#gaang kids rewrite

[sapphic-agent]

i love your team avatar rewrite! can you talk more about kids?

You don't know how happy this makes me🥹 I'll break it down like they're OCs (even though the only technical OCs here are Tyro, Suma, and Lian).

(Link to the original Gaang post: https://www.tumblr.com/sapphic-agent/747738712838995968/rewriting-the-gaang-in-lok?source=share)

Kya (major changes to canon):

She/Her

Earthbender (Lavabender)

Firstborn child of Katara and Haru

Green eyes, brown hair; resembles Katara the most

Temper like Katara, but lacks her caring and nurturing nature. Blunt and to the point like Haru. Can come off as rude, but that's not her intention. Her mouth got her in constant trouble as a child. Loved probending as a child and looked up to Toph

Probender (later Manager of the Probending Arena)

Lesbian

*Notes: I like canon Kya just fine. But similarly to Katara, I feel like LOK really just didn't bother to do much with her. She's mainly there to give Tenzin a reality check and reaffirm that Aang was a shitty father. So I really just built her up mainly from scratch. You can resonate her with canon Kya or think of her as a completely different character. Katara was always going to name her first daughter Kya, so to me it makes no difference. Also, I made her a lavabender instead of a metalbender to match her temper*

Tyro:

He/Him

Nonbender (Chi-blocker)

Firstborn and only son of Katara and Haru (middle child)

Blue eyes, brown hair; looks a lot like Sokka

Calm demeanor like Haru, but empathetic and softhearted like Katara. The most sensitive of his siblings, but also the nicest. Learned Chi-blocking from the Kyoshi Warriors after visiting Kyoshi Island for the summer. Very interested in law and politics from watching his mom

Attorney, President of Republic City

Sexuality undetermined, closest guess is pansexual

*Notes: Tyro loves his sapphic aunts (Mai and Ty Lee). I like to think of him as that friend that's always there for you, even when they're going through hell (but not parentified like Katara). Why did I make him president? I don't know*

Suma:

She/They (I know I wrote daughter, but she doesn't mind being referred to as daughter or sister by her family)

Waterbender (Healer)

Youngest child of Katara and Haru

Blue eyes, brown hair; looks like Haru (same complexion as his mother)

Finds it hard to understand emotion, doesn't pay attention (spaces out when people are talking, can't focus on classes that don't interest her in school, etc.). Comes off cold, even to her family. Most assume they don't care about anything. It was a shock when she chose to become a Healer, but her patients usually love her

Healer at the Republic City Hospital, Head Healer at the Republic City Hospital

Aromantic

*Notes: Suma is probably way closer to canon Kya than my Kya is. But they're also a lot less emotionally invested in people than Kya. They're definitely on the spectrum in case you couldn't tell*

Lin Beifong (basically the same as canon):

She/Her

Earthbender (Metalbender)

Firstborn child of Aang and Toph

Green eyes, black hair; resembles Toph

Grouchy, tough, and a hardass like Toph, but has a strong sense of fairness like Aang. Bosses her siblings around. Butts heads constantly with Suyin because of this. Studied under her Aunt Suki to become an officer

Republic City Police Officer , Republic City Chief of Police

Bisexual

*Notes: As you can see, I didn't change much about Lin. The biggest thing is probably that she didn't become a police officer to impress Toph, she did it because of her own sense of justice. I love that for her*

Tenzin Beifong (basically the same as canon):

He/Him

Firstborn son and second born child of Aang and Toph

Airbender

Gray eyes, black hair; resembles Aang

Tries to be calm, but has a short fuse. Feels like he has to live up to being the only Airbending child of the Avatar. Can be distant with his family because of this, especially Aang. Finds it hard to connect with his siblings

United Republic of Nations Councilman

*Notes: Tenzin is way more of a black sheep here than the golden child in canon. Him and Aang having a hard relationship because of the expectations placed on him is one thing I'm very proud of. I think he feels like he has to be this perfect son and feels like he can't approach Aang about it. And Toph is a less than understanding person, so he can't really talk to her either. His biggest regret is never opening up to his father before he died. So he suffers in silence (lmao)*

Suyin Beifong (basically the same as canon):

She/Her

Third child of Aang and Toph

Earthbender (Metalbender)

Brown hair, green eyes; resembles both Toph and Aang (has the complexion of Toph's father)

Free-spirited and fun-loving like Aang, but extremely stubborn and hates rules like Toph. Very clever and innovative, a troublemaker as a kid. Clashes with Lin heavily due to her issues with authority and competes with her. Leaves Republic City (of her own volition) to travel the world and creates Zaofu and the Metal Clan

Leader/Founder of Zaofu, Head of the Metal Clan

Demisexual

*Notes: I'll be honest, I love Su and think she's over hated in canon. Maybe it's because I see a lot of myself in being the youngest child and having a bossy and condescending older sister. But anyway, her backstory is one of my favorites in the show, so that's why I didn't feel the need to change it too much. Also, her choosing to travel the world similar to how the Air Nomads did is a nice touch with Aang being her father. Although, a fight with Toph might have been what made her leave, I'm not sure. Demi because I can't see her loving anyone she doesn't share a deep, personal connection to like Bataar*

Bumi Beifong (slight changes to canon)

He/Him

Youngest child of Aang and Toph

Nonbender

Gray eyes, black hair; resembles both Toph and Aang

Extremely intelligent ("mad genius"), but absolutely can't take anything seriously. Prankster, the bane of Lin and Tenzin's existences. Looks up to Aang and is very close with Su, drives Toph crazy. Very interested in combat, war, and strategy

Soldier in the Second Division of the United Forces, Commander in the Second Division of the United Forces

Gay

*Notes: Nothing you guys say or do will ever convince me that Bumi isn't a man kisser*

Lian:

She/Her

Only child of Sokka and Suki

Waterbender (+Chi-blocker)

Blue eyes, auburn hair; looks like Suki but has Sokka's complexion

Playful personality, loves bad and corny jokes. Easygoing for the most part, but knows when to get serious. Trains with the Kyoshi Warriors like Tyro does

Firefighter, Chief of the Southern Water Tribe

Pansexual

*Notes: I love Lian a lot. It's so weird that Sokka of all characters didn't have kids. Out of everyone, I would think it would be Toph. So I obviously gave him one with Suki. I don't think I said so in the Gaang post, but yes she's a Waterbender. Also, why are both her and Tyro pan? The Kyoshi Island affect, it's something in the water*

Izumi (basically the same as canon):

She/Her

Only child of Zuko and Jin

Suspected Firebender, unconfirmed

Amber eyes, brown hair; mostly resembles Jin

A calm, rational person. Loves history. Painfully non-violent because of that history. Her heart is to the Fire Nation and repairing the damage her country has done. She also has a deep love for Ba Sing Se because that's where her mother is from. Some might call her reserved before they get to know her, to her friends she's one of the nicest people ever

No one knows if she's actually a Firebender or not, she's never confirmed or denied it even to her closest friends. Doesn't feel the need to. Looks at it like a political strategy; no one can say she's favoring benders or nonbenders. She is a master swordswoman, though

Archeologist, Historian, Fire Lord

*Notes: I decided not to choose if Izumi's a bender or nonbender. I like the theory that she keeps is secret in canon as a political move. I don't know if they kept it vague in canon on purpose, but I like it that way. I kind of based her off Nico Robin from One Piece*

That's pretty much it for the Gaang Kids! I'm pretty proud of how everyone came out. Hope this satisfied you!

[ecoterrorist-katara]

hello hello! can i just say, i love your takes so much. it feels like you’ve read my mind on how katara would actually react in certain situations. currently myself, im rewriting the structure of the show in a way that makes more sense (aka, getting rid of kataang altogether and focusing on actual growth for each character including aang!) and im struggling a bit on aang actually!

we know how brykke basically stunted aang’s growth because of their weirdness. but what if aang never had a crush on katara? what if he sees katara as the big sister he always wanted instead, making their relationship more wholesome than weird? i think he’s such a centralized character, but when i develop the others beyond the show, aang feels like he’s left behind.

maybe that’s part of it too! he is a boy out of time, and now more of a concept than a person as far as anyone else outside of his immediate group knows. in this au where i intend to age everyone up, i’m just curious to see what kind of man aang would grow up into if his motivations for katara was never there. i see him as trying to hold onto his lost childhood and then having to come to terms with the fact he can’t. but i’d love to hear your thoughts. who is aang outside of that? his journey has the opportunity to be so fascinating, but brykke kind of said hey! let’s not get into that! let’s make him a creepy god boy who gets whatever he wants!

(also to note, this version of aang is meant to be with azula and while i love the meta ive seen about taang i do personally hc her as a lesbian but i do like them but yeah!)

also sorry if this is too rambly i’m just very excited!

hi! This is such a nice message, and please never apologize for rambling! My blog is a safe space for all ramblers. Your fic sounds like a very exciting project!

I definitely agree with you that he’d try to hold onto his childhood & have a hard time with his grief; coming to terms with the depth of his loss would be an exceptionally interesting arc. His people were victims of genocide: his culture and his loved ones were brutally murdered. Nobody can replace that community, not even his chosen family of the Gaang, and certainly not a romantic partner.

But Aang certainly is somebody outside of all that tragedy too. I think his cheerfulness and optimism, his playfulness, his resilience, his reluctance to assume responsibility, and his prodigiousness are all important facets of his personality.

Here's my piping hot take: Aang is James Potter with a more tragic backstory and less of a cruel streak. Think about it: mischievous, funny, adventurous, brave, enjoys attention, popular, devoted to friends, prodigious, entitled when it comes to love interests, morally inflexible, dedicated to Good, can be too arrogant to recognize his own faults. We hear that James became a pretty decent guy, so there's plenty of potential for growth for Aang, especially if he doesn't get his forever girl at age twelve.

Aang has a big heart and stringent morals, but is still a bit of a trickster. Not in a malicious way, but in a “I have a zest for life way” that gives him a little bit of an edge beyond just being a sunshine boy. You can see this even in ep 1, when he sacrifices himself so that the village would be left alone, only to haul ass out of the Fire Nation ship as soon as they’re safe. You can also see it in The Great Divide, where he straight up just fabricates history lmao. Lying is not an issue for him at all, which indicates it’s not really part of his moral code.

On the other hand, he obviously feels very strongly about taking life, which indicates a black and white approach towards morality that is not uncommon in kids. I could see an older, more mature Aang being led to question his own approach to morality, particularly by someone like Zuko, who probably finds violence a lot more palatable than lying. I think there are very interesting cultural differences that can be explored here, which doesn’t necessarily mean that Aang will change his opinions, only that he’ll have greater respect for how other cultures see right and wrong, and that he can keep Air Nomad culture alive without taking on the burden of being the manifestation of that culture. He has the innate impulse to try to see the best in people, which is at odds with his black and white morals sometimes. Related to that, he really struggles with morally grey characteristics in his friends. I think that if he had a fleshed out opportunity to properly disagree with his friends, he may not necessarily change his own mind, but he might grow to value his friends' freedom of choice over imposing his own values on them, since one of the cornerstones of Air Nomad philosophy is apparently about freedom. I think his pacifist voice is an important contribution to their ragtag group of overpowered pre-teens and teens and I love it when that aspect is explored in fics.

I've seen some really good depictions of Aang-not-obsessed-with-Katara in fanfiction (Southern Lights has my favourite one; in fact it's my fave characterization of basically everyone except for Mai). I see most of his flaws as things he can grow out of, but only if he encounters difficult situations and learns to grow. Have fun with your fic, and please do share in any relevant tags once you start posting!

[biconickyoshi]

So Tenzin and his kids won’t exist in LOK in your AU?

Welllll they will, but in different ways :)

I actually have a Korrasami-focused LoK rewrite brainstormed already that takes place in the same AU as The Avatar and the Fire Prince. Here’s a few of my bullet points from my brainstorm document:

- Tenzin would still exist, but as an acolyte of EK descent who desperately wishes he was an airbender. He would be an orphan who was mentored and eventually adopted by Aang; Aang and Zuko are his fathers and Izumi (also adopted) is like a big sister. He would still serve as Korra’s airbending teacher, but feel inadequate due to being a nonbender. Harmonic convergence would eventually give him, Jinora, Ikki, Meelo, Rohan, and Bumi airbending.

- Bumi would be a nonbender descendant of Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation colonialists (probably from Cranefish Town/Republic City), and also be adopted by Aang and Zuko. Kya would still be Katara’s daughter.

- So in this AU, Izumi, Tenzin, and Bumi would be adopted siblings, while Kya would be a close friend for them, like Lin and Suyin.

Obviously I’m doing a lot of lore-bending for the Gaang’s kids here, but I’m doing that anyway with a LOT of other plot points (I basically plan to rewrite a lot of the plotlines I had major issues with from LoK), so at the end of the day I figured what the heck, it’s my AU, I can do what I want lol.

Let me know if you or anyone else is interested in hearing more about this LoK AU, because I have a lot of other interesting ideas for it! :)

[robinlolo]

ZUKKA FIC RECS :)

Sokka is washed overboard while working on the fisherman's boat during the storm. He wakes on a deserted island.

Or... mostly deserted.

Chief Arnook never assigns Sokka to protect Princess Yue, so he goes to fight the Fire Nation with the other men. When the moon dies, and the ocean spirit takes its revenge, Sokka is caught standing on the deck of a Fire Nation ship. Sokka should have drowned… and he would have drowned, if not for a certain Fire Nation raft fleeing the North Pole.

[An enemies-to-lovers season 2 rewrite, where Sokka is separated from the gaang during the Siege of the North, and travels the Earth Kingdom with Zuko instead].

The world is a wild, strange place, and Zuko has spent his whole life searching for his place in it.

An accidental encounter with Prince Zuko forces Sokka to discover that desperate times call for desperate measures. Oh, and he's not telling that story to anyone.

Sokka isn't sure what Zuko is doing in the middle of a swamp, but what he is sure about is that it can't be good.

Book 3. Sokka/Zuko. Set after The Boiling Rock Pt. 2, Sokka and Zuko explore the Western Air Temple, where Sokka tries to get Zuko to talk about girls, marriage, and maybe even a future for the two of them.

Sokka and Zuko are both weird guys. Fortunately, they're the same kind of weird as each other.

Sokka thinks Ozai’s beach house is pretty awesome. Slightly less awesome is the couch he has to sleep on, as is accidentally getting into Zuko’s bed.

At first, that is.

Long ago, the four nations lived in harmony. Then everything changed when the tower of Babel was built.

Just kidding- this will be a typical canon rewrite of the Avatar: The Last Airbender story with soulmates, Zukka, and languages!

Follow Sokka where he embarks on a journey around the world, following a strange monk who speaks in a dialect over 100 years old. Along the way, Sokka realizes he has a soulmate, depicted by the black lettering that appears on his wrist out on his journey. The only problem is, he can't read the writing for the life of him.

*Tower of Babel not included

Sokka deals with the loss, heartbreak, and fear as he learns just who the name on his wrist belongs to. He embarks on a delicate journey of acceptance and grief, while Prince Zuko struggles to keep his cool while life throws anything it can at him. Follow the boys in the second book of the Lost in Translation series!

Typical soulmate au/canon rewrite with a fun twist: realistic languages! If you're new here, be sure to start with book one! Regular readers, good to see you again! Hope you enjoy the second installment of this silly little fanfic I've grown to love :)

[innocentimouto]

What if ATLA had 6 seasons, the War trilogy (books 1-3) and the Post-War trilogy (Books 4-6)?

That would be fascinating! Book 3 would still have to be longer though. So maybe one extra season for the war?

I needed more Water Tribe, Gaang finding stray waterbenders, the Northern Water Tribe fighting the Fire Nation in the final battle with Hahn leading after having matured and choosing to remove the ban on waterbending for women like he promised Yue while she was alive.

SWT men returning home. Jet getting his arc of validating his trauma and fighting to help his people and enjoying small things and seeing the war end. The Freedom Fighters' group hug at the end of the war where they all break down.

And Zuko's arc. On one hand, people could go with what the show intended I think? Which was by Book 2, seeing the suffering of the people actually made him question his actions, doubt himself, regret his actions.

We'd of course get people who would act like this really did happen, but really, name one scene where he thinks back to his actions in the war and regrets them (this doesn't include Iroh).

This route would still realistically take a long time. He would no doubt mess up a lot and be confronted with prejudices and ignorance regarding other nations. Heck, regarding his own nation, since he got banished before properly learning how to lead.

Or you could go the longer route and keep the canon moments. And also make other characters fully aware of the racism and entitlement and lack of remorse. Really make it where they only allow him to join because it's for the sake of ending the war, and then have Zuko confronted with everyone in the group not liking his company. He'd have to sit down and understand why.

I think the most powerful way to make him stop and think is to have Aang be the one to react to his prejudices and fn beliefs. Considering Aang gave him so many chances, and also doesn't have a moment in the show where he gets to confront a Fire Nation person directly for the loss of his people and the rewriting of history, I think it would be impactful and even good for the plot.

We are not leaving Ba Sing Se falling in either scenario no no. Whether willingly or unwillingly Zuko will see how the people suffered from it. Iroh does not get to back there so easily.

Post war I'd rather be vague on, considering it won't be entirely pleasant, but have Katara and Aang search for surviving benders, flying bisons, have Katara and Sokka and Hakoda return home and stay for a while, Jet gets a whole long arc of having an adult to care for him and help him through his trauma.

It's not all fun and games unfortunately, especially with what to do with the Firelord, but I'd rather most of the war hardships be in the background and focus on them being kids in a war free world.

[ao3feed-zukka]

Book One: Dragons and Sea Serpents

Read now on Ao3 at https://ift.tt/CJ0P2MT by BloodandPassion After more than three years of carefully playing along with their farce of a mission, the impossible happened: the Avatar returned. Now Zuko and his crew would be forced to participate in the hunt for the last airbender, but they had become uniquely skilled at committing treason unnoticed. Having to follow the kid around hardly meant that they needed to capture him. “He got away again,” they’d groan like particularly exhausted participants of a spirit tale. “We’ll get him next time.” And really, the Fire Lord had written Zuko off as a failure years ago. He wouldn’t be surprised that Zuko was failing at this too. It wasn’t like anyone else was doing a better job. - A rewrite of Book One: Water Words: 2954, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English Series: Part 3 of Dragon Fire Siblings Fandoms: Avatar: The Last Airbender Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: M/M Characters: Zuko (Avatar), Iroh (Avatar), Zuko's Crew (Avatar), Sokka (Avatar), Katara (Avatar), Aang (Avatar), Momo (Avatar), Appa (Avatar) Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar), Iroh & Zuko (Avatar), Zuko & Zuko's Crew (Avatar), Aang & Zuko (Avatar), Katara & Zuko (Avatar), Azula & Zuko (Avatar) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, Dragon Zuko (Avatar), Dragon Azula, Azula and Zuko Have a Good Relationship (Avatar), Everyone Loves Zuko (Avatar), Zuko-centric (Avatar), Protective Zuko (Avatar), Canon Rewrite, Friends to Lovers, Slow Burn, Zuko Joins The Gaang Early (Avatar) Read it on Ao3 at https://ift.tt/CJ0P2MT

[escapeaddict]

the TLOK rewrite I probably won't write but will post about

I love ATLA, and while TLOK is a good show, it is not the best sequel. I disagree with the choices made for the characters from the original show, and I believe the series could be improved as a whole.

For example; I think the plot of season one is cheapened by the leader of the Equalists being a bender, and then the plot never addressing the power imbalance inherent in their society again.

I think it would make more sense for Amon to be a nonbender traumatized by his family's bloodbending, who discovers some way to block bending (maybe a new technique of chi-blocking, maybe an ability granted by a lion turtle, that's not the point).

Also, the gaang will be a bit more involved, because since when are they the type to sit on their asses while someone else saves them? And yes, that includes Sokka and Suki, who deserved better. Just saying.

And what's up with making Aang a terrible parent??? Sure his kids have issues due to who their father is (Avatar, savior of the world, last airbender, etc.) but he didn't play favorites.

And Toph never became a police officer, because she would never (Lin still does, more on that later)

anyway, please feel free to send me asks I would love to rant about this to anybody interested

[hazardous-lightdas12]

My first tag game :D yay!

Trials of Apollo fandom: -

TOA Hunger Games AU

Hera/Leto post revolution

Wrestler! Apollo/Cyrene

Apollo hoards pets

5 times Artemis protects her brother and 5 times Apollo protects her

Post ToA Apollo fic

God! Apollo toa rewrite longfic

Rebellion

DC:

Superman undergoes puberty

Vampire Batman

Batman: The project to rebuild Gotham city

Batman Identity Shenanigans

Batman Bruce with chronic spine injury

Avatar the Last Airbender:

A Tainted Lotus is the color of blood

Christmas Scrooge AU with the past present and future + Zuko

A Lotus creates Ripples when it floats

Immortal GAang AU

Wanting to Kill, from Whence they came

Buried under a Rock: Rapunzal Toph AU

From a Lonely Princess to Another : Yue, Azula pen pal fic

Toph Zuko buddy buddy fic

Zutara love square like Miraculous Ladybug (Blue Spirit + Painted Lady), but platonic

Miraculous Ladybug:

Hopelessly in Love

Alya finds out AU

Kid! Fic

Oh gosh, i couldn't possibly tag 25 people haha.

@literallyjusttoa @plastikstarz @moodyseal @starryeyedgazer @tsarinatorment @muffinlance @ihadhopeoncetoo @literallyadonis @ukelele-boy

WIP TITLE GAME

RULES: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! And then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

tagged by @soleil-in-retrograde!

*digs up my piles of WIPs* let's see here...

From the RRverse

Bloody Memories

Sun-Kissed

The Art of War

A Radiant Light

A Titan's Demise

Marsyas

Orion v Apollo

Naomi again

From Dusk to Dawn

Triumvirate V Koios

Phoebe

Dream

Helios TBM

Koios ToA

Artemis one shot

Apollo n Muses

Swarms and Swears

Drunk Twins

The Sun's Rise

Revolution

Buzzfeed Unsolved

Leto n Asteria

The Conspiracy of Rachel Elizabeth Dare

AUs

ToA Hunger Games AU

Comfortember 2023

Day 12 - When Everything's Wrong, You Make It Right

Day 18 - I'm Just (Not) Like You

Day 19 - Reaching For The Light (Of Day)

[ap-kinda-lit]

Okay so I was kinda vague about some aspects of my rewrite for the ATLA finale and epilogue bc I was thinking of doing a fic and didn’t wanna give too much away. But I’m impatient and have no self control so here's this. - Zuko and Mai do talk before the coronation, but Mai tells Zuko she doesn’t want to get back together. She realized in her time in prison that she does care for Zuko, but not as a girlfriend would. They’ve changed a lot and they’re not the same people and neither are their feelings. Zuko isn’t upset by this, in fact he’s kind of relieved. They do agree that even though they don’t feel that way anymore they still want to be friends, which they’re happy about. - Zuko and Katara talk after the coronation as Katara checks up on Zuko’s chest scar. He tells her about his talk with Mai. Inspired by his Katara confides in him that she knows Aang has feelings for her but she doesn’t like him in that way and she feels torn because she doesn’t want to force herself into a relationship with him that could go terribly but she doesn’t want to break his heart either. Zuko tells Katara she’s doing nothing wrong for not loving Aang romantically and she doesn’t owe anyone anything because of that. He just wants her to be happy and if Aang did truly love her he would want that for her too. - Katara listens to Zuko’s advice but can’t bring herself to flat out tell Aang she doesn’t love him. She sends hints but has a hard time saying it. But Aang’s persistence begins to irk her until at one point she thinks he’s going to kiss her without consent again and she goes off on him. This strains things between them of course. Aang starts to think the problem is with him and Katara feels bad but she also feels relieved and stands by what she said. - Zuko knows Katara will be leaving soon and dreads it but doesn’t want to stop her from going home if that’s what she wants. Katara feels on the fence about returning home. She misses it, but she doesn’t want to leave the Fire Nation (Zuko, actually) either. Zuko finds out there’s no Southern Water Tribe ambassador thanks to Ozai cancelling that job in his reign. So he offers her the job. It’s perfect since it means she can come and go between the Fire Nation and Water Tribe whenever she wants for however long she wants. Katara of course takes it. - Right off the bat, from his coronation, people are not happy about Zuko being Fire Lord. The first assassination attempt happens a week after he’s crowned. - Despite the assassination attempts, Zuko wants to take care of something: find his mom. When he learns where she is, he asks Katara to join him. She goes with him of course. - Five months into his reign and after finding his mom, there’s another attempt on Zuko’s life. This time, there’s a bomb planted on the palace grounds. Zuko notices it though and shields Katara from it as it goes off. He’s only minority wounded but it shakes Katara up. When she finishes healing him (and giving him a scolding), she kisses him. She stops but Zuko kisses her. They admit they can’t imagine losing each other because they love each other. With that, their relationship begins. - They keep it secret for a while because of the assassination attempts and still precarious political atmosphere. When several of major conspirators against Zuko are captured and charged, then they go public. - Aang is broken up by this. The training session, the outburst, and the epiphany and pilgrimage happen. He writes to everyone during his travels, but keeps his distance. He wants to become a better friend before he can interact with them. - Zuko proposes to Katara after her 16th birthday. He takes her to the Crystal Catacombs as a ‘gift’ for her birthday. There, he proposes. Katara’s response: “Of course I will, you idiot.” - Aang returns for that birthday. He’s improved and again apologizes for how he left things with Zuko and Katara. He slowly but surely makes up for everything and starts over with his friends. He even helps Zuko with proposing to Katara. Both Zuko and Katara are glad to have Aang back and are

proud of how much he’s grown, but are also happy that despite how much he’s changed he’s still the goofy kid they met and befriended at heart. - Zuko and Katara wait until she’s 18 to finally marry, as it’s law in the Fire Nation. They marry in the Fire Nation and have their honeymoon in the South Pole. - When Katara finds out she's pregnant with their first child, Zuko comes up with the perfect gift for them. He knows Katara wants their child to grow up in touch with both their heritages and she misses home sometimes, so Zuko commissions for a vacation home to be built on the outskirts of the Southern Water Tribe for them. It's regal but pays homage to the traditional Water Tribe architecture and family homes. Katara is given free reign in decorating it. - Sokka and Suki marry and stay in the South Pole when Sokka becomes chief. They have a big bunch of kids, most of which are girls. Sokka is a proud Girl Dad from day one. - Toph and Aang get together and have a shotgun wedding. She's not pregnant, they're just young and in love and don't feel the need for a big wedding. They elope in the newly founded Republic City with the Gaang present as witnesses.

[an-aspiring-jester]

What are your thoughts on Maiko in the comics (Smoke and Shadow) and their future? I see a lot of people paint Mai as an evil character with malicious intent, but I heavily disagree. What do you think?

First of all, thanks for the ask! <3 I'm really glad for an excuse to talk! XD

Right off the bat, I think comics have many WILDLY OOC moments. I generally like the questions they raise, there are some interesting ideas there, but the execution is not always true to the original spirit of the show. (Like, gaang leaving Zuko alone for almost a year, and then jumping straight to the blaming without talking to him first?! COME ON!) With this in mind, I do feel like show!Mai, after everything they've been through, would try a little harder to get through to Zuko before dumping him. It was just a cheap way to make him more isolated, and feed some more drama down the way.

That being said, I'm a person who loves to work around the canon and fix it, instead of just ignoring parts I don't like, so I'm 100% certain that the whole comic drama is just a passing obstacle and they still end up together afterward. (Actually, I even have a WIP fic on how exactly that happens, but I'm terrible at finishing things, so better not to hold your breath XD) Plus, realistically speaking, a chance to grow as people on their own may actually be good for them. They're still kids with LOTS on their plates.

As for the criticism - I kinda see where it might come from, the writing can get very clumsy with maiko, but it mostly boils down to what lenses you interpret the canon through. Though her being evil is a WAY too far-reaching conclusion. What I read from these comics, is that Mai is 100% still in love with Zuko, but is scared of getting her heart broken (again). And it's NOT Zuko's fault, he doesn't do anything wrong, but he HAS some self-destructive tendencies, and Mai doesn't feel equipped to help him with it at the moment. Is it selfish? Maybe a little, but we're talking about a 17-year-old girl with her own share of trauma here.

We actually have to go back to the Promise - from Mai's perspective, Zuko is growing distant, and pushing her away, dealing with his inner conflict on his own. The last time that happened, it nearly got him killed. And she's not strong enough to witness it again. (That is of course putting aside the fact that the treason was the RIGHT thing to do for Zuko, but as I've written in my previous maiko rant, I think that Mai's conformism, in this case, comes from a misguided attempt to keep Zuko safe) You can also make an argument that it hurts her that even after everything, he still doesn't trust her enough to share his problems with her. How is she supposed to be his Firelady if he doesn't TALK to her? (Again, not really Zuko's fault, and it isn't only MAI who didn't TRY reaching out to him - gaang COULD get a pass in the right circumstances, but IROH'S absence is inexcusable here. Again, comics are a MESS. It's hard to salvage the good parts without major rewrites. XD) Back on track: In Smoke and Shadows, her original reason to go out with Kei Lo was to KEEP ZUKO SAFE! And it's apparent in every panel that she is still not over him (and vice versa) - their chemistry is off the charts whenever they're together. She cares about Zuko, even though she doesn't always know what he needs.

About the malicious intent, I'm guessing it's about the political stuff. Was it wrong for her to hide her father's role in the whole thing? Probably. But it was her father, she trusted in his good intentions and a change of heart. In the end, he did do the right thing. Was he left off the hook way too easily? Definitely, but it's a kid's show we're talking about here, stuff like this gets a free pass.

Or maybe people talk about her essentially using Kei Lo (first to save Zuko, then as a distraction from her own broken heart)? In that case, yeah, it's a bad thing to do. But again, stupid teenagers in love reserve the right to do dumb stuff. In the end, she came clean and broke up with him, not to lead him on anymore, so I guess that the lesson is learned.

Mai made a lot of mistakes here, but that doesn't make her evil or selfish. She's a complex character, just like everyone in atla.

TL;DR: Mai is not evil, she and Zuko belong together, comics fail in a lot of places, but it's nothing that cannot be salvaged with a bit of creativity.

I'm not sure if what I wrote is coherent, it's mostly a stream of thoughts, but I love to chat about maiko! It's nice hearing from other fans. :) So once again, thank you for reaching out! I'd love to hear your thoughts on the comics.

[sparkles-and-trash]

The Gaang are Roommates AU ~

note: this is a rewrite and repost of my old roommates au, there was some stuff I wanted to change, and I wanted to make the parts a little longer, so yeah, ta-dah! 

- think modern setting in the canon universe, bending is still a thing 

- the Gaang are all in going to Ba Sing Se University 

- I’m gonna change the ages a bit to make it easier for myself, sorry 

- Zuko, Sokka, Suki and Mai are 20, Katara, Ty Lee and Azula are 19, Aang, Toph and Yue are 18

- so, Zuko, Sokka, Katara, Aang and Toph end up living together in a big loft type apartment 

- Sokka and Aang are old best friends, they met Toph in Middle School, and Katara is a natural part of the group 

- until now Sokka and Katara have both been living in the dorms, and they both hate it intensely 

- but now that Aang and Toph are also in uni, they all decide to move in together!

- …but the only problem is that the only place they find that they like is just out of their price rage (Toph’s parents aren’t supportive of her major so they’re not helping out much)

- enter: ~ Zuko ~

- so, Zuko has been living with his uncle Iroh since his Father, who’s a high up in some big and important company the Fire Nation, disowned him for speaking up against the company’s shifty treatment of workers and ruining a lot of sacred land etc 

- they’re still firebenders and the scar still happened, not in an Agni Kai, but it happened 

- but after Zuko started uni, Iroh really tried to push him to meet some people his own age and make some friends

- the only people Zuko talks to on the regular besides Iroh is Azula, Ty Lee and Mai, and Mai is the only one who is like, his friend yanno?

- the last year the deal was that if Zuko didn’t branch out, Iroh would have him live one year with other students

- it’s his idea of tough love 

- Zuko tried to do some random kid’s homework to have them pretend to be his new friend in front of Iroh so he wouldn’t have to, but Iroh can tell he’s lying so easily 

- so, Zuko ends up hearing about the Gaang through Mai, who heard from Ty Lee, who plays field hockey, Suki, who’s best friends with Sokka

- so, he goes to meet them, and it’s so awkward mY GOD

- Katara is a B I G environmental activist and HATES Ozai and his company, with good reason

- she eases up a tad when Zuko admits to being turned away from as a teen, but she is still suspicious

- Aang loves him right away, ofc, and that makes Katara even more suspicious because she’s pretty protective of Aang

- she claims it’s because he’s so kind and believes everyone but she totally liikeees hiiiim

- Toph is just like, sure, as long as he pays his rent idgaf

- Sokka is weirdly quiet, because he’s had a huge crush on Zuko forever, and the only one who knows is Aang (and Toph but she ain’t no snitch)

- so, ya boy makes the cut, and before they know it, it’s move-in day!

- but, the idiots didn’t think through the facts that it’s only three bedrooms oops

- and Toph is NOT afraid to pull the “I’m blind and I need my space” card

- and nobody’s up to fight her on it, so 

- let’s just say there is A LOT of back and forth, but with Katara refusing to room with her brother again, and Zuko being rightfully scared of Katara, it ends up with Zuko and Sokka sharing a bedroom, and Katara and Aang

- they have separate beds ofc

- but still, tension, man, so much tension

- it takes a while, but the dynamics starts working out really well

- Zuko is good at grocery shopping and likes to clean, and Aang is always happy to help him out

- Sokka loves cooking, so he does that a lot

- Katara is always on top of the others with schoolwork and making sure everyone is okay, and she usually does it in genius, sneaky ways so people doesn’t even notice that she does it

- Toph is clearing the air off bullshit

- like, she will call a bitch out

- but because she cares about said bitch

- so, Aang knows that Sokka has a crush on Zuko because Sokka told him in a weak moment, and Toph knows because she just knows

- Aang is a good friend tho, and he tries to like, ease them together

- but he is so awkward about it, the poor thing, and Zuko doesn’t understand AT ALL

- Toph is just sitting back and sighing a lot

- Katara doesn’t understand either but she just stays out of it (smart girl)

- but okay, we know how oblivious Zuko can be right?

- Sokka can give him googly eyes and blush and stutter around him so much and he still has no clue at all

- Zuko starts thinking Sokka just doesn’t like him at all

- but then one night Zuko has this really intense nightmare

- okay and quick addition, his scar is… handshaped? Like, you can clearly tell what happened to him

- but nobody talks about it, yet

- but then he’s having a terrible nightmare and is talking and begging and pleading in his sleep

- so much that Sokka wakes up

- and he catches on pretty fast, but had no idea what to do

- so he just shuffles over to Zuko’s side of the room and starts tapping his shoulder rapidly

- but nothing happens

- so he just… gently and awkwardly pats his head until Zuko wakes up

- and Zuko is like… wat u doin there bro

- and Sokka is like… just patting ur head to wake you from a nightmare bro

- and they awkwardly just mumble and go back to their beds

- but Zuko is smiling a lot because someone who’s not his family or a family friend really cares about him

- after that, Zuko slowly starts opening up to all of them, but Sokka especially 

- he never really tells them about being cast out and burned tho

- until one day he kinda casually slings it into a convo all fast and awkwardly

- it’s just Toph, Aang and Sokka there

- Toph yells so WHAATTT so loudly and just metalbends the whole fridge into a clump in rage

- Aang cries lmao but he tries to hide to and be supportive and not awkward

- Sokka is kinda quiet, but he carefully asks about it that night when they’re in their beds, and they talk a little about it

- Aang tells Katara (with permission) and she awkwardly, but wholeheartedly tells him that he can always talk to her

- they do that «awkward sibling hug» from Gravity Falls after

- *hugs stiffly* «pat, pat»

- but okay, Toph and metalbending when angry, it happens quite a lot 

- this was the first time it was the fridge, but the toaster, the microwave, and several other appliances have met the same fate

- everyone is kinda used to it now, and she always replaces it

- except Zuko, who’s still kinda new to them all

- but what are you supposed to say when your new friends is so outraged by the abuse you went through that they crush a whole ass fridge?

- it actually reminds him that he’s cared for here, by these people who owe him nothing, and is not related to him, and it makes him a little dizzy to have people care this way

- he casually mentions it to his Uncle Iroh the time he’s in at work, that his new friend is a metalbender and squashed their whole fridge when she was pissed on his behalf

- Iroh is thrilled

- to the point of offering Toph a job lmao

- Toph, desperate to cut of as much ties with her family and be as self-sufficient as possible, agrees

- and now Iroh have two formerly rich kids with no clue about any sort of customer service and basic stuff like that working for him

- Toph is a hard worker tho, and she and Zuko work surprisingly well together

- Katara is a little relived, because the more those two work, the less are the chances of either of them trying to cook or do too many chores around their apartment

- they mean well, or, Zuko does, but he does so much dumb shit when trying to help lmao

- Sokka starts spending a lot of time over at The Jasmine Drago too

- Aang is still trying to keep the fact that Sokka likes Zuko a secret, but he is having trouble

- Katara is his biggest weakness, and now they’re suddenly alone with her a lot

- someone else who could always read Sokka really well is Suki

. whom he used date in high school, but they parted as friends and everything s cool

- but Sokka is a little taken aback when she comes into The Jasmine Dragon one day, hand in hand with Sokka’s childhood crush obsession, Yue

- for the first time in man’s memory, Sokka is a little speechless

- and Suki’s like “lmao dude I haven’t seen you like this since the first time you saw Zu-”

- cue Zuko popping out behind them like “WELCOME TO THE JASMINE DRAGON FRIENDS OF SOKKA :D”

- Sokka is so fucking red, poor boy is just about having an aneurism at this point

- but luckily something happens and Zuko gets distracted

- Suki is having the time of her life tho, Sokka always used to tease her for her crushes before and after they dated, and suddenly, here they are

- at the apartment, Aang decides they need some apartment traditions

- they’ve been living there for almost three months, after all

- so he decides that weekly movie nights are mandatory

- so are pillowforts

- Katara is actually really excited for it, she loves all things cozy and fall-like

- also… she is weak for Aang, y’all, and she loves seeing him all excited

- Zuko barely knows what a pillowfort is, he didn’t think real people actually made it

- but imagine these dorks in a pillowfort with hot chocolate and lot’s of pillows

- Toph claims that she thinks it’s soo dumb, but she will always make sit in the middle of the group all wrapped in her blanket and laughing when the others jump and get spooked from the horror movies Sokka always wants to watch

- and she will make sure the fort is right and perfect lmao

- Zuko is a little awkward about it at first, but he likes it too

- Sokka always manages to plop in next to Zuko lmao

- they haven’t talked about the head patting incident yet, but Zuko is def starting to feel the butterflies

- one time after a movie night Sokka falls asleep on Zuko’s shoulder, after the others have left for the night

- Zuko can’t resist waking him up with awkward head pats similar to the one Sokka used on him

- Sokka thinks he died and went to heaven lmao

- but then he fully wakes and sees Zuko’s shit eating grin and can’t help but laugh at the whole thing

- and Zuko has his “oh no he’s hot beautiful and I really adore him” moment

[alfredolover119]

I looooove your zukka rec lists! I recently became Avatar-obsessed, never got a chance to watch it as a kid and only just got through it all! I was wondering if you'd consider doing a specifically angst rec list? I love fluffy zukka everything, but sometimes you just gotta have your heart ripped out of your chest and put back in after being thoroughly blended.

thank you! i relate heavily to “recently became Avatar-obsessed” haha. as for the angst list, i sure can try! warning: all of these have happy endings because im a crybaby who can’t read unhappy endings. also, p much all of the fics in the completed section were featured on my other lists but this is specifically the ANGSTY ones >:^)

angsty zukka wips

first, most obviously, feels like we only go backwards by @oldpotatoe

-currently at 102k with 19/27 chapters posted; rated teen

-the amnesia fic. the amnesia fic. the amnesia fic. you know. i haven’t actually read it yet because, as previously mentioned, i’m a crybaby and am waiting for it to finish up but, from my understanding, this fic will murder you in a dark alleyway with no remorse. if u like zukka angst, you’ve probably already read this, but just in case!

An injury leaves Sokka with amnesia. His last memory is of the failed invasion, of leaving his father behind in enemy territory on the Day of Black Sun. Of hopelessness. Rage. // But then he wakes up, and the war is over. Suddenly, he must come to terms with the fact that years have passed, and that he's somehow the Southern Water Tribe Ambassador to the Fire Nation. He is also supposedly friends with banished-Prince-turned-Fire-Lord Zuko, of all people. Close friends.

Yeah, nah.

and i’ll do anything you say (if you say it with your hands) by @goldrushzukka

-currently 38k with 6/8 chapters posted; rated mature

-holy shit. holy SHIT. modern au based on the “my cat likes my fuckbuddy and i am falling in love” trope(?). maybe it’s just because of how the last chapter ended, but oh my god. this one made me cry. made me want to commit violence. when it’s not angsty as hell, it’s pretty funny, but holy shit. ao3 user nebulastucky please.

It’s supposed to be a one night stand. Pick up some guy at a bar, barely remember his name and never learn anything real about him, send him packing in the morning with a thanks for the ride and a cup of coffee to-go. That’s how it’s supposed to go. // But then it’s the best sex Sokka has ever had, and he thinks he’ll hate himself if he never gets to have it again.

Violet Blossoms and Celestial Objects by @hollypunkers

-currently 15k with 2/? posted. rated teen.

-this is the sequel to blue (an angsty, zukka rewrite of book 2-- go read it if u havent!)! !! this is a book 3 rewrite. only two chapters in and mrs hollypunkers is really abusing the miscommunication tag, as zukka writers seem to enjoy doing. im excited to see how the world and story develops with the changes to the story! you should be too!! its very good! obviously spoilers for blue lmao

Having sided with the Avatar in Ba Sing Se, Zuko not only must navigate his new relationship with Sokka but returning to the Fire Nation as a banished enemy. His own journey of self discovery and personal growth must now coexist alongside the personal struggles of every other member of the Gaang as together they blaze a treacherous path toward an unsure victory against Zuko's own father and nation.

breakable heaven by @fruitysokka

-currently 71k with 9/11 chapters posted. rated teen

-swt ambassador zuko! soon to be chief sokka! fake dating ur best friend to get out of an arranged marriage! what could go wrong!!! i also haven’t read this one ((see: i’m a crybaby who is being hurt by too many zukka wips already)), but it has been hanging out in my marked for later for months. from what i understand, this fic has: angst.

With his twenty-first birthday looming just around the corner, the Southern Water Tribe Elders have decided that Sokka, next in line to be Chief, needs to get married. Sokka does not want that, but he does need to get them off his back until he can figure his way out of it. What better way to do that than to pretend to date his best friend (and newly minted Ambassador to the Southern Water Tribe) Zuko? // Seriously, this is a foolproof plan. Maybe one of Sokka's best. Absolutely nothing can go wrong.

angsty zukka fics (completed!)

(i’ll put these in wc order)

lighthouse beam by @incorrectzukka

-7k, rated g

-a modern college au!! zuko’s inner-monologue is very angsty in this fic. typical zuko. also per usual, theyre both fucking dorks. they sort themselves out in the end, but not before The Angst. zuko is semi-deaf in this fic and also he has a bit of internalized homophobia.

Sokka’s breathtakingly beautiful and he’s smart and makes other people laugh. Zuko has a half-burnt face and a deaf ear. It’s not rocket science. // Or, Zuko falls in love with the boy in his Philosophy class.

This Isn’t My Idea of Fun by @khaleeseas

-9k, explicit

-moon spirit/nwt prince!sokka, no war to be found here! admittedly this isnt THAT angsty but like. the angst IS present. zuko is still the prince. a lovely childhood friends (though they hated each other for a minute haha) to lovers story. 

If you asked Zuko, he and Azula saw far too much of Chief Hakoda of the Northern Water Tribe’s children growing up. It wasn’t until they were older, and Azula pointed out that - duh - their families were trying to set them all up, that he realized why. // He was told by his mother to be polite. These people were their friends and allies, and though their nations were as different as they came, harmony between nations was the most important thing. // It wasn’t his fault the Chief’s children were so annoying.

put your lips close to mine (as long as they don’t touch) by @celestialceci

-9k, teen

-modern au! zuko and sokka are college roommates. zuko goes to spend the summer with sokka. again,, not really that angsty but-- its there!! the detail and feeling of Home in this story make me happy. zuko is insecure as hell here too. if ur into that. 

Zuko hates his home. He likes college alright, but he likes Sokka even better, his assigned roommate turned best friend. Spending the summer with Sokka will be fun, a welcome change of pace he desperately wants. It probably won't awaken anything in him... right?

the thing about dancing by anodymalion

-9k, teen

-yes. this one right here officer. it makes my heart ache. also trans sokka! which is cool. but the zuko angst in this one. hurts me. not so much relationship angst as it is zuko learning he deserves happiness angst. i’m sure u know The Type.

The first time a attendant spills Zuko’s tea and doesn’t immediately fall to her knees, begging the Fire Lord’s forgiveness, it is not anger but a resounding warmth that fills his chest.

i could (never) give you peace by @zukkababey

-10k, mature

-OUCH. OUCH OUCH OUCH. boys please learn to communicate im begging u. also zuko.. zuko, dude. as the tags of the fic say, hes “really going through it” in this one. YOUCH. post-canon.

Zuko almost said it. He almost said the words I think I’m in love with you, but he choked them back down at the last second. // Zuko would never be able to be what Sokka wanted. They might have needed each other during the summer, when two boys with too much weight on their shoulders found comfort in each other in the only way they knew how. // But now Zuko was Fire Lord, and Sokka was leaving.

this love burns so yellow (becoming orange and in its time, exploding) by @meliebee 

-18k, teen, major character death 

-i lied. THIS is the one, officer. found family.. good mai and zuko and toph friendships.. . ozai escapes prison and tries to overthrow zuko. OBVIOUSLY angst ensues. poor boy. he Does heal in this but it gets worse before it gets better. angst angst angst angst.

Ten months after Zuko is crowned at seventeen, he faces his first coup.

Anything for You by beersforqueers

-23k, explicit

-istg. this is probably one of my favorite zukka fics. its PAINFUL. modern au where theyre broken up but sokka hasnt told his family yet so zuko goes home with him for kataang wedding. a bit smutty, but the plot oh my god ohgm y fuvk. made me cry the first time i read it. (see: crybaby!me) insert that one picture of the horse with the caption PAIN. 

In which Sokka and Zuko have broken up but Sokka hasn't told his family yet. So when Katara and Aang's wedding weekend rolls around and he doesn't want to break Gran-Gran's heart, he asks Zuko to pretend to be his boyfriend for one last weekend. // Things don't go as planned.

Moving Mountains by @thefangirlingdead

-64k, mature

-so. when i read this the first time it was in one sitting. soulmate au set within canon era / the comics, to an extent. soulmates can hear each others thoughts. i will happily say this is slowburn, jesus christ. champagne without the cham. 

Soulmates are chosen by the spirits and can hear each other’s thoughts. Sokka thinks it’s cheesy and dumb. Zuko thinks it’s poetic justice that he doesn’t have one because he doesn’t deserve it. Cruel irony is finding out that the prince of the Fire Nation (and the person currently hunting you) is your soulmate.

In the Soft Light by @voidcenturyscholar and @romancedawning

-83k, teen, graphic depictions of violence

-moon spirit!sokka living in the northern water tribe. zuko is sent to the northern water tribe as a cultural liaison. iroh is the fire lord but while he is away taking care of lu ten after his injury ozai steps up. i cannot express how many emotions this fic made me feel. background yuetara. i would almost say found family?? but. anyway. plenty of angst to spare here with a healthy dose of enemies to friends to lovers.

As the newly appointed cultural liaison to Northern Water Tribe, Zuko is the first Fire Nation Citizen to step foot inside the city's walls in nearly a century. He's determined to prove himself—to the Fire Lord and to his father—even if the Water Tribe's spirit-touched prince seems to want nothing to do with him.

That Midnight Sky by @zukkababey

-103k, teen

-now now now. tms... modern college au where sokka agrees to tutor zuko in physics because zuko has to maintain straight a’s and physics is just not doing it for him. so. thats cool but THEN azula moves in, randomly, with zuko. to hide the fact that sokka is tutoring zuko, they fake date! what could go wrong!! the mutual pining in here combined with the angst... wonderful, tasty. everyone read it rn. also SLOWBURN 

In Zuko’s strict family, needing a tutor is just about the worst thing you could do. Failing a class, however, is even worse. The only rational solution? Take up Aang on his offer to find him a physics tutor and have Sokka—beautiful, smart, handsome Sokka—tutor him in secret. // When Azula’s arrival threatens to reveal Zuko’s secret, it’s up to Sokka to convince her this definitely isn’t what it looks like. See, he’s actually… Zuko’s… boyfriend? // Hmm. There’s no way this could get complicated, right?

[lovebecomeshim]

hello! your zutara posting today has finally motivated me to ask this question because I came to atla very late(last year, to be specific) and I Love It Very Much but am 1000% out of the loop as far as why what remains of fandom (at least that I've seen among my friends) is so very strongly zutara. I'm not opposed to it per se I just don't really know what has driven it to apparently be such a popular ship? can you help me understand and maybe convert me a little bit?

Hey!! Your ICON! :D I can try but I’m not sure how coherent I’ll be; however I AM sure someone a lot more competent will be willing to add to this. Either way, I’m glad you asked because my plan was to drag down as many people as possible with me.

*smacks the hood of zutara* this baby can fit so much mutual love and support!

This got so long, I’m so sorry. I don’t know how to put it under a cut on mobile and it already got deleted once so I’m scared to mess with it lol. Moving on.

I’m gonna start this with a disclaimer that im on mobile so formatting is tricky and I’m also really new to atla in that I only completed my first watch through in like 2019??? So some of my info is all just based on what I’ve picked up from Discourse 👀 so anyway the sparknotes version: zutara was wildly popular from the beginning. To the point where the atla crew internally disagreed on which ship should be endgame. (Ex. Bryke [showrunners] asked the writers to rewrite The Southern Raiders to make Zuko seem less ideal for Katara than Aang [which failed, depending on who you ask]; the animation team purposefully created a visual parrallel between Oma and Shu in the Cave of Two Lovers and Zuko and Katara in the catacombs under Ba Sing Se in the Crossroads of Destiny; etc.)

The ship was popular enough that Bryke actually chose to display zk fanart at a con for the sole purpose of mocking the fans, but that’s neither here nor there. The entire episode Ember Island Players, while a love letter to/parody of the whole show, was an opportunity to address zutara’s viability as a canon pairing (while, again, mocking zutaras for romanticizing that catacombs scene). Point is! It’s always been popular but with it not being endgame, there’s got to be something that’s given it staying power.

And that’s honestly got to do with three things: their dynamic, thematic cohesion, and potential.

(You know what... you know what, it’s four things. The fourth is they’re so aesthetically pleasing together and individually. Like, they’re just good looking people [specifically when they’re grown but they’re also cute kids] and that absolutely doesn’t hurt) (but it’s not the Point, it’s just nice to point out sometimes)

The dynamic is hard to get into without also looking at the canon pairings, but I think I can do that without unnecessary bashing. It’s just that part of the magic of zutara is really highlighted by what they give to each other that their other relationships don’t.

First off, it’s classic enemies to (would be) lovers. The absolute truest form of it. It’s not too different from how CS started out: a rogue antagonist with a job to do—but no personal vendetta against the future love interest—who is deeply and emotionally invested in his personal storyline (revenge/redemption) with little regard for how it effects other people after his entire life and genuine good nature are marred by suffering, and a fierce warrior girl with a strong moral compass and her own personal investment in stopping him (protect her family and save the world doing it). Obviously frustration and animosity grew between them by the nature of them being on opposing sides, but that just lends itself to the sweetness of their later reconciliation.

The thing is that while they’re wildly different on the surface (he’s a hot-headed prince of a fascist regime who is trying to capture the Avatar to please his father; she’s a nurturing daughter of the chief who is trying to protect and train the Avatar in order to topple his father’s throne) they find out that they have so much more in common both in their experiences and their personalities.

(What follows is an excessive use of the word “both” and I’m sorry about that)(I can edit it. I can do that. That IS an option............)

They both have an innate sense of justice that they are determined to see done (zuko, at the war meeting, sticking up for the Earth Kingdom kid when the guards torment his family, choosing not to steal from the pregnant couple despite his circumstances, abiding by his word to leave the SWT should Aang come willingly, etc.; katara, literally.... at any point). They both have pretty one-track minds at accomplishing certain goals once they’ve put their mind to it, regardless of a lack of support in that endeavor (it goes without saying I guess, but zuko’s entire hunt; katara’s determination to get the earth benders to fight back, her determination to absolutely destroy Pakku until he agrees to teach her, etc.). They both lost their mothers at young ages. Their worlds are war-torn and traumatizing to them both, if in different ways, but that ultimately forces them to grow up too quickly to be wholly independent individuals. They both have issues with their fathers (for WILDLY different reasons, but). They both hold extreme prejudices that they need to learn to overcome (which ties into thematic cohesion)(bit like Lizzie and Darcy in that way but magnified by a million). They’re both extremely emotional and empathetic—which can and often does result in loud outbursts. Katara’s a bit better adjusted and can temper her anger for longer than S1 Zuko can, but they both feel that anger deeply and have no compunctions expressing it (Katara is, usually, more justified, particularly in S1. Again, S1 Zuko is severely maladjusted but at the point when they could’ve feasibly become a couple, he’s so much better off with the way he carries himself). They both struggle with feelings of inferiority in their bending abilities when confronted with prodigal benders like Aang and Azula, but have the work ethic required to double down and become two of the most powerful benders in the three remaining nations. This is a little more minor but it is a parrallel that appeals to some shippers that they both have these alter egos in the Painted Lady (notably fire nation coded) and the Blue Spirit (water tribe coded) that are pretty different from who they are day-to-day and are useful in accomplishing a purpose that they as themselves cannot.

(I’m.... I just realized that this could potentially get very long. Should I have made a slide show with bullet points??????)

Anyway, similar. I know there’s more but there’s literally so much to love about zutara that I’ll drive myself a little crazy trying to compile all the ways they’re similar. (Just gonna say that at this exact moment I went back to add more similarities.... so okay then)

Once they’ve reconciled, we see how all of these things only lend themselves to a deeper intimacy together than they share with literally anyone else. There’s a steady partnership that positions them as the mom/dad of the gaang, while also providing the support necessary to allow the other to not have to carry so much responsibility. A lot of zutaras will point out how zuko is actually depicted doing the more domestic chores that are normally relegated to Katara once he joins the gaang, since the others in the group are two 12-year-olds and sokka. The one that sticks out the most is how he makes tea for the group and then serves them, while Katara is able to just relax with her friends around the fire. Fanon expands upon this a lot to Zuko helping with the laundry or the cooking or whatever else needs doing since he, as a once-refugee, is used to doing his own domestic tasks. Before Zuko joined, Katara was the one mothering everyone, sewing for them, cooking for them, etc. She’s always tending to the needs of the group, and that includes emotionally. She does the emotional labor for the gaang 99% of the time, but when she’s the one falling apart, she’s usually doing it alone and without the comfort that she normally provides for others. Until Zuko. And that’s before they’re even friends.

Which is WHY people romanticize the catacombs of Ba Sing Se so much. Katara is verbally attacking Zuko out of her own righteous anger but also her own prejudice when Zuko, surprisingly, chooses to be vulnerable with her. He’s been on a journey that’s opened his eyes a bit, but he’s never actively chosen to expose the rawest parts of his past to anyone. But for some reason he chooses to do that with Katara of all people. While she’s yelling at him. He sees her humanity, and for once can look past his prejudice and empathize with her. And this time, when she breaks down, she gets to be comforted. Katara normally talks about her mother when she’s trying to explain to someone else that she sees and understands they’re pain, as a form of comfort to them. Here, Zuko uses the exact same tactic. He sees her and he understands. And for zuko? He’s not being shut down. He’s allowed to articulate his pain regarding his mother without being ignored and made to internalize it, and he’s allowed to process how he feels about his scar out loud without being told that he deserved it. And then he lets her touch his scar, something we’ve seen him actively avoid before. He’s completely open to her and she’s completely open to him and all it took was one five minute conversation. She was about to use the little bit of Spirit water that she had, that she was saving for something Important, to heal the scar that still daily causes him pain just because they had, somehow, connected.

Plus there’s the whole parallel to the star-crossed lovers forbidden from one another, a war divides their people—

And then zuko messes up, he regresses, he gets what he wants and he HATES it. And the sense of justice he had as a child has been restored to him against his will and he can’t think of anything he wants to do more than the Right Thing, so he joins team avatar. Before he does that though, we get to see his relationship with Mai, which is where comparison really comes in. And what we see is Zuko, fresh off of his encounter with Katara in the catacombs, trying to be emotionally honest with Mai... and getting shut down and dismissed. Which is just how Mai is and it’s fine, but not for Zuko. Still, he keeps trying, and he keeps getting ignored or scoffed at or yelled at. Which is really a larger symbol for how he doesn’t fit in his old life anymore, but again that’s about thematic cohesion. He tries to articulate his anxieties about returning home, he tries to make romantic gestures, he tries to explain how morally conflicted he’s feeling—and Mai diverts to some kind of physical affection to shut him up and a parting comment that is pretty much always, in essence, “I don’t wanna talk about this.” So they don’t. On the other hand, once zuko and Katara are friends, we see him again emotionally distraught and caught up in his anxieties about facing Iroh, and it’s Katara who comes to him and listens to him and comforts and encourages him.

Similarly, we have Aang clamming up and getting uncomfortable whenever Katara shows any negative emotion, usually resulting in him making excuses or running away. Or, in the case of the Southern Raiders, lecturing her on how she needs to just let go of her anger about her mother’s murder. People have talked this episode to death and usually better than I ever could, so imma... keep it brief. There’s a serious disconnect between Aang and Katara in his ability to empathize with Katara and her needs that has her tamping down her vulnerability and amping up her anger. He tells her that he was able to forgive his people’s genocide and appa’s kidnapping (petnapping? Theft??), which is blatantly not true but also not an entirely equal parrallel to Katara’s situation, and continues making these little remarks throughout the episode. But it’s Zuko that Katara opens up to. It’s with him that she’s able to talk about the most traumatic day of her life, and it’s with him that she’s able to get the closure she needs, cementing their bond as friends and partners. This disagreement between Aang and Katara is then... never resolved. They just never bring it up and hear what the other is saying.

There’s a fic called The Portraits of Ember Island that has a line that so completely sums up the heart of the matter for why people love their dynamic. For context, zuko has woken up early to help Katara with the cooking and they spend the whole time just letting one another talk, and zuko stops to ask why she always just lets him talk. And so she stops to ask why he’s always helping, and it goes as follows:

There’s just... so much mutual support! Trust! Intimacy!! And it just continues like that from the Southern Raiders on, listening to each other, advising each other, watching each other’s backs! And then! Literally saving each other’s lives!! I will never be over the last Agni kai. Not ever. Zuko may have been willing to jump in front of lightning for anyone, but he actually did it for Katara. And in a show, that’s the thing that really matters. It’s a fulfilled trope usually exclusively applied to romantic pairings, and it ended up applying to Zuko and Katara. And then she ran out into the middle of a fight with tunnel vision just to get to him.

Also!! Also Zuko pushing Katara out of the way of the falling rocks at the Western Air Temple!! And Katara catching him as he fell from the war balloon that he fought Azula on!! Before they’re even getting along, they’re the ones reaching for each other. They come to this place of equal ground, as partners, who watch each other’s backs, call each other out but still listen attentively and understand, and provide the support that the other has been sorely lacking up until they knew each other (whether that be from lack of effort or lack of understanding from others, or an unwillingness to accept it for themselves).

Then, trailing along under the surface of this, we see the themes of the show totally embodied by Zuko and Katara as individuals and in their relationship to one another. There’s a YouTuber, sneezyreviews, who has a, like, 2-hour explanation on why she not only loves zutara but also believes that their endgame would’ve actually elevated the writing of atla to new levels particularly because of thematic cohesion and resolved character arcs. It’s the zutara dissertation I never knew I needed, and it’s funny and eloquent and effective, so I’m just going to sum up her section on thematic cohesion to the best of my abilities and then link it for whenever you have the time. And I HIGHLY recommend it, especially if you want a full understanding of what makes zutara so great and gives it such longevity.

Guru pathik has a line that goes something like this: separation is an illusion; things that seem different are just two parts of the same whole. Iroh also tells Zuko something similar: balance and strength are achieved when the different nations come together and influence one another and celebrate what makes them each unique. And this lesson is a massive central arc that both Zuko and Katara go through, moving past a black-and-white, good guys-vs-bad guys, us-vs-them mentality and into a greyer, more nuanced view of the world. Zuko sees the fire nation from an entirely new perspective and while he still loves and hopes for his nations future, he surrenders his blind loyalty to them in exchange for an unflinching loyalty to peace and love. Katara too had to come to terms with the fact that cruel people exist in the earth kingdom and water tribes, while some fire nation citizens are just regular, kind people who also need and deserve to have someone speak on their behalf. And this is honed in directly on how they view each other. They grow in their individual journeys to be open to the humanity in the other and then, once they’ve found that, they’re able to grow more in compassion for others in a beautiful feedback loop. And this is all matched in the symbolism repeatedly and intentionally associated with them in canon: sun and moon, fire and water, yin and yang, Oma and Shu who found love despite their warring nations. Their individual arcs are completed in each other and complement the themes of atla beautifully.

The canon pairs... just don’t. Which, again, is fine. But the very things that give atla longevity and popularity are anchored in zutara. Kat@ang doesn’t accomplish this. They’re... nice. Sweet. Especially when you erase a good portion of their interactions in S3. It could’ve been just a sweet love story. (Personally, the dynamic between toph and aang accomplish the same thing that zutara does, with complementary personalities that fulfill the theme of opposites blending in harmony) M@iko, on the other hand, is less sweet but I think wasn’t even supposed to last. Zuko’s relationship with Mai seems to represent his relationship with his old life as a whole. He can’t be emotionally vulnerable, he’s goaded into abusing his privileges, his agency and opinions aren’t respected. They just don’t have common ground with which to discuss anything that matters, so they don’t. As far as themes, the relationship doesn’t fit with atla. It’s zuko returning to and sticking with what is (on the surface) like him, what’s expected. Fire nation with fire nation. Fluid water bender with the flexible air bender. Like with like, separated from what is different and challenging and complementary.

And all of these things combined of course lead to the potential for the ship. I don’t know how familiar you are with the post-atla canon but... well, miss “I will never turn my back on people who need me”, miss “I don’t want to heal! I want to fight!” ends up living quietly in the SWT as a designated healer who turns a blind eye to the water tribe civil war happening right outside her front door. Which can be fine! People change! Some people just wanna stay inside. I just wanna stay inside! But the potential future for zutara is so much more satisfying, with Katara becoming the most unconventional Fire Lady the uppity old cads who are stuck on the old ways have ever seen. Fanon has her serving as a voice for the other nations within a kingdom at the point of its biggest political upheaval, as a confidante to Zuko who can actually help him while he’s trying to figure out how to move forward and make reparations. They have the opportunity, together, to accomplish what they both have set on their hearts to fight for: positive change that lends itself to harmony and balance. And the steambabies! A popular headcanon is that their firstborn daughter, the crown princess, is actually a waterbender, which causes such an uproar among the people who are adamantly clinging to the old ways. It’s just a future full of potential to be forces for good together, full of trust, intimacy, joy. The exact era of peace and love and balance that zuko announces that he intends to ring in with the start of his reign as Fire Lord is, again, magnified by the very personal zutara relationship. And we love to see it.

tl;dr zutara isn’t for everyone. Some people just don’t vibe with it. Some are nostalgic. Some love the canon they grew up with. Some have been disappointed for years. Some just see themselves in other characters and want their happiness instead. Whatever the reason, that’s fine. But for me, I love the way these two, from the moment they give each other a fair chance, are able to lower their walls and prejudices to see the other for the kindred spirits they are. They see each other’s humanity, and their response is to pour out love and support and compassion. I love that they’re a power couple in battle. I love the symbolism and, honestly, soulmatism that colors their every interaction. I love that they embody the whole storyline of atla in their relationship and how it develops, which is notably why their seasonal arcs always culminate in each finale with how they relate to one another. I love that zuko adopting a waterbending move is what actually saves his life and then katara’s. I love the chemistry! And I love the future they could’ve had, instead of the ones they were given.

So, in conclusion: I just think they’re neat and I hope you do too, at least a little bit. Even if it’s just respectfully from a disinterested distance cause you do you. And now here is the video I mentioned. I’m sorry this post got so long and then I gave you an even longer homework assignment, but I can’t recommend it enough. She says it all better than I can.

[teawinx]

Ever since I posted my “Chat Noir” power up idea, it got me thinking of other MLB writing stuff. Just little ideas that bang around my little noggin. (Warning, the follow post is very rambly and poorly planned out, like most of my content)

This one is more of a story rewrite/revision, written with the benefit of hindsight, and with the inclusion of both Magical Charms and my HC Nullify.

I think MLB should have started with Master Fu having not only lost the Peacock and Butterfly Miraculous, but all of the Miraculous except for the Black Cat, Ladybug and Turtle. They were all scattered across the world, and he’s been trying in vain to recuperate them, but his age and health are failing so he finds two new wearers to continue his mission.

The format of the show could stay very close to the original, with the monster/akuma/amoc of the day, but both sides are looking for the lost Miraculouses.  And my idea would be that in Season 1 they find the Fox and Bee Miraculous, which leads to them meeting Master Fu and being told of the situation. Then each season can introduce more kwamis for them to find/lose to Hawkmoth.

People over the years found the Miraculouses and wielded them, some are friends and some are foes. Some are dormant, seen as just family heirlooms (*cough cough* Alix *cough cough*), others are precious jewels kept in museums. The Kwami episodes would break up the formula of the show, so not every enemy is a akuma, some are Miraculous wielders.

Season 1-3 finding them would be more of a bonus, but once Marinette becomes the Guardian she has the added responsibility of actively looking for them.

This, in turn, leads CN and LB to the discovery of the Miraculouses’ origins. In the comics it’s reveals that this old guy named “The Mage” made them, and that the Kwami’s came from space. I like this, but here’s how it would be tweaked. The same thing happens, but Tikki and Plagg don’t arrive on earth with their fellow Kwamis. They orbit the earth for a couple more decades before descending. The mage made the Miraculouses and gave them away to people he believed to be deserving of them. This gave people a lot of power, and it quickly turned into chaos. Tikki and Plagg descended to earth to fix this, and became the “mediators”. Their role was to keep the other Kwami in check, and to not let them be used for evil. Hence why they are considered the most important Miraculouses.  The Ladybug uses creation to mediate, and the Black Cat enforces it with Destruction.

Now a good question is, why this change?  I think the fact that the heroes having all the kwamis give them too much of the upper hand. Having Fluff and Sass in particular really murder any tension in the show for me. In Avatar TLAB, the Gaang start out with basically nothing. No army, no backup, just three kids who have the learn on the job while up against a almost impossible task. That’s a great underdog beginning, it immediately helps you root for them. And I think MLB would benefit from that. 

[thevictorianghost]

If you could rewrite legend of korra and make it your own(or just in general better) how would you do it? The villains would stay the same and korra and crew are the same(personalities you can definitely tweak a bit. I would definitely not have any love triangles and make korra and asami happen in the beginning) how would you do it with your ships being canon as well?

Okay so I’ve never actually watched LOK. I’ve heard A LOT about it through watching countless video essays on Youtube and reading Tumblr posts about it. I know the who, the what and the how, I just haven’t wanted to watch it because, even though it looks cinematically gorgeous, the story was written by Bry/ke and there’s a LOT of it, worldbuilding and storywise, that I just can’t bare to watch.

So here goes. This got long. Enjoy!

1) Remove the Decopunk world. 

A Decopunk world is a world where technology is 1920s-ish, but very advanced. We have cars, tanks, radio, bobs and faux bobs, cloche hats, short skirts, nice suits, etc. I adore Decopunk. The 1920s are one of my favourite eras. An optimistic way of looking at the world, partying, illegal alcohol, the remnants of the Great War... I love it. I really do. But it doesn’t work in the pre-established world of Avatar. It brings elements that are far too imperialistic and colonial in nature (which prompted the comics to be imperialistic and colonial in nature, with the Northern and Southern Water Tribe, you can find many posts about that), which came along hand in hand with the Industrial Revolution, as this article puts it so well. Please read it, it’s awesome.

Why did they feel they had to denature Avatar’s world? They already had everything they could possibly want. 

The Fire Nation could be more Steampunk, which is a little less advanced than Decopunk (First Industrial Revolution vs Second Industrial Revolution) because there were elements of Steampunk in the Fire Nation Army (such as the tanks, the navy and the dirigibles). But it could be for them only. It could show us how Zuko transformed the Fire Nation from a war industry to a steam-powered country. This could be the new way to channel firebending (and please, no more “anyone can do lightning bending”, you don’t need lightning bending to get electricity and it makes  Zuko, Iroh, Ozai and Azula weak in the show!). 

We’ve seen waterbending used in clever ways in the Northern Water Tribe. How could Katara’s waterbending and Sokka’s engineering influence the Southern Water Tribe to make them use waterbending more? Canals, waterfalls, waterways, etc.? In new and different ways? Could the Southern Water Tribe use hydroelectricity, but in a clean, sustainable way? Why does the Southern Water Tribe port look so... mundane? 

The Earth Kingdom already had a working train system in Ba Sing Se. And the postal system in Omashu. Toph could have taught earthbenders how to follow the Badgermoles way and dug tunnels throughout a nation in peace. Then boom. Subways. But instead of machines pushing the people along, you can have benders do it. Instead of messenger hawks, the postal system could run through the entire kingdom instead of just Omashu and be much more efficient. The Earth Kingdom could be praised for its fast postal system that could, maybe, work as telegrams.

I’ll come back to the Air Nomads.

Those are just examples from the top of my head. I don’t mean “never allow technology to “””progress””” (I use that word veeeeery loosely because it has huge imperialistic undertones). I mean instead of trashing the fun parts of bending to make way for Decopunk technology that doesn’t need bending, work with it! Get creative! This worldbuilding feels... too easy. When Avatar: The Last Airbender was praised for its worldbuilding.

I adore Decopunk. I enjoy it far more than Dieselpunk and it’s much less known that Steampunk. But it has no place in the Avatar world.

2) That doesn’t mean “remove Republic City”.

First of all, it should honestly have a better name. It’s kind of like naming a city “Democracy City”. Which is way too on the nose. Harmony City sounds better, and that’s the first thing that came to mind. Anyway.

I really like the idea of a city being built in the spirit of Iroh and the White Lotus. To allow the Four Nations to live together in harmony in one city. But why is Republic City literally New York City with an “““Asian””” flair? What is up with that? I know New York is the MOST Decopunk city ever (you can’t encounter anything Decopunk without seeing New York, with its Art Deco buildings, the Harlem Renaissance, the Prohibition, etc.). But they do NOTHING with it! They just take New York, change some names, add some Asian flair, and call it a day. 

I don’t want 1920s New York for Republic City. I want Zootopia.

What happens in a city where all the Four Nations are represented? How does Water, Earth, Fire and Air work together? Big cities tend to be quartered in neighborhoods, so each neighborhood could be a smaller version of their nation. We could have a Northern Water Tribe next to an Earth Kingdom next to... you know what I mean? Each neighborhood could be a small-scale introduction to the nation for Korra first, then you can send her to that nation afterwards!

Which leads us to this.

3) Have Korra follow a traditional Avatar’s journey. 

I really don’t know why they decided that Korra would learn three elements before the age of sixteen (when that’s the age Avatars usually START their journeys) and then only have her learn Airbending during the entire show. Wasn’t the structure of each Book being about Aang learning one element at a time a good structure? Why go out of their way to NOT do that? Why was it the White Lotus’ prerogative to train the Avatar in the first place, too?  

So let’s have Korra know waterbending first (and show Katara teaching her, please!), then she can learn Earth, Fire and Air. By going to the Earth Kingdom, to the Fire Nation, and to the Air Temples. This could help develop each nation and show us how they have grown through the years. And it could lead Korra and the audience to figure out that there’s not only Aang who has had children to represent the Air Nomads, but there were other Air Nomads who survived the genocide and we can actually see the Air Nomads as a thriving culture.

So about Republic City. As I said, we could keep it. But now that Korra is going on a traditional Avatar journey, you could have, say, one episode at the beginning and one episode at the end of each season taking place in Republic City. To show us how each Nation’s neighborhood works and as an introduction to Korra before she actually takes the plunge to travel to that nation. 

Please! Build upon the Avatar world at large more! Come on!

4) Stop it with the love triangles. 

Many have talked about the Mako, Korra, Bolin and Asami love triangles. I’ve read once that they don’t exactly feel like friends, they’re only colleagues who share the fact they all dated Korra at one point. Which is sad. Knowing that the Gaang is so beloved because they’re such GOOD FRIENDS first!

So work to build strong, healthy friendships first, THEN start thinking about romance if you have to. And please, if you want a ship to be endgame, don’t have it so you have to confirm it on Twitter. 

Don’t.

Oh! And also. Bolin and Eska’s relationship was unhealthy as all hell and treated as “funny” and “comic relief” because a woman was being emotionally abusive to a man. That’s terrible. Please don’t do that.

5) Don’t let Katara fall to the side like she did. 

Many, MANY before me have talked about how Katara got the short end of the stick in LOK. Where’s her statue? Where’s her recognition as the Greatest Waterbender in the World? Why is she day in and day out in the healing hut, when she said “I don’t want to heal, I want to FIGHT”? Does she even have a waterbending school? Or is that completely fanon? Why does she allow Aang to take one of their children on life-changing field trips while leaving their other kids behind? Aren’t they also Air Nomads by birth??

It’s okay to worship the old Gaang because, well, we all love them! I do love Aang, even if I give him a hard time a lot, but I love the character. I just don’t like the way Book 3 Aang was written. But some characters shouldn’t have everything while others have nothing. Aang is LITERALLY THE STATUE OF LIBERTY. But where was Katara’s statue? And also, what happened to Suki?? What happened to Mai or Ty Lee, too?? Or even Sokka?? He died some time ago and... that’s it??

Which brings us to this.

6) Zutara, Taang, Sukka and Mailee.

I’ve seen that picture of Toph, Aang, Sokka and Katara being edited with Zuko and Katara next to each other, Toph and Aang next to each other, and a (suddenly alive!) Suki next to Sokka. I think that’s so good! It feels so healthy!

Not all relationships that started when people were kids work out. Sokka and Suki seem the strongest relationship at the end of the show and they’re probably the only ones I could see working out in the end. Sokka could become the Southern Water Tribe Chief and Suki could become his Queen when she’s retired from the Kyoshi Warriors.

Katara and Aang would be lifelong friends, of course they would be, but I don’t really see them lasting. Aang was twelve when they started dating. They’d date a few years, then they’d decide they want other things. That’s a good thing to show kids!

I’ve written many metas about Zutara, but Ambassador then Fire Lady Katara would show a changing world, where the Fire Nation, now no longer a war industry but a Steampunk country, is moving forward, with Zuko literally marrying a woman the Fire Nation tried to wipe out. They would be equals and leave an equal mark upon the world. Together.

Toph and Aang would be amazing together. They’d be a great team, working in the Earth Kindom, helping rebuild the old Temples when the Air Nomads came out of hiding, and bringing peace around the world. I don’t think they’d be a conventional relationship. They’d do their own thing for a while, find each other for a while, work together on some projects, then continue doing their own thing. Aang being the Avatar who travels the world and Toph teaching metalbenders and working with the King in Ba Sing Se and Bumi in Omashu and wherever she’s needed. I think Toph would be much more fulfilled than what we’ve seen of elderly Katara. She doesn’t have Katara’s abandonment issues (I’ve talked about them here) and she’s more independent, I believe.

I know I haven’t talked about them much yet, but I want Mai and Ty Lee together in the end. Badass ladies challenging their respective stereotypes and create a new world for themselves. Mai could find herself away from the Fire Nation court (I don’t know what she’d do, but circuses love people who throw knives, don’t they? She could be a circus performer for a while), and I think Ty Lee, in this version, could work at the circus and with Aang to rebuild the Air Nomads. I love the idea of Ty Lee being a descendant of the Air Nomads.

All of them should be shown creating Zootopia-like Republic City. Because of course they should be! They’re the Gaang!

So yeah, that’s how I would see the world of Avatar grow beyond the borders of the original show! :)

[firelxdykatara]

You’re doing a LoK rewrite, correct? Would be really interested in hearing how you plan on fixing Suyin’s character and the Lin-Suyin conflict because……. oh boy. Man there’s a lot to unpack there. This is what happens when we don’t let Toph just raise her fucking kids for the sake of pushing a stupid as hell narrative about working women and single motherhood.

I am indeed!

In... you know, the way I'm doing most of my big potential projects, in that I have a folder with some documents that have plot notes and... some day I may actually get full, finished fics out of them (h2o AU is in there, as is my voltron!atla fusion AU, and uhhhh my book 3 atla rewrite, and a few other things), so... but I will say that the docs I have for my LoK rewrite so far amount to roughly 4.2k words of just Plot and Character Notes, which may some day turn into words of Story, hopefully.

ANYWAY, POINT IS: yes, this exists, and I have Many Many Thoughts.

Including how the Gaang kids would shake out! Cause I know I'm doing Zutara, and maybe Tokka???? Although I don't wanna just leave Suki out either... maybe a throuple??? Or Sukka having an amicable breakup before Sokka and Toph get together--maybe she already has Lin by then, and Sokka helps support her through the grief of losing Kanto???? Idk honestly, I haven't actually figured any of that out definitively yet except that Aang was perfectly happy to settle down with an Air Acolyte from one of the rebuilt temples because he grew up and out of his crush on Katara pretty easily once he hit puberty and matured a bit.

UHHH none of which is actually an answer to your question, because it's a valid one! Which is why I've been sitting on this a while (10 days I'm so sorry) bc I haven't made any solid decisions but I've been letting it percolate around my head a bit. And the more I think about it, the more I really like the Sukka -> Tokka idea (and I don't want to kill off Suki since the kids all deserve their awesome Kyoshi warrior auntie in their lives, and also I want a Sukka kid to be besties with Iara [zuko and katara's youngest] so maybe she gets with someone else after she and Sokka split? I could be talked into Ty Lee/Suki actually, the more I think about it....), but obviously having a stable father figure and a Toph who is... not what LoK made her out to be will dramatically change the Beifong family dynamic.

That said, I think I actually have a solution. (I'm so sorry for what I'm about to do.) Toph has Lin with Kanto--and he passes away when Lin is two or three, which is why she has very few memories of her father. (Although none of this 'she doesn't even know his name until she's 50+ cause Toph didn't tell her daughters about their fathers' bullshit.) Sokka is there for her through it all (all of the gaang is, of course, but you know that it sometimes just hits different when it's someone you're also starting to fall in love with, especially when there are older and much more deeply buried feelings there that are now resurfacing, because at least in my version Toph was deeply in love with Sokka when they were teenagers, but he was in love with Suki and she also loved Suki so she didn't want to mess up anything about their family or the group dynamics by making her feelings anyone else's problem), they fall in love, get married and have Suyin.

(Sokka may jokingly refer to it as a shotgun wedding, but the truth is he wanted to propose well before he found out she was pregnant, his attempts just kept getting messed up in increasingly comedic fashion.)

Throughout all of this, Republic City has been established, Sokka is Chancellor, Toph is something of a defacto police chief--mostly because, at the time, no one else was willing to volunteer, and she jokingly offered to whip the law enforcement, but unfortunately everyone else at the meeting took her seriously. However, she is also the founder of the probending league, and basically her feelings about law enforcement are complicated and she actively discouraged her kids from joining the force which is part of why Lin did. How else do you have a teen rebel phase with a parent like Toph? (Which, in this instance, means tough and firm but fair, with a 'you break it, it's up to you to fix it' attitude and very little desire to actually control her daughters and their behavior.)

Ah, but here's the rub.

Suyin is ten years old when Sokka dies, and Lin is sixteen. I'm not sure how he's killed--maybe by Yakone, to tie it into my plans for Amon and book 1. (Note that I'm not sure when the Yakone bloodbending trial happened in canon, but it doesn't matter. The timeline I'm gonna build will be completely different post-comet, and I'll eventually write it all down so that I can keep things straight.) Which would incidentally provide excellent means of having Katara have a very personal stake in the Amon conflict, and perhaps color the fight between him and Iara, but I'm getting off track. And I think Sokka being killed by Yakone, and Toph being unable to protect or save him, or deliver her own brand of justice to avenge him (because Aang is there to stop her and.... shit probably got ugly, I suspect she didn't talk to Aang for at least twenty years after Sokka's death--and this isn't to say I think Toph is particularly violent or murderous, but in that moment, she absolutely wanted to kill the man with her bare hands, and however much she may have regretted it afterwards, she took a very long time to forgive Aang for stopping her in the first place), is what results in Toph stepping down as police chief.

She didn't withdraw from her daughters or fuck off into the swamp or anything (words cannot express how much I hate that part of her canon history), but she did grieve for a very long time. Lin, meanwhile, felt like it was up to her to keep her family together, while also feeling a desperate need to... prove herself, I think. And because her mother was so adamant that she not join the police force, that's exactly what she does. I think Lin completely misread Toph's intentions, too, and believed that the discouragement was because her mother didn't think she had what it takes, when in reality I think Toph was scared of Lin losing herself in the job like she herself had begun to, and eventually coming up on something she couldn't change or fix and making the same mistakes she had.

(I think Toph and Lin have communication issues largely because they are both headstrong and willful, but where Toph thought she was giving her daughters the room they would need to make their own way, what Lin desperately craved was direction and she felt like that was something her mother simply couldn't understand.)

Suyin, on the other hand, fell in with a bad crowd like in canon. I think that what she desperately needed was attention, similar to Lin craving direction, and Toph was trying so hard not to be her own parents that she went a little too far in the other direction and Suyin began to feel like it didn't matter what she did, her mom wouldn't care, or get angry, or discipline her, or anything. Lin and Suyin butted heads a lot growing up, too, especially after Sokka's death, because Lin tried to rein in her sister's behavior and this was met with resistance and derision because Suyin felt like Lin was trying to be both mom and dad and she was neither but her big sister would never admit to being just as lost as she was and it made her furious.

So when Suyin is sixteen, and Lin is twenty-two and new to the force, The Big Rift happens. Lin catches Suyin and her gang, tries to apprehend her, gets a scar on her face in the ensuing conflict. But instead of abusing her power and sending her problem child off to her mother before fucking off to the swamp to avoid the consequences of her actions, Toph tries to actually fix things. Suyin cools her heels in prison for a while, because she was paralyzed by guilt at the time when she hurt her sister (a few inches lower and she could have slit her throat), and was still there when Lin's backup arrived.

Uhhhhhhhhhhh..... I'm so sorry I rambled for so long, BUT THE UPSHOT IS: I think Suyin learned a bit about culpability and taking responsibility for her own actions, Toph realized that her daughters had different needs than she did at their age (and I think a lot of the problem was that grief clouded her own ability to connect with her daughters, and in trying to not be her own parents she lost sight of how to be the parent her own daughters needed), and Lin, I think, had to realize that she had never fully processed the loss of not one but two fathers and had turned to her job in order to avoid actually confronting the grief that had overshadowed her childhood.

However, she did not forgive Suyin, at least not right away--and she wasn't forced or expected to. Suyin understood that she crossed a serious line, she took her lumps and did her time, and no one shamed Lin for her anger. I think, as a result, she had less reason to hold onto that bitterness, and perhaps by the time the story actually begins, she and Suyin are on much better terms, though I haven't worked it out exactly yet.

UHHH yeah I went on for days lmao. All of this is subject to change, too, depending on the needs of the story whenever I get around to actually writing it all down, BUT these are my initial thoughts, at least.