RWBY Conversation Topic: The replication of fights from other medium

[Izanagi009_v1legacy]

Hey, got a RWBY related topic since I have a bit of a love/hate relation with that show.

So I was talking to some people on Facebook and a person on the escapist and they commented that a lot of the fights are cut wholecloth from other show or even their own animation

Examples:
-Yang vs Mercury having shots from Hunter x Hunter
-Blake and Sun vs the dragon being a copy of Cloud vs Bahamut from Advent Children
-Complete copy of previous animation in the show for Velvet's "weapon"

Spoiler: personal thoughts on Velvet

I hate Velvet's "weapon", I find that it's just a copy of Archer in Fate in terms of concept and execution. What's worse is the fact that they didn't alter camera angels or lighting to make the scenes unique in any way

My question to people is this: do you think that RT is actually copying stuff from other shows or if it's just a coincidence? Do you think that taking inspiration from other shows will help improve RWBY's fights now that Monty is gone? Are there other issues involved with possible use of other fights as a reference?

 

[Scarim Coral]

Can't really say since I forgot the fight scenes from Hunter X Hunter (the first anime version) and FF: AC and I had never watchted Fate.

 

[Saltyk]

Okay, I'm thinking of Blake & Sun versus the serpent since I saw that most recently. While I would say that I did make the connection to Cloud taking down Bahamut Sin in Advent Children, I wouldn't say it is an exact copy. At worst, I would say they took inspiration from it or maybe even were paying homage to it.

I don't really see a problem with a series taking inspiration from other series. I'm almost certain some series has copied the idea of a beam struggle from Dragon Ball, and I wouldn't call that a problem. Not unless the characters were Gohu and Voguta, King of the Zayains. Then, you're not merely taking inspiration, you're effectively violating copyright infringement.

But, plenty of things pay homage to movies and shows. Or take inspiration from them. How many times have we seen bullet time at this point? I wouldn't say that is being stolen from the Matrix.

Besides, Dead Fantasy paid a lot of homages to other media. Not just references to Final Fantasy or Dead or Alive, either. There were tons of attacks that were taken from other media.

 

[MatParker116]

The RWBY crew are huge anime nerds and Monty would often watch fights from shows to gain inspiration.

 

[Chessrook44]

Monty in past videos even before RWBY would rip moves that he saw from other games and shows, copying them as close as he could. Hell, the first trailer for RWBY, featuring Ruby herself, had a move that I remember seeing from Ninja Gaiden 2.

For Monty, it was a common move.

 

[Bobular]

Honestly, my first thought watching the Blake and Sun vs the dragon fight was that is was an amusing reference to Advent Children. I think if they were actually trying to rip of other series they wouldn't make it so obvious, I think most people who watch RWBY are going to recognize bits from fight scenes.

 

[Lightspeaker]

My question to people is this: do you think that RT is actually copying stuff from other shows or if it's just a coincidence?

This is going to sound a bit mean spirited but...is this really news? Maybe I misremember but I could have sworn I heard YEARS ago about RWBY being absolutely notorious for outright copying stuff from other shows.

Basically this:

Monty in past videos even before RWBY would rip moves that he saw from other games and shows, copying them as close as he could. Hell, the first trailer for RWBY, featuring Ruby herself, had a move that I remember seeing from Ninja Gaiden 2.

For Monty, it was a common move.

I never got the impression that RWBY was ever particularly original in this stuff. Being completely honest I've never watched it, but I'm sure that I've heard people complaining that it relentlessly copies things since the very first episodes came out.

 

[Marik2]

I'm still sad that dead fantasy will never finish

 

[bastardofmelbourne]

Monty Oum's death already affected the quality of the show, so I wouldn't be surprised if the remaining animators were...ahem..."inspired" by other anime in order to fill the hole left by the Great Monty's passing.

In terms of copyright infringement, there's nothing here - content creators own copyright in characters, designs, and narratives, but it would be quite a stretch to own copyright in fighting animations. Unless the copy was a 1:1 replication of the original, a court would just go "well, you don't own the idea of a roundhouse kick, do you?"

Unless it's something really specific, like a named technique. Fist of the North Star [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po77bJk1DdI] comes to mind.

I don't really see a problem with a series taking inspiration from other series. I'm almost certain some series has copied the idea of a beam struggle from Dragon Ball, and I wouldn't call that a problem. Not unless the characters were Gohu and Voguta, King of the Zayains. Then, you're not merely taking inspiration, you're effectively violating copyright infringement.

DBZ is liberally "inspired" by Superman, so it was especially entertaining to see the "inspiration" come full circle in Batman v Superman during the beam-of-war fight with Doomsday.