#i think korras arc is the fucking shit and i love it so much
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I did some Legend of Korra redraws of scenes I thought were neat :)
#had to use the wayback machine for those avatarspirit archives </3 rip#i think korras arc is the fucking shit and i love it so much#also im a certified asami sato simp and what of it#the legend of korra#tlok#avatar korra#kuvira#asami sato#hiroshi sato#screencap redraw#digital art#artists on tumblr#my art#might do more if the inspo hits me i have a few more ideas saved
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hey! it’s your hopefully favorite anon again. genuinely thank you so much for responding to my asks and stuff. it’s so eloquently written and it feels like it’s actually mako’s grief in text form. that doesn’t really make sense but. reading that little cat blurb actually made me feel better. I cried. like. heavily. 😭
im glad you liked my goofy insane mentor-that-needs-a-mentor korra idea, even if you’re not going to use it. I actually had the thought while watching a video comparing korra and zuko. it’s not exactly a niche thought that ‘korra is aang’s successor and Zuko’s spiritual successor’ but then it struck me. zuko was the oldest member of the gaang (just a bit older than sokka, the former eldest) but he is still absolutely batshit reckless and insane so,,, what if i Korra’d it.
also,, triple threats,,, since I’ve already revealed that I like to fuck around with canon in every possible aspect. consider: au where bolin dies (this one came to me after seeing a video saying mako would probably… yk, himself, if Bo died) but instead of giving up or chasing whatever criminals got him/dedicating his life to helping other orphans/etc. he just. replaces zolt. and maybe he would have a zuko style redemption arc?? I’ve been listening to Brutus by The Buttress on loop too which has not been helping me escape. yk what would make the takeover even better? zolt has bolin killed to try and get a more firm grip on his chosen protégé (maybe even around the end of the events of republic city hustle) and mako finds out and just,,, absolutely bodies him. like some scraggly 15 y/o just fucking cold blood murders a crime syndicate boss and takes over and?? everyone’s like well ig he was bound to get there eventually. and there would be attempted takeovers obviously but this little fucker is like. nuh uh. you can have this as soon as I get bro back (never)
sorry I’ll stop going insane now. I think you should really listen to Brutus btw it is SO fire
-🐌
hi snailon! (i'm going to call you that. snail + anon mashed together!) you're my only anon so you're my favorite by default,,, but you'd be my favorite even if you weren't! and it's lovely to hear that my writing has helped you <33 also sorry this took a day to respond to whoops
(cont)
okay on the mentor!korra part — it is such a big brain idea that i might have to one day write an au on my au just for that alone LOL okay but korra is so zuko the same way mako is so katara!!! one day i'll talk about it i swear. the classic comparison of mako = zuko is just so Off and it bugs me haha it's really korra and it always has been. bryke is out there spreading false propaganda about their own show like wtf man
second, on the triple threats! see i was reading this and i was reminded of deerstalkerdeathfrisbee's the only thing we've ever organized is crime! (which is a BRILLIANT fic even if i don't really like wuko), except then your train of thought veered divergent so promptly that i was like. woah. woahhhh. i've always been partial for terrifying mobster boss!mako since reading this one a few years back and i wholeheartedly believe that if it weren't for bolin, mako could have very quickly devolved down a really bad path. i've seen it float around a lot of older posts, but to sum it up most succintly, mako made sure bolin survived and bolin made sure mako lived. and if bolin is gone? mako would not give two shits about trying to be a better person, and if bolin's death was of a tangible human person's doing… well. it would not end well for that person, let's say. that person being zolt would abolutely lead to mako promptly desecrating the man, and even if it wasn't a grab for power, i can totally see it proceeding to him actually becoming the teenage mob boss of the triple threats.
(ALSO STOP "this little fucker is like. nuh uh. you can have this as soon as I get bro back (never)" WHY ARE YOU SO FUNNY this is so sad i'm laughing so hard)
but really; mako is just such a guy of asinine stubborness to survive, with the single-minded goal to protect bolin. if there's no one left to protect, and if bolin didn't just succumb to the horrors of their circumstance but was rather brutally murdered as an attempt to control mako himself, that asinine stubborness to survive could very easily translate into cold-blooded violence, and would come with an unnerving facade of quiet apathy while he's really simmering on the edge of a really bad breakdown at any given moment. the guilt would also be endless, and mako would probably project the personal villain so hard on every single member of the triple threats in his general vicinity. working under this angry/guilty/repressed/violent teenager would actually be the most terrifying thing ever.
continuing your ask from last time because i realized i never addresssed this part —
I just had another brain worm sorry. so remember how I was talking about korra potentially being a guiding adult-ish figure in the avatar mako au. what if baby bending brothers. and either lin/tenzin/whoever or them and the other 2 krew members,, taking care of little gang monster and his brother,, and addressing some of the insane trauma and helping him heal and build a stable life,,,
i do love child acquisition, but for tiny feral children! mako and bolin really could've been the most unhinged trauma children of all time and i don't think that any adult on the show would actually be able to handle them as they were except probably pema. tenzin would try his best but i think that he would very easily get overwhelmed and a certain phase of mako would probably incessantly insult him with the deliberate intention to rile him up — and admittedly, tenzin has more of a temper than he'd like to admit, so i just think they'd be at odds a lot to an almost dangerous amount. (but ig i'm exploring that in the actual fic lol) i think mako as a kid would be considerably more abrasive than his is now and far more distrusting and paranoid, to an extent that i don't think that there are a lot of adults in lok that would be well equipped to handle that. (maybe kya? i could see both of them taking to kya actually. that would be funny. maybe i'll write kya into this au.) i do think that bolin could easily get all of them wrapped around his finger, lin grudgingly (and i think she'd be the sort to hold a reluctant affection for prickly loser boy mako).
also idk how i missed it initially but throwing teenaged korrasami into the mix makes it funny though. they would manage the pair of them so badly. (i'm sorry it is cute but i personally don't believe in babysitter!korra and definitely not babysitter!asami.) korra would be in a physical brawling session with mako the little punk ass bitch if asami looks away for one minute because bolin will not stop crying and mako is now trying to bite her head off because that's his little brother. bolin just thinks these two cool older girls are super neat and not at all demanding of his respect so he just incessantly says the most batshit insane things at them while mako is just like. hmm wealthy girl. i am full of anger at life i think i will project that onto you because to me you represent everything i hate about society, i've decided. meanwhile asami is just so confused because she's literally just being her sweet self and this random mobster street kid pema found won't stop giving her a look like he wants to fillet her
sorry none of this post makes any sense at all my head is OVERFLOWING i am UNHINGED thank you for enabling me once again <333 you'll never be a bother also yes i will go listen!
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This came up on my FYP feed and I thought it would be super fun to do in honor of NaNoWriMo.
20 Questions
1. How many works do you have on AO3?
I have 30: 2 series, 5 WIPs, and a whole bunch of one shots 😁
2. What's your total AO3 word count?
134,500. Not sure how I hit an even number, but that's fun!
3. What fandoms do you write for?
Mostly Korrasami (The Legend of Korra) and JEmily (Criminal Minds), but I have written for WarriorBard (Xena Warrior Princess), Ramvers (Captain Marvel), and Pricefield (Life is Strange). I'm working on originals, too, but that's neither here nor there.
4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?
Fuck Was I
The Consequences of Jello
Profiles and Princesses
Measure the Coefficient of Static Friction Between Us
The Violets in the Mountains Have Broken Rocks
5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?
Always. I always respond to comments. It's so fun interacting with readers, and often, other writers. I've made a few friends from it and it's been so great. I have been known to drop off the face of the earth so I don't answer for a long ass time, but j always answer. Plus, I think it's a great way to show appreciation for those taking the time to interact. I love those emails telling me a fic has a comment. I poured so much of myself and my time into something and someone took the time to say something about it! It's pure magic.
6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?
I think my fics are all HEAs, honestly. But there's a healthy dosing of angst throughout a lot of them.
7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?
Probably any of them, but Fuck Was I if I had to choose.
8. Do you get hate on fics?
I did and I have. A fellow writer once called it "flaming troll shit" and since I changed my perspective to see it that way, I A) am considerably less bothered, and B) haven't really noticed it since.
9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?
I do write smut. I write the type of smut I want to read and it's always evolving. I don't really do like, BDSM (love to read it, don't have much urge to write it, though), but I'll throw in some kink once in a while. Really, I guess I just like to write real sex. The emotions, the connection, the want.
10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?
Honestly, no. It's never really been something on my radar. It feels like a lot to keep track of or to meld and that's just a lot. Kudos to those who can and do, though.
11. Have you ever had a fiction stolen?
I really hope not. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but plagiarism is illegal, kids.
12. Have you ever had a fic translated?
Not that I'm aware of.
13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?
I have not. I have a beta reader (shout out to ireallyshouldnt_behere) who tells me if I'm an idiot or gives me suggestions, but we haven't moved into the realm of actual co-author (yet). We have joked about it before, and I would love to try a co-writing fic with someone.
14. What's your all-time favorite ship?
Honest to God, JEmily. I had this theory when Criminal Minds first started back in the day that Emily and JJ got a little too drunk one night and clothes came off, that it turned into a thing. And then Will came along and Emily had to go and break her own damn heart because she didn't think she was good enough or JJ would be in danger being with her. Which is funny, given the Lauren arc, but I digress. But also, Xena and Gabrielle, always, because I grew up on XWP and those two were so obviously in love.
15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?
A novel I started writing 12 years ago 🤣 I love the concept and the characters and what I want to do with it, where I expect it to go. But holy fuck, it's been tedious. I have like...40k words of just bullshit that's not even really connected.
16. What are your writing strengths?
Emotions. Sometimes tension. Angst. Smut.
17. What are your writing weaknesses?
Dialogue. And moving from point A to point B. Sometimes grammar (and that annoys me most of all).
18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?
I've done it, but let's be honest, it's Google translated because I'm American and for some reason we think English is the only language...
19. First fandom you wrote for?
Legend of Korra. I had read something that just made my head hurt and I thought "I can write better than that!" Spoiler alert, that's a really shitty reason to write something and no, you can't always 'write something better.' Plus, everyone is different: voice, styles, confidence, all that. Anyway, I cranked out a random idea (Living on a Spare) I thought was funny, and here we are.
20. Favorite fic you've ever written?
Oh, why do you make me choose? That's a really good question. I think Chaos Theory (at least at the moment). I just found a bunch of bad pick-up lines and turned them into something ridiculous.
Just for funsies, I'mma tag @thewillowtree3 @blackbird-brewster @cargopantsprentiss @ahhhsami and hope you guys do it but really it's up to you! Cheers, yo!
#ao3#ao3 fic#ao3 fanfic#ao3 writer#writing#writer#fanfic#fanfic writer#fanfic writing#nanowrimo#for fun#wlw fanfic#wlw love#wlw#lesbian#lgbtqia
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It’s so shitty that mako takes advantage of how respectful asami is. She cares enough about korra and mako that she refuses to hurt them or get in the way of their happiness and that means she wouldn’t tell korra the truth about what happen because she won’t be the one responsible for ruining their relationship and mako does bad shit that puts her out and makes it so she can’t do anything but pull away so often and I hate it so much. I’m realizing the reason I don’t like mako is specifically because of his girl issues. It’s so fucking annoying how shitty of a partner he is to these two wonderful people and no one reprimands him for it except the girls. Bolin should stand up and call his brother a dick, tenzin should defend korra and ban Mako from speaking to her if she’s just gonna hurt her, the girls themselves should punish him and cut him off so he’ll learn a lesson. I think mako needs to experience a degree of isolation because it seems either a). He’s never been able to interact with people so he always hurts them or b). He isn’t able to consider other peoples feelings and always hurts them, or at least isn’t able to put their feelings above his. I don’t think cutting people off is always the solution if ever but he needs time to REFLECT. He needs to experience a little pain so he can understand how it feels because I don’t think he has to will to change on his own. Something needs to happen to push him to it and being exiled is often terrible and it could just make him worse if he doesn’t take responsibility but what else is there? He doesn’t listen or change for others because he’s either convinced he’s right or worried about his own feelings
I’m still trying to keep an open mind about mako and this could be part of a greater character arc I’m only in the middle of but idk. This might change but so far two seasons in mako has CONSISTENTLY been a terrible partner and constantly cheats and hurts the people he loves. Once a cheater always a cheater if you don’t have the will or concern to resist your temptations and mako has neither
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fINALLY!! now avatar really begins to shine, Toph is finally on screan
#i love toph#it has been a long time since i watched the avatar but i remember loving the shit out of her back then too#honestly might as well say it#toph is my favorite#deedeh rewatches the avatar#OOH i am defintley gonna anyoy everyone with the amount of toph art ill do#i can feel it#fuck i love this show#im honestley suprised by how much i remember of it#like its not as cronological#but watching the episodes i remember the plots fairly well for how long its been#its really fun to revisit old loves#bruh toph is just so fun on screen i cannot wait for this shit#s1 was fun and nostalgic but im defintely hoping for it to pick up the paze a bit#on the other hand i can easily draw while watching this show#im considering watching korra sometime after i finish this rewatch altough ive heard mixed reviews of it from people#i think my memory of the show propably wont extend much beyond book two tho#like i remember some events but its def gonna be fun too see#cannot wait for zukos redemption arc#i love my boi#i think i love katara even more with this rewatch#def loved her when i watched it as a kid but i have an affinity for her that is diffrent now#where she sometimes might have come off as annoying to little me i can see her viewpoint better with a more adult look on things#lol me adult#adult ish okay#loving sokka more on this run as well#i dont remember much of my opnioin of him from back then but i think hes grown on me more on this rewatch so far#god its so nice to be back with these characters#avatar the last airbender#atla
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in which I get progressively angrier at the various tropes of atla fandom misogyny
tbh I think it would serve all of us to have a larger conversation about the specific ways misogyny manifests in this fandom, because I’ve seen a lot of people who characterize themselves as feminists, many of whom are women themselves, discuss the female characters of atla/lok in misogynistic ways, and people don’t talk about it enough.
disclaimer before I start: I’m not a woman, I’m an afab nonbinary person who is semi-closeted and thus often read as a woman. I’m speaking to things that I’ve seen that have made me uncomfy, but if any women (esp women existing along other axes of oppression, e.g. trans women, women of color, disabled women, etc) want to add onto this post, please do!
“This female character is a total badass but I’m not even a little bit interested in exploring her as a human being.”
I’ve seen a lot of people say of various female characters in atla/lok, “I love her! She’s such a badass!” now, this statement on its own isn’t misogynistic, but it represents a pretty pervasive form of misogyny that I’ve seen leveled in large part toward the canon female love interests of one or both of the members of a popular gay ship (*cough* zukka *cough*) I’m going to use Suki as an example of this because I see it with her most often, but it can honestly be applied to nearly every female character in atla/lok. Basically, people will say that they stan Suki, but when it comes time to engage with her as an actual character, they refuse to do it. I’ve seen meta after meta about Zuko’s redemption arc, but I so rarely see people engage with Suki on any level beyond “look at this cool fight scene!” and yeah, I love a cool Suki fight scene as much as anybody else, but I’m also interested in meta and headcanons and fics about who she is as a person, when she isn’t an accessory to Sokka’s development or doing something cool. of course, the material for this kind of engagement with Suki is scant considering she doesn’t have a canon backstory (yet) (don’t let me down Faith Erin Hicks counting on you girl) but with the way I’ve seen people in this fandom expand upon canon to flesh out male characters, I know y’all have it in you to do more with Suki, and with all the female characters, than you currently do. frankly, the most engagement I’ve seen with Suki in mainstream fandom is justifying either zukki (which again, is characterizing her in relation to male characters, one of whom she barely interacts with in canon) or one of the Suki wlw pairings. which brings me to--
“I conveniently ship this female character whose canon love interest is one of the members of my favorite non-canon ship with another female character! gay rights!”
now, I will admit, two of my favorite atla ships are yueki and mailee, and so I totally understand being interested in these characters’ dynamics, even if, as is the case with yueki, they’ve never interacted canonically. however, it becomes a problem for me when these ships are always in the background of a zukka fic. at some point, it becomes obvious that you like this ship because it gets either Zuko or Sokka’s female love interests out of the way, not because you actually think the characters would mesh well together. It’s bad form to dislike a female character because she gets in the way of your gay ship, so instead, you find another girl to pair her off with and call it a day. to be clear, I’m not saying that everybody who ships either mailee or yueki (or tysuki or maisuki or yumai or whatever other wlw rarepair involving Zuko or Sokka’s canon love interests) is nefariously trying to sideline a female character while acting publicly as if she’s is one of their faves--far from it--but it is noteworthy to me how difficult it is to find content that centers wlw ships, while it’s incredibly easy to find content that centers zukka in which mailee and/or yueki plays a background role.
also, notice how little traction wlw Katara ships gain in this fandom. when’s the last time you saw yuetara on your dash? there’s no reason for wlw Katara ships to gain traction in a fandom that is so focused on Zuko and Sokka getting together, bc she doesn’t present an immediate obstacle to that goal (at least, not an obstacle that can be overcome by pairing her up with a woman). if you are primarily interested in Zuko and Sokka’s relationship, and your queer readings of other female characters are motivated by a desire to get them out of the way for zukka, then Katara’s canon m/f relationship isn’t a threat to you, and thus, there’s no reason to read her as potentially queer. Or even, really, to think about her at all.
“Katara’s here but she’s not actually going to do anything, because deep down, I’m not interested in her as a person.”
the show has an enormous amount of textual evidence to support the claim that Sokka and Katara are integral parts of each other’s lives. so, she typically makes some kind of appearance in zukka content. sometimes, her presence in the story is as an actual character with layers and nuance, someone whom Sokka cares about and who cares about Sokka in return, but also has her own life and goals outside of her brother (or other male characters, for that matter.) sometimes, however, she’s just there because halfway through writing the author remembered that Sokka actually has a sister who’s a huge part of the show they’re writing fanfiction for, and then they proceed to show her having a meetcute with Aang or helping Sokka through an emotional problem, without expressing wants or desires outside of those characters. I’m honestly really surprised that I haven’t seen more people calling out the fact that so much of Katara’s personality in fanon revolves around her connections to men? she’s Aang’s girlfriend, she’s Sokka’s sister, she’s Zuko’s bestie. never mind that in canon she spends an enormous amount of time fighting against (anachronistic, Westernized) sexism to establish herself as a person in her own right, outside of these connections. and that in canon she has such interesting complex relationships with other female characters (e.g. Toph, Kanna, Hama, Korra if you want to write lok content) or that there are a plethora of characters with whom she could have interesting relationships with in fanon (Mai, Suki, Ty Lee, Yue, Smellerbee, and if you want to write lok content, Kya II, Lin, Asami, Senna, etc). to me, the lack of fandom material exploring Katara’s relationships with other women or with herself speak to a profound indifference to Katara as a character. I’m not saying you have to like Katara or include her in everything you write, but I am asking you to consider why you don’t find her interesting outside of her relationships with men.
“I hate Katara because she talks about her mother dying too often.”
this is something I’ve seen addressed by people far more qualified than I to address it, but I want to mention it here in part because when I asked people which fandom tropes they wanted me to talk about, this came up often, but also because I find it really disgusting that this is a thing that needs to be addressed at all. Y’all see a little girl who watched her mother be killed by the forces of an imperialist nation and say that she talks about it too much??? That is a formational, foundational event in a child’s life. Of course she’s going to talk about it. I’ve seen people say that she doesn’t talk about it that often, or that she only talks about it to connect with other victims of fn imperialism e.g. Jet and Haru, but frankly, she could speak about it every episode for no plot-significant reason whatsoever and I would still be angry to see people say she talks about it too much. And before you even bring up the Sokka comparison, people deal with grief in different ways. Sokka repressed a lot of his grief/channeled it into being the “man” of his village because he knew that they would come for Katara next if he gave them the opportunity. he probably would talk about his mother more if a) he didn’t feel massive guilt at not being able to remember what she looked like, and b) he was allowed to be a child processing the loss of his mother instead of having to become a tiny adult when Hakoda had to leave to help fight the fn. And this gets into an intersection with fandom racism, in that white fans (esp white American fans) are incapable of relating to the structural trauma that both Sokka and Katara experience and thus can’t see the ways in which structural trauma colors every single aspect of both of their characters, leading them to flatten nuance and to have some really bad takes. And you know what, speaking of bad fandom takes--
“Shitting on Mai because she gets in the way of my favorite Zuko ship is actually totally okay because she’s ~abusive~”
y’all WHAT.
ok listen, I get not liking maiko. I didn’t like it when I first got into fandom, and later I realized that while bryke cannot write romance to save their lives, fans who like maiko sure can, so I changed my tune. but if you still don’t like it, that’s fine. no skin off my back.
what IS skin off my back is taking instances in which Mai had justified anger toward Zuko, and turning it into “Mai abused Zuko.” do you not realize how ridiculous you sound? this is another thing where I get so angry about it that I don’t know how useful my analysis is actually going to be, but I’ll do my best. numerous people have noted how analysis of Mai and Zuko’s breakup in “The Beach” or Mai being justifiably angry with him at Boiling Rock or her asking for FUCKING FRUIT in “Nightmares and Daydreams” that says that all of these events were her trying to gain control over him is....ahhh...lacking in reading comprehension, but I’d like to go a step further and talk about why y’all are so intent on taking down a girl who doesn’t show emotion in normative ways. obviously, there’s a “Zuko can do no wrong” aspect to Mai criticism (which is super weird considering how his whole arc is about how he can do lots of wrong and he has to atone for the wrong that he’s done--but that’s a separate post.) But I also see slandering Mai for not expressing her emotions normatively and not putting up with Zuko’s shit and slandering Katara for “talking about her mother too often” as two sides of the same coin. In both cases, a female character expresses emotions that make you, the viewer, uncomfortable, and so instead of attempting to understand where those emotions may have come from and why they might be manifesting the way they are, y’all just throw the whole character away. this is another instance of people in the fandom being fundamentally disinterested in engaging with the female characters of atla in a real way, except instead of shallowly “stanning” Mai, y’all hate her. so we get to this point where female characters are flattened into one of two things: perfect queens who can do no wrong, or bitches. and that’s not who they are. that’s not who anyone is. but while we as a fandom are pretty good at understanding b1 Zuko’s actions as layered and multifaceted even though he’s essentially an asshole then, few are willing to lend the same grace to any female character, least of all Mai.
and what’s funny is sometimes this trope will intersect with “I conveniently ship this female character whose canon love interest is one of the members of my favorite non-canon ship with another female character! gay rights!”, so you’ll have someone actively calling Mai toxic/problematic/abusive, and at the same time ship her with Ty Lee? make it make sense! but then again, maybe that’s happening because y’all are fundamentally disinterested in Ty Lee as a character too.
“I love Ty Lee so much that I’m going to treat her like an infantilized hypersexual airhead!”
there are so many things happening in y’alls characterization of Ty Lee that I struggled to synthesize it into one quippy section header. on one hand, you have the hypersexualization, and on the other hand, you have the infantilization, which just makes the hypersexualization that much worse.
(of course, sexualizing or hypersexualizing ANY atla character is really not the move, considering that these are child characters in a children’s show, but then again, that’s a separate post.)
now, I understand how, from a very, very surface reading of the text, you could come to the conclusion that Ty Lee is an uncomplicated bimbo. if you grew up on Western media the way I did, you’ll know that Ty Lee has a lot of the character traits we associate with bimbos: the form-fitting pink crop top, the general conventional attractiveness, the ditzy dialogue. but if you think about it for more than three seconds, you’ll understand that Ty Lee has spent her whole life walking a tightrope, trying to please Azula and the rest of the royal family while also staying true to herself. Ty Lee and Azula’s relationship is a really complex and interesting topic that I don’t really have time to explore at the moment given how long this post is, but I’d argue that Ty Lee’s constant, vocal adulation is at least partially a product of learning to survive at court at an early age. Like Mai, she has been forced to regulate her emotions as a member of fn nobility, but unlike Mai, she also has six sisters who look exactly like her, so she has a motivation to be more peppy and more affectionate to stand out.
fandom does not do the work to understand Ty Lee. as is a theme with this post, fandom is actively disinterested in investigating female characters beyond a very surface level reading of them. Thus, fandom takes Ty Lee’s surface level qualities--her love of the color pink, her revealing standard outfit, and the fact that once she found a boy attractive and also once a lot of boys found her attractive--and they stretch this into “Ty Lee is basically Karen Smith from Mean Girls.” thus, Ty Lee is painted as a bimbo, or more specifically, as not smart, uncritically adoring of Azula (did y’all forget all the non-zukka bits of Boiling Rock?), and attractive to the point of hypersexualization. I saw somebody make a post that was like “I wish mailee was more popular but I’m also glad it isn’t because otherwise people would write it as Mai having to put up with her dumb gf” and honestly I have to agree!! this is one instance in which I’m glad that fandom doesn’t discuss one of my favorite characters that often because I hate the fanon interpretation of Ty Lee, I think it’s rooted in misogyny (particularly misogyny against East Asian women, which often takes the form of fetishizing them and viewing them only through a Western white male gaze)
(side note: here at army-of-mai-lovers, we stan bimbos. bimbos are fucking awesome. I personally don’t read Ty Lee as a bimbo, but if that’s you, that’s fucking awesome. keep doing what you’re doing, queen <3 or king or monarch, it’s 2021, anyone can be a bimbo, bitches <3)
“Toph can and will destroy everyone here with her bare hands because she’s a meathead who likes to murder people and that’s it!”
Toph is, and always has been, one of my favorite ATLA characters. My very first fic in fandom was about her, and she appears prominently in a lot of my other work as well. One thing that I am always struck by with Toph is how big a heart she has. She’s independent, yes, snarky, yes, but she cares about people--even the family that forced her to make herself smaller because they didn’t believe that their blind daughter could be powerful and strong. Her storyline is powerful and emotionally resonant, her bending is cool precisely because it’s based in a “wait and listen” approach instead of just smashing things indiscriminately, she’s great disabled rep, and overall one of the best characters in the show.
And in fandom, she gets flattened into “snarky murder child.”
So where does this come from? Well, as we all know, Toph was originally conceived of as a male character, and retained a lot of androgyny (or as the kids call it, Gender) when she was rewritten as a female character. There are a lot of cultural ideas about androgynous/butch women being violent, and people in fandom seem to connect that larger cultural narrative with some of Toph’s more violent moments in the show to create the meathead murder child trope, erasing her canon emotionality, softness, heart, and femininity in the process.
This is not to say that you shouldn’t write or characterize Toph as being violent or snarky at all ever, because yeah, Toph definitely did do Earth Rumbles a lot before joining the gaang, and yeah, Toph is definitely a sarcastic person who makes fun of her friends a lot. What I am saying is that people take these traits, sans the emotional logic, marry them to their conception of androgynous/butch women as violent/unemotional/uncaring, and thus create a caricature of Toph that is not at all up to snuff. When I see Toph as a side character in a fic (because yeah, Toph never gets to be a main character, because why would a fandom obsessed with one male character in particular ever make Toph a protagonist in her own right?) she’s making fun of people, killing people, pranking people, etc, etc. She’s never talking to people about her emotions, or palling around with her found family, or showing that she cares about her friends. Everything about her relationship with her parents, her disability, her relationship to Gender, and her love of her friends is shoved aside to focus on a version of Toph that is mean and uncaring because people have gotten it into their heads that androgynous/butch women are mean and uncaring.
again, we see a female character who does not emote normatively or in a way that makes you, the viewer, comfortable, and so you warp her character until she’s completely unrecognizable and flat. and for what?
Azula
no, I didn’t come up with a snappy name for this section, mainly because fanon interpretations of Azula and my own feelings toward the character are...complicated. I know there were some people who wanted me to write about Azula and the intersection of misogyny and ableism in fanon interpretations of her character, but I don’t think I can deliver on that because I personally am in a period of transition with how I see Azula. that is to say, while I still like her and believe that she can be redeemed, there is a lot of merit to disliking her. the whole point of this post is that the female characters of ATLA are complex people whom the fandom flattens into stereotypes that don’t hold up to scrutiny, or dislike for reasons that don’t make sense. Azula, however, is a different case. the rise of Azula defenders and Azula stans has led to this sentiment that Azula is a 14 y/o abuse victim who shouldn’t be held accountable for her actions. it seems to me that people are reacting to a long, horrible legacy of male ATLA fans armchair diagnosing Azula with various personality disorders (and suggesting that people with those personality disorders are inherently monstrous and unlovable which ahhhh....yikes) and then saying that those personality disorders make her unlovable, which is quite obviously bad. and hey, I get loving a character that everyone else hates and maybe getting so swept up in that love that you forget that your fave is complicated and has made some unsavory choices. it sucks that fanon takes these well-written, complex villains/antiheroes and turns them into monsters with no critical thought whatsoever. but the attitude among Azula stans that her redemption shouldn’t be hard, that her being a child excuses all of the bad things that she’s done, that she is owed redemption....all of that rubs me the wrong way. I might make another post about this in the future that discusses this in more depth, but as it stands now: while I understand that there is a legacy of misogynistic, ableist, unnuanced takes on Azula, the backlash to that does not take into account the people she hurt or the fact that in ATLA she does not make the choice to pursue redemption. and yes, Zuko had help in making that choice that Azula didn’t, and yes, Azula is a victim of abuse, but in a show about children who have gone through untold horrors and still work to better the lives of the people around them, that is not enough for me to uncritically stan her.
Conclusion
misogyny in this fandom runs rampant. while there are some tropes of fandom misogyny that are well-documented and have been debunked numerous times, there are other, subtler forms of misogyny that as far as I know have gone completely unchecked.
what I find so interesting about misogyny in atla fandom is that it’s clear that it’s perpetrated by people who are aware of fandom misogyny who are actively trying not to be misogynistic. when I first joined atla fandom last summer, memes about how zukka fandom was better than every other fandom because they didn’t hate the female characters who got in the way of their gay ship were extremely prevalent, and there was this sense that *this* fandom was going to model respectful, fun, feminist online fandom. not all of the topes I’ve outlined are exclusive to or even largely utilized in zukka fandom, but a lot of them are. I’ve been in and out of fandom since I was eleven years old, and most of the fandom spaces I’ve been in have been majority-female, and all of them have been incredibly misogynistic. and I always want to know why. why, in these communities created in large part by women, in large part for women, does misogyny run wild? what I realize now is that there’s never going to be a one-size fits all answer to that question. what’s true for 1D fandom on Wattpad in 2012 is absolutely not true for atla fandom on tumblr in 2021. the answers that I’ve cobbled together for previous fandoms don’t work here.
so, why is atla fandom like this? why did the dream of a feminist fandom almost entirely focused on the romantic relationship between two male characters fall apart? honestly, I think the notion that zukka fandom ever was this way was horrifically ignorant to begin with. from my very first moment in the fandom, I was seeing racism, widespread sexualization of minors, and yes, misogyny. these aspects of the fandom weren’t talked about as much as the crocverse or other, much more fun aspects. further, atla (specifically zukka) fandom misogyny often doesn’t look like the fandom misogyny we’ve become familiar with from like, Sherlock fandom or what have you. for the most part, people don’t actively hate Suki, they just “stan” without actually caring about her. they hate Mai because they believe in treating male victims of abuse equally. they’re not characterizing Toph poorly, they’re writing her as a “strong woman.” in short, people are misogynistic, and then invoke a shallow, incomplete interpretation of feminist theory to shield themselves from accusations of misogyny. it’s not unlike the way some people will invoke a shallow, incomplete interpretation of critical race theory to shield themselves from accusations of racism, or how they’ll talk about “freedom of speech” and “the suppression of women’s sexuality” to justify sexualizing minors. the performance of feminism and antiracism is what’s important, not the actual practice.
if you’ve made it this far, first off, hi, thanks so much for reading, I know this was a lot. second, I would seriously encourage you to be aware of these fandom tropes and to call them out when you see them. elevate the voices of fans who do the work of bringing the female characters of atla to life. invest in the wlw ships in this fandom. drop a kudos and a comment on a rangshi fic (please, drop a kudos and a comment on a rangshi fic). read some yuetara. let’s all be honest about where we are now, and try to do better in the future. I believe in us.
#fandom crit#longpost#like seriously long post strap in#misogyny#death tw#murder tw#abuse cw#sexualization of minors#ableism#racism#fandom racism#zukka crit#swearing tw#suki#yue#katara#ty lee#mai#toph#azula
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Okay okay okay I'm obsessed with your Zukka headcanons, more please?
okay this one got long lmaOO
— zuko buys sokka many nice things. he says “my boyfriend enjoys nice things...fine silks...jewels...who am i to deny him this?”and suki says “please zuko these are the royal funds—“
— before they know the next avatar is korra, zuko hopes and prays the next avatar is a swamp bender, because he knows if they’re from the north water tribe it’ll be a whole thing and if they’re from the south he’ll literally never stop hearing about it
— in the beginning, zuko has no qualms about courting sokka. he’s the son of an ally country’s leader like yeah classic political marriage like what’s the issue (other than his own stifling awkwardness of course.)
— — sokka has the brain cell so he’s probably hesitant to jump into a relationship. they’re both public figures and gay marriage was just decriminalized— zukos already a contentious leader. not to mention, sokka has dated royalty before and the devotion to duty only lead to heartbreak.
— — — kataras the one who straightens him out. she is like “we gave our entire childhoods to these countries— don’t let some grandeur of responsibility keep you from the happiness i know you deserve”
— whenever they’re separated for long periods of time, sokka writes these gorgeous, long winded, purple prose letters about how much he loves and misses zuko, and his travels etc that are upwards of 20 pgs
— — zuko responds with “saw a frog today 👍” and sokka chokes up like “he has such a way with words”
— sokka sleeps on the right, zuko on the left
— just being around each other is enough to put them in way better moods. when one of them is gone, both are insufferable to be around.
— sokka goes on a life changing field trip with redemption arc!azula to find the stone for zuko’s engagement necklace and they bond & really connect in a weird way bc like... theyre sorta of the smartest people either of them know
— — meanwhile zuko, toph, and katara go on a life changing field trip for the metal for sokka a royal hairpiece and accidentally create probending
— sometimes it will get reeeeall quiet and sokka will just lean over and whisper to zuko “you know your great grandfathers were fucking right?”
— zuko obviously has days where he needs to just like escape and not to talk to anyone, so sokka will take the crown in his absence.
— — he spends those days doing all the shit zuko hates doing so he doesn’t have to
— sokka still struggles with feeling useless sometimes and thought it baffles zuko how he could possibly think that, he immediately will try to rectify it.
— — so zuko will show him the proof of a history textbook he had to approve, and show him every chapter dedicated to everything sokka invented, planned, or lead during the war and after to prove how important sokka is.
— sokka will be writing and when zuko sits really close to him on his right side, hell just switch the brush over to the left to hold his husband’s hand.
— when korra is first taken in by the white lotus, sokka insists they spend some time down there. zuko tutors her firebending and she loves him, but she’s obsessed with sokka who sneaks her out and teaches her sword fighting.
— not really a zukka head canon but when zuko first starts sleeping with the group at the air temple, he looks over and sees aang just levitating a few inches off the ground and is like “what the fuck” sokkas like “oh yeah that’s how he sleeps you get used to it”
— when katara finds out sokka helped toph have suyin, she’s like “it’s so touching that you want our families to be forever intertwined and for our children to always be connected!” and tophs like uh totally yeah
— — nobody tells her the interaction went “sokka be the father it’ll be funny” and sokka said let me ask my husband and zukos went “lmao do it it’ll be so funny”
— izumi ice dodges when she comes to age and crushes it, which makes hakoda and sokka both cry.
— — when iroh II wants to ice dodge, izumi refuses. she is however not supported by her fathers who are like “you did it! it’s a right of passage, izumi” “dont be a nerd, izumi”
— zuko, being a huge nerd, does indeed have iroh style his hair before their first date and sokka laughs so hard he cries
— sometime straight people will be like “oh the ladies must be sad you two are off the market!” and they will respond “our ex girlfriends are dating each other.”
— their wedding is extremely opulent, as pure sokkas request. zuko would’ve married him in a broom closet.
— zuko calls sokka “socks” and sokka calls him “zuks”
— sokka is very much that guy who wants to pretend he’s all cool but brings up his boyfriend all the time
— — “ugh it’s so hot i can’t breathe” “oh my boyfriend breathes,”
#hairasuntouchedaspartoftheamazon#zukka#headcanons#head canons#long post#read more#under the cut#you gusy encourage me too much lmao#i like how i always sneak a few gaang hc in there because i love those idiots smh#ask#not art#1k
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i tried to search the anti bryke tag but all that showed up was abt zutara. what are the racist issues? obviously u don't have to answer this you don't owe it to me to explain this but i would love to learn
yeah I mean.
for a show named "avatar" and its generous freeloading of buddhism and hinduism and chakras and third eyes and reincarnation cycles, atla had the grand total of one (1) indian character who was voiced by a white actor imitating exaggerated tamil accents and drinking banana and onion juice (haha, so funny, geddit, cause we indians eat wonky stuff....with our HANDS!!!! like uncivilized people!!!) not to mention that ugly ass scene in nightmares and daydreams when pathik appears in a dream on a lotus (I think?) singing CHAKRAS CHAKRAS with several arms, in a blatantly offensive imagery associated with ma durga/and or several hindu deities who carry weapons and sacred symbols in their arms.
white people in general like to pretend India doesn't exist as part of Asia and they can borrow our aesthetic without representing us, so our great rep in atla is:
names like katara and bumi, rohan and kuvira derived from south asian languages and some of these are very popular Indian names. but don't you be fooled, none of these characters are indian!!!
evil assassins having third eyes on their forehead like our hindu deity Shiva doesn't have a third eye and isn't the destroyer of EVIL.
The fucking golden temple of Amritsar was the sight of much political turmoil and also is EXTREMELY sacred to the Sikhs and the design was literally bootlegged in Korra to make a pro gamer compound. A temple turned to a cutesy sports complex.
most people having south asian and/or arabic names like ghazan, zaheer etc being painted as big baddies.
there's an ugly desi woman caricature in the korra comics but I haven't read it, my indian and Pakistani friends have though. Wouldn't you know it she's a bad guy.
atla is chockful of white liberal propaganda which is why people love some war criminals of the fire nation but lose all sense of comprehension when it comes to victims of oppression like jet and hama who GOD FORBID would have decided to rebel against their oppressors. They could have easily made jet evil in some other way but they specifically villainized his proactive resistance. "jet killed innocents" how about bryke are white liberals, how about ppl chew on that for a hot sec. Don't even get me started on lok.
katara's character is so dear to me but she's not written canonically in the beautiful emancipation arc people think she has. her trauma is second place to aang and she spends 3 seasons fcking mothering him (lol brown girls can relate we do have to coddle our manbabies I'll give you that) only for bryke and fandom to treat her like shit and leave her unrecognised because uwu internalised misogyny in the name of ship wars I guess. [ For ref see the way she is treated when it comes to LGBTQ headcanons/ some popular m/m ships]
many people rightfully express indignation at the shyamalan movie for casting desis as fire nation but sometimes criticism was just "WHY ARE THERE INDIANS IN ATLA?" I'll riddle you one better: in the first place, why aren't there Indians in atla?
#anti atla#atla crit#anti bryke#anti kataang#anti lok#[ just to be safe; i don't HATE lok or atla ]#racism //#india tag#desi tag#answered ask#long post //#thinking about jet makes me sick#love hating bryke 😍
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On Korra's arc
I will start by saying: I don't like rewatching ATLA Book 2 that much. Kinda think it has to do with all the pain in that season. Aang loses Appa, Leaves From The Vine, Appa's Lost Days, the Gaang working so hard to get the eclipse info only to have it blow up in their faces, the fall of Ba Sing Se, and Aang getting struck down with lightning and almost dying.
Like these are great storylines and twists and we get lots of character development. Hell, Zuko practically undergoes a metamorphosis. But ... the pain, man.
And I guess that's partly why I don't like going back to LoK as much. Korra gets flak for being "overpowered" from the start and brash, but her journey is practically suffering. She suffers through 4 seasons—she gets her bending taken away, she gets Raava forced out of her and each past life beaten out of her one by one, she almost gets suffocated and while she survives this, gets fucking poisoned and needs therapy and is traumatized so much she has hallucinations.
This has been seen by some as a way to humble her and for her to grow and learn. 6 years after the show ended, I wonder ... was that all necessary?
Aang didn't have it easy, definitely. He was 12 and woke up 100 years later to the genocide of his people and a war-torn world he was supposed to save by next summer. He worked hard and he went through a lot (he died and was brought back with spirit water) but ... he had a lot of good going on for him too, to the point that some viewers forget how much shit he went through. He had his losses (Ba Sing Se, the invasion), but we don't see him beaten up repeatedly. His losses came with many lessons, and Aang's victories didn't come easy. We saw him put in the work, sacrifice, mature, and persevere ("you're not the goofy kid I found in the iceberg anymore"), which made the finale satisfying.
Even Zuko, who has arguably one of the best redemption arcs ever, did not go through the level of physical and mental torture Korra did. It is his experiences with people (refugees and citizens in the Earth Kingdom) that change him. It is his self-reflection and Uncle Iroh's unconditional love that set him straight.
Maybe it's because ATLA is a kids' show. Maybe it's because of differences in the characters' personality.
But still, Korra ... She had 4 seasons and in each one, she underwent very intense, individualized, and personal torture. You have this very physically strong character, and while you have all the space to teach her the classic "with great power comes great responsibility", you do it by traumatizing her and beating her up every season. And then they wonder why some people didn't like it as much.
It does makes me think though—could she have had other plotlines of learning and growing? When Aang grew by sticking to who he was, did Korra have to lose herself to do the same? Did she have to go through all that?
#korra#aang#atla#legend of korra#lok#tlok#zuko#atarah talks#meta#my commentary#100#i have edited this a shitton of times for typos so im sorry i just word vomited it initially and i was surprised to see it get notes
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TL/DR - Catra is a uniquely complex and compelling character who has -so much going on- compared with most characters in any medium. Her character arc is psychologically astute, morally powerful and dramatically compelling, and it pushes the boundaries of the audiences sympathies in ways that are really groundbreaking for a kids show, and her arcs conclusion celebrates love, growth, and the power to change in a way that is all too rare in TV for grown ups.
Content note for mentions of suicidal ideation and self harm.
Well, now that the summary is out of the way, here’s a massive fucking dissertation on why Catra is such a great character.
This is the first of a series of posts outlining things that make She Ra a truly great show, one that stands out even 15 years into a golden age of TV animation for kids. This isn’t going to be a comprehensive account for why the show is great - the real answer is that this show has so many arcs and so many fully realized characters and they are all growing and changing in ways that interact with each other and complement each other so well. But I’m going to highlight some particular standouts, things that this show does better than anything else, things that made me step back and say ‘holy shit they did this in a show pitched at 10 year olds?!’
And so the first of these posts is about Catra. I’ve never seen a character in a kids TV show like Catra before. Depending on the season, she’s an anti-villain, an outright villain and an anti-hero and then, in the end, a hero. Being glib, I describe her in villain mode as a Saturday morning cartoon Supervillain as written by like, Dostoevsky. She’s got the trappings of classic villain camp - long speeches, sneering, over-complicated plans, she’s oddly ineffectual at times etc/ Yet all of this is underlaid and justified by something much deeper - her feelings of rejection, her desire to lash out at everyone around her, at her self-hatred and hatred of everyone and everything else (at least by Season 4. Good God.) And her actions are as dark as her motivations - she nearly destroys reality out of spite, betrays literally everyone who cares about her (often multiple times) and isolates herself so completely that in the season 4 finale she is a solitary, suicidal wreck of a person. Hell, in her last fight with Hordak, I was definitely rooting for Hordak (to say nothing of Glimmer, who is a pretty impressive antiheroine, like if Sparkles had just blasted her into glittery oblivion would we have held it against her?).
Let's start by discussing trauma. It comes up a lot with Catra for obvious and good reasons. But I almost feel like that word is insufficient for what's going on with Catra, or at least, we shouldn't stop with it (I know there are terms like complex trauma, but rather than simply using those I want to explain the difference between Catra’s consistent abuse and a single traumatic event). To use another example from a different show, Korra was also traumatized in season 4. But she was traumatized by a series of an events when she was a young adult. She had something horrible happen to her, and it fucked her up, and then she had exposure therapy with Zaheer and at least starts to get better. Catra...Catra is much more consistently abused. It's not just that shadow weaver traumatized her with the various acts of torture, but that Shadow Weaver taught Catra both an explicit worldview and a series of coping mechanisms that she struggles with through young adulthood. First, Shadow Weaver trained Catra to seek her approval. This is something she is particularly vulnerable to with Shadow Weaver, but also what she does with Hordak and to a extent Double Trouble. Catra's instinct when people mistreat her or show that they aren't trustworthy is to invest further in the relationship, until the breaking point. By contrast, when people treat her well Catra lashes out or takes them for granted. This is uh…a dymamic I am acquainted with among people who have been abused as kids, people whom I love. It is pretty rough.
She also developed a desire to prove herself. This starts off being tied to her drive for approval, but combined with her competitive streak (which is expressed in both healthy and unhealthy ways with Adora) it turns into a desire to beat Shadow Weaver and then Hordak at their own game.
At the same time, Catra learned by always being blamed for everything to evade and deny responsibility, no matter what. I think this form of self reassurance is tied to her self doubt (I think at some level she does think she is worthless) and her self hatred. It is also enabled by Adora’s martyr complex and willingness even act as Catra’s punching bag (as we see in the flashback in Corridors). This is a dynamic that actually repeats in an even worse fashion with Scorpia. Far from being arrogant, her constant evasions, put downs against others and preening speeches sound like the words of a woman who is trying to convince herself most of all. This tendency borders on narcissistic self delusion by season 3-4, which she begins recounting her version of events and possibly believing it even when it is obviously false, and everyone knows it.
When it comes to worldviews, Shadow Weaver taught Catra that love is about control and manipulation. We see this in seasons 1-3 where she congratulates herself for manipulating Adora when all she has done is take advantage of Adora's lingering love for her. Meanwhile, she’s learned that power is her only protection, and that the only way to stay on top is to abuse those beneath her.
The final kind of static tendency in Catra is her identity in the horde and her view of herself as one of the bad guys. This is something she rarely articulates but underlies much of her her decision to stay and not join Adora (at least at first). I think one thing to consider is that even if Catra never believed horde propaganda, it may have made her cynical and unwilling to imagine something better for herself or the world. Another factor is having struggled to belong in the horde for so long, she isn't going to give up now. At first this ties into her desire to win the approval of shadow weaver and Hordak, then it comes from her desire to prove herself better than them. Another factor is her self hatred. She sees herself as someone who hurts people, perhaps as a monster. She sees herself as a bad guy and so team evil is her side.
So yeah, our girl is kinda fucked up.
And yet Catra is never reduced to the sum of her traumas and bad habits. At every step of the way she is shown as a moral agent. She is shaped by shadow Weaver's abuse but she remains aware of and responsible for her actions. This is a double edged sword. She is fully responsible for her actions, but also she is never shown as broken by abuse or mental illness. She’s fully responsible, but by the same token is also redeemable, because she still has a choice.
So with that our of the way, let's go to Catra's arc.
I’m not going to recite everything terrible Catra does because I’m still on my first complete rewatch and I honestly find it hard to list it all. It’s a lot. So let’s talk about her shifting motivations. Early on, we see her desire for approval and recognition motivating her in ways that are so easy to sympathize with - she’s been told she’s worthless for years, and she wants to be worth something. We see how much she’s been scarred by Shadow Weavers abuse and by the ruthlessness and callousness of the Horde, and can sympathize with her desire to survive and advance since her own position is so untenable. We also see how, at first, she wants to be reunited with Adora. Her first huge turn into much darker territory is Promises, when she tries to kill Adora in order to permanently sever her connection with her own life and eliminate a possible rival for advancement (should Adora ever return). She’s told herself that she doesn’t want Adora back, and at least partly means it. Yet we still show her care for Scorpia and Entrapta and even Shadow Weaver in Season 2. It’s when Catra realizes that Shadow Weaver has chosen Adora over her once again that she takes her darkest turn. It’s not just that she destroys reality out of spite, it’s that she rejects her chance for a better and happier life, betrays every friend she has and focuses single-mindedly on hurting Adora (and arguably herself) and then on surviving when her attempt fails. Then Catra spends an entire season both fully inhabiting her role as a villain (and not a sympathetic one - really only our history with her leaves us sympathetic) and being utterly self-destructive and miserable. At the end, as mentioned, she’s a broken, suicidal wreck who has destroyed everything she’s strived for. If this was an HBO drama, we’d roll credits here and she’d go down as another self-destructive antihero. It would perhaps be too much to call her ‘Walter White as a catgirl’, but still. Of course, her story doesn’t end there.
Something that is incredibly dark that is happening in step with this is Catra’s hardening of herself, indeed, her dehumanization of herself. We see her struggle with her natural compassion, her kindness, her need for connection, her desire for happiness, and we see her ignore it all, stamp it down and nearly snuff it out. This is a huge factor in her descent into becoming a real villain (no ‘anti’ qualifiers needed). Every step of her descent is a struggle for Catra - not going with Adora in the second part of ‘The Sword’, trying to kill Adora in ‘Promise’, going back to the Horde, betraying Entrapta, lying about Entrapta, threatening Scorpia, destroying the world - but she always chooses evil. And with every step she becomes more isolated, more callous, and more cruel. Her default reaction becomes not just bravado and mockery and insolence, but threats, bullying and intimidation, until her management style is identical to Hordak’s, and indeed, is quite a bit worse. Catra starts off fighting for Hordak and Shadow Weaver’s approval and struggling to survive, and ends up cackling maniacally at her brutal and murderous conquests. She has very deliberately turned herself into a cruel conqueror, and a tyrant. This self-dehumanization is a huge part of evil in the world, I think, and it’s really powerful to see it so clearly in a kids show.
Meanwhile her insistence on evading all responsibility finally results in a self-serving, self-protective narrative that insulates her from responsibility or self-examination but also cuts her off from reality and other people. It’s always a bit unclear to what extent her various untruths (about Adora leaving her, about Shadow Weaver’s escape and her concealment of it not being her fault, about Entrapta betraying Hordak) are things she believes, lies she is telling to have power over others (mostly Scorpia) or things that she doesn’t quite believe but is trying to convince herself of. It’s probably all of these at various times, and in different degrees for each lie. The end result is that Catra is even more alone, because only she inhabits the safe cocoon of lies she’s built around herself. It also is the key to her and the Horde’s downfall - Catra is so isolated and in such denial that she can’t see how thin her forces are spread, and this crack shows up even in episode 1 of Season 4, with her insistence that the Princess Alliance is in shambles (when, in fact, it’s already rebounding, and proves more resilient than she allows herself to believe, and is led by a woman as ruthless and determined as herself). This part of Catra’s arc brilliantly shows how deception (of yourself and others) can feel protective by keeping shame at bay, but ultimately is destructive and strips someone of so much of the intellectual and moral qualities that we call ‘human.’ It’s also chilling to see since we’ve seen the end game of this mentality play out in US national politics, at the highest level.
I said at the opening that we’ve never seen a sympathetic character like Catra in a kids show. What about Zuko? I would argue that Zuko is never a cruel, or as callous, or as self-destructive as Catra is at her worst. Zuko is motivated by a desire for recognition from his abusive father (much like Catra is initially motivated by desire for recognition from Hordak and Shadow Weaver, and indeed Adora), and perhaps a desire to belong in the Fire Nation. All of this gets wrapped together in his ‘Honor’. He’s a young man with a very weak sense of what he truly believes, instead relying on external guides to what he should do. He’s also incredibly self-involved, and initially indifferent to anyone’s pain but his own and anyone’s needs but his own need to restore his honor. Uncle Iroh is there throughout to push Zuko both to see the needs of others and to become his own person. Zuko’s redemption arc, then, is a twofold quest to recognize other people and to find his own moral center and act from it. This is a pretty powerful coming of age story in that it is about him becoming his own person and throwing off the shackles of his upbringing. Politically, it’s a powerful story of a young man taking responsibility for his own actions in an authoritarian regime and refusing to participate in its imperialism any more and to embrace a new way forward both for himself and his nation. At the same time, in some ways it is easy to sympathize with Zuko because his greatest crimes are those of weakness - he’s not strong enough to stand up to his nation and his family until midway through the last season. Catra though...Catra does what she does, eventually, because she wants to hurt people. She’s cruel, and spiteful, and destructive in ways that are truly scary and which prevent any excuse or mitigation.
Which brings up the other comparison - Azula. But while Azula is (somewhat inconsistently) shown either as a monstrous child sociopath or a traumatized and broken child who can’t help it (and thus, perversely, as not a moral agent but something like a monster), Catra is consistently shown as a moral agent. Catra chooses her own path, every step of the way. She has so many chances to do something else - Adora’s offers to leave together in the two-part series opener, Promises, Scorpia’s suggestion that they dessert the Horde and become desert gang leaders, etc - and until season 5, she turns them all down. While Azula seems destined for evil and madness, with Catra we see a young woman very deliberately walk down the path into unmitigated evil with both eyes open. And then we see it destroy her.
And after she is basically destroyed, we see her build herself back. This process actually starts in Season 4 with the creeping realization that even when she is winning she is miserable and alone. She doesn’t even notice Scorpia is gone for several episodes, then she completely loses it. She spends the entire time when she is at her most triumphant isolated and raging and borderline incoherent, as ineffectual as she accuses Hordak of being. She’s won, and she’s alone, and she’s the most unhappy she has ever been, and I think for the first time she realizes that. And that’s the worst blow to her, even before all the external things come crashing down. She’s already miserable before Double Trouble and Glimmer deal her a triple coup de grace of destroying all her armies*, turning her and Hordak against each other and then Double Trouble’s epic evisceration. By the time Glimmer shows up, Catra is, as mentioned, literally suicidal. But she’s also already begun the process of changing in that she knows that she has a problem (her, and her self/other-destructive tendencies). Moreover, she knows, at some level, that what she really wants isn’t conquest, or to prove herself as the baddest leader of the Horde, but love - and she’s seen how she’s squandered that at every opportunity.
Let’s just pause for a moment to observe how much better Glimmer is at villainous machinations than Catra. In a couple episodes she makes a faustian bargain for unlimited power, kills all her enemies armies, sets her two chief foes at each other’s throats and literally cripples one while rendering the other helpless. And given her ironic non-answer about hurting Catra (‘we’re the good guys, remember?’ and the fact that she’d tried to kill Catra twice before**, she walked into Hordak’s sanctum fully intending to end Catra’s life, one way or another. She does all this through ruthlessness, recklessness and treachery, and she could give like, a TED talk on villainy. Of course it also blows up in her face and is actually way worse than the portal did in Catra’s, endangering the whole universe (I always assumed that the portal only threatened Despondos), dooming Etheria to invasion and all that. Of course, Catra pulled that switch and then fought Adora knowing that the world was ending, while Glimmer was just ignoring warnings from...just about everyone, including Shadow Weaver. So yeah, Glimmer, best kids show antihero since Princess Bubblegum***(unless we’re counting Catra as an antihero, which works for the first half of season 5).
Anyway, at the beginning of Season 5 Catra is adrift. Though some interpretations, like TV tropes, see her as immediately falling back into old habits and casting her lot in with Prime, I see her actions from the end of Season 4 onwards as more ambivalent. She seems to be kind of...going through the motions. She doesn’t have any of the drive or passion in her plotting that she once did, she seems to be maneuvering into Prime’s good graces out of habit. At best she’s back in the survival mode of early season 1, but without the ambition and desire to prove herself that motivated her. Some interpretations put a lot of stock in Prime being someone that can’t be bargained with or appeased, but...I don’t buy it. I take him, to an extent, at his word when he says that he was ‘exalt’ Catra (I am sure it is something awful). Catra actually gets what she wants halfway through “Corridors.” Only it’s not what she wants. She’s done jockeying for advantage, especially in a world where she truly would be alone because all she has is this psychopathic narcissist and his clones for company. She wants connection. She wants to do what is right. She’s suppressed all her humanity (felinitity? Anyway) for years and it’s made her miserable, and now she’s ready to embrace it. At the same time she confronts her own culpability, seeing just how much harm she’s done and admitting it for the first time. Her first lifeline is Glimmer, the only person she can actually talk to, the only other Etherian, the woman whose mother she doomed and who has nearly killed her three times. But Glimmer is also going through her own dark night of the soul - Glimmer and Catra’s character arcs were converging at the same time that Catra’s and Adoras and Glimmer’s and Adora’s were diverging. And they come together on either side of that forcefield, just talking and being people in an environment that is designed to be as dehumanizing as possible. Even this barest lifeline is enough for Catra to hold on to for dear life, and enough to inspire her to not just feel bad about the bad things she’s done, but do something good.
But the first way she does this is a cop out. Her plan, like Shadow Weaver’s in the finale, is to sacrifice/kill herself doing ‘one good thing.’ That way she doesn’t have to figure out how to live with the consequences of her actions, face the possible rejection of the people she loves whom she’s wronged, and do the hard work of building herself back up as a better person. She gets to die a hero rather than live as a villain. That said, unlike Shadow Weaver she does at least get off one apology, and it makes all the difference.
Then Adora fucks Catra’s sacrifice up, in glorious, space operatic, gay AF pulp fiction fashion, by saving the cat. Catra is mind controlled or unconscious for most of this episode, but what she does do is so crucial. When Adora comes for her, she reaches out to her, as soon as she is able. She doesn’t push her away, she takes Adora’s help, and her love, and Adora does the rest in badass fashion. The next few episodes plus the so perfect its canon Don’t Go are my favorite part of Catra’s entire arc.
She nearly falls back into her old habits, at least partly. Now that she has to live with what she’s done rather than just dying for it she just wants to run away again. But when she has to choose between losing Adora all over again and confronting herself and her past, she chooses Adora, and asks her to stay.
Catra then spends the rest of Season 5 slowly easing herself into the very human world of the Princess Alliance - the comaradery, the dedication to others and a cause, the goofiness. I’m going to talk a lot more about her relationship with Adora in my Catradora post, but I do want to highlight three moments.
The first is Catra running away again. This is actually a big change from what she’s done before - she’s not leaving because she’s angry, or bitter, or spiteful, she’s leaving because she doesn’t want to see the woman she loves sacrifice herself yet again (maybe this time for good) after being manipulated by the woman who had abused them both. But then she comes back. And then she confronts her abuser in a way that she has never done before - for the first time in the series, she not only calls Shadow Weaver out but calls her to do the right thing, and doesn’t give up until she does (this is after Adora also calls SW out and cuts her off forever, meaning that her two charges have finally called her on her bullshit and chosen each other over her, more in my Shadow Weaver Rant...and I guess my Catradora rant).
Then, at the end, Catra both stays with Adora through her potentially fatal harnessing of the Heart of Etheria and then her comes in and rescues her by challenging her to do something for Catra and for herself. Not to be with Catra, or to kiss her, or love her, but just stay for her. Needless to say, Adora responds far more enthusiastically than Catra had dared hope. (more on this in my Catradora rant).
Catra starts the show convinced she doesn’t need anyone except Adora, and she’s willing to even push Adora away if she can’t have Adora on her own terms. She goes down that path - ambition, manipulation, treachery, cruelty and isolation - until she has nothing left. She then slowly, painfully, turns around and reaches out and begins to heal the pain in Etheria and the universe rather than causing more. This is a psychological journey in many ways, but even more than that it is a profoundly moral one. It is a story of her accepting responsibility for her actions, facing reality, reaching out to others and making amends. It is in every sense a redemption. And while it works perfectly with Adora’s own development into her own, fuller, happier, healthier person, it works not because of Adora or the power of love, but because of Catra herself. Adora’s companionship, Adora’s rescuing of her and holding her to account, all of these are necessary for Catra to change for the better. But in the end it is Catra herself who chooses the right path, maybe for the first time in her life. And that’s what makes the romance work in turn - Catra is motivated to change not simply by a desire to impress her girlfriend or by Adora’s shining goodness (to the contrary, Adora’s a healthier and less self-sacrificing person at least in the finale...she comes around later than Catra) but by her desire to be true to herself and seek out what she really needs and wants - which is love, and connection, and to do good rather than evil. It’s a gorgeous story that takes an antihero all the way down to hell and then back again, and this makes it a truly unique redemption arc in all of kids TV - not just because of how far Catra falls, but how far she travels overall.
*(I know a lot of fanficcers talk about there being a lot of Horde Soldiers left but like...in the show...they’re nearly all dead, guys. Glimmer and company...okay mostly Mermista... just about killed them all in an afternoon. The cadet Triad survives because they deserted and weren’t there to get drowned/frozen/suffocated by plants when the grand invasion of Brightmoon went sideways)
**Okay, once she was only an accessory to Shadow Weaver’s attempted murder of Catra, the other time she leaves Catra for dead in ‘Pulse’
***I stan PB so hard guys. So hard. Machiavellian genius, mad scientist, god figure, possible Nietzschean Ubermensch? She’s so great. So great.
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Quick Avatar Comment #52 (I guess)
I've said this once and i will say again. I don't think Kuvira is that well written of a villain or that she is the villain that better mirror's Korra.
I think she for sure have tons of charisma. Maybe being the most charismatic of all Korra villains (or is just this fandom that is gay af and ready to simp for woman who could legit beat their ass)
I think that if we have had Kuvira backstory episode, things would be different but since we didn't have i don't think is fair to say that she is the most well written villain, especially when we have Amon.
With Amon, we could see where he came from and why he was doing that. There's this pain in his character, the story of a talented Waterbender boy that had his childhood destroyed by his father. His father, who turn that sweet boy in a monster who grew up believing bending was evil because his father was. And even knowing is hypocritical af since he himself is a bender he truly believed the world would be better without bendings and with his believes he thought he was using his "impurities" for good. And i think that he is low-key ashamed of being the powerful bender he his, since he truly believe bending is evil - that would explain his face when Korra exposed him. He looked pissed, he looked surprised and he looked ashamed.
And one important thing, after escape he didn't think about revenge against Korra or something. He was legit thinking about rebuild his life.
Now let's talk about Kuvira.
With Kuvira we have this woman who even though she was abandoned by her parents I have no doubt that Suyin saw her as her own daughter. But I think that Kuvira feel like a strange to the Beifong family, feeling that she didn't really belong and i dunno much of psychology but i wouldn't be surprised if she had this feeling and will to be on top, to be the best, the leader so that her parents - wherever they are - could see her and how assholes they where for abandon her.
We know that the Earth Kingdom needed order, it was caos and people are starving. But there's this quote that says "in times of need and despair, dictatorship may seem the right call but it is dangerous to think that way" because guess what, once things are "fixed" those dictators won't step back. And you may say that Wu would be as bad as the Earth Queen but - guess what again - you are just trading one bad ruler to another. And in the end Wu step down the throne something that Kuvira only did because Korra saved her life - if she have had killed Korra as she intended, i sure she wouldn't step back. Oh and after she lost, she right after tried revenge against Korra, trying to kill her with that weapon
In a writing perspective her arc his flawed because there's something missing. Don't get me wrong but she goes from literally aiming a nuclear weapon at children to peacefully surrender too fast. And i know her character wasn't a bad one, a bad person her in book 3 seems normal but in book 4 she is so driven by power that this change just because Korra said she sees a lot of herself in her seems too rush. I would put at least more 3 lines of dialogue there
And Kuvira really resemblance Korra? I mean yes, but when we have Amon...dude, he is a better evil avatar than UnaVaatu. And i didn't buy this also because of how bad the show want us to buy that Kuvira "was just like Korra" when i personally think that they only share things like stubborn and will power. I also don't think Kuvira was that impulsive because if she really was she wouldn't build that empire but she had impulsive moments that's for sure.
When Amon in other hand share that will power and more important, he share a life's path that mirrors Korra's.
Just like Korra he was from watertribe, he was child prodigy, he spends his childhood training, at some point of his teenage years he runnaway to try to find his own path, he speak for the non-benders just as much as the avatar speak for them too, and while he takes people bending away, Korra's give them back.
I dunno. I think Kuvira is a good villain that sadly didn't reach her full potential because the budget of Book4 was cut. I just cringe sometimes at how some people really made excuses and try too justified her bad actions when you can genuinely love a villain and know that they did some bad shit , you recognize that , but you still love them and end of story
One of the things I like in the Killing Eve fandom (at least the bubble part I'm in) is that we know Villanelle is a professional assassin who doesn't give a shit about her targets , if they deserve to die or not, and we just say "fuck it, we don't care we love her" instead of try to justify her actions
#the legend of korra#korrasami#avatar korra#avatar#legend of korra#tlok#lok#amon#kuvira#quick avatar comment
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do u stan mako?
I have been stanning Mako since Season 1 first aired. I have never engaged in the widespread hate for him that so much of the fandom seems to have done. I think he is an extremely misunderstood character.
In fact, I think the problem with Mako is that Bryke was way too subtle with him in terms of the kind of trauma he had and the damage it did to him. We were meant to infer his damage based on his backstory. Which would have worked, I think, if the primary audience was older; however, since a lot of the audience ended up being younger kids/teens it was completely lost on them. (That’s not a read, by the way - just an acknowledgement that creating characters for adults and kids is not the same thing.)
Mako saw his parents killed in front of him when he was 8 and then became not only an orphan but a homeless one that was responsible for the care and upbringing of his 6 year old brother, all on his own. He had no support of any kind. Whether they lived or died rested quite literally on his 8 year old shoulders. That is fucking traumatic. Unbelievably traumatic, more traumatic than I think any other of the main characters in the Avatar universe had to deal with, short of Aang.
Mako was a child who not only had massive trauma but did not have the security of a home, nourishment, education or adult support - none of it. Zuko had terrible trauma but an amazing mentor who cared for and helped him. Korra had terrible trauma but had her parents as well as Katara helping her both physically and mentally. That’s not to say that their traumas were somehow easier; it’s not a contest. What it is to say is that there was a support system in place for these other characters that Mako never had.
The only other character who can compare with what Mako went through is Aang, of course. His entire people were exterminated and he Rip Van Winkled himself into the next century. He had some massive trauma going on. And we do see him react to that, despite his cheerful personality. The difference, I think, is that Aang is 12 and Mako is 19. Aang isn’t any better than Mako when it comes to dealing with his mixed up feelings of friendship, loyalty and romance, it’s just that people are apt to give him a pass for the way he essentially forces Katara to be romantic with him because he’s 12. Mako might be 19, but the tug of war that Asami and Korra are playing over him (and we’re all clear that he instigates none of this, right? because if you think he does go and watch the show again, he never instigates any of the love triangle) is not one he is equipped for at all, which is why he fails so miserably at it.
In short, younger people have this idea that 19 is super grown up and that 19 year olds should have their shit together when in reality, 19 isn’t all that grown up at all. 19 year olds are still figuring it all out and will be for a few years to come. And that, I think, is why there is so much hate for Mako. They expect him to react to situations like Tenzin or Uncle Iroh would and uh...no. No.
(I also firmly believe that Mako is on the autistic spectrum while Bolin is rocking some serious ADHD but that’s a headcanon, so take that as you will.)
The other hate for him seems to be over him becoming a cop which...I think there’s a whole lot to be said for the way Mako goes from being a fairly high ranking triad member for his age (he’s canonically an accountant for the triad at 15, I mean...hello?!?!?) to later wanting to join the police. And he’s not a great cop. He’s too violent and breaks the rules - that’s what he knows, after all - and Beifong has to sit on him a lot. (Hell, she puts him a cell for awhile, and who could blame her? He’s a former criminal and he pulls shit on duty which is not only against the law but which causes issues for her.) His heart is in the right place - he wants to fight injustice - but all he knows is how that happens on the street. And again, I think Bryke thought that viewers would infer a lot of this about him on their own and while some of the older viewers did the younger viewers sure as hell did not. It’s all part of his personal growth where he learns to think about others instead of just his own (and Bolin’s) survival. There’s an arc there that goes from Mako pro-bending and not giving a fuck in Season 1 to Mako taking on the Colossus in Season 4, something which he clearly thinks is going to kill him. His goodbye to Bolin is what he thinks is the last one (which Bolin recognizes and it’s why he comes back to get Mako after he gets the engineers to safety). That’s a tremendous amount of growth but because Mako is Mako it’s mostly internal. He’s an internal sort of guy. But again, children’s media needs everything to be external and poor Mako as a character gets the ass-end of the stick when it comes to viewers who rely on external characterizations.
Obviously I think it’s possible for older viewers to just dislike the character because they don’t like him! I mean, I get what is going on with Mai and I never cared for her as a character, even though I sympathized with her and her particular background. But that’s my point. I can understand that she’s emotionally stunted because of an entire childhood of being forced to be seen and not heard and still not like how that manifests. But I’d never dismiss why she became the way she was. I can have compassion for her while not wanting to sit down and have tea with her (or write about her, for that matter). So if you understand how Mako’s trauma manifests and can have understanding and compassion for him as a character and still not want to have tea with him, then hey, I get it. But I rarely see that happening with the character and it’s a damn shame, I think.
#blah blah blah#Mako#TLOK#I mean I clearly stan Mako if you read my fic#but I'm happy to go off for awhile about it#long post#Anonymous
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The trope Last Minute Hookup shouldn’t be used for LGBTQ+ relationships.
AND DEFENDING MY LAST POST ABOUT THIS.
I DO NOT hate any of these pairings. A good many of them could have been handled differently by the creators, writers, and networks. But this isnt me hating the relationships or characters or shows. Just going off about how they shouldnt have been tacked on at the end of their respective series.
As of writing this all of these shows have ended their original runs. Except for Supernatural which is on its last few episodes. And Supergirl, which announced its coming to end with season 6.
LGBTQ characters and relationships aren’t as common in the media as straight-cis characters and relationships. Sure things are improving but a lot of networks and writers still don’t fully understand why representation is important why they can’t keep using the same throwaway tropes they’ve been using for the straight-cis relationships.
You could name any piece of media and find and name one character that isn’t LGBTQ+, but you can’t do this with LGBTQ+ characters. We haven’t gotten to the point where they are as common as non-LGBTQ characters.
I have a whole paper I wrote on why asexual representation is important to have in the media and the same logic applies to any part of the LGBTQ+ or anything that falls under minority.
Back to the topic on hand. The trope of “Last Minute Hookup.”
Its exactly what it sounds like. Characters get to together at the very end of the story. These characters could have a on and off again relationship, lots of ship teasing, the classic “Will They or Wont They?” trope. What makes it different for non-LGBT characters in relationships to do this, we know what these relationships look like. Not to say the that both Non and LGBT relationship cant have similar struggles, however members of the LGBTQ+ community know how hard it is to feel like your identity and self matters and is normal.
I know that the whole “will they, wont they” thing is done for drama and networks and showrunners think if they give the fans what they want that they’ll start losing viewers and they have nothing to look forward to. Which is true to some degree. But most of this comes from the writers not knowing how to fucking write relationships.
Let’s just focus on whats it like to be in a non-straight relationship.
Heres an example: you have an action series, with 2 male leads and halfway through the show, they get together. Cool. Now you have a Battle Couple.
By making LGBTQ relationships happen at the end of a series that’s already had plenty of other non-LGBTQ relationships happen before it, it makes it look like the people in charge don’t care for it or were afraid of backlash. But it’s the end of the series so its not like they can get the show cancelled or anything. (The only people who are going to lash out at LGBT couple or characters are homophobic people, we don’t want them around any way so just make stuff super gay, so they’ll leave)
This is especially a problem when the writer and network have spent the whole series queerbaiting the audience with these characters.
Side note for anyone is doesn’t actually know what queerbaiting is:
It’s a marketing technique used in entertainment, which the writer or creators hint at but then don’t actually depict sex-same romance or LGBTQ representation. They do this to attract (bait) the LGBT/queer or straight ally audience into the show with the suggestion of representation but at the same time avoiding this as not alienate other audience members *cough* (homophobes) *cough*
Definition is from Wikipedia, not a reliable source says my highschool teachers and college professors but fuck em
The Legend of Korra is a great example of Last-Minute Hookup. Korra and Asami had VERY little ship teasing, and that was in the last 2 books/seasons. Any thing that was perceived as romantic came from the fans wearing shipping goggles. So to a lot of people just casually watching, yes this looked like it came out of nowhere. Nickelodeon had some serious balls to say how brave they were for putting 2 girls into a romantic relationship.
Theres a few problems with this.
A. It never actually aired on TV (to my knowledge). The last 2 seasons of Korra were put on Nicks website.
B. The confirmation that this Korrasami was canon had to come from the creators on twitter because of how unclear it was.
C. The show did the bare minimum when it came to hooking them up in the series. They walk off holding hands (very cute btw). They didn’t even get a kiss. Aang and Katara had a Last Minute Hookup at the end of ATLA after 3 seasons of ship tease and THEY GOT A KISS. Hell the original end of LoK*, has Korra and Mako kissing. *(the first season, they didn’t know they were getting more seasons at the time, no matter what you hear the writers say, they’re full of shit)
D. Anything continuation of Korra has come in the form of comics, which her and Asami are in a fairly well written relationship. Yes, they do kiss. Yes it would’ve been great to see this stuff happen in series.
A show that handles this a little bit better is Adventure Time. Not by much though. It implied several times that Princess Bubblegum and Marceline have history together and its shown more and more in its last few seasons that there is some ship tease happening. However its not until the finale where they kiss, and they are shown in the last minute of the show cuddling together in Marcy’s house. HBO has picked up Adventure Time and has a miniseries called Adventure Time: Distant Lands, where Bubblegum and Marceline’s past relationship is shown.
I had brought up in my original post about being upset with networks making LGBTQ+ relationships canon in the last season/episode. I originally had Catradora tagged. While Catra and Adora have history together, they did not become official couple until the end of the series.
Yes, I was wrong about the network making things canon in the last episode as they’ve always had ship tease with each other, and it probably was the writers’ intent to put them together by the end. They do technically fall under the Last-Minute Hookup, however.
I wanna talk about Once Upon a Time really quick. Fans of the show were hoping and wishing for an LGBTQ couple for the show as a lot of characters, especially Regina and Emma, have alot Ho Yay moments. The showrunners weren’t going to put those two together, for whatever reasons they may have for that (im indifferent on all the shipping going on with this show). The showrunners thought to put two characters together, and hoo boy did it not make people happy. The characters they put together are Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz and Ruby the red riding hood, which would be fine if they had properly been developed.
The entire episode they did this in was a mess. They stopped the current arc during the season 5 episode ‘Ruby Slippers,’ to go over the characters that haven’t been seen in years, Dorothy was introduced and last seen in season 3, and Ruby was introduced in season 1 and was last seen in season 5 before ‘Ruby Slippers’. The characters get together in the same episode the meet in and are never seen again. The characters barely interacted, barely got along, and showed little to no ship tease or interest in each other and BOOM they are in love and together aaaaaannnnndd they’re gone. Other than having One Million Moms, a Christian fundamentalist organization, protest against the show and want it taken off the air (yes this really happened). The fans weren’t please with this development of the characters either.
(also Mulan was right there and already knew Ruby from a previous episode, and Mulan already is established to like girls as shown by her being in love with Aurora. Don’t know why the writers didn’t just put these 2 together but whatever I guess)
So they tried again in season 7 with MadArcher. The characters of Alice, a version of Alice in Wonderland from another realm (its complicated) and Robin, the daughter of Robin Hood and the Wicked Witch (it’s also complicated). And the writers did a lot better here. Both characters were allowed to have time together and have a history together too and it was done over the whole season. Not just one episode.
Now even though the writers decided to do something different with the last season and it could be detached from the previous 6 seasons, MadArcher is not really a Last Minute Hookup per say but still falls under my thing about it being the last season so who gives a fuck if One Million Moms gets mad us and tries to get us cancelled again.
I would like to say I have never watched a single episode of Supernatural in my life. I may one day. But as of right now my knowledge of it is coming primary from what ive seen on tumblr. You know a great source for doing research and looking for reliable information among the piles of shitposting.
From what I know from fans, the writers of Supernatural have been queer baiting for years. I mean it’s the CW, I’m not that surprised. What also wouldn’t surprise me, that by the end of the series Castiel is back and he and Dean actually start and relationship or strongly hint at starting one. I actually fear for the writer lives if they threw out a confession scene after years of queerbaiting and potential ship tease (debatable) and they don’t put them together. Fans are going to be angrier than they probably ever have been with this show and the showrunners and writers really would be known for queer baiting.
From what I know about how previous shows have done and if anyone that has ever worked on this show wants to continue living, Castiel will be back from Super Hell (is that what yall are calling it?) and he will get together with Dean. And they will fall under the Last-Minute Hookup trope and my networks make LGBTQ relationships canon last season.
One last show I want to talk about is Supergirl, which in has been recently announced that the 6th season will be the last. The show started on CBS but moved to the CW after the end of season 1. So more CW bullshit. There is no confirmation about whether the CW or any of the Supergirl writers are planning to do this, its all speculation. Supergirl is more LGBTQ friendly than some other shows on the Network. One of the main characters came out a few years ago and had a girlfriend a season and has had plenty of hookups with other ladies around the Arrowverse. They even introduced a trans-woman superhero in the form of Dreamer.
Let’s talk SuperCorp. Lena Luthor was introduced in the 2nd season and has been a major character in Kara’s life ever since her introduction. Even if she isn’t involved in the plot, Kara always goes to her to talk and check in on her and worry about her. They are best friends. Since the 2 have met, there has been plenty of Les Yay going on. The writers seem to be aware of the fans wanting SuperCorp to be canon and they keep throwing in moments like Kara and Lena struggling together or Kara carrying Lena bridal style.
Why I bring this up after the announcement of Supergirl’s final season to start next year. We may get SuperCorp. Kara has a relationship with William in the show and not a single person likes this relationship. The writers may scrap it and get put Kara and Lena together for the final season. This is a big maybe though. The Supergirl writers and crew get called out a lot for queerbaiting.
Let me know if you guys have any other examples of last season/last episode LGBTQ+ hookup.
And please let me know if you see any mistakes. This was all done in one sitting so I may have some things wrong.
Also check out the video by @aretheygayvideos on this topic too.
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#lgbt+ representation#lgbt#lgbtq#lgbtq community#legend of korra#korrasami#she ra netflix#she ra#catradora#adventure time#bubbleline#supergirl#supercorp#supernatural#destiel#once upon a time#ruby slippers#madarcher#atla#cw#nickelodeon#cartoon network#hbo#abc#disney#queerbaiting#stop queerbaiting#why can i sit down and write 2000 words about lgbt rep in one sitting#but not my fucking research projects#i care about rights too much
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Yo what?
Anyway, thank you guys??? Sm??? I thought I'd get another fanart done in time for this but I've been busy with household stuff all day because adult life ya know
Anyway, here's a short blog rec/lovely people list!!! I'll try to keep the gushing to a minimum but I can't promise anything
First of all the crimily, my chosen family trope on this hellsite:
@acezukos ABBY I love Abby sm, she writes fanfics that make me cry every single time, certified rock nerd, stemverse lives in my brain rent free and one day I'll finish the podfic I SWEAR, always here for a good dad joke we love that, just a wonderful person.
@alrightbolin I love Amelia sm, genuinely lovely human being, so wholesome and lovely, BOLIN STANS UNITE, Amelia is great, go follow her we stan.
@beifong-bltch NETTY WE LOVE NETTY omg, absolute icon, plantverse is chef's kiss, dude I wish I could be as cool as netty she's so cool wow, also bandverse owns my heart, amazing human being.
@disaster-korra Ver is literally my kid we love ver, actually made me rethink my stance on Bakudeku which is fucking GREAT, caffeine child (pls no espresso tho pls), crime creator and enabler and we love her for it.
@extragayzuko HALIE OMG we love halie in this household, an absolutely fantastic artist whom we STAN, Android zuko literally killed me dead, also writes like wow we stan a multitalented emo queen.
@fyrelordzuko RO oh my god we love and support Ro so much, she's amazing, actual fandom mom and so fucking sweet, listen I genuinely look up to Ro sm you don't even know, both her shitposts and her amazing creative content SLAP, go follow her, you're missing out, love u mom.
@learnto-fly JULES MY WIFE, I'm married to this wonderful woman, loving and supporting my wife dot jpeg, could judo flip me and I LOVE that, I just love Jules sm, she's a fucking phenomenal artist I can't believe this is my wife, she's not only an atla stan but also skam and we love that because alt er love, go give her love she deserves it sm.
@leewiththetea SONLEAF WE LOVE SONLEAF, our actual son whom we love, original crime lord, always an enabler and I love that about him, also j&j and kpop au live in my head rent free and I love that sm, genuinely one of the sweetest people out there, has made me cry with being so sweet.
@lunathelittledragon LUNA listen I've known Luna the longest out of the crimily and I love her sm, we've been through some shit and she's just a wonderful friend alright, I wanna go back to eating yoghurt on the tube, good times.
@mako-apologist BABBY I love babby omg, I still remember crying over her Sukka fic, I legit can't think of Suki without thinking of Babby, her power, tiktok QUEEN.
@mellowdreamer AMY WE LOVE AMY, actual kid to all of us, aioli aficionado and we love that, has the braincell sometimes and comes up with FANTASTIC takes and we stan that, loving and supporting amy dot jpeg.
@owlsantuary LUCY I LOVE LUCY she's amazing and lovely and I love that when the Americans (i.e. most of the server) are asleep the Europe gang has some of the hottest takes and aus, cornershop au is WONDERFUL and one day I'll write it, fellow tolkien stan along with abby and sonny and I love that, just a great and beautiful person.
@itszukkatime SONNY like what are u doing if you're not following Sonny, I love my other mom sm, her kindergarten au actually made me cry (and ship jetko), she and ro are wonderful parents, I love sonny a lot and her writing and drawing and content in general is fantastic.
Now some other wonderful people I definitely recommend:
@transkya NINA we love nina, they're great, they have the hottest takes and aus and HELL YEA EUROPE GANG, we stan, thank you for appreciating my dad jokes that's very kyute of you.
@quenchyest HEY NOA, wonderful blog (side note: I'm still amazed at the existence of lavender latte like WHAT) go follow!!!
@what-would-azula-do we love redemption arc azula in this household, a+ takes, we stan.
@whats-a-reading also the hottest takes, listen their tags are great and should be shared with the world, go follow.
@soft-zuko wonderful blog, we stan zukka in this household, soft zuko is best zuko.
I've most likely forgotten someone because my brain is actual mush, but thank you guys sm!! Maybe I'll get around to posting the fanart today still 👀
#eyyyyyy#long post#blog recs#shut up lou#I LOVE U GUYS THANK U SM#SHJSJDJF#idk why you follow me but THANK YOU#i went on a bit of a ramble here but hey#i love my friends aight#thank you guys!!!#go follow these amazing ppl#we stan them.#crimily#dad lou#because of the kya pun aight.
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your top ten fav anime characters
Aight here we go I bet not hear shit. This list is SUPPOSE going from least-to-most favorite, but honestly I stopped ranking them before I even started. No.1 is no.1 though that's not up for dispute. Aight continue.
Liya's Top 10 Anime Characters
10. Bakugo Katsuki - My Hero Academia
- okay listen, I dont tall much abt Bakugo because honestly he's an annoying piece of shit. However, I understand why he's an annoying piece of shit. The amount of effort and psychology that's put into his character is fucking amazing, one of the best I've seen in a while. I think Bakugo has the potential to have an amazing redemption arc for all the shit he's done to Midoriya, if done right. Of course erasing asshole-ery isn't gonna happen in one night, but if he's willing to try, I think Bakugo could do it.
9. Yusaku Fujiki - Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
- now Yusaku is right here bc I honestly don't know much about it. I've been meaning to watch the series, but i've only gotten as far as ep. 10. But he gives me major Yusei vibes and I'm excited to see what the creators have and are going to do with him, because unlike his predecessors, his backstory seems much more dark and tragic. Why he's a favorite? Well I mean shit it's the first time I liked an anime character that's actually MY AGE so yeah 😚
8. Kirishima Eijirou - My Hero Academia
- at this point ranking doesnt mean shit so stfu. I love kirishima. He's one of VERY FEW positive male representations in anime that I've seen. And I sincerely hope Horikoshi gives him the screentime and glow up he deserves because this can be a huge turning point in how boys see how they are represented in the mainstream media. With how popular MHA is rn, Kirishima could easily dismantle many toxic masculinity stereotypes set up by western media if given the space and opportunity for it.
7. Taichi Yagami - Digimon Adventures tri
- reason why I chose Digimon Adventures tri. specifically is because 1) they're aged up in this part of the series, and 2) the turmoil that Tai goes through reflects a lot of my own inner turmoil when it comes to making decisions i know will effect everyone. Throughout this part of the series Tai struggles with how to deal with the invasion of Digimon since, even though the Digi-Destined are back to being "regular kids" they're titles were never throughly undone. And with him being the designated leader of the group, all eyes go to him for answers. He's not the same kid who has the fire in his eyes and the certainty of his actions - he's thinking of how everyone - the entire world - will be affected by his actions. It's a scary concept being put on a 17 year old, one that I struggle with a lot in my time, so I always relate heavily to Tai in this part of his journey.
5. Spike Spiegal - Cowboy Bebop
- let me tell you about this piece of shit right here 😡 We have a love hate relationship going on here. I love him to death and feel sympathy for what he's been through but if he would just SHUT THE FUCK UP everything would be cool. But nooooo he has to have a smart ass mouth. Wish I could just pop that mf in it 🙄 but yes I love Spike and his moss for hair havin ass.
4. Korra - The Legend of Korra
- Yes I know its not an anime but stfu. I can't tell you how excited I was that a show with a woman of color protagonist was coming to Nickelodeon. Korra definitely helped me with a lot of my confidence issues and how I see myself as a woman. She taught me it's okay to be strong, but it's also okay to let yourself be vulnerable. It's okay to love and lose and you can still rise from the ashes of it. And most importantly, it's okay to not know what you like in terms of dating, it's okay to explore your sexuality and feel comfortable in your skin. If I didnt have Korra in my childhood, I dont know where I'd be at right now, honestly.
3. Aang - Avatar: The Last Airbender
- AGAIN I KNOW ITS NOT AN ANIME STFU. Aang is another comfort character for me in how he's so skilled in de-escalation and evasive maneuvers. He's practically one with the wind, which is kind of what I aspire to be in life. He's a natural born peacemaker and childish at heart, which are two qualities i see in myself as well. Okay, and he's cute as fuck like, him babie 🥺🥺🥺
2. Shinsou Hitoshi - My Hero Academia
- I'm sure yall are surprised why he's not no. 1, but I shall explain. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE shinsou. I've never met a character I could relate to so much in this day and age. And the way I kin this man is honestly unbelievable. We share a lot of similarities, one of them being how people don't necessarily believe in the things we can do if we put our minds to it. Shinsou is such a comfort character and I love him to bits, and the only reason he's no. 2 is because of my all-time husband since I was little.
1. Yusei Fudo - Yu-Gi-Oh! 5DS
- listen, I kin this man way to hard. It's almost as if we share the same soul. Like- ofc when I was watching it as a kid I was more focused on the physical appeal bc he do be fine asf 😩😩 but rewatching the series now that I'm older, I definitely see why I kin Yusei. He's quiet but has this kind of "don't fuck with my family" aura. He's gentle but isnt afraid to get his hands dirty when it comes to those he loves. He's got a heart of gold and honestly i wouldn't see anyone else at no. 1.
#liya talks#shitpost#top 10 anime characters#yugioh 5ds#yugioh vrains#digimon tri#my hero academia#boku no hero academia#cowboy bebop#avatar the last airbender#the legeng of korra
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Ok I just finished book 4 and thus the series as a whole, here are my thoughts:
1) first and foremost: Korrasami. It was beautiful. It was gorgeous. I wept. I’m weeping as I write this. It was really gorgeous. I don’t want to criticize it because I know just how big of a moment that was for gay representation in children’s stuff, that it was the blueprint for a lot of the other LGBTQ+ rep in kids’ animation I’ve watched and loved. That said, I do wish that Asami had gotten more character development prior to Korrasami happening. I really don’t feel like I know much more about Asami now than I did at the beginning of the series. I know a lot of stuff with their relationship had to be censored and like, I get it, it was 2014. But the stuff about Asami’s relationship with her father was really interesting and I would have loved for that to have been explored in more depth, and idk, she just had interesting character traits. She’s an ace at pai sho, she’s a female inventor, she’s the only nonbender on Team Avatar. I would have loved to see more of her friendship with Bolin, or what her relationship with Mako looked like post-book 2, or just anything really. It does bother me that Varrick got a whole character arc and Asami was just kind of...there, the whole time. Idk, I think if both Korra and Asami had more and better development it would have been even more amazing and wonderful than it already was. And that’s the perfect segue into:
2) Korra’s book 4 arc!!!!!! if you missed my 3438098908080 liveblogs about it, I loved Korra from the start, and it was really hard to watch her get beaten down time and again, only for her to say that she *had* to go through all that to be “compassionate” when I knew she was compassionate from the moment I met her. The way she was written throughout the show just reeked of racism and sexism, and I wish the writers had seen this awesome character they created, who was strong and fierce and good and powerful from the very beginning, and, to paraphrase @bluberry-spicehead , let her be. She deserved so much better than what the writers were willing to give her. Maybe when I was younger, the idea of having to go through immense suffering to be good would have been appealing, but having been through a lot in the past year, trauma doesn’t make you a better person. If you become a better person, it is in spite of trauma, not because of it. I really think the way they wrote her sends the wrong message and I wish they had done something else (and there was so much more they could do!!! It really was not necessary for them to make her suffer so much and then try to justify it later!!!)
3) in terms of the series as a whole, I definitely think in terms of purely technical things, book 4 was the best season by far. However, in terms of comedy, book 1 was the best season. Simply nothing will beat the Amon is Tarrlok’s secret brother reveal.
4) I meant to have a prediction of who would get a secret sibling reveal this season (since it happened in the other 3) but nobody got one so I guess all my bases were covered.
5) oh speaking of hcs, I predicted at one point or another that all of the villains were robots, and I FINALLY (sort of) GOT IT RIGHT WITH KUVIRA I FUCKING KNEW IT!!
6) Favorite good line: “Kuvira will rue the day she messed with Meelo!” Favorite bad line: It’s a tough call between “Unalaq hired the barbarians” and “Zhu Li, will you do the thing for the rest of our lives?” so I’m just going to honor them both bc they were both the result of absolutely shit writing.
7) Favorite gaang cameo: It was SLIM PICKINGS but I have to go with Katara because she was mostly unproblematic and somewhat consistently written (would have gone to Sokka but I can’t give the lok writers for having fucking killed him even though he was a true king in that flashback scene) (although tbh if he had lived they would have made him a secret war criminal who was a dick to his kids and had a brother we didn’t know about so maybe we dodged a bullet there)
8) Favorite characters: Korra, Asami, Mako, Bolin, Shiro Shinobi, Opal, Tenzin, Meelo, Pema, Grandma Yin, and of course, Prince Wu. Least favorite characters: fucking Varrick (as well as Unalaq, Zaheer, Kuvira, and Tarrlok, but tbh, mostly Varrick) (also can we talk about how so many of the antagonists were Water Tribe???? what was up with that????)
9) the setting was...weird throughout. I posted a lot about wanting to understand how the fuck the United Republic government worked and I’m going to be perfectly real with you I still don’t know. The over-industrialization, the Westernization, the fact that they could not commit to a governmental system (and I never got to see the constitution!) it was all just deeply deeply wrong. I wish that they’d hired more writers of color, especially writers from the cultures they were trying to represent, because I think there was so, so much potential in the idea of a sequel series to ATLA, and they wasted it.
tl;dr the characters of LoK were great, the writing was not, and bryke owes me and everyone else who watched the show an apology for dropping the ball
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