#me reading makroh: mako: :) Iroh: :(

[hayleysayshay]

LOK 8 and 23 please?

thanks!! Choose Violence ask game

8: common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

mako being a bad character or abusive!!!

But that is so obvious with me, so lets say Mako being a cop is bad. Look, I don't think it's the best storytelling decision in the world, but at the end of the day it's not that bad and people who say 'it doesn't make sense' are just lazy imo. Sometimes people who grow up poor and marginalised become police officers even if it doesn't 'make sense' in your head because that's how the world works, my god, the way people act like they have never heard of a non-white or working class police officer before (a lot of police officers are working class anyway lol). Mako has a sense of right and wrong and would be attracted to a job that offers both independence and also a stable job with a track record (anyone who argues he should have joined the white lotus misunderstands him imo). Also, it's just a storytelling decision, it's easy to write a fun conspiracy plotline around a law enforcement character which is what his plot in book 2 is. I don't know why we're specifically hating on one storytelling decision when cops are the main characters in a fucking tonne of media, I don't blame the writers for leaning on a popular trope to try and write a fun storyline. And once that plot point is up, Mako being a cop barely impacts his character until the comics apart from wanting to ditch Wu to go back to his job. It's not that big of a deal.

Would a version of legend of korra that actually examined police and state violence be more interesting? Sure. But I really think people are expecting far too much from the politics of a franchise that was aimed at children and mostly written and helmed by white middle class liberals, and that's clear from the politics of ATLA as well. Sometimes something fictional is not an endorsement of real world politics, and that doesn't mean that you can't critique or analyse it, but literally just saying 'mako wouldn't become a police officer because he's poor and was a criminal' and then refusing to actually engage with other parts of his character or the plotting of the story, just annoys me. Let's stop reducing fictional characters down to identity and leftist tumblr politics.

All this said for what is a badly written storyline in the show, but people don't want to engage with pacing or dialogue or setup and payoff, they just go 'it's bad because of it's politics?' and it's just bad media criticism. Analyse the politics, by all means, but only analysing that is so annnoyingggggggggggggg.

23: ship you've unwillingly come around to

uhhh like i didn't like Wuko much at first but i've come round to it for years now. Maybe Makroh because I'm an Iroh II hater but don't mind that ship lol but honestly I never cared that much about shipping. I have an interest or I don't.

I suppose I have come around to Makorra in that I like Mako and Korra enough to not hate them together. I'm still so lukewarm on that pairing but it is Mako content so you know I have read it.

[rasnak2]

Ongoing fics

Greek? Egyptian? Maybe Both? - Percy Jackson x Kane Chronicles book. Basically exploring PJO and KC where Percy and Nico are half magician and half demigod... Chaos ensues. (Wattpad Only)

Kirti Kriti Aur Kartik Ki - A fic where two modern-day people are teleported to the Mahabharat times, bringing chaos with them. How will their presence change the story is the crux of the story. (Wattpad Only)

Of Con Artists and Royalty - Makroh Con Artist AU (4/?)

Discoveries - Closure series (Part 8) (2/5)

Outed - Bumi's Strays series (1/2)

Halloween - Krew Gen Fic (1/2)

Unexpected Happenings - Makrohsami (2/?)

Until It's Gone - Irosami for Sunken Ship (2/4)

Eye Opener - Rang De Basanti multi pair (Please read the tags) (10/?)

Mahabharata OS - OS book (12/?)

Rang De Basanti Drabbles - OS book (16/?)

Bonding with the Beifongs - Mako and Bolin with the Beifongs (1/2)

Over the Course of Bus Rides - College AU with endgame Lu Ten/Iroh/Mako (1/?)

Nobody Can Save Me Now - Huko fic, kinda psychological horror? (written for Sunken Ship week) (1/?)

No Roads Left - Naoki/San Assassin AU (for sunken ship week) (1/?)

Love Across Time - Lu Ten/Mako (for rarepair challenge) (1/?)

Make It Up As We Go - Huko/Iroh fic (for rarepair challenge) (1/?)

[hayleysayshay]

I did use to like Makroh a fair bit more than I do now, when it was a very obscure ship with like five stories and some fanart. It was a pure crackship. It was a different dynamic for Mako to interact with. A fun and silly what if.

The issues are with the fact that Iroh in TLOK is genuinely one of my least liked characters, and I like most of the characters in TLOK. I would rank him F tier for sure. I’ve said before that Book 1 would be stronger with a tighter focus and less characters and story elements, and I don’t see how fans could wish that we had more focus on Iroh of all people. It feels like fanservice, an excuse to get Dante Basco, the most popular voice actor, back and little else.

Sure, it would be out of character if Iroh was turned into a villain, from what characterisation we do have, but most fanworks are technically canon. Is Iroh shy and awkward? Snarky and sarcastic? Sexy and Suave? Kind and Gentle? A mix of any of these? All technically can work in fanworks as there’s so little to work with. I have disparagingly labelled Iroh as a ‘sexy canon OC’ on my now deleted twitter, and that’s still how I feel, honestly. There’s just nothing there for me. Like if the character in these stories was just an OC instead of being labelled Iroh I would probably like it more because of how much I can’t stand Iroh’s role in Book 1.

The more I see of him, the less I like him. Overexposure to this blank slate of a person. And the thing is I do it to myself, because I like stories where Mako is a main character and gets a romance plot. But maybe I should stop also annoying myself and stop reading it.

This isn’t an attack on anyone who does really like Iroh, I get that other people are seeing something in him that I don’t see. I just don’t understand, and I feel like I’m being left behind by the new breed of Mako centric people, since I’ve seen like three, four fic authors write stories for this pairing recently? And it’s a small community, the Mako defence squad so it does stick out to me, and I fundamentally do not get this new popular pairing so I’m just lost.

[hayleysayshay]

K so I think I realised a problem I have with Makroh fan content and why it’s never clicked with me like Wuko is that I wish Iroh wasn’t so dreamy and perfect in these stories, I think like the consistent flaw is that he’s somewhat insensitive when it comes to class and wealth issues between him and Mako, and even then it’s an ‘innocently insensitive’. Like it feels a bit like Asami. And I love Asami but I’d just read Asami fic. I genuinely wish that Iroh was a bit I more a royal prick. This is a weird thing to want. I want asshole Iroh. (Like not in an abusive way to be clear).

So anyway I started to write a story where Iroh was like... engaged to be married to a lovely and proper FN lady. And like he wants to serve the Fire Nation and people but is unenthusiastic about actually being Fire Lord and doesn’t want this engagement, but never actually stands up for himself and even initiates the engagement in the first place. He starts an affair with Mako and they both know it’s wrong but you know... love. Don’t think about the future, just the present enjoyment. Ends up as a hugeeeee mess. Avatar tabloids have a field day.

I believe in ‘if you want something done do it yourself’ so I did but I realise the start of this hinges on sexual tension which I cannot write... at all... so I did shelve this. Which is a shame. I can still dream.

(To be clear I’m not demanding anyone write my version of Makroh just because I want asshole Iroh, or that there depiction of Iroh is wrong, it really is just personal appeal).

[rasnak2]

Author Self Interview

Thanks for the tag @flamehotman!

Name:

Rasna/Rasnak

Fandoms:

ATLA, LoK, Mahabharata, RDB, PJO, Kane Chronicles, (Kinda formerly: Sherlock (BBC), Marvel, Harry Potter.)

Where do you post:

AO3, Wattpad and sometimes crosspost on Fanfiction.

Most popular multichapter fic:

Kirti Kriti Aur Kartik Ki (KKAKK) on Wattpad and Mahabharata OS on AO3 (based on votes/kudos accordingly).

Most popular oneshot: Tough one there... If I am going by the Kudos, Just Give Me a Yes or No from my former AO3 account and Anniver- Wait What? from my current account.

Favourtie story you've written so far: I love all my fics. They are my babies, even if I am not always satisfied with what I've written and might have to abandon them cuz of time and when I feel I don't connect with the idea anymore. But if I had to choose... probably KKAKK. And the Closure series. Mother's Day and maybe Demons too.

Fic you were nervous to post: I am nervous to post any of my fics 😂, especially the ones that deal with trauma/PTSD in some form or the other. But I think it's a tie between Artist Bros (considering it was a fic I wrote without even watching LoK), Of Con Artists and Royalty (as it is kinda a mixed bag of a lot of stuff) and tbh, my songfics.

How do you title your fics: I struggle with it. Songfics are the easiest as the title is just the song's name (original or translated.) Otherwise most titles are like a... 'Ok this is the theme of this fic so it shall be the title,' which ends up being a random word(s) that is related to the whole fic (Kiran's Journey, Street Food, all fics in Closure series, etc.)

But I think the most thought I gave to keeping titles was for Eye Opener, maybe Demons and KKAKK...

How do you outline:

I usually don't. And in the rare case I do so... It starts with me ranting to my mutuals about a random idea, condensing the rant into a very rough paragraph as an outline and later on expand it to a page or two of the main details and finally a rough idea of what goes into each chapter.

Like for KKAKK it started off as 'what if A and B time travel to this time period and make drastic changes?' Then expanded it to a nearly 3 page outline of the major events/the idea of the OCs and I had chapter outlined and wrote nearly 40 chapters before I took it down for a rewrite.

Complete:

Eh... All my OS are complete for sure 😂 I have a bad luck when it comes to multi chapters so only A Mission to the Past, Kiran's Journey, Second Chances and Operation Makroh have escaped that curse for now. I should be completed with Equalists and the rest of the Closure series by November hopefully. Apart from that, none of my multichapters are in a state of getting the complete mark any time soon.

Do you accept prompts:

Yes, I am always open to them. I might take my time to come around finishing them but I do complete them *looks at Mahabharata OS and Lockdown Shenanigans and Hair Styling*

Upcoming story you're most excited to write about:

My Bumizumi AU+Bumi's Strays series for one, which I should start off at Sokka week and continue to Bumizumi week and Bending Brothers Fortnight.

As much as I dread them... Revenge and Hearts to Hearts from the Closure series.

Con Artist and Royalty.

The untitled Mako and Bolin adopts Jinora AU.

Story you're excited to read:

Now that... too many to count but my top ones definitely are the Unrequited(?) and it's spin off by @busy-bii, The Candle or The Mirror by @old-and-new-friends, Creeping like Ivy and Silence of the Blue Spirit by @flamehotman, Iroh Alone by @orangepanic and rereading each and every Makroh fic of @sukiekagamine and @old-and-new-friends...

Tagging:

@old-and-new-friends, @ohmygodtheywereparabatai, @busy-bii Anyone who wishes to do it tbh.