i think i finally figured out why magnus being put into a parental role for angus doesn’t sit right with me, but i’m much more willing to put taako into one
their interactions towards angus when judged against their own internal characterization are wildly different.
Magnus is objectively a nicer person than taako, so his interactions with Angus from that viewpoint seem to highlight the negative aspects of it. Magnus teases and mocks Angus a lot, and a lot of the time they don’t come off as jokes. at least, no more than any ‘teasing’ type of bullying can come off as a joke. it’s not particularly over the top, it’s keep away and kick me signs and just stereotypical mean stuff to do to a kid. which isn’t horrible, mind you, it’s the kind of stuff an older brother would pull, which is how magnus sees himself to Angus.
Magnus is the ‘Good’ one out of thbs tho, (good in the most hilarious and loose of ways of course) and so it sticks out when he treats Angus like this. Furthermore, he never apologizes to Angus and never seems to reflect on how his actions make him ‘kind of a turd’ in Travis’s own words. so there stands to be no reason to expect magnus to really change in the way he interacts with Angus, still keeping up a teasing, playful older brother who will wrestle with you and steal your stuff, but ultimately cares about you
Taako on the other hand, taako is not a nice person. Taako knows he’s not a nice person and has no real desire to change that about himself. So comparing that to how he treats Angus, it stands to highlight the good by contrast. Taako teases Angus along with the rest of the boys at first, but is also the first to take him seriously and defend him against those goofs. The ‘monologue’ during the magic training is so over the top and dramatic it’s much more clearly a joke than magnus’s constant prods. Taako is also an incredibly encouraging teacher i could get into taako and teaching but let’s save that for another day. encouraging and patient are not normally things you would ascribe to taako, but he proves himself to be both of those things when teaching angus magic
finally, taako attempts to apologize and make up for the way he acts towards angus. not in words, mind you, taako’s not emotionally honest enough to do anything like that, but it’s canon that he starts teaching angus magic because he feels bad about how he treated Angus. he sees the teasing as ribbing, so it’s not so much that, but also, with the way taako teases angus it’s a lot more like that? he doesn’t go as far as magnus or merle does, and consistently does treat angus as as equal. this isn’t to say taako would be a good dad, he’s certainly not a dad type of guy, but he seems to take angus himself into consideration a lot more than magnus does.
having either character as a parental figure to angus can be fun, but i’ve seen posts saying that people thinking taako would be a good guardian must’ve had their fingers in their ears while listening to the podcast, and that’s just plain ain’t true. taako consistently goes out of his way to be good to angus when it would’ve been more in line with his perceived characterization of being selfish and uncaring to not, much more than magnus does
