Cantankerous Cabbage

bellicosebean is my main and archive of our own account, this is my ATLA sideblog as I realize I’ve kinda been posting a lot of ATLA content on my main. I’m a multishipper and anti antis. I’m pro canon critique though, just not insulting or demonizing people on the basis of what they enjoy.

[demaparbat-hp]

The first two of ten new AUs I have to share. Keep your eyes open for the rest!

Bloodbound AU:

The vampire isn't like others of his kind. He's strangely gentle, has the self-esteem of a squashed bug, and took care of her injury without succumbing to the temptation of her blood. But in spite of all his virtues, the Prince is still a vampire, and he still needs to feast.

Luckily for Zuko, Katara knows of a criminal or two whose blood begs to be bent (and consumed).

.

Republic AU:

Katara Tinik doesn't give up without a fight. Which is about as admirable as it is annoying, given that her latest endeavor is to ensure Zuko has no dignity left to uphold. As the Fire Nation Ambassador in Republic City, dignity is quite important, thank you very much.

Unfortunately, her team is in need of a firebender, and winning the pro-bending championship is more important to Katara than Zuko's low self-respect.

[frishbi]

Book 1 - Air

[minzziee]

Holy cinema 🙏

[demaparbat-hp]

Sketch for an unfinished Akai Kotou artwork (you know the chapter!).

[pandaofsecrets]

Probably the funniest take on Ozai is that he's a "master manipulator". Guys, this is the same man who thought asking his abusive father nicely to make him heir would actually work. He's got all the subtlety of a hammer; where do you think Zuko gets it from?

And yeah, I know someone's going to point out how Ozai manipulated his children, but like, that's the thing. They're his children. Manipulating someone who is entirely under your control and does not have enough life experience to see through your bullshit isn't very hard.

[muffinlance]

Absolutely correct Ozai take. Turns out it doesn't take brains to be a monster.

[murglor]

@muffinlance is so right. Except instead of a journalist, it would literally be Sokka sitting at the end of the table for a war council, wearing his fake moustache and calling himself Wang Fire.

[prokopetz]

I understand that you were aiming for a morally grey protagonist, but in practice what you've ended up with is more of a moral beige.

[prokopetz]

@ancient-tree-with-deathwish replied:

how do you distinguish grey from other colours beyond black and wite?

Distinguishing features of moral beige:

The protagonist is constantly agonising over Hard Choices; however, circumstances always conspire to prevent them from actually having to make those choices, so in practice they're just angsting over stuff they might have done.

The text exhibits a recurring pattern whereby the protagonist seems to to have made a Hard Choice, but new information is reliably revealed shortly thereafter which retroactively establishes that whatever they did was the morally upright course after all.

The protagonist's moral impulses are straightforwardly heroic, except in one specific context which lacks any clear real-world analogue; for example, being prejudiced against telepaths.

The protagonist's actions are consistently reasonable based on the information available to them – they're merely operating on bad information basically all the time due to a bizarre conspiracy and/or a series of increasingly implausible misunderstandings.

The protagonist always ends up doing the right thing (for some fuzzy value of "right"), but, like, they're really grumpy about it.

[vale-gaai]

[cantankerouscabbage]

Ok ngl ATLA has this problem with honestly just Aang. The rest of the writing is peak especially for the rest of the Gaang’s hard choices but the consequences of Aang’s morally gray choices are always thrown aside. The whole Avatar State fixing iteself without going into the “letting go of Katara” chakra thing actualized in any meaningful way is probably the most egregious issue (he obviously reattached to Katara in Book 3 based on his clingier behavior, so why does he get the avatar state back?) but then there’s also the rest of the finale in general?

Like I’m honestly fine with energy bending being the solution for Aang’s moral conundrum but the political consequences of letting a tyrant live in a nation that’s been brainwashed for 100 year should have had more lasting consequences than it did. The point is Aang chooses Air Nomad morals to guide the new world and there should be pros and cons to that. The pro being like it’s good to see the humanity in everyone, the con being bad people are going to take advantage of that view and how should that be navigated? It poses a question that never really gets answered. Maybe it’s a reflection of the politics surrounding atla at the time with the rise of Fukuyama’s “End of History” ideas in the 90s/early 2000s, but from a 2020s pov when we’re seeing the rise of authoritarian populism worldwide it rings a bit hollow.

Honestly I wish we had gotten post series stuff in Korra or in the comics legitimately dealing with the outcomes of this. The only thing we get is the New Ozai society but they’re portrayed as being way more fringe than I would expect.

[demaparbat-hp]

The Cycle in Reverse Gaang is ready to save the world!

[phoebester]

I mean friends… when we talk about top tier ships. This is why…

[cantankerouscabbage]

I’m “yes and-ing”: In this AU they found Aang as a bog body in the swamp.

[thoughts-of-a-cypress]

Okay hear me out but Zuko and Jin as the royal couple - though Jin is a commoner I think with where the world especially the Fire Nation stands after the 100 year war they began it's not even a bad idea to have someone like Jin who's been there, who's seen it all, be in the Fire Lord's close circle. And Jin can gain a special position as his wife who also becomes his advisor with how to deal with post colonial politics in the Earth Kingdom with Fire Nation colonies there and in general help with colonial questions. Who understands the situation of the non-fire nation citizens better than someone's who's one? Plus she 100% knew he was a firebender yet asked him out not the other way round. She has the upper hand lol. The purist Fire Nation citizens plus court also can have a bitter taste of having a non-fire-nation queen.

Jinko is also better than Zutara cause he didn't violently chase her down for a year and hurt the people close to her. No hate to Maiko but I don't think it works in the long run - not every teen relationship works out as endgame. Mainly though Mai hates politics cause of her parents & upbringing. Being the wife of the Fire Lord? Hard pass. She deserves a relaxed life, she deserves to not bend to something she hates and Zuko deserves to be the Fire Lord as he always wanted to be. They can still be friends and maintain a close relationship no problem. I see Jinko 2.0 happening post-war where Zuko made it a habit to actively visit ex-colonies and other parts of the world to understand their needs & politics better. He has experience as a refugee and banned prince. Those experiences ultimately shaped him into a better person cause he actively witnessed the Fire Nation's propaganda to be untrue, that's what he called Ozai out on in The Day of the Black Sun. So one day he walks the streets of Ba Sing Se frequently visiting his uncle's tea shop too, and meets Jin drinking tea as always. They begin to talk again, clear up his true identity and there you have it.

[j-walking]

My quick contribution to the previous post 🙏

[crimson-constellations]

It’s my birthday today which means lots of sokka for everyone and the guys r hee too 🎂

[demonqueenbeee]

[qiimuna]

Aang pissed me off so badly in the movie.

I love my son to death but GOD did Bryke make him unbearable in the film.

"You don't understand!-" He decides to say to his WIFE who is ANOTHER genocide survivor. In fact , argue with the wall, I'd say Katara has a heavier weight to carry compared to Aang because she SAW her people get genocided right in front of her. Unlike Aang who ran away and only found out 100 years later that all his people are gone. Bryke had a shining opportunity to make them bond over the fact they are the 'only' ones of their kind left, but no, you can't expect much from two dudes who are so weird over Katara.

Oh but I guess it's fine! Aang literally just got them all killed and nearly go to the other side, but at least Katara was able to save the day with healing! You know, like EVERY OTHER TIME. It's okay gang! Katara loves Aang enough to forgive him, despite the fact he didn't say SHIT (NEVER ASKING FOR FORGIVENESS EXCEPT WHEN HE ACCIDENTALLY BURNT HER HANDS,) because Katara will save the day and Aang's problems like every other time!

Ahhahahahaaaaaaa!

AAAAAAHHH

[cantankerouscabbage]

Literally this. They made what could have actually made a great kataang moment and instead had him say something incredibly and unusually cruel in such a casual way. At least when he said shitty things as a twelve year old it was usual because of high stakes/understandable anger.

[frogpropaganda]

Nothing nothing it's just the unintentional parallel between A.ang telling Katara he understands her pain and anger for her mother's murderer because his pet/car got stolen once and then years later yelling at her that she doesn't understand what it's like being the last of her people (when she definitely does).

The unintentional parallel of young, teenage villain Zuko talking a bunch of shit about how the safety of his crew doesn't matter but doing the right thing when the time comes and putting the safety of the crew above his goals and years later A.ang as a grown ass man and alleged hero of the story selfishly putting his goals above everyone else's lives and getting them all killed for it.

The unintentional parallel of Zuko selflessly giving his life for Katara and Katara healing him and then years later A.ang's selfishness getting everyone killed but it's okay cause he's got the Katara ex Machina magic healing water plot armor to save him and everyone else from the consequences of his selfish choices. How Katara saved herself, him, and everyone else after he put them all in harms way, while over a decade prior she was saved by Zuko who was acting selflessly, facing his sister alone to prevent Katara from being hurt, and then she saved him after he sacrificed himself.

Zuko protects Katara by facing Azula alone -> Zuko nearly DIES for Katara, sacrificing his own life and the success of their mission so that she can live -> Katara protects Zuko, defeats Azula, and repays his sacrifice by saving his life

Push, pull.

A.ang puts Katara and everyone else in danger by trusting a complete stranger -> A.ang gets everyone including Katara killed by putting his own goals over the lives of his friends -> A.ang gets HIMSELF killed -> it's okay bc Katara resurrects herself and everyone else, repays him for putting them all in danger and getting them all killed by bringing him back to life and no one is even a little bit mad about it.

Push, push, push, push. Take and take and take. No reciprocity.

If they wanted to make the canon ship appeal to more people they could've shown A.ang doing anything anywhere near as selfless and sacrificial and romantic as Zuko choosing Katara's life over his own during the Agni Kai but instead they have him get killed not through sacrifice but through selfishness and then have his government-assigned mommy-gf thanklessly clean up his mess for him, again.

[sapphic-agent]

I'm back in the fucking building again😀

Anyway, I passed an Instagram reel that was talking about how people annoyed with Katara's fate aren't "normal" about female characters and aren't treating mothers like people.

I'm gonna hold everyone's hand when I tell you this. The problem is not making Katara a mother. Katara is absolutely the kind of woman I can see always wanting a family and no one I've seen who criticizes how she's been handled has ever said differently.

The problem is that she wasn't allowed to be anything else. She didn't get a statute like the rest of the Gaang. She wasn't (from what LOK showed us) active in Republic City like Aang, Toph, and Sokka. She didn't get to fight in LOK like Zuko and Toph. Hell, we don't even get good insight into her relationship with her kids; we get more with Aang's relationship with them and he's dead. The only thing she got was being labeled the best healer in the world, which is also something they did nothing with.

The bare minimum would have been to have Katara open and run a hospital in LOK and give her a statue for it if they absolutely had to make her just a healer. They couldn't even do that.

Katara was deliberately sidelined. It's not about her being a mother, it's not even about her being with Aang. It's about how she was cast aside once she was locked into being Aang's wife and the mother of his children

[fromtheboundlesssea]

Since my other post is popping off, here is the rest of the Gaang. The biggest issues with the noses in the film designs are that they all suddenly have almost the exact same nose shape, there’s a lack of shadow which was indicative of the original art style, and their nostrils are dots which pretty much makes all their noses look so thin.

[fromtheboundlesssea]

Now this is badly edited, but I did what I could, but the noses for the new ATLA movie have been bothering me immensely. All the noses look so bleh. I know the art style in general is very different from the series, but the noses are just SOOOOO different. I feel like this would have made a ton more sense and makes the character animation feel more in line with the original series. Had to see what it would look like for Aang and Katara at least.

[cantankerouscabbage]

Literally this!!!

[little-cereal-draws]

It's a good thing Suki taught Sokka feminism in season one bc if she didn't it would've been up to Toph and I don't think Sokka could've survived that lol

[bluebirdwrykes]

She would've left him in that hole

[fr3aky-fr1es-akathattheatrekid]

Avatar: The Last Airbender Heathers au where Azula is Heather Chandler, Mai is Heather Duke, Ty Lee is Heather Macnamara, Zuko is Veronica Sawyer, and Jet is J.D 😁😁😁😁