#and i just. have so many feelings about bumi ii and my love for him. i adore him.

[that-was-anticlimactic]

kai from tlok or hakoda, maybe even bumi ii?

hello, my beloved :) jeg siger undskyld (i apologize in danish) for the uh. belated response. work got uh. a lot. and then i got far too invested in sds for my own good anD THEN I MOVED lol aNYWAYS here's all of them as a treat:)

kai

how i feel about this character: i absolutely adore him. i think he has a lot of really good moments--especially when everyone thought he was dead but then he wasn't and rather than saving himself, he risked his life to save the people who, essentially, saved him from a rough life on the streets. not to mention that this was probably the first time they realized people cared about them. like, the group was so happy to see that he was alive, and before he joined the air acolytes, he probably didn't have anyone who would have mourned them. he shows so much courage and passion when he gets invested in something and i love them for it.

all the people i ship romantically with this character: kainora my beloved !!! and like shipping him with pretty much anyone but jinora and maybe ikki would be. weird and kinda gross tbh. but he and jinora balance each other out yet aren't afraid to encourage the other and have fun together and that's just. that's so good.

my non-romantic otp for this character: mako and kai !!! like... they both have a lot to learn from each other and i love them for that. it's after mako realizes that bolin is old enough to take care of himself, he fixates on kai as his younger sibling to try and make up for that and to feel needed and able to protect someone because he sees bits of his younger self in kai. and it's kai showing mako that he doesn't always need to be the big brother, that he can depend on other people but also loving having an older brother figure and not knowing how to process that so they act out because that's all they've ever known... it's messy and weird but it's them and their odd sibling-esc relationship and i love it<3

my unpopular opinion about this character: idk if this qualifies as unpopular but demiboy he / they kai rights !!!

one thing i wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: i wish we got more backstory for him--like, that we learned more about his life as a child and that they explored the mako and kai sibling-esc relationship more but's it's all good--i can always headcanon :)

~

hakoda

how i feel about this character: hakoda my beloved !!! ngl, at first i didn't like hakoda because he seemed like the perfect person for awhile--swt chief loved by everyone, best warrior ever, can do no wrong... and that bothered me a lot when i first watched the show two years ago ??? anywas, i love he now. he's a good dad and the love he has for his kids is extraordinary and heartwarming and i love it and him<3

all the people i ship romantically with this character: bato !!! sometimes i forget that bakoda isn't canon... like... genuinely i forget that it's a fannon ship. that is how deeply i ship bakoda.

kyoda is obviously wonderful too! bakoda just holds a special place in my heart. but i wish we got more kyoda scenes in flashbacks or something because they were adorable.

my non-romantic otp for this character: hakoda & sokka, hakoda & katara are my two biggest ones. i mean,,, that reunion hug at the end of boiling rock ??? like,,, yes that family is everything to me. plus, as much as i love the possibility for great dynamics and healing with hakoda being a father figure to zuko, there are more fics under the tag 'hakoda & zuko' than there are with both watertribe siblings which is just. very sad. so i feel like zuko's possible relationship with him gets more attention than hakoda with his kids. like... don't get me wrong, i love the hakoda and zuko dynamics... but like. sokka and katara...

also hakoda and toph. i feel like they'd get along really well and would be too powerful for this world.

my unpopular opinion about this character: that... hmmm... idk if i have an unpopular opinion about him... yeah, i can't think of any oihgvhj

one thing i wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: i wish we had more scenes with hakoda and his kids, but that's me being greedy. i also wish canon would just admit that bakoda is canon already p l e a s e they !!!

~

bumi ii

how i feel about this character: oh boy, where do i staRT !!! i love bumi ii. he is my 1.5 favorite lok character and i absolutely adore him. i wish we got more of him--i do. and that is me being greedy because i think we got more of him than kya ii, but still. he is everything i love in a character--feels useless compared to the others because he can't bend, feeling disconnected an unimportant in his own family because they're all super powerful benders and he's just... he's just bumi ii, the nonbender. acting out for attention because, at this point, even negative attention is better than constantly being overshadowed. and despite the resentment he may feel towards his siblings for being "better" and "more important" than he is, he's still a big brother at heart and would do / sacrifice anything for them.

all the people i ship romantically with this character: no one !!! bumi ii is aroace thank you and goodnight <3

my non-romantic otp for this character: bumi ii & izumi. i just,,, i just feel like they would get along so well??? like. i cannot describe it, but in the gaang's kids crew, they are the best friends. izumi is one of the first people he comes out to as aroace and bumi ii is the first person izumi comes out to as nonbinary. they find solace and peace in each other and understand parts of the other that no one really understands.

bumi ii & sokka also. they have so much in common and they deserve to be besties. bumi ii needs reassurance from someone who understand being the resident nonbender, and sokka needs someone who recognizes and verbalizes that he's amazing and someone worthy of looking up to.

also, naturally, bumi ii & his family. i mean, the sibling relationship was a bit strained, but the three care about each other so much even though they don't get along well. bumi ii is used to looking out for them and taking the blame if kya ii or tenzin did something bad because he wants to protect his siblings the best he can and he may not have magic bending powers, but he can do this. and bumi ii's relationship with aang and katara is definitely better than how they made it seem in the show--change my mind. aang may accidentally give tenzin more attention due to, ya know, airbending, but there is quite simply no way that aang or katara would ever neglect a child as much as the show made it seem. the kataang parents are good parents and i stand by that.

my unpopular opinion about this character: bumi ii has tourette's !!! he got it from his uncle sokka and actually, i headcanon that he actually doesn't curse or say vulgar things a lot because he has some form of coprolalia and always has to curse / say vulgar things against his will, so he does his best not to curse if he isn't being forced. also aroace bumi ii rights.

one thing i wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: i so desperately wish that bumi ii had tourette's in canon... y'all have no idea... i also hate the way that the show had him join the military like ??? that's just weird and i just. did not like it that much ??? so i wish it happened differently. no. you know how i wish it happened? since he has coprolalia, he struggled to find jobs willing to hire him. the other sailors didn't care that sometimes he yelled inappropriate things--it didn't matter to them.

and, lastly, may i suggest reading never been in love (and it's all good) by my bestie @zukkaclawthorne ! it is an aro bumi ii fic about him coming out and it's the content we don't deserve but cherish <3

#t4t-ummiurk #corey rambles:) #bumi ii with tourette’s #aro bumi ii #i said what i said and stand by it #he / they kai my beloved #and i just. have so many feelings about bumi ii and my love for him. i adore him. #thanks for indulging me and sorry i'm responding to it so late lol #this was fun <3

[pencilscratchins]

ma'am do you have some spare iroh ii and grandpa sokka headcanons?

oh this made me soft as hell, you menace 

• i think iroh takes an interest in sailing really young- he just has natural sea legs, which means he constantly is begging his parents to let him spend time with his grandpas in the south pole (i think they move there more or less for good when zuko steps down) • • izumi, for all she does take after sokka, never took to sailing after her ice dodging (probably because she just made bumi run the ship whenever she needed to get anywhere) and izumi’s first born, kanna is an engineering prodigy but doesn’t know a stern from a bow-- so sokka is very excited to have a buddy. • • when iroh begs and begs to do his ice dodging, izumi is like “absolutely NOT” and sokkas like “we let you do it!” izumi: “that’s different” zuko: “you’re right. iroh’s not a nerd♥” • he’s obsessed with the stars, but particularly the water tribe’s names & stories attached to them. sokka used to tell him the stories to get to sleep at night, but he used to fight off sleep to head them all. when he astronavigates, he always uses water tribe terms and refers to the moon by her name. • iroh was a very pensive kid- he soaked up information like a sponge, so he basically hung off the edge of every word sokka said. Its very zuko & iroh 1 relationship • • it annoys the hell out of his UF crew because he’s constantly like “my grandpa always said...” • a lot like sokka, he struggles with public speaking at first, so sokka would sit up with him and let iroh practice his speeches as many times as he needed to. • sokka called him “lion seal” as a kid but when iroh grows out of that, it changes to “ro”, though sokka still secretly calls him lion seal to zuko. • when iroh has his first crush, he soon realizes that unfortunately, he took after his mother & zuko when it comes to flirting and is. awful. just... hatefully bad. • • sokkas like “hey, who better to train you out of that than me? the man who was able to look past that” and zuko is like “alright mr. let’s do an activity” • sokka was so proud when he joined the forces -- they would write to each other constantly. • he’s a terrible pia sho player and sokka has never taken it easy on him. • oomph im about to make an attempt at angst so im terribly sorry. • when sokka dies, iroh takes it really hard. his family’s not big on the emotional talk, and this wasn’t any different. zuko was clearly heartbroken, but he took it like his uncle had taken the passing of his wife, and went quiet. kanna was ever the optimistic and tried to look at the positive, only talked about good memories-- katara, who was tired of losing people she loved, did the same. his father was supportive, but didn’t understand. iroh felt like he was the only one who was feeling it. • • he wanted to spend the night of his funeral in sokka’s old study, going over his blueprints over and over, but when he got there; he found his mother, already wrapped in her dad’s journals. and he was a little surprised-- izumi was always very refined in her feelings. • • they just looked at each other for a bit, before she told him in a small voice “you always had his smile” and even though they both knew that wasn’t possible possible, they both knew it was true. •  •  • they didn’t speak much more that night, but they sat together and reminded each other they weren’t alone, and how similarly they both loved him. • ANYWAY feelings aside, iroh is ambidextrous and is convinced its because sokka trained him to be. kanna has told him 100 times thats not possible but he refuses to believe that.

#florjaanu #iroh ii #implied zukka #ask #not art #long post #long response #head canon #headcanon #headcanons #lok #THANKS FOR MAKING ME FEEL THINGS #oof this is one of those posts where even im like #oh #im projecting #i can see that #im projecting big time #ANY WAY #SKSKSK #sorry i was v close with my grandpa im sure that comes across lmaooOO

[melzula]

hi ! i don’t know if this counts as a whole prompt, but could i request some iroh ii ? maybe their reunion when kya’s daughter went back with bumi to the fire nation and their whole reunion to wedding story ?

a/n: I just did the reunion part of this because it would be hard to cram the whole timeline into one piece aha but nonetheless enjoy!

*based off of these hc’s

The cool breeze of the ocean air does little to calm your nerves as you fidget with the beads that wrap themselves neatly around your wrist and stare out into the open water. The Fire Nation docks are fast approaching, and you foolishly wonder if everything will be the same as it was when you left it behind all those years ago. You wonder if he is still the same, fearing for a moment that perhaps he has forgotten you after being apart for so long, but you don’t have time to dwell on your anxieties when a firm clap on your shoulder breaks you from your thoughts.

“Why the long face, kiddo?” Your Uncle Bumi grins. “I thought you’d be happier to be back here.”

“I am,” you reassure him, “it’s just I’m a little nervous is all. I haven’t been here in so long...”

“Well I’m sure the royals will be happy to see you,” he says. “You were Lord Zuko’s star student after all, and General Iroh is always asking about you.”

“He is?” You gasp, doing your best to quell the excitement that bubbles up inside of you at the news. You always brushed off your infatuation with the General as a silly childhood crush, but if that were the case then the mere mention of him shouldn’t have made you as cheerful as it did.

“Of course! Why do you think I brought you out here with me? Some good old nostalgia would be perfect for you!”

“Uncle,” you say with a pointed look. Bumi grins sheepishly.

“You could use a friend, y/n. And so could Iroh.”

You don’t get the chance to argue or insist that you’re fine, that you’re perfectly okay with the fact that your best friend is your Gran Gran, as the ship pulls into the docks and Fire Nation guards arrive to escort you to the palace. None of them are familiar to you, most of the men you’d known as a child having retired by now, but they still greet you with the same kindness as always, a perk of being the Avatar’s granddaughter and the Commander’s niece.

“I have to prepare for the meeting,” your uncle says as you reach the front gates and are permitted entry to the palace, “but if you want to head off and look for some old friends or even just explore your old playing grounds go right ahead.”

“Good look with the meeting, Uncle Bumi,” you reply before gifting the man a kiss on the cheek and parting ways with him for now.

You find yourself wandering into the gardens, admiring the blooming fire lilies and enjoying the refreshing breeze that blows cooly against your face as you reminisce on the memories you hold in this very spot. If you look hard enough you can almost see yourself sitting underneath the shade of the tree with Zuko and his grandson studying fire bending scrolls and enjoying cups of tea. Life had been so quiet and simple then, so peaceful. Maybe Bumi was right about needing a friend; you’d never felt lonelier in your entire life than you did now looking upon old childhood memories.

“Y/n?” A voice calls almost hesitantly, void of the confidence he’d always held, and despite the fact that your heart catches in your throat at the sound of his voice you will yourself to turn around and face the man you never stopped thinking about.

You can’t help the way your mouth hangs agape at the sight of him; he’d always been a good looking boy, but over the years Iroh had grown into the handsomest man you’d ever seen. He was beautiful with his strong jaw and shimmering gold irises, and despite how much he’d changed over the years he still held that same boyish grin you’d taken comfort in many times before.

“Iroh,” you finally say, heat crawling up your neck as you smile shyly. He’s rushing towards you in an instant, pulling you into his chest for a tight hug and laughing with pure unadulterated joy.

“I almost didn’t recognize you,” he admits with a sheepish grin, hands resting on your shoulders as he pulls away and looks you in the eyes. You don’t know it, but he’s just as taken back by your beauty. He was used to seeing you running around in your pigtails with your wide smile and a few teeth missing; you were absolutely radiant, your features maturing with the time that had passed, but your eyes still held that same twinkle they always did.

“It’s so good to you, old friend,” you say, smiling fondly as you rest a hand upon his cheek. “I’ve missed you.”

“So have I,” he replies, and you don’t miss the way he seems to melt into your touch. “I have a meeting to attend to, but perhaps you’d like to accompany me to dinner tonight? I want to hear about all of your adventures.”

“Dinner sounds lovely.”

“Perfect,” Iroh grins, “I’ll see you then.”

He parts from you then with a kiss on the cheek, leaving you with a dazed smile alone in the gardens as you watch him walk into the palace.

“We’re having dinner,” you murmur quietly to yourself, an excited smile pulling at your lips as you rush towards your assigned quarters to prepare.

~~~

“A date with the General, huh?”

“It’s not a date, Uncle Bumi,” you remind him as you sit before the vanity and slip on your favorite pair of earrings, a pair your mother had bought for you once during your travels, “it’s just dinner.”

“Sounds like a date to me,” he teases with a knowing grin. “You know, I always had a feeling about you two.”

“You said the same thing about Uncle Tenzin and Aunt Lin,” you retort only for Bumi to grimace.

“I never said it was a good feeling.”

“It’s not a big deal,” you shrug nonchalantly. “We’re just two old friends who want to catch up with each other.”

Oh, but it actually is a very big deal for you. You can’t remember the last time anyone has taken you out to dinner or the last time you had actually dressed yourself up for someone else, and frankly you don’t know why you’re so nervous. It’s Iroh, after all, your childhood friend, why should you be nervous?

“Oh, I’ll walk you out!” Your Uncle exclaims excitedly once you put the finishing touches on your ensamble, and before you can even get up from your chair Bumi is yanking you onto your feet and dragging you out of the room towards the front gates where Iroh is presumably waiting for you. “I only wish your mother were here to see this!”

“Uncle,” you groan in quiet embarrassment, “you seem more excited than I am.”

“What? That’s nonsense!” Bumi scoffs. “Can’t I just appreciate the romanticism that comes with seeing old friends?”

“I see you’re a poet much like your father,” a third voice intrudes, a smiling Iroh startling both you and your uncle. “I hope I’m not interrupting.”

“No, not at all!” Bumi says before you can so much as open your mouth to reply. “In fact I was just leaving. You kids have fun! Oh, and uh, bring her back home safe and sound and all that protective Uncle junk I’m supposed to say.”

“Of course, Commander,” he says with a slight laugh before turning to you. “Are you ready?”

“I am,” you smile, making sure to give your Uncle a chaste kiss to the cheek before taking Iroh’s outstretched and following him out the front gates. Your Uncle watches your retreating forms with a faint smile and a mischievous glint in his eye.

“Phase one of my matchmaking plan is complete.”

~~~

The royal plaza is beautiful at night. Lanterns hang from the skies and bathe the streets in their golden hue. The restaurants and shops are bustling with customers as lovers, families, and friends all spend their evenings out on the town. No one seems to notice your presence— Iroh had insisted that no guards were needed to escort you both— and for that you are grateful.

“Hungry for anything in particular? I know you were especially fond of dumplings when we were children,” Iroh notes with a chuckle.

“I’d love anything spicy. As much as I enjoy sea prunes and seal jerky, nothing in the south really has that same kick to it that Fire Nation food has.”

“I know the perfect place,” Iroh says, and you have to fight against the way your stomach seems to summersault when he takes your hand in his own and weaves you through the streets.

You end up in a quiet little restaurant together where the food is fresh and the hostess is the sweetest little old lady you’ve ever met, though she brings you way more food than you ordered. You’re eager to scarf down the spicy noodles and steaming buns, so eager in fact that you don’t notice the love stricken way in which Iroh watches you practically inhale your food.

“How’s your family?” He asks behind his cup of tea.

“Good. Gran Gran has been training the new Avatar and my mother helps where she can. My Uncle Tenzin and Aunt Pema just had a new baby not too long ago, a son named Meelo.”

“That’s amazing,” Iroh smiles, “congratulations on your new cousin.”

“Thank you. Our family is certainly growing,” you say with a slight laugh. “And how are things with you and your family?”

“I have to admit, I haven’t really been home much to know,” Iroh chuckles. “This visit is also my first time back in a while. Mother is a gracious ruler and the people love her, my sister is still living her quiet life with her husband out on the farm, and my grandfather comes back and forth all the time. Everyone seems to be happy.”

“And are you happy?”

“I like to think so. I’m the youngest General in the United Forces which is a great accomplishment, and I’m having dinner with a friend I thought I’d never see again, so yes, I’m very happy,” he notes with a wink. You can’t help but roll your eyes at his slyness, a small huff blowing past your nose.

“Don’t be so dramatic,” you tease.

“Really, y/n,” Iroh says, all features void of his previous humor as they morph into a more tender nature. He reaches across the table and rests a hand across your own, a faint smile on his lips. “I’ve missed you, and I’m so happy you’re here.”

“Me too,” you admit with a tiny smile. “It’s been hard without you, friend.”

“Friend,” Iroh repeats with a small sigh, but his smile never falters. He pays for your meal and offers you his arm to guide you back to the palace; you talk about old memories and new ones, your adventures during your time apart, and your excitement to create new ones together. You’ve never been happier, and for the first time in a long time the loneliness that normally gnaws at your spirit is nowhere to be found.

“Can you find your room okay?” Iroh asks as you reach the front doors of the palace.

“I can,” you nod with a smile. “I’m actually staying in the room I had when I was a kid.”

“Go figure,” he laughs softly before gracing you with a sweet smile. “Thank you for accompanying me to dinner tonight. Will I see you tomorrow?”

“You will.”

“Good. I look forward to it,” Iroh says. “Sleep well, y/n.”

“Goodnight, Iroh,” you utter with a small smile, making sure to gift him a kiss on the cheek before disappearing inside. Stunned, the General stands frozen in place with a dazed smile on his face. He hasn’t felt this way about anyone in such a long time, hadn’t felt such genuine excitement and joy, and he had to admit that it somewhat intimidated him. He’d always seen you as the girl he’d grown up with, the one he’d spent his time with stealing desserts from the kitchen and running through the hallways, but now...

“Spirits,” Iroh exclaims with a breathless laugh. “I think I’m in love.”

In the gardens sits the trio of adults who watch the scene unfold before them, knowing looks exchanged among them as they sip their tea and watch Iroh disappear into the palace.

“They make a handsome pair, don’t they?” Zuko notes offhandedly to his daughter. “I give them a month.”

“A month?” Bumi snorts. “No way! Three weeks maybe, but not a month.”

“I have more faith in my son than that,” Izumi says with the shake of her head. “One week.”

“One week?!” The Commander exclaims with a laugh. “Oh, you’re on!”

“Betting over the love life of my grandson and my former student was not how I pictured spending my retirement,” Zuko sighs, but there’s a smile on his face as he considers his grandson courting the granddaughter of his best friend. Life has a funny way of working out sometimes.

And it was going to work out for you and Iroh.

| iroh/atla tags: @nataliahaslosthershit @zukh03s @rainteslerrrr @simpinforsukka |

#iroh ll #general iroh #iroh #general iroh x reader #general iroh imagine #iroh ll x reader #iroh ll imagine #iroh x reader #iroh imagine #kya #kya x daughter!reader #bumi #bumi x reader #the legend of korra #lok #lok x reader #lok imagine #atla #request

[zukkaoru]

uhhh uhhh uhhh i know a lot about you already ummmm top five my first thought is anklets but that’s weird and also because i was just looking at mine ummmm niche headcanons for any fandom??? spread your niche headcanons !!! you can do as many as you want 💕

ohhhh boy i have so many niche headcanons (which obviously you already know) but i will also do my top five anklets for you bc i want to

top ten niche headcanons (in no particular order):

1. nonbinary jinora!! she/they jinora!! just,, something something eldest daughter syndrome and always identifying yourself as a sister before all else but as you grow up sister still feels right but woman doesn't and no this isn't self projection what are you talking about

2. cherry with adhd. listen you're telling me carla wasn't the result of him hyperfixating? i don't think so.

3. genderfluid (/nonbinary/genderqueer) cherry. he just is you literally cannot convince me otherwise idc idc

4. nearsighted jinora. literally i do not care what you say i'm diagnosing jinora with nearsightedness and i'm right because i'm nearsighted

5. ACE YUE!!!! ig this might not necessarily be considered niche anymore but it's still not a common tag on ao3 so

6. hard of hearing ikki. this one is based in like. nothing. i am aware of this. but still i will believe it and love it forever <3

7. aroace bumi ii. he just is. you're telling me all those adventures he went on while part of the united nations, all those places he visited, and being the avatar's son, and he never makes reference to being in a relationship? he's aroace

8. okay we're reaching back here for this but. ace henry mills. i just think he deserved to be ace and i don't count anything past the season 3 finale as canon but also i don't care about season seven henry. he's ace. you literally can't prove me wrong. oh he has a kid SO???? lots of ace people have kids

9. nonbinary lesbian ashlyn caswell. have not watched season two of hsmtmts. don't care about season two of hsmtmts. ashlyn is a nonbinary lesbian and literally you can't convince me otherwise. big red is transmasc and gay and they're both just figuring out the difference between romantic and platonic attraction and that's okay <3 (+ 9.5. while we're talking about this show. seb is also nonbinary and ej is aromantic <3)

10. demiromantic/demisexual ezekiel jones. literally just watch and the curse of cindy and tell me i'm wrong. you can't. the curse didn't work because he's demi!!!!! i don't care what he said about oh it's bc i already saw her once no. no. it's because he's demi.

bonus: destiel shipper joe & gleek cherry

okay the anklets are under the cut bc this is already kinda long oops

top five anklets:

1. the lesbian pride anklet. i just think that "do you want me to make you a pride anklet" is the absolute best response you could have given to me coming out tbh and also i love wearing it around my family and my sisters asking "what's that one for?" and being like "it's a secret"

2. the one you made based off of this ultraviolet morning light. genuinely just love that you made me an anklet based off my fic ily🥺

3. the cherry blossom anklet. just bc he's always on my mind rn

4. the zukka anklet because they

5. idk why but the colors of the kya ii anklet are just. chef's kiss. i love that one

honorary mention to the abby lee dance company anklet and also i feel like i should give a shoutout to the anklet that my family got for me when they were in florida

#i have. so many more niche headcanons i could list but i feel like ten is enough skdjgfjdkh #WAIT I FORGOT ABOUT DEMI ROBIN HOOD HOW COULD I #rip :((( #and like. obviously sokka with ts and reki with ts should be on the list too but i feel like everyone knows i love those #so i wanted to add some that i don't talk about as much skdhfkd #anyway thank you very much for this ask corey #i am ALWAYS down to talk about my niche headcanons #corey tag #ask game

[hello-yue-here]

Sukitara (with and without past sukka) and kyalin (with and without past tenzlin) qwq for the ask game 👉👈

sukitara

with past sukka-dont ship

1) i dont ship sukitara because i genuinely think they would be like the best gal pal duo. to me ive always seen them as super close best friends and they remind me of me and my best friend because my best friend is katara to a goddamn t. (she thinks im zuko but our dynamic is such a suki katara friendship) and idk i rlly just prefer them as best friends

2) maybe is the ship didnt remind me of my best friend and i i could ship it more. also if past sukka is in the equation i rlly dont think katara would date sokkas ex. i dont see that in the equation i dont think shed do that to him because i have a feeling sokka could be kinda weird ab that like bro thats my sister. hed be supportive ofc but also like,, i think itd be awk.

3) just as all the other ships i dont ship if i saw a rlly good argument as to why they could work or maybe a rlly cute fic or fanart of them my opinion could be easily swayed! my opinions on ships change all. the. time. i used to not shup zutara and then i saw the CUTEST fanart for them and decided “i need to read a fic for them rn to see if i actually like it” and the zutarians reccomended so many amazing fics and now i firmly ship zutara! who knows i may ship sukitara tomorrow lmao

sukitara- without past sukka

kinda ship??? idk im neutral ig on this

1) i like the idea of it but idk im still linda sceptical ab it. i still see them as best friends hut also... best friends to lovers is an ELITE TROPE. like theyd already be so close and know everything ab one another and just add love and romance to it? omg so cute. shit i think i may have just changed my own mind ab it LMAO

2) seeing as there is no past sukka in this form of the ship i like it a lot better because siblings dating exes always sits weird with me. like if i dated one of my sisters ex boyfriends that would be soooooooo weird to me. but thTs just me!! and since there is no past sukka thats not an issue anymore. okay yeah ive changed my mind i do ship sukitara with no past sukka lmao. i think if sukka was a ship at some point in whatever universe theyre in theyd end up married lol. i dont believe in past sukka. its sukka or bust for me. but not past sukka means sokka and suki are shipped with other ppl in my little universe im thinking of. i dont know if any of this makes sense oopsies.

3) i guess since ive decided i ship this now something i dislike about the ship is the fact that ive literally seen maybe one (1) piece of content for them and that was as a minor minor minor background ship for a zukka fic. if i rlly wanna ship this im gonna need more content lol.

kyalin with past tenzlin and without past tenzlin

SHIP BOTH WAYS

1) i ship this so hard because even watching lok for the first time the first time i saw lin i thought she was gonna be a lesbian and then they said she used to date tenzin and i was like,,, wtf. im sorry i could never picture the two of them together. but kyalin makes so much sense in my fantasy. when i first saw fanart for them i was like omg this is gorgeous.

2) i like this ship because theyre both badass milfs. i like old wlw relationships because so many wlw relationships are between teenagers or young adults in lretty much any fandom and this gives fans a fanon glimpse of some lasting loving older wlw (for lack of better word) representation (ik its not representation since it isnt canon but its the best word i can think of) and i think thats so heartwarming and cute because we deserve stories of wlw relationships that last past teenage and young adult years. lifelong loves people!!!

3) i genuinely dont have anything i dislike ab this ship. i see content for them a LOT and i dont rlly read lok fics all the much but im sure if i did i think id see a decent amount of kyalin stories because of how popular they seem to be on tumblr. also suggestion: kyalinzumi. i saw some art for the three of them once and even tho i lowkey ship izumi wnd bumi ii i thought oh my god this is SO CUTE. and i loved it. just something to think about. i love milfs lmao.

#sukitara #katara #suki #kyalin #kya ll #lin beifong #this is so much fun #as always these opinions and hc are my own so feel free to disagree!!

[theotherace]

Hey Der! I know you have a big extended family for Taang (maybe even Sukka and Zutara too!), but are there any facts or HCs about grandkids of the Gaang that you can share?

Hm. Enabling me, I see. Well. This is gonna get long, lmao.

The kids in these two drawings are only half canon to my main AU, by which I mean they might be changed and switched out at my convenience. I might have to replace some boys with girls, because there's always too many boys. The only one's I'm actually attached to (already) are these two:

and him:

The first two boys are Wan and Jin, the sons of Bumi and Kya II. So Taang and Zutara's grandsons. Wan (on the left) is the older one, which obviously isn't very visible here. He's an airbender. Jin is a non-bender. There are a lot of rumours flying around about their paternity, because their parents are neither, and that's despite the fact that Wan is basically Bumi with blue eyes and that Jin definitely has his dad's eyes. It gets to them, Jin especially, because with Wan it's like: Well, our grandpa's an airbender, it just skipped a generation. But I feel like there's a certain stigma to being born a non-bender to two benders, especially when you come form Fire Lords and Avatars. And then there's people saying his dad's not his dad because he can't make fire. It's sucks.

I'm attached to them because I used to think about them going out, being vigilantes together:

(Yes, there's art. Obviously. Their looks changed quite a bit.)

I'm getting back into comics, so who knows, maybe I will one day resurrect this niche, self-indulgent superhero AU. I do kinda like the thought of them hearing stories about the Blue Spirit and the Painted Lady and sneaking out for Earth Rumbles from their grandparents and going: Well, we can do that! And of they went, two princes of the Fire Nation called Beifong, off to safe their city. I mean, really what else would one expect when combing Zuko, Katara, Aang, and Toph's genes? Dramatic-ass superhero wannabes, that's what. Jin's less excited about it than Wan, lol, but he follows along anyway, because somebody has to make sure his big brother doesn't get himself killed. And then he also gets into it.

Aguta is the only child of Norbu (and Miki, who barely even exists yet). I guess I'm less attached to really him and more to how he happened? I dunno. Norbu's ace (hello, projection), and he has a lot of fears and anxieties around relationships and intimacy, because sex seems important, and really, he's not interested in that at all, but at the same time, he's acutely aware of how few airbenders there are in the world, and that he kinda ... needs to have a child or two if he wants them to not die out. When he meets Miki, he's in his thirties and this eats away at him. Most people he tells about his troubles are understanding but not necessarily willing to deal with it in a long-term relationship. She is, though, because she gets it. Not the airbender part, of course, she's a non-bender from the South Pole, but the sex part. She's not that into it, either. They eventually have Aguta, obviously, who I don't know much about other than he is indeed an airbender and that that isn't the only reason his parents had him. He looks a bit like Sokka up there, because of the hair, but they're not related. He's a gentle guy with a lot of Grandpa Aang in him.

Otherwise! I know that Metok takes a lot after his dad. He's the oldest grandkid and takes that role quite seriously. His younger siblings take more after their mom, who is very carefree, at least compared to Tenzin. They live in the Fire Nation, close to Grandmas Mai and Ty Lee, and travel on occasion because they are still Air Nomads. Metok's a non-bender like Dawa. I think I wrote down somewhere what the rest of them bend or don't bend, too, but I'm too lazy to search for it now. Also, I do kind of love Metok, because he's the first grandchild I made up and the first I drew. I don't think I could ever change him much, either.

Kavi has three kids. He's only biologically related to two of them. Probably. They bend air, so there's a high chance. Not that it matters, really. These kids grow up on the road like Kavi did, and they grow up with a very loose, fluid definition of family. There's rumours about their parentage, too, and tons of judgemental people, but they've been taught very early on, before that gossip could even reach their ears, that blood isn't what matters. That Nuka's Kavi's kid even if he didn't help make her and that Mattaq loves Mida and Kipu even if they don't look like him, and that family is who they decide to make it, and that there's nothing wrong with the way they live and love and all that stuff as long as everybody involved is happy.

Li Wei receives similar talks, because he's adopted, and he was adopted at four or five, so there's a lot of reassuring that things are alright and that his moms love him and that he belongs, because while I'm not entirely certain what happened before he was adopted (yet), I do know he didn't have it easy. He's a goofy kid, usually. Not always the brightest but definitely one of the kindest people around. He is a very recent addition, actually, because Asha doesn't have any kids in my document, but I kinda like him now.

I mean, I kinda like all of them. If I ever get to a point in "the most important mark" where a NextNextGen actually comes into play, we'll see if I use all of them or none of them.

And ... that's the Taang grandkids. Also two for Zutara and four for MaiLee. Gotta admit that the NextGen kids not related to Taang are not nearly as fleshed out as the Dunebabies are (especially Ursa, Koji and the Bladebabies), but ... all in due time, I guess. These are already too many OCs, anyway, lol.

Thank you for the ask! I'm not sure if I acutally answered it properly.

#atla #avatar: the last airbender #original characters #dunebabies #taang #god i'm not tagging all these children #i'm not even sure of the names of tenzin and dawa's kids right now honestly

[kuchenprince]

ATLA Q&A

Thanks to @ohmygodtheywereparabatai for tagging me!

Btw, this is the first time someone tagged me for this kind of things and im so scared lmao so I’ll try my best!

General questions:

1. What’s your favorite character?

Zhao, Lin, Kuvira, Tarrlok

Guess my type 👉👈

2. What’s your comfort character?

ZHAO, and I don’t know why. He’s just so powerful and so intelligent; I want him to protect me and spoil me, but also I want him to know that he’s really important to someone me and that i’ll literally would die for him. I want to hug him, feel how he’s startled at first, but then give up and hug me back.

Please help me.

3. Which element would you bend if you could chose?

In every quiz that I took, I’m a fire bender, but I really want to be an earth bender, and metal bender if that’s possible.

4. What’s your favorite nation?

Each nation has it’s unique things, so it’s really hard to choose one. I’ll choose Earth Kingdom here since it’s lively and pretty well-balanced (not too icy, not too dark, not too high)

5. What makes you love ATLA the most?

Actually, ATLA it’s not part of my childhood (I didn’t have nickelodeon when i was a kid!), but I started to use socialmedia, and got into fandoms, specially in tumblr, I saw many people talking about Avatar. I knew about this cartoon, but I didn’t really care because I thought “Meh, it’s just a gringada”. So when I started to watch it, I had really low expectations, but with only the first episode, I was going crazy.

Not just because of the animation (specially in the fights!), the first thing that really atracted me, but also all the cultural inspirations packed up without forcing it, without wanting to look “inclusive”.

In ATLA, I didn’t really pay attention to the story, but in TLOK... Boi, it’s just too beautiful. The story, the philosophy.*insert Pacha meme.png*

Could get you attacked questions:

1. What’s your least favorite character from the gaang?

KA TA RA

Actually it’s my least favorite character or ATLA. Why? Because she’s annoying. I know that she’s talented, intelligent, caring, brave and did a great job as the mom of the gaang, and I really understand that she, in fact, it’s a kid; but yeah, I consider her as annoying somethimes.

2. What character you think it’s severely underrated?

I won’t say that they are underrated, but I want to know more about the back stories of villains like Long Feng or Zhao of course. Also I would love to know more about the Bumis (king Bumi and Aang’s Son)

3. What’s your least favorite nation?

Wow, I just don’t know! Maybe by discard would be fire nation, but there’s no reason.

4. What’s your controversial ATLA opinion?

Well, I already told something controversial here in this post, and there’s another in the shipping questions 🙊

Shipping questions:

1. What’s your favorite ship and why?

I’m not really into shipping in ATLA, not because I don’t like it, but because I wasn’t interested. But if I have to choose, it would be Sukka, and from TLOK, KyaLin and Zhurrick

2. What’s your least favorite ship and why?

Maiko and Zutara, because these three characters has too much similarities (Mai And Zuko equally hate the world, and Katara and Zuko have family issues that can’t overcome), and I don’t like to ship characters that are too similar.

3. Do you sometimes self-insert?

You mean, always - Yes.

4. What’s your crack ship?

As I already said, I’m not really into shipping in ATLA, but sometimes I wonder if Long Feng with Katara or with Toph, and Korra and Kuvira would be interesting. Oohh and what about Tenzin with Tarrlock? Or Iroh II with Korra? Or Tahno with Korra?? Also, I support Korrlock

5. Which non canon ship would you make happen if you were the creator?

Dude, JINKO or Song with Zuko!

...

I had a lot of fun answering these questions, and since I don't really talk with people here, I invite anyone who sees this to take this q&a 💕

#atla #q&a #tlok #atla zhao #tlok kuvira #tlok lin beifong #tlok tarrlock

[ashtonq247]

SOKKA CENTRIC FICS

Here are some Sokka centric fics! Most of these works are not labeled as Sokka centric and so it’s very hard to find! There’s only 64 fics out of 15019 fics 

Keep in mind I did not do any Zukka or Tokka fics bc I did not want to wade through that esp bc Zukka fics are 80% Zuko centric. It’s also possible that I missed some fics as, again, they are kinda hard to get a hold of. I literally had to block the Zuko tag at one point bc if Zuko was a character in the fic, it was going to be about Zuko, and it was just a lot to wade through to find that one fic where Zuko was a character but wasn’t the main character. I think my chrome shut down at some point which could have caused me to not include some fics. Basically I’m saying I didn’t get everything but I got MOST of it. Like 80% of it, even if I didn't include things I personally don't really like to read-sorry. Show this to anyone who says Sokka isn’t underrated! my man got 64 out of 15019 fics! 

Also, PLEASE KUDOS THESE STORIES 👏👏👏👏 so many of them have far too little kudos and deserve more love! I think bc ppl are kinda bad with tagging, some of these stories hardly get any hits! Give them some love. And reblog this so other Sokka stans don’t have to wade through so much fics like I had to (seriously I’ve seen some crazy fics you would not believe *shivers*) bc it’s hard to find a needle in a haystack

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Aang

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14326722 - cute tickle fight (pure fluff :DD)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14984378 - Aang and nightmares, and Sokka and his big brother instincts

https://archiveofourown.org/works/488040 - Sokka and Tenzin, Sokka gets the news that Aang died (set in LOK)

-there is very little Aang and Sokka fanfic, let alone Sokka centric Aang and Sokka fanfic :(

Toph

https://archiveofourown.org/works/1885884 - Sokka makes smth for Toph 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/15472509 - Toph dreams abt the airships

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24720889 - “In the bad dreams, he loses his grip. In the worst ones he lets go”

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25229905 - Sokka teaches Toph to write her name

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14718887 - Toph and hands, Sokka being her favorite hand to hold

https://archiveofourown.org/works/53498 -Sokka stuck in a cave

-there’s quite a lot of Toph and Sokka stories, not necessarily abt Sokka tho. They kinda go hand in hand, so it’s not really about one or the other.

Katara

https://archiveofourown.org/works/15288189 - before they leave to fight Azula/airships 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/19946611 -Sokka sick fic :)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22005709 -katara apologises for what she said to Sokka

https://archiveofourown.org/works/2277381 - Sokka wants to teach katara how to fight (also this is the first atla fanfic on AO3 that isn’t fucking weird lol)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/2523782 - the gaang is too young and too starving :(

https://archiveofourown.org/works/18452795 - the only bender!Sokka story that has interested me bc it doesn’t take away from his character. It’s also vry satisfying to read

https://archiveofourown.org/works/404527 - Sokka’s feelings after his mom’s death- childhood

https://archiveofourown.org/works/404522 - “After the war Sokka says goodbye to his sister and the Southern Watertribe

-I wish there were more Sokka and Katara stories of before they met Aang.It’d be cute and angsty.

Zuko

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25243948 - The gaang plays hide and seek/train, Zuko and Sokka team up to make a prtty good team- Sokka is rlly bad ass in this ;D it’s one of my favorites ngl

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24809161/chapters/60002182 - fire nation sokka- oof this one hurts :,)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22305031 - like the only modern au that I rlly like, featuring Sokka on cactus juice and… McDonalds employee Zuko lol

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24462145 - Sokka gets kidnapped. Sokka is… very Sokka ish in this

https://archiveofourown.org/works/21475717/chapters/51180856#workskin -Zuko is a fire nation spirit, featuring Jet

-Zuko and Sokka stories tend to be well written, but it’s rlly hard trying to find a story with both of them that isn’t Zuko centric, and even some of the stories I have here are borderline Zuko centric 

Suki 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/12270624 - what Sokka feels every full moon

https://archiveofourown.org/works/1338157 - stars, and both suki and Sokka contemplate being away from home

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24423484 - “Sokka and learning to let himself be loved”

https://archiveofourown.org/works/648200 - “she should be jealous, she knows, of this ghost that clings to sokka”- it’s short but I love this one 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25290874 - set right after boiling rock before they go back to the air temple. 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/334919 - Sokka and suki dig up the secret library and try to strike a deal with its caretaker

The gaang

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14348382 -basically a re telling of the Sokka’s master ep, but in Sokka’s POV 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/16303286 - the meaning of tattoos, and non bender tattoos 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24426670 - “the gaang has a sleepover and Sokka manages to reforge bonds between the four nations while he’s unconscious”

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22252 -Sokka thinks of his place in the gaang (set after season 2) 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24439972 - the gaang needs a potty brake and Sokka is annoyed (pure fluff :DD)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24559357/chapters/59308846#workskin - spirit sensitive Sokka! Very interesting I’m invested and there’s only 2 chapters so far TvT (featuring Sokka w/ white hair 😩👌✨)

Hakoda 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25004614 - Sokka being a child soldier, and Hakoda’s regret

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22964113 - “how all the members of team avatar discover their bending abilities”

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25003291 - “Sokka gives himself his first warrior’s wolf tail” (pure fluff :DD)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24580543 -Sokka throws his first boomerang https://archiveofourown.org/works/24720004 - why Sokka never grew his hair out- child soldier/ insecurity stuff

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24384172 - Sokka tells his dad about Yue 

Piandao 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/686093 - Sokka asks piandao to continue training him

https://archiveofourown.org/works/582971 - Sokka visits piandao to make a new sword and ask a question

https://archiveofourown.org/works/570663 - kinda piandao centric, but also Sokka centric? Piandao’s backstory and father figure feels :)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/566995 - Sokka believes he’s simply ordinary, nothing special about him

https://archiveofourown.org/works/11580402 - “we do not induct children into the Order, Piandao!”

-there needs to be more Sokka and Piandao fics and I’m pissed because there’s more Zuko and piandao fics then there is Sokka and piando what kinda bs is this??

Yue

https://archiveofourown.org/works/2676488 - kinda Yue centric but like Sokka centric too? It’s about her sacrifice and why, and the love she feels for him

https://archiveofourown.org/works/3443258 - it’s a full moon the night before Sokka and the other councilman judge a blood bender (set during that one ep in lok with that blood blender dude)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24872200 - Sokka and Bumi (katara’s kid) have a sleepover. Sokka and old wounds

-I’m surprised there’s not more of them. Yue is always mentioned in Sokka centric fics, but not really the center of it

Other

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24059851/chapters/57900052 - Sokka and Momo. I think this is spirit sensitive Sokka story abt Sokka being able to process his grief (also friendship with Momo yes)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/567004 - Sokka and boomerang, right after the war

https://archiveofourown.org/works/13064682 - an au of sorts, dealing with a spirit in the southern water tribe that steals ppl. And like it’s sorta the only Kya and Sokka fanfic out there?? As far as I’m aware anyway

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25209895 - a Sokka character study: he has more to him than meets the eye

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24636988 - Sokka before Aang, this is explaining why he’s the way he is

https://archiveofourown.org/works/12611212 - Sokka meets a wolf spirit in the spirit world who questions his worth

https://archiveofourown.org/works/17201468/chapters/40447214 - haven’t actually read this srry all I know is that it’s time travel au, Sokka centric, and is one of the only stories with a lot of chapters (11 as of now)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/331690/chapters/535433 - “a series of unrelated drabbles centered around Sokka and his awesomeness” -29 chapters as of now (I haven’t read this one either)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/155711 -finally a story where Sokka is a strategic genius using his brains to help his friends and politics- set after the war

https://archiveofourown.org/works/15992618 - Sokka and Space Sword, an interesting take for what happened after the war, where there isn’t rlly any good guys in war, and Sokka tries to find his sword

https://archiveofourown.org/works/2960030 - set after the war, Sokka returns to the South Pole and finds himself again as just the regular guy

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24722083 - Sokka’s thoughts on himself

https://archiveofourown.org/works/259980 - an au ofsorts, Katara dies by Azula and Aang is missing, and wars don’t just end- Sokka is vry cool in this

https://archiveofourown.org/works/7547833 - Sokka and Kya II-  Sokka has to sit through kya’s singing of secret tunnel (pure fluff :D)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/887394 - Sokka and Kaatang’s and One of Toph’s kids (Sokka babysits, also HE INVENTS DND WHAT MORE COULD U WANT!!!) pure fluff :DD

https://archiveofourown.org/works/4949257 - Uncle Sokka and Bumi’s relationship oof

-Uncle Sokka is highly underrated and so is Sokka’s relationship with his mom. I will also never get enough of character study fics

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What have I learned?? People who are writing a story about Sokka should tag that story as SOKKA CENTRIC. It’ll give ur fic more love, and make it easier for ppl who love Sokka to find a fic about him. Also, on tumblr you see all these great analyses on Sokka, with theories like Spirit sensitive!Sokka, or Sokka working for the white lotus, and yet there are hardly any fics on it??? The untapped potential?!?! We also have no idea what Sokka does in the future (still salty LOK) so this gives us a lot of room to imagine and create stories! Like I need a fanfic on how Sokka does wtf??? You’d have thought that with this atla renaissance and people gaining a new found respect and admiration for Sokka’s character, that there’d be more Sokka focused fics, but nope :( 

I’ve noticed that those who like Sokka don’t contribute to the fandom fic wise and guys we gotta step up (like I’m one to talk lol I’m gonna try and write some fics I swear!) 

Also if you still want more Sokka fics I suggest searching in the tags bender Sokka, water bender Sokka, and fire bender Sokka. I also suggest that you go to fanfiction.net. I know it’s old, but so is this fandom, which means a lot of fics are there too. It’s easier to wade through the fics on fan fiction.net than AO3 simply bc of how little tags you can put there, so if Sokka is tagged, you know he actually plays a part in the story (no shade on AO3 I love it but sometimes it’s hard to find stuff bc the tagging system relies on the people knowing how to use tags, and the avatar fandom does not, but that’s bc it’s old)

Anyway, LOVE SOKKA MORE and don’t forget to reblog and let other ppl get access to these fics bc I know I would have loved it if someone made an entire list! (And organized it lol I never thought I was capable of organizing)

And now I'm gonna tag the ppl who commented on that one post who wanted me to make it @talonsandsuch @ships-and-shitty-decisions @dearestpartnerofgreatness 

#sokka #atla sokka #sokka of the southern water tribe #sokka fanfic #sokka centric #gaang #aang #zuko #katara #toph #suki #hakoda #piandao #ur welcome #Didn't mean for this to take to long #but I got there #sokka analysis #sokka appreciation #sokka appreaciation juice #love sokka #Atla #avatar: the last airbender #Avatar

[loopy777]

Hey-oh, Loopy. Not sure if you already answer this or not, but do you have any headcanons on what types of parents Mai and Zuko will be with Izumi? And do you have a personal headcanon on what you think Izumi’s personality was like as a child based on what you know from couple of scenes that she appears in LOK?

Well, she wears glasses in a setting where they’re very rare, so by the laws of artistic characterization she has to be a huge nerd. However, she also had nice hair and appearance, and the glasses were rather stylish, so I figure she takes more after Mai in terms of personality. That would also fit with her lack of interest of getting into even justified fights (”Just take the bear.”), so it’s a handy shorcut to characterization without anything else to go on.

Rather than making her Mini-Mai, though, I think Izumi should be what Mai would have been if she hadn’t been suppressed and bullied and depressed. So while she might be an introvert (I headcanon Mai as an introvert), she’s one who is nevertheless able to be open and charming for a stretch of time; she just needs some isolated downtime later to recharge. She’s watchful and thoughtful, but puts a friendly smile over it and can dial back the intensity, so no one feels like she’s watching them like a vulture waiting for dinner. She also has many and varied interests, and loves learning new things, which has been encouraged by her parents. She will get bored if she’s stuck without inspiration or mental input of some kind, but the nice thing about being Fire Lord is that there’s always something going on that can interest her.

(Iroh II, for the record, is Zuko Without The Abuse. So it’s not that I’m favoring Mai over him.)

As for Maiko as parents, I think my headcanons match pretty much those of any Maiko shipper. They’re good parents, overcompensating a bit from their own traumas, but succeeding in raising a world leader who genuinely worries about preserving life. I think Zuko worries a lot, at first, about how to be gentle enough with his kid; he knows he comes across as hostile and rude even when he’s not trying to be, so he’s terrified for a bit of scaring little kids. Mai, on the other hand, goes all-in on being a parent; much like how she wasn’t afraid to show affection to Zuko and smile around him, she’s quite free with expressing herself around her kid. She does end up passing on an inappropriate amount of sarcasm, though, and is taken aback the first time her daughter sasses her.

When Izumi fights with her parents, it’s usually she and Mai who are going at it, and it’s a mostly silent war fought exclusively through snide sniping. Zuko’s the one who has to broker peace; with Izumi, he doesn’t get mad, he just does that, “I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed,” and Izumi’s heart breaks. Mai, on the other hand, is free with the, “How could you do something so stupid? I would have been immolated if I had acted like that when I was your age,” which Izumi can’t stand.

Zuko, though, isn’t a perfect parent. He tries to be Izumi’s Firebending teacher, but he’s not really suited for it with her. She gets another, non-family teacher who’s very good and more in tune with Izumi’s specific style. Mai, however, teaches Izumi how to invisibly carry a knife and throw it; in fact, Mai teaches all the gAang’s kids that trick (except Tenzin, who cries the first time he holds a knife), because she feels that being able to defend oneself in every possible situation is just living in the world. Only Bumi, though, goes onto to carry those lessons (and that knife) forward into adulthood. Izumi tries, to satisfying her mother, but often forgets her knife in her bedroom.

#Anonymous

[sloppdaddy]

Chapter two

10 years later…

Aang's Perspective: I have aged 10 years and so have my kids. It is just me on the island. The kids occasionally, Tenzin being the most often, visit me. My youngest boy currently dating Toph’s older daughter is something that I will have to get used to, although it does get Toph to visit the island more. Other than the occasional visitors it will remain just me until Katara returns.

Several years ago we learned that the new avatar is a young water tribe girl from the south named Korra. Katara left to train her in water bending, our daughter Kya alongside her. My eldest son, Bumi, left to join the Fire Nation army. Being a non-bender he says, “I have to give myself a purpose.” I am very proud of him, while he doesn’t always know that. I stayed here to look after the city that we’ve built from the ground up. Recently, there have been smaller issues within our new society that Toph’s Police Force has gracefully handled.

I am extremely grateful for the friendships I made during my youth, for their worth and company has lasted a lifetime. Zuko and Mai are left in the fire nation continuing the repairs of the past. Last I heard from Mai, their daughter Izumi left to travel the world to learn the history of the other nations so she could become a well-cultured firelord. Her son and husband went along with her, teaching Iroh II how to become a leader and master firebender as well. Sokka sends me letters once in a while telling me about what he has accomplished. Sokka, while he is one of Republic City’s most prized ambassadors, returned to the southern water tribe as chief. I miss all my friends dearly, and especially miss my wife Katara. I wonder a lot about how she's doing.

Unlike Sokka, she sends letters once a week, updating me on Korra’s training and on the weekly events. Hearing of Sokka’s success as the chief brings me happiness. I am proud to know that the sarcastic, meathead boy grew into the man that we always knew he would be. Accessing his leadership in the tribe was amazing to hear, his good ideas and funny jokes are sure to help lead the southern water tribe into success. Sokka’s leadership will also help the water tribe become a force to be reckoned with. While I sit in my living room, in my pose, I can’t help but stare at our photo wall. The pictures of my family many years ago, next to the photo of my dear friends, accesses a sudden wave of sadness that covers my body.

I previously had wanted to meditate, but now all I can think of is how lonely I am here. I decide to take Appa to the mainland to visit Toph. Maybe her and I can chat about the city, something to get my mind off of this sadness.

Appa lands on the roof of the police building. I scratch his head and tell him he can return to the island, I still have the bison whistle from many years ago. He grunts and flies away. I descend the stairs to the floor where Toph’s office sits. I see through the glass walls, she’s sitting at her desk, feet up, snoring. This is the Toph I’ve always known. Usually I would knock, but playing a joke on my good friend seems like a better option. I enter silently, closing the door behind me. I send a single gust of air towards her, sending her chair toppling backwards. I hunch over laughing, and her head pops above the desk. It’s the hardest I’ve laughed in a long, long time. She blows her hair with her breath, disappointed. “Twinkletoes, why’d you have to do that?” I still can't stop laughing, some things never change, even that silly nickname.

“Toph, I've said this before, I’m 48 years old. Can’t that nickname be retired?”

“Oh Aang, it will die with me, and that won‘t be for many years. The short answer is no. Too bad.” She laughs. I sigh whilst trying to stop from smiling.

Apparently it shows through, “Twinkletoes, you know you love me.” This time my smile is verbal. I laugh. She walks around the desk to give me her trademark punch on the arm. As she’s leaning back on the edge of her desk to sit she asks, “Why are you here anyway? Usually I'm the one forced to that island off shore.”

My heart rate rises, I don’t want to explain why I’m actually here, but she can tell when I lie. Either way, I bluff. “I just felt like it was my turn to come down to you”. I can tell she saw through me, her face changes.

“Oh c’mon I know you’re lying, why are you really here?”

I can't beat this, it’s Top anyway! She cares enough about me to take this seriously. I know it. “I was feeling down,” I rub my head, “Being alone on that island has been getting to me. I miss my family and my friends. I needed to see you, hoping that we could talk and I could get back to normal.” She stays silent for several moments. I can tell she’s debating on what she wants to say. Then she takes a deep breath and begins.

“Aang, you told me friendships can last more than one lifetime right?”

“Yes? What about it?”

“Well, if it's really possible then you should know that no matter how far our friends go, they’re still close to us.” She lets out a sigh. “Twinkletoes, that was such a struggle, I’m never this supportive.” She giggles and punches me again. I laugh along with her, having her reassurance is something to take advantage of.

Later Toph and I go out for dinner to the best fire nation restaurant in the city. We chat about the future of the police force and about the new avatars' future. By the end I knew my mood had changed. I am, after all, not alone.

#atla fanfic #avatar the last airbender #atla rewatch #atla aang #katara #avatar toph #atla zuko #atla sokka #legend of korra #avatar korra #team avatar

[hayleysayshay]

THE DEFINITIVE TOP 15 ATLA/TLOK EYEBROWS

You know what I love?? Lists. There are many interesting eyebrows in the Avatar-verse. Cara Delevigne who?? The real icons lie with benders. Let’s rank them, and this ranking is 100% correct and no-one can fight me, and this is completely meaningful analysis and not arbitrary in the slightest.

15: Huan 

Gets points for having a piercing! Express yourself, Huan!

14: The Mechanist

Look at this dude’s eyebrows. He rocks the ‘I burnt my eyebrows in a freak accident’ look and he has no shame! Icon! 

13: Asami

Asami has eyebrows that look like she just woke up like this #flawless, but in fact, they take her a lot of work and in reality, she probably has a monobrow. You haven’t got me fooled, Asami. Either way, they’re some of the slimmest eyebrows in the series, but they can be wonderfully expressive when needed.

12: Bumi II

His eyebrows showcase the ‘I am a general for an army but then they turn into the fun, crazy uncle’ personality of Bumi. Do you think he styles them into four prongs?

11: Bolin

Potentially some of the thickest in the series. Their thickness is actually in proportion to Bolin’s status as a good boy.

10. Lu-Ten

What do you mean he isn’t really a character!? Anyway look at those brows, and I assume this isn’t artistic lisence, but they are thicker on the outside.

9. Izumi.

There is no reason for her to be on this list apart from the fact that I think we should have seen more of her because just look at her eyebrows, she isn’t to be trifled with even if she is taking a pacifistic stance, fuckers.

8. Ty Lee

Now you might be thinking, Ty Lee’s eyebrows are fairly basic. Not true! Ty Lee has eyebrows that are wonderfully expressive. Ty Lee has eyebrows that only make us hurt when she is intimidated into joining Azula, understand why boys fall for her and convey the surprise she herself feels when she betrays Azula. They sell it all. Underrated eyebrows.

7. Meelo.

Meelo is a weird kid. His eyebrows represent this well. They are triangles perched on his head. Do we know what they mean? They are unique. Maybe they’ll grow into a more natural shape, but for now, all they do is highlight Meelo’s strangeness.

6. Kuvira:

Honestly, Kuvira would be on this list by virtue of being the only female in the series with thick eyebrows. However, damn girl, she knows how to use them. They are crazy expressive, and you know Kuvira means business. I don’t want to fuck with her. Kuvira definitely has this routine she carries out each morning for an hour every day to make herself look sharp. You have to admire her for looking good whilst she carries out her fascistic conquering.

5. Zuko:

He only has one eyebrow, but Zuko just sells it. He’s so expressive that he can use the scar as an eyebrow on his own terms. Zuko just doesn’t give a shit. Zuko will glare at you or give you a smile with one eyebrow and that's good. That’s all Zuko needs.

4. Azula:

Her eyebrows mean business. She will fuck you up. Azula’s eyebrows may not be showy in shape or size but they’’re fantastic in their own way. It’s not how big they are, its how you use them, and Azula knows it. They could cut a man in two if they looked at her wrong. Out of this ranking, only Azula’s amount to true eyebrow goals.

3. King Bumi:

Bumi has the best crazy old man eyebrows in the series. They’re as big as he is old. They just radiate kooky wisdom and a man who actually has his shit together. Do you think Bumi gives a shit about his eyebrows!? They’re just like that because they reprseent who he is But they still come out amazing even as like a 100+-year-old man.

2. Mako:

Mako was always going to be on this list, but I initially wasn’t sure how high. Sharkbrows needs to be on here because he now has a nickname because of them, dammit. They have a pronged arch. His mother and lightning bolt-zolt both have them and he was shown to have them as a child so they are all-natural, but we still see him style them in Book 3, Episode 5. Mako seems to take pride in his crazy eyebrow shape, perhaps... because they make him feel closer to his dead mother? No this isn’t a reach, this is deep psychological analysis.

1. Jet:

Jet’s eyebrows are crazy weird, and it might not be immediately obvious how weird. Mako’s may have a weird shape but they still seem to behave in the normal manner of eyebrows. The thing is, the more you look at them, the weirder they get. They’re on the thinner side for male characters, but they have this shaped arch that is weirdly implausible. They just scream ‘cocky knobhead who is up to no good’. Katara, how could you ever trust him with these eyebrows, how!?!?

Even when Jet dies, his eyebrows make him look suspicious. When he states he isn’t dying, it’s pretty obvious he’s lying since his eyebrows are doing the talking. Anyway, fuck you, Jet, and your damn eyebrows.

BONUS:

Mako and Bolin’s murdered parents.

They had good genes.

BONUS 2:

Wan Shi-Tong. 

Doesn’t have true eyebrows, but still expresses himself well as a bastard anyway.

#Avatar The Last Airbender #the legend of korra #atla #tlok #korra #avatar #mako #jet #bolin #zuko #azula #ty lee #shitpost #ranking #bumi #asami #kuvira #humour #this is serious analysis #or is it? #my ramblings #lok

[lokgifsandmusings]

Definitive Ranking of Book 1 Episodes, #10/12

10. 1x11 Skeletons in the Closet

Bending is ILLEGAL, Asami drops it like it’s hot, a wild fanservice appears, and Noatak and Tarrlok build a snowman.

*Back a month later with Starbucks and more nitpicks*

Actually, real talk: can someone explain why part of the goyim gets upset with Starbucks not being Chirstmasy enough? Because I was just in one and it looks like Rudolph threw up everywhere. What ever happened to a nice autumnal display...

No, let’s get back to definitively ranking Book 1 episodes!

And let me just say: this has been a struggle. I know logically that Book 1 is fine. Obviously it engaged me enough to watch Book 2, even if I only saw the back-half in one sitting while I was drunk. But still, like I said in my first essay on this season, it just doesn’t get any deeper, unlike the other books. Instead, you notice all the hanging threads, and tugging on them leads to...well, whatever this is.

The thing is, I purposely do these definitive rankings in reverse order so that I sound increasingly more enthused. But when I saw I’d be writing about this one, I sat staring for five minutes trying to come up with a reason as to why it was better than “The One With All The Love Triangles” or “The One Where Amon Gets Caught.” It has slightly fewer contrivances?

Okay, stepping back, this episode isn’t all that complicated, or all that bad, really. The Equalists have taken over Republic City after their carpet bombing of it (you know...for equality!), so the Krew is underground in the sewers, eatin’ street gruel and flirtin’ with the person they’re not dating 10 feet away from the person they are dating. We get a glimpse of Republic City under the Equalists, which includes the apparent outlawing of bending, coupled with a line of handcuffed and blindfolded benders being paraded before Amon to be “cleansed of their impurity.”

Iroh II sails his face into a trap, and then he, Bolin, and Asami decide to go after Hiroshi’s army of biplanes (to prevent them from doing the same to Bumi’s fleet), while Korra and Mako want to go after Amon himself. They sneak onto Air Temple Island so they can ambush him, only to find a de-bended Tarrlok locked up. He explains how he and Amon are both sons of Yakone, and they can all bloodbend any day of the year. That’s how Amon has been taking away people’s bending. Korra and Mako then decide they’re going to expose Amon as a waterbender at his Equalist rally.

Let’s leave the Noatuk truth-bomb for last, cause that’s worth digging into a bit. Character-wise, this isn’t a very strong episode for any member of the Krew. Asami finally pulls the plug on Mako, I guess, which given that he’s acting like Korra’s boyfriend anyway makes plenty of sense. So that’s something? Otherwise, the biggest moment is Korra deciding she has to go after Amon herself. Which is kind of regressive? I mean, she doesn’t really have the skills or capacity to beat the guy, and the last time she tried to seek him out to fight on her terms, she got captured and very nearly lost her bending.

Korra: Wait, I'm sorry, but I'm not going with you tomorrow.

Mako: What?

Asami: Why not?

Korra: I'm sick and tired of hiding from Amon. It's time I face him.

Iroh: That's not a good plan. We need to stick together.

Korra: I'm not waiting for him to hunt me down. My guts tell me it's time to end this, on my terms.

Iroh: Korra, this is not a mission you should be handling alone.

Don’t get me wrong: it’s totally understandable why Korra would not want to just wait for Amon to go after her, and why she feels she’s not exactly needed in this “destroy the fleet mission.” But like, isn’t the protagonist supposed to have some kind of character growth?

I know I talked about this already in my “Endgame” piece, and yes, I think overall it’s a good thing that she had plenty of space to keep growing after Book 1. It just seems strange that her solution to the Amon situation is more “well NOW I’m going to do something about it!” despite her being no more prepared to take this on. Despite her having no strategy past “ambushing” him on Air Temple Island. And guess what, even when she has more information and tries to approach it in an inventive way, she still gets her ass kicked! She still gets de-bended!

Again, this is a narrative. What is the message supposed to be in Korra pursuing this option? Are we supposed to be cheering with her? Are we supposed to agree with Iroh?

Really, it’s this episode where the backwards nature of the writing becomes clear. Bryke needed Korra and  Mako pursuing Amon alone. They needed them to run into Tarrlok. They needed a way for Amon to get exposed by forcing him to waterbend. They needed Korra to get de-bended but then still airbend. None of this particularly flowed from character actions, and certainly not personalities. Shit just occurred *to* our protagonists, and that’s disappointing to think about in a story as thoughtful and intriguing as LoK.

I’m not saying that plot-points shouldn’t be planned out, btw! I’m just saying that they need to be done with respect to characterization and character journeys. Book 2 was one stumbling block after another, but that finale came together spectacularly well because the focus was on Korra’s arc. She beat Unalaq by literally tapping into the core of who she was and ripping her reality into existence. Sure there were contrivances that set it up, but we’re not talking Korra just randomly going against her own self-interest. That was Civil Wars!

Really, the emotional weight of this episode was Tarrlok’s story (and I know mileage varies there), so maybe this complaint is more along the lines of a nitpick. But it’s incredibly disappointing on a revisit to realize that Korra more or less stagnated after 1x04, with a small exception being in her attitude towards Asami (the result of exposure). Which maybe is what was behind Korra being the one to put up boundaries with Mako this episode? Mildly?

However, this also means that Korra’s most significant character development of the season was in the context of navigating the teenage dating game. And I’d be floored if that’s really what people wanted out of the Avatar franchise, or what Bryke even intended.

That’s maybe the kicker, here. This was the episode where it felt as though Bryan and Mike just had to start wrapping things up, logic-be-damned! But...wasn’t this the season where they had the most amount of time to plan?

Even a very small change could have gone a long way. A common complaint of “Endgame” is that the airbenders just showed up on stage, handcuffed. I don’t mind that it “undercut” Lin’s sacrifice (mostly because I don’t think it *did*. The point was that she was willing to do that), but I do think it felt like a total asspull when we more or less saw them get away. But what if word somehow reached the sewers (or was even intentionally delivered there) that Amon was holding the airbenders captive? Hell maybe Iroh could have brought this information. Then, that would have created a sense of urgency where it made sense for the Krew to split up, and it would have made sense for Korra and Mako to go to Air Temple Island specifically. Did they even have a way of knowing that’s where Amon was operating within this episode?

Again, writers should generally have an endpoint in mind that they write to. But it shouldn’t require contortions in logic to get there. And if you can’t think of a compelling reason for your characters to reach it...well...it’s probably time to rethink those beats, then. “Skeletons in the Closet” is an episode where just about everything that happens felt like it needed a second thought.

A perfectly good example of that is with the Equalists. In “Turning the Tides,” they bombed the entire city and captured enough benders where in this episode, they had an incredibly long line of them just waiting to be de-bended, including more policemen and White Lotus Members. The Equalists also declared bending illegal and stuck an Amon mask on Aang’s statue.

I have just...so many questions about how all this works. Like, logistically how have The Equalists actually taken over a city? I mean first of all, the crowd to whom Hiroshi announced bending being outlawed makes Trump’s inauguration look impressive.

Second of all, if we just talk about power dynamics of the universe, how does this work:

These are the SUPERPOWERED people. And the ones we’re seeing in this picture are literally trained fighters. They’ve got blindfolds on so...that’s it? Game over? No seismic-sense earthbenders? I’m not trying to victim blame here, but when you’ve got such a disparity in skill, to see these proportions of the benders to nonbenders here, with the benders doing absolutely nothing but being faceless and passive, it really pushes the envelope of believability.

Wasn’t the implication of the Equalist revolution that there actually was a revolution? That the *masses* went along with this, since they were the ones abused, ignored, and/or silenced under bender rule? Except then that makes the Equalists carpet-bombing the city even weirder, because this aftermath doesn’t seem to follow. Unless the only survivors were the people at Hiroshi’s rally.

Again, it’s the backwards writing. They needed the Equalists to have taken over, so they did. I’d totally buy the Equalists just controlling Air Temple Island and camping out there, maybe with important prisoners, but no. They successfully destroyed the United Forces and it was bad enough that their general had to retreat into the sewers and communicate his orders through Gommu.

I almost don’t even want to touch Iroh. He’s fanservice, and pretty heavy-handed fanservice at that. I really don’t care about giving people *something*, but fanservice that works is like...the picture of Aang airbend-juggling sushi rolls. It’s not some rando Mary Sue (and I truly mean a textbook Mary Sue here) showing up, ordering around our main characters to get us to the next action set-piece, and then watching him literally fly around with no explanation as he grounds Hiroshi’s fleet and saves the day.

He’s significant to us because we recognize his namesake, and because he’s voiced by Dante Basco. But just imagine if you were a viewer watching LoK without having seen ATLA. Wouldn’t this character feel incredibly odd to you? Wouldn’t you wonder why we were focusing on him at the cost of our regulars getting more time to contend with this new situation?

Like, oh I don’t know...ASAMI? I know, I know what this sounds like. At this point I’m gonna just lean into my reputation. But seriously, her FATHER just bombed the city, he’s making speeches about illegal bending, he blows up Iroh’s fleet here with inventions we didn’t know existed, they make a plan that revolves around facing head-on, and we get a single line of dialogue from her about it. Which the transcript hilariously describes as “somewhat bitterly”:

“It's time to take down my father.”

Yes, that was somewhat of a reaction. Does anyone want to check in if she’s conflicted?

Or like, Korra is apparently driven by extreme impatience now. Even though Mako says she won’t go alone, is there a reason we don’t get anyone actually challenging this or asking why she can’t help with the airfield and *then* go after Amon? Especially Mako, since he’s signing up for it, and he was the one with a slightly more cautious approach to sneaky things in 1x03?

“Hmm ... My grandfather would respect the Avatar's instinct. So will I.”

Aaaaand finally, speaking of “who are you and why are you suddenly the focal point?”, we’ve got the infamous bloodbending brothers.

Uh, so. Confession: I actually kind of like them? I mean, they ranked halfway up my list in the Definitive Ranking of Complicated Familial Dynamics, so that’s something. But really, I think their story in and of itself is fine. It’s about the futility of revenge, I guess, and there’s the poetic tragedy of the way both brothers did become instruments of their father’s plans despite the fact that they both wanted to escape that fate. Tarrlok wanted to be the city’s savior and have influence through upstanding, noble means; a clear backlash against his crime-boss father ruling from the “underbelly” through brute force. Noatak, meanwhile, truly believed that so long as people had the potential for the fighting dominance his father displayed, there could be no justice in the world. He was a bender who hated his own power, and emulated Aang’s course of action with Yakone, which somewhat ironically led him to think that he truly needed to debend Korra.

It’s a bit of flawed logic, I guess. “I’ll never become an instrument of revenge against the Avatar! Instead, I’ll apply what the Avatar did to you to *all* benders...including the Avatar!”

I guess he’s just an equal-opportunity debender who understands the symbolic importance of taking away Korra’s bending? Oh look, I made a pun.

But yeah, it’s a fine enough story, and I’m not sure we’re supposed to be viewing Amon as the world’s most balanced thinker anyway.

The problems with Amon are that the Equalist logistics don’t make much sense, as I noted, and the guy himself gleefully debending the sole survivors of genocide in the name of justice is a bit much to swallow, especially after Bryke tried to demonstrate how nonbenders really do have legitimate grievances with regards to their treatment by members of triads and law enforcement alike. Of course the puppy-kicker had to go down, and it’s kind of a shame that what was a nuanced issue was turned into something so black-and-white.

The problem with the bloodbending brothers, however, is actually one that’s kind of similar to the problem with Kuvira. Their personal stakes are entirely disconnected from Korra herself. She runs into them, and has altercations with them, and as the Avatar she has a unique symbolic and political importance. Therefore she “matters” in both of their plans, which is why Tarrlok kidnapped her (what was the long term of that, exactly?), and Amon purposely didn’t take away her bending when he first captured her. It’s similar to how Kuvira understood that Korra had an importance to the people of the Earth Kingdom and for that reason, took pleasure in knocking her down a peg after her absence for three years; but she was driven by personal reasons relating to the Beifongs.

And this is fine, by the way. I’d say LoK’s most successful antagonist was Zaheer, who again, was targeting Korra for strategic reasons, but not exactly personal ones. Not every conflict is going to be Clark Kent vs. Lex Luthor, with years of history and damage between them. I do happen to think that kind of dynamic is the most effective (Zuko and Azula, anyone?), but again, villains being motivated by something entirely external to the protagonist is absolutely fine, even if it’s their own personal familial baggage.

However, given that Book 1 tripped over itself and couldn’t actually land the beats of the main plotline, nor provide Korra with any sort of growth in its telling...having the focus on the bloodbending brothers is incredibly weird. Like, why was the creative energy put here, of all things? It’s a sad story, sure, but what does it actually mean to Korra?

Being generous, it allows her to create a plan where she exposes Amon instead of trying to brute-force the situation, but...that plan doesn’t work at all, and she wins by punching. Was this showing development in her strategic thinking? This goes back to the issue of her wanting to hunt down Amon again.

What it sort of feels like, and forgive me for saying this, is spin-off fanfic that people wrote who got interested in the villains. It’s not *bad* by any means. There’s interesting dynamics here. But it shouldn’t come at the cost of Korra’s journey, which it did. In the end, the biggest moment of the season was Tarrlok’s murder/suicide. It’s a tragic story, sure. It’s just not Korra’s. And at least with Kuvira, it was her arc that bent to suit Korra’s needs, not the other way around.

I’m pretty sure from here on out I’ll actually have some positive things to say about Book 1 episodes, don’t worry. It’s just the final chapter of the season is really where all the flaws of the storytelling came into full view, and though “Turning the Tides” arguably started that, this is the episode where the wheels came off. “Endgame” was the crash.

#12 1x12 “Endgame”

#11 1x05 “The Spirit of Competition"

1x11 photo recap found here

Book 2 ranking/essays found here

Book 4 ranking/essays found here

#book 1 ranking #lok meta #korra #yakone #equalists

[adoranymph]

You know I’m really less than thrilled about a story when even the father-daughter hook isn’t enough to get me to fully invest in its entirety. And that’s how it is for me with Legend of Korra, the sequel series to Avatar: the Last Airbender.

And a shame too, because on top of father-daughter relationships in stories, I love sequel series and spin-offs. Or, I guess I should say, I do love the idea of them. The ones that I’ve had actual experience with are hit-or-miss and, like with anything, are only a hit for me based on how meretriciously they stand on their own as stories. To the point where I haven’t even gotten my first book published, the first book of the YA series I have planned, and already I have plot points and characters in mind for the next-gen sequel series. Kind of like imagining my grandchildren when I haven’t even had children of my own yet.

Avatar: the Last Airbender was yet another great series that I was one of the last ones to board the hype train for (at least of my generation I’m sure), for many reasons. Not because I didn’t appreciate it, because I love anything to do with working with the four elements (considering that’s what my own YA debut series is centered on), and never mind that it was only anime-esque, because that was still good enough for me.

But I missed out on watching it in full when it aired. I was in high school back then and just didn’t make time for it. When I did get around to watching it, through to the end of season one, I was so depressed by a plot point I was spoiled on (that being that Sokka was going to lose his first love, Princess Yue) that I stepped away from it. And that was back when I was brave enough to stream off illegal streaming sites on my laptop. Then I got wary of that practice, (barring resorting to find shows I can’t find anywhere else on those sites via my phone instead) and moved on to other things, anime, etc. With the passing of time, I knew that if I was going to fall hard for Avatar in the end, I wanted to do it on a legal streaming platform that I could watching on my laptop, not my phone. And, if I loved it enough, purchase a hardcopy of it.

If this was available all along, to this day, on Nick.com for free, then someone feel free to let me know. But, as far as I was concerned, I didn’t see my window of opportunity to binge it until Netflix brought it onboard their streaming platform this past summer. Yes, the series was also available for purchase through YouTube and of course there were the available hardcopies, but I was still hesitant to make that purchase until I had seen the show in full. Sometimes I take a risk on shows and buy them without seeing them first, and I hit a jackpot (like with the anime, Psycho-Pass), and sometimes I take that risk and regret my purchase (like with the anime film, Fireworks). In this case, even though I could smack myself in the head in hindsight, I decided to not take the risk until I was 100% sure, watch-through included.

So, stuck inside like we all are right now, I told myself, “No more excuses, you are finishing this thing.” Next thing you know, I’ve bought myself the full series on blu-ray (having been reassured that I loved the thing as much as the world promised I would) and I’ve rewatched it twice now. I freaking love it. And predictably with that love came the price of the “void”: that depressing post-watch feeling when it seems as though nothing will ever be as good again as what you just finished watching. When all you want is more, since you know you can’t ever actually reexperience the feeling of watching it for the first time.

Which brings me to Legend of Korra, which I had also heard about. And heard that it had issues writing-wise, and didn’t quite live up to the legacy of Avatar. And well, to be fair, expecting it to would have been a bit naïve. Rarely do most things in this world get their version of Rocky and Rocky II winning Best Picture at the Oscars back-to-back years.

I thought about watching it, going back and forth since before I had even finished the original series. I was happy to see that we were getting a female main as the new Avatar in the cycle, and, again, there’s that thing I love about sequel series, revisiting old characters marked by the progression of time, as well as seeing new characters, both the next gens of the original cast and new originals alike. I love seeing them rise and carry the torch that’s been passed onto them.

And in this case, we not only get a female Avatar, Korra, but she’s paired with character growth in part with her father, so there’s that father-daughter trope box ticked. Actually, we get two, with Aang’s son Tenzin, and his daughter, Aang’s granddaughter, Jinora.

Yet, I was also given to understand that the romance subplots were a complete mess, and then the overarching storylines in general were also somewhat botched in places. I mean, they name Korra’s first main love interest Mako (in honor of Mako, the actor who originally voiced best-uncle-in-the-universe Iroh in the originals series), and yet, writing-wise and romance-wise, he kind of gets the shaft from what I’ve seen. That aside, I wouldn’t have had a problem with the Korra x Asami ship itself, if it weren’t for how the writers got them together. That being not only via the worst kind of love-triangle nonsense from what I’ve been given to understand, but one that involves cheating on one person for the other because, “Oh, we have something more.” No excuses for cheating in my book.

All of this due, in no small part I’m sure, to Nickelodeon mucking things up (like you do) in hedging on allowing any of the show to be made, and then on whether there’d be more seasons, and with the writers, all the while, having to work with that uncertainty. One could argue that the best writers find ways to work around that to the point that those problems don’t show in the writing of the final product, but if there was all that grief, I give the writers some slack. Just the same, it was also enough to put me off watching the show.

And it still is enough. Barring everything else watchable in the universe disappearing and this being the only thing left, I, at this point, do not see myself ever watching it in full. At this point, I’ve watched a few clips and bits of episodes in the first three seasons, because I was still curious about certain things and I love free samples. But those things in connection with the rest of the story isn’t enough even now to get me to invest my time in watching the whole thing through when the series joins Avatar: the Last Airbender on Netflix.

However, I did in fact get something out of watching those disparate few clips and bits. And not just evidence for the case that Aang and Katara’s son Bumi clearly takes after both his Uncle Sokka as well as his own namesake, the “mad genius” King Bumi, or Zuko having a grandson named Iroh (and the fact that they had him voiced by Dante Bosco, who voiced Zuko in Last Airbender), or even the fact that now-old-guy Zuko himself is riding a bleeping dragon.

I got perhaps the most powerful and emotionally engaging origin story for a fantasy world that I can ever recall getting in any type of media. That being the story of Wan, the First Avatar, as told in episodes seven and eight in season two, Beginnings: Pt. 1 & 2. 

I loved these two episodes so much that I keep playing the reworked Avatar theme, The Avatar State, from the Korra soundtrack, on repeat. And can’t get enough of rewatching the moment when Wan becomes the first fully realized Avatar. Barring the stuff with the present-day storyline of the show bookending the beginning of part one and the conclusion of part two, there’s a complete, and rather satisfying story here, made doubly enjoyable by anyone familiar with at least Avatar: the Last Airbender.

I didn’t need to (personally) watch the episodes prior to these two parts to understand anything that was going on or appreciate it any more than I already did, or what I’d already floating around about Raava, the Spirit of Good and Light and Peace and Sunshine and Rainbows, serving ultimately in part as the means to create the phenomenon of the Avatar and the Avatar Reincarnation Cycle. The change in art style to something reminiscent of the works of Hokusai’s woodblock paintings was beautiful, and Wan’s characterization was beautiful, from diamond-in-the-rough street rat just trying to get by to developing such a relationship with the spirits that he lays the foundation for becoming “the bridge between the human and the spirit worlds” that the Avatar is meant to represent.

A journey of a simple human who screwed up, and atoned for that through bitter work and forming a meaningful bond that would come to transcend millennia, all for the sake of trying to keep the world in balance, striving to better humanity. And from that, the lives that are relived through that of the Avatar echo meaningfully from the distant past to the reflective present.

And it only took two episodes. With concise writing, emotionality, and characterization, we got what fell like an entire epic story in just a matter of less than an hour or so of screen time. I watched them both on my phone, and when Korra comes onto Netflix, I’ll revisit those two alone on there and be more than satisfied.

All that said, there is a very good argument against being able to enjoy it as its own thing, never mind its flaws in terms of consistency with the established world of Last Airbender. Which I totally understand, and would probably understand more if I took the time to watch Korra in its entirety, and even in regards to the fact that I’ve seen Avatar: the Last Airbender. In which case, I could see how these two episodes actually undermine and even outright retcon a ton of story and world elements.

That said, I personally don’t agree that it ruins the spirituality inherent and or implied by the relationship between humans and the art of elemental bending. If only because after all that, I still felt a catharsis at the conclusion of Wan’s story. I’d call that doing something right with the writing at least.

What I think I works for me in particular compared to Korra as a whole, apart from my affinity for guys with flooffy anime hair who go on penance journeys toward enlightenment, is that it feels like a return to its roots, to that feeling that the original Avatar series gave me, and also something more. Not to say that I think that Korra should have been a retread of the plot structure of Last Airbender by any stretch, that would have made it worse, and I applaud it for pushing towards different themes and conflicts from that of its predecessor (it’s just that the payoff for a lot of those were less-than-stellar). That said, the moments that I came across that were awesome and moving were patchworked together by plots that didn’t always come out the most coherently or compellingly when laid out in the light of day.

And yes there is the argument that Wan’s story lacks anything compelling. I suppose, because you know how it’s going to play out, and it derails from the main plot, somewhat, save for explaining the whole Raava vs. Vaatu, good vs. evil spirit conflict. But, again, for me, I’m watching these more completely than I have any other episode of the show, and as a separate spinoff from the rest of the series. So while technically it can’t be a self-contained story, as the series it is a part of would undo that possibility, I still enjoyed it regardless for what it is on its own, and genuinely at that.

I enjoyed that it was something of a mix of a fable and an actual historical account, adding to that sense of expanding the mythos in that way that distant histories like that of ancient civilizations in our world have become fuzzy and fragmented with the passage of time. I enjoyed how simply it was able to establish a young man who started out as a ruffian who had to steal to survive, but was still fundamentally good in that he cared for those close to him, and that he had the capacity to care for the well-being of spirits after he’d been banished for stealing the power of firebending and was banished to live in the spirit wilds.

Then take that, and develop him into a man who rises above that, to become one who takes on the burden of fighting for peace, especially in the wake of mistakes he’s made that caused things between humans and spirits to grow worse, regardless of whether or not he intended such. To see him grow through his friendship with Raava, and how they come to work together to restore the balance he inadvertently put out of whack when he was tricked into separating her from her eternal struggle with Vaatu, Spirit of Darkness and Chaos and Corruption and All the World’s Evil. Concluded with that final culmination between him and Raava fusing together permanently, mastering all four elements, getting knocked down by Vaatu over and over and still getting up and standing to fight again every time, his efforts to bring peace to the world foiled only by his short human lifespan, and with his death beginning the Avatar reincarnation cycle when its clear that maintaining balance in a world full of humans takes thousands upon thousands of lifetimes.

To me, that was a beautiful simplicity for an origin story told within the larger story of a larger world. Which I think is a great tool for anyone who looks to insert those sorts of things in their own writing (including myself, who has her own origin storyline in mind for that YA elemental series, if I didn’t already mention before that I’m writing that).

Retcons and undermining aside, I’m happy that I discovered this little gem within the great world of The Last Airbender, and like all things in media that affect me this way, you can be sure I’ll carry that feeling further into my work. Threading it through into the grander tapestry of the art of storytelling.

Right. Back to me waiting for season four of The Dragon Prince. 

Keeping this link up to their donation page!

A Concise, Emotional Origin Journey You know I'm really less than thrilled about a story when even the father-daughter hook isn't enough to get me to fully invest in its entirety.

#avatar #avatar the last airbender #dragon prince #fireworks #hokusai #netflix #nickelodeon #origin story #oscars #psycho-pass #rocky #rocky ii #sequels #the dragon prince #the legend of korra #YA #YA fiction #young adult

[actuallyredeyes]

Avatar (both tla and korra)

Most of these ended up being ATLA because

1. Sokka: My son! I love Sokka in so many ways, how he develops very consistently throughout the series, how he self-improves, and instances in which he speaks out of ignorance/arrogance are corrected or called out. Sokka is far from just a font of comedy, he’s also the pragmatic leader whose guidance improves over time, a brilliant strategist, and the one among the gang who is the least likely to balk from making hard decisions. I love the protectiveness and responsibility he develops towards the gang, and learns to relax over time. 

2. Toph Beifong: Toph pulled to the number two slot mainly because of how much I admire her as a person and doesn’t take anyone else’s shit for a second. A high society girl who chose to abandon it all to live with freedom from an oppressive, ableist household who is unable to appreciate her abilities. Completely unapologetic for her actions (which is also one of her flaws), and prefers to stay true to herself. 

3. Katara: My daughter. Katara is oft considered the heart for a reason; she is the most emotionally driven out of the gang, which makes her both the most empathetic and the one most inclined to anger and despair. Likewise her extroversion goes both ways as well; Katara is usually the first to empathize with people she doesn’t know or doesn’t necessarily get along with, but can also be easily provoked to lash out when hurt. She hates betrayal most of all, and strives for justice for the downtrodden. 

4. Aang: Damn, what can I say about Aang? He’s a spot of hope in more than just being the Avatar; he’s an optimist who believes in the good in others and their capacity to change in a world falling apart. He has enormous love for the people he cares about, never loses touch with his peoples’ beliefs, and proves that you can indeed fight with fun. At the same time, Aang is a procrastinator, and he doesn’t always know what he’s going to do until he does it. 

5. Asami: Like, since the first time I saw Asami I adored her. She’s incredibly beautiful, talented, and willful enough to stand up against someone she loves (her father) because she feels its the right thing to do. Asami is also caring and patient; looking after the young woman she loves and offering a willing ear every time she needed someone to talk to. 10/10 would have a crush on. 

6. Azula: Azula is such a fantastically well writing character it kills me because she’s a different variation of a child corrupted by awful parenting and deprived of the chance to change for the better (assuming we ever find out). To that end, we see how much of a perfectionist she is, how being devoted to precise and consistent practice has made her one of the most powerful firebenders in the world. 

7. Zuko: Interestingly, Zuko is perhaps one of the weakest firebenders in his family, but what’s important is that his strength comes from elsewhere, and is probably one of the most stubborn characters with an inability to quit. Zuko is guided primarily by his moral impulses, which--while not always correct due to his conditioning--prevent him from committing crimes he views as unjust. 

8. Korra: A lot of what drew me to Korra was how different her approach was to Aang’s, and the contrast drawn between them: Strong spirituality versus not, doing what’s fair even when inconvenient versus doing what’s right even when people object. Korra’s a heavily headstrong and daring person, and a whole of her development comes from learning to see the sides of others.

9. Yue: I don’t even care about the screen time thing, I adored Yue. She was stubborn and devoted and patient, and she honestly deserves better from the world. I feel Sokka’s pain so much because I would have fallen for her too. 

10. Bumi (II): He was literally on screen for two seconds in his first appearance and I already loved him. He made me miss Aang so much.

honorable mentions go to Bolin, Suki, and Hakoda. There are too many good characters in this series

(also i know @focusas shot me this one too, so here ya go)

#ATLA #top 10 #red replies #tofukitten

[glowyjellyfish]

I keep finding myself writing up fun fandom things and then waiting too long to post them, and then I have moved on or am too depressed by the News to bother. So I’m making a deliberate choice right now to post a slightly older thingI have still been thinking about! Later I might post some Sims 2 Megahood Stories, but for now it’s My Reactions Upon Rewatching Legend of Korra! I’m not even done with it yet, there’s no reason to delay posting.

I finished season 1 Saturday night. 

And I still love it! LOK doesn’t inspire quite as many Feelings as ATLA, but it has its moments, and I love the characters, the setting, and the themes. Themes like “how to honor and navigate older traditions in a modern changing society”, “everybody is fucked up by their parents and predecessors”, and “first there was an epic fantasy story and then reality ensued afterwards.” Oh, and also “let’s battle a series of political movements from the early 20th century!” I know it has problems with the seasons being too self-contained, for understandable reasons, and we’ll see how I feel about that going forward.

Characters: Favorite is Bolin, who is a delight, followed by Lin, who is amazing and inspired many Feelings, then in a rough tie based on how I am feeling at the moment Tenzin, Korra, and Asami. Mako needs to get his act together and stop being dumb to his girlfriends, which I know isn’t gonna be until at least season 3, but I have devoted a lot of brain power to trying to dissect him. They made him too nice to be a Hot Jerk and too often a mild jerk to be a Nice Boy. I don’t know what to make of him. Talented at bending in a precise, level-headed kind of way, overprotective in a slightly understated way, very bad at talking about or understanding feelings, and similarly not great at expressing himself on the fly, pragmatic, real good at teamwork with his brother. I feel like maybe all we needed was one scene showing him struggling to figure out what he wanted, rather than passively swapping from one girl to the other. Maybe express that he found it hard to walk away from Asami showering him with gifts, one would think he could be overwhelmed by the feeling of being taken care of for once and not know how to sort that out from romance, and I for one think it would have made him come off a little more interesting to show that kind of selfishness/pragmatism… just a thought. I honestly think they tried too hard to make him a Cool Romantic Hero, but I like to understand characters based on the whole of canon. Eventually I reached the conclusion that maybe the core of his character is that he’s so used to putting others’ needs before his own (usually Bolin) that he has a very poor grasp on what it is he actually needs or wants for himself, and doesn’t know how to balance that with the needs of others. We’ll see how that works going forward.

Anyway, Bolin is a delight, and I cannot remember what specifics prompted this but I am more convinced he’s the reincarnation of Ty Lee than ever. -charismatic in a ditzy kind of way, -getting involved in a war against chi blockers could be… maybe not exactly karma so much as it being important to experience from both sides, -friendly and prone to hugging, -definitely a follower, -a little flirty… I could go on like this. He’s a good boy and a Good Dude, and everybody’s friend.

(I am not sure at all about anybody else’s reincarnation, Bumi aside, although I learned that Sokka outlived Aang by at least a few years, so Tenzin’s kids are most likely for him. My gut says one of the girls, if only because he chugged so much respect women juice over the course of ATLA, but I can’t decide if either of them actually fits. With Mako it’s not quite that Jet fits him so much as that nobody else fits him any better. And Jet does make a weird amount of sense, just… not enough for me to necessarily declare it headcanon.)

Also, when anticipating this show I forgot all about General Iroh II, and think it’s a shame he wasn’t around more. Somebody should have dated him, he’s so fancy!

---

Since I wrote this up, I’ve watched season 2, and it’s… a mess. 

-Varrick is great, Bumi is fantastic, Bolin’s charisma paid off, and apparently Mako is the kind of cop who writes out one-liners in advance to whip out on arrests, which is a mild upgrade.

-There are plenty of good parts--the road trip with Aang’s kids was pretty great, too--but as a whole season 2 just does not land, and I’m not sure why. The pacing is bonkers, I feel like I’ve barely started the season, but at the same time so many things have happened! And I feel like there’s been like zero character development, except maybe in the Tenzin plot, the whole season has felt like nothing but non-stop nonsense political plot hurled at the viewer with no downtime for the characters at all! Korra makes so many awful, brash decisions without thinking things through, and that’s clearly a character choice but the show doesn’t really seem to care, it has too much to do and it’s just moving right along!

-The Wan episodes are fantastic, though!

I may have cracked Mako, though, with my conclusion that he’s so used to putting others’ needs above his own that he doesn’t know how to even know what he wants. I believe that in season 2 he transferred most of his overprotectiveness to Korra, believing that to be How To Be A Good Supportive Boyfriend, and… I’m not totally sure whether he figured out that he wanted to be a cop, or if it just seemed like such a good fit for his personality that he jumped at it, or what. In any case, he believes this to be progress or improvement, and whether inadvertently or not, he kind of left Bolin in the lurch; and let’s also point out that Korra does not need or want overprotectiveness. She wants unwavering support, which Mako carefully attempts to give her, and she needs a level head and constructive criticism with tempered support, which Mako does not know how to give, tactfully, at all. He’s used to being the one in charge of the person he’s protective over, and that last thing Korra wants or needs is more people telling her what to do. That’s why they clash and don’t work. 

And Bolin is smart enough to know that his problem pales in comparison to what Korra and by extension Mako are dealing with, at that stage of the season; that doesn’t make his problem (of an abusive girlfriend he can’t leave) something he knows how to handle. That’s why he eats up the attention he gets from being a mover star, and tries to get similar attention from Mako and make him impressed or jealous--he’s used to being the center of Mako’s world, and Mako quite blatantly abandoned him to his own devices and considered him useless for the bigger problems. I’m not saying it’s necessarily bad that Mako did that, although he was very rude about it. It’s probably healthier for both of them in the long run, I just easily see how Bolin was hurt and upset by it.

So I guess there was character development, it’s just hard to see when the plot keeps hurling things at you at breakneck speed and doesn’t give the characters a chance to breathe.

#avatar the legend of korra #LOK

[orpelia]

Spirits: “The Southern Lights”

What’s got Bo so spooked?

Korra and Co. are traveling South in Book II, Chapter 2, and there’s definitely something lurking in the wind.

As for Tenzin and family, they’ve gone to see where Grandpa Aang was born. Let the shenanigans and the feels commence.

Graphic content featured; I’ll give you a warning in case that’s not your thing.

Bro vs. Bro

Ah, yes. 

Another flashback to another pair of Northern Water Tribe brothers. Only this time, we get the flashback very early into the season so their stories actually (hopefully) have time to grow.

Can you tell there’s still some salt for the “Amon/Noatak is my brother” reveal? 

Man, do I love being petty~~

Tonraq, Korra’s father, was a general for the Northern Water Tribe.

To keep their city protected, he drove barbarians to an ancient forest,

and the ensuing battle destroyed the hallow grounds.

As punishment for disturbing their dwelling, angry spirits laid siege to the city.

Only Unalaq, Korra’s uncle, could tame the spirits and guide them back to their homes.

Ultimately, Tonraq was banished from the North and he looked to the South to start anew.

So I’m, like, 92% sure Unalaq is the big bad of the season.

(I also may or may not know some spoils.)

Reminiscent of Yakone, if I do say so myself:

If he is the big bad, then he’s totes schemin’. 

Look at him, establishing a bond and forging a trust with Korra:

All potential villain-ness aside, this scene had great dialogue:

Unalaq: You have to believe in yourself, like I believe in you. Korra: I guess I’m just so used to people telling me how to do things that I forgot what it was like to have someone trust in me. Unalaq: Korra, all the past Avatars live on inside of you. Let them guide you. Let them help you find the light in the dark.

// By the way, I love when stories integrate the concept of light and dark. For one, it gives me all the Kingdom Hearts feels, but it’s also such a universally applicable idea. I cannot wait to see how this theme will play out in the rest of Book II.

But look at him, and tell me there isn’t something sinister about that smile:

So while Unalaq’s plan seems to be on the horizon, 

I’m still trying to figure out how Tonraq fits into all of this.

I know Bo made light of the situation---

Bolin: Whoa, so you [Gestures to Tonraq.] were supposed to be chief, then he [Gestures to Unalaq.] became chief. No wonder you guys don’t like each other.  [Mako elbows him.] Ow! What? Isn’t that what happened?

---but perhaps this is one of the central conflicts of the season.

Naturally, as both daughter to Tonraq and niece to Unalaq (as well as a member of the Water Tribes), Korra will be caught in the middle. But as the Avatar, she is also responsible for keeping balance in the world, and I suspect this bro-on-bro feud may upset the nature of both physical and spiritual worlds.

Yeesh. 

I wish you luck, Korra.

Dark Unbalanced Spirits

This episode’s writing was solid. 

One of the reasons for its success is that it built upon concepts that have long been established in the Avatar-Korra universe, most notably balance, separation, and good vs. evil (or, in this case, light vs. dark).

In defense of the spirits, Unalaq claims, “There are no evil spirits, there is light and dark in them all. But when they’re unbalanced, the darkness takes over.”

Tonraq confesses, “I don’t want [Korra] to make the same mistake I made. I should never have gone into that forest, and we shouldn’t be going to the South Pole now. Spirits and the physical world should remain separate.

To rebut, Korra exclaims, “Dad, it’s my job to be the bridge between the spirits and the physical world, and I finally have a chance to live up to my potential.

In further defense, Unalaq reminds them: “There used to be lights at the South as well, but during the Hundred Year War, the South was thrown out of balance and the lights disappeared. When the War ended, the North helped to rebuild you physically as a nation, but we have not rebuilt you spiritually.”

So many juicy bits; let’s break it down:

Light and Dark

The writers are playing to one of A:TLA’s (and now, hopefully LOK’s) strengths: refusing black and white story lines and plunging head first into those grey, murky middles.

Just as there is no such thing as a person who is wholly good or wholly evil, there is also no such thing as a person who is entirely made of light or entirely made of dark. Instead, it is our actions---our choices---that reflect who our true characters are.

But what if it’s not your actions or your choices that cause you to turn to darkness, which is potentially the case with the Southern spirits? It’ll be interesting, then, to see how Korra and the others atone for causing the spirits’ disarray.

Separation

Given his experience with spirits, Tonraq sides with logic: the physical world and the spiritual world should remain separate.

But Korra is the Avatar; it’s literally her job to harmoniously bridge two separate worlds. Besides, I would think it’s pretty normal to have spirits living among them.

Whose to say spirits don’t live among us in our world, too?👀

As we first learned in “The Guru”: “the greatest illusion of this world is the illusion of separation.” Thus, it would be super dope (and super consistent!) if they extended that same wisdom to the story here. 

Balance

This.

The concept of balance is probably what grounds the entire Avatar-Korra franchise, so it’s no surprise that the spirits are struggling with their states of unbalance.

Can I just say, I loved the callback to the Hundred Year War. This is what I’m talking about; write episodes that build upon ideas the audience already knows! Referencing the War serves to fill in the missing gaps from when Aang’s journey ended and Korra’s began, but it also helps propel Korra’s story forward. 

There was also a nice throwback to the “Winter Solstice, Part 1: The Spirit World,” where we learn that a spirit named Hei Bai is terrorizing a village to retaliate against the Fire Nation soldiers who destroyed its home in the forest. We see the same scenario play out when Tonraq and his men annihilate the sacred woods; consequently, the spirits attack the Northern Water Tribe.

I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to see Korra bring the spirits balance and find that balance for herself as well.

In the meantime, Korra’s got to work on her “spirit fighting”:

And I still don’t understand why the spirits have to 1) look super freaky and 2) look like the Demogorgon!!

Graphic Warning

Tell me I’m wrong:

Yes, Bitch.

Korra had her irritating moments, especially when she was quick to accuse people who were just trying to protect, trust, and love her.

But she was bad. ass. this episode:

Badass Example #1:

This one always gets me.

She ruthlessly, unflinchingly shoves her entire arm down the spirit’s mouth and then sets her fist on fire. 

Biiiiiih.

Badass Example #2:

I think this marks the beginning of Korra starting to believe in herself as the Avatar,

and it makes a mama proud.

All the Hollas

@Jeremy Zuckerman, the music was on point.

@The Animation Team, the scenery in this episode was something else.

Bolin: It’s beautiful.

My thoughts exactly, Bo.

Parting Thoughts

Alright, girl.

What’s good?

Why are you waking up in the middle of the night,

wandering the halls of the temple,

stumbling upon unknown Avatars,

who mysteriously and simultaneously light up when Korra opens the South’s spirit portal?

And why only you, my dear Jinora?

It has to be said: I’m so happy our eldest airbender might have more of an arc in this book. Her two siblings definitely overshadowed her last season, but only because they have such big personalities! 

Still, Papa Tenzin: please keep your little girl safe!!

Favorites

Tenzin took his little airbending family on a field trip!

(Aunt Kya and Uncle Bumi also tagged along and they proved very helpful by unloading Oogi.

No, seriously. They were mistaken for servants, haha. 

I told you Tenzin would get his payback for all of last episode’s teasing.)

There were so many giggly moments with my favorite family today!

How to Be Polite (ft. Tenzin):

Abbot Shung: This is an ancient airbender head shaver we’ve refurbished just for you.

Tenzin: Oh. Okay?

How to Be Polite (ft. Pema):

Abbot Shung: These flowers once filled the mountainside! Now, they can brighten up your room.

Pema: That’s... sweet? Y-you didn’t have to.

I know this moment is a funny one, but thank you for recognizing Pema for birthing, nurturing, and loving her beautiful, yet all over the place children. 

Which reminds me...

These kids are the best kinds of headaches:

Meelo: Mommy, Daddy, look! I finally got a lemur! I’m gonna name him---Poki!

Poki! Come back!

Ikki: No! That gift is mine! Jinora: You don’t even like to read! Ikki:

No actual dialogue in this scene and yet their sleeping positions say so much.

I’m sure Papa Tenzin would agree:

Tenzin: Where are your brother and sister?

Meelo: You can’t catch me! I’m the greatest air scooter-er of all time!

Tenzin: Meelo!!

... maybe not.

The Dork and the Deadpan

As always, we have Bo being Bo:

^dork.

And how are things coming along with Eska, you ask?

Eska: Does this sidecar have the capacity for two passengers?

Bolin: [Flirting.] Sure does. But, uh... who’s gonna drive?

Mako: [Teasing.] Well, what do you know? Looks like---

Bolin: Go away, Mako.

I have to say, the surprise of the episode is definitely Eska! 

She’s hilariously deadpan, especially when she’s protective

Bolin: Can we not talk about dark spirits, please?

Eska: Don’t worry. I will protect you, my feeble turtle duck.

Bolin: Oh, it's in the engine! Ahhhh! I can’t stop it!

Eska: I’ll save you.

Bolin: I’m a raft!

[...]

Bolin: Uh, can someone please deflate me? 

Thank you.

or jealous of Bo:

Eska: Why are you initiating physical contact with another woman?

Bolin:

Hate to break it to ya, Bo, but it looks like Eska’s wearing the pants in this relationship.

(And there ain’t nothing wrong with that.)

Quote(s) of the Episode

Mako: You never cease to amaze me.

Korra: Thanks. By the way, I’m really sorry for being a total pain. Things were really stressful and pretty confusing... It’s hard being the Avatar. Mako: [Jokingly.] It’s harder being the Avatar’s boyfriend.

I stan an apologetic, understanding, and supportive couple.

The Southern Air Temple:

This episode was begging for parallels,

and my purpose in life is to serve.

Remember when Aang got upset because his home was so different and so empty?

Look at it now! How it’s thriving!

Jinora: Wow. The statue room.

Tenzin: That’s right, Jinora. The most sacred place in the entire Southern Air Temple.

Katara: They’re Avatars! All these people are your past lives, Aang.

Aang: Wow! There are so many!

The Trance™

To me, this is also Aang’s place of “re-birth.”

For it is here that the world discovered the Avatar had returned.

Aang now rests in the place that started it all, and it’s got me feeling some type of way.

credits

#legend of korra #book 2 #2x02