King: I said it was coming, and here it is! This took longer than usual because I had to come up with different hats and stereotypes for each of them. That said, I hope to be faster with these in the future. We'll see. Hope you like it.
Knox: We're going to get everyone in right?
King: I'm hoping to, yes. So, let's do this. I'm putting this here and won't bother with the rest because they'll all be the same. This was inspired by SoundSmith's Team Fortress 2 Stereotype series.
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King popped up in during an off time. "Hey! So, remember that stereotype one not too long ago?"
Yang perked up at the implication she was getting, "Yeah! And?"
"Well, I have a special viewing area for anyone that wants to check out the full series."
Yang jumped up and cheered, "Yes! I'm so there!"
"Well, we've got a bit of time. Down the hall and take a right. Have fun~"
Yang charged off, and her team felt rather obligated to join her. The rest of the students decided to see what else the series had to offer. The room was like a smaller version of the main theater.
Yang glanced to the side and found twelve smaller monitors on the wall. She walked over and opened the system, showing a screen of a game called Remnant World 2. "Oh hey! Check this out!" She motioned for her friends to approach. "It think this is the game these stereotypes actually come from." Her cowlick seemed to stand on end for a moment like an exclamation point. "I have an idea~"
Weiss approached with a sigh, "This can't be good."
"There's a screen for each of us. How about we make our own styles for each of the characters. Then, when we watch the series, we can see how accurate they really are."
Sun grinned and took one of the seats at the wall. "I'm in."
Nora hopped onto another, "Yeah~! It sounds fun. Ooh! How about, as a bonus, when they show up in the series, we have to call them out before he talks!"
Yang grinned from ear to ear, "Yes! Let's do that!"
It was hard to deny they were all interested in how close it was. So, they all sat down to set up their loadouts. After around an hour, there's twelve characters after all, they finally finished all their sets and the students took their seats and awaited as the mini-screen started the first video.
The screen opened to show a Ruby jumping through the air and landing on the rails on the ground. Then, she started to dance down the main line.
Yang nodded, "Definitely a taunt in the game."
"Okay. So, playing Remnant World 2, I've noticed that certain cosmetics and weapons will attract certain types of people. And this will create stereotypes for each item. So, I decided to catalog them for everyone else. A fun little side project. And one of the most recognizable items are the character's hats. Now, there are multi-class or all class hats in the game, but most of them are slot fillers in this game because each one has better options on certain characters. So, as a result, I'm just going to start with the character-specific hats. I'll be doing this in the following order: Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, Ren, Sun, Neptune, Coco, then Velvet."
Yang grinned around toward her friends, "Remember, if you see it on the screen, you have to call it out."
"Real quick though, I'm not going over every hat in the game, there's too many for that. And stereotypes don't mean everybody. So, if you're stereotype is edgy middle schooler, it doesn't mean you actually are an edgy middle schooler. It just means everybody thinks you're one. So, Ruby's first. Let's get going."
The scene turned black and the first hat appeared, if you can call it that. It was just Ruby's normal cape with her hood up, [Hooded Ruby].
Ruby raised her hand slightly, "I picked this one."
Yang chuckled, "Not too surprising."
"This is basically just the stock Ruby with her hood up, but you'd be surprised how this little change effects the stereotypes. This is the old school Ruby hat and is often used by veteran players. Anyone with this over her head is guaranteed to know their shit. So, watch out for that."
Ruby grinned and held a thumbs up to the screen, "Nice! First one's a good one."
Yang shrugged, "Makes sense. If you think about it, we're all these characters so it would make sense to get something like that for our own versions." Yang grinned back to the rest of the group, "The fun ones will be what the rest of us pick up."
The next hat was a cold weather hood with white fur around the fabric, [Winter Rose].
Weiss mirrored Ruby's action from earlier, "I picked this one."
Neptune also raised a hand, "Same here."
"This is the Ruby that isn't a Ruby. What do I mean by that? Well, instead of being in the back with their sniper rifle or locking down a chokepoint, this Ruby will be more in your face. Definitely uses the bow, the stock pistol, and a melee before she'll ever touch a sniper rifle."
Yang crossed her arms and huffed a bit, "That's no fun. It doesn't tell us anything."
Blake snickered to herself, "Actually… it kind of does."
Weiss and Neptune turned to the cat faunas confused.
They were eventually answered when Ruby burst into laughter and fell out of her chair, "THEY HAVE NO PATIENCE!"
The faces of both people who picked the hat tinged pink in embarrassment and a hint of annoyed anger. But they kept their complaints down for the moment. It would just prove their point.
"Next hat!"
The next hat was a hood with several tattered sections around the trim, [Tattered Memories].
Sun raised a hand, "Mine!"
"This one changes depending on where you see her. If you see her in a public, casual match they're likely to not be taking anything seriously. You could jump on their heads, called them a spy, whatever, and they'll just remain chill."
Sun grinned and leaned back in his chair, "Nice~" He reached out for a high five from Neptune, but the blue haired teammate was still getting over his own description. Though, after a moment, he sighed and reciprocated.
"Find them in a competitive match, though, and they will stomp you. They will go goddamn Super Saiyan and kick your shit in if you're not careful. But, if you do beat them in comp, they're not mad, won't yell at you or their team, they'll just go back to a pub match and have fun."
Yang sighed with a certain sense of defeat, "Dang it. That was my second pick."
Blake turned to her partner as she spoke, "To be fair, you're more the competitive type. Remember, this is for the stereotypes in the game."
Yang paused a minute before nodding, "You're right. Good point."
The next one showed Ruby with her red tips being recolored to a metallic silver color, [Silver Tips].
Blake lifted her hand slightly, "I picked this one."
Yang chuckled a little at the sight, "It loos like she literally dipped her hair in silver."
"Silver Tipped Ruby's are more of the background types."
Yang nodded, "So far so accurate."
"You rarely see them in the game, only making themselves known in the kill feed. Now, this can run the gambit of all skill levels. They can be an awful sniper or the goddamned Terminator, but you'll never see them in the middle of the battle."
Blake accepted the answer. She had better than average eyesight and can better track enemy positions, but she would never consider picking up a sniper rifle. The kick on those weapons was a little more than she can handle. To her, it was a wonder that Ruby could use that same kick as a weapon on top of her actual weapon.
The next hat was a hood with gold accenting along the trim of the fabric, [Formal Hood].
Nora jumped in her seat, "Ooh! Ooh! That's mine!"
"Okay, with Ruby, you're going to notice that a lot of the hats are just her capes with the hood up. Anyway, this is usually a slot filler since the capes are more versatile being both a hat when the hood is up and a misc version with it down."
Nora's mood sunk hearing that, "Aw! That's no fun! Why couldn't I get something fun like the others?!"
Ren raised an eyebrow, "What does it mean by misc?"
Yang had her arms crossed and tapped one arm in thought. "If I had to guess, it just means miscellaneous. The outfits from the big screen might have all been miscs."
"Makes as much sense as the idea of us all being fictional."
"Sadly, that's about it. The stereotype is more effected by the miscs its paired with. And, it's a nice hat, but there are better options for something formal. Like say…"
The next was a small crown resting on Ruby's head, slightly tilted to the side. The exterior was adorned with roses made from red gemstones, [Queen of Roses].
Yang chuckled, "I kind of figured Nora would pick that with her whole 'queen of the castle' thing."
Nora jumped up in indignation, "That's exactly why I couldn't pick it! THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!"
Jaune looked around for a moment before raising a hand slightly, "Um… I actually picked this-…"
Nora jumped up pointing an accusatory finger, "TRAITOR!"
"This is usually a pretty chill hat, but it's also the guy that's going to do their best to win. I mean… you see this pretty often so there isn't any one stereotype because of it. Usually, it's picked up by new players and they tend to stick with it for a long time. If they're not the best, give them some time, maybe some pointers, and they'll get better. Overall, though, I like it. It's a cute hat that fits with Ruby's other cosmetics well."
Everyone had a wholesome grin hearing that. In a way, it fit Jaune pretty well. He wasn't the best fighter, but he was improving thanks to Pyrrha's help. Actually, this got a few of them thinking. Jaune's improvement was rather fast. At first they thought he was just rusty or holding back, but now that they knew the truth, it was staggering to see his improvement. He accomplished in one year what took most of the students at least eight. Food for thought, they supposed.
The next hat to appear on screen had her hair tied back into a short ponytail, her usual black hair being flipped to being white, [Silver Rose].
Pyrrha's hand rose up slightly, "I selected this one, actually."
"Silver Rose was released in the Sword and Sorcery update, and I really want to go through that with an item lore and reference video like I did with the Highland Hellzone update. I have a problem, okay…"
Pyrrha's head tilted to the side just a bit, "It's a reference?"
Yang shrugged, "Wouldn't surprise me. Though, I'm kind of interested what they are."
"Anyway, back to what you're here for. Silver Roses are the friendly types in a game, but not a Friendly. Like, they'll still try to win, but you'll never hear them rage or yell. If you need, they may even teach you their tricks. But don't think you can use those tips on them. They taught you everything you know, not everything they know. Good teacher, great teammate, scary opponent."
Yang chuckled, "Ain't that the truth."
Everyone nodded, remembering Pyrrha's systematic dismantling of team CRDL.
The next hat appeared as a net-covered hood with a bandana over her face, [Trapper].
Ren raised a hand slightly, "I chose this one."
"Trapper Rubys are the quintessential hunters. Patient, quiet, deadly. There's just one issue, they can't aim their sniper rifle to save their lives. Not that you'll be able to see them firing at you, but at least you'll know you're safe at range."
Ren just shrugged. He had never bothered to train in ranged combat. It's partially why his weapons were submachine guns instead of something more accurate.
The next hat was a net covered, two color red and black cloth piece that fit over her head like a helmet with a piece draped over the top of her nose as well, [Lucky Jinx].
Yang raised her hand, "Alright. I picked this one. I liked the look and the name."
Knox put on a mocking voice, "Is that a JoJo reference…?" He returned to his normal voice, sounding a little exasperated, "Yes. We get it. Someone in the development team was a JoJo fan. Spoiler alert, there's going to be more of these, but right now, we have a hat stereotype to explain."
"So, the Lucky Jinx… Well, you'll obviously get JoJo fans flocking to this one."
Yang groaned, "Okay, seriously, what the heck is a JoJo?"
Jaune shrugged, "A show? Movie, maybe?"
"If you're not a JoJo fan, you likely picked it because you like the look or think the name is funny."
Yang snickered, "Guilty as charged."
"There really isn't much to it, really… Next hat!"
The next hat was a military dress hat, often seen worn during ceremonies, with a cookie pin placed in the center of the hat, [Sargent Sweet Tooth].
Yang tried to stifle her laughter but found it rather difficult.
Coco waved her hand slightly, "I decided to pick this one."
"Sargant Sweet Tooth Rubys are more the cosmetic types. They can be any skill level or even just picking up Ruby, but she won't be caught DEAD with clashing cosmetics!"
Coco grinned and raised a fist, "Amen, baby~!"
"Sgt. Rubys are actually pretty rare, because they might swap things around if they find better cosmetics. But, if you see this, it usually means they found this cosmetic to be worthy of their time."
The next hat appeared soon after, showing Ruby with a pair of wolf ears sticking out from her hair. It was clear these were the traits of a faunas and not a fake accessory, [Little Red Wolf].
Blake blinked in surprise, as did many of the group, "That… What on Remnant?"
Yang just shrugged, "I mean, it's a video game. Cosmetics aren't usually canon anyway. It gives designers the freedom to make stuff like that."
Blake nodded, "I get that. Just… Not what I was expecting…" But, then again… Ruby could almost remind Blake of a puppy at times…
Velvet let out a n embarrassed cough. "I… um… I picked this one."
"This one came out in the Menagerie update, giving all of our human types a faunas makeover and all the faunas the human treatment. Sorry, I'm getting off topic again. Back to the 'hat.' Little Red Rubys aren't the most outgoing types. They rarely speak in comms, but they're still good team players. That said, there are plenty of hats that do the same thing. So… what puts this one ahead of the others? I mean… Come on. It's adorable~! She's like a little puppy~"
Yang started to chuckle at her sister's semi-embarrassed expression.
Velvet had a similar face as Ruby, but for a different reason. Less about acting like an excitable puppy and more about picking the hat because she thought it was cute.
The scene returned to the Ruby dancing down the rails.
"And that's all I'm covering today. Again, there's too many hats to cover all of them, and a few have similar stereotypes, so I arbitrarily picked the one I liked more. Anyway, next one is Weiss Schnee. So, look forward to that. And… I need to come up with an outro…"
The episode ended with a calming cello playing in the background.
Yang wiped away a tear, laughing a little, "That was awesome~"
Nora jumped up in her seat, "I want to see the next one!"
It was nice for them to just take some time away and enjoy the moment. No craziness, no psycho versions, just a fun video with friends.