#rwby semblance

Don’t know if Ilia has a canon semblance, but Taiyang definitely doesn’t so We though of some. Literally in the last five minutes so sorry if they have holes to them.

Taiyang: Empathetic Impact. When someone strikes him, Taiyang can cause the impact to mirror on the attacker in one of two ways. One, the literal measured force he received, useful against weaker opponents and glass cannons. Two, they receive damage relative to what he FELT from the impact, useful against stronger enemies and tanks.

His semblance is most effective against entities with the same body structure as him, and gets weaker the further the divergence of the target is. It basically goes, from most effective to least, humans, humanoid Grimm like beringels (the ape ones), four limbed grimm where the limb structures differ such as beowolves and ursa, then grimm more divergent than that such as feilong and taijus.

After years of training and experience with it, Taiyang has figured out two additional factors of his semblance. One, it now works with ranged attacks, weakening over distance. Two, he’s figured out how to cause his own strikes on someone to mirror on another who already struck him

Tonight we're comparing RWBY system of "magic" to other shows to help explain that no, RWBY does not have a convoluted system of magic. We'll be splitting it into 3 sections. 1. Aura/semblance 2. Dust 3. Magic in the show

Now then, let's start with the most well-known and old shounen. Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z. In that franchise, Ki, a life energy, like Aura, is NOT magic. And the techniques that come from using Ki, like Semblances, are not magic. But Magic does exist in the show. And it is shown to have its own strengths and weaknesses.

Dust....not magical, not life energy. Its the unobtanium that is an energy source and does more than that. How many shows, anime or cartoon or otherwise, are shown to have some sort of fictional element that does more than just serve as an energy source?

So what makes RWBY "convoluted?"

Weiss: There's no such thing as magic.

Goku from Dragon Ball uses Ki, but its not magic, he uses supernatural martial arts and can fly...but again, that's not magic.

And he and the Z fighters get surprised by actual magic.

So what makes Weiss being surprised something for critics to get upset about?

Then we have the magic itself.

Like Dragon Ball , magic is not superior nor inferior to martial arts or semblances. It varies on wielders and on its use.

I’ve talked before about my theories about the full potential of Ruby’s semblance. That being, Ruby’s ability to deconstruct and reconstruct herself at a molecular level has some pretty wild applications.

Among others, the ones I think are the most interesting are Ruby effectively being able to shapeshift, ie; she can reconstruct her body, her clothing and Crescent Rose into entirely new shapes and forms. And on top of that, Ruby’s ability to reconstruct herself would potential allow to recover from just about any injury. Whether it be losing a limb, being impaled, cut to pieces or even EXPLODED, one activation of her semblance later and Ruby is back to normal. Effectively giving a ‘healing factor’ on par with Salem’s immortality.

And the thing is, I think abilities like these are thematically perfect for Ruby.

You know how there’s been a lot of discussion on how it seems like every character’s semblance seems to represent the major flaw/problem that character has spent the show grappling with in some way or another? Often in some dramatically ironic way? Like how Weiss is a girl who has been working so hard to separate herself from the baggage and burden of her family’s responsibility and legacy, yet has what seems to be the ONLY fully-hereditary semblance in existence? And in Ruby’s case, of course the girl who has spent the entire show, and likely much of her life running away from her pain and trauma has a speed semblance.

But the funny thing is, for Ruby it’s pretty clear that the show has already started building to a big subversion of this idea. In Volume 7 we see that while Ruby has always thought she had a speed semblance, Harriet voices that it’s probably something else.

And in Volume 8, Penny outright confirms that Ruby’s semblance ISN’T ‘speed’, but rather the ability to deconstruct and reconstruct herself at a molecular level.

It turns out that Ruby was wrong about what her semblance actually did. And through that, it turns out that this idea of Ruby’s semblance representing her attempts to run away from her pain are likewise flawed.

And now that we are in a Volume set to explore themes of transformation and our characters discovering who they might truly be, I think this is going to be the perfect time for Ruby, and the narrative, to reevaluate just what it is her semblance represents.

Because whereas Ruby’s Petal Burst simply being speed represented Ruby’s fixation on running away from her pain, Petal Burst being molecular deconstruction/reconstruction can instead represent Ruby’s unshakable idealism fully realized.

Now there is no obstacle that can stop her, because there is nothing she cannot move around or through. There is no challenge she cannot find a solution for, because she is infinitely adaptable. And there is NOTHING that can truly break her for good, because she can ALWAYS build herself back up from her literal molecules.

It didn't happen.

And I was like "Do I have to do everything in this FNDM?". The answer is "Yes. Yes, I do". Therefore, behold!

I think, it's obvious who's Ruby's passenger(s) in each case :)

Has anyone else noticed the quite interesting, almost tragic irony that is Neo’s semblance?

With not even a snap of her fingers, Neo can assume the form of anyone she wishes. She can mimic another’s appearance perfectly. With her semblance, you’d think Neo would be the ideal spy and infiltrator, able to get into anywhere she wanted.

And yet, for all of her skill and talent in the mimicry of others, there is ONE thing, one aspect of just about anyone who’s form she assumes that Neo simply cannot replicate:

The ability to speak.

It’s almost kind of funny when you think about it. Here we have a girl who can not only mimic any appearance she wishes at a moment’s notice, but also has years of experience and practice in mimicking body language and other physical quirks. With only a bit of observation, she can replicate a person’s appearance and physical mannerisms so perfectly that not even that person’s closest friends and loved ones would be able to tell the difference...

...right up until the moment that person was expected to actually SAY something.

Again, it’s almost comical the way Neo’s semblance is hamstrung by her inability to talk. It’s easy to picture countless situations where Neo is able to replace some important or significant character, is able to perfectly replicate their appearance, get RIGHT up to whatever target she’s after... and then someone just asks her a question and then everything falls apart.

It’s why we always see Neo disguise herself as random background extras like Atlas soldiers or Schnee servants and almost never tries disguising herself as one of the heroes for more than VERY brief instances. Because she KNOWS that if she tried to replace Ruby or Weiss or anyone else to slip in among the heroes, she’d have maybe two minutes TOPS before everyone would start getting VERY curious at just how quiet Ruby or whoever else is suddenly being.

Oh, and if/when that person in question escapes whatever closet Neo stuffed them in and confronts their friends and puts Neo in a ‘spot the shapeshifter’ situation, Neo would be screwed. Like I think it’s pretty easy to imagine such a scene in Volume 9 where Ruby and Neo are fighting and Weiss/Blake/Yang find them, with Neo have disguised herself as Ruby.

The rest are confused at first, then Ruby blurts out “I’m the real one! That one’s Neo!”

The group then proceeds to look to the other Ruby who simply opens her mouth. Opens it again. And then gives a look that can only be described as “...Fuck.”

And given what we’ve seen of Neo, I can’t help but think this irony fits her all too well. When we look at Neo across her appearances in Roman Holiday going through Volumes 6-8, I think we see a girl who very often tries to use her semblance as a way of ‘escaping’ a painful reality. At first, this took the form of Trivia using her semblance quite understandably as a means of escaping the control of her parents. But by the end of the book, we see it used in a more unsettling manner.

At the end of Roman Holiday, after fulling assuming her new persona and more or less orchestrating the deaths of her parents by blowing up for childhood home, Neo basically writes off any guilt or trauma she might feel from this by simply deciding that Trivia ‘died’ in that explosion too.

And we see this trend continue in Volumes 6, 7 and 8. Rather than actually trying to cope with her grief over losing Roman, Neo just chases revenge on anyone she considered responsible for his death. But this just leads to her being easily manipulated by Cinder, a fact she is totally oblivious to right up to the point Cinder kicks her into the void.

I think Neo’s character and arc through the show represents the futility of trying to completely escape reality through fantasy. That no matter how perfectly you craft a fantasy, reality still comes crashing through the wall before too long. Whether it’s Neo’s perfectly crafted disguises being undone the moment she’s expected to actually SAY something, or her obsession with revenge blinding her to how easily Cinder was manipulating her.