Bumbleby Masterpost

Otherwise known as: Bumbleby is endgame and here's why.

Note: Any time I say one of the girls 'decides' to do something I mean the writers decided. Putting the girls' bunks together, having Yang appear in order to fight Adam, etc.

9/24/2018 Update: Added extra information to the trailers section, images and small scene breakdown to V1C3 section, added an extra little note to V1C5 section, added an extra note to V2C6 section, and Armed and Ready breakdown to the V4 Soundtrack section.

11/04/2018 Update: Added V6 opening sequence and V6C1 information.

11/06/2018 Update: Added speculation information to V4C3 section.

11/18/2018 Update: Added V6C2+C3 information in a double update.

11/24/2018 Update: Added V6C4 information, added information to V2C11, added information to V5C14.

1/9/2018 Update: V6C5 to V6C10 information added. BMBLBible is officially no longer spoiler free.

Trailers/Red Like Roses

As anyone who ships Bumbleby/has eyes and ears knows, Blake and Yang have a very specific set up from the get-go. 'Black the beast descends from shadows / Yellow beauty burns gold' invokes Beauty and the Beast energy, which is interesting since both girls also carry this energy. From Blake's allusion to the meanings behind their names, both girls are Beauty and Beast. They also have two 'roses' that bring them together, Ruby and Adam (thank you kkglinka!!). Both people have rose imagery that surround them. First up is Ruby. Her last name is literally Rose, her motif is a rose, she leaves rose petals, and she's heavily protected by 'the Beast' (Yang), she also originally pairs them up in her trailer song (she and Weiss both get couplets of their own while Blake and Yang share one), and she's the one who fully draws Yang's attention to Blake ("That girl..." "You know her?"). Next is Adam. His motif is a more defined rose, his weapons are wilt and blush, and he's part of the reason Blake originally is the Beast in the dynamic. kkglinka pointed out that the two may be two sides of the same allusion, living rose (Ruby) and dying rose (Adam). Also, in the Yellow Trailer, everyone else's songs come before Yang's and From Shadows is the most borrowed from (source: this post), which is definitely....interesting.

V1C3: The Shining Beacon, Part 2

V1C3 is the first time we see what will be Team RWBY in full interact. We're already seeing Yang's motherly sunny nature in play as she attempts to cool things between Ruby and Weiss. ("Look, uh... It sounds like you two got off on the wrong foot! Why don't you just start over and try to be friends, okay?") We also get this line that is literally never touched on again: Y- It's like a big slumber party!. R- I don't dad would approve of all the boys, though. Y- I know I do. Yang is immediately disgusted after upon seeing Jaune, and quite literally never brings up this attraction again. After a quick pep talk to Ruby, Yang's eyes are immediately drawn over to Blake, (in what is seriously the softest, most romantic lighting ever??) and she's smiles immediately.

(Stills for comparison:

Trying to cheer Ruby up

Noticing the candle being lit

Smiles.

As she drags Ruby over to say hello to Blake, we get to see Yang through Blake's eyes. And we see that Yang is immediately the focus of her attention instead of the struggling Ruby. Yang holds a smirk on her face the entire time she's talking to Blake that mirrors the one she had when she mentioned how much she approved of the boys around.

After Ruby and Yang start fighting (because Yang is an embarrassing older sister), Blake doesn't seem angry or annoyed that they interrupted her reading anymore, she sounds amused and pretty happy as she attempts to say good night ('Well Ruby, Yang, it was a pleasure to-')

V1C5: The First Step, Part 2 and V1C6: The Emerald Forest

In V1C5 and V1C6 we see a parallel between Pyrrha/Jaune and Blake/Yang. Blake and Pyrrha both deliberately choose their partners. Pyrrha straight up pins Jaune to a tree with her spear until she can retrieve him (V1C5) where at 0:40 in V1C6 you can see Blake rush across the screen, following Yang through the forest. Blake waits to reveal herself until she ~~can look cool~~ is able to take out the second Ursa. She then smirks at Yang, to which Yang replies '...I could have taken him.'

(Interesting note: Blake is immediately smiling after being paired with Yang, and we often see her smiling throughout their partnership, far more than we see with RW or even Sun)

V1C7: The Emerald Forest, Part 2

Our heroes finally make it to the ruins where they find the relics which are giant chess pieces (haha,,,foreshadowing :)). As Yang picks up a knight, she turns to Blake and yells 'How about a cute little pony?'. Blake rolls her eyes, smiles, and says 'Sure'.

The girls approach each other and share a smile. 'That wasn't too hard!' 'Well it's not like this place is very difficult to find.'

V1C8: Players and Pieces

As Yang smiles happily at her baby sister finally growing up and making friends, Blake casts a small smile of her own to Yang and asks, 'What is it?' Yang replies with 'nothing' and a larger smile.

As Yang runs off after the rest of the group, Blake hangs back for a second, smiling after her softly, before running after her.

Blake is knocked off the broken bridge by Nora and the Deathstalker and goes flying. She pulls herself up to attack the Nevermore, and after a few quick hits, lands safely and runs to Yang to inform her 'It's tougher than it looks!' Their stances here mirror each other near perfectly. Hip cocked, hands down, leaned slightly forward. I would pass it off as just the models, but Weiss is standing perfectly straight, legs together, hand on her weapon.

V1C9/10: The Badge and The Burden (Part 1 and 2)

We open on a beautiful morning of Ruby blowing a whistle in Weiss' ear and Yang brightly holding a bunch of stuff to decorate the dorm with (including a miniature Akoúo̱ which is so fucking cute sahgfajdhfjk)

Both Yang and Blake are smiling, and as Yang yells 'Decorating!' Blake shifts from smiling/smirking at R+W to smirking fully at Yang.

I'm crying over how cute the decorating montage is so these next few screenshots are gonna be great.

look at how much fun they're having...so cute...we're gonna revisit these screenshots in particular later when we talk about Blacksun.

Is Yang tall or is Blake small??? Who knows, but look at how cute they are like this,,,,

Uh. *ahem* Let's continue. Now this might just be because they're partners, but when RWBY puts together the atrocities they call bunk beds, Yang and Blake (well, the writers) decide to put their beds together. I'm adding it because Yang did have the possibility to share with Ruby, her little sister who she adores, but instead chose to share with Blake, the girl she's known for like...3 days? 2.5?

Remember when I said Yang quite literally never expresses attraction towards men again? Well when Professor Port flirts with her (which...Gross dude. You're as old as her father and she's 17.) Yang openly shows discomfort and mild disgust (and yeah, that could be because he's an adult, but it's still another instance of her being uncomfortable with/disgusted by men.)

V1C13: Forever Fall

We did another little skip because not much went on with the Bees in the last few episodes (because it's a Jaune arc - blegh) Not much happened in this one either, so I only have one real thing of interest.

hm...thats not that interesting...but wait...

huh...I wonder what Blake's looking at?

She is staring right at Yang. Like,,,that's a straight line to Yang.

Wow.

V1C15: The Stray

Otherwise known as Enter: Sun.

Also known as: Weiss Acts Like Her Abuse Justifies Her Discrimination and Yang Has To Remind Her That Blake Is Still Their Teammate.

There's no particularly big Bees moments here, but I did want to add this Chapter to mark the entrance of Sun.

I do have a couple screenshots of Blake quite obviously leaning towards Yang (and Yang leaning towards Blake) during the Penny introduction though.

V1C16: Black and White

(After this we'll get into some soundtrack stuff)

We open where we left The Stray, an outdoor café where Sun and Blake are drinking tea. Sun is already pissing Blake off.

We begin to get a bit of Blake backstory. Yang continues to defend Blake (and act as a mediator between Ruby's relentless 'Blake did nothing wrong' and Weiss' 'Blake is a dangerous criminal').

Y: You really don't care if we find her, do you?

W: Don't be stupid, of course I do. I'm just scared of what she'll say when we find her. The innocent never run, Yang.

S: I stole you some food.

B: Do you always break the law without a second thought?
S: Hey, weren't you in a cult or something?

V1 Soundtrack: Wings

There's gonna be a little bit of stuff from V5 for this

Wings is the finale song from RWBY Volume 1. There's been debate about who the singer is, but the subject is undoubtedly Blake. Many believe that it's Weiss singing (because a line in the song references the 12 hours Weiss and Yang were looking for Blake), but it's more likely Yang singing. Most of Yang's character songs (most notably I Burn, Gold, and Armed and Ready) have flight or soaring imagery (which makes sense because of who her mother and uncle are). Gold's flight imagery is in support of Ruby, just as it is in Wings. Also, as Blake and Yang's eyes meet again in V5, there is a sped up instrumental of Wings in the background, and references to Wings in All That Matters, which is also a Yang song. Weiss didn't care at the end of V1, where Yang was still understanding and concerned.

Wings:

"Patience,

Is hard to find,
Shadows
Seem to fill your life..."

"Dry your eyes now baby,
Broken wings won't hold you down
You'll take flight soon baby..."

All That Matters:
"Thought that I could pull you from the shadows

Maybe help you find your wings and fly

But you're a path the longer that I travel..."

V2C1: Best Day Ever

Fun fact about V2C1: at 4:38 Yang catches a cherry in her mouth and she's supposed to pull the knotted stem out of her mouth and show it to Blake. You can actually see the motion begin at minute mark 4:54 before Yang says 'I like to kick my semesters off with a Yang!'

credit to: almea on tumblr for the gif!!

A lot of screenshots I have from this one are better to come into play at a later time when we start discussing Blacksun.

V2C2: Welcome to Beacon

Glynda is a lesbian.

Also I think these screenshots speak for themselves:

Yang, loudly proclaiming 'I love it when you're feisty!' while pointing at Blake, and Blake looking shocked, and then softly smiling at her.

V2C4: Painting the Town...

13:36, Blake cries out "Yang!" as Torchwick slams Yang through a concrete pillar.

Team Attack Bumblebee is used.

V2C5: Extracurricular

I'm just gonna give y'all screenshots with the subtitles on and a quick description of what's happening for this.

Yang takes the lead on this, using a gentle tone she tries to get Blake to understand they're just worried about her.

Weiss brings up how Blake's grades are suffering from her lack of concentration from her lack of sleep and Blake reacts harshly, citing 'People's lives are at stake!'

Yang gently reaches out and pushes Blake's hand down with a concerned expression.

V2C6: Burning the Candle

Ruby is understandably upset that Blake refuses to go to the dance. Yang just smirks and says 'Don't worry, she's going'.

Sun and Neptune show up and Sun mentions how Vacuo 'isn't really a suit-and-tie kinda place' to which Yang responds, with a bored/annoyed look 'yeah, we've noticed'.

Sun also goes on to ask if Blake is still being all 'Blake-y' which is supposed to mean 'moody/antisocial/quiet/snappish' when in reality Blake is almost...none of those things. From her first day with Yang, Blake has generally been smiling and laughing and having fun. Examples:

Yang once again repeats the sentiment that Blake will be going to the dance, even more confidently.

Yang pulls Blake from the library and tells her about Summer and Raven, two people that I don't think Yang likes to talk about much. The talk ends in Yang hugging Blake tightly and asking her to just get some rest. As she begins to walk away she says 'And if you feel like coming out tomorrow, I'll save you a dance' and she WINKS. She fucking WINKS. As if there wasn't enough innuendo in 'coming out' jesus christ.

"I'll save you a dance"

In the Volume 2 Commentary Gray says that Blake is sunnier for Yang being around her, and that the lighting of the scene (Yang in a beam of sunlight, Blake staying in the shadows) was very intentional. Monty even said that he wanted to use a scene like this again with them, in a more extreme fashion.

When Blake walks over to Sun and he asks if that means they're going together, Blake says 'technically. But my first dance is spoken for.' Yang never said she would be Blake's first dance, or even that they had to dance at all. All she promised was that if Blake wanted one, she could have one. Blake also says she and Sun are only technically going together, which is a weird thing to say to someone if you're actively interested in them. Also, historically, first dances are romantic. If someone is your first dance it generally means y'all are together (weddings, anyone?).

There's also so much fucking colour symbolism with these two. Blake's eyes are yellow like Yang's base colour and her aura, where Yang's eyes are purple (a colour strongly associated with Blake in her leggings and eyeshadow) like Blake's (presumed) aura. Yang wears a purple bandana around her leg, and even has purple in her V2 alt outfit. Their dresses are black and white which lends into their yin/yang symbolism as well.

After Blake and Yang's dance, Yang passes her off to Sun, but Blake continues to look at Yang even as she and Sun dance. Yang also doesn't dance with anyone else after Blake, nor do we see her dance with anyone before her dance with Blake.

V2C9: Search and Destroy

As Oobleck tells Weiss about the Southeast quadrant of Vale, he mentions it is the site of one of the Kingdoms' failures. Ruby chimes in with "Mountain Glenn." and Yang gives a brief explanation, which has Blake watching her, and she continues to even as Oobleck takes over the conversation.

V2C10: Mountain Glenn

(I just think this is interesting: Blake lies curls on her side with her arms out, as though she's trying to hold something. Yang sleeps lying on her back, one arm above her head and one over her stomach like she's holding someone/something as well.)

Look:

Take that as you will.

When Blake expresses doubt in herself and what she can do after graduation, Yang jumps in softly and says "I'm sure you'll figure it out. You're not one to back down from a challenge, Blake."

B: But I am! I do it all the time! When you learned I was a Faunus, I didn't know what to do so I ran! When I realized my oldest partner had become a monster, I ran! Even my semblance. I was born with the ability to leave behind a shadow of myself, an empty copy that takes the hit while I run away.

Y: At least you two have something that drives you. I've always just gone with the flow, you know? And that's fine, I mean, that's who I am. But how long can I really do that for? I wanna be a Huntress, not really because I wanna be a hero, but because I want the adventure.

Yang attempts to make Blake feel better about not knowing how she'll save the day after they all graduate, and when it doesn't work, she simply cites that 'at least you have something that drives you' showing a bit of vulnerability we don't see her display much. Yang is usually all confident 'I know what I'm doing with my life and I know why I wanna be a Huntress' but in this moment she confesses she's only in it for the adventure.

V2C11: No Brakes

Enter: Raven

No Brakes introduces us to Raven, Yang's mother, who we will realize in later volumes, Blake parallels heavily. Not much else goes on in this once, but once again: I wanted a bookmark of when Raven shows up, much like with Sun.

Blake has apparently always had a minor habit of watching Yang :)

V2C12: Breach

After a battle with the Grimm that have been let loose in Vale, Blake and Yang share a smile, while Ruby and Weiss are looking at each other, before they all look at one another.

V2 Soundtrack: Shine

Something people have noticed is that Pyrrha/Jaune and Blake/Yang parallel each other through the series, including the ambiguous Shine. It plays during the dance arc as Team JNPR dances together, which makes most think it is a Jaune/Pyrrha song.

I was cold in the dark
It was empty in my life
From the outside it looked so bright
But nothing felt right... to me

This sounds more like Pyrrha singing. As she confesses to Jaune, her life as a tournament champion is a lot more lonely and cold than most people assume.

Like a sky with no sun
Like a night that has no day
My heart was eclipsed by the dark
Then something changed

This is more of a Blake verse. Blake is often seen as the 'night' with there even being a song on the V4 soundtrack Like Morning Follows Night marking her as such. Yang's name is literally translated to 'Sunny Dragon'. Blake's own views were eclipsed by what the White Fang and Adam taught her, but then she changed.

I saw a little ray of light come through

The tiniest of sparks came into view

And then

You made me hope again

This can be either girl -- Both Yang and Jaune came into their lives and sparked something inside them. Also, interestingly enough Shine also falls in line with Ren and Nora's own dynamic. Whether it's just that ambiguous or it's purposeful to line up with the three pairings is up to interpretation . But it would be good to mention that of the three partner pairings that has one partner purposefully searching out the other (Nora with her sloth call, Pyrrha spearing Jaune to a tree until she could retrieve him, and Blake following Yang through the woods), two are explicitly romantic, while the third (Blake/Yang) is implicitly romantic.

V3C1: Round One

So we're finally at V3 which broke me into 7 billion little pieces at the tender age of 14. Get ready y'all.

Yang + Blake team attack again....Thank the gods.

Also Blake literally jumps with joy when Yang turns around to look at her after she lands the winning blow.

This isn't exactly a 'Bumbleby moment' but I adore the way Yang smiles at Blake here

V3C2: New Challengers

When Blake is asked what's up with Neptune, she mumbles 'oh no...' and looks immediately to Yang to explain 'Neptune's....afraid of the water...' which also draws attention to the fact that, even though the girls walked into the arena in a Yang-Ruby-Weiss-Blake pattern, they still sat together as in next to each other. This also isn't the first instance of them choosing to be next to one another, instead of someone else. (And we know it's not just because they enjoy standing in their team name order, since we've seen them walk places on opposite sides of R/W)

V3C6: Fall

After Yang wins her match against Mercury, Blake practically jumps out of her seat to clap and cheer (here), while Ruby and Weiss remain seated.

We can also see Sun's teammate, Sage, on Blake's other side, which means the rest of team SSSN is probably there as well, and Blake still chose to sit with her team instead of Sun.

V3C8: Destiny

The entire time Ironwood is explaining the situation of Yang's disqualification and the reasons behind it, even though we as viewers know she's innocent, Blake is already curling into herself and refusing to meet Yang's eyes. After Ironwood leaves Yang asks "You guys believe me...right?"

Blake is turned away, eyes to the floor.

Ruby and Weiss are immediately jumping in to say 'yes.' R- Duh! W- You're hotheaded, but not ruthless. Blake is silent, still looking away. Yang says her name in a tiny voice, looking close to breaking.

Blake drops her head and eyes.

She looks up slightly, but keeps her neck bent and her hair in her face. She says "I want to believe you," while trying to protect herself.

Yang begins to tear up, her voice breaking as she says her name again.

Hearing Blake says she wants to believe Yang, and therefore implying that she can't, brings Yang to tears.

Blake looks up upon hearing Yang's voice break, but breaks the gaze, steeling herself against what she might be interpreting as emotional manipulation.

Weiss stands up for Yang, "How could you say something like that?! Yang would never lie to us." Blake looks up at her, sighs, and turns back to Yang. She still has her head angled down, and she drops her gaze entirely as she begins to talk about Adam, directly paralleling him and Yang.

"I had someone...very dear to me change. It wasn't in an instant, it was gradual. Little choices that began to pile up. He told me not to worry. At first they were accidents, then it was self-defense, and before long even I began to think he was right. This is all just very...familiar."

At this point Yang looks up at her, crying.

Blake continues. "But you're not him. And you've never done anything like this before. So...I want to trust you. I will trust you. But first, I need you to look me in the eyes and tell me that he attacked you. I need you to promise me that you regret having to do what you did."

Yang wipes her face, and looks Blake in the eyes. "I saw him attack me, so I attacked back." Blake looks down, and smiles.

"Okay."

I'd also like to mention that there's a very specific way that they frame Blake in this scene. The camera angle over the shoulder they use here is one they use to show one character's perspective of another. The way we see Blake in this scene, is the way Yang is seeing Blake.

V3C10: Battle of Beacon

Yang calls Blake as Blake and Weiss are running through the fairgrounds, taking in the damage. Yang asks if they know where Ruby is and when Blake tells her they don't she immediately tries to comfort her. "She's our leader, she can take care of herself." Yang agrees and continues her way through the dorm halls. She tells B/W to be careful as the White Fang are releasing Grimm into the school. Blake reacts badly 'The White Fang are here?!' and then we hear the sounds of Grimm snarling at Yang. Blake cries out her name, fear colouring her voice.

Yang then tells her 'I've gotta go' and ends the call.

And Blake's face drops further, pulling her Scroll up to her face like she wants to say something else. She slowly lowers her scroll, hanging her head, and bringing her shoulders up.

Weiss asks her what they're going to do, and Blake looks away for a moment.

She then pulls her Scroll back up and tells Weiss they're going to the docks and they're going to do their jobs, voice shaking.

Blake and Weiss split up, and Blake immediately runs into Adam.

V3C11: Heroes and Monsters

Yang meets up with Weiss and asks about Ruby and Blake. Weiss tells her Blake went after a Grimm and some White Fang members. Yang tells her to go look for Ruby while she meets up with Blake, and takes off to find her. *cough cough* while Sun was standing right there and didn't even bother to follow Yang or offer to go after Blake himself so Yang could find her sister.

We flash to Pyrrha and Jaune and Ozpin for a few minutes and then go back to Blake and Adam. Blake is terrified, barely fighting back. Adam crouches in front of her and tells her 'I will make it my mission to destroy everything you love.' Which is basically Adam casting 'summon love interest', y'all. We then hear Yang calling for Blake. Adam and Blake turn to see Yang running up and taking out some of his men, still calling out for her partner.

Please note the absolute terror on Blake's face as she looks for Yang.

The desperation on Yang's face as she looks for Blake.

Adam turns back to Blake and his mouth parts in shock as he sees her fear.

He looks back to where Yang is, and says 'starting with her'.

It is very deliberate how they use the word love here. Miles/Kerry/Gray could have written it as 'everything you care about' or some similar phrase, but they used 'love', and they had Adam acknowledge Blake's love for Yang and, in turn, Yang's love for Blake.

Adam stabs Blake through the stomach with his sword, causing her to scream, and catching Yang's attention.

Yang screams 'get AWAY FROM HER!' while sliding into an offensive position, eyes starting to turn red

Blake reaches a hand for Yang and begs, "No...please..."

Yang's semblance activates, and she flings herself towards Adam, eyes like fire and filled with tears.

Adam cuts off Yang's arm, and sends her slamming to the floor.

He begins to advance on her, presumably to finish her off. Blake jumps in front of her, practically snarling at him.

He sighs and asks her "Why must you hurt me so, Blake?", and in a move that surprised most of us, tries to cut her head off.

Luckily it's just a shadow clone, but as a few have pointed out, Blake also made a copy of Yang here. It wasn't just a clone of Blake, or else the escape wouldn't have worked as she carried Yang out of the cafeteria.

Blake carried an unconscious Yang, who is quite a bit bigger than her, out of a Grimm infested war zone with a serious abdominal wound.

V3C12: End of the Beginning

Ruby runs up to Weiss and asks her what's going on. Weiss steps out of the way to reveal an injured Yang and Blake on the ground. Blake reaches out and grabs her unconscious partner's hand (and therefore putting strain on her own wound) and crying 'I'm sorry. I'm so sorry'. She even curls in on herself, but refuses to let go of Yang's hand.

We have a little bit of a time skip, where we find Ruby waking up in her bed in Patch. She and Qrow have a little talk (that isn't important I'm honestly just recapping), and then she heads into Yang's room. At first Yang isn't responding, and Ruby turns to go. Yang's eyes are darker purple than they've ever been (and while this could be an animation error...I kind of doubt it.) and when she turns to see Ruby, she begins to cry.

Ruby cries out 'I'm so glad you're okay!' to which Yang responds 'But I'm not...It's all gone...The school...Penny....Pyrhha....and-' she cuts herself off, unable to say Blake's name. Ruby asks her 'Yang. Where are Weiss and Blake?' Yang explains where Weiss is. At first she says nothing about Blake until Ruby starts to ask again. She angrily says 'and Blake ran! Sun saw her go. After we got to the city...she just ran!' Ruby asks 'but...Why?!'

Yang looks up at her, voice breaking. "I don't know..." Her mouth quivers for a second, expression broken, before she hardens her face and tone. "And I don't care." She turns her face away.

Ruby begins to say "there has to be a reason why-" before Yang cuts in angrily "no there doesn't! sometimes bad things just happen Ruby."

"What do we do now?"

"You can do whatever you want. I'm gonna lie here."

This is such a big difference from the Yang we know. Blake's leaving has destroyed her. Yang assumed Blake would stay because of their shared trauma at the hands of Adam, so waking up to hear that Blake left before Yang ever regained consciousness must have been the worst blow ever dealt.

So there's really not much actual Bees content in V4, but I do want to include all interpretations and theories from people about this volume, since I don't want to just do the soundtrack and then jump into V5.

V4 Opening Sequence

In the V4 opening sequence, we see Blake standing with her family, she smiles softly but then looks longingly to the side...where we see Yang's portion of the opening come from. This could be absolutely nothing...but we don't see Ruby OR Weiss do this.

(gif credit: yangonfire)

V4C3: Of Runaways and Stowaways

Alright, so there is a specific scene a few minutes into this episode where Yang looks at a pile of books (heavily associated with Blake) before deciding to watch T.V. instead. Some people have interpreted this as Yang shutting out things related to Blake in favour of something mindless, like television.

There's also something to be said about how in all of Yang's outfits (except for her dance outfit, pajamas, and school uniform) she has some sort of purple accenting. Including her V4 alt (pictured above).

Her hair tie is purple!

Tumblr user somewhatcharred pointed out that later in this episode is Blake (and Sun's) fight against the water dragon Grimm, which bears the same visual aesthetic of a Chinese dragon. I'm gonna copy my answer to their question (of whether I think that the fact that Blake's first fight of the season was against a Chinese dragon had any significance like Yang turning away from the books).

So, first things first, we (as the audience) know Blake is running to her parents, and away from Yang. To me, the fact that her first enemy of the season is (visually) a Chinese Dragon and we know that Yang’s name translated is ‘Sunny Dragon’ is pretty interesting. Just like people speculate that Yang turning away from something heavily attributed to Blake (books) is significant, this could also be speculated.

As we know, Blake has some inner demons. At the beginning of Volume 4, what happened to Yang is definitely one of them. The entire fight could be an allegory for Blake’s struggle with the idea of Yang, the fight with Adam, etc. I think a verrrry interesting part though...Is Sun. If the Water Dragon is an allegory for Yang, then it becomes...Sun butting in where he isn’t needed, nor wanted. Blake is fighting her inner demons, wrangling her emotions, trying to come to terms with exactly what happened that night because even though it’s been eight months she still is worried that Adam is following her or Yang is going to be hurt again and Sun is...playing around.

“YOU’RE not supposed to BE here!”

“Yeah? Well it looks like you can use all the help you can get!”

“Ugh! Just shut up and fight!”

Blake is extremely annoyed with the fact that Sun isn’t taking this seriously (as he seldom does!) and tells him to ‘just shut up and fight’, which...has never happened before? She never yells at teammates to ‘shut up and fight’?? Blake is tense, she’s annoyed, she’s scared, and visually? She’s fighting Yang. Or at least something that symbolises Yang.

Also uh:

Bi flag.

Then we get another example of Sun jumping in when Blake doesn’t need him to.

Also...I think it’s pretty funny that in Like Morning Follows Night one of the lines is “One thing I won’t do/Is let you go alone to face the fight” when Sun literally sends Blake in alone to cut the dragon’s wings.

Another allegory for Yang, mayhaps??? And I say that because so much of Yang’s imagery in her songs has to do with flight and her name literally means "Little Sun Dragon" and now Blake is clipping a dragon’s wings.

V4C4: Family

Yang angrily asks her father if he wants her to just pretend nothing happened. She gestures to her arm and says 'I lost a part of me', but something in her tone makes a lot of people think she's not just talking about her arm, especially with her follow-up 'a piece of me is gone, and it's never coming back'.

At this point in time, it seems like Blake isn't coming back, much like Yang's arm. Say I'm reaching all you want, but you can't deny Yang's abandonment issues probably weren't helped by Blake's running (even if it was necessary for Blake's own healing process.)

V4C8: A Much Needed Talk

Blake begins to broach the subject of Team RWBY and why Blake left Vale with Ghira, but is interrupted by Sun.

V4C11: Taking Control

After Sun gets hurt in C10, he wakes up in the Belladonna household, and Blake begins to speak.

"This is why Sun. This is why I left them all behind. [...] I am done seeing my friends hurt because of me."

"Blake.."

"Shut up! Do you think I like being alone? Every day...Every day I think about them. Ruby...Weiss...*voice breaking* Yang. They were my friends, I loved them like I never thought I could love anybody...and I hope they hate me for leaving."

"You don't mean that."

"Yes I do! Everyone thinks they can help me, but they can't. You saw Ilia last night, and she's not even the worst! No...No more. They're better off without me. I made my choices, and I'll deal with the consequences, because they belong to me."

"You think you're being selfless but you're not. Yeah, your chameleon friend got me pretty good, but I'd do it all again if it mean protecting you. And I can promise...Yang would say the same. You can make your own choices, sure, but you don't get to make ours. When your friends fight for you, it's because we want to. So stop pushing us out."

V4 Soundtrack

BMBLB - Literally a love song using Blake and Yang's ship name where the singer refers to the subject as 'baby', talks about living in a 'garden of ecstasy', and kissing the subject. Like, do I actually need to break it down for you?

I do have to mention that there is dubious canonicity to this song, as it was said to be a non-canon song, slipped in by Jeff before the release. It's still a fun song, and should be mentioned as it's on an official album. (And if I'm correct about certain patterns, might just be used in the series.)

Armed and Ready - While hotly debated, Yang opens the song singing about the night Adam took her arm. The full breakdown of the opening verses:
It happens every night
I watch my world ignite - Every night Yang relives the trauma of that night. Blake being hurt, losing her arm, and losing her school, hinting at some pretty bad PTSD.
But there's no waking from this nightmare - There's no way for Yang to wake from this 'nightmare' as it's now her reality. That night happened, and Yang lost a part of herself.
The stage is always set
The place I can't forget
The hidden eyes that I can feel there... - As we see in the dream sequence, Yang's nightmare mainly revolves around Adam, who has hidden eyes.

My eyes are open wide
I'm racing to her side
There's nothing that I won't do for her - In the moment, all Yang can think about is getting to Blake. She rushes in, eyes open wide, tears spilling down her face, because Blake is hurt and she needs to get her away from this person hurting her. This has been debated in the FNDM as referring to Ruby, as generally finale songs somehow foreshadow the next season. Armed and Ready does foreshadow Yang's development, but in a verse about her trauma, it doesn't make sense that she would be talking about Ruby. When we see her at the end of V4 she isn't rushing to Ruby at all, and instead says 'You're gonna be in so much trouble when I find you'.
But this is not a dream
My mind repeats the scene
I can't forget it and it's torture! - Once again, the subject of debate amongst fans. I've actually had people tell me that this part means that Yang is talking about Ruby, but to me it sounds like Yang understands that that night wasn't a dream or a nightmare, but was in fact real and not something she can just wake up from and forget.

New Outfits

This is just to point out that Yang's new outfit (which is uhhhh Big Sexy i love her) once again has a purple accent. As tumblr user rwby-hive pointed out, Yang wears a purple bandana around her knee. In some places in modern culture, wearing a bandana around the knee is a popular way of showing that you're part of the LGBT community. Generally you wear a colour that corresponds to your gender/sexual identity, and purple has been associated with the community for a long time. Sappho (a big lesbian poet from ancient Greece) wrote poems about giving her lovers violets, which are still associated with lesbian courting. Feminists of the 1960s/70s complained about 'the Lavender Menace' which is a group of radical lesbian feminists. The purple stripe in the rainbow flag that is used today represents the spirit of the community.

Not only does purple have a longstanding association with the LGBT commnuity, but as time has gone one, the purple Yang accents with has grown closer to the purple associated with Blake. So uh...do with that what you will. Blake also has incorporated Yang's gold into her own outfit with the buttons on her jacket, the buckle and holes on her belts, and on her boots. (I think tumblr user sir-adamus pointed this out?)

V5C5: A Necessary Sacrifice

Tbh if last volume's conversation between Sun and Blake was sexy (don't question me on this y'all know its true) THIS ONE IS EVEN BETTER I LOVE SEEING BLAKE OPEN UP TO SUN I LOVE THEIR FRIENDSHIP ITS SUCH A GOOD BROTP JFHJFHJHCWJHF.

*ahem* continuing on. Blake begins to explain to Sun how, after getting to know each of RW_Y, she began to think of them as certain words. Ruby is purity, Weiss is defiance, and Yang is strength. She then tells Sun that his word is leaning towards earnest (which...in my opinion is a good word for him.) As Blake begins to tell Sun about how she thought Adam was justice, then passion, and then came to realize he was spite, we get a From Shadows leitmotif. "Not hatred, not rage, spite."

Which actually brings me back to Yang's parallel to Adam. Right in the narrative, they are compared, paralleled, and pitted against one another. Blake's original words for him could even be paralleled to Yang's. You can't be strong without passion, and you can't have justice without strength. Blake was so afraid that Yang would change from strength to spite or rage that she closed herself off. Please check out this post from yangingaround on tumblr that talks about Yang's foils in the series.

There's also parallels between Ilia and Sun, thought more implicit than Yang and Adam. I can't see these as simple coincidence, not after the way that the Yang v Adam was framed as 'new lover v ex-lover' and Ilia v Sun is framed as 'friend v ex friend'. Blake even says that she wants to help Ilia in the way Sun helped her, "by being there for a friend even if they don't want you to be," which is another instance of Sun being referred to as only a friend.

V5C8: Alone Together

R- "I just wish Blake could be here with us..."

Y- "Yeah, well. She made her choice."

W- "What's that supposed to mean?"

Y- "I mean, she could have been here if she'd just stuck around. It's no big deal though. We'll be fine."

R- "Don't you want her here?"

Y- "Why would I want her here?"

R- "Are you...still mad at her for leaving?"

Y- "Oh, whatever gave you that idea, Ruby? No, I'm totally fine, I'm great."

W- "Okay, calm down."

Y- "DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!"

I need you guys to look at Yang's eyes here. When I first watched the episode, I didn't notice, but after someone pointed it out to me, I definitely did. Every other time Yang's eyes have turned red this season, they've been a steady shade:

And these are in all different lightings, but her eyes have stayed a steady shade. But here, where she claims she's angry at Blake, and is therefore angry at Ruby and Weiss for bringing her up?

They're different. It's almost as though she's forcing herself to react in this way, but she just can't muster all the anger she needs. She's not angry at Blake, she's tired, she's sad.

She gets up and walks away, still keeping up her flippant act. Next scene we get with her, she's holding a picture of Team RWBY and it almost looks like she's stroking her thumb over Blake's image.

(gif credit: hammertime?)

She hears a knock at the door and looks almost guilty, before putting the picture away and
saying 'Yeah?'

Weiss opens the door and Yang, assuming it's Ruby, tells her she doesn't want to talk about 'it' and asks her to leave her alone.

When she looks up and sees Weiss, she's kind of stunned. Weiss looks shocked too, as thought Yang brushing Ruby off like that isn't something she'd ever expect.

Weiss walks in silently. She sits on the bed across from Yang and Yang wipes her face and sighs.

"I know she's our teammate. But I'm not just going to change my mind. I'm sorry, I just...I don't think you know what it's like to be left. You have a giant family. Recitals to perform at, dinners to attend! I didn't have any of that. My mom left me, Ruby's mom left, too. Tai was always busy with school, and Ruby couldn't even talk yet. I had to pick up the pieces. I had to keep things together. Alone."

Weiss remains silent.

"Weiss, if you have something to say, then say it."

"When I was 10, my dad finally admitted to my mom that the only reason he married her was for the family name. It was actually on my birthday. He missed the big dinner. She got mad. He finally snapped. I think she already knew. Looking back, I think I knew too. But, hearing him say it finally pushed her over the edge. First, it was separate lunches and dinners, opposite balconies at my recitals. A glass of wine here, a glass of wine there. Then, it was no dinners, no recitals, a bottle of wine here, and well, you get the idea."

"I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have assumed."

"You're right though. I don't know loneliness like you do. I have my own version. And...I'll bet Blake has her own version, too."

"She doesn't have to be alone though. I was here for her, we all were. She chose to leave us.

"Why do you think she did that?"

"Hmm?"

"The entire time Blake was at Beacon, she was afraid to open up to people. She tried to keep her past separated from us. She tried to protect us. Eventually, those walls she put up came down. And the moment they did, the one thing she was afraid of actually happened. The universe proved her right."

"No one blamed her for anything! If she had just talked to us, she would have known that! How could I be there for her if she doesn't let me?"

"What if I needed her here for me?"

"I know it's not easy. I wish she hadn't left too. The only thing we can do now is be there for her when she's ready. When she comes back."

"If she comes back."

"She will. Yang. You, Ruby, and even Blake are more like family to me than my brother or even my own father. I would do anything for you three, and I'm willing to bet Blake feels the same way. So, when she's ready, I'll be there for her. And I know we're not as close, but...I'm here for you too."

We then cut to Blake in Menagerie, meeting with Ilia.

"I was always jealous of the way you looked at [Adam]..."

"I wanted you to look at me that way..."

"But we can't always get what we want."

Interesting that we get our first canon LGBT character in the same episode where we have Yang break down over Blake...And that our first canon LGBT character has colour changing eyes...just like Someone Else....(Also...Ilia is Blake's friend with unrequited love for Blake while Blake fell in love with somebody else...Sun is Blake's friend...finish the fucking sentence Roosterteeth.)

V5C13: Downfall

OUR GIRLS ARE BACK TOGETHER HALLELUJAH!!

Blake runs into Haven and is first seen by Weiss, who gasps. Quickly she's also spotted by Yang, who wears and expression we've never seen before. As their eyes meet/Blake says Yang's name a sped up instrumental version of Wings is played. (Source: sir-adamus)

(gif credit: hammertime)

Yang's face here is almost...disbelieving? She didn't expect Blake to come back, she didn't even let herself hope. But here she is, standing in front of her, saying her name. Blake came back.

Before Yang can hesitate anymore, Ruby calls her name and tells her to go. Yang runs toward the opening to the vault, and Emerald and Mercury attempt to stop her. Yang's eyes are shown as red after Mercury grabs her and some people think she's angry at Blake, but...that's not the case.

Right after she starts running for the vault. Still purple.

Dodging Emerald. Still purple.

Mercury grabbing her. Red.

Back to purple.

V5C14: Haven's Fate

Remember how Blake said that Yang was her personification of strength?

Raven tells Yang 'I'm strong enough to do what others won't!' She looks shocked when Yang tells her 'Oh, shut up! You don't know the first thing about strength! You turn your back on people, you run away when things get too hard. You put others in harm's way instead of yourself. You might be powerful...but that doesn't make you strong.' Yang is showing us that Blake is right, that Yang is strong and not in the way Raven perceives strength, but in the way that she knows herself to be.

Honestly the whole exchange between Yang and Raven is powerful, and honestly makes me think she isn't just talking to Raven. Remember how I mentioned Raven and Blake parallel each other? Well here it is. Raven is a coward, she'll do anything to survive and even allow her own daughter to take the target from her back. But there's something Yang says, "you run away when things get too hard," which is something Blake says about herself in Volume 2, and is something Yang probably imagined throwing in her face in the early days of her trauma when she was actually angry at Blake. Both women abandoned Yang, both use katana-esque swords, both have a penchant for running away, and both Yang can't help but love (of course, Yang's love for Raven is entirely speculation).

After Yang gets the relic, she rises to the ground floor and balcony of Haven once more. She smiles at everyone and then turns and looks directly at Blake.

(gif credit: hammertime)

Blake smiles up at her, glances away, and then looks back to Yang, smiling.

After a quick, heartfelt moment with her family, Sun spins Blake around to see Yang descending the staircase and the rest of her friends standing together.

(gif credit: bec-bec-becka)

Yang tells Qrow that when she got to the Vault Cinder and Raven were gone and Vernal was dead. Ruby stumbles and falls, prompting Weiss to ask if she's alright. Blake walks up, ears kind of down, but a small smile on her face.

Yang walks in front of her, making her lean back in surprise.

"So Blake...What are you doing here?"

"I...I was gonna ask you three the same thing."

"That's...a looong story."

"Well...I'm not going anywhere."

"That's all that matters. That we're all here together...right?" At this point Ruby looks at Yang, and Yang refuses to make eye contact with Blake. She's still hurting, and isn't sure if she should trust that Blake is going to stick around (which parallels the team discussion in V3C8: Destiny).

Blake's ears go down, and she says nothing, patiently waiting for Yang's judgement.

Yang stares at her, the slowly nods and smiles. "Yeah."

Blake looks up in surprise, she isn't expecting Yang to agree.

Weiss holds out her arm to pull Blake into a hug and Blake rushes forward, smiling.

She drops to her knees and is accepted into the group hug, while the camera keeps the focus on Blake and Yang.

Such a tender smile....

V5 Soundtrack

All That Matters: A song from Yang's perspective about Blake. I will do a lyrical breakdown for this one, just because there are a lot of people who are still trying to debate who this song is about even thought Casey said in a reaction to the album it is from Yang to Blake.

Never thought that you would stay forver

Never asked you to commit your life

But I can tell you in my heart I never,

Thought you'd up and leave me

Without a trace to lead me - Yang never thought Blake would stay, she never asked her to stick around forever, she just thought that Blake would maybe stick around for a little while. Or would at least leave her a way to find her, something to tell her she was okay.

And now you're standing here

With that look in your eyes

The look that makes me hope I'll just believe your lies - Just as Yang has completely given up hope that Blake might come back (You can't expect me to believe Yang didn't have some hope there at the beginning), Blake reappears, calls out her name. She's standing right in front of Yang, silently begging her to let her back in.

You're lost

You're found

You're hard to pin down

I never know if you'll come through

Then you appear

Together we're here

And that's all that matters somehow - Blake is often 'lost' throughout the series. She's referred to as 'The Stray' and a runaway. She's hard for Yang to 'pin down' and keep. Suddenly she's back in Yang's life and Yang decides to trust her, like Blake trusted her in V3, and that's all that matters.

Thought that I could pull you from the shadows

Maybe help you find your wings and fly - Yang is under the assumption she couldn't do anything to help Blake, and that's why she ran.

But you're a path the longer that I travel

The more I'm just defeated

My past mistakes repeated

I'll risk it once again to have you near my side

Another chance to let you just destroy my pride - Yang is forcing herself to trust Blake, to continue traveling her path, even if it ends up with Yang hurt again.

[Chorus]

I feel like I'm running out of energy

While you just take everything in stride

The way I feel

To you it's no big deal

It's sad but it's true

That the one thing I can count on

Is that I can't count on you - Yang still feels as though how she feels doesn't matter to Blake. She thinks that Blake ran because she doesn't care, and that she can't count on Blake being there anymore.

V6 Opening Sequence

So generally I would jump into this with the first episode of the season, but I also wanna talk about that goddamn opening sequence!!!

Ruby and Weiss run by Blake and Yang, who are sitting quite closely on the same side of a table. Blake has a sort of indulgent smile on her face, happy to see them acting like, well, friends? Kids? Partners? Yang on the other hand looks, grumpy? And almost longing? While Ruby and Weiss have just kinda slid back into be partners, Blake and Yang have a lot to
work through and talk about.

Yang then turns to look out the window and Blake's gaze drops to the ground, and her smile starts to fall.

Blake's smile is completely gone now as she turns to look at Yang instead.

And then we get this shot, both girls looking toward the window, and an image of Adam appears (which means that we'll probably get some Bees v Adam centered conflict this volume!!!!!)

Also:

Renora is cannon king 💕💕💕💕💕💕

V6C1: Argus Limited

We got so much bee content!! (and Renora content too which is important, y'all, considering Renora is another partner-pair that one specifically chose the other and is explicitly romantic) ((I also just love Renora))

(gif credit: bargalaxies)

So, first thing into Volume 6 we get Blake and Yang using Bumblebee once again! They seem to easily fall into the fight, almost as though they haven't been apart for ~1 year. Blake and Yang, while still needing to really sit down and talk, still trust each other completely. Blake has no qualms about throwing Yang Gambol Shroud, and Yang has no issues catching it and going through with their attack. After a year apart the girls are still able to fight side by side without any screw ups (unlike Blake and Sun who were literally jumping all over each other and messing up). Yang even makes a little quip ("Good to see you're not rusty!") and smirks after.

This lingering shot of a gold dragon intertwined with a black dragon. Not to reach but... c'mon.

[The adventures of Yang (a known lesbian) having to deal with men. Like...how much more disgusted can she be right now.]

(gif credit: almea)

Ruby says that it's time for some team bonding, and asks who wants to play video games. Blake stares out the window, evidently not much one for video games. Yang speaks up and Blake immediately reacts, looking over up at Yang and then following her with her eyes.

(gif credit: bargalaxies)

Now Blake rushes to help Yang grab her bag, something that in Yang's eyes is completely unnecessary. Yang says as much and Blake immediately drops. Blake is trying hard to be supportive, but she's overcompensating. All she really has to go off of is an abusive relationship, and her parents to some degree (even though she probably left home around age ~12-14 and has only been back around them for a few weeks). She understands that Yang is still (rightfully) upset and is trying to preemptively please her, which is conditioning from her relationship with Adam. This scene may actually be a better contrast between Tauradonna and Bumbleby than the V3C8 Dorm Scene.

A Grimm attack starts and Qrow tells the girls to grab their weapons. Yang and Blake look to each other (while Ruby and Weiss both look towards Blake and Yang) before Blake nods and they run off after him.

(gif credit: almea)

Another example of Blake's hyperawareness of Yang.

Ruby tells Blake to cut the end of the train to protect the passengers and Blake looks up to see Adam standing on the end of the train, with a hood on. This is interesting for two reasons: 1) the creators haven't forgotten about Blake's own trauma, which means we'll probably touch on it this season, and 2) Adam wearing a hood carries echoes of Sun doing the same thing. So uh, for people who say Sun pulling that shit didn't aggravate Blake's PTSD and make her panic...here's proof that it did exactly that.

After, Blake and Yang once again work together to take down a Manticore Grimm, along with Weiss, Ruby, and Qrow.

V6C2: Uncovered and V6C3: The Lost Fable

So this one is a double update, because in Uncovered most of the moments were very subtle (the way Yang yells Blake's name after revealing Jinn for one) and in The Lost Fable it's a lot of symbolism stuff that's mainly speculation.

Alright so first uh,,,,,Salem and Ozma sexey.

Uncovered bees moments:

Blake is definitely looking at Yang but is Yang looking at Blake?? I think so.

More Blake staring at Yang.

Blake is watching Yang and slowly walking closer to her.

As Yang goes to ask Ozpin something (probably "Why does it matter who holds the relic?") Blake watches her and mimics the way she holds up her hand, and ask Ozpin "Why does it matter who carries the relic?" Yang's eyes snap over to her as she speaks.

They share a look similar to the one on the train after Oscar tells Ruby to "say her name to summon her".

After Blake looks away, Yang's eyes shift back to Weiss.

After a brief intermission with our Not-So-Dead-Fall-Maiden, we finally get some Jinn action!!

Also these are incredibly important for me to show you:

They protecc!! Not really Bumbleby but....the way they're all ready to fight Qrow because they think he might stop Ruby? The way Weiss and Blake are immediately scrambling for their swords to save Ruby? That's familial love, baby!!!

Now we get Team RWBY in a completely white space, calling out for each other. My main focus will be on Yang and Blake of course.

(gif credit: chittychittyyangyang)

The way Yang calls Blake's name is filled with fear and anger. She just got Blake back, is getting used to having her around again, and she's suddenly and seemingly ripped away from her again.

Her face in these screenshots, from her first tiny appearance on the side of the screen is filled with absolute fear. Like, I cannot make this shit up.

She's terrified that she's been separated from Blake again. The fact that she only called out for Blake, and looks like she starts to call out for her again at the end of her scene?? Jesus Christ.

Now Blake's voice is also filled with fear, and she sits there after calling out for her, ears moving all over trying to listen for Yang to call back. Both of these girls are getting used to each other again and suddenly, without any choice in the matter, they've been separated again.

The Lost Fable is very full of symbolism!! Like, wow! And here's a parallel between BB and SO:

and:

hmm...how....interesting....

Next is the symbolism in the gods' orb colours and the choice to have them connect in front of Blake.

(gif credit: chittychittyyangyang)

This is such an important piece of symbolism because of the dynamic of light & dark/yin & yang/sun & shadows that Blake and Yang already have. The fact that the orbs (and gods themselves) are yellow and purple??? *chef kiss* There's also the fact that Weiss is in the shot at first when we see the orbs and Weiss is actually kinda in the know about the Blake/Yang situation (from Yang's POV). Basically this is all speculation, but it's important.

Honestly there's just a lot of purple/yellow symbolism in this episode???

Both of the gods' humanoid forms are that of Faunus!!

And their ~godly~ forms are dragons, with the God of Light being....

A golden Chinese dragon with purple eyes!

(The moral of Salem and Ozma's story? The gods are dicks. Fuck the gods!!!)

More Salem/Oz and Bumbleby parallels!!

Yang's face matches Ozma's perfectly they even do the same zoom in jesus fucking-

V6C4: So That's How It Is

Yang curses

A lot of Blake looking at Yang in this one as well.

After Oscar tells them Ozpin is 'gone':

"That bastard! Tell him we're not done yet!"

(...)

"He just left us?!"

"What are we gonna do now?!" Blake says as she looks to Yang and not any of the adult figures around or even her team leader.

Maria steps in to get them all to shut up and think for a minute (I'm not saying QRWBY's anger is misplaced or wrong by any means as you can see by my tumblr), which triggers another Yangry moment (baby please :(( )

And Blake is back to looking at Yang.

V6C5: The Coming Storm

Bees angst and a creepy ass cellar

Our cast of characters reaches Brunswick farms and set off in search of blankets. As Ruby waits in the front of the house, looking at what appears to be a family portrait, Blake approaches and strikes up a conversation. Weiss and Yang suddenly scream and Blake and Ruby have looks of horror before rushing up the stairs to find their partners.

They run up the stairs to find Yang and Weiss on the ground, horrified by what they see on the bed -- desiccated corpses of the original owners of the house. Blake's eyes are all for Yang, seemingly making sure she's alright.

After Ruby, Blake, and Qrow arrive in the room and see what's on the bed, we do a quick time jump to the living room. Weiss is sitting in front of the fire and Blake settles a blanket over her shoulders.

Blake the approaches the loveseat Yang is sitting on, and Yang watches her the entire time. Up until Blake is in a position to look back at her, that is.

Qrow comes back from searching the grounds, checking for bodies. He tells them all the houses are like the one they're in. Ruby mentions that if the grounds haven't been abandoned, there might be supplies. As Qrow starts walking away, saying he'll do another sweep, Yang's eyes DISTINCTLY flick away from Blake more, instead of following Qrow's movements.

Qrow gives a command. "No one else goes anywhere by themselves," and as he says this, Blake's ears perk up and Yang looks over to her. Blake's eyes then turn to Yang and Yang's turn away.

Blake volunteers Yang and herself to go look for some sort of vehicle.

Yang looks up at Blake, unimpressed. Originally the FNDM took it as Yang not being quite so truthful with Blake on the train. Things are not better yet.

"Fine. Whatever gets me out of this house."

Blake's ears go down and Yang turns away from her.

The two enter the barn. Blake spots a rusted tractor and tries to crack a joke.

"Something tells me that's not street legal."

Yang continues walking away and Blake runs to catch up. As they look around Yang asks Blake what she thinks happened at the farm. Blake says she doesn't know, but it may have been water contamination from the shared well.

Yang raises a hand to her head.

"Hey...are you okay?"

"Yeah. I mean no. I mean...I don't know. I'm just tired..."

She continues walking. Yang spots a trailer and calls out to Blake. "Hey, I think I found something!"

She then looks out the window and sees a hallucination of Adam. She gasps and stumbles back and Blake comes running up asking what's wrong, what happened?

Yang apologizes, and tells Blake she still has flashes from "that night", and her hand begins shaking, which Blake sees for the first time.

Yang asks Blake if she thinks Adam is still out there. It's the first time we hear her call him by name. Blake tells her she doesn't know.

She tells her that if he went back to the White Fang, there would have been serious consequences, but he never liked being told what to do anyway. "Adam is strong...but his real power comes from control."

"He used to get in my head, make me feel small...But now I see he just wanted to pull me down to his size."

Yang extends her prosthetic, stretching the fingers. Blake watches and then grabs it, gently, in both of hers.

She pulls the arm close to her chest and up near her face (and I almost had a fucking HEART ATTACK when it happened).

"Hey. I'm not leaving. And if we ever see him again I promise I'll be there..." Yang looks up with a soft smile.

"I'll protect you." Yang's face drops and she asks "What?"

"What?" Blake replies, not understanding what she did wrong.

They then proceed to stare at one another for a full two seconds before Yang pulls her hand away and snaps "Forget it. Let's just head back." Blake's face as she does so is completely shocked, staring at the place where Yang's hand was and then at her retreating back before she reaches out and says "But-"

"We're fine. We can hook that flatbed up to Bumblebee in the morning. Should be able to carry everyone." Blake looks down at it, ears down, face crestfallen.

"Mission accomplished." Yang is heard quietly in the background. She sounds sad rather than angry.

V6C6: Alone in the Woods
life is beautiful. it is precious. and it must be protected.

I literally haven't cried harder at an episode since the volume 3 finale, babes. The Apathy were scary as FUCK. Alone in the Woods is a 20 minute episode with a lot packed into it.

Here are some Bees highlights (Mainly because if I recap it all I will start crying again).

This is during the night of Blake and Yang's talk. They're sitting in front of the fire and Blake looks up at Yang, ears perking a bit, and when Yang isn't looking back the ears drop and she looks down.

A few minutes later we get this shot, Blake has moved further towards the fire and is curled into herself, staring down into her lap. She is purposely the most in focus here.

Exasperated Apathy infected looks.

This isn't Bees but it is the entire team being worried for Ruby when she screams and I needed Blake and Yang's faces here okay.

After The Apathy release their first earsplitting scream thing, the girls drop. Yang turns to Blake immediately and says "What...is this..."

As they're trying to get away from The Apathy, Blake succumbs to it. She falls to the ground and Ruby turns to get her. We can also see Yang attempting to turn around to go to her.

Ruby activates her Silver Eyes with a heart shattering cry of "BLAKE!" mirroring the way she screamed Pyrrha's name on top of the tower in 3x12.

Ruby rushes to Blake's side, helping her up. Yang gets up as well, looking like she's going to move towards them. Weiss and Maria run for the stairs. Yang watches Blake and Ruby until Ruby calls "I've got her!"

Weiss gets to the cellar doors and panics. They're locked. Yang goes to run up the stairs and The Apathy scream again, taking out Blake and Ruby. Maria hurries over to Ruby and asks what colour her eyes are. Ruby tells her they are silver.

Maria tells her to focus on her loved ones and the people who love her. The way they make her feel. We see Ruby's mind flash to Weiss at the top of the stairs, trying to open the cellar doors, Yang trying to hard to climb the stairs to help, and the camera circles Ruby, Blake, and Maria as Maria says,

"Life is beautiful, it is precious, and it must be protected."

Ruby's silver eyes disintegrate enough of The Apathy to let everyone move again and Yang busts through the cellar doors. They run into the house. Ruby rushes to Qrow and tries to get him to move.

Blake looks back towards the cellar. Yang looks at her and grabs her hand. Blake gasps. They run out of the house together.

I added the slow-mo gif because...Blake's hand immediately curls into Yang's.

Also look at that size difference.

Look at the face Blake makes. She's fucking shocked.

We hear Yang and Maria screaming Oscar's name as they come sprinting out of the house. Yang yells "We have to go NOW" and we see Blake's eyes follow Yang the entire time.

Everyone loads up onto the trailer and they take off from the farm. Maria tells them about how The Apathy got there and what happened to the settlers. Weiss apologizes for what she said before Ruby dropped the lamp, about giving up. Yang stops Bumblebee and does the same. Blake is quick to reassure her that it wasn't her fault, it was The Apathy.

V6C7: The Grimm Reaper
Finally! Some Maria backstory!

We find out how Maria lost her eyes and that she was Qrow's role model. He based his weapon off hers (which means so did Ruby, by proxy of basing her weapon off his!).

Maria says none of them should aspire to be like her, "Not when some of you are already stronger." Everyone turns to look at Yang, who looks completely downcast.

We arrive in Argus and meet Jaune's sister, Saphron! Who we all are assuming alludes to Sappho as she's a lesbian and lives in a Greek-named city! We also meet her wife, Terra, and their son, Adrian!

Yang is absolutely thrilled to be able to play with the baby, and Blake can't stop watching!

Seriously, that cute Weiss and Yang and Adrian scene is directly in front of this expression, and Blake's ears flick before she turns to Saph and starts talking to her.

THERE THEY ARE THERE THEY ARE THERE THEY ARE

Standing together!!! (And before anyone says anything, I mention this because in the first few seasons they almost always stood in Y-R-W-B or B-R-W-Y formation, and even here we don't see them standing in R-W-B-Y formation, so you can't say this in nothing.)

V6C8: Dead End

I LOVE THESE STUPID ASS GUARDS. THEYRE RIDICULOUS. fuck cordovin tho. she can choke.

Anyway.

Yang blatantly stepped back to be next to Blake.

Flip. Yang used to be the one with the hand(s) on her hips all the time, while Blake walked around with her arms crossed.

Cordovin tells the group that the Atlesian Military would be happy to escort Weiss home, but would not be responsible for her "friends of questionable character". A lot of people think this is just about Blake, but Cordovin looks DISTINCTLY at both Yang AND Blake. We also only see Blake and Yang's reactions to the comment first, before Weiss steps into the frame.

"Your friends,"

"Of questionable character."

Looks of horror. Blake, while used to the casual racism, is obviously still shocked that this woman would be so blatant with it. Yang is absolutely not used to this sort of treatment and is definitely shocked that this woman would even SAY it.

After Cordovin locks the gates on them again, we see our characters through the bars. And here's something interesting:

Blake and Yang share a space, while Weiss has her own.

Even though all three reactions are shown, this is the thing that leads me to believe Cordovin meant BOTH girls.

They get back to the house and the girls tell JNR what happened. Jaune snaps and shoves Oscar against a wall, screaming in his face. Yang and Ruby yell at him and he stops before storming upstairs. Yang asks "Is he gonna be okay?" and looks at Blake.

Nora snaps "I don't know!" and storms off after him, and Ren says they could use some space and follows.

Blake, Yang, and Weiss go out to get food, but Ruby steps into the back garden trying to call Qrow. There she encounters Maria who tells her what she knows about Silver Eyes, and confirms that they are powered by love. As Ruby broaches the fact that her eyes harmed Cinder, Maria suggests there's something Ruby isn't seeing. Yang then calls her name and Ruby runs inside.

Blake walks up, pauses a couple steps behind Yang, and then continues stepping closer.

Jaune asks what's going on and Yanga and Blake look at one another before answering

"It's Oscar...he's missing."

V6C9: Lost
YOU'RE. MY. FOREVER. FAAAALLLLLLLLLL....

No Bees moments, but we learn that Pyrrha grew up and trained in Argus and that Jaune is officially the shadiest of the main 7. First he forges documentation to get into Beacon, now he wants to steal an Atlesian Airship.

Shady.

FROM HERE ON OUT THIS IS NOT SPOILER FREE. IF YOU ARE NOT A FIRST MEMBER AND DON'T WISH TO SEE SPOILERS FOR V6C10: STEALING FROM THE ELDERLY DO NOT SCROLL PAST THIS POINT.

V6C10: Stealing From The Elderly

WE WERE FED SO WELL WITH THIS LATEST CHAPTER YALL IM STILL REELING.

We are currently executing the plan to steal an Atlas Airship. Weiss is in the air with Maria, Ruby, Qrow, and JNR are on the ground waiting for the ship, and Blake and Yang are off to take out Atlas tech.

Anyway we got Bumbleby on Bumblebee which is all any of us ever wanted.

Blake is talking to Terra on the phone as Terra tells her how to disable Atlas tech.

Yang parks and asks Blake if she should come with her, obviously nervous about letting Blake go off on her own. Blake starts to respond jokingly before freezing and backtracking.

"Are you sure I shouldn't come with?"

"More intruders means we're more likely to be seen. Besides, stealth isn't exactly your uhm..."

"I mean, you're great! And I'll hurry back..."

"Go."

(gif credit: the fabulous almea!!!)

*beep* "Heading in on foot, won't be long."

THEY HAVE SUCH FOND SMILES HERE AHHHHHHHHHHH

Unfortunately, they suddenly lose communication with Blake.

Everyone begins panicking, and Oscar yells "What do we do?"

We then hear Yang over the comms. "Keep the ship in one piece." We then see her hop on Bumblebee and take off in the direction Blake went.

(gif credit: almea!)

Next thing we know QRWMORNJ is facing down a giant mech that's holding Cordovin.

Ruby connects her comm with Weiss. "Hurry back, Weiss. I'm gonna need you on the ground if we're gonna take this thing down."

IT'S SHOWTIME BABY!!! BEES V ADAM NEXT WEEK BABEY IM SO FUCKING EXCITED.

BLAKE IS HOLDING HER OWN. SHE'S FIGHTING BACK. WE'RE GETTING THOSE HEROES AND MONSTERS PARALLELS. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST SYMBOLISM.

WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS FOR THREE YEARS. LOOK AT THIS KICKASS FACE OFF. IM SO FUCKING EXCITED.

Thursday, September 27, 2018

Bumbleby Symbolism

Beauty and the Beast

Light and Dark

Yin and Yang

Extra Little Things I Really Like

Tuesday, July 10, 2018

BMBLBible