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Fair Game is the slash ship between Clover Ebi and Qrow Branwen from the RWBY fandom.

Canon[]

Clover is the leader of the Ace-Ops, an elite group that arrests Qrow and Teams RWBY and JNPR upon their arrival in Atlas, after being alerted that they stole a ship and entered the Kingdom illegally. Clover later apologizes to the group once Ironwood updates him on the situation and properly introduces himself and his team.

Once everyone is settled in, Clover and Qrow join together to form the alpha team during an exploration mission in an abandoned dust mine. Qrow points out that he hasn't worked with other hunters in a long time and that he often works alone, to which Clover mentions that it's a shame, just as he catches Qrow and stops him from falling after slipping on the frozen mine floor. After a run in with the Grimm they are hunting, Qrow reveals Clover that his Semblance brings bad luck, however Clover is unfazed as his Semblance brings good fortune and he winks at Qrow as he tells him "Lucky you", which leaves Qrow with a noticeably surprised expression.

While on an escort mission with Penny and Ruby, Clover and Qrow sit in the back of the transport truck they are guarding and play cards together. Qrow, with a semblance of bad luck, is obviously on a losing streak to Clover and his semblance of good luck. Regardless, they keep playing and Clover notes that Qrow's nieces are lucky to have him as someone to look up to. Qrow tries brush him off but Clover tells him he shouldn't always try and deflect compliments. Qrow smiles and considers it.

Over time, they began to develop good-natured banter with each other as seen when they invite Ironwood to defend his seat on the council, Clover tells Qrow to wish them luck before entering but Qrow mockingly replies that he was invited for a reason, to which Clover raises an eyebrow and smiles. Then, when the entire team is forced to abandon the airship due to a Grimm attack, Clover greets Qrow before throwing herself off the ship with a confident smile, to which Qrow rolls his eyes before laughing and call him braggart.

Later, by order of Ironwood, Clover and Qrow escort Robyn when Tyrian tries to attack her, which leads the three of them to get involved in a fight against the assassin, Qrow being the main combatant while Clover serves as his defense. Once Tyrian is defeated and escorted to a prisoner transport, Clover receives the notice of Qrow's arrest, Team RWBY and their friends, he stand up and reveal to Qrow with a serious expression and a heavy voice that Ironwood had ordered he to arrest him and Team RWBY. Qrow looked at him in shock and then tried to reason with him and Robyn, but in the end they started a fight that ends when Tyrian breaks free and crashes the airship.

Once on land, Clover tells Qrow that he really enjoyed working with him despite his cynicism and that they don't have to fight, to which Qrow tells him that he doesn't know his friends because it always ends up this way, before to start fighting. After being manipulated by Tyrian, Qrow breaks Clover's aura and asks him in frustration why he couldn't do the right thing instead of what she was told and Clover answers that sometimes the right decisions are the hardest to make, that he would trust on Janes with his life but also wants to trust him, before being stabbed by Tyrian with Qrow's weapon. Qrow tells at Tyrian that him will kill him and tries to hit him but when he walks away, he kneels next to Clover who tries to calm him down saying that someone had to pay, Qrow says that James will pay for what happened and Clover wishes him luck before he dies, causing Qrow to cry and scream in pain.

While in prison, Qrow is shown keeping Clover's badge as a memento to honor his deceased friend and time later, he reveals to Robyn that when he was with Clover, he truly believed he could be close to someone without risking harm.

Long after, in the epilogue of volume 9, it is shown that Qrow still has Clover's badge and that he now wears it on his vest, while narrating how even though the situation is worse than ever, he remains optimistic by observing the little things. good things and acts of kindness around him and that it's all a matter of perspective, mentioning that it's something an old friend taught him while cleaning Clover's badge.

Fanon[]

Fan theorized from Clover's introduction in Volume 7 that his Semblance would be good luck and began discussing how it would interact with Qrow's bad luck Semblance. The ship began in earnest after Clover winked at Qrow in Episode 3 and was encouraged by some of RWBY's animators. Fans were then devastated with Clover's subsequent death at the end of volume 7.

The show's writer, Eddy Rivas, in February 2020 responded to some fans on Reddit who were upset with him death and accused CRWBY of making 'Queerbait', explaining in detail how Clover's character operated and why he acted as he did so in episode 12, in addition to explaining that, at least in his case, he didn't have total control over the animation process and that at no time did they seek to insinuate that Clover and Qrow were flirting beetwen them but that he deeply regretted having disappointed the fans and not being able to do more about the matter. A year later, the voice actress of the character May Marigold, Kdin Jenzen, responded to the controversy by stating that Clover was never conceived to be gay or be a love interest for Qrow and that in any case, they shouldn't use this controversy as an excuse to invalidate other clear LGBTQ representations in RWBY, much less to insult or send threats to the staff.

Despite Clover's death and the subsequent controversy, Fairgame continues to be the most popular ship for both Qrow and Clover, as well as the most popular slash ship in the RWBY fandom, currently having more than 1,800 works on AO3. Even those who don't see them romantically recognize that in the short time they were together, they formed a beautiful and credible friendship.

Many of the fan works are usually set in alternative scenarios or AU where Clover survived the events of V7 and manages to reconcile with Qrow, or where the events of their fight didn't happen and Clover joins the main cast after deserting the Atlas army. Others explore possible scenarios during Qrow and the others' time in Atlas, where he and Clover were able to interact, get to know each other, and eventually develop feelings for each other.

Lists[]

Fandometrics
64th 2020

Fandom[]

FAN FICTION

Clover/Qrow tag on AO3
Clover Ebi/Qrow Branwen tag on Fanfiction.net
Fairgame tag on Wattpad

TUMBLR

Fair Game posts on Tumblr
Luckbirds posts on Tumblr
Qrowver posts on Tumblr
Qrover posts on Tumblr
QrowXClover posts on Tumblr
CloverXQrow posts on Tumblr
Rwby Fair Game posts on Tumblr
Rwby Lucky Charms posts on Tumblr
DEVIANTART
Fairgame tag on DeviantArt
Luckbirds tag on DeviantArt
Qrowver tag on DeviantArt
CloverxQrow tag on DeviantArt
QrowxClover tag on DeviantArt
RwbyFairgame tag on DeviantArt
FairgameRwby tag on DeviantArt
TIKTOK
Rwbyfairgame hashtag on TikTok
QrowbranwenxCloverebi hashtag on TikTok
TWITTER
Fairgame Week account on Twitter
FairGame hashtag on Twitter
RwbyFairgame hashtag on Twitter
WIKIS
Fairgame on Fanlore
Fairgame on The Fanon Shipping Wiki

Trivia[]

  • "Fair Game" is based on the concept that their Semblance's of good and bad luck cancel each other out, making things fair.
  • Kim Newman, the former lead animator of RWBY Volume 7, confirmed the parallels between the waitress telling Qrow "Lucky you!" then winking at him in Volume 4, and Clover doing the same in Volume 7.[1]
  • On January 2, 2020, the official RWBY Twitter account posted a clip of Clover and Qrow with a "🍀" to promote episode 8 “Cordially Invited”.
  • Rooster Teeth has sold merchandise pins of Qrow and Clover's emblems together.[2]
  • Fair Game has been featured on Tumblr's Fandometrics most reblogged ships list:
    • It was the 12th most reblogged ship on Tumblr the week ending March 23rd, 2020.[3]
    • Clover's death proved to be quite controversial for fans of the ship, but that didn't stop that Fairgame from ranking 64th on Tumblr's annual ship top 100, that year.

Gallery[]

Variations[]

Lucky Birds — the ship between Qrow Branwen, Clover Ebi and Robyn Hill

References[]

Navigation[]

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