Circle of Willis
Well-known member
I've seen an interesting argument that even more-so than Jaune for Miles Luna, Blake and Yang were self-inserts for their respective VAs (Arryn Zech and Barbara Dunkelman). Didn't pay it too much attention when I first saw it years ago, but it does seem to ring more true now. Arryn is bisexual, used to date Miles (who's fetishized lesbians and said he didn't mind Arryn making out with other girls b/c that's hot on a...podcast, IIRC? That was weird af) and said that she used to be in an abusive relationship (not with Miles presumably since otherwise she probably wouldn't work with him, as this was also the reason she gave for attacking Tow Ubukata online) - and guess what, Blake turns out to be bi, while Adam was retconned into being her ex-boyfriend and pure evil. She seems to project a lot onto her character and so does Barbara unto Yang for that matter, with Yang becoming increasingly abrasive and hypocritical over time but never getting punished for it. Barbara is in a position to directly affect the writing as RT's Creative Director and both are also huge Bumblebee pushers IRL, they've read smutty Bumblebee fiction on stream before and dropped a Bumblebee-themed OnlyFans shoot right around the time of the V9 kiss (most probably planned in advance). Both have even tried to get into alphabet soup activism as well, even.
Coupling these self-insert tendencies with their seniority at RT, the long history of workplace abuses and assorted scumbaggery like their mistreatment of Shane or haste in kicking Vic Mignogna, Arryn's own online misbehavior (culminating in her bashing Tow Ubukata over a long-resolved, very personal matter for no apparent reason beyond wanting to accumulate Twitter clout) and Barbara's position in the leadership of Rooster Teeth...yeah, I'm not one to exhaustively psychoanalyze real people, but it does seem like more than a few things were rotten with those two behind the scenes. All that said, I actually haven't heard any major controversy involving Lindsay Jones (Ruby's VA) or Kara Eberle (Weiss' VA), so if RWBY is acquired by a studio that's at all interested in rehiring even part of the old cast to reprise their roles in the future, those two are probably the most likely to get a call simply on the basis of being easier to work with/not as much of a PR nightmare as the other half of Team RWBY's voice cast.
Anyway, the real-life cast aside, I've given some thought into how to portray Ironwood to follow up on my previous thoughts re: Jacques Schnee. As I said before I'd rather just can the entirety of the Atlas arc CRWBY came up with, it was a poorly thought out analogy to (what CRWBY thinks happened with) the 2016 American election and horribly butchers Ironwood in particular (which, hmm, given that the writers have said that his loss & replacement of body parts signified him losing more of his humanity and that his Semblance is basically Turbo Autism...does this not seem even a little 'ableist' to anyone else?). I believe he'd be best employed as an apolitical, supremely disciplined hardass of a commander, perfectly happy to leave politicking to the politicians while he sees to the defense of Atlas and eventually all of Remnant. He would certainly prioritize the needs of the soldiery over everything else and argue in favor of a huge military budget to make sure he, and they, had all that which he thinks they need to fight the Grimm, White Fang, etc. which combined with his veterancy makes him hugely popular with his men, even if the Atlas Council disagrees; Winter seems to greatly respect him until very late in the show and I wouldn't change that. Weiss also seemed to like and respect him for the most part canonically, so perhaps he's on good terms with all the Schnees in general.
If Ironwood butts heads with the civilian leadership it'd be because he thinks they aren't taking the defense of Atlas sufficiently seriously, and if he decides to get mixed up with the electoral process, Jacques being his old buddy from their Huntsman days & pledging to divert more funding into the military should be his reasons for endorsing the latter. Ironwood's ties to Ozpin and additional leadership figures in the other kingdoms making him the guy they go to first when they need something from Atlas, rather than the Council, could serve as another bone of contention between him & the civilians. He might be inclined toward a sort of military paternalism if the civilian politicians demonstrate themselves to be hopelessly incapable of leading in a crisis, but even then as a stickler for the rules and viewing the military as sworn defenders of the Kingdom of Atlas, he wouldn't be the type to just launch a military coup because he thinks he knows better. Instead he'd prefer working through civilian allies/figureheads like Jacques if he can or, worst comes to worst, having these allies abdicate power to him entirely constitutionally & legally (akin to how Douglas MacArthur can be made an emergency chief executive by Congress & President Hoover in Kaiserreich/Kaiserredux for the HOI4 players), at which point he'd govern as an emergency authority after making an explicit promise to hold new elections & return power to the civilian leadership once the crisis is over.
As far as racial/WF politics goes, I'd favor the position that Ironwood is honestly non-racist and has a purely meritocratic view on the subject. Discriminating against the Faunus gets in the way of combating the Grimm, hurts national stability by giving the Faunus underclass more reason to resent & work against the existing order, and makes it harder to work with capable Faunus; therefore it's bad, simple as. If you're a good and loyal fighter you'd be good in his book, no matter whether you were human or Faunus. This could serve as a point of contention in his otherwise wholly friendly relationship with Jacques, with the latter being made out to be either a genuine racist or someone who panders to racists (both for votes and to avoid having to pay the SDC's Faunus workers much, if at all). He'd have no problem with employing & treating as an equal someone like Neon Katt who's provably an able fighter and can pull their own weight (hell it's not even implied that he has a problem with her canonically!), but would have no tolerance for lawbreaking and terrorism (especially not terrorism aimed at overthrowing his country), thus making him an intractable enemy to the White Fang and all who would help them. His meritocratic approach would also certainly rule out his support for anything resembling reparations, affirmative action or other special treatment for Faunus, no matter how much they grouse about past injustices.
Thus while Weiss likes Ironwood, Blake might well see him as the living avatar of ruthless Atlesian militarism and the hard power that's holding up the unjust system, no matter his personal opinions (if anything, him wanting to remain apolitical would mean he doesn't think it's his place to tell the politicos what to do re: anti-Faunus discrimination, making him even more of a problem to Blake). If a more personal reason for mutual antagonism is needed between them, perhaps Ironwood fought in the war over Menagerie as a younger man, it may have even been his first independent command. Ironically, if Ironwood ever did become Atlas' military dictator, Blake might come to respect him more as he wields his newfound authority to chop through political red tape & grant the Faunus of Mantle equal rights in exchange for their total cooperation in fighting the Grimm (or whatever other threat made it necessary for him to assume emergency powers in the first place), while Weiss would be horrified at what she perceives to be his trampling of constitutional procedures & the rule of law even if she agrees with his aims.
Can't argue with that. People seem to like the Apathy Grimm from V6's Brunswick Farms precisely because of how unique it was. Even if it may be difficult to implement fairytale-themed Grimm everywhere, I think they could at least serve as more intelligent miniboss/lieutenant-type enemies who'd present a greater challenge to the heroes than the 'dire animal'-type fodder from time to time. Honestly, more fairytale allusions outside of the trailers would be nice, though they certainly don't need to go to the lengths of V9 either. Like having Yang be the first to take on the Ursa Major rather than Jaune because it's a bear-type Grimm and she's nominally based on Goldilocks, for example.
