The RWBY panel at RTX started at 10:30 a.m. The crowd starting lining up before 7:30 a.m., two hours before the convention center opened up. Yeah, there was a HUGE crowd! Even if you weren’t a RWBY fan, you could feel the energy of the audience as cosplayers started party rocking. And when we’re talking cosplayers, everyone from a baby Ruby to the background characters of Volume 1 were present.

Article by Stephen Ramirtha, Photos by Audrey Browning

The panel started off with an episode of RWBY Chibi, Nefarious Dreams and Tai’s Escape, which just premiered for Rooster Teeth FIRST members the day before. Paula shared her favorite visual gag (where Blake makes a hilarious expression in one episode) and plugged the RWBY Chibi panel coming up (which we got to attend!)

RWBY news!

Afterwards, Kerry, Miles, and Gray dived right into new merchandise and other RWBY-related news.

• A Fathom Events for RWBY Volume 6 is slated for Oct. 25, with tickets going on sale starting Aug. 17.
• In manga news, the character anthologies for Weiss and Yang are coming to the US soon, and a new RWBY manga is being developed in Japan and serialized in English. The new series will feature the story of Volumes 1 and 2.
• And if you have fond memories as a kid going to Scholastic book fairs, RWBY will be making an appearance with RWBY: After the Fall.
• Wave 3 of the 3.75-inch figures featuring both Team RWBY and Team JNPR were announced. Miles cheekily mentioned that “Neptune’s hiding somewhere in the back.” More merch featuring drinkware and clothes were featured, with Miles commenting how it was crazy RWBY merchandise is in Forever 21. Forever 21 isn’t a store known to rep geek or pop culture looks, so it’s pretty cool RWBY could break through that.
• In gaming, the music for RWBY will be featured in Rock Band. “This Will Be the Day” is now out, with two more songs following. There were also updates on RWBY: Amity Arena, a new mobile game coming out, and RWBY: Grimm Eclipse. Grimm Eclipse will be getting an overall content update with a new horde, campaign, and an unannounced mode.

With the announcements wrapped up, we watched a trailer related to Volume 6. To prevent spoilers, I won’t dive into details on what happened. I will say, however, that it was action-packed and you’d be like “Dang, they messed that guy UP!” if you saw it. We also got a sneak peek of gen:LOCK courtesy of Michael B. Jordan via video. There wasn’t any trailer footage but rather work-in-progress and rendered concepts.

Audience Q&A

• A young kid quickly won the adoration of the audience and panelists when they asked if a kid character will be in RWBY. Miles quickly confirmed yes, and the little tyke made their way to the stage to get their RWBY merch.
• A few questions about the show’s creation process came up. As not all the cast is in Austin, recording lines can take place via Skype — Arryn usually drives to a booth in LA to record. Other than that, the process of running lines stays the same as if you were in person.
• From the early days of RWBY, the show’s visuals have advanced. Miles and Kerry commented that they haven’t changed their writing style because of it, but they’re confident in the team’s ability to bring out their vision just as much as they were back then.
• The audience asked how the writers and cast felt when killing off a character. For Miles and Kerry, they take it seriously and not for getting a knee-jerk reaction from fans. Miles related it to a time a character in Red vs. Blue was killed off — he felt emotional and had to take a walk to clear his head. For Kerry, it’s important that a character’s death is done justly. Kara thanks Miles for saving Weiss’s life. Miles apologized for putting her life in jeopardy in the first place.

Of course, death in RWBY is always tough for fans, but that’s why RWBY Chibi is around — nothing bad happens! The panel ended on a light note with the audience asking which Rooster Teeth production would they want a RWBY crossover with. The panel was pretty split about this, but Camp Camp got the most votes. I’m pretty sure that Yang would punch her way out of Camp Campbell though.

Featured image credit: Audrey Browning/Geek Gals