#How They Get Mako

[rocketbirdie]

meanwhile, in another timeline

[moment-live]

Unreliable narrator

[beifong-brainrot]

Tlok is so weird about abuse, particularly when their female charcters are abusive towards their male characters.

Like Eska's abuse by Bolin was played completely for comedy. Despite him being shown as clearly uncomfortable, and crying on multiple occasions.

This is especially upsetting because Bolin has been shown as being a rather vulnerable individual with trouble setting healthy boundaries and an aversion to saying 'no'. But even when he does actively express his discomfort and attempts to end the relationship, his autonomy is violated and he is literally forcefully engaged to Eska. And we are supposed to laugh.

He is shown to be so traumatised by the experience that he still actively panics when shown even a picture of Eska and is clearly very hurt that Mako didn't offer him more help in the situation. Which is honestly understandable.

Speaking of which, Mako and Korra's relationship in B2 was... troubled to say the least. Now, Korra had a lot on her plate and was rightfully stressed by the events happening. However, it seemed that she often took her stress out on Mako, getting into arguments with him and yelling at him.

She kicked his fucking desk across the room. While Mako may have upset her by going behind her back and ratting her out to Raiko, but this is no way to react. But we are supposed to be annoyed and angry with Mako, and we are meant to see Korra reacting so violently as justified. [While I don't like Mako's actions in B2 he didn't deserve this.]

This is not helped in the slightest after Lin enters the scene, and comments on thw mess, saying that he 'got off easy'. And she implies that she committed even more property damage after Tenzin broke up with her.

Ah, Lin. I think while Korra and Eska's actions toward Mako and Bolin have been called out sometimes, we tend to overlook how fucking horrifying what we're told about Lin's reaction to Tenzin breaking up with her is.

Because, if we think about this for a little, this is a scary situation. Lin is a very strong and physical person who has been shown to be quick to violence. Air Temple Island is Tenzin's home, and the home of multiple Air Acolytes, full of fragile artifacts that we are shown that he values tremendously and for which he feels personally responsible for.

Ans it's honestly hard to believe that Lin didn't know this about Tenzin, since they persumably have known each other for a while. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if she damaged the temple because she knew it would hurt him.

And it's understandable that this wasn't presented as a very morally wrong thing to do, since the 'crazy ex girlfriend' isn't an unpopular trope in comedy, but it is damaging. Since it plays women doing genuinely scary and upsetting things towards men for comedy, therefore making it more difficult to take such behaviour seriously.

But hey, I guess we can kinda pretend that Lin most likely damaging Air Temple Island with earthbending is comparable to egging someone's house or keying their car. So let's let that slide.

Oh yeah, she also abused her position as chief of police in order to try and get rid of a romantic rival.

Which is extremely fucked up, especially with how Lin presents herself as extremely professional and serious about her job, yet she apparently used it to terrorise a woman for 'stealing' her partner. What kind of bunny boiler shit is this.

And all of these scenes presenting Lin as a vengeful, borderline abusive ex to Tenzin are presented as comedic, further driving tlok's most likely unintentional message of normalising female on male abuse. It's not as in your face as Eska's abuse of Bolin, to the point that without the context of Eska and Korra's behaviour, I wouldn't really point Lin out, but with this context, you can't help but consider it.

Once is by chance. Twice is a coincidence. Three times is a pattern.

And I hate to make this argument, but if the genders were reversed in these situations?

If a boy were pressuring a young, emotionally vulnerable girl into marriage, treating her as his slave, manhandling her, getting angry when she speaks to a male friend?

If a young man were to scream at his girlfriend multiple times and go so far as to throw her desk across a room?

If a male policeman implied he caused severe property damage at his ex girlfriend's house after she broke up with him and if he tried to use his status to arrest her new partner? (you know, actually 40% of cops are- *gets shot*)

I feel like we'd have a completely different perspective.

While male on female abuse is still often stigmatised and overlooked, I still think that Eska, Korra and Lin's actions would be scrutinised more closely and reacted to more negatively if they were men. Concurrently, I think we would treat Bolin, Mako and Tenzin with more leniency and gave them more of the benefit of the doubt had they been women.

I want to think that this wasn't a message that was presented on purpose, but it's still one of my least favourite aspects of tlok and I genuinely dislike the part of the fandom that trivialises these actions by Korra, Lin and Eska.

[karizipan]

can anyojen hear me PLEASEEEEE

[cold-neon-ocean]

Remember when I drew everyone as horses lolol??? I should bring that back tbh that was fun. I can't believe these are 3 years old (yeah i can sheesh) I kinda want to bring this AU back though, it was fun and evoked happiness for me ;; my silly horsies

[crunchsomebones]

I love kill la kill. I love how seriously it takes itself. I love that it is the most unserious show I've ever seen. I love how it somehow tricks you into getting deeply invested in a genuinely philosophical battle against the very concept of clothing. I love that it does this by showing you big titty anime girl fights with animation that rivals every other show I've ever seen. I love the lesbians. I love how it fails in its concept at times, and I love how much it succeeds. I love every dumb plot twist. I love that the villains genuinely do fucked up, unforgivable shit. I love the commentary on the nature of fascism and its relation to fashion. I love every dumb joke. I love how they made an 8 foot tall muscle man who's obsessed with discipline and school regulations and then made him a giant fucking masochist with a pain kink. I love that they made that one guys nipples glow pink for literally no reason. I love the insightful commentary on the social construct of nudity and what being naked really means, and how our bodies are morally neutral. I love the dick jokes. I fucking love this show.

[grapecaseschoices]

Rules: Make a poll of your favourite female characters (no limits - as many or as little as you want) and see which your followers like the most!

Tagged by @sunshineandviolets, thanks hun!

I don't recall who has or who hasnt done it; so forgive the double tags and if i don't tag you and you wanna do it, tag me so i can see and vote!! @thelittlestspider, @andthatisnotfake, @andrewknightley, @unitedindistaste, @thats-a-lot-of-cortisol,

@yes-prisoner, @quaxorascal, @karolinarodrigueswrites,

@bansheeheart, @honeylemonbutte, @beyonceswigs, @flamelaz, @laufire,

@cypresssunns, and whoever else!!

[swaps55]

It required two ladders and a makeshift scaffold to pull off, but we finally hung the incredible Mass Effect travel posters created by @legionofpotatoes.

I am SO EXCITED to have them up. They look incredible!!!

Photos of the scaffold under the cut, for the curious. It was hard and we are proud. XD

[skrunksthatwunk]

now that they've all got some downtime...

bonus:

[cleocatrablossy]

[b-liss-fully-a-disaster]

I saw a post and it made me mad because my girl deserves respect

Aang couldn't do what she did and Korra couldn't do what Aang did but they're both valid.

[rocketbirdie]

The Rebirth B-Team that we deserved...

[creampuffiemina]

i hate how most ppl in the raincode fandom feminizes (mostly makoto) and infantilizes makoto n yuma. and for some ppl, they do those two things , while ALSO sexualizing them. it fucking pisses me off

[beifong-brainrot]

Thinking about how in their youth, how Bolin must’ve or could’ve been treated more differently from his brother while living in the streets of Republic City. And how in some cases, if not for Mako being there to protect Bolin, Bolin could’ve gotten into some pretty rough situations. Especially if earthbender/earth kingdom civilian stereotypes can plague not just the wealthy descendants of fire colonials, but also to others as well.

Yeah, I always wondered about this. We don't really know what post war earth kingdom/fire nation relations looked like, other than the fact that some Earthbenders assimiliated, either through marriage or other means, relations still remained strained, with a significant wealth gap existing between the two nationalities.

We know that Fire Nation citizens will often talk down to Earth nationals, we've seen it happen multiple times in the show and comics. We know that, in certain areas of the colonies, it's been near a century of colonisation and extortion. It wouldn't be shocking to imagine some manner of prejudiced system having developed in the area.

I notice that in the comics, the Earth Kingdom citizens are often referred to with terms that incorporate the word "dirt", which just oozes of disresepect and condescension. Genuinely feels like this firebending master is just calling Toph slurs for like 2/3 rds of the Promise.

There also seems to be a particularly strong disdain towards earthbending as a martial art with it being often represented as brutish and simple. Now, this is especially poignant when you remember the heavy favoritism the Fire Nation seemingly has towards bending. So talking down on Earthbending would be a very obvious tactic to bolster "Fire Nation superiority".

Warden: You will notice, earthbenders, that this rig is made entirely of metal. You are miles away from any rock or earth. So, if you have any illusions about employing that brutish savagery that passes for bending among you people ... forget them. It is impossible. Good day.

And sure, it does seem that a lot of Earthbending does seem less... profound than other elements. Firebending and waterbending have their connections to the sun and moon and airbending is just generally spiritual, while earthbending seems to often be boiled down to 'throw rock really hard'. This even seems to have even extended to the fandom perception of earthbenders. Which is odd, because there is a lot of finesse and skill in many earthbending disciplines.

But I think this comes from many earthbenders having to focus more on combat due to being on the frontlines of the war, with earthbenders in the colonies being arrested, and earthbenders in the still free areas being conscripted.

Haru: [Stops.] After the attack, they rounded up my father and every other earthbender, and took them away. [Kneels.] We haven't seen them since. Katara : So that's why you hide your earthbending.

I believe that this probably also lead to the loss of a lot of Earth Kingdom culture around earthbending. When we saw performances related to bending, we saw the firebending magician and Pakku and his students' artistic demonstration, but earthbending seemed more limited to purely combat based entertainment, like Earth Rumble 6. Until Suyin establishes her dance troupe.

So wheras a the other nations seem to rely on techniques and creativity, I think earthbenders have been conditioned to rely on brute strength. Which I can certainly see being a thing even after the war ends. Welthier earthbenders and those with innate talent would probably get metalbending training and be swooped up by the police. While those without the resources or talent, like Bolin would probably have to rely more on self taught techniques and brute force.

For example this concept art of Mako actually being taught a technique/move, while Bolin is... lifting weights. While I'm sure physical strength helps with bending, a lot of the best benders have been small women and a literal 12 year old blind girl so i don't think it's the end all be all

With earthbenders also being utilised as labour forces by the Fire Nation army, like the prisoners of the rig being made to work maintenance on the ships, I wouldn't be surprised to see this extending to the earth citizens of Republic City in tlok's time.

It wouldn't be a stretch to say that Earthbenders/earth kingdom citizens could be usually regarded as muscle, or cheap labour forces. And I think Bolin probably fit into this stereotype quite well. Physically strong, a capable bender, easily directed and not really the brightest.

And while I think Bolin is genuinely just like that™️ to an extent, I wouldn't be surprised if the bending brothers' childhoods reinforced certain images of themselves in their minds. Mako as the driven, responsible firebender, who has to direct the strong, but not entirely smart earthbender, Bolin.

Sure, a lot of it certainly comes down to their personalities and age differences, but I wouldn't be surprised if their surroundings treated them differently also due to their elements/appearances. We see Bolin is often talked down to due to his intelligence, and while he does often genuinely come off as not the sharpest tool in the shed, I think part of the reason this trait of his is seen as so obvious is due to the stereotype of earthbenders being these oafish muscly workers.

Shady Shin : Sorry bum, but at least one of these kids is too smart to end up like you, right Mako? [Mako sighs in response to Shin's statement.]

And it isn't unlikely that Bolin AND Mako would internalise these sentiments from their surroundings. Leading Mako to feel even more responsible for Bolin, and Bolin to be even more willing to let others direct and control him. I've already made a longass post on Bolin allowing himself to be used like a tool:

And this could very well feed into the bending brothers' already codependent dynamic. It's honestly an interesting layer to their characters and adds a little to their characters. It also adds a little bittersweet twist to Bolin's adoration of famous and skilled earthbenders like Toza and Toph, seeing them as people who broke out of the mould he believes earthbenders to be cast in. As well as Bolin's heavy interest in metalbending, which he could see as a way to 'elevate' himself in society since metalbenders seem to have more respect than regular old earthbenders.

Honestly I could just be talking out of my ass here, I'm mainly spitballing ideas for when I have enough time to get back to writing Dear Fellow Traveller, which will eventually have a lot of juxtaposition between Bolin's life as a biracial earthbender on the streets of Republic City and Wei as an earthbender from a noble earth kingdom family, and the mindsets they developed. Because it always circles back to weilin, babey.

[mx-myth]

Been thinking about pacific rim lately and... do pilots know whose memories are whose. Do they ever forget what's theirs and what's not. Does one ever remember and the other doesn't. Like has one of then ever said "on my fifth birthday, my mom-" and without missing a beat the other goes "that's my birthday. On yours-" and the other one just smiles at them.

Where do the lines blur.

[avatarcompanion]

Makorrasami cheek kisses!