Don’t play with me now, this better be for real-

The one thing that truly irked me about legend of korra (there might be more I just can't think of them rn lol) is that there's not one mention of the kyoshi warriors. Not fucking one. And they're like multiple places they could of put them and I have three examples:

Zaofu

Literally instead of having guards that didn't know wtf they were doing, they could've had the kyoshi warriors. And before yall say "well it's a metal bending city they need metal benders" bro they could've had metal bending kyoshi warriors! And their uniform look like a mix between republic city police armor and traditional kyoshi warrior uniform. I know I'm definitely stretching with this one but hear me out. (Also thier fans I'm pretty sure are made of metal if not in lok they could make them metal) speaking of republic city-

Republic city

I feel like it would've made 100% more sense if suki had transferred some of the kyoshi warriors to be the protectors of republic city than toph all of sudden giving a shit about making laws and creating a police force. Like how cool would it be to have Lin be a kyoshi warrior??? THE daughter of toph beifong being a kyoshi warrior would've been cool as fuck.

Just keep them being the fire lords bodyguards

It's literally cannon that they protect zuko when he becomes fire lord 😭😭 I don't understand why they just didn't keep that for firelord Izumi. Especially during book 3 when zaheer was going after all the world leaders zuko could've mentioned the kyoshi warriors protecting his daughter but worried it wouldn't be enough or something.

Like dude kyoshi warriors were probably on of my fav part of og atla and I hate how they completely got rid of/ not mention it in lok 😭

Special type of feels over the Beifong kids having grown up here (the Beifong estate sector of Zaofu)

Like. On one hand. It's beautiful, and kids could have so much fun here. But like. No one else lives here. No one except family and probably staff. The only way off being the monorail. I wonder how quiet it must be there and how isolated.

How often do you think the kids got to leave home, even if to just go to any of the other sectors? Did they go to school? Did they have friends other than each other?

Suyin building a gilded cage to keep her kids close to her forever. I'm chewing drywall as we speak.

At some point, we as a community need to seriously discuss the implications of this woman having possibly caught a few bodies.

The subject of Kuvira's childhood has always intrigued me, and after the release of Ruins of the Empire, I've been mulling over some ideas, leading me to come up with some headcanons. A couple have found their way to my fanfics and since my muses are currently taking a breather after Lin week, I've decided to share some of the other headcanons I've come up with so far, so here they are:

Before she manifested her bending abilities, Kuvira had enjoyed a regular childhood. Her parents were strict, and her father, in particular, was known to be a disciplinarian. Things took a downward turn when they realized that the strange mishaps around the house (cracks in the wall, rocks that seemingly appeared out of nowhere around the house) and the reason why the little girl would return home with her clothes soiled with dirt were because she realized she could earthbend. Kuvira was the first bender in the family after several generations. The discovery hadn’t been a reason to rejoice for the couple because bending had mostly led to criminal careers for their relatives in the past, the most notorious example being of a great uncle who had been associated with a powerful daofei in Gaoling. Little Kuvira had noticed how disillusioned her father looked when she demonstrated her abilities to him, and his expression on that fateful day is something that is permanently branded in her memory.

As time went by and her abilities proved more powerful than anyone could’ve anticipated for a child her age, Kuvira's parents grew more overwhelmed by her bending and the damage it inflicted on their house, and in response, they began to turn cold and distant. The negative bias they had about bending prevented them from seeking a proper sifu for their child, judging benders to be self-serving and dangerous, and instead, they encouraged her to suppress it. The negative feedback Kuvira received in turn begat frustration, and she began to act out, not understanding why her parents were acting differently around her, what could be wrong with her, or why she couldn’t fit their expectations. She became an introverted child who didn't have friends. After the incident with her mom, neighbors feared her, and children had cruel names for her.

The child was cursed with a precocious ability coupled with cunning and a quick temper. She didn't have anyone around to realize that her mood swings happened because she got bored quickly and was desperate to properly control her bending. Her parents eventually realized that they were way out of their league to deal with this situation by themselves. Ironically, one of the reasons she later thrived in Zaofu was because she was provided with the proper outlets for her energy and her intellect. Music and the dance troupe, in particular, were instrumental in her development because it became a way to channel her energy into something productive while learning the ways bending could be applied for creative and non-violent purposes.

Her father had heard about the city of Zaofu through a group of merchants who had returned with stories about a city built in platinum by a powerful metal bender related to the Beifong family. For Kuvira’s father, who had recently dealt with the incident where Kuvira nearly killed her mother in an outburst and was at his wits' end, the news provided the opportunity he had been waiting for, so he told his convalescent wife to seek this master earthbender’s help, convincing her to send their daughter away under the pretext that it would be a temporary arrangement. Unbeknownst to her, he had no intention of bringing her back.

For a time, the sound of the wheels of a wooden cart approaching would startle Kuvira because she instinctively looked around to see if it was her father returning to take her back to the family.

During first months living in the Beifong estate, Suyin noticed Kuvira had kept her belongings in the humble travel pack she had arrived with as if expecting to depart. She liked spending as much time as possible outside the mansion because she wanted to keep vigilant about the people who arrived at the estate. Several times, Suyin had to fetch her from the city walls after receiving word from the guards because the girl had snuck out to ask the guards if they had seen her father arrive for her.

When people talked to her, she commented that she was there to learn earthbending, but it was a temporary arrangement, and as soon as her sifu gave word to her parents that she could control her bending, they would come back for her. But as time went by without word from them, her temper would flare at the smallest provocation as a way to hide her growing insecurity. During this time, she struggled deeply with guilt and from having hurt her mother, and she grew convinced that it was her fault that her family ended up separated and no longer wanted her back. It was during this period that she would lash out at Opal, whom she felt saw her as an intruder to the family, and it took a long time for their sibling rivalry to cool, although they never grew close. Kuvira's status as a prodigy only complicated things even further, as Opal saw Kuvira as a rival for her mom's attention. This rivalry between Opal and Kuvira was the reason why Kuvira believed she was never treated or considered as a Beifong, and once she acquired roles in the household, she saw herself to be more of a trusted employee than an adopted child.

It took time for Kuvira to make friends in Zaofu. Baatar reached out to her because he was also introverted, and despite his position as the matriarch’s firstborn, he struggled to make real friends, and those who gravitated around him did so to seek personal favors for their families. She realized he was a fellow outcast despite his status, and his praise gave her the validation she desperately wanted. Kuvira thrived on praise, and she would seek praise and approval, especially from Suyin. Suyin quickly became her role model, and Kuvira emulated her, going so far as to follow her in the matriarch's morning routine overseeing the city, and Kuvira ended up overcoming her introversion, learning her social skills from Su.

Not the best I can do but overall it's not that bad I guess. Still need modifications, and details.

"I know you're a little rusty."

Hc that Lin doesn’t actually sleep with pants on.

Just tank top and underpants.

But she keeps her boots and pants next to her bed fireman-style so she can be ready to run if needed in zero seconds flat.

Kuvira 🖤

Back again with another sketch of a LOK next gen/fankid! Meet Bao Beifong! I couldn't resist the urge to make a Beifong who takes after Toph in being super skilled and kinda OP lmao. She's good in the formal sense of bending training but she wants to expand her skills by trying out probending next. She's also Kallik's girlfriend :) Maybe she will get him to join a team with her...

it’s 4:30am so I’ll post this roughass sketch but like.. I was thinking about them and needed to remind myself I knew how to draw them lol :’) 

Thinking I might take Kuvira’s hair down idk~ maybe I’ll take their tops off too, who knows, life is full of possibilities 

in secret zaofu is referred to as not part of the earth kingdom but isnt it? like yeah it's isolated from the rest of the mess but It's still part of it.

Interesting question! As I've always understood it, Zaofu is autonomous in its governing. Su runs the city herself as the 'Matriarch', refers to herself as it's leader, calls it her city, openly trash talks the queen, and the wiki refers to Zaofu as an "Autonomous City State". So geographically it's within the Earth Kingdom, and I'm sure before Su bought that plot of land, the empty land itself may have been technically under the sovereignty of the Earth Queen, but apart from when Kuvira invaded, its government has always been separate from the Earth Kingdom. And I think once Kuvira was defeated and Wu took over, he would have just handed Zaofu back over to Su. But, it's not a democratic city, Su is in charge.

So what I was mentioning in Secret, is that Su would be very intrigued by the fact that Wu is doing exactly what she was trash-talking Hou-Ting for not doing: Abdicating and reforming the Earth Kingdom to help it evolve with the times. And with that in mind I think Su would be curious about the progress of the democratization and consider reforming Zaofu in a similar way, and then joining under the umbrella government for the Earth Republic or Democractic States or whatever they're going to end up calling it.

Asami doodles cause I wanted to get her down pat.

Hey, remember that time Suyin saved the Avatar Cycle?

Suyin's handling of the metallic poison situation is among some of the pettier things that fault-finding fanatics within the ATLA/LOK fandom tend to hurl at Suyin, which genuinely baffles me. Maybe I am overreacting, but it often feels less rooted in any genuine criticism of her character rather than an avenue to use some thinly veiled microaggressions to excuse their issues with her at best or exercise flat-out hate towards her at worst.

"Smh she didn't even get it all it out"

"Lin would've got it all out"

"Toph just crapped on her"

General comments like these often carry a negative connotation, focusing more on Su's failure to fully "heal" Korra. Something that I feel is missing out on the deeper intricacies of the matter, which I'll get to in a moment. There's also this very peculiar sentiment that the poison was all that held Korra back when it was actually a combination of factors such as the brutality of the fight itself and the lingering PTSD that stemmed from her overarching doubt and fears over her role as the Avatar. All of these factors, along with even inhibiting the poison within her bloodstream in the first place, is what crippled Korra for years. Not having it all out or not, seeing as how Korra still had issues even after removing it all in Book 4.

Speaking of bloodstreams:

Let's discuss Suyin's prowess as a metalbender. Firstly, it was a miracle that she was even able to get out as much as she did, despite Zaheer deliberately prolonging the fight with Korra so that the poison could be further entrenched in Korra's body and her bloodstream. Who knows, maybe if Suyin had gotten to Korra immediately, she would've likely gotten it all out, which is something I hardly see get mentioned.

The complicated nature surrounding the poison itself is another issue: Not only was the poison fluid in nature, but with it being metallic, Suyin had to actually perform the double duty of carefully finding the traces of earth within a liquid substance within someone's bloodstream in a very quick and precise amount of time because Korra could very well die at any moment. That is A LOT to consider, and she still managed to do a good enough job to save Korra's life and, you know, the Avatar cycle itself. It's also neat that Suyin uses techniques similar to waterbenders to navigate the poison out. This highlights the level of her precision with the element and the sheer amount of elegance that Suyin has with metal bending.

It exemplifies an understated quality to her character in how she's spent much time exploring the more intricate and creative ways to apply her bending that isn't just combative. And you all better thank her every day for being that way!

The Kuvira childhood vibes just hit me with a cute headcanon that expands nicely what I already developed here.

So I've always believed that little Kuvira was a prodigy who just needed positive reinforcements and the right environment for her to thrive. She was a quick learner, and once something genuinely caught her attention, she would fully devote herself to it. That's how she became part of the Zaofu troupe, as their youngest member, no less. Her interest initially came from her efforts to emulate Suyin because she realized she felt very happy when Suyin paid her attention and lavished her with praise. So, being the troupe one of the matriarch's favorite pet projects, Kuvira decided she wanted to find out what was all about. She had also heard Huan talk in length about it at the dinner table with enthusiasm. Her curiosity piqued, she asked for an audition, and like the little infuriating gremlin that she could be, she ended up stealing the spotlight from the lead dancer with her raw talent. That didn't endear her with the troupe, instigated by the lead dancer who didn't take well that a kid could outstage them. Suyin, fearing the ostracizing would reverse the progress with Kuvira who was finally leaving her taciturn and moody attitude behind, was ready to take her out of the troupe when she realized that the girl was completely unaware of the silly drama. During breaks, while the other dancers got together to gossip, Kuvira would join Huan, who, along with the stage hands, were in charge of the metal props the troupe used as part of their performance. Kuvira would sit down, and while she shared her snacks with him, she would watch Huan work as she listened to the explanations to his work, because despite his age, he took his art very seriously. Half of the time, she wouldn’t understand what he meant, but it didn't matter because she enjoyed listening to him and he liked that someone in the family aside from his mom took interest in his work, and they would end up coming up with even more grander and weirder ideas together. After a prank that Su suspected had been orchestrated by the stage hands and her kids, the diva dancer quit the troupe, and after that, the practices became drama free. The kids continued to hang out together until Kuvira joined the Zaofu Guard, and so they ended up drifting apart. But unbeknownst to Huan, Kuvira always kept in her pocket a small metal badgermole that Huan had sculpted for her during the troupe practices as a good luck charm, as reminder of the good times they shared together.