#amon critical

[justanotherthrowaway1950]

Why I Dislike Amon and Kuvira

Note: While I don’t think The Legend of Korra (TLOK) is as good as Avatar: The Last Airbender (ATLA), I still think it is a pretty good show, and that 99.9% of its problems can be traced to Nick not giving Bryke a full four seasons with a proper budget from the outset. However, I don’t think any piece of fiction is perfect, hence why I criticize TLOK like I do ATLA.

Amon and Kuvira are two characters who are important to TLOK’s narrative not only on an individual, character level, but also because they represent previously unaddressed social issues in ATLA’s world as well.

This is because in Amon’s case, the Equalist movement he heads deals with an important issue that the original ATLA glosses over at best: the issue of benders being innately superior to non-benders.

Or more specifically, the fact that, unless you are a highly trained and/or highly gifted non-bender like Piandao, Mai, Ty Lee, Suki, or Sokka, your bog standard bender who has the slightest amount of training has a nigh-insurmountable power advantage, and thus has every incentive to lord their unearned power over non-benders.

Meanwhile, Kuvira deals with an issue that up until her becoming the main villain of Season 4 was barely addressed in TLOK’s intro and glossed over in the ATLA comics: how would Earth Kingdomers feel about the United Republic being formed from the Fire Nation’s oldest Earth Kingdom colonies.

Or more specifically, how, after getting pressured by Fire National colonialists and those close to them, King Kuei and Avatar Aang worked with Fire Lord Zuko to give the oldest colonists the option of self-determination, which they exercised to form the United Republic.

This, even though the oldest colonies were dominated politically and economically by the Fire Nationalist colonists and their close allies, with the marginalized Earth Kingdomer masses having little to no say in regards to the above mentioned process.

(If you disagree with my characterization of how Earth Kingdomers would view the resolution of the Yu Dao crisis, please check out The Problem with Yu Dao and A Potential Solution where I go into much more detail about this topic.)

However, it is precisely because Amon and Kuvira represent previously unaddressed social issues in ATLA’s world that I dislike them.

For in Amon’s case, before his identity was revealed, I was interested to see how the Krew would defeat him, let alone defeat the Equalist Movement since it wasn’t a problem that could be punched.

However, after his identity was revealed, I quickly soured on his character since, with him being a psychic, 24/7 bloodbender, it became apparent that the only way to beat him would be having an Avatar State Korra fight him or through a deus ex machina, with the latter being the way how he was defeated.

And I started disliking him once it became clear that the Equalist movement died off just because he was exposed as a fraud and Republic City’s all-bender council got replaced by a democratically elected unitary executive, one who so far has been non-benders due to non-benders numerical dominance.

This is because the underlying issue of benders having an innate advantage over non-benders never really got resolved, and so I hate how Amon’s character was used to avoid a real discussion or give any real solutions to said problem.

Especially since in real life, even if a movement’s leader is exposed as a fraud, the movement, or at least some variation of it, will continue to persist since movements, or more specifically, underlying issues in society, create leaders, not the other way around.

Meanwhile, I dislike Kuvira because, despite growing up in a world where the horrors of the Hundred Year War and the failures of the Hundred Year War era Fire Nation were surely taught to children like her, she decided to repeat them with her concentration camps and illegal and immoral war of conquest.

(Yes, I know canonically Kuvira did not know about the concentration camps, but even if that is the case, I still hold her responsible for them.) 

(This is because commanders/generals in the real world are responsible for the actions of their subordinates when it comes to war crimes, and more generally, leaders are generally responsible for the actions of their subordinates when their subordinates are acting within the scope of their relationship. Thus, I hold her to that standard, even if the war crimes tribunal of the United Republic doesn’t.)

(Also, her attempt to retake the United Republic was an illegal and immoral war of conquest since the United Republic had been a sovereign state for over 70 years, with its sovereignty recognized by all the other nations in the world, including the Earth Empire’s predecessor, the Earth Kingdom. Moreover, even if it hasn’t been said explicitly yet in canon material, I am pretty sure in the 70-odd years between the end of ATLA and the start of TLOK the five nations signed treaties making wars of conquest illegal.)

This, even though her adopted grandma fought in the War and was friends with Fire Nationals who grew up in the Hundred Year War era Fire Nation, and more likely than not told her about her and her Fire National friends experiences.

And why does she do all that? Not because she actually believes that the way the United Republic was formed was immoral and an act of injustice against the Earth Kingdom, but because of unresolved abandonment issues.

And when she “redeems” herself, she does the bare minimum before finally admitting her fault and getting house arrest in Zafou, the closest thing to paradise on Earth.

I thought Kuvira could have been used to tell a story about the evils of revanchism, and how an inability to let go of past territorial injustices and focus on the present leads people to becoming the very monsters they claim to be fighting against.

That and what steps an authoritarian conqueror would have to take to credibly redeem themselves not only in the world’s eyes, but also in the eyes of their people, who they betrayed and misled with their lies about peace and prosperity through violence and subjugation.

Instead, we instead essentially get a sane, adult Azula who doesn’t have the excuse of indoctrination and got a really undeserved and unearned redemption that fanfics often give to a heavily woobified Azula.

This, all while never directly addressing the Earth Kingdom’s lingering resentment towards the United Republic, nor ever giving a concrete resolution to said resentment.

So to conclude, I dislike Amon and Kuvira’s characters because the resolution of their arcs were not only unsatisfying on a personal level, but also ruined the potential to meaningfully address key issues present in TLOK’s world, thus weakening TLOK as a whole.

[bibibbon]

After reading your post about "How a story about Nine and Deku would go?" I notice it ends in the Overhaul arc, which is interesting because Chisaki and Midoriya have as much untaped potential for a character dynamic if not even more.

Like you know, considering the most defining character factor of Kai is precisely how he hates quirks and considerers them a sickness, we don't even know what he thinks about quirkless people or if he even interacted with one of them. Perhaps Horikoshi didn't make it happen because it would show other less evil side of Chisaki? We don't know.

And look, when the main character literally used to be a quirkless person who's biggest dream was have a quirk to fit in a world full of them and could use it to be a hero, don't you think Chisaki would have something to say about that if he founds what kind of person Midoriya was? Something like that demands character interactions! That potential...

I bet Kai will go crazy by the fact a "pure" human being accepted and was obsessed to have the sickness. But I'd like to imagine it wouldn't stop there.

Chisaki has resources to get any info so I imagine after he connects the points and investigate the past of Midoriya, he would found that he was in fact disgnosed as a quirkless person and also find that he suffered discrimination his whole life until the moment he finally got a quirk somehow. (Chisaki at least will assume correctly that Midoriya's quirk has to be something unnatural given to him).

So the next time Deku and Overhaul interact, Chisaki will obviously pull the information he has about Midoriya and give a little rant about his situation, and ask some obvious questions: "Do you think this ideal life you seem to seek would be the same if you never got sick? Those friends of yours would appreciate you the same way if you don't have any 'quirk'?" The kind of question Deku should have in canon, but he doesn't because it would bring awkward question for other characters.

The exchange could be seen as a bit manipulative from Chisaki’s side, but I like to think he would show a real interest of Midoriya to give him an answer and have a bit of instrospection about himself.

In my mind, just like Nine makes Deku think about what really means be the strongest and what the world expects from people with potential, Overhaul would make Midoriya question his value as a person and would be one of the first individuals on challenge Deku on his view about himself.

Like is he the hero Izuku Midoriya or just a vessel for a power greater than himself and nobody sees him as something else? Does he even want to know the answer to that question?

Not to mention, Kai could even talk about some of the person in the Shie Hassaikai and how their lifes were tragically affected by just born with their quirks. For a quirk nerd like Deku the canon story should have have at some point give him a hit of reality and show him not all quirks are blessing that could be used for good just by training or having "consuelling", so a possible cure might not be the craziest idea then.

It would be fun having Deku scratching his head because two villains bring important existential questions to his life, and makes him think "well they sort have a point...".

And what it's more funny is that Nine and Overhaul are essentially opposite poles idealogy wise, so they will have this weird traingle of exchanges in which Deku doesn't know who he prefers to listen. Being a hero seemed easier when it was just punch crazy people like Muscular huh?

Hi @nyc3 👋

Iam going to be honest me ending the what if situation with nine and izuku in the overhaul arc was never intentional but it's definitely interesting to see the way you have chosen to interpret it.

You aren't wrong in saying that overhaul and izuku had a ton of wasted potential going on and that the series never truly delved into how complex their interactions could of been the same idea stands with overhaul and shigaraki.

As we see in the overhaul arc it is stated that overhaul thinks of quirks as a disease and while I have seen many theorise that overhaul would love a quirkless izuku as he isn't infected I would argue otherwise. Actually, I would argue that there is a key hypocrisy innate in overhauls character that should be explored. Yes, overhaul views quirks as diseases, but he constantly utilises them and benefits from them. This can be seen when tomura calls him out for it before destroying overhauls' arms and therefore rendering him quirkless.

Within a society where the majority have a superpower that was originally labelled as an "individuality," not having a superpower basically means that you're nothing. Quirks have become a special uniqueness that people hold onto, and its a special uniqueness that completely defines an individual from the moment they receive it. If you don't have individuality, then what are you in society? That's the belief that the mha society holds, and it's exactly why Izuku is described to be "plain" when there are many more ordinary type characters like naomasa. In a society with superpowers, what can a nobody do?

From a young age, society has installed it into the peoples minds that quirks are everything, and that truth also holds for overhaul. Quirks are everything overhaul knows and believes in this. We see that he does because the reason he decides to remove filthy quirks from this society is because he wants the yakuza to regain their place as the top in the underground. Quirks changed everything and overhaul hates that change so he will do everything he can to make everything go back to order, to what its supposed to be even if it means that he has to torture a child for it.

Ultimately, overhaul wanted to change society in a way. He has a point. While this change that he wanted to bring on was for the sake of the yakuza and returning to former glory that he never experienced, overhaul acknowledges that quirks are the defining factor to ones life. A good quirk almost guarantees a good life, whereas a bad quirk guarantees a bad life. This is something that both izuku and nine know but with different meanings and understanding.

Overhaul is shown to do anything to derail and destroy quirks and this absurd system as he wants to go back to normality a life with no superpowers. Yes, this is for his own desires and greed. He abused and tortured a child to do it. He manipulated a child into becoming a symbol for what he wanted her to become. In the end, overhaul became what he sought to destroy. He saw the system, he recognised its harm, yet he still contributed heavily to it and forced an innocent child to go through unspeakable things.

Izuku and overhaul are contrasts in this arc. They're both intelligent people with varying different views that may overlap. I do think that overhaul could definitely be the catalyst to Izuku starting to think deeper about his quirklessness. Overhaul, the man who sees quirkless as the normality telling someone who was discrimated against that they're normal would and should send izuku somewhat spiralling. Taking into account that while izuku did become a hero to save people a huge part of his became a hero to fit in. To belong to a cause but now he is being told and somewhat shown that quirks will be the nd of humanity that being quirkless isn't that bad?

This would ultimately help develop both overhaula and izuku as overhaul delves deeper into his own hypocrisy and realises that being quirkless doesn't mean being useless as society thinks, and the same applies for izuku.

On the other hand, izuku would end up showing overhaul the wrong of his ways. Harming a child to return the yakuza to former glory is more than wrong.

While i do think that overhaul may use Eri's own story of her reversing her grandfather out of existence as a way to prove to izuku how dangerous quirks are. It would be interesting to see izuku converse with overhaul reciting points that society fed to him from a young age. "With proper counselling, eri would be fine." Yes, but the counselling system is obviously flawed. The majority of these villains have been failed by quirk counselling. It doesn't help, and it hasn't helped all it done was make people suppress to fit into this thin line of normality.

Counselling could have definitely involved the quirkless it could have allowed people to thrive and explore their individuality, yet it doesn't. Support items are literally only sold to heroes and aren't accessible for normal citizens, so what doesn't that mean for people who need them but can't afford them? Yuuga can barely function without his, so what about the rest?

Overhaul could have helped deconstruct izukus views while Izuku could have helped in changing some of overhauls views.

An interesting development those two could have been!

[imdevilmaaaaaaaaaaan]

Hello, Devilman fans.

Toshin Devilman has an English scanlation now.

This manga has been one of the few Devilman alliterations that does not have much information avaliable about it online and I have been curious about it for some years now. It is also one of the only adaptations that does not feature Akira Fudo, Ryo Asuka or any other past major Devilman character as the main protagonist. Instead it focuses on a new character named Kei Kamishiro.

I want to give a big thank you to trafalgarlog for translating this manga. Be sure to support trafalgarlog by checking out his website right here, you will find other manga he has translated along with a link to his Patron and Ko-Fi: https://trafalgarlog.wordpress.com/

[riddlerosehearts]

it's been so long since i last watched LOK that i honestly sort of forgot how much i don't like it. i'm on book 3 episode 7, i genuinely forgot that they just handed bumi airbending and brought back airbenders the weird way they did (when it would've been much more realistic that aang at some point found a group of very old survivors/descendants of survivors in hiding because genocide of a nomadic people who can fly just could not have caused a total extinction), i forgot how much mako doesn't have a personality, how much i dislike suyin and the way the narrative treats lin, and also... how little interaction korra and asami actually have with each other at this point??

like, you would think k*rrasami would be really important to me as a canon relationship between two bi women in the avatar universe, and i understand to an extent why it's written the way it is and won't deny how important it is overall as part of the history of LGBT representation in cartoons, but until now i sort of forgot why exactly i feel so little personal investment in it. i know they get more interactions later on but so far i wouldn't ship them if i didn't know what was coming because there's so little there. i don't even really like asami all that much outside of fanon stuff, nor do i particularly care about anyone at this point other than korra and bolin (and maybe kai and jinora too) and that's because everybody else either has extremely little personality imo, is annoying to me if they do have one, or is the product of the gaang being bad parents which is something i refuse to accept :(

and speaking of, the terrible way the show treated katara is actually pretty much the main thing i've always remembered about it and i have definitely ranted about that. the rest of it is just so incredibly meh for me that it doesn't even make me feel like angrily analyzing it and that's sad to me because there honestly was a lot of potential. like why don't we get an actual episode or two about mako and bolin's backstory instead of just hearing about it?? what happened with them actually does sound really interesting, but the show does nothing to make me care. it's like if ATLA had never given us any flashbacks about sokka and katara's backstory. and so much of books 1 and 2 is wasted on stupid annoying love triangle drama ajsjdjfkdk sometimes i wish i were more like my dad who is enjoying the show by simply not thinking very critically about it.

[harleyquilt]

Misreading Touka (Tokyo Ghoul Meta)

For some reason, I've been seeing more dung being thrown at Touka's characterisation in the series, and since I've been wanting to write a meta for a while now, I decided to do a short one addressing some of the criticism I've seen around. This won't go into everything, of course -- the series is far too dense with analytical potential and I am a busy bee. Just know that I do want to dive deeper into Touken/Kanetou at a later point.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Touka is not reduced to a simple, meaningless housewife, and I do not understand why this perspective is used to undermine her character so often in the fandom. For the sake of this argument, I will be mostly focusing on her characterisation in ;Re, as that is where this criticism is mostly rooted. Yes, she is less active in the first part of the second series, but between all the other characters, events, and plot points, it is bizarre to me that people see so little in Touka, despite all that she does. 

I could dive into how Touka as a whole symbolises key themes throughout both series, and how that relates to Kaneki’s development, but I think I will save that for a separate meta. For now, I just want to discuss how Touka is positioned in the second series, and how it does not weaken the characterisation Ishida set up in the first. 

Following the end of the first series, which set its tone as a tragedy, Touka opens the ;Re café to act as a refuge for ghouls, just as Yoshimura did beforehand. To clarify, Yoshimura saved Touka from her miserable life on the streets, giving her the chance to live with some semblance of normalcy following the tragic consequences of her childhood. And now, as an adult, and with Yoshimura gone, Touka strives to recreate that environment once more. There are those that think she has done this for Kaneki and Kaneki alone, but that is clearly not the case, even if she does hope for Kaneki’s return one day; she allows Nishiki to take refuge there while he tries to find Kimi, she saves Tsukiyama after the Rosewald operation, and before anyone argues that she was still not directly involved in either case, she actively takes part in Ayato’s mission to save Hinami. It is there that she then sees Kaneki and allows him a place to stay too, following his battle with Arima. She even provides Akira and Amon a place to stay, reconciling their differences in the process, (underrated chapters, I think).

Up until this point, Touka has been forced to ‘live while losing’, and whether she decides to fight or not, it is an unavoidable outcome when it comes to war. She is simply trying to do what she can without trying to kill herself in the process – a flawed sentiment she has seen in her father and Kaneki before, and even to some extent, Ayato and Hinami.

She fights when she can, runs if she has to. She is forced to make this choice again and again, especially when the underground ward is attacked, and for the sake of her unborn child and other weaker ghouls, she must retreat if she doesn’t want all of them to needlessly die. 

That said, it is not as if she leaves without trying to fight first, she just isn’t stupidly overpowered like her opponents, (and that isn’t a jab at Ishida, I’m simply clarifying that she can’t defeat these foes with just Hinami at her side). Even then, she manages to stand her ground for a long time, despite the pregnancy and her hunger. Moreover, her kagune has developed since the first series, and like Ayato, she’s able to create more advanced structures with her ukaku. You just have to read in between the lines to see that Touka has never allowed herself to grow soft in the years Kaneki was away, and that only now, during this battle, can you see more of her capabilities.

And when Kaneki is trapped within Dragon, she finally decides that she cannot lose him – she refuses to lose him, because to do so would bring on too much despair. Just as Kaneki has prioritised Touka, Touka, too, will prioritise him, and so, even with her exhaustion, she battles against Mutsuki, digs through the Dragon’s flesh until her fingers and nails break, and almost succumbs to grief at the thought that he was already lost to her. The chapter is overlooked far too often, her desperate determination conveying to the reader the importance of love as a driving force.

Again, we saw this with Kaneki, who pushed himself past his limits in hopes of reaching Touka. Whether you like it or not, love is a powerful thing, and that has been shown throughout the series with many, if not all the characters. And for Kaneki and Touka, their love is their hope, and to lose that love is to lose their hope. So they fight, again and again, for each other and the light they bring into each other’s lives. 

Now I can argue all day about how Touka is far more active in the series than people care to admit, but I do not think that is why Touka is labelled as a housewife. I’ve been in the fandom for a long time and this label has been around long before their relationship was canonised, and I think it’s to do with the fact that Touka is clearly more feminine in ;Re. 

I’ve already explained that in terms of action, Touka still has plenty of moments to speak of, and personality-wise, I really don’t think she’s as different as people claim her to be. Yes, she’s calmer, but that shouldn’t be seen as a bad development. She’s an adult now, and with adulthood comes maturity, (or it should, anyway). She doesn’t need to fight anyone and everyone to prove herself, that is simply a childish perspective to take. Besides that, she’s still curt in the way she talks, is sarcastic and blunt, though not as harsh as she was before, and she still carries herself with plenty of pride and dignity, which was what was so appealing about her in the first series. Ffs, she confronts the whole CCG and tells them to eat shit because their arguments were annoying her. It’s ridiculous to me that people think she is a shadow of her former self, when there’s plenty of great moments involving her. 

As for her more maternal depictions, that is also something that has always been present, if you take a moment to connect the two series together. She was forced to grow up quickly when she became responsible of Ayato, and she effortlessly took Hinami under her wing after the death of her parents. This is an attribute that she continues to exhibit throughout ;Re, watching over the children and trying to comfort them. It’s a touching image, one that circles back around to her pregnancy. And to deem this progression as detrimental is rather…strange to me. In a time when we see women as strong and powerful for everything we represent – our hardships, both physically and emotionally, as well as our strengths – why is it seen as weak when female characters are utilised to represent the strength of womanhood. Because she’s a woman married to a man? Don’t be so childish. If you respect her characterisation at all, you will acknowledge how she continues to exhibit her strengths as an adult, whether that be in battle or beyond it. 

After all, Ishida could have easily written it so that she is no longer involved in anything past the discovery of her pregnancy. Except he doesn't, and instead, she fights even more, even harder, in spite of her pregnancy. Because of her pregnancy. And yet, this is somehow weakens her character? She is quite literally going beyond her limits to fight for her future, I see nothing weak in that.

It might be that readers dislike how she changes aesthetically, and that’s fine, but from that comes arguments that excuse why they don’t like her character. I could argue against every little argument I’ve seen about her, but at the end of the day, I feel like most of these points are made just to excuse a personal preference. And that is not an effective use of critical reading. You can’t make the story something it isn’t, and you can’t assume Touka was going to be a character she wasn’t written to be. If you don’t like that or disagree, then maybe this series isn’t for you and it’s time to move on. For now, at least, please give her characterisation the respect she deserves. Her role is so much more than the shallow labelling this fandom tends to give her.

[liquidorcard]

Okay, part two. Let's go girls, gays and theys, Papa Polarity ain't saved yet.

[Part 1] [Part3]

Lily Commits Elder Gay Mutant Abuse, feat. "Eldritch Lily" (Part 2)

Everything gets worse . . .

4:13: Lily mischaracterizes Charles Xavier, throws up a Martin Luthor King quote she either doesn't understand or didn't read carefully enough, going full whyte. (Never go full whyte.)

How much do I need to dignify this by explaining why this is fucking asinine? Charles is a pacifist for the most part. A recognized and respected form of activism and protest. Like, the least charitable interpretation of what Lily's trying to say here is that figures like Gahndi, Abbie Hoffman, and dear old MLK himself are posers complicit in the oppression two of them lost their fucking life to.

That quote is referring to white people passively complicit in racism that just want black people to shut the fuck up Lily-- not passive forms of activism.

You know, it's one thing to be profoundly fucking wrong about cartoons, it's an entirely different beast when you're profoundly wrong about shit like this. Absolutely fucking ghoulish.

It feels weird pivoting back to the costumed vigilantes with funky genes, but we gotta keep going. Ironically for how much Lily is focusing on the movies here-- one of my issues with the way Charles is portrayed is he keeps casually threatening people/doing shady shit and getting away with it. Makes you question why it's framed as okay when he does it and not when it's Erik. Charles isn't a saint, he shouldn't be portrayed as one, and there's a lot of thematic dissonance when the films feel the need to lampshade the shit he gets up to less he lose the moral high ground.

4:50: OH HERE WE GO.

5:00: Lily goes on a long rant about the "activists who GO TOO FAR" trope in media.

I technically agree with her, but I can tell by the examples she's giving that she's parroting things Hbomberguy said in his RWBY video, just in a less charitable tone. So, really I agree with Hbomberguy.

She's not wrong that the BoM and Magneto sometimes wanders into this territory (I mean, they were originally 'The Brotherhood of Evil Mutant' and all that) unfortunately, but she hasn't supported that position at all. I have to assume she's heard this brought up somewhere else, this isn't exactly a unique take by any means. I doubt she's actually familiar enough with the content to create an original cohesive argument.

Lily doesn't like moral ambiguity in her media. That would be fine if she wasn't this butthurt that other people feel very differently.

6:05: "And yes, you knew we were getting to it! [ . . .] Almost all of Legend of Korras main villians start at a good through line. But then some twist comes up that makes everything they said before completely pointless."

THESE TWO, "START AT A GOOD THROUGH LINE!?"

LILLLLLLLLYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

6:15: "Season one's Amon is a socialist activist who cares about the oppression of non-benders by benders-- until it turns out that he doesn't."

I know this is a popular interpretation of the equalitists, especially given that their name is 'the equalists,' but actually the show never gives us enough information about the sociopolitical dynamics of benders and non-benders to say for sure. I'm not going to get into it here, if you want my full breakdown and analysis on the social politics of Avatar, let me know. In summary, it's tempting to assume benders would be the dominant class as they have literal powers, but that's not really how systemic power works. There's conflicting inference on what the dynamics are, and it may be different depending on the nation. The equalists are schrodinger's activists. They could be the Black Panthers, they could be the Proud Boys. That is not me making a false equivalency between those two groups, it's just never established if their perceived systemic persecution is real or imagined.

This isn't really a criticism of Lily. That it is so ambiguous is a flaw in the show. The interpretation Amon is supposed to be a socialist is as valid as any. Well. . . It's an extremely reductive interpretation of a socialist, and I know Lily doesn't know what a socialist actually is, but I'm trying to be charitable when possible here.

I do LIKE Korra myself, to be clear. But, yeah. There's problems.

6:31: "Season four's Kuvira wants to stitch the Earth Kingdom back together but doesn't want to restore an oppressive monarchy like everyone else does. And then declares that she is the dictator of the Earth Kingdom."

Yeah, that is just a thing that has happened in history, Lily. When there's a power vacuum left by a sudden or violent upheaval of a tyrant, unfortunately often another tyrant at least attempts to take their place. This is one of the reasons why former colonies struggle to cultivate stability-- societies and communities can get fucked in the ass by this kind of shit. This isn't a pro-monarchy message Lily-- consider maybe trying to learn things now and again.

This is why people call you a fake leftist Lily. Doing (relatively) minor gestures of good will like handing out food for a short period then pulling the rug out from under the people once they're complicit is right out of the facist playbook. You are virtually doing the exact thing you accused Rebecca Sugar of, but for real.

You're being outfoxed by a kid's show again.

6:44: "Season two's Unalaq [you get the idea.]"

Lily is pro gentrification until you involve demon kites I guess. I'm confused why she thinks he ever had any good intentions, it's telegraphed immediately he's a bad dude. He's also by far the worst villain-- as in, the worst written.

7:10: "All of them go 'the status quo is bad therefore commence genocide' like they got their political theory from fucking Vaush."

By your line of thinking so did Firelord Sozin:

"I had my own vision for a brighter future . . ."

I don't like Vaush either, but-- this isn't even the pot calling the kettle black. This is the blackened grime on the pot calling the kettle black.

GOD THIS VIDEO IS SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT MAGNETO. WE'VE BEEN TALKING ABOUT KORRA FOR ALMOST THIS WHOLE POST.

7:19: "The entire show you're watching Korra become a stooge for the status quo every single time. 'The problem isn't that the system is bad, it's that the wrong people are in charge.' And then they inevitably change the status like bringing democracy to the Earth Kingdom and you're left wondering-- wait, why wasn't the other person doing this!?"

I did not edit those two statements together. That is, in fact, Lily pointing out why her own arguments are stupid in the very next breath. Thanks for saving me the effort, I guess.

7:45: "Why weren't the characters you set up to do these things . . . Doing the things?!"

Because they weren't set up to do these things Lily. They're the antagonists. They ideologically were designed to be foils for Korra to overcome.

Korra's political messages aren't even that deep, and yet you're this incapable from telling even obvious totalitarian right-wing ideology and mild liberalism apart.

8:10: "It's so nakedly obvious how protective of the status quo these stories are."

This is, in a very abstract way, a valid criticism of Korra. This is a common problem in a lot of media, and Korra is far from the worst offender. I think it does breach past this to some extent, just not as much as I would have personally liked with all its seasons.

But make no mistake this is Lily again, taking something Lily has seen someone else say and putting that opinion through a blender.

Let's not beat around the bush here, Lily just wanted to bitch about Korra again. It's almost like she thinks if she repeats her idiotic media analysis enough, maybe THIS time people will realize how brilliant she is.

8:27: "A victim of abuse, torture or r@pe trying to kill her [only 'her,' huh?] abuser in vengeance is right to do so."

Okay, that's enough of this for now. Part 3 coming soon.

[beifong-brainrot]

If worked for the team who made Avatar TloK. How would you rewrite TloK?

To be completely honest, rewriting tlok wouldn't fix all it's issues. Tlok just needed to have longer seasons, an actually established amount of seasons so they weren't pressured to make every single season a complete story for fear of not getting more time.

But let's say, hypothetically that I murdered mr Crabs or whoever is in charge of Nickelodeon and removed any studio meddling from the show.

My perfect world would include:

More filler episodes that focus on a singular character. Think Sokka's Master or the Painted Lady. The Krew are all fascinating characters with a lot of potential, however, due to the runtime of the show, their storylines are rushed... or completely nonexistent. Give me more details of Mako and Bolin's childhood. Show me emore of Asami struggling with her father's arrest.

I'd try to cut down on the westernisation of the show. I can see why these foreign aspects slipped in, since the closer the Avatarverse inches to our modern times, the more blurred the lines become. At least to my whiteass. I'd try to lean towards silkpunk, rather than the much more west based steampunk. It would be a fascinating endeavour to imagine what a world with mostly eastern influences would look like.

I'd make Vaatu the overarching villain/final boss of the story... it would require a bit of moving around of the timeline but I think I'd structure it as: Red Lotus> Kuvira> Amon> Vaatu. However I'd blur the timeline more. Make Amon a background threat in the eariler seasons, only for him to rise in popularity and power after people see what benders like Kuvira are capable of, for example.

This would also allow for certain villains to become redeemed or at least helpful in some way, later on. Mayhaps Amon and Kuvira team with the Krew to defeat Vaatu in some way.

Also, instead of destroying Vaatu completely, I'm leaning towards Korra absorbing him, in a way. Yes Vaatu is a dark spirit, but 'darker' urges are necessary for humans' survival and happiness. Korra embodies the duality of man very well. I think it would be a fascinating idea to see the Avatar become the embodiment of both light and darkness.

In general, making Vaatu and Raava more morally ambiguous, rather than the simple good spirit/bad spirit thing they had in the og show would be a fascinating concept.

I'd do my best to pull away from the show's original centerist narrative. Have Korra learn from the villains and make active changes to the world, showing her growth as an Avatar and person. Perhaps she's reluctant to see the Red Lotus' point of view at the beginning of the show, but sympathises with Amon at the tail end of the story.

Make the entire Krew queer. And talk about queerness more, in general. Have the characters have open conversations about queerness in their respective enviornments and cultures. Tlok already has a very queer undertone to it, even before korrasami became canon, but touching on this subject more overtly would provide great opportunity for characterisation and worldbuilding.

Have the story span several years. Watch the Krew grow up. Tlok works very well as a coming of age story even in its original form. Have Vaatu and his darkness and chaos symbolise the uncharted waters of maturity at the end of teenagedom. This especially works if Korra merges or accepts him like i suggested.

There... that's some basics. I think that most of my criticisms of the show could mostly be solved if the studio wasn't being a bitch but well. We can't have nice things, can we?

I took a while to answer this ask because it was genuinely such an interesting, but overwhelming question.

Also now I have wayy too many ideas about a potential tlok rewrite, so feel free to ask me about that if you want to hear me ramble.

[prying-pandora666]

On the Disconnect Between ATLA and LOK: Or Why Reactionary Centrism Ruins Everything

I’ve made it no secret that I’m no fan of LOK’s writing for a number of reasons. But today I want to focus on only one issue: its politics.

I am baffled as to why LOK is seen as being the more “woke” story. Just because the protagonist is a buff brown woman with a female love interest (only implied until the comics, really)? This is such an incredibly shallow reading focusing only on aesthetics and ignores the actual content and philosophies LOK espouses.

But let’s not get into religion, iconography, the effects of colonialism and westernization etc, or we’ll be here forever.

Instead let’s just focus on the politics.

The Forge

Part of the disconnect between ATLA and LOK are the cultural conditions in the USA when both were made. The forge from whence they came was quite different.

Avatar: The Last Airbender

ATLA criticized imperialism.

If this show had been made during the height of Manifest Destiny, or during our super fun times illegally annexing territories (like Hawaii), it would’ve likely struggled to tell its story as well as it did. It would’ve been far more controversial and likely would’ve needed to take a more “centrist” approach, making it seem like imperialism isn’t “all that bad”.

It might have even come out and said that it isn’t imperialism itself that is the problem, but that Sozin to Ozai were big mean dictators that did it the wrong way!

But because ATLA came out in the 2000s—during a time in which the world had widely come around to thinking imperialism is kinda some super villain schtick—it was easy for the story to focus on the perspective of the victims of such campaigns and tell it from this point of view.

We don’t get long segments of feeling sorry for Ozai, now do we? The closest we get is Azula, who herself serves as a victim of this war that has consumed her childhood and deprived her of a safe, loving environment in which to grow and develop, instead having been groomed into a living weapon for her father and nation’s war machine.

So now let’s compare this to LOK.

The Legend of Korra

What does the first season of LOK cover? Collectivism, social activism, civil disobedience escalating to acts of violent defiance against the state.

What was going on in the USA in 2012 when LOK came out?

Occupy Wallstreet.

Socialism vs capitalism, the 99% versus the 1%, civil rights and equality; these are all issues we are still grappling with today. They’re highly politicized and divisive. There is no universal agreement about them.

And so LOK had no “safe” villain or “evil” ideology to combat. Instead it had a complicated and widely divisive topic to tackle that was contentious then and continues to be today.

As a result? Too much time is wasted equivocating.

Both Sides Are The Same! (But Not Really)

We get some soft worldbuilding early on in Book 1 of LOK showing how the infrastructure of this city is built to benefit benders and box out non-benders, but this is never given real focus. We SEE how the trains and police are dominated by earth/metal benders, we SEE how factory jobs employ lightning benders, while non-benders live in the slums which subject them to violence. But none of this is ever the focus or the point.

Almost as if the show is afraid to make a real critique from the perspective of the working class or an oppressed minority group.

Instead the story quickly falls off a cliffside as every tired old pejorative thrown at communists is recycled for Amon.

His sympathetic backstory is a complete fabrication meant to hide that he is actually part of the oppressor class.

They pretend to be the powerless oppressed group, and yet have the funding of the richest industrialist in the city?

The rich industrialist is a member of this supposedly oppressed class but really he’s just a secret villain looking to change the world for his own personal reasons and not to protect his fellow nonbenders (these same accusations are thrown at Jewish people re: Marxism).

There are no sincere attempts to communicate their grievances sympathetically or build a coalition or garner public support. Instead The Equalists only use violence, fear, and other oppressive silencing tactics.

The desire to make everyone equal by “stealing” people’s individuality. (The old “make everyone equal heights by cutting tall people’s legs down” chestnut).

And more!

This is kinda bonkers propaganda if you’re looking at it from a left-wing perspective, right?

And it seems weirdly incoherent if you’re trying to look at it from a right-wing perspective, especially with Tarrlok standing in as the villain “on the other side”.

But it makes PERFECT sense as an enlightened centrist horseshoe-theory piece that can’t commit to either side and has to warp and undermine its own story to fit a “both sides are wrong” message. Heck, it’s so heavy handed it even made Amon and Tarrlok brothers!

This is the problem that plagues all of LOK.

Look at the other villains too!

Amon: Civil Rights Activist or Bad Faith Opportunist?

Amon

Pretends to be: A civil rights activist for an oppressed minority group.

Is actually: A bad faith actor whipping up a small or non-issue into a much bigger one and convincing people to turn on each other for his own personal gain/revenge. Once defeated, the problem disappears.

Electing a non-bender somehow makes everyone happy and the problem is never addressed again. Just like electing Obama ended racism! Oh wait…

Unalaq: Spiritual Environmentalist or Environmental Satanist?

Unalaq

Pretends to be: A spiritualist concerned about the environment and the spirits. Basically Al Gore meets Tenzin Gyatso but willing to start a civil war over it.

Is actually: An occultist weirdo who wants to fuse with LITERALLY SATAN and usher in 10,000 years of darkness or something, and willing to start a war over it.

In an attempt to make a spiritual foil for Korra, who struggled with the spiritual parts of being the Avatar, the story took a weird turn and made a choice widely regarded as “fanfiction on crack” by having Unalaq aspire to become “The Dark Avatar”.

But it’s okay, you see, because while Unalaq’s criticisms of waning spirituality and lack of protection of holy sites could be seen as a knock against environmentalism, by the end Korra recognizes that Unalaq had a point and that the spirit portals should be left open.

So why exactly did Unalaq want to be the Dark Avatar and usher in an era of darkness? How was that supposed to resolve the problem he presented and Korra ended up agreeing with?

It doesn’t, and once again we are left with a contradictory centrist message of “protecting the environment is good but you should be suspicious of anyone that actually advocates for it”.

Also thanks for demystifying the origin of the Avatar and ruining the original lore for where bending came from with your Prometheus/Christian allegory. Ugh.

Zaheer: Spiritual Guru Fighting Against Modernity or A Charismatic Dummy Who Learned Everything About Anarchy From a Prager U Coloring Book

Zaheer

Pretends to be: An anarchist seeking to bring down oppressive regimes, therefor resetting the world to a more egalitarian time

Is actually: An idiot who doesn’t even know the difference between an ancom and an ancap and has no coherent ideology. He just wants chaos, I guess, which isn’t whah anarchy or anything is about.

Perhaps realizing they messed up so badly with Unalaq that even the creators were unhappy with the results, they attempted the spiritual foil idea again with Zaheer.

This time they actually had a writing staff which makes this season the agreed upon best of LOK.

But the tip-toeing around making any actual criticisms and falling back on the “both sides are bad” cop-out are only exacerbated by how uninformed and nonsensical Zaheer’s actions are. Not unlike Amon, he takes none of the steps an actual activist would take. He never even speaks to the people of Ba Sing Se to find out what they need or want. He just kills their leader, announces it, refuses to elaborate, then bounces and lets the city tear itself apart in the power vacuum.

It’s an entertaining spectacle! Just like his later torture of Korra is visceral. But none of it has any real substance to support it and so the horrific acts he commits feel like senseless edgelord tantrums.

Even Bolin knows it. Once Zaheer is defeated, Bolin shoves a sock in his mouth, therefor cementing Bolin as my favorite of the Krew for all time.

Kuvira: Literal Nazi or Literal Nazi but she didn’t mean it!

Kuvira

Pretends to be: A fascist, putting people in labor camps and uses the equivalent of an atom bomb to crush her enemies under heel in the name of unifying the continent under her control.

Is actually: All of those things but she had good intentions! She just went too far! Give her a slap on the wrists because her and Korra aren’t so different, you see!

Perhaps the most bizarre writing choice was to make the fascist the only truly sympathetic villain of this series. The reasons become quite clear, however, when we recognize one thing.

Yes, she’s styled after the Nazis.

Yes, her actions in modern day are more reminiscent of Russia.

But who is the only nation to have ever used a weapon of mass destruction on the level of the atom bomb? The USA.

And here is where the unwillingness to make a bold criticism or take a hard controversial stance is the most apparent.

Kuvira acts like a fascist and has a lot of Nazi-vibes, but she is also a grim reminder of the USA’s own imperial history. Of our flippant use of a horrifying technology that still continues to have consequences for the descendants of the victims even today. It is one of the worst violations of human rights and decency in history. And the USA is the only nation to have ever actually used one.

So if you ever feel it’s weird that Kuvira was arguably the worst of the villains but got off with only house arrest and a happy ending with hugs from her family? You’re not alone. Kuvira has to be “not that bad” or else you’re critiquing the USA itself. And that is a level of controversy this franchise doesn’t seem interested in dipping it’s toes into.

It’s the reason they equivocate and justify by having the Earth Prince step down and choose democracy. This isn’t an East Asian ideal. This wouldn’t have been a popular or virtuous choice in that time period. Many would’ve regarded it as tyranny of the majority, or a disorganized chaos without a consistent central authority.

It’s only seen as the perfect solution in the Democratic West. So you see, it’s not so bad, because at least we have democracy! We aren’t as bad as Kuvira who really isn’t all that bad either! Or so the narrative tries to apologize for itself.

And this is even more apparent with everyone’s problematic fav!

Varrick: How Elon Musk Wants Us To View Him vs What Elon Musk Wishes He Was

Varrick!

Is presented as: A quirky, funny, Tony Stark-esque genius who made a mistake and deserves a redemption!

Is actually: A war-profiteer willing to escalate tensions and shed the blood of his own people with no remorse to make money. Also he builds the equivalent of the atom bomb for Kuvira and her allegorical Nazis. But he gets a happy ending with a weirdly westernized wedding anyway!

Isn’t it telling that the villain who is written to be the most loveable and sympathetic is, in fact, the capitalist industrialist?

And not like that yucky evil industrialist Hiroshi Sato funding the Equalists and their civil rights movement.

No, no! Varrick is the good kind of industrialist! The kind that is non-political and mostly cares about money and inventions! After all, he only built a weapon of mass destruction for the Nazis, not the civil rights protestors!

Which brings us to…

Our Civilized Poverty vs their Savage Poverty!

And hey, that’s fair because look at the differences between Republic City and Ba Sing Se!

Sure, both had destitute populations starving and without proper shelter due to the disconnected elite leaders who didn’t care about their plight.

But the homeless people of Republic City are presented as jolly and helpful and never state a single grievance even as they live in a tent city underground! Everyone knows that democratic poverty is better! Therefor Sato was totally unjustified in funding an equality movement!

The poor people of BSS, on the other hand, are victims of that mean old non-democratic Earth Queen and later of the power vacuum left by her assassination, therefor their plight is ACTUALLY horrific. Kuvira may have been bad but she and Varrick are justified because of the unAmerican conditions!

Looking at it this way, so many of LOK’s problems fall into place. It perhaps serves as lesson in not tackling complex problems with the intention of a clean solution unless you’re willing to take a controversial stance and stick to your convictions.

I don’t think the creators intended to make a libertarian criticism of every social movement and apologia for capitalism and fascism. It’s just a sad reflection of what is and isn’t controversial in our current society. Divorced from actual morality or perspective.

What a waste.

This Post Brought To You By: Viewers Like You! (or: Check out this thing I made)

All that said, if you want a well-written and more adult take on the ATLA universe, check out the Kyoshi and Yangchen novels! F. C. Yee doesn’t pull any punches and perfectly balanced the darker, more visceral elements an adult story can have, with expert worldbuilding and humanized characters that feel believable even when they’re in fantastical situations.

Or if you want more ATLA instead, kindly check out @book4air: A project creating a pseudo Book 4 using both the official comics and original materials, fully dubbed, orchestrated, and partially animated by industry pros who happen to be fans!

Some comics are getting rewrites too, so whether you love the comics and want a fresh take, or hate the comics and want a change, we are doing our best to make this accessible for everyone including people with disabilities who may not be able to enjoy the originals.

Check out our first episode here!

If you can afford to, consider supporting us on Patreon! Every episode is expensive to produce and we are a bunch of broke artists. Some which don’t even have consistent or reliable housing. Any little bit helps.

If you can’t, no worries! You can still help by spreading the word so our videos can overcome the YouTube algorithm.

With all my love for this franchise and its fandom, I hope you all continue to enjoy your favs regardless of my criticisms.

[orangepanic]

Finished Fic: Smoke

It's finally done! My fic for this year's @wipbigbang is one of my longest-running WIPs and also one of my personal favorites. My apologies and thanks to anyone still waiting to find out what happens to Equalist!Asami and her unexpected lover - I hope the ending is both satisfying and believable.

Story Title: Smoke

Fandom: Avatar: Legend of Korra

Summary: When General Iroh is captured during the Battle of Yue Bay, it's up to Asami to extract information from him that will win the Equalist revolution. By any means necessary.

Warnings: Graphic depictions of violence, major character death, suicide attempt, major character injury

Characters: Iroh II, Asami Sato, Hiroshi Sato, Amon | Noatak, Amon's Lieutenant, Tarrlok, Mako, Lin Beifong, Zuko, Izumi, Original Equalist Characters

Pairing: Iroh II/Asami Sato, other background pairings (some canon, some not)

When I Started: February! February 2021, that is. Eek.

How I Lost My Shit: Most people who know my writing know I'm a die-hard panster, so while I had a loose idea of how this fic would go from the beginning I of course didn't write that. This was my first time writing a real Enemies to Lovers (like literally they try to kill each other a lot) and I found that as a consequence of that I needed to make changes to the story along the way in order to fit the genre. A big decision was to slow down the action to make the romance believable, and another was to flesh out more of the Equalists and their operation in order to avoid a "good guy good and smart, bad guy bad and dumb" dynamic which wouldn't support the kind of story I wanted to tell. All this in turn led to a time skip and whole second half to the fic that I hadn't anticipated followed by a few long breaks myself while I tried to figure out where the story needed to go from there and who with. Mostly because the main characters both wound up killing people I hadn't planned for and so there was a whole legal thing I had to puzzle through that eventually ruled out the original ending I'd had in mind. Nobody listens to me, you know? And I now know an awful lot about immunity and extradition.

How I Finished My Shit: @chocolate-cringymuffin, an existing reader of this fic, incredible artist, and dear fandom friend, agreed to be my artist for the WIP Big Bang. I could NOT let them down. There's really nothing more motivating than fan art from someone who cares about your story. I might not have finished this fic without their enthusiasm. I certainly wouldn't have finished it today.

ALSO CHECK OUT THEIR BOMB-ASS ART!!!! HOLYYYYY CRAP!!! It's so beautiful I'm crying. They're so happy. I also love the choice of scene, which comes at a part of the fic where I think both of them really commit to letting the past be the past and their new life together.

A/N: Thank you so much to the mods of @wipbigbang for putting on this event again! It's a great forcing function. I also want to give a shout out to @alishatheninth who, while not a beta reader, gave me a lot of feedback that I needed to hear about what was working and what wasn't early in the fic and in general has been an invaluable critic and cheerleader on this grand adventure. Alisha, I'm lucky to know you and I'm sorry I killed your favorite LOK character in a truly horrible way. Mostly.

[withallthatisleftofmyheart]

hey there I would love to see your ideas for this:

”Gothic horror Maidar set during Morgoth's imprisonment in the Halls of Mandos”

Thank you, @gingeragenda 🖤 I had a lot of fun writing this.

I took the opportunity to have a go at the Our Winterfeast prompt: Haunted

There's nothing explicit in this, but Adar is very much mind-prisoned, so cw for psychological torture and compulsive behaviour.

The Ghost of Angband

Each time Adar awoke, he lined up thirteen pebbles. That morning, or day, or night (it was impossible to tell this far beneath the earth), was no different. He arranged them in order of size, from smallest to largest, left to right. They clacked against each other as he worked. He did his best to replicate the same volume and tone with each pebble. It always took some time to get it just right. A particular pattern of markings needed to be lined up correctly across the pebbles. These rules were self-imposed but critically important, though, he could not recall why.

Once the pebbles were satisfactorily laid out, he tapped each one against the stone floor. For each pebble, he spoke a name. For each name, he pictured a face. The last name and face was his own. He then repeated the process thirteen times. Adar could not remember who the other names and faces belonged to. They were spectres of a past life, tangled in the frayed edges of his mind. It had been this way for quite some time, but through this ritual, he grasped onto the scraps of what had been.

On this occasion, something was amiss. The names felt strange in his mouth. Each vowel was sticky against his tongue, and the faces were not quite right. Even his own name sounded strange to his ears, and he was sure his eyes had not always been quite so far apart. He wondered if this change, this disruption, could be an ill omen, or was he jumping at shadows again? Someone used to tease him for his superstitions. Their laughter rang in his ears. Soft and bright, like tinkling bells.

Adar stood up and moved over to the jagged mirror shard that hung on the wall. The light in his quarters was dim, but his eyes were well used to the gloom. Tarnished dark splotches obscured his reflection, but he could make out a face, his face. It was as he remembered it. Wasn’t it? There were his grey eyes, his scarred cheeks, his sullen brow. For a few minutes, he stared at his features, waiting to catch them shifting. But they held firm. He sighed and ran a comb through his hair thirteen times, reciting the names with each stroke, until it was slicked back and tucked behind his ears. With a deep breath, he told himself that all was well, then dressed. 

He wore a long black robe with voluminous sleeves that gathered at cuffs of a deep shade of red, embroidered with silver flames. A matching band ran around the garment’s waist. Each time he went to sleep he folded the robe away in a chest. Each time he awoke he found it draped over the end of his bed. Many times he tried to stay awake to see who it was that moved it, but heavy slumber always descended upon him before he had the chance. Eventually, he gave up trying. Though he continued to put the robe in the chest each night. He would not let his routine be disrupted by mysterious forces. 

As he fastened his dagger belt around his hips, a flash of red moved in his peripheral vision. His eyes darted to the entrance. His quarters had no door, those were reserved for servants of higher rank. All he saw was the carved archway and the empty corridor beyond. His fingers tightened around the jewel-encrusted hilt of his dagger. Another flash of red caught his eye. He looked down at his sleeve cuff. Red. That must have been it. He held his breath, counted thirteen heartbeats, then exhaled. With his nerves settled, he stepped out into the corridor.

Adar skulked through Angband. Cold flames cast gyrating shadows against the high stone walls. His footsteps echoed around him, cutting through the heavy silence. It gave the illusion that he walked among many others. While he was certain it had not always been the case, Angband was now deserted. Adar would not abandon his duty, however. Melkor rescued him from unspeakable horrors so he would wait patiently for his master’s return. Perhaps when the Dark Lord returned, he would be rewarded for his loyalty. How long had it been now? Adar could not be sure. The passing of time was strange in Angband. Years slipped through his fingers like smoke. 

The sprawling subterranean fortress was far too large to cover even one level in a single day. He tried it once but passed out on the cold stone floor and awoke in his bed. He supposed he could have walked back in his sleep, but the possibility that he had been carried deterred him from straying too far. It was dangerous to show weakness here, even if he had not seen another living soul in quite some time.

Sometimes there would be a sudden blistering heat or frigid chill as he passed through the corridors. Each time it occurred, he checked the walls and floors for gaps through which a draught could blow. Even if he did manage to find a hole, the temperature difference was never enough to explain the phenomenon. Still, he would always go and collect rubble to fill in the cracks. 

Occasionally he witnessed streaks of greyish-green colours that hung in the air. They twisted off into the distance or sprang towards him. Sometimes he thought he could make out faces. There was a familiarity to them that caused an uncomfortable tugging sensation at his sternum. It was as if they were messengers from beyond, ghosts of a forgotten past, or portents of doom.

Adar came to the throne room. It was a colossal chamber with a ceiling so high it could not be made out through the darkness. Large obsidian pillars were evenly spaced throughout. At the far end of the chamber was an enormous throne of ornately carved stone that sat atop a high dias. A smaller throne sat to the left of the larger. It was made from intricate gilded metalwork. Adar could not recall who it belonged to, but for a moment, he thought he caught a glimpse of a figure sitting upon it. He tapped his forefinger against his thumb thirteen times, muttering the names and recalling the faces, then surveyed the throne room. It was vacant. All was still.

“Adar,” a voice rang out sweetly. Strangely, it did not echo.

“Hello?” Adar’s reply bounced up the walls and disappeared into the gloom.

He could not remember the last time he heard a voice that was not his own. He remained still, ears keenly listening for any sound of movement. All he heard was the thumping of his heart. He took thirteen careful steps forward, then stopped again to listen.

“Adar,” this time the voice came as a whisper inside his skull.

A sharp pain stabbed at his eyes. He winced and blinked it away. His vision blurred into a gloomy swirl of dark stone and torchlight, then coalesced into a beautiful face. 

The being’s visage was so bright, it burned to look upon them, but Adar endured. He could not bear to shut his eyes and deny himself the sight. So he stood there, frozen in awe, as the being reached out a hand and tilted up his chin. The touch sent a shiver through Adar as he looked up into eyes that glowed like embers. 

“Do you remember me?” the being asked.

“No,” Adar breathed. He could not imagine being acquainted with a being of such sublimity. 

“A pity,” the being replied with a sigh. “No matter, I have come to rescue you from your torment.”

“I-,” Adar stammered, “I do not require rescue.” 

 “Is that so?” the being’s full lips twisted into a smirk, “Look around you, Adar, does nothing seem amiss?”

Adar’s eyes darted about the throne room. “Where is everyone?” he asked in a low voice.

“That is not the question you should ask,” the being replied. 

It did not take Adar long to think of a response. He had a wealth of questions and a dearth of answers.

“Where am I?” he asked again, louder this time.

“Well done,” the being praised, brushing their thumb against Adar’s cheek, “You are trapped. Not quite here, not quite gone. It is in my power to free you, but I require something in return.”

Adar took a shuddering breath. He could not think what he had done to deserve such a mercy.

[stars4krios]

I've recently finished TLOK & there for joined the fandom and... Did we even watch the same show???

(Very long & passionate rant under cut)

Like mf wdym Korra is the worst/weakest Avatar? It's physically not possible for her to be the weakest as the cycle goes on the Avatar spirt gets stronger so technically the weakest Avatar is Wan!! But I still want to point out the many reasons why Korra isn't the weakest or worst Avatar.

Firstly, I want to acknowledge vaid criticisms of Korra. Yes she constantly underestimated her opponents but in her defense she was severely inexperienced. She'd spent most of her life in that training facility in the south Pole and then once she got to republic city was almost immediately thrown into dealing with the equalits so she underestimated Amon due to lack of experience. She was then manipulated by her uncle so can you really blame her for not realizing he was evil till it was too late? THAT WAS HER FAMILY!!

Anyways, Korra has faults like every Avatar but she also has feats that you all seem to forget/over look!

My main example and my favorite to bring up in this argument is; Korra on harmonic convergence after having Raava RIPPED from her (need to emphasize the fact that Korra did not give Raava up willing like some of y'all like to think, she fought to keep Raava with her and was devastated when she lost her and the past lives. She didn't give it up willingly) meaning she didn't have the Avatar state and this fight was just her pure strength against UnaVaatu.

KORRA BEAT HIS ASS WITH NO BENDING, NO AVATAR STATE, NO PAST LIVES, NO NOTHING. KORRA FIST FOUGHT THE SPIRIT OF CHAOS AND DARKNESS AND WON!

But I have more examples of how strong she truly is (there is no order to them lol).

Korra broke out of Blood bending without the Avatar state (something Aang couldn't do).

She had control over 3/4 of the elements at like five, and the only reason it took so long to master Air bending (which still only took like a few months) was because she didn't get a teacher until she was 17!

Korra fought one of the strongest air benders WHILE DYING, like ppl forget she was slowly dying during that fight. She was weakened and still won.

Now let's talk about another one of my favorite feats of hers, REDIRECTING THE AVATAR UNIVERSE VERSION OF A FUCKING NUKE. Like it was so powerful it ripped open a whole in space & time, creating a new spirit portal and she redirected it and wasn't even fazed. Like I'm 90% sure she didn't even break a sweat!

She's the first Avatar to metal bend, ik it's likely because she's the first Avatar to exist when metal bending was more common but she was metal bending in like a week! That's not something anyone can do!!

Another reason I have is technically not about her strength but more about the strength of Korra's version of Raava. When Korra re-fused with Raava, the Raava spirit was bigger than it was when it was ripped from her and alot bigger than the version Wan fused with meaning Korra has a stronger version of Raava than previous Avatars making her inherently stronger than them. When Korra re-fused with Raava, she was big enough for Korra to ride on her but when Wan fused with her Raava fit in a tea pot.

Now time to defend Korra's loses!

・Korra lost against Amon because she was inexperienced, she'd spent most of her life away from the world and wasn't prepared to fight a master water bender.

・Korra lost Raava because it was supposed to happen. Ever Harmonic convergence Raava and Vaatu fight so it's likely that ever 10,000 year's the avatar cycle will restart, also did we not watch Korra be absolutely DEVASTATED that she lost her connect with the last Avatars? Like she spends most of the time during the 4th season wishing she could talk to Aang!

・Honestly I don't even know if Korra won or lost against Zaheer but I do know she was slowly dying during the fight. She was no where near her full strength! Also, the red lotus was actively surprised at how well Korra fought against going into the Avatar state just showing her control over it.

・Korra got her ass beat in that ring in the earth kingdom because she was rusty and GOING THROUGH IT! Like she hadn't fought in 3 year's and she was still working through her turama, it's the samething when she lost to old Toph, she was rusty, still being affected by the poison, and traumatized. There was on way she was going to win in that state

・ Korra lost in her 1v1 with Kuvira because she was rusty, she hadn't fought in 3 year's and you expect her to be as good as she was before her hiatus? Bitch please! Korra quite literally goes on to go toe to toe with Kuvira at the end of the season when she'd worked through her rust.

In conclusion, Korra isn't the wort or weakest Avatar your just over looking her feats and dumbing her down because you can't except your fav isn't as strong as you think. She was ment to restart the Avatar cycle, and she also isn't even in her prime! She's 17 in the first season, 18 in season 2 & 3, and 21 in the last season, Korra is still at the beginning of her career as an Avatar. She's only going to get stronger.

Also no, I'm not a Korra glazer. She's not even my favorite Avatar, it's Kiyoshi.

[bibibbon]

Re: Amon vs. Spinner - Amon being a hypocrite made perfect sense for his character. He genuinely wanted to wipe out bending because he felt it was the source of the world's problems and produced people like his abusive father, but his past and the way we see him raised by his abusive father where the importance of his bending power gets drilled into his head for years means that it makes logical sense that he'd use that bending power to get rid of others' bending since he's psychologically incapable of not using it to solve his problems. And like his brother Tarlokk the point was that it's a tragedy they became just like their father while both trying in their own ways to fix the problems that gave rise to him. Their feelings on how they were abused gave them tunnel vision to the point where they couldn't see how they were repeating the cycle until it was too late.

With Spinner, there is nothing unique about his past of being prejudiced against to separate him from any other heteromorph. So him being hypocritical doesn't have any justification other than undermining his position.

Yep you have basically put it into better words than I could ever do anon!!!

Unlike Amon, spinner doesn't have a reason to be discriminatory towards his own kind and his previous actions make it so that it doesn't make sense why he would do such a switch up. Sure spinners character going through a similar thing to amon would be very interesting and it would explore a characteristic that the villains have that's almost never explored : their hypocrisy!! However, if hori wanted to go with that route he needs build up which he very much lacks!!

Spinners storyline also is lacking in more ways than one. His relationship with tomura is Hella underdeveloped and there really isn't a clear path of how spinner changes from being a die hard stain fan to a die hard shigaraki fan. Spinner and shoji could of had an interesting dynamic as they both have their own respective parallels and similarities were both characters could gain a voice through their interactions but nope hori didn't build on that at all.

Out of topic but I just wanna add that to me there's something so symbolic about Amon dying by a technological device and not by a bender of by bending itself. The abuse he went through truly shaped him and his brother in such a different way with them both still relying on an ability that they don't take a liking to, to get by. (Honestly I should rewatch lok and atla maybe I will post about it but getting into fandom mess thats the atla fandom is annoying)

Edit: now that I think about it Amon and overhaul end up being a bit similar more similar than amon and spinner (I still like amon better tho)

[sgiandubh]

Hello good afternoon I'm not Amon Weakest Link, but I also occasionally look at this subject.

In February you reblogged a post from @earthaliensworld commenting that there were 2 new directors and 1 secretary at a certain family company.

I went through the website and saw that the same thing happens with 3BCB (if you prefer, feel free to hide the name of the company) The secretary in question seems to me to be linked to the accountant's office... Perhaps the Weakest Link really needs to be supervised when it comes to money matters for himself, his family and perhaps his future.

Dear Secretary Anon,

Thank you for the update. As you perhaps could guess, I already knew that.

It's not a secretary (as in 'a person' secretary), but a company specialized in secretarial services, with about 30 successive company officer appointments on behalf of all sorts of businesses, ranging from media to automotive to the peculiar (Karma Partners, anyone?).

Don't you find odd, dear Secretary Anon, that a company with no employees would suddenly think suitable to subcontract (for this is what I think happened, here) this type of critical services to a third party?

See for yourself and yes, this comes from 3BCB's unaudited abriged accounts, filed on December 23, 2023:

I have my own thoughts on this. And actually, I have more questions, than thoughts. And please, 'his family'?

You must be sarcastically joking, Anon who sent this two times in a row, just to make sure I answer it. Which I hope I just did.

[hero-israel]

Now 30 years after "Schindler's List" came out, I give you the worst article ever written about it.

Join me for a wallow in the depths of Extremely Online lefty pseudointellectualism and Awareness Raising.

"For all its pathos and earnestness, the movie is too glib in its handling of the Nazis. The concentration camp commandant, Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes), is a sadistic monster who performs cinematic and dramatic acts of brutality to signal to the viewer that he is pure evil."

Yes, the movie sure was unfair to Amon Goeth. It's not like there was historical evidence of him doing exactly what they showed.

"In real life, when Nazis and their ilk are trying to gain power, they often lie about their motives or their goals, and use dog whistles to rally support. They talk incessantly about black crime rates, or, in the Nazis’ case, about Jewish crime rates, in order to create a consensus for strong-arm law-and-order policies."

The Nazis were just a warm-up act for the REAL threat: Republicans!

And, just like with Goeth, I guess this movie doesn't actually show what Nazis were like in real life. I guess when Adolf Hitler promised in 1922 that he would exterminate all the Jews, that wasn't real life, that was a wandering variant from "Across the Hitlerverse." And speaking of superhero movies:

"But you don’t need to deconstruct Nazi ideology or understand racist dog whistles to condemn the Nazis in “Schindler’s List.” You just need to watch as Goeth takes up a sniper position and shoots anyone in the camp who happens to pause for a rest. It’s no harder than rooting against Lex Luthor or the Joker."

This drivel was published 5 years ago, so the author had to have been like 17 at the time and is just barely out of college now, right? Right??? (*checks*) NO WAY, HE'S 52, ARE YOU FOR REAL??!

"The Jewish people in the film don’t try to resist or kill their German oppressors. They don’t even express much in the way of hatred or resentment... Jewish people are always object lessons, never conscious teachers. No Jewish character criticizes or explains the evils of Nazi propaganda. These Jews never talk about how they experience prejudice, or what they would need to fight it.... the Jews around Schindler only beg him to save their relatives, or praise him for his bravery. They never insist on their rights."

Well, there was that Jewish architect in the camps who talked back to Goeth for a second about how the barracks would collapse and he immediately had her killed. The movie is about people having been ALREADY ghettoized by a for-real genocidal regime once the genocide program is under way. Where was there supposed to be a dramatic lecture? And what Jew would have given one, to which Nazi, in which fucking ACTUAL GHETTO?

Again and again, this screen-addled, zero-life-experience baby WHO IS SOMEHOW 52 YEARS OLD WTF fails to confront the horrors of true Jewish history because his only frame of reference has been Twitter arguments about how sleeping with a mattress is secretly white supremacy.

"The targets of fascism are the people best able to express what is happening to them, and what they need to fight it. But “Schindler’s List” presents victims as supplicants. It doesn’t model any way to show support for journalist Jemele Hill, who fell out with her network for saying that Trump is a white supremacist. It doesn’t push you to show solidarity when anti-racist activists demand that Confederate monuments be taken down. It doesn’t tell you that anti-fascist actions are important — even when they disrupt someone’s meal. The virtuous victims in “Schindler’s List” never protest. Because of this kind of representation, it’s easy for people to claim that protesters aren’t virtuous."

.........Or! OR! Hear me out here. Or maybe, just maybe, there could be another reason why the Holocaust doesn't look like a good match for someone being fired from ESPN, or for well-fed comfortable people protected by the rule of law yelling at a White House press secretary. Without checking - without doing even a five-second Google search - I am willing to declare as an absolute immutable fact of the universe that Noah Berlatsky considers Sarah Huckabee Sanders to be more dangerous, more fascist, and more Nazi-like than he does Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The overall mentality is that real life must be a screenplay - according to Berlatsky's written cues. Real life must be cinematic - according to Berlatsky's direction. And anything that differs from Berlatsky's internal script - "AOC uses the Infinity Gauntlet to stop voter ID laws which are the new Nazism" - is simply not credible as real life, as real history, and must be discarded and replaced by more of what he saw on Twitter.

After a long lecture, of course.

[aanglican]

I do understand why some people really disliked Amon turning out to be a waterbender all along. But before the reveal, there was already quite a bit of speculation that he was a waterbender, given his highly fluid fighting style, his association with spirituality, and his alignment with drastic change. On this emotional/spiritual/symbolic level, Noatak is not only a waterbender but arguably the most waterbender.

Noatak and his brother/enemy Tarrlok are politically opposed, but they are both ultimately figures of disruption, and Noatak most of all. He sees the world as unjust and unequal, and sets out to change it. Yes, his means are ruthless, callous, unstable, and increasingly counter-productive. He seems to lose his previously tight control in an interesting way after he takes Tarrlok's waterbending and becomes even more extreme and irrational. But we have actually seen the problems that he is trying to address. His means and egocentric approach are the problem, not his cause.

[T]he Equalist movement disappears after B1 (…) Meanwhile, Amon himself is killed near the end of B1 and the show rarely even alludes to his existence again (Tarrlok isn't referenced ever again iirc). But, interestingly, two of Amon's main objections actually are quietly addressed by the show.

Amon condemns the rule of Republic City by benders, as described above. By B2, somewhere between a few months to a year after Amon's death, Republic City's council of bending representatives has been replaced by a democratically elected non-bender president. Amon also criticized the dominance of pro-bending as entertainment, given that it's necessarily restricted to benders and (in his view contributed to the cultural glorification of them. In B2, this is largely supplanted by an early film industry pioneered by eccentric genius non-benders Varrick and Zhu Li (Varrick is technically also a villain in B2, but his various crimes never catch up with him and he's ultimately recuperated as a friendly ally).

(…) The various forms of discrimination against non-benders in B1 are never really addressed by the show again, which is disappointing, but those forms of discrimination also don't seem to be in effect after B1, either. It seems like society has genuinely improved.

Would these changes have happened without Amon and the Equalist revolution? Maybe. I personally doubt it. Amon and the Equalists did terrible things, but they also made it impossible to ignore their criticisms. They didn't get everything they were after, obviously, but did the upheaval and disruption they caused ultimately lead to major political and cultural changes of the kind they wanted? Apparently, yes.

I wish we saw this in a more organic way, rather than being presented with it as a fait accompli in B2 and the subject never coming up again. But I do appreciate that the ultimate result of this failed, terrifying revolution is significant social change.

(…) All [Korra] villains actions produce long-term consequences that affect later events and the world around them, even when they're killed off, and these broad changes trend towards the ideals of the villain who precipitated them.

— @anghraine, Why the villains of Legend of Korra matter (2024)

[amoneki-ramblings]

iirc you’re more into angst, but Haise would attempt to make Amon doughnuts, wouldn’t he? :0 He’d be a good critic too

YEAHHHHHHHHH I think it would be something Haise would pick up pretty fast (but maybe he would have Amon try his first few attempts and they'd be. Well. Amon says they're good at least but when Haise tried giving Juuzou some he visibly Paled)

Amon would probably just try to be Nice at first until Haise gets a More Reliable Taste-Tester, and then once he starts making donuts that are Pretty Good Actually Amon would give him more constructive criticism to refine them

He thinks that it's very touching that Haise would go out of his way to do something like this, despite the fact that he can't even enjoy the things he makes (All the donut making also certainly would help Haise later with the Quinx Squad, although they are left wondering why he makes donuts so often.... And why they're so sweet)