#and Bryke bashing

[disneydatass]

Was scrolling on insta and saw a post about the upcoming earth-bending avatar spin-off and all the comments were ofc men bashing the fact that it will be “another girl” and “this one will probably be woke and gay too”

And while this obviously doesn’t need to be explained or retorted it got me to once again think about the franchise as a whole and re-ignited my fire and unwavering stance that AANG WAS A SHIT AVATAR!

The very dude all these men “wish the show could go back to” was so weak it’s actually laughable. Aang, the avatar that ran away from his responsibilities time and time again! The monks disapproved of Aang as a whole bc he did not take his duty seriously. “But he’s just a kid” you say? Korra was fucking determined to be the very best out of the womb! If Aang did not get fucking bailed out by the lion turtle the world would have been destroyed by Ozai! Aang ran away from the air temple, he ran away from the gaang, hell he nearly gave up off the bat for his schoolboy crush in Katara. “But it was true love” you say? Kyoshi was in love and guess what? She and Rangi put their duty first. If Aang didn’t have Katara to reel him in from penguin sliding & constantly playing he would have never mastered the elements. He had the privilege of his past lives and refused to listen to them! “Aang was brought up to be a pacifist; he did not want to disrespect his culture” you say? Aang damn near went Anakin Skywalker on the sand ppl bc they took Appa to make some coin to feed themselves. Who bailed his ass out of that again? You guessed it Katara! He wouldn’t have even found the hidden library WITHOUT TOPH. He would not have escaped said library WITHOUT TOPH! Aang was written and shown over and over again that he was not about this life. Yet fast fwd to LOK he suddenly was all about being the avatar n put his duty over his own children! He even ran away from responsibilities of being a father! So much so that his son didn’t even think he loved him as much as his other siblings! It is canon that he is a walking contradiction and hypocrite; yet The amount of hate Korra got and still gets blows my mind. “Korra is a hot headed brat” “she’s so bitchy and annoying” “korra doesn’t come close to aang” KORRA GOT THE MF JOB DONE! Korra was mentally and physically tortured so much and did not have her past lives mind you! She did so much without support. (In the show and IRL) LoK was pulled from the network and had very little funding from the get-go. Bryke fought tooth and nail to give us the little that we got.

If this new show fails it will not be because the new avatar is a woman. It will be because once again the network has to spoon feed the little boy demographic because they can’t handle strong women, the very characters that ran this universe and made it watchable and allowed Aang to succeed in the first place!

[dragonfoxandfound]

Kataang stan: zk's insinuate that zuko and katara would be perfect for each other because they like to kill people

Excuse me, what? Kataang stans are really just making shit up now aren't they? Please, show me the swaths of Zutara shippers fawning over the idea that these two love birds also love murder and that's why they're great together!!! 😍

I mean I really shouldn't have underestimated the depths of stupidty when that lovely gem was also accompanied by this:

Is it a little bit racist that people characterize one of the only dark skinned characters in the show as a violent blood bender?

First of all why are you tokenizing Katara?

What do you mean one of the only dark skinned characters? Kanna, Kya, Yue, Hama, Hakoda, Bato, Arnook, Kuruk, Ummi, Pakku, Piando, Hahn, Yugoda, Tho, Due, Huu, Sokka? Dark skinned characters make up a good chunk of the cast.

I guess you just forgot about them because the only time you ever care about brown people is when it relates to your petty ship bashing.

If it's racist to characterize a dark skinned character as a 'violent bloodbender' then by your logic Bryke is racist. They're the ones who made Hama, Yakone, Amon and Tarrlock - all dark skinned characters - into violent bloodbenders, right?

It's shortsighted and naive to decalare bloodbending as inherently violent and things like healing inherently good. It ignores the existence of medical violence and the fact that a healer is perfectly capable of weaponizing their bending by purposely healing someone in a horrificly wrong and painful way.

And it's pretty demeaning to Katara to characterize her as unable to distinguish between the right and wrong uses of bloodbending. Especially when she's perfectly capable of doing so when waterbending and healing.

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

Your blog is my guilty pleasure lol, it's so validating to read your very matter of fact rebuttals after years of being talked over & down to in the fandom. Being in the fan space & hearing the way people talked about how much more "female gaze coded" Z/tara was made me feel like I was betraying other women by not liking Zuko or Zutara the way "real mature" women did.

Funniest thing is, when i watched the show as a kid as an older sister, someone with talent/skills that nobody else understood, a girl who felt she had to be mature all the time, Kataang instantly became my otp. Katara was living my dream of a fun, cute boy sweeping me off my feet, telling me I was special and going on a magical journey with me-- I had the HUGEST crush on Aang as a little girl. It was so lame growing older and hearing near constantly from the fandom how stupid and unbelievable the idea that Katara actually had feelings for Aang was, and how it's a "male" (aka: bad) fantasy, when honestly Zuko's angsty ass was far from dream boyfriend material in my opinion it made me feel gaslit fjhdidjskj.

Genuine Z/tara fans are fine, I totally get the appeal of the red/blue enemies to lovers sparks fly ship, but the meanest and loudest of your crewmates and the way they act like their tastes are the Correct ones has been just. ridiculous for many years. And why do those types always feel the need to start the conversation by bashing Kataang every single time?? I started with a positive opinion of their ship when I entered the fandom as a teen, even liked a few arts and whatnot as a "what-if," but all the nonsense has left me with a bad taste in my mouth.

So yeah, thanks for this space to complain about the experiences we've had lol. I've had one too many conversations about ATLA & how good it is interrupted with the other person going "well except for the Main Romance, that was shit and Z/tara should have been endgame" not to be Worn Out. Like if in their opinion the show is *perfect* except that One thing.... maybe the problem lies elsewhere?

Yup, that's definitely a pattern I noticed: zutarians are SO many and SO loud, that even though a pretty large part of the fandom disagrees with their takes (regardless of enjoying the canon ships or not) most of them just... didn't talk about it because they didn't want to be harrassed or talked down to or be hit with the "well, we are the majority therefore we're right" argument.

It's part of why I was innitially shocked at how much support this blog got. I thought I just gonna be in my own little bubble of the fandom, but nope, I got sooooo many messages of "FINALLY! Somebody said it!"

And looking back, I should've noticed something was off. There's a reason ATLA's ending was not one of these disasters that basically nukes and kills 90% of the fandom and live in infamy as one of the worst falls from grace ever, How I Met Your Mother style, even though both shows had the fan favorite ship not end together.

It wasn't just that one was well-written and the other wasn't (though that clearly affected the audience and critical reception of these endings, both at the time and through the decades).

HIMYM was a case of "The actual endgame ship was loathed by nearly everyone while the rival pairings were almost universally beloved."

ATLA was a case of "70% of the fandom likes this ship - of these fans, 25% are multishipers that also like the canon ships, 25% only like the ship in fanfic but don't actually want it to be a thing, 25% loves it but can accept it not being canon at point because they acknowledge it'd be rushed, and the 25% are the ones that would burn down Bryke's house if they could, so in reality only a fraction of the fandom didn't accept the Kataang/Maiko endgame, while the overwhelming majority was either happy about it or indifferent to it"

And that's without taking into account that Avatar got new popularity boosts through the years that lead to plenty of people that had Zutara being hyped up for years being disappointed when they realized "Oh, it was popular because of fanon shit, not because it actually would have made sense story-wise" or people who reached that same conclusion after rewatching the show.

I think that's why Zutarians have such a victim complex and want to pretend Bryke and Kataang/Maiko fans are "oppressing" them - they've been dominating the conversation for years, and not only got no results out of it, they're now losing that "leverage" too. They're no longer in an echo-chamber, they need to use actual arguments that make sense if they want their opinion to be almost universal and they just can't do it because their ship was never that good to begin with.

[lilbagdermole]

Toph's Characterization, ATLA Comics - A Dissertation

Chapter Three - The Rift (Part Three)

Welcome back! So happy to have you here once again to critic and analyze the depressing characterization that Bryke bestowed upon our favorite Earthbending Master throughout the ATLA Comic Series. I recommend you give my other two parts a read before jumping into this one as I go into depth into certain topics and themes that'll be brought up in this Chapter!

Chapter One - The Rift (Part One)

Chapter Two - The Rift (Part Two)

Let's begin! So Issue 3 starts off where we left off in Issue 2 - Toph single-handedly holding up an underground mine with her metalbending - thus protecting Katara, her father, Satoru and multiple mine workers that are stuck underneath the mine with her.

It's a life or death situation with everyone's lives dependent on Toph and it's a race against the clock as their anxiously waiting for Toph's metalbending students to arrive and help out. Unlike the previous Chapter we actually get a small glimpse of concern out of Aang for Toph.

Everybody, give Aang a round of applause for doing the bare minimum. But in all seriousness, I'll take the scraps I can get given Bryke are choosing to continuously portray Aang in a way that makes it seem that he cares solely for Katara's well-being (and, I'll soon get into one of the most infuriating panels related to this topic).

But hey, atleast we got some acknowledgment from Aang.

Moving forward we get Satoru and Toph interacting and to be honest I truthfully do not care for Satoru, but later into the analysis I will briefly dive into their relationship and why I don't care for it. Once Satoru is done lamenting his life to Toph (who is trying to concentrate to protect everyone in the collapsed mine, and it's hilarious that this dude that right then is the moment to retell his entire life story), Lao enters the scene.

Boring... Yawning... Sloppy... LAZY!

This. This is how we're going to resolve Toph and Lao's conflict? THIS?

Remember when I started off my analysis with specifying that Toph's trauma was very poorly handled and used as a means to advance the plot? Yah, this right here is why I stated that very opinion.

In the first part of 'The Rift' we're first introduced to Toph's traumatic circumstances growing up with her controlling and overprotective parents; neglected and isolated from the world. It's a plot point that the original animated series didn't delve into and the prospect of being able to analyze and understand Toph's more vulnerable and frail side was beyond intriguing.

However, as we got further into the central conflict between Aang and Toph it was proven to us that Toph's trauma was not going to be explored further than a means to justify her stance against Aang. She becomes, uncharacteristically, rude, bashful and disrespectful to most (if not all) her friends and the only person she seems to lighten up to is Satoru becomes he represents the The Future - something that she spontaneously advocates for (as she resents anything and everything that represents the Past).

In Chapter Two we get introduced to Lao and I've already covered why I abhorred his depiction and treatment for his daughter - and as I had predicted their conflict was nothing more than to (once again) legitimize Toph's clash with Aang. It's nothing more than horrendous, stereotypical, lazy and worse than fanfiction-level writing that goes against both characters' portrayals in the original show.

And this here proves it. We left off Lao and Toph's conflict with Lao not only verbally harassing his daughter but also denouncing her as his own kin. What he said was harsh, brutal and down-right traumatic things that would (and should) break the trust that Toph held for her parental figure.

To resolve this conflict in a satisfying manner, it'd logically require time and effort to adequately mend their severed relationship. We'd need a few pages of Lao coming to terms and accepting his daughter's independence and personality, see him struggling between the idealized version of Toph he's always wanted to enforce and his desire to not lose his daughter again (and permanently). Seeing remorse, regret and genuine guilt from Lao is crucial to make his redemption believable.

And yet, here, Lao is incapable of muttering a simple apology (it's hinted at, but he never get the words out). He begins to spill the beans on his supposed divorce with Poppy - and remember Toph needs to be firm and concentrated to focus on the metal that is near crushing them to death and this could potentially be quite ground-breaking and emotional news (what I'm getting is Toph is unironically every character's physiologist with the way they trauma dump on her) - and sobs about the hardships he's faced since Toph has left. He says he loves Toph and that's it. Previous conflict? Resolved! Disgusting insults and treatment? Forgiven!

Why does the resolution to this arc infuriate me so much?

We never see Lao feel remorseful (or at the very least apologetic) for his words and actions;

We never get a panel where we see Lao comprehend and understand why his daughter did what she did when she was twelve; And on that note - we never see him acknowledge her as a Master (something he had once aspired for her to become but thought impossible due to her disability) nor do we see him show an ounce of pride for his own kin despite all her insane accomplishments;

We never get a panel where we see Toph express her own feelings or her perspective on his behavior and how it affected her - she's been reduced to a badass with quick jests, not allowed to be emotional;

We don't get a conclusive and satisfying resolution - it's rushed and lazy so we can conclude the comic without leaving any open strings - but that only resulted in diminishing Toph's pain and trauma as well as regressing her character growth;

It's infuriating because a lot of children go through this type of environment throughout their childhood - and it'd be so much more impactful for such a strong character to break down her barriers and express how her suffocating that type of upbringing damaged her and affected her, how she grew from it and overcame her difficulties; there was also missed potential to show Lao grow and not be immediately forgiven for plot's sake - realistically, children aren't immediately forgiving and given what Lao said and did, he didn't deserve to be forgiven so quickly.

I can go on with my disappointment but this part is long enough.

So, Toph's students arrive and extract the metal that was collapsing the mine and everyone is rescued - Toph falls unconscious from the exertion she had just put her body through to save everyone from being crushed to death...

And you'd think people would care right? Maybe be grateful to her??

Give me a moment whilst I go scream into the void.

Not a single person besides her students and father care about the fact that Toph is unconscious. Not a single person is thinking about checking on the person who has been single-handedly holding up an unfathomable amount of weight with her bare hands for a prolongated period and saved countless people in the process? No one... not even her best friends. Best friends mind you that are too preoccupied with their own affection to pay a single thought for Toph.

Remember what I said earlier that I was about to go off on a particularly aggravating panel, it's this one. Because I cannot fathom, in any universe, in any circumstances, where Katara wouldn't immediately jump to Toph's aid and help her out (and would rather cuddle up and kiss her boyfriend instead of helping the injured people). I cannot fathom, in any universe, in any circumstances, where Sokka, the proclaimed leader of group, the man who put his own life on the line for Toph's own well-being during Sozin's Comet, being this nonchalant about his friend bein passed out, possibly dehydrated and hurt.

I would say I wouldn't expect this behavior from Aang, but, this comic has done nothing but showcase that Aang's mind is centered around Katara and his air acolytes with no room for his Earthbending Master and best friend. We had a small glimpse of hope at the start of the chapter only for it to be crumbled and shattered with this moment.

I don't even know what to say anymore, I'm just- I understand that Bryke need to feed us the Kata@ng agenda (because for some reason, despite it being canon, they shove down our throats almost every issue of every chapter, to make sure we know that they love eachother) I get it I do, but at what cost. You just made the majority of the cast seem selfish and inconsiderate.

Let's progress before I start seeing red. Aang needs to go destroy the Refinery and Toph wakes up - Lao asks for her help to stop the Avatar as the Refinery is his future (and apparently the future of the nations) and you know our girl is all about the future now, and so off she goes to stop Aang.

I mean- If they had developed the Lao and Toph arc with any depth or any sort of care for these characters (or at least Toph) so that this moment felt earnt in any way, shape or form, I would understand the emotional impact that would come along with Lao asking for Toph's assistance and calling her the Greatest Earthbender of All Time. But, there was no development, no growth, no struggles, no understanding, no nothing - it was water downed drama for the sake of drama. And emotional moments like these just don't provoke anything in me, other than pure, unadulterated rage because of the lack of care and attention Toph receives (in her own comic, mind you).

And we've reached the big conflict between our main protagonists:

I can't completely say I despise the idea of Toph and Aang having disagreements and opposing opinions - it's only natural due to their elements being one-another's opposite and their differing personalities. It's one of the reasons why I adore their platonic (and romantic) relationship - because they have a push and pull connection, harmonic and balanced; neither is afraid of speaking their truth at the cost of hurting the other (unlike a certain canon couple); Aang is Aang in Toph's perspective, not the Avatar, not the child who stopped the one-hundred year war, nor the master airbender. He is just Aang. Her equal. And similarly, Aang sees Toph, not for her disability or her smaller appearance, Toph is Toph. His equal.

Push and pull.

Air and Earth.

Aang and Toph.

I would have loved to see an actually interesting conflict between the two and not this nonsensical garbage. Mostly because this whole debate of The Past vs. The Future is something that came out of nowhere and it's an odd set-up for either of these characters because:

While Aang does have a need to carry out his traditions, culture and, consequentially bring his past into the future, so he can restore and preserve the Air Nomad culture. It never came at the cost of the future - we saw this in Episode "The Northern Air Temple" where he learns to accept that life evolves and we'll have to conform to his history evolving alongside it; The very concept of Yu Dao is reflective of Aang's desire and dream of uniting the four nations, progression and evolution, the future.

Toph, on the other hand, never eluded her rancor towards her past. And, her contrived favor for the future stemmed from her parental issues that were poorly explored and thus, we don't really get a logical nor believable understanding of Toph's stance. It's forced and doesn't suit her nature as well as it ends up harming her growth and character.

So now Aang remembers their friends?

If this were the first time I consumed any 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' media and 'The Rift' trilogy was my first introduction to their friendship - I would have honestly doubted they were close at all. I mean throughout the three issues what we get from them is: unresolved discord; Aang continuously ignoring her feelings and moody disposition whilst more interested in his Air Acolytes and girlfriend; Aang defending a Rough Rhino that had just tried to slash Toph and scold her for protecting herself; Aang ignoring her very existence when she had just passed out unconscious... etc.

Yah, Bryke, you really nailed their friendship.

If you can't tell that's sarcasm, it is. Because this doesn't come close to touching the deep connection between these two - one built from mutual respect and trust; A bond so strong that Aang guaranteed Toph that it would transcend lifetimes - a prospect that gave Toph a certain relief and comfort. They trusted one another with their lives, fought together and understood each other without speaking a single word. They balanced one another - Aang learnt to become stronger, self-assured and resilient whilst Toph learnt to trust and depend on others. Fate brought them together - Toph was what Aang needed and Aang was what Toph needed.

Aang represented freedom. Toph represented security and strength.

Push and pull.

Air and Earth.

Aang and Toph.

Anyway, things do start to get much better in the final of the trilogy, starting off with these panels:

FINALLY SOME GOOD CHARACTERIZATION!

IT ONLY TOOK THREE ISSUES BUT WE FINALLY GET SOME DECENT CHARACTERIZATION!

AND AANG PROTECTS TOPH? PUTS HIS OWN MORALS ON THE LINE TO PROTECT HER???

YES!!!!!

A round of applause for Bryke - they failed 90% of their characterization but they outdid themselves with the remaining 10%! It's like what I said earlier - Toph and Aang are capable of putting their squabbles and altercations aside because, at the end of the day, their friendship is far too important to one another. They can fight, scream, shout, lose themselves in battle but when time need be, they always protect one another, they always have each other's back.

Push and pull.

Air and Earth.

Aang and Toph.

I'll just leave this page here. I want to glue this page into my brain and just think that this was the entire comic - just Taang hugging it out with the sunshine illuminating them, watching over the sea because they are in love and live happily ever after together. That is the plot of 'The Rift' from now on.

Before I end - I would like to briefly touch on Toph and Satoru's relationship and why I genuinely dislike them as potential love interests.

It starts by the obvious. Their is an inequality in their feelings for one another. On one hand, we can ponder whether Toph grew to view Satoru romantically (though, in this comic it was never eluded to on her end - it was, again, very forcibly introduced with her lying for him but then never mentioned and we never got many romantic coded scenes between). On the other hand, Satoru seems to worship the very ground that Toph walks on - he adores her, confides his past with her and obviously has very intense emotions regarding Toph. It's imbalanced and I just don't see the appeal.

One of the central themes of ATLA is balance and harmony, the push and pull - it's one of the reasons why Zutara (and Taang) would have been narratively more cohesive with the themes present in the show than the canon couples (with the exception of Sukka), because both these ships have an unspoken equilibrium and respect that isn't present in the aforementioned canon couples.

Another note is, I don't really understand the point of Satoru's character in this comic. He really didn't have that much to work it and his personality lacked nuances, humanity. It was very animated and boring. He didn't play off of Toph's playfulness, their dialogue was odd (cringey at times), they had no chemistry, it was very one-sided with Satoru confiding his past and hardships whilst he never once got any fragility from Toph.

It also felt as though they shoe-horned him into the comic just so people would get off their backs about Lin and Suyin's biological father - with Kanto being the confirmed father to Lin, they potentially wanted to introduce Satoru so we, as the fans, could speculate that Suyin's was his daughter. It's just a thought - but it is interesting that they made Satoru share similar physical traits with Suyin (such as: hair texture and skin tone).

And thus, I conclude the analysis of 'The Rift' what an infuriating journey this one was. I hope you enjoyed, the next comic I'll dissect will possibly be 'North and South' as Toph does play a big role in that comic (and I remember also not being too overjoyed with her characterization there).

Until next time, take care and please let me know what you thought of this analysis!!

[the-badger-mole]

Hi there! So I really enjoy your fanfics and how you’re not afraid to call Aang out on things (even when people come and try to harass you over it) and I’ve been trying to get into fanfic writing myself. I was wondering could I pick your brain on a few things? I really like your insights on the series.

I’m trying to write a fic where Katara does end up killing Yon Ra which causes a huge falling out with Aang when she gets back. Aang blames Zuko for corrupting her and tries to make him leave the group but Katara defends herself and her choice and Zuko. She says if Zuko leaves then she’s going with him and that Aang is acting completely unreasonable about this. This leads to Aang getting so upset he tries to force the others (Toph, Suki, and Sokka) pick a side (either siding with him or with Katara + Zuko.) Do you think this is too out of character for Aang or could be considered bashing? I feel like your stories are always really good on characterization without delving into outright bashing so I would like your thoughts and feedback on this please if you would like to answer.

I’m also not sure what to do with Sokka and his reaction to it all because before The Southern Raiders I would never have thought he’d side with Aang against Katara when she wanted to find her mother’s killer but it happened and it’s canon so it leaves me wondering what direction to go in.

As far as Sokka goes, personally, I think you can ignore his siding with Aang. It was an OOC moment that allegedly only happened because Bryke needed Aang to look reasonable. If you want to keep it in your story, have his motivation to side with Aang be something else. In my rewrite of that scene, he wasn't so much siding with Aang as he didn't want his sister to do something so dangerous and with no back up but Zuko. It's fic. You're not beholden to canon. Think of it as the Pirate Code. It's more of a set of guidelines than actual law.

As far as Aang, people are going to complain no matter what you do. As long as your story justifies him reacting that way, you're fine. But for the record, I don't think that'll be hard. That's not OOC for him.

[eponastory]

You know what would be so funny? If Zutara wasn't even remotely present(although I do think it will be hinted in s2 of NATLA), and the only relationship that's developed in the season is Toph/Aang? Like if they're going with a teen actress playing Toph, then something must be happening with their relationship in the future, at least. I mean, come on, they ask in the casting call for dancing moves.

Look, all I'm saying is, it would be so funny if the Kataangers would be like...super dumbfounded that Aang would be trying to flirt with another girl that's NOT Katara. They think Aang has to hook up with Katara, but...Aang has other options...like, look at Toph. XD

And like...they're in a real-world setting. They can't go by the cartoon's (stupid) rules and canon. Honestly, the story is more important, and I think it's telling the story just fine. So what if the ships changed? The story stays the same. X)

I just feel like it's so funny that they're so worried about Zutara, when they're not even thinking about the OTHER ship that could potentially happen. XD I mean it, I feel like they're gonna do something with Aang and Toph's relationship. I can just feel it. And it's going to pull the wool over their eyes. XD

(Also, another thing to add, I hope they'll let Aang ask Toph for consent if he can kiss her. That'll be like a big kick to the groin for Bryke. XD I hope s2 is like a subtle bashing fest of them. X) )

I'm not a huge fan of Taang, I can see where everyone is coming from with it, but it's just not my thing.

But yes, the writers are silly men who don't care about their fan base.

I'd like more options for Aang and the entire cast in general because you can fall in love several times but only really LOVE (as in Eros) one person and be able to stay loving them. That is until that love (figurative) dies for whatever reason.

I know there is (allegedly) a thing where there was supposed to be an (alleged) love triangle between Toph, Aang, and Katara as (allegedly) stated by past writers and (or) producers. I don't know how true this is, but I can see it.

I honestly wouldn't get my hopes too far up in the atmosphere for any kind of romantic sub-plot (except for Sukka because that IS a thing) in the LA. It would be nice to get Zutara... but I'm not super convinced... yet.

I'm just here keeping it real while destroying any hopes the Antis have. It's all good.

[orangepanic]

How about 5 and 9 for the fandom Asks?

5. Something you see in fics a lot and love

Shy Iroh II! It tickles me to death that Bryke wrote in his initial character design they envisioned General Iroh as "this swashbuckling hero type" and the fandom for the most part collectively decided that he's actually a bashful mess in spite of zero supporting evidence in canon. We know we're right.

9. A ship that isn't your OTP but that you enjoy

OMG! Nearly all of them! I can actually count the number of ships I dislike on one hand and might not need all the fingers. Anyone who follows me knows I'm a sucker for ships and can be sold on almost anything. The wilder the better. Tell me your love story! I'm here for it! Yesterday I was thinking about Zhao and Aiwei finding love in the Fog of Lost Souls. Haven't these villains been through enough? Is this even a real ship? It is now!!! Zhaiwei here we come because I fucking ship it.

Special shout out to the fandom friends who have introduced me to their ships and made me love them, too.

From this Love Your Fandom ask game

[heinzpilsner]

Hmm, perhaps I should make one thing clear. When I speak against Aang bashing, I don't try to devalue zutara fandom's frustration caused by bryke's decisions and bryke's behavior about them. It wasn't an okay way to act, and people have the right to be angry.

But.

As a reader of zutara fanfiction, I can't help but feel frustrated with the way this anger affects the quality of some works.

If you enjoy Aang bashing and Zuko idealization in fics, it's ok, but this is not my idea of a good answer to bryke. In my opinion, such optics only restrain the zutara fandom's potential. An equal fight is always more exciting to watch than a beating of bald babies, if you catch my meaning.

So, the way of showing a middle finger to the creators through fanfiction I support instead is to try and respect all the characters equally, give them the opportunity to grow and learn that bryke denied them, perhaps even give Aang a handicap, and... still end up with zutara as a result.

Something like this.

Mai? Who's Mai?

[asura22zoro]

korra is not a Mary sue ( the claim that she was or the attack I saw) along with being reminded of similar accusations regarding mako

I just saw some people on Twitter calling korra that and bashing her ( going all she did is sleep around with her krew and "joking" that all her successor would get is info about an orgy " which disgusts me going her krew were just a bunch of people sleeping with each other ( it also annoys me that my genuine complaint about that last minute retcon korrasami which was thrown into the last two minutes of Korra making it so that all the member of the krew had a thing for Korra at one point into that sentence annoys me )

it is just an example of people abusing terms that are supposed to mean something in order to attack korra like the people who claimed mako was a Gary sue or creators pet during b1 or b2 claiming he got special treatment or favoritism because something good happened to him/

They even twisted his words or actions out of context to make him out to be a womanizer equating him to yue's fiance ( its why I highly suspected that korrasami was only began due to the irrational hate for mako so they shipped it to spite and punish mako helped when they claimed him ending the show single was karma for being a human being with flaws and mishandling a messy situation . asami being a nice girl is irrelevant her getting hurt emotionally is irrelevant

mako didn't need to be punished for the love triangle

I cant help but imagine an au where the last minute retcon didn't happen and the show ended with Korra single but hints to makorra getting back to get her eventually. and bryke outright say that. those mako haters would claim creators pet or Gary stu again which would make me go its not mako being given favoritism or being a Gary stu you are twisting those words to mean something they aren't . a creators pet isn't a character who you dislike getting a compliment or a good thing happen to him. mako doesn't twist the existence/break the rules of the world

mako ending b1 ( which was supposed to be the only volume) in a relationship with Korra and the series with hints to them getting back together isn't him being rewarded for his mistakes.

mako making a mistake not getting punished for it having something good happen to him afterwards ( b1 issue) isn't him being rewarded for his mistakes or his flaws being ignored. mako and Korra broke up in b2 over their mutual flaws and they both overcame those flaws by b4 and figured out proper conflict resolution.

this also applies to Korra she had to struggle and fight she had taken multiple l's worst of all what happened to her in b3 finale

korra has flaws

both Korra and mako's flaws are acknowledged by the narrative

mako ending the showing

)

or they attack her for losing the connection to the prior avatar's as if she is the only avatar who made a mistake or failed ( look at aang he nearly stopped the avatar cycle period not to mention getting trapped in an iceberg and the 100 year war . could be compared to what happened with korra)

I mean they claim that everyone just worshipped her when complimenting her isn't the same as worship

.( the only reasonable thing I saw on Twitter was that Korra should have been called out on how shitty her action towards bolin was how while she was on a semi date with bolin went to mako hit on him ( going when you are with her you think of me ) kissed him ( mako kissing back doesn't make it okay) I would say that both Korra and mako were at fault for the love triangle

and I wish Korra apologized to bolin or we got a scene where they made up even small

but mako's mistake was not telling asami about it and trying to avoid the conflict ( and when it got found out he tried to suggest they talk about it later due to the current circumstances since he tends to focus on physical needs over emotional ones ). mako was the zuko minus the angst in that he had a rough /jerk demeanor but had a heart of gold.

[pleuvoire]

my confession with all the recent events is that in like 2012 i became acquainted with a parody of we didn't start the fire that was a loving and very corny anthem to the tumblr culture of the time. and i loved this tumblr parody of we didn't start the fire and i listened to it on loop. so i know the lyrics of that one much better than the original so now whenever someone mentions we didn't start the fire my mind automatically goes "gorgeous graphics, keyboard smashing, signal boost and mako bashing, bryke is trolling, moffat's trolling, perfect otp" and i have to live with my shame

[metallicarules5]

All of these insipid Zutara and anti-Kataang posts popping up in the Kataang tag for some reason. Tumblr, I can’t explain to all of them how awful their takes are, so fix this now. The stupidity is just overwhelming.

[blinday]

For the last time, Zutarians, DONT. BASH. AZULA. PUT IT DOWN! WOH! PUT. IT. DOWN.

yes... Good baby. Now, remeber what I've told ya: "Katara is the most compassionate person in the gang, therefore she would not hate or judge Azula".

'Kay?

And no, we do not need to hate Aang to like Zutara. Ok? Ok??? That's why our reputation is tainted! And Mai is NOT a hateful villain ok?????

Repeat with me:

"We shall not despise a character just because it's between my ship". Fair?

Okay. Bye.

[phanspledent]

yo whoever started that Suki Died Young rumor....square up!!! why start a sad rumor when nothing has been said in canon? like i know we are sad Sokka and Aang died before LoK but dont kill off my girl for no reason!

[jiisoooo]

ok lowkey I think ppl get too worked up about some people not liking aang. Like ppl are allowed to dislike characters lol

[akiizayoi4869]

Why do you think so much of the ATLA fandom just violently hates Aang? It really confuses me how so many fans just seem to resent everything about him even to the point of making up reasons that don’t even exist to bash him and demonizing everything he does. I’ve never seen such an innocent and kind character get such a hateful reaction so it’s weird.

It's a lot of reasons honestly. One reason is because a lot of people in the fandom like Zutara, but since Bryke didn't want Zutara to happen and instead went for Kataang, that made a lot of fans angry. Another reason is because some things that Aang does in the show that should have gotten called out by the narrative never were. Also a lot of fans felt like he should have killed Ozai instead of taking his bending. But I think the main reason why a lot of the fandom just doesn't like him is because for most people he isn't relatable in the way that Zuko is. The show was made for a western audience, an audience who doesn't know what its like to lose your people to genocide, to have your entire culture stripped away just because another party thinks that their way is "better and civilized".

This may be controversial, but I also think race has a lot to do with it. I remember seeing a post on here a while back and the op was saying they noticed something very interesting when they spoke to poc about Aang and the air nomad genocide and when they spoke to white people about it. The poc seemed to sympathize with Aang a lot more because to a degree they know what that feels like, to have your culture ripped away from you and to have your people wiped out thanks to genocide. Because their ancestors were victims of it. When the op spoke to white people about it, however, they said that they could not connect with Aang at all because they don't know what that feels like, so to them he wasn't all that special. To them Zuko was much more relatable, so that's the character that they latched on to. Me personally I absolutely agree with this and think that there is truth to it. I'm African American, so in a way I can relate to what Aang went through. Thanks to racism and slavery in this country, many black people were killed for no reason, they were ripped from their homes(although this can also be blamed on black people too seeing as we sold our own people to the Europeans, who then took it to a whole other level) and were told that their culture was meaningless and that they would learn to live like white people. They were stripped of their names and given new ones, they were forced to speak a different language, practice a different religion that they had never heard of before. Now based on what little I know about my family history, at least on my dads side, we go all the way back to Kenya I think. But that's all I know. I don't know what tribe we come from, if we have any family there, or what my native tongue is. That's all gone now. So when I was rewatching the show last year and I got up to the part where Aang went into the avatar state upon finding Gyatso's body and from that being forced to realize that his people and culture were entirely wiped out by the fire nation? I felt that. I literally felt a chill go through me, and I actually cried a little bit.

The fandom I noticed also seems to give Aang shit because he would talk about what the monks taught him every now and then, and a lot of fans found it to be annoying after a while. But you know what? Aang had every right to do that. He was literally the only human being alive that represented what was once the air nomads. So him repeating his teachings whenever he got the chance to was his one way to hold on to his culture, to make sure that the air nomads would not be forgotten.

Wow this got pretty long, lol. But yeah, that's what I think as to why Aang gets a lot of hate in the fandom.

[theoneandonlylobster]

We don't find out what it was (and I was absolutely dying to know) but it was definitely "Ty Lee + Azula 4Eva" in a heart outline made of hearts, right? Amirite? Whatever the Avatar equivalent of that is, for sure.

There it is, the single most ooc thing you'll probably ever hear Mai say. "I don't have any knives." Bullshit she doesn't. She wears knives when she's having sex. There's no way you'll ever catch Mai unarmed. Ty Lee's even weirded out, and rightly so.

So these guys are, like supposed to be some of the Dai Li agents who've just been sitting around for years at this point waiting for Azula to get back? Was her speech in Ba Sing Se really that impressive? My dudes, you gotta move on. Like, even after she banished you? Are you sure about who the crazy one is here? (Also, what's with that guy's... I dunno, face or whatever? Did Caillou sneak into the Avatar-verse? Like I have no doubts that child would be evil, but...) Also blah blah unfounded Azula bashing, find a new hobby Zuko Bryke.

So this whole page has been pointed out as being a direct attack on fans of Azula from those who are continuing to produce content for Avatar. That we belong on the "garbage heap." In response I submit this post in its entirety, once complete. *bows*

I do like to see Mai and Ty Lee being sweet with each other. It's such a shame basically everything else in this comic was worthless nonsense.

Okay, I'm done. Thank Christ I don't have to look at it again.

My Big Damn Ashes of the Academy Thoughts

Okay so honestly I just need to take this panel by panel because frankly my overall impression of the comic is that everyone got replaced Invasion of the Body Snatchers style with people that look the same as they do and have the same name, but have zero idea of the backgrounds or motivations of said characters, and so they were just making shit up as they went along. Like, I write fanfic, I read fanfic. I have, in general, a pretty high regard for fanfic. And of course one of the more common Dangerous Ladies childhood type fics is how did they meet, why are these three very different individuals friends, etc etc.

And this was not even approaching the worst, crappiest, least coherent of that type of fiction I've read over the last nearly two decades.

Ashes of the Academy is a giant nothing burger comic, a fart in an elevator you're trapped with until you can make your escape.

So, without further ado, let's begin:

So right here on the second page of the comic, and the first page with dialogue, we have Ursa letting us know that, apparently, contrary to what we know, the Academy made Azula a bad person. Not her parents, definitely definitely not Ursa. You got that? It was all the Academy's fault. And we will continue beating that ostrich horse the entire rest of the comic, make no mistake!

Ah yes, Ursa, noted Not Ever An Imperialist At All, Not Even Once, Nuh-Uh.

Skipping several pages that would be me saying these two things multiple times...

Credit where credit is due, I like these two panels. I like this tiny glimpse into the friendship of Kiyi and Lihua or whatever here. One, because I imagine this is more like how Azula probably actually was, based on what we see in Zuko Alone. And two, that means Kiyi is unconsciously mirroring her sister and I like that interpretation of her character. It seems that Hicks does too, on a subconscious level. Look at that devious little look on her face! Little shit. Yeah, you cause a ruckus! Adorable.

I'd be lying if I said this didn't get a chuckle out of me. Is Katara on Zuko's Ministry of Education? Lol wtf. Still funny though.

More Kiyi being a little shit that I can get behind. This time in a Little Miss Know-It-All superiority complex sense that I'm sure would get real old real fast for anyone around her.

I've pointed this out on another post but Kiyi isn't a princess? Wtf? Come on, Hicks. Like it's not hard to figure this shit out. I think giving her a character trait of literally running to her big brother the Firelord anytime she feels slighted is pretty good, but of course it's never explored, because that's not a heroic trait and Kiyi has to be a hero for some reason unlike that irredeemable monster Azula who was born bad.

So nice of you to ask her first Zuko! Fuck's sake! Being Firelord has really gotten to this boy's head, like I know he has absolute power and all that shit but damn, if I was Mai, I would be wanting to get back with him less after this, not more, regardless of whether or not I liked the job in the end. Fucking consent, bro! (Previous page has him telling the headmistress she'll do it.) Unfortunately, this is actually not ooc for what we've seen of Zuko, honestly, imo. Mai, you can do so much better. Like, I ship Maiko. I love their dynamic etc etc. But girl. Respect yourself. This boy is NOT it at this point.

This is our continuing indication that they'll be rewriting the past in this comic, and we'd all better get on board. Zuko certainly thinks Azula treated him badly and has a very, "Zuko did nothing wrong!" approach to it all, but Mai was there for the vast majority of it, witnessed it with her own two eyes, so she would not react to that sentence with, "True." She just wouldn't. At least not the Mai we know. So let the assassination of Mai’s character commence!

Like, was this comic so half-assed nobody could be bothered to look up the spelling of Ukano's name? Yes. Yes it was.

Can I be made to believe Ukano said this to Mai when she was smol? Absolutely, yes. He's portrayed as a social climber and willing to utilize basically any route he can access to gain clout and influence. That's a man who is not above using his daughter in this way. I think it's somewhat implied by Mai’s dialogue in The Beach, even. Dude was a shitty father, Caldera was rife with them. Do I believe for one second Mai became friends with Azula because of this counsel? Absolutely not. The Mai we know thinks for herself 100% of the time, it's basically her thing.

Oh, cool, there's a 10 image per post limit. Well. I'll keep going in reblogs and indicate when I'm done. Bear with me, friends.