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demaparbat-hp · 6 months ago

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Hi Dema!! Your art is fantastic and even the lineart is awesome! Solid and confident in where it's thick and where thin. I really like how your style has characters look more realistic and they have specific consistent features. Your blog has a pleasant atmosphere, and you're skilled in weaving AUs! There's a lot of details and structure, and I'd like to ask if any of them have a full story arc? Could you do a list of all of the AUs? Is there a motif that you especially like that repeats in any of the AUs? And whenever you add comments to my stuff in the tags I literally smile, it makes me want to keep at my plan to create everything I have in mind. So I'd like to spread this joy! I hope you have a nice day! (from late-draft ^^)

Hello, Late-Draft! I wasn't expecting this ask at all but I'm so glad to have received it!

First of all—I'll try to hold myself back from giggling like a schoolgirl. I'm having a sempai noticed me moment over here and that's just embarrassing. So give me a second to compose myself, if that's alright?

Okay, I'm back.

Now, on to business.

Character design, especially when it comes to facial features and how they're unique to each person, has always been a passion of mine. I always try to have a solid design for each character. I choose which features feel like the character in question, which face feels natural to draw, and go along with it. I love drawing Katara as much as I love drawing Zuko. Meanwhile, I seem to be on a never-ending battle against Sokka's features. Woes of an artist, I suppose.

Character design is actually one of the reasons I love your work so much, in case you hadn't noticed. I'm currently experimenting a bit with a different style... Hopefully it won't be long before the artwork is done and I can share it over here. I'm so excited for everyone to see it!

Now it's time for the reason we're all here.

I have said it before and shall say it once more: AUs are my lifeblood.

I love them so much! Building them, daydreaming the scenes, thinking of the characters and how they differ from their canon versions. The arcs and the themes and the worldbuilding. Building AUs is my passion, and I have so many of them!

There are a lot of motifs and themes that tend to repeat themselves in several of my AUs, I believe.

You'll notice that most of my stories are Zuko-centric, with a heavy emphasis on grief and humanity. There's the question of what makes us human and how to move forward when the whole world seems to push you back. I put a lot of stock in metaphors and symbolism within the narrative itself. I'm especially interested in the nuance of war and how it affects people emotionally, physically, and psychologically

I also tend to reutilize some elements of the lore and/or worldbuilding! Such as the Painted Lady's backstory, or the existence of War Children within the ATLA universe.

Now, the list!

I think I'll start with my current project, if that's okay :)

For the Spirits (New Gods AU)

Zuko was a child when he met Agni. Then, the spirits started coming to him. Eyes hidden in the hallways, voices pleading for help, for recognition, for remembrance.

Zuko could see Agni. He could see the broken remains of a Great Spirit and the empty smiles of amnesiac ghosts.

And they could see him in return.

I've been working on this AU for a long time, but only now did I get the chance to start writing the fic (linked up there!). I'm extremely excited about FTS and where the story will lead us in the future, but I'll try not to spoil too much.

It's a Zuko-centric story, with a heavy emphasis on Spirits and humanity. I'd like to add a warning for depression/mental health issues.

To Hesitate (Lee & Kya AU)

As she watches Lee and Kya avoid each other's eyes from across the room, the phrase comes back to her, swift and silent:

"To hesitate is to lose."

As Song treats the victim of an unfortunate interaction with a rare poisonous flower, her day takes an unexpected turn when it becomes apparent that the old man's nephew and her assistant have history.

A vivid history.

The Lee & Kya AU is a vibe, a feeling. It's probably one of my oldest AUs out there as well as one of my dearest.

A classical Lee and Kya From The Tea Shop AU, full with wholesome fandom tropes such as: fake (but not really) dating, fake identities, Ba Sing Se shenanigans, vigilante stuff, White Lotus missions, Iroh is a great Uncle, Zuko is an awkward turtleduck, and, of course, the fluffiest fluff you'll ever see.

Other than that, Lee & Kya is probably one of the less plot-focused AUs I have. However, that doesn't mean that there aren't scenes I can't wait to write or a canon divergence or two where Zuko is concerned.

(I have another fic posted but I'll leave that one to the end. You asked for a full story arc and, oh boy, does Soundless deliver.)

Kintsugi AU

Closer to being canon-adjacent than canon-divergent, Kintsugi is yet another Zuko-centric AU (and are we not noticing a pattern over here?).

I'd love to explain it in depth, but I believe the caption of the artwork linked above does a better job at explaining than I ever will.

Kintsugi is the art of decorating your scars with pieces of Agni.

In the Fire Nation, the amount of golden marks are a sign of status. Only the Royal Family can afford to seal every single wound with Kintsugi. Such is the weight of this tradition that, among the ones with Agni's blood, it is the highest mark of dishonor to have a natural scar, for it proves you aren't worthy of the privilege.

After the Agni Kai, Ozai forbid Zuko's scar to be sealed with Kintsugi. The boy wasn't worth his title, his traditions or his pride. Zuko would be broken, but he wouldn't be beautiful. Not anymore.

(And sometimes it's easier to pretend he never was)

Kyoshi Warriors AU

One of my absolute favorites!

In this AU, Ursa took Zuko and Azula with her when she was banished, so they could start anew. With help from Iroh and the White Lotus, she managed to relocate her freshly burned eight-year-old child and her crying daughter to Kyoshi Island.

Years later, when Avatar Aang and his companions first arrive at Kyoshi Island, they're met by the Kyoshi Warriors and their leader, Noriko of pale skin and warm brown eyes.

The Gaang leave Kyoshi Island many weeks later with a new companion. And if Jian Li, with his war paint and his scar and his dual dao, gives the island that he has called home for so long one final, longing glance as they fly away on Appa, they pretend not to notice.

Hunters AU

We're starting to dwelve deep into dangerous waters!

This is a Katara Joins Zuko In His Quest To Find The Avatar AU, with a twist!

This AU was born as a writing experiment. What if we take Katara's character, and change one of her core characteristics? Katara, who looked up to the Avatar as a saviour figure, now blames him for leaving and allowing the Fire Nation to wage war on the world.

Then comes Zuko, a banished Prince with a crew full of traitors and his own agenda. Zuko wishes for nothing more than to dethrone his father and end the war. He is a White Lotus member, an honorable, driven young man, and he has a plan.

The catch? He needs to take the Avatar to his father if he wishes to regain his title and be able to rightfully take the throne. Oh, and he will deliver the Avatar to the Fire Lord—but nobody said it had to be in chains.

Halfblood AU

I watched Blue Eye Samurai a few months ago and it destroyed me. The idea of a half-blooded child dead set on getting revenge for their very existence stuck with me, and this AU was born.

Kanna made a life for herself in the Earth Kingdom after leaving the North. Katara was raised by her grandmother in a small village, being taught to hide her bending if she wanted to live peacefully in a place she was only half of. Her mother had died in childbirth. Her father, a nameless warrior from the Southern Water Tribe who had loved Kya and left her behind, didn't know of Katara's existence.

Katara took over Kanna's clinic after she passed away. Always taking care of others. Always suppressing her need to bend. Always wishing for more.

One day, he arrived. A half-child, just like her. But while she was of Water, he was a son of Agni. He was searching for the man who brought him to this world. The man who scarred him. The man whose face he couldn't recall, whose name he did not know. The man whose specter had chased his mother to her grave. The man who would die at his hand.

The answers were hidden in a small teashop deep within Ba Sing Se. Lee offered her a way out, and Katara took it.

Soundless (Uiscefhuaraithe)

Katara of the Southern Water Tribe has hands scarred by fire and great talent, though no teacher.

Zuko is a mute War Child, a herbalist and healer, and the Blue Spirit. He bears the mark of fire, and the scar of the blade that took away his voice.

The first time they met, the Blue Spirit had just saved her, tough not before her hands got burned. The second time they met, his name was Lee, and he was healing her.

They live in war and they will fight, if not for the world, then for themselves.

You asked for a full storyline, and I shall deliver!

Soundless is probably the only AU I have fully planned. Three-books, Azula redemption arc, role-reversals and all.

This AU has everything. From travelling through the Earth Kingdom together, to odd character team-ups that somehow manage to work, and a major goal/conflict to resolve.

Zuko and Katara must find their way to Omashu in an Earth Kingdom ravaged by war as they also grow to understand each other, themselves, and the world around them. They meet with new and old alliances, keep their ears open for rumors of the Avatar (They say he is an airbender, Lee. Do you truly belive that?), and do their best to always be two steps ahead of their pasts.

Meanwhile, both the Northern and Southern Water Tribes are searching for the runaway heiress, Aang must find his way alone on this new, hostile world, and Azula must face the revelation that, despite what her father has stated for the last two years (liar, he lied at her! Her! He lied he liedliedliedlied), her brother might just be alive.

I'm sorry for making this such a long answer! I just get very excited about these subjects and don't know when to stop. If you made it all the way down here: thank you again.

I hope you have a good day ❤️

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nattikay · 1 month ago

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"waaaaaa James Cameron is sTEaLiNG from ATLA!!!11!!1!"

sigh yeah sorry but this is just a really stupid claim. There are some fun coincidences, but they are just that: coincidence, nothing more. If it weren't for the fact that both franchises happen to use the word "avatar", a term which neither of them owns nor invented, it wouldn't have even crossed your mind to compare them.

Oh, they both have "water" themed groups? Sure, but the concept of "water" is really the only thing those groups have in common. The Water Tribes in ATLA are arctic-dwelling peoples heavily inspired by the Inuit (plus the Swampbenders, idk if they have a formal name or how widespread their society is), neither of which are locations or cultures we've seen explored in James Cameron's Avatar (which for the sake of this post we'll abbreviate to JCA). Meanwhile, the Metkayina clan in JCA are a tropical island-dwelling people heavily inspired by the Maori and other Polynesian cultures, which likewise is a culture/location that ATLA didn't explore.

They both have an "evil" fire-themed group? Sure, but again it's not 1:1 and it's very odd that y'all are acting like ATLA invented the concept of fire=bad guys. This one's a little harder to analyze because we of course don't know a lot about the Mangkuan clan yet, but from what little we've heard, it seems their reason for being antagonists is that they've turned their backs on Eywa (the deity revered by most Na'vi clans) after a series of natural disasters destroyed their homeland and they felt Eywa didn't do enough to help them. This is a very different motivation from the Fire Nation, who are antagonists because Sozin was power-hungry enough to commit unprovoked genocide on a peaceful nation and start a hundred-year war to conquer the other two. "Fire" and "antagonists" are the only similarities these groups have.

It's also worth noting that the Fire Nation are the primary antagonists of ATLA, whereas the Mangkuan (as far as we can currently tell) are only secondary antagonists in JCA, who may or may not get involved with the actual primary antagonists, the RDA. In this sense, if we're going to force a connection between ATLA and JCA, the Mangkuan might actually be more conceptually comparable to the Dai Lee than to the Fire Nation. Both are factions of what are supposed to be a "good" group (the Na'vi and Earth Kingdom, respectively) who got involved in shady practices and wind up aligning with the primary antagonists (the RDA and Fire Nation). There are still plenty of differences, of course, and this is far too broad a concept to call it a definitive "copy", but there you go.

They both have a group of flying travelers? The Air Nomads were monks and spiritualists who migrated between their own four temples. The Windtraders—based on what very very little we currently know—are merchants who travel to various other clans to trade.

All these comparisons are based on very broad vague ideas that can potentially be executed in a gazillion different unique ways. I don't think James Cameron "stole" these ideas from ATLA, but hey, for the sake of argument, let's say he did. Let's assume that he did purposefully take the very vague very broad ideas of "water people" and "evil fire people" and "flying travelers" specifically and exclusively from ATLA. What he's DOING with these ideas is still completely different from what ALTA does with them.

Take it from someone who adores both franchises: they are completely different. One is about humans with supernatural ability to bend the elements in a fantasy universe heavily inspired by primarily Asian cultures, the other is about a nine-foot-tall blue alien race living on an alien moon where everything glows in the dark and every living being on said moon has the ability to biologically "plug in" to a global neural network. As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, the only reason anyone even thinks to compare them in the first place is merely that their titles share the word "avatar", a term which again neither franchise owns nor invented. If they didn't share this title, nobody would be calling any of these things a "copy". stop.

#is it fun that both ��avatar”s share a few vague ideas if you look hard enough for them? sure!#does it automatically imply anything more than a fun coincidence? NO #avatar #avatar 2009 #the way of water #fire and ash #atla #if you're an atla fan reading this post who isn't into jca: THAT'S TOTALLY FINE! you do you! no one's gonna force you to watch or enjoy jca #but you don't need to crap on it for sins it didn't commit thanks #if it's not your cup of tea that's fine!#but it's not “copying” atla come on y'all. weak sauce criticism

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