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the twitter art meme 🛸🐉

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Golden Armor ^^ Had soooo much fun revisiting HTTYD and making this new piece! My last HTTYD panting must be years old by now! I was actually thinking of doing the same concept with Astrid and Stormfly - Let me know if you would like to see that! :)

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“Did boomerang come back?” “No, Suki did.”

Have had my heart yanked put & crushed by this freaking unbelievably spectacular Sokka fic by @mahpotatoequeen (which every Atla fan should read RIGHT NOW) and it’s given me a million feelings about Sokka and Suki and his boomerang and Sokka Sokka Sokka, because to quote –

“Let’s talk about Sokka, who always gets left behind.

Let’s talk about Suki, who always comes back.”

Right, ok, as this fic says heartbreakingly over & over, and other meta’s have talked about – Sokka is so defined by being left behind and failing to protect people. His mother, his father, the men of his tribe, Yue.  

(I know I’m slow on this, but can’t believe I never clicked the freaking tragedy of Sokka’s signature weapon being the boomerang that always comes back to him. Because other people don’t come back for Sokka. They just don’t.)

And in the finale, when he and Toph are trembling on the edge of everything, and he’s used his last move and boomerang isn’t coming back this time and he flat out says it’s the end because if his own boomerang isn’t coming back then nothing and no one will. Not for Sokka.

But Suki does.

Suki does.

Honestly that captures everything about Sokka/Suki and why they work – because their whole relationship is built on coming back for each other and protecting each other.

Suki returns to keep him safe at the Serpents Pass. Sokka rescues her from The Boiling Rock. And Suki flies in to save him in the final battle of everything.

Suki comes back and Suki protects him.

It’s such an amazing, tender, equal dynamic between them. Because Sokka was raised and defined to be a protector and soldier – the first thing we see is him trying to defend the Water Tribe because all the warriors have left and he’s literally all the tribe has. And yes, he’s surrounded by these godlike powerful benders who are saving the world, but he’s still the one trying to save them, he’s leading them into battle, he risks losing them so many times. (The fic explores this brilliantly).

But he gets to have this wonderful, equal relationship with someone who isn’t about leaving but coming back, and someone who rescues him, who understands the burden of being the protector.

In Serpents Pass, when Sokka is tearing himself apart trying to keep Suki safe because of losing failing Yue, Suki outright says that she came to take care of him.

And in the end, Suki stays and the last moment we see is them together. And it’s ok if boomerang doesn’t come back, because this one, single time it doesn’t need to – Sokka doesn’t need his weapon to come back so he can save himself, because someone else came back for him.

….just holy shit. My heart really can’t take this. 

……So anyway read the fic, because there are a million more parts to it that are just as heartbreaking and amazing. (The entire Sokka is a river exploration is holy shit, the best metaphor I’ve read for Sokka and his role and character).

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I absolutely love Suki’s maturity when it comes to relationships.

When she expresses her feelings for Sokka and he says he can’t, she respects his boundaries and apologizes. Not that she did anything wrong, but more “Oh, you just told me you lost someone and now I see. I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”

She apologizes again in the morning, and doesn’t push Sokka in any way shape or form. He has established he’s not ready for a relationship, and she does not intrude, get insulted, or pressure him.

She is simply pleasantly surprised when he kisses her and happily kisses him back.

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This moment in Sozin’s Comet where Toph and Sokka think ‘this is it, we’re going to die, we did everything we could’ is heartbreaking for so many reasons. Because it’s tragic and seems final and they were just kids. Sokka holding on to Toph with all his strength even though his leg is broken and Toph putting all her trust in Sokka because he’s the only thing saving her? Devastating. But can we think about something for a second? 

Can we think about how the last time Toph saw her parents they rejected her and wanted to put her in a box, hide her away from society rather than accept who she was. How she thought she was going to see her mom in Ba Sing Se but got locked in a small cage where she couldn’t bend. How she decided she hated them but deep down actually missed them despite everything. 

How she still wanted to have them in her life and did miss them and took the small step to send them a letter. That was the last time she interacted with her parents and for all we know, she never heard back. Hawky didn’t return. She never got her reply. Toph never got to know if her parents wanted her back. 

She could have died without anything resembling catharsis or closure. She’s crying as Sokka tells her “it looks like this is the end” and she believes him. That was going to be it. After everything they went through, they weren’t going to make it out alive. 

And then Sokka? 

The last time he saw Hakoda was in The Southern Raiders. They barely had time to spend with each other after The Boiling Rock and they didn’t even get a full goodbye. All they got was Hakoda telling them “it’s not forever” and a quick hug in the heat of battle. Sokka was so sure they were going to see each other again because he didn’t know about the plans for the comet and he didn’t know what was going to happen in the coming weeks. 

And right here? He could have died with this being the last time he talked to Hakoda. Sokka could have died with only this fleeting moment as the last time he talked to his dad. That could have been the end of it after years of separation with only a few weeks together in all those years.  

And they were kids.They shouldn’t have had to be the ones to save the world. They shouldn’t have had to invent metalbending or save their father from a high security prison or march into battle without knowing if they would live or die. 

Toph and Sokka were so sure they were going to die in this moment. They were so sure the quick goodbyes and attitudes that ‘it’s not forever’ were all they were going to get to leave behind to their parents. They thought they were going to die and had no idea if Suki or Aang would come out of it okay. They had no way of knowing if Zuko or Katara would live. And they never got the chance to get anything close to resembling closure with their parents. 

They just had this trust in each other. Just this grip. That’s all they were left with in the end. Because the world never protected them the way they protected the world. 

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Soooo I was reading again and I recognized Suki is very often very negatively against Azula or has a healthy suspicion of her, which is good but I was asking myself is that really true for Suki. You are probably asking yourself if I have drunk some cactus juice but hear me out. We see Suki be very quickly friendly to Sokka after beating his ass for sexist remarks and seeing her get along with him, then we see Suki be very fast accepting of Zuko after a half assed apology at the boiling rock for attacking her and burning her village.

Then we come to Ty Lee, who was part of the trio that took down the Kyoshi Warriors and it’s for me implied that she took down Suki as well. At the boiling rock Suki was focused on Ty Lee only and don’t even bat an eyelash towards Azula.

You see, after the war Ty Lee was accepted into the Warrior’s, yes Ty Lee got along with them before hand in prison but Suki is the leader and has to nod it off. So, again Suki is being quickly forginving to somebody.

In all cases we can see Suki was forgiving and accepting after the person showed Suki they are better, it could be argued that she was tolerating Zuko at first but this is not important right now. Now we come to Azula who was just like Ty Lee a part of the trio that beat her and the Kyoshi Warrior’s, we know that Ty Lee beat her so the hurt pride and anger for that is directed at Ty Lee so where are we now, Azula was only responsible for putting Suki in prison, which makes it not even a personal problem Suki has with Azula. So because of this I’m just confused when Suki is mostly so negative in fics and holds a grudge towards Azula because I think Suki is a very forgiving person imo based on the above mentioned points, ofc Azula has to do something that would give Suki the nudge to forgive her for putting her in prison but I don’t see her as this always negatively person toward Azula. I didn’t consider any Comics for this post and oriented myself on atla show events. Of course this is my opinion. I would be interested in what you think about my take that Suki is a quickly forgiving person and please excuse any mistakes because it’s 1 am, I’m tired and don’t want to edit.

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Thinking about ATLA and the meta we occasionally get around Toph not getting a life-changing field trip with Zuko.

Topf probably didn't need one on account of Zuko not having tried particularly hard to ruin her life. But you know who should definitely get their own Zuko field trip? Suki.

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Sometimes I wonder if Zuko occasionally has moments where he remembers his friends are all basically Titans in their field and thinks "Man am I glad I chose their side."

Aang: the literal Avatar, mastered three elements in under a year

Katara: immensely creative waterbending prodigy (both offensively and defensively) who can heal and bloodbend

Toph: master earthbender who invented metalbending and held the Library up by a single spire with nothing but her bare hands, in the sand, at the age of 12

Suki: Leader of the Kyoshi Warriors at 16

Sokka: master tactician, strategist, and war leader who also more-or-less invented the Fire Nation's airships

Meanwhile Zuko isn't even the best firebender in his own family, for all that he's an expert swordsmaster, the Firelord, and leading his nation into a new era. It's got to be a humbling experience for him sometimes.

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Do you ever think about how 1 of the 1st waterbending moves that Katara learns, that she doesn’t come up with herself, is the water whip that she learns from that waterbending scroll, which also happens to be 1 of the final moves that she uses against Azula, using that move to manoeuvre Azula into a place more favourable for Katara??

Do you ever think about how in that same episode that Katara learns that, Sokka tries to steer a boat, and laments how he doesn’t know how, because that boat wasn’t made by The Southern Water Tribe, and then, later, steers an entire Fire Nation war balloon with precision and intent, and knows how to destroy them effectively and efficiently, while also being a co-inventor of the inspiration invention of those Fire Nation war balloons??

Do you ever think about how, when face-to-face with The Avatar in the Avatar State, after repeatedly threatening to imminently kill that Avatar like the other Air Nomads, Ozai’s 1st move is to firebend directly towards Aang’s left side of his face, the exact same spot that Zuko has his scar on??

Do you ever think about how Zuko was challenged to his 1st Angi Kai due to his desire to protect people being unnecessarily put in harms way, and his final Angi Kai was ended due to the same reason??

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ARE YOU KIDDING ME THIS IS THE CUTEST SHIT EVER

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Haven’t stopped thinking about this since yesterday.

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The funniest part of the atla fandom right now is people complaining about the Netflix show having plot holes like the original nickelodeon version didn't have 654386 arbitrary rules about the avatar state, no explanation why no one in the air nomads knows their parents, and no consistency on how the hell waterbending healing works.

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did netflix make changes in the atla live action that I didn't like?

YES.

did netflix remove depth from some characters *cough* katara *cough*?

YES.

do I want a second season?

YES.

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im sorry but this still is SENDING MEEE. katara looking at jet like “do you think that thing on his head is still alive, and if so, is it gonna attack me?”

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i would literally be on my KNEES for Suki

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They did not "take away" Sokka sexism in the Netflix Avatar The last Airbender adaptation!l. They just made it more realistic to what sexism actually looks like in the real world.

In the original cartoon, Sokka's sexism is very one dimensional, a "women can't fight!!" attitude and he immediately gets humbled and learns he's wrong. It's a pretty simple depiction of misogyny, but it's good because after all, ATLA is a show for kids (that doesn't mean you can't enjoy it as an adult) but having a simple depiction of sexism = bad is perfect for what the show is.

However, it's very clear the Netflix adaptation is a bit more mature in tone and takes its themes a bit more serious. Its still "all ages" but I would not show it to young kids with the whole burning people alive stuff. So because it takes a more serious approach to the story, it also does so with Sokka's sexism arc! Instead of just being like "women can't fight!" he assumes by virtue of being a male who was handed a club, he is the equal of Suki and the Kyoshi warriors. He literally says this, that he thinks they are practically the same. Suki rightfully gets pissed about it! She has trained her entire life as an elite warrior. Him and her are NOT the same. And in this version, Sokka again, gets immediately humbled and learns he was wrong.

This version of sexism is waaaaay more accurate to the sexism we see around in modern society today though. We don't really see a ton of people saying women can't play sports, but that there's a lot of men who think just because they played a sport in highschool, they could match up equally with (or even beat!) a professional woman athlete. All just because they are a guy!!! And this is the sexism that Sokka exhibits, and is refuted! It's a GOOD change because it's showing sexism (and how wrong it is) in the subtle way it is more likely to show up as in the real world!

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I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS VERSION OF SUKI OMG

bbygirl tried to flirt with sokka by showing him cool warrior moves and he is SO intimidated by her omg i love themm.m