#because we have seen aang be dark and chaotic as well | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

casualdadnomad · 4 years

Text

modern hc for every possible atla ship

Alright, I said I’d do it and now I’m doing it. We will not be arguing over ships because it’s impossible to argue if I include..... all of them. I’ll include some nice ship things and then rate the likeliness of the ship happening in my au.

Kataang: my babies. soulmates. they would be that adorable couple that has been together since the eighth grade. they work well together because they’re both kind hearted and care about each other deeply. they hold hands in hallways, call each other pet names (the infamous “sweetie” that makes sokka want to die), and always try to give each other little surprises to brighten each other’s day. they’re very into valentines day. would it happen? yes. 100/10.

Sukka: my babies part 2. sokka comes to every football game to cheer her on during halftime. he also goes to every winter guard competition. Suki goes with him when he does his graffiti. she insists it’s to be a lookout in case the cops find them, but she just loves watching him make his art. they don’t go out much, and are just as happy watching anime in suki’s room as they would be on a date. would it happen? YES. 10/10.

Zukka: the hottest ship of the ATLA renaissance. probably the best ship of all time. they just have this perfect dynamic. sokka is a genius with terrible ideas and no impulse control. zuko is just a guy with anxiety. sokka would definitely help zuko come out of his shell a little bit. and iroh loves his nephew’s boyfriend. sokka helps out for free in the jasmine dragon if zuko is working. would it happen? maybe. i do love them a lot. 8/10.

Zutara: okay. everyone has an opinion on zutara. my opinion is that i don’t like it unimportant. they stay up late on facetimes and talk until like 3 am. they play a lot of games and katara is super competitive, so zuko lets her win a lot. she’s cute when she’s convinced she’s the king of gamepigeon 8 ball. would it happen? unlikely. 4/10.

Taang: i don’t hear about this ship a ton. it’s not one i ever thought about. they’re both super protective, even though neither of them really need to be protected. aang is definitely more affectionate than toph, but toph can and will beat the shit out of anyone that hurts aang. would it happen? they’re the only two freshmen, so maybe, but still unlikely. 5/10.

Tokka: i’ve always thought toph’s little crush on sokka was adorable. they would skip school, go break the law for fun, that kind of nonsense. this is one of those rare instances where sokka has the most common sense. they would be more of a “what’s up you ugly idiot” kind of couple than a “hey baby! :)” kind of couple. would it happen? I could see them getting along. it would be pretty chaotic. 6.5/10.

Mai Lee: MY GIRLS. they’re perfect for each other. Mai is peak alt girl. She’s a goth queen, eyeliner sharp enough to kill a man, chains, little shirt big pants, and a nose piercing. ty lee is the exact definition of cottagecore. strawberry dresses, lots of blush, makes her own earrings. ty lee even gave mai a pair of earrings she made to look like knives. they walk down the street holding hands. if anyone throws them a weird look, mai throws a knife right back. would it happen? HELL YES. 1,000/10.

Tyzula: here’s the thing. azula never did get that sweet sweet redemption arc, so in my au she’s still a bit of an asshole. if they got together, i can see azula really trying to improve herself as a person for ty lee. i see ty lee really trying to sell the idea of including azula to the rest of the friend group. i’m really into the idea of instead of ty lee “fixing” her, having azula work on herself with ty lee as some extra motivation. would it happen? if azula put in effort to be a better person, sure. 7/10.

Maitara: what, did you think i was going to forget maitara? i did say every ship. katara vibes with the softgirl aesthetic while mai is on the egirl side, and honestly i am living for it. would it happen? this one is definitely a rare ship. but i think it could work. 5/10.

Maiko: ah yes, the canon one. zuko’s not quite as edgy as mai is. he’s like, if you diluted the eboy aesthetic a little. but i think it would maybe work between my two emo babies. they’re a couple that you never really see engaging in any pda so you just assume they’re friends until someone tells you otherwise. they’re very cute together, but dare i say kind of boring...? would it happen? goth x goth solidarity is cool, so maybe. 6/10.

Azutara: dude, there’s not a lot to say for this one. it’s been a little while since i’ve even seen an azutara shipper. are they extinct? (azutara babes pls tell me if ur not extinct). yeah so if this happened i think it would be because azula put in the work to be a good person and was welcomed back into the group. once she was in the group, katara would have gotten to know her real personality and liked her. but katara also holds her accountable for her actions. she puts up with no bullshit because she knows her worth. would it happen? i don’t think so. 2/10.

Sutara: this seems like chaos. these ladies would be the power couple of the century. i think with two women so strong and powerful, they’d butt heads a lot. they would be out in the world and actively changing it. would it happen? they’re both badass awesome women, but i’m not sure. 3/10.

Zukaang: uhh... i can’t say i ever thought about zukaang before now. but i guess you would have this bright ball of energy and a dark brooding type, so i can see how it could be cute. would it happen? um... no. i’m not sure if opposites attract that much. 0/10.

Tophko: another one that has literally never crossed my mind! i’m not sure how i feel about angry + angry as a dynamic. i think they would make great friends. okay, i think they would be a couple you mostly wouldn’t want to mess with. they can mess with each other, but no one else is allowed to mess with them. would it happen? no. i’m a slut for height differences, but not at the expense of a good personality match. 0/10.

Jetko: ah, the infamous jetko. the thing about jet in my au is that he’s kind of a sports boy. jock vibes. i guess i haven’t thought about his personality much except that he’s, well, a cocky sports guy. even if mans was bi or gay, i think he would have too much internalized homophobia to openly be in an gay relationship. would it happen? here’s the thing. i could maybe see them having kissed once or something, but not together currently. 4/10.

Jetka: okay i see a handful of people saying jetka rights so i thought i’s include it. i think the most likely scenario would be, maybe, they kissed once or twice and then sokka got ghosted because jet was closeted and scared. since jet obviously didn’t try to burn down a village, maybe that could be the reason sokka doesn’t like him. would it happen? maybe they never got together but jet could have been sokka’s first dude crush or something. 2/10.

Jetara: my immediate thought was that jet asked her out and they went out for like a week but katara quickly realized hey, he’s an asshole. ALTERNATIVELY, katara recognized him as the guy who hurt her brother or zuko and never went out with him at all, because hey, i don’t need all that drama. would it happen? maybe awkward exes. 3/10.

okay these took soooo long! if you have another ship, questions, or headcanon ideas, my ask box is always open!

81 notes · View notes

jyndor · 3 years

Note

(Imperialism etc anon) Ok I get where you're coming from! Thank you for being understanding. While Zutara is obviously not inherently racist or anything there are zutara interpretations that *are* racist (example: fire lady katara which I can get into) and it does need to be acknowledged that Zuko's status as fire nation royalty does create a power imbalance between him and Katara. Now, this is a conversation that has a lot of nuance to it but it seems like the people harassing you are (1/2)

(2/2) just repeating some genuine critique they saw without understanding what it means just to say that they're right, harassing people in the process. I did not have that context when sending that first ask and I apologize, since anons harassing you and others are clearly doing it out of bad faith. I just didn't like the leveraging of concepts that really matter in real life (colonialism, etc), ykwim? But I get what you were trying to do.

hey anon I’m finally getting to you after 84 years XD

so first off, I want to be careful about how I approach this because I understand that as a white person (even if my ancestors experienced imperialism) in the US I absolutely benefit from imperialism and don’t want to like, idk, whitesplain XD so if anyone gets annoyed with any way I say anything, just lmk and I’ll rework it. and I also do understand that these are real world issues that are far more consequential than messaging in media (although I do think it’s very important that we challenge messages in media because of media’s influence on our thinking and politics).

but before I talk about zuko and his relationship to fire nation imperialism, and then later fire lady katara and why it isn’t INHERENTLY racist but definitely can be, I want to talk about the atla fandom and how we got here. like, why I assume that most anons who come at zutara shippers are asshats acting in bad faith. if you already know fandom history, skip this section.

1. atla and the fandom has always been kind of shitty and racist

so IDK if everyone is familiar with the history of the ship war in atla fandom, but it’s regarded as one of the nastiest ship wars in fandom history which I agree lol. atla’s creators were some of the first to interact with the fandom the way they did - back then it wasn’t all that common for creators to get into twitter feuds with fans and boundaries were respected more than they are now imo. but for better or worse, and it is a mixed bag, bryke interacted with fandom a lot. certainly at cons but also on social media.

but honestly things really got extra mean in fan spaces when bryke made a “joke” atla season 4 slideshow out of fan art (some of which was really sexual in nature and totally inappropriate) that mocked fans’ creations, but especially zutara fanart and zutara itself. it was pretty tasteless especially considering how most zutara fans were teen girls, and featured some art of sokka saying that if you think zuko and katara would be good together, you’re doomed to have failed relationships. that’s where the whole “dark and mysterious” bs came from, which does describe some zutara fic but not even most of it lol. I actually do respect bryke a lot despite my criticism of them, but I don’t think I’ll ever get over that shit. like even if you hate zutara, even if it’s a joke, we were kids. and they were adults, and the whole thing was nasty.

however, the ship war was chaotic and messy, but it does feel worse now. maybe it’s because back then the fandom was MOSTLY teens and kids, and I don’t think that’s true now. we were all trying to prove our ship was best with like, content from the show and theories and all that, and now it’s like... whose ship is ~problematic lol it’s a show by white us americans appropriating from various cultures impacted negatively by us/british imperialism that they then profited off of, of course it’s racist. that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t talk about that, and in fact many poc have been saying this shit for years - that atla is racist and colorist at many times (guru pathik anyone?) and no one really listened.

if fans are complaining only about zutara, then I’m automatically writing them off as being insincere or ignorant. and since most of these people are anonymous, I have no idea if they are having substantive discourse about colorism in avatar or cultural appropriation (even if it is mostly appreciative). if you are on anon, I have no context about what you actually think except for what you give me. and that definitely is how I view anons in general but especially within the atla fandom because for all 13-ish years I’ve been in it, it’s been messy. that’s why zutara fans have isolated ourselves from the rest of fandom, because the rest of fandom has been really nasty to us. like did we give back some nastiness? absolutely.

but I would hazard a guess that most anti-zutara shippers don’t know about the conversations we have had in this community to make it safer for people of color, conversations that centered poc and woc especially. hey, that’s okay - not to compare zutara to r*ylo because eurgh but like, idk what discourse the r*ylos have about their community. no idea, I don’t go looking for it. and I don’t go to the tags and harass r*ylos - even though they harass the fuck out of everyone else.

2. so zuko and his privilege

undoubtedly zuko as fire lord is in a fairly privileged position LMFAO. but during the show zuko is very clearly exiled - he holds very little political power in the fire nation EXCEPT for during the first season when he is in command of a ship that ozai gave him on a punishment quest lol like yeah he does terrible things and he of all people would not excuse his actions even if he was a traumatized kid, that’s the point of his arc - that he got some exposure to the rest of the world and worked to be better. and the only reason he was exiled at all was because he cares about people - he didn’t question fire nation supremacy at 13, but he sure did question the morality of his people being lead to slaughter.

but after zuko and iroh defect from the fire nation and stop hunting aang, he has next to no power, in any kind of way. like the guy is a political refugee. and yes, he goes back to the fire nation for like five minutes before realizing that he hates everything about fire nation hegemony and that he wants to end his father’s reign of terror, like that isn’t exactly someone who is going to be well esteemed by the powerful elites when he returns and takes the throne.

and I disregard the comics because they suck lol but zuko does have power as the fire lord, but he limits his power. like compared to ozai, phoenix asshole? azula? for the rest of the world, zuko is kind of an ideal leader for a former colonizing/imperialistic nation to have - someone who worked to end that tyranny, who is anti-imperialist, who believes in justice and equality, who wants to make things right for the peoples who his family oppressed.

I do think it is important to talk about power dynamics and imbalances in relationships - for instance, one could argue that mai is at a significant disadvantage in her relationship with zuko. sure she is from a powerful family but not as powerful as zuko’s. sokka? hah forget it. he’s just as disadvantaged as katara is politically speaking. toph? well, she’s definitely not as powerful politically as zuko - her family tried to silence her for years because of her disability. and oh, she’s disabled so it might be ableist for zuko to strike up a relationship with her when they’re both adults. forgetting of course that toph and sokka and katara and suki and mai are not going to be shy about their wants and needs, that these relationships are not likely to be coercive by nature of the show they’re in and the characters they involve. this is not bill clinton with monica creepiness. like, you’d have to write the relationship that way.

the only person who arguably has more political power than zuko is aang. I guess zuko can’t ever be in a relationship with anyone other than aang. and zuko’s family massacred aang’s people so I guess we can’t ship zukaang. now I know you’re not saying that, context matters. power dynamics are important. but you can’t take away the agency of characters - katara, who is essentially a princess, has agency and can choose who she wants to be with. strictly speaking, aang is more powerful than anyone in terms of political power - he’s the avatar - and of course the dynamic is different by nature of aang not being from a line of oppressors, but there still is a power imbalance in their relationship. and I don’t know how many k/ataang shippers have discourse~ on that. not that I really feel like they NEED to, um idk what they talk about lol I’m not in those circles.

3. fire lady katara is in the eye of the beholder

so fire lady katara is not inherently bad or racist, it’s essentially like saying michelle obama shouldn’t have been first lady of the us (now I get that like the obamas being in power didn’t mean black people are not marginalized lol). you can have conversations about whether or not individual versions of fire lady katara are fucked up, and I’m superrrr open to that because I’ve seen it be kinda shitty before. i’m just gonna leave this link to @shewhotellsstories and her post on this.

but often times katara as fire lady is very dominant in global/fire nation/water tribe politics, she’s a game changer ambassador (that is probably the most popular headcanon I see), she holds on to her culture (and many fans have designed her being in her wt colors, zuko is respectful af to her, she and zuko spend extended periods in the swt, etc. like... it just depends on the way it’s written.

also leaving this response by @avatarnerdkiller to the idea of katara being a prize figurehead.

anyway, thanks for your patience anon and I am curious to see if you see this or even feel like responding after all this time XD

#atla #petty fandom drama #zutara fandom #zutara #fire lady katara #discourse sigh #racism #fandom racism #asks #anonymous

21 notes · View notes

thespaceace124 · 3 years

Text

Tv shows I watched this year, my favorite character from each, and why I like each character.

Since my past few posts about Fandom/TV shows have been kinda negative/ criticism, to end off the year, I wanted to make a few posts about things that I like in media. So today we’ll be taking a look at all the shows I watched/finished this year and my favorite characters from each.

Space Force: Captain Angela Ali. Its been a hot minute since I watched Space force, but iirc she’s just… done like 99% of the time with all of her superiors, but in the ten episodes we get, we see some fun little character moments from her. Like in the war games episode where she has to grapple with being an amazing book student, but has a hard time applying some of the stuff she learned at the military academy in a “combat” situation and has to sort of learn and take the lead from one of her “underlings” who is better in that sort of situation. Also, the bonding moments she has with Chan, like when they’re on the road trip, and when she asks him for help learning some science stuff so she can be more useful on missions and stuff. (again, its been a while since I’ve watched this one so my memory of it is a little foggy)

Stargate SG-1: Colonel Jack O’Neill. I like the tope he falls into of the very surface level sort of gruff military man, doesn’t like talking about his feelings, makes smart ass remarks, asks people who talk to much to get to the point, he’s a very fun character, and adds a lot of fun lightheartedness to the show and is generally enjoyable to have on screen. Also tends to get the most character development, at least regarding his past and sort of why the way that he is. (I would say Teal’c gets the second most), also the reason I got into stargate, as my dad showed me a compilation of him being a smart ass and I was like “oh ho ho, I gotta see more of this guy”

Doctor Who (specifically seasons 11 and 12): The Doctor. I like this version of the Doctor, I like that she a little more lighthearted chaotic as opposed to the previous Doctor, who I would describe as dark chaotic, (at least in s11) and just very fun to be around and watch on screen. Also, I think that the rest of the fam is a little bit underdeveloped? Like, we got a lot of fun stuff for Ryan and Graham in the premier with them being a part of a family unit and then at the end of the season we got a nice little scene of them bonding and Ryan calling him grandad and then in s12 there’s like none of that??? And with Yaz we get that she’s kinda got the usual female companion backstory (not a big fan of her job, not happy living with her family, wants *More* out of life) and then we learn that she got bullied as a kid, and at one point she tried to run away, but a kindhearted cop and her sister??? Managed to keep her in Sheffield. So, I feel a little bit like the doctor is my favorite as a default just because we already know the doctors story, so we’ve just pasted a new personality onto a familiar character.

Deep Space Nine (started 2019): Major Kira Nerys. Straight up the reason this character is my favorite is because my dad said I remind him of her and that makes me feel nice. Also, Nana Visitor is very pretty. Also I like that she takes 0 shit from anyone, including Sisko, but we also get to see her learn and grow from “I will always voice my disagreement no matter what” to “There is a time and a place to object” and also a little bit of learning that sometimes you have to work with people who’ve hurt you and sometimes that sucks. Anyway, she’s a grade A badass and I love her.

Voyager (started 2019): Captain Kathryn Janeway. Like my reasons for Kira, I think Janeway is a badass, and that Kate Mulgrew is very pretty. But also, I think Janeway is a badass in a different way than Kira is, simply because their characters are in very different situations. But I think Janeway is portrayed to be handling things extremely well, and doing what needs be done, obviously that wasn’t super looked at as they did want to keep the tone of voyager relatively light, but anyway, I like Janeway because she’s someone to look up to, to want to incorporate traits of into your own behavior.

Picard: Rafaella “Raffi” Musiker. I like Raffi because she is one of the most consistent characters in Picard. See imo Picard suffers from having too much on its plate, and also it drops/ abandons too many characters. With a show that has only 10 episodes, especially in a first season, you can’t do that. So, with Raffi being in the majority of the episodes, with consistent characterization that makes sense, and working as someone who can actually keep Picard in check? That’s the best character in the show. Also, I think of actors not seen in Star Trek before, she’s one of the better ones and that makes her better.

Lower Decks: Ensign Beckett Mariner. I love a chaotic smartass. Also, for as much as I love LD being a relatively slice of life comedy, I love that Mariner got a ton of characterization in the last few episodes, especially exploring her relationship with her mom, and people who knew her at the academy. She’s super fun, I love how she’s almost always dunking on Boimler, but also really cares for him and doesn’t want to see him hurt. Again, she’s just super fun to see on screen, I love that she doesn’t really like authority figures, and is content to figure herself out while being a relatively low-ranking officer. I like Mariner because she is both sure of herself, but not totally sure what she wants to do with her career, which is something that Star Trek has never explored before, and I think its super interesting.

Discovery: Commander Michael Burnham. I think a trend with a lot of the characters on this list is that I personally find them cool and/or pretty, and once again that also applies to Michael here, but also, I like her because Michael as a concept is fascinating. Like the idea of being a child who goes through a trauma and then is immediately whisked away to a place where she can’t actually process it? And then as a result grows up emotionally constipated and only in her 30s, is sort of finally able to shed that and actually learn how to be healthy with her emotions? Absolutely fascinating, I love that. I also love that we can kind of see that her upbringing and the suppression of emotions as a child still effects the choices that she’s made to this day. Its super cool, and I think one of the best parts of discovery.

Ratched: Nurse Mildred Ratched. I don’t have anything really important to say here, I just tend to like the main characters of tv shows because by default they get the most development/ back story or whatever, and honestly this is one of those shows that I enjoyed enough to watch all ten episodes, and then never picked it up again, so. Ehhh

Dexter: Dexter Morgan. I like Dexter Morgan because he’s a man who has always been told he doesn’t have emotions, but as the show goes on you can totally see that he does have emotions, he just doesn’t know how to handle them, and that they don’t present themselves in the same way that “normal” people’s do. Like, I fully believe that Dexter did actually love Rita, Harry jr., Deb, and Hannah. But I also believe he didn’t fully know how to cope with those emotions, because instead of getting his son help Harry Morgan decided to turn his son into a killing machine, which was a Choice.

Hannibal: Will Graham. I liked watching him kinda fall into Hannibal’s co-dependency trap. Character regression baybee. But like, that’s what happens, I’m pretty sure at one point they both admit that they aren’t healthy for each other, but they also cant live w/o each other. Which is not a dynamic I personally had seen delved into in media before I watched this show. I just think he’s neat.

ATLA: Toph Beifong. I like Toph because I think she provides a nice foil to Aang, whilst also not going too far into the opposite direction. She’s decisive, she knows for the most part what she wants from this adventure, and mostly how to go about getting it, while also discovering a new family along the way. I also just like the way that she can and will throw a boulder at you if she thinks you deserve it.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: Sabrina Spellman. Again, sort of falling into the “I tend to like the main character by default folder” It’s also been a hot minute since I watched this show, so I’m just gonna say that I like Sabrina because she is always the one getting her own self into trouble by being Different. And while I’m not saying that it is always good to conform and do what is expected of you, all of the issues in the show are caused by Sabrina (for the most part). Season one is all about shit falling apart if she doesn’t sign the book, season two is her shaking things up at the witch academy and also not wanting to be the princess of hell (understandable, but again, still her fault) and the whole plot of season 3 is the fallout of her imprisoning the devil and then also being too cocky with the guy made of clay. She’s far too cocky, and I think that’s super funny in regards to how it gets her into situations she’s not really prepared for.

The Coroner (BBC): Beth Kennedy. I watched this show with my stepmom, and in this show, Beth tends to be the one who lightens the mood a lot, so she’s my favorite character b/c of that.

2 notes · View notes

therealbrigeedarocks · 4 years

Text

Rewatched A:TLA and LoK Again

and i still have a few thoughts on them, mostly LoK

i still hate mako as a character with all my heart and soul, and i hope that he dies alone and unhappy because of how shit of a person he was. i hope it is forever thrown into his face how bad he is at relationships and it follows him to his grave

why the hell do people argue that aang wouldn’t favor tenzin, there is literal proof in atla the show and the comics that prove aang is capable of being, well, one-track minded when it comes to the air nation. does he do his best to acknowledge it when it happens (anger at the new air acolytes, the yangchen festival)? sure! but he’s still human. he loved all his kids, but you’re kidding yourself if he wouldn’t unintentionally put tenzin above bumi and kya in certain things

and yeah, bumi, kya, and tenzin all having problems with their dad wasn’t a surprise and something i liked about lok. aang was the avatar and was a shining example for others, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t make mistakes, even with his own family. he wasn’t a shit dad but he wasn’t perfect

why the absolute fuck was it never expressed in the show that amon/noatak’s bloodbending closed the chi paths and that’s how he took away a person’s bending? why did i have to look that bit of info up in a wiki for lok?

i still blame nickelodeon for how they dicked around with lok’s...everything, including scheduling, but really the writers have some blame to share when it comes to dropping plot threads. why would the equalist movement just...stop? they had legit grievances that should’ve been carried over into the other seasons

i still enjoyed watching the earth queen and p’li get theirs

yeah it was pretty bullshit that we don’t really check in with the fire nation and how they’ve changed after ozai’s rule

in fact it was also bullshit that we get throwaway lines about why the remaining gaang members weren’t more active

breaking the connection makes sense more in the “we can’t just keep bringing roku and aang and kyoshi back for cameos that feels like a copout and/or retread’ way than it does storywise but whatevs

speaking of, how do the previous avatars feel when the 4th avatar down the line from them is born? i mean, we only ever see as far back as yangchen at most (wan doesn’t count and you know it) no one else gets consulted. they’re seen but never talked to. must suck in the...spirit realm? afterlife? cosmic space-between-spaces? wherever.

korrasami for life, fuck mako

still disappointed toph couldn’t/wouldn’t bend platinum

speaking of, how the fuck is there that much platinum in the avatar-verse? they can just build a giant platinum bot on a whim?

while i still like bolin, it was super obvious they tried WAY too hard to make him the funny one and it’s just...hmm

i’m still glad that not everyone was on board to train at the air temples and just jump into being part of a new revived nation. but i don’t think they went far enough with it. it’s kind of the gryffindor problem: at least one of the nations/houses has to be the “good one” while others are allowed to be more ambiguous or just down right bad/evil. it could’ve provided more tension for tenzin having to deal with and come to terms with airbenders who couldn’t or simply didn’t want to live up to air nation ideologies. not everyone wants to avoid war, not everyone wants to be vegetarian, not everyone can give up their worldly possessions so readily

raava and vaatu didn’t have to be good guy/bad guy either. we could’ve had an avatar that tried too hard to bring order but nope, raava’s the reason an avatar exists and we can’t have a totalitarian avatar. light needs dark, chaos needs order, they define each other. and if the avatar brings balance that means they need both chaos and order to maintain the world. there could’ve been a chaotic avatar that brought change to a stagnant world after an avatar that brought that stagnant world into existence in the first place. i don’t think i’m explaining it right, but either way, it felt like too much of a reason to make sure there are no bad avatars

katara needed more screentime

don’t you dare try to tell me suki and sokka didn’t have at least one kid, hopefully a daughter named yue

and don’t you dare try to tell me zuko and mai didn’t get together either. i swear i can see mai in fire lord izumi

#random crap #atla #lok

8 notes · View notes

recentanimenews · 4 years

Text

How Batman Tricked Us Into Liking Anime

For every kid that gazed upon Toonami in the late 90s and early 00s and found stuff like Dragon Ball Z and Outlaw Star to be everything they'd ever wanted in life, there were likely other kids that...didn't do that. For instance, while I'd seen "anime" and loved anime before (Bless you, Pokémon and Sailor Moon,) when I actually learned what anime was, I wasn't in the right state of mind to recieve it. I was in middle school when I learned and at the time, I was desperate to retreat from all subjects that might've made me appear overtly nerdy. That meant leaving my Star Wars Expanded Universe novels at home, shutting up about Fellowship of the Ring in class, and never once engaging in anything anime-related. No Goku. No Yusuke. No Gundams.

I was never gonna find a date to the dance anyway, but anime surely wasn't going to help.

However, little did I know that I was getting primed to really, really enjoy anime later. Because the Western cartoons that I considered a "safe zone" were slowly getting more and more anime influences, influences that've been openly explained and embraced by their creators. And this build-up to one day letting anime into my heart started, as most things do, with Batman.

Or, well, a protege of Batman, that is. The 2003 Teen Titans cartoon has long been known for a style that resembles anime far more than it does the DC Comics superhero cartoons that preceded it in the decade prior. Glen Murakami, a producer on Teen Titans, had spent a long time working on classics like Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series. And while both shows are fantastic and iconic, he wanted to do something different with Titans.

"We were fans of anime for years while working on the other shows, and it seemed natural to use that as the new direction to go in," he said in an interview with Animation World Network. "I had seen a lot of different things being done with anime, and I thought that was a wonderful opportunity to tell stories in a different way, a very stylistic way. So it just seemed sort of natural that a hybrid would occur."

He goes on to cite series like Speed Racer and Kimba as stories that influenced the tone and storytelling of Titans, and it doesn't take too long to see where the animation has been influenced as well. Teen Titans is full of exaggerated reactions, diverse color palettes, and well-choreographed fight scenes. It also features a fun team dynamic that is way more One Piece than it is Justice League, though that likely has more to do with the basic nature of young, teenage superheroes.

But this wouldn't be a one-and-done experiment for DC characters. Though often maligned upon its release as an unworthy successor to Batman: The Animated Series, I found something undeniably awesome about The Batman when it premiered in 2004. Little did I know that a lot of what I gravitated towards (The extended combat sequences, the stylized character designs by Jeff Matsuda) were straight out of the anime playbook. For example, just take a look at this short portion of the fight scene between Joker, Batman, and Penguin in the episode "The Laughing Bat" and check out how much more it looks like Naruto vs Sasuke than anything an animated Batman had been involved in before:

At the time, I just enjoyed stuff like this because it felt so new. I'd been so used to a few kinds of Batman for so long that seeing this dynamic take was refreshing. Then, years later, when finally watching something like Shippuden, I couldn't quite put my finger on why the chaotic taijutsu combat seemed so familiar. Of course, it was because I'd watched the Dark Knight pull it off a decade earlier. Supervising Producer Michael Goguen even said in an interview that the anime influence is pretty obvious and "fun." Hot take: I think I agree with that.

Of course, many people that didn't watch anime were first introduced to an anime-esque style with Avatar: The Last Airbender. No Western show has perhaps been more open with the fact that the creators think that anime is rad than Avatar, with creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino letting it not only influence the art style but the storytelling as well. The arcs of characters like Aang and Zuko are rarely episodic, instead playing out in intricate ways over time, with a long term goal already established. There was an end in mind, which is a far cry from the usual system of Western hero cartoons which just go on until people stop watching them.

But while Avatar was the King of anime-influenced cartoons that were made in America, it certainly wasn't alone. Shows like Megas XLR, which was both a loving tribute to and a satire of the popular anime mecha genre, were also around. In fact, while I knew of Gundam, I never actually watched a Gundam series until after I saw Megas. So RIP Megas XLR. You were taken away from us too soon.

And the list goes on, from The Boondocks to Jackie Chan Adventures to Transformers: Animated to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Samurai Jack - all shows where an anime influence seems at least partial, if not extremely obvious at times. It just goes to show you that the significance of anime is global, and that it can reach as high as the Northern Air Temple and as low as the BatCave. And for a kid like me, it was so necessary. Because I likely never would've gotten into anime if these cartoon creators hadn't loved it first.

Do you remember any of these shows? What's your favorite anime-influenced Western cartoon? Let us know in the comments!

------------------

Daniel Dockery is a writer/editor and is currently singing the Teen Titans theme to himself. You should follow him on Twitter.

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: [email protected]

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

0 notes

bay217 · 7 years

Text

Chapter 1

Long, long ago, the four great lands fought the most brutal war this world has ever seen. Fueled by an imperialistic lust for power, Fire Lord Sozin attacked the other nations, the earth kingdom, the air nomads, and the water tribes. The war brought about many terrible tragedies, and many brave acts of heroism. Finally, when all hope seemed lost, the Hundred Year War was ended by Avatar Aang and Fire Lord Zuko, and a great era of peace was ushered in. People of all nations and all walks of life were united under the Republic of Nations and the leadership of Republic City. If this peace had lasted, then I would not be telling you this story. As it is, there is indeed a story to be told.** **

During the Hundred Year War, our world experienced a devastating extinction event. Countless plant and animal species were lost to the fires of conquest and conflict. What began as an initiative to resurrect the species of the old world granted us technology beyond what we had ever thought possible. Through the work of several talented geneticists and the grace of serendipity, the world was again filled with all the beautiful variety of life it had once sustained. Diseases were eradicated and no man went hungry. For the first time in history, the building blocks of life itself were in our hands. But that which had created such prosperity would soon show its potential for destruction. From the very creches that had given rise to Koalaotters and Pygmy pumas sprung the first of the Great Plagues. The plagues ravaged the world, destroying crops, causing the restored fauna to die of starvation, and leaving entire regions reduced to vast swirling deserts of dust and decay. Entire ecosystems came crashing down. Widespread famine and illness has killed countless. Were it not for a handful of sanctuaries, mankind as we know it may have been lost. The world is hurting. The world needs an Avatar…

[The Earth Kingdom City of Omashu]

“Last week it was four copper pieces!” Ong growled across the wooden booth. He grasped a sack of rice in his hand and glared at the man sitting behind the counter. Around them Kyu-Bak, Omashu’s enormous indoor marketplace, buzzed with activity.

“No four. Six today. Laws strong today.” the old man crossed his leathery, tanded arms over his chest stubbornly. He had the body of a beggar but the eyes of a businessman.

On any other day Ong would have tried to get the price down to at least 5 or else search out a better price at another vendor, but today he was already running late. He made a slightly disgruntled sound and forked over the money, taking the rice and winding his way back through the press of bodies.

He exited through one of the four massive doors to Kyu-Bak, his copper hair whipped by the powerful industrial fans groaning against the thick air of the city. Stepping out into the swelter was like walking into a wall of heat.

Out in the sloping, winding streets near the outer walls, high-speed transports built on the rails crisscrossing the city zipped overhead. The idea for the system was supposedly originated by the city’s king and a famous avatar in times long past.

Ong made his way through the communities adjacent to the great outer walls. Houses and less dignified shelters were built from mud-brick, sheet metal and wood against the wall itself, growing and overflowing as though the sector was a living thing itself. It was a place for the poor, adjoining the industrial district of Omashu. Walking through the streets Ong could almost smell the poverty. This was a scent, Ong thought, even sadder and more proximal than the stench of the emissions coming from the city’s industry. As if on cue, a fat-bellied exhaust pipe running from the heart of the city belched a cloud of smoke beside him.

“Ong!” his name echoed across a street clogged with trash and running children. He swiveled his head to see Nepa hurrying through an alleyway toward him. “Hey brudda, howzit eh?”

The man fell into step with Ong and they walked along the uneven path leading to Ong’s region of the vast slum. All the while Nepa whistled, his cheeks rosy and a smile on his face despite the grime besmearing his complexion and the poverty evident in his skinny limbs.

“Well then, what have you to say?” Ong asked impatiently. “Or did you simply wish to provide me a soundtrack for my walk home?” he teased.

Nepa chortled but shook his head, his face quickly falling into solemnity. “There are stirrings again. About clean water. Zone 3” he muttered. The slums on the outskirts of Omashu were informally divided into 5 zones, each representing a chunk of city perimeter that was often home to the lower class. “It has been so hot lately…” he added.

Ong nodded. “Is there immediate danger?” he asked. “What did Ravinder say?”

Nepa shook his head. “I don’t think it will become very violent yet, but the health concerns are mounting.”

“I will bring it to the attention of the council. In the meantime, ask the other zones to divert a small fraction of their water to Zone 3. Four is in Three’s debt since they recently absorbed some of Four’s population growth.” said Ong. “Thank you Nepa.”

The jolly older man nodded and started along the path to his own house. Ong looked after him, then called out “Hey! Nepa, your family will come tonight?”

Nepa grinned, looking over his shoulder “Half of the population of the slums is coming, man” he muttered “of course I’m gunna be there. The poor rarely have cause to drink. When there’s something to be joyful for, how can we miss such a chance, eh?”

Ong gave an exasperated expression, ever serious, even with regard to his children’s birthday celebration.

“Come now, this is an occasion most joyous. 10 years! Considering that there’s two of them, it may as well have been 20” he said as he headed away toward his own avenue of the slums.

For families in the poverty-ridden Zones, a child’s 10th birthday was often the only time they celebrated on account of something as trivial as the anniversary of one’s birth. In such disease and hunger-ridden times as these, more than half of all children died before they reached the age of 10, whether from sickness, malnutrition, or as a casualty of war or crime. However, it was widely accepted in the Zones that once a child reached the age of 10, they were much more likely to survive into adulthood.

Ong completed his trek home undisturbed. His was a mud-brick abode set on a small hill of earth, a couple hundred feet away from the rest of the slums and in slightly better condition. This was the only thing that distinguished him as a councilman. Elsewise, the sole representative of the Zones to the city council lived unremarkably, just as his constituency.

The house was abuzz with activity. Various women of the community were hurrying about, baskets of dark brown breads in their hands or mismatched tablecloths piled in their arms to just below eye-level. Meanwhile children ran about, some helping to carry things and others just getting in the way underfoot. A few men from the slums who were close to Ong were busy smoking meats over a fire in the back, a rare treat.

In the middle of all of the commotion stood Leah, Ong’s wife and the lady of the house. She was confidently directing workflow despite the chaotic nature of such a ceremony.

Usually a child’s 10th birthday was a pretty ritualized occasion, a large family gathering. However, considering Ong’s position in the community, this celebration was an even bigger deal, with more than two hundred people expected and several times that number of wellwishers to stop by in the coming week. However, it was not just daddy’s career which drew such fuss over this particular celebration. Rather, this was the birthday of two very special children…twins.

In the city of Omashu, there was much superstition and honor surrounding twins. For reasons undetermined (although most definitely relating to the rampant pollution) the birth of twins was much more rare than it had been in times past. Couple this with high child mortality rate, and rarely did a set of twins live to their tenth birthday.

On his way through the bustle toward his wife, Ong felt a hand grip his arm. “Onnnng darling.” a raspy old voice called him. “Hello Aunt Mimsy” he said.

“Such diamonds, such jewels!” the short, sturdy woman crooned. “Born in the honor of Omashu’s namesake. I never thought I’d live to see twins grow this old ever again. This is a joyous day indeed!” she twirled off without waiting for a response.

Twins, and especially a boy and girl, were believed to represent reincarnations of Oma and Shu, after whom the city was named and who were so close in their lives that they were said to be reborn together, at the same instant so that their spirits would never again have to be apart. Because of this, Ong’s two children had always meant something important to the community.

Seeing Ong, Leah beckoned him with a smile. “There you are, my breadwinner.” she said. As he grew closer her smile dropped and she squinted at him. “You’re late” she scolded.

“And you let Aunt Mims get to the rice wine,” he countered.

Leah’s coy smile returned as she kissed her husband. “And you’re late. Your children are in the house, but be careful, your mother is in there too and she’s barricaded the door”

Ong nodded knowingly and brought the bag of rice he’d been sent out to acquire into the kitchen. The room was small and filled way past capacity with women fixing dishes, rolling dough, and boiling water. It was a delicious smelling sauna packed with people and Ong breathed a breath of relief once he’d made his way through.

Making his way through the cooler part of the house, he went down a hallway only to be met almost immediately by his mother, a small woman with fierce eyes whose smile was hardly diminished by her missing teeth. She was a formidable woman, as Ong had learned through growing up under her watchful eye.

“Now mother, I know what you’re going to say but they’re my children and I think I have a right to wish them a happy birthday before they’re on display for our neighbors!” he came out strong. You really had to catch her off guard, he’d noticed, otherwise she was stubborn as a mule-turtle (although he’d never quite understood that saying).

Ong’s mother patiently waited out his indignation with one eyebrow raised. “Relax,” she said gently “They’re ready.”

“Oh,” Ong smiled sheepishly and edged past her toward the twins’ bedroom.

“I don’t know who you think you were talking to with that attitude Ong, certainly not the woman who gave birth to you and raised you!” she called after him.

Inside their small room, Myr and Hiko stood before him, smiling up at their father. The twins were dressed in their finest clothing.

For Myr, these were a shimmery kimono-like robe that had been handed down through the family and silk-slippers. Hiko was dressed in a black hakama, and a navy blue top which bared the top of his chest. The most remarkable thing about the children though, was what his mother had done.

Myr’s arms were bare, but extremely intricate designs adorned her tan forearms and halfway up her biceps. Her eyes were daubed with a gentle reduction of a black-juiced berry to make her eyes appear more sly and wise. Her cheeks, just losing their baby fat, were delicately powdered.

Hiko’s face and all of his visible skin was adorned with thin white lines of heiza, an herbal mixture that smelled a bit musky. The designs, though markedly different from his sister’s, were equally as complex. They gave his skin the appearance of having been chiseled and angled, as though cut from the earth itself.

Ong smiled back down at his children. He was at once filled with happiness at their vitality and the promise in their eyes and melancholy that they had been born into such a troubled world.

“Daddy the kimono itches my belly” Myr said, expertly (although inadvertently) diffusing the moment.

Ong laughed at her and ruffled her hair, which elicited a tongue click from his mother in the doorway. “You look pretty though” he assured her.

Myr turned and examined herself in the small, smudged mirror that rested against the wall in the twins’ shared room. She moved from side to side and looked over her back too. “Well, that’s true.” she said, smiling a toothy grin. “I look like a princess”

Hiko flexed his essentially nonexistent muscles. “I look like a man!” he growled. “An earthbending fighter!” he exclaimed, leaping into an exaggerated fighting pose.

“Yeah right!” Myr said, rolling her eyes as Ong shot Hiko a scolding glance.

“You’re not an earthbender Hiko.” he said quickly. “Well, everyone will be here in a few hours so try not to smudge your heiza or dirty your clothes. You can be the official tasters for whatever they are making in that kitchen” he said, trying to give them an incentive to stay inside. It expected that at least most of the guests see them first when they made their appearance later that night.

“Oh, and happy birthday” he said, remembering on his way out. He knelt and gave them both hugs. “I love you”

When he stepped back outside the grounds had become doubly as busy, something Ong hadn’t thought possible. A few makeshift tents had been erected on the grounds and lanterns hung from each of their supporting poles. The sun had begun its descent and everywhere people buzzed with the excitement of celebration. It was going quite the party.

Nepa was right, the people of the slums rarely had reason to come together and celebrate. This wasn’t just a birthday party, but a celebration that somewhere, in the midst of a broken world, there could still be hope.

#legend of korra #atla #avatar the last airbender #lok #fanfiction #writing

2 notes · View notes