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Katara has always been my favourite character and she doesnt deserve the hate just for mourning her mother.

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Zuko art dump 🔥

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one aspect of avatar canon i feel like isn't talked about nearly enough is the fact that zuko canonically has prophetic dreams

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I swore to myself i wasn’t going to dip my toes back into the trash fire that is the atla fandom, but it is insanely funny to me how worked up ppl are getting over Sokka’s “toned down” sexism

You guys realise it makes waaaaaaay more sense for Sokka to not be super misogynistic in order to make the northern water tribe “Katara can only learn healing” issue more impactful, right?

Why would Kanna run from one overly sexist place to another? Why would Sokka, a boy who is basically being raised by women and must have known there were warrior female waterbenders before they all got wiped out, think that girls are weak, useless, and only good for certain things? It makes no sense, because it was clearly never thought that deeply about. They just wanted to throw in the cartoonish misogyny for cheap laughs — because that’s how we were actually supposed to react. It wasn’t to learn a lesson, it was to laugh at Katara’s angry reactions, Sokka’s dumb attitude, and laugh at Suki later handing his arse to him because he thinks girls can’t fight.

So yeah, I don’t see what the big deal is. Something that gets resolved (if you can even call it that) in a few episodes is not that important to an overall character arc. Adaptation is exactly what it is: an adaptation. Changes will be made to hit different notes and emotions. This is also a live show and they cannot waste time on stuff that honestly doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.

Also, they never said they were removing his misogynistic views — just toning them down, because, like I said, what we saw in the show was the typical cartoonish crap for cheap laughs.

Anyway, all this said, if you think Sokka getting his arse handed to him so he’s not so sexist is gonna revolutionize the world and is the only way to show all the little boys how not to be dicks, idk what to tell you. I just know I didn’t watch atla to be wowed by Sokka’s short-lived stint at being yet another “girls need to stay in their lane” dude.

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I actually really don't want to hear anything about how 'overcoming misogyny' is a major theme in Avatar: the Last Airbender when "The Fortuneteller" exists and the ultimate thesis of that episode, in the context of the show as a whole, is that if a girl is in unrequited love, it's cringe and kinda pathetic and she should move on cause the boy will never want her; but if a boy is in unrequited love, he just needs to be patient and wait for the girl he wants to come around cause he's a hero and how could she not?

Its secondary thesis is that you need to make your own destiny and not rely on someone else's words to tell you what your life has in store...if you're a BOY; if you're a girl then what the fake psychic told you will actually determine your ENTIRE life even if you are only fourteen years old.

Meng's existence really would have been the final nail in the coffin for Kataang even if the arc of the ship in Book 3 weren't so abhorrent to me personally (sorry but I have higher standards for romantic relationships than 'the girl is completely oblivious to the boy's advances for the entire show, is actively distressed when those advances become more pronounced, and then her feelings are resolved completely off screen between episodes so that the boy can get his prize in the end')--because her relationship with Aang is deliberately paralleled to Aang's relationship with Katara, and yet Meng, the one-off character, learns a lesson which Aang is quite literally told he must learn in the Book 2 finale... but he never ever does.

Aang has an entire season to internalize that lesson and come to terms with it--that maybe she doesn't have feelings for me and that's ok because I still love and care about her and that's enough--but he never even comes close. His possessive attachment to her gets worse, culminates in the EIP kiss, and Katara just capitulates because we're meant to believe that she went through the entire development of her romantic feelings for the love of her life off-screen between the penultimate episode and the four-part finale.

This was misogynistic even in 2008, and the idea that the show truly had anything meaningful to say about sexism/misogyny when uncritical and unchecked misogyny was baked into its very DNA (assuming we're meant to agree with Brychael that Kataang is 'in the DNA of the show) is just laughable to me. When it comes to 'overcoming misogyny' the show doesn't actually say anything more profound than 'girls can fight too!!!!!'

And that wasn't good enough for me then, it certainly isn't good enough for me today.

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[ID: A digitally drawn comic of Toph and Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender talking about Zuko’s scar.

It begins with Toph approaching Zuko, who is sitting near a campfire. “You have a scar?” she asks. Zuko replies,  "Oh! Uh, yeah… You didn’t…?“ Toph cuts him off and says, “Came up in passing with the other guys.” Toph casually makes herself a seat out of rock and sits down next to him. “Must be pretty badass if everyone assumes I know it’s there, too,” she continues. Zuko looks aside awkwardly and says, “… It’s on my face.” “Ah.” Toph replies.

Zuko says, “Maybe you could… feel it?” “Huh?” says Toph. “I guess, if I concentrate hard enough.” Zuko reaches for Toph’s hand. “Uhm, just with your hand, if you want,” he says. “I don’t think I can describe it.” “… Gotcha. Guide my hand then, boss,” Toph says. Zuko does so, and there’s a pause as Toph touches his scar. The fire reflects in her eyes.

As Toph pulls her hand away, Zuko says, “…. You know, my left eye is almost blind, too.” “Seriously?!” Toph exclaims. “Why aren’t we a tag team yet?! The blind bandit and the half-blind dweeb!” “Come on…!” Zuko moans. End ID]

id by @strawberrygiorno , thank you!

i’ve had this comic sketched out for months but only decided to finish it now, it’s based on something i drew a couple years back of toph and zuko….don’t think too hard on when or how this takes place because i don’t really know either! it’s just a concept i’ve always wanted to draw

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So there's been some controversy about the Netflix show saying they are "toning down" Sokka's sexism, and while I share some of the hesitancy I am seeing, I think people need to remember that Sokka learning not to be sexist is such a small part of his arc, that is itself problematic in a lot of ways. A lot of people act like Suki "taught Sokka to respect women," and that this is Sokka's main arc throughout the series, but the Kyoshi Warriors episode is only the fourth episode of the show.

Also, I've said this before, but Sokka learning to respect women by being humiliated by a badass woman who later becomes his girlfriend reeks a bit of exceptionalism and the idea that the onus is on women to earn male respect, so I would not be sad if they changed that aspect a bit.

I saw someone make the comment that if Sokka is not sexist, why is he training with Suki in the trailer? Well, maybe in this version he just wanted to. Would that be so wrong and hard to believe? That a boy wanted to train with a girl because he already respected her? While I am not necessarily saying I want the original to be changed, I also love the idea of just...normalizing that men can learn from women, instead of making it the exception to the rule.

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I'm seeing so much commentary on people reacting to the live action atla toning down Sokka's misogyny

and I'm over here like this is a total non-issue because in my own rewrite of the show I already did that exact thing, it makes complete sense to do it and they should do it because it's a weaker aspect of the original show

Sokka's early misogyny is utterly cartoonish in comparison to the set up of the rest of the SWT, it doesn't feel realistic for the only teenaged boy in a dying culture surrounded by adult women with a grandmother who left a more out and out misogynist society to act the way he does

how Sokka "resolves" his misogyny is equally cartoonish, I never liked how in The Warriors of Kyoshi literally episode 4 of the show makes a teen girl compromise her own culture with a female only fighting tradition teach a boy who is supremely rude and disrespectful to her and then still be attracted to him afterwards, it's more misogyny to fix misogyny and is very obviously men writing about how to fix misogyny especially as they have Aang make a joke about Sokka wearing a dress after going through how meaningful the fighting costume is and how a lot of Asian clothing with hanfu influences like atla borrows from would have men in what to western eyes would be dresses, Aang has already seen multiple male authority figures in robes, the joke makes no sense

I also wouldn't consider Sokka's misogyny genuinely resolved after this, consider how the show deals with his romantic relationships with both Yue and Suki and how both can be seen as extensions of how Kataang is treated in the show, rewards for the hero, especially with how Sokka interacts aggressively with Hahn instead of respecting Yue's wishes whatever her reasons for them, I think an argument can be made that Yue's death is a fridging for Sokka's storyline rather than or in combination with being a consequence of Aang's failure as an avatar or the culmination of her own storyline where she fulfills her duties as a leader to protect her own people

Beyond his romantic relationships, while Sokka drops a lot of his more misogynistic language with Katara, he doesn't support her when she faces off with the NWT leaders to learn waterbending, and he still leaves the caretaking and food preparation and grocery shopping to her which is more common than him going out to hunt or gather in order to provide for the group while he takes a leadership role like determining their travel schedule and routes, it is not an even division of labor and falls along traditional sex stereotypes

In addition to his typical duties to the group, Sokka also remains invested in the trappings of masculinity after ep4, he's concerned about what's manly and how he compares to Jet for example, there's no investigation or interrogation in his interest in meat and hunting and how they relate to masculinity and his misogyny, in the episode with Piando, his insecurity as a non-bender is resolved by giving him a new male mentor and a new martial skill, sword fighting, which is masculine in both western and Asian cultures rather than assuaging his self esteem issues in any less stereotypically masculine ways, I also think it was done so he could compare more favorably to Zuko, another male character, and even his interesting in engineering and mechanics comes with a male mentor and is a traditionally masculine pursuit

the show's poor handling of misogyny also extends beyond Sokka, with the NWT, the show acts as if Pakku is the only reason the tribe is misogynistic and the only consequences to that misogyny is that women can't waterbend and there are arranged marriages, and that both the NWT and Pakku's misogyny is resolved by allowing only Katara to learn to waterbend which she doesn't even earn on her own merits, she gets the opportunity because Pakku likes her grandmother

none of this is realistic, misogyny is not because of one bad apple, Pakku doesn't make Yue's arranged marriage, Chief Arnook does, he picked Hahn for her, and the show acts as if Arnook has no authority to compel Pakku to teach Katara or any ability to persuade him in order to reduce his culpability in the NWT's misogyny as its leader to make him a more respectable character so it's not uncomfortable when Aang and Sokka follow his orders in the battle later on, but women not being able to bend and forced into arranged marriages is still status quo when the gaang leaves, Yue's just dead

I'm not even convinced the show runners understand what's wrong with arranged marriage, the issue is not Yue can't be with Sokka who she likes and at most has a slight crush on cuz she's only known him for like two days, it's that she's being treated as male property, a broodmare, and a vehicle to ensure Hahn receives the throne because her father has no male heir and picked some guy to succeed him instead, like it's not explicit in the show but that is the implication based on the historical reality of princesses in arranged marriages, and the show has her get out of it only through death idc that she ascends to being a spirit, it's still a teen girl that dies

There's also no discussion by the show of the Earth Kingdom's misogyny when it has the exact same shit going on, Toph is the only female earthbender in the show not including avatars, there might have been a female earthbender in the background when Katara broke them out of prison, but I'm not really counting that, the entire army and Dai Li are all made up of men, the EK might even be worse because the show doesn't demonstrate that women and girls even have the capacity to earthbend aside from Toph and avatars and Toph doesn't even learn from a human, she has to learn from animals, the show treats this as commentary on her disability but the show has no compelling reason why it can't also be commentary on her sex, Toph was also originally supposed to be a boy so this could have ended up so much worse there literally would have been no female earthbenders aside from avatars at all, I'm not counting Oma as she might just be a mythological figure not a real person that once lived

The Fire Nation kinda barely avoids the same issue, Azula is the only named female firebender aside from avatars in the show but she has two female sidekicks who despite being non-benders show martial skill and there are clearly female soldiers and guards in the FN military so there are much stronger implications of female firebenders existing and being completely allowed to train their abilities and that Azula isn't exceptional in that respect like Toph is, only for being a prodigy with blue fire

Azula was also originally supposed to have an arranged marriage in s3 and they dropped it in favor of showing that royal and noble girls could casually date in the FN which has wild implications for women's empowerment in the country more so than but especially in combination with the fact women can train and join the military (which is why I say the FN is not fascist it's literally the least misogynistic country aside from Kyoshi and by like a country mile so it's literally not misogynistic enough) not that the show does anything more than minor teen drama with it

again, the vast majority of this misogyny is completely unremarked upon by the show especially after s1 when they leave the NWT, it is clearly a fictional world made by men with no true understanding of misogyny just a vague awareness that misogyny is bad and what the really obvious and outdated examples of it are, this is a narrative inconsistency in the show to have the examples and commentary on misogyny be so cartoonish in the beginning and then disappear after s1

your options to resolve this inconsistency is to either go all in with more realistic misogyny and provide commentary on all of it but this takes effort and will be divisive, or take the easier route and ease off the cartoonish-ness of it and comment less on it to avoid drawing attention to all instances of misogyny in the show

obviously Netflix was gonna do the latter

(not me tho, I'm making it less cartoony and dealing with it in my rewrite)

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More reasons why Zuko being the Firelord is objectively the funniest thing on earth:

HES SEVENTEEN

He hasn’t been civilised in 4 years, his entire teenage experience consists of living on a boat and sleeping rough. The most stable bed he has was probably in Ba Sing Se he probably will just nap anywhere.

He has customer service experience which means he probably uses his customer service voice on his minsters.

Additionally he probably just wanders into to kitchen to get his own snacks and tea because he forgets what servants do.

He probably has no idea why he can’t just chase after an assassin he used to hunt the avatar for Agnis sake why is the captain of the guard demanding he stay in his room he’ll find the guy first (he’s probably right)

Katara probably has a free pass on Eco terrorism because what’s he going to do challenge her, she’ll beat his ass.

If he saw a minster doing something shady he will either invite lady Beifong to detect their BS or commit B&E and look for evidence himself.

He somehow found a baby dragon and raises it.

He will be far to willing to give Kyoshi island anything they want cause he feels bad and Suki scares him.

He randomly insisted on giving some earth kingdom village 100 ostrich horses.

The Avatar will just show up call him Hotman and demand the go on adventures and the Firelord will just dip because he’s been confined to long and has the Zoomies.

He takes far to much advice from Sokka and will genuinely believe if someone doesn’t get Sokkas plans they must be an idiot because Sokka is 16.

Sokka and Zuko also get into a lot of teenage rebellion phases by accident.

Toph just walks in breaks a wall of his palace and demands a field trip that always involves the Firelord having to explain himself to the cops.

He somehow knows every dangerous teen in the world and they all come for tea uninvited.

He has broken into both the NWT and Ba Sing Se.

He has a really well documented facial scar and official portraits but still disappears to be Lee the tea guy like no one knows.

HES SEVENTEEN.

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Have another.

If this ends up popular as well I'll be making more.

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"we need more angry, traumatized female characters" you guys could barely handle katara

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yo…. when jet breaks in the tea shop and accuses zuko and iroh of beinh firebenders….

do you think any of the patrons looked at zukos scarred face - obviously done by a firebender - and immediately think jet was an asshole? like

jet: hes a firebender!!!!

patrons, thinking about the backstory they concocted for zuko and iroh where their home was invaded by firebenders and they barely survived with their lifes so they could come and have a peaceful life selling tea in a city the war doesnt touch:

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hello atla tumblr

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Fire prince since it was recently 17th anniversary

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Fire Lord Zuko passing a law that forbids challenging anyone under the age of majority to Agni Kai

Fire Lord Zuko waiting until the day he reaches the age of majority to pass this law, lest anyone think he is a coward

(No one. Literally no one would have thought that, but it’s generally regarded as a very classy move regardless)

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It is honestly a crime how undervalued Zuko is by the fire nation in book one. They’re so caught up about how he’s not the strongest bender in the world that they don’t care that he is a genius and natural at literally everything else. His swords? Unstoppable. The blue spirit? A spy and assassin that broke the most valuable prisoner in the world out oh a high security prison under the nose of his sworn enemy. That’s god level shit. He’s a leader and a strategist and strong enough to to kick chains to dust in one strike like?? He’s 16. Mans is badass and the fire lord can eat my ass.