A:TLA Meta & More

This is an Avatar FAN blog, however, that does not mean there will not be criticisms of certain aspects of the show. The biggest fans of things write critical literature on them. Sure this is a kids' show, but it's more than that! This is meta for fun, but be warned, there will be things that will step on some's toes. It will be tagged as such. Please be kind! Polite discussion is welcomed, personal hate is not. Thank you. Disclaimer: Not a shipper except for what is best for the plot and characters' plots not the "feels". To each their own in the "feels" department, of course! 

[avataranalysis]

“Such good friends” they literally tried to have your son nonchalantly murdered and said he was turning into your genocidal husband because he didn’t want to have people evicted from their homes in the previous saga… 

But, one rare, good thing in the comics is how caring and loving Zuko is with those he cares for is depicted. It’s so wonderful to see him get to comfort his mom and support her 

If only anyone in the comics could give that to him instead of trying to kill him and telling him he’s selfish and evil all the time when he’s devoted his entire life to restoring the world’s balance at the expense of his own mental health and ability to find peace and joy! 

[kataara]

you ever just cry because when zuko apologized to his father for speaking out of turn ozai still burned part of his face but when zuko apologized to uncle iroh for betraying him iroh immediately embraced zuko and told him he was never upset with him

[langernameohnebedeutung]

it’s actually a shame that Avatar had no second ‘the squad pretending to be rich and well-mannered’ episode after Zuko joined the team because before you had Toph as the main-instructor for this kind of stuff. But with the both of them on the team you have two zero-patience kids from very rich households who had perfect etiquette drilled into them - but they’re from two very different cultures, different social statuses and even different genders (which their countries have widely different attitudes towards. a) they would probably give hilariously contradictory advice on how to behave that the others would somehow have to reconcile and b) they both have no chill whatsoever and the question is who would break character first.

[zuko-cinnamonroll-drama-queen]

1. Absolutely, a true shame.

2. Zuko would break first. Toph doesn’t bend to anyone.

[avataranalysis]

Learning? Growing? Apologizing? Why is that a One-Way Street?

Why is it that Aang and Mai never have to apologize in canon for their actions against their S/O? 

-When Aang kissed Katara without consent, if he apologized and recognized the problem and Katara forgave him, it could be used as a moment of growth for his character. Instead, it is never addressed and Katara spontaneously “gets over it” and they wind up together somehow with no other logic or display of Katara’s romantic inclinations?

-When Mai lies to Zuko and intentionally  hides the fact her father works for an organization that actively wants to murder him and his family, and then attempts to, and she gets caught, she flips the switch and makes Zuko apologize. She never learns or has to herself. Nor does she have to learn or change for what she did with Azula in the war? There is no consistency with Mai either. 

It is a disservice to both characters to not have them grow and learn and a shame, particularly for Aang, the show’s main hero.

[royaltealovingkookiness]

I find it so gut-wrenching that in the comics everyone who Zuko thought came to love him and believe in him literally so quickly lost that and stopped caring about him. It takes away from the impact of the found family love in the finale. Aang tries to kill Zuko, Katara encourages it, Sokka and Toph nonchalantly promote it. They aren't even hurt Zuko would be dead, let alone they think he's evil. Mai also leaves him, helps her father try to kill him, and says he's becoming Ozai… it's so sad.

Don’t forget how his entire country hates him and how Iroh bugged off to his teashop leaving Zuko deal with all the mess. 

Yeah, the comics suck. 

[avataranalysis]

This ask hits the nail on the head. The comics tell kids that if you have an abusive childhood, you’re doomed to live in constant misery and never really be happy and you will never have friends who truly love you. It erases the beautiful collaborative story arc that the original is so cherished for. 

The comics were such a mistake.

[royaltealovingkookiness]

Have you ever noticed this returning image whenever Zuko dreams about home? His father’s hand on his shoulder. It’s the strongest good memory he seems to have of his father - one that keeps returning. And whenever he talks about getting his honor and his throne back - this image keeps coming back up.

Then he gets home and while Ozai “returns” his honor, the only physical contact between them is the lightning that Ozai hits Zuko with before he walks away.

Zuko realizing that the only thing he ever wanted and will never get was a fucking HUG from his father is a huge part of deciding leaving home. 

And it’s so heartbreaking, yet so empowering once Zuko realizes that he shouldn’t have to earn that, it shouldn’t be conditional on finding the Avatar or selling his soul - that this whole time his father was in the wrong.

[emletish-fish]

G-damn, you hit me right in the feels with this one.

[crayolasaurus]

Good thing he does get a hug from his father in the end.

[royaltealovingkookiness]

@crayolasaurus  Yes - DEFINITELY. After he walks away from Ozai, he basically admits it out loud that for all purposes, Iroh is his real father, and his approval matters the most.

But before, during all that time when he was craving for his father, Iroh quite freely gave him that particular form of physical contact. 

And maybe focusing on that gesture was Zuko subconsciously wishing that his father loved him the way Iroh did or deluding himself that he could earn that love if he only caught the Avatar. But he needed to break away from that image of his father to realize that the love he wanted was right in front of him the whole time. 

And, this scene… I don’t even have words for it…but it’s the culmination of all that search and struggle and the power of acceptance.

[mostly-mundane-atla]

Some random headcanons about the Fire Nation Royal Family because why not?

Azulon had a way of talking and presenting himself as a man of reason and logic, one could almost be tempted to call him sweet-tempered, but his concept of reason and logic had no room for differing opinions or human dignity. If he could word things in a way that the person he was talking to didn't realize he left them without a choice, he could charm them into believing him generous and more than fair. Iroh learned to see through this and decided a frank approach works better. Ozai tried to adopt it but wasn't nearly as effective at it.

One way Azulon used this guise of reason and logic was by establishing the fact he wouldn't allow his wife, Illah, to deny him children, and then before she could entirely process that he asked how he could make himself more appealing to her to make it all easier. She suggested music and he learned to play the pipa, eventually playing for her every night before he went to bed with her. By the time she died she had forgotten she wasn't allowed to refuse him.

Azulon promised Illah he would never strike their sons with rings on his fingers. While Iroh was only struck sparingly on the hand to correct his form or stop him from touching something he shouldn't, Ozai, with all his arrogance, wasn't granted the same leniency. He was struck across the face so often that his father told him he ought to be grateful for the never-with-rings promise because it was the only reason he still had teeth in his skull.

Ozai was originally very apathetic and annoyed by the fact he was arranged to marry Ursa but after he was brought a woodblock portrait of her in costume, courtesy of the spies that located her, he saw that she was quite pretty and didn't mind at all.

Ozai had a bad habit of skirt-chasing with the young maids and the older servants' daughters in his teenage years, usually when he was supposed to be studying. This picked up again after he was crowned Firelord, but this time he used Azula as a lure. It took her a while to acknowledge and accept that it was wrong of him to do that.

Ursa once asked Azulon if there was any way she could be granted a divorce, to which the Firelord answered that although Ozai was difficult to love, a royal marriage couldn't be undone like that. He suggested that she find a lover if she was so dissatisfied, and when she began to cry and express her fear that Ozai would kill her for it, Azulon held her to him, wiping her tears away and stroking her hair, and told her, "I need your blood for this, not specifically his, but yours entirely. I don't keep needless things. He knows this." It was supposed to be comforting, but she was chilled to the bone to hear this man suggest he would kill his own son without a second thought.

As a baby, Azula would cry if anyone but Ozai held her. Iroh and Ursa thought it was because Ozai's hands were warmer than anyone else's.

Iroh would donate to acting troupes and casually mention it in front of Ursa to make her smile.

Ursa had severe postpartum depression after both Zuko and Azula's births. She had to be closely watched at all times for months after to ensure that she was eating.

Ozai wanted to try for another kid after Zuko a lot sooner than Ursa felt comfortable with. She took the contraceptives and abortifacients her mother taught her about until she felt well enough that she could handle another pregnancy. Iroh helped by holding them for her. After all, who would be surprised that the widowed Crown Prince with a desire for all the wonderful earthly delights would want to keep any woman who fell for his charms from getting pregnant? Would they be greater or fewer than those who could forgive a woman refusing to perform her only duty to conceive as many children as possible for the Royal Family? In any case, the pregnancy she had after had fewer complications than hers with Zuko and carried to full term. Azula certainly was "born lucky" in that sense.

More than these, of course, but I'll get to them when I get to them

[swan2swan]

Remember that time that Zuko got so possessive he hit a guy and Mai dumped him on the spot but also recognized that he’d been through a lot of emotional and physical trauma in his life but still didn’t take him back until he admitted that he had a problem because that was some S-rank relationship writing gosh

[avataranalysis]

This is an excellent point, but also circles back to another point. When Zuko does something bad in the relationship, or in the show’s narrative in general, the show acts like it, addresses it, Zuko does not repeat it (in this specific instance), apologizes (explicitly or implicitly), admits the problem, and he learns and grows. 

(Also, not sure where it’s seen that Mai recognizes anything that Zuko has been through in canon?)

The Beach shows Zuko, Azula, Ty Lee, and Mai all in a bad light and is little more than a sappy, cheap way of telling the audience some important plot points. But, at least that extended beyond the sh*tshow that is the OOC (for every character because they’re forced to do things for the sake of shoving stories they were too lazy to show the audience) episode, The Beach. 

As does another problem… Mai treats Zuko terribly, yet she never has to answer for it, address it, apologize (explicitly or implicitly), admit she has a problem, or learn or grow. Worse, the narrative acts like she didn’t do anything wrong. It’s why she is a static character even through the even-worse-written comics. 

Their relationship is a blustering disappointment of writing amidst a show with overall spectacular features and it is such a shame. 

[theadamantdaughter-deactivated2]

prince zuko was raised to be bad, but chose what was right. kilo wrench was raised to be good, but chose what was wrong. 

zuko is 16. kilo is 30 something.

zuko was brought up in an abusive household, maimed by his father, and cast out. kilo was brought up by loving parents.

zuko never physically, verbally, or emotionally assaulted/abused his enemies. his actions saw his enemies treated as equals, with respect. kilo murdered people for the hell of it and kept their ashes around for funzies. he also assaulted and harmed rey, holding his power over her because he could.

zuko is compassionate. kilo doesn’t know compassionate is a word.

zuko is not kilo wrench. kilo wrench is not zuko. 

they are nothing alike. stop comparing them. 

[captainlordauditor]

“kilo ruin is just like zuko”

[theadamantdaughter-deactivated2]

OMG THANK YOU. YOU’RE RIGHT. 

[lairofthebunyip-deactivated2021]

….While I get the gist of this, saying ‘zuko never physically, verbally, or emotionally assaulted/abused his enemies’ seems…. frankly a watering down of his character. Consider all the crap he put Team Avatar through in season 1. He was a villain! A villain with a redemption arc. And that’s okay? While I agree that comparing Kylo and Zuko just…. doesn’t really work, let’s not pretend Zuko didn’t try to hurt and manipulate the AtLA crew? Such a big part of his character arc is redemption. It’s a real shame to portray him as someone who was ‘good all along despite his Tragic Backstory’ rather than someone who was influenced by that Tragic Backstory, made a lot of terrible decisions as a result of it, then realized they were terrible decisions that had real impact on the people around him, and gradually started making better decisions instead.

I reckon it would be possible for Kylo to be redeemed within the context of the Star Wars films. I mean, if Anakin could ‘redeem himself’ by killing the Emperor at the last minute after slaughtering innocent padawans, the Star Wars universe has already laid a precedent for this sort of plotline. I don’t think that’s necessarily good storytelling though. While I’d potentially be okay with a Kylo redemption arc if it was very well written, and developed over, say, several episodes of a TV series, like Zuko’s, I’m wary of how it might be crammed into a single film. But anyway. 

Point is - Zuko’s plotline is one of redemption, which means yes, he was a shitty guy to start with. 

Kylo is a shitty guy right now. While I’m… dubious that his redemption would be satisfying (tbh, I reckon he’s far more interesting as the Pathetic Whingey Straight-White-Boy Villain), I’m going to keep an open mind.

[theadamantdaughter-deactivated2]

Point is — Kilo is a villain and he makes it seem like he wants to be. Zuko didn’t want the life he had. He wanted to go home and he wanted to be loved by his father.

So, it’s also a real shame to paint him as someone who was purely a shitty person, purely a villain, at the beginning, instead of a completely and utterly complex antagonist. And, as you seem to think based on your tags, it’s a real shame to say Zuko wasn’t compassionate in season one. 

As a thirteen year old boy, he demonstrated such compassion for those considered far beneath him that he was burned and banished. 

In The Avatar Returns, he promised to leave a village of innocent people alone. He had what he wanted, so he left.

In The Southern Air Temple, he fought Zhao, was put in a position where maiming Zhao was expected, and decided to let Zhao go. 

In The Storm, he chose his crew’s safety over his three-year quest to pursue the Avatar.

In The Winter Solstice, he chose his uncle’s well-being over his three-year quest to pursue the Avatar.

In the Seige of the North, he tried to save Zhao when the spirity-fish took him. 

And outside of those few examples (when Zuko showed us he wasn’t just the villain): 

He called Katara a peasant— once— but aside from that, he knew she had some tangible grasp on waterbending and restrained her without trying to hurt her. He could’ve easily burned her, broken her wrists… done something far worse when she was tied to the tree… but he didn’t. He treated her with a cold respect, never harming her, and when she proved useless to him, he didn’t intimidate her with violence. He told his men to search the woods and ignored her.

Sokka was the only one that he really treated as inferior in a fight, but even then, Zuko never used more force than necessary. He’d use Sokka’s own strength against him and I honestly can’t recall one moment in season one when Zuko threw fire in Sokka’s direction… because he knew Sokka couldn’t defend it.

So yeah, he was real shitstorm at times… I mean, he burned down all of Kyoshi and chased the Gaang all around the world, but he was also compassionate, merciful, and honorable. 

Iroh even said (to Zhao, in episode three): “Even in exile, my Nephew is more honorable than you.”

It’s extremely misguided to label Zuko’s motivations as ‘he was a villian!’ Zuko wanted to go home. He wanted his father to love him and his nation to accept him. That was his motivation— not being the big, bad guy. 

i also don’t think anakin was redeemed. i think he did something that only barely made up for the havoc he’d caused and it’s better that he’s dead. just it’ll be better when rey kills kilo.

also zuko is 17000000 times the character kilo will ever be. redeemed or not.

[steambends-deactivated20200922]

Zuko never abused the gaang or went after them wanting to hurt anyone- he would fight them, hurting them to get what he wanted on his side of the war, but he never manipulated, abused, or unjustly went out with the intention of hurting people. He did as a consequence of his goals, but he didn’t want to hurt anyone ever. Doesn’t take away from the fact that he did, and did shitty things, but he always followed ethical war standards.

Zuko did terrible things, but was worthy of redemption because he was never inherently cruel. In my mind, no matter how he relented, Ozai could never be redeemed.

I don’t think Anakin was worthy of redemption either. Anyone who is ever capable of murdering children is not worthy of redemption to most people. In the NARRATIVE, he was. To me, he wasn’t. Anakin broke war codes of ethics. He was sick and twisted.

Kylo Ren murdered children and kept his murdered victims’ ashes in his ship for shits and giggles. Someone that fucked up is never going to be able to do anything to redeem themselves to me. I don’t doubt he will be in the Narrative POV, but in mine and a lot of fans, he won’t be. He’s too far gone. I believe people can cross lines.

Zuko never crossed any morally rephrensible lines and always showed signs of love and inherent compassion that got him in trouble in the first place. Kylo did the opposite.

He’s a sick fucker and I wish they’d kill him off, but he’ll get the Vader treatment for sure.

[nerdy-centaur]

Me reading this after seeing Kilo Wrench’s shitty redemption in Rise of Skywalker:

[royaltealovingkookiness]

Do you think it's a mistake in Katara's inconsistent treatments towards her father ? In the Earth King episode,she showed no signs of anger towards himbut reacted in genuine delight upon hearing that he was at Chameleon Bay,hence one will normally expect her to greet her father with opening arms and tears of joy when reuniting with him in the Bridge comic episode but instead she was hostile to him and this continued in the Awakening episode due to her visceral anger at him ''abandoning'' her.

I don’t think so. People can feel not just one thing towards another. When I was a teenager, my feelings for my parents fluctuated on an hourly basis. 

You can love someone and even understand their reasons for doing something, but it can still hurt you. Katara loves her father, she understands why he left, but she also acknowledges that she was hurt by the abandonment. The important thing in that scene is that Katara feels safe enough to express those negative feelings, and Hakoda accepts and validates them instead of trying to explain away or say why she’s wrong. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a really powerful scene of family bonding - it’s easy to love others when everything is sunny, but it takes work to love them through the emotional storm.

 Also, for Katara, who was the grown-up the whole time in the group, who always tried to be the emotional support, it’s very important that she gets this from his father. 

I honestly feel glad whenever the story lets Katara express any negativity and is not immediately punished by it, but is instead validated. Because the story so rarely lets her get away with things like anger, jealousy, pettiness or resentment. She’s almost always forced to apologize or acknowledge how wrong she was - more than the other characters.  

It feels good to see her instead comforted. 

[avataranalysis]

I can’t believe it’s canon that Mai:

Walked away from Zuko after dismissing his fear of seeing his abusive father and it was never addressed as their introductory relationship scene

Told Zuko he was betraying his country when he went to defeat his abusive war lord father and never understood why he did what he did to end the war

Actively hates politics and does not care about doing the “right” thing for the world

Then…

Left Zuko with no protection while he was having multiple assassination attempts and was actively suicidal 

Never asked about Zuko’s mother, tried to meet her, or help Zuko find her when that was the most important thing in the world to him

Told Ty Lee that Zuko was turning into his evil father because he had Azula help him find their mom, even though this is Zuko’s deepest fear in the world and she’s supposed to love and believe in him as supposedly his future wife

Rebounded after dumping Zuko with a guy who is in The New Ozai Society 

Exploited this guy’s emotions who genuinely cared for her, despite them being a good match who both hated politics 

Said that Zuko didn’t care about other people’s feelings one panel after he was up at night worrying to Suki (who actually listened and cared about him and offered good advice) about Tom-Tom’s emotional state just because he temporarily suspended the post of a man who directly went against the Fire Lord’s orders 

Implicitly amped up Zuko’s death (in the same story where she’s hiding the fact her dad is trying to kill him and his family) when she asked “reserve a spot [in the fire lord’s burial chamber] for yourself yet?”

Saw her father try to murder Zuko, his toddler sister, uncle, mother, and step-father and hide it from Zuko when he asked directly if she knew anything

Excused her own behavior because “he’s her dad” and never had to apologize once

Twisted the blame onto Zuko because he has a bad father too, making Zuko apologize for the fact that Mai hid his attempted murder from her and the fact that her father was trying to put Ozai, Zuko’s abuser back on the throne

And, these are just things that I know off the bat. They are 100% incompatible. Zuko has better chemistry with Sokka, Katara, Suki, Aang, and even Toph than Mai. Toph was a better emotional supporter of Zuko than Mai in her one scene than Mai in the entirety of their canonical relationship together. Zuko understands Aang, Sokka, Katara, and Suki better than Mai-- ever, and vise-versa. They all share similar values and concerns about the world and are able to communicate in a healthy, supportive matter with one another. 

Mai is better off with someone like Kai Lo. I will always be convinced that Mai was initially written to be a part of the things from Zuko’s past in the Fire Nation he thought he wanted, but then realized all that glitters is not gold when he left the Fire Nation. Much like Asami Sato in LoK, when Bryke changed their minds because they liked Asami and decided to keep her as a “good guy”, I think they did with Mai, 1.) because they liked her character and 2.) to invalidate Zutara. 

They make absolutely no sense together at all whatsoever and have no chemistry. I write this not as a shipping post, but as a plot post. This is bad writing for the narrative and a main character. If Mai existed as a side character, she would be entertaining and well placed, like Ty Lee. Unfortunately, they did not take up the opportunity. And, as much as I loathe to see it, Mai and Ty Lee both existed to further Azula and Zuko’s plots. I hate that for female characters, but unfortunately it was true and when they tried to make them extend beyond side-chatarcterness, that is when Mai became terrible and unlikeable. 

[avataranalysis]

The Beach is The Breakfast Club

Dear Mr. Vernon,

I haven’t seen this widely discussed, but has anyone ever noticed that The Beach is fun, in some regards, but actually… very lazily written? It has a few gem moments, but mostly it is a lazy cop out to get Ty Lee, Mai, and Azula’s backstories out and also to address Zuko’s inner turmoil. 

One of the key rules of writing is to never “tell” the audience what is going on. You’re supposed to show it. 

Azula literally tells the audience that Mai apparently had over demanding parents. In the text, all we see is that she’s a stereotypical grouchy teenager and her parents are extremely loving. What we see is that she is someone who doesn’t understand why her parents are upset that their son is missing (which is why Smoke and Shadow directly contradicts the text, but I digress). 

Azula just tells the audience about her problems with her mother, but at least this is further shown later in a very well-written fashion in the finale. But, as an introduction? It was terrible.

Ty Lee tells the audience her entire backstory. That is so lazy and cheap. She starts shouting her therapy session in the laziest writing display in the entire Avatar series, and I mean that. We know virtually nothing about Ty Lee, and we are never shown, only told. 

Even Zuko just is pressured into screaming he’s angry at himself, which at least we have been shown this easily. It’s just ridiculous that that is how we are shown Zuko discovers it himself. It’s uncharacteristically lazy of the writers of the very multi-talented Avatar writing team. 

Additionally, the episode takes these characters, which is a particular disservice to Azula and Zuko who are usually supberly written, and makes them exaggerated character traits. Zuko is ridiculously angry to the point where it’s a caricature and Azula is forced to “show her vulnerable/normal teenager” side in a very forced manner. Now, these concepts were good: show the Fire Nation gang as normal teens, however, it was so poorly and OOC-ly executed it’s almost embarrassing to watch. It’s a shame because the idea itself wasn’t bad, they just went about it in such a way it’s best to just take the key concepts from that episode and pretend they don’t exist. 

Avatar apparently just loves 80s movies. It had its Footloose episode, The Beach is basically The Breakfast Club. 

Sincerely yours, 

Avatar Analysis

[avataranalysis]

Rehashed Plots?

The entire premise of the first comic saga: The Promise is so utterly flawed as a plot for story-telling. Here’s why:

The first 2.5 books of Avatar were spent with Zuko and the gAang as enemies, pitted against each other. 

Zuko struggled in book three wondering if he was like his father and in emotional anguish with that and wondering what is the right thing to do. 

Mai doesn’t understand Zuko and vise versa and they break up.

Aang wondered what his moral philosophy was on killing an evil dictator, yet still human life, to spare millions of others’ pain. 

In The Promise, the first sequel since Avatar, they do this: 

Zuko has a change of heart about what to do with the colonies, so the gAang, who we were lead to believe Zuko became a beloved member of, only one year later, decides they are all against Zuko, with the exception of Suki, they don’t believe in him, erasing all their previously-forged bonds we all melted for in Book 3, and he is now Ozai

Zuko struggles with wondering if he’ll be like Ozai and visits him in his cell multiple times, struggling to know what’s the right thing to do throughout the whole book- again.

Zuko and Mai don’t understand each other and break up… again. 

Aang, worse, is wondering the same moral philosophy, but to kill someone, who in LoK, we are told explicitly to believe is the person who knew Aang better than anyone, including his own wife. Aang can’t decide if he should murder Zuko over a political dispute (more details on how sad that is including with Roku for another post). 

Plus, at the point of the comics’ release, LoK had come out with Zuko’s grandson, so obviously he does not die. So, what purpose did The Promise serve but to rehash old plot lines, sever the bonds forged in the last season between Zuko and the rest of Team Avatar, making the finale seem empty because canonically they all lose faith and Zuko and support emotionlessly his death a year later, and instead of mend the problems with Maiko, make it worse, and put Aang through a stupid decision, where if he were in character, he’d never consider?

They wasted the opportunity to have a story where Zuko and the rest of the team were together. That’s what fans want. That’s what would have made sense. That’s how the pacing of Book Three was so bad (though I love Book Three). 

The whole thing was a mess, sadly, and it didn’t have to be because Gene Luen Yang is a good writer. The plot points are the problem, not the intricacies of the writing. The problem were Bryke’s “trees”, so to speak, not Yang’s “forest”.

[avataranalysis]

Contradictions About Book 4′s “Plan” [to ever exist]

It is very interesting to me that Bryke recently posted on Instagram that there never was supposed to be a Book 4. However, Aaron Ehasz, a head writer, has said for years on his Twitter that there was and even outlines and his exact ideas. 

I cannot see him just fabricating that entirely for years and posting it. 

I think what happened was that Ehasz drafted something when Nickelodeon requested it, and Bryke put their foot down saying it was meant to be a three season saga. 

I don’t disagree with the three season saga rule to keep the integrity of the story intact, I think that is wise. (Which is one reason why the comics are heaping piles of trash.) 

However, the ideas presented by Ehasz sounded very good and in line with what we know about the characters, whereas the comics are so painfully bad and out of character. 

I suspect, and of course this is mere speculation, that there was serious disagreement and bitterness between the writers in that board. Otherwise, if Ehasz had all these plans, why wouldn’t they invite him, as they did later on in LoK with other writers, back to LoK writing board? Or to the comics? 

Bryke is fantastic at world building, but they lack the writing capacity for the emotional depth of character development intricacies. It’s why LoK has characters who aren’t as in-depth and why the stories are so repetitive and superficial in the comics and everyone seems reduced to becoming one-dimensional. 

Just so strange in the contradictions between the two. Bryke invented Avatar, but it was the team of all the storyboard writers who made it great. They all deserve credit because it was a team effort. It always needed to be to hit all the multifaceted layers of a timeless story. 

It’s a shame there seems to be such bad blood. 

Any thoughts?

[araeph]

You ever notice the difference in Zuko's dynamics with first hanging around Azula's trio, and then with the Gaang? With the first, it felt to me that he was just kind of there with the group, rather than being a real part of it. Like he was just another of Azula's lackeys. But with the latter, even when he was proving himself to them, he felt more included, more equal to the others. It just irks me that he ended up paired romantically with one of Azula's friends rather than one of his own.

From my essay on AO3:

It is Zuko’s relationship with Team Avatar that really puts the hurt on Mai/Zuko in terms of emotional intimacy. The GAang spends about the same amount of episodes with Zuko on their side as Mai does; there are zero romantic interactions between Zuko and any of them; and physical displays of affection are limited to friendly punches and hugs. Yet think of how much deeper and more meaningful Zuko’s relationship is with any of them than it is with Mai. Look no further than Toph—Zuko bonds more emotionally with a twelve-year-old earthbender than he does with his own girlfriend. By the time the series ends, Zuko has spent time with and formed bonds with people who completely open up to him, who share their dreams, their fears, and their darkest memories, and allow him to do the same without forcing a confession; people who have moral struggles and convictions of their own, and understand why he has them, too. He’s been around people who’ve watched his back in combat, who have complimented him, encouraged him, and defended him to other members of the team. The emotional intimacy with Mai pales by comparison. Just listen to how the GAang compliments Zuko:

-          If we know anything, it’s that Zuko never gives up.

-          You know, Zuko, I don’t care what everyone else says about you; you’re pretty smart.

-          I think your Uncle would be proud of you. Leaving your home to come help us, that’s hard.

-          You have redeemed yourself to your Uncle. You don’t realize it, but you already have. All your Uncle wanted was for you to find your own path and see the light. Now you’re here with us. He’d be proud.

-          I know, I had the same reaction [to Zuko joining the Avatar]. After all he’s done, it was hard to trust him. But he’s really proven himself and I never would have found you without his help.

-          Well, you are kind of the expert on tracking Aang.

-          Yeah, if anyone’s got experience hunting the Avatar, it’s you.

Here, on the other hand, is how Mai compliments him:

I don’t hate you.

I care about you.

I actually kind of like you.

The GAang’s words help form a picture in your head; even without knowing Zuko, you can start to get a sense of who this person is. By contrast, the things Mai says about Zuko could be said about anyone; we have no idea what specific traits she finds attractive and compelling. The reverse is true, as well: the only things Zuko praises Mai for are either things that she doesn’t normally do, or a negative worldview that he ultimately rejects as detrimental to his own goals and ideals.

As with Mai being kept in the dark about Zuko’s turning, there is a good reason why Mai and Zuko’s emotional intimacy pales in comparison to the GAang’s: the writers likely dreaded falling into the “redemptive romance” trap that would deny Zuko agency in his own development. But a balance can be struck between a romantic interest with no impact and a romantic interest that “saves” her beloved. For a good example, take Sokka and Suki, where Suki plays a pivotal role in helping Sokka get over his sexism, without Sokka being “saved” by her or relying on her for his morality. When we think about, not whether Zuko would live, but who Zuko would be without Mai in his life, and the answer that comes up is, “He’d be exactly the same!” …well, no relationship that really matters to a person should feel like that.

[avataranalysis]

Zuko and Suki have a beautiful relationship in the comics. They are wonderful friends and have about the only healthy relationship (and I don’t just mean romantic) Zuko is permitted to have in all of the post-series comics. She is, in the comics, the only friend Zuko has who seems to care about him. She is the only person who seems to love Zuko in the comics (and I don’t mean romantically as she is canonically with Sokka in the comics, however, if Sokka was out of the picture, they are an excellent match together).

Zuko is seen free and confident to express himself and feels comfortable and safe doing so with Suki. This is not something easy for a child abuse survivor. He shares the story and Suki offers to lend an ear because she cares about Zuko. The writers were likely trying to stir drama and tease this ship as Maî traipsed off with another rebound man, but their friendship is one of the few genuinely wonderful things to come of the comics.

It is a stark contrast to the nighttime talk Zuko had with Maîi, while he was worried deeply, in the series. There, while also standing on the edge of something, Zuko is the one to initiate the opening up to. Mai shuts him down instantly, even if intended as a joke, and then leaves him. Then, Züko was attempting to bear his worries of seeing his abusive father for the first time in four years. Mai shuts him up with a joke, in which he scowls, unamused. It would be one thing to deliver a joke poorly, some people use humor to cope as I do myself.

It’s another to then just leave. A normal person to their friend, and especially S/O, would realize the joke fell flat and then stay and offer to listen and some comfort. Maîi was incapable of doing this for Zuko, but Suki was. Katara was too. Sokka was as well. Mai is the absolute worst match for Zuko. She is a good to stand alone, but they are not a narrative-well match and I hope going forward, the writers realize this and make any other ship with Zuko endgame.