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supremechancellorrex · 5 months

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Avatar in my head and I was thinking about Maiko and Mai.

Now, Mai's character arc in Avatar, from my interpretation, is rediscovering herself and her wants and personhood that has been stripped from her as a noblewoman part of a family that submitted to the Fire Nation Imperialist structure and Ozai. We see in Book 2 set up for this. Mai in early Book 2 does not resist Azula's will aside from brief sparks of rebellion where she isn't present. "Of course not, Princess Azula" she notes formally and apathetically when Azula asks if she "minds", knowing she has no choice as Azula 'just' ponders if Mai's hostage brother is worth an Earth King like Bumi. Mai is always aware that Azula, as Princess in an authoritarian nation where the Fire Lord is God, can have her executed and her family punished. The unequal power dynamic is surprisingly consistent in the show.

Mai can't even insult Azula back in Zuko Alone as a child. She just lets Azula put an apple on her head (as Ty Lee loyally sniggers along), set it on fire, and when Zuko pushes her into the fountain to put it out, Mai, drenched, glares and says "You two are such… ugh". We know Mai can have an acid tongue, yet her fear of Azula prevents her from using it. Her most rebellious act in Book 2 is when she says "She can shoot all the lightning she wants at me. I am not getting in that wall sludge juice". Mai actually has self-respect, but she can't express it in the presence of greater threats, meanwhile Ty Lee merely says "Come on! Azula said we have to follow them", because Ty Lee follows Azula's will even when she isn't there.

Even when Mai gets with Zuko, she falls into a subservient role. When Azula interrupts Maiko's smooching, lazily dismissing Mai with "Oh Mai, Ty Lee needs help untangling her braid" Mai responds quickly "Sounds pretty serious" with only a touch of dryness and leaves, only able to muster throwing Azula a dirty look a split second after passing her. However, this little ember of rebellion will grow.

Mai has continued difficulty understanding Zuko's anger and reactiveness, or how to even function in a relationship. She initially tries to joke in a dismissive fashion, as if saying 'ugh, feelings are lame, right?', but that would only work with Azula logically. The Beach episode is a key Mai episode. She continues to be emotionally repressed, to the point Zuko, Ty Lee and Azula comment on it. However, Zuko's insecurity at her talking to Ruon-Jian to the point he physically removes him from her presence, and his accusative comments like "You like him, don't you?", also makes Mai feel a little boxed in, controlled, and that does irritated her given her history. However, at the Beach's emotional narrative climax, Mai is able to finally express herself at the rest of the group (Azula included) for the first time, telling them to "Leave her alone" and that she's "still mad". After Zuko explosively reveals the extent of his pain and confusion, we see a 'smoothing' effect on her attitude. She realises her and Zuko are dealing with pain in different ways and his way is understandable.

Mai says softly, "I know one thing I care about, I care about you". This is the one thing Mai can grasp in the confusion. This is where Mai betraying Azula becomes inevitable. We see Mai continue to be more supportive with Zuko, more actively trying to cheer him up in Nightmares and Daydreams with big smiles and jokes while Zuko remains shut down over the War meeting and is acting irritated and repressed due to his family trauma. When Zuko later leaves and joins the Avatar, Mai is hurt and angry, which shows in the Boiling Rock, saying "All I get is a letter? You could have at least looked me in the eye when you ripped out my heart". They have a tense conversation, but it's their most honest one. I actually think Mai already made up her mind in this scene to support Zuko over Azula, and she doesn't quite realise it. "Save it? You're betraying your country" she accuses, to which Zuko replies, resolute, "That's not how I see it", and in response Mai just folds her arms and turns her head away in an almost defeat.

I find it very telling she doesn't respond. It's because she realises Zuko is more passionate and resolute about his mission than she is hers. It's because she knows the Fire Nation under its current authority is not exactly great. Sometimes in life we fall into a box and we need someone to give us that little push so we can realise we can climb out of it, that the toxic space we're in isn't normal, and we don't have to tolerate it. I like to think Mai was thinking in that moment where Zuko locked her in the cell and he and she gazed into each others' eyes, what she was really thinking about was what life she actually wanted to live. She was thinking of Azula and being under her thumb, and she was thinking of all those moments with Zuko, like when they were lounging on the sofa together, smiling and joking in Nightmares & Daydreams, and she realised how ridiculous it was to be afraid of Azula killing her when the real fear should be being Azula's servant until her dying days, decades of repression and misery.

After all, what does Mai have left to fight for? Fear of Azula? Hah, what a joke. She remembers "I know one thing I care about. I care about you" and when she sees Zuko about to die she has to intervene.

"I guess you just don't know people as well as you think you do. You miscalculated. I love Zuko more than I fear you" Mai says to an increasingly-enraged Azula's speak of 'consequences', because Mai did fear Azula, but now in her love for Zuko she has found a purpose she has been lacking, her feelings and wants over Azula's will. Zuko being true to himself is contagious. Iroh's love for Zuko puts him on the right path, and in turn the love Mai has for Zuko saves her. As a consequence Ty Lee chooses Mai and their friendship over Azula's toxic, fear-based one and even later bonds with former enemies like the Kyoshi Warriors. Like Zuko says to Ozai, "an era of peace and kindness" will replace an "era of fear". In the face of fear, love and empathy win.

#avatar legend of aang #avatar last airbender #avatar mai #prince zuko #alta mai #zuko #atla maiko #maiko #princess azula #ty lee #can't wait to see them in the avatar live action #themes #good writing #character writing #romantic relationships #classism #imperialism

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lancermylove · 4 months

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Chapter 4 (N.SFW)

➣ Pairing: Demon brothers, Royals, Solomon with fem!Reader. ➣ Warning: N.SFW ➣ Word Count: 3,366 ➣ Chapters [SFW]: [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] ➣ Chapters [N.SFW]: [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]

➣ A/N: I was very tired - so tired that I almost accidentally deleted the entire draft - when I wrote this, so hopefully, it turned out well. 😅

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The faintest morning light filtered through the window blinds, but you lay awake in bed. Unable to fall asleep again, you got ready and quietly went downstairs, trying to keep the wooden floorboards creaking to a minimum, to find the living area empty. Someone had turned the fireplace off, but the early winter chill on the first level was rather refreshing. 'Hm? Is that...?' Through one of the windows, you noticed Satan pacing back and forth a short distance from the cabin.

The sky above the cabin was painted a brilliant orange as the sun slowly rose from behind the snowy mountains, casting long shadows as it ascended the sky. Satan's hair was illuminated by the sun's rays, giving it the appearance of a crown on his head. His skin was red, and his face was contorted with anger, as though he could not escape the freezing temperatures' bitter chill.

"Good morning, Satan. What's wrong?" You worriedly asked, but when he didn't reply, you continued. "You shouldn't stay out too long."

"Demons are far more powerful than frail humans," he rasped, his tone harsher than he meant, making you wince. It was unusual for him to behave that way with you, so something unexpected must have happened.

The fourth brother sighed after realizing he had taken his anger for his brother out on you. "My apologies, (y/n). After you and Beel left yesterday, Lucifer forced me to shift into his bedroom. It's bad enough that I have to live under the same roof as him, but now, I have to share a room."

"It's okay, Satan. Why did Lucifer force you to move?" You asked curiously but knew the first brother's actions always had a meaning behind them.

"Diavolo had no issues staying with Lucifer, but Barbatos said it would be better for him to stay with his royal highness," Satan fumed. "So, Lucifer asked me to vacate my room. I asked the others if they would switch with me, and Solomon only agreed. But, of course, Lucifer intervened."

The Avatar of Wrath faced you, folded his arms across his chest, and mimicked his older brother's voice. "I refuse to share a room with Solomon. His mere presence gives me a headache."

His impersonation made you chuckle, but there had to be a viable solution to his situation. "Do you want to take my room? I don't mind sharing a room with Lucifer."

"Absolutely not!" He exclaimed, eliciting a laugh from you. You expected that reaction from him but thought to ask anyway. Who were you kidding? You just wanted to see Satan's reaction to you rooming with the Avatar of Pride.

"Then, why don't you find a common ground with Lucifer? That way, you can enjoy spending time with him." You suggested in hopes that he would give in to your request. Once your words settled in his mind, Satan's face lit up. The dark aura of despair hovering around him gave way to one filled with excitement, and his arms tightly coiled around your frame.

"That's it! (Y/n), you are a genius."

"Thank you?" You mumbled, baffled by his sudden enthusiasm. "But what do you plan to do?"

"Since Lucifer can't get away from me, this is the perfect opportunity to prank him. Endlessly." He grinned and released you from his grip. Without waiting for your response, Satan powerwalked to the main door of the cabin, leaving you screaming in the background. "W-Wait! Satan, that's not what I meant."

You sighed heavily and slumped your shoulders, mumbling to yourself. "That was not what I meant, Satan. Sorry, Lucifer. I think I just made your problem worse. I will be in deep waters if Lucifer learns about this conversation."

"Good morning, (y/n). Would you kindly repeat what you said?" Barbatos whispered behind you. His sudden appearance startled you and left you wondering how he managed to stealthily approach you without emitting even a single crunch of the snow underfoot. The small curls on the corners of his lips seemed to indicate that he had knowledge of the occurrences before his appearance.

"Satan doesn't want to stay with Lucifer, and I tried to tell him to find common ground so he could enjoy his time with his older brother. But Satan interpreted that as 'prank Lucifer endlessly'," you exhaled loudly through your mouth. "If Lucifer finds out about this, I will be in trouble."

Unbeknownst to the two of you, Solomon stood near a window inside the cabin, sipping tea from a mug, and expressionlessly peered at you. Barbatos chuckled at your unfounded concern but remained silent. His dark emerald eyes analyzed every aspect of your demeanor, although his expression betrayed nothing of his thoughts or feelings. He seemed to be gauging your discomfort around him, which further heightened your unease.

"What reason could you possibly have for your discomfort?"

His direct inquiry caught you off guard, but you saw no point in concealing the truth from him as you knew he would see through your lies. You mumbled your response, your gaze fixed on your white boots layered with fresh snow, "Lucifer might have caught on. I am worried, Barbatos."

"Do not worry needlessly, (y/n)," he reassured. "Now, my dear, I implore you to return to the cabin. The weather is frigid, and I would rather you not fall ill."

"You can go ahead, and I will join you in a few minutes. I need some fresh air to clear my thoughts." You dully said.

"As you wish, but do not take longer than necessary. Then, I shall take my leave," Barbatos warmly smiled, and to your surprise, his smile reached his eyes. Was this the first time you saw his genuine smile? You couldn't remember but felt happy nevertheless.

After a while, you took his advice and headed back, only to see Mammon sneakily approaching the main door with an object hidden in his hand behind his back. Although you attempted to discern the words on the folded stack of black and blue packets, Mammon thwarted your efforts and slid them inside his jacket's pocket.

"Mammon, what are you doing?" You asked, suspecting he was up to no good. As you expected, he was startled by your presence but managed to give you a nervous smile. He was definitely up to no good, but you hoped his ill intention would not result in Lucifer severely punishing him.

"I ain't doin' anythin', and before ya ask, I'm sneakin' in 'cause I'm tryin' to avoid...Solomon," he laughed. "Are ya hungry? 'Cause I'm starvin'. Let's get breakfast!"

With those words, Mammon ran into the cabin, avoiding any other question you might have had for him. You shook your head, but before you could enter, Solomon blocked your path. "Are you alright, (y/n)? You seemed troubled."

It was evident that the sorcerer suspected you were hiding a secret and sought to hear it directly from you. Given the potential ramifications of divulging the truth, specifically with respect to Lucifer, you promptly shook your head. "It's nothing. I've to get ready to go shopping with Levi, so excuse me."

As his eyes followed you, Solomon smiled to himself. What were you hiding from him, and why were you nervous around Barbatos? But the most crucial question was: should he pry into the matter or leave it alone?

"Don't be nervous, Levi. There aren't many people around this time of the day," you chuckled and squeezed his hand slightly. Levi said nothing as he scanned the colorful store you had brought him to.

Every rack and shelf had an array of Christmas clothes in all shapes, sizes, and colors. The walls were adorned with tinsel, mistletoes, snowflake cutouts, and wreaths, creating a festive atmosphere that filled you with a sense of joy and excitement. However, the endless wave of bright colors made your eyes water. In the front right corner of the store stood a teenager with her caramel eyes glued on her phone, utterly oblivious to her surroundings. The loud music blasting from her earphones made it clear that she was lost in her own world. Not paying heed to her lack of awareness, you made your way to the center of the store.

"Hey, Levi, is this festive enough?" You asked while holding a hanger up to your shoulders. The sweater on the hanger had a multitude of colors and clashing patterns, with green reindeer and snowflakes scattered throughout.

"It looks like you purchased an entire Christmas store and glued it to the sweater. Then, found a unicorn and asked it to hurl sparkles on it. But that still wasn't enough for you, so you wrapped the sweater in green and red tinsel garland," Levi laughed.

"Descriptive," you giggled. "So, what do you think about buying ugly sweaters for everyone?"

"No way that Lucifer, Satan, Asmo, and Barbatos would wear them," Levi responded as he looked through the rack of sweaters closest to him until one caught his attention. The green sweater had an upside-down realistic pizza slice with green tinsel garland wrapped around it and a star on top. "Beel would like this and probably try to eat it."

"Oh, that's perfect of him! Then, why don't we change the theme from ugly sweaters to witty or relatable sweaters?" You smiled, proud of your quick thinking, to which he readily agreed.

The first red and green sweater you found was ideal for Asmo. The main body of the wear was a creative nod to the holiday season, playing with the idea of being on the nice or naughty list. The words "On the Nice List" were printed in large white letters, but 'Nice' was spelled in white sequins with a black background. But with one sweep of your hand, the sequins flipped to the word 'Naughty', reminding you of Asmo's playful nature.

When you showed Levi your choice, he could not stop fiddling with the sequins, fascinated by their ability to change with one touch. As he giddily flipped back and forth between nice and naughty, you found a mustard yellow sweater fitted for Belphagor. In the center was a sloth clad in a vibrant red sweater with a matching Santa hat as it dozed off on a snow-covered branch adorned with Christmas lights. The sloth's arms were intertwined in a position of contentment as the words Merry Slothmas hovered above and below in vermillion. The remainder of the empty place was adorned with deep blue Christmas trees and snowflakes and green ornaments with red swirls.

"(Y/n) look at this. Doesn't he remind you of Lucifer?" Levi laughed, holding a crimson sweater up for you. This dark red sweatshirt was accented with a black rectangular shape, which extended to the sleeves. Within the rectangular shape was a backdrop of vibrant Christmas string lights, adding a pop of color to the mostly dark outfit. In the center, the words "Is this jolly enough?" were written in the shape of a Christmas tree. With his grumpy expression, the Grinch stood beside it with a cup of coffee in his hand, wrapped in string lights, and a red Santa hat on his head.

"Lucifer as the Grinch," you whispered while imagining Lucifer as the grouch in your favorite part of the classic movie. Somehow, the Grinch's expression reminded you of the stern first brother, making you laugh. "It's perfect! I bet this is what he will look like on Christmas morning."

Your next targets were the prince and his butler. You selected a fiery crimson sweatshirt for Diavolo with white pine trees, snowflakes, and candy canes printed on it. In front of the festive designs was a vibrant green frustrated T-Rex with a Santa cap, gazing at gifts that lay beyond his stubby reach. His tiny arms tried to grasp the presents, while "T-Rex Hates Christmas" was painted upon the sweatshirt in striking white. Luckily, a sweatshirt ideal for Barbatos hung beside Diavolo's - even their sweatshirts came in a pair. Compared to the prince's, the butler's wear was far simpler - a ketchup-colored sweatshirt with random festive patterns and words in white that read "I Can Get You On The Naughty List."

As you turned around to place the sweatshirts on your 'selected' pile, you noticed a small opening in the back of the store leading to a smaller room. With a bit of caution, you approached the area and stepped inside, instantly turning crimson-faced at the scene you beheld. Though the room's tone didn't quite fit the wholesome and family-friendly atmosphere of the store, you ventured further in regardless.

One particularly explicit piece caught your attention, and though you were uncomfortable, you couldn't look away. The emerald green sweatshirt had an image of an upwards penis on it, but only the bottom of the shaft and balls were visible. The upper half of the length was missing, indicating the wearer of the sweatshirt was a dick. On cue, Leviathan entered the room and followed your gaze to the sweater. He instantly jumped back and averted his gaze as his face turned a deep shade of scarlet. What had he walked into, and why were you here?

A playful smirk appeared on your lips when you saw his red cheeks. Noticing another risque sweater, you picked up the hanger and held it in front of you. The cloth had a hole near the chest, and out peeked a plastic boob with a carrot nose on the nipple and googly eyes on top.

"Oh, Levi," you mischievously smiled, and the second he glanced in your direction, you gently pressed your hand on the plastic breast and fondled it. The color of Levi's face could have put a tomato to shame, but he managed to pry his eyes from you. Unfortunately for him, his gaze landed on a sweater with the words "Kiss Under the Mistletoe" with a mistletoe hanging near the hip area of the fabric.

The image of him wearing the sweatshirt as you kneeled down in front of him plagued his mind, but he frantically shook his head to stop his mind from imagining anything further. 'Bad Levi. No, no, no. Don't go there.' His poor heart could not take any more teasing, so the demon turned on his heels and hurried back to the family-friendly area. Unknown to him, a devilish grin tugged on your lips.

Trying to distance himself from the heart-failing events that transpired, Levi's eyes darted from one sweater to another, but his breath remained shallow. In his peripheral vision, he spotted a cat and instantly selected the apparel for Satan. The dark green sweater was decorated with white stripes and a mix of red and green snowflakes across the sleeves. In the center was an image of a perpetually grumpy cat sitting in front of a red ornament, wearing a Santa hat. The words "Jingle All The Way To Hell" were inscribed in white above and below the image.

You walked behind Levi and chuckled at the grumpy cat, recalling how Satan looked while fuming earlier in the day. Ignoring Leviathan's quizzical look, as you didn't want to upset Satan but telling Levi his issues, you searched for the perfect sweaters for Mammon and Solomon. Even though the two of you had been in the store for a while, the teen cashier had yet to notice your presence.

The black sweatshirt you selected for Mammon had a rectangle bordered by a frame of vibrant red presents and green snowflakes. Within the frame were three green checkboxes, each with a distinct white typography. The first checkbox read "Nice," the second "Naughty," and the third "Innocent until proven guilty." A red checkmark was placed neatly inside the third checkbox. Contrasting Mammon's sweatshirt was Solomon's bright red sweater that had the words "Permanently On The Naughty List And Loving Every Minute Of It" in bold white letters.

With a sigh of relief, you sat the last sweater on your selected pile and scanned the store to find Levi. Who knew finding the perfect Christmas sweater could be this exhausting? He stood in the game-related Christmas sweaters section in hopes of finding one for him and you. But you beat him to it and handed him a dark blue sweater with colorful crewmates chaotically standing in the center and "Christmas is Among Us" written below them. "How about this one?"

"Then, will you wear this one?" Levi shyly asked as he showed you a pine green sweater with Pikachu happily sitting in the center, a heart above its head, and the words "All I Want For Christmas Is...CHUUU!!!" below and above the adorable Pokemon.

Your face grew warm as a light, rosy flush graced your cheeks. Leaning close to his face, you playfully brought your lips to his ears and whispered, "Let me try this on to make sure it fits."

The moment your warm breath caressed his ear, the air charged with anticipation. Your breath caused goosebumps to erupt on his skin while his pulse quickened at the thought of something more. He could only nod slightly as his eyes followed you to the changing room. But why were you going to the changing room in the dizzying part of the store? Feeling an unexplainable tug, he slowly dragged his feet toward the adult-themed section but kept his eyes on the walls, away from the explicit sweaters. His pants were still slightly tight from your teasing, and he didn't need them to get any tighter.

Every minute he waited for you felt like an eternity and only increased his temptation to peer at the sweaters to his left. Images of you caressing the plastic boob and kneeling in front of him to kiss under the mistletoe flashed before his eyes, but the demon forced himself to keep his thoughts clear. If his mind had an undo or erase button, Levi would have repeatedly slammed it.

"(Y/n), are you done yet?" He quietly asked and knocked on the changing room's door. No response. "(Y/n)? Are you okay?" His nervousness grew as he knocked louder a few more times.

In a panic, the Avatar of Envy flung the door open but froze when he saw you in front of the mirror with a mischievous smile. Though your back was turned to him, Levi saw the words on your sweater in the mirror's reflection: "Joy to the Touch." White gloves were painted over the dark blue fabric over your breasts as if fondling them. Heat surged through his body at the unwanted thoughts snuck into his mind once more.

"What are you waiting for, Levi?" You deliberately spoke in a slow and sultry voice, knowing you had successfully hit the hammer on the nail.

The demon closed the door and wrapped his arms around you from behind, yet he gave no kiss, nor did he whisper sweet nothings; instead, he buried his face in the curve of your neck with a frustrated groan. You suppressed your urge to laugh and took the lead, guiding his hands to your chest over the white gloves on the sweaters.

As he felt the softness of your mounds through the fabric, Levi pressed his heated face deeper into your skin, the feeling enough to send a jolt of passion through your body. His hands slowly released your mounds and slid down inch by inch to sneak beneath your sweater and bra, prompting a soft sigh to escape your parted lips.

"Hmm, Levi. I have waited for this for a long time," you purred.

Though he didn't reply, his trembling hands gently kneaded your supple curves and pinched your perked buds. You leaned back into him and closed your eyes, holding back the moans bubbling in your throat. Your mind was filled with thoughts of Levi hovering over you, his hips bucking against yours as you dug your nails into his flesh. You needed more. You needed him.

"Why don't we go somewhere more private and finish what we started?"

Levi was filled with desire as he saw the way your lips curved into a naughty grin. Your words sent a shiver up his spine, and he let out a lustful moan in response.

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shadowed-dancer · 2 months

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I watched the Netflix atla and I have thoughts

I will break them down into positives, negatives, and assorted, but if you want the short version: it's better than the M Night Shyamalan film.

Positives

I like that Zuko's crew is the 41st division. It's a cute detail, and honestly I had always wondered how they chose soldiers to accompany an exiled prince

I actually liked Suki's characterization. Like yeah, I believe that girl has never had contact with outsiders. And I think her chemistry with Sokka is great! I can't wait for her to come back and see more of the world (her "thank you for bringing the world to me" line is cute when you consider he brought her an air, water, and fire bender... less cute that her village almost got destroyed but still)

Hot take: I don’t mind that they cut Sokka’s sexism arc. It was minimal in the original series to begin with, and with the pacing of the Netflix series it would have been pointless and rushed. I truthfully believe that if they hadn't mentioned the cut beforehand, 5 people at most would have noticed it was gone

Wow Koh the Face Stealer is SO MUCH WORSE in live action. So gross. His face BLINKS. 10/10 to whoever designed that, I hated it and recognize that it was perfect. I look forward to seeing it in my nightmares (also I don't mind the change of "don't show any expression". It still works)

Gyatso telling Aang that it wasn't his fault and that he wouldn't have been able to do anything was so sweet and important to me, especially with all the other adults in this series being turned into Grade-A assholes. It’s been a while since I watched the entire original series but were the adults THIS mean about it in the original? I know the occasional random townsperson would say "you abandoned us" but I don’t remember people like Bumi or THE OTHER AVATARS blaming him like that (I know this is the positive section but just to be clear, the positive is the Gyatso scene. Turning everyone else so mean will be touched upon in the negatives)

All of Gyatso's scenes were actually amazing. I cried. Also finding his body hit so much harder in live action.

Leaves from the Vine playing during Lu Ten's funeral and then again when Iroh chose to go with Zuko... I tearbended HARD at that one

I think they did a good job merging three story lines into Omashu. I know it may bother some fans, but for the time they had I thought combining all of those together within the city was clever. Plus, since we see the city get taken at the end of the season, we feel more invested since we spent more time there! (I'm also glad they didn't destroy the Northern Air Temple... that always bothered me)

The sets are lovely. They look so similar to the original show and it makes me happy to simply see these places come to life. I got so giddy seeing Omashu you don't even understand

I like the interpretation of Aang’s tattoo. That was actually the one thing I liked from the M Night Shyamalan film (intricate designs rather than a straight blue block) and I feel this is an even better interpretation (the designs are more subtle until he lights up)

The wink and nod to the great divide (and other episodes like the pirates) was cute. I do wish we got to see some adventures of the kids bonding, but boy am I glad they didn't feel the need to adapt the great divide

I liked that they sang secret tunnel a little early. The second the mechanist brought up the secret tunnels I burst into song on instinct, so it's only fair the characters do the same

I liked Zuko having a notebook on the avatars. Of course he would have made that. And I liked that Aang used it as a reference

I liked how they teased the "my cabbages!" line before giving us the real thing. Just a fun thing for fans of the original

Negatives

The first episode had so much exposition it actually felt exhausting. Also Zuko really came out of the gate swinging with his motivation, eh? No nuance or slowly unveiling why he wants to capture Aang? Ok...

Ozai confused me. After finishing the season I believe Ozai's motivation was "sacrifice the weak to become strong, use Zuko to fuel Azula to be better" but it felt so confusing to get there. There was a point where I thought he genuinely wanted to see Zuko grow and find the avatar, and while it's fine for Zuko to think that, it felt weird for us to be jerked around like that (especially the in-between point where it feels like he prefers his banished son to his spy-catching daughter).

I also don’t like the way he acts with Azula (again, I know it's an act, but it's a bothersome change). He calls her performance below average. What happened to "she’s a true prodigy, just like her grandfather for whom she was named"? When characters like Mai and Zhao have to tell us "he's just playing games" it feels like they are telling rather than showing. "She's a true prodigy" SHOWS US he has a very obvious favourite. "He's playing with you" TELLS US that he's lying, and we therefore need to just accept that Azula is actually his favourite even though nothing he has done supports that

I don’t like that Aang was heading North due to a premonition from Kyoshi. I always liked how "the avatar must travel the world and find their own teachers in order to care for the world". Why not let him look for teachers? It enforces the idea of the avatar needing to care for all nations in order to protect all nations. I feel like it was supposed to go for this new direction of “the avatar must do it alone” but unfortunately I don't like that message as much

I mentioned in the positive section, but so many of the characters are weirdly mean (specifically the adult characters). I feel like they are trying to go for a message like "childlike mentality isn’t bad and it’s this innocence that will succeed where adults failed" but it just comes across as every grownup but Gyatso being the worst. Why are Kyoshi and Kuruk yelling so much and blaming Aang for everything? I feel like the goal will ultimately be to prove them wrong, but I do not like this characterization

Zuko’s scar needed to be SO MUCH WORSE. Something I love about the original is that every time we look at Zuko, we get a horrific reminder of what kind of person the Fire Lord is. It didn't just make his skin a little red, his eye is stuck in a permanent squint. His ear is shrivelled. You can tell that it was BAD. Here? He could cover it with makeup if it bothers him that much. Where's the texture? Where's the ear and eye damage? Sometimes it looks more like a birthmark than a serious injury. At the very least, take away his eyebrow!

Sokka and Katara’s being trapped in the spirit world was lowkey a little dumb but I get what they were going for (it's more urgent than them needing to suck on frogs). It just makes it seem worse when Aang is sitting there chatting with Zuko about his brushes. Like I loved the conversation but the fact that Sokka and Katara's lives were in danger (along with the villagers) makes Aang seem weirdly dismissive in that moment

Also... I just realized while typing this, but did they give us an ending to Hei Bai being in pain? Did I completely forget the resolution to that or was it not shown?

I don't like that Zuko chose to fight in the Agni Kai. Seeing him on the ground begging forgiveness and THAT'S the kid Ozai scars and banishes is way more impactful than "he fought but didn't go all out"

This shit went off the rails in episode 7. Why is Yue a fox who just chills in the spirit world? What happened to Tui and La? Push and pull? Yin and Yang? I got confused somewhere along the way

Am I the only one who felt the Yue and Sokka kiss came out of nowhere? She literally said she called off her betrothal when she was 16 (before meeting Sokka) because that dude wasn't the right guy. But then the kiss immediately after implies Sokka is the right guy??? The guy you didn't know existed??? Or are we supposed to infer that she fell in love with him in the spirit world? Either one is so bad pleasssseee

I infinitely prefer Zuko trying to save Zhao and Zhao choosing to die out of sheer stubbornness, compared to Iroh killing Zhao to save Zuko. Like yeah, he'd do anything for Zuko, but I felt that crossed a line (and was less impactful)

Assorted Thoughts

They mentioned the mother of faces, are we gonna see Zuko’s mom get addressed at some point? Or was that just a wink and a nod for fans who know?

The kids are pretty good actors but Katara’s sometimes feels like she's… in a school play. For lack of a better description. She's not bad, it just doesn't always feel natural or as expressive as she could be

Yue's actress on the other hand... look I don't like insulting child actors but her performance was not my favourite

Meanwhile, I loved the casting for Zuko and Aang. I like this slightly-less-angry Zuko, and Aang's actor has such a sweet face that it hurt me to see him sad

I wish we got to see an Agni Kai between Zuko and Zhao. Simply because establishing it early helps introduce us to this idea. It makes it more impactful when Ozai declares Zuko must fight, since we now know what that entails

I feel like the series is at its best when it's doing it’s own thing (the Gyatso scenes, Suki's new characterization, Lu Ten's funeral) and is at its weakest when it's trying to copy the original

#atla #atla live action #natla #zuko #aang #sokka #katara #azula

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homeagainrose · 2 months

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We're going to take an unpopular stance here. I liked the live action Avatar the Last Airbender.

No snapping! I'll admit there are issues. Most of them for me are "we have one season to prove ourselves with this.". Does that wave everything away? No. Can I be a snarky bitch if I choose to be? Yes I can. But right now, I like it. I want to see what can come next.

Despite the issues and plot points/missing plots/holes - I liked it. It's never going to be a shot for shot of the origins cartoon - cartoon to live action is just a mess waiting to happen.

The bending was cool, we could see the night shots, the music was cool, the actors did their best. Loved how things melded together. It's a cool adaptation of the original. I can't wait to see what happens next.

#atla netflix #natla spoilers #kind of spoilers #just thoughts I'm being neutral on #netflix avatar the last airbender #im going to watch again because second season

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burst-of-iridescent · 2 months

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atla live action thoughts: episodes 7 & 8

SPOILERS AHEAD

tw: opinions

things i liked:

i keep forgetting to say this but i love the stylization of the opening credits it looks so elegant

northern water tribe looks beautiful. the spirit oasis is stunning, this show almost never fails to deliver on visuals

i fucking KNEW they were going to end the season with azula producing lightning for the first time and it looks great i won't lie. can't wait for her blue fire

the pakku v katara fight is not bad actually, though it obviously doesn't hold a candle to the original. glad they kept the ice discs moment in because that was iconic and it does have a nice set-up of her learning it from the earthbenders

i do like that they allow aang to interact with different avatars and that they all give him different perspectives. it highlights the differences in their personalities and how the role of the avatar had to be adapted to the times they lived in

i can't remember exactly what it was but aang's line about how this isn't his world or his time went hard

"i underestimated zhao" "funny i figured that out as i was swimming away from the burning wreckage of my boat" i live for sassy zuko

good decision to take out pakku only deciding to teach katara because she was kanna's granddaughter. that reeked of exceptionalism and never sat right with me, so i appreciate that she at least proves herself and also that she includes the other women in the tribe when pushing him to let them fight

yugoda getting to yell at pakku for being a misogynistic idiot is exactly what she deserves, you tell him queen

KOIZILLA!!

seeing the fall of omashu to azula was an addition that made a lot of sense, and sets up the return to omashu episode in the next season nicely

things i disliked:

yue's wig was atrocious. can't believe i'm saying this but the shyamalan movie did it better. amber midthunder deserved so much better

the misogyny arc was a godforsaken mess. the northern water tribe is still sexist... but no one seems to be sexist except for pakku?? chief arnook seems to be grooming yue to take over as chief, the other male waterbenders are impressed by katara and respect her right away, yue seems to have a lot of autonomy, hahn is respectful and kind, and then pakku himself changes his mind on women fighting pretty much within one day. so what was the point of including it at all?

this show has completely nuked katara's rage. she would not be calmly announcing that she's fighting pakku as though it was a calculated decision because it very much wasn't! it was her sense of righteousness and outrage over injustice taking over and it hurts me deeply that they removed that because it's so important to who she is! i needed to see a LOT more power and fury in her in this scene but instead it felt extremely lukewarm

KATARA AND AANG NEVER. FUCKING. LEARN. WATERBENDING. for a show that marketed itself so heavily with the tagline "master your element" there isn't a lot of mastering going on here?? i'm sorry i don't buy at ALL that katara would be able to become a master with One waterbending scroll and watching some earthbenders. i know she's a prodigy but no one can be THAT prodigious. and it really makes her fight with zuko and subsequently being called master katara fall flat because i don't think i've been shown enough to justify that

also hate that my girl got knocked out halfway through the zutara fight because of the moon wtaf let her kick zuko's ass

a moment of silence for "aren't you a big girl now" and "you rise with the moon, i rise with the sun" you will always be famous

despite knowing the avatar needs to learn waterbending, pakku and arnook just?? walk away?? when they find out he hasn't??? SOMEONE TEACH THIS POOR BOY AN ELEMENT OTHER THAN AIR. ANY ELEMENT, I'M BEGGING

real quick, who had "momo saves a random little girl from falling rock only to be nearly killed and saved by yue and sokka in the spirit oasis" on their live action bingo? no one, that's who, BECAUSE THAT'S FUCKING BONKERS. people are dying all around them but sokka and yue decide this is the time to fuck off to save a lemur?? please be so fr

iroh telling zuko to remember his breath of fire when this show has not once established (at least, iirc) that power in firebending comes from the breath is... something. heavily dislike how little focus was given to the intricacies of learning bending in this series

HATE that they removed zhao dying because of koizilla and gave it to iroh instead. that was such a great moment of karmic justice for zhao and really highlighted how he brought about his own downfall through his pride and arrogance. i know they tried to show zuko's compassion by having him spare zhao and walk away (as a callback to the agni kai i'm guessing) but zuko risking himself to save the life of the man who tried to kill him in the original just hit SO much harder.

the pacing of the north pole arc in general was FAR too rushed. at least in the original animation we got the sense that they'd spent weeks there, but in the show it feels like it's been a couple of days MAX. there had to be much more time to build up the threat of the fire nation and the yue/sokka relationship

the sense of time passing was a problem i anticipated the show would have from the start because 8 episodes just feels shorter than 20, but i wish they'd at least done some montages or something to make it seem like time was passing between episodes. as it is, it felt like every episode picked up right after the previous and so the whole season felt like it happened within a week or two. which is a shame because it weakens the epic scale of their journey in having to cross the entire world

overall rating: 6/10. unfortunately i think these episodes were the weakest of the series both in quality of writing and entertainment value, but still fun to watch for the most part

#atla live action

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natlacentral · 1 month

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Secret Auditions Where The Actors Had No Clue What They Were Auditioning For, And 22 Other Behind-The-Scenes Facts I Learned About "Avatar: The Last Airbender"

Albert Kim, executive producer and showrunner of Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender, has a massive task on his hands. After M. Night Shyamalan's live-action film left viewers disheartened, fans have been craving an adaptation that truly captures the heart of one of the most popular animated series in history. I was honored to speak with Albert, who was warm and welcoming, yet protective and passionate about his live-action adaptation. We spoke in depth about the differences between the animated series and his Netflix show, the motives behind those changes, and what was important to leave the same. 🚨 There are spoilers ahead for ATLA Season 1 🚨

1. Albert wanted to strike a balance between the episodic format of the animated show and his more serialized motives for the live-action adaptation.

"We always used the original as our guide for everything. It wasn't like we were creating a whole new story out of whole cloth, we were looking at all the stories of the the first season of the original, regardless of whether they were episodic, or led to a more serialized narrative. And then we kind of laid them out in front of us at the beginning of the season, and said, 'Which ones help us in getting from the beginning to the end of the season.' Because we knew we were trying to create a narrative thread that took us on a journey from the Southern Water Tribe to the Northern Water Tribe. And so once we had that framework in place, certain elements just started clicking into place. We could see something like Jet. Jet is a great character, who has all the right intentions, but has been driven into a bad place by the extremes of war. And then we could see a character like The Mechanist; same thing. Good character, good heart, but doing some bad things because of the war. And you know what? He would be in direct conflict with Jet. So let's bring them together. That meant taking them out of their original locations and then putting them somewhere like Omashu. It was a little bit of putting a puzzle together in that way. And as we did that we realized we could preserve the feeling of the original in those adventures. It was a challenge, and we had to walk a tightrope to do it. But that's the case with pretty much everything in the show."

2. Albert has been a fan of the original show for years, because his daughter would watch the animated series when she was a kid.

"I was a huge fan of the original ever since my daughter started watching it when she was a kid."

3. Albert used references from the animated series to change how the Avatar State would work in live-action.

"There's an episode in the second season, "Avatar Day," when Kyoshi inhabits [Aang's] body. It's a very short sequence in the original series, and slightly more for comedic effect. But we thought we could use that, and combine that with what we saw on the Roku episode. Roku also manifests through Aang, and we used that early on, because we needed the audience to understand what the Avatar State was and how powerful it was. In the second episode, we were traveling to Kyoshi Island, so we said, 'Why not use Kyoshi to do that?' We can't wait until we get to Roku's Temple to do that, so let's use Kyoshi. There's precedent for it in the original series, and we can adapt our rules for the Avatar State. There are little tweaks we made to the canon here and there to help us understand a little more of why this was important for [Aang]."

4. Albert spoke with Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko (the creators of the animated series) before embarking on his showrunner journey and was "bummed" when they exited the Netflix series.

"When I got the call [to work on the series], I was really excited just for nothing else [other] than the opportunity to talk to Bryan and Mike, and kind of indulge my inner nerd about the show. Our first conversations, were me just asking a lot of Aang questions, and stuff like that. And, that was great. And then we got into the process of talking about what the show could be and the visions they had for it. And what I thought I could bring to the table as someone who hadn't been so intimately involved with the original, or the development process they had been involved with. I really enjoyed that process. I enjoyed collaborating with them and working with them. At around the time I had written the pilot episode, they had decided, for personal reasons, to leave the project. And I can't really speak to those reasons. They had been involved, obviously, for some time before I joined the project. And I was bummed about it, because I genuinely enjoyed working with them, talking to them, all of that. And I had hoped we could continue. But again, that was their personal decision."

5. Albert has never seen The Last Airbender film by M. Night Shyamalan

"I haven't seen it and it just sort of fell through the cracks for me beforehand. And then when I started working on this project, I deliberately avoided it, because I didn't really want to have those images or the creative choices they made in my head. I wanted to be independent."

6. However, Albert was aware of the criticisms of Shyamalan's film.

"That's not to say I wasn't aware of the criticisms of [Shyamalan's film]. I knew what people didn't like about it. And I don't think we were reacting specifically to those criticisms, but a lot of the choices we were already organically making corrected a lot of that. For instance, I always knew that we were going to be casting all Asian and Indigenous for this. It wasn't in reaction to what Shyamalan did in this feature. That would have happened if the feature didn't even exist. I know how it appears in certain cases, it looks like we may have been doing something in reaction to what happened in [his] film, but I never saw it."

7. Michael Goi, who directed the first two episodes of Netflix's adaptation, is still trying to get Albert to watch Shyamalan's film.

"Michael, our director of the first two episodes, he keeps teasing me trying to get me to watch this movie. Now that we're all done, he keeps inviting me over to his house. He's going to put up a screening room so we can all watch together. I said, 'I've gone this long. I'm not gonna break the record now.'"

8. Although the animated series does not show the decimation of the Air Nomads, Albert felt it was "important" for him to include it in the Netflix show to set the stakes for the series.

"I felt it was important to see that event, which is discussed often in the original, but never seen because, for me, it sets the stakes for the world. It shows you what it is that Aang is trying to stop. And without actually understanding that viscerally, for new viewers as much as for the diehard fans, it was a little hard to go on the emotional journey with him. You have to know what he's facing. And what he's facing is this incredible attack. And when you watch it, you see both the power of the Fire Benders, as well as the struggle that the Air Nomads faced, as well as their destruction and the death. And when Aang gets to ask himself, 'How am I as a 12-year-old kid able to stop that,' you understand it a lot more. It'd feel a lot more abstract as a burden and responsibility for him if we hadn't witnessed that."

9. Albert also felt that starting the series with the Fire Nation attack on the Air Nomads narratively helped viewers understand that he wanted to expand and differentiate the feeling from the animated series.

"Narratively kicking off the show with [the Fire Nation attack] helped, in my mind, send the signal that this was not going to be a note for note translation of the original. We weren't going to tell the story in the exact same way, with the exact same scenes and the exact same dialogue. We were starting off in a different direction. And signaling that this is our version of Avatar: The Last Airbender."

10. Albert felt that including the Agni Kai between Zuko and Firelord Ozai, which was also not shown in the animated series, was needed to flesh out who Zuko is as a character.

"The Agni Kai is so important to Zuko's character, it really forms who he is. And that's the same in the animated series as well. They just didn't show it. And I can understand why, because it's very intense and emotional. And possibly a little too intense for say, a Nickelodeon audience. But for a Netflix serialized drama, which is intended to be for all ages of viewers from 10 to 80, it felt like it was appropriate to show that scene. To show exactly what it is that made Zuko into the person he is. That was something I always knew we were going to do. And I don't think anyone would argue that it isn't the linchpin to Zuko's character. Not showing it felt to me, a little bit irresponsible."

11. Tying Zuko's ship crew, and his intention of saving their lives, into the Agni Kai storyline was Albert's way of expanding on the original in a way that felt organic.

"That was a great example of our entire philosophy for this series, which is that we were drawing upon familiar elements from the original, but then pushing certain things a little bit further. Fans are gonna recognize a lot of the events and scenes in that episode from the original. But then we also extrapolated a little bit, and added elements that felt true to the spirit of the original, but hopefully adds a slightly new dimension. Making his crew the ones that he saved, it felt like it was right for the moment."

12. Changing the gender of Shu, and making the Omashu love story a tale of forbidden queer love felt "apt" to Albert.

"I remember even in the original when I was watching the tale of two lovers, I don't know why maybe I wasn't paying attention, I actually thought they were [both] women. And someone in the writers' room corrected me. So I said, 'Oh, well, it feels a little more right if they are women because it's supposed to be a forbidden romance.' Even in the original, there was a reason they couldn't be together. And they had to hide their love. Which ends tragically, but then leads to a piece of understanding. And for those reasons, it felt like making them both women actually was apt for this story."

13. When it came to casting, Albert wanted to make sure the actors were "ethnically and age-accurate."

"Our casting process was thorough. We saw a lot of great actors and great performers. We always knew it was going to be a challenge. Because we were all committed to making sure we were ethnically and age-accurate. We knew that we didn't want to cast a 20-year-old playing a 12-year-old, and we wanted to cast someone who was Asian. We always knew it was going to be tough."

14. The casting was done secretly, meaning none of the actors knew what they were auditioning for.

"It was even more challenging for them, because the casting process was conducted in top secret. They did not know they were auditioning for Avatar. And I had to write fake scenes for all of them. I think [the fake scenes] were about some math wiz applying to a private academy. Gordon, when he was auditioning, didn't know he was auditioning for anything."

15. There was never a doubt that Gordon Cormier should be cast as Aang, even after Albert auditioned several other actors for the role.

"When we saw people like Gordon, there was something about him that just captured the essence of the character. And we kept coming back to him even after we kept seeing other actors who were great. A lot of them were incredibly talented. But after every discussion I would have with the producers, we would always say something like, 'But what about Gordon.' And then we would come back to him, and we kept coming back to him. What we were looking for was a certain spark, a certain essence that said, 'This is who [Aang] is.' And that's what we kept seeing. It didn't matter what the scene was, it was just his personality, his overall character that was shining through. And I think you see that when you see the show. A lot of people I know are a little weary about our version of Aang. But when you watch it, and you see Gordon in his performance, I don't think there's any doubt. He doesn't even have to say a line of dialogue for him to be Aang. He could just give you a look, or a smile. And he's that way in person. He was like that on set every single day. I can't count the number of times crew members would come up to me and say, 'This kid is Aang.' Even when he's not on camera, he is Aang. Whether he was hopping on the back of a camera car, or running around with the other kids. We were incredibly happy that we found him, and all the others."

16. Although Sokka is less sexist at the beginning of the journey than his animated counterpart, Albert felt that they "preserved" his character growth in other ways.

"It wasn't a matter of, say, removing anything from his character. He still has a complex and nuanced journey. But in the process of going from an animated series, to a live-action, we knew that we wanted to portray his journey with a little more groundedness and subtlety. He starts out with attitudes that are the result of living in an isolated life and community. And yes, some of them are rooted in sexism. But he's not out there saying, 'Girls sew and guys hunt.' People have been reacting to comments without having seen the show. When you do watch it, I think it'll become clear that we've preserved Sokka's character, flaws and all. And he has a journey that's as complex as the one you saw in the original. It's just not a one-to-one."

17. Albert also felt that he had more room to build Sokka's character than his sister, Katara.

"Sokka was a character that there was a little more room to add to his character. Katara had trauma over her mother's death, and it's well told in the original. Sokka, we had to fill in the gaps a little bit more, especially for this first season. It was one of the things that struck us immediately. The question of imagining, if you're Sokka, and you're left alone by your father, to take care of your entire community at that young of an age. That's got to be a great burden. And what does that do to him, because his character is naturally lighthearted and funny, and a little bit goofy. But he's got this incredible responsibility to bear. And what does that do to someone? We play with that all season long until you get to the episode [with Koh]."

18. Bringing Azula into the first season as a main character, although that doesn't happen until the second season in the animated series, helped "dimensionalize" Zuko and his family.

"We had the benefit of hindsight, and we knew where the original series was going. And we knew what a great character both Ozai and Zula were going to be. And we wanted to pull a little of that into the first season just to balance out the storytelling a little bit. Creatively speaking, we wanted to use the characters of Azula and Ozai to help dimensionalize Zuko a little more, and then help us understand exactly how he became who he became outside of just the Agni Kai, and that traumatic event. Even though physically, Zuko and Azula are never together in the first season, it doesn't matter. You can still see how the dynamics of this family made him who he was, just like it made Azula who she was. In a way, the first season is a little bit of a prequel story for Azula because when she arrives in the cartoon in the second season, she's kind of fully formed as a character. Here we see a little more of her journey as to how she gets there."

19. Albert feels like the Zuko/Azula/Ozai relationship is representative of an Asian family dynamic.

"And to me, it's very much an Asian story, not that it's limited only to Asian families. But that pressure to exceed the parental expectations. The sibling rivalry all feel, from my personal point of view, like an Asian story."

20. The actors went through an intense six-week boot camp to train for their fighting scenes

"We're incredibly fortunate in that both Dallas [Liu, Zuko] and Ian [Ousley, Sokka] came to us as incredibly accomplished martial artists. Both of them are world-class in their fields. They already knew what they were doing. And even with that, we put all four of them through a pretty intense boot camp before we even started shooting. It was about six weeks, where they trained with the stunt team every day, in order to learn all of the bending techniques."

21. Kiawentiio, who plays Katara, was more "tentative" at first about her action scenes but acclimated beautifully, which helped her character's progression on screen.

"For someone like Kiawentiio, who didn't have a background in martial arts, she started out a little more tentative, in terms of physical movements. But that worked for her character because Katara is not supposed to be an accomplished water bender at the beginning, and as the season progressed, and as Kiawentiio got better and better, Katara got better and better. It worked really well in terms of the progression of her character."

22. The massive action sequences were hard to pull off, and took a lot of set building and choreography.

"Some of the epic action sequences were challenging to do. Whether it's the escape from Pohuai, where we built an entire wall of that prison, and then also had bamboo ladders, and an army of stunt people going through all of that. It was tough. Also, the fights in the finale; the giant battle sequences between the Northern Water Tribe. For those we built a huge section of Agna Qel'a, with the bridge and the wall and scores of extras running through it, and fighting, that was incredibly challenging, as well. The Southern Air Temple fight in the very first episode was another epic undertaking. Those were all really challenging. We relied on the skills of the stunt teams and everyone involved to pull that off."

23. And lastly, Aang's first meeting and conversation with Zuko was the hardest scene to capture on an emotional scale for Albert.

"Emotionally speaking, certain scenes where I felt it was crucial to the season, and would be challenging for the performance [was filming] the scene between Zuko and Aang. The scene between Zuko and Aang, after the "Blue Spirit" episode, when they're hiding out together, away from the Fire Nation soldiers. The first bonding of them. I'll be honest, I was a little nervous going into that scene because I thought it was so important. It's the first time the two of them get to really talk. But once Gordon and Dallas started getting into it, all my weariness melted away because they were so good at it. They did the whole scene all the way through, and it was incredible to watch. But for me, if we didn't get that scene right, a lot of things wouldn't have worked for the season. Or, frankly, for the entire series. We needed to understand who these characters were, how they go from being enemies to having certain bonds, and how that sets the stage for everything else to come."

#natla #atla #netflix avatar #netflix atla #avatar the last airbender #avatar netflix #atla netflix #buzzfeed #albert kim #article

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silent-raven13 · 5 months

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Rewatching One Piece

With Egghead Arc coming out, Miles and Ganke decided to rewatch One Piece. They had made a serious commitment to binge watch on Friday. This means these two cute nerds had to make sure their own busy schedule is at hand.

Miles had told his friends and boyfriend during their lunch time, "Wait, so you're going to be with Ganke most of the time over this anime?" Gwen asked.

Hobie didn't like this one bit, he couldn't help but be jealous. His sweet Sunflower cuddling with his best friend under a blanket while watching a long ass anime. Nope, he can't handle it still. It's hard to not let his jealousy get the best of him, but seeing Ganke, a success Computer Nerd with so much worth... his insecurities is getting the best of him.

"Not just any anime. It's ONE PIECE!" Pavtri said happily, "Me and Gaytari started watching it when we saw our Live Action one!"

"Yeah, me and Ganke binge watch that one! Caught up with the manga, too! So, we decided to rewatch it all for fun and refresh our One Piece knowledge. Egghead Arc is coming up." Miles happily said unaware of his boyfriend's facial expression.

"How many episodes are there?" Gwen asked being so out of touch with anime. It was never her thing.

"Over a thousand!"

"Holy shit, dude. How- That means you and Ganke are gonna spend a lot of more time, huh?" The blond Spider-woman glances at Hobie tensed up having to awkwardly sit up on his seat.

"Yeah, but it's not that bad." The twenty three year old grins widely, "Anyway, I can't wait for me and Ganke to spend some time. Been a minute since we actually got to hang out." Even though, they're roommates in an apartment, they hardly see each other. When they do it's mostly Spider-man stuff.

"Awe, that's so cute. You and your bestie!" Pavtri giggles, "So ya'll gonna make out."

Hobie awkwardly sat up again giving a grunt. Miles snorted as he slurp his soda through a straw, "Nah, we don't do that no more!" He chuckles.

"Hahaha, that's crazy when you and Ganke would always pretend to be boyfriends back in the day! Ya'll just kiss whenever you saw each other. Like 'Hey, bae' MWAH!" Gwen laughs out loud at the memory.

When Miles and Ganke went to parties during their teenage years, they always pretended to be a couple. Or they try to kiss in front of weird creeps so they get the idea to leave them alone.

Of course, Ganke and Miles kissed in front of the Spider Band at a party and it was so casual. Hobie was so jealous that day, he crushed his beer bottle being so annoyed.

Till today Hobie hated that memory. Miles wraps his arms his boyfriend, "Hahaha, nah. Ganke got a girlfriend and I got my boyfriend, right Hobie!"

"Yeah..." Hobie leans over to lift his boyfriend's chin and kiss him, "I am." Miles melted by his boyfriend's hand around his jaw.

"Ohh!" Pav and Gwen watched with a red tint across their cheeks. That's such a confident move! Should they be watching this?

Lyla appeared between Miles and Hobie, "NAH-AH! Miguel say keep yo hands to yourselves!"

Miles blushes by Hobie's hungry kisses, OMG, they were full out making out with tongue, again. Hobie grunts at Lyla, "It was nuthin' but a measly little kiss."

"OHHH!" Pav's and Gwen's eyes widen. Measly kiss? Then what do they do behind close doors?

Lyla's avatar fumes, "No! It's clearly a full blown make out!"

--Later---

After lunch, Miles and Hobie were at Hobie's houseboat just for some fun. The punker left some soft jazz playing while he smoke his joint. Nothing like good sex and getting high. "Mmm, Karl did a mighty ace job on this one," He coughs a bit knowing the weed is top A-Grade!

Miles lay his head on his boyfriend's bare chest, "Mmm, really?"

"Yeah, luv. Try it." Hobie handed it to his Sunflower.

Miles dabble on weed here and there, so he took it to inhale it. "Mmm-" He starts coughs, "Fuck, that shit is good, bae."

Hobie laughs seeing his boyfriend coughs, "That good, huh?"

"Mmhhmm," His Sunflower inhale again this time with caution, and hold the smoke in. Then turns to Hobie with his hand waving him to come close to his lips.

The punker grins widely as he leans over, knowing Miles want to share his smoke. The young man got close to Hobie's mouth then gently blew in the smoke in his mouth.

Hobie happily inhale Miles' second hand smoke, then inhale it and hold it. Miles let out a boyish giggle, then his boyfriend lift his head up to release the smoke with an O shape. "Mm, bloody fantastic, luv." His voice low.

"Mmm, is it." His Sunflower snuggles while nuzzling his head on his partner's chest, "Mmm, that feels so good. I think...."

"You think?" Hobie purrs lowly knowing his Sunflower is horny.

"Mmm," MIles' hand slid down under the sheets being daring, "I wanna go another round."

"I know, you do, darling." Hobie's voice low with a little growl, his hand grabs Miles' neck to pull him into an intense kiss.

Miles ain't complaining, he loves it. Letting out a submissive mewl, "Mmm," He softly chuckles, "Give me another, mi amor."

"Like this." This time his punker boyfriend added tongue.

"Mmm..." Miles happily melts, again. When they pull away, Miles' phone rang. "Oh fuck, I think Ganke is calling."

"Ugh, luv, you don't have to pick it up!"

"I need to. We're planning on cooking on Friday to binge watch the anime!" Miles picks up the phone, "Hey man, what's up."

Hobie rolled his eyes. Now, he's not in the mood anymore just high. He got up to get a beer from the fridge, while his boyfriend noticed. "Um, yeah... get some bacon, gummy bears is fine, oh- buy those juice boxes. Yeah, Billy loves those. Thanks man..."

It wasn't a long talk, Miles hung up after a simple goodbye then saw his boyfriend leaning by the doorway drinking his beer. "So? How's your sweetheart?"

Sweetheart? Oh God, not this again!

"Bae," Miles groans, "don't tell me, you're jealous!"

"Okay, I'm not." Hobie casually went back to his bed with his beer bottle set on his nightstand. Miles gave him a look being very unimpressed. He sighs, "Luv, you told me and our mates that we won't be seeing you for a while, because your going to spend most your time with yer friend!"

"And your upset over Ganke?"

"Mmm, yea and no... I don't like being without you."

"But it's only on Fridays and Saturdays and it won't be long, baby." Miles got on top of his boyfriend, then his hands caress his punker's face, "You know, we're just hanging out." Miles leans over to kiss Hobie, "I love you, baby."

"Mmm, really?" Hobie being like a happy puppy.

Miles kisses him again, "Yeah, you're mine, baby."

"I like that very much. Another kiss." Hobie purrs.

*Kiss* *Kiss-Kiss*

-After two weeks-

Hobie didn't like this, he felt so lonely without Miles. There was no lie to this, he's started to tweak out without his man. It's like he was on crack. He loves spending time with his Miles anytime he wanted.

So the next thing he did was to visit his Miles' place. It's not like he wasn't allowed too. When he got to Miles' apartment, he saw the lights on.

"Yay! One Piece!" Sweet five year old Billie happily bounced on the couch to watch some episodes with her brother and brother, Ganke. She holds her sippy cup, "Mimi! Mimi, hurry up!"

"I'm coming!" Miles brought a bowl of popcorn while Ganke had hot dogs wrapped in bacon with the works! Her big brother came by to place the large bowl of popcorn on the table, "Boo-boo, you forgot your straw hat!"

"Oh no!" Billie touches her head being in shock! She had her Luffy costume on being one of her favorite outfits to wear ever since her brother made it for her for Halloween.

Miles went over to the arm couch to get the lonely straw hat then placed it on his little sister's head. "Hehehe. Gracias, hermano!" She happily grab her strawhat to pull it down some more to fit right in place. Good thing she didn't have her Afro-puffs, but cute long braids with butterfly clips and large hair balls.

Ganke set a tray of hots dogs on the coffee table, "There. Just need the drinks." He saw the coffee table with spread of snacks.

Miles grins at him, "Nice. You're gonna make a wonderful hubby with Danika." He playfully nudge his friend.

"Popcorn!" Billed chimed out loud with her arms reaching for it, she didn't want to move from her spot on the couch.

"Oh hahahaha," Ganke blushes, "Ya think?" He watches Miles handing the bowl of popcorn to his sister.

"Yeah, man. Always." Miles chuckles, "If not I'll marry ya."

"Sheesh! I'm hubby material for Spider-man?" The two laughs out loud.

Hobie hears this from the slight open window. Billie hears this quickly turning her head, she gasps, "HOBIE!" She uses her web-shooter at him. The Punker grab the little plastic dart with half his body in the apartment.

Miles quickly turns his head having his Spidey Sense coming late, because he's use to Hobie coming whenever he wants so many times. It wasn't view as a threat. Ganke blink in shock, "Looks like I won the bet."

"Bae! What are you doing here?" Miles went over to help open the window to let his partner easily get into his apartment. "You could've called me."

"Hello, luv. Where's the fun in that?" He asked having to stand once he slide his way into the window.

Miles dust off the dirt from the bottom of window, "Still..." He kisses his boyfriend.

"I miss ya, luv."

"Oh yeah?" Miles didn't seem to believe that. Hobie is always clingy, which is surprising when they started dating. Miles always thought he was the clingy type, but nope!

When Hobie spends months with his band in his own world or some serious Spider-man stuff, Miles never seems to be bothered by it. Or did he would visit the way his partner does. It's pretty funny.

"Yes, luv. I miss you!" He hugs him.

"Hehehe, okay, bae. Well we were watching some episode but took a break for snacks." He show him the way.

Billie chews on her popcorn, "You like One Piece, Obie?"

"Not really, lil bloo." Hobie commented.

"Well, we're at Arabasta arc right now." Ganke said.

"OH yeah, the good part is coming." Miles grins widely. "Sit with me, bae." Ganke sat on the left side of the couch. Then it's Billie in the middles, next Miles and lastly, Hobie.

Hobie saw them playing the episode looking confused, he remembers his partner watching One Piece. He never understood it. Billie happily got off the couch being hyper when Luffy came on. "LUFFY!" She jumps.

Miles said to Ganke, "Some fans believe Oda will end One Piece on Skypia."

"Oh no way! That'll be a great throw back."

"For real, I was like make sense. Skypia wasn't shown as much as the other islands, so it got me wondering what plans they had with that place."

"I wonder if it's something big!" Ganke said. "I bet you Noah's Arc was the boat for Joyboy to use when the World Government drowned the world."

"Whoa, sick ass theory man!" Miles took a bit of popcorn to eat.

Hobie slouches on his boyfriend, "Luv, what's dis biblical talk about Noah's Arc? And why you bringing up Joyboy?"

"You know Joyboy?" Ganke asked.

"Joyboy is a popular Caribbean folklore... my mom drunkly mutters about it." Hobie said then stares in more confusion, "Luv, I'm lost about this carto-" he felt a dart hit his cheek, dark eyes glanced over with an upset Billie. "SHHH, NO TALKING! LUFFY IS FIGHTING CROCODILE!" She jumps happily.

Hobie sighs being lost. "You know, this is why I didn't invite you to this. You seem to hate it." Miles sighs at his boyfriend.

Ganke said, "I'm surprised he does. This is totally his stuff. There's mentions of genocide, fascism, racism, politics, slavery... Do I need to keep going?" He uses his fingers to count how many things are involved in One Piece.

"And you think I like that?" Hobie asked almost being offended.

"No, bae. He meant Luffy and his crew fights off those stuff. They kick ass. Like- Okay, you are totally watching this anime, because it's annoying how much you don't know." Miles began.

"And most of the characters are diverse. Luffy is Brazilian, Name Finnish, Zoro Japanese, Sanji French, Robin Russian, Usopp African, Chopper Canadian, Franky American, Jinbe Indian... I see him more of a Samoan in my opinion." Ganke added.

"Brazilian? You mean to tell me that lad is Brazilian?" Hobie's eyes went on the television to see Luffy's face.

"Yup." Miles chuckles, "Come on, bae. Pay attention to the show and don't focus on your jealousy. I know you came here thinking me and Ganke are doing something, huh?"

"Pfft, he's still on that." Ganke laughs.

Hobie looks embarrassed, "Love! Don't be cruel." He snuggles against his boyfriend.

"No, this time your gonna watch One Piece and your gonna like it!" Miles said in a serious tone. "Or else I'm giving you the silent treatment." He crosses his arms with a huff.

"Shheeeshhh!" Ganke chuckles.

Hobie whines, "No! Anything but that, darling!"

Billie came to jump on Hobie, "Shhh! I'm watching!" She playfully fights him.

--after twenty episodes-

Hobie watched with his eyes glued intensely at the episodes. "Well?" Miles handed him a beer bottle. The young man sat back down, he saw Billy and Ganke knocked out.

"Luv, this is freakin' fantastic!" Hobie sat up after watch Luffy kick the shit out of Crocodile, and had free the island of Arabasta. "And he does this?"

"Yup. He wants to be the Pirate King, because being the Pirate King is being free. Warrior of Libration, bae." Miles happily said.

"Warrior of Libration, huh!" Hobie finally understands. "You say he went against the Government?"

"The World Government, baby. I think you're gonna be a big fan of this anime." Miles went to pick up Billie so she can sleep comfortably in his room. "Still wanna watch?"

"Yes! Darling, you can't show me gold then deny me! I need to watch this." His punker said!

Miles giggles, "Okay, bae. I'll put Billy on my bed. She's is knock out."

"And yer mate?" Hobie looks at Ganke sleeping.

"Can you put him on his bed? He's worn out." Miles asked.

"Sure thing, luv." Hobie had no problem lifting Ganke and carrying him to his room. The young man sleep soundly on his bed. When the punker came, Miles was on the couch ready for him.

"Your gonna love the Skypia Arc, bae." His boyfriend said.

"Oh yeah?" Hobie asked as he sat down cuddling next to his boyfriend. Miles wrapped a large blanket around them. They snuggle and cuddle together while eating snacks.

"Mmhhmm," Miles kisses Hobie's cheek, "love you, baby."

"I love you, too, Sunflower." Hobie kisses him back. "Now, shh! Luffy is something." Miles only rolled his eyes at how his punker became a fan of One Piece.

#punkflower #miles morales #hobie brown #spiderman #across the spider verse #spider verse #flowerpunk #fanfic

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fellow-nerd · 2 months

Text

Time to go crazy about the characterisation changes in the new atla cuz oh boy do I have thoughts

The main thing I noticed for all of them is that this show is focused about telling a story about a war torn world and how that affected everyone first and a coming of age hero story second, which is a choice considering the source material which balanced them both extremely well.it never had to be so heavy handed for the audience to get it but that also could be because it's a kids show at the end of the day 😅

Aang: where is my adventure loving kid. He just wants to ride the Elephant koi and show his new friends cool things. Yes, his past weighs heavy on him and expectations press down, but he's still just 12. It takes him time to work through his grief and his reluctance to save the world and that is literally his big arc. Learning to grow up and save the world (becoming THE avatar ya know). This Aang gets with the program quick and is only concerned with helping people and stepping up, like little dude ur telling me u don't want to go penguin sledding. I dunno it just feels so off. Love the stuff with gyatso too.

Katara: she's actually the most true to her og character I think. I just wish there was more focus on her like there was in the og. She was my first favorite charcter, put some respect on her name. It was criminal to give the opening to kyoshi, like girl u have ur own novels to be in! ALSO WHY DIDNT SHE BREAK THE ICEBERG!!! UGH SO MAD AT THAT.

Sokka: look I get it It's the year of lord 2024 misogyny has no place. So why don't we tell the story of how a guy learns that those views are wrong and how to change ur views rather than pretending that it never existing, like erasing it. As much as it can be critiqued Sokkas misogyny was the catalyst for Katara to hit the iceberg and free Aang. Narratively this gets them both invested in Aang and just shows Sokkas growth on every rewatch. They could've toned it down but it's a big part of his character growth and what are the gonna fill that with, if anything at all.

Suki: now her in live action I can get behind. She ate and left no crumbs. She put Sokka in his place and stole the episode for me. Also I loved the addition of her mom, honestly goals. Can't wait to see how they utilize her throughout she's the best. No comment.

Jet/freedom fighters: pretty much the same, I didn't love the condensing plot lines all into omashu tho

Teo/Sai: same as above but I loved the Way the two interacted it had so much depth.

Iroh: not sure how to feel. It feels wierd hearing iroh not voiced by Mako ya know. Like his dailougue was fine but it lacked that inflection Mako had which really Gave iroh all his character. It's big shoes to fill and it comes so close. I did die for the line where he says he's the one who owes Zuko. Like. Ugh. The implications of that. How Zuko made him wake up and gave him a reason to keep going. Its enough to make a girl cry.

Zuko: oh zuko, zuko, zuko, zuko. Again tough shoes to fill. I think that the characterisation is all there the challenge comes later on when we get his redemption arc. I do love the seeds they are planting especially in his relationship to Iroh.

Azula: now I called it as soon as I saw that girl, knew it was her who else could I have been. Just as evil, just as lustful for power, definitely in character for her to be doing what's she's doing this early on. Will definitely keep tabs on this one.

Bumi: now he about WRECKED ME ok. It was rough. I loved this recharacterisation. If ur gonna give us a war torn world, give me the war torn ruler, whose been carrying all that trauma and burden on his back for 100 years. Of course he's gonna be mad at Aang of course HES gonna BE MAD himself. So yeah it was rough to watch but because it was so hard hitting to see how war destroyed Bumis mindset, and then so wonderful to see Aang give his oldest friend a piece of himself back

In conclusion I care about Avatar way too much and will be ranting about this even more as I continue watching

#also leaves from the vine during that flashback #criminal #dont do that to me!#*sobs*#avatar the last airbender

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annabelle--cane · 2 years

Note

could we hear some of the annabelle thoughts? <3

no so okay you see jon never actually decided to stop taking live statements, he realized it was his choice and then seesawed back and forth a bit over whether it was the right thing to do but the thing that actually made him stop and keep stopping was being found out and intervened on. BUT, those considerations of his about how he can want to do things and those things can feel good but still be actions that make him a worse person do eventually give him drive to take action and stop himself doing something in season five when he decides kill bill isn't very good, actually. the funny thing is, the avatars he meets for the rest of the show are

daisy (basira's kill)

dr doe (didn't know her personally, probably wouldn't have had a drive to kill her in the first place)

breekon (mercy kills him on request)

helen (kills her because he believed her to be dangerous)

jonah (kills him when it's plan necessary)

annabelle (does actually have personal beef with her, she's been the one executing the plans and appeared to have kidnapped martin and he exploded the last person who did that, but he lets her go)

the only opportunity he really had to put this newfound revelation of "killing people doesn't help and is bad even if I want to" to use was with annabelle. he did not like her at all, but she was no further threat, so he let her go even when it was fully within his power to kill her and she told him point blank he could if he decided to. so he decided not to.

except, wait. hang on. how did this bit of arc of his start again? oh, right, he started thinking quite deeply in season four about what types of actions were excusable, and he only started thinking about that once he properly accepted that he wasn't being puppeted into anything and all his actions were his own. and he only started thinking that because

Annabelle’s right, though. I mean, I can’t trust anything she says to not be another lie to further manipulate and manoeuvre us, but deep down, I think she’s right. What I’ve been doing to these people, it hasn’t been because I was puppeted or controlled or possessed. I wanted to do it. It felt good. But at least I know I can stop. I just ... don’t know how. I don’t want to stop.

annabelle told him so. he came to grips with being responsible for his actions because annabelle told him he was, and that led to a series of personal revelations that ended with him not killing her.

a trait that's very present in the way that annabelle presents herself by the time of her appearances is that she has no personal desires. she will admit that she wanted things as a child and would try basic manipulations to get them, she'll talk about tastes or hopes she used to have, but where she is now, she knows that her actions will only ever end up in service to the web and has given up any illusions of wanting things for herself.

you see in her description in mag 123 that the way the web has extended her life has marked her as so visibly different that she almost can't talk to anyone. she became a wanted fugitive after her fucked up and evil psych experiment and most certainly never saw her family again. the web showed time and time again that it's only interested in keeping its avatars alive as long as they're useful and lets them die the second they're not, so it wouldn't have given her an escape route for after she told jon & co about the gas main under the archives. as she tells it, she's fine with all that, she was at peace with totally sublimating her selfhood to her patron. however, I think she was lying. I think she wanted to live and saved herself on purpose.

#ANNABELLE POSTING HOURS #tma #answered #anons #I'm pinning this. fuck you blasts you with my beam

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analviel · 2 months

Text

ATLA NETFLIX, some of the thoughts I wrote down while watching:

The costumes!!!!!!

Fire. Bending.

The bending in general but FIRE bending and the way it left the victims.

Gasp! Oh, oh, oh! Help was sent to the earth kingdoms, maybe not the best fighters but still a lot of them, that's why the air nomads were wiped out and the southern water was devastated while the Earth kingdom stood the strongest. I like the way they set this up.

AAAAAAANG!!!

AIR NOMADS!!!!

Monk Gyatso!!!

Kinda bummed that Katara didn't break the ice by getting angry but I'm gonna be optimistic.

Hoooooo Sokka and Zuko exceed my expectations! "His destiny". "Repeating it doesn't help".

Although, the face burn is a bit underwhelming especially with what we just saw of the previous fire victims.

Sooooo excited for all the bending!!!

THE COSTUMES! THE TATTOO, ESPECIALLY THE WAY IT'S PLACED AROUND HIS ARMS!!!

Idk why maybe bcs Katara is my favourite so I'm watching her but she feels so.... Hmmm. Quiet. What happened to her lines at the beginning, for someone who's words are the first we hear in the OG.

When Sokka said "Before you kill someone", I expected at least a "Sokka!".

I do love the actress with the lines she's been given tho. With the rant to Sokka on the Air Temple. Gets that hopeful glint Katara has.

Zuko flipping out yes! He's so... Spazzy, does that make sense?

I'm not too young, I just haven't seen the world yet- Suki

Suki and Sokka are sooooooooo awkward I LOVE IT!!! Also that Mulan make-up remover. Asians are just built different I guess.

AANG AND KYOSHI!

Katara standing in Zuko's way- I can't wait until Zuko offers to kill her mother's killer with her!

We got Azula!!! Oh I love those first lines delievered like that!

Did I mention I love how Zuko is visibly falling apart, barely able to keep himself together, because I do, I really do!

Okay I'm gonna say it, Katara feels like she's just being dragged around everywhere. No- no initiative.

I....

Do not like that.

Feels like she's not getting riled up enough by Sokka maybe.

Mai is SO Mai, you can hear it so well!

They did Jet's intro good!

My Cabbages! The most passion so far!

Ooooh! Oh I do adore the secret tunnel scene in this!!!!

The Bumi actor is so good.

A friend. A friend! The direct Aang/Zuko and Gyatso/Iroh parallels.

The Zuko redemption storyline is living up to itself so far.

As for Azula, I really wished they left the breaking down era a little bit later. Like yeah, Azula wasn't right in the head from the beginning but that was shown more in how terrifyingly aloof and unstoppable she was in the earlier episode I believe but, well.

There's already a bond between Aang and Zuko but I've yet to see anything half like OG Katara and Aang!

Hmmm, actually, regarding Azula..... Ozai is, weirdly, invested in Zuko in a way we could've said OG Ozai would never say that. Which explains Azula here.

I love the avatar state glowy effects!

The sexism against Katara doubled and coated with genuine concern and real-life reasons that makes it hard to counter argue is making me lean in, in anticipation of how it will make my Katara blow up.

...... So no plan?..... I'm working on it, Uncle.

Sokka rushing towards Katara to 'convince her'.

Azula and Katara in the same episode is foreshadowing parallels.

Excited to have Katara's bending to visibly improve, like in the OG. And by that I meant how organically her water whip evolved smoother and faster in the animation. Like, you could see it.

........ Pakku vs Katara. Love the action, the effects. It could've been so good in regards to catharsis if Katara had just raged...... I'm just. Not going to.

Getting rid of their machine controls renders the fire army sitting ducks in the middle of ocean. Which makes me think of that reverse AU where the water tribe conquers the world.

If the water benders all work together, they can just have a giant tsunami turn them all over.

Master? Master Katara?...... That's so.... It's surprising rather than something you'd anticipate and cheer when we finally gain it.

Not a single waterbending training montage with Pakku. I'm still not sure if Pakku trained her or just gave her the title.

I like that I can tell that they know what they want to do with Sokka.

Not so much with Katara.

I gasped when all the Northern Tribe female waterbenders stepped forward like that.

So. There's a lot of stuff that they removed and added that I didn't like- less 'added', and more 'rushed'. Things that should've built up gradually, that could've been revealed in little bits were just immediately shown to us- my example here is Azula. When I first saw Azula, she was terrifying, her and her group were both my dream group and incited fear and awe in younger me, I didn't think she was insecure, I didn't think she was scared, she was practically the damn terminator with that epic episode of tracking the gaang slowly but steadily and driving them to exhaustion.

Is she actually insecure and batshit insane and scared? Yes. Was that what you were supposed to be able to tell with a single glance? No.

At first I thought maybe I was just biased with Katara, but I also feel like a lot of stuff they did with Azula was just.....

They did Sokka good, which was actually who I was concerned about the most. Zuko- I really love his portrayal. My moments of doubt with Aang are actually closely tied with Katara, which makes sense because hello, their friendship and bond was very important to the whole thing. Would've been a wonderful contrast to his Past bond with Gyatso and his Future bond with Katara.

I do think it's good.

Let me marinate on this.

#atla katara #atla sokka #Atla aang #Atla zuko #Atla uncle iroh #Atla suki #avatar the last airbender #netflix live action #atla azula #And I write

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s0ulsniper · 1 year

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Requests !!

ੈ✩‧₊˚*ੈ✩‧₊˚*ੈ✩‧₊˚*ੈ✩

For all of my fanfictions all of these I state can be requested.

- one piece (live action characters until I finish the anime)

- spiderverse (literally anyone)

- deathgasm

- metal lords

- Scream (any except for 5&6, will add when I've watched them Ó⁠╭⁠╮⁠Ò)

- The umbrella academy (+cast)

- Marvel (most characters to an extent.)

-Wednesday (+cast, characters mostly only the students.)

-TMNT (please tell me which version)

-Avatar the last Airbender

-Albert aretz (Flamingo)

-Criminal minds (maybe cast also, depends on who.)

-Haikyuu (almost everyone.)

-Guns n roses, Metallica, Megadeth.

-Your boyfriend / girlfriend / crush.

-Death note (almost everyone)

-Moon knight (+Oscar Issac if just saying marvel wasn't enough to so specify)

-Arcane (almost everyone)

-Hunter x hunter

-Cobra Kai (modern and old.)

-Gotham

Please tell me if there are people you would like but you don't see on the list ! I'm sure I was stupid and forgot a couple, but I'll try to get everyone.

If you would like me to add any more prompts, please comment.

‼️ You do not need to use the prompts to request! But please at least give a brief description of what you want. ‼️

*ੈ✩‧₊˚*ੈ✩‧₊˚*ੈ✩‧₊˚*ੈ✩*ੈ✩‧₊˚*

PROMPTS:

1.) "I will never stop protecting you"

2.) "It's so hard to sit here close to you and not kiss you."

3.) "I can braid your hair for you- I mean only if you want to."

4.) "Dance with me, please?"

5.) "How mad would you be if I kissed you right now?"

6.) "You are worth waiting for. So when you're ready, I'll be here."

7.)"I promised I'd love you forever, and that is a promise I intend to keep."

8.)"If there was anybody meant for me, it's you."

9.) "Close your eyes and hold out your hands."

10.) "Did you just tell the person I was gonna go out with that were dating?"

11.) "You got me breakfast?" "Well you said you always forgot to eat before work so I thought I'd make sure you ate something."

12.) "No no– it's alright, come here."

13.) "What? Does that feel good?"

14.) "Nope, I'm not letting you go. It's too early to get out of bed."

15.) "Your hair is so soft…"

16.) "C'mere, you can sit on my lap until I'm done working."

17.) "It's too cold ! Come back !"

18.) "I'm not going to stop poking you until you give me some attention."

19.) "Shh, you're safe. I won't ever let you go."

20.) "Just pretend to be my date."

21.) "I think I'm in love with you and I'm terrified."

22.) "It's not a double date, we're just third and fourth-wheeling."

23.) "Close the door."

24.) "You're never going to let that go, are you?"

25.) "Watch me."

26.) "We could get arrested for this."

27.) "Why are you helping me?"

28.) "I thought you were dead."

29.) "If I could, I would kiss away all your scars."

30.)"Mmm. You're warm."

31.) "I think I might be falling in love with you."

32.) "You're so cute when you're half asleep like this."

33.) "Shh… it was just a bad dream. None of it was real, I'm here with you."

34.) "No, you can't get up! You're my prisoner for today."

35.) "It's not bad to cry, in fact I think that makes the person stronger."

36.) "Touch them, and you're dead."

37.) "Put the knife down, I'm not going to hurt you."

38.)"We're not alone."

39.) "Keep your eyes closed and don't make a sound."

40.) "How many times have I told you already? Sit still !"

41.) "Is that my shirt?"

42.) "Is that a drawing of me?"

43.) "Quick, kiss me!"

44.) "They're not you."

45.) "You look better in my clothes than I do."

46.) "You sure you wanna do this?"

47.) "We can take things slow."

48.) "I'm gonna remember this for a while."

49.) "You're doing so good."

50.) "Do you wanna make out?"

51.) "Teach me how to do it."

*ੈ✩‧₊˚*ੈ✩‧₊˚*ੈ✩‧₊˚*ੈ✩*ੈ✩‧₊˚*

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lancermylove · 4 months

Text

Chapter 4 (SFW)

➣ Pairing: Demon brothers, Royals, Solomon with fem!Reader. ➣ Warning: None ➣ Word Count: 2,784 ➣ Chapters [SFW]: [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] ➣ Chapters [N.SFW]: [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]

➣ A/N: I was very tired - so tired that I almost accidentally deleted the entire draft - when I wrote this, so hopefully, it turned out well. 😅

———————————————

"Good morning, Satan. What's wrong?" You worriedly asked, but when he didn't reply, you continued. "You shouldn't stay out too long."

"It's okay, Satan. Why did Lucifer force you to move?" You asked curiously but knew the first brother's actions always had a meaning behind them.

The Avatar of Wrath faced you, folded his arms across his chest, and mimicked his older brother's voice. "I refuse to share a room with Solomon. His mere presence gives me a headache."

His impersonation made you chuckle, but there had to be a viable solution to his situation. "Do you want to take my room? I don't mind sharing a room with Lucifer."

"That's it! (Y/n), you are a genius."

"Thank you?" You mumbled, baffled by his sudden enthusiasm. "But what do you plan to do?"

"What reason could you possibly have for your discomfort?"

"Do not worry needlessly, (y/n)," he reassured. "Now, my dear, I implore you to return to the cabin. The weather is frigid, and I would rather you not fall ill."

"You can go ahead, and I will join you in a few minutes. I need some fresh air to clear my thoughts." You dully said.

"I ain't doin' anythin', and before ya ask, I'm sneakin' in 'cause I'm tryin' to avoid...Solomon," he laughed. "Are ya hungry? 'Cause I'm starvin'. Let's get breakfast!"

"Don't be nervous, Levi. There aren't many people around this time of the day," you chuckled and squeezed his hand slightly. Levi said nothing as he scanned the colorful store you had brought him to.

"Descriptive," you giggled. "So, what do you think about buying ugly sweaters for everyone?"

"Oh, that's perfect of him! Then, why don't we change the theme from ugly sweaters to witty or relatable sweaters?" You smiled, proud of your quick thinking, to which he readily agreed.

As you turned around to place the sweatshirts on your 'selected' pile, you spotted Levi sitting on a nearby chair. "Levi, are you alright?" You questioned while walking closer to him.

Platonic:

"Just a little tired. I stayed up half of the night playing the game you recommended," he mumbled before giving you a hopeful look. "But if you hug me, my HP will recharge."

With a soft giggle, you opened your arms, bent down, and pulled him in a warm hug. While you rubbed his back, he nuzzled into your shoulder and exhaled with relief.

Romantic:

"Just a little tired. I stayed up half of the night playing the game you recommended," he mumbled and hesitantly wrapped his arms around your hips before burying his face in your abdomen. As he nuzzled your midsection, you coiled one arm around his shoulders and stroked his hair with the other. His hidden face held a faint but timid smile.

-----

After a little break, you and Levi returned to hunting for the rest of the sweaters. In his peripheral vision, he spotted a cat and instantly selected the apparel for Satan. The dark green sweater was decorated with white stripes and a mix of red and green snowflakes across the sleeves. In the center was an image of a perpetually grumpy cat sitting in front of a red ornament, wearing a Santa hat. The words "Jingle All The Way To Hell" were inscribed in white above and below the image.

Platonic Route:

Your gaze softened at his choice, and without a second thought, you threw your arms around him. His heart fluttered at feeling the warmth of your body against his.

"Aww, you're too sweet, Levi! Well, that's all the sweaters. We are officially done!" You exclaimed, releasing him from your embrace. "How about we check out, head home, and collapse on the couch?"

The third brother couldn't have been happier with your suggestion, as his body desperately needed rest.

Romantic Route:

Your face grew warm as a light, rosy flush graced your cheeks. Without hesitation, you playfully pressed your soft lips against his but quickly pulled away. However, the Avatar of Envy was not satisfied with a peck, so he leaned closer to you and gently placed a hand on the back of your head. Levi drew you closer in a heartbeat for a deep and passionate kiss. But your amorous moment was not destined to reach its destination uninterrupted as you heard giggling in the background.

The teen cashier had finally realized there were people present in the store, but much to your dismay, it was at a time when you wanted privacy. Levi broke the kiss and turned away in embarrassment while you gave her a shy grin.

"The two of you make a cute couple," she playfully remarked.

———————————————

➣ Obey Me Masterlist: [1][2][3] ➣ Main Masterlist

➣ Buy me a Ko-fi?

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timtimtara · 2 months

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Finished my first watch of the live action Avatar The Last Airbender series. I'm definitely going to be watching this a few times.

Initial thoughts after the season 1 finale is that I'm impressed by the level of love shown to the original series. The changes they made to the story for it to translate to 8 live action episodes weren't that bad. I tried to stay away from all the fan grumblings about this series so I wouldn't be looking for faults and I'm glad I did. I was able to see it without someone else's opinions clouding my judgment.

I liked that we got to see more of Azula's descent into madness. Ozai really was a horrible parent on top of being a garbage human being. I think the live action really highlighted just how horribly Azula was treated by Ozai and just how young she really is to have to deal with his mindgames. She really had absolutely zero positive support under Ozai's influence.

I enjoyed the additional focus on the past Avatars outside of Roku in this one. Kyoshi and Kuruk are such fascinating characters on their own. I look forward to seeing more of them in future seasons.

The casting on this series was really well done. The younger cast especially was delightful in their joy. They really hammered home just how overwhelmed they felt becoming child soldiers in a madman's war.

Gordon Cormier as Aang did really well depicting Aang's heartbreak and loneliness as the last of the Airbenders. Aang as a character has always been about the tragedy of being the last and how one learns to be hopeful on the face of that tragedy. His Aang really made me think about how much he struggles being the sole source of Air Nomad culture and he's 12, so there's so much he just doesnt know or experienced. I look forward to seeing how his Aang grows into his role as the Avatar.

Kiawentiio Tarbell as Katara just made me love her so much. Katara has always been one of my favorites because she's so determined and hopeful about life. I loved seeing a Katara who was just learning how to be herself, learning her powers, and just being a badass by holding her own against the forces that wanted her to be less than herself. She's gonna be amazing when she comes into her own. I can't wait to see it.

Sokka, my beloved. What can I say that isn't just me gushing about how much I love him and relate to his struggles as the elder sibling with so much responsibility on his shoulders. Sokka is the character that makes the world of Avatar so relatable. So thank you Ian Ousley for being a Sokka that showed him at his most loveable and hard headed and self doubting and annoying and absolutely the bravest warrior of the Southern Water Tribe. Ousley's Sokka is a gift, imo. He understood where Sokka's determination comes from and he did a great job depicting everything that makes Sokka who he is. Even when he's being an annoying little shit, he's just so...Sokka. I need more Sokka in my life, is all I'm saying.

Zuko. My goodness, Zuko. Dallas Liu is a phenomenal Zuko. He embodied the determination and internal conflict that is Zuko so well. And he remembered to be funny! Zuko is such a moody little teenager trying to be a strong leader and Liu did such a good job at showing all aspects of Zuko's character. And his relationship with Iroh!

Omg, Iroh, you break my heart. Paul Sun-Hyung Lee was the perfect Uncle Iroh. He was the elder statesman who'd seen too much war and had lost too much in it. I felt like you could see how much he regretted his lack of empathy for the people his nation warred against until it was too late. He's a man who has many regrets in his life and trying to guide his nephew towards being the Fire Lord the world needs is the one small thing he can do to make up for his mistakes. Also, I didn't realize hearing "Leaves from the Vine" would have me legit crying each time they played it. Well played Netflix, well played.

Which brings me to the music. Thank you for keeping the iconic background music because this series wouldn't have been what it is without those audio beats. The music of Avatar is what makes so many of the dramatic moments what they are. The Avatar theme song has always given me chills and they used it really well here.

There were only a few points that I didn't think were well dome, but in the overall story that we got told, they weren't that distracting. I'm sure I'll have some grumblings I'll share as I do rewatches.

#live action avatar the last airbender #first impressions #atla #maybe spoilers?#tagging spoilers just in case #live action avatar the last airbender spoilers #natla spoilers #avatar the last airbender

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poeticmoonspirit · 2 years

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These Things I've Done - Part IIII

Part I Part II Part III Part V Part VI

Katara's hands clenched, her eyes still narrowed at the young airbender. Zuko knew how to control his inner fire. He's known for awhile now. But he knew that his control could only go so far, especially when he was angry. There were no excuses to make for Aang anymore. Nothing could excuse how he treated Katara and the rest of them today and if Aang was here to apologize, he wasn't sure he'd even stick around for it. Or if he'd believe it.

He was done.

"Don't you know how to knock? You can't just barge into people's rooms!" Katara yelled. Aang had the sense to look down in shame.

"I-I'm sorry, Katara. I just came in here to–"

"– call us monsters?" Zuko finished. "Oh wait, my father's a genocidal maniac so that makes me one too, right? I'm just waiting for the right time to kill you all without a moment's notice." The sarcasm didn't go unnoticed by Aang.

The Avatar held his arms to his sides to show that he was serious. He willed his hands to stay still and to keep from fidgeting. "Zuko, Katara," he said, looking them both in the eyes, "I'm sorry. So sorry."

"I was wrong about what I said, about all of it. I judged you based off of what I thought was right and that wasn't okay. I should have just listened."

"Also, you're free to date whomever you want, Katara. I'm sorry about that too."

Katara glared. "I know I'm allowed to date who I want. Do you?" Aang nodded quickly, not wanting to leave room for any doubt on their end.

Katara crossed her arms, not saying a word. Zuko stood next to her mimicking the same stance. Both of them were too angry to respond, too wounded. So Aang kept going, gulping as he tried to figure out how to proceed.

"I-I also talked to my past lives today. Um, they were the ones that persuaded me." Something in Aang's voice, the righteousness or the nonchalant way in which he spoke, annoyed Katara. She stood up suddenly, facing him with a look Aang couldn't read.

"Persuaded you? It took a bunch of dead people to knock some common sense into you?" She let out a bitter chuckle. "You are something else, I swear."

Aang opened his mouth, about to respond when—

"I have nothing more to say to you."

It was like the airbender got the wind knocked right out of him. His hands tingled in that feeling that told him to leave but he couldn't move, couldn't think. Couldn't feel. His eyes were blurry now. He wiped at them only to realize that he was crying.

Zuko sighed. "Look, we all talked while you were gone and decided that we'll continue to train you until the comet comes. Once the war is over and we handle whatever else we need to, you can do what you want. But don't expect friendship from us anymore."

In a moment of anger, Aang shouted, "Don't you think you're taking this too far? I already said I was sorry!"

Katara clenched her jaw, her eyes now focused on the angry expression on his face. Why was he upset? He was the one who fucked up! He's the one who judged her for the one thing she'd always wanted. He was supposed to be her friend, one of her best friends. But now his actions were proving anything but. If he was sorry—really sorry—he wouldn't have gotten mad. She wasn't just upset anymore, she was disappointed. She thought that maybe it was his age, but then she remembered that Toph was also his age and still didn't behave like that. So why was he the only one like this? Why did he have this sense of warped self-righteousness?

Katara glared. "You're angry?! Imagine how we feel, Aang! If you hadn't said what you did, you wouldn't even be in this position! You screwed that up! You screwed up our friendship, my trust, and any semblance of hope I had for you to grow up!"

"The first time I noticed your little snide comments was when we went to see Bato and you judged our diet and culture. I let it slide because you were a monk and a kid and maybe you didn't know any better. But this? This is a whole different situation. You've just dug your own grave, Aang. Now you lie in it!"

She stormed off, leaving the room in an uncomfortable silence as Aang faced an angry Zuko. The firebender noticed the water in the plants in the room were all dead, despite them being new. She was so upset that she was bending the water out of the plants. Unknowingly, he thought. And she liked them too, another thing Zuko added to Aang's tabs of misfortune.

A certain sadness enveloped Zuko's words. His voice laced with disdain. His voice was almost a whisper. "You know, Aang, when you told me that we could be friends that one time, this isn't what I had in mind." And with that, the oldest of the group left the room, leaving Aang to his thoughts. His past lives decided to make another reappearance in his mind.

"Thoughtless!"

"Fool!"

"Self-righteous child!"

And this time, he didn't argue with them.

#anti kataang #zutara #atla katara #ficlet #fucking oof #he fucked up BIG TIME

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saingirl101 · 11 months

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The Ravening War Gif LiveBlog - Episode 6 (SPOILERS)

I can't believe the ravening war is already over now. It went by so fast. This was such a blursed cast and I adore miss anajali now. Hope she comes back to d20 content in the future.

Now lets see who lives, who dies, and who loses their fucking mind. Also lets see if we ever find out whats up with raphaniel's vision.

Anyway as always spoilers below:

Raphaniel immediately subtle spelling and upcasting shatter on the archbishop:

all of the cast realizing deus pa zuul and its actually disposal:

Dishless coming back and attach amangeaux:

Deli getting his revenge on Gemelli for leading him on and attacking her:

Gemelli figuring out the archbishop is trying to destroy the entire world as her patron seems to be the disposal unit and attacking her:

The silvery barb's gang is back after the cult try to attack raphaniel and amangeaux:

RAPHANIEL REVEALING THAT HE POISONED AMANGEAUX'S HUSBAND AND THATS WHY SHE COULDNT HAVE A CHILD WITH HIM:

THE ARCHBISHOP OFFERING RAPHANIEL A PLACE WITH DEUS PA ZUUL AND INSTEAFD OF ACCEPTING IT EAPHANIEL DIVES INTO THE MYCELLIUM:

THE ARCHBISHOP HULKING INTO A GARBAGE DISPOSAL:

KARNA LANDING 40 POINTS OF DAMAGE ON THE AVATAR OF DEUS PA ZUUL:

DELI and AMANGEAUX ALMOST GETTING GRINDED UP BY THE DISPOSAL BUT SUCCEEDING ON THE SAVE:

raphaniel connecting with the mycellium, sharing his nightmares and PERSUADING THE MYCELIUM TO USE LAIR ACTIONS ON THEIR BEHALF:

KARNA SAVING DELI AGAIN WITH HER DWINDLING NUMBER OF SILBERY BARBS:

KARNA GETTING PULLED INTO THE MOUTH OF THE AVATAR AFTER DELIVERING 17 POINTS OF DMG:

DELI PUSHING THE ELDER INTO THE DISPOSAL:

Gemelli GETTING SUCKED INTO THE DISPOSAL AND GRINDED TO SMITHEREENS:

Collin running back and forth between the grinding holes of death and the safety bagel:

KARNA DYING TO THE AVATAR:

RAPHANIEL FAILING HIS SAVING THROW AND HIS NIGHTMARES COMING TRUE AND GETTING TORN UP BY THE DISPOSAL:

COLIN AND DELI REUNITING AND DELI BASICALLY MAKING COLIN HIS SKALD AGAIN:

COLIN ACTION SURGING AND TAKING DOWN THE AVATAR OF DEUS PA ZUUL:

THE REMAINING MEMBERS OF THE SCRUMPTIOUS SCOUNDRELS FAILING THEIR PERSUASION CHECK AND THEM HAVING TO RUN:

DELI TRYING TO SACRIFICE HIMSELF TO GET COLIN ONLY FOR COLIN TO WAIT FOR DELI REPEATEDLY:

DELI GOING TO 0 FROM HELPING TO GET THEM OUT AND AMANGEAUX STABILIZING HIM AND GIVING THEM ALL TEMP HP:

AMANGEAUX CONTINUING KARNA'S LEGACY BY TAKING KARNA'S SECRETS AND BECOMING THE SPYMASTER FOR EMPEROR UVANO:

THE LETTER KARNA LEFT FOR DELI:

the reveal that raphaniel's legacy is influencing belizabeth with his writings:

all of us after this finale:

Whoever is DMing the next D20 campaign:

#the ravening war spoilers #the ravening war #the ravening war the heart of the world #the ravening war episode 6 #dimension 20 the ravening war #dimension 20 #the scrumptious scoundrels #lady amangeaux epicee du peche #archdeacon raphaniel charlock #thane delissandro katzon #karna solara #sir colin provolone

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natlacentral · 2 months

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Avatar: The Last Airbender showrunner breaks down biggest remixes and Koi-zilla

Albert Kim, showrunner of the live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender, knew his new series would be subject to scrutiny, given the diehard fans who would no doubt pick apart every creative choice in what he calls more of a remix than a strict adaptation of Nickelodeon's beloved animated classic. Now that the show is finally out in the world after years of development, he welcomes it.

"It's also very nice to have so many people so invested and passionate about the story. I'd much rather have that than be ignored," Kim tells EW. "So being able to be in the forefront of something like that is pretty exciting. It can't please everyone, and as long as you understand that it's all fair game, I'm happy that fans are having debates and discussing these topics. I just want to wait for them to do it after seeing the show. And then I'm really excited to see what they talk about and what they like and don't like."

On that note, now that Avatar: The Last Airbender has premiered on Netflix, Kim breaks down some of the biggest live-action remixes.

The cost of Koi-zilla

Kim knew going into season 1 that they were going to pull off Koi-zilla — the moment when Aang (Gordon Cormier) channels the Ocean Spirit at the Northern Water Tribe and transforms into a giant koi creature made entirely of water. "It's funny to me that some fans out there thought we weren't going to do Koi-zilla," Kim says. "How can you tell the story without the Ocean Spirit creature?" But he notes it was both a practical and financial challenge.

"I knew we were going to do that ending, so we planned for that from the start of the season," he explains. "We planned on the sets that we were going to build, the VFX money that needed to be invested in that, the design of the creature, and making sure all the storylines organically led to that moment."

It did mean that he had to pick and choose what else he could pull off on the show with the remaining resources. "The Air Temple episode has an amazing battle in it, and I'm sure fans are going to go like, 'Why didn't you do that?' I wish I could, but it was going to be that or the Koi-zilla finale. So I had to make my choice there," he says.

Roku's Shrine was another example. "I love the sequence in original where they figured out how to crack the door," Kim recalls. "But when we got to that episode, we just didn't have the resources, frankly, both logistically and financially to be able to afford that on top of everything else we were doing in that episode."

Sorry, Flopsie

Among the Easter eggs in Avatar: The Last Airbender are two statues that appear in the background of King Bumi's (Utkarsh Ambudkar) castle in Omashu. They appear in the likeness of Flopsie, who was Bumi's pet goat gorilla in the animated show. "We never tried to make Flopsie," Kim says. "Flopsie is not really a character. He's a pet, so it wasn't a huge sacrifice to not have Flopsie."

Bumi's arc marks one of the bigger story remixes in the live-action version. The original saw the Earth Kingdom ruler put Aang through a series of tests, while keeping his true identity as his childhood friend under wraps as part of these trials. That information is revealed up front.

"We talked about it a lot in the writers' room, but at the same time, it didn't work for a number of reasons," Kim explains. "Bumi's point in the animated series is to show that the Avatar has to essentially face the unexpected, which we also get across in our episode, too. But what was more interesting to me were what was going on with the characters. Bumi is a character who was deeply wounded. He's hurt by the fact that his friend Aang wasn't there in his time of need. Aang, on the other hand, is burdened by the guilt that he wasn't there for his friend who needed him. That, to me, was much more interesting than the specific set of challenges that he had to go through. Bringing those characters to an emotional head was where we started from and then we built using the elements of the original story."

Spirits

The writers' room mapped out the season in blocks of two episodes: 1 and 2, the Omashu arc of 3 and 4, and the Northern Water Tribe setting of 7 and 8. That left 5 and 6 to kick off the Spirit World arc, except there were multiple re-weavings that ended up happening as a result.

Though initially more standalone in the animated original, the live-action series combines the storylines for Hei Bai, Koh, Roku's Shrine, and the Blue Spirit all into one overarching plot. Investigating the disappearing Earth Kingdom villagers leads the Aang gang to the Spirit World, where Katara (Kiawentiio) and Sokka (Ian Ousley) become trapped by the face stealer known as Koh (George Takei)... which then sends him to speak with Avatar Roku (C.S. Lee) at his temple in the Fire Nation for guidance...which then gets him captured by June (Arden Cho) and taken into Commander Zhao's (Ken Leung) custody...which then prompts Prince Zuko (Dallas Liu) to free the Avatar under the guise of the Blue Spirit.

"It was challenging, but it wasn't any more so than the rest of the season," Kim says. "Because we knew we were going to get to the point where we saw the Agni Kai, there was a lot going on to set that up." The original series didn't fully show the proceeding events following the Agni Kai, the Fire Nation duel that saw Fire Lord Ozai (Daniel Dae Kim) scar and exile Zuko from the kingdom, but the writers used those moments to further beef up Zuko's backstory.

"Also, that's the one episode in the season where essentially Sokka and Katara are not in it. So it became a big Aang and Zuko story," Kim continues. "When you looked at it that way, that meant including the Blue Spirit and then also including the Agni Kai and some new scenes like the one post Agni Kai when Ozai goes to Zuko and banishes him. So it's a little bit of maybe putting the puzzle pieces together and seeing where they all fall. Once you do that, certain things just logically fall into place."

Past lives

Netflix's live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender plays more with the mythology than the original's freshman season did. Visiting each of the past Avatar's temples allows Aang to commune with them, and even allow them to take over his body, as in the case of Avatar Kyoshi. As a result, we get to meet both Kyoshi and Avatar Kuruk in addition to Avatar Roku much earlier in the timeline.

Kim says he spoke with original Avatar creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko before they departed the live-action project over unresolvable creative differences. But the writers' room also benefited from all the supplemental Avatar materials that were released in the past years, including the companion novels and comic books.

"A lot of that stuff about those Avatars came from the Kyoshi novels," he says. "One of the Kyoshi novels talks a lot about Avatar Kuruk, same with the character of Kyoshi. The Avatars were useful characters throughout the season because they were able to confront Aang and voice his various conflicts, both as incarnations of himself and as characters on their own. One of the things you see is in episode 2 when he first talks to Kyoshi. We drew upon elements of what happens when he meets Roku in the original series and gave it to Koshi because we needed that element early in our series, to see the power of the Avatar."

A topic he explored with DiMartino and Konietzko was why the Avatar is the only one who can bring balance to the world. "'He can master all four elements, but isn't that the same as having four different benders?' 'No, he's also got the Avatar State.' 'Well, what does that mean?' So in episode 2, we see the power of the Avatar," he says.

Cracking Sokka

Of all the characters translated to live action, Kim says Sokka was "a little less fleshed out" than the others.

"Katara had the trauma of her mother's death, which is also Sokka's mother, but you didn't see too much evidence of that with Sokka," Kim explains of the adaptation process. "Zuko obviously has the story with his father and the Agni Kai, and Aang has the burden of being the Avatar. Sokka is a little bit more of a blank canvas in that regard, so we built in more into his backstory, which is in the original, it's just a little subtler."

The writers decided to lean more into the absence of Sokka's father and the pressures of having to lead the Southern Water Tribe at such a young age, as well as his struggles being the only non-bender of Team Avatar. "What does that mean for a human being when everyone around you has these superpowers and you don't?" Kim says. "It's all there in the original, we just drew it to the fore a little more."

It also blended easily into the Princess Yue (Amber Midthunder) arc later on. "She's able to see through all of his bluster and all of his attempts at comedy, and sees this insecurity," Kim adds. "So that was great to play with."

The 41st Division

A change to the original story Kim is most proud of is the 41st Division of the Fire Nation's military. In the Netflix series, the troupe was meant to be sacrificial lambs to distract enemy forces, but Zuko urges his father to appoint them as his crew in exile. The reveal cements the soldiers' respect for the Fire Nation prince and becomes a mirror to the found family element of Team Avatar.

"It's a small change, but it is so impactful in its way because it really drives home the story of Zuko's arc," Kim says. "He cannot find the compassion and love that he wants from his father because what he sees as a weakness in himself is his compassion. Then he finds it in this family that he's built with his crew. The message of the whole series really is about the family we make for ourselves."

The hardest VFX shot

Oddly enough, Koi-zilla wasn't the most difficult visual effects sequence to pull off in Avatar: The Last Airbender; neither was the attack on the Southern Air Temple. That distinction falls to a rather small sequence involving water and an arrow.

In episode 3, Katara thwarts Jet's (Sebastian Amoruso) plot to assassinate the Mechanist (Danny Pudi) and King Bumi by hurling water at a flaming arrow. "That's one of the hardest waterbending shots in the show because it's just doing something that water really doesn't do," says Jabbar Raisani, an executive producer, director, and VFX supervisor on the show. "It's traveling a really long distance, it's going against gravity upwards, and we really struggled with it."

The VFX team experimented with the movement of liquid by throwing buckets of water in the air over and over until they had enough references they could pull from. "That was not literally put in, but that's the inspiration for how the water moves through space," Raisani adds.

#albert kim #natla #atla #article #entertainment weekly #jabbar raisani

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