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the way winter is completely downtrodden and ridden with guilt, when she originally wouldâve taken the tragedy in stride and kept moving forward. and the way qrow is optimistic and hopeful, when originally he would have blamed himself and drank his problems away. the way they contrast each other. winterâs only seeing the horrible parts of their situation and qrow is seeing the bright parts. the way theyâve both GROWN so much from how they used to be. iâll NEVER shut up about these characters.
snow leopard is an amazing ship because old woman yuri, old people bisexuality, and the absolutely funny situation where Blake stops being an only child but only for her siblings to be the same people she used to commit literal terrorism against for the best part of her early teens.
As someone who is both an older sister and raised their younger sibling, let me tell you why this scene was so good
It would be so easy to misinterpret Yangâs protectiveness over Blake here, but thatâs not whatâs happening. Weâve always seen Ruby as happy-go-lucky, follow-your-heart and do-the-right-thing, and itâs easy to forget that Yang raised Ruby, and the implied subtext there is that it *wasnât* always sunshine and rainbows.
Yes, Yang is protective over her newfound relationship. Yes, sheâll maybe feel a little wounded that her sister is lashing out. But what we see here is Yang shifting ever so subtly into mother-mode. Yang knows this isnât about Blake, or her and Blakeâs relationship, sheâs stepping in front of Blake to protect her before Ruby can say or do something she regrets. In essence, protecting both of them and trying to control the situation from escalating. Yang is stepping in front because she can take it, sheâs GIVING her someone to yell at, because god knows sheâs probably had to, at some point, take some lip in the past while the others have only ever known her as a strong, positive leader. She doesnât shout at Ruby, sheâs calm, lets her get it out and just looks sternly with a simple âHey!â as in, âhey, thatâs enough nowâ.Â
Yang has expressed concern, and is concerned, but this is 100% Yang shifting into parent mode. This is brilliant because earlier in the episode and even last episode weâve seen examples of Yangâs âconcerned big sisterâ side which is soft and supportive. Thereâs no malice in Yangâs expression, and itâs difficult to catch it because we havenât had the best representations of âgood mothersâ in the show, especially not ones that have had to chastise their kids at some point, but you can bet your ass that this is Yangâs parental mode stepping in to bring calm and stability to a chaotic situation. And that doesnât always present as âletâs hug this outâ, sometimes itâs stern, tough love and recognising that the younger one isnât in the space to receive comfort, so the best you can do for them is diffuse the situation and be an authoritative voice of reason because she recognises her sisterâs fragile mental state.
This is without going into how amazing Rubyâs portrayal was. Going after your sisterâs new relationship is RAW, and personal, but itâs also what siblings do - they lash out sometimes when theyâre under stress. The way Ruby says âweâre sOoOo happy for you by the way good for youâ - just SMACKS of younger sibling cutting loose and saying something they donât mean, which makes Yangâs response all the more realistic for me. She recognises the tone, the almost-petulance and steps in before it can go any further.
Itâs so subtle, but it SPOKE to me so massive kudos to Miles Luna and the animators for this. And god bless the clowns that use it as some sort of Anti-Bees discourse - the nuance is entirely lost on you.