#and who Katara ends up with does not define her

[dreamchasernina]

“Katara deserved better”

And then it’s Katara ending up with the boy who worships the ground she walks on, thinks she can do no wrong, gave up God mode for her, helped her commit environmental terrorism, cheered her on when she was beating misogyny out of an old man, was ready to take her to the other side of the world to find her a teacher when he’d just met her, constantly says he believes in her, that she’s amazing, that she inspires people and he’s proud of her.

But yeah, Katara deserved better.

[starlight-bread-blog]

Three Books, Two Characters, One Story

An essay on Zuko and Katara's characters and character arcs

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Zuko and Katara, fire and water, red and blue, one rises with the sun, the other rises with the moon. And yet, they are similar, tied together and grew closer than they could have imagined. In this essay I will discuss Zuko and Katara's characters in Avatar: The Last Airbender. I intend to touch on their shared traits and backgrounds, on their development and on their points of convergence in their over overarching story. Now, without further ado, let's begin.

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The Common Ground

Zuko and Katara share their core traits and core events in their respective lives. Firstly, their loss of their mothers. Zuko lost his mother, Ursa; and Katara lost her mother, Kya. But if you ask me, it goes deeper than that. For Zuko, the loss was a loss of shelter from the cruelty of his father and the bliss of being a child. In Zuko Alone, we see how Ursa took care of Zuko, played with him, and gave him a proper childhood.

With that gone, he remained almost completely unprotected. But more importantly, he lost his childhood. (It is true that he still had Iroh, but Iroh can help to an extent. He can’t be at the dinner table when Ozai tells Zuko he was lucky to be born).

Similarly, when Katara’s mother died, something in her internalized it. As Sokka says in The Runaway:

We see Katara help fill the void many times in A:TLA. Namely in The Desert, where she takes care of the Gaang in ways ranging from giving her bending water to endangering herself to pull A\ang out of the Avatar State. Katara doesn’t like to be viewed as someone who lost her childhood, as her reaction to Sokka’s speech was to join Toph and go scamming. However, Kya’s death is an integral part of who she became. She wants to cling to her childhood, and she partly succeeds,but that speech was made for a reason. A part of it was gone with Kya.

Another parallel between their similar grief is sacrifice. Zuko’s mother left to save his life from Fire Lord Azulon’s ruthless order. Katara’s mother died when pretending to be the last waterbender of the South Pole when a Fire Nation raid came looking for her. Both of their mothers left because they protected them, saving their lives from the cruelty of the Fire Nation. In these parallel narratives, the themes of sacrifice against them are intertwined.

But beyond their grief, I believe that at their center, they are very similar. Zuko and Katara are filled with righteous anger and empathy even towards strangers. Although clearly everyone in the Gaang is a good person, doing their part in ending the war, it’s not a defining trait as it is for Zuko and Katara. In The Painted Lady, Katara insists on helping a Fire Nation village while Sokka pressures that they’ll leave to make it to the invasion, while Toph and A\ang remain natural. Her compassion clashes with the Gaang. When Sokka scolds her for being impulsive with her attempts to aid the village, Katara angrily responds with this:

Similarly, the thing that kicked off Zuko’s arc was this righteous anger. In The Storm, we learn that Zuko’s scar came from him standing up to a general who suggested sacrificing a division of rookies for an operation.

You can't sacrifice an entire division like that! Those soldiers love and defend our nation! How can you betray them?

It is their shared compassion and anger at the injustices around them that makes them and the way they interact with the world so similar. Iroh described Zuko as “an idealist with a pure heart with unquestionable honor”. How well does this describe Katara?

Moreover, it is not only their anger. They are both incredibly strong willed with how they act on their anger. In The Waterbending Master, when Katara found out master Pakku won’t teach her because she’s a girl, she didn’t give up. She challenged him, a master, to a fight to prove that she can do everything a boy can do. And Zuko’s strong will is almost over talked about. When A\ang escaped his ship, he jumped on his airbender staff. In Zuko Alone, Ursa said to him “That’s who you are, Zuko. Someone who keeps fighting even though it’s hard”.

To sum up, Zuko and Katara’s foundational events and personality traits are parallels to one another. They both lost their mother when they sacrificed themselves for them, and it marked the end of an era for them. They are both driven by compassion and righteous anger and have a strong willed personality. They are guided by their morals first and foremost. They are parallels to one another.

The Development

Zuko and Katara’s character arcs serve as parallels to each other, and bring them closer together. Zuko’s redemption arc is, to put it simply, about unlearning Fire Nation propaganda and coming to realize the horror his country inflicted on the world. In book 2 Zuko sees the harm they caused first hand, and in The Day of Black Sun he fully rejects the Fire Nation.

Zuko: Growing up, we were taught that the Fire Nation was the greatest civilization in history. And somehow, the War was our way of sharing our greatness with the rest of the world. What an amazing lie that was.

He rejects the lie that the Fire Nation is somehow helping the world - that it’s inherently good. His arc was about unlearning Fire Nation supremacy.

Katara’s arc is not as easy to pin down, but it’s nevertheless there. Her arc is about idealism, hope and a change in perspective. Katara started her journey as an idealist, the literal voice of hope in the opening, and with a black and white view of the world - the Fire Nation is evil, and everyone else is good. Throughout the show, Katara encounters both good people from the Fire Nation, and bad people from around the world of Avatar, such as Long Feng, Jet and Hama. In The Puppetmaster in particular she learns that waterbending can be just as destructive as firebending, if not more so. Her arc is about unlearning naivety and Fire Nation inferiority.

The symmetry comes from them learning to lean on the other’s view across the seasons. In book 1, they are rigid in their view. Zuko is still working a full time job tracking the Avatar, while Katara still clings to her black and white view of the world, such as when she had a conversation with a Firebender who told her firebending is inherently destructive. In book 2, Zuko becomes a fugitive and sees the Fire Nation’s horrors for himself, while Katara sees that the one safe haven from the Fire Nation can be evil too. In book 3, Zuko goes back to the Fire Nation to see that it’s not what he’d imagined at all, while Katara goes to the Fire Nation to find people just like her.

Not only are their arcs symmetrical, but they are what allows their bond to flourish. Katara can only forgive Zuko after she’d let go of her ideals, and Zuko can only seek to redeem himself in her eyes after he’d let go of his idealization of the Fire Nation. Their bond is a true testament to their arcs.

The Encounters

Zuko and Katara’s relationship carries a lot of narrative weight. Their journeys are intertwined on many occasions. For Katara, it’s significant that after Katara masters waterbending, it is Zuko whom she has to defend herself to. It’s significant that she sees humanity in Zuko, despite him being the face of the Fire Nation. It’s meaningful that she goes to find her mother’s killer with Zuko, and even bloodbends before him. And finally, it’s meaningful that she spends the 4 part finale with him.

For Zuko, it’s significant that when he truly connects with someone other than his uncle, it’s with Katara. It’s significant that he learns through Katara that revenge doesn’t always help. It’s significant that Katara is the last member he has to earn forgiveness from. And it’s meaningful that jumping in front of a lightning bolt to save Katara is his last act of redemption.

While Sokka and Zuko for instance never interact in book 1 besides some one liners, Katara and Zuko had a subplot around Katara’s necklace. Although their stories do diverge, such as most of book 2, they always return to spend the season’s finales together. They don’t drive each other’s characters forward as much as they represent milestones in each other’s stories. You cannot remove their scenes together and have the rest of the show make sense.

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In conclusion, Zuko and Katara’s characters follow a story of mutual suffering, personal development, and deep friendship. They have a common experience of sacrifice, sorrow, and unflinching compassion. These experiences have narrative weight because they act as development, redemption, and forgiveness catalysts, creating a connection that ultimately serves as a reminder of how far they’ve come.

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Avatar (Love Interest) Fight: Kavik, Rangi, Katara, Asami (and why Rangi would win)

Based off Kyoshist's video. (and I know I went a tad ham in a comment thread of my own on the video, but I wanted to clearly and fully and long winded-ly explain my thoughts here)

Basically I wanna analyze who is most likely to win in this fight, and I'mma be honest. It's probably Rangi. Like other fights there's a lot of factors and it could go a few ways. But not here, I really think it's Rangi.

I'm not being biased, I love my girl but I don't think she's infallible. But in terms of what she's up against vs what we know of her skills, she has the best chance of winning. (mostly going to talk about key big feats of Katara/Kavik/Asami and then explain in detail how Rangi is a hard counter for either their best feats)

But let's define the setting from the video. (heavy spoilers for Kyoshi novels, light and nonspecific spoilers for the Yangchen Novels as best as I could, and spoilers for ATLA/LoK show and comics if applicable):

Fighters: Kavik, Rangi, Katara, and Asami.

Setting: Ba Sing Se (Lower Ring) (note, showing a different picture than what was in the video, note it's very cramped)

Things that are NOT specified: What time of day is it? Is it a full moon? Does Asami have her glove? What version of the characters are we looking at? Do they know they have to fight? What's the weather?

The picture shown of Ba Sing Se in the video was day time. So we'll assume that, which means no full moon. But I will consider the effects of the fight if there IS a full moon at the very end of this post.

We'll assume Asami has her glove, like she usually does. We'll assume "peak" for the characters that we know of. So S3+!Katara, LoY!Kavik, SoK!Rangi (pre-stab), S4+!Asami.

As for if all 4 know they have to fight each other? I'm assuming yes, it'd be weird if only 1-3 knew but the others didn't.

What's the weather? Picture showed a normal day (aka no rain).

(I'm in the middle of re-reading the comics so I might be spotty on using that info, I apologize in advance if I missed something TT0TT I'm mostly focusing on the base shows/novels)

_______

Trouble for the Waterbenders:

Ok, already starting off and it's not looking the best for our Waterbenders. Unlike the Avatar+their love interest duo fight (which was next to the ocean iirc), the WBs don't have unlimited access to water. Be it big body of water, or even plants to take from, it's the lower ring so it's probs pretty desolate.

(note that I'm making after writing all this: going back through ATLA, we know there's at least one fountain in the lower ring I believe? I think that's where Zuko is residing, and upon looking into an ep of LoK I did see a flowing river in the city somewhere. So they do have some vats of water but maybe not as much as the middle/upper rings)

I don't think it'd be an insta win for them even if they did (I have evidence hold on! it's in the bending prowess section), but this really puts them at a severe disadvantage. And they need all the help they can get.

If it's the day time, then they also have less of an advantage compared to Rangi. Not by much imo, but it's something to note. Not going to make it my center of my argument, but it should be stated.

Ok so the WBs are lacking water. We'll assume they can find it, but it's most likely not as abundant as they'd like. Plus Katara and Kavik now have to fight over the resource.

In terms of the better waterbender? It's Katara. In terms of the better physical fighter (hand to hand) (and also probably physically stronger maybe a dirtier fighter?)? It's Kavik. Who gets control of the water? I'm....thinking Katara, but I think she'll have to work for it considering his strength.

(Something about strength between waterbenders (because I find it hard to measure the strength of chars sometimes esp with how some of the franchise feels inconsistent). We see Katara wield a tidal wave against the Southern Raiders, not as big as what Kuruk does with his Avatar state (or what Roku does in base against his master), but still. Then Kavik is able to hold a giant blob of water in the air with an adult woman in it, for a long period of time. All while Yangchen heals them. And is able to wield a giant amount of water (enough to douse a giant warehouse fire and fight back against opponents). So maybe strength with bending vs strength with muscles isn't always connected, but I'm not sure. It should be noted tho. Anyway!)

Both have the ability to utilize their own body's sweat as a weapon. Kavik has also used his own spit in combat.

But there is a big disadvantage to all of this. If they have to resort to using their own bodily fluids in a fight, they probably aren't lasting long (you need your bodily fluids to survive!). It's a last resort sort of thing, and/or used more in espionage than hand to hand.

Combine this with Rangi and Asami, a bender that always has access to their bending, and a nonbender who doesn't need to worry about it. Rangi and Asami can just go on the attack while the there two have to worry about their element as well as sharing it.

Hand to Hand fighting:

That's fine! They can always fight hand to hand! Except....Kavik and Katara may be at a bit of a disadvantage still...

Kavik's noted to not be the best fighter, but he wins what he needs (that being said, he is still a fairly strong and capable wrestler). He's great at using his strength to scare off enemies (see warehouse and giant arm plank thingy). He does seem able to handle non-benders fairly well, esp if he has water, and lots of it, at his disposal (again see warehouse fight).

Katara's a great fighter, but it's her bending alone that carries her, not hand to hand. Her hand to hand isn't as up there like a Kyoshi Warrior, or a FN academy student, or Asami and her self defense.

If it came down to hand to hand between those two, I think Kavik is gonna win.

BUT, compare either of them to Asami and Rangi?

Asami has taken the best self-defense classes since she was young. And she's kind of insane. TT0TT She's able to disarm a grown ass man and use his own weapon against him. She's nimble, fast, and can dodge punches fairly easily and wait until she gets an opening to either disarm or use her glove. But the craziest thing is her flying scissor kicking (probs not the right name for it) a fucking guy on a motorcycle and flipping him off before landing easily (she flips over a speeding motorcycle that's coming at her... twice!). She has the damn strength to pull a metal bar (that's screwed on, I think it's "shoddy" but still) out of the wall, and can knock a grown man out with a single karate chop to the back of the head. Like I don't think she needs the glove, the glove just makes her that more dangerous.

Even if Kavik (it's just a wrap for Katar tbh) can overpower her with his strength. He'd probs have to grapple her. But that's assuming he can get his damn hands on her (she's very slippery). And if he can't, even without the glove she could probably knock him out.

(I wanna say Asami knows chi blocking, but I have to keep reminding myself Equalist!Asami sadly does not exist. I don't think she knows chi blocking, but that could've REALLY helped her in this fight...siiiigh girl go learn it please TT0TT Crossed out this section to indicate it's a side thought that has no bearing on the rest of this piece, but it should be noted)

The only one who can give each other a run for their money in hand to hand is Asami vs Rangi.

Rangi's a fucking psycho in her own right. Army brat, graduated school at the top of her class, and completed her military training early (plus most likely trained by Hei-Ran, one of the best firebenders the world had to offer at the time). I know I love to fling the nepo baby allegations around with her, but she has quite a pedigree in her own right that she earned. She is stated to be proficient in many weapons on top of hand to hand. (god help anyone here if she grabs a sword)

She trained Kyoshi, and the Kyoshi Warriors' combat is heavily based on her own fighting style (KW, iirc, only lost to one enemy and it was FN Academy students, aka their cousin school you could say). Tbh I wouldn't be surprised if the Dai Li also had some of her moves too because of the training they got from Kyoshi.

Her greatest feat was taking on a grown ass, mountain of a man, who was roughly twice her size. And she fucking just.......man-handled him. TT0TT She easily toyed with that motherfucker. He may not have been an uber elite trained guy, but he was a brawler (a killer too).

Like if the guy did land a clean punch, it'd knock someone out (we know because it did to Rangi). "Oh so she lost" no. She let herself get knocked out (she was making a point to Kyoshi). She woke up just in time to not die, and to snap his leg like a twig from the ground she was laying on.

"So she can't tank heavy hits." Haha. Yeah she can. We know she can tank heavy hits because of her fight in SoK with Koulin. Her, Koulin, and their superpowered not-fire punches. (we'll come back to that in the bending part)

Rangi is strong, she can dodge, and she can easily use her opponents weight against them. Kavik can probably outpower her (TOTALLY off topic, but not: would love to see these two in a giant table flipping contest....I think we would all enjoy it...esp YC and Kyo...Listen Rangi is STRONG but I dunno how strong compared to Kavik TT0TT so we need this for "science" I mean.... yes for science *cough*), but he won't be able to utilize that strength. Even if he does, she most likely can and will throw it back at him. If he grapples her...well..unlike Asami, she has bending. I can see her doing what he did to a man with his spit (she's burning his eyes or she's gonna superheat a limb I just know it, he's dropping her if he touches her).

Now her against Asami? I don't know. It feels like they have a similar fight style. Using the force of the opponent against them, or dodge until the right time to strike. Physical strength, Rangi probably hits harder (see Koulin fight), but both are scary strong because remember Asami just....pulls a metal bar out of a wall and flings a grown man around with her legs while he speeds towards her on a vehicle jadsfjal;f (note: judging by body type, Rangi is probably more buff and/or ripped than Asami, Rangi's body type is more similar to Korra, though she is probs around the same height or taller than Asami).

Now it could go either way imo. Rangi has a few tricks up her sleeve, she can use firebending, and not only in a way that will burn Asami (see Koulin fight), just that it'll make her hits that much harder and faster and more nimble. But, if Asami can tap her with the glove? 🤔Hmmmmm..... So about the glove....

Only Firebenders can do lightning redirection. Not that Rangi knows that, buuuuuut she has to have some resistance to it because she's a firebender. It's how they can survive lightning going through them like that, they are literally bending it through their bodies which is why other benders can't do that, ergo they are probably more naturally resistant. (this resistance is probs one reason Kyoshi was able to survive all those hits besides just the armor and where she got hit, and how Zuko took one to the chest while only partially/barely redirecting it.... Aang was stuck in the sky and got hit in a really bad place all without redirecting and/or him ignoring his firebending side may have been what killed him. So it may not do a LOT of heavy lifting, but it's still better than not having it like a non-firebender would).

Lightning is just super powered electricity. That glove pumps out electricity..... BUT it's probably not pushing out the same power as lightning tbh. Just enough to stun someone.

Basically, the glove won't kill but will knock you out. If Rangi naturally resists lightning, then it's possible it may not knock her out. BUT it's also possible that if she does get knocked out, she'll wake up fairly fast (she did that after getting clocked in the face with a fist the force of a truck).

(oh dunno where to put this cause I just realize: one thing that's interesting in how Rangi fights. Multiple times she'll feign leaving herself open. Only to for her to strike at her most deadliest or it just be part of her ploy: she lets the guy hit her on the Lei Tai and then she breaks his leg, she pretends to wobble with Koulin only to knock her tf out when Koulin charges, she takes her time inhaling when fighting Yun then unleashes hell itself on him...just.....hmmm... a tactic she could use against the others, hard to tell if your winning and should take the shot when it could just be a trap...just wanted to throw it out there for food for thought)

Terrain Advantage:

"I know you're going to say there's not a lot of water, but Katara spent a few days in Ba Sing Se so that says a lot more than the other characters! She's at least familiar with the city. The only other person maybe getting close is Asami but she spent most of her time in the upper ring!"

*laughs* Oh you sweet summer child. Rangi probably knows the most about the damn place:

Having a plan to take out Ba Sing Se probs means.....they know the layout fairly well. TT0TT

And this is BEFORE the FN went full imperialist (that stared over 200 years later with Sozin) ajlfklsdja So FN over here just Batman contingency planning the entire world for the love of the fucking game back then I guess jaksfdjal ("Maybe they were always planning" I don't think so tbh, but let's not get into that here, that's for a different post TT0TT)

And with what we know from ATLA to LoK (and even comments in the Kyoshi novels), is that Ba Sing Se and the Earth Kingdom in general are the slowest to change. So even if we're looking at this being ATLA!Ba Sing Se, or even the one from LoK! Ba Sing Se is probs similar to what Rangi learnt in school. (plus I'm pretty sure that "plan" they mentioned is a reference to when Iroh tried to take over so....yeah...still a viable plan even Aang era years later)

Now the area is probably cramped. Asami is probs used to the tight spaces because she grew up/fought in the city. Katara can probs make due cause she's used to being on the run and thinking on her feet with the change of terrain. Kavik is accustomed to cities and keeping his head low, as well as fighting in them. Rangi is Rangi (she can probs fight in an area with 1000 sq ft or 10 sq ft).

We're assuming this place is crowded, but regardless if there's people in it or not, it's still a cramped area.

Kavik is probably the best at evading and having people lose his trail. He most likely is the one who can and should be able to get the drop on people.

Right?

Well, one slight issue. Kavik (and probably anyone else who attempts to cover his trail like him), have a weakness. The sky. "But there's no airbenders in this fight and no gliders." Well....Rangi.

She knows, no, INVENTED Jet-stepping. It allows her to stay in the air and even hop from rooftop to rooftop with ease. Yes she can't do it non-stop. But the rooftops in the lower ring are REALLY close together. So she'll probs be ok. And regardless, she has the best advantage. She has the aerial perspective and can easily get a drop on anyone.

And god help the poor bastard she gets the drop on. She can fall out of damn bison, and land a punch on the ground that shatters stone and leaves a hole where her fist is (her surprise attack on Yun). TT0TT RIP anyone's skull after that (and yes she WAS aiming for a skull when she did that).

So not only would it be hard to evade her, she could get the drop on anyone. AND the fact she's literally "an elite warrior trained in escape and evasion." If anyone needs to pull back and succeed? She's the one doing that. If anyone tries to hide or run? She's probably tracking them down. She knows the place better than anyone there, and can use it to it's full advantage.

tldr; Rangi has the best advantage with this terrain.

Surprise attacks:

Everyone benefits from a surprise attack on someone. Kavik and Rangi are the most likely to be the one's to pull it off. Asami both needs a surprise attack to make her fight easier, but she also needs to do it without revealing what her glove can do.

That being said, Rangi is....a tad weak to surprise attacks. Ok, to be FAIR, I'm pretty sure everyone on this list has been ambushed, followed, and had some kind of surprise attack on them (so no one is infallible here). But it feels like a running gag for Rangi so I wanna address it. TT0TT (it's important to address when it comes down to "who's able to sneak attack whomst" and their ability to do so)

That being said, there's context to each. The first time Tagaka laid a trap and lulled them into a fall sense of security (dumb move team TT0TT) and surprised them.

Then she's drugged from a distance (No one expects the Yuyan Archers and their darts! *looks at text* damn it doesn't allude to them? I though it did oh well, no one expect shirshu venom then!) with shirshu venom and captured. She was not aware of their presence (and if it IS Yuyan, then yeah....they should be in the FN TT0TT)

There's Kyoshi sinking her in the ground in SoK (divorce arc 2!!! *w*), Rangi can't really dig herself out in a timely manner. *cough* good thing she's not fighting any earthbenders here. >w>

Yun burrows and stabs her while she's in the air (she was IN the AIR, he basically air/water spouted his way up but with Earth, the hell is she suppose to consider that?! plus she was trying to watch Kyo's back, the damn distraction! TT0TT)

But that's the thing, it's all things she wouldn't expect: surprise ambush by waterbenders from below, darted by shirshu venom, her gf betraying her tiny trust ;w;, and an earthbender bending like a waterbender into the fucking air and at an insanely fast speed.

They were all scenarios where she was caught completely off guard. Either because the situation was non-combative when she was ambushed (venom/Kyoshi), OR the opponent pulled out a crazy ass move so fast she didn't have time to react. (note: Rangi can handle a burrower, she saved herself and Kyoshi from a shirshu, it's just the combo of her looking out for Kyoshi and Yun pulling out a new move that countered her jetstepping and did it so fast that pulled her up short)

Now remember when I said "does everyone know if they have to fight each other?" (which is also assuming they know what the other looks like for them to do that). Because they should, it doesn't make sense for only some to know and not others. And the reason I bring that up is because.....Rangi knows. She knows 3 other individuals are going to try to knock her out or kill her. She's on high alert. It's going to be A LOT harder for them to get the drop on her. It's very unlikely they can (she's probably going to go airborne and the rest of them won't be expecting it!)

Not impossible, but I don't see Kavik or Katara pulling out a Yun level surprise move (water spouts are high level but I think more commonly known, but not earth spouts, so Rangi would probs keep an eye out for that unlike with the Yun fight). Regardless, she doesn't have Kyoshi to look after, so she is probs just 100% focused on this whole thing (cause part of the reason Yun got her was because she took her attention away to warn Kyoshi of what she saw rather than react).

Anyway, back to Asami (to finish up the surprise section before going to the bending part). If she isn't careful, and lets the others see what her glove can do, she's in trouble. Benders have an advantage of distance. The second she realizes she can't close in, she's cooked. They will (and should) be keeping their distance from her.

So to summarize. Rangi is the most stealthy, followed by Kavik. With everyone knowing they have to fight each other, she'll be on high alert to anyone trying to ambush her. This is assuming any of them realize they should try to look topside for her. Otherwise, she'll probs just use her vantage point to locate and pick them off.

Bending Prowess (aka the section where Asami can sit and rest, RIP my girl u_u):

Katara and Rangi take the cake in terms of bending prowess.

Kavik is decent, proficient, and even knows some advanced and specialized moves. But his are mostly for spying and espionage (from what I remember, sorry baby boi ;w;), but it is still important to note. He's still strong (able to use his tentacles to pick up giant, multiple stacks of plywood and swing it around like a GIANT bat iirc). He can carry heavy amounts of water too, and can bend it even down to a very small particle (small droplets and such). He is at least crafty in what he does as he is strong. But as he says, he admits he can and will lose fights if he needs to (but he's also able to win fights but...we don't know the circumstances to all of that)

....I don't think he's winning against a better waterbender or a insane firebender (a firebender who probably has an ability to probs make him experience PTSD, Koulin fight yeah yeah I'm getting to it).

Both Katara and Rangi are prodigies in their own right. Masters of their elements even at young ages (tho I don't think Rangi is called a "master"? but when Roku graduated school he was considered a master of Fire, and Rangi graduated early so she is probs a master too, it's probs a prerequisite to graduate tbh). Both are sifus to the Avatar. Both have access to or created specialized bending moves in their field.

So in terms of bending, who wins? Katara or Rangi?

Rangi. It's Rangi. I'm sorry but she.....she's winning. "But-" no it's Rangi. "But Azula-" That's not how you spell Rangi. "But Azula is probably better than Rangi!" A potato and a tomato are not the same, that's not Rangi, next! "Silly, Rangi is not better than Azula." I didn't say she was. "But Katara beat Azula, so she should beat Rangi!" No, that's not how this works.

(something to remember, Katara wanted to fight a 2v1 against Azula, so she probs wasn't very confident in their chances against her. If she didn't have that one plan she thought up on the spot, she may not have won)

Katara was a hard counter to Azula, but Rangi is a hard counter to Katara (Azula obvie didn't know how to deal with that ice wall). Rangi does well against waterbenders (to note: Rangi does poorly against earthbenders, but they be playing some dirty tricks! D:< always using her biggest weakness, Kyoshi >_> Kyoshi was right, damn, Rangi would be invincible if not for her love for Kyo....which is why she got stabbed TT0TT)

"Katara was able to freeze Azula during Sozin's Comet! And this is Azula! A blue fire firebender, the hottest fire! Blue is hotter than white! So she's hotter than Rangi! (lol, wordplay). And it's Blue fire with a Comet buff!" Yeah, Azula couldn't combat that. Rangi could.

Rangi did it on a normal damn day, and it wasn't a small ice block like Katara bent, her ass got pulled down into a giant fucking iceberg! Yeah, that first time she got ambushed? Those bastards laid in wait to pull her ass into an iceberg (oh I know Kavik is getting flashbacks when he did something similar, how did they not freeze?! he almost did! don't worry baby boi I'm still wondering too, maybe we can figure it out together later u_u)

You wanna know what Rangi did? She and her mother (who had one not working arm, fyi Rangi just had cuts on her face), not only fought the waterbenders that took them under. The fought back, won, and firebent their way out while saving a chunk of their men. Then went on and kept fighting.

(Tbh, Rangi is probably the one who beat Tagaka. We know she had the power to knock the woman clean on her ass from a distance because she did. And if not her then she tag teamed with her mother. And no it wasn't a 2V1. It was 2vmultiple. They were facing a mini army of waterbenders WHILE fighting Tagaka, and must've won because they managed to captured her TT0TT And Tagaka was a pretty powerful waterbender too!).

Again, this was ALL ON A NORMAL FUCKING DAY! (see my Hei-Ran vs Atuat post for more :'D because I like talking about that feat they did)

So, Rangi was able to do all of that. On a normal day (aka no Sozin's Comet buff). With "weaker" firebending (based form orange-ish and not blue). In a GIANT LAND-SIZED ICEBERG (aka not a lil water wall). Surrounded by the enemy and their native element (aka why I think Kavik and Katara being near a body of water or rain wouldn't make THAT much of a difference, Rangi has proven to be able to withstand being smothered by a waterbender. See? I told you I'd get to this part! yeah yeah still need to talk about the Koulin fight).

Azula either slept through the class that taught you to be a fucking monster (I doubt it), or Rangi is just that fast on her damn feet (she is, she literally invented Jet-stepping on the fly, pun intended!).

I dunno if Rangi could beat Azula. Lightning bending is OP and hax back in the day/pre-LoK (even then it can still knock someone out). I don't even know if she could beat Xu (who is A LOT faster than Azula or Iroh with their lightning, at least pre-comics Azula I think?). But I do know she has a skill set that counters what Azula couldn't beat! :D

"So that's it? That's all you have to go on?" Well yeah, I think that's enough tbh. But if you want me to keep going I can. Remember the screenshot above? Preparedness carries the day? She probably knows a lot of waterbending moves. Like what to expect, maybe how they act. That kind of thing. She operates Kyoshi's flame like a waterbender in a fight against Yun (not the first time Kyoshi thought of Rangi having waterbending type movements). She also tries to teach Kyoshi airbending....she technically failed but this is more her having a vague understanding of it. I wouldn't be surprised if she knows that stuff so she knows what to expect when hit with it.

Airbending would probably be harder for her cause you can't see it, and thus she'll have a harder time dodging....But she's not fighting an airbender. She's fighting two waterbenders (a bending type she seems comfortable against) and a non-bender (and Rangi's proven she can throw hands just fine without her element). In a terrain she is familiar with. With abilities that give her a lot of different upper hands.

Other (insane) abilities of Rangi (just to finish this off):

The fastest person there. No she really is. Powered by gay and fury. And that's without a fire boost! She literally Rocket Powered Naruto Runs in the FN palace at one point. (the only person that could keep up is Katara but she needs water, and even then Katara could just barely outpace Azula during the comet and that might've just been luck. Because in older fights Katara can barely/doesn't keep up with Mai/Ty Lee in fights)

Might have mentioned it above, but I'll repeat it. She is QUICK on her feet. She reacts to openings quickly. She thinks of things quickly! She notices things quickly!

Again, her flying. No one is catching her ass if she decides to run and regroup. TT0TT

Combustion punching. Oh yeah. This. This is the punching that she and Koulin do when they fight. This apparently normal in the after hours of the academy for midnight brawls (not horrifying at all :D). It's not combustion bending per se (doesn't go a distance), but it deals a combustive blow when it lands on impact. (probably the punch she aimed at Yun's head when she fell from the ground tbh, mixed with actual flame). It deals heavy damage, she can take it, and just seeing her whip this out is grounds to probs scare Kavik (IYKYK).

She as access to the uber white flame. No her base fire isn't white, but after 3 breathes she can unleash it. Remember how big the flames got for firebenders during Sozin's Comet? Specifically during the last Agni Kai w/Azula vs Zuko? Yeah that's Rangi's special move, but white flames instead of blue or orange (more powerful than orange, but not as strong as blue). It's literally hell incarnate. It disintegrates anything that it touches, and it is BIG and it goes FAR.

She can both take potshots at someone while being in the air (she can't stay in the air forever, but it still an option).

Not insane, but she probably has a lot of knowledge on waterbenders. Just from being around Kirima and Atuat (and maybe what her mother may have told her/learnt from Kuruk, since his team seemed to be keen on sharing between bending arts). She knows just how deadly and accurate Kirima is capable of (even being able to walk on mist!) And then she probably watched how Atuat was able to preform miracles on her mother and train the Avatar in a month.

Tldr; Rangi is a force of nature and a terrifying opponent, let alone her being pissed off when fighting too. She has her weaknesses, but none of the opponents are ones that can exploit it.

This is why I think Rangi would win. Katara is her biggest issue, but I think she could beat her. Kavik and Asami would still put up a good fight, but they'd probs get overpowered. u_u

"Ok but Silly, you didn't talk about Katara's healing! Or plant bending or-" It either won't be much help in a quick combat scenario (healing), or it's not applicable or useable (bloodbending/plantbending). I can see Katara stealing water from produce in the market square. But there's not a lot of plants in the lower ring from the looks of it to utilize plant bending. Rangi might not give her a chance to heal, and I don't think she can heal herself that fast....and healing won't work out much if you are knocked out TT0TT (I'll talk about bloodbending down below).

"Ok, so what would need to happen for her to lose?"

The person who can best surprise attack her and have her stay down is Asami, there's still a good chance that glove will knock her out. But that doesn't mean she can't get back up (same for the other's, but one combustive punch to the head will knock you out cold or kill you tbh).

I mean, Lao Ge is right, a rock to the head can work wonders for knocking one out or killing them. Same can probs go for ice too. Or loading up a waterwhip with a rock inside it.

But this assuming they can get the drop on her or hit her with a good windup.

They could gang up on her. The only issue is HOW and WHY? Did she prove she's the biggest threat? I feel like she would be a lot stealthier than that (she's proven to be able to stealthy while infiltrating a prison and that probs meant fighting too all while being fairly quick an efficient, from what we gather from when she broke into a prison). If anyone is going to take someone out silently and cleanly it'll be her. She's more likely to silently pick them apart, and she has the skill set.

The only way this works is if they get information ahead of time to team up against her, or she's unaware that she's in a battle royal (which makes no sense).

I think the key for a team up is if Katara and Kavik somehow overcome the urge to steal their resource and decide to share it. (cooperation is what Watertribe/waterbenders do best). But.....I can also easily see them not trusting the other and thus not fighting side by side. And even if they team up, again, Rangi fought off an mini army of daofei waterbenders and Tagaka on a damn iceberg surrounded by water/ice and apparently won. I think she can handle a 2v1 waterVfire TT0TT (girl ain't normal I swear)

The only way I see a realistic way of her losing is with Katara, specifically:

Bloodbending. Katara can win if she bloodbends. Now some issues: 1) No full moon here, 2) does she even want to do that (she's uncomfy with it from what I remember except for revenge/survival, but let's pretend she's down for it), 3) non-waterbenders can still resist bloodbending if they are determined enough (ex: Mako against Amon, probably the better bloodbender).

But, bloodbending is not an insta win. 1) there may be a range (aka they can stay out of her range), 2) Asami knows about bloodbending (maybe it's common knowledge about Katara or Korra told her, but she also knows about it because of Amon and Tarrlok). So if she can convince Kavik and Rangi to help take her out it might prove that it's more of a giant target she put on her back.

Kavik and Rangi can easily still hit her outside the range. And maybe they can distract her long enough for Asami to attempt a sneak attack (or at least the attempt will distract her before she gets blasted). But then with Katara taken out, they realize very quickly they have to fight Rangi and rip. u_u

Maybe Rangi backs off and lets them duke it out amongst themselves (let them have some spotlight, plus I'd like to see Kavik vs Asami. I can see him doing his evade maneuver and then surprise attacking her. Or she bodies him in a hand to hand fight).

But...uhh....yeah. Anyway, this is why I think Rangi would win considering the setting (and what we know of it), the people involved, and the abilities of everyone there (that can be utilized). (Katara is a close second after Rangi I think tho).

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Psycho Analysis: Princess Azula

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

This is one of those characters I should’ve done a long time ago, but just never got around to because I felt it was just way too obvious. I mean, come on, Avatar: The Last Airbender is considered one of the greatest works of western animation. Everyone and their mother has talked about this show at some point, so what could I even add?

Well, as it turns out, the way people talk about Azula is exactly what inspired me to write this! I have never seen a character so completely and critically misunderstood! Hell, this is a character that people like to disregard the core themes of the story to talk about! Discussion of her online made me so genuinely angry that I decided fuck it, it’s Azulain’ time! So here we go, my 200% anger-fueled analysis and review of the mentally-unstable Fire Nation princess who terrorized the Gaang!

Motivation/Goals: Azula has basically made it her life’s mission to be the ultimate tool of the Fire Nation, and specifically her father Fire Lord Ozai. To that end, she does basically whatveer he tells her to do? Kill the Avatar, conquer Ba Sing Se, take out her brother and uncle… So long as what she does has a net benefit for the imperialistic goals of her country, she’s down for it, and doubly so if she thinks it will get her even a little crumb of daddy’s attention.

Performance: Superstar voice actress Grey DeLisle of Literally Every Fucking Cartoon Ever Made fame lends her voice to the crown princess of the Fire Nation, and her smug, condescending delivery really sells Azula as a manipulative schemer who is constantly playing 4D chess to outmaneuver her opponents. I think I might even go so far as to call this one of DeLisle’s finest performances ever, for reasons pertaining to her delivery of lines in certain parts of the story that will be described below.

Final Fate: Azula’s fate is a perfect example of the show’s excellent writing because it robs us of catharsis in an extremely narratively satisfying way.

Throughout the finale, we watch as Azula’s mental health rapidly declines as literally everything in her life spirals out of her control for the first time. This is a girl who has defined herself as always being two steps ahead, always having everything firmly in her grasp, and yet her brother has run off with the heroes, her two best friends “betrayed” her, her father gives her the throne but only because he is crowning himself the Ultra Super Cool King Deluxe, and she is constantly grappling with feeling as if her mother viewed her as a monster while also subconsciously knowing that Ursa did truly love her. Keep in mind, all of this is happening to a teenage girl, so is it any wonder she completely and totally snaps?

Her final Agni Kai with Zuko during the height of Sozin’s Comet is epic, but it’s the conclusion where she is defeated by Katara and left as a sobbing, flailing mess that really knocks Azula’s character arc out of the park and cements her as the ultimate antithesis of Zuko. He had the guidance of a good, kind father figure, while she was stuck with Fire Hitler; he had a group of friends to love and support him, while she only had companions who put up with her out of fear and turned on her when they finally had enough; he was able to come to terms with his past traumas and grow to be better because of his numerous support systems, while all she had were toxic influences that led to her essentially collapsing under the weight of her internal conflict. She is what Zuko could have been if no one lent him a helping hand… and it is soul-crushingly tragic. The last we see her, she is a broken mess of a person, someone who has literally lost everything in their life, had the sole purpose of their existence stripped from them, and has just been reminded that she lost because she is a lonely, miserable, pathetic individual without any friends.

After her being on top for almost the entire show, this should feel like a triumph! But it’s not. It’s sad. It’s tragic. There’s no joy to be found. And boy oh boy, is it fucking powerful.

I’m just going to ignore what happens to her in the comics. It’s better that way.

Evilness: So here’s where things get really interesting, because while Azula does some truly evil things throughout the show, there is a tendency to exaggerate just how awful she is because most of her evil actions are just things she says she wants to do/has done. Combined with her smug, arrogant demeanor and it’s easy to believe she would do these things, but we don’t actually witness them. To wit, while she taunts Sokka about torturing Suki to the breaking point, when he finally reunites with her she sure doesn’t seem as cripplingly broken as Azula implied. I think it’s important to note that, as Azula is a massive liar, if we don’t actually see her do something (even something she’s threatening to do), it’s not really a mark against her. She’s a cunning manipulator, after all, conquering an entire city without lifting a finger.

On that note, though, she does have plenty of wicked moments under her belt. She conquered Ba Sing Se for the Fire Nation, she constantly tried to kill Aang and her brother while they were on the run in the Earth Kingdom, she had her friends locked up for defying her… Like she’s one messed up daddy’s girl. Even taking into account the inherent tragedy of her character and the fact she’s a teenage girl, she still kind of steps up to crossing the moral event horizon. She’s very much the product of grooming in an environment meant to espouse the joys of fascism and imperialism, and since she never had a strong guide like Iroh her moral compass is busted.

With all that being said, I think she’s a solid 5/10. She does some really nasty things, but at the same time a lot of what colors the perception of her is stuff she only implies. Also I’m not considering any of her pre-breakdown fights with Zuko as truly evil; this is just how siblings are. You bet your ass sibling squabbles would look just like that if they could shoot fireballs from their hands.

Best Episode: For all her badass moments, awesome schemes, incredible fights, and powerful moments… “The Beach” might be her best episode. This might sound crazy, but I stand by it; I think showing us an awkward, human side of her really helps to sell that Azula isn’t actually some unstoppable force. She’s just a teenager who has no social skills and can’t exist outside of the confines of being a royal or a warrior without looking like an absolute weirdo.

Best Quote: After outmaneuvering season 2’s arc villain Long Feng, who concedes to he rand says she’s beaten him at his own game, she flippantly replies, “Don't flatter yourself. You were never even a player.” I don’t think even Jet got so brutally murdered. It’s the sickest burn in the series aside from Zuko’s scar.

Final Thoughts & Score: The whole reason I even wrote this Psycho Analysis is because the constant and critical misunderstandings of Azula I see online constantly piss me the fuck off.

There is a subset of Avatar fans who completely and steadfastly believe that Azula is in fact an irredeemable monster, a complete sociopath with no redeeming qualities who needs to suffer and die. They reject any attempts at assessing the character in a more nuanced light, because “why can’t villains just be evil?” They treat her as if she’s some sort of pure evil being instead of an emotionally stunted child.“She’s crazy and she needs to go down” might as well be the mantra of these media illeterate Avatar fans, parroting opinions that mirror the words of Iroh after Azula almost killed him but ignoring that crucial context as well as Iroh’s entire character. Like, do these people actually pay attention to the core themes of the entire show? You know, mercy, redemption, humanity, the importance of all life? Did they miss the part of the finale where these core themes were cemented by Aang removing Ozai’s firebending with energybending, or were they too busy bitching about it being a deus ex machina to realize it’s thematically appropriate?

Like they want Azula to just be this evil, unredeemable cartoonish villain in a show that explicitly says no one is like this. There’s even a point in the final episodes where it’s pointed out that genocidal colonizer tyrant Ozai was once a sweet, cute little baby, and didn’t just spring forth as a fully formed Red-Hot Hitler. Azula is a person groomed by an unrepentantly evil father to be the Fire Nation ubermensch, the ideal tool for the conquest of the rest of the world. She was never allowed to have a normal childhood, as evident by her awkward behavior and social ineptitude when she’s actually allowed to cut loose and be around people her own age in a relaxed setting. Everything that she is—a liar, a manipulator, an attempted murderer, an egomaniac—are all the result of Ozai’s upbringing, being entrenched in the propaganda of her nation, and a lack of authority figures with a moral compass in her life. She didn’t have an Iroh to guide her, all she had was Ozai. In this sense, Azula is as much a victim as she is a victimizer.

But she is a victimizer. She is still consciously making bad decisions, she is still doing evil and sometimes appearing to enjoy it. There’s no reason to believe she couldn’t turn things around if given a helping hand like her brother was (though there would need to be a lot more effort due to her being in Ozai’s company unimpeded for way longer than Zuko), but she’s not some innocent little bean who’s being persecuted by others. Azula is still a villain, and viewing her as just a mere victim is a disservice to the character just as much as painting her as an inhuman monster. She is a very nuanced character, but she never gets the sort of POV work Zuko does to fully flesh out what’s on her mind and let us see the world through her eyes so the work done for her is more subtle, at least until her final breakdown. At that point, the show is literally beating you over the head with the fact she is an incredibly tragic character whose entire existence is pitiful and broken, and who lives as a mirror to Zuko, showing him a dark path he could have walked down if he didn’t receive love, support, and compassion.

Ultimately, Iroh wasn’t wrong when he said “She’s crazy and she needs to go down,” but I take it with emphasis on and. Azula is, in fact, crazy. She is incredibly mentally disturbed, her mind warped and molded by her father to the point she breaks if she starts to lose control even a tiny bit. And, as an antagonistic force working against the heroes, she does indeed need to go down. I’m sure he wasn’t too happy with his near-death experience, but you will not convince me that the sweet old Iroh, who himself changed and redeemed himself after being a fucking war criminal who nearly conquered Ba Sing Se, could not see the nuance in the Azula situation and genuinely saw his niece as some beast to be slaughtered.

But that’s enough with the ranting, let’s get to the actual final thoughts and score for Azula. She is one of the most engaging and magnificent villains in animation, a real firebrand (heh) whose numerous schemes are gripping to watch, building her up as someone you want to see finally get defeated only for the writers to pull the rug out from under you and remind you just what Azula really is. Avatar had no shortage of brilliant and subversive writing, but I think Azula’s ultimate arc is an unsung masterpiece among it. The character is so mired in discourse these days it’s easy to forget it, but she genuinely is a grand character.

For her score, I’m gonna say she gets a 9/10. She’s easily the best villain on the show, far outshining her rather generic father, the deliciously hammy but ultimately rather shallow Zhao, and the scheming but relatively minor Long Feng (to say nothing of the numerous minor villains that range in quality from wastes of time like Combustion Man to genuinely amazing and horrifying like Hama). I think the only thing holding her back from a perfect score is that sometimes it feels like things fall into place a little too perfectly for her, and she doesn’t face setbacks too much until the very end, but considering the immensely powerful culmination it’s nothing that ruins her. Azula is a character just as rich and deep as anyone else from the show, and I really wish more people looked at her with nuance.

I also wish the fucking comics didn’t exist. Maybe I’m asking for too much.

[natlacentral]

The Actress Who Waited a Lifetime to Become Katara

Kiawentiio talks joining the cast of Avatar: The Last Airbender and playing a character that means so much to so many

The 17-year-old actress Kiawentiio (pronounced gya-wuhn-dee-yo) can’t remember a time when Avatar: The Last Airbenderwasn’t part of her childhood in some way. Growing up on the Akwesasne Mohawk reservation in Ontario known as Kawehno:ke (or Cornwall Island), Kiawentiio—who was born in 2006, a full year after the beloved animated series debuted on Nickelodeon—recalls having older siblings who would have the cartoon regularly playing in the background of their house. Years later, when all three seasons began streaming on Netflix, she revisited the series and developed a newfound appreciation for its narrative ambition.

So, when Netflix first announced that it was developing a live-action adaptation of Avatar in 2018, Kiawentiio told her team to get her an audition for Katara, the 14-year-old girl who is trying to fulfill her potential as the last Waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe after her mother was killed by the ruthless Fire Nation.

“By the time they actually did start casting, I got the call from my manager that was like, ‘Don't freak out, but we think we have the Avataraudition.’ And obviously, I freaked out,” Kiawentiio tells Harper’s Bazaarwith a laugh in a recent phone interview. Of all the roles she had auditioned for, this one was at the top of her bucket list, because she knew that it could have the same impact on the next generation of Indigenous children that it had on her. “Katara was one of the only people that I could really see myself in. With the role model that she is for young Indigenous women, it's hard not to be drawn to her, especially when the representation is so scarce.”

Kiawentiio got her wish in the spring of 2021. After undergoing an intensive audition process, complete with a seemingly never-ending number of Zooms and chemistry reads, she got the news that would change her life. “They sat me down for another Zoom call, and I was expecting them to tell me it might take a while, but [creator and showrunner] Albert Kim ended up telling me what the project was, who I was auditioning for, and then I landed the role, and I was crying,” she recalls.

Every diehard Avatar fan can recite the basic premise by heart: Long ago, the four nations—Water, Earth, Fire, Air—once lived in harmony, with the Avatar, the master of all four elements, keeping the peace between them. But everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked and wiped out the Air Nomads. A century later, Aang (Gordon Cormier), a 12-year-old Air Nomad who has been frozen and suspended in time in an iceberg, reawakens to take his place as the next Avatar. Feeling responsible for the destruction he was unable to prevent, Aang sets out on a quest with his newfound friends, Katara and her Water Tribe leader brother Sokka (Ian Ousley), to save the world from the onslaught of the power-hungry Fire Lord Ozai (Daniel Dae Kim), who is determined to place all the nations under his authoritarian rule.

Katara, as Kiawentiio puts it, is the heart of the Avatar crew tasked with using their bending powers to restore peace in the divided world. “I think the core factors that make Katara [who she is] are her hopefulness and her optimism, and she's the person in the group that can keep them moving forward in a positive direction, and I think without that, team Avatar wouldn't be able to see the light,” she says.

Below, Kiawentiio reflects on the defining moments of Katara’s arc in the first season (which was shot two years ago in Vancouver), how she has grown alongside her character, and why she feels a new day has come for Indigenous representation in Hollywood.

A lot of the dramatic tension of the first season boils down to Aang’s internal conflict: Does the Avatar need to act alone, or can they afford to have people who help them along the way? In Aang’s case, he doesn’t just want people in his life; he needsthem to help save the world. Why do you think Katara is immediately drawn to Aang and his mission? How do you think that relationship evolves over the course of the season?

I think the reason that she was drawn to him in the first place was this energy of bender to bender, honestly, and I feel like that type of energy [bonds them] not only physically, but just spiritually. It's really intertwined in who they are because Aang plays a huge part in Katara's growth physically with her bending, and I feel like it was just this calling of fate and where you're supposed to be. But in terms of how the relationship has grown, I think it really is just blossoming into a family. Team Avatar is a family in our show. They're not going to leave each other's side; they're always there for each other.

Midway through the season, Koh, the face stealer of the spirit world, temporarily imprisons Katara and her brother Sokka and traps them with some of their darkest memories, which allows us to see, rather than hear about, their backstories. In Katara’s case, she is forced to relive the day she lost her mother. How do you think that loss has affected her in the present day?

It's just painful and that is the point of Koh, right? It is to weaken his prey with their own pain and their own memories. The way I see it is she probably feels helpless. She can't do anything, and that's really what has held her back. What has stuck in her mind is the fact that she couldn't do anything [to save her mom], and to be stuck in that painful loop definitely puts a damper on her confidence that she's been working up this entire season.

That memory of the loss that she went through is a roadblock, and that's something that she has to try and overcome as we go through the series because it really is the main reason that she can't get to that next level [of waterbending]. In the episode with Jett, after he shifted her perspective on how she was thinking and how her memories were acting up, she really unlocks that good energy that her mom was trying to leave her with.

It's impressive how together Katara actually is, especially in our season, because the flashbacks and her memories are so brutal that it's like, "Wow, I can't believe you are still normal." [Laughs.] But that goes to show how resilient she is and how strong she is. I think that was one of the things I took away from her while playing her. I tried to implement her message in my life more to be more optimistic and to have that hope and strength.

When she arrives in the Northern Water Tribe, Katara realizes that the women of this tribe aren’t allowed to fight, which comes as a bit of a culture shock for her. But it’s moving to see how she is able to mobilize the women of all ages when the tribe is under siege by the Fire Nation. At the end of the day, they are the ones who helped defeat the enemy.

Arriving at the Northern Water Tribe was something that she was looking forward to all season, and I think in her mind she had this image of like, "I'm going to get there. I'm going to meet a master, and he's going to teach me everything I need to know, and I’ll finally be able to reach that next step [as a Waterbender]." And getting there and being told basically all your work is not going to be paid off [because you’re a woman] was, in my opinion, devastating. That devastation leads straight into anger, which I relate to. I feel like I get the same waves of emotions, and then that leads to wanting to prove them wrong, wanting to change things [like Katara does]. Honestly, that scene with the women [Waterbenders] is just so beautiful, and it was one of my favorites to film. But I think in her mind, she was just reality checking Master Paku: "We are literally in a war. We are not going to make it. Just use your resources." And not only was that the realistic thing that needed to happen, but the change that she's been fighting for [all season].

I read that you trained for six months ahead of production to commit Katara’s waterbending motions to muscle memory. You spent that time going over forms of tai chi and getting strong enough to handle the action sequences.

Boot camp was intense for me personally, just because I'd never really gone through that before and I don't have as much or any experience outside of the show with martial arts. But it was really helpful to be in the same boat as my character, training-wise. At the start of the show, she really doesn't know that much about bending. As we go along through the episodes, we could see her get more comfortable and more confident in her bending. As we watch Katara gain her confidence, I feel like off-screen I was also gaining confidence with those movements, getting stronger as we go and just getting more comfortable in general.

With the critical success of many Indigenous projects in recent years—Reservation Dogs, Rutherford Falls, Killers of the Flower Moon, The English, Dark Winds—it feels like we have reached an inflection point when it comes to accurate depictions of Native American communities. As someone who is part of this growing movement, what is your take on the state of diversity and inclusion for Indigenous communities? And what do you think is the next step that needs to be taken to move the needle even further?

I think we are making huge steps in the industry. I love being able to look around more and more and see more of our faces, and I do think that there's places that we could improve on for sure. But thinking of how far we've come, even from when I was younger, Katara was one of the only brown people that I saw on my TV, so it's really special to be a part of this generation that's being able to do these things.

I think the next step could be just normalizing things, like it doesn't always have to be an Indigenous story to have Indigenous actors, writers or directors. I think that's one of the things that can get touchy in this industry because we want to include everybody of course, but it doesn't have to be so specific. Why does the doctor have to be [only] the Indigenous doctor that came from [this tribe]? Why can't he just be a doctor that happens to be Indigenous?

Indigenous people or actors can be the main character. Obviously, our culture is always a part of who we are, but it doesn't have to be that the reason we are in this role is because we are Indigenous. We can tell our story as a person and still value and venerate our culture without that being the only reason that we're in the story to begin with.

With big blockbusters, I feel like it ends up being like, "Oh, the lead is white, the other lead is white, and then everybody else is a person of color." I feel like that's a theme that we end up seeing a lot. But another really good way to improve [on that] is supporting Indigenous storytellers. We have so many stories, and [telling them] is one of the things that is keeping our cultures alive, and there are so many stories that could be told from our perspective.

[eponastory]

Below is a screenshot of a silly argument.

I wouldn't say delusional... just observant.

So, I'm also a Dramoine fan and have been since I read the books way back when they came out. Now there is a little bit of me that is kinda not interested in Harry Potter because of all the contention with JK Rowling and her... opinions.

But besides all that...

There really is no comparison between the ships on an individual level. I say this because it's kinda like comparing Sephiroth and Vergil (Devil May Cry) from different universes and power scaling in those universes. It just doesn't work. Bad example, but you get what I'm saying.

Dramoine is a great pairing when you get towards the end of the series (Half-Blood Prince and onwards) it works because that is when Draco is battling himself over following Voldemort and his own morals. This is when Narcissa makes a deal with Severus as well. But we get the understanding that Draco does, in fact, have morals. He is just a kid being asked to do something he doesn't really agree with and can't bring himself to do. He is also a coward and a bully. Let's not forget that. I'd also say Classist since he is raised to think that Mudbloods are beneath Pure Bloods. He belittled Hermoine every chance he got, but also found out she could stand up for herself. This is a great enemies to lovers ship... there is no question on that.

Now on to Zuko... who is similar in some ways to Draco, but the similarities are minor. Zuko always had morals, and he always had good in him. He did bad things out of desperation because he was troubled. His frustration is out of trying to prove himself to his narcissistic sociopath of a father and getting the chance to regain everything that Ozai seemingly took from him. Getting to Katara here, it's clear that they were enemies at the start. But how can you do enemies to lovers when enemies to friends IS IN THE SHOW!

So I don't know what to tell you.

By the end of Book 3, Zuko and Katara are friends. It's written in there for everyone to see so I don't really get why going one step towards romance is such a big deal?

The only defining line between romance and friendship is how far you are willing to go with intimacy.

As far as Katara not wanting to marry into the Fire Lord's family... I don't see how that is a factor when you care about the person you marry more than where they came from or their origins. Not all relationships are like that, but it can be that way. But yeah, Katara and Zuko are friends by the end of the show. So, that argument is silly.

It's just another cherry pick with no thought behind it.

[akiizayoi4869]

Azula and Zuko in the Crystal Catacombs

"You are free to choose". This line that Azula said to Zuko in this scene really stood out to me, and I think that ultimately, it's part of the reason why Zuko sides with her in the end. Because she let him make the choice for himself, with no further prodding on her part. Azula says her piece and leaves. Takes the Dai Li with her. Leaves Zuko alone with Iroh, a manipulator in his own right. And Iroh more than likely said whatever he could to persuade Zuko not to join Azula. But it doesn't work in the end. Because Zuko wants to go home. It's what he's wanted for 3 years, and now he finally has a chance to do just that. And Iroh was trying to stop him. He was trying to choose for Zuko, which is something that Iroh has done a lot up to this point. He was the one who would always make the tough decisions for Zuko, who in the end would reluctantly agree. But it wasn't something that Zuko would have chose on his own if he was given the opportunity. Which is why I find when Azula says "You are free to choose" such an interesting and defining moment. Because up until now, Zuko was letting others choose for him. Ozai and Iroh. Zuko would just follow whatever these two wanted him to do, without ever really stopping to think about what he wanted. They never gave him the opportunity to choose for himself. So when someone finally does give him that chance, what does he do? He takes it. Azula says what she does here:

And then she takes the Dai Li and leaves to go fight Katara and Aang. During this time, Iroh likely said whatever he could to Zuko. Zuko could have chosen to break Iroh out of his mini prison and side with Aang and Katara. But he doesn't. He makes his choice of his own free will and joins Azula. The fact that he does this shows how much Azula still knew her brother even after being apart for 3 years, and how much Iroh didn't know Zuko like he thought he did. And he was with Zuko for those 3 years. Had Iroh slowly began to convince Zuko that Ozai wasn't worth it once Azula showed up with the sole purpose to hunt them down and capture them on Ozai's orders, maybe Zuko would have sided with him in the end. But he didn't. And that choice came back to eventually bite him in the ass.

[djemsostylist]

Toph and Zuko, Headcanon

Generally, I don't ship noncanon ships, but in this case, I'd say this is less of a case of noncanon and more a case of after canon. After all, ignoring LOK (which I'm rather more than happy to do tbh) the last we see of these two they are still children--we don't know what their future holds.

But I want to work within the bounds of canon as much as possible--leaving ATLA as is, and working off character established in canon but working forward.

I talked in another post about the idea that Zuko and Toph would work well together as a adults for a few reasons. Firstly, personally I like the idea of the core six (that is, Aang, Katara, Sokka, Suki, Toph and Zuko) being paired off. I think they went through an experience together that is so singularly unique, it would be hard to ever find another person who could understand it quite the same way. I also think that given a lot of their issues, trust would be hard to achieve.

(More under the cut bc I'm just rambling now lol)

Now, I know in canon Zuko has Mei, but he's 16 and she's familiar. I got the feeling that Mei and Zuko were more of a "it's what you do" couple than one with any sort of lasting power. I'm not saying they didn't love each other--I think they certainly did, but I also think they were very young and they were both going through sort of a big life change. When Zuko gets together with Mei, he's teetering on the edge of trying to find out who he is and what he wants for his life. Mei is very much a person that old Zuko would have been with--she makes sense for him in that life. And I think there is genuine affection between them--but I also think a lot of it is tied up with other feelings. Her best friend's older brother she maybe always had a little crush on, the rebel son, etc. That she does eventually support his choices to change is a good thing, but I don't know that I see their relationship lasting into the future. Zuko still has a long way to go and a lot to handle when he becomes Fire Lord at 16--I think he probably isn't exactly going to be focused on a relationship all that much in the beginning, and frankly, I think Mei needs to to figure out who she is without the context of Zuko and his sister, since her entire life seems to revolve around their family. I could see their relationship sort of slowly backing off until they eventually end things mutually, no hard feelings, just a natural sort of ending to a childhood romance.

For Zuko, I imagine he would then spend most of the rest of his time not in a relationship. He's dealing with a lot with his country and his family and dealing with forgiving and understanding himself--again, I doubt a relationship is the priority. He probably maintains close contact with most of the Gaang--Aang in particular probably makes it a point to come see him, and I can see him and Sokka still having pretty close contact, especially with Sokka stepping up as the future leader of the Southern Water tribe and etc.

Toph, I think, would be dealing with a lot of similar issues to Zuko. Both of them are trying to define what home means--Zuko in the place he grew up that he both recognizes and doesn't, and Toph unable to go back because she isn't sure what she'll find. I imagine Toph spends some time with Aang, Katara, and Sokka, but it's not like she would particularly be comfortable at the poles in ice and snow, and I also think she'd want the chance to explore, to see the world, to find out who she is and what she wants from life. So around a yearish after the end of the world she sort of goes out on her own into the world and starts a sort of long, wandering slow journey. She stops along the way to do various things: sometimes she works, sometimes she helps others, sometimes she just sight sees, sort of goes where whim takes her. She sees most of the Gaang often enough, with how much the others travel, but I'd imagine she hardly ever sees Zuko (as he is busy running a kingdom).

Now we get into deep headcanon territory. I had seen it posited that Sokka invents a version of braille (in a fanfiction I believe, though I'm not sure if the idea started somewhere else, and I honestly can't recall the fanfic), and I like this idea, both because it makes sense for Sokka to do something like this, and also because it gives Toph a way to continue a bit of a relationship with Zuko whilst traveling. So basically for about the next 6 years or so, Toph and Zuko exchange letters while she travels around. They have a lot they can relate on, and talk about family and belonging and guilt and love and etc, as best they can. But they don't see each other much--maybe once or thrice throughout the intervening years, as they both grow up.

Then, when Toph is about 18/19 (making Zuko 22/23) he gets word from Toph that she's in jail and needs a bail out. At this point, he's tired, a little overwhelmed, and he's been a little lonely lately (Aang and Katara are married and still sort of in the honeymoon phase, Sokka is super busy with building a city in the south and all his various projects, Suki is the leader of his secret police so he sees her often but she's also often abroad) and so he basically decides to go get Toph himself. He hasn't seen her in a while, he misses his friend, and he's also more than a little curious as to why she's in jail in the middle of a nowhere town at the ass-end of the Fire Nation.

Toph, for her part, had written both because she hadn't wanted to bug the others and also because Zuko still owes her a Life Changing Field Trip and she's ready to collect. And also because she misses him maybe a little and also she knows he could maybe use a break.

So Zuko shows up and Toph is A Woman now and his poor little brain is like, trying desperately to square this information in his mind because of course he knew she wasn't 12 any more but also he wasn't expecting her to look Like That and also Toph can sense you know, everything, and she's trying to be chill also because it's just Zuko only Zuko spent the past 6 years stress working out and also somewhere along the way became A Man but this is fine and everything is fine and they are still friends right?

So Toph convinces him to play hooky for a while and come with her to track down some asshole (working on those details--some person scamming refugees maybe or something with disappearing kids? and she's trying to get to the boss) and Zuko is tired and overwhelmed and also maybe a little bit smitten and he agrees and then they go on the Life Changing Field Trip only this one is the one where they fall in love.

And it's the easiest thing they've ever done and the hardest thing all at once. Because they understand each other and they are determined to be more than their parents and together they heal.

I have so many little headcanons and one shots and larger story arcs bouncing around in my head with all this, and bless @bonesingerofyme-loc for thinking them all through with me.

I have actually written some ficlets, but they are currently pretty rough and disjointed (it's been a while since I've written) and I'm not entirely sure if I want to save them to write into a cohesive story, or tell their story in parts as I am inspired. I sort of have some scene ideas and others being build off prompt lists. I might share disjointed here and then wait to publish on AO3 until I decide what I what to do, but I'm not sure.

I will, however, share the very silly headcanons that Leo and I came up with. My Toko/Zutoph tag will be otp: it's me if you want more of my dumbass thoughts on these two lol. (Like what Toph did to end up in jail and how Sokka got Zuko's wedding invite and wasn't sure who the bride could possibly be and how Aang knew from the beginning but never said bc it wasn't polite or how Toph refuses to let Zuko ask for her parent's permission and he's like, dying slowly over the propriety of it all or how he courts her Properly™ once they are back in the capital and Toph is secretly thrilled or or or. Also Leo may have maybe made some AI adult Toko pics I can share that killed us both lol. )

[laoih]

Some thoughts on Netflix's Avatar The Last Airbender

I love the original animated series, and have loved it for many years. I know that many fans are upset about the adaptation, and that's their prerogative. I know how that feels, that's basically me as a fan of Tolkien's work with Amazon's terrible The Rings of Power series.

However, when it comes to Avatar The Last Airbender, I can say that I genuinely like the live action adaptation. It is flawed for sure, and I have my criticisms, but I still think it's enjoyable and has a lot of heart. I do want to see more of it.

A quick (lie) list of the highs and lows in my opinion (spoiler warning):

Let's start with the shortcomings:

The dialogues: Throughout the whole show they are probably the biggest issue. Too often they are used for exposition, or to tell the viewers what they could deduce by themselves. It's often on-the-nose and missing subtlety. Although I have to admit that it seems for some people who don't know the animated series, it seems to help for understanding the show better, and therefore may be justified at least in parts.

Aang's woe-is-me attitude: It makes sense that Aang is suffering due to his trauma of being the last of his kind, of losing his family, and because being the Avatar is a huge burden. However, towards the end his attitude of "everything is my fault" started to get annoying. He doesn't have to feel responsible for everything. I hope he can quickly move past this in s2. I'd like to see other sides of Aang as well.

Aang's water bending: I think it's weird that Aang never really gave water bending a try. They never even give a reason why he didn't try, and that just makes that change confusing.

Aang's & Katara's relationship: I understand why they didn't include Aang's crush on Katara, but with them bonding over water bending being removed as well means that two major parts of their relationship don't exist, and the show has failed to really build up their relationship in a meaningful way otherwise.

Katara's character: In general she stays a bit underdeveloped, and the actress is lacking a bit of Katara's edge and energy in my opinion.

Azula: I don't like how they have written her, and I don't think the actress fits the character either. It's very difficult, because Azula in the animation does not act her age at all. Her entire demeanor is difficult to portray for a teenager, but it's also very memorable. Itd be hard for any actress to do her justice.

Mai & Ty Lee: They have nothing to do in that season & now they can't get the great character-defining introductions that they had in the original series. They were included to give Azula someone to talk to, but it's to the detriment of these two characters – they're just bland background now.

The Spirit World: Episode 5 just didn't work for me because there was too much crammed into it. There was no reason to include Wan Shi Tong nor did it make sense to include Hei Bai and then basically completely skip his story. With Koh being the actual culprit, the abduction of the villagers stands in no relation to the burnt forest in that episode. It would have been better to tell

Avatar Roku: I feel there was wasted potential there. Based on interviews I suppose there was simply no time & money left, so I hope they'll do him more justice in later seasons.

Now for the highlights:

The Bending: I think for most of the series it looks very powerful and impressive. It's not perfect throughout, but in general they did a really good job with it.

Zuko: Dallas Liu's portrayal is wonderful and I have zero complaints and only praise.

Aang's & Zuko's relationship: I think they build a solid foundation for these two characters, and I think some of Gordon's best acting is opposite to Dallas Liu.

Suki: Loved the actress' performance and how they have written her.

Ozai: I think Ozai is a case where the live action character is more interesting and impressive than the animated character. I really like what they are doing with him and Daniel Dae Kim is perfect in that role.

Jet & the Mechanist: I think putting these two plots together is a very interesting and fitting idea, and contrasting them in the same episode made me think about them in relation as I hadn't done before. It's fascinating how these two characters, who should actually fight for the same goal, have gone down two very different paths.

Kioshi's avatar state: It basically replaces Rokku's version in the animated version, and it's just cool.

Bumi: Maybe it's an unpopular opinion, but I think within the context of this more serious show this version of Bumi makes much more sense. Animated-Bumi with his challenges for Aang to realise how to take different approaches to find a solution wouldn't have worked with the changed tone of the story.

Sokka: Within the context of the show, Sokka also works well. He still is funny at times, but he is a bit more mature and responsible than animated-Sokka, which is more realistic in this show. Otherwise, one would have wondered why Hakoda didn't live an actual adult man in the village for protection.

The 41st division: I know, one of the points in the original was also that Zuko's defense of the new recruits seem to have been useless, but I love that his crew was given such an impactful background. It does not lessen the tragedy of Zuko's situation.

Hahn: I kind of like that he's not just a complete idiot, but actually a likable guy that I felt sorry for when he died.

The impact of war: I liked the exploration of what war does to people and especially children. It includes a variety of examples and stories, and I like that we get different kind of sides to this.

The locations: the sets are good, and the CGI backgrounds as well.

Appa, Mom and other fantastical animals: I understand that it's difficult to include them for large amounts of time, but I think whenever they are used they are convincingly animated.

The music is as good as expected.

... I'm sure I have forgotten many things I wanted to mention, but this has to do for now.

[sokkastyles]

Hi,

Hope you are doing well. Thank you for the response on my query regarding Azula.

Now, I am back with a few questions regarding The Southern Raiders. I was thinking, was Katara struck with guilt specifically because her mother died for her, which Sokka or even Aang did bot understand, but Zuko who feels that his mother disappeared because of him did?

Also, I was thinking did Katara really think of revenge when she wanted to Yon Rah, or did Aang end up pushing that thought into her head, because he thought that? Just a bit confused on this one.

Would like your thoughts on this.

I definitely think that Katara and Zuko both experiencing the loss of their mothers specifically because they tried to protect them is a huge part of why they connect on that specific thing, yeah. We know that Katara feels guilt over this because she refers to how she's "not that helpless little girl anymore." The confrontation with Yon Rha is largely about confronting that guilt and reframing her own story, in which she gets to be an actor and not just a helpless bystander. I think Zuko feels the same way because he also does the same thing when he confronts Ozai, both times, about what happened to his mother, contrasting with when he tried to confront Ozai about it as a child and got no response.

Sokka and Azula also share the parallel of not dealing with the loss of their mother in such a direct way, and thus not carrying the guilt of it in the same way. Both of them have distanced themselves from their mother's disappearance in order to cope with what happened, which also makes them unable and even hostile towards their siblings for wanting to directly confront it. See Sokka telling Zuko that he doesn't like to think about it and being against Katara confronting Kya's killer, and Azula dismissing the loss of her mother as "she liked Zuko more than me anyway" and pretending she doesn't care, telling Zuko not to dwell on the past when Zuko can't not dwell on it.

On the topic of whether Katara was thinking of revenge or whether Aang accused her of that incorrectly, I know this is hotly debated in the fandom. But I'll ask you to look back at the dialogue in that part of the episode.

Zuko: She needs this, Aang. This is about getting closure and justice.

Aang: I don't think so. I think it's about getting revenge.

Katara: [Angrily.] Fine, maybe it is! Maybe that's what I need! Maybe that's what he deserves!

I'd say it's not so much that revenge was never in her thought process, because come on, we all know she's not going there to have a peaceful conversation. She and Zuko initially think that Yon Rha is still the active commander of the Southern Raiders and intercept the ship while it's active. They knew there was going to be some kind of confrontation happening.

But for me, it's Aang's attempts to define the situation and not listen to what Katara is saying about her own feelings that feels dismissive. Katara admits that maybe it is about revenge, and maybe that is what she needs, but she's still not making limiting statements the way Aang is. Katara needed to figure out what she needed, and she couldn't do that with Aang telling her that if she does x, then y will happen, therefore she should do z which is what he wants her to do. Remember that Aang was initially against her confronting Yon Rha at all, and only conceded that she needed to go when she wouldn't give in to him telling her she shouldn't. It's after he realizes that he can't stop her that he tells her "not to choose revenge." His initially belief was that going at all constituted a violent act of revenge and that it was immoral.

I appreciate that the show has him change his stance, but there should have been some continued followup when Katara came back and it turned out that she did not choose either forgiveness or revenge, which Aang had presented as the only options. Even after he is directly confronted by Katara telling him he is wrong, there is no admission from Aang that it's not a black and white dichotomy. This is especially glaring since the episode already showed us once that Aang is capable of changing his stance when he concedes, reluctantly, that Katara has to take this journey, although even then it feels more like he's saying it so he can still feel like he's in the right because he's realized he can't stop her. He does the same thing when Katara comes back. He never admits that he was wrong even when Katara directly tells him so. He only engages with the argument when Zuko tells him he was right. This isn't so much wisdom as it is ignoring everything that doesn't make you look in the right. That's why I get frustrated with people acting like Aang stopped Katara from going on a murderous rampage in this episode. Aang both assumed it was about revenge AND assumed that Katara wasn't capable of making the choice not to do something horrible on her own, and when proven wrong, never admits it, but does take credit when Zuko credits him with "knowing what Katara needed."

Meanwhile, Katara was able to concede that maybe it was about revenge, but she was still able to make the right choice in the end, without the need to try and define someone else's experience and label their feelings and moralize about it. Katara is the one that shows true wisdom in this episode, because she's wise enough to understand that sometimes we can't truly define a situation or know our true feelings, much less the feelings of others.

So like, was it about revenge? I'm with Katara. Maybe it was, at first, but what's important is the choice Katara made and that she was able to make it, not how Aang feels about it. And I think Katara's choice in the end was much closer to how Zuko defined it - closure and justice - than it was about revenge, in the end, and she would not have gotten that opportunity if she had listened to Aang from the get go and not confronted Yon Rha at all, because he was so afraid that her feelings of revenge (which may have possibly been present) would override her sense of morality and justice.

[kxjostarr]

what type of bender are you?

Waterbender

Like I said at the beginning of the quiz, the elements speak greatly to how you approach conflict, inner turmoil, etc, so now how do we define what your element actually says about you? Waterbenders, as a whole, are incredibly emotional beings. Perhaps the most emotional of all four elements. What they say, the decisions they make—it’s all based on what they feel in that moment. This isn’t to say that Waterbenders are incapable of thinking through their problems. They absolutely are, but only after they’ve calmed down. Waterbenders have to work through their emotions internally before they can reach a level-headed decision.

We see this most frequently in none other than Katara. As compassionate as she is, Katara has a temper that throughout Book 1 initiates her most powerful bending (at least at the beginning of her training). Throughout the show, especially when her and Toph have their arguments, she is shown reacting like a harsh sudden wave, not considering her words as she typically does. Waterbenders also place an incredible amount of value in their community. They want to take care of the people around them. Now this doesn’t mean that other benders don’t or can’t feel the same; it’s just especially important for Waterbenders. They protect their own first. This is shown across every water tribe.

From the Northerners to the Southerners to the Swamp People, they all focus on their own before considering others around them, doing whatever they can to protect the people they care about. Huu crafts a seaweed monster to keep outsiders away. Katara, as Sokka and Aang are being forced to attack each other, sacrifices her own morals in order to protect them and bloodbends Hama. This is what makes Waterbenders stand out. It’s their need to do whatever it takes to protect the ones they love. Other elements can imitate this need, but there are unique factors to each one that could interrupt such a desire.

Nothing interrupts a Waterbender. Now, as Earthbenders are progressive, Waterbenders are adaptive. They evolve and change with their surroundings, preferring to go with the flow rather than combat it. It’s important however to note that Waterbenders aren’t always pacifists in this respect. While they willfully respond to change, they’re also incredibly capable of enacting it. Avatar Kuruk even confirms the value of this as his parting advice to Aang is to be attentive and active. However, it is possible for Waterbenders to remain stagnant without a trigger that elicits any form of change.

This is seen in the Northern Water Tribe. For generations, they followed the same rules, separating the men from the women, training one side as warriors and the other as healers. It’s only when Katara arrives that this changes. She challenges the system, going so far as to fight Pakku herself, but still this isn’t enough. Not until Pakku picks up the betrothal necklace. This ties back to the loyalty of a Waterbender. Only when Pakku has a personal connection to Katara through her grandmother, does he begin to legitimately consider Katara’s stance.

So what happens to Waterbenders without a community, who’ve shut themselves off emotionally? I like to call them Frigid Waterbenders. These are Waterbenders who crave a community, who are inherently emotional, but for one reason or another, they’ve shut themselves off. The community they may have had once is gone or lost, and now it feels like caring for anyone only leads to heartache. A good example of this type of bender can be seen with The End of the F*cking World.

James is a traumatized boy who convinces himself that he’s a literal psychopath, that the emptiness he feels is something intrinsic to him. This is until he meets Alyssa. Alyssa quickly becomes his community and he’ll do anything to protect her including getting shot in order to secure her safety. If you believe yourself to be this type of bender, try to open yourself up. Closing yourself off isn’t the solution to your problems. You’ll find your people one day. Water is unpredictable and overall, Waterbenders are emotional beings, approaching conflict with what they feel and this can change. Storms can be weathered and above everything else, the ocean will always be there. It will change currents and so will you, but you will always be there for the people you care about.

[rms10]

A huge part of the beauty of Kataang is how both characters are so strongly, and well defined through their writing, drawing, and voice acting. Their love languages are on display throughout and consistent. Katara's is very clearly touch - she constantly touches Aang, and often is far more touchy than is necessary in the situation. Those who deny her feelings are either ignoring this characterization or simply aren't able to read social cues. This is also why I push back on the concept of needing to hear her vocalize her feelings. Why? That would undercut her established characterization.

Similarly, I read complaints about Katara not smiling on the sub after the kiss. How out of place would that be? They both just talked about how their entire relationship would be different after that day - assuming they'd end the war on that day - and put it all out there. Then he kisses her and flies off to fight the Fire Lord. Her pensive concerned look fits the situation perfectly.

From a narrative and character development, the kiss on the balcony in EIP is important. When they come together an episode (or four, depending on you count) later, he will be the clearly hero of the story. This scene firmly displays that Katara has no problem shutting him down and leave if she isn't comfortable with what he does. The entire scene puts it front and center that she will never be with him just because he's the "hero of the story" or because she gives into his interests (some of the dumber takes on them that I've read), but instead when they get together it's on her own terms. This scene sets up that fact for them.

Yes, it's uncomfortable (it's supposed to be), and yes Aang is in the wrong in the scene. He's trying to communicate something there and completely misjudges the situation, but at least he takes immediate responsivity for his actions. People make mistakes in relationships, and they recover from it all the time. People miscommunicate in relationships and they work through it all the time.

When asked why I like kataang so much, the shortest answer is that they simply feel authentic. The above is a lot of why they come off that way to me. They feel like an actual couple working through all the outside issues that keep them apart and put stress on them. The reason they're so good is that they work through those issues. They fight and struggle through issues, but continue to be open with each other in communication. We see them always take time to listen to the other, and even when they disagree, they both express appreciation that the other hears them out.

Really, to me, most of the complaints about the development of the kataang relationship in canon appear to come from takes that ignore Katara's very clear characterization. (Like everyone else, I have things I'd change it, if you left it up to me, but I don't think I'd ever have invested in it if it wasn't well done in the show too.)

never gonna understand the argument that Katara didn’t love Aang or something.

Katara was 100% more physically affectionate toward Aang. She almost always initiated their physical contact.

She also expresses clear jealousy over him as early as ep4 at Kyoshi Island lol. Aang was literally right when he said “you know what I think? I think you don’t wanna come because you’re jealous” 😂 SHE WAS

Katara was hesitant to start a romantic relationship with Aang because of the war, not because she lacked romantic interest in him. I mean, she quite literally says this on screen.

This is another thing that confuses tf out of me. How can anyone actually watch that scene in Ember Island Players and think it translates to “Katara doesn’t like Aang and is gently rejecting him” ?????

Katara 1) denies viewing Aang platonically and 2) straight up says her reasoning for not pursuing a romantic relationship with him after they kissed during the invasion is because the war is still going on and 3) she then continues by saying she is confused about WHEN they can be together if ever.

Both of these characters expected the war to already BE over. That was why Aang kissed her at the invasion, at least partly. Also partly because, yknow, he could’ve died and never gotten the chance. Which also brings up another thing, the argument that she rejected him kissing her then?

This isn’t true. Katara very much did kiss him back. But once it was over, and once he was going to leave her and face what could’ve easily been certain death, she looks upset. Not really difficult to understand why she looks that way, considering Aang did just tell her “what if I don’t come back” right before said kiss. Katara has already witnessed him die right before her eyes. This is a difficult topic in their relationship. And that fear of losing Aang continues to keep her away from their romantic relationship until she finally feels safe to express it at the end of the show.

Aang’s actions are also not difficult to understand at all. He confronted Katara during that play after she sought him out. He never asked her to follow him. And the only reason he confronted her was bc he was feeling 1) super insecure bc of the play’s depiction of everyone in their group and 2) bc he’s about to face the world’s greatest military force and their leader on the anniversary of his entire people and culture’s genocide completely ALONE and could very easily be killed.

Aang shouldn’t have kissed her at the play. No one says he should’ve and he reprimands himself afterwards. With that being said, though, it’s totally understandable as to why he does kiss her, that being that he’s afraid he is going to die again and he wants to express that he loves her before it happens. Also, the fact that Aang wasn’t there for his own people is surely a driving factor in how he expresses love to others afterwards, that being that he feels the need to “be there” so to speak. And “being there” in this moment is showing Katara that he does love her, and the only way he rlly knows how to is to kiss her bc words did not work.

Like… idc if ppl like the writing or not. Acting like it’s some huge mystery or impossible to comprehend is you essentially saying you’re dumber than the 6 year olds that watched ATLA 😭 like how could I at 11 completely understand this whole thing yet these grown ass adult women can’t wrap their minds around it for even a second? Like it’s actually sad lol

[lykegenia]

Legend of Korra rewrite

So what happens when you cross caffeine-induced insomnia with a brain willing to fixate on the most random shit imaginable? Apparently a remainder that I’m still salty about all the ways Nickelodeon fucked over Legend of Korra by not letting it have a multiple season arc greenlit from the beginning. What’s there is already good considering the parameters Bryke had to work with, but only getting one season ordered at a time with studio execs prodding at various plot elements means a lot of potential was squandered.

My 3am brain decided to fix it.

This isn’t a comprehensive beat-beat-by-beat rewrite, I don’t have time for that. It also might not be entirely coherent because, again, 3am brain. I’ll only be focusing on the main characters since they’re the ones doing the most to drive the plot forward.

Before we begin, let’s talk themes. If we’re going to have an overarching, coherent narrative, we’re going to need to give it themes, for flavour. I really like the way LOK used each season to explore the flaws of different political frameworks (e.g. populism, anarchism) but there’s nothing to tie it all together, and the story becomes less about Korra and more about the world she inhabits. In this rewrite, Korra’s journey will come back into focus, and will (like TLA) explore a theme of balance. Specific to yin-yang, there are a bunch of oppositions that relate to each other – chaos/order, tradition/change, altruism/selfishness, freedom/boundaries – none of which are inherently bad, and neither side better than the other. There is no good and evil, only balance and the lack of it. For Korra as well, there will be the theme of legacy, of forging your own path instead of being defined by people’s expectations, of letting go of self-image, and of finding strength in community.

Here we go.

SEASON 1

·        For the most part, unchanged. It’s pretty solid. Could maybe do without the weird double love triangle that was going on for most of it so we could dedicate more time to Korra finding community, and establishing what role the avatar might play in a world that’s seemingly in balance.

·        HOWEVER. I would add at least one extra episode to the ending, and change it just a bit. We’re also going to set up season 2.

·        By the end of the season, Korra does not get back the elements Amon took from her. At least not yet. Instead of being useless, Katara, whose character is not completely betrayed in this version, does manage to undo the damage Amon did, because she mastered bloodbending at 14 and is the world’s best healer according to everyone in the room. So what’s the problem? Korra won’t wake up. She’s trapped in the spirit world, either because of her guilt at being such a failure (in her mind) or because something is keeping her there, but there’s no way to tell which it is.

·        Korra, in the spirit world, is lost. She hears someone behind her, turns with a fire kick ready to defend herself, and… it’s Aang. He points out that bending doesn’t work in the spirit world, he found that out the hard way when he had to walk through an entire forest instead of using his glider. He tells her to follow him.

·        In the real world, it’s early morning, the fire’s low, everyone’s asleep. Someone (Mako? Asami?) wakes up and starts shouting because Korra’s gone. There’s a search party. Naga’s still in her pen, but there are footprints leading to a cliff and then… nothing. We’ve circumvented the execs worry about depicting suicidal ideation by making it clear first that Korra is off doing spirity things, and Katara, who is wise, tells everyone that they need to trust in the avatar.

·        Repercussions: Unalaq turns up with troops from the North ostensibly to rescue Korra. When it’s pointed out that she’s in the spirit world, he asks how they can know for sure. After all, someone tried to kidnap her once before (“And you couldn’t protect her then, either – could you brother? Someone else had to do it”). Name drop the Red Lotus, but they won’t be important until later.

·        This is just a ruse to start the occupation. Aside from Unalaq having shady evil plans, the South has lost its way, they lost the avatar, and they owe the North for all the rebuilding they did after the 100 Years War (sarcastic huzzah for colonialism!) The last shot of the season is a mass of Northern ships advancing on the South in a direct parallel to the shot in the opening of TLA. (This also removes the contrivance of Korra being naïve enough to believe a word of anything her obviously evil uncle says.)

SEASON 2

·        Korra washes up on a Fire Nation beach and is found by the priestess lady who in this version is definitely Azula btw. She’s chill after 70 years. The opening of this season is the two-parter where we learn the origins of the avatar because a) it interrupts the story less to put it here and b) it’s a far more organic way for her to relearn how to connect with all her elements that ties into her character growth instead of being another Lion Turtle-ex-machina. She also learns that harmonic convergence is coming, but not quite yet (it won’t be the S2 finale but more on that later) and that she needs to find out where Vaatu’s prison is so that she can keep him there.

·        Meanwhile, in the South: Civil war. Katara is among the first to stand up to the occupation and fights back (the South knows how to fight, it spent 100 years fighting while the North cowered behind its high walls and did nothing) because her character is not completely betrayed in this version of events. She will not let her people be subjugated again. The others want to stay and help, but the Southern benders are holding their own for now what they really need is outside help to get the North to back down (and we haven’t seen this much politics in kids media since the Star Wars prequels). Tenzin and family head to the Fire Nation to get help from Zuko/Izumi. Lin, who has her bending back thanks to Katara, goes back to Republic City to garner support from the United Forces. Asami and Mako go with her – Asami to sort out Future Industries, Mako because it sucks being a firebender at the south pole in winter, and because he wants to help Lin. He has to let go of his need overprotectiveness because Bolin stays and joins the rebellion. There is not a weird abusive romantic subplot between him and Eska.

·        Korra finally gets back from the spirit world. Hears about trouble in the South from Azula, and her first instinct is to rush off to the south pole, but harmonic convergence is a bigger threat to everyone. Like Aang, she has to choose between her duties to the world and her attachment to her people. She’s persuaded to find Tenzin/Jinora instead, and gets given a sky bison.

·        Tonraq gets captured, but not before learning why his brother REALLY wants to get to the portal in the spirit trees. Nobody else finds out. For dramatic irony. And so the audience can get a bit of exposition without it seeming clunky. He’s been weakening the boundary between the spirit world and the waking world in preparation for letting Vaatu out, and that’s why there are spirits running amok everywhere. Fighting is getting worse.

·        All the events in Republic City still happen, maybe with tweaks but not enough to change the direction of the plot.

·        Korra finds Jinora, and together they set off for the spirit world. Yes Korra still gets lost. Last time she had Aang as a guide but a) without him she doesn’t know how to navigate b) she’s still new to this whole spirituality thing c) since she was last in the spirit world Unalaq’s destabilisation of the boundary means things are a lot more chaotic anyway. Yes we still see Iroh, and he helps her, and we get a showdown in front of Vaatu’s tree. He mocks Raava for being too late to stop him. But at least now they know how to get to him from the real world. Jinora still gets kidnapped.

·        The S2 finale is mostly the same, except Unalaq does not join with Vaatu. Vaatu promised that’s what would happen but Vaatu is a spirit of chaos and discord, he is inherently selfish, so instead feeds on Unalaq to free himself. There is no giant battle between spirit Korra and spirit Unalaq, we are not in Pacific Rim. Also, the battle between Raava and Vaatu is not good/evil, but they are in opposition.

·        Most importantly, the good guys lose the finale. The big final battle happens to stop Unalaq getting to the Tree of Time, and they’re too late. Vaatu is freed and his prison, the Tree of Time, is destroyed in the process. Chaos ensues. (This is what brings the airbenders back but we don’t know this yet.) Harmonic convergence is looming, Team Avatar’s job now is to find a way to beat him now that the tree of time has been destroyed.

SEASON 3

·        Spirits of chaos have unleashed airbenders. Oops, that includes Zaheer. They’re here to fuck shit up.

·        Season 3 is generally pretty good and well-paced, and the finale is banger, so most things will be kept the same except the chaos the Red Lotus creates in the Earth Kingdom is directly feeding Vaatu, making him stronger. Korra’s trip to the spirit world to learn the origins of the Red Lotus is slightly different. Instead of Zaheer, she connects with her previous lives. She and Kyoshi get on like a house on fire. Kyoshi explains the Red Lotu’s origin, but Zaheer has been waiting for her, attuned to Raava’s energy. They have a fight, shows Korra is improving in her spirituality by how she can manipulate the world (better resolution for that arc, consistency between seasons is nice), but she’s no match for Zaheer. Tries to warn him about Vaatu but he argues that by fusing with Raava the avatar disrupted the balance of the universe and that he’s helping put it back. The people who are going to die because of this will simply be redressing the balance. This fight is what keeps Korra distracted while the rest of the Red Lotus attacks.

·        Finale is banger, keep it as it is.

SEASON 4

·        Kuvira’s motivation now isn’t just trying to restore order in the Earth Kingdom power vacuum, she also knows harmonic convergence is coming and wants to impose order to stop Vaatu winning since the avatar is AWOL/not recovered. During the early part of S3 world leaders were warned about harmonic convergence but since it’s traditionally the avatar’s job to deal with spirits, nothing was really done.

·        She’s actually making the problem worse.

·        Team Avatar and the airbenders etc all fall on different sides of the ‘how to stop 10,000 years of darkness’ discussion, and without the avatar as a unifying voice, it’s making the problem worse.

·        Most of the plot beats stay the same, but there is no giant robot shooting spirit plant lasers at things, because. Well. We’re not in Pacific Rim. Kuvira can still be forcing Varrick to build her superweapons, though, as a treat.

·        The big finale finale is harmonic convergence. Vaatu manifests, stronger than last time because he’s been feeding on the chaos of the human world, and now there’s no Tree of Time to imprison him. What will Korra do next?

·        The avatar cycle is broken. Kora wins, but at the cost of her connection with Raava, because Raava is the only one who can really control him in the end. Their struggle is eternal. Think Ed vs Truth at the end of FMA:B. All the experience of the past avatars feeds into Raava’s power and it counterbalances Vaatu, Korra lets go, and the two “destroy” each other locked together. The explosion of spirit energy brings about a new spiritual age. Maybe Korra keeps her waterbending, maybe she loses her bending entirely (which would be a nice bit of symmetry with the concerns of S1) but she still steps into the spirit portal with Asami at the end.

[shewhotellsstories]

i really dont wanna annoy you but you post about racism in fandom sometimes so i thought you'd be the right person to ask. i hope this doesnt come off as expecting u to be my teacher. yesterday someone said they didnt trust white zk shippers and i thought it was mean but then people started sending the them all these nasty messages and i started to worry maybe op was right. honestly a lot of this stuff is pretty new for me. i think our fandom is inclusive & unlike the rest of the atla fandom we actually like katara. but i'm trying to learn.

why would it be a problem that a lot of zk fics have katara looking after zuko? i always just felt like he needed it more bc he was abused and kataras better at dealing with feelings and she's good at taking care of people. is fire lady katara still ok? is there racism in our fandom? there are a lot of woc zks and i've seen them get hate for it. but the messages op got were pretty bad too. i know i'm asking a lot of questions i just hate the thinking that we might be as bad as the z*kka stans have been saying all year.

This is gonna get long so I’m just gonna jump right in. When I listened to fansplaining’s episode on fandom racism one of the guests said white fans who can acknowledge that fandom racism exists tend to frame it as “just a few bad apples” and get caught up in worrying about not looking like a “bad apple” instead of making fandoms spaces that aren’t hostile for BIPOC. Jag offs hiding behind anon to tell women of color who ship zutara that we have a creepy fetish for imperialism and colonialism suck, but your biggest concern really shouldn’t be the optics or if you can claim superiority over zukka stans.

Yeah the “katara’s a homophobe” nonsense didn’t come from our end of the fandom, but it feels naive at best or dishonest at worst to act like the zutara fandom is uniquely immune to fandom racism. A creator I follow made the excellent point that allyship conditional upon if a poc talks "nicely" about racism is still white supremacy. I believe poc need to be allowed to vent and be salty or angry without being tone-policed. I definitely have my days where I’m like “ugh white people,” or "why must white fans be like this," so I get where the OP was coming from. Ironically the folks that sent them anon hate proved their point. You can always count on hit dogs to hollar.

Fandom is only escapist for some people. It doesn’t exist in a vacuum so you’ll find racism in fandom because there’s racism in the world. Navigating that gets exhausting. There are certain things I enjoy, but for the sake of my sanity I'll only talk about it with friends in real life or only follow fans of color. Before I follow white fans I need to see first that they’re not the kind of person who inspires posts about fandom racism. A good friend of mine loves Star Wars, Kpop, and gaming but after years of attempts at calling in she decided that she’d only interact with woc in those spaces. Again, you get tired.

ATLA wasn’t on my radar until last year so I definitely haven’t read every zutara fic out there but I have noticed a lot of fics do tend to have Katara being the one comforting and supporting Zuko. It’s not inherently wrong of course, it’s just in the grand scheme of things in fiction woc are often cast as eternal caretakers and confidants in fiction:

“How characters of color are portrayed in fanworks, especially fanfiction, is worse than the actual films. They are portrayed as supportive, almost invisible understudies. Any characteristics which they possess in the [MCU] films are stripped and given to other white characters. It is not only erasure. It’s a theft of identity.

Characters of color are positioned within storylines to support the main, white characters. Even within the slash biracial pairings, the character of color is underdeveloped and in a position of servitude within the relationship.”

TheNavyLanguage, Fansplaining

As the quote above points out this honestly happens in a lot of fandoms. I’ve read fanfic for books, movies, tv shows, and comics and I can’t help but notice that in fics the writers often have the non-white character or-- if neither character is white--the darker skinned character being the care-taker, the bodyguard, or the person who is performing all the emotional labor. It’s not inherently wrong to have a character of color have a nurturing personality, you just have to remember that since Black and brown folks have been saddled with narrative after narrative where we exist to serve leaning into dynamics where the non-white or darker skinned character is providing all the emotional support and getting very little in return has some unfortunate implications.

It’s not better if instead of being defined as the avatar’s girl, Katara’s the fire lord’s girl. Part of the appeal of zutara for me is the idea that Katara could lay down some of her burdens and get some much needed support. I always imagine she’d have some major issues after the war.

"i always just felt like he needed it more bc he was abused and kataras better at dealing with feelings and she's good at taking care of people."

I’m going to push back against that statement. Yes, Katara didn't grow up in an abusive household but she has pain and trauma of her own. In fact I’d argue that her believing it’s her job to take care of everyone is rooted in her trauma. Katara needs support and care just as much as anyone else does.

Having read a lot of fics revolving around abuse victims in different fandoms I’ve observed that if fans feel a character’s trauma wasn’t properly addressed in canon, they’ll give them a lot of TLC in fics. But again, reducing the non-white or darker-skinned character to a glorified therapist has some implications.

I feel like the Fire Lady Katara headcanon's been talked to death so long-story short, it’s not inherently racist but it can problematic if it's not clear that Katara is Katara of the Water Tribe wherever she lives. Fics and art where her crown has a crescent moon, she wears blue, or Zuko wears blue when she's in red are the executions I'm fondest of.

When in doubt just listen when poc talk about uncomfortable trends in the fandom. Give fansplaining’s episodes on fandom racism a listen here, here, and here. And very loosely quoting my favorite professor just remember that if a marginalized person says they’re distrustful of a group of people or institution it usually happens after a lot of bad experiences. Don’t center your own comfort and hurt feelings.

“If we truly believe in fandom’s progressive credentials, then perhaps it is necessary for us to listen to critiques that make us uncomfortable rather than those that keep arguing that the status quo is perfectly acceptable—even as there is plenty of evidence to the contrary. Perhaps then we will be able to come at these, yes, these very complex and nuanced discussions with the type of openness and good faith that is required for them to succeed, rather than approaching them with hostility.”

-Rukmini Pande, Fansplaining

[lightdancer1]

My interpretation of the Boiling Rock and its meaning/aftermath for my continuation-style fics/AUs

The Boiling Rock is the start of a growth narrative for Mai and Ty Lee but it's also where that narrative plateaus for a long time. And there's a good reason for that. The events of Season II and III bring everything to a head that day and they decide right then and there that they will not, in actual fact, let Azula kill her brother or put them into lethal combat with each other.

Azula was a good friend in the Academy days, as a superior officer she impaled everything on trying to have it both ways. Mai and Ty Lee reached that point, while Ty Lee does have a great amount of hidden anger and resentment at the circus incident, which was one of the worst things that Azula did until the day at the Rock itself.

They did not stand against or reject the Fire Nation or anything they did before it at Azula's side. It is a measure of how much their lives sucked that their time as child soldiers is to them the happiest, freest time of their lives and gets Mai to fully accept she's an adrenaline junkie who makes buddy-buddy with the Gaang to get the adventuring adrenaline on a regular basis. They reached a major turning point in standing up for themselves and embracing their need to do so. It is a huge, profound transformation and one of the defining moments of their lives.

But it takes later events, often big ones, for them to start questioning the war and these events usually end up being that Azula sees the deeper truths before they do and the cognitive dissonance that days they still see as overall their peak outside that one day at the Rock aren't such a wonderful thing for Azula anymore.

Unlike the comics there's no easily forgiven aspects by the other nations for Azula's two friends. In the eyes of the Earth Kingdom and Ba Sing Se they're on just as much of a watch list. Not as the equivalent of war criminals or 'arrange for a Dai Li induced 'convenient accident' as part of the overthrow of the Earth Kingdom. In the eyes of the Gaang Mai is the friend nobody likes at first because she likes knives and was literally trying to kill or maim them and they haven't forgotten that, while Ty Lee is the stealth juggernaut feared by everyone the more they realize she's a bit of a gamebreaker.

In the narrow sense of 'who did most harm to whom' Azula is actually less disliked than Mai, outside Katara for the killing Aang business, as to everyone else 'eh, he got better so we can't really make a bigger deal about it than he does' (Katara: "Watch me."). Mai, OTOH, literally was trying to outright kill them with those knives every time they fought and that's not easily forgotten. Mai has a bit of a hill to climb to be accepted by the Gaang, accordingly, but does climb it.

This is a part of people growing past the legacy of the war and building elements of how to coexist after it, applying to people on both sides.

[ladyloveandjustice]

-Like my partner, Katara not being angry really bothers me too, because I love and relate to that part of her character so much. Like the fact she unearthed Aang and kickstarted the entire plot because she was screaming at her brother for being sexist is so iconic. But Sokka's not allowed to have a character arc, so. That anger and passion is essential to her character, she isn't really Katara to me if she doesn't have that.

-there is just absolutely no way Zuko would just give up on chasing Aang because a bunch of guards were trying to attack them. (Especially if they'd captured Iroh). He would absolutely try to fight them. Zuko is reckless and doesn't back down even when he should, that's a defining character trait.

-I did think Zuko getting smacked by that older lady for messing up her booth during the fight and looking pathetic was very in character though

-Mashing up the Teo and Jet plotlines makes very little sense. I know some fans want to see every single thing that was in the original, but a good adaption cannot bow to that. You have to choose which storylines you want to do justice too, otherwise you risk making all them lose impact. Which absolutely did happen here. Katara just being on her own with Jet while Aang and Sokka are hanging out with Danny Pudi makes that arc lose it's impact. As I mentioned, it means we don't get Sokka slowly realizing something is up, instead Jet just tells Katara outright, and it means Katara's crush isn't built up at all.

There was also an opportunity here to address a part of the original show that some people rightly feel could have used more nuance--that Jet, a victim of a colonialist empire whose desire to see them fall at all cost is coming from an understandable place, even if his willingness to imperil his fellow survivors is wrong, got a lot less sympathy and nuance than Zuko, who enacted the will of said colonialist empire and actively hurt the survivors at times. But of course they didn't take the opportunity to explore Jet a little more, why do something actually interesting that could maybe even outdo the original, gotta condense and add needless action scenes.

-My partner and I agree that Aang like, taking a five minute break to clear his head and that just happens to be the night the fire nation killed everyone has a completely different impact on his character than him like, actively running away, intending to leave forever! In the live action he has no actual reason to feel guilty! He just happened to be out at the wrong time! Yes survivors guilt is irrational but why take away his agency? Him actively running away is important, and everyone still trears it like he ran away when he did!!! not!!!

Iirc, the original show also didn't say how long after Aang got frozen the Fire Nation attacked which I think is better than it being a Massive Coincidence

-finding the aftermath of the genocide is so much more impactful than showing it like it's a cool action scene. Aang finding his skeleton doesn't hit when we know he's dead already. Like the one interesting thing they could have done is showing us how Gyatsou managed to kill all those soldiers (did he deprive them of oxygen and also suffocate himself as is the fan theory?) and it didn't even do that because in this version he dies super easily without killing anyone.

-Zuko having an actual interest in the throne changes him pretty drastically. Literally all he wants is his dad to love him. He shows interest in protecting the fire nation and its people always, but he does not actively seek the throne until the end (and Iroh has to talk him into it!) I guess you could do interesting things with changing him like that but I doubt the show will.

-I don't think Azula ever felt seriously threatened that Zuko would take the throne from her in the original. She thought of him as a screw up and figured he'd never be able to actually do it. She knew their dad hated him and she was the favorite. She even decided she wanted him around so she could have a fall guy. Azula having different motivations isn't a bad thing, it could turn into something interesting, but I do think her not even seeing him as competition is more interesting as of now.

-it is nice to see her actually look fourteen though. I think how mature the show drew her (and Mai and Ty Lee too tbh) always really took away from the fact even she is still a child too, literally the same age as Katara.

-I actually didn't mind Sokka and Suki's storyline too much. It doesn't develop them at all compared to the original ofc, but the awkwardness of the flirting was kinda fun to watch.

-I'm comparing it a lot to the show, but that's because it's even worse if you look at it as it's own thing as a standalone story...it is honestly ridiculous how much of the dialogue is exposition and them explaining traits they have. I think if the original didn't exist I'd have lost interest immediately.

-A review pointed out the actual runtime to this series is actually pretty close to season 1's runtime, only like an hour less. so they could have added in pretty much all the character development the show did, they just spend their time very unwisely.

-Will I watch more? I don't know. Definitely prefer watching it with others so I can complain and make jokes. I'm not mad about it- at the very least I hope it gives the actors some opportunities, especially the younger ones, there are some good performances, I think Zuko especially stands out- it can't replace the original and it doesn't. It's just interesting how many of the decisions baffle me.

I keep meaning to post about it, but I watched the first three episodes of the live action ATLA with my partner and friend and we decided that Zhao really has office manager energy, especially the way he talks for some reason, so it was fun riffing off him by saying things like "Please join my Linked In Zuko" "I'm very good at networking" "We'll table this for now" "Let's do this over Zoom" etc.

other than that it uh. wasn't very good? There were some fun moments and cool visuals but...I think the thing that bothers me the most--besides everyone turning to the camera and stating their motivations constantly instead of letting us spend time with them as characters--- is that because Katara and Aang didn't have like any chance to interact or bond before then, instead of her going "Aang I know how much it hurts to lose people we're you're family now you're not alone" when he find Gyatso she gets to say "hey aang! losing everything makes you strong! it's how you fight" like what an absolutely fucked up thing to say to someone who survived a genocide. That wasn't the show's message at all, what the hell.

Also hilarious was how Sokka has no reason to distrust Jet in this version. He just spends a total of one minute not even talking to him is like "he's probably evil based off zero evidence", Katara's like 'you're wrong!" runs back to Jet, Jet' s immediately like "i don't care if I kill civilians actually" and she just immediately runs back to Sokka and is like "no you're right how could I have doubted you :(" Girl of course you doubted him the only reason he distrusted the boy was because the writers told him to.

Glad for Zuko's budding deviantart career though, hope he gets a patreon. I'll prolly post more thoughts later.