#sokka self inserts

[azularedemptionarcwhen]

one day, Zuko is going to discover Sokka’s stash of Blue Spirit fanfic written when he was 16yo and titled things like “Stuck in an island with the Blue Spirit” and on that day, Sokka will have to murder him

[blindbisexualgoose]

Do other people feel bad when they have a crush on fictional characters because you ship them with someone else? Like I love you so much but that bitch over there is clearly your soulmate and there’s not much I can do about it but I want to love you the way they do.

[suatshi]

Drawing myself and my friends as avatar characters

[seraphtrevs]

Nü atla is like if someone decided to remake buffy with xander as the co-lead and erased willow's personality and autonomy and only brought her out when they needed someone to do magic, and also now buffy has no personality either

[buffy]

Writing Commissions

~OPEN~

I’ve been toying with the idea of writing commissions for a very long time and have finally decided to bite the bullet. :D

If you’re not interested/can’t afford right now I’d still really appreciate a reblog

SFW/NSFW all priced the same.

--Pricing--

5$ for 500 words. (500 word min) 

10$ =1k

20$= 2k 

30$= 3k etc 

Max 10k words 

Every word past 5k is discounted at 5$ every thousand words rather than 10$ (ex: 60k fic would be 55$ rather than 60 etc etc. 10k stories for 75$)

Three rounds of edits for free, anything past that I will charge an additional 3$ So please please be specific in what you want. (this does not include grammar or spell check, those will be done before I offer first edit rounds)

I do tend to be long winded however.so if my imagination runs wild I will not charge over what you asked for. Creativity is a fickle bitch.

--Limits--

I will not write adult/child incest, beastiality, non-con/rape (dub con possibly), anything with scat or vomit is a no. No graphic self harm or eating disorders. Age limit for anything nsfw is 16. 

On the other hand.

--Things I will write--

Basically everything else! Furries, mpreg, crack, watersports, feet, knotting, etc etc, go for it. Go nuts. Self insert, Reader insert, OC’s, RPF, whatever fandom you so please and whatever AU you’d like!

That being said, I do have fandoms I know better than others. 

Voltron, Rise of the Guardians, HTTYD, Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus, Miraculous Ladybug, Marvel (Comics & MCU), DC,  Avatar the last Airbender, Blue Exorcist, Full Metal Alchemist, Attack on Titan, TMNT, Hazbin Hotel/Helluva Boss, Harry Potter, Arcane, The Legend of Vox Machina, Encanto, Red White and Royal Blue, Carry On Series, The Magnus Archives, Good Omens.

If none of these interest you please don't hesitate to ask for other fandoms!

--My Ao3 for writing reference is here --

My asks and messaging is open, please contact me there. Final versions will be shared on Ao3, if you would like it gifted please let me know.

Payment can be accepted through Venmo and PayPal.

[impossiblycolorfulpanda]

The way Bryke treats Zutara shippers in general is just slightly disgusting. Making fun of them whenever the opportunity arises and using the ship as the butt of jokes too many times like… that’s a solid 70% of your fanbse you’re making fun of. They’re the reason you’re even on the map. Shut up Bryke. I don’t know about 70% of the fanbase, but even if it were only a small portion it’s still just…rude and unprofessional to mock your fans? I think about this a lot because I was 16 when the show ended and I know a lot of other Zutara shippers were also teenage girls, and Mike and Bryan were adults. Two grown men making fun of teenage girls who liked the show and the characters they had created. I don’t care how “obnoxious” some of the fans might have been to them - and I’m sure there were fans who were also out of line - but Mike and Bryan were the adults and they chose to act like children, and mean, spiteful children at that.

Ya telling me, and you know what else? They are a big reason why Zutara is so popular in the first place. Bryke are the primary showrunners, what they say goes, they are in charge of approving/allowing what scene goes in the series.

They didn't have to make Zuko say "I'll save you from the pirates" right before trying to uncharacteristically bargain with Katara with an uncharacteristically clam demeaner while unintentionally proposing to her, since the necklace reveals to be a betrothal necklace.

They didn't have to let Zuko and Katara be locked in a cave together with crystals that almost look similar to the crystals from the cave of two lovers. They could've been locked in two jail cells far away from each other.

Speaking of which, Oma and Shu didn't have to be colored red and and blue respectively in one of the flashback scenes (the red one even looked like Ozai) and have their respective nations be at war against each other. You could tell they really, really wanted that story to parallel to Kataang but did a piss poor job of it. For one, Aang and Katara's nations never fought each other, not like how the Fire Nation and Water Tribes were going at it.

Zuko didn't have to be vulnerable with Katara in that cave and briefly explain his banishment and still act calm around her. She didn't have to offer to heal her scar with the only spirit water she had. Jet's ghost be like. "Are you kidding me?! Thanks a lot!" Katara didn't have to be the very first person to touch his scar before bringing the water out and Zuko didn't have to let her touch it and neither of them had to stand their for 5 seconds as the music amps up.

Katara understandably threatened to waste Zuko if he looks even slightly suspicious, and yet she pays no mind with Zuko bringing both Aang and Sokka to life threatening side-quests beyond Katara's supervision, both of which end with Aang getting over his pyrophobia and Katara and Sokka being reunited with their father and Sokka reunited with his girlfriend. Bryke let all of this happen.

Zuko didn't have to be the one to give Katara the means to find emotional closure and finally overcome her trauma. Katara didn't have to open up to him about the much more grisly details about her mother's death and have Zuko compliment her mother's bravery, all before Katara finally decides to forgive Zuko.

They didn't have to have June tease about Katara and Zuko dating multiple times. They didn't have to allow Zuko and Katara share the "parental figure for the gaang" mantle. They didn't have to spend the last scene Aang and Katara have before making out with them having another heated argument while Zuko and Katara spent their time working together to usurp Zuko's way to the throne.

They also didn't have show parallels/symbolism, after parallels/symbolism, after parallels/symbolism.

It's Bryke's fault that Zutara caught so many people's attention and they have the nerve to mock and ridicule them for disagreeing with their personal self-insert fantasy that does not matter to the narrative. The whole thing with basing Kataang off of a little boy having it down bad for an older big-sister-like figure who doesn't feel the same way doesn't help Bryke's case at all either.

[the-badger-mole]

The two moments that I can think of Aang being supportive are (arguably) the end of The Blue Spirit where he saves Zuko and attempts to connect with him at the end. The other being The Painted Lady where Aang helps Katara blew up the factory.

But even with the latter I can’t give Aang credit because he straight up lies to Sokka about his involvement afterwards. Like… the destruction of the factory takes place at night, and when Sokka finds out the day after and asks if Aang knew, Aang says something like “I only found out this morning!” and says nothing when Sokka is chewing her out about the factory. Support means nothing if you throw your friend under the bus the second you’re met by confrontation.

I knew both of those moments would be brought up. You already pointed out why it doesn't work in The Painted Lady, but in The Blue Spirit, Aang is still mostly focused on himself and his feelings. I'm not saying he isn't ever "supportive", but it's surface level at best. And he never tries to connect with Zuko on anything deeper than firebending again.

Aang is never shown being an actually good friend in the show. Don't even get me started on what a garbage friend he is in the comics. It's wild because this would've been such an easy thing to fix, and it wouldn't even have to be explicitly brought up by any other characters in order for Aang to grow into a better friend. But then, that would mean that his daddies would have to admit their pwecious widdle self insert isn't perfect.

[howlingday]

I think Jaune might a Breaking Base Character. I have seen people really like and really dislike him. At this point I don't know if I can find a source that fairly tells me the fandoms overall opinion on him. I mean shippers just do what ever and harem. Why does Jaune have a Bully Arc? I feel like that's kinda dumb and focus should have been else were.

Okay, so...

A Base-Breaking Character is "a character in a series that is loved by one section of the fanbase and hated by the other."

By this logic, I deduce the FNDM is divided into the two sides of people who hate Jaune and people who love him. People who love him are then divided into the two sides of people who write him as a soggy piece of wet toast and the side who write Jaune as a gigachad harem god. On the other side, we have people who hate Jaune because they see him as a self-insert of his voice-actor, Miles Luna, or because he "takes too much screentime" in a show that's supposed to be about girls. This is the best I can figure out from FNDM descriptions, and to be honest, I think the people who cry about Jaune being a self-insert are just as bad as the people who make Jaune into a gigachad harem god.

Jaune having a bully arc sets us up to Jaune's past, present, and future in the show. Monty Oum clearly had a plan for him, though I can't exactly ask him what his plan was for having these episodes in Volume 1 because, well, he's kinda been dead for the past ten years. Jaune's past is explained when he explains how he got into Beacon, with his present shown through his constant bullying by Cardin and by his standing up to him to help Velvet, and his future is presented in two-fold by his aura protecting him from Cardin's attack and by his assisted decapitation of the large Ursa. The point of Jaunedice was to help us better understand Jaune's role as a protagonist, main character, deuteragonist, and or other role in the show.

If Jaune didn't have these episodes, his character would probably been flanderized to being... Steve Urkel, Milhouse Van Houten, and or some other character that serves no other purpose than to be the comedic relief whipping boy. Instead, we have Jaune Arc as the John Everyman character who helps us with the human element of the situation, kind of like... Sokka, Krillin, and or Commissioner Gordon.

I'm just one guy, though, so these are obviously my opinions and everything I say should be dismissed. Because I am an idiot. Thank you and good night.

[atla-confessions]

Canon Katara: *learned bloodbending against her will by coercive means from an abusive mentor who took advantage of her trust and forced her to almost hurt the two people she loves the most, is deeply traumatized by that and broke down in tears when it happened because it was forced on her, and that violation at the hands of an adult she placed her faith in made her feel powerless and dirtied and used and sick in the moment. Speaks at length later about how she so deeply values personal autonomy that the violence of things like that is something that goes against her personal beliefs at her core and she is uncomfortable with the moral implications of taking control of someone's own body away from them, especially since it was used on her and she knows it feels both agonizing and terrifying. Goes on to become a political figure and ban the practice.*

Zutara fans who self-insert into Katara: She would love bloodbending actually, it's girlboss and empowering and everything she wants to be, and the only abusive thing here is how Sokka and Aang and Toph are holding her back from the murderous people-puppeteering bloodknight she really is deep down! They just don't want to accept that this power means a lot to her!

X

[sokumotanaka]

Actually I disagree, not even personally but Jaune being removed would improve the show tenfold.

Allow me to explain: (Long post ahead, you know me.)

First off remember that RWBY originally was a female empowerment show, so jaune having his own arc where we focus on "some guy" instead of the title characters spits in the face of this idea- a "anime" or show made for the female gaze of women being badass warriors is rare especially for the time it was introduced.

Second Jaune arc is based off real life Joan of arc and a poor representation of the murdered saint. It be like making idk Chris Pratt and anime girl and then making them the WORST. If this is suppose to be female empowerment, why even make Jaune a dude besides the writer wanted to self insert his OC in something he frankly should of stayed out of.

Jaune didn't ruin the show (he didn't help it either.) what ruined the show was poor money management, poor, writing, egotism , racism, Anti-LGBT, Ableism, refusing to take criticism, lazy writers, Lack of forward thinking and planning and the list can go on, but I agree it wasn't Jaune.

And before I get into the knitty gritty; if Jaune was removed and it was just Ren, who cares? Again this was suppose to be a female empowerment show! And there's plenty female led shows and media with small male cast: Sailor moon, Steven universe, Land of the lustrous, totally spies. for games: Nier automata, Bayonetta, Portal, life is strange the list goes on! I'm sure if Jaune was removed Ren could handle the bunk of being the few~

Let's talk about some things Jaune did and why removing him wouldn't be the end of the world.

Volume 1- Jaune's whole thing that is suppose to make him interesting is that he somehow got his hands on fake papers to sneak into beacon because "This is all I ever wanted to be." He then proceeds to hold his classmates back by refusing to study, sleeping through classes and when Pyrrha supposedly a woman who wont tournaments 3 years in a row (which would mean she was 14 when she went into her first hunters training and was allowed to fight teams by herself or has a team she just doesn't mention?)

Jaune's laziness and pride (you can't be both lazy and prideful, that just makes you insufferable) holds his team back and there's never any push-back from Ren and Nora who were homeless and obviously worked hard to get here. He doesn't wanna get better at fighting or studying despite wanting this so badly.

[Sokka accompanying post]

This doesn't change till he thinks he kills a grimm on his own terms, then he got serious (Pyrrha literally didn't tell him he didn't block the grim attack so he'd get his shit together. OR she's into him, confusing writing.)

Vol- 2 he almost outs Blake that she's a faunus before Pyrrha shuts him up.

He stalks and confines the ugly little racist gremlin Weiss in a roo, which is a very real and threatening thing women have to deal with, no one wants to see it in their escapist fantasy that a guy reuses to accept no for an answer and when he says he'll stop- Weiss opens the door and he says "I lied" What a gentleman, stalks and creeps on women, behavior that's gotten real women killed btw.

Vol- 3 Jaune doesn't suck as much here as he just doesn't do what he's told- if Jaune protected the glass or called Glynda, Irowood or Qrow like Ozpin asked, cinder would of been passed tense and Pyrrha would still be alive.

But he calls ruby then throws his phone for no reason? I mean all it would take to fix that scene is have it either be low charge so he could only make that one call, or when the locker crashed it broke the scroll so it wouldn't last past the first call but he wouldn't know till it happens.

But the problem with vol 1-3 is that because it spends alot of time with Jaune, the title characters RWBY barely get any character growth and the other side characters get zero screen-time (because miles got pissed that people didn't like the jaune arc, threw a tantrum and punished us by refusing to make more character focused arcs cause is pet oc didn't get the circle jerk he wanted.)

If Jaune wasn't in the series or was Joan (so he couldn't self insert) then we'd probably at the very least get better written characters. Okay moving on!

Vol- 4 Jaune for some reason got Pyrrha's remains and instead of giving them to her parents decides on his behalf to melt them down and incorporate them into HIS gear, Ren and Nora get nothing and never protest that he should give it to her parents. (I mean it could of still ended with them taking maybe Pyrrha's tiara and letting Jaune have the rest then Pyrrha's stepdad (the blacksmith) could soup up jaune's gear.

We think Ruby's gonna get development when she dreams about Pyrrha but she just wakes up so the scene could switch to Jaune and the commentary track states that she wakes up so the scene could be about "making jaune cool" Ruby didn't even need to wake up for that! Also why not give RUBY THE COOL SCENES!? SHE WATCHED PYRRHA DIE, LET HER TRAIN IN PAIN AT NIGHT!

My favorite part of volume 4 is that they consistently ignore Jaune's strategist plans, he tells them to knock away the limbs on the geist and then the body and ruby goes "I'ma just throw the strongest party member at it and kill it one hit." Then when the team is circling the nuck, he stops them, they look at him and he tells them to circle him and they just ignore him to continue what they're doing and Jaune takes credit I assume.

Jaune also spends the entire arc turning to ruby while her uncle is dying and he saved her going "your uncle should die." Btw Jaune when ruby was about to get stabbed by Tyrian just sat there and closed his eyes- I saw this bitch charge a nevermore without a weapon for pyrrha but not for the first friend who spoke to him on the first day? You suck Jaune, you have a shield and "alot of aura"

vol- 5 Miles lies to us and says that his semblance isn't healing he just gives them more Aura which Aura heals minor wounds remember; and just covers Weiss impalement wound, she needs a hospital, aura can't heal a spear through the body!

He also takes away Ruby's fight with cinder, he should of fought leo, not the 14 year old farm boy they kidnapped.

vol- 6 he puts a hole in his sister's wall and never apologizes (good god you're a guest here!) Then assaults a 14 year old farm boy because of the ghost possessing him. Oscar should of legit ran away and they should of never seen him again, they treat him like garbage, why did qrow punch him? Why did yang pull out her weapons, blake and weiss too, were they gonna stab or kill this kid because Ozpin was in him and they didn't like him? Rope him up, weiss has glyphs for this, this shows abusive.

Jaune also gets a solo scene with Pyrrha's mom telling him it was okay that she sacrificed herself for him because...shrug, Ruby never gets this closure despite seeing her die...AGAIN!

Vol-7/8 Milfs would never be into Jaune, he's such an plain character design and he's 17, this is some wish fulfillment crap

vol- 9

Jaune is turned into a 50-60 year old man that creepily watches over some creatures he doesn't understand and names one after Pyrrha and then gets pissed they wanna get away from him as fast as possible (They suicide and then come back better what the FUCK are you writing down there!?) and blames a 17 year old for his faults and is never challenged by anyone. HE'S MENTALLY 50-60! He's blaming and yelling at a child!

Then to make matters creepier, the tree makes him LOOK younger but doesn't alter his memories at all (evident from him saying how he missed looking and feeling young) but still keeps him mentally old, thus ruining any chances of him finding love. (which I approve of frankly) Seriously just say that the tree remade him and he was reborn and when he ask "what happened" just say a bad dream.

-----

So yeah Jaune adds nothing to the show and just takes away time from valuable things, frankly Jaune could of exited the show in volume 6 and it been impactful and make sense character wise.

They messed up the robot that the little racist gremlin (NO NOT WEISS THIS TIME ANOTHER SHORT WHITE HAIRED RACIST!) Controlled and Jaune, Ren and Nora could of stayed behind to help, I can see Jaune looking at the statue of Pyrrha and then to his sister and her wife and then saying "We'll help hold them back, we'll catch up with you guys when things calm down." And it could be suspenseful and emotional cause you could go ' What happened? did they survive? Are they okay?' Maybe Maria could stay with them (cause she doesn't do shit in vol 7/8) and it solve the character bloat of the series as well.

Jaune being removed could actually make the show better AND make the female empowerment show more compelling, actually give the characters proper screen-time and maybe get the writer to focus on something else besides "Making Jaune cool" It's called RWBY.

Not JAUNE, make your own series if you wanted SAO with a white guy.

I hope that clears everything up, thanks for sticking with me.

[glowingtoad]

Zutara critique but it progressively gets worse

It’s not my thing but I can see the appeal

Personally I don’t get it at all but whatever it’s not gonna ruin my day

It’s not canon tho

But what about poor Aang?

I dunno it’s seems kind of questionable to me

Zuko and Katara would only fight and be miserable together they hate each other

After all what he did Aang earned Katara

Zutara is only liked by girls who are hot for Zuko and use Katara as a self-insert

Zutara is a racist and misogynistic ship

Zuko is an oppressor and colonizer to Katara Note: this does not apply to Sokka and Zukka is a good ship actually

Zutara is a racist and fetishistic ship and anyone who likes it approves of awful heinous misdeeds

Zutara shippers deserve to be *insert awful heinous misdeed* 

Bonus:

AlL wOmEn WhO sHiP zUtArA wIlL hAvE dOoMeD rElAtIoNsHiPs

[paintingpuff]

Netflix ATLA and the Air Nomad Genocide

I've started watching NATLA, and though I'm not really enjoying it, I've found it really interesting to compare its writing decisions to the show as a way to break both down and see how their parts tick. Since NATLA is trying to be more faithful than some other adaptations, the changes it does make stand out more and reveal the mechanics of the storytelling.

While I overall think a lot of NATLA's changes--even the minute ones--made the story execution weaker, the more complicated and interesting change of theirs is the intro, showing the day the Fire Nation ambushed the Air Nomads.

Pacing Criticisms

Cards on the table, I think that putting this sequence at the very beginning was a mistake. Watching Aang's emergence from the iceberg in NATLA made me realize how much the original cartoon imbues its beginning with mystery that makes for a much more active viewing experience. Aang doesn't know much about the present, Katara and Sokka don't know much about Aang's origins, and in their back and forth of information, we the audience organically learn both. Watching Katara and Aang piece together how long he's been frozen in ice was more satisfying and natural than Grangran deducing everything immediately when Aang showed up.

But Sherlock Grangran was kind of the only decision the writers could do, because if they tried the build up the cartoon did, it would just feel tedious to the audience, because we already know everything from the start. They kind of wrote themselves into a corner there.

But let's ignore that problem. We could imagine in another draft that this sequence of the Fire Nation attack shows up as a flashback, kind of like what happened in ATLA with The Storm.

That then begs the question: How does this sequence’s inclusion change the audience's experience, and is it for better or worse?

Facing Vs. Hiding the Horrors

Both series portray very dark and horrific situations, but the way they try to evoke horror from the audience are very different approaches, and for me raises a question I've been asking myself for a while: When wanting to display discomforting violence, is it more effective to imply/hide it, or to show it in detail? Somewhere in between?

(I specify discomforting violence, as opposed to violence meant to be catharsis or spectacle.)

There are arguments for both. Explicit violence can create a visceral, physical reaction to an audience member (especially the squeamish ones), though for some it can come across as gratuitous and even exploitative.

Whereas hiding the violence can horrify the audience by leaving a lot to the imagination (insert that quote about fear of the unknown from Hack Penmanship Lovecraft), or give the sense that the events are so awful that even the camera has to look away. Some also say this gives the characters more dignity, though others think this softens the emotional reaction almost as a form of self censoring (there's a reason kid's media often tries to show horrific stuff off screen, such as the original ATLA).

Ultimately I've come to the conclusion that the former approach works for some stories, whereas the latter works better for others, all of it based on a ton of factors.

So I don't think NATLA's choice to delve into more detail about the Air Nomad genocide is an illogical decision. I wasn't sure about it when I heard it, but I thought that maybe I'm just attached to ATLA's off screen approach, so I kept myself open.

And dialogue issues aside, I don't think the scene is that poorly done. But it did ultimately solidify for me that ATLA's narrative is stronger without an explicit depiction of the Air Nomad genocide.

The Grief of Never Knowing

The image of Gyatso’s skeleton from ATLA has haunted me ever since I saw it as a kid. It was an emotional gut punch in a very well done episode, but this particular screenshot has stuck with me, and that is because of the Fire Nation soldiers. A lot of people have pointed this out, but there are a lot of bodies here, and it implies that Gyatso managed to not only kill these soldiers, but do it when they were strengthened by the comet. That image is very discomforting--Gyatso is always seen from Aang’s perspective, and thus we only see him as the gentle old mentor and friend, one who cheats at games and throws pies he meticulously baked.

It also puts into Aang’s position and the grief he has to face. From his perspective, he was gone only a few days as 100 years passed. He never gets to see the interim, and thus neither do the audience. He is left with the same implications as we are, and has to face the realities of grieving the fact that sometimes you’re not there when they leave.

An excellent point from @endless-nightshift here is how one of ATLA’s core themes is coping with the aftermaths of atrocities and war, analyzing their long-lasting affects rather than just the initial shock of violence--something I had never consciously realized but once said out loud makes a lot click into place for me. There is a reason the show starts a full century into the war rather than just a few years. 

François Truffaut once said that “there is no such thing as an anti-war film,” because the medium of film is inherently better at elevating and glorifying what it shows rather than deriding or deconstructing it. While I don’t think it’s impossible to do the latter, the extended action sequence that is the intro to NATLA causes that sentiment to echo in my mind as I watch, rather than invest me into the story. 

The implied atrocities of ATLA draws me in to empathize with the wounded characters and world, whereas the explicit action of NATLA pushes me away. 

…and that’s where I was planning to end this analysis, but there is one thing NATLA’s intro adds into the canon that I think is actually genius--if they take advantage of it in the future. 

The Air Nomads are Joy

When I first saw the addition of the Comet Festival, I saw it as a purely mechanical decision to have all the Air Nomads in one place for the attack, as well as to make the act even more scummy. However, the more I thought about it the more I realized how it could tie into one of my favorite themes of ATLA: the Air Nomads (and especially Aang) as the joy and hope of the world. 

(I saw an old tumblr post about this theme that inspired this section. I wish I could link it but I can’t find it anymore, I’m very sorry and if anyone can help me find it tysm)

There is a recurring motif of associating the Air Nomads with humor and fun. Iroh mentions their good humor; Gyatso baking pies just to prank the other masters with it; Roku’s first airbending flashback being him using it to mess with his friend. This is a core tenet to Aang’s character as well. The first line he has in the show is inviting Katara to go penguin sledding with him. Half the stops he makes in Season 1 is purely to have fun. He excites Kyoshi island with an airbending party trick. The humor in ATLA’s tone isn’t just there because it’s targeted towards kids, but is the bedrock of the series’ themes. 

(On a personal note, the humor is also what got me and my family into the show. We saw the intro sequence with Aang crashing into the statue and it made my mom laugh so hard that we watched the whole series, and years later we’ve rewatched it dozens of times and own all the DVDs)

Joy and fun and hope were the first things to die when the Fire Nation attacked, and part of Aang’s job is returning that to a world that has been scarred by decades of war. You may already be seeing where I’m going in regards to the Comet Festival. 

A core conflict in the cartoon finale is Aang wanting to keep to the principles of the Air Nomads while still finding a way to stop the war (side note: I think the resolution and Aang’s decision to spare Ozai was a good one, I just think the execution was a little janky). Beyond the surface level conflict of who wins in the battle between Aang and Ozai, there is the additional tension of who will win ideologically. The return of the Avatar State is an interesting development in this dynamic, having Aang suddenly physically winning the fight, but spiritually losing up until the last moment. In the end, it is a triumph where Aang manages to find a third option to win both conflicts, despite them seeming diametrically opposed. It is about defeating Ozai and the Imperial Fire Nation by wholeheartedly rejecting their ideology of violence and might-makes-right. 

But now I see a really cool opportunity for NATLA with what they’ve established in the intro sequence: What if Aang reclaimed the symbol of Sozin’s Comet for his people? That day of the Fire Nation attack, centuries of the Comet Festival were wiped over in history, with people now naming that event as Sozin’s Comet and the beginning of the war. Wouldn’t it be poetic for Aang to mark the ending of the war by wiping away that stain done to his culture, taking it back from the Fire Nation in what ways he can? To turn a tool for genocide into an event of joy and fun once more. 

I’m reminded of moments from the cartoon like Suki commenting how beautiful the comet looks. It would just tie everything up beautifully, and I really really hope the NATLA writers--if Netflix does give them enough seasons to get there--take advantage of this.  

So, to sum up what I think of NATLA so far: I think a lot of its changes have made the story weaker, but I don’t want them to stop trying changes. If I wanted a 1:1 copy of the cartoon, I’d just watch ATLA--it’s also on Netflix, after all. With more work, I can see the writers making changes that accentuate and build on the beauty of the original. 

(Note: These are the thoughts I’ve accrued from just watching the first episode. I plan to watch more, but it does exhaust me at the moment. Still, I hope I can do more of these kinds of analyses, it’s a really fun writing exercise for me)

[my-hi-universe]

With the new atla series out I'm seeing a lot of zutara and kataang beef again annnnnnd aghhhh.

As someone who thinks both are fine, here are how I see both sides.

For kataang antis...I think you guys call them that? Idk, but for them, they say Aang is like a little kid and they mention the age gap all the time. But in the original show, Zuko and Katara have the same age gap so frankly that just doesn't work 😭 not to totally disregard that take though because I know fourteen year old me would not date a twelve year old, but I think some of y'all are pushing it. ESPECIALLY when y'all start mentioning the family dynamics like, "Aww a big sister and a little brother," liiike....now y'all are being annoying 😭😭

But some zutara antis are saying they feel that zutara is a self insert and....no, like I'm sorry but that's just a cop out 😭 like if you don't like the ship then just say that but this is a stupid reason for that, because it's just not true😭.

As someone who shipped byler when I was like eleven, I know how it feels to be called delusional 💀 but one thing I just won't stand behind is see y'all call zutara shippers delusional like everything for that ship wasn't there. Red and blue, zuko getting struck by lighting, the enemies to lovers. Everything was there! I think the downside of that is some zutara shippers are saying that that's proof for the ship which it obviously isn't.

But at the end of the day it's whoever Katara chooses, which in this case was Aang. I just don't see how this became a whole war....again, like? Be normal??

Edit:

I know I kinda said this up above with the Katara is a self insert, but I think I need to get more in depth because now I keep seeing it.

Because it is actually pissing me off when kataangs say, "people just ship zutara because they wanna live their fantasies out through Katara,".....ummm no?? 😭😭 Like maybe people ship zutara because Zuko and Katara are cute together?? Especially since kataang was supposedly an insert ship 😭😭?? The call is coming from inside the house💀 but even if that was the case wouldn't they just ship the cannon ship zumai...?

But it makes me mad because it totally disregards Katara as a character and just dumbing her down to a self insert, y/n type girl when nooo she is her own character.

One last thing is I was alwayyyys a sokka girl. I don't know why, I just liked the goofy blue type. Kinda like Voltron, everyone liked Keith but I was rocking with lance😭 the only time I like the red character over the blue was in TMNT 2012 version but anyways. What I'm saying is I never saw a zutara fan art and went,"sigh, I wish that was me🥺🥺" umm no💀

[loopy777]

Is Zuko a Gary Stu? A lot more people are becoming anti-Zuko especially after the comics. Thoughts?

Well, it depends how we're defining "Gary Stu." I tend to prefer a strict definition for it and "Mary Sue," that of a self-insert wish-fulfillment character. I also don't personally consider it to necessarily be a negative; one of my favorite fictional characters is George Lucas' Flash Gordon Gary Stu, Luke Skywalker.

But the common internet usages for the term typically translates to "character favored by the narrative and/or storyteller(s) to a degree that harms the story." So I'll address both definitions.

I don't think Zuko is any kind of wish-fulfillment character in the AtLA cartoon, nor do I think the narrative shows him any favoritism. In fact, I'd say the story goes out of its way to make things harder for Zuko than the basic character arc demands. It could've had him switch sides at the end of Book Earth, and I don't think there would have been much complaining. Likewise, the story could have had gAang come around to him a lot sooner in Book Fire, rather than spending entire episodes (and in Sokka's case a two-parter) reconciling him with the gAang one-by-one. I think his character arc is improved and given more impact by the desire to cover this extra rocky ground, although I also think 'The Boiling Rock' didn't need to be a two-parter and all of early Book Fire's filler episodes with the gAang should have been relocated to after Zuko's defection so that they'd have the added interest of showcasing the expanded gAang's new dynamic.

Ah, but then we get to the comics. I'm going to assume we're talking about Gene Yang's comics specifically, since Zuko has not appeared substantially in anything written by anyone else. It's easy to harp on these comics' use and treatment of Zuko, but I want to be clear that they're poorly written on pretty much every level. The dialogue is bad. Major plot threads are abandoned without comment. Everyone is mischaracterized. The humor is more juvenile than anything in the cartoon. What stories are told spin their wheels until they get wrapped up in a rush. There's bad, racist, pro-colonialism messages baked into them all. Etc and so on.

And yes, I do think these comics favor Zuko to their detriment and his. Gene Yang has admitted that Zuko is his favorite character in the cast. But even if he hadn't, we can see in 'The Promise' that the presentation has a lopsided preference for Zuko over Aang, the other main character of the story. Zuko is not portrayed as wrong for pressuring Aang to promise to kill him, despite Aang being uncomfortable with it and the whole idea being against Aang's major beliefs; compare that to the cartoon, where Zuko was portrayed as wrong and bullying in his attitude to try to get Aang to kill Ozai. In the matter of the former Fire Nation colonies, Aang and Zuko have opposing approaches, but rather than the story taking the stance that they need to compromise and mix'n'match their ideas, Zuko gets to utter the line, "I was right all along," while Aang has to be lectured by Katara, admit to being wrong, compromise with the Air Acolytes, and break off his relationship with his ghost mentor.

In 'The Search,' Zuko goes on to find his mother and learn her backstory, something that ends up not troubling or challenging him at all. She gives up her new identity to become his doting mother again and Zuko doesn't have a single doubt about it. He gets an adoring little sister in the form of Kiyi, despite her having a real problem with her mother choosing to become Ursa instead of keeping her familiar form. And his questionable treatment of Azula is not addressed; like Aang in 'The Promise,' she's the one who has to compromise (or in this case refuses to compromise).

You can see the pattern here of Zuko's presentation. This is where we can start to question if Zuko is Gene Yang's self-insert, but to do so, we would have to assume a lot of stuff about Gene Yang. For example, he breaks up Zuko's romance with Mai and then starts hinting at something with him and Suki; does that mean Gene Yang wants to date Suki? Then why bring Mai back so prominently in 'Smoke & Shadow' and then both go easy on her mistakes and break her up from Kei Lo at the end? Maybe Gene Yang wants a harem with both Suki and Mai, but if that's the case, then it's pretty odd that he ends his run on the comics with Zuko dating neither.

We could do the same for other aspects of Zuko's presentation (Does Yang want a tiny powerful Firebender as a little sister? Does he think all colonizers are awesome? Does he advocate denying first-amendment rights in times of danger? Is his favorite food to eat at winter time extra-spicy fire noodles?) But we'd probably run into similar questions we can't answer, leaving us to either assume way too much that would likely be wrong or admit that it doesn't matter.

Which brings us back to the much simpler idea of the character being favored beyond what is warranted. That helps with examining 'Smoke & Shadow,' where Zuko is actually portrayed as making some wrong choices for once in all of Yang's run of comics, like ordering his people's homes invaded and trashed on a vague hope that he'll find some information about Azula- but before that, he's somehow enlightened enough to make rainbow fire, and afterward, he solves everything with a quick apology to his people.

Usually, the narratives ignore Zuko's flaws and twist themselves into weird shapes to justify things. It's like Gene Yang started with the intentions of having Zuko make mistakes and grow over the course of the various stories, but then chickens out, so we're left with themes that feel incomplete or outright harmful. Zuko doesn't need to grow beyond his desire to have a Fire Nation elite (and their pet Earth Kingdom spouses and servants) rule over the former colonies forever, he gets to say, "I was right all along." He starts by locking Azula away in a straight-jacket, but then doesn't find a way to reconcile with her and treat her more humanely, because she goes fully homicidal and then runs away so he doesn't need to deal with her. But in 'Smoke & Shadow,' we get one example where, probably because Yang doesn't see it as that bad in the first, Zuko is allowed to temporarily be wrong before returning to a state of grace.

I think Gene Yang is trying to tell good Avatar stories. But, among his (many, many, many) mistakes, I think he's letting his favor for Zuko influence the stories he's trying to tell. He's trying to give his favorite character juicy dramatic material that lets him grow into an even more awesome character- but then he shies away from depicting his favorite in too harsh a light, ruining the whole thing.

The stories don't feel like they're going anywhere with him, despite him being a main character.

So if that fits with your definition of "Gary Stu," then yes, Zuko has become one in the comics. But he didn't start as one in the cartoon, and I don't think Gene Yang writes stories out of a desire for his favorite to marry Suki because Sword Girlfriend > Knife Wife.

Perhaps that's why he never got Maiko back together; he likes Mai too much to make her the one in the wrong, but then that would mean Zuko needs to learn and grow, and that can't be right. ;)

[blackbullet99]

Zutara-Stans aren’t real fans of Katara*

*Disclaimer: I don’t mean all fans of Zutara, I’m sure most Zutara shippers actually do like Katara. I’m talking about a very annoying, very stupid vocal minority of Zutara-stans

These Zutara Stans will preach about Zutara like it’s some kind of feminist ship that women should naturally like, whereas Kataang is somehow misogynistic because it was written by two men?

Zutara Stans aren’t real fans of Katara or even A:TLA as a whole, they only focus on Katara’s character in relation with Zuko, they think the hostile, anger, grief stricken Katara who use blood bending and was rather harsh to Sokka is the REAL Katara and that Aang is a bad person for questioning Katara and being concerned for her wellbeing if she were to kill somone, they invalidate Katara’s relationship with other characters especially Aang, a character who objectively supported character throughout the entirety of the show and whom Katara objectively had feelings for and chose to be with, but that doesn’t fit the Zutara’s agenda, so they re-write Katara’s relationship with Aang as toxic, invalidating Katara’s feelings for Aang and her compassion for him specifically which they call “emotional labor”. They invalidate Katara’s feelings and even her trauma by comparing her to a 25 year old and Aang to her 8 year old child. They have no respect for Katara’s feelings or choices.

For these people Katara’s relationship with other characters, be it Aang, Toph or even Sokka don’t matter, only Zuko. They want Zuko to be the only one who supported Katara, so they actively ignore the others’ support towards Katara, by making her this overworked girl who never speaks up for herself, who literally needs Zuko to be her Prince Charming, even though he supported her less than the others, only became friends with her recently and initially caused her the most harm out of The Gaang, that’s all irrelevant, because all that’s forgivable, people like Aang who were supportive and kind for the get-go can’t make mistakes, Zutara is clearly a feminist ship.

They completely ignore all of Katara’s accomplishments in LOK, who cares if she was the world’s greatest healer, taught the next Avatar waterbending, helped rebuild her tribe, outlawed blood bending and had a happy marriage and family. No, to these people, Katara is nothing but The Avatar’s Wife, her husband is all that defines her, her healing means nothing unless she heals Zuko, she should’ve became the Fire-Lady and becoming part of the nation that colonized her tribe, she should’ve embrace blood bending even though it was traumatizing for her because she did it in front of Zuko, she’s a baby-maker because Aang apparently forced her to have kids until he got an Airbender, despite her clearly wanting to have children. They act like her ending up with Zuko suddenly makes her story more empowering and would erase any issues they have with her character in LOK, literally making Katara’s story all about a man.

Zutara shippers like these don’t care about Katara, don’t believe their lies, they don’t appreciate Katara, the only like their self-insert of Katara who’s nothing like the three dimensional compassionate, heroic, strong woman we all know, this Katara’s story is literally built around Zuko, and even then this Zuko is super mature, empathetic and was always a good person, not the initially antagonist Zuko who is quick to anger but gradually becomes kinder and matures over time. That’s not even getting into mischaracterizing and villainizing Aang, invalidating his and Katara’s relationship. Romanticizing Zuko capturing and attacking Katara, invalidating Katara’s understandable initial hatred of Zuko and the less I say about the r@pe and sl@ve fics, the better. Long story short, screw these Zutara shippers, you know who you are, you ain’t real fans of Avatar, you aren’t real fans of Katara, just delusional moronic shippers who honestly don’t deserve to have an opinion.

Goodnight everybody. 😁

[impossiblycolorfulpanda]

There's nothing inherently wrong self-inserting in fictional characters, I once did that.

But I find it weird that Bryke would write themselves into a singular 12-year-old trying to get with a 14-year-old who mostly acts like his babysitter rather than an actual love interest and was somehow the first girl he's ever met, or so how it seems.

It's even weirder that they'd respond with such bitterness to those who don't agree with them by making a video with uncredited fan art to slam on their artists and forcibly promote Kataang.

But then they turn around and say that maybe, just maybe, Kataang wasn't as well-paced as they thought it was. Gasp. Color me shocked. And so, Korrasami was their way of trying to fix that. Whether they succeeded or not depends on how you feel about Korrasami.

In the live-action reboot, they seemed to have gotten rid of the kataang build-up entirely. Aang shows no romantic interest in Katara and it's Sokka who's stuck in the cave of lovers with Katara, not Aang. I wouldn't be surprised if these were some of the reasons, if not the only reasons, for Bryke walking out.