#i was also gonna say lok was The Korra Show . but it literally is

[comradekatara]

Hi has your opinion on Prince Wu or any of the characters substantially changed since you’ve first seen the shows?

why is it always prince wu 😭😭 no, not him. i hated that obnoxious little fop from the very first second i laid eyes on him and a decade later my opinion of that twink has not changed. he is a nothing character who only exists to chew the scenery and grate me, personally [<- katara voice]. i doubt he will ever grow on me in any significant capacity. that said, of course my opinions on many characters have changed. for one thing, i don’t think i actually recognized the existence of male characters in fiction until well into my teens (with the exception of iago, because i was a very edgy child). so my love for sokka and aang really developed upon way more recent rewatches. i always liked them, of course, but if you’d asked me as a kid, i would’ve said my favorite male character was iroh without hesitation (and don’t get me wrong, i still love iroh, but i find the way people talk about him as if he’s some irreproachable beacon of wisdom and fatherly love to be really annoying). i also had to really work to love ty lee; i definitely didn’t understand her depth and motivations as a child. haru is also a character i’ve really only come to appreciate fairly recently. conversely, i was obsessed with katara, azula, and toph from the moment each appeared onscreen, and that obsession hasn’t wavered. katara especially is like some kind of parasite to the brain. what can i say she’s an icon a legend she is the moment she is every moment. korra too. as much as i struggled to watch lok back when it was airing because i thought it was such a disappointment (and you know i still think that), i was always obsessed with korra. and of course “korra alone” and korrasami finale literally did change my life. also the herbalist, for some reason, has always been a kind of icon to me. i don’t even really know why, but she imprinted on me at such a young age. i guess she’s just everything i wish to be in life. i hope this answers your question lol

[dont-leafmealone]

My thoughts on the new Avatar show announcement

disclaimer; these are my personal opinions and not objective fact. Take this as more of a vent than anything else. Also, this will be VERY long and rambley, and will contain spoilers for just about every existing Avatar-verse IP.

ok so I'm generally of an optimistic mindset when it comes to new Avatar content, because like. Even the GLY comics had SOME good moments (they at least TRIED to answer questions people had after ATLA and Korra were both over)

But I'm having a HARD time being optimistic about this new Earth Avatar show. I have no idea how they're gonna pull off telling a good story that's also a NEW story when LOK had nothing resembling the seeds for a new plot?

ATLA left enough (interesting) loose ends that HAD to be tied up in a future setting (finding Zuko's mom, the fate of the Air Nomads with Aang being the last one, etc.) as well as a few interesting questions that could be explored in either past or future settings (how the avatar came to be, whether the water tribe was rebuilt and how successfully, political unrest with a new fire lord on the throne and the war suddenly ending, past avatars' lives and stories, as well as general questions about the fate of certain characters). LOK and the comics and the FC Yee novels have (with varying degrees of success) answered a lot of those.

The problem is, I have a hard time thinking of any such interesting threads in LOK that don't just point back to the past again. Whatever questions I have about the future are strictly related to the characters, because there wasn't a whole lot going on in the *world* of Legend of Korra that would have long-term effects. At least not beyond the connection to past Avatars being cut off, which is a story that for me just isn't interesting enough to center a whole series around the implications of, unless it's set during the era of Wan's immediate successor trying to learn the ropes from the ground up; or the effects of Wu abolishing the monarchy, which...creates a political drama and not much else, as far as I can see, and that's literally the last thing I want to watch a cartoon about.

As i said, the questions LOK DID leave me with were related to the characters rather than the world itself, which...is kind of a bad thing if you're setting the sequel in a time when most or all of those characters are going to be dead. I mean, we saw how that went in LOK; nobody liked Toph being a cop, or Katara being a lonely old lady (and yeah, she wanted a peaceful life, but there's nothing about her in LOK that says 'peaceful' to me. She's lonely and sad.) or Sokka being barely mentioned, or Aang being a neglectful dad (and yeah, there's nuance to that one but it isn't done very well in my opinion). Zuko gets to be in a couple episodes and have a dragon and a daughter we know nothing about from a wife we know even less about.

Setting the story as far in the future as they would need to to avoid killing Korra off at the ripe old age of like 30 (and wow, wouldn't that be such a good take, having both existing named water tribe avatars die tragically young?) would in the process do two things:

Remove nearly all ties to the original show and any relevant stories that could be told in relation through characters and plotlines that showed up there (and all ties that I would personally find interesting)

progress the world of Avatar further into an already over-westernized version of the world, presumably technologically advancing it and keeping in line with the 'real-world progression' set up by setting LOK in a 1920s-esque era.

I don't know about you but nothing excites me LESS than seeing characters I have no emotional connection to and no information on navigate a modernized, westernized version of the avatar world. LOK tried that, some people liked it, but it didn't really do it for me. If it had been a miniseries like Bryke originally planned, and actually focused on worldbuilding and saving-the-world rather than interpersonal drama, or even kept the long-form series but had a more overarching plot, I would have probably liked it a whole lot better, but...that's not what happened.

Instead they had four separate conflicts, all of which ended up rushed, and all ending with (for me) extremely unsatisfying conclusions. The non-bender protesters are shut down (even though they're still oppressed) and it's never mentioned again; Vaatu gets killed (which is still just dumb to me, Chaos isn't bad and you can't have one without the other); The Red Lotus all die painful deaths and their only impact is political (yet we don't feel the impact because of how little time is spent with the world-building over interpersonal stuff, as said before); and Kuvira's ultimately noble goal is negated by the distinctly terrible actions in the name of said goal.

So yeah. LOK didn't lay much groundwork for a future series, and unless the plot synopsis drops and it's something truly groundbreaking (lol get it? Because it's an earthbender Avatar? So it's literally - yeah nevermind) I'm not holding out a lot of hope.

But that's just my two cents!

[wicked-elfie]

Okay so Ariel being black and how that relates to me, Legend of Korra, and my dog…

lots of cursing, please be mindful of that <3

Sorry this is gonna be long as shit, but I’m insanely worked about this, and I know the people I’m writing about will most definitely ignore it or just be mad, but I don’t really care. This is a vent post.

also here’s my dog for reference ofc. wonderful powder sugar donut foot lookin ass <3 be mean to him and i’ll annihilate you

Okay this was just on my mind earlier. As most everyone has heard by now, the new trailer for the live action The Little Mermaid dropped, and some people were angry because Ariel “doesn’t look the same” *cough* she’s Halle Bailey *cough* these people are just racist *cough*

Look, so, I really dislike the live action remakes that Disney seems to be busting their asses making, but I don’t care enough to actually be mad about it. Disney is a Really Shit Company. We Already Know That. HOWEVER!!!! That’s not the fucking point and I want people to stop using that as a distraction from the issue! And whatever, like, these kids get to enjoy these movies!!! That’s cool!

And these kids: THESE KIDS DO NOT CARE THAT ARIEL IS BLACK. THESE KIDS ARE EXCITED THAT ARIEL IS BLACK. It absolutely DOES NOT take away from the experience of the film WHATSOEVER!

Who’s mad? Well… White adults ofc!

So, now that I’ve got that out of my system (FOR THE TIME BEING) I’m gonna explain my experience.

I had this thought when I came across the drawing someone make of Korra from LoK and Naga. I know some people have their reservations about the show, but please spare me, because as I’m about to explain, this show means the absolute world to me.

So I watched LoK when it had already finished. Probably my freshman year of HS, so I was like 14 (2015- a year after it ended). I had already watched ATLA growing up. I decided to watch Korra when I heard about Korrasami. (this is important.)

Guys, when I say that I related to Korra, I mean in every way possible. And in a way that kinda sucks, because everyone seemed to HATE HER. However, after finishing the show, it’s like I grew with her as well. I somehow managed to not binge it so it took some time, and relate to her arc even more as I Continue to grow.

Korra is hotheaded, impulsive, egotistical but also extremely self conscious, emotional, empathetic, ambitious, funny, caring, and a total fucking idiot at the start of season 1. Makes sense- she’s literally a teenager. I Cannot Express This Enough.

Now, by the end of the show: She’s maternal, she’s thoughtful, self conscious but working on it, learning how to communicate her emotions, still ambitious but learns to ask for help, still funny, still caring, brave, and mature.

Now, of course I’m not the avatar, but we all have trauma, amirite? This show was so cathartic for me to watch. From start to finish, it was an outlet for me and continues to be- a place to just let go of all of those big feelings little me couldn’t deal with as a kid. This show taught me so much about myself.

Physically, I have a lot in common with her, too. Both close with father figures in our lives, both young women with brown skin, and the perfect cherry on top: we both have a big fluffy white dog.

This sounds really stupid, but people… imagine me;

Angry, erratic, emotional, exhausted, brown skinned, queer but didn’t know it, close with my dad (specifically a dad with lighter skin, too), wanting to have control and take care of the things I loved: and I’m sitting there on my bedroom floor, on my laptop, hugging my big fluffy dog and bawling my eyes out as Korra gets dragged to the ground by herself in that one scene in the swamp, and eventually getting to watch her walking into the portal with Asami.

I have never, ever felt more seen in my life, and I don’t know that I ever will feel that again.

Representation is so insanely important. Obviously, mine is a little on the nose, but just skin tone, queer relationships and identities, complicated families… People with different experiences need to see themselves, and people who can’t relate at all need to see it too. I remember my boyfriend and I talked about representation after watching ATLA, and he said, “I don’t think I’ve ever actually watched a show where not a single person was white.” followed up with “I never had to look for myself in media. I was always there.” My boyfriend is a straight white male.

I’ve been on so many rants to this guy about how much these things matter, and he already knows but he listens to me anyways. Korra was life-changing for me. Life-saving.

So excuse me if I’m emotional as I slam my fist on the goddamn table and scream at these angry mf white ADULTS,

This takes ABSOLUTELY NOTHING FROM YOU!

AREIL CAN BE BLACK! IT DOESNT EFFECT THE STORY!

Shit, the Ariel in our high school play was a POC!

Don’t you dare make me list Every Single God Damn character that was written as a POC and adapted to be WHITE ON FILM!

Would it KILL YOU to just Let The Little Black Girls HAVE THIS!

Being in a place of privilege doesn’t mean you don’t experience things like trauma, or inconvenience, or struggle. It means you don’t experience those things BECAUSE OF YOUR RACE. YOUR SEXUALITY. YOUR CREED. YOUR GENDER. YOUR BORN-INTO WEALTH.

Giving people the recognition they need doesn’t take Anything from you.

So please. Please just let them have this. If it really makes you mad, you need to seriously evaluate “why?” because “she’s not the same” is a shit excuse when her appearance has nothing to do with the story.

Fuck

[tuiyla]

So I was reading some of your old asks and saw you rank Korrasami above Bubbline and Brittana, which intrigued me. While I'm glad that Korrasami helped to pave the way for lgbt rep in American children's media, I also thought that the LoK writers could have given them more scenes together in Books 3 and 4. As it is, despite their cultural impact, I thought their relationship was underdeveloped compared to Bubbline and Brittana :/ So could you please expand on why Korrasami had an edge over the latter two ships in your opinion? 🤔

Also I hope that Korrasami question doesn't upset you 🙇‍♀️ I just love Bubbline and Brittana so much that I wonder what I might have missed about Korrasami that made you rank them higher than two of my favorite ships ever djdjsk

Not upsetting no worries, I just need to disclaim before I get into the meat of it that, at the end of the day, it's personal preference. It's why I never ever actually try to convince anyone. It's just whatever you prefer. I know stuff I like is never gonna be everyone's tea and I'd hate for someone to constantly be trying to convince me that stuff I'm not into for whatever reason is the Best Thing Ever, Actually. You can be curious and that's cool and I appreciate the interest, just a preamble before we start.

These three ships are indeed easily my top 3 of all time. So far, anyway. I think that ask must be a year old now haha but it stays true. First, I think it's really hard to actually compare something like Brittana to Korrasami and Bubbline, as it's a different medium and entirely different circumstances. Even though the three do mostly overlap in terms of their show's time on air (2012-2014, 2010-2018, 2009-2015) it's just difficult to say, exactly, what Korrasami's "edge" is - just that personal preference, at the end of the day. Because all three ships were major in their own leagues, that league arguably being the same for LoK and Adventure Time. And I adore Bubbline, like, to a degree that I've long tried to encapsulate and you can see if you go back far enough on this blog. I'll use any opportunity to highlight that even they paved the way for Korrasami! And not just the other way around. Before there was the LoK finale or even Book 3, there was the Mathematical controversy and Sky Witch and all that. I actually often lament that media outlets are so ready to credit LoK and Steven Universe before they do Adventure Time and Bubbline because Bubbline only got to reap the benefits years later. Bubbline was a slow burn but make no mistake, they very much created their own fortune.

Anyway, you didn't ask about Bubbline. But all that's to say, I don't measure in terms of groundbreaking representation or legacy or any of that because even with the two Western animation entries it's hard to compare. I adore Brittana but they're third probably because I was a latecomer to Glee and wasn't there as it happened, I don't have that kind of connection with it. I do with Adventure Time and I do with LoK. Bubbline are just, wow, again it's hard to summarize in a post like this what they mean to me. And yet I'd still choose Korrasami as my number one any day.

I know this isn't the best answer I could give or maybe even a particularly good one, and certainly not tangible in any way. But you just had to be there. I don't know how I'd feel about Korrasami if I wasn't there for The Legend of Korra from literally the first image revealed, if I hadn't watched every single week. If I hadn't spent the second half of 2014 in this fandom, trying to figure out where they were going with this relationship. I don't presume to know how you watched the show, but I think it's already a world of difference to watch it after it had first premiered, knowing what the ending will be. Having that expectation. We had no expectations in 2014. I loved every single Korrasami interaction as they happened, felt Book 3 was SUCH a breath of fresh air and looked forward to the girlies bonding more every week. I didn't ship them, I was telling myself, because one did not ship a Sapphic pairing in a cartoon in 2014. I loved them, of course, but I just hoped we'd get as much as possible of their friendship.

Because they were very much established a strong friendship first. That's the entirety of Book 3 on a Korrasami level for me, establishing their strong bond after the love triangle stuff is over for good. They really said, "let's make up for the previous two seasons" and they did. No shade, genuinely, but I always find statements like "they could have had more scenes" funny coming from years later. As it was happening, the fandom did the maths, and forgive me I don't remember the exact numbers but Asami spends about 90% of her Book 3 screentime with Korra. That number is quite high from Korra's, the main character's pov too, over 50%. Book 4 is a different beast but once they're reunited, even the infamous filler episode takes care to put the two together. So I don't think it's about the lack of scenes, I think it's about the subtlety of how it had to be in 2014.

But see, even back then, even when we thought this was impossible to truly be we all thought it was walking that line between subtext queer people read into and something actually intentional. I mentioned I wasn't a shipper because I didn't dare be one. By the time Reunion happened in Book 4, I couldn't help it. I knew it wouldn't lead anywhere but I've always been a shipper more interested in fleshed-out dynamics than Word of God, anyway. So I started calling myself a Korrasami shipper from that point, hoping against hope that the two would end the series - well, not together. Because again, that just seemed impossible. But at least with a bond that's so undeniably deep. And I really think it was, and is, because the writers did have to put that work in and build bit by bit because they weren't allowed to explicitly articulate the kind of attraction the characters were feeling.

And then... December 19th, 2014. I'll never forget. That's the kind of media moment I could never. The following few days, the following months and years and the eventual legacy Korrasami has now. The milestone that now, with series like The Owl House really pales in comparison. And that's a good thing because it tells us how far we've come. But Korrasami will never not be revolutionary to me and their story will never not be breathtaking. Far beyond what it meant for representation, it's what that story of polar opposites and against the odd and balance was. What Avatar is all about, at its core. And, yes, even beyond all that, what it meant to me, personally. Now that couldn't possibly be summarized here.

Again, I adore Bubbline and am holding myself back lest I go feral talking about them. Say the word and a 2k-word essay will drop lol. But Korrasami had two crucial legs up over Bubbline and that's franchise and timing. Franchise, because the world of Avatar will always be my favourite. Love me some AT, but nothing will ever compare to my inner 10 year-old watching any Avatar project. And timing, well, I've lamented it in this very post. I wholeheartedly believe AT kicked off this golden age of Sapphic animation in 2011 but LoK ended its run in 2014. It led somewhere sooner. I don't like admitting this, but by the time Bubbline kissed in 2018, it was "fucking finally." That part is what it is. It's just one factor in all this.

I know I didn't talk about Korrasami much, I'd be happy to get into the nitty-gritty of the story more and why I think it's anything but underdeveloped. This is less of a personal preference thing though still subjective, but I think they're more well-developed than either Bubbline or particularly Brittana. But you asked for my reasons, and it's that je ne sais quoi of personal preference, at the end of the day. Nothing will ever mean to me what Korrasami did. (That said, maybe you'll be interested in this little project I did a while back that covers both Bubbline and Korrasami, as well as Catradora. At least it's some of my thoughts and analysis on these characters and couples.)

[sassykinzonline]

sadly it’s the same person still, I have so many questions omg- ok so, if boruto was in your “universe” what would it be like? Would the kids still even be there?

Thoughts on shikamaru?

Another one, so we all should know, soulmates, how did it feel when u got that moon thing on your hand? While Naruto got a circle looking thing that looked like a sun.

if you were to choose, would u rather have 1 day with, young Naruto(before team 7) genin naruto(when team 7 started), shippuden naruto(when the war started) or hokage Naruto?

oh my god this ask actually made me moan in delight (not sexually, like eating a good tomato more like), these are amazing questions.

im going to assume you mean a sequel to shippuden that deals with our adult lives when you say "boruto", im not gonna craft a whole thing im just gonna kind of give you my important points:

the genre isnt baby kiddy shounen. theyre making a show for people who are adults now, the genre needs to be adult political thriller shounen. none of this aliens from space bullshit. this is why i mentioned legend of korra. as much as OG atla fans want to pretend it sucks, LOK is enduring because it understood the assignment of catering to the SAME fanbase but recognizing the CHANGE in demographics. just like ATLA, there are tons of political problems that need to be addressed by the end of "naruto", the answer to them cant be some gen X bullshit "welp what matters is that we know theyre problems~" thats fucking lazy and boring.

this means things like the hyuuga structue, Amegakure, reformation of the mist, reformation of the chunin exams, the "role" of shinobi, war orphans, recognition of past crimes against humanity including the genocide of the uchiha, the fascist nature of things like the ANBU and the political structure of konoha, etc. all these things need to be up for grabs.

in essence, we know that tobirama is responsible for all the infrastructure that makes the shinobi world complete shit. naruto needs to be the antithesis to that if hes to be hokage. i dont think he needs to be hokage to do that, so that can also be a plot point.

in terms of kids, im just gonna let shikatema rock even though i hate it. they can have kids right away if they want, i dont care. i thnk its weird that even though everyone got married at different times, we all ~happened~ to have kids the same year. i think its easier to deal with if some main cast kids are older than others because then you can have teams without building on side characters like moegi that didnt matter before and shouldnt matter now.

the one thing i think should remain the same, is that the driver of the plot should still be the evolution of my relationship with naruto. now that we found each other, how do we really find and achieve peace for ourselves?

thoughts on shikamaru?

i think hes a toxic incel who gets away with being a douchebag because he has a "stoic cool guy" persona. he never evolves on his views of women, he just marries the one woman who he sees as a "not like other girls" girl. hes never punished for his views either. he disrespects his teammate constantly who hes literally useless without. he only props up the guy on his team who is consistently a liability to them (and i mean im friends with choji and i think hes a good ninja but cmon) because hes a guy. i hate him. we are banned from 3 separate bars for fighting. yes the count has gone up. dont ask.

soulmate tats?

the best way i can describe it is.... you know that at base, naruto and i feel "for" each other in a strong way. we feel proud when the other is, sad when the other is, angry when the other is, what have you. thats part of deeply loving someone, but also something special i think we have going on. the tattoos felt like putting glasses on those feelings, or maybe a microscope? or an x-ray? i dont know? but all of a sudden it felt like you could see the red thread of fate itself, where exactly we need to put our feelings to bend reality itself, how our feelings can be used (for each other)...that sort of thing. kind of like unlocking the keys to the universe and learning how to use your muscles to mold the universe at the same time.

if you asking how it physically felt to receive them then no it wasnt like a tattoo, it felt like i guess when you scratch an itch or wake up suddenly after a long deep sleep? something like that? but thats me. im actually not sure if naruto feels differently, you can ask him.

if i could choose?

this question is crazy haha. if you could guarantee it wouldnt change the future and i could just spend the day in like a pocket dimension or something just for the experience....

i think i'd want to spend time with shippuden naruto so i could learn what i missed? thats the only time (i hope) that we would have been separated so.... and i know he would like to hear that everything went well with us. i'd like to see his face as i told him that, i bet hed be like "UGH WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN 😳" heh.

2nd place goes to academy baby naruto because i want to derive energy from his...cute nature.

[hedgethemaze]

4, 8, 23, 25

4. Favorite animal? I could easily just put him as the answer, I mean

Appa is the best, I don't think I even need to explain this. But the question doesn't especify from which show so...

Naga not only is my favorite animal exclusive to LOK, she's also the mix of two of my favorite real life animals.

8. Favorite battle? Tough choice!

Both series excel in the fighting department, so in order to not hurt my brain thinking too much (at least for ATLA) I'm gonna go with the fight I think is one of the most fun to watch and that has to be Toph vs all 7 Earth Rumble VI fighters from her debut episode "The Blind Bandit".

I've never been into WWE, except when done in animation and by shows I like, and what a spectacle it is to see Toph face The Boulder & Co. and handing their a$$es to them while sending them flying out of the arena in a flawless victory. It's a real blast!

Favorite battle in LOK: I would say is Korra vs. Kuvira in the series’ finale. Not only is her rematch against the great uniter but this fight represents Korra's true comeback. She may not be the Avatar she was before her battle with Zaheer, but she's overcome the worst of it and now she's stronger than ever.

Aftar everything she's gone through, there's something amazing about the display of her fighting and bending habilities during this fight. She's come a long way and it shows! And while the battle gets interrupted because of the giant mecha exploding, I belive that had they continued the fight outside the metal box, Korra would've had a bigger advantage - and that’s not mentioning the Avatar State, which she only used to protect Kuvira from an energy beam equal to a nuclear explotion that would've easily obliterated her had it not been for Korra's power and skill.

23. Favorite Korra moment? O.O Boy, and I thought 29 was hard to answer. C’mon, I LOVE Korra and watching her do anything, really. Any moment she’s on screen, or page (as long as she’s not suffering in any way, kind or form), is my favorite Korra moment <3

That said, for the sake of the question, I’m gonna have to choose...

Her reunion with Asami in, well, “Reunion” lol

I think we’re all well aware what this moment meant to Asami, who was already in love with Korra at the time (I will die on that hill). But to the Avatar, while not given the proper time to fully let it sink in, I like to think this is the moment where she no longer doubts her romantic feelings for Asami are no illusion or mistake and that she's, in fact, crushing on her best friend 😊 

Not to mention, that look she gives Asami after the hug is such a soft and happy expression, it literally melts my heart! Every. Single. Time.

25. Asami or Korra? In what regard?

As in the better fighter, the prittiest, the smartest, the richest- wait, sorry, there’s no contest in that one lol Just kidding! 😆

I’m gonna go with Asami here. And simply because the entire series revolves around Korra (titular character, duh!) and I couldn’t ask for more of her - actually, I could but that’s not the point. Besides, I know there will be more Korra content eventualy...

I’m not saying I want Asami to be the protagonist of her own series, I like her right where she is, thank you. Even so, she’s the least explored (I even dare say “developed”) member of Team Avatar - the brothers even got their own mini web series, Republic City Hustle, depicting them 3 years prior to the main series - and to this day I’m left wanting to know more about Asami.

There’s bits and pieces told to us about her backstory. Mainly that she lost her mother at a young age and she’s well trained in self defence, but nothing’s ever shown and that’s only concerning her past. But what about her present in the series? Asami, as an individual, is rarely touched upon to the point some people think there’s nothing of substance or importance about her, besides that her money and vehicles get the protagonists to every place they need to be, reducing her to the LOK version of Appa (we all know the memes). They easily forget a lot happens to Asami, and I can’t blame them because the series never takes the time to explain to us how she manages to cope with any of it. It all happens behind the scenes. And I hate to say it but the more I think about it, I find that offencive to her character.

Thanks for asking, gray face. Sorry it took so long to asnwer...hope you enjoys the reading.

Anyone that would like to can ask more from here :) 

[azucanela]

being zuko’s s/o would include hcs?

BEING ZUKO’S S/O [GENDER NEUTRAL!READER]

BEING KORRA’S S/O | BEING SOKKA’S S/O

SUMMARY: being zuko’s s/o from the confession to the weddin’ [say this but make it rhyme the way those singers do ya know]

WORD COUNT: 2.5k

WARNINGS: kissing, very mildly implied nsfw, soft zuko, a dragon

A/N: these are gonna be extensive bc there is no scenario but if you want whole fics there are like 6342 zuko fics coming since everyone is a zuko simp. also wow this is really long um i hope its what you wanted!

GETTING INTO THE RELATIONSHIP

you guys have probably known each other a long time, because homebody does not fall for just anyone, so if you become the object of his affections, you better feel HONORED. hehe honored 

i feel like it takes him a lot of time to actually accept his feelings for you are beyond platonic. the main reason he falls for you is probably your consistency in his life since thats something he tends to lack. like his mom? gone. his dad? kicked him out of the only place he ever knew. his life is filled with major changes so if you guys have known each other since childhood then consistency is key

once he realizes he likes you he kinda panics because what if you don’t accept him? what if you leave? even worse, what if you leave because he likes you? so now he’s panicking, and naturally, as one does, Zuko avoids his problems. You, being the problem. And his emotions, but he is in denial so

definitely talks to his uncle about the two of you A LOT, especially when he is first figuring out his feelings and trying to figure out what to do about them

his uncle is an elite wingman, constantly tries to get the two of you to be alone in the same space or get information out of you in regards to you

when it comes to confessing i can see a few situations

situation one is that zuko confesses completely by accident, freaks out, disappears, avoids you even more, like homie is a mess. after you get fatally injured, or maybe when he thinks you are asleep, or he just kinda blurts it out in conversation when you guys are doing something domestic. regardless, it is entirely by accident, and now zuko is freaking the heck out. 

“i really like this tea.”

“i really like you.”

“excuse me-”

“i goTTA GO FEED MY DRAGOn Y/N!”

“you don’t have a dragon!”

so that’s how zuko gets his dragon from LOK, storytime over

you kinda have to find him and get a word in before he runs off because he is really scared of rejection, he doesn’t want you to leave and assumes that if the situation is never addressed then you can’t leave woohoo problem solved. 

his uncle yells at him lol

when you corner him you gotta confess super fast and handle his anxieties because he is super worried about you hating him now even though it is the opposite. 

“please don’t leave me.”

“i’m not gonna leave my boyfriend.”

“your- your what?”

“we are dating now. i like you, you like me, so we are dating.”

situation two is equally chaotic, but far less dancing around the feelings since you confess! congrats! you have more balls than me! im so proud! good job bb!

when you confess, its probably late at night, a comfortable silence between the two of you, or maybe he’s ranting about something, like how dumb the concept of tea is idk. regardless this is DOMESTIC, so it’s soft and cute and you are just like you know what screw it this nerd is so easily flustered by me maybe he likes me back! look at us cuddling like a couple! might as well make it official!

zuko.exe error, not working

you broke him good job. 

he externally panics and internally congratulates himself while panicking. he is very shocked you feel that way for him because he is an oblivious boy. 

“honestly, i don’t understand why my uncle likes those flavored water leaves so much-”

“i don’t understand why i’m in love with you.”

“WHAT.”

if y’all were cuddling on a bed or smth he THROWS YOU OFF BY ACCIDENT SKJDHJFHKHWJKF oopsie, he just gets up so quickly that you kinda go tumbling.

homie literally asks you why so naturally you gotta start listing all of these reasons why because hes like perfect and beautiful and yeah we all love him a lot :D marry me zuko <3

you gotta give him a hot minute to process all the information you just gave him, he is in shock for a short while, kinda just sitting there confused. once it gets through his thick skull that you like him he’s gonna thank you 💀

then he’ll ask you how you wanna handle this and boom you have a boyfriend now good job! 

DURING THE RELATIONSHIP

dating during a war is hard so when y’all first start dating, probably towards the end of the war when he finally joins the Gaang, its gonna be really chaotic and you guys are still gonna be sorting through everything, like what kinda couple do you wanna be? neither of you know

kisses are rare during this time, especially since zuko is a generally private person who doesn’t really do PDA much, especially since he wants to avoid teasing and judgement from others. he’s a real people pleaser at the end of the day, he literally spent three years of his life looking for someone the world thought just disappeared permanently because he wanted his dad’s validation.

when you two do kiss, it tends to be a night in your shared tent, even then Zuko is weary of Toph’s seismic senses.

his kisses tend to be soft and sensual, he really just wants to take his time and enjoy it. however, bb does have a temper so you can expect some spice on occasion when he gets frustrated.

this comes later on in the relationship, once the war is resolved, but that just brings about new problems! like having to deal with the new fire lord who is always busy as your boyfriend!

especially at the beginning, when he’s newly crowned and everything is busy and new and he’s struggling with being organized, he rarely has time for you. however, you are likely his right hand, main advisor, general, whatever your area of expertise is he will find you a position in the castle, unless you tell him you want to stay out of politics. though, deep down, he wants to give you a position so he can spend time with you

once things calm down and he’s got being fire lord in the bag, he starts blocking in time during his day to actually take you out on dates and stuff

at one point just disappears for the whole day with you and everyone thinks he’s been kidnapped until they realize you aren’t around either

that’s not very responsible of you guys smh you have a nation to run 

is soft with you, though zuko’s temper definitely lessened when he became Fire Lord, but it no doubt shows itself sometimes, but never with you

well need your assurance sometimes because he gets insecure

like why is the beautiful amazing intelligent woman dating me i do not understand what the heck why have you not left me yet

knock some sense into him

also gets worried that he is a horrible ruler and wants you to tell him that he in fact does his job very well

did you forget you helped end a war zuko?

kiss. his. scar. give him love, its one of few physical parts of himself that he is insecure about and if you kiss him there he might start crying because wow intimacy didn’t know what that was

speaking of intimacy, he is a touch starved boy so when you start giving him love do not stop, never deprive him of cuddles he gets grumpy

lol play volleyball with him

very domestic??? like his parents highkey did not like eachother so now he just wants to hold your hand, lay with you in the morning, wake up to your pretty face, and just cuddle with you while you read aloud 

overall you two are a power couple and zuko simps for you 25/8 you rule as a team and he values you and your opinion VERY much, tries to take you out as often as he can despite his VERY demanding job, and expresses his love to the best of his ability

MARRIAGE N STUFF

zuko took the throne YOUNG he was like 16, so he is not proposing until y’all are at least adults, but i imagine that he is probably gonna wanna date you for like at least three years before proposing

he wants to make sure you are there to stay even if you’ve been around since childhood

there are two ways he is gonna propose here

situation one is where he kinda just does it,,, randomly? like out of nowhere he realizes that w o w he wants to marry you, he wants to spend the rest of his life with you and dedicate everything to you because you are HIS forever person

so he’s kinda just laying with you in the morning, nice soft kisses here and there, will not let you leave the bed and you are definitely complaining, especially if you have a position in the palace and need to get to work

regardless its a soft moment, there’s light filtering in through the window in your shared room, and its shining on your face, and yeah you are lowkey a mess because its the morning but you are just,, so,, beautiful??

and you start telling him about your plans for the, playing with his hair and stuff, and he’s listening to his heartbeat when he breaks from your hold and looks up at you and is just like

“marry me.”

“we also need to feed your dragon- wait what”

you are kinda just in shock for a moment, so you sit up and look at him, mouth gaping open like

“are you serious?”

he suddenly realizes he doesn’t have a ring and it is 7AM in the morning and it is not the best time for this

“...yes”

now you are laughing, falling back onto the pillows, and maybe there’s a tear in your eye as you nod rapidly, “okay, yes.”

now you are thinking of the fake story you are gonna tell people when they asked how he proposed because you are NOT saying it was in bed at 7AM while you were looking like a whole mess

“yes? yes as in yes you will marry me? are you serious?” 

such an idiot, but he’s cute its okay

you kiss him and its passionate and adorable, and he kisses back but he quickly breaks apart and is like “you’re sure? because i don’t have a ring-”

“how have you successfully run a country.”

“good thing you are gonna join me on the throne i suppose.”

“oh my god you’re right-”

“you aren’t reconsidering are you?”

“NO.”

have fun being the fire god woo

now y’all go back to making out and traumatize whatever advisor comes to check on you because they’re like where are the people who rule this country??? 

situation two is where he has been carrying around the ring for MONTHS but is looking for the perfect time to propose because you are perfect so this must be perfect

he couldn’t sleep and in the middle of the night he was like WELP I WANNA GET ENGAGED and kinda just decided he was gonna marry you

since you were asleep he couldn’t ask you right then and these

confides in the gaang and everyone is super excited

now he’s been walking around with this ring for months and what is he supposed to do now oh god

the gaang is like stop procrastinating bro, just ASK HER, and hes like NO IT NEEDS TO BE PERFECT

they help him set up the palace courtyard and make it all nice, there are lanterns, and candles, and a path of rose petals, and this time around he does have a ring so yes its great

he’s like hey let’s go for a walk! and you’re like okay??? lol

so you two are walking around the palace, holding hands, when he leads you to the courtyard and you are just like DAMN this is romantic AND pretty

“i think we are interrupting Zuko let’s leave”

“what do you mean interrupting-”

“well someone clearly put in a lot of effort!”

“that someone is me!”

:O

its not that he isn’t romantic its just that he’s never done something like this so now you’re confused

“did i forget our anniversary?”

“no.”

NOW you understand, looking around, you turn back to him to find that he’s on one knee, you two are in front of the pond with the turtleducks and wow it must be raining why is there water on your face? haha...

he tells you he loves you and that he wants to spend the rest of his life with you, and how he hopes he never loses you because you are just so vital to his life and his being and everything he’s done to make this world a better place has been for you and damn zuko you wonder if he got possessed

obviously you agree

and obviously something goes wrong

when he stands you tackle him with a hug and you two fall into the pond

oops 

the wedding[disclaimer: i have never been to a wedding so i do not know what happens in weddings, feel free to educate me pls] is either REALLY intimate and private, or really big and stuff, since you gotta go through that whole coronation process now and like public weddings n stuff

no matter what his uncle is the one who walks you down the aisle.

change my mind.

you cant. 

the intimate one is almost similar to eloping, probably happens in the court yard where he proposed, and you are wearing a AMAZING outfit, whether its a tux, an amazing dress, a jumpsuit, you gonna look FIRE

hehe fire

anyways it’ll probably be the people who fought with him in the war, the gaang, the white lotus, kyoshi warriors, maybe a few others, 

its a really nice ceremony, and the courtyard is decorated so beautifully, though Zuko considered putting a fence around the pond considering what happened when he proposed lol

if its a more public wedding, then its going to feel like the entire Fire Nation came to watch y’all get married, much more flashy, there’s a band performance, a banquet, y’all gotta use the ballroom so that everyone can dance 

kinda nerve wracking ngl

regardless, after you two get married nothing really changes because you always acted like an old married couple, and even as the other ruler of the fire nation, you always had an important job in the palace so its kinda just the same but more official

its a vibe

moral of the story is zuko is a simp for you and your marriage is mutual simping, that is all

A/N: i kinda went off ngl, also im about to hit 200 followers and i feel as though i should do something special so i am taking suggestions pls

taglists[lmk if you wanna be added or removed :D]

zuko: @shawni-h @lil-lex1 @boxofteenageideas @izzieserra @eridanuswave @bigbuckyenergy @outerxorbit

permanent: @chewymoustachio

[reinerispretty]

I’m so glad you’re taking lok requests because like I’m in desperate need of some bolin love. Like maybe a soft friends to lovers kind of fic? Or even just some head cannons about dating bolin? He’s just such a sweetheart I love him

omg dating bolin headcanons let’s GOOOO 

headcanons are under the cut bc there are some nsfw ones in there hehe

SFW headcanons: 

bolin is super outgoing and not rlly afraid of talking to new people but when he sees u his heart just kinda...stops? and maybe he’s drinking a glass of water when it happens and he starts actually choking and korra’s like beating him on the back to get all the coughs out and you’re just looking over like ???

and then finally once he’s calmed down he walks over to you and is like “did you see that” and youre like “um yeah are you okay?” and he gets all blushy but he’s just like “i’m bolin! what’s your name?” and just completely brushes past it

he’d be the kind of guy that would be totally okay being ur friend first but he’d also show up on your doorstep and be like ok so what are we doing today!! and you’d be like bolin it is 7 am

i think he’d like to take u on lots of dates but he doesn’t call them dates but to everyone else they’re totally dates but he’s scared of using the D word with you because he doesn’t wanna freak you out and scare you away

bc as we all know being in love w ur best friends can get kind of messy!!

he gets u front row seats to all of his probending matches and since theyre too broke to sell any actual merch you just make ur own and he sees you wearing it and he smiles BIG

he tries to ask u out super romantically with like flowers and stuff but situations always get in the way so u guys are literally at dinner when he asks you to make it oFfIciAl and of course you say yes bc duh who wouldnt?? 

shorty a lil baddie

and no one would be surprised that ur dating but bolin is super super super big on pda but ur like no kisses r for private so he has to settle for holding ur hand or having an arm around u which he literally ALWAYS does no matter the situation

he’d kinda bring you everywhere so youd be forced to join team avatar and when u guys fight together he’s just shouting little things of encouragement to you

and you’re like THANKS but not really the time!!

he’d spend every night at your place, not bc he’s imposing at all but just bc he doesn’t like being far away from you

pabu has created a nest in ur couch

his friends all adore u ofc, but it took mako a little bit longer to warm up to you bc he’s so protective of bolin 

but he sees how happy you make his brother and it makes HIM super happy

NOW FOR THE NSFW headcanons ;)

bolin is a big simp and very sub-esque and i will not accept anything else

he just gets so whiny bc of you

he genuinely enjoys feedback and you telling him what to do bc he wants to make u feel as good as possible

and he totally does

he would go down on u for literal hours if you’d let him he loves it so much 

he’d take off his shirt at probending practice and there would just be a ton of scratch marks down his back and he wouldn’t really care that they’re there but korra and mako are like .......um

ur neighbors have filed various complaints because u guys are so loud

and you TRY to be quiet but it’s so hard to do when he’s literally pummeling you into the mattress

bolin is an ass guy i s2g 

he’s also super good at aftercare and will draw u a bath and u guys will just sit in the hot water together for literal hours (if you’re a firebender bc u can keep heating the water up)

all areas of ur apartment have been broken in

as well as bolin’s apartment

and their practice room

aaaaand some areas of air temple island

he’s just so muscly how can u not

sometimes you’ll just say things and bolin will give you a LOOK and you’re like oh ok gotta go 

u really enjoy teasing him but he enjoys being teased just as much

i just think that if either of u were gonna be tied up in bed it would totally be bolin

[thetierdslytherin]

The Avatar’s sister pt.2

Bolin x reader

this is a continuation of the avatar’s sister and it’s also based off of  season 1 eipsode 2 of lok

2.2k words 

        I'm woken in the morning by an incessant knocking on my door. I try to ignore it by pulling a pillow over my head but after the knocking doesn't stop I'm forced to get up and answer the door “what!” I throw the door open coming face to face with.“Korra! You better have a good reason for getting me up before the sun is up.” I cross my arms standing in the doorway waiting for her explanation

            “I do! I have training in 30 minutes and you know Tenzin's rule I can't leave unless your with me so we gotta go so I can be on time, get dressed” Korra pushes me out of the way entering my room “come right inthen” I say sarcastically shutting my door following her to my closet as she goes through it throwing clothes in my direction “Now get dressed and cleaned up. We don’t have a lot of time. Plus the sooner we get there the sooner you get to see Bolin” My heart beats a little faster at the mention of Bolin as I change into some of my water tribe clothes then brush my teeth and fix my y/h/c hair into a braid.

           “Well even Bolin isn't enough to make me move fast this early in the morning and I just met the guy. Besides you only to see Mako” I tease as we head out of the building to the shore “Korra i’m well aware i'm not your mother or in charge of you but please be careful I don't want to see you get hurt” 

          “psh y/n i'm gonna be fine your making a big deal out of this”

           I sigh and stop walking, Korra stopping with me. I look into her eyes before saying “Korra I know guys like Mako, i've dated too many guys like him I just don't want you to get hurt”

           “Yeah well maybe you just start minding your own business like you said you're not my mother and you're sure as hell not in charge of me so let me live my life for once!”Well,That could have gone better. We spent the rest of our journey in silence only speaking when we ordered breakfast. Maybe I am being too controlling. Korra deserves to live her own life and make her own mistakes. But we did just meet the brothers yesterday and know literally nothing about them. But I know Korra and if I push the issue any more she’ll just cut me out of her life until she's over it. 

          “Your late” Mako doesn't even turn to look at us when we enter.

           “Okay yeah true but we brought food so lets call it even then?”

            I move to one of the tables setting their food down “yeah Mako look at this y/n was nice enough to bring us food so let's just take a break and enjoy the food” Bolin says starting to make his way over 

          “ we haven't even started yet so let's not. C’mon on Bo, Korra we have a lot of training to get through” The three of them run through drills for the better part of an hour before moving to the cool downs.

           “What's the big idea making me train this early in the morning? The morning is evil” okay dramatic much Korra? The three of them move into a triangle passing a weighted ball around.

          “Were the rookies so we get the worst time slot in the gym” Bolin passes the ball to Mako

          “And you're the rookiest of us all, we gotta get you up to speed if we want to survive in the tournament deal with it!” he passes to Korra 

          “You deal with it” she passes the ball back to Mako sending him flying backwards 

          “Children, children can you please not hurt each other this early in the morning. Alright let's not make this any more unbearable then it has to be” I pass by them to check on Mako and other than a sour look on his face he seems perfectly fine.

          Bolin pipes up “uh y/n not that i'm not happy to see you I really am it's just why are you here? you're not on the team?” 

          I glanced at Korra and said, “you didn't tell them?” she shakes her head I guess she just thought I would “tenzin's one condition for her joining the team. Wherever she goes I go so that means you're stuck with me, pretty boy. and you too mako… I guess” I go moving to stand by Korra. 

          “There are my hard working street urchins, it's an honor to finally meet you avatar” a muscly man in his mid thirties approaches us.

          “And you are?” Korra says crossing her arms.alright then just go ahead and pretend like i'm not even here.

          “Butaka I run this whole pro bending shabang. Anyways here your winnings from the match” Mako goes to pocket the cash but before he can Butaka stops him. 

          “First you owe me for the avatars new gear, gym and equipment rentals for last month, rent on your apartment, and a personal loan on groceries” By the time he's done there no cash left. Is it always like this for them?

          “Oh uh one more item of business the Fire Ferrets need to ante up 30,000 yuans for the championship pot” Damn ok that's more than I make for 6 months at my job and the brothers definitely don't have that kind of money just lying around.How are they gonna come up with it?

          “30,000 yuans!” My thoughts exactly Bolin

          “Sorry kids you have till the end of the week to pay or your out” with that final statement Butaka leaves along with the fire ferrets chances of playing in the championship.

          “The two of you wouldn't happen to have a secrets bank account filled with gold would you?” Mako and Bolin look at us with hopeful eyes 

          “No sorry boys I mean I have some money I could pitch in but not 30,000 yuans”

          “I've got nothing. I've never really needed money, I've always had someone taking care of me” Korra shrugs, giving a small smile. 

           “Then I wouldn't say you've had nothing then” Makos words carries no venom though, just distant sadness packing up his gear throwing it into a duffle bag.

           “I'm sorry I didn't mean-” “no its alright its just ever since we lost our parents we've been on our own” Bolin says giving Korra a sad smile shuffling towards us

           “Bolin, I'm so sorry that you had to go through it” I put my hand on his shoulder trying to offer some sort of comfort.

         “So anyway how are we gonna come up with the money?” 

“Ooh ooh I got it. I've been training pabu to do circus tricks now people would pay good money to see that” Bolin raises pabu into the air twirling him once.

          “C'mon bolin we need serious ideas” the smile immediately falls from bolins face and I can't help but stand up for him “that is a serious idea Mako. When we first came from the water tribe I know I would've paid to see pabu perform” 

          “ don't worry about it, I'll figure it out. I always do” and after that Mako walks out of the training room presumably to ‘figure it out’.

          “Hey korra why don't you head on back to the island bolin and I are gonna hang out for a little bit” he looks at me confused“we are?” I give him a nod “we are”. 

          “Yeah okay y/n just don't stay out too late you know how Tenzin gets” I give her a smile and a ‘of course’ then it’s just bolin and I left. 

          “So Bolin, how about you show me some of pabus tricks and you help me eat the rest of breakfast that Korra and I brought?” “um yeah but can i get a quick shower first im kinda gross?”

          “Only if you let me join you.” spirits his eyes almost bugged out of his head at my comment stammering to get an answer out before I take mercy on him “i’m teasing you Bo” 

          He clears his throat “right right yeah totally know that” That leads me to where I am right now Bolin and I on their couch eating cold pastries.

           “Hey Bolin” he pauses his eating for a second to look at me “why don't you tell me something about you. I mean we basically know nothing about each other except our shared love of pro bending and food” he looks thoughtful for a moment “Pshh not true” I shoot him a look saying ‘you sure about that’

            “Well I know you're a waterbender and that you have a sister and where you live...and that sounds way creepier than I meant it. I just mean you know you live with Tenzin who lives on air temple island not like I've been stalking you because that would be weird...” i've noticed he does this thing whenever he's embarrassed he’ll scrunch his whole face up for a second and start playing with his hands, which he's doing right now

          “Well okay but I don't know any of the important stuff” I say leaning in propping my chin on my hand 

          “What's the ‘important stuff?’”

          “Like your favorite color. You know a person's favorite color will tell you a lot about them”

          “Whoa hey now you just stepped over a line. I can't possibly tell you that” we make eye contact bursting out laughing at the notion.

           “ok fine I don't really have a favorite color” he scratches the back of his neck giving me a half smile

           “well maybe instead of telling me your favorite color you tell me about your parents” after seeing the look in Bolins eyes I quickly backtrack “you don't have to though I imagine it's a touchy subject I was just curious” he sighs setting his food down turning to me

           “no it’s not that it’s just not a very fun story to tell” he takes a deep breathe grounding himself “when Mako was 7 and I was 5 we were at home with our parents one night and a fire bender broke in trying to steal from us… he killed them right in front of us y/n, after that it was just mako and I. It's been that way ever since” he looks down trying in vain to keep me from seeing the tears in his eyes. I grab his hand running my thumb over his knuckles. 

          “Hey bolin why don't we go and set up for pabu to do his tricks” he glances at me “we could set it up under fire lord zuko's statute?” he laughs wiping the tears from his eyes

           “yeah y/n that sounds perfect” 

          We're both sitting on the base of zuko's statue on a carpet with two cups and a plank for pabu to walk on.Bolin and pabu have matching get ups and bolin has a fake mustache. while I sit beside Bolin bending water into different shapes to amuse myself. “Come one come all see pabu the fantasstic fire ferret as he crosses the ladder of peril upside down” Pabu then crosses the plank and flips landing on one paw which i'll admit is cute but not 30,000 yuans cute. “Thank you folks you are too kind too kind” Bolin says as a man passes by dropping 1 yuan into the cup. 

          Bolin looks a little upset by how far we still have to go “Hey Bolin look its a start you don't have to get all the money yourself i'd be happy to pitch in and i'm sure mako found a way to make some money” he sighs “yeah i'm sure mako has” that's the problem isn't it? I bet bolin is tired of his brother always solving his problems or better yet being the one who gets them out of ruts. 

          “Hey bolin is that you?” I Look up to see a well dressed man with urban water tribe clothes on getting out of his sato mobile 

           “oh hey shady shin” he waves at the man and I urgently whisper to bolin “by any chance is this leader of the triple threat triads shady shin?”

           “mhmm” 

           Wow since when did bolin run with gangsters? “I hear you're a big time pro bender now. Not bad.Anyways lighting bolt zolt is looking to hire some extra muscle” 

           “I don't know shin Mako told me to stay away from the triple threats” 

           “it's just some security work nothing crooked” he pulls out a fat wad of cash and throws it in Bolin’s cup he's about to agree before I cut him off before he can agree “double it and were both in i'm a water bender and a healer plus i'm good at ‘security work” 

           “Alright kid deal don't make me regret it” he puts another was of cash in the cup “now let's get going” Bolin and I follow him and get in the back of his sato mobile. What a mistake that was.      

[olafur-neal]

For the relationships thing: Avatar/LOK universe, MFMM, and of course DBM

OOOO THIS IS A GOOD ONE!

Avatar/LOK universe

My favorite parent-child relationship

Iroh and Zuko (Iroh is Zuko’ dad and no I will not be taking and criticism at this time)

My favorite sibling relationship

Bumi, Kya, and Tenzin. Like all of the feels, they love each other but they had childhood emotional trauma caused by well-meaning but ultimately human parents who also with trauma. And it speaks to me on a level. Like they have resentments toward each other but they will also like kill for each other, and I respect that. And it feels real.

My favorite family relationship (other)

The found family that Katara, Sokka, Aang, Toph, Suki and co. created. Then passed onto their kids. Like I love that.

My favorite friendship between two people

Sokka and Toph (I kinda ship it but it doesn’t have to be romantic for me...) I love how much he takes care of her/watches out for her and how she knows she can reach out for him and he’ll be there. And it doesn’t take away from Toph’s own strength either.

My favorite friendship between a group

idk how to interpret this one but i’m thinking a group towards one person or maybe one group towards another??? So i’m just gonna say the Gaang with Iroh. He’s the dad/uncle/grandpa they all need.

My favorite mentorship

Tenzin and Korra. Like I can’t even imagine how hard it must have been for Tenzin to take on the mantle of teacher to his father’s successor like omg. But also like I think Korra opened up a side of him that hasn’t been seen by anybody but maybe his kids, Pema, and Lin. Like no one has seen soft Tenzin in public in a while. And I don’t think he let his guard down the same way since his dad died. And for Korra I think Tenzin grounded her in a way no one could. Like she didn’t need a parent or protectors/teachers she needed a mentor that was somewhere in between authority figure and friend.

My favorite rivalry

Roku and Sozin. LIKE idk why but after reading about Fire Nation culture in Shadow of Kyoshi LiKE DUUUUUUDE! I mean. Talk about dishonor??? ROkU YOU SHOULD’VE JUST KILLED HIM INSTEAD OF HUMILIATING HIM LIKE THAT!!!! Like civil wars have been started by Clans for less dude. No wonder Sozin wanted every avatar after dead and then when the next born into the fire nation under the control of the Fire Lord. Like BRUH. 

My favorite hatred/antipathy

The face stealer and the avatar. Or 

My favorite potential relationship between characters who never talk in canon

hmmmmmmmmmmmm Probably Yue with literally everyone else. She would’ve been so amazing as a continuing part of the Gaang (sorry Sokka/Suki shippers). 

MFMM

My favorite parent-child relationship

Aunt P and Phryne. I think any sort of real motherly advice/love Phryne has gotten has been from Aunt Prudence (as much as we hate how many kisses she’s interrupted...)

My favorite sibling relationship

Bert and Cec totally brothers from another mother. Like that whole episode when Bert was being dumb about Cec getting married was total sibling vibes.

My favorite family relationship (other)

Jane and Phryne. Idk if Phryne is like a mom for Jane but she’s definitely that crazy Aunt who you can call at 3 am when you’re in trouble. Also

My favorite friendship between two people

I’d say Mac and Phryne. ride or die friends are always preferred. 

My favorite friendship between a group

The family that builds between the Wardlow crew (Mac incl.) and Jack and his son constable.

My favorite mentorship

Mr B and Dot. Like I don’t see him as a father figure to her buuuut I do think he does sort of help her learn how to deal with the eccentric rich person she has come to be in the care of. Like Mr B has seen it all. Knows what kind of shenanigans the rich and famous get up to and helps Dot navigate all of that.

My favorite rivalry

I guess I’d have to go with Jack and Lin Chung. And I’ve never read the books so idk what Book!Lin was like but I think it was more of a matter of who understood Phryne in the TV show better. Lin thought he could get Phryne to commit by changing her but Jack knew that however they came together would largely happen when they could meet in the middle. (no i do not hate Lin Chung just putting that out there.)

My favorite hatred/antipathy

Phryne and Misogynists. Like period. end of.

My favorite potential relationship between characters who never talk in canon

Aunt P and Jack. They talk but to my recollection are not like close. So I think it would be interesting for Aunt P to come to the realization that this “poor” copper is actually the best thing that has ever happened to her niece like ever. 

TDBM

My favorite parent-child relationship

Lucien and Mattie. He’s the daughter he kinda gets to be a father to and I love it. Also Jean and Christopher ( I wanted ten more years of that okay????)

My favorite sibling relationship

Matthew and Lucien, definitely a sibling relationship.

My favorite family relationship (other)

The family Jean and Lucien build for themselves with friends and boarders. (I like a good found family so sue me!)

My favorite friendship between two people

Matthew and Jean. Besides Lucien I think Jean is one of his oldest friends so I love that for them. 

My favorite friendship between a group

Probably the relationship that Lucien/Matthew and co have with Ashby. That’s a good one.

My favorite mentorship

Matthew and Charlie. I think that Charlie worked better with him than Danny did, I think their personalities are more compatible and Charlie knew that while the Doc is one of the smartest people in the room, Matthew was usually the wisest and most cautious.

My favorite rivalry

I’d have to say Munroe and Lucien. Lucien just wants to chill and Munroe wants to ruin his life. Like you have to respect the tenacity if anything.

My favorite hatred/antipathy

Alderton and Lucien. Specifically like Alderton’s descent into madness. He really wanted to ruin Lucien’s life because Lucien saved him? Found a way to move past the war? Like I just think being best friends/like brothers to absolutely hating each other yes good character development I want more please.

My favorite potential relationship between characters who never talk in canon

Probably that time Alice came over and like unintentionally met Mei-Lin, comedy gold. just that whole scene.

Ask me gen fandom relationships

[i-am-extremely-mad]

Another r/ant again

Damn since ATLA was on Netflix I started getting a response to my over 5 year! old comments, some positive but also a lot of bad like for example from literally yesterday to my over 5 years! old comment below the video where people reacts to the end of LOK and korrasami.   

 My comment: “ Korrasami is canon, you gotta deal with it!”

Some asshole from yesterday : “ watching Korra was like watching the last air bender being completely trashed on.  Only the first season was at best “Okay.” Anything after the first season had horrible writing.  Honestly not gonna consider this garbage show canon.  Aaron Ehasz knows how to write his shit when he wrote for ATLA, no wonder dragon prince is so good”

Another asshole from six months ago:  “ The relationship was forced, and just about as rushed as the story was. That's my issue with it. And the add-on content from the comics didn't help Korrasami's case. Especially the "you got to deal with it" mentality. It was hostile in a sense. It was kind of like the Bumblebee shippers from RWBY - you either fell into line and shipped the "approved ship", or you were ostracized and attacked an masse for simply holding a different opinion.”

Under korrasami AMV video where I left a longer comment on why Korra and Asami perfectly complement one another:

Asshole: “You give us an abbreviated version of War and Peace, yet all you manged to say was "I'm a useless excuse for a human being, because all I care about is LGBTXYZ."

below the video 'Reasons we love Korrasami'

“It's the worst couple ever”

“it's so bad written”

“wach this and you will understand how garbage korrasami is”(I will not put the link he put in his comment).

“korrasami was just  too random and mako and korra was way better”

“the whole series was just shit atla was waaaaay better”

Another asshole :“I agree with you. Korrasami is the worst ship ever”

[comradekatara]

if you had to give bolin a good personality/arc, what would it be? mako has (hardly touched) parallels as the repressed, protective older sibling. bolin, like katara, is the younger sib who wears their heart on their sleeve. but while she's a prodigy on top of being the last bender of her tribe, he has mediocre skill, and probably would get looked down upon as a mixed earthbender in neocolonial republic city. but instead he's just written in cringy ships that are esp hard to watch

this is a great question. the thing about bolin is, he’s actually a pretty talented earthbender. obviously not toph level, but you know, good enough to be a pro athlete, and to lavabend! the problem with bolin isn’t that he’s untalented per se, it’s that he’s stupid. katara may be naive, but she’s still incredibly smart, witty, and practical. no one in atla is straight up dumb tbh (even zuko has his moments). but plenty of characters in lok are dumb and serve no narrative purpose other to be annoying UHH I MEAN “”funny”” . bolin was actually fine at first. in the first couple episodes, he’s confident, outgoing, and optimistic, but he’s also grounded and has at least one brain cell. then i guess they decided they wanted bolin and mako to fight over korra but for mako to “win” korra in the end, and so they had to nerf (or perhaps lobotomize) him. which makes perfect sense, of course. it’s clear from then on that the show never really has any idea of what to do with him, which is a problem with pretty much every facet of lok.

bolin reaches his peak of character usefulness in the book 3 subplot wherein he and mako get stranded in the lower ring and run into their extended family. this is a very good mini-arc and exactly what i wish we had seen from mako and bolin throughout the entire show. i don’t care about their misguided career choices (apart from insofar as it is informed by their trauma), i care about their roles as they problematize the neoliberal fantasy lok largely uncritically glamorizes. not saying that all my favorite children’s cartoons need to be marxist propaganda (although……… im not NOT saying that), but their entire backstory conflicts w the ideologies being presented in the show, and they’re ostensibly main characters!!! so where is that tension???? why are we focalizing capitalists and nepobabies (sorry tenzin i forgot ur not actually defined by ur famous parents) when mako and bolin are supposed to be significant players?? and not just in a “oh teenage boy romantic drama” or “wacky buddy cop sideplot” way. in a “how do they reflect the themes” way.

i don’t really know what exactly i’d do with bolin if i rewrote lok right now (because i tend to forget he exists tbh), but i do know that he NEEDS to have more depth, nuance, and like… a modicum of intelligence. the class, racial, familial, and romantic aspects of his character would need to be teased out more and actually cohere. he would need to have feelings that aren’t simply played for laughs, and his role in the narrative would have to be more than simply being the show’s little jangling jester. maybe some people enjoy the “dumb comic relief” archetype (and if anyone says “but what about sokka? you like sokka” i will find where you sleep) but he literally has no depth. and what’s the point of a PRIMARY CHARACTER who serves no thematic function. his function is mainly to be proximate to mako, and of course to annoy the viewer with his wacky subplots. also i guess to introduce the avatar world to red pandas, but again, that first happens before they nerfed him, so im not even gonna count it as a positive. actually you know what? since the beginning of writing this paragraph ive given it some thought and decided that bolin should’ve been a communist revolutionary 👍🏼

[madebycoffee]

OH ALSO I finished watching Legend of Korra and here is non spoiler thoughts: I really enjoyed it and just like atla I cried at every single season finale. I really like that the main cast while still young, is older than the lITERAL children of atla. atla still holds up watching it as an adult, but I feel like korra is a bit more my jive. There is only one episode that I won’t watch again (season 4 remembrances, when you are binging the show it isn’t necessary as it’s a recap and not as fun as ember island players which serves the same purpose in atla. Also I looked on IMDB, that is the lowest rated episode. I agree. Honestly, if you are binging you can skip it) but I can def see myself watching the whole thing again. Season 1 is my overall favorite of the series. 

Spoiler thoughts below the cut because WOW I HAVE THOUGHTS (it’s long)

hi spoiler time last chance to look away

Before going into LOK I had read a decent amount of spoilers beforehand since this aired back in 2012-2014. I don’t think I even knew about it after it was nearly done so the one thing I knew was that Korra & Asami get together lol. Anyway my point is I knew what was coming overall.

Season 1: My personal favorite, I think it’s a really strong stand alone season. I thought it was really smart to begin the series in the water tribe again, as well as with Katara as that’s how ATLA started. I also think its really clever that with Aang, he was very spiritual and a master airbender already, but needed to learn the other 3 element. Korra is the opposite. It helps it not be so repetitive. We already saw one avatar working to master fire, water, and earth. I also realized how used to the world of atla I was and was confused for a split second how Mako and Bolin were brothers but one was an earthbender and one was a firebender... Yeah I know I’m dumb and I forgot that its a different world lol.  -Another strong point was that no matter how in danger Korra got in season 1 she never went into the avatar state, because as she says in what ep 1? that she has never been good at the spiritual side of being the avatar. Part of me kept expecting it to happen, but even the final showdown with Amon it didn’t so I was like oh damn. The finale when she does go into the avatar state with Aang giving her the bending she lost back.... I was a wreck. Sobbing my eyes out it just HIT ME.  -Other moments that hit me hard: Hearing Dante Basco’s voice as General Iroh ow my soul, Hearing through Katara that Sokka is dead, The flashbacks to the trial of the bloodbender (forgot his name??) and seeing them get bloodbent HURTS MY HEART. And every time Aang’s statue was shown. ;-; Also, just like ATLA there isn’t a main character that I dislike. I genuinely like Korra, Asami, Mako, & Bolin as a team. Lin is my favorite which not hard being Toph’s daughter lol. Tenzin and fam are a delight (though Meelo can get on my nerves but eh)  TL:DR SEASON 1 IS GREAT I CAN’T WAIT TO WATCH IT AGAIN!!

Season 2: Alright so. A lot of Spirit World dealings. Unalaq being a GASP evil brother??? LOK has a thing about brothers lol. First with Amon and whathisname, now with Korra’s dad and uncle. Anyway, season 2 I really like too. Yes even the finale. And it’s been a few weeks (maybe months??) since I watched season 2 so the finale is really all that stands out. Other than that I do really like seeing the story of the first avatar. OH MAN AND IROH IN THE SPIRIT WORLD HAD ME ALL SORTS OF LEVELS OF EMOTIONAL. -SO. This was the big spoiler I knew going in, that the past lives of the Avatar are severed from Korra. I know that A LOT of people really don’t like it either. And upon hearing that plot point I didn’t like it as well. But when I sat down and watched the whole series. I actually thought it was the right thing to do. And I didn’t mind it as much as I thought. Korra can no longer call upon the past lives which is sad, but those Avatars still existed. And with Tenzin being so prevalent in the show, it really feels like Aang is still there in spirit. The reason I thought it was the right thing to do with the story, is that it let’s the show as a whole exist on it’s own. IDK how to properly explain.. I get why people don’t like it, but it makes sense to me. -And I do commend the show runners for sticking to this. There is no getting contact back with the past lives. Which, personally I approve of. Whenever you do something world altering like that it annoys me when the show takes it back. My main gripe is people dying but wAIT NO THEY’RE ALIVE!!! It lessens the stakes. And I think a through line of Korra is that actions have consequences. TL;DR I LIKE SEASON 2 AS WELL. DOESN’T LEAVE A LASTING IMPRESSION SINCE THE FINALE IS SUCH A BIG DEAL.

Season 3: I THINK this would be my second favorite season. I REALLY like Zaheer as I guess the ~big bad~ and the squad he has. SO much so that I’m actually upset that they all are dead by the end. I think P’Li is done the dirtiest. You see and know very little about her until an ~exposition~ line a few scenes before she dies. (But damn if the scene of Su throwing her metal breastplate around her head isn’t hardcore cool. I haven’t said yet but the fight sequences in Korra??? Amazing.) Bolin finding out he can Lavabend??? oh hell yeah that’s the good shit, same with lavabending in GENERAL. seeing what people can REALLY do with their bending is probably my favorite part about Korra. I do think Zaheer looks a little silly when he starts flying around, but hey that part is cool too. Also easily the most horrified I’ve been watching this show was the pulling the aiR OUT OF SOMEONE. JESUS. Up until that point Airbending still seemed like the least dangerous form but HOLY SHIT. I will say that the way Kuvira is if not introduced/ we’re reminded about her in the finale is a little bit more like “uhhh is Korra’s dad going to have an affair???” to me than “she gonna be the big bad next season” Also on IMDB the finale of season 3 is the highest rated finale. 

Season 4: Even thought this has the same number of episodes as season 3, it feels the most rushed to me. However I do appreciate the timejump and GODTDAMN I love me some old lady Toph. I also like that Toph says that she’s watching Su & Lin through the swamp, an episode or two later Su and Zaofu are attacked and captured, and when Lin, Opal, and Bolin go to Zaofu to try and rescue, Toph is there. It’s a nice payoff. As Su was getting captured I was thinking “hmmmm does Toph see this” And she does, which has her leave the swamp, so she’s not there when Kuvira’s army is cutting vines. Because cmon is Toph was there she woulda kicked their asses. -The huge mecha suit with the spirit weapon on it is HARROWING. I like that Baatar Jr. see’s that Kuvira was gonna kill him for thE gREatER gOOD and was instantly like “oh shit well i guess my loyalties were wrong then ok” Oh and out of order but I had a feeling that Zhu Li was telling Kuvira what she wanted to hear to be sneaky and I was v happy to be proven right by Toph. I ALSO like that things like Toph being able to tell if people are lying aren’t forgotten about. Also... Cried like a baby at Zhu Li and Varrick’s wedding. Haven’t mentioned Varrick yet but hot damn if he isn’t one of my favorite characters. What I wouldn’t GIVE to have Sokka and Varrick brainstorm some truly crazy shit. 10/10.  TL;DR SEASON 3 IS REALLY GOOD AND SEASON 4 IS GOOD BUT FEELS LIKE IT’S TOO SHORT.

But yeah. Overall I really enjoyed it. I looked through the episodes on IMDB and nearly everything is above 8.5 except for some of the first episodes in season 2 which I get. I can tell that this is by the same team that did ATLA. It feels so much the same. And I think there was the right amount of the original peeps or their kids but still was focusing on our core four. Other little things:

- I like that the “villains” or ig the conflicts of people weren’t anyone from the Fire Nation. (Although do we know where Zaheer is from??? Family lineage?) Well regardless, what we have is Amon: Waterbender, Unalaq: Waterbender, Zaheer: Airbender, Kuvira: Earthbender. ATLA we were fighting the fire nation, LOK has the range lol. - I do wish we could have been in the Fire Nation tho. I wanna see what’s it like over there :( - Adored seeing all the changes to the world. In ATLA we see the blimps/airships more or less being invented and then 70 years later AIRSHIPS AND CARS GALORE. And having radios/phones VERY nice. Don’t have to rely on letters or talking in person.  - I really like Korra. I feel like it needs to be said lol, but I thoroughly enjoyed her as the Avatar (maybe more than Aang??) - Zuko’s face after Korra says she talked to Iroh in the spirit world I’m not crying you are.

ANYWAY. I think that’s it. I just needed to get it all out somewhere. Not a perfect show (neither is atla) but damn if it isn’t some of the best TV out there. If you read all of that woW good job.

[thatpapioverthere]

Y’all hyped up Korra and Asami. It was literally less than 30 seconds at the end of the show. Korra’s loss of communication with her past lives was just depressing. Many argue that she didn’t use her past lives as much for guidance and it didn’t really matter but that’s what makes her the avatar? Hundreds of past lives gone for what? What was the purpose of that plot element? I liked that every season had a different representative as the villain from every nation as if it were a slap in the face “doesn’t matter what nation you’re from, you can still be evil” and I’m okay with that. Many people get upset that Toph became a cop and founded the cops in LOK as if their world is exactly like ours? And then they ignore the fact that she literally hated the life so much that she would rather have gone to live in a SWAMP. For obvious reasons because she felt like she could see everything from there but also because she saw the cops becoming corrupt in a way she did not imagine. She was still a rebel. And even if she wasn’t, you can’t expect someone to be the same person they were at 12 years old, God Im so tired of hearing everyone say Toph shouldn’t have become a cop like stfu they probably just did it because she could metalbend and made that her legacy. Anyway fuck pigs in actual life though. Bolin became dumber as the show went on and I didn’t like that. Mako’s character development went from being a super cool sports athlete to a lame King body guard and I wish he ended his life in the first episode that earth king guy was in. Going back to the korra lost her past lives thing, what the actual fuck? It’s called the legend of korra not the fuck up failure of Korra? Also I thought the animals taught the people bending and not the turtles? And was it just me or were the footsteps in every episode so god damn loud for NO REASON. Like seriously pay attention to how loud the footsteps are in every scene like WHOMST thought that was a good idea? And no Sokka? We got Toph, Zuko, and Katara... but no sokka? Because he died young or something? Like holy fuck LOK was not a feel good show at all. After they disabled korra about the shit with the poison it just was a pity story. The hatred from the general public towards the avatar was just so unnecessary. The power hungry villains being too OP for her got old after Amon. Something about being a half baked avatar even though she was only missing her air bending? Because tenzin was a shit teacher who took everything too seriously, which was the EXACT opposite mindset of his own father. The inventions and shit were cool. Made asami somewhat useful and less helpless in a lot of situations. Kinda like the Sokka of the series. Her dad dying was depressing. Kuvira willing to blow up her own fiancé was depressing. Raava dying and eventually coming back was depressing. Seeing iroh was great fan service obvi. The whole Zhu li thing with Viagra was cute. Going back to Tenzin’s impatient attitude, how they gonna go the whole show emphasizing that tenzin can’t be spiritual because he’s simply too impatient and hard headed and not give him any character development. Like holy fuck it got old so fast! Then his wife had a baby and after the baby was born we never heard about it again! The air nation getting random people was cool but felt like a deus ex machina to save the air nation. And even then tenzin fucked that up by annoying the hell out of the people who wanted to be air nomads. Unalaq was a beast. I noticed there were a LOT of trends with using brothers as some type of foils. Like mako and Bolin. Amon and his brother. Unalaq and Korra’s dad. Tenzin and Bumi. Even just Suyin and Chief beifong like why was sibling rivalry/foil such a fucking theme in LOK? Aang neglecting Kaya and Bumi as children because tenzin was an air bender was just flat out depressing. Overall I think it was a neat show and it’s important to remember that it’s not a reflection of our world. It’s a fantasy world. The fact that there were no black people simply because all the people are supposed to be some type of

[tuiyla]

She-Ra’s like, really good, people

It’s been over a week since She-Ra season 5 came out and I binged it and this is not going to be coherent but I just want to rant about it a bit before writing some more structured metas. I deffo wanna write about Catradora and how I think SPoP is the true spiritual successor to the Avatar.

But first, let me just scream about how good this show is. I already started rewatching it, pretty much straight after finishing it, and I don’t rewatch tv shows often. The exception is Avatar (seen it like 15 times) and sitcoms. But She-Ra is so layered that I felt like I needed to watch it again just to appreciate the dynamics even more.

I already enjoyed the first season but it kept getting better and better. I’m not in love with the art style and it’s definitely for a younger demographic overall than my other favourite animated shows, but like any good kids’ show it balances tone well. It doesn’t talk down to its target demographic but also includes more traditionally mature themes in a digestible and entertaining way. Not all the jokes landed for me but as the series went on I learned to appreciate the tone and the type of humour She-Ra goes for.

It’s funny to me because this is definitely the type of show I would have rejected as a kid, with all the princesses I would have deemed it “too girly” and therefore not for me because screw gender roles. There’s a degree of internalized sexism to that, for sure, a rejection of the feminine because it’s always been seen as less somehow. But there’s also a truth that, at least in my childhood of the late 90s and early 00s, children’s media targeted at girls often had a poor quality to it, at least when compared to “boys’ stuff”.

She-Ra is not only a clever, heartfelt, complex story, it also transcends that binary of having to be either for girls or boys. I know most of modern animation rejects that as well, but She-Ra embraces so many traditionally feminine qualities while also going beyond gender roles and even the gender binary. This show is so queer, man, and I love it. It’s especially impressive when you consider the source material that was literally just the girly version of He-Man. I have no beef with 80s She-Ra, haven’t seen much of it, but this is such an upgrade.

That being said, I would have loved to watch She-Ra as a kid. I’m so incredibly envious of kids, aged around 10, who get to watch this show as they’re growing up. But I am so, so, so happy for them and for the future of animation that shows like She-Ra can be made now, that they’re being made. I’m going to go into spoilers soon, but just before that: She-Ra’s a perfectly enjoyable show in many aspects. I think the worldbuilding’s pretty cool, the story feels coherent and planned out, it’s lighthearted and so genuine. That’s the word that I ultimately choose to describe the series: genuine.

I feel like so much of TV aims to be dark and gritty nowadays, animation included, and though that’s slowly turning to dark comedy or a balance between fun and serious, it’s still the norm. At some point in the last decade, creators became terrified of being judged as cheesy. Even something like the MCU bathes in bathos to avoid being cheesy. But She-Ra proves that creators shouldn’t be afraid of being genuine, of basing characters and storylines on the simple power of love. Like, it’s such a cliché trope but I think that’s mostly because it has become stale.

Noelle Stevenson has talked about the importance of love in her story and I’m so grateful for that. Through, She-Ra, she’s truly proven how powerful love can be in a story and how it doesn’t have to be cheesy. It’s just so unabashedly genuine. The power of love and friendship literally saves the day several times but it’s always so genuine and more importantly it always makes sense that it doesn’t get boring. If the foundation wasn’t there, then I’d say “well this is just super cheesy”. But the show makes a point of building relationships and making them the focal point of the story.

Alright, so, spoilers because I need to talk about character arcs and THAT KISS and just everything. I really need to write more in depth about Adora and Catra and their relationship but for now I feel like it’s so important to appreciate how they’re developed. Everything from their shared childhood to their trauma with Shadow Weaver and the finding their way back to each other, it’s just *chef’s kiss*. It’s so well-written and believable. Ngl, I do have some minor issues with Catra’s redemption arc. Let’s just say that on a scale from Kylo Ren to Zuko, she’s definitely closer to Zuko. I also appreciate Shadow Weaver’s death scene and how it allows them to move on. I didn’t see that one as Death as Redemption and it shouldn’t be. Again and again the show made it clear that she was abuse towards both girls and nothing will negate that.

From what I can tell, the fandom really latched onto Catra, even when it wasn’t clear whether she’d get a redemption arc. I think that’s important, because unlike some characters in animation, Catra’s actions were almost always framed appropriately. There was always an understanding as to where she’s coming from, how she’s acting from a place of hurt, and yet her actions weren’t justified. They weren’t suddenly all okay just because she’s hurt, too. I especially loved in the season 3 finale when Adora was allowed to finally say no, to say that Catra’s actions were not her fault. That season as a whole was beautiful, like, episode three when Adora’s struggling so much and Catra has the opportunity for a better life but she still fails to choose her own happiness because she’s too bitter over SW and Adora? It’s poetic cinema. I love that angst, so well done.

It would be so easy to misfire in Catra’s storyline and either a) write off all the awful things she does because she’s just “misunderstood” or b) irredeemably stuck in her abusive environment with no hope of escape. They balanced quite well there and managed to handle such a complex character with delicacy. I’m quite happy with how Catra was portrayed because on the one hand, she’s painfully relatable to me and I assume to many others. The audience can see their own mistakes reflected in her character because we’ve all been too stubborn, done things out of spite, refused to acknowledge that we were wrong because we were hurting so much. At the same time, I always felt like the show gave me enough space to judge Catra’s actions and acknowledge that she was in the wrong. I honestly think I would have been a better adjusted teenager is if saw this show just before my angsty years, lol.

I’m going to write more about Adora at some other point but I love how vulnerable she’s allowed to be. Protagonists never used to be my favourite characters because they all seemed the same, with two major categories: the stereotypical male hero who can do no wrong or the angsty boi who can be shitty and the text still frames him as awesome. It’s only recently with series like The Legend of Korra and She-Ra that I go “damn, protagonists can be like that, huh.” Adora is a dumb jock who tries so hard and she deserves all the hugs in the world.

Also, Catradora? Breathtaking, amazing, groundbreaking. No doubt She-Ra needed shows like Adventure Time, LoK, Steven Universe and the likes to pave the way but still, it went there. I saw people be anxious about whether they were gonna be queerbaited, but I always, idk, knew? Trusted? That She-Ra would follow through. I didn’t wait six years for Bubbline to happen for Catradora to not get their big damn kiss. The series has been so effortlessly queer from the get-go that it just made sense that they were always heading there. I did see a gif of the kiss before watching s5 and ngl, that spoiler kind of bummed me out in a way that I wanted to be surprised. But even before I saw that I wasn’t worried. And the context of their journey in season 5? That cannot be spoiled by a simple gif. You have to experience that to fully appreciate it and that is the marker of good storytelling.

I understand that, though this should be the norm by now, Noelle Stevenson still had to be smart about how she approached the execs and she wasn’t sure this could happen. I cannot tell you how happy I am about what she said regarding how Catradora was so integral to the story that the execs couldn’t not allow it. That’s so brilliant, and it feels so natural in the story. Queer love saves the day and it’s not ambiguous, it cannot be censored because you lose a part of the story without it. You did it, Noelle, you funky little lesbian, what an icon. I can’t wait to see more stuff from her.

In other news, I appreciated other characters as well, like how all the princesses got to be different and awesome in their own unique way. Season 5 was great for so many characters, Mermista got so much to work with and Spinnerella and Netossa got so much more characterization than in previous seasons. Glimmer continued to be the third most important character in the story and I’m happy about all the relationships that also got to be canon. Good characters and dynamics all around, no wonder since the show is built on that.

Such a satisfying conclusion and one that makes you feel like this is just part one of a much bigger story. Such genuine, heartfelt moments, well-developed characters, complex themes explored in a respectful and digestible way, and such an unapologetically fun show. Melissa Fumero as a side character? Yes please. Catra’s new haircut? Heck yeah! She-Ra’s new design? Oh my.

I’m not even like, super into She-Ra, and I usually don’t write so much about things I only watch casually. But this show is so good and important that I had to rant. And I will write more about it eventually, but for now I needed to get all of this out. I’d give it a better structure but if I really get into I might never end up posting it so for now here, have this ramble of love. She-Ra, of all shows, deserves that.

[la0hu]

okay tbh i never watched lok all the way through (i skipped all of season 2), and i only watched it once, so i forgot about most of the smaller details and also i feel like my opinions may be less founded but who cares lol

the humor SUCKED OMFG, every attempt at being funny usually failed spectacularly. i missed sokka like you wouldn’t fucking believe. i struggled with the urge to strangle every character written to be “funny” including bolin (stop trying to make sokka 2.0! it’s not gonna happen!!!). tbh this is what stops me from rewatching, i don’t think i could sit through all the terrible, terrible jokes again

they really did the Gaang dirty and it was Unnecessary. katara is some sort of grandma figure who doesn’t do shit besides help korra with rehab? she never fucking shows up??? i know it’s a different show, but if she’s alive you’re telling me she isn’t poking her nose into every international conflict korra’s dealing with? katara is NOSY that’s her PERSONALITY. tbh would’ve preferred if she were dead bc it would explain her absence better. aang was a bad father?? are you kidding me? he would’ve loved every single one of his fucking kids, i’m so annoyed with making beloved characters do shitty things to make them more “edgy” after the fact like. it’s out of character and lazy writing.

also you’re telling me the Gaang doesn’t ever hang out, even the living members... zuko and katara don’t visit each other? they never tried to find toph? oh yeah bc friendships just wither with time -- uhhhhh the whole fucking point of the first series was how aang was supported by his friends and created a new family after his old one was massacred, and you’re telling me oh no it’s just casual. we’re just political acquaintances fuck OFF

WHERE DID SOKKA GO? UNAPPRECIATED

why the FUCK is toph a cop. acab obviously but also she’s just so incredibly anti-establishment, why would she EVER want to enforce laws? ever? the hermit thing was kind of dope sometimes i guess, but it’s so cold that she never dropped by to say hi to her fucking grandkids... like “oh but she could see them through the tree” that’s not a relationship dummy!! it’s a two-fucking-way street!!! why is everyone a bad parent WTF

so many of the side characters were just written poorly. i went back and forth on hating and liking bolin. why does he always have to have a girlfriend. opal was suki 2.0 in a lot of ways, although maybe she was just slightly more interesting. pema was so BORING LOL, literally worst couple ever like it puts me to sleep. jinora was slightly op imo, and her romance with kai -- they are literally children like stop. wish lin and korra grew even closer than they ended up, they had so much in common and it would’ve been cute to see

where the fuck are korra’s parents at any point in time lol that made zero sense... like i get she’s an adult but dude. i forgot she wasn’t a goddamn orphan 90% of the time

mako was botched. they made a perfectly good character and fucked him up. i was super down with bolin and mako’s background, and how they could talk about maybe inter-element marriage discrimination (is that a thing? probably would’ve been a thing), could’ve talked about poverty and the wealth inequality in the city and how aang and sokka failed to remedy that, but no that never really came up huh. mako’s just arm candy and can make lightning, wooow. he didn’t need to be like zuko, but they tried too hard to do so and it fucked up his whole arc. and he became a COP LOL

this is such an unpopular opinion but i felt like asami for some reason was too perfect? like she had the plotline with her dad, with being the Other Woman and romantic rivals with korra, and her fighting style was super cool -- but i wish she was more flawed? like she’s not vain, she’s never selfish, never emotional, never short-tempered, never anything but perfect and pretty and clutch when she needs to be. versus korra was such a wonderfully developed and difficult character, hot-headed, competitive, stubborn, brash, uber-talented but often overconfident, a fighter not a politician... like their relationship would’ve been so much more compelling if i understood who the fuck asami was even supposed to be. like they could’ve made her secretive and closed-off with her emotions, which could’ve worked, but they didn’t. she’s just Great All The Time. idk i just feel nothing for her character and it’s bc of the bad writing.

like all the other characters were based off characters from atla. bolin is sokka, mako is zuko, korra has some resemblance to toph, all of tenzin’s kids are like aang -- but then they created asami as a truly original character (maybe based off june? who was super 2d bc she was such a minor character) and bc they had no prior character development or model to look to, they just went Mary Sue. and i know that term is controversial but it’s literally that. they wrote a flat female love interest who does literally nothing wrong ever and is a good fighter or whatever so we have SOME reason to like her. it’s so annoying, again bc she’s one of the main fucking characters, she has such interesting conflicts, she’s got a great character design and a great arc -- she’s just written so boring, i didn’t form any understanding of her. or maybe there wasn’t anything there to understand.

also their romance was SOOO under wraps bc nickelodeon is homophobic so i can’t really complain but like. i had to fight to convince miles that they were in a relationship and that shouldn’t happen, it should be obvious... like the hand-holding? come on

season 2 villain and choice of severing korra’s connection to all prior avatars was super questionable imo. i really hated that decision. i liked learning about the origin of the avatar, but it felt super rushed. that romance between bolin and that one princess was ridiculous. those twins were trying too hard to be mai. again w recycling characters from atla...

wish the conflicts and major villains of each season were more related to each other. maybe i’m misremembering the show, but the seasons felt so discrete and i missed the culmination that was present in atla. like atla really built up to the series finale; korra just kinda got stronger and more mature, which was done well, but it wasn’t extremely interesting plotwise. like, i know korra’s actions in season 2 gave zaheer airbending, and then korra’s mercury poisoning in season 3 left kuvira an opening in season 4, etc. but come on. it just feels like korra’s accidentally tripping these wires that present yet another new villain in a never-ending series of villains wanting to Do Bad Stuff...

you know what would’ve been cooler? if all the villains were present at the same time, and actively fighting each other as WELL as korra. it would’ve been a lot more chaotic, but i think it would’ve made more fucking sense than just like “Who’s Next?”

red lotus didn’t get enough screen time. writers fucked up by making those guys infinitely cooler than the other villains, and then immediately killing them off (kuvira is hot, but she’s not very interesting). they didn’t need to kill those guys like that. ming hua killed by mako? MAKO? please. garan (or whatever his name was) outsmarted by bolin? are we being real?? suyin killing p’li made sense bc suyin is a fucking badass but the other two deaths made ZERO sense.

uhhhh the pro-bending stuff was kinda boring? i felt like the rules and design of the sport were so uncreative, and being forced to watch korra just splash people for several episodes was torture. also wish there were more talking about bending techniques, especially since the styles seemed to have changed so wildly compared to atla. earthbending changed A LOT; suddenly everyone’s so light on their feet and kicking shit like firebenders, when it used to be about digging your heels in the dirt and standing your ground.

lok had better fighting animation, more realistic portrayal of politics, and wasn’t scared of violence unlike atla -- but in terms of basically everything else, atla was better imo