#my biggest grievance with this game is the size of the map and how they handled dani's relationship with everyone

[swearingcactus]

i have a lot of thoughts for far cry 6 (especially now that im replaying as male dani for my 2nd run) but every time i write them they always go incoherent real quick with my grievances for the game :/ maybe i'll just make a really generic list of stuff i noticed like how i did with fc4 because i still want to talk about the non-existent details i've pried with my bare hands as i do with all far cry games. but hmu if anyone wants to hear me rant about the whole thing 👉👈

[likeadragonfruit]

What is your take on what an Azula comic should include? If you wrote it, what would it include?

Ooo! Good ask, mysterious anon, good ask!

I believe this was either the first or second ask from that batch you sent me. And while I’m answering it last, it’s certainly not the least of them.

Part of what took so long, aside from a detour to wrestling with writing Azula week pieces, is I wanted to answer this ask just right. (And that only accounts for a week.) The rest of it is hesitation. Because I know I’m not the smartest or most insightful Azula fan, but I still wanted to try to give a solid answer. But perfectionism is the enemy of progress (Or something like that.) 

Anyway, an Azula comic, a truly Azula-centric comic. What should one include? Hmm…

No ableism or misogyny

Okay, that sounds so basic that it shouldn’t need to be mentioned. And yet…

But yeah, if we’re going to lean into the concept of Azula having mental illness, do it right. And do I have say more on no misogyny? However, these are exclusions, not inclusions.

Insight into her character

Azula is a character that even in the show we usually didn’t get much overt insight into. Or rather, her onscreen actions would usually be contradicted by the show’s narrative framing. 

But Azula centric content is a great chance to rectify that! I mean, it’s not even fully Azula centric, but “The Beach” actually gave us a fair bit in a short period of time.

Nuance

Again, sounds obvious but…

Nuance is vital, because it’s not about using an Azula centric frame to whitewash her, but to bring into relief her character outside of a narrative that not merely accentuated the negative, but exaggerated it (“capture by Azula is a fate worse than execution!” When capture by Azula means a prison cell, but not slow painful torture to death. As just an example.)

Portrayals that aren’t just dead serious

Azula is a character with plenty of opportunities for a certain brand of comedy and absurdity. As an example, the older comic “Going Home” showed a contrast with Azula getting the Dai Li to set up a date for Mai and Zuko. And like, that’s just the wonderful absurdity of the conqueror of a city at 14, with her own secret police force… and that’s something she’ll use them for 😂

Or the “Ember Island Arcade” comic, with a competition between Zuko and  Azula in an arcade game. 

I’m not saying the whole has to hit that tone exclusively, but an Azula story shouldn’t be afraid to have fun at some points either. It need not be a dead serious affair the whole way through.

A glorious cape

What? She looks good in a cape! I don’t see how it could hurt.

Ahem, anyway now onto

If I wrote it

As for if I wrote it, that’s a challenging one. Assuming we’re going by the standards of the existing ATLA comics, so a single comic is about 70-something pages, I’m not sure I have the skill in comic planning to map out a good outline for a story that size. It’s simultaneously a lot to plan out, but less room in which to tell a story than you’d think. (I might be thinking more literally or in detail than the question means, but that’s something I keep coming back to.)

Then my bigger problem is under what circumstances. If I have to work with what’s already been written in the comics… 

In that case, I would aim for something that firmly centers Azula, focuses on a combination of her current mindset and her view of her past. With the caveat of retconning the ever-loving fuck out of some details. Mainly, tossing the “Azula terrorized Mai by stealing mochi” nonsense from Smoke and Shadow. (I want to retcon out the general “Azula is the biggest problem in Mai and Ty Lee’s lives” as well, but you have to approach some of these things with a scalpel, not a chainsaw, sadly.) I love the dangerous ladies and would love from them to reconcile. But I think even more than that personal desire, it’s better to root the issues and grievances on all sides in, you know, not garbage ideas.

If given more free reign, you know, starting from scratch from the show’s finale. I might not be good enough to nail down exactly where I’d want to start with a first outing, could think of a rough idea where I’d want to go.

The thing is Azula in the postwar era is in an interesting position. She’s a character who was lawful and loyal to a warmongering empire. For her, just as much, if not more so in some ways than others in the Fire Nation, her world flipped itself on its head. From there, we have a question Azula would have to resolve: what do you do when the set of laws and norms you used to follow are no more? And not only are they no more, but their ending was morally right and justified? (To say nothing of her interpersonal relationships, though this journey could also be a vehicle to address the state of those as well.)

Not only does this open up possibilities to explore the idea with Azula herself, but to contrast with most other Fire Nation characters who would have to contend with something similar. She, after all, is also contending with having followed her emperor and culture into imperialist war. The only difference for her being that her emperor was also her father who saw no issue sending her into battle (which if “The Beach” is any indication is not the norm for someone as young as her.)

(There’s definitely the possibility of falling into bitter-enderism. But also other options to be explored as well. Versions of unlearning imperialism, for example, which is pretty big for being able to exist in a post-imperial era without yearning for bringing back the empire. Seeing new things, looking for new ways to define herself outside everything she’s known for all of the 14 years she’s lived so far.)