User blog comment:Varzan Deodinm Beldinm/Overpoweredness and the Tension: Should we Care?/@comment-3146930-20140825231324

This is actually a big problem that first became noticeable during the food fight back in 2-1 (Volume 2, Episode 1). Back in Volume 1 when Ozpin was standing on a cliff and told everyone to come up with a landing strategy, we the viewer really thought that if Character-A didn't have a plan, the fall could seriously hurt them or they could even be killed. During Ruby and Weiss' brief fight with the Beowolves, they were forced to retreat because of the number of Beowolves and the raging fire quickly building. Even during the fight with the Boarbatusk, we the viewer felt that if Weiss didn't get her sword back she could be in serious trouble.

Now obviously in our minds we know that this won't happen because it is only the first half of the first season so our main characters will be fine. However all the fights in Volume 1 gave us some perspective about how powerful the characters are. If a character dodges an attack, then it must be because that attack would hurt them, even with Aura protecting them. At one point Jaune is beat up by Cardin and gets a bruise under his eye, so we know punches can hurt despite Aura acting as a shield (to me, it acts more like a buffer; it can stop the full impact of an attack but not the entire thing).

Then the food fight happens and yes I know it is supposed to be a "joke" scene, but it isn't funny. Characters are seen taking attacks that in the previous volume would be shown seriously injuring someone. Yang is shot into orbit and crash lands laughing a giving a thumbs up, Weiss is slammed into a stone pillar, Blake is pelted with hundreds of soda cans, and team JNPR is slammed into a wall and pelted with anything that wasn't nailed down. This makes it hard to take any fight in Volume 1 seriously anymore because in my mind, if all the characters can laugh off attacks in the food fight then why did any of them (besides Jaune) need a landing strategy? Obviously they could just hit the ground and laugh it off as if nothing happened.

The mech battle with Roman somewhat regulated their abilities, but still didn't help much. I mean obviously Roman isn't a trained mech pilot and the suits themselves aren't even on the shelves yet so his skills are probably limited. RWBY however are being trained to, among other things, fight Grimm of all sizes so they may have plans in place for larger foes (Blake cutting missiles could be applies to a Nevermore's feathers). However I wouldn't mind seeing a rip in Weiss' jacket or maybe Yang with a black eye or something.

For me, the best way to describe it is an episode of the Superman/Batman animated series. In it, Bruce Wayne goes missing and Superman dresses as Batman for answers. He fights off some of Batman's gallery of villains and easily overpowers them and you know none of them can beat him so it is fun to watch. However I would much rather see Batman go up against these guys because there is at least some level of danger involved.