#because out of katara and Sokka he was the more passive one

[ssreeder]

happy april friend!! hope you're well. not gonna lie i live for the drama so this chapter was sooo great ah! as soon as general how showed up..... i knew shit was gonna go down. so good, man

'for the very first time in their life, she was afraid of him' holy MOLY my jaw was dropped for like 90% of that final interaction between sokka and katara. generally speaking, if one's reaction to being caught in a lie is to double down on their stance of not lying....not great. not a good look sokka. im glad katara got out of there to clear her head and go back to aang, but now i'm worried sokka's going to lose his mind and temper even more (is it possible?!?) once left and the realization of how he's treating everyone comes crashing down on him. because he doesn't want his sister or anyone to hate him or especially be scared of him. this one may hurt :(

and zuko being so certain that iroh wasn't real was so heartbreaking....i feel like being in and out of consciousness doesn't help wounds of the mental/emotional variety because memories are all weird so it's hard to make progress. hopefully katara works her healing magic so zuko can have actual conversations for a meaningful amount of time.

very excited for the next one obviously, but this was some good food!!!!! hope your upcoming week is swell. take care of yourself!!😠do a facemask or something. buy a tasty treat. you deserve it <3

General How: first decent military figure in LIAB.

*every time he shows up chaos ensues*

Sokka is such a mess right now its like pulling pet hair off a black shirt without a magic-fix-all lint roller. So he will probably do what he always does and blame himself and sink a little lower into his depression unfortunately. He did realize his mistake the moment the word left his lips but it was too late, the damage had been done.

Katara instigated the fight, but we are talking 14 & 16 year old trauma filled siblings who are used to bickering and probably didn’t expect it to escalade to this…. Sokka wasn’t going to budge the way he would normally when katara got upset and after she pushed a little too hard he snapped.

UGH Zuko haha…. Poor guy. Don’t worry Katara is going to do her best next chapter to help him & fingers crossed!

Thanks for the ask anon you’re amazing!

[thatbookgirl1118]

I cannot for the life of me find the original post (tumblr is a hellsite) but this was sent in an atla gc:

@the-badger-mole

and tbh i always kinda felt like kataang was weird exactly because of that one-sidedness??? like there's one episode of katara maybe sort-of seeing aang as a love interest (when the fortune teller tells her she'll marry a powerful bender), but then the rest of the show is her being passive in the relationship or actively pushing aang away (like their second kiss). and then at the end she just randomly decided "okay i like you i guess."

whereas aang got a bunch of pining moments and you actually believed he was in love with katara.

and most of their relationship was about how she helped aang - he did contribute to her character development over the course of the series especially as a bender of course but it didn't feel as emotionally/spiritually deep as katara's literal one episode sidequest with zuko.

but then someone else wrote "I would argue the opposite? Kataang is where Katara choose the peaceful nomad which subverts the trope presented where zutara is where she chooses the strong protector/combatant. Aang as a character is a subversion of the typical hero while zutara is like,,, coloniser romance idk"

and honestly... i kinda get that. aang was problematic in a lot of ways, but he was definitely a subversive protagonist, and i can see the power of allowing the woman to choose the pacifist vegetarian over the extremely obviously hot jock badboy. this is an incredible oversimplification of their characters of course, but the point stands.

Basically, Kataang is the ship we all logically want - the sweet, friendship-based, seemingly subversive one. But Zutara is the one that actually makes sense in the story, with these characters, not their tropes. Aang is subversive, but he and Katara are also kind of terrible for each other - he isn't mature or selfless enough for Katara, who needs someone to force her to take care of herself because she's always the one taking care of everyone else (wonder what that's like). That's why she and Zuko are so perfect, because he not only takes care of her, he makes HER prioritize herself. Aang... does not. He's pretty selfish, which yes is partially due to his immaturity (I personally don't count Korra as canon because it treated ALL the og characters terribly so I'm speaking purely from his 12 yo self), but it's also just a basic incompatibility thing. And Katara is actually equally bad for Aang - she enables him waaay too much, and he needs someone who doesn't. Who forces him to stand up on his own two feet and take responsibility. She's too much of a mother, and her relationship with Aang is too mother/older sister-ish.

With Zuko, on the other hand? Katara started out HATING him, forcing him to prove himself to her instead of handing him everything she had like she tended to do with Aang and Sokka. He had to earn her care, and as a result he appreciates it way more and demands way less of it. He's a far less selfish character generally for the same reasons, and is much more mature/has a better understanding of life and gray areas. Southern Raiders is a great example of this - he's down for whatever Katara decides because he understands that there's no one right answer, unlike Aang who simply preaches forgiveness. I'm not necessarily attacking Aang about that either - I do believe that grudges eat away at a person, and taking a life does haunt you, so forgiveness isn't necessarily bad advice. But it's not what Katara needed. Aang is great as a friend, but I don't think he's what Katara needs from a romantic partner. Zuko just... is.

[yandere-avatar]

I'm Not Jealous... Well, Maybe a Little

Summary: How do they act when jealous? [Damn, 3 posts in one day? Wow. Popped this out in like 20 mins.] Characters: Katara, Sokka, Aang, Suki, Azula and Zuko

Katara

She doesn't take jealousy well

She'll pretend she's not jealous and bury these feelings

But they'll end up bubbling inside her and it'll come up in a fit of rage

When your back is turned, she'll attack the person that was flirting with you

You'll be none the wiser to what she did

She'll smile at you and you'll probably be confused

The person won't even see Katara coming or even know what she did

She watches in fury though, while the person hits on you

It definitely irritates her more that you don't realize they're flirting with you

Sokka

He's like his sister, by burying his feelings deep inside

He'll probably know his feelings are bad, but he loves you and it feels so right

He might challenge them to a fight, just out of nowhere

You'll be confused, but the person won't take Sokka seriously

Sokka would make an absolute fool of himself, as long as it meant he had your attention back

He needs your confirmation that you still love him

He'd take your pity over your distaste any day

Aang

He's the most passive about his jealousy

He's very extroverted and will join the conversation, turning the vibe off [at least hopefully]

If they don't, he will get a little angry

He'll control the conversation and the flirter can't do anything about it, because Aang is so likeable

He makes sure the hint is thrown out there, that they need to leave you alone

If they don't? Well, let's just say their house blew down, so now they don't have time to hit on you

You'll feel bad, but Aang will come up with an excuse on why you and the gang need to leave

Suki

Ugh, she gets so huffy

She is very forward though and will enter the conversation

If the person tries to push her out, she will get aggressive

She's very straightforward and will confront them, even if you're there

You think they're just being friendly and the flirter will use that to their advantage

"You're just being paranoid, I was just telling them about the town"

Suki will glare, knowing it's bull, but she quickly realized she was cornered

She awkwardly smiled and turn towards you, "The gang needs our help, we should go now"

You won't think about it much and wave goodbye to the flirter

As you both walk away, Suki will turn around, smirking while waving bye to the person

Azula

Oh, you screwed up bad

When she gets jealous, she gets violent [Though she gets violent a lot]

But, she doesn't know how to healthily express her emotions, or really just express them at all, so she acts out

She hates this feeling because she's used to be confident and adored

She hates when you even waste a second of your time on someone that isn't her

She deserves all your attention, why are you wasting a second on them?

She's mad at them for talking to you, but she's also mad at you for encouraging them

You'll have to calm her down, or she's killing everyone

Her fits of rage cause a lot of casualties

She then blames you for everyone that got hurt

"Well, if you hadn't been flirting with them, this never would of happened"

Zuko

Him and sister have anger in common

He wants to burn them into the ground

Make them suffer for making him watch

He's very annoyed, but doesn't know how to express his jealousy

He won't act out like a child, but he was glare and fire emits from his fist

Anyone can tell he's angry

He'll walk up to you both and glare at the person, before wrapping an arm around you and forcing a smile

"What are you guys talking about?"

You weren't really into the conversation, so you'll say nothing, but Zuko takes it as you not wanting him to know

Did you hate him? Wait, were you talking about him? Why won't you tell him?

God the anxiety eats him alive

He then begins regretting approaching you both. But you just grab him, before pretending to hear your name and pull Zuko along, saying something like "I think I heard Sokka call us. Let's go"

He'll apologize, but you'll laugh, and lightly punch his shoulder, "I didn't want to talk to them. They were so cocky. I'm so glad you saved me. My hero"

You kiss his cheek and he blushes a dark red and you'll continue to walk as he freezes

[starlight-bread-blog]

Why I No Longer Ship Zvtara

Warning: This is a very anti zvtara & pro kataang post. This is your chance to leave.

As some of you may know, I am (or rather was), a Zvtara shipper. But lately I've been shying away from the ship. A lot of the arguments I used to believe in, for me, don't hold water anymore. And given how vocal I was about shipping Zvtara, I feel like I owe you an explanation. In this post I will go through common pro Zvtara & anti kataang arguments and unpack why I can no longer support them in good faith. (I will kinda burn through them though, it's just that feel like I owe you this).

"Zvko and Katara's character arcs & characters are parallels"

This is interesting because I wrote an essay on this very subject, and I still stand by everything I said in the essay, but only as a platonic reading of it. See, A:TLA is full of parallels and symbolism. Zuko also has parallels with Aang, Katara has parallels with Azula, etc. In a show like this, the parallels between Zuko and Katara don't carry enough weight to justify some specialness. They have a great, incredibly well written relationship, but in my opinion, the extent of it can remain platonic without standing out.

"Tui and La represent Zvtara"

Tui and La are The Ocean and the Moon spirits and very explicitly represent Yin and Yang. I can't see Yin and Yang as Zutara for two reasons:

1) Yin is the moon, feminine and shade. The moon & feminine, that's Katara. But Yin is characterized by dark, wetness, cold, passivity, disintegration etc). Katara might have an edge, but she is not dark. Not to mention passive. And disintegration seems like the opposite of a waterbender. Katara fundamentally is not a Yin.

2) Yin and Yang is a dynamic. A self perpetuating dynamic of two opposites creating and controlling each other. Katara and Zuko never created each other. While you can argue that they control each other by being "capturing the avatar" vs "protecting the avatar", the only time this conflict of interest ever turned into a dynamic was in the north pole, and by then Zuko would go on a season long journey far away from Katara.

"Making Zvtara canon would be thematically cohesive"

I also wrote an essay on this subject, and just like my other essay, I still stand by a platonic reading of it. I even went back and edited it to make that reading more prominent. The thematic cohesion is already achieved through their platonic bond. In any show, naturally the relationships between characters are going to reflect the themes, that's just how writing works. It doesn't mean the relationship should be romantic. They already have a thematically cohesive relationship, making it a romantic one doesn't add anything.

"Aang idealizes Katara"

For context, there are some instances where Aang is dismissing Katara's anger. For example, in The Chase:

Toph: You're blaming me for this?

Katara tosses aside her sleeping bag and gestures with her hands, challenging Toph to move closer. Aang jumps in between the two.

Aang[Desperately.]: No! No, she's not blaming you.

Katara[Angrily.]: No, I'm blaming her!

Rather these instances reflect of idealization, or merely of Aang's peace seeking nature that's trying to de escalate the situation, is up to interpretation. I choose to interpret them as the latter, because of The Southern Raiders.

Katara: We're going to find the man who took my mother from me.

Sokka pauses and stands up, surprised.

Zuko: Sokka told me the story of what happened. I know who did it and I know how to find him.

Aang: Um ... and what exactly do you think this will accomplish?

A really common talking point in the Zvtara fandom is that Aang just assumes that Katara is going to murder her mother's killer, instead of simply confronting him. Either way, he knows\thinks she's talking about murder. If he'd idealized her, he'd make a different assumption.

"Kataang harms Aang's character arc"

This is referring to the dilemma presented to Aang in The Guru. He had to let go of his attachment to Katara in order to master the Avatar State. The assumption is that his chakra was blocked, therefore he didn't let go. I disagree. We see him open his seventh chakra right before Azula shoots lightning at him.

One might argue that nothing changed about Aang's relationship to Katara, so the dilemma rings hollow. But something did change, Aang was romantically braver than he was before. He got more confident. Compare his flirting from The Headbend (b3) to The Fortuneteller (b1). It's night and day. And if you ask me, this is the natural consequence of feeling less attached.

Furthermore, when he explains to the GAang why he couldn't master the Avatar State, he cites Azula's lightning as the reason:

Toph: So, what's your strategy for taking him down? Gonna get your glow on and hit him with a little Avatar State action? Aang: I can't. When Azula shot me with lightning, my seventh chakra was locked, cutting off my connection to all the cosmic energy in the universe.

He couldn't master the Avatar State because of Azula's lightning, not because of his attachment to Katara. (I heard some people say this was confirmed that Aang was still attached, but I'm a big believer in Death of the Author so I don't really care if it's true).

"Kataang was one sided"

The general consensus in the Zvtara fandom is that Kataang is framed from Aang's perspective, and while the show teases us about Katara's feelings to create a "will they get together or won't they" tension. But can all of these hints really be contextualized that way? Some can, others, not so much. For example, Katara is show to be jealous of Aang in The Headbend when he dances with On Ji, and when they dance she gives him a loving look; in The Cave of Two Lovers, Katara smiles when she suggested they should kiss, and she blushes at the end of the episode. All of these moments cannot be swept under the rug in favor of a reveal that Katara didn't love Aang.

"Katara passing herself as Aang's mom is maternal"

I never really understood this argument, if I'm being completely honest. For two reasons:

1) In Howl's Moving Castle, Sophie works as Howl assistant and falls in love with him, but she's cursed, looking like an old lady. There's a scene where she too has to pretend to be his mom, and it turns into her realizing her feelings towards him. She becomes young again, a girl Howl's age. It's a beautiful confession, while pretending to be his mom. No one criticized that, becuase pretending to be someone's mom for the sake of a mission isn't maternal.

2) Sokka is also there. I don't think it's controversial to say Sokka isn't at all a parental figure to Aang. That's because the point of this joke isn't that Katara actually is motherly towards Aang, it's that they aren't actually similar to [Aang]'s supposed parents and this entire situaton is very silly. The implication behind this joke isn't that Katara is maternal towards Aang, but that she isn't.

SO! That's all I'm covering. Now, I hope I can put this subject to rest and discuss the many other great aspects of A:TLA.

[dukeofdelirium]

This has to quite possibly be the dumbest Anti-Aang I’ve seen on Tumblr. “Aang didn’t go out of his way for anyone”. Like that’s objectively wrong, factually incorrect. Like saying The Earth is flat, you can think it all you want, but it ain’t true. I ask you, I genuinely ask you, how can someone call themselves a fan of this show when they completely misinterpret it and hate the main character this much? This person’s crazy.

Aang never went out of his way for anyone? My god, if this take were true, Zuko would have been dead at the end of season one. Everyone aside from Aang was fine with the idea of allowing Zuko to freeze to death, leaving him to die. Aang was the one that saved him.

Holy shit, the first thing Aang ever offered to do with no expectation of anything in return was to offer Sokka and Katara a ride home before they died themselves stranded in the tundra. He then offered to take Katara to the other side of the world to fulfill her dreams. When he was banished from her village, he left without protest and even said he didn’t want to come between Katara and her family. Even when he was sad to leave because he had just made a first friend in who knows how long (seeing as we know he was ostracized at the temple), he still left.

He then came back not to break the banishment but to save their lives. He offered himself up, LITERALLY sacrificed himself for them, with no expectation of anything in return.

Aang is an extremely compassionate, good natured person. He is the most “altruistic” character in the show, followed only by Katara who comes nearly as close (one of the reasons they are so good together).

He singlehandedly put the fires out on Kyoshi Island that ZUKO SETS, he protects the NWT from invasion in every possible way he can and singlehandedly wipes out their fleet when he gives himself over to the ocean spirit, he demands they search for Bumi NOT because he needs a teacher but because bumi is his FRIEND! He saves everyone in the cave by making sure they don’t get fucking crushed with its collapse, he is willing to sacrifice himself and force himself into the Avatar State to win the war because he is that guilt ridden even when the AS is extremely painful and traumatizing to him, he stops this only when it affects Katara because he loves her, he offers to let Toph run away with them not because he wants to use her as a teacher but because he listened to her life story and wishes to help her feel free, he fucking dies for Katara and sacrificed his own love for her to save her life

he tries to shoulder every burden he feels on his own as a means to protect the other characters

he supports Sokka when he voices insecurities, he is welcoming and friendly to Hakoda and even inquires about how Katara is feeling when he meets Hakoda, he sobs during the eclipse invasion because Katara and Sokka have to be separated from their father again and Aang blames himself for this defeat and is grief stricken because he is so upset they are losing their dad again (and he thinks it’s his fault)

Why the actual fuck would Katara ever “choose” Zuko over Aang?

Katara was never deeply tied to Zuko. She always saw him as an enemy trying to take away the boy she loved. This is why she threatened to fucking kill him.

Zuko helped his sister murder Aang right in front of Katara’s eyes. It was canonically the darkest period of her life.

Katara’s anger and hatred toward Zuko is 100% justified. Of course, Zuko is a self absorbed ass, so he claims her anger isn’t justified and that she’s just projecting. Her anger toward him specifically had far more to do with what he did to Aang and far less to do with what the Fire nation and Zuko’s family did to her mother. Even still, she’s right to be angry about her mother’s murder too, and Zuko’s piece of shit family is responsible.

Why the fuck would Katara magically drop to her knees and suck Zuko’s dick? He’s literally a colonizer for over 2/3 of the show. He didn’t just have a passive role, he was an active player in the war and invaded the NWT with the FN as a means to capture Aang and take him back to his daddy, where Aang would have undoubtedly been tortured mercilessly and kept on the brink of death. He assaulted Katara during this and knocked her unconscious, he taunted her with shitty words and undermined her bending ability and threw some racial/classist remarks as well as some misogynistic ones her way.

When he eventually did get his shit together and join the group, he just used her mother’s death against her and Sokka because that’s all he ever did in regards to Katara and Sokka’s mother. He learned how she died, then had Sokka divulge trauma to then use said trauma to try and force Katara to forgive him by persuading her to go on a suicide mission of revenge and bloodlust. He also literally mocked Aang’s culture and genocided people to his face, when his family committed the genocide. Oh, and he also mocked Aang’s forgiveness despite begging on his damn hands and knees for that very forgiveness like 3 episodes prior.

And then at the end of the episode, Zuko states himself that he legit doesn’t understand Katara or what she needs in life. Cuz of course he doesn’t. He isn’t a survivor of genocide, he hasn’t suffered ethnic cleansing, he isn’t oppressed. For fucks sake, his mother isn’t even dead and he gets reunited with her a few years after the canon shows timeline. Everything Zuko loses, he has returned to him. His honor, his right to the throne, his mother.

But tell me again how Katara and Aang are a bad match when they are the only two who will ever truly understand the other

[bluespiritshonour]

Somethings I noticed:

Katara, Suki and Azula are the only ones who haven't ever expressed any sort of misogynistic sentiment.

Aang would come a close second with minor mishaps here and there.

First, the girls:

Ty Lee, while fighting the Kyoshi Warriors: you're not prettier than we are.

Girl, where did that come from?

Mai has several instances of this when she says the Kyoshi Warriors’ uniforms are too girly (I don't mind her not liking how colourful they are; that's totally different) and later lowkey slut-shaming Ty Lee. And while she's rightfully unimpressed with Zuko's seashell (she's right Zuko, step-up your game) she could easily have countered his “Don't girls like these stuff?” the way Suki did with Sokka’s ideas about gendered generalisation. Also, you must have noticed that Mai's feminine too. She's just dark feminine to Ty Lee's light feminine.

Toph: she has absorbed a lot of toxic masculinity that's for sure. She isn't feminine, she light-heartedly teases Katara for being feminine and Aang too. She does give off the “one of the guys” vibes. You know which ones I'm talking about. “Are we going to watch two little girls fighting?” and later mocking Aang for his passivity.

But it is to be noted that Toph manages to do this without being racist to Aang. She's the one who mocks him the most about his pacifist beliefs (which are cultural to him) and she's kinda misogynistic the way she goes about it. But she's never racist to him. (I guess she is in the comics but fuck the comics). Even when Aang was really really nasty to her when Appa was stolen and she had every right to be mad at him—she wasn't. Given her age and her sheltered upbringing Toph's surprisingly mature. But I digress. Among the comics, I love the Lost Adventures only—and I love the spa day Katara and Toph have both in those comics and in the show. It feels like Toph's healing from that internalised misogyny? My reading of it is that just like girls in real world, Toph derides femininity because it has always been a chain to her. Her parents forced her to confirm so she hates it. But being friends with Katara probably let her heal that part of her. She's still not as feminine as Katara and mind you, nor should she be—let some girls never want to be feminine—it’s fine. But she learns to not to act out of a place of hurt.

Sokka: Sokka's misogyny was literally a plot point and he overcomes it. Also he and Aang have actually done drag and not been mocked for it. It's rare to see in media. The only other example I can think of is Good Omens.

His misogyny also feels kinda surface level (as opposed to Zuko in whom it's less obvious but seems more deeply ingrained).

Also. Zuko never did drag. Shame on him.

Aang: is the least misogynistic of the boys. The only instances I can think of are either kinda vague: when he tells Sokka that “It's nice dress!” It's kinda ambiguous if his tone was mocking or complimentary but it upsets Sokka nonetheless. And when he's upset at being played by a woman in Ember Island Players. The first time I watched it I felt it was OOC. But he was also kind of justified as it was racism and misogyny combined on behalf of the Fire Nation in portraying him that way.

Phew. These were purely my own opinions simply by the virtue of gender expression meaning different things to different people. I might say Mai is actually quite feminine while Toph isn't... But what even is considered masculine or feminine?

I love Katara and Toph's spa day because Toph learns that being girly wouldn't kill her—but she also doesn't suddenly become Ty Lee levels of feminine either. Some women just don't wanna be feminine. Oftentimes it's because femininity is derided by society itself—and that's something that one needs to heal from, like Toph did with Katara’s friendship—but everytime I've seen a story like that, the girl, upon realising that femininity isn't a bad thing is suddenly hyper-feminine.

Like, can we have them heal from internalised misogyny and still not wanna be feminine—even though they don't consider it bad or embarassing or fickle anymore?

Toph and Katara’s spa days do it perfectly.

When those girls mock Toph and Katara tells her she's pretty, I can't tell you much I loved it. The same feelings toward Suki’s “I am a warrior, but I'm a girl too.”

[woodlaflababab]

Aang and Androgyny

This is gonna be a bit ramblish but I've been thinking about it, A Lot.

I keep seeing people describe Aang as 'feminine' and that's always kinda sat wrong with me but I couldn't really tell why because they usually had a point, but recently I've realized it's because Aang isn't feminine, he's a great representation of androgyny but people see an absense of masculinity (especially in comparison with Sokka, Zuko, and even Toph) and read that as feminine.

He has a few 'feminine' moments, like the flower crown and the jewlery making, and he also has plenty of 'masculine' moments, the first that come to mind being him shutting people up in The Great Divide and him giggling with Sokka over buttresses.

And I've heard people point out that he has many personality traits associated with women, passivity being a big one, along with his empathy and care, but he also has plenty associated with men like confidence and, uh, I don't know what the word for it is, the only word that's coming to mind is tomfoolery, but that vibe. Being a tomfool.

But I think the kicker is, the two (positive) traits I see most often associated with him are his love for fun, and his wisdom. Both of which are genderless traits. When you think of wisedom you either think of an old man or an old woman. The gender of 'wise' is old. And fun loving is also not a trait strongly tied to either gender either, it's one that bring to mind children or the 'young at heart' (and isn't that interesting, that Aang can be most well known for acting both too young and too old)

Even Aang's basic character design has andogyny in it. He's bald, which is something usually associated with older men bc they lose hair. Among the young, both men and women can be bald, it's an unconventional hair choice either way. His outfit for two thirds of the show is one that is canonically genderless, it's simply the outfit given to those who are learning airbending, regardless of gender or age. And even when he gets out of that one, what does he go to? A school uniform. One both boys and girls wear. His final outfit is sorta ??? on the gender scale because like, clearly a woman would need to wear something under that, but also looser more revealing clothing is typically reserved for women (looking at Katara's fire nation outfit). I feel like there's a reason most genderbent art of Aang I've seen retain his outfit just with wraps underneath.

Aang is almost perfectly androgynous in just about everything he does. He's literally the fucking avatar, the symbol of balance, a being that has been both male and female many times.

But, because he's a boy, people see androgyny and think feminine, just like people see girls who lack feminimity as masculine. They're not. Androgynous is a thing a person can be.

I'm not saying like, Aang is genderqueer or anything, his reaction to the Ember Island Players alone shows he's connected to his sense of gender, but I just don't like people calling him feminine, or watching people debate this by pointing out masculine traits. He's neither.

He's just Aang.

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

People going on about how Mai isn't Zuko's type...

Yeah Prince "I'm never happy" Zuko is tooootally not Mai's type! Zuko makes cynical jokes and passive aggressive remarks even when he wasn't around Mai.

Not sure what people are getting at with saying Mai isn't Zuko's type.

"She's not the character I ship him with, so she can't possibly be his type."

The very scene that made me ship Maiko on my first rewatch of the show makes it very clear that these two are perfect for each other:

"You're so beautiful when you hate the world"

"I don't hate you"

"I don't hate you either"

COME ON, PEAK MOODY TEEN FLIRTING!

Even in "The Beach", the episode that focused on their relationship issues the most, we see just how much Zuko loves Mai exactly for who she is. He was ready to starting making out the second she snapped at everyone to leave her alone. He even said "I like it when you express yourself" because surprise surprise, Zuko likes that Mai doesn't put up with anyone's bullshit - including his own.

"Oh but he insulted her that sam episode" And how many times did he insult Iroh in all three seasons? We can believe that he does love his uncle after all that, but he and Mai don't get along for ONE episode and suddenly this is proof of incompatibility?

Hell, when Sokka refered to her as "that gloomy girl that sighs a lot" Zuko confirmed that was indeed who Mai was - and he had the dorkiest "I am in love" face ever. Not to mention him being all proud of her when she told the guard she didn't need any protection.

He likes Mai for who she is. He doesn't want her to be more like Katara, or Jin, or Ty Lee, or anyone other than herself.

He also is very clearly physically attracted to her - hence all the cuddling and him trying to shove his tongue down her throat every five minutes, even with other people around (seriously, watch book 3 and TRY to find a scene with these two in which they're not leaning on each other, or Zuko doesn't have his arm around her, or they are not frenching each other, it's freaking impossible).

Also, you TRY and make Zuko spend time with someone he genuinely doesn't like. You try telling the boy that called Ozai a fool AFTER the fucker had already disfigured and banished him.

If Zuko didn't have any interest in Mai, he would not have dated her, even if there was stuff like a political marriage in the plans. That boy is NOT good at ignoring his wishes and keeping his thoughts to himself. If he was being forced to be with Mai and personally disliked, he would NEVER shut up about it.

[burst-of-iridescent]

atla live action thoughts: episode 1

SPOILERS AHEAD

tw: opinions

things i liked:

love that we're starting from a hundred years ago and seeing exactly how everything played out. iirc in the original, sozin's first move was to colonize earth kingdom territory so the show expanding upon it in sozin making it seem as though he was about to attack the earth kingdom as a red herring so he could wipe out the air nomads instead was a good change

sozin being able to wipe out the nomads because they were all gathered in one place for a festival makes a ton of sense, and i really like that they let us have time with the air nomads before wiping them out. gyatso and aang's scene almost brought me to tears, it was so beautifully sincere and touching

whoever casted gordon cormier needs a medal because THIS. FUCKING. KID. i nearly lost it when he started crying like what do you mean this baby has to save the world???

i am so thankful that they didn't shy away from the savagery and brutality of the air nomad genocide. seeing the fire nation cut them down so ruthlessly was absolutely horrific, but it was the perfect way to start this darker iteration of the story and those ten minutes alone made me feel more for the air nomads than the entire three seasons of the original. and having the scene cut between aang lost in the storm and his people being wiped out???? insane.

the visuals are absolutely beautiful. i think they shot this on a volume stage and holy shit did they make use of it because every establishing shot was gorgeous, especially the one for the southern air temple

ian ousley, questionable heritage aside, is actually doing a great job as sokka. his comedic timing is excellent

the bending actually looks... really good. i love how they're doing the airbending in particular, it definitely feels as though aang is entirely untethered to the earth

katara's arc is... interesting. i'll reserve judgement on it till the end of the season but right now i don't hate what they're doing with the changes to her relationship with waterbending. we'll see where they're going with this.

initially i wasn't a fan of them changing katara pulling aang out of the avatar state, but after reflecting i love that it was the memory of gyatso that brings aang back to himself. the idea that even though gyatso is gone, his love for aang still lives on within him, protecting him, is remarkably powerful and moving. and i think at this point, this version of katara and aang don't have enough of a relationship for her pulling him out of the avatar state to have the same impact it did in the original

THE MUSIC IS TOP-NOTCH. ngl i teared up when the credits were the iconic sun warrior soundtrack mixed with the atla theme

things i disliked/am conflicted about:

aang running away... doesn't feel like it's aang running away. i know he had the scene where he's crying and upset, but it feels more as though he just wanted to clear his head for a little bit rather than fleeing in terror because he was afraid of the responsibility of being the avatar. his guilt over abandoning his people and the world is fairly important to his character, so i didn't love the way they did this scene because it doesn't really feel like an active choice that aang made

gran-gran being turned into into an exposition machine to tell the audience - and aang - everything. really wasn't a fan of her being the one to reveal that aang is the avatar, or that they info-dumped everything about the fire nation and the war in one scene. it also sort of took away the gut punch of aang finding gyatso's skeleton because he already knows what's happened, whereas in the show it hits so much harder because of his blind optimism and naivete leading up to that moment

RIP katara breaking aang from the iceberg because of her righteous fury scene, you will always be famous. live action katara feels a little too passive so far but i hope that'll change in upcoming episodes as we get further into her arc

dallas liu as zuko... mmm, something about it is not working for me so far but i can't put my finger on why. i wouldn't say i disliked it, but i'm not loving it either. his performance feels a little too theatrical, somehow? but it's only the first episode so again i won't be too harsh till i finish the season

the southern water tribe should look far emptier and more isolated to get a real sense of how the war has affected them, imo. here the impact of their parents and most of the adults in the village being gone doesn't seem as apparent as it does in the original when it's literally just a few women and children

overall, premiere rating: 7.5/10

[lilchaos-demon]

i dont know how they managaed to fuck up the live action remake of ATLA again…

There is a plethora of things wrong the remake but here are a few that really ticked me off:

WHERE IS KATARA’S FIREY SPIRIT?! She is stubborn, tough, fierce, caring, and NOT afraid of confrontation. The remake frames her as so passive and not assertive and I hate it.

Zuko is the villan of book 1 but he is relieved of all blame and villainy from the gate! His back story and character arc isnt as impactful if he isn’t shown as a dislikeable character first

Aang should have BEEN learning waterbending before they made it to the Northern Water Tribe- Katara took up the role of being Aang’s first teacher and they become closer as they both learn water bending!

HOW ARE YOU GOING TO OVERLAP DIFFERENT KEY PLOT POINTS IN ONE EPISODE?! The visions Katara and Sokka have in the Spirit World were supposed to be had in the Swamp- After they visit the Northern Water Trine and Aang starts his search for an earthbending teacher. But you blend it with the Heibai episode?

While I enjoy hearing from the other previous Avatar’s in the Cycle, they really under played the importance of Roku being Aang’s guide in all things Avatar- Especially considering that Roku was the witness to the start of the Fire Nations war.

YOU HURT MOMO! THATS A CRIME!

AANG HAS YET TO LEARN ANY WATERBENDING BY THE LAST EPISODE OF THE SERIES SO FAR!

Where is Sokka’s leadership and sexism arc? Those are two fundamental aspect of Sokka’s character in the original show. Especially in the Kyoshi episode, Sokka gains a new respect for women when he trains with Suki and the other Kyoshi warriors. But in the live action they focus on the romantic sub-plot instead. We know that Sokka and Suki end up together but they did not have to lean so heavily into it. It should have been spent building out Sokka’s character and evolution!

Admiral Zhao… oh brother. He is cocky but not in a good way. Zhao was more sinister and scheming. But not secretive! Zhao has always been upfront about his rivalry with Zuko and want for power. He is taunting, smart, manipulative but not a gaslighter

And these are just a few things that really grind my gear about the remake. There are some things I like about it like deeper back stories and new perspectives but dear god please. I think the series would have come out better if they had stretched the series out a bit longer and took more time to actually flesh out the characters. All this being said- They better follow through with the rest of the series because if I have another incomplete remake of the series im going to be so mad. Is the remake everything I wanted? No. Was it ever going to hold a match to the original series? Never! But i want to see if they improve and can actually tell this story.

[bellatrixobsessed1]

I Am Blackened Bones (Part 14)

It is more of a crash rather than a graceful step back into his body. But he is thankful to be back in the physical realm no less. Things make sense here. And nothing is on fire. Rather most things aren’t aflame. The fire spirit is fully engulfed again. Fully engulfed and trembling harder than ever. Aang’s stomach lurches. He had put work into getting into her mind and had done absolutely nothing but let confusion get the better of him. 

He rubs his hands over his face. What if he had just made things worse by invading Azula’s mind. He shakes his head. But Azula was the one who had invited him in—a part of her had anyways, likely the part of her that just wants love and affection.

“She needs some water.” Aang starts to say. But Katara already has the spirit drenched and lightly smoking whey she continues to lay, curled up and whimpering. He can’t help but imagine Azula there curled up in her human form, eyes closed, cheeks pressed against the ground. 

“You’re going to be alright.” Aang promises her. 

“What happened, Aang?” Sokka asks. 

“You couldn’t get the fire out?” Toph shoves herself away from the tree that she had been leaning upon.

He shakes his head. “No. I couldn’t. I…” got lost and didn’t accomplish a single thing.

“What? What is it Aang?” Katara kneels down at his side. “You can always try again. You don’t need to be so hard on yourself.”

But the more attempts that he needs the longer the spirit…Azula will suffer. He doesn’t think that she deserves to suffer but part of him, the part that he tries to stay far, far away from, can’t help but think that she did have it coming. It’s that same part of him that was so angry with Zuko for the longest time. And he feels like a liar for pretending like everything was okay. It is okay now, he had lied until it became true. Lied about not being angry until the anger left.

And if he had harbored a silent and passive resentment for Zuko what can he say for the woman who had killed him.

It would be so easy to just let the spirit drive her out and take her place. Nobody else would be wiser to it. Which is why he has to say it out loud.

“I…” He furrows his brows. “Well I don’t really know what I saw.” A lie. To himself he muses “Maybe I should wait until I know for sure.” But no he does have to say it. If for no other reason than to make sure that he doesn’t betray his own values.

Katara looks from him to a spirit that still looks somewhat dazed and disoriented. 

“Aang what happened?” Toph urges. “Come out with it already.”

“We can’t exactly offer advice if we don’t know what’s wrong.” Sokka points out.

He frowns. “I…I think that I found...” He pauses. Yes, that’s one way of delivering the news. But is it the best way? He starts over. “I think that the spirit is Azula.” 

Sokka’s mouth falls agape. 

Katara’s stare falls back on the spirit who is now sitting upright and listening intently with her head cocked. “Are you…are you sure?” 

Aang nods. “Not completely.” He needs to stop holding back. “But almost completely. Like as completely sure as I can be without being completely sure.”

“What does that even mean?” Toph grumbles. 

“Aang, what exactly did you see?”

“A burning maze.” He answers. “I was lost in it and then I ran into the spirit. Or she ran into me. And then there was this spot on the ground—it could have been a door—she fit herself right into it and then we were in a very dark place.” He pauses. “And that’s where I saw Azula.”

Katara’s brows pinch. 

“She and the spirit…they would say and do the same things. It’s because they are the same person. Two parts of one another.” 

“Are you sure?”

“I know what I saw and I’m pretty sure that it means what I think it does. Why else would I see Azula in the Fire Spirit’s mind? She can’t remember who she is. But she’s still there.” He stares at his hands, at the ground, the sky, the trees, at anything but his friends and the fire spirit. “I don’t know how to help her.” Is what he confesses. What he means is that he doesn’t know what to do; what choice to make. To save Azula is to get rid of the spirit. And to save the spirit is to leave Azula to be burned away. One of them will vanish so that the other can live. Perhaps it is a dreadful thing, but Aang wants to keep the spirit and its silly quirks and innocent stare.

.oOo.

“We should probably find Zuko and tell him what’s going on.” Sokka suggests.

“Tell Zuko what?” He hates it when they do that. Talk about him behind his back.

“Zuko!” Katara jumps. 

“Yeah…” Zuko grumbles, rubbing the back of his head. 

“Done throwing your royal tantrum?” Toph asks. 

“You know what, I’ll just…” He turns back to the treeline that he had just emerged from.

“Wait!” Katara shouts. He doesn’t care to do that. Maybe that makes him a jerkass, but he is tired and hungry and frustrated. And he doesn’t want to be around his friends when he is in such a touchy and defeated mood. “We found her!”

He pauses and turns around. “Then where is she?” 

And to his dismay, Katara points directly at that goofy, mischievous fire spirit. “Of course she is.” He mutters.

“Why don’t you come get something to eat and Aang can explain everything.” Sokka offers. 

“I can explain what I know, which isn’t much.”

“When did you find out?” Zuko takes his seat on the nearest log. The Fire Spirit…Azula fixes her eyes on him, he is surprised to see a lack of resentment and distaste in them. She doesn’t leave Katara’s side. 

“She doesn’t remember anything.” Aang says. “Well she does but she doesn’t.  I used energybending to go into her psyche; she’s in there and she remembers who she is. But the spirit doesn’t know that she is Azula and Azula didn’t recognize the spirit as part of herself. It’s complicated.”

“Aang, you’re making my head pound.” Zuko massages his temples.

Aang strokes his chin. It has been some time since Zuko has seen him look so serious. “It’s a spirit curse. There are two halves of Azula and the human part of her that remembers being human is trapped in her own mind but she doesn’t realize it and doesn’t know where she is.” He takes a breath. “And when she saw the manifestation of her spirit half she got angry.” 

“I thought that you said that you weren’t completely sure if that was Azula.” Sokka quirks a brow. “You sound mighty certain now.” 

Aang shrugs. “The more I say it out loud, the more sense it makes.” 

“I don’t know if I agree with that.” Zuko grumbles. He leaves for a little while and suddenly everything is one giant mess. 

“I’m going to try to go back into her head tomorrow. I think that the key is getting Azula to either remember what happened to her or recognize the spirit as a part of herself.” 

“Well which is it?” Zuko asks. “Does she need to remember what happened or recognize that they’re the same…entity?”

“Maybe both.” Aang replies quietly. 

“Well if she remembers how she got cursed, wouldn’t that come with realizing that she and the spirit are the same?” Toph asks. 

“Probably.” Aang nods. He bites his lower lip. Zuko hates when he does that. It means that there’s something more. 

“But…?” He prompts. 

“It could also be a matter of getting the spirit to recognize that Azula is a part of her. And that would be a bit harder because the spirit is a little…”

“Stupid?” Toph laughs.

Katara gives her a solid swat. “Naive.”

“Confused.” Aang says. 

“So what are we supposed to do in the meantime?” Zuko asks. “Apparently we can’t just take her back to the Fire Nation.” And he isn’t allowed to use his bending around her. 

“Well.” Katara takes the spirit’s spindly hand. “We make sure that her fire stays out so that she isn’t in pain. We usually have to take her for a swim every hour. And that’s about it. Now that we know that she’s Azula we’ll just have to keep her comfortable while Aang works with energybending.”

“You can’t just talk to her.”

Aang shakes his head. “She doesn’t get it.”

“If she doesn’t ‘get it’ out here in the real world, why would she ‘get it’ in…in Azula world.” He shudders. Agni, he doesn’t even want to know what Azula world is like. It is probably fully engulfed in flames and lies. 

“It’s a spirit problem that requires spiritual solutions. I have to reach human Azula. And to do that…” 

“You need to talk to her through energybending.” He finishes. 

“That’s right.”

“Just be glad that we found her.” Toph folds her arms. “That was our mission and it was a success.”

Zuko wouldn’t call this success. They still have to find Azula in some sense. Wherever she is locked within her own mind. Zuko groans. Her mind is so complicated! Aang has himself an impossible mission if even Azula herself is confused by her own mind. 

He watches the spirit crawl into Katara’s lap. Katara who should push her away but instead pets her head. It would do Katara well to remember that her silly, curious spirit is actually a conniving, intimidating monster. 

A monster, he reminds himself, that he wanted to find and make amends with. 

He rubs his hands over his face. He had expected the years to have changed her. 

But not like this. 

Not so literally. 

“Why does everything have to be so difficult!” He throws his hands up.”

“To make your life exciting.” Toph declares with an unhelpful degree of boldness.

He hopes that the Azula that comes out of this is more agreeable than the person that he used to know. At the same time he finds himself hoping exactly the opposite. It would be terribly strange if human Azula acted as timid and thoughtlessly as the fire spirit. 

So what does he want from her?

What had he been hoping to accomplish by looking for her?

Maybe he really has only been thinking of himself again. Of easing his mind in knowing that she is still alive.

He can’t help but look at the spirit and think that that could have been him if things had gone even slightly different for him. And perhaps that is what drives him. What makes him want to help Azula. 

They aren’t so different from one another. ‘

He doesn’t shoo the spirit away when she cautiously approaches him.

[pinkrabit]

ATLA LA Episode 4 Into the Dark

The glowing rock candy 🤤🤤

Iroh and Aang bonding in prison.

"I'm really starting to see what kind of person his is." "I doubt that."

Sokka yelling at Sai like you yell at your father's mistakes

Love how active the fantasy racism is.

DONT GUILT SOKKA, SAI

Sokka is still so proud of Hakoda. He's so proud to be his son, "My father would never do what you did."

Zuko sneaking in??? We've seen numerous times in the OG his stealth capabilities when he tries. So, I'm excited.

BABY BUMI ! BABY (hes still a baby) AANG !

"I like the parts of Omashu that aren't so depressing :D"

SECRET TUNNEL

Great touch to openly address labor camps and POWs with the real world terms

"It's time to stop fighting. It's time to fight."

The Flopsy statue needs more recognition.

BUMI

Even Aang looks at Bumi like he's insane

Bumi, I know he's your friend, but you shouldn't out Aang like that

"Throw him.... a feast!" Aang looking terrified as if his old friend would EVER hurt him because the world has changed so much since he was last in it breaks me.

"Not everyone out there is the enemy"

"If you stand against us, you are."

"You're fighting because of hate. Just like the Fire Benders"

YES KATARA FIGHT BACK

KATARA THUGGIN AFTER SAYING "Goodbye, Jet"

I love how awful a liar Zuko is in every universe. LEARN TO FIB MY BOY

Aang at the table, like, "did my bsf friend forget I'm a vegetarian???"

Bumi being passively aggressive toward Aang, and Aang serving back "It was a tragedy!"

"Don't you care?" Aang, Bumi has a point when he yells at you. I like this Bumi a lot. His anger feels genuine. However irrational it may be.

THE HIPPIES IN THE MOUNTAIN

Sokka slowly vibing is OOC but still appreciated.

"We're doing what we're doing." They're all high. They gotta be.

Are Oma and Shu...? The gay??

I love how women are often portrayed as ending a war or unintentionally starting it, and then there's Azula.

Thanks for the backstory hippie man, wish you had a map though.

Two lovers, forbidden from one another~

SECRET TUNNEL (×2) THROUGH THE MOUNTAIN

"They're doomed 🤠"

Prisoner cruelty!! I know Uncle War Crimes but what about the Geneva Convention?

"The direct path is not always the best path." Paralleled with Aang wanting to find a way to end the war without killing Ozai.

I hate how they took out Kataang in the LA (i understand it'd be weird to allude to making aang's actor kiss kataras, though), but I like "love" in the tunnels being familial instead of romantic. And I like Sokka using his brain to figure stuff out.

"He was 19.. Was it worth it?" "We were at war.. I was a soldier." Such is the awful reality of war. When it comes to soldiers, it's not personal. It's a job, its dehumanizing to yourself and the rest of the world. It's a politcal game. "You (Iroh) know nothing of loss." And then showing his grief.

Iroh didn't want his son to die a war hero, he wanted Lu Ten to be his son.

!!! This was such an important conversation to put into the show. !!!

Zuko having something from Lu Ten 🥺🥺

I want a separate series with just Lu Ten

Leave from the Vine playing 🥺🥺

Bumi ragging on Aang for wanting to be a kid, AS A TWELVE YEAR OLD, makes me so mad.

Yes, he thinks about fun and games. A boy shouldn't be as bitter as an old man.

Zuko showing up to kick ass for his Uncle because that's HIS FUCKING UNCLE. He's still strong enough to break metal WITHOUT BENDING. SHOWING HIS COMPENTENCY.

"We've all seen enough death."

Zuko showing concern for Iroh's Injury to demonstrate his "true" nature of being sensitive and compassionate. Which is why he was banished in the first place.

The WT Siblings just hold each other before their perceived death feels so important to me.

And I feel like we can and should read into the badgermole/ "Love is brightest in the dark" scene.

"Great, how do you think they respond to verbal commands." Sokka can you be Sappy for like 5 minutes please.

"Some of us have to fight, even if we don't want to. That's what it means to he in a WAR!" This show is delivering so many lines and comments about war and its complexities for everybody involved. Just like the original. Y'all wanna sleep on it because of minor character changes????

I have yet to see a character, Suki has come the closest, that has been so awfully OOC that I've had to stop.

Aang asking for help, "one that requires you to make impossible choices" Bumi is a little misguided here but he means well in sharing his knowledge of leading to his friend.

"Learn what it means to be the Avatar!" "No!" Aang will never give up who he is based on others expectations. And the idea that he doesn't have to do things on his own, "like a child" is going to be what wins the war.

Aangs refusal to kill or hurt isn't bad, he's going to make a difference. He's going to save people. He's going to be the Avatar, but he will be an airbender first!

SAI OUTING THE FIRE NATION IS REDEMPTION

Iroh left to be with his nephew 🥺🥺

He won't let this boy be without a father

LEAVES ON THE VINE

"Everything I need is on this boat"

This episode felt a little rushed, and felt like it lacked a little in terms of the Gaang. But in terms of Zuko, it served. Zuko's story felt stronger here. Especially, after seeing Appa fly away, but he chose instead to prioritize his Uncle.

[oneatlatime]

The Winter Solstice Part 1: The Spirit World

I'll be watching this two part episode as two separate episodes.

Starting strong with some stunning pastoral views.

I like how Appa's shadow undulates over the clouds.

Is Aang passively airbending at all times when they're on Appa? Otherwise how do they hear each other? Unless it's a windless day and they're flying at walking pace there's no way they would be able to have a conversation.

Can you imagine the freedom of being able to throw yourself into the air with no consequences? Imagine how being able to ignore gravity since (presumably) a very young age would shape your worldview. Aang must look at the world in a fundamentally different way.

Blow dried Momo.

Could Katara stop babying Aang for five minutes?

The perspective is so funky in this shot that Appa looks Momo sized.

Did Gyatso say that Roku specifically would help Aang? He said that someone in that special room would guide him, but the only living creature in there was Momo.

Emotional support Momo. Maybe the help Gyatso spoke of actually was Momo.

Every time Iroh appears I become increasingly convinced that the creators of this show are fans of The Big Lebowski.

I love Iroh weaponizing teenage awkwardness to get himself five more minutes in the tub. I think I can also now declare myself officially used to Zuko's voice. I no longer find it muppety.

This is the environmentalism after school special.

The way this guy talks about flying Bison and airbender tattoos, is he actually old enough to have known airbenders?

Katara blindly trusts this guy because... he's old?

Pretty.

"It is the greatest honour of a lifetime to be in your presence." "Nice to meet you too." Yep, those greetings are definitely in proportion to each other.

I love the lighting in this scene. Everything has this golden glow.

The winter solstice sounds a bit like Halloween. The walls between worlds thin to almost nothing and things can cross over which shouldn't.

Aang's eyes are brown in this episode.

I love this attitude. Optimistic, upbeat. "I have to try, don't I?" is so true.

Is it just me, or is Sokka's ponytail weird this episode?

I think this is the Bumi guard voice guy again.

This episode appears to be taking place in a part of the Earth Kingdom that hasn't been taken over by the Fire Nation (unlike last episode). So for Zuko & crew, this is enemy territory. Iroh, who is a general with a fancy title, the brother of the leader of the fire nation (so I guess the next in line to the throne?), and so recognisable to the enemy that they can identify him without a single piece of insignia or even clothing denoting his country of origin, thought it would be a good idea idea to have a solo, unguarded spa day here? I bet the fire nation is happy the other brother is the one in charge.

More pretty.

Sokka racking up some major Big Brother points this episode. Aang may be the Avatar, which makes this kind of stuff his responsibility, but he's also 12 and clueless. He shouldn't have to face this alone.

This village must be close to the Avatar world's equator because that sun set ridiculously quickly.

You know, if I turned around and saw that thing following me, my first impulse would be to scream and run away, not introduce myself. This is why I'm not the Avatar.

If that's their water tower gone, this village is done for with or without the Avatar's help.

This spirit is throwing a proper tantrum. I love the way it moves too fast to see. I did not see Sokka getting kidnapped coming. I actually had to rewind and watch it again because it happened so fast that I did not see it at all the first time through.

I think the fire nation solider here is the Bumi guard voice too.

This is an insane shoulder to waist ratio. Also nice to see Zuko figure it out so quickly. This show has given me the impression so far that he's kind of stupid, but I guess not.

It's a panda! Black and White spirit, plus the environmentalism stuff from earlier, I really should have put that together sooner.

"I Failed." yeah you kind of did. So pick yourself up and try again.

Bird horses? Also those earth soldier helmets are probably really effective, but they look so stupid.

Proof that Katara is used to relying on Sokka to do all of her thinking and planning like I said last episode. If Sokka was the one left behind and Katara the one missing, he would not be so passive.

"All I have to do is figure out what I have to do. But once I do that, no problem." Even the most impossible tasks can be broken down into manageable steps. I love Aang's attitude.

It's so painfully in character that what gets Katara out of her funk is looking after someone else.

Where's Momo in all this?

In the spirit world, the avatar is just some guy? Can't bend. So what makes him uniquely qualified to be the guy who deals with spirits?

Dragons can talk with their whiskers. I'm sure I've seen that somewhere before.

Iroh can see stuff in the spirit world? Maybe it's an old people thing?

How stupid are these earthbender guards? Nice call back to the water heating trick. This show is really good at set up and payoff like that.

This dragon is very fluent at talking in pictures. Also the sky in the accelerated days and nights animation is actual live action footage of sky, right?

Earthbenders can skate on their bare feet. That's beyond cool. Imagine having an inborn ability to sock slide at will. I'd never walk anywhere again. Only slide.

Comforting Appa really did get her out of her funk and inspire action. Neat.

Aang and Zuko's stories do intersect this episode after all. Also I had no idea the two parties were this close to each other. Zuko showing this episode that in addition to deductive reasoning, he also has long-distance tracking skills.

I want to visit this village just to see the sunsets in person.

Iroh was right, they were clearly outmatched. These guys are just the worst. They're on a dirt floor in a dirt cave with the advantage of numbers and actual pants, and they still lose. Did Iroh even firebend?

I take back what I said earlier about Iroh being stupid for going off alone in enemy territory. If this is the calibre of soldiers he knew he would possibly run into, then he was perfectly safe all along. Although the last minute rescue from Zuko was a nice touch. Did anyone really believe that he would choose chasing the Avatar over his uncle? I didn't.

I like the creepy spirit whispering at the gate.

Did Katara yelling to Aang attract the spirit's attention to that main building? Because it seemed to be ignoring it before.

Chekov's acorn!

When Aang went to the spirit world, his body stayed behind on the statue's head. But when Sokka went his whole self was stuck there? Also that bathroom joke is payback for all the denied potty breaks.

Sokka's practicality and bluntness is just so perfect this episode. A nice counter balance to the spirity stuff. Just spent 24 hours in the Spirit world? That's nice. Can we have supplies?

Momo's back in these final scenes, but where was he the rest of the episode?

How does Aang know the island is in the fire nation? From the temple architecture?

Final Thoughts

I really like this episode! There is so much that is good: -beautiful visuals (so many sunsets!) -interesting sound design (that whispering was neat, and the single wind chime in the last spirit attack was so eerie) -so many well-executed set ups and payoffs (acorn, firebending heating stuff, how the spirit does relate to the burnt forest from the beginning) -So much good dialogue, from Zuko especially ("Now would you please put on some clothes?!?" / *sniffs* "Yeah, that's Uncle Iroh.") -relationship stuff (Sokka being big brother, Katara being lost without him until someone else needs her to be strong, Aang's relationship to his responsibilities both internally within himself and externally with how the village sees him and what it expects of him, the exasperated teenager and secretly amused parent dynamic between Zuko and Iroh switching flawlessly into a fighting team, then flawlessly back) -Everyone feels in character (optimistic sweetheart Aang, practical protective Sokka, caring Katara, super chill yet super skilled Iroh, Zuko just so fed up with everything) -The humour was downplayed this episode but the few jokes that were there were genuinely funny. Sokka getting hit with the acorn in particular. I'm thinking that there must have been a rule in the writing room that it's not a proper Avatar episode unless Sokka gets to be the butt of the joke at least once. -Zuko and Iroh finally getting fleshed out a bit. I feel like this is the first episode where Zuko hasn't come off as an asshole. -Worldbuilding (this is the first time the avatar's done his job as per the job description) -How it's supposed to be the first half of a two part episode but it doesn't feel like set up at all. It's a self-contained story with actual stakes, a conclusion that matters, lessons learned all around, and ALSO set up for next episode.

Once I had gotten a good look at firebending in the Southern Air Temple episode I started wondering how the fire nation hadn't completely decimated all their enemies. After I saw Bumi's bending skills I understood how the earth kingdom had resisted the fire nation for a century, but Bumi really was the exception to the rule, wasn't he? If these earth kingdom soldiers are typical of the earth kingdom army, I'm going to have to switch back to my original opinion and wonder why the fire nation didn't win the war 85 years ago. Because these guys are bad. They are surrounded by their element. Their prisoner is standing on their element. Just make the ground grab his feet! He'll be a sitting duck and they'll be able to do whatever they want to him. Better yet, just bury him completely. Or make handcuffs out of rock instead of metal. That being said, the soldiers' stupidity set up a really cool fight scene. How did Zuko not break his foot with that kick?

Everything is woven together so well in this episode. Almost nothing feels contrived - you can't tell me that Zuko didn't wait behind a bush somewhere so he could time his rescue of Iroh to have maximum drama. But otherwise this episode feels organic - like we were actually watching a couple of days in the life of these people.

I really liked this one.

[madrone33]

Just watched Natla episode 1! It wasn't the worst. I liked some parts, and was like hmmmm with many others lol. My Mum's kinda traumatised from Sozin RIP. But I have Thoughts!

Note: this is not structured At All lmao. I rapidly jump topics, and then sometimes return later. Also, this is completely my opinion after watching it once, so if you feel differently, that's completely fine! Honestly just wrote this down for myself to structure my thoughts on it, but I'm posting 'cause why not, y'know?

ANYWAY! Onto a rambled compilation of my immediate reactions:

A Lot of exposition. Which. Fair I guess? But they added info that wasn’t needed in that episode specifically. Like Zuko being banished. We didn’t know that until Zhao says it as a taunt in ep3 but here Zuko just outright says it to Iroh? He wouldn’t do that. He’s more ‘no my father loves me, he’s just trying to teach me’. He’s in denial. He wouldn’t just say his greatest shame and fear out loud in a situation that’s not even that high stakes.

Sokka was funny! A lot more than I thought he’d be. I really liked him, though I think he’d need to show his softer, more lighthearted side later and not just stick to deadpan sarcasm and stuff. It works for this episode, because a lot of his humour in the first few episodes are from him being too uptight and stressed.

Katara was very watered down, too passive. First, she’s going in the ship that was forbidden in the original. Then she splits the iceberg by accident, but not from anger. Bending isn’t from intense emotions anymore apparently. And sure she might get mad in later episodes like the waterbending scroll, but the first episode is vital to setting up your characters. It might feel like it comes out of nowhere if we don’t see her being a stressed underappreciated frustrated kid early on.

Aang doesn’t run away, he just goes out to clear his head. This is bad. It takes away his main flaw/regret in the show - he rejected being the Avatar and his people paid for it. Running away and avoiding things is a Big thing of his character. If it wasn’t, then earthbending wouldn’t be such a difficult thing for him to learn, and he wouldn’t feel so much responsibility for abandoning the world. Also it makes Sokka’s line later really unnecessarily mean? Like, if he had run away then, yeah, that line would hit hard. But he didn’t. So calling Aang a coward is just like, whoa bro. That was totally uncalled for.

Sozin wasn’t as imposing. He was too… short and average? None of the shots really hype him up. No imposing shadows on his face, or camera looking up at him, or framing so that he’s in the centre. And he should’ve been behind the fire, not walking around. Where’s the status in that?

Don’t like Gyatso’s death. Why did they hide there? Meaningless. Should’ve been covering the kid’s escape, or at least managed to take out the room of them until Sozin stepped in.

The bending didn’t have a lot of oomph. In the cartoon that’s fine, but for a live action show? Multiple fire blasts to the back and still not dead? Wow. And the airbending! They make it look like it’s the weakest element, as if it just knocks people down but they get back up. Why is no one staying down? Where are the fall damage physics?? People die from slipping in the shower and hitting their heads! Getting blasted backwards and slamming your head into the ground from a wall of air hitting your chest is gonna hurt a lot more than that!

I didn’t like Iroh? He’s way too confronting. Iroh in the cartoon mainly goes along with Zuko in s1, it’s not until s2 that he starts going ‘hey Zuko, maybe your father and the fire nation aren’t something you should be supporting.’ In s1 he’s mostly trying to get Zuko to relax and being gently supportive.

The fishing scene was good! I liked the dialogue. Katara being bitterly resigned that she’s not a good waterbender, feeling like it’s her responsibility to preserve that part of their culture. And Sokka isn’t just disparaging of her skills but scared of them, protective, worried that what happened to their mum will happen to her if people find out.

Ah. Gran Gran is a master exposition-bender I see.

The bending is weird! Not many forms, it’s more concentration. Where’s the martial arts? In the firebending there’s too many unnecessary flourishes, and in the waterbending there’s not enough. Take away the cgi and it looks weird.

The set design was amazing! Glad the trailers didn’t lie. Though the Southern Water Tribe was bigger than I thought I’d be. Isn’t it supposed to be barely standing, ravaged by all their people being slowly taken from them, and then the last of the men leaving in a last ditch effort to help end the war?

A lot of tell don’t show. Didn’t show Aang being a kid with friends, just said he had friends. Which takes away from his line about not wanting the power and responsibility and loneliness; we haven’t seen the kids subtly ostracise him because he’s the Avatar.

Really like the Avatar State effects.

3 episodes smushed into 1. 20 min x 3 into 60 min. So they had the same amount of time, but they added all the Sozin’s Comet stuff, so it was all more rushed.

Zuko’s hair style is better in live action than I thought it’d be.

Sokka’s not sexist, but that takes away from him trying so hard to be a Man and a Warrior, and failing. Also he’s actually a really good leader here? Which is supposed to be another thing he has to grow into. When you remove flaws, you remove the character development.

It takes away from Zhao’s assholeishness if he’s not the one to throw in Zuko’s face about his banishment, and the fact that Zuko’s return is contingent on him capturing the Avatar. He’s gonna be a lot less awful if he doesn’t get to smugly shit on Zuko. And without the comparison of him being So Much Worse, why would we root for Zuko?

WAIT! Someone’s missing from the episode. Someone very important… Where’s Momo?

No boomerang!! Sokka throwing the boomerang isn’t just haha funny, it’s showing how he’s creative, thinks and uses things that are out of the box, and above all, that he never gives up. He’s on his back, beaten down again and again, and still he always keeps going and throws something new at the enemy, and Zuko underestimates him, thinks he’s stupid but then the boomerang comes back and that’s a Win for Sokka! But no. Just have him beaten and that’s it? Ok.

Zuko’s less of an asshole? He doesn’t yell as much - honestly Iroh seems more like the one out of line - and he doesn’t ram into the village. He asks for the Avatar politely, and they actually do have the Avatar in this, unlike in the cartoon where they had no idea wtf he was talking about and he was just threatening grandmas lol.

Sokka’s really fucking brave. But he doesn’t throw the boomerang-

Very static explaining scenes. Flat. When Gyatso tells him he’s the Avatar and when Gran Gran says it’s been 100 years. Also they’re really insensitive, jeez. And neither the audience or Aang is given any time to breathe. It’s always one new piece of info after another. There’s so much exposition blatantly for the audience that it doesn’t feel emotional or personal anymore.

Gyatso doesn’t defend Aang! He goes along with the elders. He doesn’t try to flee with Aang. I don’t like this!

Katara not being the one to calm Aang down is bad. If Aang can snap out of it himself, control the Avatar State himself - the thing he only managed to do right at the last moment in the last episode - then most of the stakes are gone. It’s not a force of nature that overtakes him. And this means it doesn’t set the precedent that Katara is the only one who can comfort him when he’s hurting like that. Plus, Katara telling Aang that she understands how he feels, and promising that she and Sokka were Aang’s family now, was a big bonding moment for the Gaang, which we don’t have in this.

Why can Aang fly without his glider???

The costumes look less like costumes and more like clothes than I’d feared, but they’re still too colourful and new looking, not worn enough.

Bro I can’t believe they just left Appa lol. Also, Aang already has the bison whistle? Huh. And what was Appa doing when Aang was being captured?? Why didn’t he come in and Fight them like he did the shirshu, huh?

I get why they cut the scenes of Aang and Katara going penguin sledding, and then setting off the flare; they didn’t have enough time. But it does take away from showing how Aang really is just a kid trying to have fun, and Katara’s line about Aang bringing hope doesn’t make as much sense, because as far as I could see he didn’t really? He didn’t change much in the village, the kids were having fun fine enough without him.

Lmfao, how did Zuko know that Aang had escaped? I feel like there was a scene in there that they had to cut for time or something, where he goes into his room and finds his book gone, realises what happened and then runs out onto the deck. But instead it’s just like. Wow, you spotted him! That was some really convenient timing there Zuko!

Telling it more chronologically, instead of revealing Aang’s backstory through the flashback Storm episode, is an interesting choice, and switches the pov a lot. In the cartoon, you’re in Katara’s shoes from the start; she says the intro, and then she and her brother find this mysterious boy. In this show, it’s now more from Aang’s pov, which should make you feel like you’re thrust into this strange new future with him, except that they half ass it; the viewer is given more info than he is while he’s unconscious, so we no longer feel like we’re in his shoes, and he’s never even given time to be confused or oblivious - he’s almost immediately told.

Huh. If they’re getting rid of the sexism, then what’s Pakku’s deal gonna be? Or are they just removing that plot point? Also are they removing Yue’s arranged marriage?

I’m glad they only showed flashes of the Southern Raiders. Was worried for a sec they’d just spill the whole backstory right then and there.

Making there be other teenages in the Southern Tribe aside from just Sokka and Katara is more realistic, but it also makes it seem less dire? Sokka trying to get literal five year olds to man watchtowers and fight the fire nation shows just how desperate they are. These are the ‘men’ he is left with to defend his home. They’re just kids. And so is he, but he’s the oldest, and that puts so much pressure on him. Except now, he’s just barely the oldest, and the village seems like it’d be fine without him.

Also, I might’ve missed it, but the guy Sokka leaves in charge? Yeah I can’t remember hearing them ever say his name. He’s just- random watertribe teen #2 lmao

Where is Sozin’s dragon?

Small nitpick, but I don’t like the air nomad elders/council’s room. It’s so dark and enclosed, whereas in the cartoon, it’s very light and open, large with a high arching ceiling.

They also don’t introduce the special doors, which should come back in Roku’s Temple and the Northern Air Temple. Maybe they’ll do it next episode?

In the cartoon, it’s a small detail, but when Aang enters the Avatar State, he blows away everything except Gyatso’s skeleton, like he’s subconsciously protecting it even from himself. I’m… not sure that happens in this one.

Sozin just lighting that guy on fire was brutal.

Remember, no Russian- Oops, sorry, wrong line. (But seriously, fuck Sozin.)

Another big part of Aang’s character that goes hand in hand with my problem of him not running away, is that Aang likes staying upbeat and positive. When he goes to the Southern Air Temple in the cartoon, he doesn’t want to face that all his people may be gone, which is why Gyatso hits so hard. It’s not just that it’s Gyatso, it’s that he finally having to face the genocide of his people. He can’t ignore it, it’s being shoved in his face in the worst way possible. But he doesn’t do that here, he knows, so it almost hits less hard.

I’m sorry he- he has telekinesis? He steals the keys with telekinesis? Yeah sure, call it airbending, but that looks a whole lot like telekinesis to me! Martial arts. Bending is a martial art. You can’t just gesture your fingers and get that kind of delicate manipulation!! That’s not how the Force works-

Yeah, so it was a fun watch, and I'm interested in what the next ones will do! In my opinion, it's not as trash as the movie-that-doesn't-exist-in-Ba-Sing-Se, but it isn't as good as the original. Which is fine! I'm not mad at it, just kinda disappointed and curious. So. Yeah, I might post my reaction when I get round to watching the next epsiode ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[ssreeder]

Katara’s and Sokk’s confrontation made me so sad. Which I think was the point, so good job! Like I understand why Katara snooped, I probably would of done the same if I was her. She knows shit is up and wants to help, but in order to understand how fucked up everything is she ends up unintentionally hurting Sokka and it ends up in confrontation. (Which you know, sounds familiar, but what do I know?)

Sokka shouldn’t of called her a bitch though ): I understand being upset about it but he could’ve handled it a lot better. I know the trauma makes it hard but he needs therapy. I’m interested to see how he handles (or doesn’t handle) the fallout of his actions. Oh, and the reunion. I need to see the boys reconcile.

That being said, when you preemptively apologized at the beginning of the chapter I was starting to expect Sokka was going to get kidnapped by the Dai Li if he ended up straying too far in the library scene. I’m glad that it didn’t happen, but I’m still worried about the possibility.

(Also Katara’s dawning horror of Toph and Sokka getting along could be an entire different field of trouble if they didn’t made me smile)

(And Zuko’s backstories are so cute and made me smile. Love me some bursts of happiness in the middle of angst town.)

Hiiiiiii!

Ohhhhh boyyyyy… how Sokka handled his confrontation with katara was a semi-typical heated teenage sibling argument where the more passive sibling finally snaps but Sokka could have probably controlled the level or hurt he dished out to katara (they have always had a good bond & what he said to her was uncalled for)

The biggest reason I think he went right for such a gut punching word stems from his trauma, more specifically “female trauma” - he was hurt by a woman who betrayed him and created a lot of hurt and anger inside him. Sokka refers to her as ONE WORD (I’ll let you guess) & when Sokka lost his cool back at the SWT camp when he saw her he used that same word freely to display he anger and hate toward her. She was a trigger for his anger and when katara pushed him and triggered that same anger he was already so accustomed to using that word to attack it came out without him even realizing until it was too late.

He shouldn’t have said it, absolutely not, but it’s kind of his fault because he conditioned himself to attack that way…

OMG YEA SOKKA KIDNAPPED LETs gooooooo - but yeah I think people would riot if he got captured for like a 47th time haha. Because we all know if SOKKA gets captured SOMEONE… *cough* *COGUH* is going to rip through BSS to get him back. Idk if does sound fun haha. ;)

[theatricalfangirl]

Okay, episode 3 thoughts.

Sokka is precious, geeking out over the mechanist’s workshop. Teo is such a cute kid too, he so excited. I love that they’re giving him and Aang a little more time together, Teo clearly has some hero worship of Aang, not just because he’s the avatar but because he’s an Airbender. They’re so close in age, I think it’s good that Aang has made a friend who he can go flying with. It’s a way for him to remember and honor his history and friends.

I’m glad they don’t have them just needlessly destroying the old air temple, that always made me mad. I feel like, when the war is over Teo would definitely become an Air Acolyte like we see in Korra’s time. Live action Teo seems to have a level of respect for the air nomads history and culture that we didn’t see as much in the cartoon.

I like how they mixed Omashu, the mechanist, and Jet all in one episode, I feel like it’ll work well enough, telling the story and including elements from the original.

I think it’s interesting that Ozai had Azula infiltrate the group trying to assassinate him. She was clearly acting on his orders, but he could use this as a further method to keep her under his control if she ever started getting ideas. Conspiring to kill her father, the Firelord would definitely be treason and Ozai could easily bribe/threaten those guards to testify that Azula did it of her own free will, with intention to murder him.

I love Ty Lee’s actress (and not just because she’s friends with Walker Scobell). She’s played roles where her character feels outshone by her siblings so we already know she can do an amazing job with that aspect of her character. I really like how the fire nation uses fire phrases in everyday life. Azula says “they’re not the brightest of flames.”

I’m glad we’re starting to see Katara let her more negative emotions, yelling at Sokka, standing up to Jet, but I want to see her go further. She tries to reason with Jet first, then goes to Aang and Sokka for help, she could’ve taken him.

The lady hitting Zuko with a stick “How dare you hit that child!” I lost my mind, I love it. Seeing an adult who’s not just passively watching Aang (a literal child) have to fight someone a lot older than he is, stepping in trying to help? We only see a few characters like that in the cartoon, ones we know are already fighting the fire nation. This lady just saw a little kid getting picked on and jumped in to help.

Now, Zuko leaving his Uncle in Omashu when they’re discovered is rubbing me the wrong way. In the original we see Zuko going to great lengths to save his Uncle when he’s captured by Earth Kingdom soldiers. He even eventually tries to free him when Iroh is imprisoned by the Fire nation, Iroh just escapes first. I know he’ll be back, but I don’t know, it feels odd for Zuko to have basically run away to save himself.