#there were elements of both atla and lok

[solar-wing]

⚣ ATLA/LOK: The Four Nations & Homosexuality ☀️

I'm planning to write for my favorite characters from the Avatar universe again. Any OGs from my first account know I started posting content about ATLA and LOK, specifically Bolin and Mako, WAAAY before I started posting DC and Marvel content among others.

So I wanted to talk about something I found really interesting about homosexuality within the four nations and their attitudes towards it regarding acceptance and whether they embraced or turned away from it. And since we are soon getting a new Earth Avatar series, we might as well start with the Earth Kingdom.

EARTH KINGDOM

First, let's consider the element of the nation itself and what it symbolizes.

Earth is not just the element of strength, but also the element of endurance and rigidity. In simple terms, it's a tough and stubborn element.

Also, Earth is a hybrid element, meaning it can be used in defensive and offensive manners easily.

Concerning its nation, it can be shown how citizens of the Earth Kingdom would more than likely be very conservative and adverse to any change or diverting from societal standards in the norm.

They're stubborn and stuck in their ways, so they may not react the most positively to displays of affection between same-sex couples. But, it can work in both ways.

As mentioned, Earth-benders and citizens, in general, tend to be very stuck in their beliefs, meaning if one were to have a more liberal position on the matter of social and romantic relationships, they would be just as defensive and stubborn in that belief as someone more conservative and traditional.

This goes back to my saying that Earth itself is a hybrid element. A mix of defensive and offensive tactics. Just as much as people way attempt to push their beliefs onto others, they're just as quick to defend their beliefs and ideals.

I'd also argue region/location within the Earth Kingdom is a major factor. If we're talking places like small villages or cities like Omashu in the animated version, you may be met with pushback and intolerance. But, places like Kyoshi Island where its founder was a lesbian so likely had very liberal beliefs concerning such topics. Also Omashu from the live-action since that version portrays Oma & Shu as a lesbian couple, and even Ba Sing Se since big cities are proven to attract a more liberal-leaning population.

But, interestingly enough, in the comics, it's stated that the Earth Kingdom is the slowest to accept change, and their default is still heterosexuality. Obviously, this comes from the rigidness and stubbornness of the Earth element itself. So even if Ba Sing Se has a more 'liberal' or rather "diverse" crowd, doesn't mean that crowd is automatically open to homosexuality. Ideally, the only known place in the Earth Kingdom where you could experience the most acceptance and grace from others would be Kyoshi Island

In summary, on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the most accepting & embracing of homosexual relationships and 1 being the opposite, I originally was going to give the Earth Kingdom a 5, but remembering how it's stated in the comics that they are the slowest to accept change which checks out, they got bumped down to a 2.

It is a very big nation and thus has the potential to plant different seeds of belief and opinion, however, it's clear in the show how rigid and otherwise, unshakeable denizens of the Earth Kingdom can be. They have their beliefs, and they strongly stick to them.

Even with someone like Avatar Kyoshi who had to go and make a whole separate Island where she and her people could live in peace and prosperity without certain influences affecting them, they still have yet to come around to the idea that other people live with different interests and beliefs, and that there is truly no 'default' for even one person.

Acceptance Rating: 2/10

FIRE NATION

Starting with a focus on the element itself again, fire is the element of power, as described by Iroh. It can burn things in its path, but can also give life. In simple terms, it's an element of strong will and desire to expand and consume, literally and metaphorically.

Fire is also mainly an offensive element, with the capability of modifying certain offensive moves into defensive ones.

Its nation's citizens and benders heavily share these traits with their element. They tend to be willful and proud, and while that doesn't necessarily equal being close-minded, pride can very well lead to stubbornness.

This is evidenced strongly by the political government of the Fire Nation, with its monarchy power having complete and total influence and control over its citizen's lifestyles and choices. If one Fire Lord feels strongly about something and makes it into law, another Fire Lord can come two generations later and reverse and change it.

This is shown in the nation's history, where homosexuality was actually tolerated (I hate using that word) in the Fire Nation for a long time before Fire Daddy, ahem, I mean Fire Lord Sozin's rule. It was during his reign as Fire Lord that Sozin outlawed same-sex relationships and marriages among the Fire Nation and its citizens.

Some speculate it was due to the clear pressure he faced being the sole heir to the throne since his sister was born a non-bender, something that was frowned upon in the royal family. A potential heir to the Fire throne had to be a firebender, with no exceptions. Therefore, Princess Zeisan was allowed more freedom and control in her life than he was, as evidenced by her embracing Air Nomad culture and being confirmed as a lesbian.

It was common knowledge that Sozin and Zeisan had a very antagonistic and tense relationship with each other, despite them being siblings. They were pitted against each other from a young age which caused a rivalry between them. So, it's completely possible to speculate that Sozin implemented the law to spite his sister who fell in love with Sister Rioshon, an Air Nun.

it's also completely possible to theorize that Sozin harbored homosexual tendencies and feelings himself, especially towards his best friend, Roku we all know was the Fire Avatar before Aang. Again, his being a royal prince and next in line for the throne threw a wrench in this since Sozin was expected to marry a woman and produce an heir. So his potential feelings for his best friend could never be explored due to his duties and responsibilities to his nation.

So since Sozin couldn't have what or who he truly wanted, no one could, and thus, same-sex love and marriage were banned. And that didn't change no matter where you went in the nation unlike the Earth Kingdom where you could go from village to village and city to city and the rules would be completely different depending on where you were.

Again, fire is the element of power and will. And if it was the will of the Fire Lord to ban same-sex relationships in the nation entirely, then everyone had to fall in line. Meaning the door was opened for more conservative and traditionalist views to be voiced in opposition to same-sex relationships.

While some may have had differing beliefs and ideals, they more than likely had to keep it to themselves, especially among the nobility. This can lead to harboring feelings of anger and resentment, rather than love and acceptance, causing people to react harshly to any displays of such affection and behavior, just like Sozin.

As I said, fire as an element itself is primarily offensive in nature. Reflecting on its people, and especially its governing body, this is clearly shown by the notion that one person's opinion and belief can be pushed onto everyone around him if he or she so decrees it.

With that, the Fire Nation gets a 3/10 on the scale. Again, in the past, they were at minimum tolerant of it. which is not much if we're being honest. Tolerant actually is kind of insulting. But, after Sozin's rule, that tolerance more than likely dwindled and hasn't improved much following his reign as far as we know.

I'd like to think that Zuko as the Fire Lord, having seen much of the world and all its different dimensions and lifestyles people have lived, he'd at some point in his reign reverse the ruling, but that's a far-fetched hope knowing these writers and creators (no shade...mostly).

Acceptance Rating: 3/10

AIR NOMADS

Air is the element of freedom. It's flexible and lacks restriction, moving in any direction it desires. And because of its lack of constraint, it becomes easily adaptable in any scenario, whether it's evasion, offense, defense, etc.

However, the element of air is primarily and almost purely used as a defensive and evasive practice among its population, due to its nation as a whole choosing to live as pacifists. But, do not be misled. As mentioned, air as an element can be just as powerful offensively as it is defense-wise.

Just as their element, the benders of the Air Temples were very open and flexible people. As monks and nomads, they chose to forego many earthly and physical connections, seeking spiritual enlightenment. Because of this, there were never any non-benders in the Air Nomads.

Any child born from an Airbender was an Airbender themselves. Also, due to their style of life and spirituality, they were very adaptive to any situation they were placed in, making them very open to any and all change around them.

While they lived by the teachings of the monks and masters of the Air Nomads, they lived freely and openly, just like their element. The most restriction they had was as children or masters/monks that lived at the temples, males and females were not allowed to live together in the same space.

I'm not sure if this applies to temples as a whole as I've seen conflicting information. Some say the rule applies to temples as a whole, which would mean the Northern and Southern Temples were only inhabited by male Airbenders, and the respecting Eastern and Western temples were inhabited by female Airbenders.

But, I do remember a specific scene from Avatar, during the 2nd season when Appa was lost, and he had a memory of when he was a baby bison, and he and Aang met for the first time. I remember the monk facilitating this was a female Airbender, so that's why I'm not exactly sure what is concrete.

But, it does make sense as in many of Aang's flashbacks to his time at the Southern Air Temple, we mainly only ever saw male Airbenders. Thus, many have speculated that this specific rule would inadvertently encourage exploration and curiosity for these young Airbenders regarding their sexuality as they matured and eventually left the temples as adults and master Airbenders.

Also, on this, no child from the Air Temples was raised by their parents. They were only raised by the monks, enforcing that common belief and practice they all had. While they of course had their own identities, they were all taught the same thing from an early age, if an Adult Airbender met and had a child with someone from a different nation, that child likely being an Airbender would be sent to the Air temples to be raised by the monks.

All that to say, Airbenders would be the exact opposite of conservative. They technically wouldn't even be liberal since, again, they detach themselves from earthly limitations in favor of a higher spirituality.

So, since they don't subscribe to earthly practices or beliefs, they would be the most accepting nation of homosexuality and same-sex relationships. It's not in their nature or belief to judge others either so they wouldn't show any hostility or intolerance to LGBTQ+ people and relationships.

Just like their element, they practice freedom and adaptability to the world around them. And just as air is primarily used in defensive manners, they still will defend their beliefs and practices, they just avoid direct confrontation, preferring evasive maneuvers.

Just a quick note, the Air Nomads are what I like to think of as the example of how this world should have been. I read another column that detailed how the creators of the show ultimately created institutionalized homophobia because they couldn't imagine a world without it, and that's in large part due to the heavy influence of Western, colonial, Christian, and to be quite frank, European imperialism on the show's writing.

It's a fact that's becoming increasingly more well-known. Before European and Christian colonization/imperialism, many cultures and communities were not just accepting of same-sex relationships and LGBTQ+ identities, they embraced it! While there were definitely pedophilic relationships that were wrong and grotesque no matter what time period it was, same-sex relationships were just as normal as opposite-sex ones. There was no "default."

So in simple terms, the Air Nomads accept and embrace everyone, no matter who they are or how they live. As long as they don’t wrong and harm others, and even then, they see everyone as equal and deserving of respect and love. And that's what our society should be based on. Of course, they were killed off in an entire genocide, which, say what you will and think what you think, but the one culture that accepts and loves everyone as they are being killed off...ironic, don't ya think?

Acceptance Rating: 10/10

WATER TRIBES

Finally, water is the element of change. Like air, it adapts to its circumstances, but more fluidly and gracefully. Yet, unlike air, it relies on the flow of energy, turning its defense into an offense and back. In whatever scenario that sees fit, a Waterbender can change their liquid offense into a solid defense, or turn a solid offense into a gas defense.

This clearly makes the water an element suitable for either an offensive or defensive strategy. Its unique ability to change its form to fit its circumstances gives its user an extreme advantage in combat or any other risky scenario.

Now, even with this in mind, ironically enough, the people of the Water Tribe are not the most in sync with their element as far as when it comes to living standards.

While yes, in combat, they adapt and adjust accordingly to their needs and goals in the fight, in regular practice, they're more conservative and less open to change than you would initially believe.

Also, as confirmed in the LOK comics, while the Water Tribes are not openly homophobic, they are still lacking in accepting and embracing the concept that there is not one rule that applies to all when it comes to who they love. Which, when you think about it, checks out.

The Northern Tribe operated heavily off a patriarchal society as we saw in the first season, and it took Paku nearly getting his ass whooped by a teenage girl who was the grand-daughter of the woman he loved but refused to wed since it was arranged for them to start to change their ways. Even if the Southern Tribe was a bit ahead of their Northern counterpart in this sense, they still suffered from the restricting roles they placed on themselves concerning gender.

Giving props to Fire Nation and Air Nomads, they never had restrictive rules on who could fight in battle, even if the Nomads as mentioned tended to avoid conflict. However, the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes both practiced and thus, were limited by their rules that men were only allowed to serve in the army and in the guard.

Of course, we've already discussed the Earth Kingdom is the slowest to accept change, but for the Water Tribes, this is a bit unnatural, and if this is how they act regarding gender, it says a lot about how they would react when it comes to same-sex relationships.

So, it's understandable why Kya advises Korra and Asami to keep their relationship to themselves. But, I personally don't believe they should. Creating change means people are going to be uncomfortable. Oh well, boo-hoo, they'll get over it.

But, this does at least check out with the hybrid offense/defense nature of water bending. People of the Water Tribe will stand their ground and defend what they choose to believe in and love. And while they may not openly go out of their way to push their beliefs onto others like those in the Fire Nation, it doesn't mean they don't still have ways have doing so. Like water, I imagine their approach to such a subject can vary.

With that, Water Tribes get a 2.5/10. They're ahead of the Earth Kingdom in the sense that they've realized excluding women from fighting hurts them more than it helps them. Also, it's highly plausible that if a woman can learn how to fight, a man can learn how to heal, but I digress. However, they're still lower than the Fire Nation since this is less of a government-forced ideology and more of a societal norm they place on themselves.

Acceptance Rating: 2.5/10

I like doing analysis like this. If anyone thinks of other topics to discuss and do a deep dive into, send it in my asks!

[imthepunchlord]

What's a show you liked that was really good, but the network it was on screwed it over and got it canceled? For me, it's Thundercats 2011 and The Secret Saturdays.

Oh man there's a good few.

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Turtles comes to mind. Thus far, it was my favorite adaptation of the concept. Animation was good, the brothers felt like actual brothers, and they made changes I genuinely liked. It was planned for 3 seasons, but unfortunately, we got a season and a half, as Nick canceled it mid s2 development, and they had to hurry to try and wrap up Rise with half a season.

You actually get to hear of some of the plans that we didn't get to see like Mikey taking care of his brothers turned into tots, Mikey and Raph crashing Ice Bear's wedding, and getting to discover who Big Mama's assistance was, who was potentially a lost sister; and we probably would've gotten expanded Draxum and Cassandra redemption, maybe an ep to show the backstory of how April met the turtles, probably more April-Cassandra eps as those two are usually paired together; and to see their take of the Rat King, who was set up to be worse than the Krangs and man, I don't know how they would've topped the Krangs. I am both scared and intrigued what they had in mind. But chances are good I'll never get to see.

Owl House is another. It was also planned for 3 seasons, but Disney said no, let's do 3 specials for season 3. And of course, after they realized how popular Owl House was but too late. I will say, for what they had to work with, they did do a really good job.

Amphibia sorta feels like another, I'm not sure if it actually was, but the last season feels like two seasons combined into one.

Inside Job. It's one of the very few adult animated shows I did like, I usually don't click with them as they're focused on drugs and sex and a lot jokes don't click with me; but that one I did actually enjoy... It may be that it had some wholesomeness to it, as a lot adult animated shows, from what I've seen, are really mean spirited. But IJ did have some really wholesome, solid friendship moments, that made it very refreshing. So RIP IJ. You got screwed.

Oh! Infinity Train is an easy stand out. That is one of the most intriguing, most mature, most complex, and most human cartoons I've ever seen. And it went super dark in it's concepts. And there were so many interesting ideas that the creator had, and at this time, those are ideas we won't see. It's a big shame that it got the most attention after it got removed from Max. This is probably next to Rise in seeing more seasons of, if we get the chance to get more.

Um... maaaaybe AtLA? That show was an easy stand out to have 4 seasons, especially as the whole thing is tied to 4 elements and 4 nations. I don't know if Nick was like, you need to stop at s3, or if Bryke was the one who was like stop at s3. And I will say, for the latter half of s3, some of the writing and characterization just feels off, though I did hear there was a lot of conflict between Bryke and the head writers, and that Bryke got involved more often so maybe that was it?

I know one of the head writers wanted s4 and had plans for it. And I will say, there are things I do think about that I wish I got to see in the show, but it never came up. These potentially could have if we had gotten 4 seasons.

Zuko and Toph having their own adventure.

Zuko and Soka having the same teacher of the blade and having a match to test their capability.

Just, in general, more of Zuko working off the Gaang.

Katara working off Suki, her potential future sister-in-law.

A resolution on Toph with her parents or at least her mom.

Covering the origins of the Avatar (especially as I disliked Korra's answer of it, and I lean not counting it as LoK has a different idea of spirits vs AtLA; so I wonder what AtLA would've said about it).

I also would've loved to see more spirits in general, s3 was lacking of them.

There's Ursa and her whereabouts, what I hear comic wise I don't like; so I wonder what AtLA's take and plan was.

Zuko reuniting with his crew from s1 (did they even survive Zhao's invasion?).

Zuko ever coming across the 41st Division, which I think is another big emotional missed opportunity, as him standing up for them is what "costed" him his honor, but just imagine them bowing to him in thanks, validating his stance as honorable, that he was right; that could've been huge for Zuko emotionally. Which, this is something I'll give to the NAtLA, having Zuko's crew be the 41st I thought was a really good choice.

I know the head writer had an idea for an Azula redemption, which I would've been open and intrigued to see, especially as he revealed it was going to be darker and harder than Zuko's, and Zuko would've taken what he learned from Iroh to help her, and supposedly end up an Azula who apologies often and over shares her feelings (which could end up being very funny).

I'm also bummed we never got to see Kuzon or Lu Ten (outside a drawing).

Oh! And seeing Aang and Ty Lee work off each other, especially as there's a possibility that Ty Lee is an AN descendant, given that she has gray eyes, moves quickly, and has an airy personality.

Which, if she is, that is a missed opportunity for Aang's emotional healing, the realization that he's not as alone as he thought. That there's another who shares his heritage. That could've been huge, could've been a tear jerker.

This is about it. There's probably more, but these are the stand outs to me that I feel got screwed over (or potentially screwed over).

[thecaroliner]

NATLA: An Extremely Mediocre Mess

I spent the entire day watching Netflix's ATLA adaptation and oh boy was it...something.

I struggle sometimes with putting my full thoughts into words but here goes. No idea how long this will be.

Spoilers ahead, obviously.

I want to start out by getting a few things I thought were good or at least fine out of the way.

First off I wanna mention the acting (aside from Gran Gran) was fine. I think Gordon Cormier has a lot of potential and it really felt like sometimes he was being held back by the script and direction. Really hope this role opens up new doors for him in his acting career!

Not that I think ATLA needed more violence or anything, and initially I was against them adding more violence just to make it more "realistic", but I actually didn't mind it. It was way more gruesome than I thought it would be, both Sozin and Ozai literally set people on fire and burn them to a crisp. Kind of does help set in the actual horror of what they're doing. We even saw the same happen to Kya in a flashback. Again, this wasn't needed, but I didn't mind it.

The bending effects DID look a little better than in the trailers I thought. Firebending in particular I thought was decent, all the other elements were just okay, with waterbending I feel suffering the most from it. The rest of the CGI kind of sucked though which I'll get into later.

Having Gyatso be more of a presence I thought was nice, as I always felt like he could've been a little more to the front of Aang's mind in the original series than what he was. I honestly LOVE the idea of him hanging around in the Spirit World for Aang, as in the past I've thought of that idea and wished it had happened. Except....they just kind of throw this plotline away later for no reason. So that's great.

Lastly, it was neat to see Indian culture being represented in Omashu.

Now that that's out of the way....time to really dig in.

The series starts with the Air Nomad genocide, pretty brutal stuff but I don't have much to say about this aside from the moments with Gyatso being nice.

Aang can apparently just fly now, but he only really does it to show off in this first episode. Apparently it's because he's an Airbending prodigy, despite the fact that the ability to fly was established in LOK as being a very rare occurance that only comes after letting go of every earthly attachment. But sure, let's just have Aang fly now. Why even have his glider in the first place?

He gets frozen in pretty much the exact same way, which now leads us to the Southern Water Tribe, where Katara is practicing waterbending in secret in the abandoned Fire Nation ship. It's mentioned later that Sokka and Gran Gran forbid her from practicing bending in case the Fire Nation comes back and tries to kill her, which...sure, I guess.

They find Aang's iceberg, but since Sokka isn't sexist anymore, her anger at him isn't what opens the ice, it's her attempting to pull their canoe back to them and she accidentally splits the iceberg open.

Speaking of Sokka's sexism, remember when people were trying to say "Oh the show isn't getting rid of that arc, it's just updating it because a lot of moments in the original show were iffy!" Yeah, no, they got rid of that arc entirely. Which, honestly if they had just done that without making a big deal out of it in interviews wouldn't have been an issue. The issue is them trying to act as though the narrative of the show itself was sexist and not actively showing us that Sokka is in the wrong.

Anyways, Aang literally just falls out of the iceberg and it's lowkey funny cause he just slides out like he's going down a water slide.

They take him back to the village unconscious and once he wakes up, Gran Gran (who's acting was awful by the way. Not sure if it was the actress' fault or the direction, it really felt like the direction to me). She immediately recognizes Aang's tattoos and just tells him flatly that the Air Nomads are all dead. No compassion or anything. Oh, and she out of the blue begins narrating the original series' intro verbatim which was so out of place and funny. HEY REMEMBER THE OPENING FOR THE CARTOON?? THAT'S IN HERE TOO!!!!!

Weirdly enough....it almost felt like Sokka and Aang had more of a bond than Katara and Aang. Sokka was initially skeptical of Aang but then instantly wants to go save him and I swear they had more interactions than Aang did with Katara. The two of them don't even really feel like friends until the last two episodes or so.

Also, they go to the Southern Air Temple in the first episode where Katara doesn't calm Aang down from the Avatar State but rather a memory of Gyatso did. Okay....

Oh, this also had one more thing I liked, and it was Aang giving Gyatso a proper burial. I always assumed that happened at some point, whether during the series or sometime afterwards. Nice to see it here.

Okay, so my thoughts after this are just gonna skip around a bit because I was writing them down as I went. The first half the series really didn't have much egregiously wrong with it, it was mostly just mid.

It's mentioned briefly that...Aang's airbending went out of control sometimes? Like the reason he had to train with the monks was so that he would stop accidentally hurting his friends with airbending. Because why have the storyline of him accidentally hurt Katara with firebending when you could have this instead?

The like...purple and motion blur effects they used for the Spirit World scenes was such an eyestrain....

In the Spirit World, Kyoshi gives Aang a vision of the attack on the Northern Water Tribe. Before, Aang had no reason to even bother going here, because Katara is teaching herself waterbending (turns out Gran Gran had the waterbending scroll the whole time! But hid it from Katara til now). Aang also doesn't even attempt waterbending at all this season btw

The Gaang gets to Omashu, where they decide to combine The King of Omashu, Jet, The Northern Air Temple...and The Cave of Two Lovers. Despite this sounding clunky and weird, I think these storylines together actually did mesh well (except for the COTL, which OH BOY I WILL GET TO)

The idea here is that the Mechanist, whose name is now Sai (don't know if this was ever mentioned in any supplemental material or if it was just made up for this show) and Teo live here. Jet and the Freedom Fighters also live nearby, where they are trying to plant bombs around Omashu and make the Gaang think it's the Fire Nation.

One scene I wanna mention, and please correct me if I'm wrong, but I SWEAR Sai said he needed to control the "attitude" of the hot air balloon...not "altitude."

Aang ends up getting captured by Bumi's generals, and he almost immediately figures out who Bumi is. Which...I cannot believe Aang named his son after THIS Bumi. He's kind of a huge asshole and is mad at Aang for abandoning them for the past century. Like you really had to make the character angry at him Bumi???

So, um. Let's talk about the COTL plot now.

Katara and Sokka go to try and find Aang and find out that there's a series of elaborate tunnels underneath Omashu, where they run into the singing nomads. This was literally only a plotline so that they had an excuse to sing Secret Tunnel this season. They explain to the siblings the story of Oma and Shu (which is just verbatim from the original series), ending with "Love is brightest in the dark."

Remember that. They preface the storyline of the tunnels by explicitly telling Katara and Sokka about the two lovers. Very romantic.

Katara and Sokka quickly realize that the cave crystals glow in the dark and begin to follow the path. Love is brightest in the dark, right? Along they way they begin bickering because Katara feels like Sokka still sees and treats her like a child.

Eventually they get pursued by a badger mole who begins to chase them. They apologize to one another and hold hands as they think they're about to be killed but...the badger mole stops attacking.

Why does it stop attacking, you ask?

Because now apparently badger moles can feel human emotions. They don't like feeling people fight and want to feel the love between them instead.

I was LOSING IT at this part. "Love is brightest in the dark" was apparently metaphorical.

And don't get me wrong, I love seeing platonic and familial love portrayed in media...but like, to do this storyline...don't preface it with a romantic tale of two lovers????? It gives off a very unintentionally creepy vibe for the siblings. And I'm sure I don't have to explain why badger moles being able to sense love is just dumb as shit.

Moving on....Bumi is nice again. Yay.

They go to the town where Hei Bai is attacking and Aang somehow accidentally pulls Katara and Sokka into the spirit world with him because the writers also wanted to have The Swamp here. Oh, and the Koh storyline. He doesn't steal faces for showing emotion anymore either, he just captures people and eats them later and steals their faces then. Cool.

Oh, and Wan Shi Tong is there and he looks emaciated.

Katara relives the night her mom dies, while Sokka sees a mysterious looking fox in the forest. Initially I assumed this was one of Wan Shi Tong's knowledge seekers but oh no. Oh no, it is much, MUCH worse. We'll come back to it.

Aang manages to find Gyatso in the Spirit World, which again is an idea that I LOVE. Gyatso explains that after he died, he never moved on to the next cycle of enlightenment, instead choosing to stay in case Aang needed him. They have a really touching moment, and Aang promises to come find him again after he finds Katara and Sokka.........which we'll come back to.

The events of The Blue Spirit happen, not much to talk about here. Aang connects with Roku (apparently he can only connect with past Avatars at their respective shrines, btw) and finds out Roku stole a totem of The Mother of Faces from Koh and that's why Koh hates the Avatar. Why steal that totem?? Hell if I know. Roku's also a funny man now I guess.

Aang saves Katara and Sokka from being Koh food and all is well. Yay.

They finally get to the North and this is where the show really went from being mid to pure cringe for me.

The "women only learn healing" plot is still here. Katara is rightfully angry about it, but Aang's like "oh well maybe you should listen to them". Yes, really.

Here Aang is so worried about losing anyone else, which, obviously understandable. But he doesn't want Katara and Sokka, especially Katara, to fight AT ALL. Which I mean. OG Aang never once tried discouraging her from learning to fight. Obviously he loves her and does have concern for her safety a number of times throughout the show and comics, but he also knows she can kick ass and stand her ground on her own and never tries to stop her.

Katara fights Pakku, and despite literally the day before saying she still has a lot to learn and a long way to go, she's just instantly declared a master waterbender now!

And oh boy my friends, buckle in because now we're gonna talk about Yue.

First off...her wig looks BAD. Like I'm pretty certain I saw her real hair sticking through a few times. Why not just dye the actress' hair....even Shyamalan's Yue hairstyle looked better than this, and we all know what that looked like.

So right off the bat Sokka asks Katara if Yue is at all familiar. Katara says no but Sokka keeps pressing and eventually follows Yue, where we learn she's a waterbender? Okay, not like her being a waterbender or not has any affect whatsoever on the story, but sure. We also learn that she had previously been engaged to Hahn but broke it off because he "wasn't the boy of her dreams". Not sure why they bothered to write him in the first place.

So...Yue and Sokka begin talking, and Sokka finally realizes why she's familiar to him.

I genuinely had to pause the episode to laugh when this reveal happened.

YUE WAS THE FOX SPIRIT SOKKA SAW IN THE SPIRIT WORLD.

Yes, I'm being 100% serious. When Yue was healed by the moon spirit, she turned into Danny Phantom and can now just hop in and out of the Spirit World. As a fox for God knows what reason.

BTW, this has jack shit to do with anything overall. It adds nothing. It serves NO PURPOSE. Genuinely do not know what the hell they were trying to do with that.

Um, so yeah. Moving on.

Apparently in this version, Tui and La only become mortal fish once a year or something? On the night of the "ice moon". Your guess as to what on earth an ice moon is is as good as mine.

Zhao begins to lead an invasion on the north and Momo is killed in the crossfire.

Well, almost.

Again I just busted out laughing because Momo has served NO PURPOSE until now, he's just been there because he was in the og series. I'm sorry Momo, as much as I love you....why were you here.

To save a kid from being crushed by falling debris. He just pushes them out of the way and is crushed. The reason is just so that Yue can take him to the Oasis and use healing on him with the Spirit Water.

Katara and Zuko have their classic fight and Zuko says "Oh you've found a master haven't you?" To which Katara replies, "Yeah, me" because she's a master now after 2 days remember?

Koizilla happens...the tribe is saved...Yue makes her sacrifice. So now she can go be the moon instead of a fox I guess.

Also, I think Iroh killed Zhao, despite earlier in the series refusing to kill the Earth Kingdom soldier who captured him because "we've all seen enough death."

And then...Aang goes back to the Spirit World, to find that the little "house" Gyatso was in is empty now. Gyatso is just gone now, with no explanation, although he seemed to know when he met with Aang beforehand that he would be gone from the Spirit World next time Aang tried to find him. Great job, taking the only interesting storyline made up for this series and just throwing it out the window for no rhyme or reason!

Now lemme talk about Azula....

She's not even Azula anymore. She's really insecure and worried about pleasing her father. Because whenever I thought of Azula, I always thought "insecure!" Like I get what they were going for, Zhao says this honestly kinda raw line about Zuko merely being the fire to sharpen the iron that was Azula, but like....why did she have to be this insecure person now? Also why is she even an archer now? It again has nothing to do with anything

Mai and Ty Lee are there for also no reason at all other than to be like "HEY REMEMBER THESE TWO CHARACTERS FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOW?!" They just stand there and watch Azula train sometimes.

The show ends with a Fire Sage showing Ozai through their planetarium (which they have now I guess) that Sozin's Comet is returning "soon." Who knows when! Just soon!

Also, Kataang shippers do not get your hopes up. Not that I expected much Kataang here at all, but I swear they barely even feel like friends until the end. It almost seems like Katara is more interested in him than he is in her.

My expectations of this series were low from the beginning. When it was first announced this project was in development, I said it was unnecessary and couldn't improve upon the OG in any way...and I was right. Even as its own thing entirely divorced from the cartoon, it's just kind of bland and downright confusing at times.

Anyways, my fingers hurt now so I'm going to wrap this up. Apparently I've been typing for like 1.5 hr now lol

Watch the original series instead :)

[impossiblycolorfulpanda]

Why I think neither ATLA nor LOK are true masterpieces.

First, I think ATLA was too short. It should've had 4 seasons.

Ozai was a boring and wasted villain. He should've been the one behind the Great War in any way while also still being the "final boss" archetype he was used as before. If I'm to truly believe that only the Avatar can win against Ozai and that doing so would instantly end the great war, I need to be shown, not just told.

Aang never truly mastered all the elements. This was even acknowledged in-universe. In each season, Aang spent one or two episodes gaining an element and barely practiced it. The rest of each season mostly consists of the gaang stopping whatever bad thing the FN is up to at the moment, having some expedition dump, and putting the spotlight on Zuko every now and then.

I'm even beginning to doubt that Aang truly mastered airbending and he prematurely got his tattoos as a result of this air scooter, because, as the monks tried separating Aang from Gyatso, they wanted to send Aang to other air temples to complete his training. That's odd because if Aang had mastered airbending in every way, what more could Aang learn? Why not send him to one of the water tribes as the cycle demands?

Most people agree that the lion turtle and the pointy rock showing up out of nowhere were a lazy robbery of Aang doing any real work to find an alternative and the agency of Aang making a choice and dealing with the consequences of it. He never tries to take advantage of energybending and bestow airbending to any of his new-found actolytes.

The established relationships between Aang and Katara, plus Zuko and Mai, don't really fit with the narrative, imo, they bring the four characters down, not up. There's a reason why the dynamic between Zuko and Katara is much more appealing and compelling.

I don't like how Katara was virtually erased from history by the time of LOK. There's no statue of her, no credit as a founder or republic city along with Aang and Zuko, she never shows up to her granddaughter's tattoo ceremony, or calls out Aang for being too favorable of their youngest son.

She's only called the world's greatest healer who illegalized bloodbending but she's never given a chance to show that off as she's apparently unable to undo Amon's damage, instead, it's her dead husband who saves the day.

It's even worse for Suki. No one even mentions the Kyoshi Warriors.

I think it was a waste not exploring the world and seeing how the world progressed in Korra's time.

Harmonic Convergence and the dark avatar arc didn't fully fit with the tone LOK was trying to show, so I imagine that airing in ATLA instead. I would've been ok with Korra losing her past lives if they were exchanged with Vaatu's powers/status being siphoned away and combined with Raava's after Vaatu is purified. True balance is restored but at a great price.

Aang was overly coddled by the narrative while Korra was given the exact opposite treatment and was forced to believe she deserves whatever suffering she goes through in order to be more respectful. Sound familiar?

Nobody get it twisted. I don't fully hate ATLA or LOK. There are many things in both that are very much enjoyable, especially season 3 of LOK. But they are not as perfect as Disney's hunchback of Notre Dame 1 and pre-Disney Star Wars.

[qilaiavatar]

Q&A

Is this an official project? No! Qilai was made fully by fans for entertainment. The lore and characters mentioned in ATLA and LOK do not belong to us in any way.

Will it be a comic, a book or something else? Originally it was supposed to be a comic, but we unfortunately decided to keep it in drafts for personal reasons. On this page we will publish the story as it is in our heads: main characters and events, random 'filler' scenes, memes and written/drawn pieces of a story.

Do you have any social media in other languages? No. Although there are two people in our team, and for both of us English is not a mothertongue, we decided to run this page in English. You may notice some mistakes (feel free to point out!) and/or foreign writings on arts.

What is the story about? It takes place 70 years after an alternative ending of LOK's 1st season; in this version Amon defeated Korra, making the Equalist Revolution successful. All nations share the same ideology, removing young benders' abilities. Oficially, the avatar cycle has ended... The story follows an airbender Akemi Hotaru and her team Qilai, who are trying to start another revolution, bringing peace and harmony back to the world.

Is there a new avatar in this story? Yes. Equalists did try to end the avatar cycle, but were unsuccessful. However, new avatars stayed quiet, trying to master all elements in a world, where bending is forbidden; they didn't make much a difference, though. Akemi herself is not the avatar, but knows exactly who is.

After 70 years, what does the avatar world look like? We mostly took inspiration from the late USSR. On top of that, every person is now obligated to get tested for bending abilities and, if positive, to have these powers removed. These tests cannot be faked, so some benders bribe medical workers to keep their bending.

Is Qilai connected to other fan-avatar projects? No. We LOVE how creative people get with future avatars, but our story moves in a different direction.

If you want to clarify something else, or feel like we haven't coverend something important, feel free to ask us anything! Also we are new to tumblr, so will be glad to get some advices <3

[princess-of-the-corner]

The thing about bending is that it seems to be more spiritual than genetic, at least to me. Because we have an example of identical twins where only of them is a bender in atla.

So genetics might kind of determine which element you are bending but unless the required gene is "activated" somehow, it won't mean you will be able to bend an element.

Also a thing!

So yeah in /theory/ you could have someone who has a predisposition genetically for an Element but doesn't hit the Spirit Trigger to actually get it. And then in a mixed family the kids would need to have both the genetics passed down /plus/ a Spiritual Trigger.

This is..... kiiiiiinda canon? In the like. LoK when they brought back the Airbenders some of the explanation on it was that all the new Airbenders were people who had the dormant genetics and then the whole opening the Spirit Portals unleashed some Spirit Energy that kicked those genetics into gear

So yeah in theory -

[wall-maria-around-ba-sing-se]

The ever-present and immutable in-universe rule that is present in every piece of atla media: you cannot simply will yourself into being a bender by studying really hard or practicing bending movements enough. that’s not a thing. everyone would be grinding to be a bender if that were the case

Yue: legends say the first waterbenders learned push and pull movements from the moon. now listen here the push and pull movements are the important part you know how tui and la are push and pull yeah-

Oma and Shu: we learned earthbending by mimicking the badgermoles! nowhere in our story is anyone surprised at the concept of psychically moving rocks mind you, they are simply intimidated by Oma’s sheer proficiency

Both Aang and Katara as far back as the second episode of atla: *explicitly refer to bending as something separate from simply having the ability to control an element*

The characters in Wan’s episodes, constantly: “WOW the way Wan CONTROLS fire is DIFFERENT from how we just TOSS FIRE it’s like he’s BENDING it to his will or smth because he LEARNED FORMS FROM NATURE AND SPIRITS that’s so crazy how there’s a distinction here”

people still: I can’t believe they completely retconned the entirety of bending in LOK! you’re supposed to spontaneously gain pyrokenisis by bird watching 😤😤

[jubilantmedusa]

I finally started watching Legend of Korra. Just finished Book 1.

It was ok? Even though ATLA is one of my favorite shows of all time, I’ve never been super interested in watching LOK, mostly because the more modern, urban setting doesn’t appeal to me per say. But I needed to watch something while feeding my newborn, so here we go! Finally doing it.

Random thoughts:

I like Korra. We love a nice, impulsive hothead. They were smart to make her so different from Aang.

I’m meh on the rest of Team Avatar so far? I was warming to Mako before he got pulled into the love triangles (because who can resist a broody firebender). Bolin I wanted to like but I find him a bit annoying so far. Asami had a few nice moments but was also injured by the love triangle. This is rough because the ATLA characters were just so lovable, even very minor ones.

I am warming up to the older characters. Tenzin grew on me. He had me when he was getting all annoyed a probending refs. (Side note, but if Aang were around he would totally be giving Tenzin a hard time over bending too serious for probending - Aang in center the air scooter, he loved games, he would have probably liked bending games.) Lin is gruff but who doesn’t love gruff? She reminds me of early Murphy from Dresden Files but in a good way.

Given that ATLA had airships and tanks, the fact that there are cars and airplanes isn’t that weird. But it does feel a little weird.

A bender vs non-bender conflict could have been very interesting, but it wasn’t well done and the escalation made no sense. Might expand on this. I have lots of notes for how this could have been improved.

The pacing and the tension of the season wasn’t bad. It just… there were missed opportunities.

Amon’s mask was cool though. He wasn’t bad as a villain.

Tarrlok too. I guess I enjoyed the villains more than her heroes, hmm. His last scenes got to me.

I am so annoyed that season one is about learning airbending, but we spend way more time on pro-bending. It’s basically ignored until the last episode.

Same for the spiritual stuff, which… makes the last scenes interesting.

Like I said… I have notes.

Probending is kinda boring. I can think of way more interesting bending sports. I wanted to like it. But every time it was featured, I just thought about earth rumbles and Agni Kai’s and Katara encasing Azula in ice… we could have such a cooler bending sport.

Tenzin’s kids should be way older. He waited until later in life to have kids, which is a bold move for the last airbender. (But whatever, these are the people who said Roku is Zuko’s great grandfather which makes no sense mathematically.)

I don’t like Tenzin or adult Aang’s beards. Just not a fan.

Katara’s alive. Aang, Sokka, and Toph appeared in flashbacks. Zuko is the only one we didn’t see. But we did get his grandson! Who is around the age Tenzin’s kids should probably be.

I noticed in the avatar wiki that Jinora’s (and all the air kids) ethnicity is listed as Air Nomad and Water Tribe. But they have a mother! And she does not look very water tribe. So I submit to you my first head cannon: Pema has both earth kingdom and fire nation ethnicity. Meaning Aang’s grandchild have the blood of all four elements.

[aangtheairbender]

So when Bolin and Korra have time now that she is back, she asks Bolin if he can teach her lava bending. Bolin, of course, agrees.

So they start with the movements. Korra has no problem with them, being a master in all four elements. Bolin talks about seeing both the rocks as solid and liquid at the same time while he instruct on the breathing techniques he evolved to be able to bend like he does.

I think it would have been fun, like, after a while of practicing together, Korra is ready to actually try lava bending. So when she does, she actually unlocks her lighting bending abilities.

All this getting in the right mindset, the breathing techniques and the new movements; were all a part of helping her mind get in the right tracks for creating lighting.

But I do think Bolin, out of the many benders we meet in both atla and lok, are the most evolved to tackle sub bending styles or other fighting style.

I just though it would be a fun plot and open up for some Korra and Bolin bonding, since we barely see it in the later seasons or the comics.

[nyamadermont]

Year in review (eventually)

Thanks go out to @itsmoonpeaches for suggesting I give this a shot.

1. Number of stories posted to Ao3: 14, total, all LOK-based.

2. Word count in 2022: 96,206

3. Fandoms I wrote for: Avatar: The Legend of Korra

4. Pairings: Lin Beifong/Kya II (3); Lin Beifong/Reader (1); Lin Beifong/Pema/Tenzin (9); Other (1 - shorts with various pairs, if any)

5. Stories with the most:

Kudos: Lin’s Interview, part 4 of Give Us Your Hand (Pemlinzin)

Bookmarks: Two Pairs of Eyes, (Kyalin)

Comment threads:  Elemental Changes, Lin Beifong-centric multi-chapter

Word count: Elemental Changes 

6. Work I’m most proud of (and why):  I’m sure it’s cheating, but I have 3 answers. 

1: Elemental Changes: This started with an image in my mind, and I wrote the whole thing before I published any of it. And the art I commissioned from @slowdissolve kickstarted a whole new experience for us both.

2: The In-Between Years: I managed to take all 30 prompts from Angstpril 2022 and string them into a mostly coherent story, writing no more than 1000 words at a time. Not every day is a gem, but I am happy with the progress of the story from high angst to an amicable resolution.

3. Give Us Your Hand: What started as a 507-word @flashfictionfridayofficial prompt blossomed into a 46K-word, 9-part series (so far).

7.   Work I’m least proud of (and why): This is ‘least’ proud in a set of stories I’m really pretty happy with. I’m going to throw Now Is Not the Time under the bus, because in retrospect, it’s kind of a rewrite of I’m Sorry I Need You.

8.   Share or describe a favorite review you received: This isn’t quite what the question asks, but having @slowdissolve say she would have done my commission for free was right up there in the highlight reel. And those three little hearts from @mjsharizai are always an absolute treat.

9.   A time when writing was really, really hard: I’m still very new on the writing wagon, having just started writing for a hobby in early 2021. Thankfully, I’m old enough that when it’s hard, I just set it aside and come back when the ideas are ready.

10. A scene or character you wrote that surprised you: I just can’t answer the questions the right way tonight. Here, I’m going with the whole Pemlinzin ship. How little goody-goody two-shoes me wound up writing polyamory is something I should think through at some point in my life.

11. A favorite excerpt of your writing:  

This feels very odd to describe as a favorite. It engendered my first negative review which was so mean-spirited that it was, in its own way, the fire that helped me write the next seven entries in the series. From Mistakes (Give Us Your Hand, part 2):

[Tenzin] sighed. “About a week before he died, she came to visit. She was being Toph, trying to pretend it wasn’t that bad, that he wasn’t dying. Mom left them alone to talk and went to lay down for a little while.”

He shivered. “I wasn’t with them. I just heard Mom shouting. When I got to Dad’s room, Mom was healing him, and Toph was crying. She had punched him like always. But this time, her punch knocked him into the wall and he hit his head. It wasn’t terrible, Mom got him comfortable, but Toph didn’t come back after that. I know she and Mom saw each other at the memorial, and I know they basically made up. But then I hurt you.”

He squeezed Lin closer.

“They were best friends for over forty years. But one argument broke their relationship.”

12. How did you grow as a writer this year: This is a question I think will be easier to answer in retrospect. I was able to complete a couple of larger projects, even after I got so far into them that I kinda didn’t know what to do. I’m just so new at this I mostly can only see my weaknesses.

13. How do you hope to grow next year: Differentiating speaking styles and speech patterns between characters is a sore spot for me re-reading my own writing. I also know I’m not great at describing the interiority of characters. And starting fewer sentences with ‘and,’ ‘so,’ or an adverbial phrase {not an English major, I forget what the technical term is}.

14. Who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer or beta or cheerleader or muse etc etc):

I think that should be obvious by now. I owe @slowdissolvee a lot of credit.

15. Anything from your real life show up in your writing this year: 

I’ve been married for 25 years and have 2 kids. There’s a lot of blood, sweat, tears, and memory in what I write.

16. Any new wisdom you can share with other writers: 

Be where you are. Sure, your readers are interested in seeing your updates, but your life comes first. #YourAudienceAwaits - and the patient ones are worth listening to. 

I’m going to offer a slightly different perspective than @itsmoonpeachessmoonpeaches, who was so kind as to suggest I take on this exercise. All while not disagreeing with her here:

Don’t be afraid to break out of your comfort zone. You will never grow as a writer if you continue to write the same things over and over again. If you have an idea for something very different, go for it! It takes a lot of effort and time to do something you don’t normally do, but you will end up being better after it.

I know I’ve already written the same story at least twice (see above), but it served me to write both of those stories. I clearly had some thinking to do on the topic.

17. Any projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year: I cannot put into words how much fun I’m having on Red Jade. Between working with Slowdissolve and getting to read the other Linzolt writers’ stories, I have been grinning for months.

18. Tag some writers whose answers you’d like to read:

All in fun, friends. If it’s not fun, leave it be: @slowdissolve @orangepanic @master-sass-blast @pamplemousseparadox @superliz6 @chaoticnerdsstuff @wishingforatypewriter

And anyone else who wants to!

[miqotepotatoe]

Various misc things about the 10th Generation AU

- Garmadon runs Mystake's old tea shop as a way to honor her (since he y'know killed her in Hunted). He grows all the tea leaves himself

- Christofern somehow ended up growing into a giant tree. The 10th gen ninja often like to hang out by the tree as the view is nice

- The bottom of the mountain where the monastery is built upon is a place of mixed up of various environments, from lakes to stone pillars to forests to swamps. It's often used as a training ground by the 10th gen ninja to practice controlling their elemental powers

- Lloyd wears Garmadon's old sensei robes from Tournement of Elements

- Layla's lighting is purple unlike the usual blue masters of lightning usually have. No one knows why though

- Milo is an animal lover. He'll often bring home injured animals he finds in the wild, nurse them back to health and release them back into their natural habitats. He also has many pets, like rats and a baby dragon

- Iris has a love of ice cream that rivals Cole's love of cake. If they were alive in the same time period they'd have a war over what sweet treat is superior

- Meg often times says various stuff in Spanish instead of Ninjargon (mostly curse words as no one understands what she's saying most of the time)

- Theo and Taiyo are drawn to each other because they both hold the two elements of Wojira and the elements long to be together (these boys be gay)

- LGBTQ stuff; Meg, Taiyo and Layla are bi, Iris is lesbian, Theo is gay, Milo is trans and aroace (ftm)

- After reaching their true potential, the 10th gen ninja can interact and comunicate with their ancestor, but not any of the other original ninja. Example Meg can only talk with Kai but won't be able to see or talk to Zane

- Zane decided to shut himself down permanently after the other ninja passed away so he could be with his friends in the Departed Realm, hence why his soul was able to be reincarnated into Iris

- The sprirts of past Elemental Masters live on in the element, kinda like the Avatar Spirit in ATLA & LOK

- Lloyd officialy ends up adopting Meg later on, so her officiall full name is Megan Ash Garmadon

- Half the 10th gen ninja end up as non-humans later on down the line. They call themselves the Inhuman Trio

[lok-repository]

Avatar Studios projects

This is mainly for me to keep track.

There are currently some Avatar Studios affiliated projects that are either out or on the verge or coming out. These are: Avatar Legends TTRPG, Avatar Legends Minecraft DLC, and Avatar Generations mobile game (not yet released). Avatar Legends TTRPG This game has been shipped off to most kickstarter backers. Magpie Games announced there was going to be both a Republic City expansion (coming summer 2023 announced in 2022 NYCC) and a Spirit World expansion coming at a later date. Avatar Legends Minecraft DLC

This game is already out. From what I could tell, you play as the next Avatar after Korra (you select the element you want). You fight a variety of characters from both shows, collect items (I think), and go through stages based on the shows. In the end, you are able to go back to air temple island and fight the last 4 avatars (Kyoshi, Roku, Aang and Korra) when you go to their statues. Avatar Generations

This game isn't out yet, but it sounds like you can only play the ATLA-related levels when the game first comes out. At some point, they will eventually expand to include other avatar eras like Kyoshi, Korra, Roku as well as supposedly "never-before-seen avatars". Animated film/tv There are three animated movies that have been announced. We only officially know that the first movie will be about Aang and comes out Oct. 10, 2025. Not officially announced, but the Paramount CEO did mention in an interview in 2021 that the Avatar creators "[were] well on their way in development on a series of CG films and a new Avatar series." There was nothing about when this series will come out or what it's about yet. I should note that the creators later went on a podcast interview and said that the films were not going to be CG only so some things are subject to change. I'll probably summarize the podcast later because the creators did talk a bit on their future plans for the franchise. Comics Patterns in Time was the first Korra comic that had Avatar Studios listed on the inside. Lastly, it looks like LOK will be getting a trilogy of one-shots from Darkhorse (announced 2022 SDCC), with the first one focusing on Mako (announced NYCC 2022) that's supposed to come out sometime in 2023 after the Azula comic.

[shadowsong26fic]

for A-Z OC meme, L.

Okay!

::pulls out mental list::

So, the obvious choice would be Lavinia, but I've talked about her here enough before so moving on XD

I did have an AtLA OC back in the day named Li-Hua; I don't remember much about her other than she was like the generation after the gaang; she was a firebender but barely used it, and she managed a theatre. She also ended up hopping timelines and getting written into a LOK RP at one point. (there were probably others; i had a lot of OCs in this fandom in particular, but most of the ones i'm coming up with do not have names starting with L)

Lariel is cheating because even though she was Kind Of a Supernatural OC she was really from another canon who was named for crossover purposes and then stuck around and became an Easter egg character (and I never actually wrote her into anything, just her demon counterpart Tesriel).

When we get to my original stuff--there's Lonura; mistress/girlfriend/paramour of a main character's older sister; is a sound-mage which mostly works out to be like Bardic Gift in Valdemar, but can also be things like mimicry and Directly Manipulating Sound (i.e., she can turn sound inward on itself, so something that should make a noise doesn't; also things like ventriloquism are Much easeir lol). She's sweet and steady and very much in love with Nolani; very aware of the potential pitfalls of her magic and rarely uses it.

Lif, from the same canon, is the youngest sister of two other major characters; she's an air-mage and a dancer, sometimes a prostitute. Her sisters are a War Hero and the eventual Clan Head respectively, but she's much happier with a quieter life. There's also some stuff tied into her story about the way Unthreaded mages (meaning mages with powers that are not the dominant/native element for that area) are treated in their culture.

Lux is. Well. She's Lucifer. A bunch of Our Angels Are Different tied into how this story works.

Laura Sanchez, from the same canon, is married to the Guardian, who keeps track of the family of humans who descend from Simon, an immortal (nephil) who keeps getting his memory erased. She ends up basically bullying the Archangel Gabriel into helping her track down her husband after the Horsemen (distant cousins of his) kidnap him. She's a reporter, the daughter of a diplomat, and she and her husband have two or three kids and a handful of grandchildren.

Larien is an extremely cold, calculating person--except where his wife is concerned. He's the king of a nation with a history of war with one of its neighbors; there was a treaty in his parents' generation that tried to solve it (basically, the then-kings; Larien's father and uncle; exchanged sisters as brides. It didn't work). Everything he does, he does for at least three reasons and he's thought it through (again, except for marrying Metanrye). He does love his brothers (half-brother Tahnrin and full-brother Idan; Idan is currently Missing) and his two daughters, but is mostly focused on winning the game, so to speak.

Landelye is the elder of Larien's two daughters. Elanhean succession follows essentially Salic law, meaning that she can't inherit, but she's aware her father is Considering changing the law--if she proves she's worth upending centuries of tradition. Her bastard uncle Tahnrin is the other candidate; they are having a very subtle war for the throne in the background of the wider political complications. Which include possible war with Nandere and some impending Major Drama with the Church. ...also, she and her uncle are both in love with/sleeping with the same main character. They like him (and the potential political advantages he could bring) enough to share, despite cordially despising one another.

...I think that's everyone whose name starts with an L, at least when it comes to Significant characters (or characters with close ties to Significant characters, lol). Though it's entirely possible I've missed someone...

Ask me about my OCs!

[my-forgotten-notepad]

This thread shows the amazing nature and utility of Watsonian Narrative Logic.

That if you want a character to have a moment where they are just overwhelming an opponent; you need to prove and validate the how and why that happens.

With the ATLA/LOK posts, it's pointing out how little the world knew of Air Nomadic ideology and combat practices and approach to violence. As well as in LOK Zaheer was a student and while well-versed in philosophical treatise of the Air Nomads; knew next to nothing in terms of the mastery of Air-Bending in a combative sense.

This allows Aang, Korra, Tenzin and his family to be as dominant as they were during LOK.

The Fencing comment reminds me of left-handed boxers (Southpaws) because just like the Fencing team; a southpaw boxer was/is a difficult matchup if you've trained or only fought right-handed boxers.

So, in a narrative if you want a character to outwit someone combatively; introduce elements or alternative forms of a fighting style many people aren't familiar with. It's hard to predict, destabilise, and attack someone using a fighting form that is both familiar and alien to you.

Ok minor detail but ...

So I noticed in A:TLA, and it’s carried over in LoK, that Airbenders always seem to have an advantage in a fight. And at first, it felt like plot armour, particularly in A:TLA.

But when Aang fought Bumi, he lost most of that advantage. And I realised that this wasn’t just plot armour. Someone had sat and worked it out: nobody has had to fight Airbenders for generations. 

None of the other nations have had to train to face them, or practised sparring with them, or anything. Apart from Bumi, no bender in the show has ever even met an airbender before Aang comes along. And in LoK, for the most part people still haven’t. We never see fights between those who have (for e.g. we never see Tenzin and Lin fight); when Korra and Tenzin use airbending, its a unique fighting style that people aren’t trained to manage.

It’s a really small detail, and it fundamentally works to give the heroes an advantage (and make up for Aang’s young age and lack of combat experience), but I love how it’s an advantage in combat for completely logical reasons.

The detail in these shows is amazing. 

[magnhild]

list of cool lgbt+ media i like that maybe you guys should give a shot if you haven’t

i’m defining ‘lgbt+ media’ as ‘media that features an lgbt+ character/several lgbt+ characters in some prominence’. anyway here’s a list of stuff i like that you guys should definitely check out if you’re looking for new stuff to watch/read/play!

note: if you think a piece of media is ‘missing’ from the list, it’s either because i haven’t experienced it for myself, or have left it out intentionally for personal reasons. please don’t comment on this with ‘oh but you missed spop/supergirl/steven universe/ect.’. this is just my personal recommendation list and you’re free to make your own!

the legend of korra; fantasy, animated tv series

there’s a very small chance that you’ve yet to watch this, but i’m adding it just in case. the titular character and her eventual girlfriend are both bisexual, though, sadly, this relationship does not become canon until the very end, due to nickelodeon’s limitations at the time. still an enjoyable watch regardless, and the follow-up canon comics focus a lot more on the characters’ relationship. doesn’t seem to be available for streaming at the moment, but you can buy it through amazon or apple. also dvd. or just pirate it idk, up to you.

the rise of kyoshi and the shadow of kyoshi; fantasy, novel series

if the series itself has an overarching title, i’m not aware of it. we usually just call them ‘the kyoshi novels’. like lok, is set in the atla universe, but is set long before both animated series’. the main character is bisexual and ends up in a relationship with another woman about halfway through the first book, meaning we have plenty of time to enjoy their relationship. also a good read if you’ve ever wanted to see a more serious and brutally realistic take on the atla universe. the first book can be found in physical or ebook edition in most bookshops, though the second may be harder to find outside of the us due to covid complications.

ikenfell; fantasy, indie video game

a cute little indie rpg game with mystery elements. literally every named character is lgbt+ in some way, including lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and nonbinary characters, including a neopronoun-user. the game is also very disability friendly and has a ton of accessibility options. it is sadly over all-too-quickly- i finished it within a day. can be found through the nintendo eshop and steam, and i think there’s a physical copy out now too.

the owl house; fantasy, animated series

again, it’s unlikely that anyone reading this hasn’t watched at least some of it, but it’s definitely worth a mention. with two of the three main characters being bisexual- including the focal character- another significant character being a lesbian, a fourth being nonbinary, and probably more to come, it’s the most lgbt-focused work to come from disney. unfortunately, this also means that the show has been cut short of its full potential, with disney cancelling it and not even allowing a complete third season, because it wasn’t a good ‘fit’ for them. i wonder why :/ can be found on disney+.

wings of fire; novel series, fantasy

while the first and second arcs of the series have very little lgbt+ characters, the one that exist being limited to minor or background characters, the third steps up by introducing a lesbian main character and her girlfriend. even without the lgbt+ characters earlier on, the series is still a really enjoyable read for anyone who enjoys animal fantasy. it’s also far better-written than warrior cats, if you were curious. has an animated series in the works. can be found in physical, ebook, or audiobook form just about anywhere that sells books.

adventure time, fantasy, animated series

yet again another one i highly doubt people haven’t watched, but still worth a mention. two of the main characters are wlw, though hints of this don’t begin until around the 4th season. several episodes and arcs focus on their relationship and hint at the two being exes, and they are solidified as canon in the finale. a few spin-off comics also tease or outright feature the relationship, though the canonical status for said comics is dubious. their biggest focus came in the form of a 40-minute special, obsidian, that was released in 2020. i believe it can be found on hbo max.

camp half-blood chronicles; fantasy, novel series

consists of three separate series’, the first of which being the well-known percy jackson and the olympians. while the books’ first gay character is introduced in this arc, he does not come out until the next, heroes of olympus. the handling of this is questionable in some areas, but it was notably one of the first first examples of an lgbt+ character in mainstream childrens’ media, coming before even the legend of korra’s final season, and still meant a lot to people. the third series, the trials of apollo, steps things up significantly, with the main character being bisexual, more focus on the aforementioned gay character and his boyfriend, and a few more lgbt+ characters as well, including having a main character from the previous arc being revealed as lgbt+. probably helps that the author began taking criticism from lgbt+ readers into consideration, and hired sensitivity readers. an upcoming book seems to potentially be the most lgbt-focused book in the series, and is being co-written by an lgbt+ author. can be found in physical, ebook, or audiobook form just about anywhere that sells books.

magnus chase and the gods of asgard; fantasy, novel series

written by the same author and set in the same universe as the camp half-blood chronicles. while having less lgbt+ characters than the latter series (mostly due to only having three books compared to 15), the two featured are prominent. a main character introduced in the second book is genderfluid (potentially being the first in mainstream childrens’ literature), and winds up becoming the love interest of the titular character, whose attraction to her regardless of gender points to him being bi or pan. slightly soured by the fact that the series is not nearly long enough, and it doesn’t seem likely that we’ll be seeing these characters any time in the future. there are also two other main male characters who seem to be basically married but aren’t canon?? for some reason?? can be found in physical, ebook, or audiobook form just about anywhere that sells books.

rwby; fantasy, animated web series

another series by rooster teeth, though probably the tamest of their works (that said, it’s still for older audiences than your average cartoon). has the largest number of lgbt+ characters of any media on this list (a total of nine so far), in part due to a generally large cast size. two of the four main characters are wlw (one is bisexual, the other is not yet specified), and there are several other lgbt+ characters of varying importance, including a trans character played by trans actress @kdinjenzen​. some of these are confirmed in the main series, while a few others are confirmed through side novels after the fall and before the dawn, and it’s been confirmed that there are more to come. oh, and did i mention that you can watch the entire series so far for free on rooster teeth’s website?

and that concludes my list! again, if there’s a piece of media that isn’t on here, i’ve left it off for a reason. some i just haven’t consumed, some i have personal reasons for leaving off, some for both of those reasons. please feel free to make your own if you want to promote those ones!

anyway though you for reading and please considered checking some or all of these out!

[silima]

Hi, just want want to let you know I'm a huge fan of the Atla/Lok Au since I found it on Reddit and I have some questions about it, only if you want to answer:

First are both Naoki and San dead in this au and was it by the Fire Nation? Also how did San leave Ba Sing Se, as I would dobut the Dai Li and Long Feng would be willing to let people leave the city without questioning them.

Also does Korra knows all four bending styles in the au. Was she forced to learn Fire on her own or did someone secretly help her?

omg thank u for asking me this, i love talking about this au! yeah naoki & san are dead like in canon, although i haven't put a whole lot of thought into how exactly it happened until you asked. having them die at the hands of the fire nation would probably be appropriate to this setting though 💀 rip

idk if the dai li would care so much about some random peasant in the lower ring, especially since it's packed so full with a stream of people coming in all the time; it's not like san is so important or really knows enough that the dai li would personally stalk him... although, i also doubt his reasons for leaving ba sing se would be the same as in canon--republic city and the opportunities that it represents do not exist in this au. that being said, probably the simplest reason for him to leave the earth kingdom and meet naoki (whether that happens in the colonies or the fire nation islands) is that in a time of war he might've ended up working for the military in some capacity, so that's how he could've ended up traveling. (to be specific i don't personally see him as being a combatant/soldier, but it doesn't really matter.)

korra does not know all four bending styles in this au, actually! water, as the only element she's been fully, formally trained in, is by far her strongest. her earthbending training was sparser, although she's still pretty solid (lol) at it due to natural talent. she's never had a firebending teacher and is entirely self-taught in that regard--she's prodigiously skilled if you consider that, but she's picked up some bad habits from the lack of formal training and isn't formally trained in firebending forms; her firebending often uses a mix of earthbending and waterbending techniques, which is not ideal and ends up wasting energy.

she spent at least a year living with tenzin and pema after her parents were captured, so she has had airbending training (tenzin was like "ehhhh idk if this is the best idea since you haven't mastered earth or fire yet" but had to give in to practicality), but her knowledge of it is limited to footwork, meditation, & physical motions. she cannot actually bend air yet, to her continued frustration. she tries to practice with jinora, but no progress yet.

also mako totally ends up being her firebending teacher lol