User blog comment:Maki Kuronami/Lesson 23: Cinder and her flames of eternity/@comment-23790511-20140912021242/@comment-9090085-20140913002255

I don't know, I like Cinders portrayal as a "soft-spoken" villain; her power is so great, and her control so absolute, that she doesn't need to intimidate people like a schoolyard bully.

It's a little like in Terminator 2, where the T-1000 is played by a "little" guy.

Speaking as an amateur writer, I believe the key to keeping a cliche from feeling "stale" is to add your own "twist" to it, changing it a little to make it feel "fresh"; which RWBY has done well. Having said that, I also don't want Cinder to be a relative Ruby and Yang; I don't have any evidence for or against, but I don't think there are many ways to "twist" that trope into something interesting.