#Firebender and Lightningbender

[original-sheepsandwich90]

#Avatar Aang #Avatars #Aang #Zuko #Toph Beifong #Katara #Sifus #Sifu Toph Beifong #Sifu Zuko #Sifu Katara #waterbender and bloodbender #earthbender and metalbender #Airbender #Non-bender #Firebender and Lightningbender #Momo #team Avatar #Suki #Sokka

[ifeelalot]

#gif #avatar #avatar: the last airbender #tv #azula #lightning #tv gif #anime #gifs #firebending #lightningbending #anime gif

[breath-of-void]

Korra considerations

Now, hear me out: the White Lotus are not government officials. They are traitors and spies and are some of the most cunning and powerful benders the Avatar-verse has ever seen. In light of that, I would propose that there is no way that, after Korra's attempted kidnapping, that they wouldn't have taught her any subbendings they could have.

Korra should have been an absolute tank.

Lightningbending first of all is nearly a one-hit kill against any opponent. That should have been first on their list to teach her. That and redirection given how somewhat common lightningbending is.

Next, metalbending should have been high on the priority list. Like way up there since, like lightning, not many people have a counter to it. Less than lightning, in fact.

Controversial, but I think Katara should have also given her a crash course in bloodbending. Enough so that she can break out of it just in case it crops up and with a warning that if she ever uses it for anything other than defense, Katara herself will come kick her ass.

I'll say lavabending was too high concept even for the WL and combustionbending is near suicide to learn so not those. But sandbending, glassbending and vinebending should have been in her arsenal. They would have turned her into a weapon.

With this, we keep to the story where Korra is the most stacked avatar in history in a world that does not need her. She can body Amon no problem, but the people don't want her to. She has to win them over before she can face him with any kind of public support.

Season 2, I'd change the lore to have both Raava and Vaatu inside the Avatar and that what Unalaq did was rip Vaatu out and left Korra comatose. Her team then have to go into the spirit world to basically reboot her, but now she's only got Raava, the spirit of pure order inside her and Raava hates the idea of Republic City. To each their own and so forth and so the team has to double back and try to get Vaatu back inside Korra else she nuke the city.

Then season 3 would have the red Lotus coming to take their shot again, but get absolutely manhandled because Korra is a beast (and one of like 5 people alive who know how to fight an airbender. Zaheer isn't special). It'd be another political intrigue as they just go underground to try and take out as many world leaders as they can before Korra catches up with them.

At this point I don't even see how season 4 can happen, but I'd like to see Korra basically trying to establish a theocracy in her own little part of the world; essentially trying to hold on to relevance and still suffering from having Raava alone run rampant in her body for like half an hour that one time. Then she sees what Kuvira is doing and has an "oh shit" moment as she realizes she's the bad guy and there's no real reason for her to be trying so hard to dominate people. Something to that effect.

Korra shouldn't be losing fights!

#the legend of korra #avatar #korra #aang #kuvira #firebending #lightningbending #earthbending #lavabending #subbending #AU #rewrite

[marsixm]

oooo i kinda wanna learn the martial art firebending is based on

#like i wanna do more physical stuff and i always rly relate to firebending/lightningbending the most

[comradekatara]

i’ve always kind of assumed that lo and li are azulon’s younger twin sisters and that’s why they were foisted off on azula, because she’s also a younger sister to the crown prince. but the fact that we never actually see them firebend is strange, because it implies either that nonbenders are instructing one of the greatest firebenders in the world, or that they are firebenders who simply do not firebend. and i think that the latter is more interesting, because it reflects how their position as elderly women devalues any firepower they might provide to the empire, passive and subdued even as they train ozai’s favorite weapon.

they are the ones to most overtly illustrate azula’s precarious relationship to femininity, after all. for example, noting the position of her hair after she successfully lightningbends in “the avatar state,” or emphasizing azula’s beauty when they introduce her in “the awakening.” and it’s clear that azula doesn’t really like them, dismisses and avoids them whenever she gets the chance. she can’t even tell them apart. their very existence is almost a humiliation. a reminder to azula that this is who she is destined to become once she lives past her usefulness. not the imperious azulon, her namesake, raised above on a fiery dais, but his sisters, insignificant and functionally powerless.

so of course “almost isn’t good enough,” of course “one hair out of place” is a failure. the only way azula can prove her worth to the empire she has devoted her entire self to in a way that matters is, perhaps, by being perfect, by being better and stronger than the discarded women who came before her. but that, too, is a delusion, that any amount of excellence will reward her in a way that compensates for the erosion of her very humanity. and yet, it’s all she has to cling to. so she gives it her all to excel within a system that will never really care about her because she has deliberately been made incapable of imagining an alternative. of simply recognizing the system for the failure that it is, conceptualizing a world beyond the bars of her gilded cage, and leaving.

#SHES SO ANTHYCODED 😭😭😭😭 #azula #lo and li #azula&ozai #azulon #analysis #and someday together we’ll shine… if you even care . #this was supposed to be a 2 sentence post about lo and li btw 🥴 #ALSO to be clear im not shaming her for not leaving #azula has no concept of ‘leaving’ that is not a) in disgrace or b) in a bodybag #im saying that she CANT because ozai’s psychological and physical abuse is so potent and effective #and that’s not her fault at all #just to be clear #in my mind i am so anthypilled that im like yeah everyone understands the mechanisms and psychology of abuse #what it means to be end of the world #and also just how azula has completely internalized the logic that the only way to survive is within this framework #she’s not weak or foolish for not being able to imagine a different path #which is very obvious to me. but i realized that might not be obvious to everyone. so.

[samooooo1]

(Credit to the artist(NhanHoang) for this https://www.artpal.com/lordnx1997)

Zuko with a s/o, who learned lightningbending directly from a dragon

_____________________

•He probably be suprised and shocked at first, even more so when he learns that you didnt learn fire bending but lightning bending itself, he be like "HOW?!" Since he could only redirect lightning but bend? Thats a whole new level of mastery for him.

•He be quite amazed and it would bring him great comfort to him, knowing his darling can protect themselves even when he isnt there, it eases his mind and he be quite happy about it.

•Boast, thats one thing he will actually do, when having a council meeting as the firelord Zuko, he will boast to his offical how cool and powerful you are.

•He probably ask you if you wanted to spare with him, he is very curious since he himself was taught a bit by dragons, the time when had to teach Aang firebending.

•If you ever manage to defeat him, he be a blushing mess, a bonus if ya are a dominant women 😏, it be pretty funny I could say.

•He would directly get you to meet his Uncle Iroh, as lets be honest since the banishment of Zuko, Iroh was a better father to Zuko then Ozai ever could have been.

•His Uncle would have been also suprised but in a good way, he would tell the story of how he himself has meet the sun fighter.

•They wanted a demonstartion, they truly wanted to see what a dragon could teach in terms of firebending. When they saw you lightningbending, they were even more so shocked, as your lightning wasnt the typical purplish blue, but.. red?...It looked so majestic infact that Zuko made a potray of you with a dragon with red lightning.

•Its safe to say, he would love the red lightning of yours, he may ask for some advice at times in the form of bending tipps but most importantly, the red lightning makes a great show and he would find it fascinating, maybe it would even start a long royal family tradition, one who is firebending should one learn the red lightning and the other the blue version of it, so that on every marriage the two lovers unite in fierce lightning dance, giving the witnesses a show and a true testimony to their love.

_____________________

New One shot over, hope ya enjoyed it, God bless :D Bye byeee

#atla x reader #x reader #x female reader #anime #avatar the last airbender #zuko #zuko x reader

[waterfire1848]

Azula gets her two finger thing!!!!!!! So she’s definitely getting her bending in the show.

Just in case anyone is confused I do mean this. She typically uses two fingers when lightningbending or firebending.

#azula #atla #avatar the last airbender #live action ATLA #live action avatar the last Airbender

[seyaryminamoto]

Azula's most overlooked characterization element

Why, hello there.

It is I.

And I'm back on my bullshit.

I didn't WANT to be. But a bunch of factors pulled me back in.

For the record: I'm not here to start any fights or light the fuse of arguments that I most likely won't have time or interest in responding to. What I AM here for... is to prove that there's something out there a bunch of people are delighted to sleep on because acknowledging it would render maaaany simplistic interpretations entirely invalid...

That group of people includes the fandom, of course. And the original show's staff. And the liveaction's staff, to a fault. Surely the TTRPG ones too. And absolutely, the comic book writers.

Hell, I'll even include MYSELF in that group, even though I'm making this post right now.

I found it really curious that I very recently saw this element mentioned in a pretty neat blog I follow, @atla-lore-archive, I absolutely advise anyone who hasn't checked out said archive to do it if you wish to understand a lot of the "extra lore" the fandom had access to, back in the old days when the turbonick ATLA site still existed and used to be the only source of deeper knowledge about the fandom besides the occasional interview that most people didn't even know where to track down.

But the funny thing is that the post I'm talking about proved that even Turbonick forgot about the people this post is about :')

And that would beeeeeeee...

*cue drumroll*

Lo and Li!

What makes Lo and Li an important subject to discuss?

Why, a lot of things. Among them, the fact that almost nobody brings them into the core focus of any analysis made about Azula's character. I've personally mentioned them once or twice I believe, mostly as negatives, there's but ONE positive aspect I've ever found of them: them being non-benders MIGHT be a reason why Azula isn't shown as being quite so obsessive with firebending supremacy as Zuko was supposed to be.

But that's very much the sole good thing I can think to say about them and it's completely subjective, as good as a headcanon, because we don't even KNOW if they influenced Azula in that sense!

Why do they seem to get overlooked quite as much? Why... let's start thinking about it, shall we?

Lo and Li are Azula's firebending teachers. As far as anyone can tell, they're also her advisors. These two people should be an essential part of Azula's life... but ironically, we seldom see them with her. Most times, Azula isn't around these two. Whenever she is? It doesn't usually look like she's having a good time.

And that's no surprise, considering her first scene with those two very much puts forward a dynamic of cold distance between Azula and her mentors: Azula is bending LIGHTNING. We have not heard of other lightningbenders until that point, and once the full show wraps up, there's only THREE (Azula, Ozai, Iroh). Out of those three? Only one is a fourteen-year-old girl. It's very easy to assume Azula's lightning is actually a skill she mastered unusually early in life, perhaps relatively recently, hence the practicing... but she's pulling it off. She's succeeding. She's doing something that genuinely catches a first-time viewer off-guard!

And Lo and Li's entire opinion of what she did is: "Almost perfect. One hair out of place."

This tells you the Fire Nation's idea of "imperfection" is... insane. Strict. Imposing. Unyielding. Unforgiving. Azula's reaction isn't to get angry at Lo and Li for saying what they did: it's to get angry at herself and try again.

But... that's not the only instance where we see Azula getting angry around Lo and Li.

The next few times Azula is around them, she doesn't seem to have much of an emotional reaction (one is when they tell her to find other allies, the other when they herald her as a great hero who returned home from Ba Sing Se). In the second of these scenes, Lo and Li are praising Azula as incredible, beautiful, all sorts of grand things...! And Azula smiles. She smiles at the crowd. She's not smiling at the old ladies who are praising her... she's mostly just happy to know her people are welcoming her as a hero indeed! Most the fandom would go "true! what an ungrateful bitch! She should've been happy that Lo and Li complimented her that way!!" Me? I wouldn't say that at all. Not just because I love Azula to pieces? But because the only information we have of Azula's dynamics with these two... doesn't seem compatible with the idea that what Lo and Li are saying here is for AZULA'S benefit.

Anyone who's had a hypocritical parent/caretaker/teacher must have endured awkward, horrible, unpleasant moments where this adult figure treats you like shit in private but in public holds you as this grand example, and a perfect child, and they never seem to stop saying they're soooo proud of you even though you NEVER felt that what they're saying is true. Maybe the first few times, you're naive enough to believe it. By the tenth time of incongruent messages? You start to realize they're talking you up as a way to make themselves look better. They're trying to show they're doing their job at raising you/training you, be it whatever it may. The praises are not FOR you... they're for a third person to hear and think "Oh, this adult's so cool, saying nice things about this kid they're responsible for! Nice!"

... You're starting to get the picture now, I'm sure.

Lo and Li reappear in the Beach. Azula is notably chill, enjoying the ride, talking casually with Ty Lee, telling Zuko to lighten up and to stop taking Ozai's choices personally, right? She seems... content. Relaxed.

Then, everything changed when Lo and Li attacked.

We don't even see why Azula is making this face at first. But she does it AT ONCE when their ship reaches the dock.

Who is there indeed...?

The stars of our post! :') if it isn't our elderly twin ladies... who brought Azula to a very disappoting beach house. And when Azula sees the house in question, she makes THIS face.

Judge however you may... even Ty Lee is weirded out by the beach house, going by that expression. Zuko and Mai aren't impressed either. But Azula? The look on her face isn't merely disappointment if you ask me... part of it looks a bit like embarrassment too? This isn't at all what she was expecting when she arrived (she has her old beach house for standards, which makes this extra underwhelming, I'm sure). She counts on Lo and Li to provide them with a place to stay, it goes implicit... and then this is what they do. It most likely isn't what she promised the other three in terms of where they'd stay, hence, I'd dare say there's a component of embarrassment here.

Shortly afterwards, we have our well known scene with Azula being utterly unconcerned with Lo and Li's apparent wisdom to the point of yawning over it. This, too, tells you she's just not interested in whatever those two have to say or bring to the table. Then, they show up again at mealtime and I think Azula just ignores them the whole scene.

After this? Lo and Li vanish until the finale. And what do they do in the finale? Why... it's the first time anyone expresses a verbal concern over Azula's wellbeing! Ah! A sign that Lo and Li have SOME affection for Azula! This time, you pesky Azula fans, you CAN'T twist this into a bad thing! For sure!

... Can't we, tho? :')

What IS Azula's reaction to: "We are concerned for your wellbeing"?

"My father asked you to come here and talk to me, didn't he‌? He thinks I can't handle the responsibility of being Fire Lord. But I will be the greatest leader in Fire Nation history."

And here, my friends, is when we have finally hit the jackpot.

Lo and Li could have been Azula's Irohs. She could've had TWO of him! Then you'd say: "hey! Ozai is such a dick he let Azula have two elderly wise ladies guiding her but only gave one old wise dude to Zuko! Rude!" and it would be further proof of Ozai's favoritism of Azula, right?

... But actually?

Lo and Li are no such thing. Lo and Li aren't moral compasses for Azula in the least. Lo and Li are not beacons of wisdom that genuinely help her sort her way through life. Worth noting: THEY COULD HAVE BEEN WRITTEN THAT WAY. They're not. They're not part of mysterious secret societies, they don't help Azula in any objective, significant, tangible way... there's very much nothing to say they EVER fulfilled the role Iroh did for Zuko. What role, then, were they fulfilling instead?

Why... I think we ought to listen to Azula, shouldn't we?

My take: Lo and Li are OZAI'S STAND-INS.

Someone's going to say "hey why would you assume that when Azula said this in the middle of a breakdown?? Surely she was just DELUSIONAL and PARANOID and ashdgkadhsgkjgh...!"

... Let me counter that one with a fun little analysis excercise:

WHY are Lo and Li Azula's firebending teachers and advisors?

The finale very directly tells us these two are not benders. We could've assumed they were! They're not: Azula's teachers are non-benders.

Has a single person out there ever asked themselves WHY this is the case?

How the hell is Azula, prodigy of the blue fire, epic lightning, cruel and powerful and precise and deadly bending... training under two elderly nonbenders?

Bringing this to a real-life example: do you remember what it was like when you were in P.E. classes and your teacher told you to spend 20 minutes jogging, and if you ever stopped you had to do 20 crunches and then get back to the jogging, and every time you stopped he'd tell you the same thing and you'd want that guy to vanish from the face of the planet? I don't know if that was only my experience, but I rather doubt it.

What did kids typically think/say when that happened?

"I wanna see that old fart doing the same shit he's making us do..."

It's a headcanon indeed to say that this is how Azula must have felt over Lo and Li, but it's VERY likely to be the case. But I'd dare say, in Azula's case, it's even worse because, to put it in another way? It's like taking programming lessons from someone who's never learned a programming language. They'll tell you you're getting things wrong without knowing how to help you get them right because they just DON'T KNOW what you're doing, and are outright INCAPABLE of what you're trying to achieve. They can't offer good guidance based on experience because they have ZERO experience on that subject! And yet they want PERFECTION from you! They expect it!

Lo and Li are these teachers for Azula. We only see them in one scene? And yet everything in the rest of the show suggests that they bring nothing important to the table for Azula, be it professionally, be it personally, be it emotionally... not in any aspect of life.

And this, if you ask me, is why the OG show barely ever brings them into scenes. Why the comics flat-out forgot they existed and even featured people like Sozin and Azulon in Azula's beach hallucinations but NOT the two ladies who looked after her and trained her. Why the live-action didn't even FEATURE them.

And us? The fandom? The fic writers?

I HAVE NO IDEA WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME I READ A FIC THAT HAD LO AND LI INVOLVED IN IT.

I'm not even saying as main characters, I don't even know if that exists, frankly: I mean as minor, or background characters. I have NOT seen those two be used in basically ANY fics I've read. I've scarcely used them in mine! In fact, I PURPOSEFULLY got rid of them early on in Gladiator because I didn't want them to sabotage and get in the way of Azula's progress as a character and I believed they'd do exactly that. They were an obstacle rather than anything useful, so I did away with them and then realized they could still occasionally serve some purpose in certain situations: I even had Azula visit them once and they were actually helpful! Fancy that! But... that's it. That's as far as I could go with them. I can't do MORE with those two because they're not characters one particularly feels compelled to work with.

And from what I've seen? That's the case for everyone.

So, I ask again:

WHY ARE THEY THERE?

WHAT IS THEIR ROLE?

WHAT IS THE POINT OF AZULA HAVING NON-BENDING TEACHERS?

Let's go further and further into logical thinking here, shall we?

Azula is a child. Fourteen years of age at the time she's introduced in the OG show.

Azula has no power over many things around her, particularly, her upbringing. That's in the hands of the adults around her. Her mother, up until she vanished, had some hand in it, then, it all falls to Ozai.

Ozai has been Azula's sole parental figure since Ursa left.

Ozai is the one who would reasonably call the shots regarding Azula's education, as all parents are wont to do... ESPECIALLY when he's a king with absolute power over his children.

... so, Lo and Li? Ozai either gave them the position as Azula's teachers personally, or someone else (Ursa) did, and Ozai either didn't WANT to remove them from the role (cue "Ozai being sentimental over Ursa" theories), or Ozai didn't give a flying fuck about who was training his daughter (cue "Ozai is an abusive dick without a heart or a brain" theories).

Anyone, of course, would likely interject here to say surely Ozai ALSO trained Azula himself because that's what he'd do with his favorite kid, right? See. I don't even disagree with that notion.

BUT IT'S A HEADCANON.

We have zero evidence that Ozai trained her! None! I totally will write that into Azula's backstory in many of my stories, but there's NOTHING in canon to suggest this actually happened and that Ozai was genuinely, actively, frequently involved in her progress as a firebender. Assuming he HAD to be is, still, a headcanon. You can't say that with any more certainty than mine when I say I believe Azula loves spicy foods. Does it seem to be something that would fit with her character? I think so! But if eventually canon goes "AZULA CAN'T STAND SPICY FOODS LOL JOKE'S ON YOU!" I... can't even say a thing about it. People's food tastes aren't reflective of their personalities. They really could do whatever they want in that respect. And that's the case for ANYTHING that isn't part of the show's storytelling or the character backgrounds or any texts we consider canon!

POINT BEING: Ozai, regardless of what you want to headcanon, had Lo and Li as Azula's teachers. HIS FAVORITE CHILD... and her only official instructors are two non-benders. Yang added Kunyo as an old instructor of Azula's when she was young, sure! But Kunyo was sooooo qualified that baby Azula was already kicking his ass. So, for that matter? He doesn't really seem to have been a cornerstone of her firebending development and the only other known teachers for Azula are Lo and Li.

For the last time: Azula's teachers are NON-BENDERS. AS CHOSEN, SANCTIONED, APPROVED AND ACCEPTED BY OZAI.

And with those two remarking on absolutely STUPID stuff like "one hair out of place"? Azula still became the incredible firebender she was.

Cue, now, the irony where Zuko was stuck in the basics 3 years after setting out of the Fire Nation... WITH IROH ACTIVELY SERVING AS HIS MENTOR.

You're not gonna tell me that Lo and Li would EVER be better instructors than Iroh, or are you? Because that makes no sense. Full-stop. Iroh is supposed to be the most profound and complete firebender thorughout the show because he's spiritually enlightened even though I admit I think that's bullshit and he doesn't just teach Zuko how to set things on fire, he actually makes him learn theory and spirituality and his teachings are more profound than just "ONE HAIR OUT OF PLACE".

So.

Banished as he is, disgraced and seen as trash by Ozai, Zuko STILL has a better teacher than Azula does.

... Is this LOGICAL? Is this NORMAL? Does this make SENSE?

If you think Ozai's favoritism of Azula takes the shape of "I'll give you every little thing you ask for, sweetheart, I love you very much, here, have ten million doll houses so you can set them on fire, and all the ponies you ask for and on your next birthday I'll buy you a baby dragon and you'll get your own region of the Fire Nation to govern and a fancy title..."?

Then Lo and Li, unfortunately, are right here to be a HUGE contradiction with your interpretation of Ozai and Azula's relationship.

Azula should have THE BEST teachers. Azula does not. Azula doesn't even LIKE them. Azula is openly shown to dislike them! To be annoyed around them, ANGRY when they're teaching her, she feels they're here to keep tabs on her for her father! In a sense, they're Ozai's SPIES on her! :')

Hence? Ozai's favoritism of Azula MIGHT not be what everyone keeps pretending it is. Maybe Ozai didn't do everything to make Azula get things EASILY... and to be fair? That's not what Zuko said anyway. People interpreted it that way... but that's not REALLY what he says:

"Everything always came easy to her. She's a firebending prodigy, and everyone adores her. My father says she was born lucky. "

Every line in this statement is absolutely questionable and all of it sounds like buuuuullshit to me. This is ZUKO'S perspective. And sorry not sorry, but it's tell-don't-show. People swear by his opinion of Azula and pretend he's absolutely objective about it. He's not.

But "Everything always came easy to her," does not mean "EVERYTHING WAS ALWAYS HANDED OVER TO HER ON A SILVER PLATTER." And yet this is what the fandom has constantly interpreted it as.

Azula might just be a prodigy. Maybe she started out ten steps ahead of her brother: this does not mean she needs no guidance, no training, no help. She's seen training herself over perfectionism in her very second scene of Book 2. And the guidance she gets in order to achieve perfection is actually, objectively, stupid.

This is what Ozai chose for her. This is an OBSTACLE for her growth, just as much as Lo and Li were obstacles for me when I was starting with Gladiator! Azula doesn't have it EASY: she just works herself so damn hard that even shit that should HINDER her does NOT do that. And even when her brother objectively has spent THREE YEARS with an advantage in the shape of being trained by one of the VERY BEST firebenders out there? Azula is still beating Zuko at it. With two non-benders as her teachers.

Where am I going with all this?

To the fact that Lo and Li are overlooked in just about every instance of the fandom.

To the fact that nobody includes them, and their influence on Azula, in their analyses of who Azula is.

I've seen a shitstorm rising over the Netflix characterization of Azula: SHE'S TOO ANGRY, they say. Non-stop. She's sooooo hysterical, all the time! She's just pissed perpetually!

Well. I haven't finished the show yet. But the scenes I've seen Azula in so far? They don't fit the fandom's view of Azula because...

... they're not taking Lo and Li into account.

As usual.

:')

Azula's reactions around Lo and Li being frustration, anger, irritation EVEN in scenes like The Beach, where Azula was FINE until she sees them? That shit is storytelling that went over sooooooo many heads, EVEN MINE! When I saw people going on about how canon Azula is... not insecure? Not angry? Has no frustrations and was only ever smirking 24/7? I... didn't feel that was right. I knew it wasn't right. And when I thought about it hard enough? I realized that one reason why this interpretation of Azula is IMMEDIATELY dismissable is because of Lo and Li: those two constantly made Azula angry. Even if that wasn't their intent, it's nonetheless the effect they'd have on her. And Azula didn't like having them around. She CLEARLY didn't appreciate them the way Zuko does Iroh, for instance! And this could be taken as a flaw on Azula's part... if we EVER saw evidence that these two ladies actually love Azula as a grandchild, or so. If we had any evidence that they actually have cared for her in ways nobody else ever did. If maybe the ones Zuko talks about, upon saying "EVERYONE LOVES AZULA" were these two! And maybe he was jealous of them! Maybe he wanted two old ladies to watch his every move and tell him his every flaw!

... Clearly I'm joking about that last thing, but anyway...

There's nothing to tell us Lo and Li were anything but Ozai's assigned watchdogs to keep control and tabs over Azula. That Azula's immediate reaction upon hearing that someone cares about her is "Oh fuck off, my dad sent you here because he doesn't trust me!" is... telling. It's not just paranoia speaking, even if it sure can be read that way! It's actually Azula's perception of those two, which is 100% supported by what we saw of the twins throughout the show, WHENEVER we did see them: their roles in Azula's life are indeed to keep tabs on her, to keep her under control, to pressure her into perfection, AS OZAI'S AGENTS! Seen this way, it MAKES SENSE for Azula to disregard their concern and immediately assume it's FAKE. She isn't even shown to doubt it, never questions that MAYBE they did care about her! She assumes they don't...

... And considering that, as far as I know, the official concept is that they BOTH LEFT when Azula banished one of them only? That they didn't contest her command, staying to look after her even if she only wanted one? I mean, clearly Azula can't tell them apart, so they could've taken turns: one watches over Azula for 12 hours and the other for the next 12 hours, I don't goddamn know! But they didn't do that. They LEFT. And if they left? It means they don't care remotely as much as they say they do. Not to the point where they'd challenge Azula's orders and help her when they KNOW she's not okay.

And all of this further supports my point.

When we see Azula in the liveaction being angry, bitter, irritable at Ozai's choices?

I see a reflection of the same dynamics that the OG too subtly weaved into Azula's relationship with Lo and Li. I see Azula reacting against Ozai's control over her because she feels it's DISTRUST. She feels it means her father STILL needs to be convinced that she's competent, powerful, ready to do his bidding. It isn't a case where Azula's irritation comes from wanting to rebel against her father... it's Azula wanting her father to UNDERSTAND that she's 100% his supporter and will put everything on the line to serve him and the Fire Nation.

And it's very damn easy to read that exact same thing into Azula's dynamics with Lo and Li as it is to see it EXPLICITLY STATED in the liveaction.

My point?

What the liveaction did is not nearly as much of a distant characterization choice as people think it is.

Ozai is Azula's Achilles' Heel. Everything she became, everything she grew up to be, was for his sake. He molded her to become those things and simply didn't give a shit about raising a daughter, he treated her as a weapon, and absolutely pitted his children against each other, just as much as OTHER adults in their lives did. But the impact of Ozai on Azula in the OG is easy to ignore. Why? Because we SELDOM see them interacting. Because we don't get that side of Azula's character fully explored. Because they didn't want to explore Ozai's character either! They were as cheap as they could be with all these aspects and so, only the people who really got into analyzing things on a deeper level would be able to say, without a doubt, that Ozai abused Azula emotionally with all the expectations and demands he put on his own child. Through the golden child-scapegoat dynamic that people have been bringing up non-stop in the past years.

So, proving herself to her father is what Azula wants to do, more than anything. Proving worthy of his favor, of his approval, is the closest thing she can get to feeling loved. Which is depressing as fuck. Azula gets zero affection: it's not even conditional affection, there's NOTHING for her besides approving words if she gets anything right. And this show's work with Azula's character? It was meant to make these things less invisible to all the fans who like to pretend none of it exists. And yes, I've seen them, crawling all over Twitter shitting themselves in fits of rage because how dare that show pretend Azula EVER had a bad time in her perfect flawless life!!

Well, the irony is that the OG gives you a smidge of evidence -- and yet that's enough -- to show that Ozai was doing very similar things to Azula in ATLA, and her reactions to it?

Huh. No smirks for Lo and Li.

No smirks for the symbols of Ozai's control over her life.

It's almost like the confidence, the smirks, the apparent ease with which she handles everything? Is a front that crumbles easily whenever it concerns the ONE PERSON with power over her life.

I don't believe, worth noting, that Azula's power comes from rage. I've seen people say that in fandom in the past and I find it a completely absurd take when Iroh himself spells out that her bending is about control, about precision, and it's Azula's FURY that makes her a sloppy mess in the finale. It's even INTENTIONAL that when she shoots lightning a second time, in her second establishing scene, THAT SAME HAIR FALLS OUT OF PLACE. She's still angry. She didn't get it "right" this time either. She's imperfect and she's trying NOT to be, but she cannot succeed. And upon bending lightning with emotions (rage/frustration)? That hair falls YET AGAIN out of place. Proof that she's not going to achieve the perfection she's being FORCED (indeed, by her father and the people who are here to represent him, Lo and Li) to strive for.

The liveaction had Ozai pushing Azula for a perfection she couldn't attain either. She's perfectly content in her cruelty at Ozai's side, right until she hears the Avatar was found and that Zuko has a shot at taking away the privileges she's been basking in so far. That she WASN'T nervous about this in canon is pretty damn obvious: OZAI SENT HER TO HUNT ZUKO DOWN FOR BEING A FAILURE. We never saw her reaction to learning that the Avatar was out and about. We have noooo idea what was canonically going on with her back then. The first time we see her besides the flashback is Azula receiving a mission that tells her she's STILL #1 and Zuko is no threat to her because Ozai thinks he's a failure. Thus? She had nothing to fear. Here? Ozai is actively using Zuko as bait to pressure Azula further. And if you're so confident in Ozai's good parenting skills as to believe he somehow WOULDN'T do that? Sounds like you don't understand the very basic and simplistic Fire Lod Ozai from ATLA, and that's not something to be proud of. So probably stop screaming your bad takes at the top of your lungs, because being incapable of understanding Ozai in canon is not a badge of pride, just saying...

FINAL POINT...

This post is not written expressly in the defense of the liveaction and its characterization of Azula. To this point, what I've seen of it doesn't feel WRONG or OFF unless you're the kind of person who thinks Azula is only capable of smirking and if she stops doing that she stops existing or something. Only people who cannot understand the depth, nuance, subtleties in Azula's story would ever be claiming that Azula's relationship with Ozai COUDLN'T be like this, or that Azula couldn't possibly be frustrated with her father or his choices when it's soooo clear what Ozai is going for, and why it's working. But in order to read Azula as a character capable of this range of emotion, frustration and ambition, all at once? You have to be able to treat this character, be it in the liveaction or the OG show, as a human being.

And that's what most the people criticizing this specific change are determined not to do. It's what makes them uncomfy. It's what rustles their jimmies.

Yes. I'm saying it in this very demeaning way because I actually find it quite ridiculous to be this insecure over the portrayal of a fictional 14yo in two TV shows. Whether the liveaction sticks the landing or fails catastrophically, I do not know... but I do know that if it's forcing a bunch of people to rethink Azula's character, and making them panic at the idea that she could EVER have human emotions, even if they're AWFUL human emotions?

Then I'm afraid you're only convincing me that, as bad as that show could ever get? It's getting SOMETHING right. I do love to see misinterpretations of Azula getting slammed in the face by the reality that all those beliefs, headcanons and takes in bad faith are actively, categorically untrue: none of which makes Azula a fundamentally good person, worth noting! But it makes it very clear that reading her as a one-dimensional basic villain, which is what the anti-Azula-redemption crowd actively does, is literally only possible if you overlook, ignore and fail to understand her character and her complexities, be it in the liveaction or in the original show.

There. I said my piece.

Another post, regarding the rest of the liveaction, is bound to come later. I'd say stay tuned but it might take me a while to write it at all. So... wait around and maybe you'll see it someday!

#azula #atla #natla #yep :') #I'm doing it #because I know the bad takes are everywhere so #let's see if mine actually gets any visibility this way #can of worms here we goooooooooo #(this is a bad idea I know it is I'm having a leave of my senses) #(but sometimes you just gotta watch the world burn and this has been... a complicated sad day) #also sorry if anyone saw it without the read more oops I thought I'd put it there #so either tumblr ate it or I forgot yikes #but now it's theeeere #sorryyyyyyyy

[azulas-lightning-bolt]

sooo I’m insane about mako right. well. well ho hum well do you remember the other ball of repressed rage firebending member of team avatar.

yeah so imagine the timeline gets switched up a bit. aang (sorry aang ily but it’s for the plot) dies a lot earlier so the gaang is all in their early thirties late twenties when the krew start to be born. none of the major plot events are going to really change (gaang will be atla white lotus age by canon, almost 60s) and rc has for the most part been established.

boom around ten-fifteen years later they’re all around fourties. the krew is in the ten-fifteen y/o age range—korra’s training in the compound, asami is being groomed into a businessgirl, but yk what that means for my favorite bending brothers? the streets.

the gaang minus aang are still active and about (sokka is alive Because) so it’s zuko’s turn to help toph run the underbelly of rc. she always gripes that she’s doing fine in her old age (she’s like,, 38) and they can just leave her alone with the damned city to rot (she mostly hates her job. only reason she sticks with it is because it’s a sort of backwards way to take care of su and lin*. if the city streets are safe, there’s no reason not to let them off free) but of course the gaang has a rotation anyway. they try to stay sort of in contact after ending a hundred year war together because that’s kind of big.

*by the way sokka is not their dad. they were made in a terrarium because toph Built kids out of boredom and aang gave them bending as a joke and they just. grew. became alive. idk it seems more in character than toph having kids the normal way.

so anyway zuko is out patrolling. he’s on gang-spotting duty, so basically toph has the aging fire lord running around after guys who graffiti gang signs on walls and Politely Asking where their hideout is. today he happens to stumble upon an inter-gang scuffle. it’s pretty typical, and he’s moving to stop it when—boom, lightning and screaming. now, it was mostly thanks to his (and a reformed azula, because she will be getting in here somehow) efforts that lightningbending masters took hold and spread the subbending more commonly, but it’s still not typical to see it in poorer areas. yet there’s one person with a gang rumored to have it—you guessed it, zolt!

so zuko goes chasing after the source of the lightning, thinking toph is gonna be so happy she won’t punch him for a week and keep her griping to a minimum once he brings in one of the biggest thorns on her side.

but it’s not zolt he’s chasing. it’s twelve year old mako, scared shitless that the firelord is chasing him down and nowhere near fast enough to outrun him or hide. none of zolt’s cronies are dumb enough to try and bail him, he knows, but he also doesn’t want to leave bolin waiting on a dead brother.

zuko catches him, baffled that ‘zolt’ is so small. mako says nasty shit (because in best impression of 12 y/o mako voice : royalty. You are the 1% that makes Us like this) trying to wriggle free, revealing himself as definitely not zolt.

Zuko stares at this grimy, angry little twelve year old with old, peeling burn scars (I’ll make a post soon about the scars he definitely has from like,, everything) and fresher lightning scars and is like,, hmm. tiny angry firebending child with scars and likely insurmountable levels of trauma=me as a child who just needed some guidance and turned out fine (not really but it’s the thought that counts)

and then he uses his brain really hard and decides he will give tiny angry firebending child with scars and likely insurmountable levels of trauma guidance. so mako gets picked up by the scruff and is dragged, kicking and screaming, by the firelord to the police station.

toph hears a child shrieking and is immediately like no. get it away. out of my police station NOW. and mako is like YES get me out of her police station NOW. and they have a moment of commiserating mako’s presence in the police station together.

but then zuko is like what if we gave him Guidance. toph says bring that bullshit to katara and gtfo. cue lin and su, annoyed teenagers/young adults around canon krew’s ages for highest potential siblingism. btw the beifong relationships are much better in this. su is immediately like. can we keep him mom please. lin agrees with toph and wants it OUT she just started working here and tenzin’s yapping about kids does not need to follow her to the bullpen.

mako is put into police custody (su drags him around with her and watches him overnight). he wheedles her into finding bolin and becomes much more agreeable when he has his brother to hold in a death grip. when asked to separate, he threatens multiple creative methods of murder.

this got really out of hand but the idea is that katara and sokka side with zuko and they all gang up on toph, who somehow caves and agrees to let zuko give Guidance to tiny angry firebending child with scars and likely insurmountable levels of trauma. she forces bolin on suyin but she doesn’t mind too much, shoving metalbending down his throat.

korra meets them earlier on, finally having some friends her age! they’re all really really weird though so none of them are well adjusted when korra finally runs away to rc (they follow her everywhere). how terrible. but mako and bolin are like 5000x stronger without even trying and they also have money.

all three teenage freaks meet asami (who is immediately endeared by their weird asses), shit goes down, but this time featuring nebulously-father zuko, favorite person-without-title-but-probably-scary-aunt azula definitely mom-adjacent katara, weirduncle sokka, toph who goes to the swamp whenever she wants because lin is basically chief of police already and big sisters lin, su, kya and izumi. also featuring cousin-ish iroh II and long distance/reluctant (respectively) older brothers bumi and tenzin.

I believe both mako and bolin, if possible, would be considerably more batshit insane considering who they were raised by, but also more calculated on mako’s part because azula absolutely got her time in with him. I think katara would’ve taught them, for an absolute worst case scenario, how to handle bloodbending, so they would’ve wiped amon. I think mako, considering azula, definitely wanted the kill with that lightning on amon but, considering azula, knew it would only turn him into a martyr for the equalists to rally behind without exposing him first.

also puppy love makorra in the compound. then korrasami in rc because pretty girl with a bike but then ‘sorry I kind of have a crush on your childhood best friend korra but I’m still in love with you’ ‘WOAH sick really? same lol.’ ‘we should all kiss.’ then makorrasami!!!!

so yeah I totally lost my train of thought but that’s like. generally it(?)

#atla #avatar the last airbender #mako lok #bolin #bolin lok #legend of korra #lok #katara #tlok #mako tlok #zuko #aang #toph #lin beifong #suyin beifong #sokka #azula #bumi ii #tenzin #kya ii #there are so many people to tag in this shitfest #hold on #fire lord izumi #iroh ii #lightning bolt zolt #amon lok #i think that’s everyone #slug’s stuff

[blazeymc]

I have a silly crossover idea

First, you know Avatar? The anime, not the movies with the blue people. If you don't, go look it up, I'm not explaining it. If you do, great.

Second, you know Ninjago?

So that I have an excuse to base this AU in the same universe as ATLA and ATLOK, but still have it be quite unique, I've decided that this new story takes place several million years later, in which time different ages have risen and fallen, technologies have been discovered and forgotten, and races (sentient species) have been born and have died.

Four individuals are brought together by the spirit of the previous Avatar. Two Firebenders (one of which primarily uses Lightningbending), an Earthbender, and a Waterbender (who primarily uses Icebending). This spirit, known as Wu, needs their help finding the new Avatar, because something spoopy is happening that is keeping his aura hidden or whatever. In reality, this is because his father is this really evil guy, idk.

Also, it's gonna have Bruise and Oppo :3

#avatar the last airbender #avatar the legend of korra #ninjago #ninjago kai #kai smith #ninjago jay #jay walker #ninjago cole #cole brookestone #ninjago zane #zane julien #ninjago wu #sensei wu #ninjago lloyd #lloyd garmadon #bruiseshippping #oppositeshipping

[original-sheepsandwich90]

#Bolin #Asami Sato #Lin Beifong #Mako #Benders #L.o.K. #book 3 #Non-bender #Earthbender and Metalbender #Firebender and Lightningbender #Earthbender and Lavabender

[aikoiya]

DPxDC AU - A Bird in Amity

DPxDC AU (can be Phantom Twin AU or not) where when Jason was thrown into the pit, shenanigans happened & instead of surfacing in Nanda Parbat, he found himself coming out of the Lazarus Pit hidden in Amity Park. It can be found in Silent Hill Park, at the bottom of Cauldron Lake.

He surfaces & is found by the Fenton family, who take him in & even get him into Casper. (Lancer is his favorite teacher. Loves that he swears in book titles.) This is at the beginning of the DP timeline, so not much has happened yet.

He rapidly realizes that the Fenton parents are actually pretty negligent despite their obvious love for their children & this begins to instill in him a latent desire to care for others that he may or may not have inherited from Bruce & would've ordinarily been resistant to. Specifically towards the younger members of the Phantom Team & especially Danny (& Dina).

At first, he's wary of everything, but eventually he comes around. Danny (& Dina) weird him out though in the beginning & the feeling is mutual. They can just sense that there's something odd about each other.

The Pit Madness doesn't really get time to fully develop due to living in a place with a constant influx of raw, ambient ectoplasm. Rather, all the corrupted, dark magic-infused ecto-gunk in his system gets filtered out quickly & replaced with healthy ectoplasm. Sure, there were instances of the Pit Rage bubbling up every once in a while, but it sort of puttered out after a while, especially with Jazz's help. Who he may or may not have a crush on.

He's quick to figure out that Danny (& Dina) are heroes & is surprised to learn that he is (they are) basically all that's keeping Amity afloat & elects himself to help the kid(s) & teach him (them) & the rest of Team Phantom the ropes. It's a shock to the entire team that they apparently have Robin on their side. Everyone is wary of his involvement & it takes some time to get used to it.

They eventually learn that he's becoming something of a very low ratio halfa (meaning that he'll eventually develop both an Obsession & a Fixation) & even begins to develop low-grade powers. Things like advanced healing, increased strength, speed, & flexibility, intangibility every once in a while (like, he can't use it willynilly), the ability to actually grab & hit ghosts, night vision, able to walk silently, even the power to see the regular, non-GZ DC ghosts like Deadman & the Gentlemen Ghost. Isn't able to turn invisible on occassion, but he is able to affect people's perception of him similarly to ghosts at any time. So, he can manipulate not only a person's sense of object permanence when in regards to himself, but he can also make himself unnoticeable. This is called Spectral Acknowledgement. Like, he can basically do what the Chameleon Circuit does. Like this:

However, because he's not a true halfa (or, at least, not a very good ratio of one), his anti-gravity center isn't fully developed, so he can really only glide & slow his falling. Just stuff that gives him an edge & a few benefits, while not taking away from his fighting style.

I see him having a hot core with an electric primary & either a fire or shadow secondary. It's nothing like lightningbending or firebending. He can only really coat himself with his element to give his punches more oomf. Though, I'm sure that Danny could make weapons that could channel the elements into them.

Either way, he's got Shocking Grasp & can probably use them as built-in defibs.

In the case of him having a shadow element, then it's not full umbrakinesis as he can only really control his own shadow.

Imagine him able to make it move like Dr. Familiar.

He can make his shadow touch other shadows, which affects the original. So, he can use his shadow to choke out someone else.

In a dark enough area, his shadow would be completely unnoticeable.

As mentioned before, he can coat himself in his shadow, giving him this sort of black flame armor that both protects him & makes his hits stronger.

Jason can Shadow Walk.

Like, Jason just merges into his own shadow, then hides in another shadow so he's completely camouflaged. I bet that even Supes wouldn't know he was near when approached if he was in a dark enough area.

In such cases, he's able to attack or outright kill someone's shadow, thus doing the same thing to the person themselves. And since Superman's powers don't apply to his shadow, it'd actually be very possible for Jason to just outright kill him in the right situation. Not that he'd ever choose to do so, but the option is there regardless.

Imagine it works a little like the bracelet from Link Between Worlds, but it connects to the shadow lands or something!

At the same time, the reason why he'd make his shadow attack someone while he, himself, is in the physical world would be for situations where he was spotted before he could Shadow Walk & so Jason physically distracts his target while his shadow goes behind them & knocks them out.

While Shadow Walking, he can also 'jump' between shadows. Like, from shadow to shadow?

Though, the weakness to this is that bright enough lights can dissipate his shadow.

There's also his Death Echo Power. I'm thinking napalm tears as he died crying in an explosion.

Either way, the best thing is, he's in the right place to better understand these new powers.

Jason has mixed & complicated feelings about Bruce, so he refrains from asking to go home until he sorts everything out. Then, he hears that there's a new Robin & the fact that Joker's still around & it all goes south. The Fenton kids do everything to be there for him, but he's just angry & feels betrayed. Though, not as vitriolically so as in canon. At least, not to such a degree that he wants to take it out on everyone he feels who betrayed him without evidence. It allows him to acknowledge the underlying hurt beneath the anger better.

It's actually because of Jazz that he's eventually able to realize that it isn't the new Robin's fault. However, he can't help how angry he is at Bruce.

Either way, because of the fact that Danny is still the only real defense Amity has against ghosts, Jay doesn't feel able to exact his revenge on Bruce & the Joker yet. But when he does, he has the whole of Team Phantom on his side.

Unlike in canon, Jason learns about how each of his old family reacted to his death. Not only does he learn that Dick had been so angry that he actually killed the Joker in revenge for Jay's death, but also that Bruce revived the bastard afterwards in some twisted attempt to keep Dick's conscience clean.

As a result, he actually patches things up with Dick pretty quickly, but on the other end of the scale, his relationship with Bruce is even worse than in canon. Which is saying something!

Jazz tries to remind him that it's likely due to Bruce's trauma from watching his parents get killed, but the thing is, Jason is not only ecto-liminal, he actually died & came back, which gives him a halfa-like connection to death. Unlike Jazz, who has yet to die herself &, as such, can still be considered human despite being fully ecto-liminal.

See, as per a really great hc I read, a ghost's killer is a source of a great deal of trauma for ghosts. So, if their killer is killed, or at least rendered incapable of causing further harm, it lifts a tremendous weight from that ghost's shoulders & will help them to better regulate their emotions & Obsession.

For more, look here:

So, for Jay to learn that Dick had killed his killer & that the world was so close to being Joker-free until Bruce decided to be a big damn hero...

So. Much. ANGER!!

Like, his relationship with Dick is gonna be great, but Bruce?

Man, his motivations might've been selfless, but they do say that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions...

I love Brucie boy, but he chose wrong this time.

---

Interesting thing, when Jay does go back to Gotham, he becomes the Cardinal rather than Red Hood.

There is this superstition that when you see a cardinal, it means that a dead loved one has come to visit. Such is the case with Jason.

A very angry, aggressive cardinal...

I'm not sure what his costume would look like other than having red in it & a biker jacket with Danny's logo on the shoulders.

Also, the All-Blades are a motherfucking must!

One change to them, though. They don't only appear in the presence of pure evil & also work on paranormal beings such as ghosts. They are, however, only deadly to those who are evil. They can hurt those who aren't, but can't kill them.

#danny phantom #dp #dc #dp x dc #jason todd #liminal!jason todd #danny fenton #the fentons #anger management #aikoiya au #writing prompt

[impossiblycolorfulpanda]

In ATLA Book 4: Air. I imagine there are 30 episodes. It's part of the war-arc instead of post-war and the finale is divided by 4.

Right before the finale, Aang and Azula partake in a duo mission against Zirin and her fire warriors. Details and executions are hazy at the moment but it's the time Aang truly becomes a fully realized master avatar.

He's shown mastering every aspect of the elements along with all of their special techniques and alternate styles and overcoming their respective weaknesses and limitations.

Aang learns flight, spiritual projection, healing, plantbending, bloodbending, spiritbending, lavabending, metalbending, sandbending, combustionbending, lightningbending, and to change the colors of his firebending.

He clears and masters all of his chakras to the point where each one is indomitable and unblockable.

In the end, Aang demonstrates that he's capable of bending all five bending arts at once, with or without the avatar state. His personality is altered due to this level of impressive mastery and versatility.

#atla #avatar the last airbender #aang #azula #atla book 4 air

[gl00mar41]

Hi! I'm making an Avatar the Last Airbender Twisted Wonderland Au. Idia is a firebender/lightningbender engineer living under ba sing se, but should Ortho be a nonbender, firebender, or earthbender?

hmm... he says fire. and i can only agree.

#disney twisted wonderland #disney twst #idia shroud #twisted wonderland #twst #twst idia #twst kin #twst wonderland

[comradekatara]

I think one of my least favorite thing about lok is how they made nonbenders an oppressed class??? Like. Canonically, outside of the fire nation, that is the opposite of the truth. Anywhere the fire nation touched, earthbenders and waterbenders were violently opressed and/or killed. The royal family of the northern water tribe are nonbenders, right? Most of the wealthy class in ba sing se are presumably nonbenders. We never really see benders being paid more for their labor or anything like that, right? And the nonbenders in the fire nation may not have the same military prestige(and therefore prestige), but... there are clearly extremely important nonbender nobles and merchants. It even follows that benders would be more likely to be conscripted for war, if the fire nation doesn't have mandatory military service. Like.... it is such a fucking stretch for opression dynamics in a society to change that quickly. Benders are literally the opressed ones in atla. And the Fire Nation are the opressors, not benders?? It seems so disrespectful to the literal genocides that take place in atla. You've probably posted abt it already but it truly drives me up the wall.

yes. lok really didn't understand the political dynamics established in atla wrt nationality, culture, spirituality, and bending (all of those facets of course being intrinsically linked). like if republic city/the united republic of nations was former earth kingdom land that was colonized by the fire nation and then never returned to the earth kingdom and instead became a "melting pot" for all four nations (iirc its biggest influences are shanghai, hong kong, singapore, and new york) then the fire nation elites who lived in the colonies would still be the ones with the most political influence 70 years later.

earthbenders would not be the primary members of the police force (like, putting aside making toph a cop, the police force would clearly be run by firebenders). those with wealth would be the ones with fire nation heritage (which, i think, is why everyone assumes that asami has fire nation ancestry despite having green eyes).

we see that people with bending abilities are exploited for their labor, like how mako is a lightningbender and that's used for factory labor, or how crime rings are largely comprised of benders, whereas wealthy capitalists such as hiroshi sato or even varrick are nonbenders. the fire nation killed and imprisoned benders from across the other nations, and their bending supremacy only extended to their own firebending, as they considered other forms of bending crude and impure.

i don't think that amon exploiting nonbenders by scapegoating benders to gain power is inherently nonsensical, but the way it was executed as if nonbenders are genuinely an oppressed class and their frustrations are valid made no sense. it's one thing for a nonbender to feel envious of benders, i sure know i'd be jealous if half the population had superpowers and i didn't, but they're not materially oppressed within the world lok creates.

like it would be one thing if they literally showed benders doing eugenics (which is why i think that the imbalance comics were on a noble attempt on the part of faith erin hicks to bridge that gap) but within lok we see nonbenders with power and benders being exploited under capitalism. mako and bolin are exploited equally, despite the fact that mako is a firebender and bolin is an earthbender (another fact that makes no sense).

ultimately, lok didn't understand any of the implications or precedents atla established, so trying to unpack its politics in any way is just.... a mess.

#sorry this is so incoherent it's just genuinely so difficult to unpack bc it doesn't make any sense #lok only makes sense as a show if u divorce it from atla entirely #if u assume none of the themes politics characters culture are supposed to be the same then it's fine #but of course. lok IS supposed to be a continuation of atla #so it makes no sense whatsoever! #lok crit #startstrike #asks

[kibutsulove]

tell us more about hideaki!!!

sorry I didn’t answer this sooner I spazzed out from excitement. cuz like. I get to INFO DUMP!!! YIPPEE!!!! finally……..

I’ve stated before that I’ve got like multiple versions of him but I guess I’ll just be focusing on on his Avatar self because that’s really my main audience here UH

A rlly funny thing abt this guy is that he’s a lightning bender that can’t firebend. At all. His bending isn’t tied to it at all. I wouldn’t even call it lightning bending at this point, what ever the fuck he does is like its unhinged cousin from Tallahassee. I’ll just call it electrobending.

What is his goal as a villain? <- you may ask

nihilism. fuck all yall, EVERYONE DYING. he literally just wants to destroy every single cell of life that’s exists on the planet, including himself, but that comes last. He undervalues the concept of life so much it’s genuinely crazy.

Originally, when he was younger, he had a wife and a daughter but then he accidentally KILLED them. Because he’s an IDIOT. And as he was staring at their corpses like a lost child in the supermarket, he went “is life this important if it can just flat out die this easily? No” and then he left.

And mind you, Hideaki as a person is not able to understand the concept of grief or regret, or literally any other emotion besides the drive to achieve his goal. So essentially, he is not “ruthless” or “barbaric”. He simply cannot comprehend that shit. So the Earth Avatar has to deal with an opponent who cannot emotionally nor mentally experience what to be human is.

Sulove what the FUCK is electrobending <- GOOD QUESTION

like I said before, lightningbending’s deranged cousin from Tallahassee. Electrobending is only just the generation of lightning, it’s also the manipulation of lightning and allows the convergence between the user and the lightning itself: meaning that he can just. Fucking teleport essentially. It also has something to do with magnetism, so if you’re wearing anything magnetic, you’re COOKED.

And with how cyberpunk-ish the new earth avatar’s era is, a villain being able to manipulate electricity and magnetism on a wide ass scale is not rlly good

#original character #hideakicore #<- copied this tag shhhhh #sulove’s ocs #he’s canonically a dilf guys who cheered #characters who have trouble with emotion *holds gently* #he loved his family in his own way I promise. he tried his hardest to feign an emotion he could not ever possibly feel #I am disappointed in myself to say that Hideaki evolved from countryhumans. #rare sulove paragraph moment