#but there's not? a single reason? why Aang would have had to show favoritism to Tenzin | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

avatarkurukdefender · 7 months ago

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Adhd is still adhding so lets talk about A Literal Team Avatar instead of writing it :3

Aang is NOT gonna have a good time. In fact to quote Sans he's in for a BAD TIME

So you know in the Yangchen books how her past lives would frequently possess her body at the absolute WORST TIMES for example, the past life that had really really really bad claustrophobia possessing her when she was in a tight claustrophobic space and making her freak out? Yeah that. You know how none of the avatars after Yangchen never seemed to deal with this? Well I headcanon that the reason why was because Yangchen actively BLOCKED the previous incarnations for pulling that same awful shit with every avatar after her.

So what do you think is gonna happen when Yangchen has been removed from the avatar cycle (and teenified) and is no longer to keep the others from fighting over Aang like a chew toy?

Lets see how badly this can fuck with the poor twelve year old boy

(aka a bunch of random headcanons I came up with for the avatars we only have names and even a few of the nameless ones)

Szeto first of all had BAD sleep paralysis. Like almost every night, hallucination fo something just standing over him (or in some cases full on trying to strangle him) and he cant move or even speak levels of bad. Also had severe hemophobia (fear of blood) and would literally faint at the sight of blood (hehehehe)

Next is Salai who had severe thalassophobia (fear of the ocean/ fear of deep bodies of water) like he would get full on panic attacks every single time he had to cross the ocean. Even worse since I headcanon that he drowned in a a severe storm while sailing on the ocean. And considering the fact that the gaang presumably spends a few weeks on a BOAT on the OCEAN to get from the Northern Water Tribe to General Fong's base...yeah thats gonna be a really bad time for Aang.

Avatar Gun, aka the one that possessed Yangchen to go on a rant about how humanity is selfish and uncaring, how they expect you to pull of a hundred miracles and then get mad you didnt do a hundred and one, yeah...they're gonna be a fun one (also they are nonbinary now because they were never said to be male or female and the wiki used they them pronouns for them so bite me) aside from...that they also absolutely HATED crowds, like avoided them at all costs unless absolutely necessary, otherwise would be sweating and shaking the entire time until they could leave. (Which means Omashu, Ba Sing Se, literally any crowded town or city is gonna be absolute HELL for our favorite little airbender)

Ok now for the ones without names (I have two of those so far)

This armless firebender who someone on tiktok named Avatar Kazza (I dont remember who named her that though)

Oh boy :3

So you know how General Fong pulled Katara under the ground to trigger the avatar state in Aang? Well the same thing happened to her partner. Only difference is that her partner wasn't pulled back out. Oh no. Her partner was pulled underground and CRUSHED to death. (When Kaaza bent them back out, there was nothing but blood, broken pulverized bones and completely crushed organs...) Yeah its gonna be a lot bloodier than in canon (None of General Fong's soldiers will die Im not gonna traumatize Aang THAT badly, but they will be maimed very badly.)

Next is this pretty avatar

I think someone on tiktok named her Avatar Imiq but dont quote me on that

She's the avatar that was absolutely terrified of the Spirit World, to the point that it caused Yangchen's sister Jetsun to get kidnapped by spirits when they went there (because you know the spirits get hostile when you're afraid and guess who decided to pop in at the worst moment?) Luckily this one isnt going to cause too much trouble since I dont think Aang actually goes to the spirit in books two and three unless you count Wan Shi Tong's Library (though Aang is not gonna have a good time when Avatar Imiq starts freaking out because of Wan Shi Tong) but I havent rewatched the show in awhile so I could be wrong

Also you know the avatar that had claustrophobia? That was Wan. With the exception of his tree house Wan absolutely hated small tight spaces. And that is something he was going to make everyone's problem (just like how every avatar inherited Wan's iconic crooked avatar smile, every avatar also inherited some claustrophobia, some worse than others. Unfortunately thats now gonna be Aang's problem)

I just keep coming up with these and thinking "What would suck/be the most inconvenient for Aang to have in this moment" and then assigning that to one of the past lives

(Also here's something funny, you know the air nomad avatar behind Kuruk? They actually used him TWICE in the TLOK image of all the past lives. He's also the second one behind Szeto on the left side)

#avatar the last airbender #hehehehehehehe #Yamgchen is gonna give Aang so many hugs when they eventually meet #because she knows how absolutely miserable and stressful the past lives can be #especially when you dont know hoe to cope

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asura22zoro · 9 months ago

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

korra has flaws

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

mako ending the showing

)

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

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

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

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

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

#lok #legend of korra #anti korrasami #mako defense squad #Korra defense squad #mako #korra #venting post

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bendsair · 4 years ago

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Off - topic from my latest reincarnation posts but ... I refuse to think that Aang WOULDN’T have been a good dad ! I really dislike the way he was portrayed in LOK on that front ? I mean I agree that he might’ve spent some more time with Tenzin than with Bumi & Kya because he would’ve had to teach Tenzin airbending (while Katara could’ve taught Kya waterbending, and maybe Sokka could’ve taught Bumi how to fight as a nonbender ?); but I don’t agree with the way Bryan and co. made him blatantly favor Tenzin over the other two and go on vacations ONLY with him ? Aang loved all of his kids and just as we were shown with the Air Acolytes, anyone can learn and respect the Air Nomads’ culture, so I don’t see why Aang couldn’t have taught Tenzin, Bumi and Kya everything about the Air Nomads, it’s their culture too ! So on THIS topic I’m definitely canon divergent.

#・ﾟ ► ch dev. / ﹙ avatar aang. ﹚ / ☮.#・ﾟ ► ooc. / ﹙ posts. ﹚ / ☮.#lok spoilers /#Obviously Aang would have to spend more time (to a degree) with Tenzin bc airbending; same for Katara & Kya with waterbending lessons #but there's not? a single reason? why Aang would have had to show favoritism to Tenzin #ALL of his kids are just as much Air Nomads as they are Water Tribe!! They deserved to know and experience both of their cultures #and it's simply unfair to see how Tenzin got to travel with Aang to the temples and just overall learn more than Bumi and Kya ever did?#seeing Bumi & Kya's inferiority complexes and slight bitterness when it comes to their vs Tenzin's relationship with Aang makes me sad #I'm sure Aang must've been so happy to finally have an airbender child to continue his legacy (he WAS the /last/ so it's understandable)#but dude teach all 3 of your kids everything you can about your culture! Tenzin isn't the /only/ Air Nomad even tho he is the only airbender

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army-of-mai-lovers · 4 years ago

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in which I get progressively angrier at the various tropes of atla fandom misogyny

tbh I think it would serve all of us to have a larger conversation about the specific ways misogyny manifests in this fandom, because I’ve seen a lot of people who characterize themselves as feminists, many of whom are women themselves, discuss the female characters of atla/lok in misogynistic ways, and people don’t talk about it enough.

disclaimer before I start: I’m not a woman, I’m an afab nonbinary person who is semi-closeted and thus often read as a woman. I’m speaking to things that I’ve seen that have made me uncomfy, but if any women (esp women existing along other axes of oppression, e.g. trans women, women of color, disabled women, etc) want to add onto this post, please do!

“This female character is a total badass but I’m not even a little bit interested in exploring her as a human being.”

I’ve seen a lot of people say of various female characters in atla/lok, “I love her! She’s such a badass!” now, this statement on its own isn’t misogynistic, but it represents a pretty pervasive form of misogyny that I’ve seen leveled in large part toward the canon female love interests of one or both of the members of a popular gay ship (*cough* zukka *cough*) I’m going to use Suki as an example of this because I see it with her most often, but it can honestly be applied to nearly every female character in atla/lok. Basically, people will say that they stan Suki, but when it comes time to engage with her as an actual character, they refuse to do it. I’ve seen meta after meta about Zuko’s redemption arc, but I so rarely see people engage with Suki on any level beyond “look at this cool fight scene!” and yeah, I love a cool Suki fight scene as much as anybody else, but I’m also interested in meta and headcanons and fics about who she is as a person, when she isn’t an accessory to Sokka’s development or doing something cool. of course, the material for this kind of engagement with Suki is scant considering she doesn’t have a canon backstory (yet) (don’t let me down Faith Erin Hicks counting on you girl) but with the way I’ve seen people in this fandom expand upon canon to flesh out male characters, I know y’all have it in you to do more with Suki, and with all the female characters, than you currently do. frankly, the most engagement I’ve seen with Suki in mainstream fandom is justifying either zukki (which again, is characterizing her in relation to male characters, one of whom she barely interacts with in canon) or one of the Suki wlw pairings. which brings me to--

“I conveniently ship this female character whose canon love interest is one of the members of my favorite non-canon ship with another female character! gay rights!”

now, I will admit, two of my favorite atla ships are yueki and mailee, and so I totally understand being interested in these characters’ dynamics, even if, as is the case with yueki, they’ve never interacted canonically. however, it becomes a problem for me when these ships are always in the background of a zukka fic. at some point, it becomes obvious that you like this ship because it gets either Zuko or Sokka’s female love interests out of the way, not because you actually think the characters would mesh well together. It’s bad form to dislike a female character because she gets in the way of your gay ship, so instead, you find another girl to pair her off with and call it a day. to be clear, I’m not saying that everybody who ships either mailee or yueki (or tysuki or maisuki or yumai or whatever other wlw rarepair involving Zuko or Sokka’s canon love interests) is nefariously trying to sideline a female character while acting publicly as if she’s is one of their faves--far from it--but it is noteworthy to me how difficult it is to find content that centers wlw ships, while it’s incredibly easy to find content that centers zukka in which mailee and/or yueki plays a background role.

also, notice how little traction wlw Katara ships gain in this fandom. when’s the last time you saw yuetara on your dash? there’s no reason for wlw Katara ships to gain traction in a fandom that is so focused on Zuko and Sokka getting together, bc she doesn’t present an immediate obstacle to that goal (at least, not an obstacle that can be overcome by pairing her up with a woman). if you are primarily interested in Zuko and Sokka’s relationship, and your queer readings of other female characters are motivated by a desire to get them out of the way for zukka, then Katara’s canon m/f relationship isn’t a threat to you, and thus, there’s no reason to read her as potentially queer. Or even, really, to think about her at all.

“Katara’s here but she’s not actually going to do anything, because deep down, I’m not interested in her as a person.”

the show has an enormous amount of textual evidence to support the claim that Sokka and Katara are integral parts of each other’s lives. so, she typically makes some kind of appearance in zukka content. sometimes, her presence in the story is as an actual character with layers and nuance, someone whom Sokka cares about and who cares about Sokka in return, but also has her own life and goals outside of her brother (or other male characters, for that matter.) sometimes, however, she’s just there because halfway through writing the author remembered that Sokka actually has a sister who’s a huge part of the show they’re writing fanfiction for, and then they proceed to show her having a meetcute with Aang or helping Sokka through an emotional problem, without expressing wants or desires outside of those characters. I’m honestly really surprised that I haven’t seen more people calling out the fact that so much of Katara’s personality in fanon revolves around her connections to men? she’s Aang’s girlfriend, she’s Sokka’s sister, she’s Zuko’s bestie. never mind that in canon she spends an enormous amount of time fighting against (anachronistic, Westernized) sexism to establish herself as a person in her own right, outside of these connections. and that in canon she has such interesting complex relationships with other female characters (e.g. Toph, Kanna, Hama, Korra if you want to write lok content) or that there are a plethora of characters with whom she could have interesting relationships with in fanon (Mai, Suki, Ty Lee, Yue, Smellerbee, and if you want to write lok content, Kya II, Lin, Asami, Senna, etc). to me, the lack of fandom material exploring Katara’s relationships with other women or with herself speak to a profound indifference to Katara as a character. I’m not saying you have to like Katara or include her in everything you write, but I am asking you to consider why you don’t find her interesting outside of her relationships with men.

“I hate Katara because she talks about her mother dying too often.”

this is something I’ve seen addressed by people far more qualified than I to address it, but I want to mention it here in part because when I asked people which fandom tropes they wanted me to talk about, this came up often, but also because I find it really disgusting that this is a thing that needs to be addressed at all. Y’all see a little girl who watched her mother be killed by the forces of an imperialist nation and say that she talks about it too much??? That is a formational, foundational event in a child’s life. Of course she’s going to talk about it. I’ve seen people say that she doesn’t talk about it that often, or that she only talks about it to connect with other victims of fn imperialism e.g. Jet and Haru, but frankly, she could speak about it every episode for no plot-significant reason whatsoever and I would still be angry to see people say she talks about it too much. And before you even bring up the Sokka comparison, people deal with grief in different ways. Sokka repressed a lot of his grief/channeled it into being the “man” of his village because he knew that they would come for Katara next if he gave them the opportunity. he probably would talk about his mother more if a) he didn’t feel massive guilt at not being able to remember what she looked like, and b) he was allowed to be a child processing the loss of his mother instead of having to become a tiny adult when Hakoda had to leave to help fight the fn. And this gets into an intersection with fandom racism, in that white fans (esp white American fans) are incapable of relating to the structural trauma that both Sokka and Katara experience and thus can’t see the ways in which structural trauma colors every single aspect of both of their characters, leading them to flatten nuance and to have some really bad takes. And you know what, speaking of bad fandom takes--

“Shitting on Mai because she gets in the way of my favorite Zuko ship is actually totally okay because she’s ~abusive~”

y’all WHAT.

ok listen, I get not liking maiko. I didn’t like it when I first got into fandom, and later I realized that while bryke cannot write romance to save their lives, fans who like maiko sure can, so I changed my tune. but if you still don’t like it, that’s fine. no skin off my back.

what IS skin off my back is taking instances in which Mai had justified anger toward Zuko, and turning it into “Mai abused Zuko.” do you not realize how ridiculous you sound? this is another thing where I get so angry about it that I don’t know how useful my analysis is actually going to be, but I’ll do my best. numerous people have noted how analysis of Mai and Zuko’s breakup in “The Beach” or Mai being justifiably angry with him at Boiling Rock or her asking for FUCKING FRUIT in “Nightmares and Daydreams” that says that all of these events were her trying to gain control over him is....ahhh...lacking in reading comprehension, but I’d like to go a step further and talk about why y’all are so intent on taking down a girl who doesn’t show emotion in normative ways. obviously, there’s a “Zuko can do no wrong” aspect to Mai criticism (which is super weird considering how his whole arc is about how he can do lots of wrong and he has to atone for the wrong that he’s done--but that’s a separate post.) But I also see slandering Mai for not expressing her emotions normatively and not putting up with Zuko’s shit and slandering Katara for “talking about her mother too often” as two sides of the same coin. In both cases, a female character expresses emotions that make you, the viewer, uncomfortable, and so instead of attempting to understand where those emotions may have come from and why they might be manifesting the way they are, y’all just throw the whole character away. this is another instance of people in the fandom being fundamentally disinterested in engaging with the female characters of atla in a real way, except instead of shallowly “stanning” Mai, y’all hate her. so we get to this point where female characters are flattened into one of two things: perfect queens who can do no wrong, or bitches. and that’s not who they are. that’s not who anyone is. but while we as a fandom are pretty good at understanding b1 Zuko’s actions as layered and multifaceted even though he’s essentially an asshole then, few are willing to lend the same grace to any female character, least of all Mai.

and what’s funny is sometimes this trope will intersect with “I conveniently ship this female character whose canon love interest is one of the members of my favorite non-canon ship with another female character! gay rights!”, so you’ll have someone actively calling Mai toxic/problematic/abusive, and at the same time ship her with Ty Lee? make it make sense! but then again, maybe that’s happening because y’all are fundamentally disinterested in Ty Lee as a character too.

“I love Ty Lee so much that I’m going to treat her like an infantilized hypersexual airhead!”

there are so many things happening in y’alls characterization of Ty Lee that I struggled to synthesize it into one quippy section header. on one hand, you have the hypersexualization, and on the other hand, you have the infantilization, which just makes the hypersexualization that much worse.

(of course, sexualizing or hypersexualizing ANY atla character is really not the move, considering that these are child characters in a children’s show, but then again, that’s a separate post.)

now, I understand how, from a very, very surface reading of the text, you could come to the conclusion that Ty Lee is an uncomplicated bimbo. if you grew up on Western media the way I did, you’ll know that Ty Lee has a lot of the character traits we associate with bimbos: the form-fitting pink crop top, the general conventional attractiveness, the ditzy dialogue. but if you think about it for more than three seconds, you’ll understand that Ty Lee has spent her whole life walking a tightrope, trying to please Azula and the rest of the royal family while also staying true to herself. Ty Lee and Azula’s relationship is a really complex and interesting topic that I don’t really have time to explore at the moment given how long this post is, but I’d argue that Ty Lee’s constant, vocal adulation is at least partially a product of learning to survive at court at an early age. Like Mai, she has been forced to regulate her emotions as a member of fn nobility, but unlike Mai, she also has six sisters who look exactly like her, so she has a motivation to be more peppy and more affectionate to stand out.

fandom does not do the work to understand Ty Lee. as is a theme with this post, fandom is actively disinterested in investigating female characters beyond a very surface level reading of them. Thus, fandom takes Ty Lee’s surface level qualities--her love of the color pink, her revealing standard outfit, and the fact that once she found a boy attractive and also once a lot of boys found her attractive--and they stretch this into “Ty Lee is basically Karen Smith from Mean Girls.” thus, Ty Lee is painted as a bimbo, or more specifically, as not smart, uncritically adoring of Azula (did y’all forget all the non-zukka bits of Boiling Rock?), and attractive to the point of hypersexualization. I saw somebody make a post that was like “I wish mailee was more popular but I’m also glad it isn’t because otherwise people would write it as Mai having to put up with her dumb gf” and honestly I have to agree!! this is one instance in which I’m glad that fandom doesn’t discuss one of my favorite characters that often because I hate the fanon interpretation of Ty Lee, I think it’s rooted in misogyny (particularly misogyny against East Asian women, which often takes the form of fetishizing them and viewing them only through a Western white male gaze)

(side note: here at army-of-mai-lovers, we stan bimbos. bimbos are fucking awesome. I personally don’t read Ty Lee as a bimbo, but if that’s you, that’s fucking awesome. keep doing what you’re doing, queen <3 or king or monarch, it’s 2021, anyone can be a bimbo, bitches <3)

“Toph can and will destroy everyone here with her bare hands because she’s a meathead who likes to murder people and that’s it!”

Toph is, and always has been, one of my favorite ATLA characters. My very first fic in fandom was about her, and she appears prominently in a lot of my other work as well. One thing that I am always struck by with Toph is how big a heart she has. She’s independent, yes, snarky, yes, but she cares about people--even the family that forced her to make herself smaller because they didn’t believe that their blind daughter could be powerful and strong. Her storyline is powerful and emotionally resonant, her bending is cool precisely because it’s based in a “wait and listen” approach instead of just smashing things indiscriminately, she’s great disabled rep, and overall one of the best characters in the show.

And in fandom, she gets flattened into “snarky murder child.”

So where does this come from? Well, as we all know, Toph was originally conceived of as a male character, and retained a lot of androgyny (or as the kids call it, Gender) when she was rewritten as a female character. There are a lot of cultural ideas about androgynous/butch women being violent, and people in fandom seem to connect that larger cultural narrative with some of Toph’s more violent moments in the show to create the meathead murder child trope, erasing her canon emotionality, softness, heart, and femininity in the process.

This is not to say that you shouldn’t write or characterize Toph as being violent or snarky at all ever, because yeah, Toph definitely did do Earth Rumbles a lot before joining the gaang, and yeah, Toph is definitely a sarcastic person who makes fun of her friends a lot. What I am saying is that people take these traits, sans the emotional logic, marry them to their conception of androgynous/butch women as violent/unemotional/uncaring, and thus create a caricature of Toph that is not at all up to snuff. When I see Toph as a side character in a fic (because yeah, Toph never gets to be a main character, because why would a fandom obsessed with one male character in particular ever make Toph a protagonist in her own right?) she’s making fun of people, killing people, pranking people, etc, etc. She’s never talking to people about her emotions, or palling around with her found family, or showing that she cares about her friends. Everything about her relationship with her parents, her disability, her relationship to Gender, and her love of her friends is shoved aside to focus on a version of Toph that is mean and uncaring because people have gotten it into their heads that androgynous/butch women are mean and uncaring.

again, we see a female character who does not emote normatively or in a way that makes you, the viewer, comfortable, and so you warp her character until she’s completely unrecognizable and flat. and for what?

Azula

no, I didn’t come up with a snappy name for this section, mainly because fanon interpretations of Azula and my own feelings toward the character are...complicated. I know there were some people who wanted me to write about Azula and the intersection of misogyny and ableism in fanon interpretations of her character, but I don’t think I can deliver on that because I personally am in a period of transition with how I see Azula. that is to say, while I still like her and believe that she can be redeemed, there is a lot of merit to disliking her. the whole point of this post is that the female characters of ATLA are complex people whom the fandom flattens into stereotypes that don’t hold up to scrutiny, or dislike for reasons that don’t make sense. Azula, however, is a different case. the rise of Azula defenders and Azula stans has led to this sentiment that Azula is a 14 y/o abuse victim who shouldn’t be held accountable for her actions. it seems to me that people are reacting to a long, horrible legacy of male ATLA fans armchair diagnosing Azula with various personality disorders (and suggesting that people with those personality disorders are inherently monstrous and unlovable which ahhhh....yikes) and then saying that those personality disorders make her unlovable, which is quite obviously bad. and hey, I get loving a character that everyone else hates and maybe getting so swept up in that love that you forget that your fave is complicated and has made some unsavory choices. it sucks that fanon takes these well-written, complex villains/antiheroes and turns them into monsters with no critical thought whatsoever. but the attitude among Azula stans that her redemption shouldn’t be hard, that her being a child excuses all of the bad things that she’s done, that she is owed redemption....all of that rubs me the wrong way. I might make another post about this in the future that discusses this in more depth, but as it stands now: while I understand that there is a legacy of misogynistic, ableist, unnuanced takes on Azula, the backlash to that does not take into account the people she hurt or the fact that in ATLA she does not make the choice to pursue redemption. and yes, Zuko had help in making that choice that Azula didn’t, and yes, Azula is a victim of abuse, but in a show about children who have gone through untold horrors and still work to better the lives of the people around them, that is not enough for me to uncritically stan her.

Conclusion

misogyny in this fandom runs rampant. while there are some tropes of fandom misogyny that are well-documented and have been debunked numerous times, there are other, subtler forms of misogyny that as far as I know have gone completely unchecked.

what I find so interesting about misogyny in atla fandom is that it’s clear that it’s perpetrated by people who are aware of fandom misogyny who are actively trying not to be misogynistic. when I first joined atla fandom last summer, memes about how zukka fandom was better than every other fandom because they didn’t hate the female characters who got in the way of their gay ship were extremely prevalent, and there was this sense that *this* fandom was going to model respectful, fun, feminist online fandom. not all of the topes I’ve outlined are exclusive to or even largely utilized in zukka fandom, but a lot of them are. I’ve been in and out of fandom since I was eleven years old, and most of the fandom spaces I’ve been in have been majority-female, and all of them have been incredibly misogynistic. and I always want to know why. why, in these communities created in large part by women, in large part for women, does misogyny run wild? what I realize now is that there’s never going to be a one-size fits all answer to that question. what’s true for 1D fandom on Wattpad in 2012 is absolutely not true for atla fandom on tumblr in 2021. the answers that I’ve cobbled together for previous fandoms don’t work here.

so, why is atla fandom like this? why did the dream of a feminist fandom almost entirely focused on the romantic relationship between two male characters fall apart? honestly, I think the notion that zukka fandom ever was this way was horrifically ignorant to begin with. from my very first moment in the fandom, I was seeing racism, widespread sexualization of minors, and yes, misogyny. these aspects of the fandom weren’t talked about as much as the crocverse or other, much more fun aspects. further, atla (specifically zukka) fandom misogyny often doesn’t look like the fandom misogyny we’ve become familiar with from like, Sherlock fandom or what have you. for the most part, people don’t actively hate Suki, they just “stan” without actually caring about her. they hate Mai because they believe in treating male victims of abuse equally. they’re not characterizing Toph poorly, they’re writing her as a “strong woman.” in short, people are misogynistic, and then invoke a shallow, incomplete interpretation of feminist theory to shield themselves from accusations of misogyny. it’s not unlike the way some people will invoke a shallow, incomplete interpretation of critical race theory to shield themselves from accusations of racism, or how they’ll talk about “freedom of speech” and “the suppression of women’s sexuality” to justify sexualizing minors. the performance of feminism and antiracism is what’s important, not the actual practice.

if you’ve made it this far, first off, hi, thanks so much for reading, I know this was a lot. second, I would seriously encourage you to be aware of these fandom tropes and to call them out when you see them. elevate the voices of fans who do the work of bringing the female characters of atla to life. invest in the wlw ships in this fandom. drop a kudos and a comment on a rangshi fic (please, drop a kudos and a comment on a rangshi fic). read some yuetara. let’s all be honest about where we are now, and try to do better in the future. I believe in us.

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stormblessed95 · 3 years ago

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Ok, so, not BTS-related, but I was reading about your love for ATLA, and I LOVE ATLA as well! My partner and I incorporated some ATLA into our wedding, and I have big tattoo of the elements.

Sorry, I rarely get to chat with an ATLA lover in this fandom! ☺️! Ok, so my questions for you, which ones are your top 3 favorite episodes?. Which 3 episodes made you cry the most? Which 3 episodes could you go back and watch again - as if you had never watched them before, new memory, a clean slate. Which element do you relate to the most?.

And finally, ATLA Aang or Kora, there’s no right or wrong answer, I personally love the main characters in the original, but I liked the “villains” in Kora much better!

Awww fun! And most of yall probably won't care since this is soooo not why yall follow me but I love ATLA, so let's go!! You are asking me to severely limit myself here though!!!

My top 4 episodes, in no particular order (I know you said 3, shush)

This was so hard to pick 😭 and clearly book 3 is my favorite season. Lol

The Firebending Masters (Book 3, Episode 12)

This is just a cinematic masterpiece and such a turning point in their character arcs, Zukos especially.

The Southern Raiders (Book 3, Episode 14)

This was such a powerful episode for Katara, and for further integrating the gaang with Zuko after all the high tensions. Not only do we see how insanely badass Katara is, we see incredible character growth and a choice to let herself start to heal too

Sozin's Comet (Book 3, all 4 parts of the finale)

Yes the finale. Sad to have it end but good lord what an ending. It wrapped everything up neatly, tied up every plot line into a neat bow, satisfied everyone's morals, incredible fight scenes and every single characters had time to shine too

The Boiling Rock (Book 3, Episode 13)

This was such a good episode where non benders get to shine. Badass ladies being insanely badass. Mission impossible vibes and prison breaks. Emotional, yet insanely funny the whole time too. Bonding moments for Zuko and Sokka that I adored. And Mai with her "I love Zuko more than I fear you" let me MELT. It's another turning point episode I think too

2 episodes that make me cry, like everytime. I will be legitimately crying as I watch.

Tales of Ba Sing Se (Book 2, Episode 15)

Uncle Iroh 😭😭 Leaves from the Vine. The back stories. The little slice of life snippets. The characters are so distinctly well developed. And Leaves from the Vine makes me SOB. Just thinking about it gets me misty eyed

Appa's Lost Days (Book 2, Episode 16)

There was absolutely ZERO REASON to hurt us all that badly. Appa deserves better. And Suki finding him. And helping him. Aang's grief and devastation. Toph having to make the world's most impossible choice. I watch this episode through blurry eyes as I cry the whole time.

Since I cheated with the first section, I'll just do these 2 for this one. These are really the only 2 episodes that get tears legit flowing down my cheeks through the whole thing. Plently other episodes rub my emotions totally raw, but thse are on another level. Why is season 2 SO SAD?!

3 episodes I would want to watch again over and over as if seeing them for the first time. In no particular order:

The Southern Air Temple (Book 1, Episode 3)

This is one of the biggest episodes in terms of setting up how powerful this show is going to be and how unique it is as a story. It also shows us how they aren't going to be shying away from hard topics, instead throwing us in head first as we deal with these things with the characters. We see Zuko, our antagonist, at an Agni Kai, showing that there is so much more to him that meets the eye. As well seeing Aang start to comes to terms with the horrors of war and the genocide of his people. How he has to deal with that and how wrong it is. It sets up so much for the plot line of this show. It also is giving me the found family trope of my dreams

The Puppetmaster (Book 3, Episode 8)

This episode is practically the definition of with great power comes great responsibility. It takes the extreme end of power and manipulates it for something evil. And it scared the crap out of me as a kid and still gives me chills. It's such a powerful episode though.

The Blind Bandit (Book 2, Episode 6)

Toph is easily one of the best characters in the show IMO. lol tough as nails and looking so tiny and sweet. She is so intense. And this is one of the best examples of disability representation I've seen in media. She embraces her disability and there is never any mention of it being bad. Just different. And it in no way doesn't take away from her being one of the most powerful characters in the show. If anything, being blind made her adapt in ways that just enhanced her power too. And while there are episodes that showcase her that I love more, this was our introduction to her. And what an intro it was!

There are soooo many more that I love so much and would love to mention here too. Like this show is just SO GOOD?!

What element do I relate to the most?

Fire probably. Maybe Water. Feels like opposites I know, but that tracks for me 🤣

Avatar the Last Airbender or Legend of Korra?

My thing is that the shows are the same world, same magic system, same premise, etc. But SO DIFFERENT they don't really feel comparable! You will have people fighting over and over about which series is better, but it really can just come down to personal preference. Korra as a show tends to be more serious. It's amped up its targeted audience a bit. It has more intense fight scenes, more scary and almost like real life type of bad guys and a more lax moral compass. ATLA has better use of comedic relief and it has a better sense of character development of a group. That found family is TIGHT. ATLA also leans heavier into the fantasy world, rather than urban city living like in Korra. ATLA I think has a stronger overall plot line too. They both exhibit so many wonderful wonderful things. Including lessons to be learned, thought provoking episodes and real life ways to apply what is/has happened in our world. Just like you can't compare Kyoshi to either Aang or Korra too. Kyoshi took a kids show and ramped up the violence and adult content and made it sooo not family friendly. Lol the book is great. Wonder if they will ever make it a show too? She went whole assassin 😅 But it's like comparing apples and oranges. Totally different things just comes down to preference. I personally like ATLA the original better, but that could truly just come down to nostalgia. I adore Korra and how they handled the next reincarnation of the avatar and new adventures to be had. And the way she grew as a character and dealt with her trauma was SO WELL DONE. Plus Korra and Asami is a WHOLE MOOD 😍

Right well, an apology again to everyone who couldn't care less, please feel free to ignore! Lol but I loved this. And if you read this and are interested and haven't seen the show.... I HIGHLY recommend it! Sorry for how long this got too 🙈💜💜💜

#my favorite atla episodes #blog detour sorry

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seyaryminamoto · 3 years ago

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As someone, who's favourite character is Zuko, let me just say that your analysis about the Southern Raiders is spot on. Something about that episode (especially the way Zuko acted) always felt a little... off to me. And I could never figure out what it was exactly and considering the fact that discussion about this episode centered around the Kataang vs Zutara, I thought I was the only one who felt that way. So, I guess thanks for putting my thoughts into words.

Oh, I really feel ya, anon. If you actually don't look at the episode from a shipping point of view, which seems to be the focus of most the fandom, a lot of unpleasant things really start sticking out. I'm personally neutral to the Kataang vs. Zutara debate, I see good points and drawbacks to both ships, and no one's going to convince me that this episode proved the superiority of either pairing, especially when the shipping interpretations have never been important to me when analyzing this episode. People can say Aang is right in the end, they can say Zuko understands Katara's plight better (which, considering Aang has lost even more people he loved than Zuko has, he certainly should have understood Katara's suffering quite well too), but focusing on whether Zuko or Aang are the angel or the devil on Katara's shoulders practically blinds everyone to the very glaring and mindboggling flaws in this episode's writing, imo.

In general, the concept of Zuko's life-changing field trips with the three Gaang members he'd wronged the most is fine and fun for most people, but from the first time I watched the show it felt like the production team knew they were pressed for time and needed some veeeery quick and effective solution for Zuko to gain acceptance in the Gaang ASAP despite all the bad blood there. I can imagine a lot of people love these episodes, but admittedly I wouldn't rank any of them among my favorites because, as interesting as some of their concepts could be, if executed right, my immersion certainly wasn't as strong as with the rest of the show due to the nagging feeling that this was all for the sake of redeeming Zuko in the eyes of each Gaang member... and not necessarily in the eyes of the audience.

They get away with it, of course, because by this point in time, the audience is 100% conditioned to love the Gaang and Zuko, and if you see them getting along, you should be rejoicing in their team-up... but if you put some emotional distance between yourself as a viewer and the events of these episodes, their writing leaves a lot to be desired, especially in the concept of giving Zuko a quick whitewashing in the eyes of Aang, Sokka and Katara, one after the other, so they can genuinely accept him as a teammate and friend. If we'd seen similar trips frequently or occasionally in the rest of the show, with two specific members of the team taking off on an adventure by themselves, it might not be so glaringly obvious (and even... artificial? I guess?) that they're trying to quick-redeem him for each of them here, but on top of it happening thrice, it's literally happening one after the other, too. There's no episodes in-between, it's just literally a four-parter arc of "let's help Zuko become friends with these three".

The plotlines to be dealt with in these episodes are basically catered to each Gaang member, tailor-made life-changing field trips based on whatever they'll value the most, all of it conveniently possible and doable in the span of time they have between Zuko's joining of their group and the show's finale. Aang needs to learn firebending, Sokka needs to save his dad, Katara is permanently grieving for her mother's death. And so, Zuko to the rescue! If he helps them with their personal character quests, he gets 50+ approval points! :'D Honestly, I'm absolutely not against the notion of Zuko befriending them, obviously not, but the methods through which they chose to make it happen simply might not be the finest...?

Zuko loses his ability to bend because he "lost his rage", but he's still angry pretty often, the show even spoofs its own writing by showing him losing his patience at Sokka... while at the same time trying to sell that Zuko "isn't angry" anymore? Zuko helps break out random prisoners from the Boiling Rock without taking a single moment to actually learn who they are, why they were locked up, and without pondering if they deserve to be helped or if perhaps they're genuinely dangerous? Zuko gives Katara every possible tool and information she needs to take revenge on Yon Rha, because, loosely quoting his own words, he "cares what she thinks of him"...?

How about if we'd seen Zuko trying to connect with Fire Nation people, to help his fellow Fire Nation citizens, especially the ones who were living in dreadful conditions, like the ones in the Jang Hui river village? How about if we'd seen Zuko saving lives rather than threatening to take them? How about if we'd seen Zuko actually reasoning with his anger, and either working his way out of it, or repurposing it consciously, or making legitimate, personal efforts to find a new source of strength for his firebending through self-reflection, above all else?

We didn't really need sudden one-on-one field trips to teach Aang, Katara and Sokka to trust Zuko: we needed Zuko to prove himself worthy of that trust, to show how much he has changed, to literally contrast his new behavior with the old, to actually see that the guy no longer jumps into violence-mode 24/7, that he's willing to listen to other people's opinions or wisdom, that he wants to learn better when he knows he's misguided or misunderstanding something or another. Would he have become BFFs with any of them in four episodes if this had happened? Well, it definitely would have happened with Aang, the other two would have been trickier, but they definitely would have been more willing to accept him if they actually got to SEE that the changes in Zuko weren't skin-deep. Katara can be as thick-headed and stubborn as she may want to be, but I have no doubts she wouldn't have been able to hate Zuko as much as she used to if she'd seen him helping people, much like she often wants their group to do. But instead, they don't get to see the actual changes and growth... they just get their biggest goals and wishes satisfied, and that's enough to decide Zuko's trustworthy, no matter whatever sketchy behavior he displays in later episodes.

I absolutely appreciate the worldbuilding context we gain for the raids on the Water Tribe through The Southern Raiders, but I don't think this was an organic way to tell the story of how Zuko became friends with the Gaang. If pressed, I'd even say that Zuko's overt desperation to be their friend is OOC, to a degree: if this guy actually knows how dangerous his father's plans are (and he's supposed to :'D), how isn't he focusing on that side of things, when he's always been such a go-getter? It's not like he grew out of this sort of ends-justify-the-means behavior, seeing as he's absolutely obsessed with stopping his father ASAP, by any means possible, in the finale, when there was no such urgency to be found ever since he joined the Gaang. How isn't he more worried about stopping Ozai than about becoming best friends with the Gaang? Immediately sharing everything he's learned about Ozai's intentions of destroying the whole world might not make them friends instantaneously, but it would certainly get someone like Sokka to take his information seriously and immediately begin strategizing how to counter Ozai's plans. Instead, Zuko spent all those weeks, over a month, even, teaching Aang firebending, going on field trips and hanging out with his new friends in Ember Island. Once you have all the cards on deck and you actually look at all of them at once, doesn't it feel like there were so many more ways to achieve what the show was going for, far more effective ways than through the "let's be friends with Zuko" arc?

Ultimately, there's very little display of growth, in my opinion, in this small arc, on Zuko's side, despite the most obvious and reasonable way to earn the trust of the Gaang would be by outright showing them how much he's grown. I won't deny I appreciate that the writers respected his personality and didn't just warp him into the perfect good softboi the way the fandom apparently interprets him, but even if Zuko was going to be cranky and speak one-liners like "I'm never happy", it wasn't impossible to write better situations for him to connect with the Gaang's members and gain their trust. Even if the writers were set on having these episodes happen exactly as they did, they absolutely could have been written in a much better way, to create an explicit and direct contrast between Zuko's early behavior and the new Zuko's behavior when it comes to things that matter (most the parallels I've seen the fandom drawing are things like "oh look he hated tea before but now he brews it for his friends! So much growth!"... would've been nice to see the growth when it came to a lot of other things, too, if the growth really was there? Am I rite...?).

I may just be influenced by other redemption arcs that focus mainly on characters having common goals and working together to achieve them, then becoming friends in the process... but I really don't see how Zuko's character benefited from these episodes. Yes, bridges were built... but they absolutely could have been built in a more organic way that didn't make people like myself (and a few others) question if Zuko had learned or grown at all, considering the way he behaves isn't all that distant from the Zuko we've seen and known throughout the rest of the show. And the fact that he really seems to have learned nothing in The Southern Raiders once you reach the show's finale... you're basically asked to take for granted Zuko did learn a lot of lessons because he says he did, to assume he's going to put them into practice sometime in the future despite he has chances to do it during the show itself but never does, simply because they drop the ball upon every opportunity to show how much he's changed.

I really don't blame his character at all, when it comes to these shortcomings... it's seriously, genuinely, a problem with the writing department. Take a look through the fandom and you'll see thousands of people who claim Zuko's character arc is the most touching, complex and beautiful writing they ever have seen... and why? Because we're in the face of tell-don't-show :'D most people's perception of Zuko's character are based not so much on HOW Zuko displays his growth, it's strongly based on him stating he made progress, even if there's too many instances where the growth simply seems to have fallen to the wayside or gone forgotten for the sake of a plotline or another. Zuko absolutely could have been written far better than this, he could absolutely have the redemption arc his fans are sure he does have, but for me... there's way too many gaps in logic, too many missed opportunities, to truly think his growth was as extraordinary as a lot of people are hung up on saying it was.

#anon #woops #I probably shouldn't have written this much here but what can I say #I've got beef with these storylines #and I unfortunately can't bbq it (?)#so instead I ramble and ramble and hope you guys forgive me for how long-winded I can be :'D

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stitch1830 · 3 years ago

Text

Tease

Happy @taangweek day 4! Hope you all enjoy, and the story can be read below or on AO3.

......

She called it affection. He called it pain.

Well, that was a bit of an exaggeration. But it did hurt at times.

He couldn’t quite understand it all. It seemed as if she started hitting him more overnight and the reason for that he simply didn’t know. The jokes, the snarky comments, and relentless teasing didn’t stop. If anything, they were worse as well!

It wasn’t like Aang didn’t like all the jokes and teasing remarks, but it was… odd to say the least. One minute they would be talking about something like the future or what it meant to the other that they had a family they found with the group or what kind of thoughts kept them up at night. The next, she’d laugh at him and punch his shoulder until she could make fun of him.

Odd indeed.

Perhaps it was time to get to the bottom of it all, and Aang determined the best way to figure out what was wrong was to face the issue head on!

So he did.

On a warm spring day and while they stopped for a quick lunch break, Aang stormed up to Toph as she was eating her meal. “What’s your problem?”

She pointed her unamused expression at him and raised a single eyebrow. “What’s your problem, Twinkletoes?”

Aang took a deep breath. Right. These were the first words he spoke to her all day. This conversation was unprompted.

But it was too late to retract his fumbling of words. Toph noticed his heart rate rising and she jumped on the opportunity. “Oh,” she began, setting down her meal to focus her attention on Aang. “Croco-cat got your tongue now, Twinkles?”

“Um—”

“Wow, that was riveting,” she remarked. “Now I get why you have a problem with me. It’s all coming together.”

“Toph—”

“Have you ever considered getting into public speaking? I think you have a knack for it. Better than the Avatar crap. This is your true calling!”

“You keep hitting me!” he yelled, clenching his fists and scowling at the earthbender. “You keep teasing and hitting me and poking me firmly and I’ve just about had it!”

“So you hate the way I show affection?”

“Wha—no! No, I love your show of affection, but why are you insistent on hitting me all the time?? I mean, seriously. Every other conversation, you hit me.”

“Twinkles—”

“And another thing!” His momentum was strong, the last thing he needed was for Toph to take over the conversation and tease him or hit him again. “There are nights where we are talking about something kind of serious, and you quickly change the subject and hit me. Now tell me, Toph, what’s going on??”

Toph went silent, but her silence spoke volumes, and so did the flush of color that grew across her cheeks. It took Aang a moment, but he finally put the pieces together.

Oh.

“Oh,” he said aloud in shock. “You were trying to show affection!”

The earthbender let out an annoyed sigh. “Yes, Aang. Didn’t I just say that’s how—”

“Yeah, but I just assumed friendly affection! This was… you—you were trying to flirt!”

She went silent again, and whenever Toph got silent, that usually meant he was onto something. So Aang sat down next to her and continued to prod. “C’mon, Toph. You can tell me anything!” When she said nothing, Aang sighed and looked for the second packed meal for them. He wasn’t going to bother her to spill any information, because matters of the heart were moments of vulnerability not just for Toph, but for Aang too. He sat next to her in silence and ate his food thought to himself.

Because he had a confession to make as well. He started developing feelings for Toph as well. It was subtle, practically impossible to tell, but when he recalled all his favorite moments and days and who he thought of when he wanted to share news with, he thought of Toph. The realization came about a minute or two after he realized that Toph may have feelings for him, but this… this blooming feeling was unique and special than all others.

So, he decided to be brave first and confess what he had been feeling this whole time but ignored.

...Not without a teasing remark or two first…

Aang swallowed the bite of food he was working on and teased, “Gee, Toph. I know they call it hitting on someone, but I don’t think they actually mean for you to hit people!”

Her glare at him was priceless, and he continued, “Same thing with love is like a battlefield, please don’t throw rocks at my head if you want to flirt with me.”

“Can it, Twinkles,” she growled, the blush still prominent in her cheeks.

“Hey, I’m just teasing, Toph,” he reassured her. “I know how my crush works. She likes to cover up all her affection with bruises to my arm.”

Toph let out a tired sigh and began to explain herself, “It’s not that I don’t know what I’m—say that again?”

“Say what?” he hummed.

“That thing. About your—”

“My crush? Oh, yeah. That’s you, Toph.”

It was a rather funny sight to see Toph’s mouth agape at the realization. He let out a loving laugh, and said, “Don’t worry, I won’t punch you to confirm this, but just know that I think you’re the most amazing person in the world. Everything you do amazes me, and anything I work on or a place I travel, I think about whether or not you’d like something.

“I’ve got it bad for you, it seems,” he admitted.

At first, Aang wasn’t sure what Toph was thinking at that moment. But then as time passed, a small smile formed on her face and she asked with a raised eyebrow. “So, that was your problem?”

He laughed at the question. “Yes, Toph. That was my problem this whole time.”

“And what are you going to do about it?”

The airbender pondered the idea for a second, but it didn’t take him long to figure out what his next move would be. Without a word, he turned Toph’s face toward his, leaned in close, and gave her a soft, sweet kiss.

Problem solved.

#taang #atla #toph #toph beifong #aang #writing #taang week #taang week 2021 #day 4: teasing #:D hooray for taang!

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vickyvicarious · 4 years ago

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do u have any atla fic recs? all time faves? can be shippy or not

Fun fact, I am incapable of holding back on reclists. In other words: brace yourself, anon. There’s a reason I put most of this behind a cut.

First off, these are almost all Zuko-centric, because I shamelessly play favorites. I’ll sort them by author rec, gen, shippy, and then by other characters because honestly the numbers break down well that way. Within those categories it’ll be more just as I think of it, so no special meaning to the order. I’m not always good about bookmarking even my faves, so some excellent stuff will no doubt be missing, especially since I haven’t read a lot of the more recent stuff yet/forgot some really old stuff, but this will definitely still give you plenty of fic to enjoy.

There’s a good number of FFN links on here so apologies to people who dislike it, but a lot of great stuff is still on there so give it a chance.

Author recs

Everything by @awesomeavocadolove Such hits as Another Brother (Zuko adopted by Hakoda pre-S1), and currently has a Zukka soulmate fic I’ve been meaning to start reading, as well as Unchained Melody, one of my favorite Zukka fics ever. Always quality, you can’t go wrong.

Everything by KimberlyT. I do not kid. She’s written a variety of ATLA fic ranging from Zutara/other romance to gen, seriously emotional to cracky cabbagebending. I think my favorite is probably Mismatched (S1 Zuko adopts a baby) but honestly just go read it all.

Everything by @emletish-fish. She has a very fun writing style and honestly her end-of-chapter notes on why she’s made the choices she has are fun minimetas worthwhile in their own right. Some of her top fics are the Stalking Zuko series (S3 suspicious Katara to Zutara) and The Worst Prisoner (the Gaang kidnaps Zuko in S1 and can’t get rid of him). I think there’s still a good amount of her fic that can only be found on FFN so check there too.

Everything by @botherkupo. Especially her Undying Fire series (healer!Zuko) but also just literally everything she writes, it is all so great. Tends toward Zutara but strong gen fics as well sometimes and a lot of fun. Check it all out!

Everything by @muffinlance. Loves to toy with her readers’ emotions in the best of ways. Tons of fantastic gen Zuko-centric AUs, I have adored every single fic I’ve ever read by her, can’t praise them enough. Very productive as well, her tumblr is a hub for the ATLA renaissance and her fics inspire lots of others. Has also organized a fanmade ATLA coloring book for charity so get that once it’s out. In the meantime read everything she’s written.

Everything by Haicrescendo. My favorite is What We’re Given (the series where Zuko finds more air bisons and raises them), but there’s a lot of good Zukka fic too. I tend to steer away from explicit works in this fandom unless it’s a smaller part of a much longer plot-centric fic, so there are a number I haven’t read, but I really like the Pokemon!AU Zukka.

Everything by @gaycinema. I really love the EK fight club series (Zuko fights in Rumbles/etc.) but all of it is a good read. Some Jetko, mostly a lot of introspective or emotional oneshots. Which isn’t really a great depiction of how good they tend to be, you’ll just have to read them and find out. You won’t regret it, trust me.

Everything by @captainkirkk. So far eight stellar fics, starting with kind Fire Lord Zuko and ranging to Floating Tea Shop!Zuko who doesn’t want to hunt the Avatar. I love her style and have laughed out loud at multiple of these.

Gen Zuko fic

Bringing Out the Blue by maguena1. [unfinished, long] Definitely worth the read. The first ATLA fic I ever got really sucked into. The Blue Spirit never gets knocked out so Aang doesn’t know his true identity; he joins the Gaang on a recurring basis, while Zuko attempts to tell himself this is only for information on how to catch them, they definitely aren’t his friends.

It’s Impossible by Sandra Phillips. [abandoned, long] One of the earliest Avatar!Zuko fics (sort of) and a really interesting take on some spirit stuff.

Embers by Vathara. [complete, long] A landmark fic in the fandom, and for good reason. I didn’t love everything about this fic, but it is very well-written and an absorbing read certainly worth the praise.

the art of description by incandescens. [oneshot, short] Five descriptions of Zuko and Toph’s field trip from various perspectives. Short, sweet, and funny.

Breaking Point by Kryal. [oneshot, short] Zuko isn’t banished but instead sent to serve in the Home Guard. I love Zuko loving his people, and alternate canon explorations, and this is exactly that.

The Alternative by Lunatique. [oneshot, short] The reason Zuko is so determined is because he fears what will happen if he isn’t the next Fire Lord. An idea I support in canon, to a degree, written well.

Hands and Knees by gigerisgod. [oneshot, short] Zuko reflects on the choices he’s made, and experiences he’s had, when joining the Gaang. A nice introspective fic.

Relative Misery by peroxidepest17. [oneshot, short] Toph complains about her family and Zuko takes her on a field trip. Not a fic I take too seriously, but funny in a sad way.

Second Nature by lazyartisan. [possibly abandoned, long] An AU stemming from Zuko’s capture at the North Pole. Well-written and characterized, an old favorite that I actually find needing to reread to give you more detail, but I can promise it’s good.

Year One by peroxidepest17. [oneshot, short] Lessons Zuko learns in his first year being Fire Lord. I really like explorations of Zuko’s journey as Fire Lord and this is a lovely little window into that.

Soft by PenPistola. [oneshot, short] Zuko and Toph bonding after the Ember Island Players. Short and sweet.

The New Phoenix King by JoeMerl. [oneshot, short] Fire Lord Zuko is overthrown, and no one but him is bothered at all. In fact they help. Hilarious crack.

First Name Basis by JoeMerl. [oneshot, short] There’s some popular posts going around Tumblr lately about Zuko not knowing the Gaang’s names, but this fic did it first back in 2008. As amusing as you’d expect.

Male Bonding by glamaphonic. [oneshot, short] The original ‘Zuko and Sokka bond and are also dumb idiot boys’ fic. Katara is permanently rolling her eyes.

it’s not the waking, it’s the rising by isamagicdragon, thegracious [ongoing, series, medium] Azulon tells Ozai to kill Azula instead of Zuko, which leads to heartwrenching fire sibs adventure. I haven’t caught up on the last chapter yet but god is it fantastic and also just a really interesting and new perspective on what could have happened.

Doe-Eyed by Anonymous. [complete, medium] Zuko is a baby, Azula is a loving big sister. More fire sibs and a great exploration on Azula’s POV of turning against Ozai.

kintsugi by discordiansamba. [ongoing, series, long] Zuko doesn’t have Iroh after being banished, and winds up hired as a guard to protect the frail Beifong daughter. Fantastic preseries Zuko+Toph found family fic.

Legacies by WildInkling. [ongoing, medium] Far in the future, a historian studies the journal of Fire Lord Zuko. Also, he was secretly a famous author but no one knows. A funny and poignant outsider POV.

#UndercoverZuko series by naggeluide. [complete, series, short] A completely cracky concept written straight enough to be actually quite touching in parts, but also just really funny. Zuko goes Undercover Boss on his ship pre-series.

Avatar Ficlets by JaggedCliffs. [series, oneshots, short] An ongoing series of disconnected oneshots, mostly post-canon and mostly Zuko-centric. Some a pretty fun, one is a great view on Zuko and lightningbending, all worth the read (and follow for when more come out).

The Blind Leading the Blue by BrusselsSprout. [ongoing, medium] An epic Zuko and Toph field trip set in S2. I love them and this.

half in the shadows, half burned in flames by r_astra. [oneshot, short] Iroh dies, Zuko gets caught on the Day of Black Sun, everything ends up all right but damn does it hurt getting there.

A Tale of Earth and Fire by chiiyo86. [complete, medium] Zuko and Toph are married for Politics in a FN Wins AU, and follows them slowly bonding as friends to beginning a revolution. They’re married but it’s not romantic, just some good friendship.

Eight Principles of Yong by psocoptera. [oneshot, short] An exploration of immediate post-show FN politics (sort of), calligraphy, and Zuko. Also has some lovely non-fighting firebending; I always love when people explore other uses of bending.

Healing Properties of Cinder Sage by Dawen. [oneshot, short] Zuko gets very sick in the Western Air Temple. Some good interaction when he’s new to the Gaang, and Toph+Zuko friendship.

We Ourselves Must Walk The Path by WinterSky101. [complete, medium] The Gaang agrees to make Zuko their prisoner in the WAT. Speaking of new-to-the-Gaang, tension, this fic has plenty of it, and also features some good Toph and Zuko.

Frozen by Aris Merquoni. [oneshot, medium] Zuko is captured in the NWT. Some politics, lots of angst, and eventually, healing. Also actually makes me somewhat like Hahn? Incredibly enough.

Reluctant Hero by PAW_07. [ongoing, long] Avatar!Zuko fic. I got to beta it way back when for a little while before I got too busy, and have always been a huge fan of this fic. Great concept, one of the best executions of it I’ve seen, and also one of the first. Definitely read this.

Morality Chain by Pureauthor. [abandoned, long] Azula and Zuko were always on each other’s side; how this changes canon. I love this concept and would happily read a lot more fics with it (please guys, I need more fire sibs).

A viper-lizard’s tales series by Yumi_Take. [ongoing, long] The world needs more of Zuko adopting pets and small children, and those are just facts. This only has one of the two, but it’s a EK baby! Jet plays a big role in this fic as well, a weird kind of uncle-ish to the baby/friend/murderer Zuko needs to watch closely and hold back kind of thing.

(life happens) wherever you are by howlikeagod. [ongoing, long] Katara doesn’t find Zuko and Iroh in the teashop, and canon takes a sharp left turn. Excellent Gaang fic.

The Best Path series by EudociaCovert. [series, ongoing, long] Zuko meets Jet in ‘Zuko Alone’ and winds up getting claimed as theirs by the remaining Freedom Fighters. Really really well-written, I got quite emotional over some scenes.

Shippy Zuko fic

Balm by Thyme In Her Eyes. [Maiko, oneshot, short] A sweet little fic about Mai’s thoughts on Zuko’s lightning scar.

The Black Games by Mrs. Pettyfer. [Zutara, complete, long] Hunger Games-esque AU. It’s the first in a series, and I lost interest after this one but I remember enjoying the fic and it was more personal preference rather than a drop in quality that had me leaving.

Lie To Me by Inkcharm. [Toko, oneshot, short] I’m not actually a fan of this pairing romatically (at least until years down the line), but this little fic of Toph and Zuko bonding through lying to one another is sweet. I choose to ignore the more shippy parts and enjoyed it.

Zutara? What the heck is that? by Ryxl. [Zutara, oneshot, short] Complete crack, have a good sense of humor and I think you will enjoy. Just the mental image of the Gaang finding a Zutara propaganda flyer had me chuckling.

The Three Chores series (1, 2, 3) by Fandomme. [Zutara, threeshot, short] Zuko and Katara slowly bond as he helps with chores. I will admit it’s been years and I barely remember this, but what I do recall is lovely and I always appreciate people lightening Katara’s load.

read the inscription by suzukiblu. [Zuko/Song, complete, series, medium] When Zuko is banished, he is left alone in the Earth Kingdom to fend for himself. Very touching, and I love Song in this.

Hooked by TGP. [Jetko, complete, long] A classic ‘Jet didn’t see Iroh warming his tea’ fic. They’re almost all this premise but so many well-written and very long ones.

Something To Hold Onto by Wildgoosery. [Jetko, complete, long] The EK fell and Li stayed to fight with the Freedom Fighters to protect the city during its foreign rule. Jet didn’t see the tea fic that goes very AU from canon.

Foxfire by Rahar_Moonfire. [Jetko, ongoing, long] Zuko loses his memories Jetko fic, but with heavy spirit influence and lovable EK OCs, both of which I adore and should be in far more fics.

Once Upon A Teashop by anaer. [Zukka, Jetko, ongoing, long] Cracky Ba Sing Se AU that gets gradually more and more serious. Jet hits on Zuko a lot and Sokka gets a job in the teashop to keep an eye on both of them. Endgame Zukka but heavy Jetko, and both pairings are handled pretty well, not a love triangle that makes me too mad, although as always bear in mind Jet’s messed up.

Names by TGP. [Jetko, complete, long] I feel like I’m forgetting some more excellent Amnesia!Zuko fics, but this is one I do know of. To be honest I don’t remember it super well because it may be mixed up with other Jetko/amnesia fics in my mind, but I think it was really good. I’ll have to reread myself.

Epistles by Lady_of_the_Flowers. [Zukka, ongoing, long] I love epistolary fic and I love Zuko and Sokka bonding earlier in canon. I will be honest I haven’t read this in a long time and been updating all the while, but the premise alone (Zuko and Sokka become messenger-hawk-pals in S1 and then fall in love) is fantastic.

Ozymandias, King of Kings by Think_of_a_Wonderful_Thought. [Zukka, ongoing, long] Zuko rebels earlier and actually is sent to the mines, until he is ‘rescued’ by the Water Tribe. Dark but getting lighter over time, and more reluctant-to-rule Zuko which always wrenches my heartstrings. I prefer super loyal and dutiful to his people Zuko but this trope always makes me feel things.

Crossovers

Fallen Drops of Fire by Chasmfiend. [Fullmetal Alchemist, ongoing] Young Azula and Zuko somehow appear in Amestris, and encounter Roy Mustang. I adore the fire sibs, and their relationship in this strange situation is the star of this fic for me, but it’s also fun seeing the FMA perspective of these two.

The Dragon-King’s Temple by Kryal. [Stargate SG-1, long, complete] The best crossover fic out there. Zuko and Toph get stranded on the other side of a Stargate. I don’t know anything about SG-1 but it didn’t matter, the fic was fantastic, they were badasses, it explored language and culture from an outside perspective, and it was just a ton of fun. Must-read.

Other character fic

Loyalty by Julia451. [oneshot, short] The ship captain didn’t misspeak when he called Iroh and Zuko “prisoners” in the start of S2. A lovely look at a nameless character, giving depth to a small moment and humanity to a FN soldier which I always love.

The Only One by HarlowR. [oneshot, short] An excellent exploration of Azula’s mindset regarding Zuko, her desperate need to be loved and jealousy of him matching his own. I think Azula was one of the greatest tragedies of the show, and this fic makes me feel it.

Blood by theAsh0. [oneshot, short] Katara-centric thinkpiece on bloodbending and healing. Dark but really interesting.

Touch and Go by Cadence. [oneshot, short] After Iroh’s struck by lightning, Toph doesn’t let Zuko drive them all away. A momentary alliance and the seeds of friendship. More Toph-focused but still heavy on the whole Gaang.

Shortcomings by Menamebephil. [oneshot, short] Iroh thoughts during his imprisonment, on the theme of mistakes. I love this man and don’t understand why I am so drawn to fic about him that makes me sad.

Watch And Review, Please by Becca Stareyes. [oneshot, short] The Ember Island Players receive some constructive criticism... sort of. Funny and quick.

Azula Redemption Trilogy (1, 2, 3) by Mistress of Sarcasm. [threeshot, short] Second person and deeply introspective, three short little fics delving into Azula’s head and bringing her closer to redemption.

Echoing Refrains by catie_writes_things. [oneshot, short] I really like nuanced explorations of the whole FN royal family. It’s perfectly fine to write Ozai as pure evil bastard, but exploring what might have been or how he got there, or even as in this fic his talent for music being inherited by Zuko is really interesting too. Iroh-centric.

our curse by ohmygodwhy, and the last dragon by thesometimeswarrior. [twoshot, complete, short] Stay away if you don’t like to cry. In the first Zuko learns Ozai is executing Iroh, and isn’t able to stop it; the second is even worse because it’s Iroh’s POV. I put this in the other characters section because honestly I adore the second fic even more than the first, but they are both fantastically written and will hurt you a very great deal.

Finally, I’m not quite bold enough to put my own fic on a reclist, but just shameless enough to mention I’ve written a few Avatar fics I quite like if anyone feels the desire to check them out on my AO3. ;) But seriously give love to all the rest of these, they deserve it. (And as I said, there’s lots more excellent stuff, this fandom is so prolific and well-written!)

#atla #atla fic #fic rec #reclist #replies #anonymous #i'm haunted by the feeling i've forgotten a lot of stuff #but honestly i need to stop this is huge already #enjoy anon #Anonymous

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the-badger-mole · 3 years ago

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Even ignoring the type of character Aang was and why he and Katara didn't work for that reason, it's also very odd how a fourteen year old Katara was ever supposed to be the romantic interest of a twelve year old Aang. When I was fourteen/fifteen, twelve/thirteen year olds were basically babies. They'd literally still be in middle school.

I completely agree. When I was around Aang's age, I spend one summer at a day cam where there was this extremely hot junior counselor (with his arm in a cast, so you just know he had an air of danger to him). The age gap between us was roughly the same as the gap between Katara and Aang. With the understanding that I was absolutely more mature than most of the boys my age, I was still very clearly too young for the hot counselor. If we met up today, it would be a different story. We're only about 2-2.5 years apart, and that's not an issue with adults. Back then, though, I may as well have been a decade behind him. I had only just hit puberty. I still played with dolls. Hey, Arnold! was still my favorite TV show. I had no idea what romance was beyond what Disney taught me, and I had absolutely nothing in common with that boy. At all. And we at least had the benefit of being exposed to roughly the same amount of violence, poverty and education. Katara and Aang don't even have that.

I completely understand and relate to Aang's crush on Katara, but the idea that she reciprocated makes no sense. The one thing they had in common was overwhelming optimism in the face of extreme odds. That's not enough. They weren't on the same level experience-wise. Aang was a young child from a time of relative peace and freedom. Katara had been forced to grow up too quickly in order to survive a harsh world. Aang frowned upon or just flat out ignored the darker facets of Katara. Katara overlooked some very serious flaws in Aang's character- especially when it came to his level of respect for her as a person. They were friends, but they weren't partners. I would argue that they weren't the best influences on each other either

The idea that Aang helped Katara rediscover her childhood is...cute, I guess. It's also wildly inaccurate. Aang ended up being a huge responsibility and actually forced Katara to be the mature one at least as often as Sokka or Toph. Aside from that, Katara had her own interests and desires. She didn't need Aang to 'show her how to have fun'. She knew how to have fun. She also knew there was a time and place for it. And as a single mother to 3 rambunctious children for most of the show, Katara had less time for fun than her friends. It wasn't that she didn't know how to have fun (we see her have fun at the spa, and mastering waterbending, and with Zuko at the play), it's that she had to make sure that everyone else was taken care of first. It's not Aang's childish style of fun. If Aang really wanted to make sure she had fun, he could have relieved her of some of her responsibilities so she had the time and freedom to have fun. He could have tried to figure out what she thought was fun and make sure she had the chance to do it. But that would require Aang to put the needs and comfort of someone else above his own, and that might actually break him.

#atla #anti-aang #anti-kataang #ask the badger mole #asks answered #they really expect us to believe that a 14-15 year old girl really wanted to make time with a 12 year old?#pull the other one #bryan and mike CLEARLY don't speak to anyone who's ever been a teenage girl\

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raewritez · 4 years ago

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hey babe, what are your ATLA opinions? like ships, characters, etc. i love your writing!

IM SO EXCITED TO BE ASKED THIS OML

ok deep breath

OK SO

my favorites ships include kataang, zukka, sukka, iroh x spirituality, ozai x prison, mailee, maiko, and azula x therapy

personally i don’t really ship zutara mainly because when i was watching ATLA it never occurred to me that there was any chemistry between katara and zuko

HOWEVER i do LOVE them as a brotp and i think their friendship is wonderfully complex and meaningful

kataang is so pure and lovely and friends to lovers is my achilles heel

i never really thought of zukka as a possibility but now that i’ve seen it i am obsessed. zuko is an awkward bby and sokka is a dork and their dynamic would be so great

SUKI MY QUEEN

i love suki and i think her and sokka are amazing together. what a power couple

my top 5 favorite characters (although i love all the characters dearly) are probably aang, zuko, toph, azula, and katara (pretty basic i know)

it’s killing me not to put sokka in there

ily sokka

i think aang is criminally underrated and a lot of the time i see him boxed up into a shallow character without a lot of depth or development

aang literally goes through SO MUCH and he’s only 12!! he’s seen so much pain and darkness and has the weight of the world on his back

not only that but he carries the guilt from the airbender genocide

aang stays true to his airbender heritage throughout the series, including in the finale in which he chooses to act not out of violence, but out of peace (I CANNOT EXPRESS MY LOVE FOR THAT SCENE ADGJFHSHSJ)

zuko is my fav for many reasons, the most obvious being his iconic redemption arc

i think the way his character is handled is so beautiful, the way his past is revealed in inklings and you gain so much sympathy for him, his relationship with iroh, his time in Ba Sing Se (also his long hair), his betrayal and his eventual friendship with the Gaang its just AHHHHH

he is arguably the most complex character in the show and his story is so glorious

baby

toph mainly bc she’s a badass

i love her so much

i also love her message of “i know who i am” and truly not caring what other people think of her and actively shaping her destiny

everyone would’ve died without her lol

ok AZULA

azula is SO SO COMPLICATED

we are introduced to her as this maniacal “perfect child” princess

total badass “me who’s still mulling it over”

hot

what?

anyway

but deep down she’s nothing more than a child left desperate for her parents affection, pitted against her brother from a young age with an innate need to be the best

her downfall is so amazingly profound, she crumbles as the people around her leave her just like her mother did, and mai even leaves her for zuko

she’s only 14, literally a child and all she wants in her last moments of sanity is her mom

her story also parallels katara’s

KATARA

NO KATARA HATE ALLOWED ISTG

what a badass bitch

EVERYONE would’ve died without her

such amazing development in terms of her character and her water bending

i truly don’t understand why people don’t like her bc she’s “annoying”, like she is a human being and was written to have flaws. no character is likable all the time but for some reason katara’s mistakes are used to define her character

JEICIAIWJDOODQOJWB

the ending fight scene between her and azula is one of my favorite things ever, i get chills EVERYTIME

her relationship with sokka is everything

her experience with zuko and the friendship that blossoms is also so amazing

yeah she does hold a grudge against him for a while but i probably would too tbh

he was a stupid boi

IN CONCLUSION I LOVE EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER AND EVERY STORYLINE

this was long and probably very uninteresting but i had fun writing it, thanks so much anon

#avatar the last airbender #prince zuko #atla #fire lord zuko #legend of korra #avatar #avatar: tla #zuko x reader #sokka x reader #aang x reader

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a-dumb-sarcastic-bisexual · 4 years ago

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My thoughts about Raya and the Last Dragon because I want to talk about it so bad.

I did like the movie

It was a gorgeous movie like possibly the best Disney film when it comes to animation

With pretty compelling characters

God I adore Kelly Marie Tran’s voice acting

I did have some problems with the humor

Mostly Sisu it was very jarring to be in dystopian southeast Asia then hear about group projects

But for the most part, I think they did a pretty good job of balancing the humor with the most serious aspects

I brought my mama to see this movie and it was really sweet to see her eyes light up when she saw something familiar

She would just point at the foods and go “Look Satay, look Duran, look rambutan, look shrimp paste” as if she didn’t raise me on this food

Raya asking Namaari if she’s eaten is possibly the most Southeast Asian question I’ve ever heard

If you didn’t know this Southeast Asians really show their affection through food

At any and all gatherings we bring food

Food is a major part of our culture so its something I’m glad they got right

I really love Raya she’s such a thought-provoking character

And I love how she’s not the typical princess

Also, I don’t know about anyone else but her mindset is incredibly accurate to my family

The second I was out of the womb my family forced trust issues onto me

My mindset ever since I was little was “never trust anyone or anything new”

God I wish it were a tv show

Almost every single bad thing I have to say about it could have been fixed if it were a tv show

Obviously, I have other gripes with it like how it’s not even available to most of southeast Asia

And you cant really take multiple cultures and mash them together and go “boom representation!”

And I am sad that most of the voice actors weren’t even southeast Asian

The lack of southeast Asian voice actors paired with the smushed together cultures really made the representation feel very fake

Like “here’s you’re princess now you can stop complaining”

As someone of Southeast Asian descent, it kind of felt like a slap to the face

But back to my less heavy gripes with the movie

Making it a tv show really could have fleshed out the characters

I know we would have had to give up that gorgeous animation but I would have loved to see a more rough animation style if it meant more lively characters

Something a friend and I were talking about is all of their character development felt very rushed

Because here’s the thing Raya is an incredibly selfish character

During the entire movie, her main goal was to bring her father back

She really didn’t care about her people which was a really interesting thing to see because that almost never happens with royal characters

But anyway around the end of the movie when she was helping the people of Fang escape during the entire scene the only thing I could think was “but why tho?”

She was never given a scene before this where she could go “ah-ha! Maybe just maybe my father isn't the only person in the world that deserves to be saved!”

So when she was being the typical Disney heroine it felt very rushed and fake

Like she was only doing it because everyone else was

If these characters were given more screen time where they could spend time in the different lands and learn their stories then Raya’s journey could have had more dept

Like we could have seen it slowly go from “I want to bring my ba back” to “I want to bring this person back” and “I want this person to have their parent back” and “this family deserves to have these people back”

And so on and so on until she has a ten-page list of promises to people

I also think it would be interesting for her to lose some people she met and bonded with along the way

Obviously not from the main cast but maybe an ally she made through joint trauma

This would have made the end scene all the more heartwarming because all those people would be there for a reason

I don't think the found family lived up to their full potential

Because as cute as their dynamic was it felt very shallow at some parts

She had no reason to trust them and they never gave her a reason to and vise versa

So when they were all huddled together before turning to stone it kind of felt very shallow

Like don't get me wrong it was a sweet scene that made me tear up a bit

But could you imagine seeing them bond over the course of a season or two

We could have seen them fight side by side and help each other and make sacrifices for one another

And see them really grow into their roles of the older sister or the father or the little brother

Like I said it was a cute scene but it could have been so much more heartfelt

Another thing I want to point out is Raya and Namaari’s conflict

This was another thing that felt very rushed for me and something that could have been easily fixed if this was a show

Because here’s something that kind of bugged me Raya brought Namaari to see the dragon gem hours after meeting her

And yeah I know that she was 12 and she was trying to trust people because she wanted to help her father in his journey to make Kumandra a reality

But could you imagine how much more Namaari’s betrayal would hurt if she and Raya had bonded over the course of years

Like can you imagine watching Raya and Namaari grow up together to a point where they were inseparable

And then Namaari backstabs her and pulls the “in another world we could have been friends” line

I feel like that scene would have hurt so much more if they really knew each other

Another thing I would have liked to see is Raya through that six-year period

Just seeing her grow increasingly frustrated at not being able to find Sisu while also having an Aang and Zuko like bond with Namaari

Like year sure they fight and stuff but they also save each other from life or death situations

Because no matter what the other did they still care for each other

So if they decided to write them as lovers their relationship as a whole would have much more depth

Which honestly would have made the scene where she gives Namaari her gem piece more powerful

Because it kind of reaffirms what we all knew throughout the entire series that no matter what they say or do to each other they still to some extent trust one another

But in the movie again it felt really shallow I think my friend explained it best when she said it kind of felt like Raya was only trusting Namaari because Sisu told her to

There was no emotional backing there was no real reason to trust one another it just felt very rushed

Next, I wanna talk about Namaari

She’s one of my favorite things about this movie

Which is why it sucks that we don't get to see more of her

I think this movie did something really interesting by making the typical Disney princess Raya’s enemy for the majority of the movie

And what I mean by typical Disney Princess is she cares about her people to a fault

She did everything for her people she stole the gem because she thought it would help her people

She tried to stop Raya from collecting the gems because she didn't know her reasoning and she thought she might be a threat to her people

And she has such an interesting perspective of this story which I again really would have loved to see over the course of a season

I would have loved to see her watch Fang slowly fall apart and see her grow more desperate to save it

To a point where she would have to hurt Raya in the process even if she didn't want to

Because as she briefly mentioned Fang looks pretty but it has a lot of holes and I would have loved to see what she meant by that

Like how bad Fang truly was

Like I said most of my gripes about the movie were its pacing and how it would be so much better in a tv show format

But these are just my opinions y’all can love the movie or hate the movie

You can agree with me or not I’m just putting my opinions fully on display for all to see and judge

#raya and the last dragon #raya #namaari #I love these girls #I wish we saw more of their dynamic #wow this is long #like maybe the longest thing I’ve ever posted #which is saying a lot

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softluci · 4 years ago

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atla hcs

i’ve been thinking about this for a minute, and i wanna do a set of headcanons for how i think the brothers (and eventually the undateables) would feel about certain avatar: the last airbender characters, or something along those lines. i actually just wanted to talk about lucifer and azula, so everything else here is a bonus. this doesn’t matter, but for what it’s worth: wherever the mc pops up, they will be gn, enjoy!

also: this kinda goes without saying, but there are most definitely spoilers in here. for which seasons? i don’t remember, i watched this show when i was nine, but proceed with caution if you have yet to watch it.

lucifer

if it’s one thing you are not gonna play with him about, it is princess azula. this man is an azula supremacist, and while he might not say those words exactly, anyone would be able to tell that’s the case if they talked to him about the show for longer than two minutes. he actually wasn’t even interested in the show until azula showed up, and he will readily admit this to anyone who inquires about it. what makes it funny is the fact that her first appearance is literally, like, ten seconds, so that means he saw her and immediately knew she was the best, which, like—real recognize real. is he projecting? am i projecting? yes, no. in that order. shut up.

he actually almost couldn’t hide how proud he was when azula almost killed aang, this man is deranged. the same way he takes her wins personally, he takes every loss of hers personally as well, so when she lost that agni kai? 🚶‍♂️

the average azula enjoyer believes azula should get a redemption arc, lucifer believes azula should simply get whatever she wants, and the difference between those two things is striking.

average azula enjoyer: i believe azula deserves to heal and redeem herself. it isn’t fair that she was left with her tyrannical, abusive father during formative years of her childhood, with no one to help her or show her what it means to be good. she cannot be blamed for the way she turned out. it especially isn’t fair that she gets no redemption for evil things she did at age fourteen, for a year, while the entire show is iroh’s redemption arc, and he was doing evil for decades—he is literally called “the dragon of the west” because of it. additionally—

lucifer morningstar, resident azula supremacist: everything azula did, she was right to do, because i would’ve done the same. there was never a point at which she was wrong, it’s just unfortunate that nobody could keep up with her, her father included. the only reason why she ended up losing, ultimately, is because this is a children’s show, and good is supposed to win out. it was plot armor. if this were realistic, she would’ve beaten everyone—at the very least, she would’ve beaten zuko in the final agni kai, it’s just that he broke the rules and brought backup. at the time of the agni kai, she was literally the strongest firebender in the show. that’s actually the only part of this lucifer is right about, but you can’t tell him that.

if you ask him what his favorite quote in the show is, he’ll immediately say, “i can see your whole history in your eyes. you were born with nothing, so you’ve had to struggle, and connive, and claw your way to power. but true power? the divine right to rule? is something you’re born with.” and he will do it so well that it’ll give you the chills.

in actuality, his favorite quote is, “i’d really rather our family physician look after little zuzu, if you don’t mind.” it’s just that it doesn’t have the same chilling effect as the first one.

does he like any other characters? does he even care about any other characters? he has a deep fondness for sokka because he reminds him of mammon. yes, and they are katara and suki, with honorable mention to avatar kyoshi.

does he hate any characters? no, but if you mention avatar kuruk or uncle iroh to him, he might get annoyed. is mildly frustrated by aang, but has the sense to cut him some slack for being twelve and the last of his kind. never speak of ozai.

mammon

toph supremacist. frequent user of the phrase, “toph is just fucking class.” knows for a fact that toph is the best and strongest bender in the entire show, and no one has ever managed to convince him otherwise. mainly because nobody really disagrees. like, have you ever even seen toph slander?

just like lucifer with azula, he wasn’t invested in the show until toph showed up, which, once again, is funny, because technically her very first appearance is only a few seconds long, so that means he saw her for a literal second and just knew. you can’t even be mad at that, real recognize real.

no one will ever see him more proud than when he’s talking about one toph beifong. he can’t get over her raw, unbridled talent, and he really never should. if you let him (so, if you’re levi), he will spend so much time analyzing her character and every single one of her strengths, from the fact that she’s the only one who knows when azula is lying, all the way down to the fact that even though she projects a tough persona, she can still be vulnerable, AND—

not only is she strong, but her personality is simply untouchable. this girl grows on literally everyone; like, even lucifer likes her, even though he’ll die before saying it out loud.

he gets so smug whenever someone asks him who his favorite is and it’s because he knows his taste is top tier, and what makes it worse is that no one can even disagree because toph is just that good.

will never admit it, but he was shaking and crying during the scene where it looked like toph and sokka were literally gonna die. was also gonna cry when toph almost drowned. basically: he is eternally grateful to suki.

his favorite line in the entire show is, “i am the greatest earthbender in the world! don’t you two dunderheads ever forget it.” it’s just fucking class.

does he like any other characters? he sees himself in sokka, he’ll tell you that much. he also knows that satan and lucifer like sokka because of him, and he found out because he heard them talking about it. to their joint dismay, they turned to see him standing behind them, grinning like an idiot, and they couldn’t even scare him into leaving them alone when he hugged both of them at the same time because, one, they didn’t really want to, and two, they couldn’t turn off their fondness for him fast enough ^_^. did they reciprocate his hug? did they stay like that for a little bit? did lucifer kiss the tops of their heads? maybe so🤨

does he hate any characters? not really, but he doesn’t particularly like azula because she scares him and makes him sad, like lucifer and doesn’t see her appeal. once tried to make a case for why she shouldn’t have a redemption arc and felt painfully human from the way he almost died. do not mention toph’s parents to him. the name ozai should also never be on your tongue.

levi

resident sokka enjoyer and suki appreciator. do not ever call sokka dumb in front of this man unless you want a proper lecture. unlike a few of his brothers, he doesn’t like sokka just because of his similarities to mammon. he also likes sokka because he relates to him on a personal level.

levi absolutely knows what it’s like to feel inadequate and outshined by people younger than you. he absolutely knows what it’s like to feel like your competence is overlooked. while he might be unfamiliar with how it feels to strategize for a war and lose a battle, but it is one of his biggest fears and it absolutely crushed him to see sokka go through that.

on a lighter note, levi has a deep appreciation for sokka’s comedic value, despite the fact that it can overshadow his intelligence. levi would actually venture to say that he likes sokka’s funnier side because it overshadows his intelligence to the point that it throws the opposition for a loop. this is the aspect of sokka that reminds him of mammon.

it also seriously warmed his heart to see how everyone missed sokka while he was away for sword training; he especially liked that episode because it was just an affirmation of the fact that sokka is an integral part of team avatar, which he really needed to see.

you know who else is an integral part of team avatar who needs to be recognized as such more often? suki. do you know how much pain levi is in every time he thinks about the lack of suki screentime . it’s a lot . suki is just too good for the amount of screentime she has, he’s sorry, but it’s true. this is evidenced by the scene of her literally running across prisoners’ heads to apprehend the warden of boiling rock. that scene speaks for itself—she and the other kyoshi warriors end up as zuko’s body guards for a reason.

he will never let anyone forget that if it weren’t for suki, sokka would still be a misogynist. she was an essential element to sokka’s growth as a character and everyone had better remember it or so help him. also , he is a firm believer in the fact that suki was the best love interest for sokka, with zuko as a close second. don’t ask questions. rip yue but argue with the wall.

his favorite line in the series?

“zuko’s gone crazy! i made a sand sculpture of suki, and he destroyed it! oh, and he’s attacking aang.”

it’s not profound or cool or anything like that, but it makes him smile and giggle every time he thinks of it ^_^.

does he like any other characters? he has a lot of love for toph and azula for the sole fact that the series improved exponentially after both of their introductions; he thinks both of them are in leagues of their own and seeing them in action just puts a smile on his face. he’s also inexplicably fond of king bumi.

does he hate any characters? not particularly, actually! he pretty much respects and appreciates everyone, except the guy who mutilated his thirteen year old son for speaking out of turn.

satan

just pick a girl. any girl. and from the way he talks about them, you’ll think they’re his favorite. he can and will go on about the girls of atla for the rest of eternity.

but since we’re being specific:

katara appreciator. azula enjoyer. basically, between him and lucifer, no tongue raised against azula shall prosper. he has a deep respect for each of their wraths. he also really must have a thing for angst because both of these characters just break his heart.

if you let him (in other words, if you’re levi), he will go on about how it’s not fair that people call katara annoying when, in reality, she just hasn’t healed from the trauma of seeing her mother’s corpse at age eight, followed by having to take care of her village, meaning she got literally no time to grieve properly, and—

call katara annoying in front of him and you might actually have to meet god for your shallow views of such a deep, complex character.

he will also go on and on about how katara would be the best bender in the show, if it weren’t for toph, who is untouchable. instead, he’ll talk about how katara almost killed pakku for being misogynistic and how she single handedly beat azula during sozin’s comet. you will frequently hear this man say, “katara aang’s master for a reason,” and he’s right.

similar to if you call katara annoying, if you call azula scary in front of satan, he’s bullying you. he’s sorry, but it has to happen. no way you’re scared of a traumatized fourteen year old, what are you, eight? or do you have no understanding of azula’s depth? both are unacceptable.

satan is the average azula enjoyer, times about seven. you simply won’t get away with speaking poorly of azula in front of this man, so if you’re like mammon and don’t like her, you better tread very carefully.

one time mammon tried to be like, “azula is too far gone to deserve redemption anyways,” and satan literally reverted to his demon form as he said: “if i were abandoned with my terrible father as a child, with literally no one to help me, and then my friends betrayed me, and then, as i was about to be crowned ruler of my country, my dumb fucking idiot brother showed up with his dumb peasant friend for backup, which isn’t even allowed, i might be mad forever too, actually—” and then he threw the nearest chair at mammon for his criminally bad take.

another reason why satan loves azula so much is because he’s convinced she’s a lesbian and satan is the most “let’s go lesbians!!!” person you will ever meet. you actually can’t convince him that she isn’t a lesbian. forget chan. nobody gives a fuck about chan.

what’s his favorite line in the entire series?

“trust me, zuko—it’s not going to be much of a match.”

like, come on. katara is just too good.

does he like any other characters (other than the girls of atla)? he’ll never admit it, but he has a lot of respect for sokka and a soft spot for him because he reminds him of mammon. he also has a lot of respect for aang because he reminds him of beel of how well he handled literally everything despite being twelve.

does he hate any—yes. never speak of avatar roku. or iroh. or ozai. for good measure, don’t mention general zhao either.

asmo

what lucifer is to azula, asmo is to ty lee. like do i even have to say anything else. but for what it’s worth, he also love, love, loves azula because she reminds him of lucifer, from her strength and class, all the way down to her descent into madness. and even though she breaks his heart just as much as she does satan’s. he may or may not have cried over azula in satan’s room while they were talking about her. unlike lucifer and satan, he can respect it if you don’t like her, but it’ll make him so sad.

but enough about azula. ty lee is where it’s at for him. her subtle strength and unwavering love is something to die for, and he will defend it against anyone, up to and including lucifer, and he’ll win too. asmo is not to be trifled with and neither is ty lee; he can make a strong argument as to why ty lee is the strongest character in the show, and you will have a very hard time trying to refute his points. (the main point being: it’ll be really hard to win a fight against someone who can paralyze you in a few seconds, bender or not.)

the fact that ty lee ran away from home because she was tired of the fact that nobody ever saw her as her own person is just something that tugs at asmo’s heartstrings. he thinks ty lee’s bravery is just something that can be so personal.

also—he has a massive appreciation for the fact that, even though there’s a war going on and ty lee is in near-constant danger, she still has the sense to maintain her appearance and worry about the skincare of not just herself, but also people she’s close to. that is a detail he will never let anyone forget.

never mentions it in front of lucifer but one of his favorite scenes is when she paralyzes azula to save mai. once again: ty lee’s bravery is just something that can be so personal.

he doesn’t have a favorite line in the series, but his favorite exchange of dialogue is between ty lee and azula, wherein ty lee is trying to teach azula how to flirt. he thinks it’s the cutest thing in the world.

does he like any other characters? of course! he likes everyone ^_^ . you’d actually be hard pressed to find someone he hates. ozai. it’s ozai. he has a real soft spot for mai because she reminds him of belphie. something about their shared aversion to affection is just so cute to him!

beel

aang supremacist, will hold steadfast to the fact that aang is the best character in the show and you will struggle to figure out how to convince him otherwise.

if you ask him why aang is his favorite, the first thing he will do is gesture to a picture of him and say, “look at the material,” like it’s the most obvious thing in the world, before diving into a ten minute in depth character analysis for this boy.

come on. he shouldn’t even have to explain himself. not only is aang one of the strongest, most competent avatars to exist, ever, he also mastered all four elements in a year, when he was twelve—he’s literally a different breed. and he managed to beat ozai in his own way, without killing him, as a means of staying true to a culture that could have literally died with him at any point in the show. aang is just fucking class.

he also admires aang for his near unwavering kindness and lighthearted nature. and for never going berserk and killing everyone he sees, especially after finding out his people were killed while he was in ice.

you have no idea how much pain beel was in when he found out that the air nomads were just gone. seeing a child find out that not only their family is gone, but also the entirety of their people and culture, just absolutely broke his heart. and that guilt aang was feeling? hit way too close to home for him.

he also thinks it’s really nice that aang was so quick to forgive zuko after everything, and the two of them ended up being really good friends. it just puts a smile on his face.

after some reflection with levi, he would’ve liked to see the full scope of an airbender’s power in the series; as in, he would’ve liked to see someone suffocated, but it’s okay, because aang wasn’t like that. and he heard it happens in the next series over.

anyway, beel’s favorite quote in the show...well, it isn’t really a quote, as much as it’s a dialogue between two characters. it’s the scene where toph asks, “do you really think friendships can last more than one lifetime?” and aang says, “i don’t see why not.” it could bring a tears to his eyes just thinking about it; and in the next series over when it’s proven to be true, he absolutely cried.

does he like any other characters? he’s actually really fond of zuko and mai because they both remind him of belphie. he also likes sokka for the same reason lucifer and satan like sokka. he has a deep appreciation for katara because aang would literally be dead without if it weren’t for her.

does he hate any characters? well, he doesn’t really like azula. he feels bad for her, but he doesn’t like her. but as for who he hates? take a wild guess.

belphie

zuko makes him sob is his number one. yes zuko is his favorite because of his redemption arc, yes he sees himself in zuko, no he will not explain any further than that, what’s your point🤨

in actuality, he will never be able to properly articulate how important it is for him to see that redemption is, indeed, attainable, if you put the work in. in a similar vein, he will also never be able to give words to how important it is for him to see that forgiveness is also attainable. it means the world to him. that is why it makes him cry. the feeling is overwhelming. i’m gonna cry if i think about it for too long.

he will cling to the fact that zuko is the best character in the show, and he will cling to it even when zuko embarrasses him by saying stupid shit like, “no lightning today?” and even when zuko is so awkward it causes him physical pain. that’s his number one and he’s not changing on it!

firm zukka supporter. will not argue. that’s all.

what’s his favorite line in the entire series? it’s one of the two you’re thinking of. make that decision for yourself.

does he like any other characters? he positively adores aang and will readily admit that it’s because he reminds him of beel. bonus points for aang because he also loves the dynamic between him and zuko. toph is a distant third, mainly because he just really likes her attitude. he looks at her and thinks, now this is someone who would not hesitate to kick lucifer’s ass.

does he hate any characters? you better believe it. he hates iroh because he reminds him of dia. he can’t really bring himself to like azula because she makes him a different kind of sad. and if you know what’s good for you, you will never mention ozai.

#can you tell i am also an azula enjoyer #doesn't matter because i'm correct but still #worth mentioning i suppose #obey me #obey me!#obey me headcanons #obey me imagines #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me levi #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me asmo #obey me beel #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphie #obey me belphegor

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sokkagatekeeper · 3 years ago

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could you talk a bit about some of the mindsets and values that you see aang bringing from his memories of the air nomads to the gaang and modern world and their impact? if that makes sense

values, teachings, wisdoms, and fresh perspectives aang offers to the modern world in war that he wakes up to, keeping the legacy of the air nomads alive and therefore becoming a savior of said world in every sense of the word, inciting justice and revolution with his mere existence:

fun. a fundamental thing that was lost after the genocide of the air nomads is fun, the ability to let go of earthly attachments and enjoy life as it presents itself. the world of atla that we see is drowning in misery, poverty, death, unnecessary hatred and pointless conflicts. ever since the war’s begining was marked down by the genocide of the air nomads the world lost its spirit, its right and ability to enjoy life. the very first thing aang does when cracked out of the iceberg is invite katara to do a fun activity with him. as katara herself says, she hasn’t had fun since she “was a kid” ignoring the blatant fact to aang that katara is still a kid, she’s fourteen, she grew up way too fast, and even though she knows it and she knows she deserves the childhood that was taken from her, it is not until aang makes the offer to her that she jumps through the window of opportunity of actually doing what she wants to do, rather than what it’s expected to her as a child of the war. the way aang affects sokka is a much longer process, but it’s plainly visible when comparing their dynamic, and sokka’s own personality and humor from book one to book three. in the first book, sokka is always alert, in soldier-mode, essentially a miserable grump who at the age of fifteen believes having fun is for children and an utter waste of time when there’s an entire war going on. in book three, although he is still responsible and reasonable most of the time, he is a lot less uptight and allows himself to have fun alongside aang and toph. aang is not able to teach sokka that having fun is a right of his as a child, but he is able to teach sokka that having fun is okay. aang quite literally teaches sokka how to have fun in the first place. during “the headband” aang actively works against fire nation propaganda by throwing a party, showing the fire nation children how to have fun as well, and most importantly he teaches the importance of having fun as a form of self-expression. aang teaches freedom, essentially, through the inherent individualism of childhood and not waiting for fun to knock your door but actively search for it, look for reasons to enjoy and love life despite everything else.

one of my favorite motifs of aang is the justice theme. defining the meaning of justice becomes crucial in the finale of the show, but it can also be seen throughout the entirety of book three with hama’s episode or the southern raiders episode. when aang looks for advice from kyoshi, her response lies plainly in achieving justice and therefore peace. by choosing to spare ozai’s life, despite the fact that the entire world is pressuring him to kill him and end it once and for all, aang is preserving the values of the air nomads through this choice. the values of his people, who were massacred by the fire nation (figuratively ozai) and the entire reason why aang is so important as the last surviving air nomad left in the world, his role in the world and the wisdoms he can offer to it, which would be, in a certain way, lost, if aang decided to give up on his beliefs and kill ozai. as the last air nomad left, he would be giving up this crucial part of his identity to the same people that murdered the air nomads and destroyed so much of the culture aang struggles so much to preserve. aang understands the importance in loving oneself before hating your oppressor, even if those two things are somewhat intertwined, love must always be greater than hatred. which brings me to:

aang’s grief for the air nomads and his culture is essentially translated through his love for the rest of the world. aang could’ve easily given up on the world and the teachings he has from the air nomads, but because of how much he loves his culture, how much he loved his people, his grief is tremendously big and heavy, and it resolves, in the end, in his love for the world he must save as it’s his duty as the avatar. he loves the world enough to give it the philosophies, beliefs, values, wisdoms of his people back, trusting it to be more careful with them this time around. aang teaches forgiveness the same way he teaches freedom, because his rage is destructive and alive, but his love and his rage come from the same place which is his grief. he chooses love over hatred every single day, and inspires other people (katara, zuko, toph) to do the same.

#aang #hash tag #AANGLOVE #!!!!!!#n #analysis #asks #anon #teaching freedom #atla + childhood #the last airbender #duty justice peace

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heavensenthearty · 4 years ago

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Do you have thoughts on Zuko’s “guru goody goody” line from TSR? I’ve seen people say/imply that makes Zuko racist or means he doesn’t take the Air Nomad genocide seriously. I’ve been seeing a lot of people trying to cancel Zuko from every angle lately so I can’t tell anymore what’s a critique that actually holds weight vs one done in bad faith because their fav is less popular or for woke points. So I wanted to know your view (if you want to share of course)

Thanks for seeking out my opinion, Anon! It means a lot! ☺️🤗

And well, my thoughts are that Zuko was OOC there.

That's a pretty good resume about it because he has been told much longer speeches about many different values from many other characters like Iroh, Song, and even Jet, and while he showed he was annoyed about being lectured, he never lashed at them for making their talk "cheesy" or for bringing up beliefs they earned from their upbringing at their respective countries. Song brought up how the war had affected her, her family and the Earth Kingdom in general throughout their dinner together with Iroh and her mom and then at her private talk with Zuko, and this is the way he reacted:

And this was over a single (yet nasty) burn. I doubt he would have had a less affected expression if they were talking about the deaths of thousands of people.

In fact, the one that we have seen laughing over the death of thousands of people is (shocking as it is) Iroh, when he was joking that Ba Sing Se would be an amazing conquer for the Fire Nation if he and his army didn't destroy it first during Zuko's flashback in Zuko Alone.

I don't see many people trying to cancel Tea Uncle though (not that I would want them) and I don't know the specific reason why even if they are many explanations: people only sees appearances and because Iroh is soft-spoken and funny then he's intrinsically incapable of any wrong, while Zuko has plenty character flaws including some temper; flawed as he is, Zuko is paired with a brown-skinned girl who showed around the same amount of flaws as him and God forbid two imperfect characters can be perfectly imperfect together, right?

Now that I mention Katara, she and Sokka also gave Zuko quite some words of their own in this very episode that we are discussing about their mother's death during a Fire Nation raid, and Zuko listened and then consoled them.

And we saw his face when he finally looked at the man who committed that murder. It pretty much confirmed he isn't someone who takes death lightly, right?

And apart from all of this that I'm saying, Bryke already admitted they (tried) (emphasis on tried) to portray Zuko as the devil on Katara's shoulder and Aang as the angel, so... that tells us something about how the characterization for this episode was envisioned.

Zuko's "Guru goody-goody" line is indeed a-hole behavior, but Aang was being an a-hole too. He was giving an indeed cheesy speech in the middle of a rawly emotional situation — not the "pretty" kind of emotional. Maybe was just thinking the same thing that I did when I first watched that episode: "Dude, her mom was burned alive, stop trying to play preacher!"

And let's say Aang is everyone's favorite preacher, why don't snap at the other people that downright disrespected the Air Nomad genocide by filling the Northern Air Temple with machinery and Fire Nation paraphernalia?

Yes, I'm talking about Theo, The Mechanist, and co. The fact that they can express themselves politely doesn't mean they aren't doing something bad.

You know, the more I think about it, the more I think my theory is probably true and people only wants to see smiley characters building empires over the graves of the innocent rather than imperfect characters trying to avoid more deaths of innocents 🤷🏽‍♀️

#sorry if i broke your faith in humanity #zuko #zuko x katara #avatar the last airbender #avatar the legend of aang #atla #anti aang #aang salt #anti bryke #bryke broke humanity

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zutaralesbian · 4 years ago

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zutara and bamon!

Zutara:

Why I ship them (or why I do not): Ooooh Zutara. They're one of my oldest ships and one that I ALWAYS drift back to eventually when it comes to phases lol. I started shipping them back when I was about thirteen and they were one of my first major introductions to online fan works. The first time I watched ATLA it was when it was first airing and I was only a young kid, so I naturally just 'shipped' the canon pairings. But when I found out that Zutara was a thing I was intrigued by it and a bunch of meta and fics later, I was hooked. I just love the fire and water symbolism of them and the way they parallel each other. Their relationship development and the mutual understanding and respect they have for each other by the end of the show. There's just....so much interesting storytelling material for Zutara. And I think that's one of the biggest reasons they're so popular.

My favorite moment between them: I feel like this changes all the time but I think right now it would be the cave scene in Ba Sing Se. Despite Zuko's betrayal afterwards I just loved how these two people who were enemies for the entire time they've known each other bonded and found some understanding between each other. Also Katara offering to use the water from the oasis to heal Zuko's scar and Zuko letting her touch the scar???? Kill me. I feel like a lot of what I love about Zutara is represented in that scene alone.

My least favorite moment between them: I don't think there is a ZK scene that I hate. I mean, I don't like the infamous pirate scene in book 1 but I also think people make it out to be a lot worse than it actually was. (I've seen people compare it to the R*ylo scene where Kylo captures and tortures Rey and that is so undeserved and extra.)

The character I prefer: Zuko is my socially awkward son and I have a special love for him so he's definitely my personal fave. There aren't many character arcs that make me as emotional as his. BUT at the same time I know Katara is queen and she's definitely my second fave.

A fanfic idea for them that I would love to read or write: The post-war idea I have where Mai leaves Zuko for Ty Lee, Katara and Aang breakup amicably, and then Zuko and Katara fall for each other on a trip together to visit a healing Azula lives in my mind rent free.

What I would have changed about how canon handled them if I could: As amazing as canon Zutara done right would have been, I'm kind of okay with them not being canon? Mostly because with the exception of Sukka I think Bryke sucks at writing romance lmao. And I have more than enough ZK fanwork to keep me satisfied. BUT in a perfect world I would have had Zutara been implied as a future romance in the end and erased the K*taang and Ma*ko stuff. (The gaang are all literal children. I think it would have been more than fine if they ended the series all single.)

Bamon:

Why I ship them (or why I do not): They had great chemistry and were just a fun dynamic with a lot of potential (especially in the later seasons after they became friends.) I think their development from begrudging allies (and occasional enemies) to friends was fun to see and always an underrated dynamic in TVD and I would have loved to have seen it go all the way to lovers.

My favorite moment between them: Damon reciting the letter he wrote to Bonnie before he put himself in the coffin that she never read always gets me in the feels.

My least favorite moment between them: For some reason I can't really remember a specific scene but I know there were plenty in the early seasons that made me angry lol

The character I prefer: Oh definitely Bonnie. She was a queen that always deserved better than the way that shitty ass show treated her. She's the only reason I stuck with TVD as long as I did. I do admittedly have some kind of soft spot for Damon too though and I prefer him as a character over Stefan. But I completely understand why people hate him lmao 🥴

A fanfic idea for them that I would love to read or write: It's been soooo long since I've even thought about Bamon fic. But back in the day S6 canon divergents were my shit and I'd be down to reading one again if there are new ones out.

What I would have changed about how canon handled them if I could: Here's how I think I would have made them canon starting in S6: Damon and Bonnie would have had a frenemies with benefits kind of arrangement while they were stuck in the prison world together. (Honestly it's ridiculous to me that they didn't on the show. Two people with chemistry stuck in a prison world together with only each other for company, not expecting to escape and they never once fucked? Fffs). Once they're both free from the prison world there's this lingering Tension between them even though they obviously decided to stop having sex now that they were both free. Bonnie now feels off seeing Damon and Elena together and she eventually realizes it's because she's developed feelings for him. But she keeps it to herself out of loyalty to Elena and Damon has been obsessed with Elena for almost as long as Bonnie's known him so there's no way he'd feel the same anyway.

This would continue on for a while until we got to S7, where Damon decides to put himself in a coffin until Elena wakes up. I would have had part of his decision to do this be because he realized he has feelings for Bonnie and felt like he was betraying Elena by having them, so he ran.

Cut to Damon returning and Bonnie suddenly being in a relationship with Enzo. Damon would have been insanely jealous and this would have kicked off a Damon/Bonnie/Enzo triangle. Maybe Damon has some kind of talk with Stefan that makes him realize it's okay for him to want to be with Bonnie, that Elena wouldn't have wanted him to be miserable while she was gone. The triangle would have eventually ended with Bonnie/Enzo breaking up and Damon/Bonnie getting together. (And the 'Dear Bonnie' scene would have been re-written to be a reveal that Damon confessed to being in love with Bonnie and not knowing what to do about it in the letter). We would have then seen Damon and Bonnie as a couple throughout the entirety of S8, with the finale having the implication that Damon was going to stay with Bonnie throughout her whole human life and then one day in the far future reconcile with Elena. (Basically the same way the Will/Tessa/Jem situation was in The Infernal Devices.) What really sucks is that the TVD writers could have EASILY done something like this if they weren't cowards.

Thanks! :)

#zutara #bamon #mericatblackwood #answered #long post /

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