#Emletish Answers

[emletish-fish]

So I need my feminist card revoked because I want Carmen to have a girl so Johnny can have a daughter, and Robby and Miguel can have a sister, and the 3 of them will be over protective idiots.

The baby is absolutely a girl. That's what the whole sonogram scene was foreshadowing - so you will probably get your wish.

Honestly, if you like the babyplot and think this would be sweet - then that's completely fine. You do you. I'm not going to tell you that you aren't allowed to enjoy media a certain way.

I mean, I have a wildly different take, but that doesn't mean you're wrong - just that we see plot devices differently.

The babyplot makes me legit sad for Johnny on many levels. (I mean, I'm sad for a lot of the characters involved because they've been narratively misused- but it's actually a tragedy arc for Johnny).

There is something sweet in big doofus men being protective of tiny lil baby girls and this trope can be done well and be heartwarming - but it's also a common trope because:

1) big doofus strongman type characters are only allowed to show softness and vulnerability with female characters.

2) little boys are often treated 'less soft' than little girls in media (even though at that age, their need for snuggles/attachment is identical).

So for me, since the show has already tried showing Johnny outgrowing his sexism, I don't need to see him playing princess teaparties with a toddler to prove he's not sexist anymore (as adorable as that would be).

And like, wouldn't it be even more wild and meaningful and engaging if Johnny was allowed to show softness around his own son? Wouldn't that help him build a more meaningful connection with Robby? Wouldn't that have been a more powerful way of showing that he's grown past his toxic masculinity?

That's the story I was more excited for.

(RIP my hopes and dreams for this storyline).

[stardust948]

do you have any zutara or atla fic recs?

Oh yes! I have plenty!

Fluffy fics

Questions & Answers by @gemgirl28

Kya and Lu Ten learn about the Hundred Years War, and Kya has a lot of questions for her Father about his role in the war. Or The Steambabies learn the origin of Zuko's scar.

A Month of Sundays by ok_boomerang

Fire Lord Zuko is desperately trying, and continuously failing, to successfully propose to Ambassador Katara. She's oblivious; everyone else is entertained. Meanwhile, Zuko is giving weekly Sunday speeches to the Fire Nation in an effort to help his people feel closer to their government. This effort was not supposed to include telling the entire Fire Nation about his plans for a future with Katara before even she knew about them. But it's fine! They promised not to tell!

Even Dragons Need Hugs by EKWolf2020

Zuko is missing his wife while off for business. While she is gone, he can't help but feel prickly and clearly misses having her near him.

Fire Dance by HomeAgainRose

Zuko goes with the gang following the events of Crossroads of Destiny. This is what happens when they're first in the Fire Nation and Aang ends up at the Fire Nation School. Katara wasn't exactly prepared for the feelings that come out.

little rays of starlight by JasmineTeaLatte

Izumi had been a mere babe during her first and only trip to the Southern Water Tribe, back before Druk had even joined their family or the twins were even born. She remembered freezing white snow flurries and huddling in her father’s arms for warmth, but little else...   Or, the Fire Lord and his wife take their infant daughter out on a trip to see the Southern Lights during the crown princess' first visit to the Southern Water Tribe. Takes place in the timeline of "The Phoenix and the Dragon" but can be read as a standalone.

vitamin z by thetasteoflies

Katara has a cold and there's only one person in the world she wants to see.

Angst/More Mature Fics

Incendiary by Anon

Bizarrely, the first thing Katara felt was a wave of relief. Zuko. Not Ozai. They just wanted her to marry Prince Zuko. And then the horror of it washed over her, cold and harsh and insistent; an iron grip on her heart.

Past the World's Horizon by Mauve_Avenger / @the-badger-mole

When Katara finds herself with an unwanted secret admirer, she and Zuko end up on a frightening adventure.

The Scourge of the Mo Ce Sea by ajstyling

She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen and with one look at her face he understood the truth of her words. She would kill him and not lose a minute of sleep.

i'm still here by owedbetter

"You see me."

And somehow, that makes all the difference.

thicker than water by akaiiko

Zuko tries to pick up the pieces of Katara.

AUs/Slice of Life fics

The Worst Prisoner series by @emletish-fish

What if Sokka was there during the events of the Blue Spirit? What if he accidentally kidnapped Zuko? It's not a poor life choice of it's an accodent, right?

The Prince of the Fire Nation by HarrisonHolmes2014

Zuko was raised in the Fire Nation royal family alongside his sister Azula. He has never known any life outside the palace, his family, or his homeland. But when two slaves claim that he is their brother, Zuko must face a destiny he never asked for.

The Fire and the Flood by @badlucksav

Katara has lived in the same town with the same people her whole life, and since the death of her mother, she feels like her life has been on hold. But then she meets Zuko, an intriguing stranger, and everything changes.

what you want is what i want by zelzenik

Katara isn't alone. She has Bumi and Kya. The three of them are family.

Zuko isn't alone either. He has Izumi. The two of them are family.

But maybe... just maybe, they can all be family together.

It Runs In The Family by Anon

Katara and Zuko were a lot of things. War heroes. Master benders. Fire Lord and Fire Lady. Their favorite occupation? Parents. They'd managed to find each other again and had children, who are part of a brand new world and mixed nations family. While isn't exactly easy, as shown through a repeating series parent teacher conferences.

Or basically, steambaby shenanigans because they have Sokka as their uncle and how could they not be wreaking havoc?

Shameless Self Plugs

They have stolen the heart inside you; but this does not define you series

At a young age, Katara is taken to the Fire Nation as the first candidate in an experiment to assimilate the 'savages' instead of wiping them out. She grows up alongside the Royal Family before eventually escaping. Years later, an oddly familiar Fire Nation solider shows up at her village looking for the Avatar.

Kintsugi series

Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with gold. It treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise. Zuko is tortured by Ozai after helping Katara and Aang escape Ba Sing Se.

Head Above Water

While running away from home after the Agni Kai, Zuko befriends a curious mermaid. He later learns how protective merfolk are.

Dead Hearts

Ozai is a mass serial killer who forces Zuko to lure his victims to him. It’s the same drill for as long as Zuko could remember until his father sets eyes on the new girl who just moved from the Southern Water Tribe.

Let beauty come out of ashes

Zuko is done with Spirit tales. Everyone knew worthless nobodies like him didn’t receive happy endings. He wasn’t even allowed to go to the ball to see his love, a veiled waterbender he met in the woods, in person. Zuko lost all hope until a mysterious dragon helped him with a bit of magic.

Always With Me

While moving away from the only home she’d ever known, Katara finds herself spirited away to a strange in between realm. There, she struggles to ink out a living with the help of a mysterious masked boy who promised to get her home.

Are There Still Beautiful Things?

Katara befriends a lonely boy and they spend the summer together until he suddenly moves away. She doesn't learn the dark truth about why he left until years later.

[sirenalpha]

I posted 570 times in 2022

That's 220 more posts than 2021!

259 posts created (45%)

311 posts reblogged (55%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@goodsticklehky

@staalsparkles

@sirenalpha

@emletish-fish

@staal-eric-archives

I tagged 302 of my posts in 2022

Only 47% of my posts had no tags

#asks - 16 posts

#for the writers - 14 posts

#rurouni kenshin - 9 posts

#atla - 9 posts

#ao3 - 7 posts

#star wars - 6 posts

#meta - 5 posts

#yes - 4 posts

#long post - 4 posts

#darth vader - 4 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#could not rememeber what the title was for a hot sec and thought i might accidently put the title of thebruno mars song of the same subject

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

So Kaoru Kamiya is a character I have complicated feelings on and not because she's a complex character, she really isn't that complex

but because Nobuhiro Watsuki is a pedophile who has been fined for possessing cp and no you cannot separate the art from the artist because Kaoru starts the series as a seventeen year old girl who gets together at eighteen with the protagonist, a man eleven years her senior

I don't know why 12 year old me decided to get overly attached to this one character and it would have been nice to have stopped caring when the news about Watsuki came out but RK material keeps getting released that makes me even madder about Kaoru so here we are talking about it

now that that's addressed, I want to start with how Kaoru as a character came to be

Watsuki has noted that he had not decided for Kaoru to be the main love interest when he started the series and I believe that because just looking at all the characters in the manga, he seems to be good on setting up characters, but can't always follow through on them or knows ahead of time what he wants to do with them

and I do think Kaoru is well set up because her initial purpose in the manga is to be someone who is interesting enough to Kenshin that he stops wandering as Kenshin staying in place is the inciting incident of the manga, everything before that point is just the same old same old that Kenshin has been experiencing for the past ten years

so what does Kaoru have to be for her to be a character who is interesting enough for Kenshin to stay?

first, she has to be a swordswoman, it's non-negotiable, being a swordsman is the basis of who Kenshin sees himself as, it's central to his character arc as it is the site of his guilt, and the manga itself is asking what is the purpose of the sword (violence) in the New Era, there is no way Kenshin stays unless he sees a potential answer for his guilt for what to do in the New Era

that means she has to have a privileged background to have been able to learn to be a swordswoman, naturally that means samurai as it was the warrior class of the Edo period even if most samurai at the end of the period were bureaucrats it's still the class Kaoru would have been most likely to have received martial training of any kind

it also means she would have also had to be old enough to have been born samurai and to have enough mastery that her word on what wielding a sword means has some kind of weight of experience backing it

second, the fact that Kenshin will only stop if someone has a potential answer for his guilt on how to use a sword or stop using it and live in the New Era and that Kenshin has taken a vow to not kill tells us what kind of swordswoman Kaoru has to be, she has to have not killed and also have a fighting ideology against killing which now means she can't be too old

she has to be young enough that she didn't fight in the Bakumatsu or any rebellions after it as well as young enough to not remember any of the fighting well for it to be more realistic that someone who is a swordsman and also supposed to have some mastery hasn't killed anyone when a war was going on

third, she has to be in need of help because that's how Kenshin meets people, he either rescues them or fights them and if he is to stay she can't be too antagonistic towards him

so her privileged background is now tragic which I think is part of how Watsuki ended up with 1878 for the setting, it has to be after the last episode of violence of the Bakumatsu which is the Seinan War in 1877 anyways so then you just have Kaoru's father who is also her teacher fight and die in that war so she's now vulnerable to attack/manipulation due to her landownership and naiveté which Kenshin can defend her from and she's also grieving and lonely which is a reason for her to ask him to stay

and that's how you sort of have to have her at 17-18, if you push the setting back farther to age her up it becomes a problem as when the manga is set is extremely important to the story it's telling, it can't be that far away from the Bakumatsu, Kenshin also starts getting very old + wandering for a longer time compared to 10 years which is a nice round number and 28 is already pushing it for the protagonist for a shonen manga, and if you leave it in 1878 if you start pushing her towards 19, 20, 21, you start getting to her being 8-10 at the end of the Bakumatsu and being old enough to remember it better and getting too close in age to other characters when part of the point with the differences in ages in the protagonist group has to do with what age they were when they experienced the war

it's all fine in my opinion for Kaoru's character set up until the plan changes and she becomes the love interest

beyond Kaoru and Kenshin's age gap being creepy, changing Kaoru into the love interest causes narrative problems both for Kaoru as a character based on the set up she was given and for the narrative as a whole because of what the character in the position of Kenshin's love interest would have had to fulfill for it to be a satisfying narrative vs societal and genre conventions

I think Watsuki decides to make Kaoru the love interest during the Kyoto Arc and finalized it by the end of the arc

my reasoning for this is because Kaoru changes from the Kyoto arc to the Jinchuu arc and not in a good way

the change is obviously not how much interest Kenshin and Kaoru show in each other though Kaoru's is far more obvious, she was shown as crushing on Kenshin from the beginning of the series and Kenshin sticks around because of her and they have their hug when Kenshin leaves for Kyoto, that's why she's the obvious option to become his love interest for the third arc, she's the only one important enough to Kenshin for the arc to work

the reason I say it's not finalized until the end of the Kyoto arc is because that's when Kaoru goes from a fighter or at least a potential one or in addition to being a damsel in distress (because I'm not saying there isn't any defaulting to misogynistic tropes common to media where boys are the target audience when it comes to how she's written in the first two thirds) to just a damsel in distress

her only real battle is in the Kyoto arc against Kamatari, but she's introduced with a bokken in hand and attacks both Kenshin and the Hiruma brothers, and by the time the battles start in the Jinchuu arc, Kaoru either isn't there or she stands in the back with Megumi doing color commentary, and she never really even attempts to fight off Enishi

this is a problem thematically when you take Kaoru's set up as a character into consideration

part of Kenshin's choice in atonement and the theming of the manga is that you have to help the people in front of you and part of how Kenshin does that is by making them better people in the sense that he encourages them to improve the skills that they use to help other people

Megumi is the outlier as she's the healer of the group, but getting her away from Kanryuu so she can go back to working as a doctor and get better at it is how she helps people and what Kenshin encourages her to do to atone and be a better person

for Sano and Yahiko, however, they are fighters so their fighting improves so they can better defend people from harm so that is what should have happened with Kaoru, but it doesn't, Kaoru's skills never improve over the entire course of the manga because she's set up as Yahiko's teacher which I actually don't think should keep her from learning more and improving, but does so anyways so her peak as a fighter hits in the second arc when everyone else's correctly lands in the third

it weakens the message of the manga to have a major character, the literal second character introduced in the series, regress like this on one of the manga's central themes

what's worse is that a peak achievement set up was given to her, to use a Kamiya Kasshin Ryu succession technique in a real battle as she admits she's never done it, but instead it's passed over her to be given to Yahiko which just feels like misogynistic insult to a poorly written theme injury

and if you argue as I have seen that she wasn't set up to be a fighter maybe she was set up to be a teacher so Yahiko using the technique is her triumph, I once again point you to the fact she was literally introduced bokken in hand and attacking Kenshin

being an assistant master/instructor could be taken away from her character and still make the inciting incident work but taking away being a swordsman could not, and it's actually worse for her on a thematic standpoint to say her talent was teaching and not protecting others, at least she goes from needing Kenshin to rescue her to defeating Kamatari without him before regressing but as a teacher she never progresses, never has more than one student

See the full post

18 notes - Posted April 5, 2022

#4

the missions in ac1 are good actually

yes I get that there's only like 4 types of missions, and yes the eavesdropping ones are really nothing to write home about and I do kinda wish they dropped out even more than they do in the game

but they're maybe my favorite part of the game which is good because they're the majority of the game

I just think making you check in at the bureau to get suggestions of where to go and then having to go to viewpoints to then find the missions and then pick which ones and in which order you want to do them in is an extremely good set up and it's just never used again

it's not perfect like the missions are pretty much anywhere and not right where the rafiq/dai at the bureau says they are creating some but not much narrative dissonance and it doesn't help that nothing on the map ever gets labeled so you can't really find your way around based on what you're told

but it gives a lot of autonomy to the player without creating any narrative dissonance and really encourages you to explore and become familiar with your surroundings and it does so with the gameplay unlike later in the series where it feels like it relies on graphics and set dressing to encourage exploration which is a much more shallow and superficial motivation

mostly because it's not really as important to explore and familiarize yourself with your surroundings for game play or narrative in the later games even in ones that take place in only one city as it is in ac1, just for side quests and collecting things

ac1, however, doesn't show buildings on its minimap and having missions and viewpoints and citizens to save spread throughout the city is a good way to make sure the player learns the city, so they know where ladders and hiding spots are when they need them while being chased after assassinations whereas all the later games show buildings on the minimap making escaping and free running easier

maybe the lack of buildings on the minimap is a technological limitation of the time but between it and the spread out missions, it gives a purpose to the open world and exploring it within the cities rather than the open world being a mere spectacle or tedious ground to cover it feels like in some of the later games which is why they give you horses and fast travel and so on

like you don't need or miss fast travel within the cities of ac1 because they're not overly large (in fact their size is controlled so the focus is on the mission and narrative at hand) and you need to learn them to play the game better which is definitely not how it is in later games

and beyond teaching you the city, the missions actually do have good level design

the missions do scale up in difficulty aside from the eavesdropping ones, but with the informers you start with tasks like please capture all these flags which isn’t hard at all to please kill these three templars without raising the alarm and with a time limit, if you choose to go through and do them you actually do get better at the game as you continue which helps with assassinations (tho not the boss battles which is a different issue)

the missions also give you information for the narrative and/or for game play, this part is less perfect, sometimes the information you get is a map that shows where archers are positioned and you never see the map which isn't helpful, but other times it actually tells you very useful information that makes the assassination easier, or it gets you information on the Templars or how Altaïr is seen and treated by the other Assassins

the more effort you put into the missions as in doing more than the minimum number required and the more difficult ones, the more you get out of them, you as the player get better at the game and have an easier time with assassinations, and you get more bits and pieces of the narrative to put together

this is how you want your games to work and in ac1 it's done without making you search around for papers or logs to get additional scraps of information on the narrative

that said, I think the reason the game has as many eavesdropping missions as it does and only ever gets up to 3 out 6 required missions is because it wants to give an easier alternative since it doesn't have an easy mode

and I think that's part of what makes the missions as good as they are, there are ways to make the game easier for yourself or brute force it if you're not good at stealth without compromising the game play or narrative (you just get a little less detail)

I get why people criticize them as repetitive but like they're still good game design and I'm still kinda annoyed the series left them behind

35 notes - Posted August 16, 2022

#3

I just watched a vid on plot armor and it said Legend of Korra was good on stakes/Korra's character arc because the question wasn't whether she would die it was

does she get to keep her bending which makes up a core part of her identity?

does she keep her connection to the old avatars which is also a part of her identity?

how badly will this mercury poisoning hurt her?

but that's only on paper not in execution

she gets her bending back immediately which is just plot armor for bending not death idc if it was because they thought they weren't getting another season it would still be a shit ending for a single season show

how she loses her connection to the past Avatars is contrived batshittery to begin with and I'll be honest that was something that was lightly used in atla like it did happen but even less so in lok it really didnt feel like she'd lost something and the insane giant spirit monster power up kind of cancelled it out and made it not the focus

The one the show tries the hardest on is the mercury poisoning because that takes at least several episodes in the next season to recover from but she still totally physically recovers even if she doesn't psychologically

and ultimately the issue I have with describing this as creating a character arc for Korra is when you look over the show it doesn't feel like an arc where Korra grows and becomes a more well rounded person and a better Avatar especially when she decides to just leave on vacation to the spirit world at the end

every season the show sets up Korra to be taught a lesson as painfully and psychologically damaging as possible for being arrogant and wanting to be the Avatar unlike Aang when she starts out

it was like she had to be forced one step back in her growth at the start of every season except for season 4, and I don't mean like Zuko where Korra makes a reasonable for her decision that the audience sees is actually wrong for her/the world, but a step back that happened because that was what the plot necessitated so the show-runners could punish her appropriately

and the show's treatment of her feels very stark compared to Aang's treatment as he was the show-runners' self insert and basically got to get away with everything from sexually assaulting the girl he liked to not actually completing his character arc or actually being a good person despite being put on a moral pedestal by the show

and I get that lok is supposed to be a show for a more mature audience, and it's not like I don't think it could have been interesting for Korra to deal with losing her bending or connection to past avatars because that wasn't something atla had the time or scope for, those questions just aren't relevant to atla but lok could ask all of those questions under the larger narrative question what is the point of an avatar in a modernizing world and then Korra finds an answer to that question to become a fully realized avatar to complete her character arc

but she literally leaves the world for the spirit world, that's the last thing she does it's basically capitulating to the idea that there is no place for the avatar, it's a negative character arc literally a tragedy with a metaphorical suicide by leaving the human world for the spirit world in a show that's supposedly optimistic and positive because they defeat all the bad guys

which in hindsight makes everything she went through over the course of the show so much worse, it's just torture that doesn't make her a better person or a better avatar, it just grinds her down until she accepts she has no place and leaves

it just reeks of racism and misogyny because Aang was never and would never have been treated so poorly

38 notes - Posted September 9, 2022

#2

I think there are two aspects of the first Assassin's Creed that I like about it that are kind of unfair advantages it has just by its nature as the first of the series

the mystery aspect of its plot and the cleverness of the framing device when it comes to narrative dissonance

something I've noticed over time as I've played more and more games is that I prefer games with a mystery aspect to the plot, for other mediums like books or movies it's enough if I'm like I need to know what happens next, it doesn't have to be a mystery, but with video games, the ones I enjoy most are the ones where I'm like something is up and I'm going to find out what

and ac1 has that to its advantage as you don't know anything about its world at all, it can make the Templars into a mystery plot you have to unravel assassination by assassination while hunting around as Desmond to figure them out in the modern time line as well as trying to figure out what the Piece of Eden is

and once that info is out there you can't take it back for later games, like yeah you have new Templar plots to figure out and there's more about the Pieces of Eden to discover but you still already know who the Templars are and what an Apple is

and frankly the rest of the series doesnt really try to have that much mystery not to the extent the first does with the big bad reveal

as for the framing device, I like when games at least try to tackle the narrative dissonance of dying and coming back to life again, like you can have a good game if it doesn't and you just live, but I like it

and the animus is a pretty good one in my opinion, I think it's clever and takes advantage of video games as a medium

why can you come back to life? Because all the combat is being performed by someone who is already dead, they just didn't die here, you did it wrong and have to do it over

so your health isn't health it's how closely you follow what they did in real life so if you go back to doing what they did of course you recover

and the heads up display isn't what they actually saw in real life it's because you're using a machine, and there's no display outside of it

it's not perfect because you do get button prompts as Desmond outside of the animus and it should probably be first person rather than third or actually use the security camera angles the game uses occasionally but it covers a lot of the dissonance the stuff that is most game-y and you see most frequently

as it's the first of the series a lot of effort and care was put into making it work and be believable whereas later in the series it can be taken as a given, it's no longer clever because it's not new

and that's why it annoys the shit out of me when they added medicine you can take to increase sync like I get if they wanted it so Ezio could be injured and it is acting as hp but fucking hell don't break your own game logic immediately with the sync actually acting as both health and sync, that was an opportunity to be clever that they didn't take if they wanted to have both injuries and keep the synchronization rate, they could have found some other solution but didn't they just break one of the things that resolved narrative dissonance because it's easier and convenient to the player to easily up sync

42 notes - Posted August 22, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Six the musical is actually super fucked up

I went in without knowing anything beyond it being about Henry VIII's wives and that the music would be pop inspired

I assumed that it would be not that serious but try to talk about who these women were outside of their marriages

and I was wrong on both accounts it was almost entirely about their marriages and worse tried to bring up extremely serious topics and I don't mean that two of the wives were beheaded I mean they were bringing up miscarriages and repeated sexual abuse

instead of using anachronisms to make these women more relatable to a modern audience, the show uses the trappings of modern female celebrity and pop idol-hood and singing competitions to further trivialize and mock these women's trauma and oppression and in fact mock them for the same reasons they had been mocked during their lives and ever since like for promiscuity or miscarriages or dying in childbirth (the show even jokes that dying in childbirth is dying of natural causes like wtf)

like I get they have a song that pulls the rug out and goes oh wait actually what Katherine Howard is singing about over a catchy tune is sexual assault and she's traumatized by it and she ends up beheaded for it

but the show didn't EARN it, like she's singing this song within a framework of a singing competition to be named the best queen and the measure by which you win is how much you suffered, the display of genuine emotion and suffering is undercut by the format and tone

the woman singing is still ultimately presented as a caricature of the actual Katherine Howard and not a full person because there isn't time for her to be portrayed as more

because the show is only 9 songs long, that's barely an album let alone a musical, there are concept albums by pop bands with more narrative depth than this show and the dialogue between the numbers can't save it either

because again they set up the format of the musical as a singing competition between the women (half the dialogue is actually dedicated to setting this up over idk giving these women depth) so the tone for all of the women's dialogue is in the style of pop stars causing drama and feuding so it's all one upping each other and going for the ooh burn reaction from the audience

like right after Howard's song about her repeated sexual assault is finished it's joked about as having a lot of verses BY Howard to prove that she wins

I get that the show ended with Catherine Parr being like we shouldn't be in competition with each other and them all agreeing not to compete

but it's at the end of the show after the majority of the cast has sung and after Howard's song specifically, like it doesn't retroactively change WHY these characters sang those songs or how they were portrayed in treating each other up to that point

it's literally the writers coming in and going wink wink nudge nudge to the audience hey we know what we did was super unethical by portraying these women in this way and having them compete over their suffering but don't you forgive us for knowing what we did was fucked up?

no because acknowledgement doesn't magically make what was just presented ethical especially because the tone is still wrong for it, it's still not earned

like they try to rescue their shallow and lazy portrayal of Anne Boleyn as a ditzy party girl by having her quote what I think is actual feminist theory (not that I can find the quote to confirm it) to support ending the competition

except again because the show's tone is not serious enough and didn't earn this conversation there's a moment of silence so she can joke and say what I read

the show literally discourages the audience from taking this ending of reconciliation between the queens and any feminist messaging with it seriously because of its tone and immediately back pedaling from any seriousness by going actually lets rewrite history to make things nice and pretty don't look at how bad things were, don't look at how bad we were

and it worked, I've looked at the tags and reviews, fans describe the show as a fun pop singing competition despite the competition being cancelled in show

it's honestly pathetic that this show won any awards especially for original score when it only had 9 fucking songs and they weren't even good

like say what you want about Hamilton but at least it felt like Miranda read an actual book on the dude and put effort into the songs

Six makes me doubt anyone involved read a book on any of these women and the songs feel like bad and lazy copies of pop songs trying to cash in on what's trendy

Like trust me I get the desire to see more musicals written by women and to have a cast of women and be about women's stories, I want to see it and support it

but profiting off the real suffering women endured and perpetuating it yourself and then trivializing it isn't the way to go

60 notes - Posted August 5, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[wicked-jade]

22, 24, & 25 for the end of year fic asks!

Thanks for the asks, Jonas!! 😘

22. events you participated in this year

I wrote a couple of fics for the Cobra Kai Halloween event! (I do still want to write more of "I Ain't Evil"). Other than that, there's the drabbles I've written for the allvalley100. I'm also participating in the Secret Santa event.

24. favorite fic you read this year

Nooo, don't make me narrow it down! I'm bad at making choices, and the answer probably changes depending on the day, lol. But off the top of my head... Put These Battered Bones to Rest by @an-sceal is incredible. I adore that fic (and Reesa's Doubt series) with all my heart.

Good boy by @emletish-fish is also a true delight. Also, your Bright Eyes and Bushy Tails, as well as Anabasis by @deputychairman.

25. a fic you read this year you would recommend everyone read

The Last Coors Banquet in the Valley by @lulamadison! I LOVE that fic! It's just so much fun to read. I've read it multiple times, and it features probably my favorite depiction of Johnny ever. His voice is so perfect in this one, as is his relationship with Miguel.

Also, Bootstrapping by @nomercyonlytears and The Book of Johnny by @kdyelo.

[olivieblake]

KSIGJICNRJCNEHCBD HELLO HELLO WELCOME TO THE HELL THAT IS KNOWING ZUTARA IS EVERYTHING AND SHOULD HAVE BEEN WRITTEN AS SUCH !!!! wow i love that you are as angry as i was (and am every rewatch? yikes) this is amazing i knew you're my favorite but yeah wow man this really. confirms it whew high five

yeah it’s pretty wild how I knew this was what happened and was already bracing for it and yet STILL got completely misled by the narrative??? MEN I tell you MEN. I’m also going to use this ask as a method to reply to some of the other commentary if you don’t mind since this seems like a good place for communal frustration (here is my original post for anyone scrolling around lost)

@meg-hemmings: I agree with all of ur thoughts and I would TOTALLY read anything you wrote for Zutara … your writing is among my absolute favorite ever and I think you would write the Zutara dynamic so beautifully!

@one-man-propaganda-machine: I am - begging - you to write it yourself.

I... am not going to make promises, but I may have to. I want something very specific and that never bodes well for me. I doubt it would be more than a one-shot, but there are multiple scenes that could have occurred between episodes that would flesh out what was there (and of course I’d cut the final 15 seconds of the show, much like another epilogue I loathe and ignore)

@deifiliaa: omg atla discourse in 2021; olivie, i’d love to see what your character tier list looks like now that you’ve finished the series 👀

I’m going to put azula at the top. not because she’s a good person obviously but she’s FULL. OF. HITS. every time she’s on the screen the narrative gets immediately more interesting. she’s savvy and self-assured and I love it. her ending depressed me although I like that it was kind of about the loss of her two best friends? if that had been more of a focus I think I would have enjoyed it more but yeah, losing mai and ty lee could have been rightfully devastating. who among us is not totally obliterated by friend breakups. I also really loved uncle iroh; if anything that’s why I wasn’t invested in zuko’s storyline until close to the end, because watching him disappoint his uncle was very difficult (I get it, he’s a teenager, he’s growing and evolving and whatnot, but also I am closer to being his uncle than to being him so like, yeah). I also hope the peter pan revenge guy (JET that’s his name, sorry pregnancy kills my brain cells) did hook up with both katara and zuko. I love that journey for all three of them. I wanted more time with mai than we got, so there wasn’t quite enough there to love... but I was very down with ty lee interfering on her behalf. what a pivotal moment

of the core characters I think I was quickest to love sokka; the episode where he apologizes to suki and asks her to train him cemented it for me. I think it’s a big deal to show boys apologizing on-screen and owning their misconceptions. I like katara a lot—she’s what a lot of people do with fanon hermione. toph is also great, and part of me feels there is a strong basis for a ship with aang that balances their opposing energy, though I also like the idea of them being platonic besties. aang is... twelve. pretty much every time he was on the screen mr blake (a teacher) was like “man, aang is such a seventh grader,” so it was nice how convincing that was for his emotional journey, but at the same time it was hard to forget he was in seventh grade. appa and momo are STARS. I am sure I have mentioned this before but mr blake really loves animals and he was devastated by appa’s kidnapping; he hugged our dog for about ten minutes after aang found appa. after he decided I was zuko, he speculated that he is closest to aang but he’s not happy about it lol. “ugh, aang and I are such boring pacifists” was I believe his take on the subject

@libbynico, who for some reason I can’t tag: so true! katara was literally something like a mother/older sister figure to aang the entire time, but whatever

yeah, I think it really sucks that katara, as the emotionally nurturing character, felt shoved into the role of love interest. it’s everything wrong with the distribution of emotional labor in male-female relationships but sure, WHATEVER, apparently nobody thought to ask me in 2008

@touslesnoms: I liked “such selfish prayers” by andromeda3116 if you ever decide to read zutara after the series; the worst prisoner by emletish is super funny too

thanks for the recs! I will take them. I do want something very specific so I will be accepting recs until I find it lol. or until I lose composure and write it (yeah this is me WITH my composure, no wonder mr blake thinks I’m zuko, “I’m never happy” indeed)

@gaeleria: THANK YOU!!! Ugh omg that “I’m confused” kiss scene made me actively hate the ending. I knew ahead of time they were endgame, so I tried to make myself accept it early on. Like, I really didn’t like the pairing, but I wasn’t going to be emotionally invested in the romance and it was just going to be like, whatevs. AND THEN THEY WROTE THAT SCENE??! 1000% no. What was even the point of that scene? If they had written it to make Aang have some introspection and realize it’s not all about him, Katara’s feelings matter too, or even apologize, or anything… but no, there was literally no point to that scene. No character growth, it was never mentioned again. Ugh.

this is in answer to both you and beloved @zabbini: yeah this was a fuck-up for sure lol. I think it may come down to editing for time; the series is very irregularly paced, what with the majority of the action taking place in the final three episodes of a 16 episode season. or maybe it’s just because MEN CAN’T BE TRUSTED TO WRITE ROMANCE but either way yeah this was a real misstep and just truly, truly reeked of a particular (white) male attitude about how women think and what they owe. had a bad day, dudes? buy a gun, kiss your forever girl, do whatever you want and it’s fine! (I’m exaggerating but barely)

in terms of what’s so angering for me: a character like katara who previously had tons of agency was robbed of it when it came to her romantic arc, which is just really upsetting. and to be fair, I was equally upset when zuko instantly agreed to the agni kai with azula because it was like okay well katara’s extremely valuable, as you know, but now you want her to just sit on the sidelines...? (more of a story flaw than a relationship flaw, but my chest sunk a little at the idea that katara was going to sit by and watch as an accessory to zuko’s story when she’s a crucial weapon in their collective fight. what a waste, right?) 

it’s also especially hard to buy into the aang thing when zuko’s method of problem-solving on katara’s behalf is there for comparison. he asks her what she needs in order to find closure and then from there, does everything necessary to get it without having to be asked twice. versus aang, who is a twelve-year-old pair of rogue lips who never wins any of his fights without the aid of phenomenal cosmic powers...? ugh I’m getting off track but in the end there’s just a complete lack of understanding what female audiences want, though again, I don’t think they were really considering that at all. which I guess is... fair, it’s not the point of the show, but then why make the ending romantic at all? to show that their brand of hero gets everything he wants, I guess

in conclusion in 2008 I’m not sure the industry was capable of doing better, which sucks but isn’t surprising. still, it does fit the components of “stuff I write fics for,” which is I enjoyed most of it but find myself enraged by slivers I compulsively need to fix—WHICH IS STILL NOT A PROMISE but ugh I can already feel myself giving in 

[the-badger-mole]

Not sure if you answered this already but are there any fics zutara or otherwise that had tropes/plot points you really liked?

That probably inspired you and even made you wish they had explored those things more?

Are there tropes you'd like to see explored further?

I really like the idea of a reverse capture fic (that is, Zuko is the one who is captured instead of Katara). I think the most popular version right now is @emletish-fish's The Worst Prisoner series, and it is very good. Go read it if you haven't yet.

I'd like to see this same premise, but a more serious take on it. I would like to do it myself, but I have so many other writing projects that I don't know when I'd even get around to it. Maybe someday. But in the meantime, if someone else wants to try it, or has read this premise, please drop me links!

[muffinlance]

i finished salvage in a couple hours and i’m still thinking about it a full day later so i was wondering if you (or any of your followers) know of any good captured!zuko fics, by anyone, really

I too would like the answer to this. It's more common for Zuko to do the capturing. Is it so much to ask for a dozen high quality completed Zuko-gets-captured fics in varying degrees of whump and captors-to-friends-to-found-family?

(Shout-out to @emletish-fish 's The Worst Prisoner, which is the only one I can think of off the top of my head. That right there is some Good Stockholms.)

[mythicamagic]

Tagged

I got tagged by @jkrobertson, thank you!

Author name: Mythicamagic on AO3, ff.net, dokuga, deviantart, youtube, discord and twitter. I can't recall using it on any other sites.

Fandoms you write for: Inuyasha mostly atm. I dabble in other things occasionally like Fruits basket, Bleach and DL too.

Where you post:  AO3, Dokuga, FF.net and sometimes on Tumblr, too.

Most popular oneshot:  Forever Starts Tonight (bleh hate that title. You could tell I was younger when I wrote it. Was I listening to Bonnie Tyler at the time or something? Total Eclipse of the heart is still a banger though) It's Sesskag and technically a two-shot but I’m counting it since it was originally a oneshot until I updated it through editing.)

Most popular multichap: Swimming in Silk (which I'm happy about, rather than one of my older works being popular, its something I worked on recently, which hopefully is indicative that I've managed to improve)  

Favourite story: I-I have to pick one of mine?! You cruel tagging game. Urgh...The Otome Game is a really dear fic to me. I wrote it during a difficult time and the support I received through it really saved me. So despite Swimming in Silk perhaps being the best thing I've managed to write, and Diabolik Fairytales being really fun to explore, The Otome Game is my favourite. For favourite oneshot I'd say Picture Frames.

Story you were most nervous to post: Macaria. I mean... you get why just by looking at the Ao3 tags lolol

How you pick your titles: I'm currently trying to go through all the letters of the alphabet as a personal goal for titles (don't ask why) If it's a oneshot I don't usually care and will just pick anything, even if it's mundane. If it's a multi-chap I will agonise other it and make big lists of possible titles.

Do you outline? If it's a oneshot, no. I have the story in my head and can follow the plot points easily. For multi-chapter stuff, it's a bit of mix of both. I usually bullet point important plot beats and go from there.

Complete stories: 44

In Progress:  I’m including the ones in google drives: 5

Coming Soon Eventually: Ulquihime cute/disturbing childhood friends/Lovecraftian nightmare oneshot, another Hatohru Oneshot, I’m taking part in a DL lovers zine,  more Macaria aaandd....possibly the Lotura oneshot that's been sitting in my drafts at 2,500 words since last year. I might delete it I might not. I've been wondering whether to delete Night Lillies and Support for Limbo too, hmm...

Prompts: I don’t know what this means.

Upcoming story you are most excited for: Probably the Ulquihime one. I don't think anyone will like it because it's... strange, but I will love it like a mother.

Five authors: (don’t feel pressured to answer this btw) @chierafied, @emletish-fish, @the-sloth-woman, @lawliet-imagines and @jafndaegur

[gabriel-agreste-has-no-rights]

14, 25, and 29 for the fic writer/reader asks!! (i think you might have answered some of them before though?? hopefully these are new lol)

(For this ask meme)

14. a fic you didn’t expect to write

Hoo boy.  Too many.  I didn’t see myself falling headfist into both the ATLA and ML fandoms this year, but here we are haha.  I think the most surprising is actually a tossup between Souvenirs We Never Lose (because I didn’t expect to start such an intensive zutara multichapter just based on a 1am decision) and You’re Not a Pirate, which is just a crack Kingdom Hearts one-shot I wrote after my roommate made a silly comment on one of my posts.

25.  a fic you read this year you would recommend everyone read

A Lie for a Lie by @botherkupo babey!!  Marichat + all the good tropes, long enough for a slowburn, short enough to knock out even if you have a short attention span, reveal goodness, other sides of the lovesquare involved too, humor while still staying in character, etc.  Everyone knows I love this fic lol, I’ve gotten at least 3 people to read it just by not shutting up about it

(other ask says you wanted to switch to 29 so)

29. longest fic you read this year

Would have to be the Stalking Zuko series by emletish.  Even if we’re not counting the full series, one of the fics is about 430K by itself.  (Holy crap I knew summer was a time but I didn’t realize this was THAT long until I checked it now lasdfj;lsdf)  Can’t personally rec it though because there final fic in the series is rated M and has some stuff that squicks me out out, but I did finish the whole thing anyway because I was in too deep at that point lol

Thanks for the asks!! 

[emberfaye]

First Line Tag Game

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favorite opening line, then tag 10 of your favorite authors!

I was tagged by @sungmee (thanks!) With the exception of #2, these are all good omens. #2 is a fic for the obey me fandom.

Crowley spent a lot of time in his bed, but it was not always as perfect as this. Between the sweet and bitter https://archiveofourown.org/works/30393891

He undresses you slowly, slow enough that your heart triples in pace by the end; every touch is a study in teasing. Before dawn https://archiveofourown.org/works/30280380

He let his fingers trace over the curve, touched the familiar limb in reverence, then up towards the belly. Partake in this ritual https://archiveofourown.org/works/29782752

"Hello, angel." kneel on my mattress https://archiveofourown.org/works/29141349

Aziraphale has always been entranced by winter skies, especially at night. parallel phenomena https://archiveofourown.org/works/29092479

America was always a good place to visit for a vacation. At the edge with you https://archiveofourown.org/works/27593108/chapters/67501109

The magic has a crisp, winter tang to it. Freely given https://archiveofourown.org/works/27138721/chapters/66274381

Aziraphale knew he wasn't alone in the sparsely furnished room. Bedtime https://archiveofourown.org/works/26753035

When Aziraphale returned from his latest assignment, he was practically incandescent with joy, though his smile and words were hidden behind tight lips as per his usual fear. The mirror that reflects https://archiveofourown.org/works/26409229

War laughed, the echoing sounds of violence around her.  Lost in the echo https://archiveofourown.org/works/26178976

If there was one thing Aziraphale was good at, it was bending the rules. The art of folding https://archiveofourown.org/works/26277229 

Aziraphale wished he had discovered the bliss that came with blindfolds years ago. Bliss https://archiveofourown.org/works/25699777 

It was those damn shoes, Crowley decided. Down to the last bite https://archiveofourown.org/works/25492291 

Aziraphale had been all over the globe. Daybreak https://archiveofourown.org/works/24963508

“You need to go see the southern pansy.” well adjusted, in theory https://archiveofourown.org/works/24757594/chapters/59859412

An angel and a demon stood on a wall while in the distance, Adam and Eve made their way.  Solar flares and salt https://archiveofourown.org/works/24724474

Crowley was actually rather glad when the angel had started wearing clothes that covered him up. What lies beneath https://archiveofourown.org/works/24692614 

When the angel knocked at her metaphorical door, Tracey wasn’t sure if she should answer it. Insider perspective https://archiveofourown.org/works/24560959 

Getting used to being in a corporation after existing in an amalgamation of reality was not going as smoothly as Aziraphale had expected. Strength training https://archiveofourown.org/works/24523402 

It took two and a half bottles of wine to iron out their plan–dubiously dubbed Anti Antichrist–and another bottle to agree on their covers. Tugged loose https://archiveofourown.org/works/24473950

This was fun! I think about first sentences a lot, and i hope it’s reflected in my work. <3 

tagging people who may like this/who i really adore their work, apologies if you’ve been tagged already i don’t get on tumblr much anymore @shinyopals @shay-moonsilk @emletish-fish @noodlefrog-omens @yarsian @summerofspock @hmgfanfic @scrapheapchallenge @entanglednow @ohmypreciousgirl

[emletish-fish]

So I'm partly sending this just to say that I really love your CK fics and you've captured all the characters so well and they're EXCELLENT!!!!!!! But I also wanted to ask you something about Daniel, and that is - why doesn't he have any sympathy for the kids in Cobra Kai? Like I get that a lot of it's to do with his KK3 trauma, and also his issues with Johnny, but aside from a warning to Miguel near the start there's basically no sympathy, no real attempt to reach out, and I always wondered why? Considering he knows EXACTLY how Cobra Kai can get into your head, he doesn't extend any concern to any of the teens and I don't know whether it's just his KK3 trauma in general or whether it's because he feels the kids should know better automatically or some other reason, and I'm interested to know what your take on it is.

Firstly, thank you so much!

I'm so glad you enjoyed my fics!

Cobra Kai is such a fun sandpit to play in.

Now, onto Daniel.

I'm not sure I would rate Daniel not reaching out to Cobra Kai kids as character flaw exactly, especially considering he has no relationship or connection with any of them aside from Aisha (and later Robby).

Like, it would be kinda inappropriate for Daniel to start up an awkward conversation with hawk or bert or any kid he doesn't know to tell them of the evils of Cobra Kai. Who is Daniel to them? some random toyota salesman they see on billboards.

Also it would have been tricky even with the one kid he does know - Aisha. Lowkey, judging from Aisha's mom's attitude to Daniel at the Country Club in season 2 - that relationship is frosty. Aisha herself is actually not at all negative to Daniel until he starts insulting cobra kai in youtube videos - so there is a window in which he could have reached out to her, but during that time she and Sam are at odds, so you know, it would have been tricky.

in the beginning, Daniel prefers to 'save' the cobra kai kids by fighting Johnny and/or Kreese, and using subterfuge to try and get the dojo closed down. I think there is three things in general that affect Daniel's choices here.

The Ghost of Miyagi - no bad student, only bad teacher. Daniel is more comfortable tackling what he sees as the source of the problem - the teacher. So his efforst are directed at the adults and the dojo as a business.

Also, Mr Miyagi never once reached out to any of the Cobra Kai kids or tried to influence them in any way. He stopped them from hurting Daniel by kicking the shit out of them and he stopped Kreese from murdering one of them and then peaced-out. That was the end of his involvement with Johnny and co. He did not take any kind of duty-of-care upon himself or see it as his place to 'save' them, even though he clearly recognised the toxicity of their environment and that they weren't inherently bad kids and you know, that whole attempted murder/blatant child abuse thing he knew was going on. Mr Miyagi was a pacifist who espoused non-intervention. Daniel is following the example of his beloved mentor.

(PLS - I know fandom likes to put Mr Miyagi on this impossible pedastal - but he really was just some guy. He was a wonderful man. he was wise and kind. but he wasn't perfect or all knowing. He had such a wonderful connection to daniel, but he didn't see it as 'his mission' to rid the valley of CK. He only gave a shit when they were messing with Daniel.)

Personal precedent -

you speak of Daniel's experience with how Cobra Kai can get into a kids head, but I actually think it makes him almost less likely to reach out to the kids; because he will focus in on Cobra Kai as The Problem.

Remember Daniel learned CK as a solo student, so he doesn't get the camaderie/friendships that can keep kids in Cobra Kai. They wont see it as A Problem when it is solving the other bigger problems in the their lives. Kenny is being horribly bullied. Tory's life is just horrible in general. Robby is getting back at his Dad.

(Johnny, you numbnuts. Robby's rebellions are so specifically you-related. He's learning karate from people you despise - not taking up an ill-advised flirtation with vaping -

Sidenote PSA: don't vape kids.)

For kids like Robby, Kenny and Tory, there is an upside to Cobra Kai. As Robby said, it's helping him get what he wants.

(Was it, Robby? Was it really? Cause, and this is just me, but I kinda get the feeling that you wanted something else rather than aggressive indoctrination, you know?)

But, anyway, these kids will be much less receptive to the whole 'Cobra Kai is evil' thing that Daniel has going on, because they see Cobra Kai as helpful.

(But you, know, they're kids with limited world experience, who've experienced injustice, have anger issues and are lashing out to get back/assert control over their lives etc).

Daniel doesn't see the wider problems most of these kids are dealing with. He doesn't 'get' what drives them to Cobra Kai in the first place. There had to be a whole subterfuge hoopla with attempted murder and rape threats in KK3 before Daniel even considered going to CK, so the idea that someone would just walk through the door willingly isn't going to jive for Daniel.

Also Daniel had Mr Miyagi and his Mom. He such a loving and supportive parental figures to guide him, so he will take that into how he views the situation. He probably unconciously assumes most of the kids in CK will have an adult to guide them.

So in Daniel's mind all he has to do is get rid of CK and their problems will be solved.

Cobra Kai was the biggest problem for young Daniel and once it was gone from his life - he was fine. completely fine. he doesn't need therapy. he does breathing excerises. He did cobra kai and it was bad, but then he has Mr Miyagi and everything was fine again.

Daniel's black and white thinking -

Daniel has really black and white thinking. He's pretty uncompromising when it comes to anything Miyagi or Cobra Kai related. This is a mindset he is only just beginning to grow from at the end of season 4, and even then I would argue that he still sees Cobra Kai as Eviiiil but has come around to begrudgingly seeing some benefit in Johnny's EF style.

Side-note: That said, I think it is important to point out that while Daniel can be hypocritical, Daniel isn't wrong about CK. Cobra Kai indoctrinates kids into an unhealthy, authoritarian and violent world view. Some of the teachings like the emphasis on strength and power, using violence to get your way, the whole might-is-right thing, the disdain for showing any kind of vulnerability are low-key entries to fascism. Cobra Kai indoctrinates kids into a way of life and then It ruins those lives.

Daniel might believe in no bad student in theory, but he also sees anyone associated with CK as bad. Just look at the drastic change in his attitude to Robby as soon as he is in CK. And Robby is a kid he actually knows very well. Look at how he treats Hawk when Hawk is sincerely trying to make amends in early season 4. Look at how rude his to Carmen's face about Miguel at the start of their double date based solely on the AVT.

(oh Carmen you are a more patient and gracious woman than I would be.)

When kids are 'worthy' of his help - they get it in spades. So the kids who defect from CK in season 2 get lavished with positivity and welcoming when they first join. But when kids are 'unworthy' they get completely written off.

Why are you even helping this girl? Daniel asks Amanda. He truly cannot see any benefit in helping Tory. Daniel's black and white thinking = After everything she's done, she doesn't deserve their help.

Oh but Tory needs it. She needs an adult who is not a total snake so badly. And that's a seperate point, but it is one I think is interesting and I hope the show expands on it.

Amanda is intervening directly, something which is against the Myagi teachings. But she is also doing so without violence and through showing genuine care and wanting a better outcome for both girls.

Ultimately, I think Amanda will be more successful in ending the girl's rivalry that Daniel. But treating Tory as a person and showing her understanding, she is laying the first bricks on the road to peace. Daniel's method - to badger Sam about taking the high-road while getting deeper and deeper into a karate war and training her to beat up this girl at a tournament was always going to get mixed results at best).

But yeah, the shorter version is that I don't think Daniel sees the current crop of Cobra Kai students as 'worthy' of his help.

And they wont be until the renounce Cobra Kai and come back to the light.

Even Robby gets this treatment, and he's the kid Daniel is most invested in besides Sam. (Sorry anthony).

This puts the onus of reaching out on the kid, not daniel.

Sam is very much echoing Daniel when she says to Robby:

you made your choice.

Finally, I wrote a different meta about Daniel's story isn't really about his relationship with kids. It's about his need to fight 'the snake'. He has his whole attention focused on the monster terrorising children that he completely loses sight of the children in his care. Even his own daughter (the relationship he is arguably the most invested in) doesn't feel seen by him.

There is always going to be less focus on interpersonal relationships with Daniel's arc. He's preoccupied with the monster he hates rather than the people he loves.

TL:DR

I think it is a mixture of the influence of Miyagi, Daniel's personal experiences and his black and white thinking that prevent him from actively reaching out to the students in Cobra Kai. Daniel thinks it is sufficient to 'save' the kids by getting rid of Cobra Kai without any knowledge of the complexities of their lives and the how the challenges they face can push them into embracing Cobra Kai.

But I give him a pass for that because he has not personal connection to any of these kids (aside from Robby and Aisha).

I think the way Daniel's black and white thinking affect how he treats/uses children directly under his duty of care is a much more valid thing to criticize him for. I actually don't have a problem with him not directly reaching out to any CK students (aside from Robby, but you know, those attempts did not go well).

Thanks for the ask!

[emletish-fish]

Frankly, I feel Amanda should've been way more conflicted about helping Tory. Like, she should be like, "Yes, these kids deserve better influences, but on the other hand, Tory here twice committed premeditated assault on my daughter and she's broken into our house".

(For Tory to be redeemed, and any sort of reconciliation to happen, she needs to learn to be empathetic to those she's hurt, and she needs to be shown acknowledging why her prior behavior was wrong)

It's a YMMV with the how people see the Mom-Triangle. If you found it unsatisfying, that's valid.

I also think the reason why everyone's mileage varies so much with the mom triangle will depend on whether people have a solution based outlook (what will solve the problem/get the best outcome is the priority) or a more punitive punishment orientated outlook (has the wrong-doer being punished sufficiently is the priority).

I unironically love it as a storyline. It was refreshing for me to see a female-centric storyline that was in many ways kinda removed from the karate drama and was instead focused on the relationships between women, and the role of a good female mentor/mother figure.

(I'm trying not to make too many predictions for season 5 aside from 'it will be batshit insane' BUT I think we will see Tory torn between two very opposing view-points, role-models and example of womanhood between Amanda and her new female sensei, (who in many ways will embody a potential cobra-kai embracing future that the old Tory would have aspired to. Whereas Amanda is presenting a much more compassionate example of adult womanhood and shows Tory that it is possible to be both powerful and peaceful).

I do think Amanda showed sufficient ambivalence towards Tory and some uncertainty about helping her during their second interaction at the dealership. It's implied that Amanda backed off helping Tory then and only resumed to do so after the girl approached her. During their third interaction, she is careful to give Tory space and only encourages her to seek help but makes no overtures of direct involvement until Tory asks.

I think, given the time-constraints, more time on Amanda not wanting to help Tory wouldn't have served much purpose.

Season 4 was an immensely crowded season, story-telling wise. With such limited time, I don't quite see what having Amanda pile on the Tory-sucks-train beyond their first two interactions would serve.

Because TV is a visual medium - so we already know that Tory has severe anger issues. We've seen her do unhinged things. We know that Tory is an angry and messed up kid in a terrible situation - so Amanda spending more time complaining about her misdeeds only be re-hashing what we already know, which isn't the best use of screen time.

Also, in the storyline, if Tory didn’t receive any help, there would be absolutely no driving narrative force for her changing her behaviour for the better.  Without Amanda;s intervention, then Tory would most likely continue feeling like the entire world was out to get her and lashing out accordingly.

Amanda meets Tory when she directly confronts her at work, taking full advantage of their power-imbalance and contributing to Tory getting fired. Yes - Tory gets herself fired by her angry outburst, (Tory having anger issues is well established), but Amanda can see she had a role to play in lighting the dynamite and feels contrition.

Amanda can choose to continue being shitty to a girl who already has an immensely hard life (that Amanda just made a whole lot harder) - but what would that ultimately serve the narrative? Seeing another adult bullying Tory/assert their power over her wasn't necessary for me. It's not something I would have found satisfying as a viewer.

We've already see Tory be sexually harrassed, propositioned and financially bullied by her landlord, fired without ceremony by her boss, and mocked cruelly about her dying mother by her aunt (her only living blood relation). We know money is extremely tight, her father is absent and her family had periods where they were starving and had food denied to them by cruel bosses (who also then fired her sick mother). It's implied she was sexually assaulted by an unknown adult male and had to physically defend herself.

(like enough already.)

As a viewer, I did not need to see another Adult mistreat Tory.

Tory has definitely made A LOT of mistakes. So Many. All the Mistakes. But when we look at her life, it's not hard to see why she's gained a 'It's a dog-eat-dog world' kind of cynicism and a layer of anger armour as she goes through life.

I actually think this direction, showing that Amanda also had violent anger issues but was able to work through them, is a much more positive one. Amanda is showing Tory here are other options aside from violence and compassion isn't weakness. She treats Tory gently, and considering how harsh Tory's life is, just being treated kindly by an adult without ulterior motive causes a huge change.

Tory's outlook completely shifts from 'No Mercy - there are no rules' to 'No. I won't cheat to win.'

What we didn't know at the start of the season is that Amanda had a rich history of Violent Teenage Rage and could see part of herself reflected in Tory's anger issues. Amanda identifies with Tory as a result. And she knew from experience the best way to break a pattern of violence and anger is with its opposite, kindness and understanding.

Rather than fighting fire with fire, Amanda chooses to try and take the heat down a notch.

Young!Amanda was treated with compassion and guidance, so she was able to grow past her anger. She's still feisty and assertive, but her rage no longer consumes or controls her.

Tory does not have anyone to show her this kind of compassion and guidance until Amanda comes along.

(For Tory to be redeemed, and any sort of reconciliation to happen, she needs to learn to be empathetic to those she's hurt, and she needs to be shown acknowledging why her prior behavior was wrong)

I don't think Tory needs to reconcile with Sam to be redeemed. Tory's attempts at being a better person should continue whether or not Sam eventually forgives her.

It would be great if the girls can eventually bury the hatchet, and Tory definitely should apologise to Sam at the very least - but I also don't think her 'redemption' should revolve around Sam.

You've said that Tory needs to learn empathy, but for me, considering absolutely no one in her life treats Tory with any sort of empathy, this will be a hard thing for her to learn on her own without any kind of lived experience or role models.

(This is not a dig at Tory's mom, who we've never even seen, but her illness has thrust the full weight of keeping a family of 3 running on her 16/17 year old daughter. Tory is responsible for earning rent money, preparing food, paying bills and supervising her brother. No matter how warm and loving their relationship, the physical reality of Tory's situation is unchanged).

But who else could teach Tory about morals and ethics and how to make amends and live a better life? Kreese? Her creepy and inappropriately sexual landlord? Her spiteful, greedy addicted aunt?

I will say that Tory suffers from very uneven writing, depending on what the writers want to do with her in that particular scene (eg her yoyo-ing concern about her family is very dependant on her proximity to Sam), and this can hurt her character arcs as she engages in some inexplicable dramatics for the sake of The Dramas!

However, showing that Tory will respond equally as emphatically to a positive role model in Amanda as she did to a negative role model in Kreese, is actually a really interesting step. Tory has an incredible amount of respect for Amanda and really takes onboard everything she says.

She isn't immediately a better person and she still makes bad choices, but overall, she shows that she is extremely receptive to Amanda and is beginning to absorb her world-view.

Learning the importance of conducting herself honourably in a fight was something Tory clearly learned from Amanda, (not Kreese or Silver). Amanda wanted BOTH girls to be able to move on and find peace and they were never going to be able to do that if Tory cheated (something she was later pressured directly to do by the other adult she respects the most).

It was easier for Tory to believe in the importance of fairness when she finally had a taste for it herself, when she wasn't broke and overburdened by the weight of caring for her family, when she didn't feel like there were no rules in life. Amanda helping her was instrumental in Tory growing. Finally getting a bit of sunlight helped her bloom.

Tory's life has been very unfair, and she's a poverty stricken and vulnerable young woman who easily embraced a 'no mercy' mindset because that was how she had always been treated, so this worldview slotted neatly into her lived experience.

Amanda showing her mercy caused her to re-evaluate her deeply held convictions. Tory's actions in the final prove that, at her core, Tory does want to be a better person and live a better life.

[emletish-fish]

I just think it's so funny it took 1-2 years for Miguel and Robby to get over their drama. All it took was for a fight and Robby to apologize for his actions [thank GOD he did, that's the Robby I know and love. Someone who at the core is a good kid]. And they had a lot of issues with both of them that involved Johnny and Sam being people they fought over [mainly Johnny, I just think Sam was just a reminder for Robby that people keep choosing Miguel over him in his mind, etc.] Meanwhile Daniel and Johnny just got their shit together with one another after 35 years. The kids on this show really are more mature than the adults tbh.

The kids on the show are so much more mature than the adults!

I saw a post about how accidentally on-brand it was that these two got over their issues pretty quick - almost like... there wasn't that much interpersonal animosity between them and their 'rivarly' was all built on misunderstandings and proxy fighting over people like Sam and Johnny, rather than anything innately personal.

I always thought that it would only really take an apology from Robby, so Miguel knew he didn't do it on purpose, and they'd be able to move forward.

I don't even care that it was rushed. I've been wanting these two to be friends since season 1, so I will take what crumbs I can get.

The Johnny and Daniel rivarly had to be dragged out for Plot Reasons, but damn if some of them were really dumb. The boys should have taken them to olive garden or locked them in Johnny's crappy escape room months ago!

[emletish-fish]

I wanted to ask you for a while but what is your favorite zutara moment in the worst prisoner? is a moment that was already posted or is it in b3 yet to come? I don’t know if I can pick one I love so many of them

Wow!

What a question!

Thanks so much for the ask

It's hard for me to pick just one, because I love so many of them.

And there are some really fun/sweet/emotional ones coming up.

I'm going to high fidelity this and give you my top five so far -

In order -

1 - Their first Papaya conversation in the fortuneteller chapter will always have a warm place in my heart. re-reading it and seeing where they start compared to where they end up is great. And I'm a sucker for foreshadowing and I shoved lots of it into this convo.

2 - It's more of a group moment, but I love the real thaw that happens after Bato of the Water Tribe and before the Gaang meet Jeong Jeong. There is some great development between Zuko and Katara even while they're still on 'opposite sides'. I do love the tension between the growing affection between all the characters and the nature of their situation. I love the way Zuko gets annoyed at them and storms away from them in the forest, and they all just follow him cause they feel bad about hurting his feelings. (none of these kids understand how kidnapping is meant to work), and I love them discovering the fire festival together.

3 - The way they gain comfort and draw strength from each other when training together in the Northern Water Tribe. I love their whole dynamic in the NWT, and how they both unfailing support each other (until the invasion).

(And this is just because I love Katara - but I really wanted her to have a partner that appreciated all facets of her personality, so that she didn't have to limit/minimiser herself or feel like she was Too Much. Fanfic can be part wish fulfilment, and I really wanted to give her that. Zuko totally respects her desire to slap misogynists with Ice-whips and is like, you go babe. I'll hold your purse.)

4 - They are separated for much of book 2, but damn do I love everything about their reunion in Ba Sing Se. The Love! The Drama! The unhinged wacky hijinks! Dealing with Jet - all of it was fun.

(unrelated, but I'd say the whole Gaang dynamics coping with Jet and Smellerbee and Longshot were an absolute delight to write and so far my favourite of the whole fic. I legit chortled to myself while writing it. Each character brought their own unique brand of ridiculous to the Appa rescue.)

5 - While it's a sadder moment, their conversation in the cave is really pivotal. Zuko being finally able to talk to someone about what he assumes happen to his mother is a huge moment for him vulnerability-wise.

[emletish-fish]

Hey! I’m rereading worst prisoner and I was wondering if you had any plans for it? Also if there is any way to get you the rights to atla so that you can be in charge of cannon since your version is the only one I am willing to accept lol

Ah, The Worst Prisoner!

I do love it.

I want to finish it.

I know exactly what is going to happen.

But, full disclosure - I've hit a wall of writer's block with the next Aang-centric chapter. We've spent a lot of time with the Fire Nation kids, and I got many queries/requests to catch up with the gaang, so I promised I'd write the next chapter from their POV...

(and I normally try and keep my promises, and I knew what was going to happen, and all these events were happening concurrently, so I figured it would be easy)

And...

Nothing

I love Aang as a character. It's a pivotal chapter for him when it comes to reconciling himself with his past/his beliefs/how he wants to BE as an avatar... so I really want to get it right. It's a chapter I probably feel more perfectionist about.

(And this is probably due to the 10+ years of Aang discourse. So I do want to be really clear in this chapter. I love that lil dude, and he was done so dirty by canon. Aang is a character were you can clearly see that there were huge squabbles in the writers room about him because the end of his story does not match the set-up AT ALL, and I have never seen a character be done a greater disservice whilst being given their so called happy-ending.

Like, wants and needs Bryke?!

It's a super basic story-telling construct.

What the character wants vs what the characters need are meant to be two different things, and the narrative tension comes from them being pulled between the two. Shoving what they want in their face and never giving them a skerric of what they actually need isn't a happy ending.

Aang wants katara.

Aang needs to forgive himself and get closure on the loss of his people, reconcile himself with his beliefs, gain some self actualisation and control over himself and his powers, rebuild his found family (because the air nomads weren't 1950s american boomers all about the nuclear family. found family was their whole jam?!) and be able to confidently move forward in his role as the avatar rather than running away from it.

but sure, lets give him NONE of that. Aang gets not one ounce of closure, not a single drop of working through his fears and doubts to overcome them and become stronger for it. Aang gets a magic rock and a kiss then Bryke call it a happy ending?!

And that's not even my biggest gripe!

My biggest gripe is that Aang was the character I actually saw a lot of myself in. I'm a pacifist. I will build my own canoe and paddle to the other-side of the globe to avoid an awkward conversation with someone. I totally got that aspect of Aang's character and between season 1 - 3 and a half, I didn't actually mind the way he would run away from problems because the narrative was clearly set up to DEAL WITH THAT AS A CHARACTER FLAW. Like, I was pretty sure there was going to be a satisfactory resolution.

I'm a pacifist but I totally support BLM, and the Eat The Rich Brigade and Extinction Rebellion, even when they aren't using pacifist means. Without any exaggeration - billionaires are completely happy for a shit ton of us to die just so their stock portfolio can go up a quarter of a percent. Systematic Racism isn't going to be solved by a gentle approach because white-supremacists/facists want to kill everyone who isn't like them. How do you embrace non-violence in a very violent system?

It's the tolerance paradox in a children's show.

It's really meaty, weighty stuff that Aang's entire story was set up to deal with.

He is a pacisfist who is shoved against his will into a situation were he has to kill a dictator or the whole world will burn.

like wow, what a conundrum.

Damn, I was expecting some really great self-discovery and philosophy and drama and beautiful coming of age/coming into his own for Aang.

and instead...

magic rock.

An emotional, spiritual, meaningful and impactful personal conundrum with extremely high stakes all revolving around the pacifist dilemma that was set up from the very beginning of the entire show - pretty much something that could have been the centrepiece of the entire series. The main philosophical questions of ATLA - how to choose peace in the middle of a war? what is the price of justice? what is the importance of mercy?

and the answer we were given was ....

No think to hard... No life lesson for you here. Magic turtle and magic rock solve all your problems. by magic.

Like, Damn.

Yeah, I'm still salty about this.

Aang was done so dirty, y'all.

But do you know how hard it is to be a Zutara shipper and an Aang fan?

Like, I genuinely like Aang.

And I honestly feel that so much Aang criticsm/Aang hate is railing against Bryke shoving their creepy nice-guy fantasies onto the character and completely derailing his story so they could animate their weird creepy fantasies...

That's a rant for another time.

But anyway, the Aang-hate seems more about the weird writing than Aang himself, and people can't seperate the character from the writing. (and like, fair. I get that. Bryke couldn't either, because they animated older Aang, AN ASIAN MONK, to look exactly like one of them - a midwestern white dude. Like, we knew they were over-identifying, but c'mon people! seriously. I'm pretty sure that's racist.)

But anyway, the ATLA fandom is still WILD.

For saying things like "Aang should have gotten what he needed, not what he wanted. I think it would have been a better story if Aang was allowed to work through his grief and build a found family/ Aang's story would have been better if it dealt with his spiritual conundrum/ Aang's beliefs are closely modelled on buddism and so an american style nuclear family as a happy ending doesn't make much sense for him. Aang was a 12 year old child who's entire narrative was about coming into his own as the avatar and having him french kiss someone as the end point was a disconcerting choice for me," - has gotten my inbox overflowing with hate. I've been called a nazi, told to kill myself and had someone try to dox me.

all from Aang stans?!

So yeah, writing Aang-centric chapters makes me apprehensive.

Like, I'm a person too?

Dealing with an inbox overflowing with unhinged hate stresses me out.

Like, I still have the occassional Aang stan getting all up in my grill on my Cobra Kai fanfics comment section yelling at me?!

(Cobra Kai is a VERY different story to ATLA. Yeah, they both have martial arts in them and talk about balance, but.... beyond that, the characters/story-structure/arcs are very different. Like, these characters would not fit into each other's worlds.

Like, can you imagine the sheer amount of chaos Johnny Lawrence could create if he had bending?

my god. the mind boggles.)

So yeah. Whenever I have an Aang-centric arc, I get nervous about pressing 'post' cause I don't want to invite an avalanche of weird abuse.

But you asked if I have plans for worst prisoner and damn straight, I have PLANS!

So many PLANS

And one of those plans was to start to un-tangle Aang's spiritual conundrum in a way that I felt was personally satisfying.

(Spoiler alert - The Worst Prisoner will contain no magic rocks. Aang is going to have to work through this problem on his own).

But because these plans involve Aang not always getting what he wants and having to work for what he needs - I've hit a bit of a block. Past drama/discourse/series of unhinged abusive messages has made me a little wary of opening the can of worms again.

So there has been a massive delay in chapters because I really don't want to be misunderstood this time.

But I know exactly what I want to say about pacifism/justice/mercy/Aang's dilemma this time.

But, yeah, writing it is hard because every second sentence I'm like 'Is this going to bite me in the ass?'

I'm toying with the idea of just finishing Zuko-Finally-Escapes/Fire-Sibling Dysfunctional Relationship Shenangins Arc instead.

That one is easier to write now.

(To be honest, everyone bags Azula fanatics, but I have only ever been threatened with violence from Aang stans? And there is like a weird ironic disconnect for me there because Aang is the easy-going, happy-go-lucky pacifist and Azula is.... the very opposite of that. But yeah, I'm less nervous about writing fire nation drama, simply because people who really jive with Zuko, Azula, Mai or Ty Lee seem to have mastered the art of reading something they disagree with on the internet and then scrolling past and continuing with their day?)

So if the next chapter is Zuko-centric, you will know what I have decided to do.

(Honestly that is looking more and more likely at this point).

But if the next chapter is Aang centric, then... um, three cheers for me.

I would have solved one of Aang's challenges from the series, and stopped avoiding the unpleasant drama.

So that would be some fun character growth for me.

If you have made it to the bottom - my apologies for the rant.

[emletish-fish]

What do you think would've happened if, instead of Robby, Sam was by Miguel's side when the police broke up Moon's party?

I actually don't think this would have changed that much.

Miguel and Robby both knew to scatter when the cops arrived. Regardless of when it happened, either pre or post kiss, Miguel's first default would have been to get him and Sam away from the house. However, I don't think he would have pulled any moves on Sam nor do I think she would have initiated more intimacy if they had been interrupted.

It's a classic rom-com trope, but I also think the cops arrival would have killed any mood and brought them both back to reality a little. Miguel was clearly regretful and didn't want to cheat on Tory. Sam felt guilty about cheating on Robby.

I think it would have been pretty probable that Miguel would have gotten her back to Robby - which might have fueled his paranoia about the two of them and he might have been less likely to confess to hiding the medal - but other than that, I don't see much changing.

no, I think the game changer would have been AISHA.

Look at her caring-but-also-extremely-judgemental-friend vibe.

If Sam had been with AISHA, or if Miguel was getting away from teh house with Sam and then they ran into Aisha, I think things would have gone very differently.

Aisha is still relatively sober, clearly worried about Sam and has known the girl her whole life. They've been good friends since forever, despite their recent rupture. I can see Aisha doing one of two things.

1 - Call an UBER or take Sam home. (she might have even been designated, so had her car there). Aisha knows where Sam lives, and will probably have less sympathy than Robby did for Sam freaking out about her Dad's reaction. I can see a bit of tough love and Aisha pointing out that Sam chose to drink. She knows her way around the house, makes Sam drink water, tucks her in. Either way, Sam is home sleeping off a hangover when her parents wake up in the morning.

2 - Impromptu Sam sleep-over. On the off-chance that Sam's pleas not to go home move Aisha, I can see her offering to let Sam crash at her place. (If they've been friends since kindy, then these two have definitely had sleepovers.) Aisha's parents are on the ball, and one of them messages or calls Daniel and Amanda to let them know that Sam is staying over.

Either way, crisis averted.

So naturally, because this is a drama filled karate soap opera, this was not to be.

(lowkey wondering if this a reason why Aisha got written out? She was just far too sensible for all these unhinged crazy karate shenangins. Aisha my beloved, I'm happy you've got such a nice life for yourself in Santa Barbara.)