#atla the beach

[thenadnerb02]

Ty "Lee"

We all remember that Ty Lee has six identical sisters and joined the circus so she wouldn't be part of a matched set forever, but I don't think I've ever seen anyone talk about one specific sentence in that moment (I certainly hadn't thought about it before today)

And then I realized.

It's well-established that Lee is the most common, generic name anyone can have in the Avatar Universe. The perfect no-effort name to dump on a child you weren't expecting to have because no one expects to birth 7 babies in one go.

6 though? That's a sensible number. The rest of 'em can have more meaningful given names.

Thus, Ty Lee had the double burden of being part of a matched set and being the singled-out runt of said set.

That's why "Circus Freak" is a compliment. Not because she preferred the circus, but because it's a more creative name.

Ouch.

[fossilfan39]

Extremely untapped market of them being the cattiest siblings ever

[alexmurison]

Absolute love visiting Borth beach as the tide goes out and the remains of a 5000 year old forest appear from the waves.

At low tide you can see the remains of hundreds and hundreds of trees dating back to around 2000BCE. It is so amazing to see the remains of these gnarly stumps no longer supporting leaves, but instead seaweed.

[kideaternomnom]

The guy who got scared of Azula in the Beach episode after she kissed him was such a pussy tbh

like if I met a girl who said we'd be the most powerful couple and dominate the world I would've loved her immediately 🙄

[cienie-isengardu]

Zuko and Azula in "The Beach"

Lately I think a lot about "The Beach" episode [x], especially about this small detail of great teamwork Zuko and Azula have during the game.

Zuko is looking ahead, directly facing their rivals (who had the control of the ball at this moment) but his body is clearly lowered to the ground, left hand most likely touching the ground, legs bent and widely spaced - a clear contrast to Mai standing near and how he stood before on two separate occasions

which is why I think Zuko willingly create an opportunity for Azula, so she could jump higher - something she definitely used to their team’s advantage. If Azula simply jumped on her brother’s back when he wasn’t expecting it or wasn’t ready, he would probably just fall face down from the impact but as the scene shows, he had no such problem nor was angry about it in the following scenes.

During the game sequences there was no dialogue shown between our protagonists, so it is hard to determine if Azula in advance called Zuko to give her a “lift” or Zuko offered on his own, or did they were that much in sync they just acted without thinking. Regardless I like this few seconds long interaction, because for me it implies how they trusted each other despite all the rivalry and bitterness from previous episodes. Like Zuko trusted Azula won’t use that moment to hurt/humiliate him by overuse of force, the same as Azula trusted in Zuko’s strength and that he won’t mess up by losing his balance. It is a small thing but no less sweet to see them working well together when fighting for the same goal - what reminds me a bit their teamwork from the previous season finale.

Interestingly, it was also the second time Zuko assisted Azula in scoring against their rivals while not scoring himself any point on screen. The first time happened almost right at the beggining of the game (second from total five sequences)

while each girl have the solo sequence of winning a point:

Azula's first attack,

later Ty Lee landing on the net

and Mai kicking the ball (and presumably scoring)

while Zuko’s two actions are shared only with his younger sister while there is no sense of competition between the siblings, something contrasting a lot with some previous and later episodes.

Azula is bossy and competitive through most of the episode and her brother lets her be that without a complaint. Azula and Zuko get along pretty well and A) do not argue (with the exception of the campfire scene and then they argue not even for the whole scene itself) and B) don't get on each nerves the way they do in the palace, with Ozai's presence looming in the back of their mind. I absolutely adore this episode, as it humanizes all our Fire Nation characters by showing them as teenagers outside the war zone but also giving us a bit of insight into what Azula and Zuko could be if Ozai didn't pit them against each other. And they could be a great team!

[samtamdan]

[comradekatara]

two-faced bitches never lie, and therefore i never lie

[avrelia]

There was a lot of conversation suddenly about that scene in The Beach episode where Zuko brings stuff to Mai, and whether it means Mai is a bad girlfriend for not being more grateful.

And here is my opinion, which I personally consider the ultimate truth, but YMMV,as they say.

Mai is not a bag girlfriend

Zuko is not a bad boyfriend.

Their relationship is not toxic, abusive, or problematic, but it does have problems, since they are both troubled, traumatized teens who hasn’t seen how healthy relationship work, but they are both trying their best.

Let’s try to imagine ourselves inside Zuko’s head. He wants to do something nice, looks around, sees a shell, remembers that girls are supposed to like pretty things and uncle Iroh thought shells were pretty, picks it up and offers it to Mai.

Let’s move to Mai’s head now. She sees Zuko picking up some random trash from the sand and giving it to her, saying that all girls supposed to like it. She doesn’t like and her response is an eyeroll and a sarcastic remark. Zuko is angry, but is it Mai’s fault? No, it is not.

Zuko had good intentions, but good intention don’t necessarily translate into good action. Imagine, a more common scenario from our world: a girl is given cut roses, because girls are supposed to love flowers, and roses are the best flowers. Must a girl be happy and grateful? Roses are usually really beautiful, after all.

Yet she – might hate flowers

- might hate cut flowers

- might dislike roses

- might be allergic to roses

- might be looking forward to daisies instead

- something else entirely

Mai’s reaction might not have been perfect, but it is realistic and understandable.

now, Zuko realized his mistake, and went to get ice cream – something Mai actually loved and wanted to have.

He almost did it – and then didn’t. Imagine Mai’s disappointment, when a cool delicious icecream drops out of your hand and onto your clothes. What did she do? She thanked Zuko, in mildly sarcastic tone. It is a perfect reaction to the silly mishap, really. Zuko is even more disappointed – but not in Mai and her reaction, remember, all this time he is mad at himself, and everything he does and doesn’t do, feeds that anger.

[writebecauseyoucannotbreathe]

Aang: All life is sacred.

Uncle Iroh: It would be wrong for me to go against my father and brother directly. I refuse to challenge them to an Agni Kai.

Zuko: *avoids hitting Ozai with redirected lightning*

Ozai: *puts Iroh in prison instead of executing him*

Avatar Roku: *Spares Fire Lord Sozin's life*

Ursa, on her way to murder her aging father-in-law in his sleep:

[remindmetoreed]

summer means romance books and starting new series!

[epickiya722]

Only in JJK there's beach episodes, but the villains are the ones enjoying the beach.

[garfield-milk]

wow they are so real for creating Valentine’s Day… (i’m once again a sucker for romantic zukka on the beach…)

CLICK FOR BETTER QUALITY BC TUMBLR ACTUALLY HATES ME!!!

[fossilfan39]

Azula thinks that because she’s not treated like zuko that she’s “better”. her entire self worth is based on her brother’s abuse as a means of keeping her in mental competition with him. In their father’s eyes, Everything that is “good” about her is relative to the failures of zuko..compelling her to participate in the abuse to maintain her position as “the good one”…and zuko being told he could never even be in competition with Azula, because he could never compare, making him feel the need to prove himself through obedience. All the while their father is using both of them for his personal gain, couldn’t give less of a shit about either of them, and they’re none the wiser because they’re too focused on each other.

They are seriously one of the most accurate depictions of sibling relationships in abusive homes I’ve ever seen.

[the-badger-mole]

Fanon: “Azula’s relationships with her ‘friends’ were always fake”

Canon:

Because we all know that pictures never lie, right?

Also, there's a difference between Azula actively faking her regard for her friends and her being manipulative and abusive to the people she cares for. These are not healthy relationships in canon, and no amount of nostalgia lighting on the final shot is going to change that.

[esmedalma]

Noodle incident

Inktober 2022 Day 2 - Scurry

[akiizayoi4869]

The Family Portrait

Every time I watch The Beach episode and it gets to the part where Zuko burns the family portrait, I always think about how Azula felt when he does that.

We see Zuko's facial expression as this is going on, which is anger

Although he was pretty much angry about everything at this point, so it may not have had anything to do with burning the photo at all. But what about Azula? How did she feel about this? We know that the family beach house holds painful memories for her too, as shown when she immediately knew where to find Zuko after the party.

She sees that being there is bringing Zuko down, so she tells him to come down to the beach with her, and then she turns around and begins walking away while saying "this place is depressing". Which means that, much like Zuko, she has feelings about that place too. But as per usual, the writers just made everything that had to do with their family about Zuko, instead of the both of them. That was Azula's family too, not just Zuko's. Really wish that we got scenes of what Azula thought about these things.