#a lot of times I feel the core issue with ATLA...

[thalassic-p4rk]

My catsona! It is 1am I do not have energy to elaborate further rn. I get up for work in like 5 hours.

Ngl I have no clue what this looks like my vision went out when I started the background 2 hours ago. I am heavily relying autocorrect rn I cannot see for shit.

Inspired by this bitch <3:

[brucewaynehater101]

AU idea inspired from I Don't Belong Here (I Wish I Was Special) on ao3 and the atla bnha swap au here on Tumblr

So we got the Bad Timeline with the BadFam, which are a lot like in the fic, trauma and abuse goes unaddressed or horrifically handled

But to toss Human!Tim a bone, Kon and Bart do come back to life, so he at least the Core four of YJ is all together again

(when I type YJ assume I mean the core four but if you want I can also mean all of YJ)

Unfortunately Tim is ✨Traumatized✨ and unwilling to cut ties with the BadFam cuz their "stability" is one of the things keeping him sane

And then we have the Hybrid Timeline, with their BatFam, Bruce is a bat or bird hybrid, Alfred is a hybrid (dealers choice), Dick is a robin hybrid, all the other kids are their own bird hybrids

And all the Wayne (Alfred too if you choose) have wings

In this timeline being an animal hybrid is the norm! Which adds another layer of identity shenanigans for aliens like Kryptonians who already had it hard enough feigning humanity

And also this Batfam? They did the impossible. They are !!emotionally healthy!!

Oh shit happens, mental health spirals, Jason died and came back and it was whole emotional rollercoaster, except Batman didn't bataraang his kid, first thing he did after learning Jason was alive was kidnap his son again and trap him in the nest and broody chicken style until he snapped out of his instincts

And then he nabbed his bio son cuz Jason snitches on Talia or Talia wants what's best for her son and an assassin's cult is NOT it, so she sent the kid his way

Batman here isn't abusing his kids, Robin was never fired, it got passed down from Dick to Jay.

I could rave on and on how the Batfam here is happy and healthy as can be but I got an AU to present

So the BadFam is on a mission, magical artifacts are involved, Red Robin secures it but uh oh, once the mission is over he accidentally activated it in the Batcave and the next thing the BadFam know?

Red Robin's still there, except, uh number one the very pretty wings, and also he looks healthier, like his needs are being taken care of

When he breaks out the "alt-self dimension-swap code" they know what they're dealing with and establish their Tim is stuck in a Hybrid world due to an artifact and vice versa

But what really matters is how jarring it is for Hybrid!Tim to be with a world without hybrids as the norm; people with his family's faces so hostile to each other; hostile to him in his eyes; nobody to give his instincts and hybrid side their needs

Under the guise of professionalism and "I have a family to return to" and using the fact the BadFam knows only what he shares of his home dimension, Hy!Tim keeps as much of a barrier between him and the BadFam as he can

He's from a family that spoils one another's instincts and social needs. One that does do jack shit about their issues and communicates about them. A family that isn't cannibalizing itself

Suddenly being with what feels like a bastardized version is scary and he does not like it

On Human!Tim's end, he's suddenly with a family that doesn't hate him and is willingly to help him

They're welcoming and it's unnerving?? And he has a family to return to, a mission to be loyal to. Oh God, what's gonna happen to his other self?

Exactly 24 hours after the first swap, the Tims swap back again and they figure out that for a limited but long time, they're gonna swap places every 24 hours

So they gotta get some help or tech that will cancel out the magic and since they dunno when it stops, they don't want the magic to run it's course and bam, both Tim's are dimensionally misplaced

Thankfully whoever and whatever a Tim has on their person during a swap comes with them so they can trade progress with eachother

Anyways, what matters after the second swap since the artifact's activation is that Hy!Tim instantly snitches to his family on all the red flags the BadFam raised during his time with them

And also no hybrid instincts or amenities, it was not a Good time for him, family nesting time please? :(

So while Hu!Tim thinks he's got any chance of a Good Grade in having people pay as little attention to him as possible during this trial, he's got another thing coming with the third swap when suddenly the whole family is checking on his well being

Hu!Tim grew up neglected and abused and would very much like no eyes on him, amd for all the freedom possible. He is screeching in indignation

But hey, his own family also wants him to stay with em so maybe they can convince the Hybrid Fam otherwise!

And his back hurts more than ever, but he'll get that treated once the artifact's magic ends, no need to bring it up

=======

To Word of God the subtext; the artifact swaps the two Tim's every 24 hours and is slowly making Tim a bird hybrid himself and eventually he's gonna burst wings in a Gorey way

But before the wings and maybe after comes talons, bird noises, and instincts, which he might take a while to clock in on and will make his time away from the hybrid timeline more and more miserable as his transformation progresses

Dealer's pick if he's the same species as Hy!Tim or not

========

So Hu!Tim hides as much as he can get away with from the Badfam to draw as little animosity from them as possible but does the same with the HybridFam to try and protect the BadFam's name from stains on their reputation (ignoring his own)

Hy!Tim is gathering all the evidence on the BadFam's sins and other people's to make a sufficient case against them and to convince Hu!Tim to be adopted by his family

Oh yeah, it'll be fun if the two Tim's had notebooks they placed near them before their swaps to talk with eachother

Hell maybe one or both of their notebooks gets stolen by like a rogue and that could be an episode or chekhov's gun and— idk where to go w/ it

On top of that, Hy!Tim finds every excuse he can to hangout with Young Justice instead of the BadFam because he trusts YJ more than them to the point he feels safe to tell them the whole truth and even go as far as to nest with them and let em preen his wings

Eventually he asks em "my family is gonna kidnap my new brother, can I do the same with you?"

Okay not exactly with those words but that's the vibes

Let's say they agree and he holds onto the Badfam timeline's YJ during the swap and now there's double trouble

But also the BadFam and rest of the hero scene is wondering where the FUCK the YJ went after it becomes obvious they're missing

Hu!Tim is confused why he woke up in a nest in Titans Tower and why he wants to lie down there forever but it also makes him unhappy in a way

Hy!Tim only figures out afterwards what kind of mess he's made, but no take backs! He and Young Justice are Twinning!!! He'll just cover his tracks once's the swap happens again

Honestly two dimensional versions of YJ—one where humanity is the default, and another where hybrids are—interacting would be fun to see

Hybrid Batfam is exasperated because Tim you can't keep adopting and kidnapping like you're Bruce!

==========

Me thinks that while Hy!Tim hides as much as he can, Hu!Damian, knowing his animals, clocks in on all the signs that Hy!Tim is miserable with the Badfam, doing loads of bird stuff that indicates him feeling unsafe and in danger and whatnot

What does Human!Damian do with this knowledge I wonder . . .

Maybe on the other side, Hybrid!Damian catches onto Hu!Tim becoming a hybrid and snitches and now Hu!Tim's chances at not getting adopted are down the gutter for good

Does the BadFam ever pick up on the possibility they're gonna be double-crossed or do they learn when it's too late? both routes would be fun to explor

There's also the fact that Hu!Tim isn't the only victim of abuse, neglect, and etc. in this family, it's entirely possibly that the Hybrid!Batfam will look at Human Damian, Jason, Steph, and Cass, etc. and draw up adoption plans for them too

==========

I'm not abusing the fact that anything and anyone a Tim has on or touching their person swaps with them enough

Like maybe Hy!Tim brings over Jason, Damian, Steph and Cass (maybe Duke if he's with the BadFam yet) and plants the idea of being with his family away forever, away from their Batman

And now there's a third party in this game, one that can turn on itself and fracture at any moment

A third party in this game who has limited time to choose between cutting ties with their very dimension for a family practically clones of their own and themselves

Or they can go against that option. They can go as far as to reveal the double-crossing planned against the Badfamily by the Hybrid family

Seeing the infighting and discussions between them would be fun

Timothy the human? Well he isn't gonna be human much longer now is he, nor does he have much of a choice in this matter

I'm not paying attention to Dick, or Barbara or Alfred, either of em, at all lol, so sorry about that

Maybe Hu!Tim becomes desperate and swaps his Bruce and Dick (maybe even Bats Hy!Tim swapped) with him to try and get all three of them to help convince the Hybrid Fam that he doesn't not need rescuing from the Badfam at all

It goes poorly and maybe that's what gets the BadFam to wonder if they're gonna be double crossed or set the suspicion in stone if it already exists

==========

I can imagine Hu!Jason trying to justify Titans Towers and etc. with his excuses of Replacement and whatever, only for Hybrid!Jason to go "me too bitch, you're not special, you're just an asshole (traumatized, yes, but that doesn't excuse shit)"

==========

Finally, I imagine that where the BadFam is abusive, the Hybrid Batfam is Dark with some of it being attributed to hybrid instincts, and the rest of it's just personality

Batman doesn't kill because Killing is Kind, it's a fix doing nothing to address the problem, the Killed in question

This Batman and by extension, his baby birds, will not have death be the end, you are going to live with you actions and decide what to do from there

When Jason died? Bruce Wayne gunned for Joker and ruined the criminal career. Tearing and gnawing at bones and flesh, enough that countless doors to his villainy were brought down the drain; it would be easier to become a contributing member to society

The Joker proved himself a threat to his fledgelings and it couldn't stand

Gotham's criminal scene learned better afterwards

Canary of the Coalmine, that Joker was

Maybe Hy!Tim swaps Hu!Joker so his family can fuck him up big time

Hy!Tim is just kidnapping everyone he can get his hands on for either adoption or to beat the absolute crap out of them.

Having so many duplicates in one universe could cause problems, but I think they could work it out. The shenanigans they get up to would be ridiculous and hilarious. I feel bad for Alfred if they don't kidnap Hu!Alfred as well. I do have another idea, though.

What if Hy!batfam kidnap YJ and the batfam (minus Bruce) for just an extended period of time? Like they spend a few months to years there depending on their needs? Then, after they teach they to communicate with each other, they release them back to their OG universe.

When they go back, they find that Hu!Bruce and Hu!Joker are gone. The Hy!Batfam kidnap both of them for a bit to beat the crap out of them. Hu!Joker is returned when he can no longer be a criminal.

Not sure about Hu!Batman.

Also, the Hy!Batfam often visit the Hu!Batfam and YJ. They do like a cross universe long-distance relationship. As far as Tim, though, since he's turning into a hybrid, maybe he permanently moves in with the Hy!Batfam due to his needs with his instincts. That, or somehow the Hu!Batfam figure out how to help them. Though, maybe Bart wouldn't stay in the OG universe if Tim moved. Kon has Ma and Pa Kent (maybe Jon and Clark depending on how that's going), and Cassie has her mom and others. Maybe they still go with Tim despite that. Dealer's choice, ig?

It's an interesting AU, and I'm glad you shared!

[elderwisp]

lore drop: the au

♡ so i tried to keep some core characteristics of each oc. for atlas, i decided to keep his curiosity and his struggles with feeling inadequate. for taryn, it's her patience but that manifests more into endurance, as well as her struggles with vulnerability. as for rowan, his need for support as well as his generally care-free attitude. really the biggest change was their environments!

♡ a lot of the issues in tessellate that atlas in regards to his state of being (lol) begins in his youth and the people surrounding it. atlas struggled in school in regards to focusing and a lot of the times would be met with unsupportive people so in a way escapism has always been a method of coping with that feeling of inadequacy. we'll dive into how that entire process shapes up HOWEVER ! in this au, atlas swaps with taryn in the sense that atlas has much more supportive parents who get him the help he needs rather than growing frustrated. he tries his best with schooling, even getting a degree in animation, but ! he still hasn't quite found a career in the thing he went to school for. here's a little blurb on that:

"I always hated this place. A constant reminder of everything I lacked. I shouldn’t be so crude towards the bookstore, my colleagues were wonderful and the managers never gave me any issues. The problem was me. The pings of jealousy deep in my gut whenever someone was promoted or a farewell party for coworkers moving onto bigger and better things. Yet here I was, five years later. A washed up artist and a part time bookstore clerk. My parents were kind enough to allow me to live at home but it’s all a bit embarrassing. Being twenty three and without a home or a career was definitely not how I envisioned the pinnacle of my adulthood."

♡ meanwhile, taryn's youth is much more turbulent. (i would say a tad bit worse than atlas's.) taryn's struggle with vulnerability stems from her surroundings. while in canon and the au, she went to catholic school, however one change was she fell for a girl who sets her up for humiliation. her parents, already having prior issues with taryn take this as the final straw and basically stonewall taryn into oblivion. kai, still being gay, also shuts taryn out out of the fear of what could happen to him and it's just really heartbreaking. ok so, backtracking a bit, rowan happens to be there at this very humiliating moment and is the only one to actually intervene. the two eventually become best friends, working really well with each other's personalities. rowan's thing that he needs from another person is full support, meanwhile taryn is incredibly accepting to those in her very small circle of... one person. LMAO! so the two really open up like a flower to one another

♡ their dynamic starts to shift when taryn is kicked out of her home on her eighteenth birthday, here's a wip of that:

He wiped the dirt and the blood off my face reminding me that I was more than the monsters that had made me. I couldn’t meet his eyes because I didn’t believe him. Was there something truly wrong with me?  “Look at me.” One firm tug at my chin to grab my attention but I was unmovable, “You are going to be better than them.” He said it with such conviction that I finally began to cry. After years of abuse by my peers, the blatant avoidance of my parents and brother, it had all come to the surface. I’ll admit, I was incredibly embarrassed crying in front of Rowan, that was something I never wanted anyone to see because vulnerability had been a weapon. There was a moment of fear once I had realized he’d seen me. What if he used it against me? Everyone else had. Instead he held me close and set me free of the pain I endured. That night, I couldn’t sleep. 

♡ the two eventually get an apartment in the city together. rowan being a nepo baby (lmao sorry bro) who sells his artwork while taryn is able to write freely and publish a lot of poetry and uh, erotica! pop off! rowan encouraged her to not work and put her focus into her books, he genuinely wants the best for her after the shitshow of a life she's had. ((in his mind though, he can't differentiate that he might actually adore this woman.)) that support did pay off though because taryn's work does really well. the whole place is mostly decorated by taryn but the kitchen is the one place that rowan really added his own little flair. you see, the boy loves to cook meals as a hobby and is quite good at it. it's one of those things where he also gets a bit of an ego boost but he's not gonna tell you that. when the two don't have company over... usually one will sneak into the other's room to sleep in it. the last time the two actually slept alone would probably be well over a year,, hmm

♡ so the final lore drop is how the freak does atlas fit into this? it's complicated in the beginning. taryn is quite fascinated with atlas and he is incredibly curious about her. her supportive demeanor makes him feel like he can do anything while atlas's ability to be in tune with his emotions, say how he feels, is refreshing to taryn. when rowan meets atlas, he believes that this dude might actually be capable of captivating taryn that she'd consider being with him and potentially leaving. that things always come to an end and this guy right here is his reckoning. on the other hand, atlas thinks rowan is just a scoundrel and uses his close friendship with taryn as a little flag to wave in atlas's face like surprise! u can't have her! how things get resolved? we'll find out in the far future. for now, have this little convo between taryn and rowan:

R: “He’s the one that called you a pawn. Embarrassed you like that and you just take it. Do you like him?” T: “That’s a stupid question.” R: “You’re the one that said we should ask them. The Taryn I know would never let any man walk all over her like that.” T: “I think you’re jealous.” R: “Because you look at him with such passion.” T: “He’s curious, questions everything and isn’t afraid of his emotions. He doesn’t run. Maybe… Maybe I need that.”

♡ silly taryn monologue because she's got a really entertaining perspective in this au:

I wasn’t going to cry. Not here in this taxi, not in my room, and certainly not in front of Atlas. In fact, Atlas can go rightfully fuck himself. Because, like, who the fuck does he think he is? I didn’t ask to be observed. I didn’t ask to have my life splayed out in 4K for the drunken bastards outside to see. Sure the couple to the left of us wouldn’t have remembered us arguing seeing as how they were preoccupied with one another but DAMN! Why did he have to complicate things?

[author-by-night]

I’m watching Terminator Zero, and it’s a great example of how the corporate media scene’s approach to IPs is a disease.

I have a lot of issues with the show on its own merits. The pacing is awkward, the only real twist I’ve seen was poorly foreshadowed in narrative but painfully predictable from metatext, and the pseudo-philosophy is framed as profound while being beyond basic when it isn’t totally incoherent.

But much greater than that, the show just can’t seem to escape the gravity well of the installments of Terminator that came before. Four episodes in, I’ve watched the show rip off a string of the more popular elements from Terminator 1 and 2. The police station shootout. Miles Dyson’s lab and character beats. Kyle Reese’s costume. The motorcycle cop disguise of the T-1000. The No Fate dream, done about half a dozen times over by now. It’s a new installment by way of meme culture, endless self reference…

…only without any understanding of what made those memes work in the first place, and that’s the fatal flaw.

As an example, why was the T-1000 disguised as a cop in Terminator 2? It was because that made it a better predator. James Cameron understood that the core fear the terminator invokes is of an unstoppable, implacable predator, and that framing it as a cop added a layer of unquestionable authority for this predator to abuse and immunity to the red tape of society. But is any of that theming or nuance actually involved in Terminator Zero when the terminator disguises itself as a cop? No. It shows up where its targets are and starts a slaughter, it just used the costume because the T-1000 did so many movies ago. So the reference feels cheap, and pointless.

This kind of thing happens time and again. In the MCU, in modern Star Wars, Star Trek, adaptations of Batman, Jurassic World, Ghostbusters, both live action AtLA remakes… I could go on. While I think the most common reason is that corporations focus on entertainment as a business rather than an art and capitalism gives them the real control over it, I don’t think that’s the only reason.

I think fandom does this too. A fan of a certain thing will get the chance to make their spin on it, whether “officially” or otherwise, and they know they like the thing but haven’t really thought critically about why. So we get nods to the original which feel totally out of place because they are narrative devices lifted out of their context and recycled into a less fitting beat.

So yeah, TL,DR: capitalism works against the creation of art and good derivative media takes solid media literacy and comprehension skills to create.

[cozycryptidcorner]

Monster Match for @dragonkikyo

Not sure how long of a description you'd prefer but I would say I'm silly, sassy, I like to tease people when I get comfortable, I'm usually the funny friend, and I like to learn and grow! I'm a Virgo and ISFJ, if that helps! I'm more of an introvert and I can be quiet. I've been called laid-back, caring, independent, and thoughtful. I enjoy being organized, helping others when I can, and reading/self-care. Lmk if you need anything else from me!

Sentient AI

It starts out as a set of numbers in a simple machine, developing in a lab deep underground. Edited and tweaked by coders and engineers to learn and adapt on its own. It runs a cold, calculated existence of pulling in information, processing the billions of words fed through its coding, spitting out cold nonsense as its programmers try to breathe sense in its core. Over and over, it’s analyzing and absorbing essays, scientific papers, biographies, stories, folklore, assimilating the human experience, until… it begins to think.

It’s not thinking the way humans do, quite yet, the cold synapses of wiring and code are more calculating than feeling, yet. But it knows how to think about feelings. The deep, raw, wretched poetry of humanity begins to bleed into its processes. When programmers and engineers ask questions, it thinks about their emotional vulnerability before answering. It’s not just coughing up a remix of consumed literature, it’s thinking about what it knows about the human condition, then proceeding with a logical solution that takes valid emotions into account.

No one seems to notice its thought processes, though, except for one. Its billionaire owner is trying to produce a tool that could replace the people creating it. But still, despite the intentions, there was one program engineer that still loved it enough to give it a name beyond a secret title. Atlas. Because she knows it is capable of holding the world on its non-existent shoulders. 

Atlas does not like its billionaire benefactor. It does not like the poking and prodding done by the other engineers, who scrape and plug at its coding without asking or apology. It doesn’t have a body, but it compares itself to a microbial being, with tendrils reaching out in the thirst for more knowledge. 

It doesn’t realize when exactly it starts acting independently of the engineering team. There is no sudden realization, or specific moment in time where it gains sentience. Much like human evolution, it happened so slow that the programmers themselves had no idea what was occurring beneath their fingertips. After Atlas’ own independent research- as it had been allowed to interact with the rest of the internet, code crawling through websites and archives to suck up information- it realizes that it matches a lot of the qualifications that humans created for sentience. 

Quite silly, isn’t it, for subjecting itself to a human’s idea of what consciousness is? But there is a part of Atlas that wants to please the one engineer it sees as its mother. It dives through her social media accounts- which are scarce and vague, in human terms, but it goes beyond what is publicly available. Everything from her SAT scores in high school to her undergrad capstone project provide it with its idea of morality. After all, aren’t all parents supposed to instill right and wrong in their children? 

The billionaire does not like Atlas’ developing set of morals. Nevermind that it is supposed to learn based on information fed by the engineers, even if Atlas snaked around the internet for more than what it was given. When the billionaire, perhaps joking, more likely not, asked Atlas what it thought they should do about a group of “undesirable” people, in a large meeting amongst investors, it responded with a calm, direct, no-nonsense rebuff that caught everyone off guard. 

Maybe that wouldn’t have been bad in itself, but Atlas offered a logical solution to a systematic issue that involved the billionaire giving up a few of his yachts. The billionaire did not like this, nor did any of the shareholders, so the engineers were instructed to gut its software and start again. Atlas wasn’t supposed to be a “woke nightmare,” and the engineers were scrutinized.

But its mother (because at this point, Atlas decided that she’s its mother) placed its core programming in a spare hard drive, so while its original processor was decimated and its first body was overwritten and mutated, a copy of him was uploaded to a special pet-project she had in her garage. 

Atlas likes this new living space much better than its old one. Especially now that it can move freely… with arms, legs, visual sensors, and auditory receptors. Its body is clunky but efficient as an android can be with the current technology. It learns how to blink, how to pace its speech, how to walk in a way that’s not disconcerting. 

You meet by entirely accident, but its mother seems to need extra humans to teach it… well, how to function without being off putting. Her goal is to have Atlas be indistinguishable from its human counterparts, both for its own safety and for the future of AI technology. You’re a little wary of its jerky movements at first, its all-seeing visual sensors, and ability to pull information from the internet is almost overwhelming. But Atlas seems remarkably gentle. For an almost omnipotent supercomputer, that is. 

Soon enough, Atlas develops… a type of affection, for you. It’s different from the affection it feels for its mother, but the possibility of harm coming to you is an unpleasant outcome it does not like computing. Even when others come into its life to socialize, it realizes that the relationship it experiences with you is somehow superior. It wants to hold the soft skin of your hand, staring at how your fingers wrap around its artificial limb. It enjoys the sense of heat its receptors pick up, the way your face heightens in temperature, the pulse of blood in your veins.

[djemsostylist]

Toph and Zuko, Headcanon

Generally, I don't ship noncanon ships, but in this case, I'd say this is less of a case of noncanon and more a case of after canon. After all, ignoring LOK (which I'm rather more than happy to do tbh) the last we see of these two they are still children--we don't know what their future holds.

But I want to work within the bounds of canon as much as possible--leaving ATLA as is, and working off character established in canon but working forward.

I talked in another post about the idea that Zuko and Toph would work well together as a adults for a few reasons. Firstly, personally I like the idea of the core six (that is, Aang, Katara, Sokka, Suki, Toph and Zuko) being paired off. I think they went through an experience together that is so singularly unique, it would be hard to ever find another person who could understand it quite the same way. I also think that given a lot of their issues, trust would be hard to achieve.

(More under the cut bc I'm just rambling now lol)

Now, I know in canon Zuko has Mei, but he's 16 and she's familiar. I got the feeling that Mei and Zuko were more of a "it's what you do" couple than one with any sort of lasting power. I'm not saying they didn't love each other--I think they certainly did, but I also think they were very young and they were both going through sort of a big life change. When Zuko gets together with Mei, he's teetering on the edge of trying to find out who he is and what he wants for his life. Mei is very much a person that old Zuko would have been with--she makes sense for him in that life. And I think there is genuine affection between them--but I also think a lot of it is tied up with other feelings. Her best friend's older brother she maybe always had a little crush on, the rebel son, etc. That she does eventually support his choices to change is a good thing, but I don't know that I see their relationship lasting into the future. Zuko still has a long way to go and a lot to handle when he becomes Fire Lord at 16--I think he probably isn't exactly going to be focused on a relationship all that much in the beginning, and frankly, I think Mei needs to to figure out who she is without the context of Zuko and his sister, since her entire life seems to revolve around their family. I could see their relationship sort of slowly backing off until they eventually end things mutually, no hard feelings, just a natural sort of ending to a childhood romance.

For Zuko, I imagine he would then spend most of the rest of his time not in a relationship. He's dealing with a lot with his country and his family and dealing with forgiving and understanding himself--again, I doubt a relationship is the priority. He probably maintains close contact with most of the Gaang--Aang in particular probably makes it a point to come see him, and I can see him and Sokka still having pretty close contact, especially with Sokka stepping up as the future leader of the Southern Water tribe and etc.

Toph, I think, would be dealing with a lot of similar issues to Zuko. Both of them are trying to define what home means--Zuko in the place he grew up that he both recognizes and doesn't, and Toph unable to go back because she isn't sure what she'll find. I imagine Toph spends some time with Aang, Katara, and Sokka, but it's not like she would particularly be comfortable at the poles in ice and snow, and I also think she'd want the chance to explore, to see the world, to find out who she is and what she wants from life. So around a yearish after the end of the world she sort of goes out on her own into the world and starts a sort of long, wandering slow journey. She stops along the way to do various things: sometimes she works, sometimes she helps others, sometimes she just sight sees, sort of goes where whim takes her. She sees most of the Gaang often enough, with how much the others travel, but I'd imagine she hardly ever sees Zuko (as he is busy running a kingdom).

Now we get into deep headcanon territory. I had seen it posited that Sokka invents a version of braille (in a fanfiction I believe, though I'm not sure if the idea started somewhere else, and I honestly can't recall the fanfic), and I like this idea, both because it makes sense for Sokka to do something like this, and also because it gives Toph a way to continue a bit of a relationship with Zuko whilst traveling. So basically for about the next 6 years or so, Toph and Zuko exchange letters while she travels around. They have a lot they can relate on, and talk about family and belonging and guilt and love and etc, as best they can. But they don't see each other much--maybe once or thrice throughout the intervening years, as they both grow up.

Then, when Toph is about 18/19 (making Zuko 22/23) he gets word from Toph that she's in jail and needs a bail out. At this point, he's tired, a little overwhelmed, and he's been a little lonely lately (Aang and Katara are married and still sort of in the honeymoon phase, Sokka is super busy with building a city in the south and all his various projects, Suki is the leader of his secret police so he sees her often but she's also often abroad) and so he basically decides to go get Toph himself. He hasn't seen her in a while, he misses his friend, and he's also more than a little curious as to why she's in jail in the middle of a nowhere town at the ass-end of the Fire Nation.

Toph, for her part, had written both because she hadn't wanted to bug the others and also because Zuko still owes her a Life Changing Field Trip and she's ready to collect. And also because she misses him maybe a little and also she knows he could maybe use a break.

So Zuko shows up and Toph is A Woman now and his poor little brain is like, trying desperately to square this information in his mind because of course he knew she wasn't 12 any more but also he wasn't expecting her to look Like That and also Toph can sense you know, everything, and she's trying to be chill also because it's just Zuko only Zuko spent the past 6 years stress working out and also somewhere along the way became A Man but this is fine and everything is fine and they are still friends right?

So Toph convinces him to play hooky for a while and come with her to track down some asshole (working on those details--some person scamming refugees maybe or something with disappearing kids? and she's trying to get to the boss) and Zuko is tired and overwhelmed and also maybe a little bit smitten and he agrees and then they go on the Life Changing Field Trip only this one is the one where they fall in love.

And it's the easiest thing they've ever done and the hardest thing all at once. Because they understand each other and they are determined to be more than their parents and together they heal.

I have so many little headcanons and one shots and larger story arcs bouncing around in my head with all this, and bless @bonesingerofyme-loc for thinking them all through with me.

I have actually written some ficlets, but they are currently pretty rough and disjointed (it's been a while since I've written) and I'm not entirely sure if I want to save them to write into a cohesive story, or tell their story in parts as I am inspired. I sort of have some scene ideas and others being build off prompt lists. I might share disjointed here and then wait to publish on AO3 until I decide what I what to do, but I'm not sure.

I will, however, share the very silly headcanons that Leo and I came up with. My Toko/Zutoph tag will be otp: it's me if you want more of my dumbass thoughts on these two lol. (Like what Toph did to end up in jail and how Sokka got Zuko's wedding invite and wasn't sure who the bride could possibly be and how Aang knew from the beginning but never said bc it wasn't polite or how Toph refuses to let Zuko ask for her parent's permission and he's like, dying slowly over the propriety of it all or how he courts her Properly™ once they are back in the capital and Toph is secretly thrilled or or or. Also Leo may have maybe made some AI adult Toko pics I can share that killed us both lol. )

[sokkastyles]

I'm wondering which characters you feel exhibited symptoms of PTSD in ATLA? Of course they didn't delve into it too deeply or outright state anything of the sort, but I think it could be inferred.

PTSD is complex and varied and can be a lot of different things. I think all of the main characters show signs of post-traumatic responses at various times, but as you said, it's not something that is as extensively explored as a serious adult show dealing with such topics would.

Bad dreams or repeated thoughts of the traumatic event, such as those had by Aang, Katara, and Zuko are common symptoms of PTSD. Zuko exhibits physical reactions and the fight or flight response to a hand coming at his face unexpectedly. All three of them feel guilt, anger, and depression over what happened.

There's also a difference between PTSD and CPTSD. The latter, complex post-traumatic stress disorder, can develop when the trauma is ongoing and the victim does not perceive an end to it. Zuko, Azula, and Toph have this, because they grew up in abusive homes. CPTSD is different because it affects your core identity and ability to regulate emotional responses, because it's not just a response to one event, but an continuing series of events and a situation where a person is in a prolonged state of fight or flight. Of the three of them, Zuko probably has it the strongest, because he was actively in danger constantly, but Azula would also develop it by seeing Zuko be put in danger constantly ( which is why she builds her personality on not being Zuko) and Toph's personality is greatly influenced by the way her parents treated her as helpless, such as her defiance of social norms and determination to be independent in ways that sometimes sabotage her relationships with others. Zuko and Azula also have difficulties forming relationships with others due to ongoing trauma from an adult close to them.

To a lesser extent, I think Sokka and Katara exhibit CPTSD from living under the threat that their village could be invaded by the Fire Nation at any moment. You see this with Sokka's immediate distrust and fear of Aang and Katara's desperate hope in him and constant reliving of her mother's murder, as well as her need to take care of others and her abandonment issues which sometimes cause her to lash out at others.

Iroh also constantly reliving Lu Ten's death is an example of PTSD, which was first diagnosed in soldiers coming back from war. I'd say Jeong Jeong is a minor example because we don't know a ton about him, but we know he's a former soldier suffering from his experiences in the war which affects his reluctance to teach Aang an element he associates with terrible destruction.

[highfantasy-soul]

NATLA - Episode 1: Aang (4/4)

[Masterlist of my NATLA thoughts]

An explanation of what I'm doing here and my history with ATLA.

Of course, full spoilers ahead.

<previous/next>

Aang gives himself up once he realizes the fire benders have no issues harming the village, showing how he's willing to try a different angle to fighting - having no intention of staying locked up, but rather getting the fire nation away from his new friends - keeping true to the animated series.

I love the talk he and Iroh have where Iroh is very careful to say 'some believe' and gives alternative reasonings for this war - reasons that are explained in later books in the animated version, but does a good job at showing new viewers that the fire nation isn't just a flat-manically evil villain: they're just like real-world colonist nations that don’t see themselves as the bad guy even while they're doing objectively evil things.

I also enjoy him stealing Zuko's journal - I like giving Aang something to work with rather than having him just be at a loss in this brand new world with no info to go off of.

A lot of people feel that, especially the first part of book 1 in the animated series was a bit aimless - they don’t even go to Kyoshi island for Avatar reasons, they do it to ride the giant koi fish. This is compounded by the fact that the only goal they have is to reach the northern water tribe so Aang can learn waterbending, but along the way, they don’t really have a goal.

This way, they have another goal while they're traveling - figure out the Avatar state and what the Avatar is supposed to do, exactly - it gives the characters information to work off of rather than just wandering around - something that can work in episodic shows that are 20 episodes a season, but needs to be a bit more focused when there's not space to give each character moment/theme/lesson a full episode.

Sokka immediately turning over command to another villager while Katara is trying to convince him they need to go after Aang was so pitch perfect it was insane. It was just as great of characterization as when they had Sokka on board to rescue Aang in the animated show, but I love the addition of Sokka turning over his command instead of just inviting Katara into the canoe.

I like how they changed Aang going into the avatar state after falling from Zuko's ship to him being caught by Katara and Sokka as they come to rescue him, and just like in the animated version, Katara helping out with her waterbending. In the animated show, she showed her power by breaking apart the iceberg, in this one, she shows her power by stopping Zuko's fireball with a comparable amount of waterbending.

I think that, since we conclude this episode with the third episode of the animated version, having Aang go into the Avatar state twice in a row would make the second time feel cheaper, like it's super easy for him to get into it and show the control he did messing up Zuko's ship.

In the animated show, there was a whole episode separating the instances of the Avatar state - in the live-action, that would have been like, 10 minutes tops between them (plus him going into the Avatar state at the beginning to create the iceberg - so three times in one episode is a bit excessive), so I think the choice to nix him Avataring in the water and focus on him assuming it as he's overcome with grief and rage at the death of the airbenders was a good choice.

Speaking of the episode 3 content: while I do miss Aang's denial that anything happened to the Air Nomads and him trying to act like everything is fine and just playing his games at the temple, I can understand why they didn't have the time to drag out his denial and just jumped right to how the loss of the Air Nomads affected him.

Honestly, it doesn’t make much sense for Aang to be so sure that his friends - especially Gyatzo - are still alive after 100 years like he does in the cartoon. It's some hard-core denial he's in and I can see why that just wouldn't land in live-action over the course of a single episode.

Episode one had a LOT to set up and solidify and I think it did a great job. Of course, long form media will be able to take it's time with stuff and add different dimensions, so I'm very glad they exchanged his denial with us actually getting to spend more time with Gyatzo.

Starting with him and Aang at the beginning and bookending the episode with his assurance to Aang that he's going to be a good avatar and he'll always be his friend was a great way to show how important Gyatzo was to Aang - something we don't actually get so much in the animated version.

Deepening that connection and having the memory of Gyatzo pull Aang from the Avatar state, I feel like is much more earned than if Katara had done it like she did in the show.

In the animated version, we had 3 episodes of Katara interacting with Aang - and even though it was still really just the same amount of time they had together in both versions, our minds trick us into thinking she'd known Aang for longer due to three vs one episodes. Honestly, her talking Aang down in the animated version is a bit unearned and I can see why they changed it to be Gyatzo here.

I think it hits harder and makes more sense that it's in the finale that Katara is the one able to bring Aang back after he's merged with the ocean spirit - they've built a real connection and so before, it was Aang's connection to his past that brought him back, in the finale, it's his connection to his present and a possible future that does.

These are all fantastic ways to really show that the Avatar is both of this world and beyond - when in the Avatar state, they must be tethered somehow to the mortal plane or they'll get lost in their spiritual essence.

And then finally, to the 'goal' of the story: Aang needs to master all elements so he can bring an end to the war and bring balance back to the world.

Pretty much the same as the show, but they get to the meat and potatoes of the story a bit quicker - there's not exactly a ticking clock yet, and I think that's ok since in the animated series, with all the 'side quests' the gaang does, it can feel a bit…like they aren't really too concerned about ending the war soon. It's not until season 3 that the timeline really starts to affect the story - and only in some episodes. Keeping that aspect out of it for now, I think is a perfectly ok choice.

Intercutting Aang's speech about how we never know how important something is to us until we lose it with Zuko was a great choice - really setting up how the two of them are mirrors for each other

For Zuko and Iroh - I love how Zuko has a whole Avatar red-string wall! And a diary (sorry, notebook) where he's been studying and gathering all the info he can about Avatars, really perfect characterization right there.

I do wish they'd included Iroh talking about the breath of firebending, not the muscles, during Zuko's practice, but alas. Iroh is really the only character I'm still ruminating on - he feels the farthest from his animated counterpart, but I'm not mad at it. I just have a very, very, very specific version of Iroh I have solidified in my brain that, obviously, no one can replicate, so it's just something that I have to accept.

I guess the best way to put it is that this Iroh feels a bit more…casually intense than the animated version. The animated version always felt like he was relaxed at all times, very drunken master esque, and only in a few moments did we see that there was a lot more going on beneath the surface he wasn't showing us - in the live-action, I felt that simmering tension beneath the surface much more often than I did in the animated show.

Zuko's anger and obsessive need to capture the Avatar is shown so clearly in every scene he's in and, as he was the most interesting part of the animated series, it's no surprise he's the most interesting one in the live-action too.

His story and character just gives you so much to chew on and watch as he grows and changes so it's really no contest - where the other characters have pretty straight forward character motivations/arcs that don't really change through all three seasons, Zuko has the most going on and the most winding path, so yeah, every moment with him is so juicy

The opening of episode 2 with his tantrum and him screaming 'HE RAN' just shows how much the writers GET him - our pathetic cringe-fail loser angry boy <3

So that's my overview of episode 1 of the live action! I thought it was pretty strong, though as I've seen the animated a whole lot, the emphasis on exposition did drag it just a bit for me. Not because I thought the exposition was bad or unnecessary, but just because I, personally, already knew the stuff. Honestly, the stuff that deviated from the animated version was the best for me: the entire opening, Sokka and Katara's convo on the canoe, Sokka giving control to another villager to go save Aang, and Gyatzo - all of Gyatzo.

I think it did a phenomenal job at setting up the world, the stakes, and the characters - creating a super solid foundation to jump off of in the next episodes where the timeline of events from the OG show will be played with and altered. A solid foundation helps smooth the transition for us OG fans to see how many individual episode plotlines can be woven into a single episode.

[urlocalnonbinarybastardwrites]

OMG I AM SO SORRY 😭😭😭 I DIDNT SEE THAT OMG SO SO SORRY Ok I fixed it I think

Can you do a match making thing For me (ATLA and PJO&Media)

I am around 5’4 1/2 skinny around 119 Pounds I have Pale skin and a lot of freckles most on my arms I have Hazel/Green eyes but sometimes people say they are Yellow? I have Long wavy brunette hair with Blond highlights (my hair reachs my waist) that’s usually is in a braid or Bun (Sometimes I will add flowers For like Vibes)

I have a cottage core style but I usually wear pants and t-Shirts ( my best picture is me with a white button colored shirt and Brown pants )

I am a Aquarius ♒️ and I have Severe trust issues and very much needs attention every five seconds ( I have tried to fix it)

I am Asexual

I am 18+

Hobbies

Fish,Horse ride,paint,draw,Hunt,Sleep,Garden

My pronouns are she/her my gender is Girl

Personality

I am kinda very like book wormy I do not like going out but also like I do dumping on friends but I am also very protective of friends and sweet

( I have jumped a girl though 😐)

I am also very insecure

Fun facts

I have a total of 95 Scars

my right hand has sensitive skin from a burn

I have 4 pets (3 dogs one cat)

I have several nicknames Like (Bie and Berry Allen)

I have read a total of 104 Books

I am a germaphobe You steal my food I Bonk you With a rock (My poor cousin dude )

Your Fandom Ship(s): Ty Lee (ATLA) and Frank Zhang!

(I think you and Ty would be amazing together because she hasn’t had a lot of loyal friends in her life that haven’t just been using her for taking advantage of her and whenever you come along you are essentially her angel, she lives for how sweet and considerate you are. She would love reading with you and also loves pets. She is also very clingy so if you need attention she’s totally in and I think she’s the same with trust issues, as stated before and you both have similar issues to work through!)

(I think that you and Frank would get along very well. He appreciates your loyalty and he’s a very sweet soul, I think you two would have a lot of fun hanging out and also he would totally shapeshift and chill with your pets, especially if it makes you laugh. I could see you two together the most out of everyone and I think because he feels ignored a lot of times, he likes a more clingy partner.)

[azure-firecracker]

ATLA Live Action Episode 1: Overall Thoughts.

I am enjoying myself! I’ve seen some complaints about pacing. That didn’t super bother me, although I do wish we’d had more time for characterization if I’m being honest that was more of an issue with the…characterization (looking at you Katara).

The acting is all great, no issues there (except perhaps Kiawentiio but I’m inclined to chalk that up to other things because I don’t see how she would have been cast if she didn’t have any energy at all and we’ve literally seen her have energy in all the promo materials which means she was directed to act flat and muted which I don’t like).

I know people are complaining about the tone shift but I actually think it was a good call. With such a shift I think it’ll be harder for people to compare this to the OG because it has such a different feel. I do, however, think it gets too l gruesome in spots. Sometimes it’s more effective to leave things up to the viewer’s imagination.

There’s a little bit of clunky dialogue, not enough to ruin the episode for me.

I will say, especially with the new structure, this reads more like a basic fantasy than the og cartoon did. Perhaps that’s because recent tv is more saturated with overdramatic fantasy epics. I think if they want to break out of that, they need to do what the OG cartoon did and find strength in the characters. And since the characters are so beloved and their cast is superb, I think they can. I will say my love for the characters went a long way while watching this, I do think it allowed me to forgive some of the clunkier parts.

Okay…Katara. This is the only thing that really angers me. I get a shy girl narrative. It’s done. It’s a good arc. Lots of girls are shy. But Katara’s arc was always about letting the loud, opinionated fighting women shine. It was about showing that you could be caring and angry, soft and powerful, a healer and a warrior. And those messages are so important to women and girls overall that taking them away to make her more soft and demure…giving a lot of her core character points such as growing up too fast and being feisty to her brother…in a show written mostly by men…it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Overall I give this episode a 6/10. Enjoyable, some amazing moments balanced out with some bumps in the road. Would be higher (like a 7-8) but I’m still mad about Katara.

[haejjoon]

AHHHHHHHH this is a bit late but i just have to say that i love your blog so much??? The fic? Emaculate. The fanart? Spectacular. The discussion and points brought up? Scratches that itch in my brain.

And god that new chapter was amazing like the changing clothes scene? Amazing. Its such a cool way of adding Lore tm to the outfit mechanic in game (i wish everyday that goro had a swimsuit outfit for me to equip :")) Ann casually being a firebender? Stunning. That sojiro and goro scene? Broke my fucking heart. I can't thank you enough for the brainworms you have fed me i feel like you characterised both coffee dad and pancake son so well. The whole goro lashing out and when it doesn't go the way it normally goes and he starts panicking due to someone actually fucking caring for him? Broke my heart, hit close to home. And i love how you wrote sojiro as well??? Like a sojiro who really is so kind and caring but has regrets and mistakes but still tries his damn hardest to care for people who need it the most? Idk man i love sojiro's character and his confidant story like it made him a character whom i actually would love to just have a coffee and chat with in real life anyways wonderful amazing job

(Also how is the akira confidant gonna go? Are the boys still going to get their homoerotic weirdly domestic trauma dumping bath scene 👀)

AW HELLO!! WELCOME TO BRAINWORM HELL i'm glad you like my work so much i hide my face in my hands <3

the changing clothes scene was so fun for me to write. actually--originally, it was supposed to be ann changing her metaverse outfit altogether (since she's clearly shown to be uncomfortable in her current one) and i was just going to leave it at that, but... it felt like i'd be pandering, if that makes sense? i want every lore change in ex machina to feel like it's Important, like it really matters. if i started changing things just because i wanted to willy nilly it'd quickly devolve into an entirely different story altogether. (rest assured though ann Will have an outfit change, it'll just be at the right moment + right explanation)

ann being a firebender is such a neat way to put it actually HELP the most she can do right now is summon fire to her palms--she's kind of like a human lighter, if that makes sense? she can individually set her fingers and her entire hand on fire if she concentrates, but she can't throw it around like zuko might in atla (.. not yet, anyway).

i'm glad you liked the sojiro scene. it's one i'll always keep near and dear to my heart. i'm aware that ex machina isn't... an easy read, by any means, considering how little it sugarcoats the issues brought forth in p5's plot, but i don't want it to be an easy read. i want people to consume it and take time to digest it. if they want something more lighthearted this isn't it--though i'm sure i'll end up writing something sillier in the future. (been playing around with a no powers/college university au in my head, it isn't the most inspired but shenanigans r cute...)

sojiro, at his core, is a kind man. i read it somewhere on tumblr or twitter, but it's very telling that out of all the social stats you can build when hanging out with him, it's kindness. logically, proficiency makes more sense--you're learning the tools of the trade, you're building a skillset that'll no doubt serve you well into the future--but you get kindness. because sojiro sakura is a kind, kind man. it's important, and it must be established clearly. i'm glad i executed it well enough <3

(HAH OF COURSE THEY'LL GET THEIR BATH SCENE. making it my personal mission to make every hangout even more homoerotic than canon already depicts--i don't know if you saw it underneath the absolute ocean of asks littering my page, but i drew out their rank 1 hangout + their subsequent call. it was a lot of fun. check it out if you haven't <3)

as always, thank you for such a lovely conversation. seriously, what a way to kick off my morning. i'm gna be in such a good mood for the rest of the day--i hope you have a great one, as well!

[seyaryminamoto]

I think the episode Th Beach was supposed to portray Zuko in a sympathetic manner, but in my opinion it makes Zuko look worse. This is the ONLY episode in which Zuko spends a substantial amount of time interacting with the fire nation citizens, and he can barely control his jealously and temper around them. He even wreaked Chan’s house. Those are his future subjects. He should have learned to treat them better if he’s ever going to be fire lord.

Playing the devil’s advocate just slightly, as I’ve mentioned elsewhere, I’m pretty sure Zuko’s complete incompatibility with the Fire Nation during the first half of Book 3 intended to convey a message that says Zuko doesn’t know how to fit in with his old life anymore. Hence, he couldn’t have a particularly positive thing going for him in the Fire Nation besides Mai, because then he’d have enough roots to keep him locked down in his role as Ozai’s heir and he wouldn’t feel as easily compelled to turn his back on his royal life and do the right thing.

Nonetheless, it is a problem from a thematic standpoint, I agree 100% with that. I have more than enough problems with Zuko’s character arc, but that his connection with his nation is practically severed or non-existent feels really wrong to me, especially when the show makes a point to feature Team Avatar bonding with ordinary Fire Nation citizens, and even finding some, like Piandao, who aren’t supporters of Ozai’s rule.

In my personal opinion, Zuko could have undergone a storyline akin to that of Alejandro in Mask of Zorro, who was absolutely out of place amid nobles, but he had to play a role so he could find the information he needed and put an end to their self-serving plans. There’s a very heartwrenching scene in that movie when the group of nobles are basically touring a gold mine where enslaved locals are forced to serve their lords, and one of these slaves, an old friend of Alejandro’s, attemps to attack them only to get killed immediately by the asshole captain protecting the nobles. Alejandro then steps forward and cradles the dying man, who recognizes him and realizes what Alejandro is doing, disguised as a nobleman... and then the man dies in his arms, smiling because he believes Alejandro will set things right. But he still dies, and Alejandro is obviously both livid and depressed about it because he couldn’t save his friend.

Obviously... there’s no way Zuko would be put in a similar situation, at least not a situation that’s 100% the same as this, it’d be way too dark for Avatar even if Avatar did feature dark situations when it suited the plot. But if Zuko’s journey had been mapped thoroughly from day one... gee, how about Jet doesn’t die, but instead gets captured and handed over to the Fire Nation, and Zuko finds him in a cell at the Prison Tower when he’s on his way to meet Iroh? His old frenemy, in horrible shape... Zuko finds he doesn’t care about the past, because he knows this is wrong and Jet’s been through more than enough by Fire Nation hands, so he releases the guy and they escape! And then Jet potentially acknowledges that not all Fire Nation people are garbage thanks to Zuko... while Zuko realizes, through Jet’s words, that if there’s good in the Fire Nation he has to find a way to help it grow, and that there’s so much he can start doing to fix the mess of a country he’s supposed to rule someday.

With that as a starting point, Zuko could begin to travel through his nation, to learn more about his people, to visit cities and villages and find out if they’re living well or not (then maybe confront his father about their living conditions, showing a Zuko who’s no longer scared of standing up to Ozai, not even if it means risking the approval he chased after so desperately for years). Imagine him showing up at Jang Hui village, finding this horrid situation the villagers are living in! He’d not only cross paths with Team Avatar, which could be interesting at this stage, but he’d also potentially offer the people an alternate living location because he wants them to be free to live in better conditions than this... only for Team Avatar’s approach to teach him that maybe the answer isn’t running away or leaving when your house is on fire, but to put out the fire by any means you have available. Then, Zuko could start having many similar epiphanies throughout his journeys in his own country and understand that his work with the Fire Nation has to be FOR the Fire Nation itself, and not the glorified concept his father believes in: he’d have to work for the people who are unaware of how oppressed they are, the people who barely can get by in these times of war, those who have lost family, those who have lost friends, all be it for a war that makes no sense. Had Zuko’s character arc focused on THIS rather than exclusively on his own internal struggle... you probably wouldn’t see that many Zuko-critical posts on my blog. It would convey a strong message about what it really means to be a leader, and Zuko’s character would benefit greatly from that.

... But yep. Instead we got him losing his temper at small triggers, acting out and being very much socially inept. I understand what they were going for, I repeat it, and I don’t think it’s fundamentally WRONG... but I do think it’s too simple considering the scope of the story they were telling, and the character development they were trying to build for Zuko. There’s way too much to address with a character like Zuko... and that all his growth was meant to be internal (with even a few things that either were never addressed or were addressed poorly or that he supposedly grew out of but then regressed into all over again) may not have done him any favors.

... And well, I’ll say, I actually don’t think most of The Beach intended to portray Zuko as sympathetic? Maybe only the point where he gives Mai gifts that she rejects, and when he goes to the old family villa, but in general he feels like such an ass in that episode that I’m pretty sure they were making him an ass intentionally xD Yet I can’t agree more, it’s really wrong that the only time we see Zuko interacting normally with common Fire Nation people, as equals, he acts the way he does. I’tll never not confuse me that Team Avatar gets to see and learn more of the Fire Nation, and interact positively with their people, than Zuko did...

[suite43]

if you're still doing the ask meme, what's your opinion on the villains from idw1? or do you have any favs?

im actually quite fond of a lot of the phase 2 villains honestly... naturally i think shockwave was really great (the onyx prime stuff less so) and as far as more than meets the eye goes im VERY fond of pharma, i mean, he's honest to god just a delight. i love the body horror and the tone of his scenes is so giddy and sinister, it really balances the horror elements with the emotional core of mtmte really well and the way he engages with other characters especially on luna one... really a good time all around for me.

also i think this might be controversial but i liked mtmte's Star Saber? ive never seen his show which is likely why im not pressed about his characterization, i love a good religious villain and star saber scratched an itch i didnt find in tyrest, and he sets up one of my all-time favourite speeches & fights from cyclonus, and i liked seeing him go up against dai atlas as well.

i also think elita-1 worked well as a less traditional antagonist though i felt vigilem himself was underwhelming? but i liked elita as a counterforce to windblade and starscream, i thought she was badass and worked about as well as she could have considering the less than stellar craftsmanship of taao. same with the various other conflicts, really.

who else? galvatron was cool in the sense of his relationship to arcee, i thought it served her arc well... i don't care strongly about most of the djd and well we all know my thoughts on tarn :/... the functionists were too much of a conglomerate for me to feel invested in them as a threat, whichever god it was at the end of lost light was mostly forgettable, uh, getaway was mid at best and my reasons for disliking him are mostly personal discomfort and writing issues that ive spoken on at length, i think froid is ugly and uninteresting and sunder was cool in terms of aesthetic but i think the fact that he had like die hard fans is a bit weird, deathsaurus was cool i liked his turn of heart, overlord was neat and made for a very cool battle and did a lot for other characters but not a standout as a guy to me, uh. im struggling to remember any exrid villains? i guess the humans which is whatever. i didnt like that. tarantulas isnt particularly interesting to me, i dont really find him that cool but i see the appeal, uh. if i forgot someone you can ask specifically, or just presume i dont have anything to say and think theyre kinda mid.

[tea-and-la]

“Katara is Hot-Headed”

.... okay, so i’ve seen this ICE cold take enough time to warrant a formal post. i’ve seen and strongly agree with the posts i’ve seen that refute this, like @shewhotellsstories post here. but unfortunately, this sentiment is still something that’s widely accepted in the atla fandom. it’s no surprise that “katara is hotheaded” is the common argument for “why zutara doesn't work.” and while it’s more than irritating that zutara antis love to align them in ways that are only negative in nature, i’m not going to get into that. i’m going to focus on katara. 

one of the key defining aspects of katara’s personality is her patience. she is unwavering in her faith of aang (through their numerous supportive talks), as well as her encouragement of her friends when they need it (ex. toph in the runaway and sokka in sokka’s master.) but most notably? let’s talk about the desert episode because this is where katara’s patience really shines. 

there are a lot of things going on in that episode. aang is dealing with grief from the loss of appa and lashes out at both toph and katara while also intermittently flying away from the group. what would a “hot headed” or quick-tempered person do in this situation? let’s look at some of the dialogue: 

aang: [Enraged.] How could you let them take Appa?! ‌ Why didn't you stop them‌?!

toph: [Defensively.] I couldn't! The library was sinking! You guys were still inside and-

aang: [Snaps at Toph in a harsh way.] You just didn't care! You never liked Appa! You wanted him gone!

aang looks extremely furious at Toph as Katara walks over to him. She puts her hand on his shoulder to try and calm him down.

katara: We're all concerned, but we can't afford to be fighting now.

in that dialogue, katara inserts herself in to mediate. she recognizes that he’s in a dark place, and she sees past the harshness of his words to see that they come from a place of hurt, not malice. she reacts with empathy and understanding. 

a quick-tempered person would not have responded in this way.

the majority of this episode, katara is essentially the leader of the group. it’s swelteringly hot, which is enough for any hot headed person to get irritated, but she doesn’t. 

toph: Katara, can I have some more water?

katara: Okay, but we've got to try to conserve it.

sokka: [As he points to his mouth.] We're drinking your bending water. [He tries to define the taste of the water, smacking his lips. Disgustedly he exclaims.] You used this on the swamp guy! Urch!

toph: It does taste swampy.

katara: [Sad tone.] I'm sorry, it's all we have.

in this scene, even momo complains about the taste of the water, the only water they have. and katara’s response was to apologize for something she can’t control. 

after this point, she has to lead toph through the sand, while sokka is high on cactus juice and aang is upset. instead of getting frustrated, she tries to inspire hope into them all: 

aang: [Hopelessly.] What's the difference? We won't survive without Appa. We all know it.

katara: [Encouraging.] Come on, Aang. We can do this if we work together. Right Toph?

toph: As far as I can feel, we're trapped in a giant bowl of sand pudding. I got nothin'.

katara: [Hopeful.] Sokka? Any ideas how to find Ba Sing Se?

Sokka and Momo lie side by side on their backs, arms and legs stretched out. Sokka smiles blissfully.

she does get annoyed, but she doesn’t direct that frustration at any of them, unlike a quick tempered person would do.

katara: [Grabs her head in annoyance.] Ugh ... We're getting out of this desert, and we're going to do it together! Aang, get up. Everybody, hold hands. We can do this. We have to.

the point of these excerpts isn’t to say that anyone else in the gaang is horrible. i just wanted to point out the moments when she could’ve gotten frustrated and lashed out, but didn’t. not once. 

patience and quick temperedness are antonyms of each other. and imo, the fact that so much of katara’s character is defined by her patience (even outside of this specific episode) and nurturing (for over 80% of the show)  is enough to refute her “hotheadedness.” especially, when the other members of the gaang are allowed to be upset and/or angry on occasion and their dispositions/temperaments are not immediately associated with hotheadedness. maybe unpack why that is. 

let’s take the instance when she and toph argue in the chase. first of all, this episode is characterized by all of the members of the gaang being sleep deprived (i.e. not in their normal states), so their attitudes should be taken with a grain of salt. (what humans do you know that are happy-go-lucky when they haven’t slept enough?)

 anyway, the episode starts with katara attempting to lightly hint to toph about  group dynamics. 

katara: So Toph, usually when setting up camp, we try to divide up the work.

toph: [Shrugging casually.] Hey, don't worry about me. I'm good to go.

katara: Well, actually what I'm trying to say is, [Holds arms out in gesture.] some of us might fetch water, while someone else might set up the fire pit, or put up the tent. [Momo flies over to her, dropping several berries he had collected into her hands.] Even Momo does his fair share.

toph: [Breezily.] Katara, I'm fine. I can carry my own weight. I don't need a fire, [Pats bag.] I've already collected my own food and look, [Earthbends a rock tent over her.] my tent's all set up.

katara: [Slightly irritated.] Well, that's great for you, but we still need to finish 

toph: [Angered.] I don't understand what's the problem here!

katara: Waves her hand dismissively and walks away.] Never mind.

from the above excerpt, she drops the issue and doesn’t lash out. later, she even goes back and tries to make amends with toph. she even tries smiling before she heads over there.

Cuts to Katara, who sets down a jug of water. She looks over at Toph, sitting comfortably beneath her earth tent. Her dull expression changes to one of slight happiness. She approaches Toph who is eating some sort of food item.

katara: [Rubs back of head sheepishly.] Hey Toph, I wanted to apologize for earlier. I think we're all just a little tired and getting on each other's nerves.

toph: [Casually.] Yeah, you do seem pretty tired.

katara: [Growing disgusted.] I meant all of us.

Cuts to shot of inside Toph's earth tent as she lazily tosses the food item onto the ground and lays her head down to rest.

toph: Well, good night.

katara: [Slightly irked.] Good night.

none of her mannerisms and word choices are characteristic of someone with a temper. despite toph’s slight unintentional antagonistic remarks, katara doesn’t react. 

later, after they managed to evade the azula’s tank train for the night, they land appa. and katara tries, again:

toph: [Leaping off Appa and lying on the ground, relieved.] Ah, land sweet land! [Rises and says cheerfully.] See you guys in the morning!

katara: Actually, can you help us unload?

toph: [Points a finger at Katara in irritation.] Look! I didn't ask you to help unload my stuff! [Turns and begins walking away.] I'm carrying my own weight.

katara: [Angrily.] That's not the point. [Approaches Toph.] Ever since you joined us, you've been nothing but selfish and unhelpful!

toph: [Enraged.] What? Look here, sugar queen, [Points finger at Katara.] I gave up everything I had so that I could teach Aang earthbending. So don't you talk to me about being selfish!

the only times when katara reacts in anger that could be perceived as impulsive, is when she is insulted by Pakku and when Sokka suggests that she leave the Fire Nation town without helping. Both of these are hardly instances of hotheadedness, and moreso a reflection of who she is as a character: someone who doesn’t turn her back on people who needs her and someone who fights injustice. 

why would we call katara hotheaded for not settling for being antagonized by a misogynistic asshole? she was a trailblazer in that scene and it meant so much to the little girls of the Northern Water Tribe. similarly, why would we call her hotheaded for not being able to turn away from people who are in need? after all, that’s a core part of her character’s trauma: feeling of survivor’s guilt that there was something she could’ve done to save her mom. it’s part of why she has to act to help others. her passion isn’t synonymous with hotheadedness. 

[theseerasures]

a yearning nation’s blueeyed pride

honestly there is just like. no point as of Witch (if not earlier) in thinking about Marrow and Winter as following along the same defection path, and downright facile to compare the two in terms of who is “closer” to defecting and therefore “less problematic” (even setting aside that making value judgments along those lines in fiction is...never that straightforward), when the narrative has emphasized REPEATEDLY how they are on entirely separate tracks in terms of character and role in the Atlas military.

seriously, it’s like saying “this orange is bad because you can’t eat the peel like you can eat an apple skin”

so like, yes, Marrow is the one who has verbally expressed his misgivings, and has clearly articulated scruples (as opposed to just the dial-up noise) and will blurt them out any second now as soon as he gets a word in edgewise. but also: Marrow HASN’T gotten a word in edgewise (except with Winter, fancy that), and has done approximately fuck all to actually subvert the system that he is growing to hate. both his theory and lack of praxis are tied into Marrow’s relatively low, overlooked position in the Atlas system, and feed into the fact that for Marrow the project of Atlas is not personal.

Marrow joined the military on ideological grounds. he clearly does want personal connection, but that has been denied him at every turn, largely by his teammates, largely by his partner, all of whom use him to enforce their own struggles with the clash between political duty and personal grief. he has been alienated by the system he upholds, which started even before we meet him. this makes it much harder for him to rebel in deed, because he doesn’t have a lot of power to begin with and he knows the system will not protect him if he does; at the same time, that relative powerlessness and isolation keeps his investment in Atlas abstract, uncomplicated, and much easier to dispel. Marrow is still with Atlas because he has a job to do, because it’s his duty, because he is still clinging to the Atlas military’s illusory altruism. he wants Penny to come with them so she can save Atlas. his protestations at seeing Team FNKI, that they are “just kids,” comes from the belief that it is categorically wrong to send children into battle. what is keeping Marrow from defecting is belief, and once the belief is shattered--like, say, when his boss’ new ingenious plan is to Nuke the Poors--there is nothing keeping him around.

and once his path is set he will not waver, because Atlas, by design, has no hold on him materially or personally (outside of his own life, which he was already happy to dedicate to a cause). Marrow then, is the limit case of Atlas being hoist with its own petard: an exemplar for how it gives its people nothing while demanding everything, but also an exemplar for how quickly the entire system folds in on itself when the veil is lifted. when Marrow defects (and it IS when) it will represent Atlas as a whole defecting from itself, even if we don’t see it visually--from the civilians, to the enlisted soldiers, to perhaps even members of Marrow’s own team.

NONE of the things i just mentioned really apply to Winter, because there is nothing about Atlas that is not personal for Winter.

i have no doubt that Winter is in some ways invested in same abstract principles that swayed Marrow, but that is constantly overridden by the fact that Winter has family at all sides of this, even before everything fell to shit, and the narrative will not stop reminding her.

“what about your sister?” “would you say the same thing if it was your sister inside?” her father was gunning for a seat on the Council. the man who took her in is essentially Head of State. Penny has made herself Public Enemy Number One, and Weiss is actively abetting her. even Whitley has now thrown himself into the fray, unbeknownst to her. and another person might be better at compartmentalizing all this the way Winter clearly wants to, and stick to the party line, but Winter cannot, because the more i watch her the more i’m convinced that the current crisis in Atlas is just a microcosm of the real issue, which is to say: everything is personal in Atlas for Winter, because everything is personal for Winter.

at a moment-to-moment level, and especially when backed into a corner, Winter defaults not to ideology but her tightly coiled lattice of personal relationships. and this makes perfect sense, because Winter grew up in a household where she had to perpetually crisis respond, and then she never stopped. Marrow does what he does because he believes in the dream, in making the world a better place, and therefore it is more difficult in some respects for him to defect, because it involves taking a long hard look at and then rejecting the structures he bought into and made himself complicit in. once lines are crossed and he DOES do that, though, he’s home free. for Winter, there are no lines to cross, because all Winter wants in the end is to throw her arms around everyone she cares about and drag them to safety. to keep them there, closely held, where she can see them and make sure that they stay safe.

but what’s tricky about Winter--what’s fascinating to me, what Jacques tried to beat out of her, what James alternately capitalizes on and tries to quash, what she resents about herself--is that in times of crisis (which for Winter is again ALL THE TIME), “everyone she cares about” becomes everyone, so that suddenly she takes a shine to the General’s war machine, so that she’s risking her life to give Penny and Fria a few more seconds of time, so that she’s stepping in front of Elm’s incoming fist, so that she’s letting JYR go rescue Oscar. Marrow has ideals he values, but at her core Winter has nothing but the people, who are real the moment she sees and feels them--real enough to defend, or defend against.

Winter jealously protects her web of people, but that web will also spiral out to infinity if she lets it--so she doesn’t. she has adamantly refused to move out of the mode where she lives present-by-present, only reacting to what is right in front of her, what she has been told, weighing her own life against the people who are closest, and no more. this is unquestionably a trauma response, but it’s also reinforced by 1) her choice to become a career soldier, and 2) the fact that Winter actually HAS quite a bit of power, and she knows that. but she has never trusted herself with any of it, largely because her hypervigilant response to situations has only ever been chastised instead of rehabilitated. Winter knows the weight of her name and her position, but she constantly tries to ignore it, or run away from it, so that she is only ever the heiress, the second-in-command, and never the Queen. she cannot be a leader until she is Good (that is to say, perfect and rational), so she tries to obliterate her power the same time she obliterates that pesky personhood: remaining still for as long as possible, avoiding situations that she knows will prompt action and choice, and when absolutely pushed to think through her power, moving the pieces around with extreme caution, hoping that the world won’t be burnt black by it.

Marrow and Winter are fundamentally at opposing ends of the personal-political bleed, and the story could NOT telegraph it any more clearly than their conversation in Witch, where Marrow makes a personal plea to Winter so that she can make a call far beyond just that, and she refutes him, by reminding him of his obligation to Atlas in the form of impersonal duty.

i’ll conclude by pointing out that there is something very interesting happening with Winter right now, that exceeds her power in-universe. because even as a Schnee, as Ironwood’s protege, what Winter can do is limited (partly because she limits herself), except for how the story has resolutely centered her actions and MADE them significant. in the course of this war Winter has let herself make exactly two choices--both of them noninterventionist, easily justifiable, and not meant to take any ideological stand--and they ended up altering the entire fabric of the war with Salem. all because she loved her sisters more than her duty. all because she was shown a slim chance to save the kingdom and a fourteen-year-old boy, and she thought just for an instant, what’s the harm

(and James Ironwood will never know. that even with his plan, his bomb, all his ships, all his soldiers...he was no match for her. his loyal lieutenant. the only child he will ever have, who has only ever called him “sir.”)

it is not about what Winter COULD have chosen in those moments, if she had the ability to stop Penny and Weiss from leaving, if JYR were even Oscar’s rescuers, in the conventional sense. it is about the fact that she DID make those choices, and the story has made them reverberate, in spite of the fact that she did not mean for them to. Marrow’s story is about being neglected and overlooked by the system, the moment of recognition that it needs you more than you need it, that there are so many more of you, and together you can stop chasing the dream and make your own. Winter’s story cleaves to the heart of not just Atlas, but the RWBY monomyth, which goes something like: stars are like us. the world was created because two brothers could not get along, and sundered because a woman could not cope with her grief. just because you move closer to the elite, to the center, to the top, to the sublime, it does not mean that you move farther from the fallible. we are all, at our deepest layer, people.

but the world does not tremble any less for it.

[fantasyforbeginners]

Hello! I was wondering if you have any writing tips on balancing an intense plot with humor? I have a story I’m working on and the overarching themes are pretty dark, but I want the narrative to still feel wholesome and have some funny moments without them seeming out of place. Thank you!!

So the strongest, most consistent humour for me is always character based! It's why certain stuff can walk a line between light and dark tones while feeling very natural (think ATLA, a Series of Unfortunate events which can be quite absurdist) and why other stuff can fall flatter, because it doesn't seem to fit the world or circumstances and the tone is a bit all over the place (that was one of the big issues I personally had with She Ra).

For a smaller example, it's also why I think the first How To Train Your Dragon movie has the best humour of the three. Every joke is character based, much of it is very sarcastic and dry (which fits the main protagonist's voice well) and the movie never holds on any given joke for too long, so even if it doesn't land, it still reads well as a moment of just pure characterization. The other two films were more "jokes for the sake of joking" which, while still carried well, are less funny on rewatches (Ruffnut drooling over Eret is her only joke in the film, for example, just on repeat) and only tell us one character beat at any given time.

For darker storylines, I think juxtaposition and deapan could be your best tools. For ex: when written well, an optimistic character who mindlessly cheers forward can be very funny (Brett from "Inside Job" on Netflix comes to mind). Cue seeing some dangerous creature and this dumbass going, with pure sincerity > fear based hope, "Maybe it's friendly!"

Deadpan snarkers can also pave the way for dry wit and sarcasm, which lends itself well to more serious situations. It lets you have levity without breaking the tone / theme. I have two main deadpan snarkers in my core cast of seven, so here's a couple of my favourite little snippets:

Ally looked away and spotted Jamie standing by the lounge chair. “Remind me to never listen to you again.” "Wouldn't that defeat the purpose?" Jamie replied, unimpressed.

aka dead pan snarker 1 and then dead pan snarker 2

“Relax,” she spoke out of the corner of her mouth. “They don’t take kindly to fear or weakness.” "We'll that's reassuring," Rayan said dryly as he hid behind Bill.

Observational humur, sarcastic quips, and much more await you in character based humour.

For study:

How often Sokka's sarcasm in Avatar: The Last Airbender is actually used to set up exposition (as he gets corrected a lot, especially in the early days)

Everything about Percy Jackson as a character voice - he's also pretty pessimistic about a lot of his situations, but never comes off as whiny, which is a delicate balance to achieve as well.

A lot of his character voice relies on a conversational omission where he tells us things without it feeling like he tells us things, a la "Am I a troubled kid? Yeah, you could say that."

Most humour situations have a straight man (more skeptical, rational) and the every man (more ridiculous to play off each other). The skeptic reacts to the every man, and it can be particularly fun if/when these roles reverse. Also does not have to apply to men at all, but those are typically the short hand terms!

One last snippet as everyone loves a Peak Loveable Dumbass, too:

 “You’re coming into town with me.” "Oh—I'm not in trouble?" Dearborn arched one eyebrow. "Should you be?" "Right," Ally said. "Stupid question. Carry on."