#peak zuko tournament

[peak-zuko-tournament]

Final Matchup

[theturncoattournament]

Who is the best turncoat character? (Round 3)

A tournament for characters who change allegiances and/or have a redemption or corruption arc during their stories

PROPAGANDA:

Theon- Theon Greyjoy- Child lives ten years of his life with his blood family and then becomes a hostage and spends ten more years growing up with his captor's family. He wants to be loved he wants to be praised he wants to belong SOMEWHERE... he's kind of an ass. Ends up betraying his friend/"foster brother" Robb because he went back to his birth family and they mocked him for integrating himself with his captors. Steals Robb's castle... and then things just get more fucked up than he meant them to. Theon's conflict of being a "Greyjoy" who grew up "Stark" and his descent to rock bottom in the second book is only made more compelling when we pick back up with him in book 5, where he's gone through horrors beyond our imagination and crawls his way back up. He's also literally called "Theon Turncloak" by the side he betrayed, and one of his POV chapters is titled as such.

Zuko- Zuko's redemption arc is the peak redemption arc that all redemption arcs are compared to

-*slaps prince of the fire nation* this guy can fit so much trauma in him -one of the best redemption arcs of all time -this dude spent the better part of 3 seasons flip-flopping between good and evil -can be so funny in the driest way possible lol -had to fight his own sister, who is insane

he literally has the best redemption arc ever written

Zuko spends like the entirety of season 2 slowly realizing that the Fire Nation were the Bad Guys™, had a whole moral crisis towards the end of the season, ended up choosing to side with his sister so he could go back home even though he knew it was the wrong moral choice, spent the first half of season 3 angsting over having made the wrong choice, then finally joins the good guys for good halfway through the season

[biconickyoshi]

this is so cheesy but i couldn't stop thinking about it

Zukaang aladdin au!! look i just really really need them to sing a whole new world on a magic Appa carpet ride while staring lovingly into each other's eyes. the balcony scene is also peak zukaang. zuko's dragon druk (instead of jasmine's tiger) sniffing and growling at aang until he realizes he is Safe. Momo is Abu in this case. Hmmm who is prince zuko being married off to? (my vote is zhao=jafar lol)

Omgggg anon! I genuinely love this AU idea. It actually works so well, especially with Zuko as Jasmine and Aang as Aladdin. All of those iconic moments with Zukaang would just be aaaaaaa. So beautiful. You’re making me want to make fan art of this now lol.

I think you’re right that Zhao is the closest counterpart to Jafar, but also if I were to personally try and adapt this AU, I would probably just do away with the whole “marrying the love interest off to the villain” plot lol (it always made me uncomfortable in the original movie anyway). In my version, Iroh would probs take on the role of Jasmine’s dad (the Sultan), Zhao would be Jafar, of course Momo would be Abu and Appa would be the magic carpet, but idek who the genie would be… Sokka (fits the comedic aspect)? Avatar Roku (fits the mystical advice-giver aspect)?? lmao.

Though I guess technically it also doesn’t have to be a one-to-one direct adaptation of everything that happens in Aladdin - like it could just be about Zuko being the FN prince who wants to see the world and not be married off to a rando, while Iroh is his kindly father figure/Fire Lord, and Zhao is the advisor trying to take over the FN. Aang is of course the scrappy street orphan who manages to catch his eye, and maybe he’s also secretly the Avatar who went missing as a baby? Either way he would have hair in this AU lol.

Maybe Toph is one of Zuko’s close friends - she’s a rich girl from another country who lives in the FN bc her parents are like the ambassadors for the EK or something, but she and Zuko often sneak out so they can have “normal” days in the city (and so Toph can fight in underground bending tournaments). Maybe Katara and Sokka are some of Aang’s friends who are also peasants - I can’t really think of how else they’d fit into the story unfortunately lol.

Anywaysssss sorry for the long ass reply anon, you got me to start seriously brainstorming for a second there haha! Idk if I’ll ever write an actual fic, but I’m definitely seriously gonna consider making some fan art for this AU concept… :)

[twinkpoll]

the peak zuko tournament had the same problem, idk how they fixed it, but you could ask

Thanks! Gonna have to postpone everything for a bit while we get this fixed. I'm sorry, guys!

[dameferre]

Hello miss dameferre on tumblr dot com I just wanted u to know that I read wooing the water tribe recently and it's literally one of my favorite fics ever now so thank you sm for writing that masterpiece. That said I also consistently think about an au of it in which zuko thinks sokka is dating azula for some reason and has the mother of all breakdowns bc I think it's peak comedy

y’know it’s really inconsiderate of people on this site to consistently have better ideas re: my fics than me

though okay tbf i think that fic would be like. 10 times more angsty than wtwt and i really don’t take my own writing seriously enough to write angst but oh my GOD what a fucking concept.

so. what i’m imagining. the fire nation is hosting one of those post-war ‘sorry we committed genocide’ reparation celebrations, but sort of like the olympics? there are bending tournaments, and physical sport tournaments and archery and swordfighting and shit, but there’s also a tournament for like. strategy shit like pai-sho and other nameless intellectual competitions

and the gaang are all helping organise these events and eventually competing in them, but azula is forbidden from using her bending (still relatively soon post-redemption) so she throws herself into organising the strategy competitions, with sokka. and these two like. lose their Minds trying to out-think and out-strategise each other. and no one else can come close; sokka’s out-of-the-box, fucking ridiculous genius shit the only thing that could challenge azula’s ruthless genius shit.

so azula and sokka are just going back and forth with each other, making puzzles and logic problems and all kinds of ridiculous shit, constantly challenging and one-upping each other and meanwhile. Meanwhile. zuko’s trying to organise the firebending tournaments on his own and technically, sokka’s meant to be helping him with the swordfighting tournaments (it’s not an elle zukka fic without a sparring scene!) and was really looking forward to having all this time to spend with him, but sokka’s always off trying to be smarter than azula. and one day sokka shows him this like. 3-d puzzle maze he made or something and is like ‘oh, azula’s gonna love this’ and zuko’s like- wait just one fucking second

anyway, cue zuko being like. what the fuck sokka. azula, really?!?!? but he’s trying to be a supportive best friend bc that’s what sokka and zuko do, and then of course (probably with toph’s help) zuko realises the reason he’s so upset sokka’s in love with azula is because he’s in love with sokka, because that’s the fic format and im sticking with it! so this is obviously where it gets angsty because zuko’s spent his entire life fighting to measure up to azula, for whom things come naturally, and then of course the guy he’s in love with has chosen her, and im sad just thinking about it

meanwhile tho sokka’s bricking it trying to figure out how to ask out zuko (because im sorry but the ‘i thought we were already dating?’ without any kissing or formal dates only works if it’s zuko thinking it) and asking azula for advice, and azula, obviously, exclusively gives terrible advice because she thinks it’s funny. so we have zuko trying to be happy for sokka and distance himself from him, and sokka trying to woo him in the worst ways possible thanks to azula (i’m not saying sokka surprises zuko with an elegant meal, the main course of which is the popular upper-class delicacy of fried turtleduck, i’m just. thinking it loudly)

hilarity ensues, yada yada, then at the end when they’ve finally confessed their undying love for each other, sokka’s like ‘how the good fuck did you not know your sister’s a lesbian and already in a committed relationship with a woman’ and zuko’s like ‘she’s a what’ because zuko has never once in his life understood or picked up on social cues from a human woman.

roll credits

[peak-zuko-tournament]

Semi-finals

[peak-zuko-tournament]

Zuko Tournament

You've seen Avatar The Last Airbender (or maybe you haven't, but if that's the case-- why? get to it), I've seen Avatar The Last Airbender, and I think we can all agree that Zuko has many Forms, many Styles, many Moments (TM).

The ultimate question is: which one of these is peak Zuko? That's the very question this tournament is here to answer! Which Zuko will prevail? that is up to you

I'm currently compiling various Zuko moments, but it's a big show-- I can't do it all on my own. Please submit your favorite Zuko moments in the google form, or in my ask box. I'll try to include as many Zukos as I can in the bracket-- the more the merrier!

Propaganda is also highly encouraged-- please advocate for your fave Zuko moments! You can submit propaganda to my ask box, tag me, or use the tag "peak zuko propaganda"

This is my first time running a tournament, so please let me know if I missed anything

Here comes the time for tagging other tournaments in order to get mine out there:

@flagwars

@sleepsmackdown

@redcharacterbracket

@bisexual-protagonist-competiton

@morally-grey-tournament

@noncanongayestbitchestournament

@ultimate-poll-tournament

@tragicsibsshowdown

@failgirl-tournament

@patheticmenscuffle

@blorbopoll

@thesaddestgaycompetition

@competition-list

Nominations will close Tuesday, March 20, at 6 pm EST

polls will likely begin on wednesday

[peak-zuko-tournament]

Round One

[peak-zuko-tournament]

Round One

[peak-zuko-tournament]

The bracket has been made!!

Round one will be posted Friday at noon EST. All polls will be a week long because I simply don't have the free time to do 24 hour ones.

Here are the match-ups for round one:

Ember Island Players Zuko vs Zuko who's scar is (not) on the wrong side

Old Zuko vs Fandom Zuko*

Zuko smiling into the camera vs "that's rough buddy"

Firelord Zuko vs Zuko talking to a frog

Pigtail Zuko vs Lego Zuko

Zuko alone vs "why am I so bad at being good"

Young Zuko vs Boomerang Zuko

Zuko crying at lightning vs Zuko escaping an inescapable prison

"I'm never happy" vs Zuko's first appearance

Nightmare Aang Zuko vs small background Zuko

Live Action Zuko vs Zuko from the novel based on the live action movie

Zuko right before Azula comes back vs Gaang Zuko

Zuko saving his crewmate vs Slick Zuko

Zuko with his hair flowing in the wind vs flowerpot Zuko

"hello, Zuko here" vs The Blue Spirit

"you're a talented kid" vs comic Zuko

*fandom Zuko is basically any Zuko the fandom has created. I initially had this competitor split up, and entered multiple fandom Zukos from various fanworks, but I realized they would probably just be crushed by canon Zukos, so I've combined them all into one. I will link some of the fanfics submitted. TLDR: this Zuko is pretty much up to your imagination -- pick whatever your favorite fandom Zuko is and vote accordingly.

Submit propaganda! it can be in asks, reblogs, or under the tag "peak zuko propaganda"

[peak-zuko-tournament]

Round One

[peak-zuko-tournament]

Semi-Finals

[peak-zuko-tournament]

Round One

[peak-zuko-tournament]

Round One

[peak-zuko-tournament]

Round 1

[peak-zuko-tournament]

Round One