User blog comment:MiniDaggers/RWBY Volume 4 Commentary Summary/@comment-25936766-20170623001241/@comment-25936766-20170623042220

"Let's glue some gears on it and call it steampunk!"....That is saddening, Chish.

......That said, however, have we actually seen actual Steampunk aesthetics in Mistral? They got Airships but they didn't strike me as Steampunk per se, simply anachronistic.

I didn't get a good-enough look at the train to judge (though I don't think it is....Steampunk is usually more yellowish; Silver is more iconic in other genres), and Oscar's farm wasn't Steampunk last time I checked (though in it's case it's justified).

And none of the villages in the "Mistral region" had a real Steampunk vibe either.

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....Though it's possible that, given RWBY has a good deal of Fantasy (Dust, Aura, Semblance, Grimm, Maidens, SEWs.....), the lack of real Steampunk might be because, whether they realized it or not, it's not Steampunk.........It's Gaslight.

It's practically like Steampunk when it comes to fashion and aesthetics, with great Victorian influence and all. But unlike Steampunk, which focuses more on the technological advancements via retaining use of Steam-powered tech, Gaslight focuses on the supernatural instead, sometimes with magic and everything.

Basically, Gaslight is to Steampunk what Star Wars is to Sci-fy: Same aesthetic, but it's Fantasy. It's similar to Urban Fantasy. Gaslight also often has elements of Gothic Horror. And of course, Gaslight that is closer to Steampunk often has a certain good deal of Magitek.

.....................Which means it's still not Steampunk.