#Korra meta

[zuko-always-lies]

One thing I find striking is that, although both Korra and Azula had isolated and ultimately lonely childhoods, this was deliberately imposed on Korra much more than Azula.

Like, Azula ends up being pretty isolated, but, although Ozai is an abusive asshole, I’m not entirely convinced he was hyper-focused on isolating her.  Lu Ten dying doesn’t have anything to do with Azula. Sure, Ozai forced Ursa to leave, but I don’t think this was motivated by anything involving Azula. Ozai burning and exiling Zuko(and Iroh following him) was horrific, but I don’t think Ozai did it  to deliberately isolate Azula.  It wasn’t about her at all. Likewise, as far as we know, Ty Lee and Mai leaving had nothing to do with Ozai at all. It’s not like he forced them away.

Again, Ozai is extremely abusive and he treated his children like tools as to be used and discard, but I don’t think many of his actions were deliberately driven by a desire to isolate Azula so she would be more useful to him. He doesn’t seem to mind it when she brings Zuko and her friends home, for instance. The most you can say is that he might have deliberately worsened the discord between Azula and Iroh.

On the other hand, Korra’s isolation seems far more deliberate.  Her movement is heavily controlled, and the White Lotus(including Tenzin) seems entirely comfortable ordering her around, even she’s on the cusp of adulthood. Her compound was deliberately placed far away from the rest of the Southern Water Tribe, and her parents don’t even seem to be allowed to live in the compound. She doesn’t seem to have any friends or connections in the Southern Water Tribe, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Tenzin’s children were essentially the only kids she was ever allowed to have contact with during the whole length of her childhood.

Azula’s isolation seems to have been mostly accidental in nature, even if it was horrible; Korra’s isolation was entirely intended.

[arieskorra]

hot take: the Avatar state (in its form through Aang) is very clearly a representation of the Great Equalizer (atom bomb) and getting rid of its absolute power was actually a good thing narratively, you guys just like the power fantasy/nostalgia too much.

like, he quite literally becomes an atom

“come on out little boy”

Little Boy was the name given to the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. the Fire Nation mirrors Imperial Japan. “No, I’m not gonna end it like this…”

“Now I am become death, destroyer of worlds” is a line Oppenheimer took from the Bhagavad Gita, a sacred text in Hinduism about the reincarnation of Vishnu, which is what the concept of the Avatar is based upon.

literally begging you guys to engage with analysis of the writing in atla through a historical context 😭

[longing-for-rain]

There seems to be this take that it’s somehow “devaluing” healing and by extension women’s contributions by criticizing Katara ending up as a healer rather than a warrior in legacy, but this really misses the mark. The point is that from the beginning, Katara explicitly wanted to use her bending to fight. She never refers to herself as a healer; she says that she has healing abilities. It is a skill to her, not a trait she wishes to define herself by.

But since we’re on the subject of devaluing the practice of healing, I’d like to pose a question I haven’t seen anyone ask before:

Why did Aang never learn healing?

It’s a valuable skill and one he could have really used. Other benders such as Zuko passed on their own skills like lightning redirection to Aang to aid him. Why not healing? Maybe it’s because he’s the Avatar and so narratively he doesn’t need—

Oh. Interesting…

It’s almost like the narrative of the show itself is presenting healing as a woman thing that isn’t important enough for men to value learning.

[shrimz08]

AANG ＆ OZAI PARALLELS: DEBUNKED

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Because apparently the true villain is the sole survivor of a genocide of his entire nation, and not the imperialist colonizer.

Where do I even begin?? Because I’m genuinely holding in laughter writing this, it’s absolutely insane how certain people can make such egregious parallels that aren’t even found in the first place. 

AH, so a little backstory on how this fucking shit stained idea even came to existence, well our dear z^tara fans pissed their pants over Zuko and Katara not tying the knot, so, as a way of retribution for their supposed “honour” They take any chance to jump on the Aang hate train and make him into some irredeemable abusive demon, aaand they got that perfect opportunity because the LoK decided to take a lick out of the great “Main Characters Must Be Bad Parents In The Sequels” Trope. Which personally, does absolutely nothing to the protagonists resolution aside from cheap family drama but I digress. 

Now, I’m not behind the idea of the writers trying to make Aang a “flawed” Parent, I think it really makes no sense by how they went about it, (I might touch on this in another post) 

((And it’s so very clear that they’re trying to give it a soft “retcon” And even taking extra steps saying that Kya and Bumi just “remember wrong” Which I’ll actually take, because season two of LOK was hell on earth anyway so you might as well give it some saving grace.)) 

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There’s three main parallels that they got from Ozai and Aang: (god help me)

Favouring a child

isolating the rest

leaving pressure On the golden child

I’m going to debunk all three of them while trying not to fall into complete lunacy over how ridiculous they are. 

Favouring a child + Leaving pressure: 

OK, so people are clearly blind with context clues and media comprehension, got it. No surprise whatsoever. I can’t be disappointed if I didn’t even have any expectations to begin with. 

Let’s compare the treatment on how Ozai treats Azula, and how Aang treats Tenzin. (Holy Shit)

Beginning with Ozai, well.. It doesn’t take much of a rocket scientist to understand that Ozai essentially could not give two fucks about Azula, as she in essence, serves the role of an attack dog, as long as it does its job, it’s worthy. 

Ozai favoured Azula because she was molded to match his ferocity and hunger for power, she was a prodigy bender, and was cunning and calculated, all traits that Ozai found endearing and someone worthy to be crowned the next “fire lord.” His “favouring” Of her didn’t come out of genuine love or care, she is his tool who serves a purpose. In short, she showed more competency and more ruthlessness and callousness in comparison to Zuko. Which earned her, her place as the “Golden Child.”  

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None of this is even remotely similar to how Aang treated Tenzin and his kids, aside from the fact he supposedly “favoured” Tenzin more, but that is such a baseline statement and has absolutely no relation with Ozai's reasons.

You have to understand that an entire FUCKING NATION IS DEAD. History, Culture, Tradition, is at the BRINK of being wiped out, Tenzin is quite literally the only Airbender that will be left after Aangs passing. Why do people devalue this concept so much? 

“B-BUT THE AIR ACOLYTES1!!” Still have limited knowledge, airbending is so heavily tied to its spiritual roots, you LOSE your ability to AIRBEND, if you aren't inclined to your spiritual side. Which is a core part of the air nomad culture. Tenzin is... Literally the only god forsaken part left of that, so yeah. It’s a pretty big fucking deal. Aang values his culture and teachings to such a high degree, he is literally the survivor of a genocide. His favouring of Tenzin was done out of necessity and love, not out of a need for power and a new attack dog to send orders around. 

Tenzin will literally be the future “Director” Or guide for the next avatar to learn airbending, people still forget this, and it’s hilarious. He needs to know all the moves, all the teachings because he will be the next avatar's personal guide. 

Aang constantly reassures him, and apologizes for the pressure that may be put upon him but he always reaffirms that he’ll be there to guide him and they’ll “learn together”

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So yeah not the same thing at all. Fuck you for being so inept at understanding the different reasons and perspectives of those situations, just for some petty ship discourse, genuinely disgusting.

Isolating the children:

OK this part, I have to say that the writers definitely messed up with aangs characterization, but I think the execution came out way differently than the intention, so I will try to look more into the intention of each decision.

Ozai isolated Zuko, mistreated him, belittled him, PHYSICALLY ABUSED HIM, but yeah totally on par with Aang actually. 

I don’t wanna touch on this part much mainly because his treatment was literally explained all throughout the show, and granted, while I understand most of these people haven’t touched the show aside from reading fanfic 300000 Where Aang is revealed to us as satan himself, but perhaps, even a small peak at Ozai's parenting would reveal the laughable contrast between the two.

Zuko was a slow learner, and much more of a softie, and a “mama's boy” To Ozai’s heavy dislike, he was thus treated as such, he was belittled, turned down, and literally burnt alive for showing “weakness” He is meant to serve as a direct contrast to Azula, ”The everything he isn't.” 

Kya and Bumi on the other hand, don’t show any actual signs of trauma aside from some petty jabs they threw at Tenzin, 

Bumis talk with Aang at the statue was *very very* Clearly, meant to highlight his own inferiority complex that he internalized growing up. His need for proving himself to be capable of doing just as much if not more than a “bender” Probably happened because his two parents were both prodigy benders and him being a first born son who was a non-bender must’ve hit pretty hard for him, and I’m so sure that katara and Aang reassured how special he is but that kind of thing doesn’t really go away.

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Kya: [while healing Bumi] I told you those rocks were slippery. You're lucky you didn't kill yourself.

Bumi: You done with the lecture, mom?

Kya: Oh, grow up. You haven't changed one bit since we were kids. You're still trying to prove you can do everything a bender can. Well, you can't. Deal with it.

----------------------

 That talk with Aangs statue was very much meant to unveil an internal struggle rather than a conflict he had with his father. Kya even doubles down on this, telling him “of course he’d be proud of you” Basically spoon feeding to us, the viewers, that this is much more of internal than an external conflict that he has to overcome along the show. 

“Why Didn’t he share his culture with them 1!!1!” 

He most definitely did, or tried to, but it’s clear they didn’t show much interest so he didn’t pester, this is shown many times throughout the show. 

“You know I could never keep all those gurus straight… There were like a million of them!

remember that long boring story about the guy who never ate?”

This is literally Kya’s remark to Tenzin just after he tried teaching the airbender students this story, basically telling us that Aang DID try to tell them about his stories and culture, but much to their disinterest, didn’t try any further. 

And Bumi, literally could not pay attention to the story to save his life, and instead decided to fool around in his literal 60’s!! I mean Imagine what he was like when he was a kid!! 

I could imagine their dynamic was very similar to Jinora with Meelo and Ikki, Tenzin being the only one with actual interest and care, whilst Bumi and Kya goofing off and not putting much focus onto it. WHICH IS FINE BTW!! 

It only goes to reiterate that Tenzin was the only one who was actually giving interest and attention to the air nomad culture, and it was of Kya and Bumi’s own personal choice to not partake in it. To each their own I see. 

“BUT WHAT ABOUT THE VACATIONS” 

This.. I agree, weird for the writers to decide this, but given how they low-key are retconning it in interviews, my best guess is that each of those trips were side-quests during their journey to teach an important lesson that might’ve just drowned out because Tenzin may not have remembered it as well. 

Also keep in mind that Tenzin was put into a lot of pressure, Aang probably saw this, and as a way to still keep it enjoyable, he took him to trips that would help ease the mind for a little kid whilst also learning something valuable. That seems pretty on brand for Aang actually

And given that Kya and Bumi are literally in their fucking 60’s it wouldn’t surprised me if they didn’t have the greatest memory. Hell, they didn’t even fault Aang as a parent until Tenzin started boasting about “trips” That Kya and Bumi gave petty jabs but weren’t actually showing genuine hurt, just annoyance.

Kya even comments how Aang was too busy “Trying to save the world, and doing his duty that he didn't have much time for them” 

Phrasing as if it wasn't anything "important" But it's clear that this was Kya's own personal irritation towards Tenzin rather than an actual evaluation on Aang's duties.

A continuation comic best explains it in a deeper way:

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Literally showing that “neglecting” His kids wasn't up to him, and was out of a sense of necessity, trying to cram as much knowledge onto Tenzin, the only one who was basically putting his lessons into practices. Kya and Bumi were left feeling neglected. But that wasn’t out of his decision; he still loved them dearly.

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This. Literally highlighting how much pressure was forced upon Aang, so yes, as any person would, he struggled with making time for everybody. Holy shit who knew?? 

GASP!! IS THAT… A REALISTIC BUT UNDERSTANDABLE FLAW!!?? HOW DARE YOU! ITS OZAI #2 

The fact that the smiley energetic person forgets to SMILE, is a big deal, man was put through hells amount of stress but he never cracked.

So tell me, how is a genocidal freak, who treats his golden child like a tool and abuses the other both physically and emotionally for showing “weakness’ 

Even remotely comparable to

 the sole survivor of a genocide, trying to withhold his teachings and culture onto literally his only child that showed actual effort in doing so, while also maintaining the balance of an entire fucking world and being literally the biggest “advisor” And “Mentor” For society, OH! And also building and managing a literal city, but along the way struggling to make time for his children. 

Guess what, they’re not. And if you think they are. You are an idiot, with bias and headcanons.

So the conclusion is, Aang is a flawed parent, but he isn't a "bad" Parent - confirmed by the literal writers.

Comparing him to Ozai a literal dictator, is absolutely sickening, just for your petty shipping discourse when this show's been over for a decade is insane. Indulge in what you enjoy, but stop projecting delusions like they're canon.

:D

[ecoterrorist-katara]

I am so sick of people using “girlboss feminism” to put down Katara fans who don’t like her LOK arc

Wanting a female character to be a badass warrior is not girlboss feminism. Capitalism is not yet a force of oppression in Katara’s youth, so there is no way for Katara to be a girlboss unless she joins force with Cabbage Man, pioneers industrial agriculture, and begins exploiting the labour of Earth Kingdom farmers.

I think it’s very disingenuous to mobilize the anti-capitalist critique inherent in the term “girlboss” to put down a Girl Power fantasy. The issue with girlboss feminism is not, and has never been, that women want power, or money, or recognition. The problem with girlboss feminism has always been that exploiting other people, especially other women, for your own gain is not feminist.

I honestly miss when fandoms would call female characters Mary Sues, because at least back then we didn’t pretend that women wanting power was an inherently bad thing.

[imaginarylungfish]

we don't want izuku to be quirkless in the end blah blah blah, yeah i know. same.... but also, it could be cool.

imagine he still becomes a great hero, but quirkless? he's the first quirkless hero? and maybe that message is not one for mha to tackle, but hear me out:

what if his arc is him wanting so badly to have a quirk, getting one, learning that being a hero is inherent to himself and not attached to his quirk/abilities, giving his quirk up, AND still being a great hero? wouldn't that be awesome?!

i think that type of character trajectory is unique and interesting in and of itself. but i also know my personal experiences in life contribute to why i think it's cool. i became sick and chronically ill in my late-teens/early-twenties. i lost my health. over the past 5 years, i've regained a lot of it, but i'm not 100% better (and most likely will never be). i've had to go through the arduous process of accepting my physical limits through many iterations of functionality yet learning when i was actually being held back by mental limits/fears and how to push past those.

i relate to izuku's character on many levels: wanting so badly to have something i don't, trying so hard despite not having that thing, and getting that thing you wished so badly for seemingly out of the blue (for me, it was a medication that drastically improved my health). i also relate to his self-destructiveness in name of a goal and sense of (sometimes unwanted) martyrdom.

but i was always a little disappointed throughout the series in the fact that izuku's big problem at the beginning was just seemingly resolved by him getting his quirk from all might. does he view his quirkless self as worthy as his OFA self? we don't know. (do i view my sick self as worthy as my "healthy" self? i don't know.)

so, i just think, if izuku loses his quirk, there is more room for growth for him. in other words, he becomes more interesting. and i get it, this is a shonen manga, it's ending soon, and it's supposed to have an inspiring message (i assume). so maybe it ending with him being quirkless is not something that belongs in this category of manga/anime. but if any series can break the mold, isn't it mha?

[fromthefandomfront]

On one of my rewatches of The Legend of Korra, I noticed something about metal bending. All of the metal benders we're shown are either in the police force or have status. Think about it, Toph's kids with the Beifong name and probably some money (look at how fancy the metal clan is), Kuvira, and the police force. And when Kuvira fights the earth kingdom bandits, she takes them down with ease because they can't metal bend.

Could there be a 'class' divide between metal benders and earth benders? Bolin probably never received metal bending instruction when he was living on the streets with Mako. It's possible the first time he was taught (although unsuccessfully) was when he went to the metal clan. So the only way to learn how to metal bend is to have the money to learn or join the police force.

[im--never--happy]

At some point I’d like to make a longer post about this, but it’s really cool to see the ways Mako’s and Bolin’s bending mirrors each others. Both of them are mostly self-taught and have a lot of non-traditional moves and styles. And it makes sense that they would learn or practice things together or that one would imitate the other. Anyways I saw these two gifs side by side and it made me want to make a longer post about this at some point in the future. For now though, look at how similar their bending is even though they have two completely different elements!

[samanthaswishes]

I watched The Legend of Korra for the first time 6 months ago, and it quickly became one of my favorite shows along with Agents of SHIELD, and I've been meaning to make this post since then, but I keep forgetting.

I wish Agents of SHIELD treated Daisy's trauma the way The Legend of Korra treated Korra's trauma.

Daisy and Korra are very similar characters, but it is kinda funny (not funny for them, very sad for them but funny that it happened this way) that coincidentally both of them experience extreme physical and mental trauma at the end of their third seasons and had to deal with the aftermath during their fourth seasons.

In the case of Daisy, she was belittled and torn down by the people that were supposed to be her family because she took some time away and was told to get over it. I've made several posts about how much I hated that treatment of her trauma. Daisy was only away for six months, yet the SHIELD team, mostly Fitz, tore into her for "turning her back" on them. Which she didn't, but again, I've made posts about this, so I won't get into it. Then when she came back and was struggling with her powers, she was then again belittled, by you know who, for not being at the level she used to be. Her powers, though very much needed, were taken advantage of.

However, in the case of Korra, who was away to recover for three years, had very a supportive treatment from her family and friends. When she wanted to rush her healing, she was told that she was allowed to take as much time as she needed to heal. And even when she was stuck in her own depression and anger, everyone was understanding. They would actually talk to Korra, hoping that she would push herself to heal, but not forcing it upon her. And when Korra's power wasn't exactly up to scale, no one blamed her for it and was very understanding of that too (except President Raiko, but no one likes him, so he doesn't count).

Both Daisy and Korra received a "tough love" aspect in their shows, Daisy from May and Korra from Toph. Those talks weren't belittling (Okay, Toph was a little belittling, but that's just Toph, and she means it in the best way). They were actually what pushed both Daisy and Korra that they weren't alone in their healing, and being around others could actually help them.

All in all, say what you want about The Legend of Korra in regards to how it compares to its predecessor Avatar: The Last Airbender, one of the best pieces of media I've watched, it does an amazing job at portraying trauma and healing (ATLA did too, but I was just felt so connected to TLOK's storyline). I know I probably left out a lot of other details about her healing, but I also don't want to give too much spoilers in case someone who hasn't watched the show reads this and maybe wants to check it out one day.

Again, I just wish Agents of SHIELD, my favorite show ever, treated Daisy, my favorite character of all time, and her traumas with the same respect and care that TLOK did for Korra.

[anghraine]

I know most of you aren't here for my Legend of Korra villain feelings in 2024, but ... lol oh well. I took a break from my dissertation yesterday to write six pages of meta about LOK's main villains and why I think LOK is better for them despite its flaws and frequently uneven execution.

This had always been a show that, for all the centrist trappings, was willing to transform its own setting. It might tapdance around this in awkward ways, like with the offscreen transition to an elected non-bender president, there might be unpleasant side effects like the spirit vines in Republic City, the more drastic changes might be unpredictable or frightening for the characters, and people don’t always know what the political changes they advocate will lead to, as with Zaheer inadvertently setting up the conditions for Kuvira's rise. But I think the overall arc of the show is one of broad and sometimes drastic social change towards a better world.

[jamesunderwater]

Avatar & Ming-Hua's Psychic Bending

I watched a yt video essay recently in which the creator pointed out that one of the rules of bending in the world of Avatar is that it is related to the movement of the body, because the bending styles are tied to the martial arts. He references this in relation to a scene in Aang's finale fight with Ozai, because in that scene, Ozai breaks that rule.

When Ozai conjures the ball of fire out of thin air and without moving his body, it shows the audience how powerful Sozin's comet has made him. I'll let you watch the video for more on how great the storytelling is in this fight scene.

The next time we see someone breaking this bending rule is in the first season of The Legend of Korra, with Yakone's ability to psychically blood-bend. Tarrlok literally describes his father's ability as just that -- psychic -- when he says that Noatak, "was a prodigy, mastering my father's psychic blood-bending technique by the time he was fourteen" (S1E11).

If I am not mistaken, this is the only time in the world of Avatar someone is described as having any sort of "psychic" ability, and it is described as such because Yakone and Noatak were able to blood-bend using their minds. This is even more impressive than Ozai's breaking of the rule in AtLA -- Ozai required the strength of the comet, where Yakone and Noatak could practice their ability without even the full moon, and Ozai still used his hand to conjure the fireball, which is not quite the same thing as using his mind.

A closer firebending equivalent to this, I think, would be combustion-bending. However, because there is much more mystery in combustion-bending, and because it is its own sub-type of bending rather than being a rare ability only some benders within a certain form of bending have, I am not going to include it in my overall point here.

So, this brings me to Ming-Hua. Anyone watching the show clearly knows that Ming-Hua is an incredible bender. She is a double upper amputee and uses her waterbending as her arms, and is also obviously a Master waterbender. But what occurred to me in re-watching LoK after having watched the youtube video above, is that Ming-Hua also breaks this rule of Avatar.

Think of all the other waterbenders that have been on either of the two shows until this point. The use of their arms is essential to every move of waterbending they make. The only waterbenders shown bending without using their arms were Yakone and Noatak, because they were using their minds -- and even then, neither of them were shown waterbending without the use of their arms. It seemed their psychic bending was limited only to blood-bending.

And then comes in Ming-Hua, a member of a group of benders (and one once-non-bender) who each have an exceptional bending ability. And I think it's easy for viewers to see Ming-Hua's bending as exceptional only because she has found a way to waterbend despite being disabled, and not think of it any further. But Ming-Hua being disabled is not what makes her exceptional. What makes her exceptional is the fact that she has the ability to psychically waterbend, which we have seen no one have before. Of course, we don't know if she purposefully developed this ability because of her disability, if she was born with the ability, if her waterbending manifested psychically because she is a double amputee -- we don't even know if she was born an amputee or if she was disabled for some reason during life, so it's really impossible to say why she is a psychic bender. But I think it is a fact to say that she is a one. Which is...SO BADASS! (Imagine I said this in an overly-excited Bolin voice.)

Consider the scene above: Kya has just blasted Ming-Hua off the side of the temple with a rush of water. Ming-Hua cannot grab onto something as she's falling, and yet she doesn't fall. Which means she managed to keep all of her focus on maintaining the structure of her water-arms as she was blasted and fell over the side, and then used her mind to slowly pull all of the water to her as she also concentrated on keeping her water-arms together in a strong enough form that they could hold her entire body up as it was hanging over a ledge, and then at the same time, she created this spider-form out of the water she'd pulled toward her, which she then used to pull herself up and back over the side of the temple.

And she did all of that. With her mind.

Yakone and Noatak blood-bend with their minds when they want to, but it's the same way that any other able-bodied bender only has to concentrate on bending when they want to. It's a luxury. Ming-Hua, on the other hand, uses her bending as, essentially, an accessibility tool, which means that she is never not psychically bending.

This woman is more powerful than anyone gives her credit for.

(As a final note, I don't think it's a coincidence that the two true instances we have of psychic bending are from waterbenders, considering water is well-known as the element tied to psychic abilities.)

I would love to hear your thoughts on psychic bending in Avatar and the badassery of Ming-Hua!

[zuko-always-lies]

List of Morally Worst Things Korra Ever Did

Ok, to be clear, this isn't an anti-Korra post. I just wanted to have a list like this for my own purposes. She obviously also does a ton of objectively good things, but I wanted to see her at her worst.

Setting the ancient airbending gates on fire in a tantrum

Kissing Mako when he was reluctant, he was already dating Asami, said he liked both Korra and Asami, and Korra had just dated Bolin

Using Naga to terrify Tahno

Causing massive property destruction in her attempt to hunt down a couple criminals

Siding with Unalaq over her own tribe when he militarily occupied the SWT

Threatening to have Naga eat Judge Hotah

Conspiring with General Iroh II to force the United Republic into war against the NWT against the will of the United Republic's civilian leadership.

Opening the second spirit portal to "save" Jinora from Unalaq, even though Jinora is begging her not to do it.

Trying to basically kidnap Ryu just because he's an airbender even though he was utterly uninterested in joining the Air Nation.

Helping the Earth Queen collect taxes.

Chasing the Red Lotus behind Lin's back?

Threatening to make it her "life's mission" to stop Baatar Jr. from seeing Kuvira ever again?

[biconickyoshi]

9 years ago today, I watched the LoK finale on my little Google Chromebook alone in my bedroom. I was 17 and had just finished my first semester of my senior year of high school.

I had known I was not straight since I was 8-9 years old, but was ashamed of it - the Bible Belt is not a friendly environment for anyone who doesn’t fit into the cishet mold. I’d resolved to never reveal that part of myself to anyone.

I wouldn’t say that I was an open, active Korrasami shipper before this point (due to internalized homophobia). However, one of my guilty pleasures was reading Korrasami fanfiction, and I had keenly noticed the change in the way they behaved around one another starting in S3 - the way they grew closer and more comfortable around each other, bonding over their failed romances with Mako, the way they looked out for one each other, Asami taking Korra’s hand and comforting her after she helps her get ready for Jinora’s ceremony, Korra only writing to Asami during the three years she was gone…

But there was no way in a million years that they would ever actually make them canon. Right?

When Korra and Asami walked into the spirit portal, I was shocked, but also immediately in denial. I told myself, “Nope, they’re just friends :)”

But deep down, I knew that their ending was romantic. Friends don’t look at each other like that! And they even played a tiny bit of “The Avatar’s Love” at the very end! I’m an AtLA superfan! I noticed that!

Then, Bryan Konietzko made a tumblr post clarifying that yes, Korrasami was canon whether we liked it or not. And once again, I was dumbfounded. A franchise that I had loved so much since childhood had just done something groundbreaking. For the first time ever, I saw people like me portrayed in media I loved. And when I read Bryan’s words about how important queer representation like this is, it clicked for me.

From that point forward, I started to acknowledge my queer identity. I went to college, became a vocal ally, and eventually started coming out to family and friends. Today, I’m not only out in my personal life, but also my professional life.

I’m so, so proud of my identity. And it’s all thanks to what Bryke and the LoK team fought to give us nearly a decade ago.

Happy 9 year anniversary, Korrasami. 💙❤️

[earfgoddesss]

it is my personal belief that NOT ALL art/media is political...but saying ATLA/Korra isn't political is just so objectively wrong. Despite it being a kids show, ATLA generates endless discussion on irl parallels.

Everyone knows Korra comments on political themes consistently and all the main conflicts/antagonists resemble irl political ideologies and movements.

Altho ATLA has a lot more of the fun adventure to it, especially season 1...the entire conflict of the show is driven by politics and war. Sozin deciding to invade the other nations because "the fire nation is experiencing great progress and we should 'share' it" is the most overtly political motivation and it's what kicks off the entire conflict of the show, affecting almost every character's backstory.

Jet?? The entire Ba Sing Se arc?? The Air nomads?? Aang's entire backstory?? I mean, in a way the entire finale is like "does Ozai deserve the death penalty?"

Like I understand not wanting to be challenged with political themes sometimes in media you like because it's escapism for you too (real world is hell). been there, but in that case that's on you to not engage. ...but when people are like "guys stop making everything about politics in avatar show." Um?? No??

[allgremlinart]

I open the korra tag I see the worst takes known to man I go on with my day

did you WATCH. the show

[sanrielle]

Maybe I'm overthinking this, but I noticed something interesting at the beginning of the first Kyoshi novel (no spoilers in this screenie):

[Text in image reads: Earth, Fire, Air, Water, and then Earth again, an order as unchanging as the seasons. A process stretching back nearly a thousand generations before Kuruk, and one that would hopefully continue for a thousand more.]

Now, I've always been under the impression that it's very possible--and even likely--that there have been more Harmonic Convergences than just during Wan and Korra's eras. Part of this stems from what Roku said in AtLA:

"I've learned the elements a thousand times in a thousand lifetimes."

However, that could easily be written off as exaggeration or Roku just making shit up for dramatic effect lol. BUT the above line in the Kyoshi novel comes directly from the internal monologue of a reliable Air Nomad leader. And it seems to heavily imply that the Avatar cycle has been recorded with enough dedication for them to have a general idea how many Avatars there have been.

I think this line can be interpreted in one of two ways:

1. 'Generations' is referring to normal people, AKA the roughly 20-30 years between a person's birth and the birth of their first child. A thousand generations would then be 20,000-30,000 years.

2. The word is used in a more figurative sense, marking each Avatar as a 'generation' in the cycle. Even with the extremely conservative estimate that Avatars live--on average--50 years, that would be 50,000 years between Wan and Korra. It could easily be double that, considering how long Kyoshi lived.

Basically, if we take this at face value, that means there has been at least one extra Harmonic Convergence between Wan and Korra, but as many as eight or nine. And I see no reason, canonically/lore-wise, that it can't be true. Vaatu remained imprisoned in the Tree of Time until Unalaq released him. In fact, it's entirely possible that most people in the AtLA world had no idea anything unusual was happening during previous HCs.

If my math is horribly wrong, someone please tell me nicely 😭😅