Art by Mastrocecchi on Twitter.

Mako x Female Reader Request: Part One

Imagine being placed with Mako to guard Wu and instantly not getting on. However as time passes and the war progresses you come to be each other’s greatest allies.

Part Two Here

Part Three Here

Part Four Here

Mako was done with being Wu's bodyguard. He hated everything about the job and just wanted out. He was hoping Lin was going to tell him it was all finally over and he was free but no. He was now going with Wu to Ba Sing Sei after the coronation, his worst nightmare. "But I have some good news" Lin said and Mako rolled his eyes "what? I also get to sleep curled up at the foot of Wu's bed every night?". Lin shook her head "no but don't give him any ideas, you are getting help. Suyin is sending over one of her finest guards to help protect Wu with the upcoming coronation. Her name's y/n and she'll be here later today. This is her file, read it sometime before then" she said pressing a folder into his hand. "I don't need help while I babysit" Mako protested but Lin shot him a look "you were just complaining about how annoying Wu is and now you're upset you'll be getting help?". "I don't want to guard him full stop!" Mako began to argue when Lin held up her hand "I don't want to hear it! Just meet y/n at air temple island this afternoon. Help her settle in, introduce her to Wu and then bring her to me later today" and that was that. Mako wasn't happy but he did as Lin said and arrived at Air Temple island just after your ship had arrived. He didn't know you by name but he did recognise you when he saw your face from his brief time in Zafou. He couldn't recall having a conversation with you but if you were so high up in Su's regard you must be good. You were rather small for a guard he noted, barely 5 feet and you didn't look particularly threatening as a good bodyguard should. You were talking to Tenzin and Jinora happily and seemed pretty social and bubbly. Mako got a sinking feeling this was going to turn into his babysitting two people. He was inwardly cursing Su Yin for sending you when Tenzin looked up and spotted him.

"Here he is now, y/n this is Mako Wu's bodyguard, the person you'll be working closely beside". Mako sighed slightly and not looking at you held out his hand "nice to meet you, looking forward to working with you". You grabbed his hand and he was surprised how strong your grip was "likewise, I know Bolin well through Opal so if you're anything like him I'm sure it will all go smoothly". Mako didn't reply "Wu is waiting for us back at the hotel so we should go". You paused before nodding "sure" and Mako went to reach for your bag but you grabbed it instead "I'll take my own stuff". Mako shrugged in response and set off. He heard you saying goodbye to Tenzin and Jinora before you caught up to him. "So what's the prince like?" you asked trying to make conversation. It didn't work. Mako shrugged "haven't you met him before?". You shook your head "Wu was kept locked up tight until recently. That's why Su sent me along, he's never been this exposed before and someone could easily see it as an opportunity". Mako couldn't doubt your logic but didn't see how having you around would help. He didn't respond and you lapsed into silence. When you reached the hotel Wu was living in Mako figured you'd need a few minutes to rest or want to unpack but you practically threw your bag on your bed and nodded "I'm ready". Mako led you to Wu's room where Wu was pretending like he hadn't been excitedly practising his greeting the entire time. "Enter" Wu called in his most dignified serious voice as Mako knocked on the door. Wu was sat in a large chair and had obviously gone to a lot of effort to impress you with his royalness. "Y/n" Wu smiled brightly "it's most wonderful to meet you! Su gave you a glowing recommendation so I'm thrilled to have you as my guard". You smiled "Su is too kind but I promise you I will be a diligent bodyguard and will protect you with my life". Mako almost snorted to hear such a big statement come out of something so tiny but Wu seemed to like it. He nodded solemnly and bowed to you "thank you y/n...now come sit! Let's get to know one another!". You and Wu talked for the best part of two hours. Mako felt like his ears were going to fall off and he knew this wasn't going to work. So when he took you to meet Lin he asked her if he could speak with her privately. She refused, telling Mako she was too busy so anything he had to say would have to be said in front of the group. You looked at him curiously and Mako sighed but wasn't going to shrink away just because you were watching him. Meanwhile, you'd only been here 3 hours and already you weren't keen on Mako. He seemed cold, robotic and lifeless. You understood being professional at work but he just clearly didn't want to be here and didn't seem to care that the prince was your nation's best hope at restoring stability. So you weren't too fond of the man and then his next sentence consolidated your negative opinion of him. "Fine" Mako nodded "I don't think y/n is qualified to guard Wu". Your eyes nearly popped out of your head "excuse me, based on what? You've known me a few hours". "Yes and in that time you haven't shown any of the telltale signs of a good guard. You're loud, love talking and aren't much of a fighter. If she is placed as Wu's guard it won't be a help but a hindrance". Mako was honestly expecting you to burst into tears so when you started laughing he froze before looking to Lin "see?". "I'm laughing because you're an idiot. Creerse la última coca-cola en el desierto, el burro sabe mas que tu!". Mako blinked at your sudden language change but Lin smirked. "Pardon?" Mako asked and you smiled sweetly at him "I basically said you know nothing about me or anything in general. For instance do you know I'm the head guard of Zafou? Or that I speak 4 languages? Or that I was trained in metal and earth bending from Suyin herself?". Mako shook his head "I did not". You smiled "Also as for my loudness and love for talking have you ever worked as an agent? People skills and the ability to get people to like you can get you far, something I'm sure you know nothing about. Plus where I come from kindness goes a long way, you didn't even look at me when you shook my hand at the docks and you've been rude ever since. Have you ever thought it's not me whose inexperienced but you?". Mako blanked "what?". You sighed "should I say it in Spanish?" and you went to repeat yourself when Mako held up his hand "I heard what you said". Lin was chuckling slightly and Mako turned to her "are you going to let her speak to me like that?". Lin smiled "after the way you spoke to her I think you deserve it. Y/n has been a guard longer than you which you'd have known if you'd read her file. She's not just here to guard Wu, you could also learn a thing or two from her". You thought Mako's face was going to explode and resisted the urge to laugh. Lin looked at you and her lip quirked in a smirk "y/n why don't you head back to Wu, I'm going to have a word with Mako here...and if nobodies said it already welcome to Republic City. We're pleased to have you". You smiled and bowed "happy to be here chief" and walked from the room. You practically swanned back to the hotel still laughing at the shocked expression on Mako's face when you cursed him out in Spanish. When you reached the hotel room you dismissed the temporary guard and smiled at Wu "your majesty, how are you?". "I'm okay but a little stressed." You nodded "that's to be expected, your coronation is in a week". "I know and my outfit is all wrong, help me choose something different" he said going to his closet. You paused surprised but smiled "of course". Your job here was going to be different than what you'd expected. After you'd diverted the disaster Wu collapsed onto his large sofa with a sigh "being royalty is hard work". You nodded "I'm sure it is" and Wu sat up "but look at me going on, I'm sure you've had a much more tiring day, how's it been so far". "Good" you nodded trying not to think of Mako "the city is very beautiful". Wu nodded "it is isn't it...what about the people?". "Well so far the only people I've met are you, Mako, Tenzin, Jinora and Lin...and you're all very different". Wu chuckled "we are! What do you make of Mako?". You paused "he seems...strict". Wu snorted "that's an understatement". "Is he always like that?" you asked. Wu shrugged "Nah he's a big softie really, he's just got that resting fire nation face and hard exterior. He's a lot more likeable when that drops, trust me you'll be friends in no time. Like me and Mako!" Wu said happily and you nodded half-heartedly. There was probably a greater chance of Wu and Mako becoming best friends than you liking Mako. Or so you thought...how fate likes to screw people over.

_________

So that’s part one! Hope you liked it @idkatpsworld​

I bet you that if we had gotten Book 4: Air, and there had been a time skip, we wouldn’t be seeing so much Aang hate today.

No really. If the show had been able to continue and gave us an older, edgier, more attractive Aang?

He would have fans falling all over themselves for him.

The thing is that ATLA ended when Aang was barely turning 13. A goofy, bald, pacifist, vegetarian 12 year old isn’t attractive and so too many fans discount him. How can he possibly compete with openly tormented and outwardly angry Zuko? Or quietly insecure and naturally hilarious Sokka?

Zuko and Sokka who are 16 and 15 respectively (nearing 17 and 16 by the end), and therefor at an age where romance is more relevant to most, and so are the focus of so much love and affection and especially shipping?

If Aang had been able to grow anywhere between 15 - 18, he’d be right up there with the other two. You’d see metas about his tragic backstory, suddenly more of the fandom would care about the loss of his entire people, about the survivor’s guilt, the intense loneliness, the diaspora, the yearning for common everyday things that now no one else in the world understands.

But we didn’t get that. Instead we got LOK, with an old, bearded, post-bucal fat removal Aang. An Aang who has already had children and has a controversial score on “dad ratings”.

The poor kid never stood a chance.

@book4air

Very deep in my feelings about how experiencing a bodily invasion like Korra did (not once, but three times! When Amon took her bending, when Unalaq reached in and tore Raava out of her, and when Zaheer force-fed her poison and ripped the air out of her lungs) can leave a person feeling like their body is something not entirely their own, like they're inside it but so is somebody else. About how long Korra spent physically unable to move while simultaneously being tormented by memories of Zaheer and what he did, literally and figuratively locked inside the haunted house of her body with the guy who made it that way.

which 3 episodes of lok are your favorites?

KORRA ALONE. best episode of the show hands down. i also like the book 3 episodes where they stakeout zaheer’s gay accomplice (i think his name is aiwei?) and the episode that follows that where korra and asami get trapped in the desert. those are the only episodes of that show that are truly perfect. every other episode ranges from “serviceable (as long as you ignore the wider political implications)” to “straight up unwatchable.”

For me, Legend of Korra Book 1: Air would always have a place in my heart because it was the first cartoon in my teen years where I would excitedly wake up at 8 am (PST) every morning when it was airing just so I could watch someone living in the east coast live stream it. I was never disappointed by any episode (except how short I thought they were) and every episode ended with a cliffhanger. Nothing else made me feel that way since elementary school lol.

I know that I've been repeating myself about how I envision the back half of season 2 of Legends of Korra being moved over into Aang's saga in addition to adding Book 4: Air. But I don't want it to be shoe-horned in like it was in LOK. I want there to be build-up like there was with Sozin's comet. Because of that, certain scenes from certain episodes would need to be altered.

Winter Solstice Part 2: By the time Aang meets Roku, gives the expedition about the comet, tasks Aang to prepare to be a fully realized master avatar and defeat the fire lord before the comet arrives. He adds in a warning. If Aang fails, the fire lord's comet-enhanced destruction will cause the divide between the plain of spirits and the material world to break. He doesn't mention Vaatu's name but subtly describes him as an ancient monstrosity who will feed on the imbalance the FN has caused, which causes him to break free and become too strong for even the avatar to handle.

The Library: The gaang find manuscripts of an event called Harmonic Convergence and learn the names Raava and Vaatu but not much detail beyond that.

Season 3 gets two more episodes at the premier while Aang is in a coma. Beginnings parts 1 and 2. Tales of Avatar Wan. Aang finds the time to explain to the gaang about the first Avatar sometime later.

The Avatar and The Fire Lord: A recent fan theory suggests that Vaatu used the approaching harmonic convergence to spread dark energy which ultimately caused Sozin to kill his friend Roku and exterminate the Air Nomads. This has some in-universe basis since a tribe of firebenders attempted to take lands from spirits for themselves and became violent and destructive to achieve this goal. This occurred partly due to Vaatu's malevolent influence growing from the upcoming harmonic convergence. Another theory suggests that Vaatu was manipulating Unalaq into helping him, much like he did to Wan ten millennia ago, by encountering him on a trip to the Spirit World, where Vaatu begs him to free him as he has been "wrongfully" imprisoned for ten thousand years. Well, here, both theories are true but it's only Sozin being manipulated in the case of the second theory. It's revealed that Harmonic Convergence will arrive by the end of Fall, just as Sozin's Comet will arrive by the end of Summer.

Nightmares and Daydreams: During Aang's dream sequences, Vaatu makes appearances and cameos. Sometimes Dream Ozai transitions into Vaatu briefly. Foreshadowing a Dark Avatar Ozai but instead of fusing with Vaatu. Ozai IS Vaatu.

Sozin's Comet Parts 1-4: There's a twist that Ozai never traveled to the Earth Kingdom to level it down. Instead, he encounters the lion turtle Aang met. Ozai battles the behemoth. He struggled at first but Ozai managed to win. He consumes the lion turtle's soul, gaining its abilities and attributes, by using a form of energybending he was secretly studying. It's revealed that the comet is the sun spirit, Agni. Ozai uses his powers to consume Agni's soul, which causes the comet to lose its power and fall to the earth. Ozai could feel where the dragons were hiding, he psychically ripped the souls from Ren and Shaw's bodies and were both under Ozai's complete control. That's how season 3 really ends.

Throughout season 4. Vaatu gains control over the rest of the sources of all bending by consuming the souls of the elemental spirits and original benders who embody them, all within the opposite order of Aang's cycle. He absorbs extra souls too, like Hakoda's, Ursa's, Long Feng's, all members of the white lotus, the fog of lost souls, and its soul prisoners.

It's revealed that the reason Vaatu manipulated Sozin is that his needless war would cause Iroh's mother to be a spiritually attuned sage. Why he'd want that is so he can contact her and manipulate her into setting him free. She does so by astral projecting into the tree, Vaatu fuses with her and when they warp back into her body, Vaatu's dark powers/status are lost until Harmonic Convergence. Ilah shortly becomes pregnant with a second child and dies birthing the child. The child's name was Ozai.

Vaatu's true plan is to steal Raava's power over light/peace/yang for himself, evolving into the spirit of balance and bending themselves. But not until after 10,000 years of pure/eternal darkness, chaos, death, and destruction after Raava's death. With his bending, Vaatu makes sure that he gets stronger as the aspects of Yang regrow instead of weaker, which, in turn, makes Raava keep getting weaker.

Upon learning this plan and understanding that the light side of spiritbending restores the internal balance of spirits and possibly humans, Azula and Aang hatch a counterplan to use spiritbending on Vaatu and Raava at the same time. Vaatu and the fog will be purified into nothingness while Raava becomes the spirit of bending and balance, saving the world and setting all souls free in the process and without even having to wait 10,000 years.

So when Bolin and Korra have time now that she is back, she asks Bolin if he can teach her lava bending. Bolin, of course, agrees.

So they start with the movements. Korra has no problem with them, being a master in all four elements. Bolin talks about seeing both the rocks as solid and liquid at the same time while he instruct on the breathing techniques he evolved to be able to bend like he does.

I think it would have been fun, like, after a while of practicing together, Korra is ready to actually try lava bending. So when she does, she actually unlocks her lighting bending abilities.

All this getting in the right mindset, the breathing techniques and the new movements; were all a part of helping her mind get in the right tracks for creating lighting.

But I do think Bolin, out of the many benders we meet in both atla and lok, are the most evolved to tackle sub bending styles or other fighting style.

I just though it would be a fun plot and open up for some Korra and Bolin bonding, since we barely see it in the later seasons or the comics.

Wanna feel old? Book 4 of Legend of Korra premiered 8 years ago today

A real masterpiece

Art by Mastrocecchi on Twitter.

Contrary to my expectations, I am more positive about Book 3 now that I have finished the show. What's quite unfortunate about Book 4 is that it has a very strong start but then loses its stakes once Korra has her breakthrough with Zaheer. It stops being about Korra from that point onward, and more about the merry bunch that has to stop Kuvira - and there's way too many characters involved in that for the show to give meaningful screentime to everyone.

I really wanted to like Book 4 considering its good start and focus on Korra's PTSD journey, but I think the final battle would have benefitted greatly from holding Korra's healing off until the very end. This is because the moment that happens there is no longer any tension left for the final battle; from then on it's a matter of when Korra will go into the Avatar State, not if. Consider Book 3, wherein it is uncertain until the final moment if Zaheer can even be defeated. The characters have to overcome a great difficulty, exacerbated by the fact that the usual ace is debilitated. With Kuvira, you kinda know beforehand that the characters will succeed, thus there isn't really any tension about the finale.

With the quality decline towards the end, you end up nitpicking at things you wouldn't have noticed otherwise. Once again what stands out is the way the season wastes time in some places and then speeds through things that needed more time. There are moments where I wish they would have spent more time on Korra's struggle to tap into her spirituality, and give her more time to struggle before she succeeds. Instead, the premature payoff leads to the show having to kill time on redundant moments. There are THREE gag characters this season (Varrick, Bolin, Wu). Someone in the writing team was really into this type of humour, but at some point it is overdone and beyond exhausting.

Watching the two books consecutively, I'm surprised that there is no mention of the Red Lotus before timeskip, considering that by the end of Book 3 they openly wonder if there are others out there. This seems like a missed opportunity to have a continued storyline, with the show instead opting to present a new threat. Though I can understand they made this choice so as to show that the world has tangibly changed since Korra left it behind, to not have any reference to the Red Lotus seems a bit at odds with how much their actions changed the world.

What Book 4 needed, in my opinion, was less time. I think they ended up with too much time on their hands and that's why the season ultimately suffers in the second half. Upon this rewatch I had the same feeling in my gut as I had a decade ago: "I literally don't care about how this ends." I was just waiting for things to get over with to make this post. That's just really unfortunate - watching a series finale should not feel like a chore.

So yeah, Book 3 is miles better than Book 4 simply because it keeps it stakes high until the end. In some regards they suffer from the same writing hiccups, but because the highs in Book 3 are consistent you are more likely to forgive the lesser parts. In retrospect, Book 3 should have been 20 episodes and resolved both season storylines.

A personal nitpick I've always had when LOK aired was the odd focus on Korra needing to suffer throughout the books to "learn". Each Book ending with Korra going through worse situations had a weird vibe of her needing to be knocked down a peg. Having skipped Book 2 and now watching 3 and 4, I retract some of my frustration about this. Looking at it now, Korra's arc through PTSD was a very beautiful thing to showcase - especially with her being a woman of colour. I see now that this storyline was quite unique at its time. That said, the final commentary on "needing to suffer" still rubs me the wrong way. There is suffering, and having to work through it to come out of it better, but an innate meaning to suffering itself feels very wrong to present.

And then there's Korrasami. It's clear that the ending improves the optics of Book 4, which would have otherwise ended in a very mundane and inconspicuous way. Instead, this ending is etched into collective history and opened many doors that brings us to where we are today in terms of representation. I've thought many times about the following thesis: Was it better to have the amazing LOK ending of Book 1 without Korrasami, or the okay LOK ending of Book 4 with Korrasami?

I've watched the series ending many times this past decade and it continues to be one of the most beautiful and emotional things out there. Yeah, I would have personally preferred a LOK that was consistent in its quality throughout. But had the team been given 4 seasons from the start, they probably would not have had the time to sit with the idea of Korrasami and gradually consider it seriously. If this is the hand the team was dealt, then I'm glad an 'okay' story was at least given the best ending possible.

On the Disconnect Between ATLA and LOK: Or Why Reactionary Centrism Ruins Everything

I’ve made it no secret that I’m no fan of LOK’s writing for a number of reasons. But today I want to focus on only one issue: its politics.

I am baffled as to why LOK is seen as being the more “woke” story. Just because the protagonist is a buff brown woman with a female love interest (only implied until the comics, really)? This is such an incredibly shallow reading focusing only on aesthetics and ignores the actual content and philosophies LOK espouses.

But let’s not get into religion, iconography, the effects of colonialism and westernization etc, or we’ll be here forever.

Instead let’s just focus on the politics.

The Forge

Part of the disconnect between ATLA and LOK are the cultural conditions in the USA when both were made. The forge from whence they came was quite different.

Avatar: The Last Airbender

ATLA criticized imperialism.

If this show had been made during the height of Manifest Destiny, or during our super fun times illegally annexing territories (like Hawaii), it would’ve likely struggled to tell its story as well as it did. It would’ve been far more controversial and likely would’ve needed to take a more “centrist” approach, making it seem like imperialism isn’t “all that bad”.

It might have even come out and said that it isn’t imperialism itself that is the problem, but that Sozin to Ozai were big mean dictators that did it the wrong way!

But because ATLA came out in the 2000s—during a time in which the world had widely come around to thinking imperialism is kinda some super villain schtick—it was easy for the story to focus on the perspective of the victims of such campaigns and tell it from this point of view.

We don’t get long segments of feeling sorry for Ozai, now do we? The closest we get is Azula, who herself serves as a victim of this war that has consumed her childhood and deprived her of a safe, loving environment in which to grow and develop, instead having been groomed into a living weapon for her father and nation’s war machine.

So now let’s compare this to LOK.

The Legend of Korra

What does the first season of LOK cover? Collectivism, social activism, civil disobedience escalating to acts of violent defiance against the state.

What was going on in the USA in 2012 when LOK came out?

Occupy Wallstreet.

Socialism vs capitalism, the 99% versus the 1%, civil rights and equality; these are all issues we are still grappling with today. They’re highly politicized and divisive. There is no universal agreement about them.

And so LOK had no “safe” villain or “evil” ideology to combat. Instead it had a complicated and widely divisive topic to tackle that was contentious then and continues to be today.

As a result? Too much time is wasted equivocating.

Both Sides Are The Same! (But Not Really)

We get some soft worldbuilding early on in Book 1 of LOK showing how the infrastructure of this city is built to benefit benders and box out non-benders, but this is never given real focus. We SEE how the trains and police are dominated by earth/metal benders, we SEE how factory jobs employ lightning benders, while non-benders live in the slums which subject them to violence. But none of this is ever the focus or the point.

Almost as if the show is afraid to make a real critique from the perspective of the working class or an oppressed minority group.

Instead the story quickly falls off a cliffside as every tired old pejorative thrown at communists is recycled for Amon.

His sympathetic backstory is a complete fabrication meant to hide that he is actually part of the oppressor class.

They pretend to be the powerless oppressed group, and yet have the funding of the richest industrialist in the city?

The rich industrialist is a member of this supposedly oppressed class but really he’s just a secret villain looking to change the world for his own personal reasons and not to protect his fellow nonbenders (these same accusations are thrown at Jewish people re: Marxism).

There are no sincere attempts to communicate their grievances sympathetically or build a coalition or garner public support. Instead The Equalists only use violence, fear, and other oppressive silencing tactics.

The desire to make everyone equal by “stealing” people’s individuality. (The old “make everyone equal heights by cutting tall people’s legs down” chestnut).

And more!

This is kinda bonkers propaganda if you’re looking at it from a left-wing perspective, right?

And it seems weirdly incoherent if you’re trying to look at it from a right-wing perspective, especially with Tarrlok standing in as the villain “on the other side”.

But it makes PERFECT sense as an enlightened centrist horseshoe-theory piece that can’t commit to either side and has to warp and undermine its own story to fit a “both sides are wrong” message. Heck, it’s so heavy handed it even made Amon and Tarrlok brothers!

This is the problem that plagues all of LOK.

Look at the other villains too!

Amon: Civil Rights Activist or Bad Faith Opportunist?

Amon

Pretends to be: A civil rights activist for an oppressed minority group.

Is actually: A bad faith actor whipping up a small or non-issue into a much bigger one and convincing people to turn on each other for his own personal gain/revenge. Once defeated, the problem disappears.

Electing a non-bender somehow makes everyone happy and the problem is never addressed again. Just like electing Obama ended racism! Oh wait…

Unalaq: Spiritual Environmentalist or Environmental Satanist?

Unalaq

Pretends to be: A spiritualist concerned about the environment and the spirits. Basically Al Gore meets Tenzin Gyatso but willing to start a civil war over it.

Is actually: An occultist weirdo who wants to fuse with LITERALLY SATAN and usher in 10,000 years of darkness or something, and willing to start a war over it.

In an attempt to make a spiritual foil for Korra, who struggled with the spiritual parts of being the Avatar, the story took a weird turn and made a choice widely regarded as “fanfiction on crack” by having Unalaq aspire to become “The Dark Avatar”.

But it’s okay, you see, because while Unalaq’s criticisms of waning spirituality and lack of protection of holy sites could be seen as a knock against environmentalism, by the end Korra recognizes that Unalaq had a point and that the spirit portals should be left open.

So why exactly did Unalaq want to be the Dark Avatar and usher in an era of darkness? How was that supposed to resolve the problem he presented and Korra ended up agreeing with?

It doesn’t, and once again we are left with a contradictory centrist message of “protecting the environment is good but you should be suspicious of anyone that actually advocates for it”.

Also thanks for demystifying the origin of the Avatar and ruining the original lore for where bending came from with your Prometheus/Christian allegory. Ugh.

Zaheer: Spiritual Guru Fighting Against Modernity or A Charismatic Dummy Who Learned Everything About Anarchy From a Prager U Coloring Book

Zaheer

Pretends to be: An anarchist seeking to bring down oppressive regimes, therefor resetting the world to a more egalitarian time

Is actually: An idiot who doesn’t even know the difference between an ancom and an ancap and has no coherent ideology. He just wants chaos, I guess, which isn’t whah anarchy or anything is about.

Perhaps realizing they messed up so badly with Unalaq that even the creators were unhappy with the results, they attempted the spiritual foil idea again with Zaheer.

This time they actually had a writing staff which makes this season the agreed upon best of LOK.

But the tip-toeing around making any actual criticisms and falling back on the “both sides are bad” cop-out are only exacerbated by how uninformed and nonsensical Zaheer’s actions are. Not unlike Amon, he takes none of the steps an actual activist would take. He never even speaks to the people of Ba Sing Se to find out what they need or want. He just kills their leader, announces it, refuses to elaborate, then bounces and lets the city tear itself apart in the power vacuum.

It’s an entertaining spectacle! Just like his later torture of Korra is visceral. But none of it has any real substance to support it and so the horrific acts he commits feel like senseless edgelord tantrums.

Even Bolin knows it. Once Zaheer is defeated, Bolin shoves a sock in his mouth, therefor cementing Bolin as my favorite of the Krew for all time.

Kuvira: Literal Nazi or Literal Nazi but she didn’t mean it!

Kuvira

Pretends to be: A fascist, putting people in labor camps and uses the equivalent of an atom bomb to crush her enemies under heel in the name of unifying the continent under her control.

Is actually: All of those things but she had good intentions! She just went too far! Give her a slap on the wrists because her and Korra aren’t so different, you see!

Perhaps the most bizarre writing choice was to make the fascist the only truly sympathetic villain of this series. The reasons become quite clear, however, when we recognize one thing.

Yes, she’s styled after the Nazis.

Yes, her actions in modern day are more reminiscent of Russia.

But who is the only nation to have ever used a weapon of mass destruction on the level of the atom bomb? The USA.

And here is where the unwillingness to make a bold criticism or take a hard controversial stance is the most apparent.

Kuvira acts like a fascist and has a lot of Nazi-vibes, but she is also a grim reminder of the USA’s own imperial history. Of our flippant use of a horrifying technology that still continues to have consequences for the descendants of the victims even today. It is one of the worst violations of human rights and decency in history. And the USA is the only nation to have ever actually used one.

So if you ever feel it’s weird that Kuvira was arguably the worst of the villains but got off with only house arrest and a happy ending with hugs from her family? You’re not alone. Kuvira has to be “not that bad” or else you’re critiquing the USA itself. And that is a level of controversy this franchise doesn’t seem interested in dipping it’s toes into.

It’s the reason they equivocate and justify by having the Earth Prince step down and choose democracy. This isn’t an East Asian ideal. This wouldn’t have been a popular or virtuous choice in that time period. Many would’ve regarded it as tyranny of the majority, or a disorganized chaos without a consistent central authority.

It’s only seen as the perfect solution in the Democratic West. So you see, it’s not so bad, because at least we have democracy! We aren’t as bad as Kuvira who really isn’t all that bad either! Or so the narrative tries to apologize for itself.

And this is even more apparent with everyone’s problematic fav!

Varrick: How Elon Musk Wants Us To View Him vs What Elon Musk Wishes He Was

Varrick!

Is presented as: A quirky, funny, Tony Stark-esque genius who made a mistake and deserves a redemption!

Is actually: A war-profiteer willing to escalate tensions and shed the blood of his own people with no remorse to make money. Also he builds the equivalent of the atom bomb for Kuvira and her allegorical Nazis. But he gets a happy ending with a weirdly westernized wedding anyway!

Isn’t it telling that the villain who is written to be the most loveable and sympathetic is, in fact, the capitalist industrialist?

And not like that yucky evil industrialist Hiroshi Sato funding the Equalists and their civil rights movement.

No, no! Varrick is the good kind of industrialist! The kind that is non-political and mostly cares about money and inventions! After all, he only built a weapon of mass destruction for the Nazis, not the civil rights protestors!

Which brings us to…

Our Civilized Poverty vs their Savage Poverty!

And hey, that’s fair because look at the differences between Republic City and Ba Sing Se!

Sure, both had destitute populations starving and without proper shelter due to the disconnected elite leaders who didn’t care about their plight.

But the homeless people of Republic City are presented as jolly and helpful and never state a single grievance even as they live in a tent city underground! Everyone knows that democratic poverty is better! Therefor Sato was totally unjustified in funding an equality movement!

The poor people of BSS, on the other hand, are victims of that mean old non-democratic Earth Queen and later of the power vacuum left by her assassination, therefor their plight is ACTUALLY horrific. Kuvira may have been bad but she and Varrick are justified because of the unAmerican conditions!

Looking at it this way, so many of LOK’s problems fall into place. It perhaps serves as lesson in not tackling complex problems with the intention of a clean solution unless you’re willing to take a controversial stance and stick to your convictions.

I don’t think the creators intended to make a libertarian criticism of every social movement and apologia for capitalism and fascism. It’s just a sad reflection of what is and isn’t controversial in our current society. Divorced from actual morality or perspective.

What a waste.

This Post Brought To You By: Viewers Like You! (or: Check out this thing I made)

All that said, if you want a well-written and more adult take on the ATLA universe, check out the Kyoshi and Yangchen novels! F. C. Yee doesn’t pull any punches and perfectly balanced the darker, more visceral elements an adult story can have, with expert worldbuilding and humanized characters that feel believable even when they’re in fantastical situations.

Or if you want more ATLA instead, kindly check out @book4air: A project creating a pseudo Book 4 using both the official comics and original materials, fully dubbed, orchestrated, and partially animated by industry pros who happen to be fans!

Some comics are getting rewrites too, so whether you love the comics and want a fresh take, or hate the comics and want a change, we are doing our best to make this accessible for everyone including people with disabilities who may not be able to enjoy the originals.

Check out our first episode here!

If you can afford to, consider supporting us on Patreon! Every episode is expensive to produce and we are a bunch of broke artists. Some which don’t even have consistent or reliable housing. Any little bit helps.

If you can’t, no worries! You can still help by spreading the word so our videos can overcome the YouTube algorithm.

With all my love for this franchise and its fandom, I hope you all continue to enjoy your favs regardless of my criticisms.

Kaladin Stormblessed - LoK Stylization

Versions from Books 1-4

Lok book 4 blessed me with all the little gay ships my shriveled up heart could wish for

i do feel kind of bad for the person who made that biggest bottles post because she was far from the only person who shipped makorra and was really pissed off, loudly, on the internet for months after the lok finale aired. i remember this due to the sheer schadenfreudic glee i used to feel scrolling through people’s rants about how makorra was supposed to be endgame and korrasami was just lazy pandering to seem progressive and wasn’t even established well, unlike makorra, who were clearly perfect for each other if you only ignored the majority of books 1, 2, 3, and 4, including their many fights, fundamental incompatibility as a couple, and their pretty final breakup at the end of book 2.

but people didn’t care about any of that as long as they finally saw the fire nation guy get the water tribe girl. i mean, admittedly, mako is like a slightly more sympathetic zuko (autistic and swagless) and korra is just a slightly more powerful katara, so if you’re into that, i can see the appeal. but at the time, i had no sympathy for makorra shippers, and assumed they all just didn’t get the obvious sublime beauty of korrasami because they were being homophobic and for no other possible reason, so i derived a lot of enjoyment through witnessing their melodramatic shippers' laments.

but we really dogpiled on this one woman in particular, huh? like, her post is a meme to people who have never even seen lok. and her greatest crime was simply liking a straight ship in a show that had never before implied that they knew what gay people are. even among korrasami fans, the percentage of people who genuinely expected it to actually happen onscreen were in the vast minority. nothing like this had ever happened before in a kids’ cartoon. it wasn’t even a decade ago, but 2014 was a vastly different time, and both avatar shows had been painfully heterosexual up until that point.

i expected makorra to happen in the finale, and resigned myself to that eventuality, despite not liking them as a couple. most of us did. so that post is such a beautiful thing specifically because it documents the excitement we all experienced upon witnessing this monumental paradigm shift wherein korrasami had suddenly happened. if you weren’t there, i cannot convey the sheer joy so many of us felt, and the bitter tears of people who really wanted heteronormativity affirmed for the millionth time only further enhanced the rich flavors of our victory soup.

but this woman had no way of knowing that korrasami would happen, and she wasn't actually being intentionally homophobic. her only real crime in this post was displaying questionable taste in ships. yes, of course, we all know that she doubled down hard on her stance after the finale, but if you were being harassed by thousands on the internet for an ultimately insubstantial reason, wouldn't you double down too?

we're only a year away from that post being a decade old. i'm sure she no longer cares about being harassed online back in 2014. but i nevertheless want to clarify something: when i look back on this post today, the joy it brings me is not the joy of schadenfreude, not any more. it is a joy of celebrating the wonder in the unexpected, the poignant affirmation in a beautiful surprise that paved the way for so many other lgbt characters in media. and whether or not she likes that this is how her post has been read over the years, i am celebrating with her, not against her. no one deserves to be subjected to such vindictive mockery for such a truly negligible reason. so i wish her all the best, the author of one of my favorite posts on the entire internet. and i am popping the BIGGEST bottles.