#fire nation having defenders is insane

[queen-morgana91]

Zutaras when the genocidal colonizers of the series are written as shitty people

Zutaras when they realize not everything is about Zuko and their crack ship

[etherealstar-writes]

I WANNA BE YOURS | LIONESSES X READER | PT 7

pairings: lionesses x reader

summary: in which you're accidentally added to a random group chat, not knowing they're all actually famous footballers, and obliviously end up having many of them competing for your love and attention.

part: seven

part one here

✦ ——— ✦ ——— ✦

THE NATIONAL DIVING TEAM

the REAL karate kid

good afternoon losers

and y/n <3

the imposter

hey

willybum

good afternoon you dumbass

and hello to you too y/n

the REAL karate kid

rude

how are you y/n?

the imposter

eh i'm doing fine i guess

stairway

is everything alright

the imposter

i got fired from work today 😔

lotte

what happened?

if you don't mind me asking

the imposter

so i told ya what i do for work yeah?

well i've worked for this company for the past

whole year as their main solo media manager

and then my boss found out that his good old

friend's son was looking for a job and he's also

a photographer and social media manager so he

decided to fire me and hire him instead to

keep his relationship strong with his old friend

the REAL karate kid

that really sucks

your boss sounds like a terrible person

the imposter

yeah he was a really difficult person

i am kinda glad tho ngl

i don't have to see his annoying face ever again

but back to job hunting again 😔

neev

if it makes you feel better

leah got head-shotted in the head

by lessi during training

the imposter

i really hope someone got proof of it

stairway

i gotcha

maya

HELP

lotte

got K.O-ed lol

willybum

this isn't funny

i got a full on concussion

i'll get you back russo

the REAL karate kid

not my fault you're a terrible defender 🤷‍♀️

willybum

EXCUSE ME?!

the imposter

dam

them calves 😮‍💨

has anyone ever asked you

to step on them?

neev

um y/n is there something you'd

like to share with the group ...

willybum

weirdly enough yeah

i have been asked that

elton

it was actually just y/n asking

on a secret account

the imposter

don't expose me like that 😩

meado

every time i open this group chat

i get deeply concerned for you all again

i don't even know who y/n is and i feel like

i should be concerned about her as well

the imposter

woah

meado

i thought we were getting along well 😔

stairway

well if meado is concerned then

i guess she's offering to pay for

our therapy so let's go gang

the imposter

also

why do guys always train and

play football together?

elton

oh you know

we just like to play football together at times

stairway

yeah

it's fun

the imposter

okay ....

who am i to judge

✦ ——— ✦ ——— ✦

THE LION KING SQUAD

russo

uh

so guys

i have done something

toone

oh no

that is never a good sign

le tissier

okay i'm intrigued

this is gonna be bad

wubben-moy

the fact that she's using the group chat

without y/n is not a good sign

stanway

is she about to introduce her new wife

to us or something? did you like run away

and get married in vegas or something?

charles

we literally saw her yesterday georgia

so if she had then that would be

insanely impressive

toone

is that why you weren't at training today?

greenwood

ella looked very lost today

it was worrying

russo

yeah

i ran away with y/n and we got married

toone

HUH

stanway

WHAT

charles

EXCUSE ME

russo

OF COURSE NOT YOU IDIOTS

not yet anyway 😏

but back to the point

leah was also in on this

bright

oh like that's any better

williamson

excuse me??

wubben-moy

here we go

russo

okay

so

you know how y/n's looking for a job yeah?

well leah and i thought we'd put in a

good word for her in our media admin so

that you know .... maybe she can get

offered a job here and you know we can

actually meet her and get to know her irl ....

stanway

that is actually ....

the most decent idea i've heard from ya

charles

yeah fr

hemp

oh my god y'all are such simps

stanway

shut up

toone

i do wonder when y/n will find out about

who we are or if she ever will

charles

nah she's got to find out soon with

the euros starting next week?

williamson

i reckon we tell her after the euros

wubben-moy

well that shall be eventful

part eight here

[juwaiin]

Racism in F1 is so, so prevalent and normalized and I’m sick and tired of everyone saying ‘these conversations are SO important’ only to 1- go about them in the most reductive way possible, and 2- only accept these ‘conversations’ from WHITE people who water them down. These conversations are ugly. They aren’t meant to be palatable and presenting them that way just takes away from the weight of it all??

The racism in F1 is very deep-rooted. Listing every incident would necessitate its own post (and raise my blood pressure). We could talk about the abuse that Lewis Hamilton has received from the FIA, the media, and other drivers; the way Zhou Guanyu is spoken about generally; the way Yuki Tsunoda is CONSTANTLY painted as aggressive and receiving severe punishments while other drivers get away with being more aggressive and offensive; The way GP organizers played the Mexican hat dance instead of the national anthem for Pedro Rodríguez; and so on. My point is, racism has been integrated into and accepted in this sport since its inception, and that has cultivated a fanbase that also normalizes racism!!

Obviously, the governing body of the sport is racist, but so are your favorite drivers! I know it’s an uncomfortable truth, but the way some of you actively defend these actions is insane. I won’t give any examples lest I get accused of targeting anyone and dog-piled again (see: the barrage of racial slurs in my anon box lol).

Besides the drivers, some of YOU actively engage in racism. I am specifically speaking about the fandom here because this is something we can actually recognize and change. I received SEVENTY anon messages calling me various slurs after criticizing a driver, which I feel like I don’t need to explain why that was a deranged reaction. A creator was also recently under fire for excluding THREE hijabis specifically, which,,,, One is a coincidence. Three is intentional. The fact that the creator was comfortable doing this so blatantly, and that nobody around noticed, just goes to show how normalized all of this is.

A lot of the phrases that are commonly thrown around are also, frankly, rooted in xenophobia. One example is when hosting countries in the middle east and Asia as a whole are labeled as ‘human rights violators’ when the United States (which hosts THREE GPs) and the continent of Europe (which makes up the majority of the calendar!) are funding multiple genocides? Listen, I lean as left as left goes and it goes without saying that all of these countries have ethical issues, but why are the ones that are constantly highlighted somehow coincidentally the ones that aren’t in the west?

It isn’t enough to ‘have these conversations. Stop defending drivers who don’t deserve the defense. Stop regurgitating phrases without considering the implications of them. Stop engaging in active racism!!

[weemietime]

Why the FUCK are you bringing up the Iraq war to defend Israel

That's like saying "oh you think ISIS is bad? Did you know America dropped agent orange on Vietnamese?"

Nigga we think both of those things are fucking terrible

Why the FUCK are you bringing up the Iraq war to defend Israel

Read my pinned post, for it explains in excruciating detail why it is important to treat every person and every country on Earth with equity and dignity. It is that fucking simple.

we think both of those things are fucking terrible

The problem is that you don't, actually.

Because you treat equivalent situations (actually, the Iraq war was far worse) with different standards. Which means that you don't actually have a problem with the situation, but rather with the parties involved.

It is not my fault that you are unable to read and comprehend the very plain and clear explanations that I have already laid out for you. But just in case you didn't get the memo, here are some posts I have made in my private friend group that elucidate it clearly to you fucking imbeciles.

Honestly it's an emotional thing for me because I've seen a lot of the unrwa materials for schools in Gaza that actively teach kids to cheer for dead Jews, sinwar was found with a unrwa employee tag, unrwa members participated in Oct 7th, the UN is being very quiet about condemning the sexual abuse that happened during this pogrom. They did finally say they found it credible but this was instantly buried and is never brought up by any UN officials any longer, the UN first didn't even admit to complicity and now are saying they want immunity for their unrwa employees who were complicit, countries like Russia and China are using their seats at the UN to push the narrative of genocide with no evidence and zero pushback while the UN platforms their voices and refuses to condemn their genocidal actions and it just feels like, you know, part of the intergenerational trauma of the Holocaust is that the international community at the time, the league of nations, was also very lackluster about condemning the genocide against us and did indeed have many member states who openly supported and participated. I mean this was an attack that was planned for 15 years by people who pretended for generations to be the friends of these peace activists and shit. It's just a theme of betrayal and the feeling that we Jews are alone. Because the loudest voices from every country are shouting from the river to the sea lol. Is it a totally factual statement, is it a cognitive distortion, probably. But there is a real sentiment behind the words that is born from pain, not just shit posting

Of course it's a lot. Even one is too much. But every time these dipshits talk they say "Israel killed 40,000 children." No, the official number given by Hamas and the UN is 7,797. Plus 4,959 women. That's 12,756 civilians. Out of a 40,000 death toll, that is 27,244 Hamas combatants killed meaning the ratio of combatants to civilians dying is 2.25:1. This is an INSANELY good C/C ratio and is the numbers that Hamas has given. The normal C/C ratio is 9:1, the USA C/C ratio in Iraq was 4.46:1 out of 174,000 meaning a 77% civilian casualty rate. And look at how people talk about the war in Iraq and Iraq war veterans and Americans and tell me that matches how people are discussing Israel. You know? I'm not blaming people for being antiwar. For being horrified. For not wanting to send ammunition or weapons. For being appalled at Israel's use of Lavender. But the double standard is very devastating because when 9/11 happened the world mourned with the USA. When Oct 7th happened, a literal pogrom, people literally spit in our faces, shut down universities, scream at us on the streets, fire bomb our synagogues, gang rape our children for being Jewish (happened in France), cheer gas the Jews, you will not replace us, Zionists are rats, kicking us out of cafes, interrogation us to see if we're a "good Jew". Like you don't understand how the atmosphere has changed in North America and how virulently antisemitic its gotten. Our memorials for our dead have to be held in secret. Because people deface them, vandalize them, and show up to protest screaming through a megaphone that we are baby killers while we are crying over our babies being killed. And eighteen year olds are being sent to fight in war in our behalf because every country around our homeland has declared they wish to exterminate us. And that taps into the very real intergenerational pain of the Holocaust.

I've seen protests that look no different than Nazi Germany protests against the Jews. It is wrenching. Most Jews I know have lost their entire friend groups literally over night. Lost their living arrangements. Have professors fail their work if it's about Jewish history. Teach that Zionism means Jewish supremacy and conquering the middle east because we are all from Poland. It hurts. It hurts. And I know that Palestinians are suffering, too. 12,000 innocent people were killed. And I mourn them as much as I mourn my own people. But no one else is going to mourn our dead but us. The world has shown that they cheer when we die. And that hurts.

If I say "I'm grieving the actual people that I PERSONALLY KNOW WHO DIED IN A POGROM" people turn around and scream at me that I am a pedophile rat Zio Nazi genocidaire baby killer. When this first happened I posted the article "bombs fall in sderot" and joked "haha idk if my friends are safe." well my friend wasn't safe. She fucking died.

Ppl don't understand how small the Jewish community is. Whenever Jews meet up we play Jewish geography and we ALWAYS find someone we know in common. When Pittsburgh happened people in my community bc we are conservative Jews too, knew the victims. Ppl I know post about having to go to a bomb shelter all the time, their friends dying in terrorist attacks, experiencing terrorism as children etc these are innocent people who have nothing to do with fucking ben fucking Gvir

My friend is a gdmn [redacted] she deserves to die???? Okay all Americans deserve death because of Iraq. All Russians deserve death because of Ukraine.

Conscription is wrong and we should be protesting against it but no not every Israeli deserves death just as no Palestinian civilian deserves death even tho many of them are radicalized as children to want Jews dead and to join Hamas and get conscripted as well. THIS SUBJECT IS COMPLICATED. and anyone who reduces it to one side vs the other good vs evil is full of fucking shit.

Like I always say the settler colonial language I feel is misguided in some ways because of the whole Israeli population we have 70% Jews, 61% of that 70% were not migrants during waves of Zionist aliyah they were expelled and murdered and ethnically cleansed from Iraq Afghanistan Iran Ethiopia Yemen (every single Jew in Yemen was expelled to Israel) and they literally have no place to go.

Which is why from the river to the sea, means they will end up being literally pushed into the sea lol. And then 20% aren't even Jewish they are Arab, where will they go if Hamas takes over Israel and tries to enact extremist fundamentalist religion when they're used to living in secular democracy? They go into the sea too. Now 31% are European descent of those, many are from Russia which means they were kicked out and not Zionist oleh as well. But then we get into the west Bank where Israeli Jews are literally living as settlers and literally calling themselves settlers and perpetrating violence. The legal terminology of this all is also twitchy. Technically it isn't apartheid because Palestinians aren't Israeli civilians but we cannot ignore Hebron where Israelis literally dump piss and shit and garbage on their heads so they had to build a fucking net. Okay maybe it's not legal apartheid but it's obvious fucking degrading and they are not free to move or work or have the same rights regardless of who is in charge and we need to fix that. We also can say ok it's not a genocide in Gaza bc the numbers suggest of 40k, 12k were civilians according to Hamas themselves giving a 2:1 civ casualty ratio. The normal ratio is 9:1 so it legally cannot be called genocide. But Lavender is indiscriminate targeting civilians and bombing the place to fucking rubble which is a war crime and the Israeli government must be held accountable for this. Hamas does war crimes too they fired 20k rockets per year for 20 years into Israeli residential zones

[10:38 PM] Anyone who reduces this conflict to one side good one side bad is a fucking idiot. There is harm and suffering and complexity on both sides and both sides must be held accountable and then work for peace and prosperity

In conclusion: if you have nothing constructive to say, you can do everyone a favor and shut the fuck up.

[theculturedmarxist]

It’s not the big, glaring, obvious lies that get you. The New York Times is the world’s most destructive propaganda outlet not because it publishes giant ham-fisted whoppers, but because it appears trustworthy. Its reporting looks authoritative. Children are taught in school that it’s what credible news media looks like. This lets the well-crafted propaganda slide into people’s minds, undetected and without resistance.

❖

The western media are so ridiculously deceitful and propagandistic that the fact that popular comedy shows and famous comedians aren’t making fun of them constantly proves those shows and comedians are themselves part of the propaganda network.

❖

Most mainstream western reporting on Chinese military activity essentially amounts to “OMG you guys China isn’t just passively sitting there while we militarily encircle it and prepare to attack it!”

Example:

That’s what all the banging on about China’s “military build-up” is doing too; acting like it’s alarming and sinister that China isn’t just passively allowing itself to be surrounded with war machinery amid glaringly obvious western preparations for war without doing anything to defend itself.

China’s still spending vastly less on its military than the United States, both overall and as a percentage of GDP. Yet we’re meant to act like China is the obvious aggressor nation, even as it’s being rapidly surrounded by US war machinery and increasingly militarized US allies.

❖

One thing I’ve learned from interactions with Robert F Kennedy Jr supporters is that many of them sincerely don’t understand why his position of “unconditional support” for Israel is such a deal breaker for many anti-imperialists. They think it’s all about Palestinian rights, but it’s a lot more than that.

Unconditional support for Israel doesn’t just mean supporting apartheid abuses and frequent bombings of Gaza, it means supporting the regular bombing of Syria, the annexation of the Golan Heights, and Israel’s insane warmongering against Iran. Israel is always in a state of war.

“Unconditional support” for Israel means imperialist foreign policy throughout the middle east. This isn’t just conjecture — we already see it in RFK Jr’s other middle east foreign policy like his staunch opposition to the Iran deal.

It’s a nonsensical, self-contradictory position to claim you want to dismantle the empire out one side of your mouth and pledge “unconditional support” for a nation that’s never not at war out the other. If you’re saying both, there’s one you’re not being truthful about.

There’s not enough rage at the US empire for provoking and perpetuating the war in Ukraine. Objections you see to this proxy war are mostly just griping about how much it costs or whether it’s sound strategy or whatever, but how about the fact that human lives are being spent like pennies for the advancement US global hegemony?

Think about how much it hurts to have one death in your family. Think about how much it rocks an entire community to lose even one life to violence. Mountains of human bodies are being piled up in violent deaths, all to secure US geostrategic interests in Eurasia. It’s pure horror.

The empire had multiple opportunities to end this before it started. It had an opportunity to end it in April 2022. It had an opportunity to end it this past November. But it kept shoving it through to advance US interests, and young lives kept being sacrificed to the war god.

Meanwhile US officials openly gloat all the time about how much this war is serving US interests, while anonymously whining to the press that the counteroffensive is failing because Ukrainians are too cowardly to charge through Russian minefields under heavy artillery fire. This should draw white hot rage from everybody.

Basically the US empire’s strategy is to use Ukrainian bodies like a giant sponge to soak up as many expensive Russian military explosives as possible.

❖

For western war propagandists Syria was like a dress rehearsal for the war in Ukraine. The lies are being peddled mostly by the same people, using mostly the same methods, funneled up into the same mainstream media platforms. The only real difference is that the empire is on the side of the official government in Ukraine, so it can simply use its officials and its media platforms as on the ground sourcing instead of setting up a bunch of weird little propaganda constructs like the White Helmets etc. Syria marked a new era of imperial narrative management.

[gardenlollipop]

Why Ozai is not a bad character

This seems like an outrageous take but hear me out.

My first topic of discussion is how horrible ozai's childhood must have been. His father was Azulon and the way he treated Zuko and Azura was probably has a direct correlation to how his own childhood must have been. Like that scene where his dad slapped for spilling a cup of water. He also has burns all over his body from his father, you just don't see them in the show. Or the comics. Trust me. Because there's evidence that clearly points to this.

Second, about Zuko's whole scar. 13 year old Zuko is a known deceptive, manipulative, evil worm. Think about how quickly he switched sides from the "evil" side to team avatar (suspicious). Also, it's so obvious that his scar is fake and that he reapplies it every morning and night. You can even see cosmetics in the background, and there's one scene where it's not even on his face. like could they have made it any more obvious, yet all you LOVE manipulative and lying Zuko.

Next let's talk about URSA. OH MY GOD URSA. When firebird ozai threatened to mistreat Zuko to Ursa, he was just trying to defend himself from his evil manipulative child to his equally manipulative wife. She mistreated her children and him and escaped the second she saw the chance, without a second thought towards her family. Also, the thing that's most ignored by this ignorant fandom, is how she threatened his parents that she would release fire nation noble secrets unless she could marry their son, Ozai, who was terrified of her. Also, the way he proved his love by sacrificing his own parents for her in the comic "North and South".

For Azula, I think it goes without saying how insane Azula is, not to mention how ungrateful she is towards her father in the last episode after she's made firelord even though she's not even that talented, Ozai's words not mine. Ozai also had a good reason to mistreat Azula, seeing how much she mistreated the one he loved, Mai. Even in Azula's childhood she would lie to her parents, even her father even though he clearly cared about her and was a very good parent.

Not much can be said about Iron, considering we don't see much of their relationship. Consider how negligent and uncaring Iron was towards his brother after he lost his nephew, Lu Ten. Iron instead used this to bring attention to himself. He also betrayed Ozai, putting his manipulative nephew Zuko over his own brother.

Next is Mai, she lied to the firelord to get on his good side, and in the end just betrayed him to go with Zuko and avatar. Mai might be the worst character in the show, seeing as she betrayed not only one of her closest friends, but also Ozai, the man who truly loved her. Not to mention, the only reason she liked Zuko was because he joined the avatar and she believed his side would win in the end. Because all she ever cared about was making herself look good.

AANG!! Despite the fact that he had unresolved feelings for the firelord, he still took down his love and deep down should feel ultimately guilty.

Finally, Ozai is extremely attractive. Let's start with his lovely, clear skin and his high sculpted cheekbones and beautiful glossy olive skin. Not to mention his beautiful golden shining eyes, sculpted into the perfect almond shape. He was especially attractive in the New live action. Considering his beautiful ribbed abs, his long Lucious, black locks, and even in the final battle how he still looks put together and attractive and HOT.

We need to talk about one final point, how he just wanted his kingdom and his people to be the best it could possibly. All of his actions were just him looking out for his people. He mistreated some people but he could have been a lot worse. And he was a good king. He's just very patriotic in his love for Agni kai, his people, and the color red. and bonfires. and birds. He especially loved the beautiful sight of grey smoke falling over the beautiful, white, melting snow whenever he attacked the southern water tribe.

Also he is a good king.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk

[brionysea]

what zuko did at 13 was so dangerous as to result in a prince (royalty) (untouchable to everyone except his own family) being challenged to a fire duel because he sounded like a leader. and a better one than his father. an heir who's willing to fight generals for the safety of his people during a war will grow into a ruler who realises that the key to his people's safety is to stop the war, and he already had the constitution and the political standing to speak out about it where even people like iroh refused to when he was still a child

zuko's lack of regard for political decorum probably helped. there's no "that's just the way it is" with him, if a system sucks he will do everything in his power to fix it. rules are made up and he was set to inherit the power to change them and make them more just from the day he was born. the gaang's discussions of the war got so intense after zuko joined because he knew exactly what they were up against and wasn't about to let them forget it

give it a few years and if ozai didn't challenge zuko, zuko would have ended up overthrowing ozai. god help him if zuko managed to get azula on his side. refusing to fight at the first agni kai probably saved his life, since even the fire lord couldn't justify killing a child (his child, the firstborn heir to the throne, which has insane optics when you really think about it) who wasn't engaging in combat during an agni kai. it all comes down to zuko's loyalty - to his people and his father and his nation - but one of these is not like the other and doesn't deserve it. if he realised that too soon it would have killed him

zuko would have been such a problem if he was allowed to stay at home. travelling the world and seeing the perspectives of the other nations with his uncle gave him a more balanced viewpoint of the war, as well as the means to defend himself from things like his father and sister shooting lightning at him because he stood up to them about being abusive war criminals, but he was always headed there in the end

[mysticwolfshadows]

Taken - Zutara - Part 33

First / Previous / Next / Masterpost

When they get to the arena, Toph and Aang are dangling in the air in metal cages.

And then Lord Beifong, the bastard, tried to take Toph and leave Aang too be handed over to the Fire Nation. When the Beifong's were walking past her, Katara tapped her foot, making Toph pause.

"It's your choice," Katara said. "But we could use the help."

Toph's father scoffed. "My daughter is blind. She is blind and tiny and-"

"I'll help," Toph said, pulling away from her father.

They joined the fray, despite Toph's father shouting at them. Toph takes over, telling Sokka and Zukoo to go help Aang instead. Katara smiled, knowing this girl could take care of a few lesser benders. She joined the boys at the cage, nodding to Zuko as she pulled water from her pouch.

"Heat the lock," Katara said.

Zuko nodded, trusting her judgment, and grabbed the lock in both hands, heating it until it was red hot. Quick as a whip, Katara doused it in water, freezing it all at once. There was a crack, and the lock came loose with a tug. Aang crawled out, staring at Toph.

"Wow," he said, blinking. "She's so good. Am I really gonna learn from her?"

"Maybe," Katara said, as Toph finished up. "That's up to her..."

Back at the Beifong estate, Katara stands with the others as Toph confronts her parents. She listens as Toph confesses her feelings, her desire to fight, and genuine love for it. She confeses never having a real friend, but feeling like she has the chance to now.

Katara was so proud of her, only, Toph's father is an absolute ass.

"I've let you had far too much freedom," the man has the gaul to say. "From now on you'll be cared for and guarded twenty-four hours a day."

"But dad!" Toph cries, then turns her head. "Katara-"

"They have no say here," Lao said, scowling at them. "This is for your own good."

But it wasn't Katara that spoke up. It was Zuko, his hands clenched, that stepped forward.

"No," Zuko snapped. "You're doing this for you. Your insane desire for control. You'd rather destroy your daughter than release any of your control over her."

"You don't know what you're talking about, boy!" Turning Lao shouted. "Guards! Escort the Avatar and his friends out. They are no longer welcome here."

As the guards stepped forward, Zuko turned, sweeping a foot out, shooting flames at the approaching enemy. The guards stumbled, and Katara got into her own fighting stance, ready to defend.

"Firebender!" Poppy gasped, shrinking away.

"I am Prince Zuko, son of Ursa and Fire Lord Ozai." He turned back to the Beifong's, smoke rising from his fista as he glared. "And I speak from experience when I say you will break your daughter one day. And when you do, it'll be something you can't take back."

"Get out," Lao tries, even as his voice shakes. "Get out of my house."

"We'll leave in peace," Aang cuts in, his staff pointed towards one man. "Toph?"

"My daughter-!"

"Has the right to choose," Katara said, reaching with one hand to touch the earthbenders shoulder. "Toph, if you want to leave, we won't let them stop you, even if you don't come with us."

For a moment, Toph just stared in the direction of the floor. Then, she nodded. "I'll join you," she said, ignoring her parents cries. "I'll teach the Avatar."

Her father was shouting, and the room was thrown into chaos. They took off, fighting their way out, climbing quickly onto Appa and flying off.

"This is gonna come back to bite us, isn't it?" Sokka asked, peering over the saddle as the Beifong Estate grew smaller and smaller.

"Probably," Zuko sighed. "I shouldn't have done that."

Katara shook her head. "Toph deserved to make her own choice. Right, Toph?"

She turned, finding the younger girl clinging to the saddle. She was looking kind of green. "I think I'm gonna hurl!"

"Over the side!" Sokka shrieked. "Over the side! Not in the saddle!"

First / Previous / Next / Masterpost

[fallingskiesandrisingseas]

I rewatched the last Agni Kai between Azula and Zuko yesterday and then read the discourse and there are a few things that I feel need to be said here.

First of all, Azula wins that fight 100% if she's mentally balanced. Yes, Zuko has incorporated other styles into his bending, yes, he's more surefooted now, yes, he's outclassing her the entire fight and isn't even out of breath while his sister is panting. Even with all that, Azula is able to use fire in a much more instinctive way. She has shown feats unmatched by other firebenders when not under the comet, like flying with fire. She also has insane command over lightning, outdrawing Zuko and even Iroh. And her fire is blue, burning a hotter temperature then regular fire. A prodigy indeed.

Second, it is interesting that Azula cheats because she can't beat Zuko with lightning. We are told that lightning is a powerful firebending form only the royal family knows, and Azula does it better ( and earlier ) than most. But doesn't it require inner peace? What if, in that exact moment, lightning would no longer come to her, her talent failing her? What if that was the end? Would have made a for powerful breakdown of Azula as well. But she conjures lightning.

And I was wondering what the lightning was even for, conceptually. It shows us that Zuko now has full mastery of the hardest technique, and Azula knows -she knows, goddamn- that he can redirect. So why use it? And then it hit me. She uses it because a) she's been outclassed in every other fire bending attack, burning through her stamina while Zuko hasn't even moved, and b) she sees it as her best ability, something Zuko cannot emulate. She wants to hurt him.

Here we see Azula's tactical brilliance and cruelty. She decides in a split second to aim her lighting at Katara, a waterbender with no way of defending herself against this deadly force. This forces Zuko to make the sacrifice play, taking one of the pieces off the board. I don't believe she truly thinks that Zuko will make it, by the way. She expects him to let her die, which will make him angry, unhinged. More of a match. And even if he doesn't, she wins by taking Zuko out. Azula's strategy of divide and conquer indeed.

But this all comes from Zuko's provocation. This provocation is a mistake.

Because what is Zuko going to do when he redirects it? Kill her with it? Aang chose to spare Ozai, and in a world where Zuko keeps his cool and doesn't provoke it like that, she'll still use it, and he'll have no choice but to kill her. There could be no other outcome in an Agni Kai, not since Sozin. If Zuko wants to win, he will have to kill her. There is no way he can subdue her with fire, and she won't quit, we know that.

The provocation is not only a tactical error on Zuko's part, but it gives the writers a way out of having one of the siblings murder the other. . It is a fight that only has losers, a fight Zuko knows needs to happen but doesn't want to have. Azula also seems to care for her brother in some way still, telling Katara that she'd much rather "have him looked after by the family physician."

The fandom also moves past the fact that Katara is able to beat the strongest firebender of their generation with wits and sewer water. You know how insane that is? Sure, Azula isn't all there, but she is still an incredibly skilled opponent. And Katara outsmarts her. One of the best minds in the fire nation beaten by a water bender.

Which brings me to my next, and most important point. Azula can breathe fire. She is no more helpless in the ice than Zuko or Iroh is, both of whom have shown to be capable of escaping from ice. And yet she lets Katara chain her to the floor without a fight.

She shouldn't go down that easily. Not if she is all there. And I think this beautifully illustrates what happens in this fight, just as much as the crying after: Azula, the prodigy, the favourite child, the heir to the throne, cannot conceive being beaten.

She's been told she was special since the day she was born, she has witnessed the scarring of her brother, she has been emotionally abused by her family. She's all alone, in the end, no friends, no allies, and she's beaten when her bending is at her most powerful ( SHOULD BE at her most powerful, more accurately ). Beaten by a puny waterbender from the Southern Watertribe.

Now we understand why she doesn't act, merely moving her eyes as Katara chains her. At the most important moment, she fails, and suddenly none of the abuse she endured, the friends she has lost, the people she has used, is worth it.

No wonder she is crying.

[beardedmrbean]

A Japanese man has been sentenced to death for an arson attack at a Kyoto animation studio in 2019 which killed 36 people and injured dozens more.

The incident, one of Japan's deadliest in recent decades, killed mostly young artists and shocked the anime world.

Shinji Aoba, 45, pleaded guilty to the attack but his lawyers had sought a lighter sentence on grounds of "mental incompetence".

Judges rejected this however, ruling that Aoba knew what he was doing.

"I have determined that the defendant was not mentally insane or weak at the time of the crime," Chief Judge Masuda said on Thursday at Kyoto District Court.

"The death of 36 people is extremely serious and tragic. The fear and pain of the deceased victims was indescribable," Japanese broadcaster NHK reported him saying.

Many of the animation staff - young artists - were killed after being trapped on the upper floors of the studio as the fire spread.

The attack was one of the deadliest cases in recent decades and sparked national mourning in Japan. The country's public and media have followed the case closely.

How many countries still have the death penalty?

Prosecutors had demanded the death penalty for Aoba, saying he was motivated to attack the studio after believing his work had been stolen. He said Kyoto Animation - known as KyoAni- had plagiarised a novel he entered into their contest.

In July 2019, he burst into the studio during a work day, splashing petrol on the ground floor and setting it alight while repeatedly shouting "Drop dead".

He later said during his guilty plea in September 2023 that he did not think so many people would die.

"I felt I had no other option but to do what I did," he said at the time.

"I feel tremendously sorry and the feeling includes a sense of guilt."

Aoba himself suffered burns to over 90% of his body in the fire, and was only arrested after he had recovered from operations.

"The delusion that KyoAni Studio had plagiarised his work influenced his motivation," prosecutors had told the court.

But they said he was not controlled by such delusions and had full capacity and understanding of his actions.

On Thursday, the judge read out a lengthy reasoning with victim testimonies before announcing the verdict. More than half of the animation studio's 70-strong workforce was killed in the event, and another 32 injured.

"Some of them saw their colleagues engulfed in flames, and some of them are suffering from psychological effects, and they are tormented by feelings of guilt and remorse," said Judge Masuda.

Families of the victims were seen in the court room, with many visibly emotional as the judge read out the details of Aoba's crime, NHK reported.

The outlet reported that Aoba kept his head bowed as the judge read out the death penalty sentence.

Japan retains capital punishment for its most serious crimes, like multiple murders. Those convicted typically remain on death row for years, or even decades. The death penalty is conducted by hanging.

The KyoAni studio in Kyoto is a beloved institution, known for producing films and graphic novels that are well-regarded by fans as well as critics - including K-On! and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.

[queen-morgana91]

The way this fanbase is trying so HARD to make Aang and the Air Nomads look bad because they want to defend Zuko (the guy who was a colonizer for two seasons and OPENLY racist with Katara, Sokka and Aang, but they do not care) and the Fire Nation, aka the GENOCIDAL COLONIZERS nation it's.....insane. just insane

They are calling Aang and the Air Nomads "jerks" and "morally superior".....the characters who were GENOCIDED by the people they are stanning so badly

Mind you, everything Gyatso said about the Fire Nation and Roku is the truth. Literally everything. And Aang had worn fur and animal hats before and he had no problem with it Imao he's one of the most respectful characters in the series GOD FORBID if he made "harsh" comments about dead animals, he's the only character who can't have "flaws" in this series. Fake nice guy :(

it is 2024. its about time zutaras got their heads out of their asses and stopped talking nonsense about a piece of media they've distorted so much in their minds that any kind of contribution they make to the conversation is about a whole fanfiction that has nothing to do with atla

It's getting ridiculous

[sokkastyles]

The comics are shit so don’t ever try to mention them to me again, also if there was somehow a “canon” story about about Aang murdering people with a Glock, you’d probably defend it with your life

I’m pretty sure Iroh just grabbed a doll from a store he burned down and then gave it to Azula because he wanted her to act like a “proper woman”, both of his gifts were wrong to give, thank god Zuko gave it back to a rightful owner, Azula was an 8 year old with fire in her blood, and it’s not like Zuko or Ursa or Iroh (who was busy trying to commit genocide) really cared all that much, people have been calling other people fat for ages, it’s only you woke snowflakes that are afraid of it, and Azula called him fat 6 years after the gift 

This is Iroh’s face when Azula shows up, before she even got to her point 

That is the face of utter contempt and hatred 

What would you do if you were surrounded by 6 dangerous people? You don’t understand what “war” and “battle” mean

The worst things that Iroh says about Ozai to Zuko is that he isn’t very understanding and that he doesn’t tend to regret his actions. He also encouraged Zuko to keep trying to capture the Avatar, so he can go home to his abusive father, while also am saying that getting captured by Azula is a fate worse than death, and that she’s mentally insane 

Iroh and The White Lotus conquering Ba Sing Se does not change anything in the finale, you can cut it out and nothing changes, Ba Sing Se could have been taken back on any other day before the comet, Iroh should have changed his plans to help with the defeating the airships which would kill everyone (or whatever Ozai’s stupid plan was) but instead he sends 3 children (only 1 of whom could bend) to do it and they almost fucking die, he wants to conquer Ba Sing Se because he it was his “Destiny since birth”, and also because he wants to relax in his tea shop instead of helping the world, and he wants to use the comet to cause more destruction, achieving his goal in a way before he “changed” and its not like the city’s suffering more than when Long Feng controlled it.

Leaving your traumatized 16 year old nephew to become the ruler of a county, while also going to another continent to rest in a tea shop in a city you tried to burn down, is the definition of abandonment, Iroh easily could have opened the tea shop in The Fire Nation

Azula is far from selfish, she cares deeply about Ozai, Zuko, Ty Lee, Mai, and Ursa, and she is a dedicated patriot who does things all in name of The Fire Nation 

I think Ursa SHOULD help Azula, AFTER she rejects Fire imperialism and admits she wasn’t the best parent, I think Ursa had good intentions, but was too harsh on Azula. 

That's all this is, just the completely ridiculous ramblings of someone who overidentifies with a violent bully because it feeds your own white woman Karen victim complex.

Again, this is why the Zuko fandom can't have nice things, and that I can’t ignore your incorrect opinions. 

Or you could just get out of my inbox, you troglodyte. I didn't read past the first sentence, but it's funny how the comics don't exist unless you want to (badly) try to use them to make a (nonexistent) point.

Iroh's face in that screenshot is my face right now. Because bullies who show up to harass others deserve contempt. Keep proving that this is what you and your ilk deserve, because I don't have as much patience as Iroh does.

[armageddon-generation]

Fixing Netflix's Avatar: the Last Airbender

(Live action ATLA is a fundamentally bad idea because it disrespects the medium of animation and the original is near-perfect. But the wasted potential of this show annoys me, so there.)

This rewrite has 12 x 60 minute episodes, because squashing this story into 8 is insane. Maintaining its per-episode budget, this would still only make Netflix’s Avatar (NATLA) a little more expensive as their One Piece, which it's performing better than.

Each episode of the original show is 22 minutes, so even adapting two eps shot-for-shot per live action ep leaves each an extra 16 mins of runtime. For this new material I'm drawing on a lot of the comics and expanded canon.

If a NATLA change or addition isn’t mentioned (Azula and Ozai, the Cave of Two Lovers, the Mother of Faces, Kurruk’s dumbass knife) assume it’s gone because it’s Bad.

(Also, I recognise that my examples of dialogue are cringier than NATLA. But I’m not a paid for this, so you’ll have to forgive me.)

1. The Boy in the Iceberg

A pretty straight adaptation of the first 3 episodes of the original show smoothed together, removing the Zhao/Zuko subplot from 1x3 The Southern Air Temple

Extra scene- when Katara yells at Gran Gran for supporting Aang being banished, she narrates a version of the flashback sequence from 3x8 The Puppetmaster, showing the slow depletion of the South’s waterbenders, and how the ship Katara and Aang explored got there. This big extra action beat contextualizes how prosperous the South used to be, and Gran Gran’s anxiety over Katara’s bending

Extra flashback of Aang’s tattoo ceremony in the Yangchen chamber from NATLA– his whole class is there, cheering for him- Aang will find their skeletons with Gyatso’s, who died protecting them

2. The Shadow of Kyoshi

Combines 1x4 The Warriors of Kyoshi with 2x5 Avatar Day, where a village prosecutes Aang for Avatar Kyoshi killing their leader, Chen the Conqueror, long ago

Aang rides the Elephant Koi and provokes the Unagi right into a conflict between mainland and Kyoshi fishermen. Contrast how the two sides perceive Aang– Kyoshi as a big celebrity, the mainland as a criminal. He gets hit with the full breadth of the Avatar experience all at once, and naturally gravitates towards those who treat him better

They organize a ‘trial date’ where the mainlanders will return to demand justice, and Aang will defend Kyoshi’s honor This is how word spreads to Zuko.

Sokka’s subplot with Suki is unchanged from the original. THE SEXISM STAYS. The new NATLA stuff with them bonding over their parental issues and being non-benders can go after he’s been humbled

NATLA hyping up Kyoshi at the expense of Roku was bizarre fandom-pandering, especially as canonically Aang basically hates her. Here, Aang is initially convinced Kyoshi couldn’t have killed Chen because an Avatar never would.

This leads naturally into him and Katara reading up on Kyoshi’s past in her shrine as they do in NATLA, but Aang keeps getting distracted by the islanders' celebrity-worship. Eventually Katara leaves him to fend for himself in a huff.

Instead of trying to ride the Unagi, Aang goes to the trial alone and overconfident, but Kyoshi possesses Aang to confess she did kill Chen. Chen dying because he refused to retreat directly foreshadows Zhao dying because he refuses to take Zuko’s hand in the finale– wannabe conquerors crippled by their pride

Kyoshi possessing Aang is not pleasant. While he’s under she rags on him for abandoning his duty and not taking things seriously

Meanwhile, Zuko attacks the island. Sensing this, Kyoshi blasts off and lands in the middle of the village like in NATLA, brutalizing the Fire Nation soldiers.

When Kyoshi sees Zuko she tries to kill him- directly paralleling the flashback of her killing Chen, a moment of genuine fear for Zuko. Aang snaps out of it at the last second, refusing to kill him. Zuko recovers enough to strike, but Katara arrives just in time to knock him back again.

This moment foreshadows Aang’s conflict over killing Oazi– when Zuko says he should do it, Aang reminds him if he’d had that mentality in this moment Zuko would’ve never been able to redeem himself

The Gaang run, and Katara argues against what Kyoshi said– that killing is the only answer, that Aang deserves to be punished for abandoning his duty. This is a key difference to NATLA, which seemed to revel in tearing Aang down at every opportunity

Aang then puts the fires out with Unagi as in the original

3. The Price of Freedom

Combines 1x5 Imprisoned with 1x10 Jet, with a little 1x9 The Waterbending Scroll sprinkled in

Begin with Katara showing Aang her waterbending moves after Kyoshi told him to take things more seriously, and Aang totally outshining her, only for them to bump into Haru doing the same with his Earthbending. This is an initiation into Jet’s gang, using his bending to fight Fire Nation after his dad’s imprisonment drove him here. Unlike the rest of the outlaws, Haru has a mother to go home to

NATLA Jet helping Katara tap into her trauma to power her bending is interesting, but the execution was bad. Here he’s doing the same for Haru, too.

If we emphasize this aspect—Katara letting her rage drive her—her dynamic with Jet foreshadows her conflict in The Southern Raiders.

Playing both Katara’s Book 1 ‘love interests’ off each other contrasts them in an interesting way

Use the extra runtime to build Aang’s relationship with Jet—a Lost Boy looking up to Peter Pan. Jet is the kind of leader Aang wants to be as the Avatar, with his found family and ‘fun’ approach.

Jet’s target isn’t to destroy the dam, but to ‘get onto’ the Fire Nation prison, which doubles as a shipyard.

I liked NATLA’s slimier, more conniving version of Zhao. His introduction would fit perfectly here, replacing Imprisoned’s warden.

When Haru is arrested, Jet and Sokka clash in whether to help Katara go after him

Jet helps Katara because he wants her to see how broken and hopeless the prisoners are for herself.

Bato is also a prisoner here. He and Katara have an emotional reunion, which leads into her failed attempt to rally the other prisoners

Zhao summons Katara to his study after to taunt her and lay down the law. This Zhao is a wannabe scholar, obsessed with learning about and stealing from the other nations. Classic colonial mentality, and hidden in the background is the map he stole from Wong Shi Tong’s library, hinting at his plan in the finale. Katara also spies the waterbending scroll in the study, tying into her inadequacies in the opening scene

The Freedom fighters plot to hijack the Gaang’s escape plan and blow up the prison’s furnaces, killing everyone aboard. Sokka realizes and is captured.

When the truth is revealed, Katara fights Jet– another signature Katara RageTM moment where she summons a huge wave– and draws the guards’ attention. But it’s too late, and Jet triggers their plan.

It’s revealed Sokka escaped the Freedom fighters and neutralized Jet’s plan. Aang arrives with the coal, but the Earthbenders are still unwilling to fight.

Zhao uses the Freedom Fighters to taunt the prisoners- even their own people have given up on them. Then Haru starts the riot.

Zhao is tougher than the original Warden– Aang teams up with the earthbenders to knock him overboard

This shifts the conflict in several ways- Jet’s target is no longer innocent civilians but a shipyard with military, strategic value. At the same time, his willingness to sacrifice new recruit Haru is more callous than the original.

4. The Warrior and the Waterbender

Combining 1x9 The Waterbending Scroll with 1x15 Bato and the Water Tribe, and a dash of 2x4 The Swamp

Picks up where last episode left off; reinforcement Fire Navy ships are closing in on the prison as the prisoners evacuate, but Katara recklessly doubles back to grab the Waterbending Scroll in Zhao’s office. Aang follows.

The Fire Navy opens fire on the prison, triggering Jet’s bomb. The prison is crippled. Katara grabs the scroll and flees with Aang.

Katara’s necklace is lost in the chaos.

Thus we’ve cut the pirates but kept Katara endangering the group to get the scroll. Losing her necklace is now also a consequence of this

Aapa and Momo are separated from the group by the Fire Navy attack. Bato grabs a boat and directs the Gaang into a rapid river to escape the bigger ships- a precursor to Sokka’s Ice Dodging later.

Bato reminisces about similar times with their father and suggests Sokka and Katara join their Southern fleet. He’s headed to Omashu, the biggest Earth Kingdom stronghold in this region, where it’ll be far easier to find them

Aang hiding the map to Hakoda in Bato of the Water Tribe is often seen as his most unlikeable, childish moment, and the ‘Liar Revealed’ conflict is unusually contrived for ATLA. I’m cutting the that element but still exploring Aang’s separation anxiety through Bato

Aang and Katara reflect on last episode. Aang reiterates that violence wasn’t the answer, and her kindness and compassion is her greatest strength. It’s already saved him. He can’t describe how lucky he was to wake up in her arms, of all people.

He gifts her his handmade necklace from The Fortuneteller

This is a crucial way I'd like to shift shift Katara and Aang: In the original Katara does the vast majority of their emotional labor, and though it’s beyond doubt she loves Aang, there’s not *much* to set up her romantic interest, and so it comes off a little one-sided wish-fulfill-y. To improve this without pushing romance early, emphasize what Aang has to offer Katara. Here he’s her emotional support over their mutual betrayal by Jet

It also reiterates how dependent Aang has quickly become on Sokka and Katara, justifying his separation anxiety as their potential departure looms. He focuses on the waterbending scroll to strengthen that connection they have – ‘after Jet, let’s do this the right way’. But his talent only heightens her frustration

At the same time, Katara realizes her necklace is gone– losing a connection to her heritage VS Sokka growing closer to his through Bato.

Appa and Momo get a comedy subplot like in 2x4 The Swamp, because if I get to Book 2, that’s one of the episodes I’d cut

Meanwhile, Zuko investigates the wrecked prison and finds Katara’s necklace. He trails the reinforcement ships, who rescued Zhao and whisked him to a Fire Nation Colony port. They clash, but Zhao has no interest in an Agni Kai

Zhao has hired June to track down his escaped prisoners. Zuko offers her a more lucrative job finding the Avatar

Meanwhile Katara’s conflict from The Waterbending Scroll plays out. June captures her when she’s isolated herself to practice, and they pounce on the others. Sokka manages to get them free by turning June against Zuko over Aang’s reward like he does the pirates. Aang fights Zuko for Katara’s necklace while she uses her waterbending to get Bato’s boat back into the water while Bato and Sokka fight June and the Shirshu– playing on Bato’s stories of him and their dad wrangling wild beasts

They all escape on Bato’s boat– Sokka finally gets his turn at the coming-of-age Ice Dodging, using Katara and Aang’s improved waterbending to pull of an impossible escape

Aang steals the animal whistle that finally attracts Appa from June- mirroring Katara stealing the scroll

5. Omashu

Combines 1x4 The King of Omashu with 1x12 The Storm

Aang is anxious because Omashu was where he was going when he abandoned the Southern Air Temple- to find refuge with Bumi, who never fit in and made his own rules

The Gaang and Bato arrive in Omashu. Desperate to postpone Sokka and Katara leaving, while Bato requests an audience with the King, Aang drags them off to do the mail chutes– a desperate ‘look how fun I am! Please don’t leave!’ and his last chance to relive the high of his friendship with Bumi

Bato’s audience with Bumi is interrupted by news of the chaos the Gaang have caused. He’s cripplingly embarrassed when they’re matched in– ‘you really are your father’s kids’

Aang realizes who Bumi is quickly. He’s overjoyed– but Bumi is aloof, and demands to know why his friend abandoned him. A more personal version of the old fisherman from The Storm

Aang runs off and Katara follows. Sokka defends Aang to Bumi- he didn’t believe in Aang at first either, but the kid quickly changed his mind. Bumi ‘imprisons’ Sokka and Bato

Meanwhile, Katara finds Aang in his and Bumi’s old hangout spot, and he tells her how he learned he was the Avatar and ran away- his half of the flashbacks from The Storm. He understands if Katara wants to leave him and go with Bato now she knows

A royal messenger arrives– Bumi wants to bargain for Sokka and Bato’s freedom

Because Aang already knows who Bumi is, his challenges all link to key memories from their friendship. One was a meetup with Kuzon, Aang’s Fire Nation friend. Even before he was the Avatar Aang brought the nations together

After Bumi is satisfied with their final fight, he reveals he decided to forgive Aang before the challenges even started. They weren’t meant to torment him with the past but help bring lessons from it into the future.

This way we get to explore Bumi having a more critical reaction to Aang like in NATLA without sacrificing the core of Bumi’s character, or the fundamental goodness of their friendship

Bato parts ways with Sokka and Katara at the end

6. The Winter Solstice

A pretty straight adaptation of 1x7 The Spirit World and 1x8 Avatar Roku

On the Fire Nation side, I liked the NATLA addition of one of Iroh’s captors being a victim of his siege on Ba Sing Se. Unlike NATLA, this should be the first time Iroh is ever truly serious in the show.

When Aang sees the burnt-down forest, he flashes back to when he was a small child, and the monks taught him (with the same kids from his tattoo ceremony) how to care for scared natural spaces through Yangchen’s Festival (as featured in post-canon graphic novel The Rift). This more explicitly intwines Hei Bai losing his forest with Aang losing his culture

We follow Sokka when he’s held captive by Hei Bai. Building on his coming of age with Bato, Sokka has visions of returning home a warrior only to see it lain to waste– everyone he was charged with protecting dead. This foreshadows the loss of Yue.

Speaking of Yue, I’m keeping NATLA having her visit Sokka while he’s trapped in the Spirit World, guiding him out of his vision, but when we meet Yue the context of this will be very different

Sokka re-emerges from the Spirit World worried about home, but learning about the comet reaffirms his commitment to Aang

When Aang gets stuck in the Spirit World, he gets properly lost in the shifting, alien landscape we only saw in the original’s Book 1 finale

This sequence is inspired by the scene in The Legend of Korra Book 2 (hear me out) where Korra turns back into a toddler. Here, Aang’s panic turns him back into the age he was in the Yangchen Festival flashback

This story shouldn’t feature Koh, who totally overshadows Hei Bai in NATLA, but as Aang runs through the Spirit World, confused and alone, discontented spirits shout and jeer about the Avatar’s failures– specifically referencing Kurruk’s war with the spirits

Roku’s dragon swoops in to save Aang from himself. When he takes Aang to Roku’s Temple, the Fire Sages sense him and ward him off, to create more continuity between the story’s two halves

Similarly, when meeting the corrupt Fire Sages in person we call back to and contrast with how the Air Nomads upheld their holy sites

When the good Fire Sage is chained up alongside Zuko, he asks if he’s the son of Lady Ursa, and obliquely hints at Zuko’s familial connection to Roku

After his disastrous encounter with Kyoshi, Aang is cautious around Roku, but Roku is apologetic (‘this war is my fault’) and supportive. Unlike when Aang was taken over by Kyoshi, Roku inhabits Aang with permission and after agreeing not to kill anyone

(side-note but I’m not keeping the Gyatso scene because it’s contrived and dulls the personal impact of the genocide)

7. Masks

Combines 1x13 The Blue Spirit with the Zuko portion of 1x12 The Storm

Appa is injured fleeing the blockade and Aang is angry. He draws Zhao away from Sokka and Katara, and gets captured and transported to another of his prisons.

NATLA’s additions work best here. Lu Ten’s funeral, Zuko’s crew being the 41st legion. Lu Ten’s funeral should be the second time Iroh is serious and melancholy all season.

DO NOT have Zuko fight back in the Agni Kai. Stupidest decision in the show

Once Aang has saved Zuko from the prison, add a flashback from his perspective, which I’m adapting from the (honestly pretty good) M. Night movie prequel comic Zuko’s Story:

Immediately following the Angi Kai, Azula visits Zuko to mock him.

Later, she finds him sleeping on the docks after failing to gather a crew, and gets him his crappy ship and ‘crew of failures’, which ties nicely into them being the 41st division. Azula presents it as a mercy, but she’s just sweeping all the trash under the same rug.

This introduces Azula in Book 1 without being OOC or ruining her armor of perfection too soon

8. The Northern Air Temple

Adapts 1x17 The Northern Air Temple with an extra subplot: Conflicted about what to do with the settlers, Aang meditates and consults Avatar Yangchen, the Air Nomad Avatar before him, and they debate Aang’s responsibility to preserve their culture

If you must show the genocide, show it here– in brief, traumatising flashes as Aang explores the Temple. NATLA’s take on the genocide was pathetic. The Airbenders put way too much of a fight– they should be overwhelmed by huge columns of fire, dragons etc- think this fan-comic showing two Airbender boys trying to escape the attack on the North

The Mechanist’s son Teo studies Air Nomad culture. This gives his character more meat and explores the appropriation conflict presented through the Avatar Aang Fan Club in The Promise comic; ‘My culture is not a game’

Katara asks Aang to teach her to glide to pull him out of a dark spiral. Again, building that Aang/Katara dynamic, this should be a fun parallel to Penguin Sledding in episode 1– Aang unlocking Katara’s inner child, giving her a freedom she never had before him. It should really emphasize their trust. Let Aang be confident and encouraging!

The Mechanist is making weapons for Zhao (just like his shipyard), and it’s revealed Zhao deliberately spread stories about Air Nomad survivors to lure Aang into a trap, which is a tactic Fire Lord Sozin used to mop up the Nomads who survived his genocide. This idea is from The Lost Adventures comic Relics, fits with NATLA wanting to be ‘darker’, and ties into the genocide flashbacks

Zhao arrives with a battalion, ready to spring his trap and take the Temple

Now the battle for the Temple directly mirrors the genocide sequence- Aang explicitly defending his home like he never had the chance to before

9. The Old Masters

Combines 1x18 The Waterbending Master with 1x16 The Deserter

Jeong Jeong surrendered himself to the North when he fled the Fire Nation. The conditions here naturally suppress his firebending, as seen in Book 3 of The Legend of Korra

Sokka learns about Jeong Jeong during warrior training. Aang’s frustration with Pakku’s teachings pushes him towards Jeong Jeong to learn firebending too

Contrast the two elements, how Aang struggles more with firebending after getting water so quickly

Aang burning Katara and her discovering she’s a healer intersects perfectly with the North funneling women into the healing huts– is this really what she was destined for?

I appreciate NATLA trying to make Princess Yue a more active character because she’s not given much in the original and Sokka’s love at first sight crush on her is pretty shallow. However, making Yue too active undermines the point of her character in the original; that she lets herself be a passive vessel for duty right up until her final choice to help the Moon spirit

To that end, keep Yue being a waterbending healer– she is the personification of the system Katara is rebelling against. When Yue was young, she had dreams of defending the North with her father that were quickly squashed by her duties. Katara does what Yue wishes she could have

Sokka connecting with Yue because she comforted him when he was alone in the Spirit World is good, but here instead of being a revered spiritual leader, Yue’s trips into the Spirit World are secret, rebellious things, straying outside her strict duties and endangering herself. In this way Sokka is the face of Yue’s own private rebellion. She is both terrified and thrilled by the chance to meet him in person

Her fiance Haan is still a douche

Keep Gran Gran’s betrothal necklace pushing Pakku into self-reflection. People rag on him only letting Katara train with him because of nepotism, but that’s how it be sometimes when pushing societal reform. Personal change first. I did like how NATLA emphasized Katara inspiring other women to fight, so that can continue into next episode, showing how Pakku’s personal reflection led to widespread change

Katara being ‘her own master’ felt like forced girlbossery, especially as her level-up in the original show is already very quick, but I like the idea of her drawing from other bending styles to fight

Instead of the cut pirates, it’s the Yu Yang Arches who assassinate Zuko for Zhao

10. The Siege of the North

A pretty straight adaptation of 1x19 and 1x20

Katara and Aang spar in the opening and she trounces him- a nice progress marker from the stuff with the Waterbending Scroll. The footwork/moves here foreshadow the energy of their dance in 3x2 The Headband

Yue arrives looking for Sokka, having snuck away from Royal duties. Katara asks about her intentions with her brother– wasn’t it just announced that she’s engaged? Yue insists it’s platonic.

Yue: Have you ever looked at someone and just seen… freedom? [Aang’s laughter in the background] Katara: ...Just don’t break his heart

Sokka arrives to pull Yue away. Her brief trips into the Spirit World give her a wider perspective of the war’s impact than the North’s isolated leaders. Sokka taking her up on Appa sets up the possibility of her leaving with the Gaang to become an envoy to the South or a Spiritual Leader, making her sacrifice hit harder

They bond through their mutual anxieties over leadership

Sokka: You’d be a great diplomat. You’re charming, kind, clever but never condescending, even to a Southern peasant like me. And you’re so strong, to put up with everything you do. Yue: What I put up with is hardly comparable to the dangers that Southern peasant has fought through. Sokka: You have so many responsibilities. So many people to protect, so many relying on you– I know how hard that can be. At least a little.

They discuss why Yue’s parents are so protective and controlling, explaining her Moon backstory earlier on. Framing her father’s protectiveness this way emphasizes Yue’s sacrifice as a final act of agency and embracing her true destiny

Instead of Roku, Kurruk leads Aang to Koh because he’s familiar with him, letting him better pace narrating his backstory with the spirits than monologuing straight to camera

Kurruk warns Aang against letting personal attachments cloud his duty, and letting those he loves be hurt- we transition from the face of Kurruk’s dead beloved to Katara frantically searching for him.

Sokka/Katara discussing protecting Aang vs protecting Yue

Show the female waterbenders from Katara's healing class supporting the warriors in the battle, and fighting alongside Pakku

As Zhao marches through the North he finds his old master Jeong Jeong in his cell, and they talk before Jeong Jeong escapes. Follow this with an extra scene of Jeong Jeong crossing paths with Iroh

Now we get the full Zuko vs Zhao Agni Kai, played as a direct parallel to the staging of Ozai’s. Zuko spares Zhao, only for Koizilla to snatch him as he walks away. Zhao still refuses Zuko’s hand.

In NATLA, Katara called out to Koizilla and Aang turned as if hearing her, but it was still seeing the restored moon that stopped his rampage. I’m adjusting things so Katara’s words wake Anatlaang from the Avatar state- proving Kurruk wrong about attachments- and Aang communicates with the Ocean Spirit like he communicated with Hei Bai, pointing out the restored moon. Then the Ocean releases him

We linger on the destruction like in NATLAatla la s, setting up Aang’s fear of the Avatar state in Book 2– ‘Kyoshi would be proud’

[sortyourlifeoutmate]

Alright so, there's a lot of little angles to this and they all sort of rush through my brain at once so let me try and lay them out in something like an order.

The Tories are in a bad place. We're all very happy about this. The Tories themselves, however, are reacting to their looming, inevitable defeat by basically frothing at the mouth and screaming. One the one hand you have them scrabbling for every attention-grabbing idea they can lay their hands on like how someone sliding towards a cliff might scrabble for something to stop them falling to their death.

Uh, Angela Rayner did, uh, a thing! Uh, Rwanda! Yeah! Immigrant on a plane to Rwanda! Uh, fuck, uh, benefits! Sick note Britain, yeah! One of these has to got work, right? Right?! Please God one of these has to work!

So that's happening. And alongside that, you have the internal conflict of which of them gets to be King Rat of the Sinking Ship. You know, the dregs of the dregs racing to slit one another's throat to be the one in charge.

Speaking of which, Penny Mordaunt.

Basically, what set me off was an interview she has apparently done wherein which she said the UK simply must invest the Iron Dome system or something of nature of ward off attacks like the one what Iran did against Israel. And, like...

Okay.

Here's an actual pull quote:

She told The Sunday Telegraph: “To those that say about our defence ambitions ‘we can’t do, shouldn’t do or can’t afford to do’, I say ‘look to Israel’ – a nation a fraction of our size, that has staved off an attack from a nation 10 times its size.

One. Israel is much smaller then the UK. Like, much smaller. The area they have to possibly defend is smaller and, also, more concentrated. The economics involved in scaling up a system like Iron Dome to defend the whole of the UK blows my mind - especially as it's a system designed to counteract a specific security threat we don't have!

But we'll get to that.

Two, it doesn't really fucking matter that Iran is bigger than Israel, does it? They weren't invading, they were firing a lot of drones and shit. Iran may be physically bigger and more populous than Israel but Israel's military budget (and level of development, and investment) kicks the shit out of Iran's. So who gives a fuck if Iran is bigger when that wasn't even a factor?

Three, not to do down Israel's military prowess (not for nothing do people buy their shit) but having heaps of military assets from heaps of allies (including us!) in the area to provide support probably didn't fucking hurt and, in fact, explicitly helped because it's been stated that it helped!

And look, fuck...

It's a nothingburger, I'm aware. She's just taking the current issue of "Oh the world is a dangerous place and we need to defend our citizens rahrah!" that is seen as important here and the "Oh look, Iran attacked Israel!" and mashing them together, but it's such an incoherent, stupid position it hurts my brain.

Who. Who would be attacking us Penny? Were they be attacking us from? Iran is not that far from Israel in the scheme of things. Who do we have nearby who would do this to us, Penny? We make jokes about Europe and the Irish but those jokes aren't going to translate into actual drone attacks, Penny. What the fuck are you talking about, Penny? Do you have something in mind?

Maybe we could use the money that might go into your batshit insane useless fucking waste of an idea and, I don't know, get some dentists?

Seriously, where would a massive drone and missiles attack on the UK come from? I know we live in the future but not that far in the future.

And she's not the only one!

Admiral Lord West, the former First Sea Lord, said: “The bottom line is that if we had 300 missiles fired at us, we wouldn’t be able to repel them in the way that Israel did, albeit with help from the US, the Jordanians and so on. We have nothing like the Iron Dome and I think there is a need for us to ensure we have that.”

What in the fuck are you talking about.

You know when it snowed a few years back and all the flights got cancelled and people were like "Well in Finland this never happens" and it was like, yeah, because this happens all the time so they plan around it. Israel has the Iron Dome for very specific reasons. Is Israel prepared for a volcano erupting? No? Because that's not a concern and so why would they fucking waste their time and money on it? Oh, fancy that!

Argh! What is wrong with you people?!

The things you're saying are stupid! The situations you're conjuring up are stupid! Or am I just losing my mind?!

I'm so tired!

Why can't you people just lose and go away already?!

[hoodienanami]

ok so I watched Pistol like a month ago and I've been obsessed about the Sex Pistols ever since and I even read a couple of books on the band and I honestly feel so sad about them. Like It's weird how social media just made up a discourse about them and they don't even care how there were so young and exploited. I'm not justifying what John became and all the stuff Sid did, but Malcolm really exploited boys that already had issues and used them.

i understand how you feel anon. i feel the same way

the older i get, the younger the Sex Pistols seem. Steve, the oldest member of the band, was 23 when they broke up in 1978. the Pistols started gigging around in 1975. they were kids and they spent some of the most formative years of their lives (age 19-24 are the years of transition from teenagehood to adulthood and therefore very crucial in a person's development) being seen as public enemy number one by a majority of the ppl in britain, the insane tabloid press that slandered them non-stop, and the government of england that straight up considered trying them for treason. btw in the 70s you could be given the death penalty if you were found guilty of treason in england

Johnny and Paul were both nearly murdered in 1977. Paul wasnt even old enough to drink in america when random ppl twice his age decided that he deserved to die for having an opinion on the monarchy that wasnt positive. they beat him with an iron rod and left him in the street. Johnny has permanent nerve damage due to being stabbed through the hand and all of his friends at the time report him becoming so traumatized by this incident that he would run in terror if he thought someone was following him or looking at him weirdly

ppl will tell you that the Sex Pistols were violent, malicious ppl. theyre dead fucking wrong. the Sex Pistols were normal kids who just wanted to play music for other kids like them. they (aside from Sid) were never violent unless they were defending themselves or friends. 99% of the violence that surrounded the band was directed AT them

Johnny, Steve, and Sid had incredibly difficult childhoods and have very obvious mental health issues (Steve is pretty open about his struggles with mental health. the other two arent bc one of them committed suicide and the other would likely rather die then go to a psychiatrist). they were thrown from the fires of child abuse, homelessness, drug abuse, and poverty into the hell that is being the media's favorite punching bags and the designated 'acceptable targets' of an entire nation

to me the Sex Pistols were the most punk out of all of the first generation British bands. bc whats more punk then a band started by an abuse survivor who stole all of his musical equipment and taught himself how to play? whats more punk then having the government of your country against you and refusing to back down? whats more punk then fighting tooth and nail for your right to say what you want even when they try to censor you time and time again? whats more punk then refusing to change who you are and what type of songs you play even when ppl want you dead for it? whats more punk then throwing a christmas party with toys and cake for the kids of striking firemen?

the image of the Sex Pistols as cartoon villains for some other more virtuous band to 'defeat' is not only completely false but its also pathetic. they were normal kids who didnt want to be famous or to be seen as the figureheads of a revolution. they wanted to play music, have fun, and shake things up so that the world would be more interesting for bored kids like them

[jellisdraws]

The Fall of Throm Zar

Throm Zar was not the largest of the cities built by the Veilborn. But it was first. Before Septarchs, before Veilborn were the dominant faces of Asterta. Throm Zar, built in a place too arid and dry for any but those gifted in the incredible command of magic that the Veilborn had.

In the years since the Sundering began, and the Betrayer began this campaign of genocide, more and more people have flocked to Throm Zar. Seeking guidance, seeking assurance, protection, resources.

Whole nations have been shattered in your conflict with the Betrayer. You started in the wake of the Fallen Entity, you gathered all the arcane might you could muster. You sent legions of Warforged to slow them, your future- your eternity, now bent on killing your past. You unleashed coruscating waves of fire, frost, great storms, beasts, even the power of the planes themselves. And all you bought was time, at the cost of every land you called home, and the very people you swore to defend and uplift.

Rumors say the Betrayer had found allies now. Seven of them. An irony that has not escaped some of you. They kill and destroy all your monuments, all your great works, all of your peoples. Death follows them, and none more than the Betrayer himself. Any attempt at parlay has been rebuffed, asking for reasoning is out of the question. What reasoning could there be to justify the deaths of 300,000 brothers and sisters. What insanity would quiet 300,000 minds, all of whom could feel the death knell of the others? What justification could be made for this violence? What can stop them?

The scene before you reminds you that the Sundering as people have begun to call it, is not one event. It’s many. The dangers and problems abound, aftershocks from the implacable foe that hunts your blood and commits genocide against your people.

Ash and smoke choke the air over the spires and rooftops and floating gardens of Throm Zar. The sky is a burned red. A purple wound ripples in the air above the city, an open gaping gash in reality, it’s tattered edges crumbling open further and further as the wound grows. Within, something writhes. It’s pressing outwards, spilling, like malignant blood into the streets below. It’s all too familiar to the night it all began. With one difference. This time you’re going to stop it.

Author Note: This is the opening to a session I ran a few months ago. In this campaign, the Eldritch Soul Campaign, my players have two characters. A high level group from far in the past, whose memories live in the bodies of their primary characters. In this way, they are both experiencing and creating the history that effects their current troubles and circumstances. Being able to tell stories within stories and find places to allow the narrative of my games to shift between timelines or away from the main heroes to provide my players a broader and deeper understanding of what’s happening in the world and the far reaching effects that have reached them has been an incredible challenge but also an incredible boon to the way this game has been played. My players have created circumstances in one shot games that connect to the main plotline- that their characters rediscover in the main plot. The effects of what the Septarchs have done resonate in the world 1000+ years later. It’s like… deconstructing a mystery from both ends. I’m going to try to post more like this soon.