#lok rant

[wilcze-kudly]

Avatar Fandom!

Tell me your thoughts surrounding Katara and her parentification, how the fandom treats her as a character much older than she actually is.

[fuckyeah-dragrace]

i don't think we acknowledge this enough when it comes to legend of korra s3 but Lin was MORE than justified in cutting off Su. like her history PERMANENTLY scarred her face for the rest of her life and their mother just brushed it under the rug and not to mention how Su plays dirty in arguments like bringing up her and Tenzins breakup which was most definitely a really sore subject just so she could get her sister to be emotional

tldr: Lin is the greatest character ever and i love her dearly

[nariko-senpai]

There's one thing I don't understand why they did in tlok and that is the strange love triangle/square/whatever shape that happened in the first two seasons.

To summarise: Bolin had a thing for Korra, but Korra had a thing for Mako, but Mako was with Asami but still had a thing for Korra.

Like what 💀

Season One built up this whole relationship of Korra and Mako but it went downhill almost immediately in Season 2. Not to mention Mako basically being with Asami, then Korra then back with Asami 💀💀

The writer's were trying so hard to have some romantic tension, but it got old almost immediately and did nothing to help the popularity of the characters. And throwing Bolin in for no reason? Cruel.

It was like they were trying to have the relationship that Katara and Aang had in the course of one/two-ish seasons instead of having it spread out like in Atla. Or trying to feed the zutara shippers by having Korra and Mako being together (not like it lasted long)

And it made Asami and Korra's relationship super rushed as well. The first two seasons they were competing with eachother for who could be with Mako, then season 3 was just them getting along, and season four rushing their relationship by having Korra awoll in the swamp and Asami doing completely other stuff.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not hating on Korra and Asami, I just think the writers had split views on what ship they wanted to sail and the ships that sailed were only half-made. The comics probably go into their relationship deeper, but kinda bummed we didn't get to see more of their chemistry on-screen.

In conclusion, tlok was trying to live up to atla's couples (Aang and Katara, Zuko and Katara, etc) and instead made a romantic mess the first two seasons and left the others half baked.

I need justice for them.

[dxbzpp]

Cheating headcanons with Korrasami will never work because Korra would rather chop her arm off and lose her bending than leave Asami for another person lol

[im--never--happy]

I really fundamentally cannot understand how and why the avatar fandom has been sleeping on Mako. Especially with all the Zuko love. People love an angsty sad boi who just wants to do the right thing. And by god if that is not Mako I don’t know what is. Like. Mako as a character is soooo fucking angstable. So much angst potential right there. But fandom just collectively ignores him (or else hates on him for no fucking reason). Is he perfect? Of course not, but Zuko is so insanely far from perfect and all of Zuko’s wrongdoings so far surpass any of Mako’s. Yet fandom easily forgives Zuko, resident sad boi, for his actual fucking crimes (kyoshi village didn’t burn itself down, Song’s ostrich horse didn’t steal itself, Sparky Sparky Boom—I mean Combustion Man didn’t hire himself—lmao) in favor of focusing on his trauma and angst (don’t get me wrong I am an absolute slut for angst and complex nuanced discussions of trauma in fictional characters, and Zuko is such an amazing vessel for my insatiable thirst for angst. But. SO!! IS!!! MAKO!!!!!). But Mako doesn’t get that treatment. He’s vilified for his significantly less bad mistakes. And it makes no actual fucking sense. Because he is so primed for angst and he has insane amounts of trauma. And he’s so sweet. He just loves the people in his circle so fucking much, he just wants to do right by them, he just wants to protect them and keep them safe, and also fucking save the goddamn world. Jfc. He’s sooo GOOD. And the crazy thing is that he’d actually be a better fit for a lot of the specific angst and character traits people want to project onto Zuko that actually aren’t in line with Zuko’s character. Like when people write how Zuko is so humble and doesn’t think he deserves anything and is so intrinsically kind and patient and gentle. And that’s just… not canon Zuko at all. Canon Zuko is impatient and loud and shouts and so insanely fucking proud. He was raised a prince thinking he deserved everything because he was royalty. And yes yes so much abuse and lack of self worth and trauma. Yes obviously. But Zuko expects (or at least expected) people to give him things or do things for him because he was royalty. At least at one point. He doesn’t know how to cook or take care of himself or other people, because he’s always had people doing that for him, at least to a certain degree (I’m not saying the ship banishment was luxury but he still absolutely had a crew that did a lot of shit, like cooking and day to day grunt work for him). Whereas Mako IS humble and soft spoken and quiet and gentle. He never raises his voice with bolin and never lashes out in anger. Bolin and Korra say hurtful unfair and unkind shit to him, and he just fucking takes it. He doesn’t shout or throw insults back. He just accepts their anger and criticims and still fights to help and protect them. He is self reliant and raised his younger brother alone since they were both homeless orphans. He can cook. He also doesn’t think he deserves better when people treat him like shit, because he’s always been treated like shit. (Hello self worth self-loathing angst potential galore!!) Mako is everything that a lot of fandom want Zuko to be and he has endless potential for sad boi trauma angsting. But he gets hated for no fucking reason while Zuko gets idolized. And it makes no fucking sense and drives me absolutely fucking nuts

[a--p--i]

Lin beifong give me such conflicting feeling bc I want her to strangle me w her thighs bit also. Acab.

Help

[onejellyfishplease]

Tell me all about your AU's and HeadCannons <3

OKAY OKAY!!!

so im gonna tell you about something I had planned for open your shell, but just never got round to writing. (i might redo it to be after the reveal but idk???)

DONNIE WAS GONNA FIND A MUTANT THERAPY SESSION!

where some mutants so to talk about how their mutations have affected them, and work through it togther.

And through shenanigans, Donnie was gonna accidentally get included in it. my thought was that they were tailing one of their mutant villians, or Donnie just got accidentally got roped into it.

ANYWAY.

hes in the therapy session.

and they start doing normal therapy stuff.

and then they ask, 'turn to the person next to you, and tell them 3 good things about your mutation, it can be small, but just 3 little things that have improved'

and Donnies mind would just kinda go blank?!

the three good things i think he would have were:

- taller than Leo

- that's it

yeah, depending on where this takes place on the timeline, the 3 good things might change alot.

and also, the person he was talking to, i was gonna make my version of Mona Lisa!!! who is a velociraptor mutant! and they become friends and nerd about palaeontology together.

(later Mona Lisa is introduced to Raph)

basically this little arc would be all about changing Donnies attitude towards his mutations.

and now that i think about it, i probably should include for after the reveal. maybe Mikey can obviously tell that Donnies still struggling, and is the one to trick (???) Donnie into going. idk.

thoughts?

[makorra-scarf]

Im not aure if you're still active, it's fine if you're not, but I'm still upset makorra didn't happen. They had so many cinematic cues it's upsetting. Sincerely, someone who recently rewatched LOK.

Hi hi! I'm not super active on this blog anymore, but every once in a blue moon I'll reblog stuff lol.

I'm also still sad about makorra ;_; the setup was there and everything, it's honestly confusing and frustrating just from a cinematic standpoint.

I've been cooking an LOK rewrite in my brain for a long time, and maybe one day I'll post it, haha. There's so many things in the series that I wasn't satisfied with, so I think it could be a fun project (not that I'm a professional or anything haha).

Thanks for the message! (Your avatar is very cute btw!)

[stayatsam]

remember how atla had toph's entire arc be about breaking rules and being independent of a prison of a society and then lok made her a cop

also remember how lok implied non-benders are a marginalized group and showed them experiencing police violence, and then never substantially addressed it

[wilcze-kudly]

consider: au where opal goes rogue, leaves the airbenders, basically becomes antifa against kuvira

I LOVE THAT

I alwys thought Opal may be an airbender who would splinter off from the Air Nomads more traditional pacifistic lifestyle. What's interesting is that by going up against Kuvira, she is protecting an Air Nomad value- that of freedom.

So it would be interesting to see that storyline and how it would impact her relationship with the other airbenders like Jinora and Tenzin.

I also think the Beifong family would support her wholeheartedly, perhaps getting involved in it too. I kinda have been toying with the idea of the Beifongs starting a resistance against Kuvira. They seemed to be the only people genuinely caring about Kuvira's actions and willing to try to put a stop to her.

I think B4's storyline would benefit a lot from a having the Beifong family as Pov characters, since they could actually offer insight into what's going on in the Earth Kingdom. They also have a very personal connection to the villains, Kuvira and Baatar Jr, which wasn't explored as much as I wish it had been.

If the queercoded miniboss from B1 gets almost a whole episode with flashbacks to traumadump aboud his bender communist big bro in B1, why did Su have to tell Korra that she adopted Kuvira OFFSCREEN. Lile doesn't that feel like something we should've seen. AND DON'T GET ME STARTED ON THAT FUCKING COMIC.

When thinking about this idea, Iwas also inspired by Polish freedom fighters and their partisan activities, since Kuvira's rule over the Earth Empire has hallmarks of both Nazi and Soviet regimes, for example the Spirit Canon (before it got attached to the ridiculous robot) being inspired by an actual german canon (Dora), the literal Iron Curtain, the "re-education" camps, the militarisation, the forceful redistribution of resources, the rampant propaganda, etc, etc.

However, this storyline has strong USA influences, for example the almost complete dismissal of the actual people who live under the occupation, for the benefit of heroes from the thinly veiled New York insert.

The Beifong family stand out from this group as actual citizens of the Earth Kingdom, who were opposed to Kuvira's rule the whole time because they knew what the fuck was going on at least to some extent. They are members of an established Earth Kingdom family, daughter and grandchildren of an Earth Kingdom war hero, and they live in a city that is seemingly the seedbed of progress and innovation.

Their storylines could be fascinating as they come to realise that no one, not even the literal fucking Avatar seems to be too jazzed to help them, that they are quite literally on their own. This is not too dissimilar from Poland as it was at the beginning of the invasion. Despite having agreements with England and France of these two countries supporting Poland's independence, England and Frabce did not take up military action against Germany after its attack on Poland. Similarly, Republic City, the Fire Nation and the Air Nomads were not willing to put up a fight until Kuvira attacked them! Idk what the fuck the Water Tribe was doing but probably not much I assume.

Stories of resistance fighters in German occupied countries (not only Poland) are often forgotten in the larger picture, despite them playing vital roles in the war. This is especially poignant when it comes to countries that were absorbed into the Eastern bloc when said freedom fighters were hunted and murdered relentlessly to keep the people silent and obedient.

Seeing an echo of these often forgotten stories in the Beifong family, a family that tried to stand up against the dictator oppressing their country and then getting reduced to McGuffins in Korra's mental health journey and Bolin's ridiculous "getting back with my gf after I sympathised with Nazis" arc is disheartening.

The storyline was right there! The Beifongs have a personal connection to Kuvira and Baatar Jr, they have skin in the game, they have ideals opposing the main antagonist, they had the potential for an extremely emotuionally touching storyline, they have strong characters just begging to be explored. Opal and Kuvira are foils and it would be so easy to elevate Wei and Wing to the role of Baatar Jr's foils too, like a darker more antagonistic version of Tenzin and Bumi!

The storyline was right there!

But instead they get sidelined for Korra's, admittedly well done, but misplaced trauma arc and a weird fantasy oriental USA saviour fantasy. And then they get a shitty half assed comic where Opal and the twins to lesser extent are posited as unreasonable for being wary and angry at a person who tried to kill them! And Kuvira is woobified to an insulting extent.

Also Kuvira's attack on Zaofu, a wealthy and advanced city full of artists, scholars and visionaries gives big "Soviets and Germans commiting mass murder of Polish Intelligentsia in for example Katyń, in order to make the nation easier to control and take apart, due to lack of potential resistance leaders." I do not wanna hear you bitches talking about how she was right for wanting to "redistribute their wealth and shit". Her ass was after power and those damn platnium domes to make her military stronger. Like if this weren't a fucking kids show and they weren't planning a 'redemption' for Kuvira, people would be standing above mass graves and being shot in the back of the head.

Quick note: I'm going off mainly my knowledge of Polish history due to my own nationality and education, but there are similar stories in may surrounding countries, for example Ukraine which is currently still being attacked by Russia. The stories and ideologies Kuvira and B4 represented are still well and alive today, as was the rest of the world's indifference to the suffering caused by them.

This is why I feel so strongly on this subject and I wish it was handled better and with more care for the actual victims instead of the sorta "America adjacent" heroes.

I also want to note that I don't wish to erase the influences of other cultures and histories on Kuvira, B4 and the whole of Tlok. I am merely noticing themes and references that I was primed to see since I was a child, but that doesn't mean that this is the exclusive reading of the storyline.

I know this rant kinda fell away from the og topic and got heated but I have ✨️feelings✨️ about book 4, the Beifongs and Kuvira.

[innsjovide]

huge pet peeve of mine is if you kill off a beloved character in fanworks (or like. actual works if its the canon story) or even suggest it, no matter what narrative significance this might have on the story being told, you'll suddenly be flooded by a billion people being like 'NO U CANT KILL THEM THEYRE IMMORTAL THEYLL LIVE FOREVER THIS IS WRONG'

[cuteniarose]

an au that may or may not exist: what if suiren became the avatar instead of korra??

Believe it or not, it is an AU that has existed in my head for… about four years now, maybe? I think I even made some art for it once, though I’m pretty sure it was destroyed in the Great Tablet Explosion of October 2020 (don’t ask…). I never really developed it much because Kat wasn’t too interested in it and considering my difficult relationship with motivation, energy and creating in general, it’s hard to find the will to spend time and resources on something if I don’t have my beloved partner in crime to yell about it with me, you know?

But anyway, the two ways an AU like this could go are:

1) Reminiscent of most Red Lotus Korra AUs, Suiren is raised by her parents to believe in the anarchist cause, always on the run and never staying in one place for too long as they hide her from the White Lotus right up until it’s time for her to learn airbending. The world is absolutely not ready for an Avatar like her, Spirits help us all

2) She is discovered and taken from her parents as a child, the Red Lotus are imprisoned and she’s raised in Korra’s compound. No matter how much the White Lotus would try to condition her against her parents, she’d never listen and would spend the years doing as she’s told but biding her time until she’s old and powerful enough to break her parents free and take revenge on everyone who did this to them. The world’s fucked, RIP everyone

I am much more partial to the first version just because Suiren already goes through so much pain in all of our AUs, I’d like to spare her at least from this. And also the first version is just so much more fun since it creates room for a lot of family fluff and shenanigans, which are some of my favourite genres to indulge in 😁

As for what she’d actually be like as an Avatar, she’d be a lot like Korra. Brash, cocky, hotheaded, all that. She’s prodigious in waterbending, obviously, and I imagine fire and earth would come to her rather quickly as well, fire more so since she’s a bit too lightfooted for earth (on that note, as much as it would make sense, I don’t want her to be a lavabender. Let Midori have this one thing she’s exceptional at, please, she already has an inferiority complex the size of the Earth Kingdom even without her sister being the Avatar). Air would also be a struggle since the extent of her spirituality is considering the moon her closest ally, but she’d have the movements down straight away since it’s not too far off from her bending style. And this is based on what I tangentially learned from Kat, but I think she might also be similar to Yangchen in being very susceptible to her past lives. Not quite to that severity, but she definitely gets flashbacks and strange dreams and random knowledge a lot, and when she’s overwhelmed and dissociated her past lives have a tendency to take over. It’s both scary and comforting to her, knowing that at any moment someone else could take her body over while her mind would be safe and sound in some sort of headspace. Out of her past lives, she’d absolutely adore Kyoshi and Yangchen, would probably be interested in whatever Kuruk and Aang have to tell her, and would hate Roku for his inaction leading to the start of the 100 Year War. She’d probably like Wan too if she ever dug that deep

She’s two years older than Korra so she’d have a bit more time before LoK’s plot kicks in, but… I didn’t actually think this far, to be honest. I’m horrendous when it comes to politics so I don’t really know what to do with the conflicts Korra faced. However, Suiren’s grandmother (adopted, not one of the biological ones, RIP Nuying and Afarin but Ikiaq is different) is a bloodbender so assuming there came a point where Suiren was taught it – and I believe she would definitely spend some time in the North with her grandmas, maybe at some point after the White Lotus exhausted their search of the poles and decides that the Avatar must come from a blended family in the Earth Kingdom – I think she’d be able to clock what Amon was doing as bloodbending. Not straight away, but if she looked at the chi paths of one of his victims. But again, I don’t really know where that whole thing with the equalists and Tarrlok and everything else would go. But it would be funny as hell if they had a “🎵 I’m just like you, you’re just like me 🎶” moment over bloodbending 😂😂 (before obviously some huge end-of-season fight, we’re not in a Disney movie where everything is solved by singing, unfortunately. If Suiren from the mermaid AU was here, though…)

About Book 2, tbh I feel like the story could very well end here, because the Red Lotus is fundamentally opposed to the existence of the Avatar. No, I’m not saying that her own family would kill her, absolutely not, but perhaps Suiren would choose to end the Avatar cycle during Harmonic Convergence by unfusing with Raava, freeing Vaatu and letting them keep doing what they were doing before Wan so rudely interrupted them. But if we wanna take it further and make it interesting, which I would prefer, she could fuse with Vaatu instead (probably killing Unalaq in the process since he’s not letting his Chaos Kite Boyfriend go that easily /hj. That’s alright though, wouldn’t be the first verse in which she’d kill Unalaq [hi Kat I know we haven’t discussed this yet but I recently got this really clear picture in my head of UtOS!Suiren eventually killing Unalaq as they’re readying the world for an anarchist revolution, and of Malina finding her over his dead body and kissing her while her face is splattered in his blood. Idk what possessed me there but it exists now and idk what you’ll think of it but you’re gonna have to try really hard to talk me out of it], no one would miss him). Raava wouldn’t be too happy about it but she’ll settle eventually once Suiren yells at her and Vaatu enough times to shut the fuck up and stop fighting, she can hear every word and she’s trying to sleep. If I were to write it, I’d draw a lot from what Kat described in her works Bonded and Adumbration, which I would link but that would require me doing a whole song and dance to get my VPN to connect so I can access Ao3, so… I’m sorry find them yourself if you’re curious 😅 It’d be quite an interesting dynamic for sure, and I really think Suiren would be rather fond of her Spirit Kites. She’s got a real thing for any creature that reminds her of water – snakes, certain fish, dancing Kuvira, etc., Raava and Vaatu would fit right in!! (I’m being plagued with art ideas beyond my skill level, send help)

After that it’s pretty much a clear road to an anarchist revolution since she’d be practically unstoppable with the power of two Great Spirits inside her, and that would replace the plots of Books 3 and 4 since obviously she wouldn’t have to go up against her own parents, they wouldn’t lose and Kuvira wouldn’t become the Great Uniter. But I still think Kuvira would have a high rank in some kind of oppositional movement against the Red Lotus, probably started by Suyin, so Kuviren can still have that sweet, sweet toxic yuri enemies to lovers plot line. Wouldn’t be an AU by yours truly without it :D And.. I think that’s pretty much all the thoughts I have on this topic, apart from the fact that once the time comes, Suiren would still end the Avatar cycle, either by unfusing with Raava and Vaatu or by ensuring she dies in the Avatar state (not by poison or anything, I’m sure if she talked to Raava and Vaatu they could arrange a way for them to take over right as she’s about to pass. My dear girl deserves to go peacefully at age 90+, I will not argue about this). No matter the exact route of this AU, Suiren would be the last Avatar, I can’t see her deciding any other way. Anyway, it’s a fun AU, definitely, an absolute goldmine for those shenanigans that I adore, but I do not have the energy or enough knowledge of politics and worldbuilding to turn it into an actual thing, so for now, it all remains in this post. Thanks for the question though, I really enjoyed this little thought experiment :)

[sanrielle]

Sometimes readers wildly misinterpret something in my writing and I feel the urge to frantically go back over it and try to ""fix it"" to make things more clear.

And then I remember how some people will argue that Aang is abusive or plays no role beyond a MacGuffin (genuinely saw this the other day), or how Korra had no character development. Those aren't even bad interpretations; they're objectively false.

It makes me realize that even beloved and professionally-made media is not immune to people ignoring what they see to create their own narrative, and there's not a goddamn thing I can do about it. Not sure if that makes me feel better or worse about my own writing, tbh.

[baku-usagi]

Talking to Co workers about how much I despised legend of Korea reminds me of how much I did love bolin, and how said I was that he was played for a comic only character. The show was honestly such a garbage fire with so much potential. Big sigh

[im--never--happy]

Admittedly, perhaps I don't give Mako enough credit 🫣🫣🫣

No doubt he's an extremely talented bender, tho!

Listen fam, ain’t no one giving Mako enough credit. He’s not just a ridiculously talented bender, he’s also just so friggin lovable. My little awkward dork son. My little dweeb. He can’t do public speaking for shit, he doesn’t know how to interact with his ex girlfriends but still tries his best. He has internalized so much goddamn trauma and takes on so much responsibility for himself and for everyone. He got a hero complex thinking it’s on him to save and help everyone and fix everything all by himself the whole goddamn time. And that’s because he was the only thing keeping him and bolin from starving or freezing to death alone on the streets for so many years. This boy. Shdjskdjd This boy has internalized everything and yet fandom just writes him off as boring and lame and stupid and I wanna friggin SCREAM

[a--p--i]

I HAVE A CONFESSION

I absolutely love all the fanart that is coming out of the atla live action series, but the series itself is so hard to watch 😭😭 does anyone else relate? And if others really like the adaptation I wanna know why so I can try and rewatch it with fresh eyes

I feel like the storytelling isn't good. I don't mind if it's not faithful to the original, but I feel like there is so little humor or mystery and the soundtrack and lack of sound effects don't help. Also, some of the original plot they absolutely shouldn't change. Uncle isn't funny, sokka isn't misfortunate, katara doesnt get mad, aang isn't goofy, etc etc. The Gaang don't go off and have enough fun little adventures together, or learn about loacal customs, beliefs, culture, etc. Everyone's personality is just kinda flat. And the whole deal with ozai wanting his son back... like is it historically accurate? Probably. But the point of the original was that ozai doesn't want his son back because azula is a better child soldier. This is kinda important for the plot :///

And I am particularly mad about katara and suki. I feel like their personalities are so much more watered down than the original. Like this is not as empowering at all for us ladies :/ I want to see suki messing around with sokka and him simping over her that. I want to see katara lose her temper and be rebellious and get genuinely scary and powerful. I really liked that about her in the original show, and it's like the completely declawed her in the live action.

And don't even get me started on the fucking spirit world. That thing with koh was complete bullshit.

The worst part is I really liked the casting and costume and set design. Snd the fight scenes are pretty good. A lot of it was culturally well thought out, and then the writing just didn't deliver. I feel like it would have been a great way to work in some eastern philosophy/religion like animism or Taoism or ancestor worship and it really fell flat. I want to support the actors and I wanted this show to be an aapi win for us so i kept watching. But I have to say I'm kinda let down

Best part of the thing is that people are getting back into the fandom tho so I hope people still keep creating