Yang Xiao Long

Yang Xiao Long is one of the main protagonists of RWBY. Her weapon of choice was a pair of Dual Ranged Shot Gauntlets, Ember Celica.

She made her first appearance in the "Yellow" Trailer, searching for clues regarding the whereabouts of her mother, who left her when she was very young. At Beacon Academy, Yang becomes a member of Team RWBY alongside Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna and her younger half-sister, Ruby Rose.

Original (Volumes 1-3)
Yang is a teenage girl who 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 burning heart crest appears on this banner, except golden in color. She wears black shorts under her belt, which resembles a pleated skirt in the back. Over the short shorts but under the belt is a white asymmetrical back skirt.

Aside from an orange infinity scarf around her neck, she has no discernible jewelry. She wears brown knee-high platform boots that appear to be made of leather, with orange socks of different lengths. Her left leg also has a gray bandanna-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 becomes lighter in color at the tips and flows in a loose and messy manner, with a few locks sticking out and a small cowlick on top of her head. She has a pale complexion and lilac eyes. Her hair seems to burst into flames the longer she fights. Her eyes turn red and her hair produces more fire when she becomes angry. Among Team RWBY, she is the tallest and most endowed, the latter being less than subtly noted by Neon Katt.

While on her motorcycle, Bumblebee, she wears yellow goggles and a matching helmet that bears her crest in black. When outdoors, she sometimes wears a pair of yellow-rimmed aviator sunglasses.

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

At her home in Patch, Yang wears another set of pajamas, consisting of a dark-yellow short-sleeved shirt with black shorts.

Alternate Outfit (Hunter)
During the events of "A Minor Hiccup" and "Painting the Town...", Yang wears a collared cream top over a black shirt, and over top of the former is a black article of clothing that consists of a raised collar, a strap across her collar bone, and mid-length sleeves that are gold at the end. Around her neck is a pendant that has a smooth, round, purple gem set in a round piece of metal that has a point coming off the left and right sides and a small oval shape coming from the bottom.

She has a pair of crooked black belts with gold accents across her hips, and a purple piece of fabric with lilac lace around the edges hangs from her left hip. She has a dark gray article of clothing coming down from under her cream top that is either a mini-skirt or part of her black shirt. It has vertical belted straps going down into her thigh-high black stockings, which have her burning heart emblem printed in yellow on the outer side of each leg near the top and a row of four gold pyramid studs above each knee.

She wears a pair of black boots with a series of belted straps across them. On the back of each boot at the top is a large white ribbon tied into a bow.

This outfit was codenamed "Hunter".

Post-Timeskip
After the timeskip following the Fall of Beacon, her new design is updated, which now consists of a gray jacket on top of an orange tank top that bares her midriff. The jacket is tied at the right sleeve, indicating her missing arm. The jacket's left sleeve bears her father's emblem. So far in Volume 4, she wears her hair up in a ponytail.

Completing her attire are gray cargo pants, which show the rim of her dark undergarments, and white sneakers. High on the left leg of her pants is a red shield-shaped patch with imagery of three Ursa masks. The original concept art, showed at RTX 2016, had a Bumblebee patch on her right pant leg, ultimately replaced in volume 4 with her personal emblem.

In the recent promo material for Volume 4, Yang is shown wearing black pants and a long tan coat with an orange lining and gold border. A gold metal plate covers her missing right arm, which matches the accessories on the heels and toes of her boots.

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 a cheerful, energetic and bright young lady. Additionally, she is arguably the most flippant and carefree member of her team, frequently making sarcastic comments and jokes even in the heat of battle and often taking combat and hostile situations extremely lightly, particularly when faced with foes she knows she can beat easily and who don't pose a threat to her; this is shown in her trailer against Junior, his men and the Malachite Twins, during her encounter with two Ursai in the Emerald Forest and during her second visit to Junior's club.

On all three of these instances she addresses her foes with a smile and seems to take joy in fighting them (going so far as to hold a one-sided conversation with the Ursai as they failed to scratch her), further showcasing her confidence in herself and her ability, possibly due to her powerful Semblance. However, she does take combat very seriously when she deems her opponent a threat or if she is sufficiently angered, such as when she is hit and her semblance activates or when her hair is damaged; this can be seen during her fights against Junior and the Ursai, as well as team RWBY's battles with the Nevermore and Atlesian Paladin-290.

Additionally, she enjoys having fun and dislikes being bored, complaining when Weiss dragged the rest of team RWBY to some "stupid docks". She is eager to take part in recreational acts, such as food fights and playing Remnant: The Game, and even helps organize Beacon's dance event alongside Weiss. She is also very sociable, and enjoys having conversations and making new friends.

Her straightforward and blunt nature 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. Later, as she takes them all down in battle, she is seen smiling the entire time, possibly showing a joy or thrill for fighting.

Yang is extremely nurturing, particularly towards her younger 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 the school. This shows that she has a high amount of faith in her sister. Yang has also been shown to worry a great deal for her sister, such as when Ruby was almost killed by a Death Stalker's attack, but was saved by Weiss Schnee.

Yang hugs her sister in joy, glad that she is safe. She was also proud upon knowing that Ruby was announced as leader of Team RWBY. After getting to know her team, this protective and encouraging nature seems to have extended to Blake and Weiss as well, as Yang was shown to be worried for the former on several occasions, such as when she ran from her team and when she suffered from sleep and appetite problems, and guided the latter when playing Remnant: The Game.

Yang is shown to not be intimidated 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.

She is also somewhat vain, and is extremely protective of her hair. This is shown after she goes into a rage when Junior manages to pull off a few strands in their fight. Her love for her hair is shown again during her fight against the Ursai. She is initially completely casual in her approach to the creatures and easily converses with them and banters while dodging their attacks; however, after they sever a small strand of her hair she goes into a rage at both and refers to them as monsters, despite them being creatures of Grimm, and fitting the term before they touched Yang's hair.

Yang also has a humorous side to her, which is far more noticeable than Blake's, and enjoys joking around with others. This side of her is seen twice in "The Badge and The Burden", as she says "Banzai" along with Blake and Ruby. She later laughs at Ruby's comical 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. Upon seeing Velvet Scarlatina being bullied by Team CRDL, she states "...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." Like Blake, she is very open about her beliefs and criticizes others if she thinks they're behaving inappropriately, frequently going against Weiss' remarks during their team's search for Blake and angrily questioning whether she even cared if they found her or not.

Yang also seems to enjoy making puns, although her team doesn't think they are funny. However, in "Painting the Town...", Yang herself has somewhat of little tolerance to other people's puns, as seen with Weiss. This was however due to Weiss making a joke following Roman's escape with Neo, where Yang shattered an illusion, as she did not find it funny, stating that there's a time and place for jokes, with that one not being it.

Yang is additionally shown to be very optimistic, often adopting a "glass half full" mentality and acting with enthusiasm towards even the bleakest of events - when teams RWBY and JNPR were confronted by the Deathstalker and Nevermore at the Forest Temple, she humorously remarked "Great, the gang's all here! Now we can die together". She also frequently attempts to cheer up her partner, Blake Belladonna, when she appears distant or worried, such as when she voiced her concern about the White Fang and Roman Torchwick's activity and when she refused to attend the school dance. This tends to achieve mixed results due to Blake's stoic personality, with Yang sometimes garnering a smile and sometimes merely annoying her partner.

Yang is also very confident in her looks, claiming to her team that she would "turn heads" at the Beacon Dance with the dress she had chosen. Yang also seems to have a love for adventure, which she states is one of the main reasons she decided to become a Huntress, not because she wanted to be a hero, as seen in "Mountain Glenn", during a conversation with Weiss and Blake. Yang's love for adventure was seen early on in the series, during the initiation, where she was screaming in joy upon flying through the air.

Despite her fun-loving demeanor and young age, Yang is deceptively mature, insightful and worldly-wise, and is capable of holding a serious discussion at length and offering intelligent, thoughtful advice. This is shown in "Burning the Candle", when she speaks to Blake about her worrying behavior and draws comparisons to her own past, convincing her that letting their goal consume her was not the right path to go down. She is also very driven and persistent, particularly when she wants to know something; over ten years after finding out her mother left her after birth, she continues searching for her to this day. However, she states that she never lets the search control her.

However, Yang still has other control issues. Her anger, one of her main assets in battle, can lead her to hold grudges towards opponents that have annoyed or wronged her. This is seen with Neopolitan, who escaped with Roman during their first encounter, and the self-satisfied smile on the woman's face incited Yang into fighting her. This led to frustration on Yang's part, which quickly cost her the battle and almost her life.

Yang also appears to be something of a sore loser, as after losing to Neptune in Remnant: The Game, she grumpily remarks that they should never have let him play, as well as when she lost to Qrow playing a video game after he distracted her with a perverted comment, after which she angrily said, "You are the worst!"

After the Battle of Beacon, with Pyrrha Nikos' and Penny Polendina's death, the loss of her right arm and her partner, Blake, Yang sinks into a deep depression. The mention of her missing partner agitates her, she gives Ruby the cold shoulder, and wishes to be left alone. She even outright ignores her sister when she says "I love you".

Months later, her depression is still present, shown when she was reluctant to don the prosthetic limb her father obtained for her, citing she "wasn't feeling well." She also has flashbacks of when she nearly lost her life at Adam's hands, possibly caused by Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or Acute Stress Disorder, showing herself to be deeply traumatized. However, after a conversation with her father two former professors at Beacon, they convince Yang to at least try to move on.

Abilities and Powers
Yang's fighting is 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 Ursai 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 several feet into the air and through a glass pillar without the enhancement of her weapon or 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 down its throat.

Like all hunters, Yang has had her Aura unlocked, coating her body with a shield powered by her soul, which helps protect her, especially when her aggressiveness gets her into bad situations. Even with her aura unlocked her durability is also noticeably high, as showcased in her doubles match with Weiss against Flynt and Neon during the Vytal Tournament, where she withstood numerous hits from Neon Katt during the bout's opening stages, and powered through the effects of Flynt's weapon, knocking him out and securing victory for her side shortly after.

Weapon
Yang's weapon is radically different compared to those used by the rest of Team RWBY, for 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 bracelets. When Yang throws a punch, she can shoot explosive rounds from Ember Celica for moderate or short ranged attacks, although not every single jab activates the weapon, as seen in her fight against Neo. Ember Celica also has powerful recoil, which can be utilized to augment the force of her punch and accelerate her movements, the force being able to launch her high in the air. She can also use her Ember Celica as a form of armor when defending against attacks in unarmed combat.

Semblance
As Ruby stated during the events of "Painting the Town...", Yang's Semblance lets her use the energy from every blow she takes to make herself more powerful, showcased when Yang completely shattered the Atlesian Paladin in a few hits after being battered by it; this seems to be a form of kinetic energy absorption, with Yang subsequently redirecting said energy against her opponent. However, she does still take the full force the attack which means that quickly dealing lots of damage is the key to taking her down.

As the combat becomes more intense or she is angered enough, fire appears around her hair. During the final state of her Semblance, her eyes turn red and her fire is capable of bursting out of her. Yang's hair glows because some of her power comes from her hair, much like in the Biblical story of Samson and Delilah, and the glow is a sign that she's charging her power.

Although a powerful Semblance, Yang is unable to power it up without taking damage first, weakening herself in the process. As seen in her fight with Neopolitan, fighters well-versed in dodging attacks can frustrate Yang, making her attacks predictable and easily avoided, and rendering the added power useless.

Weaknesses
Although Yang gets stronger from her anger and from taking damage, her frustration can be exploited by skilled opponents. This weakness is perhaps best expressed in her very brief fight with Adam Taurus, her anger causing her to recklessly charge him and lose her right arm in the process. Aside from that, knocking her unconscious before she can reach her final stage completely negates her Semblance. Yang is also noted to be weak against kick-based fighting styles, seen when she struggled against Neopolitan, Melanie Malachite, and Mercury Black.

Trivia

 * One possible transcription of Yang's name is Yáng Xiǎo Lóng (Simplified: 阳小龙; Traditional: 陽小龍), which can be roughly translated to "Little Light Dragon" or "Small Dragon of the Sunshine".
 * This may be a reference to Bruce Lee, whose given name is also 小龙.
 * Despite having a Chinese name, Yang's given name and surname are inverted. "Yang" would be the surname and her given name would be "Xiao Long". Furthermore, Chinese surnames are usually only one character. This can be explained by Remnant not following real-world customs.
 * Yang's name would also be pronounced as "Yah-ng Shee-ow Loh-ng" in a more traditional Chinese accent or pinyin reading. However, Monty reasons that, since there is no China in Remnant, the proper Chinese pronunciation does not apply.
 * The characters 阳小龙 appear on an official T-shirt released by Rooster Teeth parodying Akira.
 * Yang alludes to Goldilocks from the fairy tale Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
 * In the Volume 1 directors' commentary, Monty mentions that, when he chose Yang's voice actress, he said "Barbara should play Goldilocks." According to J.J. Castillo, Monty had a habit of referring to characters by the names of who they are inspired by, rather than their actual names in the show.
 * In the "Yellow" Trailer, Yang fights a DJ wearing a bear mask and Junior, whose real name, Hei Xiong, is Chinese for Black Bear.
 * The first enemies Yang fights in the series are a pair of Ursai, which are bear-type Grimm.
 * The pants of her first timeskip outfit have a patch with imagery of three Ursa masks on them.
 * The younger Yang's pigtails, seen in the flashback sequence of "Burning the Candle", were inspired by Barbara, who also had pigtails when she was younger.
 * According to Lindsay, Yang's power comes from her hair, similar to the tale of Samson and Delilah.
 * In her trailer, the photo that Yang shows to Junior is the "Transient Princess", an artwork by Monty Oum based on Final Fantasy VIII's Rinoa. The artwork is used as a placeholder for her mother Raven, as revealed in the episode "Burning the Candle".
 * Yang was a contender in the 54th episode of ScrewAttack's web series, Death Battle, and she fought against Tifa Lockhart from Final Fantasy VII. Her Aura granted the ability to endure Tifa's strongest attacks long enough for her to activate her Semblance, granting her the victory.
 * After the fight ends, Yang dons a pair of custom, pixel-shades from the "Deal With It" Meme. Barbara Dunkleman, Yang's VA, owns the same pair of glasses in real life.
 * The opening of the fight is similar to the "Yellow" Trailer in RWBY. Yang enters a bar looking for someone and orders a strawberry sunrise with no ice.
 * At the RTX Australia 2016 RWBY Panel, Yang's Skype username was Fireballin17.
 * Yang appears in Racial Super Texas - Rooster Teeth Animated Adventures. A doll of her also appears in Spooky Scary Ghost Stories - Rooster Teeth Animated Adventures.