During RTX this weekend, The cast and creators of RWBY held a panel to give us a scoop on what we can expect from Volume 4. During the Panel, the group covered whats-to-come from the upcoming Volume, the upcoming video game, and their merchandise line.
In attendance were Kerry Shawcross, (co-creator, co-director, voice of Neptune), Gray Haddock (Head of RT Animation, co-director), Miles Luna (co-creator, co-writer, voice of John Arc), Lindsey (voice of Ruby), Kara Eberle (voice of Weiss), Arynn Zech (voice of Blake), Barbara Dunkelman (voice of Yang).
Three clips were shown:
- Next weeks episode of RWBY Chibi
- A work-in-progress video featuring Neptune in RWBY Chibi
- Early version of a RWBY Volume 4 Character trailer focused on Ruby.
- RWBY: Grimm Eclipse game footage
They avoided discussing any potential spoilers but on the subject of Volume 4, “There is more of a journey in this one. The characters are split up, there is going to be fun and sad times.”
Concept art for each of the characters were revealed as well. There is a time jump from Volume 3. “Less than a year, probably somewhere between 6 and 8 months.”
I love the new costumes designs for each of the characters, they all give a much more mature look. The crowd was cheering as each of these displayed on the screen, then once Yang’s new outfit came on the screen and everyone’s reaction turned to “Aww”. We also got a look at the concept art at the new Gorilla baddies called Berwgel. In the character trailer that was shown to those in attendance, Ruby faces off against of the against one. The footage, by the way, was amazing. Here’s hoping they release the official trailer on Youtube soon.
They discussed their upcoming game RWBY: Grimm Eclipse. The early access version is currently available on Steam, but the full version of the game will be released on Tuesday. The game will also feature a brand new villain. Gray also dropped some news for console gamers, “If all goes well, It will be available for consoles by the end of the year.”
One of the last announcements were the RWBY merchandise coming to the RT store and Hot Topic. The vinyl characters will come out this fall. The music of Volume 3 will have a physical released.
One attendee asked about the longevity of the series, whether they were going to continue to keep it running for as long as possible or if there was an end-game planned.
Kerry responded with, “We always want to continue to make it. There is definitely a complete story we have in mind for Ruby and the girls but we also feel like this world is big enough that even if team RWBY’s story were to end, that wouldn’t stop us from doing other stories in the world.”
Miles added, “From day one there is a RWBY road map, for lack of a better phrase, I suppose. Yeah, there is an ending for it, but just because one story ends, doesn’t mean another story can’t begin.”
Perhaps, one day we may see a story focusing on some of the other teams.
RWBY volume 4 kicks off October 22nd. RWBY Chibi is currently airing and expected to run up to that date, then RWBY will kick off. Until then, you can see the whole series on the official Rooster Teeth site.
