Something I've actually genuinely come to appreciate about RWBY in my most recent re-watch is that... No character is treated entirely as the butt of the joke.
Even the characters who are intended to be more comedic in nature get their moments where they show more about them. for instance, Caroline Cordovin is a bombastic, fanatical supporter of Atlas who is surrounded by sycophants who repeat her every other sentence and has a stick so far up her ass that she's a Popsicle in all but name. yet, In the 5 episodes she appears, almost entirely as an antagonist we also learn that: She's spiteful, never letting go of a grudge, and will ensure that any perceived slight is punished to the full extent of her power. She holds a fairly obvious prejudice against the faunus, and buys fully into the SDC's hype, although that might be because it's a symbol of Atlesian prosperity She is observant and quick thinking, adapting fairly quickly to the changing situation (For instance, she figures out very quickly that Maria was trying to play her into opening up her missile pods so Ruby could shoot the missiles and potentially destroy the whole arm. And, when Ruby dives into the cannon to fire at the massive dust crystals, she points the cannon upwards to try and ensure she falls into the volatile dust crystals.) Despite all her apparent spite for the people of Argus for protesting the embargo, she genuinely takes pride in her job as a protector, as even when she's ranting and raving at RWBYJNOR about how the Leviathan attack is their fault, her expression shows that she's ashamed. Partly because she couldn't beat a bunch of teenagers and a stolen gunship with a big fuckoff colossus, but also because Her display of force backfired so spectacularly that the people she was supposed to protect are now practically defenseless against a threat that her colossus was literally designed to fight. Now, most of that pride comes from the power she wields, but also, I think, she genuinely wants to help people. These little things are ultimately unnecessary, as she is largely a comedic character, but the fact that they gave someone who could have just been a 1 note comedic character who facilitates a cool big mecha fight into a genuinely kind of interesting character. Shit like that is part of why I love this show.
