Board Thread:Off Topic/@comment-70.164.250.74-20180322215425/@comment-25936766-20180327002704

The problem is that Ruby's "development" is not real development, it's just a momentary reaction. Once the scene is over, she goes back to her usual self, as if nothing ever happened.

Which is made worse because for everyone else, you can see with perfect clarity how they develop, how they grow and change due to their experiences, which is what character development is all about.

>Weiss went from being a stuck-up bitch to one of the friendliest and the most melodramatic member of Team RWBY. Then she became melancholic at the beginning of Vol.4, before she got the balls to (leaving aside everything else) yell at the guests for seemingly not caring about Vale, then actually insulting her father to his face.

>Blake, quiet and mostly kept to herself minor some moments. Then Vol.3 happened, and by the time we go back to her in Vol.4, she's paranoid and easily frightened even by a couple of kids. And even though that is gone by the end of V4E3, she remains irritable the whole Volume.

>Yang has it the most obvious of Team RWBY, turning into a depressed and melancholic person in Vol.4, complete with triggers. Then she seemingly got better....except her hand twitches every once in a while, showing us (SHOWING) that she's not 100% better.

And that's just the examples within Team RWBY. There's also Jaune, Ren, even Cinder.

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Another problem is how Ruby suffers quite a lot, yet none of that leaves an impact, leaving the impression that she doesn't give a damn about anything, which is much of the reason she is underdeveloped.

1>Saw Penny and Pyrrha die, the latter in her face. This leads to: 1) A bad dream that was just an empty black void with Pyrrha's voice.....and nothing else. Her outburst by the end of Vol.4 (which could've been a good moment for Development) was stolen by Jaune, and Ruby didn't even mention Penny in Vol.4.

And then in Vol.5, Oscar outright confronts her about how she doesn't give a damn about what's going on or even about her friends's deaths, and her response boils down to "Eh, didn't know them very long, so whatever". Because apparently watching a friend die in your face doesn't matter shit to you if you only knew them for like 6 months.

2>Found out she has Silver Eyes, a power so strong it severely weakened Cinder for months, a MAIDEN, and at the same time petrified an ancient Grimm in a single flash.

And yet, she never shows any interest in this. Even when Qrow says that Tyrian went after her for her eyes, she doesn't ask him anything about them. Even when she asks Ozpin questions personally, and Ozpin even asks her if she has any (more) questions, she doesn't ask him about them.

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There's Character Reaction, Character Exploration, and Character Development. Reaction is how they react to things. Exploration is telling us more about them. Development is showing us how they change due to their experiences, minor or major.

Ruby reacts, but her character is never explored after Vol.1, and she never changes, and thus does not develop.

Saying "she's an honest and simple soul" does not justify her lack of development, even less when everyone else, even secondaries, get noticeable development.