#this isn't just about azula btw

[beifong-brainrot]

I think the reason I'm a bit iffy about most zutara shippers who call themesleves "pro Katara" (and lets be honest the tags pro katara/katara deserved better are mainly people building themselves a moral highground of "if you disagree with me, you clearly dilslike Katara and want her to suffer") is just the hypocrisy of it all.

Katara's consent was violated by Aang, yes. But Zuko threatening her and being a fucking creep in the "I'll save you from the pirates" scene was sexy and not at all the nightmare of any sane woman.

Katara's role as a healer is treated as her acting subservient and her loosing her feminist icon status. Unless she's healing/offering to heal Zuko.

Aang is immature and childish. But we will handily ignore Zuko, a whole ass 16 year old who's heir to a country throwing a temper tantrum because his girlfriend dared to speak to another man. [Frankly, in my opinion, Zuko isn't really ready for a serious romantic relationship, but yall arent ready for that conversation]

Aang is supposedly misogynistic, but Zuko's many instances of actual misogyny are swept under the rug. Aang is shown in canon to be incredibly supportive of Katara defying the patriarchy.

Supposedly Aang makes Katara do all the housework. Despite there being evidence to the contrary. Zuko has just recently learnt to brew tea.

Katara being the Avatar's wife is supposedly degrading. But if she were Zuko's wife, I'm sure she wouldn't be just a baby maker. (What a horribke thing to call a woman btw. Tall call your own mothers baby makers too???) Despite the fact that Izumi's mother hasn't even been mentioned by name in tlok. But yeah. She'd be afforded the respect she deserves I'm certain.

Aang is, on most accounts, supportive and respectful of Katara's opinions, even when he disagrees with them. Zuko openly mocks people who oppose him. I am going to make a longer post on the Southern Raiders episodes and how all of you watched that episode blindfolded or smth.

Aang comparing Appa being kidnapped (his last connection to his genocided people, the last vestige of his happy past) to Katara's anger over her mother is bad. But Zuko comparing mommy leaving his ass to Katara's mother getting brutally slaughtered in front of her ? Silence.

Aang supposedly needs Katara to mother him and that's a bad thing. But Azula, Mai and Ty Lee having to gentle parent Zuko almost everytime they interact is never talked about, despite the uncalled for verbal abuse that trio goes through from him.

Aang and Katara's 2 year age gap is creepy. But Zuko and Katara's 2 year age gap is fine. My bigest gripe with Zutara lovers is them completely erasing Katara's childishness and immaturity, in order for her and Zuko to have this mature, sexy relationship. She's 14, guys. 14.

This post really isn't meant to decry Zutara. I just want people who ship Zutara to get off their high horse of feminism and to accept that they're no better than the rest of us ship loving freaks. Wanting the main girl to bump uglies with the broody emo twink doesn't make you a modern day suffragette. Disliking a main canon pairing isn't a measure of your love for a female character.

Grow up.

Enjoy your ship like a normal person.

[zukosdualdao]

just… the absolute trust between zutara in the finale is unreal. after zuko’s impromptu training attack session, yes, katara is surprised and even somewhat angry as she confronts him, but when she says “you could have hurt aang!” all it reminds me of is the fact that just a few episodes ago, she literally threatened to kill him if he ever gave her a reason to think he might so something to hurt aang. but here, now, even as she’s confronting him, she just… waits for him to explain, and she actually sees and agrees with his point once zuko tells the gaang about ozai’s plan.

there is also the absolutely, 100% synchronized way they fight during the simulated training session, something that calls back to their synchronization and teamwork in the southern raiders, and that inherently shows a lot of trust and understanding between them.

katara is the one who initially asks zuko what they should do after aang disappears. everyone else agrees, but it's katara who trusts him enough to position him, not just to herself but to everyone else, as someone they should listen to because of his history, skill, and experience, especially noteworthy because the reason she gives—“you are sort of the expert at tracking the avatar”—is what used to make him untrustworthy in their eyes. they’ve come such a long way.

then katara notices zuko freeze and sit in front of iroh’s tent, and when she asks if he’s okay, he just… completely trusts her with exactly what he’s feeling, and if he’s even a little worried that what he’s saying might cause her to act derisively, because what he’s referencing here is also what katara was angry and hurt about, he doesn’t show it. he just so completely trusts her with it, and her insistence that iroh will forgive him is born from her own trust of zuko, and she's able to tell him what he needs to hear because she was once in iroh's position and zuko proved his genuine remorse and care to her.

then, of course, we've got zuko not missing a beat as he asks katara to be the one to come with him to confront azula, and her ready acceptance. they make a good team, and they know it.

but when they get there and azula challenges zuko to an agni kai - though she initially has misgivings, katara ultimately trusts zuko when he says he can handle it and understands that he doesn't want her to get hurt if she doesn't have to. (an aspect of zuko's "i can't explain it, but she's slipping" line that i think gets underexamined, btw, is that that's not an inherently good thing for them. yes, maybe that means zuko will be able to take her, particularly because he knows azula and her fighting style well. but someone who is "slipping" is also, in this case, desperate, and more prone to being reckless with people's lives. zuko tries to mitigate that by fighting her alone, but it doesn't work because azula can't follow the terms she sets when she realizes she's losing.)

the lightning scene is a really interesting example of trust as it relates to zuko and katara, because to me, the emphasis there isn't quite so much on zuko and katara trusting each other. there's barely time for katara to think through what will happen to as azula aims for her or wonder what zuko will do, after all, and zuko is probably in too much pain and too out of it to think about katara coming to try to heal him. (though if they did have the time and mental faculties to think it through, i think they would both 120 percent trust the other to help them.)

instead, the emphasis is on the audience trusting the characters. from the moment zuko sees where azula's aiming, he doesn't hesitate, doesn't even think about, just. immediately jumps in front of the lightning before it can reach katara. i've said this before, but as soon as he understood what was happening, there was just no chance of that lightning ever getting to katara and that's the point. we've seen what zuko looks like when he's hesitating or conflicted, and the difference is stark. the show never wants you to question exactly what zuko will do, that he refuses to let katara get heart, that he'll save her.

and for her part, katara immediately runs to try and save zuko despite azula still being around and attacking, and tries again before realizing she needs to defeat azula in order to do so. but the entire scene of katara's defeating her, while obviously heroic and emblematic of katara's power and the culmination of her arc as a girl whose culture and identity was nearly stripped away from her to being a master waterbender, is also framed as katara defeating azula so she can get to zuko. she would have done it anyways, yes, but in this context, right now, she is fighting azula so she can get to zuko to heal him.

here, in the narrative culmination of their arcs together, it shows not just that they trust each other, but asks the audience to not doubt the development of the dynamic that’s been built, to trust that they will take care of each other. and they do.

[the-badger-mole]

I read your Azula redemption post, and I like it. It's kind of sad, but hopeful at the same time. I saw you said you had other ideas for Azula redemptions. Can you give us another? Is there a version you see where she and Zuko are still in each other's lives? One where she maybe still has some power, like as a general or advisor or something?

Thank you! Yeah, it was kind of bittersweet. I think it's also the most complete version of a redemption for Azula that I could think of working for her. The thing about her staying in court with any sort of power is that, to me, it feels kind of like letting a drunk run a bar. The reason I see Azula needing to either be in prison or in exile is because within certain circles, Azula would have a lot of people wanting to put her on the throne in Zuko's place. I think it would take a long time for her to not want to be on the throne in Zuko's place, and well, there goes the whole redemption narrative for her.

As for her having a relationship with Zuko, the version I put in that outline is probably the healthiest one they could have. In a redemption arc where she actually wants a close relationship with Zuko, I don't see her wanting to share him with anyone. At best, she would tolerate his friends and family. Mostly, I think she would resent the fact that he was all she had, but she wasn't all he had. I don't see her being the cool Aunt Azula to his children. She might form a bond with the child that is most like her, if she's allowed the time to spend with them, which I don't see being the case. Obviously, in any of my stories, the mother of Zuko's children is Katara, and I don't see Katara being okay with Azula being around her kids. Especially, unsupervised (completely understandable, btw). I mostly think she wouldn't want to interact with Zuko's kids at all. Her resentment for Zuko having people who love and support him apart from her would color their relationship and cause a lot of tension between them.

The one version of an Azula redemption where I could see her and Zuko having a "normal" relationship where she is actively a part of his life and knows and is known by the people most important to him is an AU story where she never tried to kill him.

The problem I have with most Azula redemption stories is that they don't tend to address the very real harm she did. They just kind of blow past the fact that she was a villain and excuse everything she did because of Ozai's abuse. First of all, canonically, the most abuse we see her get is being Ozai's Golden Child, which yes, I do believe is a form of abuse, but isn't enough to let her off the hook, which a lot of Azula redemption stories do. Second, blaming all of her actions on her abuse completely ignores any agency Azula had, which I think is insulting to her character. Azula was cunning, astute, and ruthless. Let her be those things. She hurt Zuko and made enemies of his friends. Let her have to face the consequences of that, too. An Azula redemption would be messy and inconsistent, and that is not only okay, it's necessary.

[stygiovictoria]

Your nowhere au sounds fun! What are Iroh and Ursa up to in it?

Your art is lovely btw!

Thanks so much! I've actually been thinking about this one a lot.

As for Iroh, his story plays out about the exact same, however Zuko's disappearance activates papa bear mode almost immediately. He's searching up and down for him, and is always just a few days behind wherever he last was, so I think he's frustrated. I'm thinking he tails the gaang because he has an idea they might at least know where he is, but whenever he catches up, Zuko's not there — i.e the episode with June, he finds Katara and Sokka instead of Aang and Zuko. In the chase he finds Toph. It's not him antagonizing them though — for Book 1, it's Zhao, and for Book 2, it's still Azula.

Ursa... That's actually a good question LMAO. Probably about the same, very protective over little Zuko. But maybe she is a bit more caring to Azula as her first child, and outwardly more loving. I don't know though. She still leaves to save Zuko's life, and maybe tries to sneak him away with her. Zuko refuses to leave unless Azula comes as well, as I think he was a clingy little brother.

This isn't set in stone though, y'all let me know what you think.

[avatar-legends-confessionblog]

Really sad there isn't more PLATONIC (emphasis on the PLATONIC) fics about Azula and Sokka post-war and maybe post therapy where they just hate each other and slowly (like really slowly, let's be honest here, they'd hate each other for years) stop hating each other but still piss each other off just as often.

Also Platonic (yes platonic) Zuko and Katara. Idk man really huge fan of enemies to friends (to perhaps, and I don't have a better word for this, frienemies)

Not Anti Sokkla or Zutara btw, my aroace ass just really miss dynamics like that. Also because one of the previous fandoms I was in had a decent amount of content with Platonic Boys and Girls relationships. Rocketduo (from the infamous dsmp) I miss you, and also The Family and the Bamboozlers, aka The Bamily from the Life Series. (I wrote this and realised every example was MCYT and I am only a little sorry)

X

[corpsedisturbed]

im well aware there is a problem of racism within the zutara shipp community, i won't pretend to be dumb and say i don't notice how a lot of fanworks have katara abandon her culture in order to become fire lady or how zuko protects her from "the evil misogynist men from the water tribes" and how the fire nation is sm cooler than the southern water tribe, the whitewashing, etc. those are real things, it's disgusting and as a POC, it makes me feel insecure in the fandom. there is a problem w nsfw fanarts and fanfics of zutara as minors too

but all of this isn't limited to the zutara shippers and this isn't a defense but a plea for all of you to look closely with what and who u interact w. literally this week we saw a kataang shipper be exposed as a racist and a harasser. I'm on twitter again and her interactions w other kataang shippers are many but the warnings coming from other people come a long way too and i barely saw any ka addressing the situation. there was a exposed of a zk group chat some months ago who were actually proshippers and the exposed was created by a zutara shipper who was even harasseed by zk shippers (the ones in the gc and others too)

avatarfandompolice is another racist user who receives a lot of attention too. zvtara-was-never-canon is managed by a zucest shipper. hell there is a literal zionist lurking around both the zk and ka fandoms (starlight-bread-blog)

a lot of the anti zutara discourse i see the majority of time doesnt actually focus on the racism the fans have towards katara but go on to call it a toxic shipp and a colonizer/colonized shipp. funny thing is, these people praise zuko's arc and his friendship w the gaang. if u actually think zuko is a colonizer and he shouldnt be w katara romantically, he shouldnt have a friendship w any of the gaang either. they all suffered under the FN's imperialism but this discourse only appears when romance is brought up and specifically w zutara. as i said before, there is a problem of racism within the zk shippers but it isn't inherent to the shipp. a lot of times this anti discourse comes from a need to have moral high ground. but honestly, do u think u have moral high ground while stanning kuvira, a grown ass woman who put waterbenders and firebenders in concentration camps? do u think u have moral high ground when u insist zutara is ass but ship zukaang, a boy who is 12 and the other who is 16? do u think u have moral high ground when u ship azula and zuko, the siblings? do u think u have moral high ground while u shipp zukka and doesnt think it is colonized/colonizer bc "sokka doesnt care ab his culture"?

and it goes both ways btw. zk shippers, do u think u have moral high ground when u interact w racists fanworks and refuses to aknowledge their existence but at the same time say kataang is inherently misogynist and their shippers too? do u think u have moral high ground when u attack zukka by being homophobic? do u think u have moral high ground ignoring that by having a redemption's arc, zuko needs to have smth to redeem about and that something is his horrible fucking choices a lot of yall try to woobify? do u think u have moral high ground when u try to justify zuko being a bad and possessive boyfriend just bc u don't like mai?

there is a problem of racism, misogyny and homophobia in the fandom and im tired of everyone pretending their little bubble is perfect and never a part of the problem. i love avatar but anyone w half a brain knows the show is racist and stereotyping at times, just like the creators. yk, the two white men who appropriated a lot of things.

it was a long rant and i don't expect people to read it but I just needed to rant ab it anyway

[ilikepjo24]

We all know that Ursa couldn't solve all of Azula's problems if she tried...

...But she could solve some of them.

People love to say that Ursa was a victim of Ozai (which is true) and the fact that she has a bad relationship with Azula is exclusively Ozai's fault (which isn't). Ursa also shares blame. You can't act like she holds no responsibility when she's the one Azula keeps hallucinating. She's the reason behind Azula's abandonment issues.

"bUT iT WAs oZai tHAt foRceD hEr to leAvE, sO IT wAs hIS fAuLt 🤡"

Ozai did force Ursa to leave, but did he also force her not to say goodbye to her daughter? Did any of you ever heard Ozai say "You can wake up Zuko if you want, cause adding abandonment issues on top of all his other flaws would make him even more unbearable, but don't you dare disturb Azula, she needs her beauty sleep."? I don't remember that scene ever happening, in the show or in the comics.

"BuT azULa coUlD hAve snItcHeD oN heR 🤡"

Blaming the child I see, but you're forgetting sn important detail. Snitch on her to who?

Ozai? He already knew she was leaving.

Azulon? He was dead.

To some guard? The guards would just report to Ozai, who would do nothing because he wanted her to leave.

Iroh? In what universe would Azula willingly go to Iroh if she had a problem? Was Iroh even there at the moment or was he still in the spirit world? We don't know, we never saw him!

There was absolutely no reason whatsoever why Ursa couldn't wake Azula up. No reason whatsoever. Plus, Azula is baby, if Ursa were to wake her up in the middle of the night, Azula would tell nobody (at least not immediately) because she would just fall asleep again, just like Zuko did, because she's nine!

Do you even know what kind of natural disasters nine year olds can sleep through? You can't possibly believe that, Azula, a nine year old, would leave her comfortable, warm bed, in the middle of the night, to go find her scary dad, or scary grandfather, or walk around until she found a guard (where were the guards btw? How come nobody saw Ursa? It's possible that there wasn't even any guards patrolling in the inside of the palace) to tell them that her mom came to hug her in the middle of the night, when, realistically, her mind was still fuzzy from sleep and she didn't even know that the hug meant goodbye, since Ursa had no reason to give away that detail, since she didn't tell Zuko either.

But let's pretend that you're right, and Ursa couldn't wake Azula up for some reason. That still doesn't change the fact that Ursa could still do other stuff to be close to her daughter. Ask her to do an activity together or something.

"bUt ThE tuRtlEdUCKs...- 🤡"

Stfu about the turtleducks. Feeding the turtleducks is an activity Zuko likes, that Azula has no interest in. Just like with the walks in the ganders. That's not how responsible parenting is done. This is "I will send some quality time with one child and drag the other one along to not look bad, but during the quality time the second kid can buzz off, I won't even be paying attention to them." This is exactly what is happening in this picture:

And don't go all "What chance would she have? Azula would push her away!" Because that just indicates that you don't understand shit about Azula's character. She wants her parents to be proud of her. She wants her power to be recognized. That's canonically what she craves the most:

So no, if Ursa gave Azula a chance to feel like she's making her mother proud, Azula would rather die than waste it. And under what circumstances could Ursa give Azula a chance like that without being interrupted you may ask? Well that's very simple. During Azula's training.

In this panel Azula is speaking directly to Ozai about how her training went. Which means he wasn't there to see it. He wasn't the one training her. He wasn't observing her training. And he wouldn't be there to stop Ursa from observing Azula's training once in a blue moon. He wouldn't be there to stop Ursa from telling Azula that she has improved so much and she's proud of her. He wouldn't be there to stop Ursa from showing Azula how much she loves her. He wouldn't be there to stop Azula from growing up knowing that her mother does care.

And who knows? Maybe the presence of a parent that doesn't believe in burning people's pants when you're displeased with them would prevent Azula from misbehaving on those occasions.

So Ozai couldn't prevent Ursa from doing that. Azula wouldn't want to prevent Ursa from doing that. So what stopped Ursa from doing it? Nothing. Nothing at all. She could easily do it and chose not to. Because Ursa isn't as good of a mom as some of you like to pretend she is.

Ursa couldn't solve all of Azula's problems, but she could save Azula from a lifetime of thinking her mom didn't love her and she selected not to do it because Ursa is not a great person.

Thus proven.

[theshypinkflower]

"I think... I miss my wife... " ahh Jack 🥀🥀

anwayyss! I missed you and your blogs! I hope that break was great to take. Seeing your ask box open again and a new entirely design for Jack was such a good start again.

Here I was thinking who have I missed besides your blogs? Hm... Jerald! Since I stated myself to be his number 1 fan only and one husband to him. I was thinking if you had any hcs of him (Angst, Comfort, NSFW) stuff like that since I missed how much you talked about your OCS.

Since we are speaking of your OCS, let's add Jen, Rochelle, and Keyboard to the mix! I forgot if it was azule or Azula as I can't remember from the blog you spoken of your OC one time. That's all I want to know lately. ♪

AHHHHH IM SO GLAD YALL LIKE JACK!!!!! He took a lot of effort like the rest of my EP rewrites

Jerald:

-Jerald can get overwhelmed easily from work and that kinda take the form of him lashing out or being distant. He doesn't mean it, he just needs some alone time until he gets stuff done

-Little fun headcanon, he really likes 80s music

-Pretty good at comforting tbh. He'll wrap you in a blanket, get you tea, make you feel comfortable and safe

-Thinks watching a B rated movie from the 2000s is the greatest form of comfort, since usually they're terrible comedies with happy endings

-Anything that's fun he'll do to comfort you. Karaoke, amusement park, whatever will make you smile and laugh

-I already did some NSFW hcs on Jerald so I'll keep this one short, but he's a huge freak. Cuck, gimp suits, and chastity cages. He's got a thing for leather and latex. The most normal looking guy is into the weirdest stuff.

-Hes got a couple raunchy photos on an SD card...

-Really enjoys filming pornos and taking nudes on vintage cameras. He'll die if you let him film a porno with you on a VHS with grainy footage

Jen:

-She tries to comfort people, but she's not good at it. She's awkward and it usually ends up with making it about her. Plus she's like...weirdly competitive

-Certified gooner, have her day is spent jacking off. Vibrators, bad dragons, her own pillow. Her room reeks of the smell of horniness and desperation

-Slightest touch from anyone and she's going crazy

Rochelle:

-She tries comforting, but she just doesn't know how. Her version of comfort is gift giving (since that's how Sal apologizes to her)

-Doesn't really have a high sex drive. Her diet causes it all to be low and all those pills probbaly have some affect in it

-Sometimes she'll touch herself, but that's pretty rare

Keyboard:

-Honestly not much of a serious bone in them. Don't rely on them for comfort. Theyre the kind of guy who makes a joke out of serious situations to help them cope with it. Someone dies? Make a joke even if it's the wrong time.

-Would rather jerk off than actually have sex with anyone, mostly cause they don't know anyone who would want to be cut up, ORRRRR has the energy to do it

-Nothing beats getting high and using a fleshlight

(BTW I'm changing his pronouns to he/them since he's more masc leaning)

Azula:

-All her comfort comes in the form of religion. She will turns your vulnerability against you. In her head, she's always playing chess. Just a matter of time til she gets checkmate

-Doesn't really care for the sex the cult is partially based on. She turns the cult more pain than sex based. Of course group sex or mixing both isn't uncommon. Sometimes she'll have sex with followers, but that's not common

-She's more into the pain (preferably psychological and mental)

[snonkerdoodlefizzy221b]

OKAY OKAY OKAY IM ABOUT TO BURST AND I NEED TO TALK ABOUT THIS OMG.

(not through the show yet so bear with me)

S2 E18 WHERE ZUKO IS SWEEPING THE TEA SHOP AND HE LOOKS OUT THE ENTRANCE AND IS SMILING AND HE ACTUALLY LOOKS HAPPY. HE'S CHANGED SO MUCH. A YEAR AGO HE NEVER WOULDVE THOUGHT HE WOULD FIND HAPPINESS IN A TEA SHOP BUT NOW? NOW HE'S GOT A NEW LIFE AWAY FROM THE PRESSURE AND HAS BEEN ABLE TO MOVE PAST AT LEAST SOME OF THE ABUSE OZAI PUT HIM THROUGH. AND IT'S ALL ABOUT TO BE RUINED FOR HIM AND IT FEELS TERRIBLE BECAUSE HE'S ALMOST THERE HE ALMOST IS AND HE'S EVEN FEELING GENUINELY HAPPY FOR ONCE AND IT'S GONNA BE TAKEN AWAY FROM HIM. AAGH MY HEART.

but I also feel like there's some more character development for him because yeah he is building a new life but that doesn't mean that his past actions are erased. and that doesn't mean he is impervious to the fire nation.

hopefully this doesn't set him back but knowing him it prolly will

YEESH I LOVE ZUKO. HE HAD HIS HEART IN THE RIGHT PLACE AS A CHILD BUT THEN WAS CORRUPTED BY HIS FATHER AND AZULA AND HIS THIRST FOR FINDING THE AVATAR. AND HE THINKS THAT UNCLE IROH IS CRAZY BUT EVENTUALLY OVER THE COURSE OF THE SERIES HE REALIZES THAT IROH ACTUALLY HAS A POINT. AND THE METAMORPHOSIS THAT RLLY CHANGED HIS OUTLOOK AND MADE HIM ASK HIMSELF WHAT HE WANTED WAS AMAZING 😭 AND I DONT WANT AZULA TO TAKE THAT AWAY FROM HIM BUT KNOWING HER SHE WILL AND IT JUST AAGH.

AND ALSO THE TALES OF BA SING SE EPISODE AND HOW UNCLE IROH JUST WENT AROUND SPREADING HIS WISDOM TO PEOPLE AND HELPING THEM OUT AND THEN THE RHYME HE SANG TO THE YOUNG CHILD WAS THE ONE HE USED TO SING TO HIS OWN KID I LITERALLY FELT MY SMILE SLIDE OFF MY FACE 😭😭

and also about that episode I lowkey think its ironic how he's like (to the robber) "you don't have to do this, you can get a job and stuff" and the robber's eating it up like DAMN I wish it was that easy irl but ofc it isn't

oh yeah this is about atla btw

[anonymousotherworld]

"korra is the worst avatar because she severed the connection with past avatars and almost ended the avatar cycle!"

actually, katara is the reason aang didn't end the avatar cycle all together. if she didn't have the spirit water/couldn't heal aang, the avatar cycle as a whole would have ended in ba sing se after azula (a 15 yo) shot him. unlike aang, korra was fighting against a her madman of an uncle who fused with vaatu and was quite literally an evil avatar (and who was very knowledgeable about the spirit world).

people shit on korra like as if she fell & lost the connection when in reality, raava was literally ripped out of her

this post isn't to hate on aang btw. i love aang but each avatar has their own strengths and weaknesses. the constant shitting on korra is really annoying & way too much. it's unfair to reduce korra to just her weaknesses.

[my-cabbages-gorl]

hey there!

if aang were to end up with zuko after the war as they were planning republic city together, who'd you want katara and mai to end up with? do you have any other pairings that you like besides zukaang?:)

your blog is super cute btw <33 i appreciate that you are spreading the zukaang agenda

Hi anon, I love this ask so much!! Thank you for sending it 🫶🏽❤️ I can't escape what I know is true in my bones, that Mai is a lesbian- and I do really love the messiness of Maizula and the potential for a bittersweet resolution to where we left Azula with plenty of darkness and angst and complicated drama along the way. Mai and Azula's relationship feels like those sweet queer stories from our childhood where we were drawn into someone in a way that felt just bad enough that we couldn't stop being around them. Only later to find out that it's because we were, in fact, homos all along hahahaha. right? As far as Katara, this one's a little harder for me, because kataang is such a RICH relationship that even separating her and Aang for the sake of Zukaang... I have to look away and pretend it's not happening hahahaha. But, I do love the idea of her finding someone who is just as passionate about justice, de-colonization, and general restoration of the world post-war (and the SWT) whose life isn't chaotic and unpredictable in the way Aang's is. I kind of dig Harutara for this reason- Haru is a bright-eyed bushy-tailed man who can share her passion, and meet her in her grief. Most importantly he does and will continue to follow her and worship her like she deserves. Although in the multiverse of my imagination kataang and zukaang both work out in different timelines and I just pretend the two universes never touch.

Thanks again for the ask, the zukaang agenda lives 😈

[beifong-brainrot]

in your opinion, why do you believe Ozai hated Zuko so much? He physically scarred him, while he mentally scarred Azula

Honestly, this is a very layered question, because the life of the Fire Nation royal family seems to be very much filled with intrigue, subterfuge and spite. So much spite. It also depends on how much grace we want to give Ozai, whether we want to percieve him as a character with potential redeeming qualities. Don't get me wrong, all versions of canon compliant Ozai are morally deplorable, but it is possible to interpret him as a character more fleshed out than the cartoon villain he is on the surface level.

The reasoning for Ozai's treatment of Zuko can be traced back to Ozai and Ursa's very volatile relationship. It is plain to see that Ozai was an abusive husband, from the coercion of marriage and sexual relations, holding the abuse of their children over her head to physically grabbing and yanking Ursa.

It's hard to say whether Ozai just got off on the control he had over Ursa, or whether he genuinely wanted some kind of relationship with her. It seems like the family was at least comfortable for some time, and Ozai did appear to want to at least 'act out' romance with Ursa, kissing her on the cheek, and wanting her to call him 'my love'. Whether that be another level of control, or genuine, I can't really tell.

Whatver he wants from this relationship, all that is effectively shattered when Ursa begins sending letters to Ikem. Ozai seems so insecure due to this that he hires an elite assassin just to try and take down his wife's peasant ex boyfriend.

When Ursa lies in her letter, claiming Zuko as Ikem's son, Ozai confronts her. And he seems genuinely hurt, or at least distraught that Ursa wishes Zuko weren't his son. And so it appears he became especially cruel to Zuko to spite Ursa.

I want to highlight that it is difficult to blame Ursa for her actions, as she clearly isn't in a good place mentally due to what is happening to her

Another reason could be Ozai seeing Ursa favour Zuko over Azula. I go into this more here so I don't want to repeat myself. But I believe Ursa, unintentionally, isolated Azula. Now, whether or not Ozai saw this and reacted by favouring Azula and bullying Zuko. Or he saw his daughter was in a vulnerable position, prime for manipulation and control. Again, it depends on how nice we're being to Ozai here.

Azula really is just a more convenient child for Ozai. One of the reasons Ozai cites for perfering Azula is that she is a more talented firebender.

Zuko: You're like my sister. Everything always came easy to her. She's a firebending prodigy, and everyone adores her. My father says she was born lucky. He says I was lucky to be born.

Azula is also, for all her cunning and glib, more susceptible to manipulation. Unlike Zuko, who has Ursa and Iroh, Azula lacked supportive adults in her life. I talk about how important support systems are in redemption arcs here.

I think Ozais displeasure with Zuko was that, he wasn't as easy to control as Azula. He spoke out of turn and had ideals that went against Ozai. I believe that this is why Ozai became so enraged by Zuko's behaviour and actions. Zuko unintentionally undermined him.

Iroh: Zuko had spoken out against the general's plan, but by doing so in the Fire Lord's war room, it was the Fire Lord whom he had disrespected.

Ozai, at his core, seems like a deeply insecure man. Most of his acomplishments aren't his own. His wife (who was secured for him by his father btw) is the one who masterminded the assassination of Azulon and Ozai's subsequent coronation. And while Iroh, the one whose titile Ozai essentially stole, was in disfavour for abandoning Ba Sing Se, he is still a decorated war general.

And Ozai isn't stupid, he probably knows he is pathetic. There's a reason he didn't want to share his glory on Sozin's comet with Azula. He's fucken insecure and makes it everyone else's problem.

And to some extent, I don't think Ozai really hates Zuko, at least not pre- Black Sun Day. Zuko tells us that his family was "happy once" and it's implied Ozai had been an at least passable father a t some time.

I simply think Ozai's pride, insecurity and spite towards Ursa took priority over whatever affection he had for his son.

I don't want this to seem like I'm making any excuses for Ozai, his actions towards Zuko and his entire family were deplorable. Him having his own rationale and reasonings doesn't moralise his behaviors. However, I do like to think that he isn't just a one note cartoonish villain and has his own motivations other than being a dick.

[goji-pilled]

Best advice I can give for Waterfowl is to just run tf away, and to run towards her during the move starting on phase 2 so she misses.

Malenia, Blade of Miquilla isn't in her prime at all in the boss fight so that means she can very easily get staggered and bleed. The Black Knife mimic is great here as well as any weapon/move that has the hp drain effect they have.

Really for phase 2 my only big piece of advice is just run away during her clone attack. She's just as staggerable as she was in phase 1, and can still bleed just as easy.

Good luck on defeating the Blade of Miquilla, the Goddess of Rot, and have a swell time with the end game.

Btw, have you fought the Ferum Azula super boss, or did you not know it exists/how to reach it?

hey hey what the fuck do you mean clone attack

also yessss i do know about placiduseax or however it was spelled, i havent entered farum azula yet at all though since i wanted to do malenia first (bad idea? maybe. who knows.) but i am aware of his existence and want to try challenging him at the very least

[erisenyo]

hiiiii I wanna play!!

16. How important is it to you to stay true to the original creator's vision while writing fanfiction?

26. How do you approach plot twists or surprises in your fics?

31. Do you prefer writing from a single character's perspective or switching between different viewpoints?

You’re amazing as always <3

16. How important is it to you to stay true to the original creator's vision while writing fanfiction?

Eh, middling important? I'm comfortable to change details or do AUs, but it's one of those "know the rules so you can then break them" situation. Every change is going to have a ripple effect, so for it to still feel grounded in the source canon, those ripples need to make sense from that canon.

Characterization is huge for me, too. I always want the characterization to stay aligned to canon. Even if I'm showing growth, or bringing them to places they didn't go in canon, I want it to feel rooted in their canon selves. Okay, Sokka would never [X] in canon--so what would it take to get him there? If I don't see that chain of 'what it takes' then for me it feels like it's drifting into writing an OC who happens to have a similar background, which isn't my interest with fic.

26. How do you approach plot twists or surprises in your fics?

I tend to know where they're going to be in advance, a twist or major surprise is generally a big emotional moment, moment of revelation, moment when the reader's and/or the character's perspective is challenged and shifts. So those tend to be some of the first scenes that coalesce as an idea is coming together, and then things get planned from a pre-reveal and post-reveal format.

So to use a fluffy example from a oneshot (instead of the big reveal in one of my longfics lol) - one of the pivotal moments in (With Wonder and Care) Reach for Far-Flung Dreams is when Sokka is surprised by the destination of the road trip and what the big vacation actually is (NASA, for him, no Disney, for everyone else).

So I have that as this big emotional height--so why is it an emotional height? Because Sokka is surprised by it. Why is he surprised? Because he thought they were going somewhere else. Why did he think they were going somewhere else? Because the Gaang is specifically planning this as a treat for him and it's a big secret they're hoping to pull off.

And now I have the front half of my fic, basically - all the initial setup, the initial dynamics and interactions and necessary exposition, that are building to this reveal.

And then I think about post-reveal--what changes because of this surprise? Sokka realizes the day is about him, instead of him facilitating a day for everyone else. Sokka is emotionally overwhelmed, because he wasn't prepared to seem cool and unaffected. Sokka feels cared for, and has to just let that soak in.

And then that starts to give me the emotional beats I need to hit in later scenes--Sokka being emotionally overwhelmed, realizing the extent of their preparation for him, feeling loved and cared for.

(I can do a breakdown like this for one of the bigger fics like To Open Every Door, if anyone wants, btw)

31. Do you prefer writing from a single character's perspective or switching between different viewpoints?

It depends on the story! I generally like to write from the POV of whoever knows the least, so that the reader can learn alongside them in real-time. Or if a scene is supposed to do some big emotional work for a certain character, I'd rather have their POV for the scene vs them reflecting back on it after.

So in a one shot, that's usually one POV (though sometimes I purposefully structure in external POVs because I think it puts a fun perspective on events). For longer works it tends to be multiple POVs, especially something plottier. In To Open Every Door To Night, for example, I needed dual POVs because I needed the reader to have knowledge that Sokka didn't, which meant I needed Azula's scenes.

But my Zukki series was also a longer work, and there I stuck to one POV because things filtered through Zuko's limited perspective with him misreading everything but the reader able to correctly interpret everything he was missing regardless was the vibe I was going for.

So a lot of words to say basically , no preference, it's what carries the story best :)

From this Questions for Fic Writers game!

[tuiyla]

Not sure if you spoke about this yet and if so, sorry for asking . I just really always enjoyed your thoughts on avatar. Would love to know your thoughts on all the sneak peaks that we’ve seen so far like the trailers and everything. Also your thoughts on the changes made to sokkas character. I don’t know if you heard but it apparently they want to get rid of some of his early Scenes because of his sexism. Also just recently they are changing some things about Katarina because I guess they don’t think some of her personality will translate well in live action.

Oh hey! Sorry it's been so long, sorry I've basically disappeared off tumblr. But I still love Avatar of course and warms my heart to hear people like it when I talk about it.

Sigh, the live action. I'm going to watch it when it comes out tomorrow, of course, and I remember being cautiously optimistic when it was first announced. But between Bryke leaving and the info we've been getting, idk. Visually, it looks really solid. The CGI is a bit too plasticky at times for how much it allegedly costs but the costumes are great, the cast seemed good from the beginning and bending itself, I have to say, looks sick.

But these are just aesthetics. Sure, the infamous movie didn't even get that right but being faithful to and respecting the source material is a lot more than just looking great in live action. Since you've sent this ask, more interviews have come out where they talk about changes made to not only Sokka's character but pretty much everyone's. Aang is less of a goofy kid escaping responsibility. I fear the larger presence of Ozai and Azula will make Zuko too sympathetic too early. Not to mention, apparently he's more so doing what he's doing to win the war not to regain his honour? A rumour I've heard.

I haven't heard much about changes made to Katara but, being Katara's no. 1 fan forever and always I'm sure I wouldn't be happy with any changes haha. With her my main fear is just making her less significant, missing the point of her being a sort of POV character and deuteragonist, and missing important beats such as Imprisoned and The Waterbending Scroll. Some variation of especially the latter may appear but come on, it's 8 episodes trying to tell the story of 20. Unfortunately, Book 1 Water is by faaaar the hardest Avatar book to adapt to modern and live action TV and even though the episode list seems solid, it's those quieter ch centric episodes that will suffer the consequences. That's where Katara thrives. Jet is included so I wonder how they'll handle that crucial storyline and it sets in motion a TON for Katara that all culminates, of course, in her magnum opus The Southern Raiders. I just don't see them doing it justice.

I'll inevitably be at least a little more active with the premier of this show and will share thoughts; idk about a proper review but might vent here or there. I'd love to share thoughts on particular topics people are interested in haha. But until then, on this last day before the Fire Nation attacks and everything changes, I will say this. I think the things they've said so far about character changes are misguided. Sokka's sexism isn't a bug storytelling-wise, it's a feature. It's called character development, look it up, Albert Kim. Now, I'll have to admit that his sexism and the larger gender politics of the Water Tribes is actually an aspect of the show, one of the very few aspects that I think could use quite a bit of improvement, so I wouldn't be against the Netflix show doing this differently. But if they do just omit it that's a grave error. Despite the flashy visuals it doesn't bode well so far, but we'll see. I'll watch it as soon as I get home from work and then probs rewatch the original then rewatch the Netflix one. Oh, the Avatar megafan in me awakens. Btw guys lol I never even updated y'all, I went to the London concert of the soundtrack and it was doooope.

Also Suki looks super cute I'm ready to simp.

[stillareakid]

I got a secret to tell azula Fans.

Villians don't win in Kids TV shows and Azula like it or not was a Villian a tragic villian but still a villian.

.. ..her whole arc is about being perfect to the point of it being detrimental to her own mental health she has no friends no family that includes OZAI btw a man people love to forget groomed her to be a weapon. ..

and her fight with zuko/katara isn't painted as a good thing it has sad music for a reason. her loss isn't meant to show who is more powerful its painted as a tragedy..

i mean i guess some dont think so but Katara was sure looking at her with compassion and pity as that is her core nature. .. it wasn't Azula loses because the writers love Katara it was set up to be a sad ending because azula/zuko should have a loving relationship but ozai ruined it..

and if it wasn't for zuko helping azula in the catacombs katara almost had her beat.. and it makes sense too because what experience does azula have fighting a waterbender? None.. While katara got some experience fighting zuko which is more than azula had.. cause the catacombs was her first time fighting a waterbender and the final was her second time.

and I think Katara winning in the final makes sense as she is using her brains to trap azula .. azula wasn't thinking clearly .. but i think on a day without the comet .. Katara could have taken her as we see her almost do at the catacombs.

I think azulas weakness is overestimating herself

and katara isn't a sue.. She' just the Hero of the Story and its a kids story so.. she was going to win thats just how the story goes. its like how Vlad didn't win in danny phantom he's the villian. He loses .. Villians lose in kids shows.. its not a shocking relvataion.

If you voted here, please reblog