NYCC 2019: Team RWBY premieres Volume 7, officially announces Volumes 8 and 9

As Team RWBY makes its way to Atlas, the cast and creators of the hit Rooster Teeth web series made their way to New York Comic Con for a panel and Q&A at the Hammerstein Ballroom, talking all about the upcoming Volume 7. On hand was writer/director Kerry Shawcross, and actors Miles Luna (Jaune), Lindsay Jones (Ruby), Kara Eberle (Weiss), Arryn Zech (Blake), and Barbara Dunkelman (Yang).

The panel began with some announcements about RWBY's licensing partners. This November, Team RWBY will be playable characters in the MOBA game Smite: Battleground of the Gods. There will also be a battle pass, and a Godskin included with the release.

Aspiring artists will have a chance to let their work shine. For Fans by Fans will be teaming with Fan Forge and holding a contest where the winner will have their art featured on officially licensed RWBY merchandise. 

On the book side of things, Scholastic will be releasing a new novel, RWBY: Before the Dawn, by Shawcross, Luna, and E.C. Meyers on July 21, 2020. They also showed off their new DC Comics series, with the first print issue dropping Oct. 9, with a beautiful variant cover by Jim Lee.

The panel then moved on to the upcoming Volume 7, which premieres in just about a month. While fans knew that team RWBY would be getting new outfits this year, it was shown today they aren't the only ones. Team JNPR will also be sporting some sweet new clothes.

Following that announcement was an action-packed new trailer featuring the team doing what they do best: being awesome.

Shawcross then made an announcement that shook the Hammerstein: "We have Volumes 8 and 9 officially greenlit. We have the budget to start them right now," he said. "I literally started writing the script for Volume 8 this morning."

Luna also gave a little hint as to what to expect: "Volumes 7 and 8 are going to be more connected, with [a focus] to improving the balance of character storylines."

The team couldn't go into a lot of detail about Season 7, because of spoilers, but they did say enough to get fans excited. "My favorite new outfit this season is from someone you haven't even seen yet, so that's all I will say about that," said Jones.

Meanwhile, Zech is eager to learn more about her teammate, since they are traveling to her home this year. "I'm excited to learn more about Weiss," she exclaimed.

Before the panel ended, they took some questions from the web, including what is the best thing about being part of RWBY? All the answers revolved around the fans. "This show was life-changing," said Jones, "You'll still see me fangirling at cons, and it's amazing people come up to me and do the same thing."

"It's created a wonderful platform for anyone who doesn't necessarily feel represented. I've had all sorts of fans come up to me and tell me how the show connected with them, and it's special to me," said Zech.

"It changed everything for me. I had never been to New York City before, and I've been here three times for New York Comic Con, and it's in thanks to all of you," added Eberle.

The panel closed with a viewing of the first 12 minutes of Volume 7, Chapter 1. RWBY is known for its awesome action, and these 12 minutes showed team RWBY is not letting up in this department.

RWBY Volume 7 premieres Nov. 2.

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