#korra deserves all the love and support in the world

[sapphic-agent]

Rewriting the Gaang in LOK

Basically how I would have written the adult Gaang. Pretend the comics as they are don't exist.

Katara: Breaks up with Aang sometime post-finale to do some soul-searching. Travels the world on her own and sees how people are struggling after the war. After talking (beating) some sense into a few government officials, she realizes that the best way to help people post-war is through politics. She becomes an (unofficial) ambassador, helping and negotiating aid for small villages that tend to get overlooked and does this for a number of years. She joins up with Zuko and Aang after they found the United Republic of Nations and becomes Councilwoman Katara, representative of the Southern Water Tribe. She eventually gets voted chairwoman due to her passion to improve the lives of the citizens (and because her fellow council members are too scared to vote against her). She heals on the side when she needs to, but only out of obligation since she can't stand to see people suffer; she puts much more effort into getting raising funds for a hospital full of healers. A few years later, Haru moves to Republic City and is just as awestruck by her as he was the day they met (the pornstache has been removed by divine intervention). They meet up a couple of times; for drinks after work, walks around the city, and they even attend a few galas together. They eventually start dating and get married two years later. They have their first daughter Kya (who's an earthbender), a son- Tyro (who's a nonbender), and another daughter Suma (who's a waterbender). They live a happy, peaceful (if you could call Katara stopping the occasional criminal before the police peaceful) life together where their children are well-loved and as part of the Southern Water Tribe as they are the Earth Kingdom. Aang's death hits their family hard, but they all come together and support each other. Katara personally mentors Korra, even convincing her family move to Republic City so that the Avatar knows the people she's meant to protect (the White Lotus protests, they fail❤️). She teaches Korra Waterbending, but also teaches her empathy and appreciation for other cultures (and that sometimes, selfish world leaders need a good punch to the face, a lesson Korra took to heart even though she absolutely wasn't supposed to see it).

Aang: Is torn up after Katara breaks up with him. He's hurt and confused and doesn't know what to do with himself. He retreats to Ba Sing Se where he talks with Iroh and learns that he unfairly pushed his feelings onto Katara. Wracked with guilt at hurting someone he cares about so much, Aang realizes that he has a lot of growing up to do. He focuses on his job as the Avatar, working closely with Zuko, Kuei, and the other leaders to heal the world after the war. The first time he sees Katara again is when she arrives to help with the United Republic of Nations. He apologizes to her and Katara forgives him, promising they'll always be best friends. His role in Republic City is more or less the same, though at some point he develops feelings for Toph. But he fears doing to her what he had done to Katara, so he tries to ignore them. But Toph, never one to beat around the bush, point-blank asks him if he's ever gonna man-up and confess to her. They start dating, and Lin comes a few months later as a surprise. They have their hiccups- Aang especially needing to reconcile with the fact that there's a chance she might not be an Airbender- but they manage to resolve them. Lin is an Earthender, of course, but Aang loves his little girl to pieces (which is good, because Toph would kill him if she suspected otherwise). Tenzin is born three years later, an Airbender, and Su Yin is born two years after that as an Earthbender. Lastly there's Bumi, a nonbender. There's always the urge to favor Tenzin, but Aang knows he can't. They're all his children and they deserve to be treated as such. So he teaches them all about their culture, takes them all on trips. The kids fight, but Aang is always quick to help resolve it (as it turns out, getting Lin and Su to stop fighting is a lot harder than getting the four nations to get along, go figure). Aang loves his wife and kids and wouldn't trade any of them for the world. He dies peacefully at age 66, surrounded by his children and the love of his life.

Sokka: Fucking hates politics. He'll leave the negotiating and speeches to his sister, thank you very much. If the room of government officials isn't a war room, he wants no part in it. After the war, he spends most of his time in the Southern Water Tribe. He works with his father to rebuild and relearn their culture, and writes frequent letters to his sister. Though, something about his life in the south is unfulfilling. Maybe he misses Suki, but there's something about inventing that calls to him. He can't do much of that in the south pole, so he leaves for the Earth Kingdom, helping villages struggling with heat, agriculture, transportation, etc. In the United Republic of Nations, he becomes lead engineer of the city, utilizing bending to make quick technological advances. He and Suki reunite in Republic City where Suki becomes the police chief. They get back together and have a daughter, Lian. The three of them live a simple life together, until Suki gets gravely injured in the line of duty when Lian is twenty. They decide to retire to the Southern Water Tribe where Sokka takes over for Hakoda as chief and prepares Lian to take over for him.

Toph: When Toph hears that Twinkle Toes and Sparky finally started that fancy new city, she thinks it's the perfect opportunity to cause a little chaos. Closing her metalbending school, she decides to relive her days as the Blind Bandit by founding pro-bending (thanks @ecoterrorist-katara for the idea!). Zuko's a hater and tries to shut it down because "safety," but finds no help in Aang who really, really loves the idea. He goes to every one of her matches and Toph feels both smug pride and... Something else. But she tells herself it would never happen, Twinkle Toes likes girls like Sugar Queen and she was the furthest thing from that. But she isn't totally oblivious, she can feel his heartbeat pick up when he's around her and how he's started to stutter when he's talking to her. So she bites the bullet and they start happily dating. But the arrival of Lin uncovers issues she didn't even know were there. Lin cries loudly and for Toph who relies heavily on her sense of hearing, it's hell. She was also unprepared for how much her body would change. She finds herself not wanting to be around her daughter. But Aang realizes this and urges her to talk to someone. After some arguing, she does. Aang is attentive, so Toph can take breaks when she needs to and Katara and Suki are always ready to get her out of the house when she's overwhelmed. Things with Lin get better and when Tenzin comes around she doesn't suffer nearly as much. Su Yin is similar. It's hard with Bumi because she's older, but Aang and her friends are there to support her. Toph can be distant with her children- her closely monitored childhood always present in her mind- but sees how Aang can be doting and allow their kids freedom. She follows by his example, trying to find a balance between hovering and absence. Aang's death is the worst day of her life- she was there, she felt his heart stop- and she retreats into the swamp for a while to grieve. But she returns to Republic City when Katara begins to mentor the new Avatar. Not to be outdone by Sugar Queen, she becomes Korra's second teacher. It's hard to be around Korra sometimes, but she likes the girl's spunk and attitude, even if she is a brat.

Zuko: Zuko struggles after the war. The obligations of the Fire Lord are crushing and daunting and the fear of turning into his father feels like it's constantly looming over his head. Mai doesn't understand why he's struggling so much and he can't figure out how to explain it to her, so they break up. She goes to Kyoshi Island to spend time with Ty Lee and figure out what she wants in life. Stressed, burnt-out, and heartbroken, Zuko asks Aang to kill him if he ever starts to act like Ozai, but Aang steadfastly refuses, berating him for even suggesting it. Aang assures him that he'll never turn into his father and that he has his friends to rely on. He follows after Aang to Ba Sing Se, working in his uncle's tea shop as a much needed break. He opens up to Iroh about his fears and Iroh affirms that even having these worries proves that he'll never be Ozai. He spends time in Ba Sing Se working in the tea shop and negotiating with the Earth King when he meets Jin again. She's as carefree as she was back then and Zuko is both envious and in awe of it. But he knows he can't have a relationship with her, he can't burden her with his problems. But Jin is gently persistent, lending an ear when he needs one and assuring him that he isn't burdening her. When she asks him if he wants to be with her, he confesses that he does- more than anything- but also admits that he has no idea how it'll work. She tells him that if they want to be together no one should stop them. A year later, they're married and she's crowned Fire Lady Jin. There are some protests to their relationship from traditionalists, but Ambassador Katara (Zuko is so sure that she was never actually given that title, but he can't prove it) is quick to shut them down citing that the Fire Lord marrying an Earth Kingdom girl is a sign of unity. They have their daughter, Izumi, and she's Zuko's entire world. Zuko's greatest fear is that his children will end up like him and Azula, so he refrains from having more kids. Jin respects this, but urges him to talk to Azula. So he does; his sister curses him out, but seems to enjoy his company in her own way. They'll never have a good relationship, but Zuko doesn't want her to feel alone so he makes time at least once a week. It's shortly after Aang's death that Zuko relinquishes the title of Fire Lord to Izumi, his grief over his lifetime friend far too painful. Eventually, though, Katara and Toph bully him into training the new Avatar. It's not a role for a retired Fire Lord, but Zuko knows that the world needs Korra to be strong and it's his responsibility to make that happen as much as he can. And so, he becomes Avatar Korra's third teacher (if you told him 60 years ago that he'd become the Avatar's most sane instructor, he'd think you were high on cactus juice. But with Katara punching dictators in the face and Toph breaking every rule ever written, someone has to be a good influence).

Occupations if you missed them:

Katara: (Unofficial/Self-proclaimed) Ambassador of the Southern Water Tribe, United Republic of Nations Councilwoman and later Chairwoman, Healer (on the side), Waterbending Master to the Avatar

Aang: Avatar, United Republic of Nations Councilman

Sokka: Engineer and Inventor, Chief of the Southern Water Tribe

Toph: Pro-Bender, Manager of the Pro-Bending Arena, Earthbending Master to the Avatar

Zuko: Fire Lord, Firebending Master to the Avatar

Suki: Police Chief of Republic City (I'm sorry I didn't make a detailed background for her I got lazy, I promise I don't love her any less😭)

Defending my ship choices:

Harutara: Come on, y'all know what I'm about at this point. They're my everything, how could I not have them together? Plus, there's something really poetic about Haru falling for her as an adult the way he did as a teenager: watching her inspire those around her. I headcanon that he's enamoured with the sound of her voice because it's the voice that liberated him and his people and he attends all her speeches

Taang: I actually wasn't sure about this one. I'm not an active Taang shipper, but I do think they'd really balance each other out. Toph is the hard ass Aang needs to challenge him and Aang would bring out the softer side in her. Toph would never let Aang favor one kid over the other and Aang wouldn't let Toph neglect their kids. So looking at it like that, I felt them being together would be best for the story

Sukka: It's not as perfect in canon as people make it out to be, but I still love them. I wouldn't want any different for them

Jinko: This one actually made more sense than I would have thought. Jin is very different from Mai, so I can really see her being what Zuko needs considering where he would be mentally. I like Mai, but I feel Maiko really made her way more one dimensional so her living with Ty Lee and finding herself feels like a better end for her (and if they start dating, that's no one's business). And we've already seen Zuko go out of his way to make Jin happy so it's not like we're getting another Kataang situation. I'm happy with this for them

The Kids:

Yes, I purposely made Kya an Earthbender. And yes, Katara still gives her her mother's necklace. Because that's her firstborn daughter no matter what element she does (or doesn't) bend. One thing I hate is that Bryke made the Kataang kids primarily part of the culture that they bend. That's such a slap in the face to biracial kids, not to mention poor Bumi who doesn't seem to belong to either for some reason until he ends up an Airbender. So yeah, all of the Harutara kids are part of the EK and SWT. Suma is a name I made up because it sounded pretty

I know it's weird to think of Lin and Tenzin as siblings, I felt so odd writing it. But I love them both so I couldn't just not write them. I made Bumi the youngest so he could be spoiled because he deserved better in canon. Su and Lin have a better relationship, but they still butt heads because they feel the need to one-up each other due to them both being Earthbenders (and later Metalbenders). Lin still becomes a cop, but their big fight never happened because Su was never neglected to the point of becoming a criminal. All four kids are taught Air Nomad culture and traditions and taken on trips because Aang is a decent father

I named Lian partly after Yue, since Yuèliàng means moon in Chinese. One of my gripes with LOK is that Katara and Sokka's family are meant to be the leaders of the SWT. Kya or Bumi should be the chief in canon, but Bryke just... Didn't do that for some reason. So fuck it, Sokka's daughter is chief now

Nothing really changes about Izumi, although I'd say she's a little friendlier. I contemplated giving Zuko more kids, but I actually think his decision not to have more kids was one of Bryke's better choices. It makes sense, so I didn't feel the need to change it

Other notes:

The Gaang teaching/helping raise baby Korra is something I live for

The Red Lotus is swiftly dealt with by Katara, Toph, Zuko, Suki, and Sokka when Korra is a kid. They never stood a chance. I was actually going to have Sokka still die during the attack in the SWT and Suki kill Zaheer in revenge, but eh I decided not to off Sokka

The Civil War still happens, but differently. I don't have the patience to go into that, just know that Katara is HEAVILY involved

Welp, that's everything in my brain

[kataraslove]

Do you think Aang is a neglectful father to Bumi and Kya II?

going from just what we are shown in legend of korra through kya and bumi’s perspectives? yes. not intentionally, of course. but it’s important to recognize the amount of hurt that aang caused his children, to the point where tenzin’s idealization of him starts to falter, and he acknowledges that his father isn’t as perfect as he thought he was (or wanted him to be). don’t get me wrong - I think the fandom tends to exaggerate parts of aang’s parenting. like comparing him to ozai? that is the most ridiculous thing i’ve ever seen. but i also see pro meta glossing over kya and bumi’s concerns with him, which isn’t right. there needs to be more nuanced perspectives than “he was as bad as ozai!” or “kya and bumi really were just overexaggerating their grievances with aang. he was a great dad!”

i think here is where it’s important to discuss authorial intent: bryke have said that they had not meant for their writing to come across aang being a bad father who set out to intentionally neglect his children. rather, kya and bumi’s concerns and resentment likely stem from how they perceived his role to the world. legend of korra as a series offers a meta commentary on living up to legacy, the legacy set by the heroes in avatar the last airbender, and the legacy of living up to a critically acclaimed predecessor series. kya and bumi’s concerns also stem due to legacy: the legacy left behind by aang and how the world views their existence in accordance to this legacy - as the non-airbending children to the last airbender. kya and bumi feel that they deserve the right to be part of their father’s legacy (and they do) just as much as tenzin. i don’t think their insistence to be part of avatar aang’s legacy is due to a desire for prestige and fame, as they’ve spent much of their lives shying away from their father’s legacy. i think it’s out of a genuine realization that they are grieving and missing their father and want to celebrate his successes.

in print media, we actually get a different perspective to his parenting. kya and bumi offer good words about their father (mostly). in turf wars (2015), kya shares how he was “nothing but supportive” in relation to her coming out. she offers some interesting lore about same sex relationships among the air nomads, likely quoting something that her father could have directly shared with her. in avatar legends, it is confirmed that aang did teach both kya and bumi about their air nomad heritage, and kya internalized his lessons on philosophy, meditation, and balance:

Although she developed a slight resentment toward Aang for teaching more to Tenzin about his culture,[3] Kya internalized some of her father's lessons on philosophy, meditation, and balance.[6] She developed a stronger connection with Katara, who taught her to develop her waterbending combat and waterbending healing abilities to proficiency.[3][6] - Avatar Wiki

in bumi’s recent comic called the cat owl’s cradle (2022) released in patterns of time, i was surprised to find that bumi held a much more favourable perspective towards his father than before. he thinks about his father’s great smile all the time and tells his nephew that meelo’d smile reminds him of his father’s. he mentions that aang and him used to go fishing (a water tribe practice). he’s understanding of his father’s many duties to the world; why - as the avatar - he often didn’t have infinite time in the world to spend with him. most importantly, through the advice he offers meelo, it is evident that bumi has realized that an absence of airbending couldn’t possibly make his father love him more than he already did - that he is fine the way he is, with or without airbending. in this story, we discover a vast growth in bumi’s self-confidence, as he no longer feels a sense of inadequacy, in his own skills and in his father’s eyes.

to answer your question: if you were to only watch the legend of korra, i can completely see why you’d arrive at the conclusion that aang was a negligent father who deliberately focused on his youngest child over his other non-airbending children. if you factor in print and comic media, it tells the story of a father who was trying his best to balance his responsibilities to the world and his personal life, succeeding in some ways and failing in others. at the end of the day, it seems like kya and bumi’s genuine love for their father overtakes their grievances with him. what’s interesting is that it’s not like an “he’s my father so I’m obligated to love him” type of love. it’s more along the lines of, “yes we have our issues with him but we do believe he loved us wholeheartedly and we want to be included in his legacy.”

now, just because i’ve grasped (after so many attempts) on what bryke was trying to do in korra does not mean that i don’t have my fair share of issues with the way bryke went about writing that storyline. i dislike the fact that they blamed the fandom on the overexaggeration - if all sides of the fandom came out with the take home message that aang was a deadbeat father who gatekept his culture to his literal family, the onus is on your writing, not on the fandom. the balanced perspective years later in the comics is appreciated, but we definitely needed to see this in the show from the get go.

ultimately, if they have an interest in redeeming aang’s arc as a father (which i suspect they might want to do given post-korra material), they need to show us, rather than just tell us, that he wasn’t as bad as how korra makes him out to be. the perfect opportunity for this is in this upcoming adult gaang movie with the birth of baby bumi. we have no details surrounding this adult gaang movie, so i don’t know if bumi will be in it or not. but it is the perfect opportunity, if bryke are interested in going that route.

I will end off by saying that i’d rather have aang as a father than my own any day lmaooo.

[im--never--happy]

hi hello would you want to talk about mako with me?

hell fucking yeah I do!!! I could talk about Mako 24/7!! What about Mako do you want to talk about?! His amazing bending skills? His guilt and savior complexes? The struggle and internal angst he must have with bending the same element that was used to kill his parents? The trauma of watching his parents be murdered in front of him when he was eight? Him literally raising his brother entirely alone all by himself on the streets with no support or help from anyone while he himself was a homeless child? The work he did for the triads? The things he must have seen and trauma he incurred? What he must have had to do to get himself and Bolin out of the triads, because top secret dangerous gangs don’t just let people walk away with potentially dangerous knowledge and secrets? Or should we talk about how he was the only responsible member of the gang? How he couldn’t trust anyone and was always used to having to take care of everything all by himself? Should we talk about how he never felt deserving of love or affection and always let other people mistreat and misjudge him and he never resented them for treating him unfairly because he literally didn’t think he deserved any better? Should we talk about how he just wants to protect the people he loves and keep them safe? Or should we talk about how much of an outsider he probably felt like in his earth kingdom family and how he had no connection to his fire nation side or any family members who looked like him? Should we talk about how he had no positive firebending role models growing up and even as an adult, how the only firebenders he ever interacted with were triad members? Or maybe we should talk about how betrayed he must have felt by everyone when varrick framed him, or how betrayed and lonely and abandoned and useless and low he must have felt when Bolin had left and he found out korra had stayed in touch with asami but not him? Or what about the guilt and shame and trauma from when he straight up killed creepy waterbender arms lady ming hua? Or what about the fact that he full on sacrificed himself—fully expecting to die— to save Republic City from Kuvira’s evil spirit vine weapon, and was permanently scarred (and probably disabled from it), and how he first ordered Bolin to get out and save Kuivira’s soldiers and himself while Mako stayed behind to blow up the weapon (and probably die in the process)? Or maybe we should talk about how he was so insanely fucking smart and clever and resourceful and logical and rational and brave and also such a huge dork and nerd when he was allowed to be and didn’t have to have all the responsibility and weight of the world on his shoulders? What do you want to talk about friend because I could talk about mako aaaallllllllll fucking day!!

[loopy777]

Agree with you on most of the new avatar points, but there was one part i was a bit curious about. You noted you think Korra claiming her arc was about learning empathy and the like through personal suffering was a disaster.

Now i dont actually disagree with the idea was not all that well executed overall(Like much of Lok), but it sounds like you dislike the on a more conceptual level.

I recall a lot of people were angry about it when LOK came out, but frankly speaking, this is 100% one of the bigget tennants of Buddhism, who's founder famously left behind his royal life and went out to seek all the bad parts of the world to grow.

Addmitingly, a large part of Buddha's message, was also that people should learn from his journey so they wouldn't have to go through quite the same level of suffering on their journey to enlightenment(Basically the middle way as he called it), but the point still stands.

And given this was very much a theme(If not as blatantly stated, and played more with) in ATLA, i never understood the hate it gets.

Well, the disaster I was referencing was mostly about the execution. As you say, the idea of learning empathy through suffering isn't a bad idea in a vacuum, and it's part of Zuko's journey in AtLA. Every story about a rich person (temporarily) losing their riches and becoming a better person is the same trope, and we all love those stories.

However, it was particularly bad with Korra because of a very specific combo attack. The first part was that Korra is one of the most empathetic people in LoK and was definitely the most empathetic person in the first season. Korra is impulsive and extreme in her reactions and quick to anger, but she's also very quick to show sympathy and compassion, immediately becoming kind and supportive to people like Lin, Tahno, and even Tarrlok as soon as they show hurt. In fact, her big mission in Republic City is supposed to be teaching its populace empathy, with the city's "imbalance" being that everyone was a jerk to her when she arrived. In a lot of cases where she flies off the handle and lets her anger get the better of her, it's because she's angry on behalf of other people who are suffering and she can't find another way to help them.

It's part of what makes Korra such a great character. We rightly knock on how a lot of blockbuster storytelling wants "likeable" rogues who lose all actual flaws in an attempt to keep from alienating audiences. Korra, meanwhile, really is a heavily flawed character who makes all kinds of situations worse, but it's balanced by her empathy and her readiness to help anyone who needs her. It's a big part of the reason I really like Korra as a character even though I heavily dislike LoK. I've seen it kicked around that Korra deserved a much better show, and I agree completely.

So the idea that she needs to learn empathy isn't just typical bad LoK storytelling- it's such a profound misunderstanding of the character that it almost feels like sabotage or gaslighting. Does the show really expect us to believe that Korra didn't have empathy for her enemies and needed to 'suffer' to learn it? Or, more accurately, she needs to be punished until she becomes a more traditionally feminine figure?

Because here's where the combo-attack comes in. LoK aired at a time when there was talk (at least from what I was seeing) about how a lot of action media was embracing the idea of female leads, but a suspicious amount of it had the female lead going through a lot of physical and mental punishment while wearing a short skirt and/or tight shirt. The extreme suffering was supposed to be sexy. Compare that to most male leads being allowed to suffer by watching their wife and kids get killed so that they angst and get revenge.

This isn't to say that LoK suddenly tried to be sexy torture porn. But it's kind of weird that in order to 'save' the show, the two 'good' seasons were suddenly about Korra being physically and mentally tortured, supposedly for the justification that she could become a 'better' person, after all the backlash from the fans about how she's angrier and more violent than Aang. And then Korra herself posits that if she hadn't been punished, she wouldn't have been able to talk Kuvira down at the end? Despite her reaching out to every single one of her other enemies before that?

It's not just a fumbled character arc, it's a suspicious swerve from the existing character arc for a controversial female character, hijacking what people saw as a pretty good exploration of PTSD and ruining what should have been the capstone of the big finale.

And people noticed. Especially Korra's fans.

So yeah, that's why I call it a disaster.

Personally, I'm one of the few people who didn't like Book Balance at all, so the the last-minute crash didn't ruin much for me. The rest of the bad storytelling had detached me from Korra, so I was more interested in the stupid giant robot, Mako's slow-mo non-sacrifice, Asami's dad's death being strangely unconnected to everything everyone else was doing, and the Korrasami controversy. But I did give a heavy roll of my eyes at actually having Korra say, "I needed to understand what true suffering was so I could be more compassionate to others, even to people like Kuvira." It was like the Bad Faith Character Bashing version of Korra suddenly stepped into the show and replaced the Korra who I had enjoyed in the first four episodes of LoK (which I still say stand up with the best of AtLA).

But, granted, it's probably not as big a disaster as the finale of Book Air. The creative team had a recurring problem with misunderstanding Korra's character arcs. Poor kid. But I guess that's what happens when two artists have to keep making up a character-driven story as they go along with no firm direction from the corporate overlords about when the story is supposed to end for an audience with high expectations.

[beifong-brainrot]

how traumatized do you think any children of bataar and kuvira’s would be ?

Honestly I'm mildly optimistic that they'll try to not repeat their parents' mistakes. This all depends on Kuvira and Baatar's future of course, but depending on how it goes I think they could make it work.

Like I assume it's house arrest for life so basically the kid qould grow up on the Beifong estate. I can't exactly see Kuvira as the loving motherly type though, so I think she would be a more distant but still caring parent. You knowz the type that cares a lot but doesn't know how to express it?

Jury's still out on Baatar Jr though. On one hand I can also see him being a distant dad because he's kinda a snarky jerk. But I also think that he can be very loving and sweet, as we saw with Kuvira, so I can see him as a genuinely caring and supportive father.

I still think Baatar and Kuvira would rely heavily on Su and maybe Baatar Sr to help them a lit with raising the child, especially if they're still young when they have the kid.

I think it could be a nice childhood, if not a little bizarre, since mommy and daddy commited actual warcrimes so that's gonna be a gun conversation to have with your kid.

I think the outcome where Kuvira and Baatar are no longer together while raising their child is definitely very interesting. I think that could add aome trauma, but not too much if Kuvira and Baatar manage to stay level-headed which I have faith in them.

Though I actually don't think Kuvira and Baatar would want to have kidsz especially after B4. I think they both eventually realise how fucked up they are and wouldn't want to put morenof that into the world.

And while I love Baavira, I can't really see them getting back together and lowkey Baatar deserves better. Like he sucks too bit he was loyal as shit, Korra threatened him with the avatar state and he fucking laughed at her that was an underrated moment.

[cowboybobsrodeo]

About Me - extremely long introduction post

im new here and in search of accounts to follow/mutuals! I thought I would make a list of the things I enjoy in an effort to find myself on the right side of tumblr. so in no particular order, here are the things that i love most!

Music - im a huuuge music lover, and although ill listen to anything once, i mostly reach for pop, rock, and indie/alt and a dash of rap. some of my face artists (in abc order) include:

5sos - im not the most dedicated listener but i do have my faves and would see them live in a heartbeat

the aces - one of the most underrated sapphic bands!!

ariana grande - i love my messy messy cancer girl sm

beyonce - not the most dedicated listener but i do love watching her from the sidelines

boygenius - would die for them!!! im especially obsessed w miss lucy

cardi b - love my messy libra soooo much

chappell roan - proud listener since 2020, will always defend my fave emotional support mean confrontational lesbian

demi lovato - underrated vocalist and underrated rock writer! ive been in the trenches for demi since day ONE

doechii - im a new fan but im really serious about it

halsey - another underrated fave! been here since tumblr badland days, will never turn my back on them

hayley williams - best believe ill be at that solo tour if it ever happens, hayley is maybe my fave lyricist of all time

JADE - as in jade from little mix, love her so bad

katie gavin - went to opening night of her tour, life was CHANGED

lucy dacus - i dont mess around about miss lucy....i love her with a fire only quenched by devastating sapphic lyrics

mac miller - the only white boy rapper who deserved rights, rip

maggie rogers - love love love

mega thee stallion - best rapper ever maybe, im deeply in love

muna - praying for their next album asap

paramore - im a late paramore fan, but ive always loved hayley and now that im a full blown parawhore theres no going back

sabrina carpenter - been here since disney days, not going anywhere

sammy rae and the friends - ive seen them every time they come to seattle. also my partner and i went to their concert as our first date so they will always have a sweet spot in my heart

taylor swift - biiiiig folklore, midnights, rep baby, ruthless lover defender

books/tv/movies- im less of a reader and more of a film/tv person. i loooove comedy but im really picky. i particularly love to study books and plays being translated into movies. heres a list of my fave stories in no particular order

little women - maybe my fave book ever, equally obsessed w the movie

hunger games/ ballad of songbirds and snakes - ballad of songbirds is easily my second fave book. i reread the og trilogy for a project in college and haven't looked back since

gilmore girls - late in life fan, but diehard none the less

new girl - plenty of girl content clearly

modern family - underrated comedy imo ?? deserves more hype

wicked - new fan bc of the movie, but insanely obsessed

avatar/legend of korra - unpopular opinion but i love lok more.......complain about it idgaf

the good place - recently rewatched and have it on the mind lol

rent - the musical NOT THE MOVIE !!!! don't bring that nonsense into my house

glee - sorry

biopics in general? - i loved milk growing up, and ive come to appreciate the art. things like battle of the sexes etc

Abbott elementary - best thing on tv rn i don't care argue w the wall

really dumb tlc documentary shows - think long island medium, mom swap, say yes to the dress, honey boo boo etc. if it was on tlc from 2008-2014 i was probably obsessed w it briefly

other topics i just enjoy- idk what im doing anymore, im just trying to connect with people lmao

queer/gender theory - i love this both in the actual real-world implications, but i more love it in terms of writing, performance art, and visual art

disability theory - i grew up in a house with a brother with disabilities, and ive spent so much time

creative nonfiction - this was what i majored in at school. i love the act of representing an emotional truth and how it conflicts/works within our lived reality

fashion and design - im not great at creating textiles, but i love art and fashion. the met gala and grammys are my superbowl fr

criminology - this one might be strange, but i studied it in college as my minor and i didn't realize how much it would influence my worldview for the rest of my life.

pop culture in general - i have a lot of opinions on how people consume media, how people present media, marketing campaigns, trends, the way we connect with others etc

being outside/environmentalism - i work in the outdoor industry as does my partner, so this is just a topic i tend to ruminate on. i love watersports, primarily paddle boarding and kayaking, as well as biking, exploring tidepools in the salish sea, and hammocking. i have a lot of opinions on many of the outdoor companies, but they rarely come up outside of work and my partner lol

drag - i used to do drag ! im not a giant rupaul girl, but im quite found of katya and bob the drag queen for sure. i mostly love gender diverse drag, like drag kings and things

visual art - im an abstract painter, photographer, and a wanna be ceramicist (in desperate need of a kiln and a wheel). im kinda new to art history in general, but as i get older i love to learn more about the greats and what made them so great

learning to cook - ive struggled w eating issues for most of my life, but ive recently been learning how to cook and really truly enjoying it for the first time in my life. im still learning so i wouldn't call myself a good chef yet, but i got some banger dishes so far

astrology - i looooove reading birth charts and transits an insane amount. get some liquor in me and suddenly i have astro.com up and im giving full natal chart readings in the middle of the bar

thats pretty much all there is! its long but pretty representative of what my brain is thinking of 99% of the time. hopefully this will prompt something ? no idea how this site works in our lords year 2025 so

[samcarpnter]

female awesome meme: 3/5 lgbtq+ ladies ♡ korra (the legend of korra)

I'm the old Avatar and my era is not over yet.

[xjulixred45x]

Korra Gang X Geisha (LoK) Reader

Characters: Korra, Mako, Bolin and Asami Sato

Genre: Headcannons

Warnings: mentions of prostitution, Fluff, by Reader's profession, female pronouns will be used.

Geisha: Japanese girl who is dedicated to entertaining and keeping men company by dancing, singing, reciting poetry, serving tea, etc.; She is dressed in the traditional Japanese dress.

Korra

Most likely, she met you during Book 2, at the gathering in honor of Unalaq and the northern water tribe. Being a relatively important event there is also specialized entertainment, so you and some girls from your house were hired to make the meeting a little less tense. Korra found it endearing even if she had no idea what a Geisha was.

Sometime after the banquet, her curiosity got the better of hee and she decided to go ask you directly about it. You were shocked to say the least. The avatar was talking to you! So while the conversation and explanation flowed well, you were a constant nervous wreck.

As you explain them to Korra, her face lights up a bit more, it's interesting how something seemingly simple actually requires years of understanding, and she respects that a lot.

Suppose you stay in Republic City to independently improve your abilities, rest assured, Korra welcomes you with open arms and plenty of moral support.

Going straight to the dating stage, korra is someone who like I said not only supports your work but sees all the effort and training behind it, you're not smart but you can do things she could only dream of . play an instrument? do you dance? Poetry? DO YOU SING? DO YOU SING FOR HER?

a lot of emotion

Since she goes to important events from time to time, I think I would encourage you to go with her and promote your services, if you agree, she stays around to play it safe. You never know.

And if you decide not to, she'll probably talk about it a bit anyway (especially if the person she's talking to has money).

Now, in case someone gets confused with what you do (like the Oirán example) it is already there to prevent any advance, if it is something innocent (ignorance) it will only give a warning, but if it is an important physical advance, it will Sorry friend, say goodbye to your teeth.

Genuinely offended that someone could mistake you for something like that (no offense).

In short, she finds it very endearing and above all admirable, she respects hard work and you deserve all the respect (and love) in the world for her.

Asami

She goes to meetings often, so it is to be expected that there will be entertainment in those meetings, especially if it is about Barrik for example.

But was pleasantly surprised when you performed your act(dances), expecting something much more "Barrik" so it was a breath of fresh air.

Most likely she researches geishas after that and she becomes more interested in it, she wants to know more in a practical way. So she makes sure to subtly tell Barrik that Geisha training would be appropriate in the future, and he agrees.

The next few times you're hired for meetings, your main activity is striking up a conversation with Asami, and being both well-read and intelligent women, it's not difficult at all.

She's delighted with this, you're someone with above-the-average general knowledge, which makes her initial interest grow bigger and bigger the more times you see each other.

When they start a relationship, as I said, she investigates more about the profession and solves her doubts, maybe I asked you, but at the same time she wants to learn it herself.

She definitely enjoys her chats with you a lot, but if she chose another activity to do with you, it would be listening to you play the Shaimen, especially when she's stressed (Barrik's to blame in most cases).

I probably can't make it to all of your events, so I'd ask if you'd like to have something like a bodyguard in case my mother-in-law does something (including asking Bolin or Mako to be there for a while as a favor), and if you say no, it will want you to update it from time to time to be calm.

If it were to happen that someone mistakes you while she's around, she'll most likely glare at them before simply walking off with you. He doesn't tolerate that shit.

It is the best option if you want to take advantage of all your knowledge and artistic skills, she is your number one fan and in events your own personal guard.

Mako

You two met through Wu, obviously he was going to have expensive and extravagant entertainment, but to appear a bit more "sophisticated" he hired all the geisha in your house. It was a great opportunity that they could not pass up. .

Mako, being Mako, while he kept up with Wu, he stuck to the only entertainment that REALLY caught his eye. he has no idea what a Geisha is, but he definitely likes her acts a lot more than the ones Wu brought, and you catch on right away and make small talk to him(and later to Wu too, who by the way still doesn't pronounce "Geisha" appropriately).

From then on, Mako sticks like glue every time they go to an event, giving rise to their current relationship.

As you may have noticed, Mako finds it relaxing compared to all the acts Wu himself performs, it's much more entertaining for him at those times, whether it's a normal chat or just listening to some music (especially the Shaimen), even if is in a particularly good mood, he may join you in the dance.

If he didn't know what a Geisha was before, he didn't know what Oirán was, so the first few times you get mistaken for one, think it's part of a geisha hierarchy, other than you just ignore it. , then it does the same.

That is until a guest tries to get too close and the other geishas jump on him and practically kick him out, then they explain in more detail the work of a Geisha and an Oirán, he is left confused. Who would be stupid enough to confuse you like that? Really? The only thing they have in common is white makeup! Has no sense!

From then on,You better hopes to have Mako near he almost always, it's not because he thinks that you can't take care of yourself or that the other geisha can't, but understand, he cares a lot about you and he I don't want you to have a bad time for some idiot being brainless.

He still keeps some distance if you ask him, it's your job after all, he doesn't want to get you in trouble with your teacher.

He likes to see you prepare your makeup, the hairstyles you put on and thinks that Kimonos are much more complex than they seem (and HEAVY), he admires the dedication you give to your work, he compares it to what it is to be a detective for him (yes, that important).

In general, he respects your profession a lot and supports it 100%, just make sure you take care of yourself and that he is calm 👍 and if not, he Will kicks they ass it himself.

Bolin

I honestly believe that they met when you were still training to be a Geisha, he would be the only one who has known what it is for a long time, he asked you many questions. Why is your face so white? Do you even eat? Where are those clothes from? Where do you come from? Are you a princess or something like that (you look like one)? Would you be her friend? etc..

You couldn't spend a lot of time with him because the training is very demanding, but he was always very friendly with you, you didn't have to say no, so your few days off you and Bolin would go for a walk around republic city, just do things of your own. age, go to pro-bending tournaments, drink some tea, etc.

It really makes you feel better about yourself thanks to those little moments, obviously being a Geisha was what you wanted, but it wasn't easy.

Luckily Bolin is there to give you moral support! Once he tried to get into the Okiwa house to cheer you up and they kicked him out, he learned his lesson, don't worry.

When you're FINALLY an official Geisha, expect Bolin to celebrate with you as if it's an achievement for both of you, he knows full well how much that title means to you so he's so glad.

Unfortunately it also made your already limited free time even more scarce, you had to learn in the field, so you constantly went to parties and events that left you exhausted.

Luckily Bolin, although a bit sad, fully understood, you worked so hard for this and he doesn't want you to lose it because of him.

However, on some occasions you escape from homework and go to do things like see him in his pro-control training, which seems to give him a very high energy rush, if you can't attend, dream of asking them to turn on the radio to listen to the game and the next day you congratulate him for winning or console him for losing. Before you know it, their apparently platonic relationship turned romantic, they don't know how it happened, but I don't know what they're complaining about

As far as you work, Bolin is THE BEST about it, he can even learn how to do your makeup and thus 1. Spend more time together and 2. give you a hand, he even does some really nice hairdos.

If someone confuses you with an Oirán, he react SO OFFENDED (even more than you). Really upset about something like that, I mean, even HE sees the difference. Is it really that hard to understand that they are not the same thing?

He definitely loves dancing above all else, he joins you and they even give him a fan to match.

Best boy ever, both as a boyfriend and as an assistant for the functions.

[atlabeth]

hey! i love your zuko fics so much and was wondering if you’d like to write this, because the idea just popped up: maybe a zuko x reader fluff that takes place before/during LOK? maybe they’re reminiscing about their past adventures w the Gaang while helping out the new Team Avatar? idk it’s just that every time I see old zuko it makes me soft and emotional 🥲🔥❤️ anyways, much love! (and don’t feel pressured to do this at all, I was just thinking abt who I could submit this request to, and obvi my first choice was you 💕)

reminiscence - zuko x fem!reader

summary: just because you and your husband are retired doesn’t mean you don’t have amazing advice for the new team avatar.

a/n: this is so cute omg!! thank you so much for requesting this and thank you for much for your kind words i'm honored <33 im so sorry this took so long

sorry im posting so much lately im trying to stop slacking and publish things that have been wips for over a month sdkjfh

wc: 1.3k

warning(s): none bc i choose to ignore the news of zaheer’s plan right after this scene

-

Retirement was… nice.

You had spent your childhood fighting with the Avatar to end the Hundred Year War, a feat that was only made more difficult with your Fire Nation roots and connection to the banished prince. But all that’s well ends well, and you ended up getting your happy ending together — you had to fight hard for it, though.

You married Zuko at nineteen, three years after he ascended to the throne, and spent the subsequent years balancing your duties as Fire Lady and taking care of your daughter. Ruling the Fire Nation was a lot, but you knew you could get through anything with your husband at your side.

When he told you his plans to abdicate the throne, you were more than supportive. One of Zuko’s biggest fears was becoming his father, and by giving up his position willingly to Izumi, it guaranteed that he wouldn’t fall victim to the power-obsessed ways of his ancestors. It also gave him a well-deserved break after decades of being Fire Lord, and you were more than ready to get out of the world of Fire Nation politics. You had sat through enough meetings to fill multiple lifetimes.

But just because the two of you weren’t as involved in every day affairs of the world didn’t mean that you were completely out of it. No, that was far from the truth. You and Zuko were still some of the most important people in all of the nations, which meant it wasn’t a rare occurrence for your husband to be called off on some sort of mission.

One such mission was stopping the Order of the Red Lotus for the second time; Zuko had been part of the team that stopped them from kidnapping Avatar Korra as a child, so it was no surprise that he had been called to help for a second time. You knew even in his old age that your husband was powerful, but you couldn’t help but feel concerned about everything he was doing.

This concern was ultimately what led you to join Zuko on his trip to meet with Chief Beifong and Chief Tonraq in the Misty Palms Oasis. He had originally been against your involvement, claiming that the Red Lotus was far too dangerous, and he didn’t want to risk you getting injured in any way. You, of course, weren’t having it. “The Avatar’s in trouble, and I’d like to think I know a few things about getting out of trouble.”

One thing was certain after you arrived — it had been far too long since you had ridden on the back of a dragon. You truly adored Druk, and you felt bad for everyone that would never have the opportunity.

After conversing with Lin and Tonraq inside, you all exited to greet the new Team Avatar. If what you were told was true, then they had been through quite a lot since leaving Zaofu. For as long as you had been involved in foreign affairs, you had never met Avatar Korra nor her friends, so you didn’t know what to expect — an awestruck boy that could barely speak wasn’t at the top of your list though.

“Oh my gosh. It’s Lord Zuko and Lady Y/N. I can’t believe it!” He stared at the two of you with wide eyes, his voice getting higher and higher as he whimpered. He looked like he was going to fall over until another black-haired boy pulled him out of the way, his tone apologetic.

“Uh, forgive my brother,” he said as he put his fist against his open palm, his brother following suit. “We’re just really honored to meet you both.”

“It’s no problem,” you smiled as you and Zuko returned the greeting. It had been years since someone had reacted that way towards you, and you would be lying if you said it didn’t amuse you. “It’s a pleasure to meet you as well.”

The two boys straightened again as the taller one gestured to them each in turn. “I’m Mako, and this is Bolin. We’re Korra’s friends.”

“Ah, she’s got her own Team Avatar?” You inquired with a twinkle in your eye. “You know, I traveled with Avatar Aang years back along with my husband.”

“Of course I know!” Bolin exclaimed. “Oh, I’ve heard so many stories about your adventures, they’re all so amazing!” His eyes widened and you actually thought that he was going to fall over. “Oh, oh, could you tell us about some of the things you went through?”

“Bolin, we really shouldn’t bother them—” Mako started, but you laughed and waved it off.

“I assure you, there’s nothing to worry about. It’s not often I get to relive my journeys to such avid listeners. What would you like to hear about?”

He thought for a couple seconds then shot back up again. “What was it like when you escaped the Boiling Rock together? You guys were the first people to ever break out, right? That had to be amazing!”

You and Zuko both laughed as you shot him a look. “It was… interesting,” he said.

“By interesting, he means it was a complete disaster,” you corrected. “Everywhere something could’ve gone wrong, it went wrong. They had originally come there to rescue Sokka’s dad, but instead they found Suki and I. Then Zuko got found out and thrown into prison, our first escape plan failed, Sokka almost got found out, Azula showed up… it was honestly a miracle we made it out at all.”

“It wasn’t that bad!” he protested. “Getting thrown into prison was part of the plan, we wouldn’t have been able to get the cooler out if I hadn’t been found out.”

“I guess I can’t complain,” you chuckled. “I did get to punch you a couple times.”

“They are so cool,” Bolin whispered as the two of you went on in the background. He elbowed Mako in the shoulder and gestured towards the couple with his head. “Come on, ask them something! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity!”

“I’m not going to ask them something, Bolin—”

“Excuse me, my brother has something he wants to ask too!” Mako shot him a dirty look which quickly disappeared when you and Zuko turned to him attentively.  

“Oh, um…” He coughed and scratched his head. “I guess.. is there any advice you have for us? With this whole Team Avatar thing, I mean.” You smiled at Mako and took Zuko’s hand.

“The friendships you forge during your journey are the most important thing — they’re the things that will keep you going during your darkest moments, and they will last a lifetime. There will be mountains and valleys, ebbs and flows, but no matter what, you will hold an unbreakable bond.”

You felt Zuko squeeze your hand and turned your smile on him as you returned the sentiment then nodded for him to continue. “Never take anything for granted, and trust in fate. You’re where you are for a reason — everything will end up working out in the end.”

You grinned and kissed him on the cheek, humming in agreement. “It did, didn’t it?”

-

After a few more minutes of talking with the two brothers, they went off to join the rest of their group. It was strange being on the outside of it all after how intense your childhood was, but it was… refreshing not to have the weight of the world on your shoulders anymore.

“The world’s in good hands with them,” you murmured as you leaned your head on Zuko’s shoulder.

“They all have that same fire you had when I first met you,” Zuko chuckled. You watched the four of them conversing and a smile graced your lips.

“Oh? Then I think the world’s in very good hands.”

-

perm tag list: @dv0412 @siriuslyslyslytherin

[raviposting]

🎬📺 Share ten different favorite characters from ten different pieces of media in no particular order 🎮🃏 Then send this to 10 people (anon or not, your choice)

Ooh I love this okay let's go hyperfixations <3

Miguel Diaz (Cobra Kai). My baby boy!!! Just finished season 5 and I love my kiddo sm, he can do no wrong ever in his life <3

Jay Arondekar (Ghosts). LOVEEEE this dude, he's supportive, he's funny, he's dare I say the perfect man? Genuinely though he's fantastic I love him sm

Lucas Sinclair (Stranger Things) Another son, deserves the world, only good things should happen to him ever

Kamala Khan (Ms. Marvel) I was honestly stuck between her and Kamran bc I love them both SO much but god, I really see a lot of myself in her and I just adore her sm

Janine Teagues (Abbott Elementary). She's just so nifty!!! She's such a great teacher and I adore her enthusiasm.

Wong (Marvel) I mean c'mon who doesn't love Wong? Monsters, that's who.

Ravi Panikkar (911 Fox). He!! Every time we get a teaser and he's not in it I did a little on the inside actually

Guillermo de la Cruz (What We Do In the Shadows) HEEEEEEEEEEEE. Id' say he deserves everything but he's a literal serial killer so ;alskjf;laksfdj. But I love him sm

Korra (Legend of Korra). One of my favorite characters ever - definitely my top 5 female characters of all time. She means everything to me

Ben Hargreeves (The Umbrella Academy) My fucking guyyyyy. Ghost or dick version, I love them both so much lmao. Dude's so great

[battlekidx2]

Amphibia Season 3B Thoughts (Part 1)

Because of Tumblr’s image limit I split my thoughts into 2 parts. This part will cover “Escape to Amphibia” to “The Root of Evil”. (part 2 link)

With Amphibia entering its endgame next week I’ve decided to look back at all the episodes of season 3B so far and give my collected thoughts on each episode (I plan to do the same with The Owl House. Hollow Mind was insane). I’ve had a lot of fun with Amphibia as a show and want to finally give it the attention it deserves because I’ve had the luck of following this show since before season 2 began airing. I binged the first season on Disney+ in 2020 around the time that lockdown officially went into effect and I’ve been hooked since. This wasn’t a show I followed since the beginning like Korra or She-ra but I got into it early in its run and it holds a special place for me in the lexicon of cartoons I have watched because of this.

Matt Braly said on twitter that this week’s episodes were the last “fun episodes'' of the show before it officially entered its endgame. That coupled with his statement that the finale is pretty much a three parter that begins with “The beginning of the end” has made it so I would like to cover the final 3 weeks worth of episodes in one post (we’ll see I may become too excited to wait) and split my 3B review/thoughts into 2 parts.

Escape to Amphibia

Okay, I want to get this out of the way because it’s a bit nitpicky and just my personal preference. I said in my Amphibia series thoughts post that I thought this should have been the season 3A finale and I still stand by that statement. Would that have hurt me because of the cliffhanger it would have ended on? Yes, but I think that this would have been the best point to end 3A on because it would truly feel like the beginning of the end of Amphibia, the closing of the earth chapter of the story and the beginning of the endgame. 

I really love the Christmas episode but it felt like an odd point to end 3A on considering how close to the endgame Amphibia was. Though it is on brand for Amphibia considering 2A ended on “The Shut in” which was a halloween themed episode. With that nitpick out of the way I’d like to talk about the actual episode which I really like.

I really liked how the episode made the music box theme and design make sense on a lore level and really expand what I initially thought was just a cool design choice. The music working as coordinates for other worlds was such a unique detail that I wasn’t really expecting for them to incorporate. In hindsight this was really obvious but at the time I was shocked.

I like that the episode chose to focus on Anne’s struggles to say goodbye to her parents. The first time she went to Amphibia she didn’t get to do that. She disappeared without any knowledge about where she went or if she would ever be able to get back. There was no closure on either end. Her avoidance boils over because she can’t ignore the seemingly insurmountable tasks she must complete and the reality that her making it back home isn’t guaranteed this time either. She’s going to be saying goodbye to her parents for maybe the last time and that hurts. 

Anne’s parents are once again the MVPs of the season with their heartfelt assurance and support helping Anne forward. They are just so supportive. This is probably redundant because everyone knows this by now but Anne has the best parents. They made her a care package and helped her go against the FBI and knew how important getting back to Amphibia is to her even through her conflict. (They are also telling Mr. X about everything which I think brings credence to the theory that earth and Amphibia will have to fight together. If that’s the case Anne’s parents really are the MVPs on the earth side of the story)

This episode was full of visual callbacks which helped sell that this was the endgame. Everything has changed, all the characters have impacted each other in some way, and nothing can ever be the same. The contrast really emphasizes the passage of time. The two most striking visual callback are when Anne uses her powers and stomps on the ground to knock the FBI agents over and the final shot of Anne and the Planters overlooking what has become of Amphibia.

I really like the scene where Anne activates her powers and strengthens the portal. The visual parallels are really fun. The scene above is very reminiscent of Sasha during the third temple and I think that is intentional. Sasha’s redesign has her incorporate blue into her armor along with the red which symbolizes how Anne has changed Sasha and how she is incorporating the lessons she has learned throughout Amphibia and through Anne into herself. The effect on each other is mutual. Sasha was not a good friend to Anne before this point but her good traits (when not taken to the extreme) have rubbed off on Anne and in some ways inspired her like she said in “The Third Temple”.

The second parallel, the final shot with Anne and the Plantars overlooking Amphibia was so jarring and it was even more shocking because this is the exact same view that they saw when they first exited the valley and the world was opened to them. The contrast between those two moments is amazing. 

This really sells the feeling that this episode marks the beginning of the end of Amphibia. It also makes sure that the lasting impact of True Colors is felt. We saw it in “Olivia and Yunan” briefly but it hits differently when it’s through the eyes of Anne and the Plantars. We’ve spent more time with them and these are the characters we first explored this world with so even though this wasn’t the first time we saw this in some ways it felt like it was (hopefully that made sense).

Side note: I loved all the Star Wars references. I’m a massive star wars fan so seeing Anne in the dark hallway with the red light saber and knowing it was a homage to Darth Vader’s scene (you know the one) in Rogue One just elevated it for me. This was just pure fun.

I don’t have much that I wasn’t a fan of. It’s more there are things I wish we could have seen more of. I really liked the dynamic of Terri and Dr. Jan in this episode and wish that they had interacted earlier.

Commander Anne/Sprivy

I had fun with these episodes. I have the same problems with them that I’ve seen a lot of people voice about how it makes Anne less capable than she usually is so that they can rush Sasha being given back command but I do believe that Sasha was the better person to be in command because of her experiences as a lieutenant in the toad army and her natural cunning and leadership ability. 

Anne knows that she isn’t aware of all the things that Sasha is and she’s not quite ready to jump into a leadership role immediately. She’s having to go from earth and leaving her family behind again to leader of a rebellion in less than 24 hours. That’s a lot of pressure to put on anyone so Anne struggling to fill the role is natural.

Having Anne and Sasha form a partnership rather than a commander and subordinate role was smart. Sasha has a knack for warfare and leadership that Anne doesn’t have but Anne is more in tune with the feelings of those around her and can understand their needs. They both have different, complementary strengths that make them equals. The execution was a little off but the points the episode makes and the conclusion it comes to are all things I agree with based on the characters. (I wrote in my Amphibia series thoughts about how well Sasha’s experiences and traits make her transition to rebellion leader work)

I love Sasha’s new character design. The blue incorporated into her previously completely red outfit shows how Anne has changed her and how she has accepted it as part of herself now. Her hair is down in contrast to her usual updo and shows how she has loosened her stranglehold on having control and is more open emotionally (a very literal representation of “letting her hair down”).

She is also noticeably more muscular now which matches her strength gem and shows her dedication to training that has been talked about in every season (she literally wore weighted clothing all the time as shown in the third temple and was nonstop training in toadcatcher). This redesign is also just really cool.

I liked the idea that Sasha immediately gave up control because she doesn’t trust herself with all the power. She believes that she ruined everything last time (to be fair she sort of did) but she neglects to give herself credit for how much she has changed. The old Sasha wouldn’t have relinquished power in the first place and would have fought every step of the way to keep control. The fact that she is so afraid of falling back into old habits shows that she’s different.

Sasha has been faced with multiple crossroads throughout the series and until “Turning Point” she always made the wrong choice. Her decision in “Turning Point” and her continued attempts to be different than she was before is what I believe redemption is all about, continually choosing to be a different, better person every step of the way.

I appreciate that Anne thought that Sasha’s insistence that Anne needs to be in charge was a new manipulation tactic because even though Sasha has changed Anne hasn’t been there to see it happen. Sasha has betrayed Anne twice and no amount of verbal assurance that she’s a new person can change the damage that has been done in such a short amount of time. 

Now for “Sprivy”. I liked Sasha in this episode (not that surprising) because even though she’s turned over a new leaf she isn’t suddenly a completely different person. She calls Sprig and Ivy “Twerp and twerpette”, is completely done with their clingy fledgling relationship very quickly, and is still prone to anger (though she does hold it back much better). 

I don’t have much to say about this episode outside of this, the fact that I like that Wally’s father comes back as the rich benefactor that is supporting wartwood and Sprivy learning that they shouldn’t let their new relationship dictate all their decisions was nice because first relationships can be hard to find that balance in.

Sasha’s Angels/Olm Town Road

First up “Sasha’s angels”. This episode was fun but didn’t contribute to the plot nearly as much as I would have hoped. I had a lot of fun with Toadie but I was a lot more interested in the Anne and Sasha part of the episode even if it didn’t get much focus comparatively. Sasha’s redemption and reconciliation with Anne have been a long time coming so I appreciate all the points in the story where they are allowed to adress the cracks in their relationship. 

Anne doubts Sasha’s intentions when it comes to waiting for Mrs. Croaker’s team instead of charging in to save them. She understandably doubts that Sasha sees the frogs as individuals she cares for instead of disposable pawns like she did with the toad army. This is understandable considering how Sasha frequently saw others as stepping stones for her to use to gain control. But it’s made clear once again that Sasha truly has changed. She does care about those “beneath” her but she knows that she can’t charge recklessly in because that could make things worse for everybody. 

Anne really did show Sasha how to trust others to do things rather than take control and do everything yourself but she hasn’t been here for months and hasn’t had the chance to see the way the others have grown so she is also understandably worried. It’s not that she doesn’t trust them its just that her last time seeing them they would not have been able to escape the way that they did. It’s another case of seeing how Anne has changed the people around her, the frogs have learned to stand up for themselves and Sasha has changed her leadership mindset for the better, and how the others can help Anne.

Now onto “Olm Town Road”. Sasha steals this episode. She very clearly projects onto Lysil and Angwin and it adds another layer to Sasha’s guilt over her mistakes. Sasha’s anger on Lysil and Angwin’s behalf reflects her own guilt and desire for redemption and fear that she doesn’t deserve this third chance that Anne has given her. If they can’t find redemption then how can she? (though if we’re being honest Sasha is at least on her third chance, so her spiel about second chances is a little comedic in this context)

I like that they aren’t totally ignoring Sasha’s mistakes or downplaying her desire to make things right. There hasn’t been a big blow up or a confrontation like I think some people expected, I expected more pushback myself before the episodes started airing, but I think the Amphibia crew has done a good job showing how this has effected them in every interaction they’ve had so far. 

Sasha continuously overcompensates while trying to prove she’s changed and become the person “Anne deserves'' and Anne has doubted Sasha’s intentions and motivation on more than one occasion. Anne isn’t the type of person to blow up at someone. Her actions in “True Colors'' weren't the norm but they were necessary. She was standing up for herself and Sasha deserved to be told off for betraying Anne yet again. And if Sasha was to show that side of her again in 3B I have no doubt that Anne would blow up at her once more but Sasha has been genuinely trying and Anne can see that.

Anne wants her friend back as seen in her journal and if Sasha is willing to try then Anne will meet her halfway (this and Anne saw the start of change when Sasha fought with her in True Colors). This has always been Anne’s character. I can understand wishing there was more conflict because of how devastating the second betrayal was and how final her severing their friendship seemed at the time, but I don’t think this is out of character.

I also believe there is some guilt on Anne’s part for their last fight on top of the Newtopian walls. Anne was understandably angry but she was being vicious in their last fight, going for headshots and kill blows (crew members even pointed it out on twitter afterwards). Sasha was obviously holding back, constantly on the defensive and not even trying to go on the offensive, and could have ended the fight at multiple points if she wanted to (like in the photo below) but she chose to try and reason with Anne. I think Anne recognizes this and feels bad about it. She thinks they both screwed up in their last encounter. 

And Anne got to see the start of Sasha’s change. “Turning Point” was obviously the true start to Sasha’s redemption where she was at a crossroads and finally made the right choice, but “True Colors” was where she first decided to have Anne’s back and hold Andrias off so that Anne and Marcy could make it through the portal. We got to see them work together (in a “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” sort of way). Sasha finally gives up control to someone else by deciding to have their back and tries to take responsibility for her actions and set things right. Anne got to see Sasha’s good qualities shine through even if it was only for a moment.

Sasha’s moment of standing up to the Olm leader also shows a moment of growth. Sasha has stood in that very position and yelled at leaders before in “Barrel’s Warhammer” as shown below.

In “Barrel’s Warhammer” she is standing on top of a toad soldier, not caring who she has to walk on for power, and yelling at the leaders because they don’t want her and Grime to lead after hearing that Anne and Marcy were working together in Newtopia. In “Olm Town Road” she is standing atop a drill, a symbol of corruption and greed, that the leader is arguing is planted and defending Lysil and Angwin, two olms she just met, claiming that she doesn’t care what the Olm’s think of her if they can’t see what’s right in front of them, pointing out their hypocrisy.

Overall I had fun with these episodes and really liked how Sasha was used in them (she easily stole the show) but they weren’t exactly what I was expecting if I’m completely honest. The Plantars were kind of just there and they have a tendency to lose relevance within this half of the season. They haven’t had much focus in season 3B (Sprig gets a few episodes later but this doesn’t entirely fix the problem) and they don’t get much growth with anyone outside of Anne save for “Grime’s pupil”.

This was also a really odd cut off point for the episode. I remember watching this when I came out and being confused by that decision. It works better when you can go straight into “Mother of Olms” like I did on this rewatch. I think this odd ending point also played into why people were frustrated with the episode “Mother of Olms” because they had a week of anticipation and build up for what ended up being only 2 minutes worth of plot progression.

Mother of Olms/Grime’s Pupil

“Mother of Olms” was an interesting episode because on the one hand it did finally reveal the prophecy to the characters in the show and we got the implication that Anne could activate Sasha and Marcy’s powers on the other this is a prophecy that any fan that watches youtube or is active in the cartoon community would already know about. 

I watch VGMarkis’ videos (which are phenomenal by the way. I recommend watching his episode breakdowns. His channel is linked) and so I already knew about the prophecy before this episode which sadly made this less enjoyable for me. That and I’ve never been the biggest fan of gross out humor which this episode was chalk full of (though I did enjoy the magic school bus homage that the journey to mother olm’s brain evoked).

But on a much more positive note the music, colors, and animation in this episode were all phenomenal. I’ve always loved the softer color palette that amphibia uses for its world and characters and the coloring for mother Olm and the cave surrounding her were all really pleasing to the eye. The music that played when mother olm recanted the prophecy and answered Anne and Sasha’s questions was great and makes me wish that Amphibia could get  its score released (there are other great tracks like Sasha’s theme, Marcy’s truth, Anne’s powers, etc). 

On a rewatch I actually like this episode a lot more than I did the first time. It hasn’t jumped up to be among my favorites of the series but I wasn’t disappointed like I was when I first watched the episode. I think sometimes expectations can be built sky high when waiting a week, especially for an episode that promises plot progression in a show like Amphibia. I had a lot more fun with this episode and liked the reveal of the prophecy much more. I could sit back and take in the visuals and music without anything clouding my expectations which really helped me.

The extra ramblings of mother olm are also a lot clearer on re-watch. Mother olm talks about how Anne, Sasha, and Marcy are meant to save Amphibia from their worst selves while the screen shows them fighting off what has been confirmed to be “a symbolic representation of Amphibia’s greed and corruption”. This once again hammers home the themes of the show. Amphibia is about change and growth and becoming your best self. Anne and Sasha have both changed for the better from their first appearances and they have changed the characters around them for the better as well. 

This is also the case for Marcy (not to the same degree as Sasha and Anne but still). She helped Newtopia and effected Yunan, Olivia, and is implied to have at the very least seeded doubt into Andrias. This whole show is about change for the better and bringing out the best in others so it could be setting up Andrias to do “one good thing” with his life. I don’t think he’s had enough moments of doubt and genuine connection to set him up for a full redemption but having him do one good thing would be fitting.

Marcy is the only one of the three friends that still has an arc to undergo. Anne and Sasha have gotten to the point where they have been able to work through their toxic traits and have made genuine connections. Matt Braly said that Marcy didn’t make any genuine connections in her time in Amphibia and this hurdle is part of her character arc. I really want to see how this will be handled. I have faith in the Amphibia crew so I’m not nervous.

Also Sasha was pathetic this episode and it was really funny. The fearless leader of the rebellion who has never had to put her name in the book of cowards tried to sit out this mission because it was too gross. 

In the first 2 and a half seasons because of Sasha’s limited screen time every episode she was in was very plot and character focused. She didn’t really get the chance to be ridiculous in the same way everyone else was because her episodes were heavy in drama and angst. Now thanks to her upgrade in status to the main cast she gets to have these types of moments and I couldn’t be happier.

I unironically loved “Grime’s Pupil”. It wasn’t the episode I thought I would come away enjoying more between the two but it was. I really like the decision to pair up Grime and Sprig. They haven’t had much of a chance to interact in the series and none of their interactions have been one on one until now. I am biased because I love Grime and I have wanted more of him since the show returned to Amphibia. His dynamic with Sasha is my favorite in the entire series but I have wanted to see how he interacts with other characters when he’s outside of Sasha’s orbit for a while now.

Sprig and Grime was such a fun dynamic to explore. I didn’t really think that much about the level of animosity Sprig must have felt towards Grime for years until this episode and I liked how it handled Grime and Sprig learning to respect the people that each of them had become. Grime is no longer the tyrant who only wanted power and didn’t care for the people beneath him and Sprig isn’t a helpless, weak frog that toads are conditioned to believe all frogs are.

I love how exaggerated Grime and Sprig’s expressions would become in this episode. They got to have some of the most fun and dynamic animation in 3B. I liked how the exaggeration was used in the fights as well to emphasize Grime and Sprig’s strengths in their fight against the Hybeenas (I don’t know if I spelled that right).

I also enjoyed being able to see Sasha and Anne being friends and in a partnership leading the rebellion. Anne filling in Sasha’s blind spots when it comes to the feelings of Sprig and Grime and backing her up in her decree that made Sprig and Grime work together was just fun background development. That and the fact that we’ve gotten to see them be a lot more casual with their touches and interactions (like holding hands in “Mother of Olms”, Sasha slinging her arm around Anne’s shoulders, the “drumroll please”, etc). There isn’t the weight or awkwardness that was present in season 2 and we are seeing two people who are childhood friends interacting.

We get to see some cracks in Sasha’s usually put together facade (let's face it Sasha is a mess underneath. We all know it) during the cheer at Sprig and Beatrix’s matchup. “I’m very busy Hop Pop!” and not changing the cheer makes me question how exactly she is coping with the stress she is under. This is just a little thing that I would like to see more insight into if possible.

The Root of Evil

“The Root of Evil” was unexpected because I would have never in a million years thought that a cartoon airing on Disney channel would have an entire episode paying homage to Midsommar. I remember watching Midsommar in theaters when it came out (I am a fan of many A24 films and appreciate their horror) and so I understood all the references.

This scene in particular gave me chills. Anyone who’s watched the movie knows  what this is referencing and lets just say it’s not nearly as fun as this makes it out to be which should say something.

I really like how season 3 is bringing back aspects from seasons 1 and 2 so that the story really feels like it is coming full circle. This is a plot point I knew was going to come back when I first watched “Children of the Spore” and I’m only shocked that it didn’t come back earlier.

I appreciate that this is a Hop Pop centric episode. There isn’t any real new development on his end though which I wish was rectified. The Plantars feel superfluous at times and when they do get the spotlight it doesn’t really further their development as characters or their relationship to others (Polly is sort of just there in 3B). I understand that season 3B has a lot of ground to cover and I think the decision to focus on other characters and plot points works because of this. I just feel that most of the episodes focusing on the Plantars this season haven’t packed the same punch that episodes in seasons 1 and 2 did.

Side note: I love the Major Armstrong reference. This actually isn’t the only Fullmetal Alchemist brotherhood reference this show has made. My favorite is probably Anne pointing at Sasha when being dragged out of the throne room in “True Colors” being a reference to the scene where Edward swears to come back for Alphonse when he sees him at the doors of truth.

Also there continues to be Hop Pop death flags. 

[firelxdykatara]

gods, ok, apparently i’m not done.

atla fandom? we need to have a chat.

(....ok that made me sound pretentious as fuck. and maybe i am, but this needs to be said, cause i’m getting....real, real tired of a Certain Corner of this fandom and as a result, this is gonna be a discourse-heavy post so feel free to scroll past if that’s not your bag. as always, my salt posts all carry the catch-all #salt for ts tag, which you’re free to blacklist/filter at your leisure. i’m Very Annoyed at the moment, which will probably come through in the following post, so just. yknow. be prepared for that. or ignore it, that’s perfectly valid too.)

under a cut bc i do care for my followers and their sanity i swear lmao

there’s a real serious issue in this fandom with not understanding what queer terminology actually means or implies, especially when applied to a fictional narrative.

i’m specifically talking about ‘coding’, here. (if i were in a more meme-y mood, i might have said ‘the atla fandom found out about the term “gay-coding” and haven’t shut up since’.)

to the people who say ‘zuko is gay-coded’, i have this to say: you keep using that word. i do not think it means what you think it means. because he isn’t. i’m sorry, but he’s not! and the fact that this is such a prevalent claim in this fandom is distressing, bc it says to me that none of y’all know what gay-coding is or when and how to apply it! please, i’m begging you, go and look up these terms and what they mean and when they should be used before actually trying to plug them into your critical analysis, because when you misuse them and then call other people delusional for disagreeing with you it casts a pall over the entire fandom and is, i think, the root of some of the worst toxicity this fandom has to offer.

and the thing is, there are cases where gay-coding would apply--for instance, a couple series that are famous for queerbaiting their audience by coding their main characters as being attracted to one another (sometimes even despite their openly stated sexualities) come to mind, but those shows bare no similarities at all to atla and how zuko was written and portrayed! (and it would be funny, if it weren’t so obnoxious and infuriatingly wide-spread throughout the fandom, because the only queer couple we actually seen on-screen in either show wasn’t even queer-coded in any respect, and they’re canonically bi! [yes, i’m shading korrasami, or more accurately i’m shading bryke for refusing to give ka the build-up and development they deserved].)

this absolutely isn’t to say that headcanoning zuko as gay is a bad thing or invalid in any respect. (although the tendency for zukka shippers to do this specifically to keep zuko away from katara and/or invalidate his canon relationship/attraction to girls is more than a little eyebrow raising. especially since sokka is usually allowed to be bi, bc fans have no problem letting sukka stay in the background bc it’s no real threat, while jetko shippers are happy to have both boys be bi. [possibly bc katara is less a threat to jetko bc jetkotara is every bit as valid as any single ship between the three, but zukka can’t exactly let katara join in, and if the potential exists for zuko to be attracted to her then canon giving them the far deeper emotional bond becomes a threat to zukka’s existence? idk for sure--you be the judge.]) i prefer to hc zuko as bi (and always have, long before the atla renaissance), bc i don’t think zuko being attracted to boys is outside the realm of possibility, and it isn’t a threat to my ship since zuko&katara had a deep and emotional bond in canon that is very easy to develop further into something that becomes explicitly romantic--but the headcanon itself isn’t really the problem (although what it’s often in service to can be).

it’s the strange insistence that this is the only way to read his character, bc he was coded that way and so anyone who doesn’t see it must be too straight to understand--and i really shouldn’t have to say why and how that is so incredibly fucking insulting. (the ‘hetero lenses’ comment wasn’t cute when it came from bryke six years ago, and the same sentiment being repackaged and delivered by zukka shippers ain’t cute now.)

calling zuko gay-coded not only demonstrates ignorance as to what the term actually means, and how to usefully apply it in critical analysis, but also validates the frankly bullshit insertion of institutionalized homophobia in the world of atla where it was neither needed, nor wanted, nor ever hinted at in canon. as a queer woman i’m still infuriated by one fucking comic panel shoving institutionalized and systemic homophobia into a world where it was entirely unnecessary (and doing this in the first installment of the franchise showcasing a queer relationship??? making korra and asami worried about ‘coming out’ when they could have just gone on to have cute adventures together and tell people ‘hey we’re dating’ and have everyone else be ‘that’s awesome =DDD’ [because it is, in fact, possible to just have a world without homophobia i promise!!!!!] double yikes, i’m still pissed at bryke about it), and i doubly hate that ‘zuko is gay coded’ has become so widespread that ‘ozai hates him bc he’s gay’ has become a staple in that part of the fandom.

not only does making zuko gay and implying (or outright stating) that ozai hated and abused him because of it completely undermine zuko’s character arc by making his abuse about his sexuality rather than ozai’s toxic pride and anger at seeing himself reflected in his ‘weak’ son, but it comes very close to outright stating that abuse and trauma are inherently gay experiences, and they aren’t!!! they really aren’t, i promise!!!

abuse and trauma narratives exist outside of ‘my dad hates me because i’m gay’. and, quite frankly, there are MORE THAN ENOUGH queer trauma narratives out in the world. we do not need to start trying to retroactively make them canon in a series where they didn’t exist! if you’re gay and see yourself in zuko and project your own experiences on him, that’s understandable and valid. that does not make zuko gay-coded. and honestly, the insistence that he is makes very little sense to me, because you’re essentially trying to give the show credit for work you put into interpreting the characters! why would you want to do that? why not own your own headcanons and take credit for them, rather than insisting they are canon and everyone else is wrong for not seeing them??? like, i’ve said before that i’ve always headcanoned zuko (and katara) as bi, and even support it with my interpretations of evidence from the show, but the difference between ‘i think zuko is bi’ and ‘zuko is definitely gay-coded’ is that i know that bi zuko is my interpretation of canon, and that it is work i’m putting into the show that wasn’t actually intended by the creators/writers, no matter how much sexual tension i read into the jetko swordfight.

and like, zuko’s character arc doesn’t actually parallel a queer one all that well to begin with. it’s easy enough to do the work and twist it sideways just enough to make the general points fit, but the fact is, zuko’s arc is not one of self-discovery. it’s not one of coming to understand something fundamental about himself that he can’t change, that he was hated for, and coming out to his father in a dramatic confrontation where he shows that he understands himself and doesn’t need his father’s acceptance to be fulfilled.

zuko’s arc is actually one of trauma and healing. and those can (and often are--like i said, there are more than enough queer trauma narratives in the world, atla really doesn’t need to be one of them) be part of queer narratives, for sure! but they aren’t uniquely queer. and zuko’s confrontation with ozai during the eclipse doesn’t read like a ‘coming out’ at all. (yes, i’ve seen that post. yes, i rolled my eyes and moved on, bc unlike some people, i’m capable of not clowning on correctly tagged posts i disagree with.) zuko is specifically confronting ozai over his abuse, because his arc wasn’t about discovering anything fundamental about himself (and therefore realizing that ozai was hating him for something he couldn’t change)--it was about realizing that he was not at fault for the way his father treated him. it was also about realizing that the fire nation was broken and corrupt at its core, and that his father was an aspect of that he needed to break away from so that he could help the world begin to heal.

he says it himself:

Zuko: No, I've learned everything! And I've had to learn it on my own! Growing up, we were taught that the Fire Nation was the greatest civilization in history. And somehow, the War was our way of sharing our greatness with the rest of the world. What an amazing lie that was. The people of the world are terrified by the Fire Nation. They don't see our greatness. They hate us! And we deserve it! We've created an era of fear in the world. And if we don't want the world to destroy itself, we need to replace it with an era of peace and kindness.

making this about zuko being gay and rejecting ozai’s homophobia, rather than zuko learning fundamental truths about the world and about his home and about how there was something deeply wrong with his nation that needed to be fixed in order for the world to heal (and, no, ‘homophobia’ is not the answer to ‘what is wrong with the fire nation’, i’m still fucking pissed at bryke about that), misses the entire point of his character arc. this is the culmination of zuko realizing that he should never have had to earn his father’s love, because that should have been unconditional from the start. this is zuko realizing that he was not at fault for his father’s abuse--that speaking out of turn in a war meeting in no way justified fighting a duel with a child.

is that first realization (that a parent’s love should be unconditional, and if it isn’t, then that is the parent’s fault and not the child’s) something that queer kids in homophobic households/families can relate to? of course it is. but it’s also something that every other abused kid, straight kids and even queer kids who were abused for other reasons before they even knew they were anything other than cishet, can relate to as well. in that respect, it is not a uniquely queer experience, nor is it a uniquely queer story, and zuko not being attracted to girls (which is what a lot of it seems to boil down to, at the end of the day--cutting down zuko’s potential ships so that only zukka and a few far more niche ships are left standing) is not necessary to his character arc. nor does it particularly make sense.

(and before anyone brings up his date with jin--a) he enjoyed it when she kissed him, and b) he was a traumatized, abused child going out on a first date. of course he was fucking awkward. have you ever met a teenage boy????)

anyway, uh, that was a lot of words, so have a tl;dr: zuko is not gay-coded. there is nothing uniquely gay (or even uniquely queer) about his character arc or characterization, and he was certainly not coded gay in an attempt to sneak a queer character past the censors. if anyone involved with atla was gonna try that, it would’ve been in lok, and as established, they didn’t even manage to queer-code the actual queer relationship before the last few minutes of the final episode. headcanoning zuko as gay is absolutely fine (though if it’s only done to keep him away from female characters he may otherwise be attracted to, that smells more like misogyny than anything else), but insisting that this reading is the only one that makes sense, and anyone who doesn’t agree must be straight (hello, queer woman here making this insanely long thinkpiece) is very much not.

ship what you like, but stop trying to invalidate other ships and other interpretations of characters just to make your ship seem more plausible. it’s really not a good look.

[kingwuko]

Wuko in the Comics: Ruins of the Empire, Book 1 part 2

Welcome to my series of posts discussing Wuko in the Comics. In this post I'll continue to discuss RotE Book 1. There are some... interesting moments in the second half of this comic, including a very famous line that all but confirms canon Wuko.

Plot Summary

Fearing that Guan will use violence to stop the election, the Krew decides to bring Kuvira along with them to Gaoling, hoping that she can talk him down. When they come face-to-face with Guan, however, they discover he does not intend to use violence, but will run in Gaoling’s election. The Krew decides the best solution is to find another candidate with enough public support to defeat Guan fair and square; and they decide to ask Toph to run. It is revealed, however, that Guan does not intend to win fair and square. He’s planning to brainwash Gaoling’s citizens to vote for him.

Major Plot points in the second half of Book 1

We start off right away with the Sauna Scene. Everyone looks excellent. The ladies' sauna wear is lovely. Mako and Bolin have their classic swim suits seen in season 1. Wu is literally just wearing a towel. I found myself googling saunas and steam baths to see if it’s normal to wear swimsuits or just a towel, and everything I read said pretty much anything goes as long as you are comfortable, but I do find it interesting that everyone wears swimsuits except Wu. Maybe because he does steam baths more often and he’s just more comfortable in that setting? He seems pretty confident and not at all shy. I don’t have anything analytical to say about it, I just think it’s an interesting detail, that he doesn’t seem to have any hang-ups about being nearly naked around Mako his friends.

They are discussing Guan’s militaristic movement toward Gaoling, and tossing ideas around to handle the situation. Mako not-so-helpfully suggests using force with the united forces which Zhu Li shoots down right away, not wanting to escalate the situation. Wu agrees and wants to find a peaceful resolution. Korra, remembering her conversation with Kuvira, thinks she has the answer. She proposes bringing Kuvira along to Gaoling, which NOBODY is happy about. Asami is upset because she made it clear earlier she does not want to be in the same room as Kuvira, Bolin is distressed because Kuvira nearly had him killed when he defected from her inner circle, Mako points out that he nearly lost his arm taking down the mech, Zhu Li says she invaded republic city, Asami reminds everyone that Kuvira killed her father, and Wu boldly declares that we can’t forget she ruined his coronation… He quickly reads the room and apologises (character growth?).

Korra acknowledges everyone’s concerns and points out that she truly believes Kuvira can be an ally- she was their ally when Zaheer was trying to kill her and the airbenders; and when her spirit vine weapon ripped open a new portal to the spirit world, Kuvira thought she had died and Korra believes that changed her. Bolin points out that Kuvira is very persuasive and may have a good shot at convincing Guan to stand down. Everyone is convinced and declares their support for the plan.

Zhu Li orders Kuvira’s release and Korra brings her onto the airship taking them all to Gaoling. And, I’m sorry, this frame is like, the bitchiest collective look from Mako, Wu, Bolin and Pabu. I just love it.

They initially plan to restrain her, but decide it’s pointless when Kuvira points out if she wanted to escape that she would have already. They arrive at Gaoling and there’s no sign of Guan and his army. Kuvira is certain he’ll be there, and points out that she needs to change so she doesn’t meet with him looking like a prisoner.

Korra and Wu go to meet with the election candidates. Their portraits are on the wall and it’s revealed that the candidates are both elderly magistrates who have been working in the local government for a long time. They are practically indistinguishable from each other, which causes Korra concern. Wu isn’t happy about it either, he was hoping the elections would bring in new leaders to take the earth kingdom in a new direction. Instead, it looks like nothing will change in Gaoling or the rest of the earth kingdom if things play out the same way. They are both disappointed but Korra is optimistic that this is the first election and over things will improve as they iron out the political kinks

Back in the flying machine, they give Kuvira an outfit of Asami’s that is…. Like I can’t put it into words. I’ve never seen asami wear it and that is a shame. The word that comes to mind is “Dapper”. Like is we saw Asami wearing it when they first introduced her character literally everyone would have predicted Cannon Korrasami and immeadiately said “yup Asami’s gay straight women don’t dress like that”. Slacks, a collared long sleeve shirt, with a grey vest over top. Just like, amazing. I am so disappointed we never saw Asami wear this. Someone point me to a fanart of Asami in this outfit that canonically belongs to her please.

Guan arrives and Kuvira tries to talk to him, which goes about as well as you’d expect. So she tries to appeal directly to his troops and urges them to surrender, and they all say in unison “Hail Commander Guan!”. So Kuvira decides to challenge Guan and beats the crap out of him in a punch that looks like something directly out of a WWII propaganda poster or something.

Kuvira is literally about to kill him by bending the metal collar around his neck when suddenly Asami electrocutes her with some device she had hidden in the belt she gave Kuvira.

Once Mako and Bolin drag Kuvira away, Korra attempts to reason with Guan and tells him she won’t let him interfere with the election. Guan then reveals he has no intention of interfering- he plans on running in the election! He immediately turns in all the necessary paperwork to be on the ballot. He informs the Krew that soon, all the upcoming elections will have Earth Empire representatives running and once they have power in every territory, no one will question the Earth Empire's right to rule.

They reconvene back on the airship, where Kuvira is detained in the platinum box. They explain to Kuvira that she was wrong to provoke him, but right that he is an excellent strategist. Mako then tells Wu that he should just call off the election. Wu replies “Mako, you know I love you, but I’m trying to encourage democracy. I can’t just go around canceling elections because I don’t like one of the candidates. We need to see how this plays out”

…

Yes. “Mako, you know I love you”

…

We’ll discuss that at length in a bit.

They decide the best path forward is to find a new candidate who is popular enough to beat Guan. Korra excitedly suggests Toph. Which, like, wouldn’t have been the first person to come to mind for me, but I guess she’s the only person they know who is originally from Goaling? But everyone seems on board, except presumably Toph because she doesn't like to get involved in worldly affairs… So Korra announces they will just have to convince her!!

We then cut to Guan's encampment, where he is discussing Kuvira’s actions with a Doctor Sheng, observing that Kuvira just isn’t the same, and that the Avatar has corrupted her mind. The doctor suggests they “recalibrate” Kuvira’s mind and leads him into a structure where she shows him their latest “recruits'. We then see Goaling citizens tied up in chairs with devices on their heads. They are being brainwashed to vote for Guan! Yikes!

Mako and Wu Scenes

The Sauna scene

The meeting that took place in the sauna was at the behest of Wu. He said he was very stressed out so he couldn’t miss his steam bath. I know there are lots of jokes about Wu being high maintenance because he needs his spa days or whatever, but he is in a highly stressful situation right now and we know that self care is essential to maintain one’s mental health and in order to perform one’s job well. I think this was an interesting way to weave together his seemingly superficial hobbies with his new maturity and responsibility. I really loved this scene for that (though seeing all the hot people in sauna-wear is a bonus).

Also there is a recurring thing where Mako is just offering the worst advice to Korra. He wants the United Republic, a completely separate Nation from the Earth Kingdom, to just.. March into another country and ‘enforce’ their democratic process??? Like…. If you know anything about world history and current events we know that is awful and wouldn’t be received well and would be a recipe for political instability and long term conflict. Thank goodness everyone is like Mako no. I’m pointing this out because, as much as we think of Wu as being immature, irresponsible, whatever, the reality is that he has a level head while Mako is actually giving the irresponsible solutions here. It’s a really interesting evolution from the infamous Wu meltdown scene where Mako was the voice of reason, but here things have reversed.

Also, I want to point out the moment where Wu backs down after he adds his grievance to the list everyone is giving (She ruined my coordination!), it’s kind of played for laughs but like… Wu has a totally valid reason to be upset on par with everyone else, considering Kuvira had him drugged and kidnapped…. Why wouldn’t he have said that? Well, the simple and obvious answer is- the writers wanted to make a “Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking” joke. But since us fans like to give depths to the characters that they deserve, maybe Wu is genuinely traumatized and just doesn’t want to bring it up. And maybe everyone knows he’s traumatized and doesn't want to bring it up, because no one else is like “Wu, did you forget she had you drugged and kidnapped???” They just give him a look and he’s like “LOL oops sorry should have said my thing first!!” maybe Team Avatar understands that it was a really scary moment for him and they just let him shield himself with humor.

I know it isn’t isn’t exactly a strong Wuko moment, but the bitchy look that Moko, Bolin, Wu and Pabu give to Kuvira in the airship breathed life into me for some reason. I’m loving how they look like a group of mean girls who were just badmouthing Kuvira before she walked in. I think they were having a nice bonding moment before this.

Mako, you know I love you

Ok. So after Mako casually mentions just calling off the election, Wu flat out says “I love you” to Mako. This is a line us Wuko shippers just DIE for. The full line is as follows:

Mako: I say you call off the vote, at least for now. Make it impossible for Guan to win

Wu: Mako, you know I love you, but I’m trying to encourage democracy. I can’t just go around cancelling elections because I don’t like one of the candidates. We need to let this play out.

So. Like, what the heck are we supposed to make of this?

I’m not going to dig too deep and force my own interpretations and headcanons onto you. This I love you could mean a number of different things. I just want to pose some rhetorical questions about it and the context to give us all some things to think about.

Is Wu flirting? Does Mako actually know that Wu loves him? Is this an extension of Wu’s many other instances of flirting with complimenting Mako (on par with ‘my big tough guy” while staring at his ass)? Has Wu said “I love you” to Mako before? How many times has Wu said “Mako I love you” before? Is this evidence of them actually being in a romantic relationship during this comic? Or is it evidence of romantic tension building? Is Mako just totally oblivious to the fact that Wu said I love you? Or did he hear it and his brain blue-screened from the shock of being blatantly told I love you? Has Wu just gotten fed up that Mako seems oblivious to all his previous flirtations and he just decided to up the ante? Does Mako love Wu back?!

Lots of questions. Lots of interpretations. But (as far as I remember) Mako has only said I love you to two people- his brother and Korra (I don’t think he said I love you to Asami but I could be wrong). And if you’ve read this you know that Mako’s relationship with Wu is not brotherly. We’ve never heard “I love you” from Wu toward anyone else that I can recall so I don’t think he makes a habit of throwing the phrase around lightly. Also, worth noting: Literally no one reacts to the casual “I love you”. Everyone just goes on with the conversation at hand. The next frame that we see of Wu and Mako’s faces together, Mako is SMILING at Wu.

So like, he’s clearly not uncomfortable with being told that Wu loves him. And no one else is uncomfortable with it either. So what gives? Are they together? Are they flirting? Is everyone else just like “yup Wu said I love you Mako nothing out of the ordinary here because it’s painfully obvious Wu is into Mako, let's move on, nothing to see here”?

Wu and Korra

One thing I LOVE about these comics is the friendship between Korra and Wu. During the series, Korra tolerated Wu, warming up to him a bit at the very end when he told her his plan to abdicate. But through these comics there seems to be a comfortable familiarity between them. A bit of teasing, loads of moral support, and not a hint of her (or anyone) being super annoyed by him. He also doesn’t hit on her or anyone else except Mako, which is a very refreshing character growth because it was very tiresome to watch him objectify women in the animated series.

Korra and Wu spend a good amount of time together as she accompanies him to Gaoling’s city hall. They seem very comfortable with each other, comfortable enough that the writers included a fart joke.

Korra reassures Wu when he expresses worry about the election being pointless, she steps forward somewhat protectively when Guan shows up- the entire scene with Guan, Korra is standing between him and Wu.

Basically I bring this up because I genuinely love the idea that Korra and Wu are close and friendly, that they have moved on from his cringy behavior from the series (I like to think he apologized to both her and Asami?)

What this means for Wuko

If you are writing fic or just coming up with headcanon, there are two ways to look at the scenes. Either they are in a relationship, or they aren’t. You could easily just say they are in a relationship and are being quiet about it, because they aren’t ready to be fully public, or maybe because they are still figuring things out, or they are waiting for Wu to abdicate and move back to Republic City, etc. “You know I love you” is such an easy piece of canon content to make this your headcanon.

Likewise, one could say they are Not Together right now. Pre-relationship, if you will. Maybe they’ve danced around the idea, discussed feelings without actually getting together. Or maybe they are still clueless that there is a potential for a relationship. Wu might be putting out feelers to see how Mako responds to his flirtations. Mako might be wondering if he’s misinterpreting Wu’s affectionate touches and words. Lots of romantic tension, pining, each wondering if the other one has any feelings.

I also love the idea that Wu and Korra are friends and have discussed or will discuss Mako and Wu’s feelings for him.

So, in summary, Wu loves Mako. It’s canon. It’s right there in black and white. Make of it what you will!

Next post I will discuss Wuko in the first half of RotE Book 2. Wu goes on a life-changing field trip with Korra to meet Toph and confront a swamp-vision of his Late Great Aunt, while Mako gets captured and brainwashed by Guan. Wu and Mako are not together during these scenes but there will be lots of wonderful Wu backstory along with plenty of angst potential from the brainwashing storyline.

Wuko in Turf Wars

Wuko in RotE part 1

[shinidamachu]

I haven't watched anything after ATLA, but I was shocked to find out that Zuko and Mai don't work out. What are your thoughts? Do you think the writers could have gone in a different direction or was it for the best?

I gotta be honest, you're not missing out much by not engaging with the extras. I only watched Legend of Korra and I don't really remember Mai even being mentioned on it.

They did give Zuko a daughter, though. Her name is Izumi. And even though they never explicitly revealed the mother to be Mai (or what was made of her), I just assumed she was the mother due to the remarkable resemblance:

Now, I haven't read the comics (nor will I ever), so if you're actually refering to them, my knowledge is very limited. But it is my understanding, from the metas I've read about them, that Zuko and Mai break up and make up, as it was their modus operandi in ATLA.

Mai not being around in LOK doesn't necessarily mean she's dead or that they broke up for good. The fate of their relationship was purposefully left open and they do end up together at the end of ATLA, so what happens after doesn't really matter since not everybody takes the comics or LOK as canon, anyway.

Now, since you asked for my opinion... I wasn’t shocked to find out about how they were portraying Maiko in the comics at all. First, because Bryke suck at writing romance. Second, because from the interactions in ATLA, this was more or less what I imagined their relationship would play out and that’s why I never shipped them.

MAIKO CRITICISM UNDER THE CUT!

The writers should have gone in a different direction, but in the ATLA finale. I love Zuko. And I love Mai. But I don’t like them as a couple because I think they are not fitted for each other. And I’m not just saying that because I’m a Zutara shipper, let’s get this out of the way right here, right now.

I’m saying this because I would rather they had ended up alone than together. Not only them, but Aang and Katara as well. They were all so young I feel like there wouldn’t be any harm for the story if no couples were canonized. 

Especially because, again: Bryke suck at writing love stories (with the notable exceptions being Yukka and Sukka) and romance was actually the less compelling part of ATLA.

More than that, if Zuko and Mai had to end up with a love interest, it shouldn’t have been each other because Maiko is actually a disservice to their characters. In some aspects, it keeps Mai from growing and it regresses Zuko's development.

You see, their relationship always struck me as something they would eventually grow out of. Don’t get me wrong, I have no doubt they really cared about each other. But the narrative went out of its way to show us that the years they spent apart changed their dynamic fundamentally.

Mai and (especially) Zuko aren’t the same people they were when they first met. And when they finally reunited, no real effort was made to learn who was this new person in fron of them. He tried to open up, but she shut him down. 

Instead of reconnecting, of deepening the relationship, they insisted on jumping head first into dating and picked things up where they left off, desperatelly trying to cling to what they knew and forcing two pieces of a different puzzle to click. Of course it wouldn’t work.

The person Zuko became needed someone passionate by his side. Someone he could open up to and confide in. Someone with the same sense of honor, of justice. Someone who understood him and his actions, who got how important it is for him to take the throne and right the wrongs of his country. Someone he could count on to help him get there. I guess we can all agree that this doesn’t sound like Mai.

The person Mai became needed someone who would focus on her and her needs for once. Someone who would have made her a priority. Someone who could actually see past her poker face. Someone who would take her away from the boring royal stuff she hates so much. I guess we can all agree that this doesn’t sound like Zuko, either.

When he took off to join the Gaang, he left the life style he had always known behind because it didn’t fit who he was anymore. He can’t go back from that. And this includes Mai. She is the personification of that life. And as much as they liked each other, being together just doesn’t make sense anymore. Especially because becoming Fire Lady inevitably traps her in the life she was trying to get away from. It’s one of the worst endings they could have given to these characters.

And the way it was executed? Even worse. They reconciled without as much as a conversation about what happened: his “betrayal”, the end of the war, what it means for their relationship, if their feelings were still the same. In fact, apparently Zuko kind of... completely forgot she was in prison and made no move to get her out because he had been too busy fighting Azula and taking lightning to the chest for Katara.

Mai isn’t even a part of the apotheosis of his arc. He got where he needed to be and she wasn’t one of the characters who activelly help him get there. This is very symbolic. And the apotheosis of her arc? Was saving him from Azula, but she didn’t did it because she understood his reasons and wanted to be supportive. She did it because he is the guy she likes. Which is fine, but not enough to “award” her with Zuko. There were feelings there, but they were never on the same page.

“Mai Alone,” is what she deserved. To travel the world on her own. A different place every day. Never the same, always moving. Maybe that way she would have seen the things Zuko did. Maybe this way she would have understood. And after tasting freedom, she would have realized she would have never want to be confined to palace walls ever again. Not for Zuko, not for anybody.

She would have been much happier as the first woman in the White Lotus or as a Bounty Hunter. A spy who, after seeing what the Fire Nation did to the world, finally found her calling by working on the shadows to make sure nothing will break the peace the Avatar and the Fire Lord managed to achieve.

And Zuko deserved the family he always wanted, with a partner who would not only put up with the political duties, but would have been thrilled to do so. Katara seems like the obvious choice here, but even Jin would have been a better fit.

Sometimes things aren’t meant to be and that’s okay. Zuko and Mai work better as friends.

[watsons-falling-snow]

Soulmates? A Korrasami Secret Santa Gift

@gaymergal I hope you enjoy this. It’s the first bit that I’ve written of the two of them but I really tried for you!

Soulmates were a tricky thing. Honestly. Not everyone had one, they were a rare spiritual blessing, and Asami Sato didn’t believe in them. If soulmates really existed then everyone should have one and relationships shouldn’t be such hell. If soulmates were real, she would have found her own after all the hell she had gone through in her life. From the loss of her mother, to the betrayal of her father, then to the loss of him. 

All the while, she was trying to navigate her own relationships and feelings. In her teens things had been all the more complicated, with dating Mako, then breaking up with Mako only for him to date their friend Korra, only for Korra and he to break up. Then she tried dating Mako again, only for it all to end up in disaster. If soulmates were real, why did things like that happen?

Luckily now, at twenty-seven, it mattered little. She was running her family business, being the youngest CEO and world renowned inventor in Republic City. Not to mention she, Mako, Korra and Bolin had all stayed friends despite the terrible things that had happened to them. That was the real magic in all of this, not some mythical idea of a soulmate. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Ms. Sato, please look straight ahead and not at your phone.” The doctor asked with a sigh, his pen light catching the shine of her green eyes as she jerked back to him. 

“Sorry Doctor Trejo, I just… My friends are supposed to be meeting right now and they’re wondering where I am.” Asami frowned, following his finger as he finished his exam. 

“Well, I am going to be honest with you Ms. Sato, I recommend a quiet night in. You’ve had another dizzy spell and fainted. You refuse to have another CAT scan done, but this is happening more frequently. And you’ve said this is partnered with visions, now?” Doctor Trejo asked, shaking his bald head. “You need rest.” 

“Alright doctor, thank you for your honesty.” Rising up she placed a hand against his back to guide him out of her office. Shaking his hand on the way out she thanked him with a smile, before immediately turning to grab her phone. 

If she were being honest, she should stay home, she should probably tell her friends what was going on as well. But she didn’t know exactly what was going on. When she was younger she had always felt phantom pains, her mother always playfully accusing some unknown “soulmate”. Yet now as she was older, dizzy spells and visions seemed to accompany this phantom pain. How did you explain that to your friends when it was suspected you had a tumor that couldn’t be found? She’d tried doctors, healers and mystics. 

Doctors of modern medicine had told her it was likely a tumor they couldn’t find. Healers had accused a soulmate bond, which was a crock, and mystics were just… not helpful. 

‘Sorry guys, I can’t go out today - AS’ She sent to their group message, a smile on her features when messages started rolling in from her friends. Though the one that made her smile the most was from Korra. 

‘Don’t worry, we’ll come to you. K’ 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Settled at home the last thing Asami expected was only Korra to show up. She had said they would be coming, but perhaps the boys had been busy? 

“Korra, do you need any help?” She found herself asking as she tucked her hair behind her ear, her green gaze trailing after Korra as the woman carried bag after bag into her home. 

“Nope!” Came the cheery pop from the other woman as she finally closed the door. “You said you didn’t feel good. So I decided to make a traditional Southern Water Tribe soup for you.” Korra grinned, turning to give her friend a tight hug. 

“I’m not sure soup is going to fix what is going on Korra.” Came the bland response, though Asami was smiling. 

“Have you ever had water tribe soup before?” Korra asked with a know-it-all tone. 

“Well no but -” 

“Then you don’t know if it’s going to help or not.” The short haired woman snorted, tapping Asami on the nose with a playfully smile before she made her way towards the kitchen. 

Watching her go Asami shook her head, her hands going to her hips as she closed the front door. Honestly, she wasn’t sure why it was just Korra here, but she was thankful for it. It was sure to be a quiet and - 

“Uh… Asami? Do you have -” 

Letting out a laugh Asami took off towards the kitchen so she could help Korra before a fire broke out. The last thing she needed was for the fire department to be called out. Together the two women worked, Asami chopping anything and everything that was needed while Korra worked on actually making the soup. 

At the end of it, it was delicious. And Asami could admit her head felt much better. At least, until she felt Korra’s pressing stare. “You know - I was feeling much better until I felt your cool blue eyes boring holes into my head.” Putting her spoon down she linked her fingers under her chin, making a bit of a face at the other. 

“Well I’m worried about you!” Korra finally exploded, setting her own spoon down and throwing her arms up. “You never bail on us. And you never not tell me about what’s going on.” 

“Double negatives are not your strong suit.” Asami mocked, hoping to distract her friend. How was she meant to explain that she had visions that shook her to the core? How was she supposed to tell her that doctors believed she had a tumor of all things? 

“Asami, I am being serious here. You know I’m your emergency contact right? Like, you made that decision yourself. And here we are. With questions between the both of us.” Korra motioned between them, making a bit of a face. “If I wanted to be in your business, I could be, but I would rather you be honest with me.” 

Heaving a sigh Asami tucked her hair behind her ear, poking at her soup sadly, as she eyed her friend curiously. Did she tell her the truth? Why wouldn’t she? She had a lot to explain. “Korra… You know that I keep things to myself. And I made you my medical power of attorney because I trust you, not because I thought you were a snoop.” 

When Korra sent her a sheepish expression, her hand automatically lifting to rub the back of her neck in her age-old nervous habit. “Well I didn’t mean to snoop. I got a call to remind you about an appointment you had that you missed. Rather than leaving me here guessing the worst, you could just tell me the truth and we could work through it together.” She offered with a soft smile, her hand reaching for Asami’s. 

“You make it so hard to be mad at you.” Awkward as it was, Asami knew her friend deserved the truth. So she sighed, giving her hand a squeeze before rising up. Holding up a finger for silence when Korra went to question them she went to the bar in the corner of the dining room, grabbing two glasses and a bottle before going back to the table. 

Sitting down again she poured them each two fingers, despite knowing Korra didn’t usually drink anything other than a beer every now and then, and set the glass bottle aside. “Alright, you want to know what’s going on, I will tell you. But if the boys find out about this, I will strangle you. I mean it.” 

“You don’t mean it, but okay.” The Avatar cut in, her head shaking slightly as she grabbed the drink. If Asami prepared it, it meant she’d likely need it. 

“Truth is… I’ve been seeing healers, and mystics and doctors, all trying to figure out what is wrong with me.” Asami began, her long fingers twirling around the lip of the glass that was in front of her. “And none of them can really tell me what was wrong with me. - “ 

“Well mystics never give a straight answer ‘Sami. I can take you to Katara!” 

“I need you would offer, and no thank you. I’ve seen healers here in Republic City. I have also seen the best doctors money can pay for. And well… the thing that makes the most sense is a tumor.” She finally admitted, tossing back her drink before setting it down with a little too much force. 

“I’m sorry…. Did you say a tumor?” Korra demanded before holding up a finger much in the same way Asami had. Tossing the far too expensive liquor down her throat she winced, setting the glass down gently before turning to take her friend’s, her love’s, hands. “Why the hell wouldn’t you tell us Asami? Why wouldn’t you tell me? Katara is the best healer in the world. I’m the Avatar for Raava’s sake! Surely something can be done to help you.” 

“Oh Korra, don’t cry for me.” Reaching out Asami wiped a tear she was sure the bender didn’t know she had shed, a soft smile on her lips. “I don’t need healers. They say there is nothing there. But I have these… painful headaches. They rock me to my core. And now they are affecting my vision.” As she explained Korra reached for her, gripping the sides of her face ever so gently. “Korra?” 

“Asami, this is serious. If you’re this affected by something you’re supposed to tell your friends so we can support you.” Calloused fingers a tad rough against her smooth skin Asami yelped when she was suddenly pulled into a hug. “I’m so worried about you.” 

It didn’t even occur to Korra that she had obscure visions of what her soulmate was doing and she hadn’t told her friends before. She knew Asami didn’t believe in soulmates and talking to Mako about this sort of thing was just awkward after the breakup. Bolin would likely understand, but the two of them got side tracked so easily when they were together that it was almost pointless to try and talk to him.

“Oh Korra, don’t worry about me. You know how determined I am. I’m not going to let something like this stop me.” The genius promised, her arms wrapping around her friend to soothe her. Korra simply burrowed close, hiding her face in Asami’s neck. 

“I’m always going to worry about you Asami. Always.” She promised, hugging onto her tightly. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That night had ended with coffee and a vastly unfair snowball fight in the front yard. As Asami had to remind her friend numerous times, using your bending in a friendly snowball fight was cheating. Especially when she had no jacket and no cover to hide behind. But overall, it had ended in good fun. The play had been enough to convince Korra that it was alright to leave Asami alone, that she wasn’t going to keel over at any moment. 

Which was what brought her to the situation at hand. She had lied to Korra, and said she would stop working out but… working out helped her think. It really did! And it was just a basic run on the treadmill while she went through the tedious November report. Only to be interrupted by a sudden flash of pain that dropped her to her knees. Which of course resulted in her being thrown off the treadmill with a nasty scrape to her knee and a bump to her forehead. Laying in a heap on the ground her treadmill was still going as she was plagued by the painful visions. Running, why were they running? Away from or - After someone! “NO!” Asami called out, though her vision was blurry as she pushed herself up. Stumbling to her front door she paid no mind to the priceless vase she knocked over, or the blood she smeared on her wall. She had to help, had to do something!

“Korra!” Bursting out her front door she didn’t even make it to the stairs before she collapsed onto her snow covered porch. Her head was throbbing from the smack on the stupid machine, leaving her aching and wobbly. A fireball was thrown followed by an air blast, sirens could be heard in the distance. Asami was panicking. This was the first time her visions had given her anything useful. But she just knew those bending styles. She knew her best friend’s fighting style. Just as she knew she was working with the police to track down the members of the Triad once again. 

“Korra…” Asami’s voice was soft, weak, as the blood from her forehead dripped into the snow. The last thought she had before passing out was that Korra wouldn’t be such a bad soulmate to have. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Beep… Beep… Beep.... It was that steady beep that finally woke her up, her lashes fluttering open as she fought to remember what had happened. Squinting against the bright light Asami weakly lifted her hand, which was what alerted the other’s to her waking up. 

“Asami! Oh Asami we were so worried!” Bolin was the first to appear in her vision as he leaned over her. “Try not to move too much. You’re all bandaged up.” He doted, patting her shoulder gently. 

“Bolin, don’t crowd her face.” Mako’s voice was gruff as he pulled his brother back, giving him a firm look to stay back. “Glad you’re awake though, ‘Sami.” 

“Asami…” Korra’s voice was ever so soft, and that was what drew the woman’s attention to her right. “What the hell were you doing? I’ve been trying to figure it out since finding you and this is just.. I can only come up with Bolin level stupidity for answers.” 

Now that, that set her teeth on edge. “Oh… So you’re assuming I was doing something stupid?” The genius asked, her cheeks flushing ever so slightly as her anger rose. “You know that’s really rude.” 

“Well it’s rude to leave your bloody and bruised body to be found in the snow by your friends. You made Bolin cry. We thought someone had robbed you! Did… Were you robbed?” Voice having risen to show her anger Korra did her best to tone it down as she asked if the other was attacked in some way. 

“No, just… no. I fell off my treadmill and hit my head pretty hard.” At least, that was the last thing she really remembered. “I… I… mistepped, and went flying.” 

“Your knee, elbow and head were all banged up. You hit your head pretty hard because you fell face first. You’re pretty scratched up Asami.” Korra explained as gently as she could, her hand reaching out for Asami’s. As their fingers linked a soft smile touched each of their features, and Asami’s heart monitor, embarrassingly enough, spiked just a bit. 

“Well, you know me guys. If I am going to do something I have to go all in.” Asami snorted, making her friends laugh which did wonders to relieve the tension in the room. “I’m guessing I have a concussion?” 

“Actually Ms. Sato, you do not.” Her doctor chose that moment to talk in, his head shaking slightly as he sent her a frown. 

“Dr. Trejo, good to see you,” The injured CEO gave a slight smile from her place in bed, desperately trying to ignore the hand that pushed her back down when she tried to sit up. 

“I wish I could say it was better circumstances. Would you care to discuss this in private?” The doctor asked, holding open the door when she nodded. 

“Sorry guys - “ 

“Asami no -” 

“What’s going on?”

“Bolin, let’s go. Korra?” Mako stood at Asami’s silent plea, ready to wrangle his brother and best friend out of the room if need be. 

“Asami, I want to stay.” Korra insisted, taking her hand in silent plea. And unfortunately, or fortunately, it worked. 

“Korra… You could stay. But someone has to take care of the boys.” Asami whispered, sounding far too tired to be okay. “I’ll tell you all about it. I promise. I just need to talk to my doctor.” 

“Come on Korra, give her some privacy.” Mako beckoned, having already pushed Bolin out the door. 

“Fine, but you better tell me everything.” Rising up Korra kissed her friend’s forehead before following after Bolin and Mako, letting the door close behind them. The moment they were alone Doctor Trejo gave Asami a dull look, tucking his clipboard under his arm as he moved to stand at her bedside. “Ms. Sato, we need to discuss this seriously. Honestly, I am concerned about you. Before, you hadn’t injured himself, so it wasn’t an issue. But you’ve injured yourself. I think we need to perform more tests, and you need to take this more seriously.” 

“I… believe you are right.” Asami murmured, a soft sigh leaving her. “What are you thinking?” 

“Since we could find nothing on your original CAT scans, or your MRIs, we may want to consider exploratory surgery.” The doctor stated gravely, only to nearly jump out of his damn skin when the door burst open. 

“Did you say exploratory surgery?!” Korra demanded, uselessly held back by Bolin and Mako. Hands going to her hips she shoved the boys off of her, moving to Asami’s side. “That is crazy. I may not know a lot about practical medicine but I know a lot about healing. And that is ridiculous.” 

“Korra! You can’t just barge in here.” Asami frowned, looking over at the other as she came close. “We were having a serious discussion.” 

“Exactly, and I am coming in here to be serious. Let me take you to Katara, please. Asami, please?” Kneeling beside the other she reached out a hand to grasp Asami’s, giving it a tight squeeze. “Sometimes, you need a true healer. Not a doctor.” 

“No offense.” Bolin added quickly, though the doctor cut him a dull look. 

Looking between the lot of them Asami sighed, her head falling back to rest against her pillow. “Fine Korra. We can go see Katara. But then you will butt out.” 

“Oh, I’ll never butt out. But I’ll try to calm down.” Pressing a sweet kiss to the back of her hand Korra shook her head, clinging desperately to her. She had been listening at the door, obviously, and panicked at the thought of surgery. Especially an unnecessary one. At least unnecessary in her opinion. 

“Korra, you exhaust me. Doctor Trejo, I am so sorry. But, I’ll be in touch.” Asami promised, smiling slightly when she felt the kisses that trailed up her arm. Almost as if Korra just needed the reassurance that she was okay. 

When the doctor took his leave she smiled slightly, her free hand lifting to pet Korra’s hair back gently. “Korra, I will be alright.” 

“You will be, as soon as I get you to Katara.” Korra murmured against her shoulder, her voice soft as she rested against her. 

“Anyone care to catch the rest of us up?” Mako found himself asking as he closed the door after the doctor. “I mean, we just watched Korra nearly break down a door to get to you.” 

“Well…” Asami frowned slightly, her hand still stroking Korra’s hair. “There is a chance that I have a tumor. At least according to doctors. But healers that I have been too… They say that nothing is wrong with me.” She was fudging, just a little. After all, why mention something she didn’t believe in. “Obviously, something is going on.” Though… her thoughts drifted to the punch she had seen thrown in her vision. To the bending styles, the different elements… And thought of the woman beside her. There was only one person she knew who could do this, and that was the Avatar. 

“A chance you… have a tumor?” Bolin asked, a frown on his features as he moved to sit on the very edge of her bed. “Asami, that is something so serious.” 

“Don’t worry, we will get this taken care of.” Korra hummed, finally rising up from the other’s side. After all, it was embarrassing to still be kneeling beside Asami. They were friends, just friends, no matter her want to be more. Just friends was enough. It had to be. “We’ll get you to Katara and see exactly what is going on.” 

“Looks like you and I are taking a trip to the South Pole, are we taking Naga?” Asami asked with a smile. 

~~~~~~~~~~~

“That was such a long trip.” Asami murmured softly, offering a warm smile when Korra lifted her off of Naga’s back. “Thank you though.” Kissing her cheek gently before she pulled away. “So here to see Katara?” 

“And my parents.” Korra smiled, wrapping arm around her friend. She hadn’t left Asami’s side since her getting out of the hospital. That had been a week ago, and she was worried as hell. Asami had been acting strange, from the odd glances to the constant chewing on her nails. Asami never chewed on her nails unless she was nervous. What did she have to be nervous about?

“Oh, that sounds exciting.” Her thumb lifted to her mouth nervously as she chewed on her nail, which earned her a lick from Naga. Nearly jumping out of her skin Asami’s gaze jumped over to the polardog as she wiped the slobber off of her face. “Well, thank you for the concern Naga. I’m fine. I promise.” 

“You aren’t fine, which is why we are here.” Korra gave Asami a squeeze, her gaze moving over her from the corner of her eye. Something more was going on here, she just had to figure out what. 

“Korra, you’ve returned home.” Katara’s voice was soft as she stepped out of her home. “Welcome, both of you. Please, come in. Naga, I am afraid after the last incident you will need to stay out here.” Giving the polardog a firm look the elder spread arms to welcome them before turning to lead them into her home. 

Once they were all settled with tea the water bending master spoke to the two young women. “So I understand that something is wrong, but I do not understand what exactly. Korra told me something about visions?” She prompted gently. 

“Well… I do not know if they are visions. My doctor says they are hallucinations. A healer I saw said they were well… that they were... “ Asami tried to admit it, but her cheeks flushed and she stared down into her tea. 

“They were soulmate visions.” Katara supplied, making Asami look up quickly. “Yes I’m aware that you do not believe in soulmates. Korra has told me as much. But Ms. Sato, I must tell you, sometimes the most obvious answer is the truth.” 

“But! That doesn’t make any sense. The person I’m seeing in the visions… I know them. And have for a while. Why would this just start so suddenly?” Asami attempted to deny, even while discussing such a nonsense matter. 

“You see someone in your visions? You never told me that before.” Korra frowned as she spoke to the other. 

“Well I mean… I haven’t always. It’s normally just what they are doing that I see. At first I thought it was myself doing things. But that didn’t make sense. Just like this doesn’t. I am a woman of science. Soulmates are nonsense.” Stating it firmly, as if trying to reassure herself more than anything, Asami shifted forward to set her tea down on the coffee table between them. 

“Soulmates are very real young lady. I know because Aang and I were soulmates. Just as you and Korra are.” Katara spoke calmly, never missing a beat as she sipped her tea. 

“What?” Asami gasped, her face flushing. 

“Katara!” Korra yelped the woman’s name, the tips of her ears going red in the same way that Aang’s used to. 

“What? It does not take much to see the way you care about one another. The love between you is clear. I think the people missing it were the two of you.” The master huffed, setting her tea down to speak to them properly. “I am far too old to play games with the likes of you. And I will not lie for your comfort. The truth is, soulmates are as real as you and I. As real as the two of you. What I believe you are experiencing is called Soulmate visions. It is rare that it happens in today's world. But, it can happen. Just as it has with the two of you. Korra, you have been seeing things yourself, have you not?” 

“I mean, yes I have. But I don’t know of who. I just sort of… see things? Often paperwork and well manicured hands.” Korra grumbled, feeling embarrassed that her mentor would even suggest such a thing. They were best friends! Not soulmates. Asami had never even indicated liking… Did she like…? 

“This… This is ridiculous. I came here for help, not to be made a mockery of.” Rising up Asami didn’t even so much as say goodbye as she took her leave, ready to get herself back to Republic City if need be. 

“Asami, Asami wait!” Sending the elder woman a look, who simply shrugged as she picked up her tea again, Korra rose up and took off after the other. “‘Sami, seriously, just wait!” When her friend didn’t stop she used her bending, creating a wall of ice to stop her. 

“That is cheating Korra, we’ve discussed this!” Asami snapped, rounding to face her with a finger pointed against her chest. “And I am not sticking around here just to have some crazy old lady tell me that soulmates exist when they don’t.” 

“How do you know they don’t? And Katara isn’t crazy!” Korra defended, ignoring the finger poking into her chest. “She’s elderly, and knows what she is talking about.” 

“Just because she’s old doesn’t mean she knows anything. I am a literal genius. If soulmates were provable, I would have proven them!” Throwing her arms up Asami glared at her friend, her heart pounding. This couldn’t be real. Because if it was real then it was Korra, and that would ruin everything. Statistically, they didn’t stand a chance. She’d run the numbers once. 

“Soulmates aren’t something that can be proved or disproved! They just are. Sure, the cases of them are sporadic, but they happen! Like Aang and Katara, or Kyoshi and Rangi!” 

“So you’re saying the Avatar statically always has a soulmate?” Asami challenged, causing Korra to flush. 

“What I am trying to say is, not everything is statistics!” Korra shot back, uncaring of the fact that they were arguing in the middle of their village. Her hot temper was something well known. “Sometimes it’s about feelings. Soulmates are about feelings!” 

“Feelings aren’t logical! Feelings get you hurt and why would anyone want that?” 

“Why wouldn’t you want that? Sure… You can get hurt. But it’s better than feeling nothing. Asami… Don’t you feel anything?” The avatar found herself asking, her shoulders slumping slightly. 

“Of course I feel things. I feel a lot of things. But that doesn’t mean I want to. It doesn’t mean I haven’t felt pain.” Shaking her head Asami ran her hands through her hair, trying to calm herself before she let out a sigh. “I don’t think we are getting anywhere with this argument.” 

“Well I’m not about to stop talking about it now. Katara said we are soulmates. Do you believe that? Have your visions been about me?” Korra asked, trying to keep her voice gentle in the face of Asami’s dismissal. She didn’t want to stop this conversation. She wanted to get to the bottom of it all. 

“I mean, not everyone can bend more than one element. And that was my last vision. But that doesn’t mean we are soulmates.” 

“How does it not? There are studies about this Asami. Do you… Do you not want us to be soulmates?” Korra found herself asking, having already accepted the idea the moment Katara said it. If Asami was her soulmate she would sing across her lifetimes and rejoice. It would be a proud moment. Not something to be afraid of. Yet Asami seemed afraid. And she wanted to fix it. 

“No! No, it isn’t that. It’s just… Korra you don’t really believe in this do you? What if… What if it ruins everything? You’re my best friend. I can’t risk losing that.” Shaking her head Asami reached out and took Korra by the hand, holding it between them. “You’re… everything Korra. Losing you would be like losing a part of myself.” 

“I hate to be the one to tell you Asami, but that’s love.” Without further thought the brash avatar leaned close, their foreheads bumping gently together. “This… this is love.” With that she did it, she moved in and kissed her best friend. 

This… This was just the beginning for the two of them. The avatar and her genius. Korra and Asami. The best friends, finally becoming more. 

~~~~~~~~~End?~~~~~~~~~

[morally-conflicted]

A Rant

Ok I'm going to do on a small rant, Unpopular opinion time, I'm excited to see if im going to get hate for this but

Mako doesn’t deserve all of the hate he gets and he is actually a good and well written character 

Ok let me explain myself before I continue, I love Legend of Korra and in my honest opinion like it more then Avatar the Last Airbender and it has more sentimental value to me then ATLA. And I am going to explain that im not defending what Mako has done because he made mistakes and I’m not defending that. 

Ok so I’m going to start it out here, Mako was young, he was 18, yes he was basically an adult but he wasn’t matured. Mako spent his whole life taking care of his brother, working to try and support him and raise him and he had no room to make mistakes and act like a teenager, because if he made a mistake, everything would go downhill and he could have lost his brother, the only person he had left in the world. And once Korra came into the picture and once he finally had the ability to act like the teenager he was around other people hi age, of course he would make mistakes and of course he would do something stupid. He never had experience with people around his age. 

Now onto his relationship with Asami and Korra. I won’t defend his actions because he did mess up and he could have done something different and he could have made better choices, he made a mistake. but he isn’t the only one to blame, both him and Korra are to blame, there I said it, Korra should hold blame as well, and I will not here anything saying she didn’t know better, her and Mako are very similar and different at the same time, they both had more stubborn personalities and they both never really had interactions with people around their age and they are both awkward around new people, they're similar and neither are to blame for what they did, I’m not defending them but, they were dumb teenagers that didn’t know better and while it did hurt people they fixed that and by the final season they were all close and a family again. People have to stop hating Mako for things he did when he was young, like I don’t care if you don’t like him because of his character and how he was written because that's valid, and i get you. 

And one more thing that I want to get off my chest. People praise characters like Zuko and Sokka but when it comes to Mako they hate him, even though they all made mistakes and grew out of them, like it is hypocritical in my opinion. 

But once again if you don’t like him because of how he was written it makes sense, I can admit he wasn’t written the best, but you have to agree that he is a complex character. I will forever be mad at the writers because they forgot about him in season 4, they basically ignored him and didn’t evolve him more and that made me so mad because he was a good character, he had faults like every other character on the show and they had so much potential for him.

Anyways I know I kind of rambled and I didn’t make much sense in some areas but the idea is there, and I hope you can see it from my point of view.