#honestly might not exist in atla

[marginal-notes]

It’s another day and I’m still confusing the hell out of myself over the development of mathematical symbols in the world of ATLA. Like there isn’t a great reason for why Arabic numerals should exist in ATLA, so what the hell is used instead? The old Chinese system?

[prince-geo]

literally pleased with almost all of the new atla trailer except as per usual, Zuko's scar, idk why studios are so scared to commit to the intensity of the thing, its supposed to be shocking and obvious and textured and the first thing you see... that's the point, Zuko is supposed to struggle with feeling like it defines and brands him before finally coming to the point in his journey where he defines it.

Hollywood/big studios are known to hesitate or straight up avoid properly and honestly and unapologetically showing people with disfigurements/disabilities/facial differences etc. with the realism they deserve. Which is a shame in general for representation and humanization but ESPECIALLY in this case as its minimization actively harms it's narrative purpose as well

I promise making the scar more intense (shrivel up the ear a bit, make it intrude in his hairline, make his eye in a permanent squint due to nerve damage, for god sake REMOVE THE EYEBROW IT WAS BURNED OFF) will not make Zuko "ugly", (the actor is incapable of looking ugly and also the implication that scars make people too unappealing? yikes) but will actually do the character and his journey justice, not to mention really show Ozai's brutality, another essential narrative tool. Especially when he's bald like hello??? It should be even more stark and intense when he doesn't have hair to distract from it and cover his ear!!!

When transitioning from 2D to live action, of course some visuals are up for interpretation but that usually involved ADDING detail because the constraints of having to stay on modeling frame to frame is gone, not minimizing, removing or airbrushing. Doing Zuko's scar right to me is absolutely essential and I'm disappointed they seem just as as scared to go there as I thought they might. It doesn't have to be gory, if you've ever seen burn victims in real life or in pictures or even cosplayers/artists who are skilled in realistic burn makeup you'd know its possible to balance realism with humanity. It's possible especially with their resources to avoid the "scary Halloween makeup" route while not holding back on the brutality of the original injury.

Budget is definitely not an issue, or "scaring the kids" considering this remake is likely aiming to go a lil darker in tone than the cartoon (which was already super dark with its target audience of nickelodeon 7 year olds so no excuses) Audiences SHOULD be unsettled and upset when they see him but not because he's hard/disturbing to look at but because we are human and do not want to imagine someone doing that to a child.

It's a deliberate choice out of the all too common fear/hesitation to allow someone who is destined to eventually become a protagonist and is meant to be sympathized with to be "too ugly" while this hesitation is very rarely applied to straight up villains (again we come back to media's historic villainization of facial deformity). It's a trend that's always ticked me off in fanart too. The boy's face was melted, for gods sake. Zuko was always portrayed as an attractive boy in the cartoon (fire nation girls fawn over him) even with the intensity of his scar which is something I've always admired! People exist with scars similar to Zuko's in real life, and should not only be permitted to be represented as good guys and/or as attractive when their scars are toned down to be "palatable"

Like I said there's more that I loved than didn't love about the trailer, that can be a whole essay on it's own but I needed to get this very specific vent off my chest because it missed the mark so hard and stands out like a sore thumb in comparison to all the other visuals that hit the nail on the head to me

[sugarpasteltmnt]

You write unhinged Leo so well, and I really like how you write him. I was wondering if you had tips on unhinged characters 😂, or do you just get inspro from existing characters 👀

aksdakjsdh thank you so much ;w;

And honestly???? I’m not totally sure how to give tips— but I love, love, love unhinged characters in media, so I’ll use them as examples

(long rant below lol)

I’ve always been a big fan of silly, ‘crazy’ characters in animated movies and cartoons. I grew up on Batman the Animated Series and the original Teen Titans, which were full of silly, fun tragic characters.

Don’t get me wrong, i love a good edge-lord— but as a tot i thought the colorful, theatrical, insane bad guys were more fun to watch than the big scary serious ones (ESPECIALLY if they had a good villain song. A+ good shit)

(From left to right: Ratigan from Great Mouse Detective, Joker from Batman the Animated Series, Mumbo Jumbo from Teen Titans, Martin from Secret of Nimh 2, Bill Cypher from Gravity Falls, and Spinel from the Steven Universe movie)

And not just bad guys!! There are a ton of unhinged good/neutral characters that i absolutely adore.

(From left to right: King Bumi from ATLA, Clara from Welcome to Demon School Iruma-kun, and, of course, our silly 2018 turtle boys)

((There are many more characters in both categories, but I’ll slide these examples in here for now))

My personal brand of “Unhinged” or “Crazy” characters definitely leans on comedy. That’s what i enjoy seeing and reading! I personally like it because it can help keep a story fresh and interesting. There’s an element of surprise and unpredictability with what a character might do, and i love that!!

I also really enjoy a touch of feral behavior in my unhinged characters. The lack of clarity and the danger that imposes can be a very fun tool to use, no matter the character’s moral compass. (I’m feral for feral behavior lol)

And impulses. Whether a character has a few screws loose or is generally a goober, they like to act on impulses. This often goes hand-in-hand with comedy, and that’s something I enjoy!! We get a lot of moments like that in Rise, and that was one of my favorite parts of that TMNT iteration.

But as far as writing goes, it’s been tricky for me. All of the characters I grew up or love have been visual— trying to find a good balance for reading has been a puzzle I’ve been figuring out as I go.

I read a lot manga (lol nerd) and comics, and I love how thoughts/dialog are depicted. Especially the really dramatic or impactful moments. (I’d add examples but I’m already at the Tumblr image limit LAME)

As strange as it sounds, I try to capture that “impactful visual” style in my writing. If I had ANY advice on writing unhinged characters, pay attention to pacing—

Short. Fast. A calculating thought. Perhaps a run on sentence that lacks punctuation to represent the rushing and disorganized thought process. A question? An answer with little thought. Is this moment amusing; describe how. Is it upsetting; describe how. Are the thoughts starting to scatter? M aybe s o…

Big moment statement.

Action or plan of next big move. Flow should never seem too uniform. Even in normal writing. Don’t be afraid of accentuating— but don’t overdo it. Remember, unhinged characters are impulsive. Have fun with that.

Just as a quick and dirty summary— when it comes to unhinged characters, I like to use comedy, feral behavior, and acting on impulses. I also like to keep it as visually appealing as possible for characters to give the eyes a little treat after reading walls of text. I like to use fun text formatting to help with the fun too (But don’t overdo it! Don’t make it feel like a chore to read) (<- says the girl who goes into way too much details sometimes lmao whoops)

But ultimately— have FUN!!! Unhinged characters are fun, so make sure you have fun writing/drawing/creating them!!

[sokkastyles]

I read that post you reblogged about Katara using bloodbending to heal Zuko during the final Agni Kai, and honestly I would have loved it if that happened too. I've mentioned before in a previous ask that I wish bloodbending had been explored more in the narrative, especially Katara's complicated feelings about bloodbending. This is going to sound a bit morbid, but I'm kind of wondering if, after the encounter with Hama, do you think Katara would be kind of hyperaware of the water flowing throughout her own body or anyone else's? Would she feel tempted to try bloodbending again? Even though the first time she had to do so was to prevent Aang and Sokka from hurting each other, so she bloodbent Hama, and she found the whole thing disturbing, there's a part of me that wonders if Katara would still have a bit of morbid curiosity about bloodbending anyways. I know this sounds like I want Katara's character to be a bit darker, but what I really want is for Katara to be allowed to have these thoughts or this type of curiosity without her being made to feel like she's a bad person for it. Idk if any of this made that much sense, but I'm curious to know, what are your thoughts?

Katara unconsciously being hyper aware of the water around her and in other people's bodies after Hama is something that has made itself into my fics. Because bending is depicted in atla as part of who the person is, and I think keeping a bender from bending is like keeping someone from being allowed to move their arms and legs.

And once Katara knows this ability exists, not just bloodbending but everything Hama taught her that goes with it, like how to find the water in everything, she will find it impossible to not have this completely alter her bending and how she sees the world.

And, like with firebending, it's not the bending itself that is bad, it's what you do with it.

I love zutara fics that include bloodbending, not just the dark ones, but something I've explored a little in my fics is how it makes her more aware of Zuko's body and heightens her physical connection with him.

Bloodbending can work as a metaphor for consent, because it's not that it's inherently evil to have that kind of knowledge of another person's body, but it's about consent and trust. I see no reason why bloodbending can't be used to heal the same way that medical knowledge can be used both to heal or to kill and torture. (I'm thinking of that particular analogy because I'm reading Gene Wolfe's Shadow of the Torturer currently).

Like, I get that the show writers were trying to add complexity by showing the dark side of waterbending with Hama, but the thing is that while waterbending was always portrayed as good before, it was also portrayed in a very limited way. Katara is the last waterbender of her tribe, who had to learn on her own. "Some waterbending is bad, actually," isn't really a lesson she needed to learn, especially not from the only teacher she's ever had who can actually tell her about her own heritage. The unintended message is that Katara exploring a culture heritage that has been denied to her through war is bad, and it actually ends up limiting things instead of making them more complex. It's also another weird way the show dichotomizes combat waterbending and healing. Despite Katara gaining Pakku's respect, she is still getting the message from things like the Hama episode that using her bending for combat and not healing is wrong. The obvious solution is to make waterbending healing a form of bloodbending, and now that Netflix has made healing an actual learned bending form instead of something Katara is naturally good at, I have hope that this connection might actually be made. And this is a win win, because making healing a form of bloodbending actually achieves the complexity the original show was going for.

[inflammatoryfandomblog]

Why is the worldbuilding in ATLA more cohesive than in TDP?

because the writers actually remember it as a context for its story and characters.

........... ok more elaboration.

the worldbuilding in ATLA and TDP is very similar in the respect that they have color-coded elements where each "nation" has each element. in both series the color-coding exists to make each group obviously and immediately different.

in ATLA the cultures deeply matter to the characters and story. as early as the first episode you see hints about the culture of the water tribe from katara and sokka. you know sokka has put this immense pressure on himself to be a Warrior and his sexism is partially an outgrowth of that. katara is fascinated by waterbending and her culture but there are no resources for her to learn because of the war, and you immediately get the idea she's also hoisted on a "mom role" from a very early age. all of this reinforces the patriarchal standards of water tribe culture and also the fact that they're impoverished thanks to the war. the characters would not be the same if you transported them to a different setting.

like some of the dialogue can be clunky and the entire conceit of the world is obviously kiddish ("fire nation" "water tribe" "earth kingdom" "air nomads" is not going to win any realism of the year awards.) but it's a very effective introduction to these characters and ties them explicitly to the setting.

in tdp it matters fuck-all. rayla is a moonshadow elf and the effects of their honor culture are clear on her. out of all the characters i'd say her, runaan, and ethari are probably the most developed in the aspect of "the setting should inform the characters." yes runaan and ethari are shitty parents but honestly like what would you expect from an honor culture society where one party is an assassin who allowed rayla to become one thanks to her guilt complex, even when ethari expressed doubts?

this is basically thrown away to tell her "oh dw all your parents (dads + bio parents) are all Good and Did Nothing Wrong." they also scrub away all of her flaws that she exhibited in the first season, or really anything that might make her seem like a "bad person." the moonshadow elves are just scrubbed to be Vaguely Good Guys With No Problems And Whose Choice to Ghost a Teenager Must be Respected (finger wag from the writers.) this could have been genuinely compelling drama for rayla. the setup is there. but they just forget about this stuff i guess.

how about callum and ezran? how does the culture of katolis or indeed any of the human kingdoms rub off on them? does their culture actually inform anything they do? i mean besides the fact that the human kingdoms aren't magical because of dark mage lords eating magic or whatever, which, by the way, the idea of dark mage lords doing this is like. in supplementary material and there is 0 indication of it happening in the actual show. do they have a particular culture or perspective at all? does even something as simple as the fact that they are princes and might have some differences with the common people ever come up? no. they're just bland POV characters who are high-minded to a kind of absurd degree. their context is very clearly supposed to be "Normal." which isn't a context at all because nobody's context is actually Normal. it should be normal to the character, but a grave mistake for the writer to treat it as such.

with the elves it's a little better but still not great. they have at least thematic set-up but moonshadow elf culture is the best of them, which isn't saying a whole lot. what exactly is the relationship between the dragons and the elves for example? who knows!

the writers frequently forget that their characters are situated in a particular situation in a particular world. i mean my favorite example to throw around is the time one of the writers said (on twitter) that khessa's comment to janai ("have fun with your pet") was meant to be a tease about their relationship. and that's insane to me. "have fun with your pet" does not work as a cheeky little tease when you are talking about a pow who's afraid for her life and you are a cruel monarch that tortures people for funsies? like this is khessa endorsing SA if you decide to take the show's context with any level of seriousness. this isn't a coffee shop au? this isn't a high school au? this is supposed to be a high fantasy with actual stakes that addresses Deep Themes? the context to a situation that these hacks themselves wrote should matter?

etc. etc. xadia does not feel like a real place because the setting is completely disconnected from the characters, and only matters to the story insofar as "wow look at this Cool Place you will find your Macguffin in!" It's just about worse in every way even if on the surface it may appear to contain """nuance."""

[atla-confessions]

ambassador katara became a famous trope in early 2014, with "Once Around The Sun" on Ao3. that fic also set the tone for zutara fics that came after it, the anti aang and ant mai sentiment, assassination attempts (on katara's life, for the most part) and zuko's council refusing to accept katara as zuko's lover. i've been in the fandom since 2010, not in the last four years, I worded my rant not in the best way, sorry for that. the four years I talked about are referring to zukka's rise in popularity. If you check Ao3, the first zukka fic there is from 2008. lt's a ship that did exist but not since the beginning and not with the popularity of nowadays. After that 2008 fic, the next one is from the same year and then another one is published in 2009. And then other three during 2010. And then nine during 2011. And the number goes up in next years but really rises in 2020 (atla was added on netflix that year and we were in quarantine, that gave people a lot of time to watch and create content). Also, the majority of the 2008-2013 are accessible only to registered users, probably in light to the fact the homophobia in the fandom was ery strong. fire lady katara was more prevalent, yes, but any fic (and fanart) you check from 2014 and foward will be more kely to have ambassador katara rather than ire lady katara and when they do have her as fire lady, is really towards the end of the fic or in sequences of ambassador katara. i honestly think the first ambassador fanfic was a zutara fanfic, before OATS, on fanfiction.net on 2007. the earliest ambassador sokka fic as you stated is from 2008, but I don't know which site you're using as a metric poor little zuko is a common trope in non-zukka fics (since the majority of atla fics are zuko-centric), even zutara ones, but the majority of the ones i see with katara being "meaner" than she was in the series and sokka "needing to intervene, are zukka. a good portion of "the gaang learns how zuko got his scar" also fall under that label i don't care how "homophobic katara" got started and this isn't me being rude, just honest. It's out of hand and it's an annoying fucking trope (don't now if I can even call it that) and while it isn't common as "mean katara and savior sokka'" it's just as misogynist. Some authors really tried to keep as a little saint and then dunk prejudice on katara I recognize there are zutara shippers who are misogynist to mai but I never denied that. I was talking about zukka and their treatment of katara, I don't see why I would mention mai when she isn't even included in most of zukka fics. If you want to talk about mai hate, be my guest, you're probably more well versed than me since I don't engage with mai related content, being it anti or pro someone before you mentioned suki tho and that's something i wish i had included in my original ask. the show really disregards suki as does the fandom, it's annoying as hell to read a fic and they diminish sokka's feelings or her or make her jealous bc he's dating zuko

Okay, so I did further research into this. And I was right in the sense that Ambassador Sokka was not just a Zukka thing. The earliest Ambassador Sokka fic I have found is a 2006 fic on fanfiction.net. It is a Sokkla fic. There seem to be a few of them, it might actually be originally a Sokkla trope. I also found an Ambassador Toph/Zuko also from 2008. I think it might have just been popular across most ships at the time. A popular trope in general as opposed to one assigned to a specific ship, however it seems to have started with Sokkla unless you can find an earlier one. (The fic is on fanfiction.net).

I was in the fandom in 2014 but I still don't recall a lot of Ambassador Katara fics. Maybe this is because I was not a hardcore Zutara shipper. I remember I saw a lot of Fire Lady Katara stuff but maybe that was mostly from before. I genuinely saw the ambassador trope with Zukka first. Also, the first 'Zukka' fic I found was from 2005 on fanfiction.net but it also used to be referred to as SoZu at one point by some people. (Ao3 was created in 2008 btw, you can just backdate fics to when they were originally created/posted since it is an archive)

Honestly, I do not know how you are encountering so much homophobic Katara, I have not seen it that much and I like Zukka a lot. I have definitely seen these 'mean Katara' whump fics a lot with various characters needing to intervene. Even Hakoda in some. But most I have encountered have been gen fics.

I just brought up the general misogyny in the fandom because I believe it is a huge problem that goes largely unaddressed (or at least not properly addressed). People just seem to like to point the finger at various parts of the fandom but it's everywhere and it's very upsetting. You pointed out the Homophobia in the Zutara fandom, so I brought up that they also have a misogyny problem as well. Because the whole fandom has one. (Also, I love Mai.)

I have never encountered a Zukka fic villainizing Suki but maybe I just got better at identifying when a fic is going to be like that after my experiences with the Zutara fandom in the earlier days when there was a lot of bitterness over the ship not being made canon. (Fanfiction to vent is valid, I just wish it was easier to filter out. No hate to Zutara shippers, being upset about your ship and making content to vent is completely normal)

It's normal to diminish the feelings of the canon ship when doing your own ship. They usually do that, otherwise the characters would be with their canon love interest. I can't think of a non-canon ship where at least one of the people in the ship has a canon relationship where they haven't done that. Zutara does that. Zukka does that. Azutara does that. Ect. It's kinda par for the course

X

[coveredinsun]

i wrote 3 different winnix fics in december & january but i realized i NEVER posted them here. so behold, my series of winnix fics where i get further and further detached from canon, and where i also make lew a girldad for fun

1. darling, it’s grand, they just don’t understand

“Act upon what he finds within himself, and only himself,” said Dick, audibly pensive in a way he hadn’t been. “I quite like that.”

“Well, that’s the gist,” said Lew with a shrug. He wasn’t even in the top half of eloquent men. “Honestly, I really hated reading and analyzing Emerson’s essays. He found a way to talk and talk and talk about nothing at all, when he could’ve kept it perfectly concise.”

Like you, Lew almost said. The bullet got jammed. Still, he had a hunch that Dick could read his mind this one time.

Or: July, 1948. Blanche Nixon invites her brother, and his business partner slash lover, to… a baseball game?

6.5k words, fluffiest of the three; my weird band of brothers/a league of their own (2022) crossover fic??? whatever. blanche invites winnix to a baseball game to see her baseball player girlfriend-ish, all the way mae. stupid emily dickinson references because i’m lame and basic, sue me. gay jazz clubs :)

2. november 27th

“Kathy hates it when I call her Maggie, but I think it’s cute that she’s got a little nickname to grow out of.”

“Or maybe she’ll find someone who calls her Maggie,” replied Dick, totally without thinking. “And he’ll say it’s ‘cause it’s easier, sure. But more than anything he’ll like the way it sounds when he says it.”

When Nix looked at him, then, his eyes glittered. His lips were pursed like he needed to say something or he’d shrivel up and die.

There were many things Dick could conceptualize him saying. Luckily, they fell into two neat categories—the things Dick expected Nix to say, and the things Dick wanted him to.

Or: 1942, 1944, and 1946. A study on Lewis Nixon’s history with love, destructive vices, and fatherhood—as seen from the eyes of a wife and a lover.

8.2k words, perhaps the most densely packed with angst of the three. examines lew and his relationships with love and fatherhood, both alongside kathy and alongside dick. ann winters introduction <3 and classic new jersey angst

3. the likes of me abide

“Well, I feel compelled to be a little more brave now,” replied Dick, holding up his gaze like Atlas held the heavens. “I ought to give you an answer that’s more honest.”

But not fully. It was sort of bitingly ironic, the way Lew always put up Dick as the more honest of them. He didn’t find that to be true. Not when there still existed so many selfish desires in his mind, like the one that practically clawed and scratched like an animal just to fit somewhere into this part of Lew’s life. He might never put that desperation into words.

Or: Summertime, 1951. Lew gets back in touch with Kathy.

10.3k words, angsty but less intensely as last time. i go reallyyyyy ham with kathy’s character in this, so take that as a treat. i also actually make lew and kathy’s daughter into a character <3

[howlingday]

Honestly, i'm kinda disappointed in how WBYJ kinda brushed off Ruby and her issues throughout V9. So, I have taken matters into my own hands to look for a song to cheer up Ruby, and I have found it!

I now pass this song on to you to post, as I am both very unskilled a writing and very lazy. The song is Tom Cardy's H.S, and a link will be given to a tumblr post within this ask. Wether WBYJ sing it to Ruby or Jaune shares it with her as a ln apology is up to you.

https://www.tumblr.com/inthefallofasparrow/727759896307761152/hot-shit-tom-cardy?source=share

If an outside link is needed, I am willing to give the link to the YouTube video.

Sing a-long!

"Now and then, we all get a thought that stops us in our track. Am I living to my full potential, or am I holding myself back?" Jaune spins Ruby around, putting his hands on her shoulders. "You've gotta stop with that shit, 'cause you're P-P-PERFECT~!" He slid from his seat, walking away to the bookshelf. "Check out that analysis paralysis!"

"Paralysis~!" Ruby's team added, crooning from the hallway.

"If you need some help to see, take a lesson from me!" Jaune spun around, opening a book to the story of the Rusted Knight. "They say that I'm not a huntsman. Do you think that I really give a shit?" He tossed the book aside, causing Blake to jump in the air to save the spine from being ruined. "You know we're not gonna quit, 'cause we know we can take a hit, and we know what we is, and we know we is-"

Jaune spun around, tearing off his armor to reveal a pair of yellow spandex covering his body. He pointed his finger to the sky in his declaration.

"HOT SHIT~! And you know that we know it! We might never get registered, but it don't matter 'cause we know that we're still-"

"HOT SHIT~!" Team RWBY sang without their leader.

"Yeah, you're hot shit, too, so get out of your brain and do what you're 'born 'sposed to do!"

"HOT SHIT~!" WBY chimed in. "You know that we know it! Expect some real magic from us real huntress! HOT SHIT~!"

"And you're hot shit, too," Jaune pointed at Ruby, his finger inches from her face, "so get out of your way and just do what you were born to do!"

Before Ruby could argue, Jaune sat down next to her. "Before I got wise and said "gosh dangit," it's true that I was jealous of the big other huntress." He pulled out his scroll, opening to a news article published by various journalism sites. "But did you know that Winter, the biggest to you, was jealous 'cause Atlas would call her a rebel, too." He swiped to the photo album, featuring a familiar face to the red huntress. "The huntsman she was jealous of was your Uncle Qrow, who had self-comsuming thoughts that he would never become-!"

"SUMMER ROSE!" Yang held out a picture as Weiss and Blake sang with her.

"He was constantly chasing the dream that he would be so big that he'd be a legend!" Jaune left Ruby's side and stared out the window. "But trillions miles away that even Summer didn't see was a big guy strong enough to lift reality." He drew a signature S shape on the wall in chalk. "He turned his gaze into our world to see "There's a girl with a beret who's cooler than me!"

A new voice joined the choir as a woman with a black beret and dark shades entered. "But the most super awesome, coolest huntress to ever exist is probably at Vacuo saying "Now I'm seeing shit!" Coco lowered her sunglasses at the youngest leader. "I've seen a fight with a camera, I've even seen a memory lapse, but I've never seen a red huntress KICK SO MUCH ASS!"

"HOT SHIT~!" Everyone in the room was singing now. "And you know that we know it!"

Ruby stood from her seat. "I don't need to be a hero because I know that I'm still worth it, baby~!

"HOT SHIT!"

And you're hot shit, too!" Jaune wrapped an arm over Ruby's shoulder. "So stop doubting yourself and feel this huntress groove~!

"HOT SHIT~!" It seemed like everyone in Vacuo was feeling it, as singing came from down the halls in chorus. Was everyone in on this?! "And you know Ruby knows it! Expect some fucking stories from this red hoodie~! HOT SHIT~!"

"And you're hot shit, too," Jaune led Ruby out the doors, past the crowds, "so look out to the world, because we're all waiting for you~!"

Ruby stepped away from Jaune, looking down as she walked away. "Now and then, I get the thoughts that stop me in my tracks. Should I really be a huntress? Or should I just cut back?" The world held their breath as Ruby asked, fearing the worst had happened to her. "...I've got to stop with that shit 'cause I'm P-P-PERFECT!" Ruby roared to anyone who would spare the time to listen to her. "My life is fucking cool and so are you, if you only let me tell the rest of my story with yoooooooooou~!

"HOT SHIT~!" The world answered.

"And you know that I know it~!" She answered back to the world. "I might never get my register, but I'm still awesome as a leader~!

"HOT SHIT~!"

"And you're hot shit, too, so let's shoot for the stars 'til we break through the mooooooooooon~!" Ruby pointed to the sky, heedless of whether the moon was above or shattered or not or neither.

"HOT SHIT~!"

"Do you like my space metaphor~?" Jaune asked.

"HOT SHIT~!"

"Would you like to know what I use it for? To prove to you that you are hot shit, too, now stay out of my room and show Remnant what hot shit do~!"

"HOT SHIT~!" Ruby jumped through the air, cheering until she landed flat on her face. "Whuh? What just happened?"

"Emmy! You dropped it too soon!"

"Sorry, I couldn't hold it any longer."

Ruby looked up to see Jaune still sitting on his bed, patting Emerald's hand as she panted in a nearby chair. Nora loomed over her, barely held back by Lie Ren. To the other side of the room, she saw her team looking at her with mixtures of concern and worry. A gloved hand reached down to help her up, which she forgo to address the whole room and not just Oscar.

"What just happened?" Ruby asked.

"No more musical numbers." Emerald groaned.

"We... I was worried about how you were feeling since coming back from the Ever After and getting registered again, so I talked with your team and my team and, well..." Jaune shrugged. "Jaunty musical number?"

"Dude..." Ruby grumbled. "I don't care if it was your musical number or mine or Oscar's. Tricking me to sing is not cool."

"Don't blame 'em, kid." Coco said, leaning on the doorframe. "You were pretty jittery since you came back, so we all talked it over. The musical number was actually my idea, but unfortunately, I can't sing."

"Because you're too cool to sing?"

"Nah. Court order."

As Ruby balked, she looked to her team, who still didn't drop their looks of concern. As much as she wanted to be mad at being tricked into singing, she knew neither her team nor Jaune's would do this without some merit to their concern. So she relaxed a bit and sighed.

"Nobody recorded me, did they?"

[apollo-gate]

These RO asks are putting my brain right into the gutter lol. So here, nsfw. Relationship stage

So, ROs are quite busy, going on their usual work, maybe subduing bad guys or messing with the good guys, perhaps having an exhausting meeting or dealing with a bunch of irritating people/hanger-ons when their phone suddenly vibrates/rings.

MC sent them a message.

"What time are you coming home?"

With an attachment.

A ✨risque✨ picture of MC on the bed, with wet hair and a small towel enough to show off their toned skin.

RO reactions?

MY lord just imagine haveing a serius meeting than getting that kind of picture. AND THE MC IS HOT LIKE ANYONE WOULD BE LIKE DAMN....

Alice: You're asking for like pentup gym guy energy. Like she's ready to just punch and slap anybody in her way like seriously hope you don't get in her way. Alice will be ready to drop her clothes as soon as she sees the front door.

Helena: She be doing dance practice and honestly wouldn't be able to focus she would definitely go take a few pictures and send them and be like wait till i get home use these till I'm there in person

Lisa: she.... she gasp so loud that it would draw attention and would be red face and throw her phone into the wall or out the window then would have the panic over shit I just threw my phone.

Becca: this woman you just gave the cat her creme. you messed up. Becca would say that the punishment will be worse when she got home and the MC isn't ready. And yes Becca is getting the blindfold.

Daniella: She would go and get off to it anywhere she can because she already knows she gonna get it. Shes a lawyer so shell have the time.

Vanessa: Vanessa might shoot out an ice shard just a tiny one. the phone would be destroyed then the frustration of I only had 2 seconds of happiness. (Not like she keep a damn photos in her office)

Azalea: She would just stare. The girl would in the middle of the Embissy and just study Mcs body-like artwork. and have a little bit of drool too just lost in the body.

Kent: Man would be in the middle of an interrogation and break some poor dude's bones simply because he wants the Mc like ima be there soon.

Naamah: On one hand she is impressed. Why are you ending pictures where someone else can see them. She's gonna be taking you into the dark room. and at the same time going to erase the picture from existence. No one can ever see Mc but her.

Blaze: Would do two things run to you immediately to see if the Mc is in fact dressed like that then would message be there in 2 seconds. After all, ever he's doing isn't that important.

Zero would be doing some R&D project and just be like wow. He had to leave because he just ended up putting your name in the code or somehow making a really big mistake like the time he had the Ai say I love you over and over.

RF RO: She is pissed.. like blood and a few other things. but not you no. no harm will come to you. but she is rough. like really rough later that night.

Rune: Aish you're asking for a whip and a few other things. She sends some very dirty naughty texts and it's not at all like Rune would be turned on before she gets to you.

Rene: She be like extra quiet and the only one who would notice is Rune. Rene is a big pillow princess, so she would overthink what to say and even think if that is ok to send. But overall she gets home as fast as she can. Just expect a hard crushing kiss and a tall girl being very neddy.

Jade: She probably screws up a spell she is practicing. Might make a moan sound who knows. But all her acolytes will know someone has her attention.

Psyche would be bouncing off the walls staring at the clock like a child ready to get out of school. She might forget she has a truck and run or get stuck on the subway in her rush. Not her fault you sent her something unexpected.

Atargatis. would start her siren song and not realize it and the MC would be in a state of bliss till she walks in. Yeah, she got you back and you get a state of bliss and pleasure.

Atlas: she is teleporting like a jumping frog to buildings and crash into the bedroom and just do the best sexy pose of I'm here.

[seventeendeer]

I'm rewatching ATLA for the second time in my adult life, in part to try to honestly engage with it as a valuable turning point in american children's animation, and also in part to try to pin down exactly what it is that makes me dislike the writing so much

I was prepared to have to dig deep, but actually for starters it might be the fact that the show tries to get across a message about "girl power" within the first 4 episodes, then spends AT LEAST 7 more episodes reducing its female lead to a nurturing mother figure who only exists to be absurdly supportive of her little protagonist boyfriend she met two days ago (because her "womanly intuition" tells her he's Really Important). when she's not babying her love interest, she's giving pep talks to strangers (where she's always right) or nagging her older brother (where she's right unless the writers are feeling vindictive).

it's incredibly bizarre to me that katara is remembered as this layered, interesting, feminist character when, from my perspective, it's clear right off the bat that the male writers have no interest in portraying her with any sincerity. she's idealized to the point of parody, unless the story calls for her to be taken down a peg, in which case she's immediately made to grovel for her mistakes. her dead mom is brought up at every other opportunity as a token attempt to make her character seem interesting, but over the course of 11 episodes, there has been no indication that the writers think her taking on a maternal role after her mother's death is anything less than a virtue and a matter of course. more often than not, her constant emotional availability, wisdom and "gut feeling" are favorably contrasted against other characters portrayed as more wary, practical-minded, or logical.

fans (RIGHTFULLY) criticize how korra was treated in the sequel series, but katara is subjected to the same shitty sexist writing, just on a less dramatic scale (and there's plenty to unpack there about how korra being louder, more confident and gender non-conforming painted a bigger target on her back in the writer's room). these are writers who want to be feminists, but can't handle a female character having too much personality outside of her role in the male characters' lives, so they either inhibit their development or get retroactively angry at their own creative decisions and decide to punish their female characters for their own choices - dark-skinned girls especially.

I'm curious to see where the series goes from here. still trying very hard to keep an open mind, but it's an extremely sour first impression.

(among many others. I don't like this show.)

[demaparbat-hp]

What are your thoughts on new live action katara and sokka not being brown skinned?

Hi! This might not be the answer you were hoping for, but I usually try to avoid these kind of subjects.

When it comes to live action adaptations, not much is written on stone. It's almost impossible to get a 1:1 representation of the characters we all know and love, and that's okay. I believe that the Netflix ATLA series is already doing a lot of things right when it comes to casting (just remember the main cast of the Movie That Doesn't Exist which, unfortunately, wasn't an isolated case when it comes to white washed characters in media).

This cast was selected carefully, and I'd like to keep any reservations I may have about it focused on the acting itself, and not what the actors look like.

Of course, this is a very sensitive subject to a lot of people, and I understand that, it's just usually not what I tend to focus on. There are a lot of different opinions and sides to this story, depending on who you're asking.

When it comes to casting Water Tribe characters, there was always bound to be discord. It's natural to feel conflicted about it, and I honestly can't say if the casting team did a good job or not until I see the actors on screen and say this is Sokka or this is Katara.

The acting always comes first. Feeling like you're seeing the character you love always comes first. And I know it doesn't have much to do with ATLA at all, but in situations like these I always tend to remember Death from Sandman. If you haven't seen the live action series or know what I'm talking about, look it up. A lot of people got enraged when they casted a black woman for the role. But, Agni, it was better than what any of us expected, because Howell-Baptiste got the character right.

I just hope it's the same case with ATLA.

[demi-shoggoth]

2023 Reading Log, pt. 11

51. The Book of Fun by Russ Frushtick. This is a collection of anecdotes about and descriptions of various ways that people have fun, such as toys, games, festivals and theme parks. Each page has a paragraph or two of text and a painting to accompany it, and the book covers everything from the history of Coney Island to the time World of Warcraft had a plague. It’s a fun little miscellany, a good bathroom reader type of book, but not very substantial.

52. Queer Ducks (And Other Animals) by Eliot Schrefer. This book is aimed at young adult audiences (think high school students) and is about animal sexuality. It summarizes quite a bit of research, including pretty new material, covering homosexual behavior in animals. The thesis, of course, is that animals have a wide range of sexual behaviors, so these existing in humans as well is perfectly natural. The book also has interviews with a number of queer biologists about their research and their experiences with representation, intersectionality and other topics. Plus, there’s cartoons! Honestly, the cartoons are probably my least favorite part; they’re cute and have a funny premise (a QSA meeting at a high school for animals), but the animals are all mean and judgy with each other. This feels like it misses the point, even if it might be more accurate to the high school experience. Still, the writing is good, and it covers some stuff I had never heard of, like velvet bucks and other mammals that have common intersex members.  

53. Sentient by Jackie Higgins. This book is about senses, using examples from the animal kingdom as a launching point to discuss how the sense works in humans. The book starts with vision, covering the many (tumblr famous) cones of the mantis shrimp, but how recent evidence suggests their color vision isn’t actually particularly good. I was familiar with most of the animal examples discussed, but a lot of the content on human health and senses was new to me. The material that wasn’t new to me, like the controversy over whether humans have pheromones are not, is told very well. And the coverage of the different kinds of touch, and how humans have touch receptors that seem to be linked to areas that are commonly groomed in other primates that are connected to things like mood and mental health… well, that helped put my touch starvation into context.

54. The Devil’s Atlas by Edward Brooke-Hitching. I usually quite like Edward Brooke-Hitching books, so this one was something of a surprise disappointment. The book talks about how different religions and cultures have conceptualized heavens, hells and other afterlives, with copious illustrations. My first complaint is the sorting into heavens and hells, when a lot of the afterlives discussed don’t really fit into the model of paradise or torment. The coverage of each is pretty superficial—there’s a post-script about utopias (including More’s Utopia) that I feel could have been cut in place of more thorough takes on the religions. My biggest complaint, though, is an editing one. No fewer than eight chapters are cut off, so that the last sentence (or even paragraph) is incomplete. It’s remarkably frustrating, and it took me right out of the book.

55. Snakes of the World by Mark O’Shea. Another in the X of the World series put out by Princeton University Press, this is pretty similar in content to the other books in the series. The first quarter or so of the pages are devoted to an overview of the biology of the group, and the rest of it is surveys of its biodiversity, organized by subfamilies and geographic regions. Mark O’Shea also wrote Lizards of the World, and this book seems in many ways to be a direct sequel to it. The main draw, of course, are the species accounts, which include gorgeous photography of a wide variety of species, including some very obscure taxa.

[nono-bunny]

I was a bit worried about hearing Zack Tyler Eisen on the podcast because I read someone quote him on saying "it's all in your head buddy" about Zutara, which??? Doesn't sound great, and after how rude Bryke were I grew to be wary of Kataang shippers on the podcast, even though Janet does a great job or keeping them in check as much as possible and Dante is fantastic at easing the tension... I just don't like being condescended to like that, y'know?

But he was actually a great guest imo! He had a lot of unique experiences from the show by virtue of his age at the time, and in general sounds like a cool guy! I kinda thought he may have left acting after like having a bad experience on ATLA or something, but he sounds like he just really found a love for cinematography which is cool and good to hear! Like, he seems to still love engaging with the show every once in a while, and like, good for him!

Anyway this "all in your head" thing does seem to be like? Much more in jest than it may seem when reading it, he was kinda just messing around with Dante, and while I STILL disagree with him because Kataang is gross... He was much more chill about it than I thought, can't really blame him for preferring Kataang when he IS Aang lol

I am... Unhappy because when looking at future episodes to check out the guests I can look forward to (some real bangers, btw!) I saw that him and one of the Bryke duo are on Crossroads of Destiny which. Is kind of infuriating that there are two Kataangers on a Zutara episode, but honestly I'm? Kinda less mad about it than I was after listening to his episode, I feel like he might actually have some interesting things to say there since he said he liked the Guru Pathik stuff so! I guess I'll wait and see how I feel about it after reaching it lol. They better acknowledge that it's a Zutara episode though or istg...

I was originally SO mad when I found out about the Crossroads of Destiny guests being anti-Zutara that I typed out a huge rage post which I obviously shelved because it was completely out of proportion and written when I was barely coherent because I was extremely sleepy, it was all kinda funny tbh I was near on delirious writing it but tbf not all of my points there were completely wrong so? This post and a possible follow up in the future will exist in its stead lol

Also!! I do kinda just wanna throw this out there: I hate Aang and Bryke, but I have never had any issue with Zack for voicing him- he did a remarkable job voicing Aang! It's just unfortunate what Bryke did to his character development, and it's interesting to me that he seems to like the Guru Pathik stuff but? If anything I'm actually really interested in his pov, probably much more than I am in hearing Bryke's extremely biased one (they lied SO much over the years about the development process, wtf!! They've proven to be so unreliable, and alongside their shit takes I truly despise hearing them talk on the podcast lol)

[messeduploser]

I knew about atla since 4 years but I finally watched it, completed in 3 days and yeah I am inlove. From the clips I saw on yt I thought Zuko was gonna early can't believe it was only nine smth EPs. Man, I really wished to see more.

(I know the comics exist but so many mixed receptions that idk if I should commit to the comics but I think Im gonna watch LoK even if that also many mixed receptions but so many people ref lok might as well watch it)

Man, the series is just really awesome isn't it? there's something about the 2005-2006 era that has great animations. One of my favourite hidden gem anime is "Idaten Jump" that anime is my most favourite anime I found out about it in 2018-2019 and I would rewatch it every year. I might rewatch it later this year as well. Honestly it was few months ago I realized it's an Isekai anime lol. But, it's just so good. A boy with his 2 friends getting transformed into another world where their MTB is now so powerful it can basically fly, do cool ass moves. It's such anime with amazing characters. I love it so much.

Uhhh it went from me talking about Atla to this xd. What can I say I love this anime a lot. It would be cool for more people to watch it honestly.

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

https://youtu.be/MQo2Om2CG-I?si=JQ1fUjTYCCUQ6Hb2 thoughts on this ???

I agree with the general points (duh, it's literally saying "Zutara would have ruined the story if it had happened"), but there are a few things I'd like to give my two cents on:

1 - The "Zutara has chemistry" thing is completely subjective. Some people see it, good for them. I don't. And I don't like that it is always treated as undeniable truth. "They had meaningful moments" and "The writers are not stupid and threw in some bait at the last second because money" do not translate to "These characters have natural, not at all forced romantic chemistry."

2 - The "Avatar Extras" are impossible to take seriously. I don't just mean the Zutara one, I mean nearly every "behind the scenes detail" feels as genuine as J.K. Rowling going on Twitter to share random bullshit she made up and claims was totally part of the original plan to stay relevant. We know the love triangle in the original version of the story was between Aang, Katara and Male!Toph, and that the creators were shocked anyone would ever want Zuko and Katara together. I simply don't believe the "Zutara was totally considered at one point" thing was anything beyond either a prank or Nickelodeon trying to pander.

3 - Yes, a lot of the hate towards Kataang is because Aang is not as "manly" as Zuko, because as I've already said many times, Zutarians might claim to be the "feminist shippers" but they are actually overwhelmingly sexist. However, a lot of it is also stuff like people assuming that enemies to lovers is always inherently better, or that the "bad guy" must ALWAYS be the superior character, or even the childlike mentality of "These people are arguing, therefore they like each other" that pushes people to just not understand that, no, Zutara was never going to be a thing, and that's not bad (I know she kind of addressed it in the end, but I honestly think these points were more responsible for Zutara's unearned praise from the worst corners of the fandom than Aang being a more "delicate" male character)

4 - While I kind of agree that Kataang as a romantic dynamic worked better for the whole theme of Earthly Attachments VS Power/Duty, I do think the purely platonic "But what about my friends?" could have absolutely work too.

5 - A love triangle in ATLA would be worse than average love triangle because *points at Legend of Korra as evidence* Bryke are apparently completely incapable of keeping the actual plot going when there's a love triangle involved. EVERYTHING becomes about the romance, and it just makes every character come accross as deeply unlikeable (seriously, we dodged a major bullet when they decided to cut the whole "Aang and Toph fighting for Katara" deal, my God, imagine the horror!)

6 - I think a lot of the general feeling that Kataang, and other canon ships, "underwhelming" is because ATLA didn't really focus on romance as much as some other shows did. Sure, these plots existed and were important, but let's face it, in plenty of media the romantic plots just take over the whole thing and become the central focus of every action the characters take. This was honestly one of the reasons why the show remained my favorite: the romance has it's place and I get to enjoy it, but I don't have to deal with the frustration of seeing the plot nearly disappear. But for people that seem to only care about characters if they're part of a ship? That's the worst thing ever.

[inflammatoryfandomblog]

I do find it interesting that ATLA managed to use a very black and white narrative (stop Evil Empire) to tell several character stories with some nuance, while TDP claims it has a nuanced conflict and flattens everything to try and make up for that, ultimately leading to protagonist centred morality more than anything. And if they didn’t want me to compare the two then they should have let go of the ATLA references right away.

you're right and you should say it.

the constant and shoehorned references to ATLA do not really do this show any favors. honestly might be part of the problem (why are there 7 primals with color-coded elves? to follow ATLA's pattern of marketable separable elements. why is it an adventure story with a core crew? because ATLA was like this too. etc etc.)

but anyway. yeah. ATLA had a very simple main conflict to provide a constant source of tension throughout the show (even if they dropped the ball at the last season re: the plot), and this structure allowed for episodes that explore other aspects of the setting and characters while still making everything feel relevant and tied together by said conflict. it's not some arthouse show by any means, but it has good compelling story work into it. genuinely great show.

tdp immediately opens up with the nuance and it never really delves deeper. you'd think that opening with characters being aware of the cycle of violence stuff would be interesting and the show would explore that more, but it just... flatlines there. there's no progression or graduation or exploration of themes as the seasons go on like in ATLA. very rarely are there new questions being asked or arcs that feel sensical.

honestly the main characters having to be perfect in every situation is the biggest problem with tdp. the mains are not allowed to have shortcomings or mistaken judgements or anything to meaningfully interact in any way with the nuanced set-up. they emotionally exist entirely outside it, which ends up making them the Messiahs of Peace Who Can Do No Wrong. good for fandoms i guess, people bitched and whined about bato and the water tribe for years. but it's not very good for storytelling.

and also, they're just bad characters and the writers can't put two and two together while still asking you to take their world very seriously.

anyways i'm just rambling at this point. good observation.