#it’s funny cause I expected to hate it

[heizerux]

This whole review is a C+ to me lol

Did we watch the same fucking Iroh? The entire time he’s watching over and guiding Zuko to his conclusions that this obsession with finding the avatar will not fucking fix his daddy issues. He’s not entirely being direct with it, sure, but he’s doing it in his own way. I mean is he wrong? Clearly he’s not.

Now on the Iroh doing THAT to Zhao. It’s like we forget who Iroh USED to be capable of before he lost his son. Yes it was a bold fucking move to add that in, but it’s pretty telling that Iroh would never allow harm to come to Zuko’s way. I just didn’t take too much issue with this. You say it’s bad because it took Zuko’s moment of compassion away, but he gets that in other moments where he talks to Aang about handwriting and what he did to get the 41st Division.

As for growth, WELL. You��re talking about 1 season written into 8 episodes based on 20 episodes from a cartoon that’s over 10 years old. Katara had a lot of growth within her bending. Sokka was trying to get over his insecurity of not being good enough because of his daddy but that’s not entirely an overnight thing to get over. I think the live action did well in portraying Aang as a literal kid that woke up thinking he just got lost in a storm to the reality his entire race had been cleared, he is indeed the avatar as in his pov he was o ly told just earlier that “day”, and the world is at war. I just don’t think it was unrealistic for him to not have this major growth arc right away in the live action as he was barely trying to understand what it means to be the avatar. They’re all litterally just fucking kids and in this version, they’re barely at step 1/20 at becoming a better version of themselves. Zuko too as we last see him reflect on his journey up to that point and what the entire point even was for him.

Look, how do I put this.

ANYTIME there is a LIVE ACTION of something coming out, especially with young characters involved, it will NEVER be a direct copy of the original because not everything can translate to live action.

For example some changes they made in the event of this gets renewed, they will have to do small time jumps to work with the aging actors. This also goes as to why some “character growth” seemed to lack in this first session, as it’s meant to happen over “several years”. Now sure, you can complain about this too and say how awful it is, but that’s the reality of working with real life kid actors and overall, translating a work like this into a “real life adaptation”.

Ppl complain a lot about the pacing and how it didn’t correlate to the original, but … you’re talking about 20 episodes worth of plot needing to be squeezed into 8… Like bffr right now.

Sure, the easiest thing would have been to not bother committing to even creating a live action because the task will never be easy. I bet you that’s probably also why the original creators left this project too as they realized they weren’t gonna be able to tell or show everything down to 8 fucking episodes and knowing how critical this fandom is, it wasn’t looking good. Then there’s the uncertainty that it will even be received well (as you can see here). In their stand point, it’s wise to move on and distant from this project. Instead I hear they are just making a movie where they are all young adults (but rumors are rumors at the moment).

The show is not that bad. It even had the support of the original voice actors to the new actors. If you watch it blindly with putting what you know about the original to the side, you’ll find yourself to actually enjoy it and interested in where it’s going. If you go in fully expecting a replica of an old cartoon, well… you’re gonna have a take like this post as well as the many others in these notes.

See it as a literal retelling and reimagining because that’s exactly what it is.

Once again, this is the first love vs new partner analogy all over again. They will never be the same no matter how badly you want it to be and a very hard pill to swallow for everyone.

So, uh, Netflix Avatar, huh? Yeah. I guess I'll make a really long post about it because ATLA brainrot has is a cornerstone of my personality at this point.

So.

It's okay. B, maybe a C+.

That's it.

Now for the spoilers:

The biggest issue with the Netflix version is the pacing. Scenes come out of nowhere and many of the episodes are disjointed. Example: Aang escaping from Zuko's ship. We see him getting the key and going "aha!", and in the next scene he's in Zuko's room. And then he just runs out, no fun acrobatics or fights, and immediately they go to the Southern Air Temple where he sees Gyatso's corpse, goes into the Avatar state, and then sees Gyatso being really cheesy, comes out of it, and resolves that conflict. Nothing seems to lead into anything. The characters don't get to breathe.

The show's worst mistake (aside from Iroh fucking murdering Zhao) is its' first one: they start in the past. Instead of immediately introducing us to our main characters and dropping us into a world where we have a perfect dynamic where Aang doesn't know the current state of the world and Katara and Sokka don't know about the past, thus allowing for seamless and organic worldbuilding and exposition, they just... tell us. "Hey, this is what happened, ok, time for Aang!" There's no mystery, no intrigue, just a stream of information being shoved down the audience's throats and then onto the next set piece.

The visuals are for the most part great, but like with most Netflix productions, they just don't have great art direction. It feels like a video game cinematic, where everything is meant to be Maximum Cool - and none of the environments get to breathe. It's like they have tight indoor sets (with some great set design) and then they have a bunch of trailer shots. It's oozing with a kind of very superficial love.

Netflix still doesn't know how to do lighting, and with how disjointed the scenes are, the locations end up feeling like a parade of sets rather than actual cities or forests or temples. As for the costumes, Netflix still doesn't know how to do costumes that look like they're meant to be actually worn, so many of the characters seem weirdly uncomfortable, like they're afraid of creasing their pristine costumes.

The acting is decent to good, for the most part. I can't tell if the weaker moments come down to the actors or the direction and editing, but if I had to guess, I'd say the latter. Iroh and Katara are the weakest, Sokka is the most consistent, Zuko hits the mark most of the time, and Aang is okay. I liked Suki (though... she was weirdly horny? Like?) but Yue just fell kind of flat.

The tight fight choreography of the original is replaced with a bunch of spinny moves and Marvel fighting, though there are some moments of good choreography, like the Agni Kai between Ozai and Zuko (there's a million things I could say about how bad it was thematically, but this post is overly long already.) There's an actually hilarious moment in the first episode when Zuko is shooting down Aang, and he does jazz hands to charge up his attack.

Then there's the characters. Everybody feels very static - Zuko especially gets to have very little agency. A great example of that is the scene in which Iroh tells Lieutenant Jee the story of Zuko's scar.

In the original, it's a very intimate affair, and he doesn't lead the crew into any conclusions. Here, Iroh straight up tells the crew "you are the 41st, he saved your lives" and then the crew shows Zuko some love. A nice moment, but it feels unearned, when contrasted with the perfection of The Storm. In The Storm, Zuko's words and actions directly contradict each other, and Iroh's story gives the crew (and the audience) context as to why, which makes Zuko a compelling character. We get to piece it out along with them. Here - Iroh just flat out says it. He just says it, multiple times, to hammer in the point that hey, Zuko is Good Actually.

And then there's Iroh. You remember the kindly but powerful man who you can see gently nudging Zuko to his own conclusions? No, he's a pretty insecure dude who just tells Zuko that his daddy doesn't love him a lot and then he kills Zhao. Yeah. Iroh just plain kills Zhao dead. Why?

Iroh's characterization also makes Zuko come off as dumb - not just clueless and deluded, no, actually stupid. He constantly gets told that Iroh loves him and his dad doesn't, and he doesn't have any good answers for that, so he just... keeps on keeping on, I guess? This version of Zuko isn't conflicted and willfully ignorant like the OG, he's just... kind of stupid. He's not very compelling.

In the original, Zuko is well aware of Azula's status as the golden child. It motivates him - he twists it around to mean that he, through constant struggle, can become even stronger than her, than anyone. Here, Zhao tells him that "no, ur dad likes her better tee hee" and it's presented as some kind of a revelation. And then Iroh kills Zhao. I'm sorry I keep bringing that up, but it's just such an unforgiveable thematic fuckup that I have to. In the original, Zhao falls victim to his hubris, and Zuko gets to demonstrate his underlying compassion and nobility when he offers his hand to Zhao. Then we get some ambiguity in Zhao: does he refuse Zuko's hand because of his pride, or is it his final honorable action to not drag Zuko down with him? A mix of both? It's a great ending to his character. Here, he tries to backstab Zuko and then Iroh, who just sort of stood off to the side for five minutes, goes "oh well, it's murderin' time :)"

They mess with the worldbuilding in ways that didn't really need to be messed with. The Ice Moon "brings the spirit world and the mortal world closer together"? Give me a break. That's something you made up, as opposed to the millenia of cultural relevance that the Solstice has. That's bad, guys. You replaced something real with something you just hastily made up. There's a lot of that. We DID NOT need any backstory for Koh, for one. And Katara and Sokka certainly didn't need to be captured by Koh. I could go on and on, but again, this post is already way too long.

It's, um, very disappointing. A lot of telling and not very much showing, and I feel like all of the characters just... sort of end up in the same place they started out in. I feel like we don't see any of the characters grow: they're just told over and over again how they need to grow and what they need to do.

To sum it up: Netflix Avatar is a mile wide, but an inch deep.

[artshokad2]

The unthinkable happened right when i was going to join in wip Wednesday unprompted @twodiamondhoes tagged me in it

I was going to do something a little more recent but the day snuck up on me so have a really old snippet from a fic i may or may not finish that i wrote in a haze of finals stress while listening to “Sleeping in the Kitchen” by Madilyn Mei on loop

Jimmy Solidarity my beloved

Its a little out of my usual style because music possesses me in a way thats a little concerning sometimes but i had fun with it!

Tagging @gladumfdoodles who i know always has a snippet locked and loaded, @raffi-cat who should share their writing more in my humble opinion, @sincerely-nines because my favorite moot you should write fanfic… if you want…

and my friend ani whose tumblr @ is not working rn so im just going to send this to them but they should share their writing on tumblr!!! Its so fun!!

(No pressure to anyone, tis supposed to be for fun :D)

[wishchip106]

i genuinely think if moira didn’t interrupt them this scene would’ve built up to a kiss scene

GAHHSHRHEHHW

once again back on my moira mactaggert hate train

erik should’ve shot her the gun is right there

who cares what the president has to say let the gays have their moment! god woman give it a rest!

IM SORRY THIS IS MEAN BUT SHE PISSES ME OFF WHENEVER SHES ONSCREEN

the first time i watched this movie i actually cheered when erik started choking her

crying

does anyone have any fics where they weren’t interrupted? there’s probably a few but idk what exactly to search up

moira has some kinda plot armor

knock charles out and then kill her idk

need to call up magneto for this

they couldn’t show the rest of the mutant road trip cause they were getting touchy feely with eachother 🤨

erik went to go cry in his bedroom afterwards

moira gives me “move over boys! let a real woman deal with this 😏😌” vibes WHILE SHE DOES NOTHING

for some reason i can appreciate moira in other things like the animated series or maybe the comics (i haven’t read many) but with the movies i want to bring back public execution

people write her way better in fanfics honestly

anyway gonna go buy a dart board then print a picture of her and use her face as target practice toodles

[skoulsons]

Being depended on is so strange. Am I not still a young child or teenager? Am I not the one who looks up to the people that I find comfort and leadership in? What do you mean I’m That person to people now?? What do you mean I’m being refined into a mentor and leader and someone that young people look to? What do you mean they come to me with questions and concerns and hardships. what do you mean I’m not eternally young

[arson-09]

when you and the homies catch a hater on tumblr defying their own logic and gotta laugh about it in the gc

[antics-of-a-spiteful-stickbug]

Bro I have to write and record an argumentative speech, write a literary analysis, get started on a short story with a pre-determined theme, write a reflection of the previously mentioned tasks and what knowledge and experience I got from them, as well as start planning for my oral examination which I apparently have to choose a subject for??? and make a powerpoint for???? Why did they not give me more details about the *final, most important examination in my course*?????

All in FOUR DAYS

The only redeeming qualities of these tasks is that I get to choose the movie I write my argumentative speech about (I'm supposed to argue for why it should be movie of the year, aka just infodump about why it's awesome), and that the only requirement I've been given for the short story is that it has to be about "the unknown" in one way or another

But none of that matters because they didn't tell me anything about needing to write a text for the final oral examination???? Or that I need to have a powerpoint???????? What do you mean "What subject have you chosen for your oral examination?"?????? I WASN'T TOLD THERE WOULD BE WRITING INVOLVED

MY ORAL EXAM FOR THE ENGLISH COURSE REQUIRED NO WRITING OR POWERPOINT PRESENTATION, MAYBE YOU SHOULD BRIEF YOUR STUDENTS ON WHAT THE FINAL ASSIGNMENT WILL EVEN BE BEFORE YOU THROW THEM INTO THE COURSE???

Smh I hate private-owned education-based companies

Like bro maybe put some money into an actually comprehensible website, teachers that don't hate their students, and classrooms that actually have heating instead of buying that new car that just entered the market, just a thought

I am very angry about this entire system, this company is ass and it's no wonder they're closing later this year (something I found out ***after*** applying for and accepting two courses and showing up for the voluntary in-person introduction.)

[princeof-flowers]

Dragon Age 2 companion relationships are so fun to me.

Like...Fenris is close with Isabela and Sebastian specifically. He's also good friends with Aveline's husband, Donnic, and seems to be on good terms with Aveline herself. He also seems to have a decent relationship with Varric (most do, it seems).

However. He and Anders fucking hate each other's guts. Anders more so than Fenris, who I think just like. Doesn't really care much for Anders and distrust him due to Justice/Vengeance. The only time he and Anders agree is when they're joined by their mutual dislike for Merrill.

Merrill gets along great with Isabela and Varric tho. They both seem very invested in ensuring her safety in Kirkwall, and just overall teaching her stuff.

Isabela and Aveline are worsties. They hate each other and it's that hate that you're never quite sure if it's like a friendly hate or if it's a "we have the same friend group so I have to be somewhat civil but also fuck you".

Honestly, out of all of the companions, I think Anders doesn't really get along too much with any of them due to his downward spiral actively causing him to push everyone away. That, and his writing gave him this push of like. Elf rights vs mage rights, so him interacting with Fenris or Merrill is always like. Awful. I genuinely feel like the only reason most of the group puts up with him is because he's their healer and/or Hawke is close to him (depending on how you play Hawke).

Idk I just. Like the dynamics of da2 companions and how they flesh them out as ppl outside of Hawke and outside of what we play or see. It feels more homey and believable than dai or veilguard.

[holydongbird]

ever since i came out as lesbian/sapphic to a close group friends it’s been okay. except now they dont even talk to me about my hobbies or my life anymore and literally only prod me about my sexuality ahaha. also WHY WOULD YOU YELL IT IN A PUBLIC FUCKING AREA TO EMBARRASS ME

[ilkkawhat]

I’m sorry if you don’t want people weighing in here so feel free to delete and ignore - but in a good workplace your boss would work with you to find a solution, rather than just telling you to struggle harder. And idk, maybe your boss is working with you and you’re the one telling yourself to struggle harder - but you DO deserve better than that!

oh i am the number one defender of my boss, she definitely is going out of her way to help me and for that i feel bad about it, i always have when she's had to step in but now it legit feels like...crisis level i guess? which it also did earlier this year and she started dishing out some feedback to me that yeah i needed to hear but it hurts to hear nonetheless and one of my co-workers tried to comfort me in saying that my boss is just genuinely concerned about me but for some reason i can't believe that, any little fucking mistake i make i just immediately worry my boss hates me and i'm gonna get fired. i've been that way since day one. it's a definite me problem lol

hell maybe my techs didn't outright complain about me to HR but maybe it was like, a general statement about the department which is why it escalated to my boss cause i know HR has threatened me that if i don't take it easier on myself that they would tell my boss to force me to take time off and i guess that finally happened?

idk though i just still got the sense my boss wasn't happy about the situation, I don't think anybody is and maybe i am being too hard on myself but...if i'm not, then what am i? i can't let myself get off the hook that easily for fucking things up so bad, i should have done my job right in the first place and maybe we as a team wouldn't be in this mess.

[istherewifiinhell]

First reprimand for shitty customer service <3. Well first one that wasnt just just my boss laughing and saying a local famous person accused me of stealing their wallet [left it on a shelf].

[no1ryomafan]

I forgot to say as embarrassing as it is I finally finished gun x sword after putting it off for way too long-shit got in the way of me doing anything else but also I’ve been more demotivated lately-and man I can’t tell if it’s because I just took FOREVER and was just simply turned off by something or not cause I wouldn’t call the show (bad) persay it low key peaks at ep 16 and all the episodes after that- sure are. Like they don’t make me mad or anything, everything concludes well nor do I wanna say it’s rushed necessarily, esp not compared to stuff that comes out now for mecha sadly and I do overall like the ending being on such a comedic note but idk. Don’t hate it or really feel heavily conflicted, it’s a good show yet I wasn’t in love with after ep 16. Maybe I do need a rewatch one day in the far future since I got other stuff to watch but I guess I just overall felt underwhelmed.

[serenhob]

Idk if anyone else can relate but when going through grief I've always found it helpful to watch episodes from TV shows I like where the characters are going through the same thing.

For me it's always ep 16 season 5 'the body' from buffy the vampire slayer. I just feel like I'm being coached through it. And seeing the Buffy cry, Anya be confused and Willow stress just calms me down and validates my own feelings in a way.

I feel like seeing all their different ways of grieving helps me.

Honestly the arc after Joyce died is my favourite in part of the whole show, I love the wacky comedy but I feel like all the tragic parts of Buffy are the best ones because they feel so human.

[vv-ispy]

thinking about. ships

[pinkponyluv]

every few weeks i think abt how i can speak 2 languages but im stupid in my 1st

[mbat]

dude its twice now that ive tried to play origins multiplayer minecraft servers that happen to be mandatory roleplay for some reason and its just wild that they like, want you to come up with a whole entire person before even playing, especially with worlds that feel... bare bones as fuck, from the information they give

like they give an origin story of the world and maybe like one or two sentences on the races or cultures, and then theyre like 'okay now give your character an entire in depth personality, backstory, family history, job, life goal, childhood dream, credit card number-'

like... with what info ?? with what basis??

the second one ive joined isnt as strict as the first one, seeing as i joined the minecraft server before i even realized there was character applications, and no one really paid me any mind at all or acknowledged me

but there was one i joined like 2 years ago that you had to get your application approved before gaining access to the server, and they direct you to their wiki for reading up on the world and stuff... but again, bare bones as fuck. and i exaggerated before slightly, but fully seriously they asked me 'oh, and where did your characters origin come from? their grandparents getting infected? how did they become this way' and its like. DUDE I DONT KNOW, WHO CARES. WHO WILL ASK ME THAT IN THE ROLEPLAY??? like where am i supposed to even get any of this shit from, the two paragraphs you typed about the world origin story??

i didnt finish the application because that was stupid and it wasnt worth it imo. shame, cause the custom origins were cool, but theres always other origins mods and servers

like... i guess other people work different from me, cause clearly these servers have people in them that somehow came up with functioning characters, but that aint me. if i make a character in a game, their personality and story comes to me while im playing, through their experiences and appearance and the choices im given in the world.

and also literally no one is ever going to fucking ask 'lol so how did your bloodline get mutated?'

[beepborpdoodledorp]

Alright it’s that time again, general ramblings post about Ep 5

I never thought certified silly billy Caine would ever actually scare me but I was proven wrong within the first minute. We definitely all expected him to become really unstable this episode but I can’t imagine many of us were thinking he was going to become violent. (And not in his ‘oblivious to the pain he’s causing others’ way.) Really scared for the players in the future episodes not gonna lie.

It’s not like it’s a huge shock a scene like this happened but I do find it very funny I wrote a one-shot with a nearly identical plot to this back in January

Also just…Jax and Pomni friendship!! I’ve been holding out for their love/hate frenemies bond to develop and I’m honestly surprised it’s happening this soon but I’m not complaining. I read them as having a purely platonic ‘bickering best buds’ dynamic but I’m proud of the funnybunny shippers for eating with this episode

Also where do I even start with these two. They’re just adorable. In a sea of messy emotions and messier relationships it’s so refreshing to see these two just…have a healthy friendship, support each other and enjoy each others’ company. They’re so in love I will die on this hill

I liked Kinger pulling Pomni under the desk to talk to her since he thinks better in the dark! Honestly very sweet of him. Their dynamic makes my heart happy

Was just trying to find a good screenshot of the anime segment to talk about how funny it was but then I spotted TGD Easter eggs on the bulletin board! Just thought it was neat

I do find it both kinda funny and fascinating how all of these lines up with the fanbase’s most popular headcanons. I know a lot of this could just be inferred from the previous episodes (and in Pomni’s case her being an accountant was just confirmed outright before) but the fact these all lined up nearly to a T to the most common interpretations of them just goes to show how well the fanbase knows these characters. It took wading through some content farming but Goose struck the right audience eventually

Found it interesting that Pomni didn’t vote for Jax to be put in the maid dress. They bonded pretty damn quick lol

I think all of us were expecting a scene like this at some point but I wasn’t thinking Pomni was going to be involved like this. It’s interesting how Jax and Ragatha are basically doing a tug-of-war over her, denying her of her agency and trying to project their own ideals onto her. I expected Pomni to play peacekeeper but I wasn’t expecting her to be a pawn in the middle of this argument. Honestly that’s just scratching the surface of this scene’s nuances, Jax and Ragatha are such fantastic foils to each other and I am very glad Ragatha finally got to have her crash out moment

Also I know there is a TON of analysis that could be made just off this one expression but just look at him for a moment. stupid man

I did find it very funny that Evil Pomni curses with basically the same frequency I write regular Pomni lol

This fucking mannequin dude…I was on the fence if they were actually plot relevant or just a running Easter egg and it definitely looks like the former’s the case. Can’t wait to find out what this guy’s deal is

Also how dare they call me out like this