#i love azula in an earth kingdom fit

[shoutoutout]

Toxic yuri dream team 🖤✌️. Here are June and Azula ready to start some shit. From my post-war road trip fic.

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

Sorry I wasn’t trying to deflect from the real issue or anything , I just didn’t know if that point was factual or addressed in the Roku book.

That's the thing though: it doesn't have to be adressed, because what we already know about the Fire Nation just from watching the show - hell, just from watching the introduction of every episode - already makes it quite clear which nation, and which leader(s), is the obvious bad guy that is disturbingly comfortable using violence towards vulnerable people to get what it wants.

Even if the Fire Nation was this "utopia" zutarians pretend it was, where everyone who was born there gets a great life and women are totally treated as equals to men - that doesn't erase the fact that they commited genocide against the air-nomads, that they've been conquering places all over the Earth Kingdom and killing millions of innocents, or that they commited genocide against Katara's tribe.

The Fire Nation wants well over half the world dead for the simple "crime" of not being the same race as them, and Sozin was the one to make it that way - yet Zutarians are acting like because that fucking book acknowledged "Oh yeah, and the Fire Nation also sucks if you were NOT a foreigner because it was a deeply unfair society from day one" they're being retconned to be the evil, violent and intolerant.

Every time these people throw a fit over how "the Fire Nation doesn't get enough recognition for being fair to women" (because it WASN'T), they casually ignore the fact that they commited genocide - and act like all the women and little girls that were killed somehow don't "count" as victims of the Fire Nation because they were of a different race.

As if it makes a difference to these women if they're being abused, imprisoned and killed for their race instead of their gender. As if a queer woman who saw the love of her life be killed by the Fire Nation would give a fuck that at least her lover wasn't killed for having the "wrong" sexuality, just for being born in the "wrong" nation.

As if it made a difference to Kya that a man invaded her home with the intention of kidnaping/killing her daughter because she was a waterbender but not because she was girl.

As if it would make any difference to Katara if the man that killed her mother would never think to hit or so much as raise his voice to his own mother or wife or daughter.

As if, in the middle of becoming a child soldier because she has no choice but to fight for her life, she'd think the Fire Nation is so "egalitarian" because Azula gets the "privilege" of being a child soldier too.

As if she'll think oh so highly of Zuko for hiting her so hard she lost consciousness, and he then kidnapped her best friend to either be killed or kept barely alive in a cell for decades - after all, at least he didn't refuse to fight her like Pakku did! How considerate of him!

As if all the airbender girls that were burned alive gave a fuck if the soldiers that were murdering them were all men, all women, or if it was a 50/50 split.

As if droping a nuke on a bunch of civilians is only a human rights violation if some insane ruler does it to his own country instead of someone else's.

These people are literally saying that systematic violence towards women somehow only "counts" if the woman is of the "right" race - and that's a DEEPLY racist belief that they just spew out casually and we HAVE to focus on that, not because "Hahaha, more things to mock zutarians for" but because that is a very dangerous belief to have.

[soopersara]

Recently, I've pondering Book 2 and 3 of ATLA, and I reached a conclusion that surprised me a little.

Specifically, this: Zuko would have been very unlikely to join Team Avatar if not for Katara.

Now I'm not saying that Zuko had a secret crush on her or anything. As much fun as that concept can be to explore in fics, I don't love the idea of Zuko's redemption being motivated by romantic interest, and his canonical arc is clearly driven by his own evolving understanding of the world and the morals that come along with that understanding. Still, if you cut out his interactions with Katara, especially in the crystal catacombs, I just don't see him ever taking that last step to turn against his father and join Team Avatar. He would have been discontented in the Fire Nation, sure. Spending a few years away from home with a guardian who genuinely cared about and protected him could easily push him that far all on its own. He might have become disillusioned enough with the Fire Nation and its role in the war to run away too. Zuko spent enough time in the Earth Kingdom, learning about the people and their suffering, to have doubts and regrets when he finally learned about Ozai's true plans.

But without Katara reaching out to him in the crystal catacombs (or more accurately, Zuko reaching out to sympathize with Katara, and Katara reciprocating), I'm not convinced that he would have considered his future or his place in the world enough to go farther than that. To leave and to join the enemy. And even if he had considered joining Team Avatar, I'm not convinced that he would have thought he had a chance of being accepted if he hadn't shared that moment in the crystal catacombs with Katara.

I mean... sure, Aang sort of reached out to Zuko way back in Book 1. But even leaving aside the fact that that was one moment several months before Zuko finally left home (and an offer that brief and that old is probably shaky at best), it wasn't an offer of friendship in quite the same way that Katara's kindness was. What Aang said to Zuko was:

You know what the worst part of being born over a hundred years ago is? I miss all the friends I used to hang out with. Before the war started, I used to always visit my friend Kuzon. The two of us, we'd get in and out of so much trouble together. He was one of the best friends I ever had, and he was from the Fire Nation, just like you. If we knew each other back then, do you think we could have been friends, too?

"If we knew each other back then, do you think we could have been friends, too?"

It's a hypothetical question. Aang is thinking back to a time before the war, to the people he knew in the Fire Nation an entire lifetime ago, and trying to imagine where Zuko might have fit into that time and those relationships. He doesn't reach out a hand to directly offer Zuko a friendship in the present (and frankly, it wouldn't make sense in the moment if he had), nor does he ever make another offer of friendship until after Zuko actually joins the team. Every encounter between Zuko and Aang from The Blue Spirit on through The Western Air Temple is either a) a fight, b) Aang sparing Zuko's life while Zuko is unconscious (and therefore unable to see the kind gesture and interpret it as an offer of friendship), c) unwilling cooperation against a common enemy, or d) ... That Face that Aang makes at Zuko after interrupting him and Katara in the crystal catacombs.

Maybe it's just me, but... none of those interactions exactly set up a strong foundation for a future friendship, or even a future alliance. If Aang's old "offer of friendship" was all Zuko had to go on, then joining Team Avatar would have been a long shot. An extremely long shot.

By contrast, Katara bares her heart to Zuko and, at least in the moment, makes it clear that her kindness is deliberate. They've fought against one another time after time, they've been unwilling allies in the fight against Azula, and they've had some... generally antagonistic face-to-face interactions as well. But even after all of that, Katara offers to heal Iroh with very little hesitation in The Chase, then offers compassion to Zuko himself in The Crossroads of Destiny. She openly shows Zuko that there's a chance for him, and even when he turns against her in CoD, her angry dialogue still reflects the fact that she thinks he can be better. That she wants and expects him to be better. "I thought you had changed" isn't just anger, it's also a sign that her trust and kindness in the catacombs was genuine.

It's a sign to Zuko that if he can become the person who Katara thought he was for those few minutes in the caverns beneath Ba Sing Se, he might be able to prove himself worthy of that same trust and kindness again. And once Zuko has finally had enough of living under his father's thumb, of sitting silent on the sidelines while the world burns around him, once he leaves his old life behind for good, it's the beacon that draws him onward into a new life and a new purpose.

I can't claim to know exactly what would have happened if Zuko had never shared those pre-redemption moments with Katara. I'm just one random fic writer in a quiet corner of the internet, but I don't think it's unreasonable to say that her kindness to him in Book 2 made his decision easier. Without Katara, Zuko still might have left the Fire Nation behind. He still might have told off his father and tried to rescue Iroh from prison during the eclipse, but that doesn't necessarily mean that his next step would have been to run off to the Western Air Temple and offer himself up as a teacher.

Without Katara, Zuko might have fallen into the cracks in between the Fire Nation and Team Avatar. He might have become a different type of dissenter - maybe a less obtrusive one, like Piandao or Jeong Jeong, or he might have fallen back into his vigilante persona. He might have gone searching for his mother while the war kept raging on the other side of the ocean, or he might have tried to settle down into the type of quiet life that Iroh wanted for them both in Ba Sing Se. But regardless of what choice Zuko would have made, I think it would have been much harder for him to choose Team Avatar if he hadn't had Katara's voice in the back of his mind, telling him that he could be better, and that if he was, he might have a place with her and her friends.

Ship them or not, Zuko and Katara had an incredible bond that shaped a lot of the show. And while I'm not exactly on Team 'Zuko had a secret crush on Katara from the beginning' because of what it can do to his character arc if it's not handled carefully, I think I just found myself squarely on Team 'Zuko changed because it was right, and Katara opened the door for everything that came after.'

[mysticwolfshadows]

Taken - Zutara - Part 80

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Zuko thought things were going well with Azula.

...

Who was he kidding? It was a complete mess.

Very day, he brought her dinner, sat to have tea with her, in what was supposed to be a temporary room. Azula hadn't spoken in three days, not since she told Zuko to get out after Aang... And, well, she also refused to leave. She sat on the floor, looking at the light coming through the slats of the high windows.

She didn't ever look at him. She didn't ever speak.

But he would keep trying.

He told her about his efforts, when he felt could. Their battle-front-to-farmland project was actually coming along nicely. The returning soldiers were fitting back into life on the islands. And some of the colonists were starting to come back, without being prompted. From what he could tell, they were back on track to where they had been when Fire Lady Ilah had been taking care of things.

And each day, Zuko would look at his sister, and ask if she had any ideas. If it would help the nation, he would love to hear it.

He never got a response.

When Aang left with Toph, he left behind a rather... interesting invitation. He knew Aang had been looking forward to what happened after the war, even when they were in the midst of planning the invasion. But to find out he and Keui had been planning this...

The Four Nations Peace Summit, beginning the day his father would have burned the world.

"He has good intentions," Uncle tells him. He's pouring more tea. Oolong again. Zuko's chest aches. "To show the world that you will not follow the path of Ozai. The comet will pass, with no fire leaving your fingertips."

Zuko sat and drank his tea. "Do you think Katara will be there?" The question slipped out without meaning to.

Uncle grinned. "I'm sure Princess Katara will join her father and brother at the Peace Summit. Perhaps her mother, as well."

"When I go," Zuko started, then paused. Swallowing, he tried again. "While I'm at the Peace Summit, will you be regent?"

"It would be my honor, Fire Lord Zuko."

Smiling a bit, Zuko sipped the tea. "When everything is finally put together, will you return to your shop? The one in Ba Sing Se?"

He hummed. "If it is an option, I certainly would like to. Perhaps I could buy a place in the upper rings."

Zuko hummed back. "Would you be my ambassador to the Earth Kingdom?"

Startled, Iroh choked on his tea. He gave a few hacking coughs. "Nephew, I'm honored, but is that truly a good idea? I once tried to invade Ba Sing Se. I laid seige for six hundred days."

"I know," Zuko said, looking down at his cup. "But I can't think of anyone else in the Fire Nation that would do a better job. Keui may be older than me, but he's less experienced in politics. He could use your wisdom, more than I do, maybe. And if you're the ambassador, you'll spend a lot of time in the Earth Kingdom. You could have your tea shop."

"Nephew..." Iroh paused, taking a moment to breath deeply. "Thank you, Zuko, for thinking of my wants. I will think about your offer."

"That's all I ask, Uncle."

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[in-g-major]

ATLA Unpacked: Ty Lee's Potential

One of the many things we missed out on from ATLA Book 3 was a Ty Lee character arc. Of Azula's trio she's ultimately the least explored and most auxiliary, which is sad. The possibilities were certainly there: a girl who seems too good-natured for the ruthlessness of the Fire Nation, coerced into helping Azula, seemingly naive about what her nation is doing or perhaps too timid to voice her concerns. Gee, all that sure rings a bell doesn't it? So, here are some things that I think could have been done w/ Ty Lee given what we know about her. 1. Friendship with Zuko and eventual Redemption Arc Canon screwed this one up during "The Beach," but there's no reason it had to be that way. Ty Lee should have been the person Zuko warmed up to the most given that they're both more caring people than Mai and Azula. With Ty Lee and Zuko, you have two sheltered and privileged teenagers who don't quite fit the mold of what Fire Nation children are *supposed* to be. As a result, Zuko is banished and Ty Lee leaves her aristocratic home life behind. Zuko's banishment and journey across the world helps him realize that the Fire Nation's war is wrong. Ty Lee, who was part of a traveling Fire Nation circus and eventually traveled the Earth Kingdom with Azula, could have easily come to the same realization. We never even get her perspective on the war in canon! Just imagine Ty Lee and Zuko bonding over martial arts, theater, and collecting pretty sea shells. They bring out each other's best qualities and motivate each other's redemption. 2. Standing up to Azula This has been commented on before, but Mai being the one who defies Azula instead of Ty Lee during "The Boiling Rock" is not a satisfying emotional climax. Mai happily left her boring life behind in "Return to Omashu" as soon as Azula gave her an opportunity, and she openly defied Azula's orders with no fear of retribution at least once. What Azula represented for Mai wasn't fear. Azula was the metaphorical "devil" on Mai's shoulder, distracting her from her lack of emotional fulfillment with fun and thrills. The one who was genuinely afraid of Azula, and abandoned her passion out of that fear, was Ty Lee. Ty Lee standing up to Azula and emerging victorious is far more emotionally and narratively satisfying given their dynamic. It also gives Mai a more character appropriate choice to make in the situation. Which leads me to my third point 3. Mai and Ty Lee marsreds made a fantastic commentary I read years ago. I'll link it in the comments, but her point was that throwing Mai into an awkward and uninteresting relationship with Zuko took the focus away from her relationships with Azula and Ty Lee and made her character arc about a boy. It's a pretty damning commentary on the sexism that seeped into the way ATLA's female characters were written, and how that became the norm for the franchise by the time of the comics. Anyway, a hugely missed opportunity for Ty Lee and Mai was their relationship with each other. Even though I am pro MaiLee, I won't make this ship heavy. Ultimately the writing has to come first, but Mai and Ty Lee do have a fun and touching dynamic. Ty Lee is even more playful and affectionate with Mai than she usually is, and Mai shows genuine care and empathy for Ty Lee. When they reunite in Omashu, Mai asks Ty Lee what happened with her joining the circus. Then, during "The Beach," Mai is the only one who stands up for Ty Lee, telling Zuko to back off and figuring out the root of Ty Lee's desire for attention. We never see Mai this invested in someone else's feelings and well-being with anyone else. The character appropriate choice for Mai in "The Boiling Rock" wasn't betraying Azula for teen love. It was choosing between the friend who encouraged her better self (Ty Lee) or the friend who kept her from growing as a person (Azula).

[cardboardqueen]

ok so i read The Goblin Emperor recently (absolutely recommend) and it's given me some thoughts about a:tla specifically post canon zuko

he is the very young very new leader of a nation that's very abruptly lost its previous monarch. He's spent the last few years away from court and almost certainly isn't used to using his court manners even if he does technically know them. He's taking the country in a very different direction than his father with bold new political ideas and radical friends. The only heir to speak of is someone he'd really rather not pass the throne to. While he does have some support from his elders he was absolutely Not trained to take the throne and certainly not with so little warning.

sound familiar?

so now I'm thinking of a post-canon zuko fic of epic proportions that goes into as much detail in the world building and politics as TGE does.

Zuko finding a good secretary jesus christ please

Zuko slowly learning how to talk to his cabinet members as an adult, trying to balance being their Fire Lord, trying to be seen as an equal in competency and not a boy king, and acknowledging that he really isn't up to speed.

Zuko learning all the servant's names

Zuko's struggle not to lose himself in the overwhelming force of being The Fire Lord

learning regular teenage emotional regulation but instead of telling your dad you hate him because he asked you to turn the music down you're screaming at your minister of agriculture in front of the whole cabinet and you can't remember why it was important

he was expecting the assassination attempts and even the coups. He wasn't expecting the more subtle attempts to lock him out of his own government

look i know we all love ignoring the political implications of gay shipping, but zuko is absolutely not in a stable enough position to be the first fire lord to get gay married. we're ignoring the opportunities presented by a well suited marriage of convenience. are they co-conspirators in world betterment and shenanigans? does the fire lady get him to take a fucking break for once? is it a slow burn where they eventually fall in love but like, 7years into being married? do they have elaborate arrangements of 'cultural informants' and ladies in waiting that are just a stream of consensual lovers? some options for your consideration under the cut

Yue (in a yue lives au)

most reassuring to an international audience

nonthreatening to a domestic audience

the optics of marrying the NWT princess are great and logical without requiring too many mental gymnastics

has spent her whole like preparing to do something unpleasant for the sake of her tribe and would probably consent to the marriage

politically powerful but a non-bender, very low chance of a waterbending heir

zuko has grown up around girls that could kill him and respects women, the fire nation might be an improvement on the NWT

once she breaks out of her shell she'd be a snark machine

the in world artists would get a kick out of the water/fire symbolism. there would be so many plays and paintings and poems

i understand that her death has symbolic and narrative importance but let me play here

Mai

relatively reassuring to a domestic audience

minimally objectionable to international audiences

marrying into a family that was powerful and favored in Ozai's time would pacify traditionalists without requiring zuko to actually make traditionalist political decisions

Mai can play the court game even if it drives her mad

azula would have an internal fit but they may be able to maneuver it such that it manifests as azula being driven to make Mai the most successful fire lady that ever was

Random Earth Kingdom Noble

afiak neither bumi nor kuei have children. idk what the heir situation is but i know there's an earth prince in alok so idk

'marrying an earth kingdom noble is a very logically and politically sound move' says zuko's cabinet. 'ok' says zuko, 'which one?' chaos ensues

someone tries to propose mai as an earth kingdom noble because her father was governor of New Ozai. the eyeroll is audible

great potential for OC shenanigans

Suki

sokka would throw a fit

potential for lovely zukki ot3 a la many of erisenyo's fics

allying with an important figure from mostly neutral kiyoshi island might translate to a mostly neutral political move and minimize outrage on all sides

she can make very heavy handed speeches about 'if we can forgive him so can you' when the earth kingdom representatives start getting mean

gives her an excuse to stay and keep and eye on zuko (and keep some warriors around to keep an eye on him too)

even if she didn't grow up in court suki is sharp, she'd pick up on the important bits quick and the rest she could pass off as her quaint provincial upbringing

imagine how the fire nation court fashion would respond to the Fire Lady in the Kiyoshi Warrior Gear. the heat exhaustion alone

Toph

objectively hilarious

i don't actually think it fits with her character arc about independence and growth but it's not significantly worse than making her a cop sooo

i really don't ship them so i'm imagining this for practicalities and logistics only but you do you

it would be absolutely hilarious for the bei fongs to go from 'no we have no children' to 'yes we would like to propose that our daughter marry the fire lord' overnight. even funnier if it's toph's idea and she has to wrangle proof that she is actually the heir of one of the wealthiest families in the earth kingdom

relatively reassuring to an international audience

the domestic audience doesn't know what to think. on paper she's a foreign merchant's daughter which is fine. in reality didn't she destroy like 10 war balloons? is that a war crime? she won't stop jump scaring the treasurer?

she'd get a kick out of redesigning all the parts of the palace that make zuko sad

the agni kai arena is now her earthbending practice ground, i hope you weren't attached to those tiles!

zuko's cabinet is free of secret loyalists in a week. toph spends her first month there roaming the halls listening for lying hearts

minor concern of earthbending heirs? she gets a kick out of all the anxiety

toph and azula would be hysterical to see interact. like introducing two cats through a bathroom door. maybe they fall in love idk. they almost certainly fuck at least once. their sparring matches threaten to destabilize the architecture and also the rim of caldera city

[ozaitheestallion]

You said you immediately saw Ozai as being played as a drag queen?? PLEASE elaborate I'm so interested in the way ur mind works 🙏

Okay so maybe I’m just incredibly fucked up and deep down the queer horror rabbit hole (I’ve been watching a lot of Dragula, American Horror Story and classic horrors lately), but the second you start looking at Ozai through a drag, camp, “classic Disney villain” lens, it’s hard to see him any other way.

Like I watched this show as a kid when I originally aired and like basically everyone, I was absolutely terrified and sickened by Ozai, the shitty dad and ultimate big bad villain who is also not even really the main villain, right? Like that’s Azula or Zhao or whoever. That’s how basically all of us original viewers saw him and how a lot of new viewers still do. Fair enough. Not inaccurate.

However, I didn’t do rewatches of the show again, not until the revival in interest over COVID. I hadn’t rewatched it even once since it originally aired and so therefore I expected my viewpoint to change…but nowhere near as drastically as my view of Ozai did.

I’m not saying Ozai is written to be viewed as a drag character, because of course he isn’t, but as I said, once you start looking at him through that specific lens, you won’t be able to see him any other way.

He’s kept in the shadows unless we need a dramatic scary reveal. He’s constantly making dramatic, prose-filled speeches for the benefit of…like…no one lmao like most his scenes are one on one confrontations. He has a very dramatic design, being a conventionally attractive man yet has that fuck ass goatee, the best eyeliner in the country and more detail put into his hair than any other character gets.

He does his whole reveal as the Phoenix King that goes off without a hitch, perfectly rehearsed. This was a surprise to no one but Azula. He got every damn person in the palace in on this stupid reveal. They already know he’s going to become a new ruler with a new title. They already know. This isn’t for their benefit. He did an entire reveal just for the benefit of his kid. If there’s one thing a queen loves, it’s a dramatic unnecessary reveal.

As he fights Aang, he just keeps making these speeches that a child will either not be interested in or too far away to even hear or appreciate, yet he keeps going anyway.

Right up until the end and then going into the comics, he’s dramatic, bitter and playing everyone against each other even though he has absolutely nothing to gain anymore. He puts Zuko and Azula against each other and antagonises Ursa even though it will gain him nothing and do nothing except kill time. Insults for the sake of insults and mess for the sake of mess. The fact insults of far greater power can be thrown back at him in his position is something he doesn’t even consider. Just messy for the sake of being messy and evil for the sake of being evil.

Ozai would fit nicely alongside classic queer-coded Disney villains like Ursula, Scar, Hades, Maleficent and Captain Hook.

He’s so dramatic and so over the top with his cruelty, his crimes and his villainous actions, yet is completely and utterly committed to the bit he’s doing. There’s no self aware clever jabs like Azula or obvious moment of “look at how ridiculous he is” like with Zhao. Ozai and his writing are completely committed to what he’s doing and burning down the entire world literally by hand, and at no point is it questioned. It’s like watching Divine in a John Waters film. This is simply what the character I doing and you’re the ridiculous one for questing them.

Ozai takes himself so seriously and so literally and is so very offended and genuinely surprised when he’s questioned and called out, (like why on earth would he think burning his son’s face is a valid teaching moment or burning the entire earth kingdom will in any way be a good start to his new empire), that it becomes camp.

This is…extremely long and meandering and tbh I don’t think there’s any way for me to really clearly define why I view Ozai as an example of a classic queer/drag coded villain. If you don’t agree and do take his portrayal as an abusive father and an imperialist tyrant seriously and that’s how you prefer to view the story, then by all means do that. I’m not trying to change your mind.

I’m just saying that sometimes our views of things can change dramatically as we ourselves change as people, and sometimes those changes are extremely entertaining, nonsensical and fun to explore.

Like the IT remakes, some unspeakable horrors can also be viewed and enjoyed as queer adjacent comedies if you look sideways and saying. And sometimes the unspeakable horrors are better that way.

[jaq-of-hearts]

Finally free from the prison those water tribe fools cal "therapy", Azula focuses herself on the one thing that kept her sane through that ordeal; hunting down that lousy traitor that lost them the war.

They stood, barely five metres apart, in a dusty old village in the southern Earth Kingdom. It seemed fitting, Azula thought, that the traitor should die outside her home nation. That she should die without any of the customary Fire Nation death rites. That she should die forgotten, unremarkable. They began to circle each other. A typical Earth Kingdom start to a duel. See, each nation has their own rules and customs for one on one combat. The Fire Nation, of course, has Agni Kai, which was fought on a single plane, where the only options for movement were forwards and back. The Earth Kingdom had something they called Terra Mortis. In Terra Mortis, the combatants fight in a ring. It’s usually drawn, but most denizens of the Earth Kingdom have an innate sense of how big their ring is. And this fight is always, always, to the death. This was the fight Azula’s opponent had initiated when she started stepping in a circle. The Water Nation’s duels are as freeflowing as their culture, and will occur when and wherever the challenge occurs, and has no restrictions on movement, environment usage, or weaponry. And who cares about those Air nomads? Their “combat” consisted of ball games, so they don’t count. Azula smiled, flexing her fingers in preparation for the motions required for Firebending.

CW: CHARACTER DEATH, CHARACTER SUICIDE, DISCUSSIONS OF GASLIGHTING AND EMOTIONAL MANIPULATION I won't be offended if you skip this chapter. I love you <3

@tyzula-week

[waterfire1848]

@mayfay I just created a new post just to make this a little easier

That "protect the pack" mode would kind of be like the Avatar state where Katara just becomes incredibly powerful and dangerous when her friends are in danger and gets a sort of adrenaline rush. Which, like you said, has some potential especially when Katara start looking at herself beyond the last wolf of the south pole and starts to have feelings for Azula in Ba Sing Se.

When Katara grows up as the sole wolf in the South Pole, she gets an isolated version of what a waterbender/wolf should be and assumes that she is exactly what a waterbender and wolf should be. She's as powerful as a wolf should be, as big as a wolf should be, as fast, as strong, etc, etc. When she goes into the Earth Kingdom, she doesn't expect the wolves to be the same as her. She doesn't love that they try to capture her or call her a monster, but she also doesn't really think much of it. Then she gets to the North Pole where she's still the odd one out. The largest wolf form there is 3 feet tall and she's much bigger than that. Everything in the North Pole is built for smaller wolves and Katara is completely removed from that. Sokka and Aang know she's feeling horrible but there isn't much they can do. On the plus side, when Zuko tries to put restraints on her, it's all too easy for her to stand up and brush them off or snap them in her jaw.

Zuko, looking at the broken chains on the ground: Oh, shi-

The mental image of the North Pole giving them the same house because they assume Katara has a handle on her wolf form only for her to almost bring the whole house down because she absolutely cannot fit in there. Poor Katara just wants somewhere to sleep but the North Pole has nothing for giant wolves. I feel like the necklace would change sizes with her. She has no idea why but it always changes with her and adjusts perfectly to her size. So when Pakku sees her in her wolf form, he's able to easily make out the blue necklace around her neck only now he can't take it and hold it because if he tries to grab it, Katara will bite his arm off. I feel like Pakku would ignore her because she assumes all her power is in her wolf form so he isn't prepared to fight her when they have a waterbending battle or something (which happens the very first time he refuses to teach her).

I can get what you're saying about her both choosing not to suppress her wolf form but also just not having the time (and being so much bigger than every other wolf makes it so much harder for her). I think a good middle of the road approach is Katara learning how to suppress her wolf form to the degree that she can spend the night almost as a human except she has a wolf tail, ears, claws, muzzle and strength because she didn't have to time or want to learn how to completely suppress her wolf side. At nights, she usually just goes as a full wolf if they aren't being chased but when they need to get on Appa it's a good trick that she can suddenly make herself as small as her human form is. (Azula 100% finds Katara's wolf ears adorable. Whenever she touches them, they flick and move and Azula finds it so cute).

------------------------ (Season 2)

Yeah, I think the first part would be pretty close to the show where they don't get very far but are trying to get through some character development moments. Sokka is still being a leader and Aang is coming into his role as the Avatar while Katara is trying to strengthen her bending (because I also imagine she felt kind of weak when Tui took control of her and felt like her wolf form was strong but also out of her control so she wants to learn waterbending which feels more in her control, especially since she really wants to learn that and becoming a better southern waterbender)

Of course the major season 1 upset that'll get things changing is the inclusion of Toph and appearance of Azula. Toph quite literally came in a vision, is a level of magnitude stronger than even Katara at this point, and comes in right when everyone's trying to figure out dynamics and purposes. Needless to say it shakes things up. On top of that Azulas first encounter with the Gaang happens right after, taking the place of Zuko and cranking the danger up to 11 (even if she's not as good at tracking them as he is).

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The Chase is the best chance for everything to go from the frying pan into the fryer. Sokka and Katara are strong enough to, at least, be on Azula's level, especially with Katara's wolf form. She's been trying to keep in under wraps at night for safety so she can easily get on Appa but it's a lot harder for her to do that when she is exhausted and fighting with everyone. (Despite Toph's strength, Katara has to constantly remind herself not to attack her as she could do real damage to a twelve year old as a ten foot tall wolf). Aang is trying to help her but also keep everyone safe and Toph is struggling with her first time on a team. Meanwhile, Azula, Mai and Ty Lee are shocked to see a waterbender with wolf characteristics because they were taught that waterbenders were either human or wolves. Azula isn't that shocked or scared because she still thinks Katara is a small wolf. When they fight in the little town, Azula gets to finally see Katara as a full wolf and she is shocked. She expected a small wolf, a regular wolf that she would see in the EK not one that, with a wack of her paw, could send her flying into one of the buildings. She flees but is injured because of Katara's attack and I feel like, after that, Azula isn't going to try and stick around to see what this giant predator is going to do. (I do really want Katara and Azula to talk more but I also think Katara views Azula as a pure enemy and wants to get rid of her). (But also I need Azutara 😢).

I do think Katara would stay because her healer and waterbender moment is overpowering her need to chase down Azula. It's a big shift for her to act instead on her waterbending side and not wolf side.

------------------(season 2 part 2)

I agree with you on Toph and Katara being pretty similar to their canon versions here. They’d still have moments where they just flat out don’t get along but that also is now coming from Katara seeing Toph as the most powerful bender on the team (minus Aang) who can bender 24/7 unlike her and isn’t stopped by a wolf form which would just further her feelings on her wolf self not always being what’s best for the situation. In the desert, Katara probably not only becomes the one keeping the group together, as we saw in the show, but the main method of transportation since Appa is gone. (Although she and Toph can rant about the sand. Toph can’t see in it and for Katara it gets all in her fur). Wolves are hunters but they are not suited for long runs, they’re endurance hunters, so Katara won’t be able to make a lot of progress especially with carrying three people. And her fur is meant for the cold weather of the South Pole not the desert (so….highly overheated and making water supply a big problem especially when their main waterbender is a wolf almost all night because she’s exhausted from walking in the desert all day). Katara helps them make up some distance for half the night and then she practically face plants into the sand and sleeps out of pure exhaustion the rest of the night. Actually, fun fact, in the world of ATLA the desert has sand sharks which are giant predators so…..Katara’s getting some sea eat food.

There’s such a good moment where to show Katara, as a wolf, struggling to take steps. She just keeps forcing herself to keep moving but every step is a battle. Sokka is the first one to notice this and notice that she’s struggling to stay conscience but he can’t stop her from walking. Aang helps get Toph and Sokka off of her but she still refuses to stop walking, believing that she has to keep going and has to keep moving. Finally, Aang and Sokka literally trip her up and she turns back as she falling to the ground. At this point it’s much easier for Sokka to stop her from walking and get her to finally fall asleep. She’s hungry, thirsty, tired and mentally exhausted from having to keep everyone together. Being out in the desert is a test for everyone, but that really is the moment when the three see how much Katara is struggling. Aang is still upset over Appa, of course, but he also doesn’t want Katara to literally collapse because she’s trying to do everything.

Sokka, honestly, would probably have a similar time as he does in canon. He’s clinging to trying to keep the group moving and keep them alive and struggling the entire time. The desert really would be when that’s highlighted and you can finally see both how much Katara does for the group and how they really don’t know what they’re doing without Sokka there to help them. They’re struggling to just keep moving by the end of the desert arc and make it out alive. No one ever speaks about the sunburns, loss of weight, almost collapses into the sand, etc that happened there.

Moving on to Zuko and man is yet again bound to canon. That being said I do see him with a bit more angst than expected (though that's pretty much the bread and butter of the changes these kids are getting so far). I mean on top of the canon issues hes been very thoroughly bested by a single novice water bender, Sokka showed how he can't lead for crap in comparison, Azula reminded him of his position in the FN and is doing about as well as he'd expect, hell even Zhao managed to come up with a plan and execute it, a pretty dumb plan that left him as dog chow but credit where credit is due the man did kill the moon and breach the northern walls. This is all of course a pretty bad comparison but it's Zuko, gods favorite chew toy who has literally never seen anything normal in his life before and would have an allergic reaction if he did. Most of his time is gonna be like canon and getting a taste of the world, though he's unlikely to actually notice how different normality is maybe he'll get some small seed planted deep in his mind. Probably not but you can't say Iroh didn't try. Speaking of, Iroh is probably gonna be a bit worse for wear here. See, even if Katara didn't go after Azula and immediately healed him, she's a pretty novice water bender so her healing's kinda garbage right now. It'll do the work, girl is literally gifted by the moon and might've been able to brute force it if healing was as uncomplicated as canon made it out to be (I refuse to believe a 6 year old with some healing water could fully fix a fried heart, no matter how magical it is. So I'm taking the liberty of poking atla's magic system with a stick and nerfing healing to require some degree of skill). Point is he might have survived and maybe even redirected some of it, but you can't give the heart some electricity and amateur healing and expect him to come out looking like he's 20. That's right, Iroh gets the heart problems he should've had from Zuko. Probably mostly translates to being weaker in a fight (not a big deal for him really) and not being able to push himself as hard as he used to (a slightly bigger deal when traveling on the road with no supplies). Also some extra Zuko angst over Iroh not only getting hurt by Azula and nearly dieing, but seeing the lasting consequences of it. Also likely slows down their travel time a bit but what else is new in this.

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(That being said, I do think that there’s also room for some humor with Zuko too because everyone assumes he stopped chasing Aang because of Azula or he was scared of Aang’s strength but that’s not the reason. The reason is because Team Avatar has a giant wolf on their team who literally bit through the restraints he brought. He’s not that stupid.)

I love the idea of Azula having a crush on Katara. Girl sees a pretty girl and is just like 😍 and then said pretty girl becomes a giant wolf capable to biting her in half without much effort and Azula’s like 😍😍😍🤩🤩🤩. I do think you could have some fun with Azula having a crush on Katara at the drill because the drill takes place during the day (so no wolf) and Azula and Katara could have a fight scene inside the drill. It’s just a bunch of witty banter back and forth but Azula finds herself wishing the fight would never end (Katara is also finding this Fire Nation girl kinda cute and wants to know more but forces herself to focus on the fight). The reason the fight does end is because Aang stops the drill and Katara flees when he does. Doesn’t stop her from winking in a smug way to Azula and Azula blushing or Katara blushing when she realized that she winked at the enemy.

———————————Season 2 Ba Sing Se

Toph 100% would completely renovate their house in Ba Sing Se so that Katara can fit when she’s a wolf. And it’s not like Joo Dee can say anything cause the other option is a giant wolf sleeping outside the house and freaking everyone else out. (Toph: It’s some renovations or facing the Karens of the city. Joo Dee: Have fun building).

Sokka also spends some time planning for the invasion as well. This is the perfect time for Sokka to feel like he is contributing to the team in terms of strategy and not just keeping them alive by making sure these incredibly powerful children don’t piss off a group of firebenders or forget to eat or something. Oh! I love this idea of Sokka learning from a Pai Sho game and getting the White Lotus’s attention. The White Lotus does have people everywhere so it makes sense that they would have someone in Ba Sing Se to monitor the last city safe from Fire Nation rule.

I kinda love the idea that Katara actually can’t transform into a wolf for the first few weeks in the city because she used it so much in the desert, so not only is she mandated by the Gaang to sleep but now she doesn’t have a wolf form for a while to keep herself busy at night. It’s not by choice but Katara does finally get some rest. And her going along with Toph and Aang on various missions is just her finally getting to spend some time as something other than the group’s primary protector. Katara is able to keep up with Aang easier with just her waterbending but she does still feel vulnerable without her full wolf form to back her up. She and Aang learn how to get through the city and avoid the Dai Li while she and Toph become closer and closer. Katara takes time to rest with Toph and Toph helps Katara by basically telling her that being a wolf is awesome but bending is also great and she can help the team all the same even without her wolf self. (She and Toph can still help stop crime and commit crime together though).

Toph spend most of her time with Katara, as mentioned above, but learning goes both ways. While she might be the best Earthbender in the world, Azula and the desert was a bit of a wake up call. Strong does not equal invincible, and if any one of them hadn't cooperated it would've ended up a lot worse than their battle with Azula (which looking back she might be able to see ways they could've properly cornered Azula and taken her hostage, had everyone worked together). So she's taking an effort to, uhg, be more "cooperative" and whatnot and keep Katara company. And from there she can see how despite being weaker, Katara has her own strengths and fun moments. I mean she even joins along in having some fun in the city, even if it's directed more towards blowing up labor mills and releasing animals than anything else. All in all a very good chance to start recognizing peoples differences, which will help with teaching Aang and figuring out why people are acting they way they are.

👆👆👆

Aang meanwhile gets his fair share of issues, namely the Appa search going nowhere fast. Hes tried everything he can think of, reached out to everyone possible, even tried using his position as the avatar to get something done, and yet nothing has happened. It's still posters being torn down in the night, fake smiles, and everyone acting like things are going great when Appa is gone. Tis a rough time for the boy, and without Sokka and Katara leading the way he's gotta do stuff independently this time around. It goes poorly. Very poorly. Break into houses, release a zoo, and wind up in jail poorly. At this point the guards hear it's another one of the Gaang and just pull out the keys, enter Long Feng. See hes heard about Aangs plight and he knows just how hard it can be to get anything done due to bureaucracy. But he's one of the Dai Lee, keepers of culture created by Kyoshi and as such loyal to the avatar and all they represent. So hes taken it upon himself to work behind the scenes to try and help (he could possibly bring it up to the Gaang, Joo Dee might report back to someone he stepped out of line). And what do you know, hes found Appa! Hes starved and half mad at this point though and only the avatar can possible calm him down enough for them to get him out. See it turns out Appa has cornered himself over by the lake (poor thing probably got loose and ran wild till it crashed) and while they have a tunnel there they can't restrain him without risking Appa hurting himself, so they need Aang to come along. Naturally there's no time to gather everyone up, Appa's scared and hurt and hungry and they didn't care enough to look every hour of every day like hes been trying to do (Sokka is so tired man, at this point they're safe in the city, just let the kid roam free till they get their audience with the king). And so Aang goes with the strange man into the tunnels without telling anyone.

I thought you were going to make Long Feng a good guy for a second 😂, but yeah he would trick Aang into going down into the tunnels.

If Iroh is still struggling with his health then I can see Zuko taking on the role of being the main tea maker. He feels a responsibility to help his uncle and provide for him while they’re in the city since Iroh can’t be on his feet as much. For now, he’s focused on Iroh and making sure they have the money to survive in the city. His days of trying to capture Aang or Katara have passed, especially since he assumes that he’ll never see them again. I LOVE the idea that the Gaang knows Zuko is in the upper ring and he’s the first person they suspect of kidnapping Aang (because…..of course he’s the obvious suspect). Katara is most likely seconds away from ripping out his throat if he doesn’t cooperate with them but Toph is able to tell if Zuko is lying and saves him just because Katara can make good on her threats.

Of course, Zuko wants to capture Aang again but he also knows in a little something called “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”. Aang is the only thing standing between him and his father’s wrath and he would rather take his chances with the Avatar, so he agrees to help them. Everyone meets up and tries to decide what they can do to find Aang, they do suspect the Dai Li (since Zuko is cleared as a suspect after a long, long interrogation process) but the problem is that they don’t know where he is. Thankfully, Zuko heard the Dai Li say something about a lake when they took Jet away. It’s as good a place as any to start looking.

They start looking through the tunnels to try and find Aang or Appa when they’re ambushed by the Dai Li. As we saw in the show, the Gaang can take on the Dai Li but the numbers are not in their favor and Iroh is weakened. They get captured and Long Feng tries to start his monologue but he, nor the rest of the group, realize that Katara’s wolf form came back. (Fangs to the throat is a horrible way to die). Toph breaks everyone free while the Dai Li are distracted and they flee, but not before finding Aang and Appa and getting them out. There’s a sweet little reunion on the beach where Iroh tells Aang that he needs to go and talk to the Earth King about what happened. Aang agrees with him and the group runs/flies off towards the palace. When they arrive it's similar to canon where they talk to him and prove that Lake Laogai exists which results in Long Feng being thrown in prison. The only difference is that now, when Katara is trying to head back home, she picks up on something and finds Azula, who then captures her. The last wolf of the South Pole is bound to be a worthy catch to send back to her father but she also knows that she can't exactly move a giant wolf out of the city without someone seeing her. Thus, a deal is made between Azula and Katara. After Long Feng's kidnapping, Aang is going to be anything but an easy target but that doesn't mean she can't get some damage in. Katara, desperate to keep Aang safe, agrees to go with Azula and back to the Fire Nation. (Azula knows she can't take down Ba Sing Se with just her, Mai and Ty Lee, even an assassination wouldn't guarantee her victory in the city, so she's decided to take down who she views as the most powerful person on Team Avatar and weak the team so that she can attack later). Everyone is celebrating and having fun while Katara has just been taken prisoner by Azula and is being transported out of Ba Sing Se.

I do think Azula needs a bit more attention maybe some behind the scenes stuff because of now it’s not very Azutara-y. Though I do agree with you that they don’t have many scenes together so I think so every time they encounter one another they need to have an interaction of some kind to build a connection.

#you have no idea how tempted I was to throw canon to the road to write early Wolf Azutara#where Azula goes with Katara after The Chase as a “prisoner” (she's just going along for reconnaissance. Yeah that's it)#(not cause feelings no)#(that'd be stupid and dumb and she'd obviously never stoop so low over a not a crush)#Honestly might still do it as a separate reblog chain at some point - How dare you leave this in the notes?!?!

No, but imagine Katara attacks Azula because she’s the enemy, of course she would attack her, and bites Azula’s leg (no this is not becoming a werewolf thing). Azula tries to run but her leg is heavily damaged and she can’t get far and Mai and Ty Lee aren’t around to help. She can try to firebend but her bending is considerably worse since she can’t properly stand up. Zuko and Iroh are a bit busy at the moment (Iroh is trying not to die and Zuko is mourning) so the Gaang decide to “take her hostage” (Read as: don’t leave her to bleed out in an abandoned town). Not only does this allow for a lot of cute Azutara moments but the opportunity is there to explore Azula’s connection with her bending and how she feels about it now compared to Katara and Toph who are also prodigy benders. (Sokka makes her a walking stick because she needs some kind of helper to walk).

[ilikepjo24]

There's a post going around Tumblr about the color palette of your name (I saw @prodogg do it) and I tried it but my name has a very boring color palette so I did Atla characters instead.

Aang:

Okay! All of them are very bright colors that represent Aang's bright attitude and there's a dark shade at the top row which brings to mind the flaws of his character. Personally, I feel like that dark brown represents the guilt Aang feels for leaving. We also have some yellow and soft red, which are the colours of his outfit. There's some light grey that reminds me of his eyes and pretty light blue and beige, breezy light his element. We have some blue, some yellow, some green and some red. True Avatar core right there.

Katara:

Ohhh~ So many pretty blues! Blue eyes, blue clothes, blue nation, blue element and so on. Once again, I feel like the dark color in the third row represents the more bitter parts of Katara personality. Her small moments of jealousy, spite and harness. I also like how all the blues are different shades, some coming close to grey, others close to green and some being pure blue. The variety of shades really shows what I well rounded character she is.

Sokka:

Oh my... That's unexpected... There's only one shade of blue! But I can see some pretty browns and greys in there that are in his colour palette. I wonder why there are so many greens... Probably because he's one of the only characters that are grounded to earth 😂 maybe even a bit too much, seeing how he's always suspicious and doubtful. There are also some snow-like colours in here, which is fitting, seeing as he's from the Water Tribe 😎.

Suki:

That's a very interesting palette... The brown colours remind me of the Earth Kingdom, but there's a snowy white in there, probably because of how close Kyoshi Island is to the Southern Water Tribe. There's also a bit of green in there, even if it's greyish, and I couldn't help but notice those dark shades of red... Is it because she relocated in the Fire Nation after the war, and is currently working as Zuko's bodyguard? I also see a few really dark shades in those top corners, although I'm not surprised. Suki is a warrior through and through, and sometimes warriors have to do some ugly things to protect their homes.

Toph:

No surprises here! I like how Toph has more dark shades than other characters, since she's more in touch with her "dark side" after participating in secret wrestling matches and pulling all those scams. Many shades of green and brown, like her element and her country. But there's also some very light greens in there, so light that they could pass as white or grey, which is unlike the usual Earth Kingdom greens. I wonder if it's because she uses her bending in a much different way that all the other earthbenders, which makes her special. Or it could be because that's the color of her eyes.

Zuko:

That palette is an interesting one for sure. There are so many dark colours in here! And as we all know, the Prince of the Fire Nation didn't have a very happy life, or a very bright attitude. There's a dark brown-red in here and a dark blackish green, along with some blues and greys and a brownish gold. I wonder if it's because of his travels to all the four nations during his search for the Avatar. And I'm loving the references to the Blue Spirit with all those blues in there. Zuko's second, secret persona is a big deal for his character, since all the times we've seen him wear that mask, we've also gotten hints for his future redemption and friendships.

Azula:

Ah, there we go. My favorite girl! Right of the top we have some dark shades, fitting for s true vigilante. There's some brown-ish gold abd black, which brings her hair and eyes to mind. A pretty shade of red, for a true Fire Nation Princess. The lack of blue surprises me, seeing as her fire and her lighting are both blue... I guess the website must believe that she is much more than her bending. And there's quite a lot of green I see... Probably because her peak as a strategist and warrior was conquering Ba Sing Se and bringing the Earth Kingdom to its knees, all while wearing the iconic green Kyoshi Warrior uniform and the even more iconic green Earth Queen outfit.

[avatarthelastearthbender]

Introduction

"Fire"

"Air"

"Water"

"Earth"

"Long ago,the four nations lived together in harmony,then everything changed when the Water Nation attacked...Only the Avatar,master of all four elements could stop them,but when the world needed her most,she vanished.100 years passed and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar...an Earthbender named Toph. And although her earthbending skills are great,she has a lot to learn until she's ready to save anyone,but I believe Toph can save the world"

~~~

Hello, welcome to my Avatar Swap Au blog

[Main Characters]: Toph - {In the role of Aang} She has the pretty much same personality as in canon,only she can be more childish,like canon Aang. She grew up in a small town where she used to fight in the underground earthbending Lei Tai tournaments secretly from her wealthy and protective parents, Upon finding out she's the avatar and on top of always wanting to run away from her protective family,she got overwhelmed by the responsibility and she ran away and trapped herself inside the top of a mountain, using earthbending, remaining there for 100 years. Azula blew the place up in a moment of frustration towards her brother,Zuko

Azula - {In the role of Katara} Unlike the canonically brutal and rough firebenders,the Fire Tribe has many warm and welcoming individuals that fight with honour and respect,Azula doesn't seem to fit right in with them though because,like in the canon universe,she is clever and she is quite apathetic towards the enemy,but more in a petty way like a combination of a redeemed Azula and how canon Sokka was in the beginning,she eventually gets her character development. (She also isn't Toph's love interest by the way)

Zuko - {In the role of Sokka} Zuko is Azula's older brother,who despite his awkward and introverted nature,seems to get along better with most people from their Tribe,but always tried his best to include Azula with the rest. Although he had a hard time trusting Toph,not believing she was an actual Earthbender since the Water Nation had killed them all,he -like canon sokka- eventually trusts her and they all travel together.

Aang - {In the role of Toph} Aang is a 12 year old boy from the Air Kingdom,who got raised by monks and was kept around them his whole life, wanting to explore the world outside the Air Kingdom,he agreed to teach Toph Air bending. His methods of teaching are not how Toph expected,Aang was so calm and interrupted lessons sometimes to have fun,Toph had a hard time learning air bending as it used so different methods from what she knew,and when she was in the air she couldn't see with her feet, which also annoyed her (The whole vibe was kind of how Korra struggled to learn air bending when she was trained under Tenzin).

OTHERS:

Sokka is swapped with Zuko

Katara swapped with Azula

Hakoda swapped with Ozai

Kya swapped with Ursa

Kanna swapped with Iroh

Jet swapped with Chan

Suki swapped with Mei

Yue swapped with Ty Lee {Ty Lee turned into the Sun Spirit}

And many more! Feel free to ask, headcanon and of course suggest anything

[stardust948]

Do not be done rambling about opposite au!!

Does the fire nation still has a firelord on the beginning of the story??

And so, are all water tribes united but still independent of each other?

Also love love nonbender zuko!!

What would be a ln appropriate replacement for otter penguins?

Also how does suki and Yue fit into this??

In this Opposite AU, everything is flipped.

The United Water Tribes, lead by the Southern Water Tribe chief, started the 100 year old war by using the Blood Moon that comes once every century to flood the Earth Kingdom in an attempt to wipe out the new Avatar. Balance is thrown off. Most of the EK is submerged with only mountain villages and places like Omashu remaining.

The Air temples are still intact but there's division on whether to return to the ancient ways of Warrior Monks and join the fight or remain pacifists.

The Fire Nation is wiped out saved for a few scattered islands like Hira'a. (And the Sun Warriors but they don't show up until later). The survivors scrap out a humbling living until Water Tribe raiders come based off a lead of a firebender remaining alive. Ursa takes the blame and dies in Azula's place. Shortly after, Ozai and the men of the village leave to aid the Warrior Air Monks.

Years later, Zuko and Azula free a young girl and badgermole fossilized deep in a cavern. She turns out to be the last Earthbender and the missing Avatar.

*cue theme music*

Yue and Suki are Katara’s friends/lackeies like Mai and Ty Lee. Aang is the runaway they found in the circus bc his temple chose the Warrior route and he wanted nothing of it. (Too bad. You gotta train the Avatar)

Ty Lee is a dragon princess who sacrifice herself to save the Sun. Mai's a bounty hunter. Sokka's the banished prince and Katara’s the bloodbender prodigy. For otter peuiguns I guess it could be those giant lizard things.

[therealsophiependragon]

Were there any particular armor styles drawn from life you had in mind when describing the mismatched spirits in Ba Sing Se? In my mind as I read, I'm imagining they have on samurai helmet, with the creepy masks 😂

Haha by all means keep imagining that 😂 actually, that's what a lot of them were wearing!

The basic trait of the shadow spirits is that they're incredibly out-of-touch, but have their own sort of order of importance and loyalty towards historical figures ancient moral philosophies. So, my backstory for them which didn't quite make it onto the page was that they stole the armor of dead soldiers who traversed from a death on the battlefield to the afterlife in the spirit world - and they did this over many millennia, gathering a large collection of mitch-match armor and war decoration, with only a vague idea of the individual significance of each piece, and even less an idea of how this piece would fit in with the others it was created beside.

So like, some of them would have Earth Kingdom helmets and Fire Nation plating, and then Water Tribe spears and like that. The haphazardness of their costuming is Azula's first clue of their impressionability and naivety, as someone who has extensive knowledge on the subject from her history obvs (she sees the incohesion and thinks, damn okay these guys are superficial and don't know shit), and then you know the rest haha.

More to your point, this is a really really interesting article that I skimmed in research. Use ctrl+f to search maru-do yoroi, both pictures there are kind of what I had in mind visually when writing them. I imagined them mixing this japanese style with various ancient vietnamese ones, which are like a cross between Earth Kingdom costumes (more Chinese based) and Fire Nation ones (in which we see a variation of the masks you're talking about). A lot of scale armor, too. I love the way that looks, idk what it is about it, but scale armor is just everything to me. I know that these costumes aren't what the typical soldier wore, but the shadow spirits as we know were more into show than substance lol. I mean, they are spirits!

So yeah! If I ever revise the Ba Sing Se arc (god help the mental state I ever sink to, to attempt that again lmaooo), a ton more is going into that. Probably the most interesting thing I've researched in this fic. And like obviously I'm just a college student, so I am by no means an expert, and if any of my readers ARE experts then I would love to get some more professional insight.

Thank you for the ask!! I love talking about this! I hope this was interesting and answered your question!

[tmnt-obsessed-ace]

Its 10:45pm time to yap about ANOTHER au (because I cannot be stopped)

So remember that untitled atla x tmnt 2012 au I came up with thats inspired by A Tale Of Spirits?

Well...it has a title now :)

"Before The Summer's End." (Look A Tale Of Spirits is already a really good title but I can't USE it because its already claimed and I've been wanting to yap about this au for so long and couldn't come up with an idea so SUE ME)

So basic premise, the turtles (including my own tmnt 2012 versions of Venus and Jennika because they are my beloveds and its my au I can do whatever I want, plus those two are not in fics often) all get transported to the alta world and separated from each other. (Again like A Tale Of Spirits but that fic has rooted itself into my brain and this au isnt gonna be a carbon copy so its cool)

So key differences from A Tale Of Spirits

Its tmnt 2012 (my beloveds) post season 4 (the turtles are all 20)

It includes Venus and Jennika

It begins at the end of season 1 episode 3 "The Southern Air Temple" unlike A Tale Of Spirits which starts at the beginning of season 2

So already pretty different

And for once Leo ISNT gonna be the main victim of my angst hammer. Its gonna be DONNIE (I have plans for him >:3)

So who exactly ends up with who?

Venus will be the first turtle introduced, landing in the Southern Air Temple and will meet Aang, Katara and Sokka straight away (Venus and Jennika will definitely get the most screentime since I am basically inserting characters that were never in tmnt 2012 and making them fit in with my favorite turtles because the two girlies definitely SHOULD'VE been there Im just saying)

Jennika will land on Kyoshi Island and will join the Gaang soon after they meet. (Girlie gonna have a field day)

Leo meanwhile will land in the ocean close to Prince Zuko's ship, close enough to warrant investigation. (Ok I know that Raph, Jennika, maybe even Mikey would've been better fits for Zuko but I didnt want to take the obvious route plus Zuko becomes "The Blue Spirit" wielding twin swords and later on calls himself "Lee" the joke was right there and I had to take it)

Raph lands in an Earth Kingdom town, very close to the estate of the Beifong family. (Yeah I loved the Raph Toph dynamic in A Tale Of Spirits, bite me)

Donnie ends up in the Northern Air Temple (he aint gonna STAY there because...I have plans for him. He's gonna learn the lesson Leo has already learned. Being the author's favorite is NOT a good thing :3. Donnie's gonna go through it that's all I'll say)

And Mikey is gonna land right in front of Princess Azula, in the heart of Fire Nation territory. (Purely because I am very tired of Mikey being treated as a "fragile weak innocent baby" by fanon. NO MIKEY CAN BE JUST AS DANGEROUS AS AZULA. Especially if he gets angry)

Its gonna be very fun, especially on multiple occasions that the kids need adult the turtles will realize that THEY are the adults

Hehehehe

("We need an adult...I am the adult")

Almost forgot to post the age order of the turtles oh my god I am tired

Ok so the age order from oldest to youngest is

Leo, Raph, Venus, Donnie, Jennika, Mikey

[getindumdums]

In a way. Ozai greedy intervention lead to the Nation’s destruction. Then again, if it wasn’t for the Avatar, Ozai probably would’ve killed more people than Azulon did. Never trust an idiot in charge.

Azula really was a smarter villain than her father. Her own downfall was simply that she was still a child. She did everything right, took the lessons of her grandfather. But she also took the lessons of her incompetent father, and was left with no one she could trust.

Speaking of. What does Azula have to gain by lying to Zuko? Well if he’s his uncle’s heir, Azula for sure isn’t. Like Ozai, she wants power (her father’s approval). She’s the better choice in her father’s eyes, why shouldn’t she be? We can’t know what she told her mother, it could have been the whole truth or the lie, but the story she tells Zuko is the same one Ozai tells him again. That Azulon wanted Ozai to kill his son.

If Azulon simply wanted Iroh to adopt Zuko, I doubt Zuko’s mom would oppose it. So Azula told the lie. She chose her father, because she believed her father would be a more competent leader than Iroh (she says it. While burning an Earth kingdom doll I believe), because her mom loved Zuko more… She saw where this was going. And lied. And Zuko’s mom believed it. And Ozai heard this lie, and embraced it. Zuko’s mom offered a plan to get him into power to save Zuko, and Ozai didn’t care if he’d lose his wife, his way of having more heirs. He just wanted power.

Ozai banished his son, not simply for his ‘disrespect’, but because he was ‘weak’, kind, like his mother. It was to get rid of Zuko and Iroh. How fitting that Zuko would be in Iroh’s care anyway, and be better for the Fire Nation.

This flashback in ATLA, Azulon becoming enraged with Ozai for disrespecting Iroh and the recently deceased Lu Ten, is usually interpreted as Azulon then ordering Ozai to kill Zuko. I disagree with this for two reasons. 1: We don’t actually hear Azulon say that, it’s only referred to by Azula (who was around seven or eight at the time and might have misunderstood what she heard) and by Ozai, years later, when he is taunting Zuko on the Day of Black Sun. Neither Azula nor Ozai are reliable narrators. 2: Azulon is, at the time of this flashback, the ruler of the Fire Nation who has just lost one of his only two grandsons and heirs. What kind of monarch loses one heir and then turns around and demands the death of another, especially when losing Zuko would hardly bother Ozai? My interpretation of this situation is Azulon ordered Ozai to give Zuko into Iroh’s care, replacing Lu Ten as Iroh’s heir, neatly removing any argument Ozai had about Iroh’s line having ended. Ozai of course would never accept this. He either lied to Ursa, claiming Azulon wished Zuko dead, or outright told his wife he’d kill Zuko before seeing him get ahead of him in the line of succession, thus manipulating Ursa to help him assassinate Azulon. I think this theory makes far more logical sense than ‘Azulon ordered the murder of his nine-year-old grandson’.

[official-chekov-enjoyer]

I may or may not be hyper fixating on 911(both) & ATLA…

Please ignore the scaling and the fact it doesn’t line up right I drew Buck first and had to make the poses I wanted fit in the sketch book pages TvT I also didn’t draw them on pages that were next to each other which made it harder..

Lore I came up with while drawing under the cut

Buck is the Avatar cause yeah. He’s a water bender from the northern water tribe and his water bending teacher is Eddie who’s from the southern water tribe. Why is Eddie his water bending teacher when like there’s so many water benders from the northern tribe and like none in the southern tribe? Welll my idea is that Eddie is like a really good fighter who’s like super good at water bending in fights but he wants to learn from the Women of the northern tribe and like heal people.

In my head while I was drawing him I came up with like a whole introduction/reason for him being in the northern tribe and becoming the avatars teacher. Buck is like not clicking with any of the masters that want to teach him cause he’s like a rascal and they want him to cool off but he’s hot headed right and he doesn’t wanna learn from any of these up tight by the book guys. And then Eddie comes in hot, defeating half of the guards like demanding an audience with the Chief of the northern tribe and when he gets one Buck is watching him like plea for him to be allowed to heal. And Buck eventually convinces the Chief to let him learn how to heal people if he stays to teach the avatar (Buck) water-bending. And then they become besties and fall in love and so Eddie joins him on his avatar quest. (I think the Chief of the northern tribe is Vincent Gerard maybe this could change)

The other guys I haven’t drawn buttt I did decide who they are.

Hen: Airbender

Bobby: Earth Bender

Chimney: Fire Bender

I have some lore for them tooo (didn’t think of Mitch for Hen sorry Hen lovers, I mostly made her an airbender cause she’s already bald…) Bobby as we know is like a father figure to Buck righttt so like the guy who grounds him, ground like earthhh so Bobby teaches him how to listen and think before acting. Unlike in the show the earth ending teacher isn’t teaching Buck to stand up and fight he already knows that, Bobby is more teaching Buck to strike at the right time, when to be offensive and when to be defensive.

Chimney is the fire bender cause…his name but also because Water and Fire are opposite elements and I think Chimney (similarly to Zuko) would’ve had to go through an arc of discovering how Fire is life instead of death. My idea is that like as a water bender Bucks instinct is to put out the fire and he like fears it as a force of distraction (similarly to Jong Jong) and that Chimney teaches Buck that fire isn’t just distraction but life too. In my head chimney shares qualities with Uncle Iroh and he like embraces other elemental traits in his fire bending. I think Chimney can probably play with lightning but he’s defiantly got normal red fire not the fancy blue stuff like Azula. I think chimney would be able to do fun fire bending tricks and I think he’s a super skilled fire bender that’s like stuck as a circus act or a funny bartender and Buck gets super obsessed with the idea of *him* being Bucks teacher. Similarly to how he got obsessed with the idea of Eddie being his teacher. Chimney teaches Buck control.

And for Hen, she’s Bucks Airbending teacher teaches and him when to run away. I think Buck really enjoys airbending but I also think he fucks up and almost dies. Like he does the air scooter thingy and it goes out while he’s upside down over a cliff and he has to get saved.

Also Buck does get stuck by lightning. Eddie probably cries.

Also also!! The lonestar guys appear throughout the Earth Kingdom. As like a rebellion brigade or something. Marjan is like Toph where she’s this small girl who fucks people up with crazy earth bending. And TK is a bender but not a great one. He’s better at defense than offense but his dad is a really amazing offensive Bender so he tries until they team up with Tommy(lonestar) and Nancy and he’s like, “I can protect you guys better than I can fight with you” and I’m thinking for Paul: Transmasc Kyoshi warrior. And then I think Marjan becomes a Kyoshi warrior too. And Mateo has some kind of giant creature he rides which is convenient for rescues. Judd my beloved is a traveling man with his beautiful wife Grace. Judd pretends to be a non bender as an excuse to not join the rebellion brigade but they find out and Grace tells him to go help them (and eventually the avatar in whatever final battle they have)

Maddie is a water bender from the Northern Tribe like Buck. May be one of Eddie’s teachers, I think all the 911 operators not from lonestar are healer girlies, except maybe Josh who might just be a non bender that hangs with the girlies. And Maddie still marries Chimney.(cause I love Maddie & Chim) Buck tells him the whole thing about Engagement necklaces and Chimney makes a super unique one cause he burns the wood to seal it and she gets an engagement necklace unlike any other.

I thinksss Athena and Micheal are Earth & Water where Micheal was the water tribe person and a nonbender and they live in the earth kingdom so everyone thinks they’re both earth kingdom. But then May is a water bender and she’s confused and decides to go to the northern tribe to learn water bending. And Athena is like DehLi (idk how it’s spelt) basically just Earth kingdom law enforcement. She and Bobby are also still married cause I *also* love Athena and Bobby 🫶

Ravi is the “my cabbages!!” guy

As a reward for those who got here

Buck doodle!! Or a Buodle, if you will

There is a chance I’ll do more 911:ATLA stuff and I’ll put it under the tag so you can check and see if I ever did it.

For those who don’t know ATLA (but stayed this long for some reason?) it’s Avatar the Last Airbender. Normally I’d add the tag but I don’t feel like infecting the ATLA tag with 911. Highly recommend if you haven’t seen it