#raven/tai is the equivalent of a divorced freezerburn | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

anthurak · 2 years

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Not the Bird You’re Thinking Of...

When thinking of Team STRQ as a ‘previous generation’ version of Team RWBY, it feels like a pretty common held take among the fandom at this point that Raven was the ‘Blake’ of her team, in the same way it seems pretty clear that Summer paralleled Ruby and Tai paralleled Yang. And it’s certainly been easy to draw some links between Blake and Raven, particularly when paralleling Blake’s relationship with Yang to Raven’s relationship with Tai.

I mean I’ll freely admit that I myself was one-hundred-percent on-board with this take back when the end of Volume 3 seemed to pull a ‘history repeats’ trope with Blake abandoning Yang in a way that felt very similar to Raven abandoning Tai. Which continued through Volume 5 where it seemed like the story was setting up Blake/Yang as a foil to Raven/Tai, with Blake returning to Yang, where Raven didn’t return to Tai.

However, more recently I’ve started to question how well this current interpretation of Team STRQ=Team RWBY actually works with what we now know of the characters. Like if nothing else, this current setup of Summer=Ruby, Tai=Yang and Raven=Blake leaves Qrow being the equivalent to Weiss, which I think we can all agree is… a head-scratching comparison to say the least.

Now to be fair, I do think the parallels between Summer-Ruby and Tai-Yang are still solid. Rather, it’s the supposed parallels between Raven and Blake that I’m questioning.

See, when you start looking past the surface-level ‘Raven did something similar to what Blake did’ parallels and start comparing these two as actual characters and people, things start getting pretty sketchy.

Yes, both fit the ‘dark, edgy loner’ trope, but beyond that are some serious differences. Blake is quiet and withdrawn whereas Raven is brusque and standoffish. Blake often acts humble while Raven often acts superior. And whereas Blake is so often self-deprecating and wallowing in self-pity for any wrongs she believes she may have committed (see Volume 4), Raven tries to blame others for her mistakes and runs away from responsibility. Ask yourself, does it really make sense that Blake could feasibly grow into the kind of person we see Raven as in Volume 4 and 5? Personally, I don’t think it really does.

And the best part is, do you know who IS so often quiet, withdrawn, brooding and has shown a serious self-deprecation and wallowing-in-self-pity problem in recent volumes?

Qrow.

So yeah, I actually think that it’s QROW who makes a way better parallel to Blake on Team STRQ than Raven does. And let’s not forget that Qrow ALSO put his absolute trust and faith behind a leader who ultimately let him down in a huge way. Even their weapons feels similar from a certain point of view, both having a sword-mode, the gun-form of Qrow’s weapon functioning like a handgun, and the sickle-form of Blake’s weapon more or less serving as a miniature scythe. Plus, I feel like growing up into basically the James Bond of Remnant fits Blake way better than Raven.

Oh, and this shift ALSO fixes the confusing element I brought up earlier. Because you know who was brusque and standoffish and acted like she knew better than everyone else at the start of the show?

Weiss.

Just as Qrow makes a way better parallel to Blake on Team STRQ, I think Raven likewise makes a very good parallel to Weiss. Certainly a better parallel than Qrow does. When we look at Raven in Volumes 4 and 5 and consider what we’ve heard about her, I think it makes way more sense that she would have been more like Weiss in the teams Beacon days. Oh, and let’s not forget that Raven’s weapon is a dust-infused sword with a rotating chamber just like Weiss’s.

And when we start extrapolating these changes to the character dynamics of Team STRQ, I think we start seeing a LOT of interesting parallels to the dynamics of Team RWBY. Particularly when we think of Team STRQ as the ‘failed’ version of Team RWBY who made the wrong decisions.

Like one of the things that made Qrow paralleling Weiss so confusing is that what little we’ve heard of his relationship with Summer doesn’t mesh that well with Weiss’s dynamic with Ruby. But with Qrow paralleling Blake, suddenly the way he talks about Summer makes a LOT more sense. Qrow seems to hold a great admiration and respect for Summer, saying ‘she was always the best of us’ and seems to have also had a close, platonic affection towards her. Which lines up very well with how fiercely loyal Blake has shown to be towards Ruby in recent volumes and in particular their conversation in Volume 8 when Blake tells Ruby how much she admires and respects her.

And of course, even the scant amount of info we have about Raven’s relationship with Summer makes a lot more sense paralleling to Weiss’s and Ruby’s relationship. Like if we start looking at Raven as at least partially representing a version of Weiss who lost Ruby, I think a LOT of her behavior and actions start making a lot more sense.

Now the one wrinkle with this whole idea I know a lot people are going to bring up is; ‘How can Raven be the Weiss of Team STRQ when her and Tai’s relationship parallels Bumbleby?’

Well consider this: What if Raven and Tai didn’t actually HAVE a relationship? If we start working from the concept of Team STRQ being a version of Team RWBY who made the wrong decisions, what if Raven and Tai trying to get together was one of those? I’ve brought this up in other posts, but I have a hunch at this point that Yang was an unplanned pregnancy. The product of what was supposed to be some one-night-stand between Raven and Tai which drove them into trying to force a relationship that one or both of them didn’t actually want. Which in turn is at least one of the major reasons Raven fled her team after Yang was born.

Raven’s and Tai’s relationship was never going to work because they’re NOT actually the parallel to Bumbleby on Team STRQ. The parallel to Bumbleby on Team STRQ is Qrow and Tai.

Even from what little we’ve seen, I think Qrow and Tai actually do make sense as a kind of ‘failed’ Bumbleby. A version of Blake and Yang who were never able to open up about how they felt for each other and have just been dancing around their feelings for so long they’ve just given up. A version of Blake who’s fully internalized the idea that he doesn’t deserve to be happy and the man he loves would be better off without him, and a version of Yang who at this point has just given up. And you know that parallel of Raven running away from Tai? Well I’d say it’s pretty clear that Qrow has been running away from Tai just as much.

This also smooths out any prospective reconciliation arc between Raven and Tai. I’ve seen a fair bit of debate since Volume 5 as to whether or not Raven and Tai ‘should’ get ‘back together’ or not after everything that’s happened. Instead, with this setup the reconciliation arc becomes Raven and Tai recognizing that they were never going to work as a couple and being able to accept each other as Teammates and family.

All in all, I think this interpretation of Team STRQ’s parallels to Team RWBY lines up with the characters much better. With Qrow we have an equivalent to Blake who parallels her character traits much more smoothly, and with Raven we have, well a parallel to Weiss that actually works. (let’s be honest; Qrow NEVER worked as a Team STRQ equivalent to Weiss).

Oh, and if anyone familiar with my other theories is wondering if my attraction to this interpretation of Team STRQ is at ALL influenced by the fact that it positions Summer and Raven as being both partners AND parallels to the relationship between Ruby and Weiss, and leaves things open for a certain relationship between these two that in turn sets up a certain possible origin for our main heroine AND presents foreshadowing for Ruby and Weiss themselves getting together?

You are EXACTLY right. XD

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