#THIS IS ZUKOS FAULT

[starlooove]

I think what bothers me about ppl being surprised at removing the misogyny or making aang be responsible from the start instead of running away is that this is literally fandom trends representing themselves. Like when characters have to grow y’all run to downplay what they have to grow from! STICK WITH ME FANDOM SHIFT this is what bothers me so much about fanon Harley Quinn. Like if Harley never enjoyed or felt free or whatever with joker why are you calling her post relationship arc a redemption? Even back to heroics if bruce was never an asshole or close minded or ham fisted when it came to his kids where do you think the other identities started? What do you think their relationship is growing from? Like it’s so boring lmao

[pineapple-frenzy]

For your post finals art request, how about something from your Zutara scars au? Maybe Zuko gently kissing the scars on Katara's hands, with Katara looking absolutely flustered.

Thanks for your consideration and time.

I love soft scar kisses so much, I hope you don’t mind that I added a touch of angst to this

I saw something recently that was like what if Zuko thinks he’s the one that burned Katara’s hands, and I really like the idea so I wanted to incorporate it into this au. So here’s a little comic about Zuko apologizing for burning Katara’s hands (which he did not) insipired by your request :>>

[scumvillainess]

au where after dying in pidw, shen qingqiu gets reincarnated as zuko, prince of the fire nation with all the memories of his past life.

ozai better watch out because his son is definitely going to kill him when the first opportunity to do so arises.

[only-lonely-www]

So basically ATLA brain rot has hit me like a truck

[gaybd1]

I’ve been thinking about this for a couple days and the original ending of the show is great and perfect and it Had to Be That Way with Aang sparing Ozai’s life

But I really want Sokka to kill Ozai

I want him to one day find out exactly how bad he messed Zuko (and Azula) up and I want him not to be able to take it anymore and I want him to just snap and go to Ozai and kill him

And I want Zuko to see it and I want him to see the blood dripping from Sokka’s hands and I want him to smile and feel such intense relief that the man who’s always held so much power over him is finally gone but the I want him to be overwhelmed by a Terrible sense of Guilt that Sokka felt like he had to do that for him

And I want Sokka, King of Repression, to look up over Ozai’s corpse, soaked with the man’s blood, and smile. Because now Zuko is safe. And Sokka will never have a single regret.

[metis-iphigenia]

me when im isolated from my other family members because a family member thinks im a "prodigy"

me when i have a scar caused by a family member and am compared to the "prodigy" of the family

wow what a cool family duo!! i sure hope they arent pitted against eachother by an another family member!!🥰🥰 (ITS NEVER OVER)

[bluespiritshonour]

Another thing I've been muling over: a complain I've seen about Maiko is that she keeps him from going on the right path—and... I agree.

For Mai, Zuko's well-being is her sole concern and the rest of the world could crash and burn and that's... Okay?

Realistically speaking, your support system should NOT be one person. One thing I love about ATLA is that (despite romance writing not being one of it's strong points) the lack of ships that follow the tropes.

Kataang is not an archetype. Neither is Sukka or Maiko.

Having your support system be just your romantic partner isn't healthy (for them or for you) or realistic. But most romances do that and until I watched ATLA it didn't occurred to me that that's not a good thing.

ATLA and Maiko are very realistic in that Zuko needs both the Gaang and Mai. He needs the Gaang to hold him accountable for every shitty little thing he did—and he needs Mai there to keep from spiraling and self-destruction.

Zuko and his uncle were de facto conquerors, so they had to do much more to redeem themselves than Mai and Ty Lee (mere soldiers, but NOT innocent) had to.

Zuko had to work hard to earn the Gaang's forgiveness (personal opinion: he should've grovelled more and he should've been called out on his racism against Aang) and Uncle Iroh reconquered Ba Sing Se in the name of it's people.

They both did reparations to the very people they hurt. And their crimes were much more direct and vicious compared to Mai and Ty Lee’s.

As someone not as responsible as them, Mai and Ty Lee's redeeming themselves was at the Boiling Rock.

And well, when Zuko is Firelord right after the war—he would be paying for the crimes of his ancestors. He needs the Gaang there to keep from acting like he did with Katara pre-Southern Raiders (everyone else seems to have forgiven me!) and he needs Mai to keep himself from actually spiralling into self-destruction and undeserved guilt (Sozin's and Ozai's faults aren't his even if he's paying for it and someone needs to remind him that)

So, yeah. He needs them both for different things.

As for Mai, her conflict was that she was never allowed to express herself. And loving Zuko made up for that—she finally stands up for something she believes in (not in the cause, but in Zuko) and Zuko didn't even have to do anything beside exist. He didn't “fix her.”

Although, again I do have the the complain that Mai has to do a lot of emotional labour for him and if you really are gonna shit on Maiko: it's Zuko who needs to step up, not Mai—well, Mai tried to “fix him” and she couldn't!

That's so important to me!—I’m tired of girl fixes boy narrative. And she couldn't fix him because only he could fix himself and Mai herself is used to making the best out of a situation and being selfish/passive/choosing the path of least resistance. She tried to do to Zuko what worked for her (or maybe didn't, considering she was coping)—and well—later when Zuko's Firelord it'll be Mai who keeps him from harming himself.

Zuko needs both to be balanced out.

He needs multiple people to act as support system and that's both healthy and realistic. Mai isn't everything and neither should she be.

I know what the comics did; don't bring them up here. It's not about the comics.

[mugentakeda]

not a single redraw of ivan the terrible and his son as iroh and lu ten you guys are such unfun geeks......

[discordiansamba]

probably my biggest nitpick re: atla fics is when they write zuko and azula as being so much kinder to each other than they are in canon without having like. a good reason for that to be happening, because you can always tell that there's this underlying attitude of well. they're siblings. so they have to actually secretly love and care about each other no matter what.

which is just. such an only child/had a good relationship with their siblings thing to think. i promise y'all some siblings just do not get along with each other even without the mess of a golden child/scapegoat dynamic. it's that kind of thinking of that leads people to act like cutting off your family, no matter what the reason, is cruel and wrong and that you're the awful one for doing it, even if you're doing it for the sake of your mental health.

(you see this also happening re: azula and ty lee's friendship a lot too)

and it can be interesting to explore the what-ifs! the universes where they get along better! the universes where they learn to be better together. but it's not a guarantee. and there's always this undercurrent when you do write them closer to their canon portrayal from people who are like... aren't they being a little mean to each other? i don't think they'd actually think that about each other.

i promise y'all. they absolutely would.

(also, why touching canon regularly is just a good idea in general.)

[zuko-always-lies]

Zuko getting burned is obviously primarily Ozai's fault, obviously. And it's all the fault of the Fire Nation's system and culture for normalizing everything which happened, for allowing fucking fire duels with children, for saying that the price of Zuko being "disrespectful" in a meeting is a duel.

But inasmuch as Zuko getting burned is another person's fault, it's Iroh's fault. Iroh who let Zuko into the meeting despite knowing it was an awful idea. Iroh who, despite all his power and prestige, did zero to protect Zuko after that. Iroh who uttered not the slightest word of protest. Iroh who looked away.

[johnskleats]

She's too sleepy to walk (allegedly)

This is before they start dating, but everyone assumes they're together. By the time they admit their feelings and tell everyone, their friends are like "wdym you've been dating for three years. I thought this was an engagement party."

[theweeklydiscourse]

It’s a bit funny when ATLA fans who are so deeply attached to the show blame the fandom for the problematic elements of the actual text. They’ll say: “You missed EVERY message that the writers included! I can’t believe that you’re unable to understand the deliberate messages woven into the show!” And then the “message” in question will be a flaw they noticed in the text, an unresolved narrative issue, or an instance of the writers’ biases seeping through the story.

I just wish that certain fans would consider the idea that perhaps the writers were not as all-knowing as they thought they were and that those gaps manifested in the story. Blaming fandom for misinterpreting the story (according to your own interpretation of it) is so ridiculous and indicative of the reluctance to critique a beloved childhood show. ATLA was ahead of it’s time in a number of ways, but we have to stop acting like it is beyond reproach.

[ssreeder]

Chapters: 20/? Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar), Aang/Katara (Avatar), others to be tagged later - Relationship Characters: Sokka (Avatar), Zuko (Avatar), Aang (Avatar), Katara (Avatar), Toph Beifong, Jet (Avatar), Suki (Avatar), Kyoshi Warriors (Avatar), Iroh (Avatar), Jee (Avatar), Hakoda (Avatar), Bato (Avatar), A bunch of OCs, Long Feng, Joo Dee (Avatar), Azula (Avatar), Mai (Avatar), Ty Lee (Avatar), Ozai (Avatar), General Fong (Avatar) Additional Tags: Violence, Blood and Injury, War, Minor Character Death, Rape/Non-con Elements, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Attempted Sexual Assault, Major Character Injury, Amputation, Implied/Referenced Suicide, possible major character death, themes similar to the first two books, Sexism, Racism (like has already been written in first two books), dark themes, Human Trafficking, Slavery, Just a lot of dark war-like themes, there will be a battle, Torture, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Injury Recovery, Healing, Underage Sex, Underage Drinking, Animal Death, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Warnings each chapter, Hopefully some healing for Zuko finally, no promises, but that’s the goal, Reunions, hopefully a happy ending, Sokka gets some healing too, Non-Consensual Drug Use Series: Part 3 of Leaving It All Behind Summary:

-This is the last book of the series LIAB, please go read the other two books before this, or you will be very confused-

Zuko has been taken by the Earth Kingdom army to who-knows-where, and Sokka is determined to get him back.

But he can’t do it alone.

With Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors by his side, Sokka is headed to Ba Sing Se to find Katara and Aang so they can go rescue his fire bender.

Things aren’t as easy as he had hoped. Corruption, lies, and unknown horrors await them inside the city’s walls. None of this is helping Sokka’s mental well-being.

Hakoda and his men face a problem of their own as Azula approaches with the intentions of making it rain fire.

Sokka and Zuko will both find themselves having to reintegrate back into a life they thought they left behind, with people they hardly remember. It isn’t easy for anyone, especially when they don’t recognize the person standing in front of them.

[seyaryminamoto]

Fic-to-Art #44: Zuko and Katara meet Hotaru

This time around, my Patrons chose these two scenes from the prompt I offered them... and that prompt was "Hotaru", our tiny firefly herself <3 drawing her continues to be a challenge pertaining how to ever make babies look cute, but I hope she looks alright this time!

These two moments take place not too far from the other, but it's worth noting that Katara and Zuko don't get to see Hotaru at the exact same time. Thus, I figured I'd take advantage of the opportunity... and draw Sokka and Azula introducing their little one to their respective siblings. This will be an emotional chapter (lots of those coming up), but I do hope that these moments of happiness will be a good way to soothe the pains caused by our very intense angst from the current chapters... to be specific, this is chapter 378, so we're not that far away!! Just gotta wait a bit longer!

A part of me took joy in this specific prompt... the fandom has an abundance of "uncle Sokka" and "aunt Azula" content, be it with them together or not, while Zuko and Katara (also while together or not) happen to be the ones who become parents first. This often relegates their siblings to a secondary role, and too often there's either implications or outright accusations that these two just aren't fit for parenting. I don't really remember seeing much, if any, content where Zuko and Katara are the uncle and aunt instead... thus, I figured this would be a fun switch-up that, ultimately, doesn't mean any of these four aren't fit for parenting (Zuko's already a dad, Katara will be a mother someday in the future!)! It just means that Zuko and Katara get to bond with little Hotaru and be supportive siblings! And everyone's happy and wholesome in the process!

At any rate! I hope you guys like it, and as ever, if you'd like to be part of the creative process behind these pieces, a $1 pledge makes you eligible for suggesting art prompts and voting for the winner, as well as reading Gladiator snippets 6 days before the next chapter releases!

[antispopausandstuff]

here's an idea i only just considered.

Crimson Waste could've been a lesson of empathy for Catra.

she could've realized that so many people were suffering, were going terrible, terrible things, and that some or many were from the Horde, running away from the abuse, enslavement, and torment.

instead of being given what she wanted, she could've had the chance to earn her place in the Crimson Waste, to earn friendship, to earn respect and the affections of those she could consider her peers.

through hard work and understanding, Catra could've learned what it meant to give and receive love. to heal others and herself.

if the writers wanted to give her a redemption arc...

why not start in a place like that?

[nofingjustaninchident]

you know when you watch that series that you used to watch when you were five and you fall in love with the main character’s nemesis who later becomes their friend