I actually like Watts for many reasons. 1. He was one of the successful villains aside from his death, and even then he got everything he wanted. 2. He played Ruby's group, Ironwood's group, Cinder's group, and everyone else for chumps, with only Tyrian helping him. 3. He's pretty much the most competent of the group—Cinder is too sadistic, same as Tyrian, Hazel is too nice, other characters either make dumb or arrogant decisions. 4. He gets along with Neo fine as well. 5. Can also fight well enough to hold his own against the general. Again, also survived his death with a backup plan. Though he never ended up meeting Ruby or her group, so again team RWBY sidelined. Ironically, wish he met Penny and had the two fight or something.
Pre-Series:
Created Mantle's security network
Designed Mantle's environmental Dust controls
Created the Paladins
Successfully faked his own death in the "Paladin Incident"
Fall of Beacon:
Created the virus that Cinder used to infiltrate Vale's CCT tower
Enabled Cinder to rig the Vytal Festival tournament matchups
Helped gain access to General Ironwood's Scroll and airship
In Anima:
Successfully established contact with Salem's informant, Leonardo Lionheart
Overheard crucial intelligence about the Spring Maiden's location
Created a new tail for Tyrian after his battle with Ruby
Atlas Arc (His Most Successful Period):
Hacked into Mantle's security cameras undetected
Manipulated Jacques Schnee into helping Salem's plans, getting him elected to the Atlas Council
Orchestrated the massacre at Robyn Hill's victory party using Tyrian
Doctored video footage to frame Penny Polendina for the massacre
Successfully rigged the election results so Jacques won
Shut down Mantle's heating grid, causing mass riots and chaos
Incited distrust between Mantle and Atlas citizens
Created the conditions for a massive Grimm invasion
Held his own in combat against General Ironwood despite being primarily a scientist
Survived his initial capture and imprisonment
While Imprisoned:
Hacked into Penny Polendina with a virus designed to make her open the Vault and self-destruct
Stole Ironwood's broken Scroll without being noticed
Used the Scroll to contact Tyrian and coordinate with Salem's forces
Successfully got rescued by Cinder
Final Operations:
Took control of an Atlas Command Center
Blocked all Kingdom-wide broadcasts, preventing Jaune's evacuation warning from reaching citizens
Released Ironwood from his cell
Hacked an AK-200 unit and used it to attack the Ace Ops, Qrow, and Robyn
Took control of the bomb's autopilot during Harriet's attempt to destroy Mantle
Remotely activated the bomb
Legacy:
Created a digital backup of his consciousness in cyberspace as a contingency plan (revealed in Justice League crossover)
Overall Impact: Watts was arguably Salem's most successful subordinate—he achieved nearly all of his objectives, caused massive chaos in Atlas and Mantle, directly contributed to Atlas's fall, and even had a backup plan that survived his death. Unlike most other villains in RWBY, he succeeded far more than he failed.
