#I resented Qrow when he arrived cos I disliked his too cool for school drunk guy vibe

[tumblingxelian]

All right let's do this, I am probably gonna be blocked again for it but this irks me & so warrants a response, @strqyr

No one wants bad or inconsistent writing, that is in fact the opposite of what we want and why we want the story to address what its set up regarding the Rose-Xiao Long sisters and their broken home.

You ask for "resentment", which feels rather loaded as it basically says "Victims have to act this way to qualify as victims". For a more recognizable comparison, "She didn't get overtly angry when he sexually harassed her so she wasn't upset." Do you see why this is a problematic approach to the situating off the cuff?

Though if you want some examples, the fact Yang's first instinct upon arriving at Beacon was to slip away from Ruby & then to try and suggest Ruby be on another team while being overtly nervous. Each time followed with her falling back into a caretaker role for Ruby which she then continued. Well there you have it. Also the fact Tai takes Ruby to visit Summer's grave but not Yang.

Again, you are demanding resentment, performative outrage in order to justify trauma being "real" which feels unfair at best. I don't express my resentment at loved one's who traumatized me, because its unhelpful and stressful at the best of times and won't fix things.

What you should be looking for is the fact that they got a package from home and Yang views it as a means to cheer Ruby up while being indifferent to its presence herself.

Yang literally has brought this up:  I had to pick up the pieces. I had to keep things together. Alone.

Though if you are asking why she didn't bring it up to her dad when they were arguing, I imagine its again, because doing that doesn't help. Tai shouted insults at her for less and she only laughed when Oobleck dropped his cup and reminded her company was over.

You mean in the scene we didn't even get to see because it cut away? Plus, again, you keep demanding resentment like that's the only valid way to express having trauma. Its deeply wrong and unfair.

It should be enough that Yang felt shamed by the implication she is what kept Tai home & then when better (not really) she ended up taking on the caretaker role again while he stayed home to indicate that the family's dynamic is messed up.

As has been noted by @bestworstcase children raised by their parentified older siblings usually report a much nicer childhood than their siblings. We also know Tai sees Raven in Yang despite the traits he described not fitting her, and projects Summer onto Ruby, one he resented one he revered.

The fact you think Tai leaving a grieving 5 and 3 year old alone in the house long enough for Yang to pull Ruby in a cart for hours seeking a different parent qualifies as good parenting is confusing.

You do realize said memory could be from before Summer died right? & also that someone whose been traumatized doesn't have only sad moments right?

Yang also read Ruby bed time stories, and that is in the official actual show canon. Also trips to a boba place do not parenting make. Again, you demand victims have lived lives of only perpetual misery. & you presume excellence from frankly rather superficial examples of parenting that either don't align with canon or don't carry much weight. Hell, just look at the contrast in how Yang & Ruby view their visits to the Boba store, to Ruby its a magical memory from childhood, to Yang it was potentially stupid and insignificant.

In order for your take to be accurate, Yang ad Ruby have to be liars, given Yang's outright said she had to keep the family together and Ruby has openly stated that Yang raised her.

I see you discuss the writing and I want to draw you attention to something.

Neither Ruby or Yang express resentment about Qrow's drinking. When Qrow is introduced, his drinking is framed as part of his roguish charm. Its a funny quirk and a joke that he starts swigging booze in meetings, everything's fine, they're happy, this is a functional man, with a functional family dynamic with his nieces.

Then we get to Volume 5 and 6 and we see Ruby is very used to Qrow being dragged in blind drunk by strangers and needing to be taken care of. We see that Ruby and Yang are deeply unhappy with Qrow's drinking but also extremely familiar with it. This has been a problem all their lives, but it took three seasons from Qrow's introduction to actually highlight it as such.

Not to be blunt, but your read on Yang seems about as accurate as Tai calling the manifestation of her soul a temper tantrum. Despite the fact her Semblance does not gain power from anger, it just so happens being hurt tends to piss people off. As well as not understanding that she can hit her foes multiple times before she runs out of charge. You are also forgetting her feeling the need to apologize that she reminded Tai of her birth mother. She has complicated feelings on the subject to say the least.

She didn't frame it as being with them, it was in general, because his absence is confusing given Vale's been overrun and they explicitly don't know where he is and that is weird.

Said daughter upon waking up plied him for information, barely even let herself tear up around her uncle and then sought out her recently crippled sister for emotional support & guidance. Said daughter treats him as an afterthought in her letters, did not confide her plans or concerns in him and has explicitly referred to her sister as the one who raised her.

Tai being asleep at her bedside is nice and all, it also means the currently one armed Yang is in her room alone and as before, a gesture does not a parent make. Parenting is being there consistently which Tai very much is not. Especially given he just leaves Yang alone during panic attacks and his idea of helping is to try and get her "Back out there" and to insult her and outright withhold his support until she is "Done moping". His terms, his words, not mine.

No one said he didn't love them. Loving someone doesn't make you good at being a parent however.

I have already addressed these points. Frankly, the idea that all of STRQ and the previous generation have fucked up majorly and its TRWBY's generation who are fixing things and the elder one's who need to change is baked into the narrative themes. Tai cannot and should not be an exception to that and him grudgingly telling Yang a tiny fragment of information about Raven is not the same degree of character growth as Qrow's had.

Your stance that Tai is a solid, functional, generally good dad makes a liar out of our protagonists.

It props up a man who has done nothing but sit at home for the last five volumes while his children fought and died.

It protects a man who has been outright stated to have not kept his family together but needed his eldest daughter to do so.

Your take instead makes both his children into at best, over dramatic brats, and at worst, liars.

Because I again remind you:

Ruby: If you thought we wouldn’t come for you, then you must’ve forgotten who raised me.

genuine question: do people want bad, inconsistent writing? is that it? because that's the only way "taiyang is and always has been a horrible father and yang had to raise ruby all on her own and she resent him for it" makes any damn sense.

like. where's the resentment?

where is yang, while happy that ruby is one step closer to achieving her lifelong dream, feeling just slightly frustrated that she's once again sharing a room with her sister, when going to beacon was supposed to be a place just for her for at least two years without having to watch after ruby and feel guilty over it?

where's the resentment when tai sent zwei to the girls to be taken care of while he's away on a mission, placing that responsibility on yang again? why show yang instead being flippant about the whole ordeal, and shrugging it off like it's nothing, being ready to leave zwei alone in the dorm room for the week they're away because he has the absurd amount of food and a can opener tai provided them?

where's yang bringing up how she had to apparently grow up early because tai wasn't there, when she wanted to be treated like an adult?

where's the resentment when yang was about to leave home under the assumption it was her keeping her father from going after ruby, only to find out he isn't coming with her, once again leaving the responsibility of taking care of ruby on her shoulders?

because the show i watched, it doesn't exist. to even remotely get to that point you'd have to ignore ruby talking about their dad in a way that makes it clear he was present and raising them, you'd have to ignore yang having to wait for him to be out of the house to leave herself once again proving he was present and attentive of them, you'd have to ignore ruby's first happy memory being from that same time period (and with no corresponding sad memory to counter it), you'd have to ignore him reading them bedtime stories and taking them out for boba after school, making sure he's spending time with them even when he's busy with work.

you'd have to ignore that both yang and ruby have a good relationship with their father.

that is not to say tai doesn't have his flaws—every damn character in this show does—, but that's exactly what V4 is about. the rift that existed between yang and taiyang was his refusal to talk about raven and doing his best to prevent her from looking for her. that's it. just compare the difference in tone between yang's "oh, so now we can talk about her?" and "i don't know. some things you just need to be there for." and it's clear as a day where the resentment actually lies.

therein lies the core of the arc between yang and tai, and like many issues between characters in this show, it gets resolved: for the first time ever, he properly talks with yang about raven, and when yang is about to leave, he doesn't try to stop her like he has before; instead, he asks her where she's going, and gives information that might help make her journey easier.

if they intended there to be any lingering resentment from yang, 'boba' was not the way to do it. we know what yang's resentment looks like: anger, snappiness, the like. it's not quiet, almost somber.

they could have written yang treating tai's absence in vacuo as something she has come to expect from him, but they didn't; instead, she wonders why, because she can't fathom what could be more important for their father than being there, in vacuo, with them.

and that alone comes as validation for everyone who has wondered the same: why is tai staying in patch when everyone else is on the move? this is a character we're first properly introduced to as a father who has fallen asleep by his daughter's bedside waiting for her to wake up, a father who is almost brought to tears by relief that both of his daughters are back home and safe.

a father we last saw being absolutely desperate for his daughter to come back on screen when ruby's message cut short.

and beyond brings a sledgehammer and says yes, it is odd that taiyang hasn't left home to be by his daughters' side. wonder why that is, must be something important, wink wink ;)

and if you ask me, that sounds like a pretty damn good "long con", and damn good writing.