#SHES JINORAS AGE (book 4 jinora at least)

[hjonko]

shes my blorbi scrimble wimble stinky possum

[orangepanic]

I just read something to the tune of "six facts about Asami Sato" and two of the six facts were about how she wound up dating Korra in the comics. That's a full third of her person being defined by one of the two people she dated in canon. I get people love Korrasami, but really, you couldn't think of six things to say about Asami that didn't have to do with shipping? I'm so mad for her.

Anyway, here are twenty facts about Asami that have nothing to do with her love life.

1. Smart and mechanically minded

2. Lost her mother at a young age

3. Had a complicated relationship with her father whom she loved but had to betray

4. Knows how to swim

5. Is one of the few members of Team Avatar seen wearing seatbelts

6. Uses an MMA style of fighting loosely based on aikido

7. Right handed

8. Green eyes, despite both her parents supposedly being of Fire Nation origin, which opens up some interesting questions

9. Longest hair on either Team Avatar

10. Her puffy pants are modeled after outfits commonly worn by American pilot Amelia Earhart

11. Despite being cast as the sexy lamp post of Legend of Korra, Asami's outfits are some of the most conservative.

12. She knows how to drive a forklift

13. At 19 has enough skills as a pilot to fly a biplane under combat conditions

14. Asami can do a cartwheel

15. She's the only character in the series besides Jinora and Opal seen reading a book for fun (and there's a good chance the airbender's books are actually study materials)

16. Asami can pilot a sky bison

17. She knows how to weld

18. She knows enough about sailing to be able to both build and sail a sand cruiser in the desert, which means she probably knows how to sail a sailboat

19. Asami can lift at least 120lbs and probably more

20. Combines the powers of Sokka and Suki into a single strategic ass-kicking team member.

[guiltysecretpasttime]

Untitled Linzin fanfic

(Yet again?)

This came to me while staying at home one day (one day of many, mind you). Am I okay with starting another multi-chapter Linzin story? Maybe. Will I push through with it? Absolutely. Should this be taken seriously? No, please don’t. Am I abandoning my other work? Of course not.

Don’t take this plot seriously since it’s just something that I felt like I want to write down and share. But… let’s see. Consider this a crackfic /trope centric fic eh haha. Consider this my contribution to this teeny tiny space in the fandom.

Please leave a comment or a reply as to what you think about this. I’m gauging this to be like 3 to 4 chapters long only though.

I think this will keep as untitled for now – until I figure out the right title. And summary / overview.

---

Untitled

Overview

Legend of Korra fanfic – Linzin endgame AU

1 of 3 (or 4?) chapters (or more, if I decide to post them in chunks) – I really haven’t thought this out (shrugs and looks around shiftily)

Pre-canon AU (prior to Book 1)

--

The airbender gently slid the door closed, careful not to disturb any of its sleeping occupants. He knew he was late but as with everything – his children always came first.

He looked up at the moon, peeking from behind gray clouds. The rain did not let up at all during the day.

It was a pity. It was, after all, the first time that his children found themselves on an Ember Island vacation. It was to celebrate Jinora’s birthday – at least that was what the press release was.

He hurried across the courtyard, ignoring the squelching sounds that his sandals made on the mud and puddles.  Passing no one on his way, Tenzin finally reached the right hall.

He quickly dried himself before entering what everyone knew as the Fire Lord’s family hall, which was precisely why they selected it. He crept into the dimly lit hall, shadows were wavering across the pillars and the walls. Nonetheless, the pretense of a nightcap among the grownups was well executed with the spread on the long table.

He sat down immediately beside his mother, who inclined her head in acknowledgment.

Fire Lord Izumi cleared her throat and the soft buzzing of conversation silenced.

“Now that we’re complete – let’s get right to it.”

The airbender’s eyes wandered across the room, to everyone sitting at the long table of the Fire Lord.

Everyone who was anyone to his late father was present. Everyone alive, that is. The lack of guards or security personnel was nothing new in this situation though – in a room of bending masters, it was almost foolish to expect guards to be standing in attention, alert for any disturbance.

“As we know the Red Lotus is back at its game.” Lord Zuko now presided the meeting and went straight to the heart of the clandestine gathering. “There has been reliable intelligence that they are gaining traction on the ground and there are rumors of freeing their known members.”

To their credit, no one in the room gasped or expressed their incredulity of such a claim.

Bumi began to share all the pertinent information from the report (Tenzin idly thought that being a commander suited his brother’s temperament). It was alarming to hear of pockets of violent incidents across the nations and the United Republic that can be traced back to the Red Lotus.

Chief Tonraq took the action to inform his brother Unalaq to strengthen the guards at the North as one of the prisoners were being held there.

Katara said that the White Lotus has already been informed of the case and she had personally requested to have the number of Zaheer’s guards increased. Bumi spoke of fortifying the defenses in all the other security prisons.

“Well, if everything is secured, why even call for us?” The gruff voice of Toph Beifong finally joined the foray.

Suyin fidgeted from Toph’s side, clearly uncomfortable with the discourse.

Truth be told, he did wonder at Suyin’s presence.

When Lord Zuko issued the invitation to Ember Island, he was surprised at the arrival of the Zaofu Beifong family, knowing that they have been estranged from some time. He thought that maybe it was just in keeping up with the ruse of a family reunion. Nonetheless, here they are now and Su was found to be in their midst. She was the youngest child of their generation and had been, more often than not, shielded by her mother when it came to serious and bordering dangerous matters. It had always been the eldest Beifong daughter who shouldered the brunt of the situation.

But then again, no one called attention to the empty seat at the other side of Toph Beifong tonight. Tenzin was sure it was not allotted for Baatar (who had stayed behind to see to the bedtime of the children).

Despite her stature, Toph still managed to command the room. “The Avatar is currently far from Republic City and I don’t think her parents will be taking her on a trip to Zaofu anytime soon. I don’t see the need for us,” Her emphasis heavily implying her family. “To even be here.”

All of a sudden, Tenzin realized the former Fire Lord looked all of his age as he drew in a breath. “While that may be true, Toph, the Red Lotus is looking for a gateway to the spirit world. They think true power and equality will only be brought about by uniting our world with the spirit world. Or barring that, a way to force the Avatar’s hand.”

“But she’s a child!” The Avatar’s father choked out.

“We are well aware that never stopped them.” There was a slight pause in remembrance on what had happened the first time the Red Lotus attacked the Avatar’s family. There had been losses.

Kya spoke up, trying to figure out what that could mean. “If the prisons are heavily guarded and all the leaders of the nations have their own security detail, what else are they looking to? What is in Republic City? What are they targeting?”

“The airbenders.”

All heads turned to a figure who had been leaning in the shadows of one of the pillars. Tenzin wondered how he could have missed her.

Lin Beifong pushed herself off the pillar and grudgingly took a seat beside her mother. “Is it the airbenders then, Lord Zuko?”

All of a sudden, Tenzin realized Lord Zuko looked all of his age as he nodded solemnly. “They knew they need to lure the Avatar or in its place, use a master airbender to their bidding.”

Said master airbender’s eyes flashed. “I would never -!”

“They could use Jinora as leverage.” Understanding was visible on Bumi’s face. “Everyone knows Jinora can already airbend.”

“That’s sick.” Su managed to murmur, sinking further into her seat. “Using kids in their nefarious plans…”

“They’re not known for their mercy, sweetheart.” Bumi shrugged, years of being in the military hardening him some.

“We can add more protection for the children.” Katara threw a concerned glance at her youngest child.

Toph scowled. “So, what are you suggesting? Aside from the White Lotus, Republic City police would need to pull funds to provide bodyguards at Air Temple Island? Mind you – it would be hard to get this funding for a civilian.”

“I’m sure the White Lotus would be enough.” Fire Lord Izumi attempted to mediate what was rapidly about to become a heated discussion.

“Maybe not,” Tonraq disagreed, already shaking his head.  “If we pull in resources across the nations for the high security prisons and the sentries for Korra, I don’t think we would have any to spare for Air Temple Island at this period. Recruiting and training more could jeopardize the quality of the White Lotus.”

As the people around him continued to toss around arguments and recommendations, Tenzin could feel everything closing in.

When his wife passed a little over a year ago due to a stomach bug that had gone untreated for so long, Tenzin had stepped down from his role as part of the city council and instead turned to raising his two daughters and rebuilding the Air Nation (or what was left of it). The transition of public figure to private citizen was a welcome balm to him and his young family. His mother and sister had stayed on the island for a couple of weeks during Pema’s illness and subsequent passing, but they did have lives to go back to in the South Pole.

Tenzin thought he managed okay – training acolytes, tending to his daughters’ needs, documenting what was available of the Air Nomad culture… His visits to Republic City were now less frequent compared to his council days. He had developed a routine and he thought they were coping well.

But now, with the tenuous peace that he finally thought he attained was now at the risk of crumbling, he was at a loss on what to do. It had been a while since he felt like this – back when his father passed, and even then there was someone he had with him to support him.

“We need to send them away then.” Iroh’s voice drew Tenzin’s attention back to the discussion. “They’ll be sitting ducks at the island.”

Toph snorted and Izumi glared at the blind woman’s reaction to her son. “Yeah? Then what – they join the Fire Lady’s entourage? Or maybe head on to the tundra with the Avatar? The Red Lotus would probably be grateful that you placed all their targets in one area.”

Izumi countered. “That would solve the issue of spread out resources – if we concentrate them in a location, that may work.”

“On the other hand, what sort of excuse would you give for Master Airbender here to be away from his temples that long?” Lin asked with a tone so casual, you would have thought they were discussing the weather. “It would not do for the Red Lotus to know that we are unto them so soon when we have yet to strategize how to take them down.”

Tenzin found himself silently agreeing. Lin always was the pragmatic one.

Zuko stroked his beard in thought. “We could have them over – extended vacation maybe? Or we go around on vacation to the temples? That way we can use the Fire Nation’s security detail.”

“That would be a negative.” Iroh reddened as he realized he just spoke against his grandfather. At his encouraging nod, the younger firebender continued. “That would be a logistical nightmare. Too many variables to consider.”

Bumi suddenly perked up. “That’s it!” The shaggy-haired man stood up with a snap. “Variables – and what you all said.” He waved a hand across the table. “They can join the Fire Lady’s entourage -.”

“What!” The collective disbelief echoed in the hall.

He raised his hand in supplication. “Hear me out -what if he joins the Fire Nation Royal family as actual family? Surely questions won’t be raised.” Seeing that no one was getting his point, he decided to say it plainly. “I’m saying what if Tenzin marries Izumi?” There was a lot of disagreements to his pronouncement and so he raised his voice. “That way, it won’t be odd if he stayed there or if they become under protection of the Kyoshi Warriors.”

If Lin was the pragmatic one, Bumi always was the wild one.

And practically everyone had a say on that.

“That would never pass, Bumi.” Lin.

“You can’t pull the wool over the eyes of the public with that. What more the Red Lotus?” Kya.

“Sorry but I don’t think Master Tenzin here is my daughter’s type.” Zuko.

“Dad. Well, aside from that, the optics for that kind of union would not bode well for international peace.” Izumi.

“I don’t need a stepdad.” A beat. “Siblings would be welcome though.” Iroh.

“I agree with Izumi -this may come across as the Air Nation siding with the Fire Nation.” Tonraq.

“I doubt the Earth Queen will remain quiet too.” Su.

“Meh. I say just toss Junior here and his spawn to some remote resort (or here even) and just say he went on a vacation.” Toph.

A snort. “Now that won’t fly – Tenzin never goes on vacation.” Bumi.

“Bumi, it’s not nice to make fun of your brother’s troubles.” Katara.

Tenzin simply shook his head at his brother, who still did not look deterred at all even as the conversation around continued to dissect and put down his ludicrous suggestion.

The older man was frowning, walking around the table while partaking on the board of dried meat, fruits and cheese laid out for them.

From the other end of the table, Lin tossed grape into her mouth while Su said something that sounded like “manners!”.

At that moment, Tenzin made the mistake of catching his brother’s eye. He did not trust the gleam in Bumi's eyes.

“I got it!” Bumi once more got hold of everyone’s attention. “True, Izumi as a bride  might be to farfetched, but there are merits to the Tenzin gets married deal. No questions will be asked if he spends time with family, out of the public eye, you know – a regular honeymoon. As to the lovely bride, why not someone he has had history with – that would make the whirlwind romance and wedding more plausible, won’t it?”

Tenzin’s heart sank at who his brother was implying. 

Oh no. Surely he didn’t mean…

“Why not marry Lin Beifong?”

---

Note: Why not indeed? 🤔 where am I going with this? You shall find out real soon. Lemme know whatchuthink.

[fruitlicense]

Why Mako and Bolin are initially (and arguably continually) shit at relationships

Okay, I’ll preface this by admitting that I love both Mako and Bolin. I know some of you absolutely hate Mako and while he did do some dumb shit, I don’t think we’re at the level where bemoaning the fact that he didn’t die violently is necessary. Is he problematic? Yeah, but he’s also redeemable, and a little thought about his and his brother’s backstory goes a long way to explaining why he was so shitty to begin with.

The big question is this: where did Mako and Bolin get their understandings of what a healthy romantic relationship should be?

1. Their Parents

Assuming that San and Naoki had a loving relationship, which I’m assuming they did because they look pretty happy in this (fuzzy, sorry) picture and also because of Yin’s description of what San’s letter home said (“It says he married a beautiful girl from the Fire Nation, and had two wonderful sons.”), they were Mako and Bolin’s first understanding of what a healthy romantic relationship should be.

As parents, San and Naoki should have exemplified and taught what was okay and what wasn’t. Unfortunately, they died when Mako was eight and Bolin was six - not really ages at which you’re gonna get into discussing the nuances of romance with your kids. They probably got the basic consent stuff that people see in day-to-day life (always ask before you just take something, share your toys, don’t handle other kids roughly, etc.) but I doubt they were taught much more than that. As for the stuff they learned from observing? Childhood memories can get hazy, and they were relatively young at the time. Chances are they didn’t understand much, since they just didn’t have the context for it.

2. Media???

This is an admittedly shaky point, but since they live in a society that has books, newspapers, radios, and (later) movers, Mako and Bolin probably picked some stuff up about romance just by living in the world. There are definitely some romance novels out there that probably shouldn’t be used to dish out romantic advice, as Jinora and Ikki proved in Book 1, Episode 5.

This is just a (fuzzy again, sorry) screenshot of the episode transcript from the Avatar wiki so you can get a more specific idea, but my point is, getting romantic advice from a book in the Avatar universe is about as helpful as it is in our world - it’s a toss-up whether or not you’re going to get something remotely useful. I can’t say for sure if Mako and Bolin had access to books and radio shows with romantic plotlines before the start of the show (apparently according to the wiki, Mako read some of Jinora’s books after he broke up with Korra, it’s in the trivia section), but it’s worth speculating to cover my bases.

3. The Triple Threat Triad

This is the big one, folks. If Mako and Bolin’s parents died too early to teach them about healthy romantic relationships and there’s no guarantee what they were able to pick up from the media... that means that Mako and Bolin spent their early teenage years learning everything there was to know about romance from the Triple Threat Triad.

I shouldn’t have to explain why Triad members are the literal worst people to learn any life lesson from (except maybe Ozai), but imagine this hypothetical situation: you are a thirteen-year-old boy with your first real crush, and the most approachable person you can go to for advice is a dude nicknamed Shady fucking Shin. No wonder Mako was a hopeless mess! Triad members seem like they’re predominately concerned with getting what they want (money, power, respect) and saving face, and none of that translates well to equal, respectful, honest, healthy romantic relationships. If you’re looking for people who’d condone or even encourage cheating on a partner, lying to a partner, and/or leading a romantic interest on (not to mention writing off women as crazy fangirls or potential girlfriends you can weigh the benefits of and pick as favorites), an organized crime syndicate will probably turn someone up. I don’t think that Mako necessarily believed in that stuff, but I think he internalized some of those examples, and when you throw the kid into a pile of emotional turmoil, he’s going to fall back on the stuff he knows, which in this case was some profoundly shitty stuff.

The Triad bullshit would probably also explain Bolin’s flawed flirting tactics - assuming that every girl you meet is into you (Korra, Ginger) and whatever weird exaggerated stuff was going on in the very beginning of his relationship with Opal (before she called him out on it) seem like things an impressionable kid might have picked up from some not-so-great role models. Luckily for Bolin, it seems like he did eventually understand why that stuff wasn’t cool and made an effort to stop. He’s a good kid at heart.

4. Other Pro-benders

We can hope that maybe Toza or another bending mentor got Mako and Bolin back on the right track once they started living at the pro-bending arena, but honestly, we don’t have much information on how connected they were to other pro-benders. We do know that they were in pretty deep with the Triple Threats, since Mako was learning lightning techniques from their leader.

My overall point is this: Mako and Bolin - but especially Mako - made some shitty mistakes regarding romantic relationships. I don’t condone their actions, but I can see how they might have picked up those bad habits from the few role models they had in their lives - especially since they’re only eighteen and sixteen at the beginning of the show (eighteen-year-olds and sixteen-year-olds are incredibly stupid. not many people are at their best in high school). I’m not asking anyone to forgive characters they don’t want to forgive or suddenly switch their stances on who they hate and who they don’t, but I do think that context can explain why good characters do shitty things and give them a chance to at least be redeemable.

I’m not trying to start any arguments either, just throwing some ideas out there.

-

A final quick aside: when San and Naoki died, Mako took on the role of “parent” for Bolin, which led to Mako becoming reliant on a sense of control. This isn’t super relevant to my overarching point here, but I wanted to mention it somewhere since it does provide some explanation (NOT justification) for Mako’s constant need to be in control and how that influenced his actions.

[bellatrixobsessed1]

I hope the people calling Azula a child are not the same people calling Azula "sexy" (unless they are 14 or younger). She's the same age as Katara and Jinora + Kai in season 4. I don't care if she's a cartoon, it still makes me uncomfortable - she looks somewhat like a kid without makeup and there are actual 14 year olds that look mature for their age.

Under the cut.

I’m still kinda on the fence about this issue. I understand why this makes people feel uncomfortable. Personally I don’t like calling her sexy or hot (I used to when I was in middle school tho lol). I tend to just call her pretty or adorable. But I’d also much rather them call Azula sexy than an actual 14 year old sexy. At the end of the day Azula is a cartoon character and can’t feel hurt or uncomfortable.

I think that a factor in this is that we have a bunch of people who started calling her sexy when they were her age or young when the show first aired. They aged because they’re real people and Azula didn’t. But they still call her sexy because it was never a problem before. Idk if that makes sense. 

Idk, I’m kind of indifferent to people calling characters hot or sexy. Like I don’t support it but I also don’t get angry with people over it. Where I start to get uncomfortable is when I start seeing rule 34 art of underage characters. 

Granted I have seen posts about how this kind of thing normalizes calling minors sexy in culture and I can see the logic in that so, in that regard, I do see the problem. I also think that it is extremely insensitive to dismiss and make fun of people when they ask an artist or writer to NOT wave NSFW stuff in their faces. Like come on now, if a person is asking you to stop doing something because it’s making them uncomfortable, don’t be a dick about it. 

The reason I’m torn though, and this is probably gonna be controversial, is because I don’t believe in censorship. Especially where writing is concerned. Books like ‘Lolita’ are hella uncomfortable but I don’t think art should be censored. It should be analyzed and critiqued. 

I guess this might be because I just kind of grew up on that. When ‘lemon’ fics were standard and rule 34 was pretty much everywhere. My first experience with rule 34 was when I found a pic on google of my favorite Winx character naked. I was ten at the time. I told my parents and they told me to just close the window and that was that. I guess I’ve just been desensitized to stuff like this. 

But again, that’s just me personally. I 100% understand why it makes others uncomfortable and I feel like people should be mindful of that. Like age the characters up in fics or art, it isn’t that hard to age a character up. I think proper tags and maturity filters should be used at the very least.

TL;DR: On a personal level I don’t like seeing underage characters being sexualized. But tbh I feel like this kind of thing is so standard in fandom culture that I’ve also just been desensitized/have learned to block it out. I think that allowing people to express themselves and have creative freedom is important. But I also think that people need to be mindful about this and about how it might make real people feel. Sure they’re just cartoon characters but there are real people who don’t like randomly coming across NSFW stuff and they should be heard out too. Especially when considering the dangers of normalizing NSFW pieces. 

I think that at the end of the day I have to side with people who don’t like NSFW though. I think that the feelings of real people are more important that NSFW art. 

[meggannn]

(based on your previous ask) do you mind if I ask how you feel about lok? is there a general consensus if it's good or bad? youre really insightful and just wanted to know if there were any major issues you had with it

yeah sure, i’ll do my best. if you want a quick answer to your question, here is a link to some of my other korra posts where i say pretty much the same thing as i do here, just in fewer words. cause this post will be mostly an unhappy summary of my experience watching the show. this post will contain spoilers, and disclaimer, i am a really biased, disappointed asshole, so i’ll just admit that now. 

short answer: i liked the concept of lok more than the product we got. a lot of that is because you had a physically buff brown wlw protagonist written mostly by cishet white men and, as you can imagine, it wasn’t handled great. when i think of lok now i tend to fluctuate between bittersweet nostalgia and quiet, simmering rage.

if you don’t care about the show summary, skip at the middle paragraph break down to my tldr.

so for those who don’t know, LOK was really my first “big” fandom on tumblr. when it was announced, a bunch of ATLA purists were already hating on it because 1) brown woman, 2) it was unrealistic to go from ATLA’s technology to streampunk in 70 years, and 3) it wasn’t ATLA, basically. it was my first big interest that i got to participate in as it was airing, and i was really excited about it. i defended it, i wrote meta, i liveblogged, i wrote tons of fic and spammed theories/wants before the damn show even had a release date. all that is to say, i was Invested, and i believed in it before i even saw it. people called me a bnf, i’m not sure if that’s true, but i did gain a lot my followers in my first few years on tumblr by posting korra stuff. a lot of them – hello – i think are still around today (i’m not certain how all the video games hasn’t scared them off yet)

i should say at this point that my opinion of LOK the show has been really wrapped up in the ugly stain left by the fanbase. korra the character has been the subject of tons of racist, misogynistic criticism since the moment we saw her back; when she showed up on screen as a proud young woman who fought with authority and stood up for herself, that was the nail in the coffin for her reputation. i agreed that she had a bit of growing up to do, because ATLA/LOK have always been stories about coming of age and maturing, but i disagreed strongly with this notion that she deserved to be “humbled,” which is what a lot of fans were looking for.

the overall consensus on if it’s “good” depends on who you ask. most people agree that ATLA is better overall: it was better plotted because it benefited from more writers in the room and more episodes to flesh out the world. opinions on LOK specifically range based a lot on their opinions of the K/orra/sami pairing, if they were involved in or what side they were on in any of the fandom wank, and also just complete random chance.

i’ll go more in depth into my ‘history’ with the show below, but i just wanted to mention that all the while the show was airing, korra was being hit with waves of criticism by so-called fans for basically being a confident brown woman who were calling for her to learn her place, respect her elders, etc. another common theme was fandom’s brilliant fucking idea that asami, a light-skinned feminine non-bending woman who was more polite and reserved than korra, would’ve made a better avatar. because you know why. (korra was often described as brutal, rough, unsophisticated, next to pretty, perfect asami. and asami is a fine character, to be clear, but that’s what she was – fine. nothing really stands out about her, which is a fault of the writing, because she had a lot of potential too.) so anyway all of this did sour my mood toward engaging with other fans outside my friend circle.

–

it was around maybe the middle of book 1 that i realized the writing for the show was simpler than what i was expecting – not that it was childish, which it was (because it was written for children, i understood that), but i felt like the plot meandered and the twists came out of nowhere. it felt like they were making it up as they were going, and it opened threads it didn’t answer. one of the biggest threads was the equalist revolution, which was a very sensitive topic that got jettisoned when the leader was revealed to be a fraud, and that devalued the entire movement in an instant. really disappointing, because i was looking forward to seeing that addressed. for a lot of people, this was a dealbreaker, and they started walking. i stuck with it, but loosely.

book 2 aired, focusing on the spiritual world and some really cool history. it still suffered a lot from awkward b-plots and loose threads it didn’t know how to tackle. korra lost her memory and then regained it 2 episodes later with no consequences, mako flip-flopped between korra and asami because bryke don’t know how to write teenage romances without making it a love triangle, and at some point bolin kissed a girl against her will and they didnt acknowledge that at all? i honestly don’t remember. anyway at the end of book 2, even though korra saves the day and prevents the world from descending into darkness for ten thousand years, due to events beyond her control, korra loses the spiritual connection that ties her to all of the previous avatars – aang, roku, kyoshi, wan, everyone. and people hit the fucking ceiling. “korra’s not a real avatar if she lost her connection to the old ones! that’s the entire point of the cycle! this show is bullshit, it’s not canon anymore!” (the entire point that finale demonstrated that korra’s power alone was enough to save the world and she didn’t need anyone else. but people found that ~unrealistic~ i guess). as you can imagine, being a fan of LOK is starting to get a little tiring by now.

books 3-4 is where the korra haters got to love the show again, because they were both straight-up torture porn. after everything she did saving the world, this is the arc where korra got beat down, tortured, dragged into the dirt, swallowed and spat back out. book 3 is a lot of people’s favorites because it was the first book that felt fully plotted out before it was put on air, which is why i enjoyed it too. but for me it was difficult to see a girl, whose identity revolved around being the avatar after being raised and sheltered to think it was all she was good for, effectively abandon her life and even her name by the beginning of book 4 because the events of book 3 were that traumatizing for her. somehow this was character development. we were encouraged to stick with it because we hoped korra would find herself again. and she did, sorta.

but it makes me furious that people who had quit in books 1-2 came back during 3 because they heard these books were better – aka book 3, the book that featured korra the least, and books 3-4 in which korra got her ass handed to her in some of the hardest fights vs some of the cruelest villains of the series. (nevermind that the book 3 villains suffer from the anime villain curse: they quickly went from “cool character design” to “wait, how does this rando group of villains show up with powers literally no one in the universe has ever heard before?” – questions no one ever answers)

anyway book 4 is a mish-mash of… i’m not sure. i’ve rewatched all the books but i don’t know if i’ll ever touch this one again. the culturally appropriating airbender wannabe, zaheer (a complete rando who somehow masters airbending enough to fly, which was a huge middle finger to airbending masters aang and tenzin for no reason) a guy who literally tortured korra one season before and put her in a wheelchair, is the one who the writers send korra to for her spiritual awakening that lets her save the day. not tenzin or jinora, her spiritual teachers with whom she has positive, healthy relationships – they send her back to her abuser who terrifies and degrades her a bit more before deciding to help. this was a pattern: the writers made both korra and asami face their abusers (in asami’s case, her father) for catharsis instead of gaining peace over their trauma another, healthier way because…. i’m not sure why. there is no reason why. and then there’s the guilt tripping nonsense of asami feeling as if she had to forgive her father, who tried to kill her, because he said he was sorry and sacrificed himself for her in the finale. it’s angst galore, if you like that kind of thing, which i normally do, except this is less angst and more just the writers trying to hammer in torture porn, grimdark, and poor attempts at morally gray nonsense into their finale season.

anyway at the end of her journey, korra, our buff brown woc, learns that she had to suffer to learn how to be compassionate and relate to her enemy. i’m not exaggerating, she literally says that. which is lovely.

–

tldr: i wasted a lot of emotional time and energy into this show and was extremely disappointed when some of the ending’s notes were “you had to suffer to become a better person” and “forgive your abusers/villains because aren’t we all the same in the end?”

but also on a strictly narrative level, LOK also bit off way more than it could chew both emotionally and thematically. it had an amazing premise, but it was not committed to

utilizing the steampunk genre to its best potential in the bending world (after the creativity in the rest of the worldbuilding, the LOK series finale was literally fighting a giant robot – seriously?)

giving its hero the respect and character arc she deserved. and i don’t say that because i think korra had no growing up to do in b1, she did, but she didn’t deserve for it to happen like that.

so basically i realized that a lot of the writers that made ATLA great weren’t brought back for LOK, and it showed. i realized that the LOK writers, when they listened to fans, were listening to the fans that whined the loudest, or (more likely, since they plan seasons years before we see them) they thought from the beginning that it was a good idea for korra to go through years’ worth of pain just to be spat out a humbler, “better” person

the reason i told you all that about me defending LOK in the beginning is because i need you to understand that i believed in LOK longer than i probably should’ve. i wanted it to be everything i was expecting in a diverse children’s show with an unorthodox female protaganist. but just because they had a brown wlw heroine doesn’t mean that they deserved to be praised for it when they treated her like garbage.

and korra and asami walk into a beam of light together in the last second of the show and i’m supposed to applaud the writers for their bravery or something

[orpelia]

Air: “The Voice in the Night”

Everyone’s got swanky new outfits and it’s all I want to talk about.

Book I, Chapter 4 reaction. Less commentary, more fun this time.

As always, favorites (spoiler: it’s the kids again) at the end.

Korra and... stuff

I can’t come up with a “clever” sub-title for this section, but my comments all have something to do with Korra so, there.

As a native waterbender, Korra doesn’t waterbend as much as I thought she would. I think it’s partly Aang’s fault; despite his Avatar-ly-ness, he always fell back on his airbending, so perhaps that’s why I assumed Korra would do the same with her native element.

For instance, when Tenzin worryingly asks if Amon took away Korra’s bending, it seems her first instinct is to check her firebending:

But even before that, Korra forgoes waterbending for mundane tasks, i.e., using earthbending to thwart off the pursuits of Councilman Tarrlok of the Northern Water Tribe: 

Although, we do get some sweet waterbending action here:

I’ve never been one for technical terms, so what follows is a very unimpressive commentary on LOK’s action scenes so far.

In fact, there were some really cool moments in this sequence. 

Lots of slow-motion shots and perspective shifts; the pacing of the fights are pretty spot on, too. Per usual, the sound design and musical accompaniment is on point. For example, there’s a moment where Korra earthbend-kicks a guy in the face. To emphasize the movement, the shot is slowed down and there are strings playing in the background. 

It’s moments like this that make it feel like they’ve upped the ante in the action department.

These Are My Confessions

I’m not feeling a connection to Korra yet. 

I felt for her in Chapter 1: towards the end of the episode, she’s addressing a crowd of Republic City reporters, promising to make Aang’s dream for Republic City a reality. She assents, “I look forward to serving you!”

I felt for her in this scene as well:

But other than that, zilch. Nada. Nothing.

I’m not feeling too threatened by Amon yet either, even with his threat to save Korra for last: “I will destroy you.” 

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see...

A Change of Clothes

Yes yes yes.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve always paid attention to TV show/film wardrobe choices. As someone who believes in conscious decision making (no matter how trivial the affair), I like to think that a character’s clothes, hair, makeup, etc. give little tidbits of personal information. Thus, any changes in a character’s appearance may hint at subtle developments in that individual’s arc. 

Granted, the reason for everyone’s fancy party clothes is because they’re attending a fancy party, but still. 

It tickles me pink~~

Don’t they clean up well! Even little Meelo and his siblings have a new Air Nomad cape-thingy, hehe.

But Asami, man. She’s on a whole other level. Homegirl had four outfit changes!

Somehow, I’ve managed to evade any Asami-related spoilers. 

Just please please please don’t reduce her to a love interest (whoever’s interest that may be). That’s lame and boring and she deserves better.

Parting Thoughts

The scarf. I was right about the scarf.

Yep, that’s it.

Favorites

Bruh, Ikki held that frown for the entire 15-second frame, hahaha.

At least now we know where she gets it from:

And here we have a set of gals who give me all the cuddly feels:

It’s the little things (such as matching mother-daughter frowns and best friend cuddle parties) that bring these characters to life for me:

Tenzin and the family saying grace before dinner, praying their thanks for “delicious food, for happiness, for compassion”

Ikki and Meelo playing around in Tarrlok’s car, Ikki miming the sound of a car engine and Meelo piping up with a shy “beep beep!”

Bolin scat singing to himself before giving Korra his cute thank you gift

Ikki and Jinora playing a game (10 yuans says it’s Pai Sho) in the background when Korra’s invited to Tarrlok’s gala

"Legend of Korra Lookbook” ft. Asami Sato 

Trending now: High Collars and Shades of Maroon

Street Style

Date Night

Business Casual

Next Up: “Purple Smokey Eye and Bold Lip Makeup Tutorial”

How to Woo

There’s the traditional approach:

But watch out for older, wealthier suitors.

And trust me, there will always be other suitors. Don’t worry about them, though. You’ve got this! 

Just... don’t be weird about it.

Then, there’s the unconventional approach:

Step 1) Hit him with your moped. Apologize profusely.

How are mopeds just mopeds, but automobiles are called “sato-mobiles”??

Step 2) Invite him to dinner at a place he can’t afford.

Step 3) He’ll feel self-conscious, so offer to give him a makeover.

Step 4) Introduce him to your father. But careful!: your dad might call him poor. Encourage your father to support his dreams instead.

Step 5) Arrange for an evening carriage ride in the park, and you’ll be sharing intimate secrets before you know it!

Though, really, you have nothing to worry about---ya boi’s smitten.

Quote of the Episode

Ikki: Why do you have three ponytails? [Sniffs the air.] And how come you smell like a lady? You're weird.

Tarrlok: Well aren't you ... precocious?

I wish I’d been more like Ikki at her age. 

Oh, and one last thing:

AHHHHHHHH

AHHHHHHHHH

AHHHHHHHHHH

Who the fu---

AHHHHHHHHHH

credits