prying-pandora666 · 1 year ago
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Azula And The Tides: The Most Misread Scene in ATLA
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before:
“The tides scene shows how irrational and spoiled Azula is! She got lucky! She endangered her whole crew for her pride!”
Or any similar variation.
The only problem is it’s not even remotely close to true. Let’s talk about that.
Here is the scene in question for reference:
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Seems pretty straightforward, right? I mean, the Captain warned Azula about the tides and she put her ego before reason and made the crew take a huge risk. Horrible leadership and narcissism on her part, right?
Except for one little detail.
Azula was right.
Remember in “The Storm” when Zuko demands his ship chase after the Avatar and his crew warns him that it’s a fool’s errand because they’ll surely perish in the storm? Zuko stubbornly insists his goals are more important than anyone else’s lives, including his Uncle, and demands they drive recklessly into the storm. Sure enough, the crew nearly perishes in the storm, just as predicted, and Zuko is humbled enough to even rescue his Lieutenant that he disrespected earlier in the episode.
I bring this up so we understand how ATLA sets up and then demonstrates its narrative cause and effect. It’s rather straightforward as, after all, this is being written to be inteligible to children.
So what happens with Azula’s ship when she demands they dock right away despite her Captain’s warnings?
The ship docks without incident or injury.
In fact, they dock stealthily enough that neither Zuko nor Iroh see Azula coming and she’s able to surprise them. How would this be possible if the Captain had been correct in his assessment and Azula had just been acting out of ego?
I’ve seen some people argue that Azula just got lucky, like a drunk person driving home in a car. Not that I expect the average person to have extensive knowledge about docking a ship, but it demonstrates a severe gap in knowledge of the subject matter. When it comes to the tides you cannot half-ass it. Either the tides are in or they’re not. Either they’re high enough or they’re not.
And if they’re not, what happens? The rocks you can’t see beneath the waves will shred your ship apart and you will get stuck or outright sink. Best case scenario, if by an act of divine intervention you avoided all the rocks, you’re still screwed because your ship is going to get beached and tip over. Especially with a ship of that size!
You cannot squeak by here. Even with all of our tech and modern day ships, if you don’t respect the tides, you’re going to have a bad time. There is no avoiding this.
It boggles my mind why people assume Azula is the one in the wrong here and not the Captain who is later shown to be so incompetent that he spoils the mission. He was talking down to her and she rightfully put in his place. Cold and ruthless as her method may have been, she was making it clear that she is not to be talked down to or to have her authority questioned. An important skill for a young leader. Look at the comparison with Zuko who couldn’t wrangle his men. They were about to mutiny and would’ve if Iroh hadn’t intervened! Azula has no Iroh to fall back on. She has to manage on her own. And she does! In this same episode we are shown that Azula is a perfectionist who can’t tolerate a single hair out of place. But somehow we are supposed to believe she is also reckless and incompetent? I don’t think so.
We also know that Azula canonically attended the Royal Fire Academy for girls. This wasn’t some preppy finishing school, it was an intense military academy with survival training so deadly that Rangi described having to eat worse than rats to make it out alive. We know Azula excelled in school. Why wouldn’t she know something as basic as how to read the tides? That’s seafaring 101.
Combine that with the fact that all their best naval officers probably perished at the North Pole and it’s easy to glean that this Captain isn’t exactly their A-Team.
So what IS the point of this scene if not to show Azula being irrational, egotistical, or incompetent?
Remember our comparisons to Zuko? The point of this scene is to show how much better and scarier of a leader Azula is. It’s a simple way to convey to the audience that unlike Zuko, Azula *can* and *does* command like a true military leader. She is therefor a more frightening and dangerous opponent for our heroes to face than the already dangerous Prince they’ve been battling since the previous season.
I don’t think this misinterpretation would’ve ever spread so far if some fans weren’t dead set on trying to tear down Azula for the simple crime of being better at things than fan-favorite Zuko.
And I say this as someone who adores Zuko.
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avelera · 1 year ago
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Man, there’s all these little beats in OFMD S2 1-3 where people keep EXPECTING Stede to be upset or horrified about Ed’s actions and then he’s just. Not. In a way that reminded me of how a lot of fanon kept softening Stede into someone who doesn’t swear and is horrified at Ed for setting those ships on fire when imo to my eyes he was horrified for Ed because Ed was still so clearly distressed about it.
- Zheng Yi Sao asks Stede how he’s doing now that he knows Ed did horrible things to his crew and there’s this beat and Stede just pivots to, oh yeah, sometimes Ed is troubled. Like it didn’t occur to him to be upset on the crew’s behalf he’s worried about Ed.
- Izzy keeps trying to spare Stede’s feelings and cover up Ed’s spiral, but Stede clocked what was going on with Ed immediately and wasn’t the least bit intimidated or bothered. The knives brought the room together. Of course Ed’s trying to burn the world down or die trying. Duh. And I genuinely don’t think the STUFF in the Revenge mattered even a fraction to Stede as much as the signs of Ed’s breakdown broke his heart. It’s just STUFF, who cares.
- Lucius had to SPECIFICALLY call out Stede for not being surprised or bothered by what happened to him. What Ed did. Stede has to almost consciously remind himself to express polite concern. He just doesn’t actually care, instinctively or automatically, about what happened to Lucius. Part of it is he blames himself more than Ed. Part of it is he just doesn’t care, Ed is the priority.
They’re little blink and you’ll miss it pauses in some cases. Micro-expressions. The absence of a reaction. But honestly, I will scream it to the end of time, Stede is not some nonviolent creampuff scared or upset by Ed’s evil ways. He wants to join Ed in the atrocities. The man ran away to become a pirate. He asked if Lucius was taking notes during a murderous raid.
Stede’s at least a little on some kind of whackadoodle pirate comedy neurodivergence spectrum to the point where he actually really actually struggles to empathize with people, even people he cares about!, if their feelings conflict with his hyperfixation (piracy) and the love of his life (Ed Teach). He’s always, ALWAYS going to pick Ed over Lucius or Izzy or his crew or even his own feelings, if the option is there. He will literally throw himself overboard to get to Ed’s side. No pause. No consideration of anyone else or even his own safety.
Stede sometimes seems to have to consciously remind himself things like, oh yeah, the crew, I need to see to them. Not because he’s heartless or doesn’t care, but because it takes a bit of conscious effort for him to see beyond the laser-focused spotlight of what and who he does care most about, he has to remind himself of social niceties and other people’s feelings (just see him running away in the first place!) when he gets an idea in his head. It’s as if he had to train himself to consciously care about some things other people care about and as a neurodivergent person myself, that felt very familiar in a comedically writ large sort of way. I’d even argue that’s where all his aristocratic social niceties come from. They were his guidebook for how to do things “right” in a world that otherwise made no sense to him outside his hyperfixations. He practiced being a person through the aristocratic training because it was all so foreign to him from the start, including caring, actually caring, about the needs of others. Not because he’s consciously evil or consciously a jerk. The instinct just isn’t there unless he practices at it until it becomes reflex to ask how others are doing, because on his own his brain just doesn’t really notice or care.
I just… hope the fandom notes and has as much FUN as I do noticing all the little moments where even people inside the story of OFMD expect Stede to act in a normal way and instead he remains unhinged, laser-focused on Ed.
Stede’s not just an Ed apologist, he truly doesn’t blame Ed for any of it. He blames only himself. He doesn’t always voice this but he really really only cares about anyone else including the crew as a DISTANT second and he has to consciously REMIND himself to do so. He is able to rally to take action, to care about their physical needs like safety during the rescue, but he still struggles, deeply struggles, to remember to show empathy in a non-performative way for anyone except his special person, Ed.
Stede’s not a creampuff, not a nice guy, not some emotionally or morally perfect angel. He has to consciously practice caring about literally anything else but what he wants to do and his special person. And to me that’s a thousand times more interesting than shoving him in a box labeled “the blond, pacifist do-gooder good guy” in their relationship.
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waterdeepthroat · 1 year ago
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not to be That Person but y’all have got to learn to be more normal about bisexual and pansexual characters. this isn’t 2012. women romancing astarion is not the problem, nor is karlach “lesbian coded”. the real problem is y’all’s bi/panphobia stemming largely from homophobic stereotypes
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let-roman-bite-someone · 5 months ago
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“janus is so out of character, he’s not supposed to act like that!”
but it’s totally normal and in character for the literal personification of logic to dramatically break into a musical theatre song and serenade a jar of fruit preserve?
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cheatsykoopa98 · 9 months ago
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https://youtu.be/8ZP3AXgdkq0
dad au queenie getting "angry" is just the secular version of this
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Jax is sad because Queenie is the one who read him the stories
HELP ME BUY MY MEDS! COMMISSION ME FOR 1 DOLLAR OR DONATE TO MY PAYPAL
TADC DAD AU 41
read dad au | <<prev | next>>
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kiwisandpearls · 2 months ago
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”Madoka’s not the protagonist of pmmm, Homura is!!”
extremely loud incorrect buzzer
“Sayaka only became a witch because of a boy!”
extremely loud incorrect buzzer
“The girls were stupid to make their wishes with kyubey!”
EXTREMELY LOUD INCORRECT BUZZER
“pmmm is exclusively about madoka and homura’s relationship with each other—“
EXTREMELY LOUD INCORRECT FUCKING BUZZER.
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that-gay-gal · 5 months ago
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I need to rant about a problem I have with Rise! Raph
… ok, that’s a bit misleading. I have no problems with him, but I absolutely do with how this fandom can treat him.
Namely, the flanderization of his character. Specifically the part about him being the nicest iteration of Raph, because I see SO MANY people make him out to be the nicest softest most UwU-est boy when ITS ONLY PARTIALLY TRUE GODAMMIT AND IM TIRED OF IT.
HES ROWDY. HE LIKES FIGHTING. HE TRIED TO LIFT UP A BUS AND HE STILL. HAS. ANGER ISSUES!! HES JUST BETTER AT MANAGING THEM FOR FUCKS SAKE.
Please. I’m so tired of people acting like he never gets upset or angry and is the nicest person to ever exist in this godamn franchise.
Because yes, he is nice! And I love that about him, but some people are so extreme about his softness I’m going to blow a fuse if I see more of it.
Stop contributing to the flanderization of characters, guys. I love his kindness as much as anyone else but it’s NOT HIS ONLY TRAIT.
This won’t be getting a lick of attention but I just had to say it.
Thank you for listening to my Ted Talk.
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I’m not trying to be mean by the way this is just all my opinion and it sorta just boiled over after I saw this happen again on some random post!
I don’t claim to know Raph better than anyone else, of course. But some people for sure don’t know him! And I won’t apologize for saying that because I’ve noticed mischaracterization is a huge problem for this fan base, and I think everyone should take a moment and reflect on how they portray these characters.
Ok bye guys have a good day/night/whenever!! Again, just my opinions :) I was bored idk (I could go on for hours about him tbh)
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flowerbloom-arts · 11 months ago
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To be made an Other.
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I was looking at an old post and a certain line still hits me so I decided to make it a dedicated comic.
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luthwhore · 4 months ago
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possibly controversial opinion but people who think the sum total of superman’s personality can be distilled down to “he’s nice :)” have at best a surface level understanding of him and at worst have absorbed the entirety of their view of him from random tumblr text posts.
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aiqingdemeimiao · 1 year ago
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"i'm just left out! who am i going to marry?"
children of divorce [1927]
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prying-pandora666 · 1 year ago
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Aang the Segregationist?
I keep seeing this terrible take regarding Aang’s role in “The Promise” claiming he’s some xenophobic segregationist.
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Guys, I know we have our grievances with the comics, but this one’s kind of a stretch, don’t you think?
No, Aang wasn’t pro-Harmony Restoration Movement because he hated the Fire Nation or because he was a bad friend to Zuko or because he was brainwashed or whatever other arguments I’ve seen.
It’s because he’s the last survivor of a genocide. As he’s coming into his mid-teens, he’s starting to grasp the depths of what he’s truly lost in a way his 12 year old self couldn’t. He’s desperate to cling to his culture before it’s lost forever, and his fears are well founded! Air Nomad culture could well die out with him.
That’s why we get the plot point with the Avatar Aang fan club. They inadvertently offend Aang by appropriating and misapplying his culture (however well intentioned) and this triggers Aang’s fears of how his culture is being lost. All that will be remembered is a watered-down caricature.
He flat-out says as much to Katara! Saying that the reason the Nations need to be divided is because the stronger Nations will always dominate the weaker nations either through conquest or imposing their culture. Aang is afraid directly as a result of the terrible trauma he’s suffered.
Time-stamped so you can see for yourself:
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To try to paint Aang as some kind of xenophobic segregationist is a pretty terrible reading of the text. Especially when the point of the story is that Aang learns he was wrong to try to force the colonies to separate, and that he can better preserve his culture by teaching it to others while he lives rather than keeping it away where no one can potentially corrupt it.
Let’s also not forget he was being advised by Roku, who was also deeply impacted by the genocide and war that followed his failure to stop Sozin. Of course Roku is taking a hard stance! He tried to be reasonable and diplomatic in his time and it led to the 100 year war and the loss of the Air Nomads!
Aang is 14 tops. He’s trying to make sense of an unfathomable atrocity that was committed against his people while the whole world looks to him to mend the rifts of a bloody 100 years of conflict.
To ignore how that’s impacted him just so you can paint him as a bad guy relative to Zuko or whatever is not only a pretty lousy reading of the text, it shows a complete disregard for a horror that, tragically, does happen in the real world too.
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5h0w1sh · 6 months ago
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ok what happened to Sonic and Tails? Why are they villains now?
That’s kinda of a secret for now mostly because I do wanna draw it out!! :) BUT I will say their whole villain arc is inspired by castlevania, The Daily bugle(Spider-man) and Noah Total Drama Fanfics (IM NOT EXPLAINING THIS ONE)
I’ll also add that this may be a villain AU- but I only see Tails as a villain and sonic as a cowardly henchman yk
Example:
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camzverse · 6 months ago
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fnaf fans when its time to engage in mischaracterization
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randomnameless · 16 days ago
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FFS Sharena
Forget the "uwu Momo was said to be an equal to the 10 Dudes" he was part of them, and erased because he was slaughtering people too much and loved to garden a lot
"She imbued this weapon -
that is totally just a normal weapon not a living corpse made with the essence of a being that was created by the goddess and wielded the purest/rawest form of magic that was passed in that being's blood and is basically what you call "Crest"
-with her magic and now can use it as her own"
Watch as the next Mary-Ann alt will reveal that if the relic reacts to her, it's not because of her crest (and the fact that the relic is still someone reacting to their own blood) but because she's just so badass that she can animate this chunk of metal and casted a spell on it to make it more OP than an iron sword.
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choices-binglebonkus · 4 months ago
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Replaying TRR again, but this time, I’m buying all the diamond scenes.
Maxwell is a pretty well-written character with a reasonable balance between courtly etiquette and goofy antics for most of book 1. I’ve said before that his Flanderization into an incessant party mosquito started in book 2, but now that I’m replaying the series and buying all the scenes, it feels like he started to take a subtle turn for the obnoxious at the tail end of book 1. Personally, after replaying, I felt that Maxwell dipped his toes into the annoying pool in chapter 16, then went waist deep in chapter 17 and didn’t recover after that.
Which, coincidentally, seems to have been when the writers shifted gears and started to try and work up to Maxwell eventually becoming a love interest in book 2 despite not originally being marketed as one.
In chapter 18 during his dance-off with Hana in her diamond scene, the MC is presented with the option to announce him into the challenge as “Unexpected Heartthrob”…which speaks for itself.
In chapter 19, during his diamond scene, the MC can kiss Maxwell on the cheek (which flusters him) AND ask him if she’ll ever see him without his shirt on. If neither of these choices are flirting, I’m not sure what is.
But what likely pushed the writers to add more romance-adjacent choices to Maxwell’s dynamic with the MC occurred way before these chapters. All the way back in chapter 8 when the MC is doing the Cordonian Waltz (a courtship dance, might I add) with Maxwell in Lythikos, the MC can either tell him that she thinks the dance is a little scandalous for the ballroom…or, in stark contrast, how there’s no one else she’d rather be dancing with, which Maxwell gently rebukes her for.
And then in chapter 10, the MC can tell Maxwell she’s looking forward to spending time with him on the beach. This particular interaction is noteworthy because it grants the MC a Maxwell relationship point. Throughout the first and second books, the MC can gain relationship points (NOTE: different from romance points) with Liam, Drake, Hana, and even Olivia. This instance in chapter 10 is the only relationship point that can ever be gained with Maxwell. Yes, ever.
I’m thinking these two originally small and insignificant choices in chapter 8 and 10 gained so much attention from fans that Pixelberry realized Maxwell had potential as a love interest, leading them to sprinkle in some rewrites in book one that hinted at a future romance. These rewrites could also explain why chapter 10’s interaction is the only instance of us gaining a relationship point with Maxwell: Pixelberry likely rewrote scenes with choices that originally granted more Maxwell relationship points and forgot to replace them after.
So while they went way heavier on the buildup to Maxwell becoming a love interest in book 2, the signs were there early on, and they gradually built up to Maxwell becoming less of a bumbling but well-meaning guide to the MC, and more of an air-headed, foolhardy, childish pest.
And honestly? It makes me wonder: how might Maxwell’s character have been different if the writers didn’t turn him into a love interest? Would he have kept his early/mid-book 1 personality? Would Maxwell have pursued a relationship with Penelope? Would his role in the story have gradually lessened like Bertrand’s did? How might he have affected future books like TRH/TRF?
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peggingeddiediaz · 6 months ago
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Complaining because we're happy about buck finally dating the perfect guy is something… and comparing Tommy to Taylor, please
I really am trying to not be as petty as I can be.
I'll say it again, I actually like Buck and Tommy dating, I like canon bucktommy but the fanon bucktommy fans have made the ship so generic in record time, it's getting insufferable seeing posts about them.
Also, let's not kid ourselves and pretend that the insane fan support for Tommy/Lou that elevates the character to "perfect love interest" in just 2 episodes, is not largely unrelated to him being a hot attractive white man. (I still remember some of those bucktommy fans calling Tommy a Walmart version of Buck when the Tommy/Eddie speculation was a hot topic, and now look at them…) I do admit that both Buck and Tommy look very similar at times🤭
Tommy is not perfect, in fact that 1st date was really uncomfortable to watch and not only because of Buck.
1st: The fact that Tommy knew that Buck wasn't out and that this is literally his 1st date with a man, who had his 1st kiss some days before, which is the reason why Tommy picked a really out of the way restaurant for the date, but still he made a "funny" comment about closet spaces to Eddie, who he's not out to, was a choice. Specially when Tommy knows first hand how hard it is to come out to your friends.
2nd: The fact that not only did he not tell Buck about cutting the date short before leaving the restaurant, but that he called himself an Uber to go home and left him there on the sidewalk?? (Confirmation that Buck drove them there is nice though, passenger princess Tommy is canon 🤭)
3rd: For someone who knows Buck might not be ready to date anyone right now, saying yes to a 2nd date, after the disaster that 1st one turned out to be, and as a guest to his sister's wedding is a little insane.
I can imagine the vitriol and innumerable call out posts had Tommy been a female love interest. Aside from those points, is also deliciously ironic how fanon buddie is the way it is because fans were "tired" of the: bigger guy means he's a top and the smaller one is the bottom dynamic, but suddenly everyone is salivating at it now with bucktommy. Which again, it wouldn't be such a problem if it didn't devolve into stereotypes, just like in fanon buddie.
The one thing both ships have in common is that Buck is never allowed to be a character but just the "your name" tag, stereotypical bottom, infantilized and woobified to the point he's barely recognizable.
I like canon bucktommy and canon buddie (or their potential canon given Buck and Eddie's personalities, and how they are when dating other people), their fanon versions though, where they are stereotypes firsts and characters second? not so much.
In conclusion, I like Tommy and his potential, but he needs a lot of development to be considered a character at all (getting told he's cool is not character building) and awkward dates don't count either (specially when the same benefit is never given to the female love interests).
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