#and hearing of a Zuko/Sokka edit to it…

[the-teddy-bear-butch]

While I’m feeling cranky. Can men let lesbians have like,,, one thing lol

[idkbroiguess-blog]

Ok i need someone to help me bring my vision to life… i keep thinking about the parallels between Voltron and ATLA, specifically in Sokka & Lance and Keith & Zuko. Stick with me here, only because I personally haven’t seen anyone mention it before.

Season 1 Lance: Maybe in another universe I didn’t feel like the weakest link

The other universe: season 1 Sokka

Sokka: maybe in another universe, Yue didn’t have to sacrifice herself

The other universe: Allura sacrificing herself

Season 1 keith: maybe in another universe I can afford to be gentle

The other universe: season 1 zuko

Keith: maybe in another universe Lance chose me after the war (canon imo but besides the point)

The other universe: zuko watching sokka visit suki at the palace while shes a guard

This isn’t all and obv it doesn’t all match up perfectly but like… their dynamic when they fight together? When they spar? The banter? The compassion? It’s just an idea but I keep thinking about it

[imjustavenuxwithaboomerang]

made the gaang with this picrew cause i have too much time on my hands, enjoy

[ittsybittsybunny]

ATLA Live Action Series Review:

The Good

Aesthetically this show felt right. Sure sometimes the outfits didn't quite feel lived in, but I always felt like I was watching a fantasy world with decent effects and interesting design. Also, I really enjoyed the sets!

Bending: Yes some of the fights feel very quick, but the bending looks cool. It is certainly better than 10 benders lifting one big rock. I can honestly say the opening bending fight scene gave me so much hope for this show.

Kyoshi Warriors: I loved seeing them in live action, and I thought Suki's performance was great!

Omashu: I think the mashup of the mechanist made sense since that is an important character overall and I would hate to see him cut. However, both Jet & the secret tunnels felt sloppily thrown in.

Northern Water Tribe: I really loved the way it looked, and appreciated the two episodes we spent here. I think Yue gained more agency in this interpretation, and why shouldn't the moon spirit be a waterbender. Also, episode seven felt the most in tune with the original show's spirit.

Zuko: I think he was one of the most fleshed-out and best parts of the show! Dallas Liu really captured Zuko's spirit, and the scene between him and Aang in episode 6 was wonderful!

Soundtrack: Hearing the original soundtrack bits is always great, and when I first heard the ending music I was so excited.

Is the show perfect, no - but I wouldn't mind a season 2.

The Bad

Pacing: Turning 20 episodes into 8 was bound to lead to some cuts...but oftentimes times things felt too quick or disjointed. I think there were editing problems contributing to this for sure, but sometimes things skipped around too much without a clear purpose as to why. Also, why bring in plots from later seasons when you barely have enough time already?

Writing: This show definitely suffered from exposition dumping, though it did get better as time went on. I think the biggest example of this is actually opening in the past rather than the present. We do not get to learn along with Aang that the world has changed, instead, we get to learn that 100 years have passed....which doesn't hold the same tension or worldbuilding.

Clunky Dialogue: Along with exposition, clunky dialogue is another example of bad writing. I think sometimes I felt like the acting was kind of meh in the beginning, but then over time I began to realize it had far more to do with the lines characters were trying to deliver. The actors themselves are not bad, just cursed with awkward writing and lines that feel out of touch with the setting they're in.

Main Trio: I don't entirely know that I believe Katara, Sokka, and Aang are friends as opposed to 3 people stuck together to save the world. Aang feels a little too somber for a young kid running away from his responsibilities, Sokka is protective, but not exactly the heart of the team, and Katara is sort of just there until the last two episodes. Where is her struggle, her desire to learn so strong she steals from pirates? Also, while Gordon Cormier did a great job, Aang does zero waterbending on his own, is overly serious, and tells Katara not to fight. Where is his desperation to protect his friends? It feels like they all lost emotional depth.

Tension: Bringing Ozai, Azula, and Zhao out in the beginning immediately causes us to lose the realization there is an even bigger bad. Part of why Ozai is so terrifying is he is a primarily silent villain until the third season when we finally see the face of the "big bad evil guy" behind it all. Yes, they add to Zuko's backstory, but again, they are revealing the villains too early. Azula is the antagonist of season 2 and one of my favorite characters, so I hope they do more with her in the future. Finally, Zhao is supposed to be an example of the uncontrollable nature of fire unrestrained, instead, he comes off as vaguely threatening with the supposed true power being Azula.

Characterization: While all characters are bound to lose something in a shorter show, it still felt like certain characters were more mutilated than others. I am sure there are 100 different opinions on who, but I think the biggest victim was Katara.

Katara: Katara manages to go from a complete novice to a bending master in what feels like a matter of days. The journey feels short, and that makes the results feel largely unearned. Katara is one of the strongest personalities in the show, determined, kind, and fiery. In many ways, she is the unpredictability of water - equally dangerous as it is necessary to live. She is the child of a war who lost her mother, forced to grow up too soon, and even raised her older brother. Yes, Katara often gets stereotyped as the mom friend, but overall she feels underutilized in this show. We really don't see enough of her journey until the very end.

Iroh: Iroh was always comedic but most importantly wise. Even when Zuko is trying to give himself advice, he mimics Iroh. Instead, he seems to be used more as comedic relief without the underlying experience. He just doesn't feel right. Also, he kills Zhao instead of Zhao getting himself killed - which is less about Iroh and more about the writing than anything.

Ozai is weirdly a little too nice. Yes, he burned Zuko and pits his kids against each other, but he feels toned down in a show claiming to be more mature than the original cartoon.

Azula is perhaps more realistically worried about losing her status as the golden child, but she is also missing the cruelty she and her father share. I understand worrying about making your character cartoonishly evil, but the Fire Nation is currently a deeply nationalistic empire trying to control the world. Where is the deep-seated belief that they are better than other people, not just trying to bring balance to the world? There is a line between creating complexity and toning down the very real evil inherent in this plan.

Roku: I can only say what the fuck was that. He was barely there, and not the serious master to Aang's youthful exuberance.

The Ugly

Show, Don't Tell: The show's single biggest issue seems to be speeding through story parts by simply stating things. Instead of allowing the audience to discover, trusting that we are smart enough to understand, let's just blatantly say things like Zuko is the only reason the 41st division is alive to their faces. Even though in the context of the story Ozai literally already said that.... it's the division, the division for Zuko, Zuko's division.

Thematic Misunderstandings: I think this show makes several minor changes with major implications, such as airbenders actively fighting the firebenders, when airbenders are known for their pacifist nature and the lie of an Airbender fighting force is actively propaganda. Similarly, Aang very quickly accepts his role as the avatar and doesn't even run away in the beginning. Without this conflict between his desire to be a carefree child and the fact that the world needs him - the show loses a key aspect of Aang's character. Also, the obsession with downplaying the avatar state as something dangerous feels like a disservice to the tradition, connection, and strength of the avatar, which can be permanently destroyed as the trade-off for that kind of power. It's dangerous for the balance of the entire world, not just because it's powerful!

The Agni Kai: Zuko's fight against his father is one of the defining moments of Ozai's cruelty, not just because he is willing to fight his child, but because Zuko tried to do everything right. Zuko shows deference to his father, apologizes, and most importantly refuses to fight! The determination not to upset his father and still be grievously injured and banished is a hugely important theme for the fire nation and Zuko's life as a whole. He tries to do everything he is supposed to and only regains his father's acceptance after he "kills" Aang. Zuko's struggle between moral vs. social right and wrong in contrast to his family is hugely important to his character.

-----

TLDR: ATLA was a fantastical animated television show that was never afraid to show character development and flaws. When you turn 20 episodes into 8, you are bound to lose something. You hollowed out the middle, leaving the shell of important moments and events without ever wondering if all the times in between formed the true spirit of the show.

Rating: 6.5/10 It's perfectly fine and worth a watch. Not a disaster, but certainly falls flat of the original.

[stars4krios]

Hear me out, Actor/Modern AU Zukka where Sokka has an editng acc that's just Zuko thirst edits and he constantly has the caption as something like "He's my bf fr" or "love my man♥︎♥︎" and ppl think he's just some random Zuko simp but in reality he is THEE Zuko simp

Another funny thing would be if Zuko knew of the acc (maybe even followed it back) but didn't know it was Sokka until he accidently found him logged into the acc or something

[prying-pandora666]

Who is Izumi’s Mom? Copium Edition

So we all know that Bryke have refused to confirm who Izumi’s mother is. Even when they released family trees, the conspicuously left Izumi’s mom blank.

So incredibly frustrating!

So since Bryke insists on baiting us and not giving us closure, here’s a dose of copium for all shippers.

First off! Izumi’s name means “spring fountain”. Remember that.

Secondly, she looks like this:

REASONS WHY YOUR SHIP OF CHOICE COULD STILL MAKE SENSE!

Mai - She looks the most like Izumi. She canonically dated Zuko (until they broke up AGAIN). The former comics’ writer believes they will make up. She and Zuko have a history surrounding fountains. Even with all the drama, she remains the most likely candidate.

Katara - It should be self explanatory why a child named “fountain”, as in water, may be a reference to the one water bender Zuko dueled with most. The two of them clearly developed a connection by the end of the show, and Katara once even offered to heal Zuko’s scar. This one is all but debunked due to Kataang being canon, but it’s still nice to dream! And no one can deny they look great together.

Jin - Zuko and Jin shared lovely chemistry on their one date. Zuko was even willing to risk getting outed as a firebender in the Earth Kingdom and imprisoned, just to make her smile. This scene is also significant because it involved a fountain. Considering the bulk of Zuko’s redemption happened in the EK and the plot continued into the comics dealing with the blended FN/EK colonies, I can see why this would be a good thematic choice.

Toph - A rarer pair but one that one storyboard artist snuck in a reference for! Toph and Zuko have a lot in common. They both come from families of status that abused them for their failure to conform. Toph was born blind while Zuko has a disfiguring facial scar that realistically should affect both his vision and his hearing to an extent. Toph also has a friendship with uncle Iroh and was the first member of the Gaang to successfully understand and comfort Zuko as well as she did. Some point out that Zuko’s daughter Izumi has vision problems (like Toph) while Toph’s daughter Lin has a facial scar (like Zuko). The name Kanto, the alleged father of Lin, can also be written with the characters for “crown capital” so some speculate it’s an alias for Zuko. Spring fountain could be a reference both to the Earth element’s season of spring as well as to a volcano, which is like a fountain combining fire and earth. This scene is the most telling, with two doves representing Zuko and Toph. When Zuko walks away from Toph, the two doves kiss, signifying that perhaps a romance between them is destined for the future. Luckily, Toph knows how to listen and wait. Everything that applies to Jin about making peace with the EK applies even more to Toph since she’s actually from a noble house.

Suki - A bit of a wild card since she’s dating Sokka! But the comics showed Zuko and Suki getting much closer. When no one else was on Zuko’s side during the conflict in the colonies, and even Mai dumped him over his desperate visits to Ozai, Suki stayed by Zuko’s side. She never lost faith in him and tried her best to be there for him. The two have clearly developed a close friendship and bond of trust. Some even see it as romantic, which spells bad news for our boy Sokka. However, seeing as the book Legacy implies Sokka and Suki broke up, perhaps Zuki shippers have more evidence to stand on than originally thought! Everything that applies to Jin about making peace with the EK would also apply, since Suki is also from the EK. Perhaps she could fan the flames of his passion?

Sokka - Okay we all know it’s not going to happen but they’re really cute and I get it. The fountain claim applies to Sokka same as it does Katara! Hey there’s always a chance! Korrasami proved that!

Ty Lee - Not a lot to go off here but it’s undeniable that the two have a weird, unspoken tension. Why is Zuko quietly beefing with his sister’s bff? It’s never explained. Something is definitely going on there! We just don’t know what it is. In the comics, Zuko does lament not playing with Ty Lee and the other girls more as a kid.

Azula - I mean… okay I get it. The features that Izumi has in common with Mai, she also has in common with Zuko. So it’s not impossible to see why some would think she looks like Azula too. But can we please not make ATLA into Game of Thrones? This certainly isn’t helping:

Jet - He’s dead now so it’s not possible. But did Jet actually have a thing for Zuko? You know… it was really unclear.

[muffinlance]

EDIT: New suggestions still welcome, but skim the current replies first to make sure you're not saying what twenty others have already said. Let's just say NO MORE JAPANESE NAMES to be safe (most of the repeats are Japanese); I'm still interested in other culture's tasty snack names

---

Guys, it's an emergency guys

I have lost my notes on names for Zuko's feral mantis-shrimp badger that he pulls from the trash behind his Uncle's teashop and makes into a (hissing, snarling, Nephew Please Put That Down--) pet guys

Please reply to this post with very cute food-themed names, particularly food that is small, sweet, and generally served as a tea cake. NOT tea names, Zuko hates tea. Tea snack names.

Her working name has been Madeleine but I'd prefer something more Asian, because I don't want a subplot explaining how Iroh acquires madeleines in the AtlA world. This should be something served at his shop, or available readily in town, so Zuko can impulse-name his new Snarly McBadIdea Pet. Also I cannot for the life of me spell Madeleine without a google search, so there's that.

If I end up using your name, you'll get credited in the upcoming story.

Also wanted: names for Toph's delicate seeing-eye shrimp-badger, who is a well breed and hard-working lady and therefore deserves a ludacris beefy Earth-Rumble-type name

So that when the Gaang shows up and meets Feral Trash Badger and Little Lady Badger

And hears their names

They absolutely guess wrong on which is which

And Sokka gets an Offended Badger to the face

[yuttikkele]

i finished a new media so now it’s time for ATLA PRIDE HCs WOOOO!!!

so aang is unlabeled (and doesn’t identify as unlabeled either 💀💀) in all areas basically. he loves freely and doesn’t see gender or sex. he doesn’t see it in himself either. he mostly presents and refers to himself as a dude, but he found out he doesn’t mind being seen as a lady either. he’s crushed on katara and zuko during different points in his life, but he settled on katara. functionally, he’s pan and genderfluid.

katara is queer. she is the most unqueer queer ever though. she acts straight as a board I tell ya. she doesn’t really confine herself to labels much either, but she can tell you she was surprised at how much she enjoyed Lady Aang when that first became a thing.

sokka is bi. he probably thought men were supposed to marry women, but he quickly got over it when he got over his short lived misogyny. bi awakening wasn’t really a thing, he just sorta knew he always liked boys and girls. he’s had many crushes, but yue and suki are the ones that always stood out the most for him. obvi he dabbles in drag, that’s like sorta a canon thing. zuko’s autistic charms get to him and he ends up developing a crush on him.

toph is an aroace lesbian. she only dates the finest of women. she can tell she’ll read your heart with her feet.

zuko is gay like GAAAYYYY I don’t mean to bring accidental cheesy puns into this but he is a FLAMING homosexual, and I refuse to believe otherwise. at some point I said “I like zutara, but I just think atla is way funnier when in the back of your mind, zuko is gay.” anyways he’s gay and sex repulsed. zuko didn’t know he liked boys until he was 17, and he didn’t realize he was completely gay until a year later. he was very comphet and was always expected to produce a blood heir, and he didn’t think much of it. looking back, zuko noticed how he did find boys cute when he was younger and often avoided them because of it. he could sense that he and his sister were different, but he always thought that was because they were royalty. he only really started dating mai because they had so much in common, he thought that’s what was supposed to happen. when zuko, not long after becoming fire lord, realized he liked boys, he kept it to himself. a year later when he realized he only liked boys, he vented about it to mai, and she helped him through it. they broke up, but he still values her friendship. zuko finally gets with sokka in his 20s. yeah it took that long.

OTHER CHARACTERS THAT AREN’T GAANG THAT COME TO MIND!!

azula is a LESSSBIAAAAN that is a lesbian

I wanna say suki and ty lee are dating

smeller bee is definitely trans I don’t wanna hear it

uncle iroh doesn’t care. he loved his wife whatever happened to her, and he would also date a man.

EDIT: sorry just here to say that zukaang is endgame actually. they get together in aang’s mid to late 20s after pining for a long time. aang always had sorta an underlying unspoken crush on zuko, and zuko caught feelings when aang shot up taller than him and he realized aang got really handsome. and yknow. the fact that THEY’RE SOULMATES.

[highfantasy-soul]

Katara: NATLA Edition - Waterbending

In the Netflix show, Katara's main teacher was the world - she observed, she learned the spiritual side of bending from Aang (and a little from Jet), and she learned from opponents she fought (including Pakku)

This is SHOWING Uncle Iroh's lesson to Zuko in Bitter Work (book 2) about learning as much as you can from everywhere even if they aren't directly doing your own style of bending. By learning about everyone's cultures/styles/philosophies of the world, then you have a more rounded view of the world and can incorporate new things into your own bending.

I think an important distinction people are missing when they compare LA and animated Katara is that in the animated series, we see Katara WATERBEND more, but in the live action, we see her PRACTICING waterbending more.

In the animated series, she's already doing very useful things with her waterbending (lifting a fish, throwing water and freezing it, breaking apart an iceberg with her anger, pulling down a bank of snow,  lifting a whole wave of water, pushing and pulling a wave, pulling water from Aang's lungs, pushing the water while she's in it to get to shore faster, lifting water from a river to freeze as a block on a guy's head, lifting and maneuvering water in the air) before she ever even gets a hint of training. She just 'naturally' knows how to do all that through her own trial and error - no advice from Aang about the spirituality of bending, no training from the scroll, and no using moves she's seen other benders do just making it water.

The only times we see animated Katara training is in The Waterbending Scroll episode - which is the entire point of the episode - and in the trio of episodes up in the NWT - again, the whole point of her arc in those episodes. Everything else, she's done on her own and there's no moments of her training during the other episodes, she just waterbends.

In the live action, we see Katara constantly practicing, even when she's just in the background of a scene or traveling from place to place - she's ALWAYS practicing her stances or playing with water to get better.

In the live action, Katara is struggling with ALL of waterbending, not just the technical aspect of it - because bending is a highly spiritual practice where you have to be in the right mindset to do successfully. We see every single step of Katara's waterbending practice journey - from not even being able to lift a globe of water to holding her own against a master.

We get to see the process of bending from start to finish which really fleshes out the magic of the world in an organic way while providing one of our leads with more depth that ties them to the themes of the world and of their own culture and how the oppression of the Fire Nation affects her mental state.

In the animated show, we hear Katara talk about how losing her mother hurt her, yet we really only see the fallout of that trauma, not her inner turmoil over it. We see her taking on a 'motherly' role in the community and with Sokka, we see her anger at the firebenders, we see how she's had to grow up too fast and just wants to be a kid, but the actual death of her mother and its affect on her isn't shown.

I like how the live action specifically shows how Katara's mother's death affects HER - she doesn’t just share the story to connect with others, it's not just the 'reason' she acts the way she does, it's not just something that impacts her relationships with others: if no one else in the world existed for Katara to interact with, Katara would still have a journey to go on surrounding Kya's death.

In the LA, the fact that her mother was killed by a firebender looking for HER - and she tries to save her mother using her waterbending and it doesn't work because she isn't strong enough yet, directly affects Katara herself independent of anyone else. That trauma keeps her from being able to waterbend easily like she does in the animated show and it's one of her main arcs: the arc to learn waterbending isn't just a technical journey for her like it is in the animated show, it's emotional too.

Generational trauma due to horrific violence is shown both in external issues to grapple with as well as internal ones our characters have to face alone.

I really like how the live action broke down Katara's waterbending and we got to see the 'less flashy' aspects of it. She's not constantly doing huge and impactful moves, she's steadily growing in power and confidence one small step at a time. She doesn't do it alone - she has so many teachers who help her along the way with both the physical and mental aspect of bending and to me, her progression in power is much more clear in the live action than it is in the animated show.

[i-think-i-thunk]

Edit: I hear yall loud and clear about azula and you're 10000% correct

[oneatlatime]

A Precariously Stacked Pile of Random Season 2 Thoughts

These are notes I took as I watched the season. Usually after I’d already posted about the episode in question, and I thought of something I would have added to the post. Rather than edit them into my posts, I’m rounding them up and posting them all at once. As such, they are vaguely chronological. Unfortunately, because I made the notes legible to me and me only, I didn't bother to write down what episode I was referring to. I've also added some notes in as I was editing these notes. So this is also a bit of a scavenger hunt. Enjoy!

Iroh poisoning himself: dumbass moment or 5D chess?

My autocorrect corrects “Sokka” to Sock, and “Sokka’s” to socks. This causes double takes when editing.

Badgermoles have excellent eyeliner. Is that where the Kyoshi Warriors get their jaw dropping cat eye?

Why is Ty Lee spelled Ty Lee and not Tai Li? Why is Dai Li spelled Dai Li and not Dy Lee?

Sometimes Sokka makes me think of Mulan. Am I crazy?

Are the swampbenders’ moves based on a real martial art style too?

Why didn’t Aang use his swamp sense to locate Appa post-appanapping?

Where did Toph, who spent her whole life as a prisoner of her parents’ house and a moonlighting WWE wrestler until Team Avatar busted her out, get such emotional intelligence?

Why did Zuko’s dad put forward the plan to disinherit Iron in favour of him less than 24 hours after Lu Ten’s death? Why did he think that moving quickly was the right approach? Does the Fire Nation not do grieving periods? In what world was 'strike while the iron is hot' the correct course of action here?

Looking back, I’m amazed that season 2 didn’t end in Zuko’s redemption. I didn’t much like Zuko Alone, but I was sure that a season that included that much set up for a Zuko redemption arc would prioritise finishing that arc.

I haven’t even met this Firelord guy yet, but I am peeved that that twerp has a name as cool as Ozai.

Why haven't I met that Firelord guy yet?

I really thought that the older brother character in Zuko Alone would make an appearance later on in the season, giving Zuko a chance to flex some newly acquired morals. But the parallel to Lu Ten and the general message about the evils of war lands better if we never hear of him again.

Zuko in the first half of season 2 had me so annoyed that I was incredibly uncharitable to him in my write ups. Reading through some of the stuff I wrote while watching episodes, I kind of wince now. Zuko in the second half of the season was much less annoying. Which I feel bad for saying, because he’s clearly not in a good place in the second half of the season.

I would love to know why the writers decided to have Toph and Iroh meet in the wilderness. I think it’s a good choice, but I want to know how they came up with it, and why those characters? Is there anything about Toph (especially at that point, when we’ve known her for 1 episode) that suggests that she and Iroh should meet? Or would get along if they did?

Zuko has so many rock bottom fake outs this season: Zuko Alone? Nope, he gets worse in The Chase. The Chase? Nope, he gets worse in Bitter Work. Bitter Work? Nope, he gets worse in the finale.

I’m still peeved that Azula won a 6 on 1 showdown. Sorry, but that breaks immersion.

I bet the Blue Spirit could make lightning.

If water is the element of change, why does the Northern Water Tribe have such strictly defined traditions? I get that it's literally the element of change, in that water can exist in different physical states, but shouldn't the metaphorical interpretation also be true?

I like that Toph can think like an Airbender sooner than Aang can think like an earthbender.

What is Sokka’s boomerang made of? Is it metal? Because if it’s metal, does that mean that there’s a blacksmith somewhere in the South Pole? With a forge?

I still can’t get over how dumb the whole eclipse plot was.

Suki is TINY!!!

I mocked this guy’s 80s aerobics video leotard aesthetic, and I stand by that mockery, because this guy is ugly. Those colours are awful. But do you know who else has those colours?

Jet this season fascinates me. He’s positioned as genuinely repentant and legitimately seeking a second chance and I don’t believe him for one minute. Why don’t I believe him? This show has a theme of learning from mistakes and doing better, so shouldn’t Jet be a perfect fit for this show’s themes? I should be primed to believe him. And yet I don’t.

I have to applaud Iron’s enthusiasm for their new life in Ba Sing Se. A lot of that cheer (at least before the tea shop) is put on for Zuko’s sake. I don’t know where Iroh gets the energy to keep trying with Zuko after years of minimal results, but I’m glad he does.

I think Aang and Ty Lee should hang out. They have similar circus energy. Or maybe it’s that they’re the only two characters in the show so far who are remotely playful.

Aang = surface silliness, core of calm. Not that the silliness doesn't run deep, but he seems to have an untouchable anchor of calm deep within that rarely gets disturbed. Gyatso raised him well.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~Poetry bouncer ~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

I need next season to have more Appa & Mono subplots à la their escapades in The Swamp. Not à la Momo’s Tale.

Tales of Ba Sing Se definitive ranking: Momo Aang Sokka Zuko Iroh Katara & Toph

I love that Momo still sleeps in the Momo bag from The Blind Bandit

Are Suki and her warriors sitting in the middle of some Earth Kingdom forest in their underwear?

So are Smellerbee and Longshot just done? Will they be back in season 3? What happens to their life now? They are known associates of an enemy of the state who was just executed. It doesn't look good.

Everyone on this show has big ears. Zuko has the smallest ears simply because he has the least amount of ears remaining. But everyone else? Big ears.

Can I have more Gyatso? I forgot how cool he was. More Guru too please.

Hakodilf.

Everyone in the SWT has such wonderfully fluffy hair.

I like Sokka’s boots. Southern Water Tribe boots in general.

If this is the grand total of the SWT, I have some bad news about population dynamics.

Is there a proper naval term for what the SWT are doing? They’re a stealth strike force that seems to be going after individual enemy ships, using both direct and indirect tactics. Not pirates, because as far as we know they aren't going for FN supplies. They're doing what submarines do, but above water. There’s got to be a proper name for that.

Is there a raft of FN corpses chilling in the waters in front of the NWT's big wall?

I saw ATLA described as a show where all the characters are Asian-inspired people of colour, but isn’t Suki a blue-eyed redhead?

I had no idea that you could decline an Agni Kai. Zuko should have done that.

Why are the Dai Li so in love with Azula? I get that they're pissed with Long Feng for getting arrested, but wouldn't the logical choice be to direct their loyalties to the Earth King rather than a wildcard princess? I'm not going to pretend for a minute that the Dai Li are loyal to the Earth Kingdom or to Ba Sing Se, but the Earth King is a known quantity. Seems to me that it would be easier for them to re-puppetify him, rather than a FN princess.

Katara & Zuko bonding over their missing mothers is the same “makes sense until you think about it for five seconds” as Song & Zuko bonding over losing their fathers to war. Technically the same, sort of, on paper, but actually kind of rude to equate them once you know the full story. Same with the parallel between Lu Ten and the older brother in Zuko Alone. The proper dead mom parallel is Katara and Jet. Although Katara doesn’t object to the Zuko comparison, so I have no grounds to do so.

I’m really glad that Katara didn’t remove Zuko’s scar with her spirit oasis water. Both because she kind of really needed that water, but also because one thing this show has always done right is permanence. No quick fixes, no fake outs, no take backs. Lu Ten is dead, and he stays that way. Princess Yue is the moon, and she stays that way. Half a dozen people’s moms are dead, and they stay that way. Aang is the last Airbender, and he stays that way. Zuko is scarred, and he stays that way. There are no hand waves, no easy fixes. All the characters can do is learn to live with it, and go forward. And I’m grateful the show is like that, because that permanence, as well as being a good lesson to learn, functions as a reward for audience investment.

Aang did come to a crossroads of destiny in the finale, chose his duties to the world over his friends, and got aggressively slapped down for it. I have a feeling that he’ll take the wrong lesson from that, since he was already inclined to shun that path.

Overall Season 1 was prettier.

Ty Lee was the cause of more than one Beat Up Sokka Quota fulfillment this season. Make of that what you will.

Will Zuko & Azula spend season 3 bouncing between the FN and Ba Sing Se? They could be heavily involved with establishing the FN governance over Ba Sing Se, since the city is already inclined towards royalty.

Favourite episode this season? The Guru. The Blind Bandit and The Swamp are tied for second place.

[thebest-medicine]

Summer Sentence Starters 2024 Drabbles Masterpost <3

listed alphabetically by fandom, then in order of prompts as written prompts taken from this post I made earlier in the summer + my last masterpost for this kept having an error that wouldn't let me update/edit it so I made a new one :)

Avatar (ATLA + TLOK) [ao3 link]

Prompt #56 - lee!Zuko, ler!Sokka "I never would've pegged you as the ticklish type."

Prompt #76 - lee!Korra, ler!Asami "Don't tell me you've been hiding this all this time?"

Prompt #42 - lee!Bolin, ler!Korra "No way, are you crying?"

Prompt #52 - lee!Aang, ler!Sokka, ler!Katara "What about him? Is he ticklish?" "Huh- what, me?"

Prompt #8 - lee!Aang, ler!Sokka, ler!Katara “I’ll have you know, I was the tickle fight champion in my home growing up.”

Critical Role (Campaigns 1 + 2) [ao3 link]

Prompt #88 - lee!Essek, ler!Jester, ler!Beau "We don't have time for such childish- hey! Stop it!"

Prompt #40 - lee!Fjord, ler!Jester "I've never heard you laugh like that before."

Prompt #44 - lee!Caleb, ler!Fjord "You wouldn't take advantage of that while I'm stuck like this, right? ...Right?!"

Prompt #54 - lee!Caleb, ler!Mollymauk "Oh man, is this a bad spot?"

Prompt #7 - switch!Caleb, switch!Mollymauk, ler!Essek "No way, you're ticklish here too?"

Prompt #12 - lee!Fjord, ler!Mollymauk "So, what's this I hear about you being deathly ticklish?"

Prompt #96 - lee!Fjord, ler!Jester "What are you so scared of? It's just a feather."

Prompt #24 - lee!Caleb, ler!Jester "Sounds like someone needs a visit from the tickle monster!"

Prompt #89 - lee!Caleb, ler!Jester, ler!Mollymauk "Wait no- not here- not now!"

Prompt #17 - lee!Caleb, ler!Mollymauk "What's there to be embarrassed about?"

Prompt #5 - lee!Percival, ler!Vax'ildan "No, I'm just- uh- sensitive."

Prompt #37 - lee!Fjord, ler!Mollymauk "Wait no- not that, anything but that!"

Prompt #12 + #14 - lee!Caleb, ler!Mollymauk “So, what’s this I hear about you being deathly ticklish?” + “Well, well, well… Look what we have here.”

Prompt #64 - lee!Mollymauk, ler!Fjord “Relax, I’m not gonna kill you. But I am gonna make you wish you were dead.”

Danny Phantom

coming soon

Dungeon Meshi [ao3 link]

Prompt #21 - lee!Chilchuck, ler!Marcille "Big talk for someone so ticklish."

Game of Thrones + House of the Dragon [ao3 link]

Prompts #56 + #67 + #72 - lee!Jaime, ler!Brienne “I never would’ve pegged you as the ticklish type.” + “Well now, that seems like wishful thinking.” + “As soon as I get out of this I hope you know I’m going to murder you.”

Gravity Falls [ao3 link]

Prompt #16 - lee!Dipper, ler!Grunkle Ford "Come on, stop it- I'm serious! That really tickles!"

Prompt #79 - lee!Dipper, ler!Wendy "You're not going anywhere."

Inuyasha + Hanyo no Yashahime [ao3 link]

Prompt #66 - lee!Inuyasha, ler!Kagome "Don't tell me you're ticklish!?"'

Prompt #84 - lee!Miroku, ler!Sango "You'd better give up now or this is about to get a lot worse!"

Kim Possible [ao3 link]

Prompt #82 - lee!Kim, ler!Shego "You're not really gonna tickle me, are you?"

Prompts #24 + #71 - switch!Kim, switch!Ron "Sounds like someone needs a visit from the tickle monster" + "This isn't cuddling! This is an attack!"

Marvel (MCU)

coming soon

My Adventures with Superman [ao3 link]

Prompt #1 - lee!Clark, ler!Lois "Was that a giggle just now?"

Prompts #22 + #35 - lee!Clark, ler!Lois “Don’t make me make you.” + “What? Me? Ticklish? As if!”

Prompt #6 - lee!Clark, ler!Jimmy "You think you're real tough, huh?"

My Hero Academia [ao3 link]

Prompt #64 - lee!Todoroki, ler!Bakugo "Relax, I'm not gonna kill ya. But, I am gonna make you wish you were dead."

Prompt #100 - lee!Bakugo, ler!Midoriya "Would you just shut up and tickle me already."

Prompts #48 + #50 + #63 - lee!Midoriya, ler!Bakugo "You would think you'd get less ticklish as you got older, but you're the opposite!" + "Please, I can't take it anymore!" + "Too bad there's nothing you can do about it."

Prompts #60 + #62 - lee!Bakugo, ler!Kirishima "Don't- don't you date! Don't even t-think about it!" + "I haven't seen you smile all day!"

Prompt #86 - lee!Bakugo, ler!Midoriya "Crap. Wait, I didn't mean that."

Prompt #21 - lee!Bakugo, switch!Kirishima, ler!Kaminari "Big talk for someone so ticklish."

Prompt #93 - lee!Midoriya, ler!Kirishima "Oh? And what if I did?"

Prompt #42 - lee!Midoriya, ler!Bakugo "No way, are you crying?"

Prompt #71 - lee!Bakugo, ler!Bakusquad (Kiri, Kami, Mina, Sero) "This isn't cuddling! This is an attack!"

Prompts #3 + #4 - lee!Bakugo, ler!Kirishima "Come any closer and I will end you." + "Oh, you shouldn't have said that.."

Prompts #70 + #55 - lee!Midoriya, ler!Bakugo “Wait! Not there! Anywhere but there!” + “Please! I’ll do whatever you want!”

Prompt #98 - lee!Todoroki, ler!Bakugo "There it is. That laugh is music to my ears!"

Prompt #85 - lee!Bakugo, ler!Kirishima, switch!Kaminari "Don't be an idiot."

Prompt #78 - lee!Todoroki, ler!Sero "Aww, are you blushing? That's adorable."

Prompts #5 + #9 + #23 - lee!Midoriya, ler!Sero “No, I’m just, uh- sensitive.” + “Did you just.. laugh?” + “Wait a minute… you’re not ticklish, are you?”

Prompt #32 - lee!Midoriya, ler!Bakugo “Who would’ve thought a few tickles would be your doom?”

Prompt #23 - lee!Todoroki, ler!Midoriya "What a minute, you're not ticklish, are you?"

Prompt #40 - lee!Bakugo, ler!Kirishima “I’ve never heard you laugh like that before, it’s nice.”

+ MHA mini series [ao3 link]:

Prompt #92 - lee!Bakugo, ler!Bakusquad (Kiri, Kami, Mina, Sero), ler!Midoriya (Pt 1) "Hey, are you guys okay? I heard yelling from the hall and - oh."

Prompt #104 - lee!Kaminari, ler!Bakugo (Pt 2) "What, did you think you were just going to get away with that?"

Prompt #83 - lee!Midoriya, ler!Bakugo (Pt 3) “I didn’t think you had it in you.”

Prompt #67 - lee!Sero, ler!Bakugo (Pt 4)* “Well now, that seems like wishful thinking.”

Prompt #31 - lee!Ashido, ler!Bakugo (Pt 5)* “Come on, it’s not that bad, is it?”

Prompt #59 - lee!Kirishima, ler!Bakugo (Pt 6)* "Why so nervous?"

Prompt #24 - lee!Midoriya, ler!Bakugo, ler!Kirishima (Pt 7)* “Sounds like someone needs a visit from the tickle monster.”

The Owl House [ao3 link]

Prompt #24 - lee!Hunter, ler!Gus, ler!Willow "Sounds like someone needs a visit from the tickle monster!"

Prompt #2 - lee!Luz, ler!Amity "Hey, what do you think you're doing!"

Prompt #68 - lee!Amity, ler!Luz "What's that? Stop saying tickle tickle tickle tickle tickle?”

Prompt #48 - lee!Eda, ler!Raine "You would think you'd get less ticklish as you got older, but you're the opposite!"

Prompt #71 - lee!Amity, ler!Luz "This isn't cuddling! This is an attack!"

Prompt #64 - lee!Hunter, ler!Amity "Relax, I'm not gonna kill ya. But, I am gonna make you wish you were dead."

Prompt #102 - lee!Hunter, ler!Willow “Oh, you’re so going to regret that!”

Prompt #27 - switch!Edric, switch!Emira, switch!Amity "I just hope you know, this means war."

Steven Universe

coming soon

Supernatural [ao3 link]

Prompt #5 - lee!Dean, ler!Castiel "No, I'm just- uh- sensitive"

Teen Titans [ao3 link]

Prompt #9 - lee!Raven, ler!Starfire "Did you just...laugh?"

Yellowjackets [ao3 link]

Prompt #61 - lee!Shauna, ler!Jackie "You'd better keep quiet!"

Young Justice [ao3 link]

Prompts #43 + #46 - lee!Conner, ler!M'Gann "Lighten up, have a laugh!" + "I'm not letting you off that easy!"

[hulahoopsoupgroup]

even more atla/genshin/hsr au headcanons because i am experiencing dangerous levels of brainrot over this: the gaang (minus zuko for now) edition (part 1)

1. sokka and katara are originally from watatsumi island

2. along with his dad, sokka looks up to gorou as a leader

3. one day sokka and katara fall into that whirpool in the middle of the island and walk through that cave system that leads to enkanomiya, and they find a boy encased in rocks. they manage to break him out (with several interruptions of sokka screaming over a flying manta ray) and the boy reveals himself to be aang, the avatar

4. the avatar is supposed to master anemo, pyro, hydro, and geo, and they often master the subsects of those elements (electro from pyro, cryo from hydro, dendro from geo)

5. they head over to kyoshi island (pretend it exists in inazuma) and the events play out like in og atla and they eventually sneak out of inazuma with sukis help

6. next stop, liyue. they stop at guyun stone forest and see some bending battle between "the blind bandit" and "the oni king." the blind bandit absolutely destroys the oni king and aang tries to get her to teach him how to bend geo, but she refuses at first. then, a pirate woman (somewhat drunkenly) comes over, putting a hand on the blind bandit, who they came to know as toph, and tries to talk her into it

7. beidou helps toph escape her family and then she can teach aang in peace (well. not full peace but you know)

8. zhongli finds them training in guyun stone forest one day and aang is fangirling like (oh my god im your biggest fan, ive heard stories of you for over a hundred years) and zhongli is like "wtf man youre 11?"

9. zhongli helps aang out for a little bit before going on his way

10. the gaang has way too much fun in liyue harbor. they end up flying kites while sitting on the rooftops at night, but then they notice a redhead fatui harbinger roaming the streets, and they have to leave

11. they go up to mt aocang and get scolded by xianyun for not bringing gifts, but ganyu and shenhe eventually come up the mountain and she stops

12. ganyu and shenhe, upon hearing kataras a waterbender, teach her (and aang) the art of cryo

[tuktukpodfics]

Hi! I'm thinking about making a podfic of one of my favorite fics and I wanted to ask for a couple of tips because I adore your podfics and I have run into a couple problems very early on.

how do you do deeper voices? my voice is fairly high (I'm a soprano that can occasionally deep down into lower alto) and most of the voices in the fic are male. I also always sound about twelve in recordings lol

how do you make distinct voices? again, I have a lot of different voices (probably 5-7 that talk the most, with many many other reoccurring characters).

pacing of reading. I tend to speak/read very quick and in my practice recordings, it sounds like I'm talking much faster than I felt I was. any tips on that?

what recording programs are best? currently I'm using voice memos on my phone. which. is clearly not going to give me the best sound, regardless of the app I use, but I don't have many options.

I am living in a dorm right now and live in fear of my suite mates hearing me (my roommate not quite as much as she likes to dub and does a lot in our room--though she does it in mandarin so I cant understand it). not to mention background noise of doors opening and whatnot. if you have any tips on that as well, that would be great!

I love your podfic, you put so much soul into them, and I hope that I could do that too!

Hello fellow podfic-er! I’m so excited for you to make a podfic!

The nice thing about podfics is that I usually don’t have to create characters from scratch, they already exist in the TV show. If I’m struggling with a character, I just rewatch some clips of them talking and imitate it!

Deep voices: I, too, have a high, childish voice and struggle with deep, Manly Men. I guess the main tip I have is to...give up. What I mean is focus less on pitch and more on tone. If you speak too low, it’ll be less expressive and will probably hurt your throat. It can work for minor, 2D characters, but don’t do it for main characters that have a wide range of emotions (you may notice that my Mighty Oaks Fire Sage Zuko voice swings higher when he’s emotional oops). Instead, use your normal pitch, and make a character sound adult by using an authoritative tone. Another thing I do is play up the childish and feminine voices. We might not be able to make the adults sound adult, but we can make the kids sound extra kiddish by comparison.

Distinct voices: I’m a tactile learner, so for me, it’s all about the physicality. Every time I do Azula’s voice, I make a pinched face like I’m eating a lemon. When I record Ozai, I sneer. For Sokka, I jut out my chin and flail my arms. It looks silly, but no one is around to see. There’s lots of YouTube tutorials about how to make different voices by varying speed and tone and nasal quality, but I get kinda lost in the sauce with those theory lessons. The only way I can really get myself to do different voices is if I’m working off of a reference. I just watch videos of other cartoons and live actors and then copy them.

Pacing: Pacing is hard. I especially struggle with the editing and often end up cutting things wonkily. Audiobooks tend to be slow because you’re less likely to get tongue tied that way. If I have a big hunk of text that I find myself racing through, I slow myself down with physicality again. I’ll lean in on important words or mime out the actions. For example, on the line, “Zuko turns, grabs the bar at the side of the ship, and throws himself back over,” I'll turn my body on the word “turn,” grab an imaginary bar on the word “grab” and then lurch forward on the word “throw.” Adding in movement can bring variation to those big blocks of text.

What recording programs are best: I don’t know! I use Audacity because it’s free. Adobe Audition is great too, but it’s expensive. I am very lazy with the podfics. I don’t have a professional set-up. Basically, I make a comfortable nest of pillows in bed or my closet, use an iPhone VoiceMemos app to record straight into the phone mic, send the audio file to my computer, convert the audio to a WAV file, put it in Audacity, add a Noise Reduction effect, and then cut it down. Once I’m done editing it, I export the Audacity file as an mp3, upload it to archive.org and Spotify, and then embed those links into Ao3. Feel free to DM me if you have other tech questions. I am not particularly savvy, but we can Google it together? If any voice actors on Tumblr have professional advice, please chime in.

Silence and privacy: Background noise is a big headache for me too. I live in a noisy area with lots of planes and a squeaky elevator. I usually record now in my closet surrounded by pillows and blankets, so it’s fairly soundproof. If there’s a noise, I usually wait for the sound to stop, record the line again, then edit out the mistake in post. At the end of the day, though, sounds will slip in. It’s just a podfic; we’re doing this for fun not professionally, so it doesn’t need to be polished. I think most listeners’ attitudes is that something is better than nothing. If you’re in a school dorm, there might be music practice rooms, a radio recording booth, or empty classrooms you can use instead.

Storage: Something I didn’t realize going in was how much storage the audio clips take up. Make sure you save and delete projects as you go. One time I finished editing an Audacity project, but it wouldn’t let me save it because I ran out of storage and I had to start over.

I’m so glad you like the podfics I’ve done and that it could help inspire you to make one too! I started making podfics because I fell in love with @pixieinthesky’s fantastic Salvage podfic (it's an absolute gem). Keep the chain going!

Have fun!

[14th-century-verona-queer]

Sokka HC’s (trauma edition)

just some stuff that I think is true abt Sokka idk

I haven’t watched ATLA in literal years so please correct me if some of my info is wrong

Some of these are probably obvious but I just wanted to give my take on them lol

Ever since the night of the fire nation raid, he’s terrified of fire and even more scared of the smell of bodies burning and the sight of ash. Because although fire is what took his mother and a lot of the tribe members away, the smell of bodies burning and the sight of ash reminds him of the sight he saw that night, and how he was useless to do anything about it, that now burns forever in his memory. Because while Katara is traumatized at seeing the death of Kya, Sokka is traumatized of seeing his tribe members killed and burned in front of him. He’s the kind of guy to break down after the fact of whatever just happened, so he can still fight fire nation soldiers and everything. But the minute he gets off of the battlefield and the adrenaline wears off and hes alone? He makes some excuse about “needing to plan where they’re going next in the peace and quiet because fucking toph and aang make it hard to focus with their earthbending lessons” he breaks down, sobs racking his body and an inevitable panic attack coming as he relives the worst night of his life over and over again for hours, acrid smoke and burning flesh all he’s able to smell, screams of pain and heartbreak all he’s able to hear. (when Zuko comes along it gets a little bit better because he can remind himself the Zuko is a fire bender and hes safe and warm and would never do anything to hurt me. So he just kind of melts into his best friend’s boyfriends arms and it becomes a routine for them. More on that on the zukka post i will get to writing..eventually)

He has abandonment issues because of how unexpectedly Kya died and left him to take care of Katara while she was grieving, and then Hakoda left him to take care of the entire tribe by himself. This is probably why in that one episode (i dont remember which one and im too lazy to find it) Sokka was so adamant about refusing to let Katara go and try to save Haru and his dad, because he was scared that she wouldn’t leave until she got everyone off of the ship, eventually get captured, and spend the rest of her days there, leaving him behind.

(This ones cannon I think but here’s my take on it) He has self-worth issues because of his constant expectations that have been set on him, by himself and by other people. A lot of people reading this are gonna be like well yea he had to take care of the entire tribe by himself! Which, true! Not exactly the best move Hakoda, but what’re you gonna do i guess. But i think his self-worth issues stem more from his need to be the perfect “chief”. What i mean by that is that if he’s doesn’t catch enough fish for the tribe (even if they probably have enough to survive because always working too hard) he hates himself because he isn’t doing enough and they look so skinny and its all my fault because i just can’t catch enough fish. And if the people are cold, or if they’re sick, they expect him to take care of them, but they dont see that he’s a 16 (or younger, he was acting as chief for a couple years before Aang came along i think) year old boy trying to do everything himself with no help. Every day he hears the same thing: “Sokka, we don’t have enough ______! Can you please get more?” So he never ever thinks he’s good enough no matter what he does because there’s just never enough. even if he catches 100 fish for the whole village to eat, he’ll still beat himself up about it because sure they were able to eat today, but they’re not eating enough and he still needs to get more furs for everyone because the winter is only getting colder and they’re getting sicker and they’re all going to die because he’s so useless and can’t do anything right

because of him having to do everything himself, he absolutely hates being offered help. He refuses it practically every single time, because he’s so used to people younger than him counting on him to do something, and if they’re counting on him that means that he cannot fail, and asking for help (to him) is one way of failing. If he asks for help that means he couldn’t do the one thing Hakoda asked him too. It’s super simple Sokka, just take care of the village of like 15 people. And he can’t even do that.

He’s an absolute control freak and micromanages everything, and Katara (the hypocrite, smh) hates it. He needs to be in control of everything because that means that nothing can go wrong unless he makes a mistake. (Which he knows he will make a mistake but at least its his fault and he can find a way to fix it) If he relies on other people that means they’ll make mistakes which means something that needed to get done won’t and he’ll fuck up again and he’ll be worthless, because planning and fixing and engineering and fighting is all he has, all he thinks hes good for. He would rather be solely blamed for not being good enough and screwing up than letting someone like Zuko or Katara or Aang be told that. He was never in control of the war or his mother’s death of Hakoda leaving or anything, so he find some kind of solace or coping mechanism in being able to at least control the village and having some semblance of control (idk how else to explain this! Im so sorry!)

Also because he doesn’t trust anyone else to do it right lol. He’s been taking care of the whole village for such a long time that there’s a very specific way you supposed to do this Katara! It took him such a long time to finally get a rhythm going, get used to how to take care of 15+ people at a time, so any little change to his routine pisses him off and makes him panic because he’s lost the control of the situation and now he’s in an unknown territory where he doesn’t know how to do anything which makes him a liability.

(I’ll probably continue to update this post because im probably not done, and/or make a pt 2 if y’all wanna see that. Won’t be restricted to just trauma next time!)

[arunneronthird]

august - fic recs (mature edition)

hi hello and welcome to my first rec list! as i said in previous posts, ill be doing a monthly rec list divided in two posts, a gen/teen and a mature/explicit version (if i have enough fics) and a masterpost where i link all my lists

fandom wise itll probably be all over the place, but i will add the length, important warnings, links and some comments on every fic so u may check them all out!

now without further ado

Fandom: DC

Some Magnetic Way I Move by Shenanigans

words: 11,224 (perfect for an evening)

rating and warnings: M, sexual content (not necessarily pleasant), recommend checking the tags seriously on this one

relationships: Roy Harper/Jason Todd

summary: roy is a kid who wonders near the ocean without any pirpose in life when he meets a creature that seems too good to be true, then life gets in the way, and roy gets in his own way even harder

notes: this fic has been obsessing me since i read it the first time, its dark and fucked up and completely too easy to get absorbed into, roy is a complicated, messed up man with a shitty life and a tendency to completely destroy himself and you cannot look away from him

this story moves along several years of roys life and his growth or lack thereof and its so easy to get lost in the pacing of this fic and just enjoy the ride, as hard as it gets

literally no need to know anything about dc, just read it and thank me later

Heroes of the Squared Circle by Mithen

words: 226,687 (yes, i wrote that right, it takes a good week)

rating and warnings: M, sexual content (theres one whole scene in a thousand pages), nothing past canon typical violence

relationships: Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne

summary: clark is a wrestler, so he follows his heart and joins a promotion where he meets bruce, cue their adventures as they work their way through a retelling of the best dc moments: wrestling edition

notes: OKAY HEAR ME OUT i did not like wrestling before i started this fic, i took a minute to get into it, the moment i got into it i could not stop

this is one of the most fun, most detailed, most passioned fics ive ever read, a love letter to dc and wrestling so vivid and transparent that it genuinely made me excited for it too, all the characters are treated with love and care and the main relationship is so exciting, u can feel the love they hold for each ohter but never overshadows the wonderfully crafted story and the genuinely engaging plot

(cried at the end cause of how much i loved it. i dont cry)

Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender

Below the Sun by CSHfic, VSfic

words: 24,853 (can be read in a long afternoon)

rating and warnings: M, no sexual content, i would consider it T but there is a good amount of injuries

relationships: Sokka/Zuko

summary: sokka and zukko get stranded on an island after a shipwreck and have to learn not to be at each others throats while waiting for rescue

notes: heartwarming and weirdly peaceful, though the inherent anxiousness of sokka being stranded and injured with an enemy nearby does get to you, easy to read and easy to love, honestly a good time through and through and a good reflection on friendship

if you havent watched atla (watch it) you can read this anyway, only minimum knowledge is required for this fic

Fandom: Modern Warfare

i like you alive by kaijusalad

words: 11,254 (another afternoon read)

rating and warnings: M, graphic violence and injuries, no sexual content

relationships: John "Soap" MacTavish/Simon "Ghost" Riley

summary: soap gets really injured in a mission and ghost has to get him out of there, somehow keep him awake, try not to die, and not panic and he is partially failing

notes: intense high-stakes fic, graphic and heart-wrenching and yet somehow very warm, incredibly easy to start praying for ghosts success cause hes... hes trying so hard! once you start reading you wont be able to stop until u reach the end, also anyone typing out accents has my unconditional love

no previous knowledge needed to read this fic, just brace yourselves (btw i dont know why but the tags in this fic are so funny to me)

Doing Time by MildLimerence

words: 53,566 (takes 2 or 3 days)

rating and warnings: M, graphic sexual content plus graphic violence, both to a preeeetty fucking explicit level so please check the tags

relationships: John "Soap" MacTavish/Simon "Ghost" Riley

summary: in a world where soulmates are scarce and sometimes even dangerous to other people or themselves, soap ends up getting himself arrested cause his mark makes him go a bit wild and, to his horror, activates when he finally arrives at prison

notes: listen, i hate soulamates (i love you on purpose) but theres something about the way this author writes them that gets me, the connection between soulmates is more of a telepathic, magnetic connection and the lack of it can make soulmates go completely feral, its not the beautiful thing everyone thinks it is

dont want to spoil much but dont be fooled by the summary, this baby has a whole plot prepared and though the dynamic between characters and dark elements are incredibly fun on their own, i ended up getting actually really hooked by the plot, reeeeally fun read

knowing who the characters are makes it an easier read but i dont think youll get lost if you dont

Fandom: Supernatural

like moses and batman and james dean by saltyfeathers

words: 31,587 (takes a couple days, def a couple breaks)

rating and warnings: M, graphic sexual content, not all of it fun, gets pretty dark so check the tags and the authors notes

relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester

summary: dean used to turn tricks to make sure he had enough money to care for his brother, now that he has met cas, his issues with intimacy resurface with a vengeance

notes: not an easy fic to read, heavy topics are touched and you feel genuinely bad for dean but the characterization is so perfect that i tend to think of deans past here as canon, as messed up as it is

even though the topics are dark, the fic doesnt dwell on the worst stuff, there are no scenes written for shock value, its a tasteful take on dark topics, its just heartbreaking and powerful, it will make you root for the main characters, hard

if you dont know these characters you may be pretty lost but you definitely only need a basic idea of the show