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Am I the only one who genuinely loves The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl?

Like, I know a lot of people don’t think highly of the movie, and it didn’t do very well. But I genuinely enjoy this movie. I mean the movie is kinda goofy and ridiculous, but that’s kinda the point and all the over the top acting, PS2 CGI and all around cheesiness give the movie a certain charm to it, making it genuinely fun and enjoyable to watch. George Lopez as Mr. Electric and Jacob Davich as Linus are just hilarious to watch, they knew exactly what type of movie this was and didn’t hold back. I mean who could forget this masterpiece of acting.

Both lead actors Taylor Launter and Taylor Dooley (the Taylors as I’m gonna call them) also do a genuinely great job portraying the characters.

Taylor Launter (A.K.A. Jacob from Twilight) really goes ham on this film, it’s really over the top (to the point of literally chewing the scenery) but it’s a really enjoyable over the top performance, if you know what I mean and he has a good range of emotion in this, if that makes sense. Also this song will always be a banger!

Additionally Taylor Dooley’s performance is also a good one. There’s a certain wholesomeness to her.

It’s much more calm and reserved than Launter’s, but I kinda like that, it helps the two to balance each other out, and is also a neat subversion of the fire character being hot tempered and the water character being calm. I also like how her calmness contrasts with her destructive power and her arc of finding a productive use for them. It’s nothing groundbreaking or nothing, but the movie has a good amount of set ups and pay-offs.

But all in all, I think this movie works so well is because it’s literally based on the dreams that a child had. Robert Rodriguez essentially based the film on the dreams of his son Racer Max Rodriguez, and the movie genuinely feels like a dream a child would have, and I mean that in a good way. It explains why everything is so bright and over the top, why everything looks unreal and animated, even a lot of the dialogue was literally written by a child. Some might find this a bad thing, but I don’t know, I myself find this endearing, like looking into the mind of a child, it makes the movie feel like a passion project and it is.

Just check out the behind the scenes video about the making of the movie, as I said before, there’s a certain wholesomeness in the film, and that combined with how entertaining the over the top ridiculousness of everything makes this one of my favorite movies of all time.

And with that statement I’m ready to lose whatever credibility I may have, but I don’t care.

Sharkboy and Lavagirl FOREVER!

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Watched Raise Your Voice in honor of its 20th anniversary and it was SO GOOD! Definitely Hilary Duff’s best performance.

LOVE THIS MOVIE!

I FINALLY got around to watch Hilary Duff’s movie, Raise Your Voice and it was amazing. 10/10. It was a great movie with excellent chemistry, great songs and brilliant display of the love of music, family and romance. Plus Someone’s Watching Over Me is one of best performances by Hilary Duff, my second favorite after What Dreams Are Made Of.

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Rant incoming

I feel like the problem with a lot of Disney's live action remakes (and arguably Wish) is they're trying to appeal to a crowd that no longer exists, namely the people who used to claim that the Disney Princesses were sexist.

All the interviews tend to include, "Well she's not chasing a MAN anymore" which...almost no one sees the princesses like that, anymore. Virtually NO ONE still believes the princesses are man-chasing sexist caricatures of women.

Cinderella is now hailed as an abuse victim who stayed strong long enough to get help to get out of her situation. Anyone who says she should have saved herself is basically regarded as a victim blamer. And it's very clear in the film she wasn't looking to marry the prince, she just wanted a night off. She was the only one who wasn't in line to meet him. She didn't find out she met the prince until he went looking for her!

Snow White is now hailed for her negotiation skills, ability to calm down after extreme stress (she had a moment of panic and had to cry for a bit, but who wouldn't after finding out The Queen hired someone to kill you?), and ability to take charge of a house of adult men. And again, she was an abuse victim, this time trying to escape ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS. While she dreamed of her prince, it was secondary to her main goal of SURVIVAL. There are also entire video essays about how Snow White gave hope to people during The Great Depression.

Everyone acknowledges that Ariel wanted to be human BEFORE meeting Eric. We all know she was a nerd hyperfixating on humans, and also standing up to her prejudiced father.

We understand Sleeping Beauty wasn't the main character, the Three Good Fairies were, AND PHILLIP WOULD NEVER HAVE BEATEN MALEFICENT WITHOUT THEM! He literally depended on them! WOMEN SAVED THE DAY! But even then, is it really such a sin for a girl to fantasize about romance and fall for someone with corny pickup lines?

We all understand Jasmine just wanted someone to treat her LIKE A PERSON. She rejected every Prince before Aladdin because they treated her like a prize. So why did they need her to want to be Sultan? How did that make her more feminist when she already wanted to be treated like an equal and have a say in her future? Is it only empowering if you want a career in politics?

We admire that Belle, despite living in a judgemental village, was kind to everyone (even though she found the village life dull), and her story teaches girls that the guy everyone else loves isn't always a good guy. What's sexist about teaching girls about red flags? And she didn't start being nice to The Beast until he started treating her with respect and kindness.

Do I really NEED to defend Mulan or Tiana? I think they speak for themselves.

Rapunzel was yet another abuse victim who just needed a little help to get out of her bad situation. In this case, she also needed to learn that she was an abuse victim, and that what Mother Gothel did WASN'T normal, much like many victims of gaslighting.

And don't get me started on the non-princess animals.

Perdita had a healthy relationship with Pongo to the point she was open to express her pregnancy fears to him, and was ready to TEAR APART Cruella's goons for daring to touch her puppies as well as adopting the other puppies. Like, she was so ferocious the goons mistook her for a hyena! She's basically that "I AM THAT GIRL'S MOTHER!" scene from SpyXFamily if Yor were a dog. She and her husband were a TEAM.....but they made a Cruella live action to turn her into a girlboss?! The literal animal abuser!? THAT'S the woman you wanted to put on a pedestal when Perdita was RIGHT THERE!?

Duchess kept her kittens calm after they had been catnapped and was classy as heck. Nice to everyone regardless of social class during a time period where that was uncommon.

Lady stood up to Tramp when she believed he had abandoned her and didn't really care about her. She found out he was a heartbreaker and was like, "Nuh uh. No. You are not doing that to me! You put me through enough."

Miss Bianca from The Rescuers was IN CHARGE the whole movie, and was willing to risk life and limb to save an innocent child. THAT TINY MOUSE TOOK ON ALLIGATORS! And she picked Bernard to accompany her because he was the only one who wasn't ogling her. And then in the sequel SHE DID IT ALL AGAIN! I wish I were as brave as her.

Like, the public haven't accused these ladies of being sexist caricatures since 2014 (Actresses and actors don't count, they're out of touch like the rest of Hollywood) yet Disney is operating under the assumption that the public still thinks that way, hence all the "sHe'S nOt AfTeR a MaN iN ThIs VeRsIOn" talk.

The live action remakes are trying to attract an audience that doesn't really exist much, anymore, and back when it did exist, was comprised mainly of people who didn't actually watch the films. The Disney princesses are no longer seen as sexist, and feminine qualities are no longer seen as weak or undesirable.

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Rest In Peace Rachael Lillis

You were an amazing voice actress and wonderful person, who made so many people’s childhoods, including mine. You will be severely missed and fondly remembered. I pray you’re at peace and I thank you for all you’ve done.

Rest In Peace Rachael Lillis.

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Someone made a whole @$$ fan-fic idea about Katara being devasted about Aang choosing to save her over The Avatar State.

Okay, like, ignoring the fact Katara was genuinely happy that Aang saved her in Crossraods Of Destiny and actively saw Aang master The Avatar State before being struck. This is such a blatant self-insert. This guy’s a bitter ZK who hates Aang so of course they’re gonna project onto Katara and fantasize about her also hating Aang, but come on, Katara could never.

If Katara DID come to understand the gravity of the situation latter, she more than likely be touched that she meant that much to Aang that he literally put everything aside to save her from danger. And if then she would never actively blame Aang seeing as Azula was the one who struck him dead, Zuko was the one who helped Azula take over. Katara was just happy Aang was okay in the end. Katara not like this spiteful OP, she could never Aang.

I tell ya. Aang Antis have no good takes, zero, nada. They’re all a bunch of entitled, moronic dumb@$$£$. All this hate for one of the most kind hearted character in animation because they’re pissy about their self-insert ship not being canon. Tsk, Tsk, Tsk.

EDIT: The idea that Katara would blame Aang for the people that could’ve been saved in Ba Sing Se is also f*cking stupid take and OP has a complete and fundamental misunderstanding of Katara if they think she’d blame Aang. Seeing as:

As said before, Azula was the one who killed him, if anyone is to blame it’s the colonist.

She forgave Zuko despite him helping Azula attack and take over, and these ZKs always bring this up to act like Zuko’s previous actions mean nothing and can be swept under the rug.

Katara was pissed at an old guy for blaming Aang for the war and she knew that Aang actively ran away from his responsibilities 100 years ago and she still didn’t blame him.

As @wilcze-kudly pointed out Katara was emotionally devastated at Aang leaving her because he wanted to save the world alone, who’s to say Katara would be at least somewhat sad if Aang did actively ignore visions of her in danger, if anything Aang ignoring visions of Katara in danger would just make him look unempathetic and the antis would be upset about that.

As I said before OP blatantly doesn’t understand Katara, if she think Katara would suddenly hate Aang because he briefly gave up mastering The Avatar State to save her, then OP objectively does not understand Katara at all, it’s blatantly self-inserting onto Katara because OP hates Aang for stupid-@$$ reasons and likely wants to f*ck Zuko, so OP wants Katara their self-insert to hate Aang f*ck Zuko.

These weirdos will never beat the self-insert allegations. 🤣

this is hilarious and crazy accurate

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percabeth musical idea:

for the song about their first kiss underwater, in the background you can briefly hear annabeth singing “someone notices me” and percy singing “i am good enough for someone” as call backs to my grand plan/ good kid

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My favorite 2002 movies:

1. Lilo & Stitch (2002)

2. Harry Potter And The Chamber of Secrets (2002)

3. Ice Age (2002)

4. Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002)

5. Spider Man (2002)

6. The Powerpuff Girls Movie (2002)

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Don’t y’all ever get tired?

Aang wants to sit next to the girl he likes, he’s so entitled! Look at the brief second of annoyance on his face, when Zuko cuts in. This toddler-child is a horrible human being. Can you imagine drawing a facial expression THIS SINISTER for our protagonist!?

These losers have no life. 🤣

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Real Talk

Credit goes to @zvtara-was-never-canon for this. But I agree with this so much. I’m sick of the pissy entitled group of ZK who act like Katara’s story means nothing because she doesn’t end up with Zuko. I get people disliking how she was handled in LOK, that’s valid.

But what isn’t valid is calling saying Katara just became Aang’s trophy wife or The Avatar’s Wife, when she’s never depicted as the former and never referred to by the later. Acting like her marrying Zuko would change her being sidelined in LOK (if anything she’s probably be sidelined more seeing how we don’t see Zuko’s wife even though it was definitely Mai). And calling her a f*cking “baby-maker” and “incubator” because both her and Aang genuinely love wanted to have kids, all of whom they loved.

Also, putting LOK aside, Katara’s story in A:TLA was darn near perfect and she accomplished a lot. Her and Aang’s relationship growth is only one part of a larger piece. If ZKs don’t like it, that’s fine, but you people literally act like who she chooses to be with at the end determines her whole character.

Y’all have no right to call yourselves Katara stans, in reality you don’t understand her character at all and use her as a self-insert and/or Zuko’s arm-candy. Let’s be real, y’all hate her.

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Zutara’s Fake @$$ Feminism

Okay so @kidcaroline brought up this weird-@$$ take where this braindead dude says Zutara is a purely female fantasy and an expression of unapologetic female desire. And who’s the nutcase who said this.

Of course only someone as delusional as longing-for-rain could say something as stupid as this. Love or hate Zutara, it being a purely female fantasy is objectively wrong, there are a lot of men who actually like Zutara, one guy on YouTube made tons of videos about them, there were some writers in A:TLA who shipped it, Dante Basco the proclaimed Captain of Zutara ships it. One person who shipped Zutara actually argued that a lot of men ship it and the ship shouldn’t be limited to just women, so naturally longing-for-(acid)rain personally attacked them because they’re a man. Misandrist much?

Let’s look at the reasons why Zutara is such a profoundly feminist ship, shall we…

Okay, so skimming over the fact that Zutara literally started when Zuko captured Katara in “The Waterbending Scroll” and wanting better for Katara is wanting her to end with someone who relentlessly pursued her and attacked her for most of the show. Literally all of these points that supposedly support Zutara literally make no sense and many of which could easily apply to Kataang.

Katara never caved into Aang out of guilt, that’s never suggested at all in the narrative, she was never uncomfortable with Aang, the average ZK might be, but Katara wasn’t.

Where was the passion in Zuko and Katara’s relationship, seriously what passion are they talking about, does OP think constantly fighting each other is passion because “muh enemies to lovers”, do they Katara touching Zuko’s scar because she was going to heal him at one point is passion. How TF is that considered “passion”, it just comes across like you have a kink. You want passion…

THIS is passion.

Ignoring the fact that Zuko never had feelings for Katara. Aang literally loves Katara no matter what. If they’re referring to “The Southern Raiders” Aang never stopped loving Katara, he understood her pain, he was just concerned that killing a guy would take a strain on her mental state. But that obviously means he didn’t care about the “real” Katara, what a jerk, right guys.

When did Katara ever have to change for Aang? Y’all are aware that Katara would have to change quite significantly if she married into The Fire Nation, right?

Aang objectively did support Katara. That’s all there is to it really. He did throughout the whole show.

Katara was never Aang’s babysitter. Darn Bryce for mentioning weird romantic tropes that have nothing to do with Kataang and desperate ZKs taking them out of context. Aang was a kid just like Katara, the latter of whom was often the voice of reason, but she never had to actively take care of Aang. He’s 12, he’s not a baby.

Okay, but like, Katara is attracted to Aang. Not to get all weird on y’all but objectively speaking she is attracted to him (see “The Cave of Two Lovers” or the Kataang images above). Which makes sense because they’re only a couple of years apart. This comment, and really this whole post is just OP admitting that they’re self-inserting onto Katara, they don’t care about what she wants, so they twist the narrative of the show and act like Katara should be attracted to Zuko and not Aang because these 20-something women are attracted to Zuko and not Aang. They use Katara as a self-insert because 99% of the time these b!tches wanna f*ck Zuko and use Katara as vessel to live out their weird sexual desires. Ew.

This final comment, just screams, “White Tumblr So-Called Feminism”. OP seriously thinks saying “I like Zutara” is advocating for women’s rights. She cannot be this stupid and delusional, for real? There’s nothing wrong with Zutara as a ship, there’s nothing wrong with most of the women who ship Zutara. But at the end of the day it’s a fictional pairing between two fictional characters, people who don’t like the ship aren’t attacking women, people who don’t like Zutara just don’t like the ship for whatever reasons. I don’t like the ship because not only is Kataang superior, seeing as they start of a close friends who mutually trust, support and admire each other and gradually develop feelings for one another (slow-burn friends-to-lovers is peak), but also because Zuko and Katara were enemies throughout most of the show, they only become friends near the very end of the show, great friends who do support and value each other, but let’s be real, their relationship isn’t profoundly different from Katara’s other relationships with The Gaang, and going from friends for 5 episodes to making out in the last episode is just crazy-forced.

Additionally there are plenty of men who ship Zutara as a pointed out, but also plenty of women who ship Kataang because these women genuinely like their relationship and acknowledge the love and positive aspects in Aang and Katara’s relationship. But of course longing-for-(sh!t)rain dismisses and invalidates these women by calling them “BoyMoms” (whatever that means) because they don’t share the seem POV as OP. Which leads to the fact that longing-for-sh!tstain really doesn’t care about women and what they want, they’re going out of their way to make Kataang look problematic and Zutara the epitome of female desire, but the only people who would actually believe that are fanfic obsessed idiots who have never left their computer and have no understanding of any real-world issues, in other words dumb b!tches just saying “eXaCtLy” to each other. Really whining-for-rain only cares about what they themselves desire and think their opinion is the only one that matters, hence they attack anyone who even slightly disagree’s with them. Just check the original post and you’ll see.

The only “feminism” they care about is in their weird Wattpad middle-school ship. She don’t care about the real Katara or her feelings if it doesn’t fit her self-insert narrative.

She writes torture-porn r@pe fics about Katara.

She called an actually real-life indigenous women racist because said women hates the idea of Katara marrying into the nation the colonized her tribe, killed her mom and would make Ozai her father in-law, just so Katara, Sokka and Hakoda could essentially be trophies for Zuko. This @$$hole thinks supporting a crackship is supporting women’s rights, but will invalidate the feelings of a real-life indigenous women who doesn’t agree with said crackship.

In conclusion, f*ck you longing-for-fascist and f*ck your fake-@$$ feminist, you objectively don’t care about A:TLA, or Katara or even women, if anything you’re nothing but an insult to women.

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Zutara-stans like these need to stop talking about issues they don’t care about.

I’m not gonna invalidate some of the legitimate issues with Bryke’s work, but this is ridiculously hypocritical coming for a scumbag like longing-for-rain.

Call this racist all you want, I ain’t gonna touch this because I’m not Indian. But like the points made about The Fire Nation being colonizers is still a legit point, and this played-for-laughs hallucination has nothing to do with that.

Also, unsurprisingly this person is huge Zuko d!ck-rider. Who says weird stuff like this.

And weirder stuff like this.

Y’all act like Bryke are Hitler, but y’all praise Zuko (someone they wrote no less) and act like he was always a perfect Gary-Stu who could do no wrong to the point where you can’t even take any criticism towards the nation he’s from despite Zuko himself calling his nations colonization of other tribes. And y’all villainize Aang to no end, with objectively wrong statements that make no sense. Let’s be real, the only reason you’re upset that Aang isn’t celibate is because he gets in the way of your precious fan-pairing, although really he doesn’t even get in the way of anything, seeing as it a FAN-pairing your pissy about.

Also this scumbag has no right to whine about issues like racism in this show, seeing that they think writing r@pe-fics about their favorite characters is revolutionary high art.

Not to mention arguing with and invalidating an ACTUAL indigenous person for calling out a post about “Zutara giving Zuko better in-laws, because it completely glosses over the fact that Katara would also have people like Ozai as an in-law and multiple other in-laws who colonized her tribe and ordered the death of her mom.

F*ck you longing-for-rain. You don’t care about racism, you don’t care about colonization, you don’t care about Katara, you don’t care about actual indigenous people or their feelings, you don’t even care about the show you claim to love. You only care about projecting yourself onto Katara so you can f*ck Zuko and then hurls childish insults anyone who so much as criticizes you for your weird-@$$ takes. You’re a loser and you need to seriously go outside a rethink your life, girl.

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Someone once said “this has to be the most insane type of coping” and I couldn’t agree more. 😂

zvtara-was-never-canon is exactly right in regards to the fact that we had a friendship moment with all the characters (including Appa, Mai and Iroh) with everyone inside, just before the scene focuses on Aang and Katara. We have a moment where people from all nations witness Zuko’s coronation, where The Avatar has returned and peace is restored.

Say what you will about Kataang, but the moment with them at the end provides closure to their relationship development that’s be present throughout the show. While I wish there were more Kataang moments near the end, the moment itself works, Aang steps out to look at the peaceful new world, Katara joins, the two share a heartfelt embrace like the friends they’ve been for a while, then Katara is the one to initiate the kiss, she’s the one who takes action and Aang naturally reciprocates. Two people who lost so much, the last of their kind, find love within each other, it’s beautiful thing. The series started and ended with Kataang. It’s in the DNA of the show.

Also Aang ain’t even that short in the finale. 😂

Weird take on the ending of Atla. Not surprisingly OP is Zvtarian

https://www.tumblr.com/perfectlypanda/651311800033361920/au-where-atla-ended-on-a-shot-that-captured-the

I don't know what concept is funnier - a kiss between two characters that have kissed before and were set up to be together being "forced", or that it is absurd for the characters to be wearing Earth Kingdom clothes when staying over at the Earth Kingdom.

We HAD the friendship moment with everyone seeing Sokka's drawing. We had the four nations coming together moment during Zuko's coronation. Repeating it wouldn't hurt, but wouldn't add anything new. The Kataang kiss ends the question of "Will they, won't they." It's necessary. It's payoff for three years of set up and development.

Also, once again, even as someone who likes Sukka, it will never not be funny to me that this is the canon ship that people largely don't have a problem with, despite being the one that has the least content, and that is more likely to not last long-term. I guess it's because it's easier to project onto them since they don't have that much screentime?

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I think many people misinterpret the ending of atla. The point is not romance, the show is not saying that the most important thing is that Katara and Aang kiss. No, it represents something much more beautiful than that.

The sunset is peaceful and beautiful, and Aang walks out by himself to enjoy it. Just to, enjoy it and breathe it in.

Katara walks out beside him and joins him in the peaceful moment, looking at him with love in her eyes and vice versa.

They embrace, uniting physically in a bond that was built over months and months of affection and trust. But the war, like the lovers of Omashu, divided them.

They couldn’t enjoy this beautiful sunset before, they couldn’t embrace and take a deep breath in one another’s arms fully because of the war, but now they can.

And finally, the two kiss, solidifying their romantic relationship, one that was not able to happen because there was so much pressure on one another to win the war, and there was always that mutual fear that they would lose one another.

But the war can’t take any more from them now. It took Aang’s people and it took Katara’s mother, it took their childhoods and friends along the way, but they made it through. So they hold each other tight, and they don’t let go.

The camera pans up to the beautiful sunset, not just an end to a devastating war, but the beginning of a new era of love and peace, one where two kids can finally kiss and love freely. That is when the end title fades in, marking the finale of Avatar: The Last Airbender.

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I deeply appreciate how ATLA depicts all the main characters responses to trauma. Aang’s, for me, however, stands out for its rareness in media. And we are not hammered over the head with the idea that Aang (or any other characters) repeatedly act certain ways because of a single traumatic event. Sure, there are key moments in our lives when a certain event comes to the forefront, but no one experiences the world as constant flashbacks. Rather, we see only in retrospect the way our sarcastic sense of humor or our heightened friendliness were protective responses to a deep emotional injury. Being able to understand Aang’s approach to loss is essential for the show. The structure of the series is founded on his arc (despite an incredible foil provided by Zuko). Our little air nomad initially confronts the loss of his people with a full-on meltdown in the episode “The Southern Air Temple,” where Katara’s offering of familial belonging soothes him. But this kind of outburst is not Aang’s primary response (and actually the literally out-of-character apocalyptic tantrums align with Aang’s overall process of grieving). Instead of constantly brooding (hey Zuko!), Aang leans heavily toward the monk’s pacifist teachings and toward his assumed destiny “to save the world.” He becomes overtly accommodating and joyful, constantly trying to see “the good” in everything with a perfectionist’s zeal. This is not to ascribe his bubbliness only to his trauma. Rather, he comes to emphasize this part of his personality for reasons related to the negative emotions he struggles to face.  Book 1: Water

In the first season, Aang is simply rediscovering his place in the world. “Water is the element of change. The people of the water tribe are capable of adapting to many things. They have a sense of community and love that holds them together.” This is vital to Aang as he initially faces his experience. He won’t get through this if he is not prepared for his life to change. Even if he hadn’t been frozen for 100 years, his world would never be the same. This fact involves eventually finding new people that he feels safe with. After such a massive loss, he’s learning who to trust, and also often making mistakes; not only does he find Sokka and Katara (and I’d argue he’s actually slow to truly open up to them), this is the season where he helps save a fire nation citizen who betrays him to soldiers, befriends the rebel extremist Jet, and attempts to befriend an actively belligerent Zuko (his moral complexity had only JUST! been revealed to the kid!). He’s constantly offering trust to others and seeking their approval in opposition to the deep well of shame and guilt he carries as a survivor of violence. This is also the season where Aang swears off firebending after burning Katara in an overeager attempt to master the element (one will note how fire throughout the series is aligned with, above all else, assertiveness and yang). Aang is so eager to be seen as morally good to others that he refuses to risk any possible harm to them.  And asserting himself carries a danger, in one sense, that he might make a mistake and lose someone’s positive regard, and, in another sense, that he is replicating the anger and violence he’s witnessed. He has no relationship to his anger at this stage of his grief, so it comes out uncontrollably, both in firebending and the Avatar State. It’s through the patience of his new family that he can begin to feel unashamed about his past and about the ways his shame is finding (sometimes violent) expression in the present. Book 2: Earth In the second season he begins to trust himself and stand his ground. Earth, after all, is the element of substance, persistence, and endurance. The “Bitter Work” episode encapsulates how Aang must come to a more sturdy sense of his values. First, there is the transition of pedagogical style. While Katara emphasized support and kindness, Toph insists on blunt and threatening instruction, not for a lack of care towards Aang. Instead, it’s so Aang learns how to stop placing the desires of others above his own–to stop accommodating everyone else above his own needs. Toph taunts Aang by stealing one of the few keepsakes from the monastery that he holds onto. This attachment to the lost airbending culture is echoed in the larger arc with Appa. And, by the end of this episode, it is Aang’s attachment to Sokka that allows him to stand firm. This foreshadows the capital T Tragic downfall in the “Crossroads of Destiny.” Aang gives up his attachment to the other member of his new found family, Katara, despite his moral qualms. Although he has access to all the power of the Avatar state, his sacrifice is not rewarded. Season 2 illustrates Aang coming to terms with his values. He is learning about what he stands for, what holds meaning to him. Understanding himself also includes integrating his grief, and there’s a lonely and dangerous aspect to that exploration. We see Aang’s anger and hopelessness over longer stretches rather than outbursts in this season. It’s hard to watch and hard to root for him. That depressive state leads to actions that counter his previous sense of morality, as he decisively kills an animal, treats his friends unkindly, and blames others for his loss. Letting these harsher feelings emerge is an experiment, and most people discover their boundaries by crossing them. Finding ways to hold compassion for himself, even the harm he causes others, is the other side of this process. Our past and our challenging emotions are a part of us, but they are only a part. Since Aang now has a strong sense of community and is learning to be himself rather than simply seeking validation, we also see him having more healthy boundaries with new people. He’s no longer befriending villains in the second season! He’s respectful and trusting enough, but he’s not putting himself in vulnerable situations nor blindly trusting everyone. Instead, he’s more likely to listen to his friends’ opinions or think about how the monks might’ve been critical towards something (they’re complaints about Ba Sing Se, for example). By knowing what he cares for, he can know himself, the powerful, loving, grief-struck monk. And he can trust that, though he might not be everyone’s favorite person, he does not need to feel ashamed or guilty for who he is or what he’s been through. Book 3: Fire However, despite a sense of self and a sense of belonging, Aang and the group still find themselves constantly asking for permission throughout their time in Ba Sing Se. It’s in the third season, Fire, that initiative and assertiveness become the focus. And who better to provide guidance in this than the official prince of “you never think these things through,” Zuko. It’s no longer a time for avoidance or sturdy defensiveness. It is the season of action. Fire is the element of power, desire, and will, all of which require us to impact others.  We see the motif of initiative throughout the season: the rebels attempt to storm the Firelord on the Day of the Black Sun; Aang attempts to share his feelings and kiss Katara; Katara bends Hama and a couple of fire nation soldiers to her will. In each of these examples, the initiators face disgrace. Positive intent does not bring forth success, by any means, only more consequences to be dealt with. This is perhaps Aang’s biggest challenge. He is afraid that his actions will fail, or worse, they will succeed but he will be wrong in what he has chosen. The sequencing in the series, here, is important. We have already seen how Aang has worked to care for (and appreciate) the well-being of others and how he has learned to care for his own needs. With this in mind, he should be able to trust that his actions will derive from these wells of compassion. But easier said than done. Compassion can also trap him into indecision, hearkening back to his avoidant mistake in the storm, in which the whole mess began. Aang’s internal conflict, here, becomes more pronounced as the finale draws nearer. I think it’s especially significant that we witness Aang disagreeing with his mentors and friends. He must act in a way that will contradict and even threaten his sources of support if he is to trust his own desires. Even the fandom disagrees about the choice Aang makes, which further highlights the fact that making a decisive choice is contentious. There is no point in believing it will grant you love or admiration or success. For someone who began (and spent much of) the series regularly sacrificing himself just to bring others peace, Aang’s decision to prioritize his own interests despite the very explicit possibility of failure is the ultimate growth his character can have and the ultimate representation of him processing his trauma. (This arc was echoed and made even more explicit in many ways with Adora in the She-ra finale.) The last significant time Aang followed his desire, in his mind, was when he escaped the Air Temple in the storm. To want something, to trust his desire and act on it, is an act of incredible courage for him, and whether it succeeded or failed, whether anyone agrees or disagrees with it, it offered Aang a sense of peace and resolution. Now I appreciate and love Zuko’s iconic redemption arc, but Aang’s subtler arc, which subverts the “chosen one” narrative and broke ground to represent a prevalent emotional experience, stands out to me as the foundation for the show I love so much.

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The “How dare Monk Gyatso call out Fire Nation misogyny” guy posted another banger! 🤣

I really don’t wanna sound like I’m d!ckriding Bryke, but then mentioning that the Fire Nation leaders are problematic to say the least, but the Air Nation leaders are pacifists and therefore less problematic isn’t a revolutionary take, it isn’t a jab at Zutara.

Also Aang doesn’t like decorative fur or sea-prunes, okay? He doesn’t agree with some of Katara and Sokka’s customs, but it’s not like he’s hostile, racist or intentionally disrespectful towards them. Sokka (and to a lesser extend Katara) eat meat, Aang is a vegetarian. They accept each other despite their differences. I’m a Christian, I have a friend who’s a Muslim and a friend who’s an Athiest, we’re still buds despite our different beliefs.

I also find it funny how this guy is whining about Aang disrespecting Katara’s culture, when in reality he just disagrees with decorate fur and doesn’t like certain foods, but Zuko can straight up invade Katara’s village, call her a peasant and steal her necklace and no one bats an eye. Yes, I understand Zuko learned not to do that, but still there’s a lot of hypocrisy there.

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This is honestly one of the funniest takes in A:TLA Tumblr. 🤣🤣🤣

I know I’ve brought this up before, but this is so funny and such a profoundly stupid take that I wanna address it.

Falsely claiming that Book One Zuko was more altruistic than Aang and that the latter didn’t go out of his way for anyone has to be one of if not the dumbest claims I’ve heard from a fake-fan ZeeK Freek. It just screams “tell me you don’t understand A:TLA without telling me you don’t understand A:TLA”.

Aang is literally one of the most kindhearted and altruistic characters in the whole show. In one of the first darn episodes he willingly returns to The Southern Water Tribe despite being banished and gives himself up as prisoner so that Zuko (whom y’all claim was more altruistic in Book One) won’t burn down their village and harm innocents. Aang literally saved Zuko’s life in the same episode where Zuko captured him, your fave would literally be dead if it wasn’t for Aang. 

The ONLY reason he didn’t go on a rescue mission to save Hakoda is because he had no idea where he was, the latter of whom willingly sacrificed himself in during the invasion, something Aang didn’t take lightly and understood the gravity of this sacrifice. Katara didn’t know where Hakoda was taken either, if she did know, she would’ve accompanied Sokka and Zuko to The Boiling Rock, so would Aang. You’re literally just making stuff up.

Aang was definitely a flawed character, who could be selfish, but at his core was always a kind, empathetic and friendly soul. Zuko was very aggressive, hostile and mostly self-serving throughout the entirety of Book One, there were moments where he did act altruistic and think of others, but to say he was more altruistic than Aang was throughout the whole show is just objectively wrong, factually incorrect and the only reason this moron is saying this is because they’re obsessive Aang hating loser who either: 

A: Doesn’t understand the show they claim to love.

B: Didn’t watch the show and is just going off what they’ve heard.

C: Is just taking out of their @$$ because their salty Katara didn’t end up with Zuko.

I put my money on C 😁

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The BIG Difference Between Kataang & Zutara Shippers On Tumblr.

Kataang shippers are generally fans of the show. Most enjoy Zuko and Katara’s friendship, they just don’t think a romance works for the two. They love Aang and Katara’s romance based on their canon friendship, bond and interactions. They dislike the toxic side of the ZK fandom because they don’t like hearing media illiterate weirdos make false, villainizing and sometimes even racist and sexist statements about Aang and Katara.

In the toxic side of the Zutara fandom, this specific group of Zutara shippers aren’t even fans of the show, they only care about their third-grade interpretation of Zuko and Katara purely based on the aesthetic and fire/water bad-boy/good-girl. Everything else is just coping and seething. They’re pissy that the writers didn’t give into their entitlement and fanfic ideas, so they act like “Bryke” are the spawn of Hitler, even thought toxic ZKs say objectively worse stuff than “Bryke” ever did. They subconsciously know Zutara has no basis on its own, so they twist Aang and Katara’s genuine friendship into something abusive and problematic. They hate Aang because he “get’s in the way” of their ship. They won’t stop whining about Aang, Katara or Kataang shippers, because subconsciously they know that they have everything they want Zuko and Katara to have, and they can’t move on with their lives.