A defense of Taiyang Xiao Long, and explaining why Yang Xiao Long isn’t a Mary Sue
https://sunder-the-gold.tumblr.com/post/190588163118
Responding to @wingzeroalchemist’s accusations against Taiyang Xiao Long and myself, but as an independent post to respect @kusnilive’s wishes. Also without any of the profanity, name-calling, or personal accusations. Seriously, this is a fictional show, there’s no need to try hurting real people.
@psykoknight65 and @dystopian-overture might also appreciate this. I’ll go ahead and tag @bumblebutts-5 as well.
Okay, so. There’s a gross misunderstanding going on here, driven at least partially by people who don’t respect Yang and who twist her father’s words to put her down. Ironically, that includes some people who actually like Yang.
Taiyang knows Yang is strong and resilient. When Ruby asked if Yang was okay, he reassured her, “She’s too strong to let this stop her.“
Taiyang also knows Yang is smart, and he’s fiercely proud of her. “You’re Yang Xiao Long, my sunny little dragon. You can do whatever you put your mind to.”
“You’ve always been one to burn brighter than everyone else…”
“Raven was great in so many ways - her strength, her ambition, her dedication to whatever cause she thought was worth fighting for. I’m proud of how much of her I see in you.”
So, anyone who listens to Taiyang and thinks Yang isn’t already amazing is an idiot. And if you don’t think Taiyang loves and admires his daughter, you’re going to misinterpret everything about him.
You’re going to ignore how much of Taiyang you should be seeing in Yang when she flirts with Junior right before taking him by the balls and demanding he call her “sir”, then flirting with him again to trick him into kissing her sucker punch. Raven had no part in that; that’s all Taiyang’s sense of humor. That’s the result of being raised by a man who will make a joke about Yang’s dismemberment because he knows she’s tough enough to find it funny. These two have been physically beating on each other for fun for years; they don’t pull punches when they talk, either.
When Yang is getting ready to leave, Taiyang puts on an act like she needs his permission first, and Yang smirks and challenges him to stop her, and he’s amused when he admits he’s not going to do that. They’re posturing with each other. This is a familiar game they’re playing. Taiyang’s earlier joke about her arm was an invitation to return to that jocular game of shit-talking and posing and dominance displays that Yang found so comfortable before Adam made her afraid.
Yang is half her mother, but she’s also half her father, especially since Raven had nothing to do with raising her, and even if Taiyang shut down for a time, he’s still been there for Yang longer than Summer Rose was. So, more than half of what you love about Yang Xiao Long comes from Taiyang Xiao Long.
But you and Taiyang ought to agree that Yang isn’t perfect. She didn’t peak in the Yellow Trailer, or there would be no reason for her to attend Beacon Academy. Smart as she is, there’s always more for her to learn, and at 17 years old, she doesn’t have the wisdom and experience that she will have by the end of the series.
I don’t need to compare Yang to anyone else, because no one else is Yang. I don’t need to excuse or condemn anyone else’s behavior.
I’m not out to prove Yang is stupid. Yang doesn’t have to be stupid to be imperfect. Yang can be smart and still have room to grow.
Yang’s Semblance is a part of her, and Taiyang admires it like every other part of Yang. “It’s great when you’re in a bind… Your Semblance is a great fallback…”
Yang’s Semblance is unusual in that she cannot normally use it. Others can spend Aura directly to fuel their Semblances, but Yang needs to lose Aura from taking damage first. It’s a “revenge” effect, which is what he’s getting at when he calls it “basically a temper tantrum”.
Well, that and segueing into talking about her actual temper. The predictable temper that Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald manipulated so that she broke Mercury’s leg instead of just batting him aside or retreating to a safe distance. The temper that no one in the audience questioned after watching her behavior in the Doubles Round. But I’ll get to that later.
Taiyang didn’t tell Yang to never use her Semblance. He reminded her that she can’t afford to rely on it the way that other people can. It’s great in that it basically lets her “double-spend” in a way that no one else can. Ruby has to pay twice to use her Semblance and absorb a hit, but Yang can use the price of absorbing a hit to pay the price of activating her Semblance.
Yang didn’t wait to the last moment with the Malachite Twins. She used her Semblance immediately after gaining a charge and took each of them out as quickly as possible. She did the same with Junior. But against Neo, Neon, and Mercury?
Yang waited too long against Neo, and got knocked out before she ever used her Semblance. Yang waited too long against Neon, until Weiss got taken out and the fight became 2-on-1. Yang waited until the last second with Mercury, and if he hadn’t been trying to throw the match, he probably would have put her at the disqualifying percentage instead of leaving her just 1% above it; and she can’t use her Semblance to win if she’s already lost.
Yang isn’t some perfect Mary Sue. She can lose. She can make mistakes. This allows her to be a hero, by giving her the opportunity to rise up from defeat and adapt to succeed.
Taiyang also warned her that she can’t rely on her Semblance to always make her strong and fast enough. Which it obviously didn’t against Adam Taurus the first time.
But Yang learned from that. The next time, she baited him into making the same mistake she made back then; charging straight at an enemy who was ready and waiting to counter-attack with a full Super Meter. She’d never done that before.
Yes, she’d used a grab to render a target unable to dodge a super-punch before, against Melanie in the Yellow Trailer. But she didn’t bait Melanie into exhausting herself over a whole fight while Yang built up her Meter. Yang had never needed to do with anyone but Adam.
But going back to tricks Yang has done before, let’s address the point that Yang had used a ground-breaking attack in the Yellow Trailer, well before her father’s advice or before she used it against Elm.
So why didn’t she do it to Neon Katt before Weiss got taken out? Oh yes, she used it after Flynt defeated Weiss, but not before. And yes, Yang tricked Neon Katt into the rough terrain of the Geyser Field where her skates would be useless… but only after Flynt defeated Weiss.
Why did Yang stay and fight Neon Katt in the Urban Ruins biome, or in the center stage, where the smooth floors gave Neon the advantage? Yang could have retreated into the Geyser Field or the Volcano Field and Neon wouldn’t be able to follow her, and going to the Volcano Field would have allowed Yang to assist Weiss with Flynt. If Neon tried to keep her from escaping, Yang could use her Semblance to fuel a super-jump and used Ember Celica to turn it into a flight – like she did later in that very fight, in order to push through Flynt’s air-blast.
The Doubles Round isn’t about having two Gentleman’s Duels at the same time. Flynt and Neon had the better teamwork; they each singled out the opponents in whose heads they could easily get, and then made sure to fight those opponents in fields where they had the disadvantage. Flynt locked down Yang and let Neon knock her into the Urban Ruins where her skates would work best, and then Flynt tricked Weiss into the Volcano field where her Ice Dust specialty would be weakest. Then as soon as Flynt defeated Weiss, he rejoined Neon to help her seal the victory.
So why didn’t Yang break the floor against Elm sooner?
Honestly, in her place, I wouldn’t have been sure it would work, either. Surely one of Atlas’s Finest would have trained for the possibility of fighting on a broken floor, right? Could Elm grow roots deep enough to reach the foundation remaining under the rubble?
But then Yang incidentally broke the floor when she smashed Vine into it, and then she clearly saw for herself that Elm couldn’t deal with it. So of course, the next time Yang had an opportunity, she tapped into her Semblance and smashed that broken floor hard enough to send Elm flying into the air where she would be most vulnerable. Even if Elm had weathered the following attacks, the more-thoroughly shattered floor would have sealed her defeat.
theartofmadeline
stormborns
discoholicmusic
tangentwithtanner
jacobvanloon
andulkaphoto
