tuktukpodfics

[tuktukpodfics]

imagine the most meanspirited, unlikeable, rude, bitter, self centered, negative person you can think of. not a rapist, not a murderer, not an abuser. just a charmless, tactless, dyed in the wool asshole you wouldn't want to spend two seconds with. now assume they get sick, not with the flu, but with a long term, serious illness that limits their ability to provide for themself. a society in which that person is left to die alone because nobody likes them on a personal level is a failed society.

[tuktukpodfics]

A 2023 investigation found that Buffy Sainte-Marie is of Italian and English descent and her claim of being part of the 60's scoop was a fabrication. Following this reveal, a number of her awards were revoked in 2025. However, she was adopted into the Piapot First Nation during a powwow in her 20s, and this adoption is still recognized as legitimate. Blood quantum is a touchy subject as so many indigenous people are mixed race or don’t know their full family history due to tragedies like the 60’s scoop. Whether or not you “count” as Cree isn’t measured based on a DNA test, and her adoption into the tribe is final, but it seems like Sainte-Marie’s claims of indigenous ancestry early in her career were an intentional lie, and to keep that up for decades has stirred a lot of feelings of betrayal. 

Alternatively:

I would like to propose a Susan Avingaq as a fancast for Gran-Gran.

Susan Avingaq is a talented Inuk actress, film director, producer, and screenwriter who has worked with Isuma Productions and Arnait Video Productions. She's also an accomplished seamstress and textile artist.

I think she’d be an especially great fit as Gran-Gran because of her focus on child education. She’s published 2 children’s books and has performed as a storyteller on two children’s programs, Anaana’s Tent and Kiviuq Returns.

Here is a video of her singing!

Casting Collage: Water Tribe Pt. 1

Since my post on “Face Inspirations” got such a positive reception, I thought I’d share my very extensive “casting” collage for the Water Tribe, from my other tumblr: Avatar Fancast. To make it more relevant to this Tumblr, I’ll list the indigenous ancestry of each actor I’ve chosen:

Martin Sensmeier (Hakoda): Tlingit, Koyukon, and Athabascan.

Tanaya Beaty (Kya): Kwakwakaʼwakw

Shawnee Pourier (Katara): Oglala Lakota

D'Pharaoh Woon-a-tai (Sokka):  Oji-Cree

Buffy Sainte-Marie (Gran-Gran): Plains Cree

Apesanahkwat (Pakku): Menominee

[tuktukpodfics]

I have 3:23 on loop in my head most days.

What’s a cover song that you think is better than the original?

I’ll start with my controversial take that the Chris Stapleton cover of Nothing Else Matters is better than the Metallica one

[tuktukpodfics]

Chapter 12: Water II Part II A | While Mighty Oaks Do Fall

When faced with pain, his body had betrayed him, and he bowed.

Podfic of @a-witch-in-endor's Fire Sage Zuko AU: Chapter 12. Corresponds with the second half of Chapter 10 in the text version.

In which La is not a gentle spirit.

[tuktukpodfics]

do you have a kofi or anywhere we can support your work? thank you for all you do :)

I am flattered, but no! I can't legally monetize, nor do I want to. Comments on Ao3 and Tumblr are payment enough. It makes me so happy to read people’s reviews and respond to questions. I'm glad you're enjoying the podfics!

[tuktukpodfics]

Chapter 11: Water II Part I B | While Mighty Oaks Do Fall

"They have reached the top of a cliff of ice. Zuko walks forward to the edge and looks down and down and down."

Podfic of @a-witch-in-endor's Fire Sage Zuko AU: Chapter 11. Corresponds with the second half of Chapter 9 in the text version.

In which Zuko goes for a swim (again).

[tuktukpodfics]

Anyways if you use straight jackets and other forms of restraint, padded rooms, in your art etc as someone who has not experienced this form of psych abuse I really really need you to tread lightly. I need you to be fucking respectful about it. If I see it used as a throwaway aesthetic choice or god fucking forbid as a JOKE one more time. I will set shit on fire.

I need you to understand that this is one of the worst things that can be done to someone, that it completely breaks you down. It is generally paired with isolation from other patients, sometimes In special rooms, sometimes stereotypically "padded" (though in real life I've only ever seen thick carpet being used, not whatever exists in those movies).

Really think about what it would do to you to be tied down in an empty room, no clocks, no indicator of time passing aside from the steps you hear coming down the hallway sometimes. Are they having lunch? Are they having dinner? no humans around you majority of the time, the nurses just checking on you through a window that you often cant see them through. They might be painted pink, or purple, etc, meant to "calm" you. It doesnt. It makes you lose your mind. You cant even fucking scratch your nose. There is nothing to fill the time. No reading. No listening to music. No connection to anyone who might help you. You can scream for hours, but you often quickly learn that the more you scream the longer they will keep you there like this. The most human reaction to this treatment is seen as proof of your insanity and as a need to prolong this treatment.

that it is often used to break you into compliance with whatever other fucked up shit they want to force on you. You dont want to take your meds? Well we cant legally force them down your throat (at least in some places I guess) but we CAN tie you down for a shit ton of time and the only way we will let you go is if you "consent" to taking your meds.

Your OC, your fucking blorbos, whatever, laying in a padded room tied up might be funny to you, isnt it so hilarious that they're (treated like) "one of those crazies". Look at this funny picture hihi. Sitcoms use this shit too. Psych ward, padded room, restraints, cue the laugh track.

But as one of those crazies we can usually tell when you want to actually depict our suffering and recognize it as such, give it the gravity it deserves. and when you only see this intense abuse as a funny thing or an aesthetic. And both are absolutely disgusting. Is this necessary? Is it worth more than preserving our dignity after the fact with treating our trauma with the seriousness and weight it deserves?

[tuktukpodfics]

Monetizing fanfiction is copyright infringement, and media conglomerates have good lawyers, so commission discussions gotta stay off Ao3, but you could try adding the tag "Blanket Permission" to your fic and then put a statement in the Author Notes saying that you're open to anyone podfic'ing your work.

At least for me, finding authors willing to be podfic'ed is hard! Sometimes I can't find a linked Tumblr account to message them through, so I leave a comment that gets buried. Some authors take a while to reply. Adding the Blanket Permission tag makes it easier for hopeful podfic'ers to search available works and get started right away.

Do you know how someone could go about getting someone to read a fic as a podfic? I was thinking of getting one made for One For Alchemist, but I didn't know the medium existed until I saw your post earlier

Is it like a commission situation, or is there something like a forum I could submit it to?

That's a good question! I have no idea if I'm being honest. The extent of my experience with podfic is just the ones I happen to find on ao3, as well as one or two I've found on YouTube and SoundCloud (that aren't ai). You could try going into the bnha and/or fma tag on ao3 and find some podfic narrators and ask them if they'd be willing to take commissions!

[tuktukpodfics]

The people in the background are breaking me. Soldiers laughing like they're telling a funny story, a mom and 2 little kids reuniting with a dad, a younger soldier picked up in a bear hug, an old soldier handing an urn to an elderly woman.

(ID in Alt Text)

A while ago I was invited to contribute to the Form the Ashes ATLA fan Zine for @recovery-zine!

I got to illustrate this double spread! (which was terrifying, thank you) Pretty sure this is where the thought "Jee survived the north" began to form for me! The theme was about the war ending, peace settling and people getting to come home and reunite with loved ones.

[tuktukpodfics]

Just popping by to say that 'Wanyi' and your words for why it's a good name for Zuko's ship hit me like a sack of bricks to the chest. absolutely incredible choice, I am REELING.

I'm glad you found it so touching!

I haven’t read Embers. I thought MuffinLance intentionally named Zuko’s warship 萬一 (one in ten thousand, what if) from the start. It’s been a bit bewildering to see a mistake become new fanon. 

At risk of ruining the sentimentality of the name Wanyi, I would issue a few caveats to people adopting it for their fics. It’s really more of a retrofit of the old name—something to rebrand while sounding and looking similar enough to Wani to not be distracting. 

Wanyi is pinyin romanization, used in the People’s Republic of China. You could just as easily spell it Wan-i or Wani. Canon uses a mix of romanization methods. However, if the goal is rebranding, Wanyi makes sense.

Wanyi isn’t an Authentic™ historical Chinese boat name. That would be something like Galloping Clouds or Tranquil Seas. 

You might want to use a different culture instead of Chinese for Zuko’s warship. Canonically, there are Fire Nation characters with Chinese inspired names, like Zhao, Piandao, and Shyu, but if your fan-fiction is drawing more inspiration from Japanese or Thai culture, maybe a different name is more suited. 

Wanyi is often used for negative what-ifs. An unlikely disaster. Zuko is, after all, a disaster magnet. And the cause of many misfortunes. 

Wanyi literally means one in ten thousand, but it is grammatically used to indicate an extremely unlikely possibility. Like finding the avatar. To me, it feels ominous, anxious, yearning in an unrealistic sort of way, which I think all speak to Zuko's character arc. Idk, what do other Chinese speakers think?

[tuktukpodfics]

“You’re cheating!” “No I’m not, you’re just bad at it.”

Podfic of @a-witch-in-endor's Fire Sage Zuko AU: Chapter 10

In which Zuko and Sokka bond in a Northern Water Tribe prison.

[tuktukpodfics]

[ID: a red lily]

Chinese Ideas for Fire Nation Names

I wouldn’t recommend using 妹 mèi. Chinese tends to use family names as informal titles. For example, in English you’d call a stranger Miss Li, but in Chinese you could call them “sister Li” It’s very generic sounding. Also, there's already a Fire Nation character with the same name pronunciation but a different spelling (Mai). Mèilì is a homophone with 魅力 meaning "charisma."

Here are some ideas of Chinese characters that I think fit the Fire Nation. Some of them are rare characters like 炟 Dá: ignite, I just like them. (Note I'm using traditional characters)

Militant names:

偉 Wěi: Great 勇 Yǒng: Brave 軍 Jūn: Army

Firey names:

燁 Yè: Blaze of fire/glorious 爍 Shuò: Lumious 熒 Yíng: Glimmer/twinkling 炘 Xīn: mid-day glare of the sun 焮 Xìn: flame 炫 Xuàn: dazzle 炣 Kě: literary word for fire 煒 Wěi: Glowing 熠 Yì: Glow/flash 炟 Dá: ignite

Sunlight names:

明 Míng: Bright/wise 亮 Liàng: shine 霞 Xiá: rosy colored clouds at dawn and dusk (my personal favorite) 耀 Yào: shining/glorious 輝 Huī: to shine on/splendor 晨 Chén: dawn 光 Guāng: light 曦 Xī: Sunlight (usually at dawn) 晗 Hán: before daybreak 昭 Zhāo: Bright/to show clearly (maybe avoid because it sounds too much like commander Zhao. I headcanon that his name uses the character 趙 Zhào meaning “to surpass”) 曉 Xiǎo: Dawn (maybe don’t use this though because it also sounds like 小 xiǎo “little��� which is a typical diminutive) 暖 Nuǎn: warm 旭 Xù: rising sun

You’ll notice a lot of these characters have the radical component for fire 火 or sun 日.

Name structure:

Historical (and some contemporary) names sometimes follow a 3 character structure of [family name]-[generation name]-[given name]. The family name is passed down the father’s line, the generation name is shared by siblings and cousins, and the given name is unique. So if your name is Cai Yuxiu, maybe your sisters’ names would be Cai Yuting and Cai Yufang. Naming people after other people is rare (and, in cases of royalty, was highly illegal), so no naming people Ozai lol. Canon ignores that though: Azula is named after her grandfather Azulon. It's a fantasy setting, not a 1-to-1 cultural equivalent.

2 Character names:

Like @ranilla-bean mentioned in the comments, 2 character names tend not to just be 1 concept, but 2 ideas put together to have a larger meaning, like:

建國 Jiànguó: nation building 強國 Qiángguó: Strong nation 晨迎 Chényíng: [dawn][welcome], welcoming the dawn or forging ahead at dawn 皓萱 Hàoxuān: [bright][orange day lily] 寧霞 Níngxiá: peaceful rosy colored clouds

About 麗 Lì:

麗 Lì (丽 in simplified characters) "beautiful" is a pretty common character in women's names, but there are also a ton of other names that also are pronounced Li. And in the world of Avatar, there are a million Lis, like Ty Lee, the old ladies Lo and Li, and the little boy on the farm named Li. A Chinese speaker wouldn't necessarily know the meaning of the name Li unless the person goes to the effort of explaining it. "I'm Li. Li as in beautiful." It's pretty common to explain the characters of your name when you introduce yourself.

If you like 麗 Lì you can use it as-is or combine it with another character like 麗熒 Lìyíng “Beautiful glimmer” or 麗萱 Lìxuān "beautiful day-lily." Just do a quick Google search to see if other people with the name come up. Sometimes word combos can form a homophone with something offensive so tread carefully.

Searching for names:

To do Google searches for names you can copy the following: 帶[X]字的女孩名字: Girl names with the character[X] 帶[X]字旁的女孩名字: Girl names with the radical component [X] (put whatever component you want here, like fire 火, sun 日, water 水，earth 土)

Since you know some Chinese, you can probably use a cursor dictionary like Zhongwen Chinese popup dictionary to parse through the names and pick something you like!

Pronunciation:

Some Chinese names are hard to pronounce, especially ones with a Zh or X in them. If you want to go easy on non-Chinese speakers, pick something simple. Or pick whatever you like and have it be an educational moment! You can even link a pronunciation guide in the footnotes to be extra pedantic.

Caveats:

I do translation, but my native language is English. If you have a Chinese speaking friend you can check with, definitely do so. You don't have to go with an especially firey name. Someone from Jang Hui might have a more water inspired name like 珊 Shān: Coral. Also, the Fire Nation gets a lot of cultural inspiration from Southeast Asia and Japan. You could search for Thai names?

hi:) I have a question and its a long shot that you could answer it but maybe you know where I should ask? I'm making a fire nation character and I wanted to give her a real Chinese name. I know a little bit of Chinese but not enough to know if a name is weird-sounding or not (to someone fluent). I was thinking about the name mei4 li4 妹丽, which I do believe is a real name but the character Mei instead of the character meaning beautiful it is little sister (same-ish sound)

When it comes to giving characters Chinese names, I think this post by Fine I'll Sign Up is a great starting point.

I'll give my two cents but please take it with a grain of salt as I'm nowhere close to being an expert on Chinese names. That said, I think the name "beautiful little sister" sounds a bit strange. I know that "little sister" can be used colloquially to refer to any young woman, but it doesn't sound like a name that a parent would give their child.

After all, your daughter isn't going to be a young woman her whole life, so you don't want to give her a name that'll start sounding odd once she hits middle age. More realistically, if you want your character's name to reflect a sweet and innocent personality, the name should allude to something poetic that symbolizes those qualities.

If I may make a recommendation, how about naming your character Bǎihé (百合)--- Lily? According to a few floriography websites, the Lily can represent purity in Chinese culture. It also represents a long-lasting marriage, which is the sort of thing traditional parents would want for their daughter. Plus, the Fire Nation is known for its beautiful fire lilies.

[tuktukpodfics]

Hi! I'm thinking about making a podfic of one of my favorite fics and I wanted to ask for a couple of tips because I adore your podfics and I have run into a couple problems very early on.

how do you do deeper voices? my voice is fairly high (I'm a soprano that can occasionally deep down into lower alto) and most of the voices in the fic are male. I also always sound about twelve in recordings lol

how do you make distinct voices? again, I have a lot of different voices (probably 5-7 that talk the most, with many many other reoccurring characters).

pacing of reading. I tend to speak/read very quick and in my practice recordings, it sounds like I'm talking much faster than I felt I was. any tips on that?

what recording programs are best? currently I'm using voice memos on my phone. which. is clearly not going to give me the best sound, regardless of the app I use, but I don't have many options.

I am living in a dorm right now and live in fear of my suite mates hearing me (my roommate not quite as much as she likes to dub and does a lot in our room--though she does it in mandarin so I cant understand it). not to mention background noise of doors opening and whatnot. if you have any tips on that as well, that would be great!

I love your podfic, you put so much soul into them, and I hope that I could do that too!

Hello fellow podfic-er! I’m so excited for you to make a podfic!

The nice thing about podfics is that I usually don’t have to create characters from scratch, they already exist in the TV show. If I’m struggling with a character, I just rewatch some clips of them talking and imitate it!

Deep voices: I, too, have a high, childish voice and struggle with deep, Manly Men. I guess the main tip I have is to...give up. What I mean is focus less on pitch and more on tone. If you speak too low, it’ll be less expressive and will probably hurt your throat. It can work for minor, 2D characters, but don’t do it for main characters that have a wide range of emotions (you may notice that my Mighty Oaks Fire Sage Zuko voice swings higher when he’s emotional oops). Instead, use your normal pitch, and make a character sound adult by using an authoritative tone. Another thing I do is play up the childish and feminine voices. We might not be able to make the adults sound adult, but we can make the kids sound extra kiddish by comparison.

Distinct voices: I’m a tactile learner, so for me, it’s all about the physicality. Every time I do Azula’s voice, I make a pinched face like I’m eating a lemon. When I record Ozai, I sneer. For Sokka, I jut out my chin and flail my arms. It looks silly, but no one is around to see. There’s lots of YouTube tutorials about how to make different voices by varying speed and tone and nasal quality, but I get kinda lost in the sauce with those theory lessons. The only way I can really get myself to do different voices is if I’m working off of a reference. I just watch videos of other cartoons and live actors and then copy them.

Pacing: Pacing is hard. I especially struggle with the editing and often end up cutting things wonkily. Audiobooks tend to be slow because you’re less likely to get tongue tied that way. If I have a big hunk of text that I find myself racing through, I slow myself down with physicality again. I’ll lean in on important words or mime out the actions. For example, on the line, “Zuko turns, grabs the bar at the side of the ship, and throws himself back over,” I'll turn my body on the word “turn,” grab an imaginary bar on the word “grab” and then lurch forward on the word “throw.” Adding in movement can bring variation to those big blocks of text.

What recording programs are best: I don’t know! I use Audacity because it’s free. Adobe Audition is great too, but it’s expensive. I am very lazy with the podfics. I don’t have a professional set-up. Basically, I make a comfortable nest of pillows in bed or my closet, use an iPhone VoiceMemos app to record straight into the phone mic, send the audio file to my computer, convert the audio to a WAV file, put it in Audacity, add a Noise Reduction effect, and then cut it down. Once I’m done editing it, I export the Audacity file as an mp3, upload it to archive.org and Spotify, and then embed those links into Ao3. Feel free to DM me if you have other tech questions. I am not particularly savvy, but we can Google it together? If any voice actors on Tumblr have professional advice, please chime in.

Silence and privacy: Background noise is a big headache for me too. I live in a noisy area with lots of planes and a squeaky elevator. I usually record now in my closet surrounded by pillows and blankets, so it’s fairly soundproof. If there’s a noise, I usually wait for the sound to stop, record the line again, then edit out the mistake in post. At the end of the day, though, sounds will slip in. It’s just a podfic; we’re doing this for fun not professionally, so it doesn’t need to be polished. I think most listeners’ attitudes is that something is better than nothing. If you’re in a school dorm, there might be music practice rooms, a radio recording booth, or empty classrooms you can use instead.

Storage: Something I didn’t realize going in was how much storage the audio clips take up. Make sure you save and delete projects as you go. One time I finished editing an Audacity project, but it wouldn’t let me save it because I ran out of storage and I had to start over.

I’m so glad you like the podfics I’ve done and that it could help inspire you to make one too! I started making podfics because I fell in love with @pixieinthesky’s fantastic Salvage podfic (it's an absolute gem). Keep the chain going!

Have fun!

[tuktukpodfics]

[ID: Slightly larger than life-sized bronze statue of a bearded man. He has a realistic face and oversized, square shoulders and exaggerated, angular hands bigger than his face. There is an animal mask motif on his clothing. End ID]

As much as I adore this handsome statue, he’s not from the Shang dynasty!

He is a contemporary depiction of Cheng Tang (the founder of the Shang Dynasty) at the entrance of a Zhengzhou City Museum exhibit.

You can tell he's not from the Shang Dynasty a few ways:

The human depiction

Human depictions during the Shang dynasty are rare. People didn’t really make big shiny statues of their leaders all that much. Or if they did, the art didn’t survive to today.

A lot of the artwork that did survive from the Shang dynasty comes from graves, especially the tomb of Fu Hao (a military general and priestess). Most of the bronze artifacts found in graves are cauldrons and wine vessels; not human statues. Important people did have attendants accompany them to the afterlife, but instead of statues, real people and animals were sacrificed.

There are some depictions of humans, but they look like this (sighted folks, click the alt text for details about each piece):

The casting method

Early Shang bronzes were cast in sectioned moulds. You’d carve the design you wanted into slabs of clay and then pour the bronze in. Then, you’d crack the mould sections off and reuse them to make matching sets. Sometimes people also added little decorative wings (flanges) to the seams.

Here’s a diorama from the Zhengzhou City Museum of what that might’ve looked like:

I think this handsome man was probably made with a hollow lost-wax method instead, which was used more in the later Shang and Zhou dynasty. The statue has finicky detailing like the ears that lost-wax is better at capturing. Also there’s no visible seams (though, to be fair, there are bronzes with perfectly concealed seams from the Shang dynasty). Disclaimer that I'm really not that well versed in casting techniques.

The art style

His face is quite realistic. You know the terra-cotta warriors from the Qin dynasty? His face is more reminiscent of that time period. Shang artwork is more abstract and geometric. Here’s some examples of animals with abstract detailing.

You caught me. This section was mostly just an excuse to show you some cool bronzes.

Also, the statue isn’t behind glass

Anyways.

I think this statue is really neat! His small head, oversized limbs, and flat dimensionality looks kind of like a Corporate Memphis art style...but with Shang motifs and coloring. The statue reminds me a bit of Ren Xiong’s self portrait from the Qing dynasty, which has an extremely realistic western-style face and expressive, abstract brushwork for his clothes. This statue's realistic face, combined with Shang and Zhou bronze patterns, intentionally oxidized coloring, and exaggerated, square proportions is a little bit jarring. Like he’s seesawing between old and new.

Sources

Big thank you to the Zhengzhou City Museum and the National Museum in Beijing for caring for these artifacts and to Professor Garry Lee Todd for taking all the photos in this reblog as well as the original post photo. He has hundreds of museum photo tours on his website.

Shang Jade Kneeling Person Shang Jade Figure Bronze Casting, Xingyang & Shang City Shang Bronze Zun Shang Bronze Ding Shang Bronze Owl Zun

Bronze sculpture, China, Shang Dynasty circa 1600 - 1000 BC

Housed at the Zhengzhou City Museum

[tuktukpodfics]

I have a lot of resources and references on my blog alongside the aesthetics. But I wanted to highlight a few resources in particular here for those who don't feel like going through my tags.

For the Casual Blogger or Generally Curious:

Why Write Image Descriptions?

How Screen Readers Read Content

How to censor words without messing it up for screen readers

Accessible Revamps (blog theme)

Accessible (3.0) (blog theme)

Accessibility-Related Google Chrome Extensions

How to make the colors on your mobile theme accessible

For Image, Video, and Audio Describers/Transcribers:

I see an image and want to describe it: a step by step guide

All About Image Descriptions (with lots of examples!)

People's Accessibility Discord Server Info Post

How to write an image description

Writing Alt Text

text alternatives are about the purpose of the image, not about every little detail

Guidelines for Creating Image Descriptions

Cooper Hewitt Guidelines for Image Description

Free Online OCR Website

OCR Space

a11ies.info

For Developers and Content Creators:

WebAIM

Dos and don'ts on designing for accessibility

How to Make Your Art Accessible

How to Make Your Stimboards Accessible

Making Your Games Accessible

Tips on making comics accessible

HTML Accessibility

Color Contrast Tools

How to Write Alt Text for Digital Comics

Accessibility in the Arts: A Promise and a Practice

Accessibility Options for Online Businesses

For Writers:

Making Your Blog More Accessible For Your Readers

Sensitivity Readers (blog)

Resources For Writing Deaf, Mute, or Blind Characters

Comprehensive guide to writing deaf characters

Tips on hearing aids and writing them

What is Legal Blindness?

Personal Accounts from Legally Blind People

Writing characters with one eye

Writing Blind Characters

Writing a Blind or Visually Impaired Character

A Characterisation/Writing Guide - Autism and ADHD

BPD videos

Disability in fanfiction: a few thoughts

Writing a disabled character who is frustrated with their limitations

Free resources for various sign languages

For Roleplayers:

Trimming Posts with XKit Rewritten

Writing Blind/Visually Impaired Characters in TTRPGs

Running RPGs with the Deaf and Hard-of Hearing

[tuktukpodfics]

Another thing I forgot to mention!

荷 hé "lotus" is also a homophone with 合 hé "together." The lotus also symbolizes a future of working together with other nations rather than conquering them.

A quintuple meaning! Chinese is such a delightful language.

Also, I made something…

Figured that since Ozai looked so young in his portrait, that must mean it was made shortly after his coronation, or thereabouts, so applying that logic here, ZuZu stills looks young and handsome. The dragons, I know, that event was meant to be kept secret, but counter argument, this painting doesn’t necessarily say, “Hey, Dragons are still alive—here’s a map!” It’s just a bit of artsy-fartsy majestic embellishment. Also, I feel like Zuko might want to rebrand the Fire Nation, just a little, you know, after the 100 year war. So instead of just pure fire iconography, he brings things back to their roots, aka, the dragon. More dragon iconography!!! In this portrait, Zuko isn’t the one firebending, it’s the dragons, the first Firebenders. And in the meantime, he’s holding out a White Lotus. Now, I tried to use my Google Fu to find out if there was ever any symbol in Japan or Korea or China that meant “peace,” but my search results came up empty, so I figured that perhaps the lotus could become their version of, say, the olive branch. A discreet and tasteful way to include such a major part of the final battle while having a double meaning. Also, take note of the fact that he’s holding it with BOTH hands. In Japan, when one offers a gift, you always do so with both hands. And while I know it may look a little strange, Zuko towering over his friends—bro—this was always going to be Zuko’s Firelord portrait. He was always going to be the main focus. He just wanted to also include his friends and commemorate the day the war finally ended/his coronation. Anyway, that’s all for now… hope that wasn’t too much… and if anyone has any ideas for how to make it even better, pls let me know.

[tuktukpodfics]

[ID: Full body portrait of Fire Lord Zuko in the style of the Fire Nation royal portraits. Zuko is holding a white lotus in both hands. Two dragons, one blue and one red, tendril their tails around him and breathe fire above each of his shoulders. In the foreground are 5 small figures of Katara, Sokka, Aang, Suki, and Toph, each holding white lotuses of their own, as well as the icons of Water, Air, Fire, and Earth. End ID]

In Chinese, the word "lotus" 荷 is a homophone with "harmony" 和. Both are pronounced hé.

The same character for lotus 荷 but pronounced with a down tone hè also means both the noun form for "burden" or "responsibility," as well as the verb "to carry a heavy responsibility." Very fitting for a Fire Lord shouldering the duty of restoring harmony.

Symbolically, lotuses typically represent resilience. Lotuses have roots in murky water but grow into something beautiful. There's actually an idiom about lotuses used to describe moral integrity: 出淤泥而不染 chū yú ní ér bù rǎn “to emerge from the mud untainted."

The perfect flower for Zuko.

Also, I made something…

Figured that since Ozai looked so young in his portrait, that must mean it was made shortly after his coronation, or thereabouts, so applying that logic here, ZuZu stills looks young and handsome. The dragons, I know, that event was meant to be kept secret, but counter argument, this painting doesn’t necessarily say, “Hey, Dragons are still alive—here’s a map!” It’s just a bit of artsy-fartsy majestic embellishment. Also, I feel like Zuko might want to rebrand the Fire Nation, just a little, you know, after the 100 year war. So instead of just pure fire iconography, he brings things back to their roots, aka, the dragon. More dragon iconography!!! In this portrait, Zuko isn’t the one firebending, it’s the dragons, the first Firebenders. And in the meantime, he’s holding out a White Lotus. Now, I tried to use my Google Fu to find out if there was ever any symbol in Japan or Korea or China that meant “peace,” but my search results came up empty, so I figured that perhaps the lotus could become their version of, say, the olive branch. A discreet and tasteful way to include such a major part of the final battle while having a double meaning. Also, take note of the fact that he’s holding it with BOTH hands. In Japan, when one offers a gift, you always do so with both hands. And while I know it may look a little strange, Zuko towering over his friends—bro—this was always going to be Zuko’s Firelord portrait. He was always going to be the main focus. He just wanted to also include his friends and commemorate the day the war finally ended/his coronation. Anyway, that’s all for now… hope that wasn’t too much… and if anyone has any ideas for how to make it even better, pls let me know.