#One moment without Tay really got him tweaking

[mishoarts]

[ep 89 spoilers]

man..

He did freak out-

like I CAN SWEAR I SEE HIM TEARING

LOOKING AT HIM I KNOW ONE MORE MINUTE AND HE WOULD'VE BEEN DEAD

[dragynkeep]

(Sorry for dragging this topic back but) I don’t think Taiyang is abusive. However, I’m personally annoyed with how flippantly the show treats Taiyang’s parenting because its so half assed [how they depict it], me thinks. Granted, I haven’t watched past Volume 3, so that might be coloring my perception and I don’t have all the details, but it would have been so much better showing the effects of Yang taking care of Ruby at a young age, and Ruby being taken care of by someone literally 2 years older than her, with Taiyang absent and Qrow presumably away a lot.

Firstly, the show is way too ambiguous with it. How does Ruby feel about it? How does Qrow? Hell, does Taiyang ever talk to Yang about that? Is there even some sort of “sorry I was kind of out of it in your formative years” “Hey, don’t worry about it, since you’re here now and I know you’re doing your best and I’m glad we’re talking about it now”???

What did Yang have to do to help? Did she have to make Ruby’s breakfast and/or her own? Did she have to take her to and from school? Help her get showered? Clean their room? Wash their clothes? Could this tie into Yang’s recklessness and supposed overprotectiveness? Was there a babysitter? How much does Qrow contribute to their household and in what way(s)? What would have let Taiyang leave a cabin of two kids in/near the woods in a world where creatures like Grimm exist (was someone supposed to be watching them, did Tai have an emergency, did he just up and fucking leave, how long was he gone, was Qrow there, etc)? I know some of these are uncharitable perspectives but we aren’t getting any details and this stuff happens far more often than people think.

It just hits too close to my own home situation, where my mom would literally be in the house and not help with chores or talk to us much, but just stay in her room on hours long calls with her neighbor while adultifying my older sister, because my mom was also an adultified first born girl and refuses to deal with that, and seeing the show just drop this plot point without explaining how we got from Taiyang being sad to Taiyang being Best Dad (TM) is actually triggering to me.

I think another reason why people don’t like Taiyang is the same reason why people don’t like Ozpin, and that’s because the show gives these nonsensically contradicting traits or moments or descriptions, and its so confusing that its easier to do the time-old RWBY fan manouver and just tweak each scene to how you originally percieved the character.

Is Ozpin a manipulative shadow leader or a tragic figure who just wanted to help the world? I dunno, the show’s too busy trying to get people mad about BIIIIIIRDS to actually deal with either the fact that Ozpin willingly sent a bunch of first years to a third year mission to stop terrorists who then cause The Breach, or the fact that Salem abused him.

Is Taiyang a parent genuinely trying his best or a neglectful jerk who can’t even see his kids at the Vytal Tournament? I dunno, I know literally nothing about this man except he shows up at the ass end of Volume 3 and start of Volume 4, and any meaningful description of what he might be as a parent is muddled by the fact that his kids love him but he invites Peter the creepy teacher and tricked Qrow into wearing a skirt because “MaN sKiRt FuNnY”. I don’t know what I’m supposed to feel about him, there’s really both too much and too little going on with him.

honestly agree, & this seems to be a consistent problem with a lot of peripheral characters like the parents where we're told one thing & shown another. the belladonnas are another excellent example of it where like, we're told they're amazing parents & they love blake more than anything but also didn't do anything when she ran away to a supposed terrorist organization, exposed her to violent protests as a child, told her it was her job to tame violent men around her as a woman, & allowed her to blame herself for all the trauma she's carried for years.

shown one thing, told another. should be rwby's motto really.

[tonyglowheart]

 so. Here’s my thing about CQL and Lan Qiren, specifically in terms of the “300 strokes with the iron rod” after Nightless City/Burial Mounds “siege” in The Untamed, and also how this reflects on Lan Wangji’s character:

I think CQL actually kind of does Lan Qiren a disservice. I mean strict parenting is... sort of a Thing in Asian cultures to begin with, so there’s some measure of that in his portrayal, but the whole way the discipline stick beatings are framed in CQL, I think, gives it more space for Western viewers to really think it’s unreasonable & like he’s some kind of tyrannical parent? When really I think a lot of that is down to the framing and to the gaps in explanation where The Untamed either handwaves away an explanation or parallels the novel beats without really hanging the moments off the rest of THEIR plot construction very well?

and like I know the whole “CQL Lan Qiren vs novel Lan Qiren” thing is a joke, but like... CQL legit kind of makes no sense to me in the framing lol. Or like, I CAN make some sense of it, but it comes at the expense of Lan Qiren’s character a bit :/

Regarding Lan Wangji’s punishment for “causing a mess” at Luanzang Gang, he got 300 strokes with the iron rod, right? vs in the novel, where he got 33 strokes with the discipline whip because he injured 33 elders when he was defending Burial Mounds

but because of the way The Untamed tweaked the timeline, it’s....kind of odd why Lan Wangji was even in the Mounds to begin with. I guess the framing of it was “well we don’t know for sure that Wei Wuxian is dead, so maybe he might show up here” (except...what’s the distance between Nightless City and LZG? Is that even reasonable to expect? anyway_

And also, we get this story second-hand from LXC, but the framing.......is again, odd to me.

LXC VO starts off by saying remember Qiongqi Path, and when the...whole Wen clan remnants to Jinlin Tai for some reason (even though they SAID only Wen Qing and Wen Ning needed to go? and at first I thought it was “o they’re seeing them off” but then turns out... the Wens all went.... all the way......to get killed.....whyyyy...) but then it “flashes” back to Su She confronting LWJ at LZG? And the whole sequence plays out, whatever. We know for sure this happens after WY falls bc Su She and later JGY mention lines about him being dead/even if he survived, we have the place surrounded. I guess it’s less of a siege and more of a.....they’re guarding the place in case he decides to go back? but then damningly (for LQR, and for LWJ) is that JGY...calls everyone off. and we see them go. and this is a flashback bit and not LXC narrating, so even though the flashback and VO are a bit contradictory in tone, it seems like the flashback stuff is framed as “the real events”? even though they’re choppily shown?

so then... who exactly did Lan Wangji fight? and... why? the original explanation is WWX was injured in there, so it literally was a siege, and LWJ was standing outside protecting him. And the other clans were trying to bust into the cave to get to WWX, which is why LWJ was fighting them, and it’s in the course of that where he injured the 33 Lan Sect elders.

but in The Untamed.... JGY walks off... we see LWJ collapse down dramatically... and then Lan Xichen says “LWJ fought in Burial Mounds and made a mess” why is why Uncle punished him...

but again we don’t SEE any of that, and really, the only people he seems to fight, maybe, is Su She’s people, so. that’s what makes... Lan Qiren’s punishment seem more “unreasonable” in The Untamed. Since in CQL, it seems like LQR really was punishing LWJ for associating with WWX, and that’s it.

The other thing tho, is the 300 strokes with the iron rod. I mean the thing is, it’s not a whip on bare back; it’s an iron rod over all of his layers of clothing. So... sure, by the time you get to 300, maaaybe that’ll cause some skin breakage and bleeding? I don’t know, I’m not sure how beatings work :’)  (and anyway the stokes were mostly horizontal to the ground, so how did he have slanty whip-like scars? *handwave* uhhhh.... Just Roll With It(TM) )

the thing about 300 strokes is, I mean he already got 300 with the wood discipline stick for drinking, so his later one couldn’t be any less than that. And the thing about cultivators is, they’re stronger/more resilient/harder to injure than your vanilla human. Plus, like we’re not really *shown* the full punishment, so lowkey the inflated numbers are also for a sense of drama too.

But yeah to me the framing of LWJ guarding in front of the (empty) Burial Mounds........ is incredibly odd in terms of LWJ’s characterization, but I guess it makes some kind of sense if I’m assuming that CQL ! LWJ actually is, apparently, a deeply sentimental person, and moved to these kinds of outrageous gestures. I’d previously been working under a more... practical model of LWJ characterization, in which this would be kind of OOC, but I guess....CQL makes tweaks that give us a more WWX-centered and more sentimental Lan Wangji... (which isn’t. necessarily... bad it’s just something I need to adjust my own thinking to and accepting, since if I’m seeing CQL as its own separate ‘verse and less novel-adjacent, then like... instead of these beats being “OOC warnings,” it instead becomes... a formation of a different character structure, a LWJ that’s more... 16 years of Inquiry focused :/ )

[destinychose-a1]

*      @thuskindlyiscatter​​​​​​​​​​​ sent a message :     “Just hold me for a while. Please.” QROWWWWWW

↳    𝐏𝐇𝐘𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐋 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐂𝐓    /    𝐀𝐂𝐂𝐄𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 !

qrow  has  never  doubted  ruby’s  strength.  it  always  seems  to  show  itself  in  the  face  of  adversity,  often  in  the  most  unexpected  of  ways,  from  remaining  optimistic  no  matter  how  bleak  the  scenario  to  standing  up  for  what  she  believes  is  right  rather  than  taking  the  easy  way  out.  she’s  constantly  growing  and  evolving,  ever  striving  to  hone  her  skills  or  searching  for  a  way  to  cultivate  new  ones.  she’s  the  perfect  embodiment  of  her  semblance,  in  more  ways  than  one.

he  couldn’t  be  prouder  of  her.

though,  to  him,  ruby  will  always  be  the  adorable  little  girl  who  clung  to  his  legs  and  stared  up  at  him  with  stars  in  her  eyes  as  he  regaled  her  with  the  (  somewhat  embellished  and  heavily  tweaked  to  make  things  a  little  more  child - friendly  )  tales  of  his  missions,  the  little  girl  who  was  so  determined  to  master  the  scythe  and  become  a  huntress,  just  like  her  mother.

maybe  that’s  why  it’s  so  unbearable  to  see  her  like  this  ;  with  the  wind  ripped  from  her  sails  and  her  arms  drawn  close  to  her  body  —  making  her  seem  even  smaller  than  usual  —  her  ever - present  smile  replaced  with  a  trembling  lower  lip  as  she  whispers  a  quiet  plea  that  makes  his  heart  squeeze.  he’s  reminded,  not  for  the  first  time,  just  how  young  ruby  truly  is.  no  kid  her  age  should  have  to  experience  the  things  she  has  or  learn  of  the  true  horrors  behind  a  parent’s  death,  but  the  world  is  cruel  and  harsh.  it  has  no  mercy  on  the  weak  or  the  strong.  it  treats  everybody  equally,  for  better  or  worse,  and  cares  little  for  the  pain  it  inflicts.

a  gentle  sigh  eases  between  qrow’s  lips  as  he  loops  an  arm  around  ruby’s  tiny  frame  and  carefully,  yet  somewhat  awkwardly  draws  her  close.  he  grimaces  at  his  own  uncertainty,  tightening  his  hold  on  his  niece.  tai  is  usually  the  one  to  offer  comfort  and  has  a  knack  of  always  seeming  to  know  what  to  say,  something  that  qrow  knows  he’s  severely  lacking  in.

he’s  never  been  any  good  at  this  kind  of  stuff.  he  never  really  had  the  opportunity  to  be.  after  all,  before  the  girls  came  along,  he’d  almost  forgotten  what  it  means  to  have  a  family,  to  have  people  he  loves  and  desperately  wants  to  protect.  but  he  knows  now,  without  a  doubt  or  a  moment’s  hesitation,  that  he  would  happily  relive  the  worst  moments  of  his  life  over  and  over  again  if  it  meant  he  could  somehow  ease  the  burden  from  ruby’s  small  shoulders  and  offer  her  respite. 

his  own  trauma  —  the  pain  that  eats  away  at  his  bones  and  threatens  to  destroy  him  from  the  inside  out  even  at  this  very  moment  —  means  nothing  in  comparison. 

❝   you  got  it,  kiddo.   ❞   qrow  murmurs,  tilting  his  head  to  the  side  and  resting  his  cheek  against  her  hair.   ❝   m’not  goin’  anywhere.   ❞