Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-26259025-20150401152057/@comment-26259025-20150404154829

The way you made it sound was you felt Weiss fought people because she was convinced she could beat them. That's why I mentioned she didn't have much choice in those fights. She didn't fight them because she thought she could win, she fought them because she had to.

The Boarbatusk fight had the "character development" element because Weiss was distracted by Ruby, and thus let her guard down. This pissed Weiss off enough for her to tell Ruby she didn't think she had what it takes to be a leader, and she herself should be in charge. As a consequence, Ruby strengthed her resolve to become a better leader, as Weiss sought out advice from Peter Port, who told her to be a better teammate. This then lead to Ruby taking her role more seriously, Weiss putting aside her pride and the two effectively getting past their differences. The whole Boarbatusk fight was a literary technique- it was the point at which the frustration Weiss felt boiled over, which lead to all of the events I just listed. Thus, both characters developed from this fight going poorly. You get it?

Maybe "frailty" was too strong a word. But, if we had a RWBY video game you gotta believe Weiss would have the lowest HP of the 4. I think she has okay defence- she's got the dexterity to dodge out of the way, she can create forcefields with dust or her semblance, and she has excellent swordsmanship. In the white trailer, when she gets hit, I don't think there was a lot she could have really done. Even when she parried the attacks the armour made, she was send flying backwards. Dodging was literally her only option at that point. I don't think she underestimated the armour- I just think it was a really difficult fight. Plus, the fight would have seemed a little...easy, had she not taken a hit, and a hard one at that. That's just another literary technique really- creating the illusion of the protagonist getting beaten, and then making a comback adds drama to the affair.