Taiyang Xiao Long

Taiyang Xiao Long is the father of Yang Xiao Long and Ruby Rose. He is mentioned to be a teacher at Signal Academy on the island of Patch where the girls grew up.

Appearance
Taiyang is a man with blond hair that has two small strands sticking out from the top and blue eyes which look lilac in the old Team STRQ photo. His facial hair consists of a soul patch and a small stubble along his jawline. On his right arm is a tattoo similar to a heart. His hair was once a bright shade of gold, but in his older age it has notably grayed somewhat, still blond, but just far more subdued.

He wears brown cargo shorts with a dark brown belt, black shoes, a red bandana on his left arm, and a brown leather vest over a tan dress shirt with the right sleeve cut off. For armor, he wears a metal spaulder, leather vambrace, and a brown fingerless glove, all on his right arm.

In his younger days, he did not have his facial hair or his tattoo, he wore an orange bandana around his left arm rather than a red one and wore brown cargo pants rather than shorts.

Personality
Taiyang is said to be a bit overprotective by both of his daughters, yet still open and caring. His attitude towards helping others in need was passed along to his children too. He appears to have an eccentric side, as he is stated to do things like sending the family pet Zwei through the mail all the time.

During his period of mourning the disappearance and possible passing of Summer Rose, Yang said he "shut down", showing that he valued her presence greatly and was devastated by her loss. His over-protectiveness of his daughters likely stems from both this and the incident where they were almost slaughtered by Beowolves, had their uncle Qrow Branwen not been around to save them.

Given his eccentric side, the fact that he decided to train Yang as Ruby said in "Round One" and that he let both of his daughters become Huntresses, it is likely he managed to move on from his emotional breakdown to become a better father.

In "Family", he is shown to be very sociable, as he is seen talking and having laughs with Peter Port and Bartholomew Oobleck at his house. Taiyang can also be blunt, albeit in a good-natured way, toward his daughter. This trait is shown further in "Two Steps Forward, Two Steps Back", when he discusses the flaws in Yang's fighting style during a sparring session and suggests an alternative approach.

Powers and Abilities
Taiyang is a fully-trained Huntsman and went on dangerous missions with his team. He now teaches at a combat school, Signal Academy, and takes on missions from time to time. It was stated by Ruby in "Round One" that he taught Yang how to fight. In "Two Steps Forward, Two Steps Back", he is shown sparring with his older daughter in hand-to-hand combat.

His strength is shown when he knocks Yang back in the same episode with a single punch, despite her blocking the attack. He is also very durable, able to take a blow from Yang's robotic fist and still remain standing, despite skidding back several feet in the process.

Trivia
For information on choices for the character made by the creators, see Taiyang Xiao Long/Behind the Scenes.
 * The Chinese transcription of his name, Tàiyáng Xiǎolóng (Simplified: 太阳小龙; Traditional: 太陽小龍) can be translated literally to "Sun Little Dragon". This has the same literal meaning as Yang's name; the characters tài yang (太阳) together mean Sun. tài (太) on its own can be a grammatical intensifier analogous to "very", or an adjective roughly meaning "excessive", "big", or can be used to refer to elders within the family, which gives the possible translation of "Elder Yang Xiao Long".
 * Taiyang is the second family member within Ruby and Yang's family to be a professor at Signal, the other being their uncle Qrow.
 * Taiyang shares his color scheme with his daughter, Yang.