loopy777

[loopy777]

I just read your fic "Stainless Steel Sleuth" and I loved it. The ATLA series leans itself so well to noir themes and settings im surprised it isnt done more in the fandom. And the idea of setting it in the real world in a time period that would resemble the one in ATLA, what with the 100 year war being WW2 in a way, that was genius. We need more ATLA in the real world type settings. Have you ever though of like an idea for a "ATLA in the real world" story that was still somewhat following the plot of the show? You know like war and the avatar and whatnot.

Thank you! I'm really glad you enjoyed it, as figuring out how to translate the Fire Nation's war into something in the real world was the biggest headache for that whole project. XD

What's tricky about any attempt to translate AtLA to a real world setting is mapping the cultures. It's easy to make the Air Nomads into Tibet, and the Water Tribes have a variety of Arctic cultures that can be chosen as a reasonable representation (@mostly-mundane-atla has a lot great information blogged for that). But the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom can be problematic. For a WW2 setting, especially, it's tempting to make the Fire Nation into Japan and the Earth Kingdom into China. But I think the Fire Nation has too much Chinese influence for that to be satisfying, especially since Mai's character design draws so much from tropes of the 'Chinese Girl' and she's the star of that story.

Hence my vague compromise in the backstory where Ozai is leading his own rogue state that mixes followers from Japan, China, and other nations in the area. I did align him with Japan's imperial war of conquest, since they were the active would-be imperial power of the time, but otherwise did a very precise dance centered on Manchuria.

And I do, in fact, have another AtLA AU set in the 'real' world! Getting this Ask prompted me to port my Wild West AU over to AO3. That's a little less real, though, in that I use Steampunk technology and make the mythology around Geronimo into fact, but I still brought in as much history as I could. It was also easier to map, since it was all contained within American cultures. Despite being a short story (and a sequel), this one actually does directly adapt some of AtLA's plot, but mostly just the finale. That choice was a practical one, as it let me cram in the most amount of favorite characters.

It's entirely likely I'll do more writing in this vein, since I like modern history and I like playing in AUs, and I don't see any reason to rule out something with a more classical Aang-led plot. I would never just replicate the plot beats of the AtLA cartoon, but if we allow for something like my Traitor's Face fic where I allowed myself to do a lot of original storytelling, then that's entirely possible.

That said, neither of my 'historical AU' projects were meant to be 'historical AUs.' They ended up that way because I love drawing on history when I can, but I started with the intention of writing a Detective Noir and a Western, classical pulp stories whose look and feel carried down the ages from when those kinds of stories were first being told. I love pulp fiction (despite never seeing the movie "Pulp Fiction"), so that will probably drive my next attempt to bring AtLA into the real world.

Of course, I share that love with AtLA itself. "The City of Walls and Secrets" is fully a Noir tale, and everyone agrees "Zuko Alone" doesn't even try to pretend it's not a Western. So maybe I'll end up doing a 80's Coming Of Age comedy-drama just like "The Beach," although how I'd fit Aang's quest into that, I have no idea. ;)

#anonymous

[loopy777]

Skeletor has forever destroyed our ability to come up with voices for skeleton characters.

[loopy777]

Texts From Superheroes

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[loopy777]

#badum tish

[loopy777]

I think they would've been friends

[loopy777]

Is Zuko a Gary Stu? A lot more people are becoming anti-Zuko especially after the comics. Thoughts?

Well, it depends how we're defining "Gary Stu." I tend to prefer a strict definition for it and "Mary Sue," that of a self-insert wish-fulfillment character. I also don't personally consider it to necessarily be a negative; one of my favorite fictional characters is George Lucas' Flash Gordon Gary Stu, Luke Skywalker.

But the common internet usages for the term typically translates to "character favored by the narrative and/or storyteller(s) to a degree that harms the story." So I'll address both definitions.

I don't think Zuko is any kind of wish-fulfillment character in the AtLA cartoon, nor do I think the narrative shows him any favoritism. In fact, I'd say the story goes out of its way to make things harder for Zuko than the basic character arc demands. It could've had him switch sides at the end of Book Earth, and I don't think there would have been much complaining. Likewise, the story could have had gAang come around to him a lot sooner in Book Fire, rather than spending entire episodes (and in Sokka's case a two-parter) reconciling him with the gAang one-by-one. I think his character arc is improved and given more impact by the desire to cover this extra rocky ground, although I also think 'The Boiling Rock' didn't need to be a two-parter and all of early Book Fire's filler episodes with the gAang should have been relocated to after Zuko's defection so that they'd have the added interest of showcasing the expanded gAang's new dynamic.

Ah, but then we get to the comics. I'm going to assume we're talking about Gene Yang's comics specifically, since Zuko has not appeared substantially in anything written by anyone else. It's easy to harp on these comics' use and treatment of Zuko, but I want to be clear that they're poorly written on pretty much every level. The dialogue is bad. Major plot threads are abandoned without comment. Everyone is mischaracterized. The humor is more juvenile than anything in the cartoon. What stories are told spin their wheels until they get wrapped up in a rush. There's bad, racist, pro-colonialism messages baked into them all. Etc and so on.

And yes, I do think these comics favor Zuko to their detriment and his. Gene Yang has admitted that Zuko is his favorite character in the cast. But even if he hadn't, we can see in 'The Promise' that the presentation has a lopsided preference for Zuko over Aang, the other main character of the story. Zuko is not portrayed as wrong for pressuring Aang to promise to kill him, despite Aang being uncomfortable with it and the whole idea being against Aang's major beliefs; compare that to the cartoon, where Zuko was portrayed as wrong and bullying in his attitude to try to get Aang to kill Ozai. In the matter of the former Fire Nation colonies, Aang and Zuko have opposing approaches, but rather than the story taking the stance that they need to compromise and mix'n'match their ideas, Zuko gets to utter the line, "I was right all along," while Aang has to be lectured by Katara, admit to being wrong, compromise with the Air Acolytes, and break off his relationship with his ghost mentor.

In 'The Search,' Zuko goes on to find his mother and learn her backstory, something that ends up not troubling or challenging him at all. She gives up her new identity to become his doting mother again and Zuko doesn't have a single doubt about it. He gets an adoring little sister in the form of Kiyi, despite her having a real problem with her mother choosing to become Ursa instead of keeping her familiar form. And his questionable treatment of Azula is not addressed; like Aang in 'The Promise,' she's the one who has to compromise (or in this case refuses to compromise).

You can see the pattern here of Zuko's presentation. This is where we can start to question if Zuko is Gene Yang's self-insert, but to do so, we would have to assume a lot of stuff about Gene Yang. For example, he breaks up Zuko's romance with Mai and then starts hinting at something with him and Suki; does that mean Gene Yang wants to date Suki? Then why bring Mai back so prominently in 'Smoke & Shadow' and then both go easy on her mistakes and break her up from Kei Lo at the end? Maybe Gene Yang wants a harem with both Suki and Mai, but if that's the case, then it's pretty odd that he ends his run on the comics with Zuko dating neither.

We could do the same for other aspects of Zuko's presentation (Does Yang want a tiny powerful Firebender as a little sister? Does he think all colonizers are awesome? Does he advocate denying first-amendment rights in times of danger? Is his favorite food to eat at winter time extra-spicy fire noodles?) But we'd probably run into similar questions we can't answer, leaving us to either assume way too much that would likely be wrong or admit that it doesn't matter.

Which brings us back to the much simpler idea of the character being favored beyond what is warranted. That helps with examining 'Smoke & Shadow,' where Zuko is actually portrayed as making some wrong choices for once in all of Yang's run of comics, like ordering his people's homes invaded and trashed on a vague hope that he'll find some information about Azula- but before that, he's somehow enlightened enough to make rainbow fire, and afterward, he solves everything with a quick apology to his people.

Usually, the narratives ignore Zuko's flaws and twist themselves into weird shapes to justify things. It's like Gene Yang started with the intentions of having Zuko make mistakes and grow over the course of the various stories, but then chickens out, so we're left with themes that feel incomplete or outright harmful. Zuko doesn't need to grow beyond his desire to have a Fire Nation elite (and their pet Earth Kingdom spouses and servants) rule over the former colonies forever, he gets to say, "I was right all along." He starts by locking Azula away in a straight-jacket, but then doesn't find a way to reconcile with her and treat her more humanely, because she goes fully homicidal and then runs away so he doesn't need to deal with her. But in 'Smoke & Shadow,' we get one example where, probably because Yang doesn't see it as that bad in the first, Zuko is allowed to temporarily be wrong before returning to a state of grace.

I think Gene Yang is trying to tell good Avatar stories. But, among his (many, many, many) mistakes, I think he's letting his favor for Zuko influence the stories he's trying to tell. He's trying to give his favorite character juicy dramatic material that lets him grow into an even more awesome character- but then he shies away from depicting his favorite in too harsh a light, ruining the whole thing.

The stories don't feel like they're going anywhere with him, despite him being a main character.

So if that fits with your definition of "Gary Stu," then yes, Zuko has become one in the comics. But he didn't start as one in the cartoon, and I don't think Gene Yang writes stories out of a desire for his favorite to marry Suki because Sword Girlfriend > Knife Wife.

Perhaps that's he never got Maiko back together; he likes Mai too much to make her the one in the wrong, but then that would mean Zuko needs to learn and grow, and that can't be right. ;)

#anonymous #avatar comics critical #atla comics critical #comics critical

[loopy777]

More Maiaang art, reference was used.

#i am obligated to reblog the crackships i've written popular fanfic for

[loopy777]

I gotta give fuel to the very small percentage of people who like this pair. More Maiaang for y'all.

#i guess it's maiaang day

[loopy777]

Maiaang sketch, reference was used.

[loopy777]

Ugh, was having a great time mocking my recently imprisoned rival when I noticed the camera positioning makes it so that I appear behind the bars, thus framing me as trapped in a metaphorical prison of the narrative, now my whole day is ruined. Fuck.

[loopy777]

#a bad girl's dream #countdown to maiko week 2024 #am i sensing a theme in these?

[loopy777]

Transformers One trailer reaction:

I mostly like the visuals. The quality and style is good, but I personally am not fond of organic life, such as plants, on Cybertron.

I'm left cold by the non-stop joking. The only time I like frequent joking is in Lord & Miller cartoons. Usually, I think it creates a barrage which actually lessens the humor of the good gags by burying them beneath a mound of non-jokes. Hopefully, the final movie will be more balanced than this trailer.

Bumblebee being cowardly? Ugh.

I'm not seeing any characteristics of Prime and Megatron in Prime or Megatron. Again, hopefully it's just that their characters are not being well showcased in this trailer.

I'm not feeling the song choice at all.

Overall: I'm expecting aggressive mediocrity in the final movie, which will still put it in the upper tier of theatrically-released Transformers content.

[loopy777]

QUARTER FINALS, MATCH 4

Maiko previously defeated: Korroh, Mingzan, Zhurrick

Tyzula previously defeated: Borra, Tophuki, Maizula

#i'm not hopeful but let's give it a shot

[loopy777]

Half Goblin, half Hobbit.

Goblit.

[loopy777]

[loopy777]

people should never trust zuko as an authority on katara’s feelings, for many reasons, but simply because his claim that her disdain for him is irrational and the only reason she doesn’t trust him is because she arbitrarily conflated him with her mother’s killer is so blatantly erroneous on its face. the reason katara associates zuko with her mother’s death, even though he obviously was a child and nowhere near the scene of the crime, is because the thing that made katara trust him in the first place was due to bonding over their mothers. and katara didn’t even know it at the time, but they had both lost their mothers due to the sacrifices they made to save them (them, personally!) so the potency of their bond was such an undeniably precious and beautiful thing, and zuko didn’t understand its importance.

he squandered her precarious trust and sided with azula in what was one of the absolute worst moments of katara’s entire life. aang died and she was responsible for literally resurrecting him (for a second time). she spent weeks doing nothing but tirelessly healing him in a desperate attempt to bring him back, not knowing if it would work but knowing she had to try regardless. zuko’s blunder in the catacombs directly led to the darkest period of katara’s entire life, at least since her mother was murdered. and that grief, over her mother, still hasn’t faded, because how could it? and in her eyes, zuko exploited that grief, “made” her trust him, and then broke her heart in a matter of hours.

she’s not irrational in her anger towards him, and she’s not conflating his crimes with anyone else’s. she knows exactly what his crimes are, and that’s exactly why she’s so angry. he wants to ignore that aang died, and the part he played in it. he wants to joke about the months he spent tormenting them as if it’s funny now, and not a source of actual trauma. like he didn’t invade their village; like he didn’t tie her to a tree, using her as bait while tauntingly lording her only relic of the mother who died to save her over her head; like he didn’t hunt them across the entire globe in an attempt to kidnap her best friend. katara had every right to resent zuko, and the fact that she doesn’t is a testament to her compassionate, open-hearted nature and her pervading love for all of humanity. and a testament to the power of undergoing mutual catharsis in a journey to avenge one’s mother, and, perhaps, to alleviate some of the guilt, shame, rage and grief of only being alive due to your favorite person’s sacrifice.

when katara forgives zuko, it is not because she “realizes” that she was meant to forgive him all along, like zuko (initially and fallaciously) assumes. it’s because she realizes that the ways in which they are the same outweigh the very real and devastating wrongs he has committed against her. her misgivings are perfectly logical, because who would want to be played for a fool twice by the same person? but her forgiveness speaks to the strength of her character, and her ability to recognize when friendship is more valuable than hostility. because, in katara’s own words, as the one true authority of her own emotions, it is the strength of her heart that makes her who she is.

#it has always boggled my mind when i read fanfic that depicts katara as racist against all fire nation defectors #if they haven't personally antagonized her she'd be open to accepting them #if they haven't personally betrayed her she wouldn't have trust issues #people forget she was cool with jeong-jeong #people forget she how quickly she was willing to see someone kindred in zuko #katara takes things personally #but that works both ways

[loopy777]

ROUND 3, MATCH 7

Maiko previously defeated: Korroh, Mingzan

Zhurrick previously defeated: Makorra, Sokkaang

#what the heck #how is this even close?!?! #show them the wrath of the gods