I think that's just it though; considering the amount of time the episodes take, especially in Vol. 1, there isn't time for traditional character development. Instead, they do it piece-by-piece, and it's far more of a gradual (and realistic) process... and not just with the character development (the plot too).
Expecting anything less just seems unrealistic with what we have for RWBY's base, imo.
Plus, there's nothing wrong with base character personalities not changing; sometimes only their motivations change, or what they do with themselves, rather than just their personalities becoming tempered or whatnot
Also, the World-Building is getting some attention with the 'World of Remnant' videos, which while All There in the Manual, is better than nothing
Sorry, but while the supplemental material is interesting, it's supplemental material. As SF Debris said about the 2009 Star Trek film and its underdeveloped villain, "You don't get credit for stuff you don't put in the movie because, now try to follow this because it's a pretty big leap, you didn't put it in the movie"
I know (I'm a fan of the film), but I simply don't agree; everything has a right to be considered, no matter where or what it's from
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Its potential makes it frustrating
There's tons of potential here. The characters are all endearing in their own ways, even the bad guys. The fight animation is always excellent. The other animation was really ropey earlier on but has improved over time.
But RWBY doesn't feel like it's progressing. There's a distinct lack of character development so far. Juane has gotten the most and even his feels like he could be progressing better. Naturally nobody's expecting someone with virtually no combat experience to suddenly be kicking ass and taking names, but I'd dearly love to see him begin to at least hold his own in a few mook fights or something. He even wiped out in the food fight! We're told he's making progress and has untapped potential, but can we see some evidence of that please? Show, Don't Tell.
Ruby herself has barely progressed at all, and that's really frustrating. As an untried leader there should be lots of potential for plot there, but even having a leader at all feels irrelevant. The story line with Weiss and Blake was the perfect opportunity to develop her. She could have tried to resolve the tension between the two with her naive optimism only for it to blow up in her face, teaching her some valuable lessons in the process, but alas no. We need to see her fail and learn to succeed so we can feel like she's earning her position.
Weiss and Blake get some fairly sparse development, but at least they get some. The rest of the cast don't seem to have developed at all since their introduction. That's sad, because they do feel like real people and not just characters. I know there's time constraints with what they can put into an episode but character growth is kind of important.
The world-building so far has also basically sucked. What's with the Dust, the Grimm, the other kingdoms? We know little about any of those that we didn't glean from the introductory narration. The story itself is also very thin. We know events are building up to something big, we know there's a gang of bad guys with some sinister plan that involves Dust, and we know they've allied with White Fang in spite of not having any respect for them, but we have no insight at all into any of these events.
Like Juane, there's lots of potential here that's just being squandered. Don't get me wrong, it's not bad, but it could be so much better.