#i. azula ≫ saved.

[hitemwiththeoop]

dont even get me started on how they reduced mai and ty lee as blind followers of azula that showered her with praise. or how they made zuko look like her example to follow when it was his banishment that made azula look down on him. or how they randomly tried to show ozai's care for zuko and a bit of a soft spot or care for his family. or how they made zuko fight him when the point of the scar scene was that he got it because he refused to fight his own father.

better yet, i could begin talking of how they took away katara's maternal attitude because it wasn't “fitting” for a girl her age and instead gave the role to sokka, who angrily tells her to grow up at one point, when it originally showcased the effects of the loss of her mother by trying to assume the position she left empty, while in the original show sokka did the same trying to fill hakoda's absence.

let's also talk about how they made hakoda look horrible when he criticised sokka's actions behind his back instead of supporting him with the idea of improvement to instead make ozai look like a better father. Or hey, wait, the scenes where everyone keeps blaming aang for having “abandoned” (even kyoshi) the world for some freaking reason???

suki head over heels for sokka right off the bat and stalking him around. june incessantly flirting with iroh. the whole cave of two lovers lore completely butchered. the omission of plot points to give priority to unnecessary scenes. the avatars being a bunch of a*holes that bully aang instead of guiding him. that random miniplot of roku with the small replica of the mother of faces????

what a ride

[hypnoticsphere]

tired of men being the ones covered in blood and looking into each others eye homoerotically. it should be azutara

[melissarthomson]

Finally, I present my favorite fic right now by @unorthodoxx-page , A Tale of Spirits!

This is my favorite scene tbh 👀 with my two favorite characters

[purplebunnydraws]

In my dream last night I was at one of the big parties Grady and Edaline used to throw and I saw young Jolie and Brant running around holding hands and laughing 🥲

[bakaqb]

Azula is still getting visited by the spirit from the temple even after defeating it, and it really likes to use Ty Lee's form and Ty Lee has been having some strange dreams involving those visits..

Just an idea I needed to get out of my head after reading Azula in the Spirit Temple just hear me out sfwefefwe

[the-genius-az]

An Omega Azula but also with Hanahaki disease.

My little baby just wants her two Alphas to save her from the asylum, but that will never happen.

Although maybe a pretty Omega with blue eyes will save her from that hell, and from her rare illness.

[requiemforthestars]

I'm a NATLA defender now, tbh. I think more people will grow to appreciate its good parts more as time goes on. I'm of course waiting to see how they wrap everything up and I'm not immune to its flaws, but I think people are so blinded by everything not being The Exact Same as the original cartoon than they're not appreciating its good parts. It's an adaptation, a companion, it's not a replacement to the original.

[seawitchkaraoke]

I still have so many emotions about Azula, specifically 11 year old Azula, who gets left behind by her brother and her uncle and is then, for the next three years, entirely alone in the palace with her father.

Like sure, the servants are there and she has Ty Lee and mai (though both of them must have left at some point in those three years, we don't know when), but that's not what I'm talking about. She is entirely, entirely without any protection from her father - not that she ever had all that much.

Here's the thing: Imagine you are Azula. You grow up and you know your mother loves your brother more than you (''my own mother thought I was a monster''). You know she cares about Zuko, she will comfort Zuko, she might even protect Zuko. You are certain she will not protect you (is Azula right about this assessment? It doesn't matter. Ursa's actual intentions aren't relevant in the face of what Azula perceives as true).

Your uncle isn't there and in his letters and gifts he shows that he too, does not care about or understand you. He sends Zuko a knife and a thoughtful message. He sends you a doll, that you burn.

Your father is ambitious and cruel and will not accept less than perfection. Luckily, you are a prodigy. Luckily, your brother is not. In contrast to him you can shine, you can burn so bright, you are safe as long as Zuko falls behind you. You are two years younger but you have to be better, you can never allow yourself to make a mistake where your father can see. It's okay though. Zuko is really bad at bending and even worse at lying. He should hide his mistakes if he can't stop making them. He's an idiot,, so he doesn't. You convince yourself you are happy about this.

Your father miscalculates and your grandfather orders your brother killed. You could let this happen. But if you do, you'll lose your shield against your father plus you like seeing him mess up. You pretend that's the only reason you warn him. It's not like you actually care about him.

Your mother does Something and the next day she is gone, your grandfather is dead and your father is on the throne. It's fine. She was useless anyway. She killed Azulon to protect your brother. You try not to wonder if she would have done the same thing for you. You are 9 years old.

Iroh comes back and does nothing. You continue to be perfect and Zuko continues not to be. It's going great. You are a prodigy and your father loves you. As long as you don't mess up.

Zuko is an idiot. Iroh is a worse idiot. Your uncle let's your brother into a war meeting and of course Zuko can't keep his mouth shut.

When your father burns your brother's face, your uncle looks away. Your brother, who is kind and thoughtful and liked by the servants and loved by his uncle gets half his face burned off and no one steps in.

Your uncle looks away, but you can't afford that kind of weakness. You look and you smile. This is good. You want the throne. With your brother disgraced, no one will stand in your way.

Your brother gets banished and with him goes your only protection against your father. Your uncle leaves too, but it hardly matters. He didn't care enough to protect Zuko, he wouldn't have protected you anyway. You'll just have to be even more perfect to make your father proud of you.

You are 11 years old and you are alone.

[erisenyo]

ATLA modern fencing AU where instead of mastering the four elements, Aang needs to master all three weapons in order to round out the club's competition teams and prevent Ozai's students from sweeping the medals at nationals and driving Aang's club out of business.

Zuko fences sabre (fast, explosive, reactive)

Sokka fence foil (high-strung drama queen)

Katara fences epee (all about rhythm and pushing and pulling distance) but she wants to switch to sabre (just whacking shit) (which is bad sabre) (but cathartic)

Suki fences epee (none of this finicky right-of-way nonsense, just some good practical stabbing)

Toph is the club armorer who also knows every cheat in the game (hair spray on the lamé, questionable wiring, etc.)

[thornwashere]

catradora, catra, and azula is there too

this is sort of a multifandom post (bc both of these shows have a death grip on my brain juices) but it’s something ive been thinking about

awhile ago i saw this video about why catradora is abusive, and i realized it had some good points. catradora is objectively, even just disregarding the romance factor, an abusive relationship. (STAY WITH ME NOW FOLKS, i love catradora give me a second)

it’s not fair, however, to say catra and her relationship with adora are plainly horrible things. in fact, given the (criminally short) time the two characters are seen romantically involved on screen, i think the situation was handled quite well.

one character i never see catra compared to is azula, but i genuinely think it is an incredibly accurate comparison.

both were raised in non ideal circumstances, and both were incredibly skilled and of course have similar personalities. instead of breaking off and healing like the person in their similar circumstance does (zuko and adora respectively), they stay because they both want to prove themselves.

azula, by the end, isn’t there for the power trip. she wants to prove herself to her father.

and catra at first wants to prove herself to shadowweaver. then hordak. then horde prime. and then at the end? she wants to prove herself to adora.

they are parallels, both treated horribly by their mother figures, longing for companionship and attachment, but being far too brash and trained for violence to be able to function healthily anywhere. catra sees adora. azula sees her mom.

one thing i think we always forget is that both of these characters are CHILDREN. minors. young people. easily influenced KIDS who want to prove themselves. who were, quite frankly, raised in a purely abusive environment. but because they both show the hard, not sunshine and rainbows pretty side of trauma, they are therefore evil people.

what both of these characters do to people is abuse. i wont disregard that at all. but abuse most often comes from a place of trauma, violence, and rage.

when catra came over to good, things are still not easy for her.

remember when zuko got sick after helping aang and appa in s2? (a far too underspoken of an arc i must add) catra is ALSO sick after having such a drastic mental switch, but she shows it with her intense amount of mental problems. this wont be cured by falling in love with adora. this wont be cured by being with adora. she will still lash out and hurt people and be sick.

people don’t seem to recognize there is a gray area between “uncaring hatred and abuse” and “love cured me.” it’s not fair to say catra is evil. that’s disregarding what catra went through. but it’s also not fair to say catra is a fully good, amazing person. that’s disregarding everything she has done.

my favorite character IS catra because of how complex and imperfect and FULLY flawed she is. her trauma isn’t coded with sugared words and cured by romance. it’s raw, powerful, sad and angry. and it is also scary. that’s how trauma is.

mentally ill people are redeemable. azula is redeemable. catra isn’t exempt from this.

none of this is to say catra and adora shouldnt date (bc they should bc they are cutie patooties [and mentally ill people can be in perfectly healthy relationships]) but just that BOTH OF THEM need to heal before their relationship can be considered healthy. they need to take time and heal.

overall the point of this post was to show there is a gray area between irredeemable villainous acts and an entirely innocent person :)

i’ve discovered i love tumblr bc i can just yap and yap and people will see it?? and like?? acknowledge what im saying?? crazy fr

[lazyveran]

Azutara-Prompt: Azula flirts with Katara during their fight in Ba Sing Se, completely by accident and/or completely oblivious that she she actually did flirt

this was a fun request! thank you!

“Is this all you’ve truly settled for?” The princess’ voice is strange – sharp, mocking, with an inflection that begs its geniality.

Katara grits her teeth. She’s only heard this girl speak twice before – both situations had ended in near failure. It wouldn’t happen again. Whatever she was going to say—

“Think, Water Tribe – what does he offer you?” Fast feet, dancing past her ice shards. “I could give you more – the Fire Nation could give you everything.”

She dared. She dared. “As if I would ever take anything from the likes of you.”

Sharp smiles and fast claws, Katara intercepts a knife of blue fire. Sweat breaks out as flame dissipates into her bending – when had it gotten so humid?

“Come, now.” She pauses, but briefly. They were stood meters away from each other. Katara can hear Aang, clashing with the screams of the Prince. What was— “I could fulfil your every desire.”

What?

Katara blinks. Focus wrenched back to the fire bender. “I don’t—”

It’s too sudden, the way the Princess flits in close, too close, too fast. Katara quickly backpedals. She knows she can’t beat her in hand-to-hand, it would be mad to even try. The cavern is huge, but she can’t leave range of the rivers. A wheel of fire flushes past her head.

It was too hot to even think. Sweat drips from her brow.

“Haven’t you ever thought about it?” The blasted girl continues, close enough now that her voice has quietened. Close enough she can trace the elegant curve of her brow. Katara weaves water in front, breaks off her approach. The Princess smirks. “How divine you would look in red?”

Oh. Oh, there was no way. Katara flings an ice pike the length of her forearm, watches it melt into nothing.

She couldn’t get into her head. She wouldn’t. It shouldn’t work on her—

“Think, Water Tribe. The Avatar pales in comparison. Let me show you.”

She was flirting.

She was flirting.

An ever-so-slightly hysterical feeling rises in her throat. It almost erupts into an ever-so hysterical laugh. To think, the Princess of the Fire Nation was attempting to manipulate her by flirting.

She almost preferred the Prince’s methods of manipulation. At least then she hadn’t been battling a blush.

“I’m never going to be your—” Katara’s voice strangles. Her what, exactly? Did she dare assume? “Trophy wife.” She squeaks, lamely, pathetically, not at all suited for the battle-to-the-death they were locked in.

The Princess suddenly stutters, then slows to a complete halt. A whisper of something in her freakish, golden eyes.

“What?”

There was simply no way. Humiliation burns her throat.

“You— you—!” She flings a sheet of water at the Princess. Fire burns through it, a frazzled girl on the other side. “You dare to propose something like that.”

It could have been comical, really, how the fire bender seems to hiccup.  

“That’s…” She blinks. Then, “Well. Perhaps my words are wasted on Water Tribe stupidity.”

The way she spits the words entirely lacks the ferocity of before. Katara almost drops her defensive stance to gesture, frantic and bemused, at her. What on earth was happening?

“Stupidity?!”

“You clearly aren’t listening to my words.”

Katara wants to scream. “As if I would ever listen to Fire Nation scum.”

The bemused something in the Princess’ eye melts into nothing. Cruel smirk, sharp eyes, blue fire cutting through the rock before her, all return in a blink.

Katara grits her teeth at the renewed assault and pushes the clear, stupid flirting from her mind.  

[thebestusernamepossible]

Literally going insane, might have to write fanfic for the first time in 2 years because the people™️ do not get my favorite female characters like I do and I feel the insurmountable urge to write her. I’m going to bite drywall why don’t ppl see her complexities. PLEASE STOP WRITING HER ETHIER AS DOMICILE MOM OR BITCH (or just for shipping) she is so so cool please guys please.

Also while I’m here, fandoms tendency to shove women in the ‘pure powerful goddess who can do no wrong’ box and then proceed to never give them an actual narrative role other than like ‘supportive’ or ‘took out a few background guys’. Like why DOES this incredibly badass and complex female character just get shunted into doinging some cool flips, getting praised about it (she’s the strongest fighter, so feminist wow) then never getting actnowleged as a 2 dimensional character.

I saw this a lot when I was in the Batman fandom, particularly with Cassandra Cain. She is a highly complex and interesting character, but in fandom she’s kind of shunted to ‘Badass therapy dog who takes care of the men’. Because even on the slight chance her backstory is brought up it’s always never delved into and mostly used to make her etheir more tragic and in need of support on a surface level or to let her be compassionate with the men characters who get their actual problems foucused on. It’s a unqiue kind of frustrating because it’s like almost letting the cool female character be cool, but it’s more like the idea of a badass women is shoved in your face, maybe joked about (or if we’re lucky she gets to beat up a few bad-guys), but ultimately treated like a cardboard cutout. Interestingly this actually isn’t entirely a female character thing, it’s also common with like old grandfather/grandmother characters and the elderly in general. But it’s usually badass women from what I see. :/ Why can’t fandom explore their stories (people do but why is it so much less), why can’t they be the prtags of cool AUs or time-travel fix-its, or crossover events

Idk I think I’m just frustrated, and I typed out more than I thought I would. Also Ive seen what happens to some other posts complaining about fandom misogyny, so please know if you’re a TERF, fuck off you have no place in this discussion. We will never agree, and frankly all of these points apply to canon Trans Women characters. Don’t say shit ill fucking end you.

[thetimetraveler24]

Not me taking advantage of the b&n leap day stamps promo and purchasing like half the atla comics.

[blorboazula]

Azula Week 2024 – Day 01. Lost

Warnings: mentioned burns // dragon!Azula. The Ciano Dragon

This was far from her plans. She should be at home, training by tyis time of the morning. Then go bother Zuzu (he was always annoyed, but at least seemed to take the hint every now and then). Train some more, most of her practice was focused in keeping her fire in a regula human color but still show progress. Then, maybe, spend time with Mom. It usually was just some meditating together, it was more peaceful when they were quiet together and connected with each other's inner fire.

Then Father had to ruin everything (wasn't him making enough damage to her Zuzu?) And Mom didn't help. Azula's mouth was still full of blisters and burns, it was annoying how she couldn't stop poking at them with her tongue. The rough texture made them take longer to heal.

Right, because she was a full dragon.

(That explained a lot, actually.)

She was a full dragon in the middle of nowhere Earth Kingdom. Sure, that was better than anywhere near Caldera City or other military towns. The head of a dragon was worthy of the Firelord's personal approval. Azula was very much interested in staying alive, thank you very much.

At least there were woods where she could navigate in this patch of the kingdom, she wasn't a large creature but was still not in a proper color for cammuflage. Nazy green against the browns of the earth, she was a perfect target in that scenario. Even if hunting dragons wasn't an earth peasant's daydream, she was still an eatable animal.

Again, she was very much interested in staying alive.

She didn't know where she was or where she was going. Azula had to get the furthest away from Caldera City as possible and ideally also have a a satisfactory distance between her and Mom. (At least until she had time to deal with the whole manhandling Azula away from the palace and leaving Zuzu alone in there.)

Living like a lost animal in the woods was her best option at the moment.

[lady-hibiscus]

my favorite characters (multifandom) controversial edition

stella (helluva boss) deserved better than an arranged marriage, definitely sapphic

vox, valentino, velvette, lute (hazbin hotel) vox is my favorite, second place is a three-way tie because i can't pick

luke castellan, ethan nakamura (percy jackson) deserved better!! deserved better!!

il dottore (genshin impact) dottore is literally one of the best harbingers imo

azula (atla) if you don't think she deserved better you're lying to yourself but we still stan an insane queen

alia atriedes (dune) another insane queen that committed murder at the age of 2!

feel free to debate in the comments i love fighting

[bluespiritshonour]

Mai has two hands...