#ember island players ass situation

[watchmakermori]

some of my favourite things about atla

how non-linear zuko’s recovery is. it would’ve been easy and dramatic to have zuko do his heel-face-turn at the end of series 2, because the whole season was dedicated to him finding a new place in the world and realising the wrongs of the fire nation. the fact that he actually hits rock bottom at the end of season 2 feels far more real, as well as sending a more important message. when zuko decides to help aang in season 3, it’s a decision he has made completely by himself, not because of circumstance or Iroh’s advice. he’s separated from his uncle, has regained his title of crown prince, and has his father’s (conditional) respect. he’s no longer outcast and making the best of a bad situation, nor doing what his uncle suggests. his time in the earth kingdom with Iroh informs his character development, but at the end of the day, he is the one that manages to get himself out of his toxic mindset, which is one of the most powerful messages about recovery I’ve seen in fiction. 

the way aang and katara’s relationship is handed in season 3. while ‘the day of black sun’ does fall into the trope of aang kissing katara out of nowhere as a bold romantic gesture, I adore that in the ‘ember island players’, when aang tries to kiss her again, they actively challenge it. katara rightfully says that she’s confused and there’s too much going on for her to make sense of her feelings, aang kisses her anyway, and she pushes him away. it’s made clear that aang is in the wrong for disregarding her feelings. when they finally kiss again, it’s katara who initiates, and that teaches a subtle but hugely important message to children about consent. 

the magic system is more than just a bunch of cool powers. each element is tied to a specific philosophy and way of thinking. we get the sense that aang achieving ‘balance’ is about more than mastering powerful abilities - it’s about spending time with multiple cultures, studying multiple perspectives on life, and finding harmony between them.

while the energy bending introduction was a little bit of an ass pull, the final episodes raised an incredibly complex issue - namely, the debate of whether it is ever right to kill. given that it’s a kids’ show, I’ve never been in the camp of thinking that aang should’ve killed ozai, and think there’s a poetic beauty to the fact that - as the last airbender - he refused to relinquish the philosophy of his culture. but the fact that they broached such a controversial topic at all was incredibly bold.

the fact that the characters change appearance throughout the show. it makes them feel far less static, as well as being a great device for conveying the passage of time. 

starting from season 2, they introduce much more variety in motivation among the villains. the fire nation aren’t the only antagonists. we see earthbenders who forcefully trigger the avatar state because they want to end the war as quickly as possible, waterbenders with personal, indiscriminate vendettas, spirits who are removed from human conflicts and wish to protect their own interests. throughout the whole series, we see conflicts between the villains - zhao and zuko competing to catch aang, azula and long feng competing for control over ba sing se. it adds so much complexity and intrigue to the story. 

azula is a hammy, fun-to-hate villain who also manages to feel raw and human. her backstory explains her actions without justifying them. even though we start the series with the utmost sympathy for zuko, by the final series, we come to the realisation that his imperfections and exile are the only things that saved him from becoming like azula. they could’ve made azula’s takedown into a kickass moment full of schadenfreude, but instead it was harrowing, dark, and undeniably tragic.

every single member of the gaang has their own strengths and weaknesses, such that the group would never be able to function without any of them. I particularly appreciate that sokka is never merely delegated the role of dumb comedy side-kick. while we do laugh at his misfortune a lot, his insecurities are thoroughly explored and his tactical skills are crucial throughout the series. he also undergoes a huge character arc rivalled only by zuko’s. 

the writers don’t forget previous events and characters. aside from bringing them back for the invasion in season 3, previous characters are continually addressed, even if just via off-hand comments. I love that aang keeps mentioning hei bai despite them only appearing in one season. I love that kyoshi returns in the season finale to talk again about her conflict with chin the conquerer - as does the avatar who tried to slay ko. I love that Iroh’s redirection of lightning in season 1 becomes hugely relevant in season 2, along with his white lotus tile. I love that the library in which zhao discovered the name of the moon spirit becomes a key focus in the second season, rather than just being a vague plot device. it makes the whole avatar universe feel so much more real, precise and consistent. 

iroh feels genuinely wise. he’s not just a tropey old man whose generic advice is treated as incredible wisdom. even though I first watched avatar as an adult, so much of what iroh says in the series genuinely resonated with me - particularly his point that pride is not the opposite of shame, but its source. he also has his own distinct history, goals, and personality. you get the sense that his wisdom has come from many years of setbacks and self-discovery.

toph’s relatively unchanging character. while many of the characters undergo huge arcs, toph remains fairly unchanged throughout. she grows more comfortable among her companions and realises she doesn’t have to do everything herself, but, at the heart of it, she remains the blunt, stubborn, self-important little goblin girl that she was at the beginning of the series. given that toph has spent most of her life hiding her real desires and talents, this is exactly what her character deserved. it’s also an excellent metaphor for the unchanging nature of her element, earth. 

the gaang never insist that they’re not children. one of the most annoying tropes in children’s shows is when the young protagonists constantly claim they aren’t kids (looking at you, storm hawks), but it is completely absent from avatar. the characters never try to prove that they’re more mature than they are - aang openly acknowledges that he’s just a kid, multiple times. okay, katara does sometimes take it upon herself to be the mother of the group, but the writers explore why that is, as well as making it clear that she’s just as much a child as any of them. I think it’s so important for young viewers to get to watch heroes who are every bit as silly and childish as they are, but who still have real complexity. I also think it adds huge appeal to older viewers, because we never have to roll our eyes at a bunch of bratty kids insisting they’re aren’t children. 

tl;dr: avatar: the last airbender is a fantastic show and everybody knows it

[kikiofthevast]

Stuff I Greatly Enjoyed in ATLA

So for context: I wasn't able to watch this show when it first came out on account of the fact that I was a fairly sheltered kid so any programming that didn't have "Jr" in the name was prohibited.

But I watched it over these past two months and boy howdy is it amazing.

Go watch it if you haven't. Also spoilers, obviously.

---

The little glance Zuko and Aang share during the Blue Spirit scene of the play

"I need my honor back" being a theme of Season 3's character development

Sparky Sparky Boom Man is still an excellent name

That little moment in The Boiling Rock where Zuko is in the cooler and he breathes fire?? Good shit

Azula genuinely being a complex character and not just reduced to "crazy psycho bitch"

"Also he's attacking Aang"

My dad's color commentary (not a part of the show but he was hilarious through the whole watch experience)

The stellar vehicle animation during Book 3 and the excellent fire in the finale

The way Azula's opening firebending moves in the Final Agni Kai synced up with the music

The bending animation in general was fucking superb

Literally every scene in Book 3 involving Zuko and Iroh

The Tales of Ba Sing Se

My dad making comments about Zuko's redemption and me, way too knowledgeable on the subject, slamming my mouth shut

"Hello, Zuko Here"

Zuko Alone and how incredible it is

Aang's realistic conflict over his beliefs and the other Avatars being like "just kill him pussy"

"Did boomerang come back?" "No, Suki did!"

Sifu Hotman

The entirety of The Firebending Masters

The Ember Island Players episode killed me I loved it

Toph using earthbending to smack Aang under the dinner table

"That's rough buddy"

Zuko's inability to lie in high-pressure situations

The cherry pit scene

Toph popping the bottoms of her shoes out

Katara being a bamf in general

Fucking Piandao, I love him so much for some reason

Sokka's scheming (smart of brain, dumb of ass)

This was in the comics but Toph and Bumi's earthbending fight

The scene where Toph kicks ass with metal bending (which one? yes)

Zuko dragging the Avatar through the snow without a plan like a dumbass

The first part of the finale when they were going to leave without Aang until Toph brought attention to the fact he was gone

Zuko's anger issues

Katara's pent up issues with her father and how it was resolved

Toph telling Zuko her tragic backstory while they're looking for Aang

The joke my dad made about the Air Nomads

Wang Fire and Sapphire Fire

[princepondincherry]

Wish RWBY was better? Try ATLA

To start: Yes, I’m aware ATLA and even LoK probably have much larger fandoms than RWBY already. I think they also have more content and were produced with a larger budget, which means we have to give RWBY some slack. It doesn’t mean criticism isn’t valid.

Since Avatar came out on Netflix, I watched both shows, and I can’t help drawing parallels with RWBY since they’re both animated shows I’ve loved about badass kids/teens with magic powers. And Avatar is SO MUCH better. For instance, inter-party conflict. The Gaang argue ALL THE TIME, and it’s just presented as the normal state of affairs, not some dramatic, crazy detail when one sibling has a slight disagreement with the other sibling. And as much flak as the Mako relationship drama gets in Legend of Korra, at least it had substance to it. We still don’t really know what the problem is with Ren and Nora. Oh, and The Last Airbender handled an unwanted kiss forced on someone who didn’t think it was the right time for romance SO MUCH better, with an immediate, “I SAID I was confused!” and the instigator having a scene right after where they called themselves an idiot, instead of the Renora kiss being presented as romantic or something.

Now I kinda want to write a list of things I feel Avatar does better. There’s a poorly-argued word vomit below the cut:

- The dead mother thing--Salem mentions Summer once with no details, and Ruby completely breaks down? What? Like, grief is fine, but this has literally no foreshadowing since the songs don’t count as full canon, and it made no sense given Ruby’s established (ha) character and the situation. Katara would have flown into a rage, and it would have been so much better.

- Arguments with adults on your side--Pakku was set up as an asshole teacher from the start, and he when confronted with the consequences of his misogyny, he changed his ways for the better. Zuko arguing with Iroh is never intended to have Zuko be in the right. Korra argues with Tenzin all the time, and usually they’re both right, but have to come to a better understanding of each other’s perspective that helps them grow as people. In fact, this conflict drives a lot of the story for the first two books of LoK. Unfortunately, RWBY seems incapable of this sort of nuance. Qrow is just drunk until he isn’t, but then later gets Clover killed, and Ozpin is supposedly just awful.

- Arguments with adults who should be on your side but aren’t--Long Feng SHOULD be on the same side as the heroes, defending the Earth Kingdom, but he isn’t for pretty stupid reasons. But, unlike Ironwood shooting people like a maniac, Long Feng is against the heroes for stupid reasons that (mostly) make sense in-universe: he wants to remain in power. (I still don’t understand why he didn’t just quietly explain that he had the real power in the city, not the king, and shuffle the kids off to whoever was running the military defenses that allowed him to pretend there was no war. I guess he thought if he just gave them the cold shoulder long enough, they’d go away?) Whatever problems there were with Long Feng’s storyline, at least he was consistently written as a bad guy. In contrast, Ironwood is inconsistently written as a good guy who has all the trappings of a tyrant but doesn’t act like it AT ALL, except when he occasionally does something extreme like shoot Oscar. He’s written (I guess unintentionally?) as a subversion of the military tyrant, except when he suddenly acts like one again. It’s like they were shooting for a Tarrlok (sketchy government official who’s both bad for the obvious reasons AND worse than he appears beneath the surface, even though he often works for the side of good) but actually wrote Suyin (someone who could easily be a totalitarian dictator, but decided not to be because of her moral principles, and is actually nice), except occasionally she attacks her allies for disagreeing with her.

- Costume design--I loved Ruby’s, Weiss’s, Ozpin’s, Qrow’s, and a few other original costumes, and Ruby’s had some very solid costumes. However, Volume 7 was terrible. The animation looked weird on Weiss’s braid, Jaune’s hair was awful, and a bunch of them weren’t really dressed for the weather. In contrast, the Avatar characters change outfits whenever it’s appropriate. You know, like real people. (If this is a “3D animation makes outfit changes harder than 2D animation” thing, then maybe 2D animation is just a superior art form when you’re on a budget.)

- Consistent power levels--Katara starts weak and gets stronger. Aang starts as only an airbender and consistently gets better at everything else. Toph invents metalbending and gradually gets more proficient with it. In contrast, RWBY’s Volume 1-3 feats are often better than their later feats, and Aura strength blatantly depends on plot. Yang’s gotten *slightly* better at fighting, Weiss learned a new skill and promptly got her butt kicked by focusing on it too much, Ruby supposedly learned hand-to-hand combat but really just did a headbutt, and RWBY SOMEHOW beat the most premiere team in Atlas after training with them for a few weeks. Sure, Toph, Katara, Azula, Aang, and Sokka are all ridiculous prodigies, but they’re established as such from the beginning. Katara still loses soundly to Pakku before he trains her. (Despite the memes about her kicking the ass of the patriarchy, he’s obviously going easy on her and still crushes her.) Aang gets beaten by Ozai without his OP special ability. Azula gets beaten easily the one time we see her go up against an adult (Iroh, on the ship in the beginning of book 2). And Toph is more like Pyrrha than anyone on Team RWBY. Honestly, this is one of my weaker points, but I still stand by the fact that the Avatar kids’ victories felt much more earned.

- Bad Fights--Yes, I know, heresy. I actually think the best of RWBY’s fights (RWBY vs. Torchwick’s mech, Ozpin vs. Cinder, Pyrrha vs. Cinder, RWBY vs. the Nevermore, Qrow vs. Tyrian) are somewhat more exciting, visually interesting, and (sometimes) emotionally charged than even the best of Avatar’s fights (Aang vs. Ozai, Zuko vs. Azula, Kya vs. Zaheer, Korra vs. Zaheer, Tenzin and his siblings vs. Red Lotus, Suyin vs. Kuvira). But my actual point is that RWBY’s bad fights are BAD, whereas I can’t even think of what the worst Avatar fights are. Sokka vs. Zuko in episode 1 was pretty bad, but that was more of a gag than a fight. Umm...Big Glowy Korra vs. Unavaatu was kinda cheesy, but I still liked it. Meelo fartbending vs. the Equalists? Idk. Meanwhile, RWBY has the Scuffle of Haven, that time Ilia seriously hurt Sun somehow, Qrow vs. Tyrian vs. Clover (visually impressive, but made NO FUCKING SENSE), Oscar landing a massively-telegraphed blow on Neo...well, okay. Maybe there weren’t that many awful fights. I still think I came away from more RWBY fights disappointed, but I can’t really argue my case very well.

- LGBT representation, normalized to the time period--Yes, Korrasami never got past handholding in the finale, but somehow Yang and Blake haven’t either? Even though it’s 2020? Actually, this is a symptom of a larger problem:

- Romantic relationships being ignored--Why won’t RWBY explicitly confirm anything? The RWBY cast are closer in age to the LoK cast than the ATLA cast, but it feels the other way around. Kataang was both heavily present in ATLA the whole time and by no means taking over the plot. And, okay, there was Jaune/Pyrrha, but she’s dead now, so the most-developed ship is Renora. Who held hands, then didn’t talk about their relationship at all for a full volume, and then had a nonconsensual kiss handled worse than the Kataang kiss in Ember Island Players. I’m glad there haven’t been any Romantic Plot Tumors in RWBY, but something would be nice. Or just don’t bring it up at all if you’re never going to develop the relationships.

- Sibling relationships--Yang and Ruby were great as sisters in the early volumes, but lately it’s just been Yang deciding to yoke herself to Ruby’s judgement, until suddenly she’s not anymore. I feel like they barely talked in Volume 7.

- Villains--If Salem wants to kill everyone and collect the Relics, why hasn’t she? She’s invincible! Ozai at least was still human, but he left to handle things himself as soon as he got a power-up. More vaguely, I just find Avatar’s villains more interesting than RWBY’s most of the time.

I’m aware that some/most of these are unfair. It’s more intended as an incoherent rambling to get my views out of my head than as any sort of persuasive argument.

[queendomcosplay]

On 7/19/20 I posted a TikTok in my Ember Island Players Katara cosplay, recreating one of the scenes from the episode in a duet with Gnomichi and Justadisgrace. Within an hour I received my first negative comment on the video, stating that “Katara is not fat tho”. The poster of the comment, Bradyruther, would spend the next 6 hours making around 60 comments on both videos, calling me fat and ugly and stating that I shouldn’t cosplay a character that I don’t look like and going so far as to tag a friend of his in my video responding to one of his comments, encouraging them to fatshame me as well. My post had multiple comments making fun of my body, including things like “Fatara” and “Fat Harry Potter” (a reference to my general appearance). Multiple people jumped to my defense immediately, both friends of mine and random strangers, and in the end he deleted most of his comments, including the orginal one where he went into his large triade on. I thought it was over, and in all honesty felt very loved by the amazing community that had stepped up to defend me. This morning I woke up to another comment with almost the exact same message: “Katara isn’t fat”. I posted two video responses, one just being a repost of my first video response to Bradyruther, and went off to work. While at work, people jumped to my defense once again, absolutely roasting this new commenter until he deleted his orginal comment nearly 12 hours after posting it.

Now, I’m going to state upright that I wouldn’t even consider myself as fat. Chubby, thick, or bulky are more accurate, but I don’t really get into fat territory since a lot of my bulk is muscle from boxing and weight lifting, something I do 3-5 times a week. I do have some stomach fat as a result of an antidepressant absolutely tanking my metabolism a few years back (I’ve literally seen doctors about it because no amount of exercise or diet does anything for it and I’ve been told that the only option to get rid of it is cosmetic surgery which I cannot afford) but I am overall happy with my body. I’m not super toned but I’m not flabby either and in all honesty my appearance suits me well. The comments calling me fat and ugly don’t bother me because it’s unoriginal and frankly boring. I survived middle school during the twilight craze with the name Cullen. I can take people making fun of my appearance and I’ll even join in. That’s not what upsets me about this situation.

The thing that upsets me is the fact that these kind of comments are almost normal now. If someone had said this stuff to me a few years ago, when I was in a bad place, it would have crushed me. I imagine young cosplayers receiving hate, cosplayers who are POC or plus size or just starting to hone their skills as a cosplayer, receiving the comments and getting absolutely crushed by them. Posting negative comments with the intention of hurting someone emotionally is not ok. Doing that makes you the lowest type of person. Everyone deserves respect and telling someone they’re too fat or they’re skin is too dark or that they’re costume looks like trash is not acceptable. This is a real issue in the community that needs to be addressed because it needs to change. I may not care what people think about me, but other people do care and it making comments like that incredibly damaged. It’s not that hard to not comment if you don’t like how someone looks, you don’t have to be an ass about it, especially when you do not know that person’s situation. Treat others the way you want to be treated. That’s something you’re taught as a literal toddler. Just be respectful and supportive of other people and the community can be an amazing place. I’m lucky I have such an encouraging and lovely community supporting me. I’ve gotten so much love in the last two days by friends and random strangers alike. A lot of people don’t have that.

[thingadingadurgin-archive]

so, this morning, before I was forced to flee my lover due to unforeseen circumstances, we came up with this wonderful wonderful idea, mixing some of our favorite series together in this little au/idea thing

where it’s basically the ember island players, but for jojo--

and we kinda theory crafted how the protags and dio would react to these actors and i wanna blab about it for a second, i’ll put a read more here--

Jonathan is so sweet during the show, not caring if everyone is blabbing on and on, or about how this part of the play is boring, or whatever. He’s clapping politely like a gentleman and making small talk with the rest of the protags about how he is really enjoying the show, and no one has the heart to admit that they think the show is sub-par at best. He jokes with everyone, and asks if all these bizarre things that happened to them are true.

Joseph brought a pen and paper, writing down the inconsistencies of his part, and will absolutely bring it up with his actor. He’s the Sokka of this AU, giving suggestions to the actor playing him. He’s laughing at all the jokes and situations that happen to the Joestar line, and he cheers after every. Single. Fight scene. No matter how garbage it looks, Part 3 onward.

Jotaro gives no shits about the fucking show, he didn’t want to see it, he was just asked really kindly by Jonathan to come and he can’t say no to his great great grandpa. Through the first part, he really doesn’t care, and he only starts caring midway through part 2, specifically at the Tequila Joseph part, laughing his ass off like he did during the Sun fight. He finds himself enjoying the show kinda as a guilty pleasure.

Josuke fucking LOVES the show, unironically. He’s jamming to the music they’re playing live, loving all the cool action, and at one point, even uses Crazy Diamond to fix a broken prop on stage. Though, he does seethe at the wacky wig that they have for his character, despite the fact that it looks nearly identical to his actual pomp.

Giorno doesn’t want to be here. He didn’t want to come, but again, Jonathan asked him and he figured he’d go if it made his dad happy. He’s basically cringing at every odd scene (Tequila Joseph, Death 13′s sick punishment, the entirety of the still poorly written and now poorly choreographed Alessi fight, Kira’s hand fetish, the works), and he’s just waiting to see his part and leave.

Jolyne also brought a pen and paper, but for the whole show. She’s more than willing to give these actors what for for fucking up all the parts, and if need be, she will take over the fucking production to make sure her family gets the respect it deserves. Also, she knows someone on the cast (Looking at you, Foo Fighters, u thirsty theater kid).

And DIO, he’s basically only there hoping it’ll be like the real Ember Island Players, making it so the Joestars lose every part, instead of just Parts 1 and 6. Imagine his disappointment when he sees the shitty reenactment of his whole god damn torso up exploding into blood and gore.

[syrupwit]

Letter for Trick or Treat 2019

-

Dear Reader: 

Hello, and welcome to my letter for Trick or Treat 2019. Thank you for considering making a work for me!

The primary purpose of this letter is to provide additional inspiration and creative direction. If it’s not doing that for you, feel free to disregard it.

Navigation:

Do Not Want (DNW)

Long List of Likes

For this exchange, I have requested fic only, Tricks and Treats, for the following fandoms:

Cthulhu Mythos - H. P. Lovecraft

Dishonored

Doom Patrol (TV)

Invader Zim

Marvel Cinematic Universe

The Umbrella Academy (TV)

Here we go...

Cthulhu Mythos - H. P. Lovecraft

It’s various-degrees-of-doomed!narrators -- plus Danforth! Lovecraft is great at the doomed narrator thing. What other sorts of terrible or wondrous things can happen to these seekers after forbidden knowledge?

Characters Requested:

Danforth

The Hound Narrator

Robert Harrison Blake

The Shadow Over Innsmouth Narrator

William Dyer

Re: Shipping, If That Interests You: I’m fine with any pairings for this fandom.

Dishonored

It’s creepy whales, trickster gods, and lots of minor characters! This is one of my favorite games of all time. I love the detailed worldbuilding / lore and the many opportunities for filling in backstories and missing parts of canon.

Characters Requested:

Adelle White (yes, the moth from Lady Boyle’s Last Party)

Billie Lurk | Meagan Foster

Daud

Daud’s Mother

The Outsider

Thalia Timsh

Vera Moray | Granny Rags

Waverly Boyle

Re: Shipping, If That Interests You: I’m fine with any pairings for this fandom -- seriously, go wild. On a specific note, I’ve recently become fully awakened to the appeal of Billie/Daud, and am intrigued by the idea of Billie Lurk/Thalia Timsh, Adelle White/Waverly Boyle, and Adelle White/Abigail Ames (look, it could work -- the disgraced noblewoman and the ruthless mole, okay?).

Doom Patrol (TV)

It’s Exchange Patrol! This series is so wonderfully chaotic and ridiculous. I love how messed up the characters are + the ways they support and clash with each other, and how it feels like anything can happen.

Characters Requested:

Crazy Jane

Danny the Street

Rita Farr

Cliff Steele

Victor Stone

Re: Shipping, If That Interests You: I’m fine with any pairings for this fandom. Gen-wise, I’m really fond of Victor’s relationship with his dad.

Invader Zim

It’s my recently revived obsession, back with a vengeance! After a decade and change, the movie reeled me right back in. I love this canon’s particular brand of dark comedy and pessimism mixed with... uh... zaniness.

Characters Requested:

Dib

Gaz

GIR 

Foodio 3000

Invader Skoodge 

Tak

Countess von Verminstrasser

Zim

Re: Shipping, If That Interests You: Dib/Zim | ZaDR is my OTP. I’m also pretty intrigued by the idea of Ms. Bitters/Countess von Verminstrasser. Otherwise, no preferences -- anything is fine.

Marvel Cinematic Universe

It’s the megafandom, or a tiny slice thereof! Since this canon is so darn expansive, I’ll discuss each of these characters separately rather than summarize my interest in the fandom as a whole.

Characters Requested:

Mantis

Mantis! I enjoy her earnestness, her goofier side (“kick names, take ass”; jumping to test the gravity on Titan in Infinity War), and the way her powers’ potential array of uses ranges from tooth-achingly sweet to Thanos-topplingly strong to skin-crawlingly disturbing. I am also a huge, huge sucker for sheltered and socially awkward characters learning to get along with others, and for characters with unhealthy or abusive upbringings coming to terms with the past, and for characters in space exploring space. Basically, though, I’d just like to see more Mantis.

Peter Parker

All iterations of this character have a fond place in my heart, and MCU Peter occupies a particular part of it. I am interested in the pure-hearted hero bit as well as his angstier/darker potential (getting a building dropped on him, getting pushed in front of a train, Mysterio’s illusions, the FFH post-credits scene, the classic Spider-Man backstory that has so far been left untold except through implication).

Flash Thompson

The MCU reinterpretation of Flash as a rich, douchey nerd is very intriguing to me. When he isn’t bullying Peter or playing the butt of a joke, what is he like? ...What do his social media followers actually think of him, anyway?

Re: Shipping, If That Interests You: I’m fine with any pairings for any of these characters, though I am also specifically interested in Mantis/Nebula, Mantis/Gamora, Mantis/Peter Parker, Peter Parker/Tony Stark, and Peter Parker/Flash Thompson.

The Umbrella Academy (TV)

It’s the end of the world, probably! I love this show’s tone and the genre trappings and the complicated family/team drama. Just, all of it.

Characters Requested (Any):

Allison Hargreeves

Ben Hargreeves

Diego Hargreeves

Klaus Hargreeves

Luther Hargreeves

Number Five | The Boy

Vanya Hargreeves

Hazel

Re: Shipping, If That Interests You: I’m fine with any pairings for this fandom, though I will admit to a particular fondness for Allison/Vanya and Allison/Luther.

Do Not Want (DNW)

Character or ship bashing

Non-canonical permanent major character death, *EXCEPT* for the Cthulhu Mythos

Non-canonical permanent body modification (ex. amputation)

Harm to pet animals (if a giant space squid is attacking the character's ship and they have to fight it or something, that's fine)

Parent/child incest

Non-canonical child characters

Extended discussion of Twelve-Step recovery programs (mentions are fine)

Characters in romantic relationships being written as asexual/aromantic

Smut DNWs: A/B/O, master/slave, heavily ritualized/formal BDSM, bestiality, necrophilia, scat, vore, sounding

Long List of Likes (LLL)

Humor: hijinks; absurdity; surreality; comedy of errors; ludicrous/cracky premises treated seriously or unseriously; Rashomon situations where each character shares their uniquely biased perception of an event; that trope where found documents or outsider POV seriously misinterpret canon events/characters; Ember Island Players trope. 

Horror: dark comedy; gallows humor; fridge horror; Monkey’s Paw situations; parapsychology; mad scientists; witches; ghosts; ghost hunters; cryptids; zombies; THE WALKING DEAD; revenants; cultists; rituals; eldritch beings; dying gods; possession; Dark Carnivals; cursed objects; creepy little shops peddling dubious merchandise; secluded or remote locations; big scary buildings with tragic histories; haunted mansions, ships, spaceships, houses, “haunted house” attractions, hayrides, forests, marshes, beaches, islands, etc.; that trope where you aren’t sure if there was really a supernatural occurrence or if it was a trick of the mind, ooohh scary.

Slice of Life: a day in the life of $character; dealing with the everyday challenges of life in a non-mundane universe; worldbuilding elements; missing moments; domesticity; character studies told through small details.

Action/Adventure: missions/cases and snippets thereof; escaping from captivity together; unusual team-ups; undercover as XYZ; identity porn; road trips of the terrestrial, extraterrestrial, aquatic, and supernatural varieties; space travel; visiting other planets; wilderness survival; climactic warehouse confrontations; wacky foes / locations / circumstances for battles; bar fights; fighting back to back.

Gen Relationships: frenemies; reluctant allies; forced to work together; parent-child or sibling-sibling relationships where things may be complicated but they care about each other deeply in the end even if they’re not always great at expressing it; cooperation, camaraderie, and loyalty between characters; lonely/isolated characters taking steps toward opening up to others.

Romance: first times; get-together; feelings realization; friends to lovers; frenemies to lovers; UST; one-sided pining; mutual pining; flirting where one character doesn’t think the other is serious but they totally are; possessiveness and jealousy where the possessive / jealous character feels guilty or the target of the possessiveness / jealousy is into it; monster on a leash.

Smut: characters feeling overwhelmed; lots of emotions; touch-starved; awkwardness; praise kink; xeno; unexpectedly compatible; kink discovery / exploration; characters being really into their partner or what they’re doing or how into what they’re doing their partner is; “I shouldn’t be so into this”; friends with benefits where both characters are pining but feel more comfortable having sex than talking about their feelings.

Miscellany: holidays; holiday traditions; seasons; weather; thunderstorms; getting caught in the rain; stargazing; appetizing descriptions of food; diners, drive-ins, and dives; tea; candles; cats; metafiction; unconventional formats.

[lokgifsandmusings]

I just read your articles about Kataang and Zutara. I agree that they should've shown more of Katara's POV, but I don't think Zuko would be a better choice for her than Aang? Okay, when it comes to chemistry, maybe, because they do have a lot in common. But look at "The Beach". What does Zuko do when he sees Mai simply talking to another guy? He gets jealous and tries to isolate her. Compare that to Katara befriending Jet or Haru. Aang has a crush for Katara since the pilot, but does he...

… Try to isolate her from them too? No. In the play, however, he’s being portrayed by a girl and he’s being directly told he and Katara are just friends. It’s understandable that he’ll get upset. Besides, yes, kissing Katara when she said she was confused was wrong, but he did realize it was. Did Zuko realize he didn’t act properly with Mai? What makes you think he wouldn’t have similar issues with the more outgoing Katara? Now, I love Zuko, I just wanted to point out that he’s shown… 

To be more entitled than Aang. I honestly can’t recall a single moment Aang feels upset that Katara doesn’t fit his mold of “perfect girl” like it’s stated in the post. Their relationship was built by friendship (though it probably should’ve stayed that way by the end of ATLA, I agree), he knows her and vice versa. In many ways, Aang isn’t traditionally masculine and I think he’s a precursor to, say, Steven Universe (rickthanieltumblrcom/post/162225640707/avatar-aang-feminist-icon)

I don’t ship Kataang or Zutara, but I think you guys are undervaluing Aang and I don’t think it’s fair to say he caused Katara to do less because she was overshadowed by him. That’s completely the writers’ fault, because they could’ve shown Katara be more proactive between ATLA and LOK and during LOK the way she was in ATLA.One last thing: while Zuko was the one who went alongside Katara to find the man who killed her mother, this doesn’t detract from what Aang tried to tell her. If you remember previous episodes, how’d Katara act if Aang got mad and/or entered the Avatar State? She’d try to calm him down, exactly like how he tried to do with her. Also notice that he lets her go, because he realizes she needs to confront her demons and he shouldn’t interfere. I really love your work, don’t get me wrong, I just…

Looks like your last thing cut off, but that’s okay, cause I do understand the view where you’re coming from.

First of all, I hope I haven’t mis-stated my own stance, but while I do find Zuko and Katara to be a more compelling romantic match in a general sense, I don’t ship them as they’re portrayed in the show proper. Them having a make-out sesh in the finale would have also not been free of issues, and felt a bit jarring, though I’m assuming if that had been the planned end-point, we would have gotten a bit more to their dynamic.

For that reason, I’m not sure we can really compare behaviors. Zuko’s jealousy at the beach was showing him in an incredibly unhealthy mindset in general (taking on the mantle of Prince of the Fire Nation wasn’t going so well, which the end of that episode showed), and Mai immediately told him he was being an ass and called him out for that. It was addressed in canon, and we outright saw his behavior change, especially when he left the situation that was causing him so much inner turmoil anyway. Could jealousy have still been an issue? I mean…maybe? But it’s rather moot, especially given Zuko’s continued growth in the comics in this department and how he handles his emotions in general.

Aang’s entitlement wasn’t addressed at all, and accidentally continued into the comics. Sure, he called himself an “idiot” for forcing a kiss on Katara at the end of Book 3, but then that entire scene may as well have not happened when the ending didn’t even involve a conversation between the two. I can’t make any sense of why “Ember Island Players” was scripted the way it was.

This is getting long…

I think in a larger sense though, this isn’t a matter of “either/or.” I have issues with Katara and Aang as a pairing because I have issues with Katara and Aang as a pairing, and the way they’re portrayed in canon, I don’t see it leading to a super happy life together. Which…LoK canonized, and that’s why I’m saying I love it, because it didn’t shy away from a damn thing.

Aang balking at Katara not being his idealized image was most easily on display in “Southern Raiders.” I understand it landed for you as Aang just trying to calm Katara, but to me, it came across as overly patronizing, and the genders at play in that situation really didn’t make it more appealing. Let’s not even touch the horrifying reaction he had at the idea that she might not have reciprocated his feelings. And we also do see canonical jealousy from him, at multiple points, such as when they hug in “Crossroads of Destiny.” Like…this reaction right here betrays, fundamentally, his entitlement, and it should be disturbing:

I know I used it in my piece, and I will continue to use it and shove it in everyone’s face because that’s how bad it is for me. This is not a healthy way to approach a relationship at all. I have large issues with the Nice Guy trope, probably because I dated one for 4 years, so this is a very subjective reaction on my part. Everything I’m writing is just to explain where I’m coming from. 

We may just have to agree to disagree. Depending on experience and personal taste, I’m sure Katara and Aang’s lack of the whole “you drive me crazy” thing that’s shoved into a lot of TV ships was incredibly refreshing. And yeah, Aang is not a traditionally masculine guy. I do love that! Fuck, that’s my taste in men. He’s a good protagonist and it’s really cool to see a pacifistic series lead that’s also the victim of genocide and comfortable enough to make jewelry; it is refreshing. I just am not going to get to a place where I find his early romantic relationship with Katara compelling at all, though I love the implications that we ended up with. 

[steambend]

idk if this has been asked yet but if you have the inclination, what would be your ideal zutara progression in a hypothetical book 4 for the original series? like if it was all under your direction, how would zutara develop in a fourth, 20ish episode season? bonus points for describing the season/series finale

you know what, i’ve never been asked this. so thank you, i’ve been wanting to answer for so long!

first of all, i would change the season 3 finale. i like zutara’s progression in season 3, i think was very natural for a 14/15 year old girl and 16/17 year old boy. i’d completely erase that scene where m@i comes in and threatens zuko to never break up with her again because **what the fuck**. instead, it’d still be zuko struggling to get his tunic on, maybe a little bit painfully and katara would walk in scolding him with words like, “zuko! you shouldn’t be doing this on your own, you’re hurt.” and then cue a mini healing session (katara blushes, but not as deeply as zuko does). he would express his appreciation for everything she’d done for him over the past couple of months and she would convince him to let her stay and oversee his recovery “just while the wound’s still fresh.” bullshit katara, we all know why you actually want to stay

i’d keep the end scene with them at iroh’s tea place exactly the same, except without the k@taang kiss obviously. i’d replace that with a kind, but firm talk between a@ng and katara about how she didn’t appreciate him kissing her in the ember island players episode when she explicitly asked him not to and letting him know that while she loved him dearly, she didn’t think it would ever be in a romantic way. a@ng would be upset at first, for sure, but part of his season 4 development would be learning to accept this and also maturing as a person and learning to be empathetic of other people’s situations and so on

BUT ANYWAY ENOUGH ABOUT A@NG AND MORE ABOUT ZUTARA

look, my friend, i am a sucker for slowburn. all of my ships somehow manage to be slowburn (and as an avid bellarke shipper, i am very much dead thanks for asking). so sue me for wanting zutara’s romantic relationship to establish slowly. they’re only young after all

the first couple of episodes would be katara helping in med and acting as a impromptu southern water tribe ambassador while the world is sorting itself out and slowly healing. zuko would be learning the basics of being the firelord. all that essential stuff that would come from ending a 100 year war would take place. season 3 has already established that zuko and katara have a strong bond, and are beneficial friends. i doubt they’d do anything but make time to regularly see each other outside of meetings and whatnot. zuko would make sure that no matter how busy his day was, he’d reserve time for afternoon tea with katara (and sometimes iroh, although i vehemently believe iroh ships his nephew with katara and so he’d always come up with ridiculous excuses as to why he couldn’t come so that they could be alone)

they’d talk about everything and nothing and eventually, maybe three episodes in he’d finally tell katara about his visit to the prison to see ozai and how his mother is possibly still alive. after much discussion and planning, zuko would decide to go look for her and katara would not let him go without her, insisting it’ll be just like old times and reminding him how he helped her when she was seeking closure for her mother

and this’ll be where the meat comes in. now, like i said, at first it’d be slow. things like brushing hands, zuko helping katara untangle her hair, katara comforting zuko whenever their search led to dead ends and stuff. it’d slowly become more affectionate; snuggling together during cold nights, holding hands for comfort, katara finding ways to touch zuko’s scar or brush back his hair and zuko finding it extremely hard to not look at her lips or stare into her eyes. and of course they wouldn’t even realise they’re doing this because they’re silly kids in love

and after the search is over and they visit sokka and suki and toph and the gaang, everyone sees how they act together now and are all like “wait since when did you guys start dating?” and they’re like “wait what” and ursa just looks up from her tea like, “wait, zuko, you’re telling me katara’s not your girlfriend?” and zuko and katara would be so confused like they were totally just platonic pals this whole time right? lmao wrong

and eventually when everyone’s gone to bed and it’s just zuko and katara awake they’re all giggly and blushy with each other and then they sort of confess but in a way where it’s like they totally didn’t realise they were falling for one another but now that they’ve said it, it just makes sense. their first kiss would be under the starlight and it’d be all smiles and katara would run her hands through his hair like she loves to do so much and zuko would cup her cheek with one hand and hold her close around the waist with the other and everything would just fit into place. and katara would say something cute afterwards like “i don’t know why we waited so long. who knew an angst prince like you would be such a good kisser?” and zuko would grin like an idiot but he’s her idiot so it wouldn’t matter

the end scene of the finale would be a time jump to like 5 years in the future when katara’s 22 and zuko’s 24 and they’d be married and throwing a wedding at the fire palace for a@ng and a lovely girl he met and everything would be perfect and zuko’s favourite nickname for katara would be “his queen” and katara would call him a “jerkbender” to tease him (also because sokka and zuko are best friends and she picked it up from her brother fight me) and katara would have her goddamn statue and whenever zuko went out fighting villains she’d be right there beside him kicking ass

the end

lmao this was super long i apologise i just have a lot of feelings about these two. feel free to add your own headcanons, zutara is my favourite thing to talk about!!

[a-tla]

Hi, I really like your blog! I re-watched atla in the last couple days after a long time and realized again how awesome it is Maybe you get that question often but which is your favorite scene? (Mine is in S3E17 when theater-toph shows how he 'sees')

THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH i always get irrationally happy when i hear ppl say they enjoy my blog and also when i hear them say they rewatched atla i hope this show reached cult status one day and 20 yrs from now on when s/o says they never watched atla theyll get shocked looks in return shortly followed by the question HOW COULD YOU NOT WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU

anYWAY i think i answered a similar question before but this is giving me the perfect excuse to procrastinate studying and to talk in unnecessary length about atla which are 2 out of my 3 favourite things to do. also i know u only asked me for ONE scene but i drank like 8 cups of tea the past 3 hours and im feeling v enthusiastic right now so i’m gonna make a list of my top 5 fav scenes

#5 im 100% in agreement with ur choice of fav scene and actually the entire ember island players episode is PURE GOLD and lbr ask ANY atla fan and they can quote at least 2 lines out of there perfectly. honorable mention to “HOW could you POSSIBLY say that!” and THE SCAR IS NOT ON THE WRONG SIDE!

#4 the boiling rock azula vs mai and ty lee showdown holy shit that was life-changing sokka and co. in mortal peril all seems lost and appa isnt there this time to bust them out of those kind of situations and then MAI COMES TO THE RESCUE with one of the most elegant and memorable entrances ever “What are you doing?” “Saving the jerk who dumped me.” kick my ass mai!!!!. and then later we get ANOTHER incredible line delivered I GUESS YOU DONT KNOW PEOPLE AS WELL AS YOU THINK YOU DO. YOU MISCALCULATED. I LOVE ZUKO MORE THAN I FEAR YOU lmao girl dont we all and then we see azula LOOSING HER COOL tbh i dont think that happened before that scene and theyre getting ready to FIGHT EACH OTHER and i wouldve loved to see that and lbr azula prob wouldve kicked mai’s ass bc it’s azula but holy hecking heck man that wouldve been amazing but of course then we get TY LEE!!!! TURNING ON AZULA!!! CHOOSING MAI OVER AZULA!!!  holy shit man i was going !!!!!! when i first saw that scene wee 13-y/o me did not see this coming at all and then when i rewatched it a few weeks later it was SO OBVIOUS that they were going for this all along and what im saying is a) Mai is a Queen and i adore her and 2) everyone needs to get on board of the mai/ty lee submarine with me bc that shit is Real and There

#3 ok so im totally gonna cheat this one and just say EVERYTHING SOKKA EVER SAYS bc i couldnt possibly narrow it down i’d be doing a disservice to this character and this show if i did but some favourites include the random SCREAMING IN CAPSLOCK!!! he sometimes does like “i’m going to take my vacation…. AT THE LIBRAREEEEH!!!” and “i knew it was only a matter of time…. APPA ATE MOMO!!!” and “can your science explain why it rains?”“YES! YES IT CAN!” “MUSHY GIANT FRIEND!!!!” and ofc “WATER TRIBE” which actually was NOT a Patented Capslock Sokka Scream but def deserves to be mentioned

#2 “My first girlfriend turned into the moon.” - “That’s rough, buddy.” Iconic. Legendary. Immortal. Put It On My Damn Gravestone.

#1 the scene in The Desert where the gaang meets the sandbenders and toph says recognises one of them of being the one to kidnap appa and to muzzle him and aang goes you muzzled appa?! like. this fucking scene still gets my heart racing EVERYTIME and mumbling holy shit under my breath like u fucked up real bad sandman buddy and then aang is so angry and in pain he goes into the avatar state and everyone is running away in fear but katara stays by his side and reaches out for him and pulls him back and aang is crying and the screen fades to white this scene destroyed me unchallenged number one always and forever