Bumbleby fandom (and neutral parties curious as to the evidence supporting the ship, for that matter), it’s time for us to sit down and have a talk. We’ve had a rough hiatus. Both the long, painful wait after the emotional orbital nuke that was late V3. And then, much more recently, the news that Sun actually will be part of Blake’s journey in V4. It doesn’t actually change much of anything, but I still know how it feels, and why the Bumbleby fandom was worried–some of you loudly, and some of us quietly (myself included in the latter). And even before that, I saw dispirited Bumbleby shippers who can’t see the OTP actually becoming canon, whether because of Bl*cks*n or some other reason, on a daily basis. And on the other end of things I see Bumbleby shippers who make weak-ass arguments as to why Bumbleby is already canon and shit like that. Put that subtext bullshit away; subtext is for 20-year-old network TV shows. No. It’s time for the lot of you to see Beesus.



But before you get ahead of yourselves, first I’ll tell you what this post is not. It’s not an argument that Bumbleby is already canon, as opposed to heavily foreshadowed. I actually plan to avoid a lot of the stuff other analysts focus on, like the general “but they’re so close” or “they complement each other really well,” because those aren’t specifically romantic, and the partner pairs in general were designed to play off of each other (like how Ruby and Weiss were designed as a clashing-opposites buddy comedy duo). Those things aren’t unimportant–they are key to a good relationship–but they’re not what I’m driving at here.



This post is about foreshadowing. (Not subtext, foreshadowing; the distinction is important here.) ‘Cause I dunno if you noticed, but the CRWBY loves their bloody foreshadowing. They also love their parallels and repeating themes. So we’re gonna be talking mostly about writing tricks we know the CRWBY uses, like the aforementioned foreshadowing and parallels and also stuff like foils. And some cinematic tricks. Before I continue, I’d like to thank brilliant minds like Chained-Prometheus and the crew I roll with on Discord, whom I’ve learned a great deal from. Also Anny Gomez and her sharp eye for parallels; y’all should check out her videos. @chained-prometheus @s-assy-girl

I’d also like to thank the CRWBY for making the show. And if anyone involved in the show actually ends up reading this by some miracle, keep reading, because I am actually going to say Good Things about M&K’s writing and directing instead of the flak I see them getting all the time.

Evidence-fest begins under the cut, because this’ll be running a bit long–about 4.6k words, or a mid-length one-shot fic. Also lots of pictures, as a warning for those of you using mobile data.

I’m going to start with actual hints in the characters’ actions, even though they’re very limited at the moment because the relationship is still in the “foreshadowing” phase and Blake and Yang aren’t actually romantically involved yet. The Bumbleby foreshadowing is like an iceberg (no Weiss/Neptune jokes please)–there’s a lot more under the surface than there is above it. But there actually is a little Yang honey that’s gay so let’s talk about it.

So let’s go back to the V2 dance arc, particularly episodes 2.6 and 2.7. Yeah, yeah, we all know about Yang telling Blake “I’ll save you a dance!” and winking at her.



But the thing is, Yang didn’t actually save her a dance. You’d think you have to actually, like, dance with someone else in the first place for it to count as saving someone a dance. That’s not what happened. What did happen?

Yang went and played wallflower for fuck’s sake. Yang, of all people. Yang, the girl they describe as a “party girl” on the back of the V1/Steelbook cover. Yang, the outgoing and bold and flirty girl who could’ve danced with anyone she damn well pleased after stepping aside and yielding Blake to Sun. But that’s not what we got. We got Yang Xiao Long, wallflower. She greeted Merc and Em, and then, in 2.7, we see she just went up to the mezzanine to watch. It’s easy to miss, given the 2.6-2.7 episode split and the fact that they don’t linger on it long. But we see Yang showing an interest in dancing with one and only one person that night.

(just felt like I needed a picture of Yang Xiao Wallflower in 2.7 here)



Yang even said she’d be turning heads, but only turned one, and didn’t seem to care about any others.

(psst: it was Blake’s)

And, I mean, not only that, but while we’re talking about Yang being flirty… she was in the Yellow Trailer, but she really only flirts with one person after that. You know. She loves it when she’s feisty, and offered to “save” her that dance with a flirty wink, before failing to dance with anyone else in the first place.



Yang honey is it stuffy in that closet?

Seriously, Yang’s selective flirtatiousness post-Yellow Trailer and her behaviour at the dance, if they were even subconsciously intended to imply Yang developing non-platonic feelings for Blake, are fine examples of what Miles and the directors are capable of, in terms of dropping hints that are really subtle until you notice them, and then cannot be unseen.

And as long as we’re talking about the dance arc, I’ll let you in on a little something. The talk in 2.6 is in and of itself absolutely something that could happen between Just Friends, but a dirty little cinematic trick was used to add a dash of Not Platonic towards the end. Not the wink and offer to save (”save,” she says, like she danced with anyone else) Blake a dance. What came just before that.

They didn’t have to include that freeze-frame bonus right there, but they did. If that was even subconsciously intentional on the CRWBY’s part, and they mean to foreshadow Blake and Yang ultimately being romantically involved, well… good job. (It adds a little subconscious context to Yang’s subsequent offer of a dance and her flirtatious wink, too.)



Oh, and before you ask if there’s any Blake honey that’s gay… Here, have this little screenshot I snapped from 1.13.

Blake honey is it stuffy in that closet? (There’s more on her end, too, but we’ll talk about that after foils.)

Back to Yang again for a bit, another thing that some people think is fairly telling of Yang’s feelings for Blake is that during the Battle of Beacon, she chooses to entrust the fate of the little sister she raised to Weiss, while going to find Blake herself, even knowing that Weiss and Blake are friends and that had she chosen to go after Ruby instead and entrust Blake to Weiss, Weiss almost certainly would have understood. I can definitely see the argument, though your mileage may vary.



And as for the handholding in 3.12, better people than I have analysed that, particularly in context of the shot of Sun looking right at Blake and Yang’s clasped hands.

Now that we’re done with the “above-the-surface” stuff, let’s go below the surface. There’s a lot here, so I’ll pick a place and start: parallels. And in turn there’s a lot there so I will just pick a parallel and start. But before I do, I’ll let you in on a little secret: I own the Blu-rays. In the scene in the V3 finale where Yang and Ruby are talking, the crew commentary track explicitly states that repeating motifs and themes, particularly parallels between the older generations of hunters and the new generation of hunters-in-training, is a deliberate Thing in this show. The example given was Yang losing the same arm that Ironwood did being an intentional parallel, but they made it clear that by no means does it stop there. Now, onward.

Remember that Taiyang guy? You know, Yang’s dad.

She inherited quite a bit from this guy. His name (”Taiyang Xiao Long” to “Yang Xiao Long”–she may as well be named “Taiyang Jr.”), much of his colour palette and fashion sense and all-around character design, her emblem is similar, and it’s even implied that she inherited his fighting style.

But at least she didn’t inherit his thing where he got his heart broken when he was abandoned by his mysterious, dark-haired, sword-and-sheath-wielding, ninja-woman (samurai-woman if you must be a pedant) teammate-cum-love interest with potential present or former White Fang ties, right?

Depicted: mysterious, dark-haired, sword-and-sheath-wielding, ninja-woman teammates-cum-awww shit

And now Yang is in Patch and in dire need of emotional support from her father, who hasn’t, as far as we know, lost an arm or had his character assassinated the way Yang has, but who shares her experiences of abandonment, including one suspiciously similar and specific abandonment that cut the both of them to the bone.

M&K, if the like-father-like-daughter connection was even slightly intentional there, good job.

Allow me to further elaborate on how the pain of that abandonment was highlighted in Yang’s case. In the scene in the V3 finale where Ruby and Yang are talking, we see four reactions to teammates being torn apart: Ruby’s reaction to Weiss being taken away, Ruby’s reaction to Blake running, Yang’s reaction to Weiss being taken away, and Yang’s reaction to Blake running. And one of these is not like the others. Ruby is hurt by the loss of Weiss and Blake, but still has faith in Blake, and Yang sounds disappointed in Weiss… but Yang is devastated by Blake’s abandonment. That relationship is not like the others. (Sorry, White Rose shippers.) Pay attention to Yang’s expression, body language, and voice acting in that scene, and note where she starts to shut down on Ruby.

Also holy shit Yang’s expression and body language after that heartbreaking “I don’t know” like oh my god

Seriously, one left thumb up to the director, animators, and Barb in that scene. I’d give two but y’know solidarity with Yang and stuff.

But wait. There are more parallels! This segment will include several dialogue parallels, which are useful because we already know they’re a technique the writers use. Like when Ruby is befriending Weiss and Penny. Or Neptune covering for Sun’s faux pas in the dance arc and Sun covering for Neptune’s faux pas before the SSSN vs. NDGO match.

You remember how I mentioned that Blake and Yang’s relationship is not like the other relationships in Team RWBY (Ruby and Weiss’s relationship included)? Because there’s another relationship in this show it’s a lot like. A relationship with confirmed romantic interest that gets a fair bit of on-screen development in the first three volumes, even. I’m going to show as much as possible as opposed to a bunch of telling, because this shit must be seen to be believed.

Going in chronological order, and also weaker to stronger, on dialogue parallels:

Bumbleby and then Arkos in the Emerald Forest.

Arkos, in a scene with an intimate setting with romantic lighting in which Jaune discloses a shameful personal secret to Pyrrha.

Bumbleby, in a scene with an intimate setting with romantic lighting in which Yang discloses a shameful personal secret to Blake.

Bumbleby, in a scene where Yang tries to reassure Blake.

Arkos, in a scene where Jaune tries to reassure Pyrrha.

And some parallels that aren’t dialogue per se.

In what relationship in the V2 dance arc do we see a blond hunter having a heart-to-heart with their partner (one, two), one partner making a deniable expression of interest in going to the dance with the other (one, two), and then the blonde cheering up their partner by donning a white dress and dancing with her despite not officially being her date (one, two)?

Depicted: the answer. Both of them.

I also had a Bl*cks*n shipper tell me once that Yang can’t be interested in Blake because she let Bl*cks*n happen right in front of her at the dance (I like the way she stomps off in those heels). And I’m thinking, “You mean like how if Pyrrha were interested in Jaune, she totally wouldn’t have coached him on how to ask Weiss out?”

And then of course there’s this blatant juxtaposition in 3.11, which I dare you to unsee now.

Good writing and directing, CRWBY. If even half of that shit was intentional, top marks.

And you know what? We still ain’t fuckin’ done. Like, not even close. There are no brakes on this train.

Now, this next bit involves not just parallels, but foils. If you’re not familiar with foils, they’re a fairly ubiquitous writing technique in which two characters are used to contrast each other (Wiki article if you need it). For instance, in Blake’s source material, The Beauty and the Beast (the Disney version, anyway), the Beast and Gaston are foils to each other, and they’re a fine example–you’re supposed to compare and contrast them and their relationships with Belle, both early on and as the Beast develops. (We’ll revisit this particular foil setup later.)

With this “foils” thing in mind, watch Blake and Yang’s scene in 3.8 again and tell me what you see being set up. Tell me who Yang is being compared to and contrasted with.

Are you seeing it yet?

Here’s a little more. Are you feeling a chill run down your spine now? Anny Gomez did a fantastic job of spotting the similarity between those scenes and juxtaposing them, in the above video link and in this even more chilling one, and y’all should check out the rest of her stuff.

Some shots of my own to highlight the similarities:

That shot is actually from 3.11. You’ve all already heard Ruby tell us that with each hit Yang gets stronger and uses that energy to fight back. Here we see Adam charging his semblance by parrying hits, much like in the Black Trailer (I used the shot from 3.11 because we see his hair and sword glowing as Blake’s bullets hit his blade).

I like the usage of lighting and perspective tricks to highlight the fact that they both glow when they’re fully charged. Good directing.

And here we see them both discharging. I like how both even have the arc special effect. And of course they’re both reducing a large robotic enemy to pieces. More good directing.

(I’ve also noticed that the CRWBY have been very careful to never show us Adam’s eyes. Even in, like, the manga, he always has his mask. I legit would not be surprised if his eyes turn out to be a big reveal and that they are red, or at least, turn red when he uses his semblance.)

With the above in mind–Blake directly comparing and contrasting Yang and Adam and setting them up as foils in 3.8, and Yang and Adam even having eerily similar semblances, and oh the thing where we should totally be comparing and contrasting not just Yang and Adam themselves but their relationships with Blake, go back and watch the Adam confrontation in late V3.

Because the Adam confrontation is blatant AF. It is a machine gun that shoots heroic romance arc cliches, even before you consider all the other writing and cinematic tricks going into it. Chained-Prometheus cited the series of shots following Adam’s promise to Blake to destroy “everything you love” as an example of the Kuleshov Effect, and it is a good read with strong evidence. But I kind of approach it at the level of “Adam basically casts ‘Summon Love Interest’ and Yang shows up right on bloody cue.” That line and the timing of Yang’s arrival, and then the “starting with her,” is just, fuckin’ hello, even before a detailed reading of the cinematic principles involved. Let’s just put Yang right at #1 on the list of “things Blake loves.” And then Adam hurts Blake to issue a challenge to Yang, and then we see that Yang’s #1 rage trigger (that we have ever seen) is seeing Blake hurt, and then Yang makes a profound, horrific sacrifice trying to protect Blake from Blake’s abusive ex who talks like a cliche romance arc villain in full If I Can’t Have You mode and oh yeah he was set up as a foil to Yang before this scene, and look at them building up all this heat between Blake’s abusive ex and Yang like some kind of hero-heroine-villain triangle between Yang and Blake and Adam respectively, and then Blake choosing Yang over Adam when he goes to finish her and rescuing Yang and carrying her to safety despite her own painful wounds, before Blake and Yang are finally forced apart by Adam’s jealous rage…

Mind, I’m not criticising the CRWBY’s writing here when I point out the abundant usage of cliches; I understand. Tropes are tools, and while the bar for foreshadowing an opposite-sex couple is so low you can trip over it, the bar for foreshadowing a same-sex couple is so high you basically have to back over the audience in a truck. If they were trying to foreshadow Bumbleby, they were absolutely right to throw Adam the keys and tell him to plow right through the stands, because half the audience still didn’t get it.

Have another freeze-frame bonus: Yang with tears in her eyes as she leaps at Adam. She really can’t bear to see Blake hurt.



Another little thing you may not have picked up on in the Adam scene: notice how Adam beheads Blake’s clone, and then sees that it’s a clone and that Blake is actually escaping with Yang? We can’t see due to the camera angle in the shot, but the only way that would have made sense–that Adam wouldn’t have immediately been tipped off by Yang being carried off while Blake’s shadow clone remains static–is if Blake actually cloned Yang and not just herself. So we see a very strong implication of Blake’s semblance being pushed to the point of doing something we’ve never seen or heard of it doing before, as well.

Oh, and, for those of you not convinced that Adam is actually Blake’s abusive ex-boyfriend, it was confirmed in the director’s commentaries in the Adam confrontation. Like, “and here’s the abusive ex-boyfriend.” Really blunt.

Before I finish my segment on the Adam scene, I want to let you in on a little open secret of mine: the Adam scene does not require shipping goggles to see the setup for Bumbleby in it. Specifically, I did not even ship Bumbleby before the Adam scene. I wasn’t even thinking about Bumbleby going in. But no shipping goggles were required for me to see it once it was on the screen. I went in not even thinking about Bumbleby and came out the religiously devoted Bumbleby shipper I am today. If the CRWBY were trying to trauma-bond me to the ship, congratulations you assholes you did it with flying colours.

I may as well finish this segment about the Adam scene with a repost of my Adam scene drinking game here:

Every time a heroic romance arc cliche gets paraded across the screen or Bumbleby is otherwise teased, take a shot. If you have any sudden epiphanies related to the juxtaposition of the Arkos and Bumbleby scenes going on at the same time here, finish the drink. If you have a sudden epiphany about how Yang, who’s loathed worldwide as of 3.6 and misshapen as of the end of this very scene and generally paid out the nose for her short temper this volume, introduces herself with a roar, attacks a white-fanged enemy in defence of Belle Blake, gets her right arm fucked up, passes out from shock, and has to be rescued and hauled to safety by Belle Blake at the end of the scene, finish the liquor cabinet.



Oh wait, what’s that second half of that paragraph there? I haven’t elaborated upon that yet, have I? That leads us to…

Oh yes. Yang’s highly suggestive V3 arc and its culmination.

In 3.5, we see elaboration upon Yang’s serious anger and violence problems and how little control she has over her temper. It flew over a lot of people’s heads since this episode was still pre-tone-shift, but if RWBY vs. FNKI had been a real fight, Weiss would have died. Those anger problems are getting less funny by the second.

In 3.6, we see Yang’s temper used against her again, when she’s manipulated into attacking Mercury and to all the world apparently crippling an aspiring young hero. In 3.8, we see that Yang’s anger and violence problems are scaring Belle Blake, and also that millions of viewers worldwide saw Yang attack an innocent, defenceless student and drew their own conclusions. Why, they must think she’s some kind of monster.

And then in 3.11, of course, we learn that Yang is ferociously protective of Belle Blake in a scene in which, as mentioned earlier, she introduces herself with a roar, attacks a white-fanged enemy in defence of Belle Blake, gets her right arm fucked up, passes out from shock, and has to be rescued and hauled to safety by Belle Blake at the end of the scene. And, y’know, the thing where she’s left misshapen. Hell, “misshapen” is even the exact word used in the quote at the beginning of the Yellow Trailer:

(Good foreshadowing btw. Also good scene reference in 3.11 there.)

And then in 3.12, we see Yang nigh-catatonically depressed, spending lots of time gazing longingly out the window, and telling Ruby “just leave me alone” after Belle Blake leaves her.

(Edit: the links in the above paragraphs about 3.11 and 3.12 aren’t “and here’s the source” links; they’re “this is what we’re comparing to” links and should be clicked even if you recall the events of the episodes clearly. This is very important.)

And, of course, Yang’s recovery will almost certainly involve getting a mechanical body part. And in the real world, it turns out amputees with advanced prostheses often struggle with feeling like they’re less human for having mechanical body parts. :( So Yang getting a prosthetic arm may solve her “need a new arm” problem, while at the same time making her feel like she’s losing her humanity.

Misshapen. Seen as a monster by the world. Life-destroying temper problems that are scaring Belle Blake. Ferociously protective of Belle Blake. Left nigh-catatonically depressed after being left by Belle Blake. Possibly struggling with feeling like she’s less human soon. It just seems so familiar somehow. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that many pieces of fan art and fanfiction depict Yang with a clawed prosthesis or other “beastly” symbolism–even if they aren’t consciously drawing this particular parallel, it just comes through naturally in Yang’s character and arc. (Good work, CRWBY.)

(Seriously, everyone, go rewatch Beauty and the Beast. Chained-Prometheus, the originator of the Yang Beast Theory, pulled me aside to watch it earlier this year and I was a little dumbstruck by the familiarity.)

And, of course, let’s not forget the lyrics of the first movement of Red Like Roses, from all the way back in the Red Trailer. “Black the beast descends from shadows / Yellow beauty burns gold.” Long before V3, people were asking if this was setting up some kind of Beauty and the Beast theme between the two, which was subsequently written off as “black the beast” just foreshadowing Blake being a faunus and “beauty” presumably just being a throwaway two-syllable word that scanned well to Yang’s part of the song. And then, y’know, V3 happened and it looks like they’ve gone and switched places. As yin-yang are wont to do as the sun moves over the mountains, casting shadow where there was once light and shining light where there was once shadow.



Bonus: here we see M&K asked about someone calling Adam “Gaston.” M&K naturally neither clearly confirm nor deny–those “sweet nods” are not the thing that really catches my attention. What caught my attention is the bit about who allegedly called Adam “Gaston.” It sounded like she says “Harley,” and then when I was watching extras and listening to commentary tracks on the V3 Blu-ray, it turns out one of the animators is actually named Harley. I’d love actual hard confirmation on this, because CRWBY members internally referring to Adam as “Gaston” is interesting enough in itself, and Adam as Gaston is really fitting. But until a confirmation of that or further evidence, it’s one of the weaker pieces of supporting evidence.



(Now, if you want to really nitpick, you could argue that it’s not so much that “Yang is the Beast” and “Adam is Gaston” per se so much as this subplot naturally takes some cues from Blake’s inspiration material, and it’s just that Yang plays the part of that subplot inspired by the Beast and Adam plays the part of that subplot inspired by Gaston. But even in that case the parallels carry a lot of meaning.)

Now. Remember how I said we’d revisit “Blake honey that’s gay” after discussing foils? It’s really more “Blake honey that’s bi,” but let’s revisit it now. It seems to me that Blake really has a type. You know. Anger and violence and abandonment issues, heavy Beast symbolism, a retaliatory semblance that absorbs energy from incoming attacks and returns it offensively… She makes the difficult decision to not only leave the White Fang but to abandon the guy she presumably once loved, and then in the Emerald Forest, chooses for her partner the woman there who is most similar to him. Blake honey that’s bi.

Depicted: Blake stalking Yang in the Emerald Forest. She’s blurry and all, but her arm still shows and it’s a giveaway that the streak is Blake and not a Grimm.

Blake honey is it stuffy in that closet?

In conclusion… yeah, parallels and foreshadowing and shit out the wazoo. Blake being Yang’s Raven; Yang being Blake’s Beast. The sheer blatancy of the Adam confrontation. The repeated parallels, dialogue included, between Bumblebee and bleedin’ Arkos. The buildup of heat–and similarities–between Yang and the abusive ex-boyfriend that Blake once loved. Even hints in their behaviour that are really bleedin’ subtle, right up until you notice them.

What I’m getting at is, you could set up a chair on the sidewalk of Castro Street, journal everything you see there for a week, and that writing still would not be as gay as this writing.

I mean, sure, you could make the argument that some of the things documented above are accidental or at least coincidental, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that were actually true for some of it. But for all of it to be coincidence… just, that’d be a metric fucktonne of really glaring coincidences.

Miles expresses insecurity about his romance-arc-writing skills, but honestly, if half of the stuff in this post was intentional, he’s off to an excellent start. Even in the bizarre case that it’s all accidental or coincidental and he didn’t actually intend any of it… nobody has to know you weren’t setting this up like some kind of mastermind all along, Miles.

there that was a bloody difficult post to get through and I’ve been putting it off for far too long but I worked through the night to get it done before the premiere and dammit it feels good