User blog comment:DustpeltX/The Design of a Character Part 2 - Concept Conception/@comment-30530552-20170517211411

Another great post for this topic, Dust.

Sometimes the issue of having a character from the "self-expression" category is that the expressions don't necessarily come from their own personal experiences. I would say I have this problem, because most of my experiences are pretty run of the mill stuff, nothing fancy or anything. But to put it simply, either category can work so long as you can actually formulate the character well and to break some of the molds, but not so much so that it forms into a whole other mold in itself.

I'd definitely agree that development of character's in RWBY is pretty well stagnant, but my likely opinion is that as the storyline continues, there's going to be more added "show, don't tell" methodologies of development as a character. In particular, I would like to reference V4E10, "Kuroyuri" for doing this much better than most episodes, ignoring the part about Oscar.

Even before journeying to Kuroyuri, Ren had acted suspiciously and adamantly about refusing to go there. When Jaune and Ruby were entering the village of Kuroyuri, Ren's emblem (or rather, village emblem) appeared in multiple places, and the atmosphere (referring to the music and mood) reflected both the state of the village and the general horror that had once taken place. Jaune understood what had happened, but didn't actually say it. Several times throughout the episode, we saw fragments of what would be important later on or what had appeared earlier. The broken sake bottle from the beginning being whole again, and Nora's wood hammer being held up by the weapon salesmen.

There was also the methodology and advice given by Ren's father for not helping Nora out. And later on in the episode, this piece from Li ended up coming full circle when the Nuckelavee attacked and Nora was once again alone and vulnerable. This time, however; he acted upon his father's words, whether this was through his own discernable reasoning, or through his Semblance, we don't know, but the point being, he fulfilled what he had failed to do earlier.

I also liked how in the same respect, seeping over into "Taking Control" and "No Safe Haven", the writers never gave us the full picture of the Nuckelavee, instead leaving it's terror and danger to remain in the smoke and shadows where it remained for a good deal of time. Even in early episodes, and throughout the Volume, the monster was an important aspect of the story, which they showcased and referenced offhandedly rather than giving a full picture.

That's not to say that the development throughout the story is well-rounded, in fact Ren's discussion on Oniyuri and his general knowledge of everything Anima reflects how his development and many other characters were developed more verbally rather than shown. There needs to be the right mix for it to work, and usually showing people what the problem is rather than telling them about it is a better answer, but you need to set a context so that the possibilities are narrow, and if you're proven right, it'd be easy to see. With the Nuckelavee, that was the case, because it started off as a symbol or Grimm hoofprint, transitioning to definitely a hoofprint from a Grimm to its either a Minotaur or some type of horse Grimm until the speculation ended with OH DEAR, ITS DEFINITELY A HORSE-CREAURE-THING. With the Timeskip, the 6-8 month time frame didn't make sense and only led to a wide range of possibilities, something you have to narrow if you can.

That's just my two cents though.