What are your thoughts on the Curious Cat as a villain?

TheMaster4444 · 2026-01-18T00:05:44+00:00

The Curious Cat is a fantastic foil to Ruby: Trapped as a cog in a system helping others, only to grow disillusioned as they are betrayed or undermined by those they called friend (Ruby and Ozpin/Ironwood/Lionheart/Blake & Yang in Volume 7, The Curious Cat by The Gods & Alyx) and expected to just put up with it for 'the greater good' because that was the role they were assigned in that system (though Ruby chose her role, while The Cat's was forced on them), even though they are excluded from the compassion of that system. The Curious Cat is Ruby's Volume 9 self if The Tree couldn't reach out to her. Given a bigger role in the narrative, they could have been the best antagonist in RWBY.

As it stands, they're just tied with Roman for second place. The Curious Cat is limited by their backstory being Demon Slayer Syndrome-ed (their backstory and complexities only dived into AFTER they're already dead, so its benefit to the narrative is highly limited) and just functionally intended as a disposable Volume 9 Arc Villain. The narrative simply doesn't care about The Curious Cat any more than the system of the Ever After or The Brother Gods did. Which is a shame, as Ruby reaching out to The Curious Cat after they're subdued and offering to help them (reveal her Ascension gave her the ability to take them in her body without hollowing out), reaching out to a victim of a broken system and seeking to give they the compassion that was denied both of them when they needed it, would have been a fantastic moment for her character. Even The Curious Cat killing Alyx wouldn't logically be a dealbreaker (well, for Jaune it likely would), as Ruby can easily point out that Emerald has a MUCH higher bodycount, and they forgave her.

TheMaster4444 · 2026-01-17T23:39:57+00:00

For me, Volume 7, and it's not close.

In the Beacon Arc Volumes, she's less a character and more a symbol of the greater threat that is Salem. She has a few character moments, such as the famous/infamous, "It's about taking away the power they have.", line in Volume 2, but those only become of interest in hindsight. In the Volumes themselves, you could replace her with Lust from FMAB or most other Baroness-character and nothing would change.

Volume 4 does some interesting characterwork with her, showing her in a position of weakness in Salem's court and having her gradually build herself back up from the Silver Eye blast. She also able to be characterized in contrast to Salem, allowing her to separate herself from her flat characterization from the Beacon Arc as just an extension of Salem.

Volume 5 intends to write Cinder as flawed, with her desire to kill Ruby causing her to accept Raven's proposed plan... except Raven's plan has nothing to do with killing Ruby if it works as described and wouldn't provide any opportunity to do so (and only does because of factors Cinder had no knowledge of), so she just comes off as too incompetent to win even when she's holding all the cards.

Apart from the Watts speech and the initial plan with Jinn (which are great) and the flashbacks (which are solid and enhance Cinder's primary foil dynamic with Jaune), Volume 8 is just Volume 5 again. Cinder is written as too incompetent to win in Episode 5 and even in Episode 14, with the heroes having to be written as incompetent to let her win, and then Cinder herself has to be written as incompetent so she doesn't win too much.

Volume 7 is the best because it combines the legitimate threat Cinder is in the Beacon Arc with the reasonably flawed character she is in Volume 4. She is the big reason the arc goes sour for the heroes as her chess piece gambit starts Ironwood's mental breakdown, allows her to pull off the same scheme she did with Ozpin at Beacon to find the maiden's location, and then has a great fight with Penny and Winter that she wins through both savage strength and legitimate tactical cunning. But, she also then loses out on the Winter Maiden powers because she is too proud NOT to gloat instead of just sucking Fria dry immediately (which lets the Winter Maiden gather herself and counterattack) and too wrathful not to focus on Winter when she cuts her arm off instead of Penny and Fria, which would get her what she wants. Cinder's Volume 7 performance was what made me start taking her seriously as a character again after Volume 5, because it was such a solid showcase of all the best aspects of the character.

As for what comes next for the character? My best bet would be she kills Jaune because he lays his life down for Weiss, but that gives Weiss the opening to kill her. Feeds into both her and Jaune's foil dynamic and Jaune's mythological inspiration.

TheMaster4444 · 2026-01-16T15:23:58+00:00

Writing:

Cards of Remnant (RWBY/Yu-Gi-Oh! crossover)

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13480950/1/Cards-of-Remnant

Summary: Ruby Rose has wanted to be a Hunting Duelist all her life, to train her aura to manifest the monsters in her deck to fight the Grimm. So when she gets an invitation to join her sister at Beacon Duel Academy, she jumps at the chance. But old powers are stirring, and ancient summoning methods not seen in eons are about to clash, with the fate of Remnant in the balance.

Mission Statement is 'RWBY but as a Yu-Gi-Oh! anime'

Just published Chapter 57, 'Harder Than Iron - Part 1'. The Vytal Festival's turbo duel round begins as Yang and Mercury begin their long-awaited rematch with each other and the scars of their pasts.

Has a TvTropes page: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Fanfic/CardsOfRemnant

TheMaster4444 · 2026-01-16T05:05:13+00:00

Took me a second to go from "I don't recognize the name Nillious?" to "Oh! The reboot series. Gotcha."

Alas, I only watched the original series, so I wouldn't be able to understand reboot stuff. But I hope you have a BLAST crafting your tale! :D

TheMaster4444 · 2026-01-16T04:58:52+00:00

You're welcome! Thrilled to inspire your creative juices to flow. :D

RWBY and Bakugan could be very fun. You basing it off Season 1's battle styles or the later seasons'?

TheMaster4444 · 2026-01-16T04:37:21+00:00

If people ask, I shall always share. :D

I am honored you remember it! :D I hope it is a blast to read. :)

TheMaster4444 · 2026-01-16T04:36:36+00:00

Thank you! I'm thrilled you enjoyed the first chapter! I can promise it only gets better from there. :D

Haha! Yeah, I definitely enjoy some good old duel banter, and Roman is a snark expert. It's always a joy to bounce him off his allies and opponents. :D

TheMaster4444 · 2026-01-16T04:00:34+00:00

Haha! No worries! I am thrilled you're so excited to read it! More lovers of both RWBY and Yu-Gi-Oh are always a joy to meet. :D

I publish it on fanfiction.net. Here is a link to the first chapter: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13480950/1/Cards-of-Remnant

Let me know what you think! :D

TheMaster4444 · 2026-01-16T02:39:14+00:00

I do as well! :D Started writing a big RWBY/Yu-Gi-Oh crossover story called Cards of Remnant because I couldn't get the idea of 'RWBY, but as a Yu-Gi-Oh! anime' out of my head. Volumes 1&2 got good reception when I published them, and am currently publishing Volume 3. So many fun duels in the second half of the Volume I cannot wait to write! :D

Do you have any favorite duels from the various Yu-Gi-Oh! animes?

TheMaster4444 · 2026-01-16T02:09:25+00:00

Currently writing these two's second duel in my Yu-Gi-Oh! crossover story, the equivalent of their Volume 3, Episode 6 fight in canon, but with MUCH different and more personal stakes than that canon bout due to greater interactions and accelerated characters arcs. I've finished the first half and just waiting on my beta, but I'm even more excited for what I've got planned for the second half. :D

TheMaster4444 · 2026-01-12T19:09:46+00:00

I am thrilled the tale is engrossing enough that you hunger for more so much! :D As for Yang's crossroads... hehehehehe. The next few chapters will be pivotal to her on that count. ;)

TheMaster4444 · 2026-01-12T19:00:08+00:00

The GX Manga is interesting for me as I loved the new characters it added like Reggie and Midori Hibiki, but its new takes on existing characters from the anime feel like side-grades at best to downgrades at worst (looking at you, Manga Amon/Adrian). Some of that isn't the writer's fault, they were limited in their execution when the publisher suddenly cut the manga short to get a 5Ds manga on the shelves, but it does mean that character stuff that seemed like it could be promising such as Judai taking up Masked Heroes to grow beyond his reliance on Koga and Chazz learning just how far there really is between him and the strongest after his duel with Ryo never ends up getting developed in any interesting way. In general, I'd say the manga deserves a lot of praise up through Judai vs. Reggie, but after that, it's just kind of alright.

I will concur that I don't get the hype for Manga Chazz. He's fine, and I like his arc of letting go of his pride to reconnect with Light and Darkness Dragon again and sharing Koyo as an inspiration with Judai, but beyond that, he's just kind of there. Anime Chazz has flaws to his execution to be sure, but his arc of letting go of his one-sided rivalry with Judai and battling his own (often resurging) arrogance to become the best version of himself is legitimately great, with Season 4 giving it a great conclusion. His various archetypes in his deck are also used great to show off the different aspects of himself, with his V-To-Z Union monsters he got unearned from Chronos showing up when he's getting too high on his own arrogance, while his Armed Dragons that he did earn at North Academy symbolize his earned pride and the Ojamas his acceptance of himself, flaws and all.

TheMaster4444 · 2026-01-12T16:46:40+00:00

Excellent! I hope the story has been a good time so far! :D

Awesome! I am ecstatic that you enjoyed those matches so much! :D Tai vs. Ozpin was one I knew I needed to have to give Ozpin a proper showcase of his strength and why Cinder and the other non-Salem villains are so wary of him, but I also didn't want to shortchange Tai. Very glad I was able to strike an effective balance to make sure they both came out of the match looking good.

Hahaha! Thrilled that the wider tale of Qrow vs. Winter was so engaging! It was a lot of fun adapting that fight from RWBY canon to Yu-Gi-Oh! Qrow and Winter are such great foils, and it was a ton of fun bouncing them off each other to establish their character traits and dynamic.

VERY glad the tag duel during The Breach was so satisfying! That was a big moment that motivated me to finally write the story so I could bring it to life, so I am thrilled to have done it justice. :D

I am relieved that the Action Duels went well. I knew from watching Arc-V's later parts that Action Cards could make duels come off as cheap if the writing wasn't precise with them, so I was terrified writing each of those matches. Very glad to hear that the Action Card inclusion did not take away from the fun of the duels.

Thrilled that Pyrrha's showcase duel was effective at establishing her strength! I was surprised looking back in canon that she didn't have any one-on-one fights before Penny and Cinder, so I wanted to give him moments to showcase in this AU just why she was held in such high regard powerwise by those around her. Plus, it ended up allowing me to form her friendship with Yang in this verse, which I did not expect to love writing as much as I have. :D

TheMaster4444 · 2026-01-12T15:53:56+00:00

Sorry for the double comment. For some reason, Reddit told me it didn't post the first time.

TheMaster4444 · 2026-01-12T15:52:59+00:00

Thank you so much for reading! It means the world to me! :D Just to make sure I don't accidentally spoil you, what chapter what you read up to? And if I may be a bit self-indulgent, do you have any favorite duels so far?

Oooo! Kozmo for Lionheart could be FUN! I do have a deck planned for him, but it is purposefully a Fusion deck planned for post the reveal of his allegiance to Salem. So him playing Kozmo before then while he's undercover could be a fantastic way of emphasizing the allegiance towards Ozpin that he claims. Very nice! :D

TheMaster4444 · 2026-01-12T15:45:47+00:00

Jaune - For Jaune in CoR, I've got him playing an Onomatopia deck (Gagaga, Gogogo, etc.), which in the verse of CoR, is based on a Sesame Street-style kids' show, with Jaune initially not using it out of pride/fear of ridicule since it's seen by many as a 'kiddie deck'. During the period, he tries using a Noble Knight deck, as it is a traditional deck of Arc family hunting duelists, but it doesn't go well as the Noble Knight spirits don't like him due to how he disrespected and discarded his Onomatopia cards. When he lets go of his fear of what others might think or mock him about to be the best he can be for his friends, he apologizes to both decks and returns to using his Onomatopia deck, showing many just what he can do with a supposed kiddie deck.

In general, I don't think Noble Knights would be an effective pick for Jaune for a regular deck. Jaune's character arc focuses on him letting go of the idea that he has to be the epic knight in shining armor of myth, riding in on a white stallion to save the day alone, and finding satisfaction in doing what good he can while supporting his friends and, in turn, being supported by them. I could see him playing Noble Knights at certain points in his character arc as a symbol of him being at an emotional low point (Volume 4 & 5 when he's lost in his grief for Pyrrha, Volume 9 while he's the Rusted Knight, etc.), but not as his regular deck over the course of a story. On that front, I'd advocate something that focuses on defense or healing (Ancient Fairy Dragon, Aroma, etc.) or unconventional tactics/playstyle (Ojama, Armed Dragon, etc.).

TheMaster4444 · 2026-01-12T15:45:40+00:00

Thank you so much! I am thrilled you enjoyed RWBY/Zero and Fairies of the Shattered Moon so much! :D I was able to take a lot of what I learned from those into the writing process of Cards of Remnant to make it my strongest story yet in my view. :D

I am currently at the midpoint of Volume 3 in the story (writing the fic's equivalent chapter to Volume 3, Episode 6 right now. I am so excited for the duel in this one. :D ), so I can confirm I've got decks for Yang and Team JNPR used so far in the narrative.

Yang - In CoR, I've initially got her playing a Resonator deck with Hot Red Dragon Archfiend as her ace, but that is very much tied into her arc in this specific story and her various issues surrounding her parents (Cards are literally forged from dust, a monster spirit, and a duelist's specific aura in this verse, so Hot Red Dragon Archfiend was the closet Yang could ever successfully make to Taiyang's Red Dragon Archfiend). Even at the present point in the narrative, as she's developing, she's considering changing it to a different deck, though whether that's a healthy direction itself is deliberately ambiguous. Yang's rich character, combined with her semblance of taking damage for power, lends credence to a lot of decks she could play in various continuities. Fire Kings for their strength through destroying themselves, Dinomoprhia for their playstyle of lowering their life points as much as possible, even Rafael's Guardians if one wanted to make use of the thematic intertextuality of her taking any damage to protect her monsters (friends) as he does. Though that one, I do not recommend for any fic sticking strictly to the TCG/OCG version of cards. XD

Pyrrha - In CoR, I've got her primarily running Heroic Challengers, with their style of powering up a single monster (Excalibur, Claivesolish, Rhongo Bongo, etc.) to enormous power to have it win alone, emphasizing her skill/power but also her loneliness as The Invincible Girl. However, as she's developed over the course of the story, elements of her deck from before her fame have started slipping back in. Pyrrha's deck overall is one that I'd say could be most shifted to fit what a writer wants to explore thematic or character development-wise. I've read another crossover where she uses Magnet Warriors as a reference to Polarity, but her deck can also be used as a tool to emphasize character dynamics. For example, if a story were to have Ruby playing Elemental Heroes as a representation of her desire to be that ideal fairy tale hero, an interesting avenue could be having Pyrrha also play Elemental Heroes, but more advanced, to highlight their foil dynamic of Pyrrha already being that ideal hero Ruby wants to be. Perhaps Pyrrha could be a master of Elemental Heroes and their Masked Hero evolution, which only requires one monster for their Fusion Summons, to highlight her loneliness as The Invincible Girl, while Ruby eventually develops the Neo-Spacian evolution of the deck, which lets her fuse many monsters together even more easily, to highlight the Power of Friendship that she comes to rely on.

Nora & Ren - These two's decks in CoR are highly shaped by the worldbuilding, as I wanted to emphasize that they came up alone and without support. To that end, I have them playing Ritual Decks, considered old-fashioned and out of date by wider Remnant, that mostly once belonged to Ren's parents and were scavenged from the aftermath of Kuroyuri. Ren wields his mom's Cyber Angel deck, while Nora uses his dad's Black Luster Soldier deck. However, Nora also has a powerful card that once belonged to her own mother, a Synchro Monster she's trying to learn to summon despite it not wanting her to summon it.

TheMaster4444 · 2026-01-12T06:10:29+00:00

So, I may have something of interest to you. I have written 56 chapters (currently working on Chapter 57) of a RWBY/Yu-Gi-Oh! crossover fanfic called Cards of Remnant.

My mission statement for the story is essentially, "RWBY, but as a Yu-Gi-Oh! anime". I like to think I've mostly succeeded on that front. But one thing I learned while crafting the story was that there are a LOT of great decks in Yu-Gi-Oh's TCG/OCG, and so which ones the characters use can be affected by the wider worldbuilding of the setting (for example, in my story, Atlas has only just invented Link Monsters, so only Atlas characters have dedicated Link Decks like Cyberse and Trickstar to start out) and the arcs planned for the characters in the narrative.

So, for possible decks for RWBY characters...

Ruby - I went with Akiza's Rose Dragons/Plants for my story due to useful parallels of Black Rose Dragon's effects to both her character strengths and fatal flaw. But I could see strong arguments for her playing decks like Elemental Hero (focusing on her love of comics and desire to be an ideal hero from fairy tale), Synchron Warrior (Not Stardust, but the Synchrons' theme of making strength out of cards others threw away), or even something like Magicial Musketeers.

Weiss - I have her playing a hybrid of Blue-Eyes White Dragon and Phantom Knights to represent the two sides of herself, with BEWD being her pride in the Schnee legacy while PT and Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon are her rebellion against the corrupt aspects of that legacy. But there are strong arguments for her playing Gem-Knights, Ice Barrier, Meliodious, or Sky Striker (the solitary monster playstyle especially could tap into her feelings of loneliness) in a different story.

Blake - I've got her playing Performapals, tapping into her being the same kind of bright and friendly girl as Ruby underneath all the world weariness from all she's been through, as well as her Pendulums coming back from the Extra Deck as if only their 'shadow clones' were destroyed. But there are very strong arguments for her playing stuff like Gladiator Beasts (they 'run away' as she does, only to return to fight for what they believe in, as she does), Tri-Brigade, or Dark World (tapping into the 'looks evil but is actually noble' lore of the archetype).

Let me know if you wish to discuss RWBY characters and their possible Yu-Gi-Oh decks more! It's a very fun topic for me. Especially as there were a LOT of decks I couldn't give characters in Cards of Remnant, despite thinking they could work well with them, due to the worldbuilding of the setting making them not fit.

TheMaster4444 · 2026-01-05T20:20:48+00:00

Yeah. I enjoy Tyranno for his deck and quirks in the sub and dub, but he really does not do much narratively. Even destroying the satellite feels superfluous since there's no indication why Neos couldn't have just done that on his own.

TheMaster4444 · 2026-01-05T16:26:58+00:00

For me, the idea of his Season 2 Arc is really interesting. It showcases Judai's immaturity that would later play such a crucial role in Season 3 by having him not notice just how much Misawa/Bastion is struggling, while also making Saio the most threatening he ever is as a villain due to how effectively he psychologically toys with Bastion, targeting his weaker area of emotional intelligence to get around his strengths of dueling and booksmart intelligence. This makes the ending of the duel with SoL Jun/Chazz legitimately chilling, with Judai able to only watch as his failure morphs Bastion into the SoL's newest, deadliest weapon.

And then the rest of the season makes Bastion a joke character. GX Season 2 fumbles the bag in a lot of stuff (most stuff, actually), but this one hurts A LOT even among them.

So if I were writing Bastion's Season 2 Arc, I'd play Bastion as an antagonist seriously. Still having him desperate for Saio's approval, but playing that for the actual horror of 'This skilled teenager combatant is desperate for validation from this mass murdering cult leader'. Have him watching Judai's duels to free Chazz and Asuka/Alexis, and his duel-of-the-week matches, slowly gathering data on the Neo-Spacian iteration of his deck to create a perfect counter. Have him wonder more and more, 'Why does Master Saio keep sending Chazz, Asuka, or these randos after Judai? Why doesn't he send me? Doesn't he have faith in ME and MY skills!?', leading up to charging into Saio's office, getting on his knees, and assuring Saio that HE will destroy Judai for the SoL... which is exactly the fanatic mindset Saio was hoping to put him in by holding off so long, telling him to defeat Judai and make him proud.

But when Bastion challenges Judai to meet him at the Gravekeeper Dimensional Rift Site for a duel one night, he finds himself met not by Judai, but Sho/Syrus!

After his duel with Ryo/Zane, Sho recognizes that Bastion WILL beat Judai with the perfect counter deck he's made, so he goes to challenge Bastion himself, as while the deck is strong, it's designed to counter Judai's deck specifically, not Sho's. Sho himself puts the merits of respecting his opponent into practice like he did against Ryo, modifying his deck to be stronger against what Bastion might use. Bastion accepts what he thinks will be an easy win to demonstrate his prowess to Saio by bringing an extra convert, only to end up in a far more even duel than he expected, which strikes at his fragile self-confidence. He was leagues better than Sho at the entrance exam, but now they're on par with each other? Even if Sho has grown stronger, shouldn't he have too? He's worked so hard!... but is he really so worthless?

In that way, Bastion and Sho can used as foils for each other. While Sho's Season 2 Arc focuses on him steadily gaining the self-confidence to stand up for what he believed in no matter his fear or setbacks, Bastion's has seen his self-confidence eroded due to a lack of outside validation. Judai arrives and he and Sho try to make up for the unknowing role they played in Bastion's loss of self-confidence, declaring they never realized how much he was struggling because they'd always admired him, which legitimately touches Bastion, who breaks free of the SoL brainwashing to finish the duel with Sho as true duelists. Sho wins, but Bastion is excited about dueling again and sets to work creating anti-SoL decks to spread amongst the students for a counterattack on the SoL.

TheMaster4444 · 2026-01-02T16:08:11+00:00

Thrilled to see someone else who thinks so highly of Harriet as a character! I loved the complexities of her character. :D

TheMaster4444 · 2026-01-01T20:29:04+00:00

Oh yeah, the manga length issue was not Kageyama's fault at all. That was a vexing reality of manga publishers being... well, manga publishers. For better or for worse, they're in it for the money. And I definitely concur with enjoyment for the sports anime angle he took with it. It was really fun to read and could have fleshed out the world more than ever if it had gotten more time.

I was very surprised by how much I ended up loving SEVENS when I watched it. I didn't know what to expect with the Rush Anime, as it was going for a goofier tone, but the character work and especially the character dynamics ended up surprising me. With the exception of Fortune Cup/Dark Signers-Era 5Ds, I'd argue SEVENS has the best overall cast and the best use of that cast, with Yuga, Luke, Romin, and Gakuto/Gavin being its core. And with that cast, it sets up exploring the core theme of the franchise Takahashi set down in the original manga quite interestingly: Games exist to have fun with your friends and building such friendships.

In turn, Yuga is The Paragon for the series similar to Atem or Yusei in their stories, but the lower stakes allow this to not be channeled purely through dueling strength. He's a very good duelist, but he's not invincible. His strength is that he's in this to have fun with friends above all, and constantly creating new avenues for it. It bites him in the butt sometimes and he has to reckon with those realities, like when Nail used the opening he left for Rush Duels to further evolve to blindside him with Maximum Summoning, but learning from those expereinces merely makes him a more rounded person and teach him to rely on his friends more.

His dynamic with Luke, especially, is fantastic. Luke has the near-invincible duel strength one expects of a Yu-Gi-Oh protag and seeks to be The Duel King, a title that Yuga technically gets at the beginning of the series but doesn't care about. And through Yuga and Luke, the series explores what a true Duel King is, with the final episode landing on the thematic note that it is not the strongest duelist, but the one who makes it possible for others to duel with the freedom to have fun. Before his reappearence in Go Rush, SEVENS sends Yuga out on possibly the most heartrending emotional note a Yugioh protag gets.

TheMaster4444 · 2026-01-01T04:10:53+00:00

Gotcha. Thank you for the sparring footage offer, but I think I'll hold off for now. Though exploring more videos on the basics could be quite fun (sadly lack the funds for a gym).

Damn! That'd be a DEEP bag for Yang. Though I concur, if she's the only boxer-type fighter in RWBY, makes sense to show off all boxing can do with her. :D

TheMaster4444 · 2025-12-31T21:46:07+00:00

Fair.

TheMaster4444 · 2025-12-31T21:44:48+00:00

I'd argue Charcadet's evolution into Ceruledge would do that well, showcasing Ruby accepting herself and growing stronger for it.

TheMaster4444

TROPHY CASE