#he did just because katara is a special person for him

[closetsof-backlogged-dreams]

okay so I’ve seen and loved a bunch of these posts already but everything u say is immediately correct and amazing and sending u asks is the best

opinions on why zukka works and makes sense as a ship and if you think it could work in canon (outside of fanon)?

I CANT BELIEVE YOU JUST MADE MY ENTIRE LIFE COMPLETE AND FULL BY ASKING ME THIS QUESTIONNNN (strap in folks hold on to your hats keep a good hold on your bladders bc this is 10+ years worth of BUSINESS)

Why "Zukka" works and makes sense as a ship

something i've discussed THROUGHLY with my notes app and a school slides presentation is that Zuko and Sokka are both direct parallels AND contrasts to one another, at the same time. i'll list them out here:

Their fathers' roles in their lives

Both Hakoda and Ozai were the leaders of their respective nations, with Sokka and Zuko as the heirs. Then, they both become absent in their sons' lives and leave them to fend for themselves.

This is a parallel, but this is also where they contrast. Sokka's father left to go fight in the war, a noble and honest pursuit, and left Sokka to protect his sister and the village.

Ozai, on the other hand, cast Zuko out of the nation and forced him to protect and defend himself, while effectively turning all their people and his own sister against him.

Their sisters' roles in their lives

Despite both of them being the oldest sibling and brother, they both have severe inferiority complexes due to their younger, powerful bending sisters.

With Katara, she was the only waterbender in the entire tribe, a marvel. She could learn to protect the tribe in a way that Sokka had been trying all his life, and she eventually does. Despite all this, Katara is still a grounding and valued person in his life, and he would be completely lost without her (something he openly admits to in canon!!)

With Azula, she was a prodigy firebender, while also being a special kind of keen and cunning. She was adored by their father and grandfather and Zuko could never quite measure up. Because of this, Azula is the main villain in Zuko's childhood. She does everything she can to break him down, and that continues when she returns as a character in his life in season two. All throughout the show, instead of being a source of comfort and familial love, she is his main obstacle he must overcome.

The loss of their mothers

Both Sokka and Zuko lost their mothers at very young ages to the Fire Nation, but they had vastly different impacts on their families (and further developed their sisters' roles in their lives!!)

When Sokka's mother died, she was killed by a Fire Nation general. Katara quickly took over the motherly role in his life, cementing her place as a grounding and comforting force. Her death also did not break their family. It deeply hurt all of them, but Katara, Sokka, and Hakoda still loved one another just as much as before.

When Zuko's mother died (obviously not really, but this is what he believes for many years), she was "killed" in order for his father to ascend to the throne and become Fire Lord. This left Zuko without anyone to protect him from Azula's tormenting and cemented her place as a destructive, villainous person in his life. Ursa's death also did destroy their family. Whatever way she had managed to keep them all together was eradicated, and Zuko was left with a sister and father that resented him and a sister fighting for his place in the line of succession.

Their obessesions

Both Sokka and Zuko had two bone-deep obsessions that were very defining parts of their characters in the first season, that slowly wavered and faded away as the story progressed and they developed as people. They were both given these obsessions by their fathers immediately before they became absent in their lives (whether leaving themself or sending their son away) and proceeded to dedicate their entire life to these goals in the name of honor.

With Sokka, his father asked him to protect his sister and his village. Sokka then dedicates all his time and energy to becoming a brave soldier and training the children of the village in order to protect his people. This is seen further in season one even after they leave, when he is overly protective of Katara and constantly worried for her safety (something this fandom doesn't talk about enough!!)

With Zuko, his father sent him on a wild goose-chase to find the hundred-years-lost Avatar, and when he actually does, all he can do is chase after Aang so he can go back home. As we see in season three, letting go of capturing the Avatar was essentially letting go of his former self.

Unlearning their flawed cultures (the big one!!!!)

Both of their cultures had many flaws that became ingrained in their belief systems and characters; their whole development is dedicated to unlearning these flawed teachings and reorienting their perception of the world.

It is very obvious throughout the shows that the Water Tribe had strict gender roles that were both implicitly and explicitly taught from birth. The men go off to fight in the war, the women take care of the children, Sokka has to protect his "defenseless" little sister, etc. Suki helped start him on the journey of unlearning his deeply-rooted misogyny, and by the end of the series he's really drinking the Respect Women Juice™️ (unlearning the flaws of his culture also brought him much closer to his sister and strengthened their bond and respect for one another)

The Fire Nation is a lot more complicated with a lot more cultural nuances and implicit and explicit teachings, but we'll focus on one central cultural theme: the constant prioritization of ambition over absolutely everything else, including (if not especially) love. (I actually talk about this extensively in another analysis post about Azula, if you want to check that out<3) We see Zuko battle with this teaching all throughout the series, and it is the main conflict he faces, at its heart.

We watch him commit his entire life to capturing the Avatar in season one. We watch him betray his uncle in season two. We watch him, time and time again, put his own health and safety on the line trying to capture Aang, especially in season one. Constantly, over and over again, he puts his ambition first because that was what he was taught.

And though this is a trait him and Azula share, it is also what pits them against each other. Azula's entire character is built on putting ambition first, and that leads her to chasing the throne that is Zuko's birthright. Zuko just wants to go home, but that would reestablish him as the heir to the throne. Time and time again, we watch them fight and betray each other, constantly battling for this crown for a broken nation. In the end, it is Azula's undoing, but that's another post.

All in all, unlearning the flaws of their culture is central to their development as characters and a place where they parallel... but it is also a place where they directly (and perfectly) contrast.

Despite the cruelty of the Fire Nation, they are the only military that includes women. They seem to not really struggle with the same gender roles the rest of the world does. They may be colonizers, but they're not misogynists. Zuko never looked down on his sister because she was a woman, nor did her father. It was always her propensity for cruelty that undid her. (They even send a team of highly skilled women to capture the Avatar!!)

This is a direct contrast to the teachings of the Water Tribe, which are entrenched in misogyny and gender roles. The men go off to war, the women stay behind. The men are strong, the women are weak. Can you imagine how much Zuko could have assisted Sokka in his development here? (blah blah directly paralleling Suki's role in Sokka's life blah blah blah)

In the Water Tribe, love and family comes before everything. We see that time and time again. Sokka's main priority, every time, is his sister and his tribe. They stick together. They love one another. They are united, with one person leading them as a group but not standing over them like a tyrant. "Ambition" seems like a mostly unheard of concept in their nation. The only ambition we ever really see from Sokka is when he's trying to protect his tribe (season one finale)!!

Can you imagine how much Sokka could have helped Zuko unlearn his constant prioritization of ambition?? Like, come on. All the things Zuko was left to stew with and angst over all on his own Sokka could have gently taken into his own hands and shown him the way. Like, it actually makes me go feral just thinking about it. Sokka could have helped Zuko so much!! (pushing the Ba Sing Se Zukka AU rn)

Consensus

Okay, let's recap. It looks like Zuko and Sokka are both direct parallels and contrasts, paralleling in the ways that allow them to understand each other but contrasting in the ways that help them heal one another. Like, it's actually insane. I really don't know if it was intentional or not but it's really just so perfect. They slot together perfectly as characters. I hope this all made sense😭😭

Could "Zukka" work in canon?

Now, this is tricky. Believe it or not I'm actually really glad they didn't make Zukka canon. ATLA had a huge problem with writing good romance, and in the canon we saw in the show, neither Sokka or Zuko were in a place to get together.

I've enjoyed my fair share of Zukka AUs where they get together before the end of the war, but you and I both know that would have been a hot mess. (Both of them just weren't ready, they were both in relationships, and sorry but they were kinda busy—Katara was right about the whole "there are other things to worry about.") If they were ever to get together in canon, it would have to be years after the war ended.

Let's address a few things that needed to happen before they could ever have gotten together:

Finally admitting that Maiko was just an extreme example of comphet

Zuko did not give a single shit about that girl. Like. He didn't even personally go get her out of prison WHEN SHE WAS LITERALLY ARRESTED FOR PROTECTING HIM😭😭 And then they try to play off their story as some big epic romance?? uhhhh no

(really, Mai was in long-time unrequited love with Ty Lee that was finally requited after Boiling Rock but idk if society is ready for that yet)

Not to mention, Azula literally forced both of them into that relationship, but if I get started with that I'll never stop so. Moving on.

Figuring out Sokka and Suki

Okay, so while there is a good chance that Sokka and Suki could have made it work in canon, there is also a good chance they would have broken up. They both had very different priorities: while they both did care about overall world peace, it was obvious from Suki's first introduction that her Kyoshi Warriors were her top priority every time, and Sokka's was his tribe, his found family (Aang, Katara, Toph, Zuko, yk yk), and world peace at large. You're telling me those don't conflict? Especially because they really seem like a Piper/Jason situation, where they found comfort and love in each other during wartime but wouldn't have known how to keep up the relationship without the constant threat of death.

Overall, in order for Zukka to work, Sokka and Suki would have had to break up, which would not have been difficult to arrange.

Sokka needed to go home and begin rebuilding the Water Tribe

No matter how much I adore fics where Sokka stays behind in the Fire Nation and helps Zuko rebuild, it just wouldn't work. Sokka's obvious priority had always been his tribe. The second the war was over (ignoring the comics bc that's a can of complicated worms i don't want to get into), he would've gone back with Katara to work on rebuilding their destroyed tribe. Only once the Southern Tribe could stand steadily on its own two legs could he have even considered leaving.

Anyways, that's really it. In order for Zukka to work, three plot points would have to be resolved: Maiko, Sukka, and the reparation of the Southern Water Tribe. Extremely doable, imo.

Personality-wise and just as characters, would it have worked?

I really think it would have! Like I said before, Sokka and Zuko are two characters that perfectly parallel and contrast at all the exactly right points to make them slot together flawlessly as a pair. (Whether that's romantic or not—doesn't matter.) Really, I genuinely think they are a real missed opportunity. I have genuinely never seen two characters that seem so different that actually work that well together, or even just characters that work that well together at all.

Like, I really mean it, they are perfect matches. It's genuinely scary. Like it or not, no one will ever be able to replicate the perfection of what Zukka could have been.

Anyone that says that it's "random" or "doesn't work" obviously hasn't been watching the same show or simply just hasn't been paying attention. People might ship it just because it's opposites attract or red and blue or even just the most accessible MLM ship in the fandom, but they really are perfect for each other.

alright, I think that's it! sorry for this monster of a post😭😭 genuinely did NOT expect that to happen. PLS SEND ME ANY ASKS YOU CAN THINK OF ABOUT THESE TWO!! i have spent a concerning amount of time thinking about them and these show has analysis potential for days, so. (and who knows, maybe i'll finally post the like three unfinished fics i have for them💀💀 god knows i should)

thanks for the ask, and have a great day <3

#atla #avatar #avatar the last airbender #zukka #atla meta #atla ana #atla analysis #zukka nation #atla zukka #sokka x zuko #zuko #sokka #atla sokka #atla zuko

[comradekatara]

i don’t want to watch natla but i appreciate very much you posting about “zuko’s little faggot diary” that shit made me crack up laughing ty

that’s just canon to me. he’s a boy who loves to monologue. of course he keeps a diary. how else is he gonna keep track of his special interests. where else is he gonna write down his angsty poetry. you know he spent months tracking aang down taking detailed notes on his garb, his fighting style, his flight patterns, and not once ever bothered taking note of his name, even though he easily could’ve learned it from the million times katara screamed it over the course of their fights.

which, if you’ll allow me to go on a tangent, is another thing that bothers me. when ppl are like “zuko learned their names because they all say one another’s names constantly.” and you think that means he actively made an effort to REMEMBER it????? you must be out of your damn gourd if you think that the most one-track minded human being in the history of the universe is paying attention to anything that doesn’t directly interest him in that very moment. but i digress.

i just KNOW that zuko was soo mad that he lost his diary after his ship got blown up by zhao because years of precious poetry and avatar lore, burned to cinders by that PHILISTINE!!!! and then as a refugee in the earth kingdom, he languishes, diaryless, because he’s too embarrassed to actually spend what little money they have on something so extraneous. and then once back in the fire nation he obviously can’t keep a diary because azula will do everything in her power to read it (he learned that the hard way as a child). but then, finally, once he flees to the western air temple, he can actually keep a diary again, now that he is surrounded by nice, normal people who don’t actually care enough about him to snoop through his belongings.

or so he thinks.

now, aang, being a respectful young lad, would never share his findings with the rest of the group, especially since none of them have actually warmed up to him yet. but that doesn’t prevent him from reading everything zuko has ever written in that diary. and of course, he doesn’t tell zuko, because he has the tact and savvy to know that if he alerts zuko to his snooping, then he will simply hide his diary better, or even worse, stop writing in it altogether. and zuko can’t stop writing!! for he has a poet’s soul!!!

also, zuko has somehow gathered a lot of information on sokka that aang himself did not know, despite being friends with him for nearly a year now (like the fact that he dated the moon??? or the fact that his mother was killed by the fire nation??? although that one he really should’ve figured out on his own. considering that he and katara are siblings, and thus logically would share a mother). and so aang really needs zuko to keep updating his SOKKA LORE notebook because he feels kind of guilty that he knew basically nothing about his friend and yet zuko, the least observant person he has ever met, is somehow an expert in sokkology (although aang is deeply offended on katara’s behalf that he simply refers to her as “sokka’s sister” or sometimes “the angry one”).

for the record, aang never actually puts together WHY zuko is so fascinated by sokka. he’s just like “of course he’d be intrigued by sokka. he has a very complex mind, what an adventure to attempt to fathom the depths of his psyche.” like he just assumes that zuko is using sokka as a case study for completely innocuous reasons. he also assumes that zuko, like any teenage boy with eyes, is infatuated with katara. not at first, obviously, because to zuko she is still “girl sister, long hair” but eventually. once they reconcile, and become friends. and then his diary makes a sharp turn from carefully documenting any and all sokka lore to “katara said this really funny thing today” “katara is so nice and pretty” “katara is such a good waterbender” and suddenly aang is NOT having fun anymore!!!! halt the presses!!!!!

so aang just kind of sulks to himself for a while because it’s not like he can TELL anyone about his NEW ROMANTIC RIVAL in the BID FOR KATARA’S AFFECTIONS, but he does try to vaguely intimate to sokka and toph that it bothers him. and toph’s just like “what?? you mean all those times she hooked up with haru at the western air temple???” and aang’s just like. “HARU??????!!?!!??!?!?”

anyway. zuko isn’t a complete idiot, so after a few good years of being friends with aang, he finally catches onto the fact that aang has been keeping up with his diary every time he visits the palace, after like, the fourth or fifth time that aang accidentally lets a piece of information slip that he only could’ve known via reading zuko’s diary. so zuko decides to mess with him, and starts keeping a fake diary in the place he used to keep his real diary (columbus style) and writing shit in it like, “aang’s recent experimentations with facial hair are so embarrassing. just because you’re finally old enough to grow a weak little mustache doesn’t mean that you, under any circumstances, SHOULD. i bet katara is throwing up puking every day just having to kiss his horrendous furry mouth.” or, “katara said that she thinks roku was not only hotter, but also a way better avatar than aang, and personally, i agree. if he was still the avatar today no one would ever go hungry and we would have total world peace.” or, “aang is way too comfortable going shirtless. if i had that scrawny lanky body i would cover that shit up with a big ol sweater every day.” or, “aang said something really mean the other day and it hurt my feelings and i cried alone in my room for 3 hours. aang is literally a bully????”

and aang can’t even SAY anything because zuko is allowed to say whatever he wants about his friends in the privacy of his own journal, but also he decides that if zuko truly hates him so much, then he will simply stop visiting the fire nation so frequently, out of respect to his friend. at which point zuko realizes that he may have gone too far, so the next time aang visits him, he puts his real diary in his drawer with an entry that reads, “i can’t believe aang keeps falling for my fake diary prank. he doesn’t even know that im messing with him. and he never will, because my system is flawless, and i’ll never ever lose track of which diary is the real one and which one is the fake.”

at which point aang runs headfirst into a meeting between fire lord zuko and his senior council and is just like “ZUKO!!!!!!!!!!! YOU IDIOT!!!!!!!!!!!!” and tackles him in a hug with no regard for propriety. he nearly gives zuko a concussion from the force of his hug. but dammit if it isn’t worth it.

#boyfriendgideon #asks #all of this is canon btw. #zuko #aang #aang&zuko #katara&zuko #aang&katara #sokkaxzuko #also yeah. don’t watch natla. truly NOT worth it in the slightest . u made a good call there

[bisexuallsokka]

25 from the prompt list!! :)

25. a kiss as a 'yes'

Zuko can't keep his eyes off Sokka.

This is nothing new, of course. At this point in their years of marriage, preceded by years of friendship that turned into years of dating, Zuko is sure he has spent hours of his life staring at Sokka.

This, though...this is different.

He watched Sokka's brilliant smile all night as he played and talked with his niece and nephews for hours. He saw Sokka running around with them, playing tag and hide and go seek and half a dozen games the kids had invented until Sokka needed to rest his knee and found himself with a lap full of three young kids mere moments after sitting down. Zuko smiled fondly as Sokka read the three of them books until all four of them were on the verge of falling asleep. Zuko saw every hug and forehead kiss he gave the kids as they said their goodbyes, saw Sokka's eyes getting misty at their protest of his leaving, saw the content smile on his face as he drove.

Once they are home and getting ready for bed, Sokka catches him looking a few times until he grins and teases, "Is there something on my face?"

Zuko smiles. "No. I just...I love how much you love those kids. I love them too, of course, but you are crazy about them. It's cute."

"Yeah, well, I can't help it that they are so cute."

"They're getting so big," Zuko says. "Do you ever...miss when they were smaller?"

Sokka shrugs. "I thought I would, but I love seeing their personalities emerge as they grow. It's so funny seeing them act just like Aang or Katara."

"Don't you miss their newborn snuggles though?" Zuko asks.

Sokka eyes him suspiciously. "Obviously. I'm not a monster. Wait, did you-" he starts, eyes lighting up for a moment before he calms down. "Never mind. No way is Katara pregnant, she's told me she's done having kids." He still gives Zuko a side eye, and Zuko laughs.

"She's not pregnant, no. We were talking about something else all night."

"Okay," Sokka says, giving him his full attention, now definitely on Zuko's case. "It has to do with babies?"

Zuko nods, trying his hardest to not betray his nervousness. He's not nervous about what he's trying to ask Sokka, he knows he wants it, but he also knows how badly Sokka wants it, so Zuko wants this moment to be special. Sokka, looking confused, just waits for Zuko to elaborate, and Zuko swallows. "Well, I've been talking with Azula-"

"She is pregnant?" Sokka says, eyebrows shooting up, and Zuko can't help but laugh at the bewildered expression on his face.

"No, definitely not," he says quickly. "She just-- well, you see, she's been...she's a lawyer, yeah? And not the kind that we...but she has connections...she has some good recommendations..."

Sokka looks completely lost, so Zuko stops, takes a deep breath, and says, "She gave me a list of good family lawyers. Ones that have experience with adoption cases."

At first, he thinks Sokka hadn't heard him, he's more still than Zuko has ever seen him in his life. But then, his eyes widen, barely enough for Zuko to notice. Zuko doesn't think he's even breathing.

"This is something that we have talked about but we always dropped it, leaving it for some future discussion because we were busy or low on money or distracted by one thing or another. I know how badly you want kids, and I was nervous about it at first, but now I know how badly I want to have kids with you, and it's been all I can think about the last few times we have been at Katara's, and I swear she read my mind because she started talking about it tonight and everything just feels right, so if you are ready, if you think it's a good time-"

He doesn't get to finish his rambling. Sokka shoots across the room, his hands gently cradling Zuko's face as he looks into his husband's eyes. Sokka's own eyes are wide and excited and so damn beautiful, and he says, "You're serious?"

"More serious than I've ever been ab--hmmph!"

He's taken by surprise as Sokka interrupts him again, this time with a kiss so fierce it honestly kind of hurts. Zuko smiles into it nonetheless, his arms reaching for Sokka's waist to pull him closer.

Sokka's lips widen into a smile as well, and when they pull back, Zuko asks, "So is that a yes?"

"Of course it's a yes, you dumbass," Sokka says, going for exasperated but failing as his tears are overflowing and Zuko reaches a hand up to wipe them away, not registering his own tears until Sokka does the same for him.

#me 🤝 sokka: being completely obsessed with our sibling's kids #i will never have my own though that is where we differ #peanut butters my jam #ask me stuff #my writing #prompts #this is jo's evil twin the one who loves dads zukka id like to dedicate this to all the fellow zukka dads nation members out there #esp their ceo dani marriedzukka

[burst-of-iridescent]

atla live action thoughts: season one review

first things first: anyone who says the Movie That Does Not Exist is better than the live action is straight-up lying. the shymalan film fails on the criteria of even being a decent movie, let alone an adaptation. the netflix series, for all its problems, is at least an enjoyable watch with great effects, music and (mostly) appropriate casting. there's absolutely nothing to compare here - the netflix version clears easily.

now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's delve into the series, starting with the positives.

the good:

visuals and cinematography. they really did a great job of making it feel like a fantasy universe you wanted to be in & i love how vibrant the saturation and colour grading was. it made the world feel so much more dynamic and alive instead of the same flat, boring dullness that so many movies and shows have these days. sometimes i didn't even mind that i was being fed obvious exposition because at least they were giving me something pretty to look at lmao

effects and action. the bending was surprisingly good for the most part, and they did a good job of making the elements feel unique through the stunt choreography and the actors' movements. i'm immensely thankful they didn't try to skimp on budget by merely cutting away from fight scenes or showing us as little as possible. almost all the action sequences were fast-paced and engaging, and i was never bored watching them

acting. the main four were all great, but gordon cormier and dallas liu have to be the standouts for me. gordon brings such an earnest, innocent sweetness to aang that you can't help but like him, and dallas plays all of zuko's facets perfectly: the angst, the explosive anger, the bratty snark, and especially the deep-rooted pain that characterizes so many of zuko's actions in book 1. the range he has, especially when flashing from younger to older zuko, was insane. special shoutout to maria zhang and sebastian amoruso as suki and jet respectively, because they killed it

music. leaves from the vine instrumental had me tearbending and i love how they kept the iconic avatar theme while making it a little darker for this iteration of the story. in general, the soundtrack felt very true to the animation while still being a fresh spin on it

zuko and iroh's relationship and expanding on zuko's crew. i think the fandom universally agrees that lu ten's funeral and zuko's crew being the 41st division were the best changes in the series, so i'm not going to talk about it further other than to say that these scenes show me what the show can be, and that's why i'm not giving up on it

the bad:

characterization. almost all the main characters are missing the little nuances that made them so great in the original, but the greatest casualty is katara. i hate that they took away so much of her rage, and gave many of her traits and struggles to sokka. i don't think this is a problem solely with the writing though, because certain lines do feel like things animated katara would say, but the directing and line delivery don't have the same punch that made her so fierce in the original. this is an easily fixed issue though, so i hope they take the criticism and let my girl be angry and fuck shit up next season

exposition. this was primarily a problem in depicting aang's personality and the relationship between the gaang, because a) why are you TELLING me that aang is mischievous and fun-loving instead of just showing me and b) the gaang do NOT feel like close friends, mostly because they spend so much time apart in every episode that they have little screentime to actually bond and develop intimacy.

lack of focus on the intricacies of bending. for a show whose tagline is "master your element" the characters spend very little time actually... mastering their element. zuko is never shown to struggle with firebending (which is going to have ramifications when it comes to developing his relationship with azula), and neither aang nor katara ever learn waterbending from a master throughout the the entire show. i'm pretty sure aang never willingly waterbends ONCE in the entire eight episodes, discounting the avatar state and koizilla. bending isn't just cool martial arts, it's closely linked to the philosophies and spirituality of each nation, and i wish that had been explored more.

pacing. they really needed to do a better job of conveying that time passed between episodes because an 8-episode season is just going to FEEL shorter than a 20-episode one. the original animation felt as though they'd truly been on a long journey before arriving at the north, but here it feels like the entire show happened in the span of a fortnight or so because each episode seemed to pick up right after the previous. they needed to have more downtime within episodes instead of just rushing from plot beat to plot beat because it made everything feel a lot more rushed. give the characters and story time to breathe.

final rating: 7/10.

overall, i would describe the live action as a better version of the percy jackson movies - not an accurate or perfect adaptation, but a decent story that's very fun to watch. but what really makes me root for this show to get a season 2 is that it has a lot of potential and more importantly, a lot of heart. it's evident that the people who worked on it do genuinely love and respect the original series, and it shows onscreen.

regardless of anything else, this show created opportunities for so many asian and indigenous actors, writers and creators to tell the kinds of stories and play the kinds of roles they don't usually get, and that's something worth supporting. if they take the criticism from this season and improve, i believe they really do have something special on their hands which - although it might not be the original we all know and love - could still be a story to be proud of.

#atla live action

[adriancatrin]

the difference between The Painted Lady and Sokka’s Master—what makes one so much more iconic than the other—is that The Painted Lady may as well be Imprisoned (season one), just done-up in Fire Nation attire. we learn nothing new about katara in that ep that we didn’t know from season one. and The Desert in season two CEMENTED katara as the heart of the group in a way that wasn’t even necessary to try to do again in season three.

Sokka’s Master, on the other hand, gives us a whole new look at sokka. Imprisoned and The Warriors of Kyoshi (in season one) are katara and sokka eps respectively, meant to give us a look into their characters and acquaint ourselves with them. season two is incredible because it assumes we already know the characters, and it lets us sit in them and enjoy the ride for amazing arcs through Story, above all else. but early season three brings back the Character episodes. the Headband, Painted Lady, Sokka’s Master, the Runaway (and as a bonus, unlike season one, we also get The Beach for the FN team). each main character gets their own re-establishing ep. great, cool, whatever—what about Sokka’s Master tho?

shhh patience lol i’m getting there. Painted Lady shows that katara is the same, she still cares about the lil guy(s), despite all else, just like she did in Imprisoned. she can’t leave desperate people behind.

but in The Warriors of Kyoshi, sokka thought he was the Shit, and had to have it proved to him that that wasn’t the case (god bless u suki). in Sokka’s Master, however, it’s the exact opposite. his arc at that point brought him to having nearly no faith in himself. Warriors of Kyoshi was about bringing sokka down to earth (being A MAN💪🏽 isn’t the end all be all), and Sokka’s Master is about bringing him back up (what does it mean to be a man? 🌈). it’s obviously a huge shame that the invasion ended up sitting him right back down again in his insecurities. but i imagine if Sokka’s Master had never happened, he wouldn’t have been able to bounce back post-Boiling-Rock, regardless of whether or not he’d successfully broken his dad (and suki) out. he needed the foundation of self-confidence to beat away the doubts later.

anyways, point is.. at least personally the Painted Lady ep has never stuck out to me as special, whereas Sokka’s Master is one of my fave eps of the show. and that’s not because i have it out for katara or anything and held sokka in especially high regard (Sokka’s Master is largely WHY i now hold sokka in high regard—but The Desert ep put katara in just as high a regard in my book, along w probs a dozen other eps that showcase her unique character). Sokka’s Master stands out because it shows us a new part of sokka, but the Painted Lady doesn’t show us anything new about katara. in a show that’s ultimately rather short, episodes that seem like clones the way Painted Lady & Imprisoned do end up feeling lackluster. idk. this isn’t to say i dislike the Painted Lady, i just wanted to get my thoughts out

#atla #katara #sokka #i really wanna stress that this isn’t katara hate #cuz i know a lot of ppl hate katara i guess #i absolutely adore her she’s amazing #but the painted lady feels like a Slog on rewatched #*rewatches #it’s just my— #thoughts #avatar the last airbender #atla meta #avatar meta #have i mentioned how much i LOVE the desert ep? i definitely have but holy shit #what a way to bring back heart and soul katara #literally everyone’s strengths are lost INCLUDING KATARAS WATERBENDING #but her waterbending has never been the most important part of her character #it’s her drive and her passion and her inherent ability to love and empathize #and that’s why she’s the one to pull everyone together and get them Out #ugh #such a good fuxking ep jesus christ #ugh i’m drunk #who woulda guessed #not like that’s all the time or anything pffff #any other zukka alcoholics out there ? ahhhahaha slap me and shut me up i swear

[hello-nichya-here]

Honestly kataang is just so bland even if you don't ship zutara. Realistically I see Aang to be the type to have many different lovers with his free spirit rather than only be with one person the rest of his life. Katara too would want to make a name for herself rather than being overshadowed by Aang and considered just the avatars wife .

THIS is exactly the kind of shit that makes even zutara shippers hate other zutara fans.

Stop sending Kataang hate to people who literally just fucking said they like Kataang and believe they're a good match. Nobody fucking asked for your shit opinion.

Also how the fuck would Katara be "overshadowed" by Aang when:

1 - He is the reason she got to see the world and become a powerful bender who saved a lot of people, plenty of which barely interacted with Aang. She then became his waterbending teacher and he called her Sifu.

2 - Aang was the one to give her hope for a better world, and she then did the same to him by giving him emotional support when he lost everyone.

3 - If it wasn't for her, the Avatar cycle would have been over for good and the Fire Nation would have won the war and killed everyone.

Literally nothing in the show erases Katara's importance in her own rights. In fact, we see that her relationship with Aang, regardless of romance, it's one of mutual love and support.

Denying how important he is to her and pretending she was never treated with respect by him/was overshadowed won't make their relationship less meaningful OR make Zutara less fanon.

It's been nearly two decades, people. Stop lying to yourselves and above all stop expecting the whole fandom to agree with you. You're not fucking special just because you ship zutara.

#asks #kataang #pro kataang #anti zutara #avatar fandom problems #fandom fuckery #entitled people

[ellakomskaikru]

I feel like Zuko is the hot bad boy boyfriend that you date when you’re in your teens and in a rebellious phase who breaks your heart and Aang is that sweet guy best friend that you always overlooked because he wasn’t that attractive or exciting but you eventually marry him once you are older and more mature. So like Zuko is exciting boyfriend material but Aang is husband material.

I’m a Kataang shipper but I totally admit that Zutara is way more exciting and thrilling than Kataang and that they totally have chemistry, but I still don’t think that their relationship would last very long I think it would be toxic. So Zutara has passion but passion isn’t enough to sustain a relationship. On the other hand Kataang is totally more vanilla and even boring but they do have the foundation of being friends and even though it isn’t as passionate as Zutara I think it’d last way longer and is way more marriage material.

I just think that Zuko and Katara are too similar they’re both very fiery and intense and Katara needs someone who is more even tempered like Aang. Don’t get me wrong I don’t hate Zutara I’ve even read some fanfics about them that I like but I still ship Kataang instead because I just feel that it would be a healthier dynamic even if it’s actually more boring than Zutara.

Hello anon!

First, I want to say thank you for being respectful. But I thoroughly disagree with you. First, I really don’t agree with the interpretation that Zuko is a “Bad Boy.” At first glance, he does physically look like he could be one and he does have a dark past, but that isn’t enough for him to fit into the trope. Bad boys are usually very confident and socially adept, Zuko is extremely socially awkward and has severe self esteem issues. Zuko does have a tendency to be snarky, but that still isn’t enough to fit him into the Bad Boy Trope. Zuko’s redemption also doesn’t hinge on trying to get a girl either, which is what happens to most bad boys, who only change for one particular girl because she’s “special”.

Zuko’s redemption happens because he is naturally empathetic and throughout his experiences learns how horrible and unjust the war is, and is determined and brave so he wants to do his part to end it and to right the wrongs he personally did to Team Avatar. Also, how you described Aang “The sweet guy best friend that you always overlooked because he wasn’t as attractive but later you marry” reminds me of the Nice Guy trope that I despise. And I do not agree at all that Zuko is only boyfriend material and that Aang is husband material for the reasons above.

I also don’t agree that Zutara would be toxic and I honestly don’t understand where that claim comes from. I’m guessing that it comes from the fact that they were enemies at first, and some people understandably do not like the enemies to lovers trope, but that doesn’t mean that relationships in that trope are toxic.

Before and after Zuko and Katara became friends, there was nothing that suggested they would be toxic in a relationship. When Katara was angry at him for betraying her at Ba Sing Se, instead of yelling back at her, he calmly asked her what he could do to make it up to her. He also gently stopped her from following Aang after Aang ran away angry because he didn’t want to kill Ozai. Instead of arguing, Katara listened. So there were two instances where Zuko and Katara had disagreements and they resolved it in a healthy and peaceful way. Zuko and Katara had a healthy friendship based on mutual trust and respect. They supported each other as equals.

Yes Zutara has more passion and excitement, but that isn’t all it has. Zuko and Katara genuinely enjoy each other’s company and have similar goals in life and similar personality traits that make them compatible. In my opinion, Zutara proves that a relationship doesn’t have to be toxic to be exciting, it can be healthy and still be exciting. That’s why I really like it. Many relationships portrayed in media nowadays are toxic and so many people love it because it’s simply fun to watch because of all the drama. But in my opinion Zutara proves that a healthy relationship can still be entertaining to watch.

I totally agree that Kat.aang is boring, and yes they were friends before they got together. But in my opinion, a romantic relationship has to have a certain level of spark and yes, passion. And I just didn’t see that with Kat.aang. I’ve seen many real life relationships break up because they get bored even though they seemingly look okay from the outside view. For example, Sokka and Suki had passion. I could truly see that they were in love and I felt their intensity but I wasn’t convinced that Katara was in love with Aang and I didn’t really take Aang’s love for her seriously because I found it to be immature, as I’ve said before, he idealized her. So I don’t think Kat.aang would be marriage material for those reasons.

I don’t think that Zuko and Katara need someone to “calm” them down because they are similar. I’ve seen this take before and I really disagree. There has been no proof that Zuko and Katara would constantly fight based on what we saw of their friendship. So I don’t agree that Katara needs Aang because he is even tempered, Aang’s Air Nomad philosophy of forgiveness did not resonate well with her in The Southern Raiders, given by how she totally used violence and yes, spared the man but still didn’t forgive him. I think Aang would have been horrified if he had seen her blood bend, while Zuko was shocked but didn’t judge her.

Again anon, thank you for your respect, I really appreciate it. But I just don’t think that Kat.aang would realistically be healthier than Zutara for the reasons I explained.

Thanks for the ask!

#atla #atla ask #ella’s original post #Zutara #anti kataang

[byrdiboo]

There is no sexism in Ba Sing Se

By now I think everyone has their opinions formed about the live action ATLA remake but as a non-fan I figured I'd offer my two cents to anyone still on the fence or who might be interested in a slightly less biased opinion. To clarify, I don't hate the show, I actually like hearing my friends talk about the fan theories and how they thought the various heavy subjects are handled, I just never got into it myself. Because my partner is one of those people who did get into it, I've at least seen up to the point of Kyoshi Village in both shows (ep2 Netflix, ep4 original). One of the things I've seen most people excited about is the special effects, especially the bending. I will say, it looks...fine. I'm not up on my fighting styles but the choreography seems decent. The effects are nothing groundbreaking - we've had these water and fire sims for at least 10 years - but it's definitely not awful to look at...when you can see it. Way too much of the show (ie more than 0%) utilizes the inexplicably popular "someone forgot to turn the lights on when filming" lighting technique and "shakeycam meets too-many-cuts" editing with motionblur out the ass for good measure (some of the opening scenes are on youtube, judge for yourself). At least all two of the creatures we get to actually look at look awesome. Perhaps the biggest thing I've seen talked about is the changes to the characters themselves. I will start by saying the actors deserve no ill will, they're clearly doing their best with a subject they love and a script written by people who thought ATLA should read like GoT. Aang and the others have a few goofy moments thrown in to keep people happy but for the most part he plays the part of Main Character Boy while the others are The Support Characters, rather than three children in extraordinary times doing what they think makes sense. This is where my knowledge of Aang and Katara is lacking, but I do want to talk about Sokka cuz his changes (rightly) had a lot of people worried (and a lot of his character arc is pretty obvious from ep 1, rather than revealed past the point I've seen). They didn't just tone down his sexism, they removed it entirely, taking him from an obnoxious but teachable idiot to a generic annoying dudebro. Maybe this is just me, but I was endlessly annoyed that they took away his sexism without addressing the things that made him sexist in the first place. After being told by the leaderly elderly matriarch character about the fire nation attacks wiping out most of the village, we are told Sokka is how he is because he was appointed the village leader at 13 for...reasons. So the village is still sexist enough to declare a 13 year old boy leader over the woman everyone already looks up to, but this didn't affect his character in any meaningful way, I guess? And for those looking forward to the Kyoshi warriors, you can go ahead and put those hopes down. The warriors themselves get minimal action time before Deus Ex Kyoshi-ghost-possession (yes, really) deals with the fire nation attackers for them. As for the love interest, they took what was a solid moment of "sexist gets ass beat by woman, begs woman for training, learns woman can do stuff too, ends up liking and respecting woman so hard she reciprocates" into the most bland "popular girl falls for cute boy at school" complete with eyelash fluttering, shy-can't-look-at-yous, and the most vomit-inducing "training" scene I've seen in a long time. No lessons learned, no character growth achieved, but hey they got rid of sexism or whatever. All this to say, I'm willing to give live action some passes, but personally I don't think this one's even worth a hate watch. I won't tell you to hate it, it does have a few moments of brilliance, but they're the glitter on a turd imo and Netflix doesn't deserve to be rewarded with your watch time. Despite my misgivings, the show is (supposedly) still getting at least mixed reviews from fans and non fans alike, so if you've bothered to see it I'm curious what you thought the remake (or my impression) got right or wrong.

#atla #atla live action #avatar the last airbender

[flightfoot]

Something that annoys me with how both the show and salt fics prop up Marinette is how it always comes at the expense of nerfing others. No one is allowed to be more capable than her at saving the day, even when it would make perfect sense. Plot always has to be resolved by her and mostly only her.

Chat Noir/Adrien is the most consistent victim of this. Even though he's established to be an accomplished fencer, academically intelligent, a super model, etc.... somehow Marinette is the better fighter, the smarter one, the more professional one. Almost none of his honed skills gets him to shine because he might overshadow Ladybug. Who needs a guy who put in the effort and struggles at getting skills when there's this special girl who can get it right on her first try and never struggled since Origins? Chat Noir could save the world by Cataclysming a giant meteor bread but it would just be a footnote in an episode centered on Ladybug and her akumatized family. If he's shown to have a skill that would be super useful like soccer, he will forget about it. Cause he is not allowed to be the MVP. It always has to be Ladybug. It's for the gurl power tm.

Except not really when we consider Alya. There are episodes which I feel should've let Alya resolve things or contribute more. The one instance that stood out most to me is in Optigami, where Marinette recognized the Nino with them is a senti instead of Alya - his girlfriend who literally spends all her screen time next to him when she's not with Marinette. Alya who recognized the new turtle is Nino within 5 minutes of meeting him. Alya did not realize something is off with him but Marinette somehow did. Marinette, who has been out of touch with her girl squad as shown in Gang of Secrets, Mr Pidgeon 72, Guilt Trip and Crocoduel. If she's out of touch with those girls, what makes Marinette more capable of noticing something is off with Nino? Alya doesn't have to figure out Shadowmoth's gambit with the turtle miraculous but it really should've been her who noticed something is off with her boyfriend. I also felt Hacksan should've been handled by Scarabella and Chat Noir instead. It felt cheap to have Marinette swoop in to save the day when the point of the episode is to show she can count on them - it would give more weight to scenes where she expresses how she trusts them. Sentibubbler is easily Alya's best episode, but it still doesn't feel like enough considering her promoted role. The show shouldn't downplay Alya just cause she's not the main protag.

This isn't just detrimental to Adrien, Alya and the rest of the cast but also to Marinette. This is where all her stans get off on saying she's overworked and the only one doing anything as a hero. It's why she can't seem to form a proper team and all her scenes when she turns to them for support ring hollow to me. It's why I question how capable she really is when everyone around her has to be nerfed just so she can stand out. I wouldn't quite call her a Mary Sue but I can see why some people think she is.

Yeah, I've noticed these same things. I think part of the issue comes from Miraculous attempting to have a power fantasy trajectory with Marinette, where the regular person you identify with gets to be badass and amazing, while the actual plot seems suited to a more equitable distribution of power and attention, especially with Adrien being Marinette's counterpart and partner, and them being considered a duo. It results in the show telling us that they're somewhat equal partners, but the dynamic often feeling more like hero and sidekick. Which in season 4 was intentional at least, so I'm wondering whether season 5 will do more to distribute the badassery evenly.

I think something like ATLA's distribution of power and attention, where the main character and the one the plot revolved around, Aang, was really important, but a lot of the plot and character dynamics and focus was on the ensemble cast (Sokka, Katara, Toph, and at the end, Zuko) with their own stories and development, could help with this issue. Miraculous isn't ATLA though, and is largely centered around around the Lovesquare in particular, so I don't expect that to happen unless the writers go for a soft reboot. Which I could see happening after the last currently greenlit season, season 7, if they get approval for more.

Miraculous also seems afraid to tell a story without Marinette more generally, which can sometimes be detrimental to the writing, when she isn't inserted organically enough. It's a problem a lot of shows that revolve primarily around a single character have, when the other characters are both fleshed out enough for the audience to care about them and want them to get time to shine, and competent enough that they should be able to handle problems on their own that the main character is dragged into instead.

I think more specialization would help with this. It's why I like to lean into Marinette being the tactician and expert at improvising how to use objects, while having Adrien be a little more skilled at the actual combat, and at bodyguarding in particular, and have Alya be the best at reading and manipulating the villains in order to win battles. It allows each one to excel in their own field, without feeling like any of them need to be cheapened to make the others look better.

Though I will say, Marinette being overworked and trying to do all the jobs, since she's at least competent at everything, DOES play into her character arc. Marinette's incredibly skilled, but she has a lot of internal struggles, and one of them is with overstretching herself to try and do everything personally. We see it even outside of superheroing, like when she decides at the end of Wishmaker that she'll try to be and do everything she proposed that she'd do growing up, and in Simple Man when she tries to take on babysitting Manon, Ella, Etta, and Chris all at the same time, even though Alya immediately offered to cancel her date and help out when she saw that. I don't know how much of that is intentional, but it does fit.

#ask #miraculous ladybug #ml salt #I guess #I love the show but I do agree with these nitpicks #ml analysis

[comradekatara]

sry if u already answered this, but like thoughts on gaang + the girls trying weed for the first time + how they would do it 🙈

the first time suki tries weed she is ten years old. a bunch of the older girls are getting high together, and when none of them are looking she steals their bong. they find her on the bathroom floor hacking up a lung. but once she finally stops coughing she’s like woah this rules…

you may be wondering why i’m listing suki first when i don’t usually do that for these kinds of posts, but since suki is of course the one who introduces every other member of the gaang to weed, it feels only appropriate.

suki gets high with sokka like a week into the start of their relationship. sokka is pretty disappointed tbh. he thought maybe weed would solve all his problems and unlock the secrets to the universe, but in actuality it just made his head hurt. alas

suki then tries to get high with zuko, who flat out refuses. he doesn't like suki, and he's afraid that she can tell (she can) and is in fact trying to poison him. so sokka has to suffer the intolerable Weed Headache all over again so that he can get high with zuko, because he wouldn't feel safe otherwise. "why doesn't he just not get zuko high in the first place?" you may be asking. well it's because suki begged sokka to get zuko high upon her insistence that it would be really funny. and it is.

katara also wants to try weed but suki is like "not until you're older" (she may sound like a massive hypocrite here, but she knows that sokka would kill her if he ever found out that she gave DRUGS to his BABY SISTER!!!!) and even when katara is like "but you're barely older than i am and you've clearly been doing this forever???" suki refuses to budge. eventually, after one million years, katara finally gets to try a hit from suki's special stash, and she's like "yeah, wow, this is good weed. wayyy better than iroh's tbh." to which sokka and suki are both like "excuse me WHAT???!?!?!?!?!"

aang wants in on suki hotboxing the bathroom and is just like "why does it smell like gyatso in here?" to which suki's like "your mentor, the air nomad legend, monk gyatso, was a pothead?" and aang's like "well i don't know about that, but your room smells exactly like the stuff he'd give us to calm us down whenever we got too hyper." at which point suki just shrugs and passes her joint.

iroh is actually the first person to give toph weed. like with that unpleasant katara revelation, suki feels immensely betrayed. so does sokka, for some reason, even though he doesn't even smoke weed. toph thinks it's just fine tbh, but then she discovers that getting azula high is actually the funniest thing ever, and she starts smoking way more, specifically with azula.

azula and toph get high together pretty frequently. sometimes (whenever he catches wind that this is happening) sokka joins them just to chaperone (he's scared of all the damage they might cause with any sort of common sense filter turned all the way off) and also to witness it (it's truly a sight to behold). they mostly just bitch about their terrible families, but their insults are really funny, and they make each other crack up. they have fun together.

suki is really proud of the fact that she's the first person to ever give mai weed. she's like, "wait..... did iroh never...." and mai's just like, "you really think i'd let that old creep push drugs around me?" weed does for mai exactly what sokka had hoped it would. for once in her life she's not hyper vigilant while also being bored out of her mind, but actually kind of chill and happy. sokka is so fucking jealous.

ty lee refuses to try weed, or any kind of mind-altering substances whatsoever. she won't even drink a single glass of wine at dinner. she's convinced that the moment she lets her guard down someone will finally find one of her weaknesses (a real one, not just the ones she advertises on purpose to deflect from her true vulnerabilities) and exploit it. suki, on the other hand, doesn't understand how someone so hot and cool could also be so straightedge. she's constantly trying to get mai to convince ty lee to try weed, but mai is just like, "sorry but this is just how she is, there's no changing her." eventually, years down the line, ty lee is finally sufficiently worn down and agrees to try weed once with suki and mai, but that they must first shut all the doors and close the blinds and promise to never let her out of their sight. it goes...fine? she's never tempted to try it again, but at least now she knows, and that's that.

bonus: no one knows this, but it wasn't actually gyatso who gave aang his first joint. it was bumi.

#la-jura #asks #the gaang and #suki #im pretty sure i have actually talked about this before tbh #multiple times in fact #but whatever. always a good topic to revisit #also fyi. jet was probably PLANNING on giving katara weed but never got around to it #alas

[duchesspeggy]

I watched the 1st episode of the netflix ATLA serie, and it was honestly better than I expected.

I don't want to binge watch the show, I'll probably keep the pace of one episode every 2 days or sth like that (the episodes are rather long, which I think is a good thing. I'm a little concerned that there are only 8 of them however. We'll see)

My 2 main criticisms would be:

too much exposure through stilted dialogues. The first scene, with the earthbender and Fire Lord Sozin, was so annoying. Same as Zuko explaining to his uncle that he was banished 3 years ago and can only return once he finds the avatar. Why give this information right away, in such an awkward dialogue ? Let your audience discover the story as it unfolds, we don't need every character backstory and motivations from the go (they weren't subtle with Iroh either). It feels like they want us to get the right idea about them immediately (Zuko is not fully bad, Iroh is actually good) rather than give us a chance to form our own opinion about them and then revise our opinion when given new information (I read that they took out the "There is no war in Ba-Sing-Se" gaslighting, because it was bad. Same as Sokka's sexism. They want the good guys to be good and the bad ones to be bad, with no nuance allowed).

lack of fun. It's totally fine that they don't want to put the same gooffiness as the cartoon's first season. Most of those gags were adressed to children and not that funny anyway. But even the last season still had joy and a kind of lightness in it. Were are Aang and Gyatso pulling pranks together ? Or if not pranks, at least having fun and playing together, like friends, rather than just talking about it ? Where are Aang and Katara bonding through games, Aang reminding Katara that she is just child herself ? Aang bringing back laughter in the Southern tribe ? WHERE IS SOKKA'S HUMOUR ? WHERE IS HIS SARCASM ? THE PLAYFUL BANTER ?

Also, side-note: where is Katara's ANGER ? If they didn't want to make Sokka's sexist, they still could have made her free the avatar by getting angry at him over waterbending, for example. It would've been more satisfying than just them finding him by chance.

Back to the lack of fun: this was something we liked about the characters and the show. The gooffiness, the humour, the gags were all part of the ingredients that made ATLA so endearing. Without it, it feels a little empty. It's generic fantasy. The first episode is more than an hour long, and we don't form any real connection to the characters.

What I did like, however, was Sokka challenging Zuko to protect Aang and the village, and then Aang telling Sokka he's the bravest person he ever met. That was a nice touch.

And of course the special effects are nice, the bending looks very good (the earthbending especially), the landscapes too. I especially loved Sokka's and Katara's outfit. Beautiful.

Again, it's only the first episode and overall it was nice. I'm curious to see how the rest of the show goes. Hopefully, the issues I had will be fixed.

#elenwe's babbling #atla #netflix atla #netflix avatar

[likeabxrdinflight]

anyways I did finish episode four but I am stopping here for the night

omashu, part two. this one combines the very ending of "jet", "the king of omashu", zuko and iroh's half of "winter solstice pt 1", and is also pulling stuff from season two here and there. we get a bit of iroh backstory.

...I don't want to talk about sokka and katara's part of this episode because honestly even though these posts are clearly marked spoilers I still don't want to spoil what they're doing because doing so might risk revealing what has genuinely been the most delightful surprise of this entire experience. I do not want it spoiled for anyone.

I will comment on katara though, because she's getting a little better. I'm seeing more and more flashes of the katara I know and love. we're not quite there but I'm a little less disappointed with her than I was in the earlier episodes. there's still things I'm not thrilled with- but I think I need to see all eight episodes before I make final judgment.

okay. so first. bumi. weird changes with bumi. he's definitely still bumi in the sense that he's weird and quirky and plays strange mind games with the intent of testing aang. it's just...not the same test as the original. and I'm not sure I like the change here. I'm not sure I dislike it? it's not an uninteresting change. I'm just not sure I like it, either, because it kind of misses the spirit of bumi's original character. utkarsh gave a great performance though.

the stand out for this episode was iroh though. oh my god, iroh. I said I wanted them to do more with him, to fix the inconsistencies that were there in the animated version and oh my god they have delivered that in spades. we have an earth kingdom soldier calling him out to his face for ba sing se. iroh gets to look one of his direct victims in the eyes and it's phenomenal, paul is killing it. the show walks a very thin line between empathizing with iroh and holding him accountable and I think it manages to thread that needle within the limits of what we know can actually happen in this story.

we also see flashbacks to when lu ten dies, we get more insight into why iroh's so attached to zuko and favors him so much. like we always knew iroh saw zuko as a surrogate son but it's very clear here, and it's clear where and when that really started. they also show a flashback to the moment iroh joins zuko in exile and it's...it's such an iroh kind of moment.

back in the present of course we get zuko saving iroh, and it's very similar to the animated version, but there is something much more tender-hearted in this rendition of these two together. not that the animated version didn't have that, but the live action show knows where these two end up. it knows zuko will eventually betray iroh. by highlighting their bond so much now it's gonna make damn sure that moment hurts. and it's gonna make damn sure not one person isn't crying when they finally reconcile.

I know a lot of azula stans don't like iroh. I was never one of them. the bond between iroh and zuko is special, and while I agree it's obvious he showed blatant favoritism and did not do right by his niece, I won't defend him on that, I still can't deny- the zuko-iroh dynamic has always been touching. and I'd argue it's better here. paul is just acting the hell out of his role and dallas is able to bring a softness to zuko's interactions with iroh that betray how close they really are, even when he's angry with him. these two together were critical to get right and they nailed it.

the show is worth watching just to see these two performances. I'm so serious.

#natla spoilers

[i-draw-zutara]

The biggest thing with the anti zuko/zutara takes that always has meh like 'wow' is how they ignore the 'we are friends kumbaya' convo in the finale between their boy and zuko

Hello hello!

(I started talking about TSR, surprise surprise.)

Just like Zutarians sometimes choose not to think about how sweet and thoughtful Books 1 & 2 Aang can be (because we usually just talk about how bad he got in Book 3 and beyond), anti-Zuko folks often choose not to think about how much of a hero Zuko becomes by the end of the show. He's definitely flawed, he's no saint, and he's a character with questionable at best morals for the majority of the show. But it is a canonical fact that this is how Zuko and Aang started:

And this is how Zuko and Aang ended:

They have two separate episodes that are pretty crucial to their character development and dive into their similarities, despite how different they seem to be. The show alludes to the fact that these two are fated to be friends by as early as the 12th episode of the show, 40 episodes before they are on the same team. Zuko arguably got more focus and depth by the time Sozin's Comet rolled around than Aang did, though.

Aang was never once portrayed as the antagonist of an episode, so it requires some attention to the writing to notice something like The Southern Raiders "accidentally" painting him in a really bad light. But to be fair, most anti-Zuko people will only ever see that episode the way Bryke wanted us to. I know I talk about The Southern Raiders every 17 seconds on my blog, but it's a hugely controversial episode and one a lot of people reference when talking about Zutara, Kat.aang, Zuko's redemption arc, and Aang's growing superiority complex. I really feel like that episode is one of the biggest contributors to this issue that you're mentioning, and it's really a huge shame.

Zutarians have a nearly endless list of reasons we mostly don't like canon Aang because we get to dip into the comics and Legend of Korra to see how he turned out and what he inevitably did to Katara's entire character. But once Zuko joins the Gaang, the only thing he did that can be seen as "villainous" was help Katara on her little murder trip. And everything before and after that doesn't matter because anti-Zuko peeps can brush off his entire character development by the fact that he was indirectly and unspokenly advocating for murder, which is something Aang is very much against.

I mean, you can disagree with your friends on big things while still being friends. I'm sure we all have at least one friend with that one opinion, but it doesn't mean we suddenly hate them. Same goes for Zuko and Aang. You don't need to be actively against one to like the other.

They disagree on quite a few things throughout the show, like methods and morals. But it's really important to remember that they shared one of the most special moments in the show with each other:

They met the only two dragons in the world face to face and got their very souls judged by them. These things also judged Iroh and believed him to be worthy, and we don't call him a bad person for all that he's done. The fact that these two were both read and deemed worthy by these ancient masters is honestly enough proof for me that Zuko and Aang are both good people at heart, despite everything they've done in canon.

Do I hate on Aang and what he's done while tagging "anti-aang" in 40% of my posts? Yeah of course. But am I anti-Aang? Do I think he's inherently a bad person? Not at all. Bad father, bad husband, yeah. Bad guy, nah.

It's important to distinguish between a bad belief/decision and a bad person, which is something anti-Zuko people either don't know how to do or don't want to do. The whole show is basically a love letter to Zuko, and his redemption arc spans all 61 episodes. So ignoring that Zuko and Aang become great friends with similar histories and a unique bond that they don't share with any other character is definitely a weird choice, but I understand (to an extent) the thought process to end up there.

#zuko #aang #didn't really talk much about shipping #atla #zutara #i'll tag it anyway #anon ask #zutara-galore answers

[innocentimouto]

Katara and Zuko’s scene in BSS

I don’t like it. I want to be clear in that because I don’t want to offend anyone who might find this. If you love this scene and would hate to read someone, um, destroying it, please ignore this. Though this is more my hate to how it was written, but that is inevitably connected to being critical of Zuko because. Well.

Why does Katara even apologize to Zuko? Somehow his emotions become the center focus when if he really changed, he should be making the effort to reach out, not the other way around.

She apologizes for yelling at him.

‘Well it’s hurtful.’

You know what else is hurtful?

Toph getting in Aang’s face and telling him how pathetic he is in��“Bitter Work”. Very few people give her any flack for that. In that episode, none of the characters think she needs to apologize. But it’s justified to help Aang?

There were other ways to teach him. She could have still been dismissive and mocking and been much less hurtful than that. I’m still confused on why Aang didn’t tear up there like when Katara snapped at him in Book 1.

And Katara had every right to be angry. Zuko invaded her home, destroyed it, threatened her grandmother, women, and children, her brother, Aang, etc. 

So she apologizes for shouting, but he can’t apologize for threatening her grandmother? For burning down Suki’s village which definitely hurt people, if not killed? For supporting the FN and that he was wrong and he’s sorry? I’m sorry, there is something very biased here.

What Zuko did to Katara and her people was horrible and I genuinely can’t watch that episode without tearing up or going cold.

Just. The writers rushing to make sure she apologizes. Just imagine them clutching their hearts because no, she can’t be mean to Zuko. Her popularity will drop! Her popularity---

Maybe you should have focused more on fleshing out the victims of the war than the literal colonizers----

Then it’s written off as she hates Zuko and that’s wrong. Zuko isn’t innocent in the war. She doesn’t hate him because he’s FN. She didn’t hate Jeong Jeong. She hates Zuko for supporting the Fire Nation throughout all their interactions. It’s not that she hates him because of his race. He personally did harm. The way it’s portrayed as wrong or ignorant never sat well with me.

(They made her bring up Ozai just to increase sympathy for Zuko. She never mentioned the Fire Lord before.)

Anyway, Katara hears him talk about what’s going on in his head, and then offers to use very special healing water on his scar. Immediately she offers him a solution, an actual way to deal with his problems, and a few minutes ago they were enemies.

She also conveniently didn’t mention: You know, that place where you stole Aang from? Where you taunted and looked down on me? Where you nearly killed Aang accidentally? Where you reduced the odds of us stopping the NWT from being conquered by taking the Avatar? Where, because of you, Zhao was able to reach the Spirit Oasis before us and the waterbenders lost their bending which would presumably end with many dead? And because of that, I lost my bending? And because of that, Yue died? And because of that, my brother lost someone he loved? And because of that a father lost his daughter? That place.

When did she ever show hatred for Zuko before this? She says he’s the face of the enemy, but we get no fear or hatred before this. We get hatred after this, which seems entirely because of his “betrayal” and not for his actions against her family and her friends.

Sokka mentions Yue and doesn’t even blame Zuko for it. And they still hadn’t learned Zuko wasn’t working with Zhao. How---

They also act like her saying her mother was killed by the FN is a revelation or something. Excuse you, atla writers. You couldn’t even bother giving her different lines, let alone a flashback until then! And then you have her saying that to Zuko, whom the writers went over and above to show how much he regretted leaving Iroh in Book 3, in so many different ways. And showed his trauma and reasons for doing what he did throughout Book 1 and 2.

So even to me, who loves Katara, I almost want to roll my eyes when she brings it up in BSS. Because it’s so lazy. Bring that up organically. Why didn’t she say 

your people took away all the waterbenders. Do you know how that feels? To lose that many people and to lose bending? To always be afraid it will happen again? Your people were so heartless and obsessed with destruction that you raided us again and again and would kill and destroy anything. 

Your people wanted to do that to me! And my mother sacrificed herself for me!

We never did anything to your people. We were innocent. Mom was innocent! I didn’t understand why. The parents of the benders your people would kill didn’t understand why. The kids who were orphaned didn’t understand why. But we learned. Because we had to. Because your people forced us to.

The Fire Nation are monsters. They never stop. They’ll kill because they can. And they’ll burn because they can. It doesn’t matter if the people they attack are unarmed, or children, or innocent, or not involved in the war.

And you’re just like them. You did the same thing. You were going to kill us when we were innocent. You were going to kill us for doing nothing wrong. You were going to do the exact same thing until Aang sacrificed himself for us. 

You’re no different from them.

#Katara #narrative against Katara series #zuko critical #Katara had REASONS for disliking Zuko #and it had more to do with his actions than the fact that he was the fn prince #why was it so hard for the creators to use her trauma in organic ways #sigh #well they're human #I shouldn't judge them so much over a cartoon

[sokkastyles]

I've heard Aang-stans preach how this kid is a true hero in the ATLA finale due to his pacifism and non-violent tendencies, but seem to forget how up until the failed invasion in "Day of Black Sun," it was pretty clear Aang was fully committed in doing something violent to Ozai. Aang only had an hour (maybe?) to travel to the palace, face the FireLord and "take him down" (whatever that means), and he was ready to face a ton of guards and obstacles to get to Ozai. Violence would've had to happen. He was ready to injure some people in the way he and the Gaang had busted into the Earth King's palace in Ba Sing Se. The thing that bothers me is that, considering Aang only would've had 10 minutes to fight the FireLord and "take him down" (again, whatever that means) before the guards/Ozai himself got their power back... how exactly would've Aang successfully put an end to the war without getting himself ambushed with Firebenders in the capital if he hadn't killed Ozai? Would Aang have found a way to kidnap a powerless-Ozai out of the FN palace in the span of 10 minutes, evade any attacks from the palace guards/soldiers and just carrying the man back to the submarines on his little glider? Just wondered what you thought about this plot-hole. :D

What Aang was going to do on the The Day of Black Sun makes sense according to kids' show logic, as long as you don't question it too hard. Which is fine, until the show does want you to question it.

The other problem is that it's hard to call it pacifism if it never came up before the last few episodes. Pacifism is a deliberate choice. The problem with Aang's "pacifism" is that he literally never thought about the possibility that he might have to kill the Fire Lord until Zuko brought it up, and it's a total whiplash since he spent the entire episode telling Katara that she was going to become a bloodthirsty monster.

Aang: violence is never the answer!

Zuko: You're literally the hero in a martial arts show.

Aang: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Now, the show COULD have made a point of emphasizing how Aang doesn't fully understand the consequences of violence, which they did show in other places. The problem is that that internal conflict is abandoned in favor of giving Aang a self-righteous attitude and an easy way out. How can he lecture Katara on the evils of violence when she was the one who had to pull him back from "glowing it up" in the Avatar State, which almost got her hurt?

The thing is, there could have been a great discussion here about what it actually MEANS to be a pacifist. Zuko could have been like "hey, you know, my dad isn't messing around, he will try to hurt you so you should probably hurt him first." Since Zuko knows firsthand that being all "I'd rather end this nonviolently, thanks" isn't going to work on Ozai.

This could have been a really compelling conflict for Aang. It's where I thought the story was going. And there are shades of it in the finale. When Aang tries to talk Ozai out of a fight and it doesn't work. When Aang says "I'm not gonna end it this way." The problem with that is that we find out a few minutes later that he actually didn't have to end it that way all along, because the lionturtle gave him super-special energybending. So the conflict - that didn't need to be a conflict in the first place - wasn't actually a conflict all along! That doesn't make Aang a hero, it just makes him passive.

You wanna see a character be faced with a ruthless opponent who is ready to kill and decide to instead take the high road? Who becomes a hero through choosing to be a better person and ends up victorious, despite having the odds stacked against them and no secret weapon to pull out at the last minute? A character who makes a choice to not give up their morals in a world that is trying to bring them down to its level? To not be goaded into violence and to find their own way, no matter what, even when other people don't believe they can?

Take

a

look

at

that.

The problem is that the show muddies the waters of what it actually means to be a pacifist because they want Aang to be right and are afraid of letting him be wrong. Being a pacifist doesn't mean you live in some version of the world with unshakeable morals that are never tested. It doesn't mean the answer will present itself to you at the last second if you just stick to your ideals. It's a conscious choice.

That's the thing that is missing that I would have liked to see. And since ATLA deals with the topic of genocide, I'm gonna quote another piece of media that deals with this topic, Schindler's List.

Power is when we have every justification to kill and we don’t.

Because that's what the whole conflict with the Avatar state is really about, right? It's about power. There's a lot in this show, from Zuko's backstory to Katara's confrontation with Yon Rha, that's about power and violence and how we do or don't have the agency to enact those things, and what we do with that power.

And on that note, I think it's a shame that the show never explored the fact that firebenders consider the eclipse to be their darkest day in history, the day when they are powerless in a world they've deliberately antagonized. What does that mean for them? But "The Day of Black Sun" is really Zuko's fight, his confrontation with his father is the centerpiece of that episode, the thing that really moves the plot forward. The invasion fails because the plot demanded that it would, and that's the Doylist reason why Aang never thought about how he would defeat Ozai. The main thrust of that episode is Zuko being empowered to leave his father. And Ozai tries to goad him into attacking him in a last ditch effort to regain control, but Zuko chooses to walk away.

Katara does the same thing with Yon Rha. And, ultimately, that's much more meaningful than angsting (Aangsting?) over the morality of killing, to me. Katara doesn't know at the end of "The Southern Raiders" whether she was right or wrong because it doesn't matter. What matters is the choice she made.

Aang doesn't even have to make that choice because 1) the show presents him as right all along and never questioning whether he is right, and 2) he gets energybending so it's a non-issue and any tension that conflict has completely vanishes before it has a chance to get resolved.

#the day of black sun #atla meta #atla critical #aang critical #zuko #katara

[impossiblycolorfulpanda]

AANG:

Iroh: How are you enjoying the spirit world, Aang?

Aang: This place is even more fantastic since I’m able to come here physically now.

Iroh: Pretty bold move asking Azula to come to a vacation with you, just the two of you.

Aang: Yeah well, she deserves a break. It’s because of her that Avatar Wan’s dying wish has now come true, Raava and Vaatu’s eternal conflict has finally ended with Raava being both light/peace and darkness/chaos at the same time. Though my link to my past lives is destroyed forever, true balance has been achieved.

Iroh: She is a wonder, isn’t she?

Aang: That’s somehow putting it mildly. I knew there was a reason I needed her by my side. I’m a different person now because of her. She made me a more powerful and more mature avatar. She’s never afraid to speak her mind and give constructive criticisms. Out of all firebender’s inner fire...hers is the most beautiful.

Iroh: Are you in love with her?

Aang: W-what? I...uh...

Iroh: No worries Aang.

Aang: Is it that obvious?

Iroh: Very.

Aang: How long have you known?

Iroh: From the moment I saw you two enter together I sensed a strong bond between you two...Besides, I kept catching you look at her when she wasn't looking and you had a dreamy look in your eyes.

Aang: Great...And now she probably knows and hates me or is afraid of me...

Iroh: Don’t be so sure. I was able to sense the passion in Azula as well. You should tell her how you feel, you'll both be happier for it.

Aang: Last time I expressed my true feelings to someone I thought I loved, it didn’t pan out so good.

Iroh: It’ll be different this time because Azula is not an earthly attachment, quite the opposite, she is the beacon of your ascension.

AZULA:

Iroh: How are you enjoying the spirit world, Azula?

Azula: Oh boy, the beauty and strangeness of it all. Words won’t do it justice. I can see why you wanted to spend eternity in this place.

Iroh: I’m here because of you. As you can remember, I was trapped in the fog of lost souls among others, forced to spend eternity in my own madness and failures. You got trapped as well, but no only did you withstand the fog’s powerful influence but used a firebending equivalent of spiritbending to purify the fog, absolving, saving, and freeing all of its prisoners. All right before slaying Koh, the face stealer. You are truly magnificent.

Azula: Well, ya know, it was the least I can do since both you and mother gave your lives to help me. Despite it all.

Iroh: Aang wanted this vacation to be special. It's not everyday the avatar offers to take a friend to the Spirit World on a private vacation.

Azula: Yeah, he’s a great friend.

Iroh: He means so much to you. Tell me. Do you love him?

Azula: Uh...I mean...I don’t...not...like...seriously!?

Iroh: It is ok, Azula, like the spirit world, love is strange and yet beautiful. There is more than one variation.

Azula: What do you suggest I’d do?

Iroh: Go ahead and show him how you feel.

Azula: Oh, sure, that’ll be a fun conversation. ‘Hey hippy, you remember the time I zapped you, possibly killing you, destroying the avatar cycle and truly putting the nomads into extinction, all just for sport and anger? Well, I think we should hook up now, don’t you?’

Iroh: It’s probably not place to say this, but he feels the same for you.

Azula: What makes you so sure?

Iroh: Think about it, right after Aang had let go of Katara and embrace his last chakra, he felt compelled to visit you often. He believed in you when no one else would. He taught you to master you’re own chakras. He gave glances at you often when you weren't looking. And he brought you here, a private vacation to the spirit world, a place where you two can be together with no distractions, do all of these sound like simple platonic gestures to you?

Azula: Well...the chakra part could be.

Iroh: You know, Zuko and Katara’s relationship started off very rocky as well, but as Zuko proved his atonement and how combatable they were, their love proved very indomitable. You and Aang’s love will be the same.

#azaang #azulaang #aangzula #atla headcanons #atla au #iroh #azula #aang #spirit world #zutara #not lok compliant #not atla comics compliant