#I’ve talked abt it before

[comradekatara]

hey, so. people on twt (ugh, I need to delete that account) started to compare Zuko and Azula’s relationship to Sokka and Katara. So, I jump in like “they are not comparable in any way” then people are like “Sokka and Katara do have issues even though it’s not the same as Zuko and Azula” (even though the original tweet did imply that but, whatever). and I’m all like “sure, they both have trauma from their upbringing and they fight like siblings and that trauma probably has effected their relationship but it’s still no way like it’s being compared… they love and care for one another” and then they’re coming back like “it’s not the same but they still have issues” and citing the southern raiders (which I have my own opinions about and I feel like people totally miss read that scene) but all in all to say; I’m annoyed because I feel like people are being disingenuous and I feel like your thoughts would be interesting

okay yeah obviously I don’t know what the full arguments were (and I never will because I loathe twitter. I mean X sorry) but i can definitely talk about this more generally. I mean they are the central sibling pairs configured in a similar way for obvious reasons. they are definitely comparable.

sokka and zuko have superficial similarities as older brothers who feel undervalued, struggle to live up to a harmful patriarchal standard of gender (specifically masculinity/manhood) as shaped by imperialism/colonialism/war and the expectations their fathers placed on them to “be a real man” within a very limited framework, and ultimately find their worth via other avenues beyond the limited scope of patriarchal imperialist logic. azula and katara have superficial similarities as younger sisters who are placed on a pedestal by their culture community, are the best benders of their respective elements and outclass all the older more established (male) masters who dismiss and look down on them for being teenage girls, and who feel a deep sense of grief due to the loss of their mothers that informs everything they do and fundamentally who they are as people. and then obviously the REAL foils who are foiling are katara and zuko, and sokka and azula. these pairs are each very obvious mirrors, both in terms of their personalities (as developed differently by their respective environments) and their arcs. zuko is fire nation katara. azula is fire nation sokka. so obviously their relationships are similar in this way. they are narratively constructed as parallels.

that said, I think the key primary difference between these sets of siblings is that zuko and azula are directly opposed due to being pitted against each other by ozai’s abuse, whereas sokka and katara are extremely codependent, to the point that sokka’s entire identity is shaped by his role as katara’s brother and protector. so if you read zuko as a foil to sokka (which he certainly somewhat is, but is not the primary foil to sokka) you’ll get confused because he doesn’t live for others and he doesn’t look out for azula at all. but azula, like sokka, does define her identity through her loyalty and her ability to best serve others, so she does try to help zuko as best she can, which is obviously hindered by the incredibly limited of scope of what she considers “helpful” (much in the same way that sokka’s protection of katara is often limited by his own narrow worldview and unhealthy sense of duty as it corresponds to his identity). azula wants zuko to be a “perfect prince” in the way that she is a “perfect princess” because she refuses to acknowledge how specifically harmful that paradigm is to both of them until it is too late. so her intentions are actually good (don’t @ me), but she’s just deeply misguided and her level of cognitive dissonance is off the charts generally (again, much like sokka).

meanwhile katara and zuko, despite loving their families a lot and feeling defined by their families in many ways, are still very self-focused. which isn’t to say that’s a bad thing or that they’re selfish (they are both defined by an incredibly passionate and outspoken sense of justice for others, of course), but rather that they understand that what they want is to further their own interests for their own benefit even as they are seeking justice for the entire world. (in katara’s worlds: “me. me, personally!”) but like. if anything, the fact that azula and sokka never think in terms of the ego but only in terms of servitude to the point that they are actually detached from their own humanity is deeply unhealthy and awful, which is why so much of sokka’s arc is about getting him to understand his intrinsic worth as a human being and the value of accepting help, and azula’s tragedy and downfall is precipitated by her acknowledgement that she has been deliberately isolated her entire life and now she is alone and utterly helpless.

I do see katara and zuko as quite heroic, inspiring characters, to azula and sokka’s quite tragic, heartbreaking characters (especially azula of course, but like. I don’t think sokka’s deep-seated, copious issues have somehow been magically resolved just because “the boiling rock” is his apotheosis. you get it). but katara was always the “valued” sibling whereas azula began as the valued sibling and zuko rose above her by disrupting/transcending the paradigm that valued her only to end up in the position that she felt teleologically entitled to (not to say that she thought she would become fire lord, but that he does become the most powerful player in the fire nation, at least in name). and a large part of that is the fact that katara and sokka grew up in extremely different conditions than azula and zuko did, even if both their worldviews are informed by imperialism and patriarchy in some way. so katara was valued as a sort of cultural artefact who represents the last hope of a dying people, whereas azula was valued as the obedient daughter of a powerful abusive patriarch. it’s still a way of ascribing “value,” but the criteria are completely different in both cases. which is why I still think that azula and sokka are functionally more similar, because even if azula is valued, it is with the expectation that she function in the same way that sokka is expected to function, as a depersonalized vessel for the good of their people.

so there are similarities for sure, but also those similarities are constantly being complicated through locating their respective cultural contexts as they informed their upbringing, psychologies, and sibling relationships. I will say that it’s true that both of these relationships are unhealthy (to an extent), and both sets of siblings parallel each other in very significant ways, but the ways in which their relationships are in fact “unhealthy” are nonetheless almost diametrically opposed.

#f1reladymai #asks #I need to someday make a post that’s just. EVERY PARALLEL across all four of them #a chart even #analysis #katara #sokka #azula #zuko #azula&zuko #katara&sokka #azula&sokka #katara&zuko #azula&katara #sokkaxzuko #and yeah the southern raiders scene is…. interesting #I’ve talked abt it before #but I don’t even think it’s katara’s ‘cruelest’ moment #I still think bullying a girl she just met for being blind is the worst thing she ever said 😭😭😭 sorry #also I just realized you implied that zuko and azula don’t love each other???? um. yeah they do. what

[otrtbs]

here’s the thing. the absolute joy and wonder i feel whenever someone tells me they came across ahb! and are now taking an art history course / majoring in art next year / went to their local art museum for the first time in ages is exponential. when yall send me your favorite artworks and tell me about them or tell me you went to x museum to see x painting mentioned in ahb??? it’s just so so wonderful. because never did i think something i wrote out of love for art and love for art history would lead anyone else to research art or talk about it or seek it out for themselves and that’s so much more than i could ever imagine would come out of a very timid first attempt at creative writing/fandom involvement.

i wrote it out of love and y’all have all reciprocated that love tenfold and ran with it to talk about art and explore it and share it with me and those around you. and it’s just been a very special incredible thing that makes me emosh. :,)

#i feel like …i am not articulating this well enough and also i’ve said similar sentiments before but #i cannot thank everyone enough who has ever had a kind word to say or interesting fact to share or art to talk about with lil ole me #it truly outshines all the blegh bleh bLEGH that makes me want 2 rant and rail or cry abt #like ppl can be mean abt ahb! + hate her but that will never be me !! bc someone w much kinder eyes read it + found their favorite painting #and that is so much more than enough for me #and this is a reminder for me for sure!! #🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰 there’s so much love and light !!! 🥰🥰🥰🥰 and it’s so wonderful #so this is a thank u and a love letter all in one xx MWAH #love you all more than life #art heist baby!

[driftingballoons]

Some creatures are more difficult to perceive than others

#Treecko #skitty #dusknoir #chatot #pokemon doodles #original art #context: I’ve said this before but explorers was the very first pokemon game I ever played #I wasn’t watching the anime then so it was also the first time I ever saw a dusknoir #And for whatever reason I just couldn’t quite….comprehend what he was supposed to be #Thought he was some kind of robot until he did his ghostly disappearing act #Definitely a fun game to play when you know nothing about pokemon! #Everything was so new and exciting! And you don’t know what anyone looks like until you meet them! #The other thing in a similar vein was with dialga #I didn’t know what dialga was SUPPOSED to look like so when they’re all talking about how fucked up he is I was like damn #He DOES look pretty fucked up. Some kind of beast #And then after fixing time you see he looks THE SAME except with a palette change #Like oh. i see. That’s just what you look like #Dialga should’ve got a special form tho #Maybe something replacing the steel type with ghost #Bc without time he’s technically not alive #And I read somewhere the steel typing might’ve represented the steady nature of time or something #So with time being stopped it’s not flowing so steadily huh #This wasn’t supposed to be abt dialga tho. Get your own post #ANYWAY dusknoir is a weird looking guy especially when you’re not quite sure what you’re looking at #but he is canonically handsome so do with that what you will

[soupwalker]

he makes me so fucking insane for no reason. like. Yes this is my favorite character. he has one whole scene of semi-animation and no voiced lines, but he has two whole emotions and suddenly I’m crazy insane

#something abt him just. starts the brain chemicals idk!!!! #I could talk about this character that Does Not Exist for hours I’ve literally done it before #soupwalking.jpg #toh spoilers #caleb wittebane

[zana-art]

a scene from The Courage of Stars by @hella1975

idk why its so dark but u may need to turn brightness up to see it

[ID: a semi-realistic digital portrait of yue and suki from atla. they’re facing each other, faces close, looking each other in the eyes. suki is wearing her kyoshi warrior outfit and yue a parka. behind them, the stars and the full moon shine through a circular window. /end ID] (ID by @maileesque <3)

#hiiii hella so i know you’ve literally never heard from me before #but i’ve read taob like 3 years ago and have been following u since (on a different acc my irls know abt) #i just dont talk to ppl on social media #so i’ve never talked to you #BUT taob changed me as a person #and i feel like a creep not saying anything for years so #yeah this is a love confession basically #<3 #also i have more taob wips and a tbp one #yes im saying that just to make myself finish them but this was a wip for a year and a half #at this rate idk when that will be #anyway #i love u xx #yueki #suki atla #atla yue #my art

[silkjade]

yapper gf x bf who shuts her up w his dick

#this is abt me btw #coming out as a yapper #i’ve been yapping on main more than usual lately becus i have nothing better to do (im ignoring my drafts) #and this does not even include all of the talking posts i delete before i post lmao #— 𝓭𝓮𝓵𝓲𝓬𝓪𝓽𝓮𝓼

[idiot-mushroom]

can’t wait until they the tmnt franchise comes out with a mutant guy that’s a chihuahua with a spanish accent and they’re like ‘oh so you were a hispanic guy who got mutated into a chihuahua?’ and he was like ‘nah fam i was just a dog that got mutated, also i was born breed and raised in new york’ and then they go ‘then why the accent’ and the chihuahua mutant goes ‘what accent’

#it’s low key racist but it’s bound to happen #i’m just silently waiting for it to happen #i’m gunna go insane abt it too #i will laugh my ass off like i’ve never laughed before #shroom talks #tmnt

[the-meme-monarch]

my brother and i have been going on walks a lot lately and have been checking out public buildings if only to see them, and in one it finally happened where someone thought my brother and i were a couple. even though Earlier in the conversation i mentioned ‘our little sibling’ like twice while gesturing to my brother and i both times. this wouldn’t have been so horrible and i could have easily brushed it off as her just not having caught that, if not for the part where after clarifying We’re Siblings she said “well even if you did have kids…” and kinda trailed off and didn’t complete that thought. she was talking to us about our futures/careers bc this was the town hall building so she probably meant it like If We, Individually From Each Other, Have Children but. i didn’t press for clarification but was ready to Leave after that. she was talking for a while still, after saying that. i had a cold soda and it was room temp by the time we finally left

#words from the monarch #incest mention #ask to tag #sorry it was just a kinda bizarre interaction and I needed to talk abt that #like she was talking abt her kids and how one of them was a handful and I said ‘oh yeah I get that. we’ve got a you get sibling’ #younger sibling* #and i brought them up again though I don’t remember what for #and Then like a minute after that she asked if we were a couple #also we wenr to the library which is a little bit more than a library like it’s got a theatre also #they have free movies for kids every now and then and we went to see the last 15 minutes of what they’d been playing #that theatre was pitch fuckinb black I couldn’t see shit. I’ve never seen so scared of stairs than in that moment YDHDHHS #the library was where I got the soda so that happened before The Conversation With That Lady

[fuck-kirk]

I feel like my main beef with the Danny Phantom fandom is that they’re always torturing Danny when Vlad is RIGHT THERE

#mott txt #like come on guys TORTURE THAT OLD MAN #danny phantom #Danny Fenton #dp #vlad masters #vlad plasmius #maybe it’s bc I’m a teacher and I teach kids Danny’s age but I rlly do actually hate content of him getting hurt …hurts my heart #he was only 14 <\3 #like 14 yr olds ate so small and still so child like I hate to imagine it #vlad on the other hand…..beat that old man’s ASS #he deserves it AND it’s sexy #also I just find vlad so interesting and for some reason I’ve always related to him (before s3 at least) #all my fanon headcanons of vlad don’t really include s3 tbh #what am I even talking abt at this point

[danothan]

what level of brainrot is it to wish your blorbo was real so you could stretch their ears

#danbles #hal doesnt have a single alt bone in his body to do mods but i think he’d have the perfect lobes for it #the way he and barry exist in my brain is too real i feel like i can imagine every part of them w the clarity of ppl i’ve seen before #godd imagine him w some kind of jade plugs. OR TUNNELS W DANGLING JEWELRY #the way i talk abt them you’d have no idea i was even talking abt dc characters lmao #you gotta act like your faves are your ocs. as a treat

[surface-asses]

kept reworking this cause i felt like it was missing something but im just gonna post it cause fuck drawing a proper background. enjoy

[Image description: Ocelot straddling Kaz’s back holding a riding crop behind himself. They are both naked except for Ocelot wearing his boots and gloves. Kaz has albinism, is not wearing his sunglasses and is blushing heavily. He has numerous marks on his back and ass from the crop. Ocelot is holding his head up with one hand, with his thumb in Kaz’s mouth. Ocelots hair is gray and he does not have top or bottom surgery. The whole piece has a purple filter over it and the background is a dark dusty purple. End ID.]

#ocelhira #my art #mgs #revolver ocelot #kazuhira miller #idk if i’ve talked abt kaz having albinism before but it is one of my headcanons #in doing research abt it i felt like it fit well esp with him developing cataracts in tpp(at least i interpret him as developing them later

[abigail]

btw besties !!! i did meet my favourite musician and he did write the thing for me that i wanna get as a tattoo :-) yippie !!! ♡ ♡ ♡

#he was so real about it because i said i wanted it as a tattoo and he was like ok i need lined paper . i’m so sorry about my handwriting . #i like his handwriting tho like !! i’ve seen it before on setlist i am a fan hence wanting the tattoo in his writing lol #but yeah wow :-) i was incredibly awkward like my anxiety was so bad yesterday anyway and then meeting him oughhghghhh why am i like this #honestly irl i am SO awkward i never know how to talk to people …. and then on top of regular awkwardness my anxiety ?!?! #he probably thought i was such a freak lol oh wellllll he was lovely and the shoes were sick yaaaaay :-) #omg ALSO he was so nice because the thing i want tattooed is my fave song of his and when i told him this and he knew i had been to #mulitple shows that tour he was like shit i’m sorry we didn’t play it and seemed genuinely like he felt bad abt it bless him #i said they played it last tour so we good hehehe aw #a

[arolesbianism]

Some very lazy concept doodles for my swap au Wendy

#keese draws #don’t starve together #dst #dst Wendy #wendy carter #I need to make a tag for this au but I’m lazy #anyways sorry if the scribbles are incomprehensive idk what I was on abt either tbh #well ok most of it is just mechanics I’ve talked abt before but yknow #oh and the bottom right doodle is abt how wickerbottom’s wereghost form performs the haunt action on hauntable objects with higher chances #of whatever effects meaning that given enough trees technically you could use her for living log farming #and due to wendy’s fuel mechanic living logs are quite valuable since they’re one of the few things that effect sanity when burned #they also slow sanity drain significantly when burned which is nice for the guy who doesn’t have a lot of sanity options #wurts are also a good living log soruce but I didn’t want to design her rn so rip wurt #she’s a lil baby tree guard sorta #well she basically just Is a tree guard but with a irredecent gem in her head #webber created her because he was lonely rip #he also was the one who accidentally got wendy killed and then made wendy robot body #wendy predictably has a lot of angsting to do abt that especially since it came with significant memory loss #and abby doesn’t die in this au so she’s also there and is deep in denial lol

[transmechanicus]

A-!

#my stuff #i decided to be SO BRAVE #and very politely text one of the Not My Ex organizers of the grad student queer group #asking if i could get a head count so i can get an idea if it’s feasible to go and have space from my ex #and i’ve heeeeeard nothing after several hours and i’m freaking out #my anxiety is killing me bc i know this other organizer is Friends with my ex and i don’t want there to be dramaaaaa!!!! #i do not want to talk to my ex i don’t want to be around them but i don’t want to miss out on talking to other ppl and having fun #but if there’s like 10 ppl total going i cannot possibly cold shoulder them without being an ass #i hate this i hate them why do i always have to be the brave one reaching out and thinking abt ppls feelings and debasing myself for nothing #can someone in this mess fucking think about me and how i’m doing for once? #without me having to check on everyone else and how they’re doing before they even think to ask how i am? #be gentle with me or kill me fucking pick damn it

[wundrousarts]

Some theories, thoughts, and answers to questions that are in the works that I need to attempt to write out sometime, but probably won’t until I eventually reread Hollowpox on my eternal reread:

What led Squall to try and revolt? Was it a decision by himself, with others, or was there a third party involved? What is true and what isn’t?

What is the fallout and aftermath of Mog’s actions at Courage Square, and what might her future as a budding Wundersmith in Nevermoor look like?

Christmas Eve: is it a Distraction, is there a Ghostly Hour involved, is it related to the Massacre, and how could it relate to modern Nevermoorian religion and Squall’s exile and Eventide activities?

Maud: does she have a knack or some sort of power, how and when does she use it, what is her dynamic with Squall based on, and why is he so scared of her?

Miscellaneous Silverborn Masterpost additions, on a rolling basis as I (or anyone else!) thinks of things.

#and then eventually everything I’ve mentioned that I’d crosspost over here because I reference it in posts and then never do #nevermoor #nevermoor theory #not yet but um….. soon…… ish…………… #I won’t get these out for awhile probably but. am bored and have nothing else to post so. sharing a peek at my drafts! #some of these are answering asks people sent or extrapolating on other posts #so here’s a reminder that I always love discussing any thoughts and theories so feel free to send them my way :) #also some of these I’ve talked about before briefly in other posts or on discord and just never put on here #there’s prob some other things I’ve been needing to crosspost on here but I literally can’t remember what rn oops lol #I also need to edit my theory masterpost / navigation but ummmm not rn lol #I can share like a first draft of the Maud one but I want to approach it again after I reread Hollowpox and think abt it on a larger scale #(I put it in a reddit comment and then am sad when it predictably got no attention lol)

[seventh-district]

so uh. that 2.2 Special Program, huh

#hsr #honkai star rail #hsr 2.2 #hsr spoilers #hsr leaks #the body of this post reads as far less enthusiastic than i really am #i just don’t know how to casually return from my latest 2 week hiatus only to gush abt a game i’ve hardly blogged abt before #but i’m not making a whole ass sideblog for it like i did for Genshin. nah y’all r gonna bear witness to my fixation with this one #so anyways don’t mind me. vibrating into another dimension with anticipation for the next 11 days #it’s insane man. a year ago i Never ever woulda thought i’d be so invested in this game. and it took Months for the game to really grab me #but i’m v glad i kept coming back even when i was struggling to really get into it. like i just had this feeling that if i stuck around and #gave the game a chance to really like. come into its stride. i just always felt like there was Something there and i just hadn’t found it #and holy shit i finally found it in Penacony. the devs really truly outdid themselves with this region and these characters and this story #not to discount everything that’s happened prior. like i was genuinely Liking it all before now but i wasn’t Loving it y’know #but that may be more a ‘me having to fight tooth n’ nail to force myself to consume new media’ thing than it is a matter of the actual game #anyways i came here to talk abt the program! bc since i’m not filming my HSR stuff i’m gonna be insufferable abt it on Tumblr instead ! :) #and i’m probably not filming any more Genshin stuff. or anything else at all for that matter but let’s not talk abt that dead dream #pun not intended lmao. Anyways let’s return to the subject at hand while there’s still room left in these tags shall we #i’m so fucking glad they had Aventurine on this program man. especially since he’s leaked to only have 18 lines in 2.2… it was nice to see- #-him here at least 🥹 i’ll take what i can get. his unenthusiastic little bird noises at the beginning.. him being reluctant to come out.. #the way one of the first things to come out of his mouth was ‘y’know DR RATIO once told me…’ like boy we get it ur in love with him 🙄 (/J!) #i love how they can’t go on these programs w/o talking abt each other it’s adorable. AND THE WAY HE WAS THE ONE TO EXPLAIN BOOTHILL’S KIT!? #they can’t just fuel my crackship like this… god and his whole ‘muddle-fudger.. son-of-a-nice-lady?’ thing had me wheezing #Aven mocking Boothill’s inability to curse was not on my special program bingo card but fuck i’m here for it #and Robin being all curious abt him was so cute.. ‘who /is/ he? … does he order milk at the bar?’ i’m crying she’s so sweet #also the trailer was fucking insane. which feels redundant as hell bc all of HoYo’s version trailers go hard but like. still. wow. #that millisecond long shot of Boothill surveying the skyline is so fucking good. also what the fuck is Jing Yuan doing here!! #not complaining at all tho. we’ve got JY & DH(IL?). Argenti(?). Boothill. Sunday. Aven. all my men r here and i am eating so fucking good #Seven.txt #viddy game stuff