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ok

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I remember we were so starved of Studio Mir animation quality that people legit got excited when we could see this shot of Wan being reflected in the blade during the previews lmfao

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you’re telling me toph “acab” beifong was a cop

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i think i have figured out why people like atla more than korra: atla provides a clearer version of emotional payback than korra does.  

whenever people engage with media, they are agreeing to do the emotional work of getting to know characters, following the plot, learning about the world/lore, and understanding themes.  in response, the audience expects some kind of emotional payback for the work they’ve done.  this can take shape in many forms, but the ones we see most prominently (speaking from a western media standpoint) is the defeat of the villain/success of the protagonist.  

atla at its core is a protagonist-beats-villain story.  even though there are both good sides and bad sides to every element, who is good and who is bad remains very clear throughout the show.  and before you raise a point about zuko’s redemption arc, i’d like to remind you that azula’s lack of redemption makes this show cut and dry on who is good and bad.  if azula was able to be redeemed without helping the good guys ever, we’d have a more complex understanding of goodness and badness.  azula being cast aside is necessary to keep the dichotomy stable, so there’s always a version of who-zuko-could-have-became out there who doesn’t get redeemed.  

and from this, we get a massive emotional payback in the final battles.  seeing aang beat ozai not through force, but through taking his bending is exactly what he needed to do to both succeed as the avatar and as the last piece of an otherwise destroyed culture.  the final agni kai also provides emotional payback by completing zuko’s arc (the scar parallels him to aang; katara healing it resolves their first point of conflict) and katara’s (letting her fight someone not for vengence, but to stop an evil that is currently existing).  toph and sokka’s arcs are similarly closed when toph finally is able to be vulnerable enough to need help and when sokka see someone he loves return from battle.  so, at the end, the audience feels at peace.  we did the work to feel good and now we feel good. 

korra, on the other hand, is a completely different show because the point of it is that you can’t just defeat badness.  whereas aang had one great evil to defeat, korra must battle a new villain every season.  of course, this could provide emotional payoff, but just in smaller, more constant quantities (1 per season vs. avatar’s one per show).  why it doesn’t is because 1) korra’s existence creates her enemies and 2) her enemies are extremists, but often not 100% wrong. 

the equalists are entirely wrong in their approach to bring equality and their leader is vengeful liar, but their desire for equality isn’t necessarily bad.  they want to bring balance just like korra, but their ways of doing so actually bring more division and chaos.  the interesting part is that korra’s presence initially amplifies conflict instead of ending it, since she is the symbol of bending and holds so much power.  unalaq would literally not have needed to become the dark avatar if korra didn’t exist.  while his desire to overthrow the southern water tribe was corrupt, the heart of the reasons (wanting to increase spiritual connection) caused korra to make the decision which brought airbenders back.  however, it also made zaheer able to become a threat again, which is probably the most literal version of korra making her enemies.  zaheer’s perception of peace being taking down world leaders would also turn the world to chaos, but once again, his heart is in the right place.  kuvira stepped up because no one else would but did not have the correct ideologies to make her a good leader.  while she did harm, she also fed people and gave them protection.  and, of course, the reason for her taking so much power (while often blamed on su) can also be traced back to korra’s reluctance to be patient with her healing and come back strong enough to either 1) be the one uniting the earth kingdom or 2) be able to defeat kuvira earlier in the season. 

this allows for a more complex version of goodness and badness to exist.  when korra says that she “had to understand what true suffering was so [she] could become more compassionate to others, even people like kuvira,” it acknowledges that villains can have good intentions that are simply pushed too far AND that korra herself can be pushed to make similar mistakes when placed in traumatizing situations.  this is entirely different than aang and ozai’s relationship; so, when you finish korra, you are left with an ambiguity between goodness and badness that atla doesn’t have, making the work you did seem less paid back, except it isn’t.  korra demonstrating a more complex version of goodness and badness allows a world more abundant in forgiveness and growth.  it gives you a more nuanced perception of character, allowing the protagonists to have horrendously obvious flaws that somehow don’t stop you from rooting for them.  there’s just no final battle, big showdown, or huge revolution the protagonist starts.  there’s nothing plot wise to signify the clear defeat of evil that people crave.  and while everyone is allowed to have a favorite, and most people will naturally sway towards atla because of this, thinking less of korra as a show because of the moral ambiguity it addresses seems dismissive, because if if korra had followed atla’s simple dichotomy of good vs. bad, it most definitely wouldn’t have been as gripping, complex, or interesting as it is. 

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can’t believe they originally planned for the legend of korra to be one season and mako to be the love interest and then when nickelodeon was like actually can u do another season and then actually can you do two more seasons they didnt know what the fuck to do with mako and bolin so they made one a COP and one a fascist for a minute like………it’s fantasy roaring 20s you couldve made him a dorky film noir private investigator but you made mako a beat cop. the avatar is supposed to bring balance to the world and advocate for oppressed people and nature and she’s dating a literal captain of industry oil baron heiress. a group of activists who want to remove oppressive world leaders is depicted as scary villains in a literal caricature of “antifa”, and suddenly the *checks notes* disabled and marginalized (nonbender) revolutionaries become the Avatar’s greatest threat bc she’s been used as a tool to protect various state and corporate powers throughout the entire series. like…….the earth queen literally kept airbenders as slaves and zaheer killed her and then suddenly he became a worse bad guy than unalaq, the guy who MERGED WITH VAATU, THE LITERAL SPIRIT OF DARKNESS?! anyway why is the legend of korra full of bootlicker propaganda, i think mako being a cop and the red lotus being bad and asami not divesting from capitalism even after she saw how it corrupted the world around her was fucking bullshit

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Someone needs to make a beautiful comic where Aang’s struggling because Tenzin just became an airbending master but Aang has absolutely no idea how to actually tattoo the arrows because he was only twelve when his entire culture was wiped out, he had only just gotten his tattoos months before he ran away, he would have been far too young to learn the tradition from the side of the tattoo-giver and then said tradition was wiped out forever, so he’s crying as he tries his best, and then Yangchen appears and the Air Nomad Avatar before Yangchen appears and so on and so on, all the way back to the Avatar that came right after Wan, hundreds of Airbenders just sitting with Aang, patiently going over the techniques, cheering when Tenzin stands, bowing to the newest airbender, making sure the culture isn’t lost…

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Legend of Korra Redraw

As promised, let’s do Korra version! I redrew my single favorite scene of Avatar Wan from S2, also with a bunch of related doodles!

Original screenshot:

Bonus sketch: Fire Avatars

(Oooh how I love them, including Avatar Jafar [Szeto actually])

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okay wlw who we simping over today?

let me guess… a hot lady villian? one who deserves redemption?

maybe a hero? a good guy?

do we want some powers? a girl who could take down god? or maybe she is god?

how bout a girl who doesnt need powers too take down god?

maybe we want our girl too have hat sweet pastel aesthetic but still kick ass?

how bout some loving girls, you know the type. real sweethearts.

maybe you want someone whos a little more…. rocky

or do we straight up just want milfs today

well, whoever it is today, happy simping my friends. 

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I AM LIVING FOR THIS 🙌🏻

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I know virtually nothing about the Legend of Korra, but I heard that Avatar Korra was raised in a top secret, highly secure, White Lotus compound, and I like to imagine that if Zuko ever heard those words together in a single sentence he would immediately teleport himself to said compound and kidnap take Avatar Korra on a life changing field trip.  

White Lotus Guy:  So, due to reasons, Avatar Korra is being raised in a top secret, highly secure compound, the location of which is known only to the most trustworthy members of the White Lotus and Avatar Korra’s parents.  We’re giving you a heads up since you’re a world leader.

Zuko:  Cool.  So when do you want me to break in?

WLG:  Uh.  What?

Zuko:  When do you want me to break in?  Like, I don’t want disrupt any of your plans.

WLG:  Never.  We never want you to break in.  We don’t want anyone to break in.  That’s the point.

Zuko:  Okay, gotcha.  

*after WLG leaves*

Zuko:  So, they want it to be a surprise.

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CAUSE I’M BACK, YES, I’M BACK!

hellooooo everyone. I know, it’s been a while, but I’ve missed this hellsite like crazy, and today I bring you……. modern!katara

in case you haven’t noticed, i’m in a huge atla vibe. hope y’all like it, and i’ll be back with some new pieces soon!

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The First Cartoon LGBT Representation That No One Talks About

With many people talking about the 2010s cartoons being progressive by  representing LGBT such as 

LGBT weddings 

Main characters confirming their gay/lesbian/bi 

and side characters being gay

But as someone who was born in 2000s in Canada, there’s one cartoon LGBT representation that I barely hear anyone talk about and that is Jean from 6teen.

 She first appeared on the 89th episode of the show where Nikki befriends her and was curios if she’s lesbian or not.  Unlike most shows where they have to hints that they are gay and show it by the end, 6teen just spill the beans by having her say “Yes, I’m into girls”. 

And then they show her going to prom with a girl 

This is probably the first cartoon show that represent LGBT in the most chillest way by telling that she’s into girls. No hints, no waiting till the end of the series or anything, just flat out saying she’s a lesbian. 

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ayayay if netflix really does this then whats the point??

avatar the last airbender is a pure unadulterated kids comedy with lots of joyful and cute moments with a sprinkle of drama and tears, all to explain very mature themes of emperialism/colonization and why it's fucked to have kids going to war but ultimately love, mercy, and friendship save the day

if they wanted to age up the characters and have a show with darker themes, they should wait for the legend of korra

korra is 17 at the start of the series and ends when shes ~20 and her journey takes us on a much darker path

-where we see people get killed (p'li and earth queen)

-and tortured (amon removing bending, everything red lotus did to korra and tenzin, etc)

-and has way more romance drama (bokorra, makorra, korrasami, bopal, etc)

-and overall a more mature tone to the point where the final seasons didnt even air on nickelodeon (for several reasons but mostly bc lok didnt match the theme of the other shows on the network)

honestly, i wouldn't mind a live action tlok that was more mature with lighter notes throughout but atla is a precious kids show that should be left alone especially if they wanna make it riverdale 2.0

tl;dr netflix should do to atla what they did to series of unfortunate events and leave it with a general audience rating for kids.

if netflix wanted a mature series to adapt within the avatar universe, they shoulda went with the legend of korra.

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I am like, nothing short of absolutely disgusted at Bryke's portrayal of Katara in the comics and TLOK???

And apparently a majority of the audience is okay with this portrayal??

Just a recap:

This is Katara

A girl with severe abandonment issues because her mom was murdered by a Fire Nation soldier and soon after her dad left to fight in the war, leaving her alone to take care of her brother and the village.

This is Aang

A boy with chronic running away issues. This fault of his has led to a war extending up to 100 years causing death and destruction all around the world.

Katara does not acknowledge this fault of his because she idolises him as the Avatar but still his actions hurt her. A lot.

Katara: It's not brave, it's selfish and stupid! We could be helping him and I know the world needs him, but doesn't he know how much we need him, too? How can he just leave us behind?

Logically speaking, a person with abandonment issues should never be with a person who has a tendency to run away from their issues. But Aang and Katara get together anyway.

But then the comics happen.

Literally anyone who cared about Katara as a character of her own (and not just as Aang's love interest) was infuriated at how she was portrayed. She was stripped of all her autonomy and characterization and was made into "The Avatar's Girlfriend". Nothing of her own.

Some people actually call this relationship sweet. Yuck.

But the thing is, it has panels like this:

Katara, the girl with abandonment issues looks— that's right, abandoned and forgotten.

Even if the "abandonment issues" angle is thrown out of the window, the above panel from Katara's pov is a very unhealthy and shitty experience. (I can vouch with personal experience)

When you clearly don't have anyone else and the one person who you completely dedicate yourself to is completely avoiding you in favour of other people who don't really matter that much just because it makes them feel better/superior, how lonely and abandoned does that make you feel?

Also this sort of behaviour is undeniably selfish and self centred.

This problem of "Aang paying more attention to fangirls" exists in the show as well but atleast Aang corrects his behaviour or accepts that it was incorrect. The comics however:

Katara, who was abandoned, ignored and lonely in this entire comic is reasonably upset about this. But instead of the comic validating her feelings, it makes her feel guilty???

What the fuck??

If this isn't a fulfilment of the male fetish of gfs/wives putting their own mental issues and feelings on a back bench just for the sake of the man's hApPineSs, then what is this?

Not to mention this fetish is pretty disgusting.

This is what young kids are supposed to learn form the comics?

This is harmful for boys AND girls.

But sure couple goals and soulmates or whatever.

Moving on,

The very existence of LOK!Katara is just—

Like what—?

This definitely isn't the Katara I know and love.

Katara, who was completely devastated by her mother's death but got her shit together immediately and seamlessly slipped into the role of her mother and was so damn good at it that her elder brother could conveniently use his coping mechanism to supress their mother's memories with Katara's instead.

You're telling me this same girl grew up to be a sad old lonely widow who spent her days and nights wallowing in the grief of the death of her husband—

Bullshit.

That's straight up romanticization of "life is nothing without you" trope where the wife just becomes a non-functional person after the death of her husband. That, and Bryke not giving a shit about Katara's character.

There's the evident drama of Aang ignoring his two other kids in favour of the Airbending one; leaving Katara with the other two kids. Just like how she was left alone in charge of things as a child.

And then there's this:

They actually take the time to show us that Katara is sad and lonely and abandoned??

What family does she have left at the South pole? None.

And yet, people manage to think Katara is perfectly fine and happy.

Katara, a person with severe abandonment issues spends her entire life being abandoned??

What the fuck Bryke?

Like, it's pretty clear that they didn't give two shits about Katara as a character; she was just supposed to be a pretty arm candy for the Hero�� with some handy dandy waterbending abilities.

But if other people have done a spectacular job of turning this cardboard character into a fully fleshed out, multi dimensional character, why would you throw it away??

Like, that's just dumb.

Why would they take an infinite number of steps back to turn Katara back into a cardboard character and fulfil romanticized misogynistic tropes?

Much wow, many thanks.

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YO

Since I watched Avatar, I decided to watch Legend of Korra and I’m having some fucking FEELINGS

I have not been this angry about canon in a fucking long time, so gird your fucking loins.

Y’all mean to tell me

Y’ALL ARE GONNA LOOK ME IN THE EYE

and have the AUDACITY to PRESUME that Avatar Aang, Avatar “will you go penguin sledding with me” Aang, Avatar “let’s dick around instead of preparing for the final fight” Aang would have NEGLECTED his CHILDREN???

You think Aang wouldn’t get into trouble with Bumi on a daily basis? You think he wouldn’t help his baby girl with her waterbending any time she asked?? You think he would completely forget about the fact that he has two other children just because one of them is an airbender?

Would he be excited Tenzin is an airbender? Of fucking course. Would he be relieved beyond all reason? Abso-fucking-lutely! Would he ignore his non-bending son and waterbending daughter because of it?

IS IT COCAINE YOU SMOKE?

AND EVEN IF

EVEN IF HE DID

EVEN IF AANG WAS SO OVERCOME WITH RELIEF AND HAPPINESS THAT THE AIRBENDING BLOODLINE WOULDN’T DIE THAT HE CLEARLY SHOWED FAVORITISM

YOU THINK MAMA KATARA WOULD LET HIM IGNORE HER OTHER TWO BABIES???

YOU THINK NON-BENDING UNCLE SOKKA WOULD LET AANG FORGET ABOUT BUMI??

YOU THINK AUNTIE MOTHERFUCKING TOPH WOULDN’T LAUNCH HIS ASS INTO THE STRATOSPHERE FOR NOT TREATING HIS CHILDREN THE WAY THEY SHOULD BE TREATED??

YOU THINK UNCLE FIRELORD FUCKING ZUKO UPON HEARING THAT AANG ISN’T TREATING ALL HIS CHILDREN EQUALLY WOULDN’T MARCH HIS ASS DOWN TO THEIR FUCKING HOUSE AND BEAT THE AVATAR WITH A FUCKING STICK MADE OF FIRE???

YOUR CANON IS BAD AND YOU SHOULD FEEL BAD

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does anyone else get chills from this legend of korra scene that perfectly mirrors the response to the BLM protests

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LOK x Family portraits