Penny made it easier because by exposing her publically as a robot, it makes Atlas look even worse, which is great because they were the chosen aggressors of the situation.
Otherwise engineering a ring death wouldn't be that much harder with a non robot, but it wouldn't make Atlas look suspicious for sneaking a robot into the school in a human form.
Still though, by the time of SSSN and NDGO Cinder already had a good idea of who to use, so that match was probably untampered by her, as it really didn't matter who won, and even though Sun advanced to the finals he didn't get to fight before it all fell apart.
Again, Cinder didn't know she was going to use Penny at the time of SSSN vs. NDGO. For all we know, Cinder planned to use a member of NDGO in Penny's place at that time.
EDIT:
After all, NDGO was from Vacuo, which ended up relatively untarnished, but Atlas would have still been easy to tarnish if Penny was replaced by a Vacuo student. As such, using a Vacuo student would have had extra advantages.
edited 26th Nov '16 10:09:58 AM by Sereg
All of this has effectively provided me yet another example of why vagueness is often a bad idea. That book I read that vagueness oftens robs us of the very things that would hook us is right.
rollin' on dubs
Cinder rigging the match against Penny was, as one of the characters on Babylon Five would put it, "a bank shot": Penny was a wild card. Her main weapon probably wouldn't kill Cinder after she got the Fall Maiden's power but it wouldn't tickle either. Plus Ember's power wouldn't work on a robot. That Penny was in the form of a little girl was a plus. Take her out and Pyrra gets PTSD, Cinder gets to make a breaking speech and what would normally be a powerful character is taken off the board.
@ Vol.4 Ep 4: Interesting that Raven puts her tribal loyalty over working with Qrow. In another parallel/Shout-Out to Top Gun we see that Yang is still trying to come to grips with her injury. It took Maverick a while to get over the death of his Guy in Back. Yang's character development continues a pace.
edited 26th Nov '16 11:48:53 AM by TairaMai
I tried to walk like an Egyptian and now I need to see a Cairo practor....Defeats him in a fair fight...evenly.
Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.That's nothing at all, just a little blood lust is always fine.
Someone should get the first taste though...
Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.It would be way to soon for Adam to lose an even fight, let alone a curbstomp. What's the point of introducing someone that strong just to invalidate it so quickly?
I don't think the series should do exponential power increases for the main cast because characters like P-Money, CFVY, teachers and full huntsman set a standard for what more experienced fighters have and then guys like Adam seem to be above even that from what we've seen. It's too early for the main cast to outpace everyone senior to them.
It'd be even worse than Blake vs Roman round 2.
Quickly? That defeat would be in the final rematch, they just skipped over the unimportant stuff.
Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.The problem is that if they don't build up the bad guys first then beating them doesn't really mean much, and the current ones have been built up to the point where, considering the arcs of the good guys right now, it would be unrealistic for them to win just now.
Dopants: He meant what he said and he said what he meant, a Ninety is faithful 100%.You make it sound like the heroes are going to defeat all of the villains by the end of the volume or something. RWBY and JNR and get stronger before the final showdown, you know.
Let the joy of love give you an answer! Check out my book!If the main characters delivered such a righteous beatdown, it'd be disappointing, as the victory wouldn't feel earned. Because we'd know that they only won because the authors decided to let them rather than because they worked hard to gain the ability to deliver said beatdown.
Remember the need for tension and consistency before demanding such things.
I don't know why you think a Curb-Stomp Battle and an earned victory are mutually exclusive. Also, tension isn't needed in absolutely every battle. If it was, Showy Invincible Hero and Curb-Stomp Battle wouldn't be a thing.
Let the joy of love give you an answer! Check out my book!

Well here's the thing: If we define "sentient, living being" as "having a soul" (which is unquantifiable in real life), then Penny is, as she has an Aura.