Roman Torchwick's Semblance

Roman Torchwick's Semblance

I believe Roman has a semblance, an undiscovered one, but a semblance nevertheless.

That semblance involves technology. Namely, Roman has the ability to innately understand and use advanced technology without prior training or knowledge.

But because it's undiscovered, Roman's semblance is unpredictable and circumstantial.

Therefore, the more advanced the piece of technology, the faster Roman can master it. But less complex pieces of technology escape his understanding.

Firstly, Roman manages to pilot a Paladin, without any prior experience with the machine.

Roman also manages to fight very well against Sun Wukong and Ruby Rose. Both of them use very advanced and complex weapons.

He loses to Blake, however, who uses a simple sword.

This is why Roman could operate Ironwood's ship and jettison the Knights during the Fall of Beacon. Roman had an instinctive grasp of how Ironwood's tech worked, and this is due to his semblance.

But because this Semblance is untrained, it only works on very advanced technology, which is why Roman's fight record against the Huntsmen is hit and miss.

Therefore, it is possible that Roman may have a tech-based semblance that wasn't developed.

Port to Ozpin's inner circle: Everyone! One of us is having relations with General Ironwood!

Qrow: You mean 'Daddy'?

Port: Exactly ...

RWBY Review - Start to Finish -

RWBY VOL 1; CHAPTER 2 -

We ended on the line ‘Better shows were canceled for far less unforgivable sins on our last episode.’

There is a second part to this, which goes;

‘But a show has at least one season before something (that) drastic happens.’

I should have qualified that last statement because;

I know, I should have qualified my statement.

Moving on.

Chapter 2: The Shining Beacon -

Picking up from the airship ride upon which Chapter 1 ended, Chapter 2 begins with Ruby Rose taking her first steps onto Beacon Academy and fangirling about the weapons borne by the other students accompanying Ruby to Beacon Academy.

After being abandoned by her sister, Yang, whom we met on the airship. Ruby then meets three characters; Weiss, Blake, and Jaune Arc.

Bonding with Jaune Arc, Ruby makes her way into Beacon proper where the first thing we see of the school is an auditorium. Ozpin gives a speech, and Glynda tells everyone to spend the night in the Great Hall and prepare for Initiation.

During the ‘Slumber Party’ Ruby catches up with Blake, where Ruby then reveals that she loves books. Just like the mysterious, raven-haired beauty Ruby and Yang are attempting to befriend. Despite committing the cardinal sin of interrupting someone while they are reading, Blake seems to appreciate Ruby’s attempts at friendship but decides to call it a night when Weiss appears.

Building upon Chapter 1 -

In the vein of being creative, reviews from this point on will always build upon the last review of the previous chapter. A narrative is not cogent on individual scenes but on how individual scenes build upon each other, and therefore any review of RWBY should be taken in the context of what previous episodes show.

This is especially true since RWBY isn’t a ‘Monster-of-week’ story but a continuous story about Ruby Rose and her adventures.

Chapter 2 chooses to expand on the Huntsman storyline by focusing on Ruby’s entrance into Beacon after she was given a chance to be at Beacon by Ozpin. We learn more about Ozpin and his place at Beacon, we get a clearer picture of what Dust is capable of, and the Faunus issue takes a backseat to Ruby’s character development and relationship building with her schoolmates at Beacon.

However, Ruby Rose’s development is rather inconsistent. Ruby portrays multiple, contradictory character traits which cause Ruby to feel like a blank slate. Adapting herself to reflect the traits of better-developed characters instead of being a character herself.

The dialogue and exposition throughout the episode also make it feel like I’m being reintroduced to plot elements discussed in the first episode, making the narrative so far feel tedious.

In fact, it may be better if Chapter 1 was a prologue or a trailer, while Chapter 2 becomes Chapter 1. This is because most of the plot elements introduced in Chapter 1 were better introduced with a more cohesive narrative in Chapter 2.

What I (genuinely) liked -

Dust -

The scene where Ruby Rose knocks over Weiss’s Dust Cases was my favorite introduction to Dust. The scene was simple and established what we needed to know about Dust for now; It’s volatile, powerful, and produces elemental effects when it explodes.

The introduction also serves multiple goals; establishing Ruby’s clumsiness, Weiss’s schtick as having more than make-up powder in her suitcases, and the relationship between Ruby and Weiss. Ruby’s impetuous energy, and Weiss’s cautious uptightness in regards to her personal items and space.

It is also interesting to see a weapon being introduced in a way that does not involve fighting.

Jaune Arc -

At this stage in the story, Jaune is my favorite character. His simple design is elegant, his weaponry is a breath of fresh air compared to Ruby’s over-designed Crescent Rose, and Jaune feels like the kind of guy you could go out for a beer with. Which is something that writers tend to overlook when it comes to character design. Would your character be someone the reader would go out for a drink with?

Ozpin’s Speech -

Ozpin’s speech raises a question that sets up one of RWBY’s … themes. In the opening narration, Ozpin brings up ‘a Simple Soul’ as the key to victory. Though we don’t really know what is a ‘simple soul,’ it can be assumed that the story of Ruby Rose will tell us as it unfolds. So that’s fair.

In this episode’s speech, Ozpin brings up the question of ‘purpose’. The Huntsmen are at Beacon to get knowledge, but they fail to ask themselves ‘why’ they want this knowledge. Why do you want to be a Huntsman? Implying a question that requires a good answer if one wants to succeed at being a Huntsman.

The purpose is something that most modern stories tend not to explore. Why does a character want to do something? Protagonists and Heroes tend not to have this well established. The Hero fights the Villain because that’s what Heroes do, but why does a Hero want to specifically fight this Villain? How would fighting the Villain help the Hero achieve his goals? Villains tend to have this better explained, which may be why audiences identify with the Villains more.

But in RWBY’s case, this question is not answered yet. But it is a question that the show intends to address, and I think it is a pertinent question.

Another pertinent question is how I’m going to piss off RWBY fans this time.

Problems with the Chapter 2 -

Like Harry Potter, to an extent, RWBY’s main problem is Ruby. A special girl is marked out for a special destiny, and we have to know how special she is at the expense of more interesting characters like Jaune.

One example of this is when Ruby meets Blake and they have a discussion about books.

The conversation is skewed to explore more of Ruby instead of Blake by taking something that is uniquely Blake’s, her love of books, and having Ruby explain Blake’s hobby to her face. We learn about Ruby’s preferred genres, we learn what books mean to Ruby, and how they motivate her to be a Huntress. Forgetting that earlier on, Ruby’s thing was weapons.

Ruby’s thing for weapons was established at the beginning of the episode with a sequence explaining how weapons are an extension of the Huntsman and are thus cool. This in and of itself contradicts Ruby’s first interview in Chapter 1 where she states that being a Huntsman is cool because they are romantic and cool. At the same time referring to weapons a grand total of zero times.

One could argue that this love of weapons and romantic stories about heroes are linked to Ruby’s love of Huntsmen in general. Ruby does state that;

“As a girl, I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books... Someone who fought for what was right, and protected people who couldn't protect themselves …”

Which could work, and I like that. So what do weapons have to do with stories? It is a jarring personality thing that takes away from the unique trait of other characters and serves to make Ruby a fence-sitter. A character tries to be like every other character, and in the process loses her character.

Funnily enough, this is why Jaune is a more interesting character than Ruby. He is his own character. A boy trying to live up to his family legacy by becoming a Huntsman, because that is how he would make his mark in a bloodline containing warriors and heroes.

We don’t have Ruby Rose telling Jaune how SHE is part of a family line of ancient warriors, and thus showing how special she is. Jaune is allowed to keep what makes him unique, and he thus maintains the quality that makes him an interesting character at this point of the narrative.

Conclusion -

I like Chapter 2. It interestingly introduces several interesting concepts and is a good start to the narrative of RWBY.

However, Ruby Rose takes too much screen time, and the Chapter would have been better suited to being ‘Chapter 1’ instead.

A Puritan Wizard at Hogwarts

Slytherins would probably take to Catholicism very easily.

Fancy Robes.

Rich Ceremonies.

Elaborate Rituals.

Inquisitions into purity of beliefs.

Every Sunday mass is held in the Slytherin Common Room.

Salem would very likely be redeemed. She can't be destroyed unless she willingly allows herself to be. "Learns the value of life and death," so to speak. The only way Salem learns that is if Ruby friendships Salem and talks to her.

A Thought: So. The Lamp only has three questions per "era" and his just used the last one? What is to say the next "era" isn't starting right next volume? So for all we know, Salem has both the Staff which can create pretty much anything, and the Lamp which can answer almost any question, How, exactly is anyone supposed to win against her again?

Anon, that is an excellent question and how bad things are depend on how the "era's" work as far as the lamp is concerned. (No matter what they're screwed since Salem is immortal and can just wait out the lamps question but depending it just gives RWBY more time). Unfortunately, CRWBY doesn't tell us how the question countdown works

Option 1: Each question has their own 100 year countdown. This is the version my discord group thought was the most likely for how it worked but again we don't have anything to really prove or disprove any particular theory so it's a lot of just what you think works best. This idea suggest that each time you use a question you have to wait 100 years to get that. So for example, you use question number 1, then 25 years later you use another question. Question 1 still has 75 years to use again and question 2 has the full 100 years left. With how things are currently set up, I can kind of agree with my group on why this is the most likely version of how it works. In this scenario you wouldn't want to ever have three questions just sitting around because you would want to always have the "countdown" so to speak going for at least one question so you are not accidentally wasting a question potential by having all three questions sitting in the lamp for 100 years effectively wasting the countdown. This version to me has to lowest stakes so to speak because the potential of wasting a question is lowest.

Option 2: All questions reset at the beginning of the era regardless of if all questions where used. This is one that I really like personally but again we don't know for sure. To better explain this one, let's say the year is 100 (just roll with it I am using simple numbers to make it easy. You have three questions, say you use 2 of the three questions by year 199. Before you can use the third question, the year is 200, the moment the year turns to 200, you are back to having three questions again. I like this version because it has a little complexity to it all in juggling saving the questions vs losing them forever. This version has much higher stakes because if the holder of the lamp doesn't pay attention, they could let the century pass without using a single question and losing all three questions forever.

Option 3: This is by far my least favorite but this option is the idea that the countdown for all three wishes don't start until all three questions are used. To put it another way. Say you use questions one and two and wait to use question 3 until about 5 years later. Since the third question has now been used, all three questions have 100 years until they can be used again. This one for me is the least like and would be the most frustrating because their wouldn't be any reason to not use all three wishes as quickly as possible because waiting a long time between wishes means a long time between using the next three wishes. once the last wish is used.

Of the three, option one is most logical, option 2 (which seems to be the one you're implying?) is to me the most fun, option 3 is just kind of terrible. Despite my personal opinions all three options are viable and none of been proven technically to be more correct then the others so it wouldn't be retconning to pick one over another. What I am waiting for and will lose my literal shit if CRWBY does is if they pick one of the options, establish that their are no questions left for sometime but THEN Jinn decides because she likes Ruby so much she will give her a question to help her stop Salem because Ruby is just so damn special and important OR lie to Salem and say their are no questions left when their is because Salem is just so terrible and horrible and she won't help her.

Basically as of right now, the universe has to bend over backwards to ensure Salem doesn't win and it will because that's what the universe does for her rather then let her work and fight for what she wants.

Felt like Ironwood trained Watts at some point in time.

Watts uses his pistol the same way James does in melee.

Watts could time James's movements to lure him into traps.

Watts knew James would be counting his shots. Counting bullets may be something James taught Watts.

Which begs the question; Does James teach everyone in Atlas who uses pistols? Specifically revolvers?