Actually, villains who are cryptic are often just as appealing as those who do everything - it's the mystery and whatnot. And as far as the Grimm, only the young ones (ie, the aggressive ones) are like tissue paper (the bigger and older ones are much more threatening, and there's a lot of hints there's millions out there, considering that the world is still overrun, and humanity is outmatched in the numbers department hundreds-to-1 if not more)
And Protagnists magically solving everything? Imo, it's refreshing that's not the case here. They're still first-year students, and it's actually realistic that they don't win every fight or that some threats are too much for them... plus, as far as Ruby getting knocked out by a mook, she survived a great fall (which drained most/all her Aura), and thus a lot of her super defenses in the process
Also, answering questions (World of Remnant bits) while raising new ones is part of the process that draws us in - and it's working great lol
And with all this, I'm not saying RWBY is perfect; just that a lot of the 'bad' isn't actually that bad, or a problem imo
Plus, as far as the finale, I expected nothing less than what we got, based solely on the Grimm coming down the tunnel in Episode 11 - [[Mooks mostly Beowolves, Ursa, whatever that new one was]], and a King T. Snake (with a few later additions)... most of which could have been handled by Team RWBY alone, if done correctly. It was merely the numbers that were the real problem, and as long as the breach was open, they would have just kept coming and overwhelmed all defenses eventually.
But in a world where people like Gylnda can easily fix messes like that, without real effort, that was taken care of before the situation could spiral out of control (as expected). They know humanity is outnumbered, even now, and they can't afford prolonged fights like this, so they end them as quickly as possible.
Also... having no real (ie permanent) damage doesn't mean the buildup was pointless, imo
I agree with the first comment in that I don't have a problem with Team RWBY being sidelined in the grand finale fight. They'd just got out of a pretty enormous fight in the previous episode so it's not unreasonable for them to be exhausted with depleted auras by then. And lets not forget they're first year students!
I'm with the original review writer regarding the villains though, their scheme really is very underdeveloped, at least with regards what the audience has seen of it. I know they don't want to drop the bomb yet regarding what their plan is, but some hints and clues and foreshadowing of what it is would be nice. All we get is them stealing and hoarding dust for a while, then suddenly that's no longer important. Maybe opening up the tunnels and causing a Grimm incursion was part of some grander scheme, or maybe it was just villains causing mayhem for its own sake. If it's the former I'd love to see some hint regarding what it was! If it was just random mayhem, then I'd have rather seen some of their machinations instead.
What about Ironwood? All we've seen of him is him tugging at his chain, then him being put in charge of Beacon, supplanting Ozpin? Why has this happened? Was it just a kneejerk reaction to the Grimm incursion and Ozpin's apparent failure to prevent it (though the cleanup went pretty smoothly) or has there been something else going on? The comments at the start of the second season "Are your children ready to win a war?" suggest the latter but we've seen no other hints of it!
There's being a tease and there's failing to keep the audience engaged. Like I said in my review, I love the characters, even the baddies have their charms, and the fights are epic and the music is epic, but the story development, character development (with the possible exception of Jeaun and Blake) and worldbuilding have been very poor so far.
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Hit and Miss
Volume Two was a HUGE improvement for RWBY. It built up the setting much more, had great interactions between the characters and even built up a plot for the rest of the series. The fight scenes were great (of course) and the comedy brought laughs (of course). The animation also received a significant bump up from the previous volume, and it's refreshing to see actual background characters instead of empty silhouettes.
The second volume also brought great character development for the cast. Weiss, Blake and Yang revealed a lot of their issues and motivations, Penny explained more about herself and new character Ironwood shows to be an interesting Well-Intentioned Extremist.
But where there's good, there's also bad. And when it's bad, it gets BAD.
The antagonists need to stop being cryptic and intimidating and start actually DOING something. It's little wonder many fans see smooth criminal Roman as the true villain of the show when Cinder and her lackeys all just faff about and spout cryptic crap. Not only that, the Grimm, the main threat huntsmen train for, the creatures that took over THE ENTIRE WORLD, are about as threatening as wet tissue paper, being killed in seconds.
But the finale showed everything wrong with the volume: It was anti-climactic, the buildup of the brilliant episode 11 falling flat when the Grimm that invade the city are killed off easily. New revelations about Adam and Raven Branwen didn't need to be answered yet. Team CFVY was forced in in a fashion that almost seemed like Pandering to the Base, at the cost of team RWBY and other characters yet again. Protagonists SOLVE PROBLEM, not just find them.
Then there's Ruby. Our dear main protagonist, the TITLE CHARACTER, my favorite character. I loved her appearances, but we learned nothing new about her. While her team and even THE SIDE CHARACTERS were developed well, she got nothing. Her combat time on her own was lackluster, getting KNOCKED OUT BY MOOKS and basically doing nothing on her own. We didn't even learn anything new about her combat abilities either, while her entire team revealed new things about themselves. This is our protagonist. WHY DO YOU HATE HER?
RT, Volume 3 comes out in a year. Stop throwing out questions and start answering them. You have the time and opportunity to fix your mistakes. DO IT.