Semblances Don't Matter

INTRO:

Penny’s breakdown of how Ruby’s Semblance works makes me wanna scream. It’s meant to be for comedy - which is already weird given this is meant to be a volume where the Big Bad is laying siege and about to kill us all - but it comes across as more clumsy than anything else.

Putting aside the fact we’re attempting to bullshit pseudoscientific reasons for how it works instead of just letting magic go unexplained (not even touching the magic vs. Semblance debate, not today Satan), the fact it took 8 whole volumes for someone to explain how Ruby’s Semblance works properly, and Ruby herself didn’t even realize it until now., just shows how little Semblances matter in this show. If they’re this unimportant for the “main character,” then who cares about the rest of the cast and their powers?

The idea of everyone having a unique superpower is compelling not only because of the diversity you get to see in what everyone’s capable of, but also because of what it could mean for their stories. Semblances could’ve been perfect for that, given they’re canonically tied to the concept of everyone having a unique Aura. Instead, many supposedly important characters don’t even have Semblances, or have Semblances that are only shown in supplemental material. And the Semblances that are actually portrayed in the show mostly come across as lackluster and dull.

So today, we’re gonna explore why Semblances are so boring, and how they could’ve been handled better.

CONCEPT OF SEMBLANCES:

Admittedly, the show doesn’t bother explaining the rules of Semblances very much outside the godforsaken World of Remnant mini-series. Having important information locked in supplemental content is utterly nonsensical. And then trying to half heartedly As-You-Know-Bob your way out of that five seasons in? Go to writer jail.

In any case, every living person on Remnant has an Aura, a.k.a. a soul. The rules of Aura keep changing every five minutes, and the concept of “unlocking Aura” still evades me in canon, but certain folks can use their Aura to develop a unique superpower called a Semblance… which totally isn’t magic!

But Semblances are cool, again, because they give everyone the chance to have a unique power. And since they’re tied to a person’s soul, it means that power could potentially reflect the person using it. Maybe they’re more passive, stealthy and evading their problems, and they get a Semblance which helps them evade attacks. Or maybe they belong to a renowned family, so not only does the family name and all its wealth get passed down, but their Semblance as well.

But most of the time, trying to apply this logic to Semblances often feels like a stretch. It’s the usual problem of trying to invent headcanon to fill in the gaps the show has left in its wake, oftentimes without even realizing it. And most of the time, Semblances can’t even reasonably tie into a character’s identity and personality. Take Ruby’s Petal Burst. What about being able to turn into high-speed rose petals ties into Ruby’s character, her forgotten love of weaponry, her forgotten social awkwardness, and her generic do-gooding-I-will-yell-my-motivational-speeches-at-you ways?

Then we get Semblances like… Ironwood’s. They couldn’t even bother establishing in the show itself, nor fleshing out its rules, only confirming it at a fucking panel, seemingly to excuse the incoherent writing as they transformed Ironwood into a mustache-twirling, “Genocide General.”

Mettle supposedly allows Ironwood to hyperfixate to improve his decision making, which not only reads as bad and outright mean neurodivergent coding, but also a way to justify the baffling decisions they have Ironwood make. They essentially came up with some half-assed excuse outside the show to hide the fact they warp characters’ personalities, values, and motivations constantly to achieve whatever bad plot outcome they want.

And beyond that, look at the number of characters who are supposedly important, many of whom are even Hunters who fight, who just don’t have Semblances. Roman was supposed to have a Semblance, but for whatever reason, it got scrapped and was later given to Fiona. That’s right. Sheep girl stole Roman’s pocket dimensions. As much as I love Fiona and think she’s adorable, that’s just rude.

Or even professors and huntsmen like Ozpin and Leo have no Semblances, and they’re running schools of warriors. If Semblances are critical to helping Hunters hold off the Grimm, why aren’t they required? Why is Jaune fretting over never discovering his Semblance when the man running his school doesn’t even have one?

And apparently Oobleck has a Semblance in his hyper speed? And I just wanna say they did a horrible job establishing that, because it’s seen very sparingly, only in comical scenes in Volumes 1 and 2 where you could easily mistake it for a character comically zipping around like a lunatic.

Maria’s Semblance, though… that’s a special kind of bad, solely in its pointlessness. Preflexes allows Maria to react to things just before they happen, which… why is that worthy of a Semblance? Why isn’t that just a thing that comes from a sharpened awareness and skill among Hunters?

Semblances should be far more important, telling you about the characters and letting them strut their stuff in style. Instead, most Semblances feel like complete afterthoughts, or at worst, excuses for bad writing choices.

SEMBLANCE EVOLUTIONS:

Volume 8 marks the first time we ever see a Semblance evolve. Ren, who’s been pushing people away and bottling up his emotions, finally lets out those emotions when arguing with the Ace Ops on why friendship is magic or whatever. In doing so, his Semblance immediately evolves, allowing him to see the emotions of others through colored petals. And I hate it.

In isolation, it’s cute, but it’s so clear that Ren’s new Semblance is just a way for the writers to have him explain what other characters are feeling and what their motivations are without putting in the work to establish them themselves. And beyond that, why is this the first time we’ve ever seen a Semblance evolution?

The concept of an evolving Semblance is actually brilliant. People grow and change constantly, shaped by their experiences, and it makes sense that in a world where who you are influences your superpower, your power is subject to change depending on what you go through. It’s an easy way to externally demonstrate the internal changes of your character, serving as milestones for a character’s journey.

So the fact we haven’t once discussed the idea of a Semblance evolving, and we’ve only just now seen it eight volumes in, makes it feel less like the writers had this idea of characters growing and evolving, and more like they just gave Ren this convenient power up to make their script writing process easier. Team RWBY still have the same exact Semblances now that they started with, just with less cool visual flair. And in concert with their lack of motivations, and characterization that’s somehow both shallow and inconsistent, it becomes even clearer how little Semblances matter in this story aside from obligatory fight scenes and lazy writing.

Let’s look at Blake and Yang’s Semblances, for example. Let’s say Blake’s Semblance is supposed to reflect her aversion to conflict and self-loathing like we posited earlier. And maybe Yang’s Semblance is a reflection of her thrill-seeking, boisterous personality, and her sunny personality, but also, anger issues stemming from abandonment issues.

For Blake, her Semblance could potentially hit an extreme when her self-loathing piques. This is something I actually toyed with in my Volume 8 Rewrite, where Blake’s dark sentiments bubbling to the surface result in her momentarily falling into darkness, where she can only see silhouettes of her friends, and she’s invisible to them. And maybe once she moves past this and grows as a character, her Semblance evolves to reflect that, becoming less passive and more active.

As for Yang, instead of her Semblance being downplayed because the writers can’t decide how it actually works, and we also can’t figure out how to animate it in Maya, it instead disappears because of Yang’s trauma. Because she’s fallen into a rough patch, she’s unable to spark that flame she’s relied on in battle, and it only returns once she’s dealt with all that trauma and rises above it, like a sunrise after a long night. Maybe instead of relying on damage she’s taken, and pain, it’s instead fueled by positive feelings she has to focus on instead.

CONCLUSION & OUTRO:

Anyhow, if you enjoyed this video and would like to see more content like this from me, then be sure to subscribe and ring that bell for notifications because YouTube hates creators. Also please consider, if you’re willing and able, pledging your support for myself and the channel over on Patreon, and checking out my debut urban fantasy novel in the description below!

I’m the Unicorn of War, and Penny’s writing was a shit show.