Hi there, happy new year! I was wondering if i could get your insight on something. I’ve always had mixed feelings about Iroh sending Zuko to fight Azula & insisting it would be wrong for him to fight Ozai & also pushing the throne on Zuko. BUT it really rubs me the wrong way when I see anti Iroh takes that make him out to be so awful for this. I feel like everything Iroh does throughout the series comes from a place of love for Zuko even if he is flawed & can be messy & lazy & imperfect as a father figure - that’s what makes him interesting. But so much of what Iroh says in Sozin’s Comet Part 2 (to me at least, as I re watch the show) almost feels like…, not Iroh the Character speaking but almost just the writers using Iroh as a narrator if that makes any sense?
What I’m getting at is - do you have a take on Iroh’s motivations & what was going through his head during Sozin’s Comet part 2? I want to know what you think his perspective was because I feel like you always have good takes about what was going on in Iroh’s head & I have trouble reading him during a lot of this episode.
If you don’t have time, no worries. Thanks for often sharing your insights on this show as well as your beautiful fan art & writing. Hope you’re having a good start to 2023!
Ahhh thank you for this ask!! And I totally get where you're coming from.
I feel like Iroh insisting Zuko take the throne is a continuation of their discussion from The Avatar and the Fire Lord. While there are so many things left unsaid/not dealt with when it comes to Iroh, he probably doesn't at all feel like he's worth the crown. That and he's already stepped aside for so long, he could be realizing his complacency, his inaction, they've all piled up and now look at the mess they're in. He is not ruler material. Maybe he once was, but that's long past - and yet that's silly bc Iroh seems to already have the vibe that it's never too late to correct your wrongs.
I think Iroh is just... done with his home nation. The connection is gone. Iroh is loathed in the Fire Nation and has not had his name cleared in the rest of the world since before defecting. What would it look like politically for him to pop back up, fight/kill his brother who had been ruling for 6 years and had imprisoned Iroh, and then just plop on the throne? Even with the Avatar's blessing?
Ozai had to fall from the Avatar himself (granted I would have liked it if Iroh showed up to help Aang or something)
Now, going onto him sending Zuko to fight Azula, this is indeed where things get messy. One would think it's just as bad for Zuko to fight Azula when Iroh won't fight his brother - but I don't think Iroh intended for Zuko to KILL Azula. But Azula was going to continue her father's regime when crowned; even if he fell. There are a lot of things going on as well that they may or may not know, such as her mental state, what's going on with her banishing people at the palace; the hardest pill is that Azula is following through with plans set by her father to actively hurt an entire world.
The Fire Nation royal family is at the helm of the entire war.
Azula is a tragic product of it, as much as her brother, as much as her uncle, and yes, as much as Ozai. She has to be neutralized (not killed, just stopped) before she can keep following her father. This is it, this is endgame.
If Ozai has to be killed it's because he's LEADING everything; he's THE Fire Lord. Azula just needs to be stopped.
But I do agree that there's some really weird choice of words and plots. Iroh tends to get a lot of lines that sound great on paper, but in context it's like 'wait this doesn't sound helpful at all'.
ULTIMATELY though, Zuko becoming the Fire Lord, imo, is the best in the framing; although it would have been nice to see him question it more before suddenly wondering before speaking to Iroh. Let him question his desire for the crown, for the weight of it; let him reminisce on life in Ba Sing Se as a normal teenager. The royal family is in such shambles, there's almost nothing left of them. Honestly, neither Zuko nor Iroh nor anyone from the current family should have taken power over the Fire Nation - but that doesn't fit the bookends/Zuko's written story. Again, if there had been more self-awareness of the absolute fractured nature of the family, Zuko could have grown from his desire for the crown and found himself and I think with some newfound wisdom he could teach Iroh a few new things and that would be a great fresh start for their relationship and they could both go helm the Jasmine Dragon and Zuko gets, you know, a LIFE.
I think Iroh had good intentions naming Zuko, the next generation, someone who broke out of the chains of their family, the next Fire Lord, the one to lead the Fire Nation out of the war... but we don't even know what the Fire Nation itself thinks of Zuko, or the war for that matter. I mean, the prison guard Ming was pretty favorable of Iroh - but I have a notion it's shorthand for the viewer bc Iroh is supposed to be 'a good guy' by that time and having someone be genuine with him softens the blows of his time at the prison; but it would have been neat to learn that maybe Ming came from a family that favored from his time as a general and she was kind of blinded by that bias. Maybe the 'mean' prison guard had beef with Iroh because of Ba Sing Se.
I'm sorry I keep getting sidetracked (kinda like Iroh's writing ayoooo) but like yeah; I feel like Iroh's come to terms with the fact that he would make a poor leader (and yet the comics shove him into the interim Fire Lord position); but it would have been nice if he'd stuck around for a while; at least for Zuko's coronation and to make sure he had a good staff/council/updated the Fire Sages. There's a lot of stuff in S3 that breaks my heart with Iroh; some of it is on a good plane, but the execution is, admittedly very weak. I don't think Iroh meant to put more divides in the family that weren't already there, but I can see how it's interpreted that way. There's a war and he's picking the side that he feels is just.
It's the same when Azula shot Aang down with lightning - she's fighting on her side of the war.
Iroh knows she and Ozai must be defeated. He's fighting on his side of the war.
When Zuko asks Katara 'want to help me put my sister in her place?'
it's a heartbreaking echo of 'I'm about to become an only child'
The only reason Iroh and Zuko 'win' at the end is because they come out on the same side as the Avatar after they help defeat their own family. Iroh and Zuko are alive and well. But their family is not; and I think no matter what they did, it was going to end up that way.
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ugly maths.
i hate maths, right. i don't usually like numbers, and if i do like numbers it's gotta be an 8 or a 48 and nothing else.
thing is, i've recently caught myself doing maths again. ugly maths. the kind of maths that, really, i've been trying to avoid as much as possible because, well, it's ugly!
you... wanna see?
okay, fine... but don't say i didn't warn you!
ugly, see? look at all those numbers! not a 48 in sight!
huh? what's that? you don't see what i'm on about? oh... oh! hang on, lemme just—
better? yes? no? no? okay, what if i—
mmh, yes. ugly numbers. see it now? can you see why they're ugly?
here, i can make it worse.
these numbers are ugly. the maths they make me do is ugly.
now i'll level with you: the worst ones by far are the yellow numbers. the maths they make me do it the ugliest.
why ugly?
because it makes me ugly.
those numbers turn me into not only a suddenly number-obsessed fool, but a fool who also cannot understand these numbers and what they mean and why i feel like they reflect on me and my ability.
87, 75.
the thoughts are as follows:
• the orange numbers are big, so why are you being ugly about the yellow ones? you should be happy with what you have. so many nice big numbers! not everyone receives that.
• is it that there are two different audiences for these two different fics? perhaps. they are quite different works, with different appeals, and different themes. maybe you are reading too much into it.
• why are you obsessing over numbers anyway? you don't like maths! you left maths behind when you were 16, put it down!
okay, okay, fine! i'll put the maths down. right here, in fact!:
that 87 was an 83 at the start of the year. the 6161 it is attached to was a 5453.
4, 708.
ugly maths.
the 75 is a nice number. in fact, compared to 87, it is beautiful, radiant, enchanting. at the start of the year, 75 was 48. wow. now that is one sexy number!
27.
mmmm.
6161, 1061.
5100.
87, 75.
12.
mmmm.
you know, my most favourite comment left recently on a fic of mine was 2 characters long: :(
it made me :)
well, actually, it made me >:) because it was left in response, presumably, to one of the key scenes in a new chapter which left the exact impression on someone that i hoped it would.
they must be the only one who reacted like that, though.
1.
have i mentioned that that 87 and 75 include author responses?
i won't try to do more maths, there. it might not end well for me. the maths is making me tired enough as it is, and i have an early start tomorrow.
oh! but, that being said, i have another set of ugly numbers to show you, so keep 87 and 75 in mind.
ready?
838, 245.
(want a hint? the green numbers!)
838, 87. 245, 75.
9.6, 3.3.
ugly maths. it's ugly again, see? i don't like it. i'm seeing numbers within numbers within numbers, and i can't seem to stop!
the numbers make me ask new questions:
• why is it not good enough?
• people seem to engage more with one fic over the other, so shouldn't you prioritise?
• is all this maths this really good for you?
no, it isn't.
i want to avoid ugly maths. ugly maths makes me want to tear my hair out. it makes me want to start from scratch. it makes me want to grab someone and scream. it makes me want to cry and press a button that has tempted me many times before when the numbers become too ugly to bear.
ugly maths turn me into an ugly person.
ugly maths make me obsessive, paranoid, anxious, regretful, vindictive, spiteful, alone.
i hate maths. i hate numbers, just like, it feels, the numbers hate me.
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I literally love love love love love love love love love love love LOVE never let me go I know it’s a free time thing but is there any chance we’re going go get an update😫 btw your like an actual artist with your words there phenomenal we love you❤️
Hi, baby ❤️❤️❤️ OMG thank you so much for loving my story and asking about the update in such a polite way 😭 Actually, I've written like 20k for the new chapters of Never Let Me Go and it's ready to be posted but I still feel so insecure about it and I just have to re-read it again to make sure it's not really as bad as I think it is 😭 But I haven't posted anything in a while so maybe I'll just post it the way it is cause I'm still struggling with my morning sickness and I'm not sure when that's gonna go away 😭
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I posted 15,000 times in 2022
249 posts created (2%)
14,751 posts reblogged (98%)
Blogs I reblogged the most:
@bluerthanthetardis
@thearchivist-theprime
@friendraichu
@toshsato
@christor5
I tagged 4,174 of my posts in 2022
#dw spoilers - 203 posts
#doctor who spoilers - 198 posts
#stranger things spoilers - 149 posts
#st spoilers - 148 posts
#survivor 42 spoilers - 102 posts
#survivor spoilers - 101 posts
#survivor - 78 posts
#survivor 42 - 76 posts
#kenobi spoilers - 66 posts
#obi-wan kenobi spoilers - 65 posts
Longest Tag: 138 characters
#yes i did shame the person by saying ‘i apologize if i didn’t answer quick enough’ after they put ‘???’ and a ‘:/‘ rating after 30 seconds
(Ah yes, the many struggles of customer service to entitled parents. I forgot about that chat support exchange.)
My Top Posts in 2022:
#5
I’m sorry, but it is SO funny to me that it wasn’t enough to have Sidney marry someone else and have Theo James leave the show, they had to literally kill Sidney too just to shut down any hope of them getting back together.
I literally laughed out loud when I saw his name on the coffin.
80 notes - Posted March 20, 2022
#4
FINALLY.
FINALLYYYYYYYY.
FINALLYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
IT ONLY TOOK 20 YEARS BUT ANOTHER BLACK WOMAN WON SURVIVOR.
90 notes - Posted May 25, 2022
#3
**OBI-WAN KENOBI SPOILERS**
I am so impressed with that little girl.
I swear, in the moment that she looked at Obi-Wan in the eye and continued to put on the gloves, I felt the spirit of Carrie Fisher herself come out.
She’s truly embodying Leia and I love it.
106 notes - Posted May 27, 2022
#2
Has this been done yet?
109 notes - Posted April 11, 2022
My #1 post of 2022
Cynthia and Danielle crying with Joaquina is such a beautiful moment.
158 notes - Posted June 12, 2022
Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →
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Sorry I'm kind of dissociated and my vocab crashes during that can you explain the Biden drug thing in just. Shorter simple sentences.
Sure! You're not the only one who's mentioned being unclear on what it means either, and I'm happy to help
(Context for anyone else: US Sets Policy to Seize Patents of Government-Funded Drugs if Price Deemed Too High, via Good News Network, December 11, 2023)
From the very basics:
When drug companies create new drugs, they get a legal protection called a "patent." The patent means no one else can make or sell the same drug for whatever number of years.
Usually, this is about 10 years after the drug starts being sold to the public.
So, for those years, that one drug company is the only source of whatever medication. And since people need their medication, drug companies can charge however much money they want.
Meaning a lot of drugs that people need to live cost way too much money to buy.
So, with this, Biden told drug companies "Fuck you, if you keep making medicine too $$$ for people to afford, I'm giving your competition the right to make and sell those drugs too."
The US has never done anything like this before.
This is a huge threat to the whole (awful) drug industry in the US. It will save people thousands of dollars. If he does this, it will save lives.
--
Edit 12/17/23: Quick note, as people have said in the notes, this only applies to drugs made in part using taxpayer money. Which is! Literally all of them!
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