Yang Xiao Long

Yang Xiao Long (阳小龙 [Simplified]; 陽小龍 [Traditional], literally: Sun Little-Dragon) is one of the main characters and the fifth character introduced in RWBY. Her weapons of choice are the Dual Ranged Shot Gauntlets, Ember Celica.

She made her appearance on June 1st, 2013 at A-Kon in Dallas during the premiere of the "Yellow" Trailer, in which she interrogates Junior Xiong for information, and later fights him and his henchmen at his club.

Appearance
Yang appears as a teenage girl, wearing yellow, brown, orange, and black. She wears a tan vest with gold piping over a yellow, low-cut crop top with a black crest that resembles a burning heart. The vest has puffy cap sleeves with black cuffs. On the sides of the cuffs, there are two small golden buttons.

She wears a brown belt with a buckle, a pouch, and a small banner-like object. The same crest appears on this banner, only golden in color. She wears black short shorts under her belt which, in the back, resembles a pleated skirt. Over the short shorts but under the belt is a white, asymmetrical back skirt.

She wears an orange infinity scarf around her neck, but no other discernible jewelry. She wears brown, knee-high platform boots that look like they are made of leather, with orange socks of different lengths. Her left leg also has a gray bandana-like object wrapped around the top of her boot. She wears fingerless black gloves underneath her weapons, which resemble two yellow mechanized gauntlets with a black design.

Her long blonde hair flows loose and messy, with a few locks sticking out and a small cowlick on top of her head which becomes lighter in color at the tips. She has a pale complexion and lilac eyes. Her hair seems to burst aflame and her eyes turn red the longer she fights, or when she becomes angry.

While on her motorcycle Bumblebee, she wears yellow goggles and a matching helmet that bears her crest in black.

Yang's pajamas are an orange tank top with her flame emblem on the front, and brown boy shorts.

When outdoors, she sometimes wears a pair of yellow-rimmed aviator sunglasses.

Personality
Yang's voice actor, Barbara Dunkelman, has said that when Yang's character was described to her, she was described as "the kind of person who would teach someone how to swim by pushing them in the water." This speaks volumes about how Yang approaches most things in life. She is very straightforward and confident. She is also described as being an energetic and bright young lady.

This can be seen in her trailer, where she approaches Junior and proceeds to interrogate him in his own club by grabbing his groin. Even as Junior's henchmen surround her she is unfazed and as she takes them all down in battle, she is shown to be smiling the whole way through. This straightforward, brute-force approach can also be seen in how she helps Ruby Rose.

Yang cares a lot about her little sister Ruby. Despite leaving her to go spend time with some friends upon arriving at Beacon Academy, Yang pushes Ruby into talking with other people and encourages her when she feels down about not knowing anyone in Beacon Academy. This shows that she has a high amount of faith in her sister. Of course, this doesn't really work out too well with Blake, who initially makes it clear that she has no desire to talk to them.

Yang has also shown to worry a great deal for her sister, such as when Ruby was almost killed by the Death Stalker's attack, but was saved by Weiss Schnee. Yang hugs her sister in joy, glad that she is safe. Yang was also pleased upon knowing that her sister was announced as leader of Team RWBY.

Yang initially disliked Weiss and stuck up for Ruby after Weiss yelled at her again, angrily asking Weiss what her problem is with Ruby and defending her sister, saying that she was only trying to be nice. It is unknown at this stage how fighting alongside Weiss in the Beacon Academy Initiation Test may have affected her opinion of Weiss.

Yang is shown to be unfazed by the opposite gender and has no scruples about sleeping in a room full of both guys and girls. She unabashedly plays the part of the witless beautiful girl to fool Junior and make him lower his guard. After he tries to walk away, she tricks him once again by pretending to offer him a kiss, shortly before punching him and sending him flying across the room.

Yang is also somewhat vain, and is especially protective of her hair. This is shown when she goes into a rage when Junior manages to pull off a few strands in their fight, and again against the Ursi after they sever a small strand of her hair, going so far as to refer to them both as monsters for damaging her hair. Yang also has a humorous side to her, which is far more noticeable than Blake's. Her humorous side is seen twice in episode 9, as she says "Banzai" along with Blake and Ruby. She later laughs at Ruby's drawing of Peter Port.

Further cementing her 'teenage girl' credentials, Yang is a fan of the in-universe boy-band The Achieve Men.

Yang also shows sympathy for the Faunus such as after seeing Velvet Scarlatina being bullied by Team CRDL, stating it must be hard to be a Faunus. Later on in The Stray she questions some of the more hyperbolic statements Weiss makes about the White Fang and, when Blake runs away upon them learning she was a member, Yang shows little concern about it and just wants to find Blake, saying that "either way, she's missing, and we've got to find her."

Abilities & Powers
Yang's fighting style has been shown as much more aggressive than the other members of her team, bearing resemblance to boxing and kickboxing. She is quite agile as she is able to dodge an onslaught of Ursi with ease.

She also seems to physically be the strongest of the group. Her strength is displayed on numerous occasions, such as when her punch sent a fully grown man airborne several feet and through a glass pillar without the enhancement of her weapon, causing a massive shockwave with one punch, and when destroying Junior's weapon with one punch. In The Emerald Forest, she was able to easily punch a sizable Ursa through several trees after being frenzied.

Her strength was also shown in Players and Pieces, where she was able to keep the mouth of a Nevermore open with one arm long enough to deliver multiple shots into it's mouth. Yang is also shown to have a high degree of endurance, having no signs of fatigue after the battle with the Nevermore.

Her level of durability is also noticeably quite high, as she was able to withstand a barrage of missiles from Junior's Bazooka exploding in front of her with little or no damage, merely being thrown back by the force. Yang has also shown to have exceptional accuracy when firing her Ember Celica at incoming attacks, such as small missiles from Junior's Bazooka and able to hit several shots at the Nevermore while it was in motion, with one shot making contact toward the avian's eye.

In addition to her phenomenal level of sheer strength, Yang also possesses great reflexes. In the "Yellow" Trailer, she was able to dodge and weave her way through a continuous hail of machine gun bullets fired by one of Junior's henchmen without being hit once, and notably without using the recoil of her gauntlets to further boost her speed.

Yang's weapon is radically different compared to those used by the rest of Team RWBY, as the other weapons all include some sort of blade. Yang's primary weapon is a pair of gauntlets known as Ember Celica, which can retract into wristlets. When Yang throws a punch she can shoot explosive rounds from Ember Celica for moderate or short ranged attacks. Ember Celica also has powerful recoil which can be utilized to augment the force of her punch and accelerate her movements. She can also use her Ember Celica as a form of armor when defending against attacks in unarmed combat.

As she fights, the fire extends to her hair and her eyes turn red. In episode 6, Yang was angered when an Ursa cut off a small piece of her hair, and in the trailer, Yang burst into flames of white when Junior pulled out several locks of her hair, so the cause of this "Wreathed in Flames" is most likely when a piece of Yang's hair is cut off or she is greatly angered. She seems to be able to naturally summon fire around her as well. This is most notable when she prepares to attack Junior again, letting out a burst of fire energy around her. This state is possibly a result of her using her Aura or Semblance.

Trivia

 * The Chinese characters that make up Yang's full name, Yang Xiao Long (阳 小 龙) can be roughly translated to "Little Light Dragon" and/or "Small Dragon of the Sun."
 * Despite Yang having a Chinese name, people address her by using her first name. In Eastern culture however, people would address her as "Xiao Long" or simply "Long." Although this can be explained by the world of RWBY having different customs.
 * Yang's name would also be pronounced as "Yah-ng She-ow Loh-ng" in a more traditional Chinese accent, while due to Bilingual Bonus in Japanese, its on'yomi (Chinese reading of Japanese) would be "Yō Shiryū".
 * Yang is the only character so far whose eyes change color. Her eyes change from lilac to red when she is enraged.
 * Yang's weapons and fighting style bear an uncanny resemblance to those of Ieyasu Tokugawa from Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes. She also shares the theme of the sun with him.
 * Monty Oum confirmed on Twitter that it was not just a greeting in the "Yellow" Trailer when Yang calls Ruby "sis."
 * Like Ruby, Yang uses two different sets of ammunition; one is colored gold and the second is colored red.
 * In her trailer, Yang is looking for the "Transient Princess," an artwork by Monty Oum based on Final Fantasy VIII's Rinoa.
 * She has her own official Twitter account at RT_YangXiaoLong, like Ruby and Weiss.
 * Although confirmed to be based on Goldilocks by Monty, many fans have speculated that Yang may be be based off of characters in other fairy tales as well; particularly King Midas, as referenced in the song "Gold".
 * Yang is the only character to fight Humans in her trailer.
 * Yang has fought and won the most amount of battles to date, having won every battle she ever fought.
 * Although Yang and Ruby do not have the same last name, Monty Oum has confirmed that neither of them is adopted. He has also said that they are not stepsisters, and they are not cousins.