#and I really love the commentary about the fire nation

[awakefor48hours]

The fact that I always go back to the original ATLA every time a live action reboot comes out shows just great this show’s writing was

[meazalykov]

the critic

lena oberdorf x commentator!reader

summary: when lena gets tagged in a video clip, she approaches you

before the cameras, before the viral clips, before the edits, before your voice became synonymous with women’s soccer commentary, there was your games itself.

you used to play, back in the day. soccer was your life—practices in the morning, matches on weekends, hours spent refining your craft, the feel of the ball at your feet something almost sacred. 

you had dreams, big ones, of playing at the highest level, maybe even for the national team. but that all came crashing down when a spinal injury took you out of the game. 

one bad fall, a rough tackle by three players at once in a crucial match, and suddenly, everything you had worked for was gone. 

the doctors said you were lucky to be walking and running again, but for a long time, it didn’t feel like luck. 

it felt like a curse, like soccer was ripped away from you when you were just starting to get your footing in the world of professional sports. 

lyon was close to signing you from your childhood club. however, that changed. the deal had to fail and so did your dream.

so you had to shift gears. you couldn’t play anymore, but you could talk about the game, share your insights, your passion, your love for it with the world. 

and, as it turned out, people loved listening to you. your analysis was sharp, your delivery honest, your humor was sweet, and soon enough, you became a well-known voice in women’s soccer commentary. 

you poured everything you couldn’t put on the pitch into your work, and it paid off.

now, here you are—2023, world cup, germany vs colombia. the stadium is electric, fans buzzing with anticipation. 

it’s your job to capture all of it, to bring the game to life for those watching at home. 

alongside you in the commentator’s booth is tyrell, your close friend and co-host for one of the biggest sports streaming sites in the world. 

you adjust your headset, eyes scanning the field as the camera pans over the players. 

"alright, tyrell, we’ve got quite the matchup today," you say, your voice carrying across the broadcast. 

"germany is looking to bounce back after their last game, and colombia has been on fire in their latest matches with caicedo. it’s anyone’s game today."

"no doubt," tyrell agrees. 

“but you know i’ve got my eye on germany’s midfield. lena oberdorf, she’s got a lot of weight on her shoulders in this one. one of the best defensive midfielders in the world is on the pitch tonight." he finishes. 

you nod, your gaze locking onto oberdorf as she moves across the pitch. 

she’s been a standout for years—strong, composed, a true force in the midfield. 

you’ve always admired the way she plays, the way she commands respect on the field as she will roughly stop any opponent attack. 

but today, something feels off. you’ve been watching her closely during the first half, and you can’t help but feel like she’s holding back.

"honestly," you start, pausing to gather your thoughts, "i expected more from oberdorf during that first half."

there’s a brief silence as tyrell turns to look at you, his eyebrows raised in surprise. 

it’s not often that you call out a player like that, especially someone as highly regarded as oberdorf. 

"really?" he asks, curious. "what do you think’s going on with her?"

you lean forward slightly, watching as the replay of germany’s midfield play rolls across your monitor. 

"she’s not playing with her usual aggression. oberdorf is known for her ability to dominate the midfield, to break up play and transition quickly. but today, she’s been hesitant. this can’t continue if they don’t want someone like caicedo to get in their box. oberdorf needs to press harder, get more involved in the attack. if she steps it up in the second half, she can make the difference that germany needs."

your words hang in the air for a moment before tyrell responds, and the conversation shifts back to the overall match. 

but you can’t shake the feeling that your comment will stir something up. 

sure enough, by the time the game is over—colombia managing to scrape by with a fantastic win—your phone is buzzing nonstop. 

social media is ablaze with the clip of you critiquing oberdorf, the internet having latched onto the rare moment where you offered up something negative about a player you so clearly admired.

fans of both you and lena are eating it up, dissecting your analysis, making memes, and some even suggesting you had ulterior motives. 

it doesn’t help that you’ve been vocal in the past about your respect for oberdorf’s game. 

and maybe, if you’re being totally honest, there’s more to it than just respect. 

you’ve followed her career closely, always a little more interested in her games than others. not that you’d ever admit to having a bit of a crush on her—not publicly, anyway.

across the city, at the team hotel, lena oberdorf is stretched out on her bed, headphones in, trying to decompress after the match. 

her body is exhausted, germany didn’t get the result they needed. her phone buzzes with notifications, but she ignores it for now, lost in her thoughts.

that is, until laura freigang walks in, a mischievous grin on her face and her phone in hand. 

"lena," she says, her voice sings, "it looks like someone’s got their eye on you."

lena sits up, raising an eyebrow. "what are you talking about?"

laura tosses her phone onto the bed, and lena catches it, her eyes narrowing as she watches the video that’s already queued up. 

it’s you, sitting in the commentator’s booth, talking about her. her. 

"honestly, i expected more from oberdorf during that first half."

lena blinks, her mind processing the words. she’s used to hearing praise, especially from someone like you, who’s usually more positive in your analysis. 

but this? it feels different. not harsh, but… honest. like you know she could do better, and that, in a weird way, feels almost flattering.

"see?" laura says, flopping onto the bed next to her. 

"she noticed you. she expects more from you, lena."

lena rolls her eyes, but she can’t hide the faint smile tugging at her lips. 

it’s no secret, at least among her teammates, that she’s always found you attractive. she’s mentioned it once or twice—half-joking, half-serious—how she watches your broadcasts not just for the analysis but because, well, you’re easy on the eyes. 

but she never thought it would go beyond that. you were based in new york city, worlds away from her, and probably didn’t even know she existed outside of your job.

but now? maybe things have changed.

"i don’t want to get your hopes up because it could’ve been a simple analysis but maybe this is your shot," laura adds, nudging lena with her elbow. 

"go for it. what’s the worst that could happen?"

lena hesitates, the idea forming in her mind. it’s bold, sure, but she’s never been one to shy away from taking risks. "yeah… maybe i will."

later that night, you’re sitting in the hotel bar, winding down after a long day of commentary in australia. 

the buzz from the viral clip still lingers in the back of your mind, and you’re half-expecting to get some flak for it. but instead, it seems like people are more entertained by the whole thing than anything else. 

you take a sip of your drink, eyes scanning the room, when you hear a voice behind you.

"hey y/n-- I'm sorry, uh I hope i’m not interrupting."

you turn, and your breath catches in your throat for just a second. it’s lena oberdorf, standing right in front of you, looking a little nervous but still carrying that air of confidence she always has on the pitch.

how did she find you? maybe the german national team stayed nearby? i mean, you were told this was a popular bar in sydney.

however, why would lena go to a bar if she has to prepare for the important match against south korea?

"not at all," you manage, trying to keep your cool despite the sudden rush of nerves.

"what’s up?"

"i, uh, saw the clip," she says, rubbing the back of her neck. "the one where you talked about me."

you chuckle softly, feeling a slight flush in your cheeks. "yeah… i didn’t mean to come off too harsh. just being honest, you know?"

you didn’t know how to react, so you smile. no player has confronted you about your comments before. this is a first.

"no, i get it," she smiles, her eyes locking onto yours. 

"honesty’s good. i just… wanted to ask if you’d like to grab dinner sometime. maybe when you’re in germany next? i’d love to take you out." lena speaks in perfect english. 

you blink, surprised by the offer. of all the things you expected tonight, this wasn’t one of them. but looking at her now, her smile genuine and her eyes soft with hope, you can’t help but smile back.

"yeah," you say, heart racing just a little. "i’d like that."

you were a little older than her, older by two years, but she carried herself in a way that pulled you to her.

the world feels a little smaller, the distance between you and lena shrinking with a single conversation. 

you think that maybe you should critic her more often, kidding— of course.

my masterlist is here if you want to read more fics <3

[aangarchy]

Netflix atla live action review ep 4-6

So, they completely ruined Bumi. Spoiler warning.

The more episodes pass by the more confused i get with the choices that were made. I wrote down commentary for the episodes and the thing that i wrote down the most was "why does this happen?". The writing is incredibly confusing and messy, feels too rushed in some spaces and too slow in others. There's just... so much going on and so little at the same time. They brought in elements that in the OG don't get introduced until later in s1, s2, the comics, or even the legend of Korra. The reason these things get introduced so early here is not clear at all, because they don't serve any purpose other than to be an obstacle to Aang, Sokka and Katara on their way to the North.

Mai and Ty Lee are.. there. They get introduced earlier but they don't serve any purpose at the moment other than stand around, watch Azula train, ask questions so that Azula can give us the answers the viewer needs. My guess is they only got introduced for the audience who watched the OG to go "oh we know them!". We get the secret tunnel story earlier too, but it has absolutely nothing to do with love. Somehow "love is brightest in the dark" now correlates to the badgermoles being able to sense a human's emotion. It's a waste of a storyline, doesn't teach us anything about love, gives us Omashu lore which is useless bc neither Sokka nor Katara actually use love to escape the tunnels. Also Oma and Shu are lesbians now, but you only know that bc they changed Shu's pronouns. Wow, so progressive! We have lesbians in the story now! Boy do i feel represented as a sapphic!

We get Koh early on as well, but his entire gig got changed. Now suddenly he doesn't steal faces but he "feeds", and hunts using the fog of lost souls (which is tlok lore mind you) as a tool to trap humans. We introduce the mother of faces (comic book lore!), or rather pendant of her that Koh owns. There's no reason for her to exist in this story though other than to be an easter egg to everyone who read the search (Not even the majority of the fandom!) and to offer a solution to this problem we've created, which is Koh capturing our friends in order to eat them and us not being able to convince him into letting them go. There's no feeling of dread in the Koh scenes at all because the whole problem of not showing emotion is just not a thing now. No suspense, no fear, just a weird cgi clown face worm. The worm doesn't even menacingly circle around Aang to invoke a feeling of being surrounded, it just sits there. I also just don't understand why Koh is here already bc now who is going to give us information about Tui and La?

This decision also creates a problem that Hei Bai's story just isn't about Hei Bai anymore. We get fed a few lines from a talking fox about how the forest spirit got hurt, but there's really no solution? Aang buries a pinecone in front of the statue and tells him not to give up hope but he didn't even really need to do that, because Hei Bai wasn't the one kidnapping villagers! It was Koh. Why did we appease Hei Bai if Koh was the real villain? Hei Bai/Koh's story leads us to Roku, but Roku is completely useless. All he does is undermine Kyoshi's advice to Aang, tell Aang about the mother of faces pendant so he can appease Koh, and then we leave. I knew in advance Roku wasn't going to warn Aang about the comet here bc Albert Kim already told us working with a deadline like that with child actors is just impossible. But with Roku suddenly not being Aang's main Avatar guide he just gets nothing to do. There's no suspense in this part of the story either, bc the time limit of the winter solstice isn't a thing here at all. Aang also ends up flying over Fire Nation borders without issue, and gets led right into the sanctuary without the puzzle of figuring out how to open the door, and without the problem of Zhao's soldiers waiting for him when he comes out. It creates this issue of there not being any excitement, at least for me. I genuinely am getting a bit bored with the show, which was never an issue with the OG for me. There's a reason all of this extra material didn't get introduced until later on. There's too many characters and they all get too little time to really do anything useful, they're not fleshed out, the stories aren't thought through and it ends up getting very confusing and boring. I'm genuinely curious for the perspective of people who have never watched the OG cartoon, bc i wonder if they're even able to follow along without prior knowledge of this universe.

Bumi is just... not Bumi. They completely changed his character to be this bitter old senile man that resents Aang for abandoning the world. This doesn't make any sense because in this version of the story Bumi shouldn't know that Aang is the Avatar at all, because Aang was told right before he disappeared! So why does Bumi immediately know that Aang is the Avatar, and why does Aang immediately recognize him? Also the original point of Bumi's tests is to get Aang to approach fights and puzzles from a different angle, so he can learn versatility as the Avatar. But here the tests are just happening because Bumi is mad at Aang for leaving and wants to get back at him for being gone so long. He says some lines about Aang having to learn to make hard choices and you can't rely on your friends, but Aang ends up proving him wrong in the end! What is even the point of Bumi's part in the story now, except for him just being another obstacle on the way to the North Pole?

There's a lot of instances where I feel like the bond between characters gets completely lost. We barely spend any time with the side characters like the mechanist, Teo, Jet and the freedom fighters, and the people in the spirit village. It makes some scenes feel very out of place. These storylines all happen at once, and they don't get their individual moments to shine. We have no room to feel betrayed by Jet or Sai, because we barely got to know them to begin with. Jet and Sai only spend time with One member of the gaang each, but when their betrayals come to light the rest of the group acts devastated, as if it was their dear friend. Sokka also gets really mad about the Jet thing, but he only met Jet once when he smuggled them into Omashu, and Jet didn't even tell Sokka his name. He said it afterwards when Katara met him again. It makes absolutely no sense why Sokka is yelling at Katara for trusting Jet only bc she finds him attractive, when Sokka wasn't even there during all of that!

The sense of family between the gaang that we get from the original also just doesn't happen here. Especially because these characters so far have spent more time apart than together. Aang constantly gets separated from Sokka and Katara, leaving no room for them to bond. We get Katara and Sokka bonding, but they shouldn't need those types of scenes because they're already siblings (which isn't very clear in the show either btw!). I ended up forgetting that Sokka and Katara were trapped by Koh, bc we spend so much time away from them (a whole episode, which is now an hour!).

I have little to no criticism for the Blue Spirit story. Want to guess why that is? Bc they left it pretty much untouched. We even get a little bit of an extra scene, with Zuko and Aang talking while Zuko recovers after getting hurt during the escape. I liked this choice, especially bc it highlights how conflicted Zuko is.

This is where we get Zuko's backstory. I have one question here: why did they make Ozai more sensible and less ruthless? Was that a Daniel Dae Kim decision? Bc it feels like a Daniel Dae Kim thing to do. They're very on the nose with the way Ozai is abusing Zuko and Azula, but then they turn around and make this man visit Zuko after he burned him and praise Zuko about finding the Avatar. I understand that they did this to show how Ozai uses Zuko's accomplishments in order to push Azula, but even if it were to do that: the original Ozai would NEVER. The problem here as well is that they don't let the viewers draw any conclusions themselves anymore. They're holding the viewer's hand through the whole thing, leaving no room for nuance or doubt.

I just finished episode 7 and 8 and I have Things To Say. None of which are good. Writing it down is challenging so it might take a day or two.

[ultfreakme]

Thoughts on Jessie Gender's video on NATLA

I really admire Jessie Gender's videos usually, she's the one whom I usually go to to see videos on gender and queerness in media. I like her stuff a lot and respect their work.

But the NATLA video left me going "no, wait, that's not what happened" a lot. I can't summarize the video, I suggest people go watch it if they want to know but I disagree with practically everything for the most part.

I'm not anybody on the internet. But what I do have is a lifetime of growing up on ATLA, a degree in Sociology and English Literature, coming from a culture that ATLA is based on, studying about colonial rule, researching the cultures ATLA is based on in my spare time and a love for the original. Does that establish some legitimacy? If for some reason you feel like you need to go hate on Jessie for this, DON'T. DO NOT. This is me just critiquing because I think the video content was biased and I want to honestly engage with the points made because everyone has a tendency to demonize the adaption without looking at it on its own merit. With that said:

Point 1: Sokka's sexism is taken out to make the show more palatable and his arc in the Kyoshi Island episode undermines Suki to prop up Sokka.

She says that Sokka's sexism and him addressing it is a show-long arc, and him deconstructing that is him fighting against the colonial sexism of the Fire Nation.

Sokka's sexism is explicitly dealt with in one episode. He's shown to be overtly sexist in the first 4 and never again except for little comments here and there that every other character makes as well and goes unaddressed. His sexism is not because of the Fire Nation- FN is very inclusive of women as warriors. Sokka's sexism is an anomaly because no one but him cares that Katara isn't just sitting home mending clothes(Bato, Hakoda, none of the men on the ship they are on in S3 say a word and she takes off to join Aang in the Fire Nation islands).

If Sokka's sexism is not systematic to the Southern Water Tribe or caused by the Fire Nation, what kind of commentary on sexism is this?

She also says Suki is played down and demured to give Sokka confidence when she's teaching him, taking away her arc as she pines for the new boy who she likes because he's shirtless. Sokka's throughout the episode shows insecurity and a more subtle form of sexism where he's trying ton prove he's as good as her. He's trying to show off his strength to her, and failing miserably and when he realizes she bested him, he walks away. He goes into it assuming he's better than her but walks away realizing shit she is GOOD. Then he goes to her dojo to observe the practice and follows along, Suki invites him in seeing him fucking up the forms outside and teaches him.

Suki falls for a tackle Sokka does in the og and live action. In the OG, it's shown as Sokka ACTUALLY being better. In the live action? He isn't. One lesson doesn't make him better, she transitions from actually teaching him to kinda flirting until she completely stops. She's not weakening herself for him, both of them are expressing romantic interest. How did Sokka, a boy who that morning was defeated by them, get better than SUKI in a spar she put genuine effort in? I think that's frankly more sexist than the live action take.

Additionally, Suki was meant to be a one-off character meant to teach Sokka that sexism is bad. She existed entirely to serve Sokka's character arc and had no independent motivation in season 1. In the live action, we see her talk about wanting to go into the world, and see her growing motivation through Aang's presence of wanting to not just protect Kyoshi Island, but the world. She became what she is only in season 2 and 3. Sokka's sexism arc didn't even pan out well because he never addressed the issue with Katara after that episode, the first and most affected victim of his sexism.

Sokka wearing the armor in the original, is a joke. Aang calls their uniform a dress while laughing (it's not, like it's not even constructed like one, the bottoms are loose pants called Hakama). He isn't put into the uniform to show solidarity, it's a joke, and we are meant to be laughing at Sokka for the most part. Queer fans have reclaimed and redefined that scene to be like drag, but that wasn't the original intention of the show because we get jokes on Aang's masculinity which never actively get refuted from Toph in season 2. Katara of all people points out Sokka wearing a poinytail in a demeaning manner multiple times, a supposedly girly hairstyle. If the original wanted to honor Sokka embracing gender fluidity, they wouldn't consistently mock him for being choosy about buying a bag and wearing a ponytail(which in-universe has cultural importance to him).

All signs of 'femininity' in Sokka are played for laughs in the rest of the show(down to the scene where he draws a rainbow, and his master Piandao simply rolls his eyes).

Sokka is also never once shown as a better warrior in the live action- his story is the opposite. Sokka yearns here to be an engineer, a scientist tinkering away with new inventions. His father Hakoda and the SWT discourages this because there is no value in that for them. Value is shown for them to come from physical strength, which Sokka NEVER has in live action season 1(him having biceps and being shirtless is not a glorification of strength). He's good, but he's nothing special. His true highlight is in his intellect and the show implies pretty well that Sokka doesn't need to be physically strong or a warrior to fight back against oppression.

That's his defining line in the show teasers "you do not need to be a warrior, to be a hero."

Point 2: The sexism arc isn't replaced by anything more nuanced.

It is! It's replaced by the biases against bending. Sokka discourages Katara from bending because the Fire Nation attacked the SWT to eliminate waterbenders. Both Katara and Sokka hold fear for waterbending, a part of their own culture, specifically because of the Fire Nation's hegemony and hierarchical beliefs. Waterbending = preservation of culture and Katara says these exact words in episode 1. Sokka stopping her is him being under the colonial hegemony of the FN because waterbending is what brought Fire Nation soldiers to their shores to kill their mom. That's the new arc and it has follow through to the end. Instead of Sokka telling Katara to kick ass because he isn't sexist anymore, the live action Sokka says it because he's embraced waterbending and his own culture now through seeing Katara grow and letting her choose for herself what's best for her (instead of smothering in his faux warrior persona, which they literally discuss when stuck in the cave). This arc is exclusive to the show, there's no comment on the cultural significance and erasure of waterbending in the original.

It's made more explicit in Katara's arc, where she needs to get past the fear the Fire Nation has put in her of the dangers of her own bending, and embrace that her people wanted to protect it (Kya sacrificing herself, Gran-Gran hiding the waterbending scroll).

Point 3: Showing the genocide of the Air Nomads is disrespectful

In the original, the Air Nomads are nothing but a memory. At all times. We never see the influence of the Air Nomad culture on Aang, or see them alive and thriving at any point. We see them fight back on the live action, and the actual genocide is a few short minutes, interspersed with Aang sinking. It's not a lingering process and it shows the abilities of Air Nomads. Jessie says this is purely aesthetic and to be cool, but there are significant moments that happen here.

Establishing the powers of Air Benders- this is the first and last time we'll get to see Air Bending on this scale and this shows what they can do

There's a scene where two air nomads nod to one another, and the air nomad switches from defensive to an extremely offensive move. It shows that this isn't typical for the Air Nomads, and that they are being pushed to their limits

This is a festival, they were defending themselves and it's important to show that the Air Nomads didn't just go silently without a fight and were ambushed on an important day.

To show the Fire Nation's cruelty and the extent of their power during the comet specifically.

To give weight to WHY everyone Aang runs into is so critical and hateful of the fact that he was gone, and to also show why Aang never refutes them and the weight of what he's lost (and also that even if he were there, he couldn't have done anything)

It's not just to be cool, it's honestly not cool to watch and taking Gordon Cormier, a child's quote to say that's what everyone's impression is, is disingenuous despite the disclaimer given. The kids' quotes always get taken out of context. Reviewers and Avatar fans who went to the premiere were disturbed overall by the violence. They did not think of the Fire Nation as "cool", they saw the Air Nomads like that. Like don't we want people to think of the Air Nomads in a positive light for fighting back?

Their culture gets little to no expansion in the original, and whatever Aang has left of them is actually slowly stripped away in the original.

Aang is made to okay the destruction and modification of the Northern Air Temple when destruction is shown as wrong during his rage and grief in the Southern Air Temple. The new settlers have used the gliders of Air Nomads to device weapons that fly, which were then sold to the Fire Nation. The Mechanist and his people continue this and create more weapons to fight the war in the temples(albeit this time agaisnt the fire nation but the cycle of violence continues using devices and cultures of a peaceful people). A once-peaceful place, is now a center for war innovation and Aang is told to accept this because he must let go of the past to look to the future.

The above, in comparison to Aang simply saying "I should let go of the past and look to the future" is FAR more disrespectful of Aang's culture and past. The live action keeps Gyatso's memory a constant companion to Aang, he is terrified of letting go of the past and it hinders him from simply living.

Point 4: Violence is shown as good and the cycle of violence is perpetuated.

She says Kyoshi demanding Aang to fight back and hit hard is showing that Aang needs to embrace strength and power. That everyone telling him to fight and be alone means strength is given importance, and that the same is shown when Zuko says "sometimes the weak can become strong, sometime you just have to give them a chance."

Kyoshi is wrong. She is willfully portrayed as powerful, but harsh. Roku(though his screentime was small) disagrees with her and tells Aang to find his own way of fighting and that is ultimately what Aang follows.

Kyoshi doesn't come off as correct, she's demanding and harsh, unforgiving. Aang initially lets her take over because he is scared of the power he holds and she promises she can control it to help others. Aang doesn't want power(he literally says 'I don't want these powers'). In the finale, he gives in to the ocean spirit and does what Kyoshi asks; save everyone, even if it costs his own life. But it is shown as a tragedy. Katara calls back for him and tells him he shouldn't have to sacrifice himself, that he has a place in this world as he is no matter what others tell him and he listens to THAT. He says he will save the world not alone, but with his friends, in the memory of the Air Nomads to ensure it never happens again.

Physical strength is only a priority to Katara's character. Sokka doesn't fight in the end, he's begging Yue to not sacrifice herself and is protecting her. He's not some macho man. Aang is also not embracing power.

Zuko says that line not to show that he can grow stronger, but that people should get second chances. He's a hurt kid wishing his father had the compassion to let him grow. But he doesn't and Zuko walks away from it thinking physical strength and bending prowess is important, crushing his compassion. That line on a meta level isn't even about physical strength. It's about mental fortitude and character, and the strength to be compassionate.

Jet was mentioned as being portrayed as more wrong, but in the original he was ready to sink a village of innocents. in the live action he genuinely helped Katara with her waterbending and was justified in wanting to kill the mechanist(who collaborated with the fire nation) and King Bumi (who is neutral, incompetent and has let the Fire Nation run rampant in the city). He's more sympathetic here because he's doing it with a concrete reason, and he didn't even manipulate Katara the way he did in the original. She was genuinely charmed by him.

A big problem I had with Jessie's video was putting in clips from some right-wing channel between critique of NATLA....which....why? Huh? And these were used to say NATLA is leaning into fascist tendencies and smoothing out any critique of colonialism when it really isn't. I think NATLA is very explicitly saying the same message as the original. Not in the same way, but it is. The show actively engages audiences and the characters in discussions of cultural erasure and the problems of valuing power(the latter especially through Zuko and Azula).

There are million issues with the live action (Sokka's casting, ableism in Zuko's burn scar, the writing issues, pacing issues, the lack of screen time for Aang and focus on the Fire family). The ones Jessie Gender discussed though, are not it.

[calliopieces]

headcanon: Kiyi and Tom-Tom help Maiko get back together after Smoke and Shadow

(this post doubles as sort of a director's commentary on my latest fic that literally no one asked for, but I thought it would be fun to do! LOL)

So we all know that Mai and Zuko broke up in the comics... but their last panel together in Smoke and Shadow Part 3 is them holding their younger siblings, which we can argue leaves things on a pretty hopeful note

(and if we REALLY want to push the Maiko agenda, dare I say it's a foreshadowing of some sorts?)

Additionally, at Emerald City Comic Con 2017 (timestamp 17:52), Gene Luen Yang implied that the breakup is only temporary.

Anyway, shipping aside, I love this part in Smoke and Shadow where Zuko worries about Tom-Tom losing his innocence after getting kidnapped by the 'Kemurikage'. We also find out that him and Mai babysat Tom-Tom on one of their picnic dates.

Going off of this, I have a headcanon that the abducted kids would occasionally gather at the palace after the Kemurikage incident to essentially have group therapy sessions (an initiative by the Fire Lord, because he's worried that the kids might be traumatized). This is how Tom-Tom and Kiyi became friends.

One day, they heard that Mai and Zuko are 'boyfriend-girlfriend'. Here's how it went down on my fic:

“You know, I heard from Dad who heard from other guards who heard from the kitchen ladies that the Fire Lord and Tom-Tom’s sis are boyfriend-girlfriend.”  Hearing Guri, Constable Sung’s son, join in on the conversation made Tom-Tom hyper-aware that he probably shouldn’t say anything bad about Zuko, especially now after knowing that he’s the Fire Lord.

Between the events of the ATLA finale and The Promise Part 2 (which is where Mai breaks up with Zuko in the throne room), I think it's safe to say that Mai would be at the palace for a considerable amount of time. I think it would be funny if the news of their breakup didn't reach ALL of the palace employees---so Kiyi and Tom-Tom took it upon themselves to have their siblings spend more time together.

Another thing I had so much fun writing is this interaction between Mai and Kiyi:

“We already met before. That night in the graveyard,” Mai stated matter-of-factly, causing Kiyi to whip her head up with stuffed cheeks, noodle broth dribbling down her chin. She felt her previously strained smile give way to something more genuine, imagining her younger self.     Instead of scolding her for poor table manners like what her own mother would have done, Mai took out a handkerchief. And, driven by instinct, she wiped the girl’s face—the movements gentle and unhurried.  

Meanwhile, here's my favorite exchange between Zuko and Tom-Tom:

“Do you like my sister, Mister Fire Lord?”  The question took him by great surprise, the fact that Tom-Tom still refused to drop his title never even registered. But despite the unprompted nature of the question, it was one that he could give an answer to at any time of day—and at any stage of his life. “I like your sister very much,” he declared, staring straight into Tom-Tom’s eyes. It was a truth that he has stood by since he was twelve, deeply rooted in the fiber of his being. It was an innate warmth that he believed he would carry forever—one that beats in tandem with his inner fire.  

Near the end of the fic, Mai and Zuko also have a conversation about Azula, and how their messed-up nation didn't give her a normal childhood, while Kiyi and Tom-Tom happily chase glow moths in the background:

“Do you ever look at Kiyi and wonder whether Azula would have been as happy if this country wasn't so messed up?” Mai asked, her gaze curious.  “Every day,” he replied, and generations of siblings being pitted against each other flashed through his mind. “That's why I'm doing my best to give her a normal childhood—with a country that hopefully isn't as messed up.”  “I’m glad that kids today can at least have that much.” She looked at Kiyi and Tom-Tom who were laughing as they continued to chase glow moths, then turned to Zuko with a smirk. “Era of love and peace and all.”

If you've read my rambling all the way to the end, thank you! Here's the link to the fic if you wanna read (please give it some love)

[paragonrobits]

i also think a lot of particularly loud people in the AtLA fandom who really dislike Aang and are increasingly going out of their way to make him and other Air Nomads look bad or implying that they were becoming colonizers and imperialists, and also have a record of constantly trying to depict the Fire Nation in the best possible light, are unknowingly telling on themselves by assuming that the series depicting the Fire Nation in a poor light (as being, well, imperialist genocidal conquerers, in ways indicating that these were part of general attitudes culminating in the Hundred Year War) is commentary on a particular noncanon ship.

This indicates that regardless of what they might say, it does mean that they conflate the Fire Nation with this ship in particular, as they outright saying that an attack on the Fire Nation (which is by default an antagonistic state that has lost its way, become consumed by hatred, feelings of imperialism, and lost touch with its own spiritual ways) is an attack on their fanon ship.

Its hard to assume anything else whenever the Fire Nation is shown in the poor light that it logically must have been, for its people to be so okay with taking part in genocides and regarding the rest of the world as unenlightened barbarians that needed to be conquered for their own good. Those attitudes don't come out of nowhere. Empires in general have feelings of exceptionalism or being better than everyone else, so the Fire Nation being like that is consistent with what they later wound up doing.

This fanon ship is not being referenced or brought up, as the Roku novel is written over a hundred years before those characters are born. Nonetheless you see people saying that they're being written like this solely to demonize their fanon ship, which is all but outright saying that they are conflating the Fire Nation, with all its cruelty, as synonymous with their ship.

This shouldn't be surprising; for a long time a lot of the attitude around this ship has focused on its power, on the luxury of its ruling class, on achievements in politics someone marrying into the royal family could be. And so a lot of the statements about the Fire Nation's practices DO seem like a reaction to fandom opinions about this sort of thing. Not necessary in a critical way (though that could be seen as involved, as a lot of the attitudes expressed by that part of fandom are directly contrary to the tone of the series and the spirituality and aversion to ruthlessness it advocates), but feeling more like clarifying things, such as how the Fire Lady has no political power at all, and is solely expected to produce children, and apart from that is a complete political nonentity.

I've seen glimpses for a while of that part of fandom becoming increasingly more pro-empire; denying that the Fire Nation has decimated the Water Tribes, increasingly demonizing the Air Nomads, going out of their way to constantly insist the title character is the worst person in the world... at this point, them outright saying that the Air Nomad genocide was justified and that the Fire Nation SHOULD take over the world is them just being honest about it.

and once again i find myself asking: if you hate the actual story this much, if you're so fixated on your fanon ship that was never going to happen or overwriting those characters with your self insert OCs, why do you still care about it? You're so distanced from the actual show that I honestly can't see why you care about this setting at all outside of complaining whenever the Fire Nation is shown to be, in fact, a conquering nation with racist and classist attitudes.

At this point I expect the next thing from them to say is 'Ozai was actually a hero, did nothing wrong, his duel with Zuko was just tough love, and Iroh was a traitor for abandoning the siege when he could have brought the Earth Kingdom into glory'. At this point you're 40k Imperium stans without the irony.

[linnorabeifong]

DVD commentary from She'll Surprise You:

 For once he accepted her offer. This was his first time smoking. It wasn’t pleasant. He found himself choking from the stench and the dry feeling in the back of his throat. Agni, he couldn’t understand why anyone liked this. Yasuko just laughed and retrieved her cigarette. 

         “You okay there, Mr.Lightning ?” she said, fighting to hold back laughter. She looked like a dog does after finding a turtle-duck to chase. Entirely too pleased with herself.

         She was chewing on her nails as she spoke, another habit of hers he found absolutely disgusting. How Sayuri and the others tolerated her he never knew. She reeked of nicotine and sweat. She was all business, no pleasantries, no small talk, not an ounce of friendliness in sight. 

         Well, unless she was flirting with a client of course. Then there would be a whole show of sweetness put on. A spectacle of the saccharine. Agni, she made him want to gag. 

         She was cold. A ruthless, runty little thing. Eager to make a yuan however she could. Terribly jealous if the rumors were to be trusted. 

         She was never one to accept a nicety either. He’d made the mistake of trying to do her a favor once. She was beyond confused by his actions. As if all friendship was foreign to her. The Agni Kai’s were a family, why wouldn’t she just accept his care ? He was one of them after all. Instead of accepting his generosity she was all too eager to attempt to repay him…in ways he did not request. 

Oh this was fun to write and I need to get off my ass and finish this story. I have this whole elaborate plot in my drafts if anyone’s still interested. Hope you liked it ! This fic I really wanted to look at class differences ? Not super deep as I’m not the most informed. Throughout LoK there’s this clash of lifestyles that’s never really handled. Season one it’s Asami vs the brothers. Season two Bolin’s movie star life compared to his old one. Seasons three and four Suyin’s lifestyle vs the austere conditions across the Earth Kingdom. 👀

I wanted to make Zolt’s gritty world slam into Lin’s. They both have more things in common than not though…

( adult themes ahead)

So it’s a mix of things going on in this passage. Usually I write as ideas and moods come. On a Friday or Sunday I will carve out and edit a chapter to the best of my abilities in a span of an hour or so and then a week or two later when the mood comes again I will write more and maybe the next chapter too and I’ll reread it with fresh eyes, text it to my friends for feedback etc. I don’t just sit and write on a schedule.

Let’s get into the characterization going on…

In general I like female characters with a temper. Korra, Katara, Margaret ( Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), Azula, Rarity (MLP) , America ( the selection ) . So why not give Yasuko one as well ?

I loved your idea of Yasuko not being the soft tragic Disney mother. Again also enjoyed the thought of her being in a seedy environment and gang affiliated.

I also thought well what if she was still a non bender and still at least partially earth kingdom ? That would completely change her experience. What if she was disgruntled with the discrimination against non-benders ? Then folks it came to me that could generate so much tension between her and Zolt because even if they’re both at the bottom of society he’s better off than her. It gives her a reason to be a cold bitch. So even though she’s not the protagonist this is setting up room for me to write more about her. I wanted to establish her life as a mixed woman, without any bending.

As a mixed woman she’s rejected by both other EK people ( gets called a colonizer) and by other Fire Nationals ( she can’t actually be a member of Kai’s since she’s only half but Zolt doesn’t know that) . She doesn’t have the option of joining them or working at the power plant etc. She’s an impoverished immigrant whose dreams have been crushed . She went from the rural Fire Nation to the big city. From bright engineering student to prostitution when her money ran out.

“ Well, unless she was flirting with a client of course,” in reference to her line of work.

“Instead of accepting his generosity she was all too eager to attempt to repay him…in ways he did not request,” so one time Yasuko offered him a bj and he clutched his pearls like a grandmother seeing her granddaughter in a crop top ….😭. He was so scandalized, a hand on his heart like she had punched him with her words. “Yasuko, you don’t have to do that…,”

4. I envision Yasuko as southern Belle-like in her charms but also a villainess… or at least appearing to be a villain. Like how Asami wears originally written as a villain and is coded as an antagonist with the red and black clothing and sharp features.

5. Appearance is very important to me it communicates a lot. Yasuko’s bone thin, and dressed in dark clothing since the stains would show less. She’s frightening. She’s desperate to survive and that’s made her harsh. Her appearance reflects that.

6. Scent. Very important to me. Really helps with characterization and setting. Creates a mood in a way visuals and dialogue just can’t. Scent is the strongest trigger of memory. It’s an almost animalistic sense.

Really though this scene says more about Zolt than it does about her. He’s observant and caring but also judgmental. He’s making assumptions about Yasuko. It’s also hypocritical of him to frown on her being a prostitute while he himself is a gang member…

He’s also generous when he’s trying to play nice by taking that damn cigarette. That generosity makes him vulnerable. He falls right into her little game when he chokes on that thing… hmm.

Plot Shenanigans

She definitely knows more than she’s letting on and she’s pissed about it. Yasuko is jealous of Zolt… so she takes pleasure in watching him cough while trying the cigarette.

“Agni, she made him want to gag,” Zolt hates insincerity which is going to make his love life exceedingly difficult in a few chapters…

“She reeked of nicotine and sweat,” - He’s absolutely disgusted by her. They’re very reluctant allies. My little frenemies. Also like let women be gross on occasion. Wanted something less than pristine.

Enter my mind

I wanted to contrast her fierceness with just how sad she was.  “She was chewing on her nails as she spoke,”-poor thing is an anxious wreck

saccharine- have you ever had a dessert that was too sweet and gagged ? Or tasted something synthetic like cough syrup ? That feeling exactly.

Conclusion

I just love Yasuko so much. I will have to get started on resuming that story soon. I have so much more Yasuko back story if anyone wants it.

💗 I love bitchy prostitute Yasuko. 💗

Here’s a snippet of a bit further on in the story.

“Zoltan hated seeing women cry. Now seeing her cry he feels a unique kind of pain. A twinge in his chest he hasn’t felt since his mother died. 

Her pretty green eyes are glassy with unshed tears, and the ones she has shed have left tracks down her face and a puffiness in her cheeks. With her face all red like that she looks like one of those imported porcelain dolls. 

Her mascara has run down her face. Making a rough picture. A beautiful face like that should never be covered in makeup ruined by tears.

“Miss Beifong if you don’t mind my intrusion a man should ruin your lipstick, not your mascara”

If anyone wants to read it it’s posted on Ao3 you have to be signed in to Ao3 as it’s only available to registered users. My username is the same there as it is here.

Who’s the title referring to ? mmm you pick….

[shrinkthisviolet]

How about director's commentary on 'we'll give the world to you (and you'll blow us all away?'

Ooh gladly! Below the cut for length:

So this fic was written as part of Maiko "Halloweek" (so called because it was the week leading up to Halloween), aka Fall Maiko Week, back in 2020. Maiko was, and still is, one of my favorite ATLA ships, and writing this prompt also endeared me to Izumi too—I don't believe I'd seen LOK yet, though she's barely in it anyway.

One of the important aspects to me while writing this was implementing one of my headcanons: they got married relatively early, but waited a while to have kids. And part of that means they dealt with pressure about having an heir as soon as possible...mostly from the Fire Sages, who are worried that Zuko might die before conceiving an heir. And it's not that the worry is unfounded, but it's the persistence.

It was a nice chance, also, to highlight the Gaang's closeness. This is one of my favorite snippets of that:

…Zuko had the full force of the chi-blocking Kyoshi Warriors, a master waterbender, the Avatar, a master swordsman, a master earth- and metalbender, and a master knife-thrower behind him. Anyone who dared oppose him would fail, of that the Gaang (Sokka’s name for them, expanded to include the Kyoshi Warriors) was certain.

And also this, showcasing a little Maitara friendship:

... Mai found out from a furious Katara that they’d been approaching members of Team Avatar in an attempt to circumvent the royals.

“What’d you do?”

“Threatened to freeze them if they tried it again. But I’d keep my eyes peeled, just in case they didn't get the memo.”

The worst part is that even when they finally get the hint and back off in the pestering...the rumors don't stop:

The Fire Sages no longer brought up the need to have an heir, but Zuko and Mai had endeared themselves to the palace staff enough to know about the whispers. The sneers that perhaps the marriage was not as happy as presumed, that perhaps the Fire Lady had already been pregnant when they wed (apparently, some in the Fire Nation were praying that this was true, and Zuko had never felt like committing murder more than in that moment).

Of course, as stated later, the Fire Sages are spreading the rumors. The palace staff are too endeared to Mai and Zuko by this point...and the Fire Sages intend to force their hand however possible.

Also, this adorable Maiko moment, with a little Maiaang friendship:

“Since when are you into proverbs?” Zuko teased.

“I’ve been befriended by a certain Air Nomad,” she replied with a smirk. “It turns out, he and your uncle speak the same language.”

“And you’ve picked it up?”

“Unfortunately.”

And this one:

...he focused his efforts on the creation of the United Republic of Nations and enlisted Toph and Mai’s help in replacing the gossiping Fire Sages. When the Fire Sages protested, he simply said, “If you wanted my ear, you shouldn’t have insulted my wife.”

I love them 🥰 I will go down with this ship fr (that last line in particular...one of my favorites I've ever written)

Also...Mai telling Zuko she's pregnant under Yue's light (right after Zuko tells her Yue's story) is intentional, given that Izumi is born at the moon's peak—which itself is also intentional!

But back to that in a bit. For now...Mai and Zuko's shared anxiety was important for me to convey:

He looked at Mai very seriously and said, “Do you want this? Really, and truly, do you want to have this child?”

She looked back at him, first startled, then serious like him, and nodded firmly. “I do. But I also want to do it right. I want our child to know they’re loved, always, and that they never have to earn it.”

They both want their child, they want to do right by them, but they're scared too. And of course they'll do their level best and even beyond that, but that anxiety can be hard to shake. It takes time!

But now, back to Izumi:

Princess Izumi was born in late spring, at the moon’s peak, with a quick but steady breath in her lungs. It had been a difficult birth for her mother, and a stressful event for her father, and the fact that she had even lived to breathe was a miracle in itself.

As mentioned prior, Izumi being born at the moon's peak would likely be unusual for a firebender. Late spring itself probably isn't too strange, even if summer would likely be more auspicious.

Izumi has a little asthma at birth too! Nothing too serious, but she is the first (and only) child. I've never liked the hc that Mai dies in childbirth, or that she and Zuko stop having kids because of pregnancy complications...but as someone who's the eldest child, yeah, we are usually pretty difficult births (one of my baby cousins was too).

And then, of course...it gets worse, because Izumi doesn't have the Spark.

So here's the thing about the Spark: I've admittedly never been totally sure what it is, I've always imagined it as the sun hitting a baby's eyes in a specific way...but I also think it's superstition more than it's legit. Zuko didn't have a Spark either, and he's a formidable bender. It's probably an old wive's tale, and it rightfully Zuko off:

“You cannot have a nonbender heir,” another Sage snapped. “It has never been done!”

“I was presumed to be a nonbender upon my birth,” Zuko retorted sharply, “and I ask you to mind your tone. I am your Fire Lord and this child’s father. If you’d like to try appealing to my wife, I assure you, my feelings toward this pale in comparison."

...

“Believe me, she means it,” Zuko said coldly from the door, startling the Sages. “And so do I. One more step towards my wife or daughter, and I will not hesitate to incinerate you.”

Another fun part was writing Mai getting pissed too:

Unbelievably, they tried just that, not even giving Mai the courtesy of sleep before approaching her. Mai, being both sleep-deprived and furious that they would propose infanticide, warned,

“Get away from my daughter or she won’t be the one disposed of today.”

Any time I get to write her emotions, it's really fun for me, because she's usually such a reserved character, while I am very much not 😅 she's so unlike me, so it's always fun to dig into why she's like that (which I've done in other fics), and show her being more emotional as she marries Zuko and grows older, to show how she's grown and changed 💞

Zuko being protective of Mai was fun to write too...and him being protective of Izumi!! He loves her so much already 🥰 and speaking of which...I loved writing this first moment of him holding her:

“Getting sappy on me? Save that for Izzy.”

Zuko smiled at his daughter. “Hello, my little turtleduck. Don’t mind your mother. She loves us, really.”

Loved it so much that it ended up as the preview in the summary 😂

Also ofc, this scene with him and Izumi later:

“And this is the turtleduck pond, where the turtleducks live! Except you, of course, little one.” He pressed his forehead to hers. “You’re my little turtleduck, and you’re actually human, so you get to live in the palace with me and your mom!”

But Izumi caught sight of the turtleducks, who were squawking happily at her, and seemingly out of nowhere, she burst out crying.

“Oh! Oh, um..what’s wrong, Turtleduck?” The name only made Izumi cry harder, and Zuko winced. “Um...Izzy? Izumi? What’s wrong, sweetie?” Her crying didn’t abate, and Zuko flipped her on her stomach and over his shoulder, patting her back firmly in an attempt to burp her.

He gets so worried here, it's adorable 🥺 remember what I said earlier about how Maiko both want Izumi but they're scared/anxious, and both things coexist? This demonstrates that. Zuko's a little out of his depth, and it shows, and I loved writing this. No parents are perfect to start off, especially not parents like Mai and Zuko who are flying...mostly blind (with help ofc, but even so...they're the full-time parents). But they're determined to do right by Izumi no matter what.

Mai says something to that effect here:

“Look, Zuko. What you did, when she was crying? The way you panicked and tried to soothe her in any way you could? That’s the mark of a great father. That’s the mark of a father who cares, who might not have all the answers but still wants to try.” She smiled softly. “It’s leagues better than either of our fathers, I’ll tell you that.”

As Mai says, she's “full of good points”, and I’m quite inclined to agree 🥰

(Also, as a bonus, I got to throw a little shade at parts of the ATLA comics. Aang refuses to even consider killing Zuko, and Kei Lo is Mai’s ex, not her boyfriend. Ahh how I love throwing shade at the comics 💞)

director’s commentary ask game!

[sokkastyles]

EIP have some nice zutara moments but I feel really bad for Katara in that one. Also I really don't understand what that person was saying about your post, is it because you were simply discussing the episode? I was the one who sent the ask and I'm not from a "first world country", my country has been a colony. I don't think there was anything wrong with your post or my ask?

It was hard for me to understand what their argument even was because they cherry-picked the post to death so much, but it seemed like they were saying I was trying to claim that "fire nation propaganda" is a meta commentary and feminist critique of kataang or something. When what I actually said was that the things depicted in the play can't all be chalked up to Fire Nation propaganda because the episode is also meant to be a meta commentary on the series itself. Ember Island Players, as an episode, is largely the writers parodying themselves, and it's debatable how much of it is actually supposed to be an intentional critique of Fire Nation propaganda since the episode itself does not question the worst statements they make about Katara in particular, but rather uses them at her expense to get the audience to worry that she won't reciprocate Aang's feelings.

That's also why reading the episode making fun of zutara as the writers making an antiracist or anti-imperialist statement is ridiculous. A lot of the zutara parts are directly addressing both the fandom and the way the writers themselves have teased zutara. If showing Katara getting close to Zuko in the caves is racist propaganda, then the writers wouldn't have written that part of the show with the heavy dose of ship-teasing that is already there. If the episode slut-shaming Katara was meant to be only fire nation propaganda, then why is Katara shown to flirt with every guy EXCEPT Aang, even guys who the FN would see as unworthy, like Jet, and why does the episode as a whole punish her for it? An actual critique of racist propaganda about savage slutty brown women would be to acknowledge that actually, Katara can say yes or no to whoever she wants, and having Aang learn a lesson about that and Katara getting to voice why the depiction makes her upset without Aang telling her that she actually is like that. You can't just say that something is only there to critique racism but then not have the actual critique part present.

I also said in that post that the writers' attempts to criticize zutars in this episode don't actually make zutara bad, because the real Zuko and Katara actually grow closer in the episode over not liking their depictions in the play.

Even the claim that the play is depicting zutara as a "colonizer/colonized" relationship doesn't stick as an actual critique of zutara, because Zuko and Katara are completely unfazed by this except to have a moment of being grossed out by the idea of them as a couple in general. But if, as some antis have suggested, zutara is somehow inherently oppressive, you would think Katara would have more of an uncomfortable reaction to seeing herself act as the "colonized" woman, the way her reaction to being portrayed as a whiny, flighty crybaby is something that makes her viscerally upset and bleeds into her relationship with Aang.

This also lays false the common claim that Katara would always be uncomfortable with Zuko and associate him with her oppressors, because even when shown that onscreen, she shows no signs of actually seeing Zuko that way. And Zuko shows no signs of wanting to see himself being portrayed as some kind of macho colonizer who can win Katara's love, so there is no reason to think he would actually act like that if he did ever want to pursue Katara. In contrast, Aang does nod along when the play has Zuko say that he is "the Avatar's girl" and this does make Katara uncomfortable when he acts on those feelings of ownership over her. This would be an interesting critique of how racism can destroy relationships IF the show ever readdressed this instead of making it about how Katara just "wasn't ready."

So like, even if you read EIP as a critique of racist propaganda, which I'm not entirely sure we can give the writers that much credit for to begin with, KA as a relationship is portrayed as more damaged by racism than zutara is, because the depictions of zutara in the play are so silly and so easily dismissed, and Zuko and Katara only grow closer with each other as a result of them.

So no, it's not bad to enjoy the zutara moments in this episode. The way Katara is portrayed with Zuko is actually more akin to a bodice ripper fanfic than anything, and the show writers have said that they were making fun of zutara fandom. This is very different from a critique of actual imperialism, because one is aiming at institutions and the other is aiming at teenage girls. Not that teenage girls can't be racist, but that isn't where you start if you are making a real, honest critique, especially since those teenage girls writing capture fic were riffing off how the show itself used those tropes and fed off them in promotional materials.

[this-is-lightning]

Supercorp FicRec P. 29

The next part in my ongoing ficrec series. I go through my bookmarks on AO3 and select the ones I like the best and add a little commentary on why. 5 fics per part. 

Masterpost

we're playing to a full house, darling (but this show can't go on) by the_ominous_owl

Kara’s struggling to find work. Lena’s struggling to find herself. When fate (with some help from Cat Grant) casts them into the same orbit they find themselves completely off-script, because while everyone knows about the sins of the father, they're somewhat less clear about the sins of one’s siblings. Throw into that an audience hungry for stories at the expense of fact, a showrunner with a plan nobody saw coming, and a co-star who steadfastly refuses to keep it in his pants, and you’ve got a tale so dramatic even the protagonists have noticed. or the one where they’re both actresses with a surprising amount of baggage for two people who haven’t met yet.

w: 37,360

r: teen and up

The actress trope done very, very well. Slowburn. Lena's got it so very bad but shes got baggage. Kara is captain oblivious. They figure it out tho. Lots of intimacy and feelings. There's a part two bt that ones still a wip.

It's Funny Right up Until It's Not by ThornedRose44

It's funny because it's harmless… It's funny because it's never a big deal… It's funny because it's forgotten by the next day… It's funny because she's fine. She's always fine… Until… she’s not...

w: 12,131

r: mature

Yea so this one cut deep. Happy ending but were digging into the "haha quarterly assassination lol" witch is really not funny at all. Angst but so so heartfelt and wonderful. Some-when after S5.

musings from 504 by sapphic_luthor

“We got Supergirl’s mail again,” a voice calls from behind a massive, unidentifiable sculpture as it steps through the door. He sets the piece down just as the words leave his mouth, and then the dark-haired boy spins to face you, hand outstretched to drop a letter onto the countertop, and he breathes, “Oh, fuck.” You look toward your new roommates, and register the panic on their faces. “Wait,” you say, but your mind is jumping to conclusions that your mouth is far too embarrassed to vocalize, so you find that you don’t have any follow-up. “Are you--” you start, but you know it’s true even before you ask. “Seriously?”

w: 7,670

r: teen and up

So how much do we all think Kara's neighbors know about her life? An outsiders perspective on the Superfriends. Funny and fun and heartfelt.

Bizarre Love Triangle by powergrapes

One day, two women meet on the subway. The recently dumped Lena is recovering from a broken heart, and Kara is grappling with the open-ish relationship she has with her long-distance boyfriend. They decide that they’re going to become friends. The kind of friends who also have totally casual, no-strings-attached, nobody’s-catching-feelings sex. What could go wrong? As Alex puts it: “Kara. This is the dumbest thing you’ve ever done. And I’m including the time that you set fire to your own hair and nearly burned the house down trying to do some spell you found on MySpace to make Troy Bolton materialize in real life and marry you.” Or: Lena and Kara go around New York City eating food and banging each other until their feelings eat away at them, and Alex tries not to have an aneurysm about it.

w: 113,061

r: explicit

So so so well written. Gets pretty angsty but the payoff is so worth it. Lots of feelings and fun and fluff too. And very VERY good smut. A MUST read!

The Luthor Family by MyCatIsMyEditor

Following Lex’s death Lena finds herself guardian to the four year old nephew she never knew existed. She also finds herself in need of help. Who better to help her than her best friend and National City’s favourite Kryptonian. It’s just a little awkward that her nephew is scared of Supergirl. OR Kara and Lena raising Lex’s son while slowly getting together with a bunch of cute fluff and some angst thrown in as they work together to be the best parents possible to a scared little boy.

w: 95,676

r: mature

Digs a lot into the issues with fostering a child who was neglected and abused. But its very well done and there's a lot of fluff too. Kara and Lena slip into the parent role very well. But of course this whoe situation digs up issues of theirs too. They build a wonderful family and support net and finally get to be so so happy with everyone at their side.

Don't forget to leave some love for the writers on AO3! Much love and happy reading!

[im-probably-crying-rn-ngl]

my wips

i wanted to organise and share my wips and i am actually sorry to whomever has ever tagged me in a tag game, i actually just don't know how to do them✨ if anyone is curious about any of these please do drop me an ask because i do love the sound of my own voice/sight of my own words and will provide detail 😌

okay so we have britcedes (rip to them ig) to start off, rn trying to figure out how the actual fuck i will write lewis' move to ferrari into them:

End Game: okay so a/b/o au where lewis is coparenting his son with his ex (teammate and boyfriend, buy 1 get 1 free) nico rosberg. lewis might have a lot on his plate but he finds himself attracted to his new teammate (he has a bit of a type) and against his better judgement they start up a "thing". what lewis doesn't realise george is absolutely head over heels in love with him and has been for YEARS. but george tries to play it cool, he fails, shit happens, gax happens (yes okay i don't want to fumble with this, max is incredibly complex in this but i still love him in it) but yes they get their end game of course.

Chasing Silver: set in canon universe, starting from the 2021 season. honestly like yeah that's it. i think this fic is just an excuse to ramble about their racing and ever shifting dynamics.

My Girl: OH THIS FIC. its absolutely one of my favourites if not the favourite. so lesbian britcedes, lady louise hamilton is the first black and female driver to make it to f1 and she is the champion of the sport. its 2022, she has won 7 wdcs and is looking for one more but it is just not clicking, neither is her personal life really. love left her a long time ago, walked away on 6 inch red stilettos. but enter george russell (yes her name is george and no it is NOT short for georgia and yes she will correct you on that every single time) louise's new teammate alex albon's race engineer. all george ever wanted was everything and being louise's girl might just give it to her or maybe it will be what takes it it all?

then there is gax my beloveds, i adore writing them, gax nation will always have my loyalty, i really want them to give me more this season:

Lovely: this is a/b/o, childhood sweethearts, non-driver george, son of toto wolff au i have shared snippets of before. writing this fic feels never ending and i am slowly losing my mind haha but its still! my! baby! and! i! won't! abandon! it!

Mad Max's Princess: this is pure self indulgent fluff. girl george who is once again is casted as alex albon's race engineer in this fic. her (mostly) loving boyfriend of 10 years is none other than rival team red bull racing's star and the reigning world champion. the guy they have to beat to get her driver and team to the top. oh when the love of your life is your biggest fan and your biggest hater. this is gax, of course hijinks ensue.

Fire & Blood: medieval fantasy/game of thrones (a song of ice and fire for the ones who know) au with a/b/o dynamics. mercedes are the rulers of the land and their dragons' fire melted the gold in their crowns and the moulded their iron throne. but a dragon can die and a dragon can be killed. a dragon can be shot from the sky and brought down to earth or a dragon can be trapped in a dungeon till it can fly no more. a dragon's neck can be pierced by a lion's teeth.

galex because okay who am i to argue against true love and george's russell's wishes:

Hell is a Teenager: this is a pretty dark fic where i actually do some social commentary on the a/b/o universe. so george and alex are neighbours and the best of friends who are just on the edge of more. at 14 george presents as an omega and is shipped off to an all-omega private boarding school. alex doesn't hear from him till their final year of high school and all of a sudden george is back in town. he is not the same boy that cried in alex's arms the night before he left begging for him to love him. george has changed even if no one else can tell, what happened in there? why is he back? why does alex's heart still give a stutter when he looks into those blue eyes? even if those eyes no longer sparkle. *sigh* yeah this is a toughie

lastly there is my landoscar wip, they write themselves into ffs not us:

The Only Exception: another a/b/o au (one hit wonder i know), basically its the good boy/play boy trope. lando can't get his shit together and oscar is too oblivious for his own good. it would be angst if they weren't so incredibly adorable and down bad for each other.

[mariagalleriax]

Psycho Pass 3/First Inspector Rambling (Incoherent.)

Kei and Arata's relationship has a purity to it that I did not expect to encounter in Psycho Pass. "I'll always be there to hold the end of the rope."

Unlike other masculine connections made in Psycho Pass like Kogami & Ginoza or Ginoza & Masaoka, it's not very complex at all. The foundation of it is a mutual trust built on shared losses, which isn't NEW, just, very simple and very pure. The brotherhood that they share that transcends time and nationality (which they emphasize a lot with the immigration plotline) was enjoyable to witness. A breath of fresh air.

I wish that the Psycho Pass writers didn't make Arata favor Karina Komiya to the extent that they did. I know it was a vehicle to add that missing conflict to Kei & Arata's relationship, but it felt like it contradicted his character a lot. We don't really see him advocate for Maiko very heavily, which was probably what pissed Kei off the most (I was very confused too). He kind of goes, "oh no! oops! oh well!" and I see how that drives Kei up a wall. So that rift is there. And it didn't get resolved very well. They get their shit rocked by the respective opponents and then reunite and vow that they'll inevitably confess the truth to one another "someday". I wonder what that conversation will look like.

The Karina thing also bothers me when it comes to her "best friend" and assistant En Owanee. I understand that politically her hands were tied, but it seemed as though she was extremely concerned with optics instead of pursuing immigrant rights. And her friend, after getting fired and THEN becoming a hostage, easily forgives her. Something just bothers me about it but I can't put my finger on it. I understand Karina is written to be commentary on isolationist policy but I wish they wrote her better. And En, please stand up! Wake up! Get better friends!

Komiya is like a mildly prejudiced Rise Kujikawa from Persona 4. And En is basically Tiana from Disney's Princess from the Frog, except Charlotte (Komiya) lacks significant self-awareness.

I think psycho pass 3 was intended to be simple, but missed the mark in that regard. But yet, it still manages to be my favorite season, because I truly love seeing the development of the CID and the growth of established characters like Hinakawa, Sugo, and Karanamori.

I'll probably be rambling about this series for a while.

[captainkirkk]

Wanted to jump in the fic rec train, do here’s a few fics that have utterly destroyed me over the years:

The Dark Below by DarthPeezy (44 chapters; Complete): BNHA au where Izuku’s quirk connects him to an eldritch dimension every time he dies. Absolutely killing imagery, huge story arc, and queerplatonic relationships amongst lovecraftian horror. Main characters are Izuku, Todoroki, and Tokoyami. Fair warning though, author has no mercy and character death for absolutely anyone is fair game. To take some of their own tags: Grimdark, Politics, and Philosophy. Definitely crossed into the dead dove do not eat territory at times.

Embers by Vathara (91 chapters; Complete): Absolutely MASSIVE fic, took me the better part of a week to finish but was honestly the highlight of my quarantine. Absolute beast of a fic with indepth character study, and our boy Zuko struggling to survive after he’s learned a new technique of healing fire. Political intrigue, deep dive into the spirit world, and absolutely a lot of grey morality, murder, and genocides. Really focuses on the four nation’s cultures with phenomenal world building, and takes a look at the fire nation in a complex light of a nation who was driven into war due to past events. Fair warning, might seem like there’s character bashing at times, but gets explained nicely through different view points. If i had to choose a single fic to reread for the rest of my life, it’d be this one.

Our capacity to love increases with each person we cross paths with by Iriascend (15 chapters; Complete): my heart has not yet recovered from this fic. Deeply poetic, wonderful writing, and spot on platonic relationships. Tim is an AI first created by Bruce, who grows and learns until he’s almost a commentary on what exactly it takes for someone to be human and love as well as what it means to be Robin. If you want a confident and absolute badass Tim Drake, this is the fic that embodies it. A much lighter read both physically and emotionally than the previous two despite the canonical character death. As the author states in the summary: this fic is basically an Emotion.

By Any Other Name by ShanaStoryteller (4 chapters; Complete): Wei Ying comes back in Mo XuanYu’s body, but instead of traipsing around alone, he goes to Lotus Pier where he reveals himself to Jiang Cheng. Now, Wei Ying poses as Wu Yingtai, who’s rumored to be the future wife of JC. I don’t know how, but the author just writes in a way that makes WWX’s relationship with gender so inherently natural and completely in character. My favorite tag: “cockblocked from your true love because everybody thinks your engaged to your brother”. In other words, Lan Wanji falls in love with the same person TWICE, and is agnsty about it. Happy endings all around though.

First two fics are a lot darker, so be warned. Happy reading!

Thank you!!

[masterghandalf]

MG Reads Embers: Chapter Sixteen

Note: This is a continuation of my reread and commentary of Embers by Vathara, originally posted last fall and winter on my Dreamwidth account.

Chapter Sixteen We open with an author note. A/N: NaNoWriMo eats your soul. I have a limited number of chapters worked out and beta'd at the moment, so I'm posting them slowly. That way, you'll have at least one new chapter for each week of the write-til-you-drop time! Yes, Zuko knows darn well the Fire Navy was Up To No Good at the North Pole. Technically, Min was perfectly correct about the Water Tribe defending themselves. However. Zuko loves his people very much. And displacing your anger onto someone else is a very human reaction when you yourself feel horribly guilty. Which Zuko does. After all, if it weren't for one masked marauder getting in the way of Zhao's plans, Aang never would have gotten to the North Pole, would he? And for everybody who wants to see the Gaang... we're getting there. The chapter proper opens with Toph, vowing to never let Katara take her out for girl stuff again. Still smarting from how the rich girls made fun of her, she’s gone out into the city, escorted by a Joo Dee and saying she’s looking for interesting stonework that might be useful in teaching Aang. The Dai Li are following them, but Toph thinks about how she’s the greatest earthbender in the world, and she can wait them out. Finally, after several hours out, Toph’s earthbending leads her to some jade at a shop. Showing off a piece of jewelry she wore to the Earth King’s party, she says she’s looking for the carver who made it; she wants to talk to them. The owner leads her through the shop and to a garden out back, which is full of kids, and sensing the shop’s architecture and all the people nearby makes Toph all the more certain she hates Ba Sing Se. She thinks about how she left home for adventure, and to test her skills against real opponents, not to get dropped into the middle of a city and left there. As far as she can tell, all Aang cares about is looking for Appa and waiting for the Earth King to finally read his position, when anyone can tell that Long Feng is the one really in charge and he has no interest in going along with their plans. She blames it on Aang being an airbender – anything to avoid dealing with a problem head on. She’s shaken from her thoughts by being introduced to the jade carver – it’s Huojin’s wife, Luli. Putting on her best aristocratic manner, Toph waves off the owner’s not-so-subtle request for more money and sends him away; she asks Luli if he’s always that bad, and she says he’s often worse. Luli introduces Toph to her daughters, and to Suyin and Jinhai, who she’s looking after today as well.

Toph wants to know how Luli found the flaws in the jade to shape her carving when she’s not a bender; Luli starts describing her process, and Toph realizes that this is something she has to teach Aang – not just how to bend your element, but how to know it intimately. Listening more to Luli’s descriptions, Toph realizes that she’s someone who doesn’t just pity her for being blind or tries to ignore it, but actually tries to let her see what they see, and she’s impressed. Luli, in turn, realizing how Toph senses the earth, thinks she needs to trade notes with Tingzhe Wen, who’s an earthbender and an archaeologist. She explains that he’s Jinhai and Suyin’s father, but they’re with her today because both their parents are tied up with dealing with their older siblings’ university issues. Toph says she’d be watched if she tried to visit the university, which gets Luli’s attention. She explains they’re being watched right now, or at least Jinhai is. Luli’s husband’s in the guard, so she knows how to spot trouble. A moment later, Huojin himself comes in; Luli introduces them, but Toph picks up subtle hints in Huojin’s accent and realizes that he’s Fire Nation. He explains about how his parents were from the colonies and he came to the city young; Toph realizes he’s nervous, but honest, and he wants to know if she has a place to stay in the city. She assures him she’s fine, but he lets her know it’s always best to have people around you can rely on; he reminds her a bit of Iroh. Huojin then discusses his work a bit, noting that apparently even “Lee” can go a few days without causing a disaster, piquing Toph’s interest. Huojin goes to look for his kids, and Luli offers Toph more help if she needs it, even if it’s just someone to help her think, and tells her that her husband has a big heart and a hard head and is good to have around. Toph thinks this definitely sounds Fire Nation to her. She leaves, still thinking about the elements, the city, and Long Feng – she knows Aang won’t go after a problem head on, Sokka and Katara are adaptable but can’t plan around someone who already has all the angles covered, and while Toph is good, she can’t take on all the Dai Li. She decides they need to attack, and wishes she had a firebender – Iroh or even Zuko – here to help – but she can’t imagine either of them is in the city. But, thinking of Huojin, she decides that there might be more Fire Nationals in the city than she realizes…

We cut to Shirong keeping watch for the hostile spirit, which so far hasn’t shown itself again. Still, from the human remains that have washed up at Lake Laogai, he knows it’s out there, and it’s eating people, and the Dai Li are angry about it. And, if it can travel through water, it could potentially be anywhere. Suddenly, Shirong is joined by Zuko, who asks if he’s watching everyone, or just him. Apparently, Iroh is getting some maps out, and wants to know if Shirong can join them; he can also make Shirong’s favorite tea. They head down into their apartment, where Shirong admits that Iroh’s tea is good; he wants to know how they knew he was up there, but Zuko had assumed someone would be and thought he’d check. Iroh says he’s too old to be climbing around rooftops, but Shirong has no doubt he could if he had to. Shirong wonders some more about what he’s pieced together about their pasts, determined to get more details, but not yet. Glancing around the room, he determines that they’re clearly ready to run again, if need be, and finally spots Iroh’s maps and wonders if they’ve really been all those places. Iroh admits they have, pointing out Kyoshi Island and comparing the Unagi to the Serpent; Shirong thinks the people there are crazy, not because they teach girls to fight, but because they think they can stay out of the war. Iroh and Zuko start discussing various locations, beginning with the Eastern Air Temple and then going through various other places in the Earth Kingdom. Shirong watches with interest, especially after overhearing that Zuko apparently got into some trouble on Kyoshi Island. Iroh suggests trying to recruit the Kyoshi Warriors, but Zuko is against it, as well as the suggestion of the Southern Air Temple. Particularly since Sozin’s men didn’t bother to give their victims proper pyres – places like that are especially dangerous. Shirong realizes that they’re not just talking about places to casually travel to and is also rather unsettled to notice how personally they seem to feel about Sozin’s action, as if they feel a need to make up for them somehow. They continue their discussion, and Shiron realizes that Zuko apparently broke into Pouhai stronghold. He demands to know what exactly Iroh’s been teaching his nephew, but Iroh admits he can’t take credit for that one. Zuko himself, meanwhile, is rather embarrassed to realize that Iroh had apparently put two-and-two together and deduced that he was the Blue Spirit.

The conversation continues through more locations, and at last turns to a particular stretch of island not far from the North Pole. Shirong is amazed Zuko would want to go back there, but Iroh makes some veiled comments about it being warm on the mountains there. From the air currents… but also, there’s potential volcanic activity in the area. It’s also not far from the Northern Air Temple, which Shirong is stunned to learn is still inhabited by refugees. Finally, Shirong asks what they’re planning, and Zuko asks him what he’d do if Ba Sing Se fell. Shirong tells them that will never happen, but what if it did? Shirong’s lived his whole life in one city – he doesn’t know what sorts of things are out there in the world. And, for the first time since the Dragon of the West, one of the Fire royal house took the field against the Earth Kingdom recently – not Prince Zuko, who is indeed banished, but his sister, who was the one in command of the Drill. She may be young, but Zuko warns Shirong to never underestimate her; Iroh adds that even the Dragon of the West might be wary of taking her on. So, they ask Shirong again – what happens if Ba Sing Se falls? Shirong realizes they’re more afraid of Azula than they are of the Dai Li, which explains a lot of their previous actions. Zuko says he’s tired of running – but sometimes, you have to retreat. Shirong realizes they’re trying to find a location for some sort of outpost, and if they wanted to evacuate people from the city, they might need help from local authority figures… someone like him. And they’ve clearly been making other allies, too. Zuko doesn’t think Azula would destroy Ba Sing Se – it’s too big, and too valuable. Still, there are people they might need to get out, who they could at least temporarily hide in the catacombs. Shirong realizes that while he doesn’t have a family, other Dai Li do, and they would be in danger if the city fell. He still thinks what they’re describing sounds impossible, but Iroh would rather plan for it anyway. For now, he wants to hear about the Air Temples.

We cut to Shirong later, thinking about the things he’s learned; he recalls the old adage about knowing your enemy, and while he doesn’t consider the Avatar his enemy, he is potentially a problem. He, Zuko and Iroh had gone over all of the Air Temples in turn, though they were evasive about the details of the people living at the Northern. Shirong is left wondering again just who these two are, and why they’ve traveled around so much of the world. Though he thinks it does explain why Zuko is so determined to learn to heal, if he’s seen so much violence. Eventually, the conversation did turn to the spirit, and the idea that it might be lairing in Lake Laogai. Shirong wonders if the Dai Li’s activities there – brainwashing, execution, imprisonment – might have drawn the spirit, though they’ve been doing that there for decades and nothing happened. Then it occurs to him that they have something else there – Appa. He recalls attending Tingzhe Wen’s lectures on Avatar Kyoshi and Chin the Conqueror and learning about the connection between earthbending and badgermoles – he wonders if the sky bison might be more than he appears. He knows Roku had a dragon and heard that Kyoshi had a badgermole companion – if the Avatar is being kept from their animal, he fears bad things might happen. He thinks that the Dai Li should serve the people, not put them at risk, and thinks that Long Feng surely wouldn’t be holding Appa if he knew the risk. Finally, Shirong decides that his mission right now is to worry about dealing with the spirit itself, and work on cultivating recruits. He recalls how Zuko, after they were done with the maps, had shown him a waterbending move that sheathed his hands in claws of ice, and asked about how the Dai Li’s stone gloves work. Shirong was impressed by the line of questioning and worked with him a bit on adapting the technique for waterbending. Thinking about how much potential Zuko has, Shirong decides it would be a shame to lose him and is pleased that Zuko had him in for tea – and then he realizes something. He’d thought of Zuko as a lone pygmy puma living by its wits when he first met him, but it’s also true of him. To even socialize in the city, he has to hide the fact that he’s Dai Li – Zuko and Iroh have befriended him without forcing him to hide anything. He realizes that he might be trying to recruit them… but they’re also trying to recruit him. He’s impressed by their boldness, and still curious about some of the things they’ve let slip and decides it’s time to really start investigating who they are.

We end with a brief Author Note: A/N: Written in part because, given what we know Sozin and Iroh did in canon (and I'd bet Azulon was no slouch), the reaction of any sane person to somebody out of that family taking the field should not be the Gaang's, "oh, look, crazy ladies with blue fire". More like, "Aaauuugh! Sephiroth! Run away! Run away!" MG’s Thoughts This chapter… is kind of transitional in some ways. We do get to see a member of the Gaang (Toph, in this case) for the first time in a while, and while there are some things I like about how Vathara writes Toph’s POV and her sightless view of the world, I do have some quibbles. First off, this is another part of the fic that relies entirely on knowing the canon, and that canon having happened in Embers exactly the way it did in the show. Which wouldn’t bug me as much if “forget canon and take the fic as its own thing” isn’t a refrain I’ve seen repeatedly from the fic’s defenders, when I really don’t think it’s something you can do. For another, while canon Toph was initially resistant to her girls’-day-out with Katara, she ended up having fun in spite of herself and the two of them bonded a bit. Embers Toph hated the whole thing and resents Katara for dragging her into it – I guess because Vathara has to remind us she likes Toph and hates Katara. Also, I’ll note that in canon Aang wasn’t just waiting around for the Earth King to maybe notice him. As soon as the Gaang were reunited with Appa – and Long Feng no longer had leverage on them – they immediately broke into the palace to tell the Earth King the truth. Now, maybe Toph’s just supposed to be wrong here, but considering she’s one of Vathara’s favorites, and how the fic treats the rest of the Gaang in general, I’m not betting on it. It’s also a bit of a coincidence that Toph just happens to meet Huojin and his family, but… it’s not bad enough to really be a problem for me.

The scene with Shirong, Zuko and Iroh – I really can’t help but think that it’s part of Vathara’s overall softening of the Dai Li, considering I’m pretty sure that if a Dai Li agent in canon overheard half of that, Zuko and Iroh would have been at bare minimum hauled off to either the palace or Lake Laogai to be questioned as either potential spies or potential seditionists (I can’t imagine Long Feng would look kindly on anyone trying to, from his perspective, steal some of his people and take them to a new settlement somewhere outside his control). The conversation does lay some pretty important foreshadowing for things the fic will be doing down the road, though, if you know what to look for.

Finally, about the ANs. The one at the beginning of the chapter seems like it’s trying to backpedal on some of the “Koizilla was the worst” bits from the previous chapter as just Zuko’s POV, but, well, the fic will continue to treat Koizilla as the worst, from the perspective of people other than Zuko, and add on more reasons why it was the worst, so… I’m having a hard time buying it. As for the ending AN – yeah, the Gaang did take Azula seriously as a threat, absolutely. She was the most dangerous bad guy they’d run up against yet, and they very well knew it. But I guess that’s not good enough for Vathara to not insist on presenting them as naïve kids, and that a “sane” person would have reacted differently. And really, I can’t imagine the Dai Li would have missed a trick like not knowing who was in command of the Drill – it’s not like Azula’s presence was a secret.

[the-hopefulpenguin]

Commentary on this exchange from The Isoru Airlift?

Excerpt from Princess Ursa’s Remarks to Republic City Press Corps:

“We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the United Republic in opposing abuses of human dignity and defending the rights of citizens, wherever they may be. But we cannot send Fire Army troops into the Earth Kingdom. To do so would revive the memory of the Hundred Year War, fuel the grievances which empower warlords and genocidaires, and undermine any hope of a lasting peace.”

—

Republic City Gazette: Fire Nation Refuses Military Support to Isoru Evacuation, Citing Escalation Risk

Yue Bay Times: BETRAYAL! Fire Nation Princess Stabs Brother in Back

Star of Teyana: FINE, WE’LL DO IT OURSELVES: Sixteen retired officers make the case for the war, exclusive on page 3.

The Times of Caldera: United Republic, Fire Nation, “Shoulder-to-Shoulder” for International Peace, Says Princess Ursa

Equality Now: Arrogant Fire Nation Once Again Abandons United Republic

—

Iroh,

You won’t be surprised to hear I’ve been following the news closely. I think I can help.

A. Sato.

Isoru! The fic I really ought to get back to and a setting I am keen to talk about, so thank you for the ask! There’s a few different components in this, so apologies if the reply rambles a little.

First, ref: Ursa’s remarks, I think there’s some commentary on both the context of including it, and the content too. On context, I wrote this with a bit of an eye towards the sort of role a member of the Fire Nation royal family might have in a crisis situation. My sense was that while Ursa is not a professional diplomat, as a very visible symbolic representative of her country, she has particular utility in public diplomatic efforts (this leaves aside the liaison value-add of her brother being the UF military C-in-C, of course). Hence, it felt appropriate to have a major intervention in the narrative come via comments to press.

Regarding the context of her remarks, the language is quite modern/real world in some respects (“We therefore, here in Britain, stand shoulder to shoulder with our American friends” to quote Tony Blair), but the sentiment is linked into the LOK world-state. I think the Fire Nation, while far from abandoning the military instrument of national power, has huge sensitivities regarding deployment of ground troops into the Earth Kingdom. This is both a cultural piece, but also political; leaving aside the textual comments Ursa makes about their reception in the EK, there are likely domestic revanchists in the Fire Nation who would be emboldened.

Also – the reference to abuses of human dignity is a stealthy shout-out to the Conventions on the Protection of Innocents and Respect for the Dignity of the Human Person (also known as the Cranefish Conventions), from another one of my fics.

Second, the newspaper headlines; I love newspapers very much! The thinking here is to represent a spectrum of opinion – of course The Times of Caldera dodges the whole issue and notes only the joint resolve of the two nations, while the Gazette is an even-handed broadsheet. Equality Now is particularly interesting (I think, anyway) because it references a broader headcanon I have that the Equalist movement had strong nationalist shades, focusing its ire on foreign benders. And Star of Teyana being militaristic is a reference to some of my thinking on the United Forces’; Teyana is a major base for them.

Last, with Asami! So the Airlift was initially envisaged as part of a series of stories called ‘Sato’s War’ which was predicated on the assumption of Asami Sato becoming heavily enmeshed within the United Forces’ and Kuvira’s efforts to manage conflict in the Earth Kingdom* - with all the moral peril and interesting high-tech shenanigans involved. In general, I think she is the sort of woman who wants to solve problems, particularly technical ones, and whether one is an Irohsami shipper or not, she definitely has a working relationship with Iroh in any event.

*Chapter 3 of the story would feature Asami flying on a secret diplomatic mission to Kuvira to request her army supports United Forces troops cut off in Isoru; in my notes, I have a line from Iroh where he muses that Asami “has a face which could launch a thousand ships; no doubt her words could re-route an armoured brigade.” On a less self-indulgent note, I think there is some rich story-telling material in the connection between Kuvira and the United Forces during the timeskip which would be great to unpick.

Thank you again for the ask!

[manonamora-if-reviews]

A Paradox Between Worlds by Autumn Chen

============= Links

Play the game See other reviews of the game Read the postmortem (long, but very interesting) See other games by Autumn or follow her @cyberpunklesbian

============= Synopsis

It is the year 201X, and the Nebulaverse fandom is on fire. You are a teen online, and your safe place is about to be torn apart. A Paradox Between Worlds is a game about fandoms, internet melodrama, and the stories we create for ourselves.

============= Other Info

A Paradox Between Worlds APBW is a ChoiceScript interactive game, submitted to the 2021 Edition of the IFComp. This was Autumn's first entry to the competition, and it ranked 10th overall. It also won the Banana of Discord (entry with the biggest standard deviation in votes).

Status: Completed* Genre: Slice-of-Life, LGBT, Internet Culture An updated version is in the work (find a non-stable version here)

CW: Transphobia, including allusions to real-life events. Internet harassment and abuse. References to illness, death, and suicide. Interpersonal conflicts and discourse. Contextual content warnings are included in-game. Note: some posts are optional to read.

============= Playthrough

First Played: December 2021 Last Played: 28-May-2023 Playtime: around +3h (one playthrough) Rating: 5 /5 Thoughts: A nostalgic snapshot of Tumblr fandom, a critical look at community interactions with controversies, and a love letter to the things left behind.

============= Review

As a fan of the Chronicles of the Shadow Nebula, a fictional book series by G. T. Macmillan, you have been involved in the Nebulaverse fandom on a Tumblr-like platform. You are also an aspiring Nebula fanfiction writer, looking for fame and adoration in the community (well, at least some likes). Soon, however, the fandom in thrown into chaos, when an event blurs the lines between online and IRL. What follows is an exploration of fandom culture, identities, and internet personas.

Spoilers ahead. It is recommended to play the game first. The review is based on my understanding/reading of the story.

To this day, I am still baffled about how this game was able to recreate the vibes of Tumblr fandom from the 2010s (I shouldn't be surprised considering the references). From the old Tumblr Blue to the very virulent fandom conflicts, or the fan-organised conversions, or the always-left-behind character (sorry, Tycho), APBW perfectly encapsulate a prolific time of fandom culture. It was kind of nostalgic to me, having lived through quite a bit of the Supernatular/Doctor Who/Sherlock shenanigans... Though I was not really into the fanfic side of it all.

But APBW is more than a snapshot of the very fascinating ecosystem of Tumblr fandom. It is also a commentary* on how the relationship between a piece of work and its fans change overtime, especially when a ripple in the fanbase, like a mundane headcanon post, creates a storm as the author of the work gets involved (and not for the better). Raising questions (but not answering) about what fans would do in this situation: do they keep on enjoying the work that is so deeply personal to them (maybe even have helped explore their identify) or do they disavow it completely; do they band together in support of the victim/targeted group or do they have a blasé attitude about the issue; do they try to keep the fandom community alive and stand as one or do they become fragmented**;... *might not have been the author's intent, but this was my perception. **the death of fandoms are... something. It was very bittersweet to kind of relieve it.

It gets even more shocking/impactful when the OP of the post identifies as trans and the author goes on a (inter-?)national broadcast spewing transphobic rhetoric*, leading to the teenager being harassed and abused. The fandom (and online communities at large)'s reaction is very troubling, but neither new not surprising. From the hard-core fans who will support the author no matter what, the ones who will question any actions trying to show support for the targeted group (like a boycott), the ones who will not engage with the drama, or the ones who roll their eyes at it because they were calling out the author all along**... this is a real thing that happens. And is portrayed in this game with all the visceral intensity you'd find on Tumblr/Twitter/other social media. *the author made it clear that it wasn't about JKR in the postmortem (there are more transphobes authors out there), but when the shoe fits/it still is topical... ** I see you Karla!

Even without the author (GTM) adding onto the fire (which was already sparking before their disgusting action), the games portrayed the parasocial relationships between the fandom users, how even adults can get caught up in what people would think as petty teenage drama, or how being online is not just an escape from IRL problems, feels very real. I have personally seen those call-out posts between fanfic authors about plagiarism, those fake-pologies to calm down the fandom in hopes everyone forgets, the "kid-friendly" spaces still filled with inappropriate/problematic contents, the Discourse, the fights between people not following the conventions of interaction*... *Tumblr introducing the disabling of the reblog function was a blessing

Even if the online characters are based on tropes, they all have their stories to piece together: the self-proclaimed fandom mom, whose chronically online presence hides her avoidance to live her life truthfully*, the supportive adult who plays a double-role to take down bigger name accounts**, the always critical-puts herself in the discourse-calls out the shitty stuff-overall is kind of a bummer (but a correct bummer), and the kids who just want some space for themselves. I have followed this people before (have I been those too?), I have had those weird-ass URL, I have been in those fandom fights... It was not just real, it felt being right back in those communities. *I really didn't like Claire, but the more I've been thinking about their arc, the more I find her arc compelling. Her shitty actions still isn't fully balanced by the end, but there is some steps taken in the right direction. **I honestly didn't see it either times I played... handing in my detective gear in shame...

And then there is you, the player, trying to navigate the dumpster fire that is the Nebula fandom as you want to reach your goal of writing a fanfiction* and gain a bit of notoriety (I did manage to double my followers count in this playthrough :P), balancing your relationship between the different users you follow**, and your relationship with the Nebula universe. You can choose you name, your pronouns, your URL, your favourite character, your ship, the reason why you are creating fanfic, and what kind of post your blog is filled with. But your character is not the focus of this game (the above paragraphs are). *I, of course, titled mine A Paradox Between Worlds **interact with users enough to receive special messages or get invited into secret group chats

This PC-is-not-the-MC is reflected in the fanfiction you are "writing", as each part reminds you/Gali this is not your story. Gali moves on from one universe to the other*, finding different versions of [their] friends entangled in trope-y AU** and feeling out of place/alone/like an outsider every single time (like You the player might feel this way in the Nebula community). Your actions defines the ship you have in your writing, as well as the quality of the writing***. The focus on senses at the start of each new scene made me giggle a bit, from a parser "player" perspective. *the multi-verse take was so meta, with APBW having the Canon/Fanfiction/Online universes in play. Autumn, your mind!!! **I didn't really noticed it, but that's because I was more focused on the Online drama. The trope could have been more obvious/on-the-nose ***though I think this might be the same for everyone?

As the drama of the Nebula community unfolds, you find yourself struggling with writing/finishing the fan-fiction, reflecting on the feelings you have about the series itself considering the author's comments. In my playthrough, I pushed through, and found... myself, as the Destroyer (the Nebula baddie), meeting Gali, reminding [them] it is not [their] story, telling [them] the story is about to end, that maybe it should never have existed in the fist place... and that maybe you learned some lessons along the way... Writing the last part of the fanfiction hit me like a ton a brick, and made me question how I have consumed and created content in the past.

Finally*, there is the Canon. Each movement/chapter starts with a snippet of The Chronicles of the Shadow Nebula to contextualise the fandom, but also give some sort of preview of what is to come in the Online universe (very much a Cassandra vibe to them...). Though the author has mentioned the influence coming mainly from Homestuck**, I found more similarities with other YA universes (HP***, Divergent, or any YA-series-with-a-house/class-system-having-to-fight-a-big-baddie, and even a bit of the Hunger Games...). I dove into the codex in the stats page and devoured it, finding nuggets of gold and trying to link it to works I knew. One of my favourite bit: the Selene Dione character who is a Hannah Montana parody. *lol, i've organised this in the reverse of how you experience each part in game... **that's mainly because I never got into Homestuf that I didn't pick up on those references ***especially the main gang...

I don't know how to conclude this review. So I will leave with the final chat you can have with the gang: no one goes through character arcs like the books, IRL is messy and not everyone wants to share this part of themselves online, growing up is hard but so is growing apart from something that was important for you, moving on is also part of life...

So yea...

Go play this game.

=====> Some random notes I didn't know how to include:|

Changing the colour scheme to subtly announce the change of universe was smart (on top of the obvious title).

I thought naming each chapters as Movements was a good call. It reminded me of symphonies whose moments will bring out different intensity from the instruments (akin to the vibes of each chapters).

On top of the fake-canon chapters, the title of each moments and the quotes were a cry for what to expect.

This game is not about subtlety and I still missed a bunch of signs. Loved that arc for me. (no joke, it's great that it's not subtle about all this)

[A/N] will forever be Autumn/Nebula to me. Fight me in the comments.

The fucking weather reports on the vibe of the community when you log in... that's it, that's the post.

The commentary of the community that the last Nebula book will be a CYOA where all the endings are canon lfwahngnajknf;wmfgA"PKfgn

The used Tumblr blue felt odd to me for the longest time... until I realised I was there in a different time, and that made me feel old... (also relevant Autumn post about said Tumblr colours)

The NebulaCon gave me war flashbacks... it gave me DashCon vibes but lower stakes. (its fall might have been a bit too... quick? but the explosion chef kiss)

Even if I wasn't part of the fanfic culture, the initial clashes between Luna and Claire felt very much like the settled oldie/newcomers fight you have in any community (which apparently was supposed to be the major focus), and it's weirdly nice that it's never resolved...

the lorde references, omg. Pure Heroine still is one of her best EP, and the title achievements were chef kiss x3

Luna was my favourite character, hands down. I wanted to wrap her in a blanket, give her a cup of a hot chocolate with marshmallows, and a peck on the forehead. Teary eye when she thanked me in a post.

the fucking colour of the sky post. I swear to God If I see this post again I will scream!!!! Anyway, there should have been more of them, like the meme'd versions (especially the bee movie version).

I was honestly tempted to frame this review using the Shrek Onion Meme to be on theme... but I'll spare everyone. You're weeeeelcome.