im--never--happy

[im--never--happy]

there’s a little detail that i didn’t notice about “the blue spirit” when i first watched it.  when zuko returns to his ship after his misadventures at ponhuai, avatar-less and honorless and still puzzling over aang’s speech and having made an enemy of zhao and probably severely concussed, iroh is there on deck.  

music night happened the previous night.  and yet it’s morning when zuko returns, and iroh is still playing the tsungi horn on deck.  

iroh waited up all night for zuko to come back.  

it’s such a small detail, but speaks volumes about their relationship.  iroh not only allows zuko to sneak out in order to free the avatar in order to preserve his chance at regaining his honor, iroh actually subtly encorages zuko to free aang from ponhuai, even though he clearly knows that there’s every possibilty that zuko will be caught by zhao and iroh will not be able to save him.  

as the guardian of a teenager, iroh’s influence over zuko is limited.  iroh must allow zuko the freedom to chase after the destiny he thinks he wants, iroh cannot always protect zuko or keep him out of danger, iroh cannot even demonstrate affection to zuko in the way he would clearly like to because zuko is too hurt and guarded to be able to accept it from him - 

- but iroh can wait up for him.  

iroh can sit up all night, just to make sure that zuko gets home safely.  

and it is such a striking element of their relationship, because I waited up all night for you becomes the unspoken love language by which they communicate caring and affection for each other.  

iroh waits all night for zuko to return safely from ponhuai stronghold. iroh stays up while zuko sleeps on the ferry and waits up for zuko to return home from his date with jin. iroh sits up all night watching over zuko when he is sick and feverish.  

and it’s not one-sided, because zuko waits up for iroh.  

zuko waits up all night watching over an injured iroh after azula blasts him with blue fire.  zuko sits up all night waiting for iroh to wake up when they reunite at the white lotus camp.

and this gesture becomes so important to zuko that it even becomes the way he demonstrates caring and concern for the members of the gaang.  zuko waits up all night in appa’s saddle, knowing that sokka is planning a rescue mission.  zuko waits up all night for katara to wake, knowing she needs to confront her own deeply-felt anger before she can understand and let go of it.  

and this even is the gesture by which aang first demonstrates friendship to zuko.  after zuko is knocked out by an arrow to his blue spirit mask, aang sits up with zuko for the rest of the night until zuko wakes up, just to make sure zuko is all right.

and the concept of sitting up all night for you is such a poignant contrast to zuko’s memory of his mother, who vanished out his life in the middle of the night, waking him up for a last goodbye.  

it’s pretty clear that iroh sitting up all night with a sick child was far from an unusual occasion.   i think it was probably really important for zuko to be shown, again and again and again, that he has someone who will be there when morning comes.  

one parent left zuko in the night - but one parent will always wait up for him to come home.  

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It makes me kinda sad to realise we got so little of Toza in the show :( He was on screen for what, like 10 seconds? He told Korra to get out, Bolin assured him it was fine, she's with him and we never saw Toza again, excluding the Republic city hustle short. I get that TLOK had around 14 episodes to work with in each book, but I simlpy would've liked if he appeared in the background when the Fire Ferrets were training, or at least mentioned in book 2 when Bolin leaves pro-bending.

You could assume that Toza and the bros aren't that close. Like he's no longer relevant to Mako and Bolin lives, even in book 1, and I find that hard to believe. He's more than just their trainer! You can not underestimate the close bond a teacher and their pupils have, seriously - but that is not all. Republic city hustle showed: Toza got his shit together and won after Bolin told him to never give up, saw the skills of these boys, and then he decided to make them pro-benders and took them in. He even provided them housing, which they haven't had for a long time in their lives. He's like an uncle to the bros at the very least!

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mako i will never forget your damn near sacrifice to save your friends and city….and how we were robbed of every day asami in pants

from the legend of korra - book four: balance | the art of the animated series

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Really hope the next avatar show includes mako and/or bolin atleast a little just for the chance to hear more about their backstory. Korra really could've benefited from just focusing more on the main 4 having adventures similarly to the gaang. You have 4 perfectly good backstorys that are different enough to clash well if just done right. You have 2 homeless kids who's parents were killed by firebenders, a rich non-bender who's mother was also killed by firebenders and a girl who was completely isolated from all of this and you *aren't* gonna use that to develop the world?? Not to mention how mako *is* a firebender and how that couldve been used. It's a shame how wasted Asami, mako and bolin ended up being.

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her <3

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he is her SON

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I saw this tumblr post and HAD to draw it, please accept my humble A:TLA offering.

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if Noatak and Tarrlok were from atla their storylines would be picked apart and have thinkpieces written about them and overanalyzed and overhyped the way most atla storylines are but since everyone has decided that tlok is mid they just get brushed over and forgotten and ah, well. for better or for worse, etc etc

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the banished prince

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funky little guys

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I know talking about Legend of Korra, especially the romance in LoK, is a mixed bag. But I just had a thought, so I'm going to share it to maximize the suffering it causes.

It's implied Asami and Mako's first meeting is contrived, with the intention of her getting close to a pro-bender with connections. It's been said they were initially thinking of making Asami the equalist spy/villain, but wimped out on a morally grey character (and letting the equalists have a point) when she became more popular, and switched it to her dad being the equalist, and her the unknowing tool to get info. But, either way. She invites him to expensive dinner supposedly to apologize for knocking him over?? And she's pretty, and insistent, and he accepts. And then she talks about sponsoring his pro-bending team.

(So did her dad give her 'dating advice' along the lines of, 'hey that cute pro-bender you like, knock him over, take him to dinner as an apology, then offer his team money'? Because i have. questions.)

It's a kids show (and tackles subject matter with less depth than the original) so I can assume they did not mean to give me these vibes. But Mako isn't on equal terms with Asami. He feeds himself and his younger brother (who he has been solely responsible for, for years) with his wages from the power plant and whatever they win in competition. This means he can't dedicate all of his energy to practicing like wealthy, sponsored teams can; so even if he's got the talent, he doesn't have the time to polish it. And he can't be as effective a pro-bender without more time to practice, but that would mean they don't eat enough to reach that level of competition. And he can't take more hours at the power plant to build up savings without sacrificing pro-bending practice, through which they have a place to stay and train.

By sponsoring his team, Asami becomes Mako's benefactor in a way that allows him financial stability and the certainty that he and his brother will have regular meals, regardless of him exhausting himself at work. (I'm ignoring Korra, because she's not financially dependent on the brothers or pro bending.) So. She's basically his sugar-momma (is that the phrase?). And one of the reasons (aside from the writers having the romantic nuance of smashing dolls together) they don't work out is a lack of communication.

The point I'm getting to here is, did Mako ever truly feel he could say no to Asami?

Did she make it clear that her sponsoring their team wasn't dependent on him going out with her? Like, explicitly clear, early on before the whole group was friends. Does she know what Mako is willing to do to make sure his brother eats regularly? Maybe it was her father's name on the checks, but would he keep sending them if his daughter wasn't enamored with one of the competitors? (yes, but for Evil ReasonsTM, and it'd be hard to explain why. and Mako doesn't know any of that.)

I doubt it ever occurred to Asami, exactly how much power she has over him. She was a rich kid, but she meant well. She probably didn't understand that he was doing mental math at every restaurant, on every date, and adding it up in the same category as the sponsorship money. Adding to a tally he owes someone else.

TLDR: Mako probably considered his relationship with Asami as something along the lines of an incredibly under-negotiated sugarbaby situation, but hey it's better than doing accounting for yakuza. And Asami thought they were dating dating.

#This this this #i also headcanon something similar to this #that mako of course liked and cared about and was even attracted to asami #but he definitely felt like if he didn’t keep her happy then he would risk his and bolin’s security and the sponsorship money they needed #and of course none of this ever occurred t Asami #and mako is later so ashamed he thought she was so petty and shallow and controlling like that #so he never admits it to her #but yeah #he felt obligated to keep her happy and to do what she wanted #and it was an imbalanced power situation that he was aware of and she wasn’t

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headcanon alert

i fucking know that for maybe years after mako's parents died, he refused to firebend because every time he did, all he could see was his parents being killed, again and again and he fucking hated his bending because he had the power that took his family from him. the first time he used his bending for years after their death was in the middle of winter. bolin was freezing, and mako got over his hatred in order to keep his brother warm. this was the moment when he realized that it wasn't firebending itself that had killed his parents, but how one chose to use it.

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One of my most hated Korra Things is how it took bending from a practiced martial art with forms and distinct movements to effectively being superpowers

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My favourite thing about Mako is that he’s so socially awkward 😭🙏 it kinda makes him cute and funny ❤️‍🩹

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thought about the Katara v Pakku fight too hard and made myself cry

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I hate you people who hate on characters with trauma because they don’t understand or refuse to accept that trauma is not actually attractive or cute or appealing or socially acceptable a whole fucking lot of the time

i love u characters who are victims who don't show things in a way that's appealing i love u characters whos trauma leaves them with anger issues, with violence issues, with issues with connection and trust and being truthful i love you characters who don't get "better" in a way that's palatable, who don't find growth and meaning in their trauma

#Yes this is about mako #yes

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boy prince has to learn to do the dishes