#if anything it's zuko's

[bluespiritshonour]

Another thing I've been muling over: a complain I've seen about Maiko is that she keeps him from going on the right path—and... I agree.

For Mai, Zuko's well-being is her sole concern and the rest of the world could crash and burn and that's... Okay?

Realistically speaking, your support system should NOT be one person. One thing I love about ATLA is that (despite romance writing not being one of it's strong points) the lack of ships that follow the tropes.

Kataang is not an archetype. Neither is Sukka or Maiko.

Having your support system be just your romantic partner isn't healthy (for them or for you) or realistic. But most romances do that and until I watched ATLA it didn't occurred to me that that's not a good thing.

ATLA and Maiko are very realistic in that Zuko needs both the Gaang and Mai. He needs the Gaang to hold him accountable for every shitty little thing he did—and he needs Mai there to keep from spiraling and self-destruction.

Zuko and his uncle were de facto conquerors, so they had to do much more to redeem themselves than Mai and Ty Lee (mere soldiers, but NOT innocent) had to.

Zuko had to work hard to earn the Gaang's forgiveness (personal opinion: he should've grovelled more and he should've been called out on his racism against Aang) and Uncle Iroh reconquered Ba Sing Se in the name of it's people.

They both did reparations to the very people they hurt. And their crimes were much more direct and vicious compared to Mai and Ty Lee’s.

As someone not as responsible as them, Mai and Ty Lee's redeeming themselves was at the Boiling Rock.

And well, when Zuko is Firelord right after the war—he would be paying for the crimes of his ancestors. He needs the Gaang there to keep from acting like he did with Katara pre-Southern Raiders (everyone else seems to have forgiven me!) and he needs Mai to keep himself from actually spiralling into self-destruction and undeserved guilt (Sozin's and Ozai's faults aren't his even if he's paying for it and someone needs to remind him that)

So, yeah. He needs them both for different things.

As for Mai, her conflict was that she was never allowed to express herself. And loving Zuko made up for that—she finally stands up for something she believes in (not in the cause, but in Zuko) and Zuko didn't even have to do anything beside exist. He didn't “fix her.”

Although, again I do have the the complain that Mai has to do a lot of emotional labour for him and if you really are gonna shit on Maiko: it's Zuko who needs to step up, not Mai—well, Mai tried to “fix him” and she couldn't!

That's so important to me!—I’m tired of girl fixes boy narrative. And she couldn't fix him because only he could fix himself and Mai herself is used to making the best out of a situation and being selfish/passive/choosing the path of least resistance. She tried to do to Zuko what worked for her (or maybe didn't, considering she was coping)—and well—later when Zuko's Firelord it'll be Mai who keeps him from harming himself.

Zuko needs both to be balanced out.

He needs multiple people to act as support system and that's both healthy and realistic. Mai isn't everything and neither should she be.

I know what the comics did; don't bring them up here. It's not about the comics.

[junotter]

just some designs mainly created because I wanted to draw hakama and then it spiral out from there

bald zuko under the cute

[yourhighness6]

Ugh I will always love the concept of Katara using blood bending to revive Zuko after the last agni kai, mostly because it makes no sense to me that Zuko was able to bounce back so easily after being struck by lightning, but also because the way the show treats bloodbending is just odd to me. It was a defense mechanism created by a traumatized victim of some of the most devastating parts of colonization, and although I understand that Hama was supposed to symbolize the "bad parts" of waterbending and was important for Katara's growth in realizing that the world isn't entirely black and white, its still disappointing to me that the show never explored the gray areas of blood bending, especially since that episode was, as I stated above, about understanding the gray areas of the war. Katara using blood bending to revive Zuko would add so much to the last agni kai in demonstrating that she has truly realized that "good" and "evil" are relative concepts, and Zuko being saved by both a defense mechanism of a survivor of colonialism and a type of bending used to terrorize his people would have even added to his arc, as the narrative required him to save and subsequently be saved by the physical embodiment of everything his family sought to annihilate.

[chiptrillino]

ID: Zuko on the left and sokka on the right. From avatar, the last air bender from the waist up and aged up. They have their back turned to the viewer and are facing each other so only their profile is visible. They are looking lovingly into each other's eyes. sokka is resting his left arm on zukos shoulder, holding zukos jaw. His index fingers brushing underneath a cut up hair strand. zuko holds with his right hand on sokkas back. His left hand is placed over sokkas wrist, holding a bracelet made out of zukos cut off hair between his two fingers. End ID

i regrett not making zukos robe seethrough again. but... uhm.... i didn't mean to make this complicated again?

----- if you want to deal with all my reblogs may I direct your attention to my side only my artworks blog?

@chiptrillino-art

[captainkirkk]

Concept: Fire Lords traditionally dress like the stages of the sun to match their reign.

When Zuko is first crowned, he dresses in the colours of dawn. Bright yellows and pinks and even purples. He starts to wear more traditional crimson-and-gold robes after a few years, the colours of midday when Agni is at his strongest. And towards the end of his reign, when he's getting ready to pass the crown onto Izumi, he starts dressing like the setting sun.

[llmsos]

Mamas Boy off

[orobeori]

Just started watching the Netflix ATLA live action (currently on the third ep!) and I especially love the lil hat Iroh got to wear, decided to draw them with the og art designs :]]

Also really loved the scene with the woman who defends Aang by scolding Zuko mid-fight 😭 She’s the realest auntie

I just try to imagine the whole live action as a super high budget ATLA au. My sister does a better job at it though lmao. BUT it is entertaining! The dialogue is so funny sometimes with how odd it sounds, and Aang’s actor is so adorable.

My thoughts are blasting at random so do bear with me. While watching I was telling my sister that it’s a fun live action but as much as I try not to compare it too much to the og show, I just don’t enjoy live actions very much in general. I will admit that “real gritty dark” live actions do tend to attract more people, so if anything I’m glad that at least it will invite people to the wonderful story that is ATLA, and maybe even get them to watch the original :]

Would love to hear your thoughts though because from what I’m seeing its a very defined 50-50 split between people who loved and it people who absolutely despise it 💀

[chaichai-draws]

Sometimes a family is a put out Earth Kingdom Captain and his three teenaged bullies

Go Team Steam! I’m running out of chapters in @lovelyelbowleech ‘s fic War Crimes…

[garfield-milk]

this is my formal apology to the zukka nation for not posting art in *checks blog* 2 months , sorry!

[mugentakeda]

[rulesofdisorder]

with the atla live action trailer dropping i am once again suggesting that in season 2 they have jet and zuko share a little kiss on the ferry boat. it literally changes nothing about the plot but makes the tea shop fight scene so much more heartbreaking and emotional.

the betrayal on both sides! jet because this guy that he really admires turns out to be fire nation and he can’t reconcile the fact that the fire nation may not all be monsters, that he may actually really like one of them. zuko because jet is someone who sees him and understands him and someone he may be able to grow a relationship, romantic or otherwise, with and jet attacks him for seemingly no reason, endangering both himself and his uncle.

the betrayal! the angst! the prospect of what could have been if circumstances were different! if there was no war and no suffering! the added gut punch of the fact that zuko learned jet died via shitty play! come on guys!!! you see the vision!!!

[sabellart]

(not to scale) zuko and hawky crossover 💪💪💪

zuko design from @chiptrillino !!

[junotter]

My redesigns for aged up gaang

[chiptrillino]

ID: three drawings showing a sequence of sokka and zuko from avatar the last air bender. Aged up rather soon after war. sokka is leaning over zuko, you see them mainly on the left side waist up. The background is kept plain withe. On the left side the artist signature "chiptrillino . 2023" on the right side isthe request to "please don't repost"

The first drawing shows sokka looking down with slightly zoned out expression. zukos hands are reaching up.

The second image shows sokkas surprised face held between zukos hands, who raised up his face inches away from sokkas.

The third images shows sokka leaning into zuko. Both of them kissing. zuko holds on to sokkas shoulder and neck. Both look happy. End ID

Small shoutout to that person that tagged, once upon a time (last year), the sketch with "mermaid zukka". And would you look at that! Its meremay! And this is not really mermaid themed, but... it remained me to finish it! -sweats-

oh shoot! also happy zukka week! i guess whops...

---- if you want to deal with all my reblogs may I direct your attention to my side only my artworks blog?

@chiptrillino-art

[comradekatara]

old man zuko was crazy for saying to korra “i was often aang’s counsel, and i would love to be yours.” i mean i guess they’ve had several decades in between shows to establish that fact offscreen, but textually, our only instance of zuko “providing counsel” to aang is when he tried to bully him into killing his dad for him. not exactly what i would qualify as imparting sage wisdom, but ok lmfao

[iszapizza]

my social media has been full of avatar stuff lately and it’s making me want to rewatch the cartoon.