#I need a tag for like…. their triangle

[comradekatara]

Hi! Been reading through your blog, and I really appreciate the nuanced way you discuss the themes and characters in atla. So I was curious about your thoughts on a take I’ve seen floating around (that I feel conflicted on).

I’ve seen people argue that, particularly in season 3, Zuko’s perspective and arc are prioritized at the expense of (all the characters, but especially) Aang’s perspective/internality.

For example, in the Western Air Temple episode, any complicated feelings Aang might have about Zuko’s role in his death and in the fall of Ba Sing Se (two events that shaped Aang’s struggle at the opening of the season) are hand waved, entirely untapped and unexplored. Everything that Zuko did in Ba Sing Se goes unmentioned in the episode, to facilitate the necessary next step of Zuko’s journey (joining the gaang), and the episode is primarily framed through Zuko’s POV, exploring his fears regarding whether the group will accept him and his desire for redemption through them.

Similarly, the focus of the succeeding episodes is on integrating Zuko into the group, leaving little space to expand on/build up to Aang’s central conflict for the season, meaning it’s crammed into/abruptly introduced in the very final episodes.

I think there is some merit to this critique (Aang aside, I also would have liked a bit more space for Toph in this final season too, her fraught relationship with her parents feels like a thread that’s left hanging). On the other hand, I think that one of Aang’s strengths as a MC is that he doesn’t overpower/dominate the entire narrative, and that other characters (Zuko, Katara, etc.) are allowed just as much significance and importance within the story, so…idk. Would appreciate another perspective, sorry for the long ask :)

forgive my slightly reductive claim, but I actually see each season as belonging to a different main character. book 1: water is very much katara’s season. she is the narrator who introduces us to the world, the catalyst for the inciting incident, and the entire journey to the north pole is her idea, her goal, her quest to master waterbending. most episodes in book 1 center on katara, her escapades, her blunders, her triumphs, her adventures; aang is also featured prominently, of course, but she’s by far the hero of this story.

then book 2: earth shifts focus, and focalizes aang instead. katara has achieved her primary goal of learning waterbending for a master, and now she’s mostly just along for the ride. she still has episodes where she is central to the plot and truly shines (eg, the chase, the desert, lake laogai) but she’s mainly playing second fiddle to aang, who has to contend with his position as avatar and the immense power he wields, learns earthbending (his most personally challenging element), suffers inconceivable loss as he grieves appa, the triumphant joy of their reunion, works through his emotional state with the guru, and finally, his defeat at the hands of azula. book 2 is, first and foremost, aang’s season.

so it stands to reason that book 3: fire is zuko’s. zuko has been focalized before, most prominently in the episode “zuko alone,” but this season is not about zuko in isolation, but rather his integration. the goal zuko has been striving for and the changes he has undergone and lessons he’s learned in the previous two seasons all culminate here, finally realizing the character arc they’ve been laying the groundwork for in the background of aang and katara’s journeys. so of course zuko is prioritized in zuko’s season. of course episodes like “the beach” barely even focus on the gaang whatsoever, with their only sparse scenes just there to establish combustion man as a threat.

and it’s not that we don’t get the gaang’s pov in “the western air temple,” because we very much do. we see them respond to their defeat at the invasion, we see them argue over whether to let zuko into the group, and yes, we do see katara acknowledge what happened in ba sing se, very emphatically, I might add.

and the following episode is literally about aang. yes, zuko is still the character whose point of view is centered the most, but it’s also a direct response to aang’s conflict in “the deserter,” and it provides a crucial aspect of not only zuko’s character development, but also aang’s. then, the episode after that is all about sokka. zuko features, of course, but he knows this is not his journey and he is happy to follow sokka’s lead. it’s a necessary episode as it marks the apotheosis of sokka’s arc. then, “the southern raiders,” which serves as katara’s apotheosis. yes, zuko is the one who orchestrates the plot, but but it’s katara’s emotional journey every step of the way. “the ember island players” is equally about aang, katara, and zuko’s horrified responses to this play. and then in “sozin’s comet” aang, katara, and zuko are each given equal weight in their final moments in the narrative.

i don’t think that aang’s central conflict feels rushed or abrupt whatsoever, because it was already addressed as far back as in “the avatar state” when he expressed fears regarding the scale of his power and the damage it causes. aang’s conflicting duty to the world as the avatar and duty to his people as the last airbender has been established time and time again since book 1, and is especially focalized in book 3 in episodes such as “the awakening” and “the day of black sun.” even a sort of dismissible episode like “nightmares and daydreams” centers his point of view and elucidates his anxiety.

but aang, katara, and zuko have always been positioned as a sort of prism that narratively refract and reflect one another, ever since the very beginning. each season focalizes one while still giving the others the necessary space to grow and develop, but if zuko does feel like the protagonist of book 3, it’s because it’s his season, and that doesn’t minimize aang or katara’s importance, because he is reflecting them each step of the way, just as they are reflecting him.

and as a sidenote: toph’s fraught relationship with her parents is actually explored sufficiently, in my opinion, via her dynamics with the rest of the gaang. her conflict with her family is resolved through finding unconditional and mutual support through her friends, and both her tension with katara as explored in “the runaway” and her vulnerability and faith in sokka (especially in “sozin’s comet”) illustrate how toph still struggles in some key ways, but has also grown so much since first escaping her abusive home.

[mrkgrl]

Can I still tag it with TW movie--- or uh... TW movie The Aftermath, maybe. I have so many more of these doodles/comics.

[ladybugkisses]

definitely just a case of Crazy Arms, nothing else to see here, no siree!

[lunar-system]

Izzy Hands: The Moon.

Re-imagined from the traditional Ride-Waite-Smith tarot, this version of the Moon shows Izzy taking the shape of a lone Lover, longing for what he cannot reach.

Longer exploration of the card's symbolism under the cut.

Symbolism of the card

I initially meant this card to be specifically Izzy's, but he is once again unseparable from Ed. Though the moon itself is depicted as Ed, it is through Izzy that I interpret the journey of the card. Feel free to invent your own interpretation as well!

In the original version of the Moon we see a dog, a wolf, and a crayfish. Izzy takes the place of the wolf, marking him as wild and untameable. He is accompanied by a dog, symbolizing his loyalty. The crayfish has retreated, and we can see a monster lurking in the depths of the water, reminding us of the beasts that lie within.

Rachel Pollack (2011) writes: "The Moon signifies the dangerous time between the end of one world structure and the beginning of another. On the emotional level it can indicate the strange state when something powerful has ended and you find yourself thrown back on your instincts."

In the card Izzy already has his wooden leg. He his stepping into his role as the Unicorn, marking a shift in his loyalty and his place in the world. His reign as Blackbeard's first mate is ending, and a whole new world order is being imagined.

Ed is also seen in a new light. With his short beard, he is at the end of his captaincy, possibly even at the end of his piracy. He as the Moon is illuminated by the light of the Sun, personified by Stede in another card, The Sun.

Izzy bears witness to their combined light, unreachable to him on the ground. He teeters at the edge of the water illuminated by that very light, and is faced with a choice. Will he turn, follow the path and try to reach the unreachable? Or will he explore the unknown waters in front of him?

In tarot, water symbolizes emotions, intuition and subconscious. Pollack writes: "Here in the unknown territory our animal selves take over. We cannot suppress the wild emotions but only travel through them." The message of the Moon beckons Izzy to step into the water and face his emotions.

However, there are also dangers in the murky waters of the subconscious. Pollack continues: "The Moon card calls forth powerful dreams, visions, and the power of the feminine." In tarot water is a feminine element. Izzy, a beacon of masculinity, has in the past confused the feminine with the monstrous. He is now dared to invite the feminine within him to the surface. His posture already mirrors that of the feminine lover from the Lovers-card. It also calls back to the Fool, to someone at the beginning of their self-discovery.

Tl;dr: Izzy, the Fool and the Lover, is on a journey from one world to another. Will he follow the path and try to reach the unreachable, or will he find the courage to plunge into unknown waters?

A comparison between the original Rider-Waite-Smith card from 1909 and the re-imagined version

Izzy's pose mirrors the feminine Lover

Sources

Image source: Pamela Colman Smith, 1909, republished as Tarot of A. E. Waite, 2016, AGM-Urania, Germany

Text source: Rachel Pollack, A Journey of 78 Steps, 2011, as cited in the booklet for instruction and guidance of Tarot of A. E. Waite, 2016, AGM-Urania, Germany

[b4kuch1n]

hahaha wheee haha

[cashmere-caveman]

tfw u realize that a triangle has three sides and one of them has nothing to do w ur corner at all

[hypesline]

oh no! not ANOTHER team of esper kids!

(click to see full res)

[fruitysoupy]

Grasshopper meets the Hero of Time from @zelda-the-sacred-realm

(click for higher quality!)

Whenever I see a Links Meet AU my first thought will always be "but what if they met my boys", and feisty little Grasshopper squaring up to the grumpiest hero I know made me giggle the most so it had to be done teehee :]]

Thanks for sharing your AU with us <3 I had a lot of fun drawing your Time

[bonesrbleaching]

pros to being with me: spendthrift rich boy with no concept of money ever that loves to pay for other people

cons to being with me: insane on every level

[skrunksthatwunk]

aurghhh ok still rewatching '97 and the way guts and casca only have the room to breathe and really come to understand and care for each other in griffith's absence because he has such a strong hold over them both.... and the way their mutual dedication to him is what causes them to bicker for years (casca thinks he's not serving him well enough, guts thinks she doesn't get that he cares/how much he cares, casca's jealousy over griffith's feelings for guts, how he won his heart without even trying or being aware of it or doing anything with it) and is also a big part of what brings them together (earlier when guts deviates from the plan to save griffith and she commends him, in the cave casca opening up about griffith and her's past, showing that vulnerability, while it's mostly confrontational, leads to guts kinda getting her better, and his efforts to save and protect her (falling off the cliff with her, taking on the 100 men so she can escape, encouraging her to return to griffith so she can help him because it's what she feels she's meant to do (her dream, the direction in life guts shares and yet is questioning because of griffith's speech at the fountain, whether or not it's enough to serve him if it means he'll never be a true friend in griffith's eyes because he's not an equal), supporting the idea of her being with griffith/being his most important person like he won't because he doesn't view it as a competition like she has been since day one) leading to her realizing that he's kind of not that bad a guy and they have a lot more in common that she thought. and how the bonfire of dreams conversation is guts opening up to her in kind, the answer to her talking about how griffith saved her, how she feels. how neither of them ever call it love but it's something they know they both have for griffith. how it's something they're beginning to have for each other, different in ways they couldn't put a word to. because they're equals this time. the way griffith kind of becomes less and less important as they find other reasons to live and fight, as they become less singularly obsessed with him. how griffith is unable to stand it, guts' personhood, that agency and peer-to-peer equality he claimed to want (and perhaps truly did) that disappeared guts from his life, his plans, his side. how it barely even matters to griffith how casca changes because he never wanted her like she wanted him. god i can't fucking stand their shakespearean nonsense drama (<- hopelessly in love with their interpersonal dynamics)

[scalproie]

CONGRATS IT'S THE WORST THING YOU COULDVE CAME UP WITH

[lover-of-mine]

no no that is such a good point like I've been so focused on the buddie of it all (bc well yeah they have my heart) & just like assuming Tommy & Eddie will be fine but like I don't actually know??? I guess I'm hoping that while we get Buck/Tommy development & Buddie development we also get Eddie & Tommy development but I have no idea like how they'll do it??? Bc Eddie would also probably feel hella guilty if he realizes he's in love with Buck while Buck is not only dating but dating one of his good friends? Like that's a lot. Even if Tommy is more aware that something's going on there and he & Buck are able to part on amicable terms like ugh where would that leave Eddie? Tho I mean I guess it also depends on how serious or casual Buck & Tommy are but still. I commented this on the other ask tho that I do like the idea of that being an aspect they explore if Buddie get together. And if Buck is able to part amicably with Tommy then maybe he could be in a position to like gently nudge Eddie in the direction of like "I know it's weird but you two had a really good thing going, I'd hate for you to lose that, how can I help" type of thing? And Eddie struggling but Tommy seems like idk he'd want to stay friends & be patient enough to work on it too? You know? I mean I really have no idea but that'd be cool to see and a good like first I don't want to say test but in terms of like showing us how Buddie works as a relationship and the ways they're maybe different but better? Idk. Eddie has so much of his own issues and I think a situation like this that's weird & messy could potentially be a way for him to work through some stuff?? But like *shrugs helplessly* WHO KNOWS? NOT ME.

Yeah, like, not to be an Eddie wobblifier on main, but the only thing I've been able to think about is the Eddie and Tommy of it all, because I can't remember the last time we saw Eddie that happy and that was a lot about his friendship with Tommy. And Eddie is already being used as a plot device here, if on top of it all he also loses this friendship he had going on Tommy, imma be mad as hell, because Eddie deserves how happy he was. That man has been through hell and to have him laughing about being on a helicopter or excited about a fight with everything that happened to him was everything to me. Eddie is in a better place, he is learning to do things for himself, and to have Buck take that away from him even if unintentionally would be tragic. Because if this is leading to buddie getting together, I don't see how Mr looks like he poisoned Taylor Kelly's food would handle being friends with Buck's ex. Sure they are all grown men, and Tommy and Buck will probably part ways amicably, but at the same time, how close to Tommy Eddie can be in this situation? Because Tommy will always be this person who Buck had all these firsts with, so Eddie being somewhat jealous, or just feeling weird about it in a general sense, would be perfectly natural. So, like, how are they working through that? Like, I get queer culture and go lesbians continuing to live together after they break up because they are still best friends, but this is a tv show, how well can that play out in the long run if they keep Tommy around after he and Buck break up and Buck and Eddie get together? I'm really curious.

[musicalchaos07]

My absolutely hottest take is that I low-key want Jonathan and Nancy to be in their divorced era (as long as they get back together) because I think it would be SO FUNNY

[johanthefriskiestofbits]

oooooo please tell me (who knows nothing on the subject) about orv swap au

hehehe. hehehehehehe. hehehehehehehhehehehhheheheh <- guy who is so normal

the premise of orv swap au (name has yet to be finalized) is this: what if kdj and yjh swapped narrative positions (reader <-> character) but very little else? what if a video game player enters a time loop to save his favorite character from dying over and over again and also to end the apocalypse?

admittedly it's not super fleshed out yet (a lot of the changes this premise would introduce are still not hammered out yet) but here are some points under the cut (novel spoilers ahead!)

orv swap au starts with pro gamer yjh who feels :/ abt his job, but hey, it pays the bills. despite (or maybe because of) his relative popularity as a pro gamer and networking with the agency/sponsors/people to impress, he's kind of isolated in a way that's detrimental, a facade of someone he's not whenever he's on camera

something to play around with is the idea of agency? maybe this yjh doesn't feel like he has any and has his hands tied between the lifestyle and being under public scrutiny and not having enough of a support system to leave everything behind. maybe he doesn't know what else he would even do. maybe he's aimless and drifting with nothing to hold on to.

his favorite video game is what i've been thinking of as World's Hardest To Play Indie Game (not based on difficulty but just on the experience of consuming it) a boring, exposition heavy, player-hostile, poorly designed, slightly buggy mess of a barely-playable game: twsa, a game that was not finished upon release and experiences with sporadic updates every now and then.

the ending tree to this game is so convoluted its insane. also theres no save states so if you die (very likely) u restart babeyyy.

twsa (video game) does have multiple endings, all of which happen when kdj, your main character, dies. some are farther into the apocolypse than others, some paths require meta knowledge of future events or character actions or items or whatever. the "true ending" is either analogous to the original 1863: kdj makes it to the end at the cost of everyone he loves, or hsy's modified 1863: kdj makes himself enemy of the scenario to secure a way out for the kimcom remnants.

there's branches on the choices tree where everyone dies and everything sucks and is bad forever and theres choices to make where kdj gets to make a family and they don't really get to settle down but they can get pretty close to it among the ruins of the apocalypse. through all his testing, yjh finds that these endings are nice but peter out - to get to the end of the apocalypse yjh has to claw his way there inch by painful inch, through betrayal and sacrifice, and he still cant fully get past it

i originally wanted to finagle a yoohankim 3 way swap but i couldn't figure it out. swap aus are a lot easier to work with when they're even numbers, at least to me, so this au features a ysa who is a video game company employee by day and by night she really has become god this time (and also a terrible indie dev). and this is how jungdoksang can still win !!!!

also yjh's coworker from Real Life hsy :) i haven't decided if she's like an employee for the same agency, or if she's someone else in the gaming circles that yjh interacts with sometimes (in my heart theyre in like some sort of discord server together), or something like that but she's around. whatever she does she is twitter cancelled for something. to me.

the only other character swaps are lsk and yma. yma is yjh's estranged sister (in broad strokes there's a vague bad parent situation going on here) (they used to be close until they drifted apart and slowly started hating each other [there is an abyss between them that neither of them can bridge]) (he feels that she betrayed him and threw him under the bus so he left [maybe he gets kicked out]) (she feels that he abandoned her to whatever situation they have going on [he didn't even try to take her with him]) and he has to find her when the apocalypse starts. yjh older sibling to yma gives us a whole different little dynamic to explore from kdj ysk (there's different levels of responsibility and guilt and blame when you're talking siblings that are soooooo interesting to me. sorry that i see any set of siblings and immediately try to figure out how to make them worse)

lsk is kdj's mom who appeared into existence at some point with kdj and they were both just adults. that's weird isn't it. oh well. i guess she can become a transcendent later too for funsies

everyone else stays in the same configuration of Real Person vs Character to me this is a very important aspect

this point has no precedent with the swap, nothing particular that would change to cause this, but it would be so funny if lgy was a little gamer boy who is an avid yjh hater. hates that guy. shows up to competitions to boo him. tunes into yjh's silent no-mic speedrunning streams to mald in chat but yjh +mods don't ban him bc its kinda funny.

anyways the apocalypse starts when yjh and his coworker/fellow gamer hsy are on a train to twitchcon and lgy is also there (also headed to twitchcon) and he brings bugs because he likes them but also to sabotage yjh specifically. its just funny if this happened. you understand

instead of having reader-related skills and abilities, yjh's skills are video game player based! he gets flavor text insight on people, location, and items, things like that. notably, he has the ability to reset, to bring himself back to the beginning of the apocalypse

orv swap proper follows yjh as the Player of the Game (Consumer of the Narrative) who lives hundred of lifetimes in this ruined-world-become-reality "replaying" [read: time looping through] the game to reshape it to save his fave character from self implosion (kdj with no dissociation is very prone to dying. all the time.). to revisit the idea of playing with yjh and the idea of agency, of creation, the only way to get past the apocalypse is to go off the beaten path, to choose options that weren't even there in the game. when in space, at his darkest point, yjh becomes a writer. in this story, at his darkest point, he has to become a creator too

please do not ask me how the epilogues go i dont know how the epilogues go (i don't want to throw yjh back into a train for milennia after he Just went through a thousand resets so i'm sending kdj for that but i havent fully planned how or why)

anyways, hope that helps!!! :)

[eldragon-x]

surely summarizing my many thoughts on bill in a comprehensible iceberg image will make me normal about him. text transcribed under read more in case this isnt readable.

upper layer: Bill does what he does for funsies and because he does what he wants with no regard how it affects anyone else because he doesn't care

middle layer: Based on what we know about his birth dimension and how he talks about liberating our dimension, he seems to genuinely think he's in the right in what he does

bottom layer: The Axolotl Poem implies that everything Bill does goes back to him denying his own regrets and unhappiness. He might even think making Weirdmageddon a success will prove that destroying his dimension was worth it

[cocolacola]

I have a lot of problems with WC3 Reforged artistically and design-wise, but holy shit they did not miss with this.