#sissyspacex123

[zuzuslastbraincell]

☕ atla comics

been a while since i read them very closely but they’re largely trash imo.

they mostly serve as a springboard to LoK’s setting, something i’m not particularly interested in and prefer to ignore, since it’s informed greatly by western-style imperialism and liberal perspectives on modernity and politics. since ATLA is set in a late feudal / early industrial period, with at best clearly flawed and short-sighted leaders (at worst rampant imperialists), the show writers are not as invested in defending the 'status quo’ and while there are moments (e.g. Jet, Hama) where the writers’ political leanings end up manifesting in ham-fisted ways that condemn certain types of anti-imperialist resistance that do not agree with their liberal perspectives, ATLA largely serves as a decent, serviceable critique of imperialism and imperialistic war.

The comics, however, have the heroes in the driving seat of political power, with the end goal of setting up LoK’s worldstate, and that means they do some bafflingly irritating things especially r.e. Yu Dao / Republic City. IMO, I would actually be fine with Zuko, who has only recently challenged his own imperialistic upbringings, on receiving the crown and basically being left to rule a nation who at its very core is driven by an imperialist, hierarchical understanding of the world, and backsliding somewhat on those principles. Like, he is living in a palace, no longer surrounded by ardent anti-imperialists, most probably surrounded by advisors and officials with imperialistic mindsets, while he is trying to draw a line somewhere between a vision of the Fire Nation that rejects the core principles of imperialism and a Fire Nation that could be palatable to his people, not understanding the ‘people’ he is listening to right now are the elite who are able to get anywhere near close to the palace. I don’t think that Zuko being wrong is actually out of the question. What frustrates me is that this isn’t challenged and deconstructed, Zuko doesn’t realise he’s out of touch, what frustrates me is that they reach a ‘compromise’ on an issue that shouldn’t be compromised on, that Aang & co. don’t push back and say ���nah this land belongs to the EK you’re in the wrong here’. That can’t happen, obviously, as Republic City needs to exist, and Republic City needs to be Aang and Zuko’s pet project (nevermind it’s not their land! not their people! not their business!). The conclusion reached doesn’t have anything meaningful to say about imperialism and doesn’t see the fact that the heroes are in positions of political power as an interesting opportunity to examine what being in power means and how your perspectives can shift due to your elevated position.

My other main issue is that pretty much every character is flattened, simplified, and is lacking in depth.

Katara largely just follows Aang around. She doesn’t have many meaningful arcs of her own, doesn’t develop as a character or contribute much to the plot. I recall one arc in particular showing Katara being ignored / neglected by Aang while he’s getting a load of attention and it’s frustrating how that could have been a good moment of character conflict that doesn’t.... go anywhere. Ugh.

Sokka is largely reduced to dumb comic relief, ironically, the very role that the show took pains to avoid Sokka being exactly that.

Azula I could write an essay on, but largely I hate that she was thrown in an institution without that idea ever being considered cruel or hurtful (like, incarceration isn’t fun!) and just turns her into a flat, spiteful villain and implies there’s no hope for her. Bad!

Ursa shifts from a complex character who loved her family & committed treason for them even though it’s implied she was otherwise loyal and committed to the nation before then, and is portrayed as an “uncomplicated” victim. Furthermore, despite abandoning her children, despite erasing her memory of them and replacing them, this is never treated as morally complicated decision, as a failing.

There’s more honestly. I could go on. Why are the Kyoshi warriors serving the Fire Lord? The Fire Lord who 1. who burnt down their island 2. leads the nation the world was at war with? (I love the fact that we see more Suki, and Suki & Zuko interaction, but this is not how I want to see it). Then there’s the whole way Toph & her parents are handled..... ugh. Lots of bad.

The new art style in ‘Imbalance’ is lovely, imo, but the plot of that comic is predicated on a lot of worldbuilding r.e. Yu Dao / Republic City, as well as Toph’s relationship with her parents, and contrived conflicts between benders and non-benders which don’t speak true to the actual axis of oppression (ie. between fire nation colonials and earth nation citizens) that was at play not too long ago.

I liked Katara & the Pirate’s Silver, it was a fun, sweet story, and IMO I’d definitely be interested in more side-stories that don’t touch the mess that is ATLA’s post-canon situation.

[bentleyhacker]

1,7, 14

1. First things first, did you have a good year?

I definitely did! I started a new job, volunteered at Pride, and repaired a couple of old friendships. I’m feeling so much better about myself and my future than I was at this time last year

7. Which fashion trends did you love?

Ah, I really don’t follow contemporary fashion other than a handful of tumblr posts that trickle into my dashboard, and I don’t remember anything specific about what I saw this year. I always dress the same way regardless >_>

14. Favorite new TV show?

I really don’t watch TV very much anymore. However, there was a Ken Burns documentary about the Vietnam War that was released in September on PBS which was really fascinating. I’m not certain if it counts as a “show” but it was released in 10 episodes so.. kind of?

[grub-s]

we are on the roof enjoying the sunset @sissyspacex123 @dscgshauntingground

[dscgshauntingground]

tagged by @boethiah!!! :) <3

last song: “celebrated summer” by hüsker dü... mmm good food

currently reading: Nikolai Gogol’s collected short stories, which is one of my favourite books to return to whenever I’m in need of something comforting (not that his stories themselves are comforting, because they are often creepy and/or heartbreaking, but his writing soothes me). I also just finished reading “Heaven Official’s Blessing”/”Tian Guan Ci Fu” which is a Chinese wuxia danmei novel, a new genre I’ve just fallen in love with... basically Chinese historical martial arts fantasy but also it’s gay? Very fun

currently watching: Word of Honor/Shan He Ling, an adaptation of another Chinese wuxia danmei novel. It’s so good. One of the main characters is very pretty and mean and fights with a fan instead of a sword and I would die for him.

last movie: Demon Slayer, which was a lot of fun. There was an evil demonic train and lots of martial arts. I even went to the MOVIE THEATRE which felt illegal after the year of lockdowns we’ve had

currently craving: salt and pepper tofu. hmmm I wonder where I can obtain salt and pepper tofu right now. Who will make salt and pepper tofu for dinner before this beautiful and famished girl perishes of hunger? @sissyspacex123????

tagging @67impala327 @sissyspacex123 @habepockenangst @valeriantea :) :) :)

[mellow-hole]

@sissyspacex123 i just told my housemates about how you’re knitting a sappho jumper and they’re very impressed :)

[psi-psina]

things

tagged by @merrilymemory ❤️

last song: Self-Inflicted Violence by Venom Prison

currently reading: Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch (2nd Locke Lamora book, absolutely obsessed with it.)

currently watching: hmm...actually nothing. I’m too busy playing video games.

last movie: Ammonite 🥺 It was absolutely beautiful, I loved it. Francis Lee, my King.

currently craving: predictable but, Overseas travel

tagging @morannon, @varietyblogger (though I know you dont do this kinda thing, ya mole), @dscgshauntingground, @sissyspacex123, @eva-and-the-demons

[jazz-vampire]

Tag 9 people you want to know better/catch up with

tagged by: @sissyspacex123 (thank you!)

favorite color: Aubergine

last song: A live version of Angel Olsen’s Waving, Smiling

last movie: The Long Hair of Death (’65)

last show (completed): A really bad UK miniseries - The Enfield Haunting.

currently reading: The Darker Sex: Tales of the Supernatural and Macabre by Victorian Women Writers

sweet, spicy, or savory: Spicy and sweet, but not necessarily together (dark chocolate with chiles is awful.)

craving: For anything that would bring me relief from these migraines and IBS issues. Seriously, I have no appetite. :(

tea or coffee: Coffee! I also quite like jasmine tea.

And I’ll tag:

@lyricxlili ​ @joyfulldreamer ​ @jeangable @mirandasinclairs @miss-dubois @troublewithangels @querulouschutney @angelicavantassel @fix-yer-hearts-or-die

[meadowsopranostoriamosposter]

Going through cards and found the sweetest picture @dscgshauntingground and @sissyspacex123 and also this cute news clipping Muriel sent me 💜💜💜

[toongrrl-blog]

tagged by @andcontemplation :)

Answer 17 questions and tag 17 people! (Please make sure to create a new post rather than reblogging!)

1) Name: Jess

2) Age: 30

3) Zodiac: Aquarius

4) Height: 5′1

5) Hogwarts’ house: Hufflepuff

6) Last thing i googled: Marlene Donaldson

7) Song stuck in my head: Fame by Irene Cara (thanks a lot Amy Schumer LOL)

8) Number of followers: 77

9) Amount of sleep: On and off

10) Lucky number: 13?

11) Wearing: Mexican Puebla dress

12) Favorite song: Hard question but I’m partial to “Take On Me” by A-Ha

13) Favorite instruments: My voice

14) Favorite author: Jennifer Wright, I loved how she uses a friendly, informal voice to talk about historical figures and events. 

15) Aesthetic: Eclectic? 

16) Favorite animal sound: Puppies and Kittens getting excited and being cared for and human babies being happy. 

17) Random: I have a fucked up nose, ears, and uterus because of allergies, ear aches and ear infections, and periods so painful that I need the birth control pill to alleviate my pain and reduce my flow and improve my iron levels. 

If I miss anyone, feel free to carry on

Tagging: @pabyspice @nancykali @storybookwolf @bex-pendragon @eypril-eypril @iwatchiloveishare @join-the-club-weve-got-jackets @samsylviasmoustache @themikewheelers @prakisidike @dariaandjanelanefanboy @gayblackgurl @sissyspacex123

[smackmybitchup]

@dscgshauntingground @sissyspacex123

[zuzuslastbraincell]

Ty lee (i feel like i havent seen many of you ty lee thots)

honestly love her!! tbh i don’t have many that others haven’t said more clearly and more interestingly

Why I like them

she’s a character with lots of hidden motives, depths, and complexity, who guards her true thoughts and opinions quite closely, but simultaneously *is* what she advertises herself as: a happy-go-lucky girl. like i don’t think her cheerfulness and her enthusiasm for auras and spirituality is entirely inauthentic - it’s just that she’s adept at using her own enthusiasm to mask her real feelings and thoughts. like there’s a lot to her there.

Why I don’t

i mean, she props up an imperialist coup of ba sing se by stealing the disguises of warriors who honour the avatar. objectively not good. 

Favorite episode (scene if movie)

oh, the beach, hands down. we finally get to see a glimpse of what troubles and upsets ty lee, and how she struggles. we also get to see her angry, instead of hiding negative emotions through evasion.

Favorite season/movie

book two. oh sure book three adds depth and complexity but we barely see her. book two just has so many good lines and moments - the clumps or tufts debate, the first time we see how devastating chi blocking is, the match against the kyoshi warriors (underrated), all the stuff with the drill... classic honestly.

Favorite line

okay if i’m honest “you’re not prettier than us!” at the kyoshi warriors cracks me up. i know it’s a line that is almost definitely written by misogynists who believe beauty/prettiness is central to girls/women and how they see themselves and how they should see themselves, but when you remove that context it’s just so jarring and it screams baby gay to me, or some kind of issues that need to be sorted out.

Favourite outfit

oh she looks great as a kyoshi warrior! love her there :)

OTP

okay i love mailee and tysuki equally for different reasons.

mailee i love because the whole concept of love being about communication and building your own language and finding ways to speak only to each other is key to it, especially given the toxic environment they are in s2-3 with azula, they’re incapable of being honest with words and have to communicate in other ways. but also i think there’s a lot of good angst potential. as well as hiding it from azula, they have so little time to themselves, and are so often surveilled, that it is difficult to ascertain each other’s feelings. they’re not sure of whether they can trust *each other*, and there’s a sense of them wanting to reach out and confirm but not being able to... this is complicated further by mai’s relationship to zuko, which does ty lee read as genuine or as one of azula’s manipulations? when mai betrays azula for zuko, does ty lee ever expect to be loved back? the idea of them together is super sweet like goth/pink gfs rights but there’s depth there... complexity

as for tysuki, it’s like... this is very much an *interpretation* of how it could go down, but i love the idea that ty lee is able to find a sense of home and belonging and identity and selfhood in the kyoshi warriors, to build roots, to not just find herself but build herself, despite her expectations that it’d last six months to a year. and i love the idea of suki having an equal, who can take her in a fight, who can help her shoulder the difficulty of teaching and organising but brings some levity and mischief and fun back, after it feels like the war has sapped it out of them with responsibility after responsibility. i think suki’s groundedness could be exactly what ty lee needs and i think suki could do with a partner who can pull her own weight but also, make her smile. i like the idea too of ty lee really finding a place to call her home after all of the mess in the fire nation between her family and azula, away from all of that... it’s a little idyllic, but it’s what she needs. 

Brotp

oh ty lee & zuko!! there’s potential here, for sure. like zuko would need to see ty lee as more than ‘azula’s friend’, but they’re both emotional people who are outspoken about how they feel - it’s just zuko’s earnest and honest and wears his heart on his sleeve, whereas ty lee uses her reputation of ‘wearing her heart on her sleeve’ to hide it, & similar to how i think zuko’s inability to lie/emotional honesty is a big comfort and help to mai, i think it would similarly help ty lee. i really love the idea of these two in particular being able to talk about being hurt by azula together and help each other heal. but also i just like the ‘unlikely friendship’ dynamic of these two, and the possibility of zuko being able to overlook ty lee’s reputation to get to know her for real. they’ve both been overlooked/undervalued in their respective families, and both left the fire nation because of it (albeit in very different circumstance), are both well travelled and very independent for their respective ages, there’s definitely ‘on the road’ stories they could share, and both have struggled to find themselves in different ways. there’s a lot of common threads.

also i think ty lee & aang would be wonderful as well :) i think a lot of aang’s initial gaang - zuko, katara, and sokka - would probably want to head home after their adventures in the war, and i imagine aang ends up finding new companions to travel with. i like the idea of ty lee, after the kyoshi warriors, being one of these.

Head Canon

she’s a lesbian! :^)

just based off ‘the beach’ episode mainly, and how reluctant she seems around boys in that.

Unpopular opinion

hmmm i don’t think i have any?

A wish

asides from being happy and contented in general? would love to see her join aang’s second group of companions. i think toph, ty lee, aang, & potentially two new characters would be a really fun (and chaotic) little crew :^). also would just love her to realise the brotp potential with aang and zuko as outlined above, and get to date a nice girl of some kind.

OH I would also love more family background on her & exploration of the possible air nomad heritage ty lee theory, i’d love to see some of that. would make aang’s relationship even more meaningful (but potentially, complicated! having heritage doesn’t necessarily mean you’re part of that group).

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen

being azula’s designated healer and makes-her-redemption-arc happen. i already outlined today why that’d be bad for zuko and i think, while their relationship is different, it would be a negative experience for ty lee as well. azula is her peer, a peer who has hurt her quite deeply through the manipulation she pulled to get ty lee to give up her dreams and come along and uses manipulation as a primary way of interacting with people (even if like, i think they might have had a genuine friendship as kids, that poisons a relationship quickly), then tried to kill mai when turned against her... like, ty lee has good reasons to want to stay away from her, and honestly ty lee needs to heal as well, needs time and space. she should not be responsible for her well being full stop, but especially in this situation. i’m not ruling out the possibility of reconciliation but ty lee and azula would need to ‘hard reset’ their relationship and that would mean plenty of time apart, azula coming forward with apologies, azula making amends, and slowly, over time, building up trust. but honestly, even if azula is genuine in wanting to make amends, i’m not sure risking her wellbeing for that process would be best for ty lee anyway - i’ve personally cut people off in my life for my own wellbeing for less (although really what decision is best depends on your personality outlook how comfortable you feel your support network etc. a multitude of factors). regardless of your interpretation of their dynamic, ty lee does not exist for azula, and should not exist to further her character development but also as a character in her own right at this point.

5 words to best describe them

cheerful, chaotic, complex, perceptive, pink! 

My nickname for them

“prettier than you <3” (after the kyoshi warriors line, but with a pink heart emoji because of course she would, but also because it’s just funny, lol. ty lee has a mean streak)

[grub-s]

@dscgshauntingground @sissyspacex123 emilies!! last night i had a very long and vivid dream about your beautiful rats and how i was thinking of writing a chapter book for children about an apartment where lots of rats were living secretly and how they had split into two different groups who were warring over the best way to tackle climate change...whether it was better to get rid of all humans (from the apartment block first and then go from there) or whether it was better to find a way to change people’s minds about pollution & climate change, and slowly introduce themselves to people and befriend them / influence their decisions... it was going to be all about a heroic young rat who was like a joan of arc figure, she had a calling to fix global warming and had to use all of her skill and smarts and kindness to help the rats and humans around her and i was going to use poppy as my inspiration ! there was going to be lots of intrigue and daring and big dramatic battle scenes and also careful plots involving trickster cat allies and secret tunnels throughout the apartment where people couldn’t see...of course now i can’t remember the specifics of it but i was writing furiously and planning everything out and you guys were so invested in the idea and loved it

[dscgshauntingground]

Name: Emily

Nickname: Em

Zodiac: Aquarius sun, Taurus moon, Aquarius rising

Height: 160 cm

Languages spoken: English and French although I’m very rusty with the latter at the moment... I started to learn Polish several years ago and want very much to keep going with that :)

Nationality: Australian and (inherited and against my will) American

Favourite season: spring although spring in melbourne is often pretty cold and miserable. It’s beautiful in the city in queensland where I come from because all the jacaranda trees bloom and the city is blanketed in purple

Favourite flower: lavender

Favourite scent: fresh air outside the city... the soft scent of perfume clinging to the knitwear in my wardrobe... jasmine

Favourite colour: pink

Favourite animal: it has to be rat! But I love all animals!

Coffee, tea, or hot chocolate: coffee although I do like tea if the tea leaves are good quality

Average sleep hours: 10? I love to sleep

Dog or cat person: very much a dog person but I love cats too. I’m an animal person in general

Number of blankets you sleep with: a minimum of 2. Preferably 3 and in winter we push it up to 4 or 5. I love to sleep and I love to be cozy. Em always thinks it’s way too hot in the bed (sorry baby)

Dream trip: Taking Em on a grand tour of New Zealand (where I spent my childhood) and then visiting Poland again... I never went to the north of Poland so it would be fun to go to Gdansk and see the solidarnosc museum. also Romania because I’ve never been there and it looks really interesting

Blog established: I made my first ever blog in 2010 I think. The only thing on it until 2011 was a picture of Nikolai Gogol. This particular blog I made in 2018

Followers: 200 something - too many for a blog that is way too personal

Random fact: hmm... my great-grandfather’s cousin was the first woman to be a cabinet minister in the UK?? She was a trade unionist in the early 20th century. I don’t think any of my family knew her personally since our branch of the family had moved to Australia by then but they knew of her. A random fact about me personally is that I had a bad horse accident when I was 15 and I don’t have feeling in a large part of my left leg because of it. Once I convinced a boy at a party that I got the scar in a shark attack

Tagging: @sissyspacex123 & @cockaygne :) :)

Thank you for tagging me @sharmat-dreams!!!

[boethiah]

@sissyspacex123 i LOVE cotton yarn and honestly prefer it bc wool irritates my skin. i’m currently knitting a sweater with this lovely light cotton and its so soft i die every time i pick it up 

[jazz-vampire]

@sissyspacex123 😌

Cat adopts a rat - British Pathé (1934)

[meadowsopranostoriamosposter]

@sissyspacex123 @dscgshauntingground @handsonabirdbody