Talk:Neopolitan/@comment-30975241-20190304044359/@comment-4010415-20190304045358

The difference between Neo's and Emerald's Semblances has actually been explained by a RWBY crew member, and basically, Emerald's Semblance was described as merely being a hallucination that she inserts into someone's mind, while Neo's Semblance is an illusion that everyone can see.

Neo's illusions even have some physicality to them, hence why we've seen a couple of them be forcibly broken into pieces like glass, first by Yang (by punching it) and then by Ruby (by shooting it).

As for how Neo's Semblance works, I would imagine that it could bend light in a way that makes something look like something else. The way that we see involves how light interacts with things and how our eyes are able to pick up that light. Our brain then processes the information that our eyes gather. So, Emerald's Semblance messes with the brain, while Neo's Semblance messes with the information that their eyes receive.