#the legend of korra a new era begins

[miloscat]

[Review] The Legend of Korra: A New Era Begins (3DS)

A cromulent companion game.

Platinum's console/PC Korra game was accompanied by a 3DS release. Well I say accompanied; unlike that game, Activision only bothered to release this one in North America. Now I finally have a chance to play it thanks to custom firmware! I know developer Webfoot Technologies best for their Legacy of Goku GBA games, and now here they are with another handheld game based on an animated licence. But how does this tactics RPG stack up against its action sibling?

Despite the new subtitle, this game is built on the same story as the console game. Creepy old guy blocks Korra's bending, the alliance of Triads/Equalists/dark spirits, returning to the Spirit World via the South Pole. But this version has some additional details, like the inclusion of Amon's lieutenant as a miniboss, Korra seeking the advice of spirits in Republic City's spirit wilds only for them to turn dark and attack, or visiting Wan Shi Tong's library for help relearning spiritbending (complete with a boss fight against the big owl himself!) I also enjoyed entering the cosmic universal energy dimension for little puzzle challenges when Korra was regaining her bending powers. In addition to these additions, a big change in how things play out is the extended cast joining her on the adventure, an upside to the shift in genre.

From the start, Bolin and Mako are with Korra, then Tenzin and Kya join in, and finally Lin making for a team of six bending powerhouses. Bumi and, sadly, Asami are still conspicuously absent. But the extra tag-alongs make for actual conversation and more convincing bridging exposition in cutscenes, more appropriate elemental tutelage as Korra relearns her bending styles, and some choice quips. For example, we learn that Bolin named his fists Juji and Roh-tan after Nuktuk's animal sidekicks, and that he has become genre-savvy as a result of his mover career: "when there is fog, something bad happens."

There are understandable presentational drawbacks that offset this. Gone are the full animated sequences, replaced by brief motion comic-style cutscenes. There’s no voice acting either, which is fair enough. And gameplay just cannot look as flashy when you’re just moving sprites around a grid.

To be fair, the sprites look very good. And you get an adorable graphic of Korra riding Oogi on the menu screen. When it comes time to make an attack, the game cuts to a short (and skippable) 3D sequence showing the results, complete with decent little models doing mocapped martial arts moves. The spirits and the main antagonist Hundun can look a bit goofy in these but the mecha tanks are pretty cool if low-detail. The latter in particular have hilariously tiny sprites on the battle map, a stark contrast to their humongous chungus depiction in Platinum’s game.

The tactical gameplay is competent for the most part with decent map designs. The controls and interface can be a bit clunky but they get the job done. There’s a shield mechanic that’s a neat twist, as well as an elemental weakness system that lets you bypass the shields. I liked how each character had their own niche: Mako has many ranged attacks, Lin and Bolin get area effects, Kya can heal, and Tenzin can replenish mana energy points which I had him doing almost every turn once he learned it.

Any attack or even healing and support moves get you experience points which is nice, and every other level-up you get to choose between two skills. These can be new moves or passive bonuses but choose carefully because you can’t change them later! I found myself with a Korra who only knew waterbending for the vast majority of proceedings, and you only get one shot at each other element. Everybody was max level (15) a few stages before the end, but if you’re having trouble with a battle there’s a training stage you can do freely for some extra XP and money (used for buying healing items). You can’t replay completed levels though, even though you get graded on side objectives.

I was pleased by this little tie-in. I’m not a huge expert on tactics RPGs but this one seems good for intermediate gamers like me, not too punishing. There’s some amount of crunchy depth to the elemental system and using each character effectively. And as a Korra fan it’s nice seeing the characters and world rendered in a different style, especially those cute sprites. Not to mention the slight expansions to the storyline. If you’ve got a 3DS, there’s no reason not to head to your local flea market hShop to pick this up!

[disneytva]

Marvel Animation’s “X-Men ‘97” Streams on Disney+ Beginning March 20.

To me, my X-Men, nw episodes, new era...

A trailer and teaser poster are now available to celebrate the upcoming Disney+ debut of Marvel Animation’s “X-Men ’97.” The all-new series, which features 10 episodes, begins streaming March 20.

“X-Men’97” revisits the iconic era of the 1990s as The X-Men, a band of mutants who use their uncanny gifts to protect a world that hates and fears them, are challenged like never before, forced to face a dangerous and unexpected new future.  The voice cast includes Ray Chase as Cyclops, Jennifer Hale as Jean Grey, Alison Sealy-Smith as Storm, Cal Dodd as Wolverine, JP Karliak as Morph, Lenore Zann as Rogue, George Buza as Beast, AJ LoCascio as Gambit, Holly Chou as Jubilee, Isaac Robinson-Smith as Bishop, Matthew Waterson as Magneto and Adrian Hough as Nightcrawler. Beau DeMayo serves as head writer; episodes are directed by Jake Castorena, Chase Conley and Emi Yonemura. Featuring music by The Newton Brothers. X-Men 97 is executive produced by Brad Winderbaum, Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso and DeMayo.

The wonderful animation of X-Men 97 is done by StudioMir (Nickelodeon "The Legend of Korra", Dreamworks Animation "Voltron Legendary Defender", "Kipo and The Age Of The Wonderbeast", Lucasfilm Animation "Star Wars Visions", Warner Bros Animation "My Adventures With Superman")

[startrekprodigyfan]

Hey! To anyone lamenting the end of an era in young adult animation now that The Owl House is winding down and many other good shows have been canceled… I’ve got a suggestion for your next hyper-fixation!

Star Trek: Prodigy on Nickelodeon!

I know, I know, it sounds crazy, but hear me out!

For starters the show is absolutely gorgeous! The 3D animation is the highest quality I’ve seen for animated kids shows ever. There’s a lot of expressive details and every character is unique and quirky.

Then there’s the story. In the tradition of Avatar and Legend of Korra, Prodigy gets dark really quickly and has some incredibly mature storytelling. The premise is a bunch of alien teens enslaved on a mining asteroid stumble upon a Star Trek ship and use it to escape! The show literally begins with child slavery and it does not shy away from the dark consequences of this opening premise! Lots of emotional trauma to deal with! ❤️

If you’re thinking “I don’t know anything about Star Trek” then you’re in luck! the show is designed as a gateway into the fandom, so you’ll be introduced to the Trek world slowly and carefully! And if you’re thinking “I love Star Trek” then good news too! The show has tons of Easter eggs and call-backs to prior trek lore and continuity to keep you entertained for months!

It’s such a good show and so few people are talking about it online! I strongly recommend you take a look at it (at least try the first 5 episodes to see if you’re into it).

Please don’t let this show fly under your radar!

[dustfiremediafanatic]

A quick overview on what Dusfire Media is:

Dustfire Media is a group of interesting individuals who have a great time together roleplaying and take a chance on the dice. Beginning in September 2021 with an Actual Play of Avatar Legends, Justin Nitta at the helm as the party GM, they were formerly known as the #FlyingBisonPodcast , or #FBP for short. This is currently the first and longest run campaign of Avatar Legends as an Actual Play podcast!

More recently they've expanded their catalogue and increased the frequency of released episodes, with campaigns in new TTRPGs along with Avatar Legends. #TheProfessionals is a Scum and Villainy Actual Play with Justin as the GM, whilst Relics of the News Republic (#RotNR) is a new Avatar Legends Actual Play set in the Korra Era, GM'd by another Dustfire Media regular Steve Durgin. Once a month, free to all who catch the Twitch Stream but otherwise for Patreon's only podcast wise, Dustfire Media's regulars take turns in #TheForge puppeteering a new TTRPG every few episodes, exploring new systems and causing many laughs along the way.

Both #RotNR and #TheProfessionals are FREE for everyone to listen to, with #The Professionals being streamed once a fortnight (approx) with an episode released weekly, and #RotNR streamed every week and its podcast format being updated at the end of the week.

If you want to find out more, please click the Patreon link below. Their lowest tier unlocks all their content, and is literally only $1USD ($2AUD for me) a month, for 100+ hours of content, minimum. If that doesn't make you think to yourself, "I'm Just Happy to Be Here", I don't think anything will~

https://www.patreon.com/dustfiremedia?utm_campaign=creatorshare_fan

~ Written by Mechkura, a DustfireMediaFanatic ~

[hedgethemaze]

Excuse me, I need to vent

I just finished watching a video on the Avatar: The Last Airbender YouTube channel, tittled “Bryan Konietzko Teases Future of Avatar Studios...” and it got me straight up worried/nervous to be honest 🙁

First of, I saw the whole video but honestly, it doesn’t tease much about Avatar Studios per se...It’s mostly a brief documentary about the making of The Last Airbender and, to a lesser degree, The Legend of Korra go figure🙄

The only moment Bryan touches upon Avatar Studios and its future is with the one phrase that instantly froze my brain and it kinda panicked - says so at the beginning of the video:

"Now we're getting to expand the franchise in different directions all at once"

I swear, the single thought that crossed my mind when I heard that was: 'shit! They're spreading too thin, too soon'. It doesn't sound good.

I know, I know, only time will tell. Still, I was not calmed down as the rest of the video literally became background noise to me. Until the second time Bryan utters similar words at the end of the video

He, again, mentions how making Avatar was the hardest thing he's done (in terms of work) and making Korra was even harder! (Keep in mind, these shows they worked on one after the other, not simultaneously).

Then follows with this:

“Now we're talking about doing multiple projects at the same time, including feature films.”

Now, I know I’m most likely jumping to conclutions but the uneasiness remains, sadly. All the work it took to ‘give birth’ to the world of Avatar, much more so The Legend of Korra, I don’t like learning that they’re moving in all these directions away from these eras that clearly still have so much more to tell.

But let’s not kid outselves, I’m mainly refering to Korra here.

They have an opportunity to do better by that series and all of its characters with Avatar Studios but one of the first things they announce is a new series featuring the next Avatar after Korra?! It may sound childish, I don’t care, but that’s kind of unfair.

I just wish they first focused on enriching the eras they already created (again, mainly Korra’s), instead of head first move past them. To think there’s still chunks of the world LoK never got to explore a.k.a. the Fire Nation! I want too see what the not far future has in store for Republic City and that world, but I want to see it through the eyes of Korra and her friends, not a next Avatar.

At least not yet.

[mqeverel]

LoK Avatar Cycle & New Avatar

Introduction:

The Legend of Korra always gets push back due to the fact that Korra broke the previous Avatar cycle, and cut ties with all the previous Avatars. I remember watching that scene as a kid and feeling devastated, and questions arose regarding the next Avatar after and whether Korra will be the only one the help guide them.

While it sucks that Korra essentially erased thousands of years of experience, I’m starting to understand the idea behind it.

Technology/Modernization:

In Avatar the Last Airbender, we see the impact of new technology, especially from the Fire Nation. This emphasis on advancements are shown to have started during Fire Lord Sozin’s reign, when the Fire Nation started the Hundred-Year War with the intention of expansion.

However, the machines and technology shown in ATLA was still relatively new to many of the characters, as many nations and villages still operate under antiquated methods. We see many characters in ATLA, especially Sokka and Toph, take the lead as some of the most innovative characters in the face of this change. Sokka, with his contributions to the development of airships and submarines, and Toph, with the discovery of metal bending and the direct byproduct (LoK police force).

And we see these effects of this in LoK, with less remote settings, and more metropolitan environments. We see the beginnings of industrialization happen in the ATLA comics as well, with the gang finding more midwestern-esc towns, and the renovation of the Southern Water tribe. In both of these examples, both Aang and Katara had mixed reactions towards these unfamiliar changes.

Bending/World building:

Now, in LoK. The show seems to embrace this new way of life, and less spirituality. We also see this in bending styles, as there is more of an emphasize on specific sub-bending styles (ex.) lightening, metal, blood), many of them having a direct use for certain industrial and professional careers. While the core 4 elements are still prevalent throughout, the next Avatar—and afterwards—will take place in a world where sub bending will take a forefront, and the core elements will probably take a backseat.

From what I have seen, all the Avatars before Korra have only bended the core 4 elements (excluding energy bending, lighting redirection). Korra is the first Avatar to have metal bended, and I feel that’s a mark of a completely new era of Avatar. The society/culture she grew up in and the city she currently lives in, aren’t like anything the past Avatars have experienced. Previously, those societies operated under monarchies, lords, philosophy. But LoK is a world that sorta resembles the one we live now, with complex governance, political ideologies and spectrums, democracies, policies, etc. Even Korra, THE Avatar, doesn’t really seem essential to restore peace (Spirit v. Physical world debacle aside).

I believe the next Avatar after Korra probably will gain more insight through how she navigates life, as no other Avatar before her had to fight giant robots and revive a new culture and era of air-benders (post genocide) in a world where these airbenders might not all be monks. While the wisdom of the past Avatars are still something to be regarded, I doubt any of them would really know how to advise the new Avatar of these modern issues. Of course, there are many aspects of their life that can correlate with the new Avatar, certain issues with the world will transcend generations (discrimination, immigration, corruption, National disputes) but there was a reason Korra probably only went to Aang the most as no other Avatar besides him has had fought a blood bender, or metal bender, or even a lightening bender.

We might even see a decline in bending, as I’m pretty sure bending is somehow tied with one’s spirituality?? Not too sure about that. But we also might see a decline in how people treat sacred spaces (temples, etc) and the natural environment.

Conclusion:

This new Avatar will probably learn metal bending before earth, but either way, I’m excited to see how the creators take on this new Avatar and what concepts they’ll explore. I personally love LoK, I think comparing it to the power house that is ATLA is impossible, but people have to seriously start to see it as its own unique series because it’s still great. I’d be down to see a morally ambiguous (maybe almost villainous) Avatar (I know we already got plenty of them *cough* Kiyoshi *cough* Yangchen) as we know that the Avatar isn’t an individual without flaws.

I’d love to have some discourse over this, I love both of these series dearly, and I know I probably handled some points carelessly so feel free to correct me or explain things. I’m low key hoping for a cynical (maybe a little bit of an eco-terrorist coded) Avatar. I feel like that would add some spice to this potential trilogy.

[legendofgenji]

Happy (Belated) New Year! 2019 was a wild ride and we’ve made some great friends along the way! Cheers to our Avatar fan comic family! Let’s keep creating and inspiring each other in 2020! 

@legend-of-vahni @avatarhanami @airmasterparker @avatarnewera @niikocomic

[avatarhanami]

I love this project! This and Legend of Genji fill the void in my heart after I finished Atla and Lok. I do plan on reading the graphic novels and Kyoshi novels. Good luck to everyone working on this!

 Thank you! This is super sweet! 

I would like to point out that there are other fan-made comics out there I highly recommend shouting out!

@niikocomic done by one of our team members, @nuemilee

@hikarspiritualchronicles by Parker

@avatarnewera which is done by Josh

(These are just ones I know right off the top of my head! I’m sure there are more out there if you look for ‘em!)

- Kyla

[opinions-about-tiaras]

Ten Years

Today is the 10th anniversary of the series premiere of Alex Hirsch’s Gravity Falls on the Disney Channel.

Gravity Falls was a harbinger; it was Disney shaking itself out of its post-Kim Possible doldrums and staking out a bold vision of creator-driven all-ages animated TV series. Legend of Korra was airing at the same time over on Nickelodeon (yeah, Korra is also ten years old; it premiered a couple months prior) but Disney, Cartoon Network, and Nickelodeon had all seriously ebbed back from their mid-aughts creative peaks and were sort of coasting on cheap, lousy, live-action programming, or shows that could be charming and were huge moneymakers, but made NO demands of their audience, such as Teen Titans Go! It’s not that they had nothing going on (Phineas and Ferb was airing) but it was slim pickings.

Gravity Falls would change that. In two seasons over four years it established itself as a critical, cultural, and financial sensation. Disney would follow this up with the flawed-but-still great Star vs. the Forces of Evil, the thoroughly entertaining Wander Over Yonder, the complete tour-de-force of Amphibia, and the tragically cut-short The Owl House.

All of those shows with the possible exception of Wander Over Yonder are loosely serialized creator-helmed YA shows that are invested and dripping with passion and relevance.

Gravity Falls is simultaneously a cryptid-of-the-week show about a zany sideshow attraction AND a show about the uplifting nature of even a flawed family.

Star vs. the Forces of Evil begins as a show about a magical princess from another dimension going to high school and getting into fights with the head cheerleader; it ends with an all-out civil war between people seeking to abolish a corrupt authoritarian order and fascist racists who object to all the race-mixing going on these days. A major plot point is that there’s a grand conspiracy to overthrow and erase from history an entire branch of the ruling family because the Queen boned someone from the wrong race and had a halfie kid, and the powers that be can’t have that.

Wander Over Yonder brought the same joy and whimsy we got from the Powerpuff Girls or Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends to a sci-fit setting straight out of Duck Dodgers in the 24th and a Half Century, brought to life by Jack McBrayers superb voice acting.

Amphibia and the Owl House are isekais (the anime term for “trapped in another word” series) that take what has become the most played-out genre in Japan and rebuilds it with all the strengths, all the verve, of western animators who grew up looking at the tropes and decided “I can marry this to an American sensibility and then do it better. Both shows utterly thrive on building a huge cast of interlinked characters and exploring the interiority of their lives en route to some pretty massive cosmic shit.

These are not shows you plop kids in front of to get them out of the way; these are the very definition of shows you watch and enjoy as a family. And they all had that “created by” note in their opening credits; Alex Hirsch, Daron Nefcy, Craig McCracken, Matt Braly, and Dana Terrace. One could argue that this era of shows is directly or indirectly responsible for spurring Netflix’ own forays into this kind of animation; Voltron: Legendary Defender and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power are cut from the same cloth.

This era may, sadly, be coming to an end. The Owl House is being cut down in its prime because Disney is pivoting away from serialized content of this nature; they want more “fun, bite-sized school hijinks” and less “adorable lesbians fight the evil empire.“ They don’t want a show people get into shipping wars on twitter over; they want Baymax.

This past decade and these shows will create and inspire a whole new generation of animators. Just as the people making these shows all came up under late-90s, early-aughts classic anime and cartoon series (Teen Titans, Reboot, Gargoyles, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Kim Possible, that sort of thing) the work they’ve done will launch into the future the great animated series of the 2030s. Somewhere an twelve-year-old boy is watching The Owl House; in 2035 he will be given a contract for his own show by a producer who in 2012 was a ten-year-old girl watching Gravity Falls.

So happy anniversary, Gravity Falls. You’ve made a lot of folks very happy.

[avatar-news]

From Studio Mir, the animation studio behind The Legend of Korra, here's the first trailer for Netflix’s feature film The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf

[Content warning for some nudity in the trailer.]

The legendary Studio Mir is back with a flagship new release, an original animated feature film in Netflix’s The Witcher franchise titled The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf. Studio Mir has entered into an official partnership with Netflix.

The trailer shows some stunning animation a level above the norm. This movie; along with other upcoming projects like the theatrical animated feature film The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim from Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema (The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit live-action film trilogies); three animated Game of Thrones spin-off series in development at HBO Max; and of course Avatar Studios, a new, dedicated studio for the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra working on an animated theatrical feature film and multiple series for Paramount+; are ushering in a new era of prestige animation.

(I should note that 2D is implied here.)

The entertainment giants are investing heavily into IP-based scifi, fantasy, and period/genre franchises, something that has been massive in the rise of prestige TV and the streaming era. This is now looking to expand into animation, with interconnected animated and live-action releases in one continuity like Netflix’s Studio Mir-animated film coming in August leading up to the second season of its flagship live-action fantasy prestige series proper in December. The next installment from Middle Earth will be an animated film released theatrically, with all the bells and whistles and budget a theatrical drop entails. Avatar Studios’ debut release will also be a theatrical animated film with the same huge potential, but it doesn’t stop there. That project will be part of a sprawling, “multi-tiered” plan for movies and series that at the moment most sounds like Marvel Studios and its unstoppable theatrical and Disney+ slate. Avatar Studios is uniquely positioned to lead the charge in the new era of prestige animation, and even define and create this new space as they go, and the industry knows it. Avatar proved itself as a heavy hitter on Netflix last year, which is the whole reason an entire studio happened. One of the animated Game of Thrones series in development at HBO Max looks to be set in Yi Ti, a tangentially mentioned far-off location based on imperial China. It’s entirely possible that this is an intentional attempt to directly compete with the world of Avatar.

Lots of big things are in motion, and Avatar Studios knows it too. It’s no mistake that they said their projects would be targeting different audiences and age groups. Don’t expect anything as “mature” as what Game of Thrones is known for by some, but the door is opening to targeting the general public at a much larger scale and breaking down the barrier of “kids’ cartoons” (something that both Avatar series already did to a large extent, but now it could happen in more existential, industry-shifting ways).

A big part of all of this is animation at a higher quality level, with a cinematic feel akin to the difference between standard-style TV and prestige streaming series. Studio Mir just showed their chops with The Witcher trailer, though it’s arguable that they already reached this “next” level in parts of The Legend of Korra like Book One: Air, the planned miniseries which they were founded to animate and show the world something new and very special, with a quality level that had not really been seen before and in many ways hasn’t been seen since (until now?). In fact, that planned miniseries was already the first prestige animation-- or a forerunner-- in a lot of ways. While technically still a “kids’ cartoon”, it undeniably pushed those boundaries pretty far, with a tone and focus much more like an adult drama. The production had an unusually high level of effort put into it that was essentially unsustainable in those conditions-- they were creating something much bigger than the industry was used to. After this, the miniseries became a regular series in both length and nature-- Studio Mir at first declined to return because they simply couldn’t keep up the quality they had held themselves to, then came back with a more sustainable level of animation and production. This isn’t to say that seasons 2, 3, and 4 didn’t reach incredible highs of animation at points, but rather that that even higher, “next level”, “prestige” character of the miniseries that became season 1 was precluded from existing again. They could, of their own passion, push themselves to that level once for a miniseries, but not forever. This applies to other aspects of the production as well, like going from the two creators themselves writing every episode in season 1, to a more standard-TV array of many different writers in the rest of the show.

The full series also had an awkward delay between seasons 1 and 2 for this reason, and overall came at an awkward time just as standard TV was dying, but before a “kids’ cartoon” company like Nickelodeon knew what to do with a series like The Legend of Korra. Ironically, it became one of the first high-profile shows to go to “streaming” when it was taken off the air halfway through season 3 and moved to online-only, but there was always a prescient, special feel to this show’s place in the industry. In fact, its very first premiere was online, weeks ahead of its standard TV airing debut. This is something that was a pretty big deal at the time in 2012, before there was such thing as a “Netflix Original”. In a way, this makes the planned miniseries that ended up being The Legend of Korra Book One: Air not just a forerunner of the upcoming era of prestige animation, but technically also employing the approach of prestige TV itself before it existed in live-action! The very thing that has completely changed the industry and world of storytelling in the decade since. It kind of makes sense, because they could do it in animation with their own effort, but it wasn’t a “thing” in live-action TV yet.

Well, that high-effort, “next-level” approach to all aspects of production coming together to make something “prestige” is something that companies are now backing up with money and resources and planning. It’s about to hit animation, and Studio Mir, from the first, appropriately Korra-like foreshocks to now with The Witcher, has been right there with it all. One question on everyone’s minds is whether they will return to take the Avatar franchise to this new, next level. Right now, we still have no idea. As mentioned at the beginning of this article, they do have a partnership with Netflix now, while Avatar Studios will live on its direct competitor Paramount+. However, it’s a non-exclusive contract, so they legally can work with Avatar Studios. The question is if they have the time and people to do it-- we don’t know how many projects with Netflix they might be working on, and whether they have their hands full.

What we can be sure of is that Studio Mir will be a cornerstone of the era of prestige animation, starting with The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf streaming on Netflix on August 23rd.

[scorpionyx9621]

In Defense of Mako from Legend of Korra: The Avatar Franchise's Unsung Hero (Warning | Does Contain Spoilers for the Legend of Korra as a whole series)

Well this isn't a controversial topic that's going to garner me hate. My main intro to fandom in general started way back with two franchises: Resident Evil and the Avatar: The Last Airbender Series. As someone who is on the verge of turning 26, I realize I'm on the older end of the demographic trend of those who like the franchise (Even though the show first aired in February 2005) and as many people will tell you, The ATLA franchise and especially the original series is widely lauded as one of, if not the best animated series of all time. With the Legend of Korra coming out as the sequel to the original series back in April of 2012, I was a high schooler during that time and was beginning to develop and understand more nuanced and complex topics and character traits. And to me, despite it's multiple flaws, The Legend of Korra was a brilliant sequel built atop a personally flawless universe.

The Legend of Korra was a more adult take on the Avatar franchise. A series well known for not shying away from very real and very adult topics like war, poverty, death, genocide, classisim, etc. To see this world evolve into an industrial revolution and live through its form of Gilded Age was such a unique and engaging twist on a fictional universe I already had a deep love for. We have our new Avatar; Korra, a young woman from the Southern Water Tribe given the title of the next Avatar following the death of Aang, the main character of the original ATLA series. We get to see her perspective and watch her juggle being The Avatar and being a young adult in the same universe we saw the original Gaang work tirelessly throughout their adult lives to create. We get to watch her make new friends and eventually form her own Team Avatar, which is where we get introduced to Mako and Bolin.

That's enough gushing about the universe this is set in but it does help provide context to what I will try to argue in this post. Mako is one quarter of Korra's Team Avatar, the eventual ignored axis of the Korra/Mako/Asami love triangle, and almost 70% of the drama that happens within the party. One of Legend of Korra's weaknesses as a series compared to Avatar the Last Airbender was its heavy focus on romantic relationships as subplot to create tension and drama within the team. To call Mako a fuckboy is like calling the sky blue. That being said, the sheer vitriol that the fandom has against him is astounding. The Legend of Korra holds no punches with Mako in that they are very upfront about Mako not being a generally nice person at best to being a selfish player at his lowest characterization. However none of this detracts from the fact that Mako has saved the world alongside Korra and the rest of Team Avatar MULTIPLE times.

Yet because of a poor reception of his character to the literal world-spanning conflict that was this show's shipping wars. We've seen Mako get cast to the side over and treated worse than the freaking villains of the show, which include but aren't limited to; terrorists who want to commit ethnic cleansing (Among) a religious zealot who wishes to usher in thousands of years of Darkness (Unalaq) an anarchist who literally does not care who he kills and ALSO wanted to commit ethnic cleansing (Zaheer) and a literal fascist dictator who was willing to go as far as putting her own people in concentration camps all because they disagree with her. (Kuvira)

In this tangent I'm not trying to say any of Mako's actions in his relationships with Korra and Asami were justified or good decisions. I am trying in this post to provide context as to why he is how he is and why he, to this day, still is my favorite protagonist from The Legend of Korra. So enjoy! Or don't, you're choosing to use your free time to read this, I'm just infodumping because I'm a LoK fan, a simp for Mako, and a history buff whose favorite time period to study is the Industrial Revolution/Gilded Age/Edwardian Era. So enjoy! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I guess we should give a general history of these two because hey, context. Mako is a mixed-heritage fire bender who grew up in Republic City, a nation-state-city-thing founded by the original Gaang to be a city where all people of all nationalities whether you were from the Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation, or the Northern and Southern Water tribes could come together and live harmoniously.

Mako and Bolin's father, San, was an Earth Bender and an Earth Kingdom national originally from Ba Sing Se who came from a very large family of grocers/produce vendors and hailed from the poorest economic circle/caste in Ba Sing Se. San had aspirations and dreamed of moving to the fabled Republic City in an attempt to try to better his life. This caused a fallout between San and his father, after which San made his way from Ba Sing Se to Republic City. After an undetermined amount of time, San met a Fire Nation woman named Naoki, the two formed a relationship and eventually had a son who could fire-bend. (Mako) Two years later, they had another son, this time one who could earth bend (Bollin)

We don't know the economic standing that San and Naoki found themselves in but considering how Mako and Bollin had to grow up following what happened, it can be assumed they were lower-middle class at best. However after an indeterminate amount of time, the family took this photo seen above together and sent it to San's family back in Ba Sing Se, like you'd take a picture of your family and send it out as holiday cards, which I assume this is what it was. But it let San's family know that he was alive and now has a family of his own and two sons.

Unfortunately this happiness did not last. As supposedly not long after, in a break-in robbery gone wrong, Mako witnessed as his mother and father were murdered by a fire bender. Making him not only an orphan but now the sole caretaker for his younger brother. Now, I need to stress to everyone reading this of the fact that not only was Mako just a kid when this happened, but Mako was EIGHT (8) years old when he watched his whole world get turned upside down as he watched a fire-bender murder his mother and father. Mako was a genuine child. Most human males don't start the very first phases of puberty until about 10 at the earliest. All of this piled on top of the fact that Mako now has to care for his six year old brother when he himself is just a kid.

People ask, 'why didn't Mako take Bolin and himself to Ba Sing Se?' 'What about Naoki's family?' San was basically disowned by his father, and from what we know about how Mako and Bolin stayed in Republic City it's very likely San didn't tell Mako or Bollin about his family. When Mako and Bolin met their paternal uncle Chow and their Grandmother Yin in Book 3, Chow and Yin didn't even know that San had died. That's how little San and his family communicated. The only reason why they even re-united was that Chow noticed the striking resemblance Bolin had to San. Chow's brother and Bolin's father. We literally know nothing about Naoki other than her name and what she looked like. We don't know her family or her origin or where she came from or even if she was a fire bender. It's implied that she was a fire bender because Mako is a fire bender, but we don't even know that for sure because again, all that we know is her name, what she looked like, and that she was from the Fire Nation. Even if Mako was 8, I feel if he had known about these family members, he would have at least tried to find them or reach out to them. But given what we were shown in S3. Mako and Bolin never knew they had family in Ba Sing Se, let alone they had any family left other than the two of them.

As the show went along we got more details about who the brothers were and how they came to be, and even a short mini-series on how three years prior to meeting Korra they met Pabu and discovered Pro-Bending called Republic City Hustle. It's a cute short that sheds light onto their background and insight to their characters.

It's established pretty early on that Mako is the stern, but caring older brother on the show. He still has his funny moments but in general his main focus is keeping him and Bolin alive. It's stated in the show that Mako did anything to keep him and Bolin fed and alive. A lot of people don't get that this show was taking place during this universe's Edwardian Era (it feels like the Gilded Age and the Edwardian Era get lumped together because it falls right after the industrial revolution and before World War I even though the Gilded Age ranges from 1870-1900 and the Edwardian Era spans from 1900-1914/15-ish. So I guess the Edwardian Era because they had radio broadcasts and early forms of movies/televisions but Auto/Satomobiles were just becoming mainstream/readily available.) (Post update I've come to realize that what they were going for was the Roaring 20's but this honestly changes little) ANYWAYS Child Labor laws really weren't what they used to be, even in the most progressive of countries at the time. I want to circle us back to Mako and Bolin by reminding you that Mako was 8 when his parents were murdered. At that point and time, as he watched both of his parents get murdered by a fire-bender, at that exact moment Mako stopped being a kid and immediately had to become an adult.

Mako is often portrayed as this brooding, hard ass type who can be really immature when upset but also gloats and acts even impudent at times. A lot of this stems from the fact that since he was 8, Mako had to learn not only how to survive on the streets of a major city, learn how to make money, how to feed, clean, house, and support not only himself but his six year old brother. Most people in their teens and twenties once they reach the point they can physically have children struggle with this GREATLY. Let alone an EIGHT YEAR OLD. Mako spent the entirety of his formative childhood years and well into his early adulthood having the stressors of a fully-matured adult on his shoulders. I'm not surprised at all he's lacking in terms of the social skills department. Especially when it comes to talking about his emotional maturity around friends and romantic partners. I think it's safe to say outside of what little schooling Mako did receive, his childhood wasn't focused on making friends and maintaining friendships/relationships.

Also yes, Mako detractors, it's proven multiple times that Mako and Bolin both are fully literate. Mako has been made to write NUMEROUS incident reports as a police officer via Lin Beifong, and in probably the stupidest use of the Avatar State ever, Korra used the bright white lights of doom to act as a nightlight for Mako so he could read a book. Infuriatingly stupid? You bet, does it show that a literal street-urchin defying all the odds thrown against him and being someone who is literate enough to enjoy a book on his own free time? You betcha.

In a roundabout way, I'm trying to explain that Mako doesn't have the best social skills based on the fact that he was an orphan in what was essentially the early 1910's for this world's societal timeframe and as such he didn't have much in the ways of a social upbringing. I don't think he really had a good, genuine friendship with anyone outside his brother until he met Korra and Asami. He most likely had to adopt the mindset that everyone who isn't paying him is an obstacle in the way of him earning a means to survive.

Yet at the same time, this is what I grew to love about Mako. Was that despite the literal mountain of trauma he carries on his shoulders, he's an amazingly well-adjusted person considering his circumstances.

When we first meet him in Book 1 he's finally at a bit of an upswing in his life, he works at a power plant that utilizes Fire Benders who can generate lighting to power Republic City's electricity. (Most likely fantastic for the environment, on a meta level thinking about human rights? This is a literal nightmare.) And with this job he's able to keep a roof over his and Bolin's head and he's able to participate in Pro-Bending on the side. Considering not 3 years before him and Bolin were basically wearing rags and on the street doing whatever he can to get him and Bolin food.

Can we also discuss how utterly broken Mako is if we go based on the original lore of the ATLA universe? If memory serves Lightning generation is a thing that naturally not every fire bender is able to do, like it's a genetic thing or something, it has culturally waned in terms of being taught. To the point that at the end of ATLA: The only four humans known to be capable of generating and redirecting lightning were Ozai, Zuko, Azula, and Aang. It became taught by Zuko through the generations and although it became significantly more common again, not every fire bender could generate lightning. Mako already is a fairly talented Fire Bender considering he hasn't had much of any formal training on his bending abilities but the fact that his fire bending is to the caliber as some of the fiercest enemies in ATLA, but having lighting generation skills on par with, if not surpassing that of the literal Fire Nation royal family not even a century ago.

And this is when we just meet Mako when he was just 18. He's able to generate a genuinely powerful blast of lightning at Amon while he's being blood bended and gave Amon a powerful enough blast to temporarily incapacitate him. (Aang was blood bended by Amon's father and was only able to break out by going into the Avatar state) but it gets to the point by book 4, in order to stop Kuvira's Mecha from destroying Republic City, Mako generates lightning at the spirit branch powering the machine to the point he physically burns and disfigures his own arm by just how much lightning this man was generating. The entire power-scaling gymnastics Legend of Korra goes through is already nonsense but this? This is fucking scary. This is some Sozin's comet level shit coming out of some random 22 year old man who grew up on the streets. I don't know how else to emphasize that Mako canonically has killed a person because of his lightning bending. (she was a villain about to murder him but still)

Regardless of his abilities, Mako is a character who has been through an extreme amount of trauma. As a social scientist by trade, Mako had defied literally every statistic placed against him. After losing his parents he not only was able to provide for himself but for Bolin too. He managed to do all of this starting before he even hit puberty. Yet despite all of the years of unresolved trauma. Mako is still a good person.

Back in Book 1 Mako was just as on board with taking down the Equalists as Korra. Mako did this to help people and he did all of this of his own volition. Yes he was at Korra's side and he was technically eating Asami, but Mako had 0 obligation to stay by The Avatar's side. Especially when him and his brother's lives were in danger. Given Mako's background and how he had to live a very selfish life to survive, this shows that Mako genuinely is a good person who went along for the ride and came out on top.

Funnily enough, when you look into the next Book, Mako becomes a cop in Republic City. Our boy here really is just poor Bruce Wayne with superpowers. He got to go on one vigilante adventure with a hot girl paying attention to him and now he's about honor and justice. God, Mako, I want to hit you. He clearly went through a power trip by the end of Book 1 and him working at a Power Plant wasn't going to give him the same kind of rush so he goes to Chief Beifong. And honestly, I'll bet Lin was fucking relieved that the most powerful fire bender she's ever seen is a temperamental 18 year old blue collar worker just suddenly decided to make any potential headache and stack of paperwork disappear by walking to her office and asking her for a job. And as Book 2 would later show us, Mako is literally just an incident report waiting to happen.

Regardless, a large part of his character arc was finding out how to be a good person and be a good friend at the same time. Mako is a character who tears down a lot of personal walls and matures a tremendous amount as the books go on. He starts as an adult at 18 with 10 years of experience to opening up as a friend and love interest, to being confronted with a lot of his own negative traits, him not taking it well, to him recognizing that no, he's not the hero and is actively the problem the majority of the time to bring a fully matured character by the end of the show. Again, Mako really is just Bruce Wayne if Bruce was poor and had to take care of a child once his parents died. I get Bruce's reasoning of being a vigilante hero and beating up "villains" isnt a story everyone likes. But I fuck it, I'm basically 2000 words in and we're still here.

Okay obligatory simp section: people don't appreciate the fact that Mako is INTIMIDATING AS FUCK. Yes the guy is in his late teens and early twenties but Mako is 6'2. And is an athlete who becomes a cop who then becomes the personal bodyguard to the heir of a Queen who was murdered. Wu hired Mako because he KNEW Mako's reputation as a bender. (and as a man) Mako is often portrayed as a stick whereas Bolin is everyone's beefy thick god supreme. Mako isn't thick with 72 C's but Mako is not scrawny and has a very athletic build and is quite muscular.

Add on top of the fact that benders, particularly Fire Benders, had a very negative stigma surrounding them during the events of book 1. Mako, to someone who you've never met, a 6'2 muscular, sharp-faced rough looking fire bender coming your way is a very intimidating site. And this information isn't lost on Mako. He's well aware that he holds the exact same power that many people in Republic City fear. He apologizes to Asami after finding out a fire-bender killed her mother. He carries the exact same power that was used by the very person he watched murder his own parents. And Mako knows how to capitalize on it. Mako has threatened to use his bending to harm people on numerous occasions as a means to get what he wants out of them. Notedly for the greater good but still. I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of a pissed off 18 year old who is pinning me to a wall and has fire superpowers and lightning superpowers to match that of the gods all whilst he's generating a knife made out of FIRE and putting it between my arm and my head. (Don't fucking lie you simp that is your DREAM)

One of the areas where I feel we see LoK succeed over ATLA is we truly get to see these characters evolve over the course of years. There's a big gap between books 2 and 3 and an even bigger gap between books 3 and 4. By the time we re-united with Mako at the start of book 4, he's 22 and a fully established adult. He's now the personal bodyguard for the extremely eccentric Prince Wu, the nephew of the now deceased tyrannical Earth Queen and next in line for the throne of the Earth Kingdom.

They establish very early on that yes, this is the same Mako as before for better or for worse, but Mako has truly come into his own of who he wants to be, a protector. He wants to be someone who defends the innocent and punishes those who are unjust (Insert Bruce Wayne reference here) However when we look at his re-design for Book 4 Mako has one of the most dramatic design changes. He's very non-descript with a toned down style as opposed to his loud and brash style with his rocking up-do haircut. He's now settled for a neat, gelled comb-over that looks like it ages him about 5 years older than he actually is. I feel a large part of this has to do with him working with royalty, as in the follow-up comics to Book 4, when given the choice and not under obligation to protect Prince Wu, Mako will choose to go back to his original hair style.

But Book 4 serves as what I consider a good enough wrap-up to his character. Mako realizes that even though he does still harbor feelings for Korra. That's not what is in both of their best interests and that's completely okay. Him and Korra are still able to maintain a solid friendship based on a deep amount of trust they both have for each other. I cannot stress enough that again, Mako and the rest of Team Avatar were walking into a mission against Kuvira they very likely wouldn't make it out of. And Mako very nearly almost killed himself by just how much he was exerting himself to destroy the Spirit Branch. Hell the actual burst of lighting he generated was so powerful and was so prolonged he literally physically burned his own arm to the point he's physically disfigured now because of it. That is how far Mako was willing to go for the Avatar and for what he believed in.

The Legend of Korra is a phenomenal successor to Avatar the Last Airbender. That being said, LoK had a lot of glaring weaknesses that overall dragged the show down. Its heavy reliance on its romantic subplot has got to be the biggest weakness of the show. As it polarized the fandom very quickly to the entirety of the main team. Mako fell on the short end of that straw because he was the player, the main love interest of the Avatar for the first half of the show and we spent the latter half dealing with the fallout of their relatively messy break up. Causing many in the fandom to immediately subjugate Mako to just being a fuckboy hard ass.

Mako is a character who has seen and lived through an untold amount of trauma from a very early age. I don't need a PHD or MD to tell the people of Tumblr.com that trauma literally changes the way you form relationships and respond to the world. Mako is no different. Yet he doesn't let his trauma define him. I like Mako as much as I do because he's an absolutely ridiculously powerful bender but also this is a man who you can't say no to. You can't tell Mako no or he can't do that because he's smart and creative enough to give it a multiple good college-trys and he's also strong enough to electrocute a quarter of freaking Republic City so he'll find a way to do it and get it done.

I think Mako's key sticking point is that he's a bit too adult of a character for this TV shows. A lot of the decisions he makes are seen as cold and harsh but this guy has spent a decade on the streets trying to keep not only himself but his kid brother alive. And the second he gets a moment to actually express himself emotionally and romantically things go awry because he wasn't properly socialized on how to sustain and maintain healthy friendships and romantic relationships. It almost feels like he was set-up from the get-go to fail in this regards.

Regardless Mako is not the demon the fandom makes him out to be. He's brash, brooding, and a little bit immature, but to call him the villain of the show is both an insult to Mako but to the villains of the show. Because Mako is the man who I genuinely believe would give you the shirt off his back if you were struggling and my single favorite part of this whole series is the villains. Where Korra's Team struggled and felt conflicted the villains were the true highlight of the show.

Anyways long tangent over: I love Mako and his absolute dorkiness and his stupid eyebrows and nice muscles. He's a genuinely good character who deserves his pearls but to be studied as well because why did we need to give him the power of Thor? Why? It was very sexy of them to do it but I'm just confused as to why. Anyways I hope you gained something out of this infodump because boy this took a day and a half.

[thevictorianghost]

If you could rewrite legend of korra and make it your own(or just in general better) how would you do it? The villains would stay the same and korra and crew are the same(personalities you can definitely tweak a bit. I would definitely not have any love triangles and make korra and asami happen in the beginning) how would you do it with your ships being canon as well?

Okay so I’ve never actually watched LOK. I’ve heard A LOT about it through watching countless video essays on Youtube and reading Tumblr posts about it. I know the who, the what and the how, I just haven’t wanted to watch it because, even though it looks cinematically gorgeous, the story was written by Bry/ke and there’s a LOT of it, worldbuilding and storywise, that I just can’t bare to watch.

So here goes. This got long. Enjoy!

1) Remove the Decopunk world. 

A Decopunk world is a world where technology is 1920s-ish, but very advanced. We have cars, tanks, radio, bobs and faux bobs, cloche hats, short skirts, nice suits, etc. I adore Decopunk. The 1920s are one of my favourite eras. An optimistic way of looking at the world, partying, illegal alcohol, the remnants of the Great War... I love it. I really do. But it doesn’t work in the pre-established world of Avatar. It brings elements that are far too imperialistic and colonial in nature (which prompted the comics to be imperialistic and colonial in nature, with the Northern and Southern Water Tribe, you can find many posts about that), which came along hand in hand with the Industrial Revolution, as this article puts it so well. Please read it, it’s awesome.

Why did they feel they had to denature Avatar’s world? They already had everything they could possibly want. 

The Fire Nation could be more Steampunk, which is a little less advanced than Decopunk (First Industrial Revolution vs Second Industrial Revolution) because there were elements of Steampunk in the Fire Nation Army (such as the tanks, the navy and the dirigibles). But it could be for them only. It could show us how Zuko transformed the Fire Nation from a war industry to a steam-powered country. This could be the new way to channel firebending (and please, no more “anyone can do lightning bending”, you don’t need lightning bending to get electricity and it makes  Zuko, Iroh, Ozai and Azula weak in the show!). 

We’ve seen waterbending used in clever ways in the Northern Water Tribe. How could Katara’s waterbending and Sokka’s engineering influence the Southern Water Tribe to make them use waterbending more? Canals, waterfalls, waterways, etc.? In new and different ways? Could the Southern Water Tribe use hydroelectricity, but in a clean, sustainable way? Why does the Southern Water Tribe port look so... mundane? 

The Earth Kingdom already had a working train system in Ba Sing Se. And the postal system in Omashu. Toph could have taught earthbenders how to follow the Badgermoles way and dug tunnels throughout a nation in peace. Then boom. Subways. But instead of machines pushing the people along, you can have benders do it. Instead of messenger hawks, the postal system could run through the entire kingdom instead of just Omashu and be much more efficient. The Earth Kingdom could be praised for its fast postal system that could, maybe, work as telegrams.

I’ll come back to the Air Nomads.

Those are just examples from the top of my head. I don’t mean “never allow technology to “””progress””” (I use that word veeeeery loosely because it has huge imperialistic undertones). I mean instead of trashing the fun parts of bending to make way for Decopunk technology that doesn’t need bending, work with it! Get creative! This worldbuilding feels... too easy. When Avatar: The Last Airbender was praised for its worldbuilding.

I adore Decopunk. I enjoy it far more than Dieselpunk and it’s much less known that Steampunk. But it has no place in the Avatar world.

2) That doesn’t mean “remove Republic City”.

First of all, it should honestly have a better name. It’s kind of like naming a city “Democracy City”. Which is way too on the nose. Harmony City sounds better, and that’s the first thing that came to mind. Anyway.

I really like the idea of a city being built in the spirit of Iroh and the White Lotus. To allow the Four Nations to live together in harmony in one city. But why is Republic City literally New York City with an “““Asian””” flair? What is up with that? I know New York is the MOST Decopunk city ever (you can’t encounter anything Decopunk without seeing New York, with its Art Deco buildings, the Harlem Renaissance, the Prohibition, etc.). But they do NOTHING with it! They just take New York, change some names, add some Asian flair, and call it a day. 

I don’t want 1920s New York for Republic City. I want Zootopia.

What happens in a city where all the Four Nations are represented? How does Water, Earth, Fire and Air work together? Big cities tend to be quartered in neighborhoods, so each neighborhood could be a smaller version of their nation. We could have a Northern Water Tribe next to an Earth Kingdom next to... you know what I mean? Each neighborhood could be a small-scale introduction to the nation for Korra first, then you can send her to that nation afterwards!

Which leads us to this.

3) Have Korra follow a traditional Avatar’s journey. 

I really don’t know why they decided that Korra would learn three elements before the age of sixteen (when that’s the age Avatars usually START their journeys) and then only have her learn Airbending during the entire show. Wasn’t the structure of each Book being about Aang learning one element at a time a good structure? Why go out of their way to NOT do that? Why was it the White Lotus’ prerogative to train the Avatar in the first place, too?  

So let’s have Korra know waterbending first (and show Katara teaching her, please!), then she can learn Earth, Fire and Air. By going to the Earth Kingdom, to the Fire Nation, and to the Air Temples. This could help develop each nation and show us how they have grown through the years. And it could lead Korra and the audience to figure out that there’s not only Aang who has had children to represent the Air Nomads, but there were other Air Nomads who survived the genocide and we can actually see the Air Nomads as a thriving culture.

So about Republic City. As I said, we could keep it. But now that Korra is going on a traditional Avatar journey, you could have, say, one episode at the beginning and one episode at the end of each season taking place in Republic City. To show us how each Nation’s neighborhood works and as an introduction to Korra before she actually takes the plunge to travel to that nation. 

Please! Build upon the Avatar world at large more! Come on!

4) Stop it with the love triangles. 

Many have talked about the Mako, Korra, Bolin and Asami love triangles. I’ve read once that they don’t exactly feel like friends, they’re only colleagues who share the fact they all dated Korra at one point. Which is sad. Knowing that the Gaang is so beloved because they’re such GOOD FRIENDS first!

So work to build strong, healthy friendships first, THEN start thinking about romance if you have to. And please, if you want a ship to be endgame, don’t have it so you have to confirm it on Twitter. 

Don’t.

Oh! And also. Bolin and Eska’s relationship was unhealthy as all hell and treated as “funny” and “comic relief” because a woman was being emotionally abusive to a man. That’s terrible. Please don’t do that.

5) Don’t let Katara fall to the side like she did. 

Many, MANY before me have talked about how Katara got the short end of the stick in LOK. Where’s her statue? Where’s her recognition as the Greatest Waterbender in the World? Why is she day in and day out in the healing hut, when she said “I don’t want to heal, I want to FIGHT”? Does she even have a waterbending school? Or is that completely fanon? Why does she allow Aang to take one of their children on life-changing field trips while leaving their other kids behind? Aren’t they also Air Nomads by birth??

It’s okay to worship the old Gaang because, well, we all love them! I do love Aang, even if I give him a hard time a lot, but I love the character. I just don’t like the way Book 3 Aang was written. But some characters shouldn’t have everything while others have nothing. Aang is LITERALLY THE STATUE OF LIBERTY. But where was Katara’s statue? And also, what happened to Suki?? What happened to Mai or Ty Lee, too?? Or even Sokka?? He died some time ago and... that’s it??

Which brings us to this.

6) Zutara, Taang, Sukka and Mailee.

I’ve seen that picture of Toph, Aang, Sokka and Katara being edited with Zuko and Katara next to each other, Toph and Aang next to each other, and a (suddenly alive!) Suki next to Sokka. I think that’s so good! It feels so healthy!

Not all relationships that started when people were kids work out. Sokka and Suki seem the strongest relationship at the end of the show and they’re probably the only ones I could see working out in the end. Sokka could become the Southern Water Tribe Chief and Suki could become his Queen when she’s retired from the Kyoshi Warriors.

Katara and Aang would be lifelong friends, of course they would be, but I don’t really see them lasting. Aang was twelve when they started dating. They’d date a few years, then they’d decide they want other things. That’s a good thing to show kids!

I’ve written many metas about Zutara, but Ambassador then Fire Lady Katara would show a changing world, where the Fire Nation, now no longer a war industry but a Steampunk country, is moving forward, with Zuko literally marrying a woman the Fire Nation tried to wipe out. They would be equals and leave an equal mark upon the world. Together.

Toph and Aang would be amazing together. They’d be a great team, working in the Earth Kindom, helping rebuild the old Temples when the Air Nomads came out of hiding, and bringing peace around the world. I don’t think they’d be a conventional relationship. They’d do their own thing for a while, find each other for a while, work together on some projects, then continue doing their own thing. Aang being the Avatar who travels the world and Toph teaching metalbenders and working with the King in Ba Sing Se and Bumi in Omashu and wherever she’s needed. I think Toph would be much more fulfilled than what we’ve seen of elderly Katara. She doesn’t have Katara’s abandonment issues (I’ve talked about them here) and she’s more independent, I believe.

I know I haven’t talked about them much yet, but I want Mai and Ty Lee together in the end. Badass ladies challenging their respective stereotypes and create a new world for themselves. Mai could find herself away from the Fire Nation court (I don’t know what she’d do, but circuses love people who throw knives, don’t they? She could be a circus performer for a while), and I think Ty Lee, in this version, could work at the circus and with Aang to rebuild the Air Nomads. I love the idea of Ty Lee being a descendant of the Air Nomads.

All of them should be shown creating Zootopia-like Republic City. Because of course they should be! They’re the Gaang!

So yeah, that’s how I would see the world of Avatar grow beyond the borders of the original show! :)

[isaacthedruid]

Please allow me to tell you about one of my favourite cartoons through this informal essay I did for school a couple of months back. 

Gravity Falls and How it Did The Unimaginable

**SPOILERS... KINDA**

The 2010s saw the creation of some of the most iconic animated tv shows ever made, the likes of Adventure Time (2010), Steven Universe (2013), Over the Garden Wall (2014) and The Legend of Korra (2012). To explain why this era’s shows are so admirable is honestly rather difficult. Yet, there are many factors that can be taken into consideration when looking for an answer.

The past decade was very successful in perfecting their craft and utilizing the animated format to their favour, creating some of the wackiest and fascinating cartoons ever made. With the advancements made in both 2D and 3D animation for film, this bled into the world of TV as well.

To mention that 2010s cartoons have stunning visuals would be an understatement. Everything about the animation was beautiful; the strong colour palettes, the clean and imaginative character designs, the colourful and immersive backgrounds and especially the mesmerizing worlds that can be found within episodes that are half an hour.

This era’s cartoons also led to a massive shift in storytelling, writing longer-running stories that spread out across seasons while also swapping out episodic adventures for serialization. This heavily aided in the popularization of these shows, due to the rise of internet fandoms and dropping the taboo that cartoons were only for kids. Many shows acknowledged their older viewers by leaving clues and even puzzles to be solved by the theorists who have a large appearance on social media platforms like Reddit, Twitter and Tumblr. As the shows progressed, their fandoms created many theories for what they believed might happen within their favourite series. The top three shows from this era all utilized these changes, being at the forefront of the shift and helping guide the creative vision of 2010s cartoons.

Often regarded as many people’s favourite cartoon, Gravity Falls presented one of the best mysteries of the decade with two seasons and only 40 episodes. Inspired by Twin Peaks and The X-Files, it’s considered as the kids’ version of these two iconic shows as this cartoon acts as many people’s first introduction to horror through bright colours and fun characters.

This series follows the adventures of Dipper and Mabel Pines, twins, who are sent to spend their summer with their great-uncle or Grunkle Stan in Gravity Falls, Oregon. This town is full of oddities like supernatural creatures, insane and eccentric inhabitants, and many puzzles. The Pines twins must adjust to the weirdness while uncovering the mysteries and protecting their new town.

While living in Gravity Falls, the twins are forced to work in the Mystery Shack, a tourist trap created by their Grunkle Stan that overcharges unlucky tourists, teaching about fake monsters despite there being real creatures all over town. On his first day in Oregon, Dipper accidentally came across a mysterious journal written by an unknown author that explains all the oddities to be found in this strange town. This book acts like an encyclopedic of the Weird for Dipper, an inquisitive 12-year-old kid who seeks answers.

Dipper is an extremely intelligent kid, his brain being far more developed than his body. He’s rather awkward and self-conscious as he often stumbles over his words or gets embarrassed trying to talk to girls. Despite this, the boy is an adventurer at heart who just wants to grow up and skip his upcoming teenage years.

While Mabel is quite the opposite in many ways, she is loud and has an in-your-face personality. Mabel is bouncy and fun, she is so excited to start high school. She is easily excitable and for the larger part of the series, she is in her boy-crazy phase. Mabel is a girly-girl as she likes all things; glitter, unicorns, rainbows, partying and crafting. Yet, she doesn’t often compare well with many of the other girls in town, they see her as weird and “too much”.

(In all fairness through, it is not too kind to either of the characters as their personalities are more complex than just awkward nerd and artsy girl-girly.)

Dipper and Mabel’s personalities are very different but somehow, they—along with their Gravity Falls family—manage to solve mysteries and save the town, multiple times.

Gravity Falls is an honestly genius series that completely changed the way cartoons were made. Originally when writing a series, you’d create a base of your story; characters, the universe and a basic plot. Yet, when creator, Alex Hirsch (who was in his early/mid-20)s and his small team first began constructing their show, they planned out everything they could possibly think of for the first season. Additionally, outlining some answers for their biggest mysteries that would be answered at the end of the series.

Despite being rated TV-Y7, this series really pushed the boundaries of kids’ television. From the teeth being ripped out of a deer’s mouth by a demon, rearranging the functions of every hole on a man’s face to an aggressive pop-rock sock puppet show that ended in a dramatic slow-motion scene of the puppets burning. Gravity Falls wasn’t afraid to get a little weird or creepy. Or create some genuine nightmare fuel. 

From the beginning, Gravity Falls had built a mystery into its series, hiding secrets and clues all throughout the show. Most notably were the backwards-recorded message and cryptograms, using roughly nine different kinds, even creating two of their own.

The inclusion of cyphers and mysteries for fans to solve is possibly the reason why this series was so successful. As one of the first shows to do something like this, Gravity Falls used social media and internet fandoms to its advantage.

As mentioned earlier, cartoon fans have quite a presence on social media platforms like Twitter and Tumblr. They create theories and share fun ideas about their favourite shows. Viewers of Adventure Time, Gravity Falls and Steven Universe were all included in their share of theory fun.

Sometimes, fan theories end up being correct but when you’re Gravity Falls creator, Alex Hirsch, you don’t just watch from the sidelines as your viewers figure out the biggest mystery of your show. No, you create a hoax to get your viewers off your trail and that is what he did. Around 2013, only halfway through the first season of the show, viewers had started to follow the clues, theorizing who was the author is Dipper’s mysterious journal.

Unfortunately for the Gravity Falls production crew, the viewers were right— for the sake of readers who have never seen the show, I will not mention who the author was as it would be the biggest spoiler.

In 2013, a supposed leaked image of a tv showing a younger version of the show’s crazy old man character, Old Man McGucket, writing in the infamous journal was uploaded anonymously (by Alex Hirsch) to 4Chan.

Despite the image only being on up for a few hours, it spread like wildfire. Much to the team’s success, theorists stopped searching for the answer to “who is the author” and just accepted the image of McGucket as the truth.

To further push the fake-out, three words were posted to Alex’s Twitter, “fuming right now.”

The tweet was deleted a few minutes later and fans genuinely believed that someone from the Gravity Falls team had leaked the most important part of the story.

While doing research, I came across a Reddit post from April 10th, 2013, the day after ‘leak,’ Alex’s tweet was uploaded. In this post, user, TheoDW uploaded an image of Alex’s tweet with the caption, “It seems that Hirsch got mad at last night’s leak. He already deleted this tweet.”

Seeing the reactions of these Redditors in 2013 is kind of weird and crazy to look at. “He has every right to be upset. Someone internally released a plot revealing screen shot of series breaking spoiler information,” a deleted Reddit account commented.

“This is Alex Hirsch’s biggest success by far, he spent a huge amount of time carefully planning out the series, and then in a moment someone releases a major spoiler. It would make anyone upset,” the user, Time_Loop commented.

“Seriously, this is a nightmare for a storyteller, and shows a breach of trust. I feel so bad for him–honestly, I hope whoever did the leak gets caught and appropriate action is taken. You don’t f–k with someone’s story like this. It’s unprofessional.” the user, lonelybeloved angrily commented.

In 2014, this ‘leak’ was finally disproven when viewers were given an episode on McGucket’s backstory and an amazing tweet from Alex Hirsch. 

Alex had post an image of himself playfully pointing at a monitor with the supposed leaked picture with the caption, “1) Make hoax  2) Upload to 4Chan  3) Post angry tweet about "leak" 4) Delete tweet 5) Let internet do rest”

It is so interesting to look at these comments know that all of this was orchestrated by Alex.

I wish I had been old enough at the time to follow theories and fandom stuff like I do now with current cartoons but really looking at this from an outside perspective, this was insane!

The real author wasn’t revealed until 2015 and when viewers first got the answer to this biggest show on their screens, they must have freaked out!

Following the finale in 2016, a single frame of a stone version of Bill Cipher, the show’s villain, flashed in after the credits had finished.

Alex Hirsch and his team actually created a real-life statue of their villain for their viewers to find and on July 20th, 2016, the Cipher Hunt began.

By following clues, the Hunters found themselves all over the world; Russia, Japan and then travelling throughout the United States for the final 12 clues. When the hunt took them to Los Angeles, actor, Jason Ritter (voice of Dipper Pines, also a massive fan of the series) and Alex Hirsch’s twin sister, Ariel Hirsch (the inspiration for Mabel) joined in the fun helping the search.

Finally, the hunt ended on August 2nd when someone tweeted out an image of the found statue in Oregon, the same state in which the fictional town of Gravity Falls exists. The Cipher Hunt had ended but finding the statue wasn’t Alex’s goal for the scavenger hunt, it was about the journey and bringing together the viewers, more than having them actually find the statue.

Creating its own hoax, an international scavenger hunt and quite a bit of nightmare fuel, Gravity Falls was a show truly unlike any other.

The 2010s saw some of the strongest cartoons ever made, Adventure Time, Gravity Falls and Steven Universe acting as the leaders for multiple different changes in the medium; storytelling, worldbuilding, interaction with viewers, utilizing social media, representation and further pushing music into the cartoon world. From what was created this past decade and what has already been released in 2020, I’m so excited to see what comes next.

I have another one of these which is on Steven Universe’s representation and music if you would like to see that too!! 

[spasmsofthought]

clean slate. (zuko x reader)

(Thank Netflix and some feelings for my favorite ATLA character for this piece. I’ve never fallen asleep to this fandom, but now I can stream the whole series and not have to worry about changing discs [score!]. I hope I did Zuko some justice here. Also, I haven’t watched The Legend of Korra - so I can’t speak to anything that is written in that story or canon. I base my writing only off of ATLA. Obviously I’m breaking away from Mai x Zuko - and thus breaking away from canon in some ways - as shipped and beloved as they can be.)

(ALSO - any guesses to where this OC could be from? I had some ideas while writing, but leave a comment with your idea below!) 

-

There’s this way he gets when he’s remembering what his life was like before. 

Zuko has always been a solitary figure. 

Being the Crown Prince (and an exiled one, at that) carries responsibilities few know about. His shoulders have always been strong, but they also have always been rigid. 

Most don’t even take into account the trauma that comes with being abused by your father and tormented by your psychotic sister. Not to mention wondering if your mother is alive after being banished from the Fire Nation as a traitor. 

You always like to think of Iroh as Zuko’s saving grace. 

There is a kindness to Zuko’s face that was lost in all the pain and anger before. When he smiles, it is gentler and softer. 

Like some of the hardness that had been burned into him has transformed from hardened steel to a molten one. It’s still there, but it’s constantly being heated and warmed and molded instead of sitting there in his chest like a stone . 

He’s living and breathing his firebending instead of just trying to produce or control it. 

His time hunting down, and subsequently joining, Avatar Aang had changed him in ways you’re only beginning to understand. 

You can tell he’s not really reading the scrolls he has laid out on the table before him. He sits still but his mind is anywhere but in the present moment. You don’t know what it is that has him so far away. 

Is it that people expect him to retreat to Ember Island sometime in the near future? 

Is it that his father and sister rot in jail while he sits on the throne? 

Cruel memories from his childhood? 

The worries of his mother’s banishment and where she was now if she was actually alive? 

Marriage? Children? (He’s young, but it still doesn’t stop the council of government officials and generals from asking and pressuring him.) 

You had never been a mind reader, and even less so concerning Zuko.  Sometimes he wore his reputation for being temperamental well, though his moments had become rarer and rarer since joining the Avatar and becoming friends with him and his group. 

He was balanced now, but there were moments you could tell his own triggers tipped the scale. 

Be it happenstance or fate or whatever people would like to call it, there was a reason you were in his life now as compared to the minuscule role you would have been given any moment earlier. 

Your hands cover the material written on the scroll (probably important state business he’s supposed to take care of - he is Fire Lord after all) as you sit down across from him. 

The table is long but not very wide, which makes this easier than it would be had Zuko been more difficult and chosen one of those wider study desks he was fond of when he actually wanted to get things done. 

“You’re not even reading,” You begin softly. It takes a minute for him to come back from whatever time and place he was in and he just sighs. His hands stay in his lap, but his eyes meet yours. 

They are amber in color, but rich and deep and warm in substance. 

When you used to get a glimpse at them, from a distance, it was like they burned you, like if he stared long enough his eyes could leave a scar, too. Now it’s more like they hold life and passion  and light instead of destruction and anger. 

“You can talk to me.” He knows this, despite how many times you say it. Sometimes the words are painful, sometimes they bring him comfort. Either way, struggling is in Zuko’s nature. 

Nothing seems to come easy for him, even when peace among the four nations has been declared and his birthright has been restored to him. 

Several moments are spent in silence as he breathes in and out, trying to gather the right words (that’s been a struggle for him, too, at times).

“How can I be a leader if I can’t be a really good one?” 

It takes a moment for you to digest the meaning of his words. It’s less about being a good leader and more about not being like his father. Despite the fact that he’s already announced this new era to be one of peace and love and unity, his deepest and darkest doubts plague him.  Would he be the kind of leader he was if they didn’t though? 

He doesn’t talk about them very often, but there are times, like now, where he’ll let his guard down and be honest with you. 

You wish there were some way you could bear his burdens for him; to tell him that his father’s leadership does not have to affect his own. You wish you could tell him he is the one who holds all the choices and possibilities in his hands. You lean forward on your elbows, minimizing the distance between the two of you slightly. 

“Listen to me,” His eyes flicker from yours to spots around the ornate room. Back and forth they flit. “Zuko, the fact that you’re asking that question proves to me that you’re already a better Fire Lord than your father.” 

“But how can you-” 

“Look at me,” You say as you grab his face. One hand rests on his scarred cheek while the other holds the opposite side of his face. He doesn’t flinch when you touch it, he hasn’t for some time. “I can’t convince you of yourself. That’s not why I’m here. But I want to let you know, even though you may doubt my words now, your genetics do not shape what kind of leader you are and the leader you will become. That’s only your decision.” 

He looks at you like he doesn’t quite believe you, and you don’t expect him to. His self-reflection can be a gift, but it can also be a curse. His shoulders sag like his thoughts weigh more than he’s let on. 

“Who makes your decisions for you, Zuko?” 

“What?” He asks incredulously. You almost smile because he looks so bewildered. 

“Who is the person that makes your decisions for you?” 

“What are you talking about? I make my own decisions.” He looks at you like you’ve gone crazy. 

You let his statement sit in the air as you get up from your position across the table and walk around to sit next to him. He turns so that he meets your gaze head-on. You can see his words running through his head, though you know they’ll take a lifetime to actually make complete sense. 

“Exactly,” Your hands weave their way to the back of his neck. You curse whoever made it tradition for Fire Lords to put their hair up in a topknot for formal dress code. You know the importance of it in Fire Nation culture, but there are some days you wish you could see him working with his hair down. It would certainly provide you with more opportunities to distract him. “You get to decide exactly what kind of leader you are and are going to be. No one else is in your head except you.” 

The corner of his lips quirk up. You can tell it hasn’t quite sunk in all the way yet, but it’s gone deep enough to ward off his doubts for now. There is a glimmer in his eyes that tells you he believes your words as much as he can in this moment. 

It’s all you can ask for. 

His forehead comes to press against yours. He’s not one for public displays of affection while working or in his formal wear, but there are spaces in time like these where he decides to make an exception. You close your eyes and breathe out a sigh of contentment, simply happy to be in the present moment with him. 

It’s his version of saying thank you to you. 

His lips press to yours softly and you hold him to yourself longer than would be proper if there were others in the room with you. But there isn’t. 

He tilts his head back and catches a breath, but you chase his mouth to grab a quick second kiss. 

All of this makes all the rest of the hullabaloo that you have to deal with worth it. He has always been worth it. 

When you part, you smile at him as you turn his head back towards the scrolls on the table.  

“Now get reading, Fire Lord Zuko.” 

[bsslibrary]

Legend of Korra (book 1) random facts #1

This article consists of an absolute TON of random facts from the Legend of Korra's first season.

During the show's third episode, 'The Revelation', a crazed fangirl can be seen during Amon's rally who according to Di Martino pays homage to the fan favourite from Kyoshi Island; Foaming Mouth Guy.

The same fangirl later had a change of heart and became Korra’s No #1 biggest probending fan, even owning a Korra shirt.

During the opening scene of episode eleven, 'Skeletons in the Closet', Korra and Mako asre disguised as Equalist chi-blockers, which very likely is inspired by the scene in 'Star Wars: A new hope', where Luke and Han are disguised as Storm Troopers, as to quote Bryan Konietzko 'Maybe it started with Han and Luke disguised as Stormtroopers in Star Wars, but I've always loved seeing our good guys wearing bad guy clothes minus the head gear'.

Korra and eight year old Noatak (Amon) have the same hairstyle!

Probending and the ‘leatherhead’ era of American football (1920s and 30s (information on leatherheads from: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/leatherhead-to-radio-head-the-evolution-of-the-football-helmet-56585562/)

There was a deleted scene (that only got to the storyboards) at the end of episode 6, ‘And the winner is’, where Shiro, the probending commentator, recovers from the effects Equalist electrified and finishes his announcer duties, unfortunately due to time-limits the scene was cut, but likely would’ve made for a funny end to a thrilling and heart-pounding episode.

The probending team known as The Black Quarry Boar-q-pines, who face against the Fire Ferrets in episode 6 are all old and experienced probenders, and according to Joaquim Dos Santos (Art director, character designer and director for the Legend of Korra) they are based on the team’s favourite MMA fighters.

The pack of The Lieutenant’s back charges up his dual batons.

The idea of Mako and Bolin first came from a desire to add a story about two brothers into the Legend of Korra, they also came from wanting to show that cultures had mixed in the past 70 years, which resulted in Mako being a firebender and Bolin being an earthbender.

Toza, Mako and Bolin’s probending coach is an old school probending, who previously played for the Boar-q-pines, a team that likely got it’s title as a team filled with oldschool players thanks to Toza, as he had been playing even before the signature probending uniforms were used, which likely resulted in accidents and serious injuries being far more common.

In the short called Republic City Hustle (2013), Bolin finds and adopts Pabu moments before he is eaten by a Pythonaconda being kept in a pet shop, unfortunately Mako does not let Bolin buy Pabu as he says due to the two’s desperate situation, having another mouth to feed will only be a burden. However during the night, Bolin sneaks into the pet shop where Pabu is, and gets him out of the Pythonaconda’s cage, however unluckily Bolin forgets to close the cage door and the Pyhtonaconda leaps onto him and begins to suffocate him, only for Mako to charge in, grab the reptile, and throw it back into the cage. Soon after Bolin tells Mako that he will name Pabu Pabu, which according to him was a name that he randomly thought of while the snake crushed him to death.

Thanks for reading and have a nice day!

[phantomflower42]

Deciding The Technological Level of Your Setting

When writing a story, it is important to determine what level of technology your characters have access to.  That determines what tools or solutions a character may have to solve a problem.  It will also influence their hobbies.  Before going too far, consider what technology actually is.  It’s not all about electric gadgets.

What is Technology?

Technology is knowledge used to solve problems or create useful tools.  Phones and computers come immediately to mind, but there are others.  Roman aqueducts are an example of ancient technology helping to solve a problem.  Knives are another basic example.  Medical care is a very important technology.

Basic Factors When Deciding Technological Level

If your story is a fanfiction for another work, research what items wouldn’t look out of place in the setting.  Take a look to see what the characters use in the work when completing tasks or performing hobbies.  If the work takes place in a certain real year or time period, look up that period’s available items such as radios or printing presses, and head off from there.

Sometimes, the development level isn’t the same for all areas in a work or for all types of technology.  This is okay.  There are many reasons why this may happen.  Some areas are more studied than others.  Rural areas take longer than cities to adopt now inventions.

The Legend of Korra is set in an analogue of the 1920′s.  Characters drive cars, ride trains, listen to the sport of pro-bending on the radio, and have sepia/black and white photos.  But when Korra and her companions visit the Earth Kingdom in season three, it is heavily undeveloped compared to the other settings.  It is hinted the Earth Queen’s corruption stimmed its growth.

In Naruto and its sequel series Boruto, they do not have cars, tanks, modern firearms, or many modern style shoes.  But, the setting has TVs, refrigerators, wireless radios, batteries, satellites, color photographs, and eventually phones and laptops.  They explore the advancement of the setting in several of the Naruto light novels, especially the first one (Kakashi Hiden: Lightning in the Icy Sky).  In Kakashi Hiden, it is mentioned that the invention of an airship will cause many people to lose their jobs.   

If your work is an original fiction, first decide whether it has its own timeline or is based in the real world.  If it takes place in a real world place and time period, please look up what people in that area used.  If a particular field of science or theory is more advanced in your work than in that actual time period, determine how it would influence the technology in the story, study in related fields, and the social classes interacting with each other.

Should the tale be based in its own world, you have free reign.  How advanced of a setting do you want?  Is it set in the beginning of time, in a medieval era, in your setting’s equivalent of the Victorian or Edwardian era, in modern day, in the far off future, or even at the end of the world?  

Are certain types of technology more advanced than others?  Which kinds are banned or discouraged?  Are certain parts of the world more developed than others?  Are supplies of certain items limited and/or nonreplaceable? How does this affect the average person’s lifestyle? You decide.

Making Original Technology For Your Story

Sometimes, the technology shown in an existing work isn’t helpful for dealing with a certain task.  Maybe your original story needs a special tool for issues specific to the setting or an equivalent item for a modern gadget that doesn’t exist in your world. Sit down, and ask yourself a few questions.

Why is this item needed?  Does your character need a way to store cold food?  Are their culture’s medical techniques different from the norm?  Do your characters need a way to stay in contact while split up on a quest?  Need is the mother of innovation.

What does it look like?  What materials is it made of?  Is it bulky or sleek?  How large is it?  What color is it?  How is it shaped?  Is it expandable?  It is the item’s first version, or an improved model?  How well does it perform?

What situations are this item used in?  Who invented it?  Has it been made in bulk?  If so, how does it affect trade, medical care, communication, hobbies, or travel?  How common is it?  How expensive is it?  

Besides the benefits, consider the item’s weaknesses.  Does it run out of its power source in a certain period of time?  Does it need a long time to recharge?  Is the item fragile?  Is it prone to malfunctions?  Is it too bulky to be hauled everywhere?  Is your setting’s equivalent of cell service patchy?  Does relying on the item for too long cause health problems for people using it?

Technology and Magic

If the story is one where magic also exists, consider how the two interact.  It may depend on the individual setting.  Remember that magic can be considered a scientific field.  If in a world where magical and non-magicals live separately, magic users may use their power to invent versions of modern tech.

Oftentimes, magic is presented as incompatible with modern technology, or at least electronic devices.  In the book series The Dresden Files, the main character Harry Dresden is shown to short out any inventions past the 1950s.  He actually has to leave modern hospitals as soon as he’s mobile after injuries, in fear of his magic shorting out another patient’s life support.  This issue also forces him to drive an old-school car, use an ice box to store cold food, and go without a lot of modern conveniences like heated water or air conditioning.

In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, it’s stated that technology fails around large amounts of magic or largely magical areas.  However, the limits are not clearly established.  Harry Potter uses a watch until it’s destroyed in the Triwizard Tournament’s second task in the Black Lake.  He continues wearing it out of habit afterwards.  Those usually require batteries.  

Certain technology can run off magic instead of electricity, such as the Weasleys’ car or Colin Creevey’s camera.  Diagon Alley is in the middle of London, yet there’s no fuss about random blackouts in the area or the local security cameras shorting out.   

In other situations, magic may coexist alongside regular technology.  They can even enhance one another.  In Sailor Moon, the Sailor Guardians protected the Moon Kingdom before its destruction, and gain magical abilities while transformed.  Yet, the Moon Kingdom and later Crystal Tokyo are depicted as  high-technology societies; the Moon Kingdom had an artificial climate dome around it, and an advanced computer.

Consider what approach you want, and the consequences there of.  Settings where magic is supposed to be hidden have the risk of ‘outing’ magicals to non-magicals if electronics like phones or crosswalks fizzle out whenever they’re in public.  Modifying items with magic may be a special scientific field.  Imagine a person with a pacemaker or insulin pump wandering into a highly magical area, only for their medical device to fail on them.  Even a few bigoted magical folks would hate that they’re unintentionally causing harm.

Technology and Magic Subsection: Harry Potter

As Harry Potter fanfictions are very common, it’s important to address the series and its approach to magic and technology interacting.  As mentioned above, technology blacks out around high amounts of magic or highly magical communities, but limits on what is affected and what isn’t weren’t clearly established.  Battery-run items like Harry’s watch seem to work fine, but phones and bugging devices do not.  

In post-Deathly Hallows works, think of how jarring it may be for muggleborns or muggle-raised wizards to go from being able to text friends in a moment to having to mail letters to family members by owl.  New Hogwarts students despairing over not having Facebook anymore makes for a good joke, but consider practical problems.  

Say a girl with cerebral palsy has magic.  She uses an electric wheelchair because her limbs don’t work well.  She receives a letter from a wizarding school.  Let’s hope the girl’s parents and the school’s representative talk it over and find a solution to her dilemma before she sets foot in Diagon Alley.  She will otherwise be unable to move under her own power in a magical environment. 

Wizards are portrayed as ignorant to modern trends.  Arthur Weasley goes crazy over various gadgets.  He even wonders what people use rubber ducks for.  It’s implied that Harry Potter misidentified his cousin Dudley Dursley’s broken video game console as a Playstation One in 1994 when writing to Sirius Black.  The Playstation One was not released in Europe until September 1995.  Multiple wizards are shown fascinated with the Dursleys’ microwave when they visit at different times.  It is stated that pureblooded wizards resist adopting muggle tech unless there is no choice.   

That is not to say wizards are a technological blackhole.  Many items like radios, cars, and others can be enchanted to work off magic.  A lot of wizards enchant or create their own magical items.  Sirius Black and James Potter used a set of two-way mirrors during their school days, with the device acting similar to a cell phone.  They and their friends Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew eventually created the Maruaders’ Map, which showed nearly everyone on Hogwarts’ grounds and most of the castle.  The Weasley twins come up with Skiving Snackboxes so students buying them can skip class without too much trouble.     

Maybe Professor McGonagall goes soul-searching after the final battle, and tries finding ways to make the school more non-magical friendly.  She would have ample reason to do so; she would not want the Carrows’ days of cruelty to return in any form.  She may modify the wizarding wireless radios to cast local muggle stations or keep an enchanted phone in her office so non-magical families of her students can contact her in emergencies.          

Keep in mind that a wizard OC can’t sneak their modern video games into Hogwarts or Beauxbatons, but watches, certain cameras, radios, and handheld games with non-rechargable batteries could make it in.  Non-electric devices like notebooks, pencils, pens, paints, or board games have no restrictions.   

How Technology Affects Living Conditions

How advanced society is affects how housing and chores are handled.  Many modern perks like clean water, heating, air conditioning, refrigeration, and fast travel are taken for granted.  If the characters in your setting lack certain conveniences, think of how they will tackle different problems that usually require them.

For instance, a lot of people use electric washers and dryers to take care of their clothes.  Getting them cleaned, dried, and sorted is easy.  But, what if your world doesn’t have these items?  Do the local people scrub them by hand in a river or on a board?  How are stains dealt with?  Are herbs mixed with the clothes to freshen their scent?  Are they dried on a clothesline?  If it’s raining or snowing, what is done instead?

Think along similar lines for various issues.  Water might be boiled for safety, or mixed with alcohol.  Shades will be pulled if too hot.  A lot of food may be canned, cured, or otherwise stored in a root cellar when fresh cannot be bought.  Preparations for any trips may take a long while.  People will sleep under mountains of blankets to retain heat.  

Conversely, works set in the future may find all of this child’s play.  Think of how a lot of appliances can be activated now with a smartphone application.  Do robots grocery shop on the characters’ behalf?  Are clothes dried and sorted in one machine in a few minutes?  Can a room’s windows be programmed to show a certain background, like in the Hunger Games film?  Are fingerprint scanners used so characters may access restricted areas?

Think long and hard how the technology of your world will influence daily life.

In Conclusion

Technology is a powerful force.  Sometimes characters may solve problems too easily with it, but all time periods have some level of it.  It’s important to know what the limits of inventions in your setting are.  Otherwise, someone may complain ‘how did they end up with this issue when so-and-so gadget could have solved the problem?’, or ‘why is the ninja watching television?’.

Have a nice day.