#equalists

[milkydraws8]

continuation of my lok au

[copaganda-clobberfest]

WELCOME

TO THE FIRST ROUND OF THE COPAGANDA CLOBBERFEST!

“You know that trope? That one trope *Everyone* hates? The trope in which a well meaning antagonist to our heroes, one looking out for the good of a certain community, suddenly does something horrible and drastic to make not only them, but the ideology they stand for the most villainous of all?”

NOW IS THE TIME TO BATTLE THEM OUT! Like Ken dolls, fighting for survival! Like your Polly pockets discarded in the closet, we’ll see which of these bitches jumped that slippery slope harder! Whose character did numbers on y’all, and blew up a bunch of grandmas and babies and hospitals with it!

ROUND ONE

HAMA from AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER vs AMON from THE LEGEND OF KORRA

Hama propaganda:

“A waterbender from the southern water tribe who was captured by the fire nation when they invaded her home. After being put through inhuman conditions to prevent her from waterbending, she learned to bend her captors’ blood instead to escape. She then lived undercover in the fire nation, for decades, before meeting the gaang. Then out of nowhere it’s revealed she’s behind the disappearance of a bunch of fire nation villagers and she tries to forcibly teach katara bloodbending so she can carry on her actions. And for what?? That doesn’t even make any sense!! She could’ve been at least targeting soldiers or officials but nope all of a sudden she’s actually the villain torturing innocents because she can and i guess that’s what happens after she goes through all that ???? ??”

“if iroh can get let off the hook for being a former fascist war criminal, hama can get off the hook for imprisoning people. hama was taken from her homeland, interned, and forced to watch all of her fellow waterbenders die in prison. the gaang's solution to her doing the same thing to members of the nation that wiped her people out? RE-INTERN THIS TRAUMATIZED ELDERLY SURVIVOR SO SHE'LL DIE IN PRISON LIKE THE REST OF HER PEOPLE. hama should be allowed to go home and see her few surviving friends and family again.

bloodbending wasn't just a cool evil new ability, it was a metaphor for generational trauma. that's why hama was so insistent that katara learn it: it was the final legacy of all those people who the fire nation purposefully exterminated, because it was the only thing that saved hama from that same fate. it was the only form of southern bending katara could inherit, because it was all that was left of them.”

Amon propaganda:

“his whole thing was that nonbenders are discriminated against in the avatar-verse, which isn’t all that wrong. except instead of fighting for something like more nonbender representation in government or, y’know, a n y t h i n g reasonable, he decides the way to solve this is clearly to take away people’s bending until… what?

honestly, I never was clear on if he had an actual plan

take away the bending of everyone in republic city? the world? stop at korra? who knows!

anyways. he decides it makes pErFeCt SeNsE that to solve the problem of nonbending discrimination (I honestly don’t think it was as oppressive as he claimed) by taking away peoples bending ability

which is akin to someone stealing your entire identity and for many, livelihood

but the real kicker is

the way he does it

IS BY BENDING

AND NOT EVEN REGULAR BENDING BUT A SUPER SECRET RESTRICTED ILLEGAL FORM OF BENDING

which is EXACTLY the kind of thing he fearmongers about when he says venders have too much power

so his whole platform of “I am one of you (nonbenders), chosen by the spirits to correct this inequality” is complete and utter baloney”

Always feel free to rb with more propaganda :)

[yikes-kachowski]

How do we feel about bumi ii being an equalist as a part of his edgy teen years? Am I crazy for liking the idea?

sketches!!!

(dont worry, he just was protesting, nothing violent)

I feel like as a nonbender who feels like an outsider in his own family, a group that preys on his insecurities and validates his fears of being seen as less than could very easily pull him in.

Not to mention, I don't think the equalist movement is completely without merit. I actually have a lot of thoughts on equalists and nonbenders in general in meta and in universe.

Adult bumi design :)

[aykady]

Me back into digital and into fandoms? More likely than you think

[kason-nvidiade-art]

Equalist Work by KasonSama

This has been a WIP for ACTUAL YEARS at this point so I decided to ""finish"" it. It's done.

It is nice doing Legend of Korra art more so Equalists, love these guys.

[i-put-the-ass-into-sass]

quick lil amon sketch at work today

[novaae]

Okay so here are my thoughts on Bumi and the Equalist movement, because that is genuinely such a great plot-point that I don't think was ever explored fully (like many plot points in LoK lol).

Firstly, there's no way that Bumi wasn't an inspiration for these guys. Nonbender at such a high position, that too without the influence of his parents? Known for his strategic mind and genius ideas? There's no way that the Equalists didn't admire him, and probably bastardised Bumi's public opinions.

Add to it his childhood, and also his career, which they would have used as a propaganda piece. Like, I'm sorry Bumi doesn't come into the public picture as much as his siblings (which may have been a personal choice), but there's no way his teenage and joining the UF wasn't highly documented. Baam. Proof that the Avatar stood for discrimination, if he couldn't pay proper attention to his own son, what about the nonbenders of the world.

Add to it, Iroh II (a firebender and everything) getting promoted to General in his 30s (I see some people hc him in early 20s and uhm. Hc what you like but if we go with that line, makes even more sense why he is incredibly unpopular in Equalists.) A younger BENDER getting promoted over a NONBENDER with more experience? Nevermind that it could have been another personal decision.

(That being said, if the issue was bad enough for so many nonbenders to rally behind the Equalists,,,,, Bumi could have definitely been shafted because of being a nonbender.)

I feel like the only reason he avoided getting a discreet invitation was because of his job. He was rarely in RC, mostly port cities, and even in RC he probably spent most of his time in Air Temple Island.

As for Bumi's reaction to the Equalist movement, I think in the beginning, or at least till it was revealed that they were terrorists (total cop out btw), he did privately support them. Like not as in making donations or voicing it out loud, but if it ever came up on in family dinners he'd pull up good points and said that if the UN ever had elections, Bumi would vote for them.

As a result, when he gets news about them actually being a terrorist organisation and taking away people's bending, he would feel awful on the inside. Even more-so when his own beloved niblings were harmed so directly. He would prefer for his family to not bring it up.

He still supports non-bender representation in the Congress of UN though.

-

Tagging @wilcze-kudly, @linnorabeifong and @superliz6 because you guys showed interest.

[equalistaden]

Hey there. Been awhile since I posted any art here but I drew these awhile ago at this point. So here is some Older!Akira. He's probably in his late teens/early 20s.

[orangepanic]

It is easy to chalk off the fact that Asami looks just like her mother to lazy writing and character design. After all, it’s clear the show invested about a half dollar in her character overall. But I think this is one of the few things they actually got right.

Imagine you’re Hiroshi Sato. The absolute love of your life burns before your eyes and all of your power and money and empire and stubborn ability to manifest what you want from the world through sheer grit can’t ease her pain, let alone save her. Your life goes dark. And then there’s your daughter. Who looks more and more like your lost love every day. How would you ever move on? How could you give your love to another when Yasuko is sitting across from you at breakfast, or perched on the end of your desk chattering away about school?

Hiroshi never remarries for the simple reason that he can’t. He knows intellectually that Yasuko is gone, he’s not crazy, but Asami’s looks and manners makes him feel like he’s seen a ghost. For over a decade she haunts him in her person. And when he hears whispers of a revolution that would protect her from fire forever he’s not even sure who he’s saving. Only that he would destroy the world rather than lose her again.

[rwbyuser24]

How far would the Equalist revolution have gone? (Legend of Korra)

Alright, let's suppose that Amon was able to defeat Korra and her friends. What now?

Look, only with Hiroshi Sato money (And the contribution from all its members, I guess) they were able built a lot of weaponry, basically defeat the police, and beat General Iroh's fleet.

Once they seize control over Republic city they could be able to be the ones to collect taxes. With that, they could fund their revolution and expand beyond. Then, it can be like a snowball, while the Equalists expand more and more, they can collect more taxes.

Hiroshi Sato caused a technological revolution. In the air with his biplanes. In the ground with his Mecha-tanks. In the sea with his naval mines. And infantry with his electric gloves and electric sticks.

After conquering Republic city, they left the whole country beheaded. Maybe ir general Iroh managed to escape, he could still lead his military.

But anyway, there is no higher authority to command the army but the soldiers themselves.

What's more, while they expand themselves they can recruit more and more soldiers. Amon was able to recruit people from Republic city, it wouldn't be weird if he could recruit from the rest of the country. As long as he maintain the war crimes low, he can continue maintaining a good public image between the non-benders.

He can also capture technology and weaponry from the conquered territories.

I'm not sure how would act the rest of the nations.

Izumi would probably maintain her country out of the conflict. Not wanting to be involved in unnecessary conflicts. But at the same time, she might be interested in receive the refugees of the United Republic of Nations.

Once Amon put a foot on Earth kingdom, Hou Ting would use that as an excuse to conquer the United Republic of Nations.

No idea if Unalaq and Tonraq would try to liberate the United Republic of Nations. Amon seem intelligent, while he have global conquest ambition I doubt he would enter so quickly in a war against all the nations at the same time. He might even try to infiltrate agents inside the other nations to promote dissidence from inside. Think how many non-benders would like to overthrow the Earth Queen.

Just remember, the Equalists were able to outmaneuver the government in many occasions.

At the same time, there are genius in the other nations. I mean, once they capture technology of the Equalists, Varrick and Baatar Jr. would work to reverse engineer that and make more of that technology.

But, those are my thoughts. I think that while Amon would be able to conquer the whole country and even beyond, he would be eventually defeated by the Earth kingdom and the water tribes.

[lovelooksgudonu]

asami warm up sketch

anon ask for Asami with a gun, so I'm back with my bullsht. Equalist Asami, but she has a gun and a motorcycle

[dalekofchaos]

AU Asami is Amon by nikoniko_808

Give me the forbidden enemies to lovers Korrasami

Okay I wrote up my own au of Asami as Amon

Hiroshi and Asami witnessed the death of Asami’s mother at the hands of the Red Lotus society. Asami swore revenge on all benders. The corruption of Benders has gone too far and Asami and her father cannot let it continue. So they create a movement. The Equalists. Near the end of season 1. Asami would be nowhere to be seen. The Krew believes the Equalists have kidnapped Asami and when Korra confronts Amon, they don’t see her.

Tarrlok is still captured by Amon, when Korra sees him and they chat, he tells the whole story of Amon as it happened in the show to her and everything. Like it goes in the show. Korra and friends go to confront Amon at the arena where Tenzin and his family are about to lose their bending. But they don’t because she gets there in time. She accuses Amon of being a bender, as per Tarrlok’s story. Amon doesn’t unmask. And he isn’t a bender. Tarrlok lied to get Korra to confront Amon so that he could capture her and he could hopefully save his own skin for the service at least. They fight. Amon takes Korra’s bending in a big demonstrative way. So all the crowd can see what comes to any benders, especially The Avatar who stand against him. Then the reveal happens. Asami is Amon.

In order to get her bending back and learn how to give others their bending back (yeah, Korra wouldn’t get it back at the end of Book 1 because consequences? What’re those?), Korra has to go on a quest to learn her bending(her masters would be Toph, Katara, Izumi and Tenzin) in the Spirit World to understand everything. Korra does not cry about loosing her bending because she realized she’s still The Avatar and has to go to The Spirit World to get her bending back, to help everyone get their bending back and stop Asami

Throughout the series, we would meet Kya, Bumi, Izumi, Eska, Desna(Eska and Desna would be Korra’s siblings in this universe, because fuck Unaloq) Opal and Kai. We have the same romance between Bolin and Opal and Jinora and Kai. We would also meet Varrick and Zhu Li, because they are comedy gold. They would all help in the fight against Amon and the Equalists.

In Korra’s venture to the Spirit World,

she would still see Wan’s story(because that’s the only thing I liked about Book 2) and I think in her journey in the spirit world she would see Asami’s story, in which her family were victims of the Red Lotus society and Asami learned to take bending away in the spirit world. Not only that, we would find out that Asami would be bonded with Vaatu. Asami is the darker Avatar.

Before she leaves The Spirit World she connects with all her past lives to ask what she should do about Asami. Korra has her Aang moment where she has too has to decide what to do like he did with the fire lord, only this time there’s more to it than just stopping the bad guy. It’s about the person she loved. She can restore everyone’s bending by reversing Amon’s convergence, but she can’t do that so long as the avatar spirit is split. And as long as Asami is part avatar, she can go into the avatar state. That’s still pretty damn dangerous even with only water and blood bending. Korra realizes the only thing she can do to stop Asami? Love her.

After her journey to relearn her bending and journey in the spirit world, Korra travels the world to gain allies. From the Fire Nation, Earth Kingdom, Water Tribes and Air Nomads. Korra unites the world against Amon and the Equalists.

In the final fight, Korra defeats Amon. She exorcises Vaatu from Asami, thus ending the dark Avatar and stopping Amon’s convergence. She reverses what Asami has done and uses it to restore everyone’s bending. So she has to come to the hard part. Amon makes it clear, no matter what, even without the ability to energy bend or without Vaatu, Amon will never stop, Benders will never be safe. Korra shows Asami what she was denied. Korra loves her and forgives her. Asami gives up and accepts whatever punishment.

During Book 3, Asami would work with Korra in stopping and killing the Red Lotus society. However, when Zaheer is stopped. He is left at the mercy of Asami and for everything he’s done and turned her into. Asami kills him.

Book 4 happens. Asami’s redemption is rebuilding Republic City and using Future Industries to repair the damage she’s done as Amon. Blah blah blah Korra stops Kuvira blah blah. Asami earns her redemption and the love of Republic City, the krew and more importantly Korra. Ends with Korra and Asami venturing in the Spirit World and ends with a kiss.

[yikes-kachowski]

"Not to mention, I don't think the equalist movement is completely without merit. I actually have a lot of thoughts on equalists and nonbenders in general in meta and in universe."

I 100% agree, would you mind elaborating on this?

I swear had my thoughts on this written down some where but it looks like I do not. So @shalheretical is usually the one who handles these types of questions for me, but I'm doing this one. Sorry if it's not as good as it could be.

I want to start with the meta because I like to use the meta to inform the way nonbenders are seen in their society. In the meta, nonbenders have three ways they can be: evil, useless, or good at everything warriors. All nonbenders who are good and useful have to be smart and perfect at fighting and usually can't fight benders alone. Other nonbenders in any position of power are either evil and conniving or stupid and naive.

Nonbenders are also less spiritual than benders. They don't consider the environment. That's constant. In the show, in the comics, a nonbender looking for ways to become equal to benders or provide for their community is usually careless toward the spirits. They are almost insulting nature by thinking they can have power.

Bumi's plotline of being disconnected from his cultures because he can't bend was "solved" by him getting bending. After he gets his bending he tells Tenzin, "I never felt like an air nomad." Tenzin tells him, "Well you are now." Why only now? Why not you've been a part of your culture all along? Why couldn't the writers find a different way aside from giving him bending?

Fanon has this issue too. The issue i lovingly call "the bumi problem." When trying to solve the way aang and katara made bumi feel excluded they say "he trained with sokka and suki, and became a great warrior." That's not the issue though. He doesn't need to be sent off to other people, he needs quality time with his own parents in his own culture. His siblings get a sacred practice that they spend hours paracticing with their parents each week. Obviously, bumi wants that too. But no one says "he learns how to cook air nomad food with aang" because that makes his skills less important. It's not about the fighting ability, it's about the culture and love. Now, in universe stuff. Bending is tied with power, inherently. The avatar, most powerful person, can bend four elements. That's how they show they are favored by the spirits and they are in charge. The fire nation sought to wipe out everyone who wasn't a firebender. They used their own nonbenders as canon fodder. (This colonial fire bending supremacy could have taken some hold in the places they harmed)

In TLOK they show nonbenders literally havinng to watch what they say around benders because it's so easy for them to be bullied into silence. The bender that harmed them for speaking their mind being Korra, by the way. Not to mention later when we hear them pleading "youre our avatar too."

The racketeering from the triads also unfairly targets nonbenders as does all violence in the atla universe. They are the most helpless in any given situation. Hiroshi Sato brought his daughter up training in self-defense. That shouldn't be a requirement for nonbenders to feel safe.

The police in their universe, have a specialized team of metal benders to violently restrain people with whips.

In their universe, it just takes one bad night from a bender for your whole home and livelihood to be destroyed. This goes back to the racketeering, but also just one drunk earthbender getting angry. And the law does not seem to protect them.

Beyond that, imagine being raised your WHOLE LIFE knowing that the spirits didn't bless you, but they did bless the fire nation soldiers that murdered your grandparents. And they did bless the triad member who steals half your paycheck.

The nonbenders also seem to be shoved into on neighborhood according to TLOK season one which is just uncomfortable. Is there nonbender red-lining? Are they all so low income they can only afford to live there?

Lastly, in TLOK, after the equalist movement is brought down (firstly, i find it sort of disappointing in a meta way that nonbenders could only be granted power from a bender) no one even entertains the idea of looking at ways to make things more equal. No one even considers it. Anyway, those are just some thoughts. This isn't 100% solid, but it's angles to consider. I find it interesting anyway. If you have a different perspective feel free to share :)

[whatifitookalilnap]

Equalist Asami is doing her best okay:

[kason-nvidiade-art]

Equalist Chat by KasonSama

Important medical update for some injured Equalists, they got hurt doing something REALLY dumb.

Also, LMAO remember when I used to draw Legend of Korra stuff all the time???? I don't! but I felt the need, and wanted to do something a little more clean line wise, might go back and properly shade it, but for now It'd DONE.

[vita-divata]

Imagine dedicating your life to another man, that’s kinda…….