#bumi is all here for it too lol

[sugarpasteltmnt]

You write unhinged Leo so well, and I really like how you write him. I was wondering if you had tips on unhinged characters 😂, or do you just get inspro from existing characters 👀

aksdakjsdh thank you so much ;w;

And honestly???? I’m not totally sure how to give tips— but I love, love, love unhinged characters in media, so I’ll use them as examples

(long rant below lol)

I’ve always been a big fan of silly, ‘crazy’ characters in animated movies and cartoons. I grew up on Batman the Animated Series and the original Teen Titans, which were full of silly, fun tragic characters.

Don’t get me wrong, i love a good edge-lord— but as a tot i thought the colorful, theatrical, insane bad guys were more fun to watch than the big scary serious ones (ESPECIALLY if they had a good villain song. A+ good shit)

(From left to right: Ratigan from Great Mouse Detective, Joker from Batman the Animated Series, Mumbo Jumbo from Teen Titans, Martin from Secret of Nimh 2, Bill Cypher from Gravity Falls, and Spinel from the Steven Universe movie)

And not just bad guys!! There are a ton of unhinged good/neutral characters that i absolutely adore.

(From left to right: King Bumi from ATLA, Clara from Welcome to Demon School Iruma-kun, and, of course, our silly 2018 turtle boys)

((There are many more characters in both categories, but I’ll slide these examples in here for now))

My personal brand of “Unhinged” or “Crazy” characters definitely leans on comedy. That’s what i enjoy seeing and reading! I personally like it because it can help keep a story fresh and interesting. There’s an element of surprise and unpredictability with what a character might do, and i love that!!

I also really enjoy a touch of feral behavior in my unhinged characters. The lack of clarity and the danger that imposes can be a very fun tool to use, no matter the character’s moral compass. (I’m feral for feral behavior lol)

And impulses. Whether a character has a few screws loose or is generally a goober, they like to act on impulses. This often goes hand-in-hand with comedy, and that’s something I enjoy!! We get a lot of moments like that in Rise, and that was one of my favorite parts of that TMNT iteration.

But as far as writing goes, it’s been tricky for me. All of the characters I grew up or love have been visual— trying to find a good balance for reading has been a puzzle I’ve been figuring out as I go.

I read a lot manga (lol nerd) and comics, and I love how thoughts/dialog are depicted. Especially the really dramatic or impactful moments. (I’d add examples but I’m already at the Tumblr image limit LAME)

As strange as it sounds, I try to capture that “impactful visual” style in my writing. If I had ANY advice on writing unhinged characters, pay attention to pacing—

Short. Fast. A calculating thought. Perhaps a run on sentence that lacks punctuation to represent the rushing and disorganized thought process. A question? An answer with little thought. Is this moment amusing; describe how. Is it upsetting; describe how. Are the thoughts starting to scatter? M aybe s o…

Big moment statement.

Action or plan of next big move. Flow should never seem too uniform. Even in normal writing. Don’t be afraid of accentuating— but don’t overdo it. Remember, unhinged characters are impulsive. Have fun with that.

Just as a quick and dirty summary— when it comes to unhinged characters, I like to use comedy, feral behavior, and acting on impulses. I also like to keep it as visually appealing as possible for characters to give the eyes a little treat after reading walls of text. I like to use fun text formatting to help with the fun too (But don’t overdo it! Don’t make it feel like a chore to read) (<- says the girl who goes into way too much details sometimes lmao whoops)

But ultimately— have FUN!!! Unhinged characters are fun, so make sure you have fun writing/drawing/creating them!!

[wilcze-kudly]

ships

linumi - kyalin - bopal - pemzin - suzin - bumizumi - linmon - makopal - korrvira

Linumi:

Bumi is the werewolf (big hairy man lol.) and Lin's the hunter. I feel like this is the most obvious.

At first I was gonna go with Lin as a mermaid, but then I remembered that Bumi was a literal naval commander and also merman! Bumi is a fucking vibe. He'd slay.

Lin is the least whimsical witch you will ever meet and Bumi is the familiar. What animal can he shapeshift into I wonder?

Barista Bumi. Idk why but I feel like this man can make amazing coffee. I can see it in his forearms. Lin is a canon coffee addict in my heart.

Like with the mermaid one, I at first was gonna have Lin as the teacher but I found the idea of cool guy professor Bumi and really strict TA Lin really endearing

Bumi is the Knight and Lin is the surprisingly competent princess. But i also love the idea of rugged knight Lin and soft Avatar's son Bumi. So like. I can go either way.

Cool dad Bumi and Lin as the scary teacher Bumi's kid always complains about.

I can certainly see Bumi as a writer for some reason? Like he tells stories a lot, I think he'd be a decent writer. Lin being his editor would be really funny because I can imagine that Bumi just word vomits onto a page.

Kyalin

Oooh werewolf Kya! As a waterbender, she already has a connection with a moon, it's perfect. I think Lin would look cool with like, a Dawnguard style crossbow.

I mean. Kya feels more mermaid-y. Water connections and all. Also She's just so damn whimsical.

Witchy Kya! And Lin as her catlike familiar. Ooh...

Barista Kya and Lin the forever coffee addict lol

Yeah, Lin certainly has teacher vibes... and Kya is the TA everyone likes more than Lin.

Knight Lin... and princess Kya d'awww

Single mom Lin and Kya as the teacher who helps Lin connect with hwr kid.

Exhausted writer Lin and Kya as her editor who cheers her on

Sorry, no Bopal, since I really really hate that ship and don't like thinking about it.

Pemzin

Tenzin as a gentle as fuck werewolf. Pema is ready to get rawdogged by a monster with a huge knot but Tenzin is too much of a sweetheart.

Tenzin would probably be a mermaid and Pema is the overly excitable fisherwoman who caught him and keeps him in a bathtub. (I just feel like Pema would be a monsterfucker. I feel it)

Witch Pema who summoned Tenzin as her avian familiar. Monsterfucker Pema supremacy.

I'd say barista Pema and exhausted coffee lover Tenzin

I feel like their vibe already is Teacher! Tenzin/TA! Pema

Sweet gentle prince Tenzin and very excitable knight Pema who is here to rescue him. Please don't resist.

Single dad Tenzin and teacher Pema. They'd be cute.

Tenzin would be the writer and Pema would be the editor I think.

Suzin

I'd actually see both of them as werewolves for some reason? But uh if I had to chose I'd point Su out as the werewolf.

Suyin as a smitten mermaid and Tenzin as a baffled nad horrified fisherman

Ooh Witch Tenzin and Suyin as his familiar. I'm not surewhat animal she would be shapeshifting into.

Barista Suyin and coffee addict Tenzin.

Tenzin would be a stressd out teacher and Suyin would be his amused and unhelpful TA

Knight Suyin and Prince Tenzin. But I can see it going either way too.

Single mom of a gaggle of babies Su and Tenzin as Opal's airbending or whatever teacher.

Writer Su and Tenzin the editor

Bumizumi

Werewolf Bumi, per usual. Idk... he's just so werewolfy.

Izumi as a mermaid, she'd be so cool and pretty...

Witch Izumi and Bumi, her familiar aww...

Idk Izumi has such coffee addict vibes and Bumi should be allowed to coffee.

TA Bumi who stands up for the class when strict ole Izumi is tormenting the class.

Well um Izumi is already a princess so...

Single mom Izumi and Bumi the teacher who teaches her how to love again lol.

Writer Bumi and Izumi organising his garbled thoughts

Linmon

Amon as a werewolf and Lin hunting him down how intriguing. That would make a cool AU fic

Mermaid Lin and Amon as a fisherman who specialises in fishing for mermaids. He hunts her... how the turn tables!

Witch Amon and Lin as his familiar who hates him. Cat that bites you lovingly.

Barista Amon and coffee addict Lin again.

Lin as an exhausted teacher ans Amon as an equally exhausted TA. They argue. A lot.

Princess Lin and morally grey scary Knight Amon

Single mom Lin and Amon the teacher. God the Parent Teacher conferences have to be sexually tense hell.

Edgy writer Amon and his concerned editor Lin.

Makopal

Werewolf Mako and Opal hunting him ohh. Dw he's just misunderstood.

Mermaid Opal wanting to be part of Mako's world aww

Witch Opal and her fiery familiar Mako who is just. Not happy to be here.

I'd actually call Mako the barista, and Opal would be a coffee addict. Though Mako the barista is also addicted to coffee lol.

Teacher Mako and sweet TA Opal

I know it doesn't exactly make sense but Prince Mako getting rescued by brave knight Opal is in my head forever now.

Single dad Mako falling in love with his kid's teacher Opal

Writer Opal and Mako editing for her. But i think she doesn't leave much to edit.

Korvira

Hmmmm... I can see it going both ways. Kuvira just has vibes for both, y'know. But picking one it'd be Korra as a rather unproblematic werewolf. And Kuvira as the overzealous werewolf hunter who's very excited about commiting murder to clear monsters from the area.

Mermaid Kuvira actually. I know Korra being a waterbender should be more mermaidy, but like. Deep sea mermaid Kuvira lives in my head forever.

Witch Korra and her bitchy familiar Kuvira lol

Sexy dyme barista Korra and Kuvira the coffee lover.

I think Kuvira would be the really annoying teacher and Korr would be the likable TA

Princess Korra and Kuvira being her knight in shining armour aww.

Single mom Kuvira and Korra as a teacher, who really loves kids

Fantasy writer Korra and Kuvira as her editor

Whewww, that was a lot! Goodness gracious

[mal3vol3nt]

hello!! I randomly spent like 30 minutes stalking your blog and!! 2 thing!!

bro I just got into atla and WHAT IS WITH THE FANDOM DUUUDE.. what’s with all the discourse it’s literally not that serious damn and how could people misinterpret literally every character so bad 😭😭 why are people so mean to my boy aang. he’s literally just a little guy. sunshine personified literally HOW IS IT EVEN POSSIBLE TO HATE HIM WHAT!! and just. everyone misinterprets everyone so bad, zuko too, also it is kind of annoying how most of the fanworks are about him, I love him too, both he and aang are my favourite characters, but it would be nice to see stuff focused on other characters too.. also people in the fandom woobify him so bad and it’s just like. why. his flaws are what make him interesting!!! also I have no strong feelings on z/k, I think it’s a pretty mid ship but it can be done well (one of my favourite fics does it really well and the reason I really liked it there is bc IT WASNT EVEN THE FOCUS THE FOCUS OF THE FIC WAS AANG AND ZUKO’S FRIENDSHIP, and the author wasn’t even planning for it in the first place it sorta just happened with the way they wrote it, so it actually made sense in that context, so it can be done well but imo it doesn’t work within the context of the show and kataang is objectively so much cuter cmon y’all have bad taste smh) anyways yeah. atla fandom is wack as hell and I will not be joining it lol a lot of people here need to go rewatch the show bc they seemingly completely forgot what it’s about and also touch some grass (but tbh aaaall the sequels will never be canon. to me. lok and most of the comics butchers the gaang so bad and it makes me so upset so I refuse to acknowledge them as canon. there are no atla sequels in ba sing se :)

ok wow sorry for the random long ass rant in your inbox I hope you don’t mind!! have been thinking about that and I guess reading a lot of your posts sorta made me want to get that out somehwre

anyways what I ACTUALLY wanted to ask is if you read fanfiction, do you know of any good aang centric fics? since. it should not be that hard to find them he’s the MAIN CHARACTER why is he so unpopular in his own show he’s literally the little guy ever <//3 more aang appreciation pls

AH sorry for taking so long to answer! i haven’t peeped my inbox in quite some time lol

BUT THANK YOUU and i agree 100%!! joining the atla fandom is like being dropped in the middle of a war zone so i’d definitely recommend staying away and just sticking to the actual show and fanfics lmao

now as for aang-centric fics i’m so glad you asked. lemme put yall on (a lot of this is aangst sorry)

1. 🧡

Aang's 18th birthday stirs up a lot of unprocessed grief and with the inauguration of the United Republic just around the corner and increasing expectations the pressure of it all is becoming too much

Republic City shenanigans, drunken truth or dares, complicated visits home and a semi-arranged marriage inbound!

Complete — 24 Chapters

Part 1 of the finding our way series

⭐️ now this is by FAR my favorite aang-centric fics of all time. it goes into aang’s repressed anger and grief in a way that is so well done i can’t believe it’s free to read. if you’re someone who loves aang, you will love this fic that is a guarantee. i seriously can’t recommend it enough

⭐️ this brilliant author also has another fic uploaded to the same series titled “beautiful boy” that is bumi ii and cloud family-centric. i’m currently reading it and it is a masterpiece so i’d highly recommend that as well

2. 🧡

A sound carried on the winds lead Aang and Katara to hope for something seeming long lost.

Complete — 3 Chapters

3. 🧡

Aang meets one of the firebenders who took part in the original Air Nomad genocide, and Suki deals with the aftermath.

One Shot

4. 🧡

Hakoda and Aang have both lost too much in the war. Together, they learn what it means to live.

One Shot

5. 🧡

In which, Aang still suffers from the guilt and shame after having abandoned his duties as the Avatar resulting in the Airnomad genocide and his friends, remind him that he isn't alone, not in this fight.

Incomplete — 4/6 Chapters

6. 🧡

A collection of ficlets written for Aang Week 2021, hosted by @ aangweek on Tumblr.

Complete — 7 Chapters

7. 🧡

Being the Avatar is a burden as heavy as the weight of the world. But as long as Katara is alive, she swears that Aang will never have to carry it alone. Written for Kataang Week 2023 Day 2: Injured.

One Shot

8. 🧡

Aang goes to Kyoshi for advice, and learns that they might have more in common than he imagined.

One Shot

9. 🧡

Raava was ancient. The spirit of order and light, created to serve as a peacekeeper among the spirits. That was her purpose. When she had fused with Wan, she had fully anticipated the years of strife and war.

What she had not anticipated, however, was the feelings. The feelings of love, joy, fear. The feelings of humanity.

And no such feelings were stronger than the love she experienced the first time she looked into the eyes of her newest incarnation. The first time she met Aang.

One Shot

10. 🧡

“I want you to make me a promise, Avatar Aang,” Katara whispered. This time, when she placed her hand on top of his, he didn’t pull away. “When this is all over, when the war is won… Promise me that you’ll grieve.”

(alternatively: grieving is hard. aang’s friends work harder. a series of missing/expanded scenes from a:tla exploring aang’s grief through his friends’ eyes.)

One Shot

(continuation in reblogs)

[tachiha3]

My thought for the third episode of natla are all over the place so please bear with me. I think my personal feelings are also gonna be involved in here.

• FINALLY Katara's useful!!!

• Remember my one post about some people erasing every bond between aang and katara? Yeah..

• But fr tho Jet taught her how to control her bending 😭😭😭😭 atleast give us aang and katara's friendship!

• They nerfed Bumi's rule They nerfed Bumi's rule They nerfed Bumi's rule They nerfed Bumi's rule They nerfed-

• The thing I loved most about the original show was the friendships and the relationships between the characters. Their is little to no gaang's friendship development.

• I was skeptical about Azula's casting cause I thought she'd look too innocent and cute but I was proven wrong. It was amazing.

• Mai would not put down Zuko cause she's scared of Azula. She DOES NOT CARE.

• Apart from that, Mai was solid too. I couldn't see much of Ty Lee's personality so idk.

• I'm feeling a little salty? But I guess it's maybe cause I'm a kataanger so that's why lol. PLEASE GIVE US SOMETHING

• Sometimes I feel like I'm only watching this show for Sokka, Zuko and Uncle Iroh.

• Pretty pissed at them cutting out the northern air temple arc. We got insight on Aang and Sokka's relationship, a character arc for both of them, and a pretty solid lesson on change (and science!)

•Please care about Aang, your... um.. protagonist.. and.. um.. titular character.

• JEEEEEEEEEEEEEE 😭😭😭😭😭😭 I'LL AVENGE YOUUUUUU

• No Katara simping after Jet... Me sad.

• The old woman beating up Zuko scene was GOLD lmao

• Katara would NOT say that!! She would also wanna stay in Omashi to help people aksgdaksgsjsgshshsgsgjsjsskdkdjh

• Why do I feel like they just don't want Aang and Katara to agree on stuff 😭 Like first the staying in the village to help people thing and then trusting Jet. But okay maybe I'll give them that one cause Aang didn't hang out with Jet in this one.

• That reminds me, Jet's dynamic with Sokka and Aang!! Gone!! (Btw check out my jetaang blog @jetaangxx Hehehe)

• The fight scene was nice. (Both Katara and Sokka's argument and Aang and Zuko's fight.)

• Atleast we got to see Katara being angry.. Just a smidge but we still saw it.

• MY CABBAGESSSS!!!!!! YESSSS Finally an iconic dialouge!!!

[dont-blame-it-on-the-kids]

“ Be still, don't move. ”

Hey guys finally Kyalin Drabble lol

Not much ever gets past Lin. Even when she’s off duty the seismic sense helps her keep tabs on things happening in her surroundings. But even after all these years the waterbender has a way of slipping past her defenses.

Lin jerked awake as a hand covered her mouth and she tried to shove the intruder off her but they were ready for her and a giggle stopped Lin from continuing to fight.

“Be still, don’t move.” Kya whispered but chuckled again.

“Kya!” Lin snapped pulling the hand off her mouth.

“Shhhh,” Kya broke off into a giggled and Lin felt her settle into the bed beside her. “I’m back in the city, and you~ are getting slow Chief Lin.”

“I never know how you do that.” Lin scoffed.

“I have my secrets, and a key.” Kya hummed as she pressed her cheek to Lin’s shoulder and relaxed.

“How in the world did you get a key?” Lin wrapped her arm around Kya and made sure she was covered by the blanket as well.

“Mmm my secrets.” Kya smiled.

“How long are you in town?”

“A while. Bumi is here too, he’s on the island.” Kya shifted to kiss Lin’s jaw. “But I had somewhere else to be.”

[erisenyo]

Hey there, can I ask how you come up with your OC names?

Anon I am THRILLED you asked because I am about to dump so much in-my-head-only worldbuilding on you, so much more than you probably needed or wanted lol.

As always this is not short, and forgive in advance the butchery I’m about to do of like, all of phonetics and linguistics.

OKAY so generally speaking, when it comes to names I have a set of foundational building blocks/general guidelines for the various countries and I work from there. These are based on phonetic characteristics of the canon names we see, and then from there I'd start layering in additional fun along groupings I've noticed around gender or class or family lines or whatever if I want to take the worldbuilding that deep.

So for example, with the Water Tribes…

We have Sokka, Katara, Hakoda, Bato, Kya all from the South, so I pick out...

Hard K or T sounds being quite common

Primarily A and O as vowels

Vowels being between consonants (ie, being single vowels)

Names being 2-3 syllables

In the North, we see Yue, Hahn, Agna Qel’a, Arnook, Kanna, Pakku...

Some similarities with the Ks and hard Qs

Now we see some softer ‘gn’ and ‘hn’ and L sounds, and the addition of P (which makes Bato’s “B” and Sokka’s “S” stand out)

Some ‘oo’ instead of ‘o’ vowels (so double vowels)

Hahn and Yue with no hard consonant sound at all (and both upper class!)

So that gives us some basic starting blocks to start building up names that sound like they fit within the Water Tribe culture in terms of sounds, as well as some potential regional and class differences to start working with! (Maybe Q sounds are only in the North, and upper-class people have soft consonant names, for example.)

Similarly in the Fire Nation…

The royal family is Zuko, Azula, Ozai, Azulon, Sozin, Iroh, Lu Ten, so...

A lot of Z and K sounds

(Male) names that end in N

A lot of two-syllable names (with the emphasis on the first syllable)

A lot of riffs on each other (Sozin and Ozai, Azulon and Azula, Azulon and Zuko)

Iroh and Lu Ten stand out as having fairly distinct names comparatively, with the “oh” ending and the softer "Ir" and "Lu" starts

Chan, Zhao, and Ruon-Jian are the other upper-class guys we see, which gives us...

short syllables again

N endings (for men) agai

The ‘two word’ name again (so Lu Ten's name naming structure is used elsewhere)

The introduction of “Ch” and “J” and “R” and double-vowel sounds (ao, uo, ia)

We also see Roku and Kuzon...

So very similar names to our royal bunch with those Ks and Zs and oku/uko and uzon/ulon sounds

Also older names from 100+ years ago, and commoner names

Mai, Ursa, Ty Lee as our upper-class ladies gives us...

short syllables again

‘two word’ names again

M sounds!

Mai and Ursa both don't have a hard consonant stop

Some phonetic/vibey similarity with “Mai” and “Ty”

And adding in Chit Sang (another commoner!) (presumably!)...

Another two-word name

Introduces the ‘ng’ ending

Leverages a lot of the consonant sounds we already saw

Uses an “it” usage of the "I" vowel (vs Iroh’s I)

So pulling it all together, in addition to those foundational consonant and vowel sounds, we also see that the royal family has a distinct naming convention that may be rooted in archaic naming styles.

And we can start to build out some ideas around gendered naming, family/honorific naming, and some potential class/pre-unification culture differences, as well as some space to speculate about why Iroh and Lu Ten’s names are so different from the rest of the royal family, too (as well as the ammunition to suggest that Zhao comes from a family of suck-ups lol)

Moving onto the Earth Kingdom (where I truly went wild)…

We start off with Toph, Haru, Long Feng, Kuei, Jet, Bumi, Poppy, Lao, and there's a lot of varability here!

Generally, the names are one or two syllables and start with a consonant

We see more double-vowel pairs (uei, ao), perhaps in the upper class but just as many single vowels

Consonants are hard or soft, and don't seem to group like the Water Tribe or FN royals did around particular sounds

Names end in vowels or hard sounds or softer 'ph' and 'ng'

Those guardrails are fairly wide and broad for feeling out distinct-sounding names, but it makes sense given how huge the Earth Kingdom is and its history of war, displacement, movement, etc.

So for a fic like That Love You've Been Looking For which was super EK-centric and focused on worldbuilding, I ended up breaking it down into broad regions and leaning into place names as well to help articular some basic rules:

In the southwest (Gaoling, Toph, Lao, Poppy), I decided that there’d be a mix of single and two-word names, and that the ‘ph’ ending would be used by women and the ‘ng’ ending for men

On the western coast (Haru, Omashu, Bumi), I went with primarily two-syllable names that follow a ONE-two pattern (PA-lo, BU-mi, CHE-lu, HA-ru) and went with mostly softer consonants

In the north (Ba Sing Se, Si Wong Desert, Long Feng), I went with short multi-word names where each part would be a single syllable

And in the center I was kind of pulling it together from what was left, but I went with names that end with an ‘an’ or ‘in’ sound and echoed some of the place names I was using

So we have some building blocks for the various regions, this time that we can use to indicate where someone’s family could be from and to give each region a more specific feel.

For Kyoshi...

I generally lift the Earth Kingdom rules, but view it as more of a trade-center and melting pot (Suki could fit in WT or FN rules), so it's deliberately a lot looser and with more variation.

And everywhere has a Lee/Li, so none of these rules are hard and fast, and I imagine too that there’s a ton of cultural mixing and fads and trends and whatnot in naming across various regions.

A quick note from a process standpoint--

This approach is very much not trying to find names within various existing real-world cultures. If I'm writing ATLA canon-world, I tend to stick to the idea of leveraging real-world contexts as a base rather than a strict guide. Something I wanted to flag, as there are other ways to go about OC naming that lean much more heavily into researching the naming conventions of various cultures throughout history, thinking about translation and name meaning, etc.

And also, if I need a lot of names, I'll often use the Fantasy Name Generator and look for names that either fit or that I can tweak into the above 'rules.' (Otherwise I accidentally start giving people ship names lol, RIP to Mailee, Maizula, and Yutara, you lived on under new personas)

I also don't always dig as deeply into the way names can signify class or status or whatnot, either. It can be very fun, but sometimes you just need a one-off name so your POV character looks like they actually interact with the people they nominally see every day haha

[petratherrock]

My favourite characters from atla can be categorised into

The mischief maker, the grump and finally now that I'm an adult, the sunshine

I started watching AtLA when i was 15 and it's quite telling which characters I would grow to relate to and wanted to be like (until now). Okay, let's break this up;

1. I was a teenager and I wanted to blend into the background but i also wanted to be cool so I think that's why I love Mai so much lol

Knife throwing coolness? Being expressionless most of the time? Had to manage her family's expectations? Knows where her heart stands at the end of the day? Soft for people she cares about even if she doesn't often show them? Fire nation prince as the boyfriend? Uh yes.

Not to mention her VA and Zuko's VA voices are just so ✨👌🏻 they've got such nice husky voices i love listening to them 😂

2. Who doesn't like Toph?

If my teen self related so well to Mai, the person I wanted to be like was Toph--brave, free-spirited, smart, funny, loud, daring, troublemaker and has a soft spot for people she cares about.

She has her insecurities and she's blind and she doesn't let that ever, get her down.

3. As I grew up into my twenties I realize that I'd love to be like Aang.

I still consider Mai and Toph my faves from the series (I love everyone else too I just love these two more), but now it's like

I want to be a sincere, kind patient, and genuine person like Aang. A sunshine. Someone who's been thru a lot but still is nice to everyone (I'm not saying Toph and Mai aren't nice but that's not the first adjective you'd think of when you meet them loll)

Then, while I was thinking about them, I ended up remembering the side characters that I also really liked

I see the pattern here 😆

These two are the ones that pop up immediately in my mind when I think of side characters I love.

June and Bumi --true neutral and chaotic good. I'm pretty sure Mai and Toph are of the same alignments too

June is a strong, witty, confident and cool character. My younger teen self adored her obviously. Bounty hunter lady with her pet? ADORE.

And what's not to like about chaotic Bumi? He's a maniacal mad genius. This old man lets himself get imprisoned and waited for the right moment to get the upperhand on the Fire Nation, then he earthbended out of it with HIS FACE.

And of course I love this old man Iroh. We all do. 🫂 🫂 I don't have to explain it.

He was wise, patient, kind, and witty. He loved tea too much. He lied about killing the last dragons. He basically raised Zuko to become a better person, he was the black sheep of his family and how lucky they were that he was

But I think at the end of the day I'm more like this guy

Man committed to his trade and things keep fcking up somehow-

[theatrevelyan]

Ok, I’ve binged the new ATLA live action and I have feelings about it so here are my incoherent thoughts! (SPOILERS btw!!)

I’m a fan of the original show and I approached this show with low expectations (namely the only expectation I had was “this can’t be worse than the movie, right??”) but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised!!

I mean sure some details have been changed to flow better in this rendition of the story but I’m fine with that so long as the heart that made the original special is still there and I know some people didn’t felt like it did but I had the feeling that it was.

Do I love absolutely everything about the show?

Nope.

I have some issues with the first episode being too stiff and some shots were outright weird?? Like the tilted camera when Grangran was speaking was a really odd choice??? Was it to signal that the world changed when the fire nation attacked? If so it missed the mark, it just felt weird… to be honest Grangran in general felt weird. Idk man, she felt like an exposition dump made flesh. Also I did like it better when it was Katara’s unchecked emotions that led them to Aang.

In general, the dialogues were… uhm, how to put it…? Too rigid? Not the acting mind you, but the actual script felt a bit stilted, I felt it more in the first few episodes but to me, the first episode is by far the weakest of the season in this regard which is odd since it’s your hook and most of the time you want to make sure the hook is if not the best at least a really solid opening.

I did not like Bumi, like at all. He was never a favorite of mine even in the original but still I found him annoying in this version and the fight in that episode was not the best to say the least but the rest of Omashu was good even if they changed it to include both Sai’s and Jet’s storylines. Too bad they didn’t include the loss of culture subplot for Aang but I get there was no time/place for it in this version of events and the rest was handled well… except for Bumi lol

On the more serious complaints… they butchered my boi HeiBai!!! That episode was all over the place in sense of scripting. I didn’t mind putting Koh and the owl there but we just forgot about the HeiBai plot along the way and we never got a resolution about it???? Like just two lines about healing the forest would have been enough, not good mind you, but enough.

Also I did not get why they changed the motivation for going to the North Pole from going there to train to go there bc of Kyoshi weird premonition thing or why Roku didn’t tell Aang about the comet????

Like ok the Kyoshi thing I can just wave it away like a minor change to flow better with the new structure of the episodes but I can’t ignore the fucking comet!!! That’s like a really important timeframe for the gaang to follow and maybe they will get to it next season since it was addressed on Ozai’s side of things but it felt still like a weird change.

Oh and why didn’t Aang learn water bending??? I mean I guess they probably wanted to elevate Katara’s skill level and have her be recognized as a master before she started teaching him besides him having still to come to terms with having to accept that he is the avatar and that he has to fight sometimes something that he doesn’t really do until the season finale and I can get behind that, I really can… but man… let him water bend just a little. Maybe in just one scene to show that he is picking up something from Katara even if she’s not his teacher yet. To show that despite all the doubts he’s actually trying to do what he’s supposed to. I guess this is a “wait and see” kind of change though so I’ll let it go… for now.

All that said, do I think the show is a good adaptation of the original?

Fucking yes.

It has its flaws for sure but there is also a lot of good things in it.

Sokka was the highlight for me. I really liked him in the original but i feel like he’s been elevated in this version of the story and the actor did a really remarkable job with him, despite my worry with the changes in his initial story arch they managed to give him another layer that I liked.

Actually all the actors did a very good job! Aang was spot on and Zuko had a lot more humanity in him from the start without losing his rough edges. And while I stand by that Sokka’s actor is the one that surprised me the most, Zuko’s was the one I had more fun watching. A really great performance in my opinion.

Iroh was a fucking delight and an emotional gut punch as always and while he was a bit more somber I really liked this version of the character.

They did Azula and Ozai justice showing how cunningly terrifying and utterly toxic they can be and I really liked that we got to see more of them in season 1.

Hell, even Zhao felt the right balance of unhinged cartoony villain and actual threat for the pov characters.

Katara was more of mixed bag for me. She’s my favorite character in the original (with Zuko being a close second) so I have higher standards for her and overall all she still feels like the Katara that I know and love but idk sometimes she felt too poised?? It’s more evident in the first few episodes to be fair and I don’t think it was the acting, the actress was great! Maybe it was the direction or the writing?? Idk man I still loved her, mind you, but in the original, Katara, while being kind and loving, was still a force of nature that you do not want to anger exactly like a raging river that can both be a source of life or a force of destruction. In this it felt like they softened her edges a bit too much. That might be a me problem though, as I said she’s my favorite so I have higher standards for her.

Ti be honest though, it seems that they softened everyone’s less palatable traits. Zuko isn’t as ruthless, Sokka isn’t sexist at the start of the season, Aang isn’t as goofy and so on. I didn’t mind it actually and most of the time it works really well in showing us new sides of these characters without losing who the are but idk man… while I still loved Katara it felt like she was missing something. And same with Suki! She looked fantastic and she was fierce as I expected her to be but she also felt more naive and love struck that she should have. Nothing terrible but enough to notice.

The bending was fantastic and it really felt… well real. Especially air bending! Appa and Momo were really well animated too! Big win for the VFX team!

The music too! It just felt right. And I’m still not over those scenes when you faintly hear leaves from the vines play in the background. Curse you and your great choices that made me actually cry my eyes out like a baby!

In the end I’d give it a solid 7/10. It was a nice watch and it brought me back to my childhood and I can see it’s potential to be something special on its own.

Mind you, this could still turn into a dumpster fire along the way. It wouldn’t be the first time it happened to a really promising Netflix show (I’m looking at you Voltron and the Witcher) but I have to say, I’m gladly surprised and mildly optimistic about this show!

[coulsonlives]

Finished all eight episodes and well, that was underwhelming. Here are my main impressions.

Clothing was too clean and looked like it came out of a cosplayer's closet instead of being actual, lived-in clothes (if there's one thing the failed movie did right, it was the clothes)

Zuko was decent

Sokka had an a+ personality but was missing some nuance

The Sokka and Suki meeting was boring and had typical teen romance cliches galore

Appa and Momo were cute

Not sure how I felt about them starting with 100 years ago, and the cut between that time and the present day was jarring, I feel like the title card should've been there instead to break it up. And just the title card, none of that weirdly glowly, oddly-colored narrative with the bending examples and stuff, it looked so odd

If Katara were a spice, she'd be flour, if she were a book, she'd be two books, where the heck was her fire and spunk and generally just. differentiating traits because I didn't see any and it was so boring to watch her

Like honestly! She didn't have her motherly/parental role thing going on, even in a toned-down way, and she was missing her passion, I just. What else is left

Bumi was scary af man

Lots of the compositing was blurry as shit and it was distracting, probably a lot of newbie, abused comp artists with pay cuts given dneg was working on it

Aang revealing himself all mystically with the intense music, then two seconds later the music stops and he slides down on the ice with a thump made me lol, and I don't think that was the intended reaction

They're in the arctic and you can't see anyone's breath, why is that, tell me

Suki removes her makeup in like 2.4 seconds without missing a single bit of it, teach me your ways gurll

Momo is actually cute and not a demon, praise raava

The fire nation armor is pretty brutal, the shoulder pads are like obvious cardboard that isn't even trying to look like metal (I still can't really tell if it's supposed to be metal? That's not a good thing fam)

Way too much exposition and 'telling, not showing', some of the convos dragged on for wayyy too long

The fox thing was unnecessary, but I liked Yue's added motivation to help Aang as well as her people

What the f did they do to Azula, the foundations of her character are totally different from the og show and she barely even feels like a villain. Some of her lines about being inadequate or 'not good enough' felt really contrived too

Lots of strange cuts and camera work, more than a few times there was a person talking and the camera was looking at their waist or something else for no reason lol, and there wasn't an establishing shot when there needed to be, so things were just disorientating a lot of the time

Lots of things happened but the show just. didn't give any time for them to marinate. Sokka telling Aang he abandoned his people, he knew it, blah blah in one of the early episodes? It's poignant but it lasts like five seconds before the scene totally changes, I got major whiplash, fam

The lion roaring sound effect every time someone firebent, please stop I beg

Azula being defiant was interesting and the lightning scene was cool but I still miss Daddy's Pet Azula

Sokka screaming on Appa was funny

My favourite scene was probably the dude going 'but we're the forty-first!' and Iroh telling them, 'and you're all alive because of his sacrifice'. Like dang that hit hard and I loved it. I liked how they added that

Avatar Roku was like ?? um. I know he and Sozin were goofballs but cmon man

The shots with Koh capturing Sokka and Katara were cheesy as shit especially with the sound effects lmao, it looked like horror movie jumpscares from a b-movie

Some of the acting was hammier than a ham sandwich. Even Zhao gave me that impression at times especially with the dang spirit fish scene

Pippinpaddleopsicopolis the third

I know they had to condense a crap ton of episodes, but it really felt like the show was just checking off boxes at times instead of (like I said earlier) letting anything marinate

The opening scene with the earthbending and firebending was cool, it's a shame the rest of the show didn't live up to that

The bending vfx looked good. The choreography did feel a bit disconnected though, and not as martial arty as I would've liked

I felt like I could blatantly see some of the reasons the og creators left the show

Grumps tbh I'd give it like 4/10.

[ragnarssons]

NATLA REVIEW (SEVERAL PARTS IN THE REBLOGS CUZ TUMBLR IS STUPID)

(1/4) Sorry, Tumblr is stupid, I can't just post my stuff and be on my way, like I gotta divide it in several posts because it's too long blugh. Ok ok ok. So I finished the show. Obviously. Somehow The Binge got me anyway. I will need to rewatch it to digest everything better and pay attention to small stuff and all, but first impressions off the bat: OBVIOUSLY IT'S FULL OF SPOILERS, READ AT YOUR OWN RISKS. - I do not understand why they did not make Aang run away. When I learnt about it after the premiere, I was willing to let the show explain to me organically why that was changed. They didn't. And staying true to Aang running away was... just right there. All they had to do was not have him say "you're right buddy, I'll just clear my head" and that's it. Because at the end of Aang's little speech with Appa, I really was like "... and then you run away boy" because it really felt like it was building to this. @ Albert Kim, we need to talk. It is especially weird considering they had several characters and moments where people were either guilt-tripping, blaiming or being angry at Aang for not being there for 100 years. The scenes with Bumi, with Gyatso, would have been way more impactful had Aang ran away. I do not understand this decision and the show has given me no ground to understand or accept it. - NOT NEARLY ENOUGH MOMO AND APPA @ Albert Kim, we need to talk again. Per your IGN video, you teased me Appa being Aang's best friend. WHERE WAS IT???? I WILL SUE. And again, it's like why? Yes I got teary eyed at the Sokka/Momo scene in the finale, but huh, I would have BAWLED MY EYES OUT had they had more scenes and a stronger relationship (yes I'm talking about a boy and a lemure...) (and even tho I love Sokka/Momo, what about Momo/Aang???) Also there are scenes where Momo isn't there, and it's not making any sense because we have wide shots of all the Gaang on Appa and Momo is just... well not here. - I liked what they did with Azula and Ozai. It makes me really looking forward to some Azula/Zuko scenes. ? and I do think Ozai not burning and banishing Azula for standing up against him literally confirms what Zhao said to Zuko at the end, but idk if it's just my interpretation or just canon lol. I would have loved to see - finally - Azula's blue fire at the end. Like yeah, we saw her bending lightning, but what about the iconic blue fire huh???

[ikuzeminna]

Who are your top 5 favorite atla characters

This might surprise you, anon, but this is a difficult question for me. By the way, I hope you’re a Gundam Wing fan who noticed me in the ATLA tag and not someone from the ATLA fandom just asking me a question because boy, is this gonna be an introduction to my blog.

I can tell you my favorite character right off the bat, which is Toph. She’s cool, and badass, and sarcastic, and wise, and self-deprecating, and saving the day left and right, and just all around awesome. That is to say, she is a joy to watch and there isn’t a single scene in the series where I’m annoyed by her. What is also in stark contrast to Aang is her commitment to improving herself. Toph is introduced as one of the strongest benders in the series, but does that stop her from evolving? No. She confronts and masters her weaknesses, sandbending and metalbending, going so far as to invent the latter to do so. This is what keeps her from being an obnoxious Mary Sue, even though she can take down armies by herself; Toph earns her strength. Unlike a certain someone who is only the strongest because he has the glowy uber mode.

Number 2 would be Katara, who provides a very nice example of a rich and complex character, who also gets to have a very unique relationship with the former villain, Zuko. She gets a lot of really good writing, which is the reason I like her so much. The contrast between her Book 1 self and her Book 2 self and onward is also very interesting to observe, as we get to see what a healthy serving of self-confidence can do for Katara as a character and for her personality. She isn’t exactly different, but there is a noticeable level of maturity added with her mastery of waterbending. She also gets the most emotionally intense episodes. A Katara episode is always a good episode.

From here on though, it gets difficult.

Zuko is somewhere on the list of favorites, too, but only if I ignore the annoying parts, the greatest being the obsession with Iroh. I’m not gonna launch into a rant, because that would be a 20 pages long essay on its own, but know that no other character in the history of media has ever held my ire to the level Iroh does, not just on his own, but for the way he ruins other characters, too. Seeing him gets the same response from me the way mentioning the British Museum does to every culture the Brits looted.

Aside from that, one thing that has always gotten on my nerves with Zuko is how we see nothing of his supposed princely background. Running around and throwing temper tantrums to get his way is how a brat acts, not necessarily a prince. Weirdly, they get it right with Azula. You can tell from a mile away that she’s nobility. Zuko? Zuko oscillates between ridiculously crafty and effin’ annoying. There is only one tiny hint I can identify that speaks to a higher standing and that is the way he sits straight. Other than that, nothing. No impressive vocab or signs of higher education or flowery language or sense of perfection and finesse. So another point for bad writing.

I just need two more, right?

Hmm. I’m gonna cheat with those and pick Piandao and Ursa. lol

Piandao, because he is the poster boy for a proper master. He is insanely skilled and seemingly eccentric because he abhors over-inflated egos, being a humble and open-minded person. He teaches Sokka because of his own morality and conviction and seems like someone who genuinely wants to help people. He doesn’t troll people like Bumi, nor does he abandon his nephew to go on a glory crusade. He’s also not a drama queen like Jeong Jeong. He’s a good role model and should have been the sole leader of the White Lotus, seeing as his house is plastered with lotus symbols. And he never should have accepted Iroh and Pakku. >_>

Here is where I run out of truly favorite characters. Ursa is not so much a favorite as she is interesting to me because I’m digging the family dynamics the series hints at. One NATLA picked up, too. It’s not the abuse victim/hostage nonsense the comics threw at us, which is offensive beyond belief, but a wonderfully complex mess that, if added to correctly, can turn Ozai from a flat pancake into a fully rounded character while enriching Zuko and Azula, and provide a parallel to Katara’s and Sokka’s family, too. But I’m gonna spare everyone a lengthy explanation for this, as that could be another post on its own.

Suffice it to say that while Ursa looks like the angel to Ozai’s monster and the series, for whatever reason, tried to paint one bloodline as good while the other is eeevul, it’s her who killed Azulon. Give me all the gray characters.

This should answer your question, anon. Now to blather about the stuff you didn’t ask me for.

~Part deux~

As I said in the beginning, picking five favorite characters in ATLA is difficult for me because I don’t have that many characters I truly like. It’s not that I necessarily hate them, I just don’t care about most characters.

Like, I don’t care for Sokka. He's the comedic relief, okay, whatever. If he gets a moment of awesome, it feels unearned. Him being touted as a great leader makes me laugh since the series implies it’s because he’s suddenly the only one who can read a map. He’s horribly written. Everything is rushed, from his romance with Yue to his one-day mastery of swordsmanship. That crap takes years. Never mind him getting a super special awesome space sword that’s practically a lightsaber. So it’s not even his own skill?

Same thing with Suki. I’m not bothered by her character the way Sokka annoys me (I do, in fact, dislike him when the series over-inflates his worth) but she’s just not interesting enough for me to care about her. Her being tethered to Sokka does her no favors in my book either. If you remove every scene where she interacts with him, is there any screen time left for her?

Aang is a can of worms. I like goofy Book 1 Aang. I absolutely loathe Bryke’s self-insert Book 3 Aang. And don’t even get me started on the shipping. It’s like pairing kid Goku with teen Bulma. Just, no.

So do I like Ozai then? No. Unless I make him interesting, he’s boring. Azula started out very strong, but then fell apart because the show decided to strangle itself with binaries. She’s also incredibly isolated, having only pancakes and her brother in her orbit. Mai and Ty Lee are flat. Jet got killed off before he had the chance to develop layers. That leaves me liking blank slates like Kanna. Yes, I will prefer the stock character over the badly written, flat ones.

This may all sound like I don’t like the series or, at the very least, don’t enjoy it, but that’s not the case. I have plenty of episodes I watch and rewatch because it is a fun show and I don’t need to like all the characters to enjoy an episode’s story. Being flat or inconsistent doesn’t bother me when they can manage to be consistent for an episode at least. And the bending battles are cool to look at. The trouble starts when we take all the series into account because the wasted potential through shoddy writing becomes more apparent, especially towards the end.

When you compare the characters and their writing to the likes of the Gundam Wing cast –and now we swerve to my blog’s main theme– the difference couldn’t be more glaring. This blog is dedicated to one single series, with me writing meta upon meta, sometimes about the most minute detail in one of the first episodes because it’s a hint for something that happens after the series, in the movie following the show, because the level of care to get the characters not just consistent but also massively layered is utterly insane in this show. If you were to make a character relation sheet, you’d just end up connecting everyone because every character gets a unique dynamic with everyone else. And this series doesn’t even focus on the characters. It’s plot-driven. It’s about politics and war.

Ironically, I have a harder time picking a favorite episode in Wing than I would in ATLA because I enjoy the characters in their entirety, which is reflected in the entirety of the series. Wing is hard to watch because it’s not episodic. Some of the coolest moments happen without fanfare. But I’d have no problem listing five favorite characters. Duo at the top because he’s the best, hands down, then Relena, then Wufei, then- wait no, first Meilan, then Wufei. And then it’s a battle between Trowa and Noin, with Dorothy being close behind.

[theowritesfiction]

The Ultimate Jerk of ATLA

With my ultimate re-watch of ATLA coming to an end, it's time to tally up the Jerk Points earned throughout all 3 seasons of the show. Just as a reminder: Book 1 Major Jerk - Zhao Book 2 Major Jerk - Iroh Book 3 Major Jerk - Ozai And here are the totals in the quest for Ultimate Jerkdom! 1) Ozai - 1380 2) Aang- 1360 3) Zuko - 1190 4) Iroh - 950 5) Zhao - 780 6) Long Feng - 560 7) Yon Rha - 400 8) Azulon - 300 9) Pakku - 280 10) Bumi - 250

I was so sure that Aang was going to take this title, but then Ozai just pulled the rabbit out of the hat in the final Book 3 stretch. For someone who was featured in the show so sporadically, I am a little surprised that Ozai won this, but... I'll be honest, every time he appears in the show, I immediately want to strangle him with the charger cable of my android. So, in that sense, the title is well earned.

Some of you might think that it's completely nonsensical for Aang to rank so high and nearly win the Ultimate Jerk. Like, why do you even care about the show if you hate the protagonist so much lol, am I right?

I wouldn't say I hate Aang, I'm just largely ambivalent towards him, and it's mostly the framing of Kataang moments that make me want to slap him. Other than that, he's perfectly serviceable. As for caring the show if I'm not a huge fan of the protagonist... I don't see why I have to care about Aang in order to enjoy the show, not when the world is so rich, and the other main characters and the supporting cast are so amazing.

I actually have a history of not caring about protagonists in a lot of franchises I otherwise love. Kind of hated Crichton in Farscape, which is my favorite sci-fi series. Didn't really care for Sheridan in Babylon 5. I'm going to break a taboo and bring up HP, but yeah, I'm kind of in a similar place with Harry than I am with Aang. They're... serviceable, but I want to read about Hermione, Luna and Draco.

I could think of many more examples, but caring about side characters, underdogs and characters who are done dirty by the narrative is kind of my thing. Happy go lucky protagonists who get to have their cake and eat it too are boring to me, and can go and take a hike. It doesn't mean they're bad characters. It just means that they're not for me.

[cabbageslost]

ATLA Birthdays

ATLA Birthdays! I have way too much headcanon for this. ROFL My brain grants the benders a birthday in "their" season, and the non-benders whenever. Assuming they spend 3 months in each season, with Sozin's Comet being the "end of summer" deadline Roku mentions. And then in my head, the Jasmine Dragon scene is about 5-6 weeks post-comet. (Allowing time for recuperation, a few weeks to set up Fire Nation things, then they can leave to check in on other nations they've been fighting. I would imagine longer except those trees are still mainly green.) Anyway, gives about 10 months for the show, so statistically most would have had a birthday. So, in order vaguely of how we first see them, here's some ATLA people's ages/birthdays as I think of it whenever I write something. :)

Katara - My brain puts her birthday right at the start of winter, so we JUST miss out on her 14th birthday. Like, it's a few days before the show starts. In fact, my brain goes so far as to make up a little story that Sokka knows how much his sister wants to fight and he can relate to that since he wanted to go with their dad and the warriors a few years ago. 14 is when fighters are taken ice dodging in the tribe and he can't do that for her - he didn't even get to go after all - but what he CAN do is take her fishing with him. But like, he's a big brother, he's not going to admit that stuff out loud to her.. and they still annoy one another. LOL Bam, that's how we find them on the water in the opening scene. (Puts her at 14 at start of show, 14 at end of show.)

Sokka - My brain sticks him in the fall, about 15 months older than Katara. No big reason behind that one aside from the activity that gets you a kid is some easy entertainment during cold months you might be stuck in an igloo. LOL I could easily see him with a summer or spring birthday too. (Puts him at 15 at start of show, 16 at end of show.)

Aang - His birthday would have been fall, but as we know he lived out a good portion of his age-12 year (seriously.. mastering airbending, getting tats, making trips around the world - since we can see his tats in the flashback with Bumi, all the kerfuffle with being told he's the Avatar, losing airfriends enough that he just hung with Gyatso, Gyatso letting him be a kid and not just train 24/7, eventually monks being huffy enough that they threaten to separate him and Gyatso, etc).. it would have had to be months after his actual birthday that he ran away. In my head, it was summer - soon before Sozin's Comet the 1st, makes sense since apparently the monks were still at the temple and not out hunting for Aang during the attack. So he was about 2-3 months from 13 when he got frozen, putting his "new" birthday at end of winter/start of spring, since he got UNfrozen at start of winter. (Puts him at 12 at start of show, 13 at end of show.)

Zuko - In my head, his birthday was just squeaking in at the end of summer. Like late at night last day of summer, scarily close to first day of fall. Thus why his dad was automatically ready to assume that he wouldn't be a firebender. But he made it even if it took a visit to the true masters to pull out his full potential. (Puts him at 16 at start of show, 17 at end of show - though honestly if not for the "banished at 13 and it has been 3 years" my brain would have slotted him a year older. His sister too.)

Iroh - I don't know. I don't think my brain gave him an age. Ageless. LOL Uncle forever. He looks way older than Ozai for sure. And maybe he is. Who knows. Or maybe he's not.. goodness knows losing a son (and witnessing your brother be an absolute abusive dick to your nephew) probably ages a person. Anyway, his age was just ?? at the start and ??+1 end of show. :P

Suki - She gets a late winter birthday in my head. My brain placed her at Sokka's age but maybe a few months older. She seems young enough to be playful, but old enough that she's got her act together. So, right on the edge of "ATLA Adult" is where she goes in my brain. (Puts her 15 when we first saw her on Kyoshi island, 16 when we see her after that.)

Azula - She would have a summer birthday too, but I imagine something more dramatic like the summer solstice or something. Gotta have a flashy day for our firebending prodigy. (This puts her at 14 when we first see her, and 15 partway through S3 - but as said above, my brain would have likely slotted her one year older based on deportment, etc. But maybe that's all nobility training?)

Mai - I don't have a set birthday plan for her in my brain, but I do imagine her as actually being close to a year older than Azula. Still close enough that Azula was the childhood playmate choice, but also close enough to Zuko's age that she wished she could have been hanging out with him. But, you know, Azula dynamics. (Puts her at 16 by end of show.)

Ty Lee - I imagine her as a few months younger than Azula. Probably mid-to-late fall birthday? (Puts her at 14, close to 15 at end of show.)

Toph - I imagine her having her 12th birthday - likely a boring, stuffy celebration of solely her parents' friends - shortly before the Gaang got to her in the spring/S2. And I live for the initial dinner scene because you will never convince me that that is not Toph manifesting youngest child energy as though she'd been doing it her whole life. Like I so wanted Sokka to lean over to Aang and be like "welcome to having a little sister." LOL (Anyway, this puts Toph at 11 when the show starts I guess, but 12 when we meet her and 12 at the end of show.)

Okay, there's all my thoughts on ages as someone who has just watched the cartoon. It's all headcanon, not canon-canon, and I'm perfectly fine with that.

[asitrita]

Ok. I've just finished episode 6 of the Avatar the Last Airbender Netflix live action. I do have some issues with episode 3 and 4, but I get it. If I do not compare it with the animated series, I actually do not think episode 3 is that bad, not as good as the previous two, that for sure, but not too bad either. I would give it a 6/10. And to be honest, even if compared to the original series, I do not think it is that bad. I do get what people are complaining about, but guys, it is impossible to copy paste the animated series, you need to cut things out and mix things up a little, link them and put them together, weave it together, if you so want to include absolutely everything (I'm still a bit disappointed the one story I liked, that of Haru, was not included at all). My only problem here is that we miss the air temples destruction and desecration that was kinda important for Aang to come to terms with, and that we do not get to see how the fire nation finds about Sokka's invention, though I guess it is inferred that the mechanist told them as he was a spy for the fire nation while he was working with Sokka. Episode four was actually the worst so far for me. Don't get me wrong, I don't think Bumi's actor was bad at all, in fact, I think the problem was not the acting but the general look of the episode. He looks like he was wearing a costume, the scenes inside the palace look just weird, I guess they have shining stones in the walls, but it looked like they had lamps and electricity. When making and adaptation of an animated series things like this can happen. Because the series was all too realistic, as in real world tangible aesthetics up to this point, the recreation of Bumi's plain clean walls and overall the Palace aesthetics looks too cartoonish and out of place to me. It took me completely out of the fantasy, as did Bumi's vest or whatever he was wearing. On the brightest side, I friggin cried with Iroh's and Zuko's scenes, those were gold. I also think it was a decent way to include the tunnels episode into the live action, so I don't have any problem with that. Fifth and sixth episode, I liked them, and I didn't mind the changes at all. It was fine, actually, but I found Roku to be too... Bright? Like dude was chill, but not that chill, lol. (Also, no hate to the actress, but Mai actress was the worst cast so far, she looks nothing like the character, and I'm sorry, but I do like the actors looking like the characters, and in this case it is not just that she is physically almost the opposite of her character, but that her character had a very particular vibe to it, Wednesday Adams-like, that the actress lacks completely, so this is not even about looks, but about feelings, so to speak).

In general I'm enjoying much more the new material than the old material they try so hard to replicate. I loved episode 2, by the way. Oh, and Archer (or whatever his name is in English), the boy with the hat and the bow, looks like he was taken out of the animated series, he looks exactly like his character XD Loved him (and Jet 👀)

So far, Sokka, Zuko and Iroh remain my favourite characters, though Aang and Katara are growing on me. I must say, I read many people complaining about Katara's and Aang's performance, but since I'm watching the show in Spanish, the voice actors have probably improved quite a bit the delivery of their lines, so I like them quite fine. I still think Zuko is the best casted actor so far, he does not look exactly as I imagined Zuko, nor has his sharp features, but he feels like Zuko, he really does, I really like him and I think he's doing perfect as our prince. His performance is really really good, my favourite so far, and no, it is not because I also loved Zuko in the animated series, it is because I do believe he is bringing Zuko to life with his performance. Oh, I'm actually enjoying Zhao's performance quite a lot too, a bit different from the original, but he's also doing great, I hate that guy XD

Oh, the fantasy animals? They look great. And Ko scared the shit out of me XD

[ameliatheamazing]

I watched the a:tla live action and because I used to be the Posting My Thoughts On Avatar blog, I'm gonna share the lil reviews I wrote after watching each episode. spoilers ahead!

1- aang:

ok so far it’s actually really good! The actors are amazing, especially aang and zuko, but like everyone actually. They are kids. And that’s like the most important thing. (i just hope they’re still kids by the end of the series lol). The visuals are BEAUTIFUL, the lighting and color grading is really good, the effects are great, the costumes are amazing- it’s all really faithful to the show. And it’s so exciting too bc i know it so i’m like so hyped every time something new that i recognize comes along. So overall i’m enjoying it. The main thing is it’s pretty tonally different, like bc it’s a limited series they’re focusing more on the war aspect of it all and cut a lot of the filler. Which makes sense i guess but like.. I do hope they let these kids be kids! Like please let aang goof off and show katara and sokka that it’s ok to take a break and have fun as well. I feel like that’s a really important aspect of his character so we shouldn’t cut all the filler. Please. We’ll see. (i had this exact problem with the pjo series too.. feel like i’m getting deja vu)

2- warriors:

Episode 2! Was really good! They took out sokka’s sexism which ppl were mad about but i honestly really liked what they did instead, how he connected to suki through them both being leaders of their villages. He still underestimated her and she still taught him to fight (he just wasn’t wearing makeup. tragic) and i LOVED every scene they had together! I was like kicking my feet it was so cute. Kyoshi came in and was so OP. I think it’s weird that they started going to the north because of some omen and not because aang needs to learn waterbending?? Like what’s the reason for that. so many of the decisions made here just seem to be trying to move the story along as fast as possible. But there are still good character moments and it’s enjoyable.

I love zuko. I already did so i am biased but his actor is amazing he really has that anger but also like, a clear softness beneath that. (my only problem is his scar isn’t quite as nasty as the animated version. Like from far away you can’t even really see it, i feel like it should be bigger.) I’m still not sure about iroh’s actor he’s pretty different from the animated version and i just feel like no one can live up to the original, but his character is similar to the one we know and love. azula and ozai made an appearance which is wayy sooner than in the og lol. but both of their actors seem great i’m excited to see more of them.

3- omashu:

ok we knocked out a few major s1 episodes, with jet and the mechanist from the northern air temple being featured. neither of them were from omashu originally but combining them here actually worked out ok. i loved danny pudi as the mechanist obviously. they weren’t living in the air temple though which took out a pretty big struggle for aang, where he had to come to terms with other people living on the air nomads’ land. but they can’t include every detail and like i said, having them in omashu worked just fine. idk how i feel about the jet plot, it seemed pretty similar to the original episode it just had less focus so it was like weirdly paced i felt like. most important thing was we saw cabbage guy!! even in live action his cabbages aren’t safe

4- into the dark:

why did they have bumi like, literally try to kill aang? in the show they revealed he was bumi at the very end and he was like haha it’s me your friend! i was testing your strength or whatever. here, they had him be mad at aang for not being there during the war! like oh my god?? in the original series, not everything was about the war. you even forgot it was happening at times. here, they don’t let you forget.

so glad they included secret tunnel. also oma and shu were lesbians we love to see it. but it was so strange that the badger moles like… responded to love? what?? that’s not a thing. in the original cave of two lovers episode i remember katara thought love would be the answer at first, but then was proven wrong and the crystals actually just guided them because it was dark. but in this one, she was right and sokka looked like an idiot for not believing her?? ok. i am kinda glad they took out the kataang stuff, i don’t think we need it this early on.

i liked zuko and iroh’s plot, especially the addition that the guy who captured iroh had a personal trauma from iroh’s ba sing se attack. this show has so much depth and nuance rather than just having good guys and bad guys and this was a great way of showing that.

5- spirited away:

idk what to think of this one. it was kind of an all over the place infodump. they clearly used this one as a way to put in a lot of stuff they weren’t gonna cover otherwise, like sokka’s trial thing. it didn't flow together very well. but i still enjoyed it i guess. we met a bunch of spirits that normally don’t show up until later like koh, wan shi tong, and the fox that i’m pretty sure was yue. interesting choices. ok and why the fuck did they have june flirt with iroh?? bc in the og series he makes comments towards her that are a bit gross. and instead of taking that out altogether, they reversed it?? what the fuck? that’s not better. i think my favorite part of this episode was gyatso telling aang it wasn’t his fault. he needed to hear that.

i’m starting to get pretty annoyed that aang hasn’t learned waterbending AT ALL? by this point he had been practicing with katara quite a bit! like we are way behind on the mastering elements thing when that was literally their top priority in the main series.

6-masks:

that was actually amazing. pretty spot on 1 to 1 of the blue spirit episode, at least the second half. except at the end aang and zuko talked a lot more, they’re really pushing zuko towards that redemption more than in the original. zuko’s backstory also had a lot added to it which i really liked. ozai’s characterization is so interesting, he has a little more depth (we’re just seeing more of him rly) but he ofc is still the worst human being ever in the world. but the actor who plays him is so good and we're really seeing why he makes the decisions he does. the agni kai was more drawn out which made it even worse, and we saw the actual moment of zuko’s banishment which was also extremely painful to watch! :D when he was crying in his bed ugh i couldn’t take it. and i love the detail that the soldiers he wanted to save were assigned to be his crew, which led them to respect him more once they heard his story. i loved that.

they really dumbed down commander zhao in this, i watched the original episode again and he was so much more threatening. idk why they gave that asswipe more comedic relief than aang. let aang be silly!! i’m also craving more appa in this show.

7- the north:

this was pretty much just an expanded version of the waterbending master episode. (although aang is STILL not learning waterbending?) the katara vs pakku fight was amazing and really accurate to the original scene, which was one of my favorite fight scenes so i’m glad for that. although they took out the whole thing with pakku noticing katara’s necklace but that’s fine tbh. but yeah she had her girl power moment! slay. yue is amazing and her and sokka’s interactions are so great! although i wish sokka and suki hadn’t actually kissed in episode 2, bc i feel like it took away from the importance of his and yue’s relationship! like she was his first kiss in the series and now she’s not. she’s not even necessarily his “first girlfriend.” so yeah weird choices all around. i also found it interesting that she dumped hahn and was not even betrothed to him. and he was way less of an asshole so it's not even clear why she did that. i guess trying to give her more agency? but like it doesn't make sense.

8- legends:

this one was good, again pretty accurate to the season 1 finale. the fight scenes were really drawn out to the point where it felt like they were just padding time lol, but aang’s avatar state fish suit thing looked really cool. i don’t remember if aang’s conflict here was in the original but i don’t think it was? where he’s like “i have to bear the burden of being the avatar alone” i remember him struggling with that in season 3 but not s1. idk how i feel about that. I love that katara got her moment and got to not only fight but be a leader! also momo like, sacrificed himself to save someone but it fell pretty flat bc if you're just watching this new series, you would barely care about momo. he's like not in this at all. zuko was the highlight once again. i just love him. i think that's all i have to say? again, pretty much the same story as the original.

TLDR i didnt hate this series, most of my problems with it just came from the fact that it's a live action remake and i hate those as a concept. as a fan of og avatar it was really enjoyable! I didn't like the shift in tone very much but I knew it was coming. (i'm probably gonna rewatch the og series as a palette cleanser lol). The cast and overall visuals were great and the story, although condensed, was fairly accurate. I'm excited to see how they do s2 but i'm not like super invested and my hopes are still not that high.

[juniperhillpatient]

The Earth King Re-Watch

This was a fun episode. I wouldn't call it one of my favorites, but I enjoyed it. Seeing Aang & Appa finally reunited is pretty heartwarming. I was a little annoyed & confused by Sokka's random new "positive attitude" even though he had some really endearing moments in this episode. I just don't get it. Yeah, Appa is back but you just discovered an underground creepy brainwashing cult & your old frienemy was killed? You have no reason to believe you're any closer to convincing King Kuei to hear you out? I can see the whole "brand new positive attitude" thing happening once the other good news hits later, but right at the start? It just felt jarring & weird.

Katara saying she wants to leave this horrible place....I will take my "Jet's death mattered" crumbs where I can get them. I think Katara & Toph's idea to leave makes a lot of sense, but so does Sokka & Aang's desire to force Kui to hear them out...I mean, they are trying to plan this attack on the eclipse...So, that was a well-set-up conflict, because both sides make sense. I also absolutely loved the fight scene with the Gaang breaking into the palace! Everything about it was iconic. It was neat to see Aang use earth-bending in a fight against earth-benders too because he usually relies heavily on air-bending. I loved Katara & Sokka apologizing lmao - & Toph saying Kue's distrust after they broke in made sense.

Kue is a bit pathetic & easily pushed around so I'm not a huge fan of him. Bumi has a chaotic morality & he's not always the most LIKABLE person but at least he's fun so I always enjoy him. Kue is just pathetic, & not even in the hot way lol

Possibly the best part of the episode was Katara telling Sokka that he gets to see their dad & Sokka bouncing around in excitement & hugging her & kissing her while she's just like "yeah yeah, I know, I'm great."

[ID: Sokka saying "Nicest....sister...ever!" to Katara while Aang & Toph watch.]

Also, the Gaang talking about how they will miss each other while they're split up was really cute. I loved the group hug & Sokka like "alright alright, we love each other" trying to end the hug was such a mood - me when friends or family try to get all touchy-feely lol! Sokka gets 10 iconic behavior points for interrupting Aang before he could confess his crush on Katara. I wish I was giving out jerk points so I could give them to Aang for the line "yeah, girls are waiting for us." Ugh, pushing the Katara/Aang agenda before Jet's body is even cold? The writers deserve jerk points for that tbh! Not even Aang really, 'cause he's just a kid with a crush, but I'm still allowed to be annoyed.

Anyway. Zuko gets 500 iconic behavior points for doing one nice thing in his entire life & immediately collapsing like a Victorian maiden. Zuko you drama queen, ily. However, while I've said this re-watch has made me appreciate Zukaang I MEANT the romantic ship Zuko & Aang NOT this monstrosity that lives in my nightmares.

[id: a horrifying image of Zuko & Aang's faces combined.]

What the fuck lmao

As for the rest of Zuko's dreams.....Very interesting lines from Azula & a very interesting performance from our lord & savior Grey Delisle. I will say nothing more about that :)

[id: Dennis from It's Always Sunny saying "because of the implication..."]

Anyway *ahem* right, I think Zuko clearly sees his father & sister as sort of devils & Iroh as an angel on his shoulder. This is what the writers were going for, & an unpopular opinion maybe but I think it works to an extent. The biggest issue here is that Zuko continues until the end of the series to treat Iroh like a messiah of good & he never learns to view Azula with any more nuance despite evidence that Iroh is not perfect & Azula is not irredeemable. Another issue I take is that while I love Azula as the embodiment of the Fire Nation & that darker path here, especially right before Crossroads of Destiny, & I actually find the shifting of the blame about Ursa's disappearance & by extension Zuko's bad childhood from Ozai to Azula super interesting - it's again, just something that's never addressed as wrong by the narrative & therefore becomes frustrating.

[id: Azula as a blue dragon next to a scarless Zuko]

I would have liked to see Zuko's black & white way of thinking about his uncle & sister (which is just really obvious here with the angel & devil motifs) addressed by the narrative. However, I don't think the whole "two sides arguing for different paths through dream visions" in itself is bad. It's certainly fun to watch & makes for a nice visualization of Zuko's internal struggle. Oh, Zuko & Azula get +500 iconic behavior points for foreshadowing the Crossroads of Destiny betrayal. I know it's just a fever dream version of Azula, but she still gets the points.

Oh, & Azula, Mai & Ty Lee get 1000 points each for their Kyoshi Warrior surprise reveal at the end. I love them so fucking much.

Anyway, that's all I have for this episode! Tune in next time for more rambling thoughts on the kid's cartoon!