#lok rewrite notes

[sapphic-agent]

i love your team avatar rewrite! can you talk more about kids?

You don't know how happy this makes me🥹 I'll break it down like they're OCs (even though the only technical OCs here are Tyro, Suma, and Lian).

(Link to the original Gaang post: https://www.tumblr.com/sapphic-agent/747738712838995968/rewriting-the-gaang-in-lok?source=share)

Kya (major changes to canon):

She/Her

Earthbender (Lavabender)

Firstborn child of Katara and Haru

Green eyes, brown hair; resembles Katara the most

Temper like Katara, but lacks her caring and nurturing nature. Blunt and to the point like Haru. Can come off as rude, but that's not her intention. Her mouth got her in constant trouble as a child. Loved probending as a child and looked up to Toph

Probender (later Manager of the Probending Arena)

Lesbian

*Notes: I like canon Kya just fine. But similarly to Katara, I feel like LOK really just didn't bother to do much with her. She's mainly there to give Tenzin a reality check and reaffirm that Aang was a shitty father. So I really just built her up mainly from scratch. You can resonate her with canon Kya or think of her as a completely different character. Katara was always going to name her first daughter Kya, so to me it makes no difference. Also, I made her a lavabender instead of a metalbender to match her temper*

Tyro:

He/Him

Nonbender (Chi-blocker)

Firstborn and only son of Katara and Haru (middle child)

Blue eyes, brown hair; looks a lot like Sokka

Calm demeanor like Haru, but empathetic and softhearted like Katara. The most sensitive of his siblings, but also the nicest. Learned Chi-blocking from the Kyoshi Warriors after visiting Kyoshi Island for the summer. Very interested in law and politics from watching his mom

Attorney, President of Republic City

Sexuality undetermined, closest guess is pansexual

*Notes: Tyro loves his sapphic aunts (Mai and Ty Lee). I like to think of him as that friend that's always there for you, even when they're going through hell (but not parentified like Katara). Why did I make him president? I don't know*

Suma:

She/They (I know I wrote daughter, but she doesn't mind being referred to as daughter or sister by her family)

Waterbender (Healer)

Youngest child of Katara and Haru

Blue eyes, brown hair; looks like Haru (same complexion as his mother)

Finds it hard to understand emotion, doesn't pay attention (spaces out when people are talking, can't focus on classes that don't interest her in school, etc.). Comes off cold, even to her family. Most assume they don't care about anything. It was a shock when she chose to become a Healer, but her patients usually love her

Healer at the Republic City Hospital, Head Healer at the Republic City Hospital

Aromantic

*Notes: Suma is probably way closer to canon Kya than my Kya is. But they're also a lot less emotionally invested in people than Kya. They're definitely on the spectrum in case you couldn't tell*

Lin Beifong (basically the same as canon):

She/Her

Earthbender (Metalbender)

Firstborn child of Aang and Toph

Green eyes, black hair; resembles Toph

Grouchy, tough, and a hardass like Toph, but has a strong sense of fairness like Aang. Bosses her siblings around. Butts heads constantly with Suyin because of this. Studied under her Aunt Suki to become an officer

Republic City Police Officer , Republic City Chief of Police

Bisexual

*Notes: As you can see, I didn't change much about Lin. The biggest thing is probably that she didn't become a police officer to impress Toph, she did it because of her own sense of justice. I love that for her*

Tenzin Beifong (basically the same as canon):

He/Him

Firstborn son and second born child of Aang and Toph

Airbender

Gray eyes, black hair; resembles Aang

Tries to be calm, but has a short fuse. Feels like he has to live up to being the only Airbending child of the Avatar. Can be distant with his family because of this, especially Aang. Finds it hard to connect with his siblings

United Republic of Nations Councilman

*Notes: Tenzin is way more of a black sheep here than the golden child in canon. Him and Aang having a hard relationship because of the expectations placed on him is one thing I'm very proud of. I think he feels like he has to be this perfect son and feels like he can't approach Aang about it. And Toph is a less than understanding person, so he can't really talk to her either. His biggest regret is never opening up to his father before he died. So he suffers in silence (lmao)*

Suyin Beifong (basically the same as canon):

She/Her

Third child of Aang and Toph

Earthbender (Metalbender)

Brown hair, green eyes; resembles both Toph and Aang (has the complexion of Toph's father)

Free-spirited and fun-loving like Aang, but extremely stubborn and hates rules like Toph. Very clever and innovative, a troublemaker as a kid. Clashes with Lin heavily due to her issues with authority and competes with her. Leaves Republic City (of her own volition) to travel the world and creates Zaofu and the Metal Clan

Leader/Founder of Zaofu, Head of the Metal Clan

Demisexual

*Notes: I'll be honest, I love Su and think she's over hated in canon. Maybe it's because I see a lot of myself in being the youngest child and having a bossy and condescending older sister. But anyway, her backstory is one of my favorites in the show, so that's why I didn't feel the need to change it too much. Also, her choosing to travel the world similar to how the Air Nomads did is a nice touch with Aang being her father. Although, a fight with Toph might have been what made her leave, I'm not sure. Demi because I can't see her loving anyone she doesn't share a deep, personal connection to like Bataar*

Bumi Beifong (slight changes to canon)

He/Him

Youngest child of Aang and Toph

Nonbender

Gray eyes, black hair; resembles both Toph and Aang

Extremely intelligent ("mad genius"), but absolutely can't take anything seriously. Prankster, the bane of Lin and Tenzin's existences. Looks up to Aang and is very close with Su, drives Toph crazy. Very interested in combat, war, and strategy

Soldier in the Second Division of the United Forces, Commander in the Second Division of the United Forces

Gay

*Notes: Nothing you guys say or do will ever convince me that Bumi isn't a man kisser*

Lian:

She/Her

Only child of Sokka and Suki

Waterbender (+Chi-blocker)

Blue eyes, auburn hair; looks like Suki but has Sokka's complexion

Playful personality, loves bad and corny jokes. Easygoing for the most part, but knows when to get serious. Trains with the Kyoshi Warriors like Tyro does

Firefighter, Chief of the Southern Water Tribe

Pansexual

*Notes: I love Lian a lot. It's so weird that Sokka of all characters didn't have kids. Out of everyone, I would think it would be Toph. So I obviously gave him one with Suki. I don't think I said so in the Gaang post, but yes she's a Waterbender. Also, why are both her and Tyro pan? The Kyoshi Island affect, it's something in the water*

Izumi (basically the same as canon):

She/Her

Only child of Zuko and Jin

Suspected Firebender, unconfirmed

Amber eyes, brown hair; mostly resembles Jin

A calm, rational person. Loves history. Painfully non-violent because of that history. Her heart is to the Fire Nation and repairing the damage her country has done. She also has a deep love for Ba Sing Se because that's where her mother is from. Some might call her reserved before they get to know her, to her friends she's one of the nicest people ever

No one knows if she's actually a Firebender or not, she's never confirmed or denied it even to her closest friends. Doesn't feel the need to. Looks at it like a political strategy; no one can say she's favoring benders or nonbenders. She is a master swordswoman, though

Archeologist, Historian, Fire Lord

*Notes: I decided not to choose if Izumi's a bender or nonbender. I like the theory that she keeps is secret in canon as a political move. I don't know if they kept it vague in canon on purpose, but I like it that way. I kind of based her off Nico Robin from One Piece*

That's pretty much it for the Gaang Kids! I'm pretty proud of how everyone came out. Hope this satisfied you!

[quitefair]

WIP Ask: 9, 13, 14, 16, 21 :)

thanks for asking!!! (questions are from this ask meme!)

i'm going to answer this for The Dragon Age Fic because... well. That's the only things I've really been working on all these years.

Under a cut because it got Long. As usual.

9. What is your favorite dialogue you’ve written so far?

Here's the deal - I think I'm not good at dialogue. I struggle to write it, and what comes out often always needs editing. But this bit was the first that came to mind. For context: this is in reference to An Unexpected Engagement. Tashak is my Inquisitor and Sekhara is her younger sister.

tw: alcohol.

___________________________________

“Was gonna offer you this,” she ran a finger along the rim of the tankard she took from Bull. “But you seem to have taken care of yourself already.”

Tashak grunted. “Still not as drunk as I should be.”

“Well lucky I got here when I did, because from what I recall, you wanted to talk to me. Let’s do that before you get completely shitfaced, yeah?”

“Need another drink first.” Tashak waved down one of the serving lads, carrying a massive tray of tankards. Two full mugs were set down on the table, and within seconds one of them was half gone.

“You done?” Sekhara said drily as Tashak leaned against the table, head in her hand.

“Not quite. Still feel like shit.”

“Okay you’ve gotta start talking before you pass out because I am not going to carry you back to your room if you do, alright?” Tashak continued to stare intently at the table. Sekhara groaned and took a drink of maaras-lok. The fizzling in her veins turned into actual flame. “Besides, what are you doing here anyway? You’re usually cozied up with Josephine by now.”

That was evidently the wrong thing to say, judging from the way Tashak’s face twisted into something that made even Sekhara uncomfortable. The fingers around the tankard were now gripped so tight that the knuckles were turning white.

“Fuck, what’s wrong now? Did you go and fuck up something between the two of you again?”

“No.” The word seemed forced through gritted teeth. Tashak’s eyes were unfocused, staring into the distance. “It wasn’t me this time.”

“Tashak, for all that is good in this world, snap out of it and tell me what the fuck…”

“Josephine is engaged.”

There was a pause. The sound of wood cracking, a man swearing loudly before a fist connected with bone, the loud off-kilter singing, filled the space around and between them.

Sekhara blinked once. Blinked again.

“Well, I’ll be damned. Didn’t think you had it in you.” She leaned back in her chair, grinning at Tashak. “And to think you wanted to tell me first…”

“Wait what?” Tashak’s eyes widened. “No, no, no! What the fuck? I didn’t pro…”

She looked around, suddenly aware that her voice was carrying. Turning towards Sekhara she continued in an angry whisper, “… I didn’t propose.”

Sekhara’s brows creased. “Then who the fuck is Josephine engaged to?”

There was another pause.

“Please don’t tell me she’s in love with somebody else now.”

Tashak groaned and held a hand up but Sekhara was already standing up.

“I swear to all the fucking Old Gods, if she’s up and gone and dumped you after everything you’ve been through, I am going to punt her across the mountains so hard she reaches bloody Kirkwall…”

“Sit down, Sekhara.”

Sekhara sat down. There was no arguing with that voice.

____________________________________________

13. What common trope(s) do you feel are used in this chapter/fic?

I only remember very few tropes off the top of my head, and all of them are ship related. Let's just say this is a slow-burn, mutual pining, friends-to-lovers sorta deal. Also something something racism/generational trauma/discrimination and a whole lot of other stuff that I need to make a note of honestly.

14. What have you been finding frustrating with writing this chapter/fic?

Oh god where do I begin. I'm doing something horrible, which is a) rewriting an entire game, b) fixing what I feel is broken and c) adding to what's already there with my own characters and my own spin on a romance. It's Really Hard. And to top it all off, I have a very demanding day job and am starting my masters on top of that. AND also have very severe anxiety over my writing/posting things online.

So yeah.

16. Write the next 5 sentences and share.

This is most likely going to be part of Chapter 2. I need to fuckin sort out everything I've written.

____________________________________________

Her skin was a smooth grey, her hair an iridescent black. Two curling horns emerged from her forehead; their tips lost in the shadow surrounding them. In the candlelight, Josephine could not clearly catch the expression on her face, though she noticed the downcast eyes and the deep furrow in her brow.

She did not look up at either Josephine or the commander. But she shifted the arms that were in front of her, and the heavy jangle of the shackles around her wrist caught Josephine’s attention.

____________________________________________

21. Share 3 songs that would belong on a playlist for this chapter/fic. 

I'll do you one better and link my Tashak/Josephine playlist. I cry over them on a daily basis.

[tuiyla]

NATLA Ep. 5 "Spirited Away" initial thoughts

Alright, the shuffling around continues even in an episode that generally follows its ATLA equivalent quite closely. The Gaang's A plot only diverts when both Katara and Sokka also get stuck in the Spirit World and I do like how we kept our team together as they can use the shared screen time. It seems we're leaving the Water Sibs mostly behind in the next episode, which is looking to be a mix of eps 8, 11 and 13 but I enjoyed this Swamp-like take on their Spirit World journey. The big shame about placing that here is that Yue can't be Sokka's ghost and there's some rewriting of Hakoda and Sokka's backstory here but it's a change I can get behind potentially. As for Katara, oh boy they really packed a punch for her. Her parts are obviously something I have a lot of feelings on and will get into later but I do find the framing clever overall. If very, very brutal for our Water Siblings.

Gyatso being there for Aang in the Spirit World, oh my, now this is a change I can really get behind. Wan Shi Tong's inclusion felt a little gratuitous but I like how they introduced something that is actually a LoK and not ATLA concept, the Fog of Lost Souls. And June's inclusion also makes sense, and will presumably lead to Roku's Island and the merging of The Blue Spirit plot. Overall, I dig how they merge chs and plots to make room for as much as possible and like how they reference eps they can't possibly cover. The tavern scene where eps like The Great Divide and The Fortuneteller are referenced feels like a good mix of humorous and a harmless homage, not too fanservicey and out of place so as to not work.

Another commendable effort from a mid season episode and I have to say, at the very very least I'm having fun and am infinitely glad that the show isn't the most offensive thing it could have been, which is bland. Even though the CG doesn't quite cut it sometimes there's still life in this show and there's a respectable attempt at a retelling, despite me still being sceptical as what it will ultimately add up to.

Two more random notes, one is Azula and how they're setting up Ozai manipulating her, which I like, even if that means this isn't quite ATLA Azula. And two, I think what I'm missing from Katara is that feral passion she's known for, and quite frankly the heart, which is her whole thing, so I'm really hoping she'll be allowed her female rage at least when they get to the North. So far, this version of Katara is unfortunately just a little too lukewarm, not the loud and proudly emotional forever girl I dedicated my life to.

[firelxdykatara]

You’re doing a LoK rewrite, correct? Would be really interested in hearing how you plan on fixing Suyin’s character and the Lin-Suyin conflict because……. oh boy. Man there’s a lot to unpack there. This is what happens when we don’t let Toph just raise her fucking kids for the sake of pushing a stupid as hell narrative about working women and single motherhood.

I am indeed!

In... you know, the way I'm doing most of my big potential projects, in that I have a folder with some documents that have plot notes and... some day I may actually get full, finished fics out of them (h2o AU is in there, as is my voltron!atla fusion AU, and uhhhh my book 3 atla rewrite, and a few other things), so... but I will say that the docs I have for my LoK rewrite so far amount to roughly 4.2k words of just Plot and Character Notes, which may some day turn into words of Story, hopefully.

ANYWAY, POINT IS: yes, this exists, and I have Many Many Thoughts.

Including how the Gaang kids would shake out! Cause I know I'm doing Zutara, and maybe Tokka???? Although I don't wanna just leave Suki out either... maybe a throuple??? Or Sukka having an amicable breakup before Sokka and Toph get together--maybe she already has Lin by then, and Sokka helps support her through the grief of losing Kanto???? Idk honestly, I haven't actually figured any of that out definitively yet except that Aang was perfectly happy to settle down with an Air Acolyte from one of the rebuilt temples because he grew up and out of his crush on Katara pretty easily once he hit puberty and matured a bit.

UHHH none of which is actually an answer to your question, because it's a valid one! Which is why I've been sitting on this a while (10 days I'm so sorry) bc I haven't made any solid decisions but I've been letting it percolate around my head a bit. And the more I think about it, the more I really like the Sukka -> Tokka idea (and I don't want to kill off Suki since the kids all deserve their awesome Kyoshi warrior auntie in their lives, and also I want a Sukka kid to be besties with Iara [zuko and katara's youngest] so maybe she gets with someone else after she and Sokka split? I could be talked into Ty Lee/Suki actually, the more I think about it....), but obviously having a stable father figure and a Toph who is... not what LoK made her out to be will dramatically change the Beifong family dynamic.

That said, I think I actually have a solution. (I'm so sorry for what I'm about to do.) Toph has Lin with Kanto--and he passes away when Lin is two or three, which is why she has very few memories of her father. (Although none of this 'she doesn't even know his name until she's 50+ cause Toph didn't tell her daughters about their fathers' bullshit.) Sokka is there for her through it all (all of the gaang is, of course, but you know that it sometimes just hits different when it's someone you're also starting to fall in love with, especially when there are older and much more deeply buried feelings there that are now resurfacing, because at least in my version Toph was deeply in love with Sokka when they were teenagers, but he was in love with Suki and she also loved Suki so she didn't want to mess up anything about their family or the group dynamics by making her feelings anyone else's problem), they fall in love, get married and have Suyin.

(Sokka may jokingly refer to it as a shotgun wedding, but the truth is he wanted to propose well before he found out she was pregnant, his attempts just kept getting messed up in increasingly comedic fashion.)

Throughout all of this, Republic City has been established, Sokka is Chancellor, Toph is something of a defacto police chief--mostly because, at the time, no one else was willing to volunteer, and she jokingly offered to whip the law enforcement, but unfortunately everyone else at the meeting took her seriously. However, she is also the founder of the probending league, and basically her feelings about law enforcement are complicated and she actively discouraged her kids from joining the force which is part of why Lin did. How else do you have a teen rebel phase with a parent like Toph? (Which, in this instance, means tough and firm but fair, with a 'you break it, it's up to you to fix it' attitude and very little desire to actually control her daughters and their behavior.)

Ah, but here's the rub.

Suyin is ten years old when Sokka dies, and Lin is sixteen. I'm not sure how he's killed--maybe by Yakone, to tie it into my plans for Amon and book 1. (Note that I'm not sure when the Yakone bloodbending trial happened in canon, but it doesn't matter. The timeline I'm gonna build will be completely different post-comet, and I'll eventually write it all down so that I can keep things straight.) Which would incidentally provide excellent means of having Katara have a very personal stake in the Amon conflict, and perhaps color the fight between him and Iara, but I'm getting off track. And I think Sokka being killed by Yakone, and Toph being unable to protect or save him, or deliver her own brand of justice to avenge him (because Aang is there to stop her and.... shit probably got ugly, I suspect she didn't talk to Aang for at least twenty years after Sokka's death--and this isn't to say I think Toph is particularly violent or murderous, but in that moment, she absolutely wanted to kill the man with her bare hands, and however much she may have regretted it afterwards, she took a very long time to forgive Aang for stopping her in the first place), is what results in Toph stepping down as police chief.

She didn't withdraw from her daughters or fuck off into the swamp or anything (words cannot express how much I hate that part of her canon history), but she did grieve for a very long time. Lin, meanwhile, felt like it was up to her to keep her family together, while also feeling a desperate need to... prove herself, I think. And because her mother was so adamant that she not join the police force, that's exactly what she does. I think Lin completely misread Toph's intentions, too, and believed that the discouragement was because her mother didn't think she had what it takes, when in reality I think Toph was scared of Lin losing herself in the job like she herself had begun to, and eventually coming up on something she couldn't change or fix and making the same mistakes she had.

(I think Toph and Lin have communication issues largely because they are both headstrong and willful, but where Toph thought she was giving her daughters the room they would need to make their own way, what Lin desperately craved was direction and she felt like that was something her mother simply couldn't understand.)

Suyin, on the other hand, fell in with a bad crowd like in canon. I think that what she desperately needed was attention, similar to Lin craving direction, and Toph was trying so hard not to be her own parents that she went a little too far in the other direction and Suyin began to feel like it didn't matter what she did, her mom wouldn't care, or get angry, or discipline her, or anything. Lin and Suyin butted heads a lot growing up, too, especially after Sokka's death, because Lin tried to rein in her sister's behavior and this was met with resistance and derision because Suyin felt like Lin was trying to be both mom and dad and she was neither but her big sister would never admit to being just as lost as she was and it made her furious.

So when Suyin is sixteen, and Lin is twenty-two and new to the force, The Big Rift happens. Lin catches Suyin and her gang, tries to apprehend her, gets a scar on her face in the ensuing conflict. But instead of abusing her power and sending her problem child off to her mother before fucking off to the swamp to avoid the consequences of her actions, Toph tries to actually fix things. Suyin cools her heels in prison for a while, because she was paralyzed by guilt at the time when she hurt her sister (a few inches lower and she could have slit her throat), and was still there when Lin's backup arrived.

Uhhhhhhhhhhh..... I'm so sorry I rambled for so long, BUT THE UPSHOT IS: I think Suyin learned a bit about culpability and taking responsibility for her own actions, Toph realized that her daughters had different needs than she did at their age (and I think a lot of the problem was that grief clouded her own ability to connect with her daughters, and in trying to not be her own parents she lost sight of how to be the parent her own daughters needed), and Lin, I think, had to realize that she had never fully processed the loss of not one but two fathers and had turned to her job in order to avoid actually confronting the grief that had overshadowed her childhood.

However, she did not forgive Suyin, at least not right away--and she wasn't forced or expected to. Suyin understood that she crossed a serious line, she took her lumps and did her time, and no one shamed Lin for her anger. I think, as a result, she had less reason to hold onto that bitterness, and perhaps by the time the story actually begins, she and Suyin are on much better terms, though I haven't worked it out exactly yet.

UHHH yeah I went on for days lmao. All of this is subject to change, too, depending on the needs of the story whenever I get around to actually writing it all down, BUT these are my initial thoughts, at least.

[meteorherd]

also as a completely unrelated side note i still consider myself an enjoyer of atla but its in the way an asian person who was a child in the aughts has a hate love relationship with it. i still enjoy a lot of the characters and im one of the rare few who even constantly rewrites lok in my head because of it. i fear in the last few years especially its aging fanbase have become increasingly obnoxious and ended up turning it into the “watch another show” version of “read another book,” however

[paramouradrift]

H&V Update

I've shaken off my winter blues just in time for mid-terms season. Consequently, instead of writing the next chapter of Honor & Vengeance on the High Seas or posting the next two batches of OC's, here is a non-exhaustive list of other things I've done instead:

Written a LoK/BioShock AU where Korra goes to Rapture to rescue Asami.

Cleaned out the food trash bucket.

Written a Zutara AU where Zuko and Katara are vigilantes in the Fire Nation trying to rescue Avatar Korra from Ozai's clutches (Aang died early).

Begun a regular exercise regimen.

Written an Atla AU that heavily involves Zuko and Azula exchanging passive aggressive notes via hanakotoba (the language of flowers).

Submitted my passport renewal application.

Re-written an Atla/Mirrors Edge AU with Zukka as the main ship. I had spent the first six months of the pandemic writing the actual fic, but it was supplanted by H&V. It's also ten times thirstier than H&V. My goal is to rewrite it after I finish H&V and post it to my AO3.

Graded some papers that had been sitting on my desk ungraded.

Re-worked my H&V Book 2 outline. Because there will be a Book 2.

Anyway, the mid-terms are next week and the week after is basically a write-off. Let's see what I can get done in that time.

[marezelle]

not me reading the notes I made two years ago about how to successfully rewrite my long-abandoned "what if the airbenders had actually secretly survived the war" LoK AU fic... and wanting to pick it back up because I was really onto something there and I just really want to read that story. shit.

[riceccakes]

Earth, Wind, and Coffee: Chapter One Analysis

helloooooooo :) welcome to my chapter analyses for my fic Earth, Wind, and Coffee. here, i’m just going to be breaking down my writing process, choices, and fun stuff, among other stuff as well. you can read this after you’ve finished the first chapter (i’ve excluded spoilers!) or you could read all 45k words and then come back to these one by one. either way, i’m v excited to be doing this so i hope you guys like it too. lets begin with chapter one, shall we :)

some fun stuff before we start!

every chapter title is modeled after the fic title!

you may have noticed that there are two center line dividers in the chapter(and every chapter after), meaning there are three sections to a chapter. going off of this, i thought it might be cool to title each chapter based on the sections, either of its main topic or my favorite part of it. so, chapter one’s first section is korrasami meeting (hence, Meetings), section two is where i introduced Artist!Korra, and i really love Artist!Korra so naturally i had to name the chapter about her (and the thing that brings korrasami closer, Sketches), and the third section is where their friendship is solidified (i think i achieved this by giving their numbers to each other, but i also just thought it was a cute scene, Phone Number Exchanges) and now we put it all together and get: Meetings (Earth), Sketches (Wind), and Phone Number Exchanges (and Coffee) (pretty cool right??? *wink wink*) the same formula is used to title every chapter afterwards. i usually suck at chapter titles but i thought this was a super cute thing to do and it ended up working fairly naturally :)

i started this fic on sept 23, 2020. chapter one didn’t get posted until oct 15, 2020

so basically, i sat with this first chapter for almost a month before posting (which actually was a good thing, i’ll tell you why later!) i really wanted this first chapter to stand out and be lowkey perfect, so i kept writing and rewriting and rewriting my rewrites. then you know, i’d start reading and then edit and then edit the edits; it’s a vicious cycle but one that i’m used to. i finally decided to post the fic when i read the first chapter through and thought “yep, this is it” 

i was inspired by the fic it’s such a gorgeous sight to see you in the middle of the night by softshocks

mostly for the idea of having a full-length fic in only three chapters. buuut, that was also one of the first korrasami fics i read after finishing lok on netflix and i remember thinking “damn, now THIS is how you do an au” character progression in the story is great and not once during the fic did i feel bored or in a lull. i really wanted to do the same with my fic and tried my best

now, lets get into the chapter itself.

sentence structure:

i used sentence structure to (hopefully) show that something is off with korra. we don’t know what yet, asami chalks it up to working through the night, but just like the summary states, there’s more going on here with our new favorite barista, it’s just a matter of what. even with this being in asami’s pov, i wanted to show a sort of disconnect between her and korra. let me show you an example

“Asami smiles warmly, excited to try the drink. She thanks Korra and watches as the girl nods lightly and walks back over to the counter. She begins cleaning the espresso machine. Asami takes a sip from the mug, lightly moaning from the taste. She feels Korra’s eyes peer up at her for a moment. Their eyes meet and Asami blushes, putting the mug and her head down. She opens the binder on the right side, pulling out the pen tucked into the inside cover. She thumbs through to the next clean page and begins squinting at her sloppy notes, rewriting them neatly once they’re deciphered.“

i’ve italicized sentences that, even while in asami’s pov, describe korra’s actions. in comparison to the sentences around it, the two italicized sentences are rather plain and simple. they’re very subject-predicate - “She (subject) begins cleaning the espresso machine (predicate)” you have your noun/subject and verb/predicate, give or take some words for proper english and action. asami’s sentences are more complex. colored in red is what i’ve donned as my classic form of writing, which basically takes two sentences - “She opens the binder on the right side. She pulls out the pen tucked into the inside cover.” and smushes them together by keeping the first sentence as is and taking away the subject of the second sentence and tacking on an -ing to its verb. i’m not sure how writing sentences like this started but i feel like i always come back to it because it gives sentences just that lil bit of edge. the sentences are not super simple but they’re also not super hard to understand. it’s a nice balance of simplicity and complexity, in my opinion.

now in bold is the combination of korra’s - “Their eyes meet and Asami blushes.” and asami’s - “Asami blushes, putting the mug and her head down” sentence forms. it’s a nice little indication that even with this disconnect from korra, these two girls are going to come together and make magic.

this play with sentence structure pretty much continues throughout the rest of the chapter, have fun finding them :))

next on my list is what i brought up earlier! i saved this lil first chapter in my back pocket for almost a month and you know what, it was a really good thing i did. for one thing, asami’s original “tormentor” we’ll call him, was going to be tahno. the same idea of this character being a soccer player was kept but i changed the character from tahno to iroh for a number of reasons:

1) iroh’s connections to the fire nation throne were a biiiig thing in me deciding to change him. 

i loved iroh ii in lok, i thought he was super cool, but we needed someone in this story to be an obstacle for asami to face. we already have her dad hiroshi, and some of you may be thinking “isn’t that already enough??” and for a while i thought so too, but we needed a vehicle to show how hiroshi is an obstacle asami is facing. and i decided to do that with iroh.

2) i really wanted said character to be a conceded jerk and who better than a well known heir to a nation’s throne? (it really went to his head)

tahno was really already a jerk and pretty ruthless character in lok, which is why he came to mind first. and i’d had him only be a soccer star but that was cause for explaining how he and hiroshi have connections. i was struggling for a bit of how to tie the two together but ultimately realized, “hey hiroshi is a business man, he’s bound to do business in the fire nation. and iroh is from the fire nation, he’s prince! he could be a key factor in pulling strings to get more business there” and so that is why i changed tahno to iroh

3) it doesn’t stop there though! at first, iroh was only son of the firelord and soccer star mvp. he was in asami’s stats class but that was it. i realized he needed a bigger role to have connections with hiroshi, which is why he’s now a business major too

this reason is why it’s great i waited!! had i been an eager beaver and posted whatever the first draft of the chapter was, i would’ve been facing some challenges later on, so thanks past me for giving future me some help! this was the perfect way for iroh to be a conceded dick who’s in asami’s life even tho she doesn’t want him to be. i added on the bit about him joining future industries in section two of the chapter and was suuuper glad i figured it out because it helped me envision the rest of the story.

honorable mentions:

korra was going to be wearing a tee shirt when korrasami met but i changed this 1) so asami could leave up ✨korra’s muscles✨ to her imagination and 2) because gloves are a regularly used trope that someone has something to hide. i couldn’t really find a way to give korra gloves but i thought the next best thing would be covering up, so now she wears a sweater.

i googled different types of coffee. The Avatar is a latte macchiato, it’s a play on an espresso macchiato. espresso is added to milk rather than milk to espresso and features more foam than hot milk. i used this one cause i’ve always enjoyed seeing foam art and thought making aang’s classic arrow in foam would be cool. Aang’s Special is a play on his favorite treat, egg tarts. this one is a vietnamese drink and is exactly as i describe in the fic.

earth, wind, and coffee is very much a pun. one so many different levels though: earth, wind, and fire, esteemed multi-genre singing group, known for songs like september and fantasy. earth, wind (air), and fire are elements that are bended in the atla universe and while this isn’t a bending au, it’s still pretty cool. and now earth, wind, and coffee, it’s a coffee shop au. i mean come on, so many layers, i love myself for creating it but hate myself for how much i love myself for creating it.

anything i would’ve wanted to change?

honestly, no. i think because i’d already did all of the changes before publishing, but also cause any time i read through the first chapter, i just feel satisfied. i achieved all of my goals in that first chapter about setting up what would happen and it’s also just a good read.

have any questions? let me know! wanna comment your favorite things from chapter one? do it !! interact with me !! i demand it.

thanks for reading, i really liked doing this :)) (even tho more than once my writing for this got deleted and it was big sad because i’d gotten a good portion done but whatever we’re still here)

[loopy777]

following up on your wastly superios republic city, how would you rewrite asami's role in this new city, the city related plot, and her relationship with korra?(i cannot imagine you'dd want to keep the terrible love trialngle for this story). do you think opening their relationship on a romantic note with clear attraction from the start or have it develop more slowly over the course of the first book would better?

I don’t usually talk much about Asami here on Tumblr because I have lots of criticisms of her character and Korrasami, and this site enables such things to be passed along out of context and co-opted for agenda-driven bashing. I don’t think Asami or Korrasami are any worse than any of LoK’s other failures, and at least it’s bad writing for a good cause. Unlike Iroh II, who's just bad writing. Heyo!

Also, I’ve mainly been thinking about Book Air with all my talk of Republic City, but discussing the development of the dynamic between Korra and Asami is going to take us beyond that, and so outside of Republic City.

So let’s see how much I can answer this question without stepping over my self-imposed line.

First of all, I would introduce Asami independently of Mako, and you’re right, I wouldn’t bother with a love triangle. I don’t like that LoK ended on a romantic moment for either Book Air's climax or the finale finale, because the whole first episode is completely devoid of romantic matters or potential suitors. It’s one thing for AtLA, where Katara provides the opening narration and Aang’s crush on her is established at their first meeting; their getting together is the culmination of their respective coming-of-age arcs, which is why Book Fire stretches Kataang out so much and so nonsensically.

Korra's journey is never really about romance. It’s about seeing the world and making connections; Tenzin, her guide into the wider world, is the one who narrates the opening to her story. So I’d expect her final scene to be about all the friends she’d made and her place in the world, not a single romance and a vacation to the Spirit World. But Korra’s main character arc is over by the end of Book Spirits, anyway, so I can understand just ripping off AtLA for something feel-good. Also, considering the limitations in what could be shown, I guess they wanted as many parallels to AtLA as possible to make sure everyone got that Korra and Asami are romantic.

So, with the benefit of hindsight and the goal of endgame Korrasami, we can introduce Asami earlier to give her proper prominence. In the first episode, while careening through the city, Korra encounters Asami. There is no blushing or giggling or anything when Korra and Asami meet, because that's not how Korra or Asami react to attraction. I'm thinking we can replace the whole thing with the hobo and the illegal fishing, since that material can be covered later; perhaps Asami buys Korra food when she sees Korra has no money? But before they can exchange names, something happens that sends them off on a short adventure, and then they get separated.

In episode 2, instead of encountering Mako and Bolin while trying to break out of Air Island to see Probending, Korra encounters Asami again. Asami is likewise sneaking out to see Probending, and she’s a parallel to Korra in that she’s a victim of social isolation. Asami recognized Korra, gives a shout, and they exchange names and bond as fellow probender-geeks. Once that’s done, the girls somehow wind up meeting Mako and Bolin, Korra gets the chance to join the team, etc. Asami would help convince Mako to let Korra play. The end result is Korra with a big group of friends, no romantic hints about anyone (other than maybe Bolin having the hots for her, a situation that will be temporary), and an explicit connection between Korra starting to ‘get’ Airbending and the perspectives offered by her new friends. Perhaps Mako or Bolin shout some advice that gets the circle-walking to click for her, or it could be another thing for Asami to do.

This would be explicit foreshadowing for the Book Air finale, where Korra uses Airbending for the first time to defeat Amon. But instead of Mako being the one in danger, it’s all Korra’s friends, and the scene would be set up as an explicit parallel to the one in the second episode. Korra achieves freedom through her connections, people who show her new sides of herself and the world.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves. For most of Book Air, I think Asami and Korra can be partners in discovering Republic City. The Bending Brothers can introduce them to some new element, and the girls react to it in similar but disparate ways. Asami can sometimes be a bit of a snob, while Korra can be more into getting dirty or eating nasty food or belching or whatever. But they still do get moments of going to a dance hall together, getting pulled into street racing together, helping each other chase the corruption out of Probending, etc. Still, a little distance comes between the two, as Korra starts to see herself connecting better with the boys, especially Bolin. If we want to deal with Bolin trying to woo Korra and it not working out, this is the place to do it.

However, rather than romance and a love triangle, the main conflict between Korra’s Krew is Asami being courted by the Equalists. As I said in my other post, rather than the Equalists kicking things off with criminal activity and a direct confrontation with Korra, I’d like them to be a running subplot that only explodes at the end of the season. I think Asami could be a good viewpoint character into that, as she starts to learn and hear about the Equalists- and it will eventually be revealed that Hiroshi has been setting this up for her, to manipulate her. Remember, in my vision, he’s the one who got Amon to adopt the rhetoric of saving the oppressed by eliminating Benders.

It starts with Asami thinking it’s silly, then she starts to acknowledge that they have some good points even if they’re wrong about being against all Benders. Perhaps Asami explains to Korra about some of the good points, and Korra is skeptical but admits that the Bender gangs are a problem. I think this should come to a head in a similar manner to the cartoon when Hiroshi comes under some kind of suspicion. Instead of getting tangled in the love triangle, Mako and Bolin side with Korra right away, and Asami starts to wonder if the Benders really are oppressing her. She knows she’s sheltered and naive, and Hiroshi puts into her head that Korra and the Bending Brothers have been taking advantage of her sweetness and wealth. Asami's been paying for all their adventures, after all, and the others seem closer to each other than to her.

It still ends with Hiroshi’s villainy being revealed, and Asami siding with good guys over him. But here, it’s about Asami siding with her friends, rather than just Mako. This is all still without romance, but it’s laying the seeds.

Things continue on from there, and the only major change I feel the need to call out is that the team doesn’t split up for the final battle. They’re all together, and as I said, Korra has to save all her friends with Airbending. And there's no Iroh II, because he's just boring pointless fan-service who detracts from the other characters.

For Book Spirits, I’d toss out Asami’s whole subplot. I used to have an epic post on ASN (which I saved) describing how it doesn’t make any sense whatsoever, but you can just take my word on it for now. If we do something similar to my Spiritual Eco-Terrorist Unalaq idea, then we can turn Asami’s part of bringing Korra back away from extremism into a parallel of Korra convincing Asami to turn against the Equalists. This book also sees a minimizing of Mako and Bolin, since part of the story is going to take place outside of Republic City. Asami has more reason to leave, so she emerges as Korra’s strongest friend in this book. Bolin could still get mixed up Varrick, if we want to do that subplot, but we’re completely skipping the whole thing of Varrick trying to steal Asami’s company. It's just filler, and the themes of Book Spirits deserve more focus.

Instead, we say that Asami has been steadily rebuilding up Sato Industries in the background of Book Spirits, so she’s in a position to leave it running when she goes with Korra on the Airbender Recruitment Tour. Again, I’m thinking we leave Mako and Bolin behind. Or, if Bolin went off with Varrick at the end of Book Spirits, as I suggested in that Unalaq post, either just Mako is left behind or else he goes with the girls to try to get over his brother being gone. They support him during his loss, and he maybe develops a real bond with Jinora’s future boyfriend, Whatshisname, rather than that subplot being unceremoniously dropped. Eventually, Bolin and Varrick would come back into the story, although maybe not until Book Balance.

Also, Book Change is where we start to have Korra and Asami blushing at each other and making surprising vows of devotion to each other. As Korra explores romance, in parallel to Jinora, we could get some advice from Tenzin and maybe even discussion of how Aang changed the nature of Air Nomad culture by accepting the idea of family units. At the end, when Korra is injured and Asami practically proposes marriage, it won’t come out of left field; it will feel like a culmination. And Korra gives an explicit refusal, our cliffhanger for that subplot.

Hm, perhaps we can also properly introduce Kuvira while we’re here? She can join the Krew as an ally and friend, and part of what has Asami starting to think about Korra as something more than a friend is that Kuvira is explicitly trying to seduce Korra for fun. That might be amusing. Or it could be stupid. It is a love triangle, after all. It's easy enough to cut if we can't make it work, even if the voice actresses have already recorded their lines.

Anyway, as we launch into our final season, Korra starts to recover to find that the Metalbending chick who was (maybe) trying to seduce her is now leading an imperialist conquest of the Earth Kingdom, and also a new Amon is back in Republic City trying to bring down the government. This new Amon is a creation of Kuvira, to give her an excuse to invade the United Republic as a pacifying force. Korra and Asami have to bring down Amon II, and then also Kuvira. It’s very tragic that they have to beat up their former friend, but not too tragic because it turns out that Kuvira is a real jerk.

Timing-wise, as I mentioned in my Hiroshi post, he dies saving Asami from Amon II. This happens before the final battle, so we get to see Asami mourning for a bit as she and Korra go after Kuvira in a new sub-arc. She emerges ready to confess her love to Korra. They get together, and then Korra rallies all her friends and allies across the world to defeat Kuvira and restore freedom to the galaxy. The end sees Korra and Asami together, as romantic partners, amidst all their friends. The End. Huzzah!

Hopefully, that showed how a functional Korrasami arc could be done that makes good use of their characters and frees them from the really janky storytelling that plagues most of LoK. Most of the problem is that LoK seemed intent on giving Asami something separate to do, rather than properly integrating her into things. For all that the storytellers claim to like Asami and Korrasami, it's stunning how little of either -- even in terms of friendship -- there is to the plots and story arcs.

Ah, but there's the line. I shall now back off, rather than crossing it. Yay for me.

[zktop10]

HOT 10 New in July!

Data pulled August 2, 2019 at 2130 EST

I did exclude @zutaraweek posts, only because it is a well-known tag and there is obviously a lot of repetition between stories. 

Note: “Double Tap” means an author appears on the list twice, “C-C-COMBO!” means an author appears multiple times on the list

1. show me things i cannot see (shine a little light on my soul) by LittleLostStar

Rating: E

Tags: One Shot, Smut, Porn without Plot, Content Warning, Modern AU

Words: 10,413

Summary: When they were kids, Zuko and Katara didn’t get along that well; now Katara’s back from college, and both of them have a vested and petty interest in showing off the person they’ve managed to become. So when Sokka throws a wild party one night, Zuko and Katara decide to get reacquainted—and this time they get along swimmingly.

~

Katara’s rehearsed this, and she never flubs a performance; so she stands her ground, remaining stock still even as adrenaline courses through her veins and throbs deep in her core. The weed is making everything seem vivid and fascinating, so she can’t stop herself from taking in all the details: the perfectly tailored fit of his jeans, the strategically faded Airborne Toxic Event t-shirt that’s been French tucked oh-so-casually into his waistband, the whimsically striped socks, and the fashionably shaggy hair that falls into his eyes just so, softening the sharper angles of his face. Their gazes meet, and she swallows; his eyes are still as intense as ever, but somehow even more unnerving.

A burst of furious envy erupts inside her. How dare you get this hot, Katara thinks. How utterly fucking dare you.

2. twenty questions by MirrorImage003

Rating: T

Tags: One Shot, Tumblr Prompt, Season 3, Ember Island Players, Fluff, C-C-COMBO!

Words: 2,542

Summary: tumblr prompt: “He’s a bad kisser.”

set during “the ember island players” // the conversation we all wanted to happen.

3. Bad Weather Makes Good Bedfellows by Polywantsanother (Transparency Note: This is me)

Rating: T

Tags: One Shot, Sharing a Bed, Blizzard, Fluff, No Smut, THERE WAS ONLY ONE BED, Post Canon

Words: 3,777

Summary: Years after the war ended, everyone has gone their separate ways. A call for help comes from the South Pole and involves spirits, which means the whole GAang agrees to go. Katara, who has spent the last year being truly alone for the first time in her life, jumps at the opportunity to see everyone again. Especially when Katara assumes that they'll be stuck indoors the first day with an approaching storm on the horizon.

But nothing ever goes as planned.

Katara and Zuko end up further in the snowfields when the storm hits and have to make a shelter. But it's tight quarters and a long time since they've been close.

4. beat the heat by MirrorImage003

Rating: T

Tags: One Shot, Tumblr Prompt, The Gaang, C-C-COMBO!

Words: 1,269

Summary: tumblr prompt: “Come over here and make me.”

The Gaang takes a much needed vacation after the war, and Katara is looking for some entertainment.

5. sleep talk by MirrorImage003

Rating: T

Tags: One Shot, Tumblr Prompt, Season 3, Canon Compliant, Drabble, Fluff, C-C-COMBO!

Words: 790

Summary: tumblr prompt: “Why do you only kiss me when I’m sleeping?”

a.k.a. zuko is not as stealthy as he thought

6. sticks and stones (will break your bones)by MirrorImage003

Rating: T

Tags: One Shot, Tumblr Prompts, High School AU, Trigger Warning, C-C-COMBO!

Words: 2,284

Summary: tumblr prompt: “Who gave you that black eye?”

modern/high school au. zuko just wants to know who he has to beat up for beating katara up.

7. Making Space by Polywantsanother (TN: Me again)

Rating: T

Tags: One Shot, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Canon Divergent (Post AtLA, Pre LoK), PLEASE CHECK TRIGGER/CONTENT WARNINGS

Words: 4,278

Summary: After Katara's marriage dissolves, she realizes that she doesn't have a foundation to stand on. Nothing makes sense, everyone is hurting, and she isn't even certain if she made the right choice. The only person who truly understands, once again, is Zuko.

After a thousand small choices, Zuko doesn't even know where he went wrong. But something went terribly, horribly wrong. Having lost so much already, Zuko tries to focus on his daughter and control what he can of his own pain.

Katara and Zuko try to work out what blame really means, what they deserve, and what they've earned.

8. bare bones by MirrorImage003

Rating: T

Tags: One Shot, Tumblr Prompt, Angst, C-C-COMBO!

Words: 660

Summary: tumblr prompt: “Don’t shut me out.” 

Zuko asks Katara to help him find Ursa, but when they do, it’s nothing like what he had imagined.

9. Love and Wrath by roach1997

Rating: G

Tags: One Shot, Fix-It Fic, Scene Rewrite

Words: 1,744

Summary: When Zuko dives in front of her and takes a bolt of lightning to the chest – a fucking bolt of lightning, just to save her - Katara feels her world stop.

A re-write of everyone's favorite Zutara scene because we all needed it.

10. so what if it's you? by accioyangchen (ladywentworth)

Rating: G

Tags: One Shot, High School AU

Words: 1,254

Summary: Katara joins the after-school tutoring program for the volunteer hours. Someone shows up for a one-on-one, but neither is what the other expects.

[beckytailweaver]

Avatar: The Last Airbender (fic stuff)

Since I’m trying to work on something (ANYTHING!) and I seem to be in an Avatar mood of late, I’ll throw this up here.

These are fics, potential fics, and mostly-concrete ideas that have existed in the back of my closet for a very long time, since the good old days of watching ATLA when it was shiny and new and cool. Most of them are also so old that LOK didn’t exist yet or was in its infancy.

Note: These are mostly gen fic. If pairings come up they are not the central goal of the piece; they will be mainly canon as it existed at the time the fic was outlined. Treat them like the scenery (no ship war drama allowed in my workroom, that’s what stopped me participating in the fandom years ago).

I’d kinda like to put some feelers out and see what folks think would be most interesting to work on.

Read on:

The End of the Circle Post-canon continuation, my oldest ATLA fic, conceived and outlined before comics or LOK existed. Does some headcanon worldbuilding based on what was available at the time of the original series. Dragons and spirits and legends coming to life, oh my!

Status: outlined, some scenes written, firm endpoint, world built.

Summary: Roku warned Aang that he could not die in the Avatar State, or the cycle would end. Azula’s lightning killed Aang in the Avatar State. To their good fortune, Katara’s spirit water was able to bring Aang back to life, but there are Consequences—for the Avatar and for the world.

Wild Fire Canon AU/semi-rewrite. Also born before LOK was a thing so Druk doesn’t exist. It borrows some concepts from the idea of Toph and her badgermole family. It breaks some TLA canon around the edges but it’s all in good fun.

Status: outlined, many scenes, ending fully plotted.

Summary: The young Fire Prince was burned and disowned by the Fire Lord, cast away and abandoned on the hostile shores of the Earth Kingdom before his kindly uncle could aid him. Disfigured, angry, and lost, young Zuko finds solace in the wilderness when he is taken in by a most unusual protector: A dragon.

Phoenix Legacy Not-a-time-travel “time travel” fic. It was born after seeing Season 1 of Avatar LOK and...kinda liking it but not? (I mostly lost interest in LOK after S1.) And wanting to add some more classic feel to the season. No information from subsequent seasons was used to outline it (thus there is no Druk) but recently I have gone back and “fixed” Zuko’s daughter (giving her the correct name and appearance), and added her nameless daughter (Iroh II’s sister) for lulz. Basically a rewrite of LOK Season 1 with a TLA character along for the ride to shake everything up, because at the time I was disappointed that there was only Katara and no other Gaang members out there kicking the new Avatar into shape.

Status: outlined, a few scenes written, ending plotted; not to be a rehash.

Summary: A phoenix cannot die by fire—it can only be reborn. When Ozai claimed the title of Phoenix King, he had no idea what sort of spirit he might be invoking. When he lost his ancestor’s war and his crown, the spirit’s blessings were unknowingly conferred upon his heir: The hapless Fire Lord Zuko, determined to bring his nation to peace. Seventy years later, there’s a tragic explosion in a tea shop in Republic City, and exiled traitor Fire Prince Zuko wakes up to an unfamiliar world full of unfamiliar faces. The last thing he remembers is an Agni Kai under a Comet, catching lightning to protect a friend.

The Prince’s Prisoner Another ficling born before the comics or LOK were really a big deal and/or I didn’t know about them. Basically during TLA S1, rather than fleeing Prince Zuko’s clutches, Aang decides to remain his prisoner. The original reasoning for this was a kind of modified Peggy Sue: Aang effed up his final battle with Ozai for reasons, his soul is sorta sent back in time to do-over from his iceberg wakeup. The problem is that this is not a perfect process and he doesn’t actually remember everything, only some very important faces, feelings, and concepts. The idea of Zuko as a dear friend/teacher/trusted person is one of these things. Thus, in defiance of all visible logic, Aang trusts S1!Zuko with his life and keeps his promise to go with him. In spite of his Water Tribe friends continuously trying to rescue him, Zhao continuously trying to capture him, and Zuko himself continuously trying to avoid being befriended by his ticket home. (”I’m your prisoner, not anyone else’s.”)  Intended to be a funny and heartwarming friendship/journey story taking a different angle at the series.

Status: tentatively outlined with very few scenes skeleton’d out, season 1 definite, endpoint undecided but can continue throughout the series. The premise mechanic is a bit flimsy; it’s less concrete since it’s supposed to be fluff, angst, and friendship.

dragon!Zuko AU fic Everybody has to write one of these, it’s like a law. Here’s mine: Ozai’s cruelty during the Agni Kai with his young son invoked the wrath of Agni, bringing down a magic from a time before memory and no one knows if it’s a blessing or a curse. When Zuko’s face burned, the fire didn’t stop there, and when the flames went out a young dragon was left on the floor of the arena. Uncle Iroh came to his rescue before the rest of Court could gather their wits, and then had to get him on a boat and out of the Fire Nation before Ozai could decide whether to make him into a pet or a trophy. Part 1: Rather than going on a mission to hunt the Avatar, Zuko and Iroh are on a road trip to keep Zuko alive and secret from the world (Ozai wants to usurp his brother’s title of Dragon). Iroh and his crew end up raising this stubborn angsty dragon prince; since he can’t turn back into a human he has to come to terms with being a dragon most of the time (which can’t talk), and he can often be Very Dramatic about it. Part 2: Years later, there’s rumors of the Avatar’s return and Zuko (who has sort of learned to take a human shape again) sees an opportunity to spare his own life and go home by offering his father a bigger prize than a dragon’s head...

Status: very general outline, some scenes conceived and a general plot/endpoint. Part 1 is in the 3 years pre-canon, Part 2 is during canon, including the grumpy dragon hiding out in Ba Sing Se.

Years Gone/Avatar kids AU S1/pre-canon rewrite. Some whim of fate cracks open Aang’s iceberg three years early (a storm, a passing boat, pure chance?) and he tumbles out into the world in the same year that Prince Zuko was banished. Despite befriending some Water Tribe children who would love to go adventuring with him, he’s got to get home to the Southern Air Temple and that’s where he runs into young, angry, raw-wounded Prince Zuko on his first visit. The tiny chase ensues up and down the entire temple. Aang will of course be friendly but escape. And this begins a probably-ill-advised adventure with a lot of kids who are entirely too young to be camping across the world on a bison (but it’s exciting!), chased by another kid entirely too young to be leading a manhunt. The Comet is three years away so there’s plenty of time for adults to tear their hair out over this. Zuko is a tiny ball of determination, rage, and tears. Aang feels bad for him and tries to make with the befriending even as he’s dodging the fire tantrums. Occasionally during adventures Zuko just gets scooped along for the ride in Appa’s saddle, no one’s sure how these weird truces get called, but Iroh sips tea and directs the crew on a new heading and they’ll pick up their prince at the bison’s next stopover most likely after the kid pendulums back the other way and remembers he’s trying to nab the Avatar again. So Zuko spends 50% of the time yelling and chasing the Avatar and 50% of the time sitting in Appa’s saddle learning tentative smiles and being offered berries and seal jerky, all the way from the South Pole to the North. (It’s slightly terrifying to realize that Aang and Zuko are currently the oldest kids in the party and are actually in charge of this terribly irresponsible expedition.)

Status: general outline, a couple of scenes written, particular S1 plot points, no endpoint yet. Possible bonus content: Toph and/or Suki come along for the ride because why not.

The Blacksmith of Ba Sing Se This is a very old Lu Ten Lives! story. Lu Ten always knew Uncle Ozai envied him, but secure in his position he didn’t really care about it until he took an arrow in the back during the final battle of the Siege of Ba Sing Se. With unknown assassins among his own ranks and no safe place to retreat in the melee, the wounded prince decides to fake his own death by hiding in the rubble, and then swapping clothes with a slain Earth Kingdom soldier half crushed in the ruin. At first, it’s only to get to safety until he can get to the bottom of this. But Lu Ten is picked up by the EK medic teams after the surprising withdrawal of the Fire Nation troops, and ends up spirited away into the heart of Ba Sing Se—where he discovers that it’s hard to escape. He also discovers a whole new world, and a whole new perspective, and, keeping out of the authorities’ notice, eventually manages to make a life for himself as Chang the Blacksmith, a humble craftsman with a wife and kids. This...is much nicer than war, death, and Court politics. Years later: refugee Zuko walking home from his job at Pao Family Tea Shop runs across a little boy crying over his broken toy in the dusty street...

Status: nebulous outline with a few particular sketched scenes. Takes place mostly in Ba Sing Se, outcome indeterminate. It could be mixed with the Lineages concept from below.

Lineages / not Ozai’s kid AU Not really a concrete plot so much as a campy idea from long before the Avatar comics blundered through Ursa’s backstory. There was a phase in the fandom (I think the Search comics drew off of that) where it was popular to imagine almost anyone else than Ozai as Zuko’s Secret Real Dad (the boy deserves a better father) and Iroh was often selected as primary candidate. (I know, Iroh is already the real dad and stepped into Ozai’s cold empty shoes like a pro.) Me, deciding that I had to be different, decided to offer up Lu Ten on that altar. Justifications: Iroh and Ozai looked to have a pretty extreme age difference and there was no solid age for Lu Ten at the time of his death, but his picture looks mature enough. Deals with family secrets and the political issues of muddying the lines of inheritance in the middle of a war. Also takes a crack at Ursa having a clever hand with Azulon’s last will and testament on Ozai’s behalf, with provisos.

Status: nothing really more than a vague concept without enough plot to stand on its own. Without a viable framework, it could work better/well folded into The Blacksmith story, above.

I’m open to opinions and/or asks about these. Trying to get a spark going! (I need to be working in a fandom, ANY fandom at this point! ^_^;; )

[sol1056]

Okay so i'm really confused. Who pitched the idea for the Voltron reboot? Did they write the original story or was that someone else? Who's writing the story now? Like i get that there is more than one person working on the story but like to take someone's vision of their story and to just throw it in the trash is just kinda fucked up ya know? I wouldn't want to work with a network if they're gonna screw over something I came up with.

It’s not a simple picture since there’s a lot of history. There’s three parts, behind the cut: who wrote the original story (vs the original-original), who pitched the idea for a voltron reboot, who’s writing the story now, and the issue of revisions. 

I must have at least three pages of asks that talk about Hedrick’s story and how the EPs butchered it… and I recently stumbled over something that made a few pieces click together. So, if you sent me an ask about Hedrick’s story and what he’d planned, you might want to read, ‘cause this answers a lot of your questions.

who created voltron

Back in the early 80s, the Koplar brothers purchased a license from Toei’s back catalog, and adapted/cut/rearranged the original GoLion into an American-only version called Voltron. GoLion hadn’t been much of a hit in Japan; it was kinda behind the curve. When the Koplars adapted it, Voltron was a huge enough hit in the US to warrant a second season, requiring new footage from scratch (mixed in with re-used stuff from the original season). 

The sequel (using a completely different anime from Toei’s back catalog) didn’t do anywhere as well. The planned third part was never made. Since then, there’s been reboots, comic books, idk what else. 

who pitched the idea

Long story short, Universal purchased a bundled archive of licenses. These are collected existing properties they could redevelop – anything from some no-name, one-season, failed cartoons to ones that were popular once and since forgotten. Voltron was one of those properties.

I doubt anyone pitched the idea, formally. More like, the execs saw Voltron in the pack and chose it for a reboot/remake. All they needed was staff to do it, so they interviewed potential showrunners. Around that time, JDS had pitched his idea for a Streetfighter cartoon. DW TV passed on JDS’ pitch, and instead offered him the position as EP of what would become the VLD reboot. 

(An aside: JDS and LM both talk up how much they loved Voltron as kids, but in early interviews they admit neither could remember for certain who Voltron’s ‘real’ leader was — Keith or Sven — all the way up to starting their interview with the execs.) 

who wrote the version we have now 

I’ve been operating under the assumption that as the story editor, Hedrick had a major influence on the story. I’ve also noted in several different posts that S1/S2 feels like a completely different story, in more ways than one:

As the story moved into the split-seasons, it’s clear that whomever lent that guiding hand in S1/S2 was no longer present. Someone else’s fingerprints are on S3, and my guess is it’s mostly Hedrick, at least on the script-level. The word choices change, the cadences change, the beats change. From S3 on, VLD has all the hallmarks of a muddy vision. 

A few days ago, I was researching for another ask and came across this:

On-screen, a “producer” credit for a TV series will generally be given to each member of the writing staff who made a demonstrable contribution to the final script. The actual producer of the show (in the traditional sense) is listed under the credit “produced by”.

According to IMDB, these are VLD’s  executive producers:

Joaquim Dos Santos  (63 episodes, 2016-2018)Lauren Montgomery (63 episodes, 2016-2018)Jae-Myung Yoo (24 episodes, 2016-2017)Robert Koplar (23 episodes, 2016-2017)Ted Koplar (23 episodes, 2016-2017)

We’ve been assuming Hedrick steered a large part of the story. If that were so, though, Hedrick should also have EP credits. He doesn’t. The Koplars have EP credit ‘cause they created the original Voltron. JDS and LM are on there, as showrunners. 

And then there’s this guy Jae-Myung Yoo. He’s done key animation, directing, and storyboards. He has a handful of executive producer credits, mostly for single episodes. Yoo left VLD in 2016, and joined Big Fish & Begonia as a co-producer. 

I think we just found the voice that steered the first two seasons, and whose departure left the story without a clear vision. 

Yoo doesn’t have any writing credentials, but his resume goes all the way back to Gargoyles in 1995. He doesn’t have to be a writer to be a storyteller, after all; there are different ways and methods of telling stories. My guess is Yoo’s a respected directorial voice around Studio Mir, understands how a story flows, and most importantly was probably a trusted voice after working with Ryu, JDS, and LM on AtLA and LoK. 

We’re left with one of two options: Hedrick stuck to the Yoo-created outline, rewriting and rearranging as the EPs shifted tracks, and the majority of the story’s direction since S2 has been from JDS and LM. Or Hedrick did have a substantial impact from S3 on, and JDS/LM refused to grant Hedrick the proper credit for that level of contribution.  

the issue of revisions

Television’s a wacky environment. It’s somewhere between collaboration and sheer hell, especially if you don’t come with major credentials (ie, your name is not Guillermo del Toro). 

Here’s how it starts: the showrunners, any other EPs, the writers, the senior writer/head editor/story editor (title depends on seniority), production assistants, writing assistants, and other producers will gather and brainstorm the story, and come up with a synopsis for the story’s outline. When the execs approve the synopsis (after probably a round or two of feedback), the expands the synopsis into a full outline of the entire story. 

The writers set about writing the script, which are sent to various execs for their feedback. The execs send their feedback — called ‘notes’ — to the showrunner. These are usually a jumble of responses (and a lot apparently tends to be personal taste, too), and also often contradictory. It’s the EP’s job to relay the exec response to the writers’ room, and make sure things get changed so the execs are happy. 

The EP (and the writers) must do a delicate balancing act, between budget, story, and sheer insanity like one exec demanding a scene be cut and another exec thinking the scene should not only stay, but be expanded. Or insisting on specific pairing endgames (or lack thereof). Or — as seems to have plagued VLD — saying the story is too dark and ‘needs more humor,’ which the EPs appear to have interpreted as ‘do more filler episodes that have no plot relevance.’ 

The first thing to remember is that most execs are not intentionally malicious. They will ask for too much, and they often have their own agendas, but their goal is a hit, not wasting a bazillion dollars for no gain. If you look at the credentials for decision-level execs at Dreamworks, every single one came up through the ranks: they’ve directed, produced, some were also animators, and at least one did either acting or voice acting. They’ve been doing this for awhile. My advice to any wannabe-EPs (or writers) would be that when an exec says, “kids are going to be bored stiff with this scene,” listen. I’m not saying automatically change it, just give it a fair listen. 

Collaboration is hard. It takes patience and good listening skills and empathy for the people on the other side of the table. It takes a willingness to bargain and enough strength to be vulnerable, and a whole lot of honesty about your own reasonings for wanting one thing or another. 

Stories created in the high-pressure hot-house environment of a collaborative group are a very different critter than one-author novels: no one person owns the story. Not everyone wants to sign up for sharing that creative process, and that’s fine, too. We do need books with good stories as much as we need shows and movies with good stories. 

Just color me seriously unimpressed when someone in a collaborative storytelling process constantly snarks about exec meddling. I have no sympathy: they signed up for this. If their creativity is so fragile it’s threatened by feedback, they need to find a different medium, ‘cause the collaborative world of television production is probably not the best fit.  

[goraturtle]

i rlly need to rewatch lok so i can add more notes to my rewrite

[impossiblycolorfulpanda]

The only down sides of LOK for me are the second half of season 2. Note that I don’t hate it enough to wish it never existed like some people, I just don’t think it fits with the tone that LOK was trying to go for and it goes against Unalaq’s role as a well intended extremist. Which is why I’m rewriting it into Aang’s saga.

Another being some of ATLA’s character assassinations. I will never accept that Katara would ever allow Aang come dangerously close to being like Ozai. No statue for her and no legacy she could leave behind like the rest of the gaang. The closest she gets is “world’s best healer” but doesn’t even get a chance to live up to that because, oh look, her dead husband swoops in and saves the day for her. Halleluiah!

Toph covering up a felon to protect her own image? No way!

what do you like better ATLA or LOK?

ATLA and it’s not even close.

LOK is plagued with too many character writing problems, lore inconsistencies, boilerplate neoliberal political apologetics, and doesn’t recontexualize the cultural elements it’s borrowing as respectfully or carefully as ATLA did.

But that’s just, like, my opinion, man. If LOK resonates with you, then don’t let anyone take that away from you.

I actually quite like Korra herself and think she deserved better.

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Marvel Cinematic Universe review

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is one of the biggest and most ambitious franchises ever made. While not the first franchise ever to attempt a shared universe, it is definitely the one that codified how to pull them off in the modern day, and it has proven to be an incredible, unbelievable success. I mean, as good as Iron Man was, no one ever truly expected the little Nick Fury cameo at the end to ever be anything more than a neat little mythology gag. And yet, here we are, nearly a decade later, with it being the highest grossing franchise in cinematic history and with it containing some of the very best superhero films ever made.

Of course, there being fifteen movies so far, and with more on the way, it would be an enormous task to review them all individually… so, to celebrate the impending release of Spider-Man: Homecoming, I will be doing a similar thing as I did to the View Askiewniverse and touching upon each of the Marvel films thus far released. However, for the Guardians of the Galaxy films, Civil War, and Doctor Strange, I will keep things brief, as my reviews of them are still new enough to accurately reflect my opinions (Age of Ultron is not so lucky here).

There is no better place to start than the start, so let’s lok at the film that began it all: Iron Man. It is the tale of egotistical millionaire Tony Stark and how, after a brush with death that had him kidnapped by terrorists and crippled, he decided to change for the better and don a robot suit so he could protect the world from devastation. One of his big goals is to clean up the mess his company has made in the world, which not everyone likes, particularly Obadiah Stane.

This movie is probably most well known for resurrecting the career of Robert Downey, Jr. after he struggled for years with addiction and had a downward spiral. This is a truly triumphant return, and his negative experiences definitely helped him out with this role of a self-destructive playboy who realizes he should dedicate himself to a better cause. RDJ truly captures what his character is and what he should be, and thanks to his performance, he not only saved his career, he saved the character as well, who had not exactly been popular due to the recent Civil War event in the comics and his unnecessarily extreme actions therein. It’s a twofold saving, and boy is it a blast!

One part of the film that is not often talked about is the villain, Obadiah Stane, who is played by Jeff “The Dude” Bridges. As the very first Marvel supervillain, he does leave a bit of an impression with his  exclamation of how Tony built his first Iron Man suit IN A CAVE! WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS! He eventually suits up in a gigantic mech suit, and becomes the typical “Evil version of the hero” that we’ve all come to know and love… but, to be fair to him, he was the first one. As far as “Evil version of the hero”-type villains go, Obadiah Stane is enjoyable and memorable. He was originally planned to have a “never found the body” situation going on at the end of the film, hinting he could eventually return, but as it’s not in the final cut, we kinda have to assume that this was part of the annoying “kill the cool villain” trend the movies would follow for years.

This movie has a reputation as being one of the greatest superhero movies ever made, and it really isn’t undeserved. This film has kickass action, great characters, intriguing foreshadowing that actually payed off, and yet it still works easily as a standalone. This right here is how superhero films should be made, but the fact that so many later superhero films, including later MCU films and the DCEU films prior to Wonder Woman, decided to focus on cramming in so much crap that requires you to watch previous and later films to understand them, it seems not many got the memo. Franchise building isn’t always bad guys, but take notes; work on being good on your own first.

The Incredible Hulk is next up on the list, and this is one of the most obscure films in the MCU. NOBODY talks about this movie. I’d understand if people thought Mark Ruffalo was the first Hulk in the MCU; this movie is hardly ever referenced even in later films, all its plot threads seem to have been dropped, and it took until Civil War for one of its characters to reappear. For the life of me, I’ll never understand why; this movie is a fantastic example of worldbuilding while still remaining a solid standalone film. The plot is relatively simple: Bruce Banner wants to be left alone so he can cure himself, but after accidentally poisoning a man with his blood after it got into some soda (you read that right), General Ross and Emil Blonsky are on his trail; for those not in the know, Blonsky becomes one of Hulk’s most famous foes, Abomination.

Edward Norton is Bruce Banner here, and you can tell he really is a fan of the comics, because he does an excellent job; he apparently did a lot of uncredited rewriting and even directed some of his own scenes. William Hurt as Ross is also perfect, which of course is helped by the fact that Hurt is a big fan of Hulk. Then of course there’s Liv Tyler as Betty Ross, and she’s actually one of the better love interests in the MCU, to the point where it’s honestly offensive she hasn’t reappeared and instead has been replaced with Black Widow of all people as Bruce’s love interest.

The movie has solid action and a solid final fight, with Abomination being a pretty good “Evil version of the hero” villain. He’s not spectacular or anything, but he’s definitely threatening and pretty cool. So how then did this become such an obscure film in one of the biggest franchises? I imagine part of the problem is being screwed over by Universal, who owns the distribution rights for Hulk solo films. This movie just couldn’t be followed up, and so Hulk is relegated to ensemble casts. This leaves a lot of the characters in limbo, which includes Abomination and Leader (who had his origin shown in the film). And this is a real shame, because like I said, there’s some great worldbuilding here; the super-soldier serum is mentioned, there’s Stark weaponry, and in an alternate opening with the Hulk running through the arctic we get a glimpse of the frozen Captain America. Honestly, I think aside from the issue with the film rights, the fact that this movie can mostly be described as “Solid” is the reason why it has faded from the public consciousness; it lacks the OOMPH so many of the later films and even Iron Man before it had, and nowadays aside from looking for all the foreshadowing it’s hard to watch and care about these characters who will never show up again. It’s a damn good movie in my eyes, but I can see why it is relegated to a footnote in the MCU.

Next up is Iron Man 2. Fuck this movie. I fucking hate this movie with every fiber of my being. It is an awful, bloated, unfocused, cluttered, and disrespectful mess of the film. This film is a fucking travesty in every single regard, except perhaps casting Don Cheadle as James Rhodes. The plot deals with the fallout of Tony outing himself in the last movie, with industrialist Justin Hammer breathing down his neck as congressional hearings try and force him to share his tech. There’s also a pissed off Russian named  Ivan Vanko who wants to get vengeance on him, oh yeah and Black Widow is also unceremoniously stuffed into the film alongside Nick Fury so this can basically act as a trailer for the upcoming movie about the Avengers. This was due to executive meddling, to the point where jon Favreau didn’t direct the third Iron Man. Marvel had bad problems with executive meddling in their early days.

This movie fucking offends me. First off, they waste Mickey Rourke as the villain Whiplash; Mickey Rourke was pissed with the execs making his character into a cartoonish villain when he was trying to play him as a human, an anti-villain… and so he proceeded to spew vitriol at everyone involved, meaning even if Whiplash survived it’s unlikely he’ll be back. So we wasted the one interesting villain, and who are we left with? Justin fucking Hammer, one of the most unfunny, annoying cunts in comic book movie history. He is easily one of the worst superhero movie villains ever made; he’s annoying, he’s cloying, and he sucks away screentime that could have been devoted to Whiplash. He’s an absolute waste of a villain.

Then we have Tony’s “Demon in a Bottle” arc, the arc where his rampant alcoholism threatens to ruin his life. This is a tragic part of the character, and the film was going to delve deeper into it. And hey, this would have been great! RDJ could add a lot to such an emotional arc due to his own experiences! Guess what they do instead?

They play Tony’s alcoholism for laughs. Have I mentioned I fucking hate this movie?

This movie sucks ass. It’s fucking awful and feels like a shitty trailer for better movies, which is exacerbated by how shoehorned in Black Widow and Fury are. The movie is a bloated, disgusting mess, crushed by bad decisions and executive meddling. It is easily the worst movie in the entire MCU, but believe me it has some competition… which I’ll get to soon enough.

After that travesty, we have Thor. Thor I can best describe as being a precursor to Wonder Woman in a lot of ways, which is reflected in the story to an extent: it’s about a god – er, or an ALIEN – who is banished by his father after being a disobedient shit. He gets sent on down to Earth, while his half-brother Loki plots and schemes back on Asgard. Okay, so it’s not entirely like Wonder Woman, but still, there are similarities.

The biggest similarity is probably Chris Hemsworth as Thor, who exudes a childlike, boyish charm as Thor when he is down on Earth among the mortals. It’s not the same charm Diana has in Wonder Woman, but it’s not wholly dissimilar. Their origins too, as mighty gods who go to live among mortals and fight alongside them, is likewise similar. Of course, there are big differences too: the biggest one is while Wonder Woman surrounds herself with a cool human supporting cast, Thor surrounds himself with one of the worst fucking supporting casts I’ve ever seen. Special mention must go to the cliically unfunny Kat Dennings, who sucks the joy out of every scene she’s in with her relentlessly awful attempts at humor. Natalie Portman is a bland, flat love interest who has almost no chemistry with Thor, a nd the old scientist guy is so generic I forgot his name. This is a damn shame, because his supporting cast on Asgard was fantastic, with Heimdall getting special mention for being an utter badass guardian played by Idris Elba. I’d much rather watch the cosmic adventures of Thor and his Asgardian buddies than him pal around with boring humans, but ah well.

Still, at least we have a cool villain this time around. Loki is pretty interesting, and Tom Hiddleston does an excellent job with him. He would only get better and more entertaining in later films, but this was solid groundwork to establish him. Hilariously, Roger Ebert hated this film and had this to say in his review: “The standards for comic book superhero movies have been established by Superman, The Dark Knight, Spider-Man 2 and Iron Man. In that company Thor is pitiful. Consider even the comparable villains (Lex Luthor, the Joker, Doc Ock and Obadiah Stane). Memories of all four come instantly to mind. Will you be thinking of Loki six minutes after this movie is over?" This is just one of the most hilariously ironic reviews I’ve ever seen, as Loki has come to be one of the best and most memorable Marvel villains (mostly due to the fact he doesn’t die).

Overall, I feel like this movie suffers from the same thing The Incredible Hulk did; it’s a darn good movie with a lot of value that also works as a standalone film, but it’s easy to see it as exceedingly average due to its faults. At least this movie got followed up… though… eh. We’ll get there soon enough. As it stands, Thor is a good if not great film that establishes Thor well enough.

Next up is one of my personal favorites, Captain America: The First Avenger. I love me some pulpy 1940s style two-fisted tales, and this delivers that fun in spades. Sometimes you just wanna see a handsome blonde man punch Nazis in the face, and boy does this film deliver. The story tells the tale of how wimpy but strong-hearted Steve Rogers goes from a scrawny little man into the gorgeous beefcake American hero that is Captain America, and how he fought against Red Skull and HYDRA.

This movie has a lot of silly Golden Age elements to it that would not work in any other context other than the most patriotic superhero’s first big movie. The biggest, of course, being Cap himself. He’s a character that is really hard to pull off… and yet, Chris Evans did it, and perfectly so. I’ll let this excerpt from TVTropes’s YMMV page for the movie speak for itself:

“It's always an issue to adapt Captain America to any medium, because a character who is actually living up to his own principles of righteousness can far too easily come off as straight-out Narm, and by all rights that's exactly what this film should be. But somehow it comes out as a genuine, heartwarming, awesome, tear-jerking, triumphal ode to true patriotism and human goodness instead, a feat that should have been impossible outside the Golden Age of Hollywood. The writers, director, and Chris Evans deserve a lot of credit for striking the right tone with Cap: The Herois a trope that's almost never played straight anymore, without veering into self-parody or coming off as self-righteous.”

I really could not have summed it up better myself.

Now, let us talk about the villain, Red Skull, who is played by a deliciously hammy Hugo Weaving. Hugo Weaving is an actor I love in nearly everything, because he always brings exactly what is needed, and boy does he do that here. He’s sick, depraved, truly evil, and just oh so delightfully hammy. The man is basically if M. Bison as played by Raul Julia was in a Marvel film, and that I think is the highest compliment you can give a hammy villain. The best part: While he is defeated in the end, his use of the Cosmic Cube seems to imply he could survive, leaving him open to return. The bad news: he hasn’t appeared since, and for years after, Hugo Weaving took a very negative attitude to the role, implying he only did it for money… until a 2016 interview showed he had softened considerably, and thought the role was awesome. Please Marvel. Bring this man back. We need more of his evil Nazi hamminess, especially since you fucking wasted Baron Strucker (we’ll get to that soon enough).

If I’m gonna criticize anything here, it’s gonna be the Howling Commandos. As a point of comparison, let us bring up Wonder Woman again; she too assembled a multi-national ragtag group of misfits, and all of them had plenty of character and development, and to top it off, it’s pretty obvious they were meant to be a substitute for the Commandos. But despite they, they’re actually BETTER, as the Howling Commandos barely have any presence at all in this film. I couldn’t tell you a single thing they did. They’re dull wastes of character space, and it’s a shame.

Still, overall, the movie is fantastic pulpy fun, and it ends on the biggest tearjerker of Phase 1. It’s a pretty simple film, and at times it can seem corny and silly, but like I said in Wonder Woman, it’s all part of the charm of these optimistic superhero films that harken back to the Golden Age. And hey, I find it hard to give a movie that subtly implies Indiana Jones is canon in the Marvel universe anything but two thumbs up.

Finally, after all the buildup, we come to the big conclusion of Phase 1: The Avengers. And after all the buildup, all the development, was it worth the wait? HELL FUCKING YES IT WAS WORTH THE WAIT! This movie kicks a whole lot of ass, and is one of the biggest, best, and flashiest superhero films ever made. This is the film where Thor, Cap, Iron Man, Hulk, Hawkeye, and Black Widow all unite to take down Loki and his alien army before they destroy the world; how much cooler does it get?

The movie’s greatest strength is just the sheer spectacle of it all; this kind of film was unheard of. Who would have thought a movie like this would exist when Iron Man first came out? Seeing all these huge actors as heroes onscreen together, fighting against Loki… it’s just amazing. The writing and humor here is actually really on point, which can be jarring after seeing the much denser and wackier dialogue of Age of Ultron; it makes one wonder if the execs forced Joss Whedon to add more humor to that film. All these pieces are in place, and it is just a joy to see them come together.

Even better, it’s not totally required to watch every movie before to understand all of the characters; the film does a pretty good job of establishing everyone. Sure, it HELPS, but you can get a feel for each one of the heroes just from this film. It especially helps with Bruce, since it’s Mark Ruffalo now in the role and no one really remembered Hulk’s one MCU solo outing anyway. Speaking of which, Mark Ruffalo is a highlight of the film; he’s the best Bruce Banner yet by far, and his Hulk is the best yet scene in film.

If there are any criticisms to go around, it’s that Cap doesn’t get to do as much, and a lot of the badass normal heroes kind of get shafted. Sure Cap, Widow, and Hawkeye do some cool shit, but it’s Hulk, Thor, and Iron Man who pull of the big, flashy, exciting moments in the big final fight. I get that you gotta make Hulk cool considering his lackluster past films, but do ya gotta steal Cap’s thunder to do it?

Overall though, The Avengers still holds up as a great, exciting superhero extravaganza and one of the best crossover films ever made, and it’s definitely one of the best MCU offerings. It has its flaws, but the sheer excitement and comic book joy of the film shine through, making it a must-see experience.

Phase 1 ended on such a high note… how do we kick off Phase 3? With another shitty Iron Man sequel, of course! To be totally fair, this movie is a hell of a lot better than Iron Man 2… but a lot of things are better than that, so it isn’t saying much. This time Tony Stark has the bright idea of antagonizing a terrorist organization known as the Ten Rings and their leader, the Mandarin. This backfires, and soon Tony is uncovering evil plots and shit.

This movie fucks up badly, especially in the villain department. Most of the enemy mooks are people injected with Extremis, a drug that gives them powers… the problem is, most of these mooks are disabled military vets who are now willingly and gleefully acting out terrorist attacks on their fellow Americans, up to and including a plot to assassinate the president. Look, I get sometimes it’s dumb to read into things in movies too much, but there’s really no way I can read this that isn’t pretty fucked.

As if that isn’t bad enough, we come to the issue with the Mandarin… and shockingly, it’s not about race or the “Yellow peril” origins of the character. For most of the movie, we are led to believe the Mandarin is played by Ben Kingsley, and he does an absolutely excellent job at making the Mandarin menacing, chilling, hammy, and intimidating all at once. He’s the perfect modern update of the villain… and sadly, he is not actually the Mandarin. He is an actor named Trevor Slattery. Slattery still manages to be one of the bright spots of the movie… something that does not extend to the true villain Killian, played by Guy Pearce. He’s an extremely boring, generic, and forgettable foe, and his claims that he is in fact the real Mandarin opened so many plotholes it’s no wonder they had in development a short where the real Mandarin sends out pissed off enforcers to call bullshit on his and Trevor’s schemes.

There’s just not much to recommend here. The movie is just a dull slog with a few bright spots here and there, and even the ending is bullshit with Tony seeming like he’s giving up superheroics for good… and then by his next appearance he’s back to being a hero with a new set of armor even though all his suits were destroyed in this movie. This one just sucks, though not as bad as the second one; there’s at least a bit more to like here.

And now we go from bad to worse, for we land on Thor: The Dark World, which is an incredibly awful movie. The plot involves evil elves invading Asgard looking for a magic MacGuffin to do things and… look, the only reason anyone bothered with this fucking movie is because Loki is in it, and by god, the forty minutes he’s in it are just fantastic and funny. His interactions with Thor are nothing short of hilarious, and the fact he actually comes out on top in this movie is intriguing. Props to the film for that at least.

Too bad the film sucks in nearly every other conceivable way. The major focus on the human characters is the worst of all; Natalie Portman is given a disproportionately large amount of screentime and hogs the plot, and Kat Dennings is back and as relentlessly unfunny as ever. She is like a cancerous tumor on an already foul film. And as if the humans aren’t bad and obnoxious enough, we have the villain, Malekith the Accursed, a dark elf who has some of the most generic and boring motives ever despite looking absolutely cool. He is one of the worst comic book movie villains ever, hands down, and it’s such a shame because he’s played by the usually amazing Christopher Eccleston. To say that he was wasted here is a crass understatement.

There’s not much else to say here; this is an awful, shitty movie. The saving graces are Loki’s screentime and maybe the final battle, but even that is interjected with some unfunny humor, and the lack of a solid villain really drags the film down. This film is utter crap, but at least there’s a bit to recommend here, which is more than I can say for Iron Man 2.

Well we’ve got two strikes down, so this is Marvel’s last swing… can they save their asses? I mean, this is a sequel, to Captain America: The First Avenger of all things, this couldn’t possibly be that good, right?

WRONG.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier is not only one of the very best films in the entire MCU, it is one of the greatest superhero movies ever made, and probably the greatest adaptation of Metal Gear Solid we’ll ever get. I’m not kidding, everything’s there: a genetically modified super soldier fighting against a shadowy conspiracy that wants to use a giant war machine to attack the world’s population, all the while fighting a crazy cyborg version of their best friend. Also there’s a fight in an elevator and an evil AI that has been manipulating the world from behind the scenes. If you can’t already tell, I fucking love this movie.

A big plus is that this is less straight-up superhero action for the most part, and more an action thriller. This lets Steve use his badass super soldier skills to their fullest extent against armies of armed mooks. Even more amazingly, this movie does a good job at making Black Widow likable and interesting, and she has very good chemistry with Steve. Best of all, though, is the introduction of Anthony Mackie as Falcon, Cap’s new best buddy and a badass hero in his own right who helps solve this big HYDRA conspiracy. And despite his limited screentime, Sebastian Stan makes an impression as the incredible, unstoppable, hardcore titular Winter Soldier, AKA Bucky Barnes, Cap’s long-lost friend.

This movie is the one all Marvel sequels would be judged by afterwards. Well, for a while at least; this movie’s own sequel managed to top it somehow. But yes, this movie is absolutely fucking fantastic, a modern classic of the superhero genre, and one of the best Marvel sequels ever made. Not bad, especially since unlike Iron Man or Thor the original movie is not the biggest or most critically acclaimed Marvel film (Though t still got a mostly positive reception). The fact it managed to produce a sequel superior to the first while Thor and Iron Man’s sequels ended up being shit is nothing short of impressive.

After this movie came Guardians of the Galaxy, which I reviewed recently on Michael After Midnight. Needless to say, it’s an amazing film, akin to a modern-day Star Wars, and I truly love it… though at this point, I fully admit its sequel is far superior. If you want a general idea of my thoughts on the film, just click the link there.

So how do you follow up two incredibly epic game-changing movies? With an Avengers sequel! Joss Whedon is back, the cast is all here, what could possibly go wrong?

A whole fucking lot.

This movie had tons of executive meddling, so much it drove Whedon nuts. But executive meddling can’t take all the blame for the shoddy script and the piss-poor mishandling of characters. One of my biggest regrets is saying this was one of the better MCU films in my review; it most definitely is not. But on the other hand, unlike the Iron Man sequels or Thor: The Dark World, there really is a lot of genuinely good stuff in this movie. Look at the plot: Tony, desperate to keep the world safe, creates an AI that ends up going rogue… that AI being Ultron. Now they gotta stop this AI before it wipes out humanity. There’s a lot of good potential in this story! But sadly, this potential is not fully realized.

Let me talk about the good stuff first. The big draw is the action setpieces, which are a bit more spectacular than before… or they would be the big draw, but since the story is so messy, it’s hard to care too much. At least there’s more action scenes. The REAL draw here is  this stretch of time where the Avengers are at Hawkeye’s cabin; this lets all of the characters interact with each other in a close space, and see how everyone plays off each other. It’s absolutely fantastic, and it’s a shame the whole movie isn’t as tightly written as these scenes. Hell, they manage to make Black Widow, who tends to be a dull and uninteresting character, more human with a bit of tragic backstory.

The new characters here are fascinating as well; Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Ulysses Klaue, Vision… all of these characters are pretty interesting and cool. In concept, at least. While Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver get a solid amount of screentime since they’re working for Ultron for most of the film before switching sides, by the film’s end Quicksilver is killed. Vision only appears immediately before the final fight, Klaue is just a cameo (albeit a really good one) to set up Black Panther… none of these characters really feel organically added, they feel crammed in to set up future films, leading to Age of Ultron feeling like a trailer for better movies to come.

Look at the original Avengers movie; you could jump into that from just about anywhere in your Marvel viewing experience and get it, and they don’t throw too much new at you. Here, they’re flinging all sorts of new shit at you that you pretty much NEED to watch the other movies to really get this one. Hell, and even that doesn’t help too much, since there are still things like Thor’s weird, nonsensical vision and Bruce and Natasha’s out of nowhere romance.

Of course, the absolute worst part of this film is the absolutely horrendous script. It’s not entirely bad, but there are lines like “She’s weird and he runs fast” (describing Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, respectively) and Black Widow going “Beep beep” while she rides through a crowd and Tony’s infamous “prima noctis” joke… the movie is just so dense with garbage writing like this that it’s impossible to take seriously and it deflates the tension when it constantly happens in battles. Now, there are still some good and genuinely funny moments, like when Vision lifts the hammer or Klaue’s entire scene, but there’s plenty of cringe inducing stuff that proves when it comes to Whedon’s writing, lightning DOES strike twice… do you want to know what happens when Whedon’s writing is hit by lightning? The same thing that happens to everything else.

Now, finally, let’s talk about the villains… oh, sorry, VILLAIN, they decide to anticlimactically kill Baron Strucker offscreen after the opening, so no point in discussing him! Ultron is the biggest saving grace of the film… as well as yet another example of Marvel getting rid of their most interesting villains. Ultron has solid motives, an interesting plan, and with more fleshing out could have served as an incredible reoccuring antagonist… so of course he is blown up by the end of the film, because his name isn’t Loki. HOWEVER, everything is ambiguous enough that he could realistically return; guy had to hide a backup somewhere, yeah? James Spader did such a good job at making Ultron both creepy and charismatic it would be a crime to not use his talents again, though since Marvel isn’t exactly begging Hugo Weaving to be Red Skull again at the moment, I won’t hold my breath. What makes this a bit more bitter is that, overall, Ultron was the best villain in all of Phase 2.

Age of Ultron is a film that can only be described as messy. Honestly? I’d say it’s a bit worse than Iron Man 3. That film may not be very good, but at least it was a bit more focused and the humor didn’t clog every single action scene and they didn’t try and cram fifty new characters to act as teasers for better movies into the plot. This film actually has a lot in common with Batman v Superman; the story is cluttered and unfocused and choked by the tone of the rest of the film, there are superfluous cameos and character insertions that are advertising better films to come, and obviously both are lukewarm superhero crossover films. Age of Ultron has a better villain, however, while Batman v Superman has much better fight scenes, and also Batman doesn’t make an awkward and forced rape joke so that’s good. In all honesty, I’d rather watch Batman v Superman over this; that movie may be dark and dour, but I can handle grim and gritty more than I can handle horribly painful and unfunny jokes ruining most every action scene. Age of Ultron is a seriously mediocre movie, and it’s just so depressing after how good the original Avengers film was… what a note to end Phase 2 on…

...Ha! Psyche! There’s still another movie, bitches! Here comes motherfucking Ant-Man to save the day! Whoever could have thought that Ant-Man of all characters would redeem Phase 2 by delivering a quirky, genuinely funny action-crime thriller? This story has Scott Lang, a former robber who is trying to go straight for the sake of his daughter, get roped in to becoming Ant-Man after breaking and entering into Hank Pym’s house. Ant-Man has to steal research from Pym’s former company before the new, corrupt owner Darren Cross abuses the research.

So this film has great setup, and it’s a refreshing change of pace for the most part. The film is mainly about the training to become Ant-Man and the heist itself, leading to a bit of a different tone from the usual superhero film. Yes, of course there’s a big fight with a supervillain at the end, but it’s so quirky and hilarious that it still fits the tone of the rest of the film. That’s another great quality this film has; it’s quirky and humorous while not being obnoxiously so like the last film. A great addition is one of Scott Lang’s sidekicks, Luis, an incredibly enthusiastic criminal with quite bit of hidden depths and an impressive skill for telling stories.

But even more impressive than the quirkiness and the interesting change of pace from other superhero films is just how this movie takes things and makes you like them, things no one would ever expect to like. Hank Pym for example; Pym has long been a subject of ridicule among comic fans, mostly due to an infamous moment where he hit his wife Janet. After this movie and Michael Douglas’s powerful and moving performance in scenes such as when he talks about how his wife died… well, those “Wifebeater Hank Pym” jokes can go the way of most of the MCU’s villains. Douglas did an excellent job at making Hank a character with flaws who is still sympathetic. And if that’s not enough at how this movie makes you love things you’d never expect to, well, this film just may make you cry over the death of an ant. No, I’m not kidding.

Now, if there’s one thing I can really criticize here, it’s the villain. Darren Cross/Yellowjacket is not bad by any means, but like a lot of MCU villains he falls into the trap of having the same superpowers as the hero, which is frankly an overplayed concept. Look at the great villains of the MCU like Loki, Ultron, or Ego; all of them had powers that gave them an edge or were noticeably different from the heroes they fought. Cross shrinks just like Ant-Man does, just like Obadiah Stane had a giant robot suit, Abomination was a big roaring monster, and Kaecilius was a powerful wizard. None of these villains are really bad per se, but still. At least that final fight is incredible, with the concept of two men with shrinking powers played for all it c an be played for and so many great comedic moments coming from it.

Ant-Man totally makes up for how lackluster and unfunny Age of Ultron was. It’s genuinely funny without clogging every scene with jokes, the action is utilized excellently, the protagonists are all likable and enjoyable, and the film feels a lot more fun and fresh than anyone would expect. This is definitely one of the most shocking success stories of the MCU, but that success is nothing less than well-deserved.

And now we enter into Phase 3, and as I have reviewed all the films, I will link to their reviews.

First up is Civil War, the third Captain America film, and the movie that Age of Ultron should have been. It still does bring in some new blood, but they feel far less forced and more organically woven into the plot. The jokes and the action are all great, and the villain is actually interesting. Click here to see what I thought of it, and also what I thought of Batman v Superman (I may have to re-review that movie as well…).

Next up is Doctor Strange, which holds the distinction of perhaps being the most visually impressive superhero film ever made. The trippy visuals really help to make the film, and Benedict Cumberbatch puts in an excellent performance, as does Mads Mikkelson, who redeems what would otherwise be a flat villain. Click here for the full review of the movie.

Then we have the most recent of the bunch, my favorite film of all time, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. I won’t say anything here, just click the link for the full review.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is constantly growing and expanding, creating new and fascinating stories that their characters can inhabit. These films are some of the only modern superhero films that truly embrace their comic book roots and play them for all they’re worth. Coming up soon are films such as Thor: Ragnarok, Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, Ant-Man & The Wasp, Captain Marvel, and untitled Avengers, Doctor Strange, and Spider-Man sequels as well as volume three of the Guardians of the Galaxy story. We can only hope that, upon their release, I have wonderful things to say about them. But considering the high quality of most of the movies here, especially as time went on… I don’t think there’s any reason to be afraid. Marvel’s the king of superhero cinema right now, and I see no signs they’ll be giving up that crown any time soon.

[threehoursfromtroy]

March of Process - Pt 8

Part 7

This vacation flashback at the beginning of chapter 17 was memorable enough to earn me some lovely fanart—thanks again, @zelegendarydork​ ! Let’s wrap up the first a-bit-more-than-half of the story, shall we? Watch out--my rambling intensifies.

The aftermath of the Bopal proposal is a shining moment of exuberance , but is quickly brought back down to Earth by the serious situation. Asami checks in with her business and some negative immediate repercussions for her and Korra's flashy coming out, but I kinda dropped the ball on this minor plotline. (oh well). Tenni takes a little more charge of Asami's schedule—for a character that's generally on the sidelines, people seem to like her a lot. Competence and loyalty are attractive traits! On the way to Kuodan, Kya and Korra have a moment, and I'm again super happy I brought Kya into this story. Another perspective on Aang, and another sapphic voice to offer guidance. Plus, she's a giant sass monster, who doesn't love that? Particularly when you can mortify her in front of her father! Finally, though... the shoe drops, and Korra finds out about the rifles. Only seventeen chapters in, and not from Asami.

Whooooops. Clearly, this timing is gonna work out badly in regards to our main couple. But that was also the point of this story in the first place, so... Meanwhile, while Kuodan is fast rushing to a resolution, Mako and co (the Makrew?) finally make it to Ba Sing Se, quite a bit later than I'd first thought they might but hey, the fic was going long anyway, what the heck? Torru wouldn't have gotten there earlier enough to have the city frothing yet, so I was already aiming this plotline to a minor crescendo along with the Zaofu and Kuodan arcs, but an incomplete one, so the final climax could be in Ba Sing Se. Because book 2 of AtLA and book 3 of LoK taught me that this setting is at it's most excellent when Ba Sing Se is involved. At this point, Mako and Tsu Ying are a bit past friends, circling each other with teasing and coupleish bickering. Wu's noticed this, and while he's not fully accepting his own feelings, Wing has figured ALL this shit out already, and knows what to do.

“Hey, that's right!” Wu said. “I need somewhere soft to lie down after all this driving. Oh, Mako, you're rooming with me, right? it'll be just like old times! Falling asleep together, snuggled up in my suite.”

Tsu Ying choked. Wing laughed.

“What?” Wu asked, blinking between them. Mako also looked baffled.

She backed herself up. What had she just heard? Oh, 'my suite' not 'my sweet.'

I'm not sure if this came over perfectly, but I made this same mistake watching the show, when Mako and Bolin argued outside Wu's room, and Bolin had harsh words for Mako and the room both, to which Wu replied 'nobody insults my suite!' and I thought he'd literally dropped an affectionate pet name for Mako for a second. I tried a little tooooo hard to recapture it here, so I felt the need to explain the slight clunk to this dialogue, hah.

Jinora is scouting Kuodan, and provides our first connection between that plot and the main cast, rushing en route. This section perhaps could've been more desperate and emotional (though my Kainora shippers tell me their moments were well appreciated!), I think I may have focused too much on auguring this plot home. To be frank, the whole worker revolt plot was not hugely interesting to me, and I think that shows through a little in the shallowness of the local characters and lack of exploration of the conflict. Plus, it suffers from the awkward transit problem I had earlier, which boils mostly down to how much trouble it is to simply GET the characters where you need them to be.

(Also of note, my computer had a save glitch and I had to rewrite the last third of chapter 17. That's incredibly frustrating!!!!!!)

The meat of the chapter, though, comes when the PoV returns to Caluqtiq, as she and her son bore the brunt of this plot, and they're our anchors to it. Her fear for Nuktik and their resolve to do the right thing in spite of all this insanity around them really made them easy to like. Zuko's rasping support of Nuktik, unhealthy but enough to create hope, as well as a nice cinematic sort of father-son relationship that you see form over a short period of high stress (though I'm not sure to what extent this is a realistic phenomenon, or just a trope). Tenzin's lack of regained consciousness is meant to be the real concern for readers, and hopefully that fear is resolved by Korra's totally badass superhero landing/taking control of the situation.

But the chapter doesn't end.

So, probably the most controversial decision in this story, other than including the guns themselves, was the death of Zuko, but the two are inextricably intertwined. To me, it would have been the height of irresponsibility to introduce firearms into the setting, to make them a major part of the plot, and not demonstrate the consequences of that.

As I've said before, as is true in all my writing, and as in true in life: actions have consequences. They must.

Simply wounding somebody would've been partially effective, but cheap. Killing new characters, or dozens of extras, would have carried little narrative weight.

Guns, at the end of the day, are designed to cause grievous harm to their target. Whatever someone's opinion or attitude about them may be, that fact cannot be escaped. That's what they DO. And the best way, the only real way to demonstrate that, would be to have it happen to a character I know readers already care about. And here, we have a fan favorite character, one who had retired from world politics, more or less, and could be (to be a callous puzzlemaster for just a moment) removed from the plot without any repercussions to the story. It was a perfect fit for my needs, and hopefully, as shocking as I could've made it. Though going out using his body to shield a waterbender from an unexpected attack? An appropriate way for Zuko to go, I think. Most gratifying, though were the readers who were equally or even more concerned that Caluqtiq was dead too. If I didn't know I'd done a good job with my original characters, I knew now! Chapter 18, another fluffy flashback scene as they competitively compliment each other. Fluff is always appreciated, but meanwhile, the reader knows that Korra has just found out about the guns, and Zuko's death... Then, a scene I never intended to write, and wound up presenting the thesis of the whole damned story: Lin and Zaheer.

This came from me realizing that Zaheer, in his cell, could still meditate into the Spirit World, and thus could still be impacting world affairs. This is canon. I did not make this up. This is in the show. This is a problem that needs to be solved.

Regardless, it creates a motivation-based plot hole that needed to at least be addressed. I didn't want to bring Zaheer into this story. Often, he's brought into Book 5 fics in a prominent role, as Korra's most potent (and honestly, compelling) adversary, but I don't particularly like this tact. It's off theme with the show, to fully revisit previous villains; the past seasons should have an impact, cast a shadow, but those characters shouldn't play prominent roles in shaping the story itself, I don't think. And thus, this scene, where good-ol' Lin Beifong, the Perfect Character To Put In A Conversation With Anyone, goes to chat with him. The conversation is short and no-bullshit, and even though Zaheer doesn't factor into the overall plot, he's still creepy as hell and disturbingly well-informed.

“Every step of 'progress' Miss Sato makes is another step toward chaos, and true freedom. The Avatar could never fight that, much less while she's in love with the person pushing so much of it forward.”

Korra's greatest living enemy nicely summed up March of Progress for me. Thanks, you anarchist jerk! Also, having Lin Beifong be the foil in this scene gave extra bite to his final words:

“The world is changing. Societies crumble. Stifling traditions fail, leaving freedom in their place. Why, two women are even free to fall in love, now. Tell me that is wrong.”

Snap! What you gotta say to that, Lin? Again, ALMOST like I planned this shit ahead of time!

Zooming to Ba Sing Se, we get a scene where Mako and Tsu Ying's relationship is directly broached. Shu wants to make sure his friend isn't gonna get hurt, and Mako, at least, show's he's not a TOTAL idiot and knows he and Tsu Ying have been circling closer and closer and she wants to stop the dance and get down to the sexy times. The pretend-family situation only makes it better/worse. Still, Mako shows how much he's matured emotionally, and Tsu Ying surely appreciates the attention. Her feet do, at least. I think this was the point where I decided for sure about their eloping offscreen, only to reveal it in the eventual Krew reunion. I thought that would be at a finale afterparty, but the way that scene played out... well I'll talk about it when I get there!

Kuvira's plot wrinkle serves to complicate the situation, but also to set her up for her... redemption isn't the right word. She's trying to rehabilitate herself as best she can, do what good she can with the resources she has available, but that doesn't mean much when her idea of what's 'good' or not is skewed.

Finally, Raiko shows what an irredeemable jackass he is by treading informing Iroh of his grandfather's death in about the worst way possible.  

Korra's not in the chapter to build up the sense of dread in her reaction—a card I perhaps played too liberally, given she's the protagonist. Asami's not in the chapter because I managed to actually move somebody between locations without explicitly showing it.

I know. I'm shocked too.

Chapter 19, Come Apart, hearkens back to Come Together, when Korra and Asami reunited, Mako comforted Tsu Ying in her hometown, and Kyalin hooked up. Couples were being supportive and caring. Here... Asami and Korra are literally on different continents, and couldn't be further apart emotionally.

Korra is in the chapter only from Kya's point of view, and she's hard and distant. Kya and Tonraq are concerned, and the way she silently leaves Boss Taka out for the spirits to deal with is even more chilling. The moment at the end of the scene, that I don't think anybody noticed at the time...

A few sure-footed thrusts, and stone rose up to hold Taka's feet. His eyes were wide and shaking. Korra looked past him, above him, as if staring down somebody who wasn't there. Yeah, she's looking at Dark!Asami, that we see later on, but I honestly hadn't come up with that particular incarnation yet. I knew she'd be seeing something, but I hadn't quite made the leap to Asami yet. I don't know if anybody even noticed this, but I feel like any more blatant would have been hard to do from an outside point of view. Again, I'd made the decision to withhold Korra's perspective to increase the sense of unease in the reader, but I think I took this strategy too far, to be honest. Before I forget, though, the flashback. I was realizing at this point that, honestly, I was running out of things for them to do and/or say in their vacation. The story had gone longer than expected, and I wouldn't be able to continue the flashbacks to the end, as I'd planned. So given what I knew was coming up, it seemed like a strong narrative statement to end them. As to what to replace them with, if anything... I hadn't the slightest idea! And I didn't know what that was gonna be for quite a while, either!

As for this flashback itself... they're heading home, they're apprehensive but looking forward to this relationship, to trying it out. Hopeful, ever so optimistic. “If you can't fix it, I can,” makes a reappearance, and it's maybe a little hokey, but it's an easy enough line to call back to, reminding each other (and the readers) of this happier, more hopeful time. Back in the present, Jinora has a scene. It is nice but I'd forgotten about it. This plot line also went nowhere. The scene is nice enough, with Jinora being reminded that she doesn't have to pantomime adults all the time, that real strength comes in admitting our weaknesses. It fits with the theme of the chapter at least, of unravelling, but Jinora is underutilized in this fic, I think. There's a ton going on though, so that's gonna happen to a few characters.

Wu's jumping back into politics, and we see a moment of character growth, when he stops himself from backsliding into flippancy. He's always gonna have a certain innate... Wu-ness to him, but he grew a lot in Republic City, and given what Ba Sing Se is gonna be going through, he'll need to grow some more. Raiko continues to be a dummy who thinks he's smarter than everyone else for being a self-serving jerkbutt. There's no hope for sympathy for him at this point, and the reader is mostly supposed to go 'Ugh, this idiot. He's just awful. What's he doing now and how's it gonna blow up?' Of course, I wrote this somewhere prior to November 2016, so my bar for awful presidents wasn't exactly where it is now. :/

Finally, the Zaofu plotline has been building up toward a big battle, and Korra said she wanted Asami in charge of defending Zaofu, so damned if Asami doesn't take charge. It's about time to get that party started!

Next chapter! (Hey, gotta end with a hook, ya know?)

What does the next chapter bring us? Well, a vacation flashback where the two of them fight. It's a short one, some poorly chosen words hitting on a sensitive spot, but enough to illustrate how forgiving they can be, and how much they want to make this work. And we still haven't really heard from Korra on all this.

The siege of Zaofu is the setpiece for this chapter, of course, and General Sato the main star. Besides giving her some good thinky work to do, and some damned sexy marksmanship, this is also supposed to showcase Asami's rifles as she intended them to be used—a balancing element against benders and other hostile forces. Over the course of the chapter, it almost works, limited only by logistical problems. Most of the battle is move-countermove, which can be VERY fun to write. Get deep in the psychology of both 'players,' make sure both of them have tricks up their sleeve. The other general is more experienced, but Asami has a strong defensive position and she's clever as all getout. She's determined to do what Korra tasked her, and prove the use of her invention in one fell swoop—not knowing that Korra has seen her guns already, and definitely not knowing Kuvira is out there and what her intentions are.

The rest of the chapter—for one, I officially, overtly introduce Nuktik's transgender status. I think a few readers had caught the hints I'd been laying down, but I also know quite a few hadn't. And that's important, because readers have already come to know and appreciate him before learning this aspect of his character, so even for those who might not be fully appraised of how gender identity works, now it gets to just be... an aspect of his character. Not the whole of it, not the first and only thing they think of when they think about him. But looking back, it informs his character the whole way. How does it color his veneration of Katara? How does his mother's concern and their being shunned by the tribe look now? How petty does that shunning seem, given how there's so much more to Nuktik than this single thing he's been judged on?

Tsu Ying gets to do some espionage work, getting some exposition in on the side. Her character made the scene a bit less boring, particularly the daring escape where she beaned the guy with an apple and 'earthbending death strike!'ed her pursuers to get a few precious seconds. She and Asami should compare notes as non-benders fighting in a bending world.

Pema and Senna, the two main moms in the show, share a moment, left behind as they normally are. Both extremely strong and empathetic ladies, and though this scene doesn't further anything, they deserve the appreciation. Were I editing this for publication, scenes like this would be cut, for time, for space, for pacing... but that is exactly how these sort of characters wind up underappreciated, too. The other option is put some important information in this section--like Lin’s talk with Zaheer gave the thesis statement. You do get a little of that, with the importance conveyed of emotional support and leaning on people who are about you, that is a bit of a recurring theme throughout this work and the series overall. Finally, Chapter 21, finishing off act...2? Probably act 2. There's a distinct act 3 in this story, but 1 and 2 kinda run together. Probably, they break about the time Kuodan first blows up, and that plotline goes silent for a while? All the introductions are done at that point... Anyway. The final vacation note, I decided to go a little experimental. No dialogue, not really any events—just entirely thoughts within Korra's head. Showing how good Asami made her feel, when things had been good—to create the starkest counterpoint possible when we finally get back into her point of view. We see, too, more of Korra's putting Asami on a pedestal, thinking of her as perfect, and again, in context, it seems a natural, even sweet thing to be thinking.

What do we round out this section with? Especially as it was the last chapter I completed in summer, 2016; grad school began as I was partway through writing the next chapter, and I was not able to make appreciable progress on this story during the semester (though I was able to start the constellation of shorts that morphed into Comes Marching Home). I realized at some point that there'd likely have to be a gap in posting, and this was as clear and organic a place to do that as exists in the story. I even contemplated making this the 'final' chapter, and having what came after be a sequel work, though I didn't consider that very long. This didn't have a complete plot arc, after all. Anyway, I asked myself a question. What did I decide to include in this... mid-season finale? Some drama in the Fire Lord's family—with Izumi as the even-stuffier foil for Tenzin in earlier chapters, she'd been in the story enough I felt like I had to show the repercussions of her father's death on her and her son. Turns out... she's not very good with emotions, either in having or expressing them. She's left in a pretty desolate place, misspeaking to Iroh to sound like she's unaffected. Desolation is the appropriate outcome for a lot in this chapter. But not for everything! Nuktik and Eska talk, and besides explicitly dealing with his gender identity and it's impact on his place in Northern culture, we get the full force of Eska's character growth. As well as giving me the opportunity to think, ya know who hasn't been in this story yet? Desna. You know what would be really fucking awesome, and a way to give Nuktik an 'in' to the plot in the back part of this story? If Desna was trans too. I'd kinda headcanoned previously that Eska was transgender, having already transitioned, but hadn't used that; tweaking that headcanon was, at that point, simple. I contemplated a while whether adding another trans character would seem like me pushing an agenda, but I realized this is my goddamned story and there needs to be more positive trans representation anyway, so get bent, haters that I made up! Who invited you, anyway? Bumi and Lin, another cute scene, where Lin gets to be made fun of a little. Bumi's still the troublemaker he always was, but he's also becoming more insightful. Or maybe I just tend to gravitate characters in that direction? Regardless, he's right—how often do you get to antagonize AND encourage somebody you care about? Gotta relish those opportunities! Mako and Tsu Ying's adventure across Ba Sing Se, and intentional arrest to prevent a riot, while growing to realize this attraction between them... can't just go unanswered. They have their big kiss in the middle of a near-revolt, and to be honest... this kinda climaxes their plot? There's some residual espionage in the third act, but their relationship arc crescendoed wonderfully here, and all I have left afterwards is... settling into couplehood, and some self-doubt on Tsu Ying's part. This isn't a complaint, per-se; the focus of act 3 is the angst between our two leads. Putting everyone else on stable footing gives useful counterpoints and chances for relief from all that tension. But still, it's a realization that I had, that they'd gotten close enough that they could, particularly if Tsu Ying got the idea in her head, justifiably elope. Then THAT idea was too fun not to use! :D A glorious, sneaky trick to play at the end, when readers realize that Mako doesn't know about Korrasami yet, and I lay a secret on them in return. This one was a fun trick to pull, not gonna lie. The end of the battle of Zaofu, I'd planned for Kuvira to charge in and save the day, and basically complicate everyone's lives by continuing to exist. But while building that plotline, Asami's 'shot the guy what killed my mom' thing happened, and that brought me this delicious opportunity here. It's not even two months since Hiroshi died, and there Kuvira is, charging in to do who-knew-what? Asami had the power to remove her from the world, and would have no one to answer to but herself for doing it.

It's a tense moment, and I prolong it as much as I can, even using 'squeezed' for her eyelids, as I'd been using that verb to refer to the trigger each time she fired. And the decision itself, that exhausts her, in a way that hours of leading a fight and running around hadn't. In that moment, she had to wrestle, with the decision she'd made during the sting operation, with the person she wanted to be, with the person she wanted to be for Korra. It's a hard choice, much like Katara not taking revenge for the death of her mother in The Southern Raiders, and culminates a lot of what she's been through, growing her further still. Korra should be proud.

But we finally, finally get back to Korra's PoV, just a little. Just a glimpse. This is the Avatar, enraged. Betrayed. She's taking out all the people responsible, just like Asami asked her, but does she consider Asami one of those people, too? I had quite a while to contemplate this. I knew the story would have a happy ending, but I hadn't figured out precisely what that would be yet. I continued to post chapters on schedule, only having enough time during the semester to finish chapter 22 (well, that and write a bunch of shorts, but there's a lot less cognitive load to writing a short than there is to writing a chapter of a larger work and making sure everything fits in). In particular, though, I thought of all the directions my plots could take me—what plot Nuktik and Caluqtiq could have, that would involve them in the overall plot of the story and not feel tangential, what structural element I could replace the vacation flashbacks with, how Korra and Asami's fight and eventual reconciliation would go down. But somehow, my thoughts kept circling back to a moment in Korra alone, where a small dog barked at something. And that proved to be the key to everything.

Part 9