Semblances Don't Matter | RWBY 

I think Weiss’s Semblance is the best and strongest out of all of them. Being able to summon creatures i defeat is BROKEN.

I will never not laugh at Ren's "evolved" Semblance Imagine being so bad at understanding "Show, don't Tell" that you need a character to explain another character's emotions

My main gripe with Semblances is how they're used. Take Ruby, her Semblance makes her fast but she doesn't SEEM as fast as she used to be. In the food fight in volume 2 she made a vortex that launched all those cans. Recently is just seems like a fast movement technique. She should be using her semblance for either A) Rushing toward enemies for a melee attack or B) Getting away from danger. Or Nora. Why doesn't she have lightning dust on her to charge herself up? Or stick a fork in an electrical socket or something?

Semblances were the perfect method for "Show, don't Tell". RWBY has long had a dialogue and exposition problem, and superpowers that reflect the personality or struggles of a character should have been the saving grace of the shows writing. Then they were pushed aside and forgotten. Imagine, if you will, a character suddenly losing their power, or control of it, due to emotional stress. Or someone like Qrow, who actively tries to suppress his own Semblance, and what a competent writer could do with a character who was rejecting their own soul's mark on the world. RWBY has certainly made more than its fair share of amateur mistakes, but Its videos like this one that help with my own writing. So, thank you for these dissections and critique. Your work is larger than you know. -Sincerely, a fellow writer. P.S. Congrats on the publishing. Keep up the good work.

You can tell Ironwood’s semblance was a half-baked idea, because there’s never the thought of what would happen when his aura breaks, causing Mettle to not be in the forefront of his mind. There’s no moment of Ironwood breaking down and not trusting himself, due to sudden plot realizations. I was legitimately hoping for a scene where the general wakes up and slowly gets distraught over his actions, questioning himself without his semblance

*The show actually had once discussed the idea of semblances evolving. It happened during V5. I don't blame you for forgetting it, though. It was on the episode "Lighting the Fire". And yes, I agree that the fact that the show mentioned it once during V5 does not excuse taking so long to actually explore this concept. "Ozpin: Don't worry, Mr. Arc. Your journey is far from over. And the same might be said for all of you. Unlocking your Semblance isn't the end. It can still grow and evolve. Providing you're willing to put in the work, who knows what could happen." Then never a mention of it again. It does establish that semblances can evolve, but the scene itself was fairly forgettable. It was on the episode Ruby was training hand-to-hand with Oscar.

Christ, the idea of semblances evolving based on character development sound SO COOL and I really wished the show dived into that. Your ideas on Blake and yangs semblance are really cool too. Maybe Noras evolved semblance can allow her to utilize stored up electricity in more creative ways beyond hitting stuff harder, or Weiss’ could develop a new trait of glyphs that are unique to her.

I genuinely believe Monty Oum had a completely different understanding of how Weis's semblance worked that just no one else could replicate. After volume 3, it was like a completely different semblance, which is a shame because it was one of the better ones!

Why not have Ruby's petals evolve to include controllable growable stems that when she rejoins herself attach to her arms? And when she's done with them they wilt away? It'd make sense since she's trying to control a bad situation and keep things in place. Blake's could be shadow allies a la V from DMC5. She stopped running away from her problems and confronts them now wanting to be part of a pack, like a pack of big cats. It'd play right into her Faunus heritage. Yang's could be more solar powered and feed off positive emotions. "There's more than one source of warmth." And the adage of "The brightest lights cast the strongest shadows" to interplay the relationship with Blake. Hell, Jaune's semblance could evolve from just healing and strengthening Auras he can borrow/steal them and even Maiden powers for himself. It'd play into his namesake and could give him greater depth as a character that is now on a slippery slope than a klutz who needlessly murdered a girl.

Blows my mind that not even Atlas thought to go full science-fiction with the existence of Semblances and try to cultivate semblances specifically for combating Grimm. I can understand other countries letting nature take its course and have its warriors develop each Semblance organically, but Atlas (the country that at one point in its history outlawed emotional expression) didn't have some super-secret underground experimentation trying to control how semblances were made feels like a missed opportunity. Ah well, its an idea that will stay in the land of headcanons and fanfiction I guess.

I loved the ideas for Blake and Yang. Semblances being able to change to the point of the user losing control over them or just plain losing them sounds like a pretty cool idea with great dramatic potential.

My main gripe with semblances is the blurry line the show has between them and magic. The show never constitutes what power is so outlandish that people think it's magic, and what's common enough that people call it a semblance. When Qrow turned into a crow at the end of volume 3, I just immediately thought "Oh, that's his semblance." It being magic like the maiden powers never crossed my mind.

Maria's semblance really pisses me off. If her semblance is having enhanced reflexes, how the hell did she get her eyes sliced out? That seems like the kind of thing that should be virtually impossible if you have improved reaction time and reflexes. It's such a broken, OP ability that she should be untouchable to everyone except those with an equally broken and unconventional semblance, those who get the drop on her(which again, should be incredibly difficult to even do), and the most elite Huntsmen that exist. Instead she got her eyes taken by a random, 1-off mercenary that we never see or hear about again in a banal fight where she has her weapons infused with gravity dust so that even if she drops them they can levitate back to her hands or the other weapon. It's so infuriating how bad the CRWBY is at writing.

Literally basing the first 3 seasons in a SCHOOL was the perfect opportunity to teach the characters and us about how the world works in a fun way, but all we got was a history lecture and apparently everyone already knows everything when they get to school so there’s literally nothing for them to learn lol

Thinking of Semblances growing as who you are as a person changes can actually be interesting when applied to the Schnees. Like they have summoning glyphs and glyphs in general as inheritance. Maybe each Schnee gains a new glyph from going through life? That or maybe the entire semblance transforms into something new.

While the idea of everyone having a unique power is great 'n' all, in practice it can fall flat really hard because of just how many "unique" powers you have to come up with, and eventually they start either overlapping with other people meaning they're no longer unique, or you end up creating very boring powers because of quantity. Generic magic on the other hand, while yeah everyone who can access magic can do the same things, it gives you much greater freedom in who does what. Your characters aren't pigeonholed into a single gimmick.

"Semblances don't matter." I can agree with that. The V8 finale hammered that point home.

Honestly after the reveal of Ironwood's Semblance I just have to struggle and figure out what the hell rwby's overall magic system even is. If Semblance can be personality traits do people just blatantly use that to get off charges? What are the fundamental differences between semblances and magic, we still have no idea about that over like 4 years? And if a person's aura breaks does a person's semblance deactivate? These are all questions I know I'll never get a satisfying answer because having aura, semblance, magic and dust makes rwby's magic system absolute hell to follow.

Honestly in this one case I think Monty's handling of them is the root problem here. Ruby's semblance in Volume 1 and 2 is so fast she should be able to solo literally every non-magic villain at once in under 5 minutes. Meanwhile Yang can hit harder, after being beaten up, if she hasn't already lost. Trying to balance that for this kind of story, while not impossible, is such a challenge that for once I totally get how wishy washy RT is about the entire subject, it's such a mine field that just avoiding it all together was probably seen as the lesser evil.

Hey give them SOME credit. They didn't turn Ironwood into a "Mustache Twirling Genocide General". They turned him into a "Goatee Groping Genocide General" which is so much better because of the alliteration in what he is! In all seriousness, I mostly agree with what you're saying in the video. The only thing I don't 100% agree on is the whole supplemental material don't count thing. I agree that if they're a main character that's prominent in the show often that, their semblance (if they have one) should be revealed in the actual show but for side characters, which I include CFVY as, it makes sense to show their semblances in supplemental material (though, specifically another form of art like a book, short, ect) because it's not necessary to the main story that their semblances are included and could just end up taking time away from the actual story. If the reveal is in a Panel though.... yeah 100% agree that's not right. Especially if you're using said Panel to explain something that wasn't shown well in the show (looking at you "Mettle" -_-)

Over time I've learned that the only reason I still like RWBY is the potential. Sadly most of that went to waste or is done poorly

I think this is your best video yet! It's all so well worded, and smart, and makes sense! 10/10! I REALLY like your ideas about how Blake and Yang's semblances could've evolved too! It would be cool if their theoretical evolved semblances changed aesthetically too! Like, instead of Yang's hair turning into fire, it could be more akin to a ray of light. Fun food for thought! :D

Semblances has to be one of the most convoluted and poorly thought out power systems in fiction. The fact that the rules and how semblances work keep changing makes trying to figure out how they work a nightmare. I’m going to name series with power systems that are easy to follow and that the basics are laid out. You guys can add more power systems if you like. Naruto: Chakra is energy that all living beings have that ninja can use in 3 way, Ninjutsu(Ninja magic), Genjutsu(mental illusions), and Taijutsu(hand to hand combat). Chakra is in everyone and is made of physical energy and spiritual energy. If you use too much you die from Chakra exhaustion. One Piece: Devil Fruits are fruits that grant various powers when a person takes one bite out of them. There a 3 kinds, Paramecia(weird stuff), Zoan(turns you or an object into an animal), and the rarest Logia(let’s you use and turn into an element). Once you eat a devil fruit, if eat another one you will explode. You also lose the ability to swim and get weak in large bodies of water. My Hero Academia: Quirks are basically mutations that grant people various abilities. You either get them by yourself or you get hybrid quirk from both of your parents. Or you could be the 20% who are quirkless and have no powers. There are 3 types, emitters(generate or control a substance), transformation(changes to the body), or mutant(different or extra limbs or weird body parts). Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stands are the soul or fighting spirit made visually manifest. You can get from being pierced with a stand arrow and survive through strong fighting spirit, manifest it, or get it from you ancestors if they had it. Stand can’t be seen by anyone other than other stand users, can only be hurt by stands, and any damage done to the stand gets reflected back to the stand user and vice versa. I’m pretty sure Magecraft from the Nasuverse is less complicated than Semblances!!

My Hero Academia, for all its flaws handles its power system in a way that completely blows RWBY semblances out of the water.

The evolution of semblances would be great to include for all of team RWBY, since none of them are the same characters they were in the beginning. But considering how it feels like the show can barely handle all the semblances they already include, I doubt it will become a big portion of the story in the future.

Honestly, I think some semblances could have been Aura sub abilities. Like giving aura to a person or discerning truth and lies. It was shown that huntsmen can encase their aura into their weapons or just extend it, like the early seasons with the energy slashes that Qrow and Blake did. Ren even had precognitive abilities and was like a ki master where he could enhance his strength when he fought that king Taijitu. There's no meditating or training to increase your Aura reserves or lowering how much it drains. We don't even see how Aura and semblances play into culture, even though humanity has had it since they rose from dust. We don't even see if Aura has any utilitarian usage outside of combat. How are the magic less main character meant to go toe to toe with the villains in the grand finale if their magic system is so stagnant while literal magic is undefined and can do anything?

I think I can justify Ozpin being a headmaster without a semblance. I remember a world of remnant where they were talking about aura and how it can be manipulated, and if you're good enough at it you can "become something more than a man" or something like that with an accompanying visual of Ozpin. This is definitely retconned now but I think the original idea was for Ozpin to be really powerful through aura techniques, which would tie back to him being immortal, it might be he only learned crazy aura manipulation because he lived so long, or he was using it to extend his lifespan.

I like how Neo and Ironwood were used in the thumbnail Because Critter said Neo has the best semblance while Ironwood has the worst its a cute touch

I honestly think they should’ve made semblances and aura separate. That way if your aura is broken, you still have a fighting chance.

I really want to see Unicorn, Twiins and Judgement do a vol8 commentary reaction video. That would be priceless

I can get behind the idea that semblances have always had ability to evolve, because that just shows that none our main characters have changed, except Jaune (who finally unlocked his semblance) and Ren (for plot reasons).

One Piece solved this problem long before RWBY came out, with Devil Fruits being essentially random powers and the user making them their own via their own creativity: like Luffy using his Rubber-Rubber powers to push his body past limits normal humans have or Doflamingo using his String powers to craft copies of himself from the threads. What RWBY needs is not the power itself, but how the individual character uses it.

I haven't watched the video, but my first thought from the title is "yep that's true."

Remember when Weiss used her glyphs for other than summons? Pepperidge farm remembers

RWBY: Semblance is not magic Winx: We'll be the judge of that.

The concept of Aura, being like a soul. And a Semblence being an extension of the user's personality, is an interesting concept. Semblances can be effected by a person's emotions or outlook on life. And could potentially grow/ evolve with the character. Depending on they're current outlook/ emotional standing at that point in the story. Could add, or subtract effects from the power. Like the way Judgemental described Blake and her semblance: having a double edge sword adds to a heros struggles. But when they overcome it, one of they're biggest burdens, is now a great asset to them. Having a "sort of" super power is neat, but yes. It needs more bases to make sence. Semblances could be unlocked through stress, emotional distress, or even a basic survival instinct. (Survive the ordeal, from grimm attack, to an awkward dinner with the girlfriends parents). All I'd like to know is, if everyone, Human, and Faunus, have an Aura, how the F do they unlock it to use it?

Yang: people say i use my semblance too much Weiss: glyph go fwoom

Honestly between that semblance explanation from Penny and a grappling line from the batcycle instantly stopping a runaway train, that's two Ruby Roses that break the laws of physics

The fact they snubbed Roman of having the pocket dimension semblance is so frustrating, he's a thief! It would fit so well!

Wait, what? Sheep girl's semblance is pocket dimensions?! I thought it was just a fancy "see everyone" map, like Harry Potter's "we solemly swear we are up to no good" whachamacallit. Either I missed some other moment when she used it, or they couldn't even convey _that_ correctly.

One idea I saw and loved, and would like to expand on, is the idea that semblances are linked to a person's trauma. In the grim(m) setting of Remnant, powers gained through bad experiences would fit right in. Perhaps when a person unlocks their semblance, that same trauma gets... repressed by the semblance's presence. Confronting and unrepressing that trauma means that the semblance shorts out on you or grows out of control until you face it and make your way through it, and once you work through that trauma, your semblance is returned to you with a new ability representing how you've grown. Yang's Burn being sourced from her anger issues, abandonment issues, and something I think would be good to bring back, her memories of almost getting herself and Ruby killed, means that once she's no longer able to fuel that internal fire, after Adam, she's no longer able to use her semblance. It could be a recurring issue for the volumes after V3, being her semblance being on the fritz. Perhaps it comes to a head after Bruinswick Farm, where she once again fails to protect her loved ones and almost gets them killed by grimm, but once she confronts Adam again and is able to beat him with a level head and without her semblance, Burn comes back to her, and she no longer needs to get hurt to fight back, and can strengthen herself with positivity as you said in your video. One character who I think _needs_ more development with her semblance is Ruby herself. Her semblance is based on roses, and I don't think I need to explain much of why that is: Summer Rose. As her theme song, Red Like Roses, reveals, Ruby is supposed to be broken up inside about how Summer died, and I think that Petal Burst is an example of unintentionally beautiful symbolism: she's _literally_ broken up, and her transforming into rose petals references Summer's inspiration, "The Last Rose of Summer" - "thus kindly I scatter". Ruby's semblance would also begin to go on the fritz after V3, but rather than shorting out, it would activate on its own. After all, she repeatedly watched people who she cared about dying right in front of her, and her accidentally transforming symbolizes a literal inability to hold onto those who she loves. _It_ comes to a head after Tyrian's appearance, as Qrow, her beloved uncle and someone she clearly cares about a lot, is slowly dying and is practically catatonic. It gets to a point where her transformations are so often and so bad that she's completely unable to contribute to the Nuckelavee fight, and she's forced to watch from the sidelines as she's once again forced to watch the people she cares about putting their lives on the line. It doesn't get a clean resolution like Yang's, however; while she does regain some control over Petal Burst and is once again able to fight, she still has those same breakdowns on occasion, but they get better as she's slowly able to reconnect with the rest of her team and even Penny, who turns out to not be as dead as she thought... but Summer Rose is still a hot button for her and she won't be able to regain full control and evolve her semblance until she gets some level of closure with her mother. Ultimately, it once again comes to a head with the Hound and the reveal of what it is that Salem wants Silver-Eyed Warriors for, and when she's once again practically incapacitated due to her literally falling apart, she's ultimately able to get that closure and renew her dedication to destroy Salem that allows her to evolve her semblance. (a note that specifically wanting to destroy definitely still isn't a healthy mindset but it's one that definitely fits after learning her mother was probably turned into a grimm and _definitely_ put through horrific torture)

I completely forgot semblances even existed. I've only watched up to volume 4, but 4 seasons should have be more than enough for them to establish their magic system in a way that I wouldn't forget.

Oh man this video feel like it got cut short. I think I'm too spoiled by hour long essays but I am glad you're putting out short videos that succinctly state your point while also (hopefully) not being too draining. (And this is the point where I unironically sing content from inside)

The sad thing about Maria's Semblance is it could've been so much more interesting. Since she's based on the Day of the Dead and La Calavera Catrina, what if her Semblance has something to do with death? Maybe she could create Aura clones that took the forms of people who she was close to that could fight on their own. Maybe she could've originally been part of a team but when Salem's lackeys hunted her down they also killed her teammates. Then after she loses her eyes and goes into hiding, she refuses to use Semblance as she blames herself for her teammates' deaths and doesn't want to see them after hiding like a coward. That way she could have an arc about forgiving herself, culminating in her using her Semblance to save Ruby and resolving to not run and hide but honour her friends' memories and do what she couldn't do for her old team: protect team RWBY. Plus then we could called it Danse Macabre (Dance of Death) which is such a cool Semblance name!

This is why in the fic I've been working on, I took the MCU Thor aproach "Magic and science are one in the same," as a starter. Semblances can be explained with science, but the reason why they exist come's down to what is effectivly magic from the old humanity. Since Humanity got hit with an extiction from an unknoable source, whatever force brought them back gave them a "magic failsafe," to avoid that from happening again, by letting humans adapt to whatever it is that might have been thrown at them. And I tred to avoid the whole "it's an individiual power linked to your soul and personality" bullshit, and replaced it with "This is nature forcing a last ditch evolution onto you're "body" so that you can survive an otherwise unsurvivable event. (on in Jaune's case posibly sacrifice yourself to save others)" IE, what *Nora* went through, but for *everyone.* Ruby had to run away from beowulfs before she could kill them. Yang had her back to the wall against some grimm as a young teen. A bear faunus OC was set on fire/ burned multiple times as a kid, so now he's fireproof. So on and so forth. Because not only is this something that can be explained very easily with just a smidge of backstory, but as people evolve to survive in new environments it's now thematically consistant that semblances also evolve with them as Ren's has. This means that Semblances still fit the whole "individual power" aspect of the story, but at the same time are not baseless nonsence. The Maria example is a perfect show of how this fits. Her preflexis, which is so simple that it might as well be a bargan brand power, after losing her eyes, developed it similarly to how Daredevil can use ecolocation. Because being blind in nature is a death sentance, and therefore it acctually makes the ability relevent. This even works for ironwood with just a little bit of backstory. Young Ironwood as a fresh out of OCS butter bar luie, stumbles over making decisions on a platoon patrol in grimm infested terretory, and ends up getting a lot of people killed because of his inaction, and the PTSD that results in "rapid evolution" forced decisive decision making onto him to avoid having to go through said traumatic experience. It dosn't require the power to be a *part* of the personality, rather the power is shaped by experiences, *like* a personality, therefore they do not have to be linked directly by word of god. This opens up massive amounts of potental to write on the idea of semblance evolution very early into the story. I segregated Ruby's speed and pettle flight into two different things for this reason. Prior to volume 3 she was breaking her matter down slighty to decrease air resistance which resulted in high speed, but ultamatly a solid human form, but by one of the fights she figures out how to "warp" break herself apart and scatter totally, which makes her faster, but also allows for flight to catch up with an opponent who can match her in speed. This is just a furthur extention of an existing semblance, but it can be taken in nearly any direction so long as the question can be asked "what would this do in nature?"

For my own purposes, I have actually broken how Semblances develop down into 3 categories: -Immediate Need (Yang, Ruby, Neptune, Ren, Jaune, etc.); -Intense Desire (Torchwick. Maybe.); -Genetics (Weiss and Winter)

I miss when Ruby's semblance was just "she's really fast" and she used it to fight with Crescent Rose propelling her with the recoil from its bullets I miss those times

I guess you can say semblance should act like season Moments when they change Moment when there gone Moment when they start and return

Honestly the Silver Eyes don’t matter either.

Life was so much more simpler when all Ruby's Semblance was just too quote Fatmanfalling: The Go Fast

Blake and Yang's semblances probably should have evolved over the course of the show. In volume 6 when Blake chooses to fight Adam with Yang instead of run away like before, her clones evolve to be able to attack, rather than just being an evasive In volume 4 when Taiyang was teaching Yang about being less reckless and relying less on anger, her semblance becomes more of a passive. Rather than her just activating it when she's angry and getting a huge spike in power, she's just always getting stronger whenever she gets hit in battle. Being able to always have her semblance active, but just because of how it works getting less of a power boost. Ren's semblance evolution should have been done a little differently. Rather than him just being able to see emotions he should have realized he was focusing too much on what he feels and how he has to hide those emotions, and let's himself focus on other people's emotions rather than his own.

Velvet's semblance was shown in the show. It allows her to copy others moves like when she fought the robots in volume three. Her weapon allows her to copy others weapons and her semblance allows her to copy their moves to use them. It was never called by name, but it was shown.

In general, people have voted Overactive Imagination in polls as the best semblance constantly, along Weiss and Velvet's. One of the most popular polls being Phoenix's "top 10 semblances in RWBY". While Ironwood's Mettle is universally hated all across the RWBY community and not considered canon by many. It's not just a couple of RU-vidrs saying this. And with Roman Holiday out, the disparity of how well Overactive Imagination has been treated and used, compared to other underutilized or poorly established semblances (including those that belong to actual protagonists in the series), increased even more. If the show gave more value and weight to writing semblances, that would help a lot to develop more the characters, make them more useful, give more reasons to explore their backstories/past, understand better their inner mentality and thoughts, come up with more creative fighting techniques or action coreographies, and of course, improve the show as a whole.

They literally devalued one of the coolest concepts in the show.

One of the things that confuses me about RWBY as someone who hasn’t watched a lot of it is that there are, like, three or four power systems in this universe that to me don’t really do a lot to distinguish themselves from each other. Aura, Semblances, Dust, Magic, etc.

I’m making a Rwby fanfic, so I rewrote a bit of the lore to make it more appealing to my tastes. In my rewrite, Aura and Semblances are often a result of trauma. The manifestation of the soul trying to protect the body and the mind when they can no longer forestall. Semblances specifically are more difficult to unlock because they only appear as a result of psychological and physical trauma. Not all Hunstmen have them, but the ones who unlocked them are respected, even if they are really young. What a semblance can do is determined by the trauma and the way the person confronted it, they say you can know a lot about a person by their semblance. For example, my oc Bruno has a semblance named “Companion”, he acquired it as a child when he got trapped inside a dust mine. He can summon a familiar with the shape of a horse, kinda like an imaginary friend come true. You can connect the dots from there, I guess. I’m sorry if this doesn’t make a lot of sense, English isn’t my first language.

Haven't read all the Myers books, but I wish semblances were used as effectively as Neo's Overactive Imagination in Roman Holiday. You can tell that Myers really put himself in Neo's shoes to think of many ways she could use her superpower, even for everyday situations, outside of combat. I also appreciate more when we actually get to see the backstory of how and why a person awakened his/her semblance, like Ren, Neo, and Cinder.

I honestly thought for the longest time that the whole ‘semblances reflect the person’ thing was used as a way to show Ruby’s desire to live and die like her mother, a hero. Matches great with her theme red like roses too. Sadly they didn’t even try to talk about any of that and I slowly lost hope that semblances meant anything as the show continued

You’d think that semblances evolving would be already established in the show but apparently it doesn’t exist until it’s about the main characters. You would think huntsmen who had already graduated, has experience, old even to have their semblances evolved. Shouldn’t this be something students would have to learn or discover during their time in the academies? It’s weird how none of the professors mention it at all. We knew semblances were going to be explored when we were getting Volume 07 but it still felt rushed, forced and stupid when you’re using a semblance to push a character’s story. *cough* ren *cough*

I realized during this video that Ironwood and Hazel's Semblaces should be swapped. Make Hazel have tunnel vision as he's obsessed with the death of his sister and it makes him fully focused on his opponent, unable to be distracted pr reasoned with and have Ironwood able to shut off pain since he's so willing to sacrifice himself and power through anything to protect people, then when they want him to become darker as a character have him unsure what to do with multiple options and his semblance evolves to block out emotional pain, losing his heart to pursue what is the most effective way to move forward.

I think the “Semblance is not magic” makes more sense than General Ironwood’s Semblance.

I think Judgmental Critter also pointed out that there are just TOO MANY THINGS for the writers to keep track of when it comes to battles. Every character has a unique semblance, AND a unique weapon (which frequently has multiple different modes), AND ALSO some of them use Dust to augment their abilities AND ALSO some of them have magic and maiden powers, (which are completely different from semblances even though it’s honestly impossible to tell the difference) AND THAT’S NOT EVEN GOING INTO OTHER STUFF like Cinder’s Grimm arm. EDIT: I FORGOT WHATEVER THE FUCK AURAS ARE. That also has to be factored in.

okokok I'm not done w the video but talking about semblances in my own RWBY fanfic I have something called "Soul Secession" something that happens if two people are close enough they get an altered variant of each others semblances. The first time it appears is Adam and Blake (bc in rewrite they're the oldest in an orphanage ran by blakes parents) This is why Blake can throw out beams like in her torchwick fight and why Adam has clones in his own fights it's a variant of Blakes own semblance. They eventually grow apart and lose access to each others powers because the power only lasts if you two remain close.

In a vacuum, I actually really love Ren’s evolved semblance. It makes sense for him and is demonstrated in a uniquely creative way, but the writing around it is horrendous. I just hate that I can’t help but hate the way the show (and especially V8) handles semblances. Not only for the reasons you talk about here, but for the completely inconsistent and arbitrary power level of them. Ruby can burst at speeds fast enough to create a vortex strong enough to crack solid concrete, isn’t restricted on the ability to pivot while moving (or even stay a single cohesive object), as well as fly herself, Penny, and the rest of her team up god knows how far from the hole Oscar made under Atlas to the vault, but couldn’t even attempt to save her own damn sister like 10 minutes later from falling into the void? Emerald was able to go from passing out due to the over exertion of creating Big Salem to multiple people in V5, to being able cast projections omnidirectionally, avoid the detection of Grimm (that’ve been countless demonstrated not to see people visually), and apparently sense people at an indeterminate range - effectively at no cost to her Aura or stamina - all because of some unspecified off screen “training”. Weiss was proud of herself of mastering Time Dilation when talking to Winter in V3, but she literally never uses it again after that conversation. Her Knight is either unkillable or made of tissue paper with no in between. Despite knowing it works with Dust and being a Schnee, she only really uses Gravity and (kinda) Ice.

I wanted to see Yang use her PTSD as a well of 'hurt' to charge up without taking a hit. Like she stole Adams semblance in a way, but once she gets over the event she can have a charge up super saiyan mode.

Ironwood's "semblance" is one of the worst in the show, hands down. It's just a poor excuse of a terrible plot device for damage control that only caused more damage.

Semblance is a jumble mess it's like the writers tried to mix my hero academy "quirks" and hunter X hunter "Nen" together but they failed at it without understanding how the mechanics of mha & hxh abilities work in their world.

the....really painful part about ruby and her semblence is she already did exactly what penny said several times without realizing it, but being to in the moment made her never realize what she just did

I honestly feel like there are a lot of semblances that *should* have evolved, and a lot of semblances that also just don't make sense given the character growth. Weiss for instance, she wanted nothing to do with her family really. Her semblance is just another tie to them. Instead, what I would have loved to see is some sort of... evolution with Dust while *using* her semblance. She understands Dust, she can control Dust. And using it as a catalyst, that's how she learns to use her Summoning ability. But with the twist that depending on the Dust used, her summoned creatures will reflect that. At the end of the day, learning more and more about combining Dust with her Summoning Ability to eventually say "I won't be held down by the rest of you... because I know I can do so much more." Not as powerful as Winter who can Summon with basically no charge time or Dust, but much more versatile in what she can do. It would even coincide well with getting the idea from Blake. How she uses Dust with her Clones. But having the same ability as the rest of her family just feels... like she didn't actually improve and evolve as a character when she actually did. Yang went from hyper fireball to depresso mode. A doused flame. This isn't bad, and I'm glad they did this. But once that spark was ignited once more, it would've been nice if it burned brighter and hotter than ever before as she learned that protecting her friends is what she's meant to do. Evolving so that should the aura's of her friends (should they be nearby) be depleted due to an attack, her strength grows stronger as if she was attacked. Blake's semblance was very straight forward in what it reflected. Running away from everything using her Clones. Using Dust to spice things up was nice, but not integral to her character. She ran away, ran away, ran away, and finally when it was all said and done she faced her biggest enemy once more... She found purpose.... She was grounded. As time has passed they've gone from shifty afterimages, to full clones, to even partially materialized clones (able to move Blake in mid-air). So overall... her semblance actually has been improving, just not a lot of attention has been brought to it. However, for the most part with Adam gone for good and a new family to call home, her story arc is basically done, so who knows if there's more evolution to be had there. Ruby..... ah... Petal Burst is weird. The explanation by Penny makes no sense. "Ruby is capable of traveling at an extreme velocity from one point to another by breaking herself down to her molecular components, thus negating her mass and then reassembling them at the destination, theoretically making it possible for her to transport all of us in the same way, as mass no longer matters." Just because you take a tree and break it down into its molecular components (carbon, and a variety of other minor substances) that doesn't make it any less heavy. Plus, it's been seen before that mass *does* matter when Ruby tries to take more people or heavier individuals. A "Pocket Plane" explanation honestly probably would've been much nicer overall (less science, more magic "go with it" logic). It's nice that she's gotten more control with her semblance over time, but the explanation and all of that basically says "Oh, your semblance hasn't actually progressed at all. You're just stupid." Tl;dr Weiss should get Dust Summons because it leads to more variety in fighting and shows a distinct difference between her and her family. Yang should power up from friends losing Aura, to show how she's gone from anger problems to protector. Blake has already evolved with her semblance quite a bit, and her character arc is over which is a shame. Ruby's semblance is weird, explained poorly/incorrectly, and just makes Ruby look like an idiot.

I honestly would love to see your ideas for characters that we never got semblances for! Though I haven't bought your book (yet) I listened to your rewrite a few days ago and was blown away! Taking my major in creative writing, I love your writing for RWBY and would gladly listen to your different changes on things RT can't seem to keep consistent.

How about if Ironwood would have a semblance like: Commanding presence: It would effect people and animals around him. He could make person more confident using it to reassure his allies and enhance their willpower and make them more willing to follow his orders. And also adding a dark side to that semblance that he would terrify his enemies so that they make mistakes or submit sometimes without a fight and people under him to not disobey him. Would explain why some people would follow him to ends of Remnant AND because he is a general of Atlas military after all. Bastion: Making his aura unbreakable for few seconds at a time. Or allow it to ignore damage or lessen damage to aura. Edit: After some thinking this could more like advanced Aura manipulation or Aura ability outside the use of any Semblance. Flexible defense: He could transfer defensive aura from part of his body to strengthen other part of the aura but lose durability in part of the aura or reduce aura´s strength overall. That would work well for his personality or way he has operated in Volume 7.

If they were written with a system and unique aspect for each individual, semblances could be more interesting.

One question that always baffles me about semblances is how do some of these characters find out how theirs` work. Take Adam's for instance. If he is so useless without his sword than how did he find out how his semblance worked beforehand?

I had ideas for my ocs having evolutions like one OC has a semblance that armors his skin its evolution will be less of him wanting to protect himself to him wanting to protect his friends and so its armor becomes more barbed and will also give him better movement, another character has a semblance of being slippery but as time goes on he wants to make sure his opponents don’t move so he’s able to remove friction from the ground

3:01 I think originally the reason for Ruby’s semblance being speed was because she wanted to grow up and become a real huntress as fast as possible. Even in attending Beacon two years early, she still didn’t want the hassle of having to make friends or do written work in classes; she just wanted to get out in the field to fight and better her weapon. I wish they built on that more in that she’s the most immature of Team RWBY yet the most desperate to be a professional, and that clashing. Addition: I wrote a long time ago in a fic Ruby’s semblance evolving to have her grow roses where/when she walks because she was finally able to slow down and let something develop instead of constant propulsion (petal bursts). It was more of a passive thing than anything relating to combat, but really how can we make Ruby faster than her already breaking the sound barrier?

I feel like a good story choice would have been having all silver eyes warriors have like the base ability to scatter like rwby and when she meet Maria come to the relaxation that thinking that that was her semblance cost her to put a mental block on yourself and preventing her from on locking the real won . Which could be more in line with her as a character and make more sense .

True that! I’m calling it now summer’s semblance will be similar to Ruby’s even though it’s always been established that the schee’s are the only one’s that had a hereditary semblance in the lore. Quirks are better explained in bnha. We didn’t need ren and his semblance evolution to tell us that Harriet was passed about clover’s death. We need a video about all the forgotten characters of rwby that were apart of the story that we haven’t seen in a long time.

I really appreciate your RWBY videos, it's relatable to have someone who was once a "True" RWBY fan and used to defend this show's every flaw like I sadly did.

I think Blake and Yang's Semblances probably have the most obvious potential to evolve via personal growth. You already gave a pretty good idea of how Yang's Burn could progress but I wanna talk about Blake's clones since remind me a bit of one mechanic I have for a book I want to write. Essentially there are these magic possessed rings that when worn by a character can let them use certain 1 ability per ring which directly breaks the rules of the regular magic system of the world. One such ring is worn by a villain but since the spirit in that ring dislikes the villain, they haven't told him how their ability actually works. The ring in question allows the user to create perfect copies of an object they are touching in it's current state. The copies can be programmed to execute 1 action and they cease to exist seconds after said action is complete. I have it planned that the villain uses this power to copy his own sword and yeet the copies as projectiles a bit like Gilgamesh from Fate or Fairy Tail's Erza. What the villain hasn't been told is that the ring's power can be used on living beings as well and if he were to use it on himself, his copies would have all of his equipment and current level of power for the short time they exist. An evolution of Blake's semblance could be that her clones aren't just a defensive option that can take an attack and maybe somewhat screw over her opponent but could also throw out attacks like short lived version of Naruto's shadow clones.

I think if you did a whole video on how each characters semblance could have grown I'd love that

I appreciate your commentary on Ironwood's Semblance. Yikes is indeed the correct response.

Honestly because I hadn't heard of gravity dust I thought Maria's was a kind of self magnetism where she can pull a thing towards her only honestly I think a lot of the Dust should have have stayed Elemental because if gravity does exist no matter how expensive it is to be a hunter's top priority expecially if they lose their weapons so fucking much

a 10/10 timing for this video because um- me, rewriting all my RWBY OC's and their story/plot thing? from years ago (because why not-) watching and listening to a bunch of your ideas/rewrites/notes of the show proper: wait- write that down! WRITE THAT DOWN-

Poor Maria. Preflexes is such a dumb and uninteresting semblance. Remember back before volume 6 aired and people theorized that Maria's semblance would allow her to talk to the dead because of the Mexican and Dia de los Muertos inspirations in her design? Still wishing they went with that idea to this day.

Watched that volume 8 rewrite and the white fang videos and i'm just in love with your content. As a beginner writer myself, i find all of them very useful and of course entertaining! +1 subscriber or something i guess

Honestly Ironwood’s semblance at worst is a shot at nurodivergent people and proof of CRWBY’s ableist agenda. And at best, makes no god dame since. As it only makes Ironwood worse both as a character, and as a general. Ruby’s semblance could still work if it was like Biyakuya from Bleach and the rose petals could be used as thousands of small blades. Also make no mistake I love Fiona, and think she’s the cutest thing to come out of volumes 7 and 8. But she’s also the worst thief in remnant. Stealing Roman’s semblance and seemingly all the green that should have gone to Robin. Also, not gonna lie. For the longest time I didn’t even know Obleck had a semblance. I always thought him zipping around, was a comedic take on his caffeine addiction. Great video.

To be fair Ozpin and Salem don't have semblance because they have magic instead. Like that was the ancient version of semblances. But I agree they are neither consistent or utilized. I mean ruby's semblance was straight up retconned. 'Can split her mass' my foot!! Also anyone else mad about how Ren and Nora where handled? It felt like they tryed to make Ren the over controlling one?? Like Nora was the one who was co dependent not him. Also Yang, Ruby and Blake are so sadly murdered by the writers.

8:33 Oh so thats why we didn't see her semblance until V6- also damn I love your idea.

Semblance doesn't matter in this series... Aura doesn't matter in this series... The story doesn't even matter in this series. If ANY of them did then they would've had more detail, logic, and imagination put into them.

Wishing RWBY writters to actually be creative, make sense and do a good job on telling a compelling story with lots of character is way too much. It's easier for them to make the show prettier, and shove commercial of other shows they have on the start of this particular show so they can boost other stories that they can actually tell more or less good? I dunno, I'm just tired of the bulshit. I love the show, I really do, but it's having way more inconsistencies than Steven Universe, and that's a kid's show made by people who had to fight to actually be able to tell a story they wanted to, while Mr. big old corporation didn't want it because it's a kid show and needs to work in the way they want. Rooster teeth owns Rwby, and yeah Monty is not here anymore, so they need to figure out what to do on themselves, but they could always honored his memory with just one or two extra chapters saying goodbye to him and the show, making an ambiguous ending but an ending nonetheless. Sometimes it's better to just end things rather than monopolize in it's success if you don't want to actually do a good job with it. Frankly I think that's the reason why when an author dies without finalizing their series, being it a book or something else, the family of that author usually decides to just end the work there instead of allowing someone else to continue said work. Rwby was fun, quirky and silly. They wanted to make it big, they did it, and the show is falling apart, every single good scene they create they keep making more and more stuff that makes no sense and are lazy, and that's sad. It's sad when you watch something you love and you find less and less ways to defend it, because the arguments people make about it are so goddamn good it's not worth it. At least with SU I could always resort to "You can blame CN and their CEO's always trying to downplay the show's message and making the team have to scramble with time just to try to tell something and forcing, constantly, fillers just because." I can't give that excuse with Rwby. The show makes a LOT of money, they upgraded the show graphically but it seems they are not investing as much as it should there because if there's not cut content in it, there's rushed excuses for plot devices. And that annoys me. Will I continue to watch it? Yes. Will I be happy with it? Sadly, they need to essentially re-write Rwby to make things make sense, and if they do that they will just be assuming that they are horrible at their work at this point. XD So I'm trying to enjoy Rwby with it's flaws. Sometimes it's hard. Especially if they keep using villains that are not compelling and are just hateful, I mean I can't stand Cinder anymore, she overstayed her time in the screen, even when she's vulnerable I don't feel a thing for her. That's a bad villain on my book.

This all goes back to my personal main critique of the show: They are trying to do too many things at once. It often feels like there are a bunch of plot points the writers want to get to without really thinking about how to get there or if a plot point even makes sense given the story so far.

Can I just say I love your style of thumbnail. I'm a graphic designer and yours are some of the best I've seem 👌

The only thing is they actually DID discuss semblances evolving in the show before - Ozpin mentions it to RNJR in volume 5. I’ve been waiting for years to see that come to fruition, but I agree it should have been seen happening before a main character did it….

I don't like that everyone has to have their own unique semblance, personally I think it would be more evened out if less people had semblances but it just seems like every one we meet has a quirky semblance or something. Personally I think they should be rare, or multiple people should be able to have the same semblance (unless that's already a thing). But can you imagine an entire family that just has the ability to go invisible, like a ninja family kinda but each of them uses it in a unique way or their fighting style is what makes them different. idk. i'm not a writer but I just thought that sounded cool.

I feel like Weiss should have just gotten the movement glyphs, and Winter the summon glyphs. No need to cross the streams.

You know what could be cool for Ren evolve semblance? Instead of only seeing emotion, he should either amplify that person specific emotion or maybe "conduit" them to others making them feel what that person feel. It's not a mind control but many people would act differently if they can feel the emotion of other that they didn't expect from. Almost like the reverse of his original semblance. In mission with Grimm he could conduit the emotion into objects or some area to kinda change the Grimm's focus away from people, like how his father lure the Grimm away from him, but without sacrificing life. Imagine if he can still use his old semblance with this new ability, masking negative emotion from civilian and then fire or throw colorful emotion bomb elsewhere so the Grimm would rush there instead of sniffing near them.

Semblances are just there for fights scenes and to let the writers bullshit thier way out of actual writing. They didn't even pretend to care with Ironwood and just revealed his semblance in a panel but the writing reveals that it was an afterthought they came up with POST the writing process as it's never hinted or or shown in the show, they couldn't even bother to put in an a novel or something like the do with the rest of the holes in their story. Like, if his semblance made him hyper forucsed and single minded to the point he could threaten to bomb a city, wouldn't the people close to him know about it? Wouldn't Ozpin tell Oscar that there more to James actions then just paranoia? Wouldn't Winter approach him and ask to be sure he isn't letting his semblance getting the best of him? Ruby not understanding her own semblance was just dumb as is the fact thay none of the FOUR MAIN GIRLS have had any evolutions or changes to their semblances either. Thought the cynical part of me thinks thats the writers telling us that the main girls are as deep and interesting as a piece of wood.

I was expecting you to wreck shit, well done Unicorn

The problem is the same reoccurring one with RWBY. There is what Monty planned, and then there is all that came after, where it's basically just Miles and Kerry ripping off other animes. Aura was meant to be another lifebar; a shield so the characters don't just die off when fighting anything with claws. Semblance was meant to be a limit break. If you are familiar at all with Final Fantasy, it's literally just that. The problem is that they made sense when it came to Monty's creations. Ruby is depicted as fast, and mostly momentum based. Yang was all about give and take combat. Weiss is literally a story about a girl copying the expectations of others, so her power copies the bosses she beats. Those make thematic sense, because they literally are just amplified versions of stuff they already do. The problem is, that thought process is absent from latter-day RWBY. A good example is Jaune. His semblance should be some sort of.. mind control? Basically he should be able to convince others to do stuff. Even if they are terrible at it. It would be thematic, and could lead to some dark plotline material. Inspire someone to do something, and oops, they couldn't handle it. But no. They didn't realize how it should work, so they.. probably picked ideas out of a hat or something dumb.

Haven't seen volume 8 but fucking WHAT about Ironwood's semblance?