#everyone except aang knows LOL

[aangarchy]

So while rewatching the live action trailer a 50th time i kind of started thinking about something.

There's a few moments in atla that always seemed untouchable to me. Not only because they were well executed when it comes to storytelling, but also bc we never actually see the moments in question. Examples are: the attack on the air temples, Ozai burning Zuko, Katara's mother's death. We hear about these from other characters who happened to be there, or in case of the air temples: we hear the moment being retold as history. It's the latter i want to expand on.

The original cartoon never shows us even a glimpse of the attack on the air temples. You could say "well it's a kid's show they can't show a brutal genocide" but honestly, we're talking about a cartoon that showed a skeleton on screen in the third episode, showed the main character getting electrocuted and plummeting to his death, and showed a man being drowned by a spirit. The reason they didn't show it imo, is because it makes sense for the narrative. This attack was a century ago. Everyone that witnessed the attacks and was old enough to remember them is dead. Bumi is the only person we know of that was alive at the time and old enough to somewhat remember, but he wasn't present. It's comparable to world war one for us. There's nobody alive currently that properly remembers WW1. We're being told about it in history class, we get shown those weird black and white videos of smiling soldiers on their way to their death, pushing carts through the mud, them shooting a few canons, the trenches etc. But there's no first hand recollections. The creators really drove home the point of the airbender genocide being ancient history to the current inhabitants of this world by never showing us the attacks itself, and only having it be a known historical fact. It's just something that happened, it was long ago, nobody remembers it. All they know is there's no more airbenders, they're extinct, and nobody remembers jack shit about airnomad culture and philosophy except those that study it (aka professor zei) and even then, it's based off of destroyed architecture and hard to find historical texts that i'm sure the Fire Nation tried their best to erase. The viewers of the show only get information about air nomads through Aang, and whatever flashbacks from his own memory he provides. It leaves us wanting to know more, and it feels extra tragic knowing we'll only have Aang to rely on to tell us the tales of his people (for atla specifically, i know we now have more info due to the avatar novels).

Netflix however, literally opens their trailer with three shots of the attack. The comet, then the fireballs being shot, then the firebenders and airbenders facing off. I don't like this decision to show the battle that took place, because then the point of it being ancient gets a bit lost. We as the audience get more information than the main characters have, and idk but to me that kind of ruins the experience?

Same with Zuko getting his scar. Not only are they gonna show us that, they put it in the trailer. Why? This is a very important character moment in the show that we don't even get to see bc it's told from Iroh's perspective and he looked away the moment it happened. Before this we were given crumbs as to how Zuko got his scar. And Netflix is just tossing it our way like Peeta tossed bread at Katniss Everdeen.

I might feel differently abt this when the show airs (although not likely lol) but currently i'm just kind of mad at these creative decisions being made man

[shanastoryteller]

Happy Spookeween!!! LOL Zuko that can't be burnt please!

a continuation of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

These past few years, the fight against the Fire Nation is more desperate than it ever has been before.

The Crown Prince loves his people.

Hakoda has heard a lot of stories about the kid. That he's dangerous and ruthless and determined to make the Fire Nation a land without borders, to pull the whole world under his control.

He has to be, doesn't he? Fire Lord Azulon disinherited the Dragon of the West and killed his second son to make Zuko the Crown Prince. He must be Azulon's match in cruelty and greed to warrant all that.

When they come across him wandering on his own, Hakoda thinks it's a boon. Even a powerful firebender can be taken unaware. He thinks he can ransom Zuko for the Water Tribe hostages.

He's a smart man. But even he has moments of stupidity.

His children try to argue against this plan, saying that it's not worth it, but he chalks it up to fear. It appears they've crossed paths with the deadly crown prince before, and it's clearly left its mark on them.

Except it's not fear. It's concern.

When Zuko releases fire from his hands, hot enough to melt shackles around his wrist, Sokka doesn't run away from him. Instead, he runs to him.

Later, when the crown prince's ship is sailing away with Zuko on it and him and his crew and his children and even the avatar still alive, he asks them, "Why aren't you afraid of him?"

"We are," Aang says, but Katara and Sokka trade a look. "Aren't we?"

"Zuko isn't so bad," Sokka says reluctantly. "You just have to pay attention to what he does and not what he says."

He hasn't alerted the Fire Nation about the existence of the Avatar despite knowing for months.

He hasn't killed them or even hurt them.

Hakoda looks deeper and sees a pattern. Against those attempting to hurt Fire Nation citizens, he's as ruthless as they've always feared.

Against everyone else, he doesn't show mercy, exactly, but he turns a blind eye towards it. What he doesn't see, he doesn't have to address. It's how his kids are still unknown to the Fire Nation despite their recent activities.

Aang and Katara go North to train and Sokka goes with them becasue he refuses to leave them.

Time passes, months shifting to years as Aang and his kids travel the world to find different bending masters to learn from, although there's one element Aang has yet to fully master.

What he knows of fire, Crown Prince Zuko has taught him in the shadows with a blue mask on his face.

Hakoda is more desperate than ever.

They don't need to win the war. Attacking Fire Nation soldiers unprovoked always has the risk of angering Zuko, and it's not the important thing anymore.

They just have to kill Azulon.

Once Zuko is the Fire Lord, this war will end.

[biconickyoshi]

Do you think Katara will be REALLY supportive of Aang and Zuko but there's a time where she feels so annoyed to see Zuko and Aang dance around each other but still is still not making progress even though both of them know they're in love with one another and Katara is just like "i love you both so much but god bless you're both stupid 🙏"

Hahaha this does sound very in character for her! I'm not 100% sure if I wanna do this in the fic yet but I think it would be really funny if eventually literally EVERYONE in the Gaang knows that something is going on between Aang and Zuko except for Aang and Zuko themselves lmao. I think Toph and Katara would have a lot of conversations about how to help them realize their feelings for each other are mutual lol

[ikuzeminna]

In my previous post I talked about the women of Gundam Wing not being treated as awards or reasons for man pain for the guys and I’m actually a little surprised that no one so far called me out on Meilan because at first glance, she falls right into that category. Because her death is specifically there to motivate Wufei and do nothing else. No one else knows about her, her death doesn’t affect anyone or anything else.

Except for her grandma who is apparently still so grief-stricken she blows up her entire colony. Thanks for more trauma, Master Long.

But I guess I’m gonna call myself out here then and derail this into a meta about Meilan’s portrayal actually being male-coded. Apparently I’m also gonna make up words while doing so lol

What do I mean? Let’s first clear up what I meant when I said the Wing women aren’t used for man pain. Man pain is quite an umbrella term that’s supposed to describe any instance of the narrative portraying a male’s emotional pain be of a higher magnitude than anyone else’s within his story. Especially women’s.

In my post I was referring to the very specific case where a woman’s suffering is stripped from her narratively and made exclusively a guy’s problem, to the point it only exists if it’s in relation to him. Think Gwen Stacy’s death affecting Spiderman or 2009‘s Spock’s mom dying or Aang burning Katara and then moping about never firebending again, necessitating her comforting him about his (accidental) assault on her. messed up doesn’t even begin to cover that last one The girl with the puppy is actually an example of this in Wing because her death only exists to make Heero feel bad. She isn't even given a name. The most classic example really is a guy’s mom dying though and him being forever sad about it. It’s the easy way for the writer to give his manly man something to cry over without making him a wimp. Otherwise Kira from Gundam Seed would be more popular.

But when we get asked to name a famous fictional death, I think most people will pick Mufasa, the prime example ever of a death affecting the audience. And it makes sense. Because not only was Mufasa a good parent, who sacrificed his life to save his son, Simba’s entire hero’s journey is basically living up to his father’s example. It's what drives the story.

And that’s the difference between men and women dying in fiction, especially parents. If a mother dies, it’s something to be sad over (i.e. Spock). If a father dies, it’s a legacy to uphold (i.e. Kirk). Simba is never worried about living up to Sarabi’s expectations. Hiccup spends three movies trying not to shame his father. Katniss won’t shut up about what a great person her dad was even though her mom is right there, being the medic for her entire district, but never being worth emulating in any way.

The same goes if it’s just a friend. A female friend’s death is a devastating event, a male friend’s death is a call to not let his sacrifice be in vain.

Which brings us back to Meilan. Meilan may have been written as just a device to give Wufei a tragic backstory, which lands her squarely in man pain territory, but narratively she is the same category as Mufasa, influencing Wufei to the degree he changes his entire way of life to live up to her memory and hold himself accountable during the series when he fails to do so, which yanks her right out of it again.

Besides, Wufei never goes around openly mourning her death. It’s hidden in aggressiveness and weird sexism towards Noin and his odd reverence of his Gundam. I love that it was supposed to be a secret that would have been revealed at the middle of the series, just like everyone else’s backstories, had the schedule not been crazy, giving us the recap episodes instead. Alas...

But this is one of the reasons I love Gundam Wing so much. The colony leader Heero Yuy and the late King Peacecraft may be revered figures within its universe, but by the end of the series, and definitely by EW, the person the entire galaxy admires is Relena. A girl. Which is completely deserved for all the things she manages to pull off, mind you.

I love most that Heero admiring Relena also has a very personal aspect to it. He knows her. He knows how bullheaded she can be. She’s not an abstract to him, he’s intimately familiar with that Gundanium backbone of hers. That scene on Libra where they keep throwing compliments at each other is great. Relena tries to transfer her accomplishments to Heero, playing into narrative tradition of gender roles here where the guy always gets all the glory, no matter how competent the girl may have been (glaring at you here, Hiccup and Astrid >_>) and Heero, the show’s male protagonist, bounces it right back, telling her he is nothing compared to her, landing a sweet blow to narrative sexism.

Gundam Wing is a weird little show where I don’t know if one could call it feminist considering how every woman is assigned to a man, with Treize and Zechs and Duo and Wufei standing above their female counterparts due to their strength or lineage or because they’re the series’ Char clone, but within the roles it assigned to everyone, it does a wonderful job of not being sexist about them. Une is portrayed as more competent than Treize, who is more of an opportunist. Zechs outright says Noin is better than him. Wufei won’t shut up about Nataku and what a failure he is. It's like the show apologizes for being Gundam and made in the 90s, explaining why the pilots and big bads all have to be male, but they'll make the female characters as cool as they can to make up for it. Here, have some Sally and Noin being a badass duo or Relena and Dorothy carrying the philosophical debate during the Cinq arc.

....Except Hilde. I got nothing here because her and Duo are classic gender roles to a T, haha. But at least Duo is not being a jerk about it, which is more than can be said about most fictional guys trying to dictate a female’s actions. Duo lets Hilde make her own decisions.

[seasideoranges]

Have any zukka au tidbits you wanna gush about?

ABSOLUTELY!! (most of this post will be hidden under the keep reading option this was way longer then i intended lol)

first au ive been thinking a lot about lately is the Zuko Sun spirit AU. this au can be so beautifully tragic and it can end on a good note, a bad note, or a bittersweet note, depending on which way you approach it! zuko can join the gaang early or join up with them in the canon timeline. anyways, in my version toph asks why zuko has these crazy golden eyes that everyone else seems to talks about, and zuko explains this long story about how he was born sick and was blessed with the sun spirit and how it affected his eyes, yada yada yada. meanwhile, sokka, katara, and aang are looking at him with a mixture of shock, grief, and horror in their expression, with sokka visibly being the most affected by this story. both toph and zuko are visibly confused as to why the rest of the gaang is suddenly acting this way, but they don't know the story of yue. (may or may not be making a mini comic related to this titled "havent we heard this story before" hehe).

after this katara, aang, and sokka act crazy protective of zuko, sokka specifically. you think sokka already had 'sacrificial' tendencies? well that was just increased tenfold. this irritates and confuses zuko more but they just refuse to tell him why for a multitude of reasons (not wanting to freak him out, worrying that the same thing that happened to yue will happen to zuko if they tell him etc etc).

my OTHER aus that I love is just blue spirit zuko and kyoshi warrior sokka. anything involving these two I just adore, it's so much fun and there's so much comedic potential in this. my other favorite version is a season 1 version where sokka starts working with zuko while disguised as a kyoshi warrior.

zuko doesn't recognize kyoshi warrior sokka at all (it's like the clark kent with his glasses except sokka puts on the hothead red eyeshadow lmao) and sokka manages to convince him that he's here to help him catch aang. the kicker is he purposefully gives zuko false information on the avatars whereabouts so zuko is just traveling all around the world with false info looking for the avatar while sokka and the rest kick back and enjoy the show lmao. the major downside of this is zuko grows to consider sokka as a friend, and as sokka learns more and more about him and how tragic his story is he finds himself feeling a bit guilty with purposefully leading zuko on a wild goose chase, but knowing he has to do it to protect his sister and aang. he feels very conflicted.

any au that discusses sokka working with zuko an as engineer, an ambassador, senior advisor etc etc. bonus points if the au really focuses in on sokka's traumas and chronic pain involving his leg and his journey on healing, finding self worth and possibly finding love wink wink!

[juliawanag]

Decided to rewatch NATLA to properly form my own takes that’s been running through my mind: (I’ll have both things that I like and dislike.) Part 1

SPOILERS!

I like it like a friend from a hundred years ago: 

First and foremost, NATLA predominantly consists of Asian American Pacific Islanders. Good for them for creating a version that is more in their lens and creativity. 

The Bendiiing. All of the elements, except for Earth, are 10/10. I really want it to be more solid, especially on AangvsBumi. It’s not that bad though, so much better than…well u know. I’ll give it an 8/10. 

I rewatched it with a Filipino dub and it’s good, 9/10. Aang VO was convincing as a kid, so either they’re a great actor or a great kid actor. The jokes (Sokka’s sarcasm) hits better on my mother tongue

"You're my friend. You will always be my friend.” 

Avatar state under the ocean 

The costume. The only one that I do agree with everyone else that lacks is Zuko’s scar. They should’ve put prosthetics on the eyebrow. 

Zuko’s hair? Hello? They did a great job. Even though my sister and I sing Ariana Grande song whenever we see them swaying. It’s an integral part of his story, and I loved that they keep it. There’s an East Asian culture that indicates that kind of haircut as a punishment. I remember my History teacher taught me this in eighth grade but I forgot which it was, my bad. And the actor’s such a champ for having that hair IRL. 

My favorite actor performances: Gordon (Aang) superb acting. Liz (Azula). Utkarsh (Bumi). Justin Wong (Chong/SecretTunnelguy) sounds exactly like the character. Made up for my delusional expectation that Dee Bradley Baker would be in this. Ken Leung (Zhao) pisses me off so much, and that means he’s doing a great job. Dallas (Zuko) & Iroh (Paul). DDK's(Ozai) a natural idk if that's acting /j

Was it established in the OG that Katara's intro is a folklore/legend? Because yeah, I don’t mind that it is considered that way in this version. 

AAAAA, the Lieutenant Jee younger casting makes so much sense now! The 41st division is chef kiss. Zuko cryiiiing when he was being banished!? Dallas Lui ate! 

THE HYBRID ANIMALS LOOOK SO GOOD. The ostrich horse blended well with whoever rides them. It doesn’t look CGI to me. MOMO HIS MOMONESS, MOMO OF THE MOMO DYNASTY 

Any Zuko fight choreography (MY FAVORITE CHOREO DALLAS LOOKS FIIIRE). And Aang’s too (Oh hey).

Aang the Hype Man

The fallen Fire Nation ship behind Zukka fighting. (It’s in my notes idk why but I guess background details are a win) 

Aang and Iroh's interactions

NATLA Zuko (I don’t think there’s much of a difference though with the OG lol, and it’s probably because the NATLA directors/producers like Zuko) 

Camera direction 

The Found Family Hug™, what Netflix can do well.

End scene of Episode 1, is very cinematic. I can’t believe TV shows have come this far. I hope employees are paid well. 

The End Theme remains the saaame, and is added with cinematic effects as well.

The folly/sound effect at the start of Episode 2. Why is this the only episode with that flair? 

Creating a grave for Gyatso.

How Ozai’s forced unity/being totalitarian is represented. Reminds me so much of our own government, it amuses me. I know it’s not directly referencing that though. It’s good that they show it early on I guess. With the Fire Nation culty greeting as well. 

On a lighter note: THE AIR SPHERE/BALL whatevah, yes! More of this goofiness. How about instead of being inspired by GOT, NATLA should be inspired by Stranger Things in terms of fantasy + childhood simplicity balanced by this trauma they're going through. (Well, ST lacks worldbuilding cause it’s just normal Earth but anyway) 

Kyoshi Takeoveeer. I hope Roku gets more screen time someday though. Pls pls pls. 

They incorporated the OG character theme songs! Of course! The ones I noticed right away are the FireNation Siblings’. So if you watched OG Avatar and you watched the scene where a mysterious girl joins the infiltration of the FN Royal Palace, you’ll know who she is. 

Sorry not sorry, Daddy Dae Kim is daddying. (Although he did catch me off guard in Zuko’s Agni Kai lmao.) The plot.

The Aang VS Zuko fight! A reference to the Fortune Teller fight. The team did so well. 

Zuko The Master of Disguise Major In Stealing Clothes. Full-time Avatar researcher. 

A fourth wall foreshadows Bumi’s OOC for this version. Jet’s "he’s not like he used to be" in line. I mean they did warn us. 

Another 4th wall is the line “Things shouldn’t be here” referring to the prototype Fire Nation balloon. 

Nice animation with the retelling of Two Lovers legend.

Lu Ten Funeral scene ate. That single teaaaar. I recommend everyone who loves the animation to watch this scene. To feel something idk AHAHAHAH. 

The actors were convincing when interacting with CGI animals. Specifically the badger moles. 

ZUKO AND IROH SCENES! 

CGI’s great did not waste any money 

In Katara’s flashback. She experienced this in her present form. And when she was so scared to go to the place where her mom was killed, she immediately changed back to her young self. Like, I wanted that so bad when I was watching the flashback. I thought, this shouldn’t be the present-day Katara. There should be a moment when she switches back to young again. And they did. 

Big Iroh-like moment that makes you cry as an adult when Gyatso was reassuring Aang that the genoc*de wasn’t his fault, and shouldn’t blame himself. Ahh, and the subtle sadness as they say goodbye. 

Random eye drawing from Zuko. He’s an artist AHAHAHAH. Okay, I forgot which episode. Sincerely, unreliable narrator. 

Showing Zuko's scar when Aang says "Do you even know that lives are at stake". 

Basically every scene/plot they 1 by 1 copy from the show. Did not disappoint (well, maybe because OG showrunners were there). Blue Spirit, Siege of the North. 

Zuko’s room. I love me some character bedrooms. He’s like a TV Sitcom character for that. 

Gaang teamwork scenes! It works and it's dynamic. 

Hahn as an honorable man? Yes. I don’t like love triangles so much. I like me some camaraderie. And Ian (Sokka) acted well for feeling included and seen as Hahn recognized his value as warrior/intel. 

Zutara fight scene.

Two points that I don’t know if I like but it makes me realize some stuff:

Meek Katara. I know there are specific plot points that Feisty Katara is needed. But she was always nurturing, so I think it makes sense she’s…meek? That Jet scene explains it. Maybe because I relate to her being a log AHAHAHAH. But yeah, uh, I do not, ironically, have strong feelings against that water down.

Angry Bumi. IDK how to feel about him tbh. I always think Bumi is…harsh like that. Almost scary. But yeah, he never blames Aang. Still, it doesn’t feel out of place here. He will return anyway so he’s not this one-dimensional character that is only angry at his friend (hopefully). I never thought of how Bumi would actually feel. And that he will be upset, and now it’s sad because that’s like your friend when you were twelve years old and you wonder where he’s been all this time, and if he’s alive. And..war..never made it any better to process that emotion. So, we got two versions, one that is cautious and then eventually welcomes him, and another who's completely angry and blames a literal kid that he does not know the pain (from the war). Too real, and I personally don’t mind. 

[tiredlylaughing]

An analysis/rant about netflix's ATLA episode 1

who is that guy ?????

oh he's dead now ig it doesn't matter

the people in the intro were giving uncanny

i like the costumes, they're cute, i like zuko's crew especially. and i like that everyone on the ship is wearing armor except for iroh

aang's airbending bordered on flying waaay too many times

loooove gordon cormier, he's such a great aang

interesting choice to have them know about the comet right from the beginning ? i mean i guess it works to set up the end earlier on. i do actually think i like that it was originally something the air nomads celebrated and it got stolen from them by the fire nation

my biggest pet peeve continues to be how much they just say the things meant to be showed or explored later on. zuko wastes a scene info dumping to his uncle about things he already knows just so the audience is caught up, gran gran spits out all the avatar lore suddenly, aang gives an entire monologue about being the avatar before he runs away when his thoughts should absolutely not be that clear about it yet.

appa crying ;(((((((( my day was ruined

i'm about to be very predictable but i think it's so stupid that aang wasn't even trying to run away after finding out he's the avatar. they left out what feels like an entire part of his arc and now he feels more like a vessel of information rather than an actual person with feelings

i hate the glowy eyes when they firebend lol

i like that they left in katara being a bad bender at the start instead of just making her a girlboss

no penguin sledding FUCKKK WHAT'S EVEN THE POINT ANYMORE

dallas liu sounds so much like zuko to me. like, his voice is so different but it just sounds like zuko

fire fucking shot what the hell

aang's nightmares make no sense when we just saw what happened barely a minute ago, it's fine if that's how they wanted to set up his past but it doesn't feel like these things happened 100 years ago at all. the nightmares could've come in later or never at all.

i love that aang and katara still got their bonding moment, even if it was different from the original

didn't get a boomerang scene. so fucking sad

the conversation between iroh and aang was cool👍

NO MOTHERFUCKING YIP YIP ?????? IS THIS WHAT THE WORLD HAS COME TO

anyway, zuko was such a weirdo <3 love that <33 now for the serious opinions

it bothers me SO much that this guy is so old, like what's the purpose of sokka then ?? if the rest of the men in the tribe aren't literal toddlers ??

sure sokka was the protector but this guy existing means he wasn't ever that alone in that role. it makes who he was a lot more superficial. sure, you can argue some of the people of the southern water tribe believed the role was superficial, or just not that important, but to sokka it was who he was and what shaped him. i'm guessing they probably did this because it was kind of insane to leave the entire tribe alone without sokka there to protect them. but to me that was always the point. sokka didn't want to leave, but he understood that leaving them alone was for a greater good that would ultimately mean all of their safety. he was able to leave because he knew, in a way, he was still doing everything he could to protect them. now he just gets to walk away without any worries, leaving behind a role that was apparently not even that important to him ?? also !! it does feel a bit sexist on the creators' part to think that surely those women couldn't have survived on their own, they need whoever has some testosterone to protect them. that's literally what hakoda did and what caused sokka to have wrong ideals (wether or not hakoda did it with these intentions or not). so. the showrunners just did that to another character but without punishing it this time.

[the-badger-mole]

I'm in the middle of reading Down The Road And Back Again (love it so far btw I love Suki Toph and Katara as the Golden Girls lol) and I got to the part where you mentioned that Aang had tried to campaign against interracial/intercultural marriage (with, of course, an exception for him and Katara), and it got me thinking, what do you think would have happened if Katara and Zuko had been together originally and they wanted to get married? Do you think Aang would have blatantly tried to outlaw their marriage out of jealousy? Would he have succeeded? (Could be a prompt if you want 👀 or just a thought post lol)

I'm glad you're enjoying it! I had a really good time writing it. I actually have thought about how Aang's brief flirtation with anti-miscegenation might have ended if Katara wasn't dating him. It may resolve itself into a story plot someday.

I have no doubt that Aang would have pushed his anti-miscegenation policy further if he didn't have Katara as an incentive to back down. If Katara and Zuko had gotten together, for sure he would have championed that policy. The thing is, I don't think the Avatar is actually suppose to have that much political power. They're supposed to represent the best interest of each nation, but in a mediator/peace-keeper way. In the comic, I think he's only pushing for anti-miscegenation in the region that would eventually become Republic City. In a world where he's trying to force a law on a sovereign nation that wasn't asking his input, it would...be messy. I don't know in what way it would be messy, but it would be very messy. I think Katara would try to talk sense into him, and he would handle it in a way that would leave everyone, especially Zuko pissed at him. I don't have more details than that, but if someone else wants to take a stab at this on their own, I'd love to read it!

[sproutingliliums]

let me ramble about my thought process behind my zk fic real quick… katara choosing to forgive zuko in the same ep where she chooses to not forgive yon rha is such a great moment… good writing. especially in the way that she challenges aang’s beliefs on forgiveness and his morals in general leading into the finale. (cue zuko dropping the “what are you gonna do when you face my father” bomb.)

BUT… but… i feel like katara’s anger is so deeply rooted AND ultimately just. a lot of writers like to explore the idea of katara going through with her revenge, which i do also support, but i also think that, for me, it’s important to remember how young she is. how young everyone is. (and yes even if you age them up a bit, they’re still very young!)

i like the idea of her wrestling with her morality. and zuko, too. if you told them to go kill the fire lord, they would (and zuko almost did that already), but they also understand that death is a natural consequence of war and a necessity in armed resistance, and that there is nothing wrong with wishing death upon violent oppressors, especially after they’ve, well, committed genocide and are trying to take over the world.

(i also seriously believe that zuko would let katara kill him if she asked like i genuinely believe this but he also knows that she wouldn’t go through with it LMAO like imagine him holding the knife to his throat and looking her in the eye and she’s like, “no… the world still needs you” because we can’t fully restore balance without you on the throne etc etc.)

however, i also i think accepting that they could cross over the line from “not-a-murderer” to “murderer” is, like, a big deal for young teens who are still learning about themselves and their place in the world. “murderer” is a title that carries so much weight. taking a life is not a trivial matter, especially when they’ve never actually gone through with it before. ozai is an exception because he is like quite literally the main obstacle standing between them and world peace. it’s also easy to dehumanize him (lol). it’s necessary.

and that leads me back to katara forgiving zuko. see i don’t want her to forgive him right away. i don’t think she can just stop being angry with him overnight. that kind of resentment doesn’t just go away—not even after what he did for her. this stuff takes time. and i don’t think that she’ll be unable to fully process and come to terms with her decision to spare yon rha right away either.

so all of this is to say: if you think the back and forth between “it was your choice,” “it’s not about right or wrong,” “you did what you did because you’re good/no i’m not,” “i don’t want to hate him anymore,” and “i can’t wait to kick his ass outside” feels a bit contradictory or confusing at times… good! they’re figuring it out, i prommy :’)

[all-thestories-aretrue]

I am about 1 million years late to this but thank you for the tag @graphitekayla!!!

Rules: without naming them, post 10 gifs of your favorite shows, then tag 10 people. I'm definitely going to break this rule; you can't give me the opportunity to gush about my faves and not expect me to name them all!!

If anyone has followed me for any length of time none of this will be a shock lmao.

Shadowhunters, and more broadly speaking The Mortal Instruments. My first real fandom!!! I cannot overstate the impact the books and show had on my life. I wouldn't be who I am without it. I have an angelic rune tattoo. Magnus and Alec are some of the first queer characters I remember reading about. I remember where I was when they kissed for the first time in the show. You stupid nephilim lives rent free in my brain. This show (and the books) truly set up the trajectory my life is on now, and I will always always remember it fondly. Even with all the drama and discourse.

2. Critical Role, specifically C2. My first true obsession after the decade long Shadowhunters debacle. I stumbled into it to learn how to play D&D (which I now know is a controversy in and of itself lmao). But my friend @midnightellis wanted us to start a game, and I needed a way to learn that wasn't reading the books, so I started C2. It took 11 or 12 episodes, but then I fell in love. I spent the next almost year watching the entirety of C2 which culminated in visiting them to watch the finale together. I was extremely jetlagged. It was basically 8 amazing hours of nonstop crying. I have zero regrets. Except for the fact I still need to get the tattoo I had planned rip. One day!! I promise!!

3. Arcane!!!! A brief interlude between Shadowhunters and CR. There was about 4 months were I was OBSESSED and watched the entire show like 3 times back to back. I have many thoughts and feelings about Jayce. The show is also just so visually stunning. I cannot wait for S2 to drop in November!!!!!! I know nothing about League but I do really love this show.

4. House. Iconic. What else needs to be said? House is very much a comfort show for me; great to rewatch during the winter. I've watched the entire thing almost three times now, and even got my mom hooked lol. It was fun seeing all her reactions to everything before I moved.

5. If I had known what fandom was when this was airing, I truly would have been all over that shit. But I was 8 and didn't have access to the internet. Aang/Katara def my first otp lol. I did, however, ignore a friend that was over at my house to watch the finale, I believe. I definitely told them to go play so I could watch the show uninterrupted. Needless to say, they were not thrilled with that. I'm 90% sure it was the finale now, but I could be wrong about the episode. ATLA is also another comfort show that I could watch over and over again.

6. Shadow and Bone. I am still SICKENED this got canceled. Genya and David are the ultimate romance, and no one will convince me otherwise. I almost stopped reading when I found out his fate. I was devastated. Everyone in this show is also very pretty. I can't believe we won't get a s3.

I'm going to stop here because this is already long enough, and tbh I'm not sure I actually have four more shows. I can only be obsessed with one thing at a time, and the current obsession is Path of Night. And that does not seem to be waning any time soon.

Edit: Lost should 100% be on this list. I think I've watched it at least four times. My family and I watched it live as it was airing when I was a kid. And it still is one of my favorite shows. I know people got beef with the ending but I truly didn't mind it. Even if it's bad or whatever, I think Lost is still 100% worth watching. There are so many little hints and clues that I pick up something different every time, and each character death hits just as hard.

I'm going to tag: @gelatinouscute, @peppedstep, @midnightellis, @discordkittenterumi, @im-a-vampire-now, @zeena-athena , @syntia13treeman , @sapphicfugue , @dr-thumbs-brand-new-spot

If you want to do this :)

[releasemefromthevoid]

MY ATLA LIVE ACTION S1E8 THOUGHTS

EP7

Alright guys, this is the end of it. Not gonna lie, I thought this was a little… underwhelming. They’re focusing a lot on the aftermath of a battle, which could be cool if done correctly. I wasn’t that into it.

At the very least, this episode, the visuals went crazy! We had the red color grading when Tui was captured, and the monochrome gray with the specific highlights when she was dead. La’s possession of the Avatar looked incredible as well. They sold it as a fairly awe-inspiring moment, but I think this moment was undermined a little in other ways.

I think there are a lot of little inconsistencies throughout the show that really culminated here. Some of my worries were resolved, but some of them really weren’t. 

In any case, I think this was fine for a season finale. It fit the tone of the show and went harder than the other episodes to end things off. 

I’ll write a full series review tomorrow, I’m trying to go to sleep.

Live reactions under the cut

well i do love seeing strategy sokka

disappointed by the lack of catapults on the ships so aang couldn’t creatively use them to destroy the ship

did iroh just tell zuko to swim in freezing waters? lol

wait we already did koh, so what’s up with tui and la? how are we gonna figure out where they are? are we even gonna see the spirit oasis? 

oh so. we’re introducing the war balloons now? early for the fire nation? with a vague reference to the mechanist? how’d they even get the plans? sure do wish we’d seen more about those before, besides just making them. maybe used one to take down the firebenders invading the northern air temple? maybe a fire nation soldier could’ve found the remains of a balloon. just a thought

the. ice moon?

AND YET THEY INTRODUCE THE CONCEPT OF LION TURTLES NOW!! this is BAFFLING to me

so tui and la only take physical form once a year in this version? huh

and he’s gonna kill tui with KURUK’s spirit knife. interesting macguffin

THEY ALMOST KILLED OFF MOMO????!!! JAIL

okay so there is the spirit oasis. and they’re using it to bring back momo

sorry that was actually genuinely deeply upsetting. they just did something illegal i swear to god. don’t fuck with the animals

i am Not believing that katara is skilled enough to fight zuko. sorry but it’s not happening. she hasn’t even been trained. “you found a master haven’t you”. no zuko, she hasn’t. NO ONE HAS TRAINED HER. “yes, you’re looking at her.” katara, someone called you a master once, girl, that doesn’t mean you Are one

good lord that’s so red. i like that they kept that visual cue though

tui: dea. the color grading on this is still good too. the only colors we really see are the flashes of yellow and red with the fire balls being thrown around. theoretically, everything else should be grayscale/monotone, with the exception of yue’s blue eyes (which i don’t believe are blue in this adaptation). i don’t really have complaints about the look of things

okay la, your turn

do we need a “reality of war” moment again? tbh i feel nothing for these people. 

oh yue’s eyes ARE blue. chill

hey what do you mean “you’ll be lost forever”. something something killed in the avatar state killed forever can’t reincarnate

okay la possession looks cool as hell. obsessed with these visuals

though idk if it’s just me, but people are really trying to get the “avatar is gone”, “there’s no more avatar”, “you’ll be lost forever” thing across huh. i feel like that kind of undersells the moment when seemingly everyone knows what’s going on. 

zuko’s gonna fight zhao now why? purely so zhao can give zuko a moment of realization, got it

and then he tries to kill zhao. i still think zuko would never.

and now zhao is almost certainly dead, because iroh pushed him off. and zuko didn’t have that moment of offering mercy, and zhao didn’t have the moment of rejecting that mercy. this IS a downgrade

woahhh hahn dead confirmed. wish i could celebrate, but he’s nice now

so pakku is NOT becoming katara and sokka’s grandfather in this one. i bet we won’t even learn the significance of katara’s necklace

SHE IS NOT A MASTER STOP SAYING THAT. SHE LEARNED OFF OF ONE (1) WATERBENDING SCROLL WITH ZERO SUPERVISION

sorry are you relying on bumi for earthbending training? you haven’t even started waterbending. this bumi is barely reliable from your interactions with him

oop there goes omashu. weird that we’re seeing the takeover

okay. sozin’s comet. i thought you were taking that out? was that just a lie then? shouldn’t aang know about that? might actually make him learn waterbending. considering the series just ended. and he HASN’T EVEN LEARNED WATERBENDING YET

liked: the visuals went so hard, no kataang romance

worried about for potential season 2: zuko's arc

disliked: zuko and zhao's fight, katara "mastering" waterbending despite never having trained with a master, aang literally not even once showing that he was the avatar outside of the avatar state (not learning ANY waterbending)

[disaster-fruit]

Believe it or not, I am 27 and have just discovered ATLA and I have some questions. Is my feeling correct that most Zutara shippers are women/nonbinary folks and most Kataang shippers are, well, men. I just can’t help thinking how Kataang is written with such a male gaze in mind, while Zutara covers both perspectives. Anyways, I understand why the show ended with Kataang, I’ve read all the big metas, I understand that Bryke kind of sucks etc. etc. But I’m curious what you think about this perceived gender divide since you’ve definitely been around longer lol

Hello! I gotta say, i don't think i have a better perspective of the fandom to offer, since i haven't actually been part of the fandom since maybe 2012? and back then i was a literal child and i couldn't speak English so 'being in the fandom' was mostly just reblogging gifs and reading the zutara fics in brazilian ao3 of the time. I have watched and re-watched ATLA an unholy amount of times since then, and i have read and watched hours and hours of meta and theories and whatnot, but the fandom itself is not something i'm well acquainted with to give a good perspective on.

I do, however, love to talk and love receiving asks, so i guess you'll get my opinion anyway. And everyone knows i'm not usually concise.

First of all, are most zutara shippers women/non-binary and kat@ang shippers men? I don't know. I haven't been in the fandom and i haven't checked the bios of most posts i did see and interact, so i have no idea. The only kat@ang shipper i personally know is a friend of mine, who is a woman. So i won't speculate on whether or not your feeling is correct, perhaps a fandom veteran would be better equipped at answering it.

What i WILL say is that Kat@ang is, in my opinion, much more appealing from aang's perspective than from katara's. She's older than aang, in an age girls are absolutely not looking at younger boys that way, and doesn't show any interest in him romantically through the whole show, with the only exception that comes to mind being their dance on season 3 (easily their best moment imo), and then their kiss at the very last minute. All we know is that Aang likes Katara, and the other way around is open to interpretation at best.

One sentiment I've seen from kat@ang shippers is that they seem to really like aang and what him to be happy, and since he likes katara, they ship the two. That is all well and fine, we support people having fun with their ships for whatever reason here. That is however not a good enough motivation if you are, you know, the creators of a show who were supposed to have some duty to storytelling, themes, and cohesion. So them making kat@ng happen just so that aang could 'get the girl', despite all the ways that weakens an otherwise phenomenal story, is a bad choice that should be criticized. At the very least, in its execution.

So yeah i don't think its wrong to say there's a 'male viewpoint' to kat@ang as it was made in the show, though i wouldn't necessarily extend that to the kat@ng fans in the fandom since i don't know them, and it feels unfair to make that assumption. For all i know there is probably no shortage of amazing fics out there that explore their dynamic much better than the show did.

But though i can't speak for kat@ang fans, there is another group i've seen more often in my metas and video essays journey and talking to male friends throughout the years, what i'll call 'shipping neutral' men. You know the type, they love avatar, they'll spend hours and hours dissecting all the aspects of the story and the themes and the worldbuilding up UNTIL the topic is romance in the show. Then they'll wave it away dismissively saying the show 'was never about romance' and the crazy shippers are 'getting distracted' from the real story and how they just don't care about that aspect. And some of them will say they're fine with Kat@ng because it's canon (and no other reason), some wont have an opinion on any of the ships, except that they're not important and anyone who HAS an opinion on that is just silly.

And HERE i definitely see not only a gender divide but a sexist tendency to disregard romance as less important to any story, and not as an integral part that deserves care and deserves to be well interwoven with the rest of it. It's basically a stereotype now about how zutara fans have all these metas and analysis about how perfectly the ship fits the shows themes and how that would improve the writing (and yes, i agree with all of them) and that's because we know that romance is just as deserving as action, as worldbuildng and whatnot, and that it can be a powerful writing tool to enhance character and plot and themes, and that the way it is done it ATLA is not that. And i think these 'shipping neutral' men's analysis all fall short and even tend to not notice flaws in the story because they refuse to interact meaningfully with that aspect. Because as we all know, romance is for silly girls.

And being honest, i have much more respect for any kat@ang shipper of any gender that is out here being passionate about what they like, writing their fics and writing their own metas and having fun in a respectful way, than i have for men (and people who aren't men) with that dismissive attitude towards the romance arcs in the show.

That was a tangent! But damn i haven't answered an ask like this in a while and its always very fun. Hope i didn't offend anyone lol If its not clear i'm not a fan of ship wars, we stan having fun here. Buuut i also love debating and engaging with the story and that sometimes can get confrontational. There's definitely a space for 'ship discussion' or 'ship debate' that doesn't cross the line to 'ship war', i think that line is 'fun'. We're having fun, right? Discussing fandom and writing is fun, right?

Anyways hope this makes sense, sorry I didn't actually answer your question even though i talked THIS MUCH.

[biconickyoshi]

Morningmark’s comics are the highlight of my TOH obsession at the moment, especially with Lumity. That one comic where the others tease Luz using Amity as a unit of measure for essentially any object she tries to carry given the consistency of the bridal carries throughout the show. I need this personally with Zuko and Aang (mainly Aang) when the GAang starts to catch up with the Zukaang dilemma.

Yessss, I love his TOH comics!!! They are what has been keeping me fed after the end of the show (can’t believe it’s been almost a year since the S3 finale 😭). He does such a good job of making the characters feel like they’re straight out of canon.

And lmaooo I know exactly what you’re talking about. I’m very excited to write how the rest of the Gaang will start noticing Zukaang falling for each other. Like it’s gonna get to the point where it’s obvious to everyone else except them lol. I’d particularly like to incorporate the Gus and Luz “You need my library card to visit Amity, don’t you” moment between Sokka and Aang or something somehow. Not sure how I’m gonna do that, but I’ll figure it out lol

[smallsinger5901]

personal favourite and least favourite parts of the live action avatar

this isnt going to be discussing the acting or visuals (for the sake of acting and visuals) because they arent relevant to the plot, and are generally good imo except for some mismatched tone. These are my personal top and bottom three picks! (Spoilers)

3rd favourite: zuko’s temper tantrum after losing the notebook is both funny and heartbreaking. It really makes him look so young and the way iroh tries to calm him is so :(

2nd: aang and zuko’s talk after the blue spirit. Aangs hopefulness combined with the way Zuko keeps reminding himself he’s talking to the enemy (and trying to act mad again) makes this one of my favourite scenes

1st: finding out the crew is the 41st. Oml. The gasp I gusped when i watched it for the first was crazy. The way zuko just stares and is unresponsive until ozai gets there and even then he barely talks at all, and cutting back to the boat and jee being shocked and zuko walking down between them super confused is absolutely amazing.

honorable mention to the soldiers taking iroh to the pit letting out their frustration because even though it sucks to see a character i love get hurt, he really deserves it. His time as a war criminal needed addressing and this was a good way to go about it

oh, and i love giving omashu to the sapphic lol

now for the bad news!

3rd worst: the momo fucking dies scene. Okay, he doesnt fully die but having to randomly put him in the spirit oasis just so they have a reason to go there is so contrived and random

2nd: hahn being a good guy… why. Hes a totally different character, and its so jarring to hear everyone complimenting him and saying how much of a great guy he is. why not just make him a new character?

1st: Bumi- all of Bumi. That whole time i was just shouting at my screen because once again THATS NOT BUMI! THATS SOME OTHER GUY! I know he’s supposed to be angry at Aang for leaving, but trying to shoehorn in the original scenes with this new, angry character feels so wrong.

and a confused mention to Iroh fucking murdering Zhao. I think it has some real potential if they address it properly in the next season (assuming they get renewed, and i really do hope they do) but it might just tarnish his character. Iroh’s never a pacifist, but actual murder by one of the primary characters is really shocking and makes me feel conflicted. It would have been nice to give the ocean its revenge but its not awful to show Iroh’s priority always being zuko, either.

[dmclemblems]

This is sad and funny to say but a shipping war between 3delclaude and Dimiclaude is at least normal and expected. Every fandom has a raging shipping war that never really ends like Zu//tara vs Ma1ko, Kat//aang, Zuk//ka (ATLA) and the infamous love triangle of FF7 Clo//ti vs Cle//rith. Those shipping wars are the most intense stuff a fandom can get involved in. But 3H is just different with its discourse and a lot more worrying.

Damn, the sad thing is that sounds about right. IN most fandoms I've been in there's a similar issue. The only one I can think of that doesn't have shipping wars is Shaman King, which I only really see people who dislike certain ships but don't bother people who do and don't go back and forth with their own ships. I've been in AoT's fandom and yeehaw the shipping wars there, buddy. I love AoT but the fandom is the fire behind Elmo in that one gif.

Three Houses' discourse is on whole other levels of worrying because yeah, a shipping war is just... I like these characters in a romance and I think your characters being in a romance sucks! But then with Houses I see entire fights about morality and people bringing real life politics into it. Like, do people not realize that some of the shit they defend and say is "right" and "good" and relate irl disasters to is actually not "good discussion"?

As a game it's fun to experience and watch the characters interact, but some of the arguments I see from people are basically them justifying their political beliefs. Politics is basically the first ticket to losing friends and getting into very heated fights, yet with Houses I see people justifying politics and well, violent politics too (like, in a way that’s them saying “these are basically my irl feelings” and not just within the context of a video game).

I'm hoping some of these people are just very young players and will grow out of that way of thinking, but I can say with certainty that I've met some people in their mid 20s or older who justify some things in Houses in a way that translates to "I'd be okay if this happened irl", which is worse than what I've seen a fair bit of younger folks say.

Genuinely hoping these kind of fights within the fandom die out when Engage comes out, but I do also worry that Engage won't be enough to sideline it. Basically I expect Engage to not be everyone's cup of tea, both from new players from Houses and from old timers alike. I mainly think that because some of the reactions I've seen to it and the trailers haven't been well received by a fair bit of people I've seen on social media, but if it does take off that would be great and I hope it gets people to stop having fights (literally fights, not even just arguments) about irl politics.

Also, it's just downright exhausting to argue about politics lol. I stand where I stand irl and I don't want to discuss my preferences with people online because of how people react to political discussion. Hell, even irl I don't discuss politics with anyone except my parents and one of my sisters. We don't even agree on a lot of things between the four of us, but if I have anything political to talk about, I just talk to them instead of discussing it with anyone else.

Like, have you ever seen a political debate in a Discord server or something? Just any chatroom? You know how chaotic, crazy and heated it can get and how fast people will start responding? That's literally what a Houses discourse conversation gets like and for similar reasons.

[agirlunderarock]

1, 3, 8, & 13 from the choose violence game for A:tla

Thank you for the ask!

the character everyone gets wrong

Honestly I don't participate much in atla fandom or read the fanfics enough to know. Like I know what kind of portrayals I strongly dislike from like my olden days of cruising through the fandom. I really hated when people just made Katara straight up mean. Girl isn't mean, she's fucking stressed lol. I REALLY didn't like that after Voltron fell apart, people rushed over to atla again, and Sokka became like stupid. I HATED THAT. He's literally the brains of the operation. His he a little anal, and silly and cracking jokes? Yeah, but he's not stupid, kid literally planned the invasion of the firenation. Nobody would have followed through on it if they didn't think he was smart enough to come up with an effective plan. Smart people say and do stupid things sometimes, like- it was people projecting the reduced part of Lance onto Sokka, and like it was a bad time for both of them.

3. screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr

I don't take screen shots of takes I dislike lol, that sounds like torture. I rarely see a take I dislike, if only because I rarely go looking for atla things except from a few people and I like their takes. I know I've seen a couple of takes about Aang that were absolutely rancid, but like I moved on because why would I do that to myself?

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

Zutara is a superior ship. It would seem like that ship would be right up my alley, it is not and I don't like it, and really its just that I don't like the way some parts of the fandom do enemies to lovers. I also don't like the idea of Katara becoming the ruler of a nation that nearly destroyed her people. Do I think some of the fan art is amazing as hell? ABSOFUCKINGLUTELY do I like the ship though? no but its just not someting I'm going to advertise.

13.worst blorboficiation

I'm not sure how to answer that one....like worst way a character became a favorite? That might bring me back to Sokka as stated above. Otherwise you're probably looking for my thoughts on the thing we all kinda collectively gloss over about Iroh, but that was already answered in another post.