RWBY RTX Australia 2017 panel transcript

Q: Why didn’t Qrow use the scythe against Tyrian?

A: It didn’t just make sense. Tyrian is very very fast with four points of contact (legs, arms+tail) so the scythe would’ve slowed Qrow down too much.



Q: Soundtrack when? WHEN?

A: Around the release of the DVD? We don’t know, as soon™ as possible.



Q: Why do Faunus with animal ears also have human ears?

Miles: I thought I was the only one who thought that was weird. Really, in the first volume Blake’s cover would’ve been blown instantly. Faunus traits are mystical and magical and shit. We had a lot of story ideas on V4, we wanted to do more episodic adventure of the week episodes, and that just was not possible with the screentime available. We played around with some actual plot points around about Blake’s multiple ears.




Lindsay: Qrow told me everything I know!
Miles: Ey, you can’t bring alcohol here, so pour it into a coke bottle first.
Lindsay: Why do you make me do this weird stuff.




Q: What’s it like working in the new animation studio?

Miles: Neat.

Kerry: It used to be a gym. It’s so big. It’s sorta bummer we can’t be around others in campus, but people were having desks in hallways at the old place so we had to move. For the first time in four years we have people whose desks don’t have to be touching. Miles has flashbacks of everyone slapping his booty while he was working in a hallway. He became jaded to it. A tragic story.




Q: FUCKING WEAPON NAMES WHEN

A: Uh, eventually. We’ll get the names out there. With literally everything else. We don’t want to tweet stuff like that out, so we’re planning something to make that more convenient. We’d love to do an artbook or historics, but those take so much time...



Q: Barbara, for V4, you had to take a different approach to depressed Yang. How did you change your usual happy go-lucky approach?

Barb: It was actually pretty easy because M&K wrote her lines so well. It was easy to be put into that mindset.
Miles: Yah, that’s bullshit.



Q: Favorite scene to write/act?

Barb: I love her scenes with Burnie/Taiyang. We pull off the father-daughter relationship so well, we’ve known each other for a long time. Episode 9 where they’re sparring was very fun since it was a realization point for Yang
.
Lindsay: Many moments. Ruby is always determinated. Breaks from those moments are very fun. First was the ”leave her alone” part in V3. Also, end of the volume 3 with the Yang interactions was awesome too, uncharted land.

Barb: I had to hug Lindsay after recording the lines. I didn’t really mean that!

Miles: Anything involving Ren/Nora or Weiss telling people off.

Kerry: The Jaune/Pyrrha bit.

Miles: Yeah, that scene was heavy, along with Church’s scene in RvB 13 were the only times I’ve cried during mocap

Barb: I don’t know if I should tell it. There was an awkward moment yesterday. I came to a booth. Fan comes up saying that they just finished binging RWBY last week, and asks me dead-serious ”why’d you guys killed Pyrrha.” I said that oh, part of the story. The person doubles down on it ”But, WHY.” It’s like the person was legit angry! I kinda noped out and told them to find Miles and Kerry.

Kerry: I think we got a bit extra security in case there’s a... reaction.
Lindsay: Pyrrha is technically speaking Dust now. Can she be used in combat?
Miles: I don’t think we can comment on that, but mixing with a bit of nesquick and milk...
...I’m so sorry, she doesn’t deserve this.
Kerry: we should stop.
Miles: (under his breath) ”dust in the wind”



Q: Favorite new costume in v4?

Miles: Tyrian’s. His costume is new! I love its design. The ponytail looks like a scorpion tail, and wears his tail like a belt so it wasn’t visible from the start. It was great.

Kerry: All the four girls. Nora’s jacket is really good.

Barb: I like how JN_R have pieces of red.

Miles: I change my answer. [menacingly] It’s Ren. Puberty hit him like a truck, a sexy truck. We’re all Rensexuals now.

Lindsay: I really like Blake’s. Just like Kaiba from Yugioh. I also love how a lot of Ruby’s clothes are tattered.

Barb: I like Yang’s. Both outfits are interesting, but the last one is the best. I just wish I was that cool. I wanna be you. I will cosplay eventually, and cut my own arm off.



Q: (an animatronic Zwei is brought on stage)
(it wags its tail)
(audible squealing from everyone)
Barb: Zwei’s new look is also great.

Q:Where’s team SSSN and can I have a hug (so excited that she’s breaking down) (Miles charges her like he’s on Normandy beaches)

A: Yeah, they’re team hot but useless. Neptune’s got Mistral on lockdown!



Q:RWBY Chibi when?

A: Good question we don’t have an answer for. No specifics, but it’s going to be good. Prepare for Chibening. We’ll have some new characters (eyebrow moves)



Q:Why is Zwei fireproof

Kerry: There’s this genre of media called anime. And sometimes things just work. Same answer as to the cat ears: Eeh.



Q: How would you feel about a Grimm Faunus?

Miles: Like a sad, depressed one? Are you asking what we think of Blake?
Kerry: A person who has evil soul characteristics? pretty scary, like a normal human but not.


Q: Not sure if spoiler: can you give a canon confirmation on Neo’s status?

Miles: .........no.
Lindsay: Her gasping doesn’t mean that she’s going to get a VA.
Barb: I want her to have a deep, manly voice.
Kerry: We don’t want to get into specifics, but we’ll see more of her.
Barb: If people don’t die on screen they’re probably not dead. Anime 101.



Q: With writing, were the cliffhanger endings intended or incidental?

A: Eeeeh, the cliffs were different heights. IS this a cliff? Nah, it’s a stage. It’s just a part of how we prefer to do episodic content. Something at the end to keep you interested. This was by far the most difficult volume to write with screentime balance and two very internal journeys. It was hard and it’s not perfect. All that said, cliffhangers are still kinda fun..



Q: How did you get Chris Sabat?

A: Colin(?) had a connection. He’s worked in the industry for a long time and knows a lot of people. Chris just rules. He has so much fun doing what he does. Great guy. It blows my mind that there are too many people to pick from!



Q: Over the past year we got GE, manga, chibi, and live action speculation, so where do you see RWBY going next on the long run?

Miles: Uh. Volume 5. That’s the main focus now.
Barb: Also space, space Grimm.
Kerry: A lot of avenues are open. The main focus is the show proper. It’s interesting how hard it is to work with other people, especially over language barriers.Yang has a very promiscuous line coming up which was marked as a joke. They also thought Torchwick’s grunt in V1E1 was a swear.



Q: What was the process for coming up with the personalities, motivations and outfits for WTCH.

A: We’ve had these characters in out pockets since before V1. They’ve changed a bit over the years, but the core is there. Fun thing about the first scene is that it went just about as expected, the usual archetypes, very reminiscent of the first season of RWBY where team RWBY seemed initially very cliched but have more depth to them. I love how Tyrian is the creazy one, but he’s actually THE CRAZY ONE!



Q: (A toddler wants to know why Weiss is so mean)

A: Watch episode 7. Sometimes her life is hard, and she gets angry at other people because she doesn’t understand them. She can get better by learning to know people better. Good question



Q: How would your Camp Camp and RWBY characters interact?

Lindsay: Spacekid and Ruby would get around well.
Barb: She would just think Yang is too cool and blank out.
Miles: David can’t get annoyed. Jaune can. At first Jaune would be pumped to have someone that positive in his team, but five songs later he might have second thoughts.
Kerry: Tumbleweed and Neptune would get along well. Both are absent!



Q: In episode 1, there’s argument between JNNR and RNJR. Which one was initially planned?

A: JNNR was never on the table. We wrote a diagram of all possible names, and Ranger was better than Orange.



Q: How long was the timeskip between v3 and 4?

A: (Miles whispers something. A bit confusion) We like to keep it ambiguous to prevent plot holes. A vague amount of time. Not super short but not unbearably long.



Q: When is Pyrrha coming back? Please!

A: Watch Chibi, next question.



Q: How do you explain to Jeff what music you want?

A: It depends on the scene. Alex and Jeff work together. We use a temp score to get the tone idea across. We have a giant spreadsheet, with notes like this cue would work here and here we planned this. They’re kinda just like suggestions for the two to brainstorm off of. They take it a ten steps further from that, and they have very free hands to do whatever they want afterwards. It’s always great.



Q: Do you read fanfiction?

A: We specifically avoid it in general. We don’t want to accidentally steal ideas, so we don’t read them at all. In V1 someone managed to predict how Ren looks almost perfectly, and we were scared of plagiarism accusations.

We’ll have more announcements on stuff later, with the DVDs, Chibi and season 5.