#But I love Azula and how her relationships are depicted

[maaaxx]

📓for the ask game. Gimme all the juicy details on a fic you haven’t written yet <3

okay so like i have this one mutual that got me really into shipping Sokka and Azula, (@balsa-margarita , hey bestie <3). And I really want to do something with that, But I have no confidence whatsoever in writing Azulas pov. I do, however have full confidence in writing Sokka and his pov. I feel like I depict him better than any other canon character I write, so maybe I can work with that.

this specific idea is still very new and im still working through the specifics but like, you know those Zuko stories where something happens that throws the course of the story completely away from canon and Zuko's redemption arc coils around that event like a snake and like launches him into Sokka's arms and a lot of his redemption is deeply inbedded in Sokka too??? (Think 'The Art of Burning, Leaving it all behind/Risking it all, Blue I think is another one) I want something like that, but like Azula.

Maybe even without the shipping part of it, but I really want to do a fic where Azula gets an actual support system and has her 'redemption' revolve around that, whether that be the gaang, the water tribe, ty lee and mai or even maybe ursa or zuko if i feel like having the 'repairing relationships' thing a part of it.

i also really want a large portion of that story going into her relationship with zuko and what specifically went wrong there and how it can be fixed to where they act like normal siblings and not what you see in canon. Same with Ursa and Iroh.

[reunionatdawn]

Weighing in on ATLA shipping discourse

Iroh: You're not the man you used to be, Zuko. You are stronger and wiser and freer than you have ever been. And now you have come to the crossroads of your destiny. It's time for you to choose. It's time for you to choose good.

Why did Zuko have a fever after decided to let go of his Blue Spirit mask? Well, the imagery suggested that he experienced a Kundalini awakening. A Kundalini awakening is a profound spiritual experience that involves the activation and rising of Kundalini energy, located at the base of the spine. In Hindu and yogic traditions, Kundalini is often depicted as a coiled serpent, symbolizing dormant spiritual potential.

Ida and Pingala are the two energy channels that run alongside the spinal column and correspond to the left and right sides of the body, respectively. Ida is associated with the feminine or yin aspect. It is linked to qualities such as calmness, receptivity, intuition, and nurturing. It is also associated with the moon, coolness, and the element of water.

Pingala represents the masculine or yang aspect. It is associated with qualities such as activity, dynamism, alertness, and willpower. It is associated with the sun, warmth, and the element of fire. In the yogic tradition, the balance and harmonization of Ida and Pingala are considered essential for achieving physical, mental, and spiritual well-being.

Once the two energies combine at the crown chakra, a person's consciousness is supposed to transcend duality. What does that mean, exactly? It means to move beyond the perception of reality as consisting of opposing or dualistic concepts, such as good and bad, light and dark, right and wrong, or self and other. You understand that these apparent opposites are part of the same unified whole and are interconnected in a deeper, more profound way.

"I was head writer of ATLA, and this is exactly how I see it! There was some controversy that Zuko made the "wrong choice" at the end of season 2. A lot of fans were ANGRY! But it had to be this way… we wanted him to get everything he thought he wanted. The triumphant return. His father's respect, and a seat at his right hand. Only then could Zuko truly outgrow these things, and choose to do the right thing in a meaningful way." (Aaron Ehasz)

So, the symbolism definitely favors Zutara in that respect. Katara learned through Zuko that the Fire Nation is not innately evil. Even though he hurt her with his "wrong" decision, part of her character arc was understanding why he did it and being able to forgive him. And because he made that choice, she could trauma-dump onto him and that led to her gaining closure about her mother's death.

"I was head writer of ATLA. Azula and Zuko's relationship was not always well understood, even by the team internally. Azula loved Zuko, more than anyone save her father. She also felt competitive with him for their parents' attention of course, but since she had alienated herself from her mother, she focused her energy on pleasing dad… which of course meant acting in more and more intense and possibly evil ways." "By the end of the series, of course, her loss of her friends shatters the part of her identity that she could somehow control affection and love through intimidation. As a result she spirals… I did however intend to leave a kernel of humanity, and had we made a season 4 Azula would have completely bottomed and we would have explored the possibility of a path to redemption. True story!" (Aaron Ehasz)

But it's not even just Zutara. What I found interesting was that Azula was the blue dragon and Iroh the red dragon. Azula was crazy and needed to go down, right? By siding with his sister, you're meant to think that Zuko chose "evil" instead of "good". But it looks like some of the writers meant for it to be more complicated than that. There was no "good" or "evil" choice. Azula had a softer "yin" side, too.

Zuko wanted to get along with his sister. He did not want to kill her, even though Iroh thought that was the only option. The fact that Azula never got her redemption arc did a massive disservice to Zuko's arc as well. The fact that Azula had good in her is exactly why Zuko's choice in BSS couldn't truly be called "wrong" or "evil".

Azula loved Zuko and that idea wasn't conveyed very well in the cartoon. She was the one person on that beach who actually did understand him. She was jealous that Zuko chose the Avatar over her. And she knew that targeting Katara with her lightning was the best way to hurt Zuko. Katara found a non-lethal way to defeat Azula for Zuko's sake. Because after seeing how hard it was for him to fight her, she finally understood why he made his choice in Ba Sing Se.

"[Azula] had not bottomed in the end of season 3, she had further to go. At the deepest moment in her own abyss she would have found: Zuko. Despite it all, her brother Zuko would be there for her. Believing in her, sticking by her, doing his best to understand and help her hold her pain that she can no longer hold alone. Zuko — patient, forgiving, and unconditionally loving – all strengths he gained from Uncle Iroh." "And I always imagined that after coming out the other side, she would be one of those people who hilariously over-shares her own feelings all the time, and that she would be a bit over-apologetic. Like a Canadian version of Azula." (Aaron Ehasz)

The first episode of Book 3 was called The Awakening. Aang literally awakened to the energy twisted up in the middle of his back. He did not complete his spiritual transformation. The Kundalini energy did not reach his crown chakra. It was still blocked because he had an attachment to Katara that he hadn't worked through yet.

Zuko's awakening was figurative. Mai didn't understand how he felt. Symbolically, when she turned his head to kiss him, it showed the audience the scarred side of his face. When Zuko lied his sister, the unscarred side of his face was shown. I suspect that the writer for the episode, Aaron Ehasz, wanted to hint that Zuko did still feel a connection to Katara and didn't want Azula going after her and Aang.

Zuko in The Crossroads of Destiny was not supposed to be the same Zuko from The Avatar State. Both versions of Zuko still wanted to go home. But 201 Zuko was motivated more by selfish attachment. 220 Zuko was more motivated by love. He loved Azula unconditionally. Even with all of her twisted, ugly, and cruel behavior. His consciousness had transcended the duality of Iroh and Azula being opposites where one is "bad" and the other is "good". During The Beach he was fantasizing about a time when Iroh played with both of them as little kids. Back when they were all a family.

Mai: You know what will make you feel better? Ordering some servants around. I might be hungry for a whole tray of fruit tarts. And maybe a little palanquin ride around town. Double time.

I don't dislike Mai. I think she is an interesting character who was not a bad person or anything. I just thought she served a very specific narrative purpose. She was there to show how Zuko wasn't compatible with his old lifestyle anymore.

Mai wanted a typical socialite boyfriend. They really didn't get along too well or have much to say to each other during The Beach. She didn't like him when he started talking about his trauma and showed his uglier side. Zuko was insecure and jealous because he was not even sure if she really liked him. And she didn't even know the person he was after his banishment, only the person he was as a child. When he turned his head away from her, his unscarred side was shown.

Zuko: When I got to the meeting, everyone welcomed me. My father had saved me a seat. He wanted me next to him. I was literally at his right hand. Mai: Zuko, that's wonderful! You must be happy. Zuko: During the meeting, I was the perfect prince. The son my father wanted. But I wasn't me.

He walked out of that war meeting with the scarred side showing. Mai didn't love Zuko. She loved the perfect prince. The fantasy she built up in her head and the role Zuko was acting out at the start of the episode when he was ordering her the fancy fruit tarts.

Mai: I guess you just don't know people as well as you think you do. You miscalculated. I love Zuko more than I fear you.

Mai stood up to Azula to save Zuko, and she genuinely believed she loved him. But he left her behind to be with his new companions. If not for Ty Lee, she would have died. That should have been the end of that relationship. I thought it was very weird that they got back together. The NATLA writers should definitely find a different way to conclude Mai and Ty Lee's character arcs. Especially Mai. She deserved a more dignified ending than being left in prison and then threatening her ex-boyfriend to take her back.

"I love that even though Aang is sort of not in this story very much, to me, he's-his presence is in all of these scenes 'cause you know he's like the little angel on her shoulder [...]" (Bryan Konietzko)

The main reason I think the shipping discourse in the ATLA fandom is so toxic is because the creators Mike and Bryan saw the narrative differently than the other writers. They seemed to have a completely different vision for the story and characters compared to the head writer. So, there were two conflicting visions and fans who liked one over the other could argue their side indefinitely. Bryke saw things as more black-and-white and good vs. evil. You can see it in some of the interviews and commentary, particularly with Bryan.

IMO, there really was no "good" and "evil" side in The Southern Raiders. There was no "angel" or "devil" sitting on Katara's shoulders. To Katatra, what Aang said must have sounded like nothing more than a trite platitude. It's true that in the end, she didn't choose violence. But I don't think Aang's words were very pertinent to her decision-making when she finally faced Yon Rha, LOL.

It's understandable why Aang would come off as preachy, though. He was just a child coping with his own grief. The Air Nomads' philosophy was one of the only things he had left of them, after all. Such a teaching was no doubt his own personal coping mechanism.

Aang was right in the sense that Katara didn't need to resort to violence in the end. But ya know, maybe she would have if she didn't have someone by her side who understood her inner darkness and accepted her even if she had chosen violence. Just like how Aang might have killed the sanbenders if Katara hadn't been there. And Katara would not have condemned him if he had done so.

"Zuko and Katara might have shared some sparks, but sometimes there are people along your 'journey of love' who are there to teach you about yourself and what you really need, but don't necessarily end up being your partner. Come on, kids! 'Zutara' never would have lasted! It was just dark and intriguing." (Bryan Konietzko)

Zuko was a character of duality. Yin and Yang. Light and shadow. His two sides were represented by the scarred side and non-scarred sides of his face. I think Bryan viewed Zutara as a "dark" ship because a big part of Zutara was about Katara's shadow side.

Just like Mai did with Zuko, Aang built up a fantasy version of Katara in his head. The perfect, well, "waifu," I guess. The endlessly patient feminine maternal figure. The sweet beautiful girl with such manageable hair. But that's only half of who she was. There was another side to her that he never saw. One that used bloodbending. Angry, hateful. Yes, even ugly. And that's not a bad thing. It's human.

[closetsof-backlogged-dreams]

hi!!!! i just wanted to say that i was looking for ty lee-centric fics and i loved yours!!! i love how you depicted her relationship with azula and how you showed the nuance of her character!! and the dynamics between suki and ty lee and the other kyoshi warriors??? the part about ty lee escaping to the circus and azula not stopping her??????? omg anyway thank you so much im so glad there's such a fic for ty lee <3

THANK YOU SO MUCH OMG!!!! i absolutely squealed when i saw this notification, you just made my day!!! and YES, ty lee-centric fics world domination!! shes looked over a lot and she rly deserves better, because she's such a complex character and my personal favorite in the whole series

(fic here <3)

[seyaryminamoto]

Sheesh! Azulon is such a spoiled brat, huh? 🤣

... Yes. He is.

Ngl, I rewatched LOTR's trilogy over the past three days and I was surprised by something in it that I immediately connected to Azulon. I've never seen anyone else draw this parallel with LOTR, instead I only ever see people in the fandom constantly comparing Azulon, intentionally or not, with Tywin Lannister.

... as far as I'm concerned, Azulon is Denethor. Full stop.

Even if you want to think the guy loved his firstborn? He was a twisted, pissy asshole who wanted to cling to power at all costs, that above all else, and his "beloved" son was his best means to achieve that. Hell, I'd argue Azulon wouldn't even be likely to have the "last minute awakening" that Denethor did regarding Faramir... but Denethor's behavior over Boromir is 100% the same as Azulon's over Iroh. "Oh, my perfect, glorious, wonderful son who can get everything right, and whose useless brother can't ever measure up to! I'm going to idealize you and give you all the privileges and glorious missions and pretend you could've achieved anything, while he was worth less than the dirt under your feet!"

So, yes, the way I write Azulon is so much closer to Denethor, specifically in terms of how he treats his family, than to Tywin Lannister and all the fandom's attempts to rationalize and justify his treatment of Ozai, all be it because "baby killed my wife". Worth noting? There's no solid evidence of that: Ilah is as good as a non-character, nobody knows what kind of relationship he had with her, Azulon very well could have used her as a brooding mare and nothing more, for all we know... but along with this? A bastard of Azulon's caliber, who helmed the Fire Nation's war for THE LONGEST PERIOD out of all three canon Fire Lords, does not need any greater excuses to treat his second-born like trash, much like Denethor didn't. :')

Of course, I take Azulon a bit further than most people by depicting his insecurities over his newborn granddaughter... I think there's no logical explanation for him to overlook Azula and be as unaffected by her as he's shown to be in Zuko Alone's flashback. She's a prodigy, she should be a useful weapon for him, at the very least...! And he's completely unconcerned with her. He actually shows more reaction to Zuko than he does to Azula. Hmm. Makes ya wonder, huh? :')

So yeah, I think there are many layers to how twisted Azulon is. Dude really took things to a whole other level of BS and kept doing it until the very end. Fandom can call me crazy as much as it cares to, but I don't think any grandfather who demands for the death of his grandson as a punishment for his second son's impertinence should EVER be given the "benefit of the doubt", or granted any excuses for this behavior just because Ozai was a shitty human being. Ozai sure was one: and he learned exactly how to be that way from daddy dearest himself :')

[the-badger-mole]

Hi,

Hope you are doing well. I was reading your fanfic The Other Woman and one thought came to my mind.

The way Ursa is depicted, is she trying to make up with Zuko and Azula out of guilt that she left them? Along with the way she continuously calls Zuko to her house, does she still see him as a kid and not the adult he is, which is what Zuko calls her out on at the end of the fourth chapter? Because its true, he is an adult, who is now on the verge of starting his own family.

I am asking because it may explain her actions but does not justify them.

Ursa is trying to rebuild her family. She loves all of her kids and leaving Zuko and Azula behind messed her up. Because Zuko and Azula were so young when she left, she's trying to recapture her relationship with them at that age. It's like when sometimes when a person experiences something traumatic at a young age, and they just get mentally stuck there (like how Lorelei Gilmore stayed mentally 16 for the rest of her life because that's when she experienced her biggest trauma). Only in Ursa's case, she's trying to keep her children at the ages they were when she left, without really allowing herself to acknowledge that they spent years without her becoming their own people who made lives for themselves without her. Katara- and really any potential significant other her kids bring home- is a threat to that reimagining of her life. It clearly isn't working, but she's not ready to hear that yet. She wants the life where she got to raise all three of her kids together. Ironically, I think Azula is going to be the only one she doesn't push away with this behavior.

[azure-firecracker]

ATLA Live Action Episode 7: Overall Thoughts.

Right so this episode was a mixed bag for me. On paper I should have loved it: it’s two big moments are Azula/Katara scenes and they parallel each other. Those are my two favorite characters and I love exploring how they mirror one another. But the actual execution of some of the scenes was…lacking.

Okay I legitimately forgot that Zhao tried to blow up Zuko’s boat in the original and it was funny bc I was reacting like it was something new this show did…nope lmao. Speaking of Zhao, I feel like this show can’t really decide what they want him to be. In the OG it was pretty clear: he was an asshole with lots of resources and therefore a threat, but he was also cocky and delusional and not very good at his job. Here I feel like this show is flip flopping between having him be legitimately threatening or a delusional idiot. Both are fine choices individually and honestly I don’t really care what they do since it’s not like he was a main character in the OG, but they do need to pick one. Like, objectively, from a writing standpoint.

I know some people disliked the changes to Yue and Sokka’s relationship, but I thought they were cute. I liked that they used the extended time at the North Pole pre-attack to flesh out their relationship more and give them some more bonding moments. It makes me buy into them more (I was never a love at first sight girlie). I agree that Yue’s character in the original was a really well written example of the good and bad things that come with being as loyal/dutiful as she is and that is missing here. But unlike our main cast, if you look at her without the lens of the original, she’s still a fleshed out, decently written character. I think she works (except for her hair of course).

Sokka on the other hand…I like that they’re allowing him to express his insecurities and trying to give him an arc, but I didn’t like Yue saying his heart was the most important thing about him. It’s such a generic line, and out of all of our main cast, it seems to suit him the least. It made it feel like they’re trying to give the whole main trio the same arc, which I…did not appreciate. But he does have good chemistry with Yue.

Speaking of generic arcs for the main trio…dear god I hate what they’re doing with Aang. It’s not offensive but it’s so overdone. Every fantasy protagonist in history has this conflict, and while it works for an episode of a cartoon, it does not work as Aang’s central conflict. Gordon’s doing his best with his lines, but I get bored watching his scenes. Also I didn’t love the stuff with Kuruk. Stay away from the Korra Spirit World stuff. Y’all can’t handle the material you have.

Okay onto my main girlies:

Azula’s arc definitely goes into the “it’s a different choice from the original but it works on its own category.” If you don’t compare her to OG Azula, these writing choices make sense. They work, and they go hand in hand with how this new Ozai is different from OG Ozai. OG Ozai really didn’t seem to care about his kids. They were tools in his play for power. We never got the sense that he’d really thought about either of them succeeding him, and or that he’d ever thought about his own death. This Ozai seems to be trying to turn both Azula and Zuko into younger versions of him (as we saw in the Agni Kai last episode), and he brings up the “heir to the throne” title a lot. This means he wants his kids to have a fighting spirit, a drive. It makes Azula’s defiance all the more twisted because it’s supposed to be this empowering moment for her…but really it’s exactly what Ozai wants. It’s objectively really good writing, and both Lizzy Yu and Daniel Dae Kim do a great job acting it out. At the same time, I feel a little loss of OG Azula. OG Azula was so busy fighting for Ozai’s love, being perfect, that she never had time to think about what she wanted because she was so stifled in the “golden child” role. That’s a type of abuse we don’t see depicted a lot in media, and I do wish the live action show had taken up that challenge. On the other hand, the arc we got was objectively good and I’m not sure they could have handled that subtlety. Overall, my feelings on these scenes are mostly good with some doubts in there. It does make me wonder what they’re going to do now that we know we’re getting a Book 3. Azula’s original Book 3 stuff with Ozai really wouldn’t work now that she’s already become so defiant.

Okay my girl Katara: FINALLY she got an episode to shine rather than being a side piece for Aang or Sokka’s arcs! Funny that all the filler episodes they cut were the Katara centric ones…but I digress. I understand not wanting to cut the stuff with NWT sexism, and I DON’T THINK THEY SHOULD HAVE. But with all their worries about Sokka’s sexism not translating well to a live action, they should have considered the fact that such heavy handed sexism might come off as cartoonish in a live action format. Most real sexism is more subtle, albeit just as frustrating and wrong, and I’m sad the show passed up their opportunity to portray that. I did like that Katara finally got to show both her anger and her hope. I felt like this was the first episode where she really felt in character. While some characters work while being different from the original (mostly FN characters), Katara’s changes made her an objectively more hollow character, so seeing sparks of OG Katara was awesome! She still felt a little flat, but it’s definitely a HUGE step in the right direction. (And Kiawentiio did awesome. Glad she’s finally getting to showcase her range). The end of the Katara/Pakku fight was a little weird but I’ll let it slide because she had that AWESOME line to Aang where she was like (I’m not going to get this exactly) “Fighting is my decision, not you or Pakku’s or anyone else’s.” I was CHEERING! This is the Katara we need more of.

I know I was largely critical in this review, but I really enjoyed this episode. This episode really solidified my belief that you have to think of these characters as totally new people. Different choices are being made, and that’s okay as long as they’re still good characters with ties to the original. Sometimes it works (Azula, Yue) and sometimes it doesn’t (main trio) but if you can enjoy it when it works, you’ll enjoy the whole show a lot more.

I’ll give this one an 8.5/10. Kind of the opposite of the last episode. With that one, there weren’t any great new choices they made (most of the best moments were straight out of the cartoon), but there was also nothing I really disliked. This episode made some great new choices that I thought were interesting and took some steps towards fixing some of the characters they butchered, but there was some stuff in here that I actively disliked (namely Aang and Zhao).

[timtimtara]

Finished my first watch of the live action Avatar The Last Airbender series. I'm definitely going to be watching this a few times.

Initial thoughts after the season 1 finale is that I'm impressed by the level of love shown to the original series. The changes they made to the story for it to translate to 8 live action episodes weren't that bad. I tried to stay away from all the fan grumblings about this series so I wouldn't be looking for faults and I'm glad I did. I was able to see it without someone else's opinions clouding my judgment.

I liked that we got to see more of Azula's descent into madness. Ozai really was a horrible parent on top of being a garbage human being. I think the live action really highlighted just how horribly Azula was treated by Ozai and just how young she really is to have to deal with his mindgames. She really had absolutely zero positive support under Ozai's influence.

I enjoyed the additional focus on the past Avatars outside of Roku in this one. Kyoshi and Kuruk are such fascinating characters on their own. I look forward to seeing more of them in future seasons.

The casting on this series was really well done. The younger cast especially was delightful in their joy. They really hammered home just how overwhelmed they felt becoming child soldiers in a madman's war.

Gordon Cormier as Aang did really well depicting Aang's heartbreak and loneliness as the last of the Airbenders. Aang as a character has always been about the tragedy of being the last and how one learns to be hopeful on the face of that tragedy. His Aang really made me think about how much he struggles being the sole source of Air Nomad culture and he's 12, so there's so much he just doesnt know or experienced. I look forward to seeing how his Aang grows into his role as the Avatar.

Kiawentiio Tarbell as Katara just made me love her so much. Katara has always been one of my favorites because she's so determined and hopeful about life. I loved seeing a Katara who was just learning how to be herself, learning her powers, and just being a badass by holding her own against the forces that wanted her to be less than herself. She's gonna be amazing when she comes into her own. I can't wait to see it.

Sokka, my beloved. What can I say that isn't just me gushing about how much I love him and relate to his struggles as the elder sibling with so much responsibility on his shoulders. Sokka is the character that makes the world of Avatar so relatable. So thank you Ian Ousley for being a Sokka that showed him at his most loveable and hard headed and self doubting and annoying and absolutely the bravest warrior of the Southern Water Tribe. Ousley's Sokka is a gift, imo. He understood where Sokka's determination comes from and he did a great job depicting everything that makes Sokka who he is. Even when he's being an annoying little shit, he's just so...Sokka. I need more Sokka in my life, is all I'm saying.

Zuko. My goodness, Zuko. Dallas Liu is a phenomenal Zuko. He embodied the determination and internal conflict that is Zuko so well. And he remembered to be funny! Zuko is such a moody little teenager trying to be a strong leader and Liu did such a good job at showing all aspects of Zuko's character. And his relationship with Iroh!

Omg, Iroh, you break my heart. Paul Sun-Hyung Lee was the perfect Uncle Iroh. He was the elder statesman who'd seen too much war and had lost too much in it. I felt like you could see how much he regretted his lack of empathy for the people his nation warred against until it was too late. He's a man who has many regrets in his life and trying to guide his nephew towards being the Fire Lord the world needs is the one small thing he can do to make up for his mistakes. Also, I didn't realize hearing "Leaves from the Vine" would have me legit crying each time they played it. Well played Netflix, well played.

Which brings me to the music. Thank you for keeping the iconic background music because this series wouldn't have been what it is without those audio beats. The music of Avatar is what makes so many of the dramatic moments what they are. The Avatar theme song has always given me chills and they used it really well here.

There were only a few points that I didn't think were well dome, but in the overall story that we got told, they weren't that distracting. I'm sure I'll have some grumblings I'll share as I do rewatches.

[hyacinths-in-a-storm]

Museum Visits and Past Lives

Tyzula Week: Day 5 Reincarnation/Soulmates

You can read it here on archive of our own as well

A/N: I don't know how to flirt, which I feel is clearly communicated through this fic

For Azula’s senior thesis, she had gone with the topic of love.

Of course if she told her professors that they would laugh in her face. There were so many types of love and so many different ways of interpreting it that it would take an eternity to formulate and write it all. She had so many examples from just from her own life to draw upon.

She could talk about her parents who met under unsavory conditions to say the least, and yet stayed together through the hardest of times, raising a family with the gentlest hand. She could talk about the persistent love between her brother and his boyfriend. They had dated in high school, broke up and found each other again at some obscure bar, now they were planning their wedding.

Of course there were types of love that had nothing to do with romance. The type of love between her and Zuzu. One second they were fighting like dogs, Azula making some snide comment about the birth-mark that covered a good portion of his face, Zuko responding with kicking her knees in, and the next second Zuko was asking what Azula wanted from McDonalds on his way home from work. Then there was the relationship between her father and his brother. There was a tenseness, courtesy of their father who had kept them at each other's throats for years. Yet when Uncle Iroh called just before dinnertime on a warm summer day, crying that his wife had finally succumbed to stage 4 breast cancer, Father promptly closed his computer, got up, and drove one and half hours to comfort him.

The point Azula is trying to make was that there were a lot of different types of love, and if she had to spend one more hour trying to come up with a thesis statement about it, she was going to explode. Which is why she was here today sitting down on a bench in the Republic National Museum of History, at the Post-War Era exhibit.

She was staring at an ink painting. It was uncharacteristically calm compared to the other paintings which depicted either gory battles or assassinations. This painting showed a calm pond with five people, even the lines in the painting seemed slightly blurred, further adding to the softness of the picture. There was a man with a cup of tea in the background, he seemed to be motioning at the painter to join them, two kids, both girls, chased each other around the duck pond. But what caught Azula’s attention was the last two women, who were leaning against each other. One of them was dipping her head while the other whispered in her ear. According to the plaque they were “General Azula, and her companion Kyoshi Warrior Ty Lee” the purposeful vagueness of the phrasing piqued her interest. She would have to make sure she researched it when she got home.

Azula’s thoughts were interrupted by a clearing throat. She turns to see a girl standing next to her.

“Hi, can I sit here next to you?” she asks,

“Oh of course, go ahead.” she says making space for her, and the girl settles down next to her,

“It’s a rather pretty painting.” she says, motioning to painting,

“It is.” Azula agrees, there’s no one else around in this exhibit, and the silence stretches out between them,

“Did you know that there is significant evidence to show that those two women over there, General Azula and Kyoshi Warrior Ty Lee, were lovers.” the stranger said, pointing at the two women,

“Really? What was the evidence?” Azula was intrigued now,

“Well for starters, General Azula gifted Ty Lee the head piece of royal consort.” she said, her eyes sparkling with amusement,

“What a good friend.” Azula snickered,

“Exactly, supposedly they even shared the same chambers, just like close friends do.” Azula had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop herself from laughing,

“That was my response when I first heard about it too. Well, that and the fact I shared a name with the Kyoshi Warrior.”

“Your name is Ty Lee?” Azula asked,

“Yep, my mom was a Kyoshi warrior so she wanted her daughter to have a name that reflected that.”

“That’s so strange, my name is Azula.”

“Really?” Ty Lee looked at her in surprise,

“Yeah, my mom is a historian, she specializes in Fire Nation history, specifically the 100-Year-War Era, and the Era of Peace. Her senior thesis was on General Azula I think, and she liked the name so much she named me Azula.” Azula told her, “What a coincidence right?”

“It really is.” Ty Lee paused for a second as if weighing two options, “So, do you come here often?” she finally asked,

“I used to, when I was kid, my mom worked as a curator here for ten years so we get free entry whenever we want. I haven’t been able to come here as often because of college.” Azula sighed,

“Oh that’s cool, what major?” Ty lee propped her chin up with her hand, staring intently her,

“Psychology.” Azula’s heart started to beat a little harder, when she noticed the extra attention,

“Really? So do I! I study developmental psychology, what about you?” she asked,

“Mental illnesses mostly, things like anxiety and depression and how they can affect a person physically and emotionally. We’re just full of coincidences today, aren’t we?” Ty lee laughed at that, which brought me a sense of joy four years of psychology couldn’t explain, so I just nodded, biting the inside of my cheek to stop me from smiling like an idiot,

Ty Lee’s phone rang, interrupting the moment. She looked at the screen sighing,

“Well that’s my cue to leave, but it was nice talking to you Azula.” she said with a slight bow,

“It was nice talking to you as well.” Azula responded, hoping that her blush wasn’t as obvious as thought it was,

“Oh, and before I leave, could I have your number?”

“Hmm? Oh of course-” she rattled of the numbers in a slight haze, Ty Lee nodded and waved, as she watched her leave she heard her phone ring,

“Hello Azula? You left your books-” her mother said, the second she picked up the phone,

“Mom this is going sound weird, but I need to thank you for naming me Azula.” she interrupted first,

“Oh- ok, that's great sweetheart?” her mother asked, perplexed, Azula cast one last glance at the painting, before walking away.

A/N: No, I'm in fact not immune to the trope of meeting your reincarnated lover in a museum exhibit dedicated to your past life

[hella1975]

Hi Hella!  Its List Anon with my list of thoughts about this chapter as i read it.  And then my ramblings of it and then whatever else.  

AZULA 

Miss girl is having symptoms of an impending mental breakdown

HAKODA

God I missed your Hakoda so  much

KQNUT

I cant read right now im so excited oh my god 

Sokkas thinking about zuko and i think watching him i havent gotten that far yet but oh my god im so excited

Hes checking him out i think

I feel like theres a metaphor hidden somewhere in zukos blades but i cant figure it out

“Sokka knew what Zuko was. Sokka knew what he had done. It didn’t scare him anymore. Instead, Sokka ate with the other boy, and reluctantly found him hilarious, and found himself stammering under Bato’s false – and frankly insulting – accusations. Zuko was a threat, but not to them, not anymore.” - <33333.  Sokkas and homophobic dog thing????

TOMNOOK YES ITS MY BOYS

I missed Tomnook so bad.  I love them so much, to me peak characterization is two people who are like two halves and a whole and are just linked with eachother.  Nanooks personality is my favorite thing ever.  

NANooks sees it omg i love this so much

““Okay, plan B,” Sokka said, more to himself than Zuko, before his smirk became an evil grin, arms folded over his chest. “Either you can come hunting with me, something that will keep you moving and practise your precision and stealth, or I can go tell Kanut that you’re swinging that sword about like you’re trying to singlehandedly undo every bit of treatment he’s given you. Choice is yours, Sunshine.”” Oh my god a pet name

Also this is so funny to me.  Sokkas literally blackmailing him as he should.  i love your sokka.

 “Call me Sunshine again and I’ll throw you off the cliff.” i love your zuko too hes so great.

Zukos protecting him <333

Im barely into this chapter and ive already written a lot.  I apologize in advance for making you read all this.

“But to protect him? To want to keep him safe? On purpose? Sokka was used to being the protector. Being on the receiving end felt like an itch he couldn’t scratch, and he didn’t understand.” - oh my god there is so much to unpack here

“ Blue bleeding into red. Red staining the blue.” - also a lot to unpack

“ But Sokka and Zuko were older. Zuko did not need to sacrifice himself for Sokka and Sokka was not responsible for Zuko.”  Love this love this love this I dont feel like sokkas trauma is represented enough in zukka relationships.  This is a really good depiction of it and how Sokka was given too much responsibility at a young age.  I like how you’re touching on this and adding it to their relationship.

Is this going to be one of those things where sokka falls first but zuko falls harder?  Its giving the vibes.  Sokkas already showing signs of figuring it out.  I dont think zuko is for a while.  Thats just my take on it though.

““Tell me about your time on the Ullaakut,” he blurted out suddenly, making Zuko flinch.” this caught me off guard but i also love it.  I dont know why but this is so funny to me.  I really hope Zuko tells Sokka some more details eventually.

Yk tomnook are giving some romantic vibes in this chapter.  Are you queer baiting us /j

FUCK FUCK FUCK THEYRE BEING ATTACKED

“ The Princess of the Fire Nation was here with four fucking air ships presumably full of tyranny and unchecked trauma and somehow it was Chena’s fucking problem because it always was with that family. He hadn’t even finished eating, for La’s sake.”  this is so funny i love chena

Oh my god if any of them die this chapter im never going to forgive you

Its going to be chena isnt it?  Theres too much focus on him and hes being an idiot

Sokka being able to pierce Zukos trauma is so wonderful.  

Oh my god i love azula i trust you to do her justice “Auzla, good or bad” idk well have to see ig

Oh my god that conversation thing was great

The fight was great

Oh my god youre so amazing i love this so much

Okay i dont think anyones going to die

The Last two paragraphs - Oh my god hella what the fuck are you on.  This is the kind of stuff that makes taob so good and wonderful and magnificent and glorious and and and- 

So the thing about how you write Zukka is, its perfect.  I am so picky about how people write Zuko specifically (and azula but were not talking about her right now) but you are just so good at writing him.  I love how you keep his canon characterization and not like infantilizing him (seriously, people tend to forget that Zuko is an asshole) but you also tap into all of Zukos traits, not just the ones that are appealing.  Like the black and white thinking, his bossiness, his temper, all that fun stuff.  And you take all of this and combine it with the traits that he picked up because of the taob plot and you’re consistent with it.  Like I see a lot of fics (and i also do this with my fic so i know its really hard not to do this ) that will put characters through something and its like that event never happened after like two nightmares and three flashbacks and a conversation.  But you’re very good at juggling everything going on with zukos mind and character.  

You write in a way that makes you come off as extremely intellegent. I dont know what I mean by that but like on tumblr you give off the vibes of someone who is just unnaturally smart, and then you read taob and you're just like 'yeah that checks out'

I got off track of what i was originally wanting to say.  

My favorite Zukka dynamic is Sokka leaning into Zukos protectiveness and so how you showed this in this chapter took me aback because i knew that that is where this was headed but you executed it so well.  Also its kind of nice that we’re finally starting to get into the zukka portion of taob.  And feelings are finally being felt for eachother.  Like when you said slow burn holy shit this is slow burn.  I love it so much 10/10 marvelous, all the praise, bravo.  

Then there was also the acknowledgement that Zuko and Sokka arent responsible for one another.  And that theyre allowed to just be Zuko and Sokka without the stress of being the one ‘in charge’.  Like theres no added pressure to it.  And like I said people have a tendency to focus on Zukos trauma and comletely dismiss the trauma of sokka and how his issues minght surface in a relationship.  I love how you’re going about this.

Like the dynamic you write between Zuko and Sokka is so unique and rare but so perfect and accurate based on their characters.

I also always forget how much i love Tomnook and I love that theyre going with them.  This is something that I was sad thinking about whenever i was like ‘huh i wonder whats going to happen in taob next’ i would get upset thinking about nanook and tomkin being actively present.  So the fact that they are makes me happy.  

The last like paragraph and line were so perfect I loved them so much.

You are such a fantastic writer like I cant put into words how much I love your style and the way you phrase things and how fluently things flow together when you write them.  I think I’ve mentioned in one of my other things that it reminds me of the alphabet and how there are certain ways you can order the letters that done seen natural or fluent.  And how its like you have a special formula for knowing which synonym to use or what word to use or which order to arrange sentences. Its so poetic and eloquent.  Like its so weird to me how much I’m in love with just you’re style.  To me everything you write is just so perfect.  

You’re like the definition of a ‘natural story teller’  

Like you come off as one of those that you can go into any situation no matter how bland and come out with a really good story or metaphor or something.  

I (kind of?) have another thing for the list too.

Like, you are so kind.  I can’t go into as many details as I would like to but you are just such a kind and wonderful person.  Im leaving it at that.  

I say kinda because I cant give you the context for this one so idk if it counts.

I always feel weird sending these because I always feel like im being weird.  But im anonymous so oh well.  I hope you understand how talented you are (in my opinion atleast).  Like I said I am just so in love with you’re writing style and its honestly exactly how I would love to be able to write.  I have loved writing my entire life and I’ve always been advanced in the subject but it’s not good enough to be considered talent.  (I’m not saying this in a self deprecating way, I’ve grown to be perfectly content with my writing abilities)  But holy fuck you’re so talented.  I remember first reading taob and needing to just take a minute and process how incredible it is and I was in awe and couldnt believe how amazing you were able to string together words.  I still cant believe it any time I read something you write.  Like even if its just some wild ass tags, you are just so good with words in general. 

I’ve mentioned before that you’re a really easy person to admire.  I cant think of the words to go into details about that but yeah.  

I had a really meh christmas and the taob update made it like ten times better so you made my day so thank you for that.  <3

i have. SO MUCH to say in response to this so im going bullet point so it's not entirely incoherent but i hope you know im feeling VERY incoherent about this.

im glad you liked the chapter! you thinking someone was gonna die and saying 'its going to be chena isnt it?  Theres too much focus on him and hes being an idiot' made me actually laugh out loud so ty for that <3

everything you said about zukka and how im writing them! ive said before but both because the romance is a new part of taob and bc people have been waiting so patiently for zukka, im always super nervous about how im writing them so this is just JKSDHGKHG for me especially bc you basically picked up on everything im trying to do. like focusing on sokka's trauma, them not being responsible for each other and how they BOTH need to feel that, showing zuko's protective side, not making zuko less of an asshole etc - these are all conscious decisions for me so for someone to go 'hey i See What You're Doing and im so here for it!' is beyond reassuring

saying i come off as 'extremely intelligent' and 'unnaturally smart' is the part of this ask that is just. sticking with me. like regardless of my insecurities and bad periods i do KNOW that im a good writer, but i cant stress enough how much damage this economics degree has done to my confidence in my own intellect. like i feel stupid 24/7 at university and have done for a year and a half and still have a year and a half left. i am BAD at economics and i dont like it and just feeling constantly stupid like that all the time every day is just. awful. so to find out there are people that actually think im clever? ive not had that since... well since i was still studying english LMAO. it means a lot. like means more than i can even say in this response

'you’re like the definition of a ‘natural story teller’. like you come off as one of those that you can go into any situation no matter how bland and come out with a really good story or metaphor or something' BESTIE 😭😭😭 ily

I WANT TO KNOW WHAT UR TALKING ABOUT WITH THE KIND THING LIKE THANK YOU BUT ALSO WHAT DID I DO

i hope you know i have so much genuine fondness for you like that feels conceited seeing as it's just 'there's a special place in my heart for this person that showers me in compliments' but like i genuinely mean it you seem so kind and your determination to show me what you see in me while on ANON so you know you're getting nothing in return is just. like really truly kind and selfless

[lonewolfel]

Fictober 2022 Day 31

Prompt: 7 - "Check that again, are you sure?"

Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender

Rating: Gen

Relationships: N/A

Characters: Zuko, Sokka, Katara, Aang

Note: AU where Zuko joins the gang early and is not the Blue Spirit. Also, Zuko goes by Li and is not known to be a fire bender.

Sokka looked over the bounty posting. He saw a good couple for the Gaang minus Li who was new enough that the Fire Nation didn't know that he was a member. Though one poster caught the non-bender's attention. 

The poster depicted a masked figure that as the name implied looked like a spirit. Their reward was almost as much as Aang's was. Though there was no information about them at all.

"The Blue Spirit?" Sokka questioned. Katara and Li shot him a confused look. Aang jumped up in excitement. 

"Ooo, I know them they saved me once," Aang said. Li snorted. This earned the swordsmen a look from everyone. 

"Check that again, are you sure?" Li asked in humor. Aang pointed.

"I'm serious they did," Aang said.

"That's impossible," Li responded.

"Why's that?" Katara asked

"The Blue Spirit is a character from a Fire Nation play," Li said. Aang frowned and then jumped up.

"Maybe someone from the Fire Nation wants to help us but is hiding their identity behind the mask," Aang said

"I doubt it," Li said. "It's likely someone from the colonies mocking the Fire Nation." 

"How would that be mocking the Fire Nation?" Katara asked

"Cause, the Blue Spirit or as he's called in the play the Dark Water Spirit is the villain in Love Amongst the Dragons. He cursed the Dragon Emperor to become mortal. The Dragon Emperor managed to break the curse and defeat the Dark Water Spirit but the spirit managed to escape." Li explained. Realizing that he had been ranting he cut himself off before he could say more. "The mocking comes from the idea that no one can actually catch the Dark Water Spirit."

"How do you know this?" Sokka asked suspiciously. Li claimed to be from the colonies but Sokka had a sneaking suspicion that it was a lie. Li blushed and rubbed his neck destroying all the intimidation that his scars gave him in one go. He really was just an awkward dork.

"I...uh...saw the play in the colonies before I left," Li said awkwardly. Aang fell.

"Aw, I had hoped that they could be a fire bender so they could teach me," Aang said. Li looked at the poster.

"Sorry, Aang even if they were from the Fire Nation they wouldn't be a fire bender. It's considered a disgrace for a bender to use any weapons." Li said.

"That's stupid," Katara said.

"It's considered an admission of weakness. That they aren't strong enough to be able to defend themself with their bending." Li explained. 

"That's stupid." Sokka huffed. Li shrugged.

"That's just how the Fire Nation is," Li said.

"We can change it," Aang said

"How?" Li asked. "The next in line is Princess Azula and she will follow in the Fire Lord's footsteps. If not her then the Dragon of the West who would probably end the war but won't change the structure of the Fire Nation. If Princes Kiyi were to become Fire Lord, Fire Lord Consort Ursa would become regent, tho I doubt will change anything." 

"There has to be someone else that is willing to change the Fire Nation," Katara said. Li shrugged.

"Maybe a distant cousin or relative that is willing to do anything to get the throne," Li said.

"Why do we even need the royal family? We could find a nice member of the Fire Nation and put them on the throne?" Katara asked.

"You'll spark a civil war," Li said simply. "Let's get moving." He turned around and began to walk away.

Sokka and the rest of the gaang looked at each other. Sokka shrugged and they all followed the elder teen. 

[arysthaeniru]

I got tagged by @omicheese, SO long ago, to write a list of 10 favourite characters, each from a different media! This is so hard!

1. Kira Nerys - Deep Space 9

One of the most complex, interesting characters in the show, who balances trauma, badassery and vulnerability really well. I adore how much thought Nana Visitor put into her personality; her struggles with religion, compromise and leadership are genuinely great to watch. Also she is such a closeted lesbian and it is a disaster to watch her date bland white man after bland white man, seeking a safe man after a lifetime of fear, not realizing she's been in love with Jadzia this whole time...

2. Haruka Sawamura - Yakuza

Although the writers never want to acknowledge her trauma, I find her people-pleasing and her forced happiness such a fascinating part of her. Having to deal with essentially becoming the emotional crutch to Kiryu at such a young age because Kiryu can't process his own emotions well, and then essentially being the second parent at the orphanage as Kiryu keeps running off to Kamurocho, and then becoming an idol in order to save her orphanage from debt, even though being an idol wasn't really her dream anyway... She's so interesting, and the way she swallows her trauma and takes in all the wrong lessons from Kiryu's arcs makes her genuinely so good and interesting!

3. Artemy Burakh - Pathologic

For all that I have...problems with parts of Pathologic especially when it comes to depiction of the Kin, Artemy really is such an interesting, nuanced protagonist. His journey of figuring out what it means to balance honouring his indigenous heritage while also navigating the racism of his society and also grief of losing his father while also acknowledging his father's mistakes, and managing this new family of children he's stumbled upon, as well as trying to revive old friendships....it really is such a great arc, and I love him. His arc is about love, even though he doesn't think he's worthy of it. (But also Taya and Capella are also here in spirit because I love them SO much).

4. Edelgard von Hresvelg - Fire Emblem

My little revolutionary meow meow! I love how determined yet conflicted Edelgard is as a person, certain of the arc of her story, but uncertain what the exact beats must be. When it comes down it, I love characters who think of themselves as weapons learning what it is to be human again! It's such a vulnerable, interesting process to entangle, and her friendships and her relationships are always so delightful to think about. Edelgard's arc in Three Houses is about the fallacy of red-brown alliances in leftist politics, actually, and how it can harm your own cause and compromise your vision ❤

5. Aino Minako - Sailor Moon

Mina-chan is such a fun supporting character. I love how ditzy and absent-minded she is for things she doesn't care about, and yet how determined and unrelenting she is about her dreams and ambitions. I loved her grappling with what she really wants from life, having been a Sailor Scout for the longest time and wondering what else she wants to be, who else she could become! I also LOVE her willingness to date four or five people at a time—she is the avatar of love, after all.

6. Riju - Breath of the Wild

My baby! I have no idea why she's in charge, nothing about the Gerudo politics seems to imply that they have a hereditary monarchy, so really, there's no reason for a 15 year old to be in charge, but logic be damned. I see a precocious child burdened with the weight of legacy and responsibility and I have to stan them. (It's why Taya and Capella were shortlists for my fave from Pathologic). The themes are too good and she's one of the best units in Hyrule Warriors. I wish she had better clothes though, she deserves a skirt that actually covers her legs.

7. Azula - Avatar the Last Airbender

My first crush ever, I continue to stan evil women with great senses of fashion!! I find her such an intriguing character and although the show often spends time telling us Azula is clever and manipulative instead of showing us (the Ba Sing Se arc made...zero sense), she's such a clear threat and powerhouse and yet so vulnerable and on the edge at the same time. She is the ultimate representation of how the Fire Nation's fascism has destroyed the idea of childhood altogether, and I think her menace is only added to by the fact that she's deeply emotional about her people, even as she cruelly manipulates them to do her bidding.

8. Anthy Himemiya - Revolutionary Girl Utena

It's about the cycles, it's about the victimhood, its about finding power in being reviled, even as it rips you apart, it's about taking humour in your imprisonment because what else can you do—and then the bright, blinding hope that comes from love and letting somebody in, giving them a chance to help set you free. I love Anthy so much, and it's so important that she's a brown woman. (Though Wakaba is close second because...Wakaba!!!!)

9. Dominic Ash - DIE Comic

DIE is genuinely one of the best comics out there, gutting and powerful and adult in all the best ways, and Ash is my problematic, manipulator fave right in the centre of it all. I love how often Ash uses their power to try and force their friends to follow their bidding and are unable to truly control the consequences of doing so, driving all but Isabelle away. I love how afraid they are of their power corrupting them, yet taking the plunge anyway, for the sake of the greater good. And I love their struggles with love, parenthood and the escapist fantasy of being powerful and desired within the role-playing game, and not necessarily wanting to go back to real life.

10. Glimmer - She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Glimmer's such a fun character, desperate to be grown up enough to take on the revolutionary fight and desperate to get better at controlling her own magic and so desperately jealous of her friends' power and terrified she's inadequate and they'll leave her. I love her parallels with Catra and Adora, I adore her thrill-seeking tendencies and her extreme desire to be above-all-else helpful. I love how easily she pushes herself over her limits for the sake of her friends, and how disastrous those choices usually are... also her character design is top-tier.

With absolutely zero-pressure involved, I tag @iammissingautumn @ishtarstripdying @corvidfeathers @touchmycoat @ghostlyeris and anybody else who is interested and wants to do this!!!

[betwixtyiff]

My friend @andalwaysdance​ and I were talking about it the other night and I want to yell about it here because I don’t think I ever have aside from tags on posts depicting it, but I want to talk about one of my all time favorite moments in Avatar the Last Airbender

In the finale of Book 2, “The Crossroads of Destiny”, there’s the moment where Zuko and Iroh are cornered in the Earth King’s Palace by Azula and the Dai Li, and almost immediately after Azula chimes in about how lovely she finds the deadliness of the Dai Li, we get Iroh saying this:

To which Azula replies: 

But General “Oh I Know You’re Not Because You Never Were, Princess” Iroh comes back with this:

And then the camera cuts to Zuko who we see giving just a little smirk like ‘oh yeah, I’ve been waiting to see this one’

And its just. Such a small but subtle bit of brilliant characterization that says so much about these three and their relationships in less than 30 seconds. Azula’s eager willingness to shrug off her Uncle’s long and storied experience as a general. Then there’s Iroh’s full knowledge of that fact and pushes forward with a smile on his face, knowing the Dai Li and even Azula are about to come face to face with nothing they ever had before.

Then there’s my honest to God personal favorite here; Zuko. Prince Zuko; who we as the audience know had a close relationship with his Uncle ever since he was a small boy, who listened to his Uncle’s stories of travels and war, even when Azula shrugged him off and went to bed, Zuko was always up for one more, which is how he KNEW Iroh’s fire breathing feat was coming enough to put a big fat smirk on his face and duck behind his Uncle’s back, while Iroh let lose an inferno after a slow, slow, sip of jasmine tea.

Again its just. Such a small, but such a rich moment that gives you so much of these character’s history together in such a natural way that so many other shows fail to do

TLDR; Avatar is my favorite TV show of all time and I read too much into it well over a decade on

[battleangelaelita]

Haman Karn and audience reception of female antagonists

I am not just an Azula fan, I have a broad and healthy appreciation of girlbosses in all their forms, and one of my favorites of the archetype is Haman Karn from Zeta and ZZ Gundam. Seriously, she walked so the rest of our faves could fly. More under the cut.

Now, this little blog post is going to be at least partly speculative. I don’t know for sure how how Haman Karn was received during the initial broadcast of Zeta in 1986 and ZZ in 1987. But I do know as a longtime Gundam fan that the second and third outings in the Gundam franchise were a high-water mark for female characters in Gundam, and the franchise has, at best, stagnated and usually backslid since. The Origin fleshed out parts of Sayla Mass’s story that were left on the cutting room floor so that’s really the only notable exception prior to this fall’s forthcoming Witch from Mercury, which will have the franchise’s first female protagonist.

People usually have one of two opinions on Zeta in the English speaking anime world: “best of the franchise” or “i have never heard of this.” It got its localization contracted just before Toonami decided to pull the plug on Gundam broadcasts after the one-two punch of the original having disappointing ratings and September 11 made the violence of the series less palatable--the background of the opening narration depicts the use of city-killing WMDs in the form of deorbited space colonies.

So Zeta survived on DVD sales only, while the immediate sequel didn’t get an official localization, finally releasing as a subtitle only BD/DVD in 2015, and only getting put on CrunchyRoll this year (2022).

So the only people who watched are people who were already Gundam fans, and people who were likely to be older to pay for what was at the time a niche product, or something they’d have to acquire a fansub for.

So who is Haman Karn? She’s a Neo-Zeon warlord who assumed control of a remote mining colony and military base, and returned to the Earth sphere in the middle of a ongoing colonial uprising against the despotic Earth Federation emergency regime. Seven years after the end of the One Year War, the world is still a huge mess, with many of the heros from the original forced to fight against their own government by the tyrannical Titans state security force, the Zeon-hunting organization that has become the small gear turning the large gear in the Federation.

And into this mess, which has seen magnificent bastard Char (under a pseudonym) fighting with the heroes, on the same side as his rival Amuro, Haman shows up bound and determined to make this mess worse.

Look at this demon baby...she even has a knife!

Haman has a lot of the qualities people love (and love to hate) in characters like Azula. She is a young and extremely competent female antagonist with a deep personal relationship with a previous fan favorite (Char). She is often smug and manipulative. In spite of her general sense of duty towards her people and their cause, that cause is a deeply destructive and evil one (Zeon in Gundam is a pastiche of currents of Japanese right-wing futurism viz the Kodoha clique and the pseudo-left anti-imperialism of Kita Ikki and some elements of the student movement).

In Zeta Haman is a spanner in the works, a sometimes ally, sometimes adversary of the protagonists who ends up maneuvering for supremacy in a three-way conflict with both the heroes and the series big bad Paptimus Sirocco, who is Jupiterian in both the Emmanuel Macron personalist/Bonapartist political sense as well as literally from Jupiter. Haman is the ultimate victor of this battle; she not only defeats Char in a one-on-one, possibly killing him (his fate was left ambiguous), but her forces come out in the best shape. Zeta’s protagonist Kamille Bidan beats Sirocco, but is left catatonic from the psychic resonance (it’s Newtypes, I don’t have time to explain...)

Haman goes on to be the big bad in Gundam ZZ (it’s usually pronounced Gundam Double-Zeta). Not only does the general trend of gaslight, gatekeep, girlbossing continue, she intensifies and double-downs on it. War crimes ensue. And not the silly sense that fandom talks about characters like Azula being war criminals because they don’t like them, I mean actual violations of the laws of armed conflict like the use of WMDs on open cities. She does get somewhat chickified because one of the long-running subplots is her attraction to Double Zeta’s protagonist Judau Ashta (it’s another Newtype thing...just think of it like their souls touching through some psychic stuff), but it’s played more for tragedy. In the end she cannot let go of her pride, and chooses to die when defeated rather than accept Judau’s alternate perspective.

Haman in sum has all the hallmarks of the villainous woman in the traditionally male sphere. She’s stoic, manipulative, hypercompetent, but also emotionally closed off. She can’t femme fatale, and her few romantic overtures are clumsy. Nonetheless, she has complicated, multi-faceted relationships with multiple male characters, including a series fave, and often beats them at their own game.

Yet she’s also consistently a pretty well liked character in both the English and Japanese fandoms. There is no shortage of moeified fanart of her, and she’s showed up as a cameo in several other series like the Build Fighters one.

So what went wrong elsewhere? Perhaps it’s because Haman was intended to be a sympathetic character from the start by Tomino, unlike Bryke’s relative disinterest towards Azula’s internality, for example. It’s long been a pet theory of mine that Haman began conceptually as the next arc for Sayla Mass, another fave in the Gundam franchise. Perhaps I’ll do a whole post on that subject someday, but in brief, Sayla is Char’s estranged sister, both of whom have been living under assumed names in exile from their home colony after their father’s assassination. Sayla’s plotline in the original got slightly truncated due to the episode count being slashed, but in the original outline she was supposed to lead a soldier mutiny in Zeon in the final part, taking off the character masque of Sayla and becoming Artesia Deikun again (this was restored in the expanded The Origin manga by Yasuhiko Yoshikazu, who was Tomino’s right-hand man on the original series).

There may be a slight resemblance...

Sayla unfortunately had to be cut from Zeta because the voice actress was on a year long Safari in Africa (it was the 80s, I guess people just did that sort of thing). So somewhere in development, a character who also has a complicated personal relationship with Char, a stoic and serious female character who looks like if Sayla decided to dye her hair and cut her bangs, shows up again on the opposite side of the conflict from Char, who’s doing his best at trying to be a hero...really gets the old noggin joggin’.

It could also be a matter of audience. Gundam is aimed more towards a slightly older demographic than many western animated shows, particularly one like Avatar, and it’s also a pre-internet show. People had time to grow up and form more nuanced opinions and weren’t dumped unvarnished into a fandom space very early. Or they were American adults experiencing the show for the first time as adults, with some background for nuance.

But there’s plenty of people who first watched Avatar the Last Airbender as adults who also have extremely hyperbolic opinions about Azula. The reception towards Rey from the Star Wars sequels, who let’s be honest here, is neither overpowered compared to her male counterparts nor does she have a strong, domineering personality, also points to the fact that older fans are far from immune to knee-jerk toxicity. If anything, they were worse with Rey.

In fact I find the audience reception of Rey even more baffling, because from the very start Rey is clearly communicated in terms that make her relatable to the audience of Star Wars fans. She is, after all, a fangirl in-universe, living in her mundane world dreaming of the big adventures outside of the meager existence salvaging scrap on Jakku, keenly interested in the old ‘legends’ about people like Luke Skywalker or Han Solo.

What then is the answer? Fandom I guess is an often toxic space, and I can’t find any clear answers. Sometimes villainous female characters get generally well liked and appreciated, and other times they’re treated with such comically hyperbolic disdain it would be funny if it weren’t so damn stupid. I am interested in hearing what you have to think.

[zuko-always-lies]

Unpopular Opinion: Zuko and Azula’s Relationship Might Have Improved After Ursa’s Banishment.

��Zuko Alone”:

Azula: Mom, can you make Zuko play with us? We need equal teams to play a game. Zuko: (emphatically) I am not cart wheeling. Azula: You won't have to. Cart wheeling's not a game, (under her breath) dumb dumb. Zuko: I don't care. I don't want to play with you. Azula: We are brother and sister. (her voice becoming sickly sweet) It's important for us to spend time together. Don't you think so, mom? Ursa: Yes darling, (to Zuko) I think it's a good idea to play with your sister. Go on now, (she fluffs Zuko's head a few times) just for a little while.

and

Ursa: I was just coming to get you. Uncle Iroh sent us a letter from the war front. (to Zuko) You're soaking wet. Zuko: (with a gesture of frustration) Girls are crazy!

and 

Zuko: (slightly panicked) Where's mom? Azula: No one knows. Oh, and last night, Grandpa passed away. Zuko: Not funny, Azula. You're sick. And I want my knife back, now.

Zuko’s selective memories about one of the worst weeks of his life probably do not paint an accurate picture of his relationship with Azula, and “Zuko Alone” definitely implies that their relationship was actually better than seemingly depicted.

Still, we get a sense that the Fire Siblings did not have the best relationship and that Zuko generally didn’t like spending time with his sister. There’s definitely a strong rivalry between the siblings as they compete for their parents’ favor.

Most importantly, it’s hard to imagine Zuko ever meaningful leaning on Azula for support, since he doesn’t have a good relationship with her, since Ursa is very available to him as a loving and supportive figure, and since Azula is very clearly not mature enough to know how to provide meaningful support.

However, flashforward to the timeframe of the series, and we find that Zuko leans on Azula for support more than just about anyone else(and Azula usually gives support in response), and this is despite Zuko demonizing Azula, feeling extreme jealousy toward her, and blaming her for how Ozai treats him.

But despite his enmity for her and his deep suspicion of her actions, he can’t help leaning on her for support and opening up his heart to her, suggesting that there was a point in the past where he often relied on Azula for support and received it from her.

For the reasons I laid out above, it can’t have been before Ursa’s exile. It must have happened afterward. But how?

One of the big things I think happened is that Azula started growing up very fast. She actually grew more pleasant, agreeable, and understanding as a person. Moreover, she started trying to fill the void left by Ursa in the family.  And with Ursa gone and having largely secured Ozai’s favor, Azula had much less reason to be jealous of and competitive with Zuko.

Meanwhile, with Ursa gone and Iroh only slowly making his way home, Azula was the only potential person Zuko had to lean on for support. As she started responding better and better to him trying to solicit support from her, he began more encouraged to do so more. And even when Iroh came home, it would have taken time for Zuko to really warm up with and bond with him again(and he might have only really begun to do so after he got exiled).

Of course, Azula tried to hold all her troubles in rather than lean on her brother.

This isn’t to say that Azula and Zuko had a great relationship during this period. Zuko was still very jealous of Azula.  Azula was still not the nicest person and still enjoyed making fun of her brother, and Ozai encouraged her to view Zuko negatively.  And it’s possible that the Zuko-Azula relationship improved, only for it to gradually deteriorate after Iroh returned and Zuko gained another shoulder to cry on, along with Ozai turning up the pressure on Zuko and Azula.

Still, it seems pretty likely that their relationship was much better in this period than it was before this period or after it.

How did we get to where we did in canon, then? I think the trauma of getting burned and banished really increased many of Zuko’s worst character traits. In exile, he became more and more jealous of Azula for having what he had lost, and he began blaming her more and more for how Ozai had treated him. Iroh potentially deliberately or inadvertently encouraged this, especially since he never had a good relationship with Azula.

Meanwhile, Ozai probably disparaged Zuko a lot in front of Azula, and maintaining a relationship with him might have seemed dangerous enough that Azula repressed a lot of her love for Zuko. Obviously the issues between Zuko and Azula never went away but were only tempered by them having a stronger aspect of care in their relationship for a while. And Ozai and Iroh might have managed to effectively discourage either Fire Sibling from writing to the other, even if they wanted to.

Azula might have even painted Zuko as more and more immature in her memories to make herself feel safer in the environment of the court.

The above is only a theory, but I think it’s very possible that the Zuko-Azula relationship might have actually improved to a degree after Ursa left.

[likealittleheartbeat]

I feel so sad for the people who come away from ATLA arguing about who’s *Good* and pure and who’s irredeemable. There is not a single character in Avatar who is depicted without a history of suffering. Everyone is offered empathy and depicted with compassion. And everyone makes choices that hurt others. You may love a character to pieces, but they are not presented without major faults. You may also feel angry and upset with characters’ actions: when Hama bloodbends innocent civilians and manipulates Katara to join her, when Azula ruthlessly strikes down our heroes, when Ozai and Sozin launch genocidal assaults. The show, through our relationship to the protagonists, the animation, and the music, encourages us to feel, at the least, discomfort if not complete outrage in these moments. But we are never asked to dehumanize anyone. Hama’s trauma is not ignored. Azula’s perfectionism is not without tragic and lonely consequences. Sozin’s loss of friendship haunts him to his dying days. And Ozai is spared by Aang and the writers against his will—Even the biggest bad is not beyond the idea of humanity. Through their stories, we can understand how they arrived at their violent choices (which is different than being asked to follow their example or agree with its morality). Some people look at fiction as if it’s a model for how to live, and many read ATLA this way. But I find it more satisfying when a story can speak to some of my shames. There, there, it seems to say in a soft voice. I’ve been there. We’ll sit here close together for a while, then maybe we can help you find a new way to do things.

[alfredolover119]

I looooove your zukka rec lists! I recently became Avatar-obsessed, never got a chance to watch it as a kid and only just got through it all! I was wondering if you'd consider doing a specifically angst rec list? I love fluffy zukka everything, but sometimes you just gotta have your heart ripped out of your chest and put back in after being thoroughly blended.

thank you! i relate heavily to “recently became Avatar-obsessed” haha. as for the angst list, i sure can try! warning: all of these have happy endings because im a crybaby who can’t read unhappy endings. also, p much all of the fics in the completed section were featured on my other lists but this is specifically the ANGSTY ones >:^)

angsty zukka wips

first, most obviously, feels like we only go backwards by @oldpotatoe

-currently at 102k with 19/27 chapters posted; rated teen

-the amnesia fic. the amnesia fic. the amnesia fic. you know. i haven’t actually read it yet because, as previously mentioned, i’m a crybaby and am waiting for it to finish up but, from my understanding, this fic will murder you in a dark alleyway with no remorse. if u like zukka angst, you’ve probably already read this, but just in case!

An injury leaves Sokka with amnesia. His last memory is of the failed invasion, of leaving his father behind in enemy territory on the Day of Black Sun. Of hopelessness. Rage. // But then he wakes up, and the war is over. Suddenly, he must come to terms with the fact that years have passed, and that he's somehow the Southern Water Tribe Ambassador to the Fire Nation. He is also supposedly friends with banished-Prince-turned-Fire-Lord Zuko, of all people. Close friends.

Yeah, nah.

and i’ll do anything you say (if you say it with your hands) by @goldrushzukka

-currently 38k with 6/8 chapters posted; rated mature

-holy shit. holy SHIT. modern au based on the “my cat likes my fuckbuddy and i am falling in love” trope(?). maybe it’s just because of how the last chapter ended, but oh my god. this one made me cry. made me want to commit violence. when it’s not angsty as hell, it’s pretty funny, but holy shit. ao3 user nebulastucky please.

It’s supposed to be a one night stand. Pick up some guy at a bar, barely remember his name and never learn anything real about him, send him packing in the morning with a thanks for the ride and a cup of coffee to-go. That’s how it’s supposed to go. // But then it’s the best sex Sokka has ever had, and he thinks he’ll hate himself if he never gets to have it again.

Violet Blossoms and Celestial Objects by @hollypunkers

-currently 15k with 2/? posted. rated teen.

-this is the sequel to blue (an angsty, zukka rewrite of book 2-- go read it if u havent!)! !! this is a book 3 rewrite. only two chapters in and mrs hollypunkers is really abusing the miscommunication tag, as zukka writers seem to enjoy doing. im excited to see how the world and story develops with the changes to the story! you should be too!! its very good! obviously spoilers for blue lmao

Having sided with the Avatar in Ba Sing Se, Zuko not only must navigate his new relationship with Sokka but returning to the Fire Nation as a banished enemy. His own journey of self discovery and personal growth must now coexist alongside the personal struggles of every other member of the Gaang as together they blaze a treacherous path toward an unsure victory against Zuko's own father and nation.

breakable heaven by @fruitysokka

-currently 71k with 9/11 chapters posted. rated teen

-swt ambassador zuko! soon to be chief sokka! fake dating ur best friend to get out of an arranged marriage! what could go wrong!!! i also haven’t read this one ((see: i’m a crybaby who is being hurt by too many zukka wips already)), but it has been hanging out in my marked for later for months. from what i understand, this fic has: angst.

With his twenty-first birthday looming just around the corner, the Southern Water Tribe Elders have decided that Sokka, next in line to be Chief, needs to get married. Sokka does not want that, but he does need to get them off his back until he can figure his way out of it. What better way to do that than to pretend to date his best friend (and newly minted Ambassador to the Southern Water Tribe) Zuko? // Seriously, this is a foolproof plan. Maybe one of Sokka's best. Absolutely nothing can go wrong.

angsty zukka fics (completed!)

(i’ll put these in wc order)

lighthouse beam by @incorrectzukka

-7k, rated g

-a modern college au!! zuko’s inner-monologue is very angsty in this fic. typical zuko. also per usual, theyre both fucking dorks. they sort themselves out in the end, but not before The Angst. zuko is semi-deaf in this fic and also he has a bit of internalized homophobia.

Sokka’s breathtakingly beautiful and he’s smart and makes other people laugh. Zuko has a half-burnt face and a deaf ear. It’s not rocket science. // Or, Zuko falls in love with the boy in his Philosophy class.

This Isn’t My Idea of Fun by @khaleeseas

-9k, explicit

-moon spirit/nwt prince!sokka, no war to be found here! admittedly this isnt THAT angsty but like. the angst IS present. zuko is still the prince. a lovely childhood friends (though they hated each other for a minute haha) to lovers story. 

If you asked Zuko, he and Azula saw far too much of Chief Hakoda of the Northern Water Tribe’s children growing up. It wasn’t until they were older, and Azula pointed out that - duh - their families were trying to set them all up, that he realized why. // He was told by his mother to be polite. These people were their friends and allies, and though their nations were as different as they came, harmony between nations was the most important thing. // It wasn’t his fault the Chief’s children were so annoying.

put your lips close to mine (as long as they don’t touch) by @celestialceci

-9k, teen

-modern au! zuko and sokka are college roommates. zuko goes to spend the summer with sokka. again,, not really that angsty but-- its there!! the detail and feeling of Home in this story make me happy. zuko is insecure as hell here too. if ur into that. 

Zuko hates his home. He likes college alright, but he likes Sokka even better, his assigned roommate turned best friend. Spending the summer with Sokka will be fun, a welcome change of pace he desperately wants. It probably won't awaken anything in him... right?

the thing about dancing by anodymalion

-9k, teen

-yes. this one right here officer. it makes my heart ache. also trans sokka! which is cool. but the zuko angst in this one. hurts me. not so much relationship angst as it is zuko learning he deserves happiness angst. i’m sure u know The Type.

The first time a attendant spills Zuko’s tea and doesn’t immediately fall to her knees, begging the Fire Lord’s forgiveness, it is not anger but a resounding warmth that fills his chest.

i could (never) give you peace by @zukkababey

-10k, mature

-OUCH. OUCH OUCH OUCH. boys please learn to communicate im begging u. also zuko.. zuko, dude. as the tags of the fic say, hes “really going through it” in this one. YOUCH. post-canon.

Zuko almost said it. He almost said the words I think I’m in love with you, but he choked them back down at the last second. // Zuko would never be able to be what Sokka wanted. They might have needed each other during the summer, when two boys with too much weight on their shoulders found comfort in each other in the only way they knew how. // But now Zuko was Fire Lord, and Sokka was leaving.

this love burns so yellow (becoming orange and in its time, exploding) by @meliebee 

-18k, teen, major character death 

-i lied. THIS is the one, officer. found family.. good mai and zuko and toph friendships.. . ozai escapes prison and tries to overthrow zuko. OBVIOUSLY angst ensues. poor boy. he Does heal in this but it gets worse before it gets better. angst angst angst angst.

Ten months after Zuko is crowned at seventeen, he faces his first coup.

Anything for You by beersforqueers

-23k, explicit

-istg. this is probably one of my favorite zukka fics. its PAINFUL. modern au where theyre broken up but sokka hasnt told his family yet so zuko goes home with him for kataang wedding. a bit smutty, but the plot oh my god ohgm y fuvk. made me cry the first time i read it. (see: crybaby!me) insert that one picture of the horse with the caption PAIN. 

In which Sokka and Zuko have broken up but Sokka hasn't told his family yet. So when Katara and Aang's wedding weekend rolls around and he doesn't want to break Gran-Gran's heart, he asks Zuko to pretend to be his boyfriend for one last weekend. // Things don't go as planned.

Moving Mountains by @thefangirlingdead

-64k, mature

-so. when i read this the first time it was in one sitting. soulmate au set within canon era / the comics, to an extent. soulmates can hear each others thoughts. i will happily say this is slowburn, jesus christ. champagne without the cham. 

Soulmates are chosen by the spirits and can hear each other’s thoughts. Sokka thinks it’s cheesy and dumb. Zuko thinks it’s poetic justice that he doesn’t have one because he doesn’t deserve it. Cruel irony is finding out that the prince of the Fire Nation (and the person currently hunting you) is your soulmate.

In the Soft Light by @voidcenturyscholar and @romancedawning

-83k, teen, graphic depictions of violence

-moon spirit!sokka living in the northern water tribe. zuko is sent to the northern water tribe as a cultural liaison. iroh is the fire lord but while he is away taking care of lu ten after his injury ozai steps up. i cannot express how many emotions this fic made me feel. background yuetara. i would almost say found family?? but. anyway. plenty of angst to spare here with a healthy dose of enemies to friends to lovers.

As the newly appointed cultural liaison to Northern Water Tribe, Zuko is the first Fire Nation Citizen to step foot inside the city's walls in nearly a century. He's determined to prove himself—to the Fire Lord and to his father—even if the Water Tribe's spirit-touched prince seems to want nothing to do with him.

That Midnight Sky by @zukkababey

-103k, teen

-now now now. tms... modern college au where sokka agrees to tutor zuko in physics because zuko has to maintain straight a’s and physics is just not doing it for him. so. thats cool but THEN azula moves in, randomly, with zuko. to hide the fact that sokka is tutoring zuko, they fake date! what could go wrong!! the mutual pining in here combined with the angst... wonderful, tasty. everyone read it rn. also SLOWBURN 

In Zuko’s strict family, needing a tutor is just about the worst thing you could do. Failing a class, however, is even worse. The only rational solution? Take up Aang on his offer to find him a physics tutor and have Sokka—beautiful, smart, handsome Sokka—tutor him in secret. // When Azula’s arrival threatens to reveal Zuko’s secret, it’s up to Sokka to convince her this definitely isn’t what it looks like. See, he’s actually… Zuko’s… boyfriend? // Hmm. There’s no way this could get complicated, right?