gender is a performance and i have stage fright

Nightfalcon, they/he, year of the Snake, aromantic asexual and proud. Acephobes can kindly eat only bland food for the rest of their lives >:D Icon creds to R8A-Creations East Asian American, Multifandom

[cobraonthecob]

hi

if you see me involved discourse and think i’m missing something i’m talking about, i may have talked about it on other platforms and didn’t bring it over here. apologies if i forget to crosspost

I am in the ‘collage of whatever fandom i happen to like right now, along with life stuff and fiery opinions’ camp when it comes to what kind of tumblr blog this is. 

Also I go by Nightfalcon and my pronouns are they/he.

I do art and write fanfiction! My art tag is nightfalcon arts and the occasional time I do promote my fanfics/join in writing games it’ll be nightfalcon writes and for when i’m complaining at an unholy hour in the morning, it’s writing liveblog

I don’t really have a DNI (except for the usual - no TERFs, racists, homophobes, transphobes, alt-right [how are you here on tumblr], anti-Semite, Islamaphobes, you know the drill) the exception to this can be found in my about me page. My only age restriction is that if you’re not in high school yet...please get off tumblr. Basically, trust your gut instinct! If my vibes don’t feel right to you, don’t follow me! 

I tag triggers and squicks as either tw: _____, cw: ______, or with just the word. You can reach out to me privately if there’s something that managed to slip through the blacklist.

I do occasionally reblog discussions or stories about sex/adult things, proceed with caution. I do not make it the focus of my blog, but I do have such content here, so blacklist ‘nsfw’ and ‘ish’ if you are underage/uncomfortable with such topics.

Queer is not a slur to me. I used to tag all queer things with lgbt, lgbt+, lgbtq, and lgbtq+ because that’s how I tagged it when I first came onto tumblr and so that I don’t accidentally step on someone’s toes, but I will discuss queer topics as well, queer. I currently tag queer posts with the word. If you have a problem with the word queer, my blog is not for you.

[araeph]

fierymonk. deviantart. com/art/Kataang-OH-NOSE-91109178

You want me to comment on that link pretty badly, don’t you–since you sent it to my inbox twice?

Behold, ladies and gentlemen, a prime example of Bryke shooting themselves in the foot to ratchet up the nonexistent tension between Aαng and Katara!

It’s a fascinating piece of Avatar history, really. That link appears to lead to Giancarlo Volpe’s Deviantart gallery, in which he showcases a storyboard from “The Day of Black Sun” and comments thusly: 

Okay, one more today since you’ve all been good little Avatar fans. I throw you this bone to chew on while you wait for the finale.

Look closely at the notes for 208, panel A. It clearly states, “Katara watches AαngO.S. (off screen) smiling and blushing.”That’s right. SMILING AND BLUSHING. Aang kissed her and she LIKED IT.And yet, if you look at the actual drawing, her cheeks look flush, but she’s anything but smiling.How could this be? An innacuracy in the storyboard? Why does it say one thing, but depict another? It is as though the board artist (me) subconsciously chose sides in the Kαtααng/Zutara war, clearly depicting Katara’s happiness that Aαngkissed her. BUT THEN was instructed by a …“higher authority” to change that specific reaction.Note that Katara’s face in 208 panels A and B are not my actual drawings, but are in fact the work of a…. revisionist.What does it all mean? We must look to the actual episode to see that her final, official, actual reaction is in fact…..vague.

Thank you, Anon, because I could not have found a better example of shipping self-sabotage if I tried. Bryke were obviously gunning for Kαtααng to be endgame, but because they thought it would be a good idea to keep us in suspense to the very end about Katara’s feelings, they took a prime opportunity to have Katara reciprocate Aαng’s affections and turned it into ammunition for the anti tags.

Here is the final shot of Katara’s reaction to Aαng’s kiss. Looks like the opposite of a smile, doesn’t it?

We are witnessing one of Bryke’s biggest flaws as writers: their desire for unexpected twists in a story, even if those hairpin turns override a more sensible narrative path that is more rewarding in the long run. As has been said before:

This one really gets at the heart of what I dislike about Mike’s storytelling attitude.

“I find it fascinating when readers or viewers are upset by an unexpected turn of events in a story, because this is the very reason we like to read them — to be surprised, to find out what happens next, to have a vicarious experience through another’s eyes. When stories don’t deviate from the expected, they become boring. And no one likes a boring story.”

Oh my gawwddd I just want to slap him in the face for this one.

Because this, right here? This is why Legend of Korra’s writing isn’t as good, guys. Because to Michael, stories are (apparently) supposed to be like theme park rides. We’re just supposed to be there ‘to be surprised.’

Kαtααng was constructed in that same “thrilling” fashion. “Aαnglikes Katara, but when will he confess his feelings? In ‘The Fortuneteller’? Strike one! In ‘The Earth King’? Strike two! In ‘The Day of Black Sun’? No, but he kisses her, and after two and a half seasons, that’s got to count for something!  But oh no, what’s this? Katara’s confused and Aαngpushes a kiss onto her? Oh boy! We’ve got a real nail-biter on our hands. Wait, something’s happening in the finale. Is it–yes! She’s smiling at him, even though they didn’t have the conversation they obviously should have about personal boundaries! Now she’s kissing him! Folks, it’s a home run!”

Hooray, weren’t you surprised that Aαnggot the girl? (No.) Didn’t that make Kαtααng so much better? (No.) Aren’t you more emotionally invested in their relationship now than before? (No.) Well, stay tuned, because they may pointlessly break up in “The Promise” if Aαngdecides they shouldn’t be together because they’re from two different nations! (No, they won’t, and no one ever thought they would.)

I am not by any means opposed to excitement and thrills in a good story, but you can’t just bypass Katara’s inner journey to accepting Aαngas a romantic partner and expect it to yield a healthy relationship. Maybe that ride was fun the first time–maybe it wasn’t. But if you take it again and again, as diehard fans love to do, eventually, the wheels come off because that twisty, windy rollercoaster didn’t follow those basic construction codes that are just so boring to read about.

You’re angry that people don’t ship Kαtααng? Great! The lion’s share of the blame lies with the creators who were Kαtααng’s biggest proponents, yet intentionally wrote Katara’s feelings out of the story because they felt that would somehow make it better. It doesn’t lie with the people whose adrenaline rush has worn off and who want a real, substantive journey to replace it.

[royaltealovingkookiness]

Couldn’t agree more!! I hate “twistitis” in storytelling more than anything. I love clever twists, but you have to set them up properly. The subtle clues must be there all along the way, so when the twist happens, we go “whaaat?” and then after the initial shock wears off, we go “how did I not see that coming? It was hidden in plain sight…” And the more you re-watch / re-read it, the more evident those clues become. That’s smart writing and it’s very hard to pull it off.

What doesn’t work though is to throw in the “twist” out of nowhere, and your audience goes “wtf?” and the more you re-watch it, the less sense it makes.

Also, a lot of the time the most powerful emotional moments are the ones that were built up properly, where we know (hope, anticipate) it’s coming with the tension increasing, and when it finally happens, you just go jumping up and down in your seat, going “Yes!!! Yes!!!” (Think Zuko’s chatartic confrontation with Ozai).

And with romance, especially with young love, twists don’t work, because those first loves (on a children’s show) have that sweet, innocent, fairy-tale quality to them that has to be built on a strong firendship, but also on an emotional connection that transcends gradually that friendship on both sides (see Stranger Things Mike x Eleven).

ATLA built Zutara with these emotionally charged moments (apparently as a misdirection), to keep KatAang as a “surprise” for the end. I think the effect they went for was the audience to feel bad for Aang as seemingly the romance slips away from him, and then feel relief when he got the girl.

Except, that disregards the fact that not all of your audience identifies with Aang the most strongly. A significant portion will identify with Katara and they just spent the last 6 episodes building a strong emotional connection with Zuko. And for them the twist doesn’t feel like “Ah, ok - I see what you did there ;)”, but more like “Why would MY Katara do that?”

[firelxdykatara]

All of this, exactly. That’s the thing about plot twists–a good one is only a twist until you know what the twist is. This is something that JKR, whatever you might think about her as an author these days, was very very good at with the original Harry Potter books. Someone who was particularly astute and genre savvy might have been able to guess some of the reveals, but the fact is, especially amongst the intended audience–no one knew Quirrel had Voldemort in his turban, or that Mad-Eye was really Barty Crouch, Jr, or that Sirius Black was really a good guy and the rat was evil. But all of these things made sense with hindsight, because the clues and build-up were there, they just didn’t have that final piece of the puzzle to tie it all together until the reveals.

But this is also a very good example of why plot twists don’t usually work with character relationships.

For the most part, plot twists should be saved for main or side-plots, not for character development, unless you really know what you’re doing and have a solid plan. (Someone acting seemingly massively out of character until the rest of the scattered pieces fall into place and you figure out the underlying reasons, for example. But it’s tough to pull off well without making the ‘excuse’ seem like an asspull.) This is especially true with romantic relationships, where much of the magic is in watching these two characters fall in love. You don’t get to see that if the ‘plot twist’ comes at the tail end of making one of the characters seem as disinterested as possible (via making sure their relationship never once changes, despite things like cutesy dances and unexpected kisses) so that ‘no one could guess’ who she was going to choose.

This is, I think, why so many people were so dissatisfied with Kataang, when all was said and done. Because they didn’t get any build-up, at least not on Katara’s side of things. (And even Aang was shafted, because his feelings were never allowed to grow beyond the selfish possessiveness he showcased in book 3, especially in the Ember Island Players episode.) Her relationship with Aang never changes. They kiss in the Cave of Two Lovers, and it’s a ‘life or death’ situation so Katara clearly didn’t feel anything about it, and immediately they go right back to the status quo. Aang kisses her before the Invasion, she frowns and looks unhappy afterwards, and… after the invasion, they’re right back to the status quo of their relationship. Ditto the kiss he sprang on her during EIP, with a bonus shot of this being their last one-on-one interaction before The Very End where she…. suddenly develops romantic feelings we had little to no indication of before, and goes to make out with him. When and how did she go from ‘You kissed me and I explicitly did not like it’ to ‘let’s be in a relationship now sweetie!’???

Especially since Katara spent most of the last chunk of the season going through massive relationship development and growth with Zuko, not Aang, including spending the entire emotional climax of the show with him.

And then she chooses Aang. For reasons, I guess. -shrug emoji-

[kurtwagners]

can you please speak about about Hindu appropriation in Avatar? Many ppl did get some representation but we had Guru Pathik and other racial caricature-type characters. No representation of a young bender for us, really feeling like we have no place in a universe that was built off the religion we practice and live everyday. Aang is a nonviolent vegetarian but so is the rest of my Hindu family for generations, but I feel hurt sometimes when I see atla.

Hey I’m not Hindu but I definitely would recommend checking out this below Twitter thread by a Muslim South Asian atla fan about the underrepresentation of South Asia and brown Asians in atla, and how Guru Pathik was turned into a racialized caricature that used Indian accents and Indian spirituality as a disrespectful joke. 

Despite the very term of “Avatar” being Hindu in origin and being a deeply powerful and revered concept, there are barely any South Asians in atla, and I’m sorry that you feel erased and underrepresented in a show that still proceeded with using Hindu ideas very flippantly. 

The Dalai Lama reincarnation tradition which Avatar is also inspired by is the result of Buddhism's relationship to Hinduism, as Buddhism was founded in present-day Nepal by the Indian/Nepali prince Siddhartha Gautama as a kind of “response” to Hinduism with many shared terminologies and concepts like reincarnation, moksha, karma, etc. 

It’s easy to tell that the creators of Avatar had an inherent bias towards East Asia over South Asia and the Middle East, which unfortunately reflects a common phenomenon of Western fetishization of East Asia and more volatile, condescending views of the cultures of darker-skinned Asians, Arabs, and North Africans. Both are dehumanizing in different ways, but its important to acknowledge that the latter unfortunately often feeds more dangerous and violent misconceptions.

https://twitter.com/amnaisfake/status/1291620428117491713

I posted some screenshots from different South Asians in this thread

Many of these Twitter users say that their criticisms are minor, but even if seen that way, small acts of misrepresentation still feed ideas to the greater collective consciousness of those who view this show, even if subtle. The reduction of Hinduism into a cheap joke not worthy of the respect of monolithic religions such as Christianity, and the villainization of Islam through one-dimensional depictions of “desert bandits” and radical terrorism still contribute to tropes normalized in Western media that dehumanize brown people and make Westerners less likely to view them with empathy or respect. I really hope this helps and again, I’m sorry that you feel erased and underrepresented. 

[kurtwagners]

Sorry if I'm bothering you but can you share why you think avatar is bad?

ur asking for a lot bc that show is a complete and utter mess. first my tibetan ass wants u to think about the fact that its a show using asian/indigenous ppl and their devastating histories made by ignorant weeaboo white men. I wanted to write about it in detail bc i’ve always wanted to say something about this but never rly got around to doing it. avatar was a big part of my childhood (that did make my father uncomfortable) so I’m speaking from a place not entirely out of hatred or spite. maybe ill send this in letter format to the writers lol. anyways im going to split this up into parts. I’ll put a readmore bc its kinda long

@bryankonietzko i really hope you take a nice long look

1. Unexplained, Stereotyped, and Insensitive/Uneducated Political Parallels

avatar uses cultural and religious elements of different asian/indigenous cultures and sorta smashes it all together to create a very superficial fantasy world. The first thing you need to know is that the air nation is an obvious but flawed representation of my home country, Tibet. Air nomads are devout pacifist monks/nuns who live in the high mountains, an extremely common and one-dimensional racial stereotype of tibetans and the religion of tibetan buddhism by westerners and western media.

The complete genocide of the peaceful air nation by the technologically advanced fire nation directly represents the invasion and occupation of tibet by the peoples republic of china (PRC) in 1959. the PRC directly caused the deaths of millions of Tibetans through murder, warfare, pillaging etc. Tibet is now one of the most oppressed countries in the world (https://www.freetibet.org/about/human-rights), with no freedom of speech/religion, mass internet and media censorship, prison torture, forced assimilation into han society, police brutality, and cultural destruction and erasure by the chinese government. (Its so bad that hundreds of Tibetans are committing mass suicide through self-immolation https://savetibet.org/tibetan-self-immolations/) while geographically avatar’s fire nation might resemble japan, while earth nation seems more similar to China, the fire nation government and mission to conquer and colonize are in direct accordance to the approach of both imperialist Japan and the PRC. The Tibetan population numbers have been severely reduced bc of chinese occupation, with the threat of cultural extinction through murder and assimilation being a big concern in the community. With Tibetans having a very sensitive history of oppression, genocide, and constant brutal suffering, having media content for children about tibetan-like people being completely massacred to extinction bc they’re too peaceful isn’t exactly tasteful.

One of the main faults of the show I cannot forgive is the use of “cool flashy asian” words/names used in the show that in reality have tragic political context, like lake laogai: Laogai 勞改 (https://laogairesearch.org/laogai-system/) are real Chinese prison camps that hold hundreds of thousands of tibetan (and chinese, and other minority groups of china) political prisoners (normally activists who protest for justice and freedom). they “reform” people through unethical slave labor, and many prisoners have painfully starved to death. Thousands of real people (including family members and friends of mine) suffered and died without right to fair trial and humane living conditions, and the treatment of human beings in the laogai is an extremely horrifying and obvious abuse of human rights.

I feel like a response to this might be “why are these representations offensive? you can make a show that addresses and promotes awareness of issues and its not offensive! its a good thing that helps!” but the problem with avatar is that the real world comparisons that the show makes are never actually explained or clarified to the viewers. with most of the target audience knowing absolutely nothing about tibet/asia and these real political issues, all of these references go right over their head. The average viewer will believe this show is using original ideas when its actually desensitizing a real and horrible history. Using politics that reference the real suffering and deaths of millions of people and not having the courtesy to properly acknowledge it isn’t funny or cute. And even worse, using stereotyped caricatures instead of a more accurate representation of the culture you’re “borrowing” from just makes your content outright disrespectful.

tumblr user atla-annotated said this in a post about the use of laogai in avatar which I think better words my point:

“I personally feel that when drawing from dark real world events/situations (especially if you are using the real term and are not substituting i.e. Air Nomads - Tibet vs. Lake Laogai), and if those events are not that well known to your audience, you are obligated to give context, be it in the form of interviews, the art book, on the website (there are loads of options). Why? Because it is disrespectful. Bad shit happened to real people, real people suffered in those camps and having fans off and online referring to said camps without knowing what they are saying is not cool.”

2. Promotion of Cultural Appropriation and Insensitivity

if you’re a poc who is very close to your culture, it will become pretty obvious to u that this show is written by white people. you can especially tell in episodes that address culture/religion and appropriation, bc they have absolutely no idea what they’re doing. one thing that stuck with me since I was a kid was that northern air temple episode. aang saw those earthbenders destroy and deface the air temple and got rightly upset, but it was treated as the wrong way of thinking. even when i was a dumb kid i never understood this. when i projected onto this character I did feel like aang (despite being a racial caricature) had every fucking right to be angry and hurt?? these temples are a part of his religion, his culture, his faith and his way of life? seeing the last remnants of your extinct people and culture being destroyed and defiled by sewage would obviously be offensive? but his feelings are disregarded bc that guy who’s making tech for the fire nation, the literal murderers of the entire air nation, is important too or whatever. instead of the message being “appreciate past cultures and their religious artifacts/temples and live alongside them respectfully”, it was “cultural preservation is stupid if it stands in the way of better technology” which feel like a very colonial way of looking at culture, esp by the PRC, bc of how communism considers religion to be a hindrance to revolution. also the fact that the prc destroyed thousands of holy tibetan monasteries for chinese shopping malls and parking lots.

Also in legend of korra the whole “neo non-airbender airbender” cult on that island parallel real western cults (white hippies with dreads) obsessed with living what they think is a “tibetan lifestyle”. they appropriate and fetishize tibetan religion and culture, to the extent of being condescending, racist, and disrespectful towards real tibetans and invading tibetan spaces (”it might be tibetan culture, but tibetans just dont get it like we do”). I remember my sister reading a comic where tenzin or someone was upset at these non-airbender’s blatant appropriation, but his feelings were shut down for the message “anyone can be a part of this culture bc tibetans airbenders r all dead lol!!1! we keep it alive!!” like, wow, Mike and Bryan, ik u think all tibetans are doomed for extinction but thanks for that.

3. Ignorant Fanbase

Last, about the fans. Because the show’s previously mentioned lack of educating/raising awareness towards what this show references, many fans tend to be very (sometimes unintentionally) racist and insensitive towards aspects of cutures/tradition that avatar borrowed from the real world (the most common I see is fans butchering pictures of his holiness the dalai lama, the most sacred religious figure for tibetans to make a shitty avatar joke. He’s the reincarnation of an enlightened being, even his photographs are supposed to b treated with RESPECT). Because of this, praising the show to high heaven bc of its racial “representation” when its actually racist caricature feels kind of shitty.

also this isnt necessarily “problematic” but the “are u named tenzin after the guy from avatar” line from nerds is literally SO ANNOYING and SO COMMON, especially when its the name of his holiness the Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso, both his auspicious first and last name were used in the show) and the most common tibetan name ever (We have a tradition of high lamas giving their names to our children as a blessing, which is why every other Tibetan you meet will be named Tenzin). so if you like avatar and you’ve never met a tibetan before, please dont ask weird shit like if their name is from avatar or if tibetans are like the funny blue arrow monks (i’ve gotten that one before) its fucking irritating. 

Honestly, I normally don’t really have such a big problem with white ppl writing tibetan characters. Its all stereotypes and monks and ignorance, but im so desperate for representation i usually halfass accept it anyways. but i just couldn’t handle the way the writers of avatar are so obviously insensitive and idiotic while going out of their way to try and use “~huge political messages~” that they dont understand and dont want their fans to actually learn more about. If the writers did some actual research and made avatar respectful towards Tibetans and raise awareness about tibetan/PRC politics I would have definitely appreciated it. But they didn’t. 

also the movie is just its own shitshow, but I hate how everyone thinks the cartoon is okay when it really isn’t. 

also a plug for the crew https://studentsforafreetibet.org/

[aro-ace-chaos]

I’m so tired of the “why do people hate aspecs, they aren’t doing anything?” argument. I know that it is an attempt to support us, but it fails so spectacularly to understand aromanticism, asexuality, and any other aspec identity that it’s actively frustrating.

We are doing something. We’re rejecting allonormative ideals and that’s a massive thing to do. We’re actively fighting not just to help other aspecs, but to help everyone, because amatonormativity (and allonormativity as a whole) hurt everyone. Single people who want to find a partner but can’t also deserve to be able to exist.

There are so many issues with the expectation of marriage, including:

A single income isn't enough to get by anymore

Having a spouse is almost necessary under the current medical system

Society shames and pressures people who are single to get into relationships constantly

Rejecting allonormativity means fighting against these things that hurt everyone.

So, no, aces and aros and other aspecs aren't "doing nothing." We're doing quite a lot.

[cranberry-branflakes]

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[firelxdykatara]

So I keep thinking about this, I can't not because it's just so baffling--but I genuinely cannot figure out who the new AtLA movie was actually for.

I watched a vid on youtube from Mo Hates Media about his thoughts on the movie and it got me to thinking, because while his vid doesn't get into a big majority of the more serious issues I had with the film on a story/character level, that's largely because he was talking about his disappointment at what a shallow nostalgia grab it was, and I'm like... it was exactly that, but also? It didn't do anything with the nostalgia it was supposed to be courting!

Like, yes, on a very shallow, surface level, the intent was clearly to play on the nostalgia of fans from the original show. The gaang was there (....sort of), they had a fresh new artstyle, the animation was gorgeous, there was even a cabbage merchant cameo in there!

And yet, there was absolutely nothing stubstantive to the story or the characters that seemed like it was actually crafted with nostalgic fans and their love for the original series in mind.

In fact, you run into problems even with the art itself because--yes, absolutely gorgeous animation, but was it really AtLA? There were pretty colors and a few decent outfits and set design, and some of the new characters were given kickass designs that, in a better movie, could've shot them right to intense popularity (particularly Taga and Sonam), but the gaang were just kind of given generic anime faces which only really suited Zuko with the rest (particularly Katara and Sokka) losing the features that had made them unique. AtLA always had an anime-inspired look, but the characters never used to have designs that looked like something that could've come out of a picrew generator just with different skintones swapped out. What happened to Katara's, Sokka's, and Aang's noses? Where's the volume from Katara's hair? Why do all five of them have the same bodytypes, and why is Zuko the only one who has a different hairstyle? Why does Toph look almost the exact same as she did when she was twelve except taller and with tits?

It's not that they had to be so visually distinct that their designs would clash, but would it really have been too much to ask for evidence of serious thought going into their designs--evidence that somewhere along the line the art director or whoever asked 'okay, what would these characters grow up to look like and why'?

And if you tug on that line even a little, it really starts the whole thing unraveling, because it goes so far beyond just their character designs--except it also doesn't, because it comes across as no thought going into anything else. No thought was given to characterization, where the individual characters were in their lives and how they got there, or anything that'd happened to them since the war ended. In fact, we don't even know how long ago the war ended, because they don't tell us, so it's hard to even put the events of this movie onto the canon timeline. (Not that it'd matter even if you could.)

And that's yet another thing! If we're supposed to believe that this movie is pure nostalgia-bait--and there's no reason to believe it was anything else, there's nothing in the movie that would appeal to new viewers, nothing that invites them into the world or gives a deeper look at any facet of it, nothing that provides a 'primer' on the characters and why we should care about them, I struggle to think of a single character beat or memorable line that would stick with a movie viewer who didn't have a pre-developed emotional attachment to these characters and therefore a reason to fill in the huge blank spots with their own headcanons--then it is a point of extreme confusion for me that there's nothing in the movie that fans of the original series would actually want.

It should've been the easiest nostalgia-grab in history. Give the fans what they want--a story that can fill in some of the gaps left by the canon timejumps. Let us see the gaang as adults in an adventure that centers around them. Let us see how the gaang got to where they are now! Shit, just give us some relationship status updates! Do you realize that the show didn't even let us know how long Katara and Aang have been together or what the status of their relationship was? Are they dating? Engaged? Married? Who knows! Not us! Did Sokka and Suki break up? We don't know, they didn't even bother to give Suki a place in the gaang! Is Zuko still with Mai? Who knows, not I! She didn't even get an offhand mention or ending still! Well, what about the status of Zuko's rule, you might ask. Does he have an heir? Is there pressure for one from his advisors, lest he runs the risk of a power vacuum being created which plunges the world back into war if one of the assassination attempts against his life are successful? Or how about Toph? What has she been doing other than beating up kids at her academy? Why does she still feel the need to crow about being the 'best earthbender in the world'? Hasn't she grown or changed or matured at all in the past (however many cause the movie doesn't tell us) years since the war ended? These are questions the movie doesn't even invite the viewer to ask, much less answer!

We don't even really get a decent snapshot of the gaang as adults because, much like their samey faces and generic anime artstyle, their characterizations are all shallow and one-note. Even Aang, who has the most emotional depth afforded to any of the gaang in this movie, doesn't actually have much about him that is recognizable from the original show--and we don't get to dig at all into why that is, how he grew into the man he became, or even why he is struggling with an emotional crisis that we saw him deal with in an episode of the original show (and somehow handled with more nuance and gravitas in a 22 minute episode of a cartoon aimed at 7-year-olds than in this 90 minute movie ostensibly aimed at grown fans of the original show).

And that's Aang, the central character of the movie! By comparison, the rest of the gaang gets absolutely nothing, and it's particularly galling in light of how well the original show treated the rest of the main characters, even at its worst lows (and it certainly had them). Which all loops back into my original question, because, as returning fans, we were absolutely robbed of everything that we would have right and reason to expect from a long-awaited continuation to such a beloved work!

Which I don't even mean in a fan entitlement sense--I was not expecting (nor would I even have wanted, not from Bryke) Zuko and Katara to have an affair and declare their undying love for each other in this movie. That's what fanfic is for, and believe me, my bookmarks are chalk full. But we got cheated out of a gaang reunion--we got to hear Aang tell Katara to rally the troops, but we don't get to see any of it because it cuts straight to Aang's solo journey to find the boy in the iceberg a man in a mountain. We don't get to know how long it's been since any of the gaang has seen each other, much less gathered as a group. Hell, if you didn't already know Sokka an Katara were siblings, you'd certainly never know it to watch their scenes together (since they don't really have any). You don't get a sense of any of the gaang's relationships, either, not even with Aang--even Katara we only know is 'with' Aang because they kiss a few times, but we get no deeper sense of their relationship, how long they've been together, how well they know each other, or how deep their bond runs. We don't even know if they're sleeping together, because the bed Katara's sleeping in when Aang rushes off in the middle of the night does not look like it was meant to be big enough for two.

And I'm hardly one to complain about not getting a canon relationship I deeply dislike rubbed even more into my face, except it's almost adding insult to the original injury, you know? Because Katara is my favorite character and I get nothing from her, not even why she's with Aang or what her adult life is like. You know, things that, as a fan of the original show, I'd have reason to expect to be at least touched on in a movie long-touted as the adult gaang film we've all been waiting for.

The closest thing we get in the entire movie to something that felt like it was genuinely put in their for AtLA fans was the cabbage merchant cameo. And I love a good cabbage merchant cameo! But not when it's the only thing that feels even remotely like it could've come from the same creative well as the original series.

But if the movie wasn't made for older fans of the original show, then... who? Not new fans of the franchise, surely, or else it would have done something to draw new viewers in and make them want to seek out and watch the original series. It wouldn't have been so forgettable, with a half-assed plot that was itself a rehash of plot beats already covered in AtLA or LoK. But then, it couldn't be for newer fans of the original series, either, because it does nothing to tie into the original work or play on either nostalgia from 2006 or fresh excitement driven by someone who's gotten into an old cartoon and is hungry for more content.

But if it's not for old fans... and it's not for new fans... and it's not to try and hook new fans...

Then again, I've gotta ask.

Who the fuck was this movie for?

[soareleandluna]

For the people that know, remember the storyboard where Katara and Aang have their kiss at the invasion and Katara was supposed to smile, but they decided to remove it? I know Giancarlo Volpe is behind this scene and I swear I saw on his tumblr (I think?) a post about it where he said something like "A powerful force told me to erase/remove Katara's smile". I'm not sure if these were the exact words, but that's how I remember it being phrased. Now I went again on his tumblr to search for that post, but I wasn't able to find it. Does someone have a screenshot with it or something? Let me know if you do

[cobraonthecob]

it's from his deviantart

[uss-edsall]

At 1 PM on a Friday I get an email from my boss. I'm busy as hell so I don't check it immediately. Then I get a phone call from my boss, which has almost never happened before. I'm a white collar worker, a historian. There's never a 'historical emergency' requiring a phone call to kick me in the ass and get to work.

The request is so urgent my boss needs it by the end of the work week. Which, y'know, is 5 PM on a Friday. So I have four hours to do it.

It's a forwarded request. Somebody contacted a member of the donation team asking for help, "I need a map from the Vietnam War to use for a presentation." It's somebody she's trying to coax into giving a five figure donation to the museum.

The request was asked to the donation team member, who then emailed my boss, who then emailed and called me urgently.

This map required:

North and South Vietnam in it

All four areas that South Vietnam was divided into for military purposes ('Corps') clearly delineated

Four cities, all of them horrifically misspelled, and only identifiable because I know what battle the requester is asking about (it’s in III Corps on the border with Cambodia) (the requester danced around the battle but I’m knowledgeable enough to identify it)

Has Laos and Cambodia in it

Has the Ho Chi Minh Trail in it

So. I was mad about the 'you have literally four hours to find a map with a lot of requirements.'

I was then mad at myself about finding a copyright free map from Texas Tech University within half an hour, proving her right for asking me to do it.

Then, after I found a map that perfectly met the requirements, I was equally amazed, baffled, and horrified when I read further into the forwarded email chain.

The donation team team member they were speaking to used AI to generate a map.

The above put half of North Vietnam in South Vietnam, made the Ho Chi Minh Trail a country, made 60% of Cambodia part of South Vietnam, put the DMZ extremely high up in North Vietnam, completely disconnected the southern tip of Vietnam, misplaced all of the Corps zones, etc etc

At the very last second the donation team member had a moment of divine clarity, remembering there's three historians on payroll to ask for this kind of thing from. So she contacted my boss while saying, "I had fun with this, but I decided I should check for accuracy before I send it to the donor! I need a fact check by the end of the day, then I send it"

My boss, while not the most knowledgeable on the Vietnam War, does know her geography. She took one look, and knew it was so off she called me to tell me how urgent it is that I look at the email and respond

good fucking god, jesus tap dancing goddamn christ, I'm glad I was asked to look at it and then find a real map

[the-murmuration-project]

My fear has never been that AI would replace human intelligence. My fear has been that the people who Know Things and the people who Make The Decisions are almost never the same people.

We’re throwing real intelligence out on the street to starve while worshipping the shambling Frankenstein-ed corpse of knowledge puppeteered by those who see us as disposable assets.

[samcormac]

what’s the rush?

[only-cat-memes]

[el-shab-hussein]

"My mother is dying of pain and hunger 'right now' right before my eyes. Please, help us save her life with medicine and food before it's too late. If you can't donate, please 'Share' this immediately—you could be her miracle."

Hey everyone! Mai Mohsen's fundraiser is #392 on our vetted list! Please help her out.

Pay MAI ABU HAMDA using PayPal.Me

Go to paypal.me/maiabuhamda and type in the amount. Since it’s PayPal, it's easy and secure. Don’t have a PayPal account? No worries.

Help Mais Family in Gaza

 

[only-tiktoks]

[alexaloraetheris]

Humans are good sometimes actually

[queerical]

An Introduction to Imping, the Ancient Art of Feather-Mending

The practice has been described by kings, mentioned in Shakespeare, and is regularly performed at rehabilitation clinics everywhere.

[draxofoy]

did someone say paintedspirit as rujinu 👂🏼

when i saw that one post on twt I knew I just HAD to bring that vision to live but i can't draw for shit 😭 and it's such a coincidence that I saw @intrlight 's tiktok post of their OCs in KPDH universe and I KNEW it was fate 😌 Immediately contacted them for a commission and that's how these babies were born 🧎🏻‍♀️

[didules]

Early morning.

[ynde]

Six year old, bouncing up and down with glee as desserts are unpacked: "I'm so appointed!"

Took me a moment to realize she had logically assumed "appointed" must be the opposite of "disappointed" and used it as a synonym for "excited."

[official-linguistics-post]

official linguistics post

[only-cat-memes]