I FINALLY FIGURED OUT!

you guessed it. ATLA THEORY TIME!!!!

Remember this scene?

Azula was able to trick Toph in this scene, and I think it's not because her heart is cold (wink at the antis and shows my middle finger) nor she has her breathing under control, nor because she is just this manipulative.

I think it's because of the addition of so much unnecessary and unknown information for Toph. She includes 3 colour names and her "height", wich I severely doubt it was even taught for Toph. Also, she was describing the shape on an animal differently of what it looks like, wich would have to include Toph's imagination for her to figure how the fuck it looked- wich is also a hint. Toph doesn't know how a platypus-bear looks like. She can tell its weight probably, and its general shape and form, but not how it looks.

Therefore, I think Toph was mostly stunned by the clear discrepancy of what she was sensing, what was being described and especially the riddled information.

@umbrum77 ‘s idea

Toph: I’ve got a new game. It’s called Battleship or Katara. I give you real things I’ve heard Azula say and you have to tell me if she was talking to her battleship or her girlfriend.

Katara:

Azula: I don’t think I like this game.

Okay, so I had a thought (and I'm about 300% sure I'm not the first one, but I was too lazy to check, I also don't know if canon has adressed this already):

When Wan Shi Tong was dragging the library into the Sprit World, how was Toph able to hold it?

Because Toph learned from the badgermoles.

Let's back up a little. The Ocean and The Moon are explicitly spirits. Fang, Roku's dragon, is able to traverse the Spirit World (and on the Solstice, even the physical world) freely, even though Roku isn't. Appa is spiritually connected to Aang and able to perceive it (with help) and follow the connection to Ba Sing Se.

I think all of the original benders are either spirits, or animals that crossed over from the Spirit World. And all of the bending styles we've seen have distanced themselves from the original sources of bending - even Airbending, because Aang and the historical benders don't fly freely, like Appa. Firebending is fueled by rage, that's explicitly stated, I don't have anything good for Waterbending so the source is firmly trust me bro, and in Earthbending, Toph's moves are based on a different martial arts style (Zhujia/Chugar family kung fu rather than the Hung Gar style used by other earthbenders*) than the other earthbenders we see - there is explicitly something different about learning from the original source. I also think all of the original benders, when crossing over, used their bending to anchor themselves into the physical world. For dragons, fire was life and the sun, for Tui and La, their eternal dance was their life and power, etc.

That's a long paragraph to say that no other earthbender could have held up the library. Toph learned her bending from the badgermoles, not as a fighting style, but as a way of interacting with the environment - the same way they do. I don't think she's necessarily aware of it, but I think that, because badgermoles are spirits that crossed over a long time ago, as Toph learned, she also unconsciously learned a style of bending that is much more spiritual than human-taught bending.

This also weaves nicely into the show's themes of destiny. Aang was destined to find Toph (he saw her in a vision, after all), and Toph was destined to teach Aang. But not only that, Toph was the only person who could have held up the library. She wasn't just holding up a big rock. She anchored it into our world.

And I think that's beautiful.

*BUT NOT WING CHUN THO THAT INFORMATION WAS LITERALLY ONE GOOGLE SEARCH AWAY ALL THIS TIME I THOUGHT IT WAS WING CHUN I SWEAR I HEARD IT SOMEWHERE AND INCORPORATED IT INTO MY BELIEF SYSTEM FOREVER thank you dear person in the tags i don't know if it's polite to @ you considering it was in the tags but thank you srs

I Physically Can’t Get This Idea Out of My Head

How many people actually know Lin got her scars from Su ? I was rewatching the Zafou episodes and I don’t think Lin ever explicitly mentioned Su giving her the scars. So none of the krew knows. So I get why her anger doesn’t look justified to them and why they would pressure her to make up without that context. But I so badly want them to discover it. I want to see their reactions . I want them to see photos of Lin before she was scarred. How would their perceptions of Su and Lin change ? Would they be more empathetic towards Lin ?

Additionally I don’t think Su’s kids know the truth. Opal really loves her aunt I imagine she would be quite angry if she found out and while Lin’s bond with her nephews isn’t explored in the show ( which it should’ve been I want to see her play power disk with Wei and Wing, and praise Huan’s art and have a heart to heart with Baatar) I think they’re also attached to her and would be upset.

Further how about the air kids, Lin seems quite close to them and they’re all very curious. They’ve probably asked her several times before. Did she lie to them to protect her sister ? Does she give up and tell the truth one day ?

How about Kya, Bumi and Izumi ? Were any of them actually there when it all went down ? Did she tell them ? ( I don’t think she would it seems painful for her to talk about ) How would they react to the truth thirty years later?

Also I think Toph has the capacity for empathy. I think she’s ignorant to the full extent of Lin’s injury and that’s why she was so apathetic about it and just wants to move on. She’s blind. She never saw the bandages or saw how deep the scars ran, how large they were but if she did would she have acted differently? I think so. Sure she’s neglectful but she’s not a monster. If she actually felt the scars I think she would’ve comforted her daughter. She would’ve been more mad at Su. In her eyes Lin has a little scratch and Su was an accomplice in a crime. So if course she thinks Lin is overreacting. In her eyes sending Su away for being an accomplice is a crime is proportional to the harm done. She thinks Lin’s anger is just her being a square and normal sibling bickering. If she knew the whole truth maybe she would’ve punished Su more and made her make it up to Lin somehow.

( does she even know that Lin has a scar afterwards? Does anyone mention them in front of her ?)

and Lin would never let anyone touch her scars ever so how is Toph supposed to understand? How can she without feeling them ?

More thoughts about Toph: Raising both of the girls while being blind must’ve been difficult. Think about it she can’t see if their clothes get stained, can’t see if they have a bruise or see if they’re crying. So much of communication and understanding is nonverbal. She misses out on so many social cues and so much visual information. On top of being blind both her and Lin dislike physical affection.So all they really have left is verbal communication and both of them are too emotionally stunted and prone to bottling things up to ever say what they need to. Let’s be honest Toph isn’t a great listener either so she probably doesn’t fully realize/respond to what Lin is trying to say. Lin may be better at writing out or drawing her emotions but Toph wouldn’t be able to read what she wrote or see her visual work. Lin would have to learn braille and sit down and write in it to get her mother to understand which I honestly don’t believe she has the patience or desire to do. Nor do I believe Toph has the patience or desire to sit down and read all of that. ( Does Toph know braille ?) They can’t communicate with each other properly. There are so many barriers. Of course their relationship is strained. While it may not be wholly Toph’s fault it has produced a huge impact on both of her daughters that none of them can address.

An epiphany : LIN IS A SILENT CRIER. She doesn’t sob. Are you following me? Rewatch the Zafou episode if you don’t believe me . Nonverbal - audio communication ( I don’t know if there’s an actual word for this) doesn’t happen between them. Lin isn’t vocally expressive. She doesn’t cry out loud or scream or make any other vocalizations when she is in physical or emotional pain. She may grunt in some of the fight scenes but she isn’t loud. Think about when she got her bending taken. Probably one of the most physically and emotionally painful moments of her entire life. In that scene she didn’t make a single sound. Or the reverse she got her bending restored a huge moment of relief she didn’t laugh or make any other sounds of joy. She just thanked Korra. Lin is silent . Toph can’t hear her.

In conclusion communication is everything and everyone of them needs therapy.

a sick part of me wants there to be a timeskip in the 2025 ATLA Movie towards the end where the gaang is old and Aang dies because i want kataang angst.. the edits would crazy, it’d make kataang fans cry, and also show how much katara and everyone else LOVES Aang

EDIT: THEY MUST PLAY AVATARS LOVE, SAMUEL KIMS VERSION

VARRICK IS NOT SOKKA’S CHILD SUYIN IS NOT SOKKA’S CHILD THEY PROBABLY WISH THEY WERE SOKKA’S CHILDREN BUT THEY ARE NOT SOKKA’S CHILDREN SOKKA IS NOT A DEADBEAT DAAAAAAAAAD

Do I complain in this otherwise good post that is clearly projecting their personal anti-cop beliefs onto a character that is much more nuanced and complex or do I move on with my life

Random Gaang+ HCs

Toph hated theatre before the Ember Island episode because her parents only ever took her to the silent ballet type shows. (I’m a proud Beifong parents hater)

When being Firelord if overwhelming, Zuko goes and sits in the turtle duck pond. Which is pretty often. He’s ruined so many robes.

Any time Katara is in the north she takes any opportunity to mention that she kicked Pakku’s ass with barely any training.

Zuko doesn’t fully believe that Sokka actually trained under Piandao until the sword master tells him himself.

Ty Lee loves bubble tea (Iroh invents it in the comics).

Aang isn’t actually a shitty dad and loves all his kids equally.

Sokka once ponders what a turtle duck tastes like and has to profusely apologize to both Aang and Zuko.

Izumi is Mai’s daughter but she and Zuko don’t get back together after their last break up.

Sokka steals Momo sometimes because they’re buddies.

honestly i love the idea of a blind avatar

they would use all the elements to get around and figure everything out and assist them in battle

earthbending: toph way, using it to “feel” everywhere around them

airbending: we see in LOK how tenzin and some of the new recruits using the ability to harness air to quite literally feel what is happening around them (i.e. when amons supporters tried to kidnap tenzin, and then the new benders in the fight with the poachers), also blind people have a heightened sense of touch and hearing, so they could hear whistling and feel even without having their heads shaved

firebending: this is a bit more difficult, but i can see (hah) how they could use it in places where they can’t earthbend, and they know there aren’t people around, like in a metal tunnel(assuming they can’t metalbend, i think they would be able to tho) they could shoot fire down the tunnel and use how the heat shapes and the stark chill from the metal to figure out the shape of the tunnel, how long it goes, etc

waterbending: when they can’t reach earth as easily or they’re swimming, they can use it much the same as earth

also think about it in a kyoshi situation, they don’t know the area and they subconsciously use these techniques, i’m imagining bending to act in the same way as a persons senses, one skill is disabled or gone, the rest make up for it. (for example, bolin CANT metalbend, but he CAN lavabend. katara could bloodbend very well, but she’s quite literally the best healer in the world) like when a person is deaf, the rest of the senses make up for it with better sight, touch, etc.

we’ve already seen bending and disability, with toph and ming-hua (the armless waterbender)

with toph, she used earth to “see” everything in a way nobody had thought of. ming-hua didn’t have two of her limbs but her waterbending made up for it. and she used it in a way that allowed her to be that damn powerful, usually in bending you HAVE to use your arms, no matter the style or type (except for psychic, obviously) i think when zuko lost sight in his eye (i mean he had to lose SOMETHING, at least his depth perception, you need both eyes) he became more powerful to make up for it, we cant see much of his early life, so i can’t be totally sure. but my point is, these people (and probably more that just weren’t talked about) their bending made up for their physical disability

so this unaware avatar is using all of their bending abilities to move around and they would blame it on what little (if any) sight they have left.

i just think it’s a really cool idea, i wish we were able to see that in one of the series’, maybe even just a past avatar.

Now if you think about it, it kinda makes sense

How come I am today old to realize THIS?!

Okay, so I am working on a fic regarding the Gaang older with some spirit shenanigans and I just realize something! The fire and water elements have representation of creatures with scales (I know the water is technically the moon, but has been coupled with the fish is almost all imagery). And the earth and air elements are represented by mammals.

Now, I will say this is not supposed to be a shipping post, but with my fic i was trying to find how the two opposites attract and the more I was working with it, the more I as seeing some parallels relationships of Zutara and Taang. Like, I might be talking crazy here, but this feels like it aligns way too much to have been a coincidence that these are the animals/ creatures that represent the elements?

Death of the author situation I guess, but I swear they had to had some thought put into the animal representation.

I’m hoping to post the story soon, so hopefully it will make more sense. But I am just surprised that I had just thought about this.

Sokka: What if you met my ex and she was like Princess Azula?

Suki: Oh, come on, Sokka. Be realistic.

Sokka: What? I’m not hot enough for Azula?

Toph: I’d like to weigh in here: no.

Split episodes seem to be trending! As Bee scripts into an essay of lore, Fox is taking notes and finishing tea far too quickly. From Mommy issues to Daddy issues. Today, Bee dives into Avatar The Last Airbender, the comic series.

IMAGINEE The Next Avatars lover being Kataras reincarnation.. Katara and Aang being together in another life is something i need to see. ANGST ANGST ANGST PLEASE. The next avatar looking like being Asami and their lover looking like Katara and being her REINCARNATION would go CRAZYY IDCC. kataang + korrasami fans please manifest with me PLEASE. 😭😭

the fact that netflix atla is so fucking bad just makes me think about how fucking good the original show was. i know that's a Thing with reboots but like man. they did so good. but also mainly im thinking about popular atla fan theories and how a bunch of them just line up perfectly with what the show gave us. like do you guys remember the theory that yue was supposed to be the next avatar should aang's cycle not have been interrupted? that was so fucking sick. the theory that the fire nation killed kya thinking she was hama? holy shit dude. the one about azulon ordering ozai to put zuko in iroh's line of succession instead of killing him and ozai lying to ursa about it? the one about toph being the reincarnation of kuruk's dead gf? natla could never make fan theories so insanely good. what's their fan theories gonna be?? that yue is momo now??? please

Genuinely asking—what changes would you make to the adult gaang designs? :)

this is such a fun question thank u for enabling me. i mean i draw them as adults sometimes so also check out my /oldergaang tag if u want visuals (altho i also change my designs a lot because my art is nothing if not inconsistent) but if i was just going with like standard character designs like if i could redesign that hideous “old friends” poster for example…

aang: get rid of that fucking. chinstrap. don’t give him white man features because what the hell is that. and let him wear his off the shoulder monk robes from book 3 because he was slaying with that fit. actually the way aang is drawn in imbalance is basically perfect i would retain that design into adulthood. thank u peter wartman for all that u do….

katara: i don’t mind the older katara design (from the little we see of it) but it’s also not nearly as cunty and slayful as i would like. katara is genuinely interested in fashion and loves experimenting with clothes and hair and makeup, i refuse to believe that as she ages and has more resources to tailor her style to her own personal tastes she wouldn’t get a little funky with it. like she kind of just looks boring and uninspired in her older design, and that’s unacceptable to me because she should be hot. adult katara should be the hottest woman you have ever seen in your life. and she should be buff, also. shredded, even.

toph: any signifiers of copness are obviously unacceptable to me. but even more that than, it’s very important to me that older toph is distinctly butch. i think she would cut her hair the second she realizes that there is no reconciliation to be found with her parents and that there is no reason to adhere to those confucian values. and she would wear a lot of sleeveless outfits (sort of like the shirt korra wears in “korra alone”) to show off her biceps and also space bracelet (spacelet) that is her prized possession forever. and she’s just kind of a hot hippie butch legend . period.

zuko: in the old friends poster he literally looks like a lizard so just like. no. wtf. and i like his long hair in theory but i don’t like that it’s styled after ozai and not ursa, i think his hair would be shwoopier and frame his face more. and his robes should be less spiky and militaristic and more designed for comfort because that’s what makes him feel most like his true authentic self and he deserves that. also weird for a guy who is trying to demilitarize the fire nation to wear an armor-adjacent type of outfit. so mainly he’d just look softer and more like his mom.

sokka: i hate buff goatee whitewashed sokka that is some kind of demon. lok did so little with him and yet said so much (all of it egregiously wrong, ofc). sokka would be fairly tall (although not as tall as aang) and have defined muscle but in a sinewy, lanky way. and despite always having enough to eat he’d still look somewhat malnourished just because he’s constantly overworked and exhausted and never takes care of himself. and his ponytail would be longer but he’d still shave the sides. and the older he gets the darker his clothes get until he basically just wears black all the time because at some point he realizes that it’s more advantageous to remain culturally ambiguous if he’s gonna be a cosmopolitan. and he wears glasses (which were a gift from kuei). and sometimes he uses a cane because he didn’t sufficiently take care of his broken leg after the war ended and now he’s paying the price for it. and his cane has a blade inside too, but he rarely ever even pulls out the blade because he can incapacitate someone with just a wooden stick anyway. so he looks like if a nerd was a shadow was about to collapse at any given moment was secretly ruling the entire world. and he’s not in any sort of front-facing position of power whatsoever but he’s actually pulling all the strings from behind the scenes, and it’s exhausting. his eyebags are visible from outer space.

suki: i don’t even think there is a “canon” adult suki character design besides her in her kyoshi warrior armor and makeup but to me casual suki just starts dressing more like sokka. like the loose baggy sleeveless shirts (except in a lighter shade of blue bc kyoshi island colors) and tight pants and boots. it’s a very dykey look already and they’re basically girlfriend twins so their styles would merge even more than it already has within the show itself. like sometimes people think that sokka and suki are siblings because they dress so similarly and give off such a similar vibe and they’re just like “but we’re literally different ethnicities??? and also we are currently making out????”

okay bonus round bc i can’t just neglect them

azula: she cuts her hair really short and as an adult leaves it to shoulder length for the most part because that’s more comfortable for her. like zuko, she also starts dressing for comfort, and for a period in her late teens stops wearing makeup altogether. she gets back into wearing makeup as an adult, but she stops caring about whether or not she leaves the house with lipstick on, and it becomes more about the process for her than the result. she’s comfy and cute and dykey.

mai: sokka is her lesbian style icon so after her first haircut that was inspired by toph’s haircut to piss off her parents, she gets an undercut and starts wearing her hair in a ponytail like sokka. as she gets older she also gets more confident in her body and doesn’t feel like she needs to wear baggy long-sleeved clothing at all times or she’ll die. and she isn’t rail thin as an adult either because she starts letting herself eat more than a single grain of rice at a time. also, she gets a sword.

ty lee: she becomes a kyoshi warrior so she starts incorporating more blues and greens into her wardrobe, but also more oranges and yellows after she embraces her air nomad heritage. and she just dresses very colorfully and has a vast rotation of different cute little outfits. and i think she’d also experiment with different hairstyles once she has the freedom to define herself outside of the aesthetics expected of her. she looks beautiful always

haru: he finally shaves that thang