Comic-Con 2020 Recap: Rooster Teeth

This was quite a series of big reveals. from the cast themselves during a 6-way panel interview as Rooster Teeth despite their more recent problems such as the cancellation of “RTX 2020”, the crew continues to diligently work at home in the face of this “COVID-19” crisis, but RWBY is slated to premiere later this year. Yssa Badiola, Torrian Crawford, Barbara Dunkelman, Fiona Nova, Kerry Shawcross, and special guest F.J. DeSanto chatted, answered fan-submitted questions and revealed details on programming line-up both involving and outside of RWBY.

 

RWBY Volume 8

During the panel, Kerry and star Barbara discussed what fans can expect from Volume 8. They then premiered a first-look at around the 33-minute mark of this video. The WIP clip sees Yang, Oscar Pine, Jaune Arc and Lie Ren tearing through the streets of Atlas on motorcycles. Barbara Dunkleman (The Voice of Yang) Believes the overall theme of Volume 8 will be: “Just because you like someone or respect someone is close to you doesn’t necessarily mean you have to agree with everything they do or say which I think will be a big part of this season”.

In addition, RT will also collaborate with artist Babs Tarr to release a limited collection of RWBY merch that will be available later this year. The RWBY Volume 7 soundtrack is set to drop on July 31 on all streaming platforms, and will also be available for purchase on iTunes, Google Play and Amazon. And to further add to the RWBY merch, Good Smile Company and Rooster Teeth partnering to release a collection of RWBY Pop Up Parade collectibles, beginning August 3rd starting with a Ruby Rose figure.




Here’s the basic synopsis for Vol.8:

“In Volume 8, our heroes’ worst fears have finally been realized: Salem is here, and the timing couldn’t be worse for the divided Kingdom of Atlas. Fear has turned friends into enemies, while doubt threatens to splinter humanity’s remaining allies. With both Salem and Ironwood stacking the odds against them, and the fate of Remnant at stake, it’s up to team RWBY to make their play before it’s too late.”

Red vs. Blue: Zero

The teaser debuted during Rooster Teeth’s panel which can be found around the 8-minute mark. The short clip not only showcases finished animation from Red vs. Blue: Zero, but also offers an inside look at the animation process, from motion capture to animatics, as well as the process of recording the show’s music.

They also mention that while the show itself is set in the same universe, It’ll retain the same style of humor and character comradery you’d come to expect with a different group of characters this time around to ease new fans in. The series is set to premiere this Fall. 

 

Transformers: War For Cybertron Trilogy: Siege

The RT Crew assures fans that this newly announced trilogy that, while it tells it’s own story, will both connect with, and take place before the 80’s cartoon timeline (which is known to longtime fans as “Generation 1/G1”). Hasbro gives RT info in advance of characters they already made figures tied with the show and the challenge is building a story around them while the show attempts to maintain a level of intelligence and sophistication about them without being dark and depressing.  Also, Kerry will work “double duty” in voice acting as he voices the character ” Cliffjumper” and a classic villain that hasn’t been revealed to avoid spoilers.  

Our Take

I’m glad to see the RWBY merchandise hype-train is still going strong with another Con-event later this fall tied with RWBY and their merchandise. Above all, I hope the problems I had with Vol.7 get smoothed out with the plot & characters or at least properly unravel things in Volume 8. Cinder’s Origin story remains long overdue.

RWBY Volume 7 premiered in November of 2019, concluding this past February. Production on Volume 8 is currently underway, with writer/executive producer Kerry Shawcross recently confirming that the writing process for Vol. 9 had also begun.

As for the new RVB series, I could see this as a jumping-on point for the newer fans while possibly encouraging people to check out the old series at some point, but It remains to seen how far they’ll go with it. 

Finally, the new Transformers Series by Netflix has lots of potential. I also heard a separate announcement that they’d tease the possibility of a new Beast Wars series that I look forward to checking out as that show was more part of my childhood than the original Transformers series.