Bartholomew Oobleck

Dr. Bartholomew Oobleck is a teacher at Beacon Academy. He is first seen in "Jaunedice, Pt.2" teaching history to the students, specifically teaching about the war between the Humans and the Faunus, which appears to have taken place a few generations before the start of the series.

He is also shown to be more of an intellectual than a fighter through his actions on the battlefield in "Search and Destroy". Despite this, he still wields a weapon, which takes the form of his thermos, shown in the episode "Mountain Glenn".

Appearance
Oobleck appears to be rather a young man, with messy green hair. In Volumes 1 and 2, he has brown eyes, but in Volume 3, his eyes are a sapphire blue. His eyes changed back to brown in Volume 4. His attire is disheveled: his white shirt partially tucked into his dark-green pants and its collar raised, showing a slack yellow tie, along with mismatched brown and black shoes. He also has round glasses that appear to be opaque.

When assigned to lead Team RWBY on a search and destroy mission located in southeast Vale during the events of "Field Trip", Oobleck wears a long brown great coat, khaki buttoned safari shirt, and a pith helmet; this is presumably his combat outfit, all of which appear to be properly worn and tucked in and such, unlike his earlier attire. He also carries a rather large backpack.

Personality
Oobleck's trademark characteristics are his extreme hyperactivity and his love for coffee, tea or some other stimulant. Not only does he frequently "glide" about in class at incredible speeds, he also speaks very rapidly. When moving, he often appears as a blur or moves so quickly that his legs appear stationary.

This energy might be a result of him constantly drinking what appears to be coffee. His mug is similar to that of Ozpin. His unkempt look and the mess on and around his desk suggests that he has little to no regard for tidiness.

During his class, Oobleck is shown to be very enthusiastic and strict about his work, being very happy when inattentive students, such as Jaune Arc, seem ready to contribute to class and punishing students performing poorly.

Oobleck views history as an important way to prevent the repetition of past mistakes. He also chooses to respect Faunus, shown when he shook his head disapprovingly at Cardin Winchester's discriminatory remark and his strong disdain when hearing that several Faunus students in his class had suffered discrimination based on their heritage.

Bartholemew displays a great deal of enthusiasm for all of his work, including his duties as a Huntsman. He also clearly relishes his role as a mentor and instructor.

Even while operating at almost dizzying speeds, Oobleck is meticulous in observing and making note of several minor details to others. In "No Brakes", he realizes the train is loaded with active bombs simply by finding a bomb on the third car and further deduces its purpose to unleash Grimm on the city. He also seemed instinctively to know that the girls' dog Zwei could handle being cloaked in flames as he teamed with him to attack an Atlesian Paladin-290. Yet behind his almost flamboyant behavior Oobleck is an incredibly deep and compassionate thinker, completely dedicated to his role as a Huntsman in order to protect the people from potential tragedies, knowing that while many lives may have been lost in the past there is still an opportunity to learn and avoid their previous mistakes to save more lives in the future which he explains to Ruby Rose.

Oobleck also takes into account why Blake Belladonna, Yang Xiao Long, and Weiss Schnee had become Huntresses; unfortunately, none of them gave him a satisfactory answer. However, in "Mountain Glenn", he finds out the girls' true reasons behind training to become Huntresses, pretending to be sleeping during Ruby's turn at watch.

In "Search and Destroy", when Yang asks Oobleck why he does not fight alongside them to "show them how it's done", Oobleck tells her that he is indeed fighting, but by observing the situation and collecting data and samples from the battlefield. He states that this will further his knowledge, which will in turn further humanity's knowledge. However, this answer proves unsatisfactory to Yang's query.

In "Mountain Glenn", Oobleck is seen to become upset and angry at himself for not remembering the information about Mountain Glenn's underground city. This was likely due to the fact that he prides himself on historical knowledge. This same pride causes him to snap at people who call him "Professor", demanding they address him properly as "Doctor".

He is not without a sense of humor, however, as shown in "Family" when he laughed at an anecdote about Qrow being tricked into wearing a skirt to class.

Abilities and Powers
Despite his eccentric demeanor and his civilian appearance, Oobleck is a skilled and experienced Huntsman, considered qualified to escort students on field assignments and assess their fighting abilities. While capable of wielding traditional weapons, Oobleck himself believes his greatest asset and contribution is his mind, studying past mistakes in order to impart that knowledge to his students so that they may avoid repeating them. He has also earned a Ph.D., a testament to his intellect, and possesses expertise in the fields of history and archaeology, something of which has turned out to be extremely useful, as seen during his mission with Team RWBY.

It is revealed in "Mountain Glenn" that his weapon is his Thermos, first seen in "Jaunedice, Pt.2", which turns into what appears to be some form of a large torch. In "No Brakes", Oobleck shows to have tremendous skill with his weapon, using it to fend off a Paladin with ease, while also using his speed and the attack of his weapon's fire to his advantage. He also shows great teamwork with Ruby and Zwei.

Trivia

 * Bartholomew Oobleck alludes to Bartholomew from Dr. Seuss' Bartholomew and the Oobleck.
 * In that story, Oobleck is a light-green substance, much like the color of Dr. Oobleck's hair.
 * Oobleck's doctorate degree and desire to be addressed as Dr. Oobleck is a reference to Dr. Seuss.
 * "Oobleck" is also the name of an inexpensive, white, non-Newtonian fluid made from corn flour and water which is known for being a liquid when subject to little force but being a solid under high force.
 * Initially, Oobleck had been intended to be a more boring and lethargic instructor.
 * Gavin Free and Chris Demarais originally auditioned for the role.
 * Oobleck's desk was jokingly compared to the common state of Monty Oum's in the Volume 1 directors' commentary.
 * The notes on X-Ray and Vav's bulletin board in the Rooster Teeth cartoon X-Ray &amp; Vav are arranged in the same way as the notes on Oobleck's map.
 * Oobleck_eye_color_change.pngck's eyes are originally brown in Volumes 1-2, but since Volume 3, his eyes are blue. They are brown again in Volume 4.
 * The crew changed his eye color because it would be cool if his eyes were blue.