Look everyone, RWBY: Ice Queendom is back! After 3 weeks of no content, a new episode has finally dropped. And while the production leaves something to be desired, I actually liked the world that Queendom is setting up. There’s potential for something interesting there. So without further ado, lets dive in and talk about it!
Starting off, the aforementioned visuals! This week wasn’t anything impressive sadly. No big character or battle sakuga, nothing for the animation people to really whet their teeth on. The end had something akin to that, but the compositing absolutely ruined those shots for me. To be honest, the only thing that stood out to me were the backgrounds. And even then not because they were particularly special or striking. They don’t have the color of Yofukashi no Uta nor the detail of Made in Abyss. But they are also more than your usual stock fantasy town. There was enough effort put in to inform and reinforce the world building done throughout. It wasn’t spectacularly detailed sure, but there was at least an attempt. And that’s something I can appreciate when an episode has so little else going on visually.
Speaking of said world building, this was probably what Queendom did best this week. The representation of Weiss’ inner mind and insecurities was actually pretty good. On the nose, Queendom apparently doesn’t know what subtlety is, but I’d rather they be clear and up front about it rather than fail to communicate it entirely. Err on the side of caution, so to speak. Just take a look at the White Fang for example. Depicted as little more than Grimm in clothes, complete with fur, bone platting and claws. This, for lack of a better term, explicitly racist depiction of a group of people is really concerning. Not for the show, that’s good, I just mean for Weiss’ character. Is this what she views all Faunus as? Even after her make-up with Blake? Or is it just Jacques’ rhetoric bleeding through, a fear of what they are like?
This also extends to the city at large, as well as the rest of her family! In town we can see Jacques’ face plastered on every street corner, robot statues watching everyone. All of the workers are faceless, marching in lockstep from home to work and back in the 2nd class tier of the city. It’s straight out of 1984 and other such dystopian novels. And when we see Jacques proper, it’s as a giant floating head on the ceiling, literally placing him above everyone. Like he’s to good to meet anyone in person. I’m half expecting him to end up being the big villain, with the Nightmare Grimm taking his form and playing with Weiss’ mind.
And as for the rest of Weiss’ family? They get a similar treatment, becoming representations of how Weiss views them. Whitley becomes a literal flying rat, spying on people and getting Weiss in trouble. Just generally being a nuisance. And Winter? She seems to have become a sort of… absent ideal. The rules. The thing Weiss looks to for direction and tries to emulate, but not actually present because she escaped and joined the military. I’m actually really curious what Queendom is going to do with that. Will we ever see Winter proper? Or will Jacques try to destroy the book in his attempts to control her? I’m actually really interested in how Queendom will develop and play with the Schnee family dynamic since we really didn’t get to see much of that in the original RWBY seasons, at least not for a very long time.
Of course I can’t not also mention how Weiss views our various lead characters. Team JNPR being in the Dum Dum jail was pretty funny, a clear sign of how little Weiss thinks of them. But an interesting fact I noticed is that Pyrrha wasn’t there with them. We know from the first few episodes how highly Weiss thinks of her, so I’m curious just how Queendom will end up using her in the future. Similarly, the way Weiss see’s Ruby also tells us a lot. How little she pays attention to the technical aspects of Ruby’s weapon, since this one fires backwards, or how she clearly still has some affection for her but isn’t willing to jeopardize her position with her father for her. At least, not yet.
The big thing I’m looking for from Queendom, now that it’s successfully setup Weiss’ mental state and her inner conflicts, is directly dealing with said conflicts. I need Blake to start poking holes and really testing her views on Faunus. Yang to show how families are supposed to act and call her on her authoritarian bullshit. Pyrrha and team JNPR to demonstrate how she’s looking down on people and how little she’s truly paying attention. And of course for Ruby, and team RWBY at large, to give her the warm family that she’s so clearly lacking in this nightmare world. If Queendom just pussy foots around for the next 7 episodes for speedrunning to a poorly setup final fight, it’s going to be terrible. But if it legitimately all-ins on a character exploration for Weiss, then I’m down.
So yeah, all in all a decent episode of Queendom. Production is lacking compared to the first two, but now that we aren’t speedrunning entire volumes of content in 3 episodes and instead allowing the characters time to breathe and interact, I’m actually starting to enjoy it a bit. Some of that is probably still nostalgia bias since I’ve been a fan of the original for so long though. So instead of me summarizing what I think, I want to hear from you. What are your thoughts on Queendom, either as a long time fan of the original series or someone who has never seen RWBY and has Queendom as their first taste. Is it still setting things up well? Or am I running on rose-tinted glasses? Let me know below and I’ll see you next week!
P.S. The memes are in full swing and I love it. (Volume warning)
I was paid to make this. RWBY ice queendom gettin wild lol pic.twitter.com/xyjp052huE
— Inkora commissions open (newly remade account) (@Inkora_Art) July 19, 2022
