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thispatternismine · 3 months

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ATLA live action impressions part 2

Following on from last night's post, here are my impressions of eps 5-8

Still really loved it. Gonna be tarred & feathered for this but I actually like it better than the animated show

Highlights:

Ozai giving Zuko credit for finding the Avatar. There's this weird idea in the fandom that Ozai never intended to take Zuko back. Even though we saw him do exactly that at the beginning of Book 3. Yes he set an impossible task, but when Zuko (apparently) achieved it, he was like 'ok yeah cool - you have met my standards'. Sure, there's no way Zuko would have continued to meet those standards if he'd stuck around, but Ozai did actually keep his word. The fact that he does it to make sure Azula knows she's overstepped & remind her she's replaceable, is an especially nice touch

Getting to see how Azula is treated by her father. I've seen way too many people try to claim Azula was never abused because she wasn't literally set on fire like he was. Never mind that she avoided that fate only because she was able to meet his standards. And having to constantly strive to meet the standards set by someone who thinks 'find a guy who's been missing for a century' is a suitable task to set his kid is abuse.

Another annoying tendency of the fandom is to flanderise Ozai into some diabolical caricature who spends all his time thinking up new ways to torment poor Zuzu, so having that scene of him banishing Zuko was a nice touch. He genuinely believes he is being a good dad & raising his kid to be strong (note: This isn't me saying Ozai is right - I'm saying he thinks he's right.)

The 41st Division 😭

Iroh & Ozai interacting with each other

Gyatso!

I spy some female soldiers! A problem with the animated show was that it's all well & good deciding that the Fire Nation has female soldiers, but bias is a thing & 99.9% of the time if you ask someone to draw a soldier it'll be a man. Yeah sure they all stayed to guard the Fire Nation that's why we didn't see any till Book 3 suuure

"Anything you need." "It has to do with Koh." "Anything but that." DYING

Aang's whole speech to Zuko about how helpful his notebook was (let's be real Iroh probably sighed & told him it was a waste of time so this was the first time he heard 'Hey good job on the Avatar research!') & the way they bonded before he unwittingly set Zuko off

"Quit it before they think there's something wrong with you. More than there already is."

"The Firelord deems your performance... below average." OOF. Pretty sure that's the worst thing you can possibly say to Azula. She'd much rather be told she sucked outright than just 'meh'

Waterbender Yue

Non-arsehole Hahn

Using Kuruk lore from the Kyoshi books!

I like the changes to the NWT siege. Having the spirits' mortality be an occasional, temporary thing to gain an appreciation of life that occurs during a full moon when the powers of those who will protect them in that state are at their peak, makes more sense than permanent vulnerability that relies on nobody finding out. Also never made sense that a naval officer was stationed in a fucking desert & was able to just take time off to go through a spirit library, so having Zhao find his info from the Fire Sages works better IMO. I do hope we'll still get the spirit library though

Ozai's lil eyetwitch when Azula backtalked him like if you agree

Haven't mentioned yet but I love the costumes in this

Also never mentioned Momo, the Real Hero of ATLA

Sokka continues to be awesome

Lowlights:

June calling Iroh cute & fawning over him. Normally I'd think it's unfair for the live action version of a character to be held accountable for what the animated version did, but this leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Like og!Iroh's groping of June being treated like a joke has been called out many times so they fucking had to know what they were doing

Why isn't Azula's fire blue? We got like 1 second of it & that's it. Maybe consistent blue flames are a power up she'll obtain later idk

#atla #zuko #azula #ozai #aang

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highfantasy-soul · 2 months

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NATLA Episode 6 - Masks (3/5)

[Masterlist of my NATLA thoughts]

An explanation of what I'm doing here and my history with ATLA.

Of course, full spoilers ahead.

Love that they expand the convo between Aang and Zuko and give a reason for not immediately heading to save Sokka and Katara (whom were currently dying of thirst and fever in the animated show) - fire nation soldiers were still searching around. In the animated version, Aang just stays with Zuko until morning for…some reason? while his friends are dying.

Everything Zuko does is such a great choice, acting wise. He really acts like a teen trying to convince people he's badass and confident - which to the teen, is done in totally legitimate ways while us olds can see right through that mask and see how insecure and inexperienced with what true confidence is. Again with the masks, Zuko over-acts to convince others (and himself) that he's strong and can do it alone - hence him slapping away Aang's hand he stretches out to help Zuko. It's honestly a funny scene because we can see how petulant and ridiculous him slapping away a helping hand is, but with Zuko's past and how he's been taught to be strong alone - yet never actually has gotten any solid teaching on HOW to do that - Zuko sees it as a reasonable reaction.

I think it was a really great move to expand his and Aang's conversation here. In the animated series, Aang only talks about Kuzon and what life was like for Aang before and how much he misses it. Here, Aang talks TO and WITH Zuko rather than just talking AT him. Aang starts by appraising him of the situation - there are guards patrolling the woods so they need to hunker down for the moment, then he tries to help, then just sits with Zuko - close, and facing him rather than in a corner. He shows Zuko that he's actually confident, not afraid of Zuko, and not intending to be antagonistic either. Aang sets the tone as only Aang can: one that's genuinely kind and open, wanting to talk the issues through, not solve it with threats or violence. Then he opens with a disarming question - one meant to connect the two of them, to humanize himself to Zuko and show that he sees Zuko as another person, not just an enemy, too. It's just SO AANG!

That's always been Aang's superpower - like Katara said back on Kyoshi Island: it's his ability to connect with people that makes him so special. Especially thrust into a world that's been at war for 100 years, that wears on EVERYONE, people are done trying to play nice, it's hit now and hit hard - no diplomacy is going to work because it hasn’t worked for 100 years. Aang doesn’t have that baggage. He really is a man out of time - and he uses that to his advantage here.

He tries it other places and it rarely works, but with Zuko, it can. Aang starts with a question that looks like it's going one direction, but veers into something so beautifully mundane. When he asks if it's ok to ask 'a personal question', everyone's (and probably Zuko's too) thought goes to the scar - it's the big thing that 'different' about him, that defines him, just as so many people with visible differences/disabilities know. "Can I ask how you became blind? How you lost your leg? What it's like living with Down Syndrome?" All those questions about, usually, not the things people are so proud of (not that they're ashamed, per se, but like, why talk about a missing leg when we can talk about their artwork, ya know?) or want to sit around and chat about. But Aang veers left - what type of hair do you use for your calligraphy brush?

Aang opens with an off-kilter question, then follows up with a compliment: "your characters are so neat", then some self-depreciating humor "I can never get mine like that. The monks used to say lemur droppings were more legible than my brush strokes". It's just impossible to not be put at ease by him talking to Zuko like a person - finding common ground, mundane and 'insignificant' as it is, but Zuko doesn't crack - yet. I think it was great that they used Zuko's notebook not just as a convenient goober to get Aang the info he needed in a neat little package, but to bring it back as a point of connection between him and Zuko - Zuko's desperation to end his banishment helped Aang.

Something so important to Zuko did genuine good and helped the person he was hunting - and he was GENUINELY thanked for it. Not only thanked for it, but he got an actual apology from Aang about stealing it - I wonder how many times Zuko had ever been apologized to after someone hurt him or stole his things.

Zuko stays stone-faced, but he's not angry - he doesn't look away either. To me, it feels like he's trying hard to calculate how he thinks he's SUPPOSED to react to Aang telling him this. I think he wants to be proud of his work, of Aang telling him that he has info on past Avatars no one else has, how Aang stayed up long nights reading his work, how it really has helped him. Here's someone who is genuinely telling Zuko that his work is good - not just good, but unique and impactful the way no one else's work is. He's the best at this - what he did is worthy of respect and praise.

Finally, after Aang tells him Zuko's notebook (he) helped him a lot, Zuko breaks - he tells Aang he uses goat hair for his brushes as it gives him more control. The façade of hard, unfeeling badassery is broken and he's just another kid discussing stationary and how to please exacting teachers. And uuuuggghhh Aang is just so charming and disarming with his self-deprecating jokes! Just like how he tried to cheer up Katara with his little joke about 'I think that's what the monks said - I never listened', he makes another about always getting caught snoring while he was supposed to be meditating and Zuko breaks!! The big bad, hard core firebender SMILES!!!! Then he quickly reins it in and tries to return to his stoic scowl.

It's so good having Aang and Zuko slide into a discussion about 'sides' as it does look strange that Zuko is 'fighting against' other firebenders. Zuko starts out by flipping right back to anger, to forceful faux confidence, then realizes that he's having to face his 'enemy' and tell this kid whose joke he just laughed at that he's still needing to capture him. But he takes a more casual stance, a resigned tone, not a forceful one, as he tells Aang that he can only return home if he captures him and takes him in, he can then become the next fire lord. Yet again, Zuko is questioned about whether that's actually what he wants and another point of connection between the two is forged - Zuko insists that yes, of course he wants to be the fire lord, that's what everyone expects of him. Expectation. We know that Zuko doesn't actually care about the throne, he just wants acceptance and his family back, but Zuko has been told the way to get that is through being the perfect prince - that wanting the throne is the same as getting his family.

I love how Zuko starts to get clearly agitated at the direction the conversation is taking - I would attribute that to people poking at his beliefs that he's had to cling to because if they come crumbling down under too much scrutiny, he won't know what to do - and Aang immediately tries to calm him down, not raise his voice, tries for kind and gentle advice given to him by his own mentor - opening up and being vulnerable with Zuko in an attempt to regain that connection they had just shared. And it works - he opens up about how he's so worried about the expectations about him being the Avatar and Zuko calms down, he shifts back and relaxes again.

Aang pushes in, telling Zuko how different he is from the other firebenders, how he knows what the fire lord is doing is wrong, how Zuko could be better than them - on the surface and initially, things Zuko might like to hear. But Aang pushes it too far - he mentions compassion and all that trauma rushes to the surface and Zuko is reminded just how painful being different from the other firebenders can be - how much punishment compassion brought him.

He feels like he has to overcompensate yet again - never show weakness, never show vulnerability, never accept someone else's criticism of his actions or of the actions of those he's associated with. I think it's very telling that he starts with declaring that he's the crown prince - that he is to be the example for all firebenders. His expectations don't only extend to himself and how he should be viewed by his father - he sees the entire fire nation as looking at him and judging his actions and worth - expectations that crush him as they tell him to be a certain way I think he already knows he doesn’t want to be. And even though his father was clearly abusive, he still insists that he's a great man - to save face, he has to deny the accusations of the enemy and declare that his abuser is actually good and no one is allowed to say otherwise (oh my god, seriously Zuko, stop stealing these lines from my DnD character! I swear she did it first, it's not just that Zuko's journey is so incredibly organic in his experience and reaction to the abuse that it transcends through to other mediums seamlessly).

And finally, Zuko can't take it anymore, he has to firmly put that mask back on and yells at Aang that compassion is a sign of weakness - and attacks. Finally, Aang is afraid of Zuko, and dispatches him again, but Aang is a smart kid - he recognizes the pain that talk of compassion brought out in Zuko. He doesn't blame Zuko for it, he sees how much he's been hurt already and I think, yet again, that's what makes Aang such an amazing protagonist and Avatar - he WANTS everyone to be good at heart. He wants to connect, to find paths to healing and cooperation. And he is willing to see past rough edges to the heart of gold within.

#natla #avatar the last airbender #netflix avatar #natla positivity #avatar live action #avatar netflix

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scarlet-spring-scribbles · 2 years

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Avatar!Suki

Wanted to mess around with story ideas if other atla characters were the avatar, so I plugged some into a spin wheel and got Suki, so here's my take on if Suki were the Avatar!

Fair warning, this was meant to be a short what-if but I was having so much fun tossing plot points in the air and rearranging them that it got a lot longer than I planned. Also if you have any thoughts please share! I'd love to hear them.

Earth

To set the scene, let's say the air avatar (not Aang) initially survived and went into hiding, only to be found and killed around 30AG. With the first southern raids starting before 40AG, the new water avatar would've been a child when captured, and lived out their life in prison without reaching their full potential or even realising they're the avatar. This brings us around to the earth avatar, Suki.

Suki's animal companion is a pygmy puma named Gyaki. Gyaki was being transported on a trading ship that temporarily docked on Kyoshi Island and escaped, becoming a minor nuisance until Suki befriended her.

She discovered she could earthbend when she was tiny, and started learning under the only other earthbender on the island, but he passed away before she could finish her training. She realised she was the avatar when she nearly drowned but waterbent herself to shore, and told nobody but her family, who've kept the entire thing firmly under wraps to keep her safe.

Our inciting incident is when the unagi spits up an airbender and picks a fight with a flying bison. During the comet, Aang was travelling to visit a friend that lived on Kyoshi, and was the most convenient master airbender around. Raava did some sneaky interference and had him and Appa timelocked beneath Kyoshi Island so future avatars could learn airbending. Because of Raava's influence, there's still that dramatic beam of light when he's freed.

While he was timelocked, Aang dreamt. He can't remember anything, but he gets the strong sense that he needs to find the avatar. His plan is to go back to his temple and find the air avatar, his buddy Tenzin. Appa still can't fly, so he's stuck on Kyoshi until then. He's determined to find that friend he was planning to visit, and drags Suki along to help.

With that dramatic beam of light, it caught the attention of three key people: Zhao, Katara and Sokka. Zhao sets off for Kyoshi Island to investigate the suspiciously avatar-y shenanigans. Katara and Sokka were already about to leave for the Northern Water Tribe, but Katara decides that light looks a lot like it might be the avatar, and convinces Sokka to check, so they divert.

Because of the time crunch caused by the elemental cycle, I'm switching up Zuko's origins a bit, so that's why Zhao is chasing them instead. I also really liked the show following multiple groups around, so I'm trying to preserve that.

Zhao lands on Kyoshi Island and demands the avatar. Suki surrenders herself to protect her island, and leaves with him. Aang hosts a rescue mission with Appa and Gyaki and struggles to believe that Suki is the avatar, since that means something happened to Tenzin and the water avatar. They save Kyoshi from Zhao after he went back for revenge and fly off to lead him away. The journey begins!

After visiting the Southern Temple, Suki and Aang travel the Earth Kingdom looking for a new earthbending master, and find Toph the same way they do in the show. So our dynamic main trio is Suki, Aang and Toph instead of Aang, Katara and Sokka.

The next plan is to go to Ba Sing Se to speak with the King, and hopefully get help, leading to shenanigans as everyone traverses the Earth Kingdom. Katara and Sokka are of course having their own journey and the two groups keep just missing each other while dodging Zhao. They finally meet up when crossing Serpant's Pass and arrive in Ba Sing Se together. Ba Sing Se stuff happens, and there's the fall of Ba Sing Se, except it seems to be led by Zhao until we see him answering to Azula.

Fire

Suki needs a firebending teacher quicker than Aang did and we don't have enough time for the entire redemption arc so some has already happened offscreen. I present to you: Sun Warrior Zuko.

The banishment etc is all the same, except Iroh grabbed Zuko and legged it back to the Sun Warriors, and they've been there since. There's still possibility for emotional turmoil, since Zuko has basically set his issues and trauma aside instead of actually overcoming them, and has been very sheltered. Going straight from the palace to a society not actively involved in the war means he hasn't seen any of the consequences.

The gang flees Ba Sing Se and are now on the run through the Earth Kingdom. Both fire siblings are properly introduced, with Iroh sending Zuko out into the big wide world with the intent of teaching the avatar, and Azula gathering her girl gang and doing some actual chasing. One of Azula's early attacks splits everyone up into their original groups again. Katara and Sokka end up travelling to the Fire Nation, hoping to find the rest of the group there since the last plan was to find Suki a firebending master.

Katara finally learns waterbending from a master, Hama, and Sokka studies under Piandao. I feel seeing the Fire Nation from the inside was really important to the show, so this is where that can happens.

Meanwhile, Suki, Aang and Toph and still being chased by Azula, Mai and Ty Lee, desperately hoping to find a firebending master or at least Jeong Jeong again. Whenever they get into a tight situation, the Blue Spirit always seems to pop out of nowhere and mess up Azula's plans.

As said, Zuko keeps running into the avatar group but can never seem to actually keep up or talk to them for an extended amount of time. This period is similar to when he was a refugee, seeing firsthand the effects of the Fire Nation and the war and starting to overcome the last of his doubts.

Azula, Mai and Ty Lee are travelling around the Earth Kingdom during this period, chasing the avatar and squashing resistance. Ty Lee meets and helps Earth Kingdom families where she can, seeing how they're being treated by the military.

Back in the Fire Nation, Piandao uses his White Lotus connections to point Katara and Sokka to Iroh & the Sun Warriors. They finally realise the weird masked dude is actually a firebender trying to help. They're obviously skeptical, but they've spent so much time within the Fire Nation that they've come to terms with the fact that all firebenders aren't a faceless army.

Druk flies Katara and Sokka back to the Earth Kingdom mainland, where they find Zuko and they become another terrible trio ricocheting around the continent. Everyone finally reunites, and Zuko can start teaching Suki firebending.

Finale is a confrontation with Azula, Mai and Ty Lee in Omashu. Suki is hit by lightning but fortunately Zuko already taught her lightning redirection so she's mostly fine, but she certainly looks dead so we still get the whole 'the avatar is dead hrnbrlugh!'. This is also when Azula finally recognises the Blue Spirit as her brother, which really throws her off since she thought Zuko was dead.

Air

The gang retreats to lick their wounds at an air temple Aang leads them to. This is when training gets super intense, because Suki finally has all four masters and can really get down to business. This is also where she learns about controlling the avatar state.

Azula, Mai and Ty Lee are back in the Fire Nation as the heroes responsible for conquering the Earth Kingdom and ending the Avatar's uprising. As we know, things are never perfect, and without Zuko around Azula takes full credit for Suki's 'death'. That gives her the motivation to hire Combustion Man instead, though I'm not sure how she would know Suki's alive. She wouldn't recognise lightning redirection. Let's say the paranoia is kicking in, helped by Zuko's appearance as the Blue Spirit.

I remember reading that Suki's running across people's heads in Boiling Rock was meant to reference Kyoshi's duststepping, so I imagine there are plenty of other techniques used by the Kyoshi Warriors that can be translated into bending.

They journey back into the Fire Nation, chased by Combustion Man, with Katara and Sokka guiding them. There's more time for Fire Nation shenanigans, like the Ember Island Players and Aang going to school.

The invasion fails spectacularly in this universe too, with the group being split up. Zuko faces his father and overcomes his trauma instead of burying it. Suki and Katara face Azula, while Sokka, Aang and Toph face Mai and Ty Lee. They meet-up for the escape, and are cornered but Ty Lee breaks rank and the surprise lets them get away. Everyone except Zuko and Sokka escape on Appa; those two stay behind as a distraction then escape in a war balloon.

Water

It's time to head back to where it all started. They hide out on Kyoshi Island and wait as allies that escaped the Invasion slowly gather, except for Zuko and Sokka, who stay behind in the Fire Nation.

Suki reunites with her warriors, and Katara teaches her bloodbending, calling it a last resort if she needs it. Suki also travels with Aang and Katara to the South Pole to connect with the previous avatar. Aang's tagging along because he's the most spiritual and it's Katara's home turf.

Zuko and Sokka break into Boiling Rock and rescue Hakoda and Ty Lee, with Mai betraying Azula to let them escape. Ty Lee tells them about the plans at the palace. She tells them that Ozai will be leading an air fleet to destroy the Earth Kingdom, Zhao will be leading the navy against the Southern Water Tribe, and Azula will be the new Fire Lord, all timed with the comet.

Sokka, Hakoda and Ty Lee leave the Fire Nation for Kyoshi Island. Zuko stays behind, lurking in Fire Nation villages, so he can challenge Azula for the throne when it's time.

As soon as the three of them arrive back, Sokka, Katara and Hakoda leave for the Northern Water Tribe to warn them. Once they arrive, Sokka meets Yue.

Suki makes a last spiritual trip before the comet and finds the lionturtle, learning energybending.

Let's run through what actually happens in the comet.

Suki fights Ozai, defeating him and taking his bending.

Aang, Toph and Ty Lee take down the airships together.

Zuko challenges Azula to an Agni Kai for the throne. With no bystander, Azula fires her lightning at Zuko when provoked. He redirects it, and incapacitates Azula. When his back is turned, she goes to attack him, but breaks down again.

In the Northern Water Tribe, Zhao kills Tui and Yue sacrifices herself. Yue possesses Sokka and La possesses Katara, creating monstrous forms ala season 1 Aang & La and wrecking the Fire Nation navy.

Post-war, Suki organises the White Lotus Talks to figure out those peace treaties, Zuko is crowned Fire Lord, Toph starts teaching metalbending, and Azula gets the help she absolutely deserves.

Closing Thoughts

Katara never learns healing, since her main teacher is Hama and I imagine Hama is more focused on destruction over healing

Suki's gonna have such wild bending compared to everyone else, with a combination of Kyoshi & Toph's unique earthbending, whatever Hama uses, Sun Warrior bending and, well, airbending is extraordinary in its rarity

It was very hard trying to fit the North Pole and Yue in since water is the last element Suki needs to learn, and the way the North Pole visit is structured, it's very much an initial, lower-stakes conflict while still being finale worthy. How to make it still feel dangerous after the fall of Ba Sing Se? Easiest solution seemed to be to bump it all the way back and combine it with the comet, then deal with the consequences of rejigging character positions

With not having enough time for Zuko's full redemption, planning this felt like running three kinda-redemptions parallel, since Azula deserves better and I still needed someone to have information about the Fire Nation's comet plans, hence Ty Lee getting a redemption arc. Plus with everyone spread thinner during the comet, having an extra set of hands was very useful

#atla #atla au #avatar suki au #suki #sun warrior zuko #avatar the last airbender #i'm very new at tagging on tumblr and it probably shows!

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itsclydebitches · 3 years

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re: that ask you posted a couple days ago about the male and female representation in RWBY, part of what makes RWBY's whole 'girl power' thing ring exceptionally hollow to me is the fact that there are like... no women in positions of real power in remnant. like at all. except the big bad.

winter is second in command to james. glynda is second in command to ozpin. all of the headmasters are men (for no discernible reason, imo; why theodore and not dorothea?). the leader of the ace ops was a white man (and then winter seemed to take over clover's position instead of either of the women of color on the team, and she was still second to james). RWBY is an all girl team, but JNPR was led by a boy despite a girl arguably being far more qualified (pyrrha). the happy huntresses are all women, and robyn had no real power to speak of--she didn't even manage to win the election, because jacques rigged it, and then the council ceased to matter. there was one (1) woman on the council, but she was so inconsequential that i can't even remember her name. (i suppose we're lucky it was the guy and not her who james shot lol) jacques controls the SDC instead of willow, even though he's not even a schnee by blood and actually married into the family for power. (and we don't even know how he got it over his wife.)

and then there's the white fang, which ghira led and not kali--and it's ghira who leads menagerie itself, while kali seems to be a housewife. sienna had five minutes of screentime before being brutally killed and her position assumed by adam, a man. cordovin is basically a one off lackey we haven't even thought about before or since. neo was second to roman. you have cinder, sure, who is a second but to salem, a woman, and raven as the leader of the branwen tribe--but what does it really say about your 'girl power' narrative when the only women with genuine systemic power in your world are villains or antagonists with massive bodycounts??

atla has the same sort of problem--a couple great female characters, but all the leadership positions are men (except the kyoshi warriors, an all girls group, and even then the leader of their island is an old man) and the one female mentor figure also turns out to be evil--but it at least has some great writing to help overlook that fact, and it came out in the mid-00's and so has some sort of excuse of being a product of its time. but rwby didn't even start until 2013 and it's still going and still making these kinds of decisions well into 2021.

where is this supposed girl power, exactly? am i really supposed to overlook the very patriarchal worldbuilding just because the title characters are girls?

That's an excellent summary of the situation, anon, and as with so much in RWBY, it comes down to the full context. Any one of these examples isn't necessarily going to mean much on its own. It's when you look at the pattern that you can start making a case for those conclusions: Why is the show marketed on "girl power" set in a world where men hold the vast majority of that power? And, more importantly, why is that setup not the point? We could easily have a story where that lopsided gender dynamic is the problem that the girls are looking to fix, but... that story doesn't exist. Like the problems discussed with Jaune, the supposed point here exists only on the surface. Dig just the tinniest bit — the above — and you hit on a lot of structural problems with this "girl power" world.

To add just a few details to what you've already said:

Salem indeed has power, but she's never allowed to fully use it. Each volume the frustration with this grows as Salem accumulates more abilities and then just sits on them. From literally hiding out for a thousand years to worries that she won't use the Staff in Volumes 9-10, Salem really isn't allowed to be the threat she's presented as on the surface. And yes, this is absolutely due in part to the "She's too OP and the writers don't know how to let her be that powerful while still having the heroes win" issue, but again, context. That problem doesn't exclude others occurring simultaneously.

Same double explanation with Summer. Yes, dead moms are an incredibly common trauma to dump on a protagonist, but it still left Yang and Ruby with Tai as their primary influence. And Qrow. The uncle becomes the extended family influence while Raven is the absent one/eventual antagonist. It's personal power as opposed to political power, but Tai, Qrow, Ozpin, formerly James... most of the mentors are men. Maria, a key exception, has been ignored in that regard. The story announced that she was Qrow's inspiration, setup her being Ruby's new mentor, and then... nothing. Nothing has come of that. She disappeared for a volume and then went off to Amity and was literally forgotten by the story when evacuating everyone was the finale's whole point.

Like that Endgame moment I mentioned, the Happy Huntresses feel a little too forced to me. Yes, it's the same basic idea as in ATLA, but ATLA, as you say, has a lot more going for it. The Happy Huntresses feel... on the nose? Idk exactly how to explain it. Like, "Here they are! Another team of all women! Isn't this how progressive storytelling works? Just ignore how this is a one-off team of minor characters compared to the world building issues discussed above." And if you're not paying attention, you miss just how insignificant they are, with a side of Robyn being, well, Robyn. The Kyoshi Warriors, at least, are based off of Kyoshi. A woman avatar who is a significant part of their history. That is, presumably, why they're an all women warrior group (but who notably still teach Sokka). The Happy Huntresses are all huntresses because...? There's no reason except that meta "We want to look progressive" explanation. Just like having all the women superheroes team up for a hot second so people get excited and ignore the representation problems across, what? 21 films? Don't get me wrong, I love that May is among the Happy Huntresses. I think including her in the explicitly all-women group was one of the better things RWBY has done in a long time, but the rest is still a mess.

RWBY is arguably about these smaller groups as opposed to systematic power (despite the writers trying to work that in with things like the White Fang and the election. Not to mention the implication that everything in Atlas is fine now that evil Ironwood has died and taken the symbol of wealth (the city) with him. We saw a human holding hands with a faunus after all. Racism and corruption solved, I guess.) So yes, our group is dominated by women... but Whitley is the one saving Nora, helping to defeat the Hound (plus Willow), thinking of the airships, and providing the blueprints they need to escape. Salem is our Big Bad, except Ironwood is the one the volume focuses on. Ruby is our leader, but Jaune is the one leading the group into the whale and getting praised for how heroic he is. Ren does more to shake things up, even if he's painted as the one in the wrong. Oscar gets to confront Salem and destroys the whale threat. Ozpin provides the information they need to evacuate. Meanwhile, when the girls do things in Volume 8 it's almost always followed by a long-stint of passiveness. Nora opens the door so she can be unconscious for most of the volume. Penny keeps Amity up so she can also be unconscious for a good chunk of time. Ruby sends her message and then sits in a mansion. Blake fights so she can tearfully beg Ruby to save her. Weiss, as said, takes a backseat to Whitley (and Klein). They forward the plot, absolutely, but comparatively it doesn't feel like enough.

It's that pattern then, no one specific example. More and more the personal power, not just the systematic power already built into Remnant, seems to be coming from the men. Not all the time, but enough that scenes like the tea drinking moment feel like a part of a much larger problem. Pietro taking control, Watts hacking, and Ambrosius literally remaking her when Penny is supposed to already be in control of herself and her fate. Winter being presented as the active mentor to Weiss, only to turn around and claim that Ironwood was actually responsible for everything. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and May straight up commenting on how awful things are out there while Yang, Jaune, Ren, and Oscar lead the charge against Salem — with the latter three doing the most to forward that mission (no fear, semblance, cane). As others have only half-joked, Yang's supposedly badass moment was bringing up a mother she's ignored for six volumes and briefly blowing up the immortal woman for a couple of seconds (with Ironwood's bombs). Even Marrow is arguably the most significant Ace Op after Clover. Vine isn't actually a character, Elm slightly less so, Harriet is there to go crazy and try to drop a bomb (notably before admitting to never-before-existed feelings for Clover), but Marrow? He's the one who breaks out. Who is meant to heroically stand up against Ironwood. Who comments on how awful it is that teenagers are fighting and, regardless of how messed up the moral messages are, is supposedly pushing for active change while all the women in his group, including Winter, insist on maintaining the status quo. Look at all these choices as a whole, it makes throwaway worldbuilding choices like "All the Maidens are women" feel pretty hollow. Why does it matter if Amber is a Maiden if she dies in a flashback so Ozpin can struggle to pass on the power? If Pyrrha dies before becoming one so Jaune can angst about it? If Raven is one and then disappears from the story entirely? If Winter has enough power to break Ironwood's aura, but supposedly had no power throughout every other choice she made getting here? If Penny is one, but is continually controlled by men and then asks another man to help her die? It's just really unconvincing, once you look past the surface excitement of a woman looking cool with magic powers.

When you do consider the whole of the story — both in terms of our world building and who is forwarding the plot in the latter volumes, getting the emotional focus, being proactive, etc. — there are a lot of problems that undermine the presumed message RT wants to write. They say, "girl power" by marketing RWBY with these four women, but too many of the storytelling decisions thoroughly undermine that, revealing what's likely a deeply ingrained, subconscious bias.

#rwde #rwby #mymetas

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mxrcayong · 4 years

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the avatar series: 01.07

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chapter seven

How many missed calls can someone get before they’re presumed dead? Surely more than five. But on the same day of her leaving and not returning home, the fifth call was the moment Doyoung and Johnny declared Tari either kidnapped or dead.

They spent the whole night pacing - contacting Kilari and Sonan to people who normally just walk past their street. It’d be surprising if someone didn’t know she was missing. Sonan, having come over to make them some food to ensure they’re taking care of themselves, swore that if they paced the room one more time - the floor will fall from underneath them due to being overused.

The one time Doyoung wants Johnny’s jokes to be true seemed to fail him as he prayed that Tari can read his mind. She’d be flooded with messages and pleads for her to come home, Doyoung only thinking that he needs her around.

Johnny was usually a happy-go-lucky guy, temperamental for humor’s sake by only acting mad. But this time he was infuriated - not with Tari, but himself. Did Tari know I was investigating her? Is that why she disappeared? He thought, disappointed in himself. However, he knows Tari isn’t blameless. Mixed with his guilty concious, he was scrutinizing Tari; this is not the time to go silent on us.

Seven days later and Tari has yet to return home. She has yet to come in, rambling about her day. The apartment felt haunted by the ghost of her presence; the dishes left unwashed, the conversations with less banter but the silence for Tari to speak. It was weird - they missed even the things they hated; Johnny missed her teasing and Doyoung missed her terrible karaoke as she sings in the shower.

The journalist has reached out to anyone and everyone - especially his correspondents and colleagues with connections to the local police force. His logic is that if she isn’t in jail or reported as dead, she’d be here in no time. But no time has become seven days and Doyoung is only becoming more skeptical of Johnny’s belief.

Hearing the door open, Johnny and Doyoung look up with hope it was her- a hope thats fleeting day by day. It was Sonan; who started staying with them when she noticed they forgot to eat the second day of waiting for Tarri. Its’ the best I can do right now, Sonan had told her self as she fought through her sense of helplessness. “Any news?” She inquired, her arms overflowing with groceries to stock up their supplies.

Sonan and Johnny have designated themselves as the errand people. Not only is Doyoung still suffering from PTSD nightmares, but he’s now also paranoid about the fate of his best friend. If anything startles him, he may accidentally bend air as a self-defense reflex. They can’t risk him bending out of the bounds of the recently assigned ‘designated bending zones’.

The world around them has normalised the anti-benders now. They started going by the name of Equalists, the government coining the term in a press conference the other day. But largely, the topic is now just a fact of life. It’s not to the extremes where if a bender bends, they get arrested or benders are outlawed. It’s more if a bender bends in a non-designated zone, they can be detained or surveilled for multiple days to months.

Her question was responded with two sad and small movements of the head, shaking left to right as they tell her the answer she didn’t want to hear. “Can she just answer the freaking phone right now?” Johnny exclaimed, letting a fraction of his frustration seep through a bit.

They’ve all been good at containing their emotions - keeping solemn faces, trying to be hopeful, and refusing to show any sign of weakness. For Johnny, he’s doing it to protect Doyoung from a lack of hope while Doyoung is doing it to convince his friends he’s not fragile. Sonan’s doing it because if she lets her guard down, who’ll take care of those two?

Did she get kidnapped? Sonan thought to herself. Tari was always good at responding, or at least giving a heads up. She’s reliable - Sonan knows that. “You don’t think that-?”

“No.” Johnny interjected, “She’s fine. She’ll be fine.” He insisted. It’s how he’s trying to get through this right now. If he can convince everyone else, maybe then he can convince himself.

“Why can’t we just report a missing persons again?” Sonan was tired. It’s not like they can go out looking for her - Sooman is humongous. It’s one of the biggest cities, hence why it’s the capital, of the United Republic. She felt hopeless and lost, and didn’t know what would be beneficial.

“Because,” Johnny answered with an attitude, his voice cutting like a knife all whilst treating her like a child who still cannot read. “If they find her and find out she’s a bender, they may arrest her or monitor her.” The frustrated journalist fell back onto the couch, his elbows resting on his knees as he hunched into his palms. “We just don’t want to risk anything.” His voice suddenly became small and fragile, Sonan feeling guilty for having brought it up.

The eldest of them took a step back; she knew Johnny and Doyoung would be especially frustrated. They lived with her. Everything around them is something they’re familiar seeing Tari with; from her favorite mug to the handle of the sink. She, instead of retaliating, took a deep breath. “I’ll message my trainees to see if they’ve seen anything again.”

Sooman is huge, but all of Tari’s friends together cover all the major neighbourhoods.

“I’ll call Kilari.” Doyoung commented. Kilari has been practically forced to stay home by her parents - she’s a known bender, her whole family is. It’s the disadvantages of being a fire sage. They’re not expecting her to have seen her - although they do expect Kilari to be sneaking out on the daily, but if Tari doesn’t text the people in the room, she’d be the one she’d talk to.

“I’ll check with my colleagues again.” Johnny sighed. Everyone was glued to their phones, patiently waiting and waiting for any news for Tari. To aid this, the TV was the only consistent noise in the house. The news reports played in the background like white noise, the group only listening in if they mention bending or hear a name thats at all similar to Tari.

Sonan has never had a group of friends like she had now. She grew up with friends who constantly left or moved away, only with her because they could meet members of Team Avatar. When her parents passed away, she lost everyone who said they would always be there. She made it her duty to take care of everyone – hence why she offers free self-defense lessons once a month using the Kyoshi Warrior techniques her mother passed down. It took her a while; but when she met Kilari and Tari, she felt supported again. They didn’t care she was related to Suki or Sokka, Katara or Aang – they cared that she was Sonan. Her heart felt full for the first time in ages.

The airbender always says he can never forget how he met Tari. Doyoung had crashed into her at the café on his way back home after a particularly long day. He offered to dry her off. Instead of reacting weirdly or badly to the wind hitting her shirt, she enjoyed it - playing out dramatic scenes, reducing any awkwardness between them and showing comfort with air bending. Doyoung knew Tari was someone special right then and there. He didn’t doubt wanting to become her roommate within five months of knowing each other (partially also because his own roommate was moving and he didn’t want to live by himself).

He then brought her to Johnny’s studio one day when they were deciding to hang out. Johnny had practically forced Doyoung to come visit, saying he needed help with an article. When Tari entered, Johnny found butterflies in his stomach at the sight of Tari being shy. Once Johnny got her to open up, she said some amazing and eloquent things - full of trivia and wisdom, all while open to many different perspectives. He was enamored by her and knew no photograph could ever capture her accurately, no matter how amazing the photographer is. “I like you” Johnny had said, “Can you read over all my articles?” He teased, before accidentally knocking over his bottle of water - which Tari bended before it could hit the floor and spill everywhere.

That was just slightly over two years ago. They all wanted to spend more time with her. There was so much to do; from following their normal board game traditions, celebrating Christmas together, going sailing around Aang’s statue. If that was the last time they saw her, Johnny chastised her for coming home late and Doyoung wasn’t even awake.

It seemed as if their hearing was extra sensitive, exclusive of Doyoung who has been airbending sound to try and listen in to the smallest sounds on the street. Every step radiating from the staircase in their apartment echoing one another, a false promise of Tari coming home. But her footstep was more dainty and clumsy as she fumbled with the keys - it’s what they learnt from living with her for almost a year and a half.

Sometimes, they swore they saw Tari turn the corner holding up a bag of leftover bakery items from the café or with a stupid hat on to make them laugh. Like ghosts repeating the same action over and over again, they followed their routine; constantly checking any application or message, expecting a response in milliseconds. But it doesn’t help that it’s been seven days.

And it’s been way too many missed calls.

And too many texts left unread.

Hope was a power - a power that’s fleeting with time.

That’s the funny thing about hope, it differs with times and contexts. Hope can disappear over time or in an instant. But hope can be regained equally as fast or slow.

And with the clinking of keys from the outside, everyone seemed to gather at the door.

A soft “fuck” and profanities left the person struggling with their keys, as if the keys were covered in butter.

Johnny and his fast reflexes waited no longer once he heard the voice and unlocked the door. However, Doyoung was the first to wrap his arms around the same bender whose presence was a blessing.

“Where the fuck were you?” Johnny finally released the emotions he’s been holding back for seven days, wrapping his arms around the two as relief washed over him. Sonan soon joined. It was as if a dam has been broken; all of them tearing up at the miraculous presence of their best friend.

Tari let out a dry chuckle, “I missed you guys too, what’s up?” She said confused, trying to pull herself away but only trapped under the grasp of the three friends.

“You were gone.” Johnny pried himself from the hug, dumbstruck at how clueless Tari was. Was she brainwashed? He thought, remembering the tales of Ba Sing Se where they would hypnotize people to think everything was alright in an attempt to cover up the corruption.

“For 7 days.” Doyoung emphasized before clinging on tighter.

“Firstly, I’m finding it hard to breathe.” Doyoung let his grasp on her looser, and Johnny and Sonan let go completely. They stood back and just stared at her - trying to catch their breath. Johnny’s heart was beating miles per minute at the sight of her, while Sonan’s finally calmed down. Being in their embrace felt comforting. She knew that although Ba Mei was her home, being with them felt like her destiny. “Secondly, I don’t know what you mean, it was -” Tari looked around, noticing the mess of the apartment that definitely couldn’t happen over two days.

“What happened to you?” Sonan quickly asked, filling in any potential silence and interrupting her thoughts. “How-why-what-why do you not remember thing?” She fumbled with her words, unsure what to ask or how to ask it. How do you avoid triggering a friend when you don’t know what they experienced?

Shit, everyone could see Tari’s eyes dart around the room. They think it’s panic or trauma, but in reality – she’s trying to think of any excuse that came to mind. What could validate 7 days gone? What could explain…? This assumption of trauma led Sonan to sprint over to the throw blanket on the couch, and throw it over Tari’s shoulders.

In reality, Tari stayed in Bak Mei. She thought it was only two days – something she could excuse with visiting her aunt outside the city. This aunt, of course, was a story – something she’d tell them when she had to go to her monthly training. She thought it was only two days because she stayed in the Spirit World and focused on her spiritual identity. Being in the Spirit World felt like an hour at most, but maybe because she was finally interested in it. She didn’t hate being in there and she gave herself tasks. In hindsight, she realised the dark forests was probably not a result of the heavy cover of trees - but rather night time. So, while she thought she was in the Spirit World for a maximum of a day, she was there for about five.. No wonder I felt so hungry, she thought as she remembered the feast Tari practically breathed in.

“Uhm,” Fuck it, stay with the usual story. “I stayed with my aunt.”

“Why didn’t you text us back?” Johnny was quick to ask, skeptical and annoyed. “You should’ve texted us, we were worried si-”

“Uhm,” She interuppted again searched for excuses but hating confrontation. The cover stories of Aunt ‘Yuel’ coming forward as she tried to peace together a reasonable story. “She went a little bezerk and I was in the hospital. I forgot my phone charger.” Tari gauged their reactions – none of them particularly believing it. But with a desperate look on her face, Sonan realised the group was only pressuring her.

“Okay, well, who cares?” Sonan exclaimed, dragging Tari to the table. “You’re back and thats all that matters.”

“Is your grandmother alright?” Doyoung couldn’t let go of Tari’s arm, even as Sonan led her to the dining table. He was like a koala.

It’s been hours.

Hours and hours of Tari being coddled like a child, not let go of as if they let go – she’ll disappear into ash. Even Johnny’s skepticism has melted away and his hands have practically been tattooed into Tari’s hands and or the small of her back – constantly using his thumb to soothe her, even if he was the one that need to be soothed. It was as if he needed to remind himself she was there and she was alive. Doyoung would refuse to be in a separate room from Tari, not wanting her out of her sight while Sonan kept offering her different treats or drinks.

Despite their affection, she told herself that if she revealed her identity - they’d be kicking her out of the house.

Tari was updated about what happened over the last week; the protests have been dying down, but that’s because the police has been actively arrested any bender who ‘acted out of turn’. The gym area was under lock and key, like a deserted island. Police is more frequent on the streets. Basically, life was being monitored – especially the life of a bender. Benders can still bend, it’s just that when they do in a non-designated area – well...punishment ensues.

But once the updates were over, they went into a comfortable silence only disturbed by the movie on the screen. They don’t care how tired she was; they rather her fall asleep on the couch with them than alone in her room.

Until the screen changed and an announcement rang through the room.

“All benders require to be registered as benders in the city hall, all benders identities will be revealed, and all benders will have to wear a monitor bracelet that tracks their movement and stops their bending.” The mayor alerted, surrounded by the press. That seemed to separate Johnny from Tari as he jumped to his feet, yelling at the news. “I open this up to my colleague, Senator Zhong.”

Senator Zhong stepped onto stage. “I have spoken to the Equalist party leader-” At the mention of the equalist party, Johnny was outraged at the government being influenced by a conservative political group with no relation to the actual government. To Tari’s surprise, Doyoung joined him. She’s never seen Doyoung temperamental or non-understanding. He always played the mediator. But then again he had a rough week…well, month, Tari corrected her thoughts, still not used to the idea she was gone for 7 days.

“It is for the protection of the non-benders, who are disadvantaged. Looking at the history, people were only able to bend when they were entering the Spirit Wilds. But these dangers no longer exist. Needless to say and to shorten this speech,” Senator Zhong started to summarize, “all benders have to register their identity and be given a monitor band that will be completed by next month or else they will be subject to jail time and exile. We also urge the Avatar to unveil their identity. They are required for the next steps..” The way he said urge showed that it wasn’t a request…it was a threat.

request anything for future parts / penny for your thoughts here

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carnistcervine · 4 years

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Twin Avatars + Zuko

Okay, so you know my Twin Avatars AU? I just thought of something. What if I combined it with Avatar Zuko and had Zuko be the Dark Avatar? :'D

-So while Aang ends up frozen in an iceberg, the current Dark Avatar dies fighting against the Fire Nation.

-While Aang is in the ice, Chiaro goes into stasis. With it's twin in hibernation, Scuro also goes into a sleep of sorts.

-Avatars are born and die, never knowing their fate and eventually the cycle swings back to fire and Zuko is born.

-No one knows that Zuko is the Dark Avatar, not even Zuko. Since Scuro is basically hibernating, when Zuko received his burn, he's unable to access the Avatar State.

-So Zuko is banished and sent to find and capture both Avatars, his father knowing full well that neither had been seen for a hundred years.

-Zuko scours every corner of the globe having no idea that he's one of the Avatars he's looking for.

-He doesn't consciously notice the pull of destiny drawing him to the south pole when Aang is about to be released.

-When Aang is released from the ice, Chiaro awakens.

-Instinctively, Zuko knows that the light he saw bursting into the sky was the Avatar. He can't explain why(or rather he doesn't want to accept the reason) but he just knows.

-When Zuko and Aang meet, their spirits resonate and they both just know. Zuko knows that Aang is the Light Avatar, but more importantly, Aang knows Zuko is the Dark Avatar.

-Zuko is confused, he feels like he's meeting up with a best friend that he hasn't seen in ages, but he knows(thinks) that the Light Avatar is his enemy.

-Zuko reacts to this confusion the way he usually does, with rage.

-Of course, Aang happily points out that Zuko is an Avatar too, and it goes poorly...

-Enraged, Zuko denies the accusation wholeheartedly.

-Both Zuko and Aang feel the draw of their inner spirit's platonic affection. Aang is heartbroken by Zuko's rejection. Zuko breaks his own heart by refusing to allow himself to be friends with Aang.

-Aang surrenders to Zuko, hoping that he can maybe talk some sense into him. It doesn't work, Zuko's only interested in fighting Aang.

-Aang hurts because his platonic soulmate hates him and is trying to fight him, Zuko is twisted up on the inside because a deep, ancient part of his spirit loves his fellow Avatar very deeply.

-While Aang is in the Avatar State, Chiaro tries to reach out to Zuko. Zuko resists wholeheartedly, nearly going into the Avatar state himself.

-When Aang escapes on Appa, Zuko finds that he doesn't have the heart to try and strike them down.

-Aang looks back at Zuko who just watches them as they get away.

-Sokka and Katara can hardly believe that Zuko is an Avatar, but being an Avatar himself, Aang can confirm.

-Aang suspects from the scar on Zuko's face that he was tortured into turning against him.

-Suddenly Katara really wants to help the scarred Avatar.

-Sokka doesn't like or trust firebenders, but he can't deny that letting the Fire Nation have their own Avatar would be disastrous.

-Of course Iroh immediately has several questions for Zuko. Because if Zuko is the Avatar... this is very important and it's critical that he is properly trained.

-Obviously Zuko completely denies being the Avatar and tries to make his uncle drop the subject.

-Seeing as Zuko hasn't bent any other elements(yet), Iroh decides to drop the subject.

-With Scuro finally awake, Zuko's avatar abilities begin to show.

-It's not too long before he starts to earthbend. The first instance being on Kyoshi, right in front of everyone.

-Everyone is shocked, but Aang is just like, 'I told you so!'

-Zuko manages to get away, but now the world knows the Dark Avatar has returned.

-The Gaang start making plans on trying to capture Zuko so they can help him.

-Iroh confronts Zuko about being the Avatar.

-Zuko continues to deny the blatant truth, and Iroh loves his nephew but sometimes the poor old man feels like he gonna have a stroke.

-Iroh is afraid that now Zuko's crew know what he is, they'll kill him, but instead they just go along with Zuko.

-Avatar, what Avatar? Zuko's obviously just a cranky firebender.

-Iroh isn't sure if he's relieved that the crew are willing to put themselves on the line to help Zuko, or concerned that they're more-or-less letting him skirt by on his denial.

-Either way, Zuko's crew refuse to turn against him. Though it's less to do with Zuko, and more to do with their undying loyalty to his kindly Uncle.

-They realize that Zuko's the only thing keeping Iroh in this world, and don't want to hurt the old man.

-Even if they think Iroh deserves better than his bratty Avatar nephew.

-The crew end up helping Iroh go behind Zuko's back to find an earthbending teacher.

-The past Dark Avatars start to reach out to Zuko, the most recent ones visiting him in his dreams.

-While Aang is sad and heartbroken over Zuko's rejection, he has Sokka and Katara to help him. Meanwhile, Zuko is rejecting those around him and feels horribly sad and heartbroken deep inside.

-Going back a bit, because Zuko never has to get his ship repaired, Zhao never gets the opportunity to taunt him and find out about the Avatar's return.

-However, he does find out when Aang goes into the avatar state at the Southern Air Temple.

-Zuko tries to follow Aang, but he's a bit late and is incapacitated by strange headache when Aang goes into the avatar state.

-With the knowledge that the Light Avatar is alive and active, Ozai has all resources towards capturing him officially handed over to Zhao.

-Zhao of course throws this up in Zuko's face.

-Once it becomes revealed to the world that the Dark Avatar has returned, Zhao is officially relegated to his capture as well.

-Though, it's a well kept secret by the Gaang and Kyoshi warriors who exactly the Dark Avatar is.

-Iroh continues to slyly try to get Zuko to learn earthbending. He goes through his connections in the White Lotus to try and locate an earthbending teacher, but in the meantime, he has Zuko study earthbending scrolls.

-Obviously Zuko is pissed because he's in denial about being a damn Avatar, but Iroh manages to convince him to study and practice the forms by telling him that diversifying his techniques will strengthen and improve his firebending.

-Technically not a lie, but we all know what Iroh's really tryna do.

-The stress, past avatars trying to nag him, and heartache of being separated from Chiaro all have a severe negative impact on Zuko's mental state.

-He ends up restless, and sometimes slightly delirious.

-Iroh worries deeply for him, and tries to figure out ways to get him and the Light Avatar back together.

-When Zhao ends up capturing Aang, the past Avatars help Zuko break into the stronghold and break Aang out.

-The Light and Dark Avatars being kindred spirits, Aang recognizes Zuko even in his disguise. But Aang doesn't say anything. He plays dumb, because he'd do anything to have his platonic soulmate back by his side.

-When Zuko is knocked out, Chiaro takes out and sends out a blast of light in a fit of rage.

-With the soldiers and Zhao temporarily blinded by the dazzling light show, a Chiaro-possessed Aang flees into the night with Zuko.

-Aang doesn't even bother with the 'could we be friends' speech, he just fucking kidnaps Zuko while he's still unconscious.

-Zuko wakes up before Aang can bring his friends to coherency, and promptly bolts.

-Once Zuko gets back to his ship, he just tells his uncle that he's tired and he goes to bed.

-Zuko keeps trying to chase the Gaang down and capture Aang, and the Gaang keep setting up traps to kidnap Zuko.

-Zuko finds himself feeling increasingly torn about what he wants to do.

-Despite himself, he starts to enjoy the groups antics.

-He tries to tell himself that he hates them. It doesn't work. He tries, but it doesn't work.

-Getting his ship blown up makes him go into the avatar state.

-In the North Pole, Katara actually hides while Aang crosses over into the spirit world.

-The Gaang's plan is to use Aang as bait and to incapacitate Zuko. By either freezing or hitting him.

-Zuko is suspicious of when he sees Aang unguarded and all alone, but as soon as he touches him, Chiaro drags him into the spirit world and effectively incapacitates Zuko.

-While Zuko is trapped, the spirits circle around Zuko and nag the hell out of him. Talking about duty and his destiny and role in this world.

-Zuko isn't hearing a single fucking word of this and yells in angry.

-As soon as Aang comes to his senses, Zuko is dragged right back to his body as well.

-Only problem is that Zhao now knows that Zuko is the Dark Avatar and has the whole group surrounded and both Zuko and Aang captured.

-Zhao reveals his grand plan to kill the moon, and everyone is horrified.

-Iroh stands to defend the moon spirit and breaks out of his restraints and helps his uncle.

-The Gaang break out and defeat Zhao's forces, Zhao seeing that he's loosing, takes Yue hostage.

-Zuko takes exception to this and takes Zhao down, protecting Yue in the process.

-Thoroughly defeated, Zhao tries to take a parting shot at the oasis pool, but a dark shadow reaches out and drags him in before he can harm the spirits.

-Zuko tries to save Zhao, but Zhao is too prideful to accept Zuko's help.

-Now leaderless and unable to beat the waterbenders, the Fire Nation retreats.

-Zuko and Iroh sneak off before the waterbender guards can come to the scene to capture the defeated firebenders.

-Zuko and Iroh have already boarded their raft and set themselves adrift when an unknown passenger jumps on.

-It's Yue.

-Yue says that the moon spirit told her to join them.

-Zuko already hates it.

-The north is freaking out because their princess is missing and Aang vows to find her and bring her home safely.

-They trust his word because he is the Avatar who helped save their home, but they can't help but wonder where the mysterious Dark Avatar went.

-Yue ditches her royal robes and changes up her hair to help hide her identity.

-She also ends up going by Mochi.

-Iroh, Zuko, and Yue traversing the Earth Kingdom.

-Yue learns more about the world outside of the north, and Zuko starts to chill out a little more and gets closer to accepting himself as being the Dark Avatar.

-He even finally relents to learning proper earthbending, and disguises himself as an earthbender.

-He finds that he gets quite good at it.

-His uncle playfully jokes that it's cause he's a bit of a rock head.

-However Zuko does still end up going off on his own for a bit.

-When he goes to the village and confronts the asshole soldier, Scuro possess him and puts on a terrifying show.

-The horrified town chases him out with pitchforks and torches, calling him a half-spirit abomination.

-The world still doesn't know that Zuko is the Dark Avatar, but Azula figures it out fairly quickly.

-When Iroh is shot by Azula, Yue heals him and helps Zuko look after him.

-The Gaang are still trying to capture Zuko tho.

-It's only after Zuko scares them off by nearly going into the avatar state, that as the Gaang are flying off, they realize that was Yue with Zuko.

-When they get to Ba Sing Se, Yue works at the tea shop too, and she's excellent at customer service.

-When Azula kills Aang in the avatar state, Zuko is too shocked to move. Part of him is deeply saddened, watching his platonic soulmate die, another part is enraged at Azula, and the rest of him just doesn't know what to do.

-It takes everything in him to hold Scuro back and he collapses on the spot.

-Azula takes Zuko back to the Fire Nation and tells Ozai that even though Zuko is the Dark Avatar, he slayed the Light Avatar in the name of the Fire Nation.

-In his time back at the Fire Nation, Zuko feels a deep pain and dread welling up within him.

-He can also feel Scuro writhing within his skin everytime he sees Azula.

-Scuro wants to kill Azula. Badly.

-Zuko knows, he can feel it in his Avatar Spirit that Aang is alive.

-Zuko doesn't have the heart to hire an assassin to kill Aang.

-The world thinks that the Dark Avatar has turned traitor. Perhaps corrupted by his own inner darkness?

-The Fire Nation attempts to groom and train their Avatar for war and destruction, but with his own inner conflict reaching a fever pitch, Zuko's strength wanes and he falls ill.

-He's tormented nightly by horrible nightmares. It gets so bad that he starts to drink drugged tea to get peaceful rest.

-Then, the war meeting happens and Azula gives the suggestion to raze the Earth Kingdom.

-Zuko doesn't sleep that night.

-The next day he confronts his father during the eclipse and tells him point blank that he's taking his rightful side by the Light Avatar and together their gonna come back and take him down.

-When Zuko goes to join the Gaang, the others are all "grrr" but Aang just immediately tackle-hugs him and starts crying because poor Aang has been waiting for his platonic soulmate to come around for SO LONG.

-Zuko can hardly believe it but, he's crying too.

-Also, while Zuko was in the Fire Nation, Yue joined the Gaang!

-Zuko teaches Aang firebending, and Aang teaches Zuko airbending.

-On the day of destiny, Yue and Katara take down Azula, and Zuko and Aang take down Ozai.

-Aang is a pacifist, and Zuko can't actually bring himself to kill his own father, so Aang ends up energybending that bitch.

And that’s all I got. I just wanted to write this out and get it down, because I actually really kinda like this idea.

#ATLA #avatar #ATLA AU #Twin Avatars AU #You already know it's gonna be an angsty ride #but with a happy ending

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seyaryminamoto · 4 years

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Hiiiiii - read your Iroh and Ursa metas, loved them. Might I ask if you've any equally Hot Takes on the fandom's favorite punching bags - The Great Divide and Avatar Day?

Uuuuh well.

If the hot take is expected to be “they’re GREAT episodes!”, I… I’m afraid I’ll disappoint :’D I dislike them both, but who knows? Maybe my reasons for disliking them are different than other people’s?

My problem with The Great Divide is a little personal: that was the first episode I ever watched of ATLA, and if only I’d caught another one, anything slightly more plot-relevant than that, I might have become a fan of the show much sooner. I watched it, found certain things entertaining, others not so much, and concluded ATLA was a “monster of the week” show masquerading as a show with a plot. Which… made it less interesting to me, by mere logic. I was also very much a teenager back then, and while I still had decent instincts as far as storytelling was concerned, they weren’t as polished as they are now. So I didn’t really see much of ATLA worth my while in The Great Divide, and so, from a personal point of view, it’s not at all amongst my favorite episodes.

Upon rewatching the show in full, I was more forgiving of the Great Divide, not only because I understood the show’s dynamics better, but because ATLA actually has other episodes that, while featuring occasional relevant information and characters, could also feature not-so-relevant developments later on. So it’s not just Avatar Day and the Great Divide: the Fortuneteller, while a pretty liked episode, is honestly about as lacking in plot-heavy developments as those two are. Yet most people like that one :’) why’s that? Shippy reasons? Weeeell…

The truth is, if you ask me, that the Great Divide and Avatar Day and the Fortuneteller are episodes that allow the plot to slow down. This wasn’t so good in the early stages of Book 1, where slowing the plot too much actually made you forget there was a plot altogether… but when you watch the show as a whole, those moments of less tension, featuring Aang resolving problems and saving lives of completely ordinary people, were actually pretty good for what they were. That, in particular, is something I missed in Book 3: Team Avatar minus Zuko certainly do their best to help common people here and there through the first half of Book 3, but Zuko never does (and then when Zuko joins them, they never really do that again). What would I give for an episode where Zuko actually had to reason with the harm the war has caused not only to the Earth Kingdom, but to his own people… frankly, that oversight from the writing department is still absolutely absurd to me.

So, my problem with the Great Divide and Avatar Day isn’t that they weren’t plot relevant. My initial problem with the Great Divide, like I said earlier, was personal. But there’s also the feeling that not enough growth for the main characters takes place in these episodes: Aang resolved the Great Divide’s problem in the goofiest way he could. It was funny, creative and helpful, and kind of unexpected for your kind-hearted hero to lie to deal with a problem… though it also makes the situation more complex because of that, since he’s doing something ethically incorrect to establish peace between warring tribes. He did an objectively bad thing… for good purposes. So… it’s complicated, but it’s cool. It’s not half-bad as a concept that the show could explore.

Nonetheless, you can’t feel a HUGE, PALPABLE CHANGE in the relationship between Sokka and Katara after this episode. You really don’t. They spend the bulk of the episode at odds with each other, and they set aside their problems later… but everything they do, post-Great Divide, really doesn’t look like they learned a lot from their clashing, such as how to see things from each other’s POV or being more fair with each other… I, at least, don’t feel much of a change. No idea if other people see it differently, but they continue to clash pretty wildly later on, particularly in Book 3. So, did they learn something at all? If not… then the episode does end up feeling rather pointless because it doesn’t feel like the characters really are impacted by what happened in it, right?

And that, beyond anything else, is what makes these sorts of episodes feel like filler content: The Ember Island Players WAS filler content, absolutely, but you have scenes such as Zuko talking to Toph about Iroh, or Aang and Katara’s catastrophic rejected kiss, and it feels like SOMETHING happened in the episode even if in general it didn’t do anything plot-heavy. But aside from these small scenes that offer characters a chance to make at least a little progress (whether forward or backwards…), you even get a chance to see how the Fire Nation views the war, how they see themselves, how they see their Fire Lord. Even there, the show is giving you information that helps in the worldbuilding of the show. This is absent in The Great Divide, where the two warring tribes are never seen or heard of again, and they’re not exactly relevant because of that. Do they add some diversity to what we ought to perceive of the Earth Kingdom? Yes. Is it useful for anyone other than the rare fic writer who decides to use these characters for something? (never really seen it but I bet it has happened) Honestly, no.

Now, Avatar Day is annoying to me for another personal reason, even if it connects with some of what I said above: I HATE the way Sokka is characterized in this episode. I have more than enough qualms with how he’s characterized for many episodes in Book 2, but this one takes the cake.

Sokka is usually sharper than everyone else, helpful, resourceful, even when no one is really acknowledging it. Often he’s the voice of reason, the one who figures out what’s going on (such as in the Cave of Two Lovers, where he realizes the tunnels are changing, just to name one thing), but Avatar Day decided to feature him obsessing with acting as an investigator, and he kept stopping Katara from making the big reveals because HE had to do it, and she just rolled her eyes at him all along (from the get-go too, since she goads him into investigating by spurring his ego and yet she still is shown visibly annoyed when he starts raving about how he figured out the seal jerky thing back in the Water Tribe). All of this is to make Sokka a punchline of the “Katara is the smart one” joke that doesn’t even work when you take the rest of the show into account :’) so… this particular thing will ALWAYS rub me the wrong way with Avatar Day.

From this episode, I do like that Aang has to deal with people who hate him because he’s the Avatar. I always complained about how LOK basically had everyone swooning and adoring Korra even if they hated her, everyone constantly in awe of her prowess and talent, and those who DIDN’T like her were constantly shown as unreasonable jerks, such as the kid who throws that snowball at her, and we’re supposed to feel bad when she calls Korra the worst Avatar ever :’) we are REALLY expected to feel bad and to dislike the kid… when we literally watched Aang dealing with a mob that sentenced him to boil in oil for his past life’s crimes, and who burned effigies in his image. Right. A spiteful little kid is so very harmful, so heartbreaking, so jarring. Wow.

What I like about Avatars dealing with people disliking them, be it for solid reasons or for stupid ones, is that it feels REAL. Because it makes sense that people wouldn’t have an unanymous opinion of the Avatar as the savior of all the world, it makes sense that there’d be people who are jerks because they don’t like him on principle (or lack thereof). It’s normal, natural, completely common in human beings to just see something popular and go “MEEEEH I’VE SEEN BETTER”. And that’s what Avatar Day gave me, as far as worldbuilding is concerned.

As for more worldbuilding, Avatar Day certainly offered more insight on Kyoshi, but while most people found that fascinating and the insight in question absolutely wonderful because oh woooow she bends LAVA, I found it damning instead. If you need to know why… feel free to read this post (seeing as you like my controversial opinions you might even enjoy the whole thing x’D). While there’s some new novels now about Kyoshi that shed more light on who she was and how she did the things she did, I have certain gripes with some of the ideas I’ve heard those novels bring up. All in all, though, they shouldn’t change what canon brings forward with Kyoshi’s behavior with Chin: just in case you didn’t read that ask, I’ll say that my problem isn’t that she killed Chin, if anything, my problem is that she only killed him when he only had two places left to conquer.

She wouldn’t sit passively while he took her home. Because, uh, that’s the only place the almighty Avatar had to defend, I suppose.

Basically, Chin pulled a Kuvira with no opposition because the Avatar apparently didn’t care to involve herself in this particular problem until he was knocking on her door. Seriously? Best Avatar ever? Oookay then…

So, my favorite Gaang member, turned into a bad joke and unable to tell he’s been turned into a joke + the birth of a fandom-wide circlejerk around a character because she bent lava, nevermind the implications of her disregard for a tyrant’s conquest until it reached her doorstep + the worst point of Zuko’s theft spree = I don’t like this episode :’)

Avatar Day’s only redeeming quality for me, like I said, is Chin Village’s Avatar-hating ways, but ONLY as a concept. Even so, I wish they’d tackled that particular matter far more seriously than they did, because sure, Chin Village’s villagers were damn stupid, but hating the Avatar because she killed someone they idolized wasn’t exactly a far-fetched motivation. Where you’d think this could even serve as a sort of parallel between Zuko and Aang, where they both find themselves as the new heirs of their respective, long legacies, legacies full of people who did good and bad things, and the ones being held accountable for those bad things are THEM, however unfair it might be…? The show just turned the whole damn thing into a joke. And that’s just a real waste of screentime. I’m not against ATLA’s comedic episodes at all, not as a concept, and I really like the show’s humor in general… but this episode absolutely could have used less of it, especially when offering an opportunity for Aang to actually find out that his past lives aren’t at all as idealistic and righteous as he might have thought they were, or, at the very least, he could have reflected on the fact that they didn’t necessarily share his principles and beliefs. But nope. Missed opportunity, right there.

In short… I suppose people dislike Avatar Day because of similar reasons why I do, I can’t say for sure. I assume people dislike the Great Divide for its filler-nature and general irrelevance to the show, and that’s pretty reasonable? But in my opinion, the problem with so-called filler content is that it ought to be used to expand on characters, to further develop them, they should be a chance to slow down and offer introspection during a brief chance that opens up when heavy plots give the viewers, and the characters, a chance to pause and breathe for a while. Both Avatar Day and the Great Divide fail at this particular wishful standard I impose on fillers, though. And that, along with my personal reasons, is why they’d be part of my personal “least liked episodes of ATLA” list, if I were to make one. It isn’t to say there aren’t a few redeeming qualities in both episodes, I hope I made that clear… but that’s not enough to offset the negatives in this case.

Also, I brought up the Fortuneteller too as an example for a filler episode that actually doesn’t achieve much, same as these two don’t. I actually enjoy this episode quite a bit? The animation is really good and smooth here. But that’s neither here nor there :’)

The Fortuneteller certainly emphasized Aang’s crush on Katara, it also expanded on Katara’s character by showing how she’s so quick to believe fortunetelling, as opposed to Sokka, who absolutely doesn’t believe any of it. This generated a ridiculous but fun dynamic between the three characters through the episode, and it added Meng to the mix as well by featuring her as the girl Sokka misunderstands Aang is pining over. There’s a lot of silly comedy, but it’s in a much nicer way (in my opinion) than the one presented by Avatar Day, especially as it emphasizes elements of the character’s personalities: Sokka’s unwillingness to believe in spiritual nonsense, DESPITE he has already been caught up in Spirit World shenanigans, Aang’s hopeless pining over Katara and Aunt Wu’s encouragement for him to find his own destiny instead of being trapped by whatever she told him, and Katara’s obsession with asking Aunt Wu about EVERYTHING in her life up until the point where she finds herself considering that the super powerful bender she’ll marry could be Aang.

In general, this episode does handle its filler qualities as best as possible. But, and this is a problem I’ve seen brought up by other people before, it’s also an episode that features Katara pondering maybe Aang could be her one true love… only for the next episode to absolutely forsake that plotline and go for a wholly different subject. Which is, of course, fine… the problem is, we could’ve had Katara treating Aang slightly differently if she found herself thinking of him in a new light. That she didn’t treat him visibly differently, if anything, makes it look like right after her “He really is a powerful bender…” reveal, she just went “NAAAAAH, no way it would be him” and just decided to push aside all romantic possibilities with Aang until the Cave of Two Lovers. Which, considering Kataang is the endgame couple, is honestly another fumble by the writing department, as following up on this development would have easily silenced all those detractors of the ship who have interpreted the whole show under the tried and tired guise of “but she’s just mothering hiiiiiim!”.

One great thing about romance is watching it grow steadily, gradually… and when you have such big moments you ought to follow up on them, to a fault. It didn’t even have to be acknowledged in any massive ways, but it could have been acknowledged by featuring Katara wearing the necklace Aang weaved for her during later episodes, or something like that. But… there’s nothing palpable. Nothing serious. And this isn’t to say Kataang is lesser for it, but it would have been greater if the next episode had addressed the pending elephant in the room instead of going around it and pretending it didn’t exist at all.

So, while the filler in ATLA in general is better than the frequent fillers from anime, for instance, or than fillers in certain liveaction TV shows… it’s not quite perfect, let alone is it always top-tier writing that, while slowing down the plot, allows proper character introspection and growth. I really do like the Fortuneteller, as usual Aang’s work to help of those who need him is probably my favorite thing about his character and it shows in spades in this episode. The comedy is really great here, and I love the way Sokka is portrayed here… as opposed to how he’s portrayed in the Great Divide and Avatar Day, where not only does it feel like he didn’t grow at all, it also feels like he’s reduced to slapstick comedy with zero respect for his character. So… yeah. I don’t really like those two episodes, not out of any genuine disliking of fillers for what they can be, but because, as far as chances to slow down plot and developments go, both Avatar Day and The Great Divide really didn’t do it the way I would’ve wanted them to.

#anon #... so tumblr didn't just change #it changed without dealing with problems #such as when you put a read more in an ask #and then post it #AND IT EATS UP THE READ MORE #so you end up plastering an insanely long post on everyone's dashboards #I am very sorry #*bows*#anyways #sorry if i disappoint #but I hope the answer is comprehensive enough

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rickthaniel · 7 years

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Avatar Aang, Feminist Icon?

“Who’s your favorite character?” I hear that question come up a lot over Avatar: The Last Airbender, a show particularly near and dear to me. Iroh and Toph get tossed around a lot. Zuko is very popular. Sokka has his fans. But something I’ve noticed? Aang very rarely gets the pick. When he comes up, it’s usually in that “Oh, and also…” kind of way. Which is strange, I think, considering he’s the main character, the titular airbender, of the entire show.

I never really thought much about it until a couple weeks ago when I finished my annual re-watch of the series and found myself, for the first time, specifically focused on Aang’s arc. Somehow, I never really paid that much attention to him before. I mean sure, he’s front and center in most episodes, fighting or practicing or learning big spiritual secrets, and yet, he always feels a little overshadowed. Katara takes care of the group. Sokka makes the plans. Zuko has the big, heroic Joseph Campbell journey. Aang…goofs around. He listens and follows and plays with Momo. And yes, at the end his story gets bigger and louder, but even then I feel like a lot of it dodges the spotlight. And here’s why:

Avatar casts the least traditionally-masculine hero you could possibly write as the star of a fantasy war story. Because of that, we don’t see Aang naturally for everything he is, so we look elsewhere.

To show what I mean, I want to talk about some of the show’s other characters, and I want to start with Zuko. Zuko is the hero we’re looking for. He’s tall and hot and complicated. He perseveres in the face of constant setbacks. He uses two swords and shoots fire out of his hands. He trains with a wise old man on ship decks and mountaintops. Occasionally he yells at the sky. He’s got the whole 180-degree moral turn beat for beat, right down to the scars and the sins-of-the-father confrontation scene. And if you were going into battle, some epic affair with battalions of armor-clad infantry, Zuko is the man you’d want leading the charge, Aragorn style. We love Zuko. Because Zuko does what he’s supposed to do.

Now let’s look at Katara. Katara doesn’t do what she’s supposed to do. She doesn’t care about your traditionally gender dynamics because she’s too busy fighting pirates and firebenders, planning military operations with the highest ranking generals in the Earth Kingdom, and dismantling the entire patriarchal structure of the Northern Water Tribe. Somewhere in her spare time she also manages to become one of the greatest waterbenders in the world, train the Avatar, defeat the princess of the Fire Nation in the middle of Sozin’s Comet and take care of the entire rest of the cast for an entire year living in tents and caves. Katara is a badass, and we love that.

So what about Aang? When we meet Aang, he is twelve years old. He is small and his voice hasn’t changed yet. His hobbies include dancing, baking and braiding necklaces with pink flowers. He loves animals. He doesn’t eat meat. He despises violence and spends nine tenths of every fight ducking and dodging. His only “weapon” is a blunt staff, used more for recreation than combat. Through the show, Aang receives most of his training from two young women – Katara and Toph – whom he gives absolute respect, even to the point of reverence. When he questions their instruction, it comes from a place of discomfort or anxiety, never superiority. He defers to women, young women, in matters of strategy and combat. Then he makes a joke at his own expense and goes off to feed his pet lemur.

Now there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for all this, and it’s the one that shielded Aang from the heroic limelight in my eyes for ten years. The reasoning goes like this: Aang is a child. He has no presumptuous authority complex, no masculinity anxiety, no self-consciousness about his preferred pastimes, because he’s twelve. He’s still the hero, but he’s the prepubescent hero, the hero who can’t lead the charge himself because he’s just not old enough. The problem is, that reasoning just doesn’t hold up when you look at him in the context of the rest of the show.

Let’s look at Azula. Aside from the Avatar himself, Zuko’s sister is arguably the strongest bender in the entire show. We could debate Toph and Ozai all day, but when you look at all Azula does, the evidence is pretty damning. Let’s make a list, shall we?

Azula completely mastered lightning, the highest level firebending technique, in her spare time on a boat, under the instruction of two old women who can’t even bend.

Azula led the drill assault on Ba Sing Sae, one of the most important Fire Nation operations of the entire war, and almost succeeded in conquering the whole Earth Kingdom.

Azula then bested the Kyoshi Warriors, one of the strongest non-bender fighting groups in the entire world, successfully infiltrated the Earth Kingdom in disguise, befriended its monarch, learned of the enemy’s most secret operation, emotionally manipulated her older brother, overthrew the captain of the secret police and did conquer the Earth Kingdom, something three Fire Lords, numerous technological monstrosities, and countless generals, including her uncle, failed to do in a century.

And she did this all when she was fourteen.

That last part is easy to forget. Azula seems so much her brother’s peer, we forget she’s the same age as Katara. And that means that when we first meet Azula, she’s only a year older than Aang is at the end of the series. So to dismiss Aang’s autonomy, maturity or capability because of his age is ridiculous, understanding that he and Azula could have been in the same preschool class.

We must then accept Aang for what he truly is: the hero of the story, the leader of the charge, who repeatedly displays restraint and meekness, not because of his age, not because of his upbringing, not because of some character flaw, but because he chooses too. We clamor for strong female characters, and for excellent reason. But nobody every calls for more weak male characters. Not weak in a negative sense, but weak in a sense that he listens when heroes talk. He negotiates when heroes fight. And when heroes are sharpening their blades, planning their strategies and stringing along their hetero love interests, Aang is making jewelry, feeding Appa, and wearing that flower crown he got from a travelling band of hippies. If all Aang’s hobbies and habits were transposed onto Toph or Katara, we’d see it as a weakening of their characters. But with Aang it’s cute, because he’s a child. Only it isn’t, because he’s not.

Even in his relationship with Katara, a landmark piece of any traditional protagonist’s identity, Aang defies expectations. From the moment he wakes up in episode one, he is infatuated with the young woman who would become his oldest teacher and closest friend. Throughout season one we see many examples of his puppy love expressing itself, usually to no avail. But there’s one episode in particular that I always thought a little odd, and that’s Jet.

In Jet, Katara has an infatuation of her own. The titular vigilante outlaw sweeps her off her feet, literally, with his stunning hair, his masterful swordsmanship and his apparent selflessness. You’d think this would elicit some kind of jealousy from Aang. There’s no way he’s ignorant of what’s happening, as Sokka sarcastically refers to Jet as Katara’s boyfriend directly in Aang’s presence, and she doesn’t even dispute it. But even then, we never see any kind of rivalry manifest in Aang. Rather, he seems in full support of it. He repeatedly praises Jet, impressed by his leadership and carefree attitude. Despite his overwhelming affection for Katara, he evaluates both her and Jet on their own merits as people. There is no sense of ownership or macho competition.

Contrast this with Zuko’s reaction to a similar scenario in season three’s The Beach. Zuko goes to a party with his girlfriend, and at that party he sees her talking to another guy. His reaction? Throwing the challenger into the wall, shattering a vase, yelling at Mai, and storming out. This may seem a little extreme, but it’s also what we’d expect to an extent. Zuko is being challenged. He feels threatened in his station as a man, and he responds physically, asserting his strength and dominance as best he can.

I could go on and on. I could talk about how the first time Aang trains with a dedicated waterbending master, he tries to quit because of sexist double standards, only changing his mind after Katara’s urging. I could talk about how Aang is cast as a woman in the Fire Nation’s propaganda theatre piece bashing him and his friends. Because in a patriarchal society, the worst thing a man can be is feminine. I could talk about the only times Aang causes any kind of real destruction in the Avatar state, it’s not even him, since he doesn’t gain control of the skill until the show’s closing moments. Every time he is powerless in his own power and guilt-ridden right after, until the very end when he finally gains control, and what does he do with all that potential? He raises the rivers, and puts the fires out.

Aang isn’t what he’s supposed to be. He rejects every masculine expectation placed on his role, and in doing so he dodges center stage of his own show. It’s shocking to think about how many times I just forgot about Aang. Even at the end, when his voice has dropped and his abs have filled in, we miss it. Zuko’s coronation comes and we cheer with the crowd, psyched to see our hero crowned. Then the Fire Lord shakes his head, gestures behind him and declares “the real hero is the Avatar.” It’s like he’s talking to us. “Don’t you get it?” he asks. “Did you miss it? This is his story. But you forgot that. Because he was small. And silly. And he hated fighting. And he loved to dance. Look at him,” Zuko seems to say. “He’s your hero. Avatar Aang, defier of gender norms, champion of self-identity, feminist icon.”

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aang13atla · 4 years

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Kataang💦💨and Zutara💦🔥

Let's start from the beginning...Katara finds a unknown kid in the middle of nowhere and immediately she trusts him...Aang offers to take them back to their village...the next day Katara says to her Gran Gran that he is special and he is full of wisdom which is true but at that point he was flexing more of he's games/joyful self and so that reminded Katara what it is to spend quality time with friends and laugh after so many years•after they left from the ship Aang took the blame about the flare•then Sokka forced him to leave making Katara wanna leave with him and dump her family•However Aang choose to leave alone bc he didn't want to get between her and her family...after some time Aang returns to protect her family and surrenders in order to save ppl that he had just met and while Aang was going into the ship Katara started crying bc she was afraid that he'll lose him (the only person who trusted her•offered to take her to the other side of the world and made her enjoy life so much) and after all of that Katara is ready to do the same thing for him and after some time they escape from the ship on appa...all of these things happened in only 2 days from their first moment they share an unbreakable bond...

During the show

Katara is always looking after Aang not only to protect him but to check if he's okay if he's happy if something bothers him

Aang does the same thing for her he puts her above anything else and don't get me wrong we all know Katara is doing it as well

Katara taught Aang how to waterbend and in the same episode Aang is trying to help her with some moves even tho at the beginning she was a little bit jealous bc the bending came really easy on him but despite all of that they see themselves as equal

Aang in the northern water tribe refuses to learn from Pakku bc he didn't want to teach Katara and despite all of that Aang tries to teach Katara by himself showing that he cares about her•wants to spend more time with her and wants to see Katara getting better and better as a bender

Both of them defend each other when the others offend them (s1 ep 12 Katara defends Aang when an old man told him that he turned he's back on the world•s2 ep 5 Aang defends Katara when a whole village was about to attack her for extinguishing the fire) etc

They always try to be close to each other and if you notice in almost every scene they touch each other somewhere somehow

The only thing that's left from their losses is a necklace

Katara hugs him and kisses him a lot of times during the show

They always try to help ppl even if they are the enemies

They both respect each other and always listen and trust their beliefs

When one of them is in danger they may unleash an incredible amount of power which may destroy everyone and everything (this can be seeing also in the comics)

Aang prefers to love Katara instead of mastering the avatar state (and some of you say that he just has a crush on her) choosing love over power•during a war is something unique and so this is what connects them and makes their relationship special

They grew to love each other.. throughout the show they've seen everything...fun-love-pain-death etc but instead of giving up their love makes them even stronger as characters and as humans

Have you noticed that when they where at the library Katara was searching things about Aang? I mean you are in the best library that you'll ever see you can search for anything and you prefer to find stuff about Aang? Yeahh I don't think she is in love with him...

Katara suggests to kiss in the cave of two lovers•Katara is the one that always hugs and kisses Aang during the show but some of you seem to forget that or say that she does that bc he sees him as a brother...let's see then...how many times she kissed Sokka? How many times she cried about Sokka? I don't say that she doesn't love Sokka or something but Aang seems to be something even beyond love for her•something even stronger

Try to convince me that when they danced we didn't saw the flames in their eyes and in their hearts•Aang in this episode has won an entire school clearly all the girls have a crush on him and especially On Ji but he doesn't care about the others he had eyes only for her

Actually during 2 episodes in the show Aang seems to have two large girl group's who seem to like him (In the kyoshi island and in the fire nation school) in these two episode we get to see how much Katara gets jealous when other girls are giving Aang attention...especially when Aang dances with On Ji we clearly see Katara being so jealous and so sad at the same time

Ofc during the show we get to see Aang being jealous as well especially when Sokka suggests Katara to kiss Jet

They have amazing chemistry..A lot of ppl seem to forget that but wtf?Aang and Katara were literally running in a circle into the water and took down the giant serpent•remember when they took down a factory in like 5 minutes?Or when Katara grabbed like 10 earthbending soldiers and Aang just froze them in 1 second?Or when Katara was the painting lady...Katara was playing her role while Aang was pulling air out of nowhere and the soldiers started running then this fire nation guy tried to attack Katara she didn't even move to protect her self she had so much faith on Aang and Aang saved her in an awesome scene and then he just blasted this guy into the water(I won't even speak about the dance scene)

The story of the 2 lovers in the cave actually describes the story of Aang and Katara I will make a future post about this and explain everything

And what about the times when Katara is like "How do I look?" I mean the first time she was talking to Aang and Sokka but Sokka was fighting with a fish that moment so...she just wanted to hear Aang's opinion...or when she and Toph dressed to go to that party (Katara didn't say anything there but she was standing still until Aang notices her) or even the time when they got the fire nation clothes she asked the same thing..I don't think she cares about Sokka's opinion and Toph can't even see so again she is doing all of that for Aang

When Katara told Aang that she was confused•She literally said that bc she was afraid you don't have to be Einstein to understand that•Aang was about to fight Ozai she didn't want to express her feelings for him she was afraid that she might never see him again...it's so simle.

You also like the idea of blue and red and all of that (zutara shippers) but you forget that Aang is a firebender as well so I'm sorry😂

Last thing...when everyone is saying that Aang got out of the fz...he was never actually in it...I mean she was in love with him from the beginning but she didn't knew bc she hadn't felt the same before so she thought that this is like to have a good friend but nahh when Sokka said "sometimes I forget what a powerful bender that kid is" Only then she realized that she was in love with Aang this whole time

On to the other "ship" now

I can explain all of their moments together

Their first "moment" was when he captured her and put her necklace around her...I mean he clearly does that to make her talk since she said it was her mother's

The second on is in the cave when they were captured by Azula•After Katara stopped shouting at him she told him that the fire nation killed her mother Zuko since he didn't know that he's mother was alive told her that they had something in common•Then Zuko starts talking about he's bad life which we all know and so that made Katara realise why he is like that and thought that if she could heal he's scar he would have changed completely and help them win..end of the story that was it• you all saw how she run to hug Aang when he came to rescue her

Move on when Zuko final joined the team...after a while Katara walks into his room and threatened him that she'll kill him if he makes a step back again...I mean how the zutara fans found that as a love scene Katara said all of that bc the last time that he trusted him Aang died and she shows how far can she go to protect the man he loves

Next we have the southern raiders where all in all Katara yells to Zuko about he's betrayal and her mother's death etc Zuko in order to be accepted by her as well in the group offers to find her mother's murderer only bc he needed to forgive him nothing more...this is so clear when Aang says that she needs to forgive him and not choose revenge•Zuko there makes fan of Aang's beliefs and later he recognises that violence wasn't the answer this shows how much Aang knows Katara

Later we see Zuko choosing Katara to help him with Azula...I mean who would you pick Katara Sokka Toph or Suki? He is between Toph and Katara but he knows Katara is a waterbender and a bloodbender so he correctly picks her

And to the final moment Zuko jumps into the lightning in order to save Katara (I've talked about that as well) but all in all Zuko did that bc it's he's fault that Katara was in danger and also bc they are a family now all of them...anyone would do the same for everyone so...

You just like the idea of two hot ppl but this is so wrong bc you are missing the point the guy that has everything (strength,wisdom,fun,handsome) and much more is Aang don't get me wrong Zuko is awesome but Aang has so much more things that Zuko can't give to Katara

And where is actually the chemistry?You thought so when you saw them dressed like ninja?come on guys learn to separate things...

And when Katara hugs Zuko that was 100% friendly...she wanted to show that she finally accepted him in their family

How many times Katara hugged,kissed and blushed for Zuko?...I'm waiting...

So after all these two have been through I believe that in the end they developed a great friendship bc basically Katara became Zuko's new sister•a sister that he always needed and never had

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highfantasy-soul · 3 months

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NATLA - Episode 3: Omashu (2/3)

[Masterlist of my NATLA thoughts]

An explanation of what I'm doing here and my history with ATLA.

Of course, full spoilers ahead.

Starting the Gaang's POV storyline with Katara working on her waterbending was really nice - getting a little down time just like we get at the beginning of the animated episodes is always welcome when they can work it into the timeframe. We see Katara's skills growing, but having her classic trouble with the water whip - the same form she struggled with in The Waterbending Scroll episode. I like that Aang is trying to help her in his sweet and optimistic way, but he doesn't fully understand the mental block Katara has and she'll need another method of overcoming that block than what Aang provided in the first episode. It's so sweet and a great character moment as Aang blames himself for Katara's failure - he doesn't want her to feel bad about not being a master yet and tries to alleviate her struggle with some humor. We get the cute moment with Sokka bringing back supplies too, mirrored by Momo and it really feels just like the light-hearted beginnings of the animated episodes.

This is continued as we see Aang's excitement at seeing 'another airbender' and realizing they're heading in the direction of Omashu - he's so excited to share info about the city with Katara and Sokka, his joy is infectious - and his open naivete as he asks the 'cart guy' "What makes you think we're outsiders?" while they're in very color-coded clothing in an Earth Nation city is adorable. No idea how some people missed the whole first parts of the Gaang's episodes where they're all just hanging out and bonding.

I like us seeing Zhao sneaking his way into the authority position in his relationship with Zuko - instead of the brash, overbearing Zhao of the animated series, here, he's more subtle and it's harder to go directly against him as all his suggestions seem reasonable. Zuko, of course, doesn't want to allow anyone else to capture the Avatar therefore taking away his one chance of going home. I love how the scene with Zuko refusing to let Lieutenant Jee talk bad about Zhao - it so clearly shows how he values honor and not abandoning the values of the Fire Nation 'even out here'. He may have been banished, but he's desperate to cling to the order that makes him a part of his home - giving that up would be fully accepting he's no longer Fire Nation royalty - at the moment, his whole identity.

For Aang in this episode, we do miss where he gets to reminisce about the airbenders and be upset at the changes to the temple like he did in the animated episode that included Teo and the Mechanist - though I do think there's still room to bring that back in a later season as Omashu has been taken and they might show up again as refugees that took shelter in the Air Temple. You got hints of Aang being upset at how the world has changed in the Warriors episode with him not understanding why people wouldn't be open and welcoming and with how Omashu is now, but I think his real issues with the way the war has changed the world will come up in the next two seasons. I saw them drawing from different things for Aang's part here. Aang's journey pulled from his last bit from the Kyoshi Island animated episode where he decides that instead of running, he was going to do what he could to help. In this episode, he starts taking steps to stop running away and deal with threats to average people rather than focusing on the bigger picture stuff like getting to the Northern Water Tribe and learning waterbending. He's still figuring out what the world is like now and finding ways to help 'one person at a time'. He also gets to see people ready and willing to fight - like Teo and his desire to attack.

While it could be nice to see Aang taking the lead in battle strategy like he does in the animated episode, I like that it's Teo who brings up the idea that with Aang, they have air power - which the Fire Nation doesn't have. After all, Aang is a pacifist and not really wanting to strike directly at the enemy yet - but Teo has had years of resentment and pain due to the fire nation and it makes sense that that's his first thought when he meets Aang. It does seem a bit odd in the animated version how ready Aang is to go to war, create battle strategies, and kill fire nation soldiers (because knocking them off mountains is 100% killing them, like, let's not pretend it's not). I get that he's angry and defending the Air Temple, but I think it was smart to avoid that level of violence from Aang so soon. I know he attacks fire benders a lot, but his actions in the animated episode felt more like outright war than just little skirmishes. It's a small aspect, but I can see why the writers of the live-action didn’t feel like that storyline was crucial to the plot or character development just yet - rather, focusing on what little things Aang can do wherever he goes to help people is the point they're making right now.

With Azula's addition - plus the introduction of Mai and Tylee - I know some people are worried about how that'll square with how Azula makes her team in season 2. I think it can still work out pretty much the same (if that's the route they choose) as it's likely Ozai sends Azula out alone like before and it's only later that she forms her team. So we can still have Mai and her family take over Omashu (as Azula took it at the end of this season) and Tylee could just stay in the capitol - there's nothing to say she isn't currently in the circus - she could just enjoy spending her time off with her old childhood (younger childhood) friends. So no, I don't think including them here was 'plot destroying fan service'. Also, what's with the criticism that she knows how to shoot a bow and arrow? She's a warrior - brutal and efficient. She can use her damn hair pin to cement herself to a cliff face - what makes you think she doesn't have mad skills with tons of weapons? There's nothing in canon (that I can remember) that says that firebenders using weapons is looked down upon, so not sure what the problem is here.

Seeing all the actors and how YOUNG they are, I'm totally cool with the writers skimping on most of the romances - Sokka being the oldest makes sense that his romances become things, but everyone else is a literal child. I can see in like, two years Zuko and Mai being cute together, maybe Aang and Katara (though that age gap is huge for the actors), but right now, all I can see are babies. Canon accurate, but just like with Azula, Mai was NOT drawn as a child - she looked waaaay older - like full on adult older.

Since we're speaking on the Fire Nation, right now: I love the choice for Iroh getting captured by protecting Zuko instead of him just getting caught sitting in a hot spring - it adds way more depth to both Iroh and his relationship with Zuko - plus, it's the first time in the live-action we ever see Iroh firebend. His first display of power is in a bid to draw the attention to him so that he can be punished instead of Zuko and I felt that was just super impactful. I think he did this because Zuko's ponytail would identify him as Fire Nation pretty quickly - and with all the guards, they could spot and take them down - Iroh sacrificed himself not pointlessly, but to draw every eye to him. Also love the detail - that they repeat next episode - that Iroh's firebending is POWERFUL! His fire blasts are SO much bigger than any we've seen - even with Ozai, we haven't seen the sheer magnitude of his bending even if we saw it reflected in Azula's eyes. Like the paralleling of the brothers here where we see the kind of power they have

#natla #netflix atla #atla #avatar the last airbender #omashu

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