#anti tenzin

[the-badger-mole]

So you were like the first person I saw call Aang out for being a bad father, and I'm watching through LoK for the first time now and there's this scene where (this is after Bumi gets airbending) Bumi says "even though I'm Aang's son, I never really felt like part of the Air Nation" and then Tenzin is like "You are now." NOW???? GIRL WHAT???? Literally HOW does anyone defend Aang's parenting when one of his sons is like "you're right, you never were part of this half of your heritage, but now you are, because you've earned it"

Listen...when I tell you my anger in that moment was transcendent! Had I had just one more cup of espresso, I'd have shifted dimensions into the ATLA universe and slapped the taste out of Tenzin. I'd have hit him hard enough that Bryke would've felt it, because WHO looks at that moment and think it speaks to a healthy family dynamic???? And even then, at least Bumi got some sort of resolution to his issue with Aang. Kya? Crickets...

I can never be harsh enough on Aang because in canon, he's an absolute creep of a character. His nascent physical abuse of Katara is canon, but because he's small, bald and has a Pollyanna smile, we're not allowed to hate him. Luckily, I've always been a bit of a rebel.

[zuko-always-lies]

Its tenzins fault korra had a “tantrum” in the first place with air training. Kept pushing and pushing her

Honestly, I think that's fair. Tenzin was a terrible mentor for Korra and is also partially responsible for her entire life being so terrible, so I'm not against Tenzin slander.

[atla-confessions]

Tenzin seems like the type of guy to fuck his daughters

….

[silmarillaure]

Pema from legend of Korra is disgusting!

She's a homewrecker AND SHE'S PROUD OF IT!

She encourages Korra to do the same thing and sets a horrible example to her.

I'm not saying Lin & Tenzin were a good couple, Lin is WAY TOO GOOD for that ugly bald elitist prick, but Pema ACTIVLY TRYING TO BREAK THEM UP IS SO WRONG!!!

[leantailean]

Mind you, these are the people who say that zutara is a “female gaze”

[rightwheretheyleftme]

TLOK and the design of older women

Scrolling through the TLOK tag, I see so many posts saying “Thanks to The Legend of Korra, now I’m attracted to older women” and then they attach pictures of Lin, Suyin and Kya. Those posts always get a good chuckle out of me, but I’ve decided to be a party popper and analyze, why are the elderly women of TLOK so attractive?

And the answer is because they aren’t drawn like actual women in their 50s. They are drawn like 30 year old women and then they add the grey hair to convey that they are old. Let’s see the evidence:

Here is Tenzin, he is 51 years old in the 1st season. This is how he looks:

He has bags under his eyes, wrinkles, messy facial hair, and crow’s feet. These are all realistic signs of aging that we normally see in men above 50.

Now let’s see Lin Beifong. She is 50 years old.

Her face is completely smooth. There are no wrinkles, smile lines, or any signs of aging besides her gray hair.

And those are just the examples that I used to prove my point. This disparity applies to all of the middle aged men and women in this show. Let’s keep going:

Kya and Bumi are both in their mid-late 50s. Bumi has wrinkles, under eye bags, and forehead creases. Kya has 0 physical signs of aging besides her hair.

Here are some more examples:

Again, I’m sorry to be a complete party popper, but the reason why everyone is so attracted to the elderly women of Korra is because these are not elderly women- they are 30 year olds with grey hair. Only men are allowed to age naturally in this show.

[soosth]

AANG ＆ OZAI PARALLELS: DEBUNKED

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Because apparently the true villain is the sole survivor of a genocide of his entire nation, and not the imperialist colonizer.

Where do I even begin?? Because I’m genuinely holding in laughter writing this, it’s absolutely insane how certain people can make such egregious parallels that aren’t even found in the first place. 

AH, so a little backstory on how this fucking shit stained idea even came to existence, well our dear z^tara fans pissed their pants over Zuko and Katara not tying the knot, so, as a way of retribution for their supposed “honour” They take any chance to jump on the Aang hate train and make him into some irredeemable abusive demon, aaand they got that perfect opportunity because the LoK decided to take a lick out of the great “Main Characters Must Be Bad Parents In The Sequels” Trope. Which personally, does absolutely nothing to the protagonists resolution aside from cheap family drama but I digress. 

Now, I’m not behind the idea of the writers trying to make Aang a “flawed” Parent, I think it really makes no sense by how they went about it, (I might touch on this in another post) 

((And it’s so very clear that they’re trying to give it a soft “retcon” And even taking extra steps saying that Kya and Bumi just “remember wrong” Which I’ll actually take, because season two of LOK was hell on earth anyway so you might as well give it some saving grace.)) 

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There’s three main parallels that they got from Ozai and Aang: (god help me)

Favouring a child

isolating the rest

leaving pressure On the golden child

I’m going to debunk all three of them while trying not to fall into complete lunacy over how ridiculous they are. 

Favouring a child + Leaving pressure: 

OK, so people are clearly blind with context clues and media comprehension, got it. No surprise whatsoever. I can’t be disappointed if I didn’t even have any expectations to begin with. 

Let’s compare the treatment on how Ozai treats Azula, and how Aang treats Tenzin. (Holy Shit)

Beginning with Ozai, well.. It doesn’t take much of a rocket scientist to understand that Ozai essentially could not give two fucks about Azula, as she in essence, serves the role of an attack dog, as long as it does its job, it’s worthy. 

Ozai favoured Azula because she was molded to match his ferocity and hunger for power, she was a prodigy bender, and was cunning and calculated, all traits that Ozai found endearing and someone worthy to be crowned the next “fire lord.” His “favouring” Of her didn’t come out of genuine love or care, she is his tool who serves a purpose. In short, she showed more competency and more ruthlessness and callousness in comparison to Zuko. Which earned her, her place as the “Golden Child.”  

-------

None of this is even remotely similar to how Aang treated Tenzin and his kids, aside from the fact he supposedly “favoured” Tenzin more, but that is such a baseline statement and has absolutely no relation with Ozai's reasons.

You have to understand that an entire FUCKING NATION IS DEAD. History, Culture, Tradition, is at the BRINK of being wiped out, Tenzin is quite literally the only Airbender that will be left after Aangs passing. Why do people devalue this concept so much? 

“B-BUT THE AIR ACOLYTES1!!” Still have limited knowledge, airbending is so heavily tied to its spiritual roots, you LOSE your ability to AIRBEND, if you aren't inclined to your spiritual side. Which is a core part of the air nomad culture. Tenzin is... Literally the only god forsaken part left of that, so yeah. It’s a pretty big fucking deal. Aang values his culture and teachings to such a high degree, he is literally the survivor of a genocide. His favouring of Tenzin was done out of necessity and love, not out of a need for power and a new attack dog to send orders around. 

Tenzin will literally be the future “Director” Or guide for the next avatar to learn airbending, people still forget this, and it’s hilarious. He needs to know all the moves, all the teachings because he will be the next avatar's personal guide. 

Aang constantly reassures him, and apologizes for the pressure that may be put upon him but he always reaffirms that he’ll be there to guide him and they’ll “learn together”

---------

So yeah not the same thing at all. Fuck you for being so inept at understanding the different reasons and perspectives of those situations, just for some petty ship discourse, genuinely disgusting.

Isolating the children:

OK this part, I have to say that the writers definitely messed up with aangs characterization, but I think the execution came out way differently than the intention, so I will try to look more into the intention of each decision.

Ozai isolated Zuko, mistreated him, belittled him, PHYSICALLY ABUSED HIM, but yeah totally on par with Aang actually. 

I don’t wanna touch on this part much mainly because his treatment was literally explained all throughout the show, and granted, while I understand most of these people haven’t touched the show aside from reading fanfic 300000 Where Aang is revealed to us as satan himself, but perhaps, even a small peak at Ozai's parenting would reveal the laughable contrast between the two.

Zuko was a slow learner, and much more of a softie, and a “mama's boy” To Ozai’s heavy dislike, he was thus treated as such, he was belittled, turned down, and literally burnt alive for showing “weakness” He is meant to serve as a direct contrast to Azula, ”The everything he isn't.” 

Kya and Bumi on the other hand, don’t show any actual signs of trauma aside from some petty jabs they threw at Tenzin, 

Bumis talk with Aang at the statue was *very very* Clearly, meant to highlight his own inferiority complex that he internalized growing up. His need for proving himself to be capable of doing just as much if not more than a “bender” Probably happened because his two parents were both prodigy benders and him being a first born son who was a non-bender must’ve hit pretty hard for him, and I’m so sure that katara and Aang reassured how special he is but that kind of thing doesn’t really go away.

------

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Kya: [while healing Bumi] I told you those rocks were slippery. You're lucky you didn't kill yourself.

Bumi: You done with the lecture, mom?

Kya: Oh, grow up. You haven't changed one bit since we were kids. You're still trying to prove you can do everything a bender can. Well, you can't. Deal with it.

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

 That talk with Aangs statue was very much meant to unveil an internal struggle rather than a conflict he had with his father. Kya even doubles down on this, telling him “of course he’d be proud of you” Basically spoon feeding to us, the viewers, that this is much more of internal than an external conflict that he has to overcome along the show. 

“Why Didn’t he share his culture with them 1!!1!” 

He most definitely did, or tried to, but it’s clear they didn’t show much interest so he didn’t pester, this is shown many times throughout the show. 

“You know I could never keep all those gurus straight… There were like a million of them!

remember that long boring story about the guy who never ate?”

This is literally Kya’s remark to Tenzin just after he tried teaching the airbender students this story, basically telling us that Aang DID try to tell them about his stories and culture, but much to their disinterest, didn’t try any further. 

And Bumi, literally could not pay attention to the story to save his life, and instead decided to fool around in his literal 60’s!! I mean Imagine what he was like when he was a kid!! 

I could imagine their dynamic was very similar to Jinora with Meelo and Ikki, Tenzin being the only one with actual interest and care, whilst Bumi and Kya goofing off and not putting much focus onto it. WHICH IS FINE BTW!! 

It only goes to reiterate that Tenzin was the only one who was actually giving interest and attention to the air nomad culture, and it was of Kya and Bumi’s own personal choice to not partake in it. To each their own I see. 

“BUT WHAT ABOUT THE VACATIONS” 

This.. I agree, weird for the writers to decide this, but given how they low-key are retconning it in interviews, my best guess is that each of those trips were side-quests during their journey to teach an important lesson that might’ve just drowned out because Tenzin may not have remembered it as well. 

Also keep in mind that Tenzin was put into a lot of pressure, Aang probably saw this, and as a way to still keep it enjoyable, he took him to trips that would help ease the mind for a little kid whilst also learning something valuable. That seems pretty on brand for Aang actually

And given that Kya and Bumi are literally in their fucking 60’s it wouldn’t surprised me if they didn’t have the greatest memory. Hell, they didn’t even fault Aang as a parent until Tenzin started boasting about “trips” That Kya and Bumi gave petty jabs but weren’t actually showing genuine hurt, just annoyance.

Kya even comments how Aang was too busy “Trying to save the world, and doing his duty that he didn't have much time for them” 

Phrasing as if it wasn't anything "important" But it's clear that this was Kya's own personal irritation towards Tenzin rather than an actual evaluation on Aang's duties.

A continuation comic best explains it in a deeper way:

----------

Literally showing that “neglecting” His kids wasn't up to him, and was out of a sense of necessity, trying to cram as much knowledge onto Tenzin, the only one who was basically putting his lessons into practices. Kya and Bumi were left feeling neglected. But that wasn’t out of his decision; he still loved them dearly.

-------

This. Literally highlighting how much pressure was forced upon Aang, so yes, as any person would, he struggled with making time for everybody. Holy shit who knew?? 

GASP!! IS THAT… A REALISTIC BUT UNDERSTANDABLE FLAW!!?? HOW DARE YOU! ITS OZAI #2 

The fact that the smiley energetic person forgets to SMILE, is a big deal, man was put through hells amount of stress but he never cracked.

So tell me, how is a genocidal freak, who treats his golden child like a tool and abuses the other both physically and emotionally for showing “weakness’ 

Even remotely comparable to

 the sole survivor of a genocide, trying to withhold his teachings and culture onto literally his only child that showed actual effort in doing so, while also maintaining the balance of an entire fucking world and being literally the biggest “advisor” And “Mentor” For society, OH! And also building and managing a literal city, but along the way struggling to make time for his children. 

Guess what, they’re not. And if you think they are. You are an idiot, with bias and headcanons.

So the conclusion is, Aang is a flawed parent, but he isn't a "bad" Parent - confirmed by the literal writers.

Comparing him to Ozai a literal dictator, is absolutely sickening, just for your petty shipping discourse when this show's been over for a decade is insane. Indulge in what you enjoy, but stop projecting delusions like they're canon.

:D

[coconutsaiyan]

I don’t care if this offends someone but if you think Aang was as bad as Ozai when it comes to parenting then you’re a fucking idiot.

Like the mental gymnastics you have to make to come to a conclusion proves you don’t have a lot of brain cells

Tenzin said they were a happy family at the end and Bumi and Kya obviously agreed.

[wilcze-kudly]

your analyses of Lin came to mind the other day when I saw someone post about how “Lin should be able to smack Korra at least once.” And like. It’s not just one post, it seems to be a common ‘jokey’ attitude in the fandom, and…it’s really interesting how much the fandom loves Lin acting violent and aggressive towards everyone - particularly against Korra, who acts in a similar “aggressive” manner but not nearly as shitty (imo), but the fandom seems to despise her for it.

So I was wondering if you have any thoughts specifically on Lin and Korra’s relationship? Both in canon and how the fandom treats them?

Oh yeah, I think I've seen that post! I've honestly been wanting to do more Lin metas but have been holding off because back when I posted a lor of Suyin defences I got a not insignificant amount of nasty anonymous asks, and I know that Lin is beloved by the fandom so while I make my passive aggressive comment from time to time, actually dwelling on the subject is a bit of a gambit.

Honestly, it's not even that I dislike Lin. I actually enjoyed her character a fair amount when I first watched the show and was totally on board with the fandom loving this character. But eventually I got so tired of the constant takes about how everyone in Lin's life is soooo mean to her and how she never did anything wrong and she's secretly just a lil bean , she's just a biy grumpy guys.

And, oh, the jokey comments about how Lin should be allowed to smack Korra, a teen, who, in my opinion gets smacked around fairly enough in the show. Or how she should be allowed to curbstomp Tenzin, despite us knowing very little about their relationship other than the fact that Lin atatcked his house and misused her power as a police officer to terrorise his new partner. Or how Suyin, a woman who has gone through so much to change and become a better person and still keeps ger heart open for those who hurt her, should die or be killed.

Like yeah, they're jokes, but they speak to how the fandom quickly takes Lin's side in most situations, even when there is more nuance to the situation. I think taht due to tlok having such a large amount of violence and fight scenes ans perhaps due to the personality of Korra herself, the fandom has normalised Lin's aggressive and often physical behaviour. And because most of the characters are teens, Lin's immaturity as a person doesn't stick out too much.

But Lin isn't a teen, like Korra or Mako. She's a 50+ year old woman and a fucking cop at that. She should know better. I think one of my favourite questions Lin's character mames me ask is: "how long can you cling to your trauma before its your responsibility to strive to do better?".

This isn't to say that Lin is a horrible person. I'd actually say she's a pretty good person. It's obvious she cares and she can try to be empathetic when the chips are down. But her lack of emotional maturity makes it difficult for her to actually act on her feelings when not in a life or death situation.

Ultimately this is what I like about Lin as a character, her duality. A very protective and thoghtful person, who has stagnated in a shell of anger and aggression.

And I think Lin's relationship with Korra ilustrates this duality perfectly.

I do enjoy Lin and Korra's arguments due to their chemistry and the excellent voice acting. But like it is still an adult yelling at and holding an actual grudge against a 17 year old. Who is already under a huge amount of stress.

I also think that we often forget that in her tiffs with Lin, Korra often starts off with a suprising amount of calmness and grace. She often attempts to actively connect with Lin and express her point through conversation, despite this being sonething Korra markedly struggles with.

Korra : But there were some thugs threatening a helpless shopkeeper, and I had it ... Lin: [Aggressively.] Can it! You should have called the police and stayed out of the way. Korra: [Slightly pleading tone.] But I couldn't jut sit by and do nothing. It's my duty to help people. See, I'm the Avatar.

[...]

Korra: Wait, Beifong? Lin Beifong? [Excitedly.] You're Toph's daughter! Lin: [Seriously.] What of it? Korra: [A hint of amusement suppressed in her tone.] Well then, why are you treating me like a criminal? Avatar Aang and your mother were friends. They saved the world together.

Through the first season, we're lead to infer that Lin's unfounded animosity towards Korra has something to do with her grudge against Tenzin. I can see this not only due to Tenzin's association witg Korra as her teacher and the son of the previous Avatar, but also due to some similarities between Korra ans Tenzin. They're both people saddled with a major responsibility and legacy, who struggle with forming their own identity due to that legacy. Plus, the comic we got about young Tenzin is essentially 1 to 1 Korra's first day in republic city.

Side note: can we stop demonising Tenzin for leaving Lin? I'm pretty sure it's not confirmed that Tenzin left her purely because he needed to have children. And honestly if after he broke up with Lin, she damaged his home, used her posution to terrorise his new partner, and held a grudge for 11+ years, I'm honestly not to sure what to think about their relationship pre breakup. ESPECIALLY with how willy nilly tlok plays with female on male abuse. No, I'm not saying Lin is an abusor, but there may be other factors we need to consider. I mean Lin does outwardly laugh and sympathise with Korra throwing Mako's desk across the room which is the Makorra abuse moment ™️

Though I also adore the implication in B3 that Lin is also reminded of Suyin by Korra. This also is a comparison that makes sense. Korra and Su were both young, rebellious women who had to leave home to find themselves. Both had tendency to be sarcastic and were opinionated and had a habit of defying authority etc.

And I think this may be even more of a reason why Lin has such an aggresive vendetta against Korra and also why she's so controlling in the later seasons. Particularly when she gets on Korra's ass at the party and says that Korra is "nothing special" feels targeted towards Lin feeling like Suyin got special treatment.

Lin being controlling towards Korra can also be seen as her trying to compensate for when she tried to similarly control Su, but Suyin ended up defying her. (While I see a lot of people bring up parentification between Lin and Su, I'll lean more towards it being a very intense rivalry)

Either way, Korra reminds Lin of people who have hurt her and the hurt she seems to cling to in some parody of comfort in familiarity.

This is one of the most visible patterns in Lin I see. Her absolute abhorrence of changing her mindset. She holds a grudge against Tenzin for over 11 years. She holds a grudge against Su and Toph for longer than that. She is so horrifically resistant to even touching the idsa that Suyin had changed as a person. And even after her and Su make up, the moment the opportunity arrises, Lin is back to typecasting Suyin as the bad guy.

People say that Korra was too harsh in The Metal Clan when she called Lin out.

Korra : Su's right. You're never going to change. You're always gonna be a bitter, lonely woman.

And yeah, it was objectively an incredibly mean thing to say and Korra was quite out of line. But she's not wrong. We see Lin struggle with making human connections, we've deduced that her grip on the past makes her hold grudges against people she's never met. We see her be immature, aggressive and emotionally closed off. If she were a healthy individual outside of Zaofu, I would encourage her distancing herself from Suyin. But clearly whatever coping mechanism Lin has is leaving her pushing people away and treating teenagers like her peers.

Like something clearly needs to change.

And I think that's another reason why Korra and Lin are such a fun duo. Because Korra goes through so mucuhchange herself. She shanges the world, she changes the lives of her friends, she changes herself.

And that's something Lin desperately needs and yet fears all the same. This also makes it even more interesting that Aiwei, a member of the Red Lotus who embody that "change" concept was a vital part of Lin and Suyin begining to reconcile.

And I think Lin knows this, to some extent. She knows her coping mechanisms are flawed, but she doesn't want to acknowledge this. But I need to talk about Lin's babystep trail of an arc in a different post.

I was gonna say that Lin and Korra are also similar but honestly other than their tempers and tendency to terrorise their tallass ex boyfriends, there isn't much there.

I still find Lin and Korra's relationship to have some sweet moments. I loved Lin and Korra's moment of kinship afterthey both lost their bending, how gently Korra grabbed Lin after she passed out in Zaofu, how Lin helped Korra get up the stairs after she was paralysed.

I think that one of the reasons they argue so much in B3 partocularly is because they care for each other quite a bit. They just embody two polar opposites. Korra- change and danger. Lin- stagnation and protection. Of course they'll fight.

----

I don't exactly like how fandom treats Korra and Lin's relationship because it always feels ao watered down. This kinda extends to the entire Krew too. The 'Lin is like the Krew's mom' thing. Because on the jokey surface, yeah, i see it. Female authority figure who makes sure they don't get into trouble. Plus fandom has a tendency to forcefully assign cishet traditional family dynamics to found family.

But on a deeper level, acting as if Lin were a mother to the Krew is in my opinion, a bit of an insult to mothers everywhere. Because Lin acts less like an adult and more like a... slightly older teen? Which makes sense, we see that very little has changed in how Lin approaches young people since she was 22. She treats the Krew like peers, bickering with them and making snide comments, but then pulls the authority figure when she wants something. That's like the worst type of adult.

[This is ironic because my mom is actually very much like Lin and this is probably why I gave her so much of a pass when I watched tlok the first time]

Lin is a big sister/aunt figure to most of the Krew at best. Maybe except Mako but he has his own demons and is making himself a son figure whether Lin likes it or not.

But Korra is basically Lin's stand-in for her sister and they both act like it too. They act like me and my sister tbh. And Asami and Bolin barely interact with Lin anyway. There's more ground to posit Su as Bolin's potential mother figure!

Lin is a fascinating character to me, but fandom tropes have sorta ruined her for me. I came into the fandom really liking her character but ended up sorta jaded to seeing the same questionable takes about her over and over again. It just makes me see how little her potential is explored in the show. The writers failed Lin, not by not allowing her to 'win' against Su and Korra and Tenzin and whoever. They failed her by not giving her the storyline she needed. The storyline for which the main catalyst, Korra already was at the centre of the board. They half assed Lin's storyline and now literally every character who so much as looked at Lin has to pay the price.

[Ooh wow symbolism Lin glaring at Zaofu, Suyin's home, but actually glaring at her own reflection.]

I now realise that I have gone on for way too long and got hotrifically off topic, but I hope I have explained at least a few if my thoughts?

[sapphic-agent]

Bryke's Responses to Bad Dad Aang

Found these on Reddit and I thought it would be interesting to discuss it here.

I noticed that Mike says that their intention wasn't to portray Aang as a terrible father. And I'm sure it wasn't. But I'm not sure what they thought would happen?

LOK so very rarely portrays Aang as even a decent father. Sure, Tenzin looks up to and admires him, but of course he does because Aang focused on him the most. Tenzin's image of Aang was so distorted growing up, that he literally didn't remember Bumi and Kya being absent on trips. To him, the father he built Aang up to be couldn't have possibly left out his other children. Tenzin is an unreliable narrator when it comes to his childhood.

Bumi and Kya have almost nothing positive to say about him. Bumi, in his own words, never felt like a member of the Air Nomads. And how could he? The Air Acolytes weren't even aware that Aang had other children. This heavily implies that he didn't even care to talk about them.

Mike saying that their intention wasn't to make Aang seem like a bad dad is so odd in retrospect because they never attempted to make it seem otherwise. Neither Kya nor Bumi have expressed many fond memories of Aang, Kya doesn't seem to have even looked up to him the way Bumi did. So, Michael, what were we supposed to think? You're only showing us the bad and none of the good. I mean, other than one measly family picture and Tenzin's biased admiration.

(And yes, this extends to Katara too. Putting my bias for her aside, there's even less said about her parenting than Aang's (which makes no sense because she's actually in the show but whatever). From what we're given, we can't make the assumption that she was a good parent either. Even if we choose to look at her positively, she still canonically enabled Aang. And to be completely honest, that isn't out of character for her)

If Aang favored Tenzin but made even the smallest amount of effort with Bumi and Kya, this would be a different story. This would show that he was a flawed, imperfect character but still tried his best. But he wasn't even given that. We can't assume more than the information we're presented with.

Also, calling Tenzin the "vessel" for Aang's legacy to justify his emotional neglect of his other kids is not a good look, Bryan

[liliesforeveryfandom]

something about the atla fandom that always confused me is how they say ozai was such a terrible father bc he neglected zuko because of his favoritism towards azula, yet don’t apply that same logic to aang preferring tenzin above his other children. this cannot be explained away as an accident or “it’s what he had to do to save the air nomads.” those are all bullshit excuses when bumi apologizes to a statue of aang for being born a non bender and him saying he finally felt like he met his father proud when he got airbending. this is a 50-something year old grown man whose childhood trauma is so deep it still affects him. this wasn’t a mistake, aang did it on purpose. there’s no other explanation, aang became the very thing he fought against.

[the-badger-mole]

I don't particularly care for NATLA, but I think it’s hilarious that the k@taangers are losing their shit over a possibly bait scene for zutara, and that it has even people claiming that if this series canonizes zutara, then Tenzin wouldn't exist and yadda yadda, to the point that my sister who is a non-shipper got sick of it and ranted to me for a whole hour about how sick she is that people believes it really matters, because Katara does so little in LoK, that you could change the mom of Aang's children, and it would hardly make a difference, that all of their characters are defined by them being Aang's children, not Katara's and honestly? It was an eye-opener to me, even Kya, being a waterbender is never that important :/

if this series canonizes zutara, then Tenzin wouldn't exist

I do not care for Tenzin much... But also, I disagree.

Katara does so little in LoK, that you could change the mom of Aang's children, and it would hardly make a difference

I've been saying this for years. Bumi and especially Kya get so little story that they would've benefited from not being Aang's kids. And Tenzin got nothing from his mother. He doesn't look like her, doesn't take after her in any significant way. There's not even a nod to his SWT heritage in his home. The creators went out of their way to make sure Tenzin had almost nothing to do with Katara. He barely interacts with her, and those few interactions are so nondescript that she may as well not be his mother. His kids barely know her! Had his mother not been Katara, nothing about his arc, history, or character design would have to be adjusted. And let's not forget the biggest beneficiary of Kataang not happening would be Katara herself.

I have flirted with the idea of making Tenzin not Katara's son in one or two one shots. It would be so easy to do, too. Maybe he's the son Aang had with an acolyte. Maybe he's an affair baby. Maybe Katara never had to suffer through a marriage with Aang at all. The only child that would be significantly effected by having different parents would be Bumi, and that's only because it would be weird for Katara to name her first son after a man she had only the scantest connection to without Aang's input (why did she agree to that name?).

[risingsoleil]

Equalist Pema x AU Linzin Idea

If you're wondering why I was MIA again, you guessed it.

I was abroad. I try to be creative even on my trips, but I'm either too exhausted or focused on enjoying my time lol

Anyway, so I've been thinking about Pema becoming an Equalist in AU Linzin's world.

Here's the breakdown:

Before Pema confessed, she had heard rumors about Lin murdering people for her job (they were criminals). It only fed her reasoning why Lin was never the right fit for Tenzin and their kids. She would gossip about this with the other acolytes

Pema transfers to another temple, but finds the routine really dull and that she's lost a sense of purpose. This goes on for several years. To reinvorgate her interests in the Air Nation, Pema decides to take on more nomadic activities for the temples. She works on other temples, but pretty much avoids RC

Somehow she does end up back in RC as tensions increasingly rise between nonbenders and benders. Linzin and their children have grown much older now, and Pema tries to keep them both out of her mind

Pema ends up at an Equalist rally and is drawn to the rhetoric that is preached. The triggering and humiliating rejection Tenzin gave her, along with Lin being Lin pushes her further toward the Equalist movement

Amon gets wind about an acolyte showing interest in their movement and has some of the more senior members of his agenda meet with Pema to lock her in. Finding out that she has some hard feelings toward Lin and Tenzin only makes her a gift to Amon

Pema goes MIA with the acolytes and quits. Doesn't say anything, returns to normal clothes and looks like any other person on the street (As she usually does anyway, so not that difficult to begin with)

Knowing taht she's not welcome on the island, Pema makes connections with other acolytes in town. She uses a fake name to talk with them and get information about Tenzin and his airbending children, in a non-creepy way. Amon's already got enough info on Beifong, and Pema only gets triggered when it comes to her.

When she finds out that Amon can take away bending, the gears turn in her head. She could bring Amon the airbending kids and have him equalize them. Then Tenzin would once again be the "last" airbender, and forced to create more airbenders. With her. Or would it just be worse if he lost his bending, too? Decisions, decisions.

Also, taking away bending is such a pacifist strategy to promote equality. Even if she would love to slap Lin

But Jin Beifong and Areum Beifong need to be equalized definitely. Lin too, if they can get her because she's such a bitch

By chance, she meets Kang and Areum and "befriends" them to get even more accurate information about the family. They think she's some nice woman who doesn't like any of the tensions in the city

You can decide the choice for the final outcome:

Pema tries to confront/fight Lin, she falls off a cliff and Lin tries to save her. She doesn't make it

Pema goes to jail

[lady-iskra]

"They can't make Zutara canon in the live action, because then there would be no Tenzin, Kya and Bumi in Korra live action."

Despite the fact that live action Korra hasn't even been announced, so we don't know if we'll ever get it (co-creator Jabbar Raisani just responded to an interviewer that he could imagine adapting Korra): those people do realize that they are fictional characters, right?

I personally won't hold my hopes up high. But if Zutara were to become canon in the live action, Tenzin could still be Aang's son with an Air Acolyte, Toph, Ty Lee, Mai or whoever they decide to be his mother instead of Katara. Bumi could be Sokka and Suki's son, and Kya Katara and Zuko's daughter. There, it isn't that hard to imagine.

Of course, the relationships among those three along with Lin, Suyin and Izumi would be different, and in my opinion, they can only be better than the tragedy and drama presented in OG Korra. However, that's not what this is about. It is possible that they all could still exist in a live action adaptation because they are fictional characters. Biology and genetics are not important here, except for Tenzin's airbending abilities, and the relationship to Katara as his mother was barely presented anyway, same with his watertribe roots...

[atla-confessions]

I also hate Pemzin, not because of the age difference necessarily, but because of the power imbalance? Like, I cannot be the only one that saw how the acolytes treat Tenzin as some kind of god for being an Airbender.

Having the political and espiritual leader of the cult-like group pairing with a student 16-years their junior was certainly a... *choice*

X

[survivalove]

why does the atla/lok fandom hype the red lotus so much when z*ko and sokka beat them in their 70s…

and then one of them got zapped by mako

bolin defeating a master lavabender on his second try

combustion girl getting taken out by one of toph’s daughters…

zaheer can’t even win a 1v1 fight with tenzin (reminds me of another overhyped atla villain *coughs*)

like hello? they’re not good fighters 😭