#not really methinks

[mah-o-daryaa]

HOT TAKE INCOMING...

Aang should've struggled with waterbending.

OK! OK! OK! I get why you're upset, just hear me out first! (Also I'm a teenage girl, not an old man.)

Now, if we remember the whole system with the four elements, fire is the element of power, earth is the element of substance, air is the element of freedom, and water is the element of change. And each Avatar has an element that they struggle with because its principles conflict with their personality.

That's why Aang struggled to earthbend, its mindset of facing conflict head-on contrasted with his avoidance of conflict. Similarly, Korra struggled to airbend because its mindset of avoiding conflict contradicted with her hot-headedness and brash attitude.

However, the problem is that while Korra (realistically) spends the entire first season learning to airbend (but this isn't about her though, this is about Aang), Aang struggles with earthbending for just one episode and then instantly grasps the concept and become really proficient (hey, maybe Toph's just a really good teacher).

This is the problem. The writers wanted Aang to struggle, so they gave them challenges that clashed with Aang's character traits, but then as soon as the episode ends, he's automatically succeeded in the given task. It's really annoying how Bryke especially don't want Aang to learn from his mistakes and grow as a person, because Raava forbid their Pwecious Boi(TM) is ever in the wrong!

Another element he struggled with is firebending, but not so much with the element itself as with the application of firebending. In The Deserter (1x16), Aang is given the opportunity to learn how to firebend under the tutelage of Jeong Jeong, but over time Aang becomes careless until he accidentally burns Katara while playing around. The episode ends with Aang swearing to never firebend again, and he stays true to his word until The Firebending Masters (3x13), when he and Zuko relearn firebending from the titular masters, Ran and Shaw. This episode ends with them learning that fire isn't an element of destruction, but rather one of life, warmth, and light, and thus becoming more confident in their firebending abilities.

Then there's waterbending, which is the only element besides air that Aang did not struggle with (apparently it was because Aang was quickly able to grasp the mindset of water), but he somehow managed to be a better waterbender than Katara? "Hard to believe" is how I'd put it. I really think there's a missed opportunity to have Aang struggle with the element, and here's why.

The world has changed a lot during the hundred years Aang was trapped in the iceberg. As Katara put it best, "Everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked." Aang had just found out that every single one of his people were exterminated by the Fire Nation, and the rest of the world was caught in a brutal war that lasted an entire century. Worse, in The Northern Air Temple (1x17), Aang discovers that a group of refugees have moved into the Northern Air Temple and almost completely renovated the interior for their own needs (this is a really grey area of morality, I personally believe that the Mechanist was wrong for destroying what was already there in the temple, but Aang was acting on borderline supremacist behaviour throughout the episode. Plus the Mechanist and Teo especially were genuinely interested in Air Nomad culture and wanted the best for their community).

That's why I believe that Aang should have had a mini-arc about waterbending throughout Book 1 (like how he did with learning earthbending and later firebending in the later seasons), which would be about realizing that the world has changed so much during the last century. The Gaang still steals the waterbending scroll, but this time around, instead of getting it right first try, Aang would struggle terribly the first few times because he's still in denial that he's the Avatar and truly the last of his kind.

This would be explored at the Northern Air Temple, which would still new development. He'd have a talk with Teo who reminds him of his people, and that they would never leave him, and that they would live on in his heart. (I personally think it was a missed opportunity that Teo didn't become one of the Air Acolytes. He'd do great improving the standard of living by inventing new machines that would be a benefit, not a detriment, to the new Air Nation and to everyone who is part of it. That's for another time, though.)

Then at the North Pole the whole deal with Pakku would still be there, but this time Aang would still lag behind Katara, this time not because of his laziness, but rather because he still doesn't understand the change. Then with a little help from Katara and Yue, Aang would finally understand that the world has changed, nothing will be the same, but he can face this. With a little help from Water Tribe philosophy, Aang would realize during the finale that what makes the Water Tribe strong is their ability to work with adversity, rather than resisting or fleeing, and their strong bonds with family that can hold them through anything. Also can we please please please have more Water Tribe Aang? The Gaang spent most of Book 1: Water in the Earth Kingdom!

And there you have it. My argument for why Aang should have struggled with waterbending. You can agree or disagree (you are, after all, entitled to your own opinion), but please don't be rude about it, and try to consider my perspective too.

[nunkisketches]

I'll stay right besides you

[canisalbus]

[direpunk]

be my reminder here that i am not alone in // this body, this body holding me // feeling eternal, all this pain is an illusion

tw : uncensored bl00d/g0r3 + ink versions under the cut!

[y-elleven]

sae folds so hard for domesticity. a total sucker in love. the guy's useless at everything but soccer but for you he'd learn to do laundry, cook meals you can share together, all the basic life skills he never bothered to learn for himself bc he never really thought of life beyond soccer. but for you? man, for you he would. he wants a future with you so bad he doesn't know what to do with himself sometimes. he wants you as you are right now and he wants you when you're old and wrinkly with him. he just wants you with him. he wants to have a home that's warm and has fresh fruit on the table and comfy pillows with traces of you and everything you love everywhere. a home that's lived-in and with two of everything. he wants that future with you. so please let him peel your fruits for you. let him drape his jacket over your shoulders when it starts getting just a little chilly. let him wordlessly pull you to the side farthest from the road when you walk on sidewalks

he's not very good at the practical things yet. he's still learning how to make the future that warms his dreams a reality you'd also want. so for now, let him do what he can, even if it's just the little things

[ren-cerati]

THEN I'LL BECOME THE MONSTER

I WILL DEAL THE BLOW

AND I'LL BECOME THE MONSTER

LIKE NONE THEY'VE EVER KNOWWNN

SO WHAT IF IM THE MONSTER

LURKING DEEP BELOW?

I MUST BECOME THE MONSTER

AND THEN WE'LL MAKE IT HOME

[lui-the-cute-snek]

Enough with making Bee pregananat, it's Breakdown's turn

[wickedcriminal]

When you roll in mud you face the tub you stupid rat!!

[tubbytarchia]

wtf get these two losers off my dash

[remxedmoon]

these bugs appeared in my house how do i get rid of them

aaaa beebo has Utterly Consumed me i fear. i have half a canvas full of these two fuckers now i’m just too lazy to properly save them. look at my stupid little chibis they are two sauces tall. anyways borderless versions below the cut if you want them 👍

[wolfythewitch]

Have u considered giving the creature and victor similar factions since you know the whole theme of fatherhood

I kind of made him look like victor and Henry's lovechild LOL. Though basing it off Henry more. I think it's silly and gay but also if I go down the route of how when victor saw Clerval it brought with him memories of home and his family, and the fact that the creature destroys that one by one is very silly to me.

Sees Clerval: serene joy and calm and peace

Sees the creature: oh dear lord

[fancy-rock-dove]

Having some feelings this evening about Frodo’s reaction to people around him being corrupted by desire for the One Ring. How generally devoid it is of any blame placed on that person, and how he instead treats it as a tragedy to spare others from by distancing himself.

It’s a big deal in the latter books that Frodo wants to show Sméagol kindness if possible because things have progressed so far that Frodo can recognize his own experience in him. But what’s really making me stare at a wall right now are Frodo’s early days reactions even before the personal identification is as strong.

Basically, I can’t stop thinking about how deeply Frodo’s reaction to that last encounter with Boromir is informed by the fact that the first person to ever try and take the ring from Frodo was actually Bilbo. The fact that the first person Frodo ever saw corrupted to that point, even for a moment, was the kind, clever, caring uncle who adopted and taught him, and who Frodo thinks the world of.

Just thinking about the personal relationship Frodo had with the very first person he saw the Ring affect and how fundamentally that set the tone for his understanding of it for the entirety of the journey.

[knataa]

Textposts be upon ye

[pop-roxs]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO GRELLE!! she deserves ALL the presents and cake for her special day <3

[cable-salamdr]

Their album drops next week y’all better be ready to hear the bangers of these four mentally ill and traumatised teenagers (Click for better quality because tumblr hates me)

Individual shots (click for details? Idk):

[potatobugz]

here is a collection of riptide drawings that i made a while ago but never posted ^_^