RWBYA Revised: Part 1

I mentioned the possibility of doing this, and obviously, I decided to do it.
As time goes on, and as I watch RWBY back over here and there, I realize just how fucking disappointed I am with RWBYA. I'm disappointed in how long it took to make, how much energy it took to make it, and how much I fucked over the general RWBY world by doing it the way I did.
Unfortunately, I can't just redo the thing because that wouldn't work. I'm not about to spend the time re-writing RWBYA (unless you count The RWBYA Adventures as that, which okay sure), and even if I did, I'd also have to rewrite scenes in following episodes regarding what would change. As Monty Oum said, I'm just going to keep moving forward with how things ended up. But, although I can't just go about rewriting it, I can do this revisited project to summarize how the project would be different now, while still fitting in line with the stories of Alan, Richard, and Pride going forward.
Well, it's mainly going to be me pointing out what the fuck is wrong, with little sprinkles of alternate stuff here and there.
Like RWBYA itself, I'll be releasing this in parts. So. Here's Part 1.
==Villain Time==
Okay, the story opens up fine, but goes to shit as soon as Salem starts talking about Cinder. Here, Salem refers to everything Cinder has done being a failure, which directly contradicts what she said in Volume 4. Cinder was the main driving force to take down Beacon, she became the Fall Maiden, and killed Ozpin. RWBYA Salem takes issue with the fact she "didn't kill Ozpin," which she shouldn't take issue with. Salem knows Oz will just reincarnate, Cinder can't do anything about that. Now, she is upset that Oz has reincarnated, but that's not Cinder's fault he can't stay dead. She criticizes Cinder losing to Ruby, which is something she explained happened because of her Maiden powers (it's very vague what that means, but she wouldn't be upset about that.) The only thing she mentions that makes sense to criticize is losing the Relic of Knowledge.
Richard seems to believe in destiny. Or rather, he believes in finally being able to choose his own destiny. This much would stay, because it ties into his arc, and I think I'd keep it just as vague if I did it now. I don't wanna give too much away.
Ultimately, the revised version of this scene would remain the same, but with dialogue adjusted.
==Argus Limited==
This scene is... okay. I do enjoy establishing Weiss as the first character Alan interacts with, given how much I enjoy their dynamic. The fight isn't much different from the actual fight, but I don't mind that. Should've done without Alan's comment about seeing up Weiss' skirt, easily. I thought it was funny in the moment but there's no reason to have it.
The thing about the Relic is pretty dumb on my part. In the actual show, Team RWBY, along with Qrow and Oscar, leave the train with the Relic so Ren can mask the emotion of everyone else on the train to get to Argus safely, while the others continue on foot. The Relic attracts the Grimm regardless. And my solution and means of bypassing V6's detour was just Golem-Eye amping the train's defenses, which were already established to be an issue with attracting the Grimm towards the passengers... which is where Alan goes to do his thing. Also, AmpFibian reveals the tidbit about the Relic, and everyone just kind of glosses over it. This is incredibly out of character for... Everybody.
This wasn't good. And that continue to be a theme throughout this special. Where I just miss shit that would've been easily fixed if I gave RWBY a proper rewatch before writing this instead of operating on memory and wiki summaries.
If I did this now, I'd have much more focus on Oz's lies and half truths continuing. I'd also need to still find a way to bypass the V6 detour for the sake of RWBYA's story. Maybe something like putting the Relic inside EsCargo so the Grimm can't detect it? Upgrade the train so it goes too fast for the Grimm to keep up? Shit, Blamurai could've done something, maybe. Just something more sensical than "Let me do what the other guy was doing that we already established wasn't working."
==The Vault of the Spring Maiden==
I don't even know how Neo found them. The way she finds Cinder in the show is through Lil Miss Malachite, but Neo just... happens to show up at Haven Academy I guess? In any case, this scene would've been a good way to establish the way Richard and Cinder's "relationship" works.
It's in quotes because it's incredibly, and intentionally, a toxic relationship. The likely age gap as well as the power dynamic of each one using the other. It's designed for them to not get on well as partners, both as criminals and... The other stuff that happened. It's bad and it's supposed to be bad.
At some point before RWBYA, Richard had already gone to Earth-ERTH at least once or twice where he came in contact with Cinder's faction. He did so by straining as Clockwork, which is something I'll come back to later. When the two met, Cinder promised Richard a destiny of his own design, and Richard manipulated Cinder as well through Intimachi, the same form he uses to calm Neo down here.
In a revised version of this scene, Mercury wouldn't be involved. He recognizes Cinder doesn't care about anyone but herself, and he would've stayed behind at Salem's castle. This would mean Richard and Emerald going to get Cinder without Salem knowing; Mercury would know about this but wouldn't rat on them because he cares about Emerald. Instead of Neo encountering the group under the academy by random chance, the group would run into some of Lil Miss Malachite's Spiders, who would be looking for Cinder for Lil Miss after being paid by Neo, thusly bringing Neo into the story.
==Terra and Saphron==
I kept this interaction in the special because I loved the downtime of going to Terra and Saph's home. Downtime moments that humanize the heroes are great, that's why the party scene in Age of Ultron is so damn good. One thing I don't like, though, is that I imply the existence of homophobia on Remnant. No, that's not a thing. Remnant people are dumb enough to be racist, want to destroy a city to save another, go to war for no reason, and destroy everyone just because they didn't get a fairy tale ending, but they aren't against the rainbow people. Or any letter people for that matter.
Side note, nobody's reacting to the fact they're meeting Jaune's family, which is something Ruby and Nora were pretty excited about in canon. Unfortunate.
Small detail I do like, though, is Alan, Blake, and Ren going to help cook. Alan is already established to have a culinary ability, and canonically Ren can cook very nicely as well. Blake, while having never been confirmed in-show, has been given a semi-canon answer as the best cook of Team RWBY.
Ultimately, this scene remains about the same, but with the "I'm vague about the other parent's gender because I'm not going to assume your sexuality" line removed because in a world where anti letter people isn't a thing, it's not necessary. I'd also add a bit more humanizing dialogue between the characters.
==Flashbacks==
Jesus fucking Christ, I should've more properly revised this scene. One thing the original kept that didn't make it into this version of the script which should have is Richard criticizing Alan for being a hero that kills. It would've tied into Alan's story within the special much better.
Now, there's also another... huge issue that comes up here. And I'm not just saying that because Way Big got used. How in the actual FUCK did a simple, albeit huge, blast of cosmic energy and toxins blast Way Big and Mongilla to entirely opposite ends of the continent of Sanus? To the point Richard washed up in Salem's realm, and Alan swam to Mistral, which is also on the other side of its continent?
Well.
Believe it or not.
There is an answer.
Whether it's a good one or not is up to you. I should've established it in-universe somehow, though.
The fabric of reality was still a bit in flux after Alan and Richard went through the portal. When their simultaneous blasts exploded, it ricocheted them further across Remnant than what would be feasibly possible otherwise. This also accounts for the difference in time. Alan joins the heroes at Argus, but Richard meeting Salem's group is when Hazel, Mercury, and Emerald already returned from Haven Academy, which is at least a week after the heroes in Argus. So, the reality flux sent Richard forward a bit, while Alan stayed in the same time but near Mistral.
Another question is why Richard used Alan to get to Earth-ERTH. Well, it establishes that this version of Clockwork has a difficult time accessing separate multiverses, but this can be made easier by Blamurai's sword augmenting it, which is intentionally left vague because of the lore of Blamurai's species. The question is, why didn't Richard use a duplication alien to do this trick instead of using Alan?
I don't know, I guess he just didn't think of it. He's not perfect.
The revised version of the scene would include Richard's taunts at Alan to tie into his arc, as well as finding a way to establish the reality flux. And I guess say that neither of the brothers thought about duplicating transformations before this point. I don't know. I don't have a good reason Richard uses Alan, and that's incredibly awful because that's how this entire crossover happens at all.
==Ending Scene==
I think this ending scene is about what it needs to be. It's got a bit of levity to it, and establishes the group will be headed to Atlas soon. I also just enjoy Nora's curiosity regarding the naming of the different Earth's. This ending scene can stay the same.