#adhd bolin

[zukkaart]

Eska and Bolin should have been endgame I said what I said

[cameoliob]

y-you have a waterbending jedi OC??? pls more info pls

But of course 😌😌

This is Aryx:

and he is THE gifted kid crashout

Some facts about bro:

He's an OC that I have had FOREVER (since I was 13!!) but I Star Wars-ified him like a year and a half ago, and he was very much inspired by-- buckle up for this-- Bolin (LOK), Deadpool, and Chandler Bing

When I first made him he was actually a wizards apprentice in a fantasy world that i made tf up

He's a natural blonde but keeps dying his hair black because most of his wanted posters are of him with blonde hair

Sleeps like a rock. Once he's out he is OOUUUUTTT

So close to losing it

Tea person

He was born in 30 BBY (two years younger than Cal Kestis!) and inducted to the jedi order when he was only five years old.

That's the short version, but if you want some more backstory infooo (you want to look under the cut sooooo bad (jedi mind tricking you) (it's working))

Now I want you to imagine a child so naturally in-tune with the force who is constantly wanting to explore his connection with it in order to understand all of its complexities.

Now I want you to imagine that same child except he has the most insane case of ADHD you have ever seen in your entire life.

Now, Aryx exelled in his classes much faster than a great many of his peers, his abilities with the force progressing quicker than anyone could have expected, but his affinity for doing whatever he wanted whenever he wanted needed to be kept in check for him to be able to grow into a respectful jedi knight; after much debate, he became a padawan at the ripe age of 10.

It was a controversial choice to say the least, seeing that the jedi were in the throughs of the clone wars, and the boy was so young, but his skills had surpassed those of his peers, and the council decided it best for him to undergo one-on-one instruction with a master in order to best hone his skills and behavior.

Turns out that this was a fantastic decision. His master provided him a level of structure that the youngling classes couldn't, and he had the opprotunity to get all of his little-kid energy out of the battle feild (shout out child soldiers). His padawanship lasted for just over a year until uhhhh

When Order 66 came though, Aryx and his master were stationed on a forested planet in the mid rim on a patrol with a squad of clones. He'd ran up the path, searching for local critters when he recived the comm from his master begging him to run. He did not listen, and ran back to her, having no idea the gravity of what had happened. By the time he got there the clones had already won out, and Aryx's master was gone.

That's when he decided that yeah, running actually sounds like a fantastic idea

So he fled into the dense forest, the squad of clones not far behind. Somewhere along the way, a metal loop on his lightsaber snagged on a tree branch, tethering Aryx in place so suddenly that his face got slammed into a rock on the ground (that's how he has his scars!!). He fumbled with the thing for a painfully long moment before he realized that the branch was coated in thick, spikey bark that tore up his palms. The squad was getting closer, he didnt have time to deal with this; he unhooked his saber from his belt and left it there, opting to bolt further into the woods.

Eventually he came to a river. The water was exeedingly violent where they crashed against the rocks, and the cliff on the opposite side too far and too high to leap to. Aryx was trapped.

As the clones encroached on his position he realized that leaving his saber behind was a TERRIBLE idea, but it was too late to dwell on that. He had three options; 1, jump into this agressive ass river and just see where it would take him, 2, run back towards his saber and hope that he wouldn't run into the clones on the way, or 3, stand his ground and fight using the force

The time it took for him to make that desision had run out; he sensed the clones before he saw them.

Aryx decided, in a moment of complete panic (as an adult he claims that he was perfectly calm and that this was a desigsion made in a moment of level-headed, unfiltered genius, but he is lying) he had the thought that, if the force effects things... and water is a thing... then maybe he could use the force to redirect the water on the other side of the river-bank to create a space large enough for him to jump to, and from there he could use manipulate the water into a sheild to protect him from blasterfire while he scaled the cliff.

So that is exactly what he did.

He managed to find his way to a neighboring system where he just kind of hung out for a few years until he realized-- at the crisp age of 16-- that literally nothing (except for the law but like who gaf about that) was stopping him from wreaking mild havoc on imperials just cause he wants to, ANNNNDDDD water would be the perfect weapon; it's unnoticable, it's effective and it's not like bending water is a normal Jedi thing to do, these imps would have not a SINGLE idea about what hit em

So being a pain in the ass is his unnofficial hobby for like 6 years until he gets forcefully induced into a found family with these losers ↓

(From left to right: Dyron Ki'oa (Aryx's lil rival turned lil bf), Naveen Ki'oa (Dyrons little brother), Enajj Tane, Amida Lin, Sola Genoa (Phee Genoa's little sister tehehehe))

(Theres a whole plot with the found family thing but we do NAWT have time to get into that rn)

Anyways that's the end of the yap sesh have these Aryx drawings as a treat

[kingwuko]

more wuko please? 🥺

Took me a sec to figure out what you meant but I thiiiiiink you want Wuko headcanons like an ask I reblogged just before you sent this anon?? If you want something different feel free to send another ask clarifying!

Some Wuko headcanons that I may or may not have already talked about (who knows, I talk so much I can't be expected to remember everything I've said) and may or may not already be in my fics. Whatever I'm just going to throw a bunch of headcanons here.

Ba Sing Se is three hours ahead of Republic City, so when Wu stays in RC, he actually wakes up before Mako. When Mako stays in BSS his sleep schedule gets all out of whack because he still rises with the sun no matter what time he fell asleep.

Mako is autistic, Wu has ADHD. Honestly this isnt even headcanon it's basically canon.

When sleeping, Mako is the big spoon for no reason other than he literally can't sleep facing away from someone. It's how he slept with Bolin when they were little and living on the streets, and he just doesn't feel right sleeping any other way. He can be persuaded to be the little spoon when wide awake cuddling but I think it still feels wrong to him

Wu started out with feelings of infatuation about the idea of Mako as being this big tough guy. But the more he got to know Mako, the more he got to know Mako, the more he realized Mako is actually kind of dorky—that made his feelings turn from an infatuation to actual love.

Mako leans toward being more insecure in his relationship with Wu than Wu does. Basically Mako is really scared he's going to mess up and things will crash and burn

Wu however has this absolute trust in Mako that makes him feel really secure in the relationship.

Bolin and Wu get along extremely well once the air is cleared around Bo's history with Kuvira. This is unfortunate for Mako because Wu and Bolin as brothers-in-law are ridiculous. Mako can handle Bolin's shenanigans, and he can handle Wu's shenanigans, but their combined shenanigans are too powerful.

Wu convinces Mako to go to university at some point. He's an excellent student but he gets insecure about it because he didn't have formal schooling when growing up.

Mako's eventually going to have to move to Ba Sing Se because Wu isn't going to be able to abdicate for YEARS.

I kinda like King-Consort Mako.

[spacelazarwolf]

bolin is adhd coded which is probably why he’s my favorite.

[justsomeoneintoomanyfandoms]

Hi! I hope you're doing okay! I'd like to request a matchup for haikyuu and tlok please!

Name & age: Tunay, 21

Pronouns & sexuality: he/they (transguy) & bisexual

Zodiac/MBTI: Taurus/ Intp-5w4

Appearance: Mid-length wavy brown hair, blue/green-ish eyes, neutral light toned skin with a lot of moles, 183cm tall (6 feet i think??), somewhat muscular

Likes and Dislikes: I tend to be neutral about most things however i like philosophy, science (especially biology), consuming mind boggling media, having deep and meaningful talks with my close friends, also having light hearted picnics with them when we have lots of time to spend together, i love spicy food, sour candy and drinking tea & mineral water

Hobbies: Reading, writing, drawing, imagining scenarios in my head (hehe), playing calming video games, sleeping, listening to music (rock, punk and metal are my faves), taking walks in the city

Extra Information: Uhm tw for this one ig but I've been struggling with depression, adhd, bpd and sh for a long time and i have lots of various scars on my thighs knees and all over my arms :(

Hi Tunay! Thank you for your request! I hope you like your matchups!

In Haikyuu, I match you with...

Suga is the supportive person you need in your life!

He's always helping out in any way he can with your depression. If there's anything he can do to help you feel even a tiny bit better about yourself, let him know. He's all over it!

With permission, he'd love to leave little kisses on your scars. He loves them because they're a part of you and that's one way he can show you he cares.

Suga would love to take walks with you. He knows some quiet places around the town that are perfect for reading dates. He'll bring along a speaker so you can listen to music as well.

A fellow spicy food enthusiast! He might not seems like t at first glance, but Suga loves spicy things. He knows all the best places around town so leave dinner dates to him!

Suga would love playing relaxing games with you. I see him as a big fan of Animal Crossing so he'd love visiting your town/island. He's always got a present for you in game whenever you visit his town/island.

In Legend of Korra, I match you with...

Another super supportive person! Bolin is the outgoing hypeman that will support you no matter what!

Loves going on walks. He knows the city pretty well but his favourite place to go on walks is the park. He likes the scenery.

Has definitely planned a picnic int he park before. He's stocked up with mineral water and spicy food and has come prepared with some pencils and sketchbooks.

Bolin's not great at drawing but he'll try his best. Whether he's sketching Pabu, the scenery or you, the end result will always be full of love.

Loves your taste in music! Bolin is definitely a fan of rock (no pun intended), punk, and metal so anything you play is a-okay with him.

I think Bolin may have struggled with depression growing up on the streets so he knows first hand what it can be like. He'll do his best to support you in any way he can. He knows better than anyone that things do get better.

[aangtheairbender]

Bolin is just clutching his pearls in disbeliefs, he just lack the pearls.

My HC, is that Bo is good bend of ADHD and Autistic, so he saw and heard a lot of these reaction when he listened to the radio or read the newspaper comics and just thought the over-dramatic story telling and reaction was how it was supposed to be.

Now it just he is :P

Bolin placing his hand over his chest like a scandalised pearl clutching old lady when offended gives me life.

[aangtheairbender]

Autistic Bolin HC / some ADHD HC

Did get diagnosed when he was little, but all that knowledge went out the window when his parents died.

Would have meltdowns and cry for hours when they were taken into custody by a adoption centre. No one really understood why they lasted so long or why it sometimes happened. They just thought it had something to do with the awful circumstances. Mako didn't know what to do either, but all of them saw that Little Bo was the most calm when they were together. And it wasn't like they were ever separated during that time.

Would also have meltdowns on the streets, because noting is constant or stable there. Mako who didn't know how to handle their new life, would get frustrated and yell at him to stop or behave or leave him alone. But after a while, he would comfort him and try to get Bolin to speak or calm down. It was hard for them both.

Could be so exhausted from it all, that he just needed a day to rest at the current home they had. Mako would always hide him well when he went out for food or needed to leave him alone for some time.

Also, on the streets, he could have hours or sometimes a day or two where he was mute. Selectively mute. Those happened more when he and Mako spent the first few years on the streets, before they learned to survive better. They doesn't really happen when he becomes an adult.

Does have texture issues regarding food (especially) and some clothing fabric. Likes soft food the best, which is why dumplings is a big fave and noodles comes on a close second. Rice works if it cooked the way he likes. Is less energetic regarding crunchy food like fresh vegetables and rice crackers. Has learned to push through it tho, because of his hard childhood. They couldn'r really be picky, but there have been times were he has had meltdowns because of food and even gotten sick because he tried to force food down that clashed with his texture issues.

He is able to ignore some of them most of the time. They do eat a lot at the Island or their dad's side of the family. He learned early on that he couldn't afford to be picky with food, so he is able to force food down if he must. Mako sometimes is sneaky and takes the food he knows Bolin can't stomach on his own plate and rolls a dumpling or two back on Bolin's plate.

Stims a lot with his hands. He either plays with his fingers or flaps them. Especially if he's nervous or really excited. Also bonuses his knees a lot or shake his ankle a lot when he is doing mundane things like sitting down and writing etc. Also walks in circle whenever he is really stressed.

When Toza gave them a home at the Arena, he decided that the best way to cope with Bolin's endless amount of babbling and energy, was to just exhaust him with pro-bending practice and daily task reguarding taking care of the Arena when it was closed.

Doesn't really know that he is autistic, is kind of just the way he is. Mako doesn't know either; he just learned to handle Bolin so he wouldn't have meltdown and got used to his reactions to things he liked and didn't like. Or what set him of and what didn't. It was just how Bolin was.

His hyper focus have come in great use through his lifetime. He went through a small phase were he wanted to learn sewing, because it helped him and his brother out, and focused entirely on that for a while. Same with some food recipes he has perfected while he wanted to be better at cooking. Have had his fare share of earth bending exercises where he has just almost spent every waking minute trying to workout.

When he tried to learn lava bending, Mako would usually have to get him out from whatever mountain or forest he was practicing in or drop off some food. He would have spent the whole day there if it wasn't for someone interrupting him and telling him it was time for rest.

Dose get some periods and days were he has a really hard time focusing and stimulating himself, so he struggles a lot with work and just comes off as too over the top for everyone else and too energetic. They tell him to clam down a notch or two- but he can't really help himself. It exhausting for everyone, but worst for Bolin.

A little bit too talkative sometimes and too overbearing without knowing it.

Is pretty great at masking.

Finds people confusing most of the time, since he can't really read a room or people for that matter. Tries to mimic other people, but it doesn't really help him. Likes Varrick for this reason, since he is most of the time straight forward about the tasks and stuff he wants to do or wants other people to do.

Army was also easy for him to adapt to, since they did follow a fairly monotone working schedule the first years in regards of change in the weekly plan. Likes also that officers and people up in the higher rank just tells him what to do, without giving him much choice to do otherwise.

I think Lin would actually pick up on it. Maybe even Asami and Opal too. Lin would pick it up when Bolin worked as an officer under her. There would be other neurodivergent workers in the department, and it's important that they know stuff like that because it can interfere with their work in regards on how they need to work to function and the reaction they will have during certain circumstances.

She would just observe him and kind of just pick up the clues here and there and it kind of just clicks the longer she observes him on work and off work. Since he hand't mention it, Lin ask one time and Bolin just gives him a blank stare.

Bolin goes to Mako and asks him about it, and Mako doesn't really have any clue what he is talking about- since he doesn't really know a lot about stuff like that either. Lin talks about what she has observed and Mako kind of understands that is more to Bolin than he though. Bolin just gets more confused.

Mako borrows a few books from the Island and reads up on the matter and a lot of the behaviour and things alike matches his brother behaviour. Also ask Opal about it, and she tells him that she kind of though it was something underlying, but didn't want to be rude to just ask it straight out. And Bolin had never once mentioned, so she just thought she was just looking too deep into something.

Mako feels kind of shitty since he didn't pick up on it sooner. Which was impossible for him since he didn't even know what it was. He just wishes he could make Bolin's life easier.

When Bolin actually get the diagnosis, he is both relieved and has a little crisis because he never understood while he did thing like he did. Mako tells him he will help him figure more of this out.

[scorpionyx9621]

In Defense of Mako from Legend of Korra: The Avatar Franchise's Unsung Hero (Warning | Does Contain Spoilers for the Legend of Korra as a whole series)

Well this isn't a controversial topic that's going to garner me hate. My main intro to fandom in general started way back with two franchises: Resident Evil and the Avatar: The Last Airbender Series. As someone who is on the verge of turning 26, I realize I'm on the older end of the demographic trend of those who like the franchise (Even though the show first aired in February 2005) and as many people will tell you, The ATLA franchise and especially the original series is widely lauded as one of, if not the best animated series of all time. With the Legend of Korra coming out as the sequel to the original series back in April of 2012, I was a high schooler during that time and was beginning to develop and understand more nuanced and complex topics and character traits. And to me, despite it's multiple flaws, The Legend of Korra was a brilliant sequel built atop a personally flawless universe.

The Legend of Korra was a more adult take on the Avatar franchise. A series well known for not shying away from very real and very adult topics like war, poverty, death, genocide, classisim, etc. To see this world evolve into an industrial revolution and live through its form of Gilded Age was such a unique and engaging twist on a fictional universe I already had a deep love for. We have our new Avatar; Korra, a young woman from the Southern Water Tribe given the title of the next Avatar following the death of Aang, the main character of the original ATLA series. We get to see her perspective and watch her juggle being The Avatar and being a young adult in the same universe we saw the original Gaang work tirelessly throughout their adult lives to create. We get to watch her make new friends and eventually form her own Team Avatar, which is where we get introduced to Mako and Bolin.

That's enough gushing about the universe this is set in but it does help provide context to what I will try to argue in this post. Mako is one quarter of Korra's Team Avatar, the eventual ignored axis of the Korra/Mako/Asami love triangle, and almost 70% of the drama that happens within the party. One of Legend of Korra's weaknesses as a series compared to Avatar the Last Airbender was its heavy focus on romantic relationships as subplot to create tension and drama within the team. To call Mako a fuckboy is like calling the sky blue. That being said, the sheer vitriol that the fandom has against him is astounding. The Legend of Korra holds no punches with Mako in that they are very upfront about Mako not being a generally nice person at best to being a selfish player at his lowest characterization. However none of this detracts from the fact that Mako has saved the world alongside Korra and the rest of Team Avatar MULTIPLE times.

Yet because of a poor reception of his character to the literal world-spanning conflict that was this show's shipping wars. We've seen Mako get cast to the side over and treated worse than the freaking villains of the show, which include but aren't limited to; terrorists who want to commit ethnic cleansing (Among) a religious zealot who wishes to usher in thousands of years of Darkness (Unalaq) an anarchist who literally does not care who he kills and ALSO wanted to commit ethnic cleansing (Zaheer) and a literal fascist dictator who was willing to go as far as putting her own people in concentration camps all because they disagree with her. (Kuvira)

In this tangent I'm not trying to say any of Mako's actions in his relationships with Korra and Asami were justified or good decisions. I am trying in this post to provide context as to why he is how he is and why he, to this day, still is my favorite protagonist from The Legend of Korra. So enjoy! Or don't, you're choosing to use your free time to read this, I'm just infodumping because I'm a LoK fan, a simp for Mako, and a history buff whose favorite time period to study is the Industrial Revolution/Gilded Age/Edwardian Era. So enjoy! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I guess we should give a general history of these two because hey, context. Mako is a mixed-heritage fire bender who grew up in Republic City, a nation-state-city-thing founded by the original Gaang to be a city where all people of all nationalities whether you were from the Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation, or the Northern and Southern Water tribes could come together and live harmoniously.

Mako and Bolin's father, San, was an Earth Bender and an Earth Kingdom national originally from Ba Sing Se who came from a very large family of grocers/produce vendors and hailed from the poorest economic circle/caste in Ba Sing Se. San had aspirations and dreamed of moving to the fabled Republic City in an attempt to try to better his life. This caused a fallout between San and his father, after which San made his way from Ba Sing Se to Republic City. After an undetermined amount of time, San met a Fire Nation woman named Naoki, the two formed a relationship and eventually had a son who could fire-bend. (Mako) Two years later, they had another son, this time one who could earth bend (Bollin)

We don't know the economic standing that San and Naoki found themselves in but considering how Mako and Bollin had to grow up following what happened, it can be assumed they were lower-middle class at best. However after an indeterminate amount of time, the family took this photo seen above together and sent it to San's family back in Ba Sing Se, like you'd take a picture of your family and send it out as holiday cards, which I assume this is what it was. But it let San's family know that he was alive and now has a family of his own and two sons.

Unfortunately this happiness did not last. As supposedly not long after, in a break-in robbery gone wrong, Mako witnessed as his mother and father were murdered by a fire bender. Making him not only an orphan but now the sole caretaker for his younger brother. Now, I need to stress to everyone reading this of the fact that not only was Mako just a kid when this happened, but Mako was EIGHT (8) years old when he watched his whole world get turned upside down as he watched a fire-bender murder his mother and father. Mako was a genuine child. Most human males don't start the very first phases of puberty until about 10 at the earliest. All of this piled on top of the fact that Mako now has to care for his six year old brother when he himself is just a kid.

People ask, 'why didn't Mako take Bolin and himself to Ba Sing Se?' 'What about Naoki's family?' San was basically disowned by his father, and from what we know about how Mako and Bolin stayed in Republic City it's very likely San didn't tell Mako or Bollin about his family. When Mako and Bolin met their paternal uncle Chow and their Grandmother Yin in Book 3, Chow and Yin didn't even know that San had died. That's how little San and his family communicated. The only reason why they even re-united was that Chow noticed the striking resemblance Bolin had to San. Chow's brother and Bolin's father. We literally know nothing about Naoki other than her name and what she looked like. We don't know her family or her origin or where she came from or even if she was a fire bender. It's implied that she was a fire bender because Mako is a fire bender, but we don't even know that for sure because again, all that we know is her name, what she looked like, and that she was from the Fire Nation. Even if Mako was 8, I feel if he had known about these family members, he would have at least tried to find them or reach out to them. But given what we were shown in S3. Mako and Bolin never knew they had family in Ba Sing Se, let alone they had any family left other than the two of them.

As the show went along we got more details about who the brothers were and how they came to be, and even a short mini-series on how three years prior to meeting Korra they met Pabu and discovered Pro-Bending called Republic City Hustle. It's a cute short that sheds light onto their background and insight to their characters.

It's established pretty early on that Mako is the stern, but caring older brother on the show. He still has his funny moments but in general his main focus is keeping him and Bolin alive. It's stated in the show that Mako did anything to keep him and Bolin fed and alive. A lot of people don't get that this show was taking place during this universe's Edwardian Era (it feels like the Gilded Age and the Edwardian Era get lumped together because it falls right after the industrial revolution and before World War I even though the Gilded Age ranges from 1870-1900 and the Edwardian Era spans from 1900-1914/15-ish. So I guess the Edwardian Era because they had radio broadcasts and early forms of movies/televisions but Auto/Satomobiles were just becoming mainstream/readily available.) (Post update I've come to realize that what they were going for was the Roaring 20's but this honestly changes little) ANYWAYS Child Labor laws really weren't what they used to be, even in the most progressive of countries at the time. I want to circle us back to Mako and Bolin by reminding you that Mako was 8 when his parents were murdered. At that point and time, as he watched both of his parents get murdered by a fire-bender, at that exact moment Mako stopped being a kid and immediately had to become an adult.

Mako is often portrayed as this brooding, hard ass type who can be really immature when upset but also gloats and acts even impudent at times. A lot of this stems from the fact that since he was 8, Mako had to learn not only how to survive on the streets of a major city, learn how to make money, how to feed, clean, house, and support not only himself but his six year old brother. Most people in their teens and twenties once they reach the point they can physically have children struggle with this GREATLY. Let alone an EIGHT YEAR OLD. Mako spent the entirety of his formative childhood years and well into his early adulthood having the stressors of a fully-matured adult on his shoulders. I'm not surprised at all he's lacking in terms of the social skills department. Especially when it comes to talking about his emotional maturity around friends and romantic partners. I think it's safe to say outside of what little schooling Mako did receive, his childhood wasn't focused on making friends and maintaining friendships/relationships.

Also yes, Mako detractors, it's proven multiple times that Mako and Bolin both are fully literate. Mako has been made to write NUMEROUS incident reports as a police officer via Lin Beifong, and in probably the stupidest use of the Avatar State ever, Korra used the bright white lights of doom to act as a nightlight for Mako so he could read a book. Infuriatingly stupid? You bet, does it show that a literal street-urchin defying all the odds thrown against him and being someone who is literate enough to enjoy a book on his own free time? You betcha.

In a roundabout way, I'm trying to explain that Mako doesn't have the best social skills based on the fact that he was an orphan in what was essentially the early 1910's for this world's societal timeframe and as such he didn't have much in the ways of a social upbringing. I don't think he really had a good, genuine friendship with anyone outside his brother until he met Korra and Asami. He most likely had to adopt the mindset that everyone who isn't paying him is an obstacle in the way of him earning a means to survive.

Yet at the same time, this is what I grew to love about Mako. Was that despite the literal mountain of trauma he carries on his shoulders, he's an amazingly well-adjusted person considering his circumstances.

When we first meet him in Book 1 he's finally at a bit of an upswing in his life, he works at a power plant that utilizes Fire Benders who can generate lighting to power Republic City's electricity. (Most likely fantastic for the environment, on a meta level thinking about human rights? This is a literal nightmare.) And with this job he's able to keep a roof over his and Bolin's head and he's able to participate in Pro-Bending on the side. Considering not 3 years before him and Bolin were basically wearing rags and on the street doing whatever he can to get him and Bolin food.

Can we also discuss how utterly broken Mako is if we go based on the original lore of the ATLA universe? If memory serves Lightning generation is a thing that naturally not every fire bender is able to do, like it's a genetic thing or something, it has culturally waned in terms of being taught. To the point that at the end of ATLA: The only four humans known to be capable of generating and redirecting lightning were Ozai, Zuko, Azula, and Aang. It became taught by Zuko through the generations and although it became significantly more common again, not every fire bender could generate lightning. Mako already is a fairly talented Fire Bender considering he hasn't had much of any formal training on his bending abilities but the fact that his fire bending is to the caliber as some of the fiercest enemies in ATLA, but having lighting generation skills on par with, if not surpassing that of the literal Fire Nation royal family not even a century ago.

And this is when we just meet Mako when he was just 18. He's able to generate a genuinely powerful blast of lightning at Amon while he's being blood bended and gave Amon a powerful enough blast to temporarily incapacitate him. (Aang was blood bended by Amon's father and was only able to break out by going into the Avatar state) but it gets to the point by book 4, in order to stop Kuvira's Mecha from destroying Republic City, Mako generates lightning at the spirit branch powering the machine to the point he physically burns and disfigures his own arm by just how much lightning this man was generating. The entire power-scaling gymnastics Legend of Korra goes through is already nonsense but this? This is fucking scary. This is some Sozin's comet level shit coming out of some random 22 year old man who grew up on the streets. I don't know how else to emphasize that Mako canonically has killed a person because of his lightning bending. (she was a villain about to murder him but still)

Regardless of his abilities, Mako is a character who has been through an extreme amount of trauma. As a social scientist by trade, Mako had defied literally every statistic placed against him. After losing his parents he not only was able to provide for himself but for Bolin too. He managed to do all of this starting before he even hit puberty. Yet despite all of the years of unresolved trauma. Mako is still a good person.

Back in Book 1 Mako was just as on board with taking down the Equalists as Korra. Mako did this to help people and he did all of this of his own volition. Yes he was at Korra's side and he was technically eating Asami, but Mako had 0 obligation to stay by The Avatar's side. Especially when him and his brother's lives were in danger. Given Mako's background and how he had to live a very selfish life to survive, this shows that Mako genuinely is a good person who went along for the ride and came out on top.

Funnily enough, when you look into the next Book, Mako becomes a cop in Republic City. Our boy here really is just poor Bruce Wayne with superpowers. He got to go on one vigilante adventure with a hot girl paying attention to him and now he's about honor and justice. God, Mako, I want to hit you. He clearly went through a power trip by the end of Book 1 and him working at a Power Plant wasn't going to give him the same kind of rush so he goes to Chief Beifong. And honestly, I'll bet Lin was fucking relieved that the most powerful fire bender she's ever seen is a temperamental 18 year old blue collar worker just suddenly decided to make any potential headache and stack of paperwork disappear by walking to her office and asking her for a job. And as Book 2 would later show us, Mako is literally just an incident report waiting to happen.

Regardless, a large part of his character arc was finding out how to be a good person and be a good friend at the same time. Mako is a character who tears down a lot of personal walls and matures a tremendous amount as the books go on. He starts as an adult at 18 with 10 years of experience to opening up as a friend and love interest, to being confronted with a lot of his own negative traits, him not taking it well, to him recognizing that no, he's not the hero and is actively the problem the majority of the time to bring a fully matured character by the end of the show. Again, Mako really is just Bruce Wayne if Bruce was poor and had to take care of a child once his parents died. I get Bruce's reasoning of being a vigilante hero and beating up "villains" isnt a story everyone likes. But I fuck it, I'm basically 2000 words in and we're still here.

Okay obligatory simp section: people don't appreciate the fact that Mako is INTIMIDATING AS FUCK. Yes the guy is in his late teens and early twenties but Mako is 6'2. And is an athlete who becomes a cop who then becomes the personal bodyguard to the heir of a Queen who was murdered. Wu hired Mako because he KNEW Mako's reputation as a bender. (and as a man) Mako is often portrayed as a stick whereas Bolin is everyone's beefy thick god supreme. Mako isn't thick with 72 C's but Mako is not scrawny and has a very athletic build and is quite muscular.

Add on top of the fact that benders, particularly Fire Benders, had a very negative stigma surrounding them during the events of book 1. Mako, to someone who you've never met, a 6'2 muscular, sharp-faced rough looking fire bender coming your way is a very intimidating site. And this information isn't lost on Mako. He's well aware that he holds the exact same power that many people in Republic City fear. He apologizes to Asami after finding out a fire-bender killed her mother. He carries the exact same power that was used by the very person he watched murder his own parents. And Mako knows how to capitalize on it. Mako has threatened to use his bending to harm people on numerous occasions as a means to get what he wants out of them. Notedly for the greater good but still. I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of a pissed off 18 year old who is pinning me to a wall and has fire superpowers and lightning superpowers to match that of the gods all whilst he's generating a knife made out of FIRE and putting it between my arm and my head. (Don't fucking lie you simp that is your DREAM)

One of the areas where I feel we see LoK succeed over ATLA is we truly get to see these characters evolve over the course of years. There's a big gap between books 2 and 3 and an even bigger gap between books 3 and 4. By the time we re-united with Mako at the start of book 4, he's 22 and a fully established adult. He's now the personal bodyguard for the extremely eccentric Prince Wu, the nephew of the now deceased tyrannical Earth Queen and next in line for the throne of the Earth Kingdom.

They establish very early on that yes, this is the same Mako as before for better or for worse, but Mako has truly come into his own of who he wants to be, a protector. He wants to be someone who defends the innocent and punishes those who are unjust (Insert Bruce Wayne reference here) However when we look at his re-design for Book 4 Mako has one of the most dramatic design changes. He's very non-descript with a toned down style as opposed to his loud and brash style with his rocking up-do haircut. He's now settled for a neat, gelled comb-over that looks like it ages him about 5 years older than he actually is. I feel a large part of this has to do with him working with royalty, as in the follow-up comics to Book 4, when given the choice and not under obligation to protect Prince Wu, Mako will choose to go back to his original hair style.

But Book 4 serves as what I consider a good enough wrap-up to his character. Mako realizes that even though he does still harbor feelings for Korra. That's not what is in both of their best interests and that's completely okay. Him and Korra are still able to maintain a solid friendship based on a deep amount of trust they both have for each other. I cannot stress enough that again, Mako and the rest of Team Avatar were walking into a mission against Kuvira they very likely wouldn't make it out of. And Mako very nearly almost killed himself by just how much he was exerting himself to destroy the Spirit Branch. Hell the actual burst of lighting he generated was so powerful and was so prolonged he literally physically burned his own arm to the point he's physically disfigured now because of it. That is how far Mako was willing to go for the Avatar and for what he believed in.

The Legend of Korra is a phenomenal successor to Avatar the Last Airbender. That being said, LoK had a lot of glaring weaknesses that overall dragged the show down. Its heavy reliance on its romantic subplot has got to be the biggest weakness of the show. As it polarized the fandom very quickly to the entirety of the main team. Mako fell on the short end of that straw because he was the player, the main love interest of the Avatar for the first half of the show and we spent the latter half dealing with the fallout of their relatively messy break up. Causing many in the fandom to immediately subjugate Mako to just being a fuckboy hard ass.

Mako is a character who has seen and lived through an untold amount of trauma from a very early age. I don't need a PHD or MD to tell the people of Tumblr.com that trauma literally changes the way you form relationships and respond to the world. Mako is no different. Yet he doesn't let his trauma define him. I like Mako as much as I do because he's an absolutely ridiculously powerful bender but also this is a man who you can't say no to. You can't tell Mako no or he can't do that because he's smart and creative enough to give it a multiple good college-trys and he's also strong enough to electrocute a quarter of freaking Republic City so he'll find a way to do it and get it done.

I think Mako's key sticking point is that he's a bit too adult of a character for this TV shows. A lot of the decisions he makes are seen as cold and harsh but this guy has spent a decade on the streets trying to keep not only himself but his kid brother alive. And the second he gets a moment to actually express himself emotionally and romantically things go awry because he wasn't properly socialized on how to sustain and maintain healthy friendships and romantic relationships. It almost feels like he was set-up from the get-go to fail in this regards.

Regardless Mako is not the demon the fandom makes him out to be. He's brash, brooding, and a little bit immature, but to call him the villain of the show is both an insult to Mako but to the villains of the show. Because Mako is the man who I genuinely believe would give you the shirt off his back if you were struggling and my single favorite part of this whole series is the villains. Where Korra's Team struggled and felt conflicted the villains were the true highlight of the show.

Anyways long tangent over: I love Mako and his absolute dorkiness and his stupid eyebrows and nice muscles. He's a genuinely good character who deserves his pearls but to be studied as well because why did we need to give him the power of Thor? Why? It was very sexy of them to do it but I'm just confused as to why. Anyways I hope you gained something out of this infodump because boy this took a day and a half.

[siriuslydaz3d]

Bolin ADHD headcanons

Can’t get ADHD!Bolin out of my head so here’s my headcanons <3 

Bolin growing up hyperfixated on the Gaang 

Knowing A LOT about the good Aang did for the world

Looking up to Toph because she’s so strong and he wants to be strong like her

Privately freaking out because he’s friends with the Avatar 

Talks for days about how he’s met both Lord Zuko and Toph

Toph eventually warms up to Bolin and tells him stories about the Gaang from when they were his age. 

[beifong-brainrot]

For some reason tumblr didn't let me reply to your comment directly but yeah I totally see Bolin as autistic too. I actually see him as having ADHD and being autistic, which certainly affects his relationships and behaviours.

Like I firmly believe he was stimming when he met Toph.

Fucking look at this shit

To the Legend of Korra writers who somehow decided that it would be funny for Bolin to fake leg injuries just to get out of trouble with Opal: why?

Surely after having realized just how manipulative Kuvira was, you'd think he would have, you know, not done that? That scene gave me so much secondhand embarrassment that it's really difficult for me to rewatch that episode.

[yourfavehas-adhd]

Bolin from Avatar: The Legend of Korra has ADHD!

Requested by aro-space-case.

[asamisbitch]

so i downloaded ios14 and i seriously considered making my entire phone layout just bolin because i am currently going thru a phase at the moment but then i had to stop myself because i am not twelve anymore and i went with an aesthetic pink theme which, you guessed it folks! i have not completed yet, but i am half way through and i can’t stop now

[kingwuko]

3, 21, and 26 for wu!

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

I think I need to give a general answer here, because anything I'd consider "least favorite" about him all boils down to the same thing: how underutilized his potential is to be a complex character. Wu was written as a comic relief character. He was explicitly written to 'annoy' Mako. His dialogue is all goofy teetering toward absurdity. But his background, being the only remaining heir to the Earth Kingdom throne (meaning his whole family is gone!) is not touched on once! I'm not asking them to angst-ify his character, because I LOVE how silly and goofy and unserious he can be. But he could have been given SO MUCH depth. The comics did rectify this to some degree, making all his fears and insecurities clear during his swamp vision, but again, I just really wish we could have had more info about his past to fully flesh out who he is in a way that does justice to the huge role he has in the political world.

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

I REALLY like writing Wu's inner monologue. I love getting into his head and making his thoughts dart around chaotically, because that man has ADHD and you'll never convince me he doesn't.

I don't like making him self deprecate. I do it all the time, because I think he's very insecure about himself. But I don't like doing it at all. Probably because it's making me hold a mirror up to myself.

26. What's something the character has done you can't get over? Be it something funny, bad, good, serious, whatever?

I was JUST saying this in my discord group. I'm going to copy paste what I said: "I will never get over the way Wu tried to comfort Mako when he fought with Bolin 😭"

I love that moment so much. I've gone on and on about it other times, but it's just so special to me. Bolin was MEAN. Name-calling and everything. He called Wu a snotty rich bozo. He called Mako a glorified butler. And you know, Mako said something a lil mean too, when Bolin asked if Mako thought Wu would be better at ruling than Kuvira, Mako said No. And Wu was listening the whole time and I KNOW his feelings were hurt by the expression on his face.

But then Mako came back into the room and Wu is just SO focused on Mako and his feelings. The writers could have made Wu really cruel, or mean, or petty here. Mako was clearly mad at his brother, so I think Wu might have been able to get away with throwing an insult at Bolin here. Wu told Mako to get rid of Bolin, because he's with Kuvira, and I feel like Wu could have thrown it in Mako's face like "I told you so!" Or he could have just thrown a big fit here and made it all about himself and how he was hurt!

But instead he's just so empathic toward Mako, without being mean to Bolin. And then he just wants to cheer Mako up. I know its such a small moment, and it's leading up to Wu's big meltdown at the mall. But to me it's such an interesting little window into who Wu is as a person and how he feels about Mako. He really just wants Mako to be happy 😭😭😭

A close second place is Wu bowing to Yin. That gets me every time. Royalty bowing to a commoner feels like an extremely symbolic gesture to demonstrate who Wu is as a person.

[ourflagmeansdeth]

hi every1

its me. checking in to say that i am working on more bolin stuff! but i have no idea what i’m doing lmao. as of rn i’m writing whatever i feel like writing for him, but it’s by no means speedy. there are so many amazing people on here who write so well and so Fast and i simply don’t understand how they do it! i am a v busy student w a job and i love this community, and i’m trying to contribute as best i can bc the world needs more bo :) i’m writing this to thank u for all the support i’ve gotten on this blog!! i’ve never written fics and posted them anywhere before this, so ty all so much for being patient w me :’) sending love. see u l8er

[spock-smokes-weed]

Bolin and Mako are such a great example of two characters with ADHD, but that manifested in two different ways

I love the bending brothers so much I would die for them

[urfavehasadhd]

Your fave has ADHD: Bolin from The Legend of Korra!