#Azula

[mayskalih]

As per your post, could you sketch Azula from atla? Thank you~

[memopmiff]

[pechuyu]

More tangled au,, this time the dramatic all is lost moment,, where after running off azula encounters Zhao who then traps her on the boat and tricks yue

[theoneandonlylobster]

[tifalil]

@azula-brain's birthday was last week but i needed to gift her another azula drawing STAT

[iosaf]

slightly buff aged up azula to fulfill my own agenda,,,(surely this will be my last drawing for a while? ,,)

[beifong-brainrot]

Honestly for the small flaws it does have, I did overall really like Ashes of the Academy. Like, perhaps it's because of the all-girl's school trauma that I like to brag about ❤️, but I do genuinely like Mai's character development in it, and it warms my heart to see her grow.

I think (or at least I like to think) that a lot of what I expected Mai's character development would be in the comic in my post before the comic came out was on the right track, so I'll try not to repeat myself too much here.

For some reason this panel hit really hard lmao. In a hopeful way

I think my observation that Mai was often forced into things she didn't want, mainly by her parents chasing status, and later Azula. This is, most likely, why she pushed down her emotions, since in her adolescence, her emotions and desires did little to help her. Of course, this led to Mai struggling to express herself and using mainly passive aggressiveness to get through negative emotions.

Though I don't know how I feel about the comics seemingly completely handwaving Michi's involvement in how Mai was brought up. Michi seemed to be at least eager to bolster Ukano's political career at the cost of Mai's psychological wellbeing, mainly being the one to quash Mai's self expression and even scaring her with stories of evil spirits. Also the potential Tom Tom neglect but we won't talk abt that right now.

Mai : My mother said I had to keep out of trouble. We had my dad's political career to think about.

But this isn't too much of a retcon, I suppose, more of a... recontextualisation. Michi could just be incredibly unaware, and, once she realised her husband wasn't great, she decided to step up and try to do better as a parent. Which is commendable.

I know a lot of people were a bit upset about the notion that Azula and Mai's friendship wasn't "organic", but rather due to Mai being pressured into it by her father, as Mai and Azula seemed at least a little bit fond of each other in the show.

Though I don't think this necessarily duscredits Azula and Mai's relationship. I think it was always a complex thing, with both characters having a lot of layers to themselves and their interactions. And Mai befriending Azula at her father's behest doesn't mean she stayed Azula's friend for that reason. We see that Azula had many sycophants, but seemingly only her relationships with Ty Lee and Mai endured.

I also know some people disliked that Mai wasn't a "meanie" like Azula, but, honestly, just because she wasn't as eager and active about it as Azula. Though it is important to note that Mai is implied to have participlated in Azula's bullying (throwing le knives at your fellow middle schoolers may be a little more than bullying though), as well as being complacent in Azula's bullying of others. Which, if you haven't been bullied before, even if only one person is actively bullying you, there's a whole lot of difference between them being alone, and then having a friend standing there menacingly.

And we've already seen that Mai will often do the bare minimum for Azula, and even shunning her "duties" if she thinks she can get away with it.

I think, boiled down to its bare essentials, "Ashes of the Academy" is about characters in the Fire Nation who were previously complacent despite potential doubts taking an active role in dismantling the Fire Nation's harmful traditions and unlearning their compliance.

This is where the mild parallels between Mai and headmistress Shihan come in. They're both characters who were complacent in their environments, bolstering the power of dangerous people and systems just by keeping their heads down. It was safer, easier to comply.

Shihan grew to become one of the Fire Nation's regime's upholders, directly contributing to the indoctrination of new generations. Mai could've easily followed a similar path, if it weren't for Zuko. While I don't think, at the time of atla, she shared much of his 'redeemed worldview', he was still someone she cared for, someone she was willing to rebel for. And it was the first step of Mai unlearing what had been drilled into her from her childhood.

And although the Gene Luen Yang comics weren't the most graceful about this, we did see Mai growing to be more opinionated and genuinely believe in dismantling the system. Once she realised it was possible, and she had gotten more freedom in her life, she grew as a person. Shocker.

It's also important to note that it was, in essence, Zuko who showed her that rebellion is possible. Which is another reason to as why she may have been so hurt when he left. They both felt trapped by the Fire Nation, but alleviated each other's misery. And then, from Mai's perspective, Zuko abandoned her, going somewhere that she wasn't aware she could follow.

However, Mai has, by the time "Ashes of the academy" happened, learnt that she can, in fact, follow Zuko in rejecting the restrictions their upbringings' had placed on them. And that she can, like he did, inspire others, like Shihan and the children, to strive for a better tomorrow. It's all very sweet actually.

It also makes me happy to see that they've both grown so much and gotten healthier since we last saw them. It makes me happy to see Mai tell Zuko whrn she has an issue with something he's done instead of letting it boil over until she blows up at him. And that Zuko is learning to trust again, and to share the burdens of ruling the Fire Nation.

It makes me happy to see them grow, and it does give me hope for the future of maiko. Do that's nice. I know we didn't get much content that is "technically" shippy, but this is very good groundwork, and I'd rather this than for them to get back again and be handled poorly again.

[xxxtanzanitaxxx]

"Ursa was a positive influence on Azula"

Well if you call scolding and otherwise ignoring your child a good influence then you are seriously messed up.

Let me guess, the Ursa section of Azula's Relationships on the wiki was written by an Ursa stan wasn't it?.

[zuko-always-lies]

One of the extremely weird things about ATLA and its canon is that the writers feel the need to demonize little Azula literally every single time she appears, far more than they feel the need to demonize older Azula. 14+ Azula is consistently allowed to be more human than seven year old Azula, and it's pretty old at this point.

[zelfantazy]

🥚Happy Easter🐰🙏🏻🔥💨🪨🌊May this day be filled with love, hope and sweet moments with those you love most.💕

[knightofthenewrepublic]

New ATLA Episode!

[theoneandonlylobster]

Me, getting into a new fandom: Wow, I love this female character! Let's see what tumblr thinks of her, I bet there's all kinds of art and fic!

Me, five minutes later:

[ly0nstea]

AU where Azula becomes a better person because she meets Kiyi and doesn't trust Ursa or Zuko to be good role models for her and doesn't want Kiyi to wind up like her

[avatar-legends-confessionblog]

Keep thinking about how zuko was absolutely ready to fry azula during their agni kai and how he mentally kicked himself for thinking she wouldn't survive her fall lol. Like in his mind she's the antichrist who just so happens to also be his annoying sister.

Which of course brings us to azula who literally ends up setting him up with his future wife, dragging him back to the fire nation so that he can reclaim his throne and gain favor with their dad, and looked out for him at the beach and at the palace with the iroh visits. On the inverse, to her Zuko's just her older dweeb brother who's cool so long as their dad thinks so.

X

[kendraunderstress]

azula is a maiko shipper prove me wrong