RWBY, a show following two teams of young huntsmen as they explore and learn the ways of becoming a professional huntsman, has received exciting news.  

RWBY is an American 3D show about four girls, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long, for which the show is named. The show has been running since July 5th, 2013 and follows the girls as they attend Beacon Acadamy to become huntsmen. On Friday, March 25th, a trailer dropped for the upcoming RWBY project called “RWBY Ice Queendom” and with it came brand new Atlas outfits for both team RWBY and JNPR.  

An important part of RWBY was always that the main cast outfits were simple and easy to cosplay, but as the show progressed through its 8 volumes, the outfits began to feel more and more complicated and confusing. Ruby’s volume one outfit maintained a perfect balance of colors and details that highlighted the importance of her color, red. The introduction of grey into the areas of her body where her pale skin is present confuses you where her skin starts and ends, which muddies her later outfits. The overabundance of belts across her body looks out of place but with the release of the new Ice Queendom designs, the franchise has returned to the 9-year-old tradition.  

“Fun fact: I try to make sure all my characters are designed with pouches/pockets, so cosplayers have places to put their phones/wallets.” Monty Oum, the creator of RWBY, said on Twitter.   

A common way of showing character development visually is by giving a character a new outfit. RWBY follows this trope thoroughly by providing the main cast with new outfits every volume. However, it does not excuse outfits that do not truly represent the true intentions of the creator. Monty originally created the members of team RWBY with the idea of giving them a specific color to represent them and their personalities and that the outfits would be easy to cosplay and replicate in real life.   

Ever since volumes 4 to 8, the outfits of both teams have become far more elaborate than their volume 1 to 3 outfits. The outfits lack vital elements that made the original outfits so iconic, they do not follow the same design principles that were used back in the first three volumes. The importance of their primary color, their combat style and personality.  Many people In the RWBY fandom have compared this phenomenon to Michaels Bay’s Transformers, where the looks of the characters were made to be overly complicated to distract the audience from seeing the lack of substance the outfits have.  

The RWBY Ice Queendom designs seem like a reboot and return to volume 1, they are simple but flavorful, they have more depth than the last Atlas outfits both teams were given. Given the context that Ice Queendom is said to take place in Atlas, a setting described to be as cold as the Artic, it makes sense that many of the characters be given heavier and cozier outfits like Ruby with her hoodie and jackets or like Nora and her baby blue and pink snow jacket. Besides the outfits fitting the setting perfectly, most of them are easy to replicate besides Ren, Pryyha, and Weiss.  

The artists at Studio Shaft have finally grabbed on to that volume 1 magic by not going overboard with the detail and letting the clothes enhance the personalities of the characters through visuals alone. Ruby, Yang, Jaune, and Nora have that adventurous aesthetic and vibe. Blake has a cat themed snow outfit that reveals her secret of being a Faunus. Weiss and Pryyha both retrospectively stand for two different sides of the Atlasian culture and heritage, the cold aristocratic, militaristic side and the peaceful, innovative nation of machines, the outfits have taste and substance that truly make them stand out from the flurry of previous outfits.