The Blog Of A 400-Foot-Tall Purple Platypus Bear @background-kyoshi-warrior - Tumblr Blog

Before following or interacting with my blog, please read this post and this post.

I reblog lots of long posts, so here’s a list of all of my original posts: Azula’s Redemption, Aang Learns Diplomacy, Toph the Mom, Rebuilding Ba Sing Se, Sokka’s Inventions, A Toph Rant, A Katara Rant, An Iroh Rant, A Sokka Rant, Random Tuesday Thought, a katara rant that’s not about katara, Ursa as a Mother, Why Toph is Short, Glassbending, Were They the Avatar?,

4 Headcanons Ask Game: Ty Lee Headcanons, Mai Headcanons, Katara Headcanons, Kya 1 Headcanons, Aang Headcanons, Suki Headcanons, Toph Headcanons,

Reblogged posts I added on to: Avatar Rinzen, Sokka in tLoK, Pro-Bending Toph, Zuko’s BrOTPs, The Gaang as Teachers, Zuko vs. Wan Shi Tong, AtLA Measurement Systems, Were They the Avatar?, Sokka’s Pen Pals, Ember Island Shells,

Also, to all my followers (or even if you’re not a follower),

if you need something tagged, just let me know! I promise it’s not stupid, even if you just want me to tag a post as “opinion” or something.

if you notice any typos on any of my posts, feel free to let me know!

if you don’t want to see repeats of my old posts, I tag all self-reblogs “#my-srbs”.

if you have any visual or reading issues that make certain types of text (bold, italics, etc.) hard to read, let me know so I can adapt my posts!

Also, if you ship (or don’t care if other people ship) incestuous or pedophilic relationships, fuck off. Seriously.

#pinned post

azulasnailtech

Avatar + astronomical symbolism

azulasnailtech

[Image ID: A series of 11 gifs of close-ups of Avatar: The Last Airbender characters.

Image 1: Suki, on the left of the gif, in her Kyoshi Warrior makeup and uniform, looks up with a saddened expression and blinks, her hair and the tassels of her headpiece swinging with her movement. The scene is from Appa’s Lost Days, when she discovers Appa in the cave. The background of the gif is coloured yellow. To her right is a symbol representing the sun with one ray. On top of the symbol is three lines of text. Line one: Sun. Line two: Action. Vibrancy. Vitality. Line three: I am.

Image 2: Yue, on the right of the gif, in her usual purple parka, looks down and to the right with a smile and heavy blush. The scene is from The Waterbending Master, when she flirts with Sokka on the canal. The background of the gif is coloured white and light gray. To her left is a symbol representing a waxing moon. On top of the symbol is three lines of text. Line one: Moon. Line two: Protection. Influence. Nostalgia. Line three: I feel.

Image 3: Mai, on the left of the gif, in her usual red outfit, looks straight ahead with a neutral expression, speaking and blinking. The scene is from The Boiling Rock, Part 2, when she stops the prison guards from cutting the gondola line. The background of the gif is coloured dark grey. To her right is a symbol representing Mercury’s caduceus. On top of the symbol is three lines of text. Line one: Mercury. Line two: Friendship. Communication. Choice. Line three: I think.

Image 4: Ty Lee, on the right of the gif, in her usual pink outfit, glances side to side with fearful eyes, her hands clasped together and held up in front of her mouth. The scene is from The Boiling Rock, Part 2, when she watches Azula confront Mai. The background of the gif is coloured pink. To her left is a symbol representing Venus’s necklace. On top of the symbol is three lines of text. Line one: Venus. Line two: Beauty. Unification. Willfulness. Line three: I love.

Image 5: Aang, on the left of the gif, shirtless, opens his eyes and gazes upwards with a solemn expression. The scene is from Sozin’s Comet, Part 4: Avatar Aang, when he tells Ozai he has taken away his bending. The background of the gif is coloured orange. To his right is a symbol representing a globus cruciger. On top of the symbol is three lines of text. Line one: Earth. Line two: Balance. Community. Manifestation. Line three: I connect.

Image 6: Azula, on the right of the gif, in her Book Three armour, blinks slowly and speaks, an eyebrow raised and an unimpressed look on her face. The scene is from The Day of Black Sun, Part 2: The Eclipse, when she tries to goad Toph into chasing her for longer. The background of the gif is coloured red. To her left is a symbol representing Mars’s shield and spear. On top of the symbol is three lines of text. Line one: Mars. Line two: Focus. Drive. Aggression. Line three: I act.

Image 7: Zuko, on the left of the gif, in his Fire Lord outfit, looks to the side with a smirk before turning to look right while speaking with a smile. The scene is from Sozin’s Comet, Part 4: Avatar Aang, when he talks to Aang about how far they’ve come. The background of the gif is coloured dark blue. To his right is a symbol representing the letter zeta. On top of the symbol is three lines of text. Line one: Jupiter. Line two: Belief. Effort. Expansion. Line three: I grow.

Image 8: Toph, on the right of the gif, in her usual Earth Kingdom outfit, speaks with a mocking smile and raised eyebrow, hands held up to her cheeks. The scene is from The Blind Bandit, when she is trash talking the Boulder. The background of the gif is coloured green. To her left is a symbol representing Saturn’s sickle. On top of the symbol is three lines of text. Line one: Saturn. Line two: Control. Concentration. Ambition. Line three: I achieve.

Image 9: Sokka, on the left of the gif, in his usual Book One outfit, speaks and dips his head down and narrows his gaze, a slightly angry look on his face. The scene is from Jet, when he rebukes Jet after saving the village. The background of the gif is coloured light blue. To his right is a symbol representing a globe surmounted by the letter H. On top of the symbol is three lines of text. Line one: Uranus. Line two: Science. Originality. Change. Line three: I evolve.

Image 10: Katara, on the right of the gif, in her usual Book One outfit and hair loopies but with her hair down, speaks and turns her head, eyes widening in surprise. The scene is from The Waterbending Master, when she learns Kanna was engaged to Pakku directly following her fight against him. The background of the gif is coloured purple. To her left is a symbol representing Neptune’s trident. On top of the symbol is three lines of text. Line one: Neptune. Line two: Intuition. Emotion. Insight. Line three: I dream.

Image 11: Iroh, on the left of the gif, in his White Lotus outfit, closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, his expression very serious.The scene is from Sozin’s Comet, Part 4: Avatar Aang, when he burns the Fire Nation flag that had been hanging on the palace in Ba Sing Se. The background of the gif is coloured black and dark red. To his right is a symbol representing a PL monogram. On top of the symbol is three lines of text. Line one: Pluto. Line two: Rebirth. Transformation. Mystery. Line three: I empower.

End ID]

@atladescribed

#sorry about this but…#am i the only one thinking that sokka would both love and hate being uranus?#you know… because of the jokes he could make #but also the jokes other people would make #(i’m not going to say the joke but i think you know what i mean)#(if you don’t this must be weird for you)#(sorry)#atla #has id #avataredit #avatar the last airbender #gaang

comradekatara

the gaang + playing scrabble? kind of narrow sorry sfdghjfhg

I actually have some posts regarding scrabble here and here. otherwise,

aang: insists that the “official rules” are “holding him back” and they should just have fun with it!

katara: insists the the “dictionary” is “holding her back” and she should be allowed to make up new words on the fly!

zuko: thinks that aang & katara are “ruining the sanctity of scrabble”... until he wants to break the rules or invent a new word himself, and then he’ll defend his right to do whatever he wants til his last breath!!!!!

toph: conscientious objector

suki: keeps trying to turn it into a drinking game, so that scrabble might end up actually being remotely fun somehow

azula: obsessed with citing the rulebook every time anyone is even remotely on the verge of having fun. goes out of her way to spell words no one has ever heard of just so she can smugly dare people to “look it up themselves if they really think it’s not a real word”

mai: also a conscientious objector actually. bc this game fucking sucks bro

ty lee: keeps all her tiles until the very end wherein she makes one amazing move and wins the whole game. fwiw, yes this is most of the reason that mai hates playing scrabble

sokka: goes insane whenever he plays scrabble because he gets way too intense about it and insists on beating his own new high score every time he plays. there’s actually no point playing against him because he will win by a landslide and then at the end of the game be like “ugh that SUCKED I SUCK at this game.” never play scrabble with sokka; it is simply a miserable affair for everyone.

#and then one day toph decides to be a gremlin and asks everyone who is actually the best at scrabble #and everyone knows it’s sokka #but azula will not concede #therefore the Ultimate Scrabble Tournament begins #katara beats aang and zuko and gets overconfident until she faces ty lee #ty lee wins with pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis #azula and ty lee face off #each coming up with increasingly obscure words #ty lee shocks everyone by winning the game with ‘moon’#azula is Not Pleased #sokka is A Little Teary #then ty lee goes against suki #(toph has hidden the booze and suki Is Very Bored and wants to get this over with)#suki wants to get the game over with and go find something fun to do #it turns out that suki has an extremely large vocabulary when sober and beats ty lee by two letters #sokka and suki face off #toph adds sound effects to add atmosphere #they tie #everyone flips out #except suki #suki just wants to go spar with her friends #(unlike everyone else she has friends outside the group)#so she concedes but sokka won’t let her because obviously it was dumb luck and he’ll prove it by beating her this time #three hours and multiple games later #toph calls it #Sober Suki is the Scrabble Champion #gaang headcanons #this should have been a full post

anacoluthas

ok but remember how hama wasn’t actually the first bloodbender, ATUAT was the first bloodbender, and she used it not to control people but to heal people who she wouldn’t have time to help normally? and how she invented the technique herself and was considered the greatest healer in the world? i just like to think about katara discovering atuat and her techniques, maybe when doing research in the nwt about old waterbending forms she could bring back to her tribe, and finding out that even this thing that damaged her emotionally so profoundly and changed her perception of her own identity so meaningfully, from someone who she trusted and looked up to in a way she didn’t look up to anyone else because there wasn’t anyone else there to look up to, had the power to heal, and not just heal but bring people back from the brink of death, heal them in a way that would be impossible any other way. and imagine her practicing the technique and it taking so much strength for her to bring back those movements and fight through the trauma of remembering being controlled like that. and maybe keeping it secret from everyone except her most skilled and most trusted waterbending students because it was so close to the technique that brought so much harm to herself as a teenager and to republic city. and it’s such a tenuous relationship. but she also finds so much strength and emotional healing from knowing this history and these origins of bloodbending beyond the way hama used it as an outlet for her pain and revenge. beyond how even katara used it as an outlet for her pain and revenge. and maybe that’s part of what solidified her interest in healing, the idea of transformation, taking something so painful with so much potential for harm and using it for healing, looking to history and thanking the different eras and worlds that brought her to this peace about such a difficult thing to grapple with being part of her culture. taking this and using it to heal not only bodies and lives but memories and cultures.

#healer katara #katara #rise of kyoshi #rise of kyoshi spoilers #atuat

books-and-cats-26

Thanks for the tag, @cacodaemonia!

1. Why did you choose your url?

The honest answer? I didn’t have a clever idea so I looked to the right and saw my bookshelf (I was an avid reader as a kid and now) and then I looked at my cats, thus the name

2. Any side blogs?

Nah

3. How long have you been on Tumblr?

I’m not sure. I started it a few years ago, but wasn’t very active until a year or two ago.

4. Do you have a queue tag?

5. Why did you start your blog in the first place?

I don’t remember my original reason, but when I became more active it was because I wanted to be involved in the Star Wars fandom and have another place to inflict my fanfics on unsuspecting readers XD

6. Why did you choose your icon/pfp?

Because it’s the best thing I’ve sketched and I’m stupidly proud of it

7. Why did you choose your header?

I just think it’s cool

8. What’s your post with the most notes?

I’m not 100% sure, I also don’t know how to check tbh

9. How many mutuals do you have?

I don’t know, y'all. I’m not certain what a mutual is. Pls forgive my ignorance! XD

10. How many followers do you have?

Um, 80 last I saw

11. How many people do you follow?

239 so far

12. Have you ever made a shitpost?

Occasionally

13. How often do you use Tumblr each day?

I don’t really time it, maybe an hour or so?

14. Did you have a fight/argument with another blog once?

Nope, not about that shit

15. How do you feel about “you need to reblog this” posts?

I already have anxiety and use tumblr to escape. I reblog some that I believe in and want to help spread awareness about, but I don’t like the pressure that comes from them

16. Do you like tag games?

Y e s!! I love these!!

17. Do you like ask games?

I love those too!!

18. Which of your mutuals do you think is Tumblr famous?

so, so many

19. Do you have a crush on a mutual?

Nope

20. Tags

No pressure tags: @gracethescribbler, @cadaverriffic, @agentfrostbite, @english-is-weird, @l-theseus, @xcertaindarkthingsx

agentfrostbite

Eeeee! Thanks for the tag @books-and-cats-26!

1: Why did you choose your Url?

It’s the name of my main writing OC, and initially, I thought i might do rp/asks as her on here, but I’m ✨Lazy✨ so that never happened

2: Any side blogs?

Nope. Too much work. If I ever do get the ball rolling with my OC, then maybs

3: How long have you been on Tumblr?

Uh…a year? Maybe two? Times flies, COVID sucks, so I don’t actually know

4: Do you have a queue tag?

No idea how to set it up, so no

5: Why did you start your blog in the first place?

Because I could not find all the fanart I wanted on Pinterest, so I migrated here

6: Why did you choose your icon?

It’s the original faceclaim for my OC. I really should update it, cause I have a new one for her…

7: Why did you choose your header?

I on and off (and more off than on) make jewelry out of gears, and it looked cool, so

8: What’s your post with the most notes?

This low quality Tier Ranking thing of the Mortal Kombat characters and how they handle interacting with phones. It’s got 80 something notes, and that’s my most noted original post

9: How many mutuals do you have?

Probably a dozen, maybe 18? I’m terrible at keeping track of people

10: How many followers do you have?

81. I have no idea why most of y'all are here, but I hope you’re enjoying the ride

11: How many people are you following?

125

12: Have you ever made a shitpost?

I think the most notes one counts, so yes

13: How often do you use Tumblr each day?

A bit too much, lol. I’ll be on it less, now that I have a job

14: Did you have a fight/argument with another blog once?

Nope. Not here for that crap. I’m here to have a good time and stay up way too late, and arguing with people is not my idea of a good time

15: How do you feel about “You need to reblog this” posts?

I don’t like feeling obligated to reblog anything, whether it’s info or “cursed” posts, so if I don’t want to, I don’t, and everyone else can Deal

16: Do you like tag games?

Yeah! I think. I’m not always the best with then, though

17: Do you like ask games?

Yes, absolutely! But I have posted no info on my gal, so no-one asks me, which is fine but 😢

18: Which of your Tumblr mutuals do you think is famous?

I’d like to think that @amukmuk and I are mutuals, and if we are, then definitely her. She’s a writer and her stuff is awesome and you shoukd totally check it out if you like reading fluffy Star Wars stuff!

19: Do you have a crush on a mutual?

Nope.

20: Tags

If you gals want to, @mayday1284, @phoenixizzy, @girloutofhertime, and @amukmuk!

amukmuk

Thanks for the tags, @lilhawkeye3, @agentfrostbite, and @purgetroopercody

1: Why did you choose your Url?

I didn’t chose it, it was given to me by a creepy hobo.

2: Any side blogs?

Nope! We all shall suffer as I reblog random things that fancy me! >:3

3: How long have you been on Tumblr?

I have been here since the superwholock days so… 2012? Though I did take a hiatus for several years.

4: Do you have a queue tag?

Yes! It’s “q” bc I just overflow with creativity

5: Why did you start your blog in the first place?

You know… I have no idea? I think I was just being rebellious. Tumblr & fanfiction was banned in my house growing up so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

6: Why did you choose your icon?

Bc she is a queen and I love her.

7: Why did you choose your header?

I just really love stars and space

8: What’s your post with the most notes?

I have no idea… probably a chapter of Perception?

9: How many mutuals do you have?

Oh idk and idk how to find out, though I’m mutuals with most of the #foxiyofam

10: How many followers do you have?

LOL I planned on doing something super special since I just hit 450, but I didn’t… so yay! I just hit 450! *throws confetti*

11: How many people are you following?

289, though I think a lot are inactive now.

12: Have you ever made a shitpost?

Me? Shitpost? Never.

13: How often do you use Tumblr each day?

Too much, tbh. It’s my favorite thing to scroll through. I hate the toxicity of regular social media and when things get funky here I tend to log off for a few days.

14: Did you have a fight/argument with another blog once?

Not that I can recall? I don’t like confrontation lololol

15: How do you feel about “You need to reblog this” posts?

I really dislike them. They stress me out.

16: Do you like tag games?

Yes! I love doing fun things!

17: Do you like ask games?

Of course!! I could talk about myself for days.

18: Which of your Tumblr mutuals do you think is famous?

Oh gosh. Maybe Caco and Hawk? It doesn’t matter, though. I love all my mutuals <333

19: Do you have a crush on a mutual?

I crush on all my mutuals, they are all rad af.

20: Tags

Hrmm. I’ve seen this float around so I’m sorry if anyone has already been tagged: @plainrea, @rex-is-best, @novemberrain221, and @sheena-is-a-punk-rocker

plainrea-deactivated20220127

Many thanks for the tag, @amukmuk!

1: Why did you choose your Url?

It’s an extraction from my old domain URL. (And I’m just lousy with names.)

2: Any side blogs?

I barely have enough content to fill ONE blog, so no.

3: How long have you been on Tumblr?

Technically, since about 2012 and/or 2013. But I really only started posting regularly back in 2020.

4: Do you have a queue tag?

No. If I post/reblog, it means I’m actively online.

5: Why did you start your blog in the first place?

For contests. A site I followed at the time hosted giveaways here, and I wanted free swag. 😅 I never won anything, but it did afford me an opportunity to hyperfixate and flap my gums.

6: Why did you choose your icon?

Shiva is my favorite aeon/summon from ALL of FF, her FFX iteration being my fave. Plus, the icon matches the blue/white/icy color scheme of my blog, which are all of my favorite colors.

7: Why did you choose your header?

Don’t have one.

8: What’s your post with the most notes?

Oddly enough, a post about the movie Emma. It was a comment I made in passing after watching the 2020 film. It sort of…blew up. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

9: How many mutuals do you have?

About 19? 20? Admittedly, there’s some overlap there due to sideblogs and what-not.

10: How many followers do you have?

118. A lot of those are hidden/bots.

11: How many people are you following?

In the smallest following count I’ve seen, a mere 25 blogs. It was more (up until a few weeks ago), but a lot of folks went AWOL and then I exited/abandoned a couple fandoms so it seemed only appropriate to thin out the herd. Plus, following less accounts means I can devote more individualized attention to a close and reliable few, as opposed to following hundreds upon hundreds and then ignoring (or being ignored by) a good 80-90%.

12: Have you ever made a shitpost?

Obviously, there are different “degrees” of “shitposting,” but as it’s something I typically associate with insufferable, largely unlikable/intolerable human beings, I would say no.

13: How often do you use Tumblr each day?

I keep a Tumblr tab open when I log on, because my life sorta revolves around the computer so it’s an easy enough thing to check off and on throughout the day. It’s more for touching base with mutuals than anything, as I myself reblog/share only a handful of posts each week.

14: Did you have a fight/argument with another blog once?

Not really. I make a point to keep online discussions civil. If things get ugly, I very peacefully bail out. I have, however, run into some real jerks, but that’s what Tumblr’s lovely block/filter feature is for. （〃｀ 3′〃）

15: How do you feel about “You need to reblog this” posts?

Depending on what it is, I either scroll past dispassionately or nearly concuss myself with 🙄🙄🙄s.

16: Do you like tag games?

I liked them more when the community actually engaged with one another. Nowadays, it’s just the same two-three people bouncing tags which takes a lot of joy/fun out of the game. But it’s an awesome concept, if you have an active enough mutualbase to play them with.

17: Do you like ask games?

See answer #16.

18: Which of your Tumblr mutuals do you think is famous?

Just based on user interaction and blog activity, I’d have to say @subjectsix. She’s famous in the Control fandom, if nothing else.

19: Do you have a crush on a mutual?

I’m…not sure how to answer this, tbh. 🤣

20: Tags

Gonna toss this over to @windcoloredeyes, @wildhoneyprose, and @hrtiu. Apologies if you got hit with this already.

authorjoydragon

I just felt like stealing this, hope you don’t mind!

1. Why did you chose your url? Joydragon is my @ on AO3 and FFnet haha

2. Any side blogs? This is the side blog 😂 my main is @kinzjoydragon and I also run the @taangst-week-2021 blog

3. How long have you been on tumblr? UM. I made my main blog in like 2012 or something I dunno? This blog I just made less than a year ago around September i think.

4. Do you have a queue tag? Yes it’s called “going on the barbe queue” just cause I think it’s clever. Sometimes I hold myself back from clogging everyone’s feed with rbs lol.

5. Why did you start your blog in the first place? I just wanted to promote my fics more, and then I realized how huge the ATLA fandom is on tumblr and I got sucked in. And I’ve made so many friends so best decision ever imo

6. Why did you choose your icon? My icon is from the v famous ATLA picrew and I just absolutely adore it! I think it reflects me really well.

7. Why did you choose your header? My header image is currently a commission from @overlordneon for my taang fic On The Precipice! I absolutely love it.

8. What’s your post with the most notes? Besides a tag chain game lol, it’s this one. Taang. 💛

9. How many mutuals do you have? Lol a lot. I used to hit follow back immediately but I’ve stopped doing that. I love my mutuals tho they’re so sweet.

10. How many followers do you have? This ATLA blog has 235 followers.

11. How many people are you following? 592. Sometimes I accidentally hit the follow button and I’m like meh okay. I’m too lazy to unfollow people really.

12. Have you ever made a shit post? Oh yes. I think they’re funny.

13. How often do you use tumblr each day? Too much 😂😂😂 if I’m busy I might just get on in the morning and at night, but usually I hop on throughout the day to share taang hcs with @stitch1830 💛💛💛

14. Did you have a fight/argument with another blog once? I really try to stay in my lane and avoid any salt with people- I think fandom experience is fun if you avoid debates like that. I do recall one person coming for my throat one time when I said I preferred Taang over Toko. Person hopped into my DMs to berate me and everything. I stay away from people like that. No thanks man.

15. How do you feel about “you need to reblog this” posts? Eh. If I read it and think it’s important I might rb but I’ve never cared for the posts trying to bully people into rb/rt whatever. Normally I’m on here to get away from real life events, it’s a break for my mental health.

16. Do you like tag games? Love them! It’s just like. Wow, people think of me??? And want to include me in something??? 😮 (I esp love picrews i just think they’re neat)

17. Do you like ask games? See above lol. Ask games like this are fun too!

18. Which of your tumblr mutuals do you think is famous? Hmm. In the ATLA fandom? Probably @gemgirl28 @zukos-calming-tea @airiustide @analynasi @aangorithms and @dragonbonez and honestly probably a lot more y’all are TALENTED.

19. Do you have a crush on a mutual? Just all my main homies. ;) jk I feel like you can’t truly know people on the internet, but you can always be friendly!

20. Tags! @stitch1830 @mycomfortblanket @su-univeralai @krastbannert @thesavagedaughter0627 @evergreenonthehorizon @thebansheeandherboy @juldooz-atla @gimmezutara and whoever wants to!!!

krastbannert

1. Why did you chose your url? My URL is my AO3 handle and was my FFN handle before I deactivated it. It dates back to my freshman year of high school (spring 2015, I think?) and I was sitting in my US History class and decided I needed a pseudonym. I have no idea why.

2. Any side blogs? Nah. Everything gets jammed onto one blog and ya’ll just gotta deal with my weirdness.

3. How long have you been on tumblr? About 6 months; I had another blog of the same name before this, but I deleted that one a little under a year before I started this one. I think I had that one for about 7 or 8 months?

4. Do you have a queue tag? I don’t even have a queue.

5. Why did you start your blog in the first place? I was bored over winter break, and kinda wanted to see and talk to more people in fandom. Plus it was getting a little odd having full-blown conversations in AO3 comments.

6. Why did you choose your icon? I picked this one a long time ago, and it was literally just because I wanted a funny picture to use as a profile pic for…something or other. I don’t remember what.

7. Why did you choose your header? Cause it’s a cool-ass picture, that’s why.

8. What’s your post with the most notes? It’s gotta be this crappy meme I made back in March.

9. How many mutuals do you have? 35, if I count right. I interact with probably about half of them on a fairly regular basis, I think.

10. How many followers do you have? A whopping 82.

11. How many people are you following? 192, although when I looked a day or two ago, quite a few of those blogs hadn’t made in a post in 2+ years.

12. Have you ever made a shit post? Oh, definitely.

13. How often do you use tumblr each day? Far, far, far, far too much. But I mean…I don’t have anything else to do during the summer, so. I guess it’s not that bad?

14. Did you have a fight/argument with another blog once? Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, I haven’t yet. I’m generally a pretty chill person (at least I like to think I am), so I don’t get into many arguments, even in real life. Honestly, fights are just too much energy that I am unwilling to expend.

15. How do you feel about “you need to reblog this” posts? I generally don’t like them. Some are definitely good-hearted - the ones that spread awareness about disaster charities, for example - and I do like those, and the people that make them are doing good work. But I so many that, at least to me, just look like people baiting the rest of Tumblr for notes. And I detest posts like that, especially ones that are like ‘my mutuals better reblog this’ or whatever. Like, really dude? Those posts just seem so childish to me.

16. Do you like tag games? I wouldn’t do them if I didn’t. Kinda like Joy, I always go ‘wait what? a person…thought of me?’.

17. Do you like ask games? See above.

18. Which of your tumblr mutuals do you think is famous? Uh well if we’re talking in the ATLA fandom, @terracyte is and @renegade-of-theworld (although they’re not too active on Tumblr) and @soozencreates seem to be (sort of). And I guess @authorjoydragon kind of is? There’s more, I’m sure.

19. Do you have a crush on a mutual? That’d be a little odd if I did, I think, considering I haven’t met any of them in real life. And this question labors under the assumption that I’d admit it if I did. Which I probably wouldn’t.

20. Tags! Usual victims, you know what to do: @soozencreates @terracyte @thereisnowarinbasingsee @pidgeapodge @ljf613. @thiscryptidischronicallyyours I’ll tag you as well, and of course anyone else who wants to do this can!

thiscryptidischronicallyyours

Thanks for the tag in @krastbannert!

1. Why did you chose your url? It’s a variation of my AO3 username: The_Chronic_Cryptid, and my usual sign off on author notes: chronically yours. Mostly the name comes from me being a person with a somewhat invisible chronic illness. You might not see it but it’s real . I’m also just an alliteration nerd, and I love Nessie.

2. Any side blogs? Nope! I’ve thought about starting one for my more personal posts outside of random fandom stuff, but I think one is enough for me to maintain.

3. How long have you been on tumblr? I joined in Mid-January, so I guess I’ve been on here for almost 6 months now. It doesn’t feel like it’s been that long though.

4. Do you have a queue tag? …I’ll have to be honest, I don’t know what this is. So, I’m going with no.

5. Why did you start your blog in the first place? Much like my AO3, I started it because one of my friends told me I should and I’d like it. I didn’t think I would, but gave it a try anyway…in both cases I love it.

6. Why did you choose your icon? I had someone else’s drawing of Nessie for a while with the caption: I believe in me. But as my drawing skills have been gradually improving, I decided to try and make one for myself. I also love hats, so I had to incorporate one. The little accompanying phrase: “Normal is a Myth”, are lyrics from The Lightning Thief musical (which I listen to way more than I should). All in all, it’s just the best representation of me I can think of.

7. Why did you choose your header? It was an amazing gift from @thereviewguest/@thedrawingguest and it makes me incredibly happy whenever I look at it!

8. What’s your post with the most notes? This.

9. How many mutuals do you have? Um….I think about 15? (I’m bad about remembering to follow people back).

10. How many followers do you have? 50.

11. How many people are you following? 34 (I definitely need to follow more blogs).

12. Have you ever made a shit post? I don’t think I’ve made any actual shit posts on Tumblr, but I do have a very short anon fic posted on AO3 that is very much a shit post. If someone’s in a questing mood feel free to ask for hints.

13. How often do you use tumblr each day? I don’t even what to know, but trust me, it’s too much.

14. Did you have a fight/argument with another blog once? If fake dramatic fights count, sure, with @thereviewguest and @renegadeoftheworld .

15. How do you feel about “you need to reblog this” posts? I really don’t like those posts. There are so many of them that are actually positive and kind messages, but I find a lot of them weirdly aggressive. Everyone has a different situation, and it doesn’t make you a bad person to participate at your own pace. There are plenty of ways to be a good ally, friend, mutual, or person than those (and psst they’re probably better than sharing an arbitrary post on the internet).

16. Do you like tag games? Yes, I always get weirdly happy when someone actually tags me in a post like this.

17. Do you like ask games? Ask games? What ask games? Oh, you mean those things I reblog all the time? Yes, I like those…a lot.

18. Which of your tumblr mutuals do you think is famous? Definitely @renegadeoftheworld. No questions asked. A very famous writer, as well as being illusive and mysterious. If they try to tell you they aren’t famous, you should probably smell a rat.

19. Do you have a crush on a mutual? Nope. Happily married to a guy who is well aware I do “nerd-shit” (his words, not mine) on the internet, but stays away from it. I’m just fine with that arrangement. 🤣

20. Tags! @thereviewguest, @background-kyoshi-warrior, @paintedbluerose and anyone who wants to play (these are no pressure tags!)

background-kyoshi-warrior

(I’m not going to rewrite the questions bc I’m feeling lazy, so I’m just going to summarize them with one or two words. If you’ve forgotten what each number corresponds to I’m sorry, but not sorry enough to actually write them out. Now that I think about it, this disclaimer might have literally taken more time than rewriting the prompts but now I’m in too deep.)

1. URL? This is an A:tLA blog, and I looked for the name of a Kyoshi warrior other than Suki but I couldn’t find any, so I’m just a background kyoshi warrior.

2. Side blogs? @background-kw-reblogs for fanart and stuff, and a (sparkle emoji) secret side blog (sparkle emoji) where I yell into the void that is the internet about things that annoy me.

3. How long? I think December 2020? Maybe? I think?

4. Queue tag? I don’t queue things, so no.

5. Why start? Honestly, my friends were kind of sick of my random headcanons and atla rants, so I came here.

6. Icon? Because Smellerbee is one of the best non-Gaang characters of the entire series, and I really liked @mega-angry-cloud ‘s art style, so I commissioned a profile image from them.

7. Header? I don’t have one, but my blog title is because I wish I could be a 400 foot tall purple platypus bear with pink horns and silver wings.

8. Most notes? The post I made about how ship and let ship doesn’t include incest or pedophilia. (I mean, I’m glad people agree, but that’s kind of sad, you know?)

9. Mutuals? Honestly, no idea, and I don’t want to check. I have at least one though, because they tagged me for this game.

10. Followers?

11. Following? 85 (that’s not too many, right?)

12. Shitpost? Yes, but only two!

13. Tumblr/day? I’ve actually been trying to use it less, so only about 15 minutes a day (is that too much?)

14. Fights? Yes, with three blogs who thought incest ships were okay. They are now blocked.

15. “Need to reblog” posts? See what @thiscryptidischronicallyyours said, I don think I could say it any better.

16. Tag games? Yes! I especially like the ones with funny questions.

17. Ask games? Yes! I’ve only done one, but it was really fun!

18. Most famous mutual? I genuinely don’t know.

19. Crush? lolololololololol no.

20. Tags! ummmmmmmm idk anyone who wants to?

atlaculture

Joo Dee Has an AMAZING Name

So I was working on my “What’s in a Name” series for the Earth Kingdom, specifically researching Joo Dee’s name origin. I initially thought Joo Dee’s name was meant to be a joke, since it sounds like such a mundane English name (Judy). However, the more I looked into her name, the more depth of meaning I discovered. Allow me to share these discoveries with you:

The name Joo Dee literally means “Local” (局地) in Mandarin Chinese. It’s a very fitting, if somewhat uninteresting name for a tour guide. However, when you break down the hanzi (Chinese characters) of her name, she becomes both an ominous and tragic figure of Ba Sing Se.

The characters used for her name mean Bureau (局) and Earth (地), respectively. So when writing her name, you literally read it as “Bureau of Earth”, which sounds like a label you’d slap on a piece of government property. Keep in mind, Joo Dee is not the name of one person, it’s an identity forced upon droves of brainwashed women. They’re not just figurative tools of the government, they are literal tools of the government and are never allowed to forget that through the name given to them.

The American Equivalent to this would be:

“Hello, my name is Cia and I’ll be your DC tour guide! ^_^”

“Oh, Sia, that’s a pretty name…”

“It’s spelled C-I-A, short for Central Intelligence Agency! ^_^”

“Wait, you work for the CIA?”

“No, I AM THE CIA. ^_^”

And then you find out she’s a victim of Project MKUltra.

And that is Ba Sing Se in a nutshell: systematic and casual dehumanization with a thin veneer of affability.

the-hot-zone

Haru’s Bending Style: An Analysis (And Why Jet Would Lose His Shit)

Here’s the thing–Haru has an incredibly distinct style of earthbending, and it goes beyond, “he uses his hands a lot.” To understand this, we have to go to the root (heh) of firebending. Stay with me.

Firebending is based on Northern Shaolin Kung Fu. On Northern Shaolin Kung Fu:

“The northern styles of kung-fu generally emphasize long range techniques, quick advances and retreats, wide stances, kicking and leaping techniques, whirling circular blocks, quickness, agility, and aggressive attacks.”

The Northern Style is a dynamic style that places emphasis on legwork and force. It is aggressive, strong, and graceful. There are Ten Classical Forms in the Northern Style, but I’m only going to talk about two of them.

First, look at this video of Haru clips from the show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i32HK_RYuDo

[Video Description: several clips of Haru from the show Avatar: The Last Airbender. Most of the clips feature his bending. End ID.]

Two moments in particular stand out to me. The first is this:

[ID: a series of five screenshots that show Haru bending. They follow a sequence of movements as Haru bends a large boulder into the wall of a gorge. In all photos, he is in a deep gorge with walls higher than his head. The rocks and gorge walls are rough and textured, and they are the color of sand: tan, yellow, and shades of brown. In the first photo, Haru begins to lift a large boulder from the ground. In the second photo, he swings the boulder around with two arms. In the third photo, he breaks root, leaping a short distance into the air. In the fourth photo, he finds his root again. One hand is extended towards the boulder; the other is closer to his body, palm outward. In the fifth and final photo, Haru has bended the boulder into the wall of the gorge. A cloud of dust and rock fragments explodes from the wall, displaying Haru’s force. One of his arms is extended towards the wall. End ID.]

and this moment:

[ID: a screenshot of Haru bending. Relative to the viewer, he is leaping away. His arms are extended on either side of him, causing a small avalanche of boulders to tumble into the gorge. End ID.]

These two moments offer us, the viewers, a wealth of information about Haru’s style. It tells us that Haru has adapted firebending techniques to earthbend. Let me explain.

Keep reading

the-hot-zone

It turns out I’m not done thinking about this. I want to talk about how the above affects Haru’s development post-war, and how that also relates to Jet. Of course, I do want to talk about Jet’s development specifically, but that’s for a different post. It is mentioned below, though.

(Anyways, for reference: Jet survived Ba Sing Se and made it out with the Gaang. He would’ve met Haru during/after The Day of the Black Sun, at the Western Air Temple.)

Keep reading

#haru #atla

listless-brainrot

I get haru’s chemistry with katara, but how does he connect with any of the other members of the gaang in your opinion? I'm genuinely curious

hey thanks so much for your curiosity anon!! i love talking about this and i’ve actually made a post about it already, lemme add it here but also elaborate further to include zuko and toph this time

haru’s character is one never intended to be anything beyond surface level given that he’s a background character but there is a LOT to deduce from his character and it’s really interesting how they managed to make a “boring” side character with a lot of main character potential, and i think i’ve finally managed to crack why and it’s because of how much of his character has in terms of potential with connecting and working with the main gaang

just gonna put it out here i’m also gonna pull some haru characterization from the videogames to help my case

let’s start with aang, who is actually kind of similar to katara in terms of complete cultural devastation, it’s of course much worse for him as he lost all of his people but that’s still a point of sympathy and i’m sad it’s not brought up as much as it should be because it’s absolutely integral to his character and position as the avatar. speaking of being the avatar haru clearly knows who he is and believes he represents hope in this world coming back, there’s that sense of wonder and true faith in his cause to end this war and just as katara gives haru that inspiration to fight and make a stand against this war, i think aang does that too, whether he realizes it or not. there’s also this cultural obligation to continue bending or practicing your culture when everything else has been erased or suppressed, whether it be to preserve the memory of someone you once held dear or just because you know its the right thing to do. i think haru would really understand that on a personal level, even if his dad and the earthbenders did come back, and in turn try to give aang hope as well. in terms of personality i’d also just love to see haru, who probably has some sort of reverence for the avatar and was taught to respect him and be polite all the time, see aang as this kid who’s optimistic and sweet while also being a wielder of all four elements and learn to see him as a person and even a friend.

i’m not going to go too in depth with katara, as that post already did a phenomenal job, but i will add on the fact that i believe that haru and katara would also bond over how they had to learn bending and its sources, especially if we cite the “haru bends using firebending techniques” meta, which is also super in depth and well worth the read, and especially considering how katara learned bloodbending if this was something actually expanded on within the show i think haru would be able to help her understand that she is much more than that pain and suffering, and even if the techniques were used to hurt people in the past, she can be much more than that now.

and man. haru and sokka. they’d get along so well like. “my dad who is the leader of my tribe/village was sent away due to the war and i have idolized/missed him so much since then and though it’s unspoken there is a lot of pressure on me as man of the house to protect what little i have left”?? cmon. “my dad who used to be a rebellious leader full of hope and strength was broken down over the course of his five year imprisonment and i struggle with who he has become now” haru and “my dad left me in charge of a tribe of women and children on my own and i want to be a warrior just like him but i wonder if he could see me now if he’d really be proud of me and who i had to become” sokka. that sense of imposter syndrome that comes with being the eldest and the son of a leader?? the sympathy and that personal understanding?? i would’ve loved to see it. also in the games haru often makes fun of sokka just as much as he makes fun of everyone else and it would’ve been really funny to see these two smartasses clash given their different styles of whiny attitudes. also haru is pretty book-smart, and knows a lot about earth kingdom culture and technology, and i think he’d work well with sokka in terms of strategy. however, given haru’s lac of an impulse control, the plans he suggests may be a bit debatable.

now we get to haru and toph, who i should honestly make an entire separate post on but. to summarize most of my thoughts, haru and toph are both earth kingdom kids who come from entirely different places and positions of power and class in the war, and have been affected by the war to differing degrees. haru is a peasant from a coastal farm living under fire nation control for five years. he’s our prime example of what average life in the earth kingdom was like under the fire nation. toph comes from the rich beifong family, with personal bending tutors and even guards. she’s so far removed from the war, and she joined to fight it on a whim. their personalities and viewpoints would clash so much, and i think they’d have a really hard time getting along at first. there would be a lot of misunderstanding and haru wanting to understand toph somehow but toph being toph thinking he just wants to parent her or something. it would’ve been interesting interpersonal conflict. but i think when they do eventually become friends they’d become really close, they’d have shared experiences and inside earth kingdom jokes the rest wouldn’t get and hell maybe even toph would try to teach him how to metalbend cause you can’t win the war with just one metalbender, and haru would finally be able to learn from a real earthbending teacher, whose style is so unrestrained and powerful because it developed in a place away from war. also they can bond over having strained relationships with their parental figures!

zuko is... hard to place with haru, i’ll admit. the fact that he’s fire nation is an inseparable fact given how much of haru’s life has been directly affected and ruined by it, as everyone else’s has. i think that, if he was treated more like an actual character, haru would offer a valuable perspective on the gaang later accepting him into their group. sure, he hasn’t been hurt by zuko personally (unless we count the possibility that after the prison break zuko may have followed the prison boats back to the village looking for katara and aang after getting her necklace but that’s another can of worms entirely), but he’s experienced the horrors of the fire nation soldiers firsthand. they’ve heavily taxed his village, they’ve taken all of the earthbenders including his dad, they’ve broken into and threatened to burn down his mom’s shop... these are things not easily forgiven, and it’d be interesting to explore his side. but in terms of them as people, i think what’s funny is that both haru and zuko are extremely dramatic and angry and their similarities, while tragic, would also be kind of funny to see. though, i think out of everyone on this list, haru and zuko wouldn’t get that close- i don’t think haru would let himself, but if there was an arc involving zuko gaining his trust on some personal level, maybe it’d be interesting to explore.

all in all, though- haru has been cited as lonely in many of his official characterizations. i’d just like to have some friends, and maybe he’d find them with the gaang.

#haru #atla haru

tylha

ok so i screenshotted this moment because i thought it was pretty cool

the first time we get to see all four elements working together for a common enemy, blah blah blah, but i started laughing because

sokka’s fucking boomerang. sokka threw a fucking boomerang at princess azula, renowned lightning bender and heir-apparent to the throne of the fire nation.

and sokka threw a boomerang at her.

focusas

I said it once and i say it again.

Azula considered Sokka to be the biggest threat in this group and countered him first. What this picture miss is Sokka sanding nearby. All members of this group unleash their attack at same time, but Azula reacts to boomerang first. If you watch this part in slow motion, you could see that Sokka’s boomerang was the first thing that would hit Azula and may even incapacitate her making her unable to continue to fight. So she had to counter in first. She deflected it with well placed shoot.

Then and only then, when there is no immediate threat, she starts to create her blue fire wall to counter other elements.

Lets think about this. How hard should you have to throw something to make it move faster that any elemental attack? Either all elemental attacks are slow or you are pretty strong. That said nonbenders with good aim and strong hands could easily overpower benders if they timed it right.(Aang got captured by Yuan archers who are all nonbenders.) Azula knew of this and acted according to it. She is talented bender and you may think that she should enlist other benders to help her track and capture Zuko, Iroh, and later avatar, but instead she uses her nonbender friend to help her.

Even if you have no bending you can still fight… and win.

xenavitani-deactivated20210602

Let’s not forget that on the Day of Black Sun, Sokka was the one in charge and Azula was no idiot Azula knew that.

When Aang, Sokka, and Toph all confronted Azula, she proceeded to make them chase her and waste their time. Azula is not only talented, she’s sly and smart as hell. WHO WAS THE ONE WHO SAW THROUGH THAT BS CHASE?

Sokka.

NOT ONLY THAT but after Sokka explains to the Gaang that Azula is just baiting them, Azula actually verbally attacks Sokka. Not through fighting, but through words, knowing not only that an intelligent person like him could only be brought down with emotions BUT that Sokka was the leader and if she could get him the stay, Aang and Toph would follow his lead.

Azula knew Sokka was their strength and took him down. WOULD SHE DO THAT IF HE WASNT A SIGNIFICANT THREAT TO HER!!??!

No. She wouldn’t waste her time and energy on someone she didn’t think was capable of actually getting in her way.

WHEN SHE GETS HER FIREBENDING BACK SHE HAS THE OPTION OF ATTACKING BADASS METAL BENDING TOPH AND THE FUCKING AVATAR WHO DOES SHE ATTACK?!?!

Azula never underestimated the power of non benders especially an intelligent one like Sokka. Sokka was a huge threat to fucking Azula on multiple occasions.

Remember that.

moomoobooboo-deactivated2020102

Look at this spot on fucking discourse. LOOK AT IT.

seyaryminamoto

Just thought I’d drop this

into the debate as well, (instead of actually fighting him she backs off, and who blames her? Sokka’s club looks like it could shatter bones…).

Along with this:

Scenes with Azula confronting Sokka are few and far in between but they paint a pretty interesting picture, don’t they?

transswordbian

I mean, Azula’s friends/most trusted warriors were two non-benders. Mai was an expert with thrown weapons and Tai Lee was the only chi blocker shown in the first series, and she was able to take down half a groups of earth nation soldiers like that. Azula knows that non-benders are dangerous and she sees sokka for the genius he is

avatrashh

She’s knows she can take bending, she can redirect fire and she’s fought Katara a lot- but unlike Zuko she was probably never trained with weapons, she knows she has no defense to a sword or a club, and she knows that one of Ty Lee’s biggest advantage is that people underestimate her

kasaron

Let me sum this up;

It doesn’t matter how much crazy magic bullshit you have, a sword to the face is a sword to the face.

clover11-10

My man Sokka getting the recognition he deserves

irredeemably-mediocre

Sokka is one of the single most dangerous people in the entire series and it physically pains me that he so often gets relegated to the goofy non-bender in peoples minds. Sokka faces down some of the most powerful benders in the world without flinching. Even before he got his sword training and came into his own, even when he thought of himself as the useless member of the group, he was always the first one into the fray. He gets up again and again from shit that would make any normal person scream in mortal terror. His will and determination and stubborn refusal to quit, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, carried his team again and again and again. Sokka would drag himself from one end of the world to the other on two broken legs if it meant he could save just one person and I will physically fight anyone who badmouths him.

takeabiteoutofthesilversandwich

This is such an excellent post but I’d like to point out that the past tense of screenshot is screenshat.

Thank you for your time.

im-a-sokka-for-you-ooh

Seeing my boy Sokka get the recognition he deserves:

#sokka appreciation #no id #needs ids #caps tw

mostly-mundane-atla

No more discussions about Jet until we collectively understand (a) the political climate and context he was written in, with special attention paid to what the boys in the audience who would have related to him most were being told and expected to feel about war, and (b) that resisting occupation and assimilation is an inherently desperate act, no matter how cool it's shown to be in fiction.

It's true that his character could have been handled more delicately, but there is merit in prioritizing harsh truth over a delicate touch, especially in post-9/11 United States. Lest we forget the ways Arabs and specifically Muslims were dehumanized in the media and all those school assemblies with military recruiters. There was good reason for saying a black and white worldview is unhealthy, violent, and leads to becoming a hateful, manipulative person. Especially to the kids.

On the other side, resisting colonialism and occupation is neither peaceful nor pretty. Look deep enough into history and you'll find all kinds of underhanded, fucked up things have been done to occupying civilians out of fear of what they will do if they stay. You won't be able to rationalize it as "they're just kids" or "they're soldiers, they signed up for that" but that doesn't mean the ones behind the attacks weren't actual people who understood the horrors of colonization to some degree and did what they could to prevent it.

Basically, buzzwords relating to media rep don't replace nuance and if your analysis has the former but not the latter, I'm not interested

bleekay

iroh's timeline confuses me. he went traveling the world to learn other bending techniques, to be more enlightened, to understand the balance of the world, trained with the sun warriors, was deemed worthy by the dragons and gifted the knowledge of firebending secrets, claimed he killed the last dragon so no one else would hunt them, generally seemed to be doing well to change his mindset from that of his forefathers, and all of this happened before the 600-day siege of ba sing se, which he believed he was destined to conquer for the glory of the fire nation, even wrote that letter with "if the city is as magnificent as its wall, be sing se must be something to behold. i hope you all may see it someday, if we don't burn it to the ground first!" so it seems so backwards to me that he was able to accomplish so much learning and growing only to ignore the suffering of the earth kingdom citizens so he could be a war hero for the fire nation. it doesn't... quite make sense to me, the flip-flop of priorities

jovialcloudqueenisnotonfire

my sister and i talked about this too and we came to the conclusion that he purposefully extended the siege as long as he could to prevent from actually overtaking the city, kind of like a insider job. as someone on the inside of the back guys, you’re going to have to do bad stuff(the siege) but you can ultimately prevent worse stuff(actually taking over/pillaging/burning down the city). that letter he sent home was just part of the ruse. he ended the siege and went back to the fire nation when his son died because he was so distraught over his death that he couldn’t continue anymore and it’s also a decent enough excuse to end the siege and retreat

bleekay

i definitely love an optimistic view, but i think based on what iroh told zuko, he believed himself to be misguided back then. he had truly wanted to conquer ba sing se because of the vision he had when he was young of taking the city, which he realized in canon (s3) was a vision to take the city back from the fire nation. the wiki also shares this:

"General Iroh's morale was crushed upon learning of his son's demise. Heartbroken and demoralized, Iroh lost his will to fight.[3] He realized that there was no end in sight for the siege, while his armies had taken very heavy losses[2] and their morale was wavering. He consequently withdrew from the battle, thus ending the six hundred-day siege."

so there was great loss of life (on the fire nation's side, but still) even though they hadn't been able to get past more than the outer wall, which wouldn't be a good look for him if he was just drawing out the siege as long as possible for a ruse, to avoid actually taking over.

maybe iroh just believed that conquering ba sing se and securing victory for the fire nation would end the war and the suffering with it? which it absolutely would not cease the suffering, of course, but i'm trying to wrap my head around what could possibly have motivated him, given the weird disconnect from his history with traveling and learning and being so 'worthy' of the dragons' approval (they can see into your soul, right? they can see whether you're good?? so if he was still motivated at the time to seek victory for the fire nation, i don't understand why they would choose him. zuko had already turned against his father when he was chosen, so at least he might've deserved it, but iroh? not at the time, i would think...)

bleekay

Ok did the journeying come after the siege?? like, lu ten died, he returned home, azulon died and ozai took the throne, and then iroh left??? pls someone help, does anyone know based on comics/novels when this all happened? i would like for things to make logical chronological sense so if this all happened after ozai was already fire lord that would def be good to know

old-and-new-friends

As far as I understand it the Dragon thing came before the Siege and the traveling came after. Iroh spent two years away from the Fire Nation after Lu Ten died, returning shortly before Zuko's Agni Kai. Didn't even go home just started traveling immediately from what I understand. He searched the spirit world where I assume, in order to get in as someone not the Avatar and without a physical portal, he would have had to reach a level of enlightenment.

The other option is much darker and nastier.

See an Iroh who traveled before but still looked down on other cultures, is someone likely in awe of Ba Sing Se and the rest of the world because, despite not being as "great as the Fire Nation", they have managed well enough. It is still his job to teach them the "proper" way, even as he finds humor and appreciation for the way they do it. He likely thinks its quaint or cute that the Water Tribes and Earth Kingdom do things their way even as he thinks he knows a better way and tries to force it on them.

Its a similar vein to how some historians seem absolutely flabbergasted at the inventions the ancient Middle East and Africa had created. It's racist, but it's coated in wonder and appreciation so its not obvious that the wonder and appreciation aren't at the device itself for existing but at how the "uncivilized" people manged to do something "civilized".

In that case it wouldn't be until after Lu Ten's death that his perception shifts and he realizes their way of doing things are just as important and right as his way may be, and in certain cases, is even better suited for the situation at hand. Suddenly all those things he learned before aren't quaint or cute mistaken ways of living, but rather they are useful and valuable aspects of a civilization Iroh now wants to understand.

One would hope the Dragons saw such potential within him when they judged him worthy.

Edit: real world answer of course is that the writers screwed up the time line again like they did when they said Azulon only ruled for like 23 years.

natequarter

common mischaracterisations i absolutely loathe:

zuko is a dweeby little turtleduck

toph the murderchild

kyoshi the murderadult

kuruk is lazy

roku is a failure (y'all he kept peace for his whole life until he was MURDERED)

sokka is stupid (don't. don't do that)

barbie-jesus

Katara is mean and untrusting

Aang is naive and weak

Jet is a bloodthirsty monster

natequarter

jet is abusive

simplysharky

katara is nothing more than a mom friend (she has so many other character traits that are way more dominant than this)

weepy katara

katara talks too much about her mother

homophobic katara

presidentizumi

iroh is the moral epicenter of the atla universe

mai and ty lee didn't need a redemption (this is a bit complicated but basically: while they were manipulated, they also a had a good bit of agency in their actions, the two weeks in the boiling rock =/= full redemption and accountability)

ursa is (only) a bad mother with no complexity

comradekatara

Spicy opinion time:

I don't like Jet. And his introductory episode is the most predictable tropey episode ever. It's like someone looked at Robin Hood and Peter Pan and distilled both to their broadest strokes essences and then because we need predictable conflict made their Robin Hood-cum-Peter Pan character, Jet, not only into our "bad boy" love interest for Katara and someone to prey on Aang's occasional naïveté, but an actual bad guy. Throughout the entire episode I'm with Sokka the whole time. At most I feel an underwhelming neutrality toward Jet.

the thing about jet is that his motivations are certainly sympathetic, but his personality is not. so even if you can empathize with his desire for revenge, the way he treats other people has nothing to do with his trauma. unlike, say, azula, who manipulates people because she was abused into believing that fear and manipulation were the only way to get others to do your bidding, nothing about jet’s backstory suggests that he saw no other option but to manipulate. it’s clear in the flashback to the rough rhinos destroying his home that he wants to wield power over the fire nation through violence and destruction to make them pay for what they did to him. and that’s perfectly understandable, and if jet were to violently kill the rough rhinos and the fire nation soldiers who inflicted pain and suffering on his people, that would be his prerogative. no, jet’s worst crime is, in fact, his terrible fucking personality. putting aside the fact that it’s heavily implied that he ordered his freedom fighters to kill sokka, which is in line with his extremist values that anyone who is not directly aligned with him must be an enemy and/or a traitor, it’s really the way that he treats katara that i find just absolutely insufferable. you could make the argument that he did genuinely have good intentions when trying to recruit zuko, but the way in which he behaves towards katara really says it all. it’s not a crime to like attention, or even to like having power, but the way in which he lies to katara to further her idolization of him and poison her against sokka makes my skin crawl. it doesn’t help that he reminds me of every guy who has ever hit on me. his vibes suck, dude. his aura has fruit flies.

no. look. the thing is, jet is an interesting character... on paper. the question of an antagonist whose motivations are sympathetic and technically aligned with our protagonists’ is an interesting concept for a character! and hama, whose episode is thematically similar to jet’s in many ways, fulfills that concept far better in my opinion than jet does. because i like hama. not only do i understand completely why she is the way she is, but she also doesn’t have the personality of the most popular guy in the frat. maybe it’s my bias against teenage boys and in favor of old women, or the fact that i think katara’s connection with hama is a far more potent bond, as the only other southern waterbender she has ever met and someone who could finally represent the mentor she has longed for all her life, which isn’t to say that i don’t think katara developing an intense infatuation with jet and empathizing with his pain isn’t also important for her character, but then again, she’s already done that with haru, so it’s less pivotal in the series at that point. i like that in book 2, after jet dies, we see katara grieve him. it’s a really poignant moment, especially because it’s directly being contrasted with appa’s return. katara is someone who is constantly mired in opposing and conflicted, messy feelings, and her feelings towards jet are a great example of that. even if as a character, i find his presence on my screen obnoxious due to his rancid vibes, i do appreciate his role in the series, both thematically, and as he exists to further both katara and sokka’s characters.

i know here is where many people might say, “isn’t it bad writing that jet is positioned as an antagonist when he exists to represent violent resistance against colonizers/oppressors?” and yeah, i totally understand this viewpoint. the fact that as an audience, we’re rooting for zuko and iroh to not be discovered in ba sing se, even though jet is clearly right (he doesn’t even know just how right he is! that’s the fucking dragon of the west!!!) is kinda wack, right? jet isn’t being irrational, but he’s framed as crazy anyway. (i wanna point out where i do take issue with the framing of hama at the end of “the puppetmaster,” which has never sat right with me because it frames her in a way that plays on some really harmful tropes, and seems more intent to horrify the viewer than to deliver a more coherent thematic message. but anyway. that can be for another time.) but the thing is, i don’t think jet’s framing here is supposed to be positioning him as an antagonist. jet’s arc in book 2 is one of tragedy. as much as he wants to heal, he cannot escape the trauma the fire nation has inflicted upon him, and the lingering scars the destruction of his childhood, his family, and his people, have left on his brain. when he fights zuko, he’s right, but it doesn’t matter, because he’s sacrificing his own wellbeing in the process. even in ba sing se, jet cannot escape the war. and that’s just the thing, isn’t it? as much as jet, and every other citizen of ba sing se, is brainwashed into the mantra that “there is no war in ba sing se,” the war cannot be escaped so easily. and yet, ultimately, jet does not die at the hands of a fire nation soldier, which is probably the noble, valiant death he had always imagined for himself. he is killed by an earthbender, too concerned with sanitizing the image and projected power of the earth king to acknowledge that the threat of the fire nation is extremely real, that jet is right. oh well. long feng learns that lesson too, in the end.

so yeah, i wouldn’t say that jet’s motivations are unsympathetic – nor are his means. because katara and sokka are both positioned as foils to jet – katara in terms of his idealism and righteous rage, and sokka in terms of his leadership and principles – and they both advocate for violent resistance too. katara blows up a factory for crying out loud. (toph kills two guys she knows personally! not even random guys, but guys who tutored her in earthbending and organized the earth rumble tournaments, and she still has no compunctions about fucking murdering them, because they hurt her, and she’s never framed as wrong for doing so!) atla doesn’t actually say “violent resistance against one’s oppressors is bad,” (and aang preserving his pacificist ideals is not “liberalism” you fucking morons) but rather, with the characters of jet and hama, the show is demonstrating how the fire nation drives otherwise ordinary people to madness through the trauma they inflict on their victims. no, hama choosing to hurt ordinary civilians instead of members of the fire nation army wasn’t the most prudent or ethical use of her time, but when you remember what the fire nation did to her, it’s no wonder that she lashes out in any way possible. the nation brought it upon themselves when they committed these atrocities in the first place. so i don’t think jet’s character is meant to represent “extremism bad,” but rather, “isn’t it so fucking tragic what the trauma of war, imperialism, colonialism, & genocide does to people?”

i don’t think “jet” is a bad episode. that episode sets up larger themes to be explored throughout the series, especially in terms of katara’s character arc. both katara and jet struggle with wanting revenge, but jet descends into his rage, whereas katara finally comes to understand that the best revenge against someone like yon rha is to take care of yourself, and find a way to heal. it’s a thematically interesting episode that provides some subtle yet crucial development for both katara and sokka, establishing later plotpoints and thematic questions, much like other underrated episodes in book 1 such as “the deserter” or “the waterbending scroll.” but as character himself – yeah, i agree. i don’t care for jet. i can appreciate his character, but as much as i find him sympathetic on paper, his vibes fucking irritate me too much to be compelled by him. i’ve probably just known too many guys like him lmao. also it was rude of him not to wear that hat katara made him!!!! katara makes u a hat, u wear it, dammit!!!!!!!!!!!!

#jet #jet analysis

filialdisciple

dumb atla fanfic idea: ozai is thrown back in time—to the time when firelord azulon still sat on the throne. when ursa had not disappeared into the arms of her lover, ikem. when he still had his bending. when the avatar had not reappeared.

when all was right with the world.

ozai’s ready to conquer the world—nine years earlier than planned, nine years before sozin’s comet was set to arrive.

…

what he did not expect was that the one thing standing in his way of success was his eldest son—in the body of a five-year old.

((where ozai and zuko travel back in time and try to thwart each other in every way possible while everyone’s confused by second prince ozai’s great amount of disdain for his only son and said son’s pettiness towards his father))

filialdisciple

*in the middle of a war meeting*

Ozai: I suggest we send Prince Zuko with the 37th battalion to fight against the Earth rebels.

War General, very concerned: Prince Zuko is a five-year old.

Ozai, staring at him straight in the eye: I am aware.

filialdisciple

Zuko: Listen

Zuko: I have no idea who posted those wanted posters of my father

Zuko: Nor do I have any idea who keeps harassing him with rotten food

Zuko: And who chooped off his goatee

Zuko, making eye-contact with Ozai: It must’ve been the Blue Spirit.

filialdisciple

*in the middle of another war meeting which Zuko managed to squeeze himself into*

Zuko, after an hour of low-key arguing with Ozai: I apologize for cutting you off, Father.

Zuko: But can you speak louder?

Zuko: Your ego is deafening.

filialdisciple

@aboutiroh this is a beautiful addition. I present this:

Hakoda wasn’t sure what he expected when another Fire Nation ship came into view just seconds after the soldiers stormed down the first one.

“Shit,” he hears Bato mutter behind him.

Hakoda echoed the sentiment albeit silently. Their chances were looking way too grim. He grips his spear tighter. He could only hope Kya, their children, and the rest of tribe could escape safely and make it out alive.

Just as he was about to signal his men to charge, a white flag from the second ship was raised into the air, almost frantically.

Was this the Fire Nation’s new tactic? Hakoda wondered. Lulling their enemies into a false sense of security before ambushing them with greater numbers. He wasn’t going to fall for that. It doesn’t diminish their greater numbers though. The Fire Nation soldiers, loathe he is to admit it, could overpower them at this very moment already, except—

A visible tide of confusion rippled through the first wave of Fire Nation soldiers. They fall back. But not before Hakoda catches whiff of the words, “Dragon of the West”.

Ice washes over Hakoda. It was worse than he thought. He can already see his men hesistating, the younger ones shaking, in his peripheral.

He signals them to wait. Rushing would do them no good. He needed to see the number of men on board before changing strategies.

The hunk of metal docked, creaking grimly before the ramp lowered and hit the ice with a loud thud.

Hakoda blinked.

What came out was a child—likely around Sokka’s age—waving a white flag obviously too big for his body to carry.

The child, seeing that everyone was too stunned to react and attack, gave them a practiced, dimplomatic smile.

“Chief Hakoda,” he greets. “May I steal your children?”

aboutiroh

This is the best AU because

- The Gaang is all 10 years younger, except Aang who is still 12.

- Zuko shows up at the SWT and goes “Chief Hakoda I know this sounds confusing but I need your children to stop my douchebag father and end this war”

- He finds Aang in that iceberg to prove his point “See, I even got the Avatar for you, now can I pleeeaaaase go travel the world with Sokka and Katara”

- Aang is very confused too but he just rolls with it

- Azula contemplates whether she should continue to try and impress her dad or go with Zuko. She goes with Zuko.

- Iroh hasn’t started his Siege of Ba Sing Se yet. He’s not post-redemption Iroh, but he’s got it in him somewhere and tiny Zuko awakens it.

- While they’re traveling on Appa, Zuko sees Toph and goes “WAIT we have to abduct that blind baby playing with the badgermoles”

- at this point nobody questions him anymore and they get baby Toph on board. She’s two and somehow still the most badass among all of them.

- Ozai is defeated by a bunch of toddlers and children and is now even more pathetic.

filialdisciple

Additionally,

- Rumors of children being randomly abducted spread like wildfire.

- More so after a child from Kiyoshi Island, despite being neutral to the war, was stolen.

- With the knowledge that the Avatar has, in fact, reappeared, people conclude that the Avatar is a kidnapper.

- After kidnapping Toph, Zuko presents her to Aang saying, “This is you earthbending master.”

- Aang is hesistant. But then he sees baby Toph bend metal (“Uh, Zuko, I don’t think you should buy metal baby toys” “Trust me, Aang. I know what I’m doing”<<He does this because adult!Toph once said that plastic and wooden baby toys were for the weak) and he’s immediately sold.

- Nobody outside the gaang is sure whether or not Aang’s serious about calling a two-year old sifu. Said two year old cackles everytime she’s addressed that way.

- Sokka develops a childhood crush on Suki and bullies her in response. He stops when Suki beats his ass and gives him a stern talk.

- Sokka begins following Suki like a lost puppy.

- Katara first learns waterbending from the swampbenders when Zuko took them on a detour.

- Zuko sends Azula and Ursa letters every now and then, updating them about important stuff. (Dear mother, I am now travelling with a two-year old. Best wishes, Zuko)

- Ursa travels away from the Fire Nation in search of Zuko after Azula ran over to her and began bawling about Zuzu replacing her as his sister.

- Cue mother-daughter bonding as they travel around the Earth Kingdom in disguises in search of Zuko and his gaggle of toddlers. (Azula basks in the attention from her mother that she’s always yearned for.)

- Ursa bumps into Kya and Hakoda and team up. They exchange stories and they all agree that there needs to be a change in Firelord.

- Kya gives Azula candy, Hakoda teaches Azula how to defend herself with a knife, Ursa guides her through firebending katas. Needless to say, Azula is showered in actual love and is happy.

- Team Actually-Trying-To-Be-Good-Parents reunites with the gaang and after a bit of scolding and a fair share of fretting have dinner like one big family.

- To Sokka’s horror, Azula gets along very well with Momo. Azula also proceeds to teach Katara how to fight with a knife.

- Meanwhile, Iroh is travelling the world with Lu Ten after Ozai’s obvious assasination of the late Firelord Azulon. Together, they go through multiple spiritual hijinks, uncover lost civilizations, find themselves embroiled in conspiracies about cabbages, and discover the order of the white lotus.

- Zuko and Iroh’s letter exchanges are wild.

- Ozai ascends to the throne with an empty palace, heirs somewhere around the world, a half-cut goatee (courtesy of the Blue Spirit), and an avatar under the guidance of his son, gearing to end his reign once more. He briefly wonders if he should’ve chased after his son instead of assasinating his father.

whats-a-reading

Every single time. This post, I swear. It keeps getting better.

Okay but does Lu Ten end up as Firelord or do they just plop literal gremlin child Zuko on the throne and give him baby Firelord robes

Because, if it’s the latter, that’s adorable but hoo boy the royal tailors are going to hate puberty.

filialdisciple

*after defeating Ozai*

Zuko, a 7-year old: I will ascend the throne.

Everyone: CHILD NO.

Zuko: I will ascend.

cabbagemerchantofficial

The Ozai loyalists at court are prepared for the greatest shitshow on earth once a literal 7-year old becomes Firelord and gleefully bid their time until his undoubtedly imminent failure, but the little demon is actually doing… well?

The tiny monster’s feet aren’t even touching the ground from where he sits on the throne, but he is nonetheless happily debunking the merits of class-specific household registration and demanding cuts be made to the military budget and when did he even learn those words?!

Lu Ten, of course, is delighted to be his little cousin’s advisor, because from up here he gets to see all the fantastic faces that the royal councillors make when their tiny Firelord talks about things like “our public schooling system is frankly atrocious, Minister Seng, and I will no longer stand idly by while our youth is fed propaganda; here, I’ve put together an overview of the new curriculum, you and the Cabinet of Education are to refine and implement this, effective immediately.”

Things get even better when, not 5 minutes later, the little Firelord proceeds to call the Minister of Education a “big dumdum”.

flameo-hotman

I’m sorry but I misread a single sentence and joined the momo is terrifying train unquestionably. I misread Azula teaches Katara how to fight with a knife as Azula teaches Momo how to fight with a knife. I don’t know why this is the concept that seems terrifying to me when I literally wrote a fic where he had a gun.

an-autistic-with-personhood

Aang and Zuko (as the mentally oldest of the group) have to parent all of these tiny children, and as he’s the only one not in the body of a toddler, Aang is forced to do all of the heavy lifting

Even though there’s no need to go to Wan Shi Tong’s library in this timeline, they take a field trip anyway. The knowledge they donate to get in consists of Aang and Zuko’s wanted posters, Suki’s drawing of Kyoshi, Sokka’s drawing of Suki, Katara’s waterbending scroll (which she STILL somehow stole from the pirates) and Toph’s shockingly accurate metal statue of Wan Shi Tong himself. The statue and the scroll are the only things that actually get them in. They get shooed out after Sokka suddenly gets homesick and ends up making the rest of the Gaang cry, too. Instead of having to search for Appa, they must go on a side quest to find everyone’s parents after this

The Great Divide episode doesn’t happen. The two tribes happen upon an exhausted twelve year-old, a six year-old giving orders like adult royalty, a five year-old with a boomerang, and a four year-old who is attempting the water whip. They decide that maybe their problems aren’t so bad after all

Aang still derails things to ride as many animals as he can, but this time teaches everyone else (much to Zuko’s dismay and frustration)

filialdisciple

Aang: I’m gonna ride the Usagi

Zuko: Aang no

Baby Gaang: We wanna ride too!!

Zuko: OHMYGOD NO

comradekatara

If you’re still doing spicy takes I think it’s a little biased and uncomfortable that the show presents Iroh as being right about everything, esp after we see how he treats June which was just straight up gross

I disagree that the show ever frames him as “right about everything.” I feel like you’re prioritizing his wisdom that he offers to zuko (among others), which is often profound and lovely, while ignoring the extremely morally grey lens through which he is framed. iroh is immediately established as an antagonist, who, while not exactly inflicting violence on aang himself, is certainly complicit in said violence. he does do his best to discourage zuko, both through more subtle means of distraction, and sometimes just straight up telling him that the avatar doesn’t matter right now. but he doesn’t actually betray the fire nation until his hand is truly and utterly forced—when zhao kills the moon spirit. even then, he says “I’m no traitor,” because he still values the fire nation, but he knows the massive harm destroying the moon would cost to the entire world, and he makes the very sane decision of prioritizing the moon spirit. at that point, he is forced to become a traitor to the fire nation. since he has no animosity towards the people of the earth kingdom (and I think this was always the case, fwiw. he didn’t want to “destroy” them, but instead felt a paternalistic superiority over them, justifying his imperialism. and then in the timeframe of the show, he does genuinely consider everyone his esteemed equal), he’s happy to live amongst them, especially if it helps zuko unlearn fire nation propaganda. he refuses to help azula with her coup, once again proving himself a traitor (but this time with more deliberation), and ultimately takes back ba sing se for the earth kingdom. that said, only six years ago, he was laying siege to it, joking with his family that he would burn it to the ground. lu ten’s death was the catalyst that forced iroh to reevaluate his stance on war. he went decades willingly playing the role of ruthless general, crown prince to the throne, and only when his own son died did it occur to him that the grief he felt upon losing his son to senseless violence was the same grief everyone else felt. that reevaluation of his limits and his values upon losing lu ten doesn’t mean that he became a “good” person—what he gained was new wisdom, insight, spiritual understanding, and empathy. he deeply regrets his past. he was indeed super creepy towards june. he’s a very flawed man, his hands drowning in rivers of blood. is he a good person? that’s complicated. but at the very least, I think he’s a good character.

aloofshahbanou

dog person: we have a purebred border collie with a bernese twist

cat person: this is rita we love her she’s orange

flameo-fanfic

Over time, the Northern Water Tride tells stories of a brave princess who once sacrificed her life and became the moon spirit. The stories are passed down from generation to generation. Though over time, the Northern Tribe starts to share the story of Yue as just that- a story.

The Northern Water Tribe isn’t the only one sharing stories of the beautiful spirit of the moon, but the Southern Water Tribe has their own version as well. The stories passed down in the Southern Tribe are somehow more vivid, the details more intricate, caring, beautiful. They go into depth of just how white the moon spirit’s hair shines, even before she became part of the spirit world. They say that sometimes if you’re listening close enough during a full moon, you can hear the moon spirits angelic voice whispering amongst the lapping waves of the ocean- a song of water being pushed and pulled. Most people from the Southern Tribe even prefer to call the moon spirit Yue out of respect and love and remembrance. The Northerners who visit the Southern Tribe notice these small differences, and it fills their hearts with warmth and a stronger appreciation. It makes them believe that maybe she was real. The Southern Tribe stories are so powerful that they slowly get integrated not only to the North but across the entire world, honoring Yue forever.

Some people wonder now and then who captured the beauty of Yue so well, how did the Southern Water Tribe learn so much about this spirit? The answer is simple enough. Every small detail, every snowflake of a fact that was shared amongst the people in the Southern Tribe began with Sokka. Sokka made sure nobody forgot what Yue did to save the world and the people living in it, and he never stopped loving Yue until his last breath when he got to take one last look at her amongst the stars.

#yukka #princess yue #yue #atla yue #atla

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