#I think the problem of the fire nation is never really addressed and I need it to

[jetantifa]

I don't accept that the Fire Nation should be allowed to keep their monarchy and maybe Zuko tries and tries to cling onto power because he's convinced he can change things in the Fire Nation from the inside out. It's ill thought out, he's naive but he's desperate to try and the Avatar lets him, just as misguided.

Zuko talks the right talk when he's suggesting they need to pull back from the Earth Kingdom, but when an advisor points out that the quarry only exists because the firebenders made it possible to mine, that if they're pulling troops back then Earthbenders will lose their jobs, and what else will they find to do? Will they go backwards without people to guide them? He sounds troubled as he says it, it reminds Zuko of Iroh and something in him twists.

Zuko doesn't recognise it for what it is he's done until the military stationed there are drowned out, like rats, and the advisor begins to let spite bleed into his words, when he calls the Earth kingdom leeches who don't even know what's good for them because they aren't accepting that hand the fire nation offered them, and Zuko can't find a reason to disagree, he knows they can't govern themselves

It keeps happening, nobility stopping him from doing a smooth, clean break, a unit gets maimed, and Zuko doesn't know how to navigate it, he doesn't even know who could be involved. It's tied to the Earth kingdom but that just draws suspicion, after all, wasn't Zuko in Ba Sing Se for a while? Who's to say he wasn't murdering them in cold blood to stir some terror, to make his advisors push back, Ozai liked to do this then cut down anyone too unwilling to fall into line quickly.

The way it looks to the people, he's attempting to snatch away power from the nobility who usually back him, his family? Zuko can't get rid of them, because he knows too much change could set up a coup, so he's moving slowly, but in doing so, he's not removing fire nation bases, or pearing down his army, he's stagnant. When people start talking about Ozai again, in whispers, he doesn't understand, he thought if the head of the snake was removed, the rest would follow along so he could rebirth the fire nation into a new era.

But the imperialistic fire nation was always more than one man, it's systematic, it's a disease and Zuko only realises it when the walls are closing in and he's abdicating under threat of being usurped, he's stuck trying to figure out what's happening and anyway, I just think Zuko finding the freedom fighters, with Jet alive and making sense of what the fire nation represents, that the advisors and nobility obviously don't want to let go of their power because war is profitable, so ofc they dress it up as benevolent rather than controlling

I just think class traitor Zuko finally joining the freedom fighters could be so fun because the Palace was always stifling but he's only realising it when he's in the trees again, when the blue spirit comes alive again because you can't wash away 100 years of imperialism when it's embedded in the structure itself and they should start getting along in their shared ideal of wanting to resist. For Zuko it's to remove the rot, the corruption from the Fire Nation, for Jet and his people, to get the Fire Nation army to stop oppressing them, to leave them to govern themselves.

That it's Fire Nation propaganda that they (the Earth kingdom) can't function without the Fire Nation, it's nothing more than a way for the Fire Nation bourgeoisie to line their pockets because war is far more profitable than demilitarising like Zuko wanted so ofc they'd be at odd ends with him

[redbayly]

Had to do another rambling because some Antis got their panties in a twist.

After posting my very clearly tagged Zutara headcanons last night, I saw a post in the Zutara tag this morning where some Antis were ranting about their usual nonsense.

I would've just blocked and moved on, but something caught my attention about the post. I realized what they were talking about was very likely a reference to my post from last night.

I don't remember all the details (I did end up blocking them), but the crux of their complaint was that Zutara shippers steal Kataang dynamics or something. Specifically, they were calling out a recent post about Katara and Zuko traveling around helping people (which I talked a lot about in my post, so that's why I think it was me they were calling out) and that that is exclusively a Kataang thing that I stole and applied to Zutara. Also, someone in the comments had added that, if Zuko ever did go around helping people it would only be with Mai.

There was also a lot of whining about seeing Zutara stuff when they were looking for Kataang. As if I hadn't clearly tagged my post as Zutara and even used the word within the first few sentences to let the reader know what the post was about.

(For pity's sake, moderate your tags or skip over something with a tag you don't like! It's not difficult!).

But back to the main argument that Zuko and Katara wouldn't travel around helping people together and that that is exclusive to Kataang.

That is absolute bullshit.

First off, it was a headcanon of mine and I can headcanon what I damn well please (as can everybody else).

Secondly, what even is that argument they were making? Did they completely ignore the fact that both Zuko and Katara are good-hearted, helpful people who are trying to make the world a better place? We see numerous instances in canon of them helping others for the sole reason that it's just their nature to do so. In fact, if anything, they are more likely to seek out people to help out of pure altruism than Aang, who usually just sort of stumbles across people in trouble and helps because it's his job as Avatar.

(I'm not insulting Aang. I'm just saying that he's more likely to goof off and avoid getting involved in something if he thinks it's not serious enough, whereas Katara and Zuko are more likely to leap at opportunities to be helpful).

A third reason this is ridiculous is that Aang doesn't own a monopoly on doing good or helping the world. Zuko was already planning to make changes to heal the damage the Fire Nation caused. He's an "idealist with a pure heart and unquestionable honor." Do the Antis really think he would sit around on his ass while there are orphans to feed and towns to rebuild and justice to be restored? Also, why would Katara not be out there doing her all to help the world regardless of whether Aang is involved or not? Katara "never turns her back on people who need [her]" so I doubt she'd let anyone decide for her whether she travels around to fix people's problems.

I could go on and on about why this Anti-Zutara argument was stupid, but I've addressed the main points.

So, I'll say this one last time. If you dislike Zutara, read the damn tags and avoid the post you don't want to see. Don't whine about it and make up nonsensical arguments for your faux outrage. Leave Zutara shippers alone and let us have our headcanons.

You already got your ship in Bryke's canon. Just let us enjoy our headcanons in peace.

[balanceoflightanddark]

Avatar the Last Airbender Netflix Episode 2- "Warriors"

Well, things took a bit of a downward turn.

It started off reasonably well enough. Aang buries Monk Gyatso and gives him a proper send-off. Again, I do like that his bond with Gyatso is a driving force for his character. Even introduces new stuff like his initial problems with training with Katara since he never trained with anyone outside of Gyatso before. Particularly since an ongoing subplot is his inability to control his bending abilities sort of caused him to latch onto his father figure. While I'm not exactly on board with "other kids being afraid of Aang" before he was revealed to be the Avatar, I do think it feels like an extension. Like maybe once he gained control, he made friends again like in the cartoon.

Thus, without Gyatso there to guide him, he feels more lost. Particularly with his duties as the Avatar. So he has a good solid foundation to go to Kyoshi Island this time around since he feels he needs the wisdom of a previous Avatar in order to find his place in the world and whatnot.

...we'll get to Kyoshi's "wisdom" in a moment, but for now, just know that I'm not a fan of how she was handled.

Now on to the Kyoshi Warriors, who are fan (Azula snickers) favorites for obvious reasons. On the one hand, I do like that they addressed how their isolationism has caused problems for Suki and the island. That lack of contact with the outside world has left them with little options other than keeping their heads down while the Fire Nation basically stomps everywhere else. Again, this feels true to the original series. The Fire Nation preyed on that disunity between the Nations to get such a huge advantage. Divide and conquer so to say. Hell, we see that in action with Zhao pushing Zuko to work with him to capture the Avatar instead of being a lone wolf and chasing after glory like Zuko has been doing (only thing done well with Zhao in this episode if I might add). This is in contrast with Suki's mother being reluctant to harbor Aang, Sokka, and Katara, wanting them to leave as soon as possible. You get why wanting them to leave is a priority, but you also know that you can't exactly run forever and keep your heads to the ground without fighting.

...and here's where I start to run into problems.

Let's start with Sokka and Suki for starters. I know a lot of people were angry about Sokka not being sexist this time around. I was not, but probably for different reasons than most. The idea of sexism in the Water Tribes is based on Native American stereotypes. For a series that's supposed to be about anti-colonialism and breaking those very stereotypes, that's a big red flag. With that in mind, I'm not against Sokka not having it.

I will get to the sexism thing later though, around when we get to Pakku and the North, but toning it down here was not the issue.

What IS is how Sokka's struggle with leadership is portrayed here. Again, this is a reasonable extension of the original series and I have no problems with it. Hell, I could see it as a pretty good developing point for Sokka. Problem is...I don't think it went far enough. Sokka is presented here as being aware of his inadequacies as a leader and a warrior. Yet, he's not really challenged either. Suki doesn't really do a whole lot aside from ogle him and tell him he's better than he think he is. Which sort of falls into the trap of Suki being reduced to Sokka's girlfriend in my opinion. I know she has that subplot of wanting to see the outside more and all, but then we have scenes where it's implied that she's too hard on Sokka for beating him?

Okay, let's take a step back for a moment. Removing the sexism angle, part of Sokka's flaws in the original was his pride. He thought he could take Zuko when he obviously couldn't. He demeaned the Kyoshi Warrior despite them beating him. The whole purpose was that he was using his pride to cover up his insecurities about being a nonbender and his doubts about being a leader. Yet at the same time, it was that pride that prevented him from actually confronting his flaws and growing as a person. Suki's purpose in the original was to help him swallow his pride, and thus allow him to grow to become a better warrior. He adopted her customs with humility, and he became a better fighter as a result.

Here? Nothing. He doesn't even adopt the Kyoshi Warrior uniform (which considering one of the problems plaguing the world is division amongst allies is a HUGE missed opportunity), nor do we learn of their values outside of protecting people. Which in a 45 minute episode, boggles the mind about how they couldn't fit that in. Instead we just get a more generic "you're better than you think you are" without deconstructing why Sokka needs that message. He doesn't really learn humility here, just that he needs to be better. That doesn't really address his problems outside of slapping a band aid on it.

Speaking of bad advice...Kyoshi.

I HATED what they did with Kyoshi. I understand that she's not the most compassionate Avatar, but it feels like they ran with her "murder" portrayal the fandom gave her. Her advice to Aang about being a warrior was accepting that things will get bloody, but he shouldn't run from his duty. Yeah. Right. Apparently the only way to fight fire is with fire I guess. Her message of "being merciless" is the exact same doctrine the Fire Nation runs on. Something that is highlighted when Zhao threatens to burn civilians. And it doesn't even make sense from her perspective since she takes down Zhao's soldiers without killing any of them.

Forgive me, but while Kyoshi is somewhat correct that things will get worse, the answer isn't to get meaner and more ruthless as a result. Which honestly comes as a surprise since they bothered to include her backstory from her novels, but forgot that part of her journey was realizing that she needed to be more than some ruthless thug and instilling fear lest she run the risk of becoming like Jianzhu. And she should've known that tearing down a scared kid for running away won't do any good since SHE was a scared kid who initially ran from her duty as the Avatar. It just made her look like a colossal hypocrite.

sighs

Sorry. Kyoshi in the original and in the novels was one of my favorite past Avatars. I'm just insulted they basically made her fanon self canon when she's more than that.

Finally...Zhao. I'm not a fan of how he's the one to burn down Kyoshi Island instead of Zuko. Mainly because it made him look like a colossal idiot. He knows there's an Avatar running around and he only brings A SINGLE SHIP? What's more, he knows about what Kyoshi Island was doing and presumably knows how formidable the Warriors are. Why wouldn't he bring back up in case things heat up? His men don't even outnumber Suki's!

What's worse is that they got some of him down okay. He was wily enough to figure out that Zuko was looking for the Avatar and where Aang was on few clues. So why's he that incompetent here since by all accounts, he should know better? Was the message here that the Fire Nation aren't as powerful as they appear, so Sokka and Aang just need to man up and fight? Then how the hell did the Fire Nation get so close to winning the war in the first place?

...yeah, this episode was a bit of a step down. The kid playing Aang continues to help carry this thing, but honestly, if they can't even get one of the past Avatars right and deconstruct the ruthless attitude of the Fire Nation where it should be needed in this case, I'm not feeling confident for the third episode.

[darklinaforever]

Mai is an apathetic character, certainly, and the only ones she seems to have any real affections for are Zuko and Ty Lee in the series. Because other than that, I get the impression that she doesn't really care about his own family. And it's not a bad thing that she is like that and that Zuko accepts her as she is. The problem is that it's clearly underdeveloped and has no real interest in the plot. To the point that once again, at the end you wonder what Zuko is still doing with her. It would have been interesting to seriously address Mai's apathy. Instead we focus mainly and quite simply on his interest in Zuko, which is... really not great. Creating an independent female character with badass characteristics and suffering from apathy, all of which to finally boil it down to her love for a guy is so inappropriate in my opinion. Especially since this love isn't even treated properly, because since Mai's mental state isn't really treated, she can clearly just be taken for a bitch. And that's how she makes me feel. This story of apathy only comes to light at the start of season 3 and is never addressed again. It's like it's just there to give a reason why Zuko would stay with her despite their very clear differences. In fashion, it's not her fault, it's because of what she went through. (Our first impression of Mai's parents doesn't even seem to be bad. So Mai's statement also feels like a backpedal...) And it might have worked somewhere, if it had been addressed correctly again instead of just once and never brought up again. Although also Zuko maybe didn't even understand the apathy thing like some viewers. Maybe he just understood that Mai had a difficult childhood which caused her to bottle up her emotions and not have a real interest in anything. If he understood just that and not Mai's apathetic aspect... Well that wouldn't really explain why he would still stay with her despite everything in the end. Especially since everyone is not going to think about apathy for Mai once again seeing how it is skimmed over and barely discussed. Mai's character has a lot of potential for me. Even in a romance with Zuko. (Seriously, they look awesome drawing together) But how am I supposed to get invested in a character that's barely covered ? How am I supposed to buy into a romance that just hinges on Mai's childhood crush on Zuko, without getting Zuko's opinion on it, a short, vexing discussion on the boat ride back to the nation of fire ending surprisingly with a kiss for no reason ?! Like... am I supposed to buy into this so-called romance ? Once again, it seemed mostly presented that this relationship was based on not much and was symbolically the epitome of everything Zuko thought he wanted but which he actually doesn't really want and especially what he doesn't need. Damn Bryke you really don't know how to write... Essentially the beginning of Maiko announces a future separation instead of a relationship that will continue. And the thing finally started to justify them staying together later at the end of the series, namely apathy, is barely skimmed over and is addressed only once, just to have done it, not coming from this fact still not made sense of the Maiko endgame. Because, even with the apathy aspect in play, it still does not justify the end of Maiko's game with the way in which their relationship began textually and symbolically speaking. If the writers wanted Maiko at the end of the game, they should have given them another start and treated Mai's character more, whether in her apathy or other aspects of her personality. Give her another fundamental trait than "loving Zuko". Which is to say, I don't like Kataang, but I still prefer this relationship to Maiko. In any case, the best romances are those experienced by Sokka, specifically with Suki.

[stereax]

Any scorching hot takes on which top team will drop like a rock next season? Or if you're not feeling spicy, any 4 nations thoughts? Could be anything: positional depth/roster speculation/line comps/which team would win the tumblr hotness poll, etc. Personally I'm very curious which Cs stay Cs and which Cs become Ws

I'm not gonna touch 4 Nations yet because I don't know anything about that, especially because, iirc, they only have six players on each roster right now? I don't want to speculate who goes and who doesn't just yet because, knowing my luck, I'm gonna get half the teams injured just talking about that lol.

But! Hot takes on which teams will do WORSE than last season. This, I CAN do! Under the cut!

Now, I don't think any teams will "drop like a rock" - part of the parity of the NHL means that teams that are good usually stay good for a while and teams that are not usually stay not. A Devils-esque complete collapse is only going to happen if there's massive injuries (like the Devils had) and trade hell (like the Devils again had - there was a deal in place for Markstrom a long time back but it got nixed by Flames ownership, for example). That being said...

I think the New York Rangers is the obvious answer here. They haven't added anyone of note (depth defensemen don't count) in a league where just about every other team has gotten demonstrably better. Part of this is due to the issues surrounding moving Trouba's contract, which made them unable to jump on free agents on July 1. This, coupled with the issue of Goodrow and the waivers situation, has shown many across the league that the Rangers organization does not intend to honor NMCs and NTCs, which is a strong blow against them. But they'll still be a good team, partially because of Shesty and Quick and partially because the Metro isn't exactly the best conference in the league. (Only the Rangers, Carolina, and New Jersey seem any good, and Carolina went through its own gutting of its entire second pair, but because they're the Canes they'll make Walker and Gostisbehere Norris candidates. The Isles are mid and didn't address it, the Flyers are stuck between trying for a wildcard and tanking, the Pens have no supporting cast, the Caps just acquired Dubois which is all I need to say about them really, and don't even talk about the Jackets...)

You also have the Vegas Golden Knights, who lost basically all of their UFAs and, due to their cap crunch, didn't gain much from it outside of Alex Holtz, who's a project forward. The Pacific, however, is weak as balls. (Calgary and San Jose will be bad; Anaheim, Seattle, and LA will be mid; Vancouver will be pretty good; Edmonton will be very good.) Simply based off goaltending and defense, as well as very good center depth, Vegas should still be okay enough to make the playoffs, and we all know the famous Vegas Trade can happen too, which always makes it interesting. (In the Pacific, Calgary as well is probably going to take a massive step back. Everyone worth a damn was put out for a fire sale. I'd fully expect them to be in the Hagens sweepstakes. And Seattle's a mess...)

Another team that's gonna have problems is the Boston Bruins. Not that they'll be bad. We know they'll never truly suck. But they've got question marks floating around their lineup, from Korpisalo and Swayman (one was statistically a bottom five goalie in the league last year and the other isn't under contract right now; the point of shedding Ullmark's cap hit was to have a cheap backup like Bussi and not a major question mark with a large cap hit for a backup) to Zadorov and Lindholm (arguably both overpaid and both expected to be top line players; those contracts will not age well) to Marchand (he's not getting any younger and who knows how much he's got left in the tank, especially since this is his contract year). There are going to be some major growing pains. I would not be surprised if they start slow, fire Montgomery, and then still end up as the second seed in the Atlantic.

From the Central, I'm gonna pick the St Louis Blues. They signed Ryan Suter in the year of our Lord Stanley 2024. And took on two cap dumps in Radek Faksa and Mathieu Joseph. That's all I need to say.

Y'know what. Let me just do Way Too Early Predictions again.

This is how I see it. (Atlantic, Central, Metro, Pacific)

Draft lottery: CBJ, CGY, CHI, MTL, SJS

Hockey purgatory: ANA, BUF, OTT, PHI, PIT, SEA, STL, WSH

Wildcard tossups: DET, LAK, MIN, NYI, TBL, UTA, WPG

Playoff teams: BOS, CAR, COL, DAL, EDM, FLA, NJD, NSH, NYR, TOR, VAN, VGK

I would not be surprised if both WCs in the East go to Atlantic teams and both WCs in the West go to Central teams. At the same time, I'm having a really hard time seeing any bona fide Cup contender. Last year, from literally last July, the Panthers seemed to be head-and-shoulders THE team to beat. This year, there's nobody like that, at least to me. Everyone has some question marks.

"But Edmonton - " Edmonton is in cap hell, still having to resign Broberg and Holloway and already being over the cap. Plus, Skinner is not that good. Plus, Ekholm and Bouchard can't carry the defense. Plus, McDavid and Draisaitl can't carry the offense. Give me a break.

But yeah. Sorry for the delay here! I hope this answers your question - let me know if you have any other questions or follow-ups :)

[sokkastyles]

I think the best ending would be for Ozai to die and Azula lose her fire bending. Idk all the details of how that would happen but like imagine Azula trying to live without her bending it would be so interesting. Ozai is too much of a generic villain.

You already know my side in the "should Ozai have been killed" debate but it's less about me thinking Ozai actually needed to die and more about the lack of story and character development in the ending we got. Disappearing into a prison forever is just fine. People have made good cases for the political problems that causes and the comics address that, as well as the emotional fallout for Zuko, but I'd be willing to suspend belief if the show provided me with some satisfying reasons to accept Ozai being alive at the end of the show.

Azula having to deal with the loss of her bending is an interesting au. I don't think she should have it taken away but I have been thinking of a possible au where she loses it akin to Zuko temporarily losing his, and having to find inner peace with herself to get it back.

We know that Azula is dangerous even without her bending, which we see when she is chi-blocked in the comics as well as when you take into account how manipulative she is, so taking her bending away on the grounds that it makes her less dangerous doesn't really work, but I would like to see her have to go on an emotional journey akin to what Zuko had to do, if only because so much of her personality is tied up in her bending.

I'm less inclined to believe that Azula needs to lose her bending, though, so much as I think she needs to learn that her bending doesn't make her better than others. So much of Azula's belief in the superiority of her bending is reliant on colonialism when it comes to the other elements, classism when it comes to benders of her own nation, and her belief that she's a better bender than her brother comes from a narrative of abuse. Not to mention how it allows her to abuse her nonbender friends. Why are we still assuming that this narrative is correct?

I'm not saying that Azula isn't a skilled bender, but it wouldn't surprise me if, once Azula no longer has the shield of being princess of the Fire Nation and Ozai's golden child, she finds out that she actually isn't the bestest bender in the world.

Imagine Azula in her travels meeting some random common firebender who ends up beating her in combat. Azula is of course outraged by this all "don't you know who I am????" This feral firebender girl is like "princess WHO? Never heard of you," and then kicks Azula's ass. This is the beginning of a beautiful enemies to friends arc where Azula ends up learning more about her firebending than she ever thought while learning about the lower classes in her own nation, as well as the lies her father made her believe.

[lagt-duck]

I think that when discussing canon in cartoons some fans really really just want all the angst

And if you try to point out that hey it doesn't really make sense to consider canon oke of those fanon interpretations

Said people Will jump on you

Lemme explain

Cartoons like any other media, show us what it needs for the plot

Like if you specify the sexuality of your character in a piece of media

It's because the A, B or even Sub plot will address it.

If your rugged hero is said to be hetero (or bi), it's because he has a "not like other girls" love interest in an action movie

It's the rule of the Chekhov's gun.

If you have an element in a story

That element is needed for something, so when I say that me personally

Cannot see the fire nation in a avatar as homophobic, it's because structurally it doesn't make that much sense. And before anyone rants me about how "it makes absolute sense because in the real world-" and i need you all to remember we are discussing a fictional world where we are never shown that the evil regime personally targets it's citizens. A thing that never happens in real world regimes.

The reason why I cannot see the fire nation as homophobic it's because it never shows ANY sign of bigotry beside racism.

And again if it's not there doesn't mean it HAS to be because it makes sense.

The Fire nation is shown to not have even a lick of the sexism of the water tribes, and also guys. Can we stop treating the fact that katara lost to pakku as her demolishing the patriarchy? Because we don't see ANY other female bender after she gets accepted

She wasn't fighting for all the women

She was fighting for herself

And that's

FINE

Because it's a cartoon show from the early 2000s

It's a show that already does a great job

Is it flawless? No, but no product is

Also a slightly less important thing

People take aang principles as the full truth on the Air nomads

And the philosophy is true

I fully believe that was his people believes

But you cannot tell me he would be able to rebuild the structure of it

Would you have been able to retell your entire culture when you were in middle school?

This is less a problem because most people seem to share some parts of this idea

Anyway the fire nation to me is not homophobic and before anyone comes after me with "but the show runners told us that"

1) they specified under sozin. Meaning that could have changed

2) it doesn't matter to the story, so virtually is an empty statement

Anyway thank you for coming to my rant about why some fans need to stop painting the fire nation as canonically brutal in their own country when the show goes out of his way to show that while they are the "bad side" what's important in avatar is being A GOOD PERSON not "being on the right side".

[blakebow]

The last anon made me question my shipping taste since I dislike Bumblebee for the same reason I dislike Zutara.

Both ships would have one of the character's date another character that reminds them of there trauma.

Adam = Yang

Fire nation = Zuko

So can someone explain the difference please because I thought Katanng was like Blacksun with the goofy boy with the staff having a crush on a girl with emotional trauma ?

hi anon! it seems you're confused, so let me see if i can help with clearing up that misunderstanding.

Zutara is not at all like Bumbleby.

Because yes, while there was initial trauma with Zuko and Katara and they hated each other until the end of book 2, through book 3, their bond strengthened and they got closer, working past the issues they had with each other's pasts and came to see each other just as they were as themselves. (if that makes sense?) Katara didn't see Zuko as her trauma anymore.

after their talk in the caves where they both addressed why they didn't get along and both revealed that they shared a common trauma, the loss of their mothers and the pain that caused them, they came to an understanding of each other's struggle.

Katara had a profoundly more supportive relationship with Zuko than Aang in the last season as Aang was forceful with his affection, showed jealousy of others (past) interests in Katara, including Zuko. and tried to talk her out of getting closure for her mother's murder, which Zuko all fully understood and went with her to hunt down Yon Rha so Katara could face it head on. Aang continually kept trying to convince her to let it go and forgive him, which upset Katara because he refused to listen to how she was feeling. not to mention the proof of this is shown in how Katara willingly intervenes in Zuko's duel with Azula and fights to bring her down to protect him after Zuko defended her in turn.

Also, in argument against Kataang, their relationship isn't framed in the most positive light in LOK. as Kya and Bumi, two of Aang and Katara's children complain that Aang played favorites with Tenzin who was (at the time) their only airbender child and essentially ignored them. they're so bitter of this fact that they bring it up over 70 years later after Aang's passing. that's not good and makes Katara look out of character because the original Katara from ATLA would never have allowed Aang to so blatantly shirk his duties as a parent and ignore both of his other kids because they weren't as special as Tenzin.

Where in RWBY, Yang shows 0 interest in Blake's problems being a faunus, which is a scrutinized minority in verse, saying and I quote "oh it must be hard to be a faunus", while watching Cardin Yanking on Velvet's ears not even five feet away and not noticing how uncomfortable that makes Blake to watch (before any of her teammates knew she was a faunus.)

It's Yang's blatant disregard of Blake's identity that Blake runs away and finds comradery with Sun Wukong, who's a fellow faunus and fully gets all of what she's going through.

it isnt's until vol 3 that problems actually really arise with bumbleby, until Mercury tricks everyone into thinking that Yang punched him unprovoked during the vytal festival tournament, which triggers Blake and makes her remember Adam, where Blake brings this up to Yang and actually makes her cry by saying she doesn't trust her, this is swept under the rug and NEVER addressed again.

after volume 3, where Yang gets maimed by Adam and Blake runs away in fear, Yang refuses to even understand why Blake ran, when Weiss confronts her in vol 5 she says "what if i needed her here FOR ME?" basically, not acknowledging the fact that Blake was terrified for her life and thought she would be better off being the only one killed if Adam chose to come after her. after they reunite, Yang is even hesitant to forgive Blake, and there's a canon song confirming as much that Yang no longer trusts her not to abandon her again.

Vol 6 is total shit because it's where Bees was forced and started to degrade the quality of both characters, having Yang be the one to face Adam with Blake (rather than having the original plan of Blake and Sun taking him down at Haven) and from vol 7-9 onwards it's a dumpster fire i don't even want to bother getting into except for the shitty, forced one sided confession in vol 9, which was hamfisted in the middle of other far more important plot developments.

i think the diference between the two is that Zutara actually works through their trauma and grows from it to form a stronger bond that makes both characters better people.

where Bumbleby does not, and instead does the opposite. Yang's anger issues and possessiveness of Blake increases the closer they get, making her more of a trigger and more reminiscent of Adam instead of less, making Blake into a worse character by stripping her independence and making her completely co-dependent on Yang.

in conclusion: Ship Zutara, not Kataang and Black Sun, not Bumbleby.

[bllsbailey]

Time for the Trump DOJ and FBI to Deal the Pain

We’ve all seen those uppity federal judges presuming to tell the executive branch when it can deport enemy aliens, when it can fire useless government flunkies, and when members of the administration must stand or sit to pee. Like much of the lawfare against Donald Trump, this craziness is going to come to nothing. It’s all going to turn to ashes in their soft, girlish little hands. But here’s the thing – we control federal law enforcement right now. That means we get to set the agenda, and we need to ruthlessly and brutally use the law to defeat our enemies’ outrageous and disgraceful attacks upon patriotic Americans.

Here are three great examples of where we can leverage the power we have from standing at the helm of federal law enforcement to get the kind of results we need to make the changes we want. Remember, we’re not here for the short haul. We don’t want to do things they will easily roll back. We want to establish precedents, and we want to establish an understanding on the part of our enemies that we’re going to hit them back twice as hard when they wage lawfare on us. The one thing we’re not going to do is something they tried to do. We’re not going to frame people. That’s morally wrong and unAmerican, and God has something to say about that in the Ten Commandments, so that’s never something we can do. But we don’t need to lie about them. We have only to address what they’re actually doing. And they’re doing a lot of bad things.

Let’s start with that autopen pardon thing. The demented eggplant who was masquerading as our president for the previous four years allegedly pardoned hundreds and hundreds of weirdos, losers, mutations, degenerates, and congresscreatures, to the extent that’s any different, before his humiliating ejection from office. However, people noticed that these pardons were not signed by hand. Rather, his handlers used an autopen. That’s a device that signs someone’s name mechanically. Presumably, it is done at the guidance and behest of the person whose name is being affixed to the document. This is where the controversy comes in. Joe Biden seems manifestly unable to have understood what he was doing with regard to these pardons.

So, the question is whether these pardons are legitimate and enforceable. The president’s pardon power is very broad, and nothing in the Constitution requires him to sign the document granting one personally. In fact, there’s nothing that requires a pardon to be in writing at all. It’s a plenary power, and arguably he can pardon someone simply by waving his hand and uttering the words “I pardon thee.”

Here’s my take and some people aren’t going to like it. He can autopen pardons all day long, and they’re absolutely effective. The discrete autopen issue is a certain loser in the courts, and it should be. But the question really isn’t how something got signed but, rather, whether Joe Biden actually meant to issue these pardons of all sorts of scumbag criminals or whether he, in his advanced state of dementia, thought he was signing off on a proclamation proclaiming National Ice Cream Cone Day.

His competence to issue these pardons is a real issue. Let me give you some more lawyer analysis you might not like. This theory has a practical problem. It’s going to be very hard, if not impossible, to prove he didn’t know what he was doing. The burden of proof would almost certainly fall on the government to invalidate the pardon rather than on the accused criminal asserting it. Then there’s the legal problem – it’s not clear that he had to know what he was doing specifically when granting pardons. He was president; he had not been removed by the 25th Amendment. So, you have an issue of proof – how do you prove he did not mean to give a specific pardon? – and a practical issue of law – does he even have to mean to give a specific pardon? I think the answer – after doing law for 30 years – will probably be that the first one can’t be proven and that he does not have to specifically know what he’s doing as long as he holds office. Sorry.

But hey, who cares what I think? That issue is not for me to decide. Other lawyers and judges might think differently, and I have (rarely) been wrong before. This important issue – it actually is an important issue – sounds like something that should be decided through litigation. How do you get this issue before the courts? Well, the courts don’t issue advisory opinions, so there must be a case or controversy between the United States government and some individual where the validity of a Biden pardon is at issue. That means the Trump administration should consider pressing charges against one of the allegedly pardoned individuals. 

Once again, we’re not here to frame people. It must be a real crime. But if there is a real crime and the only bar to prosecuting it is the alleged pardon, why not try it? Let the pardon recipient litigate it. Perhaps there is probable cause to believe that Adam Schiff or Liz Cheney is guilty of a crime for which they could be prosecuted but for the alleged pardon. If that evidence exists, and the DOJ has evidence of Joe’s incompetence – maybe it could just offer into evidence the video of the debate with Trump – why not give it a try? Make it a test case. Sure, that legal argument has never been used before and might get thrown out by the Supreme Court. But hundreds and hundreds of J6 defendants had to defend themselves against a novel legal theory brought by DOJ prosecutors which was eventually rejected completely by the Supreme Court, so cry me a river, Adam and Liz.

I warned you guys about the new rules. But you didn’t listen.

Next, we’ve got a real federal civil rights problem in Illinois. In the town of Deerfield, three middle-aged white women employed by the school allegedly tried to force 13-year-old girls to get naked in front of a boy. Of course, the boy was pretending to be a girl. Now, as a lawyer, I know there are always two sides to every story, and the girls’ allegations have not been heard or challenged. Further, when you hear something that sounds completely insane, you should at least take a moment to think that maybe there’s more to it than you have been told. But on the other hand, I can totally see committed leftist women allowing their SSRI-driven wokeness to drive them to do something horrible like this. 

Illinois is a leftist state with a leftist court system and a fat leftist governor, so the victims will get no relief by going to child protective services, though in a just society they could. Governor Hindenburg would never let a conviction stand – he would give them medals. No, this is akin to the Southern states during the Civil Rights Movement when local governments would not prosecute KKK killers. This is Illinois Burning. This requires federal intervention. 

There are federal civil rights violations, and the FBI under Kash Patel and Dan Bongino should step in and investigate the facts to get the full story. Hopefully, this will all prove to be a misunderstanding because it sounds pretty horrible. But if the facts come out as they have been reported, this was a potential crime that can be prosecuted in the federal courts. The federal government should put these monsters on notice that they will be punished for real if they do these things, and complicit blue state governors and courts will not be able to protect them from justice.

The third issue is swatting, and this one could actually kill people. Swatting occurs when a leftist calls a police department and sends them to a conservative’s house late at night claiming that the conservative has committed murder, has a gun, and is holed up inside the house. Well, you don’t have to be a genius to see how that could go very wrong. You have heavily armed, hyped-up cops going to what is probably a heavily armed citizen’s home in the middle of the night. That’s a recipe for somebody getting killed, whether it is somebody whose crime was participating in the political debate, or his kid, or a cop. And it’s happening a lot. The leftists are doing it all over the place and not just against big names. They apparently think it’s okay to murder political opponents and anyone else who gets in the way. We need to squash that like a bug.

Even assuming a local blue state law-enforcement agency would be willing to spend time on this kind of criminal activity, the technological issues of finding who is making the swatting calls require more advanced resources. The FBI has that technology and experience. It also has the mandate. The use of telephonic communication is squarely within federal jurisdiction—ever heard of wire fraud?

Kash Patel has already tweeted that this is a priority, but it needs to be a super-mega priority. We cannot allow political murder in our society because it won’t stop with false police reports. If it has not already happened, we need an FBI task force to get on it, and there are lots of FBI agents without much to do now that we’re not arresting people for praying about abortion or taking selfies in the Rotunda anymore. And these crimes must be charged as what they are: attempts to murder political opponents. This can also involve civil rights crimes because these actions are self-evidently designed to intimidate people into not exercising their right to free speech and to participate in the political process. It’s hard to imagine a more vicious attack on democracy than trying to kill other people for participating in it. There must be no mercy for these monsters.

So, that’s three great initiatives for federal law-enforcement, but there are so many others out there. We need to show that the Department of Justice will no longer target just us. We’ve got the reins until at least January 2029, so let’s ride this horse hard and put it away wet.

Follow Kurt on Twitter @KurtSchlichter. Get the newest volume in the Kelly Turnbull People’s Republic series of conservative action novels set in America after a notional national divorce, the bestselling Amazon #1 Military Thriller, Overlord! And get his new novel about terrorism in America, The Attack!

[coolrahulsarin]

Fact or Fiction: Jadyn Davis, OT Number 1, Zaquan Patterson

New Post has been published on https://bestcustomjerseys.com/fact-or-fiction-jadyn-davis-ot-number-1-zaquan-patterson/

Fact or Fiction: Jadyn Davis, OT Number 1, Zaquan Patterson

National Director of Rivals Recruitment Adam Gorney and National Recruitment Analyst Adam Friedmann With Parker Thune from OUInsider.com and mark benjamin from CanesCounty.com address three topics and determine if they believe each statement is FACT or FICTION.

1. After seeing it in person, Jadyn Davis should go back to the five-star discussion.

Jadyn Davis

Gorney’s opinion: FACT. I didn’t love Jadyn Davis during his summer stints at the Steve Clarkson QB Retreat or the Elite 11, not that he was terrible by any means, but he didn’t keep up with the elite quarterbacks in this class. She also has a distinctive ball drop that worries me but could probably be corrected before long. There may be a limited number of five-stars, and right now Dylan Raiola, Julian Sayin and Air Noland are the quarterbacks we think have the best shot at first-round picks. But Davis throwing for 456 yards and five touchdowns in his season opener (when quarterbacks often have a hard time synchronizing with receivers) is very, very impressive, and in-game performance is more important than summer training. No one is eliminated from the five-star race, not even the former five-stars, so their performances this season will count again.

Friedman’s Opinion: FICTION. Davis has been a major prospect for so long that we’ve been exploring it for years. Now a four-star prospect, it sounds like that’s probably the right classification for him, though he still appears to be in the upper echelon of quarterbacks for the cycle. Michigan’s commitment put up big numbers over the weekend and a big win in the season opener for Providence Day, but throughout the game, there were some questionable calls and missed shots that need to be ironed out. It might have just been early season jitters because it was his first game of the year, but if the season ended today, Davis would probably still be a four-star prospect.

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS WITH MICHIGAN FANS AT MAIZEANDBLUEREVIEW.COM

*****

2. Grant Brix should get more consideration as the number one offensive tackle in the class.

Grant Brix (Parker Thune)

Gorney’s opinion: FACT. I love Brandon Baker and he’s really talented, so there’s no problem keeping him at No. 1, but more than in most years, there’s no clear, absolutely sure-fire offensive tackle at the top ranked in this class. Grant Brix could be that guy; he just wishes he could get more exposure and competition at the national level to see how he stacks up against the elite runners. That’s why I really hope we get to see Brix at a national event somewhere for the best possible comparison. Baker is hitting some elite players each week and protecting Stanford QB Elijah Brown. We know what he brings. It’s a little harder to get an accurate read on the Brix kids bullying kids in rural western Iowa, but there’s no doubting that he’s an incredibly talented kid who just might be the best in the country.

Thune’s take: DONE. Brix is ​​a quiet kid from a quiet small town in western Iowa, so he hasn’t been subjected to much exposure and hasn’t really promoted himself of his own free will. But one look at his tape it’s easy to see why he’s risen in the most recent version of Rivals100. The boy is an absolute executioner in the movie. At 6-foot-6 and 280 pounds, he’s remarkably agile and incredibly powerful, but what stands out most about Brix’s game is his mischievous mentality. He never takes a serve and indiscriminately punishes any defender who lines up in front of him. Whether or not he’s in one of the national all-star showcases this winter, I’m counting on Brix’s lead film being dominant enough to warrant five-star consideration. He is currently nearing the end of a recruiting process that has narrowed it down to Nebraska, Oklahoma and Kansas State.

*****

3. Zaquan Patterson has now set his engagement date for August 26. Miami should feel great about that.

Zaquan Patterson (Nick Lucero/Rivals.com)

Gorney’s Opinion: FICTION. This has now turned into a battle between Miami and the state of Florida and there is really no telling how it will end in the next few days. The Hurricanes have been around for so long and after being pushed in several different directions, perhaps the five-star safety is ready to call it quits and go with Miami. Or maybe Zaquan Patterson is just ready to call it quits and get out of town for Florida State, which arguably has more momentum toward a playoff run right now. Those two look much better than any other school, but the time of their engagement, which is drawing near, doesn’t give me a strong feeling that one or the other has an advantage going into their announcement.

Benjamin’s Opinion: FICTION. Patterson’s recruiting is upside down. When the five-star announced his top five from Auburn, Florida State, Michigan, Ohio State and Miami, most chose the local product to stay home with the Hurricanes. However, after a visit to Ann Arbor in the summer, this looked like a battle between Michigan and Miami to the bitter end. Now, the consensus is that the Seminoles are in the lead, with Auburn a distant fourth school.

His five-star teammate Joshisa Trader committed to the Hurricanes this month and many are urging the hybrid safety to commit perhaps sooner than he would like. Whichever school you choose, the other three contending schools will continue to push for a change until the day of signing. Miami shouldn’t feel “good” about signing Zaquan Patterson, but the Canes should still feel great about their chances.

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS WITH MIAMI FANS AT CANESCOUNTY.COM

#Fact #Fiction #Jadyn #Davis #Number #Zaquan #Patterson

[nero-neptune]

@chaoticgremelin tldr- his hypocrisy, cowardice, and audacity (too many words under the cut)

it's really all down to framing. who does the show consider “good” or “bad”, “irredeemable” or not, and why. it’s a kid’s show, i get that, fine, but i still had an issue with this (albeit not as fleshed-out) as a kid. far more imperialists (banished or not) are allowed this abundance of nuance (the whole fire nation, really), but certain characters who are victims of the fire nation and respond to said imperialism “badly” are just Evil or Crazy or Bad, full stop. (actually, as i write this, i think i have a problem with how the show depicts the earth kingdom compared to the other nations, but that’s a different conversation and something i'd have to think more about. something annoys me about it tho, but that could just be a Me problem).

ig my biggest gripe with iroh is less to do with him as a character (i mean, it does apply to him as a character too) and more to do with the way he’s Constantly put on such high pedestal, considered this paradigm of wisdom, when he’s a coward (and not for the reason he’s called a coward in the show). also a hypocrite. to me. and God Forbid anyone talk negatively about him. i think “leaves from the vine” was flawless PR.

a lot of my dislike probably stems back to his “no, she’s crazy and she needs to go down” line about azula, which bothered me years ago back when i really and truly didn’t even like azula. younger me was like “that was kinda mean” lol. and, sure, you could see that as “she’s on the side of the enemy and we need to treat her that way for the time being” or whatever, but it’s not like he ever genuinely reaches out to her, uncle to niece, any other time. iirc, he never in-show refers to azula with the word “niece”, only uses such familial terms for his nephew. this 50something year old man essentially writes off this 14 year old girl as some unapproachable problem child so unlike his poor, sweet, misunderstood zuko. man's always got his blinders on when it comes to azula. and i think the way he judges her in general is Massively hypocritical bc they’re So Damn Similar, it’s downright ridiculous. like to the point it annoys me (and I could accept it as a simple character flaw– maybe he sees himself in her and it repulses him– if not for the way the show frames him as practically saintly, pretty much Always in the right, something they double down on in LoK). both iroh and azula were the favorites of their fathers, both notably more powerful than their sibling. they’re both Very eccentric in a way that others find strange. they’re both good at lying, both skilled strategists, both very ambitious (at least iroh was until his son died). idk what iroh’s personality was like in his younger years (outside of joking about burning ba sing se to the ground), but i imagine he was just as fiercely loyal to the fire nation as azula was in the show. i bet he was a ruthless asshole back in his heyday (i regularly see people talk about how iroh was more-or-less always a good guy inside (and ozai was always mostly bad), but we don’t know that lol, we Do know he thought war was funny which is sooo azula-like). people can bring up how kind of a mentor he is Now (only took him a handful of decades), but laying siege to ba sing se for Six Hundred Days for the Glory of the Fire Nation (and i’m sure there was a high number of pointless fire nation soldier casualties) is arguably more of an azula thing than a zuko thing (remember why zuko got his scar). hell, azula’s the one who finally did what iroh failed to. they’re so damn alike.

if there’s Anyone who could possibly understand the pressure of being the Golden Child, all the royal expectations (maybe even do anything to avoid being treated like the black sheep sibling), it’s iroh. but even in the crossroads of destiny (i know, i know, that episode was about zuko), there’s a moment where azula Very briefly addresses iroh, but iroh 1) doesn’t address azula and 2) is all like “remember how much your sister sucks”. fair enough azula can be the worst, but she’s 14. iroh’s all “redemption this” and “redemption that”, you’d think he’d direct a Smidgen of that energy towards azula, like, Once (if anyone can get through to her, you’d think it’d be the old man giving advice to damn near everybody, and that old man is a lot like her). but nooo. and maybe he’s going about it in a “i wouldn’t have been receptive to my words in her shoes”, but he doesn’t even Try. lazy as hell, compared to how he never stops trying to help zuko.

(i actually think i started caring about azula more the more i've started to dislike iroh. literally Nobody is in her corner, not even the jolly old uncle and she’s 14 wtf)

as for him being a coward: i get that he was sad about his son dying. “leaves from the vine”, and all that. he has every right to grieve. however. where is his sense of personal responsibility? he finally recognizes the war as something Bad (now that it actually hurt him), but not to the point he felt enough conviction to Actually try to end the war prior to “uncle, do you realize what this means!!” (and even then, idk, i'd argue not until season 2). like bro was Chilling, drinking tea, Dragging His Feet, getting “spiritual” and shit. taking time to become more worldly in a world his nation is doing so much damage to. the war is out of sight and, thus, out of mind. it’s not like he’s Fully part of the fire nation royal family or anything. and if he was That bothered by ozai stealing the throne out from under him, was trying to take the throne back (royal people Love usurping) Too unbecoming? compared to the War? i think in book 3, he tells zuko that he doesn’t think he’d win in a fight against ozai (doubt.jpg). this man was the Dragon of the West. and even if a number of people in the fire nation thought he was weak for abandoning the siege and deferred to whatever ozai claimed azulon said on his deathbed re: the line of succession, is the unbearable shame of bad PR (fratricide) worse than the war that took your son?

like, he could’ve tried to pick up the pace by offering to be aang’s firebending teacher much earlier on (the gaang warmed up to him Long before they warmed up to zuko). but he didn’t do that either. he’d rather pass that responsibility onto his traumatized teenage nephew bc *shrugs*. sorry, zuko, you’ve gotta fight your crazy sister. nah, i can’t fight my crazy brother tho bc it’d make me look bad and i’d Totally lose and looking bad is worse than doing the right thing.

@foolhearteyes oddly enough, i have less of an issue with all his murder and imperialism (ok that sounds bad lol. yes, i have a problem with that In General, but i'm taking it at the level of severity that the show places on it. which...varies. it's weird. some things are inexcusable and other, equally bad things, are brushed over. and i'm sure other people have gone into this in a better way than i can, but anyway). i have more of an issue that the show goes “war (and murder and imperialism etc) is Bad. the people who do these things, however complicated and grey they are, were Wrong. heck, Some People are plain evil no matter what! does this apply to iroh? uhhhhhh......iroh’s the best! we all love iroh! we, the narrative, will never challenge him on Anything”

basically, i’m not even “anti-iroh”, but he’s one of the most annoying examples of an “untouchable” character. anyone who criticizes him (or criticizes the way the show writes him) is wrong and a hater who doesn’t think people can change (that’s an argument i see a lot, that anyone who dislikes iroh dislikes (off-screen!) character development, apparently). when, no, i just think it should be okay to say he’s Not All That, and that actions have consequences. and the ba sing se tea shop is still pretty fucked up i think!

also, beyond his hypocrisy and cowardice is his Audacity. it’s canon that the rough rhinos served under general iroh (during his Dragon of the West Era) and, up until they tried to capture iroh and zuko, iroh still spoke highly of them (ignore the atrocities). and later iroh (and, lbr, most people in the atla fandom) sees no issue with him having his little tea shop in a city he laid siege to for almost 2 years. but God Forbid jet freaks the fuck out over it. and what Really burns my ass is that iroh calls jet “confused” (for being angry and right, mind you) bc jet, whether iroh knows the specifics or not (and, honestly, i doubt he could be bothered learning), lost his home and his parents to the same rough rhinos (in canon). the very same rough rhinos that iroh had been buddy-buddy with and still spoke highly of (iroh was still fully Dragoning in the West at this time). compare this to the episode where katara confronts the solider who killed her mother. he acts ashamed of his actions (in a very pathetic way), but even if he didn’t – the show validates her anger and pain, and the audience sees where she’s coming from. she isn’t shown to be foolish or confused. compare this to jet’s confrontation with zuko and iroh. he’s painted as paranoid and a problem, behavior that is Still seen as a joke today. sure, he doesn’t directly confront the actual rough rhinos. yeah, he’s being kind of a dick about it. but his fear and anger towards them is just him being ~~CrAzY~~ and in the wrong (and all he knew about them were that they were firebenders in a place that was meant to safe from the fire nation, i can’t imagine how he’d react if he knew that was the actual Dragon of the West and the Fire Nation Prince). and then the show punishes him for this by killing him on-screen.

which goes back to my problem with the show’s framing of characters. who’s allowed nuance and understanding and who gets punished for reacting to oppression “wrong”? nevermind the fact iroh attacked that very city for well over a year, is likely responsible for the deaths of Who Knows how many ba sing se citizens, nothing in canon goes “that’s kinda fucked up” to that whole situation (except for jet, but both canon and the fandom put him in the wrong). and i do think it’s fucked up. but iroh’s Such a Great Guy and makes Great Tea and gives Great Advice, so we can ignore all that.

on that note- the older i get, the more i really dislike iroh

[church-of-lilith]

Honestly what does give me a little comfort in kind of a messed up way is the fact that us sapphics aren't exactly alone-they pretty much screwed over EVERY minority lmao: Nate's storyline wasn't really explored and mostly centered around his relationship with Jade, Keeley could have had a whole fish out of water storyline like Ted about winning over her coworkers but instead the focused on her relationship drama, completely wasted Edwin and Shandy's potential for cheap laughs, gave a half assed attempt at writing Sam's storyline only to call him literally getting hate crimed a "big whoop" and never address it again, never actually giving Dani a storyline, like the list goes on and on XD its honestly kind of impressive how they managed to lowkey tear down their entire legacy Omg if you can edit your reddit post you should also mention how the only other sapphic character on the entire show is that creepy dog breeder..

This is so true. It feels like they dropped the ball for every single minority character and the longer you think about it the worse it gets.

Let’s talk Nate for a second because his whole storyline really baffles me. They had him coaching at Westham, and then they had him quit (or was he fired?) from Westham OFF SCREEN? And then suddenly an episode later he’s back as the assistant kitman for Richmond? I’ll never understand why these writers were so dead set on him coming back to Richmond, all so he could just fade into the background. And while I do believe the whole kit man decision was a temporary one, and that going forward they made him a coach again, I don’t like the implication that he worked through his issues this whole season to just end up back where he was. There’s no reason Nate couldn’t have gone off and gotten another coaching job at another team! He’s still the Wonder Kid, clearly has mad skills and credibility, you can’t tell me there isn’t a team who would have wanted him! I understand he had to return to Richmond briefly to have closure and make his apologies, but then he could’ve gone off to coach elsewhere and continued to spread the Lasso Way and change the lives of other people! We didn’t need him at Richmond when basically all the work has already been done. I wish they would’ve given me any indication that he’d really been impacted by this whole arc he went through & then gone off to be the change he wanted to see in the world.

Keeley’s whole storyline being about Jack & the business was such a waste of Juno Temple’s amazing acting, and an underutilization of the fan favorite character we know and love. Most everything about her seemed so off this season? And as you pointed out, she really didn’t even become Miss Independent until the very end when Rebecca took over financing and she was able to make decisions about her own business finally. I would’ve much rather they had Rebecca funding it from the start (or at least earlier in the season) so we could have seen her adventures and misadventures through running her own company that didn’t have anything to do with her messy, exploitative relationship with Jack.

The way I feel about them trying to tackle racism with Sam’s storyline is the same way I feel about them trying to tackle homophobia with Colin’s. If you’re gonna half ass it, don’t do it at all. And they certainly didn’t put half the amount of time and effort they needed to into thinking up how to properly handle Sam’s storyline. We went through the whole hate crime that was never addressed again. And then we had this big problem with Edwin in the final episodes where he was like “I’m going to destroy your entire life and you’ll never make money with the restaurant and you’ll never play for the National team.” And then that was just NEVER addressed again?? Not even a throwaway line about Rebecca taking care of it or something?? He was suddenly playing on the Team and the only explanation we were given from Brendan during the AMA was that it was due to ‘national outcry’ like give me a break. Not to mention we never saw Simi again and so we never got to see if she and Sam ended up together. We were sort of just left to infer that everything worked out for Sam, and that just doesn’t work for me.

Poor Dani Rojas was doomed to be nothing more than a joke from the very start. He deserved more, but at the same time I’m almost glad they didn’t give him more because the storylines this season were awful.

So yeah, feels like all of the minorities on the show lost. I don’t know how the writers managed to do this in so little time, but you’re right it is really impressive.

[failingradish]

Hello, I have just started following your blog and I really admire your work. I always wondered what all the past avatars had looked like since very few made an appearance in the series. Anyway, I just came across your team avatar drawings for when after Korra had died and was reincarnated. I always tried looking up what people's ideas were for the future avatar and your designs for this certain era just stood out to me. Now many people have come up with names for their Earthbender avatar oc, though I don't recall seeing a name for your avatar on this blog and would like to know more about him. He's so interesting and I love how he is accompanied by some type of goblin spirit? The animal familiars that you have made for each avatar are just breathtaking. I think you are a very creative artist and if you don't mind I'd like to know more about the next avatar after Korra if you'd share some information with me. I'm sorry if I bothered you and if someone has already asked you this question, though I am just really interested in your artwork and want to know more about your characters.

Hi thanks so much for your compliment- but WOW that's a long question, but I'll try to answer it anyway- 💕

Truth be told I haven't put that much thought into the single characters- because that's not really what I'm most interested in. But I have some specific concepts in mind that I'd like to see partially addressed by a next avatar series-/ how I would do it with my 5 braincells.

1. It's not the avatar after Korra, but the one another generation down (Water-> Earth -> FIRE)

I want to see a world that NEVER found the next avatar and let the next one after figure out what happened to the one b4 them- or even a couple of fake avatars be declared by diffrent nations, since as unbiased as the avatar may be being the nation with the avatar has some advantages especially in a time of political peace trying to enforce soft power onto other nations.

(Similar to what the Chinese government is trying to do- capturing the penchen lama, so they can declare their own Dalai Lama once Tenzin Gyatso dies :( )

2. The mystery of whether the main character is actually the avatar (did the Earth Avatar actually die already or are they just another fake)

Ideally this would mean that 1- this wouldn't take place too long after korra's death (like 30-40 years) and 2- the mc can't bend any element yet (or just 1 element but that's somehow more boring to me)

They could be running away from the people claiming they're the avatar, trying to find the real one- traveling the world is an important part of avatar and that would be the perfect reason.

3. Growing independence movements.

I really want to see diffrent cultures within the earth kingdom and fire nation strive for independence now that they don't need the protection of a bigger state anymore and nobody (idealy) wants to look like the big, bad oppressor.

Similar to what happened in europe post ww2

4. The current avatars main mission always seems to be fixing something the previous avatar failed at-

Like how Kuruk fixed Yangchens mistake with neglecting the spirit world,

Kyoshi uuuh not sure- did she fail at anything?

Aang ended the war that Roku failed to prevent,

Korra brought back the air nation after Aang couldn't

And Korra ofc lost the connection with all past their lives.

I actually don't want them to change that- stick with it.

But I want the mc to go on a journey to discover his predecessor in the first season (build the problem for the final season //point 5) and then a treasure hunt of sorts to discover all avatars that were "forgotten"- avatars from cultures like the ones from point 3- tying these points together and discovering the avatars and (more importantly) their peoples identity and how to move forward.

Let them write it all down too, so they won't be forgotten again.

5. Every avatar story needs a main antagonist, so that's where I put something completely wild but stick with me-

The Earth avatar that was never found was born into an underground kingdom that was founded long ago by powerful earth benders(/or spirits idk make it a legend) that in an effort to shield their people from the dangers of the surface submerged their city, isolating it from the rest of the world for hundreds or thousands of years. Over time they created an elaborate tunnel system- building more and more cities and creating an empire.

The new avatar would realize who they are at some point and seek to understand this world they supposedly were meant to protect. The avatar would then attempt to befriend the next in line to the throne in order to attempt to convince them to let their empire rejoin the surface world. A suggestion that would eventually end up getting them killed by their friend (you could insert a tragic lesbian couple here ❤)

So the new mc finds out eventually what happened but not who killed them- keep that part hidden for the final show down.

6. Spirit gaang member

I want them to do something interesting with the joined worlds concept- so give them a spirit that aids in the groups journey- my version is a time based spirit that gave the mc a old fashioned clock that'll help 'unlock' the stories of the past avatars. Could also be a mount. Pls don't let it talk. If they make a comedic relief spirit i might oof myself tho.

Also also. Kill them.

7. So that's about it ofc, my only other request is pls bring back proper character development for the side characters. Like mentally bolin and mako stayed the same throughout korra...

??? Idk storytelling really isn't my strong suit

(Not question related)

FOR FULL DISCLOSURE! I didn't completely draw all of the backgrounds for this ask- for a lot of them I used Photos to bring across what I mean better.

(And also this is an answer for a Tumblr question and I already spent way too much time on this I'm sorry djbdkdbdzk)

All of the images  I used can be found HERE- other apps I used were Prequel, CSP, Paint Tool SAI and Photoscape.

Thank you for reading this far.

[zuko-always-lies]

I feel like one or the key issues of Zuko’s redemption arc is that they try to make him more like iroh.

It bothers me since it really only shifted from Zuko blindly following his father to blindly following his uncle. There isnt much personal growth that occurs, rather a shift in loyalty.

I think the problem comes from trying to make Zuko have a similar redemption to iroh. Which is why he never address his past behaviour nor he really has empathy on how his actions affected others as Iroh didnt need to confront that either for his redemption.

Plus the fundamental problem Zuko had was not that he failed to see how war could be bad ( though that was another flaw) but rather the Agni Kai taught hum that compassion was a weakness. Zuko straighr up was told to ignore his own morality which left him confised and clinging to his fathers.

Of course Zuko would steal from Song and destroy Kyoshi village. Compassion is weakness and Zuko cannot be weak.

Its strange to me that iroh never once tries addressing this. Its really odd to me iroh never even notices these connections as i dont remember his ever telling Zuko he didnt deserve to get burned (at least, not before Zuko changed sides).

Thats not to say its an excuse for what Zuko’s done, its just me being fustrated it was never expanded upon as the core root of his problems. Once Zuko regained his sense of morality for himself (not just following whoever he thought was right) then he could have grown immensly and a lot of flaws would be addressed.

I dknt know, it just boyhers me immensly that Zuko’s arc was more framed as ‘Iroh is always right, be loyal to your uncle and do what he says’ (because thats what fundamnetally changed when he switched sides) instead of ‘Your father was wrong and always has been. You are not weak becasue of compassion. Now stand up for your people just like you did in thaf first agni kai.’

Zuko as a character feels stiffled by Iroh, since he kept getting told what to do instead of the lesson kicking his ass and forcing him tk understand kn a deeper level.

Sorry for the long ramble. I like Zuko as a character (hes a jerk who can be kind, its just underneath alll that trauma) and His redemption trying ti make him more like iroh kinda does hum a diservice to me.

Zuko's redemption arc was so much more centered on Iroh, Zuko's guilt about Iroh, and Iroh's plans for Zuko than it was on Zuko developing compassion for ordinary Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom people that it's not even funny, and that's a shame.

[bellatrixobsessed1]

Skin & Scale (Part 4)

An old man punches a woman in the face. Her brother slugs him back. The apple that they had been bickering over bounces to the floor and rolls to the feet of a street child. A whole swarm of them flock to it and become a tangle of limbs and cussing. Caldara City is in disarray and the burning retribution hasn’t even begun.

Azula massages her temples. “This is why you should have let me do the talking, Zuzu!” She drums her fingers upon the table. “The whole city is in a state of panic because you don’t know how to choose your words.”

“I–”

“The dragons won’t even have to lift a claw at this rate. It’s embarrassing.” 

“Look, I’ve never handled a situation like this. The Fire Nation has always been…”

“Untouchable?” Azula quirks a brow. “So was Ba Sing Se, but it got breeched. An admirable job if I must say.”

“Admirable…” Sokka grumbles folding his arms across his chest. 

“I’m am pleased to know that you agree.” Azula smiles. 

“I was being sarcastic.” 

“Noted and promptly disregarded.” Azula shrugs. She turns her attention back to Zuko. “Luckily for you, you have someone who knows the right words to choose and the correct order to put them in.” 

“If you want to try addressing them, be my guest. They won’t listen to reason!” 

“Because ‘reason’ has been delivered with a shaky voice and an uncertain tone of voice. You need to be firm and decisive but with a careful measure of sympathy and understanding. They’re afraid, which is a useful tool in some instances but not this one.” 

“So you offering a demonstration?” Toph leans back in her chair. 

“Indeed, I am. So pay attention, Zuzu. You’ll want to learn this for next time.” 

“Next time!?”

“There will be a next time. You didn’t think that being Fire Lord would be an easy thing, did you?” Zuko opens his mouth to respond but Azula continues. “Did you know that most Fire Lords die in their late 40’s. There are a few exceptions, of course, but a lot of them…” She pauses. “Stress tends to do that.” She suspects that she probably won’t make it past 39. 

Given her body’s refusal to bloom, she might not make it to her twenties but for an entirely different, less literal reason. 

“Call a meeting with the general public and I will reassure them that they have nothing to worry about.”

“But they do have something to worry about.” Sokka counters. “You said it yourself, we need to prepare ourselves for a dragon related doom.” 

“Yes, but they don’t need to know that.”

“Yeah, I guess that panic doesn’t really help.” He mutters. 

“Avatar, you will make the speech with me. My words will be enough, but it would add an extra layer of comfort to have the Avatar emphasize as much.” She stops her pacing to stand directly in front of him. “If you can stomach a fib.”

“I’ve like before.” He confesses. “Asks Katara, it was a whole thing. I don’t mind lying for the greater good as long as we tell the truth in the end.”

“I have more important things to attend but you can feel free to tell the truth after we sort our dragon problems out.”

Katara bristles at this. “Since when are we letting her run things?”

“Since Zuzu lost control.” 

Admittedly it kind of stings to still be treated like the enemy even when she is trying to help. Perhaps it is the price of her disposition. 

“It’s fine.” Zuko mutters. “She can have this one.”

She is almost certain that she will have more than just one. Zuzu doesn’t have the personality type to do some of the things that it takes. At least this time the thing is a simple public speech. At least this time she won’t have to get her hands dirty. 

Sometimes she gets tired of doing the hard and gritty work. 

Maybe one day she will say no, tell them to handle their own problems. 

But, then, some of their problems are entertaining. She supposes that they can’t use her if she doesn’t mind the tasks. She supposes that she does volunteer to do a good majority of it. She just wonders how they would react if she stopped being so helpful.

.oOo.

“I think that we did good today.” Aang smiles. “Lychee juice?”

Azula considers before taking the cup. “It wasn’t terribly hard, Avatar. Fire Nationals are rationally driven people…most of the time. Sometimes they just need a stern reminder to get it together. A touch of intimidation will do the trick.” She shrugs.

“You don’t have to do that, you know?” Sokka shrugs.

“Do what?” 

“The whole intimidation thing. Not with us anyways. We know the truth.” 

“The truth.” Azula furrows her brows. 

“You’re actually kind of a nice person.”

Azula sniffs and takes a drink. “Hardly.”

“Let her keep her walls up, Sokka.” Toph puffs a strand of hair out of her face. “She’ll get tired of it eventually.”

“You didn’t.” Katara quirks a brow. 

“I did so!” Toph declares. “Sort of…”

Azula rolls her eyes. “I don’t know what I did to give you any indication that I care about any of you. I just want to ensure that I get to be Fire Lord every now and again.”

“That’s why you always join us for dinner?” Sokka points out. 

“I don’t know if you are aware, but having meals is a basic human need and it would be quite inconvenient to have to rush through my meals before you get here or wait until afterwards.”

“If you say so.” Sokka helps himself to a dinner platter. 

“You work pretty well with Aang.” Zuko points out. 

“Aang annoys me the least.” She glances over at him as he silently picks away at his cabbage stew. “He knows when to keep quiet and not push matters. All of you are dull minded and deplorable and…”

“That’s why you can’t get enough of us and enjoy helping us so much?” Sokka slings an arm over her shoulder. 

She rolls her eyes. “I help you all because I need something to do. It is that simple. And in this case I am rather fond of not getting clawed apart by a vengeful dragon or two. We have a common enemy.”

“If you didn’t like me, I would be on fire right now.” He taps his fingers against her arm. 

“That’s a splendid idea.”

“But I had to suggest it first.” He quirks a brow. 

“You’re very smug right now, Sokka.”

“Smug and still not on fire. Admit it, you’re warming up to us.” 

From across the table, Toph snickers. Toph and Zuko both. Her cheeks warm ever so delicately. “How many sticks of jerky will it take to keep you from talking?”

“How many do you have?”

Azula shoves the whole platter of some thirty jerky sticks at him. His eyes light up. “You can’t say that you hate me and then give me thirty jerky sticks! That’s just contradictory!” 

She clears her throat. “We’ve wasted enough time, having to deal with mild hysteria. Tomorrow we should set out to look for signs of dragon habitation on the off chance that it is still alive. And I would like to emphasize just how minimal that chance of finding signs of life are…”

“You can’t just change the subject like that!” Sokka protests through a mouthful of jerky, just distinguishable enough for her to understand and just indistinguishable for her to pretend to not have.

“Even so, I suppose that the smallest leads are worth looking into just to tie off any loose ends. There are several caves and volcanoes worth looking into. They are all located on the more remote Fire Islands. With the bison they are only a day’s trip away each, two days at worst.”

“And if we can’t find any signs of dragon life, then what?” Katara asks. 

“We can just hand Azula over to them. Close enough right?” Sokka chuckles. 

She folds her arms across her chest. “Hilarious.”

[writing-with-olive]

Hi! Mind helping me with a writing question? I'm trying to do a redemption arc, but this guy is really bad. I've yet to find something/someone he's not willing to sacrifice to get what he wants. The main problem is that he knows he's evil and LIKES it because its fun and gets him what he wants-- freedom and power. How do I make him WANT to be better and to get the audience to believe he deserves redemption? I've already taken him out of his position of power-- which he wants back. What next?

Hey anon!

So really quick, I wanna address a possible misconception:

Redemption is about realizing something was wrong and making the active decision to become better, and then following through. There is no such thing as deserving redemption, because that implies that if you screw up badly enough, you're not allowed to feel remorse or take steps to fix what you can. This may sound super nitpicky, but it changes a lot of the framing. It's not that suddenly the good guys like the redemption arc character - in fact you can have a redeemed character that the good guys Don't Trust, it's that the redemption character starts to realize they've messed up.

(more details below the cut including what makes a redemption arc, an example, and addressing specifics from your ask)

Alrighty, so what makes a redemption arc?

Although it manifests externally, it's nearly all internal conflict. This is because redemption is a conscious choice. You can put the character through all kinds of hell, but if their mindset doesn't change, they won't be able to redeem themself. (it looks like you know this, but I figured I'd say it anyway)

So we gotta figure out how to change their mindset. As I see it, there's two phases to this - the part where they refuse to acknowledge that they're changing, and will dismiss any notion of it, and the part where they consider that maybe changing won't be so bad. Also, another important element of mindset to consider is that there's often two layers of wants for a character; what they think they want, and the real driving factor underneath. It's that surface level thing that's gonna change, not the underlying one. That's how you make the change natural.

Let's look at Zuko from Avatar the Last Airbender as an example (um... spoilers). For the bulk of the show, he's hell-bent on capturing the avatar because that's his ticket home, which is important to him because while he's in exile, he has no honor. He's considered a villain because he's in direct hostile opposition to the main characters. His arc is realizing that his honor is not predicated on returning home. He starts out in full villain mode for season one (though it's important to note that his misconceptions about the world are laid out - the audience can understand both the surface-level and driving force behind his actions), but by season two he seems to slowly be moving towards the "hey maybe I don't need to go home to the Fire Nation to be honorable - I can be happy here" camp. But when he has a clear opportunity to complete his mission and go to the Fire Nation with honor, he slams back to villainy at Mach 4 during the season 2 finale. This is important because if characters go smoothly from villain to hero it often doesn't feel really earned. It's only once he's back that he realizes that while he's regained his father's favor and is in the Fire Nation, and he's being told how honorable it is, it doesn't feel honorable to him. The surface level was satisfied but not the driving force. It's only after this realization that he's able to join the side of the heroes - and he's got to work for it. He has to undo as much of the damage he's caused as he can, all with the very real possibility that he will never be accepted by any of the good guys.

So.... to answer some of your points more directly:

1) he's evil and he knows it.

This, if you play it well, can actually help you. He's already got an understanding of morality, and even if he doesn't care right now about whether or not he's hurting anyone, he understands that it is technically bad. That means once he cares, he's got a framework to go off of.

2) it's fun and gets him freedom and power.

So when I look at this, here's my thought process. First, I feel like the aspect of "it's fun" is more of the byproduct - he enjoys the freedom and power he feels while being evil, which overrides any kind of moral squeamishness nonsense. The need to do evil is the surface level want of your character.

The driving force is the need to feel powerful and free. A big part of his redemption arc is going to be his definitions of what it means to be these things changing. Maybe power at the beginning means that people fear him, but it changes to mean people trust him. Maybe freedom at the beginning means no one tells him what to do, whereas at the end it means not having to look over his shoulder in case someone's coming to backstab him. I don't know if this is the direction you want to take your character, but the key idea here is that he doesn't have to change what he thinks he wants, it's what he means by those things that shifts. That's why it makes such a difference when they finally get what they thought they were after, only to realize that it doesn't satisfy their desire the way they thought it would.

3) how to make him want to get better?

At first, he won't. You can dangle that bait of his powerful position in front of him, and that's all he's going to see. That's good.

While he's unable to reach that position, however, maybe his normal way of doing things don't work. Maybe he tries to hurt someone and they get away with no problem and look down on this character (that lack of power would probably sting). Maybe he has to make a temporary ally to get out of a near-death situation, even if he fully intends to backstab the ally the first chance he gets.

Basically, you're throwing challenges at him where he has to try out different ways of doing things - this is what's going to sloooowwwly start to change his outlook on the world. Of course, he's probably not going to admit it, but the solutions he's forced to take show him the merits of whatever world outlook he's going to have in the end after he's committed to redemption.

Then, when it looks like he might be starting to turn good.... give him what he thinks he wants. And let it go horribly wrong.

He'll probably start off all triumphant, but quickly realize that it's not the end goal he thought he wanted. What he thinks of as power or freedom have shifted, and this position he's just regained doesn't really accommodate those new wants.

This is when he does a little bit of introspection and decides to fight like hell to redeem himself - what will get him to the new definitions of power and freedom? That's what his new goal is.

so hopefully this is useful. if you haven't seen avatar i highly recommend watching it - it's amazing :D

happy writing!