#AvatarSpirit.net

[airteacher]

If elements were more lineage based and not stuck 1:1 per parent what element would you hc the air kids as having. (Assuming Pema is a non bending daughter of at least one earthbender)

//Personally, I've always imagined Pemzin's kids as having the potential to be Airbenders (bc of Aang being of Air Nomad decent), Waterbenders (bc of Katara being of Water Tribe decent) and Earthbenders (bc of Pema being of Earth Kingdom decent). If one of Pema's parents were from Fire Nation decent, then I'd include that as well.

But I imagine it not extending past grandparents, because the creators specifically say it's not about bloodlines, but rather a spiritual connection, with each culture providing a different spiritual vantage point. So, while I do believe in some genetics having to do with ethnic grouping, I still think grooming is an important factor. By fostering the Air Nomad side of their heritage, they are more likely to develop into Airbenders than any other element.

With this in mind we know of three canon aspects that attribute to being able to bend: ethnic grouping/cultural upbringing (decides which element you're predisposed to developing), spiritual connection (how likely you'll be a bender), and a physical aspect having to do with blood flow and chi channels in/around the brain (an on-and-off switch basically).

Here's a snippet of an interview Bryke did for avatarspirit.net (the main online community for atla/lok content before tumblr arrived) that supports this. This is from April 2007. I've bolded the text I found most relevant.

RM: Okay, next I know I'm going really left brained and you can call me a geek because I am, but in "The Fortuneteller" you have a pair of twins...kids...one is an earthbender and one isn't. So is bending genetic, or is it some sort of spiritual thing? How does it work? BK: Mike and I just got new puppies. They're brothers. They have the same mother and father. Same litter. Mike's dog can just sit in a crate and be happy as a clam. My dog just loses all control...everything. Who knows why these things happen? They're beyond our full understanding. MDD: Yeah, Katara's mom and dad weren't benders. Maybe it's a recessive gene. I've always seen it as more spiritual connections, though. A little bit mysterious... BK: I mean we've definitely talked about it. I think, again, sometimes we might not know...it's more of what we don't want it to be. We didn't want it to be like there is a lineage...a royal family or something...and these people can bend and then there's everyone else as non-bending, people who never will. Some sort of caste system. Mike and I are more attracted to more of the flux type universe. The only constant is change, variation, that sorta thing. I'm sure it's a bunch of factors. ***Interviewers note: About 20 mins after the interview, Bryan came back to me and we spoke a little more about the basis of bending off recorder. He described bending as more of a talent. You have some genetic basis for potential, but you could go your whole life without developing the talent into ability. Some people have more inherent talent than others, while others with minimal inherent talent can still develop it through hard work and practice. He reiterated a connection to the spiritual energies is the underlying basis. How it manifests is based on upbringing and experience. RM: So could Teo's people perhaps grow into the airbenders of the future? BK: I think Teo's people are more refugees. They probably came together because they're not benders and really had no way to defend themselves. Then fell under this nutty guy who has his own skill and aura of authority. I don't think it's an ethnic group of non-benders, rather they were all just escaping the disasters of war. MDD: Yeah, I think if you've gone through puberty and not found any bending abilities, you're probably not going to find them. I think it manifests early. BK: Although that would make a pretty outrageous story. Some 80 year old guy... MDD: "Wow, I never knew!" BK: ...fire starts shooting out... RM: I was just curious if the airbenders could just come back from the general population rather than necessarily having to come back through Aang or anyone else who came from the airbending lineage. MDD: Aang is the last Airbender, so I don't think it's possible for Airbending to spontaneously develop in the general population. RM: It seems like all the Air Nomads were benders. Did they exile everyone who didn't manifest the trait, or did they really have such a high percentage of born benders? BK: We always have liked the idea of who will be a bender and who won't be to be kind of an ambiguous mystery, even to the people in the Avatar world. From early on we thought the Air Nomads would be all benders. Again it's like Mike was saying, it's more of a spiritual connection. But they have...they had...the smallest population. Earth Kingdom has the biggest population but the smallest percentage of benders. So yeah, there were these notions we kicked around that is wasn't going to be regimented or ruled through specific lineages. We liked the idea that each of the cultures have a different spiritual vantage point...coming at it from a different angle. MDD: Then the Air Nomads would have been the most spiritual...the most connected to the spiritual energy of the Earth. BK: But the most detached from society. More monastic.

#legend of korra #bending genetics #air family #Tenzin #Pema #long post #avatarspirit.net

[maifandom]

Fifteen Years Later...

15 years ago today, ATLA's finale aired. In commemoration, I dredged up my initial reaction to the finale, which I posted in the shipping thread of ye olde AvatarSpirit.net's forum. Consequently it's very shipping-focused and includes a billion portmanteaus. But it's the closest thing I have to a liveblog for ATLA, and I love nostalgia.

A little context, first. I found Avatar through Zutara fanart at the end of 2007 and caught up on all the existing episodes in probably January 2008? Disappointed that Kataang was so obvious, I turned to Sokka ships and decided I liked Tokka best. I lurked in the fandom for a few months, joined the forum shortly before everyone found out that the Boiling Rock was going to get a DVD release on May 6, two months before it actually aired on TV. I spent a lot of downtime debating the merits of Tokka and making predictions about the show based on random commercials and then the finale trailer. On the shipping side of things, my reaction was kinda negative. I was increasingly disappointed leading up to the finale. Don't worry, it gets better.

Brackets indicate present day edits or comments.

[Begin finale reaction]

OH MAN, WHERE TO START? [...] I guess I'll start from the beginning.

Zumo! ♥

Harutara, ahahahaha.

Nylappa! ♥♥♥ (Ahahaha.)

Irko reunion! ;_; Oh man, I cried. xD

Maiko reunion. xD Seriously, Zuko's eyes. Zudorko. ♥

Okay, I guess it's time for Sutokka stuff, right?

Sukka... were practically glued together. Seriously. And I'm sorry, much as I try to be unbiased, I just really didn't like it. D: There were moments. Mere moments, like back before I had a particular bias. I don't truly dislike it, but when it's so constant and final it's hard to ignore.

It made Tokka moments hard to come by. Or in fact, many other character interactions. Sokka was seriously obsessed. @_@

Did anyone else notice the only time we got Tokka moments was when they were separated from Suki? Dx Aside from the Tokka hand-leading seconds previous. I dunno. I suppose I should be thankful that they made a point of including Tokka. But much as I ADORE this scene:

[Image - probably Sokka covering Toph from debris]

*Insert fangirl scream that gets cut off*

...well it didn't really lead to anything else. ;_;

See, I wanted angst! And drama! And depth! And at least someone acknowledging it. ANYONE.

Frankly, I hated the apparent Toph x everyone-ness. [Zuko, The Duke, and...?] I'm fine with those ships. In fact, I ship more than one of them. But when they're all there? That just says Toph is fickle or childish, to me. D:

I would have liked it better if Tokka was never a romantic ship. Or if we were shown Toph was boy-crazy from the beginning -- with Taang, or some random one-shot character. Why did they save it all for the finale?

But I don't think that's necessarily what's happening. (Reminder to self: don't listen to every conclusion the fandom comes to. >.>) In which case, we still have Tokka disappearing as if it never happened, and Toph doesn't care one iota.

Apparently I came in at just the right time to stew in all the Tokkaness, come to all these conclusions, and then have pretty much everything I ever thought about Tokka or Sutokka be completely undermined. :P

I get the sense that M & B were looking over my shoulder at the things I listed that I didn't want to happen with Tokka, and thought it was a recommendation. :P

However, much as I must seem to be ranting, I'm far more apathetic than angry. Some of that fan depression I had after I watched EIP -- I got this sense I lost my favorite characters, because what I thought was there no longer was. D: [Particularly the way Sokka is characterized, since he's my favorite.]

So, oddly enough, the Sutokka plotline was probably the one I was least interested in, except in with glimmers of hope that those characters I loved might come back. (And they did. Some.)

But, oh man, you should have heard my breathing when Toph got in her metal armor. :P Sutokka got some of the best action EVER.

Wait a second. Pretty much EVERY moment in the finale that had action in it was better than everything else in the whole series. Where can I begin?

[I rambled about staying on topic.]

Except... Crazula? Seriously, I can't say enough how astdirl,dtbmortsnehjAMAZING Crazula was. AZULA, where did you GO? ;_;

And the Kazuko [platonic Zutara] was better. :D

Okay, I'm still not done.

Kataang?

Yeah, it's okay. (Best in EIP.) [Eh???]

Remember the Kataang commercial?

"I won't let him fight alone?" :P

I find it highly ironic that Katara was on ANOTHER CONTINENT THE WHOLE TIME.

Heh. Oh, well. I'll just pretend there's a little extra Kataang in there more along the lines of EIP. ^_^ And then I might be able to say I officially like Kataang, or something.

[End finale reaction]

Years later, I'm rather bemused by some of my thoughts. My disappointment in Tokka makes sense, since they would be so awesome. :P During ATLA, I assumed that shipping details were done very purposefully and would lead somewhere, even if it was just a character arc. After watching LOK, I came to understand better how the writers used shipping more for fun, especially with secondary characters. Part of the magic of shipping or just being in a fandom in general is the fans' imagination. I've been (more or less) happy to continue Tokka using my imagination. I can even imagine contradictory scenarios - angsty, happily ever after, silly, serious - so it really doesn't matter what happened in canon after ATLA.

I don't think Toph was boy crazy, but I do think Sokka will forever care about her well-being. Nowadays Sokka, Suki, and Toph's side plot might be my favorite plotline in the last two episodes, but it's really hard to choose. The Agni Kai is beautiful, the Old Masters are powerful, and Aang's battle against Ozai is intense and important.

My original thoughts on Kataang are really weird to me now. I think I finally warmed up to them a couple years later. I'm not sure what I thought was so good about them in EIP - maybe the fact they actually talked a bit about their relationship? But watching Aang kiss her prematurely is so cringy to me now, and like many I would have liked some sort of interaction before they kissed in the final moments. But I can enjoy it now!

I might dredge up more old posts from the days of great debates, or try to find my first impressions of a few more episodes. (I know I've always loved the Boiling Rock.) Let me know if that's of interest!

In other news, Kataang week is next week, and I am plotting to participate for once.

Now... back to drawing!

#ATLA #Avatar #Tokka #Kataang #ATLA Anniversary #ATLA finale #AvatarSpirit.net #me #nostalgia

[hotgirlkorra]

Sometimes I get sad/annoyed that most people, and the fandom at large only praise/"love" Legend of Korra because of Korrasami, or only like Korra because she's one half of a ship.

Like imagine you only like Katara and/or Aang because they are one half of a ship.

Like I didn't scour avatarspirit.net for LOK news since SDCC 2010 just for Korrasami (or for shipping in general) lmao.

For me the most important part of LOK and Korra's story was the fact that she saved the entire world from 10,000 years of darkness/from a literal apocalypse, much like her predecessor Wan. And the fact that she has to navigate her avatarhood on her own, making her own decisions without having to compare herself to her predecessors' legacies.

This is not me downplaying Korra's bisexuality, or sexuality in general. It's literally not about that. But watching the show centering the titular character just because she ends up with another girl in the last two seconds. Or only caring about that. And not because she's a gender non-conforming, dark skin Indigenous woman. Rubs me the wrong way. And this is coming from a queer woman of color.

#legend of korra #lok #atla #korra #katara #korrasami #kataang #lok fanwank #oohhhhhh I can imagine how much hate I'm gonna get for this #but it has to be said! #Like say what you want about LOK B2 but at least it still centered around the titular character! #do not interact i do not care for your arguments lol #lok shipping

[marshmallowgoop]

Repostober Day 18 | 18th Birthday

I think this was another one of the AvatarSpirit.net drawing prompts, with the prompt here being "Hair."

Drawn in August 2012.

#repostober #tangled #rapunzel #goop draws

[pencilscratchins]

I may or may not have scrolled through your entire avatar tag bc I love your art for it so much and I found out you were team zukka before it got really popular with the avatar renaissance (as far as I’m aware?? Maybe it was popular this whole time and I never noticed) anyways how does it feel to be a visionary with a massive brain

LMAO THANK YOU SO MUCH YES! im incredibly proud that my early zukka support is a part of my legacy. i was one of the few repping zukka on avatarspirit.net back in the day (if you remember AS.NET you are a member of an AARP) it was definitely NOT popular before the renaissance. the fandom wasn't hostile to it, per say, before that but it was barely considered in the top 10 ships. (theres a lot of old drama here i could get into but i shant lmAO) seeing it grow during the renaissance was such a joy and im so happy to be a part of that at all, not to be corny.

#chaoskid-deer #if you were on as.net and remember someone who would be like #oh i found a leak for the sequel series (this was b4 legend of korra was even officially announced) #and then put a hyperlink to JFK's 1961 state of the union #THAT WAS ME LMAO #I GOT BANNED FOUR TIMES LOL #but yeah it wasnt hated or anything pre renaissance but it was NOT popular #so im happy that im a part of that story! #i know i was a few peoples first zukka artists like a gateway drug #im the weed of tumblr #ask #not art

[loopy777]

This is an odd ask, but I was browsing an archived copy of the old Avatarspirit.net forums, and I happened to come across this comment by you from 2019:

"I'm not even convinced that a healed/reformed Azula will want much to do with Zuko. Yeah, they're family, but twice now in the comics Zuko has tried to literally murder Aang over political disagreements, and they're best friends who hug, so he's obviously the kind of jerky friend most people would be better off without."

Out of curiousity, when was the second time that Zuko tried to murder Aang in the comics? I know he did so in The Promise, but, based on my limited knowledge of the comics, I can't remember a second time.

I was exaggerating, but it's a reference to 'Smoke & Shadow' Part 3, where Aang suggests not breaking into citizens' houses looking for Azula, and in response Zuko has the Kyoshi Warriors literally drag Aang out of the room.

Back on ASN, I liked to sometimes exaggerate things to the point of being wrong to see if anyone would call them out or otherwise react. It was easier in the context of friends having a conversation, rather than the blog format of places like Tumblr. However, sometimes that backfired on me, like right now when I got this Ask and I had to go flip through my copy of S&S to confirm if I was exaggerating or that actually happened. But then, it's probably a nice criticism of the comics that I can remember my own made-up things about them better than their actual contents. S&S especially had that 'single issue stretched to three' feel to it.

[peakvincent]

🎀give yourself a compliment about your own writing + 🍭why did you start writing?

🎀give yourself a compliment about your own writing

i work p hard to like. share what's essential? that feels wild to say in the context of how rambly basically any of my social talking can get, but it's like. when i'm writing and publishing something, i want everything to count. a lot of stuff gets edited down as i finalize it, bc i'm looking for things that aren't adding anything to the story. i'm picking that as the answer bc that was something that was hard for me to do, and part of the compliment is how i've ✨ grown ✨ as a writer to do that showing, not telling.

my other compliment is that i think i'm SO funny. 😌

🍭why did you start writing?

omg.... it was avatar the last airbender roleplay on a forum called avatarspirit.net..... my first fics were on ff.net and had real drama in the form of zuko being like "i DON'T like you..." to katara so she ran off in tears and then he'd be like "because i love you...." and sometimes that's just what it's like to be twelve. i actually was also into the fanart side (again of atla) and i think that might have even come first. i just LIKE writing!! i was a weird and creative kid so i don't know when i started writing stories generally, even, i just can date atla as my first active fandom in middle school. i spent some time in my teens less on fanfic and more on like, original fiction rp sites on proboards/jcink and have revisited that intermittently, which is a real "if you do not have storebought blorbos, homemade is fine" kind of thing. i just really like it, and i really like the community and collaboration you get when other people care about your characters in a way that you can't get from solo original fiction!!

#* #ask game #my fic

[atlaculture]

R.I.P AvatarSpirit.net

AvatarSpirit.net is no more.

It’s no secret that I frequently use screenshots from AvatarSpirit.net in my posts, but I just want to emphasize how important this website was to the mid-aughts fandom when the show was airing. It had exclusive interviews with production staff, content from panel events, episode transcripts, and a bustling forum. It was one of the primary ways I engaged with the fandom during my high school years--- I am now twice the age of a freshman, lol--- and was especially helpful in keeping hype for the show alive during the 1.5 year hiatus the show took between Seasons 2 & 3. To this day, I’m still very partial to its internet 1.0 aesthetic and prefer it the wiki.

Alas, all things must pass eventually.

#avatar #atla #Avatar The Last Airbender #avatarspirit.net

[zuko-always-lies]

Avatar Screenshots

With the death of Avatarspirit.net, you can find screenshots from two sources: the archived version of Avatarspirit.net, which still has all content, and from this google drive.

I’ve posted this before, but I feel compelled to do it again to remind people that they can still find screenshots for their metas and other posts.

#avatar the last airbender #ATLA #Avatarspirit.net #aang #Iroh #Zuko #Azula #Mai #Ty Lee #Sokka #Katara #Toph #Suki #Jet #tagging all those characters to make this post more visible #but also you can find screenshots of those wonderful characters #ATLA meta #Avatar the last airbender meta #meta #screenshots #sources of screenshots #public service announcement #PSA #ATLA PSA #nothing is ever truly dead on the internet #not true there #but still you would be surprised on what you can find archived

[atlafans]

ATLA RESOURCES

So, it looks like AvatarSpirit.Net is gone...  It must have gone offline within the past month because I was just over there a few weeks ago looking at transcripts.  Anyhoo...  It looks like you can access a good portion of the site through the Wayback Machine.

Raw resources for ATLA and TLOK are still on my Google Drive along with the backup copy of (most of) ASN’s forums which was graciously backed up by @caelum-blue, as well as all of my old ATLA/TLOK graphics.  Everything that was was once hosted on iroh.org/piandao.org is on Google Drive.

If you can’t access the files on Drive, please let me know.  Google recently changed some of its security protocols and I’m not sure if that’s changed access to any of the files.

#asn #avatarspirit.net #screenshots #panshots #graphics #transcripts #interviews #news archive #resources

[kigozula]

Katara: "Sorry, but the guy who escorted us in won't let us out of his sight."

Sokka: "What guy??"

#sokka #katara #atla #avatarspirit.net #his protective sides^^ #i like them

[hotgirlkorra]

These kids don't know about avatarspirit.net

#avatar the last airbender

[marshmallowgoop]

Repostober Day 17 | 17-Year-Old Avatar

A Book 1 Korra that I drew in July 2012. It seems to have been part of a month-long drawing challenge on the AvatarSpirit.net forums—and surprisingly, I think I actually fulfilled most of the prompts, judging from my files! The prompt for this was "Colored Pencils."

#repostober #a little more on track ^^; #lok #goop draws

[caelum-in-the-avatarverse]

It’s important that everyone know that I’ve archived the ASN shipping threads. The ATLA one - all 13 parts of it. And the TLOK thread. And also the ones that were on the spoilers boards.

It’s all text-only and links to pictures that may or may not exist anymore after the decline of photobucket, but it’s saved. Because no one shipped for the sake of shipping quite like the mid-to-late-00s ATLA fandom, and even a genficcer like myself knows we need to preserve this insanity for future generations.

I mean where else are you gonna get a nutritious breakfast of

( X )

and also

( X )

2008 sure was a time to be alive

#fandom archival #fandom history #avatarspirit.net

[loopy777]

the fact atla will soon be 20 years old just makes me feel like such a bygone relic...

I think the AtLA animated movie they're making should just be about the middle-aged gAang dealing with the ennui of a successful adulthood. That will really speak to me.

It does help, though, that I was always on the older side for this fandom, having a 9-5 job while all the high school kids were spending their summer days fooling around on AvatarSpirit.net. I had to wait until I got home from my commute to share my witty observations on the dating lives of fictional 12-year-olds. So I'm used to being old and pathetic.

It also helps that Avatar is still my one of my newer fandoms. I've been into Transformers since before I was potty-trained....

#thekingofwinterblog

[losergrl25]

"Hey so now that I've earned your forgiveness & trust do you mind if I uh.. if I stand 2 ft away from you at every waking moment? Haha JK....

Hahaaa... Unlesss??"

#zutara #the animators snuck in as many zutara crumbs as possible #I owe them my 1st born for making them hold hands I swear #if they no canon why they always side by side?? #zutara crumbs #atla #zutara rights #zuko x katara #katara #zuko #credit to avatarspirit.net