RWBY



"Red like roses fills my dreams and brings me to the place you rest White is cold and always yearning, burdened by the royal test Black the beast descends from shadows Yellow beauty burns gold"

In the world of Remnant, humanity clings to civilization in the face of the creatures of Grimm, a veritable army of monsters and supernatural forces. Only the power of a substance known simply as "Dust" allowed humanity to win the battle for its survival against the Grimm, and even now its creatures are only barely held at bay.

Responsible for defending human civilization from the forces of darkness are the Huntsmen and Huntresses, highly skilled individuals with unique weapons and a mastery of the use of Dust. These guardians are trained in special institutions, such as Beacon Academy in the nation of Vale.

RWBY follows the story of four extraordinary girls and their friends as they make their way through their training at Beacon, and come face-to-face with not only the creatures of Grimm, but all-too-human threats to the survival of humanity in this dangerous world.

An innovative Web Animation series by Monty Oum of Rooster Teeth, it was heralded months in advance by a series of carefully doled-out trailers ("Red", "White", "Black" and "Yellow"), which built up a remarkable level of excitement and speculation before its premiere in July 2013.

As of this writing it is currently beginning the second of a projected ten seasons.

A dedicated wiki exists for the show, containing a surprisingly vast amount of detail gathered from a wide variety of sources.

(List is compiled as episodes appear, and is subject to constant update/revision.)

"Weiss: Are you telling me that this mangy... (the camera switches between Zwei and Weiss) drooling... mutt is gonna wiv wif us foweva? Oh yes he is, oh yes he is! Oh, isn't he adorable!"
 * Absurdly Sharp Blade: Ruby's scythe, which can effortlessly slice were beowolves in half, chop down old-growth trees, and is capable of decapitating giant monsters.
 * Academic Athlete: Pyrrha Nikos.
 * Action Girl: Pretty much every female character.
 * Alien Sky: Remnant is definitely not Earth, not with a shattered moon in the sky.
 * All There in the Manual: Starting in August 2014, Roosterteeth began providing occasional video "history lessons" about the world of Remnant on some of the "off weeks" between episodes.
 * Alternate Universe: No argument. A broken moon in the sky, unfamiliar continents, active magic with technology, humanity beseiged by hordes of monsters...
 * American Accents: In addition to the "default" accent imposed by being an American production, the two cops investigating the Dust shop robbery in V1E15 have distinct Joisey/Bronx accents.
 * Ancestral Weapon: Jaune's sword and shield, which belonged to his great-grandfather, a great hero.
 * Animal Jingoism:
 * Artsy Moon: If you consider being broken into a few dozen pieces "artsy".
 * Ascended Fangirl: Ruby, who geeks out over huntsmen and huntresses, manages to get into Beacon Academy years before she normally would be old enough, on the basis of both skill and overwhelming enthusiasm.
 * Applied Phlebotinum: Dust, which seems to be a fuel for magic or magic-like effects.  Plus, whatever it is that makes all the weapons do what they do.
 * Art Shift: The "news broadcast" seen at the end of V1E1 is, or is made to look like, traditional animation instead of CGI.
 * Also, the design of the beowolves changed between the release of the "Red" trailer and the series premiere in July 2013.
 * Yang's Flash Back in V2E6 is presented in a completely different art style from anything we've seen before in the series.
 * Badass Adorable: Ruby Rose.
 * Also Nora Valkyrie and Velvet Scarlatina (the latter mainly by Word of God as of November 2013).
 * Battle Aura: Demonstrated by Yang in her trailer as part of her fire powers, but also seems to be a visible manifestation of "aura" or a "semblance" in use.
 * Beast Folk: The Faunus, who are treated as second-class citizens.
 * Bellisario's Maxim: Invoked (along with the Rule of Funny) in the director's commentary track for volume 1 when discussing how Weiss and Ruby ended up clinging to the flying Nevermore.
 * Berserk Button: Never, ever, touch Yang's hair.
 * Beware the Silly Ones: Nora.  If only because she has a Grenade Launcher.
 * Big Bad: As of Volume 2 this appears to be Cinder Fall, but it's likely that there's someone higher up giving her orders.
 * Big Ball of Violence: Ruby and Yang, the first night at Beacon.  Complete with the sound of That Poor Cat.
 * Big Eater: Ruby, at least as far as cookies are concerned.  And Nora when it comes to sweets.
 * Bizarre and Improbable Ballistics: Blake's weapons seem to demonstrate this in the "Black" trailer.
 * The Blade Always Lands Pointy End In: .  Then again, her weapons are clearly designed to do this.
 * Blah Blah Blah: Professor Port's first lecture turns into this as the camera focuses on Weiss's growing irritation with Ruby's behavior in class.  We get it again early in V2E3.
 * Blackmail: Cardin uses  secret to basically turn him into a lackey and dogsbody.
 * Bland-Name Product: During the food fight in V2E1, vending machines for "Dr. Piper" soda (as well as "People Like Grapes") can be seen at the base of the "table mountain".
 * Zwei's dog food is "Gentleman's Best Friend" brand.
 * Blank White Eyes: Numerous times in the series.
 * Bloodless Carnage: The closest thing we see to spraying blood are showers of rose petals.
 * Book Ends: The Jaune arc late in Volume 1 begins and ends with scenes on a roof.
 * Butt Monkey: Jaune in V1.  Lampshaded when he complains to Pyrrha that he wants to be more than just the "loveable idiot stuck in a tree while his friends are fighting for their lives."
 * By the Lights of Their Eyes: Several times, most notably during the "initiation" sequence early in V1.
 * Call a Rabbit a Smeerp: A mix of averted and expressed.  The obvious werewolves Ruby fights in the "Red" trailer are called beowolves, but many of the other creatures of the Grimm are original and have original names.
 * Casanova Wannabe: Jaune acts like this around Weiss and pretty much only Weiss.
 * Catch Phrase: It's too early to be completely sure, but Penny appears to have one in, "I'm combat-ready!"  Strongly supported by its appearance on the Penny T-shirt available in Rooster Teeth's online shop.
 * Catgirl:.
 * Cheaters Never Prosper: Appears to be subverted with.
 * Chekhov's Gun: "Landing strategies" and the rocket-propelled lockers, by Word of God on the director's commentary track for Volume 1.
 * Chest Insignia: All of the girls in Team RWBY as well as a few other characters have distinctive symbols that are worn or appear on their equipment.
 * Ruby's rose symbol can be seen on her headphones in the first episode, and hangs on her belt near her right hip.
 * Weiss' snowflake is on the back of her jacket.
 * Blake's flower-like whatever-it-is can be seen at the top of one of her thigh-high stockings.
 * Yang wears her burning-heart insignia, partly hidden, on one breast. It also appears on her motorcycle helmet.
 * Nora uses a heart, which appears on her grenades and launcher and as the cutout of her decolletage. She also seems to have a stylized "hammer-in-a-circle" logo -- prominent during her "I'm queen of the castle" song-and-dance during the initiation arc and also appearing behind her silhouette during the closing credits of an episode late in Volume 1.
 * Chirping Crickets: Tumbleweed variation only, during the first encounter with Penny.  Twice.  Blowing in two different directions.
 * Circling Birdies: When Ruby is momentarily stunned in V1E8, alternating stars and cartoon wolves orbit her head.
 * In the "Yellow" trailer, a stunned Junior momentarily is circled by a ring of hearts.
 * Color-Coded Elements: Definitely present, although not clearly universal, and clearly linked to the Color Motifs.
 * Color Motif: The production team explicitly designed the look of everything in the series around a specific system of colors/meanings.
 * Colourful Theme Naming: As noted under Theme Naming.  Revealed in V2E8 to be a deliberate political choice among the peoples of the world in defiance of some tyrannical enemy.
 * Comic Book: In V2E2, Jaune is seen reading one entitled "XRay Ray".
 * Competence Zone: Realistically averted.  The main characters are supposed to be exceptional individuals, going to a school teaching them to be even more exceptional -- and their teachers are definitely more competent than they are, more than capable of teaching them things they need to know.  Other adults vary, just as they would in the real world.
 * Cool Big Sis: Yang, to Ruby.
 * Crash Into Hello: How Weiss met Ruby.  And how Weiss met Penny.
 * The Volume 1 director's commentary hinted that this might be a Running Gag for Weiss.
 * Cuteness Proximity: Weiss upon meeting Zwei:
 * Cuteness Proximity: Weiss upon meeting Zwei:

"[ Ruby hugs Weiss] Weiss: Shut up! Don't touch me! [ hugs back]"
 * Defrosting Ice Queen: Weiss, over the course of Volume 1 and into Volume 2:

- Volume 2, Episode 2

"Weiss: No. She seems much more coordinated."
 * Did Not Do the Research: Monty Oum has already gotten some Internet Backdraft on names and their pronunciations:  "Weiss Schnee", for instance, is more correctly pronounced something like "Vice Shnay", and "Yang" should sound like "Yong".  Oum has offered a Hand Wave for this, pointing out that Remnant is not Earth and their similarity to terms in Earthly languages is a coincidence.
 * Also, Casey Williams for mispronouncing "Super-Saiyin" as "Super-Sayin'" in "I Burn".
 * Diegetic Switch: Subverted.  In the opening scenes of the very first episode, Ruby's clearly listening to "This Will Be The Day" until she decides to interrupt the robbery of the Dust shop.  After she follows one of the Mooks through the shop window, the music switches from a tinny, "heard over headphones" version to a high-quality version -- until we hear the "click" of Ruby turning off her player and the music stops.
 * Dragged by the Collar: At the start of their initiation, Weiss turns around and drags Ruby off by the collar of her cape when she realizes her only other possible teammate is Jaune.
 * Drink Order: An important part of early character design according to Word of God.  When they figured out that Blake drank tea and Weiss drank coffee, Monty Oum and company felt they were starting to get somewhere.
 * Ruby, by the way, drinks coffee, black, with five sugars.
 * Drop the Hammer: Nora's weapon, which is also a Grenade Launcher.  With hearts on it.
 * Epic Flail: Sun's pistol-chucks.
 * Everything's Worse With Rapier Wasps
 * Evil Laugh: Weiss emits one as part of a rant once she thinks she's figured out how to win the tabletop game the team is playing in V2E2.
 * Torchwick gives one after shooting Ruby in V1E16.
 * Eye Cam: We first see Nora through Ren's eyes as he wakes up on the morning of the initiation.
 * Exposition Party: The Remnant-themed, Risk-like Board Game played by Team RWBY in V2E2 seems like a subtle way to establish some of the geopolitics of the world.
 * Extraordinarily Empowered Girl: Most if not all of the female cast.
 * Face Fault: Not long after team RWBY meets Penny for the first time.
 * Faceless Masses: In Volume 1, just about anyone who's not involved in the action in some way is simply a black silhouette.  However, starting in Volume 2 the "shadow people" (as the Rooster Teeth staff called them) were gone, replaced with fully-rendered individuals.
 * Fairy Tale Motifs: Everywhere you look.
 * Fantastic Racism: Towards the Faunus.
 * Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Mostly implied.  Vale seems to be more or less Remnant's "America", complete with Melting Pot reputation.  The names of Pyrrha Nikos and Neptune Vasilios (and the city/state Atlas) suggest a pseudo-Greek culture exists or existed elsewhere.  Jaune's name suggests a similar Gallic culture; likewise, Weiss's hints at a Germanic area.  How many of these still exist is hard to say, but the map seen during the Opening Narration of V1E1 indicates humanity is now surviving in just a half dozen or so heavily-defended enclaves, of which Vale is one; these may well be cultural melting pots with the original homelands completely overrun by the Grimm.
 * Fantasy World Map: Glimpsed in full during the prologue; the vicinity of Vale is seen in more detail on Torchwick's map a couple of times during Volume 1.  Monty Oum allegedly squirted ketchup into a paper napkin, wadded it up, and then unfolded it to determine the basic landmasses of the world.
 * Feather Flechettes: The Nevermore fires its immense feathers in this manner.
 * Fighting with Chucks: Son Wukong.
 * Finishing Move: Ruby, in the Food Fight in V2E1.
 * First Boy Wins: It's a bit premature given the planned scope of RWBY, but those fans who don't see Jaune and Pyrrha pairing up argue for Jaune and Ruby partly because of this trope.
 * Flipping the Table: Nora flips over a table full of watermelons during the Food Fight in V2E1.
 * Food Fight: An absolutely epic example in V2E1.
 * Force Field: As Jaune and Pyrrha make clear, one of the effects that Aura can provide.
 * Foreshadowing: Just what is the "big operation in the southeast" to which Torchwick refers during the White Fang meeting in V2E3?
 * Gainaxing: During their commentary track for the Blu-Ray release, the four female stars allege that both Yang and Pyrrha are deliberately animated at times with the infamous "Gainax bounce".
 * Genki Girl: Ruby.
 * Nora, even more so -- Ruby can at least stand still for extended periods of time. Nora, however... On the director's commentary for Volume 1, it's stated that the half-joking idea behind Nora and Lie Ren is that they share a single pool of energy between them, and Nora hogs it all.
 * Good Scars, Evil Scars: Weiss's surprisingly subtle facial scar -- acquired during the events of the "White" trailer -- is definitely a "good scar".
 * Gravity Is a Harsh Mistress: When Jaune leaps out to catch a falling Weiss, it becomes a classic Looney Tunes "Oh Crap" pause-and-plunge moment.
 * Great White Hunter: Professor Peter Port.
 * Grenade Launcher: Nora's weapon is one of these, when it isn't a warhammer.  With hearts on it.
 * Groin Attack: As part of his bullying, Cardin gets one in on Jaune.
 * Guns Do Not Work That Way: Certainly not as part of transforming gadgets which are melee weapons half the time.
 * Averted in the "Yellow" trailer, by Junior: using it as a bludgeon is a great way to break your rocket launcher.
 * Hair of Gold: Yang.
 * Hammerspace: Where Ren keeps his gunblades, although it does appear the portals are in his sleeves.
 * And where Cardin kept that box of rapier wasps.
 * And the mailing tube in which Zwei, a small heap of canned dog food and a can opener were sent to Yang and Ruby.
 * Hand Blast: 's Wave Motion Gun, with extra bonus swords.
 * Hand Wave: Monty Oum's explanation why some names are mispronounced compared to their source languages.
 * Happy Dance: Nora can be seen doing one after retrieving the artifacts but before the battle with the Deathstalker and the Nevermore during the initiation arc.
 * Heart Symbol: Nora, all over.  Literally -- from her weapon to the cutout on her decolletage.
 * High School Dance: In V2E6-7.
 * Human Hummingbird: Weiss does this at least once, early in Volume 1.
 * Humongous Mecha: The "Paladin" battlesuit presented in V2E3, several of which were stolen by Torchwick.
 * I Call Her "Vera": Ruby with Crescent Rose (and to a lesser degree weapons in general).
 * Idiot Hair: Penny.
 * Image Song: "Mirror, Mirror" from the "White" trailer and "From Shadow" from the "Black" trailer are very much this for Weiss and Blake respectively.  A snippet of Yang's song "I Burn" finishes up the medley which provides the soundtrack for the "Yellow" trailer, but can be found in its entirety in the Volume One soundtrack.  The odd man out is the "Red" trailer; its music is more an introduction to the entire series than an image song for Ruby; if any song can be said to be her image song, it is probably "Red Like Roses, Part II", which is played during the climax of the fight with the Nevermore, and is also available as part of the Volume One soundtrack.
 * Image Song Cameo: When Ruby goes all Finishing Move on the other participants in the Food Fight in V2E1, music from her fight with the Beowolves in the "Red" trailer plays.
 * Imagine Spot: Weiss plotting in V1E2 how she and Pyrrha will be an unstoppable team together.
 * Important Hair Accessory Blake's bow.
 * Incompletely Trained: Jaune.
 * Ruby to a lesser degree -- she's very competent solo, but initially has no idea how to work in a team.
 * Incredibly Lame Pun: Yang lets loose with one in V2E1 and gets ignored; Weiss tries her hand at the end of V2E4 and gets called on it.
 * Instant Runes: Weiss's snowflake-like "glyphs".
 * Ironic Echo: Penny's rapid-fire recitation of all the fun things she and Ruby can do together since they are now friends echoes word-for-word Weiss's sarcastic inventory of "girl things" to (not) do with Ruby when they met for the second time at the Beacon opening ceremonies.
 * Ruby picks up on some of this, asking Weiss moments afterwards, "Is this what I was like when we met?"

"Penny: It sure is windy today."
 * Ki Attacks: One way that Aura can manifest.
 * Kill It with Fire: Yang.
 * Kill It with Ice: Weiss incorporates this in her style.
 * Large Ham: Professor Peter Port.
 * Lampshade Hanging: The tumbleweeds blowing by.

"Ruby: (addressing the rest of Team RWBY) Sisters! Friends!  Weiss! Weiss:  Hey!"
 * Legacy Hero: What Jaune feels he has to be.
 * Lennon Specs: Professor Ozpin and Dr. Oobleck.
 * Les Yay: V2E6 suggests that something is going on between Yang and Blake, although if there is, they're not being exclusive about it.
 * Like Brother and Sister: Although many viewers apparently see Jaune and Pyrrha shaping up into an Official Couple, the voice actresses on their commentary track for Volume 1 strongly hint that the two are actually forming a very deep and platonic friendship.  (Although this seems to be contradicted by their interactions so far in early Volume 2.)
 * Limited Wardrobe: The most we've seen anyone own is three outfits:  battledress, school uniform, and sleepwear.
 * As of V2E3, each of the girls in team RWBY has revealed one additional outfit which is either an alternate battledress or just casualwear that happens to hold up well in battle.
 * Furthermore, as of the formal dance in V2E6-7, everyone clearly has some fancy/formal clothes for such occasions; this trope may end up thoroughly averted as time goes on.
 * Little Bit Beastly: Basically what defines faunus.  Different varieties have different "distinguishing features" -- small horns, tiny antlers, tails, and more traditionally pointed ears are common alternatives to the standard "animal ears on top of head" look.
 * Little Miss Badass: Just about every girl in the cast who isn't a Badass Adorable.
 * Little Red Fighting Hood: Ruby, oh so much.
 * Machinima
 * Magical Security Cam: Several instances of footage reused as cam views.  Possibly justified by the (perhaps literal) magical computers in use.
 * The Man Behind the Man:
 * Mana: Called "Aura", and a known, measurable quality possessed by Huntsmen and Huntresses.
 * Mana Meter: Actually present In-Universe -- every student at Beacon can check their aura level with their handheld computer/phone/PDA, and are exhorted to do so when fighting, so they know when to shift to defensive tactics if it gets too low. The aura display appears as a classic colored bar, starting out green, growing shorter as aura is used, and turning red when too much aura has been expended.
 * Meaningful Echo: A non-verbal example:  In the volume one opening credits, Pyrrha is seen putting a reassuring hand on an uncertain Jaune's shoulder.  In the volume two credits, the gesture is reversed.
 * Meaningful Name: It appears that most of the cast has a name that makes some kind of reference to fairy tales or fantasy/SF literature.  (While at the same time following the Color Motif.)
 * Miss Exposition: Pyrrha, regarding Aura and Semblances.
 * Mix-and-Match Weapon/Impossibly Cool Weapon: Everybody's got one!  Most combine a firearm of some sort with a melee weapon, and change shape between functions.
 * Son Wukong goes one better: his weapon is a staff that splits into a pair of nunchaku, which themselves are made out of pairs of pistols (which look like flintlocks, but are multi-shot).
 * Blake's Gambol Shroud can be a used as one or two blades for melee, as a kusarigama/sickle-and-chain, and as a gunblade.
 * Pyrrha's spear/rifle and chakram-shield.
 * Jaune seems to avert this; his sword doesn't appear to turn into anything else, even if it is an Ancestral Weapon. His shield, though, folds for convenient storage, and to become his sword's scabbard.
 * Mooks: Torchwick has a small crew of them, and he's not impressed by their quality.
 * Junior's minions in the "Yellow" trailer seem to be the same group -- they have the same black-suit-white-face-and-little-red-sunglasses look. Given that Torchwick is very briefly seen concluding some kind of deal with Junior in the club just before Yang walks up to the bar, it's possible that he acquired his goons from Junior.
 * Confirmed in V2E4; Junior tells Yang that he loaned a group of his men to Torchwick, and that they never came back.
 * Torchwick later appears to be in charge of a squad of.
 * Motion Capture: Confirmed to have been used for many scenes. However, it's often painfully obvious when it wasn't.
 * Motionless Chin: Averted. In close-ups, chin movements are obvious and clearly synchronized to the Mouth Flaps.
 * Motor Mouth: Ruby, when she gets excited.
 * My Friends and Zoidberg: From V2E1:

"Weiss: It's not a dress! It's a combat skirt! Ruby: Yeah! [hand slap]"
 * My Hero!: Uttered by Weiss in a totally bored and unimpressed manner when Jaune flubs an attempt to flashily rescue her from a fall.
 * Named Weapons: Most if not all of the multiform weapons have names:
 * Ruby named her scythe Crescent Rose.
 * Weiss' sword is Myrtenaster.
 * Blake's gunblade/kusarigama is called Gambol Shroud.
 * Yang's "Dual Ranged Shot Gauntlets" are called Ember Celica.
 * Possibly averted by Jaune's sword, which seems to have no name.
 * "No. Just... No" Reaction: Blake at the end of V2E4 when Weiss tries her hand at a Bond One-Liner after Torchwick and Neo (No, not that one) escape.
 * No Sense of Personal Space: Penny.
 * Nobody Touches the Hair: Yang -- it's her Berserk Button, in fact.
 * Non Sequitur: Nora blurting "Pancake!" upon being awakened, V2E2.
 * Not Allowed to Grow Up: Averted, according to Word of God.  The intent is that characters will age in real time with the viewers; the example given by Monty Oum is that after ten years of production, 15-year-old Ruby will be 25.
 * Not a Morning Person: Lie Ren.  For reasons explained in Genki Girl, above.
 * Obligatory Joke: The girls on Team RWBY seem to be consciously choosing to make this a habit.
 * Ocular Gushers: Cascading sheets variant, from both Weiss and Ruby when Yang obliterates them in their Board Game in V2E2.
 * Off-Model: Much of the animation -- at least some of it done by Motion Capture -- is beautifully fluid and realistic. Other moments... not so much.
 * There's one moment in V1E16 where Blake and Son are speaking on the street. The shot is looking at Son more or less over Blake's shoulder and her body is partially obscuring his -- but when he makes a particularly expressive gesture his hand and arm are suddenly, Escher-like, closer to the "camera" than she is.
 * Off With Its Head: Ruby decapitates a fair number of the beowolves attacking her in the "Red" trailer.
 * Ruby killing the Nevermore during the Emerald Forest initiation in Volume 1.
 * Jaune killing the ursa in V1E14.
 * Opaque Lenses: Dr. Oobleck.
 * Ozpin's lenses may be opaque, too, but since they never seem to obscure his eyes they probably don't count.
 * Personality Powers: The Beacon students all appear to have gifts or talents, and most of the ones we've seen seem to be reflective of their owners' personalities:  Ruby's speed, Yang's fire, and Pyrrha's magnetism, for example.
 * Petal Power: Any time Ruby's in action.
 * Pie in the Face: Weiss takes a classic cream pie right in the kisser at the start of the Food Fight in V2E1.
 * Pinocchio Nose:  to hiccup when she lies.
 * Promotion to Parent: Yang seems at times quite maternal in regards to Ruby.
 * Real Women Don't Wear Dresses: Utterly averted by Ruby and Weiss, even if they get picky about terminology:

"1. Characters in RWBY must be:
 * Reckless Gun Usage: The Vale police investigating the dust shop robbery. (Lampshaded by Torchwick's map which notes there are "dumb cops" in that part of Vale.)
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning: When Yang gets angry or frustrated, her eyes change from silver to red.  And she bursts into flame.
 * Reptiles Are Abhorrent: The King Taijitu, a monstrous two-headed duotone snake fought by Lie Ren in the Emerald Forest.
 * Required Secondary Powers: Averted with
 * Retcon: In the earliest materials, the planet on which the story is set was called "Vytal", but during the course of production the creative team renamed it to "Remnant".  "Vytal" remains as the name of the festival that is impending at the end of Volume 1.
 * Rich Bitch: Weiss gives this impression during her first few screen appearances, and bits of it keep surfacing throughout volume one, but she's considerably more complex than this basic character type.
 * Robot Girl:.
 * Rule of Cool: Appears to be a law of nature.
 * Rule of Funny: Yang's Berserk Button:  she's a cool, laid-back girl -- unless you muss her hair.
 * Running Gag:
 * Volume 1:
 * Jaune getting stuck in trees.
 * Weiss falling over when she runs into someone she wasn't expecting to be in her way.
 * Serkis Folk: Motion capture of the voice performers is used for much of the animation; pretty much anything that doesn't look odd or awkward is motion capture.
 * Set Swords to Stun: Despite being all about flying swords, none of 's attacks actually draw blood, and her Wave Motion Gun only damages property, not people.
 * Shields Are Useless: Averted by Jaune, whose shield seems pretty awesome even if he doesn't quite realize it.
 * Also averted by Pyrrha, whose shield is rather handy itself.
 * Shout-Out: Built on them, and many are rolled into Meaningful Names.  Where can we start?
 * The fairy tale references in and around the girls of Team RWBY: Ruby/Little Red Riding Hood, Weiss/Snow White, Blake/Beauty and The Beast, and Yang/Goldilocks and The Three Bears.
 * It's been suggested that Blake may also reference Puss in Boots. She also has a candelabra that looks like Lumiere during their first night at Beacon.
 * Yang allegedly also references an obscure Grimm fairy tale, "The Golden Bird".
 * The Wizard of Oz references in Professor Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch.
 * Jaune Arc and his tormentor Cardin Winchester.
 * Son Wukong
 * Roman Torchwick, whose name has echoes of "roman candle" (which is what his gun-cane looks like in action), and who looks like he just stepped out of A Clockwork Orange.
 * The White Fang.
 * might be a reference to both Pinocchio and Blaz Blue, and possibly to Inspector Gadget.
 * Dr. Bartholomew Oobleck obviously references Dr. Seuss' Bartholomew and the Oobleck.
 * Professor Peter Port is explicitly described in the director's commentary track for volume 1 as "Peter from Peter and The Wolf grown up".
 * The Grimm are an obvious play on the Grimm Brothers' fairy tales.
 * Ruby snaps off three historical-political ones within a couple minutes in episode 1 of volume 2: "Four score and seven minutes ago", "I had a dream", and "I am not a crook" (the latter complete with Nixon's trademark "V" gestures).
 * Torchwick's battle on the highway with team RWBY in V2E4 starts off with a chase scene reminiscent of a similar moment from one of the Transformers films.
 * Zwei (German for "two") is almost certainly a shout-out to Ein ("one") form Cowboy Bebop; both of them are Corgis, although of different breeds.
 * Shy Finger-Twiddling: Ruby during the first time she meets Weiss.
 * Single Phlebotinum Limit: Dust; it seems to be the only thing allowing humans to have a civilization at all in the face of the Grimm.
 * Slow-Motion Pass-By: When Blake and Son Wukong first see each other.
 * Snot Bubble: Nora while sleeping in the Beacon library, V2E2.
 * Spent Shells Shower: The "Red" trailer ends this way.
 * Spider Tank: Seen in the "Black" trailer as part of the defenses on the train.
 * Stealth Hi Bye: Penny in her V1 appearances, most notably.  Ruby's speed lets her do basically this if she wants.  Other characters manage this when it's funny.
 * Stealth Pun: The crescents on Jaune's shield?  They're arcs.
 * Stock Sound Effects: Construction sounds -- saws, jackhammers, drills, etc. -- in the few seconds it takes them to turn their beds into (dubious) bunkbeds.
 * Strange Girl: Penny definitely comes across like this, from the first few moments of conversation with Team RWBY in Volume 1 (done entirely while laying on her back in the street) to the odd way she holds her hands at her sides as she walks.
 * Super-Deformed: Ruby in her first moments on the Beacon campus, as well as the images in her "thought bubble" as she races to find a partner in the Emerald Forest.
 * Super Speed: Ruby seems to come close; Professor Oobleck definitely has it.
 * Super Strength:
 * And as revealed in V2E4,.
 * Swiss Army Weapon: Most of the weapons we see in the series. The few exceptions include Jaune's sword (although his shield might count), Ren's pistols (which while combining blades and guns haven't yet shown ability to change shape), and Torchwick's cane-gun.
 * Tabletop Game: In V2E2, the girls of Team RWBY play a Remnant-themed game that seems to be half Magic: The Gathering and half Risk.
 * Teen Genius: Word of God describes Ruby as a prodigy with immense natural talent, who subsequently doesn't have to work very hard to excel as she has.  This is a source of friction between her and Weiss, who puts a great deal of effort into being as good as she is.
 * Theme Naming: All over the place. Particularly Colourful Theme Naming -- allegedly every character has some kind of color reference in their name. A few examples:
 * The girls of Team RWBY: "Ruby Rose" is obvious; "Weiss Schnee"="Snow White"; "Blake" is an old English word for "black"; "Yang Xiao Long" is Chinese for "Little Dragon of the Sun", but includes characters which can mean "yellow" or "gold".
 * "Jaune" is French for "yellow".
 * Velvet Scarlatina.
 * Although it's never actually given on-screen, the newscaster on the broadcast seen at the end of V1E1 is, according to Word of God, named Cyril Leon (i.e., "cerulean"). His co-anchor is billed as "Lisa Lavender".
 * In November 2013, Monty Oum tweeted the explicit naming rules for RWBY characters:
 * A color
 * Something that sounds like a color
 * Something that means a color
 * Something that makes you think of a color"


 * Further, if a character is on a team, the first letter of their name must fit into a 4-letter acronym which itself must follow the same rules.

"Are we born to fight and die? Sacrificed for one huge lie? Are we heroes keeping peace? Are we weapons pointed a the enemy So someone else can claim a victory?"
 * Theme Song Reveal: It's hard to be sure this early, but the volume one theme, "This Will Be The Day", definitely seems to be hinting at something.
 * As does the volume two theme, "Time To Say Goodbye", especially in the bridge which isn't played as part of the opening credits:


 * The songs from the four Trailers also are clearly implying things; as of the first season's halfway point, "From Shadows" (from the "Black" trailer) seems to be the most comprehensible, referring (in retrospect) to Blake's history, as well as that of the Faunus in general.
 * Theme Tune Cameo: In the first scene of the first episode, Ruby's listening to "This Will Be The Day" on her player, before it's been used as the theme tune for the first time.
 * Thick Line Animation: It's not consistent across all the artwork, but in general the show has this kind of look.  It's especially noticeable with things like the Deathstalker and character faces.
 * Throw Down the Bomblet: Although she uses a grenade launcher instead of throwing them, Nora certainly demonstrates the "poor impulse control" aspect of this trope.
 * Throwing Your Shield Always Works: Pyrrha's shield.
 * Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Especially if you're telekinetically controlling a dozen or so...
 * Toilet Humour: Ruby's scribbled drawing of Professor Port calling him "Professor Poop".
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: Definitely in play between Ruby (tomboy) and Weiss (girly girl). Appears also to be part of the dynamic between Yang and Blake, but they seem to swap off on who's who as needed.
 * Too Soon?: Asked by Son Wukong of Blake after making a snarky comment about.
 * Took a Level In Badass:  in V1E14.
 * Trailers: Starting November 5, 2012, Rooster Teeth released four trailers, spaced eight to ten weeks apart, which each featured one of the four main characters. Combining beautiful animation, non-stop action, Foreshadowing and awesome music, they were responsible for a remarkable level of anticipation and speculation before the series' premiere in July 2013.
 * Train Job: The "Black" trailer is about one.
 * Uncanny Valley: Averted.  Despite being made with Poser, whose photorealistic figures live in the Uncanny Valley, RWBY's animation has its detail level dialed back and its abstraction level dialed up to give it a resemblance to traditional animation, and handily escapes the creepiness factor.
 * The Unintelligible: The bald shopkeeper, who only ever makes wordless affirmatory noises.
 * Unorthodox Reload: Yang, in the "Yellow" trailer.
 * Vomit Discretion Shot: Jaune, offscreen at the end of V1E1, and onscreen at a trash can at the start of V1E2.
 * Wacky Girl: Nora.
 * Web Animation
 * Weird Moon: A moon in pieces certainly counts.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: The modern incarnation of the White Fang, but there are hints that they are being manipulated for some sinister purpose.
 * Western Terrorists: The current version of the White Fang is somewhere between Type VII and Type VIII.  It started out as a non-violent Civil Rights Movement for Faunus, but there was a change in leadership about five years before the start of the series, and their methods turned violent.  There are hints that they are being manipulated by someone else for more sinister purposes.
 * What Happened to the Rapier Wasps?: Someone should have gotten stung, but they basically vanished.
 * The Wiki Rule: As noted in the main text.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: The only character in Volume 1 with an "unnatural" hair color is Professor Oobleck, who has green hair.
 * Lie Ren has a magenta stripe through the hair on the left side of his face, but it could simply be dyed.
 * Several characters who make their first appearances early in Volume 2 have "unnatural" hair colors, including Emerald and Neptune Vasilios.
 * Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: What the current version of White Fang thinks of itself, of course.
 * Zettai Ryouiki: Blake's stockings in her battle garb; Yang's stockings in her school uniform.  Both are Rank A.
 * Weiss's "casual wear" revealed in V2E3 has her rocking Rank A stockings and thigh boots.