#ATLA's fillers actually WORK

[beansterpie]

rewatching LoK, i'm being reminded how much I dislike the.... the brothers, mako and bolin, yanno? they're such underwhelming characters on basically every level. it'd almost be impressive if they weren't in every episode and didn't annoy me so much ugh

[old-people-like-avatar]

Netflix Avatar the Last Airbender S1 - Overall Thoughts [SPOILERS]

I am a longtime fan of Avatar the Last Airbender. I did not watch it in its original 2005 run, but I discovered it in around 2010 after my good friend R.S. recommended it to me. It's been my #1 favorite TV show ever since and I have rewatched it more times than I can count. I was cautiously optimistic about NATLA.

Now, having watched the whole first season of NATLA, and looking at the season as a whole, I think the best word to describe it is uneven. I can't say that I loved it, and I can't say that I hated it. But there were things I really liked about it and things that really did not work for me. Overall, I enjoyed watching it -- if only to dissect what did and did not work about the adaptation -- and would want to watch more.

WHAT WORKED

Everything to do with Zuko and Iroh. I found myself going back through just to rewatch all of the Zuko and Iroh-related scenes. I thought Dallas Liu really nailed Zuko -- from tantrums about his journal being stolen to incredible action sequences to the boyish vulnerability of worrying about the laces on his gauntlets. He took an iconic character and made him his own. NATLA added some incredible scenes and lines to my favorite duo: Lu Ten's funeral (coupled with orchestral version of "Leaves from the Vine"); Zuko's first war council; Iroh choosing to go with Zuko on the boat; the 41st Division; Iroh putting a blanket on Zuko. And I liked that NATLA emphasized that Iroh needed Zuko in the wake of Lu Ten's death as much as Zuko needed Iroh after his mother left.

Daniel Dae Kim's interpretation of Ozai. Ozai in ATLA is kind of one-dimensional. Daniel Dae Kim's Ozai adds a deeper layer to him in that he genuinely seems to think he's doing legitimate parenting -- even going so far as to visit Zuko after burning his face and remarking, glibly, that he'll recover ("but he'll never heal," says Iroh). It adds an even more monstrous angle to his cruelty because Kim's Ozai seems to think he's doing it for his children's own good. This post perfectly encapsulates my feelings about why I thought the agni kai between Ozai and Zuko was an excellent addition to NATLA.

Zuko/Aang. These two bonding over goat hair brushes was the scene I never knew I needed. The way Aang managed to wrest a little smile out of Zuko in that scene before Zuko blew up at him for criticizing the Fire Lord? And the way that tied into the "Compassion is a sign of weakness" scene from the agni kai? Great character work.

WHAT DID NOT WORK

Dialogue. I already observed at length my dissatisfaction with the clunky, exposition-dumping dialogue in my episode-by-episode writeups. It certainly wasn't as bad as the Movie-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named, but . . . there was no art or subtlety to it, and no trust in the audience. A disappointment.

The GAang did not feel like family. The lack of breathing room in the 8-episode season meant that all of the "filler" episodes that fleshed out the relationships between Aang, Katara, and Sokka were sacrificed. I am not saying NATLA needed to recapture each of the filler episodes. But they needed to build the foundational bonds between the main trio with showing not telling and they really didn't. They separated them for big chunks of 2 episodes. And, really, they just felt like traveling companions. That took all of the emotional heft out of, well, everything related to Aang, Katara, and Sokka. I mean, frankly, the kid actors did a better job establishing the "family" dynamic just by being themselves in their press interviews than the show did with the characters.

Aang did not run away from responsibility. I am not one of those people that's just mad that the show wasn't exactly like the cartoon. No. What I mean is, even putting aside the cartoon, even if you just look at NATLA itself: their own themes were undercut by never showing Aang actually running away from responsibility. Each avatar seemed to be berating Aang for doing something he was never actually shown to be doing.

Katara. I really don't think this one is on the actress. Katara felt like a fundamentally different character from ATLA's Katara. It's not to say an adaption is not allowed to have their own interpretation of a character, but... I just did not understand NATLA Katara. There was no passion, no rage, no overbearing nurturing. She was... I don't know what she was. Traumatized, yes, but nothing grew out of that trauma? Meek, until the plot demanded that she suddenly become a waterbending master without any guidance other than a waterbending scroll? The "younger sister"? More than any of the main characters, I'm not sure what NATLA was trying to say about Katara at all. And, as a result, I'm afraid the word to describe it might be uninteresting. And given that she is the heart and soul of Team Avatar, this one was really tough.

Despite the fact that a lot of NATLA did not work for me, I still enjoyed it because the things that did work for me, well, really worked. So. I'm here for all of the Zuko/Iroh scenes!

[mmmkaybye]

Why Zutara Shippers are Wrong (JK, You can ship who you want lol)

(Although, I don't care if you do actually ship Zutara, that's your prerogative, I'm just waiting for better arguments for the relationship and for people to stop negatively viewing Kataang)

First of all, I'm premising this with the fact that I don't think that ATLA should have ended with Katara and Aang kissing. I think it would have been fine to just end with a slightly more intimate-than-friends hug/cuddle. I would have personally preferred that two children who survived being literal child soldiers get the chance to be kids before they delve into a more mature relationship with one another, but they didn't exactly have adults of the modern culture there to guide them a different way, now did they?

BUT! I am a firm believer that Zuko and Katara would never have worked out romantically and that Katara and Aang's relationship 1. makes more sense and 2. is actually healthier in the scope of trauma and trauma responses.

First of all, I don't understand how the creators of ATLA managed to craft literally the MOST traumatic childhood backstory ever with incredible detail and nuance and everyone just fricking glosses over it like WTF??? Not to mention, the creators did an amazing job diversifying trauma responses to similar trauma experiences.

Let's discuss Katara's childhood trauma, which was not healed magically after a little side quest with Zuko. Katara carries immense survivor's guilt over her mother's murder. Katara understands very well how and why her mother was brutally murdered in their family home. She has been deeply aware of this since the day of her mother's murder - and she fully blames herself. Katara understands that a fire nation soldier killed her mother, but he killed her because of Katara - she said so herself. Then, Katara, who was the last person to interact with her mother, discovers her mother's body, and it is insinuated that Katara might have even witnessed her mother's brutal execution-style murder. This forever alters Katara down to her core personality traits. Katara is 'bossy' because of her trauma. I work with kids from pre-k through graduating american high school. It's pretty normal for girls to do what I call 'mothering' to their peers and to kids younger than them. It often is described as being 'bossy' and some girls are in fact bossy, but for the most part, they are roleplaying a caretaker mentality as they are most familiar with. In Katara's deep guilt of being the reason her mother was murdered, her trauma response was burden herself with the role of mother. This is further antagonized when her father leaves with the rest of the adult men to fight against the Fire Nation. He might've well as died too due to lack of communication for many years. Sokka does not allow Katara to mother him for very long, so she doesn't get to have a chance to work through her personal trauma response to her grief because she has no one to safely and consistently direct these mothering tendencies towards. The other children in the village are not orphans, their mothers are most likely very alive and very involved with them, so they would be temporary fillers at best. Sokka has stepped into the role of village man and definitely would reject Katara's mothering, which often led to tension between the siblings. Toph had the very reaction to Katara's mothering tendencies as I expect a young Sokka had to them. He lost his mother, too, he didn't want a replacement, nor did he want to lose his sister to the role of mother.

Zuko, in the same fashion as Sokka, had a mother who he loved, and lost, and was not looking to replace. Zuko's mother was also a topic that is deeply rooted in a lot of Zuko's personal trauma as well. Zuko did not get to spend much time with Katara for her mothering tendencies to be extended over him, but he definitely would have aggressively rejected them as Katara's trauma response would have negatively triggered his own. Their trauma would have deeply and negatively impacted any romantic relationship they could have developed because of how they would react to each other. Their relationship would have crashed and burned very quickly.

On top of that. Katara would have never left the South Pole indefinitely - that is her home, and she consistently returned to it throughout her life. That is an effect of her cultural upbringing. Zuko couldn't leave the Fire Nation, and as we saw in the graphic novels that followed, Zuko's personal welfare suffered greatly because his whole world was upended and now he was responsible for the one nation that didn't get peace at the end of the war. It's incredibly naive and slightly delusional for people to desperately push romantic wishes upon a sixteen-year-old boy who was burdened with the responsibility of healing an entire nation, one that fought him every step of the way in many aspects. He did not have the emotional energy to expend upon a frivolous relationship. That's why Mai and he broke up, not because they didn't love each other, but because Zuko simply could not have personal relationships until his reign and nation had stabilized - that alone would take upwards of 10 years. Plus, Zuko may have helped others work through parts of their trauma, but he had to address his trauma too, which we saw the beginnings of during the graphic novels. Simply put, by the end of ATLA and all of the graphic novels, Zuko was in no place emotionally, mentally, and even physically and politically to seek out a relationship that was meaningful and healthy. And I know that Zuko would have changed the tradition of political marriage, at the very least he deserves to have married for love at the end of everything he suffered through. Zuko is a great opportunity to normalize waiting until you're in your mid-twenties -thirties before seeking out romantic relationships. Logistically speaking, I don't think there would have been much opportunity for romantic feelings to develop between the two of them. I especially don't think Katara would have easily been able to live in the Fire Nation because the Fire Nation was directly responsible for her trauma, and that is also why I don't think she would have every pursued a relationship with a Fire Nation man, Zuko or not.

Now onto Aang. Everyone always jumps onto this idea that Katara and Aang had a very mother-son relationship - which is wrong. Aang comes from a culture that literally does not have mother and fatherhood. There are NO mothers and fathers in the Air Nomad Nation. Sure, kids had birth parents, but parenthood was not part of their culture, nor did Aang ever seek out that kind of relationship. Aang may have been kid-like, but he was the most adultified kid in the group. He was incredibly independent and confident in his ability to travel internationally by himself at 12. Katara had never thought to leave the South Pole to seek out a waterbending master in the North Pole because she didn't have that confidence or training. The Air Nomads thrived on a mentorship-based village raising of children. So, Aang never thought of Katara as his mother. He literally couldn't, because he had no scope of reference for such a relationship, same with fatherhood. He never had a parental relationship with Monk Gyasto. It was more like a fun uncle mentorship. I think that's why everyone thinks Aang was a bad father, but he was an outlier in the Air Nomad nation because there was no Air Nomad nation when he had children. The village that raised the children in his culture was gone. He was actually a fairly decent father and the two older children probably felt bitter because Tenzin was the only other air bender in existence so it obviously Aang is going to spend a lot of one on one time with Tenzin in the scope of mentoring Tenzin in the way of Air Nomad culture. Aang was not an absentee father like how many people assumed from the very one-sided and brief explanation given by the two older, jaded siblings. Was he perfect? No, he literally had no clue how to be a father. Did he and Tenzin leave to get milk and never come back? Also no. That being said, Aang was the only individual who was comfortable with Katara mothering him, he never felt threatened or overburdened by her trauma response, which allowed for Katara to genuinely work through her grief and mature out of the extreme bossy mothering we first saw in book one. If you pay attention, yes Katara does retain that 'bossy' kind of personality, but that was permanent fixture due to her childhood trauma and a little bit of cultural influence as well. I think, if Katara had never been traumatized, she would have always leaned towards a very soothing and nuturing type of personality, which we began to see in the middle of book three. Her bossiness/mothering trauma response gradually lessened the longer she 'mothered' Aang. Once again, neither of the two saw each other as Mother-son. They were simple too close in age and Aang also had the added sense of duty-boundness due to being the Avatar. Katara was always going to be a caretaker archetype personality, trauma or no, and that simply wasn't the type of person that Zuko would lean towards for a romantic relationship due to his own personal upbringing and culture. Aang is a much more gentle and playfully empathetic personality that works with Katara's firm care and sassy disposition.

In the graphic novels, I personally saw a great deal of healing and maturation in Katara in relation to her trauma. She was less mothering towards Aang, too, and I think that had a lot to do with the fact that Aang matured a lot as well and the change in their once platonic relationship to a more romantic-leaning one. Was their relationship perfect? No, they are kids who survived a horrific war and many many trauma-inducing situations. However, once Katara fully leaned away from the mothering habit, we get to see that Aang allows Katara to relax and be more playful. She genuinely was just happy with Aang. He pushed her to be a little more child-like and to have child-like fun even as they grew up into adulthood. Katara helped Aang mature and face a lot of adult burdens that were placed child.

In the end, Katara and Aang always brought out the best in each other. Katara and Zuko didn't have enough time together in ATLA to develop an individual relationship outside of the group. There simply isn't enough time outside of their little side-quest in which Katara and Zuko interact solo- which was definitely NOT Katara's best, and in fact was Katara lashing out aggressively towards people who loved and cared for her and she them. Zuko was also not his 'best' in that time either as he was also being triggered emotionally. In fact, during ATLA, there's way too much negative tension between the two of them that leads to really intense disagreements and emotional outbursts more often than not until Katara begrudgingly accepts Zuko into the group, they don't even positively interact until Ember Island which is what, two weeks? She's not exactly nice when she pretty much demands him to help her hunt down the man that murdered her mother. Zuko is all gung-ho about vengeance too. Of course, they both have a lesson learning moment, but that episode cemented in my brain that Aang is the better partner for Katara than Zuko. Aang, once again the most mature in the Gaang, fight me on this, has a deep, empathetic understanding of the world, he doesn't do a great job trying to explain to Katara, but I think that's because no one in the Gaang understands how Appa is not just an air bison, and Aang never views Appa as an air bison like how everyone else in ATLA do. To everyone else, Appa's an animal, but to Aang and Aang's culture that is deeply offensive, Appa is an individual with emotions and value outside of what he can offer the group in terms of transportation and that's never really explicitly clarified to the audience either (because despite being a kid's cartoon, the creators knew their audience well and did not treat the audience like we are stupid and can in fact infer and read between the lines). If Katara had killed that pathetic worm of a man, it would have absolutely destroyed her as a person. She would not have been able to heal from her trauma and would probably suffer even more trauma and guilt. This side-quest was a plot point to lead up to the big debate of killing Ozai, and not many, in fact I don't know if anyone has talked about that fact. I have no doubt that Zuko has probably killed people, at the very least, he's deeply desensitized to people dying as I think he probably at some point did experience or witness some form of warfare battle before he began chasing Aang down.

Once again, I don't really care if you do ship Katara and Zuko. In fact, I think that's a-okay. But, with the Netflix live action adaptation's take on the Secret Tunnel scene, I've seen a lot of people speculating and even hoping for it to become canon and there have even been some opinions of Kataang that have resurfaced that really rub me the wrong way because it feels like many individuals are just looking at the surface level of ATLA. There's so much nuance to each individual character in terms of culture, societal norms, age and gender, and most importantly, trauma and trauma responses. The creators did an amazing job world building and story telling that a lot of what I put up in my opinion in preference for Kataang over Zutara is information that I inferred from the show and graphic novels due to my personal experience and education in familial relationships and childhood trauma. My thoughts are not the end all be all to this debate, nor do I think they should be, I've seen some really solid opinions in favor of Zutara that I can understand and somewhat agree with. I think a lot of those details and moments that people look to as indicators of romance between Katara and Zuko were remnants of the creators' previous intention, but I think that the change to Aang and Katara as end game was logistically and realistically more accurate. I never thought that Katara and Zuko were meant to be, and I always struggled to put to words as to why until I had pursued my psych studies in college that focused on child development, childhood trauma, and marriage and family counselling. I think that the creators instinctually were seeing the red flags that would have occurred naturally within Zutara and changed course accordingly. There were just a lot of details and nuances that I noticed personally that I wished more people would discuss.

Anyways, thank you for coming to my TedTalk, I'd love to hear some of your opinions about this.

[late-draft]

ONE MORE THING: how can you be critical of something you like and still like it? since agghhhh it’s so stupid but I can’t be critical of things I like bc then it kills the interest but that’s so stupid and I hate it!! And I thought maybe I’d ask you since you seem to be able to do that and I gotta figure it outttt sorry for all the asks HHRHSHSH

It's simple when using this mindset - it depends on the percentage of the content that I like, and also keeping in mind that within works, there are discrete pieces that can mostly function alone, and which are connected to other parts like glasswear with tubes in chemistry equipment. You can always find things you like and dislike in any piece of media. What also helps is identifying these parts, because as a creator you could always think about what you would do differently versus what you like just the way it is. It's about dissecting narratives and figuring out how they work, narrowing in precisely on parts rather than viewing all media as a singular whole with no structure inside.

I'll use some examples here: I'd characterize myself as someone who dislikes Arcane (shocking, I know!) How is that possible? Here's how: it altered the fundamental narrative structure of Zaun and Piltover, portrayed the class warfare very naively and completely gutted and reworked my favourite character. However, I really like the parts of the story with Vander, Silco, Vi and Jinx. This storyline I appreciate, and I can like it regardless of other parts because it's majorly independent.

Inversely, I really like ATLA but there are things in it that I don't appreciate. Some rushed parts such as Katara getting captured by Azula's team, the pacing of the entire S3, the naive/childish tone in many "filler" episodes, and the strange character regression of the main character in the second half of S3 - but that can also be viewed as intentional narrative, and I can also appreciate negative character development if that was intended. It would hurt especially if it happens to someone's favourite character, after they became their favourite character. This situation could be paralleled with what I listed in the Arcane section with what happened to my fav character. In that case, making a mental explanation of "I liked the character for these reasons up to the point X, after which I really dislike the way they were developed. Instead I would have done Y". As for the childish tone, I understand the background and situation of the show, it was made with the target audience being children. Skip what you don't like, and you can always theorize how things would have been done had those parts of the story been more mature. There is no character in ATLA that I actually dislike - I only disagree with how everything ended, because there were many very strong narrative currents before that ending that led to different conclusions. And I feel the story was rushed to completion. It had way more left to say!

[thrandilf]

Episodic, Serialized, Mixing the Two, and "Filler"

Been dwelling on what I personally find effective in media and what's been grinding my gears about when things flatline for me and I'd rather sit down and write about it than continue to pace while doing the Italian finger pinch thing

First off, filler is technically about when an anime goes beyond what a manga has completed and because they got ahead, they started to just screw around while waiting for more manga, so while I acknowledge that origin of the phrase, the way people often use filler now is for episodes disconnected from the main plot

And a lot of people miss "filler"/what they mean is more chill or self contained episodes, and while the concept of them doesn't usually appeal to me for pacing reasons, there's a way to do it well that I wish more shows did

So, my bias/preference is fully serialized shows which is usually harder to find in western animation, The Dragon Prince being one of the few I've ever found that's never had a full episode of Nothing because there's always an overarching plot and tension to be found. There are "filler" moments where characters on their journey have some downtime which is used for bonding and/or world-building, but they don't dedicate whole episodes to it to break the pacing, which I appreciate. However, most shows don't do this

On the other far end of the spectrum you have something fully episodic and formulaic like Phineas and Ferb where every episode is its own thing with occasional callbacks to other episodes, but it is a sort of watch in any order whenever show and I find that this actually works for me as well- when it's the expectation from the start

Some shows go for a mix of the two, and usually that's where I get tripped up.

They're shows that I like/think are Good beyond a doubt, but to give examples, Gravity Falls and RotTMNT both start off with an episode that gives you a concept of an overarching plot, a mystery to solve or otherwise a big bad, respectively. Now, I understand that a lot of shows are still under the parameters of needing to be able to be viewed in any order by people tuning in on tv (although with streaming I think this is falling by the wayside/writing this way no longer makes sense to me) but it does make sitting down to watch them a tad infuriating, because then you're waiting for a continuation of this main plot you're hooked on, but a lot of the episodes you watch right afterwards don't fundamentally matter.

Sometimes they matter- a standalone episode with character development or a new piece of information is nice, but sometimes even that isn't there, and why it gets to me while PnF doesn't is just the initial expectation set that we're going somewhere and then totally dropping the plotline or a sense of progress for awhile. In GF we get hints as time goes on/other people have numbered books, but you have to dial back your expectations/adjust to just enjoying the day to day adventures (which are enjoyable!) and shelve the main plot. PnF never led me to suspect there was a bigger picture plot to worry about, so it doesn't hang over me/leave me unsatisfied. It does what it set out to do

However, a mix of the two can work

AtLA is good at the episodic bits still mattering, but beyond that I'd argue Lego Monkie Kid is the best at it. Although the show is almost exclusively episodic in season 1, more mixed in season 2, and then gets to be pretty much all serialized in 3 and 4, season 1 managed to be episodic while still holding my attention.

No LMK episode is a "skip" from me due to even the self contained monster of the week episodes still revealing new information such as more of MK's powers so there's a sense of progress, giving character info, introducing new characters, and/or new lore.

Most importantly, the lore and character details we get matter- 1x03 is the only time we see Mei's parents, but her relationship with her family is an ongoing thread through the rest of the show. 1x05 was a goldmine of characterization and how people in MK's life don't act, with the concept of a "perfect world" being something we touch on in the s3 climax. 1x06 introduced the peaches of immortality. 1x07 hits on a character flaw MK doesn't get over in just one episode, 1x09 is arguably the most important episode in all of S1 due to introducing Macaque and giving us a lot more information about the depth's of Wukong's past, which raises questions the show then delivers on later.

It all establishes something relevant to enhance later episodes

And all in the background, right from 1x01, we get hints of other intrigue developing as the Demon Bull Family finds LBD's prison and plans to spring her

Season 2 is especially effective with still coming off as rather episodic but the heroes spend the entire season unknowingly losing while LBD and SQ gather materials, and we also have whatever Wukong is up to piquing our interest. The tension only grows even if almost every S2 episode is self contained. 2x04 doesn't involve the main villains, but it does set up Pigsy and MK's relationship more as well as how important Pigsy's sense of family and tradition is, which again comes back later in S4

A lot of effective, seemingly off topic "filler" winds up not being filler at all, but was working to build something later. Sometimes, a show is better on a rewatch for reasons like that,

but when it feels like the ball is dropped and relationships weren't enhanced or we didn't learn anything from it, or characters acted like there may be consequences for something and then nothing happened nor was it acknowledged and now we're moving on forever, it's like well, what was the point of that then?

This is all to say that episodic storytelling can really work, and I get frustrated when we don't tap back into a main plot even for a few seconds or there wasn't anything new. The fun beach episode can still give me character development or even pan back to the villains at the end to give me the sense that something's coming to keep tension up (I'm not far in it, but Amphibia seems to have a good sense of this too where I have a lot of questions and I gradually get answers/hints that answers are coming as well as character flaws/developments being established)

TLDR:

The questions an audience are meant to be asking should be answered at some point, and even though they should be paced out and given time, when it feels like a show forgot about them entirely before making a sharp swerve back (or worse, never addressing the threads it introduced), it can make people feel like there was no point in paying attention.

Episodic shows that want to tie into a larger plot can still work by keeping a background sense of tension and building in new information, which I wish was done more often instead of being majorly episodic Or serialized, where only a few episodes in a show fully tie together which makes the shift from episode 1 plot, nothing, and then OH GOD FINALE PLOT really jarring to me

I also bring this up because as a writer, it's what I try to keep in the back of my mind for my own writing, and seeing what does and doesn't work for me and why is helpful

Also yes, this is a Monkie Kid endorsement ty for coming

[xenoninvento]

THEORY ON S5 LMK(+ other messages about it)

TW: Spoilers for S5 Trailer in LMK

I believe Nezha is going to be an antagonist in S5, this is pretty clear as he's seen abandoning SWK, Macaque, and MK to help his father. Do I believe this will be as "action-filled" or "angsty" as the other seasons, no probably not, this is most likely a filler season, but don't go by my words, this is simply what I think. SWK is also getting binded to the celestial headband again, which, oh my God, not joking this might be like the most comedic thing to experience for me. Also I think that Li Jing(Nezha's father) was the unknown person in the navy blue hoodie from S4, though I could be wrong and that person is simply influencing Li Jing to do this.

Also including in S5, and maybe other seasons, WildBrain is now taking control of animation, using rigging instead of frame by frame, which has angered many long time LMK fans, including me. Though, we must also think on WildBrain's view, they saw a good money price, and since Flying Bark was getting frustrated with all of the unpredictable deadlines and they were working on the new ATLA movie, they decided to drop it, they decided to take it. Although I do think that LEGO should've gave it to an animation team that has actual skill in 2D animation, since WildBrain's skilled with 3D animation.

Anyways, this is my first post lol, I'm Xeno btw. I am 13(a minor), if you message me, just keep that mindful.

[articulately-composed]

Thoughts on the ATLA live action

I may not post about it a ton, but ATLA was what brought me into fandom culture over a decade ago, so as you may assume, I have some Thoughts about the live action netflix series. Now, I'm gonna preface this by saying I didn't hate it. Surprisingly enough. I came into it thinking the whole series was gonna be a hate watch, but they actually did some interesting stuff with it.

Let's start with the positives.

Sokka - When I heard that they were removing Sokka's sexism, I thought his character was doomed. That's so much of his season 1 arc, I had no idea what was gonna be left. Turns out, they didn't take away his preoccupation with being a manly warrior, they just made it less overt, and honestly, that brand of "girls suck!" sexism that exists to get refuted in early 2000s kids tv probably would have sounded out of place and preachy in a 2024 show geared towards adults. In the end, Sokka felt like one of the most fleshed out characters. His original arc was left in tact, with the bonus of him being a simpy bottom for Suki in a way that kinda fits.

Zuko - I really liked that they added some extra backstory between Zuko and Iroh sooner. The bit with the funeral was honestly really nice. I saw some critiques saying that zuko was made out to be sympathetic far too soon, but honestly, I think it worked. The show is so well known that I don't know if gaining sympathy for zuko later on would have the same effect as it did 20 years ago. I thought the Zuko and Iroh moments really helped solidify their bond on Zuko's part, and tbh, that's gonna make his season 2 betrayal that much stronger (if they pull it off well). I also like the stuff they added with Zuko's journal. Of course he's a fuckin nerd who takes detailed notes with sketches about the stuff he's researching. If Zuko existed irl he'd have a bullet journal youtube channel.

The structure - I hate that no tv series gets more than 8 episodes anymore. it's ruined so much when it comes to pacing in literally everything. That being said, I like what they did when it comes to combining plots. It really made the show feel like it's own thing and not a 1-to-1 adaptation. They stuck Jet and the Mechanist in Omashu, and it worked. Roku's temple and The Blue Spirit were the same episode. Obviously, there was a lot of picking and choosing when it came to what plot points they kept and what they scrapped, and it did do a number on some of the characters' development, but the episodes they chose to keep were important ones, and they managed to weave them together surprisingly well.

And now, the negatives...

Episode 1 - The setup is dreadful. The show starts with a solid 20 minutes of backstory. Before you even meet Sokka and Katara, you know literally all the details about the air nomad genocide. And because they show you the entire genocide on screen before Aang is released from the iceberg, you don't get the experience of having it revealed to you as Aang is experiencing learning about it. His avatar state reaction to seeing Monk Gyatso's corpse just doesn't feel warranted when there's not that slow buildup to finding out about the war and Aang's denial of the whole thing. Episode 1 in general felt messy, rushed, and missing a whole lot of vital character growth.

Aang - Honestly, Aang's character in general felt flat. He gives me ipad kid vibes. He feels like a prodigy kid who just doesn't care, instead of a fun-loving goofball who 's scared of responsibility. He makes so many quips about not paying attention to the monks or falling asleep during meditations, and while it's not like he was super studious in the original, the thing he's doing to avoid studying is goofing around. Playing pranks with Monk Gyatso instead of paying attention to the monks. goofing off in a river with Sokka instead of learning waterbending. He's so un-silly in the live action and it's to his detriment. I guess this is just a part of the 8-episode curse, but because those filler moments have to be erased, you really lose out on all of Aang's stupid kid shenanigans.

Katara - Katara fell so damn flat, which is such a tragedy. I saw someone else on here talking about how the lack of Aang helping her be a kid again in episode 1 took away a lot from her, and they are totally right! Specifically, it took a ton away from the bond the two of them have. Really, there's no reason why Katara should have traveled with Aang in the first place. She didn't bond with him over riding animals, or help him understand what happened in the last hundred years (Gran Gran takes care of all that exposition...), and they don't even head towards the northern water tribe to find a waterbending master until after Kyoshi Island, so that's not why she chose to come either. Katara is also missing her whole "had to become the mom after her mom died" schtick. Not that she should be reduced to group mom, but that's still a part of her original character. She got plenty of backstory regarding her mom, but it was mostly grief. There was a little sprinkling of her sense of justice in there, but that's another one of those "victim of the 8-episode curse" things. So much of her character got lost when the filler was cut that there's not that much left over.

The spirit world - I know I just said I liked what they did combining episodes together, but honestly I think they tried to do too much with the spirit world episode. They use the Hei Bai episode to get into the spirit world, but the whole burned forest plot from the original is pretty much scrapped for a Koh plot, which combines the original Koh plot with the fog of lost souls from Korra, and the mother of faces from the sequel comics? The spirit world episode ties to Roku, like in the original, but Roku barely does anything outside of info only important to that episode. Out of all the avatars Aang contacts, Roku is the least relevant. Kuruk is more relevant than Roku. The bit with Monk Gyatso was sweet, but it did feel like one more thing on top of an already cluttered episode. Also, I don't love that Yue was a fox in the spirit world, it felt kinda out of left field. I didn't love what they did with Yue and Sokka in general, their whole vibe felt rushed.

Final thoughts, obviously it wasn't incredible. It's a show that doesn't really need or want to exist. They stuffed the first season of a cartoon with notoriously thorough writing into 8 episodes. But I didn't hate it. Honestly, I was pretty entertained. I fully intend on seeing season 2. I want to see what they're gonna do with Azula moving forward, how they're gonna handle Toph, and what the fuck they meant by "there actually is no war in ba sing se" bc clearly there was a fucking war in ba sing se, Iroh nearly gets crushed by a boulder by a vengeful soldier over it. I came into this with rock bottom expectations, and I was pleasantly surprised

[azure-firecracker]

So in the wake of the ATLA remake, I’ve seen a lot of people discussing the original ATLA’s filler: why it was important, what it brought to the show, what bits were okay to cut out, etc. (And yes, I am going to finish the remake though I can’t say I’m too motivated). But in the spirit of filler discussion, I thought I’d go through the original ATLA and see which episodes are filler and which aren’t.

List below the cut.

Book 1:

The Boy in the Iceberg/The Avatar Returns: It’s the first episode of the show. It’s impossible for this to be filler.

The Southern Air Temple: Provides necessary background info on the Air Nomad Genocide. Also introduces Zhao who will become the season’s big bad. Not filler.

The Warriors of Kyoshi: It has some necessary Sokka development but if that short sexism arc wasn’t there, this would be complete filler (especially given that Suki wasn’t originally supposed to come back).

The King of Omashu: I don’t care that they use Omashu again and Bumi comes back, this is filler and not in a good way. Tell me what purpose this actually serves.

Imprisoned: Filler plot wise but not character wise because it has necessary development for Katara. This is really good setup for who she becomes in books 2 and 3.

Winter Solstice (Parts 1 and 2): I might call part 1 filler, but combined with part 2 it certainly isn’t since we get necessary info on the comet.

The Waterbending Scroll: Again, plot filler but necessary character work (mainly showing that Katara is more than just hopeful and that she too can have negative emotions-live action take notes).

Jet: Would be plot filler if he didn’t come back but is a good character piece for both Sokka and Katara.

The Great Divide: Filler in every sense of the word obviously, and not in a good way.

The Storm: Not filler, since it reveals core character points and backstories for Aang and Zuko that will remain important for the rest of the show.

The Blue Spirit: Also not filler, it’s one of the first steps of Zuko’s redemption arc (even if he’s not acting for good reasons). It’s also important for developing Aang and Zuko as foils.

The Fortuneteller: Basically filler minus the fact that it sets up Kataang (albeit not well imo).

Bato of the Water Tribe: Technically it’s completely filler but I think it’s important to have Aang occasionally be a jerk because he’s literally 12 so slightly less filler-y than the last one.

The Deserter: Not filler because it explains Aang’s delay in learning firebending later in the show.

The Northern Air Temple: Yes Aang learned a lesson but it wasn’t a character point that was brought up before this episode, so I’ll call this filler.

The Waterbending Master: Not filler because it’s doing all the setup for the finale. This actually could have been 2 episodes if they really wanted. Technically Katara’s plotline is filler in that it’s not crucial to the main plot but it’s so important to the show that I think it passes the necessity test.

Siege of the North: Obviously not filler.

Book 1 has a lot of episodes that are filler but contain important character moments and really flesh out everyone. Live action-take notes.

Book Two:

The Avatar State: Addresses the necessary question of why Aang can’t go into the avatar state all the time and also introduces Azula who is super important so not filler.

The Cave of Two Lovers: Filler if you exclude the Kataang development.

Return to Omashu: Filler if you exclude the Azula/Mai/Ty Lee introduction as a unit.

The Swamp: Filler minus how it sets up Toph’s introduction. Also some good character exploration for everyone’s trauma.

Avatar Day: I don’t care if the part with Kyoshi is cool this is 100% filler.

The Blind Bandit: It’s a core character introduction obviously this isn’t filler.

Zuko Alone: Actually I think Zuko’s arc could have existed without this backstory, but I do think it adds to it, and this is one of the show’s main arcs. Even though nothing actually happens, I’ll call this half filler for the backstory.

The Chase: Technically filler but it does good work of showing how dangerous our fire nation trio is and also integrating Toph into the group. 25% filler.

Bitter Work: Aang needs to learn earthbending for the plot so not filler.

The Library: Obviously not filler. (And an underrated episode imo).

The Desert: Also not filler because like…they need to get out of the desert. Also important character stuff is done for both Aang and Katara.

The Serpents Pass/The Drill: Maybe the Serpent’s Pass is slightly more filler-y but I wouldn’t consider either of these filler.

City of Walls and Secrets: Sets up the entire rest of the season so not filler.

Tales of Ba Sing Se: Filler but that’s literally the point (and I wish Azula Mai and Ty Lee had gotten one too even if they weren’t in the city yet).

Appa’s Lost Days: Also filler minus the Dangerous Ladies/Kyoshi Warriors setup but it’s GOOD filler (and 😭😭😭)

Lake Laogai: It’s the crux of the BSS plot so not filler obviously.

The Earth King: Kind of filler but it’s also a necessary breather between Lake Laogai and the finale so I almost get it. I’d get it more if Kuei weren’t so annoying.

The Guru/The Crossroads of Destiny: I mean…

Book 2 has a surprising amount of filler in the first half. Despite its better reputation, I could make the argument that its filler is less essential than that of book 1. Or not.

Book 3:

The Awakening: It sets up the whole season, especially the show’s new, darker tone and Zuko’s discomfort in the FN. Not filler.

The Headband: While the exploration of FN propaganda is interesting, this is technically filler.

The Painted Lady: A cool character showcase for Katara, but technically filler.

Sokka’s Master: Sokka will sword fight later so this isn’t filler entirely since it’s setting him up for that (and doing some good character work) but otherwise it’s filler.

The Beach: My favorite episode and it’s nearly 100% filler (by design) minus the fact that Azula’s later arc makes significantly less sense without this episode.

The Avatar and the Firelord: I feel like I’m going to get disagreed with, but tell me why this episode was necessary. To show that Zuko had both good and bad in him? We already knew that. To give us a backstory? Okay, how about spending time on the characters who are actually with us. Filler in a bad way.

The Runaway: Fun filler but filler (doing important character work for Sokka, Katara, and Toph though. 3 in 1!)

The Puppetmaster: By the definition I’ve been using it should be filler but since bloodbending and what it represents is so central to Katara’s arc, I’ll say this isn’t filler.

Nightmares and Daydreams: Filler by design, and it’s not doing anything really besides giving us a break (this is the only episode I like better dubbed into French).

Day of Black Sun: Obviously not filler.

The Western Air Temple: Super necessary to Zuko’s arc so not filler.

The Firebending Masters: I guess it’s kind of filler because they didn’t need to learn firebending this way, but also it’s definitely moving the plot forward…I’ll say vaguely not filler.

The Boiling Rock: Definitely not filler. Character work for so many people, we get Suki back (and she’s important for the finale), plus the beginning of Azula’s last arc.

The Southern Raiders: Plot wise it kind of is filler in that it doesn’t need to happen for the plot but it’s also the crux of Katara’s arc so I’ll say not filler. Also Azula’s scene is a necessary bridge between Boiling Rock and the finale to show where she’s at.

Ember Island Players: Filler by design. It’s not even really doing a ton of character work. Still fun though.

Sozin’s Comet (all 4 parts): Need I say it?

I feel like Book 3 (especially the first half) has more filler than people remember. I think the show as a whole also has more filler than people remember. In fact, on a purely technical level, the show is mostly filler. But the vast majority of the filler is doing important character work so that the big plot moments hit harder and mean more. And that character work outside of the plot, that exists in isolation so that the plot can mean something, is what the live action was missing.

[aninounettear]

After rewatching both ATLA and TLOK recently, here's my tierlist! Completely subjective!!

I may be harsh on tlok, but it is how I felt. 10 years have passed since its completion, and I'm still disappointed in many things. At least it has a great and complex main protagonist who can face bad writing and still be great, phew... When it comes to the seasons, book 3 is the best one imo, its constancy and dynamism were great and the finale was insanely amazing! BUT I appreciate the good side of book 1 waaaaaayyyy more because it's so refreshing and captivating, but since its finale and a few other things bother me so much, it's below book 3 unfortunately. Also I liked the probending stuff and always will!!!! Book 4 was overall bad imo BUT I appreciated a few things in the beginning (the second half of the season was awful though, that's why it's that low in the ranking). And book 2 is a failure in everything... like, it's scandalous. I can't name any good thing coming from it, even the origins of the Avatar that I can't see as something connected to atla. Overall, tlok had a lot of timing and writing issues, and even with great qualities, its flaws are too big not to notice, even a decade later, and it is what it is. It brought many things to the Avatarverse, but at what cost... At least there's Korra ig.

On the other hand, atla was built beforehand and it shows. Even though there's a bunch of filler episodes in the series, they always (except great divide lmaooooo) have a connection to the main plot at some point, and that's what made them enjoyable, even though sometimes they could've just showed us an empty wall, I would've had a similar feeling of enjoyment looooool, but that's a part of the whole package I would say, and realizing most of the time that it had a bigger purpose, it's satisfying in the end. This show started almost 20 years ago and it's still so good and relevant to this day. Book 2, from Toph's appearance to the finale, is a flawless ride. Book 1 has the 3rd place because it was more childish and has lots of filler eps, but it helped build the Avatar World and it was cute too so it's still pretty good (and the finale in the North Pole is amazing). Book 3 and its finale have a special place in my heart but there were a bunch of forgettable episodes and subplots, especially for a more serious season that marks the end of the series, so that's why it's below book 2, but it's a stunning season anyway and watching it again made me emotional a bit.

In conclusion, I know tlok had a lot of issues cause it wasn't meant to be a 4-season show in the first place (that's why book 1's animation quality is out of this world btw) and that Nickelodeon tried to sabotage it by giving a high budget for the other seasons because ppl were hyped and then taking it back cause they couldn't promote it properly and gave little to no time to the staff and other stuff, but this is what has been given to us, and it's still there, so I gotta be honest with my feelings. Also, even though a lot of people worked on both shows, the episodes' writers are quite different from one to another, and the same creators being on both shows don't guarantee the same way to create and write the episodes (besides, even their own mentality can change, AND BY THE WAY IT ACTUALLY CHANGED FROM TLOK BOOK 1 TO BOOK 4). In my case, I like atla's writing team better tbh and I do think they had a huge impact on the way the story has been told.

And finally, I think that if tlok wasn't atla's sequel and had its own universe, it could've been a better show. Here I said it. Atla feels like a brake on tlok at some point.

I won't go deep into shipping, animation studios, plots, villains, etc in this review cause it can be too long and pointless. I suppose everything I said above is more than enough.

[nerdalmighty]

i haven't even finished the ATLA show yet (i'm honestly not enjoying it all that much so i'm going very slowly) but your tags on that post about filler reminded me that i HATE how they shoved so many things like the mechanist, jet, the cave of two lovers which i guess is the cave of two siblings now, and more ALL together into two episodes taking place in omashu. it feels so rushed and takes away from the sense of adventure that the original had, in my opinion.

BIG agree! I've been rewatching the original series to cleanse my palate of the live action series and everything just feels bigger and more fun than what we got from Netflix. I PERSONALLY don't love live action remakes because I think animation is an extremely valid and unique medium that live action can't capture (I feel like a majority of my followers will agree with that), but I had to check out ATLA just to see what was up and because I loved the original so much.

I've seen a bunch of tiktoks of the actors hanging out and having great chemistry, but somehow, all that disappeared in the actual show. While yeah, some of the kids need more acting experience, I think a large part of what made it so bad was having only 8 eps for S1 when the animated show had 20, the directing and lighting made things feel flat AND Dee Bradley Baker no longer voiced Momo. Also, why'd they put Secret Tunnel in S1??? It's an S2 ep! You only have 8 eps and you didn't choose any of the bountiful stories from S1??? Weird.

Idk. I have a hard time unscrambling my thoughts and articulating critiques, but the heart of the show was gone. Aang was an entirely new character, Katara's fight with Pakku felt low stakes, Sokka felt more like a version of him you'd meet and greet at a theme park, Suki was awkward instead of badass, and Zuko didn't feel as confident/stubborn.

I do know how much work goes into making any type of show, and I do think that the cast and crew made the best of what was given to them by Netflix and their weird standards. I just don't think ANY remake of ATLA will ever stand up to the original.

[chaosthatsmellsgreen]

Netflix's Avatar The Last Airbender thoughts, part 3/5

about Team Avatar and side characters

Missing adventures: oh yeah, about that. so we had references to The Waterbending Scroll, The Great Divide and The Fortuneteller. basically these episodes are canonical in NATLA, although whatever run-in they had with the pirates was clearly not about a waterbending scroll since Katara already has it. (more on that later) and i'm not saying these are top tier episodes (i'm partial to The Fortuneteller because Sokka is fucking hilarious and also because kataang), but what's important to understand about ATLA is that even their little side adventures are important because they build character and relationships. that's not filler, it's very much the backbone of the original show. in NATLA, there is very little distraction for our heroes, and therefore we get to see less of their everyday lives and their bond

Team Avatar: i think this is an issue between Aang and Sokka as well, but their moments with each other are much better executed, and so it's less noticable, and then of course Katara and Sokka are family in a literal sense, but also get a lot of time to bond and work on their connection. the overall effect of all this is that Team Avatar (which they also call themselves waaaaaay too early for my liking, but eh, i'd look past it) doesn't feel as close and as bonded as the show is saying they are.

KOH. FUCKIN'... KOH. okay so you know how spirits are very neutral and self-serving in ATLA? they don't really give two shits about humans and their problems and just focus on their own goals? yeah so apparently Koh is just Evil (TM). this is the same issue as LoK had with the spirit world was having to make it more black and white than it was in ATLA. Koh... honestly, he wasn't really evil in the OG. he steals faces because that's what he does, that's his place in the universe. (if you read the comics, it's mommy issues, basically, but still that's not evil, that's sad, and clearly this Koh has the same origin story as the comics, because statue.) he's completely fair to Aang, even very, very helpful, as long as Aang plays by his rules. now, obviously we don't know what ATLA Koh would do if Aang's friends followed him to the spirit world, probably the same as he did in NATLA. he was just so much more intriguing in the original show where he was more than "creepy centipede spirit monster"'

Katara: Katara is so... timid. LET MY GIRL YELL!! she's a hothead, and a very passionate person. to be clear, i don't think this is Kiawentiio's fault, i think it's writing and maybe direction. she barely even gets to get mad during the water tribe episodes, a place in the story where in the original she was BIG mad. it's the closest Katara gets to original Katara, but even there she's very reserved and nowhere near as passionate as she should be. like her duel with Pakku was an on the spot, hot headed, unplanned decision, in this, she lets Pakku insult her, walk away, and then she goes off to contemplate whether she should fight him. i also like that she got quite far as a waterbender by herself, but i wish they gave her some time to train with a master and actually earn the title of master, not just be bestowed it after showing basic combat prowess. she was a very talented bender, but her having discipline and being a diligent, hard-working student is just as important a part of her character, and i don't love the "i'm a girlboss so i don't need anyone to teach me" arc. she's also very much idk, i call it perfect-washed in my head? all her flaws are removed (she doesn't steal the water bending scroll, she doesn't lash out at her friends and family when she's frustrated with her waterbending progress, and the whole thing about her not being nearly as angry or loud, too) and all that's left is this perfect, talented, flawless girl. which is, you know, i wanted to see the Katara i knew, and she didn't feel like the same person. if i try to ignore what i wanted to see, and focus on the character they were building, she does seem relatively consistent, i just find her boring because she ends up being pretty much a Mary Sue.

Sokka: i think Sokka is really well done. he's funny, he has depth, despite removing his sexism, he still has some of his rough edges, and so he doesn't suffer from this perfectisation. i'm glad they acknowledge both his humour and his intelligence, i think a lot of what they chose to build NATLA Sokka around is good insight into who Sokka is and why he was an important part of the Gaang. i find it weird that they are eluding to him not actually wanting to be a warrior, that it's something he's pushed to be - but, well, if that's a direction they want to take his story, i don't think it's necessarily bad. the one thing i hate about it is....

Hakoda: i'm so. fucking. bored. of everyone having to have a shitty relationship with their fathers. Sokka always wanted to live up to Hakoda, but Hakoda clearly didn't care if his children were like him. all he ever expected of them was to be good people, and all he ever did was love them. you're trying to tell me that a dad who was characterized as telling his daughter that he missed her and her brother by saying "I missed you so much it would ache" is going to publicly shit-talk his son because he didn't properly pass his coming-of-age ritual at <13 years old? (let's ignore that actually Sokka never even did the ice dodging because he was too young to, before his father left, another reminder that he was still a child when he was left as the oldest man of their whole tribe, and even though NATLA is putting a lot of emphasis on that, they somehow miss the point that Sokka wasn't even of age when this responsibility fell on his shoulders). it just doesn't follow. and yes, this is actually a bit of the story and Sokka's motivations that is technically done just fine, i'm just soooo bored of it. Sokka himself did want to prove himself to Hakoda, but Hakoda never actually needed any proof that Sokka was... idk "worthy"? of being his son. so yeah, i hated all of that, even though it was fine and consistent in execution

Bumi: is literally the same issue. i prefer ATLA Bumi, even though NATLA is probably more realistic in what 100 years of war and constant, impossible decisions would do to a person. i just... i always loved that there is someone, anyone that Aang used to know, one person who's still alive, still there, who knows who Aang is and what the world used to be like in his time. seeing Bumi be so... honestly, downright cruel to him, it just made me really sad. and in fairness, i think it was supposed to make me sad, so it did what it aimed to do. like i said, same issue as Hakoda, this was done alright, it's just too different from the OG for me to enjoy

Oma and Shu: i loved the animation style for the tale of two lovers, i think it was wonderfully done. as for them being F/F, i can take it or leave it, i don't really care. it's one of those Netflix-style token representation things, it makes no difference to me either way. i'm glad it's made a lot of people happy though

Yue: so the fox thing was a little weird? jury is still out on whether i liked that one or not, it might take me a rewatch to decide. other than that, i enjoyed how they fleshed her character out. the whole thing with Hahn was a little strange, but eh, i'm fine with that change. i liked the forbidden romance thing she and Sokka had going, but i think them just having a normal romance is completely fine. i thought their connection was done well, i was overall very happy with her and her relationship with Sokka

PART 3/5

START // NEXT // PREVIOUS

[zr-stein]

Voltron Sucks

I know it’s not exactly groundbreaking to say that Voltron is a bad show, but I thought I’d put my thoughts out there.

The thing about Voltron is that all the ingredients of a good show are there. You’ve got an evil Empire with a distinct design, giant Lion mechs that are sentient, interesting and distinct characters, immediate plot hooks for Shiro, Keith, and Pidge, cool space magic, and more. And that’s just the very beginning of the first season. There were so many things that worked in Voltron, they just...failed to use them effectively.

There are many, MANY issues in Voltron (the queerbaiting, the monster of the week filler, the nonsense deus ex machinas), but I wanted to touch on some of the ones I found most annoying.

#1: Allura should have been the leader of Voltron after Shiro. I don’t know what the writers were thinking to have Shiro want Keith to take over leading after him, because all of Season 2 shows Keith to be a hotheaded loner, and then later on in the show he literally ditches the team to go be a member of the Blade of Marmora (yeah Keith, becoming a rebel/saboteur is a much better use of your time than being the leader of Voltron). Allura is a leader, she was a leader during the entire show, and she frankly deserved to pilot the Black Lion.

Also, it’s a tiny thing, but the Paladin’s Armour color should always match their Lions. Having Blue Armour in the Red Lion, Red Armour in the Black Lion, and Pink Armour in the Blue Lion made me want to tear my hair out.

#2: Hunk should have been treated better by the narrative. The poor dude barely got any serious moments in the entire series, and easily 20% of his screentime is devoted to jokes about how he’s a coward with a weak stomach. Hunk is the second or third most capable engineer among the Paladins, he’s a great cook, he’s dependable, trustworthy, and has a strong moral code. I wish we had gotten to see more of that Hunk.

#3: Voltron itself really should have been stronger. A lot stronger. This is supposed to be the Defender of the Universe, a nigh invincible mystic sentinel against evil, and it gets knocked around and “nearly defeated” practically every other fight.

Things that challenge Voltron physically should have been saved for very important fights against well established threats (Zarkon, Lotor, etc). By having Voltron get knocked about and damaged as often as it is, it has the opposite effect to what was probably intended; we all know Voltron isn’t going to be destroyed, because every other time before now they pulled through just fine.

#4: The Castle of Lions is too empty. This is partially a complaint about the fact that the CoL is the size of a Star Destroyer and yet has a crew of less than a dozen people, but that’s just a nitpick.

My real issue is how Voltron is so isolated from the rest of the galaxy. They come in, save the day, and then leave. They eventually coordinate a rebellion Coalition, but that group operates outside of the CoL in their own ships on their own planets, and it’s such a missed opportunity. You have a ridiculous amount of space on the CoL, why not take on a couple dozen alien allies? We see hints of this in S8, with the Atlas; Voltron now has allies to help coordinate, wings of fighters that can handle less important tasks, intelligence gatherers, maintenance engineers, and more. Just do that, but earlier, and with aliens!

That’s all I’ve got for right now. God, imagine if the She-Ra crew had written Voltron, we might’ve actually gotten a good show.

(Pidge is the best character in the show and the single amazing episode in the show is about Pidge.)

[rwdestuffs]

So some WB animation & CN staffers are trying to unionize now. No clue whether this means anything for Chicken Dentures, but at this point I'm waaay more hopeful about that & other Texan 'pay us already' animation developments than this hashtagnewvolumelaborwhatlabor? sewage. Lately fndm/rwde wank seems to get very lost in the weeds of in-show character crit, but the former clique's nonresponse to so many disclosures remains fucking awful.

I'm hoping it means that the animators, writers, voice actors, and everyone involved in the show gets decent pay. I get why fans want to see the show continue. For a lot of people, this is how they met online friends, made connections with other artists or writers, and found a community where they belong. But I think that that community can survive even if the show gets delayed like hell.

If fans can keep shouting at Sony to delay Beyond the Spider-Verse so that the animators, writers, VAs, etc. can be paid properly and have the time they need to make a good movie, then so can the fans of RWBY. The main issue is that greenlighting the show is very much out of their hands, so while Spider-Verse is pretty much greenlit, RWBY isn't, so fans need to show enough support to prove that there is enough demand for the show in order for it to continue.

Fans can wait a few years for RWBY so that the animation is good, the writing is good, and so that the people working on it aren't worked to death. And while I'm somewhat curious as to what the show will bring us (good and bad), there needs to be an understanding that a good story is one that takes time.

Legend of Korra once had a filler episode just so they could keep their animators and other such personal on the show, I don't see why RT can't have some delays to make sure their show would be of both quality, and of humane production.

I admittedly, haven't been around the rwde/crtq tag as much lately, so I don't know what's going on. And that's mainly because I've come to the conclusion that any flaw in RWBY is also a flaw in other shows. Say what you want about Emerald, at least they didn't take a doll off the corpse of a girl and send it as a halfhearted idea of a gift to a family member while giving another family member something that was actually had thought put into it, like Iroh. Say what you want about Ilia, at least she didn't hire an assassin to go after the main heroes because she was unsure of her place in the place that rejected her, like Zuko. Say what you want about Ruby, at least she didn't claim to be a non-killing pacifist while also burying people in an avalanche, like Aang did.- Basically, any flaw within RWBY is also a flaw within other shows that are also critically acclaimed, like AtLA.

The main point I'm trying to make here is that the story does deserve to be told. It does deserve to have its ending. But that shouldn't come at the expense of animators, writers, voice actors, or anyone really. If RT can't make the show in a humane way, then they should hand it off to a company that will. If that means they go down, well… They brought that on themselves. And maybe if these guys can get unionized, the show can be made without the expense of people around them. And I'd like to think that the show itself would improve if it were made humanely.

So while I have no idea what the future will hold, I'm hoping that it'll be at least somewhat better than what we have right now. If we fail to make the world better for the next generation, then we've failed as a generation. And the same can be said about previous generations. And future generations too.

[active-mind-15]

Mini adventures of the rakuzan team my beloved!! A question I've always wanted to ask is what chapter did you have the most fun writing?

What a difficult question 🤣

All of the chapters had their own individual charm, but I think the most memorable chapters I've written are between three of them, so I'll just list them and talk about each one.

Chapter 23: Thy Kingdom Come

I'm not even sure where I got the idea from. Maybe because I've seen cartoons where the characters tell stories and use each other as characters in that story. Or maybe it was harking back to my drama class days when we would sometimes do exercises where someone starts a story and then we go around in a circle adding to it. Either way, the day I posted it was my 17th birthday and I think I was riding off the high of being 17, so I just let my mind wander wherever it would take me.

I just remember having so much fun with the premise of that chapter, because the potential for the Rainbow fam to try and create a story and then completely mess it up the longer it went on just seemed so on-brand and I wanted to see how far I could take it. This chapter was especially memorable because the word count ended up so high when I wasn't expecting it to. I think I just really wanted the younger ones to be childish and do something goofy.

Chapter 24: I don't think I'm that obsessed

This one was another high-word-count chapter that I didn't expect to be so long. I don't even watch soap operas like that, but this chapter was drawing inspiration from this one soap opera I did watch back when I was 9. It was called 'A Second Chance' and I remember being introduced to it when my family was visiting relatives in Nigeria, and every time a new episode aired, we would sit around the TV and watch. I don't actually remember the plot super well, but I do remember getting hooked on the plot twists, and even long after that one visit, I would still ask my relatives for updates on what happened next.

Using that memory, I thought it would be funny to make a scenario where one person gets the rest of their family into a show and now they're all obsessed with it. I also did that irl with my aunt and cousins who came to visit back in the summer of 2010. They had never watched ATLA before so I got all of them into it and then we watched the entire series during their visit. That same aunt actually visited us last month and she was telling me that she still hasn't forgotten about ATLA and how good it was.

Chapter 32: Idiots on vacation - Fatal attractions

This is the most recent chapter I posted related to this fic, and it does not escape me that I accidentally went on a massive hiatus in the middle of my biggest arc (LMFAO), but I had a lot of fun writing this chapter because I thought it would be fun to explore how the characters would tackle an amusement park. The circumstances that drove them to Six Flags were really just a setup to have an excuse for a classic filler-type slice-of-life story you sometimes get with animes. Not sorry about that in the slightest, though.

I remember that since it had been a while since I'd gone to Six Flags, I did end up researching a lot for this chapter by going to the Six Flags website and reading up on the names of all the different rides and what they did. I even watched those YouTube videos where they would put cameras on the roller coasters so you can get a POV experience as to what they would be like if you rode it. I was very detail-oriented in a lot of ways (still am), so I wanted to really make sure it was accurate.

When it came to how the characters moved through the amusement park, I once again drew from my own personal experiences. My family had an era where during the summer, we would pick one or more amusement parks to go to and kinda just road trip to each one. It got to the point where we developed a rhythm for how we navigated the parks. We would get there around noon and start off with mild rides, work our way up to the big ones, and then go back to the rest of the smaller ones to cool off. In the evening, we would go to the game stalls and try to win prizes. So, this is exactly what I had the characters do in the chapter.

Considering that this is very much a slice-of-life one-shot collection, most of the chapters are inspired by my own memories and experiences in one way or another. But these were the chapters I remember having the most fun with. Thank you for asking! (❁´◡`❁)

If anyone else wants to ask me something related to a WIP, please see the WIP list I made, pick one or more WIPs, and inquire about them through my inbox!

[rruhlreviews]

Book Review: The Atlas Six and The Atlas Paradox by Olivie Blake

This review speaks to why I am not going to read the third book. The lack of compelling plot (or, one may argue, a plot at all); head-hopping, unfocused structure; superfluous writing style; and overcrowded cast of unlikable characters collectively were turn offs for me. There were a few parts that caught my interest, but not enough to make me want to keep reading. The biggest reason I am not reading Book 3 is because of the extremely offputting handling of minority characters, particularly Jewish characters, in the series.

First off, I definitely understand why this blew up on BookTok. It has an ensemble cast, bisexual people, surface level diversity, and dark academia, what more could you want? So trendy! /sarcasm. The thing is, the BookTok audience does not generally look at a story beyond the superficial details. Book 1, The Atlas Six, had a high-concept that drew my attention along with the rest of the audience. Sure, I am an academic who thinks there are problems in society with capitalism and the ivory tower, this looks interesting.

Book 1 had a decent start. I felt that many POV characters was excessive and limited the ability to go into detail for any one, and the book was too short for what the author was trying to achieve, but I was interested in the characters and worldbuilding. The plot was all over the place, but there was a plot, and the question of who would be eliminated was compelling. There was a hopeful ending with promise of intrigue between the library and that other society (I've already forgotten the name), and what seemed like a setup for a theme about improving academia and finding self-worth outside the institution.

All of that got thrown out in Book 2. The plot with the library vs the other society? Thrown out, they're both bad and somehow in cahoots. Every character? Isolationist, insufferable, and constantly whining. All their problems could be fixed with 5 minutes of communication. What's the point of having an ensemble cast if they never interact? The whole Book 2 was about "Academia is bad and I'm depressed, but nothing can be done to fix it so we shouldn't even try and should instead be self destructive and take the rest of the world down with us." I'm not sure if Libby was meant to be written like a feminist icon or a villain, and sure, someone can be both, but this approach didn't work. I was not compelled and instead was annoyed every time she was on page, which is unfortunate for a main character. I only actually cared about Ezra and Callum, and it read like they were the story's least favorites. Neither of them did anything worse than the other miserable characters, and yet! These two characters were legitimately the only thing that kept me reading as long as I did, but alas, the ball was majorly dropped. The description of Callum's chronic pain was one of the best I have seen in writing, and that is the extent of Book 2's redeeming qualities. I was marginally interested in the teaser at the end with Callum and Reina going to Tristan's father (Callum and Tristan were setup as narrative foils and I do love a messy relationship dynamic...), but not enough to want to read Book 3.

The writing style and structure overall didn't work for me. Often, it felt like the author's voice bled through, like I was reading an angry rant about the state of the world instead of a story. Much of the content felt like filler: circular and repetitive philosophical arguments that went nowhere and contributed nothing to the narrative. I'd describe it as superfluous and pretentious. There was an attempt to generate suspense via the fast POV switches, but instead it felt like head-hopping and there was no narrative focus, and I felt like the scenes cut off right before anything interesting was going to happen.

By the end of Book 2, I could not stand anyone, and it was evident there was nothing driving the plot forward. What's going to happen in Book 3? More angsty rambling? Some characters had individual external goals, but with very little internal goals to make me interested in what happened.

Here's the heart of my dislike for this book series. I could have gotten past the lack of plot and my utter disdain for almost every character, and continued to read it as one may mindlessly enjoy a bad tv show, were it not for the antisemitism. This was the single biggest turnoff for me and I'm not even sure the author or editor(s) realized what they were doing. Ezra's entire narrative is about suffering. The way his backstory was written was honestly triggering (at one point, I lived close to a synagogue that experienced a shooting). Since the books are about pain with no hope, this backstory added little to his character or the story other than to make me, the reader, less happy. Trauma for the sake of trauma. At the end of Book 1, I had high hopes for him as this sort of hero who was going to save the day against the library. Then he was just... pushed to the side, shown as ineffective, had his trauma repeatedly brought up and used against him, and ultimately killed off for a white woman's girlboss power fantasy moment. He didn't do anything worse than any other character in the books. At the beginning of Book 1, his concerns about Libby joining the society are not indicative of overprotectiveness or abuse but any sane human's reaction to hearing their loved one is off to join what by all means sounds like a cult.

This isn't the only issue with the writing's treatment of minorities. Tristan's abusive father reinforces the bad Black father stereotype. The Filipino doctor (I've already forgotten her name) is betrayed and killed off violently. Atlas is mistrusted by everyone and Machiavellian. This isn't to say you can't have minority villains or characters with bad endings, but when it seems like bad things are only happening to minorities, I raise an eyebrow.

Maybe someday I'll peek at Book 3, just to see how badly these problems amplify as the series goes on. ~500 pages is a big commitment for something I know I won't enjoy, and I'm quite busy at the moment reading good books (my very first read of The Lord of the Rings). I think I'll be happiest not knowing how the series ends.

[sheebadukiiiii]

hey guys ik i like havent posted in 4ever but ive been busy okay anyways i drew stuff so here jusstt as filler i swear i have other things to <3

(was my friends birthday and i drew this for them :) )

an atla au of me and my friends!!! its not finished actually but i liked the colour work alot1!!

and finally my friends ocs!!! beloveds <3