Rooster Teeth Productions has already impressed the world with their use of video games as a medium to film the revolutionary web series, Red vs. Blue. Now, the team’s animator, Monty Oum, has unveiled another groundbreaking leap in animation and story telling. After engrossing himself in the world of RWBY for quite some time, Oum has shared with the world his vision of RWBY with the rest of the world.
Oum has shown in his work of seasons eight through ten of Red vs. Blue that he is a truly gifted animator. While he seemed to be enjoying his work on the show, at the end of the tenth season, he asked the series’ creator, Burnie Burns, if he could begin work on RWBY at the conclusion of the season.
Burns responded, “If you finish Season 10, then you can do whatever you want.”
So, production began, and on November 7, 2012 the first trailer of the show premiered on YouTube under the name of “Red” and also appeared after the credits of the season 10 finale for Red vs. Blue. The trailer revealed a small, teenage, red-haired girl wearing attire similar to Red Riding Hood’s and holding weapon that is a cross between both a scythe and a sniper rifle. It also shows her battling werewolves in an animation-style, showing inspiration from both western and anime sources. The end of the trailer shows this mysterious girl alongside three other girls, who are blacked out, concealing their appearance. At the bottom of the screen, the letters RWBY are spelled out under each of the four characters. As of October 8, 2013, the trailer has over five million views. For three months, Roosterteeth’s fans anxiously waited for more news on this mysterious trailer and what show could possibly come from it. Then, on February 14, 2013, Roosterteeth released the trailer “White”, which showed a white-haired woman in a white dress wielding a saber and magical powers and battling a giant-sized knight. As the trailer ends, one of the three girls who were blacked out is revealed as the girl in the “White” trailer. The next trailer arrived on March 22, titled “Black,” and showed a greater story element in it, being the first trailer in which characters actually talk. Now, we see the adventures of the characters Blake, a woman dressed in black with matching hair, wielding a combined weapon of a sheath and a pistol, and Adam, a red-haired man with a mask covering a his face, as they battle with robots atop a train. The end of trailer in a similar fashion reveals the next girl as Blake. Then, finally came the trailer titled “Yellow” on June 1. Following the character Yang, a girl thoroughly covered in yellow, we see her travel to a very shady-looking dance club/bar. She apparently has a score to settle with the club owner, Junior (voiced by Roosterteeth’s own Jack Patillo). As expected, fighting breaks out between Yang and the criminal henchmen of the club. Luckily, Yang wields gauntlets armed with explosive shotgun ammo. Once she has dealt with them, Yang encounters the mysterious Red Riding Hood-like girl from the first trailer, “Red”.
Now that the show is released, however, it has less of a focus on action, at the moment, and more of a focus on the history of the world. Ruby (the girl from the “Red” trailer) is just your average girl with a combination of a scythe and a sniper rifle. She dreams of becoming a huntress, who are devoted to hunting monsters called the Grimm. Ruby’s actions are noticed when she battles criminals, and she is accepted at BeaconAcademy, a school devoted to teaching future huntsmen and huntresses. There she meets Weiss, a rich, arrogant girl who appeared in the “White” trailer, Blake, a calm, collected, and educated girl from the “Black” trailer, joins Yang, Ruby’s older sister who appeared in the “Yellow” trailer. The show also exhibits Dust: a magical and mysterious element that allows humans to more easily battle the Grimm.
Most voice actors are from the Roosterteeth and Achievment Hunter offices, including Lindsay Tuggey, Barbara Dunkelman, Miles Luna, and even the series’ creator Monty Oum. Their voice acting is above average, but still has room for improvement. However, the charm from the show is not a result of the voice acting, but the extensive world and complex characters Oum has meticulously crafted. Also, the show features of a soundtrack from the amazing Jeff Williams, along with his daughter, Casey Lee Williams, on vocals. Oum is extremely talented with creating intense and exhilarating fight scenes. The show may be having a slow start, but hopefully this is only build-up for a plot twist and/or major threat.
Monty Oum does see the potential of video games as a medium for storytelling, but believes they are not close to their peak yet, stating in an interview with the Austin Chronicle, “It’s limited by many, many things, the industry, and honestly, the culture, too, sometimes. All games have to be absolutely perfect, or they’re not worth your time. Working in games back then, I had so much hope for the type of storytelling I could do. Even if it wasn’t narrative – even if it was just combat storytelling. The hard lesson that I learned, and that many people are learning these days, is that because games are so critical, and they’re so expensive to make, the creative freedom often gets very stunted.”
Luckily, he still has his creative freedom in animation. Oum, in fact, had the chance to work on the new Tomb Raider game, but turned it down, as he does not like taking the risk to work on something that may be good or bad. He enjoyed working for three seasons of Red vs. Blue much more.
RWBY is massively popular, even though it is only a web series and does not appear on TV.
Junior Bradley Caldwell states that he “likes TV more because it’s easily accessible and doesn’t need any searching”.
Junior Jacob Karla agrees, saying these web series, “Remove the charm of waiting for that new episode to come out on your favorite TV show.”
Nevertheless, the show is slowly becoming as popular as Roosterteeth’s other series, Red vs. Blue. Surely, great things will come from RWBY. The show is now on its thirteenth episode, all are currently on the Roosterteeth website.