#bullying zuko in a family style

[kukya]

AU Where Jet doesn't find out that Iroh and Zuko are FN

So uh yeah uh

A lot of people are having a heart attack this day. Zuko because of a scary and an unwise water tribe peasants. Iroh and Jet when they see the candles go WHOSH. Katara when her brother turns out to be pretty flammable and he's about to gain a matching scar. Aang because he's empathetic king. Toph because people are suddenly dying. (Kira's unhealthy laugh thunders somewhere distant.)

If you can't read the handwriting there's ALT under each photo (I hope I did it right)

There's a link to original post by @stark-tony and @appendingfic: https://www.tumblr.com/appendingfic/621574323454492672/stark-tony-au-where-jet-doesnt-find-out-that?source=share

#atla #avatar #art #toph beifong #sokka #katara #aang #zuko #atla fanart #comics #meme #the last airbender #uploading this for the 2 time because I am uncapable of using a computer #so anyway #toph be like #this guy's heart is RACING #and sokka and katara are having a sibling moment #bullying zuko in a family style #:sparkles: #kukyaart #atla au

[avayarising]

Zuko went to school

It’s mentioned in the show that Azula went with Mai and Ty Lee to the Royal Fire Academy for Girls. Zuko’s school is not mentioned by name, and a persistent fanon has grown up that Zuko never went to school and was instead taught by private tutors. But I disagree.

The only mention one way or another of Zuko’s education is Azula’s comment in The Avatar and the Firelord ‘Didn't you pay any attention in school, Zuko?’ This suggests that Zuko did in fact go to school.

And indeed it doesn’t make sense for the unfavoured child of the second son, not in the direct line and fourth in line to the throne at best, to be privately tutored – a costly and privileged option – while his more favoured sister is sent to school. So it’s likely that at least up until the time Ozai becomes Firelord, and very probably after that as well, Zuko and Azula are both educated in school alongside other noble children.

So here’s my head canons about Zuko’s schooling.

Basic Fire Nation schooling runs from ages 7 to 13 – what we would call middle school. After that, you apprentice to a trade, prepare for university (a path that can also lead to joining the Fire Sages), or begin military training. Zuko has just finished basic schooling when he talks his way into the war meeting – he feels that this is the natural next stage of his education. Similarly, Azula has not long finished school when she is sent after him.

Zuko went to the Royal Fire Academy. It’s a boys’ school, but unlike the girls’ school, it doesn’t have ‘for boys’ in the name; it was there first and ‘for boys’ is implied – a holdover from when only boys went to posh school. It's an expensive and elite private school for the sons of nobles, and is a feeder school for both the Royal Military Academy and the university prep schools.

It’s possible that Chan and Ruon-Jian went to the same school as Zuko, but if so they were in sufficiently different classes (I get the impression that Chan and Ruon-Jian are a year or two older than Zuko) that they wouldn’t have had anything to do with each other and so don’t recognise each other in any capacity.

Azula showed her first flames at four, and thereafter had individual bending training at home to foster her flame. The individual tutoring allowed her to specialise in the style best suited for her – she’s the only fire bender we see use pointed fingers rather than fists or open palms to produce flame during combat. And thanks to this training, she was already well rooted in the basics by the time she went to school.

Zuko, however, showed flame for the first time at seven, as he was starting school – a typical age for beginning firebending – and so his primary tuition was the school group lessons where no-one was given that much attention and it was easy to fall into sloppy habits or to fail to grasp the purpose of the exercises. This of course just cemented Zuko’s status as a much worse fire bender than Azula, and is the other reason (besides fire-related trauma) that Iroh had to start him all over again on the basic sets.

Unlike Azula, we don’t hear anything about Zuko having school friends. I think that Zuko, being both nervous and easily riled (because toxic family life) was rather a target for bullying at school and had few or no real friends. Fire Nation school policies probably rather encouraged bullying than otherwise, and Ozai would certainly have expected Zuko to tough it out.

There would have been those who tried to suck up to him for his status, of course, and perhaps in time some of those might have turned into real friends, but Zuko probably felt very betrayed and angry the first time it was even hinted at that his friends might just be using him, and cut off contact in a fit of temper.

All in all, I really don't get the impression that Zuko's schooldays were particularly happy.

#atla #atla headcanons #zuko #zuko’s school #fire nation education #fire nation schooling

[stardust948]

Zutara Attack on Titan AU lore

Setting is in Ba Sing Se. Bending still exists.

Mainly earthbenders. Firebenders are 2nd common

Waterbenders are rare. Hunted down for healing

Not many Airbenders either. Most did not make it to BSS in time.

Dai Li are the Military Police and the Kysohi Warriors are the Survey Corps. Garrison Force remains the same. Dai Li is mostly earthbenders while KW is mostly nonbenders and firebenders. Suki is the commander of the KW like Erwin Smith. She wears the traditional war paint to honor Kyoshi’s legacy.

Toph is the Levi of this AU. She’s actually royalty but ran away and joined the military. It was easy to do because her family kept her existence a secret because of her blindness. Toph has the highest titan kill count thanks to her unrivaled earthbending. She’s dubbed as Humanity’s Strongest or the Angel of Death.

Water Family

Sokka is ten years older then Katara. When they discovered she was a bender, the family moved to the forest to protect her while Sokka joined the military. (Recruitment age starts at 12). Suki and Toph are also around the same age as Sokka.

Sokka is the Hanji Zoe of this AU. Has invented many anti-titan weapons and is in charge of the research department. He wants to discover all he can about titans and how to defeat them. He visits his family occasionally but worries he might give away their location.

Katara pretty much grows up as an only child. Practices bending alone.

The rest plays out as in the anime/manga. Traffickers kill Hakoda and Kya in front of Katara then kidnap her. The local doctor, Ozai, discovers the bodies and sends Zuko for help. Instead, Zuko tracks down the killers and rescues Katara.

Katara discovers how to bloodbend when one of the traffickers has Zuko in a chokehold. It’s brief but enough to get the guy to drop Zuko.

Zuko ties Kya’s necklace he found on the ground around Katara. Zuko doesn’t know the act is a marriage proposal. This is when Katara forms a small crush on Zuko. She goes to live with the Fire family afterwards.

Sokka finds out later and is devastated about his parents. Wants to take Katara with him but he can’t look after her with his military duties. After some convincing, he agrees to let her stay with the Fire family. Sokka makes it a point to visit more often.

Katara continues to teach herself waterbending. She mixes in firebending katas she learned from Ozai and airbending moves learned from Aang, forming her own unique fighting style.

She grows close to the Fire family and playfully teases Zuko despite having a crush on him. Zuko starts forming feelings too but he’s too stubborn to admit them. His parents think it’s cute.

Air family

Aang and Zuko are childhood friends.

Because there aren’t many Airbenders there’s much confusion regarding their culture so Aang is often picked on for his tattoos and pacifist nature. Zuko beats up the bullies for him and so does Katara when she joins the group.

Aang lives with his grandfather Gyatso. He has a journal from previous airbenders who used to travel the world before the titans appeared. Such knowledge is illegal and Aang is told to keep it a secret.

He shows Zuko and Katara anyway.

Aang quickly discovers his friends’ crush and tries to get them together with varying results.

Fire family

Ozai comes from beyond the walls but doesn’t remember how he got to BSS. He eventually becomes a doctor who saved the Lower district from a plague. He marries Ursa, the local herbiest and they have Zuko.

Zuko is very hot tempered and dreams of life beyond the wall ever since Aang showed him Gyatso’s book. He wants to join the Kyoshi Warriors and go to the outside world like Ozai but Ursa’s against it. This leads to many arguments.  

When the Lower Ring fell and the titans invaded, Zuko’s house catches on fire. Ursa gets the children out but gets trapped inside. This is how Zuko gets the scar on his face. Katara burns her hands trying to get Ursa out but it’s too late.

After escaping to the Middle Ring, Ozai visits Zuko in a refugee camp. Ozai was out of town when the wall fell. He gives Zuko the key to the basement and tells him he needs to get there to save humanity and avenge Ursa. He then gives Zuko the titan serum.

Since Zuko got his scar before receiving the titan serum, the scar remains on his titan form. Zuko doesn’t heal it but keeps it as a reminder.

Zuko and Katara live with Aang and Gyatso until Gyatso is sent to the front lines for population control. The children work on a farm until they’re old enough to join the military.   

Jet is Jean in this AU. He forms a rivalry with Zuko but they eventually become friends in the end.

Mai and Ty Lee are the Marleyans spies and responsible for the fall of the Lower Ring. After spending time with the people of BSS, Ty Lee starts having second thoughts about their mission. They work with Azula, the Beast Titan, who is Ozai’s first child from beyond the walls. Azula’s goal is to “rescue” her brother from Ozai’s teachings and destroy Ba Sing Se.

That’s all I have so far. I’m not sure how I’m going to end this yet but it won’t be the manga’s ending (because that was super depressing and I refuse.)

#atla #atla au #zutara #zutara au #attack on titan #aot au #crossover #water family #royal fire family #zuko #katara #aang #sokka #suki #toph #the gaang #ozai #ursa #azula #mai #ty lee #ozai's angels #jet #aot spoilers #zutara aot au

[wildcard-rumi]

How about Relationships for Akio, Facts for Hoshi and the Bonus questions for Yumia? :3

Akio:

Do they want a relationship?

He's not particularly interested in having a relationship. He's more focused on developing his culinary skills so he can take over his family's diner when he's older. But when that happens, who knows?

Do they have a lot of friends or not so many?

He's a bit of a weird in between where his rebellious delinquent phase scared off a lot of people but once he found a healthier, less destructive way to deal with his grief, people noticed what a nice guy he is. However people still judge him because he kept the punk style. So he is quite popular with a lot of people that like him, but a lot of them tend to keep their distance.

Do they get attached easily?

Not really, it takes quite a bit for him to consider someone a close friend. The group are a special exception on account of saving his life.

Are they more closed off?

He's not exactly closed off, he's just awkward so whenever emotional topics come up, he has no idea what to say. He's basically Zuko's "That's rough, buddy" moment. (Although I stand by my opinion that was a completely understandable response)

Are they the type that's like "in three minutes you will know my entire life story"?

No, never that quickly. He'd slowly give you small details over months until he finally feels comfortable to tell you more about himself.

Are they the type that's like "you won't know anything about me until fifty years from now"?

This is basically the opposite of the above question, so that's still the answer.

Hoshi:

What do they always carry?

He has the usual stuff like phone, tissues, hay fever tablets, chewing gum, etc. But he also has two notebooks that he always carries around: one for his detective notes and one for jotting down any story ideas that come to him throughout the day. Although he does have to be careful not to mix them up.

Any things that are super important to them?

He has an antique type writer that he found in a charity shop that he adores and uses to write his stories. He knows that it's not as practical as typing on his computer but it makes him feel so fancy and official so he puts up with the small inconveniences.

What languages do they know?

Hoshi is fluent in English, Japanese, French and Spanish. He tried to learn German once but he ended dropping it after having a lot of difficulty with it.

Favourite smell?

He knows it's a little bit basic but he loves the smell of cinnamon. His family have a tradition of making cinnamon rolls for breakfast whenever they're celebrating something so he associates the smell with happy times.

Favourite songs?

Thanks to his slightly creepy smile and odd sense of humour, people always assume he has quite a dark, edgy taste in music but he's actually the opposite. He loves listening to bubbly, cheerful idol music, especially the songs made for idol anime and video games. So if he's sat there with his headphones in and his weird smile on his face, he's probably just vibing to something like Maji Love 2000% from Uta No Prince Sama.

Favourite animal?

Owls. He just finds them so fascinating and so cute. Especially when they tilt their heads and stare at him with their huge eyes. It's one of his life ambitions to have a pet owl at some point.

Yumia:

What's your character's backstory?

She really doesn't have much of a backstory tbh. She met Kotone as a child after Kotone saved her from bullies and they've been best friends ever since.

What's your character like?

Yumia is quite ditzy and has a tendency to be off in a daydream but she is a very bright young lady who is very set on her goals and will pursue them with everything she's got. She's also someone who you do not want to anger because if you push the very long way it takes to actually make her angry, you will regret it.

Does your character drink coffee?

Yup, she loves it. She especially likes cappuccinos because of the froth. But she will drink any type of coffee. The only coffee she doesn't drink is the coffee from Akio's diner because Akio's father has a tendency to accidentally burn the coffee beans and make the coffee way too bitter.

Is your oc a morning person?

Yup, the whole group joke that she's like a Disney Princess because she'll make herself a cup of coffee and breakfast while watching the sunrise and listening to the birds and then work on some of her designs before she has to leave the house. And she looks elegant the whole time, much to Kotone's annoyance.

What's your favourite headcannon you have for your oc?

Yumia is unfortunately one of the ocs I haven't developed as much as the others so I don't really have any headcannons about her yet.

#oc akio uesaka #oc hoshi yashiro #oc yumia ushijima #rui's ocs

[shortnotsweet]

Bakudeku: A Non-Comprehensive Dissection of the Exploitation of Working Bodies, the Murder of Annoying Children, and a Rivals-to-Lovers Complex

I. Bakudeku in Canon, And Why Anti’s Need to Calm the Fuck Down

II. Power is Power: the Brain-Melting Process of Normalization and Toxic Masculinity

III. How to Kill Middle Schoolers, and Why We Should

IV. Parallels in Abuse, EnemiesRivals-to-Lovers, and the Necessity of Redemption ft. ATLA’s Zuko

V. Give it to Me Straight. It’s Homophobic.

VI. Love in Perspective, from the East v. West

VII. Stuck in the Sludge, the Past, and Season One

Disclaimer

It needs to be said that there is definitely a place for disagreement, discourse, debate, and analysis: that is a sign of an active fandom that’s heavily invested, and not inherently a bad thing at all. Considering the amount of source material we do have (from the manga, to the anime, to the movies, to the light novels, to the official art), there are going to be warring interpretations, and that’s inevitable.

I started watching and reading MHA pretty recently, and just got into the fandom. I was weary for a reason, and honestly, based on what I’ve seen, I’m still weary now. I’ve seen a lot of anti posts, and these are basically my thoughts. This entire thing is in no way comprehensive, and it’s my own opinion, so take it with a grain of salt. If I wanted to be thorough about this, I would’ve included manga panels, excerpts from the light novel, shots from the anime, links to other posts/essays/metas that have inspired this, etc. but I’m tired and not about that life right now, so, this is what it is. This is poorly organized, but maybe I’ll return to fix it.

Let’s begin.

Bakudeku in Canon, And Why Anti’s Need to Calm the Fuck Down

There are a lot of different reasons, that can be trivial as you like, to ship or not to ship two (or more) characters. It could be based purely off of character design, proximity, aversion to another ship, or hypotheticals. And I do think that it’s totally valid if someone dislikes the ship or can’t get on board with his character because to them, it does come across as abuse, and the implications make them uncomfortable or, or it just feels unhealthy. If that is your takeaway, and you are going to stick to your guns, the more power to you.

But Bakudeku’s relationship has canonically progressed to the point where it’s not the emotionally (or physically) abusive clusterfuck some people portray it to be, and it’s cheap to assume that it would be, based off of their characterizations as middle schoolers. Izuku intentionally opens the story as a naive little kid who views the lens of the Hero society through rose colored glasses and arguably wants nothing more than assimilation into that society; Bakugou is a privileged little snot who embodies the worst and most hypocritical beliefs of this system. Both of them are intentionally proven wrong. Both are brainwashed, as many little children are, by the propaganda and societal norms that they are exposed to. Both of their arcs include unlearning crucial aspects of the Hero ideology in order to become true heroes.

I will personally never simp for Bakugou because for the longest time, I couldn't help but think of him as a little kid on the playground screaming at the top of his lungs because someone else is on the swingset. He’s red in the face, there are probably veins popping out of his neck, he’s losing it. It’s easy to see why people would prefer Tododeku to Bakudeku.

Even now, seeing him differently, I still personally wouldn’t date Bakugou, especially if I had other options. Why? I probably wouldn’t want to date any of the guys who bullied me, especially because I think that schoolyard bullying, even in middle school, affected me largely in a negative way and created a lot of complexes I’m still trying to work through. I haven’t built a better relationship with them, and I’m not obligated to. Still, I associate them with the kind of soft trauma that they inflicted upon me, and while to them it was probably impersonal, to me, it was an intimate sort of attack that still affects me. That being said, that is me. Those are my personal experiences, and while they could undoubtedly influence how I interpret relationships, I do not want to project and hinder my own interpretation of Deku.

The reality is that Deku himself has an innate understanding of Bakugou that no one else does; I mention later that he seems to understand his language, implicitly, and I do stand by that. He understands what it is he’s actually trying to say, often why he’s saying it, and while others may see him as wimpy or unable to stand up for himself, that’s simply not true. Part of Deku’s characterization is that he is uncommonly observant and empathetic; I’m not denying that Bakugou caused harm or inflicted damage, but infantilizing Deku and preaching about trauma that’s not backed by canon and then assuming random people online excuse abuse is just...the leap of leaps, and an actual toxic thing to do. I’ve read fan works where Bakugou is a bully, and that’s all, and has caused an intimate degree of emotional, mental, and physical insecurity from their middle school years that prevents their relationship from changing, and that’s for the better. I’m not going to argue and say that it’s not an interesting take, or not valid, or has no basis, because it does. Its basis is the character that Bakugou was in middle school, and the person he was when he entered UA.

Not only is Bakugou — the current Bakugou, the one who has accumulated memories and experiences and development — not the same person he was at the beginning of the story, but Deku is not the same person, either. Maybe who they are fundamentally, at their core, stays the same, but at the beginning and end of any story, or even their arcs within the story, the point is that characters will undergo change, and that the reader will gain perspective.

“You wanna be a hero so bad? I’ve got a time-saving idea for you. If you think you’ll have a quirk in your next life...go take a swan dive off the roof!”

Yes. That is a horrible thing to tell someone, even if you are a child, even if you don’t understand the implications, even if you don’t mean what it is you are saying. Had someone told me that in middle school, especially given our history and the context of our interactions, I don’t know if I would ever have forgiven them.

Here’s the thing: I’m not Deku. Neither is anyone reading this. Deku is a fictional character, and everyone we know about him is extrapolated from source material, and his response to this event follows:

“Idiot! If I really jumped, you’d be charged with bullying me into suicide! Think before you speak!”

I think it’s unfair to apply our own projections as a universal rather than an interpersonal interpretation; that’s not to say that the interpretation of Bakudeku being abusive or having unbalanced power dynamics isn’t valid, or unfounded, but rather it’s not a universal interpretation, and it’s not canon. Deku is much more of a verbal thinker; in comparison, Bakugou is a visual one, at least in the format of the manga, and as such, we get various panels demonstrating his guilt, and how deep it runs. His dialogue and rapport with Deku has undeniably shifted, and it’s very clear that the way they treat each other has changed from when they were younger. Part of Bakugou’s growth is him gaining self awareness, and eventually, the strength to wield that. He knows what a fucked up little kid he was, and he carries the weight of that.

“At that moment, there were no thoughts in my head. My body just moved on its own.”

There’s a part of me that really, really disliked Bakugou going into it, partially because of what I’d seen and what I’d heard from a limited, outside perspective. I felt like Bakugou embodied the toxic masculinity (and to an extent, I still believe that) and if he won in some way, that felt like the patriarchy winning, so I couldn't help but want to muzzle and leash him before releasing him into the wild.

The reality, however, of his character in canon is that it isn’t very accurate to assume that he would be an abusive partner in the future, or that Midoryia has not forgiven him to some extent already, that the two do not care about each other or are singularly important, that they respect each other, or that the narrative has forgotten any of this.

Don’t mistake me for a Bakugou simp or apologist. I’m not, but while I definitely could also see Tododeku (and I have a soft spot for them, too, their dynamic is totally different and unique, and Todoroki is arguably treated as the tritagonist) and I’m ambivalent about Izuocha (which is written as cannoncially romantic) I do believe that canonically, Bakugou and Deku are framed as soulmates/character foils, Sasuke + Naruto, Kageyama + Hinata style. Their relationship is arguably the focus of the series. That’s not to undermine the importance or impact of Deku’s relationships with other characters, and theirs with him, but in terms of which one takes priority, and which one this all hinges on?

The manga is about a lot of things, yes, but if it were to be distilled into one relationship, buckle up, because it’s the Bakudeku show.

Power is Power: the Brain-Melting Process of Normalization and Toxic Masculinity

One of the ways in which the biopolitical prioritization of Quirks is exemplified within Hero society is through Quirk marriages. Endeavor partially rationalizes the abuse of his family through the creation of a child with the perfect quirk, a child who can be molded into the perfect Hero. People with powerful, or useful abilities, are ranked high on the hierarchy of power and privilege, and with a powerful ability, the more opportunities and avenues for success are available to them.

For the most part, Bakugou is a super spoiled, privileged little rich kid who is born talented but is enabled for his aggressive behavior and, as a child, cannot move past his many internalized complexes, treats his peers like shit, and gets away with it because the hero society he lives in either has this “boys will be boys” mentality, or it’s an example of the way that power, or Power, is systematically prioritized in this society. The hero system enables and fosters abusers, people who want power and publicity, and people who are genetically predisposed to have advantages over others. There are plenty of good people who believe in and participate in this system, who want to be good, and who do good, but that doesn’t change the way that the hero society is structured, the ethical ambiguity of the Hero Commission, and the way that Heroes are but pawns, idols with machine guns, used to sell merch to the public, to install faith in the government, or the current status quo, and reinforce capitalist propaganda. Even All Might, the epitome of everything a Hero should be, is drained over the years, and exists as a concept or idea, when in reality he is a hollow shell with an entire person inside, struggling to survive. Hero society is functionally dependent on illusion.

In Marxist terms: There is no truth, there is only power.

Although Bakugou does change, and I think that while he regrets his actions, what is long overdue is him verbally expressing his remorse, both to himself and Deku. One might argue that he’s tried to do it in ways that are compatible with his limited emotional range of expression, and Deku seems to understand this language implicitly.

I am of the opinion that the narrative is building up to a verbal acknowledgement, confrontation, and subsequent apology that only speaks what has gone unspoken.

That being said, Bakugou is a great example of the way that figures of authority (parents, teachers, adults) and institutions both in the real world and this fictional universe reward violent behavior while also leaving mental and emotional health — both his own and of the people Bakugou hurts — unchecked, and part of the way he lashes out at others is because he was never taught otherwise.

And by that, I’m referring to the ways that are to me, genuinely disturbing. For example, yelling at his friends is chill. But telling someone to kill themselves, even casually and without intent and then misinterpreting everything they do as a ploy to make you feel weak because you're projecting? And having no teachers stop and intervene, either because they are afraid of you or because they value the weight that your Quirk can benefit society over the safety of children? That, to me, is both real and disturbing.

Not only that, but his parents (at least, Mitsuki), respond to his outbursts with more outbursts, and while this is likely the culture of their home and I hesitate to call it abusive, I do think that it contributed to the way that he approaches things. Bakugou as a character is very complex, but I think that he is primarily an example of the way that the Hero System fails people.

I don’t think we can write off the things he’s done, especially using the line of reasoning that “He didn’t mean it that way”, because in real life, children who hurt others rarely mean it like that either, but that doesn’t change the effect it has on the people who are victimized, but to be absolutely fair, I don’t think that the majority of Bakudeku shippers, at least now, do use that line of reasoning. Most of them seem to have a handle on exactly how fucked up the Hero society is, and exactly why it fucks up the people embedded within that society.

The characters are positioned in this way for a reason, and the discoveries made and the development that these characters undergo are meant to reveal more about the fictional world — and, perhaps, our world — as the narrative progresses.

The world of the Hero society is dependent, to some degree, on biopolitics. I don’t think we have enough evidence to suggest that people with Quirks or Quirkless people place enough identity or placement within society to become equivalent to marginalized groups, exactly, but we can draw parallels to the way that Deku and by extent Quirkless people are viewed as weak, a deviation, or disabled in some way. Deviants, or non-productive bodies, are shunned for their inability to perform ideal labor. While it is suggested to Deku that he could become a police officer or pursue some other occupation to help people, he believes that he can do the most positive good as a Hero. In order to be a Hero, however, in the sense of a career, one needs to have Power.

Deviation from the norm will be punished or policed unless it is exploitable; in order to become integrated into society, a deviant must undergo a process of normalization and become a working, exploitable body. It is only through gaining power from All Might that Deku is allowed to assimilate from the margins and into the upper ranks of society; the manga and the anime give the reader enough perspective, context, and examples to allow us to critique and deconstruct the society that is solely reliant on power.

Through his societal privileges, interpersonal biases, internalized complexes, and his subsequent unlearning of these ideologies, Bakugou provides examples of the way that the system simultaneously fails and indoctrinates those who are targeted, neglected, enabled by, believe in, and participate within the system.

Bakudeku are two sides of the same coin. We are shown visually that the crucial turning point and fracture in their relationship is when Bakugou refuses to take Deku’s outstretched hand; the idea of Deku offering him help messes with his adolescent perspective in that Power creates a hierarchy that must be obeyed, and to be helped is to be weak is to be made a loser.

Largely, their character flaws in terms of understanding the hero society are defined and entangled within the concept of power. Bakugou has power, or privilege, but does not have the moral character to use it as a hero, and believes that Power, or winning, is the only way in which to view life. Izuku has a much better grasp on the way in which heroes wield power (their ideologies can, at first, be differentiated as winning vs. saving), and is a worthy successor because of this understanding, and of circumstance. However, in order to become a Hero, our hero must first gain the Power that he lacks, and learn to wield it.

As the characters change, they bridge the gaps of their character deficiencies, and are brought closer together through character parallelism.

Two sides of the same coin, an outstretched hand.

They are better together.

How to Kill Middle Schoolers, and Why We Should

I think it’s fitting that in the manga, a critical part of Bakugou’s arc explicitly alludes to killing the middle school version of himself in order to progress into a young adult. In the alternative covers Horikoshi released, one of them was a close up of Bakugou in his middle school uniform, being stabbed/impaled, with blood rolling out of his mouth. Clearly this references the scene in which he sacrifices himself to save Deku, on a near-instinctual level.

To me, this only cements Horikoshi’s intent that middle school Bakugou must be debunked, killed, discarded, or destroyed in order for Bakugou the hero to emerge, which is why people who do actually excuse his actions or believe that those actions define him into young adulthood don’t really understand the necessity for change, because they seem to imply that he doesn’t need/cannot reach further growth, and there doesn’t need to be a separation between the Bakugou who is, at heart, volatile and repressed the angry, and the Bakugou who sacrifices himself, a hero who saves people.

Plot twist: there does need to be a difference. Further plot twist: there is a difference.

In sacrificing himself for Deku, Bakugou himself doesn't die, but the injury is fatal in the sense that it could've killed him physically and yet symbolizes the selfish, childish part of him that refused to accept Deku, himself, and the inevitability of change. In killing those selfish remnants, he could actually become the kind of hero that we the reader understand to be the true kind.

That’s why I think that a lot of the people who stress his actions as a child without acknowledging the ways he has changed, grown, and tried to fix what he has broken don’t really get it, because it was always part of his character arc to change and purposely become something different and better. If the effects of his worst and his most childish self stick with you more, and linger despite that, that’s okay. But distilling his character down to the wrong elements doesn’t get you the bare essentials; what it gets you is a skewed and shallow version of a person. If you’re okay with that version, that is also fine.

But you can’t condemn others who aren’t fine with that incomplete version, and to become enraged that others do not see him as you do is childish.

Bakugou’s change and the emphasis on that change is canon.

Parallels in Abuse, EnemiesRivals-to-Lovers, and the Necessity of Redemption ft. ATLA’s Zuko

In real life, the idea that “oh, he must bully you because he likes you” is often used as a way to brush aside or to excuse the action of bullying itself, as if a ‘secret crush’ somehow negates the effects of bullying on the victim or the inability of the bully to properly process and manifest their emotions in certain ways. It doesn’t. It often enables young boys to hurt others, and provides figures of authority to overlook the real source of schoolyard bullying or peer review. The “secret crush”, in real life, is used to undermine abuse, justify toxic masculinity, and is essentially used as a non-solution solution.

A common accusation is that Bakudeku shippers jump on the pairing because they romanticize pairing a bully and a victim together, or believe that the only way for Bakugou to atone for his past would be to date Midoryia in the future. This may be true for some people, in which case, that’s their own preference, but based on my experience and what I’ve witnessed, that’s not the case for most.

The difference being is that as these are characters, we as readers or viewers are meant to analyze them. Not to justify them, or to excuse their actions, but we are given the advantage of the outsider perspective to piece their characters together in context, understand why they are how they are, and witness them change; maybe I just haven’t been exposed to enough of the fandom, but no one (I’ve witnessed) treats the idea that “maybe Bakugou has feelings he can’t process or understand and so they manifest in aggressive and unchecked ways'' as a solution to his inability to communicate or process in a healthy way, rather it is just part of the explanation of his character, something is needs to — and is — working through. The solution to his middle school self is not the revelation of a “teehee, secret crush”, but self-reflection, remorse, and actively working to better oneself, which I do believe is canonically reflected, especially as of recently.

In canon, they are written to be partners, better together than apart, and I genuinely believe that one can like the Bakudeku dynamic not by route of romanticization but by observation.

I do think we are meant to see parallels between him and Endeavor; Endeavor is a high profile abuser who embodies the flaws and hypocrisy of the hero system. Bakugou is a schoolyard bully who emulates and internalizes the flaws of this system as a child, likely due to the structure of the society and the way that children will absorb the propaganda they are exposed to; the idea that Quirks, or power, define the inherent value of the individual, their ability to contribute to society, and subsequently their fundamental human worth. The difference between them is the fact that Endeavor is the literal adult who is fully and knowingly active within a toxic, corrupt system who forces his family to undergo a terrifying amount of trauma and abuse while facing little to no consequences because he knows that his status and the values of their society will protect him from those consequences. In other words, Endeavor is the threat of what Bakugou could have, and would have, become without intervention or genuine change.

Comparisons between characters, as parallels or foils, are tricky in that they imply but cannot confirm sameness. Having parallels with someone does not make them the same, by the way, but can serve to illustrate contrasts, or warnings. Harry Potter, for example, is meant to have obvious parallels with Tom Riddle, with similar abilities, and tragic upbringings. That doesn’t mean Harry grows up to become Lord Voldemort, but rather he helps lead a cross-generational movement to overthrow the facist regime. Harry is offered love, compassion, and friends, and does not embrace the darkness within or around him. As far as moldy old snake men are concerned, they do not deserve a redemption arc because they do not wish for one, and the truest of change only occurs when you actively try to change.

To be frank, either way, Bakugou was probably going to become a good Hero, in the sense that Endeavor is a ‘good’ Hero. Hero capitalized, as in a pro Hero, in the sense that it is a career, an occupation, and a status. Because of his strong Quirk, determination, skill, and work ethic, Bakugou would have made a good Hero. Due to his lack of character, however, he was not on the path to become a hero; defender of the weak, someone who saves people to save people, who is willing to make sacrifices detrimental to themselves, who saves people out of love.

It is necessary for him to undergo both a redemption arc and a symbolic death and rebirth in order for him to follow the path of a hero, having been inspired and prompted by Deku.

I personally don’t really like Endeavor’s little redemption arc, not because I don’t believe that people can change or that they shouldn't at least try to atone for the atrocities they have committed, but because within any narrative, a good redemption arc is important if it matters; what also matters is the context of that arc, and whether or not it was needed. For example, in ATLA, Zuko’s redemption arc is widely regarded as one of the best arcs in television history, something incredible. And it is. That shit fucks. In a good way.

It was confirmed that Azula was also going to get a redemption arc, had Volume 4 gone on as planned, and it was tentatively approached in the comics, which are considered canon. She is an undeniably bad person (who is willing to kill, threaten, exploit, and colonize), but she is also a child, and as viewers, we witness and recognize the factors that contributed to her (debatable) sociopathy, and the way that the system she was raised in failed her. Her family failed her; even Uncle Iroh, the wise mentor who helps guide Zuko to see the light, is willing to give up on her immediately, saying that she’s “crazy” and needs to be “put down”. Yes, it’s comedic, and yes, it’s pragmatic, but Azula is fourteen years old. Her mother is banished, her father is a psychopath, and her older brother, from her perspective, betrayed and abandoned her. She doesn’t have the emotional support that Zuko does; she exploits and controls her friends because it’s all she’s been taught to do; she says herself, her “own mother thought [she] was a monster; she was right, of course, but it still [hurts]”. A parent who does not believe in you, or a parent that uses you and will hurt you, is a genuine indicator of trauma.

The writers understood that both Zuko and Azula deserved redemption arcs. One was arguably further gone than the other, but that doesn’t change the fact that they are both children, products of their environment, who have the time, motive, and reason to change.

In contrast, you know who wouldn’t have deserved a redemption arc? Ozai. That simply would not have been interesting, wouldn’t have served the narrative well, and honestly, is not needed, thematically or otherwise. Am I comparing Ozai to Endeavor? Basically, yes. Fuck those guys. I don’t see a point in Endeavor’s little “I want to be a good dad now” arc, and I think that we don’t need to sympathize with characters in order to understand them or be interested in them. I want Touya/Dabi to expose his abuse, for his career to crumble, and then for him to die.

If they are not challenging the system that we the viewer are meant to question, and there is no thematic relevance to their redemption, is it even needed?

On that note, am I saying that Bakugou is the equivalent to Zuko? No, lmao. Definitely not. They are different characters with different progressions and different pressures. What I am saying is that good redemption arcs shouldn’t be handed out like candy to babies; it is the quality, rather than the quantity, that makes a redemption arc good. In terms of the commentary of the narrative, who needs a redemption arc, who is deserving, and who does it make sense to give one to?

In this case, Bakugou checks those boxes. It was always in the cards for him to change, and he has. In fact, he’s still changing.

Give it to Me Straight. It’s Homophobic.

There does seem to be an urge to obsessively gender either Bakugou or Deku, in making Deku the ultra-feminine, stereotypically hyper-sexualized “woman” of the relationship, with Bakugou becoming similarly sexualized but depicted as the hyper-masculine bodice ripper. On some level, that feels vaguely homophobic if not straight up misogynistic, in that in a gay relationship there’s an urge to compel them to conform under heteronormative stereotypes in order to be interpreted as real or functional. On one hand, I will say that in a lot of cases it feels like more of an expression of a kink, or fetishization and subsequent expression of internalized misogyny, at least, rather than a genuine exploration of the complexity and power imbalances of gender dynamics, expression, and boundaries.

That being said, I don’t think that that problematic aspect of shipping is unique to Bakudeku, or even to the fandom in general. We’ve all read fan work or see fanart of most gay ships in a similiar manner, and I think it’s a broader issue to be addressed than blaming it on a singular ship and calling it a day.

One interpretation of Bakugou’s character is his repression and the way his character functions under toxic masculinity, in a society’s egregious disregard for mental and emotional health (much like in the real world), the horrifying ways in which rage is rationalized or excused due to the concept of masculinity, and the way that characteristics that are associated with femininity — intellect, empathy, anxiety, kindness, hesitation, softness — are seen as stereotypically “weak”, and in men, traditionally emasculating. In terms of the way that the fictional universe is largely about societal priority and power dynamics between individuals and the way that extends to institutions, it’s not a total stretch to guess that gender as a construct is a relevant topic to expand on or at least keep in mind for comparison.

I think that the way in which characters are gendered and the extent to which that is a result of invasive heteronormativity and fetishization is a really important conversation to have, but using it as a case-by-case evolution of a ship used to condemn people isn’t conductive, and at that point, it’s treated as less of a real concern but an issue narrowly weaponised.

Love in Perspective, from the East v. West

Another thing I think could be elaborated on and written about in great detail is the way that the Eastern part of the fandom and the Western part of the fandom have such different perspectives on Bakudeku in particular. I am not going to go in depth with this, and there are many other people who could go into specifics, but just as an overview:

The manga and the anime are created for and targeted at a certain audience; our take on it will differ based on cultural norms, decisions in translation, understanding of the genre, and our own region-specific socialization. This includes the way in which we interpret certain relationships, the way they resonate with us, and what we do and do not find to be acceptable. Of course, this is not a case-by-case basis, and I’m sure there are plenty of people who hold differing beliefs within one area, but speaking generally, there is a reason that Bakudeku is not regarded as nearly as problematic in the East.

Had this been written by a Western creator, marketed primarily to and within the West (for reference, while I am Chinese, but I have lived in the USA for most of my life, so my own perspective is undoubtedly westernized), I would’ve immediately jumped to make comparisons between the Hero System and the American police system, in that a corrupt, or bastardized system is made no less corrupt for the people who do legitimately want to do good and help people, when that system disproportionately values and targets others while relying on propaganda that society must be reliant on that system in order to create safe communities when in reality it perpetuates just as many issues as it appears to solve, not to mention the way it attracts and rewards violent and power-hungry people who are enabled to abuse their power. I think comparisons can still be made, but in terms of analysis, it should be kept in mind that the police system in other parts of the world do not have the same history, place, and context as it does in America, and the police system in Japan, for example, probably wasn’t the basis for the Hero System.

As much as I do believe in the Death of the Author in most cases, the intent of the author does matter when it comes to content like this, if merely on the basis that it provides context that we may be missing as foreign viewers.

As far as the intent of the author goes, Bakugou is on a route of redemption.

He deserves it. It is unavoidable. That, of course, may depend on where you’re reading this.

Stuck in the Sludge, the Past, and Season One

If there’s one thing, to me, that epitomizes middle school Bakugou, it’s him being trapped in a sludge monster, rescued by his Quirkless childhood friend, and unable to believe his eyes. He clings to the ideology he always has, that Quirkless means weak, that there’s no way that Deku could have grown to be strong, or had the capacity to be strong all along. Bakugou is wrong about this, and continuously proven wrong. It is only when he accepts that he is wrong, and that Deku is someone to follow, that he starts his real path to heroics.

If Bakudeku’s relationship does not appeal to someone for whatever reason, there’s nothing wrong with that. They can write all they want about why they don’t ship it, or why it bothers them, or why they think it’s problematic. If it is legitimately triggering to you, then by all means, avoid it, point it out, etc. but do not undermine the reality of abuse simply to point fingers, just because you don’t like a ship. People who intentionally use the anti tag knowing it’ll show up in the main tag, go after people who are literally minding their own business, and accuse people of supporting abuse are the ones looking for a fight, and they’re annoying as hell because they don’t bring anything to the table. No evidence, no analysis, just repeated projection.

To clarify, I’m referring to a specific kind of shipper, not someone who just doesn’t like a ship, but who is so aggressive about it for absolutely no reason. There are plenty of very lovely people in this fandom, who mind their own business, multipship, or just don’t care.

Calling shippers dumb or braindead or toxic (to clarify, this isn’t targeting any one person I’ve seen, but a collective) based on projections and generalizations that come entirely from your own impression of the ship rather than observation is...really biased to me, and comes across as uneducated and trigger happy, rather than constructive or helpful in any way.

I’m not saying someone has to ship anything, or like it, in order to be a ‘good’ participant. But inserting derogatory material into a main tag, and dropping buzzwords with the same tired backing behind it without seeming to understand the implications of those words or acknowledging the development, pacing, and intentional change to the characters within the plot is just...I don’t know, it comes across as redundant, to me at least, and very childish. Aggressive. Toxic. Problematic. Maybe the real toxic shippers were the ones who bitched and moaned along the way. They’re like little kids, stuck in the past, unable to visualize or recognize change, and I think that’s a real shame because it’s preventing them from appreciating the story or its characters as it is, in canon.

But that’s okay, really. To each their own. Interpretations will vary, preferences differ, perspectives are not uniform. There is no one truth. There are five seasons of the show, a feature film, and like, thirty volumes as of this year.

All I’m saying is that if you want to stay stuck in the first season of each character, then that’s what you’re going to get. That’s up to you.

This may be edited or revised.

#bakudeku #meta #my hero academia #boko no hero academia #bnha #mha #bakugou katsuki #izuku midoriya #ok these are just my general thoughts in response to the people who have hang ups about this ship #like y’all need to pls chill tf out ok #this is also not comprehensive and could definitely be elaborated on #but it’s just general thoughts #it’s just addressing general opposition I’ve seen #I never thought I’d ever write this much about this ship wtf

[turtle-paced]

A:tLA Re-Watch: Fine-Toothed Comb Edition

First two-part episode of the series, and a very important one for the structure of the series going forwards too!

Book 1, Chapter 7 - The Spirit World (Winter Solstice, Part 1)

(0:55) Previously, on Avatar, Aang realised he was ready to hear whatever it was his previous incarnation Roku had to say to him. Katara lost her necklace and Zuko picked it up. Aang’s duty is to restore balance to the world by defeating Ozai, who got tipped off to Aang’s re-emergence by his own spiritual authorities.

(2:05) Airbenders think differently about heights. When Sokka suggests Katara jump off Appa and check out the fluffy clouds below them, she scoffs - but Aang gleefully says he’ll give it a go and launches himself into the air.

(2:17) Aang reports that clouds are made of water. The party will remember this.

(2:31) In this pre-flight era, where there are very few airbenders, the party has an unusual view of the devastation the Fire Nation has caused to the natural environment of the Earth Kingdom right from the beginning of their journey. As Sokka says, it’s like a scar. Attention to detail strikes again - the devastation is on one side of the river, which clearly halted some of the fire’s progress.

(2:37) When the group lands to check it out, the blackened area of the forest is more a burned-out area of the forest. There’s no wildlife around. Katara and Sokka’s differing concerns show up again. Katara checks in on a very upset Aang, while Sokka looks around for the causes of the fire (the Fire Nation).

(2:59) Aang with the heavy questions. “Why would anyone do this? How could I let this happen?” There aren’t any answers yet. Aang knows the world has changed, but he doesn’t understand how (and won’t until well into season three). As for ‘how could I let this happen?’, that requires some self-reflection. When Aang decided to run away the first time, he didn’t have the faintest idea that this, or this sort of thing, would be the outcome. The important thing here is his realisation that he doesn’t know how to be the Avatar.

(3:16) Aang draws a distinction between learning the styles of bending and learning his job. This shows us that Aang thinks of being the Avatar as more than the cool powers. He’s very much aware that being the Avatar comes with responsibilities he’s currently not at all prepared to handle.

(3:35) Fittingly, Zuko makes his re-entrance by wandering into a scene shouting for people (in this case, Iroh) to go places and do things.

(3:47) Once again Iroh advises Zuko to slow down, rest, and maybe practice some self-care. Alas, Zuko’s troubles cannot be soaked away.

(4:10) I think this might be the first time we’ve seen a variation on Iroh’s breath of fire, exhaling steam through his nose to heat the water. 

(4:16) And another instance of Iroh refusing to let Zuko bully him, with a bit of malicious compliance. Zuko wants Iroh to leave the springs now? Okay! What, it was hardly as if Iroh was going to get in the water fully clothed. It’s saying no to Zuko and giving him some self-inflicted consequences of his own poor behaviour, without hurting him.

(4:30) “Are you ready to be cheered up?” Seriously, love Katara. This implies some time passing between the end of the last scene and the start of this one, in which she’s backed off to let Aang work through his emotions on his own. But she’s also not going to let Aang wallow in his problems, and she’s used the time to find something that might help Aang feel better about the problem at hand. She’s proactively dealing with the emotional issues here.

(4:47) What Katara found is acorns. Katara’s not just sitting back and saying “I have hope”, she’s going out and finding things that give her hope, and then sharing them. (And important for her to do, in an episode where she doesn’t have much of a role.) It’s also an important reminder for the group and the viewer - despite the destruction, things can regrow.

(5:11) Yet another person who sees airbending tattoos and thinks ‘aha! This must be the Avatar! Definitely not a descendant of surviving airbenders!’ It’s phrased as “are you the Avatar?”, which leads to an understated exchange between Aang and Katara where Aang looks to her, she nods, and Aang nods at the elder in an affirmative. The message between them being that it’s okay for Aang to call himself the Avatar even though he feels like he’s failed.

(5:22) Shot of another Earth Kingdom village. Those walls. No matter how small the village is, they have walls. Because it’s easy for earthbenders to make them. There has, however, been a recent fire. Several houses are burned.

(5:37) Rumours of the Avatar’s return have reached this tiny village who-knows-where in the Earth Kingdom.

(5:58) The problem the villagers are seeking help with is not the Fire Nation, however. It’s a spirit monster, Hei Bai. Up till now, the protagonists have been dealing with wartime dangers (and Bumi). This brings in one of the more solidly fantasy elements of the story. The spirit has been taking people from the village for the last few nights.

(6:20) It’s established here that the solstices are significant dates, as the natural world and the spirit world are closest at these points.

(7:08) This is one of those places where Aang is completely unequipped to handle Avatar duties. He knows next to nothing about the spirit world. This also lets the audience learn along with Aang.

(7:16) When Katara asks if Aang can help, Aang says, “I have to try, don’t I? Maybe whatever I have to do will just come to me!” Aang’s good points and bad points in a single line. Not helping doesn’t even occur to him, to the point where he sees helping others as his obligation. But there’s not much proactivity on a personal level there either, his first instinct being to hope that the solution will come to him, rather than ‘let’s go out and find this solution’.

(7:25) Love Sokka, too. “Yeah…we’re all gonna get eaten by a spirit monster.”

(8:04) It’s an important thing to remember about Iroh - he’s clever and he’s powerful, but he’s not infallible. As we see here when he’s effectively ambushed. Note how unconcerned he is about missing Zuko’s deadline, by the way.

(8:15) The incident gives the writers a chance to reiterate Iroh’s background. Fire Lord’s brother, famous general. It also gives us a title for him: “The Dragon of the West.” Iroh being captured here and addressed by a title additional to whatever he might have by virtue of being related to the Fire Lord shows us his Earth Kingdom notoriety.

(8:35) This is half-comical given Aang’s actual words, but the music and his solitude on the streets of the village are a reminder that Aang, who is not yet thirteen and who doesn’t know the spirit world ins and outs of his job, is heading out alone to confront a spirit who’s been attacking a village.

(8:44) Sokka is the first to object to letting Aang do this alone. This shows us something about Sokka’s relationship with Aang. We’ve seen Sokka reluctant to help strangers - just last episode, in fact - and we’ve also seen Sokka willing to face down an entire warship by himself to help his community. He hasn’t said it like Katara has, but Sokka’s actions show that he’s come to consider Aang as part of his family.

(9:21) Hei Bai appears and definitely fits the description of ‘spirit monster’.

(9:37) While I’m appreciating characters, love Aang, whose first reaction to a giant and quite possibly hostile spirit monster towering over him is to smile, bow, and politely introduce himself.

(9:47) Of course, the flaw in Aang’s approach is shown when his words do nothing. Hei Bai, enraged by the destruction of their forest by humans, starts rampaging around the nearest human settlement. Aang continues to try and talk even while Hei Bai is smashing buildings. We know that Aang’s pretty adaptable; he just doesn’t want to switch tactics to violence. Admirable, but not always effective, and Aang is slow to recognise and engage with situations where he has to fight.

(10:37) Sokka charges out to fight Hei Bai while Katara hangs back. On Katara’s part, I wonder if this is partially her not trusting her own ability to help in a fight.

(10:55) Aang’s just in the middle of saying “I don’t want to fight [Hei Bai] unless I have to” when Sokka gets snatched.

(11:09) It’s nighttime, and Zuko’s out looking for his uncle. Seems he didn’t leave after ten minutes, in the end. All bark and not a whole lot of bite.

(11:16) When a soldier suggests that perhaps Iroh left, under the impression that Zuko would have left, Zuko doesn’t even consider it. Even if Zuko takes it a bit for granted at this point, this relationship is so important to his character development. Zuko’s father hates him. Zuko’s mother loved him, but also left him, and he’s not privy to her reasons for going. And Zuko can still trust absolutely that Iroh loves him and wouldn’t willingly leave. He just doesn’t think about the implications for another season and a half.

(11:22) Zuko also using his brain here as he spots the reverse landslide. Another important thing to show, given that so much of Zuko’s arc involves him dealing with some realisations that are immediately obvious to the viewer. (He’s on the wrong side of the war, his dad’s a piece of shit, things like that.)

(11:37) Seriously skilful flying from Aang - he’s moving fast, through a forest, after sunset.

(12:00) Sokka gets taken into the spirit world, and Aang crash lands in front of Hei Bai’s shrine.

(12:11) Aang wakes up, and the animators do the heavy lifting in partially concealing how Aang’s been taken to the spirit world (or has partially shifted to that plane? The mechanics are unclear). The orange and yellow of Aang’s clothes are washed out in the nighttime scene, further than they were in the twilight scene immediately before the commercial break cut.

In character terms, Aang is struggling hard with feelings of failure. This is even worse because they’re justified feelings of failure and important things he’s failed at. It’s not fair he has the responsibilities, it’s true he’s a kid. There are mitigating factors here. But having tried and failed to stop the damage to the village and rescue Sokka, Aang’s feelings are valid, and deeper than can be resolved in just the one episode. This goes hand in hand with Aang’s knowledge of his responsibilities as the Avatar. He’s well aware of the expectations and where he falls short. We’ll be coming back to Aang’s self-blame and good/bad responses to failure in future episodes.

(12:23) In this establishing shot of the Earth Kingdom soldiers escorting Iroh, note that they’re barefoot.

(12:32) “We’re taking you to face justice.” Another important thing to remember with Iroh. He spent most of his career trying to conquer the Earth Kingdom. With the exception of the one flashback, the viewer sees the kindly old man who’s trying to help his nephew and, later, free the Earth Kingdom. Not everyone in-universe shares this perspective.

(12:44) As we get from the soldiers continuing to helpfully exposit. First mention of Ba Sing Se, here, and the great siege of the backstory.

(12:59) “After six hundred days away from home, my men were tired and I was tired, and I’m still tired.” With what we later learn about Lu Ten, it very much appears to me that Iroh says ‘tired’ but means ‘grieving’, and this line is a G-rated indication that there were a lot of deaths during this particular siege.

Oh, and also it’s a good lead-in to his ruse. Just as Zuko trusts that Iroh wouldn’t up and ditch him, Iroh trusts that Zuko will be looking for him.

(13:32) Gotta feel so bad for Katara, here. Aside from her own backstory of dead and absent parents, she’s just watched her brother and her best friend vanish in a fight with a spirit, leaving her alone in a foreign country.

(13:38) Katara’s holding on to Sokka’s boomerang.

(13:49) As the sun rises, it’s now clear that Aang’s clothes aren’t just washed out, he’s entirely blue-shaded. With his inability to interact with Katara and the elder, not to mention being translucent, the penny drops and Aang realises he’s in the spirit world.

(14:20) Voice acting! It’s just the one line, but on his own, Zuko is a lot less growly and shouty.

(15:06) After a low-key miserable scene of Aang, Katara, and Appa being utterly unable to comfort each other, Aang shouts at the sky that he needs to talk to Avatar Roku.

(15:17) The introduction of the no-bending-in-the-spirit-world rule.

(15:32) We get a good look at the mysterious light chasing Aang. It’s a dragon (Fang). This is quickly followed by our first look at Roku.

(16:28) Interestingly, Iroh is able to see Aang even when he’s travelling in the spirit world. Much like other things in Iroh’s backstory, this is never fully explained.

(16:44) Iroh might have left his sandal behind in faith that Zuko would be following, but he’s still going to attempt to free himself with some quality briar-patching. Of course his captors are willing to chain him tighter.

(17:06) Here we see Iroh heat his cuffs red-hot the same way he heated the springs he was bathing in. He’s showing us combat application of what he was trying to teach Zuko in the first episode - firebending comes from the breath, not the muscles. So he can still firebend effectively when he’s chained up and unable to use his muscles to their fullest extent. I feel pretty bad for this corporal, whose entire palm and fingers were pressed to red-hot metal for a few seconds. If anything, he’s not screaming enough. Iroh follows that up by startling the soldiers’ ostrich-horses and making a break for it, rather than attempting anything more lethal.

(17:18) Aang and Fang approach a volcanic island and a temple. The temple is five storeys. A lot of stonework and tiling, a lot of gold.

(17:40) So while we’re looking at this heavily gilded statue, I just want to raise one question - who ordered this temple built? Or, at the very least, who commissioned this statue of Roku, the dimensions of which must have been calculated with the uppermost room in mind?

Think about it. Roku was a known opponent of Fire Nation expansionism. Would the Fire Sages spend this much money or place a very expensive statue of the Fire Lord’s political opponent in a temple without the Fire Lord’s okay? As we’ll see in future episodes, they’re pretty involved with the state. Could Roku’s surviving family afford this? Would Azulon or Ozai fork out the cash? I also note that the statue is an accurate depiction of Roku in his latter years, so aside from this being done by a skilled artisan (and hence a $$$ artisan), someone who knew Roku well was involved in the design phase.

I think this temple might be a product of Sozin’s guilty conscience. I don’t think this conclusion was intended, but the show’s later depiction of Roku and Sozin’s relationship makes it an appealing post-hoc explanation.

(17:47) Fang spiritually transfers a bit more knowledge. In this case, Sozin’s Comet, bereft of context. It’s clearly bad, though!

(18:00) Bringing back the point about the solstice from earlier, we see a spot of sunlight approaching the face of the Roku statue. Fits with the exposition!

(18:50) Iroh is quickly recaptured, because he’s one chained-up guy trying to escape over dirt without killing anyone (let’s be real, Iroh could easily kill these guys), being followed by three earthbenders.

(19:07) Katara goes out looking for Aang and Sokka. Mostly, this is an excuse for -

(19:16) - Zuko to spot Appa. He knows that means the Avatar. But Appa’s flying one way, the tracks of the ostrich-horses are leading another, and Zuko has to choose.

(20:18) This week in “it’s really freaking hard to humanely contain benders”, the Earth Kingdom soldiers decide to crush Iroh’s hands. Given that Iroh barely used his hands and that the most significant injury he caused in that escape attempt was to someone’s hands...I’m thinking this is more retaliatory than anything.

(20:25) Zuko arrives to save the day, having chosen his love for his uncle over his quest (and, implictly, over his love for his father). It makes it easier to support Zuko and Iroh in this fight, especially after the hand-crushing thing. Unfortunately, as Azula will prove in season two, this isn’t a one-and-done decision.

Also, off to the right - is that a female Earth Kingdom soldier? I think it might be! The show is welcome to continue proving me wrong about female earthbenders in the background! (I mean, they’re still a tiny and voiceless minority, but there are more than I thought!)

(20:42) “You are clearly outnumbered!” “Ah, that’s true…but you are clearly outmatched.” Damn that’s a line. Especially since the fight bears that out. Iroh doesn’t even firebend, instead using his chains. 

In one particularly noticeable shot, he uses the chains to redirect the momentum of a rock flying towards him. From what we’ve seen of Zuko and Zhao, this isn’t a technique firebenders use much. Even before we’re told Iroh learned from watching waterbenders, we’re shown that Iroh learned from watching waterbenders. This series knows how to do fight scenes - not just how to make them tense, but how to make them show character.

(21:23) After failing the previous evening, Aang is trying again. Good on him.

(22:07) Aang touches Hei Bai and learns/confirms that Hei Bai is the spirit of the forest, and says that now he understands. Hei Bai is angry because his home was burned down. So the war can have effects on the spirit world as well. It’s a two-way relationship.

(22:22) Aang offers Hei Bai an acorn. Hei Bai accepts it, and is appeased. So in the end, Aang didn’t have to fight after all. He could resolve the situation using his words. But that was only possible after he understood what was going on, and only after he had some real help to offer. The series is anti-war, but it doesn’t treat talking as a magical cure-all to conflict.

(22:58) “If only there were a way we could repay you for what you’ve done.” “You could give us some supplies and some money.” Ah, practicality. But again the sort of thing that helps to explain how the group are getting by day to day.

(23:24) We leave off with the hook for next episode, part two. Contacting Roku has to be done ASAP, but they have to go to the Fire Nation to do it. Sounds dangerous!

#a:tla #cw: violence #fine toothed comb edition

[mccall-me-maurice]

A new list of headcanons for the updated AU

Lotf headcanons

Jack:

Jack is Ralph’s academic rival and also head of the debate team. He spends the weekends at his father’s business, learning how to run the company. On the Saturday nights, he goes to an underground club in a fight ring thing. Nobody knows he does it, even though Ralph also spends time there.

Jack is dyslexic and has minor and manageable OCD, denying using extra help for his dyslexia in classes.

Comes from a wealthy family with 6 siblings, his father divorcing his mother and marrying his step-mother who he pushes away because he’s angsty and shes “not his real mother.”

Loves 80s music so much, he’s a nerd for it.

Sings in the shower/bathroom like into a hairbrush in front of the mirror in his little towel like a nerd but he’s actually really good at singing.

Wears his uniform extremely sharply and very crisp like why so much effort.

He has hearing loss due to an accident in his childhood and he’s fluent in ASL, but doesn’t wear his hearing aids almost ever.

Ralph:

Ralph is fluent in violin, he’s actually really good at playing, he was also an ocean lifeguard and saved Jack’s life when he got caught in a current.

He wears thick framed glasses to read and has really swoopy handwriting thats illegible because it’s like messy calligraphy.

Ralph dives as a hobby and is so good at it, like scary good at diving perfectly.

He has beauty marks on his face that he lets people trace sometimes, ink usually adorning his cheeks.

Very French, extremely French. Fluent in the language.

Draws on his hands with different coloured pens and the designs are always so intricate like a mandala colouring book.

Also draws on the cuffs of his jeans and the rubber edge of his sneakers all the time.

Blushes very easily, will go red in a matter of seconds flat either when he’s flustered, embarrassed or angry.

Brothers with Robert.

Simon:

Spends all of his out of school time in his mother’s flower shop and can recite the meaning of most flowers if you ask him. His fingers are all bandaged up because of how much he cuts himself with knives when he’s removing stems or clippers.

He has epilepsy and faints frequently.

Is a fan of older musicals, like Grease, Dirty Dancing and Hairspray and makes the choir watch them with him.

Rarely spends time indoors, Simon is usually out biking around the neighbourhood or walking around with his friends from school.

Will paint rocks and gift them to people when he thinks they’re upset. Also does face painting at the school carnivals, because he never minds being alone in a booth when there is nobody there.

Speaks softly and is usually ignored in favour of people with louder opinions, but he’s usually right.

Roger:

His biological family died in a house accident, the only thing surviving being him and his cat Nastya, who he loves more than anything. Because of his parents death, he taught himself the rest of the Russian language, which they were already teaching him along with English. However, his heritage is East Asian and Russian.

He pierced his lip by himself, and even though it turned out fine, he got his ears done professionally.

Not very affectionate and will push people away, distancing himself because he doesn’t like the idea of anyone being close to him and get under his skin.

Dyed the back part of his hair on a whim and just liked it enough to keep it as a style.

Spends nights at Simon’s place instead of his own, finding more comfort in Simon’s house.

Sam:

Comes from a German family, but knows German, Italian and English.

He hates birthdays because he doesn’t understand why they are so important.

Hates social interactions and actively avoids them with a passion. He gets extremely nervous and just leaves abruptly when he gets too overwhelmed.

Younger than Eric by 6 minutes, which he routinely gets teased for.

Into super cheesy romantic movies because he loves the idea of a happy ending despite not having one himself.

Messes with his hair when he’s anxious, so it’s constantly messy and mussed.

Mega nail biter when he’s nervous.

Cousins with Jack.

Maurice:

Heavily touch reliant and when his friends don’t show him physical affection, he assumes the worst and gets very upset.

Heavily Italian, like so fucking Italian. His family hardly speaks English and he learned most of his from school.

Very passionate about science despite most people thinking he’s an idiot. He has some of the highest marks in his class.

Messes with things when he’s talking or uses hand gestures. Like if there’s a pen, he’s clicking it because it helps him concentrate.

Maurice has like a billion flannels and hoodies he just cycles through and it looks like he doesn’t change but no, it’s just that he owns a gazillion grey hoodies

His older sister when to an Ivy League school, so he owns a lot of stuff from it that he wears like sweaters or ball caps.

Eric:

Very sarcastic. his entire sense of humour is him bathing in his own sarcasm. It’s actually pretty well timed and kind of funny how he’s able to deadpan his jokes.

Very easily picks up on languages. He’s fluent or close to fluent in German, English, Italian, French, Spanish, Japanese and partly fluent in Korean.

Really enjoys computer science and plans on doing it for a living. He stays up late at night to work and sleeps until like midday.

Doesn’t acknowledge other people’s emotions very often because he doesn’t realise when he’s gone too far, but still feels bad for others when they’re hurt.

Jack’s favourite cousin because they’re cynical buddies. Jack is overly protective of him even though Eric is perfectly capable.

Robert:

Brothers with Ralph and is very protective over him. Has absolutely slandered choir members before for hating on Ralph.

Shares a dad with Ralph but has a different mom, who he visits over the summer and sometimes during the holidays. That’s where he gets his Spanish roots from, which is a language he’s fluent in. He has 7 siblings on that side of his family.

Adores burnt popcorn and burnt anything. If he can burn it, he will.

Works as a mechanic in his free time and built the car he shares with Ralph.

Sci-Fi nerd, specifically Star Wars. He loves the movies and watches them like every day.

Extremely talented artist, Robert sketches anytime he has a pencil and paper.

Peter:

Was bullied in the past but doesn’t let the words bother him anymore. It mostly stopped around high school.

Works with his auntie in the sweet shop and brings his friends food for them to taste test.

Used to be a boy scout, so he can tie any knot you want him to, it’s really a gift.

Gets very cold very easily, especially his fingertips. He usually has a pair of gloves on him for when it gets really bad.

A Mathlete for most of his time in high school, obviously is extremely intelligent.

Double knots his shoelaces so they’re extra secure.

Bill:

Swedish, and really enjoys his own culture. He will spend HOURS rambling about it and how much he loves it.

Watches Avatar the Last Airbender and has the biggest crushes on Sokka and Zuko.

Also is a sucker for people who wear glasses, he really loves them.

Works at the library despite not liking books, he finds comfort in shelving them and the order they go in.

Puts little umbrellas in every single drink he has, it doesn’t matter what it is.

Writes notes to himself on sticky notes because his memory is horrible.

Sets at least 5 alarms because 1 will not wake him up by itself.

Harold:

Can speak limited Spanish due to his schooling.

Likes singing, but never really got into it like some choir members because he has stage fright.

Powerful speaker when he wants to be, but is usually too nervous to say anything.

Has no idea how to tie a tie, so he lets other people do it for him.

Sometimes take sarcastic comments seriously and ends up confused.

A really good actor and loves the performing arts.

Has extremely clear skin, he never gets any blemishes.

Wilfred:

Dyed his hair because his naturally brown hair reminds him too much of his father, who he hates.

Has 4 tattoos in total, the 4 card suits on his cheek, a half sleeve of roses, a bow and olive branch on his inner forearm, and the solar system on his outer forearm.

Very flirtatious to people he doesn’t really like but gets nervous around those he does.

Hold grudges really well.

Has shockingly neat handwriting.

Has a pretty horrible home life but he never talks about it to anyone because he doesn’t want to be perceived as weak or incapable.

Colours with only crayons.

Percival:

Cries easily, as he’s very emotionally driven and is typically teased for being a crybaby or told to “toughen up.”

Absolutely has the worst sleep schedule ever, he gets 3 hours and calls it a win.

Can’t sleep without a nightlight on in his room.

Enjoys writing things down in this notebook instead of on his phone because he likes the feeling of physically using pen and paper.

Sends letters to people all the time instead of messaging.

Good at sewing, he makes his own Halloween costume every year by himself.

Hates horror movies because he’s spooked easily.

Max:

Lived through a house fire when he was younger, so he has burn scars all over his arms.

Is afraid of cooking due to the fire and will go without eating if he has to touch the stove to make food.

Laid back most of the time, but can reach a snapping point in which the emotion is amplified. (like sadness or anger)

Loves swimming, it doesn’t matter where he does it, he just loves to swim.

Is very time sensitive and has to get places early or directly on time or else he gets anxious.

A very fast reader, typically long books take him 2-3 days to get through.

Johnny:

Worries a lot, he usually sees the worst in every single situation.

Is a trans male (Ftm) and was accepted by his entire family when he came out.

Owns a St. Bernard named Dolly who is the sweetest dog ever.

Spends a lot of time outdoors, he still plays as if he is a child.

Also enjoys the snow a lot because he’s fond of building snowmen with the kids on his street.

Has very sensitive skin and eczema, which he doesn’t like to talk about or show anyone because it makes him feel insecure.

Oddly good at playing guitar, he just picks up on chords with ease.

Walter:

Good at playing the drums and annoys his entire family with it.

Uses a skateboard as his main method of transportation around places.

On the basketball team, as his older brother taught him to play when they were both younger.

Hates roller skating despite being very good at most things on wheels. He can never find his balance.

Shockingly good at Math, especially statistics and calculus. He’s in all advanced math courses.

Has a very weird snake addiction and he desperately wants to buy one.

Henry:

Aromantic Asexual who is best friends with Harold and Wilfred.

Mainly makes snippy remarks because his humour falls into the sarcasm umbrella.

Adores comic books and superheroes, specifically Marvel ones because he’s a fan of Dare Devil.

Plays baseball in his free time but hasn’t joined a team, he just plays with the boys in his neighbourhood.

Addicted to the High School Musical movies.

Good at painting people’s nails and will do it for them if they ask.

Has really fluffy hair that he lets people touch and play with.

#lotf #lord of the flies #lotf headcanons #lotf jack #lotf ralph #lotf simon #lotf roger #lotf maurice #lotf samneric #lotf robert #lotf piggy #lotf bill #lotf percival #lotf mulberry boy #lotf harold #lotf wilfred #lotf johnny #lotf walter #lotf henry #my headcanons

[aquieces]

Middle School Head-canons

-Eva joined the boy’s wrestling team because there wasn’t a girl team. By the end of 8th grade, she’d won several medals and got the school’s team nationally ranked.

-Tyler played baseball throughout 7th grade because it was the only sport that allowed him to be on at least the B team.

-Beth joined band in fifth grade and has been playing the french horn ever since.

-Lindsay and her friends joined volleyball despite having no experience or real interest in the sport. Although their team never won a game, she met a couple of her boyfriends at the matches.

-Duncan and his friends would mess around with the hall monitors by loitering in the halls during class and seeing how long they’d get chased for. Duncan’s record stands at 2 1/2 minutes.

-Cody wore way too much hair gel to school everyday, and would style it in spikes.

-Gwen was half bald for a couple of months when she tried to bleach her hair on her own. 

-Mike’s 8th grade play was Grease, and with reluctant permission from the rest of the system Vito auditioned and got caste as Danny Zuko.

-Heather dressed, talked, and acted like a complete bully throughout middle school. Although she is too proud to admit it, she regrets letting her insecurities bring out the worst in her.

-Izzy was a serious and extremely talented dancer, especially in hip-hop. At a competition in 9th grade she sprained her ankle and never got back into dance.

-Courtney was a honor-roll teachers pet student, but would go crazy at pep rally, spending the entire time screaming and chanting while being the MVP of whatever team competition she’d sign up for.

-Harold was targeted by bullies mostly because of how easily provoked he’d get. Most days he’d have videos taken of him where he would freak out at a classmate for pestering him with small but irritating pranks.

-During the baby egg project Dawn got very attached to her egg. She named the egg Aeneas and sewed a tiny dress for it, and weaved her own baby bassinet.

-Scott was held back in 7th grade because he hated school and saw no point in going as he believed he’d spend his whole life working on his families farm.  

-Dakota was the girl everyone wanted to be and hated at the same time, and she knew it. She loved seeing other girls get so invested and annoyed at her picture perfect life.

-Anne-Maria would cloud up the locker room with extremely strong and girly smelling perfumes.

#total drama #tdi #td headcanons #total drama headcanons #td eva #td tyler #td beth #td lindsay #td duncan #td cody #td gwen #TD Vito #td heather #td izzy #td courtney #td harold #TD Dawn #td scott #td dakota #td anne maria

[cobra-diamond]

The East Asian Origins of the Fire Nation and Its Villains

Introduction

           Over the years, many volumes of fandom blood have been spilled from discussions concerning the Fire Nation’s main villains, Ozai and Azula. Paralleling this have been arguments over their relationships with Zuko, Iroh, Ursa, Mai, Ty Lee, with each other, even with themselves. Since Ozai and Azula are the figureheads of the Fire Nation that Zuko must peacefully restore the honor of, it is worthwhile understanding why people “like them” are considered proper leaders of the current Fire Nation.

           Most of these discussions have sought to create “theories” that explain these characters as exclusively combinations of mental illness, personality disorders and various emotional traumas.

           A couple examples of these discussions are the essays “Azula, the Embodiment of Jealousy and Neglect,” and “Three Pillars Theory of Azula.” These two essays are just examples, but they capture the widespread strategy the fandom has employed in trying to understand the motivations and goals of Ozai and Azula and their various relationships with the other characters. In addition, the shouting matches between Azula “fans” and “haters” also illustrates these discussions. Since the franchise has yielded so few hard answers, these importance of these discussions has not waned.

           What these discussions focus on, as represented by those essays, are the characters’ apparent emotional problems, theoretical moral compasses and perceived inadequacies in the eyes of their families. Typically, the “lens” these discussions view these villains through is one that tries to relate them to present day spousal and domestic abuse narratives, namely as being both “abuser” and “victim” in a cycle of abuse that can be related to the modern, real world.

           What these conversations do not provide are adequate explanations for how the historical, political, military and cultural aspects of the Fire Nation molded these military leaders. You would think that people with “Lord” and “Princess” in their names, who train daily for warfare and hand-to-hand combat, would make their responsibilities take center stage in their lives.

           While there is a place for “nitty gritty” psychological examinations for understanding certain behaviors, trying to depict the Fire Nation villains as purely allegories of modern day domestic abusers, empathy deficient bullies and people afflicted by personality disorders eliminates Avatar’s most unique and defining characteristic: its East Asian origins.

           You don’t need beautiful animation, martial arts-styled bending and immersion in a fantasy world to explain how families in the modern era can hurt their children for petty reasons. We have that in our own lives. We have friends and families who have experienced that. It can be addressed in any other setting. It can be addressed in Avatar but it doesn’t need Avatar to address it.

           What we don’t experience in our modern lives is ancient China 2000 years ago, or feudal Japan after the takeover of the Tokugawa Shogun, or religious monks living in their temples in the mountains untouched by the modern world, and so on.

           The setting of Avatar is one of both beauty and relative detachment from the real (and modern) world, but it is one that is based on a period of history and human civilization that most of Avatar’s audience (North America and Europe) have little exposure to. If the characters’ motivations are too detached from the fictional world in which they live (i.e. by ignoring the historical, political, military and cultural context), then you begin to lose the world’s depth. At the same time, if their motivations are too connected to the present world, then all Avatar is is a visual motif of ancient East Asia.

           By seeking to explain the Fire Nation villains as embodiments of modern psychology’s understanding of “bad” people, you erase the opportunity to apply East Asia’s very real history of warfare, monarchical domination and oppressive cultures to a fictional world that is trying to say something about that warfare, monarchical domination and oppressive cultures. Note that the show did in fact achieve this with the Dai Lee’s corruption and manipulation of the Earth King; it depicted loosely the very real occurrence of Chinese Emperors being “kept in the dark” by their advisors so as not to interfere with the “real” governing of the states.

           If your goal is to view Avatar purely as an allegory for modern dysfunctional relationships and domestic abuse, you lose Avatar’s uniqueness as a fictional dive into an East Asian-inspired world, especially one that is ravaged by warfare and feudalism.

           In this article, I describe an alternative model for understanding the Fire Nation’s culture and history, and how its politics and military molded its heroes and villains.

What We Know and Might Know

           In order to fill the gaps in our knowledge of the Fire Nation, we first have to understand what is both known about the Fire Nation and what can be reasonably presumed about it.

           First, what do we know about the Fire Nation?

1. The Fire Nation is an archipelago with a history spanning thousands of years.

2. The Fire Nation was originally the “Fire Islands” and was not initially governed by a central power.

3. The Fire Islands had a unified cultural and religious authority in the form of the “Fire Sages”.

4. Eventually, the Fire Islands were unified by a single power—the “Imperial Government”—and afterward became known as the “Fire Nation”.

5. The Imperial Government is headed by a supreme ruler: the “Fire Lord”.

6. The Fire Lord is a hereditary monarch whose family is considered the “Royal Family”, both of which are separate entities from the Fire Sages.

7. The Fire Sages remain a distinct entity from the Imperial Government.

8. Both the Fire Lord and Royal Family are military and administrative rulers.

9. The Fire Lord and their Royal Family are not sacred and everlasting; their power can be “challenged” by rival leaders.

10. Fire Lords are expected to “show their worth” and be competent fighters in their own right; prowess in military arts and control of subordinates are valued traits.

11. Agni Kais are a longstanding component of Fire Nation culture.

12. The Fire Nation experienced an “unprecedented time of peace and wealth” during the era of the Fire Nation, not during the era Fire Islands.

           Next, what can be reasonably presumed given what we know?

           Something necessitated the Fire Islands becoming unified, but this unification did not result in the Fire Sages taking power, nor did it yield a peaceful, democratic government.

           The Imperial Government that resulted from this unification is rooted in military control and maintaining the fealty of its subjects; in Avatar and the Fire Lord, Sozin put on his “ruler persona” to Roku initially before acting friendly, only later to demand loyalty from him as if Roku was any other subject.

           The culture of the Fire Nation values strength and bravery from its firebenders, as explained in an official description of Agni Kais. Presumably, the Agni Kai predates the era of the Fire Lord and has been used to settle disputes of various kinds. This could be interpreted as a “non-destructive” means of avoiding war and greater loss of life given how easily firebenders could wreak havoc to wooden buildings and crops (among other flammable components of society). Since nobody recognized Zuko on Ember Island in The Beach, despite his obvious scar, severe scars from burns must be common enough in the Fire Nation that a teen boy having one on his face is not horrifying nor particularly unattractive.

           Presumably, the Fire Nation/Fire Islands used to hold its religion and spiritual ties in higher regard, but Sozin’s start of the war required this aspect of the Fire Nation to be suppressed, as implied by dragon hunting and the divided loyalties of the Fire Sages at Roku’s temple, and the fact that various generals and admirals have defected. At the same time, vast enough swaths of the country and its leadership did follow Sozin’s path, considering that he and his family remained in power for over a hundred years. If Fire Lords can have their power challenged, then either nobody tried to stop Sozin, or they were defeated. Azula’s comment about “rumors of plans to overthrow him (Ozai)” in The Avatar State implies betrayal of the Royal Family is not a dormant threat. Though she was technically lying, it must have been a credible lie since neither Iroh and Zuko thought it was preposterous; his brother being “regretful” is what puzzled Iroh, not that there would be plots against the Fire Lord.

           Notably, the Fire Lord’s throne room changed between the start of the war and the present day. Prior to Sozin, it did not have the imposing wall of flame as it does now. Certainly it had to be rebuilt after Roku destroyed it, but the wall of flame is much more imposing than the old.

           The Fire Sages still pay a role in the Fire Nation, but this role is not known. Presumably, they play some part in the succession of the Fire Lord since they preside over coronation. Perhaps the relationship between the Fire Lord and Fire Sages is similar to the relationship between the Japanese Emperor and the Shoguns, where the Shoguns held the true power in the country (military and administrative) whereas the Emperor maintained a facade of power as a cultural and religious symbol. What is known about the Fire Sages is that they have a temple in the capital and are divided between their loyalties to the Avatar and the Fire Lord.

           Finally, the Imperial Government’s capital is located in an isolated, fortified city inside a volcano’s caldera, where coming-and-going is strictly controlled. The city is large, full of nobility, physically disconnected from the external port city (versus directly being the hub of economic activity) and contains numerous underground bunkers.

           Why would the Capital require such extensive bunkers and fortifications? Presumably because the Fire Lord and Royal Family can be “challenged” and the bunkers are a defense mechanism against both external and internal threats. The Fire Nation did have a “darkest day” tied to solar eclipses, which suggests that the loss of firebending had profound military consequences. Whatever the reasons, the Imperial Government is so concerned about its survival that it has constructed massive fortifications around its capital, implying that warfare is a major concern.

Areas of Confusion

           But what does all of this mean?

           Was the Fire Nation previously peace-loving and compassionate while Sozin is responsible for all of its “evils”?

           Have Agni Kais been performed for centuries and so Zuko being challenged to one was neither unusual nor particularly grotesque for the Fire Nation’s culture?

           Did Sozin face massive opposition to starting the war or was everyone humbly obedient to the Fire Lord?

           How is a Fire Lord’s rule challenged?

           Why wasn’t Sozin overthrown if he had to “impose” the war upon the country?

           Why did the Fire Lord come to existence in the first place?

           Why has the Imperial Government not been replaced by the Fire Sages?

           Why does the Fire Nation need a national government?

           What is a more compelling explanation for the Fire Nation’s villains other than mental illness and personality disorders?

           As it turns out, there is a way to understand the Fire Nation that adequately fills in the gaps, explains its heroes and villains and provides a lesson on East Asian history.

A Brief History of Ancient Japan’s Unification

           The islands of Japan have been populated for tens of thousands of years, but the “modern” era of warlords and emperors did not begun until the past 1500 years or so. While the Japanese people were not united under a single state, there was an “Emperor” who was believed to have been descended from a goddess. Despite this first emperor having control over a certain portion of Japan, it did not take long until the country split into separate feudal states.

           While the Emperor never went away, their power over the country waned. The real power in Japan laid in the hands of the various feudal lords (daimyo), who used their armies to defend their territories and capture new ones from other lords.

           Since the Emperor represented a shared cultural connection among the people, their power was not completely absent. In the earlier parts of history, before the Emperor became completely subordinated, the Emperor would appoint a Seii Taishōgun, or supreme commander, of the Emperor’s armies. Eventually, this “supreme commander” became the actual ruler of the Japan since they controlled the military. By appointing them “shogun” they more or less had the public approval of the Emperor despite the Emperor not actually being able to control them.

           Various shoguns came and went, but through it all were the daimyo using their samurai to battle for control of the country. Ruthlessness and murder were common. Building alliances only to later betray them were often wise tactics. For a thousand years, the rulers of Japan lived by the sword, died by the sword and used it to maintain their power. Things got particularly bad during the Sengoku Period, which is considered the “Warring States” period of Japan. That tells you all you need to know.

           It was during this time that one of these feudal lords rose to power, a man named Tokugawa Ieyasu (first name Ieyasu, last name Tokugawa). Using a combination of political tact, military genius and European steel breast armor, he defeated all other daimyo during the Azuchi–Momoyama period and installed himself as the shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunate. This marked the end of over a thousand years of continuous violence and social turmoil in Japan.

           The Tokugawa Shogunate represented Japan’s first unified national government. The country’s existing daimyo were placed under strict control to ensure they did not rebel. The military was nationalized and the existing feudal governments rearranged to ensure centralized control by the Shogun in his capital at Edo. Notably, Edo became modern day Tokyo.

           National laws were written, along with cultural and religious standards to ensure social cohesiveness, stability and control. The economies of Japan also flourished, especially in the cities. A consequence of the Tokugawa Shogunate, however, was closing off Japan to the outside world. The Shogun wanted to ensure their rule and control of the populace. Allowing other countries to influence them and provide assistance to competing powers within the country was viewed as destabilizing.

           A particularly unique aspect of the Tokugawa’s politic strategy was requiring the daimyos’ families to live in the capital while the daimyo themselves had to go back and forth between their homes in their territory (called a domain) and their homes in the capital every other year. The Shogun essentially held the daimyos’ families hostage to ensure they would not rebel or work against him, although they lived in the comfort and relative freedom of a modern city, not as actual prisoners.

           Another tactic the Shogun utilized to quell rebellion was to keep careful control of who entered the city of Edo and its surroundings. Guards were at all entrances and major roads and registries were kept of all people. Essentially, if you weren’t suppose to be somewhere, you weren’t allowed to be there.

           Bushdio also developed during this period as way of controlling the warrior class, and was much more complicated than most Western depictions. With war and feudal fighting no longer a constant threat, the samurai class became enforces for the new government. Naturally, the Shogun was particularly interested in controlling them.

           Control is a common theme of the Tokugawa Shogun’s government.

           The Tokugawa Period was one of peace and stability, prosperity and enjoyment of the arts, but Ieyasu Tokugawa was not a nice person. He hunted down and executed the families of rival clans, including kids, during the takeover. He held families hostage and made sure his subordinates feared him and never stepped out of line. He enacted strict laws to control the populace and made sure no one could challenge him and his government’s reign. And it worked. Japan did not experience another war until the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate 278 years later, when the Emperor regained control and ended the era of isolationism. There’s a reason why modern day Japan doesn’t view this period with derision and loathing; given the context of the time, it was a proud moment for a region racked by warfare and division.

           A pattern is beginning to emerge: an island nation ruled by feuding lords with no central power to direct them; a religious and cultural figure with no real power; a period of intense warfare and turmoil followed by a lasting period of unification and prosperity; a powerful central government headed by a hereditary monarch who took power using ruthlessness and military might; a hereditary monarch who rules through fear and demands fealty; a capital city with strict control of who comes and goes.

           Themes of control and subordination from a central power.

           This is sounds very familiar.

 The Military and Political History of the Fire Nation

           The history of ancient Japan provides a real-world model for understanding the origins of the Fire Nation’s Imperial Government, the Fire Lord and why they rule through fear and military domination. Keep in mind that the Fire Nation is not Japan, but warfare, centralized control and a desire for peace and stability are universal. Ancient Japan’s experience with feudalism, warfare and the eventual peace that came from having a competent central authority can go a long way in applying Avatar’s “East Asian origins” to the Fire Nation and its villains and heroes.

           Using the rise of the Tokugawa Shogunate as a template, the history of the Fire Nation looks like this:

           The Fire Islands were ruled by various feudal lords. These feudal lords engaged in warfare with each other as they vied for ever increasing control. Firebending was the primary source of these lords’ military might. The Fire Sages were recognized as spiritual and religious leaders by the Fire Islands people, but they did not have the practical power necessary to enforce peace upon the lands.

           At the same time, firebending was recognized as being fundamental to the influence of the Fire Sages and the power of the feudal lords. Since fire can destroy houses, burn fields, melt iron and lay waste to non-bending armies, whoever can control and weaponize firebending for their own purposes will attain the most power. On the other hand, this also makes warfare particularly destructive as even small rebellions could lay waste to cities given how much fire a single firebender can unleash.

           At some point, in order to put a stop to the fighting, a central authority came to power, either as one of those warlords or a Fire Sage acquiring enough military and political power. Maybe an avatar helped them. Without a doubt, military might had to have played a role in ending the “Warring States” period of the Fire Islands.

           In order to make sure the Fire Islands did not fall back into fighting and remained peaceful and stable, this new central authority created a sweeping national government to control them. Thus are the beginnings of the Fire Lord and Imperial Government.

           Because the Fire Nation is full of people with ”desire and will, and the energy and drive to achieve what they want” (in the words of Uncle Iroh), the destructive capacity inherent to a nation full of firebenders must be kept under strict control; if the goal is to create a prosperous, flourishing society, you cannot allow it to be destroyed periodically by walking flamethrowers.

           As a result, the Imperial Government is not a “friendly” entity. It controls the nobility and lords who act as the local “vassals” in their home territories; it amasses a large, overwhelming military to quash any attempts at rebellion, and to send a clear message to its people to not even try; it uses fear and threats of violence to control the people who might feel the “drive and willpower” to try their hand at acquiring wealth and power through force.

           The Agni Kai exists as a means of settling conflict without the destructive consequences of firebending. Perhaps a Fire Lord enacted this to further tamp down on firebenders’ destructive tendencies. It may also be an example of how the Fire Nation’s “warrior class” handles internal disputes in a similar manner as bushido.

           Bravery, ferocity and a willingness to fight are valued in the leadership of the country because the Imperial Government is supposed to be a military entity first; how can the Fire Lord, their family and government inspire fear in the people if the people don’t believe they will be crushed if they step out of line?

           At the same time, since the Fire Nation is much smaller than the Earth Kingdom, the Fire Lord must ensure they can defend the Fire Nation from invasion; you need a large, devoted, competent military to go up against an enemy multiple times your size.

           In order to further control the country, the Fire Lord requires the families of the lords and nobility to live in the closed-off, guarded capital inside the caldera in a similar manner as the Tokugawa Shogunate required. This is why the capital is so guarded and closed-off, yet beautiful and comfortable; it is both a defensive measure for the administrative officials and a means of holding the nobility “hostage”.

           The Fire Lord and Royal Family views themselves as presiding over, and maintaining the peace and stability of the Fire Nation. Their responsibility is to ensure that the peaceful Fire Nation does not fall back into the chaotic Fire Islands. Being nice and democratic is not their means of achieving this; making sure everybody subordinates themselves to the Imperial Government is.

           After hundreds of years of peace and an unprecedented era of prosperity, the Fire Nation began to lose its internal enemies. The lords and nobility were under full control. The Imperial Government was vast and efficient. Nobody was trying to invade the Fire Nation. Everyone was happy and proud of their culture and government.

            This allowed Sozin to begin looking outward. Using the all-powerful Imperial Government apparatus developed over the centuries, plus the sweeping loyalty to it ingrained into the public, he was able to get the country to go to war against the world. The militarism inherent to the Fire Nation’s leadership was not crafted out of whole cloth but simply cranked up and sent down a dark path.

           The military being so willing to go along with it was because of their inherent loyalty to the Imperial Government and their culture of aggression and lust for battle necessary for warriors. This is actually where the 20th century Imperial Japan connections come in, but that’s a separate topic.

            In summary, the Fire Lord and Royal Family view themselves as stewards of the peace and order of the Fire Nation. They see their responsibility as doing whatever it takes to prevent the “bad old days” from returning and that the Fire Nation is never weakened by foreign invaders. They rule through coercion and fear in order to ensure a country full of people who can shoot fire out of their hands remain subservient to the Imperial Government’s will. They embrace a culture of fighting because their primary goal is to prevent fighting by deterring those who might want to try.

An Alternate View of the Fire Nation’s Villains

           Viewing the Fire Nation’s culture, government and leadership through the lens of Japanese history paints a more coherent picture of the Fire Nation’s villains, versus the M.C. Escher-like theories that result from focusing entirely on mental illness and personality disorders.

           Look at it like this: the Fire Lord demands fealty and obedience from the people yet Azula’s emphasis on controlling people through fear is a result of Freudian Excuses and personality disorders?

           No way.

           Ruling through fear and coercion is necessary from the viewpoint of a soldier-princess who is supposed to command obedience from subjects, or else.

           Agni Kais are expected events in Fire Nation culture, so common that child-Zuko is perfectly happy to face the general over mere “disrespect”, but the Fire Lord challenging his son to one is uniquely out of line? It’s awful, I mean, really awful, but it’s not out of line and it says a lot about the ingrained culture of the Fire Nation; Ozai didn’t think it would be viewed as shameful by everyone watching. Keep in mind that the tale of the 47 Ronin started with one member of the nobility insulting the other (essentially) and being asked to commit suicide simply for drawing a weapon inside Edo Castle (strictly forbidden). If Ozai can have his power challenged as any other Fire Lord can, then nobody was willing to oppose him because everyone else supported him.

           Iroh spends a lifetime invading the Earth Kingdom, no doubt killing tens of thousands, and he can joke about burning Ba Sing Se to the ground? Of course he can, because it’s what Fire Nation generals do and part of the terrible culture that must be changed, as horrible as it was. The prince-general is supposed to be a military leader and enjoy what he does. He better not be squeamish.

           Zuko is expected to be “loved and adored” for having firebending talent, courtly manners (to quote official descriptions of Azula) and intelligence in a similar fashion as his prodigal, early-blooming sister? Yes, because she bloomed early as the type of princess the nobility and leadership want and expect. It’s unfortunate they were so hard on Zuko, but now we know why he wasn’t “adored” like his sister; she was what others wanted Zuko to be.

           Ty Lee is strong-armed by Azula into leaving the life she loves, even having her life threatened, when Ty Lee is a family member of the nobility that the Imperial Government seeks to control? Of course she is strong-armed. Can you really imagine this scenario playing out:

           Those lines are taken from the show. Sounds a lot different, doesn’t it? Ignore the smirking and smugness for a moment and think about what is actually happening: a supreme military leader and heir to the throne is bullying a subordinate in order to get what they are entitled to; unwavering loyalty from a subject. Doesn’t make it good. Doesn’t make Ty Lee’s fear and loathing of Azula any less justified, but it puts it in a much more relevant context than vague theories of sadism and personality disorders. It also tells us something about the real ancient world: this how military rulers in East Asia’s history behaved and now you’re getting to see it in a fictional setting.

           Fire Lord Azulon orders one of his sons to execute their son? That’s bad. Really bad. Did you also know that Ieyasu Tokugawa ordered his own son to commit suicide over suspicion he was conspiring against him? He didn’t want to but those were the wishes of the lord he was working with to win the war. That’s really bad too, and not shocking for the era, unfortunately. The leaders of the ancient world valued human life a lot less than people do now. It’s sad they didn’t value it more.

           Manipulating subordinates (i.e. playing them off each other) and being ruthless were not frowned upon, but legitimate tactics. Murder and backstabbing were useful means of getting rid of an opposing leader. What mattered was winning, and the blood on your hands could simply be washed off, and if people didn’t like you for it? Well, were they in charge?

           None of this is “good”. None of this is moral, or righteous, or anything close to how people should act in the modern era. However, these were not kleptocratic dictators like we see around the world today. These were legitimate administrative rulers by their day’s standards, and we (you and me) will never truly know what they were feeling when they woke up in the morning with the responsibilities of warfare and politicking.

           We will never be able to completely relate to what these ancient leaders did. Do you know what it’s like to be the law in the land who can order people to commit suicide, and who will do it? Do you know what it’s like to prosecute a political and military war against multiple opponents across a vast country? Do you know what it’s like to manage an ancient authoritarian government after hundreds of years of warfare and chaos? None of us will, but that’s the kind of situation that a fictional country like the Fire Nation can take inspiration from, and should take inspiration from.

           These were all very real problems of the ancient world and problems which Avatar, as a fictional work, can allow us to explore in the safety and comfort of not actually having to be there (and without having to open up huge history books).

Summary

           The Fire Nation’s political and military history can be modeled on ancient Japan’s, in particular the rise of the Tokugawa Shogunate, where the Fire Lord represents the shogun and the Fire Sages the emperor.

           The Fire Nation capital is both the head of the administration and home to the nobility’s families, who are held as hostages (in comfort) to prevent the various lords from rebelling.

           The Royal Family and Imperial Government rules through fear and threats of force because they have to keep a country full of walking flamethrowers in line.

           As military leaders who can have their power challenged, firebending talent and military prowess are highly valued and necessary for Fire Lords. At the same time, the rest of the country’s leadership wants leaders who appear worthy of that power and authority, hence those who have all the right qualities (Azula) are viewed in higher regard than those who have less (Zuko).

           Azula’s emphasis on using “fear to control people” is not a psychological hang-up but a natural tactic of the Fire Lord, military, and Imperial Government to maintain obedience; as a teenager with limited life experience, she has internalized her role as a princess and warrior to the detriment of her personal relationships and emotional maturity (this is where the “child soldier” narrative has relevance).

           Ozai represents the pinnacle of self-interest, authoritarianism and militarism that the combination of Sozin’s War and the longstanding nature of the Imperial Government have combined to create. In the ancient world, lords waged warfare for two reasons: to acquire power or pre-emptively wipe out rivals. Ozai wants power.

           Ozai challenging Zuko to an Agni Kai is awful but not unusual, hence why he felt he could do it at all. Agni Kais are a fundamental aspect of conflict resolution in the Fire Nation, most likely because the Fire Nation’s leadership values bravery and a willingness to fight very highly. As Zuko was a prince and future leader of the warrior class, those values applied to him as well, but they got applied to him far too young (again, this is where the “child soldier” narrative has relevance).

           And finally, by modeling the motivations of the Fire Nation’s villains and heroes on the military leaders of ancient Japan, you have the opportunity to learn about and critique that ancient society while also giving it a fictional flare.

           As a final remark on applying the history of ancient Japan to the Fire Nation, the Tokugawa Shogunate ended when the Emperor forcibly took control of the Tokugawa government in order to end the forced isolationism. If ancient Japan hadn’t been pressured to adapt to more advanced European civilizations (say, if it existed in a vacuum) then the Tokugawa Shogunate might have continued to be the longest and most stable period in Japanese history; post-World War 2 Japan is only 70 years old while the Tokugawa Shogunate lasted for 278. When the Emperor wrested control of the country from the Shogunate, there was already enough peace, stability and government bureaucracy in place to lead a rapid transition of the country into modernity. That was the ultimate value of the Tokugawa Shogunate.

           If the Fire Islands had not unified under a central authority, then they might have never industrialized so rapidly during that “unprecedented time of peace and prosperity” and may have eventually been conquered by the Earth Kingdom (should an EK conqueror have found a way of killing the Avatar, or taking advantage of their absence).

Conclusion

           Think about ancient Japan for a moment. All of the warring lords. The conquest and ruthless political maneuvering. The ruling through fear and totalitarian control. What is a more reasonable explanation for the behavior of that society: mental illness and personality disorders, or universal concepts of ancient nation-building?

           What makes more sense for furthering Avatar’s East Asian themes in terms of the Fire Nation: sociopathy, personality disorders, lack of fundamental human qualities, petty bullies and insecure abusers? Or universal concepts of ancient nation-building in the context of people who can shoot fire out of their hands?

           Was Ieyasu Tokugawa suffering from a personality disorder? Was ancient Japan swimming with people who lacked fundamental human traits? That would be and absolutely extraordinary anomaly of human genetic variation.

           When discussing the evils of the Fire Nation, you have to start with the in-world context that created them, and in order to understand that context, you have to apply some East Asian history. Why “decent” or “normal” people end up doing terrible things is a question as old as humanity itself and should not be erased from Avatar.

           In order to understand why Ozai and Azula seem like “bad” people to us, it’s because the rulers of ancient Japan acted like bad people. Zuko can’t be soft and fumbling. Azula can’t let people say no to her. Iroh can’t abandon the siege with no consequences. Ozai can’t let Zuko refuse to fight. As bad as many of these things are, they are driven by the fact these people are the most powerful entities in their country and must show their fire-wielding subordinates that they deserve their power and should not be challenged. There is no room for weakness, only strength and competence.

           When you resort to psychological theories or genetic anomalies to explain the Fire Nation’s villains, you erase the opportunities to tie the Fire Nation to critical elements of East Asian history, namely the rise and success of the Tokugawa Shogunate. By relating the main villains of Avatar to the very real “villains” of the ancient world, you preserve the East Asian themes that make Avatar unique and informative to a Western audience and help shed light on what drove them to be what they were.

#Avatar The Last Airbender #atla meta #fire nation #Azula #ozai #Zuko #iroh

[passable-talent]

Roe! How about "Mmmphf. Snicetoseeyoutoo." With Zuko with a s/o that's stronger than him physically?? I love how you write Zuko uwu

y’all u know how it’s impossible to take a compliment but like it means the god damn world to u?

yeah that ^^

Your father was a captain in the fire nation army, which means your family was always on the move. He wasn’t meant to be a soldier, more a gesture of peace, planting seeds of loyalty into the towns that the Fire Nation meant to take over. Mostly you travelled between earth kingdom villages, and due to your youth and easy going nature, you tended to make friends even with the ‘enemy’. Something your mother hated.

But something very useful.

Earth kingdom teenagers have a very good mail system, you see. Your father would kill to know about it- it lead to a lot of preemptive evacuations and therefore losses for the fire nation army. But if you ever gave it up, then you’d lose your very important pen pal- General Iroh.

Iroh kept you updated on Zuko, who was ‘too busy to write’. Though you were hurt, you knew that he was crazed and full of rage and so excused his poor behavior. Was that any way to treat a childhood sweetheart? No. Were you going to blame him? Also no.

You found out one day, though, that Zuko had gone off alone. You penned a letter quickly to Iroh asking a dozen questions- where had he gone? Why? Was he insane?- but you knew you wouldn’t get a timely response and so resigned to stress yourself out for a few weeks.

Your father travelled to a town where earth kingdom soldiers were bullying other townsfolk, and told you to not at all hold back your annoyance. You came to the assistance of a few townsfolk who recognized your fighting style as one from the fire nation, but wouldn’t hold it against you, as you kept the soldiers from muscling their way into some free desert.

One particular little boy thanked you especially and invited you home for dinner, to meet his family, and another teenager ‘just like you’.

What could that possibly mean?

You told your mother you’d be out for dinner and followed Lee back to his family farm, where the ‘other teenager’ was helping Lee’s father finish a roof.

“Ma! Can a new friend stay for dinner, too?” Lee called out, and who you had to assume was his mother looked from the doorway.

“Lee, you can’t keep bringing people home to dinner just because they stood up to the soldiers.” You heard sounds from the ladder behind you, but didn’t turn until Lee’s father spoke.

His words were lost on you, because- behind him, that boy- that was Zuko.

You ran to him, practically shoving Lee’s father out of the way, grabbing the prince into a bone-crushing hug.

“Mmmphf. Snicetoseeyoutoo," He grunted out, arms coming around you even as you breathed into his shoulder.

“I’ve been so worried about you,” you said, ignoring the confusion of the family behind you. “Your uncle said you went off on your own! Why would you do that?” You let go of him to look him in the eye, but he cast his eyes away, and you knew enough not to press it. For a moment you merely just stared at your old friend, until you came to realize the spectacle you had just become to Lee and his family. How could you know this other teenager they’d also extended their home to?

You turned back to them, realizing that staying for a whole meal would not be good for whatever cover that Zuko was trying to keep himself under.

“I really should be getting home,” you said, “I’m sorry, Lee. Some other night?” The boy nodded and gave you a smile and so you waved to his parents before fixing Zuko with a hard glare.

“Don’t leave without saying goodbye,” you ordered him, and gave him a punch to the shoulder for good measure. He flinched from the blow and laughed, slightly, but you heard it. You hoped that they wouldn’t question him too much, and whatever questions they did give him, Zuko would be able to answer carefully.

Zuko didn’t say goodbye- the circumstances of his leave didn’t allow it. But Iroh was happy to get an update from you that his nephew was alive, and you were happy to see him again.

Just for a moment. Just for one hug.

-🦌 Roe

#zuko #avatar #avatar: the last airbender #atla #x reader #reader insert #fluff #imagine #imagines #zuko x reader #zuko reader insert #zuko fluff #zuko imagines #avatar reader insert #avatar x reader #avatar fluff #avatar imagines #atla x reader #atla reader insert #atla fluff #atla imagines #atla imagine #avatar imagine

[cmonappayipyip]

avatar: the last airbenders characters in american high school au

sokka -> katara -> aang -> toph -> zuko

sokka

-senior

-class clown

-sometimes studies for class but he naturally understands everything in this nice smooth flow so school comes very easy to him

-sokka surprises everyone thinking he'd become a jock in high school (he was the class clown, a little bit sexist, a little rude as all young teenage boys are) by becoming a theater kid instead

-its there he meets his girlfriend suki

-the first time he meets her is in all her makeup and dress

-he says she did good in her auditions, for a girl

-he teases her for it until she tells him all the kids who want in to the club have to perform the same audition script, in the same dress and makeup

-he protested at first but gave in anyway

-and then sokka was casted as the girl love interest to suki

-and the rest is history

-not even a week later sokka is the defintion of a feminist

-and he still never shuts up about his girlfriend suki

-he's very popular, and not just in the theatre kid clique

-he makes friends with everybody

-one time he sees this small freshman standing up for a kid being bullied by a senior and it looks like the freshmans about to be eaten alive

-sokka watches not sure what to do but gets confused as the three seniors back down after the freshman makes a speech about love and acceptance for everybody

-sokka is insanely impressed until he realizes they backed down because a teacher was coming down the hall

-it was mr. jeong jeong

-and nobody wants to deal with jeong jeong, not even the scariest kids in the school

-after the almost fight sokka calls aang young grasshopper and they become friends

-for the rest of the year sokka and aang (and eventually toph) keep getting into weird schemes together

-one night they pull all the chairs out of the entire school and put them into the football field

-nobody ever finds out they were the ones who did it

-sokka plans the entire senior prank by himself and its flawless until aang tells him hes not going big enough

-they keep planning and eventually its so extreme katara comes in and tells them guys you cant set 100 wild geese free in the school

katara

-junior

-when shes a freshman she gets really mad when other people are talking over the teacher

-gets near perfect grades on everything she does but still never stops studying

-she wasnt that popular as a freshman, she was that kid for a while who showed up with 50 notecards for a 10 question vocab quiz

-but she joins the swimming team and calms down just a little and all of a sudden she has more friends than anybody else in the school

-she meets aang in swim

-hes a really fast swimmer and at first thats the only thing about him that catches her attention is how impressive his speed is as a freshman

-but then sokka and aang become friends and katara cant keep her eyes off of him

-she finds him funny and his calm and peace of mind comforting

-he has a way of handling situations that seem wise beyond his years, but then he also sometimes acts just like the kid he is

-she knows he likes her immediately and she likes him back too

-but she wont ever admit it

-until they later start dating when theyre both in college

-katara meets toph through aang and after she sees someone bully toph for being blind she becomes furious

-toph doesn't care, at all

-but katara wont let it go

-and toph secretly loves katara for that

-she starts becoming more active in caring about other people

-she joins student council and eventually becomes student council president, winning by actually caring about her school and not just a popularity contest (although it was a little bit, everyone loved her)

-but zuko ran against her in her junior year for president under irohs suggestion

-she hated him competitively for a while

-she constantly threw it in zukos face that he was a rich kid so he cant just buy his way into anything

-she hated him on principle

-zuko never taunted her back though

-one day as she went in to study at a tea shop, she saw zuko in the backroom serving tea

-she learned zuko didn't have any of his familys money anymore and worked for everything he owned, including his heart and temperament

-he was a good person

-katara stopped hating him, but she didnt give up running either

-when he lost presidency to her, he accepted graciously

-and thats when she asked him to be her vice president, and the entire class voted zuko in

-they were the most powerful duo in the school after that day

aang

-freshman

-respectfully but constantly arguing with the teacher

-he's not doing it to be funny, he just knows more than the teachers do

-but everyone thinks hes funny for it anyway

-he never has to study but always does great on the tests

-he was very popular immediately

-by the time he reaches physics sophomore year he meets mr. bumi

-aang starts eating lunch in bumi's room and slowly all of the class joins him for lunch

-bumi only eats a singular lettuce leaf for lunch and 5 packets of pop rocks everyday

-during tests he gives everyone a packet of pop rocks for when youre finished taking it and promises you a 100 if you figure out what he wants you to do with them

-people try everything from putting it in coke, to stealing their classmates, to pouring it on the ground and stomping on them

-aang figures out his last day of class when theyre supposed to take their final

-he notices on test days bumi never has pop rocks

-he always assumed it was so he didnt distract the students during the test but he knows now

-he walks into bumis room and when the test begins he hands bumi his own pop rocks and says he can have them

-bumi annouces aang was the first person in his 43 years of teaching who got it and he will get a 100 on his final

-slowly the entire class turns in their pop rocks to bumi

-but bumi makes them take the test anyway and he has all 29 packets during the test, distracting the entire class

-the highest score on the test was a 35

-but they all passed with 100s anyway

-parents were mad at bumi's teaching style thinking the kids learned nothing from his nonsense and that his grades were meaningless

-but when the ap test scores came back every single student recieved a 5/5 on their score

toph

-freshman

-she doesnt care about school at all when she starts but becomes famous later on

-class clown but not like sokka

-she does it in a disrespectful way at first

-she always puts her feet on the desk claiming they "need to see"

-shes mad the teachers dont get mad at her for it

-they pity her for being blind instead

-so that makes her act out even more

-she doesnt get to have bumi for physics, she has mr. yu

-yu was a horrible teacher, and toph as a young sophomore year was fed up being treated like she can't do anything, so she taught herself

-she listens to classes online and studies and makes her own physics experiments and learns from the nature of the world itself

-and does better than anyone in her class

-eventually she starts to get 100s on every single test thrown her way, in every class

-she stops being dissrespectful but oh boy does she never back down from a fight if she doesnt like somebody

-at first she doesnt have a best friend but really wants one

-she has gym with aang freshman year and they get really competitive when theyre put on opposite teams

-she nearly takes aangs head off with a dodgeball once

-aang beats her in a mile run freshman year and she doesnt talk to him for a few months until she beats him again

-but they quickly realize how similiar they are and they become best friends

-they talk throughout their english class constantly and keep getting in trouble with the teacher

-aang keeps apologizing ashamed but toph only laughs waits five minutes and starts again

-but all her teachers learn to love her and are impressed by ger instead of pitying her

-when toph has 100s on every single test

she becomes known as the impossible, almost famous internationally for her perfect scores

-shes literally the brightest youngest genius in the world, found in an american public high school

-it seems impossible and like shes cheating except for her 35 average she gets in english every year

-it doesnt matter she cant read anyway she says

-toph loves sokka and after aang introduces them to each other, she never passes up a chance for annoying him for being a theater kid

-she gets involved with many schemes with aang and sokka

-but at first katara and toph dont get along

-one time, katara walks in the middle of toph cornered getting bullied for being blind as a freshman

-katara cant believe herself this is happening in this day and age and gets those kids suspended for discrimination

-toph gets annoyed at katara for caring so much and making such a big deal about nothing

-but one day she realizes katara doesnt pity her at all, shes only mad at the other people

-and she smiles to herself and realizes it is kinda nice to have someone care about her like that

-so she lets katara rant and rave

-but the next time someone said tophs makeup she tried on for the first time is so ugly because she can't see her own face to do it, in fact that explains why she dresses herself like that

-toph throws an entire textbook with perfect accuracy at that persons head

-and when katara is asked as student council president what she thinks should happen to toph next

-katara responds she should be handed a heavier textbook

-and toph smiles

zuko

-junior

-when hes young hes extremely rich and uses his money to get in and out of everything

-hes good at heart but lost still

-he originally went to ozais private academy because his dad is the principal there

-but when zuko stands up for someone being bullied, just like aang did, he doesn't get friends but instead he gets suspended because the bully was the school quarterback and when ozai defended the quarterback, zuko spoke up

-ozai didn't like that

-ozai is so mad he sends zuko to live with his uncle with strict orders that if zuko makes one more mistake he'll be sent to military school

-but zuko has a good healing life with iroh after that

-iroh has zuko take just one year off of school as they travel the world and connect with nature and camp and by irohs request, drinks a lot of tea

-iroh supports zuko finacially completely but feeling guilty and wanting to help out, zuko begins working at a tea shop with his uncle after his father cuts him out of recieving any of the family money

-iroh enrolls him at the same school as sokka katara aang and toph and after a year of traveling and zuko's heart has cleansed of sadness rejection and anger and now healed

-(but that will never stop him from losing his temper every now and then again too)

-hes in the same grade as katara now despite being a year older

-zuko is pretty jack of all trades in all of his classes, (but only master of one)

-and he also couldn't be worse in english even though his teachers think he has a beautiful way with words

-when he talks without thinking he moves people to tears

-but once he turned in a poem that said "you have to look within yourself to save yourself from your other self. only then will your true self reveal itself."

-he comes home sad he got a 20 on that poem "ruining his high gpa"

-but zuko has a natural gift for chemistry and iroh suggests he tutors some kids for it to increase his confidence again

-zuko meets aang, who wanted a tutor to perfect his classes

-it doesn't go too well at first

-after a year of healing and calm and zen, aang is very very Loud to him

-they argue constantly

-zuko's tutoring style is effective but very aggressive

-he tests aang constantly on the hardest chemistry problems he can come up with, some of it stolen directly from advanced college level courses

-aang is just a freshman but zuko has him learning advanced organic chemisty

-one night they were sent out of the library because aang tried to steal zukos answer key because the test was just too hard and zuko yelled at him to stop and they knocked a whole bookshelf over in the struggle of chasing each other

-but after they left it was the first time aang saw zuko laugh

-after that they start to get along and become best friends for life, despite the age difference

-it takes zuko a while to get used to aangs friends loud personalities but one day when hes older he realizes thats the first time he ever had any real friends his entire life

#sokka #katara #aang #toph #zuko #suki #bumi #master yu #jeong jeong #avatar #atla #avatar the last airbender #gaang #au #atla au #avatar au #high school au #high school #iroh #the last airbender #ozai

[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

[mylordshesacactus]

Can you share more about fake avatar guy in your AU if you’re up for it?

This one’s been sitting in my inbox until I got a chance to think about it!

Fake Avatar Guy (TM), the Firelord’s son.

The awful thing is--when you have connections, it’s so easy to fake.

This is before the White Lotus, before there was any formal system in place to identify the Avatar. Oh, the Sages, of course--but as evidenced by ATLA, even Sages can be corrupted. And this was at least a hundred years pre-Kyoshi; systems of communication and formal methods of identifying Avatar candidates, especially if the spirit reincarnates in a distant rural village, aren’t up to the level we see by Aang’s time.

It’s so easy to fake.

Especially because of the simple fact that the Avatar is not traditionally told their identity until they’re sixteen.

So...it takes some doing. I genuinely don’t think the Firelord knows about the deception, because I don’t want to make the Fire Nation the “big bad” again and because I’m so in love with the image of leaving an episode on a cliffhanger of the Firelord standing with all his guards outside Girlfriend’s house...and then they show up safe and sound, because he was never the enemy.

But also, a twelve-year-old raised by that person would not come up with a plan, on his own, to pretend to be the Avatar. 

By the time we hit the series proper, the kid’s deeply invested in the scam because of the influence and false respect it earns him, but it was clearly thought up by some adult ringleader. He was clearly, at first, manipulated.

And it’s....so easy. Get extremely skilled benders from all four nations, benders who can, like Bumi, bend the elements with very small or nontraditional movements. Present them as non-bending specialists. Get your “in” at the palace--some advisor or other, a power-hungry noble, someone close to the prince--to place them as the young prince’s bodyguards. 

Wait. Wait for at least six months. So that when the kid makes a movement and an element suddenly bends that isn’t fire, the change won’t be directly tied to these new guards.

And well, no need to find some SAGES to confirm his identity, not anymore. It’s pretty obvious. Look! The kid’s waterbending!

There will be sages who know the truth, of course. Who can tell that the Avatar spirit is absent here...but there are these extremely dangerous specialist guards, and these are only the handful directly assigned to the false Avatar. And it’s immediately obvious that there’s a deadly powerful spirit magician on hand, as well.

oh, you could decry the false Avatar. You could search for and seek to protect the real one.

And you would lead this extremely dangerous, well-organized small band of benders directly to the real one. Untrained, and undefended.

They choose not to. They pray, fervently, that the true Avatar knows to hide.

I think....that the final confrontation is not a boss fight. Not even full Last Agni Kai style where it’s just sad. I think that ultimately a major theme here is going to be not like, a Big Bad represented by one nation, but...the final confrontation, the final battle so to speak, the finale--it’s going to be about unity. About the community protecting itself and one another against forces trying to divide it.

 I think the true Avatar is capable of understanding that the false one, while responsible for his actions...was also manipulated. And has been led to believe that he has no other value.

I don’t know whether she has to kill him. It’s possible he’s not even a bender at all and never was, and when his “guards” are taken out he can be apprehended by the airbenders without causing further harm. It’s possible she talks him down. I’ll admit, I don’t know the “plot” of this story past about mid-”season two”.

It’s possible, if so, that he’s the one who gets casually taken out during that attack on the Air Temple, a blow from his own side to silence him. It’s possible he is the one our hero is healing when she finally unlocks the Avatar State.

I’m not sure. I think his intentions have been malicious, I think he’s been an active collaborator. But in order for the deception to work, he HAS to have been indoctrinated into this from a young age. Our hero is, maybe, nineteen when the story opens. He’s by definition her age. And he has to have been firmly established as the Avatar by age sixteen in order to pull off the deception, and the fact is that a fourteen-year-old boy uncoached could not pull this off. He’s responsible for his own actions, but he--like Azula, frankly--is also a victim.

I don’t want to portray him as evil. I want to portray him as a kid who was an entitled bully, and is mad that his power has been taken away, and for most of this has absolutely been out for revenge because he just lost everything. But I want to tell a story about how there is no such thing as having gone so far in that you can’t stop and choose to do better from now on. And...frankly? I think there’s a difference between being an entitled bully, and being willing to set children on fire.

I think there’s a lot of space between being a good person and being irredeemable. And that there’s a lot of space between being irredeemable, and being forgiven.

Listen...he’ll never be Firelord after this. I think it’s very possible that, when the dust clears, especially if the true Avatar saved his life, he’s only too willing to let his younger sibling take his place and quietly disappear. Become a person.

He’s had enough of chasing a destiny. It brought no one anything but pain.

His family doesn’t...wash their hands of him. But he did some shit, y’all. At the very least, they’re gonna need some time before they welcome him back. He doesn’t like, become an Atoner. Zuko this dude is not. But there’s a place for him in the world as a human being.

You become the person you choose to be, and that person is shaped by the community you choose to be a part of.

It’s also possible that she offers him this choice, and he rejects it. That--honestly, more than anything that would put her in the mindset of “I can’t do it, I’m not a real Avatar”. That she saves the Air Temple but doesn’t feel like it was a victory, and then is narratively given a chance to realize that the Avatar is more than a weapon, that her power can be used in a way that brings her and others peace.

You become the person you choose to be. She’s going to try to talk him down. And he’s going to make a choice.

#atla thing #long post #jedimasterjaina

[storytime-with-moth]

Modern Zuko character breakdown - use how you like!

Zuko is intense and focused, very private and dedicated to the task at hand.

He got away form his abusive Dad after the burn (probably coming out or being outed because sadly that tracks) and started living with Uncle Iroh and Lu Ten (maybe he passed from a car accident or active duty as a young adult or he’s living his best big bro life!) Azula probably joined soon after. She went to therapy (still goes) has trouble with making new connections but has figured out herself and how to properly love her family.

Zuko is currently studying social work or family law (his dad maybe wanted him to be a lawyer and as a screw you he is going to forever get kids out of bad homes using his law degree.) He thinks of it as justice and irony all rolled into one. Screw you Ozai!

He defiantly went through a painting nails and emo hair phase early in collage but now he rocks put together looks and suits. His hair is still long but always styled for a professional clean look. He has grown into how he expresses himself through fashion and is comfortable with his gender expression. (Maybe look to Eugene from the try guys for some fashion examples)

Mental health wise he would have PSTD and maybe has had struggles with depression. His coping mechanisms would be

Marital arts

Mediation

Watercolour painting

Walks at night

Cleaning the house

Making tea

Writes short stories

Avoidance of triggers (staying away from dads and fire in general)

Journaling

Baking (it’s midnight and he is making cookies)

He would still struggle with sleeping/nightmares and probably have dissociative episodes. He would struggle to trust new people, especially male authority figures.

He used to compete in marital arts and maybe teaches classes now to young kids. An honourable opponent but not a team player (that would involve trust)

Has a turtle or a cat named Druk. And taking care of said animal is part of his schedule which helps with his depression and anxiety. Probably talks to them at great length when he can’t afford therapy.

Mai was his beard in high school and he was hers, they are best of friends and will always cover for each other. Jet was one of his first serious relationships with a guy and while they had fun partying and bending the rules, they didn’t bring out the best in each other. In many ways hey were too similar, angry at the world for giving them a shitty hand. They were both miserable at the end when Mai cornered them and finally said break it off before I break you. So now it’s over and they're not really friends but they don’t hate each other either.

Since then he has mostly had short flings and hook ups. (Who has the time for unpacking emotional baggage when you have a law degree to finish and and internships to apply for?)

Visually impaired so he can’t drive (or operate heavy machinery) and gave up competing in martial arts. He still practises and figuring out how to fight again was part of his recovery process. He worked so hard to cover for his blind side that most people forget he can’t see you when you’re on his left. He will always stumble portion himself in conversations and social settings to be on the right side so he can hear and see everything clearly.

He always comes off as a steady quiet presence, serious in nature but sweet and soft with kids and animals because they deserve the world. Distrusting of loud boisterous people until they prove not to be bullies. Has no patience for liars, cheats, or assholes. Used to punch a homophobe or racist to solve the problem now he uses his fancy lawyer talk to make them sound like an idiot. Is bashful when complimented. Always brings baked goods to parties (even crazy freshmen ones, because he doesn’t want the kids to die)

For some reason I see him being a total music nerd/snob. He has many opinions and an eclectic taste.

He would never the first to make a move. Has trouble noticing when others are flirting with him.

#Zuko #zuko needs a hug #modernAU #modern atla #avatar #atla fanfic #atla #fanfic prompt #avatar fanfic #ao3 prompt #zuko fanfic #collegeau #make my dreams come true #i'm going to keep writing prompts until someone makes them real #character concept #gay zuko

[heyvivalapluto]

james s. potter headcanons

gryffindor. gryffindor pride. gryffindor king. gryffindor apologist. gryffindor!!!

he honors his name. james AND sirius? come on, u were asking for trouble and make it double

he/him/they/them

“you look exactly like your father, but your eyes... you have your mother’s eyes.”

yup, it just hits hard, i know

punk punk punk

he’s actually a small/short man, which is adorable. although it kinda ruins his punk scary vibe. he’s just too cute to handle

short king

red is HIS color. i don’t make the rules. red was invented to be james sirius color

they have a red jacket and that jacket is their signature

he’s absolutely gorgeous.

if he’s short, he’s also bad tempered. it’s the law.

“punks respect pronouns”

“against all authorities, except mi mamá”

he likes to discuss all types of subjects with rose. he feels like she’s the only one who understands

“is crying in class punk rock?”

wears silver earrings.

FIGHT THE SYSTEM. FIGHT THE CISTEM

(fake) leather jacket, (fake) leather fingerless gloves, motorcycle and boots. bad boy vibes alright (but deep down he’s a good boi)

“respecting the environment and the planet is punk rock.”

they are one of the kindest people to ever walk on earth. seriously, they just have the best heart

“there’s bravery in being soft”

teddy lupin is his big brother. period

he will fight. anything, anyone. he’s a fighter. rose and james are the best duo.

popular? yes. but he’s popular not because of his family, but because he’s really soft, and talks to everyone and has the greatest smile. u can’t help but love this guy.

he also has the best hugs in his whole family (and THAT is saying something)

brown eyes supremacy.

he wears glasses (he doesn’t need to!) so his father is not alone on this aesthetic. and he can rock the style as well

“all cops are bastards” / “i’m a magical cop, son” / “i said what i said.” (a conversation between harry and james at some point)

antifa

they are hilarious. you can’t be around them for too long and not laugh.

doesn’t care about school, to be honest. he’s an average kid when it comes to grades.

he studies hard enough to pass, but that’s all. james never wants to disappoint his parents.

even if he believes schools are all a governmental scheme

steven hyde is his comfort character

dog person

“i feel like you’re tying to tell me what to do, so i’m gonna do the opposite.”

their patronous is a panther

he’s really into sports, because of ginny. he used to train with her (when she went to the gym) while she was still on the holy harpies. he was little at the time, but he really wanted to train with his mom, because she’s so cool

he refused to be part of the quidditch team, because the captain at the time was an ass and he would never obey to that idiot.

years later, when rose became captain, he entered the team

momma’s boy alright

remember i said he was a fighter? he actually knows how to fight and damn is he strong. but well, he mostly fights bullies

(and as he gets older, he starts to punch racists and cops, which are basically the same)

he really tries to stay out of trouble, but trouble come and finds them.

“be kind. it’s gangster.”

hates coffee, hates tea. water is the real deal, my dudes

fuck gender roles

he loves fun socks. he just does, and that just sums up his whole personality.

so he might be wearing all that (fake) leather and all that black (with his red jacket because what the hey), but you will spot a sponge bob square pants on his ankle and you will be too afraid to ask.

whenever i think of him, he’s kickin ass. literally. i just see him kicking someone in the chest and that’s it.

𝘣𝘢𝘥𝘢𝘴𝘴.

whenever harry and ginny receive a call from the ministery of magic or from the muggle police, they are not even surprised

(nor disappointed, to be honest. if he hates the government, that came from his parents who LITERALLY fought against the system in their younger years)

don’t ask about his love life (but you kinda don’t have to, because he’s not exactly what we call discreet about his crushes).

[bisexual panic]

hates horror movies

albus is always there to hold them and stop them from doing something stupid. he’s forever grateful

he’s always there when albus needs him too

their laugh is so loud and deep.

and whenever you hear it, you can’t help but laugh too. it’s contagious.

he reads a lot. and no, you shouldn’t be surprised, okay? because if he’s fighting against the system it’s because he’s educated.

he’s an intellectual, ok? ...who can also kick ass and take names.

first thought, best thought.

sidecut

it doesn’t matter your sexuality. at some point, you had a crush on this boy. either because of his looks, or because he’s really nice and funny, or because of his morals and principles.

terrible dancer

superprotective about lily. he loves her so much and they truly understand and support each other.

so goofy

his favorite uncle is george and his favorite aunt is hermione

queen is his favorite band

tacos are his comfort food

freckled boy

star wars fan because of albus.

those movies were the only things those boys agreed 100% about.

they speak spanish. fluently.

he can do magic without wands. “wands are just a formality”

he was the one who taught rose how to do any magic without wands

they never duel. they hate fighting with magic. they are a fan of the good hand-to-hand.

besides, they always end up breaking their wand, because he uses it as drumsticks

he knows how to play many instruments, such as: drums, tambourine, violin, bass, saxophone and electric guitar

he always hums some barbie song whenever he’s distracted.

cursing in spanish is their jam. “it’s just so badass, u know?”

he used braces for a while too. he saw that rose was going to use it (“fix what? she has the best smile?”), so he decided that he would too, because loyalty, man

do i even have to say that rose is his favorite cousin? he just connects with her so easily.

teddy is his best bro, so of course james was teddy’s best man and teddy was his.

holy harpies number one fan.

impatient. big time

“there’s nothing wrong in being weird. and there’s nothing wrong with being average.”

their loves is as intense as fire, but his heart is golden

you can’t make fire feel afraid

his favorite sitcom/show is how i met your mother. he believes in robin scherbatsky supremacy

he asked his best friend, iago zabinni, to the yule ball, because he knew how badly iago wanted to go and how heartbroken iago was because the boy he liked didn’t invite him. they had a great time.

james is an aries

when he plays quidditch, he’s a beater

“be gay, do crimes.”

honestly, think about sokka and zuko in one person

#james sirius potter #james sirius potter headcanons #headcanons #heyvivalapluto headcanons #hp headcanon #hp #harry potter #ginny weasley #hinny

[thepersimmonyglitchet]

Sally Face Chapter 5 ending initial thoughts [RECREATED]

Hopefully tumblr doesn’t decide to delete my entire post again. -_-

First lets talk about what i did like in this chapter.

I really liked these flashback scenes, maybe because the past was so much more pleasant than whats happening now. Especially the reason for the pink part of Sal’s mask, I thought that was really sweet.

As well as the different animation styles, albeit a little weird, i thought were very creative and an interesting aspect to add to the game.

 Now let’s get on to…. other criticisms of this chapter and overall game.

Todd and Neil: Wow, what a way to end a relationship. Ever since Todd had become possessed, Neil has basically been without a boyfriend and for the moment when Todd is finally lucid is when Neil is dead? devastating. Neil was even okay with possessed Todd as long as they were close together, and he couldn’t even have that. 

  I feel like we got no happy moments with Todd and Neil, like even one moment with Todd and Neil saying goodbye, or hello depending on how you look at it, would’ve been so much better.

Maple:  What was the actual point of having her in the entire game at all?!! the only thing she did in this chapter was growl and she served absolutely no purpose for the plot, actually did less than that because she just confused us. Her life was sad and continued to be sad until the end.

Travis: People might get mad at me for saying this, but it needs to be said. Travis had absolutely no character development. I’ve know a lot of people in this fandom have taken a liking to him, and thus, have treated him like a bigger character than he actually is. An example of a real redemption arc is Zuko from Avatar, which took 52 episodes out of a 60 episode series. Why was it a good redemption arc? Because we saw him at the very bottom, seek forgiveness, and try to redeem himself. Where was that with Travis? all we saw was him be a bully, have a moment in the bathroom with Sal, an alleged back of his head in chapter 4, and him killing his father in chapter 5. We shouldn’t have to infer what happened in-between, because those scenes should be explicitly in the story already, even one of those flashback scenes with him would’ve made a better transition then whatever happened here.

Ashley: Ashley did carry the weight of a lot of this chapter, and I have to say i think her attitude throughout it was a little strange. As one of the only OGs that is alive and sane, let’s not forget that she was the one who testified against Sal in chapter 4 and said “he just needs help”. 

After she realized the truth, i feel like we saw her feeling an uncomfortable guilt that now the fate of the world is in her hands, and Sal’s death was her fault. Especially with the arm thing.. Ash seemed like she had her own life, family and interests  beyond Sal and Larry up until Chapter 4/5 and now in chapter 5 shes suddenly so overcome by guilt she feels that she needs to die for Spirit Sal to save the world? Sounds unrealistic for someone who was pretty quiet during Sal’s last years up until it was too late.

Honestly though i don’t remember seeing in Todd’s notes that one must cut their arm open for any chance at human survival. And of all people, why Ashley? the cult never cared all that much about her and she has managed to avoid any wrath from them every.single.time.

Larry: Seeing old Wizard Larry was cool in the game although he didn’t get much content, And seeing him and Sal reunite was actually one of the best parts of the chapter.

But an ever better reunion? Jim and Larry. Sal got to talk to him multiple times, i don’t see a reason why Larry, who has had so much taken from him, couldn’t too. 

And the way he barely gave any explanation of why he was leaving and suddenly just dissolved like Endgame? I didn’t really understand that.

The ending… there’s no one word to describe it. 

I’m sure there are a lot of questions like what happened to Charley? Where’s Larry’s body? Did anyone find out the truth about Dr. Enon? Why was the cult so vicious and at least a dozen more that were left unanswered. Maybe you ca just answer everything with “It was the cult’s fault” but the reality is we’re sick of assuming what ended up happening with everything.

And for how Sal’s face looks, people have had four chapters, years to imagine what it looked like so i think that was something that we should’ve just seen already, no point in keeping it a secret.

I also really don’t understand why all these people were telling Sal the murders were okay, and that they’d be taken over by the darkness anyways. Like you’re telling me Sal, Sal Fisher committed 12 murders, including his own father, in his right mind?!! The epilogue said that despite their bets efforts, 33% of the world was taken over by the darkness anyways, so it really wasn’t worth it.

And in the secret ending (which was so incredibly hard to get, maybe because Steve didn’t want us to see it) Todd forgets Neil existed,the cult was never completely defeated, and Sal is what, in Ash’s arm forever?

The point of story-rich games isn’t getting the best score, or doing it in the least amount of time, or getting a bunch of details that don’t add up and trying to string them together, it’s to tell a story. 

They’re supposed to guide you along throughout it and at the end of it, you should feel a sense of accomplishment, like you learned something. In the first three chapters and a half, i honestly was really interested in where the game was going and saw all these interesting little details and subplots that i was interested  in seeing where they lead to until.. they didn’t. People love little details like that but when they go nowhere, you’re just creating more holes in the story.

Overall, this game was just… sad. The sad moments seemed to heavily outweigh the happy ones, and there’s a reason. First thing is, i felt like the death was just too much. Their death’s didn’t serve much for the plot except making me very sad. In this game i felt like everyone was constantly losing.By that what mean is going through the story like “ Oh no Larry’s dead but at least Lisa is- oh no the entire apartment has been slaughtered by Sal but at least sal is still- oh no Sal’s dead but at least Todd and Neil can be togeth- oh no Neil’s dead but at least Ashley and Todd stopped the cult from- oh no guess the cult still won a whole lot anyways.” Iosing, losing, losing. I think the previous chapter’s were more enjoyable because we could see the love and friendship Ashley, Larry, Sal and Todd had and we got basically none of that in Chapter five.

I’m not being  critical to be mean, it’s because i care about this game so much, maybe too much, and wish Sally Face got the ending it deserved. The ending wasn’t open, it was just empty.

#sally face #sally face chapter 5 #sally face theories #sal fisher #larry johnson #i still love sal.. #and gizmo #we needed more gizmo content #sally face episode five