot of pressure on herself to be the leader, to not show negativity (no thanks to Ozpin). They aren't looking if Ruby is okay because they think she's going to bounce back, like she always does, and they're trying to get home. They know something isn't quite right, but they don't know the extent of it until she breaks down in front of them. They're not mind readers, they don't know Ruby is breaking down because Ruby hasn't told them. They ask if she's okay, and she brushes it off. It doesn't mean they don't care about her, it means they're not focusing on it. The thing is, as an audience we are going to pick up on these things because that's what the show is trying to tell us. As characters, they're not going to be honed in on every little thing, every detail, every story beat, because they're characters. They don't have the full picture. They also address this in one of the RWBY Beyond episodes (spoilers redacted)

Elizabeth McLaughlin

Ruby's been changing the topic, or something happens throughout the series whenever the girls do try to ask about it though. So they notice something's up, they just never had the opportunity to do more. Also, Ruby's semblance symbolizes that she keeps running away from her own emotions and putting on a front. Trust me, it can be hard to notice if someone's depressed if they're working hard on hiding it. Red Like Roses part II even implies that Ruby's been going through it since *Summer's* death, so it would be easy for them to not notice she's acting weird since she normally acts like that, it's just randomly gotten worse in the past like 2 days from their perspective.

Elizabeth McLaughlin

This is one of my favorite episodes, just putting Ruby in a blender until she in essence commits suicide. The emotions are so well portrayed. Also, Ruby is probably assuming that her team is just more Neo illusions and when she drinks the tea thinks that no one cared enough to chase after her, even though that’s not true. I really think that both Cinder and Salem are going to be redeemed by the end of the story, but also have never thought that Neo was ‘more redeemable’ than either. The big themes of this show include hope and trusting that people when given the real option are fundamentally good. Cinder never got real options, throwing off one abuser for another, and Salem as long as she's part Grimm can literally not choose to not destroy. In fact, of the three I would argue *Neo* has had the most options to not be evil.

AJ22 AKA AJ Universe

Ah, yes, the episode where even I, the world's biggest Neo apologist, can't deny that she kinda sucks.

.

Kinda distasteful because it's quite a disturbing scene.

GlitchedLetters

Ugh Little's death gets me every time 😭 I wanted to mention this, but I really enjoy your content and one of the reasons I like to hear your thoughts is because of your ability to talk about subjects such as depression, esp as someone who's dealt with that since I was young. The line Ruby dropped, "I don't want to be me anymore", was so devastating on a personal level because I've felt that very sentiment. But as an older sibling, I can't imagine the pain of losing your little sibling. That's why I feel so bad for both Yang and Ruby in this volume, because while Ruby is dealing with so much, Yang didn't even realize how much her sister was struggling with and after having the current best moment of her life (getting with Blake), she loses the little sister she raised since a toddler. At the same time, Ruby is struggling to the point of snapping at Yang, leaving their last moment (before ascension) a breakdown of words that Ruby didn't mean. I'm really glad you understand both their perspectives, because after this episode, some of the fandom has argued that Yang and Ruby lost their deep bond, and that Ruby doesn't support Yang's relationship when that's just not true.

Ryan

Boo! Boo the YouTube algorithm! Boo! 16:14 We finally get to see Pyrrha in the new style! EMOTIONAL DAMAGE! 22:06 "You're not killing off the main character!" About that... Mosco has evolved from "Catra, no!" to "Neo, I love you; stop it!" 28:55 Wait, (slow head turn) has Elijah been sitting quietly off screen THIS WHOLE TIME? Yeah, we were all worried about how you would react to this episode. 36:03 I forget if anyone ever used "Neo eats pussy" as a fake spoiler but... there you go. 36:41 Finaly - a catgirl that Elijah doesn't simp for! ...right? ...right? Seriously!? Lost Summer, lost Penny, lost Pyrrha, almost lost Yang, almost lost Qrow, almost lost Weiss, lost Penny again, and lost herself. You are the harbinger of death, Ruby Rose. You will lead humans and Faunus to their end.

Vex Valor

I definitely suggest reacting to the animatic after finishing the volume, but everything else can wait after your break.

Flufux

So Roman is actually voiced by two voice actors in this episode...neither of which is his original voice actor from Volume 1-3. So his original voice actor Gray Haddock got fired, or they parted ways with him, after he caused some issues behind the scenes...which actually was the reason why Volume 5 ended up with far less of their budget than they should have, hence why it felt rather slow and the big fight in the finale felt so...stale. So for his return in this episode, they hired Billy Kametz to voice him, and he did most of his lines...but then he passed away before he could do all of them, so they had Christopher Wehkamp do all the lines that Billy couldn't make.

Vince

Do we all just collectively ignore Yang immediately checking on Ruby when she wakes up after fainting, or holding her after they meet up with Jaune trying to remind her to keep her hope? Like narratively they haven’t had the chance for a real check in, but they do take little moments to at least *try* and everyone is like WHY IS THE WHOLE WORLD BUT LITTLE IGNORING RUBY?? I am so confused.

Jyoster

And here we are... So, good news. You're safe to watch the Intro now next time, and fun fact. The intro changes once Jane comes into the picture, going from the Rusted knight to showing him. Feel free to see them for comparison before and after. Pff! That penny joke got me. It's unfortunate timing given what happens next. Wasn't it because Neo used her Semblance to trip their enemies to blow the room her parents were at? I could be misremembering. Oh boy... The tea party. That was hard to watch on the first run, and to think this was the first time we've seen Pyrrha's new model in the engine, being used in such a twisted way. Umm... Was it you that made a comment about Neo stomping on Little in a prior episode? Oh boy... Oh... Didn't know about that bit of detail regarding your brother... ugh... It makes Ruby's ascension hit that much harder... Oh boy... The cat possession... Either you hate it or... Well, I'll leave it at that... Definitely bad for Neo regardless. --- So yeah. This was the episode I mentioned before, the one which divided the opinions of me and my friend. And I don't blame them, since Ruby is their favorite character, so I can only imagine how they felt when she... Still, saying that the Volume as it is shouldn't have happened, I don't agree with that. It's hard to watch, yes. But it had a story to tell, and I feel that's important to respect. We can alter it as much as we want, make alternate scenarios in fanfics and such. But this is the story CRWBY wanted to tell, and to say it shouldn't exist just rubs me the wrong way. I digress. We have hit rock bottom regarding Volume 9. All there is left is to go up, and the tree is our next destination. See you at the top.

Vince

I was just super super relieved you and Elijah could be physically together for you recording this episode specifically. Mad Hatter Neo was immediately my guess once we established the parallel in V9, it’s impossible to overstate my expectations and they were still blown out of the water. Neo was an immediate favorite because I love mute characters and heterochromia AND the You’re My Family mentality. When Neo initially (CORRECTLY, MIGHT I ADD) went after Cinder for Roman’s death, and we got the song One Thing that gave a little insight into their backstory, I was like ‘oh she’s My Child now, okay’ and let me tell you….this fucking episode hits different. Especially after Roman Holiday. Her semblance is literally ‘Overactive Imagination’ (for my AuDHD ass with that exact phrase in my MEDICAL HISTORY, this also hits different) and she’s in a living Faerie Tale, she could not have hit a sweeter jackpot if she genuinely tried.

Zirkumflex

In which Neo pushes Rube a Little too far. Or RWBY: Now with more vore. But in all seriousness, this episode just hits hard. With Neo pushing Ruby to her breaking point at the tea party and then some more. Ruby choosing to drink the tea that she thinks means suicide. And finally Neo after this murderous triumph for her just stops and cannot do anything anymore. As much as she wanted to kill Ruby and get revenge, maybe it was not what she needed?

Dre

At this point if a character in something is voiced by Robbie Daymond you should be suspicious of them by default 😭

TheRavenWanderer

This. Had it not been for that whole void-space thing being a portal to the Ever After, Neo would have killed Yang then and there... That alone makes her irredeemable to me. Neo showed no remorse and was even pissed that she "killed" the wrong person lol.

Dafydd Mac an Leigh

One of the junior animators on volume 9 is a former RWBY reactor, known as Puns of Damage, and for a short time after the volume came out they had a few personal BTS videos talking about some of the work they did in later chapters of the volume. According to those videos, most of what we see of Pyrrha in this volume is Puns' work, and based heavily on Monty's fight choreography from the early volumes.

Dafydd Mac an Leigh

So? Darth Vader committed genocide and still had good in him (at least according to Luke)

SauceyRed

Okay I have my pepperoni pizza, time to watch this

Adrian ruiz martinez

Yeah, but how weird would that be if I say that as he going through youngling like he is mowing grass

Dafydd Mac an Leigh

The RT release HAD a trigger warning for this episode. Not sure why her copy did not.

Nektis Noir

Yeah this episode is HEAVY. Miles even warned people ahead of the episodes release on social media that there was a lot of heavy triggering material being tackled in Chapter 8 and that viewers should be cautious even with the trigger warning showing up at the start. I know a friend who literally refuses to rewatch this chapter and chapter 7 because she relates so heavily to Ruby and the show tackles her mental health problems so well that it hits too hard for her 😭

TheCasualNerd

Could've been a matter of how you did it or giving too much detail perhaps

TheCasualNerd

Oh yeah I remember that, damn thats unfortunate. Well at least Mosco handled it well and also has Elijah around

Joey Visser

Exactly, and it's not like Neo knew that, Neo was fully on board with no remorse killing people and Did "Kill" Yang. they lucked out but for all intents and purposes she Killed Yang. not much to redeem there.

Ashley Silver

"Fun" Fact: This episode aired on the same day as Watching and Dreaming. So we saw Luz die and Ruby kill herself on the same day.

Joey Visser

Too far Neo!. Mosco...You DO realize she's Evil and the Villain right?!?!?! XD

SpaceOwl

This could be since I haven't read Rowan Holiday but how does Neo's illusions know the things their "real" counterparts would. Like sure I get that she could have seen all of the characters off screen at some point but some like Penny was talking about things that really only her and Ruby new and things that Neo did not know

Hi-Viz

We don't, we (Mosco spoliers) just hope we never see her again after the finale

Ann_Temki

The amount of panic that came from this episode both personally and as a community was insane

TheyWereMarried

If you still think Neo is redeemable after this episode (I do) then Cinder is also redeemable.

Ann_Temki

Yeah this episode is arguably THE darkest episode the series has and probably *will* ever have…it’s a rough watch

Ann_Temki

“Fun” fact, but this episode IS meant to have a trigger warning at the start but for whatever reason the version you and Elijah have doesn’t have it.

Cinder's Apologist

to be fair, if you had watched the volume intro at any point, you would have known that Neo would be the Mad Hatter of the Tea Party.... but yes, this is a heavy episode and I knew you would not like what was about to unfold. almost makes one giddy with anticipation lol so that portrait in the background where Neo is facing away? that's after the Fall of Beacon; she's lost Roman, recovered his hat, and in the distance is the frozen Wyvern atop Beacon Tower. yeah I tend to not give WBY a hard time for not panicking as much over Ruby's outburst because I get why it caught them off guard. sure, it's obvious to us as the viewers, but to them? it's just as Weiss said: Ruby was the emotional pillar of support holding them together through the trials up to now, so they kinda took that for granted. Ruby has been masking the longest of them all - she learned back in v1 (thanks to Ozpin, no less) that she had to project an image of a perfect leader who was always doing her absolute best, her own issues be damned. hard for WBY to be all that concerned when they have no idea what's going on in Ruby's head when Ruby refuses to tell them ANYTHING... that is, really opening up about the burdens weighing her down. it is endlessly amusing that you AND Elijah both love Neo so much despite her villain status... despite what unfolds in this episode. understandable but still XD (not so) fun fact! the things that Ironwood and Ozpin say? those can be framed as self-reflective criticisms of their own failings - Ironwood's disregard for the harms caused by his relentless pursuit of what he believed was right; Ozpin's inability to actually save others because his schemes end up ruining lives in the process. Pyrrha and Penny less so but there are still kernels of truth in what they say to Ruby, and THAT is what makes them hurt so much, not just Neo using them like puppets to torture her. also not very fun fact... Ruby has been going through the five stages of grief throughout v9. if/when you can summon the courage to rewatch it, I suggest you look for the moments that reflect those stages because that was very much the intention of the writers.

K

What Neo and Cinder did IS the exact same - took an innocent life to achieve their own selfish ends. But there IS a difference. Whereas both of their backstories are very sad, in the end, Cinder only cares for or cries for herself (even in the episode Midnight where we see her tragic backstory, her tears are for herself). Neo’s motivations and misdeeds are grounded in her care for another. And the other big difference is that from Neo’s facial expressions it appears she already has at least second thoughts, or is self-assessing her behavior and actions, if not yet having remorse for them, which is proven by the fact that the cat is able to take control of her body and essentially infect her weakened heart with theirs. The show displays the oldest moral quandary in the book - does she deserve redemption, or does anyone deserve redemption, if there is true remorse and change? Or do the actions stand on their own because they cannot be undone, thus making them irredeemable? I don’t think I’ve ever known the answer to that question, but I love the show for developing the characters in such a way that that question is subliminally imposed in our brains.

Angelus Lupus

Mosco's intro "No need for that Drama" Oh, you poor thing, you have no idea! And to think, I just commented on the latest Youtube episodes because Mosco says Ruby is "in a dark place"!!

Cinder's Apologist

yep, be afraid :3 ngl watching Neo getting possessed like that never gets any easier. you do want to sympathize or even empathize with her by that point, and so seeing the Cat take advantage of her... the writers did a good job of twisting the knife with her. also yes, it is vital to go back and pay attention to the little things said throughout this volume, not just because of what it builds up to but because this is a narratively crucial volume in ways I can't explain just yet. you already have seen the character side of things, but there's even more to come with the final two episodes.

Suplee215

The fact that Darth Vader was considered to have been redeemed always struck me as a major flaw of both the movie and media in general. Thankfully redemption arcs do a lot better now

Christopher Pope

Very short next chapter due to a lot of material having to be trimmed from Vol. 9 due to budget cuts after production started. As I recall, it was written to run 12 chapters and was cut to 10, with a lot of the cuts coming in these later portions. So they had to stop at 10, and the divide between 9 and 10 is in probably the most logical place. But for that reason, I think this is one of the volumes that works best when watched as a whole than divided into chapters.

Suplee215

I said this before but for me Neo has always been more chaotic neutral than evil. I am unsure if she can be redeemed to the point where she fights alongside the good guys and no one questions it but I can see her fighting against cinder or salem for her own reasons. The biggest thing about Neo is she never had a long term goal. Which can make her more or less sympathetic depending on the viewer. On the more sympathetic side, she is not a true believer of Salem's cause or someone like Cinder who is devoted to destroying society and the world. On the other side, jt means that she killed people and Little and done other horrible thins for petty reasons. And really its fascinating.

Alexandru Ulesan

Mosco: Oh, poor baby, I love you! said poor baby: actively psychologically torturing a teenager into essentially k!#!#& herself FYI, throughout this volume, Little basically represents Ruby's hope

Mare

Honestly, I think Neo is a homicidal maniac that enjoys killing. She was willing to kill Yang back in the Volume 2 on that train while Yang was knocked out cold. The only reason Neo didn’t follow through with it is because Raven showed up in the nick of time and scare the living daylights out of Neo. And Neo is an opportunist. She could help an enemy of her enemy but she’ll eventually throw them under the bus if things don’t go her way. She’s not too different from Cinder. And a lot of her indirect influence is from Miss Malachite or more so the Spider Syndicate, an organization that’s practically a Mafia with the whole mantra of Total Loyalty or Death. That’s her influence. I guess one can say that her experience with the underground shaped her views but Neo still made those choices. And she never showed any remorse for them.

Enchanted_Echo

You know.........for that Jaune joke at the start about Pyrrha and seeing your reaction to seeing Pyrrha again......this is quite funny (and sad) karma.

CrowOfAFeather

"You can't redeem Cinder because of the horrible things she's done. But Neo, who HASN'T-" Ah ah ah ah ah. Gonna stop you right there; Neo has, in fact, very much done horrible things. I know you and Elijah fancy her and WANT her to be redeemed because she's hot and all, BUT let's not forget that she was instrumental in the destruction of Beacon. She willingly joined up and had no issues with going through with it all. And she kills at least one guy in the book; just because it wasn't someone as memorable as Pyrrha doesn't mean it doesn't count. Murder is murder. & no, she doesn't get a free pass because she had ignorant parents, her backstory doesn't excuse any of her actions. Her backstory isn't nearly as tragic as Cinder's either. Having bigot parents are not equal to being adopted into child-labour and daily abuse via shock-collar, forced to eat leftovers? Not even close. "Neo is doing Ruby a favour by forcing her to go to the tree" ...fucking what. Can't say Ruby or anyone would appreciate that happening to her since it's a risk of erasing Ruby Rose and turn her literally into someone else. what the hell "I love you Neo, so stop it" .... A redemption arc is earned, not given, and Ruby and co. has literally 0 and less reason to forgive or forget Neo's actions. It requires people to actually wanting to forgive and forget, it's not some "oh let her ascend and so everything is all well and good." because it would be insane bad writing if it was. "She's really evil right now-" No Elijah, Neo has been evil and an antagonist since her introduction. She willingly chose to join a crimelord ffs. "It's not AS irredeemable as Cinder" oh come the fuck on. Never once in the show had them made us think Neo was gonna turn, you just WANT it to be the case which is entirely different. She literally just killed Little and abused Ruby, a minor, both mentally and physically until the point of s**cide and risk of deleting Ruby Rose as a person, and you still think she's redeemable? Yang just watched her sister k*ll herself with Neo, a WELL-KNOWN AND ESTABLISHED ENEMY, standing by and you think she of all people would let Neo redeem herself?? Oh, Neo absolutely wanted it, and got what she wanted. She just didn't plan for what to do after, but she definitely wanted Ruby dead and gone in the most horrifying way possible. Which is apparently totally fine as long as she's hot, she needs more screentime if anything! -.- Yes I am bitter about Neo and I cannot, will not, understand why people defend and root for her to this point where they think she deserves a redemption and then go "cinder can't be redeemed". It sickens me. Edit: Neo was 100% going to kill Yang at the train after knocking her out cold too, btw. She would've killed Yang in v8 if there hadn't been the whole void and Ever After down below. She is a killer with no remorse, not a shred of it throughout the series. She made her choices.

CrowOfAFeather

...only "kinda"? really? She abuses a minor physically and mentally to the point of su*cide and risk of complete erasure of self, and for that she only "kinda" sucks?

CrowOfAFeather

THANK YOU, exactly! No remorse at all throughout the show...

Enchanted_Echo

For someone who was always so optimistic from Volume 1 and full of joy to what happened now in Volume 9 it’s so sad but in her shoes………..100% understandable. Even with Volume 1 if you listen to Red Like Roses Part II, you can hear the trauma being pushed down about her mom and it slowly started to build. And being placed as the leader just added even more responsibility and while even trying to make friends with someone with a cold heart at the time. - Volume 3: The Betrayal of Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury, Penny’s death, The Fall of Beacon, Her Team being badly injured, Pyrrha’s death, Yang being broken, leaving her dad and sister without a proper goodbye - Volume 4: The towns in ruins, Grimm on the rise, few dead hunters too - Volume 5: Thinking on the past, worrying about Yang, Raven/Her Mom, Seeing who Salem is - Volume 6: Ozpin’s secret, Having to keep the team together and keep going to Atlas, The Farm and Apathy Grimm in it, Keeping an eye on Qrow, The division of Atlas forces, doubt within everyone - Volume 7: Penny’s framing, Ironwood, Salem mentioning her mom, Being on the hunt - Volume 8: The teams separation, The War between Atlas, Mantle AND the grimm, The hound and……their eyes, Realizing what may have happened to Summer, Penny’s corruption, Not sure what to do with Ironwoods threat, Yang possible death and no time to process And now with Volume 9……..with everything that went on……I get it. She was grasping for straws of hope and the news of Penny broke the camel’s back. Even throughout the volume they're were small instances of the team trying to communicate she shrugged it off or they didn’t really push far enough. And with Blake and Yang living a fairy tale and now being together and Weiss being there and Ruby trying to comfort her as a leader when she was already struggling, it just kind of added fuel to the fire. Even in small instances when they talk to her like with Weiss complaining about not grabbing to ingredients to grow it just added more with her feeling like what she did was wrong and it’s her fault. Same with her thinking it’s her fault with Salem now having 2/4 relics. When she was finally about to talk about it, All attention went to Jaune and side lined Ruby which I get why, but even so they just forced Ruby to try and be up lifting, they just assumed that Ruby can join in the positivity and kind of ignored Ruby struggles which was heartbreaking. I personally have never seen another show like RWBY, that handled s***** like that and quite accurately for a main character and as haunting as it is......it was quite well done and seeing others perspectives and development for all of them. She was even showing sings of early on in the volume of committing Su***** with how depressed she was, sometimes anger moments, with her seeing who she was trying to be and knowing that it’s nothing how she thought it would be, she was less talkative, and even gave up her valuables without a second thought just to keep going until there was no going back…….And I don’t blame her in the slightest. I still do wonder if Qrow or even Oscar was there would that have changed anything as they do have a deep bond with Ruby or if her sister couldn’t help (even if someone was preoccupying her) would think have changed at all. Story wise though I am happy they went this way as it makes A LOT of sense until the glass finally broke after all the buildup. Still shoutout to Lindsay Jones and Neo’s voice actress, and the writers because they did a really good job with the scenes in episode 8. I am so sorry for you witnessing the loss of little.......... She is only 17 with the world being put on her shoulders….

Arashi

Welcome to the fridge horror segment of RWBY Vol 9. Hope you don't enjoy your stay.

Vlee

I feel like she may still have a chance,

TheRavenWanderer

Also showed no remorse when killing those Atlesian staff in their command center.

Faroth

And then, yang saw how ruby prefered to cease to exists than to keep living like that Remember when you said "i dont think ruby can make it if something happened to Little"?... welp... here we are... Little represented Ruby's "Hope"... So no Little... Means no hope to keep living...

Faroth

Barb: me what? Fans: sorry, force of habit...

Faroth

And weirdly enough is because she thinks ruby killed her man... it wasnt her, but nobody else was there... so... if something, he almost killed ruby, he was the closest to actually kill ruby on its own...

Faroth

Fans of Neo: we can still fix her Neo: * bullies and forces a 17 years old to commit su1c1de because thinks that the teenager killed her man...*

Shaky Tail Studios

They did notice and tried to broach it with her multiple times but otherwise got rejected or stuff came up distracting the entire group. Its also been a literal day since they got there after what was a traumatizing event for everyone and they all feel an immediate sense of urgency to home to help with the evacuation. The fact they accepted in when Ruby dismissed their concerns isn't some failure on their part. What are they meant to do. Hold her down until she has a breakdown?

Mare

40:44 - "She's not like Cinder...who like relishes in all that kind of stuff. That didn't bring her any happiness..." Ummmm...Mosco, she was HAPPY to have attempted to kill Yang back in Volume 2 on that train. She was smiling the WHOLE entire time she inched up to a unconscious Yang and was about to plunge the tip of her umbrella through Yang's chest...Happily I might add. And she would have succeeded IF Raven didn't show up to intervene. People just conveniently forget about this fact. Killing, for Neo is her normalized hobby. This (In this RWBY Timeline) is the only time she had a purpose, and it was because she blamed Ruby for taking away someone she cared about. But with Yang back in Volume 2, she had no prior connection to her and she was just Neo's obstacle which she basically toyed around with and was going to END her. Actually SOME (not all) Neo-Apologists that claim to have Yang as one their favorites conveniently skip over this or just do somersaults in justifying her behavior. If Neo had showed any conviction and remorse over her actions than YES, I would agree that she could end up like an Emerald who from almost the beginning, wasn't exactly comfortable doing what she did. Especially after witnessing all the refugees in that tunnel. I know CRWBY is all about SHOW, DON'T TELL" and it's something I accepted which is why you'll rarely hear any RWBY Character say they regret what they did out loud. Which is how I've accepted Emerald defecting to the other side because she LOOKED regretful at least. Here Neo isn't regretful...she just feels empty without a purpose because she "fulfilled" her purpose/ That's not remorse. A tragic life doesn't justify the homicidal choices Neo made or anyone. No one forced her to do them. Otherwise, Yang and Ruby (having their own Greek Tragedy in the form of their family, as well as Weiss and Blake, should have led them to make villainess choices too. But they didn't. That's the thing about the RWBY narrative is that no one is forcing anyone's hand to really make a bad choice that is physically and mentally a danger to others. Like Adam...no one forced his hand. HE let himself be defined by his circumstances just like Salem, Cinder and Neo did. Leo made bad choices because he's a coward. And he's responsible for those choices.

Mare

Exactly. Though there are some viewers I've noticed (not all) that mistaken Neo's look of "no purpose" as remorse, which is very odd.

Mare

Yeah, I haven't read your comment until now and I pretty much echoed the same sentiments above lol

Faroth

21:57 remember the prince didnt remember being the king, if they ascend they dont remember anything from their past lives

Dayash

Its crazy to me when people compare Emerald and Neo as redemption candidates when Emerald's switch has been hinted alll the way since Volume 2/3 while Neo has canonically never showed any remorse or regret. I understand a tragic backstory I do, Cinder has one too and so does Mercury for example, but that doesn't make everything the character does In The Present understandable to me. CRWBY did a fantastic job with Neo's abilities and the Ever After logic for this clever tea party scenario so in that sense i loveddd the mental games, however it makes Neo, a grown woman, look like even more of, well, an asshole and a Loser for doing all this instead of just fighting Ruby, a 17yr old btw, with some dignity. I think Neo is the kind of character you kinda have to shake your head at and be like "well thats unfortunate, sigh if only life had been different" but still In Canon she just really sucks as a person lmao Anyways Vol 9 is a great volume for character stuff :)

Rixec2

Once you're done with volume 9, there are two more things you need to watch for the main RWBY experience. One is the animatic you mentioned, a result of volume 9's budget getting cut much like volume 5's did, but at least they were better prepared for it this time. The second is RWBY Volume 9: Beyond, a series of four five-minute shorts that add more on certain things and hype of things to come. It was also the last RWBY property to come from Rooster Teeth before their closing.

Taigan

@28:55 come for the RWBY. Stay for the sapphic cuteness. ❤️

BGTitan

Yeah… this episode is… rough. Not because it’s bad, it’s just brutal. Genuinely I think this is the darkest episode of RWBY just for how brutal and bleak it is. Which I imagine just reflects Ruby’s own inner turmoil. I remember that I was so overwhelmed and sick with dread the first time I watched the episode that I didn’t actually absorb it all properly. It took me a second watch through before I got really emotional about everything that happened. Oh Neo. Was this everything you ever wanted? Huh? Was revenge all it was cracked up to be? Didn’t think about what came after, did you? Spent a year or so with nothing but vengeance keeping you moving forward… And now, you’re being controlled by a being with more malice than even you were capable of mustering. Not that she certainly didn’t give it the old college try, holy shit. That was one of the most visceral physical and mental beatdowns of a character I have ever seen and the nonchalance with which Neo did it? Having all of Ruby’s perceived failures take literal and figurative shots at her? Having her cut down Oscar before watching Little get crushed? The fact that Yang watched her sister, the person she loves most in this world, the person she practically raised and spent most of her life protecting, end her own life? I mean, just look at her after Ruby disappears, she’s completely catatonic. Blake steps in front of her when the Cat blasts them because Yang doesn’t make a move at all. I never trusted the Cat entirely, but I never expected this of them, holy hell. That is some nightmare fuel. Roman is voiced by two people in this episode, Chris Wehkamp (who also voiced Clover in V7), along with Billy Kametz who was originally going to be Roman’s replacement voice before he passed. That memorial at the end for him was nice.

Shaky Tail Studios

Feels unfair to say they aren't taking it seriously when they're clearly in shock. Always boosting it on Youtube, a shame its not panned out. I think Chibi would actually do pretty well but such is life :( Poor Little, trying so hard to help but lacking the full context. Also yeah the self blame makes sense, she wasn't in time for Penny or Pyrrha at Beacon and then was thrown out of the battle in Atlas. We need to figure out what is going on with those blue butterflies, V6 and V9 they are a recurring thing. Pretty sure Neo didn't love him like family, but that may just be me. Also low key the way she has Cinder posed in that pic definitely conveys she thinks Cinder was hot. Also how egocentric Neo is, she doesn't even factor in Salem into her memories, she really thinks the world revolves around her. I feel we have really different definitions of redeemable given one needs to do bad shit in order to require redemption and between the two I think Cinder has more reason for being a broken feral wreck-loose monster than Neo does. Like her backstory sucks but she was not a literal slave. Neo trying to fill out the table but not knowing enough about Ruby to do so & just throwing people like Le & Clover in there with nothing to say is hilarious XD Also Roman's VA does a really solid job I feel. Ruby not giving a single fuck about Neo's motive will never not amuse me. Its the same vibe she has with Cinder, like she 100% does not care about this woman save as a threat to be removed, them trying to make it all personal just weirds her out. Also oh gods Little!! All the Remnatians so far indicate they have very little concept of reincarnation so to Neo it sounds like wiping Ruby out down to the soul and she's cruel and petty enough to want that. They are worried, they're just trying to figure out how to solve the problem and are confused cause every time they tried to talk to Ruby about this stuff she brushed them off. Pleeeease just let yourself hate Neo, I think your crush on her is effecting your ability to analyze XD Neo getting fucking lazer beamed out of her manor will never not amuse me, get rekt brat XD The Curious Cat lore reveal is so fucking wild though, it neeeeds more attention. Also Little is MVP, and also super tragic here :'( Elijah stop encouraging this simpery XD Legit I think it may actually damage the channel :/ OK but those behind the camera expressions were hilarious hahaha! How on earth is murdering a child less irredeemable than murdering a teenage warrior? I really don't know where this idea of Neo changing sides came from, genuinely, she's been nothing but sadistic selfish and cruel for nearly this entire series. I think you guys just think she's cute XD Ruby's well passed the despair event horizon at this stage sadly. Worth noting for WBY they entered this situation with zero context as to what the fuck is going on and a lot happening, so I am not surprised they didn't know what to do. This is basically Yang getting launched off the platform but more confusing again. I am terribly sorry for your loss. Juniper came in clutch there and oh the cat is such wonderful body horror. There was a great comic with Kali & Neon discussing there being a new catgirl in the series. Followed by Blake running in and nailing the door shut only for Curious to break in ranting something like: "Do the gods stay in heaven because they fear what they created?" I am also glad they put the message there. I disagree with your read on Cinder, the big difference there is that Cinder's quest is functionally endless. She is always seeking more power because she can never feel genuinely safe or free. Neo did put an end goal on her intent that she thought would lead to satisfaction, IE torturing Ruby to death and then it didn't work. Cinder's not satisfied because she's more evil than Neo, she's unaware that she is hungry.

Shaky Tail Studios

Its not even that she felt sad about it afterwards she just found it unsatisfying.

Shaky Tail Studios

She takes pleasure in murdering people for fun, that's not neutral.

Shaky Tail Studios

I think the Penny illusion was just Neo guessing what happened, I don't think she knew.

Tekuno

Thank you!! People tend to forget that Emeralds change of heart already got hinted in earlier volumes, whearas Neo always enjoyed the chaos. I do like Neo writing-wise but character/liking-wise she's just despicable. Her and Cinder share more than the eye can see and both of them are important for the story, but idk why ppl trying to defend her actions, when she - like Cinder - never felt remorse for what she did. Even at the end, she's just sad and empty because she doesn't have something to go for after she achieved her goal with Ruby, not because of what she did to Ruby (mind you, she's in her (mid) twenties, while Ruby is 17). I can totally understand when Neo is their favorite character because of the writing (as well as Cinder or Tyrian could be your favorite character for the same reason) but not because of her liking personality-wise and this episode should have been the breaking point. EDIT: I also liked Neo before, because she's always so smug and full of herself, which is kinda funny and she was charismatic in some way, but definetly not anymore after we saw what she's capable of and what she did to Ruby. It showed her true face, that we always saw here and there in small bits, but this time the harm she did was blatantly obvious

Suplee215

Neutral charactrrs can kill and even enjoy the kill. Grog from critical role is chaotic neutral. As far as I remmeber all her kills has been during fights

JAMES D'ALESSANDRO

They just greenlit volume 10. You might not want to spoil yourself with watching part of it beforehand

John J Ronald

Hehe. Mosco's Scottish humor breaks thru there a bit. ("It was technically Jaune..")

John J Ronald

Neo is pretty OP in Remnant; Here in the Ever After she's practically a Demigod.

John J Ronald

I'm glad Taylor McNee and Jen Brown are still getting voice work from RWBY but oof.

John J Ronald

In universe, the only thing that prevents ascension is the Jabberwalker (and its clones)

John J Ronald

When this chapter first aired, it was preceded by a content warning and a toll-free number to the (US) suicide prevention line.

John J Ronald

Hehe, the correct response. For RWBY Newbies, RT used to be on Vine, a now defunct app that featured 6-second videos and Barbara would do these terrible puns and Burnie would react with "Goddamn it, Barb!" so it became the stock FNDM response to any bad puns in context.

John J Ronald

They're only canon-adjacent but I do hope Mosco & Elijah get to react to the RWBY x JL movies together because especially the 2nd movie deals with some of the emotional fallout from Vol. 9 and the aftermath...which also, yes, needs to be addressed in Vol.10 as well.

John J Ronald

Production note, Roman Torchwick in this chapter was Billy Kametz's final recorded voice role before he was taken by cancer. Some of the lines had to be recorded by Chris Wehkampf (Clover's VA) because Billy couldn't finish all of them.

John J Ronald

This chapter seems to underscore that Ruby had romantic feelings for Penny AND Oscar; Neo was a keen enough observer to notice Ruby & Oscar being flirty in Schnee Manor, which is why she transformed Ozpin into Oscar when Ruby slashed him with Crescent Rose.

CrowOfAFeather

She doesn't tho. It would be insanely out of character for Ruby and Yang especially if they forgave and forgot all she had done. Without an even iota of remorse, you can't be redeemed.

CrowOfAFeather

Fucking exactly! She helped kill a room of Atlesians and then proceeded to kick a dying one right in the face (I remember Elijah thinking Neo was cute in that moment, the way she skipped over to him...) and as you said, she hasn't shown any remorse! She wanted freedom, and the first thing she did was hooking up with essentially a crimelord. Then the whole thing with Cinder's plan, she was as you said smiling and showed having no issues with following along. People really just want her redeemed because she's "hot" so she gets more screentime.

CrowOfAFeather

It's 100% because they think Neo is hot and want her to have more screentime.

Mare

Were those Atlesian Command Center employees fighting her? They were just working and Neo had a field day with them compliments of Cinder. And she did it with a smile. She even kicked a mortally wounded office worker who was on the ground….for funsies. Killing isn’t something she had to think about twice. She just does it on instinct and takes pleasure from it. All I gotta say is “Poor Bill.” At least he won’t get accused of bribing coffee to his desk anymore.

Hotaru Tomoe

Personally, I love RWBY and reactions to it, but watching them on YouTube (or any reactions on YouTube really) just makes me viscerally angry. You have to constantly mute and blank out bits of scenes to avoid getting flagged, but those cuts drive me up the wall. I will watch one episode over there and if I like the reaction vibe, I move to Patreon.

ml

that also what I thought, feel like she is a chaotic neutral character leaning more to evil end with 0 morals, doesn’t give a sht about lives of others and just care about fun and her own goals. This doesn’t mean she is redeemable but I love how they handled her ending. She’s just a really well written villain overall… I hated her so much for abusing ruby to suicide but I still like the ending they gave her

EmberPanther

I am glad that you are ok after that episode, I was concerned about what you’ve mentioned in your personal life and was honestly on the fence about suggesting giving you a warning.

Tekuno

THIS!! I don't think that both of them are redeemable (which is good, because sometimes we need characters that can't be redeemed), but if you can redeem her, than the same logic must be applied to Cinder as well, since both of them done almost equally worse things (in my opinion).

TheyWereMarried

What's the point of having characters that don't get redeemed? There's no point. All characters should be redeemed. They should just have a satisfying redemption and not be redeemed after one good act.

Skylar

This episode messed me up for multiple days after I watched it... I had/have a very vulnerable mental state and the idea of something that let me vanish from my life and be replaced by a better version was... frighteningly appealing to me

GlitchedLetters

I think the reason a lot of people say Neo is more redeemable than Cinder is because of two things. Compared to Neo, Cinder has done more willingly evil things just to see others suffer (stealing the maiden powers, attempting to kill Weiss in front of Jaune, betraying Neo after taking all her credit), so many end up feeling for her due to their lists of crimes. The second being that Neo originally wanted to kill Cinder, not Ruby. The reason that changed was because Cinder manipulated Neo into changing her target. Now, while Ruby was there when Roman died, it was both his and Cinders fault for dying in the first place. All that together, I do agree that Neo isn't more deserving of redemption compared to Cinder, nor is her backstory more tragic. But I understand why some people feel she has a higher chance of achieving one at this point of the story compared to Cinder. I don't really agree she's 100% redeemable, esp if Cinder isn't. But I personally feel that Cinder is meant to be a red-herring or a potential last minute team changer while Neo (Spoilers!) may never leave the Ever After.

Tekuno

I think it's good to have characters that don't get redeemed, because some things are too severe to get redeemed for (kinda like in real life). For me, that would be doing things that Cinder and Neo did (continous murder, physically & psycologically driving a kid/minor into su*cide, etc.). But I do agree on your take that if Neo should be given a chance then Cinder should one have too, because both of them done almost equally bad things or at least contributet to the loss of lifes, which is why both of them should be looked at the same or at least a similiar way. But again, that's also just my opinion and when it comes to redemption, we beg to differ, which is completely fine. :)

TheyWereMarried

I grew up watching Xena Warrior Princess. She was a warlord who committed numerous crimes and killed countless people. She was redeemed by saving countless lives. (Ignore the last two episodes, they were stupid.) I think it's different for fictional characters. Fictional worlds are aspirational; they're an escape from reality. If Xena existed in real life her crimes would be too severe to be redeemed irl. But she's not real so she could be. I don't want books, films, games, shows to reflect real life too closely because then they're not an escape.

Faroth

Go hear tales of the stinky dragon, the dnd campaigns, where Barb plays and she is indeed the pun queen

Mitch

It’s a recurring problem in the show, all the female antagonists are all so hot you sometimes forget that they are a little fucked up.

Mare

Thing is neither Neo and Cinder ever showed remorse. Same with Adam. No one forced their hands. They made those bad choices and they appear to relish in them. If Neo showed an ounce of remorse then perhaps she’s redeemable but she hasn’t….at all. Redemption starts with someone owning up to their actions.l; taking responsibility for them by proactively righting their wrongs. Now that Mosco has seen ep10, I can say that Neo hasn’t done any of that yet. And who knows if she’ll ever get to show that on screen. Going to therapy doesn’t excuse someone from their actions. It might make you realize what you’ve done is actually horrible but unless they can admit it then it’s moot.

Todd Lucas

The constant irony that Neo has always blames Ruby for Roman's death is always in my mind, because the person she REALLY should hate and try to be ending....is Salem. Who she had an in to try to do just that.

Maurice Isaac

Except Yang clearly saw when Ruby was down the previous season and tried cheering her up then, so it makes no sense for her to assume she'd be doing fine after learning how their plan failed.

Maurice Isaac

Thank you! It's a double standard is what it is, that you can be forgiven for doing horrible things, just as long as you're young and cute.

Jeffrey Chu

16:11 That's the face I joined this Patreon to see.