#sorry this was a post about toph and zuko right. right..??

[muffinlance]

Do you get the impression the live action is treating us like utter morons?? Like I thought that making it aimed at an older audience would open the doors for more subtle story telling, but no, they're just using monologues to tell us eveything! Like in the second episode Katara's like 'oh his power isn't that he's the avatar, it's that he ~connects~ to people'. Girl we're not idiots we can see that!! And the first episode with Aang's goddawful 'I don't want this responsibility' monologue

THIS, YES. The word that keeps coming to mind is definitely "subtlety". The show for literal children? Had it. The remake for adults? Not so much.

[longing-for-rain]

what exactly is Aang's toxic masculinity that you're talking about? there are no examples of such behavior on his part in the show. he is not an ideal person, he is a child who sometimes behaved incorrectly, just like all the other children in the show (Katara, Toph, Sokka), and this is normal.

in addition, we see how he regrets some of his wrong actions and gets better, while Zuko does not regret his toxic behavior, doesn't apologize and doesn't face the consequences of his behavior (racist jokes about Aang, demands that Katara forgive him as if he has the right to her forgiveness, an attack on Aang to "teach him a lesson" and many other things).

Hi anon, thanks for the ask! This is a very good illustration of what I was talking about in this post when I mentioned that I feel toxic men are overlooked more often for appearing “nice” than they are for being conventionally attractive.

No examples of toxic behavior in the show? What do you call this then?

I know what I (and the law) call it:

But you see, he’s “nice” right? This is just a misbehaved child, as you put it? Yah, no. He knew better and still did it because he was possessive; this whole interaction started because he was jealous that an actress playing Katara was interested in men other than him. And the show proceeded to frame the situation in a way that made Aang sympathetic, despite being the aggressor and the one behaving irrationally. How much more “toxically masculine” can you get than that? But he put on a flower crown once so we’re supposed to think he’s a soft uwu feminine boi (even though he was absolutely enraged that a female actress played him).

I also find it very interesting that you describe Katara and Sokka as “children” while Zuko is omitted from that list despite being the same age. Are you admitting you agree he’s more mature, or are you admitting that you hold him to different standards?

But, anyways. You asked about toxic behavior on Aang’s part, which I’ll get further into now that the most egregious example is out of the way.

Let’s break down what you consider unforgivably toxic behavior on Zuko’s part and compare it to Aang’s behavior in similar situations.

1. “Racist” jokes

I’m guessing this is made with reference to the “Air Temple preschool” comment. How exactly is this racist? In context, Aang is the one trying to force his beliefs on others, and Zuko makes this comment to a) tell him to back off and b) point out that Aang is, in fact, a child who doesn’t have any business telling Katara how to feel.

This point is particularly interesting to me, because it implies that the simple fact that Zuko doesn’t agree with the philosophy of Aang’s culture makes him racist. By this logic, Aang is also racist against Katara’s culture, because he clearly disagrees with her philosophy and is openly telling her that his culture is morally virtuous over hers. And well. That’s even more believable considering Aang’s previous reactions to Water Tribe culture.

Ah, yes. Playing with a cultural artifact like it’s a toy because you were upset about not being the center of attention for once, and telling everyone how disgusting you think cultural food is, what great ways to show the supposed love of your life how much you respect her culture!

I know your response to this point would be something like “uwu but he’s a kid he didn’t knowww” ok well. The same logic can be applied to any alleged “racism” on Zuko’s part.

2. “Demanding” forgiveness

Zuko: What can I do to make it up to you?

Ah, yes. How demanding of him. He’s clearly so self-centered and only thinking about his own values and agenda here.

It’s not like he…

…told his friend how she’s allowed to process her grief and try to impose his own morals…

…or demanded to know if his crush liked him back, wouldn’t accept “no” as an answer, and forced a kiss on her…

…or told an abuse victim he was wrong to want to kill his abusive father for trying to commit a genocide…

…oh, um. Yeah. Sorry, but after actually watching the show it’s very clear to me which character doesn’t seem to regret or see the flaws in any of his actions at the end of the show, which is when all of these examples took place.

3. Training in the finale

“Attacking Aang to teach him a lesson” … wow, that’s a very dishonest way of phrasing that situation. I’m impressed, I have to say. I’ve seen lots of dumb takes from Aang stans over the years but this is a new one.

Well, luckily I actually watched the scene in context, so my reaction was the same as all the other characters’ reactions in canon when they learned the context behind this “attack”:

They agree with him. Yeah. Obviously, when nobody is taking training seriously when the world is about to literally go up in flames, you might need to do something to get their attention.

“But it was dangerous!” you might argue. Well… yeah. When magic and bending is in the equation, training in the Avatar universe has been shown to be somewhat dangerous at times. As an example, from this very same episode, Toph very nearly smashed Sokka with a giant flaming rock. That was way closer to hurting someone than Zuko was in this incident. If you’re going to fault characters for making their training exercises too dangerous, I guess Toph is mega cancelled.

Now back to Aang. What was his reaction in this situation? How did he react to the end of the world being days away? He ran away with absolutely no plan. Just like he did at the very beginning of the show.

I mean, think about it. This is a critical flaw (and toxic trait) in Aang that is literally never addressed, because he starts and ends the show the exact same way: he’s faced with a problem, he runs away from it, then he’s saved by an in-universe equivalent of an Act of God. Wowie, such great character development. Not fixing your core flaw and having a mythical plot device materialize into existence to solve your problems for you. Aang’s whole arc is a big blah, because the writing fails to address any of his flaws or have him meaningfully question any of his values.

Meanwhile, Zuko has consistently been a fan favorite because he’s the opposite. His flaws are meaningfully addressed, he does admit he’s wrong and fix his flaws, and his character shows a critically acclaimed change throughout the show. His arc is written so well that despite being a cartoon character, Zuko is widely considered the poster child for a good redemption arc across all forms of media.

So anyways, miss me with the double standards… there is a reason why Zuko is the fan favorite, and it’s not just his abs 🔥

[oneatlatime]

Bitter Work

Life took me out at the knees for a couple of weeks but I'm back! I'm hoping this is a nice restful episode after the relentlessness of The Chase.

I have to say, Toph's nicknaming skills are on point. I never would have thought of Sugarqueen, but it fits perfectly.

This is me. Every morning.

Full nose plant from Appa.

And the beat up Sokka quota is fulfilled. Very funny Toph, but completely uncalled for. If someone had catapulted teenage me 50 feet into the air while I was trying to sleep, it would have been fully justifiable homicide.

Aang is always trying to run before he can walk. What was Iroh always saying to Zuko about basics? Aang needs that speech too.

I was really on the ball in my post about how airbenders aren't homicidal, actually. Rock is a stubborn element. Yay me!

Aang earthbends = Earth bends Aang.

Seriously, how did he mess up that badly?

Cozy.

Thank you Zuko for the incredibly obvious exposition that's somehow completely in character. Interesting to see that Iroh and his son had brown hair, but Zuko seems to have black hair. More hair variety in the Fire Nation than I thought.

Tangent time! I love the contrast in social intelligence (I guess that's the term?) in this scene. Zuko wakes Iroh up with an infodump, some bad tea, and then gets straight to discussing strategy. Iroh's first actions are to compliment the bad tea, then dispose of the refill in a way that won't hurt Zuko's feelings (probably not necessary, as Zuko seems to be the type that's oblivious to all things other than the task at hand when he's focused). Iroh, injured and awake for all of 15 seconds, jumps straight to actions that help look after his nephew. And Zuko is trying! That's why he made tea! But still, he doesn't even ask if his uncle's feeling ok. Zuko has such a massive gap in his education - he can probably reel off the specs of all Fire Nation battleships, but he doesn't know how to be a human person. Contrast that with Iroh, and especially Katara, who makes friends and connections with such aggressive forwardness that she's at times more steamroller than teenage girl. It's funny how privilege plays into this too - Zuko comes from probably the single most privileged (on paper) family in the world, yet it's the children of the impoverished water tribe who have the more well-rounded education/socialisation.

"She's crazy and she needs to go down" go a full belly laugh out of me.

"What if I came at the boulder from a different angle?" Jesus I was REALLY on point with my post about the airbenders. Credit where credit is due, this show has such good writing/worldbuilding that viewers have picked up what Toph is laying out in this episode already. Also a little bit of stealth character work in there - since Toph is putting into words what we've been thinking this whole time, she now reads as trustworthy. This show is so good. So thought out.

Maybe it's just VLC being weird, but methinks Katara is having some trouble with her eyeball.

Katara STOP BABYING HIM. This is why I don't like Aang having a crush on her.

Honestly it's refreshing to have Toph giving it to Aang straight, no softening the blows.

I really like this texture.

Sokka's club is a giant bottle opener. Or at least a multitool.

ROCK SUITS

wait

ELEMENTAL FASHION

oh this is going to be haybending all over again.

They are totally going to have to nerf this girl. She could defeat the Fire Lord right now.

Earth beats water tribe

Someome who knows more about tea than I do: Why are both pots necessary?

"requires peace of mind" well that's out. Sorry Zuko, we'll have to get you a taser instead.

"So we're drinking tea to calm down?" "not it's to get the nasty ass taste of the sludge you brewed out of my mouth. I mean yes." For what's looking like an extended training montage, this episode is far funnier than it needs to be.

I pretty much don't notice Zuko's scar anymore (it's just part of his character design) then every so often a certain frame of animation will come out of the blue and remind me that this kid's missing half his face. I don't know if it's intentional on the part of the animators, but his scar is prominent this episode.

So it sounds like bending lightning actually corresponds with how lightning in our world works. Neat.

In an absolutely Shocking turn of events (pun absolutely intended), Zuko fucks it up. Fucking shit up: the autobiography of a Fire Prince. Has a nice ring to it.

Toph I know you go hard, but maybe apply a sense of proportion to this?

It kind of looks like Aang's about to be run over by a giant scoop of caramel ice cream.

Toph is such an interesting mishmash of bluntness and emotional intelligence. I don't think I've seen a character like that before.

Zuko being self aware for once! Everything always does explode in his face. Except when he's being the Blue Spirit. Seems he's more capable then.

It's a tragedy that this boy wasn't around for the emo movement. He would have single-handedly sustained Hot Topic.

Zuko going "WHAT TURMOIL?!?!?" is like Katara going "I'M COMPLETELY CALM!!!!!" last episode. Also got a laugh out of me.

"I'm as proud as ever." OF WHAT?!?!? What could he possibly be proud of? He's a homeless fugitive with a stolen horse bird and a half-dead uncle that he can't even properly brew tea for. The self-delusion is strong.

Is pride the source of shame? Honest question, I don't know.

There's a surprising variety of trees in this part of the Earth Kingdom. Where Zuko and Iroh are there are fluffly hardwoods, probably deciduous; Toph's training ground is ringed by cartoon pines.

This whole bit is too cute for words.

"Now come back boomerang" This is a training episode, it's not supposed to be this funny!

Are there voice acting awards? Like voice acting oscars? Sokka's actor needs one. Or several.

I should have waited to answer the ask about airbenders and just copy pasted Iroh's speech here. Except for the water = change bit. That doesn't make sense.

What can I possibly say about Iroh's speech? It's the thesis for this show in a single paragraph.

Pretty.

Are characters' eyes a different shape this episode? Aang's eyes change colour all the time, but everyone's eyes seem more cat-like.

I do love me some constructive bullying.

Sokka is so refreshingly self-aware while still totally oblivious. He is meat and sarcasm, but he's so much more!

"Have you got any meat?" He said that in an Irish accent.

"You're gonna pull my fingers off and I don't think the rest of me is coming!" Do you ever come across a sentence that is so obviously an innuendo that your brain trips over itself trying to decipher it?

Sokka's hair must be so fluffy. It's got so much volume.

Why can't he go get Toph? I think being stuck in a hole outranks avoiding an awkward encounter.

FOO FOO CUDDLYPOOPS

"You must not let the lightning pass through your heart, or the damage could be deadly." Foreshadowing?

Today in 'things Zuko thinks it's acceptable, nay, expected, for parental figures to do' - attempted murder as a teaching method! What went on in that palace?

Is this the closest Sokka's come to dying?

He's earthbending the air! Doing air but earthlike. You know what I mean.

I thought she was levitating.

Toph is so smart. She does the airbender thing and comes at the problem from a different angle. Telling Aang to stand up for himself doesn't work? Fine. Let's bully him into standing up for himself. And it works!

This episode's MVP is Sokka's patience.

"You tried the positive reinforcement, didn't you?" uhhhhh sure!

Appa getting vengeance for Sokka. Nice.

Theatre kids.

I wish Zuko would just have the breakdown he's obviously hurtling towards so we can get started on the rebuilding arc. Every time I think he's a rock bottom, he keeps digging.

Luten is Katara. Let's not read too far into that one.

Final Thoughts

I defy any episode from this point on to fulfill the Beat Up Sokka Quota as thoroughly as this one did.

In a lesser show, the 'Aang learns earthbending episode' would have had Aang & Toph as the A-plot, and Sokka & Katara doing something completely unrelated as a b-plot, and probably no Zuko at all. Sokka does have his own thing going on this episode, but the fact that they managed to weave in both water tribe siblings so organically is so satisfying. Of course a team member struggling to learn a new skill would seek out his friends. Of course his friends are in the area, observing the lesson to varying degrees. It feels so much more real to have the characters who aren't 'useful' that episode still there, rather than conveniently absent.

Zuko was very Zuko this episode. He's correct that he needs more training for his inevitable next encounter with Zuko jr., but Iroh is also correct that Zuko is a bundle of issues held together by a different bundle of issues. Not to jinx it, but I thought I detected a hint of self-awareness from Zuko this episode, although it seems to have occurred despite his best efforts to suppress it.

Iroh's Zuko-wrangling skills were sharp this episode, despite being injured. And his wisdom was off the charts. Zuko was also not as annoying as I usually find him, and unlike in Zuko Alone where I found his quieter self to be out of character, it fit this episode. Maybe he's turned over a new, quieter, leaf? I loved "she's crazy and she needs to go down" both as a joke and as a statement. Shared blood doesn't trump someone's actions, and I'm glad to see a show meant for kids acknowledge that. Although, given that this show has no problem depicting objectively BAD parents and families, I can't say I'm surprised.

In a testament to Jack de Sena's skill, Sokka get a soliloquy this episode and pulls it off flawlessly. Kudos to the animation team for making Sokka's face fit the words so well. Double kudos for whoever had the balls to approve 'stick Sokka in a hole and put an apex predator on his head to force self-reflection' as a plotline.

There was a lot of exposition from a lot of different characters this episode, but it's mostly unnoticeable. It just makes sense that that's what they would be talking about at that point in time.

I think I said it above, but I'll say it again: the worldbuilding in this show is phenomenally well done. How do I know this? Because I was able to construct most of Iroh's monologue before watching this episode, just by paying attention. This show rewards focus and attentiveness. (Almost) nothing that Iroh said was not something the audience has already observed for themselves. Not heard, but observed. That 'show, don't tell' thing.

This episode was way funnier than it needed to be too. Not just the obvious stuff like *inhales*

FOO FOO CUDDLYPOOPS

but tiny one-liners buried mid-conversation and character interactions too. Momo turning into a reed didn't have to be there, but it was, and it was funny. It wasn't exactly restful, but it was a relief to have an episode that really didn't move around after The Chase.

What I like most about this episode was that it went farther than it had to. This was a training episode. It could have been just training. Anyone familiar with training episodes would expect just training, and be satisfied with just training. But Avatar said 'nope, we'll do better than that' and organically incorporated a heap of character stuff, worldbuilding from multiple perspectives, humour, multiple characters undergoing self-reflection, the next step in the domestication of Zuko, what I'm hoping wasn't a heap of foreshadowing, and pretty backgrounds as the cherry on top. They didn't have to go so hard, but Avatar always goes hard. I like that.

[prying-pandora666]

“The Search” Rewrites, Book 4: Air, Leaks, and A Call for Help from the Fandom

I’ve talked a little about the Book 4: Air restoration project @book4air. If you haven’t seen it yet, check it out! Three full episodes are already out and episode 4 is going to cover Zuko’s early days right after his banishment, exploring his relationship with Iroh and the world as Zuko understands it as a lost boy rapidly coming into manhood.

Wait until you hear the VA’s performance with music and everything! It’ll break your heart.

But I want to talk a little bit about what comes after these next few episodes: our adaptation of “The Search”.

If you’ve seen our adaptation of “The Promise”, you’ll know it was quite faithful. This won’t be the case for “The Search”. For the purposes of the overarching story we are telling, this story is getting overhauled. (Please still support the original release if you’d like to see the canon version).

The biggest change that’s been announced is the addition of Toph. The team felt that a story about family, identity, and faces could benefit from including Toph’s perspective as she comes from a unique but toxic family situation, has a strong conflict between the performance expected of her versus who she really is, and is completely blind and so faces don’t even register for her.

Here is the sample scene we released:

But I want to talk a little bit about what we are changing about Zuko and Azula’s roles in the story. While the set up is virtually unchanged, there is one small alteration that makes a big difference.

(Sorry for the poor quality, this is technically unreleased content and I’m being kinda risky leaking it.)

Ursa’s letters are now a diary. This means that rather than get random flashbacks, the narrative framing now becomes Zuko and Azula reading these entries together. As a result, they get to discuss their discoveries about their family, and even share each other’s perspectives.

What that means is that when things like Zuko dangling Azula over the cliff happen, now we actually are forced to address it. The characters have to talk about how they treat each other and the reasons why. They have to confront the toxic family dynamic they’ve been forced and groomed into since childhood. Zuko has to realize his mentally ill little sister isn’t the monster here and in fact he’s the one with all the power now, and Azula has to realize that Zuko can be trusted if she can let go of her fear long enough to talk to him about her vulnerabilities.

We also address issues like this:

Many people criticize this for being OOC, but I think there’s a way this could easily not be. Sokka has been known to be juvenile and reactionary as a first response, the difference is that he always eventually apologizes and learns from his mistakes. Without even needing to be asked.

Threatening a mentally ill person who has just been removed from an asylum—even as a joke—is not okay. It would be questionable even if they’d been friends before this, but considering their prior relationship it really does seem like an boneheaded lack of awareness or compassion for how triggering this could be.

So rather than remove this interaction, we addressed it. And I am really taking a risk posting this here, but here is a brand new script page:

Sokka isn’t just comic relief. Sokka is smart, Sokka is compassionate, Sokka is brave, and Sokka knows when it’s time to apologize and reach out versus when it’s time to fight.

Safe to say, there are several things that stay the same and we tried to keep faithful to the spirit of the story, but there’s a lot we wanted to do for the Gaang and for the Fire Sibs, and I hope you’ll join us on this adventure, whether you’re a diehard fan of the comics and just looking for a fun AU, or you hate the comics and would like a rewrite, or even if you’ve never read them and would just love to return to the world of ATLA.

The only trouble is, we can’t do it alone. The project is very expensive and time consuming to produce. Our team pays for everything out of pocket and some of us don’t even have reliable housing, so it’s been a hard time.

If you can help in any way, even only by spreading the word so YouTube will stop burying us in the algorithm, that would be huge!

If you can afford to help, we have a Patreon where you can get all sorts of early goodies.

Reblogs and comments greatly appreciated! As the head writer and voice of Azula, this project is very near and dear to me. Avatar was my first pro-writing gig when I was just a homeless 19 year old, and it’s here for me again as I struggle to rebuild my life and health that COVID destroyed.

I love this series and the community that has helped me through the hardest times in my life. I can’t wait to make something beautiful with you all!

[punkeropercyjackson]

If Zutara is a feminist ship then it's absolute bottom of the barrel feminism SORRY like it's so downlow💀Katara's a fem girl with parentification trauma and open softness and Zuko's a masc dude who turned into a Team Dad to heal his inner child and break the cycle of abuse and high up walls so they're already a cisheteronormative ship based off that alone but there's also how while Zuko made up for what how he hurt Katara,his attacks and insults to her were racially motivated and that adds a thick layer of racialized misogyny AND directly goes against Katara's wishes to force Zuko onto her because she fought for a loooong time to break the mold of womanhood should only exist in 'what girls are SUPPOSED to be like' and frankly the emphasis on supposed 'realism' when it comes to girls and Zutara said by the shippers so often has transmisogyny underlaying it,if not then at least bioessentialism,with how cis and exclusive of unconventional girlhood it is and it dosen't help their case that they often feminize Toph when she gets older when in CANON she stayed gnc and ruthlessly talk badly of Aang because he's a boy who's feminine and gets hurt when bullied for it in-universe and he has a fucking right to even if he's cis!!!!They're making fun of him for being himself!'Fragile masculinity' my ass,if you saw a stud or a non-fully transitioned transfem you'd hurl and he thinks Katara's punk girl slay is the hottest shit ever and showed hints of crushing on Toph's butch ass too

But back on topic,this is why i can't stand Zutara man,there's nothing for me to relate to!I'm a punk femme woc like Katara and i headcanon her as trans,bi and autistic like me because i relate to her in some very important ways(though i hc her as transfem while i'm transmasc bigender)and this is also a big part of the appeal of Kataang for me because i'm the girl who had a crush on Aang instead of Zuko Zutara shippers always told you don't exist and i loved Taang because i was rowdy tomboy like Toph but i never had a beef with Kataang,i didn't see anything wrong with it!!!I minded my own damn bussiness and let Katara just vibe instead of making her some evil bitch!And while i'm in love with Zuko now thanks to the comics going into the Gaang's adult years,my canon self-insert ship with him is him and Ty Lee because i'm a super bubbly and optimistic pastel girl who's interests are considered 'stupid/silly/lame' by society and is high maintenance but nice to everybody instead of demanding and it turns out that me as a kid and me now are those ways due to autism and transgenderism!!!!

Zutara does nothing for the woc in me because Katara dosen't look like me since i'm black,i love her and Zuko as bickering found siblings,i have older sister/maternal feelings towards Aang like Zuko does older brother/fatherly ones,i see Mai as a comphet (trans) lesbian but love Maiko because she's weirdgirl rep and Zuko's in love with her and there's also black etchnic subgroups in each nation confirmed in Turf Wars so i don't got anything stopping me from making an Atlasona instead of ruining characters and dynamics!!!!!Zutara is such a less than nothing ship if you're 'not a normal girl' and the fandom's make it beyond crystal clear how they feel about us so that's why i hate it so much in addition to what ass is is!The only thing Z/k's were 'robbed' of is the ability to get a grip,a boyfriend,friends who think they're goddesses platonically like mine do to me and me them and media literacy seeing as Atla's title refers to Aang being the sole survivor of a genocide based off an irl one but they will do everything and anything to remove that out of the context in analysing him and the franchise as a whole

And not to diverge topics again but this is why i'm okay with shaming and mocking Zutara re Natla(and no i don't mean harrasing,i mean og posting)by me and anybody else,they deadass SHOWED PART OF THE AIR NOMAD GENOCIDE and ALSO ADDED 'TOKEN GOOD' FIRE NATION SOLDIERS and it's so beyond fucking racist and disturbing that they're trying to do any gotcha or praise of it involving their military war ship.You's grown and Zuko loves Aang the most anyway,you normie losers

[sokkastyles]

Wondering what you think of this take. Idk, kinda obvious that OP fell asleep during most of Zuko's arc lmao.

Here is the linked post.

What do you think?

I think this person is drinking the Azula stan abuse apologism 101 kool-aid because it always starts with "these specific cherry-picked scenes mean Zuko never grew out of his aggression, despite it being literally the focus of an entire episode and him stating on the show that he didn't want to rely on anger anymore. Meanwhile, Azula reacts to everyone around her with rage and hatred and violence and that's also Zuko's problem, somehow.

"He lashes out at Aang with firebending without talking"

He wasn't "lashing out," he is Aang's firebending teacher and he was trying to make sure Aang was prepared to fight Ozai, because they didn't tell him that they were planning on waiting until after the comet. That's also why Zuko didn't tell them about Ozai's plan before. Both of them were acting on incomplete information and that is literally resolved through conversation. To frame it as Zuko "lashing out" to try and prove that Zuko is just this out of control aggressive person is ridiculous. Again, especially when OP's baby Azula literally tried to kill them an episode previously.

"He urges Katara to kill Yon Rha"

I'm gonna need quotes, screenshots, literally anything that shows that Zuko urged Katara to kill Yon Rha. Because what I saw was Katara walking away after making the decision not to kill him herself and Zuko letting her. He didn't try to stop her if she should decide to kill him, but that is hardly urging her to kill and not at all a reflection of Zuko being aggressive, since Zuko just stands there and does nothing and remains calm the whole time. If Zuko were really as out of control as OP says, wouldn't he get mad at Katara for making a choice he disagrees with? Hmm?

Also like, he says to Aang that if he doesn't take the fire lord's life, there won't be a world to save. Same thing for defeating Azula. Stopping a violent person who is very much a danger to not just a few others, but the entire world, is hardly "aggression." I'm sorry that conservative brainrot designed to tell victims they're just as bad if they defend themselves from oppression has got OP wearing their MAGA hat, but that is reprehensible bullshit. Zuko did not "urge" Aang to kill Ozai, he asked Aang what he was going to do since to his knowledge there was no other way, and Aang kept coming up with obviously implausible solutions. Even Aang didn't know there was another way until he got a visit from the lion turtle. Zuko, as someone who was personally victimized by his father specifically because he refused to be goaded into violence, has a right to feel anxious about making sure his father never hurts someone else the way he was hurt, and making sure Aang, who is about the same age Zuko was, doesn't meet the same end, not only for Aang's and Zuko's protection but the sake of the world, and framing that as Zuko being "aggressive" is gross.

"Self-centerism" is not a word.

The joke about Toph bringing up her childhood trauma and trying to force a field trip with Zuko is that Zuko just spent four episodes delving deep into helping Aang, Sokka, and Katara overcome their trauma. To use this to prove that Zuko is self-centered is entirely missing the point and nitpicking something that is actually a meta joke about Zuko being the opposite of self-centered and acting as everyone's unofficial therapist. Otherwise there would be no joke and "field trips with Zuko" would not even be a thing, and Toph would not be trying to get one with Zuko in the first place. Also, Zuko is not self-centered for not immediately stopping what he is doing to listen to Toph trauma dump when everyone thinks Aang is missing right before the comet and the situation appears dire.

And again on not revealing Ozai's plan, he specifically says he thought he wouldn't have to, because the gaang didn't tell him they were planning on waiting. It's a miscommunication on both sides. And Zuko waiting to reveal Ozai's plan - and the details about his abuse - until he feels like he has to is the opposite of him making it about himself or trauma dumping. I think part of the reason he didn't want to tell them about Ozai's plan until he had to was because that also meant he would have to disclose details about his abuse that he feels shame over. He doesn't make it about himself and his pain or ask for their sympathy. He says he's ashamed that he didn't speak up. If anything, he's harder on himself than he should be about it and blames himself.

The rest of this is just like, really reductive interpretations with no specifications about what "consequences" they think Zuko should face for things he atones for in the show. And I thought Katara's "dark side" was when Zuko "urged her to kill"? So Zuko is wrong because Katara was angry at him but also wrong because she wasn't angry at him anymore? Lol what?

"Katara apologized for raising her voice at Zuko, but Zuko didn't apologize for grabbing her grandmother."

Katara apologized to Zuko for raising her voice specifically after he apologized for saying she didn't know what she was talking about and extended sympathy when she talked about how her mother was killed. See how you can just claim anything when you divorce something from it's context, kids?

The "inferiority complex" thing and the idea that Zuko has an unhealthy competition with Azula that he needs to grow out of is just utterly stupid. Azula is the one with the inferiority complex, the one who is constantly trying to prove she's better than Zuko, especially in the last Agni Kai when she realizes she doesn't have an advantage over him anymore and that sends her into a downward spiral. Zuko's goals throughout most of the show are to not be killed or captured by her, and in the final agni kai, to save the world from her. She's the one who challenges him to a fire duel, the one who thinks them fighting is "the showdown that was always meant to be." The one who collapses when she realizes she can't win. The one who built her entire personality on being better than him while Zuko learned to care about other people and the world. That is the whole point of the final agni kai and why it's a tragedy.

"He was banished in the very same day he started to learn how to be a ruler"

He was banished BECAUSE at thirteen he already knew more about ruling than his tyrant of a father, and during his banishment he learned how to embrace that side of himself that spoke out against the way the Fire Nation was running things. Being banished for having a sense of what a prince owes his people and sticking up for what was right is far from a mark against Zuko as a leader, it's an asset, and proof of the type of leader he would learn to become. That's why Iroh says what he says he's an idealist with a pure heart who must lead his people. It's not just words, it's threaded into Zuko's arc from the beginning.

[juniperhillpatient]

thank you SO much @missjessefantastico for the tag <3 ALSO EVERYONE READ THIS SERIES ABOUT VAMP WILLOW, THE UNDERRATED HYENA KIDS, & MORE!!! It's so good btvs fans who love underexplored ideas & characters pspspsps

20 Questions For Fic Writers

1. How many works do you have on Ao3? 19

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count? 3,027,073

3. What fandoms do you write for? It's been Avatar the Last Airbender for the past few years. I have an old & probably not-good Rick & Morty fic up. Before that, I had some IT fics. I've got an orphaned fic for scream & one for house of 1000 corpses.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

the benefits of getting a flat tire this is Zuko running away from home & running right into the gaang - also uncovering some family mysteries & reconciling with Azula. modern au. it's Zukka & aw I'm nostalgic for those early days of mine in the fandom

if this were a movie this is basically an ATLA Hollywood Au. Zukka & Azutara. Past Jetko. I was happy with some of the dramatic moments in this fic.

not another high school au lord help me lmao. I'm SO sorry if you are reading this & you happen to love this fic but it's not the thing I'm most proud of. this is basically just me dipping my toes into writing ATLA modern AUs & in that sense I guess it's nostalgic? this is the fic I wrote as a newbie to the fandom just trying it out & I still do lovingly appreciate everyone who was kind & welcoming in those early days!

six feet under ATLA TVD AU MY BELOVED OMG. this is a vampire diaries au. there are no 1:1 translations but azula is damon, katara is a mix of jeremy & elena & so is sokka, zuko is stefan & YEAH. also aang is bonnie & iirc I probably even gave toph something fun to do. ozai is Katherine which is forever hilarious to me. yeah, this was a fun fic.

5. in search of glorious happenings of happenstance this fic is about nothing & everything at the same time. atla/modern world fusion with the four nations existing but also it's modern. all the atla teens/kids are going to college at ember island university & the fic takes place across a year. it's slice of life, comedy, drama, & chaos. lots of ships but I think azutara & jet/zuko/jin are probably, at the end of the day, the romances that are at the heart of this story although platonic relationships are also pretty important in this fic, IMO as much as romances. it's probably my magnum opus or something.

Do you respond to comments? yes <3 I am sometimes slow & I am not perfect but I TREASURE comments & do attempt to let people know as much. I write for myself, I post for the connections I make along the way.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? the devil you know for sure. this is my atla/scream modern au. I talk about it constantly because I'm so insanely proud of it but if you don't know it's exactly what it sounds like. it's horror & tragedy that I feel really proud of & I do think those elements are at the heart of my writing passion despite me usually being a bit nervous about using them. so. I'm proud of this fic. & it has a very bittersweet ending but the tragedy is...there's a lot of tragedy. no more spoilers because I want people to read this!

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? most of my fics have decently happy endings despite me claiming to prefer tragedy lol. I seem to recall the things we leave behind (mailee youtuber au with jetko & auztara. & they were roommates!) having a tooth rottingly fluffy ending lol

8. Do you get hate on fics? not really. it's happened before but it's not a big thing.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? sometimes I write the smutty scenes from my fics then save it only for myself. no you can't see. it's probably terrible. there's some shitty zucest smut of mine out there somewhere but I'm not sure it's any good & couldn't tell you where to find it lol

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? I think the AUs I write are called "fusion" because it's more "inserting characters into another world & the characters of that world aren't a thing." but my fic the balance of things was actually a crossover with characters from both wizards of waverly place & atla interacting. also I wrote THIS one-shot that's a crossover between the game the coffin of andy & leyley & the show wizards of waverly place. I didn't post it on ao3 but I'm just saying.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?  I don't think so?

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? I have vague memories of doing this with this girl I was online friends with back in my fanfic.net days, years ago. I think it was Destiel.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship? to write? I don't have one right now. I think maybe I got kinda burnt out on everything having to be about one ship or whatever rather than just telling the story & maybe that's a small part of why I'm taking a temporary break from fic writing & focusing on an original story so I'm not staying within fandom approved in parameters & I can just do whatever feels right ya know? I like Cisne's answer about any willow ship tho. me with my faves tbh hehe

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? can't think of one but I can think of fanfic ideas I'd like to return to & fully realize after I get back in the mood

16. What are your writing strengths? I like to think I'm okay at characterization although moving away from fanfic & working on something original has me questioning myself constantly!

17. What are your writing weaknesses? I'm very lazy & often neglect research. sometimes if I don't know how to explain something I just change the whole scene so i don't have to bother.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? could be neat in the right context!

19. First fandom you wrote for? probably family guy lmao

20. Favourite fic you’ve written? maybe 'in search of glorious happenings of happenstance.' I think 'the devil you know' is objectively the strongest. but happenstance is just such a specific version of the characters that's fun to me? it's one of those two that's my favorite, depending on my mood

this is very long so these tags have even less pressure than usual:

@reythespacebae @theowritesfiction @imaslowlearner-butilearn @chasingfictions @hello-nichya-here @matchamarshmallow @akiizayoi4869 @dont-leafmealone @peony-pearl @lunaintheskyforever

also, anyone who wants to do this just say I tagged you!

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

https://www.tumblr.com/caramel-ribbons/720001793861533696/i-just-watched-avatar-for-the-first-time-all-the?source=share

what do you think of this post? i found it kind of.. weird, in the way it talked about her relationship with team avatar compared to her relationship with zuko

It started out okay, turned into a train-wreck REAL fast.

I can understand being annoyed at how people will make fun of something like Katara bringing up her mom a lot, especially if these people don't do that for any other character when they ALL bring up their traumas a lot, but the way it quickly escalated into "Actually, Katara was right in telling her brother he didn't love their mom like she did" was honestly one of the most disgusting things I've read by anyone in this fandom - which is saying a lot.

Also, once again the complete bullshit claims of "The Gaang and Aang in particular never try to be there for Katara, emotionally, like she was for them."

Considering this person mentioned disliking videos that frame the entire show as just Katara being a bitch towards poor, friendzoned nice guy Aang, I would not be surprised if they let this dumb edits drastically affect how they see completely innocent Kataang moments as being something they weren't OR that they had already read Zutara "metas" (aka wildly out of character fanfic) and formed their opinion on these dynamics looooong before they actually watched the show.

People really gotta stop focusing on what the FANDOM does when they are talking about how CHARACTERS behave towards each other. Yes, some fans are sexist and hate Katara for the "crime" of being a female character - that does not mean the Gaang forced her into the role of being their mom/caretaker/therapist.

Sokka is CONSTANTLY trying to be useful the group. Toph learned to open up and clearly enjoyed spending time with Katara, even if it was to do things she did not want to do at first (you TRY dragging Toph to a spa and have people touch her feet after she explicitly said that was the one thing they were not allowed to do. See how fast you get crushed by a rock).

And Aang - oh my God, AANG. That boy was all about trying to make Katara happy from day one. They played together, he offered to go with her to the Northern Water Tribe so she could become a pro-waterbender, would always apologize to her whenever he did something wrong, explicitly told her she gave him hope (mirroring how she had hope the Avatar would save the world), was in complete awe after she literally brought him back to life, fucking blew up a factory with her, and tried to stop her from making a big mistake and sacrificing what was left of her innocence by killing a (admitedly AWFUL) man - yes, Zutarians, NOT letting your friend do something they'll regret IS being a good friend and thinking of what's best for them, sorry not sorry.

THE WHOLE REASON Katara is so emotionally attached to Aang and wants to be there for him whenever he needs anything is because HE ALLOWED HER TO BE A KID AND HAVE FUN AGAIN.

You'd think so called "Katara fans" would be able to understand such a simple concept that she verbally explains to us IN THE FIRST DAMN EPISODE!

Anyone that claims Aang didn't love and support Katara just as much as she did him is either misremembering the show, in deep denial, or just flat out lying to you.

[the-badger-mole]

A Word Between Friends

When I first started writing this in 2012, I didn't realize it was going to be a prequel to Avatar: The Final Conflict I'm pretty sure I hadn't even thought about starting A:TFC until after I posted the last chapter. What this was meant to be was an exploration of Katara and Zuko's friendship, and a way to allow Katara a voice in her relationship with Aang. It's one of my earlier fics, and one of my first Zutara fics. Originally, this was meant to be a one-shot, and then a series of one-shots, but I decided it worked better together. It's my very first fix-it fic, and the ending of it is really close to how I wish the show had ended. I hope you enjoy it as well!

"What are you doing in here?" he asked Katara. She followed his gaze and flushed slightly.

"I couldn't sleep," she said. "I needed something to do. Toph got annoyed with me for pacing and I thought, the kitchen could use a good scrub. And, well, here I am."

"You clean when something's bothering you?" Zuko raised an eyebrow. Katara shrugged and played with her fingers.

"It's something I can control," she explained. "It's kind of sick, because under any other circumstance, I hate cleaning." Zuko looked around the rest of the kitchen and sure enough, the floors, counters and windows were gleaming in the torch light. Then he frowned. She couldn't have possibly have done all of this in one night. It was late, sure, but they had only gone to bed a few hours before, according to the clock on the shelf above the basin.

"How long did this take you?" Zuko asked. "This room was filthy."

"I've- ah-I've been at this for a few nights," Katara admitted. Zuko wondered briefly how no one had noticed how clean the kitchen was getting, before he realized that Katara did a bulk of the cooking. No one else spent enough time in the kitchen to notice her systematic cleaning. Zuko walked over to the small wooden table and pulled out a chair. He looked at Katara shyly.

"Do you…want to talk about what's bothering you?" he asked uncertainly. Katara hesitated for a moment before sitting in the proffered chair. Zuko sat across from her and they were both silent for a few minutes.

"What's wrong?" Zuko asked at last. Katara bit her lip and pulled at the sleeve of the pajamas she was wearing. They had been Fire Lady Ursa's and were a bit large on Katara.

"I don't know," Katara answered him, throwing her hands up helplessly. "I just feel like- there's so much going on right now. How can any of you sleep?"

"Are you talking about the fight with the Fire Lord?" Katara nodded and looked down at her hands folded on the table.

"Among other things." Then to Zuko's immense discomfiture, she burst into tears and lowered her head onto the table. Zuko looked around for something-someone who could help. He was completely out of his depth.

"H-hey! It's alright," he said, awkwardly patting her head. Katara looked up, bewildered by his attempt at comfort.

"Wow," she murmured. "You are really bad at this." Zuko blushed and pulled his hand back as if he had been burned.

"I haven't had much practice," he mumbled. He stood up and looked towards the door. "Look, why don't I get your brother? Or Suki? Maybe it'd be better for you to talk to another girl about -" Katara surprised him again when she started laughing.

"Zuko, relax." Katara, still laughing, wiped the rest of her tears away. "I'm sorry. I'm fine, really. I just haven't been sleeping well and I tend to get a little emotional when I'm sleep deprived." Zuko looked unsure. Katara sighed and pushed his chair out with her foot. "Please don't go. I could use the company."

Read the rest of the chapter here

[disabilityshowdown]

Disability Showdown Full Bracket

Alright! No more mystery, we've got our list for the tournament!

For people new to this tournament, how this works is this: We narrowed our character list down from about 600 to 131 (it was gonna be 128 but we had three ties, so those have been reworked into three-character polls). The top 64 have been seeded into the bracket by number of nominations. The bottom 67 however, all got roughly the same amount of nominations, so those have been assigned places via random number generator, to remove any bias that I the poll runner may have about which characters I want to succeed

(I am so sorry if your obscure blorbo ends up against a super popular kid in round one, that's unfortunately the luck of the draw here, but I am keeping a record of characters that lose but whose fans fight the hardest for them, and we may do something with those kids later, so it's still worth campaigning for your faves!)

I will make an image for the bracket once we get past the first round or two, but right now I have no idea how to make a visual bracket containing 131 characters, upload it to tumblr, and still have it be at all useful

So for the first round, I'll just give the matchups by name, in a list under the cut. We'll be working through this list 8 polls at a time (my pinned post will stay updated with the current 8 once the tournament starts), and good luck everyone!

Eda Clawthorne (Owl House) vs Cassandra Cain (DC)

Hiccup and Toothless (How to Train Your Dragon) vs Peppermint (Hi-Fi Rush)

Barbara Gordon (DC) vs Demoman (Team Fortress 2)

Toph Beifong (Avatar: the Last Airbender) vs Finn Tidestrider (Just Roll With It)

Edward Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist) vs Red (Pokemon)

Ashton Greymoore (Critical Role) vs Walter White Jr (Breaking Bad)

Finn Mertens (Adventure Time) vs Wade Wilson (Marvel)

Kitty Softpaws (Puss in Boots) vs Jean Havoc (Fullmetal Alchemist)

Matt Murdock (Marvel) vs Ellen (The Witch's House)

Clint Barton (Marvel) vs Maedhros (The Silmarillion)

Nicholas Benedict (The Mysterious Benedict Society) vs Jancy True (Drawtectives)

Donatello (TMNT: Rise, IDW) vs Black Raisin Cookie (Cookie Run)

Octavio Silva (Apex Legends) vs Dr Carmilla (The Mechanisms)

Crutchie (Newsies) vs Nemo (Finding Nemo)

Anakin Skywalker (Star Wars) vs Renarin Kholin (Stormlight Archives)

Amaya (The Dragon Prince) vs Long John Silver (Treasure Planet)

Charles Xavier (Marvel) vs Dagen Underthorn (Critical Role)

Viktor (Arcane) vs Cecil Palmer (Welcome to Night Vale)

Taimi (Guild Wars 2) vs Eli Vance (Half Life)

Johnny Joestar (JJBA) vs Floofty Fizzlebean (Bugsnax)

Vash the Stampede (Trigun Stampede) vs Sunny (OMORI)

Drey Ferin (Just Roll With It) vs Kizuna Chieda (AI: The Somnium Files)

Geordi LaForge (Star Trek) vs Phosphophyllite (Houseki No Kuni)

Kaz Brekker (Six of Crows) vs Zuko (Avatar: the Last Airbender)

Melanie King (The Magnus Archives) vs Eugenides (Queen's Thief)

Snake (Zero Escape) vs Malenia (Elden Ring)

Future Leo (ROTTMNT) vs Edgar Jomfru (Metalocalypse)

Janice Palmer (Welcome to Night Vale) vs Jet Black (Cowboy Bebop)

Luke Skywalker (Star Wars) vs Wylan Van Eck (Six of Crows) vs Linh Cinder (Lunar Chronicles)

Alphonse Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist) vs Peter Sqloint (Just Roll With It)

Bucky Barnes (Marvel) vs All Might (Boku No Hero Academia)

Della Duck (Ducktales) vs Maya Lopez (Marvel)

Jayfeather (Warrior Cats) vs Isabella Paretti (ValorPUNK)

Shouko Nishimiya (A Silent Voice) vs Gary Goodspeed (Final Space)

Violet Evergarden (Violet Evergarden) vs Brightheart (Warrior Cats)

Briarlight (Warrior Cats) vs Jinx (Arcane)

Ticket Jerry (Dialtown) vs Darth Maul (Star Wars)

Yang Xiao Long (RWBY) vs Dulcinea Septimus (Locked Tomb)

Ricky Potts (Ride the Cyclone) vs Helena Adams (Identity V) vs Antonio (Identity V)

Jimmy Valmer (South Park) vs Vanellope (Wreck-It Ralph)

Terezi Pyrope (Homestuck) vs Sam Vimes (Discworld)

Bruno Madrigal (Encanto) vs Custas (Witch Hat Atelier)

Gregory House (House MD) vs Gunthrie Miggles-Rashbax (Dimension 20)

Moon Knight (Marvel) vs Splinter (TMNT)

Shanks (One Piece) vs Goro Majima (Yakuza)

Chai (Hi-Fi Rush) vs Maria Robotnik (Sonic the Hedgehog)

Kazuhira Miller (Metal Gear Solid) vs Sir Marc (Penumbra Podcast)

Izaya Orihara (Durarara) vs Hermann Gottlieb (Pacific Rim)

Finnegan Wake (Monster High) vs Heinz Doofenshmirtz (Phineas and Ferb)

Frankie Stein (Monster High) vs Charlotte Webber (Marvel)

Sage Beldaruit (Witch Hat Atelier) vs Susie (Flight Rising)

Urakawa Mamoru (Mega Man) vs Undyne (Undertale)

Teo (Avatar: the Last Airbender) vs Gazelle (Kingsman)

Tavros Nitram (Homestuck) vs Dunban (Xenoblade Chronicles)

Hearthstone (Magnus Chase) vs Gabriella (Little Mermaid)

Tony Stark (Marvel) vs Mera Salamin (Epithet Erased)

Rani (Pixie Hollow) vs Haruka Sakurai (MILGRAM)

Wilt (Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends) vs Handy (Happy Tree Friends)

Izumi Curtis (Fullmetal Alchemist) vs Nog (Star Trek: DS9) vs Spock (Star Trek: Discovery)

Juno Steel (Penumbra Podcast) vs Merle Highchurch (The Adventure Zone)

Furiosa (Mad Max) vs Massimo (Luca)

Bentley (Sly Cooper) vs Symmetra (Overwatch)

Quasimodo (Hunchback of Notre Dame) vs Cyborg (Teen Titans)

Nagito Komaeda (Dangan Ronpa) vs Link (Legend of Zelda)

[convertedzukaang]

Title: There's No Reason -Also posted on Ao3

@flashfictionfridayofficial

Pairing: ZukAang (ATLA) Zuko x Aang

Warnings: Stockholm Syndrome, Mild Angst

Word count: 802

Zuko stared at Aang from outside his cell below the ship’s deck. They're approximately six days away from the Fire Nation Capital. Aang’s stomach turns at the sudden realization, it has been twenty-five days since Zuko has captured him and he has grown fond of the Prince’s presence in his tiny prison cell. They have shared intimate moments, and some days he finds the Prince lying next to him in the middle of the night, soundly asleep and breathing peacefully. Aang sighs and gets up from  his chair, “Are you going to just stand there or are you going to come inside?”

He sounded discourteous, Aang didn’t mean to. But he was exhausted and being stuck in his diminutive cell did not help the suffocation he’s feeling. When Zuko opened the cell door and stepped in, he looked at Aang with apologetic eyes. He could almost hear Zuko’s unspoken words, his apologies, his confession, his cognizance. Aang simply takes his hand and places small and gentle kisses on Zuko’s fingertips, silently reassuring the Prince that everything will be alright.

“Would you like to..” Zuko started, staring intensely at Aang’s lips, “..come to the deck with me?”

Aang gasped at the question, shocked at how nonchalant Zuko suggested the activity. He smiled at the Prince as tears formed in his eyes, quietly asking, “Is this a test?”

The Prince laughed, the sound sending electricity down Aang’s spine. Zuko responds, “I trust you because..” He paused, holding his tongue from saying things he might regret later, he shakes his head and continues, “..because I just do.”

Zuko tugged at the airbender’s hand, leading him up to the deck of the ship. It seems that Zuko had planned to invite him out here all along because on the far end of the deck, Aang sees his glider perched on top of the crates. He was about to run off, however, a strong squeeze on his hand stopped him. Aang looked back at Zuko with a sad smile, “I’m sorry, I just got excited.”

“I know, I’m just.. Nervous, that’s all.” Zuko says as he lets go of Aang’s hand, “I said I trust you, and I do. I know you will always come back to me.”

With a nod from Zuko, Aang sprints to where his glider was, his bare feet feeling cold against the steel of the ship. He spends no time warming up, he whips his glider and soared through the clouds. Aang didn’t even notice how the sun burned his skin when he ascended to the sky, he took no notice of anything as he breathed in the salty and fresh air. Laughing as he passed through the mist, soaking his clothes. But Aang didn’t care. Realistically, he’s only been held captive for less than a month, it hasn’t been that long but his mind wandered around his friends. Katara, Sokka, Toph and Suki. Where are they now? Did they survive the Serpent’s Pass? That was the last time he saw them before he was captured by Zuko. The feeling of guilt buried deep inside him is now bubbling up, Aang has always thought he is responsible for his friend’s lives, and he left them alone, traveling through a deadly pass. But his friends are strong, surely they can survive without him. They might be in Ba Sing Se by now. 

He flew as high up as he could until he could no longer see the Fire Nation ship below him, until he could no longer see Zuko. It’s as liberating as it is suffocating. He could fly away right now and spend his energy flying to the Earth Kingdom again, he could try to find his friends. Aang shakes his head and comes back to reality, he descends below the clouds just enough so Zuko can spot him and keep an eye on him. Reassuring the Prince that he’s here.

No matter how freeing this feeling of flying in the clouds is, he is still a prisoner. He can escape. He should escape, but something inside him, a mere whisper in his ears, telling him not to leave. Even if Aang knows that when they arrive at the Fire Nation, he will be offered to the Fire Lord as a reward, then Zuko will have his honor back, his home. But as he looked down, seeing Zuko smile warmly at him from his ship’s deck, trusting Aang that he would never stray too far and escape, the airbender can’t help but let a tear slip down from his eye to his cheek. The wetness immediately dried as he ascended further into the clouds, letting all his conflicted feelings plummet into the ocean below him. He thinks –  there’s no reason for him to be falling in love with his captor like this. 

[oneatlatime]

Want to get your thoughts on something you've touched on in a couple places. A pretty popular idea in the fandom is that one of the (in-universe) reasons airbenders have gone so hard into the peace-and-love monk thing is a self-awareness that, if they didn't, there's not a whole lot anybody could realistically do about it.

Like, Southern Air Temple pretty strongly implies that Gyatso solo'd a room full of comet-roided firebenders. It killed him but he did it, and while he is a master Airbender, we're not given any real indication that he is uniquely so, right?

I have many thoughts on this! Sorry in advance for the long post! And sorry if this goes a bit off topic!

Short answer: I don't agree.

Long answer:

We've seen that nations' cultures tend to reflect their native bending styles. Or vice versa. It's probably a chicken and egg scenario. The Fire Nation chose to spread (like wildfire) and is full of hot headed, impetuous roid-rage sufferers who can't see or plan for the long term. Fire itself easily becomes ungovernable and is at best muzzled/leashed, always waiting for the next chance to bubble over in unplanned / unpredictable / generally unhelpful directions (Hi Zhao!). So an element shapes a culture shapes and element until you've got a positive feedback loop (or in the case of the Northern Water Tribe, a negative feedback ourobouros due to outside pressure). Importantly, neither culture nor element develops in isolation; I think they develop simultaneously.

The Earth Kingdom is probably the most rigid and unchanging, even when it would benefit them to change/innovate. We see rigidity and humourlessness in response to change or the unexpected (see Toph's parents) and we see an inability to let go of a bad idea, or mitigate the consequences / think on the go when things that were clearly bad ideas go bad in ways anyone with a non-earthbender brain can see coming a mile off (think The Avatar State episode). Earth digs in when it should retreat, stands solid when it should duck and weave. It is grounded to the point of stupidity (unless you're Toph or Bumi, although even Toph seems to be unbending so far). It's linear to the point of being unable to deviate from that line.

This is me guessing, but I figure since fire and water are opposites, air must be the opposite of earth, right? So while we'll never see airbending culture in a non-shrunk-down-to-one-person form, we can look at earthbending culture for its dark reflection. Well, probably not dark, but you get what I'm saying. They'll be opposites in world view. We can extrapolate.

So if earth is grounded, humourless, aggressively traditional, linear, then air must be constantly fluctuating, unchained, lighthearted, bonkers-all-over-the-place. The heaviness of earth would dictate that problems should be faced by digging in and facing them head on until the problem blinks first. The lightness of air would dictate that problems should be faced the opposite way: blinking first i.e. removing yourself from the problem entirely. The linearity of earth dictates that fights are solved by fighting - you punch me, I punch you. The non-linearity of air would seek to recontextualise a problem until it's no longer a problem because we all forgot what we were fighting about in the first place, i.e. throwing pies at it or busting out the marble trick. The heaviness of earth would cause excessive earthly attachment; the lightness of air would cause excessive detachment from worldly concerns.

To start violence is to make a statement that you wish to be involved. It's rooting yourself to a particular dispute, choosing a hill to die on. It stems from attachment. This is earthbendery behaviour (and Zuko-y, but let's not go there). To never start violence is to never invest, never dig in your feet and make a stand. To be detached. (I'm oversimplifying here.) It's clear from in-show examples that Aang's pacifism is of the "ladies don't start fights but they can finish them" variety; he's got no problem with self-defence (caveat: we have no idea how typical an air nomad Aang was). But he never attacks first that I can think of.

Violence is a very direct tool. If someone starts a fight with you, and you decide to continue it, you're choosing the most obvious action. Since when is airbending direct or obvious?

All this to say, I think that pacifism, peace and love, monkiness, etc., was more likely a natural and inevitable outgrowth of air nomad culture, caused by constant culture / element interaction, rather than a conscious choice.

So I think airbenders "have gone so hard into the peace-and-love monk thing" because the nature of their element creates a culture that discourages the traits required for effective offensive violence, and the inherent detachment and ever-changing nature of air naturally encouraged spiritual (i.e. monkly) pursuits rather than earthly ones, like whatever the conflict of the week is. I don't think self-awareness of the dangers of their element factors into it. Not to take away from Gyatso's accomplishment, but I think air is nowhere near the most dangerous element. From what I've seen so far that would be Fire or Earth, though I'd give the edge to Fire because they self-generate, and also because they've spent a largely successful century dominating the other elements. Waterbenders and earthbenders can be neutralised by taking away their element; airbenders - due to the very nature of their element - probably can't get past that initial avoid and evade instinct to become legitimate offensive threats.

As for Gyatso, I think he's an outlier. We know little about him so far, but we do know that: a) Aang says he's the best airbender (in I think the Southern Air Temple?); b) he's good enough that he was granted a statue while he was still living, learning, improving; and c) he's good enough that the monkly council (of which he is part) granted him the honour/responsibility of being the quasi-dad of the Avatar. These things tell me that Gyatso was the Spiders Georg of the Airbenders. I suspect Bumi is the same for the Earthbenders, and at least as far as the philosophy of bending is concerned, Iroh may be so for Firebenders. Even the example of Gyatso nuking the comet-enhanced firebenders is a case of defensive action in ultra extraordinary circumstances: he was staring into the teeth of a genocide while mourning the disappearance of his quasi-son and the likely loss of the world's only hope / chance at stopping the war. That's how far you have to push an airbender before they'll take a life. Unless the Avatar world pre-war is a lot more godawful than Aang has implied, airbenders probably wouldn't have been taking lives frequently enough for them to get to the point where they would have to start questioning whether they should consider pacifism.

I think what this fandom idea ultimately is, is a desire for the hidden badass trope. Everyone loves it when the most peaceful character in the story is revealed to secretly be a Rambo-level fighting badass, right? Who didn't love it when kindly grandpa Roku manifested in his temple and unleashed a volcano? But I think this trope fundamentally takes something away from the appreciation of Airbending, Air Nomad culture, and the concept of Pacifism as a whole. This is just my interpretation, but applying the "secretly the deadliest all along!" trope to airbenders undermines their commitment to pacifism and makes it performative rather than earnest. It's a cop out; an acknowledgement that violence actually is the answer, and even those head-in-the-clouds monks know to use it when the chips are down. This show goes out of its way to show that non-combatants have value and a place in this world that's worth fighting for, that fighting goes way too far pretty frequently, that non-violent solutions are valid, even preferable. It would kind of undermine that message if all of the elements were easily weaponisable.

Something I've loved so far about Avatar is the show's earnestness. There have been no Marvel-style fakeout bathos plots. I feel making airbending secretly the deadliest element or similar would be exactly that sort of thing. Can't my pacifists be peaceful not because they're secretly untouchable badasses who carry the biggest stick, whom the rest of the world leaves alone out of fear, who are not a threat only because they have chosen not to be, but because that's just who they are?

On the other hand: Aang's been a one-man-army plenty of times. We've seen that; that's undeniable. So air is stupidly powerful as an element. No denying that. Gyatso did murder a bunch of people trying to kill him, so air can be deadly. But I don't think your typical airbender could be deadly. If you gave a can of airbending to a firebender, an earthbender, or even a particularly provoked waterbender, I don't doubt that they could kill people with it. But the culture that the element generated - rather than a conscious choice by that culture's participants - prevents them from taking the direct, violent, solution. And I think that culture developed in tandem with airbending, so there could not have been a time when airbenders were deadly as a rule. Air shaped airbenders as much as airbenders shaped air, and it shaped them into non-violent people.

There's a lot of power in the idea of consciously choosing, and sticking to, something that is perhaps not in line with your natural abilities. Styling airbenders as deadly-but-choosing-peace is a great way to explore themes of agency, identity, strength of character, morals, maturity, etc. But, to me, there's also a lot of power in the idea that some people just can't - not won't, but CAN'T - fight their way out of things, and this doesn't make it any less wrong to genocide the crap out of them.

If the fandom wants to headcanon airbenders as secret badasses who consciously choose nonviolence, I say a) go ahead! there's more than enough evidence to support that conclusion; b) I respectfully disagree; and c) is Iroh not enough?

tl;dr in my opinion, air's pacifism was a natural outgrowth of, and restriction imposed by, the element rather than a conscious choice; airbending can be deadly but airbenders aren't; Gyatso is not representative; 'speak softly and carry a big stick' is all well and good as a philosophy, but those who speak softly and don't have a stick are of value too.

[awanderingmuse-fandom]

Chapter 17

NOTE: The last Chapter 17 was in fact Chapter 18. So I had to back post this. Sorry for the confusion, y'all.

Fandom: Avatar the Last Airbender

Summary: Music night washes over Iroh. The crew’s attention  on each other means no one notices  their allegedly ill prince slipping over the side of the Wani and onto the dock.

Zuko, as The Blue Spirit, is leaving to meet another White Lotus Bud agent to exchange information on the Earth Armies for similar details on Fire Nation troops.

The White Lotus Buds are more successful than Iroh expected. Sometimes he thinks the war would end in days if they left the operatives in charge.

The White Lotus Buds were inspired by Zuko himself. It wasn’t difficult to connect The Blue Spirit’s earlier escapades with Zuko. Not once one realized there were connections to make.

Iroh does not know when the sneaking began, though he has his suspicions. Ten year old princes don’t go missing for days on end easily. And there’s the  ambiguity surrounding  Azulon’s death and Ursa’s sudden flight. When it started doesn’t truly matter when Zuko will not speak of it.

Shaking off his wandering curiosity, Iroh lets himself be drawn into the singing of an old sea shanty. It helps keep an old man awake, which he will need if he wants to be alert for his nephew’s return later that night.

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Referenced child abuse,   Graphic Depictions of Violence, Strong Language  

Characters:   Zuko, Katara, Blue Spirit, Painted Lady, Sokka, Aang, Toph, Suki, Iroh, Kanna, Bumi, Ty Lee, Azula, Jet, Paku, Haru, Tyro, The Boulder, Smeller Bee, Jeong Jeong, Teo, Yue, Yugoda, The Wani Crew, Hei Bai, Arnook, Lieutenant Jee, Other Cast, Original Characters, Zhao  

Pairings: Zutara, Sukka, Taang, Tyzula

Chapter Preview

They made it to the Fire Nation and after the blockade everything seemed to be going okay. Zuko was definitely still on their tail and Sokka said they would have to do something about that, but right now they were relatively safe. His friends were even relaxing in the saddle a bit. Even Sokka who’d scared Aang badly when he’d fallen out of the saddle.

[concernedbrownbread]

Hiiii I just binge read lwpr and I’m literally so obsessed it’s probably my new favorite fic ever in the world … I just love how complex and interesting each character is and zukos internal monologue is just so AAHUGHHAV I also really like how you handled ozai! Most fics write him off as super bland And sorry if this is an answer you’ve already posted somewhere, but do you think you can tell me a bit about how arc 4 is coming along? lol im just starved for content and im so excited for more ^_^

Hi! I'm glad you're enjoying the fic!! And I'm so honoured, wow. Thank you <3

I actually haven't announced this because I wasn't sure I could hit the deadline, but good news! The next Arc should be starting next week with regular updates!!! I'm so excited to get back to it :)

Here's a little teaser for chapter 26! Spoilers ahoy!

“You won’t even look at it!” Sokka snapped back, angry for once instead of trying to play it cool, “I know it’s a risk —”

“Exactly!” Azula yelled, “Everything you do is a risk! We should never even have gone to that party with Long Feng. If we’d played it safe, we wouldn’t be here!”

“Are you trying to say this is my fault?” Sokka asked, “If we’d done nothing like you suggested, we could’ve been there for months. It’s not like you always make perfect plans, Azula. You risked it when you started the rebellion at all!”

She was grateful that they were far enough away from the camp, even though she could see Toph looking up curiously. She heaved a sigh, trying to calm down.

“That was different,” she said.

Sokka sighed too, “Sure. I know you’re … a planner. And I get that you really need to know every detail. But look at where we are. We don’t have a plan anymore. This could be our best shot.”

“Our best shot is to play it safe and go to the North Pole.”

“What about your other allies to the north? You said they were mechanics right? Cause I have some stuff in there that they could help with for the Day of —”

“Why do you care so much about the Day of the Black Sun? I already told you — the Fire Nation knows when it will happen, and Ozai will probably hide in his underground bunker. What am I missing here?”

“You.”

Azula stopped short. “What?”

"We have you."

[sokkastyles]

Today I have for you an except from my entry for Day 3: Hunter/Monster for @zkmythicalcreaturesweek! The full fic will be posted later.

To those with an open mind, get ready to open those pockets because we will pay you good money! All you have to do is hold the camera.

Be a part of Team Spirit Seekers! (Also known as Team Avatar and Team Oogie Boogie Busters.)

Meet us at the below address at midnight on October 17th. We will bring the equipment.

-

It was absolutely one of the stupidest things he had ever considered doing in his life.

No, it was the singular most stupid thing he’d ever thought he would consider in his life. Because of course, he couldn’t really be considering it, could he?

Truth be told, though, Zuko had already done a lot of stupid things in his life.

But ghost hunting? He’d have to be desperate to even consider it.

And he was desperate, a voice in the back of his head reminded him.

It was just one night. All he had to do was hold the camera.

It’s not like he’d had success elsewhere. It had been almost a year since he’d had steady work. It didn’t help that he had no skills and a resume that didn’t exactly scream hire me. He’d started working at his father’s company right out of college, barely passing business school. He’d suspected for years that Ozai’s influence was the reason his professors passed him but had been able to shove that thought aside when it kept earning him good grades, then good money. Now, though…well, at least now he knew for sure that he’d only survived on nepotism.

He supposed that had been part of the reason he’d been content with the menial desk job at his father’s office, the thought, always in the back of his mind, that he didn’t really deserve it. Most of his job involved looking the other way when money exchanged hands, which in turn ensured that there was always a good amount that found its way into his.

Until the one time he chose not to look the other way, that is.

There was an offshore account, money funneling in from various “charitable” organizations that had been set up in his father’s name. Most of them had actually been a front for an illegal weapons racket. One was pretending to fund medical bills for sick children.

Zhao had laughed about that last one when Zuko had confronted him with it. 

When Zuko told him that he would take it to the press, he didn’t find it as funny.

Zuko had been confident that when his father learned what Zhao was doing with his money, with his company’s good name…that he would want to know.

That was another stupid thing.

Of course, his father had already known about the whole thing. The next day, the locks had been changed at Zuko’s office and he’d been served with the threat of a defamation lawsuit if he ever revealed what he knew. To top it off, the landlord of Zuko’s high rise apartment also had somehow found out that Zuko no longer had a job and had kicked him out the next day. Since then, Zuko struggled to find work anywhere in the city. It seemed as if the whole world knew what a fuckup he was.

Now he was living in a shitty apartment in a shitty part of the city and seriously considering becoming a ghost hunter.

Sorry, Spirit Chaser. Team Avatar or whatever that meant. Ooogie Boogie Buster.

He had a headache.

He needed money, though.

October 17th was two days away.

His new landlord had already given him a week’s extension, and that had been two weeks ago. Zuko needed money, and he needed it fast.

Just one night. Just hold the camera.

The reply address belonged to someone named Toph Beifong. 

Beifong? 

That explained the large amount of money being offered. 

Clicking the reply button, Zuko hoped that this Toph Beifong was good for what she was promising.

[bard-llama]

WiP Wednesday: Brother

This fic was inspired by Toph declaring Zuko her brother in A Second Chance at Family. I started thinking about what Azula would think of that... so cue this fic. This is post-canon, where Azula is working with Zuko as a political advisor.

Aaaaaand tumblr's shitty new post editor won't let me indent the story without removing all the spacing. Fucking hate this stupid thing and you can no longer opt out of it, so that's great. Thanks @staff. This platform progressively gets worse and worse. It's literally becoming LESS functional.

Anyway, have a snip:

“He’s my brother, not yours,” Azula hissed at the earthbender who was clinging inappropriately to Zuzu’s side. 

Zuzu looked surprised, but the earthbender just grinned a smug grin that made Azula want to set her on fire.

“You lost siblingship rights,” the earthbender shrugged, “you know, when you tried to murder him.”

“Toph,” Zuzu hissed, probably able to tell that Azula was very close to incinerating her. Such an insult could not go unanswered.

Azula raised herself up tall. “Zuko is my blood,” she sniffed haughtily. 

“Literally who gives a fuck?” Toph snorted. “Your bloodline is fucked up. We’re better family to him than you’ve ever been.”

“Nonsense,” Azula scoffed. “Family isn’t something you choose.”

Zuzu coughed. “Um. Yeah, it kinda is.”

She glared at him and he winced. 

“Just saying,” he muttered. “Can we please move on from this and deal with the actual issues on our plates?”

“No,” Toph said simply, pointing at Azula. “You think your blood entitles you to him? Fuck that. What have you ever done to earn the title of sister?”

“I don’t have to earn it,” Azula sneered.

“See, that kind of entitlement is exactly why I’m the real sister,” Toph said and Azula saw red.

“Guys!” Zuzu said loudly. “Come on, we’ve got actual fucking work to do!”

Azula’s eyes narrowed at him. “You agree with her,” she said, something threatening in her voice.

“Um.” Zuzu shrugged. “You’re both my sisters, okay? Now come on, I have a meeting with the finance minister in an hour and we need to figure out–”

“No,” Azula cut him off, incensed. “I’m your blood. How can you call this – this mudgrubber ‘sister’!?”

“Oh, I’ll show you mud,” Toph began, but Zuzu stepped between them, pushing them back from each other. Azula almost set him on fire in payment for the indignity of it.

“Guys, seriously!”

“Family is a title that’s earned,” Toph said coldly. “You’ve never done shit to be deserving of it.”

Puffing up in offense, Azula let the threat of lightning crackle in the air around her – but it backfired when Zuzu said sternly, “stop it! Neither of you are helping right now! Let’s just move on and–”

Azula’s face twisted with something she couldn’t define, but it was bitter and jealous and angry. “I refuse,” she said tightly. “I refuse to have anything to do with a pretender who tries to steal other people’s families!”

“Good,” Toph snapped, “then the trash can walk itself out.”

“How dare you–”

“Guys, come on!” Zuzu stood between them again, face stressed. “We have real actual problems to deal with! Like how to fund–”

“Forget it,” Azula said icily. “As long as she’s around, I won’t be involved.”

Zuzu blinked like he was surprised at her ultimatum, but Toph’s smirk just widened. 

“Fine,” Toph said easily. “Bye then. C’mon, Sparky, let’s deal with your finance minister.” She turned and started walking towards Zuzu’s office – and Zuzu hesitated, looking between them.

Azula remained with her nose stubbornly in the air – but then Zuko took a step towards Toph. 

“Sorry,” he muttered. “I’ve gotta deal with this meeting.”

And then he left, following after that brother-stealing earthbender, and Azula felt the sudden need to set the corridor on fire. 

Servants and staff ran from the area – but Zuko did not return and Azula’s rage was complete. He was her blood! How could he choose Toph over her!?

With a snarl, Azula set off to find something she could burn, leaving a smoldering section of hallway behind her.