#dallas liu interview

[dallaslovebot]

dallas liu for a book of us (march 2024) interview

ZUKO'S ZEAL: DALLAS LIU DELVES INTO THE FIRE NATION'S FLAME

Amidst the fiery, ever-evolving world of entertainment, it's not just the bright lights and red carpets that define a star; it's the passion, the perseverance, and the unique journeys that captivate us. Dallas Liu, with his deep roots in martial arts and a childhood immersed in the realms of action and anime, is a testament to this very ethos. From his early days executing precise martial arts moves to embodying the complex character of Prince Zuko in Netflix's much-anticipated "Avatar: The Last Airbender," Dallas's journey is a compelling narrative of dreams turned reality. His candid reflection on the role martial arts and his supportive family played in shaping his career path offers a rare glimpse into the making of a versatile actor, one who brings a disciplined focus to the craft inherited from his days on the mat.

As Dallas steps into the shoes of Zuko, he not only takes on the mantle of a beloved character but also fulfills a personal dream, marking a full-circle moment in his career. His thoughtful approach to preparation, from studying Zuko's nuances to seeking guidance from original voice actor Dante Basco, underscores a deep respect for the source material and the fanbase. Beyond the fiery intensity of his on-screen avatar, Dallas's reflections reveal a multi-dimensional artist eager to explore varied genres, from the adrenaline of action-packed sequences to the nuanced rhythms of drama and comedy. His anticipation for future projects, coupled with a heartfelt desire to contribute to the evolving narrative of Asian representation in Hollywood, positions him as a luminary in an industry on the cusp of change. Join us as we delve into the world of Dallas Liu, where martial arts discipline meets the boundless imagination of a fan turned hero, crafting a narrative that promises to inspire the next generation of dreamers and doers.

Hi Dallas! How are you doing? What are you looking forward to and excited for this year? Growing up in Los Angeles, you started martial arts at a young age, even playing young Jin Kazama in the "Tekken" film franchise at seven. How did that early experience in martial arts influence your decision to pursue acting, and do you think it gives you a unique perspective in the industry? 

I am feeling quite relaxed and excited at the same time right now. Because the show is now out and we have gotten a season 2 and 3 renewal, I can now breathe. And because of the renewal, I am more than excited to go and shoot our new material! There is a lot to look forward to regarding the show, but I’m just grateful that I get to come back and work on the project. I would have to say that my early experience in martial arts influenced me to pursue acting through the support of my parents. I trusted them and knew that if I had decided that acting was something I want to pursue, they would be in full support of it. My parents put everything they had into me finding some sort of success and battled for me every single day. I was only able to do it because of them. I’m not sure that it has given a unique perspective, but I do think that I carried over a lot of the same discipline and focus that I had in martial arts over to the industry.

Your role as Prince Zuko in Netflix's "Avatar: The Last Airbender" has generated a lot of excitement. What was your initial reaction when you found out you would be playing such an iconic character, and how did you prepare for the challenges that come with bringing Zuko to life in a live-action adaptation?

I was overwhelmed with so many different emotions. Excitement and stress were definitely the two that I felt the strongest. Not only was I given the opportunity to play such an iconic character, but I was given the opportunity to play my favorite animated character of all time. There was pressure that I felt as a fan myself to bring this character to life. I did everything in my power to research as much as I could about Zuko. I studied his life, the small details other fans may have noticed about him in the series, and even his mannerisms. But one of the first things that I did was reach out to Dante Basco. I think receiving a stamp of approval from him gave me a level of confidence that I wouldn’t have been able to find alone by myself.

With the release of "Avatar: The Last Airbender,” what do you hope audiences will take away from the live-action adaptation, especially considering the beloved nature of the original animated series?

I hope that they’ve been able to appreciate it for what it is. There are obviously a few changes here and there, but I think if you’re truly a fan of Avatar, it will bring back some nice memories from your youth. 

In preparing for physically demanding roles like those in "Shang-Chi" and "Avatar," what aspects of your training do you find most challenging, and how do you maintain mental and physical well-being during intense filming schedules? 

In “Avatar” the training was just pure fun for me. I had spent so much time in my youth training so hard everyday at it that it feels second nature to me. If anything the stunts and the fight scenes are the easiest part of my day as long I am maintaining the strength of my body and taking care of it.

You've worked with accomplished actors such as Daniel Dae Kim, Paul Sun-Hyung, Ken Leung, and Elizabeth Yu in "Avatar: The Last Airbender." How has the collaborative process been with such a talented cast, and are there any memorable moments from the set you can share?

The collaborative process with everyone has been a core memory for me. Working with such experienced actors, breaking down scenes, and then getting to do them in front of a camera alongside those guys has given me more than I could have imagined. I learned how to navigate myself as an actor on set. I would say a memorable moment for me was working with Ken for the first time. His work as “Zhao” was unlike anything that I had ever seen before with my own eyes. He fully transformed himself into his character. I was in complete awe and shock. I hadn’t expected it at all and it showed me a completely different level of acting. It was something that I knew I wanted to emulate.

Having appeared in both Disney/Marvel's "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" and now "Avatar: The Last Airbender," you're deeply immersed in the world of superheroes and fantasy. Were you a fan of these genres growing up, and how do you approach the responsibility of portraying characters with such passionate fan bases?

I was a major fan of the genre growing up. I feel that I am truly getting to live my childhood dreams. I think that the responsibility of portraying characters with such passionate fan bases comes from within your heart. If you truly care, and you truly want to do a good job, then you will automatically by all means do whatever it takes to get it right. 

You mentioned being a fan of anime, specifically citing "My Hero Academia." If given the chance, would you be interested in participating in a live-action adaptation of the series, and if so, which character would you find most intriguing to portray?

I don’t know anything about the live-action or when they shoot, but for me it would most definitely have to be the villain Stain. If you know the series, you know that he is arguably one of the best characters in the series. 

Your background in martial arts is evident in your competition videos. Do you ever miss the competitive aspect of martial arts, and how do you feel your martial arts training contributes to your approach to action sequences in film and television?

Sometimes I do, other times I don’t. I think in every job that you take on there is some sort of competitive nature to them. My martial arts training certainly contributes to my approach in action sequences. It simply involves constant repetition and getting it perfect every single time that you practice it. This was something that had been ingrained into me by my mother.

You mentioned watching Power Rangers as a kid, which inspired your interest in martial arts. Are there specific elements from your childhood influences that you find still resonate in the roles you take on today?

“Avatar: The Last Airbender” is definitely up there for me. As well as Naruto. They all sort of shaped my childhood. I loved action as a kid.

You've successfully navigated between drama and comedy, with standout performances in "PEN15" and other projects. How do you approach the different genres, and do you have a preference for one over the other?

I think I approach them both just the same, which is just to do a good job and study up on them lol. However, I think I might be able to really separate the two approaches if I ever have to work on both at the same time. I love love love both comedy and drama because they are so different. 

Your career has taken you from Macy's commercials to major film and television projects. Looking back, what has been the most surprising or unexpected aspect of your journey in the entertainment industry?

Working on “Avatar: The Last Airbender” for sure. I never thought I’d make it here today. When I was getting really close to booking the role I would break down on those nights because I knew that I was going to take a break from acting if I didn’t book it. I wanted this role desperately. After having gotten so close to booking different roles on multiple occasions, my heart was tired. I needed some time away from it. But now the show is out. Now people get to watch my work as Zuko on Netflix. It all still feels unreal sometimes. 

As someone who started their professional career at a young age, what advice do you have for aspiring actors, especially those who may be balancing education with their passion for the arts?

Keep going! Keep pushing! 

The representation of Asian characters and actors in the entertainment industry has been evolving. How do you perceive the progress being made, and do you feel a sense of responsibility as a trailblazer in the industry?

I see the progress being made to be great. I’m glad that Asian representation in the entertainment industry is something that is constantly being fought for. I think with every Asian in the industry there is a sense of responsibility. I am hoping to get more experience though so that I am properly able to help in the best way possible in the future.

Your journey includes a variety of roles in film, television, and commercials. Is there a specific type of project or character you haven't tackled yet that you would love to explore in the future?

I want to try everything at least once! I would love to explore and challenge myself in whatever might be out there. 

With the increasing popularity of streaming services, audiences have more access to diverse content. How do you think this shift has impacted the entertainment industry, and do you see it influencing the types of projects you choose to be a part of?

I have always watched international entertainment growing up, so for me, I’m glad that the rest of the world gets to tune in a lot of the things I got to experience as a kid. I think the added content has only done more for the industry. It certainly has me wanting to do more projects if I am capable!

Looking ahead, what are your personal and professional goals for the next few years, and are there specific genres, directors, or actors you aspire to work with in the future?

I love films. So hopefully I can get more in touch with that side of the industry. I have a huge desire to write and direct my projects as well! I think I would like to work with Steven Yeun and William Dafoe in the near future if possible. To put it simply, I’m just happy to be here. I would just like to continue working.

What’s a valuable lesson that you’ve learned that you always carry with you?

Keep your head up. 

If you were a book, what book would you be and why? 

I would be Chainsaw Man by Tatsuki Fujimoto. It’s an amazing manga series that I love. But no real reason, I just like the art style and story. 

[entertainment]

here's a lil atla fanart reenactment 🌚

thanks for your service @chremes007

cc @netflix

[natlacentral]

Deadline Hollywood: Dallas Liu reveals to Deadline his wildest set experience during the making of #AvatarNetflix: “You guys can start shipping Zuko—”

[sapphicyanli]

truly rare netflix w for casting the gayest person in the natla cast as zuko. literally couldnt get any better than this

[laoih]

Gordon Cormier & Dallas Liu

AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER (2024)

[thepermanentrainpress]

Gordon Cormier, Kiawentiio, Ian Ousley, Dallas Liu & Paul Sun-Hyung Lee on Avatar: The Last Airbender. (Watch in HD)

We chat with Gordon Cormier, Kiawentiio, Ian Ousley, Dallas Liu and Paul Sun-Hyung Lee at the Vancouver premiere of Avatar: The Last Airbender about their highly anticipated series, online content, and favourite eats in the city.

[coulsonlives]

Mkay, time for my in-depth review of Zuko's scar in the live action ATLA, because I'm a lil salty.

This is the first shot of Zuko we see, and my first impression is: this isn't the best makeup. The first thing that stands out is the flatness of the scar. It's unrealistic, because burn scars usually heal in a lumpy way, it's called hypertrophy. See the burn scar from the Hound (Sandor Clegane) in GOT:

That lumpiness is super important for making skin appear like it had been burned by fire and healed over! But because it's not really there in Zuko's face, it just looks like he got a bad sunburn:

I understand Zuko doesn't need a super deformed face, or enormous textures in his scar, but we basically have just flat skin right now, and it doesn't sell 'bad scar' at all. The makeup should've been somewhere between those two things.

The second thing is the general inaccuracy of the scar itself. I'm not gonna nitpick how it doesn't go as far down his cheek, or how it's not affecting his left eyelid, but there are some major things I am gonna mention. In the animated show, his left eyebrow was burned away because the fire contacted the skin underneath it, and then went over that, up into his forehead:

Here's a crappy edit I made where the brow is mirrored, you can see how much the scar extends over it.

But in the makeup, it looks like the fire either stopped directly at the underside of his brow, or it did burn his skin under the brow, but the brow grew back somehow. It looks weird. Because the brow is still present, there's less contrast to draw your attention to the scar and subconsciously say 'this isn't normal'.

Here are two other edits I did:

This is what I'm talking about when I say the brow (and height of the scar) drastically changes how Zuko looks. He looks so much closer to the animated version now, but he's still free to emote because his eye isn't affected at all, and his brow could still move normally. It also helps give him that harsher appearance, which people tend to say exists with the ponytail hairdo! But it would also work great with his long hair look, which would soften everything anyways.

(For the second edit, I also tweaked the ear a lil bit.)

When it comes to the colours of the scar, I'm undecided. In the OG show, they probably had to change the colour of his scar so much to indicate there was even a scar in the first place, because it would've been annoying to add tons of line detail for the animators to deal with instead. At the same time, the live-action show could tone it down a lil bit. But it doesn't look bad, per se.

The third observation I have is Zuko's ear. If you look in the animated show picture above, his left ear (your screen right) is smaller than his right ear, because it's scarred over. I don't think it's practical to have that kind of effect in the live-action show, because it would mean even more CGI (they'd literally need to paint out the real ear, and then replace the ear with a digidouble ear). But if you look at the trailer capture, you'll see the scar colour doesn't even extend to his ear at all!

If you open the picture in photoshop, the scar around his eye and cheek has a reddish hue, but the skin on his ear is the same colour as the skin that isn't scarred. This isn't a cherry-picked sample, the hue is the same in each entire area. As soon as you stop sampling the ear and start sampling the cheek, it drops right into the reds/oranges:

I think the ear coming away unscathed might be a little unrealistic too, considering the scene where Zuko is burned by Ozai currently looks like this:

The fire is obviously going around the sides of his face, not just going directly into it and then bouncing away. It's kinda brushing around. With a scene like this I would expect the ear to have some kinda damage. Is it because they toned down the overall scar so much that any apparent damage on the ear would become nonexistent? Maybe. But right now, the scar just looks like a blob on his face, instead of a spot where fire actually flowed around.

And I just wanted to point out something else I've seen, not in the trailer, but in the fandom. Because I'm already tired of seeing it, it's dumb. Basically I was on a forum and I saw someone say 'if you want something like Two Face from Batman, this is the wrong property to ask for that'. I thought it was super unreasonable because nobody is asking for this:

And nobody is having a 'meltdown', like some other dishonest peeps are saying! People are just mildly upset that the actor's skin looks like it's been coloured in with dye, and there's almost zero hypertrophy to actually telegraph the fact that it's definitively a scar.

So those are my thoughts.. The scar is barely serviceable, they kinda dropped the ball imo.

Don't get me wrong, I totally understand the ~hollywood need~ to make things super toned down so you can see actors' glamorous faces or whatever, but some additional scar makeup wouldn't have harmed his ability to emote or anything. They didn't even need to do anything to his eye.. Just fix the overall first impression the scar gives, which would've worked with the stuff I mentioned above. So I'm not sold on 'it's to show the actor's face better' as an acceptable reason. It's an explanation sure, but it's just not good enough to justify the difference to me.

[giyuulatte]

the way i would do anything to be friends with dallas

[mangolemonjuice]

Dude I didn’t realize Daniel Dae Kim was in LOST

Headcanon: Ozai is a famous actor, starred on a show then has two kids, maybe Zuko becomes a famous singer, K-pop singer, not sure.

[beetleye]

so true, tbh its really upsetting,, esp how dallas and the head of makeup apperantly pushed for a better scar but it didnt turn out ????? huh ????

WHAT DO YOU MEAN NOT LIKE A REAL-LIFE BURN VICTIM. UOU ARE PLAYING A LIVE ACTION VERSION OF A BURN VICTIM. IT SEEMS APPROPRIATE FOR HIM TO LOOK LIKE A "REAL-LIFE BURN VICTIM"

The fact that Zuko in the Avatar reboot looks nothing like an actual burn victim bothers me. It bothered me from the first episode and it continued to bother me throughout the entire series. They had the budget for realistic makeup so it begs the question of "why didn't they make him look realistic?", y'know?

[dallaslovebot]

dallas liu solo interview compilation (2019- ongoing)

finding dallas' old interview can be a little difficult so i wanted to share the interviews i've been compiling to make it easier for other fans!

along with keeping this updated, i'll start archiving all the interviews soon so this blog will always remain a safe space for fans of dallas. as for the video interviews, i'll be sharing a playlist soon so keep an eye on that :] happy reading folks!

2024

work: avatar the last airbender

a.v. club (february, 2024) 

indiewire (february, 2024)

boys by girls (february, 2024)

gr8 magazine (february, 2024)

nylon magazine (february, 2024)

timid magazine (with lizzy yu) (february, 2024)

la times (with paul sun-hyung lee) (february, 2024)

a book of (march, 2024)

numero netherlands (march, 2024) | alternative link 1

gq magazine (march, 2024)

cero magazine (april, 2024)

the laterals (june, 2024)

2023

work: the slumber party

authority magazine (june, 2023)

justjaredjr (july, 2023)

2021 

work: shang-chi and the legend of the ten rings

boys by girls (september, 2021)

1833 magazine (september, 2021)

grazia magazine (september, 2021)

i’m so obsessed podcast (september, 2021)

26magazine (september, 2021)

vulkan magazine (september, 2021)

flickering myth (september, 2021)

2020

work: PEN15 (season 2)

mochi magazine (september, 2020)

rival magazine (september, 2020)

nbc news (september, 2020)

tumblr (october, 2020)

2019

work: PEN15 (season 1)

pop-culturalist (february, 2019)

awards daily (february, 2019)

the daily shuffe (march, 2019)

[audio] the koalition (march, 2019)

seat42f (march, 2019) 

open the trunk (march, 2019)

[audio] TheTVDudes (april, 2019)

mochi magazine (may, 2019)

AMA on reddit (2019)

essay (recommended reading for all dally fans idc)

overthinking could be your downfall so embrace the unknown (july, 2019)

[sweetteainthesummerx]

THE LOVE LASTS SO LONG (4)

In which Ollie and Aubrey's interaction is captured online

series masterlist

notes: hey y'all! this is super slow burn but I promise its worth it :) Leave a comment ( I go feral for those) and ask to be added on the tag list if u please

★・・・・★・・・・ ★・・・・★

f1_09gossips posted

clip one: An iPhone camera captures a slightly grainy video of Aubrey Yang, wearing a newly given Ferrari cap, greeting Charles Leclerc and Alexandra Saint Mleux after the Monaco Grand Prix. She shakes his hand and gives her a hug in greeting. The three converse in rapid French, laughing once in a while. Ollie Bearman walks by mid-conversation, and Charles grabs his arm. The tall boy turns and sees Audrey, cheeks flushing visibly. Her back is now turned to the camera, but she waves and he smiles at her. The paddock is crowded and loud, but the camera shakily zooms in on the group. She shakes his hand, and he bends down to ask her something, speaking into her ear. She smiles and nods and he looks to his manager for something. His manager hands him his phone and he takes a selfie with her. He lifts his arm and she slides under it as he hands the phone to Charles. They both hold up peace signs, arms wrapped around the other. She offers him a hug as his manager calls him to leave to an interview. He returns it eagerly, bending down a little to hug her properly. Her hands loop under his arms to pat at his back gently, and his are wrapped around her waist. When they break, he says something again and waves as he leaves. Alexandra and Charles watch on with thoughtful looks on their faces.

clip two: Aubrey Yang, walking hand in hand with Lily Muni He as the two navigate through the paddock.

f1_09gossips Aubrey Yang seen in the paddocks yesterday!

liked by 302 others

view 50 comments

dudududumvp GUYS I SAW THEM and let me tell u ollie was fangirling

-- user1 hello???

-- dudududumvp yeah he was blushing and everything it was so cute

aubreyyang posted

aubreyyang Was an absolute privilege to film in my home city. WE LOVE YOU VANCOUVER 🇨🇦

White Jade Tiger is a project that is so close to my heart. As a second generation immigrant, this book meant so much to me as a child. Now, getting to play Jasmine and bring her story as well as thousands of others to life is an honour. Oh, and a Dallas pic to feed your soul :)

WHITE JADE TIGER OUT JANUARY 2025

tagged: whitejadetigermovie, dallas_liu

liked by alexandrasaintmleux, olliebearman and 670,332 others

view all 371 comments

dallas_liu 🔥🔥🔥

user1 oh i didn't know she was canadian

-- aubreyyang born and bred, baby!

-- aubygfan1 OMG ILYSM

charlesleclerc felicitations!

-- aubreyyang merci! j'espère de vous voir (et Alex) à la première

-- f1wagsfvr damn everyones flocking to her insta she must be so lovely

-- dior.n.goodjohn trust me she is

-- user2 dior what r u doing here 😭

macecoronel congrats!

this comment was removed

WESTERN ASIA MEDIA PRESENTS

Dallas Liu and Aubrey Yang for White Jade Tiger

Western Asia Media Interviewer: Welcome, you guys!

Dallas Liu: Thanks for having us, man.

Aubrey Yang: It's so good to see you!

WAMI: It really is. Last time we saw you both, you were working on Crazy Rich Asians and Shang Chi respectively.

DL: laughs and shakes his head. Woah, that was actually so long ago.

AY: Don't, I feel old.

WASMI: Okay, so before we get started, we have a couple of personal questions... Aubrey, we didn't know you spoke French!

AY: Oh, that. I grew up speaking Canadian French at school, because it's mandatory in Canada. But actually, I've met some really good friends lately who are Monégasque, so my accent has been leaning towards there.

WASMI: Are these friends by any chance very famous motorsports racers?

AY: Yeah, Charles and Alex. They're both super cool.

WASMI: Onto you, Dallas...

f1wags posted

f1wags Ferrari rookie Ollie Bearman and model girlfriend, have allegedly broken up, according to sources.

liked by bearmanheart and 3846 others

view all 30 comments

user1 NO WAY

bearmanheart MY CHANCE BRO

user2 aww they were cute

user3 rip

olliebearman posted

olliebearman Monaco you never disappoint 🇲🇨 ❤️

liked by charlesleclerc, aubreyyang and 78,972 others

view all 347 comments

user1 i think him and Estelle actually did break up she hasnt been at any of the races for like weeks

-- user2 do uk why

-- user3 prob because shes so much older

charlesleclerc what are you doing partying 🤨

-- olliebearman sorry dad 😔

aubrie_yangfan WAIT IS THE BREAK UP CONFIRMED my Aubrey ollie pipeline might come tru

-- username5 ur actually delusional 😭

★・・・・★・・・・ ★・・・・★

Taglist: @callsignwidow

© sweetteainthesummerx.tumblr. all rights reserved. unauthorized copying, translation, or claiming of my writing or any works as your own is strictly prohibited.

[natlacentral]

Kiawentiio goofing (and cracking Gordon up) when she hears the word hope.

[old-people-like-avatar]

Netflix Avatar the Last Airbender S1 - Overall Thoughts [SPOILERS]

I am a longtime fan of Avatar the Last Airbender. I did not watch it in its original 2005 run, but I discovered it in around 2010 after my good friend R.S. recommended it to me. It's been my #1 favorite TV show ever since and I have rewatched it more times than I can count. I was cautiously optimistic about NATLA.

Now, having watched the whole first season of NATLA, and looking at the season as a whole, I think the best word to describe it is uneven. I can't say that I loved it, and I can't say that I hated it. But there were things I really liked about it and things that really did not work for me. Overall, I enjoyed watching it -- if only to dissect what did and did not work about the adaptation -- and would want to watch more.

WHAT WORKED

Everything to do with Zuko and Iroh. I found myself going back through just to rewatch all of the Zuko and Iroh-related scenes. I thought Dallas Liu really nailed Zuko -- from tantrums about his journal being stolen to incredible action sequences to the boyish vulnerability of worrying about the laces on his gauntlets. He took an iconic character and made him his own. NATLA added some incredible scenes and lines to my favorite duo: Lu Ten's funeral (coupled with orchestral version of "Leaves from the Vine"); Zuko's first war council; Iroh choosing to go with Zuko on the boat; the 41st Division; Iroh putting a blanket on Zuko. And I liked that NATLA emphasized that Iroh needed Zuko in the wake of Lu Ten's death as much as Zuko needed Iroh after his mother left.

Daniel Dae Kim's interpretation of Ozai. Ozai in ATLA is kind of one-dimensional. Daniel Dae Kim's Ozai adds a deeper layer to him in that he genuinely seems to think he's doing legitimate parenting -- even going so far as to visit Zuko after burning his face and remarking, glibly, that he'll recover ("but he'll never heal," says Iroh). It adds an even more monstrous angle to his cruelty because Kim's Ozai seems to think he's doing it for his children's own good. This post perfectly encapsulates my feelings about why I thought the agni kai between Ozai and Zuko was an excellent addition to NATLA.

Zuko/Aang. These two bonding over goat hair brushes was the scene I never knew I needed. The way Aang managed to wrest a little smile out of Zuko in that scene before Zuko blew up at him for criticizing the Fire Lord? And the way that tied into the "Compassion is a sign of weakness" scene from the agni kai? Great character work.

WHAT DID NOT WORK

Dialogue. I already observed at length my dissatisfaction with the clunky, exposition-dumping dialogue in my episode-by-episode writeups. It certainly wasn't as bad as the Movie-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named, but . . . there was no art or subtlety to it, and no trust in the audience. A disappointment.

The GAang did not feel like family. The lack of breathing room in the 8-episode season meant that all of the "filler" episodes that fleshed out the relationships between Aang, Katara, and Sokka were sacrificed. I am not saying NATLA needed to recapture each of the filler episodes. But they needed to build the foundational bonds between the main trio with showing not telling and they really didn't. They separated them for big chunks of 2 episodes. And, really, they just felt like traveling companions. That took all of the emotional heft out of, well, everything related to Aang, Katara, and Sokka. I mean, frankly, the kid actors did a better job establishing the "family" dynamic just by being themselves in their press interviews than the show did with the characters.

Aang did not run away from responsibility. I am not one of those people that's just mad that the show wasn't exactly like the cartoon. No. What I mean is, even putting aside the cartoon, even if you just look at NATLA itself: their own themes were undercut by never showing Aang actually running away from responsibility. Each avatar seemed to be berating Aang for doing something he was never actually shown to be doing.

Katara. I really don't think this one is on the actress. Katara felt like a fundamentally different character from ATLA's Katara. It's not to say an adaption is not allowed to have their own interpretation of a character, but... I just did not understand NATLA Katara. There was no passion, no rage, no overbearing nurturing. She was... I don't know what she was. Traumatized, yes, but nothing grew out of that trauma? Meek, until the plot demanded that she suddenly become a waterbending master without any guidance other than a waterbending scroll? The "younger sister"? More than any of the main characters, I'm not sure what NATLA was trying to say about Katara at all. And, as a result, I'm afraid the word to describe it might be uninteresting. And given that she is the heart and soul of Team Avatar, this one was really tough.

Despite the fact that a lot of NATLA did not work for me, I still enjoyed it because the things that did work for me, well, really worked. So. I'm here for all of the Zuko/Iroh scenes!

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

thoughts on sokka and zuko's netflix actors ian ousley and dallas liu (jokingly?) teasing zukka in interviews? are they queerbaiting?

For those who don't know what the fuck queerbaiting is: you know how Disney announced "it's first openly gay character" in literally every movie they've been releasing lately, and these "characters" are always on screen for only 5 seconds so it won't annoy conservatives or be banned in China?

That's them trying to use the promise of gay content to get people (be it gay people or someone that just wants to know if Disney will handle the subject properly) to watch their stuff. It's just false advertizing in rainbow colors.

Netflix, being the cheap bastards that they are, love using "We got minorities in this!" to advertise either their bland, bad shows that will get a million seasons, or the rare good show that they'll cancel way too soon because they seem to be alergic to quality. Either way, the gay content they promise audiences is usually there - you know, it's just not good because Netflix hates good things. Hell, they made Oma and Shu a lesbian couple from what I've seen.

Considering I've heard that the cast of the Avatar Live Action is pretty comfortable dunking on Zutara as a ship despite it being crazy popular and some fans literally only watching the show because they thought it'd make Zutara canon, and even having the balls of saying their show is less problematic than the OG one because they cut the plot of Sokka unlearning sexism, I'd say they're not claiming to like Zukka because some executive told them to, in the hopes of getting people to watch. The actors are probably either two buddies joking around because "Dude, what if our characters got together?" or saw some fanart/headcanon on Twitter and rolled with it.

So no, it's not queerbaiting, it's just actors voicing their opinion - basically the same as the Wedneday situation. The actresses for Wednesday and Enid ship their characters, but Netflix never gave any indication that these two would be a thing, and the internet only cried QUEERBAITING because people can't accept that sometimes the goth girl and the girly girl don't kiss because none of the writers even thought about making them gay.

And before someone inevitably goes "Oh but one/both of them are straight/don't want to discuss their own sexualities - are they queerbaiting when showing excitment at the idea of their characters hooking up?"

1 - Real people can't queerbait because their sexuality is a personal matter, not a product meant for other people to consume.

2 - If Netflix does want to make Zukka a thing (and I've seen nothing to sugest that they do) and starts promoting it, it's the CHARACTERS that would have to be gay, not the actors. I'm pretty sure Zuko's actor can't create/control flames at the palm of his hand, but that doesn't mean he's lying to people, he's just an actor acting. Even if and Sokka's actor have to play a gay couple at some point, it won't be queerbaiting for them to do so and even be excited for it/thinks it makes sense for their characters, regardless of what sexuality they are in real life, because the actors are not their characters they're just people doing a job.

[foxydivaxx]

Everyone is shipping Sokka and Zuko because of their live action actors’ strong bond plus the fact that those two were roommates. Dallas Liu even jokingly called him his boyfriend in an interview xD