#mechanic!sokka

[mycomfortblanket]

Publicist Set Up

Chapter One

Sokka is lying in bed scrolling through Instagram when a message request notification bar appears at the top of his screen. Not thinking too much of it, he hits the bar and it immediately takes him to the message.

From: KateLoftinFireStudios 9:46 pm Hi, my name is Kate, I am Zuko Sozin's Social Media Publicist and Manager. I noticed that you've commented a few times on his posts and was wondering if you would be interested in a Zoom Meet and Greet with him..

Sokka rolls his eyes. Another spam message, although this one seems more realistic, is probably an actual person messaging him and then will somehow manage to get his social secruity number from some special encryption bullshit. But still, it's always fun to mess with these people and see how far they are willing to sell their lies.

From: Sokkas_B00merang 9:48 pm Oh, Zuko's publicist, huh?

From: KateLoftinFireStudios 9:48 pm Yeah, I know, there are a lot of scammers out there, but this is a legitimate offer. It's completely free, you would just have to log onto a Zoom meeting after I set up the times between you two.

Sokka furrows his brow. He's never had a scammer openly admit to there being other scammers on the internet, nor them saying 'completely free'. Usually, they'll throw in a 'small payment' or something along those lines.

From: Sokkas_B00merang 9:50 pm Is there any way for me to know you're real?

From: KateLoftinFireStudios 9:51 pm Oh, I'm so sorry about that. I usually lead with that. Yes, here is my card, I blacked out my phone number for obvious reasons. If you would like, you can request to follow me on Instagram and you can see some personal photos I have with him.

The picture that comes in is crystal clear and it's what she says it is: a business card. Sokka clicks on the photo so that it comes up bigger and he inspects the card. There's her name, and underneath it says Social Media Specialist and Publicist, the scribble of what looks like a Snapchat coloring over the phone number and email.

Okay, this shit is weird and actually kind of real looking. Before he actually starts to get his hopes up, Sokka goes to Kate's profile and hits the Request to Follow button, and within thirty seconds, his request is approved and he is able to go to her page.

The majority of the pictures are of her and several of her at the pool drinking some frozen alcoholic drink. But, every so often, there's a picture with someone famous. There's that girl from that K-Pop group he hears so much about, or that actor from the newest James Bond movie, and a little further down, is Zuko. The caption reads Great night with great company. He clicks the photo and the top comment is from Zuko's official account. It's just a heart, but still, this shit is weirdly realistic.

He goes back to the messages,

From: Sokkas_B00merang 10:02 pm Okay, I'll give you this, your stuff looks legit. Just waiting for the other shoe to drop and for you to ask me to input my credit card number.

From: KateLoftinFireStudios 10:03 pm Lol no, nothing of that sort. I just need to know when you are free within the next two weeks so I can get a meeting set up between you two.

~~~

Even though Sokka still has a sliver of a doubt about this whole thing, he is also having that rush of excitement at possibly meeting a celebrity. But not just any celebrity, the hottest model that Sokka has ever had the privilege of masterbating to. He started appearing in magazines a little bit before the pandemic, and once everyone was confinded indoors, his image seemed to be everywhere.

Sokka has a few magazines that Zuko is featured in scattered about in his apartment, and even though the majority of the time, he is fully clothed, there is that random picture of him in underwear or swimsuit. His lean body has the perfect amount of wiry muscles and his abs are defined but not overly in your face. His scar, although Sokka is sure was incredibly painful, gives the man a sense of mystery and ruggedness.

When it's finally time for the meeting, Sokka pulls out his old laptop from the back of his closet and powers it on. He'd rather be safe than sorry just in case it is actually spam and they give his computer some sort of virus. He has it set up on his coffee table and with him on the floor, his back pressed against the couch.

He's still waiting in the Zoom calls 'lobby' waiting for the host- or Zuko- to start the meeting. Sokka checks his reflection in the little square that shows his picture and he quickly reaches up and adjusts his hair and checks for eye boogies one more time.

The computer makes a sound, letting him know that someone has started the chat and his heart freezes for about .5 seconds as the screen changes. The person he's supposed to be chatting with still doesn't have their camera on so he can't see if it's actually going to be The Zuko or some ramdom guy from a different country trying to steal his identity.

"Bloody hell, you would think I would know how to do this by now," a woman with a British accent says. "Sokka- am I pronouncing your name right?"

"Uh..." he hesitates, but nods his head. "Yeah. You pronounced it right."

"Great, this is Kate," the British woman says. "Zuko is in the other room, said something about his shirt. I can't seem to understand why- Ah!" the camera finally comes on, "There we go!" and a beautiful woman comes into view. She's sitting in what appears to be a kitchen; there's a stove and the edge of a stainless steel fridge behind her. The breath is actually sucked out of him. That's the lady that was in the Instagram posts... which means...

"Is that him?" a raspy voice sounds from off-camera and Sokka's eyes widen. He would recognize that voice anywhere. From all the interviews that Sokka has watched, he would be able to pick this man's voice out of a lineup any day. Kate glances to the right of the screen and gives a small nod and a smile.

"Okay, Sokka. So the way this works, you and Zuko get to chat for about thirty minutes before it automatically kicks both of you out. For legal reasons, Zuko won't disclose any personal information like where he is, phone number, or things of that sort and you also don't have to disclose any information that you don't want to. Sound good?"

Sokka can't even really bring himself to say anything, but just nods, his eyes still as big as dinner plates.

"Great, well here he is." Kate turns to Zuko who is still offscreen, "I'm going to be down the hall in the office, I'll come back a few minutes before the time is u p to give you a warning, okay?" She turns back to Sokka, "Bye, Sokka. It was great chatting with you!" She walks off the screen and a tall figure takes her place.

If it's even possible, the breath is sucked out of Sokka again at the fact that Zuko fucking Sozin, the most beautiful model his eyes have ever laid upon, drops down into the chair in front of the camera.

"Oh my god," Sokka whispers.

"What?" Zuko asks, his brow furrowing.

"I didn't actually think- I mean... you're real!" Sokka says, his voice cracking slightly.

Zuko huffs out an awkward laugh, "Yeah, and you're real, I mean, of course, you'd be real. I just didn't believe Kate when she told me about the Zoom meeting because, I mean, who does this sort of thing? I- I don't mean that I don't want to talk with you, I just- I'm totally new to all of this-" he cuts himself off, a blush spreading across his cheeks.

Sokka cant' help the smile that comes onto his face. God, this guy is cute. In the magazines, he just radiates confidence and sex appeal, but in real life, he is so painfully awkward that it's cute. "You don't talk to fans often?" Sokka asks, deciding to help him out a little.

"I wouldn't necessarily say I have fans..." Zuko mumbles, running a hand through his shaggy hair. "I mean, sure, there are people who like me, but fans- I think that's being a little generous."

"Nah, man. I'm definitely a fan," Sokka gives him a charming smile and Zuko gives him a small one back. "You say you're new to this, but I've been seeing you in magazines and stuff for years now, since before the pandemic."

"Oh, yeah, no. I didn't mean new to the modeling thing, I meant new to the talking to people who... like me?" he finishes awkwardly with a shrug.

Sokka can't help but snort a laugh out through his nose, "I'm finding that a little hard to believe that you- mister beautiful famous model man- is nervous talking to me, a guy who ids barely surviving working at his dad's mechanic shop."

"I don't know about the beautiful part," Zuko grumbles and looks down, his blush deepening just a little and starting to spread down his neck. Sokka can just barely see his fingers picking at something on the table he is at. This is the second time he has been self-deprecating and Sokka can tell he's not doing it in a way of fishing for compliments, but rather, he genuinely believes what he is saying. He also notices how Zuko didn't deny the fact that he is nervous talking to him, but rather, denied that he is pretty.

"Well, what made your publicist choose me for you to talk to?" he asks curiously. Sokka does not expect the full-on bright red blush that overtakes Zuko's cheeks even more and goes down his neck, disappearing into his shirt. His eyes go wide and he quickly looks off-screen and then back at Sokka, trying to stammer out a response. There's something about making Zuko blush with every other question that is really getting to Sokka. "What?" he asks, his mouth quirking up into a smile as he tries fighting off his own blush.

"It was random, Kate just pulled someone from the comments and- set it up," he doesn't look at Sokka when he says this so he knows that Zuko is partially lying, but he won't call him out on it... yet.

"Ah, well, what comment did I leave that made her click on me?" Sokka thought this was an innocent enough question, but the way Zuko's blush deepens, he can only guess. Actually... he doesn't even need to guess, he knows what comment it was. "Oh... yeah, I know which one, don't say that out loud, uh..." Sokka starts. In his defense, he was incredibly stoned when he posted that comment to Zuko's Instagram account.

The picture in question was of Zuko lying on the edge of a pool, his drenched white shirt pulled up to expose his stomach. There were artfully placed droplets of water scattered about on his face and the way the sunlight- or artificial light, whatever- brought out his light brown eyes, making them look like dripping honey.

The comment that Sokka had left isn't exactly something he is proud of and to be honest, he completely forgot about until now. What I would do to have this man underneath me isn't exactly something that screams 'strike up a conversation with me'.

His ex, Suki, had beat manners into him and how awful it is to degrade women by talking like that, and of course, the sentiment extended to men. But, Sokka was never very good at keeping his mouth in check while under the influence, so he knows what he said wasn't exactly 'chivalrous'.

Zuko finally looks back up at the camera and gives a small laugh at Sokka's sudden awkwardness, "Now who is the one that's nervous?"

Sokka snorts, not expecting the joke to come from him, "Oh, he's got jokes?" he asks through his laughter. It's weird how easy it is talking to Zuko, they're talking like they're both normal people instead of half the party being incredibly famous and the other half being incredibly not famous.

Zuko's smile brightens just a little and he visibly seems to loosen up the longer they talk. They start poking fun at one another as if they've been friends for years. It's only when he hears the familiar British accent off-camera that he knows their thirty minutes are coming to a close.

"it was really great talking with you, Sokka," Zuko says, his voice lowering slightly and making a warmth settle in Sokka's belly. God, the way his name sounds on this man's lips.

He gulps at the same time he tries to say, "Yeah-" he coughs a little, clearing his throat, "Yeah, I can't believe I actually got to meet you, it's unreal. You're unreal."

Zuko laughs a little, "I'm really glad we met, hopefully we'll talk again soon."

Sokka's eyes widen, "Wait, what do you mean-" but the Zoom call ends before he can even ask what Zuko means by Hopefully we'll talk again soon. How would they talk soon? There's no chance of them meeting in public, mostly because he doesn't even know where Zuko lives, but also because, what is the fucking chance that he would meet a celebrity when the only places he go4es to are the coffee house down the street, work, and the community college a town over?

He stares at the Zoom home page for a few minutes longer, trying to process the whole encounter. At one point, he thinks they were flirting, but he couldn't be sure, because, like, why the fuck would a fine-ass model flirt with him?

Shaking his head slightly, sure that he will wake up in a few minutes from some coma that he's been in, he stands up from the coffee table, scooping his phone into his hand, and starts down the hallway towards his bedroom.

He flicks on the light when he gets two notifications, one after the other, from Instagram. Opening his phone and navigating to the app, a smile breaks across his face.

Zuko.Sozin followed you

A new message from Zuko.Sozin 7:48 pm And yeah, I'd like to be underneath you, too.

Read the rest of the series on ArchiveofOurOwn.com

[queen-morgana91]

Grown ass people in this fandom still don't know that there are DIFFERENT ways of dealing with trauma

Some people show it on the surface (Zuko), while others bury it deep down (Aang)

Both have different trauma responses. Aang dealt with it in his own way. Zuko dealt with it in his own ways

Same Katara and Sokka with their mother's death

Saying that Aang is not affected by the air nomads genocide because he was "having fun" is insane and stupid asf 🤦‍♂️

[lordzukosnosehair]

It came to me in a vision.

[theotterpenguin]

there’s a post floating around here claiming that sokka is the only person keeping the atla kids alive and it very much reminded me of how the labor that women perform is often undervalued and overlooked. (and this post is not meant to be targeted towards op at all, but rather is speaking towards a general trend that i’ve noticed in the atla fandom)

i recently rewatched atla and it’s surprised me that the fandom interpretation is that only sokka is worried about the group’s lack of food/money, particularly in book 1, because katara worries over the exact same things and is usually the one backing up sokka. in “the warriors of kyoshi,” sokka reminds aang that they need to make it to the northern water tribe soon and stop making pitstops, and katara agrees with him. when they stop at kyoshi island, katara reminds aang multiple times that it’s risky to stay in one place for too long. in “the waterbending scroll,” sokka worries over how little money they have left after aang wastes money on a bison whistle, so katara takes charge of keeping track of the money instead, and she also reminds aang that they need to practice waterbending, not focus on having fun. in “the storm,” katara realizes they’re out of food and says they need to go to the market, then sokka gets a job so they’ll have more money for food. in “the king of omashu” and “the deserter,” sokka worries that aang will be discovered, and katara agrees so she suggests that they wear disguises. in “the cave of two lovers,” sokka says they need to focus on getting to omashu without getting sidetracked, and katara agrees. in “avatar day,” sokka and katara buy food/supplies together while aang waits for them. 

despite sokka being seen as the pragmatic sibling, both katara and sokka are pretty united in their practicality and trying to keep their mission on track. katara only makes exceptions on a couple occasions when she values standing up against injustice even more than sticking to the plan, such as freeing the imprisoned earthbenders or helping the fire nation village as the painted lady. and the way that i've seen people use katara’s passion for social justice as a way to argue that she’s “irresponsible” seems a bit disingenuous considering that she sees it as a moral duty to help people in need (and let alone everything else she does on the day-to-day to help the group).

(“the library” is in fact the only episode in the entire show that i can remember where katara disagrees with sokka and says there’s no harm in having some fun in their downtime. and as soon as sokka finds out about the existence of the library he’s also fine with taking a break from their mission lol. despite what the fandom thinks, it’s not the norm).

and while there’s a lot of focus on sokka’s mapping/planning skills, there’s also so much that katara does so much behind the scenes that isn’t as explicitly acknowledged. “the chase” tells us that katara, aang, and sokka all contribute pretty equally to setting up their camp while traveling. in “jet” they all help pack up camp, in “the great divide” sokka sets up their tent, katara collects firewood, and aang gathers food. and yet even though they all seem to contribute pretty equally to setting up camp, we are shown so many scenes of katara doing extra chores while the others are preoccupied with something else. in “the southern air temple,” katara packs up their supplies while sokka is sleeping, then again packs up everything while sokka’s eating the food momo gave him. “the warriors of kyoshi” episode implies katara is the only one mending everyone’s clothes, and while sokka is getting his ass kicked training with the kyoshi warriors and aang is entertaining his fan girls, katara is shopping for food and supplies.

in “the painted lady,” the group all goes shopping for food together, but it’s katara who cooks dinner for everyone (shown twice in this episode). in “the runaway,” katara’s at camp cooking for everyone while they’re off tricking a gambler to make more money. sokka, aang, and toph buy food/supplies, then leave them with katara to sort out while they go have fun in the village (and sokka gets to buy his messenger hawk). and katara’s the one seen as a “buzzkill” for worrying about their safety. this pattern continues in “the western air temple” and “the firebending masters” where we see katara cooking and serving food to the group, but there aren’t scenes of them doing other chores.

and of course, “the desert” is an entire episode dedicated to katara keeping the group alive. and that’s not even to mention the countless amount of emotional support that she gives to her friends, often putting other people’s needs above her own. sure, katara might not be the person with the map or the master plan, but that doesn’t mean her contributions are any less important.

sokka’s character arc involves growing into a strong leader and strategist, so it makes sense that the fandom often likes to focus on the moments that go into building this arc, the moments where he does take the lead and is responsible. but for katara? it’s just something required of her and of most female characters. taking on extra responsibilities is something to be admired in men, but just expected of women. 

and to be clear, i’m not saying that sokka is not responsible, he definitely is. i just find it interesting that some parts of this fandom have a skewed perception of katara’s role in the group, often claiming her to be the “irresponsible” or “immature” sibling while poor, exhausted Dad!Sokka™ is the only one keeping these silly kids alive. sokka and katara both had to grow up too fast, they’re both kids who are very mature for their age and took on adult responsibilities far too young (though in different ways). acknowledging the sacrifices katara made and the labor she took on to take care of others isn’t diminishing sokka’s character arc, it’s something he even admits in the show himself. and i love their relationship because even with such a complicated family dynamic, it’s so clear how much they love and support each other.

[ihavea-natural-curiosity]

sokka is for the people pleasers who are never seen as a people pleaser because they don’t “act like one” but still don’t know who they are without being needed

[luolii]

it’s about sokka being left behind by his father, by his idols. it’s about sokka being the only “man” to protect the ones left at the southern water tribe when he’s just a boy. it’s about sokka being the oldest in the gaang but feeling the most average. it’s about sokka not being able to protect yue, not being able to protect suki. it’s about sokka admitting that he doesn’t remember his mother’s face. it’s about katara yelling at him that “you must’ve not loved her like i did.” it’s about sokka still swearing on his life to protect katara anyway.  

[greenapplebling]

Happy/goofy characters but their happiness/goofiness is mostly performative

[jewishdainix]

Inventing a new rarepair zukko x sokka x drumbot brian. Do you see my vision

[aero-sense]

I'm enamored by how games interpret stories (especially from other titles) and how I interpret those game mechanics, so I decided to start a series of my little observations/speculations on games I like. To start off is first game in the Atla trilogy series.

The first game in the series is a bit unique, taking place after Book 1 finale instead of adapting straight from the show. Its an original story, so I'm excited to play it.

I will be playing the PS2, DS, and PSP versions of the game. The PS2 version will be the main reference for my notes. The other versions will be denoted by brackets. The main posts will be divided by levels.

This is not meant to be a critical review or a detailed walkthrough. All I will do is point out little details I notice or like. I'm doing this for my own fun, not to be accurate.

Now to get into the game!

Waterbender Village:

The game starts off with some pretty backgrounds and snow. The particle system for this game is great. Love the character models and how expressive they are during cutscenes.

The title map says it's the Waterbender Village, but I think Waterbender Temple would have been a more interesting title. The people there refer it to be a peaceful training village.

The Northern Tribe does seem to exist, as the trader downtown references Zhao's invasion. It's suggested or assumed as the biggest city around. It's nice world building, changing the water tribes into several disperse settlements rather than just two large collectives.

Sokka in the cutscene and on lookout acts rather.... quiet and standoffish. It's suggested that he misses his father. If we're following the events of the Book 1 finale as well, you could assume he's mourning Yue too.

The most out of character detail is how player-controlled Aang starts off by fighting wolfs.... let's just assume he's playing with them.

So cute how Momo will cling to Aang while he walks around. If you shake him off or fight, he'll fly off and immediately come back again when you're done.

As Momo, you can shriek at the enemy and catch their attention? Funny if this is how he interacts with most living creatures.

You're given a lot of different items to wear to increase attributes. It would have been fun to see the gang accessorize this much in show.

Increasing certain attributes can increase the damage for certain characters in the following order: Agility for Aang, Strength for Sokka, Life (maximum health) for Katara, and Focus (chi) for Haru. It matches well for their respective traits.

This is the friendliest the Water Tribe has been portrayed. Aang befriended many of them. He sled with a fellow fisherman last week. Likewise, the people around the village know what Aang's up to for the day. Many of them give him space and ask how he's doing or how was his meditation. Overall, they're all comfortable with each other.

This portrayal of the Water Tribe really displays their strong community. A lot of the characters are named or titled, and have friendships with each other. Don't know someone? Form a search party anyway, with just as much concern you'd have for a family member. Half the town overhears a rumor about an old woman without supplies and ask if the avatar could check it out. It's sweet.

One of the reasons I chose the PS2 to focus my notes on is because of the voiced lines from the characters. It's a different atmosphere running around and overhearing small talk. Their voices give so much life to the world, between being happy, exhausted, distressed, and annoyed for implied reasons. The dialogue is great in this version, because it changes throughout quests and major plot progression.

Common dialogue of the village are people often lamenting about the cold, gory jokes about firebenders (hah), day to day life with hunting and friends, and how the war affected them for so long.

A plotline quest is we have to find a missing waterbender named Hiryu. What we know about Hiryu is he's well-liked around the village, one of their best hunters, and a bit of a storyteller. He's friends with quite a lot of people and a lot of them are concerned about him missing.

The marks leading to the tunnel looks like an animal crawling out, or sadly, a man dragged in.

Immediately when the Fire Nation attacks, the snow turns to soot.

It's sad seeing the destroyed village (especially with how much time I spent running around for quests ε=ε=┌(;￣▽￣)┘).

The soldiers, nonbenders with weapons, are stronger than the firebenders. It implies a lot, that having a well-trained nonbender is better than a couple of low-ranked benders and that bending doesn't throw the war in your favor...

The fire comets can hit the fire benders themselves... yeah I'm reiterating my previous comment.

[DS]

Very cute models, but so far the dialogue doesn't stand out much.

There's little animations for cut scenes and the like that are really cute (look at Sokka's face!).

Momo will eat your discarded items.

The icons are just the redrawn icons of the PSP character art.

[PSP]

Cute that both PSP and DS include the otter penguins. You can't attack them.

I really like the music outside of the village. It sounds like echos of the tundra with wind chimes mimicking the ice.

The character art is great by the way, it's very expressive and cute for the main characters.

In this version, Katara looks sad not to go penguin sledding and happily promises to go afterwards. If you talk to her again while doing other quests, she actually starts to get ready. I prefer this version the most. It's very fitting for her character.

Katara's waterbending master is referred as Pakku in this version.

HP is called honor points which is cute. The MP instead is called chi. Makes sense.

The dialogue for the PSP version is a little more pleasant and smooth compared to other versions. I wonder if the writers got more time to polish the writing.

[xxxcertifiednerdxxx]

if I ever talk about a character and am like “omg they are so funny that’s why they’re my fave,” you don’t have to be like “um actually this character has been brutally traumatized and has this crazy insanely beautiful character arc and they are carrying the world on their shoulders and pay insurance an—” bc I know. I know the character is more than just the funny. But maybe the funny is all I can focus on without my own mind breaking just a little more.

[inappropriations]

It's been four hours and I'm still buzzing with icky energy because I spoke a lot in a meeting and therefore many people perceived me while I was probably being awkward and/or forgetting something important 😶

[seasideoranges]

twitter // ko-fi

the blue spirit!! i wanted to play around with his mask a bit, kind of had an idea of what if it was more mechanical and it's mouth could open and close so zuko could breathe out fire/smoke

+ bonus sokka/blue spirit doodles

[aangular]

I kinda hate when people act like Aang is this naive kid who doesn’t know what’s going on or what he’s doing, especially at the beginning of the series.

For example, in “The Southern Air Temple, " he shows Sokka and Katara around, acting excited and playing around. Do you think that he doesn’t know what’s going on? Do you think that Aang, someone who grew up in that temple doesn’t know what is supposed to look like?

In his timeline, he had been gone for at most one week. Do you really believe that he would think it is normal that the place that was filled with people a few days ago is now completely empty Do you think that he would find it normal that the entire place is run down and poorly kept?

I’m just confused. Since episode one, the narrative has made it obvious that Aang has avoidant coping mechanisms, where he outright ignores what’s happening around him because he cannot deal with it. It’s an integral aspect of his character (since it’s the reason he ran away after finding out he was the avatar, which quite literally sets off the plot). I get it if people don’t necessarily like that aspect of his personality (wrong opinion, btw), but understanding that it’s there and how it affects how he interacts with the world is important to getting ATLA.

Yes, he did know what the being avatar meant to an extent, and he knew he had to learn the three elements, but the reason he didn’t go to the North Pole straight away was because he didn’t want to. He wanted to put it off for as long as possible, going on adventures and “eventually getting to the NP”.

There was literally a 2 part episode (The Winter Solstice) to tell us that Aang couldn’t just mess around that entire season because it introduced a time limit to defeat the Fire Lord. Ever since then, the gaang pretty much beelined for the NP, plus some detours, but that’s the magic of worldbuilding.

I would talk about his reluctance to learn waterbending from Pakku, but that’s a different post altogether.

Obviously, he didn’t understand what it was like growing up in the middle of a war (because he didn’t). Still, no one understood what losing their entire people and being the last of their kind was. And no one calls other characters naive or stupid for their constant insensitivity throughout the series…

The bottom line is that he knew; he always knew. It was just easier to pretend he didn’t.

[i-dont-actualy-like-oatmeal]

i said this trying desperately to be nonchalant about them but i srsly haven't done anything but read atla fanficion for the past week and about 90% of it was zukka

the zukka ship to me is very much no it didn't happen but everyone likes it when boys kiss

[queen-morgana91]

Many people still don't know how the Avatar State works bruh

No, Aang is not controlled by the other Avatars when he is angry.

Rise of Kyoshi explained that the Avatar State is 1) a defense mechanism and 2) the past Avatars aren't just acting through the current Avatar; when you don't have control yet, the Avatar state is very dangerous since the Avatar can't handle all the amassed power.

You might as well ask "Which Avatar wanted Aang to nearly kill Katara and Sokka when he learned about the air nomad genocide?" That wasn't Aang or a past Avatar. That was his uncontrolled grief triggering the Avatar State. He didn't have control, nor did the other Avatars

When Kyoshi finally mastered the Avatar State, it wasn't just all the other Avatars amalgamated. Kyoshi heard them, and was aware of them, but was perfectly in control of her own actions and choices.

It's the same with Aang.

[sirenalpha]

I'm seeing so much commentary on people reacting to the live action atla toning down Sokka's misogyny

and I'm over here like this is a total non-issue because in my own rewrite of the show I already did that exact thing, it makes complete sense to do it and they should do it because it's a weaker aspect of the original show

Sokka's early misogyny is utterly cartoonish in comparison to the set up of the rest of the SWT, it doesn't feel realistic for the only teenaged boy in a dying culture surrounded by adult women with a grandmother who left a more out and out misogynist society to act the way he does

how Sokka "resolves" his misogyny is equally cartoonish, I never liked how in The Warriors of Kyoshi literally episode 4 of the show makes a teen girl compromise her own culture with a female only fighting tradition teach a boy who is supremely rude and disrespectful to her and then still be attracted to him afterwards, it's more misogyny to fix misogyny and is very obviously men writing about how to fix misogyny especially as they have Aang make a joke about Sokka wearing a dress after going through how meaningful the fighting costume is and how a lot of Asian clothing with hanfu influences like atla borrows from would have men in what to western eyes would be dresses, Aang has already seen multiple male authority figures in robes, the joke makes no sense

I also wouldn't consider Sokka's misogyny genuinely resolved after this, consider how the show deals with his romantic relationships with both Yue and Suki and how both can be seen as extensions of how Kataang is treated in the show, rewards for the hero, especially with how Sokka interacts aggressively with Hahn instead of respecting Yue's wishes whatever her reasons for them, I think an argument can be made that Yue's death is a fridging for Sokka's storyline rather than or in combination with being a consequence of Aang's failure as an avatar or the culmination of her own storyline where she fulfills her duties as a leader to protect her own people

Beyond his romantic relationships, while Sokka drops a lot of his more misogynistic language with Katara, he doesn't support her when she faces off with the NWT leaders to learn waterbending, and he still leaves the caretaking and food preparation and grocery shopping to her which is more common than him going out to hunt or gather in order to provide for the group while he takes a leadership role like determining their travel schedule and routes, it is not an even division of labor and falls along traditional sex stereotypes

In addition to his typical duties to the group, Sokka also remains invested in the trappings of masculinity after ep4, he's concerned about what's manly and how he compares to Jet for example, there's no investigation or interrogation in his interest in meat and hunting and how they relate to masculinity and his misogyny, in the episode with Piando, his insecurity as a non-bender is resolved by giving him a new male mentor and a new martial skill, sword fighting, which is masculine in both western and Asian cultures rather than assuaging his self esteem issues in any less stereotypically masculine ways, I also think it was done so he could compare more favorably to Zuko, another male character, and even his interest in engineering and mechanics comes with a male mentor and is a traditionally masculine pursuit

the show's poor handling of misogyny also extends beyond Sokka, with the NWT, the show acts as if Pakku is the only reason the tribe is misogynistic and the only consequences to that misogyny is that women can't waterbend and there are arranged marriages, and that both the NWT and Pakku's misogyny is resolved by allowing only Katara to learn to waterbend which she doesn't even earn on her own merits, she gets the opportunity because Pakku likes her grandmother

none of this is realistic, misogyny is not because of one bad apple, Pakku doesn't make Yue's arranged marriage, Chief Arnook does, he picked Hahn for her, and the show acts as if Arnook has no authority to compel Pakku to teach Katara or any ability to persuade him in order to reduce his culpability in the NWT's misogyny as its leader to make him a more respectable character so it's not uncomfortable when Aang and Sokka follow his orders in the battle later on, but women not being able to bend and forced into arranged marriages is still status quo when the gaang leaves, Yue's just dead

I'm not even convinced the show runners understand what's wrong with arranged marriage, the issue is not Yue can't be with Sokka who she likes and at most has a slight crush on cuz she's only known him for like two days, it's that she's being treated as male property, a broodmare, and a vehicle to ensure Hahn receives the throne because her father has no male heir and picked some guy to succeed him instead, like it's not explicit in the show but that is the implication based on the historical reality of princesses in arranged marriages, and the show has her get out of it only through death idc that she ascends to being a spirit, it's still a teen girl that dies

There's also no discussion by the show of the Earth Kingdom's misogyny when it has the exact same shit going on, Toph is the only female earthbender in the show not including avatars, there might have been a female earthbender in the background when Katara broke them out of prison, but I'm not really counting that, the entire army and Dai Li are all made up of men, the EK might even be worse because the show doesn't demonstrate that women and girls even have the capacity to earthbend aside from Toph and avatars and Toph doesn't even learn from a human, she has to learn from animals, the show treats this as commentary on her disability but the show has no compelling reason why it can't also be commentary on her sex, Toph was also originally supposed to be a boy so this could have ended up so much worse there literally would have been no female earthbenders aside from avatars at all, I'm not counting Oma as she might just be a mythological figure not a real person that once lived

The Fire Nation kinda barely avoids the same issue, Azula is the only named female firebender aside from avatars in the show but she has two female sidekicks who despite being non-benders show martial skill and there are clearly female soldiers and guards in the FN military so there are much stronger implications of female firebenders existing and being completely allowed to train their abilities and that Azula isn't exceptional in that respect like Toph is, only for being a prodigy with blue fire

Azula was also originally supposed to have an arranged marriage in s3 and they dropped it in favor of showing that royal and noble girls could casually date in the FN which has wild implications for women's empowerment in the country more so than but especially in combination with the fact women can train and join the military (which is why I say the FN is not fascist it's literally the least misogynistic country aside from Kyoshi and by like a country mile so it's literally not misogynistic enough) not that the show does anything more than minor teen drama with it

again, the vast majority of this misogyny is completely unremarked upon by the show especially after s1 when they leave the NWT, it is clearly a fictional world made by men with no true understanding of misogyny just a vague awareness that misogyny is bad and what the really obvious and outdated examples of it are, this is a narrative inconsistency in the show to have the examples and commentary on misogyny be so cartoonish in the beginning and then disappear after s1

your options to resolve this inconsistency is to either go all in with more realistic misogyny and provide commentary on all of it but this takes effort and will be divisive, or take the easier route and ease off the cartoonish-ness of it and comment less on it to avoid drawing attention to all instances of misogyny in the show

obviously Netflix was gonna do the latter

(not me tho, I'm making it less cartoony and dealing with it in my rewrite)