Fans of the animated show RWBY are having a pretty good week, as we ramp up to the RWBY Volume 5 premiere this weekend. The Volume 5 trailer dropped on October 9th (see the video above), there were in-theater previews of the first episode in hundreds of locations across the US, and there’s even a Kickstarter for a RWBY themed board game. Read on for more on all of that.
What’s RWBY?
RWBY is an online animated show conceived by Monty Oum of Rooster Teeth. If you are not familiar with the show, it is based in the World of Remnant, where humans and faunus (people with animal-like characteristics and talents) strive to survive in a world beset by creatures of Grimm.
In Volume 4 of the series, a long-hidden enemy succeeds in bringing down Beacon Academy, one of the bastions of civilizations, where hunters and huntresses train to fight the creatures of Grimm and protect the world. Communications between kingdoms have broken down. Tensions are high and friends and allies are scattered.
RWBY‘ Volume 5 Premiere in Theaters
Rooster Teeth has partnered with Fathom Events to bring the first episode of RWBY Volume 5 to over 500 theaters for a one-night event on October 12th. Although there have been previous theater screenings of RWBY after it aired, this is the first time viewers can watch an episode in a theater before it is released online.
The screening started with the last three episodes from Volume 4, each followed by video commentary by Miles Luna (series writer and voice of Juane Arc), Kerry Shawcross (series writer and voice of Neptune), and Gray Haddock (head of animation and voice of Roman Torchwick) of Rooster Teeth.
Following the Volume 4 material, two shorts providing character background on Blake and Weiss (two members of team RWBY) were shown. These shorts had been previously released online. Finally, the first episode of Volume 5 was screened after a short preamble. The episode was very well received by the crowd (at least at the screening I attended), with laughter and cheers and applause at the end.
Fans of RWBY are enthusiastic, and quite a few showed up in cosplay as their favorite characters. Three friends (on the left in the picture above) were dressed as three members of team RWBY from the show: Blake Belladonna, Weiss Schnee, and Ruby Rose. They were missing Yang Xiao Long, but you can’t have it all. The girl dressed as Blake wore a humorous “Backup Bestie” t-shirt. In the show, Ruby has pursued a somewhat reluctant Weiss as her best friend since the beginning.
RWBY Tabletop Game Kickstarter
If you are wanting more RWBY in your life, you are in luck. Rooster Teeth is running a very successful Kickstarter campaign for a cooperative card game, RWBY: Combat Ready. We’ve mentioned it already in our Kickstarter Tabletop Alert last month. However, it is worth mentioning that the campaign is approaching $400,000 on their $250,000 goal.
There have been lots of juicy stretch goal announcements, and with the campaign running until October 30th, chances are good that they will pass $500,000 and we’ll get to see the character Penny in the game named after her catchphrase, “I’m combat ready!”
Nice picture Andrew! I was there at this event too, I wonder if you have a picture of the whole crowd? We had taken a group picture at the end, but I do not know who took it nor where to find it. If you have it, would you mind emailing it to me? Thanks!