Why I despise this change in RWBY so freaking much · 8:30pm Sep 3rd, 2022
You know, a couple months ago, Linkara released his patreon sponsored review of the highly divisive superhero movie, Man of Steel. Even though I disagree with several points he made throughout the video, his feelings towards Superman snapping Zod's neck are exactly how I feel towards a certain change in RWBY that I am about to describe:
Anger, frustration, disappointment, and disgust.
I may have already stated my opinions on it in the past, but I haven't described them as detailed as I could until now. Plus, since this is probably the last time I will talk about this subject, I might as well make it count. If you haven't seen the first three volumes of RWBY yet and wish to avoid major spoilers, I highly encourage you to go watch them before reading this analysis.
In my honest to God opinion, Adam Taurus being an abusive and obsessive ex-boyfriend to Blake Belladonna is a blatant retcon that should have never EVER gone past the idea stage of the screenwriting process for Volume 3. It contradicts EVERYTHING established about his character in both the previous volumes and the Black Trailer, as well as obliterating any chance he ever had in becoming an interesting and complex antagonist (or even character in general) for the series as a whole. On top of all that, it diminishes the character development that Blake had gone through up until that point and even paints her reasons for leaving the White Fang in the first place as kinda selfish when you think about it.
I know I briefly mentioned my problems with this retcon some time ago, so let's just dive deep into those details, shall we?
1) Blake and Adam being romantically involved makes absolutely no sense. Even without considering the ridiculously wide age gap between the two that was implied by the voice actors shortly after the end of Volume 3 (during which she was 18 and he was apparently around 23), their relationship was not established to be anything more than that of a mentor and student. In fact, during the campfire scene in Volume 2, Blake described Adam as more of a mentor than a partner, indicating that there wasn't any romance between them. Yeah, she later describes him as "someone very dear to me" during Volume 3, but that doesn't automatically mean he was her boyfriend. She could have simply implied that they were close friends or even had a sibling-like relationship, which honestly would have made a hell of a lot more sense than Adam calling her "my darling" and "my love" at the beginning of their confrontation towards the end of the volume.
On a side note, why doesn't she refer to Adam by name while talking to her team shortly after Yang was framed? She had already done so in the previous volume, so why does she feel the need to hide his name, especially from her teammates who are supposed to be her closest friends?
2) Adam should not be this obsessed about Blake for leaving the White Fang. In both the end of the Black Trailer and the Volume 3 episode, Beginning of the End, he made no attempt to go after her whatsoever. In fact, when his lieutenant promised to find her, he specifically said and I quote; "Forget it. It's time I returned to Mistral." This exchange right there clearly indicates that he is not interested in going after her in the slightest and what's really important to him is furthering his plans for the Faunus revolution. Hell, he could have said this to protect her from being punished for her desertion and may have even respected her decision to leave despite being sad about it.
But, NOPE! Apparently, he is completely pissed about her leaving and wants to punish her by destroying everything she loves. Oh, and fighting for the Faunus clearly doesn't mean a lot to him, because "all he wants is her."
What a load. 
Y'know, if he really cared this much about her desertion, couldn't he have sent some scouts or spies to locate her when she was outside Beacon so that he could go to her while his lieutenant was left in charge of their operations? Just sayin'.
3) The attack on Beacon has nothing to do with his revolution. Adam and the White Fang participated in this battle for the exact same reason that Roman and Neo did: they were threatened by Cinder with death if they did not help her cause. This is NOT what any of them wanted originally. Adam was planning on leaving for Mistral when Cinder and her lackeys showed up in his camp a second time, and forced him into joining her with the help of the Fall Maiden powers. Yet, when Blake asks him why he's doing all this, he spouts some nonesense about the battle being the spark that lights the fires of revolution, even though the entire reason he helped Cinder in the first place was to save the lives of his men, as well as his own life!
Yeah, he may have been okay with the operations they pulled off up until that point, but this is clearly not how he was originally planning on furthering his plans for the revolution! So, why the hell is he saying that this is how he intends to start his revolution, especially considering the fact that Cinder clearly didn't promise him anything in regards to helping him with this matter?! She just hired him and his men for some manual labor while also threatening to kill them all if they didn't comply!
4) The confrontation between Blake and Adam is utterly pathetic. The best way to summarize it is Adam being in god mode and smacking Blake around while also ranting about all the great things they could have done together and how she's going to suffer for her "betrayal." By the way, for some reason, he does not specify who or how she betrayed. Is it him or the White Fang as a whole? Did she betray by becoming a huntress or simply being in the company of humans? Does this betrayal involve fighting against their former comrades and disrupting their operations? What about all the Faunus who got trapped in the tunnels by the end of Volume 2? Shouldn't they be brought up at all?
Or maybe it's the laziest of all reasons: he is pissed about her leaving him, as it was confirmed during their final battle in Volume 6. Again, what a load. 
What especially irks me about this scene is that it could have been a great opportunity for them to really showcase the differences in their respective ideologies, both of them explaining how they think the Faunus should co-exist with humanity, while also poiniting out the strengths and weaknesses in each other's argument. Thus, it could have been their ideals that caused to come to blows, rather than their history with one another. Unfortunately, this is not at all what actually happens. Blake just says she wants equality and peace before shooting at Adam, who blocks the shots with his sword, argues that what she wants is impossible, and then promptly backhands her. THAT'S IT!
Look, I wasn't expecting a deep philosophical discussion between the two, but if the writers couldn't even do the bare minimum of having the characters proclaim their respective views on humanity just like what happens between Optimus Prime and Megatron in pretty much every Transformers cartoon, which are clearly intended for a much younger audience, then they've done goofed!
5) The final straw. This dreadful moment is the culmination of all the problems I explained above and it's also what almost made me gave up on the series altogether. We may all know what happens in it all too well, but I need go over the scene regardless of how much I don't want to.
Adam stabs Blake in the abdomen so that her screams draws the attention of Yang, who charges right towards him with her Semblance and immense rage. However, before she could land a single hit on Adam, he activates his own Semblance and uses it to cut off her arm as Blake helplessly watches.
Words cannot express how disappointed and disgusted I am with this turn of events. Adam had so much potential to be the most interesting and complex antagonist (or maybe even anti-hero) of the series. He had a great design, very impressive fighting skills, an understandable motivation for doing what he was doing, and a connection with one of the main characters that had room for further development. Then, in just a few episodes, the writers turned him into the complete opposite of what he was in his earlier appearances and he became just like every other villain in the series:
Evil for the sake of evil with no interesting or relatable aspects whatsoever.
The only exception that I can think of was Roman who did have some charisma and an intriguing speech about survival. Unfortunately, we all know what happened to him in the end, and the only reason Neo was brought back was because the fans loved her look and moves.
Speaking of fans, I think the main reason why Adam became this way is because Bumbleby has always been the most popular ship in the entire fandom and the writers simply wanted appease the shippers by making the pairing an official one without any regard as to how much it would hurt the overall story and development of other characters. I might be wrong on this and if Monty really intended Adam to turn out the way he did before passing away, then I'm sorry, but this is one creative decision of his that I have to disagree with. However, if I'm right and the new creative team did make this change after his passing, then I have something to say for each and every one of them:
Also, like I mentioned at the beginning, this retcon not only screws up Adam's character, but also lessens Blake's development in the previous volumes. She was becoming an effective team player, engaging in social interactions, and really coming to terms with the mistakes of her past. Then, after her encounter with the retconned Adam, she is hit with the tired old trope of "my friends are hurt because of me and I have to keep my distance in order to protect them", which is a complete waste of time since we already know she's going to overcome that in a volume or two. On top of all that, it makes her reasons for leaving the White Fang sound like she was just trying to get away from her abusive ex, instead of finding a more peaceful way to bring humanity and the Faunus together.
I think I've said more than enough on this subject, so I won't drag this out any longer and just come to the final thoughts. This retcon sucks balls, because it completely ruined a character who had so much potential to be a great one. The only way to salvage the mess it caused is a do-over in the form of either fanfiction or an official reboot of the series, which I imagine won't happen for at least another decade or so. Therefore, the only option we have right now is to make sure that Adam is portrayed far more respectfully in our own stories, which is something I have every intention to do so.
Thank you for reading this until the end. Please, feel free to tell me about your thoughts on it whenever you have time. As always, take care and stay safe, everyone. 
SIDE NOTE: If I am ever told to choose between watching Volume 3 and watching Man of Steel, I would pick Man of Steel any day.
A lot of people weren't happy about it from what I remember.
5683790
Trust me, they still are.
One more thing to add:
According to the official guide of the show, Adam was inspired by not only the Beast, but also Gaston.
Yes, THAT Gaston.
Gaston is not even part of the original Beauty and the Beast fairy tale. He was created specifically for the Disney movie based on the fairy tale. While that film is arguably the most popular adaptation of the source material, that does not change the fact that it's still just an adaptation and a very loose one at that. It just baffles my mind why the writers did not consider these facts when they were working with characters that are supposed to inspired by the stories written by the Brothers Grimm, as well as all the other stories and legends from ancient civilizations.
5683792
That explains it. You ever need a reminder on what straying from the source material does, look at dragon ball evolution.
5683832
Agreed.
Even though I haven't seen the film or even watched a lot of Dragon Ball Z, I do understand how the former is a total disrespect to the source material thanks to several video reviews on YouTube.
Honestly, I think Adam's mental health and sanity broke, which is why this all happened.
5685434