#same for people who don't like suki mai katara

[ultfreakme]

I don’t trust you if you hate Aang. How? Genuinely, how? Why?

[rboooks]

The Shadow Nation

Zuko will admit that his time as Fire Lord has been a rough adjustment. Many oppose his rise to power, scream for a more prolonged war, and still support Ozai over the banished prince turned tratior (In their eyes at least).

He has dealt with many assassination attempts throughout his two-year rule. Suki and her warriors were working nonstop to keep him safe, but even they couldn't be everywhere at once. So it came to no surpise that one managed to sneak through every now and then.

Ussually, Zuko is able to fight them off. What many people of the fire nation don't realize is that the stories of his bending and combat being weaker then his sister and father are in the past. He has plentely of front line combant experince, has re-shaped his whole fire bending tenchine and has even trained the Avatar.

Zuko, to this day, is much more deadly with his swords than with his flames. The fact his people consider none-bending as a none-threaten is a sadundervalue of his combat abilitiess. The assasins are always so suprise when they learned just how ready he is for them.

They spent the rest of their days in a prision cell, stweing in rage that the Fire Lord contuines to call back troops, return colines and some may say worst of all, welcome the Mixed Blood into the nation.

Mixed Blood are children who resulted from Fire Nation soldiers letting off some stress in conquered areas with other Nations. They were not seen as equals, for Fire stood above all, and those children were servents at best, dirty secerts at worse.

This was a notion that all four elements shared. They disagreed with intermingling with the wrong element. The Mixed were not welcomed anywhere, less if they shared Fire in their veins. There was some tolerance for Water and Earth mixing but only some and only in trading ports that were far out of sight. (Or the pleasure district where all the Mixed eventually ended up)

It saddens Aang; he claimed a hundred years ago that mixed was common, and it's another thing this wretched war ruined.

Mostly, it angered Zuko. He knew what it was like to be an unwanted child, knew the confusion, the anger, the pain of wondering why his birth was such a sin.

He met some mixed children while on the run from the Fire Nation - he suspected Jet was one of them, but he never dared voice his opinion. Being outed as mixed in some places was as good as a death sentence. Ba Sing Se was one of those places.

He decided that the if Fire Nation would heal everything they have done then they needed to make admends for such children. They needed to help them find love and a home. With the help of his friends, he sent out a world wide notice welcoming any Mixed Blood and promising a life where they did not need to hide who they were.

Zuko, will admit that this eagerness to welcome those children may have blinded him from how lowly his people saw the Mixed. His assassination attempts tripled since herds and herds of badly washed, weary eyes, and tired individuals started arriving in the fire nation.

It, apparently, didn't help that Cheif Hakoda did the same after much encouragement from Katara and Sokka. The Fire Nation for the past three generations grew up with nothing but tales on how they should never be like the rest of the world.

Agreeing to shelter Mixed like the Southern Water Tribe has many calling for a coup.

Zuko knew this. But he would not stop in his effort to right the many wrongs of his bloodline. He expected the assumptions, he expected the barely hidden insults of his advisors, he expected the resentment from some of his more patriotic people.

What he wasn't expecting was his people trying to rid of him using spirits.

Zuko doesn't know much about the spirits or the spirit world. Aang never really talked about his trips there, and Uncle would only warn him to respect the beings at all costs.

He knew enough to follow, honor them, give them prayers, and how to avoid them but nothing else. So he really isn't prepared for his latest assassin to be an old woman with a spirit trapped in a cursed pot.

Apparently, her family had sealed it away years ago, and in exchange for its freedom, the spirit is tasked with ridding the world of Fire Lord Zuko. The old hag waits until Aang, Uncle, and Sokka- who also surprisingly has some encounters with spirits- depart before attempting her plan.

She rushes into the Gand Courtroom, throwing her pot with a loud release spell on her lips. Zuko is in the middle of a peace summit, so his first instinct is to protect the visiting diplomatics, less the other Nations call war again.

The old woman is quickly taken down by the Kypshi warrior, but the deed is already over.

The pot shatters, and out bursts a blue burning flame that forms into a howling wolf. There are chains along the wolf neck, and no amount of thrashing can break them. The wolf looks up, straight into Zuko's eyes, ignoreing the swords and flames of his guards trying to protect him before it bows it head.

I'm sorry. It seems to say. This is the only way.

He leaps at Zukom by passing every attempt to stop it, before it digs it's teeth into the Fire Lord's neck. Everyone is left watching in horror as the young king screams in agony, blue flames licking all over his body as he truns to dust.

The wolf's chains shatter as the last of the ashes that were once the man who brought peace to the world fall. The old woman laughs, even though the wolf spirit now turns it rage filled eyes on her and her kin.

She did what she needed to do. The Fire Nation will rise.

She is unaware that her actions cause the Fire Nation to burn. The wolf spirit was the nation's original spirit of mercy, and her family was the ones responsible for sealing it away on the order of thelate Fire Lord Sozin.

She is unaware her ancestors were all but wiped out once they successfully put the wolf away, for fear that they would turn on the nation.

There is nothing more dangerous than a spirit that no longer holds mercy. The Fire Nation seems to vanish overnight. It breaks Avatar Aang's heart but world prepares for a second war. A war against the spirits.

But that is the fate of this timeline. Fire Lord Zuko would never know the fate of his people as he was sent far away by Mercy to fulfill another destiny.

It's the least the spirit can do for having to take his human life in part of a deal.

Zuko wakes to find the Blue Spirit Mask attached to his face, laying on his back in what could only be Fire Nation colonies within the Earth Kingdom.

His trusted duel swords tied to his back., his utterly black outfit with only hints of blue undertones, and the most startling feature of all, his now unscared skin.

Zuko has no idea what is going onas he studies his face in a river, tracing his smooth skin with a near-hysterical glee. He's never considered himself overly goodlooking, but for some reason his relection is pretty.

No, not pretty, gorgeous. Unnaturally so, as if he traded his humanity for features as perfect as these.

What in the world-

A scream breaks through the air. High pitch, laced with fear and sp obviously young, Zuko is donning his mask breaking into a sprint before he even process what he is doing.

He does not notice the small flickers of ember he leaves in his wake, multiple colors as his dragon flames, nor does he see that the speed he travels is impossible unless he, too, is an Airbender.

When he breaks through the treeline, he finds himself in a ruined camp. A crowd of Earth Kingdom soldiers surrounds two small children, who look no older than ten, while a third, probably twelve, is desperately trying to free himself from a large boulder that seems to have crushed his legs.

There is blood everywhere, and Zuko burns with rage.

"Mixed Blood isn't welcome here," A soldier spits, kicking the thrashing twelve-year-old. The gut-curling screams the poor thing releases don't seem to affect the soldiers besides a few taunting smirks.

"Spirits help us!" One of the smaller kids cries out and a near by soulder kicks her in the stomech.

"The spirits don't answer to the likes of-" His words are lost as blue flames overtake the small opening, placing a barrier between the children and the adults.

Zuko walks through the flames, a strange sense of calmness washing over him. Deep within, he knows that he will protect these children from the world and burn everything in his path that tries to stop him.

"A spirit," One of the soldiers gasps. "Why is a spirit here?!"

"You attacked children." Zuko's voice is his own but not. It sounds like it's coming from a deep cave, as if the echoing flickers in and out like a candle flame. Somehow, it sounds far worse than Aang whenever his past lives speak through him.

It would have chilled him to the bone if he was in the right state of mind.

"You attacked children." He repeats when he does not get the responses he wants from the soldiers. They are not groveling before the children in regret. They are not freeing the boy from his pain. They are not moving.

"These are not children. These are Mixed- abominations! We were only trying to Agggh No, please. Mercy! No no! Please," One of the soldiers starts, but his words are cut off by the blue flames that suddenly grab hold of him, shaping him into chains and dragging him into the shadows that have formed around Zuko.

Shadows that hold loud screaming voices all being for death for that would be a mercy.

His screams echo alongside the voices within Zuko's shadow as he tilts his head to the remaining soliders.

"You attacked children. Leave" He whispers and at once the screams stop, the shadows draw back into his own human shaped one and his flames blow out. The Earth Kingdom soldier remains on the floor, eyes seeingless, and skin blue.

Dead.

The rest of the Soldiers don't linger, rushing to leave the angry spirits sight. Zuko watches them leave from behind his mask wondering where such rage had come from. And why he felt numb to the life he just took. Why he felt so unhuman and not be bothered by the thought.

He reaches up to trace the Blue Spirit Mask, feeling dancing flames along his fignertips.

Well done. Our children are safe. A voice whispers in his mind. It's Zuko, but it's also not. It's something more.

He hears a small whimper that snaps his out of whatever hold the mask has over him snaps. He turns his attention to the three children. The two are trying to push the bolder off of the eldest, their features scream Fire Nation but their eyes and coloring belie their Earth Kingdom.

Zuko stride over, waves a hand and the rock butns to dust harmlessly. The younger children cower and the oldest is too daze with pain to do anything else but sob.

His legs are comepletly smashed.

The cold burning rage returns.

Our children. Heal them. Zuko hears, and he wonders if he's gone mad. It's his own voice, but it belongs to the Blue Spirit.

I can't. I'm not a waterbender. He tells it

We can. We heal with green flames. Heal. It insits

Zuko traces the jaw of his mask before he raises a hand and sure enough green flames lick his fingers. The children start to sob, but he heads their fear no mind as he brings the green fire down on the boy's broken body, willing it to warm, fix heal.

Bones, muscles and skin slowly repair one by one, taking whatever scars once decorated the child's skin and leaving smooth almost too perefect sking behind.

Once done the flames jump onto the other children, fixing the broken bones, the bruises and the many scars other less kind humans have given them.

The three gape up at the spirit who holds out a hand.

"Would you like to come live in my nation?"

"The spirit world?" One whispers wondering if they had not been rescued after all. If that had all pasted to the next world.

The spirit tilts its head before removing its mask and revealing a face so beautiful it could rival the stars and sun. "No, dear child. My nation. My name is Zuko."

A fifth nation is born. The Shadow Nation moves from place to place but can never be taken as the spirits themselves protect the civilians.

Not that Zuko realizes it. He's just trying to get back to the Fire Nation, and if he impulsively stops every time a child is in pain and said child follows behind him like a lost puppy, well, that's no one's business but his own.

The legend of the Blue Spirit, protector of all children, inspires so many before Avatar Aang is found in the Southern Water tribe three years later.

A fire wolf watches from a far and smiles.

[rifari2037]

First of all, Zuko had the choice to take Katara, Sokka, Suki, and Toph. Zuko also had the choice to asked for help to one or two of them. But Zuko chose Katara and only Katara without thinking twice.

Why?

I guess because Zuko trusted Katara more than he trusted the rest of the Gaang. So how could Zuko save the rest of the Gaang, if he himself chose Katara as the only one who could possibly be in that situation?

Second of all, well, Zuko would save anyone from the Gaang, but didn't even save Mai, the girl who was 'supposed to be' his girlfriend, from the same person, Azula?

It wasn't a life-threatening moment for Mai - or it could have been - but still, Zuko was 'supposed to' love Mai, right? She betrayed Azula for him, but he didn't do anything for her? Not even release her from the prison even though he was going to be a new Fire Lord?

Was that even make any sense?

When he saw Mai facing Azula, shouldn't he think, "I would not let my villain of a sister hurt someone I love who save me, whatever the risk!"

People mention Aang when Zutara is shipped because Aang was the main characters of the show.

Meanwhile Mai was so flat, not only in her gesture, but also as a character. She wasn't well developed enough to becoming the love interest of a complex character like Zuko.

She didn't have much role in Zuko's character development - if any. The storyline and his arc wouldn't change at all even if Zuko and Mai never dated. That's exactly why people often forget her and rarely talked about her.

Beside, was she really loves Zuko when she didn't really wanted to understand him and his struggle?

Even if she really loves Zuko, I feel sorry for this character because her 'supposed to be' lover treating her like she was nothing. He always forget her - even right after that moment, he didn't put much effort into her - while he waited all night for another girl's forgiveness, and honestly I doubt if he really loves her.

I don't understand about 'Mai is everything to Zuko what people describe Zuko to be for Katara', like, which part?

Yes, I agree that Mai was fascinating character, if only the writers had focused more on developing this character. She was so cool as Azula's trio, and in this elite group, her and Ty Lee's character could have been written deeper.

Mai deserve better!

[zuko-always-lies]

Imagine if Post-war Kuei and the rest of the Earth Kingdom (and maybe the Water Tribes) had demanded the arrest and trial of Iroh for his actions during the war and the Seige of BSS. How do you think the Gaang would react to Iroh facing a war crimes tribunal?

Honestly, Aang, Katara, Sokka, and especially Suki don't really know Iroh that well or care about him that much. He spent a lot of time helping Zuko hunt them down, then he ended up helping them, and Zuko won't shut up about him (but Zuko clearly hasn't been receiving the best moral instruction). I think they wouldn't care all that much about Iroh and might be shocked as they learn more about who precisely he is and what he spent most of his life doing. Still, Aang would probably be trying to mediate the situation.

Toph would probably be livid, she likes Iroh. And it's not like she cares much about all the abstract people who he killed. Toph doesn't think in those terms.

Zuko would be in full "I'm about to restart the 100 years war" mode.

Ty Lee would maybe be vaguely sad (she thinks kooky Iroh is funny) but wouldn't really care.

Mai would be indifferent at best and perhaps be a little satisfied. What has Iroh ever done for her or Azula or Ty Lee, other than create problems and ignore them because they're girls? What has he done for Zuko, other than helping screw him up and enabling him to do extremely reckless things? Why the hell should the Fire Nation care about protecting someone who abandoned them, someone with zero sense of responsibility?

Azula would be cackling at the irony of it, while at the same time being very worried what would happen to her and Mai and Ty Lee.

[marymary-diva17]

A marriage of peace and political (3)

zuko x reader x male mai

The daughter that had been gone for many years had finally come home, arriving back at the nation of her birth. It had been so many years she had laid eyes on her people and they had laid eyes on her. She was no longer the young woman that had been married off for peace, she was a woman,wife, and mother, lady or fire nation and southern water tribe. She had become that is respect and trusted by all of the nation, she had master her skills in bending and ruling a nation as well.

Y/n " ......."

Sokka " there have been reports of former fir nation prisoners being released in numbers"

y/n " well yes it had been discussed those how didn't commit crimes that are very bad and make them a danger to the public, have been released and allowed to start over"

sokka " oh"

y/n " yes most of them have started brand new lives in earth kingdom"

katara " you seem to know alot about this"

y/n " I was the on who made the idea and spoke about to the fire nation council, and they have approved of it"

aang " that a wonderful idea y/n giving other a chance in life again"

y/n " yes"

earth king " lady y/n I will like to ask you about trade between the earth kingdom and fire nation, as my nation will like to use more metal in our stuff"

y/n " well your majesty you are in luck there are some companies that will, love to do with you company with a great deal in to them as well"

earth king " we can make that happen"

bato " it seems like thing have been going well for you in the fire nation, four sons and the title of lady y/n"

y/n " yes after the war had ended change had to come it was not easy, and slow at first but we are getting there"

hakoda " if you don't mind me asking how has the former fire lord been after that fight between him and the avatar" there had been uprising because of ozai which ended bad for him in the end, and good for everyone else.

sokka " yes the fire nation had taken him away"

y/n " he been placed under arrest in the nation watched closely, he can no longer bending after aang had taken it away"

aang " sorry about that"

y/n " it okay zuko and azula rule together as one"

toph " wow you think they will be fighting for the crown and title"

y/n " they haven't it seems like they came to terms that their father had used them"

katara " that good"

hakoda " has he meet the boys"

y/n " yes he has under the watch of zuko,azula, and iroh they don't trust him and either do I"

noble man " so the evil fire lord got to see the grandchildren before her own father"

y/n " my dear sir will you like to say that louder"

noble man " oh no I didn't mean it like ..."

y/n " I know how you meant it dear sir"

sokka " sister sorry about that"

y/n " it okay"

squire " excuse me the kyohsi warriors have arrived"

hakoda " that kyohis warriors"

squire " yes chef they ar the guards of your daughter and grandchildren"

sokka " that means suki with them let them in please" soon the door open and soon walked in suki and some of her warriors.

y/n " suki welcome I'm guessing my husbands sent you to come"

suki " y/n hello and yes I and some of the women came to, see you and my nephews where are they"

y/n " being their usual selves like always"

sokka " sukki welcome"

suki " sokka it good to see you are doing well" sukki had given sokka a cold glare.

hakoda " welcome ladies you will be our guests while you are all here guarding my daughter and grandson, I have warriors here if you need help"

kyohsi warrior " where has been for the last couple years oh yes here"

suki " I and my warriors are honored to be here and if we need help we will ask"

sokka " well I think we can call the meeting of day one to an end"

hakoda " yes I hope to have discussions with the fire lords and other fire nation officials"

y/n " you will father I will make sure of it" you had looked at your father and bowed your head in respect to the room and they did the same as well. You soon left the room with the kyoshi warriors following you as well.

suki " we have thought you will need some support against them"

y/n " thank you it going to be a very long time here"

y/n " let go find the boys" you soon started walking down the steps towards the village center.

????? " hey y/n wait up" you had heard your name getting called your siblings and their friends soon showed up, they race to meet you on the finally step.

katara " we were wondering if we can come with you"

y/n " oh"

sokka " well we haven't been with you in so many years we missed so much in your life"

toph " yes snow princess and it seems like sugar queen and boomerang boy have been dying to get to know their nephews, a bit more"

aang " yes we will love to get to now them knowing that I might be their uncle in the future"

katara " yes aang speaks the truth"

suki " i don't thin that a good idea...."

y/n " it okay suki you all can come with us to find the boys" you soon stepped off the finally step along with everyone else, you were trying to see the boys.

kid " hey come on we have to go see this match"

kid 2 " I'm coming I'm coming"

kid 3 " this will be so cool"

sokka " hey what going on here"

kid 4 " there this battle going to take place between some of boys here and some boys that arrived here for the event" you right away knew the other boys are your sons.

katara " we should go see what this is all about"

y/n " I have a feeling" the group of adults made their way to see what was the matter, and soon saw your four boys across from some other kids.

sokka " what going on here"

teen " just a friendly match that all we have been doing it all day while the adults are talking"

sokka " oh my spirts"

hakoda " what with all the chaos here"

sokka " dad it seems like the kids have found a way to keep themselves entertained by some matches"

hakoda " you all wish to battle these boys form fire nation"

crowd " fire nation boys"

hakoda " yes these boys are from very high rank family"

teen 2 " so they are nobility"

Muko " well yes and no"

hakoda " are you boys sure about this match this is way different here as it being snow, you might not be used to the environment"

izo " well I think we will do well"

uze " it seems like a good match as we been watching the rest and study"

man " study my boys here are good benders from our family they can take on anyone"

hakoda " boys are you sure about this"

muko,izo, and uze " yes" the three boys looked at their mother brother who seem, not to care that much about this whole situation.

zoja " I don't care it will be fun to knock down egotistical people down a bit"

teen 3 " you think you are going to beat us"

zoja " maybe"

muko " maybe we enter the battle sir as this is your tribe" hakoda looked at you as you nodded your head.

hakoda " sure"

y/n " boys remember what you father, aunt, uncles, and mother have helped you learn"

the boys " yes lady y/n"

suki " this is going to be interesting" everyone had taken their seats and started watching the battle began.

teen " we will go easy on you four"

zoja " oh we will make sure to go easy on you not wishing to humiliate you all front of everyone watching"

teen " huh ... ahhh" the first teen had soon been pinned against a ice wall by some draggers. These draggers belong to uze who was now smiling at the boy.

izo " lets go" izo and muko soon went after two of the fire bending at them, making the boys lost thier balance and soon fall down a small hole.

zoja " now are you going to give up or do we have to fight"

teen 4 " I will never back down" zoji had tossed some draggers at the boy but he missed it, which was part of zoja plan as the man had ran at him soon hitting his legs soon sending the boy falling to the ground.

teen 4 " hey I can't move what did you do"

zoja " found your pressure points dont worry I will fix it" zoji had undone what he did, the boy could move his legs again but had soon been pinned down a dragger in his shirt sleeve.

muko " mother did we make your proud" everyone was looking at you as the boys looked at you.

y/n " good job"

katara " that was amazing they moved so fast like it was nothing"

sokka " wait so muko and izo can bend fire while uze and zoja are no bender but fight like Mao and ...."

suki " ty lee had taught all the boys here skills of taking down enemies"

katara " those were some water bending moves"

y/n " yes I taught them that"

aang " that amazing"

hakoda " that was amazing boys"

y/n " yes I proud of you all and it seems like iroh has helped you all learn some new moves as well"

zoja " yes and over some tea and wisdom" the boys soon help the other boys up and free from their traps.

muko " good match maybe in our rematch you can beat us"

teen " you have a deal and you taught us a good lesson thank you"

uze " your welcome"

suki "good jobs it seems like you are taking our lessons well"

the boys " aunt suki" the boys had ran to go greet thier aunt happy to see she was here.

sokka " wait so you knew of them this whole time"

suki ' yes as guard to the royal family I got to be there for your sister and them, when you were here helping the world"

uze " aunt suki had helped us learn some combat skills, wait so you are the guy she meet many years ago that was being rude and mad at women had beat him in combat"

sokka " oh you kids have bene told about that"

zoja " yes we have heard many things about you all from our mother and others"

katara " I hope they were all good things"

Muko " oh yes some good thing here and there"

y/n " come on children there is some place I wish to take you all" the kids had nodded their heads, and soon followed you outside form the village and towards some grave sites.

y/n " hello mother and gran gran I have come home it has been so long, since I was here but I haven't come alone I have brought my children as well .... I have a wonderful marriage and wonderful family as well" you had bowed your head toward the two graves and the kids had done the same as well.

katara " mom will be so proud of you sister she will be proud of us all"

y/n " yes she will be proud"

hakoda " yes she will be proud of our family and now we have four new members to add to the family" the boys had looked at each other and soon back at hakoda.

katara " dinner will be served later today will you and the children care to join us"

y/n " kids do you feel like having a family dinner"

muko " we will love that mom"

y/n " well then it agreed on we will love to come"

aang " good there will be meat options and vegetation as well, so there will be many cheese"

izo " thank you for telling us that avatar aang"

aang " you can call me aang boys" the boys had nodded their heads later on family dinner had been served, the boys seem to be having a good time.

katara " y/n are you really happy in your relationship with zuko and Mao, you did marry them after all that happened between the avatar team and them"

y/n " yes I'm happy with them katara and I was there as well during some of the moments of war, I have learned to forgive them and see them in good light"

katara " oh"

y/n " so when we will be expecting another but for you and aang this time around"

katara " we have been talking about marriage but the question hasn't been asked yet"

y/n " don't worry he will ask soon and I know your marriage will be good"

katara " thank you sister and when I get married I will love you and your family to be there as well, and maybe the boys will have cousins to play with in the future"

y/n " yes that will be wonderful"

katara " are you planning to have another kid or this four enough"

y/n " well yes I will love one more kid to added to my family and I have a feeling this time it will be water bender"

katara " that will be amazing to see my sister"

y/n " yes it will be" you had smiled while driving some tea and keeping up conversation with your sister and the others. It was easy to tell there was some unspoken tension between suki and sokka. The feast had come to end and everyone was heading back to their rooms they will be staying.

Hakoda " y/n I'm really happy you came home it has been to long, since you were here"

y/n " yes it has father"

sokka " maybe when you are here to we can see if you can talk you into staying here a bit longer"

Izo " staying here"

y/n " thank you brother but I will need to have that discussion with my husbands and the kids, before think about a matter of moving and them being the heirs of nation will not be easy"

sokka " yes we understand sister"

suki " we will be taking you back to where you are staying and it not far from us as well"

y/n " thank you good night everyone" you soon bowed your head toward your family and the rest of avatar team, as you had been escorted to where you will be staying with the kids. The boys had bene helped out of their clothes by the servants and soon went off to bed.

suki " what are you doing"

y/n " writing a letter to my husbands, my sister in law, and Iroh giving them an update of what happen today and hoping one of them will come a day sooner"

suki " that a good idea"

y/n " so you and sokka is that still a close scroll or no"

suki " i don't know things didn't end well between me and him, and I still haven't found a way to forgive him"

y/n " I understand suki but thank you for coming here"

suki " anything for my friend I will be retiring for the night but not far away, I also made a route for the guards to switch shifts tonight ... but we also have water tribe guards as well"

y/n " thank you suiki sleep well" suki soon left you had gotten done with the letters and rolled them up, as you walked towards the message hawk and place the rolled up letters into it hold.

y/n " be safe flying back home friend to the fire nation palace" the hawk soon took off into the air leaving the southern water tribe and the freezing north. You had soon got dressed for bed and laid in the bed, praying the rest of the time here will be good. There had been some news you had kept from everyone, that was meant to be shared later on but that might not go to plan after all. Right now your duty was to keep the peace for the two nation, and make sure you children stay safe as well. Just maybe you will be able to rebuild your relationship with your family and tribe, and everything will be god juts mayeb indeed.

[never---gonna---give---you---up]

Can we talk about Yue?

Let's just say there is a world where she doesn't have to sacrifice herself for Tui - because my girl deserves so much better like look at her.

But also, imagine the interactions she could have with all the other characters!!

Also, for that point, I'll be ignoring the fact that she'd most likely wouldn't leave the northern watertribe because responsibilities and her parents and jade jade. Let's just say it's her time for teenage rebellion and she sneaks off with the gaang or something. Idk.

Like she'd be there for the character development for Aang, Katara and Sokka (even Zuko).

But imagine she meets Toph!

Toph 'fuck you and what society/ my parents expect from me, I won't be put into a damn box because I'm not delicate porcelain to be put up on a shelf, I'll go kick ass and show people who I am, who I really am' Beifong?

That sounds so interesting! Like their parallels? Both being kept 'protected' and being put into positions they don't want and don't like (Toph being keept in a cage so to say and Yue being married off to someone neither she nor he loves).

But also, Yue is what Tophs parents see as a perfect daughter. She is soft spoken, elegant, meek and such. She is what Toph isn't.

But Toph gets free. She runs away and becomes happy and free.

I feel like they'd be such good friends once they get over the struggles. Toph would go commit some chaos and Yue would just smile and come along.

Imagine she meets Azula.

She's basically the opposite of Yue but they both have the same royal devotion. Also, Azula is a girl and it doesn't matter, she's respected and she's badass. That must be a culture shock for Yue.

Also, I think Azula and Yue have quite the interesting parallels as well. Both of them are the 'perfect princess' in the eyes of their people and culture but they are soooo different. Both put their duty above themselves in a way, both are 'blessed' (Yue literally by the moon and Azula is a prodigy), both have fathers who decide things for them (The whole marriage thing with Yue and do I even have to go into detail with Ozai?), both are kept in this cage of responsibilities and duty and both suffer in the end because of it, not having experienced the freedom a child of their status could have had their whole life only to be doomed in the end.

(Also, if we just mess more with canon and redeem Azula, I think they could be besties as well. Like they could learn so much from one another. Azula is sorta like an unhinged and abused Katara so I think it could work.)

Her meeting Mai and Ty Lee would also be something.

Nonbenders who are fucking badass? Respected for who they are? I imagine they could teach Yue how to defend herself. Just imagine Yue throwing knifes and chi-blocking people.

Same with Suki.

Another nonbender who's badass and a leader of a respected group. I think they'd get along just fine.

(Also, about that whole ship drama that would probably happen: I don't really care about ships so idk, make them poly? Who cares, just let them be happy man)

But what I would be most hyped about would be her meeting with Kanna.

You know, Kanna, who said fuck you to the sexist rules and just fucking moved across the world while a war was going on? Kanna, who basically told Pakku to fuck off and she won't marry a sexist man like him? Kanna, who's the grandmother of Katara? Who send Katara across the world to kick Pakkus ass (because she must have know)? The og? The legend? It would be amazing. I imagine they would both roast Pakku to his face. And Kanna would immediately adopt Yue as one of hers. It would be so wholesome come on.

Of course there are a lot of other characters that she'd meet, but I think the ones I mentioned are the most interesting once because of parallels and stuff.

[oneatlatime]

Journey to Ba Sing Se, Part 1: The Serpent's Pass

Alternate title: Gimme Appa Back, Take Two.

Bit of a mouthful for a title. I will definitely be watching this apparent two parter as two single episodes. There's commentary too, but that'll wait for a rewatch.

The previously on segment seems to point to Suki making an appearance. I didn't like her in her original episode, so this bodes ill.

That was incredibly ominous title card music.

Explain this to someone who's never seen the show. Also, air mattress made of ice is a very efficient way to get hypothermia.

Sokka saying "no more distractions' actually summoned a distraction. He should look into harnessing that power.

This brings up a point I've been thinking about. So the Earth Kingdom are smart enough to house refugee transportation underground, presumably because they've figured out that fire can't dig. So why didn't the entire population of the Earth Kingdom just become mole people at the first sign of fire nation attack?

Get yourself Iroh's brand of chill. It's dearly bought in his case, but he has such a good way of looking at life. Also, half of Zuko's face is like an inch higher than the other half, and that haircut is not doing him any favours.

Oh god it's fuckboy. I'd take a million Sukis over fuckboy. Nice to see that the majority of his posse seems to have come to their senses and deserted him though.

CABBAGE GUY!!! HI CABBAGE GUY!!! I MISSED YOU!!!

She's got a point about destruction of the ecosystem, but unless there was woodworm in that cart, that platypus bear is guilty of needless destruction of cabbage guy's possessions.

I loved this. The double punch of getting stymied by bureaucracy and undermined by cosplayers. There are some wacky ideas in this episode.

Aang! You may have lost Appa but you still have your glider! You don't need a passport or a ticket! Just fly to Ba Sing Se and make puppy dog eyes at the Earth King to make him send a boat to collect your friends!

You know that part in Harry Potter where Ron and Harry miss the train and decide the only logical course of action is to steal a flying car rather than, I don't know, wait for a responsible adult? I have a feeling this show is going to do the same type of thing with the whole Serpent's Pass. And I have to say, it's a brilliantly accurate way to do a plot that involves pre-teens, because they will often reach for the most out-there, illogical course of action no matter their intelligence. Curse those still-developing neural pathways. It also makes perfect sense in a kids' show, where the audience mostly wouldn't be caught dead turning down an adventure in favour of asking a responsible party (or a bureaucracy) for help.

"It is your pleasure" Get wrecked bitch!

I love seeing Toph weaponise that which previously kept her caged. I love to see Toph winning at life. Actually, I love to see Toph.

Get yourself some friends who'll commit to the bit no questions asked like these guys.

Get yourself a man who says your name the way Sokka says SUKI!!!:D Get yourself a girl who's so into you, she'll flirt with you in front of your entire found family.

Momo knows what's up. He's a good judge of character.

It's rare for me to advocate for criminal behaviour on this show, but after that bureaucracy lady denied them any sort of solution for the refugees who got their tickets stolen, I was kind of hoping that Katara would just say 'fuck it' and steal one of those ferries. Or even smuggle people on to them. They've got two waterbenders; they could make ice boats to take them out to the ferry, or even across the whole lake presumably. Plot dictates they go face this serpent thing, because this appears to be a monster of the week episode, but boy did that ferry lady need smacking.

Sokka's acting funky.

Is corniness one of the side effects of pregnancy?

No one in their right minds thinks that a pass called "the SERPENT'S Pass" in a universe like this one is named for its aesthetic qualities. Nice try at misdirection, but there will be a Sneky Boy in that water.

Aang's kind of right about the whole 'hope is a distraction' thing. Hope can too easily go from fuel to crutch.

It didn't occur to anyone to hide from the Fire Nation ship until it passed?

Toph's just saving everyone's bacon today huh?

Am I sensing some post-Yue trauma?

I would love to know the context behind Zuko knowing this very niche skill.

Jet has this fascinating ability to do objectively good deeds in such a sleezy way that you end up siding with the greedy oppressors. Weird.

This makes so much sense. Aang zipped into the Avatar State so hard and fast in the desert that he probably scared himself, so now he's keeping a lid on things so hard that he's scaring everyone else with his newfound apathy. He's 12, and this episode he feels 12. This is probably the first time he's met emotions this big; of course he doesn't quite know what to do with them.

You know, Katara doesn't get paid enough to put up with this.

Suki. Honey. I'm pretty sure there's a girl code about not flirting with a guy in front of his ex.

Has Suki been filled in on the whole moon thing? Or is she just really confused right now?

You know, Smellerbee is just as unusual a name for a girl.

Jet talks the talk, but I don't believe he'll be able to walk the walk, despite second chances being one of the big themes of this show. Something about him still feels off.

Hope you guys can swim!

Katara to the rescue again. I'm liking this new level-headed action-oriented Katara that appeared in The Desert, and I'm glad she wasn't just a one-episode character.

Momo here fulfilling one of my childhood dreams. There was an aquarium room at my local zoo that had a tunnel you could walk through. Seven year old me would have sold my soul to be able to glorp through the glass and swim with the fishes like this.

Once again, Toph saves the day. She's doing a lot of heavy lifting this episode.

Big Sneky Boy has the colour palette of an exercise video from the 80s aerobics phase. Kind of detracts from the terror when he's wearing a leotard.

Number one sign of irresponsible pet ownership: sacrificing your lemur to Cthulhu.

Aang just bitchslapped Big Sneky Boy.

Why didn't they go with a big ice bridge in the first place?

Yeah that's a problem. Could she make rock skate blades and attach them to her feet maybe? Would that help her see?

Guys. Just. Send someone out there for her. The ice doesn't have handrails. Come on.

Suki can swim in like half a tonne of armour. I bet they have swimming with armour on drills on Kyoshi Island.

"You can go ahead and let me drown now." That is EXACTLY my sense of humour.

Unlike goldfish, Big Sneky Boys can be flushed down the toilet.

"Now it's nothing but smooth sailing to Ba Sing Se." *Something immediately goes wrong* Has Sokka thought about harnessing his ability to speak things into existence?

Tragically, it makes perfect sense that Katara knows exactly how to deliver real human things.

"You know, as soon as I saw your scar I knew exactly who you were." Jet's little speech here got the biggest laugh out of me yet. I had to pause so I wouldn't miss dialogue. He's so deliciously wrong.

This episode's Beat Up Sokka quota is fulfilled by a baby that has yet to be born.

"I want our daughter's name to be unique" TAKE COVER FOLKS! UNNECESSARY VOWELS INCOMING!

Didn't you guys just nearly get killled by a pass that told you to abandon Hope? Are you sure about that name?

Ok it isn't pregnancy that makes you corny. It's being a character in this episode. While I'm glad to see the back of Stoic Aang, this is getting to be a bit on the cheesy side.

Hell yeah Katara deserves that cry. And that hug.

I'm watching this at my mom's house and I need to report that when Sokka said "You came along, to protect me?" my mom audibly went "awww!"

On a more serious note, this is exactly what Sokka needs after the Yue situation. A badass girlfriend who not only can and does take care of herself, but who also can and does take care of Sokka. Boy needs some pampering.

That is one hell of a wall.

That is one hell of a Big Sneky Boy.

"Appa's gonna have to wait" hit like a tonne of bricks. Another step in the journey to turn Aang from carefree monk to repsonsible Avatar. Appa having to wait is a genius story beat, but I want Appa NOW.

Final Thoughts

I had to check out my window for flying pigs before I started typing this section, because Zuko was consistently the most reasonable character in the B plot, perhaps in the whole episode. Apparently the 'make Zuko decent' project is finally seeing results. Have we turned over a new leaf? Dare I hope? It helps that he was juxtaposed with one of the single most batshit crazy characters from season one, but still.

I also need to issue a formal apology to Suki and all of her fans. I didn't like her in The Warriors of Kyoshi, and while I'm still not overly fond of that episode, I love what they've done with her character here. A good standalone character with her own strengths, goals, and responsibilities, and a good match for Sokka. I'd go so far as to say she's a better match for Sokka than Yue was, for all that both ladies have a startling amount in common: a position of responsibility, devotion to those who regard them as a leader, good taste in water tribe ass, etc.

I'm also going to hypothesise that Sokka is, in universe, the hottest member of the Gang. He's now had four girls expressing their interest: Suki, then Yue, then Azula's pokey pink friend whose name currently escapes me, and now Toph too! And she can't even see him, so his hotness is more than skin deep.

This episode was another stealth character episode in the style of The Blue Spirit. You think it's an action episode but it's actually character work with some fights for spice. It's got: -payoff for Katara's new-found levelheadedness -the other side of the coin on Aang's desert freakout -Toph doing just ALL the heavy lifting in the absence of Appa (seriously, teach her to fly and you won't need Appa as anything but a friendly couch) -Toph also getting an incredibly logical weakness that she learns she can rely on her friends to surmount -Sokka getting some Yue resolution from a frankly ironic source -Zuko getting what I'm sure is going to turn into a dark mirror

Speaking of fuckboy, there was nothing in this episode that hinted that Jet's turn to good was anything but genuine, but something about him still really makes my teeth itch. So I'm calling it now: based not on any evidence, but entirely on my own feelings, Jet's turn to good isn't going to stick.

There was some corny stuff in this episode, but it's a kids' show. It gets way more allowance for corny than an adult show does. I'll let it slide, so long as it doesn't become a habit.

This was part one of a two part episode, but it certainly didn't feel that way. There was the Big Metal Sneky Boy plot hook at the very end, but other than that it was a self-contained story.

I had predicted last episode that the rest of season two would be spent getting to Ba Sing Se, and they did it in one episode. So I'd like to announce my retirement from predicting the future because I am not good at it. I have no idea where we're going beyond next episode. I guess I'll have fun finding out!

[phoukanamedpookie]

I know fandom likes to joke about Azula or Katara being homophobic, but let's take it seriously for a moment.

Based on what the show has them actually say and do, which characters are most likely to be homophobic?

To be fair, none of the characters says anything overtly homophobic. ATLA is a TV-Y7 show that aired on Nickelodeon in 2005-2008, so any kind of queer content was not gonna happen, and talking about queer people and their relationships was extremely unlikely.

The only thing we have to go on are what the characters say about what is normal or appropriate for specific genders as well as how they interact with characters of specific genders. Again, none of the characters say anything overtly transphobic or misogynistic because this is a TV-Y7 show. But some characters say and do things that suggest a... less enlightened understanding of gender, which is directly linked to homophobic beliefs and attitudes.

So who would that be? Of the named characters, we have...

Pakku. 'Nuff said.

Sokka had a whole episode about him unlearning his toxic gender bullshit. Thank you, Suki.

Iroh is the man who sent Azula a fucking doll as a gift, misgendered Smellerbee before "complimenting" her by calling her a lovely young lady, and sings a song that waxed poetically about nameless girls of Ba Sing Se who exist just to be pretty. And then we see him getting handsy with June...

Zuko actually came out his mouth with, "I saw it, and I thought it was pretty. Don't girls like stuff like this?" to Mai, whose hobbies include giving zero fucks and throwing knives at people.

Now, this doesn't mean these characters would be homophobic in the vein of Westboro Baptist Church. I honestly think the homophobia they express would mostly benignly ignorant than outright malicious, like:

Telling a queer person they know that they're not queer, just confused

Asking or assuming who "the man" or "the woman" is in same-sex relationships

Saying that a queer person they know doesn't look queer or is too [insert normative gender trait] to be queer

Except for Pakku, who's more likely to openly ask what the queer person's parents did wrong.

(Why are they all male?)

[princess-of-the-corner]

Good point on Jet and Co. Being hard to incorporate. My thoughts went something along the lines of this:

Most of the "fire nation" kids in this AU are the children of rich and/or influential people and they all go to a private school. The Gaang minus the fire nation, Aang and Toph (Suki, Katara, Sokka, Yue, etc.) goes to a public school and Jet and Co. live in the poorer inner city and go to a public school there. While Ozai is obvs the Hawkmoth in this AU, I think Mai's parents would be a good fit for the Andres and Ty Lee's folks can be, like the Tsurugis if they were around from minute one. We don't have an Audrey because Ozai sucks hard enough to count for her AND Gabe!

Anyway, Ozai, in an effort to expand his business to fund his magical artifact search, basically starts attacking key points of infrastructure in the Freedom Fighters' community. He convinces the city to cut funding, tear down buildings, gentrify the neighborhood, etc., and he gets a bunch of the other "fire nation" kids noble parents in on it. Eventually, the Freedom Fighters have to move to a different part of town, and all of them spent time homeless. They understandably have a vendetta against Ozai and rich people in general and are really mistrusting. They're running a plot to expose corruption in the businesses that killed their neighborhood. They do illegal things sometimes like trespassing and breaking and entering in an effort to get evidence, and they are sometimes violent and frequently resist arrest.

The Gaang and the rest of the class are all the type of people who help where they can, use their money for good, peacefully protest, spread awareness, etc., especially if they have a Mylene figure leading the charge, but the Freedom Fighter kids really don't trust anyone outside their group to help (especially since most people won't go to the extents that they do) and they dislike rich people on principle. The Gaang first runs into them when they have a sporting competition against Jet's school.

The episode would focus on their difference in resources that their schools have, the difference in methods for change that the two groups use. Jet definitely gets akumatized after getting indelicately told off by the Gaang after they witness him doing something illegal for the first time. Maybe the rest of the Freedom Fighters too. The episode would end with an unclear resolution. This is all before the Fire Nation kids and Toph switched to the Gaang's school.

Later, there's a citywide exchange program to offer different perspectives and foster community, and Jet, Longshot, and Smellerbee get exchanged into the Gaang's school. They hit it off right away with Zuko when he breaks the rules to keep another kid out of trouble, but Jet gets kinda pissy when he realizes Zuko's "one of those rich assholes" and starts being really confrontational with him. He finally starts a violent scuffle over something minor and Jet gets sent to the principal over it, where he gets akumatized again. This time, with the assistance of a more chilled out Smellerbee and Longshot, a Toph, and previous experience on how to actually talk to Jet and get through to him, the post-akuma conversation goes a lot smoother and they're able to come to some kind of agreement. The exchange program ends on a hopeful note and with the gaang having worked out some kind of program to help out Jet's school.

Obviously you don't have to use any of this, especially since it would get a bit political, but it was what was in my head when I thought on incorporating Jet. Generally less murderous and more "perpetually pissed off and willing to break laws."

I think I'd rather mostly have everyone in the same school. For ease of who would be where and how everyone becomes friends. Like I /could/ have it be a thing with Zuko being a connection between groups but I want everyone to be able to be at school together.

But yeah having Jet as the like. Activist who goes a bit too far and doesn't really get nuance yet (because by fuck he's a teenager) works well.

Like I think round 1 he'd get along with Katara because like. I mentioned that Hakoda is one of the City Council members who's actually ya know sane and a good person, and he does have a focus on some environmental activism and improving communities. So like he'd meet her and they'd vibe because she agrees ya know?

But Jet being Jet, leans into the more black/white extremes. Sure her dad may be trying to make changes, but why isn't he just doing it? Why is he playing politics against a bunch of assholes who only care for making things worse for minimal long-term change instead of just overthrowing the system overnight and implementing the changes he wants?

Which. Yeah breaks the friendship and he probs gets in trouble for doing some shit.

Then we have the Zuko friendship happen at some point and it's. Yeah Zuko certainly has some criticisms of the rich assholes in town. Which Jet vibes with!

But finding out about Zuko being Ozai's son turns the whole thing. And instead of 'legitimate criticisms' he sees it as 'entitled rich boy whining about daddy saying no on occasion'. Which.... Zuko does not have the emotional maturity to explain exactly why that's wrong and what his family situation is really like in a calm and peaceful manner. So that turns into a fight.

[impossiblycolorfulpanda]

An alternate scene of mine about the debate of Ozai's fate if Aang was separated from the gaang and was held captive by the FN right after being revived in Ba Sing Se until Zuko delivers him back to the gaang as he tries joining.

Suki: But he looks so sweet and innocent.

Zuko: Well that sweet kid grew up to be a monster and the worst father in the history of fathers.

Aang: But he's still your father none the less.

Zuko: You're going to defend him?

Aang: No. I know he's done horrible deeds and I know that I had to take lives at the North Temple and the North Pole to protect innocent people and Gyatso resorted to taking lives when he tried to save himself. But I don't think I can destroy the fire lord this time.

Sokka: Sure you can. You're the Avatar. If it's in the name of keeping balance, I'm pretty sure the universe will forgive you.

Aang: Would the fire nation feel the same way?

Sokka: Yeah...?

Aang: Regardless of what he is, the fire nation idolize him. They appreciate him as their ruler, not to mention Sozin has been spreading lies about me and other nations for generations. Everyone was indoctrinated, including Ozai and Azula. We need to show them that we're the good guys.

Zuko: An admirable idea, but it's not possible. My father finds the very concepts of mercy and peace to be laughable weaknesses. Indoctrinated or not he's not gonna stop doing horrible things.

Aang: Not everyone in the fire nation feel the same way. I believe if we showed mercy to the fire lord, they'll appreciate it, Azula included, even if he doesn't.

Katara: Azula?

Aang: She's not as ruthless as her father is. She tries to be only because she loves her father. He has to live, for Azula's sake if nothing else.

Zuko: My father's a bad influence on Azula, she'll be better off with him dead.

Aang: How do you know she won't become worse than ever in the process of trying to avenge him? Can he at least live long enough until she and the others are shown the truth and reject his policies like you?

Sokka: Buddy, Azula shot you with lightning, right after Katara healed you, she held you, Suki, and my dad prisoner, she's a good enough of a liar to fool even Toph, and she was the one who inspired the fire lord to commit the same genocide as the air nomads in the first place. She's clearly evil in her own right.

Aang: She could've taken my life again in the worst of ways. She could've done the same to Suki and your dad. She could've placed me in the boiling rock next to them. But she didn't. She promised to be civil if I was civil first and she delivered. I got to spend the most time with her and I know there is good in her. I can feel it. She can be saved. She can be turned to the good side, but not if I kill her father.

Toph: Azula brainwashed you the same way Long Feng brainwashed Jet, didn't she.

Aang: No.

Zuko: I get where you're coming from. She was the one who overturned my banishment and kept quiet about my secret conversations with our uncle. She even asked me to go to the beach with her. But we may have to prepare to put her out of the way as well if she becomes a big enough problem.

Aang: You can't seriously mean that! She's your sister, she wouldn't have done any of those things if she wasn't capable of love!

Katara: Aang, we understand what your saying it's just...

Aang: Just what, Katara? What?

Katara: We're trying to help!

Aang: Then, when you figure out a way for me to save the Fire Lord, the Fire Nation, and Azula from themselves and restore their internal balance, I'd love to hear it! (Walks away.)

Katara: Aang, don't walk away from this! (Walks toward Aang.)

Zuko: (Puts a hand on Katara's shoulder to stop her.) Let him go. He needs time to sort it out by himself.

Suki: He and Azula didn't have a thing, did they?

Zuko: I don't know. But they did seem close and friendliest to each other until the war meeting, they even danced together at a party that was not too far from here before he helped us burn it all down.

[thebluemallet]

A look at my first thoughts on the trailer for Avatar: The Last Airbender

IT'S SOZIN'S COMET!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Are we going to see the attacks on the Air Temples???

That iceberg already looks better than the one from the movie that shall not be named. Just that one shot of the iceberg and I'm fucking sold on the art direction of this show.

SPOT ON casting for Katara as far as looks go. She even has the same face shape.

The parkas on both Sokka and Katara look amazing. Again, much better than what they had in the movie that shall not be named. I love the details in the designs on them.

THEY HAVE OMASHU! O-MA-SHU! WE'RE GETTING OMASHU!

Zuko has a SCAR. He has an actual SCAR. Not just something that looks kind of like a rash.

I've only had Netflix Uncle Iroh for a day and half. But if anything happens to him, I will hurt everyone in this room and then myself.

The Fire Nation throne room looks SICK with the flames cropping up.

It's the Fire Lord! I wondered if we would see him or not. But keeping him in shadows for two seasons won't work as well in a live-action show so I'm fine with it.

(Daniel Dae Kim voiced an Earth Kingdom General in the original series and now he's the Fire Lord!)

SUKI!!!

Honestly, showing Suki and the Kyoshi warriors in the trailer felt like a direct message from the show to fans of the original series that said, "Yes, they will be included and not cut out from the final product, unlike that other project."

Seriously, for those who don't remember, people in 2010 were getting their hopes up that the movie that shall not be named would be a) good despite the whitewashing and b) still include the Kyoshi warriors despite them not being in the trailers.

IT'S THE CRESCENT ISLAND WITH THE TEMPLE WITH THE FIRE SAGES WHERE AANG WILL GET TO TALK TO ROKU! HOLY SHIT!

Okay, I'll admit it. I may have gotten a little choked up when I first saw Aang flying through with his staff.

AANG!!!!!!!! Looking like a badass emerging from the mist.

THE MUSIC! THE MUSIC!

That shot of Aang in the burned forest looks exactly like the shot in the original show! Holy shit!

AGNI KAI!!! I have conflicting emotions about this! I'm excited it's in here but I'm not ready to see Zuko in that much pain.

ZUKO AND IROH FIGHTING TOGETHER!!!! Is this when Iroh got captured by the Earth Kingdom???

Also the animation on the firebending looks incredible and it looks reminiscent of the martial arts style they used for firebending in the show.

AZULA!

It looks like the fire is glowing in her eyes.

Sokka and Katara in the Southern Air Temple maybe?

AND CAN WE JUST APPRECIATE THAT SOKKA AND KATARA BOTH HAVE THE SAME NECKLACES THEY HAD IN THE ORIGINAL SHOW?!!!!!

The tattoos GLOW.

Is this Zuko attacking Kyoshi Island?!

The whole trailer I was chanting Show me Appa! Show me Appa!

AND I TEARED UP WHEN THEY FINALLY SHOWED APPA!

AND THAT MUSIC SWELL!!!! AHHHHH!

I'VE ONLY HAD NETFLIX APPA AND MOMO FOR A DAY AND A HALF. BUT IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO THEM, I WILL HURT EVERYONE IN THIS ROOM AND THEN MYSELF!

WATER, EARTH, FIRE, AIR!

Oh, but I'm probably gonna have to wait a while before I get to see this, right?

FEBRUARY 22ND?! THAT'S REALLY NOT THAT LONG! I WAS EXPECTING TO HAVE TO WAIT ANOTHER SIX MONTHS!

So yeah, I'm excited for this.

Also, not in the trailer, but the Cabbage Merchant is supposed to be in the show.

[quietmonologues]

I haven't finished the show yet (just need to watch the last episode) but so far, I'll give the live action adaptation of ATLA a 7/10.

Long post.

To start with what I like about it...

I think the VFX is spectacular. Omashu, the Water Tribes, the Fire Nation palace, all the bending effects and fights are stunning.

Seeing all the characters come to life. The Gaang, but also the past avatars, the mechanist and Teo, the freedom fighters, Bumi, Zuko and the family, even Mai and Ty Lee. Aesthetically, everyone fit really well.

I enjoy (most) of the acting, but especially Zuko. I feel like Dallas captures the character incredibly well and his scenes with Paul as Iroh have been very fun to watch. I enjoy seeing more of Azula and getting into her psyche early on, and seeing more of Ozai has been enjoyable as well. Daniel Dae Kim is great. Ian and Gordan also do a great job of playing Sokka and Aang, respectively.

Merging the Jet stuff with the Mechanist stuff is an interesting way to cram as much of the story as possible without being too convoluted. The re-interpretation of The Cave of Two Lovers episode was a change I was iffy about but I grew to appreciate it. Instead of focusing on a romantic love, I liked that it was about familial love (between Sokka and Katara). I wouldn't be surprised if people didn't like that change, and I understand, but I didn't mind it. It didn't feel like the live action was hinting at Aang's crush on Katara anyways (correct me if I'm wrong).

Love the emotional aspects. Iroh and Zuko, Aang and Gyatso...it can definitely get the waterworks going.

In terms of what I don't like....

Something feels missing in this adaptation, and I think it's the tone. There's still funny moments but it's definitely a bit more somber than the cartoon. On the one hand, the original show does deal with heavy themes and it makes sense for the live action to emphasize that seriousness. Like, it made sense for a cartoon geared towards children to have a "lightness" to it, to have moments of goofiness and sillyness. But on the other hand, that lightness being interspersed between all the serious moments made the story of ATLA what it was, and I do feel that that is missing in the live action. I guess that's the downside to limiting a 20+ episode season into just....8 episodes. But the live action did the best it could.

I feel the same about the characters. The Gaang seem a bit more serious. But it's not completely bad, Aang still feels like Aang and Sokka still feels like Sokka. Katara is the one who sticks out to me like a sore thumb because she just...doesn't feel like Katara. No idea if it's Kiawentiio's acting or how she's written, but whenever I watch her, she just feels really flat and demure. Katara is a kind and compassionate character, but I do remember her being a bit more fierce. We do get that fierceness near the end but...I don't know, it comes off as stiff. And that's why I think Dallas as Zuko is my favourite, because Zuko was always a serious and somber character in the cartoon, so his performance in the more serious live action adaptation fits really well (it still would've fit perfectly if the adaptation was more goofy of course).

The pacing at times is bumpy. I felt this especially in episode 4. There was just...way too many things going on and they decided to throw in a couple flashbacks too. Like I said before, I liked that we got more Azula, but I felt like some of her scenes didn't flow well with the rest of the episode (episode 6 i think). We were following a straightforward plot, and then we just have a scene or two of Azula doing her trials and shooting lightning. It just made the overall episode feel choppy and disconnected.

I don't remember how the whole Suki/Sokka/Yue thing went in the cartoon, but yes I do think it's very weird that Sokka and Suki kissed in episode 2, and then he's kissing Yue in episode 7. Maybe in the cartoon it wouldn't be "that deep" but in a live action, it's kinda strange to me lol. I don't know, that's a bit of a minor nitpick I guess.

To me, Book 1 of the original show is the weakest season and my least favourite (it's still good). But if Netflix renews this, then I'm hoping Book 2 (and Book 3) will be much better!

Okay that's it, off to watch the last episode.

(also I do think you're lying if you say the movie was better)

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

I don’t ship either Zutara or Zukka (Kataang shipper) so this is just my observation as an outsider. But from what I’ve seen in the Zutara fandom, the headcanons are like, Zuko and Katara cheat on Aang behind his back, Kya and Bumi are secretly Zuko’s children, Katara hates Aang, Katara treats the Gaang like her children, Mai and Aang are trying to keep Zutara apart, etc. whereas the Zukka headcanons are mostly Zukka raising Izumi, Mai and Ty Lee are a couple, Suki is supportive of their relationship, Kataang are good parents, etc. And most of them ship Sukka too. So I don’t really get how the Zukka fandom is worse than the Zutara fandom? Like I only really see intense hatred for canon in Zutara spaces.

There were was a really annoying period right after Avatar got to Netflix that brought on a ton of new fans - and in mist of it, some people started liking Zukka, which wasn't a problem until they started trying to argue that the ship was canon and that anyone who didn't agree was homophobic.

It was literally the same BS of Zutara shippers who say if you don't like Zutara, you hate women. A ton of the content made had both Sokka and Zuko being REALLY out of character, and sometimes went into some very racist - and ironically enough, homophobic - shit.

Thankfully, it's a trend that seems to be dying out more and more each day, with only the people who actually understand the characters and know how to have fun with fanon, stuck around, but it's not that hard to find one of the bad apples - I usually find them in the anti-zutara tag of all places, because they have the nerve to say shit like "Zutara will never be as canon as Zukka" like their ship isn't just as fanon.

It's just that finding the bad apples in the Zutara fandom requires exactly zero work, because these motherfuckers are still on the "harrass everyone" mode after nearly two decades.

I've seen some people say that most of the bad Zukka shippers are just fans of the ship Klance in Voltron, who jumped to another show to find a new ship to latch onto when their OTP didn't happen (which would explain why Sokka and Zuko are so out of character in their fics), but that particular hellhole is outside of my department, so I can't really confirm if that is true.

[zuko-always-lies]

What exactly were everyone's character arcs supposed to be?

This is an interesting question for ATLA, and one sometimes without a clear answer. Some characters have reasonably complete character arcs, and others simply don't, to a degree which is often not acknowledged today. A few are in-between. This not necessarily a function of screen time. Jet and Yue have reasonably complete character arcs despite only briefly appearing, while others with far more screen time do not.

Without further ado, I'll go through the characters one by one and try to give an answer:

Yue, as I said, has a story which feels complete with a beginning, middle, and end. She's a very duty bound person committed a political marriage to help her tribe, a person who was saved by the holy symbols of it in the first place. Then she falls in love with Sokka but refuses to break off her engagement out of duty. And finally she sacrifices her life out of duty to save everyone.

Jet also feels like he has an arc. You can take issue with how it was written and how it plays out, since he really got the short straw, but it's an arc. From being orphaned by the Iroh-aligned Rough Rhinos, to fighting the Fire Nation and going "too far," to trying to make a new start in Ba Sing Se, to correctly getting suspicious about Zuko and Iroh, to being brainwashed by the Dai Li, to dying fighting against Long Feng. It's not nearly as coherent as Yue's arc, but it's something.

Suki, by contrast, doesn't have much of an arc. I've heard before the concept of "character arc" being defined as "either the character changes or the audience's perception of them changes." Neither of those things ever happen with Suki. She remains unchanged, and we learn nothing really about her. The only meaningful character change which happens is that she and Sokka fall in love.

Aang quite obviously has an arc: grow into the position of Avatar, defeat the Firelord, befriend Zuko, and the end the war. And, of course, get together with Katara.

Zuko also has an arc, which the show probably spends more time on than with anyone else: change sides, become friends with the Gaang(although that bit was very poorly written), and reject his abusive father and instead start worshipping his uncle. And I suppose grow strong enough to beat the crap out of his sister, like he's always wanted to do.

Iroh, by contrast, couldn't have less of an arc. Any attempt to read an arc into the mess of extremely incoherent writing he was would require extreme charity. In the end, we're supposed to both accept he "changed" offscreen before the show(that his arc was already mostly complete?) but also that he was "always good" anyways.

Toph doesn't have an arc. 90% of her character development, such as it was, is confined to her first two appearances. After that, she's merely a hanger on to the Gaang. As much as people love her, there is so little to her story. Her character is better defined than Suki, but her story isn't.

Azula is supposed to have an arc. It's supposed to be about falling apart, going insane, and being lain low. But it was extremely rushed and shoved unconvincingly into the last few episodes, and the writers were uninterested in explaining what actually happened to make her fall apart, so I struggle to say she has anything resembling a coherent arc.

Ty Lee also doesn't have an arc. Her arc, such as it was imagined, was supposed to "betray Azula." Yet none of the character development she gets over the series leads in that direction, and we have every reason to believe she would have acted the same at the beginning of the series as she did at the end. And of course there was no "redemption" aside from switching sides for her.

Mai has slightly more of an arc than Ty Lee, but that's only because it involves her getting together with Zuko and eventually sacrificing herself to protect him. Otherwise, it's about as coherent as Ty Lee's arc.

Sokka's arc is an interesting one. I would say that there are four things they experiment with as the basis for his arc. First, there is his distrust for Aang, which is rapidly resolved. Second is his sexism, which is equally rapidly resolved. Third is unease over being a nonbender, but that's only rarely referenced over the course of the series, and is fully "resolved" in the truly awful episode "Sokka's Master" early in Book 3. Finally, there is the issue of his daddy issues and his desire to prove himself as a warrior. That is something his story keeps coming back to over and over again. However, it is almost entirely resolved in the Day of Black Sun episodes, where Sokka leads the SWT in battle, despite a couple weird later references in the Boiling Rock episodes. Thus, I would Sokka has an arc, but it's resolved well before the series ends.

Finally, we reach Katara. I don't think Katara really has much of a coherent arc in the series. In Book 1, it was all about her trying to become a master waterbender, but she achieves that by the end of the Book. After that, her character lacks clear direction. What's her story supposed to be about after that? Getting together with Aang? "Forgiving Zuko"? The daddy issues which show up for exactly one episode? The conflict with Toph which shows up for two? "Accepting that ordinary Fire Nation people are people too," even though she was always shown to be compassionate to ordinary Fire Nation people not actively engaged in genocide? The "mommy issues" which she often brings up but which are rarely taken seriously by the show, and are ultimately used to get her to forgive Zuko (two separate times!)? All of these seem completely unworthy of hanging her arc on, and I have to say, I don't think Katara has much of a coherent arc past Book 1.

If we had to order these characters in terms of coherence of arc from most to least, it would probably go something like: Aang, Zuko, Yue, Jet, Sokka, Katara, Azula, Mai, Ty Lee, Iroh, Toph, Suki.

[drachenfalter]

So almost done with the live action, I thought it was time to just collect some of my thoughts:

The first twenty minutes were great, helping to flesh out the airbenders a bit and introducing the world.

The bending and sets are both great.

Sadly, then we get Exposition Gran Gran,

Gran Gran "Oh, wait, did we do the intro already? Well, just in case, I'd better recite the whole thing word for word again."

(They did a version of the intro, and they did it better.)

Gran Gran "Oh, of course I know that he is the Avatar! How do I know this? Beats me, but I'd better tell my granddaughter in case he forgot to mention it."

Sadly, this overexposition is not the only incident, though it isn't quite as bad in later episodes.

Aang is different, but not bad as a character, though he's a lot less optimistic

Which is not surprising, considering her spends half the season listening to adults that blame him for his disappearance or tell him he needs to become some loner warrior without any close friends.

(Really, that BS is almost feeling like they're tryring to "Man of Steel" Aang here? Which is bizarre because at another point, Katara tells us point blank that his true strength lies in connecting to people.

Also, why does Aang not even try to waterbend until they've reached the NWT? If he's so determined, you'd think he'd get on that as soon as he can, not the other way around.

Sokka is probably the closest, though they put more focus on his inventor side (we see his contraptions in the first episode) and it seems they want to put that into conflict with the expectation of being a warrior.

Also, Sokka apparently flirted with a (female) fire nation soldier off-screen?

...And why is his worst memory about his dad being disappointed because he nearly failed his ice-dodging challenge? Is he not Katara's brother anymore?

Suki and Sokka were cute, I guess

Zuko's actor is great, and has some fantastic scenes here.

But I don't like how they portray him as someone who would attack a downed opponent or burn down a village because they didn't help him - that goes against one of the core traits of cartoon zuko, who had a code of honor even in Book 1.

(Yes, there is a scene in the Agni Kai that might connect to that scene with Katara, but it still doesn't work for me.)

BUT

I love the idea that Zuko accidentally becomes Aang's best teacher, the guy who "wrote the book" on being the Avatar.

Now for Katara...

Look, I'm gonna put the blame on the writers and directors here, but as other's have noted, we really lost Katara's anger here.

Worse, they don't go the north because she wants to learn waterbending. Instead, that is just a "hey, if we're already going there" thing.

They also decide to start her out with being barely able to bend, and then after one talk with Aang, she suddenly can bend and even is the one stopping Zuko's fireball at the end of the episode.

The bigger problem is though that they completely removed the prison break and the pirate scene, which in the OG help show Katara's skill and will to fight and master waterbending.

Which is probably why the "I want to fight" talk in the north falls flat - well, or maybe it's because she says it to Yagoda, not Pakku.

Worse, they removed the few weeks of training between Katara challenging Pakku and the Siege of the North.

-> Maybe they'll do something interesting in the last episode, but I'm not holding out hope.

A few other things:

What did they do to ZHAO?

Right now, it feels like they've nerfed Zhao to justify Azula's inclusion - I haven't seen the siege yet, but with how he was portrayed so far, I wouldn't be surprised if they changed it so she came up with the whole "killing the moon" plan.

Mai and Ty Lee feel like "extras" right now. That is, without the context of the original show, you'd think they are just sycophantic nobodies only there to cheer up Azula.

I don't think Mai even touched a knife at this point.

(Like, they have Azula doing archery. They could have easily had Mai do the same, hinting at her marksmanship.)

Ty Lee's actress is clearly trying her best to be Ty Lee, but they aren't giving her anything to work with either.

There are some nice scenes fleshing out the Zuko and Iroh relationship, I'll give them that.

But also

WHAT DID THEY DO TO BUMI?

Is he supposed to be suicidal here? Trying to force Aang to crush him under a ton of rocks? Because it didn't feel like a trick.

Koh feels - less menacing, somehow? Just letting his prisoners go the moment Aang does something nice for him.

Oh, and I did not expect water bending witch sorry, priestress Yue who is living half of her live as a fox-spirit in the spirit world.

Yue feels like a completely different character so far, but I assume they'll still make her die to revive the moon spirit.

I guess the escape from Pohuai was great and so was Aang fanboying over Zuko's writing.

Uh, I'm sure I'll come up with more, but I'll end this ramble for now.

But in conclusion, I have to think of those characters as different charactes with no relation to the OG versions.

Also, I would say it's better if you don't know the original series, but they leave so much out I'm not sure you can understand this one without doing so.

[wingsfreedom]

Suki, Alone: why Azula's meeting with Suki as well as the conditions of the Boiling Rock and Kyoshi Island's refusal of trading with the outside world were retcons and made-up events

This post was inspired by @/hello-nichya-here's post here.

Sokka: The other Kyoshi Warriors, are they here?

Suki: No. I don't know where they are. They locked me in here because I'm the leader.

When Suki revealed who locked her in the Boiling Rock, she did not say "Azula locked me in here" she said "They locked me in here".

Suki and the Fire Nation

Who are "They"? We don't know, an ambiguous party, but it's definitely the Fire Nation. Could "They" be Mai, Ty Lee and Azula since they've defeated the Kyoshi Warriors (KWs) together or the Fire Nation's (FN) prison authority which's responsibile to organize prisoners on the mainland? Either way we can't say for sure other than it certainly wasn't due to a personal meeting with Azula. Besides, Suki revealed the reason behind why she got separated from her group: because she's the leader, not because Azula wanted her to suffer.

It's worth mentioning too that separating the leader from the group or the head from the body is a strategy; a tactical approach to neutralize the threat until the war is won, the same thing happened with Hakoda when he got separated from the invasion force because he was the leader.

Sokka later even taunt Suki back about getting defeated by Azula when Suki taunts him about it. Sokka wouldn't rub that to the face of the girlfriend he loves dearly if that experience was tormenting to her.

Ember Island Players:

Suki: It seems like every time there's a big battle, you guys barely make it out alive. I mean, you guys lose a lot!

Sokka: You're one to talk, Suki. Didn't Azula take you captive? That's right, she did!

If Azula had been the one to order such transition and leader separation then she would've instructed the responsible party to after delivering the KWs as war prisoners for being "Avatar Allies" = enemies of the FN.

Appa's Lost Days:

Suki: If you're looking for the Avatar, you're out of luck

Mai: I knew this was a waste of time.

Azula: No Avatar, huh. Well, that's okay. Any friend of the Avatar [Jumps off the mongoose lizard.] is an enemy of mine!

(Note: Azula doesn't consider running into the Kyoshi Warriors as a waste of time because they turn out to be Avatar Allies, keep it in mind for later)

Logically, by the time the KWs were transporting to the FN: Azula, Mai and Ty Lee were in their way to Ba Sing Se. So the possibility of Azula and Suki meeting would be physically impossible -- much less Azula waste her time even if she has a chance to, she's a busy girl.

The Boiling Rock, Part 2:

Suki: [Determined.] "This is a rematch I've been waiting for."

The first time Suki saw Azula and Ty Lee again, her wording was very indicative on the last time they met -- her feelings were determination to win in a second battle after the first defeat, not only against Azula but against Ty Lee too who she fought pretty fiercely (and put up a good fight actually after she was easily defeated before, suggesting Suki spent her time honing her fighting skills). Azula, on the other hand, didn't say a word nor even spared a look at her supposedly favorite prisoner.

During the “Day of Black Sun”, when Sokka (a.k.a Avatar Team’s leader) figured out that Azula’s plan was wasting their time by baiting them into chasing her until the eclipse is over, Azula said anything that comes to her mind to distract the people who were literally in their way to kill her own father and Fire Lord while he’s powerless, the one she’s responsible of protecting…until finally she brought up the Suki part (she didn’t even say her name here though) and that successed.

Azula’s face here reveals that she was lying and happy that what she came up with is working.

Side note: How Azula know Sokka's connection to Suki

How Azula knew about a Kyoshi Warrior named Suki with a connection to Avatar Team besides them taking care of the Avatar’s sky bison is right there in the show.

The Guru episode:

Katara: Thank goodness you are here, Suki. Something terrible is going on. The Fire Nation has infiltrated the city. I just saw Prince Zuko and his Uncle! (Azula’s eyes snap open at this news, and she smiles) We have to tell the Earth King right away!

Azula: (rising to her feet) Oh, don’t worry. I’ll be sure to let him know.

How Azula figured out Sokka’s connection to this Kyoshi Warrior girl named Suki.

Crossroads of Destiny episode:

Ty Lee: Yeah. What are you in time for, [Cartwheels to Sokka, standing just inches from his face.] cutie?

Sokka: [He begins to sweat and places his hand behind his head in discomfort. Nervously.] Uh, I’m kinda involved with Suki.

She heard that and put two and two together and kept the information for “tactical advantage”. Azula probably wouldn’t even remember who Suki is has it not been in a pressing moment to bait Sokka into wasting Avatar Team’s time in a time-sensitive mission.

And, on the other hand, when Azula obtained Sokka's name? In the very same day she obtained the Kyoshi Warriors's informs, logically speaking. (if we assumed that, indeed, the information source is from Suki not Azula, Mai or Ty Lee overhearing Sokka's name somewhere else).

The one Azula was focusing on in that scene was Sokka, Azula didn't even mentioned Suki's name there.

Edit (considering the alleged meeting takes place in Book 3): Finally, are you going to tell me that Azula would leave her brother, her friends, her father, her duty as princess, her strategic preparations for the Day of Black Sun, her studies, her royal spa (canonically favorite place to spent free time in) so she could go WASTE HER TIME chatting with/bullying an opponent she defeated so easily, who never displayed any eye-catching qualities and abilities to be worthy of her attention, so she would end up looking stupid in front of then just leave?

Sounds like Azula’s actually less committed about meeting someone she doesn’t know, who is neither a friend, a family, a worthy opponent nor has relevance to her plans and more like some Suki fans think Azula is hot and want her to be mean to their fav or just love angst and want Suki to suffer and there’s no better than the convenient foil narrative tool, the recurrent, plot-device villain Azula for the role a.k.a the Dragon Lady. But that wouldn’t work without making Azula looking shallow and stupid, the exact same qualities she is not and obviously disdained.

The Prisoners' Starvation

"This prisoner [Tough Criminal] has been a resident of the boiling rock for many years." -ATLA lore archive [source]

The prisoners' starvation was also a made-up addition in this comic since it was not mentioned in the show's episodes nor its lore. The Boiling Rock was secured but not inhumane, in fact it was even implied to offer therapy scrolls to its prisoners. Suki seems to be more fit, physically capable and upbeat than she was in "Appa's Lost Days" when the KWs battled against the Dangerous Ladies. Though Suki was understandably unhappy, the only thing she was feeling in her cell was boredom. And Hakoda (whose wounds were treated under Azula’s captivity btw) publicly humiliated the Warden of the prison yet the consequences of such action were quite mild -- this indicates the imprisonment conditions weren't inhumane. The prison already has a maximum security system therefore half-starving the prisoners is NOT needed. Besides how a good number of the prisoners have enough protein to bulid muscles on (including Suki) and were capable of rioting, where they beat each other up instead of their oppressors.

Part of the Fire Nation's nuance and integral values is their "code of honor" after all. The author should've given more highlight on the FN's -although misguided- better side than unnecessarily and stereotypically enforces the idea that the FN is rotten and the mother of all evil. This only takes away what makes the FN redeemable.

The only form of punishment which we can call severe was the cooling machine which was exclusive for rebel Firebenders... it's a local prison after all.

...and when the Warden was about to interrogate a "prisoner" over an escape plan which, surprise, was stopped by Azula.

Azula: "You're wasting your time. That's not one of them."

(Note: Azula considers questioning the wrong person is a waste of time now, it's the opposite situation with the Kyoshi Warriors, so she turn her back and leave. Azula emphasize on time in several occasions "we arrive right on time, because we are very punctual", "sorry I'm late, father", "do you know how long it took you to get here? [...] Five minutes, to be precise.")

Kyoshi Island Retcones

I'll quote from @zuko-always-lies because I see no point in paragraphing:

"A critical plot point in “Suki, Alone” is that Kyoshi Island refuses to any contact at all with the outside world, to the extent of refusing to trade for food when the islanders are starving.

A critical plot point in “The Warriors of Kyoshi,” one of the only two ATLA episodes to feature Kyoshi Island and the only one to spend more than five minutes on the island, is that Kyoshi Island extensively trades with the rest of the world, allowing Zuko to rapidly learn that Aang is dawdling on the island."

This is not only in the show episodes, but also stated in the lore of ATLA: in the original canon, Kyoshi Island was place practically built around trade!

"Predominantly a fishing port, Kyoshi Island is a favorite stopping point for traders and travelers." -ATLA lore archive

There's even a name for Kyoshi Island's main export: Elephant Koi, used for food, blubber and oil.

Why this should be retconned just to milk sympathy for a side character, who, in the show, was perfectly fine physically and mentally? It reminds me Gene Yang's retcons of Ursa's character in The Search. Sympathy is cheap, sympathy doesn't create good writing. Tell me what this comic add to Suki as a character? Yes, very little. And thus she remains underdeveloped.

-> If I'll choose a point to expand on in Suki's life: it would be when the KWs broke the tradition of neutrality and went out of the village helping people.

-> If I'll choose to show Suki being traumatized: it would be about the devastation of Kyoshi village and it's residents, which was burnt to the ground, her own home, that she failed to protect. And what the Kyoshi Warriors would do about helping the harmed people and fixing that devastation.

-> if I'll choose to expand on Suki's time in the Boiling Rock: is by showing her training to hone her fighting skills to break out of jail and defeat the Dangerous Ladies if she encountered them again, which she pretty much stated to be her goal at the sight of them on gondola. (Suki was in a better shape in the BR fight than she was in Appa Lost Days after all and her flawless venture to capture the Warden is a good example too, she was able to put up an equal fight with Ty Lee as well!)

P.S "Katara and the Pirates" comic also suffers from similar issues, mainly concerning the questionable timeline and the poor topic choice for the character expansion. Both comics were published after over a decade of ATLA finale and were written by a fan of the show not one of the original writing team who, just like Gene Yang, isn't informative/doesn't care about the lore and consistency, so the possibility of retcones are there and the canon credibility of it is selective to me at best.