#Zuko's letters are always the longest

[zuko-always-lies]

I posted 7,113 times in 2022

That's 4,927 more posts than 2021!

1,967 posts created (28%)

5,146 posts reblogged (72%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@zuko-always-lies

@balsa-margarita

@akiizayoi4869

@wingsfreedom

@lightdancer1

I tagged 2,798 of my posts in 2022

#azula - 1,371 posts

#zuko - 899 posts

#mai - 365 posts

#ty lee - 265 posts

#katara - 241 posts

#iroh - 190 posts

#au idea - 187 posts

#aang - 169 posts

#ursa - 169 posts

#ozai - 156 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#at the very least azula went to school with other children at some time in her life and was actually able to form a couple close friendships

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

The sad thing is that all the really weird discourse around “Zuko Alone” (and particularly the fucking doll) means that people have systematically ignored how the episode is a great depiction of how Zuko and Azula were indoctrinated into imperialist ideology by the adults around them, particularly Ursa and Iroh. We see:

1. Ursa read aloud to Zuko and Azula a letter from the war front, intimately connecting the children to the imperialist war.

2. In it, Iroh jokes about burning Ba Sing Se to the ground, and Ursa smiles at the joke as the children laugh, normalizing to them the violent and destructive conquest of the Earth Kingdom.

3. Iroh literally sends his niece and nephew the spoils of the conquest as gifts, with Zuko’s knife in particular explicitly being taken from a surrender Earth Kingdom general. Ursa of course actively participates in this gift giving, further normalizing it.

4. Ursa repeatedly reinforces to her children that they should show the utmost respect to the Firelord and to the line of succession(i.e. the core of the Fire Nation’s imperialist regime).

5. Ozai expects his children to show detailed knowledge of Firelord Sozin’s conquests to impress him, reinforcing the importance of this knowledge to them.

6. Zuko and Azula see Ozai deride Iroh’s withdrawal,  reinforcing the idea that imperialist conquests should be fought through to their conclusion, no matter the cost.

7. At Azulon’s funeral, he’s praised for his conquests and success in battle.

Edit: 8. Ozai has Azula demonstrate her firebending skill in front of Azulon, thus emphasizing the importance of firebending ability to the children.

551 notes - Posted August 6, 2022

#4

Toph was forced into joining Team Avatar more than she chose to do so[Toph meta]

Team Avatar didn’t intend this to happen, but their actions inadvertently led to this situation.

Before I begin, I would like to note that the conventional narrative surrounding Toph’s decision to join with the Gaang usually amounts to something like “Toph joined up because she was unhappy with her life with her parents and wanted a life of adventure.” At least, that’s what I thought until I happened to have a moment of insight recently. I happened to see a post which reminded me of this exchange from “The Chase”:

Katara: Ever since joining us you've been nothing but selfish and unhelpful. Toph: What? (Doing a half turn and pointing at Katara again.) Look here, sugar queen, (Drops arm and continues, Katara makes a gesture like she wants to interject.) I gave up everything I had so that I could teach Aang earthbending, so don't you talk to me about being selfish!

This didn’t exactly correspond to the conventional wisdom on why she joined Team Avatar. As we shall see, it doesn’t exactly correspond with the reality of what happened, either, yet it’s easy to see why Toph feels that way.

In “The Blind Bandit,” Toph’s introductory episode, Team Avatar try to recruit Toph since Aang thinks she’s destined to be his earthbending teacher. Their first real exchange goes like this:

Aang: (airbending himself to his feet) Well, a crazy king told me I had to find an earthbender who listens to the earth. And then I had a vision in a magic swamp and... Katara: (cutting Aang off) What Aang is trying to say is, he's the Avatar, and if he doesn't master earthbending soon he won't be able to defeat the Fire Lord. (The Bandit sticks her open hand in Katara's face, who looks taken aback.) Toph: Not my problem. Now get out of here or I'll call the guards. Sokka: Look, we all have to do our part to win this war. And yours is to teach Aang earthbending. (Cut to a shot of the Bandit's back as Sokka speaks. When he concludes, she turns around, looking distraught.) Toph: Guards! Guards, help!

Toph declines the offer to join, while demonstrating she doesn’t care that much about the war or regard it as her job to help lead the Earth Kingdom to victory.

Later on, Aang and Toph have a more substantial exchange:

Toph: Even though I was born blind, I've never had a problem seeing. (They reach the end of the bridge and she jumps off the guardrail and lands on the ground.) Toph: I see with earthbending. It's kind of like seeing with my feet. I can feel the vibrations in the earth, and I can see where everything is. You, that tree, even those ants. (The screen zooms backward three times as Toph speaks, each time showing a wider overhead shot of the pair. At the mention of the ants, cut to a shot from ground level showing Aang and Toph in the background. In the foreground, some ants are silhouetted waling across over a mound of dirt. Aang looks around, but is unable to see that ants that Toph is talking about. He finally turns to her with a smile.) Aang: That's amazing. Toph: (frustrated) My parents don't understand. They've always treated me like I was helpless. Aang: Is that why you became The Blind Bandit? Toph: Yeah. Aang: Then why stay here where you're not happy? Toph: They're my parents. Where else am I supposed to go? Aang: (pause, then with a smile) You could come with us. Toph: Yeah. You guys get to go wherever you want. No one telling you what to do, that's the life. It's just not my life. (The camera slowly zooms in on Toph as she speaks. When she concludes, her head turns suddenly as she senses something amiss. She drops to her knees and places a hand on the ground.)

Toph emphasizes that she feels the allure of the Gaang’s lifestyle and freedom, but also that she wants to remain home with her parents, even though she has to hide who she is from them and they don’t understand her.  Although this isn’t directly stated, a huge issue here is that she deeply loves them and doesn’t want to leave them. Her real wish is that her parents would not only love her but understand her and allow her openly live the kind of active life she loves.

Obviously, Toph and Aang soon get kidnapped, and Toph has to step up to save Aang in front of her parents and show them the other side of her to their disbelieving eyes.

Katara: Toph, there's too many of them. We need an earthbender. We need you! (Toph, Lao and Yu turn to look backwards, then cut to a shot of Lao.) Lao: (angry) My daughter is blind. (camera pans down and to the left to reveal Toph, holding her father's hand) She is blind and tiny and helpless and fragile. (Toph closes her eyes) She cannot help you. (Toph snaps her hand back from her father's.) Toph: Yes, I can.

Note, however, that she never says anything in this scene which amounts to a commitment to join Team Avatar.

Soon Toph has defeated her opponents, and she, her parents, and Team Avatar sit down for a chat.

Toph: Dad, I know it's hard for you to see me this way, but the obedient little helpless blind girl that you think I am just isn't me. I love fighting. I love being an earthbender. And I'm really, really good at it. I know I've kept my life secret from you, but you were keeping me secret from the whole world. You were doing it to protect me. But I'm twelve years old and I've never had a real friend. So now that you see who I really am, I hope it doesn't change the way you feel about me. Lao: Of course it doesn't change the way I feel about you, Toph. It's made me realize something. Toph: (hopeful) It has? Lao: Yes. I've let you have far too much freedom. From now on, you will be cared for and guarded 24 hours a day. Toph: But dad! Mrs. Bei Fong: We are doing this for your own good, Toph.  

Note that Toph does not actually ask for her parent’s permission to join Team Avatar. She doesn’t even mention the possibility, nor does she say anything which amounts to her agreeing to do so if her parents give her permission. In fact, from what we’ve seen in this episode, it’s not clear if anyone has ever actually unambiguously articulated the fact that Team Avatar wants Toph to join them as Aang’s earthbending teacher to Toph’s parents.

Instead, what Toph asks her parents to do is accept her as who she is.  She wants their acceptance of who she really is more than anything. It seems like what she wants to do is to be able to live an active lifestyle while staying with her parents, wants them to love her for who she is while allowing her to combine her lives. She doesn’t want to leave with Team Avatar, she wants to stay at home and live a free life with loving, understanding parents. It’s not clear if Team Avatar understands that this is what she’s asking for, though.

Of course, Toph’s parents reject this, and instead tell her that they will do everything they can to control her, eliminate her double life, and prevent from being active at all. Hence the following exchange:

Aang: I'm sorry, Toph. Toph: I'm sorry, too. Goodbye, Aang.

This is just about the only lines in the episode you could plausibly read as evidence Toph had already decided she wanted to join Team Avatar.

When Team Avatar first arrived, Toph had a choice:  she could either continue to live her double life even though she felt unhappy since her parents didn’t accept the real her, or she could leave them behind for a life of adventure. She choose the former. Due to the unintended consequences of Team Avatar’s actions, she no longer had that choice by the end of the episode. She could only choose between becoming nothing more than her parent’s perfect, controlled, doll, or joining the Gaang. Both what she really wanted(her parents’ acceptance of the real her) and the compromise she could live with were gone. Hence the following scene:

Cut to a shot of the bushes behind them. Toph runs through them, breathing heavily. Aang's turns to see her with a look of wonder.) Aang: Toph! What are you doing here? Toph: My dad changed his mind. He said I was free to travel the world. Sokka: (he and Katara look at each quickly) Well, we'd better get out of here - before your dad changes his mind again. Toph: Good idea. Aang: You're gonna be a great teacher, Toph. Toph: (slyly) Speaking of which, I want to show you something. Aang: Okay. (Aang airbends himself out of Appa's driver's seat. As he lands in front of Toph, she taps the ground with her foot and a rock erupts from the ground, throwing Aang out of the frame. Cut to a shot from the branches of a nearby tree. Aang hangs from one of them by his feet.) Toph: Now we're even.

This makes it understand why Toph was carrying around so much resentment in the next episode she appears in “The Chase,” and why she was so willing to leave the Gaang behind then.

613 notes - Posted July 5, 2022

#3

One thing I’m eternally grateful for is that in ATLA trauma and suffering don’t make you a better person, don’t make you a more compassionate person:

Zuko being burned, banished, abused, etc. didn’t make a better person; arguably it made him a much worse person(but it’s very hard to tell since our perspective on pre-exile Zuko is so limited).

Azula being abused didn’t make her a better person.

Jet being orphaned by the Fire Nation didn’t make a better person; it just embittered him and made him committed to winning the war, no matter the cost.

Mai and Ty Lee having awful family lives didn’t turn them good people, or people who weren’t OK with imperial conquest. It didn’t make them nicer or more compassionate.

Sokka and Katara losing their mother and being left behind by their father didn’t make them better people; being victims of genocide didn’t make them better people.

Hama being brutalized just embittered her and led her down a dark path.

Suffering just hurts people(and often makes them bitter and angry), it doesn’t lead them becoming nicer or more compassionate or more pure or more moral or free of sin.

Why am I making a point of this? Because LoK pretty explicitly claims the opposite, claims that Korra suffering awful trauma after awful trauma served to make her better and more compassionate and more empathetic. Fuck that idea!

637 notes - Posted March 10, 2022

#2

Iroh would be such an awful role model for Azula. And I don’t mean “Dragon of the West Iroh,” I mean “redeemed Iroh.”

687 notes - Posted September 22, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

If you live in the U.S. and you’re 12+, you’re eligible for the updated bivalent anti-omicron booster shot, and it should be available in your  local pharmacy. 

Please reblog this post, as there’s been very little news coverage and shockingly little propagation of information about the availability of updated boosters.

33,010 notes - Posted September 17, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #Azula

[marriedzukka]

thinking about a post-war Sokka who travels the world just because, sharing his culture and learning everything he possibly can about the others: art, food, music, literature, you name it. He invents cool shit that's mostly just for fun but also have practical uses for people too. He studies chronic pain remedies and shares what he learns to help others who were affected after the war. He practices art and gets really really good at it. He writes poetry. He learns how to exist without the weight of the world and the anxiety about keeping his loved ones safe constantly on his shoulders. He gets to explore and pursue his interests freely and he makes friends wherever he goes

#my mind constantly: have you thought about sokka in the last five minutes? no? tragic lets fix that #some day ill get around to writing that sokka's gap year fic that I think about all the time #i just want him to be happy ya know. he deserves it #meanwhile during all these travels he's sending letters to his friends and family and obvs visiting everyone when he can #Zuko's letters are always the longest #because sokka always has some crazy story to catch him up on and he knows that zuko will want all the details #bec zuko likes listening to him talk #and sometimes reading the letters is all they have so sokka never leaves out details #whenever zuko needs a break he goes to wherever Sokka is in the world #also sokka writes a bunch of poetry for zuko and thats when zukos like. oh fuck im in love with him #anyway #whoops went off in the tags again #mine

[pencilscratchins]

S’cuse me, but I love your zukka hcs — have you got anymore you’d be willing to share?

youse all indulge me too much sksk

— zuko thinks sokka’s like the smartest person alive and his catchphrase is basically “my husband says…” “my husband told me that…” “my husband knows all about…”

— ty lee has no boundaries, so you know she just walks in while theyre making out and sits between them like “hey-- stop screaming its me-- do you think this letter from mai is giving some vibes?” 

— the thing that delays their wedding the longest is sokka trying to figure out what his official title is. prince/ king consort is so long and clunky, and like… fire lord zuko and lord sokka kinda sounds like a stutter…. and king sokka was rejected by every member of their friend group… and “that guy sokka” was vetoed by the council so they just are Stumped

— — hakoda really wants him to go by chief sokka of the fire nation but only to make zuko’s cabinet members angry

— — — i really have no preference, i guess lord sokka? anyway, you know zuko heavily campaigns for fire lord sokka

— not a zukka headcanon, but amongst the gang: they all agree that whoever is currently wearing zuko’s hairpiece is the fire lord. his assistant is like “sir please” and he’s like “i’m sorry i can’t help you :( ask fire lord aang, perhaps?”

— theyre one of those couples that have like 1000 inside jokes that they will never explain to anyone else, so they’ll be in the middle of a party & sokka will just nonchalantly say something like “oh didn’t you hear? ive decided to remove my kneecaps,” and zuko laugh so hard he’ll snort champagne through his nose as everyone else just stares

— every time zuko gets a paper cut sokka fully acts like its an assassination attempt 

— sokka braids zukos hair once it gets long enough since sokka used to braid katara’s hair, so hes like amazing at it

— sokka goes grey first and finds his first one in his early thirties, which horrifies him. zuko has no mercy. he turns to him while cuddling and holds his face all sweet then just

— —“im so glad youre spending the limited time you have left on the earth with me :)” “i dont feel safe in this home anymore”

— sokka: ah yes. bedtime with me, my husband, and my husbands fifteen foot flying dragon.

— after zuko gets comfortable with being publicly out, hes basically always holding sokka’s hand in public

— pre-teen izumi figures out that while her pops sokka wants to make her know the value of a dollar; her dad zuko was, fundamentally, a rich kid so she’ll be like “dad can i have money for a fried meat stick? its 30 gold pieces,” and zuko will be like yeah that sounds right here you go kiddo.

— — sokka does eventually find out and makes her stop though :(

— they wear the same shoe size because zuko had weirdly big feet that sokka teases him about 

— before they date, sokka mentions how much he loves poetry and zuko immediately heads to the library & accosts the librarian like “i need the most impressive poetry we have”

— sokka thinks zuko is so funny even though literally no one else sees it

— when izumi has iroh ii they are the most over involved grandpas ever. when iroh starts showing a real passion in sailing, sokka bawls his eyes out he’s so happy. iroh does ballet when he’s younger and zuko sets up little stages for him to perform for the staff in the courtyard. 

— — sokka also patently lies to him about historical events.

— — — “granddad, grandpa told me that one time, great uncle aangs sky bison was taken by a giant mushroom in the sky”

#ask #long post #read more #zukka #anon #head canons #head canon #headcanon #itd be gr8 if i remebered that tag ever lmao #theyre two nerds #ignore the typos i spend 8 hrs in the sun SKSKKSKS

[citrina-posts]

Avatar: Cultural Appreciation or Appropriation?

I love Avatar: the Last Airbender. Obviously I do, because I run a fan blog on it. But make no mistake: it is a show built upon cultural appropriation. And you know what? For the longest time, as an Asian-American kid, I never saw it that way.

There are plenty of reasons why I never realized this as a kid, but I’ve narrowed it down to a few reasons. One is that I was desperate to watch a show with characters that looked like me in it that wasn’t anime (nothing wrong with anime, it’s just not my thing). Another is that I am East Asian (I have Taiwanese and Korean ancestry) and in general, despite being the outward “bad guys”, the East Asian cultural aspects of Avatar are respected far more than South Asian, Middle Eastern, and other influences. A third is that it’s easy to dismiss the negative parts of a show you really like, so I kind of ignored the issue for a while. I’m going to explain my own perspective on these reasons, and why I think we need to have a nuanced discussion about it. This is pretty long, so if you want to keep reading, it’s under the cut.

Obviously, the leadership behind ATLA was mostly white. We all know the co-creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino (colloquially known as Bryke) are white. So were most of the other episodic directors and writers, like Aaron Ehasz, Lauren Montgomery, and Joaquim Dos Santos. This does not mean they were unable to treat Asian cultures with respect, and I honestly do believe that they tried their best! But it does mean they have certain blinders, certain perceptions of what is interesting and enjoyable to watch. Avatar was applauded in its time for being based mostly on Asian and Native American cultures, but one has to wonder: how much of that choice was based on actual respect for these people, and how much was based on what they considered to be “interesting”, “quirky”, or “exotic”?

The aesthetic of the show, with its bending styles based on various martial arts forms, written language all in Chinese text, and characters all decked out in the latest Han dynasty fashions, is obviously directly derivative of Asian cultures. Fine. That’s great! They hired real martial artists to copy the bending styles accurately, had an actual Chinese calligrapher do all the lettering, and clearly did their research on what clothing, hair, and makeup looked like. The animation studios were in South Korea, so Korean animators were the ones who did the work. Overall, this is looking more like appreciation for a beautiful culture, and that’s exactly what we want in a rapidly diversifying world of media.

But there’s always going to be some cherry-picking, because it’s inevitable. What’s easy to animate, what appeals to modern American audiences, and what is practical for the world all come to mind as reasons. It’s just that… they kinda lump cultures together weirdly. Song from Book 2 (that girl whose ostrich-horse Zuko steals) wears a hanbok, a traditionally Korean outfit. It’s immediately recognizable as a hanbok, and these dresses are exclusive to Korea. Are we meant to assume that this little corner of the mostly Chinese Earth Kingdom is Korea? Because otherwise, it’s just treated as another little corner of the Earth Kingdom. Korea isn’t part of China. It’s its own country with its own culture, history, and language. Other aspects of Korean culture are ignored, possibly because there wasn’t time for it, but also probably because the creators thought the hanbok was cute and therefore they could just stick it in somewhere. But this is a pretty minor issue in the grand scheme of things (super minor, compared to some other things which I will discuss later on).

It’s not the lack of research that’s the issue. It’s not even the lack of consideration. But any Asian-American can tell you: it’s all too easy for the Asian kids to get lumped together, to become pan-Asian. To become the equivalent of the Earth Kingdom, a mass of Asians without specific borders or national identities. It’s just sort of uncomfortable for someone with that experience to watch a show that does that and then gets praised for being so sensitive about it. I don’t want you to think I’m from China or Vietnam or Japan; not because there’s anything wrong with them, but because I’m not! How would a French person like to be called British? It would really piss them off. Yet this happens all the time to Asian-Americans and we are expected to go along with it. And… we kind of do, because we’ve been taught to.

1. Growing Up Asian-American

I grew up in the early to mid-2000s, the era of High School Musical and Hannah Montana and iCarly, the era of Spongebob and The Amazing World of Gumball and Fairly Odd Parents. So I didn’t really see a ton of Asian characters onscreen in popular shows (not anime) that I could talk about with my white friends at school. One exception I recall was London from Suite Life, who was hardly a role model and was mostly played up for laughs more than actual nuance. Shows for adults weren’t exactly up to par back then either, with characters like the painfully stereotypical Raj from Big Bang Theory being one of the era that comes to mind.

So I was so grateful, so happy, to see characters that looked like me in Avatar when I first watched it. Look! I could dress up as Azula for Halloween and not Mulan for the third time! Nice! I didn’t question it. These were Asian characters who actually looked Asian and did cool stuff like shoot fireballs and throw knives and were allowed to have depth and character development. This was the first reason why I never questioned this cultural appropriation. I was simply happy to get any representation at all. This is not the same for others, though.

2. My Own Biases

Obviously, one can only truly speak for what they experience in their own life. I am East Asian and that is arguably the only culture that is treated with great depth in Avatar.

I don’t speak for South Asians, but I’ve certainly seen many people criticize Guru Pathik, the only character who is explicitly South Asian (and rightly so. He’s a stereotype played up for laughs and the whole thing with chakras is in my opinion one of the biggest plotholes in the show). They’ve also discussed how Avatar: The Last Airbender lifts heavily from Hinduism (with chakras, the word Avatar itself, and the Eye of Shiva used by Combustion Man to blow things up). Others have expressed how they feel the sandbenders, who are portrayed as immoral thieves who deviously kidnap Appa for money, are a direct insult to Middle Eastern and North African cultures. People have noted that it makes no sense that a culture based on Inuit and other Native groups like the Water Tribe would become industrialized as they did in the North & South comics, since these are people that historically (and in modern day!) opposed extreme industrialization. The Air Nomads, based on the Tibetan people, are weirdly homogeneous in their Buddhist-inspired orange robes and hyperspiritual lifestyle. So too have Southeast Asians commented on the Foggy Swamp characters, whose lifestyles are made fun of as being dirty and somehow inferior. The list goes on.

These things, unlike the elaborate and highly researched elements of East Asian culture, were not treated with respect and are therefore cultural appropriation. As a kid, I had the privilege of not noticing these things. Now I do.

White privilege is real, but every person has privileges of some kind, and in this case, I was in the wrong for not realizing that. Yes, I was a kid; but it took a long time for me to see that not everyone’s culture was respected the way mine was. They weren’t considered *aesthetic* enough, and therefore weren’t worth researching and accurately portraying to the creators. It’s easy for a lot of East Asians to argue, “No! I’ve experienced racism! I’m not privileged!” News flash: I’ve experienced racism too. But I’ve also experienced privilege. If white people can take their privilege for granted, so too can other races. Shocking, I know. And I know now how my privilege blinded me to the fact that not everybody felt the same euphoria I did seeing characters that looked like them onscreen. Not if they were a narrow and offensive portrayal of their race. There are enough good-guy Asian characters that Fire Lord Ozai is allowed to be evil; but can you imagine if he was the only one?

3. What It Does Right

This is sounding really down on Avatar, which I don’t want to do. It’s a great show with a lot of fantastic themes that don’t show up a lot in kids’ media. It isn’t superficial or sugarcoating in its portrayal of the impacts of war, imperialism, colonialism, disability, and sexism, just to name a few. There are characters like Katara, a brown girl allowed to get angry but is not defined by it. There are characters like Aang, who is the complete opposite of toxic masculinity. There are characters like Toph, who is widely known as a great example of how to write a disabled character.

But all of these good things sort of masked the issues with the show. It’s easy to sweep an issue under the rug when there’s so many great things to stack on top and keep it down. Alternatively, one little problem in a show seems to make-or-break media for some people. Cancel culture is the most obvious example of this gone too far. Celebrity says one ignorant thing? Boom, cancelled. But… kind of not really, and also, they’re now terrified of saying anything at all because their apologies are mocked and their future decisions are scrutinized. It encourages a closed system of creators writing only what they know for fear of straying too far out of their lane. Avatar does do a lot of great things, and I think it would be silly and immature to say that its cultural appropriation invalidates all of these things. At the same time, this issue is an issue that should be addressed. Criticizing one part of the show doesn’t mean that the other parts of it aren’t good, or that you shouldn’t be a fan.

If Avatar’s cultural appropriation does make you uncomfortable enough to stop watching, go for it. Stop watching. No single show appeals to every single person. At the same time, if you’re a massive fan, take a sec (honestly, if you’ve made it this far, you’ve taken many secs) to check your own privilege, and think about how the blurred line between cultural appreciation (of East Asia) and appropriation (basically everybody else) formed. Is it because we as viewers were also captivated by the aesthetic and overall story, and so forgive the more problematic aspects? Is it because we’ve been conditioned so fully into never expecting rep that when we get it, we cling to it?

I’m no media critic or expert on race, cultural appropriation, or anything of the sort. I’m just an Asian-American teenager who hopes that her own opinion can be put out there into the world, and maybe resonate with someone else. I hope that it’s given you new insight into why Avatar: The Last Airbender is a show with both cultural appropriation and appreciation, and why these things coexist. Thank you for reading!

#this deleted idk why #so here is me reposting it #atla #avatar #avatar the last airbender #cultural appropriation #meta #atla meta #racism

[ultranos]

What do Mai and Ty Lee think and feel about Ozai and his treatment of Zuko and Azula in Salt and Ashes? What about in canon?

So, in canon, I think that Mai and Ty Lee might be...desensitized, for lack of a better word, to a lot of the abuse Ozai inflicts upon his kids. And I think it’s only really at Ember Island that they might start to realize that Zuko’s scar was way out of line. This is because for them, this is normal. The thing about the Fire Nation is that the entire society has been corrupted, and that virtues have been twisted into horrifying forms.

A parent molding a child into a specific vision, by imposing unrealistic expectations and denying them the chance to be their own person? Mai understands that very well. To be seen by your outward appearance, that you are only seen in a specific role, as defined by others, with no individuality of your own? Ty Lee gets that.

If anything, the way Ozai treats Zuko and Azula is almost to be expected, given their experiences of what parents are like and because of their higher social standing. Of course the expectations on the prince and princess would be higher and so the “discipline” and measures must also increase in extremity.

I think what starts making them really question is interacting with Azula after 2-3 years of no contact. Initially, they’re overjoyed to see each other again, and they greet each other as warmly as their stations allow. But I think the Azula they left behind and the Azula who came back are different people. And the only one who could force that change is Ozai. The man is destroying (or has destroyed) their friend, and that’s...not okay.

salt & ashes is a very different dynamic.

Again, the pressures and expectations Ozai puts on his kids is to be expected because of their social status. The thing to be seen is how they react to a Zuko who has been alone with Ozai for 2 years with no support. And if they see the cracks in their friend.

But one of the other key things to remember is that in the s&a!Fire Nation, blatant child abuse is a huge cultural taboo. canon!Zuko’s scarring would be an utter anathema, and would be condemned on all sides. This is the underlying cultural aspect underlying all Fire Nation characters’ reactions when they discover evidence of what Azula’s been through. Child abuse is rage-inducing on its own, but this just adds another layer to the fury.

Thing is, Ozai’s smart enough to keep a lot of the abuse Azula gets hidden, and almost all marks can be written off as training accidents. There’s also the things that don’t leave marks. (Think “stand in a particular stance for hours without moving”) The two major exceptions are the lightning scars (because Lichtenberg figures typically disappear after 24 hours, so permanent scarring suggests that the damage went deeper than just the surface. Such as repeated strikes) and, obviously, the facial burn. This is also a huge reason why Ozai sends Azula away before many people can know about it.

Back to Mai and Ty Lee. So the thing is, with Azula, they don’t know how Ozai treats her. For the longest time, Mai and Ty Lee had concluded Azula was getting fast-tracked to the military academy, which is why she was always training, because she was just too socially awkward to deal with the normal court politics. They know she’s somewhat isolated and doesn’t attend social functions, but they also know she’s a little “odd”. If anything, she looks like a recluse to the majority of the population, meaning Ozai is a good father for not forcing her to go to social functions she would be uncomfortable in. (Yeah, Ozai’s PR spin is masterful in this ‘verse, it’s wild.)

This starts to change slowly when the two are out of the palace’s gravity well. For one, their letters from Zuko are giving them pretty good insight into his mental state, and suffice it to say, they’re worried. He’s not okay, and it’s possibly not just because he’s an overprotective older brother. And as Mai and Ty Lee get to see more of the world and interact with people who don’t have Fire Nation high society as their baseline, they can start to see that what they thought was “normal” really isn’t. And by extension, that there is something rotten in the state of Fire.

#salt and ashes #salt and ashes au #i'm beginning to think i should just subtile this fic either #'actions have consequences' #or 'reality ensues' #Anonymous #nos answers things

[hesther-mcg]

blue dragons, part two + chapter fourteen

pairing: eventual asami sato x female oc 

character appearances: princess ursa, lord zuko

summary: the one where Zuko is there for Ursa on her going away trip; or the one where Zuko is there for Ursa like his uncle was there for him. 

warnings: none 

a/n: uh hey 

tag list: @talas-starlight​  @sokkas-honour​  @appa-gaangnam-style​  @strawberisapphic​  @orderofthebluelotus​  @graciefullygracie​  @appaair​  @shellyseashell​  @ewanssdjarins​  @biqherosix​  @briellebean​ 

+ part 4 

Ursa could see her breath in front of her when she exhaled, and her nose was icy cold, but nothing could put a damper on her mood. She stood on the deck of the ship that was taking her to the Avatar’s home, where she would be staying while she helped her master the element of fire, letting her thoughts run free. 

This would be the longest she’d been away from home ever, and it made her heart speed up and her stomach churn. She was both excited and nervous. And then the task at hand weighed on her, teaching the Avatar, the world's key to peace and balance, one of the elements they need to master in order to reach their full potential. It sounded far more daunting when she thought of it that way. 

It was much simpler to say that she was going away to train her best friend, Korra, in firebending, so that’s what she did. She was going to spend time with her friend, and teach her everything she knew about this element she loved. It had been a long time since they had seen one another in person, so it would be nice to reunite once again. Korra had also never seen the Dragon Spirit before, only hearing stories from White Lotus members and the Princess herself through letters and radio calls, so she highly anticipated her reaction. 

“The Captain says we shall arrive right on schedule tomorrow afternoon,” the deep rumble of her grandfather’s voice informed from behind her, growing closer and closer. 

“Perfect,” Ursa smiled as she turned around, her deep red cloak swishing around her ankles dramatically. “Thank you for seeing me off, Grandpa. I really appreciate it,” she thanked him sincerely; she had been slightly uneasy thinking about being on the trip alone, and her anxieties had only grown. Having Zuko with her eased her worries, and it helped that he reassured her that she would be perfectly okay away from home. 

“Of course, my Princess,” he nodded his head once and inched closer until they stood side by side, arms bumping one another, both of them facing the vast ocean before them. “I wanted to be able to speak with you, without any distractions, about your coming years,” he offered seriously, eyes squinted and lips pursed in a thin line. “Training the Avatar will not be an easy task—trust me, I speak from experience,” he chuckled lowly, the wrinkles on his face ever present and giving truth to his claims. “Korra is not from our nation, Ursa, and the styles that she is familiar with may clash with our own. But always remember—”

“That incorporating all element styles is crucial to truly mastering an element,” she finished for him, a knowing grin plastered on her face. 

“Precisely, Granddaughter,” he chuckled fondly. “I have complete confidence in your training abilities, you have exceeded my wildest dreams for you. And your friendship with Korra will, in some ways, make things easier, but it may also make them harder. It is easy for friends to butt heads, and even easier for Master and Student to do so. Try to keep a level head, and remember the responsibilities placed on the Avatar’s shoulders. I also trust you will not lose sight of your own while in the Southern Tribe,” his eyes flitted to her, gazing at her from the corner of his eye before looking back to the horizon. 

“Of course not, Grandpa. I know how important this is and how much is weighing on my shoulders, and I promise that I’ll do anything in my power to ensure Korra gets the best training she can. I won’t let anyone down,” she assured fiercely, brows furrows and eyes squinted, determination clear on her face. 

Zuko placed an aged hand on her tiny shoulder and squeezed. “I know you won’t, Little Dragon,” he mused, a kind and knowing lilt to his voice. “You couldn’t even if you tried.” He pulled the girl into him for a long hug, knowing that after this boat ride the chances of getting another weren’t very promising. 

He was fine, honestly, with her going off on her own. He did it when he was her age, running around the world with the Avatar and his friends, fighting for change. He was glad that the circumstances were different this go round, that she wasn’t carrying the pains and burdens that he was when it was his journey. 

“Never forget who you are, Princess Ursa. It would be a terrible shame for the world to lose you,” Zuko whispered to the young woman whose head rested lightly on his shoulder.

“I won’t, Grandpa,” she whispered back. “I’ll be exactly the person you taught me to be.” 

The pair separated, and smiled at one another. “Grandpa?” Ursa questioned. The older man hummed in response, hands reaching up to fix her topknot, which had loosened slightly during their hug—something that always happened when she hugged her grandfather. “Can we play a game of Pai Sho, and have some tea?” 

“My granddaughter, I thought you’d never ask.” 

#the witch: writes #blue dragons #asami sato #asami fic #asami x reader #asami x oc #korra fic #korra x reader #korra x oc #zuko fic #zuko x reader #zuko x oc #the legend of korra #avatar: the last airbender #tlok #atla #tlok x reader #tlok fic #atla fic #atla x reader

[zutaradreams]

Day 4: Celestial

@zutaraweek

Sokka gives Rei some advice. 

Prince Rei was accustomed to his summer routine. He spent the first week on Ember Island with his whole family. It was the only time he ever saw his father without the Fire Lord’s crown in his hair. He’d see his parents walk along the beach sometimes, and he’d go with them. His dad held one of his hands while his mom held the other. Sometimes, they’d look at each other and smile, then send him up into the air. They did the same thing with his younger sister once she was old enough to walk. Sometimes his mom sat in the sand and built sandcastles with him. Sometimes his dad swam with them, challenging his mom to races. Mom always won. 

It was Rei’s favorite week of the whole year. He liked it better than the week of his birthday, or any of the festivals in the Fire Nation. 

Once that week passed, he would travel to the South Pole with his mother and sister. They remained there for the rest of the summer. His father could never take a vacation for longer than that first week on Ember Island. Rei was always so excited during the first days in the South Pole. He loved to see Uncle Sokka and Grandpa Hakoda, but by the end of the first couple weeks, he usually yearned to return home. His father’s weekly letters weren’t enough to keep him from falling into homesickness. 

He longed for his routine as the crown prince of the Fire Nation. 

One morning, before the sun had even risen, Uncle Sokka found him practicing his firebending forms near the edge of the water. 

“What are you doing all the way out here?” Uncle Sokka called.

Rei huffed, annoyed by the distraction. He’d almost made his longest fire whip yet. “Bending,” he called back. 

“You sound like you didn’t get enough sleep.” “I didn’t.” 

“Up all night?” 

“Not all night,” he admitted, wiping the sweat from his temples. The back of his neck felt slick with it beneath his dark ponytail.

“I take it your mom doesn’t know you’re out here.” “No, she’s still sleeping.” 

“She’ll be worried when she wakes up and you’re not there,” Uncle Sokka reminded him. 

“I’ll go back soon. She sleeps in when her handmaidens aren’t here to wake her.” 

His uncle laughed warmly. “Handmaidens. That’s right. Katara’s a bigshot. Fancy Fire Lady.” 

“You’re gonna be the next chief,” Rei reminded him. His parents weren’t the only one in the family toting high status. 

“Yes, but it is a little different, Prince Rei.”

“You don’t have to call me that.” 

“No, but I understand your Uncle Iroh always called your dad Prince Zuko. Always. Even when no one else did.”

“Uncle Iroh calls me Prince Rei too.”

“I know he does.” 

Rei knew Uncle Iroh better than he knew Uncle Sokka, even though Iroh was actually his great-uncle. Iroh had the luxury of visiting frequently, when Uncle Sokka didn’t. These summers in the South Pole were the only time he had with his mom’s side of the family. Sometimes his mom would go back to the South during the year all by herself. Those times he missed her. 

He suddenly felt bad for taking his time here for granted. Sokka was his only uncle. His mom didn’t have any other siblings, and his dad’s only sibling was his Aunt Azula, who Rei wasn’t even allowed to meet.

“So did I interrupt your bending, or were you finished?” 

Rei sat in the snow and laid back to relax for a minute. “No, I’m finished.”

“Mind if I sit with you?”

“No.” 

Uncle Sokka must have come out here to hunt. He had a spear in his hand which he set down beside him as he knelt down to the snowy ground. “I don’t know much about firebending, but those forms of yours looked good.” 

“They were okay. Not my best.” 

Sokka shook his head. “You already look like your dad. Do you have to sound like him too?”

“What do you mean?”

“They were good, okay?”

“Okay,” Rei agreed, though in his head he still thought they were okay. 

“I can tell you’re starting to get sick of this place.” 

“What? No, I’m not.”

“Rei, I get sick of this place. I know the Fire Prince does too.”  

“I just miss home a little. I miss my dad.”

“Yeah, I get it. I wish your dad was able to come with you on these trips too.”

“You do?”

“Oh, yeah. Zuko and I are good friends.”

“Really?” Rei asked. This was news to him.

“Hard not to be. We won a war together, and he’s married to my sister, but I guess you don’t get to see us together very often, do you?” 

Rei shook his head. The realization made him sad. “Dad always wants to come to the South Pole with us.” 

“I know he does. Your mom knows too. So does Grandpa Hakoda, and Gran-Gran, and Grandpakku. But what’s important is for you and Kya to know. He’s not abandoning you during the summer. He just can’t get away, but he wants to make sure you’re able to see your mom’s side of the family.”

“He finds the time to go to Ember Island,” Rei muttered. 

“Ember Island is much closer to the palace than the South Pole, and you know it,” Sokka reminded him. “Look, I get it. I felt lost when my dad left. Absolutely lost, thinking every day he was going to come back home. But you know what Gran-Gran told me?”

“What?”

“When you feel lost from your loved ones, look up to the heavens--to the sun and the moon, and all the stars between them--and know that distance doesn’t matter. Our loved ones are always with us. We miss them, but they’re there. Just like your dad. He’s probably bored out of his mind stuck in the palace without you. But, sometimes I look at you, and I swear he’s here.” 

Everyone always said he was so much like his father, in looks and personality; Rei didn’t see it yet. He looked up to the rising sun and realized his father was probably meditating right now, the way they did together. It made Rei smile. 

“That’s better. I don’t want my only nephew moping around for the rest of the summer. Now what do you want to do today?”

Rei shrugged. “No clue.”

His uncle reached towards him and patted his shoulder. 

“Well, how about we go wake your mom up?”

“You probably shouldn’t do that. She’ll be mad.”

“Exactly.” 

#zutara week #zutara fic #zutara #hopeless #tullyblue12

[memo1005]

Any Azutara Headcannons in mind?

I love this!

So in a post-canon AU with redeemed Azula:

- Azula and Katara fought the first time they saw each other again (ala Measure Each Step); Azula would’ve drowned in the ocean if not for her swimming skills and Katara’s pity, but she ends up exhilarated at fighting an equal in ability.

- Azula and Katara are not afraid to call each other out, and it’s what they first like about each other.

-Katara makes the first move because Azula can’t, for the life of her, recognize social cues—she’s still learning.

- If there’s anything Azula dislikes about Katara, it’s the other’s need to discuss her emotions. Her first reaction is always to close off, but when they talk it out, she’s left feeling better.

- If there’s anything Katara dislikes about Azula, it’s that need to close off and repress everything. She eventually learns to let Azula go off on her own for a while, and Azula always comes back to her.

- The first time she visited the South Pole, Katara kissed her in front of everyone to Azula’s both mortification and and amusement. Sokka teases her mercilessly, but it’s worth it to see Katara happy, and of course, Hakoda’s exasperation.

- Azula works as Zuko’s right hand which allows her to spend time with Katara in the Southern Water Tribe. She sometimes spends months away, and she’d get letters from Zuko asking her to come back for this and that, but she’d write her advice and would sign it with “Fuck off.”

- On their third year dating, Hakoda volunteered Azula for ice dodging. Katara was worried, but she trusted Azula. Sokka also went along to her relief. Azula was very surprised to receive the mark of trust.

- Katara was weirdly jealous when Ty Lee and Mai became friends with Azula again, because she thought something had happened with Ty Lee, and she feared they’d take time with Azula away from her. Her fears never materialized.

- Katara doesn’t like Fire Nation food, but Azula loves trying everything in sight in the South Pole, provided it’s clean and won’t give her food poisoning.

- When they’re both in the Fire Nation, Katara hates Azula’s need to rise before dawn, waking Katara with her. Azula indulges her on free days, and they both stay in until lunch.

- Azula joins Katara on her nightly trainings. “If I’m strong at my weakest then I know I can suceed,” she answered the one time Katara asked her why. Katara felt both pride and sadness for her lover.

- Katara only dislikes Azula hanging with Toph, Sokka and Mai because they often start trouble... for fun. Azula goes along with them, calling it a social experiment.

- Katara and Azula once went on a double date with Sokka and Zuko; that lone date was enough, and they never attempted one again. Azula and the men thought it was fun to have a date to the library, and it was the longest day of Katara’s life.

- Katara and Azula also rarely go on double dates with Mai and Ty Lee. Mai likes to provoke Azula, and Azula responds in kind. She realizes it’s how their friendship works.

- They both share a love for travel. Katara would flippantly say they need a vacation, and soon enough, Azula would have a list of places and activities ready. Their expenses are paid for by the throne; Katara likes to think of it as part of the Fire Nation’s reparations.

- When they travel, Azula often sets a day for learning something new. Katara tags along depending on whether the activity is interesting or not. Azula once went on a hike studying snails for medicinal properties, and Katara had to promise her favors so they could return early.

- When Ursa was found, she welcomed Sokka for Zuko with open arms. It was harder for Katara, and when confronted about it, Ursa said she’d been hard on her because she wanted the best for Azula, and Katara realized in her own way, Ursa was compensating for Azula’s childhood.

- Aang was very surprised when he learned of their relationship, but he was very supportive. He gave a great speech on their wedding day.

- They get married in both nations. Katara likes the validation, and Azula does it because it’s tradition, and having both sides of family and countrymen witness the day is important to them. The SWT wedding is a simpler affair while the FN is very grand as per tradition and law.

- Azula and Zuko fret often over who should provide the heir to the throne. Since the Fire Sages and the nobles won’t shut up about it, she goes to a local orphanage one day with Katara who is very confused. Azula randomly settles on a toddler through a game she makes up. She presents Izumi to Zuko the same day.

- They compromise in the end, and they eventually live in Republic City. It’s more convenient to travel to the FN and the SWT, and it’s more than okay because all their friends live there. Zuko is the only one left behind living far away, and he abdicates early to finally live freely with Sokka.

Okay lmao this got long. Ask me on another day about modern aus.

#azula #azutara #katara #atla #avatar: the last airbender #zuko #sokka #zukka #mai #ty lee #mailee #my headcanons #my asks

[i-am-just-a-kiddo]

favourite male fictional characters

Thank you @vishcount​ for tagging me, this was a lot of fun! 💞 I originally planned to follow your example and put ten characters here but suddenly it became a lot more oops. also i hope you forgive me for following your format, it’s neat 

I am tagging @isabellaofparma​ , @the-cloud-whisperer​ and @sassyassassy​!

I chose the characters that impacted me deeply on a personal level throughout my life (often shown by how long my love lasts over the years and if i was inspired to write for them). 

In no specific order under the cut: 

Legolas

The Lord of The Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien. 

I think it’s only fitting I start off with this magnificent guy. Maybe I gotta admit, i’ve just had a crush on him ever since I was like, nine years old? He’s the character I will fight tooth and claw for (though I guess he doesn’t need me to do that). I love Orlando Bloom’s portrayal of him, eventhough he is vastly different from the books. Book Legolas is such a delight as well, he feels so whimsical and playful and his banter with Gimli is just gold. I was sad when The Hobbit trilogy came out and I was so disappointed by how they butchered his character, it just did not feel authentic anymore (maybe I am also just bitter about the forced hetero storyline for him. makes no cents, this elf is GayTM your honour. and he will meet his soulmate Gimli in a few decades).  Either way, Legolas is the love of my life, thanks for coming to my tedtalk,

Peter Pan 

Peter Pan, J. M. Barrie

Another childhood crush of mine. The gif I chose if from the 2005 movie because we always used to watch it and it is to this day one of my favourite movies. It’s so dreamy, so magical, yet also incredibly sad and sweet.  I have this very strange fascination with Peter Pan. There is something incredibly unsettling about him, especially in the book. He represents something every child wants - who doesn’t want to escape their bedroom and fly away to experience magical adventured far from the adult world? And yet he also represents the impossibility of it, the curse he carries around with himself because he will forever stay alone, no matter how many lost boys he gathers around himself. And Wendy - it’s a love that was never meant to grow and mature, it’s a fleeting dream for the both of them.  I have seen many different adaptations of Peter Pan and I have my favourites, though I want to give a special mention to the book Peter Darling by Austin Chant. It’s a retelling of the story how we know it, in which Peter returns to Neverland after having finally grown up BUT the main points I want to highlight is trans Peter? Heck yes. Gripping and compelling gay love story with our favourite original lost boy Captain Hook? YES. 

Snufkin

Moomins, Tove Jansson.

I have discovered Snufkin for myself only last year, and yet I know he will stay with me forever. In short - I vibe with him, he vibes with me. His anxieties about being with people and longing for solitude? His fear of being loved and being important to someone to a point he doesn’t know what to do with himself? This man just wants to roam freely with his own mind and yet he always returns for something that captures him. Mum, I love him because I have rarely felt this seen before. Also, Snufkin said ACAB. 

Prince Jing - Xiao Jingyan

Nirvana in Fire (2015)

This too is a darling I have only discovered recently. I watched Nirvana in Fire this year and let me tell you, it’s the best show I have seen in a long while. It’s absolutely amazing and it also ripped my heart out. All the characters are absolutely amazing and I am still not over it.

To be honest, I contemplated between Xiao JIngyan and Mei Changsu, because character-wise I think the latter is a lot more interesting and compelling. He makes for a fantastic heartbreaking and flawed protagonist.

However I have to admit - it was love at first sight with Prince Jing for me and I’m still lowkey mad abt it rip. Seems like I am not immune to Pretty Prince Propaganda. But apart from that, I adore him for his genuine

goodness,

his almost naive drive to be better and seek justice. He lost everything, and for the longest time did not have anything to fight for. So alone and lost and bitter, it makes me sad how much it hardened him. He is heartbreak and clumsy kindness hidden under a skin of scars that was inflicted by his father and many others. I see his sad cat-eyes and I cry, that’s just how it is.

Edmund Pevensie

The Chronicles of Narnia, C. S. Lewis

I grew up with these books and movies - they have always been part of my life and it will probably always stay that way (only last night I rewatched the first movie and sobbed).  Imagine my surprised when I finally watched the last movie about five years ago and was incredibly impressed by how they adapted the book; also imagine my brain suddenly going CASMUND in bold letters at Skandar Keynes’ and Ben Barnes’  performance in that movie.  From there, I rediscovered this story completely anew for myself. My favourite Pevensie sibling has always been Lucy (and still is, because I identify with her so much and she feels like home to me); however this new discovery of Edmund’s character was overwhelming. It’s interesting to see characters you’ve grown up with from a more grown up point of view. I don’t want to lay out all my thoughts here, just know I am so heartbroken for him, and so so proud as well. His character arc is amazing and maybe that’s how the last movie makes me even more emotional. Seeing Edmund and Lucy still holding on to Narnia but knowing that that door was closing for them? Not to mention what happens in the later books (we don’t talk about that).  Also did I mention Casmund. Here, have my incredibly emo and depressing take on Edmund’s character that I started writing four years ago and which will forever stay a WIP. 

Nie Huaisang

The Untamed (2019)

My son. My soul. My bane of existence. The tragic thing about him is, that he does not really exist in canon as I have created him for myself. He’s a secondary character in the show, always so relatable yet still brings the ultimate twist of the story, yet he still remains this incomplete shadow. The movie

Fatal Journey

gave him a lot more and I cried tears of joy and devastation. I don’t know why I latched on to him so much, but apparently he is the one that I project on, the one that feels like he sits somewhere inside my chest. I don’t know what else to say - this year he has been everything to me. I spend a lot of time in his head while writing, and maybe that’s how he’s there forever now. Nie Huaisang saw my brain and went it’s free real estate. All my love for you, you dramatic art hoe.

Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Ah, another lifelong companion. There are many adapations that I adore - starting from the origin of it all, the books and stories which I have all devoured; the 80s adaptation with Jeremy Brett which was incredibly wonderful; to BBC Sherlock which shaped and traumatised me (I still like the first three seaons but I am too hurt to think about it); to the numerous movies -  but by far my most favourite performance is Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes. Somehow he manages to capture the Holmes I see in my head when I read the books, the sharp yet polite eccentric detective, who loves his companion so much and who has desire to help others.  Sherlock Holmes will always stay special to me, in so many different ways. He shaped my youth and I know he will stay with me. (also what would you say when I told you he helped me discover that I can, in fact, be queer AND ace at the same time? thanks pal).  What else is there to say? Sherlock Holmes is a universe that you can dive into and find many amazing treasures. 

Isak Valtersen 

SKAM (2015)

There he is, the boy that changed my life. SKAM changed my life. All of the characters did. However, Isak is special for many, as I imagine. I remember winter 2016, when tumblr was flooded by these norwegian white boys kissing in a pool and cuddling and I was like ‘nah’, this doesn’t look convincing.  I don’t know what changed my mind but I remember sitting down at last and watching all that was released of season three and it was only downhill from there. I remember starting to follow the real life updates religiously while watching the other previous seasons in between. The one clip that completely wrecked me was when Isak went to the school nurse about his struggles with sleep - it felt like for the first time I saw someone on screen that could understand me on so many different levels. The entierty of seaons three is so personal, I would tell you to go watch it if you don’t know what I mean. The entire show in fact. It’s a masterpiece and it feels so real. This show impacted my life in a way that no show has managed to do before. I miss it so much. I miss Isak too sigh. 

Shang Xirui

Winter Begonia (2020)

Technically, for me personally, Shang Xirui is the nonbinary, gay and ace representation I need in my life (or at least that’s my own personal take on him), but since that is not official, he’s still here on this list. Of course he is because wow, it’s been a long while since I’ve seen such a compelling character on screen. I went from disliking him to being absolutely heartbroken over him. I don’t think any other character in this show captured me as much as he did. There are so many layers to him and discovering all of his sides is a wonderful, heartbreaking, painful and also beautiful journey. I’m not sure I understand all of him yet, but I am willing to try and dig and just ponder his existence. This too, is a perfect example for a flawed yet authentic protagonist. Also he is the most beautiful thing on this planet, or at least that’s how I have been feeling ever since I watched this. I wish to write more of him in the future. 

Aang

Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005)

I grew up watching ATLA and my favourite characters have always been Toph, Zuko and Uncle Iroh. In recent years however, I completely fell in love with Aang all anew. 

I think especially in the past, I had these prejudices against main characters and found them all the most boring personalities ever. In recent years this changed a lot and especially Aang is a prime example for that. Watching him from the perspective of older me, I find so much wisdom in this young boy. Somehow he represents all I wish to be in my life but at the same time he shows his flaws, he carries this sadness with him that will accompany him all his life. This inner battle and chaos that he has to face day to day and in the end - he is just a young boy. So much has been taken from him and yet he learns how to not let it overtake him, that anger and hurt. He tries his hardest to be better than the day before, even if sometimes the world crashes down on him and he gets overwhelmed. He is a child recruited by adults to manage their mistakes and play into the hands of predestined fate and in this essay I will -

Harry Potter 

Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling

I am surprised myself. I thought I would put Fred and George here, or Remus and Sirius, however I realised that none of them quite capture this feeling of lifelong change, of personal, deep impact that Harry had on me. 

As with Aang above, I used to think Harry was the most boring protagonist, yet my opinion took a 180° turn in the past years. Many of the things I wrote for Aang apply to him too - the fact that he was a child, that lost so much, and was always faced with challenges that a child should never have needed to face. Something I want to address is how my favourite book, The Order of the Phoenix, lays all of this out. Harry is just as flawed, just as vulnerable and angry as anyone else. I know some people did not like his ‘emo behaviour’ in the fifth book but for me it just showed how human he is, how he was just a teen like myself at that time. As for many, this boy shaped my entire life, shaped a generation, and I will forever be grateful. I’m sad and angry at how J*R behaves, and how she puts us in the position of doubting our love for these stories. I know I will always love them, but I will not turn a blind eye on all the problematic shit is carries with itself and what the author piles upon us. 

Lan Wangji & Wei Wuxian 

The Untamed (2019)

I will try and keep this short, because if you want to read my thoughts about Wangxian just go to my ao3 and find the  over 70k i wrote for them.  I decided to put them here together because I can’t seperate them and I can’t choose between them. Each of them carries something I recognise in myself, and each of them is the opposite of me. They each own my heart and soul and I know there will never be a fictional couple like this for me ever again. They’ve snuck their way into my heart and have never left. They deserve to be here, together, because my love for them is indescribable. Bless them.  + Bonus:

The Doctor

Doctor Who (1963/2005)

Technically, the Doctor doesn’t count as a “male” character, but since he has been presenting as male up until recently, I needed to include him. I chose the Tenth Doctor because he is the one that broke my heart the most. I adored Nine but he was there too short, and I do love Eleven and Twelve a lot, and Thirteen absolutely owns my heart, Ten has just always been the one that made me cry the most. I loved this era of Doctor Who, I loved how sad and hopeful he was, how heartbroken and yet determined to help wherever it was needed. Doctor Who is always that show, when I return to it, I am reminded that maybe, humanity and the universe isn’t all that bad. 

phew, this took ages damn. but i had so much fun! i decided to leave out honorable mentiones because we would be sitting here until tomorrow lol. 

#gosh this was nice #a lot of incoherent rambling here #thanks dear #tag game #personal

[jasmine-tea-latte]

A Mad Woman

(Fanfic time again! In this one, we’re exploring events from Mai’s POV.)

Read on AO3

Growing up, Mai had always been the quiet, proper daughter all other Fire Nation nobles wished they could have… until the day she met the Fire Prince.

He ultimately left her behind when he defected from the Fire Nation, with nothing more than a note and a broken heart to remember him by.

Then her entire world completely shattered six months later when she learned that Zuko had fallen in love with and proposed to a lowborn waterbender, even risking his life and throne in the process.

Mai thought she deserved every right to be furious by this turn of events, but of course, no one likes a mad woman.

Written as a companion piece to my Zutara-themed series The Phoenix and the Dragon.

Playlist

mad woman – taylor swift

lithium - evanescence

colors - halsey

shades of cool – lana del rey

love on the brain - rihanna

the chain - evanescence

someone like you – adele

going under - evanescence

eyes closed – halsey

shake it out – florence + the machine

invisible string – taylor swift

I know what you’re thinking - “you ship Zutara, Jasmine-Tea-Latte, why are you writing about Mai and Zuko’s relationship?”

My Zutarian followers to me right now, probably:

Meanwhile Mai and Zuko shippers who stumbled across this post are undoubtedly saying something like:

or maybe even:

Hear me out, though!

When I wrote Mai's scenes in chapters 2 and 3 of the finale, initially that's all I planned to do with her, since I had already given her closure and a happy ending.

But then I started thinking, how did she eventually reach that point? Suddenly, I wanted to explore her journey as well.

I took some creative liberties here and there with some characterizations and the timeline, but overall I tried to keep it as in-character as possible. I also reference some things from the comics, but I do change things up.

Mai goes through a rough time (as one does when they get dumped via letter and their ex moves on immediately), but she does get her happy ending once it’s all over. I didn’t put her through any heartbreak I myself have not experienced (minus dating an actual prince, obvs.)

Speaking of... Zuko does not get off scot-free, either. He gets called out for his actions as a less-than-stellar boyfriend, too. Both sides have their faults, and both sides have a point here.

Not your average Zuko/Katara fic, NOT a Ma!ko one either (hence why I’m not tagging it as such), although it does cover their relationship and the fallout from her point of view.

So, we’ll see how well this goes over. Maybe I jumped the shark with this entry, but you never grow or learn if you don’t step out of your comfort zone, right?

Fun fact: this was supposed to be a oneshot, but my A.D.D. (or muse) kicked in, and it ended up being the longest entry I’ve written in the series at 27K+ words.

Lastly, if this isn’t your cup of tea, no fear - the next entries I’m currently working on get right back to the Zutara and/or steambabies goodness.

#The Phoenix and the Dragon #my stuff #mai #zuko #katara #zutara-ish?

[beachytablecloth]

prompt fill for @ghalind, who requested a fluff piece about Toph and their OC Levinia! it was so fun to write for a new character; I hope I did her justice! 

Toph Beifong was many things, but a coward was not one of them.

She was an earthbender (the best earthbender in the world, and don’t you forget it) and always preferred to tackle situations head-on.

Well. She usually did.

That kind of changed when she met Levinia.

One of the most unexpected things about the end of the Hundred Year War was the disappearance of this constant fear that had kept many people in hiding for years. And over the course of the past year, Toph and her friends had met people from around the world—Fire Nation citizens who had fled because they disagreed with the war, families in the colonies that had both Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom ancestors, and even, incredibly, another waterbender from the Southern Tribe.

Levinia had suffered greatly at the hands of the Fire Nation. She’d lived in a village separate from Katara’s and Sokka’s—one they hadn’t even known existed. The Fire Nation had raided them, burning it to the ground, leaving Levinia, miraculously, as the sole survivor.

(She had hidden for days, behind a snowbank, waiting in complete terror for the soldiers to find her. They hadn’t.)

When Toph met her, it was on one of their many trips to provide aid to refugees in remote Earth Kingdom villages.

They had hit it off immediately, Toph’s brashness mixing well with Levinia’s awkward shyness.

(Not that she would ever admit it, but Toph had found it endearing how Levinia had been so nervous, at first, to be with people her own age, to make friends.)

After spending a few weeks in that village, it had been hard to part with Levinia, but their group was needed around the world, and they had moved on.

Toph had forced Katara to help her write letters to Levinia each week.

So when Zuko and Aang had the idea to revive a long forgotten festival in the Fire Nation, Toph had written to Levinia, and invited her to come.

(The week that it had taken Levinia to respond had been one of the longest of Toph’s life, and if she hadn’t been able to stop smiling when Katara had read her Levinia’s “yes”, well then, that was nobody’s business but her own.)

The festival took place over the course of three days; it was held in the heart of Caldera City, and there was music and dancing and food. Hundreds of people had come, some even from the other Nations, which had been a source of great pride and happiness for Zuko and Aang.

On the final night, Toph found herself sitting with Levinia on the outskirts of the main town square. It was getting late, but people were still dancing, and it seemed like no one had plans to leave any time soon.

“I’ve never been to the Fire Nation before,” Levinia remarked. “I—this really wasn’t what I was expecting at all.”

Toph laughed.

“Yeah, well, it wasn’t like this before.”

“Yeah.”

They lapsed into a comfortable silence. They could hear the faint sounds of music and laughter carrying over from the square. The air was balmy, and Toph found the heat comforting, rather than oppressive as she had initially thought. She could smell the scent of fire flakes and fried Komodo-chicken wafting over from the vendors.

“I wasn’t sure at first. The Fire Nation has taken so much from me, and I thought it would be impossible for me to ever be okay coming here,” Levinia paused, taking a shaky breath. “But I’m glad I came.” Toph could hear the smile in her voice as she said those last words.

Toph was really glad, too. She had not been able to stop thinking about Levinia since they’d met; there was something about her that drew Toph to her in a way she had never experienced before.

And that scared Toph, but she was no coward.

So when Toph replied with a nervous, “me too,” and Levinia had reached her hand over to hold Toph’s, she took it, despite the way her heart raced and her stomach filled with unease.

She would tell Levinia how she felt, soon; but not here, not tonight. Tonight she was content to sit with her, listening to the fading sounds of the festival as people celebrated in a way they hadn’t been able to for one hundred years.

#my fics #toph beifong #fic requests #fluff #atla fic #atla fluff #atla drabble #toph drabble #ghalind #i hope you liked it!!!

[dereksmcgrath]

How can a chapter feel simultaneously rushed and incomplete?

“Rest!!” My Hero Academia Chapter 327. By Kohei Horikoshi, translation by Caleb Cook, lettering by John Hunt. Available from Viz.

Spoilers for Chapter 23 of Blue Box.

Last weekend I wrote how the pacing was bizarre for that weekend’s releases of some Jump serials, not just My Hero Academia (as I’ll get to in this review) but also other publications like Magu-chan and Blue Box. And, spoilers for Blue Box, jeez, that pacing at the end of the newest chapter this weekend was odd--but at least odd in a way that heightens interest in the story, as opposed to odd in My Hero Academia where this chapter felt incomplete.

I wish I could say that was the reason I am delayed writing this review, but it’s not. A lot of other tasks (webinar, job applications and interviews) and writing projects (working on some “Episode 7 Rule” posts, getting some more stuff published) took up time before I could share this review. But because Chapter 327 feels incomplete, the fact that I also get to use today to read and write about Chapter 327 helps to round out an actually finished installment to this story, so my delay ended up being serendipitous.

(And make up your own joke that I needed to take a break before reviewing a chapter titled “Rest!!”)

But before we can get to what was complete in this story, we have to muck through this chapter, which still feels incomplete.

That’s not to say Chapter 327 is bad. I mean, some of the art looks a little off to me, especially Tokoyami and Mina talking after All Might leaves the dorms. And I could debate how valid that quotation in the image above is, but I think Izuku’s face already reveals that, no, self-care only takes you so far, when societal improvements are not being made so that, in his world, children are not having to take on the fights adults refused to, whereas in my world...children should not have to take on the fights adults refused to about climate change, bigotry, police violence, sexual harassment and violence, poverty, hunger...

...God, this manga about supervillains got sadly realistic, and I hate it. Izuku’s face up there is the look of someone who has seen some shit, and one bath is not going to help.

As with that one chapter of Magu-chan, the seams of the story are showing, and that hinders how I personally get enjoyment. It’s one thing to see how a story is put together and appreciate how well that works, from a critical perspective or if you’re trying to imitate such story practices in your own writing. But it’s another thing when you see the way a story is put together because something just isn’t connecting the parts of that story well. After how great the previous chapters have been with the slow-burn to Izuku’s return to UA, Ochaco’s speech, and actually seeing Izuku getting heartfelt welcomes back by Kota, that giant woman he rescued, and that starfish hair guy all the way from Chapter 1, the rest of this chapter feels rushed. It’s not like you could drag out a lot of this stuff: there’s only so much time you can have Izuku and the boys bathing. But there is so much to fit in: cleaning up Izuku, seeing how his classmates react to his return and his secrets, All Might’s arrival, what this means moving forward to stop Shigaraki, and what is up with Endeavor and Todoroki’s side story. It’s a lot--and nothing really feels like it gets what it needs. Just to tease out every last feeling every last classmate has to Izuku keeping his Quirklessness and One For All a secret would need a light novel chapter per character.

And speaking of the My Hero Academia light novels, at least I can give some points to Horikoshi, though, for doing a better job writing the boys bathing than Mineta peeping on the girls, or that inane joke in one of the light novels--in which the boys see who can last longest in the hot bath, because that tired exhausting trope of “kids do dumb things.” Ugh, at some point, I’m going to write about how to handle writing young people well in a story so it’s not that ridiculous trope of “young people make dumb mistakes” that some writers use to move the plot along. The only example I’ve seen where that works lately is Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun, and that’s because it doesn’t feel like those mistakes are to keep the plot moving but actually something innate to a character’s sense of justice or sentiment that, while foolish, is in competition with actual stakes, pros and cons, and part of the character’s core ethics, not just something ridiculous to get from plot point A to B. That light novel gag felt very much like “the boys have to do something stupid,” as opposed to “this is something that would make sense for the boys to do.” But I digress.

So, why do I give points to Horikoshi for this version of the bath gag? Because, as I am trying to say about Hanako-kun, this makes sense for how the characters would act, and moves the plot along. Bakugo struggling with what to call Izuku makes sense; Bakugo still being his rival makes sense; after how much character progression he has thankfully made by now, this late in the series, it makes sense that he is still going to regress to previous behavior. I’m grateful he regresses without verbally bullying Izuku (your mileage may vary whether he is still bullying him, though, and I’m open to being wrong on that point) and without physically attacking him (Bakugo cutting into Izuku’s head as a gag in the recent anime episode is still not funny).

But then the students ask about One For All and what Izuku has been going through--and we don’t get much more knowledge. Todoroki shuts down that discussion by saying he needs to get some sleep, so, again, that forestalls any discussion until probably some chapters in a future light novel.

Izuku is not ready for sleep yet, though, as he worries about how he treated All Might earlier. I’m not going to disagree that Izuku was not being kind to All Might, but what I appreciate about the moment is that, and forgive my phrasing, from both sides, it makes sense: Izuku was not as polite as he should have been but hardly as grimdark as many readers feared he would, and All Might was doing something kind for Izuku but has been failing to reach out to him. All of that character dynamic works.

But what hasn’t worked is how quickly their reunion and apologies are. It reminds me how quickly All Might insisted, after losing One For All for good, that he would be there for Izuku--and really wasn’t. All Might refused to introduce Izuku to Nighteye; All Might kept secrets about all that One For All could do; All Might was not there during the PLF Fight, and he knows he cannot be in the same role for Izuku while he’s playing vigilante. The apologies keep coming but aren’t really getting anywhere for these two characters, not before Izuku just passes out from exhaustion. There’s a lot left for these two, so no wonder people take that death flag from All Might peering in from the window to think he’s going to die soon and only then will he and Izuku have any meaningful resolution. Granted, the next chapter is going to go into more detail about All Might’s vestige inside One For All, so he won’t be quite dead, but that death cheat just makes this inability to resolve anything between the bad teacher and the disobedient student all the more frustrating.

At least Caleb Cook continues to translate some good gags out of Mina, such as when she criticizes All Might’s departure. But that only reinforces how empty his apologies feel when he speaks to the class, especially when he again has to run to pass on his intelligence to the police and probably Endeavor, which also makes all of this all the more infuriating because you would think that would be his first priority. I get the point of being there for his student--even if I still don’t think All Might has been--and it does characterize him well that of course he would go to his student first instead of passing on the intelligence from Stain first. But it also makes me want to shake All Might and tell him to get the intelligence to the police, given what we learn about it in the next chapter. So, again, the seams of the story are showing: Horikoshi delays revealing what All Might has learned until that chapter is ready to share with readers.

And that news from Stain is probably going to disrupt any of Jiro’s plans for a concert, and, yeah, after a weekend in my real world where concerts got more attention than reproductive rights marches throughout the United States, you’ll forgive me if I don’t care much about this plot point. Heck, comics, as a silent medium, invoking music, has always been a bizarre choice for me: that works for the animated series, but for the comics, it’s hard to translate that auditory medium to a visual one.

Then we wrap up the chapter with an exposition dump about Stain’s intelligence. When I first read this chapter, before Chapter 328 came out, this felt like an abrupt ending. Realizing this ending leads naturally to the next chapter, to show what Stain was up to at Tartarus, doesn’t make it work any better for me. Invoking the “we have one month to stop Shigaraki” rule, only to break it in the next chapter and reveal they have three days, is a more cynical method of the “don’t cross the streams” rule from Ghostbusters: this exists to set up a rule to then break it so that the protagonists’ chances of success dwindle further.

It bothers me because I have seen this done better elsewhere. The final season of Avatar: The Last Airbender wraps up with Zuko learning the Gaang has decided to wait until after Sozin’s Comet, thinking they’ll have a better chance. That makes sense, and while the Gaang’s plan is a final-episode reveal, it fits with their strategy: Aang couldn’t take on the Fire Nation when it was depowered, so taking them on when they are fully powered and he hasn’t perfected his fire skills is a practical approach. Then Zuko reveals that the deadline has to be moved up, because his father will take over the world during the Comet, something Zuko didn’t tell them until now because he already thought the plan was to stop the Fire Nation before the Comet, so why would scaring them help? This was a failure of communication on the part of both parties, and it introduced the rules--”Wait until after the Comet” and “No, attack before the Comet”--at the same time that it disrupted those rules, so we as the audience were not manipulated for a cynical gotcha moment. And that’s what My Hero Academia has done.

For the longest time My Hero Academia kept repeating that Shigaraki would need two months to increase his power. In the next chapter we learn they overestimated that time, and they got three days left. This feels rushed, as rushed as how this chapter was to wrap up Izuku’s return to UA, All Might’s apology, and the Class 1-A reunion. And I just didn’t like it. More was needed to give this chapter some meat, and it just isn’t here. The next chapter, thankfully, is better, given some payoff to what this chapter sets up, as well as a hint of things to come, but on its own, this chapter is like the first half of an anime episode, rather than a complete package.

#my hero academia #manga review #mha spoilers #izuku midoriya #all might

[citrina-posts]

Avatar: Cultural Appreciation or Appropriation?

I love Avatar: the Last Airbender. Obviously I do, because I run a fan blog on it. But make no mistake: it is a show built upon cultural appropriation. And you know what? For the longest time, as an Asian-American kid, I never saw it that way.

There are plenty of reasons why I never realized this as a kid, but I’ve narrowed it down to a few reasons. One is that I was desperate to watch a show with characters that looked like me in it that wasn’t anime (nothing wrong with anime, it’s just not my thing). Another is that I am East Asian (I have Taiwanese and Korean ancestry) and in general, despite being the outward “bad guys”, the East Asian cultural aspects of Avatar are respected far more than South Asian, Middle Eastern, and other influences. A third is that it’s easy to dismiss the negative parts of a show you really like, so I kind of ignored the issue for a while. I’m going to explain my own perspective on these reasons, and why I think we need to have a nuanced discussion about it. 

Obviously, the leadership behind ATLA was mostly white. We all know the co-creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino (colloquially known as Bryke) are white. So were most of the other episodic directors and writers, like Aaron Ehasz, Lauren Montgomery, and Joaquim Dos Santos. This does not mean they were unable to treat Asian cultures with respect, and I honestly do believe that they tried their best! But it does mean they have certain blinders, certain perceptions of what is interesting and enjoyable to watch. Avatar was applauded in its time for being based mostly on Asian and Native American cultures, but one has to wonder: how much of that choice was based on actual respect for these people, and how much was based on what they considered to be “interesting”, “quirky”, or “exotic”?

The aesthetic of the show, with its bending styles based on various martial arts forms, written language all in Chinese text, and characters all decked out in the latest Han dynasty fashions, is obviously directly derivative of Asian cultures. Fine. That’s great! They hired real martial artists to copy the bending styles accurately, had an actual Chinese calligrapher do all the lettering, and clearly did their research on what clothing, hair, and makeup looked like. The animation studios were in South Korea, so Korean animators were the ones who did the work. Overall, this is looking more like appreciation for a beautiful culture, and that’s exactly what we want in a rapidly diversifying world of media.

But there’s always going to be some cherry-picking, because it’s inevitable. What’s easy to animate, what appeals to modern American audiences, and what is practical for the world all come to mind as reasons. It’s just that… they kinda lump cultures together weirdly. Song from Book 2 (that girl whose ostrich-horse Zuko steals) wears a hanbok, a traditionally Korean outfit. It’s immediately recognizable as a hanbok, and these dresses are exclusive to Korea. Are we meant to assume that this little corner of the mostly Chinese Earth Kingdom is Korea? Because otherwise, it’s just treated as another little corner of the Earth Kingdom. Korea isn’t part of China. It’s its own country with its own culture, history, and language. Other aspects of Korean culture are ignored, possibly because there wasn’t time for it, but also probably because the creators thought the hanbok was cute and therefore they could just stick it in somewhere. But this is a pretty minor issue in the grand scheme of things (super minor, compared to some other things which I will discuss later on).

It’s not the lack of research that’s the issue. It’s not even the lack of consideration. But any Asian-American can tell you: it’s all too easy for the Asian kids to get lumped together, to become pan-Asian. To become the equivalent of the Earth Kingdom, a mass of Asians without specific borders or national identities. It’s just sort of uncomfortable for someone with that experience to watch a show that does that and then gets praised for being so sensitive about it. I don’t want you to think I’m from China or Vietnam or Japan; not because there’s anything wrong with them, but because I’m not! How would a French person like to be called British? It would really piss them off. Yet this happens all the time to Asian-Americans and we are expected to go along with it. And… we kind of do, because we’ve been taught to.

1. Growing Up Asian-American

I grew up in the early to mid-2000s, the era of High School Musical and Hannah Montana and iCarly, the era of Spongebob and The Amazing World of Gumball and Fairly Odd Parents. So I didn’t really see a ton of Asian characters onscreen in popular shows (not anime) that I could talk about with my white friends at school. One exception I recall was London from Suite Life, who was hardly a role model and was mostly played up for laughs more than actual nuance. Shows for adults weren’t exactly up to par back then either, with characters like the painfully stereotypical Raj from Big Bang Theory being one of the era that comes to mind.

So I was so grateful, so happy, to see characters that looked like me in Avatar when I first watched it. Look! I could dress up as Azula for Halloween and not Mulan for the third time! Nice! I didn’t question it. These were Asian characters who actually looked Asian and did cool stuff like shoot fireballs and throw knives and were allowed to have depth and character development. This was the first reason why I never questioned this cultural appropriation. I was simply happy to get any representation at all. This is not the same for others, though.

2. My Own Biases

Obviously, one can only truly speak for what they experience in their own life. I am East Asian and that is arguably the only culture that is treated with great depth in Avatar.

I don’t speak for South Asians, but I’ve certainly seen many people criticize Guru Pathik, the only character who is explicitly South Asian (and rightly so. He’s a stereotype played up for laughs and the whole thing with chakras is in my opinion one of the biggest plotholes in the show). They’ve also discussed how Avatar: The Last Airbender lifts heavily from Hinduism (with chakras, the word Avatar itself, and the Eye of Shiva used by Combustion Man to blow things up). Others have expressed how they feel the sandbenders, who are portrayed as immoral thieves who deviously kidnap Appa for money, are a direct insult to Middle Eastern and North African cultures. People have noted that it makes no sense that a culture based on Inuit and other Native groups like the Water Tribe would become industrialized as they did in the North & South comics, since these are people that historically (and in modern day!) opposed extreme industrialization. The Air Nomads, based on the Tibetan people, are weirdly homogeneous in their Buddhist-inspired orange robes and hyperspiritual lifestyle. So too have Southeast Asians commented on the Foggy Swamp characters, whose lifestyles are made fun of as being dirty and somehow inferior. The list goes on.

These things, unlike the elaborate and highly researched elements of East Asian culture, were not treated with respect and are therefore cultural appropriation. As a kid, I had the privilege of not noticing these things. Now I do.

White privilege is real, but every person has privileges of some kind, and in this case, I was in the wrong for not realizing that. Yes, I was a kid; but it took a long time for me to see that not everyone’s culture was respected the way mine was. They weren’t considered *aesthetic* enough, and therefore weren’t worth researching and accurately portraying to the creators. It’s easy for a lot of East Asians to argue, “No! I’ve experienced racism! I’m not privileged!” News flash: I’ve experienced racism too. But I’ve also experienced privilege. If white people can take their privilege for granted, so too can other races. Shocking, I know. And I know now how my privilege blinded me to the fact that not everybody felt the same euphoria I did seeing characters that looked like them onscreen. Not if they were a narrow and offensive portrayal of their race. There are enough good-guy Asian characters that Fire Lord Ozai is allowed to be evil; but can you imagine if he was the only one?

3. What It Does Right

This is sounding really down on Avatar, which I don’t want to do. It’s a great show with a lot of fantastic themes that don’t show up a lot in kids’ media. It isn’t superficial or sugarcoating in its portrayal of the impacts of war, imperialism, colonialism, disability, and sexism, just to name a few. There are characters like Katara, a brown girl allowed to get angry but is not defined by it. There are characters like Aang, who is the complete opposite of toxic masculinity. There are characters like Toph, who is widely known as a great example of how to write a disabled character.

But all of these good things sort of masked the issues with the show. It’s easy to sweep an issue under the rug when there’s so many great things to stack on top and keep it down. Alternatively, one little problem in a show seems to make-or-break media for some people. Cancel culture is the most obvious example of this gone too far. Celebrity says one ignorant thing? Boom, cancelled. But… kind of not really, and also, they’re now terrified of saying anything at all because their apologies are mocked and their future decisions are scrutinized. It encourages a closed system of creators writing only what they know for fear of straying too far out of their lane. Avatar does do a lot of great things, and I think it would be silly and immature to say that its cultural appropriation invalidates all of these things. At the same time, this issue is an issue that should be addressed. Criticizing one part of the show doesn’t mean that the other parts of it aren’t good, or that you shouldn’t be a fan.

If Avatar’s cultural appropriation does make you uncomfortable enough to stop watching, go for it. Stop watching. No single show appeals to every single person. At the same time, if you’re a massive fan, take a sec (honestly, if you’ve made it this far, you’ve taken many secs) to check your own privilege, and think about how the blurred line between cultural appreciation (of East Asia) and appropriation (basically everybody else) formed. Is it because we as viewers were also captivated by the aesthetic and overall story, and so forgive the more problematic aspects? Is it because we’ve been conditioned so fully into never expecting rep that when we get it, we cling to it?

I’m no media critic or expert on race, cultural appropriation, or anything of the sort. I’m just an Asian-American teenager who hopes that her own opinion can be put out there into the world, and maybe resonate with someone else. I hope that it’s given you new insight into why Avatar: The Last Airbender is a show with both cultural appropriation and appreciation, and why these things coexist. Thank you for reading!

#reposting this without the cut so that it survives with my new url! #avatar #avatar the last airbender #atla #cultural appropriation #culture #atla crit #meta #criticism #racism tw #self rb #citrina writes

[allywrites360]

Fanfiction Commentary

I’ve seen some people do this is the past, and I thought I’d give it a shot!! So here’s some context/backstory/analyses of my writing! I’ll only be including pieces written over quarantine; starting on march 29th. A lot of these talk about more ideas to expand one shots, so you can always send me an ask if you wanna hear more!!

Calm in the Storm - Inspired by this beautiful piece of fan art by one of my friends. I wrote it as a surprise while we were talking.

Reunited - This was a piece that was originally intended to be the ending of an entire work made up of letter between Cass and Varian. I’d been wanting to write it since the show’s finale, but since I’ve never done a story outside of the more traditional style, I just stuck with this one shot.

City Sounds - Written just after a thunder storm near where I live; and mostly inspired by that.

In this passage, “His vision finally coming into focus, Race was facing the freshly burnt out candle from the night before, topped by a trail of smoke curling up into the early morning air of the lodgehouse until it disappeared. Laying there in the sky’s soft light, Race couldn't help but smile, despite the lack of sleep from the night before. It wasn't often the newsies talked about nights like those, but he knew they meant as much to him as they did his brothers,” the candle is meant to be a metaphor for these brothers creating light for one another, hope, when there seems to be none.

Weightless - Written when I was in the car outside the grocery store. Proof that writing can take place anywhere, if you’re dedicated to making time for it.

Painted Skies - I let this piece be led entirely by emotion rather than a set outcome. I always compared Sokka and Suki’s relationship to the sun; passionate and filled with light, and this was my representation of that.

There was a cut piece of dialogue from this, which I really loved: “Kyoshi Island is my home,” Suki said softly, “And the South Pole is yours. It isn’t fair for either of us to give that up.” -- Sokka smiled softly in response, “But you’re my home too.”

The Game Begins - One of my friends requested I write Zuko, and another mentioned laser tag, and thus, this fic was born. I typed out most of the outline for this fic on a walk to my friend’s house (and yes, I was late, haha). The end is also inspired by conversations my friends and I have had at arcades in the past; 

Hold Me Too Tight - Not really ‘behind the scenes’ per se, but the title is taken from ‘As Long As You’re Mine’ from Wicked. One of the most endearing things in a relationship for me is when one person knows there’s nothing they can say to make the other person feel better, but they support them anyway. And that’s especially reminded me of Sukka; just look at The Boiling Rock.

Fountains - I’d never written for Jin before, nor do I really ship her with Zuko (they were cute, but honestly, single dad Zuko for the win), but my friend really wanted some content of them, so I obliged. Which meant rewatching Tales of Ba Sing Se, and making a list of Jin’s character traits. It was actually kinda fun.

A Million Miles Away - This is definitely part of a longer fic. I have a whole notebook filled, just with rough outlines and details. I was watching another cheesy royalty movie, and while I love royalty stories, I always hated the conventional ending. Royal doesn't want to be a royal, has an arc, then takes the throne. And I wanted a different ending. What if they’re not right for the throne? What if they just can’t take the pressure? What if they run and never look back? And thus, this fic was born. Super passionate about this one.

Summer Nights - This is the longest fic I’ve written so far!! And wow, was it fun. This started out as an idea for a screenplay, but after a day at the lake with my friends, I couldn’t resist writing it out in full, specifically the opening scene with Suki by the ocean. There were a few things I liked/challenged myself with in this fic; the first being ample foreshadowing for Suki’s big reveal at the end, hopefully without making it too obvious. The other was using less page breaks and adding transitions!! I had a lot of fun with the fluff here.

Quiet Nights - Character studying as a fic. And a bit of angst. After so long spent together, I always imagined it’d be hard for the gaang to be alone again. I really loved delving into Sokka’s emotions here. Also, the writing advice to only put in to the frame of your story what tells us something about a character was actually used here!!

“He looked around the room that he had spent so long away from, every detail of it committed to memory. There was the dresser, crafted from long worn wood, that he had carved Water Tribe symbols into years ago that he could trace easily in his mind. The facepaints his dad had made him lay on top of it, and he could tell without walking over there which container held which colour. There was the place he always threw his coat into the corner, never really bothering to hang it up. So why did it feel so strange… unfamiliar now?” The carving shows Sokka’s creative side (as well as more Indigenous crafts), the face paint is symbolic of Sokka trying to live up to the other warriors, and the thrown aside coat shows his more carefree side.

Secret Moments - Another Jin and Zuko fic. My friend asked for a sequel to Fountains, and she had a bad day, so I typed this out really quickly.

Walking in the Rain - I was listening to ‘Walking in the Rain’ from Beautiful: the Carole King Musical, and I got really inspired to write this. I’ve always loved rain; it’s my favourite weather, and I thought it’d be nice to see more positive descriptions of it in fanfics.

Grounded - Rather than the long, flowery prose I usually prefer, I intentionally used short, choppy sentences to convey the spiralling emotion they were feeling. I also used repetition to hammer home the tension, as that’s something that happens when you’re panicking. The emotions here were amazing to write, though. And I was really proud of the ending.

Falling Snow - I’ve been planning this fic since Christmas, yet I finally decided to write it in August. One thing that I purposely did in this fic was juxtapose Suki’s description of the cafe. at first, it’s too hot, and crowded, but after she settles in a bit, and meets everyone’s favourite sword bender, it’s more cozy.

Unfamiliar - This was my first time doing a character study of Suki, and let me tell you, I love her so much more now. I loved exploring her emotions outside of her relationship as well. And I always imagined her as the type to not ‘waste her time’ on someone who wasn’t her soulmate, hence the sentiment ending the first half of the story.

As for the latter half, entering around Sokka, I had always had the head canon that he kept the Kyoshi Warrior face paint on until sundown, holding on to the last fragment of that place as long as he could. Just added a little soulmate flair to it. And also, the parallel of him and Suki both knowing the pressure of being a leader is always amazing.

I’ll See You Around - I’ve always said Hugo is (one of) my favourite characters of all time, but I only now got around to writing him. And let me tell you, it was a blast. Normally it takes me a while to jump into a character’s body language, but for Hugo, it just flowed naturally. Maybe it’s because I’ve spent so much time reading him.

I’d also listened to ‘My Petersburg’ from Anastasia, which is such a Hugo song, by the way, and I think I was subconsciously inspired by the lyric, “Funny when a city is all you know, how even when you hate it, something in you loves it so.”

Home is Where the Heart Is - I wanted to try a different proposal for Sukka Week 2020, and I always imagined them to get married (or at least engaged) soon after the show, so I typed this up. Their relationship is what true love looks like, and I think they both know that the other is it for them. Why wait? Plus, getting married is one of the only ways for them to be together (paraphrased from an interview with Kara Lindsay).

Partners - I was watching Brooklyn Nine Nine, and made a comment about Sukka being pretty similar to Amy and Jake, and decided to type up a rendition of the ending scene from The Bet, but with these two. The ending doesn’t make total sense logically, but it was exciting/interesting to me, so I decided to just go with it.

Closed Distance - Rather than a serious piece for the prompt, ‘Letters’, I opted for the more comedic route. With an angsty characters study of Suki at the beginning, because I’ve fallen in love with her character all over again.

Always Come Back - (Sorry guys, no link yet. It’ll be up September 3rd for Water Sibling Week!!). After a post talking about the symbolism of Sokka’s weapon being a boomerang; something that always came back, when he was left behind more than once, I decided to set this whole fic around that metaphor, including these passages; 

“The weapon came back, but this time Sokka didn’t catch it. It slammed against the tips of his fingers before slipping through, landing beside him on the small cliff. He drew his wrist back, hissing slightly as he shook it out, impact echoing through his arm.”

“He put his arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer to his side. Katara moved her head to rest against his shoulder. Without saying a word, she picked up his boomerang, setting it back into his hand.”

Symbolic of Sokka allowing someone else to take on the role of ‘protector’, if only for a moment. And someone helping by ‘coming back’, when maybe he couldn't make it all the way himself. (Would’ve loved the ending to involve Suki, but I was writing for the water sibling event week, so this ending’ll do).

#This is more for me than anyone else #but if you've read this far thanks!! #Feel free to ask me about any of these you wanna hear more about!!

[dr-dr-olshakes]

Book Questions

Thanks @no-giraffes​ for tagging me (also, hey, it’s our first real tumblr interaction! Whaddup!)

Which book has been on your shelves the longest? It’s this children’s book that Tolkien wrote in a summer called Roverrandom. It’s about a dog who gets turned into a toy after biting a wizard and then has all sorts of adventures with the Man on the Moon’s dog and then with the dog who lives with the mermaids in the ocean. It was a childhood favorite and also the source for my first tattoo. It’s come with me every time I’ve moved.  

What is your current read, your last read and the book you’ll read next? Oh god, um, do books for class count? Because that would be Foucault’s History of Sexuality and that’s no fun. So let’s go with Jean Toomer’s Cane as my last read, Sor Juana’s Second Dream by Alicia Gaspar de Alba as my current read, and The Madonnas of Echo Park by Brandon Skyhorse as my next read. 

Which book does everyone like and you hated? I really, truly, deep down in my bones, hate Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. Like, look. I get it. It’s an *Important Book* for LGBTQ+ communities, and Latinx communities and intersectionality, and is a staple of YA lit. I get it. But that doesn’t change the fact that I hate it and it’s simplistic yet still somehow over-embellished writing.

Which book do you keep telling yourself you’ll read, but you probably won’t? That’d have to go to Franz Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth. Maybe I’ll just throw it on my comps list and then I’ll be forced to read it.

Which books are you saving for “retirement?” I don’t even know what this question means and I refuse to answer it.

Last page: read it first or wait till the end? I have often been known to skip to the last page to read the very last line. I love seeing what the book is trying to work towards. I’m a heathen, I know.

Acknowledgements: waste of ink and paper or interesting aside? They’re great! I can’t say that I always read them but I’m glad to have them. Plus, acknowledgements can be a great way to chronicle the history of a text, particularly academic works.

Which book character would you switch places with? Rosie Cotton, hardcore. Bring me that Shire life.

Do you have a book that reminds you of something specific in your life (a person, a place, a time)? This is All: The Pillow Book of Cordelia Kenn by Aidan Chambers carried me, multiple times, through my struggle with learning to manage being bi-polar. I haven’t read it in years, and tbh probably never will again, because it’s too tied up in that time and in all that confusion and hurt. The book itself isn’t even about being bi-polar but for some reason, that was the one that I glommed onto.

Name a book you acquired in some interesting way. I have a shark obsession that it far from subtle and last year at a Christmas party, a faculty member on my committee (and hardcore teacher-crush who I don’t want to be with but who I desperately want to be) randomly gave me an encyclopedia on North American sharks because she’d accidentally ordered two. I am still filled with jubilation. 

Have you ever given away a book for a special reason to a special person? Last year a friend of mine was admitted into a mental institution for depression and dissociation and I gave her a collected volume of Calvin and Hobbes comics. It was the same volume that my parents had brought me when, as a teenager, I was admitted into a similar institution. I thought it might help her like it did me.

Which book has been with you to the most places? Probably my copy of The Shining. I reread it almost every year, often when traveling, so it’s been with me a lot. I think it’s even seen Mexico City and London.

Any “required reading” you hated in high school that wasn’t so bad ten years later? God, no. I think every required reading I hated in high school I only hate more (looking at you Great Expectations and The Odyssey).

What is the strangest item you’ve ever found in a book? I once found letters that someone had written to their partner in prison but that she had never sent. This was a high school math textbook.

Used or brand new? Used. Cuz I’m pretentious and love the smell of them. Also, I love used books that others have written in them. I love reading what others had to say.

Stephen King: Literary genius or opiate of the masses? Can I say both? Some works are literary genius (It, The Shining, The Green Mile, Lisey’s Game). Others are opiates at their non-addictive best (Christine, From A Buick 8, Bag of Bones). But he’s also my favorite author, so take my opinion with all the inherent bias.

Have you ever seen a movie you liked better than the book? Jurassic Park is the first one that comes to mind.

Conversely, which book should NEVER have been introduced to celluloid? At this point, given my raging bitterness over both adaptations, I’m gonna go with It by my boi Stevie King. 

Have you ever read a book that’s made you hungry, cookbooks being excluded from this question? Maybe it’s an obvious answer, but Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel is mouth-watering in multiple ways.

Who is the person whose book advice you’ll always take? I...don’t know. I don’t know many people who, if they read and love reading as much as I do, also like to read the things that I do. Maybe my committee chair? He hasn’t led me wrong yet.

Okay, awesome! I really loved answering these! I’m gonna tag @transcendental-is-em @skepticalqueen @weezly14 @dorky-zuko @notime4inspiration and @giant--steps

#books! #I love those things! #literature

[wolfie-winchester]

Fandom Alphabet Ask: A - G, U & Z

Ooh, lots of letters. I like it. Also, I would’ve replied earlier but I actually reblogged that post while I was at work, lol. 

A - Ships that you currently like a lot. (They don’t have to be OTPs because not everyone has OTPs.) Friendships, pairings, threesomes, etc. are allowed.

Currently, I’ve been reading a lot of Sam/Rafe fanfic from the Uncharted series. I also have a friendship that I ship a lot, which is Harry and Eggsy from the Kingsmen movies. And of course, Destiel will always have a place in my heart.

B - A pairing–platonic, romantic or sexual–that you initially didn’t consider, but someone changed your mind.

Interestingly enough, this was Destiel for me. When I first started watching SPN I didn’t see it at first, but Tumblr changed my mind. (Also sort of related, Tumblr was actually the reason I started watching in the first place so I could understand all the GIFs that popped up everywhere)

C - A ship you have never liked and probably never will.

The only thing that really comes to mind is Dean/Amara from SPN.

D - A pairing you wish you liked but just can’t.

I can’t actually think of any

E - Have you added anything cracky/hilarious to your fandom? If so, what?

My roommate and I once co-wrote a SPN fic about the French Mistake episode where it’s from Jared and Jensen’s POV (assuming they switched places with Sam and Dean)

F - What’s the longest you’ve ever been in a fandom?

My first instinct was to say SPN but actually I think it might be Bones. I watched that way before I started SPN.

G - Have you ever had an OTP? If so, do you remember your first one? Who was in it?

Yes, but I don’t really remember.

U - Three favorite characters from three different fandoms, and why they’re your favorites.

Okay, here we go. 

Cas from SPN because he’s a sweetheart and always tries to do the right thing (even though it backfires a lot) and also I love his character development from Season 4 to now.

Zuko from ATLA. Do I really need a reason?

Wolfgang from Sense8 because he’s a badass and is adorable with Kala, and let me just say I am super excited Netflix at least gave us a series finale episode to wrap everything up. 

Z - Just ramble about something fan-related, go go go! (Prompts optional but encouraged.)

Sort of a continuation from the above, but honestly Sense8 is the best show I’ve ever seen (aside from maybe Avatar) and if you haven’t watched it, then you’re seriously missing out. The fandom is amazing too, and the show touches on lots of important and relevant things (especially now). 

#sporklift #fandom alphabet ask #btw we should hang out sometime #we still have to finish season 1 of GOT