#<-Atlas is a he/him WLW!

[namedafterflowerstournament]

Botanic Tournament : Honorary Mentions !

This is a bracket made with rejected submissions. Here they're legit.

Explanations here

Final

Explanations underneath

In reply to the original submitter : I'd looked and no, the cabbage man didn't have a name when you submitted him. However, I had another look just in case recently... and it looks like he's going to be known as Cai in the children book focused on him that should go out this Summer. According to the wiki, "if he shares the same last name as his son Lau Gan-Lan, That would make his name "Cai Gan-Lan", a play on "gan-lan cai", the name of a vegetable dish."

Here was the original propaganda : "he is a cultural icon and you know him even if you haven't seen atla just through the power of internet osmosis (me im the example)"

Yuri's a word used to describe manga/anime centred around WLW romance

White lilies are a symbol of the genre

Original propaganda for yuri : "Yuri means Lily. Wouldn't it be so funny ?"

[zalrb]

i am so so sorry if you have been asked this before but i have some trouble finding posts. but could you please shed some light on your thoughts on a good villain origin story, what makes a redemption arc compelling and what I'm most curious about : what a good morally grey character looks like?

OK, sure. So, for a morally grey character, actual complexity is something that is necessary. A go-to character for me would be Juan in Moonlight.

Juan [is] a man who loves Little 

he’s the first person (and perhaps the only person) to tell Little/Chiron/Black it’s OK to be gay, 

he gives Little a safe space

and he’s also a dealer who sells his mother drugs,

causing dysfunction in Little’s life, feeding one of the reasons why Little needs a safe space away from home at all

So, Juan is a morally grey character because he is not simply "bad" or the "villain", he clearly has true affection for Little and does what he can to provide him what he needs, but he is also not simply "good" considering that his vocation is one that directly destroys Little's family and most likely other families in the community, and though the movie never gets into Juan's backstory, we can infer that he's not simply a drug dealer out of greed, he is doing what he needs to do to survive but at what cost? The types of questions his character and his role generate are what make him a good morally grey character.

Or so many of the characters in Mad Men who make choices that can be understandable with context but aren't wholly moral or right.

In terms of a good villain origin story, for me

This is an odd example because I thought the origin story for the villainy was understandable/good but hated the kind of villain ths character becomes after the origin story because it was so unnecessary, but in Spartacus, there's Tiberius.

When we first meet Tiberius, he's gentle, not much of a fighter, and he has this intense bond with his friend Sabinus, which was strange because they never made them lovers even though Spartacus did not shy away from mlm/wlw ships at all, and yet they clearly weren't platonic either, anyway, they have a really strong bond

and Tiberius' father, Crassus, who was in charge of the army meant to crush Spartacus' rebellion realized that his army was too weak, his son was too weak because they retreated during a battle rather than stood their ground and fight so he decides that in order to win the war, his army has to be more afraid of him and the consequences that he will bestow on them than Spartacus so he implements decimation where the army was split into different groups, each of them had to draw from lots and whoever drew a stone would be beaten to death by the other men in his group, and he sends his son to be a part of it, which is already traumatic

but then during decimation, Sabinus is the one who must be beaten to death

and Tiberius has to lead the charge

and I believe does the final blow killing him

and at the end, he goes to his father and is like,

and he holds onto that day throughout the rest of the season and carries the stone with him

and after decimation, he's a monster, and like I said, while I don't like how they made him a monster, like the things that he did, I understood how that experience would make a villain because even though it's using "my friend/lover" died and "my dad was mean" tropes, it's not generic, the sheer brutality of what happened and his role in it has me like, yeah, that's a villain origin story.

In terms of what makes redemption arcs compelling to me, for me, they're never really "villains", like Zuko in ATLA was an antagonist, there was never anything he did in the show that I didn't think he couldn't come back from, or they're, again, morally grey characters like Eleanor in TGP where the entire show is dedicated to her learning to be a better person

[crimsonxe]

Rant below:

Dumbass on YT who has a record shitting on the RWBY has decided to do a vid where he says the community is responsible for the delay of greenlighting; because y'know people don't support AU's (and I doubt he means the good ones, instead likely thinking of "Ruining RWBY" type that are an insult to the show) or don't support sexualizing of characters or straight-washing characters. I guess everyone should continue to blindly support those people cause "fandom", instead of going "nooooooope".

Also while giving Miles credit for his voice work, making sure to put in a backhand to everyone else likely the female VA's; because ofc a piece of shit incel/neckbeard is going to do that. Which shouldn't be shocking cause iirc this neckbeard asshole has already taken shots at Barb and Arryn in the past.

The moron also thinks that rich vs. poor is a wrong concept probably in general but he's talking about the Atlas arc; y'know where it was repeatedly shown that such divide existed. But as usual this crowd doesn't care about that, just whatever bullshit they think matters or doesn't. And this jackass gives off the exact vibes one would think of from someone that takes issue with a commentary about poor vs. rich as a concept. Also directly mentioning Celtic thus confirming that the likely AU was "Ruining RWBY"-'s bullshit.

Keep in mind Ruining RWBY did:

faunus heat cycles

putting in shipping push for Velvet/Cardin

inserted in fanservice sauna scenes

brought back Roman in an asspull fashion and put him with Ozpin, even though there's not a shred of commonality between them

had Ruby blush towards Roman

Blake join what amounts to a police squad against other faunus (like people want to take issue with the show proper for its WF arc, this is an actual OOF on that front)

side-lined the main female characters to boost up male characters

fucking tries to redeem and boost up Cardin aka Mr. White Supremacist Douchebag

Like nah, fuck that shit. I'll keep shitting on that and any other disgusting ass fan-work that does certain things till the cows come home. I won't support a fan artist that makes wlw art, yet doesn't believe in irl same-sex rights; I won't support a racist, homophobic, sexist, and overall disgusting piece of shit like Celtic; or anyone else for the sake of "being a good fan" and "part of the community". Community isn't an accepting all thing and instead good ones root out the bad.

Anyway point is if you do searches on YT, ignore the one with Anime in the channel name.

[jiabeewrites]

ATLA Pride Headcanons, but cleaned up a bit/updated from this post

stan the cabbage man

AANG 😇 - hoo boy - i still stand by my position that this smol child is aroace - but he's in a qpr with katara - bc yeah they're kinda cute - probably pan in terms of attraction - cisn't - genderflux. yes yes yes genderflux aang - probably doesn't give a shit about pronouns - and literally glows whenever someone calls him they/them, esp on days where the male-ness is low - because yay! ur right! - he's so precious aghsklfdjslk

KATARA 🌊 - she's also aroace - stfu - *proceeds to aroace the entire atla crew* - qpr with aang - they are very cute but not in the romantic sense - i feel like she'd be bi in terms of attraction tho - pan aang 🤝 bi katara - cisn't - genderfluid! all waterbenders are now genderfluid, change my fucking mind - any/all pronouns :)

SOKKA ⚔ - my friend said that he was the straightest one there - I DISAGREE - he's so BI - BISEXUAL DISASTER SOKKA MY BELOVED - i ship sokka and zuko so hard it's not even funny - but sokka and suki are also very cute so i kinda can't choose - extra heapings of internalized homophobia - bc he thinks it makes him less manly or some shit - i like to think that toph smacked it outta him - i said before that i was waiting for him to get smacked in the face with gay panic when he sees zuko, and like i mean get an ACTUAL GOOD LOOK AT HIM - sadly it didn't happen - anyways - cisn't, i think he's also genderfluid - genderfluid sokka would be so FUN omfg - pronouns change depending on the gender

ZUKO 🔥 - he's so GAY OH MY GODDDD - but i still feel like he'd be asexual - massive ace vibes throughout the entire fucking show - also demiromantic - sokka was his gay awakening fucking FIGHT ME ON THIS - bc you will see my corpse on that hill - and you'll realize that i was right - cis(n't) - i feel like he doesn't care enough to figure it out or put a label on it

TOPH 🪨 - I FUCKING LOVE HER OMG OMG - that being said - her favorite color is green how can she not be aro - giving me aroallo vibes tbh - probably sapphic oriented - cisn't - i headcanon that she's enby as well as transmasc - probably she/they pronouns

AZULA ⚡ - oh dear - i love her sm - she's a lesbian - like how can she not be smh - she's so gay - asexual in the "fuck you but not literally" sense - cis - azula and zuko are the perfect example of wlw & mlm hostility and i love them - they're like this

MAI 🔪 - aroallo mai aroallo mai AROALLO MAI - mai is aroallo and i will DIE ON THIS HILL - probably omnisexual if i hafta specify - prefers females - cisn't - agender. mai has no gender. fuck you.

TY LEE 🌸 - ty lee is a lesbian - like how can she not be tell me now - i kinda ship her with azula (mainly bc of this fic you should def go read it it's so GOOD) - cisn't. - ty lee is genderfluix/fluidflux but never tells anybody her pronouns because she likes to fuck with people that way. - mai always seems to know which ones to use tho

SUKI 🤺 - she is also bi - suki & sokka are bi4bi and i love that for them - pretty sure the kyoshi warriors are just one giant polycule but whatever - suki is trans fucking fight me - transgender suki transgender suki TRANSGENDER SUKI - she's also asexual :D

APPA ☁ - lmao there's nothing for him - i just love appa sm

[kiki-strike]

10 characters 10 fandoms 10 (ish) tags!

thanks @transboyzuko and @fanfic-gremlin-ft-trauma for tagging me ^-^

1. Azula ATLA - she’s a tragic villain she’s a narrative foil she’s a style icon she’s a mean lesbian what more could you want (a redemption arc lol)

2. Geralt The Witcher - AUTISTIC KING i too mostly just talk to animals and myself. i picked up his “hmm” and it got me in trouble for a while until my mom watched it and realized i was just unconsciously copying him.

3. Jinora LOK - i haven’t seen all of LOK so im hoping she doesn’t turn evil or smth but. hooray for little girls who see Creatures by themselves in the woods and are probably hyperlexic and are smarter and know more than all the adults around them !!!!!

4. Sam Winchester Supernatural - he got out of his toxic family situation and then he Went Back. watched his brother die 111 times in one episode. got addicted to demon blood to save the world. literally born to be possessed by the devil. chronic third wheel

5. Charlie IASIP - nuff said

6. Eddie Brock Venom - hated big pharma so hard it made him a divorcee. really hot ex who i’m in love with and so is he. cool murderous parasite best friend. lobster tank enjoyer.

7. Beth Good Girls - i regularly dream about her despite not having seen the show in years. that’s my wife. badass perfect housewife who robs grocery stores and launders money in her spare time.

8. Bean Disenchantment - hooray for teenage alcoholics. has a personal demon meant to make her life hell and the demon ends up making it better because she’s just that miserable. “this is the bathtub, where Bean makes her bathtub gin. and this is the shower, where Bean makes her shower gin.” killed two fiancées in the first 20 minutes of the show. canon wlw.

9. Scarlet Witch Marvel - THEY HATE TO SEE A GIRLBOSS WINNINGGGGGGG

10. Bender Futurama - his name is a pun. his face looks like 😬. occasionally behaves like a toddler/dog. unyielding devotion to homoerotic friendship. lives in a closet. was god once. alloaro.

i’ll tag: @ozais-lobotomist @waterfire1848 @tommyssupercoolblog @juniperhillpatient @kyoshigirl @autistic-katara @sukidude @averageinsomniac

[emisirrelevant]

Willow 2022 1x07 Reactions

I love this show.

-Lol Airk being like "I drank the water- it was...good"

-ALSO IT WAS HIM!! I thought that picture of Kit in the water was Jade and Kit but it was Airk trying to rescue Kit!! That actually made it more symbolic to me to have one sibling try to rescue the other.

-YESSSS ELORA BREAKING THE SURFACE OF THE LAKE I KNEW IT!!!

-ALSO HER HAIR. YALL IT IS RED. IT TURNED FULL ON RED!!!

-ALSO! That small moment when Kit fell but then looked at Elora and Elora looked back. WHAT DID THAT MEAN? (besides my delusional kit x elora self interpreting that as the GAYZE lol)

-LOL the old man "or we're all phantoms in the dream of some vindictive god suffering from a spot of indigestion" ICON "You have coin?" ME ACTUALLY- my broke ass

-the heck is a mudmander?

-okay well the old man definitely isn't a master chef

-Boorman eating the soup anyway in typical Boorman fashion

-Elora's inner cook is probably seething quietly rn LOL

-"Well all these quests and battles all sort of got blended together after a while you know" LOL old man is relatable tho- me when I play Wizard101

-Jade asking "well what do you remember?" me: don't say it- DO YOU REMEMBER- THE 21st NIGHT

-oh shit the watering hole thing is closed now- there is no more water?

-"hey new girl- where you at" OMFG BWAHAHAHAA I CAN'T

-wait what now the water is back?

-the girl "there was a secret sect" me thinking I'm good at the lore despite never having watched the original movie "the blood of the six?" her: "the Order of the Wyrm" "oh" HAHAA

-OOP the girl saying "you weren't thinking about making out right now were you" and Airk going "no of course not totally wasn't thinking that" AND THEN IT SWITCHES TO ELORA

-OHHHH GOD IF AIRK AND THE OTHER GIRL KISS AND IT STARTS DRAMA-

-OMG KIT WATCHING ELORA SLEEP (ahhh okay my kit x elora self is trying not to say anything again-)

-OH GRAYDON JUST KNOCKING THE OLD MAN OUT LOL RIP

-OH NOOO I FORGOT ABOUT THE GALES

-me during the sleigh chase scene- USE YOUR MAGIC ELORA!! MAGIC IT!!! YOU CAN MAKE IT GO FASTER!!! RIGHT??!?!

-OH NOOOOO

-KIT TAKING ANOTHER L?????? NOT A SHURIKEN TO THE ARM??

-NOOO NOT JADE GETTING PUNCHED??

-YESSS GRAYDON BEING USEFUL AND GETTING THE BIRD!!

-YESS JADE COMING BACK AND SAVING ELORA FROM THE DOOM!!

-OMG AAHAHAAAAA I THOUGHT JADE AND KIT WERE GONNA KISS DAMN IT BUT THE PUNCH IN THE FACE AND THEN YANKING THE WEAPON OUT HAHAHA I LOVE THEM BUT OKAY I NEED TO SEE A KISS SOON

-ohh the mudmander is kinda cute

-Graydon lol "I shall name you Kenneth"

-HHHH AHHHH SO GRAYDON IS MAGICAL TOO POSSIBLY???

-LOL Willow training Elora. I love a good fucking mentor training scene

-LMAO I think Willow is having a little too much fun just blasting his staff

-YEAAHHH KIT AND JADE SPARRING AGAIN!!! WEAPON WIELDING WLWS!!!

-YEAAAAAAAAH

-THEY KISSED!!!!

-LETS FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

-LET'S GO WLWS!!!!!!!

-OOOH okay. So I sense something is up with Elora again.. We seem to be seeing a slightly more darker side to her.

-Hopefully they don't do that whole plot twist where they turn it all around and Elora turns out to give into the darkness and becomes the villain?

-"because that's what you do when you have honor, right?" oop Zuko from ATLA wants to know your location lol

-AHHHHH NAURRRRR AAAAAAHHH SHE KISSED AIRK AHHH NAURRRR

-Well at least Elora still has Graydon??

-oh well he wants to be alone with Kenneth- so I guess not? lol

-OOH Kit and Willow talking together. I like it!! Rare dynamic!! Give me more of their two characters interacting!!

-OHHHH MY GOD KIT AND ELORA SCENE OMG OMG

-THE BACKGROUND THOUGH??? THE STARS???? THE MUSIC??? HELLOOOOO

-"I was jealous of you"

OOOOHHHHH MY GODDDDDD

FUCK.

IT'S LIKE HIZZIE FROM LEGACIES FOR ME ALL OVER AGAIN.

-oh no Willow- I don't think that's really Mims

-LOL Jade being frustrated with the men for the 80th time

-awwwwwww Graydon finally saying he loves Elora AAAHHH

-SEE OKAY ELORA YOU STILL HAVE GRAYDON

-Although technically I was right and the girl seems to be the Crone so okay I'm not as mad about that kiss than I was before but it still was like ooh- okay ehhh- umm

-"I don't want to keep pretending" "Neither do I"

"I don't want to be Elora Danan"

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

-WAIT. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

-KIT GIVING ELORA HOPE. KIT GIVING MOTIVATIONAL SPEECH????

-I CAN'T ANYMORE!!!!! I AM UNWELL!

"Well, tough. You're afraid. So am I. My fear doesn't get to define me. I'm not giving it the power. I'm giving it to you. I have never believed in anything my whole life. I believe in you."

SHUT UP.

I AM SCREAMING!!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

THEY FELL.

OFF THE CLIFF.

TOGETHER.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

"My lady"

SHUT. UP!!!!!!!!

THEY FOUND THE CITY THOUGH!!! YESSSSS. THEY DID IT!!! WOMEN!!!!!!

OHHHHH SHIITTTTTTT.

AND HERE WE GO.

THIS IS HOW I KNOW AIRK IS EVIL NOW. MANS GOT A NEW OUTFIT AND A HAIRCUT. HERE WE GO.

ONLY ONE EPISODE LEFT.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

[lavend-ler]

2, 9, 17, 19?

*Hands you my crossbow*

*takes ur crossbow* THANK U RYZ, MY DEAR

2. a compelling argument for why your fave would never top or bottom

Rhys is disabled and his janky ass joints are incapable of bending properly. this man can't top, u can't convince me

9. worst part of canon

whatever the hell they did to Maya and Aurelia in bl3. trust me, I could write u a whole essay on why these two in particular got the worst treatment but dear god, they literally got ruined in this game

also tbh treatment of ANY women in og tales but especially Yvette. my god she deserves so much better

also the fact that we've never seen what is in tales' vault, that was such a copout

also I wanted to say any time u have to talk to Vaughn but I want to especially say that this mission in bl3 where u do NOTHING but drive with him just sucks so badly, worst mission in any game

17. there should be more of this type of fic/art

OH WELL

Rhysothy. yes.

more wlw content. every time I wanted to seee fics for Jathena or for Gaigel or not even talking abt lesser known ships the tags are so dry

Atlas Squad shenanigans. Rhys, Lor and Zer0 for me are besties and I love seeing all of them interact. if u add Tim to the mix too, it makes me the happiest, theyre best friends for me <3

tbh I'd love to see fics that explore Tim's time at the casino

I love seeing Tim at Atlas content so yes he deserves this <33

more crackships. hit me with ur best pairs that never met in canon, no matter if romantic or platonic

19. you're mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like...

oh I rly enjoy [REDACTED SO I WONT DIE OF EMBARRASSMENT]

[sami-guinea-arts]

Filled it out by myself ;) TW for self harm and suicide

💡 - How did you come to create this oc and what were you inspired by? My first SM OC was Lucy. I was inspired to make an OC after finally watching Tender Treats and Bob became my fav. However, I didn't want to instantly make an OC shipped with him. Instead, I made her to be his enemy, which is why I made her with poison abilities. She was mainly inspired by Medusa. I specifically got ideas from other media, such as ATLA, MLP, etc. Wendy was then Bob's love interest. However I didn't want to make her one of these "Ohhh I kill and eat people too lol" OCs, which is why I made her into a wendigo. Babs actually was first inspired by the one family guy episode where we meet Quagmires abused sister Brenda, then also Fluttershy. Also the trope of a close one in bliss. I wanted her to be opposite from Bob, as I see a lot of his relatives, especially kids, also being crazy killers.

♥️ - Do they have a partner? And if so, are they a canon character or another oc? So far, all my OCs are shipped with canon characters, but I am open to OC x OC ships too! Wendy X Bob, Lucy X Carmen, Natalie X Patty, Louhi X John, Babs X Lila, Vincent X Michelle, Lyca X Streber, Azura X Rick (I don't care about doubles, the more shippers, the better lol)

✨ - Are they part of the cult? What is their role there then? Nope, none! I see a ton of OCs in the cult and I think we need some balance with OCs working against the cult. Plus, I am not that interested in it.

🎞️ - If your oc existed in the series, in which episodes would they appear and what would change? I am not sure about it, as with their jobs and lore, they'd really interfere with canon events. Such as Vincent following/comforting Michelle and not letting Moloch kill her. Lyca would pick up Bob's scent from Streber and beat the shit out of him once she catches up. Minor events: Azura would probably also be in front of the car with Rick during Hollow Sorrows, while Natalie would also be shown in the hospital.

🌈 - What is the sexuality and gender identity of your oc? So far I only have cis males and females. Wendy/Lyca - Pansexual, Lucy - Lesbian, Vincent/Azura - Hetero, Natalie - Asexual/Biromantic, Louhi/Babs - Bisexual

⌛ - How old is your oc (in age terms)? All are adults. The coven leader and Vincent are 800+. Lyca is chronologically 68, while physically and mentally she is 33. The rest are young adults, till Natalie and Wendy. For the witches their ages are mostly random and based on their personality and lore. But you never know as they can be far older than they look.

🏡 - Do they have any family or are they related to a canonical character? Babs is Bob's younger sister. Vincent later sees Dexter as his own son.

💼 - Where and what does your oc work? Babs - Librarian, Wendy - Hair stylist, Vincent - Restaurant critic, Louhi - Waitress, Lucy - Florist, Natalie - Nurse, Lyca - Cop, Azura - Bodyguard

⚰️ - Do they die at some point or have they had a near-death experience? Wendy technically died many many times, she's semi immortal and heals by eating human meat. Lucy and Lyca have big scars from...incidents. Babs unalives herself after finding out Bob died.

📼 - What would be their favorite movie or what movie do you associate with them? Wendy loves horror movies. Lucy likes feminism and romance (wlw) themed ones. Azura prefers neutral nature documentaries.

🎧 - What would be their favorite song or what song do you relate to them? So far none, I am bad with themesongs.

🔪 - Have they ever killed someone? Wendy killed her father during her first wendigo transformation and also family (also without intention) who found her in the woods and took her in. Lyca killed people during her job. Vincent has killed several cult members before to show them they can't force him to join. Babs shot her ex, as he was about to kill Bob.

👹 - Are they humans or something different? Vincent - Vampire, Lyca - Werewolf, Wendy - Witch/Wendigo, Lucy, Louhi, Natalie and Azura are witches.

🐾 - Do they have pets or would they like to have one? None has one!

💔 - Is there any canon character that your oc hates? Lucy HATES Bob's guts and wants him gone, she also doesn't get along with Dexter and John. She also hates Jaune because she hates Carmen. Vincent's mortal enemy is Moloch after he killed Michelle, same for Lyca with Bob after he injured Streber.

🚫 - Anything your oc CAN'T do? Babs can't cook for shit, it is either a chemical weapon or a charcoal. Probably more things with the others, but can't think of anything specific atm.

👍 - What is the best feature of your oc? Lucy is a master toxicologist and the strongest witch in the coven after the leader magic wise. Wendy and Lyca are crazy strong and agile. Vincent is rich af and also gathered a lot of knowledge. Babs is kind and selfless.

👎 - What is the worst feature of your oc? Lucy is a bitch if she dislikes someone and lets them know it. Wendy and Lyca are prone to violence when upset, same with Natalie. Azura's resting bitch face and monotone voice makes people think she's bored 24/7. Babs' kindess makes her get taken advantage of a lot.

🥀 - What is the worst moment in your oc's life so far? Babs finding out her brother died and is a cannibal killer cultist. For Wendy...basically the night of the sacrifice (she ate her cult as a wendigo). Azura losing her leg and Natalie going blind. Vincent first seeing Michelle suffer and then losing her.

🎪 - Any hobbies your oc has? Lucy - Gardening, Wendy and Lyca - Working out, hiking, etc., Louhi - Sewing, Babs - Drawing/Painting

🗻 - What is your oc's favorite place? Babs likes peace and quiet, so the library she works at. Wendy loves the woods.

I didn't see anyone do this so...

🎃Spooky month oc ask game💀

💡 - How did you come to create this oc and what were you inspired by?

♥️ - Do they have a partner? And if so, are they a canon character or another oc

✨ - Are they part of the cult? What is their role there then?

🎞️ - If your oc existed in the series, in which episodes would they appear and what would change?

🌈 - What is the sexuality and gender identity of your oc?

⌛ - How old is your oc (in age terms)?

🏡 - Do they have any family or are they related to a canonical character?

💼 - Where and what does your oc work?

⚰️ - Do they die at some point or have they had a near-death experience?

📼 - What would be their favorite movie or what movie do you associate with them?

🎧 - What would be their favorite song or what song do you relate to them?

🔪 - Have they ever killed someone?

👹 - Are they humans or something different?

🐾 - Do they have pets or would they like to have one?

💔 - Is there any canon character that your oc hates?

🚫 - Anything your oc CAN'T do?

👍 - What is the best feature of your oc?

👎 - What is the worst feature of your oc?

🥀 - What is the worst moment in your oc's life so far?

🎪 - Any hobbies your oc has?

🗻 - What is your oc's favorite place?

Feel free to tag anyone you want and have fun!

[yvesdot]

Valentine’s 2021 Drabble 1

SURPRISE!

It’s a Valendrabble! Well, it’s a little longer than that, but nonetheless. And, yes, this is part one, because there are two parts. I initially wanted to write something for the main characters of THE ONE AND ONLY UNIVERSE OF KAY RAINIER, Kay and Atlas, but I knew I’d have to write two Valentines into the story itself and other than those two there wouldn’t be any for them to experience, so I couldn’t make it canon-adjacent in a way that made sense. 

I spent some time coming up with a solid Constantine/Julia piece on the same theme, but then went back and realized that I can do whatever I want. So I wrote two, and they go well together, and you can have and eat whatever cake you like. Feel free to ask me if anything doesn’t make sense based on the project page, and I’ll happily add more context. 

Read here below or at this Google Doc (with author commentary!)

[ONE (You are here!)] [TWO]

Out on a walk, accompanying Kay to someplace that doesn’t seem worth it in the freezing wind, Atlas stops in front of a stationery store. Kay averts her eyes from the storefront immediately, but Atlas squints in at the pink, frilly display in the window.

“Is it Valentine’s?” he asks, examining the stickers and cards and pink marker sets.

“No,” Kay says, now shielding her eyes with one hand. “It is January.”

“You don’t have a calendar, do you?” Atlas asks, stepping back to her side. He makes a mental note: don’t buy Kay any more pens.

“In the kitchen.” She sticks her gloved hands into her coat and keeps walking. “I keep one in my journal.”

“When?” 

“Whenever you see me writing in it.”

“That’s not true.” Atlas crosses his arms. “Last time I looked you were writing about that chick from Hamlet.”

“If you mean Gertrude, Hamlet Jr.’s mother and Hamlet Sr.’s widow, then yes, I very well may have been,” Kay says. “That does not preclude the possibility of my otherwise keeping track of time. For that matter,” she considers, “if you had been referring to Ophelia, that might also have been correct.”

“No, I was talking about Gertrude.” Atlas rubs his hands together, then conjures ink-black mittens. He’s never been sent somewhere so close to home and so much colder; he wishes they could at least get snow. “Ophelia wouldn’t have been as funny.”

💕

It’s no longer the most wonderful time of the year, according to the radio. It’s Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream on repeat, everywhere they go, which makes Atlas think it really must be the most wonderful time of the year.

“See,” he says, ambushing Kay as she considers avocados in the grocery store, “this one is Teenage Dream.”

“Mm.” Kay drops an avocado into her grocery basket and moves on to the cucumbers. 

“I’m just saying, you can recognize it,” he says. He follows Kay along the vegetable aisle.  “It doesn’t sound anything like California Gurls. California Gurls is the one with Snoop Dogg about the types of girls in California. If it has Snoop Dogg in it, then it’s not Teenage Dream. Teenage Dream is the one where she’s singing in head voice in the verses, and the first line in the chorus is higher-pitched, even though both of them are sexy and fierce. California Gurls is an answer song to Empire State of Mind, I’m pretty sure, and you can hear how it’s argumentative where Teenage Dream is celebratory. Like Katy is doing this kind of debate-as-striptease thing. In California Gurls, I mean. And the music videos are completely different—” He knocks into someone’s cart, looks at it, and keeps going. Kay fixes the cart. “—moods. Teenage Dream is the one where Katy is having sex, and California Gurls is the one where all the candy is sex. Do you have a problem?” he asks an old woman staring at them.

“Not everyone wants to hear about whipped-cream lingerie in the grocery store,” Kay says, pulling Atlas away with her.

“Well, that’s a personal issue. Now, which one is that from?” Atlas asks, leaning on Kay’s arm. 

Kay thinks for a moment, then says, “Teenage Dream.”

“Nooooooo,” Atlas whines, following her to the checkout line. 

“I know; I’m hopeless,” Kay says, re-organizing her cart. “It seems impossible I haven’t understood it by now. I suppose you’ll just have to explain all of it to me again.” She looks away from Atlas just as he thinks he’s caught a smile. “Start with the one that’s a commentary on objectification.”

💕

Atlas pulls down at least three different streamers on his way to breakfast. BY ACCIDENT, which is a distinction neither Kay nor Constantine seem to understand. Constantine in particular is distraught enough to abandon the table mid-muffin. 

“So it’s Valentine’s now,” Atlas says, sitting down. He removes Constantine’s napkin, but puts it back at Kay’s reproachful look. Then he disappears one knife to keep things interesting.

“Not yet. My father likes to be early.” 

“What is this, an American public school?” Atlas tosses a muffin into his mouth whole. 

“We are having fun,” Kay says, buttering her toast. “On occasion, even a Rainier can be persuaded to have a good time. I would have expected you, of all people, to rejoice at this.”

Atlas leans back in his seat. 

“And what does your dad do on Valentine’s?” he asks. “Get marginally less uncomfortable with pink?”

“Does anything about this look marginal to you?” Kay asks, waving her hand and hitting a paper heart.

“I’m just saying,” Atlas says (in his indoor voice, which is to say, Kay’s normal voice). “He doesn’t fuck. What’s the point of Valentine’s if you don’t fuck?”

“Certainly not culture.” Kay wipes her hands on her napkin. “Art. Tradition. The great ideals of classic romance.”

“Same thing,” Atlas mutters absently, watching Constantine struggle to put a string of dried roses back up. It takes Kay a significant amount of time to notice that Atlas is causing the breeze blowing Constantine’s streamers just out of his reach.

💕

Atlas almost forgets Valentine’s. He manages to figure it out in the evening, when he happens to pass by the calendar in the kitchen. Constantine has marked it all up with business meetings, and Kay’s script denotes occasional family visits. Atlas examines the calendar, takes a careful squint at the dates, and returns to Kay in the parlor.

“Kay,” he says, “is it Sunday?”

Kay turns a page, sitting with her feet up in the wingback chair. Even her book is a deep burgundy, though she hasn’t had to change her outfit to match.

“It certainly is.”

“Which Sunday?” he asks, creeping up towards the arm of the chair.

“The fourteenth of February,” she says. 

Atlas takes a careful perch on one chair arm, making sure not to tip things over. This requires some magic. Not as much as Atlas would have expected; it’s an expensive chair.

“So,” he says, “Valentine’s.”

“I missed desperately the branded cards and candy hearts.” Kay reaches up to scratch Atlas’s back.

“Well, I’m just saying.” Atlas squints into Kay’s book, which is half in Italian. The rest appears to be poetry. “You don’t want to go out?”

“No.”

“No fancy restaurant?”

“No, thank you.”

“No candlelit dinner?”

“Not remotely.”

“Good.” Atlas tucks his feet up to sit cross-legged. “Want me to sit here and read your book over your shoulder?”

“Like every other night?” Kay murmurs, leaning over to kiss him. “I thought you’d never ask.”

Atlas grins, looking down as Kay flips back to the beginning. He hopes she’ll explain it as they go.

[trojantoast]

There are two wolves that live inside you. One shipped Zutara since the beginning. The other is now currently living through the atla resurgence and realizing that Zuko is Very Not Straight based on Everything About Him.

[sodrippy]

zuko and mai dating is SO funny its like neither of them were ever told u can be friends w people of different genders and thats okay, so they just painfully go through the motions of teen romance

[watery-melon-baller]

perfect!

behold, the ultimate gaang polycule!

aang and katara: 100% committed relationship, very sweet, wholesome couple. aang and kuzon were a bit of a thing before the whole iceberg deal, and katara just thinks women are hot. especially suki. they are both bi and winning.

suki and katara: flirty gay icons. suki is bisexual and thriving and is in awe of how pretty and skilled katara is. katara thinks suki is cute as hell, and is jealous of her muscles. the two of them think the other is very pretty. they both kind of definitely want to kiss each other. it doesn't help that half the time they act like they're already dating. suki trying not to explode because katara said her makeup was very cute, got super close to her face to wipe away a smudge, and then holds her hand. aang is aware of kataras feelings and keeps encouraging her to go for it, but she has no clue how sokka feels about her dating his girlfriend. sokka does not care and is just happy to see two of his favorite people happy one they both figure out their shit and kiss, although he has to give shovel talks to both of them. he decides to do it at the same time for maximum efficiency. this fails but A for effort.

sokka and suki: they're dating and an established couple, but kind of unsure about where they stand. they're figuring it out together, but are pretty steady. they're agreeing to keep their relationship open, just because they both have massive crushes. bisexual icons. they both have two hands, after all

sokka and zuko: kind of in the same stage as suki and katara. zuko thinks sokka is very hot and has the world's most obvious crush. sokka was oblivious for a while but figured it out because aang just straight up told him. katara was mad because she and toph had bets on how long it would take him to notice and toph won. sokka keeps making horrible pickup lines which zuko secretly LOVES. sokka suki and zuko all share a bed and use zuko as a heater. when they finally get over themselves and get together everyone is so fucking relieved because it was just the worst pining you've ever seen

suki and zuko: suki is bi, and she can appreciate a cute guy. both her and sokka think he's cute which is very funny because zuko is oblivious. zuko is gay and has a massive crush on sokka, but suki makes him,,, question a little bit. then again suki makes everyone question their sexuality. she's like the Ryan Reynolds of atla. the only one semi-immune to her charms is aang, who is too in love with katara to be interested in anyone else

zuko and katara: any hopes of a romance were extinguished the instant katara saw that ponytail. looks like a horsetail glued to an onion. there's no coming back from that. not quite siblings but moreso mlm/wlw solidarity. they like to shit talk the others like they both aren't hopelessly gay. aang keeps joining their gossip session and making zuko a third wheel but he doesn't mind. it always ends with aang cuddling him for warmth, and then katara cuddling the both of him. zuko cannot escape his fate as the group heater and best cuddler.

toph: watching from the background, cackling as she lives her best aroace life. she thinks girls are cute, but has no interest in a relationship. she kissed suki once for funsies and immediately decided it wasn't for her. she will however bully the others for being cringe and dating. she thinks it's hilarious watching them all lie to each other about their crushes and seeing how high their heart rates go up when suki wears a bathing suit. she will also join the group cuddle pile, and will be a menace. constantly ruining potential dates/make out sessions.

tldr: almost everyone is bisexual and flirting/dating each other. love wins <3

is anyone interested in seeing my insanely specific gaang relationship headcanon

[mohluskiepedard]

Rating ATLA Characters literally only from what I’ve seen in fandom

or: posts that probably shouldn’t be on my writeblr except I don’t have a sideblog

the context here is it’s half midnight and I have never seen ATLA except I have opinions now apparently so here we go whoop de do- 

I’m also not actually rating them like numerically that’s too much work i’m just stating opinions I know I’m a fraud

AANG

- A child?  - A son?  - he is Baby. but also. he has had It Rough  - would make the updog joke - has unspeakable power or smth and everyone says he’s better than the Korra girl who comes after him but honestly tastes like sexism to me - doesn’t kill people because he’s like twelve, right? he’s like twelve so he refuses to kill people - I stan honestly - less twelve year olds should kill people - Some people say his name WRONG and they are BAD but i don’t actually know what the right way or the wrong way is so. have fun w that yall - lived in peace unTIL THE FIRE NATION ATTACKED 

KATARA

- She is also like twelve???  - Is everyone here twelve - Cortana?? Katana?? Catbug??  - She has good hair, - Her mother is dead??? her mother is dead n she has a brother but she cares about her mother being dead WAY more than him (or apparently the entire fandom??) - Badass - She seems soft. good. sweet - she’s a water breather or whatever??? her brother is NOT but he is a meme - I love her 

SOKKA

- NGL looks like a fuckboy  - The meme brother! does not do the water things, but he has an aXe???  - dates BAMF lady - ngl until I talked to my ATLA watching friend I thought he canonically dated Zuko  - kinda mad he doesn’t - I haven’t actually seen anything about him except like. in zuko ship posts and also Suki appreciation posts - joined the white lotus not-a-cult by accident???  - dark ATLA tumblr show me more Sokka posts - is his name prounounced the same way as Soccer or isn’t it I need to know - HIS FIRST GIRLFRIEND TURNED INTO THE MOON - (AND THAT’S ROUGH, BUDDY) - He and Suki are a good ship, but also, Sokka Has Two Hands

SUKI

- the BAMF herself - she says STOP in that photo but also to sexism - Rlly all I see of her in fanon is abt her teaching Sokka to drink his respect women juice and I appreciate her doing that but also it’s sad she never gets talked about outside of what she did for a man - I hope she has other badass moments w/o him it would suck if she didn’t - she is NOT the girlfriend who turned into the moon, she is the one who didn’t - I don’t know much else about her ATLA Fandom y’all should appreciate her more

ZUKO

- Look at him... my son... - He has a good redemption arc - he and his sister are evil lesbian and redeemed gay guy??? - has a straight canon ship but should’ve been with Sokka this boy is gay - I Want To Protect Him - That’s literally it - he has a cool uncle and his dad sucks  - people ship him with Katara and I Do Not Get It that’s his sister in law except not really - “We don’t trust Zuko’s change of heart” [the next day] “so Zuko is my closest friend now,”  - His dad was like “fuck up the avatar to prove your worth to me” and Aang was like “counter argument you already have worth and we should fuck up your dad” and I think that’s beautiful - he becomes the fire man and he’s very good at it - Zuko for President 2020 - in the words of myself, half an hour ago: “ I was like "that kid with the burn on his face seems like a sad but then happy mlm who needs found family" and I was RIGHT” - took too long to find a happy picture of him :( Zuko rights NOW please - His mother’s story got compared to an OC of mine and all I can say is oh no and they deserve better based on that alone - I have had Zuko for five minutes but if anything else happens to him I will kill everyone in this throne room and then myself

TOPH

- She is badass but like also will murder you while laughing maniacally? - for some reason reminds me of Nott from Critical Role, another show I Have Not Seen - Is blind but gets more out of making jokes abt being blind than she would from being able to see - “Sight is just a cheap tactic to make weak benders stronger!!!” - Literally the opposite of Aang and has killed many people?? - She Can Tell When You’re Lying. But I do not know how and Am simply mildly threatened by this - Therapist: Toph’s ability to know if you’re lying isn’t real and can’t hurt you. Toph’s ability to know if I’m lying:  - She and Zuko.... buddies???  - if not they should be - tiny sad boy needs friends like toph

AZULA

- Evil Lesbian Culture - [BDG Voice] You committed a war crime! Oopsie! - took be gay do crime too literally - her and Zuko have accurate sibling writin except instead of “you ever want to murder your sibling for breathing in the same space as you,” being a Joke Azula took it seriously - okay but with a name like azula she should be the blue bender this ANNOYS me she should NOT be red bender - AZULa  - AZUL - IT MEANS BLUE - She was half of y’alls gay awakenings and it SHOWS - Should have maybe been redeemed too??? Jury is out no one knows - Was she gay for Ty Lee or wasn’t she I can’t tell how much of that Audio is a joke - IS SHE ALSO TWELVE??? IS EVERYONE HERE TWELVE?? IS THIS TWELVE YEAR OLD COMITTING ATROCITIES? 

UNCLE IROH

- A Good Man - Finally, Some Good Fucking [Adult Figures]  - he has the tea. literally and figuratively - Ozai is like “and I will permanently disfigure my son and throw him out” and Iroh is like “What The Fuck, Ozai,” thus voicing the entire audience’s thoughts - Literally the only adult in this that I trust - I? I love him. this is all I have to say. my love for him is unending. Some1 protect this man from all harm   - he’s Zuko’s uncle (and also Azula ig) but he does not seem related to Ozai. is it just a theme in this family that one sibling is chill and one sibling commits horrendous atrocities against your fellow human beings or  - something happened to his son???? :((((( I Don’t Want Him To Have Suffered Like This

OZAI

- A BAD MAN - Uh Oh (stinky)  - THE WORST OF THE MEN  - I do not like him - Bastard man. nasty. committed war crimes and then went “but what if - get this - i also abused my son,”  - I would like him to Not Be Like This - by Like This I mean present and alive  - :/ 

TY LEE

- She’s NOT the There Is No War In Ba Sing Se lady and I don’t know why i thought she WAS but until I looked up her photo I thought that was her  - She looks like a sweetheart tho - I hope nothing bad happens to her????  - talks about auras??? or smth??? let her vibe - She would talk animatedly to me about warrior cats if she was in my year seven class and I was sat alone and I would understand none of it but appreciate her anyway - if azula bullies her I’ll be :( at Azula and Azula will not care because she has Mommy Issues and therefore is slightly unhinged - She seems like that one kid with no trauma vibing at the edge of [every other kid having trauma] and not really getting it but trying her best - Is she also twelve?????? She maybe looks twelve

CABBAGE MAN 

- HIS CABBAGES - fulfills my favourite trope: ordinary person repeatedly has life disrupted by the inconveniences of relying on actual children to save the world - probably has a campaign post canon for letting trained adults fix the worlds’ problems in the future - or sets up the Very First Cabbage Insurance Company - look at him. he loves his cabbages so much. you go you funky lil cabbage man

ALSO THE MOST IMPORTANT ONES MOMO

- LOOK AT HIM HE’S SO GOOD - small. fluffy. big ears - Lord Momo of the Momo Dynasty: his Momoness - a Good Boy...

APPA

- he looks so soft... - he can fly but he just does it by??? vibing through the air?? motionless??? iconic - I saw that one post about mishearing it as Abba and thinking he was Aang’s dad and he looks like he would be a good stand in dad ngl - he’s so LORGE - a chonky boy - love him

that is everyone I have heard of it and if I left someone out it’s a sign that y’all should talk about em more bc I have no clue they exist put more ATLA On my Dash ig I’ll do Legend of Korra ig maybe apparently that one has canon wlw and i love me some canon wlw

[army-of-mai-lovers]

in which I get progressively angrier at the various tropes of atla fandom misogyny

tbh I think it would serve all of us to have a larger conversation about the specific ways misogyny manifests in this fandom, because I’ve seen a lot of people who characterize themselves as feminists, many of whom are women themselves, discuss the female characters of atla/lok in misogynistic ways, and people don’t talk about it enough. 

disclaimer before I start: I’m not a woman, I’m an afab nonbinary person who is semi-closeted and thus often read as a woman. I’m speaking to things that I’ve seen that have made me uncomfy, but if any women (esp women existing along other axes of oppression, e.g. trans women, women of color, disabled women, etc) want to add onto this post, please do!

“This female character is a total badass but I’m not even a little bit interested in exploring her as a human being.” 

I’ve seen a lot of people say of various female characters in atla/lok, “I love her! She’s such a badass!” now, this statement on its own isn’t misogynistic, but it represents a pretty pervasive form of misogyny that I’ve seen leveled in large part toward the canon female love interests of one or both of the members of a popular gay ship (*cough* zukka *cough*) I’m going to use Suki as an example of this because I see it with her most often, but it can honestly be applied to nearly every female character in atla/lok. Basically, people will say that they stan Suki, but when it comes time to engage with her as an actual character, they refuse to do it. I’ve seen meta after meta about Zuko’s redemption arc, but I so rarely see people engage with Suki on any level beyond “look at this cool fight scene!” and yeah, I love a cool Suki fight scene as much as anybody else, but I’m also interested in meta and headcanons and fics about who she is as a person, when she isn’t an accessory to Sokka’s development or doing something cool. of course, the material for this kind of engagement with Suki is scant considering she doesn’t have a canon backstory (yet) (don’t let me down Faith Erin Hicks counting on you girl) but with the way I’ve seen people in this fandom expand upon canon to flesh out male characters, I know y’all have it in you to do more with Suki, and with all the female characters, than you currently do. frankly, the most engagement I’ve seen with Suki in mainstream fandom is justifying either zukki (which again, is characterizing her in relation to male characters, one of whom she barely interacts with in canon) or one of the Suki wlw pairings. which brings me to--

“I conveniently ship this female character whose canon love interest is one of the members of my favorite non-canon ship with another female character! gay rights!” 

now, I will admit, two of my favorite atla ships are yueki and mailee, and so I totally understand being interested in these characters’ dynamics, even if, as is the case with yueki, they’ve never interacted canonically. however, it becomes a problem for me when these ships are always in the background of a zukka fic. at some point, it becomes obvious that you like this ship because it gets either Zuko or Sokka’s female love interests out of the way, not because you actually think the characters would mesh well together. It’s bad form to dislike a female character because she gets in the way of your gay ship, so instead, you find another girl to pair her off with and call it a day. to be clear, I’m not saying that everybody who ships either mailee or yueki (or tysuki or maisuki or yumai or whatever other wlw rarepair involving Zuko or Sokka’s canon love interests) is nefariously trying to sideline a female character while acting publicly as if she’s is one of their faves--far from it--but it is noteworthy to me how difficult it is to find content that centers wlw ships, while it’s incredibly easy to find content that centers zukka in which mailee and/or yueki plays a background role. 

also, notice how little traction wlw Katara ships gain in this fandom. when’s the last time you saw yuetara on your dash? there’s no reason for wlw Katara ships to gain traction in a fandom that is so focused on Zuko and Sokka getting together, bc she doesn’t present an immediate obstacle to that goal (at least, not an obstacle that can be overcome by pairing her up with a woman). if you are primarily interested in Zuko and Sokka’s relationship, and your queer readings of other female characters are motivated by a desire to get them out of the way for zukka, then Katara’s canon m/f relationship isn’t a threat to you, and thus, there’s no reason to read her as potentially queer. Or even, really, to think about her at all. 

“Katara’s here but she’s not actually going to do anything, because deep down, I’m not interested in her as a person.” 

the show has an enormous amount of textual evidence to support the claim that Sokka and Katara are integral parts of each other’s lives. so, she typically makes some kind of appearance in zukka content. sometimes, her presence in the story is as an actual character with layers and nuance, someone whom Sokka cares about and who cares about Sokka in return, but also has her own life and goals outside of her brother (or other male characters, for that matter.) sometimes, however, she’s just there because halfway through writing the author remembered that Sokka actually has a sister who’s a huge part of the show they’re writing fanfiction for, and then they proceed to show her having a meetcute with Aang or helping Sokka through an emotional problem, without expressing wants or desires outside of those characters. I’m honestly really surprised that I haven’t seen more people calling out the fact that so much of Katara’s personality in fanon revolves around her connections to men? she’s Aang’s girlfriend, she’s Sokka’s sister, she’s Zuko’s bestie. never mind that in canon she spends an enormous amount of time fighting against (anachronistic, Westernized) sexism to establish herself as a person in her own right, outside of these connections. and that in canon she has such interesting complex relationships with other female characters (e.g. Toph, Kanna, Hama, Korra if you want to write lok content) or that there are a plethora of characters with whom she could have interesting relationships with in fanon (Mai, Suki, Ty Lee, Yue, Smellerbee, and if you want to write lok content, Kya II, Lin, Asami, Senna, etc). to me, the lack of fandom material exploring Katara’s relationships with other women or with herself speak to a profound indifference to Katara as a character. I’m not saying you have to like Katara or include her in everything you write, but I am asking you to consider why you don’t find her interesting outside of her relationships with men.

“I hate Katara because she talks about her mother dying too often.” 

this is something I’ve seen addressed by people far more qualified than I to address it, but I want to mention it here in part because when I asked people which fandom tropes they wanted me to talk about, this came up often, but also because I find it really disgusting that this is a thing that needs to be addressed at all. Y’all see a little girl who watched her mother be killed by the forces of an imperialist nation and say that she talks about it too much??? That is a formational, foundational event in a child’s life. Of course she’s going to talk about it. I’ve seen people say that she doesn’t talk about it that often, or that she only talks about it to connect with other victims of fn imperialism e.g. Jet and Haru, but frankly, she could speak about it every episode for no plot-significant reason whatsoever and I would still be angry to see people say she talks about it too much. And before you even bring up the Sokka comparison, people deal with grief in different ways. Sokka  repressed a lot of his grief/channeled it into being the “man” of his village because he knew that they would come for Katara next if he gave them the opportunity. he probably would talk about his mother more if a) he didn’t feel massive guilt at not being able to remember what she looked like, and b) he was allowed to be a child processing the loss of his mother instead of having to become a tiny adult when Hakoda had to leave to help fight the fn. And this gets into an intersection with fandom racism, in that white fans (esp white American fans) are incapable of relating to the structural trauma that both Sokka and Katara experience and thus can’t see the ways in which structural trauma colors every single aspect of both of their characters, leading them to flatten nuance and to have some really bad takes. And you know what, speaking of bad fandom takes--   

“Shitting on Mai because she gets in the way of my favorite Zuko ship is actually totally okay because she’s ~abusive~” 

y’all WHAT. 

ok listen, I get not liking maiko. I didn’t like it when I first got into fandom, and later I realized that while bryke cannot write romance to save their lives, fans who like maiko sure can, so I changed my tune. but if you still don’t like it, that’s fine. no skin off my back. 

what IS skin off my back is taking instances in which Mai had justified anger toward Zuko, and turning it into “Mai abused Zuko.” do you not realize how ridiculous you sound? this is another thing where I get so angry about it that I don’t know how useful my analysis is actually going to be, but I’ll do my best. numerous people have noted how analysis of Mai and Zuko’s breakup in “The Beach” or Mai being justifiably angry with him at Boiling Rock or her asking for FUCKING FRUIT in “Nightmares and Daydreams” that says that all of these events were her trying to gain control over him is....ahhh...lacking in reading comprehension, but I’d like to go a step further and talk about why y’all are so intent on taking down a girl who doesn’t show emotion in normative ways. obviously, there’s a “Zuko can do no wrong” aspect to Mai criticism (which is super weird considering how his whole arc is about how he can do lots of wrong and he has to atone for the wrong that he’s done--but that’s a separate post.) But I also see slandering Mai for not expressing her emotions normatively and not putting up with Zuko’s shit and slandering Katara for “talking about her mother too often” as two sides of the same coin. In both cases, a female character expresses emotions that make you, the viewer, uncomfortable, and so instead of attempting to understand where those emotions may have come from and why they might be manifesting the way they are, y’all just throw the whole character away. this is another instance of people in the fandom being fundamentally disinterested in engaging with the female characters of atla in a real way, except instead of shallowly “stanning” Mai, y’all hate her. so we get to this point where female characters are flattened into one of two things: perfect queens who can do no wrong, or bitches. and that’s not who they are. that’s not who anyone is. but while we as a fandom are pretty good at understanding b1 Zuko’s actions as layered and multifaceted even though he’s essentially an asshole then, few are willing to lend the same grace to any female character, least of all Mai. 

and what’s funny is sometimes this trope will intersect with “I conveniently ship this female character whose canon love interest is one of the members of my favorite non-canon ship with another female character! gay rights!”, so you’ll have someone actively calling Mai toxic/problematic/abusive, and at the same time ship her with Ty Lee? make it make sense! but then again, maybe that’s happening because y’all are fundamentally disinterested in Ty Lee as a character too. 

“I love Ty Lee so much that I’m going to treat her like an infantilized hypersexual airhead!” 

there are so many things happening in y’alls characterization of Ty Lee that I struggled to synthesize it into one quippy section header. on one hand, you have the hypersexualization, and on the other hand, you have the infantilization, which just makes the hypersexualization that much worse. 

(of course, sexualizing or hypersexualizing ANY atla character is really not the move, considering that these are child characters in a children’s show, but then again, that’s a separate post.) 

now, I understand how, from a very, very surface reading of the text, you could come to the conclusion that Ty Lee is an uncomplicated bimbo. if you grew up on Western media the way I did, you’ll know that Ty Lee has a lot of the character traits we associate with bimbos: the form-fitting pink crop top, the general conventional attractiveness, the ditzy dialogue. but if you think about it for more than three seconds, you’ll understand that Ty Lee has spent her whole life walking a tightrope, trying to please Azula and the rest of the royal family while also staying true to herself. Ty Lee and Azula’s relationship is a really complex and interesting topic that I don’t really have time to explore at the moment given how long this post is, but I’d argue that Ty Lee’s constant, vocal  adulation is at least partially a product of learning to survive at court at an early age. Like Mai, she has been forced to regulate her emotions as a member of fn nobility, but unlike Mai, she also has six sisters who look exactly like her, so she has a motivation to be more peppy and more affectionate to stand out. 

fandom does not do the work to understand Ty Lee. as is a theme with this post, fandom is actively disinterested in investigating female characters beyond a very surface level reading of them. Thus, fandom takes Ty Lee’s surface level qualities--her love of the color pink, her revealing standard outfit, and the fact that once she found a boy attractive and also once a lot of boys found her attractive--and they stretch this into “Ty Lee is basically Karen Smith from Mean Girls.” thus, Ty Lee is painted as a bimbo, or more specifically, as not smart, uncritically adoring of Azula (did y’all forget all the non-zukka bits of Boiling Rock?), and attractive to the point of hypersexualization. I saw somebody make a post that was like “I wish mailee was more popular but I’m also glad it isn’t because otherwise people would write it as Mai having to put up with her dumb gf” and honestly I have to agree!! this is one instance in which I’m glad that fandom doesn’t discuss one of my favorite characters that often because I hate the fanon interpretation of Ty Lee, I think it’s rooted in misogyny (particularly misogyny against East Asian women, which often takes the form of fetishizing them and viewing them only through a Western white male gaze)  

(side note: here at army-of-mai-lovers, we stan bimbos. bimbos are fucking awesome. I personally don’t read Ty Lee as a bimbo, but if that’s you, that’s fucking awesome. keep doing what you’re doing, queen <3 or king or monarch, it’s 2021, anyone can be a bimbo, bitches <3)

“Toph can and will destroy everyone here with her bare hands because she’s a meathead who likes to murder people and that’s it!”  

Toph is, and always has been, one of my favorite ATLA characters. My very first fic in fandom was about her, and she appears prominently in a lot of my other work as well. One thing that I am always struck by with Toph is how big a heart she has. She’s independent, yes, snarky, yes, but she cares about people--even the family that forced her to make herself smaller because they didn’t believe that their blind daughter could be powerful and strong. Her storyline is powerful and emotionally resonant, her bending is cool precisely because it’s based in a “wait and listen” approach instead of just smashing things indiscriminately, she’s great disabled rep, and overall one of the best characters in the show. 

And in fandom, she gets flattened into “snarky murder child.” 

So where does this come from? Well, as we all know, Toph was originally conceived of as a male character, and retained a lot of androgyny (or as the kids call it, Gender) when she was rewritten as a female character. There are a lot of cultural ideas about androgynous/butch women being violent, and people in fandom seem to connect that larger cultural narrative with some of Toph’s more violent moments in the show to create the meathead murder child trope, erasing her canon emotionality, softness, heart, and femininity in the process. 

This is not to say that you shouldn’t write or characterize Toph as being violent or snarky at all ever, because yeah, Toph definitely did do Earth Rumbles a lot before joining the gaang, and yeah, Toph is definitely a sarcastic person who makes fun of her friends a lot. What I am saying is that people take these traits, sans the emotional logic, marry them to their conception of androgynous/butch women as violent/unemotional/uncaring, and thus create a caricature of Toph that is not at all up to snuff. When I see Toph as a side character in a fic (because yeah, Toph never gets to be a main character, because why would a fandom obsessed with one male character in particular ever make Toph a protagonist in her own right?) she’s making fun of people, killing people, pranking people, etc, etc. She’s never talking to people about her emotions, or palling around with her found family, or showing that she cares about her friends. Everything about her relationship with her parents, her disability, her relationship to Gender, and her love of her friends is shoved aside to focus on a version of Toph that is mean and uncaring because people have gotten it into their heads that androgynous/butch women are mean and uncaring. 

again, we see a female character who does not emote normatively or in a way that makes you, the viewer, comfortable, and so you warp her character until she’s completely unrecognizable and flat. and for what? 

Azula

no, I didn’t come up with a snappy name for this section, mainly because fanon interpretations of Azula and my own feelings toward the character are...complicated. I know there were some people who wanted me to write about Azula and the intersection of misogyny and ableism in fanon interpretations of her character, but I don’t think I can deliver on that because I personally am in a period of transition with how I see Azula. that is to say, while I still like her and believe that she can be redeemed, there is a lot of merit to disliking her. the whole point of this post is that the female characters of ATLA are complex people whom the fandom flattens into stereotypes that don’t hold up to scrutiny, or dislike for reasons that don’t make sense. Azula, however, is a different case. the rise of Azula defenders and Azula stans has led to this sentiment that Azula is a 14 y/o abuse victim who shouldn’t be held accountable for her actions. it seems to me that people are reacting to a long, horrible legacy of male ATLA fans armchair diagnosing Azula with various personality disorders (and suggesting that people with those personality disorders are inherently monstrous and unlovable which ahhhh....yikes) and then saying that those personality disorders make her unlovable, which is quite obviously bad. and hey, I get loving a character that everyone else hates and maybe getting so swept up in that love that you forget that your fave is complicated and has made some unsavory choices. it sucks that fanon takes these well-written, complex villains/antiheroes and turns them into monsters with no critical thought whatsoever. but the attitude among Azula stans that her redemption shouldn’t be hard, that her being a child excuses all of the bad things that she’s done, that she is owed redemption....all of that rubs me the wrong way. I might make another post about this in the future that discusses this in more depth, but as it stands now: while I understand that there is a legacy of misogynistic, ableist, unnuanced takes on Azula, the backlash to that does not take into account the people she hurt or the fact that in ATLA she does not make the choice to pursue redemption. and yes, Zuko had help in making that choice that Azula didn’t, and yes, Azula is a victim of abuse, but in a show about children who have gone through untold horrors and still work to better the lives of the people around them, that is not enough for me to uncritically stan her. 

Conclusion    

misogyny in this fandom runs rampant. while there are some tropes of fandom misogyny that are well-documented and have been debunked numerous times, there are other, subtler forms of misogyny that as far as I know have gone completely unchecked. 

what I find so interesting about misogyny in atla fandom is that it’s clear that it’s perpetrated by people who are aware of fandom misogyny who are actively trying not to be misogynistic. when I first joined atla fandom last summer, memes about how zukka fandom was better than every other fandom because they didn’t hate the female characters who got in the way of their gay ship were extremely prevalent, and there was this sense that *this* fandom was going to model respectful, fun, feminist online fandom. not all of the topes I’ve outlined are exclusive to or even largely utilized in zukka fandom, but a lot of them are. I’ve been in and out of fandom since I was eleven years old, and most of the fandom spaces I’ve been in have been majority-female, and all of them have been incredibly misogynistic. and I always want to know why. why, in these communities created in large part by women, in large part for women, does misogyny run wild? what I realize now is that there’s never going to be a one-size fits all answer to that question. what’s true for 1D fandom on Wattpad in 2012 is absolutely not true for atla fandom on tumblr in 2021. the answers that I’ve cobbled together for previous fandoms don’t work here. 

so, why is atla fandom like this? why did the dream of a feminist fandom almost entirely focused on the romantic relationship between two male characters fall apart? honestly, I think the notion that zukka fandom ever was this way was horrifically ignorant to begin with. from my very first moment in the fandom, I was seeing racism, widespread sexualization of minors, and yes, misogyny. these aspects of the fandom weren’t talked about as much as the crocverse or other, much more fun aspects. further, atla (specifically zukka) fandom misogyny often doesn’t look like the fandom misogyny we’ve become familiar with from like, Sherlock fandom or what have you. for the most part, people don’t actively hate Suki, they just “stan” without actually caring about her. they hate Mai because they believe in treating male victims of abuse equally. they’re not characterizing Toph poorly, they’re writing her as a “strong woman.” in short, people are misogynistic, and then invoke a shallow, incomplete interpretation of feminist theory to shield themselves from accusations of misogyny. it’s not unlike the way some people will invoke a shallow, incomplete interpretation of critical race theory to shield themselves from accusations of racism, or how they’ll talk about “freedom of speech” and “the suppression of women’s sexuality” to justify sexualizing minors. the performance of feminism and antiracism is what’s important, not the actual practice. 

if you’ve made it this far, first off, hi, thanks so much for reading, I know this was a lot. second, I would seriously encourage you to be aware of these fandom tropes and to call them out when you see them. elevate the voices of fans who do the work of bringing the female characters of atla to life. invest in the wlw ships in this fandom. drop a kudos and a comment on a rangshi fic (please, drop a kudos and a comment on a rangshi fic). read some yuetara. let’s all be honest about where we are now, and try to do better in the future. I believe in us. 

[grudgby]

The first time we see ryan (besides when he is a baby) he is wearing makeup thats clearly inspired by david bowie.

Infinity train is an exceptional show, with so many good characters and storylines. However, even the best pieces of media can have problems - nothing is perfect. And a problem exists with the latest season of infinity train. That problem is queerbaiting (it’s especially apparent in 4x01). A lot of people dont seem to get why it is queerbaiting so I want to break down some stuff that happened in just the first 11 minute episode of the show and the trailer so I wont spoil the entire show for people who havent seen it yet besides the obvious spoiler that rymin is not endgame. The first episode is supposed to get the viewers invested in the show and give us a reason to keep watching. Clearly the creators wanted the shows lgbt+ viewers to continue watching to see if rymin would get together in the end from the first episode.

Queercoding and queerbaiting are not the same thing but queerbaiting almost always involves queercoding. Queercoding can be a totally positive thing when its done to more minor characters and there is canon LGBT rep. She-ra is a good example of a show with a LOT of queercoded characters where it is never confirmed. But she-ra still did not queerbait bc the two leads end up in a lesbian relationship as well as some other wlw and mlm side pairings. Also she-ra had double trouble as textually explicit nonbinary rep while having another trans coded character (jewelstar) that was less significant to the plot. 

[id: 6 year ryan in red lightning facepaint covering most of his face. He his biting his lip and holding a rocker hand signal in the air with his eyes squeezed tight.]

David bowie was one of the first openly lgbt celebrities and probably is one of the most influential lgbt people of all time. I’d call him an icon if he wasn’t deeply racist and antisemitic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Against_Racism Us meeting ryan for the first time dressed up as a man who identified as gay is CLEAR queercoding.

[id: ryan is hugging min backstage. Min is blushing]

This was after min gave ryan the shirt ryan is wearing. He is blushing. Do yall blush when your friend youre not into at all hugs you after getting a gift from you? They blush when they hug multiple times throughout the season. 

[id: a screenshot of min and ryan are laying on their back unconscious with their right palms held upward by a robot. Their hands are glowing green. The subtitle, spoken by Amelia, read “two in one?”]

[id: a screenshot of a younger amelia with one eyebrow down saying “What is this, some sort of destiny rubbish?]

Using the word destiny to talk about their relationship is clearly coding the relationship to be romantic. They had the same number, “202”.  They were practically in couples counseling. When there are two people in a relationship that has been pre-established and they are in the same age group it seems like the logical conclusion that there would be a romantic undertone to their relationship. 

In animation, there is hardly any mlm rep. There is far more rep of nontoxic male friendships. Bow and Sea Hawk from she-ra, sokka and aang in atla, benson and dave from kipo and the age of wonderbeasts. There is far more representation for nontoxic guy friends than there is for mlm so mlm rep is far more important.

[crimsonxe]

You mean after Yang had shown repeatedly that she was comfortable with her new arm, which meta-wise is repeatedly demonstrated to the viewers even in v9 with "high five" bit. Like if Yang were being self-conscious about it, then it'd come across badly; but instead we're not only shown Yang embracing it but also not even thinking about taking it back (when having her trip thanks to the Herbalist). This is furthered by how awkward Blake was in v6 about it in comparison.

Once again Sun was NOT a boyfriend of Blake's. He's a guy who's her friend that has feelings towards her, while her feelings are directed at Yang. At no point did the two enter into a relationship. This is confirmed by a writer stating that Sun at no point was considered to be a romantic interest for Blake.

Um have you seen most predators? They're exactly the type that are older that seek younger more enthralled people like Adam. He's the exact type to want that ego boosting, susceptible to gaslighting, and loyal type. There also was no change, there was NOTHING definitive put forward about their relationship at all. Also who is going to say something about it exactly? Blake and her parents were distant at that point (which again fits with predators/abusers) and Blake was very much under his influence with him being a higher up figure within the WF so as to stop others from mentioning it. If anything he perfectly sets up for Yang as she's everything he pretended to be, which would be lost if he were changed. As it stands that juxtaposition is there and the canon showing of Blake being bi via having had a relationship with him and now with Yang. There is no reason outside of edgelords to remove it.

Saying she had a "crush" makes it more shallow & childish than it was. Ilia legitimately developed feelings for Blake for who she was and being a shoulder she could turn to, not because she was hot (aka what I consider crush tier). Also the notion of gay girls being villainized would only apply if she were the ONLY wlw or if there were a string of them all being villains; neither of which is the case. Once again yes, she did exit from the main spotlight of the show; because once again there's such a thing as main characters, secondary characters, etc. Do I think she could've been an interesting addition going into Atlas given her history? Sure, but I recognize that she isn't nor ever was pushed as a main character. She's also brought up again in v8 when the message goes out to the world, which could go into her showing up in Vacuo as well due to the world's forces gathering there to make a big stand against Salem. Regardless her role in the story had been done, her being lesbian does not serve as a reason to keep her there; just like Sun went off to do his own thing.

You keep bringing up her one line, which really makes me think that you want some Hollywoodified dramatic arc that makes her entire character defined by being trans; rather than being a character that happens to be trans that is a detail therein. And once again her being trans like with Ilia being lesbian does NOT stand as a reason to have her in the story. Especially in v8 where there's other things going on in the final stretch. Could there be more trans characters? Sure. But there's also a main story and main characters proceeding through it that are the main focus, which is exactly what should be the case.

Actually in the epilogue/bonus cut episode of v9 it was directly shown CFVY and crew showing up as well as SSSN. On top of that Beyond which is canon has Sun & Neptune in Vacuo where Sun last mentioned going with his team = Scarlet and Nolan being around; and even has Nora interacting with Velvet in Vacuo as well. Regardless I once again go back to the characters being LGBT+ not being reason in itself to have them pop around for screentime. Now one thing that could actually serve as a reason is if The Crown plays a part in v10, which would tie into CFVY and if the theory about Sun's cousin being the next maiden were to be a thing that'd not only give a reason for him in the story but also his team by extension.

It actually doesn't as there's always a transitory volume that goes between the bigger Kingdom arcs. Ever After (v9) would be the one between Atlas and Vacuo.

Um no the books had Coco crushing on a revealed antagonist as well as Glynda. On top of that Coco isn't the "searching for a gf" type as mentioned, she's known as a heartbreaker type. Neither Scarlet or Nolan strike me as being in that vein. Also Scarlet was confirmed gay years ago well before the book, both by the writers direct statements as well as the hinting in v3 where Scarlet's fan was a male with a heart sign. Coco was also confirmed lesbian in an AMA and then had that elaborated on in the book that centered her team in it; which is the actual recurring theme with the books. They get to be centered on different teams than RWBY proper that has RWBY as the central focus cause they're the main characters.

As for the side materials part, I don't really give a flying fuck. If its canon then its canon and the main series isn't shy either as it now has a main wlw pair within the mains that were built up over 9 volumes. On top of that being given the most gorgeous damn getting together scene; a wlw song for the written by & sung by wlw artists; the crew not at all being shy about them being the pair the whole ass time; and the VA's both being not straight as a cherry on top.

As far as I'm aware Yang has only ever been confirmed as wlw/sapphic. With the only further detail being that she'd never felt attraction to another till Blake.

You do realize that in a world like Remnant it'd be incredibly difficult to have an NB character stand out due to that world not having the same discrimination as ours has, right? Its why Blake being bi won't be a stated thing in the canon, because in that world bi probably isn't even a thing alongside other LGBT+ labels; because labels were born at least in part from discrimination faced where people wanted some reason to other others. If we were in a world that didn't know discrimination I'd wager no one would give a shit. Amy & Tammy across the street wouldn't be "the lesbian couple", but just the insufferably adorable couple across the street; the same as Mike & Jamie down the street. Remnant is that world, they were able to have May's moment due to other aspects being the issue; namely her political stances that served to divide her from her family not her gender.

Let me clarify a detail here: Femme-centered, femme-focused means that the story itself is centered & focused on and around the main girls and when not heavily features girls not male characters. I'm so damn tired of this bullshit about Jaune, no he was NOT given this massive amount of goddamn time either in the past or in the present; he was just given time THAT'S IT. Not overwhelmingly a lot, not underwhelmingly too little; just time fitting for a secondary main where the audience is supposed to care about him & his crew. Not once has the main plot or screentime been handed to him or Oscar or anyone else over the main girls and/or other women in the story.

Since when have people ever once been logical? Racism isn't logical; sexism isn't logical; anti-LGBT+ isn't logical; supporting wars isn't logical; etc. People by nature are not logical. As for the rest, it doesn't matter as they weren't floated within canon as anything but diva-prissy-esque; which is about their character not their orientation.

Um no, only to someone seeking to nitpick a show with ridiculous notions of how rep should be done and ignoring of main, secondary, etc characters as well as how they're organized is it not good rep. Rep is not lowered because the entire damn story doesn't bend around it, in fact I'd say THAT is lower tier rep. X-happening to be a thing vs. being defined by thing; where the prior is the better one.

Um actually I can ignore "not deny" and go straight to debunking that shit. Assuming the "removed from everyone else" is specific to v9: no dumbass its the entire setup of the magical storm in the magical world; Blake was just coming off having seen Yang presumably die, while Yang thought she had died at the end of v8; and gave a damn good setup for the two to have a gorgeous damn scene to become official. There is not a DAMN thing I'd change about it as it'd make it fucking lesser. They got to confess on a damn floating ass island where the vines grew in response to them expressing their love and bloomed lilies in a moment for them. There is not a damn thing about that where its lessens it.

No, you're bitching about the rep because it isn't how YOU want it. Namely you want it to completely centered around it and shouting about it vs. being grounded and more realistic/normalized version. No the story shouldn't bend over backwards to have Terra suddenly pulling out a laser rifle or whatever to jump into the fray to fight Ironwood, because she's wlw and that serves as a reason for it; May shouldn't be facing down Salem with a big speech against her for no goddamn reason other than her being trans; etc. I'll take a story that instead moves characters where they belong as per the connections within, knows who its MC's are, and has a plethora of LGBT+ treated as just characters.

I don't even know if Monty or the crew even knew anything about Coco Chanel outside of presumably looking cool; which was Monty's big thing.

okay i'm doing a recap of all of rwby's lgbt characters and of them:

blake and yang are together, but in that weird way where blake was interested when yang wasn't and vice-versa, and then they got together in canon. and then roosterteeth shuttered and was bought by viz. so we'll see how long that lasts.

Ilia, who has a crush on blake but got over it and was a villain for most of her screentime.

jaune's sister Saphron married a woman named Terra Cotta. as a reference to how Sappho of Lesbos would paint terracotta lekythoi. and then we never see her again after her one (1) episode.

may marigold, a minor character, has a throwaway line about being a trans woman and we never see her again (only trans character in rwby btw)

coco was confirmed in a book to be a lesbian. she is in no relationship, is no longer in the show, and is named after Coco fucking Chanel.

scarlet david, a side character who does not reappear in the show, is confirmed in a different book to be gay and has entered a relationship with nolan porfirio, an even less-relevant character. they are both twinks.

for fun trivia: three of team NDGO (nebula, gwen, and dew) - who are a team of canon fancharacters who appear minorly in the show - are confirmed by their creators to be asexual, but not by the showrunners. all four members of NDGO are then written to be bullies in the book where they reappear (same book where the twinks get together).

not counting the animals as nonbinary (because animals don't experience gender the same way humans do), that leaves us with:

1 bisexual (blake, because a lot of people forget her awful relationship with sun and try to forget that weird retcon with adam)

1 pansexual (yang, and i'm not sure if there's a meaningful difference in this)

4 lesbians (saphron and her wife, ilia, and coco. note that terra is essentially an accessory to her wife and all three are minor characters)

2 gay men (scarlet and nolan, who are minor characters and get together in side material)

1 trans character (may, who has a minor role and vanishes after confirming she's the only transgender character in the whole show)

this isn't meant to be, like, a rwde post btw. genuinely this is me compiling information. if the tone gets a little snippy, well. i guess i'm tired of gay men only being one body type and all the gay women being incredibly minor characters who show up and have no plot relevance. congrats to bumbleby tho, i think.