#good toph excellent toph

[prying-pandora666]

The Real Reason Azula Smirked When Zuko Was Burned is…

A lot of ink has been spilled over why Azula smirked when Ozai burned and scarred Zuko.

Some argue whether Iroh’s flashback was reliable. Let’s assume for the sake of argument—as uncertain as it is in canon—that it happened exactly as Iroh remembers and describes it.

How could an 11 year old child smirk while her brother is burned and brutalized in front of everyone?

There are many conflicting arguments.

Argument 1 - She’s a monster.

Some say she is a sadist or a psychopath and it’s as simple as that. She just enjoys watching her brother suffer.

But this doesn’t track with what we come to learn about her later, and is outright contradicted by materials that actually give us insight into her POV such as the comics and novelizations, as well as writer interviews.

The novelizations which were written contemporaneously (and thus aren’t a retcon) show us an Azula who cares about Zuko, even though she’s competitive with him and jealous that mom favored him. She thinks Zuko is weak and brings misery upon himself and she is willing to turn on him to protect herself. Yet she still wants to help him get stronger and take his place as Prince. She still wants his love. She takes the risk to lie on his behalf at Ba Sing Se for him. She didn’t suspect Aang had survived until later.

The comics take this further, showing that in Azula’s ideal world, Zuko was never banished or burned at all. He is happy and loves her and isn’t abused or scarred.

Even the head writer who designed both Zuko and Azula’s arcs claimed she loved Zuko more than anyone except their father.

So then what is it?

Argument 2 - It’s A Coping Mechanism

Some point to “Identification with the Aggressor”, a well documented psychological coping mechanism in which victims of trauma—especially children who are especially malleable and vulnerable—will mirror their abuser and conform to their ideals in an attempt to stay in their good graces and be spared. This isn’t always a conscious decision either, it’s often done subconsciously, which only confounds this further.

I’ve written more about this and how it pertains to Azula here.

However, outside the the knowledge that this is common in abused children and Azula’s behaviors meet the criteria, we don’t have any direct confirmation that this is the case.

Argument 3 - She Is Brainwashed

Others point out that every adult in the room is complicit in this act if not outright enjoying it in the cases of Ozai and Zhao.

Azula is a small child that’s been brainwashed from birth to believe this is right. After all, Ozai is their unquestionable despotic leader as well as her only remaining parental figure. Why would she question? How would she even know this is wrong if she’s been taught this is right by everyone surrounding her?

Does she even understand the full impact of what is happening here or does she think this is Zuko getting his comeuppance for being “weak and lazy”, with no concept that he’s actually being scarred for life and is soon to be banished? After all, not even jolly Uncle Iroh is objecting or moving a finger to stop this. He only looks away.

This is supported by the fact that Iroh laughed about burning Ba Sing Se to the ground even as he was killing them. Zuko and Azula both laugh at this joke and Ursa doesn’t chastise them. She only smiles. Clearly this kind of violence is normalized in the Fire Nation.

We also know Azula attended the Royal Fire Academy for Girls, which in the Kyoshi novels we are told is quite violent and that it wasn’t uncommon for adults to encourage students to duel on Agni Kais. Students sometimes died. So there is reason to suspect this is a product of her culture.

Argument 4 - She is Faking It

“Azula always lies” they say. She is shown to be an excellent liar, but more importantly that she represses her vulnerabilities and feelings.

This is shown when Toph tries to sense Azula’s lies only for Azula to completely repress any reactions and prove Toph can’t determine when Azula is being truthful.

The Beach gives us a more sympathetic example, showing us an Azula who empathizes with her brother and tries to cheer him up when he’s sitting by their old family beach house in depression. She calls him to join them at the shore, and then proceeds to walk all her friends and Zuko through their traumas with surprising gentility.

When it’s her turn however? She dismisses her own trauma with a flippant joke. Masking the moment she starts to feel emotional about it.

It’s even shown when Zuko makes Ty Lee cry by calling her a circus freak. Initially Azula laughs, but when she realizes it’s upset Ty Lee, Azula’s face changes to one of remorse and sadness. However, the moment Ty Lee turns to look at Azula, Azula quickly hides this expression and masks it with a look of indignant petulance.

Azula does indeed seem to fake negative reactions to hide her vulnerabilities.

Argument 5 - It’s a combination of 2-4

Perhaps there is some truth to all of what we have seen in arguments 2-4. Azula is clearly brainwashed and does identify with her abuser to the point of being inappropriately enmeshed with him and suffering total ego fragmentation when he discards her. She does repress her emotions until she finally unravels. She was also quite young when this show happened and it’s possible she didn’t know just how serious it was all going to be.

But consider this…

Still that isn’t enough for detractors, who claim that even given her environment and the circumstances, it’s still too sadistic and cruel for her to grin here. That she should’ve shown some outward sign of disruption.

If you are or ever were one of these detractors, let me ask you this.

Did you feel any sympathy when Azula fell apart, uncomforted by her newly granted power, arguing against her own conscience in the form of her estranged mother, telling her that her methods are wrong? When Azula replied “what choice do I have?” did you feel any remorse for this child who had been exploited for her skill and groomed into living weapon by her power-hungry father, with no regard for her psychosocial development or emotional wellbeing to the point she cannot even relate to kids her own age normally? Did her desperation to use fear and control to keep others close because she knows no other reliable way, because such skills are taught and she’s only ever learned manipulation and coercing and fear, showing us exactly what Ozai uses to control her just as used violence and estrangement against Zuko, move you?

When she laid broken and sobbing and screaming at the end after Zuko and Katara “put her in her place” as Zuko put it, did you feel any pain in your gut?

Or did you cheer?

Were you glad to for her to get her comeuppance?

Did you feel justice was served and Zuko triumphed that day?

That he was right, he could “take her” by exploiting how “off” she was aka her mental illness and spiral into psychosis?

Because if you did, then you know exactly why a person would smirk while watching someone who needs help get brutalized.

If narrative framing can persuade you to believe that an unloved, mentally ill, abused and exploited child soldier being brought to sobbing, screaming, chained up, broken tears… is the RIGHTEOUS result! Imagine what a lifetime of propaganda from birth and programming from your own father with no one to show you another way would do to you.

Why did Azula smirk while Ozai burned Zuko?

You already know the answer.

[soren-apologist]

i wonder if the reason soren can cast magic silently is because of his dragon blood

it’s canon that soren doesn’t actually verbalize his incantations when casting thanks to the fact he was taught magic years before anyone ever bothered to help him learn how to speak, hence the “silent master of winds” moniker. heck, we even see it during lucia’s execution cutscene where soren is visibly mouthing the words for elwind but is entirely inaudible.

considering no one else can apparently do this (based on how the silence staff works, and ignoring the fact that those also affect soren because of gameplay reasons), i’m curious as to what exactly makes soren so special. it’s possible that the sage that taught him magic was the one who gave him this technique, but since soren never mentions him also being able to do this, he may have just figured out how to do it himself since the sage apparently never bothered to teach him how to even speak to begin with.

it’s a given that branded will have unique abilities based on their laguz parentage, but it’s only really ever expanded upon with micaiah, who can heal others at the expense of her own health, read hearts, and has the ability to see events in the future. meanwhile, the only thing we really know about soren is that it’s implied that he has a perfect sense of direction because of scenes like fe9 chapter 17 where he mentions knowing exactly where he was in the burnt serenes forest when even ike was getting confused, as well as it offering an explanation for how, exactly, he was able to track ike all the way to crimea with nothing but a vague memory and a dream.

with that said, i propose that being half-black dragon, the most powerful variant of laguz on the continent, grants soren two other abilities:

1. draconic heart-reading

2. unusually high magical talent

the first thing isn’t really relevant for this specific topic even though it does offer a reason why soren is so “empathetic” despite how prickly and misanthropic he is, but the second gives a possible explanation for how he was able to develop that sort of unique ability at such a young age. (it also gives an in-universe reason for why soren, a teenager, ends up a significantly more powerful mage than characters like calill and bastian who both have decades of experience over him, but growths > bases isn’t exactly important here either lol.) silent casting could just be something soren who was already considered a magical prodigy was able to create all by himself, but i’d argue it’s plausible that if his dragon blood wasn’t directly responsible for him being able to do it, then at the very least it’s the reason why he was so adept at magic to begin with.

to be more specific on that last point, it’s important to keep in mind that laguz heritage not only gives unique, non-beorc abilities, but also affects any sort of natural talents the branded may have. stefan is an incredibly talented and adept swordsman because of the naturally high strength and skill of a lion, while micaiah is a poor combatant but excellent healer because of her heron blood, who themselves are pacifists entirely incapable of fighting but instead heal and energize their allies. as such, black dragons have unusally high magical stats despite their breath attacks using strength, so i’m willing to bet that if one were to use tomes in combat instead of transforming, their solid magic and skill along with their high resistance would make them formidable opponents. those 3 stats are actually all ones soren happens to excel in, so i believe that it wouldn’t be a massive stretch to claim that black dragon blood grants its owners a natural gift for casting magic.

to sum all this up, while i do think it’s possible that soren is literally just so good at magic he was able to pull a toph beifong and invent an entirely new method of casting, it could still be a result of his dragon blood granting him unique abilities— and honestly, with all the bullshit he had to endure just because he has that dragon blood, giving him special powers is the very least it could do for him.

[zuko-always-lies]

List of Azula AU/fic ideas

Better parenting Ursa

Azula raises Katara AU (and continued) and more

Azula and Katara get friendly postwar and talk about their brothers.

Mai is significantly older than Azula and Ty Lee AU (Older "sister" Mai)

Jin works at Iroh's teashop but finds out about his past

Zuko tells Azula about the Spirit Water

Ursa and Ozai get along better, and it's not a good thing AU

Imperialist Lu Ten survives the war and tries to regain his throne afterwards

Zuko finds out more about his nation AU

Revolutionary Azula takes over Ba Sing Se AU

Three different AU ideas in one

Favoritism in the royal family is a little different

What if Zuko had a nonbending twin sister (who he doesn't get along with).

Zuko's daughter changes how he sees Azula

Zuko and Ursa try to isolate Azula ("for her own good")

Ozai gets exiled and the Gaang stupidly ally with him

Earth Kingdom ends up with custody of Azula postwar and support her bid for the Fire Nation throne when Zuko starts another war with them.

The Gaang tries to figure out why Zuko joined them.

Dangerous Ladies find Ursa in Book 2

Azula and Toph fake dating

Zuko/"world leaders" try to force Aang to take away Azula's bending and he's very much not OK with it.

Azula is thrown away to the NWT postwar as a trinket and Chief Arnook adopts her.

Comics! Ursa's letter about Zuko being a bastard gets out.

Zuko and Katara lie about what happened during the Agni Kai

An exiled Azula finds Fire Imperialist! Ursa postwar

Aang has to save Azula from being executed by Zuko

Zuko's defection during DoBS goes very badly for Mai

Zuko joins the Gaang at Ba Sing Se, but it ends poorly

Zuko killed Azula during the Agni Kai, and now he has to deal with the consequences.

AU idea where Zuko keeps Azula permanently imprisoned in bad and torturous conditions postwar, and Izumi finds out about when she’s relatively young, and draws exactly the sort of conclusions about her parents that you would expect. Not to mention being terrified that she might be treated the same way if she missteps…

Ozai never declares Zuko and Iroh traitors

Iroh-Azula roleswap au

Zuko asks Azula for help with his firebending

Zuko wants Azula to like him but doesn't get why she doesn't like him (postwar)

Katara has an arranged marriage with Zuko and Azula tries to get into the good graces of her sister in law

"Katara is supposed to have an arranged marriage with Zuko, but she falls in love with Azula instead."

Another take on Zvtara (arranged marriage) and Maizula.

Azula-Katara AU idea (or: Katara runs into an Azula who has changed a lot in some ways and not very much in others)

Zuko is actually Ikem's son

Firelord Azula ends her brother's exile

Azula raises Izumi (it's complicated)

"AU idea: Azula commits suicide out of despair, and just about everyone is convinced that Zuko had her murdered or at the very least “encouraged” her to do it."

Dangerous Ladies get banished/declared traitors and Azula basically gives up. Mai has to step up her place

I have to say, “Zuko has to deal with finding out that Ursa very much isn’t who he believed she was” remains excellent fanfic fodder.

"AU idea: Ursa is more aware of Ozai’s abuse and potential for abuse than in canon, so, right after her exile, she seeks out Iroh and charges him with protecting both of her children."

Firelord Iroh treats Azula in a really screwed up way.

"AU where Azula dies during the latter stages of the war or right after it, and Mai is the only person who ever morns her as a person, not as a politically convenient symbol (Ty Lee runs away from her complex feelings on Azula as much as she can)."

Dark idea

"Since so much of the fandom is convinced that Azula is Zuko’s older sister, I need an AU where this is true and Zuko is just as throne-obsessed as canon and spends all his time trying to usurp his older sister."

"AU where Ozai has a heart attack and dies right after the fire siblings return to the Fire Nation, and Zuko and Azula have to pick up the pieces. Meanwhile, the Gaang are plotting to overthrow them and bring the war to a close once and for all..."

King Kuai adopts Azula as his heir

Things get complicated, darkly (Azula exiled postwar AU)

What if Zuko tried to be a good brother

"I really need an AU where Lu Ten returns and is pissed over Ozai’s usurpation, so he kills Ozai, seizes the throne, and continues the war. Of course, Iroh ends up supporting his actual son in all of this, and the conflict in the Fire Nation ends up boiling down to Zuko and Azula vs. Lu Ten and Iroh as the situation spirals toward civil war, at the same time the 100 years war continues."

"Maizula AU where Mai married Zuko, but he died not long after Izumi was born, and Azula and Mai are secretly carrying out a relationship while raising Izumi and ruling the Fire Nation as her regents."

Azula joins the Gaang with a twist...

"The chaos which would result if Lu Ten showed up alive again in Book 1 and launched a rebellion against Ozai in pursuit of “his” throne."

Ursa opposes Firelord Zuko

Iroh tries to kill Azula during "The Chase"

Mai and Ty Lee on trial for "war crimes"" and Azula has to save them

This is very long list, and people are welcome to steal any ideas they want from it for their own use.

[oneatlatime]

Let's look back at my season 2 predictions!

When I got to the halfway point of season 2, I made a post detailing my predictions for where the rest of the season was going. They were delightfully subjective and conformed more to my hopes than to any legitimate foreshadowing.

I made 9 predictions (one per main character), and then I predicted three ways that the finale could go. I went into some detail in some of my predictions, so I'd recommend checking out the linked post. Keep in mind that I made these predictions before the Ba Sing Se arc started, and it shows.

For Azula, I predicted that she would be the finale's big bad, that she would be defeated, and that the Fire Lord would be introduced as next season's big bad. I'm giving myself one third of a point for this one. Azula was indeed the big bad.

For Toph, I predicted that she would get a subplot that revolved around either something she excelled at being challenged by an external force like those wrestling idiots, or something that she needed to work on that tied into her noble background. Once again giving myself a third of a point, because those wrestling idiots were involved and she did meet an obstacle that she beat by inventing metalbending. I correctly predicted the pieces involved but I got them in completely the wrong configuration.

For Appa, I predicted that he would come back after having many adventures and running into other sky bison. (What's the plural of sky bison? Devastated to say that I've never had to use it) I was right that Appa came back; I was wrong that he ran into remnants of sky bison(s?), but he did end up running into remnants of the Air Nomads, and dreaming about other sky bison(s?), so I'm giving myself three quarters of a point.

For Zuko, I predicted that he would be coaxed/dragged into being decent via a swordbending girlfriend, and that he would be redeemed by the end of Season 2. Hilariously, my prediction smashed Jin and Jet together, which breaks my brain a little. Also, he did the polar opposite of being redeemed by the end of the season. I'm going to give myself a quarter point, for getting the sword bit and the girl bit.

I predicted that Sokka would split from the rest of the Gaang and go on a multi-episode Appa hunting arc that focused heavily on his ties to his family. I was 100% wrong with this one. No point for me. Which is too bad, because I really liked the idea I came up with.

I predicted that Momo would do aerial reconnaissance for the Appa hunt with Sokka. I'm giving myself a full point for this one, because what was he doing in the Tale of Momo? Flying around looking for Appa. Admittedly Sokka wasn't there, but whatever, I need this point.

For Katara, I predicted some sort of moral crisis. Something to add some nuance to her world view. A good yet unapologetically patriotic firebender, or a downright evil waterbender. I was completely wrong on this one too, unless you count being talked into listening to Jet. No points for me.

I predicted that Aang would have to do some type of Avataring that involved delegating tasks to his friends, or putting his status as avatar first, probably due to unrest in the spirit world. This was by far my most broad prediction ("hey maybe the avatar will have to avatar it up" is a very safe statement), so no points for that. I was wrong about spirit world involvement, although I was right that his Avatar duties would conflict with his personal convictions. I'll give myself one quarter point.

For Iroh, I predicted that he would call on old resources to get himself and Zuko into a better situation. I got this one almost completely right, except two bits: I thought he would use blackmail or intimidation, when he actually used something more like the power of friendship, and I also thought that particular plot point would last longer than a single B-plot in a single episode. But what the hell, I'm giving myself the point.

All three of my predictions for how the finale was going to go were incorrect. There was no strike against the Fire Nation, there was no immediate dismissal of the eclipse as a possible time of attack, and there was no relegation of the eclipse to a single episode plot point. No point for me.

So, out of a grand total of 12 predictions, I scored:

3.91!

Ouch.

I'm going to be generous and round it up to 4, which is a third correct. Still ouch. I am less reliable than a coin toss.

But! I actually had a lot of fun both coming up with predictions and reviewing them. So I'm still counting this exercise as a win.

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

This person don't harass anyone in this post, so you are free to skip this ask if you find it against the rules of your blog. It's just that I find the arguments... bad, to say the least.

https://ok-boomerang.tumblr.com/post/702213312593772544/fanfiction-as-textual-analysis

If zutara fanfiction is a form of critique, then the alternatives they suggest should be better than the critisized ones? And yet:

Ambassador Katara - I don't know why but I suspect that the ambassador should not have any romantic affairs with the ruler of the country in which she represents the interests of her people. Because, you know, if these ineterests are opposite to the interests of the country, but the ambassador and the ruler are intimate... yeah, this will not end good. Such relationships are concidered unprofessional for a reason. It "gives Katara an important political role" - which she already has, being Avatar's waterbending master and one of the world heroes herself, as one of the previous asks already mentioned. So, what to fix here? Couldn't they just write fanfiction about Katara (without Aang in the plot, since they are too obsessed with their pathetic miserable Fantara whose will is paralyzed by Aang's sole presense) doing important political stuff? Or the real point is to wrap Katara in red silk, adorn her with gold and make her spread legs for Zuko in some fancy royal bedroom?

Bloodbending as healing - while the idea itself mmay have potential, Katara is not a suitable character for it (also was discussed here). Yes, her trauma probably limits her, closing some opportunities; hey, that is also an interesting idea, by the way! "That’s a critique of Katara seen as the paragon of goodness, especially by Aang." Hmm, as far as I know, Katara fans who don't ship zutara often admit that Katara can sometimes be wrong, mean, petty and enjoy how many-dimensional she is because of that. And where had Aang ever seen her as paragon of goodness? When he approved her stealing from pirates, while agreeing that it's dangerous for the group? I don't see what to critisize here in the first place. But I see some ignoring of Katara's canonical trauma.

Painted Lady/Blue Spirit. "it’s fun and symbolic that Zuko and Katara both had alter egos" - as well as Aang, Sokka, Toph... Also, the Blue Spirit never was a vigilante, which is obvious if you understand the complexity of Zuko's arc. Again, what is critique about? Katara and Zuko had worked as a team just enough, they had an episode with badass teamwork that zutarians love so much, they had a teamwork sequence in the training battle and a whole real final battle against one of the main villains. The show really doesn't need more (ahem, because it's not about zutara, ahem). Katara's empathy for people was shown multiple times (and she managed just great without any Zuko, btw), Zuko was not that empathetic most of the time to begin with. "their perseverance to do pretty much anything once they set their minds to it" was also developed really good - the only thing to "correct" is the fact that in the canon most of the time these things are different for Katara and Zuko and have nothing to do with the other character, but again, the show is not solely about them.

In conclusion, if fanfiction is a form of critique, it seems that from zutarians' perspective the major problem of AtLA is that it's not a love story about Katara and Zuko being always together, being similar in every little thing, being in love. Well, yes, it isn't? Because it shouldn't be?

Anyway, I myself am not a good critic, so I'd like to know your opinion.

"I myself am not a good critic" *proceeds to give excellent criticism* Anon, I think you should work on that self-esteem.

You really cut straight to the central issue with zutarians main "criticisms" of the show - they're all rooted on their bias that the story can ONLY be good if Zuko and Katara are in love and endgame. And somehow, that's objective to them, instead of a subjective preference. They can never admit "This isn't what I wanted, but it works" or even "This isn't perfect, but it doesn't ruin the story"

I very much wish we had seen Toph have a field-trip with Zuko, and that the writers had not given up on making an episode on Aang's parents. I still acknowledge that the show works fine without these, despite thinking it was a wasted oportunity.

I love Maiko. I think it perfects sense for them to be endgame, and I don't have much to criticize on how their relationship was handled in the show. Mai is still not my first choice of romantic pair for Zuko, Azula is. Yet I was not surprised or angry that my OTP didn't happen, because despite some bait moments (bedroom scene) it was very clear that the show was never going there - not just because it is a kids show, but also because they clearly didn't WANT to go there.

I love Azula and want her to have a redemption arc - I still think that the ending of the show, with her simply being defeated but not redeemed, makes sense, as it would feel cheap and be a deep betrayal of her character to just make her have a change of heart at the last second (though I'll still die on the hill that Yang's comics were ableist as fuck and a disrespect to the original story).

It's REALLY easy to have your preferences and stick by your opinion that they are good while still acknowledging they are SUBJECTIVE.

Zutarians refuse to do that. They don't accept any position of power for Katara that doesn't involve her sleeping with Zuko." They don't accept any romantic endgame for her other than Zuko. They don't accept that bloodbending doesn't represent her power, or her as a character, because she did it in Zuko's presence. Don't accept any team work between her and anyone but Zuko.

This is clear ship bias and lack of interest in Katara herself, and instead of embracing it (after all, there's no rule that say you HAVE to like every character equally, or uncondionally), they make it into a "the narrative disrespected this female character" or "certain things are inherently sexist" debate - a debate they're doomed to lose and come accross as the ones that are truly sexist since they clearly don't care about Katara outside the context of a potential romance with Zuko because they think that's the ONLY way to enjoy a female character: as the object of affection of their prefered male character. Anything else is imposssible in their minds.

They're saying the quiet part out loud without even realizing it.

[wilcze-kudly]

Reasons why YOU should ship Bolin and Wei Beifong:

1.Gay🏳️‍🌈

The Avatar universe has a lot of WLW characters, but not many MLM ones. And having another member of team avatar be comfirmed as queer is always a good thing (they're all canonicaly queer in my heart tho).

Also having Bolin be queer adds a lot of interesting dimension to the character, eapecially to his previous interactions with female love interests. I've always headcanoned Bolin as very comphet. Discovering you're queer is something I wish were more explored with Korrasami, but Bolin 'i have a new heterosexual love interest nearly every season' would also be an imteresting character to follow through that process. Feel like it would give him an existential crisis and I want to see that bisexual disaster happen.

Especially if contrasted by Wei, who comes from the very liberal Zaofu. Look me in the eyes and tell me Su doesn't support gay rights. Zaofu is like the gayest city in the Avatar universe. Just look at their slay outfits and Aiwei's cool nosering.

2.Good Chemistry

Between the cute little sparring moment with the pebble and the famed rescue scene, these two do have some excellent chemistry. Look at them. LOOK AT THEM.

The lil 'you impressed?' eyebrow raise and smirk from Bolin. Wei's smile. THE PAT PAT. Bolin's little confused bi moment. The fact that they're just CHILLIN with Bolin holding Wei bridal style while Toph is RIGHT THERE and the fact that they're in such a high stress situation and that the rest of Wei's family needs to be rescued. BUT NO, THEY'RE JUST STARING INTO EACH OTHER'S EYES BECAUSE THEY'RE IN LOVE, YOUR HONOUR.

3.Rivals to friends? to enemies to friends again to lovers???

Wei and Bolin's first interaction is a little squabble during sparring, where Wei sandwiches Bolin with 2 metal plates and Bolin smacks Wei with a pebble. They've got this whole cute little rivalry thing going on and i think it's adorable.

Assumedly, they start getting along more after Bolin and Opal start dating. This probably doesn't last long, since after Bolin joins Kuvira, his relationship with the Beifongs probably sours tremendously. Even outside of a shipping context I would wanna know what Bolin's relationship with the other Beifongs was at the time.

I imagine especially after the Beifongs get captured by Kuvira's forces, Wei wouldn't be too inclined to like Bolin. But when Bolin comes to rescue them, Wei is the first to get tossed over, which would require a lot of trust in both Lin and Bolin. And Wei's first interaction with Bolin after Bolin catches him is *ahem* very friendly. Which seems to imply that, at the very least, Bolin is somewhat forgiven.

I also think it's really fucking cute that Bolin brought metal wires for Wing and Wei to bend and I'm devastated that we didn't get the scene of him giving them to the twins. I am shaking my stick at the heavens as we speak.

Presumably, fighting side by side against Kuvira would have Wei and Bolin bonding more and perhaps striking up a genuine friendship. I love it when gays bond over traumatic events. It's the purest form of courtship.

Also whenever the twins are standing next to Bolin, Wei is always the one closer to the guy... like i know im grasping at straws here but i just... im not sane anymore

4.Lavabending/metalbending symbolism

Do I need to say more? They're both talented in two of the most prominent earthbending substyles. Also there is interesting symbolism to Bolin having struggled to learn metalbending his entire life and failing but then getting a metalbender boyfriend could be really cute. THEY LITERALLY COMPLETE EACH OTHER GUYS YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND

(also you can't tell me that Wei wouldn't find lavabending incredibly.... hot....)

5.Tension filled sparring

Their first interaction was a sparring session during which they were playing litte dirty tricks on each other. Also we all love sexually charged sparring sessions.

6.Detecting lies/performer symbolism

So I've kinda talked at length about how Bolin is a 'performer'. (Which @thenamescaba has pointed out could very well be masking. Bolin is very autism) Bolin often seems to act in a manner that would make people like him, rather than genuinely. Which is pretty in line qith his childhood. Assumedly being homeless didn't win him any perks socially, so now he's compensating by trying to garner as much positive attention as he can nowadays.

This can have an interesting contrast with Wei, who comes from a family with the ability to detect lies and assumedly also has this skill. I could totally imagine Wei calling Bolin out on contorting himself in order to be more likeable.

7.Height/Size difference

This is just self indulgent to be honest. I headcanon all the Beifongs as a pretty short family in general and while I'm pretty sure that Wei isn't very small, I have a soft spot for tall/average characters who are absolutely dwarfed by their giant, bulky partners. Also, how strong is Bolin because he is just holding a guy his age with apparently no effort???

8.Daring rescue/princess carry aesthetic

Listen, fairytales had this trope down pat for a reason. Sure it's cliche and overdone but it is a guilty pleasure for a lot of folks. Plus, I do think there's a lot of humour a usually capable metalbender having a major case of damsel-in-distressitis.

There is also the fact that the scene is unintentionally (or intentionally, i feel like SOMEONE in the writer's room has it out for me) paralleling the Nuktuk posters, for which Bolin posed with a love interest.

9. The Freedom/belonging contrasts

Now this here is a stretch, but an interesting and fun one. With Bolin we see a huge, underlying theme of him 'trying to find himself', practically feom the first season. He bounces from job to job, tries new things but nothing feels good enough. This probably stems from his childhood in the streets, he may be compensating for all the lost opportunities or something else. What does matter is that Bolin is 'untethered' and floating rather aimlessly, to his great distress. It's shown in book 2 that he envies the rest of team Avatar, who have already found their places in life.

Now, for Wei we can only use context clues and his siblings as reference but bear with me. We see that Suyin is a slightly overprotective mother, who would rather all her kids stay at home with her. We see this with Opal's hesitance to leave doe the Air Temples and with how harshly Su reacted when Kuvira nad Baatar Jr left Zaofu. This, paired with the fact that Wing and Wei are the only ones of their siblings who are 'upholding the legacy of their mother and grandmother ' might place them under a lot of pressure.

Therefore, Wei, in stark contrast to Bolin has a firmly set place in the world, one from which it would be incredibly difficult to free himself. This is completely different from Bolin, who , while he hasn't found himself yet has the freedom to be whomever he wants to.

One could set forth the idea that Wei and Bolin envy one another.

Bolin, envying Wei for having everything Bolin had wanted as a child. A stable family and life and a meaningful legacy. While Wei could be jealous of Bolin being able to forge his own path, instead of treading water.

10.Good angst potential

Being in love with your sisters boyfriend (why yes, I cannot look at Satisfied from Hamilton the same way, how did you know) is angsty even of itself, but then said boyfriend joins your fascist estranged siblings? Is this a greek tragedy? Especially that the twins and Opal seem rather close, so I think it would be unlikely that Wei would try to interfere in his sister's happiness.

Even as an unrequited romance, weilin provides a lot of potential for an amazing story. And we get to torture one of Toph's grandkids. As a treat.

On Bolin's side, realising you're queer can be a long and arduous process, especially if you've been taught otherwise. And I don't exactly believe the Triple Threats would be super accepting. This could also lead to some really sweet moments between Bolin and Mako, because Mako, for all his flaws is a very good big brother. And Korrasami could be the cool bi mentors. DO YOU SEE MY VISION. (Also Opal would be 100 percent supportive she's an absolute queen)

11.Good comedy potential

Just two himbos, dumb as the rocks they bend, tryna get together but both being too stupid and nervous to actually take the plunge.

Bolin is usually very forward with his advances, but perhaps trying to get with a guy the first time would feel like unfamiliar territory and make him even more nervous. And even so, Bolin's usual flirting is a sight to behold.

While we don't exactly know how Wei would react to this i can see him being a bit of a tsun. He just has that vibe. I could also see him not knowing how to react to being flirted with, since I can imagine that he spent most of his childhood isolated with his siblings.

I can totally imagine them both being much too awkward to make the first move and everyone around them being absolutely mentally exhausted by this weird little himbo mating ritual.

12.Because i said so

[moon-spirit-yue]

Silly little bits of information for my atla au coming up because I literally can’t stop thinking about it even though I have 37 other wips:

Sisu is the last airbender her personality alone makes her a great fit. Plus it’s very similar to her role in the movie. She’s about 18 here

Raya is the last waterbender in the southern water tribe and doing her best to run things while Benja, the chief of the small village, fights in the war. Also 18. The elders have to take her place when she leaves

Boun is Raya’s cousin and a nonbender. To be so real he’s the brains of this operation and the only reason why they don’t get lost. My boy is 15 for this au

Noi’s the terrifying earthbender child in this au. I might make her blind like Toph is but I’m also considering making her mute instead. She’s 13 in the au

(Picture adult Sisu getting bullied by Noi during earthbender training LMAO)

Tong is from the Earth Kingdom but can’t bend. He’s Noi’s bodyguard and ends up tagging along with their shenanigans because he wants to make an actual difference in the war. I’ll make him 40 for this au

Namaari is a fire bender and the Fire Nation princess because of course she is. Another 18 year old

Namaari is HEAVILY brainwashed in this au. She genuinely thinks the Fire Nation is bringing peace to the world and overall doing the right thing until Sisu comes back

Namaari is going to be integrated into the group WAY sooner than Zuko was so that we get some slow burn Rayaari

Virana still actually likes her daughter so the Agni Kai thing doesn’t really pan out but alas she needs to go down

I’m sorry Virana I fear you’re a villain in this story

Atitaya is Namaari’s cousin and yet another villain in this story lol. She’s an excellent Fire bender and she’s well aware of what the Fire Nation really does. The woman’s a ruthless killer, basically

Firebenders did kill Raya’s mom thinking she was the last waterbender in order to protect Raya. It literally haunts her

Raya, similarly to Katara, has a lot of raw bending power and picks things up relatively quickly but due to the fact that she is literally the only bender in the South she really can’t do much in the beginning

Unlike many of my other aus, Raya and Namaari meet for the first time at the story of the story so there’s no emotional connection at first. No betrayal. Just hatred

Sisu honestly just wants to be besties with Namaari like immediately

“I like her” “Sisu just almost kidnapped you” “I get good vibes from that fire bender” “what”

Sisu may seem borderline insane but she ends up being right about pretty much everything in the end

In literally every universe Namaari is stalking Raya LMAO

[tamras-shieldmaiden]

I saw a post commenting on how the headcanon of Lin as not knowing how to dance might not be correct, so I wanted to throw in my two yuans on the matter.

While I do agree that Lin is a more competent dancer than most give her credit for, I wouldn't take Suyin’s offer to be assistant director as evidence. Why? Do I need to remind you that this is the same Suyin who has been away from her sister's day to day life for the last thirty years, so how would Su know that (and the same Su who claimed to treat Kuvira like a daughter and we all know how that went). For all intents and purposes, Lin might actually be a good dancer or might've been as a child and teen, but Su still wouldn't know if that's true. I think she invited Lin because Suyin, ever the image conscious savvy one, it would be an excellent opportunity to showcase them working together in one of Su’s pet projects (Su's Cirque du Earth as one poster described it). And let’s not forget that Su would get to be on the lead role as dance director, so she can boss Lin around for a bit and continue her tradition of showing off Zaofu's virtues.

I still believe Lin can confidently manage herself on the dance floor, but it has nothing to do with Su, but rather with the Air Nomads. Part of the reasons Lin got along with Aang famously is that she expressed interest in learning about the Air Nomad culture. Not because it meant she would hang around with Tenzin, but because it meant spending time with Aang and Aang always found the way to make her laugh. She was also genuinely interested in their traditions because they were the polar opposite of earthbender culture, so one of the things she learned were Air Nomad dances, and she was quite good at them, even better than Tenzin. The agility she developed came handy in developing her earthbending later on. But this wasn't the only way she honed her dancing skills. Early on as a RCPD cadet and as daughter of Chief Toph Beifong, she was aware of the annual RCPD balls so not wanting to commit a faux-pass in a high-profile social event, she enrolled in the best dance school and learned classic and modern ballroom dances. The classes paid off, and over the years, she's been known to use her graceful waltz moves to negotiate increases to the police force's budget with council members on the dance floor and discreetly get tips from informants.

[pumpkinrootbeer]

Not enough Avatar fans recognize how good of a bender Bolin is bcuz he's mostly busy being played as comic relief. But even just at the end of TLOK he's praised by his personal hero Toph Beifong and is one of 3 known lavabenders, has gone toe to toe and bended alongside Toph's talented daughters and displays similar feats.

And he's shown to practice bending seriously and improve between time jump, b/c have you noticed that he observed and mastered the Red Lotus lavabender's lava glaive trick and uses it to cut through platinum in Book 4? That and Toph said that she'd be willing to teach Bolin metalbending b/c she brags about being able to teach anyone metalbending (Toph's metalbending school comics reference yay) & in the TLOK comics Toph is shown to go out of her way to leave the swamp & head to Rep. City to hang out with her granddaughter and her future grandson-in-law, so I'm betting Bolin's been getting some tutoring in and officially become one of Toph's students.

TLDR I hope Bolin shows up in the new Avatar series and shows up how strong he is at old age, b/c half his canon appearances so far are him at 16 and he's underratedly really good.

no because Bolin is genuinely an unparalleled bender. he has sheer power on the level of avatars, see how catches an entire building dropped on a room full of earth benders before anyone else and then was the only one holding it up despite TOPH BEING IN THE ROOM? for one.

he also has the drive to be good at his bending that we don't really see with mako or even really korra in the show. sure, we see korra learn air bending but then she's just frustrated it's not coming naturally. with Bolin we see him struggle with his bending and still become the best. see how quickly he mastered an element with No One to teach him or him throwing himself at metal bending over and over. Which I'm honestly torn if I want him to learn it? On one hand, literally op earthbender which is amazing yes please. On the other, I kinda like that metal bending, something that is traditional earthbending techniques taken to the extreme, is what Bolin struggles with.

It's pretty heavily implied Bolin and Mako had no formal bending teacher and are completely self taught. In fact, the times we see Bolin do the most traditional earthbending moves are in season 4, which takes place after the 3 year jump. This is also when he's working for Kuvira and is probably the only time he did get formal training in earthbending, so it would make sense he would incorporate that more.

and ive talked about this before but, Bolin is the quickest earthbender in the entire show. he is incredibly talented in his craft and no one else in the entire show bends like he does. like, okay. This?

that move? that spin kick he's doing? That's a fire bending move.

he's doing a fire bending move with earth. kinda like iroh's move for redirecting lighting, bolin's entire bending style is this quote "when you take (wisdom) from only one place it becomes rigid and stale. understanding others, other nations, will help you become whole" Bolin is an earth bender who grew up learning to bend by watching fire bending. and that is a huge part of why Bolin is such a unique and talented fighter.

tbh I hope he never learns metal bending because the contrast between him and toph is nice. Toph is someone who excels at traditional earthbending, to the point of inventing a new type of sub-bending. whereas Bolin is so skilled at adapting and integrating different bending styles that he's able to master a volatile element that is eath that behaves like water with properties of fire at 17 with no teacher.

so yeah I agree 100% I would fucking love to see Bolin older because he would be a fucking powerhouse.

[broken-endings]

The Earth Avatar

So one thing Legend of Korra did great was make sure not to repeat most story and character beats from The Last Airbender.

Aang was a simple monk with spiritual upbringing, communing with nature and peace. He was also out of his time, and being introduced to this world as an audience we learned about all forms of bending as Aang learned about all forms of bending. Culminating in ending a long war.

Korra was a rough and tough gal with a rural upbringing. Punch first, ask questions later. She was one with bending that came easy, because we the audience already knew about the forms of bending. One thing we never saw through Aang was the struggle to learn airbending. So like a 4th book to the first series, we got to see the avatar learn airbending. Korra was sheltered never traveling like her past life, and so we see the new Republic city through her eyes. Someone who has never been to the city. The rest of her story builds on lore in the world and the evolution of the people in it. Each season she faced a different "tyrant" whose stance has good intentions but they become villains.

I'm trying to think of what types of things neither series touched on that the 3rd series could explore. The only things we know are -They're an Earth Kingdom native -Their only past life connection will be with Korra

What kinds of stories have we not seen the avatar go through? Let me speculate below

My first thought is highly desirable but feels unlikely which would be for this avatar to be nonbinary. Having the Korrasami ending makes it feel not totally impossible. But I'm not holding my breath for this one.

Have the Avatar be an adult. The original audience of the series are all adults now. It would be fitting to have a series about an adult avatar.

Learn about the new avatar gradually through flashbacks. Perhaps there could be a mystery tied to information they've forgotten or are trying to keep hidden.

Have the avatar grow up in the city, and be forced to adjust to being thrown into a rural environment (opposite of Korra). Learning about the differences in life between the two.

Have the avatar be a parent. We haven't witnessed what it's like to be a young child with an avatar parent. We've only seen the avatar's children as adults.

Expand on the treatment of nonbenders. this was the biggest plot point that LoK kind of abandoned once Amon was gone.

Possibly discover a way to reconnect the avatar to all previous past lives. With only Korra as a guide, I feel like she might not excel at guidance, so being able to reconnect to history could empower this avatar. Just like Korra reconnected to her bending.

The previous avatar spirits have been zen and helpful. Korra's spirit should challenge that cliche. Perhaps her spirit gets angry with the avatar and she ignores them at times.

Have this avatar be an intellectual. Korra had a jock personality (gryffindor). Aang had a goofball, spiritual personality (hufflepuff). Perhaps this avatar reads and studies about everything in theory but struggled to put it into practice (ravenclaw).

Have this avatar have a physical disability. Toph was blind, we saw a waterbender with no arms. It would be new to see an avatar that is perhaps deaf or hard of hearing, be unable to walk, colorblind, or have only one seeing eye.

Have the avatar deal with death. Aang learns about all the people he lost but he never lost someone right in front of him. If this series is permitted to not be a kids show, it could deal with death head-on.

Have the avatar be one that needs redemption (slytherin). Now this is unlikely, but what if we were introduced to an avatar that rejected destiny and made selfish choices, and we learn all the things that pushed them down that path, maybe it would be too much of a repeat of Zuko's journey. But there are more ways to build a redemption arc.

[boylikeanangel]

round one of the tournament to crown the ultimate supreme weirdgirl is over! here are the results and the brackets for round two!!!

the voting page is here! voting ends on october 19th, at 11:59PM GMT / 3:59PM PST. be sure to share this post after voting to spread the word!!!

thank you all so much for your votes in the first round!!! we had an excellent turnout with a total of 1,364 votes and a whole lot of sharing the tournament around tumblr, which was really exciting to see. some of these matches were extremely close and it was so intense to watch the vote count go up over the last two days! round two is gonna be even more intense going off the statistics, so be sure to stay tuned!!

before I go any further I want to briefly talk about this amazing art drawn by my good friend @volatilemask campaigning for trucy wright in her round 1 match. judging by the way her vote count suddenly spiked after this was posted, it seems that campaigning for your favourite really does make a difference, so I highly encourage anyone who feels inspired to make a campaign post to do so!! your enthusiasm means the world and I would love to see more of these kinds of posts, so be sure to tag me and link to the voting page!

I'll quickly run through the results of the first round matches under the cut.

Lydia Deetz vs Pinkie Pie: Lydia Deetz with 773 votes (56.7%) and Pinkie Pie with 591 votes (43.3%)

Ponyo vs Tsukimi Kurashita: Ponyo with 1075 votes (78.8%) and Tsukimi Kurashita with 289 votes (21.2%)

Wednesday Addams vs Little My: Wednesday Addams with 776 votes (56.9%) and Little My with 588 votes (43.1%)

Orla McCool vs Kate Bush: Orla McCool with 723 votes (53%) and Kate Bush with 641 votes (47%)

The Thirteenth Doctor vs Janet: The Thirteenth Doctor with 419 votes (30.7%) and Janet with 945 votes (69.3%)

Mabel Pines vs Tina Belcher: Mabel Pines with 1046 votes (76.7%) and Tina Belcher with 318 votes (23.3%)

Dot Warner vs D.W. Read: Dot Warner with 671 votes (49.2%) and D.W. Read with 693 votes (50.8%) [literally 20 votes between these two. this one was absolutely insane to watch. I really believed dot was gonna pull ahead by the end!!!]

Trucy Wright vs Meilin Lee: Trucy Wright with 726 votes (53.2%) and Meilin Lee with 638 votes (46.8%) [another crazy one. meilin was winning for most of the round and then trucy started gaining speed out of nowhere in the last few hours. as a diehard trucy fan this was extra intense for me, LOL]

Coraline Jones vs Haruhi Suzumiya: Coraline Jones with 1161 votes (85.1%) and Haruhi Suzumiya with 203 votes (14.9%) [Coraline received more votes than any other girl this round. whether she can keep up that momentum will be very interesting to see!]

Alphys vs Entrapta: Alphys with 837 votes (61.4%) and Entrapta with 527 votes (38.6%)

Toph Beifong vs Sticks the Badger: Toph Beifong with 1113 votes (81.6%) and Sticks the Badger with 251 votes (18.4%)

Lilo Pelekei vs Frankie Stein: Lilo Pelekei with 1129 votes (82.8%) and Frankie Stein with 235 votes (17.2%)

Leslie Burke vs Misa Amane: Leslie Burke with 595 votes (43.6%) and Misa Amane with 769 votes (56.4%)

Tome Kurata vs Emu Otori: Tome Kurata with 1009 votes (74%) and Emu Otori with 355 votes (26%)

Lisa Simpson vs Velma Dinkley: Lisa Simpson with 501 votes (36.7%) and Velma Dinkley with 863 votes (63.3%)

May Chang vs Matilda Wormwood: May Chang with 301 votes (27.1%) and Matilda Wormwood with 1063 votes (77.9%)

[late-draft]

Some thoughts on S2 from a first-time watcher!

It's good that I saw a bunch of spoilers before watching S2 and S3, because after seeing how the plot arrived to some of these points, I feel like what I imagined would have worked better; useful for understanding one's own likes and writing.

I thought Toph would have been in bigger danger while in the metal box. In canon she's technically just being dragged back to her family, right? But the emotional impact of her success of bending metal (something believed to be impossible) would have been stronger if she was in a much bigger danger, in worse circumstances, for longer.

Long Feng was so quickly "taken down" at the start when the Earth King decided to stop following him! Yeah the Dai Li still answer to Long Feng but it felt like him losing outward power happened too quickly and he was actually scared that he had lost all power instantly. He even allowed the kids to try to show the king the truth. So which is it, do Long Feng and Dai Li have huge power, or little power?

I liked the plot twist with plot twist with plot twist with plot twist with plot twist with Azula and her goons in Kyoshi warriors' disguises, and the Dai Li still answering to Long Feng. This uplifted the plot part a bit that had been sunk in my mind just before.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but Jet was actually ok in S2; he succumbed to a weakness of his by getting obsessed with "random" firebenders, but then he truly tried to be of help, he beat the goddamn brainwashing and did everything he could to help Aang and his allies. He was given a "heroic death" offscreen! Perhaps he survived, gravely injured but who knows. The writing portrays him as an ok person at the end.

If he was supposed to be an "evil version" or "irredeemed" version of Zuko, that could have been portrayed only if Jet had demonstrated more, and persistent negative traits that he would refuse to change. Before giving him an on-screen death.

It wasn't very believable to me that Iroh managed to follow Zuko so quietly and so well under lake Laogai; but from spoilers, I was convinced that Zuko had arrived to a moral decision to set Appa free and let go of his need to belong back at the royal family of the Fire Nation, all on his own. That might have been a bigger triumph of character, but... even coming to this decision because Iroh pressured him into thinking about choices (the fact that he had choices), doesn't diminish what he decided by a lot.

Fever was excellent lmao. Iroh gave him some ibuprofen But the subsequent very cheery behaviour feels like big and heavy Copium from Zuko to me!

Damn. Aang literally speedrun all those chakras opening. Guru Pathik seems alright to me and doesn't feel like a huge deus-ex mechanism considering many other elements the show has used. But I feel like the show would have benefitted a LOT more if separate episodes were devoted to unblocking the chakras. Those are supposed to be a big deal, something difficult to overcome for the hero. But also; Aang refusing to let go of Katara right at the moment when he sensed she was in danger, is actually a correct choice (from a narrative standpoint) - we aren't supposed to cheer for him to let her die. Of course we as the audience want him to try to help Katara! However what Guru Pathik had told him about attachment still stands in the writing (maybe it could have been made more clear that this attachment in question means a selfish possessive one). The writing still sets it up so that it seems like Aang WILL have to let go of the attachment in the future to successfully open the last chakra. Just... later, because this is not the right moment! ^^

Oh man. The best the writing could do for Katara was to have her make a dumb joke about Momo knocking over figurines in the war meeting? And the plan was just... "go forth and attack the Fire Nation during a solar eclipse"? This was the best the text could do?? No bits of additional strategy, problem-solving, no Katara being serious about it? And after that she decides to go for tea despite being on a crucial mission? And why would the delicate scroll requiring the Earth King's seal to set the entire army in motion be left to be carried around outside by one girl. Just so that she could run into Zuko and blow his cover, despite having last seen him as broken, crying over his uncle, fighting against his sister the Fire Nation princess. Feels like the plot really got super convoluted here just to get to points it wanted. Sadge.

[blodgmonster]

Throne of Glass reread thoughts that no one on earth asked for.

-- Duke Perrington throws her to the floor. IT'S HIM IT'S HIM KILL HIM NOW DONT YOU FUCKING TOUCH HER YOU PRICK.

-- ""Your Highness," Chaol Westfall snapped at her.

"What?" Celaena asked." Responding to 'Your Highness' because she fucking is. Oh, you beautiful, sassy bitch, I love you 💗

-- "Still the image haunted his dreams throughout the night: a lovely girl gazing at the stars, and the stars who gazed back" echoes of ACOTAR

-- If Endovier isn't based on Auschwitz, I'll eat my hat.

-- Celaena chucking a flowerpot at Kaltain. Priceless.

-- "She saw the floor first. Red marble, its white veins illuminated in the light of the sun." Like a children's hospital.

-- Nothung. Dumbass name.

-- obsidian is a favorite of mine, and SJM just runs its good name through the dirt with all these obsidian eyes and the towers.

-- A complaint I've heard about this book before is how often someone sneaks up on Celaena while she's asleep. "She's an assassin! No one should be able to sneak up on her ever!" I'm sorry, are YOU able to control how deeply you sleep? Because I can't. I'll sleep through a thunderstorm and then get woken up by a child laughing outside. Like...it is what it is and I don't think it's something you can TRAIN. Besides which, she's spent a year in a death camp. She probably had to sleep through a lot of horrible noises.

-- "I can act and talk like a lady if it pleases me." Okay, Toph.

-- NEHEMIA

-- Chaol asking about her scars, "What did you do to deserve it?" Why don’t you SHUT THE FUCK UP? How could you ask someone who had been a SLAVE in a DEATH CAMP for a YEAR what she did to DESERVE being WHIPPED? He really is a piece of shit and I will never understand what Celeana and Yrene and Nesryn see in him. How does this grumpy loser keep pulling tens? They can do better.

-- hey look, it's The Walking Dead which had a cameo in Crescent City.

-- "The Duke was ambitious, but certainly not a threat to the castle or its inhabitants." DING DONG, YOU WERE WRONG!!!!

-- sweet baby Fleetfoot!!

-- I understand why Celeana didn't pick Dorian. He's the son of the man who destroyed your world (even if he is handsome, charming, loves books, and gives you a puppy. I'd be a goner for him). But to choose Chaol instead? Ugh. Just wait and hope for better things. Like Rowan. Or even Nox. Like CHAOL after SAM? Major downgrade, babe.

-- Kaltain having a peacock themed gown and mask at the ball reminds me of the wicked stepsister in Ever After. Excellent reference or fun coincidence?

-- "I name you Elentiya, 'Spirit That Could Not Be Broken.'" Oh, Nehemia. You deserved so much better. You deserved to live to see Aelin put things right.

-- "I've never had a pet. I never wanted one." Jesus, what kind of sociopath are you, Chaol?? Ugh. Massive red flag for me.

-- Nehemia giving her the staff. Hell yeah.

-- "it make no difference if my name's Celaena or Lillian or Bitch, because I'd still beat you no matter what you call me. " THAT'S MY GIRL

-- The plot is so...simple when you compare it to Kingdom of Ash. But it's still SO good.

[justaferalcrow]

ATLA characters as things my friends and I have said

Sokka: I. Will. Kill. You. If. You. Steal. My. Food. Toph: Can we steal the fire extinguisher for fun? Sokka: Sometimes, you just need to calm down and say: It’s time to drop the apple. Katara: But why drop the apple? Sokka: I don’t know, it just seemed like a good thing to say at the time. Zuko: You know you’ve got it right when a scam caller hangs up on you. Toph: No, listen. If you get a spam call, just answer and say: I did it, there’s blood everywhere. Zuko: I used to stab flies in the eyes with a needle but that was before I found religion you see. Sokka: WEAPONIZE THE TODDLERS. Zuko: Why are we weaponizing toddlers? Katara: I have no idea but that's a horrible idea. Aang: But what if it's a wonderful idea? Toph: I guess I'm an oompaloompa now.

Sokka: Heck yeah I wanna smell like a gun, cause I'm a manly man. Aang: I don’t know why anyone gets into that kinda stuff when there’s things in the world like mac n cheese. Zuko: Yes fire. All the fire. Ty Lee: Those are absolutely adorable, I would love to run someone over cutely. Toph: A letter opener can be used for stabbing people if you try hard enough.

Mai: Anything can be used for stabbing if you try hard enough.

Sokka: Although my question is, how would one go about stabbing someone with a loaf of bread? Toph: Let it get really stale and then sharpen it. Sokka: Exactly yes, or you could bake it until it’s really crisp then stab them in the eye. Zuko: We are discussing how to kill someone with bread? Excellent. Sokka: If you want to feel successful in life, surround yourself by failures so no matter what you do, you always feel good about yourself. Toph: Just delete the world. Aang: Hehe I know a really good word: pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. It’s a lung disease from inhaling volcanic ash. Ty Lee: Fun facts are fun, especially murdery ones. Katara: I like frogs in theory but not in practice. Zuko: Too many of us have become obsessed with arson. Toph:...but the shoe fits. In the stomach.

[oneatlatime]

The Journey to Ba Sing Se Part 2: The Drill

Could I have Appa back please?

The Previously On segment actually didn't spoil anything for once. Nice.

I do like these tank things. In fact I like all Fire Nation technology. Not what it's used for. But the designs are neat. And more interesting than most actual military tech. You ever look at something techy, and think to yourself 'there was an artist involved here,' because that's the impression FN tech gives me. It's not beautiful, but there's a pleasing toothiness to it.

Excellent sound design on the metal screechy moving bits. And is that tank escort really necessary?

I know this is a kids' cartoon, with characters that are designed to be the audience's age. I know! And usually I can suspend my disbelief and forget that I'm watching children do very adult jobs! But this caught me so off guard I laughed. The Fire Nation's big secret project to break through the wall once and for all, that would be an absolute career making achievement for whoever is in charge, and they've given it to a bunch of teenage girls. This is where my suspension of disbelief stops.

Can you imagine the meeting where this was proposed? The Fire Lord being like "Who can lead the attack on Ba Sing Se? We lost Zhao at the North Pole, does whoever it is who occupies his equivalent rank in the Army want the job? Or even Zhao's second in command perhaps? Or how about: three middle school girls, two of which aren't even members of the military? Doesn't that sound like a good plan?" And of course all his advisors have to agree and be like "that sounds like an excellent plan your lordship; did you have any particular girls in mind or should we go scout out the local Claire's?" because the last guy who disagreed with him got his face blown off. I don't care how viciously talented Azula and friends are; a country that puts eighth graders in charge of invasion plans should have lost the war in year one, not still be winning it in year 99.

Did that random commander guy just smack Ty Lee in the face?

Problem the first of this plan: unless the Fire Nation has invented pocket dimensions or bags of holding, there is no way that that drill, even stuffed full of soldiers, would hold enough people to take a city that seemingly contains every single refugee in the entire Earth Kingdom.

Do you think those refugees got preferential treatment for arriving on an Avatar powered elevator?

"I'm the Avatar. Take me to whoever's in charge." OWN IT BABY!!!

That's one hell of an irrigation system they must have.

"He was quickly expunged." Was he? I got the impression he quit. Of his own accord.

Something tells me like forty guys throwing rocks won't stop that thing.

So... what was Mai doing that whole fight? Hanging decoratively off a rope?

I'd forgotten how stupid Earth Kingdom generals were. Luckily Sokka is there to vicariously express my opinion of them. A reverse beat up Sokka quota fulfillment!

Toph is such a little shit and I love her.

Aang sure does put up with a lot sometimes. Part of being the Avatar. It's a good thing he has such patience. Can we talk about how lucky the world is that Aang is the one tasked with putting up with nonsense like this? Imagine if Sokka or Toph were the Avatar. There would be casualties.

I like complaining too buddy. Nice to see Sokka's worth being recognised. Now can we do that outside of a life or death situation too please?

I joke about Zuko's dumbass behaviour, but let's be honest, it's inherited.

Jet. Fuckboy. You do not make it easy to even slightly like you. Guy is missing the point as much as Zuko usually does. Going straight MEANS leaving the freedom fighters behind. It doesn't mean reforming them somewhere else. And what Fire Nation threat are you going to find in Ba Sing Se for your Freedom Fighters to fight? You know, if this idiot was actually serious about fighting for Freedom rather than blowing stuff up for fun, he'd fudge his age and enlist in the Earth Kingdom Army.

Four points: How does Katara know Ty Lee's name? Is this confirmation that waterbending healing cannot remove a Chi block? I love that the trait that gives away Ty Lee's identity is the fact that she cartwheeled away. I love Sokka. Just in general.

There is no way this girl is not tripping.

Can you imagine how loud standing right next to that drill must be?

ABS

Normally I'd say that one earthbender trying to slow the drill down with spikes will work even worse than the Terra Team who tried and failed with like 40, but this is Toph we're talking about. It could work.

These children are so polite when they're committing industrial sabotage. Truly, they were raised well.

Do you ever get the feeling that whoever is in charge of designing Fire Nation armour is into a few things that he's trying to repress so hard that they're coming out in all the wrong places?

Jet seems to have lost all the manipulative abilities he had in his episode. Suddenly he's very bad at reading body language and keeps saying the exact opposite of what he should.

New achievement unlocked! 1000% agreeing with something Zuko said! That was a pretty stupid move.

Cups made out of leaves are neat.

Katara, you can't have it both ways. You can't look to Sokka to make the plan, then get snippy when the plan correctly plays to all of your strengths. He physically CAN'T bend. Either you come up with a better plan yourself, or you do as the guy you appointed planner suggests.

Points in favour of allowing Katara to murder people, exhibit 1.

Confirmed: Sokka is catnip for girls.

Even in comparison to the others, Ty Lee has a bad case of cartoon physics.

Did Katara just disarm herself? That'll come back to bite her in 3, 2, 1...

Mai gets a second personality trait! Yay!

There is no way this is actually practical armour. This is someone in procurement with a thing for sweaty bulging muscles and puppy masks.

And thus, the log ride was born. Later versions would go on to perfect the concept by introducing a log.

I felt Sokka's mud freakout in my bones. Looks like Katara giving away her water isn't going to be a problem.

Petition to let Katara say bitch. The voice actress said Circus Freak but I know what I heard in my heart.

Remember that time Sokka smacked his forehead so many times that his face was permanently red? My turn now.

Aang. I know you love your friends. But maybe a battle on top of a moving machine of destruction in the midst of an aerial assault from your idiotic allies while facing off with the single most powerful and amoral firebender in existence, isn't a place to bring your pet lemur?

Beat up Sokka quota fulfilled by little sister. It's surprising that isn't the case more often. I know Sokka took it too far, but if you don't want him telling you what to do, maybe you shouldn't have looked to him for a plan?

Toph is here! Day saved.

Finally some sense re: Momo safety.

Time for the Western showdown. There's even something that could stand in for a water tower in the background.

If Azula had just struck at Aang the second he got knocked unconscious, rather than waiting until he woke up for dramatic purposes, she would have won this. I give Zuko Hell for being a theatre kid, but he's not the only one in the family.

I would love to know what they make Fire Nation boot soles out of. They have supernatural traction.

I take back everything I said about pet safety. That was a really cool Momo assist.

Aang invents the pneumatic hammer.

I LOVE that the cut braces had an effect after all. Sokka's contribution counts!

I bet this guy's wishing he'd been eaten by a giant fishman like Zhao right about now. Have fun explaining that one to the Firelord!

HOW is Ty Lee still alive?

HOW does Azula still have knees after that drop?

HOW does Mai have such perfect timing?

ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN

They really ought to put wheels on all but the back car to reduce friction and save energy. Then again, if the Earth Kingdom is one thing, it's stupid.

So... Jet's change of heart lasted a bit less than one episode. Good job fuckboy!

So precious.

So Pretty.

Final Thoughts

This was like 90% action, with the other 10% being split between Zuko & Iroh plot stuff and Sokka playing comic relief. So there's not that much to talk about here really (she says, having found a whole post's worth of stuff to talk about).

Sokka had his bossy pants on, admittedly because he was asked to don them. Aang got to do some proper Avataring. Katara and Toph got to exercise their bending muscles. I'm not surprised that Toph was absent for much of the middle of the episode, because - let's be honest - given the right tools, Toph would have finished the Drill in one move. And then they'd be out of episode.

Actually, Mai got to have a personality beyond Too Bored To Live this episode. This is probably the most personality I've seen out of her so far. She's much more expressive when she's with just Ty Lee, rather than Ty Lee and Azula.

And Zuko! Had! Common! Sense! Iroh had to be a dumbass for Zuko to shine, but Zuko was, once again, the most reasonable character in his little B plot. For future reference: If you want to make Zuko reasonable, all you have to do is nerf his uncle and juxtapose him with a terrorist.

I loathe Jet. Always have, probably always will. But I'm still disappointed in him. His 'turning over a new leaf' - if it was sincere at all - lasted like 10 on-screen minutes. I feel sorry for Smellerbee and Longshot. I don't think their faith in their glorious leader is going to be repaid. He seems to brush off Smellerbee's opinions.

The strangest thing this episode was how few lines Azula had. I guess maybe they were using silence to try to show how calculating and collected she is compared to others, but honestly my first thought was that the voice actress had something going on. A cold? A previous engagement? It felt really weird to hear her speak so little, since previous episodes have shown she's not averse to gloating and dramatic monologues. She didn't even have much in the way of facial expressions.

I think the winners this episode were Mai, who got to have a personality; Zuko, who got a turn with the brain cell; and Aang, who got to work out pretty much all the bending he knows so far and successfully Avatar.

I did notice with some of the shots of Aang moving the big boulders the idiots were chucking down, that there was a kind of fuzziness to the air between Aang and what he was moving. Was I seeing the actual bending energy (Chi I guess) moving?

[the-badger-mole]

Since Harry Potter got brought up, what houses do you think each atla character would be? I feel like a lot of people put Katara in Ravenclaw bc Blue, but I could see her being a good Hufflepuff (loyalty "I'll never turn my back on someone who needs me" but that could also be bravery) and Zuko obv would be the first Gryffindor out of a family of Slytherins like Sirius

I've never put any thought into it, so this will be a list based on what I remember from a story I haven't revisited in at least 10 years and an internet search... Strap in.

Sokka would be Ravenclaw, because he's lowkey highkey a nerd. He's intelligent and creative.

Katara... do sibling have to be in the same house? Because I could see her in Ravenclaw, but my instinct is to put her in Gryfindor. That whole running headfirst into a fight thing she has feels very Gryfindor.

Toph would probably be a Gryfindor, too, but part of me wants to put her in Hufflepuff...for the obvious reason.

Suki is in Gryfindor, too. I think she would be upset to be put in any other house, tbh. I feel like the gym in the Gryfindor dorms is probably the best on campus, and she and Toph would absolutely have a contest on who can lift the most weight.

If Rowling hadn't made Slytherine a literal breeding ground for bigotry and blood supremacy, I would put Aang there (although, his behavior towards the SWT is suspect). His heavy sense of self-preservation and rigid (if imperfectly understood) traditionalism would fit right in. In fact, I take it back. Aang would work in Slytherine. He would deny it, but he lowkey think his background made him superior to some people.

I'm going to do something that might be a bit controversial and put Zuko in Hufflepuff (PS, am I the only one who pictures Jiggly Puff every time they think of Hufflepuff? I can't be). I didn't remember what Hufflepuffs were known for. The only thing I remembered about that house was from A Very Potter Musical when Cedric said that Hufflepuffs are excellent finders and Dumbledore gave him the sidest side-eye (bombastic side eye. criminal offensive side eye), so I looked it up and some big traits for Hufflepuffs are a strong sense of justice and a propensity for hard work, which is absolutely Zuko. They're also known for being kind, and yeah, Zuko is kind. I think most of his family would've been in Slytherine, but I think enough of his line (including Iroh, probably) would've been in other houses that it wouldn't be a total shock. A disappointment to Ozai, sure, but a shock? Nah.

Bonus! Ty Lee would also be in Hufflepuff. Azula and Mai are obviously in Slytherine.