#sometimes you need to vent and rant and not really show it to people and its therapeutic

[tangents-within-tangents]

Sigh I swear the bar is so low with writing sometimes.

I’ve just been remembering how much it bothers me when there’s no lasting consequences or acknowledgement for things. When everything resets like nothing ever happened at the start of the next episode, or even the next scene sometimes. How cool and rare it was that Wally’s arm was in a cast for a whole 5 episodes of Young Justice. How relieved/excited I was when Mulder actually still had bandages on his fingers the episode after he broke them because FINALLY something carried over! Or when Hook was leaning on someone for support in the background after the fight scene in Pan. How impressed I was to see Katniss still crying hysterically for Rue a few scenes after her death. How surprised I was to actually see a hint of the effect of Echo’s extremely traumatic experience when he panicked in the medbay. How my heart soared when he insisted on rescuing Gregor because omg he’s acting in a way that makes sense for his character! Clinging to every small scrap we get to see of clones showing real emotion when so often they seemingly never bat an eye at their losses and never mention their fallen brothers again.

I love these shows I swear, but it just gets so frustrating! Like I’ll literally be so nervous no one will be affected realistically, or react like a human, or behave in-character and then I get so excited on the rare occasions they do. And then I realize wow the bar is so low, shouldn't that just be, you know, writing 101?

Like I remember some episode of some show (the Seeker? Or something idk) where a character was captured and tortured and not ten minutes after being rescued his friend was like “hmm you sure are quiet today” like YEAH I SURE HOPE HE IS?!

[gilbirda]

re-read my 6 page rant about Jazz and yup, this is not seeing the sunlight anytime soon

[cccharries]

✻ ʀᴇʟᴀᴛɪᴏɴsʜɪᴘ ʜᴇᴀᴅᴄᴀɴɴᴏɴs! ✻

- ✎ type : headcannons

- ✎ featuring : Gyomei, Sanemi, Uzui, Shinobu, Mitsuri, Muichiro, Rengoku, Giyuu, Obanai

- ✎ A/N : this is my first post eek! Extremely exciting to write lololol, if I did any mistakes, don't be afraid to correct me! 😀

✂ ✂ ✂ ✂ ✂ ✂ ✂ ✂ ✂ ✂ ✂ ✂ ✂ ✂ ✂

✦ 𝙆𝙤𝙘𝙝𝙤 𝙎𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙤𝙗𝙪

Being a hashira means you will constantly have duties to carry out, missions to complete and her being the insect hashira means she also have to take care of the butterfly mansion sometimes, causing her to not have enough time for you

But she will try to make time in her schedule to spend it with you!

And as she tries her hardest to put up a fake smile, when she feels like letting it all out, she would just talk and vent about it with you and you being by her side is what makes her feel better, you are able to listen to her rant about her stress, her messy schedule and she appreciates every single second of you listening to her

How will you guys spend time? Going on walks in the lively garden filled with colourful butterflies, having tea with her and late night talks on the roof

Yapper x listener coded<3

She is the type to tease sometimes but she will never dare to step over your boundaries as she holds high respect for you

Nicknames aren't really used from her, she would just call you by your name but in special occasions, it would be "angel" "darling" and "love" 💓

If someone caused trouble by making you upset, she would be visibly angry and try to solve the problem using the safest way, although she wishes to do something more cruel than that.. But she does not want to cause trouble

When she is afar from missions, she would write letters to you and gift you anything that reminded her about you<3

She would gift stuff like a small boquet of tulips, a violet necklace or a purple flower hairpin!

✦ 𝙐𝙯𝙪𝙞 𝙏𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙣

Gosh he's the teasiest of them all (not sure if that's even a word but lmfao)

Since he also have three wives (Makio, Hina and Suma), he will love you all equally and give the fair attention, it's hard to show attention to four people at the same time but.. He would make it work

Is literally so romantic and stupidly funny at the same time

He would spoil you ROTTEN with a lot of luxury gifts like a expensive kimono made from the finest fabric, a pair of long earrings with rose quartz that's worth a lot of yen and so much more

After he retired from being a hashira, he was finally to spend all his time with you and the others

Dates are definitely going to romantic dinners, movie nights and playing board games with the other wives (very tempting lol)

His nicknames are so so weird and.. Honestly too much sometimes but the ones that are the most normal are "Honey", "Cutie" and "Sweetheart" omfg I am cringing so bad

I am not really sure if he's a grumpy person but your love trope is DEFINITELY grumpy x sunshine I can see it!

His heart softens and ACHES when he sees you and his wives getting along

It's kinda hard to sleep on the same bed as him since he's huge and the wives also need space to sleep with him so I hc that you guys would sleep on 2 beds paired together

✦ 𝙈𝙞𝙩𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙞 𝙆𝙖𝙣𝙧𝙤𝙟𝙞

Oh my godly lord she's the sweetest person you would ever pull I swear

Her touch are so feather-like and gentle, everytime she hugs you and wrap her arms around you, you would just melt deeply into her touch

I hc that she would do cute little hairstyles on your hair for fun!

In a relationship, she wants to have something that stands out, which is.. Matching! Matching bracelets, matching necklaces and mostly anything that she finds cute!

Her love language is DEFINITELY physical touch & quality time

Nicknames from her are so cute!! Sometimes you feel embarrassed of her calling you in nicknames on public but it's cute at the same time so you could never scold her about it!

Nicknames from her can be "baby" and "Blossom"

I also headcannon that sometimes she would wake you up in 6am just to do yoga and exercising with her (she thinks it's normal and she would apologize NON-STOP if she actually disturbed your sleep)

She would share her Sakura mochis with you! (She will save more for herself though but hey! You should feel lucky that she's even giving you some 🧍‍♀️)

Dates are definitely going out to restaurants and trying new foods, going to picnics near the garden and baking together! 💗

✦ 𝙍𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙤𝙠𝙪 𝙆𝙮𝙤𝙟𝙪𝙧𝙤

He's a LOUD and I mean, LOUDDD laughter so whenever you make jokes, he would laugh SO LOUD that you need to cover your ears (and after that incident you stopped making jokes in front of him)

Everytime he stops by in the train station he would buy a lot of bentos and share it with you once he came home from his missions!

Everytime you feel upset, he would go get your favourite food to cheer you up instantly and listen to you venting/ranting then giving you advices

he's a FINE gentlemen, he would open doors for you, he would pull the chair for you to sit and it just makes your heart flutter

His nicknames for you are so sweet you just flush your cheeks up whenever he calls you "my angel" or "baby"

Cooks for you, he has the cooking skill of a chef and everytime he's not busy and doesn't have to go out early for work, you would wake up finding him in the kitchen cooking something that would make your mouth drool to the floor

Not only does he cook, he also likes to write letters and give you a lot of gifts if you guys have been separated for a while (probably he has to handle some missions given by Ubuyashiki but wtv)

He's a big fan of PDA, he doesn't really mind it at all + loves holding your hand or hugging you in public and does not care if anyone is giving him a weird look because Rengoku is Rengoku 😋

Love language is definitely acts of service + words of affirmation

✦ 𝙂𝙞𝙮𝙪𝙪 𝙏𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙤𝙠𝙖

He's.. A quiet guy but he is also good at being romantic!

He's not the best at showing love using words of affirmation, so instead his love language can be quality time 👉👈

If you feel upset, he would make your favorite tea and you guys would talk about it while having tea and he would draw you a warm relaxing bath

I don't think.. He's the type to use nicknames, he would be pretty awkward with it so he would just call you by your name

Dates are probably just cuddling on the bed for the whole night or late night walks on the forest (although he's a bit paranoid that you could get attacked by a demon but still the atmosphere is calming!)

Since he's much of a introvert, hes not really the biggest fan of PDA but he doesn't mind holding hands

When he started dating you, he didn't really know how to be romantic to you so he just treated you like a very close friend and when Tanjiro gave him a dating advice, he finally understood 😭

When he is far from home due to missions, you would receive a letter and a small wrapped gift from him to show how much he thought about you even when he's completing a important mission 🙁💘

The gifts can probably be a heart-shaped pebble or a blue sky themed hairpin!

✦ 𝙈𝙪𝙞𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙧𝙤 𝙏𝙤𝙠𝙞𝙩𝙤

He's an airhead sometimes and would forget things easily, but to express his fear of forgeting you, he would have a small notebook that has every information about you kept in his pocket

I can't really think what love language he would be sticking to but it will DEFINITELY be quality time & physical touch 💖

He loves feeling your touch and he loves giving head-pats

Oh and one thing is that he LOVES gifting you a lot and I mean, A LOT of handmade origami 📄

He gives you like 5 of them in a week (you have no space to keep all of origami in your house)

Dates can be making origami together and walking in the garden together

I don't think he would use nicknames either so probably just calling by your name is the safest option

He doesn't really understand PDA + not really a fan but doesn't mind holding hands

If your upset, poor baby he doesn't know what to do to make you feel better (probably origami?)

Tanjiro had to give Muichiro a couple of relationship advice just for him to understand 😞

✦ 𝙄𝙜𝙪𝙧𝙤 𝙊𝙗𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙞

He's very sour with his behavior and doesn't really trust women, but somehow your the exception.

His snake loves you so much and enjoys spending time with you and Iguro because he understood how Iguro felt about you 😆

And again, he has a hard time expressing his feelings through words so maybe his love language will be acts of service

Not really a big fan of pda either but he wouldn't mind unless you do too much

Sometimes when he's free he will invite you for lunch!

During the start of the relationship, you mostly had to be the one to make the first move since he didn't really knew what to do

(Spoiler) he adores and admires you when you praise his mouth-scar even though he feels insecure that he isn't good enough for you (treat him right 😞)

When he's walking on a town for a mission, he might get you some gifts like small pastries and a letter to update you about his ongoing mission!

He's very cautious sometimes that when you accidentally trip and is about to fall, he would catch you in a instant because he had some sort of fear of losing you which he will never want to face..

Not a fan of nicknames either, just calling you by your name would be fine..

✦ 𝙎𝙖𝙣𝙚𝙢𝙞 𝙎𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙯𝙪𝙜𝙖𝙬𝙖

Okay don't argue with me about this, at the veryyy start of the relationship, he was really hesitant to trust you at first due to losing too many people he loved

It WOULD really take some time for him to trust you but your patience is what makes him love you even more ☹️💞

Sometimes when he comes home in a angry mood and accidentally yells at you, he would immediately apologize in a harsh way and probably sneak in some cuddles when your asleep in your shared bed as a apology

He will yell at you but hit you? No, never, this man has a fear of hurting you

When you praise his revealing scars, he would have a tint of peachy blush flushing up on his face and he would deny it with a tone of stuttery words

Not rlly a fan of PDA, feels uncomfortable with it at the start but as time goes on, he starts getting used to it

No nicknames too.. He thinks it's embarrassing, so calling you by your name is the best.. (Different in bed tho)

every time he comes home from a tiring mission that stressed him out so much just wants him to quickly take a bath and join you in the buddle and cuddle for the whole night, recharging his energy 💘

✦ 𝙂𝙮𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙞 𝙃𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙟𝙞𝙢𝙖

Omg he's the softest giant ever

His touch are the same as Mitsuri's, feather-like and gentle because he fears that he might accidentally hurt you without knowing

As he is blind, feeling others presence and your presence is different for him, everytime he feels your presence his face will soften and call you out 💓

When he's far away from missions, he will also write letters to you to update you about his mission progress

Doesn't mind PDA actually, he finds it cute

When he feels the comparison of his hand holding your hand, it just makes him blush and think about it the whole time, he thinks it's extremely cute

Rare one! He will actually use nicknames for you in special occasions just like Shinobu and those nicknames would be "dear" "love" or "angel" 👉👈

I headcannon that you guys will definitely have the same matching bead bracelet/necklace (it was your idea)

Date ideas are definitely going to cat cafes or date to a cat-themed cafe omg!

I also headcannon that you two will adopt and raise a cat together 😽

Reblogs are appreciated<3

[northernstar9]

In a relationship with caitlyn kiramman (fluff. SFW)

fem!reader

Your guys' meeting was somewhat casual. she was awkward and shy at first but slowly let her hair loose around you, eventually asking you out in the most romantic expensive way you can imagine. Dinner at a fancy place, flowers, and at the end of the night took you into a calm quite area so she could tell you her feelings.

Physical touch and gift giving are her primary love language. She always makes sure to meet all your desires, needs, and wants regardless of how unrealistic they may seem she goes to the ends of the earth for you. Likes to kiss and touch you ear kisses and neck kisses are her favorites. gives you random gifts out of nowhere and spoils you rotten.

Always teases you. lets her witty and sarcastic side take over and often pokes fun at you in the cutest way possible

Takes the liberty to write you poems and express her love to you through the art of wring. often leaving notes to you and giving you hand written letters

Takes you to the shooting range with her to practice her skills and loads of times teaches you how to shoot a gun

Is very clingy. always tries to finish work so she can go back and see you clinging onto you the rest of the night

Whenever she gets the chance she always loves to hop in the shower with you and washing your hair.

Very calm and gentle with you sometimes babying you

Knows EXACTLY how you want to be treated and treats you accordingly even before you have to ask.

Often takes you out on luxurious dates shopping at your favorite places and buys you the most expensive accessories or whatever you like.

Very attentive and listens to whatever you have to say. if you say you like something you'll have it within the same hour

If she upsets you she gives you your space and tries to make it up to you after a few hours by buying you your favorite chocolates flowers and even tries hand making something for you, then spoiling you endless kisses and cuddles

At the beginning of your guys relationship she would sneak you into her room so her parents wouldn't take notice of you. you guys would giggle as you stumbled your way into her room

you would always introduce her to different artists and styles of music as she didn't really know a lot of things are her music taste is quite bland

After introducing her to new music you and her would dance around in her room to it in the most fun way possible it was terrible but great memories.

When she finally introduced you to her parents she was nervous of what they might think,, nonetheless she didn't care as she loved and would go to war for you. her mum wasn't very fond of you but her dad adored you simply because caitlyn loved you. soon after her mum and you got close and she ended up being fond of you for making her daughter happy.

After introducing you to her parents you got invited to many soirees filled to the brim with rich snobby people, which you hated. Caitlyn had to engage with all of them to keep the popularity of the kiramman family. As soon as she was done, you both would sneak off and get far away from everyone to have some alone time in order to make out, drink, make fun of all the rich asshats, and have lighthearted heartwarming conversation

Took you to many new places to explore outside of piltover and showing you all around the world.

Everytime she had a stressful day she'd cuddle up next to you to binge watch trash tv and have a good laugh.

Would always cook you your favorite meals and breakfast in bed

Has a really bad sweet tooth and would always take you to different shops to eat sweets and be together

Loved having deep conversations with you and found deep comfort in venting to you about her life has a kid and all the pressure she felt growing up

Gives you random compliments. simply adores and cherishes your mere existence.

Goes on mini rants to you to everyone and likes to show you off.

Randomly drops a long heartfelt statement about how much she loves you and how you make the happiest girl on planet earth.

thats it. thank you for reading!!! if you like this and wanna make a request you are more than free to ^^ have a good day lovelies <3

take this heart for an extra good day

/)/) ( . .) ( づ♡

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[vesppperoro]

What do the other sins think of Leviathan!Reader?

Includes: Asmodeus/Ozzie (and Fizz), Beelzebub, Mammon, and Lucifer.

Asmodeus/Ozzie

You two are VERY great friends.

Ozzie thinks you’re a very nice friend and he LOVES your company.

He knows about your rivalry with Mammon, so he respects you even more.

Fizz loves you too, so Ozzie loves you as well.

Since the incident with Mammon, you offered Fizz a job with your Jesters and he was happy to accept.

Ozzie was suspicious at first, but he warmed up after seeing how happy you made his little froggie.

He is your GO TO when it comes to gossip, Fizz included.

You three always have the latest gossip on other sins and demons.

One time, someone tried to hurt Fizz at one of your performances. Before Ozzie stepped in, you did. You killed that son of a bitch and he was VERY happy.

Overall, Ozzie adores you. He loves doing your makeup, talking, and hanging out with you!

Asmodeus and Fizz are your closest companions in Hell and you wouldn’t give that up for the world.

Beelzebub

You two are party animals.

She LOVES throwing parties with you. She always invites you. Also since you bring your own stash of party drugs…

She loves having drinking competitions with you! You two almost get wasted, if it isn’t for her little boyfriend stopping the two of you.

Beel is also your go to when it comes to gossip. She knows everything about everyone, and so do you.

You two also judge others together. When you’re envious of someone, she’s always the one to be like “Girl, you’re so much better than them.” Even if you aren’t a girl lol.

You two fly around together and have conversations about everything.

You even let her visit your ring once! She LOVED it there.

Now, she invites you and some members from your ring as well! They usually attend since they know how much you love Beel.

You two also sing many songs together. She usually features you in them, either as a rapper or as a secondary writer.

Overall, she’s sees you as a best friend/older sibling. She adores the hell out of you and would do anything for you.

Mammon

Hate.

You two hate each other. It’s quite known around both the Greed ring and the Envy ring that you two are rivals.

He stole your show, you stole his prized clown. You two are always competitive with each other.

Which is kinda ironic. A serpent and a spider.

You’re much bigger than him, popularity wise and physically.

The Greed ring doesn’t like you either. Mammon spreads shit about you and makes campaigns against you.

You don’t care all too much, however. You have many supporters anyways.

Once you learned of Glitz and Glam’s betrayal, you banished them from the Envy ring.

Anyone who steps foot in the Greed ring is no longer trusted by you.

Mammon rants about you to everyone. He fucking hates your guts.

You two have fought many of times. You always win, but he keeps trying.

Overall, Mammon and you hate each other. You two can’t stand to see each other’s faces or the people you two rule over.

Lucifer

He actually really enjoys your company.

Lucifer and you talk about everything together.

He even told you about his daughter’s dream, which is why you went to the Hazbin Hotel in the first place.

He loves ducks and so do you!

You made a little duck version of him and he did the same for you!

Lucifer does vent to you sometimes since you’re willing to listen.

You always feel bad for him and try to cheer him up as best as you can.

You’re usually the one he calls upon if he needs anything at all. Someone to talk to, someone to protect Charlie, etc.

He even called upon you during the war and you protected the crew and his child.

He’s very similar to Beel when it comes to things like who you’re jealous of, what you’re jealous of, etc.

He usually tells you that you’re better and he does stuff to cheer you up.

Overall, you and Lucifer are pretty good friends! You’re like his guardian and he’s like a babysitter to you.

Speaking of, he’s the one that makes sure that you don’t go on your envy rampages…

[shimishimii]

everybody’s falling in love but me

⟿ wc; 2k+

⟿ Sakusa Kiyoomi x gn reader ; dramatic fluff, for me this is really a cute fic, hope you like it

⟿ have you ever felt like everyone’s been experiencing love and relationships as if it was a trend and you’re getting left behind? I wrote this fic because of that

He hears another rant from Atsumu. Hinata rushes to guess, and Sakusa doesn’t need to listen further to determine what this is all about.

Love. Again.

How long did Atsumu’s previous partner lasted? Two weeks? 6 days? A night?

He sat at the gym floor and sees Bokuto smiling cheekily despite his girlfriend coming over to scold him for overexerting given his shoulder injury. Hinata is on a call with Kageyama, grinning and jumping, as if practice was not tiring enough.

He passes on Atsumu’s request, heavily declining to stay up until midnight taking care of wobbly legs and liquor drowned cognition. And for a well-built set of athletes, it sure is a heavy work.

Besides, the topic will be the same. Atsumu vents, hogs all the drama, Bokuto and Hinata would comfort him while Meian tries to give a man-to-man advice. And when the night breeze grows heavy and their hazy eyes starts to cloud with brimming tears with a weird mixture of laughter, only tales of love would escape their lips.

Sakusa shakes his head and hurries packing up knowing the blonde setter would drag everyone out for a drink. And no matter what kind of opinion he says, his teammates would point out his own demise. Right, he is not even in a relationship.

All his friends seem to feel warm and giddy talking about the important people in their life. Sure, their partners had flaws, but all those details seem to fit the puzzle. Drawn back by time again and again, as if tethered by invisible threads of affinity, through complains and smiles, they keep coming back.

Like it was meant to be.

Even if it meant his heart would always be at the edge of heaven and hell all the time?

He likes his comfort zone as it is even if it means he is alone. Alone but not lonely, well, most of the time.

Sakusa can’t fathom the idea of how they can be willing to gamble on the table, hoping that their partner would show a card of heart.

Of all computed probabilities, love must be a question of chance.

Dumb luck. Fate. Destiny.

Whatever it is, his walls are tall enough for love to even take a peek.

Sometimes, confusion spreads over him, was he being left out? Is his heart just half a piece and there’s actually a need for someone to complete it?

Actually, he never liked putting much effort in liking someone. Simply, the time and attention to spend, he thinks it is not worth it.

He assumes several points, mostly illogical, but he thinks otherwise.

First, to get used to someone’s warmth and the eternal winter that would follow once it’s gone. Second, he doesn't want to be a memory in someone's past, archived and forgotten as though once upon a time, he was just a side character in a story.

Lastly, but of course you will never hear him admit it.

He feels scared. Once he ends up alone, back to how he always was, he does not know how to cope with such loss.

With that, he prefers not feeling anything, getting attached, or falling in love at all.

There’s the constant fear of being left alone and hurt. For a heart to get used to a rhythm and then long a melody of what your heartbeat used to dance to.

But of course, he knows it is more complicated than that. And it was never easy admitting it. It’s hard to express this feeling. Of hoping to love and be loved, at the same time still enjoying the peace of solitude.

It seems to be an ignorant bliss, when you don’t know love drawn along the lines of commitment. Sure, he can admire someone but not in a way there’ll be a ring on his finger someday and vows will be exchanged.

His feelings were often intellectualized, and the words just never materialize.

There’s another fear that lingers, that admitting his feelings means a promise. That he will never leave them too.

What if his feelings change along the way?

He admires the concept of affection and intimacy but not when it is about someone’s name to be carved in his heart.

It seems fun. No, fun is not the word for it. It’s difficult to describe, but loving and being loved must be something special.

‘Who am I to find joy in such experience?’ He often asks himself.

So, he will simply think about this for a few nights, or days, or during showers, in-between tv shows, just enough to acknowledge this feeling and let it go.

See, there’s a lot of issues he is still working on. And may it be a decade or a century, he wishes to be well prepared before he falls in love.

Because he knows when he falls, it will be like gravity had him on a chokehold.

“You’re meeting again?” Bokuto asks. Suddenly, everyone’s attention is on him.

It’s an early end for their practice today. It barely warmed him up. Although Sakusa protests, he plays anyway. He grumbles but still plays volleyball all too well. Hinata complains how he can hate and love a thing, and still be good at it.

“Right Omi, I wonder why’s that” Atsumu sneaks a remark, with a hand placed on his shoulder, eyebrows wiggling. His teammates are too good at jumping, often at conclusions.

“It’s for that case settlement” Sakusa replies.

“The house ownership?” Everyone pauses to listen as Atsumu speaks. “Wonder how someone did manage to scam you” Atsumu’s right. He thinks of himself as ahead of analyzing people, turns out he’s vulnerable when someone offers something with the label ‘sale’.

“Why not let it go? You’re rich, unless you want to keep going on those ‘case meetings’ huh”

Sakusa simply sighs. The scammer was caught months ago, but there wasn’t any progress on who gets the house. Sakusa Kiyoomi, who finally decided to buy a house, somehow ended up tangled with you.

Both of you paid the full amount for the house, caught off guard by the ‘sale’. Said it was 50% off (it never was). Truly, the scammer knows capitalism by its roots, selling the house to both Sakusa and you, presented as a bargain but gained twice the amount. And unfortunately, the money was gone in thin air. The positive side was, it was named after you and Sakusa but both of you have to decide how to settle the ownership.

The judge suggested two options:

a) one gets the house, the other compensated with money

b) sell the house, both gets compensated with money

However, both of you refuses to give away the house. It’s a perfect deal, both near your workplaces, spacious, newly renovated, completely furnished, and has that perfect aesthetic of the interior you both dreamed of.

Sakusa already told this dilemma to his teammates. He has no choice, it’s been months, and both of you kept meeting but ends up arguing. No wins, no losses. A perfect stagnant problem.

“Let Kiyoomi enjoy his dates—”

“It’s a meeting” Sakusa retorts.

“Right, and the sun’s a star” Atsumu rolls his eyes.

“It’s a star?” Hinata quickly replies, with furrowed brows.

“Well, whatever you call it, seems like you’re enjoying anyways” Atsumu shrugs. Bokuto and Hinata nods.

“They’re annoying at best” Sakusa replies, massaging his forehead thinking what chaos it will be again later.

“If you don’t like each other so much, why bother meet all the time?” Hinata asks.

“Specifically, at least twice a week” Bokuto agrees.

And Sakusa’s left defenseless. His walls came crashing down.

He ignores everything they say after, as he usually does. He finishes packing up and proceeds to check your message. He searches the location where your date will be—discussion, he smiles at his silly mistake.

On the other hand, you are getting uneasy how today will turn out although you are sure an argument will be present. It’s quite a joke you kept meeting someone despite your desire to avoid things that are a waste of time.

Meeting Sakusa is not a waste of time, isn’t it?

You deny the excitement building up waiting on him as he shows up in gym clothes compared to your academia themed outfit. It was like someone on a fitness journey was meeting up with a crumbling postgrad student.

With black sweatpants, an inch higher than his ankle, and his regular fitted black shirt, you spot Kiyoomi. As marvelous and nonchalant as ever.

Kiyoomi looks from outside the cafe’s window and pauses for almost a minute, thinking of something nice to say.

You also prepared a few phrases on your mind, something about the weather. How cloudy skies compliments the hue of his hair and eyes, captivating his features so well.

But the moment you meet, and words come out from your mouths, he was baffled how something about the weather turned into an argument about ecological footprints. Maybe because Kiyoomi kept on using his car despite the training venue being streets away. You point it out and Kiyoomi would never admit his purpose of hoping to drive you home sometime. So, he contradicts your words by the number of items you kept on purchasing and why consumerism keeps on depleting the earth’s resources.

After some lengthy banter, silence precedes.

But Sakusa wonders what remains loud, no one’s talking but something remains loud.

Then he realizes, there’s the beat on his chest.

He begins to get baffled by how many paradoxes can exist all at once.

Like how he can hate your guts but keeps making his days available just to see you.

How can he be so selfish of not wanting to give up the house just so he can hear you ramble about your life, why it was your dream house, how can it benefit your working hours, and how you hate pets are not allowed in your current apartment complex.

He hates this. How his practice tires him out but ends up coming back to meet you. Like it was meant to be.

You could also list your reasons to hate him.

You hate how he becomes silent suddenly. But his nonverbal gestures tell a lot and more than what you need to know. Like how his lips slowly lift when your reasoning was actually right. Or the way he orders for the both of you and never misses any detail, he gets it right without even asking you. Even the way he leans forward slightly just so he can hear you clearly and remind you he is listening whenever you share anything.

You begin to remind yourself, think with your head not that thing in your chest.

Of all computed probabilities, love may not be a question of chance…but a choice.

Dumb luck. Fate. Destiny.

Whatever it was, he might be slowly getting it.

You are not there to complete him. Neither he does. But simply sitting in front of him, with his pretty hair, and cute grunts. And all his snide remarks, the comments how your outfit suits you, remembering what your favorite coat is, his random sarcasm, how he remembers all the stories you told him.

His mandatory habit of collecting the receipt with your doodles, how he informs you ahead of his schedule making sure you are a part of it, and simply being with each other.

It is not just a question what this situation is. It is an enigma.

You hate him.

And damn right, he hates you too.

But you both say goodbye with smiles on your face.

Another meeting is set on a shared online calendar you previously both agreed on.

Also, the house still belongs to both of you.

a/n: I admit I get jealous of the "love experience" and I admit I never tried a relationship. Because like what I wrote, it was not the fear of love, it's the fear of losing someone you love.

[demonio-fleurs]

okay okay actually i’m sorry i’m not done ranting

if you are caught up with the manga and think that the revolutionary army hasn’t “done anything” then maybe you should learn to read again because what in the fuck

like they have blockades across the world rn that are preventing food from getting into marijoa. the celestial dragons have been deprived of their normal foods and are reduced to eating cake (which is fucking hilarious btw). we have seen time and time again that they help countries over throw their leaders and help install new leaders who won’t steal their people’s funds for the celestial dragons. they are constantly freeing people, and doing what they can when they can. they freed slaves during the reverie, they stop pirate attacks on islands, they are CONSTANTLY doing stuff, it’s just that the main players HAVEN’T been able to do much because they’ve been waiting for their chief of staff to show back up after being MIA for like two weeks.

like holy shit!!!! tell me you can’t fucking read (or are only selectively reading) without telling me you can’t read!!!

if you don’t like dragon as a character because he didn’t raise luffy, that’s fine. but don’t sit there and go “uwu the RA suck and haven’t done anything and the straw hats are better than them!!!!!” because all that’s saying is that you can’t fucking read what’s in front of you!!!!!

sometimes i kinda feel bad when my posts start to spread because my block list is incredibly long and i will block people over the smallest things like calling dragon a deadbeat dad or complaining about how the RA doesn’t “”do anything”” (even when they have literally done so much like we have seen that they have helped so many countries what the FUCK are y’all even on about i s2g—)

but then i remember that im saving myself from future discourse down the line and feel a bit better 😎

[jianhue]

Information about William !! (Moral Orel oc)

Stuff you should know !

1. My English is HORRIBLE. I don't have the greatest vocabulary so most of my sentences are repetitive

2. His information might change over time.

3. Uhh idk if this needs any warning but there is some topics about trauma and stuff so watch out for that

4. This is written informally lol

5. I made this around midnight, there's some mistakes

Text form:

Basic information:

Name: William Boltspin

Age: 36

Occupation: Psychologist

Height: 5’11

Habits: over analysing people’s small gestures, thinking out loud, tripping on nothing when nervous, fidgeting, freezing when in put into a tight spot

Hobbies: Reading, watching stuff go down

Introduction:

Will is introduced as a new person in town. He recently moved in, and since nobody was willing to show him around, Orel did. But in a typical Moral Orel episode, something happens. In the good will of Orel, he shared a little too much. This kind of scared Will out, but he still stayed in the town. Mostly because he was fascinated by how the town was old-school. At first, he got along with the townspeople, but they soon realised they had different principles and ideals.

Seeing how he wasn't really attending the daily sermons, Orel took it upon himself to invite him to church. Will isn't really the type to go to church daily, but seeing how everyone was going and how eager Orel was to get him to attend the sermons, he started attending daily too. After an episode focusing on his move, he became a typical side character, only showing up on screen for a few scenes or just in the background.

Show appearances:

During season 1, aside from his little worries and complaints about the children in town having too much freedom, Will is seen acting fairly normal. He's been seen in church, walking to the doctor’s office, etc. Most of his appearance is just him passing by; sometimes he gives out advice that is a bit too vague.

In season 2, his concerns grow, and he starts to disagree with some of the other characters. He doesn’t get along with Reverend Putty much, but he does tolerate him. Will offers to babysit some of the children, mostly doughy or shapey. It’s mostly because he sees signs of neglect. Unfortunately, he does have work of his own, so he isn’t always there for them.

Upon learning about his profession, some started to doubt his faith. He still attends church even with people talking about him, and his only reason is because of Orel. Will does try to correct the behaviour of some people, but when he gets a bad response (which happens every time), he takes it back. Sometimes, mostly by accident, he does the same thing he criticises people for. Telling people not to yell in front of children or to not show any bad behaviour they can pick up.

He still bonds and gives some proper advice to Orel, but makes sure to keep him at arm's length. He’s afraid of being dragged into the things Orel does. But in an episode, he finally had the courage to join Orel. He follows him around and secretly does things so they avoid trouble. But of course, trouble does happen. Before Orel was taken to Clay’s study room, they made eye contact. Will felt responsible since he was an adult and he was around Orel the whole time. Even though he felt immense guilt, he was still too afraid to intervene. He mouthed the words “I’m sorry, Orel.” In the end, he became a bystander. Something he wished he never would be.

Season 3 is where Will’s mental health starts to deteriorate. He feels guilty for being so hypocritical. Feeling responsible for kids he isn’t even related to has taken a toll on him. Other adults also started to vent out their problems to him at the bar, hoping for some advice from Will.

His last scene is Orel finding him sitting at an alley next to Forghetty’s Bar. Will was drunk and cried to Orel about everything he hated, even calling Clay a bastard right in front of him. After that furious rant he calmed down and started muttering about how he “didn’t want to be like this” and that he’s sorry for being such a horrible person, a bystander, a hypocrite, a coward, a person he can’t rely on. He picks up his glasses and apologises before realising who he was dumping all his problems to. It was Orel. A child. He remembers his promise to himself, never burden a child with your problems. Not even as an accident. Not knowing what to do, he just froze and cried.

After that scene, Will would be seen avoiding children. He’s seen more often in the bar, mostly in the background or puking at the corner.

Upbringing:

As a kid, Will would be told to turn a blind eye to things that were not his business. Around his teenage years, he would witness a violent crime, but instead of helping, he just pretended he didn’t see anything and walked away. The person would later be found dead. Will couldn’t take it; he felt extreme guilt, blaming himself for not saving them or even just calling the police.

His mother also had violent outbursts, venting her problems to her son. He felt responsible for her, so he just took everything. Beatings, berating, everything. Will basically took care of her. His mother was a very judgmental woman, whispering to him about people around his neighbourhood. Will gaslights himself to think that it’s just his mother’s way of showing concern and affection. When he finished college, his mother passed away. He never actually bothered to find his father because his mother told him, “It’s not worth finding that bastard of a man." Will just followed what his mother said. But in the end, his own mother’s last words were, “I fucking hate that face of yours. You’re a spitting image of that fucking bastard.”

He already knew his mother actually hated him. He just denied it. But hearing it straight from her just made him lose it. Will swore to never treat a child like his mother did to him.

[velvetvexations]

I did not mean to sleep all day. Here all the non-kink asks in my inbox lol.

Does a little dance. People being weird about transmascs on here has messed up my self perception so bad im not actually sure of my own gender anymore, yayyyyy

Fuck that anon, if you're man that rules. Being a man is awesome. You don't need anyone else's opinion to affect who you are, there is no bad gender.

just saw someone acknowledge trans men are often lumped into female spaces due to bioessentialism but then turn around and say that thats proof that trans men arent oppressed. lol.

People act like being let into the Woman Club is the one and only goal of being trans and it's so fucking annoying.

Ngl I still don't understand why femboys are a "transmisogynistic caricature that can't be reclaimed by transmascs" according to some people. Do you have any insights on this because I genuinely can't understand, femboy sounds like gnc boy culture and in my own experience, maybe transfems before they come out occasionally identify as femboys. Idk is it like, someone with an outwardly feminine appearance being a guy? Because that's why I like calling myself a femboy.

Some people think femboy started as a transfem thing because they're idiots who don't know shit.

hey if catboy is ubiquitous and having nothing to do with crossdressing why did Jerma crossdress when someone drew him as a catboy???

Because catboys are allowed to do that lol. Taking one example of a crossdressing catboy to mean catboys infringe on transfem copyright is wild.

Hi thanks for letting me vent to you cause I am at work and can't properly process my emtions otherwise rn. I've been otherwise generally in a slightly emotionally fragile place and then I just got an awful review for my first actual order from a stranger on Etsy. And like I know logically that it's not the end of the world and I gave them exactly what they ordered and it's not my fault that they measured wrong or didn't take my advice and size up a little for fit etc etc but no one else will know that and I just got started selling craft stuff and it's just a hobby and it sucks that this person clearly expected something that wasn't what they paid for (my prices are low cause it's a hobby sorry I don't have super professional materials that would make my stuff cost double) but it's really fucking me up and I am trying not to like cry at work because of this and it's so stupid. This was just my first purchase online that wasn't from a friend and I was so excited and they hated it and didn't even send a message or anything about the length (that was exactly what they asked for by the way) not fitting before leaving a review. It just fucking sucks and I wish my brain didn't react to the most minor disappointments/shows of dislike with the I'm going to kill everyone in this room and then myself meme as first response Thanks for listening. It really helps to be able to vent this somewhere <3

I'm really sorry anon, that sounds so frustrating and hard to deal with. I love you so much. <3 I know you do great work and I hope it goes better next time.

Having NPD sucks, lmao, sorry for the rant ahead. I have to remind myself that the 'mark' on shinigami eyes doesn't actually mean anything, but it's hard sometimes because it's still a stain on my reputation. :( some people will see that and take it at face value, forever associating me with the filth that is transphobia, and I can't do anything about it. I appreciate the people who actually know what a transphobe is going out of their way to remove that mark, but it's a losing battle against a bunch of buffoons who think catgirls are transmisogynistic. sometimes it's really hard to pretend that it doesn't bother me at all, because it's highly insulting for me to be associated with the things I literally fight against. What an insult to my legacy and efforts to even bother to care about other people, you know? I don't HAVE to take time out of my day to do activism, I could just not bother to care at all, but I still try. I deserve praise, not this bullshit😭

I'll praise you! Thank you for fighting against transphobia. <3

All this catboy talk. Wanted to say hi as a catboy. Meow :3

Nya~!

My prediction for TRF discourse in 2025: closeted, non passing trans men shouldn't wear skirts or other traditional women's clothing (even if they don't want to and literally have no other choice) because they're MEN and men wearing women's clothes is obviously always transmisogynistic

All trans men are transmisogynistic because they grew up mocking transfems by wearing women's clothes.

some of this discourse is just so fucking wild i cant believe this is something people are taking so seriously. sipping my tea from the sidelines as a chubby catboy therian lmao

You have a cooler head than I.

iirc the "catgirls are transfem" thing started happening around the time Ferris got popular as a character because, if I'm correct, Ferris actually is transfem (coded?) and following that some people just decided The Aesthetique belonged exclusively to transfems now (also you're so so so so based for loving Schrödinger I remember first seeing him in like 2007 and wishing I looked exactly like him)

Schrodinger is my secret fifth blorbo. I'm obsessed with him. I think about him constantly. High five.

als catboys are only white passing in the way that people love to say anime characters are white lmao (aka cant conceive of the fact that anime characters are actually light skinned Japanese). not to say anime doesn't have a colorism problem but They Are Not White and its racist to say otherwise

lol yes exactly

I might be really stepping in it here, but tangential to catboy/catgirl discourse, I'm starting to get really uncomfortable with how the cutesy moe-blob yuri is treated as "trans lesbian culture" these days? as though none of it was ever straight guy fantasy shit? as though it's ideal representation instead of another vector of impossible beauty standards? idk, maybe I'm just being way too touchy. 😬

It's fine if something becomes emblematic of transfem culture but you just can't pretend something was always transfem when it blatantly wasn't lol

you got marked red on shinigami eyes and i havev no idea why

My smoke too tough, my swag too different, my bitch too bad.

juggalo here. we don't want them.

Devastating.

For what it's worth, the "cats transforming into people" thing is probably based on the bakeneko, yeah. The "bake" in "bakeneko" means "transforming", often with the implication of transforming into people (like the better known bakedanuki and bakegitsune). The popularization of cat-people in anime probably came from Neko-Musume from Gegege no Kitaro (the anime behind the "youkai boom" in modern Japanese culture), who is a half-bakeneko.

Fascinating.

(Dif anon) "leading one to wonder what transphobia they think trans men do face" 99.999% sure at this point we're at "trans men experience misgendering... maybe...?"

Well that doesn't count since everyone wants to be a girl, an idea that I believe has universal appeal because I'm a self-centered moron.

You're awesome <3

Thank you anon. <3

I didn't realize I was trans from yaoi but I did largely realize it from memes about traps and accidentally stumbling across largely transfem subreddits via a anime memes despite being transmasc so. Great amount of respect for our yaoi soldiers.

Hell yeah!

[toopimpabutterfly]

making my INTRO!!!!! or this is my intro. ykykyk. (meet my shitty way of designing intros and stuff too,)

HIHI call me Jésus I'm 16 Apache Mexican American. With some other stuff cause yeah. just mentioning that cause. I will say a lot of stuff yk. I'm autistic and scitzohenic but PLEASEEEE I NEED FRIENDS and PEOPLE TO talk to about my current interests!!!

MOVIES

Oh to go. on ABOUT THIS.. here's my letterboxd I fucking love movies.

DOGMA, MOONLIGHT, CLERKS, NATURAL BORN KILLERS, GOOD WILL HUNTING, FIGHT CLUB, NAKED LUNCH, FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS, CONSTANTINE, HELLBBOY, GUMMO, MAD MAX + FURIOSA, GODZILLA, I SAW THE TV GLOW, AVATAR, JACKASS, MID 90S, STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON, I LOVE YOU PHILIP MORRIS, WEEKEND AT BERNIE'S, FRIDAY, THE MATRIX, JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK, THIRTEEN, REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, TRAINSPOTTING, THE PEOPLE VS LARRY FLYNT, DUCK TILL DAWN, THE WATERMELON WOMAN, DONT BE A MENACE TO SOUTH CENTRAL, BOYZ IN THE HOOD, 12 MONKEYS, MENACE II SOCIETY, WATCHMEN,MALL RATS, KIDS and a lot more.. coughs.

TV SHOWS

PREACHER, THE BOYS, THE MAXX, ÆON FLUX, THE BOONDOCKS, LOITER SQUAD, CLERKS ANIMATED, AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE, BOJACK HORSEMAN, BEVIS AND BUTTHEAD, JACKASS THE SERIES, SMILING FRIENDS, THE ERIC ANDRE SHOW, FUTURAMA, KING OF THE HILL, MORAL OREL, BLACK DYNAMITE, HOME MOVIES, SPACE GHOST COAST TO COAST, THE OBLONGS, and more stuff again. Assume that a lot tbh.

MUSIC

THE BUTTHOLE SURFERS, KENDRICK LAMAR, ICE CUBE, N.W.A, BLACK FLAG, DEAD KENNEDY'S, LEONARD COHEN, NINE INCH NAILS, OUTKAST, TYLER, THE CREATOR, NAS, DR DRE, BONE THUGZ, QUASIMOTO, EAZY-E, KMFDM, ALEX G, WEEN, CHEMLAB, JANE'S ADDICTION, GERMS, ANGRY SAMOANS, NEW ORDER, JOY DIVISION, COWBOY JUNKIES, JESUS LOVES JUNKIES, PIXIES, DINOSAUR JR, HOOTIE AND THE BLOWFISH, THE VELVET UNDERGROUND, THE DEAD MILKMEN, NECROS, CIRCLE JERKS, HOLE, and a lot more. I love hardcore punk, crust, hip-hop, rap, and basically everything tbh.

MISC + FIXATIONS

I love comics like the Punisher, The Maxx, Preacher, Bratpack, the clerk's comic, Watchmen, Hellboy, little things. I like reading, TOO . I LOVE HUNTER S THOMPSON!!! Mostly Fear and Loathing in las Vegas, Hell's Angels, and the Campaign Trail 72, and other books like Revolt of the Cockroach People, Get in The Van. Little books like that sorta. GAMES TOO I like Faith the unholy Trinity, DOOM, POSTAL, GTA, DUSK, and a few others!

I collect DVDS, games, VHS tapes, books, CDs, records, laser discs, literally any piece of physical media . All of it. I like conspiracy theories, civil rights activists, some art history, Malcolm X. I'm a punk I go to local shows and stuff and might sometimes post that when I can. I have a HUGEEE fixation rn on Dogma(1999) and Kendrick Lamar. But I heavily enjoy the viewaskew universe rn and want to interact with more of the little fandom please... my dad got me into the movies and we watched them all together n stuff. I do powerlifting as a hobby and like to go on walks around my town and say nonsense please interact. I will post whatever I want here really tbh.. BYE.

TAGS!!!

#toopimpabutterfly <- tag for everything I post

#TPAB lyric posts <- me lyric postin, nuff said.

#TPAB rants <- mostly vent or ranting about my horrible life. how fun

I got socials too, discords are irlwillhunting MAIN and h0peeradicated as alt. My Instagram is topimpthebutterfly . Spotify is here .

[kateeorg]

Please tell me I'm not the only one who thinks "Magneto was right" is bullshit? And really dangerous rhetoric to be spreading? I'm not really an X-Men fan, so maybe my opinion is invalid, but... (a venting rant, please ignore unless you are curious, not judgmental)

Look.

It's one thing for Magneto to be right within the universe of X-Men -- any X-Men iteration -- which gives a lot of evidence that the humans of that universe WON'T change and WILL see mutants dead before they are accepted.

Fine. Whatever.

But considering how so many see X-Men as a reflection of real world issues... we're really going this route? We're really saying violence and war is the only option?

Because people WILL map this onto real-world issues that they really shouldn't be. But the real world isn't a comic book. The conflicts are not oversimplified, and the "oppressed" and "oppressors" aren't always as clear as people think. More often, there is real hurt on both sides, and multiple facets the news can't capture.

Sometimes, both sides are violent assholes. And they will hold on to their rightness, to their feelings of being the only "oppressed" ones, to justify horrible things.

And who gets caught in the crossfire? We do. Ordinary people just trying to get by.

And the other thing is, violence and extremism makes for a better story, doesn't it? Better comics, better photos, better news readership. Peace... real peace is hard. It doesn't photograph well, like protest does. It needs to constantly be maintained, constant compromises. It doesn't make for a good movie, does it? Not a superhero movie, anyway. Or TV show.

It requires a maturity that most people? Will never reach.

Including the writers.

So screw your "Magneto was right". Maybe I'm wrong. I probably am! I'm probably letting my emotions about real world events get in the way. I don't like conflict or picking sides by nature, even when it's justified, and some will see that as a weakness of my character. Fine.

But I'm sorry, I just ... I refuse to accept that. Because I worry who is going to use that phrase as a rallying cry in the real world. And who will get hurt as a result because someone decided they "deserved" that.

This is also why I'm frankly not excited to bring the X-Men into the MCU. Because where there are X-Men, irrational hatred must follow, and I just... I don't want to see the MCU devolve into that. It will, of course, the die has been cast, but... I'm sad it came to that, because I'm not sure I trust the MCU writers as things stand to get this right.

In a world of superheroes and flying ships, the thing that takes real imagination is to see a world where peace is possible.

I'm not sure I'll ever have the writing chops to do it myself. But I endeavor to try harder than the X-Men writers clearly ever have.

Actually, I think Wonder Woman said it best: "It's not about deserve. It's about what you believe. And I believe in love."

[shadows-flames-and-ink]

After waiting the whole day, I FINALLY watched Act III of Arcane last night, and it did not disappoint. Once again, I need to rant about things I'm sure pretty much everyone already knows, but if I don't my skull will split in half. I'll definitely be bouncing around a bit here, this is going to take a while

I don't quite understand how Vi's death fixed the Silco problem in the alternate timeline, especially since he was experimenting with Shimmer when the job was taking place in the main timeline. (Edit: saw people talking about how her death was a wakeup call that convinced him to try a different way to improve the undercity without bringing down topside, and I really like that) Also, does other-Powder keeping some Hex-crystals and seeing what Ekko and Heimerdinger did with the shards mean that she could make Hextech in her universe and mess up their stuff? Also, what about Heimerdinger? Was he sent to another timeline? Somewhere else in the main one? What about the other-Heimerdinger, what happened to them? Other-Ekko lived, so why not him?

Either way, I thought it was a cute episode, it was nice to see Powder happy again. It was also kinda funny watching it switch between Ekko and Powder being cute together and Jayce barely surviving in the apocalypse

Back in the main timeline, seeing how broken Jinx was after Isha died broke me. When she started burning everything, then Ekko had to stop her from killing herself like a dozen times? That was just heartbreaking

On a happier note, Caitvi!!! I'm very happy they're together, of course, but um... well, I watched this show with my parents... so this happened:

Me: (internally) yay! they're together again!

(They start taking each other's clothes off)

Me: (internally) this got very awkward very fast... say something, anything

Me: (obviously embarrassed) well... um... at least we can see Vi's whole tattoo now, that's kinda cool

Mom: Are you saying it's cool we get to see them nak-

So that was not at all an awkward three minutes.

Anyway, not long after that, when everyone was preparing for the war with the Noxians and Victor's cult, I remembered Maddie existed. At first, I kinda felt bad for her, because she probably had no idea about the cell stuff and she liked Cait too. Then, when she revealed herself as a traitor, I didn't. Then Mel's magic made a bullet play pinball with her brain, so that was interesting. It was a rollercoaster of emotion for five minutes, cool death scene, and a great way to show off Mel's powers

Speaking of, Mel's duel with her mom? Awesome fight scene, got really scared for Cait for a while. The Black Rose at the end was cool, and Mel saying she knows who it is makes me very interested in a potential future project that explores that more

The Ekko-Jayce-Victor fight was amazing. Ekko redoing every mistake, even risking going back to far and breaking part of Victor's... mask? Face? Idk, what was that?

Anyways, the astral plane scene was beautiful. Plus, the flashback of wizard-Victor showing Jayce all the different runestones in different timelines to stop the Glorious Evolution Hex-Victor was incredible

I'm still confused though about how, when Victor and Jayce went into the runestone, all the other cultists died but Warwick was still able to keep fighting. That whole scene was sad, and Jinx sacrificing herself to save Vi was just depressing, but I'm calling it right now, Jinx isn't dead

In the end scene with Cait and Vi together after everything, Cait was looking at the Kiramman computer thing. More specifically, a blueprint of the Hexgates, zoomed-in around where Jinx would have blown herself up. In plain English, I could read at least 2-4 air ducts and vents marked down. Most of the writing in-universe is their own language, usually narrated over by one of the characters (right?). Only signs and sometimes names are in English, so the fact that the diagram had English means that we were supposed to read it, and know Cait was looking for something. Plus, Jinx's bombs always have colorful smoke with the explosion, so we never saw her body. I'm saying she blew up Warwick and somehow managed to ride the shockwave or Shimmer-dash to an air duct. I fully believe that Jinx is still alive

This show destroyed me, I loved every second of it. Can't wait to see more from this universe

I think that's it for now. I'm probably going to spend the rest of the day scrolling through all the Arcane tags writing, so I'll leave this here. I'll edit this if I think of anything else I guess. If you're still here, thanks for reading and have a nice day

[buddiebeginz]

Just to be clear since I ranted a lot after last nights ep. I love Eddie I'll always love him he's one of my fav characters. But loving a character doesn't mean you have to excuse everything they do.

Kim showing up at the house dressed as Shannon was in large part on Kim. She didn't tell Eddie she was going to do that nor even ask to come over. I also get that in the state of mind Edde's been in lately and the fact that he wasn't expecting to see what was ostensibly Shannon on his doorstep he really didn't know what to do let alone kick her out or something.

Still Kim wouldn't have even known where Eddie lived had he not been cheating with her and not taken her to his house in the first place. I've seen a lot of people say Chris seeing Kim was all on Kim and it's not Eddie's fault but for me some of the blame does fall onto Eddie for the actions he took that led up to that.

I'm not saying that Eddie is a bad person or that I don't see he's in a bad place mentally. I just haven't liked some of the choices he's made this season. I also don't think Eddie ever intentionally wanted to hurt Chris. I know he'd never want to do that and it's going to hurt him greatly knowing he has.

Also I talked in my post about how I thought Buck should have been angry during the kitchen scene. This was just my first reaction after watching the ep. When I rewatched that scene I was glad Buck was as loving and gentle with Eddie as he was. It was clearly what Eddie needed in that moment because it was what motivated him to come clean to Kim about Shannon.

I guess I also get tired of the show never allowing the characters to deal with the consequences of their actions. We just saw this in 704 after Buck hurt Eddie (and I don't think he truly meant to) but I still think we needed to see them talk about what happened on the court. We've seen similar things like when Chim and Buck fought they never talked about it. Or when Buck cheated on Taylor, she just forgave him and stayed. I think sometimes it's harder to see the growth of a character if you don't get to see them dealing with their mistakes.

I'm also angry about this on Chris' behalf especially since we just saw Chris talking about his mom in 701. So part of me does want to see Buck getting angry at Eddie for the role he played in what happened. And for as much as the fandom talks about how Buck is like Chris' other dad it would make sense for Buck to be upset that his son was hurt.

At the end of the day though I love my Buddie family and I do want to see Buck being there for Eddie and Chris like I know he will be eventually after whatever craziness happens in the finale.

Also me talking about Eddie facing consequences for his part in this does not mean I was trying to insinuate that he's an unfit father or that Chris should be removed or anything like that. Like I said I don't think Eddie would ever want to do anything to intentionally hurt Chris. The best case scenario would actually be for Buck to come and stay with Eddie and Chris but given that Ryan said Eddie is going to be isolated I don't think we're going to see that. I'm not sure what's going to happen with Eddie's parent's coming to visit but Chris is way better off with Eddie than he'd ever be with his grandparents.

Anyway I just wanted to put this out there because I feel like my rant from last night came off the wrong way because I was venting about the ep. Even if I disagree with some of Eddie's choices I will still always defend Eddie and Buck and Buddie and I'm never closing on any of them.

[k1ckback]

HEY THIS IS KIND OF SPECIFIC BUT CAN YOU DO THE GANGS REACTION TO A READER WHO IS USUALLY SERIOUS AND DOESNT EXPRESS MUCH, BUT THEN KINDA BREAKS DOWN AND STARTS VIOLENTLY SOBBING IN FRONT OF THEM?? THANK YOU HEHEEHE

OHOHO I can. keep it coming with requests anon, because hyper specific stuff is my favorite to write tbh

Went with Reagan, Brett, Ron and Andre for this! (Sorry JR fans i’m saving him for special occasion) 

Reagan 

- her first reaction is shock, she hesitates to touch you at first, wanting to make sure she doesn’t overwhelm you.  - she has.. a confusing time with people’s emotions, but it’s you. “Hey.. what’s wrong?” 

- she’d take your hand in hers, rubbing the back of it mindfully. modeling breathing techniques they sprung on her in anonymous anonymous.  - cooing the only words of comfort she can think of, all of her thoughts cease when you wrapped your arms around her. she froze for a few seconds, before returning it.  - she’s always struggled with repressing her own emotions, but this had been a long-time coming. she pondered how you’d managed this long without any outburst. she rubbed your back haphazardly, and listened to you with shaky breaths try to explain the source of this.  - “I’m glad you told me” was her first response, “I know it feels like it sometimes, but you don’t have to handle this by yourself. promise.”

- the type to let you vent to her and than will take you out to get food, because talking about emotions is exhausting  - expect her to be a little more vigilant when it comes to your emotions though. 

Brett

- his first instinct is to smother you, “what’s wrong love? did something happen? can I hug you?” all of his concern poured out into his words, waiting for you to give something of a nod before wrapping his arms around you  - if you need a minute to cry it out, he’s all for it. expect him to rub your back and just listen. 

- he might cry a bit himself, (he’s on the higher empathy side of autism I don’t make the rules, me too brett)  - that being said, anything you got going on? he’s in it with you. if this is caused by a certain person? expect him to have some stern words for them, if it’s at a situation? he won’t stop until he can help you figure it out. 

- he usually keeps a panic attack kit on him at work, so he won’t hesitate to get you a fidget if needed. he understands how hard it can be to come down from sobbing like that. when you’ve calmed down to a certain point, he takes your hand in his. 

- “I want you to know i’m happy you shared this, and I care about you. I promise we’ll figure this out together okay?” every bit of his reassurance seems to be nothing but believable. 

- if the two of you are at home when this happens? expect to be cuddled and practically worshipped until you feel better.. if you’re at work, he’s taking you to his office to wait out the anxiety-attack hangover.

Ron - “honey, ” his hands find your face quickly. wiping your tears with his thumbs.  “hey, what’s going on?” he waits for you to find the words. a patient frown dawning his lips.  - straight to reassurance. “everything’s gonna be alright, I promise”     - he’s not happy that this is happening, but he is a little relieved that he’s finally seen you showing some of your emotions, he just worries you don’t feel comfortable around him sometimes. (Despite this obviously not being true)

- “I’m here to listen.” he reassures. as the initial tears and your breathing start to slow, he’ll start to listen to the situation, and throughout it expect him to be nodding all the way. he just wants to make sure you know he’s listening. - and really, he is. if you need help trying to fix a problem? this guys there, if you just need to talk for a little bit, he’s always up to listen. he just wants to see you happy. - that being said, he’s happy the two of you could talk at this level. there’s something of a bond that comes from it.

- expect him to start checking up on you more, especially just asking if you need to rant to anyone. coworker problems? parking ticket? ranting family member? he’s practically heard it all.

- he’d ask you to go watch movies after this, I don’t make the rules. he might even take the day off for it.

Andre

- he might immediately worry he did something wrong, but when he figures out this is an entirely different problem, he’s doing everything he can to help you calm down (he’s definitely had his own panic attacks before though, so he already has a few ideas in mind)

- he reaches for a hug, wrapping his arms around you with a soft sigh. “I’ve got you. I promise.” He hums out, letting you sob into his shoulder.

- the crying doesn’t last very long, and within a couple minutes, your breath’s feel somewhat full again. your hands though continue to shake in Andre’s grasp, and he doesn’t let up on tracing your palm.

- after a bit of talking, mostly andre listening (with the occasional verbal profanity at the absurd-mess of a situation) he starts to understand your apprehension to leave that facade you put on for work. he definitely knew someone was under there, but he realized this might be his first time meeting them.

- he’s generally the most down to earth out of the group when it comes to mental health stuff. he has nowhere to judge. so by all means, if his partners having trouble with it? he’s all ears. sometimes having someone to just listen to you can go a long way. he really cares about you, and he knows you’d do it for him.

- “we’ll figure this out; we won’t stop until it’s fixed.” His hand squeezed yours; and his eyes finally met yours: anything about his expression could’ve easily convinced you of his intentions.

[fandomgoesahhhhhhhhh]

if it’s ok with you can I request a romantic Spider Queen x reader? Where the reader is a demon as well?

(Your wish is my commands!)

Lego Monkie Kid/LMK x Reader Headcanons

🕷️Dating The Queen of Spiders🕷️ (Romance)

She REALLY hate you when you two first met..mostly because you were another demon and she didn’t trust any demons beside her spider clan, but overtime, she got used to your appearance and soon learn how to deal with you pretty much.

Despite her cocky and scary personality, she was nervous and anxious to actually confess her feelings to you. She never really had any good relationships before and hate of feeling vulnerable in front of everyone. So when it came to confess her feelings…she just…she just be like “….I….you’re…manageable so umm….STAY…:with me…..or you’ll be my spider food” even though she won’t ACTUALLY turn you into food(she already would when you first met).

Now when it comes to actually dating you, pal, she was clingy as heck, but ONLY in private. She doesn’t like showing weakness and doesn’t want your or her enemies to find out that you two are dating. Even to her clan, she will not show any sign of affection unless you two are alone. Though she secretly wish she can.

Her love language(In my opinion) is usually act of service, but sometimes words of affection. Just because she doesn’t show physical affection, doesn’t mean she won’t do things for you. She’ll act like she’s annoyed by your request, but deep down, she’s thrilled to pleasure you and keep you around her lab. Sometimes she’ll throw a few praise words every now and then for your works and all.

GET USED TO TEASING! Especially if you have any demon parts(like ears, tails, etc), because they’re not safe from Mommy Sp-I mean The Spider Queen. For example, if you’re a moth demon, she’ll tease you by gently rubbing your moth wings or any moth features you have. If you have any horns, she’ll gently rubs it with her fingers and if you have a tail, PAL, SHE WILL GRAB YOUR TAIL WITH CARE, BUT WRAP HER SPIDER LEGS AROUND YOUR TAIL OR WRAP HER FINGERS AROUND YOUR TAIL JUST TO TEASE YOU!! She’s a teasing machine and I mean it!

Whenever you get upset or general not happy. She’ll gently play around with you to cheer you up. She’s not the best of comfort, but teasing is one of her best traits. She’ll use her webs or spider legs to hold you upside down and will not stop tickling you until you have a true smile on your face. She’ll always listen to your rants and vents whenever you need it. She might not be good at giving you advices on anything that comes with emotions or feelings, but she’ll be there when you need someone to listen to.

Now when it comes to you and her both being demons. She is PROTECTIVE..secretly. She knows what people or other demons could do and she will not risk you getting hurt by any hunters or any other demons. She will bite their asses to the ground and eat them for dinner. She isn’t the best kind of snuggle as well, but I do imagine her wanting to hold your hand whenever you guys sleep and all.

Overall, she’s that tough on the outside, but soft on the inside and would keep an eye on you every now and then. I actually imagine if you go off somewhere that she’s find suspicious and dangerous(not cheating, but like if she have a feeling of someone trying to hurt you or take you cause demons and all), she’ll send one of her spider clan to keep an eye out from a distance and call her if anything does happen. She love you..she will not admit in public though..but she still love you. You’re her little demon partner and that’s what important

(I hope you enjoy this)

[zbeez-outlet]

This is my (unasked for) review and critique of Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender. I’m not expecting much of a response, I just have so much to say and no one to talk about it with. I’m putting it here so it doesn’t fester in my brain and it’s my blog, I can talk about whatever I want.

I am going to divide it into two major sections, the first being a review of the show as a stand alone, the second being a comparison to the source material. Each section will have smaller headers so I can stay on topic and organized, I’m going to try really hard not to obnoxiously rant or flood my review with unsupported opinions. I have a lot to say, but I want to make sure I articulate myself well and don’t fall into venting without reason. If you see me doing that, please let me know.

I want it to be made clear now that these are my thoughts on the show, I’m not forcing anyone to think the same as I do or insulting anyone for having different views than me. I also want people to know that this is an extensive detailed review, I’m going to be covering a lot of very broad and very narrow topics. I’m not trying to nitpick inconsequential details, this review is supposed to focus on important and fundemental aspects of the show. I will be harsh, but I’m going to try not to be unreasonable.

This is going to be extremely long. If you’re not interested in reading it all, I completely understand and I’m going to include my initial rating and a summary of why I gave it that rating here.

My overall rating of the show: 4/10

Review Summary: While the visual effects and environments were for the most part really great, the quality of writing fell behind drastically in comparison. There were major issues with characterization, consistency, and plot development that will pose a challenge in future seasons. The dialogue was often dry and overly expository, it allowed no room for nuance, subtlety, or complexity because they’re constantly telling us what everyone is doing, thinking, and feeling. The acting was mostly subpar, but I think that was because the writing suffered so greatly rather than through major lack of talent or skill from the actors. The pacing was abysmal, 8 episodes was never going to be enough time to tell this story. For me, it has a very surface level amount of entertainment but as soon as you try to look a little closer, try to answer questions or search for any depth, the quality drops entirely.

Extensive in depth review below. Because I’m not watching the show as I’m writing this, please let me know if I’m misremembering any major details so that I can correct myself if/when needed.

Sorry in advance for how obnoxiously long this is, I tried to give clear headers so you can bounce around any specific topics that interest you.

NETFLIX ATLA as a Stand Alone Show

In this section, I will not be making any comparisons or references to previous Avatar content. I will do my best to strictly speak on what Netflix gave us and its quality in different categories.

Costumes/Makeup

Overall, I thought the design of the costumes and styling was really solid. They felt really unique and representative of the different cultures, which is always appreciated. There was an issue for me though that took me out of the show sometimes. Nothing looked lived in. There was no dirt, stains, wrinkles, or wear and tear of any kind and the colors were so bright. The actors sometimes looked like they were doing a theater play or dressing up for Halloween, not living in a struggling world at war. Overall, costuming and makeup was really good, just throw some dirt on there!

Yue’s wig was terrible, I think we can all agree.

I do have a gripe with Zuko’s design though. His scar looks like a bruise or an eye infection, not a gruesome burn scar. I know I’m not the first person to say this, and I’ll keep saying it until they listen. It needs texture, it needs to be larger, and for the love of god shave his eyebrow.

Environments and Locations

I thought the locations looked great, especially the artful cgi on the wide shots of places like the Southern Air Temple, the Fire Nation and their ships, and Omashu. Good cinematography and just really well done work as a whole. There’s a few times when the backgrounds during scenes looked more like stage sets than lived in cities or villages, but it was rarely anything so drastic it harmed the show for me. I really liked the amount of background clutter and knickknacks that helped with realism and there was always a lot of people that helped these places feel populated. Zuko’s room on his ship especially was so cool, it told so much of his story without ever needing explanation. Having a collection of avatar artifacts and plastering his walls with drawings, research, theories, maps, and plans was genius. I loved that they included animals, once again it helps with immersion and realism, and it would be really easy to just not include them for simplicity sake. Especially the funky animal hybrids, I hope to see more going forward! The use of ice, wood, furs, and bone for the Southern Water Tribe was so good. The massive rib cage for the community hut in the tribe was fantastic. I could go on for a long time. For me, the settings were probably the best part of the season.

Bending Graphics

The strongest elements of bending visually were air and fire. They really captured the movements of each, the fluidity and speed of air bending, and the aggression and passion of fire bending. Earth bending looked okay, the actors did a pretty good job of making it look heavy, but overall it felt like it was moving too slowly to me. I think the scene at the beginning of the first episode was the best example of earth bending. The fight with Bumi was very underwhelming for me.

Water bending looked terrible almost the whole time. The way the water physically looked was pretty good, but there was absolutely no weight behind it. Every time Katara hit someone with water, it splashed with the force of a Nerf water gun. The movements were slow, clunky, and so nonthreatening I probably wouldn’t have tried to dodge a single one of her attacks. Her battle with Pakku was one of the most boring battles I’ve ever seen. There was no haste or desperation in either participant. I’m hoping they’ll figure out how to do this better in the future. The ice was decent though.

As a whole, the fight choreography looked pretty good. Certainly moves I could never do. There were times when characters were completely cgi to account for difficult or impossible moves and it was really obvious. Aang in particular looked very wonky when he was fully cgi during his Avatar State moments or when he was flying around like his introduction scene. So passable but definitely room for improvement, I think the artists who work on these aspects of shows and films are very impressive.

Dialogue

The dialogue is 80% exposition, 19% repetitive conversations about responsibility and duty, and 1% misplaced poorly written humor. It’s unnatural, it’s dry, it doesn’t allow for any nuance, and there’s no room for character growth or connection when they have to waste all their words on making sure the plot is on track.

When the introduction of your main character is him looking directly into the camera and telling us the kind of person he is, there’s a dialogue problem. When so much happens off screen that you have to have characters talk to fill in plot holes because there’s just not enough time to tell the story, there’s a dialogue problem. When you put intentional pauses around bad jokes for people to laugh, there’s a dialogue problem. When characters have to say over and over that they’re family but they don’t feel like family in the slightest, there’s a dialogue and characterization problem. I’m not going to script the bad examples, I don’t have the time or patience for that, but I was very unimpressed. It felt like the first draft of a script to me.

And I dare anyone, of legal drinking age of course, to take a shot every time a character says the words responsibility or duty. I swear the floor and ceiling will switch before you reach episode 3. If characters have to keep shoving their responsibilities down our throats without actually doing anything to solve them, there’s a dialogue, characterization, and plot problem.

Also one of my biggest pet peeves with a series is when the first episode or movie ends with a line like “It’s only the beginning” and then plays crazily dramatic music. But that’s a personal preference, not an actual issue.

Acting

First and foremost, I have nothing against any of these actors. I’m sure they’re perfectly wonderful people and they deserve opportunities to prove themselves. My goal here is not to shame or insult or belittle any actor on this show. That being said, none of their performances were perfect and I do have critiques. This is not meant to be a personal attack on any of them or on anyone who enjoyed their performances.

I think the dialogue and overall writing really worked against the potential these actors had. I don’t know how involved the director was in the filming process or helping them with their performances, but there were definitely some failures here.

The strongest performances to me were Sokka, Iroh, Lieutenant Jee, and the Earth bender that threatened Iroh when he was captured (I couldn’t find his name, but he had an unprecedentedly good performance). By far the best was Jee, I felt his emotion more than any other character on the show and would love to see a lot more of him. Sokka balanced well enough with what he was given, but he also had the most character opportunity (which I’ll get into in the next section). Iroh I think filled the mentor roll pretty well, the writing for him leaned a little to close to fortune cookie, but he did feel wise and powerful when he needed to be, mostly. For a comedian though, his humor fell really flat to me, I wish they had given Paul Sun-Hyung Lee some freedom to improv, I think he would’ve done a good job if he could play with the character.

Katara and Azula were awful (so was Mai, but she didn’t get a lot of screen time so I’m not going to focus on her). Katara was so dull and emotionless for the majority of her role, her delivery felt so unnatural. Again, I think the writing was an obstacle, but I felt no connection from Katara at all. And certainly not between her and any of the other characters, which is a major problem for one of the main cast. Her and Sokka felt like strangers half the time, like they were getting to know each other as much as we were getting to know them. I swear Azula’s actress was reading off a teleprompter the entire time, she was somehow robotic and overacted at the same time (I’m sorry, I know that’s harsh, but she just isn’t a good actress, at least not in this).

Zuko had some really solid moments, his scenes with Iroh in particular were great, but overall I didn’t love him. A lot of people seem to be upset at his “tantrums” but honestly I think they fit the character well, though there was one or two too many. He’s an extremely troubled teenager estranged from his family and home, tantrums make sense. Again, I think the dialogue really got in the way of his potential and I don’t think he pushed his acting range enough. Almost every actor needed to show more emotion in one way or another.

Aang has some of the best moments and some of the worst. I have a lot of respect for young child actors, especially ones taking on the challenge of such a massive beloved character or franchise. It’s a lot of pressure for someone still growing up and learning how to be his own person. He handled the few childlike moments Aang was given so so well, he has the brightest little smile and playful attitude. The disconnect came with his more serious moments, he’d get these long monologues and, like Azula, sometimes seemed like he was reading off a teleprompter. I do think it’s a character he’ll grow into really nicely though as long as the writing lends itself to that.

It’s very important to remember that the director signs off on everything. Every performance, every scene, every script (that is also signed off by the lead writer). If something is off, it is not strictly the actors’ faults and should never be treated as such. Do the actors need more experience? Sure, but they more importantly need better direction, scripts, and support from the crew than what they’ve gotten. I’ve seen interviews with the main cast and they all seem wonderful with a lot of potential, particularly the actor for Aang, so clearly the director and lead writer are the ones that are slacking.

Characterization (of the main cast)

Aang

He goes through no change or character development from the beginning to the end of this season.

His water bending training hasn’t even started and he has no further control of the avatar state, so power wise he’s remained completely stagnant.

He constantly says how important Sokka and Katara are, because they’re his “friends”, but there’s been no bonding or development of their relationships. If they didn’t tell us so often, I wouldn’t even think they knew each other beyond first day of school ice breakers.

His most profound moment was his conversation with Gyatso in the spirit world, which I actually really liked. I think he really needed support from someone who knew him before. The home being deserted when Aang goes back to see him definitely hurt.

It feels like this show really really wants us to hate this 12 year old boy. Every adult or authority figure is constantly yelling or berating Aang for something he didn’t even do, it was an accident he didn’t come home and got frozen in ice. Especially from the avatar spirits who should know for a fact he didn’t purposefully run from his responsibilities. The tone is all off and I’m not sure the writers understand what they wrote.

Aang’s biggest mental hurdle will continue to be his guilt for disappearing, which he didn’t even do on purpose so the guilt is unjustified, at least the amount others are thrusting on him.

He looks confident at the end of the season, but I don’t buy it because he hasn’t earned it, there was nothing that he did or said that showed why he would feel so confident when he hasn’t learned anything and he hasn’t proven himself capable beyond getting possessed by the right spirits.

His reaction and aftermath to the death of his entire culture was very underwhelming. His grief sent him into the Avatar state and then he mutters a bland apology and the others are mad at him for falling apart when he’s literally lost everything and everyone he’s ever known. It’s something that needs to be handled far more delicately and it’s not.

As the titular character, it kinda sucks how sidelined his character development has been.

Sokka

If I had no knowledge of this series going into it, I might assume Sokka is the main character because he has the most developmental moments in the season and is easily the most well written character.

Physically handing over the protection of his tribe, while small, was a profound moment for him because he was not only going against his father’s orders, it was the first step to realizing he could be something more than a fishing boy from the south. Which is pretty much his whole emotional arc.

With Suki, he was able to prove himself as someone willing to learn and better himself as a warrior. He learned too fast considering it felt like they were only there for a day maybe, but they were on a time crunch with pacing.

In Omashu, Sokka found that his hobby for invention shows he has a talent for engineering and being a tactician. These are pretty important traits that make him a well rounded character.

By the end of the season, he’s gone through pretty profound loss and change to become the beginnings of a leader.

He was kind of supposed to be comic relief as well, but honestly to me it was done as a sloppy afterthought and almost none of the humor landed. Not just with him, but with most comedic moments.

Katara

I’m sorry, I’m about to rip this poor girl to shreds, the writing for her was awful.

She has absolutely no personality beyond the thousand yard stare she gets every time her mom comes up. Every emotion she has is weak and downplayed by exposition, she’s mostly passive and has almost no effect on the characters around her (besides Jet sort of? And I guess Pokku during the most boring fight of the show).

She adds almost nothing to the team besides being a water bender. It’s literally her only characteristic beyond dead mother.

Speaking of water bending, she did absolutely nothing to earn the title of master and no one can convince me otherwise.

She learned six moves from a scroll, trained off screen so we have to take her word for it, made one move that she copied from another bender, and never once had a single second of instruction from an actual master. Getting that title when she’s done nothing to earn it is crazy.

Teaching herself with no support or guidance is not empowering like the writers seem to think it is. It’s just lazy and so unrealistic it’s laughable. She doesn’t have any of the training necessary to be considered a master.

Also I just really dislike how every obstacle for her to be a better water bender is a mental one, first with Aang and then with Jet. Like yes, clearly emotional state matters, but it’s still a physical discipline that requires technique and training of which she’s had none of besides pictures in the scroll.

The fact she was so dismissive and disrespectful of healing bothers me too when it’s a very valuable practice. She didn’t stay for that training either, so how is she going to use the oasis water in the future? Oh wait, Katara’s “a natural” which is just so infuriating because she’s barely struggled to learn a thing the whole season. As soon as she’s in a good mood, her bending works just fine. That’s not how learning or mastering a discipline should work.

Sorry, I know I’m getting into ranting, I’m backing off. It’s just such poor character work for someone so important to the story.

Zuko

Episode 6, “Masks”, was by far the best episode and largely because of Zuko’s character work. Outside of that episode, he’s pretty consistently narrow minded and angry which doesn’t offer him a lot of depth. But it’s all packed into “Masks”.

I loved that the 41st division was his crew as it was physical proof of his sacrifice and compassion for life. Obviously his scar is also proof, but seeing the people he saved alive hits different. And the fact that he didn’t try to take any credit is very modest and honorable for him.

However, I wish he had chosen to make the 41st his crew rather than it being forced on him as an additional punishment to his banishment. I think if he had made that choice, it would have showed even stronger resolve.

His moment with Aang in the shed after rescuing him as the Blue Spirit was very well done and showed how hard it’s going to be for him to overcome his father’s influence.

Lu Ten’s funeral was a wonderful moment meant to build on Zuko’s relationship with Uncle Iroh, it was quite beautiful.

Unfortunately, outside of the moments I mentioned, there wasn’t much other opportunity for character growth because it had to be so exposition heavy.

Although he did choose to go after his Uncle instead of the Avatar in Omashu and that’s an important value in family that Zuko has.

I do appreciate that they cemented his ideals around honest and honorable glory, but it did get a little preachy and repetitive.

I think overall he has a lot of potential for growth in future seasons.

Pacing

Whoever thought 8 episodes was enough to tell this story is extremely delusional. Having more minutes does not equal having more time, 8 episodes offers no wiggle room for such an expansive story no matter how long they are. I’m so sick of production companies thinking it’s okay to so heavily compress storytelling, let your characters breathe and give them some time to develop. It’s one thing when it’s something like Queen’s Gambit (which is fantastic, if you haven’t watched it you should!) that only focuses on one person vs Avatar which is balancing four or five main characters, extensive world building, and complicated plots. It’s something that needs time, but is instead rushed so drastically there’s barely any time to comprehend one conflict or character before another one is expositing in your face. Netflix is one of the biggest offenders of this, but HBO does the same. The Last of Us could have used an extra episode or two for Joel and Ellie’s relationship to solidify more (I’m not going to get into TLOU though, so please don’t come for me for this opinion, it’s not the focus and if you want a more extensive review of that, let me know). It feels like writers think characterization and development just happens and they don’t have to take the time to actually write it in.

With 2-4 more episodes, they could have had the time to really explore the things they needed to without overloading on exposition. Ask yourself how much time did you feel like passed between episode one and eight? Did it feel like the few months it was supposed to be? To me it felt like maybe two-three weeks, and that’s not the fault of watching it so quickly. There’s never any indication of how much time passes, which is its own issue, but also ultimately confuses audiences if they have to guess.

Every interaction and conflict is rushed, why are these writers so scared to take their time? If Netflix isn’t offering more episodes, then you need to adjust your writing to compensate, not condense everything like a sardine can and then act surprised when it’s a structural problem. It’s a fundamental issue that affected the entire potential of the show.

Plot

Aang should have, at the very least, started mastering water bending. It’s stated several times in the season that he needs to in order to fully become the avatar and be powerful enough to end the war. That is the overarching plot that is integral to the story. And yet he doesn’t bend a single drop of water the entire show until he’s forced to after being possessed by the vengeful ocean spirit (and when Kyoshi also possesses him, but again that wasn’t him, that was the avatar state). Because of the time skips that’ll have to happen between seasons, he’ll probably do most, if not all, of his water bending training off screen. Which is, say it with me, bad writing!

They kept hinting at the comet but never outright said what it would do or when it would arrive. Not giving any kind of timeline for the biggest conflict of the show is really worrisome for their future plans. I understand they have to allow a certain amount of time flexibility to account for the younger actors aging, especially Aang, which I completely understand and respect. That’s why time skips will happen. But to not give any kind of timeline shows really poor planning.

Also, please tell me if I’m misremembering or if I somehow missed it during my watch through, but I’m pretty sure Team Avatar still doesn’t even know about the comet, what it means, or when it’s coming. That’s a pretty big thing to overlook when it’s the catalyst for the Fire Nation’s power.

The fact that the show kicked off with the genocide of the Airbenders, who are all conveniently in the same spot, and Aang just happened to escape it because he essentially went for a walk to clear his head and got caught in a storm that came out of no where is way too coincidental for believable circumstances. It’s, louder for those in the back, bad writing!

They had four years to plan this all out, I don’t understand why it all seems so unfinished and thrown together with pieces from different jigsaw puzzles!

Comparisons to Source Material

In this section, I will be comparing the Netflix adaptation of ATLA to the original animated series. This will be about things that stuck out most to me as consistencies, changes, and valuable moments in each rendition of the story.

Consistencies

Writing-wise, obviously they got a lot of the big plot points down, and I’m not going to list them all. If you’ve watched both, you know what they are. Pretty much the essentials…sort of. The great divide even got a shoutout which I thought was funny.

I mentioned above how “Masks” was by far the best episode of the Netflix season, well it’s not a coincidence that it also has the most parallels and consistencies with the episodes it was based on (“Storm” and “Blue Spirit” which are also arguably the best episodes of Book One). I was going to be so mad if they took away the Blue Spirit part of Zuko’s character, but clearly it’s a fan favorite and for the most part I think they did it justice.

I loved that they kept in a lot of the hybrid animals, at least in dialogue if we didn’t actually get to see them. It would have been a really easy thing to just get rid of for simplicity sake. I hope we get to see some more CGI versions of these animals because the ostrich horse looked really good. Momo and Appa for the most part looked good, sometimes a little wonky but nothing crazy, I just wish they had more screen time. They don’t feel like characters yet, just a pet and a vehicle (essentially).

I was really pleasantly surprised to see Hei Bai, I was honestly expecting them to scrap him. He looked really cool too. I do wish we could have seen him turn back into a panda when Aang helped him, but overall I’m just glad we got him at all.

I didn’t love what they used him for, but Kho was visually amazing and everything I hoped for. Absolutely terrifying, will haunt my nightmares again.

June was also a pleasant surprise, I hadn’t looked too deep into the cast list and wasn’t sure if she’d be included. I did think it was a little weird she was flirting with Iroh vs the other way around (like what was the point of that? just take out the flirting entirely if you’re going to be weird about it) but overall she’s pretty much one to one the same and I still liked her a lot. Nala should have been a little more anteater/mole-like instead of wolfish but overall not bad at all.

We got the Cabbage Man. They teased him a little a first, but we got him.

My Favorite Moments from the Netflix Version that Change or Expand on the Original

I sang its praises above, but again Lu Ten’s funeral scene was just so beautiful and really built on Iroh’s fatherly affection for Zuko. I know it’s mostly a replacement for the leaves from the vine scene in “Tales of Ba Sing Se” because they’re never going to be able to fit in that episode. So it’s nice that they deemed it a moment worth capturing in a different way.

I’m not going to reiterate exactly what I said above so go see Zuko’s characterization again if you need to, but making the 41st division his crew members was a constructive choice that I liked a lot.

I don’t know why but just the idea of Gyatso sticking around in the spirit world to be able to speak to Aang one last time hit me so hard. I absolutely loved it as an addition to building their relationship. Aang always deserved a goodbye, and even though this wasn’t exactly that, it was what Aang needed to cope with his immense loss and the pressure he was under.

When Iroh was arrested by the guards of Omashu and being taken to the pit, he had a really intense but moving interaction with one of the earth bending soldiers. I think it was such a good way to portray war and perspectives from both sides. The soldier rightfully and angrily blamed Iroh for his brother who died at the siege of Ba Sing Se, which Iroh was responsible for. He accused Iroh of being evil, of having never gone through loss, which we as viewers know isn’t true, but he doesn’t say anything. Doesn’t defend himself. Doesn’t reveal his own loss to get even. He takes the abuse and the blame and just utters that enough people have been hurt. Great performances all around, really solid writing. I wish more of the show had followed this example.

That lady hitting Zuko with a brush to stop him from attacking Aang, a child, in Omashu’s marketplace. That was one of the funniest scenes in the whole show. Bring her back!

“Everything I need is on this boat.” - ‘nuff said.

Major Character Differences (I’ll try to keep this concise)

Aang

He lost the majority of his lightheartedness which made him so lovable in the first place. He does a lot of monologues and speeches to intense music now. He’s still 12 guys, let him swim with giant elephant koi and dress up as Pippinpaddleopsicopolis the Third to get into Omashu!

I really don’t like that they changed him actively running from his title and responsibilities to just going for a jaunt with Appa to clear his head. That removes so much depth, guilt, and fear that he should have. In the original, it was his choice to run away with the intention of hiding and never coming back, in the Netflix version, it was an accident he never came home. That’s a massive character change.

People called him a coward, but he literally isn’t when it was a very coincidental accident that forced him into the ice in the first place rather than his choice to actively run from his destiny. He’s yelled at and screamed at and insulted constantly, even by people who are meant to help him, when he didn’t even do what they’re accusing him of. He didn’t deliberately run away, he accidentally got caught in a storm. And he just takes all of that guilt and blame and anger from everyone when he genuinely did nothing wrong.

Getting rid of his crush on Katara is a problem, but I’ll get into that more later.

I don’t care why they think they did it, but making Aang agree with Pakku in any respect about not letting Katara train or fight was so extremely disrespectful to both characters.

His reaction to losing his people was way underdeveloped, they gave him no time to grieve. And the fact that Katara doesn’t help him out of his initial Avatar State spiral is so damaging to the friendship they’re supposed to have. Their friendship always came first, let them interact and build that relationship!

Sokka

His small sexism arc that everyone is up in arms about. Do I think it should have been included? Yes. Is it the end all be all of his character? No, like I mentioned above, he got the most character moments in the show. But it was really important in its own way. I saw someone say, “Sokka may not be misogynistic, but Netflix’s ATLA adaptation certainly is.” And they’re right.

What I really didn’t like was what they did with his relationship with his father and ice dodging. Sokka had a great relationship with Hakoda built on trust, mutual admiration, similar tactical mindsets, and strength of character. He passed his ice dodging test with Bato with flying colors. There’s no reason to completely flip those dynamics, there’s already enough other conflicts to explore without giving Sokka daddy issues he didn’t have in the first place. Whoever made that choice was projecting hard.

Hakoda eventually trusts Sokka to lead the invasion in Book 3, but none of that exists here and it doesn’t feel like there’s a path yet to lead to that. (I have a lot to say about the invasion later)

They have Sokka take over a very paternal role with Katara instead of her being maternal, and he is constantly very overbearing, patronizing, and talking down to her as if she has no (or does not deserve a) mind or agency of her own. They (as in the writers) are acting like the age difference between them is 10 years instead of 1-2 years.

Also taking out the very important moment when Sokka was the one who saved an entire Fire Nation village from Jet was just wrong. Not only was it an important stepping stone towards leadership and diplomacy for Sokka, but it also showed that even on the “bad side” of the war, there are innocent people who deserve protecting.

Sokka wasn’t nearly as funny as he should have been.

Katara

Everything about her was wrong, scrap it and try again.

She had none of the passion she should have had. Katara gets mad, she yells and insults and waves her arms around to make her point. She gets jealous and petty. But she’s also so unbelievably kind and caring, she’s the only reason any of them take proper care of themselves. She’s lighthearted and fun when she can be, she plays and laughs and cares so incredibly deeply.

Katara inspires people in a way none of the other characters can, although Aang does learn a lot from her in that regard. She’s incredibly hardworking, loyal, and dedicated to those she loves. And yes, she feels immense pain and sadness for her mother, but that’s not all she is.

LA Katara felt like a hollow shell 90% of the time used for exposition, 5% mom trauma, and 5% sort of emotional. The writing just didn’t lend itself to complexity, flaws, or character depth.

She’s one of the first well written and well rounded female characters a lot of us encountered as kids and they stripped her of everything that made her who she is. Someone for young girls to look up to. It’s shameful.

For some reason they made her explicitly and directly responsible for her mother’s death, which is a very strange and damaging change to make that I don’t think they totally understand the difference of from the original.

They took away all of her maternal behavior, which just tells us what they think of maternal behavior, that it’s a weak trait for a leading character and not worth exploring in a person that had to take that role in her family and village as a whole at such a young age. It’s like the writers thought that Katara being motherly was problematic and sexist, which is a mindset that is itself problematic and sexist.

They’ve essentially turned bending into a magic that relies solely on emotional and mental stability instead of a martial arts form requiring discipline and training. I don’t even think the writers realize they’ve done this, which in and of itself is a massive issue.

Although I will say the water whip on the flaming arrow was a good use of water bending, it just didn’t feel earned to me.

For as much as they focused on her mom, they never once brought up Katara’s necklace?? They took out Pokku’s connection to Gran Gran and never mentioned anything about betrothal necklaces. There’s just so many changes they made, large and small, that feel pointless or contradictory to the source material for no reason.

Zuko

Frankly, so early into Zuko’s character arc, there isn’t a lot of difference here. Most of his development starts in Book 2. I do like the animated version a lot better, though. I am biased, but I also think that even though they hit on almost all the same points, the original just handled it with far more nuance, care, and time. With the Netflix version being so rushed, any payoffs we had just didn’t feel totally earned.

I do think it was a big shame that they had Iroh kill Zhao instead of allowing Zuko’s attempt to save him from the ocean spirit. It’s a pretty important character moment that shows how Zuko wants to help people, save people, if he can regardless of how they’ve treated him. They can make this point again if they do “Zuko Alone”, but I’m honestly really scared they’ll cut it.

Having Zuko fight back during the Agni Kai against his father in the flash back was way out of character and takes away from the severity of the punishment and the trauma of the abuse. He was a 13 year old child terrified of not just disappointing his father, but of suffering harm from the one person he should trust most. And Ozai convinces him he deserves it, so there’s no world where he would have fought back in that scene. And it changes the meaning from a father violently burning a child that has surrendered and begs for forgiveness to a soldier winning a one-on-one battle against another soldier and branding his victory, no matter how dishonorable it is.

Also, at this point, Zuko is an amateur fire bender with barely any experience or progress in his training. Him getting the high ground over Ozai for even a second is ridiculous and diminishes Ozai’s skill level. It could be argued Ozai did it on purpose to give Zuko an opportunity to prove himself as ruthless as Ozai wants him to be, but that completely goes against the precedent set by Ozai that he hates being questioned or otherwise made to look weak in front of anyone. I think I understand what they were going for, but honestly it came off as an opportunity to show off the actor’s fighting skills rather than holding the weight it should for the story.

I DO like that Zuko has a war journal (*diary*) about the avatar, history, and essentially a map of his journey. I DON’T like that Team Avatar uses it as an expository tool and excuse to not properly explore the world and learn things for themselves or through other people.

I don’t think Zuko said the word “honor” once, but please correct me if I’m wrong.

Iroh

Similar to Zuko, they hit a lot of the same surface level points with a few misses here and there.

They didn’t show us Iroh’s connection to the spirit world, they just told us right before the battle at the North Pole and we’re supposed to believe it, which we do because we’ve seen the original, but that was kind of lame. (Not including Roku’s dragon was also lame, but I digress).

They expanded on his past in a few different ways which I did like a lot and mentioned above.

The Netflix version comes off more preachy and gimmicky to me than wise, which is disappointing. I think the actor could have done amazingly with the right script.

They didn’t show him redirecting lightning, which is arguably one of the most valuable skills in the entire show and extremely important for the finale for both Aang and Zuko.

And just like Sokka, he was not nearly funny enough.

Bumi

His characterization was all backwards and wrong and I hated it.

Visually, his makeup and design was pretty good, but that’s the extent of any positives with the Netflix version.

Bumi would absolutely never ever ever have made a joke about the genocide that took Aang’s entire people. That was disgusting and disrespectful to Bumi and Aang.

He was never mad at Aang for disappearing, he was actually extremely understanding and only hoping to teach Aang further about his duties as the avatar. He quite literally welcomed him back with open arms.

The way he treated others, especially his servants, was appalling and borderline cruel.

He never stepped down from protecting his people or became complacent in a way that put them in danger, Omashu was thriving beautifully under his care. When he surrendered to the Fire Nation in Book 2, it was the best way to protect his people without bloodshed and he knew he’d eventually get their home back. He was literally waiting for the Solar Eclipse to do it (which I’ll touch more on later).

This also means that by having Bumi actively fight and lose, instead of surrendering with neutral jing, he won’t be able to realistically give Aang the advice that is supposed to lead him to Toph. Wait and Listen.

I did appreciate the lesson he was trying to convey to Aang about the difficult choices that wartime forces on us, especially leadership (like who gets what food or medicine), but they did it all wrong.

Shame on the writers for what they did to Bumi’s character, I could write an entire essay on everything they screwed up just with Bumi.

Suki

They made her into a lovesick day dreamer instead of the strong warrior and leader she was meant to be. She’s going to go off to war, don’t diminish her strength. Her being a fighter should be the forefront of her character, not a lonely girl pining for a boy and dreaming about the big world.

Her and Sokka’s relationship should have been built up over time, their kiss was so misplaced. When not much time passes before Sokka falls for Yue, it makes him seem like a player.

And that moment Suki’s staring at him shirtless is cringy and yucky, they’re teenagers. Don’t do that.

We’ll see how she is when she shows up again…I actually liked the actress quite a bit, but her writing wasn’t good. That seems to be a theme here though.

I do wish her hair was still auburn instead of black, that’s personal preference though.

Gyatso

They did him so dirty with his death, it was anticlimactic with none of the power or savagery that was implied in the original. His skeleton was literally surrounded by dead Fire Nation soldiers, I wanted to see that dangerous potential on screen and am very disappointed not to get it given how explicitly they wanted to show the genocide of the airbenders.

Jet

Jet’s vendetta is specifically against the Fire Nation. On some level I do believe he would resort to violence against a traitor giving the Fire Nation information, but I don’t think he ever would have put Tao or other innocent (non-Fire Nation) bystanders at such great risk. Maybe that’s splitting hairs though since in the original he was prepared to drown an entire village, of Fire Nation people specifically, as a whole he felt pretty consistent.

I just don’t like Netflix smashing so many plots and characters together, they deserve room to breathe in their own stories.

I hate that he was the catalyst for Katara’s bending training though, instead of her own hard work and practice or training with actual masters. Jet knows nothing about bending or how it works. It’s another instance of stripping Katara of her skill and work ethic.

Yue

As a personal preference, I hate that they made Yue a water bender. She has part of the spirit of the moon in her, so logically I understand where they’re coming from giving her those abilities. But she’s not a water bender! The spirit was working to keep her alive, not to give her powers she shouldn’t have had in the first place.

She’s a princess dedicated to her people and wanting to learn how to lead but also buckling under the pressure of expectations, particularly around her arranged marriage. I saw none of that in the Netflix adaptation, except that she likes to make desserts when she’s stressed, so there’s that I guess. It’s just still missing the depth, but again they don’t have time to really explore these topics.

They make a point with Pokku about the role of women in the Northern Water Tribe and yet somehow Yue is allowed to just call off her arranged marriage. That’s a pretty distinct cultural contradiction. It just shows me the writers don’t know how to portray misogyny as a narrative tool or how to do consistent world building.

Her wig looked awful.

They should have used what happened to Momo (which ouch, that wasn’t necessary) as an opportunity for Katara to prove that she knows how to heal, because she hasn’t done it yet and she’s supposed to bring Aang back from the dead in Book 2.

Azula

I appreciated her introduction scene where she exposes a coup against her father while undercover. It was a little cheesy with her reveal, but it does establish her character decently well early on. And the cover she chose, dead brother and mother, is really interesting narratively.

The writers for Netflix went off about how they didn’t want to portray sexism, through Sokka specifically, but then they stripped the main female leads of most of their agency (Katara, Suki, and Azula all fit this category, I’m worried what they’ll do to Toph).

Azula has almost none of the arrogance that she should have, certainly none of the calm calculated intensity that made her so fearsome and intimidating. Azula should be scary, and she’s definitely not here. She just came off as such a brat with a twitchy face and prone to tantrums.

Her fire isn’t blue, that bothers me a lot. Blue fire is hotter than red fire, it’s supposed to be an indication of not only her fire bending strength but also her temperament. Plus it’s supposed to help us differentiate between their powers when she’s fighting Zuko.

Lightning bending requires so much skill, precision, power, and focus. I don’t believe for a second Netflix’s Azula should actually be able to do it. She was only able to do it because she was mad, and that’s not how it’s supposed to work.

She definitely didn’t earn being able to overpower Bumi and takeover Omashu. Although granted it feels like they nerfed a lot of Bumi’s power, he certainly doesn’t feel like one of the most powerful earth benders in the world.

Ozai had originally sent her out to collect Zuko and Iroh, not to lead an army in a battle against one of the greatest (or what should be one of the greatest) strongholds in the Earth Kingdom. It’s unrealistic and silly. And it’s not like Bumi gave up like he did in the original, he literally said “We’ll be ready to fight” when he revealed that the Fire Nation was headed their way.

Ozai treating her like a nuisance is also way out of character. He’s supposed to feed into her ego and inflating all of her more dangerous traits because he sees them as powerful and necessary for the future leader he expects Azula to be. Zuko should be the disappointing son with no faith or support from Ozai, and Azula the gifted prodigy given every opportunity and surpassing Zuko in Ozai’s eyes. As Zuko said, “He used to say Azula was born lucky, I was lucky to be born.” Somehow that dynamic has almost completely switched and Azula suffered the most from it.

She’s very miscast, the actress was awful. I’m sorry, but not sorry enough not to say it.

Ozai

Ozai should despise Zuko, he’s far more terrifying that way. It’s way more compelling watching a son that’s been so manipulated by his traumas try to win the affections of his father that don’t even exist than the same daddy issues we see in almost every movie or show where the son is trying to live up to his father’s expectations unhappily. Ozai should have no expectations for Zuko, that’s the difference. He sent Zuko on a mission he wouldn’t come back from on purpose, to get rid of him.

That’s terrifying, how disconnected he can be from his son. Trying to make Ozai more human or sympathetic by making him care for Zuko takes away from the monster he’s supposed to be as a villain. They’re not making him more complex, they’re making him more generic.

I just kind of generally don’t like that they’ve revealed so much about him and Azula in Book 1 because part of the well written structure of avatar is that the “villains” escalate from season to season, going from Zuko to Azula to Ozai as the main antagonists. I’d rather they had kept that structure and given more time to better plot and character development.

Plus revealing him so early took away a lot of his intimidation factor for me. Mystery and intrigue is good you guys! You don’t always have to lay all your cards on the table right away.

And at the end when Ozai more or less says that the attack on the Northern Water Tribe was a distraction to take Omashu makes zero sense to me. Not only is it an arbitrary copy of what Sozin said in the beginning about attacking the Earth Kingdom as a distraction for killing all of the air benders (which is also stupid), but thematically and structurally it doesn’t make any sense. The timeline doesn’t add up at all, not that they gave us any indications of timeline. And at this point in the war, the different nations, tribes, and kingdoms are so segregated that the Water Tribe probably wouldn’t have gone to help Omashu in the first place, certainly not in time.

Also I refuse to ignore the blatant contradiction they put in Zuko’s scar story. Zuko is punished extremely severely for INDIRECTLY insulting Ozai, when he’d literally been asked what he thought of the war plans, but when Iroh DIRECTLY questioned Ozai in front of the entire court and spectators (interrupting the Agni Kai, a sacred type of battle in the Fire Nation), there’s no punishment at all. I really don’t understand what the writers are doing with the amount of contradictions.

Roku

Botched, I hated what they did to Roku.

Trying to make him funny? That, right away, ruined his character entirely. I won’t ever be able to take him seriously. He would never make jokes when Aang is desperately looking for guidance and understanding. He’s not a funny silly character, it’s like the writers forgot to add in some levity and chose literally the worst character to force humor onto.

Roku is one of the coolest and wisest characters in the series with some of the most badass scenes and they took away all of them. The future of his portrayal does not look bright.

Kyoshi

Now, I love Kyoshi as much as the next person, but she got way too much screen time.

Not only did they give Roku’s badass possession moment in the Fire Nation Temple to her for absolutely no reason on Kyoshi Island, but they made her the leading influence of Aang’s spiritual journey (he’s constantly trying to reconcile with the advice she gave him) which makes zero sense.

The hundred year war is the consequence of Roku’s legacy and mistakes, it has literally nothing to do with Kyoshi. Roku should be the one mentoring Aang spiritually and guiding him through the remnants of his choices as the Avatar.

Giving her weird future vision for the attack on the North Pole was really weird and made no sense to me, and completely shifted Aang’s motivations from learning water bending (which he never does even once) to warning the Northern Water Tribe, which they end up not even needing him to do because they’re already prepared to fight. Just a convoluted mess narratively.

She isn’t supposed to be that agro of a character, she’s pragmatic and diplomatic. They based her off the memes far more than her source material and it shows.

Making Kyoshi so much more prominent feels like such an insincere thing to do for the sake of “girl boss strong female characters hoorah” that ultimately hurts the writing.

Kuruk

I don’t really know why they decided to give Kuruk so much screen time when it should have been given to Roku or any other character for some development, but I would say it was a decent portrayal. Just an unnecessary one.

They actually used book material for him, which is surprising given the changes they made, but it was specifically for the “spirit killing knife” which was stupid and no one can convince me otherwise.

Having spiritual conversations with so many of the past Avatar’s this early on feels like they’re going to be removing, or at least drastically changing, the Lion Turtle scene in the finale which has me very concerned.

Egregious and Potentially Detrimental Changes from the Original

Removing Jeong Jeong and Aang’s First Experience with Fire Bending

Aang’s terror of fire after hurting Katara when he got too confident is vital for his development. It’s the main reason he eventually accepts Zuko as his fire bending teacher because they both struggle with having hurt people and wanting to fix their mistakes.

This was also supposed to be Katara’s first use of healing, which again I think is something really important for us to actually see she can do. Because all they’ve said is she’s “a natural” just like everything else and that’s such bad storytelling.

Jeong Jeong is a member of the White Lotus and a really important factor in Iroh’s endeavor to take back Ba Sing Se in the finale. Could they do it without him? I guess, but it’s really disrespectful to me to just not include him.

Taking him out will affect plots all the way in season 3.

Not only that, but Jeong Jeong is a valuable example of someone born on the wrong side of the war wanting to make a difference and change his ways. It’s realistic nuance for war!

What Seeing Wan Shi Tong in the Spirit World Means to Me, the Implications for the Library, and Consequences

Wan Shi Tong, similar to Tui and La (the moon and ocean spirits), came to the physical world with the express purpose of bettering humanity. He made the personal sacrifice of staying away from the spirit world so that the human race would have access to his vast and wonderful knowledge. He couldn’t go back and forth between the physical world and the spirit world because he had to be there to keep the Library standing in the physical world in the first place, it can’t stay there without him. The fact that he’s in the spirit world, to me, means that the library may not be in the physical world at all.

Other indications that his library isn’t in the physical world are that Zhao didn’t get his knowledge of Tui and La from the library, he got it from ancient Fire Nation scrolls and records instead (which doesn’t make a lot of sense), and the sun dial that Sokka would have used to discover the solar eclipse and begin the plan for the invasion is now located in the Fire Nation instead. How is Sokka going to learn about the Day of Black Sun now for the invasion? (There’s a lot of setup for the invasion that they’ve screwed up and I’ll talk about it more in a couple other sections).

So assuming we’re no longer going to have the library, there’s a lot of follow-up implications and consequences. This means that we won’t have Appa’s kidnapping which causes a few problems.

One, Appa’s kidnapping directly leads to Jet’s death, the only major on screen death (or injury that leads to death) in the entire show. I guess you could also count Combustion Man, but Jet’s was infinitely more emotional and important to the story.

Two, Appa’s kidnapping and subsequent rescue is vital for proving to the Earth King that Long Feng is a traitor and the Dai Lee has been compromised. This leads to the Earth King trusting Team Avatar’s word implicitly about the Kyoshi Warriors which allows Azula to infiltrate, learn about the invasion plans, capture Katara, and ultimately “kill” Aang at the end of Book 2. Can the writers work around this? Probably. Do I trust them to? No.

Three, protecting Appa is how the Kyoshi Warriors get overpowered by Azula in the first place and Azula is able to infiltrate the Earth Kingdom in disguise. It’s how Suki is captured and ends up at The Boiling Rock prison.

Four, Zuko being the one to let Appa go is a massive character moment as he struggles to let go of the burdens that Ozai pushed onto him to capture the avatar at all cost to others and himself. It leads to his “metamorphosis” as Iroh calls it, leads to him giving up the Blue Spirit identity, and is what makes his later betrayal so painful. Plus, Appa likes him now which is a stepping stone later for Aang to trust him when Zuko wants to switch sides.

And five, Appa’s brief stop with the guru as he’s trying to get back to Aang leads to how Aang gets any instruction on controlling the avatar state. Which also leads to his “death” at the end of Book 2 when he tries to reopen his chakras like he was taught during the fight with Azula. Again, do I think there’s a workaround here? Yeah, but I don’t think they’ll do it well.

Where’s Haru and What it Means for the Future

Removing the “Imprisoned” storyline takes away Katara’s first and one of her most important moments of being an inspirational leader, learning how to speak up for others, and how to make connections with people outside her culture. But they’ve already stripped Katara of so much of her depth, I’m not surprised they took it out.

The more important issue is that Haru, his father, and their people (all Earth Benders) that she helped rescue were very prominent foot soldiers for the invasion in Book 3. Where are they going to get alliances to build an army against the Fire Nation now? My bet is either they won’t, which is concerning for many reasons, or it’ll happen between seasons off screen which is a massive writing problem! Vital events and plot points happening off screen shows extremely poor planning.

Indications of Removing the Swamp and More Poor Planning for the Invasion (are they cutting it out?)

I’ve pretty much convinced myself that the writers are cutting the invasion out of the plot. I’ve listed many reasons above why I think that’s the direction they’re going, but the last straw was when Sokka and Katara were in the spirit world.

I’m almost 100% sure they’re getting rid of “the Swamp”.

When Sokka and Katara are in the spirit world, they are confronted by their worst memories and most difficult emotional obstacles the same way they had been in the original when they were in the swamp. It wouldn’t make any sense to do that again, so they’re probably getting rid of the swamp entirely.

Which means Team Avatar will never encounter the Swamp Water Benders, which then means they lose even more foot soldiers and allies for the invasion. That’s two major allies that just won’t be involved. Between the potential changes to the Library, the lack of allies, and the fact that Hakoda has no trust in Sokka as a warrior, I don’t see how they’re going to realistically be able to do the invasion. If they do, I’ll be shocked and skeptical of how they manage it.

And as another personal pet peeve, taking out the swamp also removes another facet of water bending, being able to control plants by the water in them (which additionally leads into blood bending).

Other Changes That Really Bothered Me

Exposing the Genocide of Aang’s People and the Comet in Episode One

While I did appreciate (to a degree) getting to see the attack on the air benders and how the fall of the Air Nomads happened, I really don’t like that it’s the first thing we see. Like I mentioned earlier, it’s okay and often more beneficial not to reveal everything right away! I much preferred getting bits and pieces as we went along to put together the whole puzzle and have the time to process each new facet of the war. Giving it to us all at once and as the first thing we see takes away so much intricate story telling.

I really didn’t like that all of the air nomads were in the same place for the attack, that’s so unrealistic that they had to create an arbitrary festival to make it happen.

Originally, the Fire Nation attacks all four Air Temples with the power of the comet to back them up for the initial attack. It shouldn’t take one night where they’re all conveniently in the same place (except Aang) and kill them all, it should take one night to deal them such a severe blow that finishing them off over the next few years is easy. Because of course some would get away and were hunted down, that’s how war realistically works.

Removing Aang’s Crush on Katara and What it Means

Oooooh this bothers me for so many reasons, but I’ll try not to be too crazy about it.

I don’t know why they got rid of it completely, unless they’re just waiting until Aang and the actor are a little older for it to be more appropriate. But with what they did with the “Cave of Two Lovers”, I think they’re scrapping the love between Aang and Katara entirely.

Which they haven’t done anything to help them bond at all as friends in the first place except like two moments of bending instructions from Aang and a lot of dialogue about how they’re family. Aang and Sokka have had way more bonding moments together, I can believe they’re friends at least.

One of the biggest issues will be, if they somehow manage to trick Netflix into letting them adapt Korra as well, Aang and Katara’s kids and grandkids are fundamental to the plot there. But that’s getting way ahead of ourselves, let’s just focus on ATLA.

Aang’s feelings for Katara are very important, particularly for being the sole reason he stops trying to master the avatar state, only to attempt it again later to protect her, and then he ends up “dead” for it. He admits to loving her out right in those episodes.

The thing about Avatar is almost every detail is valuable in some way and dominos into a larger plot point. Their love for each other isn’t a major focal point of the show but it does matter, I just really hope they’re not planning on changing love interests.

Moving Anything from Other Seasons into Season One

I’m not going to spend a lot of time on this, but bringing anything from other seasons into season one when you already have such limited time is really irritating because that time would have been better spent on actual character development or including more vital points from season one.

Changing Lore

Aang accidentally bringing both Sokka and Katara into the spirit world with him just because they were in close proximity is ridiculous. He shouldn’t be able to do that. It makes much more sense that they’d be stolen by Hei Bai than piggybacking off Aang when neither of them are spiritually inclined.

Making Avatar shrines the only way for Aang to access his previous avatar is so limiting and irritating, he gets better at it as he becomes more spiritually connected to the avatar state (like in the ocean during the first episode of Book 3 when Aang contacts Roku, or on the Lion Turtle when Aang contacts four past Avatars). Also they completely contradict this rule letter in the season when Aang sees Avatar Kuruk for a few seconds just outside in the Northern Water Tribe. Like they specifically said it, and then completely contradicts themselves, that’s a pretty big consistency error when it’s a change they made.

They removed any significances of the solstices. Once again, giving us no timeline or indication of time passing in the world.

The reason Roku is able to control Aang’s body and powers as much as he can in the Fire Nation Temple is because of the winter solstice when the veil between spirit and physical world is thinnest. But now any Avatar can do it as long as Aang connects with them at their shrine. Kyoshi should not have been to do that to him and it replaced Roku’s very profound moment at the temple.

I don’t like that they said Tui and La are only in physical form one night a year (I think that’s what Zhao said, or something about an ice moon, whatever), and then that night just happened to be near. I can’t think of a single reason why they would make that change. There’s just too many convenient coincidences happening in this version of the story. Tui and La specifically gave up their spiritual forms for vulnerable physical forms for a reason, learn the lore!

The special spirit killing knife was stupid. I don’t know if it’s in the novels and I missed it or if the writers (more likely) came up with it, but it’s seems like really convenient and silly lore that actively contradicts a lot of what was originally set up about the spirits. And added a lot of unnecessary exposition that didn’t even tell us how Zhao got it.

In another similar vein, the MacGuffin of the statue of the many faces goddess spirit that Aang took from Roku’s artifacts to save Katara and Sokka from Kho was just so weird to me. He just eats people now? What happened to him stealing faces if you show an emotion? That was what made him so terrifying, and it was just another moment they stole from Aang and showcasing his potential. It wasn’t his negotiation skills or his self control that saved his friends, but a very convenient object just sitting on a shelf waiting for him.

None of their lore changes made sense or had a purpose to me other than to arbitrarily be different from the source material.

Mature ≠ Graphic

The writers said repeatedly in interviews and articles that they wanted this live action adaptation to essentially be a more mature version. They even likened their vision to be something similar enough to appeal to Game of Thrones fans, which to me was a massive red flag going into the show. Please, do not mix up maturity and graphic violence.

The only thing more “mature” about the live action is that we actually see people being burned alive and killed throughout the season. The original has far more mature writing because of how delicately and intricately it handles very serious concepts. The Netflix writers either do not trust audiences to pick up on subtle and complex ideas, do not trust the actors to portray subtle and complex ideas, or they do not know how to write subtle and complex ideas. Or some combination of the three. Everything is exposition, which I’ve said so many times before, but I will keep saying it until they learn not shove plot right in our faces with no nuance.

The writers simply think they’ve created something more mature because it’s sometimes violent and not a cartoon, which isn’t how that works.

It’s not mature, it’s graphic. Know the difference and you’ll be a better writer for it!

Humor

Yes the humor in the original leans a little more childish, but you don’t solve that by stripping the humor entirely in the adaptation! Almost any attempt at humor, to me, felt like an after thought and was mostly misplaced in a scene (like with Roku, I’ll never get over that). Just overall lost a lot of the whimsy. I understand that animation lends itself to way more expressive, cartoonish, and childish humor, but there’s plenty of funny live-action films and shows. Why did it have to take such a back seat? Again, that’s not a sign of maturity, it’s a sign of a very surface level understanding of how writing works and of what the original ATLA had to offer.

What Was The Point and What Could They Have Done Instead (imo)?

Being brutally honest here, I really don’t think there was any point to making this live action adaptation, especially with the limitations they put on themselves. I think it was, overall, a waste of money and resources. In theory, it was really exciting to have the opportunity to see the world come to life. And in a lot of ways I think they accomplished that between the location designs, costumes, respectful and accurate casting, and environments. I just think that was their main focus, making it look right, that the writing took an unfortunate back seat that made the whole show suffer.

There are two directions I think they could have taken instead.

One, I think they should have planned for six seasons. Every book of the original has a roughly mid season event that could act as really solid season finales. They would be able to stretch out the story and not compress or rush their writing so much. It would be structured more like this:

Season 1 Finale - The Winter Solstice and Discovery of Sozin’s Comet

Season 2 Finale - The Siege of the North

Season 3 Finale - Getting to Ba Sing Se and The Drill

Season 4 Finale - Aang’s “Death”

Season 5 Finale - The Day of Black Sun Invasion

Season 6 Finale - Sozin’s Comet and Confronting the Fire Lord

I understand that doing this doubles the length, and subsequently the cost of the show, which is a big ask. But I also think if they don’t have the resources to do it right in the first place, then they shouldn’t have done it at all. Is it better than the 2010 version we got from Shyamalan? Of course, but please allow yourself to have higher standards than literally scraping by the bottom of the barrel of quality.

I don’t expect anyone to have as in depth opinions or critiques as me, and I don’t begrudge anyone for enjoying the show or even liking some of the changes! But I will say that we all, no matter how critical a viewer you are, deserve better than mediocre quality.

The second direction I think they could have taken, and I really think they should have, is to write something completely original within the world setting of Avatar. There are quite literally dozens of avatars that existed before Aang that have no story yet! They had an opportunity to write some original that actually fits into the 8 episode limit they had while also further expanding on the history and world we all love so much.

I just think the audience, that mostly consists of fans of the original, would have been far more accepting and open to an original story rather than a middling attempt at retelling a story that’s already so beloved.

If you made it this far, I am extremely impressed and also worried for your health! This was mostly me needing to get all of these thoughts and critiques out of my head without ranting to friends and family that have no idea what I’m talking about and would get annoyed.

Anyway, that is my very extensive review that nobody asked for! If you need clarification or further analysis on anything I said, or if there’s something I missed that’s a critique for you on the live action, or if there’s anything you disagree with that I’ve said, please let me know in the comments below! But be nice, I will block anyone being mean about people opinions or thoughts. This is an open friendly space, I won’t tolerate bullying.

Thank you for probably far too much of your time!