The Gaang being 'bad parents' didn't ruin their characters.
I've seen this argument tossed around a couple times and it's honestly one of my least favourite criticisms of lok.
Katara (and Sokka but we have no confirmed kids for him, which seems unrealistic with how much game he had) lost their mother as children and their father was forced to abandon them when they were barely starting their teens. They were raised by their grandmother with little to no peers of their own age.
Aang did not know his parents and a huge chunk of his childhood was him being groomed into taking up the mantle of the avatar and mastering airbending. He also was isolated from other kids his age. His closest parental figure was Gyatso who was more of a teacher than a father. Also the Air Nomads were literally wiped out so that adds to the trauma pile.
I really don't think i have to talk about Zuko's family life here, but at least he had relatively positive parental figures in the form of Ursa (though i do have a burning personal dislike of ursa) and Iroh. Despite this his struggle around the subject of his family and his trauma relating to his upbringing was a focal point of his character arc.
Toph was raised in isolation by her asshole abelist parents who did not listen to her, sent people to capture and bring her back and then disowned her. (If my cursory understanding of 'the rift' is correct, I need to actually read it because i am unreasonably obsessed with the Beifong family.)
Where, pray tell, were they supposed to learn proper parenting skills? On their brief stint as child soldiers? While fighting a war as literal children?
There is the argument that they must've matured later in their lives, of course. But you can only recover so much from copious amounts of childhood trauma.
Being a bad parent doesn't necessarily make you a bad person. Sure it makes you a failure in an incredibly delicate and important aspect of human life but it doesn't make you a bad person. And saying that it does takes a lot of nuance out of the conversation.
Like, do you know how easy it is to fuck up a child?
Especially that the ways the members of the Gaang 'fucked up' as parents feel mostly in character.
Bumi was going to face some struggles with self worth due to being the firstborn child of the Avatar and arguably one of the most powerful waterbenders in history, while being a nonbender himself. That much was unavoidable, no matter how his parents approached the issue.
And Aang was obviously going to be over the moon when Tenzin was born. Think about it. He's literally the last of his people. He has no one else 'like him'. No one else to pass down the traditions, the teachings that Gyatso and everyone else he cared about and who were horrifically murdered to. Aang is getting older and he feels like his culture and history and his entire life before he got trapped in that damned iceberg will die along with him. And then Tenzin is born and Tenzin can take up the mantle that had been thrust upon Aang.
I'm going to withhold my judgement on Izumi and Zuko, since we barely know anything about them. She seems well adjusted but that's all i can say right now. But Zuko has also been shown to be extremely, painfully aware of how fucked up his family is and has clearly been putting in a lot of work to unscrew what his ancestors have screwed up.
Toph situation feels very tragic to me,because it's obvious that she thought she thought she was doing better than her parents. She gave her daughters the freedom to do what they want, to not feel opressed and trapped like she had. How was she supposed to know that she was making her girls feel like she didn't love them? (Here's another post of mine about the Beifong family and how they just feel like they're cursed or something at this point.)
TLDR; I get annoyed by people saying that the Gaang being 'bad parents' ruined their characters, because to me it felt like it actually enhanced them.
Neither Aang nor Toph acted out of malice or a lack of love. On the contrary, Toph was trying not to repeat her parents mistakes, accidentally committing a bunch of her own. While Aang probably didn't even realise that he was neglecting Kya and Bumi.
But just loving your children doesn't always make you a good parent.
I think these flaws only add to them as characters. It makes them feel more real.
It's unrealistic and, frankly, just plain boring to go 'oh the Gaang were all good people so they would be good parents too.'
The Gaang were a gaggle of traumatised children forced into saving the world, because the adults around them failed them, that then grew into traumatised adults who have no idea how to be good parents.
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i think that after everything adam does genuinely try to have michael talk through his issues but at a certain point it stops being therapy and starts being adam keeping a mental list of things about michael that would drive early-20th century psychologists insane. like.
adam: so your father developed a psychosexual obsession with the man he created to be your true vessel?
michael: hm yes in retrospect that is slightly strange
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ranvie makes an original post. insane. but yes warning for good omens s2 leak. if you do not want to be spoilered or you haven't seen the leak pls don't look under the cut
so the kiss is. somewhere in the show. that is pretty much guaranteed. and i've seen a lot of people complaining about whether it might end up being a dream sequence for either aziraphale / crowley. a lot of people want it to be "real".
but honestly... is even a dream sequence not a good thing? i mean, even one of them IMAGINING a kiss i feel would be an incredible amount of progress in their relationship. at the very least, it means its a very explicit acknowledgment of one of them feeling romantic love for the other. like. as someone who was a johnlock shipper once, i just. i don't really see how this compares to that? i can't really speak much for spn, because all i know about it is november 5th, but i mean...
idk i've just been seeing a lot of negativity about s2 since the leak, with a lot of people insisting that this is queerbaiting... but to my knowledge, crowley and aziraphale are canonically in a queer + asexual relationship? and honestly as someone who is ace, their relationship has already been incredibly inspiring for me. their love doesn't really have to be physical for them to be totally in love. and i'm hoping that maybe, just maybe, s2 will further solidify the romantic aspects of their relationship. this leak, though it frustrated me at first, gives me a lot of hope.
maybe in september once the last ep has come out (edit: oops!! in JULY, since the eps are all coming out at once), i will look back at this post and curse my naivety. but i hope not. i hope this ages well. because as a bi / ace youth, i would really like to not feel fooled by one of my favorite shows in years. i would really really like to see a relationship that is akin to what i would like to have one day. that would be lovely
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Sharing these tweets and casting call here since as far as I know there is no offical tumblr Blue uses and theres a pretty big fan presence here.
Image ID in alt text and below the cut
[ID: four pictures about updates about Camp Here & There.
Two tweets by M&B @MayfieldnBelov, the first says:
“Cringey notesapp screenshot, eh? In all seriousness, here's a bit of news, and an update beforehand, on what the auditions will look like. Thank you to everyone for remaining fans of the show, and I can't wait to see all your auditions when the call goes up!”
The second says:
Casting call (in all caps and surrounded by two red emergency lights emojis)
Voice auditions for Camp Here & There season 2 are live! (A google docs link is attached)
Auditions are open from May 15th -May 31st 2022 Spread the word!”
Five hashtags follow the text
#voiceover #castingcall #voiceacting #auditions #camphereandthere
Additional: the google docs link https://docs.google.com/document/d/195bNsIf4Nw6aDLB7NeHSbmUvEC9ery4ILCe0d3e4wKM/edit
The third image is a screenshot of black text over white background from the notes app that says:
“I regret to announce that, as of this February, Nicholas has left the project. He voiced that he no longer wanted to work with it, nor with the company, and has left it to my jurisdiction.
Camp Here & There will certainly not end! It is ridiculously important to me that this story be told, and I am still writing it with as much of my skill and heart as ever. But, I've labored for some time over what to do for Jedidiah. I know his original voice is beloved by everyone, myself included, and that an outside voice actor for him raises production costs far beyond the original scope.
That being said, I will (in italics) be including Jedidiah in this round of auditions (and removing Nicholas's name from the branding over the next few weeks). I do not know just yet how this will be explained narratively, if at all, or how I will be working out the technicals. But I do want to give everyone a chance to try for his voice if they please. Thank you to everyone for sticking with me! And thank you for allowing me to share this somewhat vulnerable piece of news. Auditions will be out soon!”
The fourth image is the graphic for Camp Here & There season 2, consisting of a warm brown wooden grandfather clock with fire surrounding its base. Behind it there’s the outline of a dark forest, each row of trees is a different shade of grey and black. Below it, in white and all caps it says “Camp Here & There”. end ID]
Thanks to @camphereandtheredescribed !!
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