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Grogu has Ruby's pin, but the medal was destroyed. Just to reiterate, I won't be continuing Mandalorian Remnants (I like where I left it).
As for the genius who left Ironwood's BFG, I have to go out on a limb and say Winter. She brought Ironwood to that cell, I can only imagine she was also the one who left the BFG (good comparison by the way, I didn't even think of that). I think Ironwood's main plan was to have the Ace-Ops with him. To him, they were enough for a platoon. As for Winter, I think he still had a small spot in his emotions for her (given what happened in episode 13. I won't say too much in case you haven't seen it).
I would have to say RWBY did indeed jump the shark. For starters, I didn't really like the idea of Salem being immortal, it sets the stakes WAY to high. I mean, there are some animes with immortal or overpowered foes, but there were always subtle hints that showed some signs of hope. RWBY doesn't really stand a chance against stopping Salem in their current state, it sets the stakes too high and makes the end goal impossible. Also, the writing for the characters was full of errors, it was as if they were experimenting with things that should be set in stone by now.
As for Cinder...that's a tough question. On one hand, the only thing she is known for is her childish crave for power and cliche attitude. Everyone seems to hate her at this point and would be happy seeing her dead. On the other hand, I like how they were handled her this volume. Sure, her backstory had too many similarities to Cinderella, but we see her start to grow past her mistakes after a classic roast from Watts. I think she actually has potential now, and I really want to see where her new character goes.
Yes, those fanfics aren't really that great. Now, keep in mind that fanfics take elements from the media they come from, so some things have to be kept the same (dialogue, characters, settings, etc). But when your main goal is to make the story solely revolve around canon, leaving very little originality, that's kind of lazy writing. Take my story The Way of the Maiden, for example. I know I have a lot of similarities to The Mandalorian, with the same characters and some of the same dialogue from the show. But I'm also trying to be as original as possible, with Cinder taking Grogu's place and the Maiden powers taking place of the Force. I ty to keep some elements in both Star Wars and RWBY canon, but it's not my main goal. I want to be as original as possible.
Now, I'm still a novice writer, so don't take everything I say to heart. This is just my opinion, as I still have a lot to learn (mainly grammar and structuring my paragraphs).