#Azula is a complex character and I think that’s great

[phoeeling]

with how the fandom portrays it, you’d think toxic pride would be a prominent trait of Azula’s. Yes, she has plenty of Fire Nation pride— any Fire Nation citizen has had that ingrained in them since birth. But Azula’s pride is just… regular pride.

She apologizes to Ty Lee when she makes her cry, and admits to being jealous. She admits when she needs help— something Zuko would never do— and not only organizes an elite and dangerous team, but turns to Zuko for help in Ba Sing Se. She admits when she’s cornered, and ‘surrenders’ before making an alternate way out.

I’ve seen Azula interpretations where she refuses to wear anything but red, and dislikes pink (even though she has worn clothes with pink on them, it’s just light red) or where she’s uncomfortable wearing earth kingdom clothes, like we forget that Azula donned the Kyoshi Warrior get-up complete with the make-up and pretended to be from the Earth Kingdom.

Azula’s pride is not damaged by these acts— and even if it were, Azula doesn’t value pride above her goals or allies.

[clown-cult]

I think my favourite thing from the new avatar show so far is that they make it unavoidably clear that Iroh is a war criminal. Yes, he was brought up to believe in the propaganda he supported and fought for, he’s suffered great personal loss, has learned from that and he’s a changed man, but he was once the scariest person in the world. A butcher, as one character says.

Whoever wrote that looked at all the Iroh worship that the comics and other material from the animated show gave us over the last few years and took personal issue with that and I love them for it.

Someone saw Azula and especially Ozai get billed as just evil from birth while the rest of the family never did anything bad ever and decided to address that by expanding on everyone’s experiences.

So, say what you will about the show, but shoutout to whoever it was that decided to remind everyone that Iroh is a beloved character because of his complexity and past flaws, and just how severe those past flaws are.

[comradekatara]

What do you think of Ozai as a villain? 👀 i'm seeing people saying the live action Ozai is better and i'm like "nah". They missed the point of the character

i mean i think a lot of people misunderstand ozai because people want a compelling character (especially a compelling villain) to be “layered and complex” in a very specifically emotional sense. but i do think ozai is layered and complex, simply in a different way that people expect. azula, for example, is a great villain because she is psychologically complex, and every action and motivated is entrenched in layers of nuance. but ozai is thematically complex, functionally layered. his underlying emotional motivations, however, are beside the point.

ozai’s narrative function is primarily to be metonymically figured as the embodiment of patriarchal and imperialist violence. ozai performs this function through interconnecting the domestic (his abuse of his wife and children) with the national (his role as sovereign of an empire). zuko’s disavowal of ozai in “the day of black sun” very explicitly ties his personal abuse to the logic of imperialism, and zuko denounces both logical tracks through acknowledging their interrelation. it’s hardly an uncommon character construction either: the domestic (specifically, the patriarchal nuclear family model) as microcosmic of the societal (specifically, patriarchal societies that are otherwise organized along unjust hierarchies) is prevalent across plenty of narratives, from the house of atreus to king lear to succession.

my personal favorite example of this trope as it is employed is in palace walk by naguib mahfouz, because al-sayyid does function as sovereign of his house, but he is also grappling with the consequences of being a colonized subject, and that colonial shame and humiliation both complicates his relationship to power but also reifies his patriarchal role within his family, his very real pain and disempowerment leading him to exacerbate his domestic abuse and tighten his control over his wife and children. al-sayyid is also, notably, not strict and controlling beyond the purview of his family, but within his own house, he very deliberately positions himself as an inviolable patriarchal authority.

however, unlike al-sayyid, ozai is a sovereign in every sense of the world, and even positions himself as akin to a god. but, as we can infer from “zuko alone,” ozai is not impervious to patriarchal abuse (or he wasn’t before ascending the throne), and thus has suffered his own shame and humiliation fostering his god complex due to compensation (and through the internalization of the logic of patriarchal abuse). ozai perpetuates the cycle of abuse as he, too, once suffered it (much like logan roy, to name another excellent example of this archetype). so while ozai is no longer a victim in any sense of the term, it is important to understand the psychology underlying his belief that he is ontologically deserving of the undivided respect and submission of the entire world due to his position of power.

ozai genuinely believes that he was teaching zuko respect, because respecting his authority is one of the values ozai holds most dear. because, of course, to speak out against ozai as an individual is to speak treasonously of the fire nation, and vice versa. and he expects his children to display their unquestioning loyalty to the Father(land) above all. the second they question him or confuse that priority in any way, they have irrevocably forsaken him and thus must be discarded. that is the logic of (to quote utena) a man who has made himself “end of the world.”

moreover, the other most crucial aspect of ozai’s character is how he is framed. until book 3, we never actually see his entire face. he is always a goatee, a spaulder, a disembodied smirk, a voice echoing through the flames, a crown. ozai as metonym goes both ways. and it serves to emphasize his ominous nature, as someone who is so powerful that we cannot truly view him head on. he’s framed in an almost godlike way.

and then, in “the awakening,” we see him without reservation. he is a tall, imposing man, but he is also, fundamentally, just a man. in “the headband” we see his face through a fire nation propaganda poster, as if to imply that his face is not more sacred than any other face. his poster is immediately followed up with aang’s recreation of his portrait with noodles. before book 3, holding ozai’s gaze is impossible, as he is merely a looming spectre. but book 3 immediately and ruthlessly undermines the notion they have been building up for two seasons, and through comedy, no less. ozai may be uniquely powerful and uniquely evil, but he is still just a man, and by the time he crowns himself phoenix king, destroyer of worlds, we are well-aware that he is not innately, divinely superior in any way, and his fascistic performance simply looks ridiculous.

unlike azula’s claim that “the divine right to rule is something you’re born with,” there is nothing unique or ontological about the role of the emperor. there is nothing ontologically superior about the colonizer’s relationship to the colonized besides the material dynamics of power informing their relationship. the father as head of his family is not ontologically necessitated any more than the structure of the nuclear family is predicated on innate anthropological roles rather than being socially constructed and maintained through systemic violence. ozai is not ontologically special, and his claim that he is seems even sillier as he goes up against the avatar, who actually truly is.

when ozai faces aang in the final battle, it is a significant fight because it represents the culmination of all the ideals aang has constantly fought for and asserted within ozai’s imperialist paradigm. and by refusing to submit to ozai’s logic of domination, aang disempowers ozai wholly. not because lack of firebending makes one totally powerless, but because lack of bending makes one powerless within ozai’s logic. aang renders ozai victim to his own ideology, playing his own imperialist dogma against him. instead of killing ozai in combat, as ozai expects, aang humiliates him by asserting his cultural values and their continued relevance over ozai’s values. the culminating battle against ozai, with the spiritual light that threatens to overtake aang, is a battle of one ideology winning out over another. it is the culmination of a century of genocide and colonialism by an imperialist power. it is the undermining of ozai’s entire worldview.

ultimately, we don’t need to see a lot of ozai to understand him. we can understand ozai perfectly through zuko and azula, because he positioned them as extensions of himself and thus their respective embodiments are simply their ways of performing him (azula is obviously a better actor). his complex psychology is beside the point, because his narrative function is to represent the imperialist forces that aang must battle. and they do this by establishing him as an ominous and terrible deified man, and then undermining him as little kore than a human being with an incorrect worldview. so he is interesting, not because he’s “complicated,” but because he reflects the central tension of the show in a satisfying way, and that’s what matters.

[tzilatza]

NATLA Review - spoilers

Woke up today still feeling annoyed after finished the Netflix ATLA remake last night, and I think I've figured out the core reason.

It's the fact that: If they had held truer to the original source material, we could have had a truly great show. I disagree with those calling it a complete disaster. The acting was good, great in some cases. The effects were very well done, the bending looked about as good as it can in a live action media. The scenery was lovely.

But what happened in the writer's room?! The way they just reveal all the back stories up front EVERY TIME is honestly insulting to the audience. It's like they're so terrified that smartphone culture has made the public so accustomed to instant gratification that they have no faith we will stick around and keep watching if they make us wait for anything.

They're also clearly terrified of complexity. One of my biggest gripes with this remake is Jet's story. They completely took out his plans to murder a whole town of innocents in order to get a few enemy soldiers. Now, Jet isn't my favorite character, but his story is so important. Because it is real. The world is full of people who have been so brought down by injustice that they lose their sense of right and wrong, and we need to see that on screen. If Jet is too complex for them, how will they handle Ba Sing Se in the second season.

This goes along the same lines as removing Sokka's sexist moments. They felt they had to do it to make him more 'likable.' Yet the writers themselves went full sexist on Katara's character. They've taken out so much of her spark, her righteous and justified anger, and they've done it because even in 2024, people expect women to be more passive to be palatable. Enough people have already commented on them removing Aang's choice to run away. Heaven forbid the main character not be an absolute paragon. Did y'all notice that they even made Hahn likable? Hahn?! What reason do you have for making Hahn likable Netflix?! His role in the narrative is to be an example of toxic masculinity that is clearly the bad choice compared to Sokka who has learned and grown out of his own.

Don't even get me started with what they're doing with the fire nation family, I'm not ready to tackle that. In general, I have no problem with Azula getting a little more backstory and humanizing, but why season 1? Throwing in all these extra scenes just sacrifices screen-time where they could've actually fleshed out the real season one plots instead of rushing through things at breakneck pace. (ex: Aang escaping Zuko's ship in about 2 minutes flat)

At the end of the day, the scenes I most enjoyed were those that held true to the original like the Blue Spirit sequences. They could've easily done more of this, held onto the important plot points and even more important character complexity, while maturing it for an adult audience. I'm not disagreeing with every change they made. Go ahead and take out the silly Nickelodeon gags, add cussing and more realistic violence to get your mainstream viewers. Go ahead. They could've easily made a darker more mature version of the show and still held onto all the old fans in my opinion. But claiming that you're making a 'more mature' version and then removing the complexity and subtlety because they didn't think viewers could handle it...

What makes me most sad is that there are a lot of people who will experience ATLA for the first time through this show. There are a lot of adults who are not willing to watch original ATLA because they refuse to acknowledge an animated series can be anything other than a kid's show. Those people will watch this and think it's the real deal, and that just makes me sad.

If you've read this far, a very sincere thank you for listening to my rant. If you're an OG fan who enjoyed it, I have no problem with you. It was a fun watch, I was just hoping for more. If you are a new viewer who has never seen ATLA before, I sincerely want to hear your opinions. Is it a great show to someone who isn't holding it against the context of the original? And do you plan to watch the original now?

[itslenagain]

My thoughts on episodes 1-3 of Netflix ATLA (SPOILERS):

1. Commander Zhao has middle-aged white guy manager energy. I feel like this man is about to lead me in a team-building exercise

2. Aang having his origin story changed irks me! He ran away impulsively in the original show and got stuck in the ice. In this version, he fully monologs to Appa about his fears, but then just leaves for a joyride and gets stuck. It takes away from the significance of Aang leaving in the first place. When Kyoshi berates him for running away, it doesn't feel right because in this version, he didn't really run - he just got stuck in the wrong place at the wrong time

3. The Zuko that stood on an iceberg during a full Moon and challenged Katara to battle would be absolutely enraged at the Zuko that ran from the conflict in Omashu

4. Also, the fact that Zuko has not mentioned honor yet? What the fuck?

5. Seriously, Commander Zhao has a LinkedIn. He's got great networking skills

6. I miss aggro Katara. This version is way more subdued (though we do get a sibling fight in episode 3) and somehow listening to Aang's weird circular philosophy helps her learn how to waterbend and I don't get it

7. Seeing Aang be joyful is a nice change from the movie that shall not be mentioned

8. If Gram-Gram putting the waterbending scroll in Katara's bag replaces the storyline where Katara says fuck cultural looting and steals one I will scream

9. It's interesting to see Azula so early in the story, but I'm bummed we missed out on the whole blackmail thing with her & Ty Lee

10. Do you think Commander Zhao pays his employees a fair wage? Do you think they have health insurance? 401k matching? Vacation time? Sick days? What kind of benefits does his company offer?

11. This version of Sokka is definitely not silly enough

12. I feel robbed that Aang got to transform into a magical girl but we didn't get a magical girl transformation sequence

13. Also, we were robbed of Sokka crossdressing as a Kyoshi warrior and they are so rude for that

14. The graphic murder of the Airbenders felt. Weird? Wrong? I don't think we needed to see that. The impact it had when Aang arrived at the temple to find all of them gone in the original show felt heavier than in this version. We saw what happened, we know they're all dead. As a kid watching ATLA the first time, I remember feeling hopeful for Aang that maybe he wasn't really the last one. We don't get to feel that with this version

15. They did not understand Uncle Iroh at all. His character is so weird. Maybe it gets better???

16. The pacing is weird but maybe that gets better too???

17. I have never related more than when Ozai just burned that Earth nation dude who was about to start monologing, please shut up in my presence

18. Apparently everywhere has names?? Who decided on these names?

19. As a lesbian I also get horny on main immediately for girls who could definitely kick my ass, Sokka was so real for that

20. Overall I think they lean into the idea that the audience for this show is primarily older than the audience for the original (they're not totally wrong!) but I worry about it losing some of the messaging along the way. Part of the beauty of the original ATLA show was tackling these big, complex issues in a way that both kids and adults could relate to and understand. Anyone who knows me knows I also love Bluey for this, along with a few other shows that do it well. Media like ATLA that tackles the ideas of colonization, genocide, war, and so many other important issues is crucial! I hope that these topics are handled just as well as they were in the original series.

Am I going to watch the whole thing? Probably, yeah. Will I enjoy it? I hope so! It's not terrible, but it's also hard to do a show that has so much nostalgia attached to it in a way that will please all viewers.

If you haven't watched it, I think it's worth a shot. Just don't expect it to be an exact retelling of the original story.

[biconickyoshi]

Hi! Sorry to bother you, but I'm very curious, what is your take on the Ursa situation? Like, I've never read the comics (can't where I live) but Im always on the fence about her. What *exactly* happened? Did she ask for a new face and to forget her children *on purpose*?? Did she not know her memories would be erased?

Because I obviously get running away; and forming a new life and a new family is great...but what I really take an issue with is the forgetting about Zuko and Azula part. As a child of a good mother, I don't think I could ever forgive her for doing that, if it was on purpose. Even if the memories hurt her or she was grieving...it still doesnt make it right, even more so, considering her children were still alive.

I don't wanna be a hater, I just want to get my facts straight xD

No worries at all, anon! :) I'm happy to discuss comic stuff!

So yeahhhh, first off I will say I'm not a huge fan of the first five comic trilogies in terms of art style, characterization, or storylines (meanwhile, Imbalance, the most recent trilogy that has a different author and artist from the first five, was a breath of fresh air). None of these aspects are necessarily bad, per say, but I just personally think they could have been handled a lot better than they were. Once I get to the comics in my AU, I'm definitely going to tweak some things to try and make those events and storylines fit more in line with the vibe of the original show while still sticking to canon in ways that are important.

Ursa's storyline is definitely one that I have issues with... Like I guess it's an interesting enough explanation as to what happened to her, but I'm in the same boat as you when it comes to my opinions about her choosing to forget Zuko and Azula (because yes, the Mother of Faces did give her a choice of whether or not to forget). I think it does make her an interesting and more complex character, but it also makes her more of a shitty person lol. I would be super pissed/hurt if I were Zuko or Azula and I found that out. I know it really fucked with Azula already because she felt like her mom didn't care about her, and Ursa's decision here just proves her right.

[glaucuspacificus]

there’s this current avatar azula AU (utterpok by ao3 user maizula) that i’m reading rn and it feels very different to what you just described when it comes to the treatment of aang and the air nomads when writers make another character the avatar.

usually what i’ve tended to notice for azula avatar AUs is that aang is usually killed off before the fic begins or is treated as a side character who doesn’t have much relevance aside from teaching azula air bending. his character arc isn’t really there and usually his love interest is given to azula in these fics.

the fic i was on about seems to take a whole new approach to avatar aus that i’ve never seen before within this fandom by keeping aang alive and also allowing him to have the narrative relevance his character rightfully demands to take up. sokka, katara and aang actually seem to take up more reading time than azula herself so far which is again, really interesting because it’s an avatar azula fic. she should be doing that right? nope, not there at least.

oh and i have to praise the amazing world building this author has created for this fic because it’s not something i’ve ever seen in an this character is the avatar au. it has the base aesthetics of atla but the author has overhauled the entire world to properly represent the asian and inuit cultures atla seems to take inspiration off. if you’re into world building and lore in general, this is a fresh recommendation from this little anon dude.

Sorry, anon for taking so long to reply but it took me ages to find the time to read Utterpok - I think it might have been in my marked for later even before your message! I have to say that I am enjoying it very much.

Its extremely clear that the author cares so much about every character which is a breath of fresh air. Something I'm trying to work on is writing from different perspectives and taking the time to properly round out every character I write and this fic is a masterclass in that.

It's fantastic that there is so much added worldbuilding. I know that ATLA is a kids show but as an adult now, the worldbuilding and added complexity in the world gives a more mature feel which is very appealing.

I have never seen another character as the Avatar AU that has done Aang justice before so this is a great recommendation, anon. Thank you!

[ellakomskaikru]

Azula’s happiest moments

I’ve been rewatching the entire atla series with the intent of focusing on Azula the most. Every time I think I know all there is to know about Azula, I learn new things because she’s such a complex and interesting character. In this rewatch I noticed some scenes where I think Azula was truly happy.

In Return to Omashu, Azula recruits Mai and Ty Lee for her mission. Even though she needed them because they are very skilled, Mai with her knives and Ty Lee with her chi-blocking, I still think that Azula was genuinely happy to see them. She was very happy when Ty Lee hugged her and she told Mai that it was great to see her. They were absolutely her friends, and she did like spending time with them.

In Zuko Alone, Ursa calls Zuko and Azula so they can read the letter that their Uncle Iroh sent them from the war front. Azula laughs along with Zuko and Ursa at Uncle Iroh’s joke. Azula looks genuinely happy to spend time with her mother and brother and looks excited when she is told she was sent a gift. Her and Zuko even share an excited look.

In The Crossroads of Destiny, I think that Azula was genuinely happy that Zuko would be returning home with her. She didn’t have to comfort him when he was worried about their father not restoring his honor, but she did. She was also obviously happy about having succeeded in conquering Ba Sing Se, which is something her other family members had tried and failed to do.

In The Beach, Azula gives Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee the idea to destroy Chan’s house. They happily do this, and after, Azula looks genuinely happy with Ty Lee, Mai, and Zuko. I think those were one of the few moments were she experienced true human connection with others. Azula truly looked happy to be part of the group.

I believe those were some of the few moments of happiness that Azula had. Throughout most of her life however, I believe that on average Azula was not happy. She did not feel truly loved by either of her parents and I honestly don’t know whether she thought Zuko loved her or not. We know that he did, but whether Azula did or not is a different story. I really hope that in this new Azula comic she is allowed some moments of happiness at least. I really hope that isn’t too much too ask.

[likeabxrdinflight]

I have read azula in the spirit temple, because of course I did. it's like 7 bucks for the digital version and honestly? wouldn't pay much more than that.

it's...fine. it's fine. it's not offensive, it's not groundbreaking, it's just...fine. I will say I do really like the art style, it's a vast improvement over the yang-led comics. there's some great drawings and all the characters look really good.

otherwise...? I mean it just doesn't do much with its story, and I think that's kind of intentional. I strongly suspect that now that avatar studios is a thing, major story beats in the comics series are over for the time being. this very much feels like a tease of "can azula redeem herself?? we just don't know!!!" and then they very much do not commit one way or the other with it. which tells me that if any major storylines featuring azula are going to be happening in the future, they probably won't be happening in the comics, but in some future movie or animated series.

and honestly? good. I always felt comics were the wrong medium for telling stories in this universe, they have never managed to replicate the gravitas or complexity of storytelling of the animated shows. so if this comic is meant to be like...a palate cleanser, a teaser for things to come in future projects...fine. that's fine. but it does mean this particular story comes across non-committal and honestly...kinda boring.

like, every character azula interacts with outside the first couple pages is a spirit. none of it's real, the stakes are so low, and everything that happens once azula arrives at the temple is a vision from this guardian spirit, who tells azula that if she could accept what the visions were saying then this was her chance of redemption. but honestly that just feels like a cop-out and I don't really buy it, because none of it was real. and azula knows that.

what this story felt like instead was less redemption arc and more character exploration. and as a character piece it's...it's fine? like I said, it's not offensive like the search or smoke and shadow were (though it does loosely play off where smoke and shadow left off, it mostly ignores the search, so props to it for that lol). but there's nothing in here that will come as a surprise to anyone with basic reading comprehension who's watched the original show. the writing's a bit shallow but broadly inoffensive.

honestly the most surprising thing for me was azula acknowledging out loud to a vision of ursa that she's entirely aware that her father used her as a weapon, and felt that ursa failed to protect her from that fate by leaving. which is an interesting dichotomy given that much of azula's character is bound up in that identity as her father's perfect daughter in contrast to zuko being the failed son. (then again, quite a bit of time has now passed in universe since the end of the tv series, so maybe it's not overly shocking that azula has done a little introspecting in that time.)

other than that, there's some fun interactions with spirit!mai and ty lee, and then there's a final vision with spirit!zuko that comes so close to being a halfway decent climax to this little story, but none of it's a major revelation to anyone who's been paying attention to azula's character. the spirit visions all serve the same function that azula's hallucinations did in the series finale- they act as her unconscious mind telling her the truths she already knows about herself deep down.

the ending leaves azula in kind of a middle ground place, very little about her circumstances have changed except she's decided to ditch her girl gang and go run off to do something else- which is kept extremely vague. I can't help feeling that is an intentional move to set her up for a totally new story in a different medium that likely doesn't want to rely on any foundations laid in any of the comics series. and I wouldn't be shocked if that medium is one of the alleged movies that avatar studios is supposed to be producing. so this feels less like a real character arc so much as a character reset.

and from a creative, lore standpoint I don't have a problem with this. that's probably what they needed to do if they want to use azula in their future animated projects. my problem is that the story the comic tells to give us this reset is just kinda boring for someone who's been with this fandom since the original series aired.

The fact is that I've read and seen fan works that addressed these exact same issues and character beats with much more finesse and for much higher stakes. this comic gave me the feeling that the dialogue was directly addressing what fans have been saying about azula for years and putting a neon light on it. and that's...again, it's fine? but it's not groundbreaking for those of us who've been saying this shit since 2008. and I guess it's nice to see some of those character beats canonized officially, especially if there's a likelihood that we'll see animated azula again, but as far as I was concerned the fact that azula wanted her family to love her and was used as a weapon of war was already obvious, so spelling it out with another comic felt...redundant.

and I guess that's how I'd describe this. it felt redundant to me, as someone who's spent a lot of time with this character already. maybe it's good that it exists so that larger and newer swaths of the fandom can see azula in this light, but for long time fans of the character? there's truly nothing in here about her that you don't already know.

if this really is a reset button for the old comics canon/jumping off point for an animated project, then...I'm not mad about it, exactly. but as a stand alone story it's just...fine. it's fine, but little more.

[innocentimouto]

What do you think of the narrative's and the fandom's tendency to equate the Fire Nation characters' trauma to that of the victims of war, the way they do?

Both Zuko and Song have scars from the Fire Nation. Both Zuko and Katara lost their mothers to the Fire Nation. Stuff like that.

Both Zuko and Song have scars, but Zuko's is made more important to us. Both Zuko and Katara lost their moms, but people only complain about Katara trauma dumping.

Others have said this, but Western media tends to sympathize a lot with colonizers. I can't recall, but I have a vague understanding that I've seen some cartoons with people displaced from their homes trying to get it back and being painted as evil and crazy.

It's uncomfortable to acknowledge that everyone was once good, and every horrible person has the capacity to turn good and feel regret. And that's a strong message.

But media usually messes it up by portraying the villains as more sympathetic as the heroes or victims. It's good the Fire Nation aren't written as born evil and that evil runs through their blood---

Well except for that one scene.

So we get funny Fire Nation soldiers, and Zuko and Iroh get an absurd amount of funny moments, especially in Book 1, we meet Fire Nation kids, we get a whole episode to humanize the four Fire Nation teens, we get a lot of Iroh favoritism, the only female soldiers, we get the underdog Zuko from episode 3 and all his writing that came with that. We get an episode dedicated to explaining how firebending is life. We get Roku as a mentor figure. We get an episode humanizing the one who started the war. We get an amazingly complex villain, Azula. We get a strong girl trio with a different skill set.

These are the villains.

What do the other nations get?

Water Tribe.

Well they're sexist. Both the North and South apparently. This is only stated for them and no other nation. The season dedicated to them is barely even spent with the Water Tribe so that's nice. We get some cute kids at the beginning I guess.

We get sexist Pakku. There's Yue who is sweet. We get Hahn. Aang fights all by himself the first day of the siege because apparently after one boat, none of the benders are up for anything else. Also we see nonbenders but when the moon goes, they are nowhere to be seen.

The Northern Water Tribe never shows up again, despite I don't know, LOSING their princess to the Fire Nation and who knows how many others.

We also get Hama and her missed opportunity. And bloodbending which is only considered evil.

That's it. Roku's Water Tribe teacher doesn't get a name and isn't portrayed with much respect or attention like his other teachers. Aang has friends from everywhere except the Water Tribes. He's not even confused about the state of Katara's home, which was different as early back as Hama's time. And his temple is the closest!

Hakoda, Katara, Sokka, and Yue are great, but their nation could have used more attention from the writers.

Earth Kingdom.

We get Bumi who was funny to me as a child and still is, but he's kind of messed up and not a great leader. We get Toph's parents, an extreme general, Jet's portrayal, Ba Sing Se, the Dai Li, the bully soldiers for Zuko to look down at when he still hasn't changed, etc.

We get a lot of culture from the Earth Kingdom and a lot of kind or funny characters. This nation isn't so bad, except Toph, Jet, Haru, and Teo are all underdeveloped.

There are quite a few villains from here though and the only strong depictions of loss to war are Haru and Jet, and it's lacking for obvious reasons.

Air Nomads.

The way Aang leaves the Southern Air Temple with Katara and Sokka is how I wish the genocide was treated the rest of the show. It's barely mentioned after though. Aang is unrelatable to so many people who watch the show, and it doesn't help he never has episodes of crying over his friends or missing them.

The Mechanic destroying a temple is portrayed as good.

Their culture is brought up really only at the end of the series and we're supposed to believe Aang and the others haven't been killing soldiers all this time?

Aang not killing Ozai is great politically and morally, but he has killed before and it's not unreasonable to believe the Air Nomads allow killing if out of self-defense.

This whole thing has generated a lot of hate for Aang as a result of how little we were able to connect to his trauma and culture.

Aang being childish and wanting to have fun isn't him being immature or being unable to understand the trauma the other characters have endured. It's part of keeping his culture alive to bring joy and fun to others, and he did that naturally from episode 1.

(I think it's amazing thematically that Aang didn't kill Ozai, but we should have gotten an acknowledgement that all the kids have technically killed and Aang was just uncomfortable to end the war with death as it would be against his culture or to do it in cold blood. Something like that.)

[my-decade]

my thoughts on Netflix's ATLA live action

As an adult who watched this show growing up and was there for the countdown to the comet (iykyk!!) I have thoughts!

Best: Zuko. angsty, teenage boy depression, father issues, determined to a self-destructive degree. The actor is great at capturing all these facets of Zuko's conflicting, complex character. Really great with the choreography/martial arts too. Its not easy to pull off Zuko's mostly shaven but with a ponytail haircut, but this actor manages it. And yes, the opening scene with him seeing the beam of light from the iceberg and saying, "Finally." did give me some chills. Honestly the actor just captures Zuko really well. Great casting.

Worst: Katara. has the personality of an elegant yet unassuming well watered house plant. Its more because of the writing than the actress… she's doing her best with this depressing egg whites version of Katara she's had thrusted upon her. It's not going to be convincing when Toph comes along next season and calls her sugar queen.

Aang: never has any fun. spends every episode staring into the distance being sorrowful and melancholic. *teardrop rolls down cheek* he is a depressed 40 year old in the body of a 12 year old. He has no fun side to him anymore- an important side for a 12 year old kid to have! Also spends the entirety of season one (you know, titled "water"!) and doesn't learn a lick of waterbending, not even from Katara, who spends a lot of it learning from the waterbending scroll!! Why??? However the actor is doing a great job and I think he captures Aang's essence really well. He is young and I think next season he will improve a lot.

Sokka: I almost forgot to write thoughts down for him, which I think says more than anything else. He's essentially been boiled down to the same old overprotective big brother, but now he comes complete with daddy issues. It's a little hilarious that Katara's worst memory is watching her mom get burned alive by a firebender soldier while Sokka's is hearing his dad say he's disappointed with him. Kind of ruins the moment tbh. They really took all the fun aspects of the main Gaang and dulled them down completely, its sad. At least he's cute though- and imo, the chemistry with Suki's actress was there.

The previous avatars: every single one meets Aang just to berate & yell at him and tell him he shouldn't have friends and where has he been for the past 100 years without giving him a second to speak. What?? Sadly it seems any dignity, grace, or wisdom the previous avatars had in the original, has been completely wiped out in this live action. Also, this idea of them telling Aang about things that are going to happen makes no sense. Did no previous avatar tell Roku his friend was going to betray him, let him die on the island, and start a 100 year long war? Also the idea of Aang being able to communicate ONLY if he's in one of their temples is stupid. What is the point of the avatar state, then? Will Roku be able to teach him anything at all?

Princess Yue: yes I wrote an entire paragraph about her lol. She is one of my favorite minor characters. I think they wanted her to look so accurate to her original counterpart that she just looks too much like a cosplayer, with such a stiff and lifeless looking wig. This is the one and only time I will concede I prefer M. Night's version of Yue as far as costuming goes, though both funnily enough forget her eyebrows shouldn't be dark. The actress was fine. But this version of Yue is quite a different person from og Yue, I can't really compare. Plus, it feels like we see her for a good 10 minutes before she dies for the moon spirit. I couldn't buy into her and Sokka having feelings for each other because it felt like they knew each other for a good 2 hours at most. Ideally, I think these two versions kind of fused together would be perfect.

Azula/Mai/Ty Lee: Grouping them together because. Azula is the most unconvincing out of the characters for me. I don't buy that this girl is supposed to be the princess Azula for a second. I'm neither intrigued nor intimidated, and that's pretty bad as Azula was one of my top favorite characters from the original. The costume is fine, the wig feels cheap, her dialogue is horrendous, the actress can't convince me. Azula isn't smart or cunning, sharp, or collected, and her "working with Zhao" just made her look dumb when the entire plan flopped. She is a whiny, petulant little girl stamping her feet in every other scene. It's not for me. Also, the way her relationship with Ozai is depicted here makes Ozai look like a loser, too. It's like they want us to not be afraid of either of them.

As for Mai and Ty Lee. Ty Lee is fine. She looks okay, the actress is fine for how little we see her. On Mai, the wig is just so bad I don't get what happened. It's like they're struggling on the line of being realistic with the styling, or leaning completely in cartoon-character-came-to-life. I don't think the actress for Mai here was a good choice.

Dialogue: the worst part of this show. When they're not completely quoting word for word from the original, it's.. just bad. Everything is always exposition and thats not good. The few moments that aren't are just... idk.

CGI: not bad. I was expecting worse. Fire, earth, and air all look great. Water feels a little slow, mostly when its just water and not ice but that can be improved I assume. Koh was pretty cool, as was Wan Shi Tong.

Settings: Beautiful!! Omashu looked great. South and North water tribes looked great. Ozai's throne room looked incredible and I was annoyed every time we see it, he is just standing around and not sitting on his throne. It just reminded me how amazing the buildup to Ozai and Azula's reveals were in og season 1.

Costume: Its either a hit or a miss. There's strangley not much in between. Aang, Katara, Sokka, Zuko, Iroh, June, Ozai, Jet, Suki, the Kyoshi warriors, all look pretty great. Then you have characters like Azula, Mai, or Yue, who just look like half decent cosplayers. It kind of takes you out of the moment when it looks like the person is a cartoon character, rather than just a normal person. For example, compare how Katara looks compared to Azula.

Music: of course it was fantastic. A lot of it (I think most) was from the original show, which has one of the greatest soundtracks an animated show has ever had imo.

Final thoughts: Ultimately, it was kind of what I was expecting. You can't condense 20+ episodes worth of development into 8 and expect it all to flow perfectly. However, there are also a lot of changes that really don't make sense to me. I am very curious to know how on earth they will do seasons 2 and 3, as season 1 is the slowest in pace compared to the next two seasons. The original's finale was split into four episodes! Unless they add more episodes for next season, it's going to be a big jumbled mess of lore being shoved into our faces. I am also concerned about Toph. The Gaang so far has been stripped of their fun/unique personality traits. Is Toph going to be the same?

[seasideoranges]

❤: Which character do you think is the most egregiously mischaracterized by the fandom?

❤: Which character do you think is the most egregiously mischaracterized by the fandom?

Ask Game! OKAY SO I know this is asking for one specific character, buuuut I'm going to go through more than one character haha. To start;

Toph!

I was just talking about Toph in a server a couple of days ago, and I feel like people mischaracterize her a lot, but I kinda don't blame them! Toph is kind of a tricky character to write! But I read so many fics that just boil her down to "tough girl who doesn't take shit and bullies everyone" and like, yes, there is some truth to that, but she is also so much more! She's soft, she listens, she's genuinely a kind, good friend, despite her rough demeanor! There's a reason Sokka opens up for the first time about his mother with Toph.

Azula!

I adore Azula to bits, I love her, I want to see her get better and get another chance, but man, I hate how people lately have been woobifying the crap out of her lately (this happens to Iroh and Zuko too!!). I seen an argument on TikTok that Azula had a right to mortally wound Aang because it was SELF DEFENSE?! I thought OP was joking, but uh, nope, they were completely serious haha. You can't say you love 'problematic' characters only to try and make them 'unproblematic' as possible!

Aang!

I noticed that there's some people that hate Aang with a passion, so much so, that they'll try to paint him out as this sexist, abusive person/partner/father, and it bugs the hell out of me. Kind of makes me laugh a little too, seeing how powerful the haterism is towards this fictional 12 year old boy. This discourse especially gets worse when TLOK gets thrown into the mix and people try to paint him as a 'deadbeat' father, and some even try to compare him to Ozai?? It grosses me out, and the 'deadbeat' part is far from the truth! Words have meaning and weight to them, people!

Sokka!

Had to throw my fav in here of course. Here's the thing, people will either characterize Sokka as being nothing more than a dumb jokester, or they'll acknowledge that he's smart, but completely forget that he's incredibly grump, sarcastic, and skeptical which can lead him to be borderline cynical, especially in S1! There's also the whole "Sokka didn't really love his mom" discourse and, not to sound dramatic, but it makes me want to rip my hair out LMAO. I personally think that Sokka is one of the most interesting characters in ATLA and it kinda sucks seeing people gloss over him so much.

URSA!

Now this might be my most controversial take lmao. Before I start, I'm not saying Ursa was a perfect parent, and I wont be talking about the comics in this part, just strictly the show. But at this point, I almost feel like an Ursa defender because people greatly misinterpret her character and try to paint her to be just as bad as Ozai, especially when Azula is thrown into the mix. I'm sorry y'all, but I don't agree with the "Ursa was a 'boy' mom and favorited Zuko and abused Azula" takes. I don't think this was the case at all, and her relationship with Azula is so much more complex than that. People tend to forget that A) This was all Ozai's doing, he saw Azula as a weapon and put a wedge between her and the rest of her family (specifically Zuko and Ursa) and B) Ursa was also abused. She was an abused woman, trapped in a horrible situation, and wasn't left with a lot of great options or freedom.

Anyways I could talk about this all day with pretty much the rest of the Gaang, but I'll try and keep this from getting too long haha! AND AS ALWAYS, I don't want any discourse! I am always open for discussion! I love reading other peoples takes and I am always willing to change my views!

[julietwiskey1]

What is your take in why Azula is as mistreated by the fandom and writers as she is? It's understandable to glorify your fave character like they do Zuko in fics and comics but why do they feel the need to bash on Azula?

It's kind of horrifying how passionate some people are about hating on a fictional 14 year old girl.

My personal theory is that Azula reminds people of parts of themselves they don't like so they subcounciously project their self loathing onto her- I found out that's why my sister disliked her.

I do think that you are onto something with your theory. It not hard to demonize what you dislike about yourself by hating a proxy. Though it would take a great deal of self awareness to recognize that.

My short and simple explanation is that the narrative hates Azula so the audience hates Azula. That’s really it for most people.

Throughout the cartoon she was always portrayed as a great danger to both Zuko and the gaang. The narrative goes out of its way to show Azula negatively as much as possible. And when it did start to humanize Azula towards the end it was too little too late.

The story also showed Azula as the more successful and preferred child over Zuko. And in the Fire family attention was a rare commodity, only one could get it. So unlike Katara and Sokka Katara’s success didn’t make Sokka less loved or accepted, and he was still able to shine. This does not hold true for Azula and Zuko. So Azula not being in her place is set up as cruel and mean to Zuko in a way that it shouldn’t. The story demonizes Azula for not being the subservient sister society expects of her.

This is how the writers wanted people to see Azula. And the fandom at large gets its cue from the writers and will mostly follow what they lay out.

Which I think is the major flaw in the writing of the show. Things between Azula and Zuko are shown as a zero sum game, as in both Azula and Zuko can’t share or succeed. So Azula’s success is always Zuko’s failure.

So the writers made it so only when Azula fails can Zuko succeed. Azula lost her friends and Zuko gained his. Azula lost her composure and Zuko found new balance in bending. Azula lost her crown and Zuko gained his. Ursa loved Zuko and Ozai loved Azula.

The narrative wants to prove Ozai right for some dumb reason.

People also like to bash on villainous characters as a kind of grandstanding. As if showing her punished, abused, and so forth is a sign that they know what’s good and bad. And that they are a believer in heavy handed justice to fictional characters because they themselves are good. After all good things should happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people, it’s what people want. After all who has heard of such things as mercy.

What concerns me more is why the writers would be so cruel towards her. After all they are the ones who really started the hate and why so many people do hate her. Part of it I think is sexism. While a younger sister can outshine her brother they still need to be caring and put fist their emotional well being.

Sorry for the ramble answer. But I think this is a rather complex question with more variables than I can cover.

[lizardlicks]

one vague ATLA idea I have in mind for AU stuff is less specific but more of a broad AU spectrum and the general point is that instead of Team Avatar being a fairly small central group, they pick up people as they go along so that the folk who join them in the Zuko Friendship Arc and flee at the begining of the Southern Raiders stick around since their introduction; Haru, maybe a few members of Jet's crew, perhaps Jee from Zuko's crew following the end of Book Water, Chit Sang after the boiling rock, maybe even Iroh throughout Book One as a more extreme AU where Aang accidentally incapacitates Zuko and takes him hostage early on and Iroh and Zuko's crew go 'oh nooooo you have captured us and we're with you now I guess' while Iroh low key attempts to provide Aang perspective on the Fire Nation for dealing with them and some basics on Firebending philosophy, but anyway who else do you think would be interesting to see in this kind of AU joining up with Aang and his mission to free the world

Answering this TEN DAYS LATER OOPS

Personally I haven't thought about anyone else joining the gaang outside of Zuko joining the gaang early plots. First, I wouldn't include any of the adults. While yeah, there's something wrong with their world in the fact that actual teenagers have to save it from a century of war, if we actually stuck one of the adults into the group dynamics, they would alter the story and themes in a way I don't find satisfying. Too many of their own motivations and personal hang ups. Iroh works for Zuko because Zuko doesn't really have friends or any other social support, but even so to get to the core of Zuko, we have to separate Iroh's direct influence on him.

So for the other kids: NGL I think Haru as a character is boring. he's dry wheat toast. He exists only as a vessel for katara's hero complex. Teo could be a lot of fun; him and Aang play off each other really well, and it would give us more non-bender rep.

Jet I could not see willingly giving up his leadership role and joining the gaang. He might butt heads with Sokka first, but eventually he would piss off "everyone works together and does their fair share" katara, "I don't respect any form of authority" toph, and even "we're all friends and equals here" aang when he won't give any slack to the reigns-- metaphorically but also possibly literally. Similarly, I don't think smellerbee or longshot would willingly leave jet.

I love The Duke and Toph's relationship. I would have thought of anyone in the gaang for him to latch onto he would have gone with Aang or Sokka, but him looking up to and becoming really good friends with Toph is just really good. And him and Pipsqueak are more non bender rep too!

Suki joining the gaang earlier than canon would be great, especially if she brought a couple other kyoshi warriors along with and we got to see more of their dynamic as a group! Plus more sukka, and Sokka in the kw outfit.

Yue. Alright I apparently lied above, Yue is definitely one that I've thought about joining the gaang. In AUs where Yue lives, her getting out of the North and coming into her own as a person who can assert her expertise and authority is a big deal for her. Might also add some fascinating conflict: did she leave with Arnook's blessing or did she see an opportunity and leap??

Thousands of words have been devoted to the "zuko joins the gaang early" tag, but here's mine:

Zuko knows Azula. He knows not to trust when she puts her hands up and claims defeat. It's an old, old trick, not even a clever one, and they both know it. When her smile falls on uncle, Zuko doesn't even think twice. He's burned before. He knows how. Sinks into that familiar pain like an embrace from an old friend.

Iroh is horrified when Zuko drops like a stone (sick with guilt that he has to see this again, again, it never seems to end). Zuko stays down. His nephew never stays down. He begs the gaang for help, pleads for a mercy he knows neither of them have yet earned. They hesitate, but Toph also insists; Mushi, Iroh, whoever he is, he was kind to her. Whatever his nephew did, the other kids are alive and whole enough to bitch about him, so it couldn't have been so bad as to deserve a slow, painful death.

Katara pulls back his clothes, revealing the burns, the deep purple-black bruises from his fight with the earthbender soldiers, his starvation and exhaustion. It's abundantly clear to everyone that Zuko needs more help than they can give just standing around in an abandoned desert town, and the kids are exhausted. Iroh asks one more favor, a big one: watch over his nephew and keep him out of trouble while Iroh tracks down some old friends who will help find someplace safe for them to hide.

It's only supposed to be temporary, but now the gaang have to deal with wrangling a cranky, ornery firebender who's ass much a threat to himself as he is to them.

[sokkastyles]

The topic of the book came up in my last ask, and then I found this post about the Zuko and Katara scene in the caves. The novels aren't that great lol. Where was any of the compassion Katara showed Zuko hinted at to be about Jet in the actual show? There are plenty of retcons and inconsistencies in those books compared to the show about the characters and their thought processes, so imho it's fair enough to disregard them as meaningful analyses of the character motivations. Either way, I just thought that it was a bad enough take that you might be interested.

Yeah, once again, if you have to point to the novelization and not the source material to make your point, then it's not that strong of a point to begin with. And agree about the novels being poorly written. I do think that part of the reason Katara wanted to save Zuko is because she couldn't save Jet, and given the parallels and foils between Jet and Zuko and their relationship with Katara, I think that's an important point, but it's hardly the only reason, and the novelizations reduce this to "oooh Katara was so mean to Jet" in a way that's rather reductive and feels pretty misogynistic, tbh.

I also think Zuko thinking that he's "as much a victim of the war" as Katara is is out of character. Not because I expect him at this moment to have a particularly strong insight about his complicity in imperialism - his defensiveness is in character because at this point in his journey, he's not yet ready to face the truth - but it's out of character because Zuko also isn't ready to face the fact that he WAS a victim of the war. In the show, the choice to side with Azula feels ina lot of ways like a misguided attempt on Zuko's part to take back his agency after coming so close to realizing the terrible truth of how he was abused by his own family, how his nation took his mother away from him and how similar he is to someone who has suffered greatly because of his people's war. Of course, in actuality, he's losing agency rather than taking it back, but it's difficult for him to admit that he was a victim, especially since Katara doesn't get to follow through on her healing. Choosing Azula is very much a "the devil you know" choice. That's why he throws it back in Katara's face when she says she thought he had changed.

But the scene where Zuko says they have their mother's loss in common in the show never comes across as a justification. It also gets across a range of complex emotions from Zuko: defensiveness, yes, but also guilt, and anger, and pain, and a tiny bit of hope that someone might actually understand, but also fear because he's not ready to be that vulnerable, and sadness and empathy for Katara. The fact that they do that without giving us Zuko's internal monologue is a sign of good writing, and it's the reason why the novelizations, even though they do provide us with an internal monologue, feel flat in comparison. Oftentimes, good writing renders the need for an internal monologue unnecessary.

Also, Aang was taunting him. Zuko deserved it, but Aang was absolutely taunting.

[waywardavatarenthusiast]

Ironically, I think Azula wouldn’t be misinterpreted so much and she wouldn’t have so many antis if she was a dude (as Bryke originally meant to write her as Zuko’s older brother, if I recall correctly), as male characters are often given more “passes” because not many writers want or know how to develop a female character, amongst many other reasons but that is another tale. Some just like to hate her, and she is not even given a chance as a character, in the sense that I usually see a lot of entitlement when someone doesn’t like her character, they believe that only their opinion is valid even when it is superficial and without actual proof at best in some cases… And it is okay to have different opinion but the “only my opinion is true and valid” attitude is definitely unfair and toxic.

For instance, I often see people describing her as psychotic, sociopathic and even schizophrenic, and saying that she is insane and crazy when that clearly isn’t the case. She’s none of that, and people believing that she went “psycho” (or even that she was throwing a temper tantrum) in the Last Agni Kai (ignoring her trauma, her insecurities and abandonment issues as as the fact that she wasn’t even sleeping) is just not very realistic. She doesn’t fit the medical criteria (and I’m well versed in that regard) and it is quite obvious that she was a 14 year old girl that suffered from an emotional breakdown after bottling up her emotions for years, being indoctrinated as a weapon and a child soldier by her narcissistic father, feeling alone/abandoned and having her world turned upside down. She’s not crazy and she’s actually a very complex and interesting character when you analyse her without biases, and I do not mean that everyone should like her (there are many characters that I dislike but I understand and admit that they are very well written) but the fact that I personally believe she’s often misinterpreted in an unfair way (even by her own “creators”) and sometimes “analysed” without the full context of her actions and character, specially when you compare it to the treatment other characters have.

Misogyny will always be a factor when it comes to analyzing female characters. However, Azula's character went wonky because her main creator and writer has had nothing to do with her for over a decade. That's one great thing about Faith Erin Hicks is that I actually feel like I'm seeing more of Azula, not some weird and tainted version of her.