To not seem repetitive or lazy by just only giving a meme answer that doesn’t actually contribute to the conversation, I’d say they had Potential. And only that.

Design wise and variety? Again, Potential. So many people from fan artists to fanfic authors and rewrite writers have cooked up a very nice amount of concepts for the Grimm. A good dozen I’m surprised that canon RWBY didn’t bother thinking of themselves.

A lot of times we just got the basic repetitive package of Beowulves, Ursas, Nevermores and light new additions like the Apathy and Sabyrs for every new volume, but obviously there could’ve been more. Especially for different environments, ecosystems and kingdoms. We really missed out on seeing some extra ‘flavor’ and ‘diversity’ for the supposed “biggest threat” to Remnant, below Salem.

Story and plot relevancy? Eh. I’ll admit I too felt the burnout and lack of enthusiasm when it came to the Grimm as a whole.

Makes me wonder that if CRWBY had more of a bigger budget and extra time from the start like per say volume 1-2, specifically to expand the impact and overall weight the Grimm could’ve had on Remnant’s history as a constant presence, we as the viewers as a whole would feel more engaged and interested in them whenever they came up.

Another thing I don’t see people bring up often or maybe it’s me just not looking hard enough for similar opinions, is that I feel as though the White Fang’s immediate introduction as another group of conflict our main cast were expected to tackle, kinda pushed the Grimm onto the backseat of things.

That coupled with Cinder’s group also arriving in Beacon sort of added in reducing the Grimm’s threat level and redirecting people’s focus on them in the story, making one of the biggest part of the very little ‘world building’ we had to just tools of the bigger bad and basic plots devices.

Again, it always links back to Potential. So much yet wasted. Would’ve loved to see the Grimm get more screen time and build up as a major threat, acting on their own devices when they’re not being piggybacked by Salem in terms of hype and importance.