appreciate sokka or die

|| what's up i'm anya i'm 19 and i never fuckin learned how to just not obsess over stuff to the point that i create a sideblog for it ||

[poopbuttpantsbluerg-blog]

I really liked that, in the last few moments of the finale, the only people to make Korra smile were the kids

[nmpersaud]

050820 😊 and these three imbeciles are my escorts 😊

[clubolive]

[ID: a digital drawing of Sokka and Katara standing on a frozen lake. They’re both smiling facing the viewer and holding hockey sticks. Sokka is wearing a navy blue Water Tribe hockey jersey with a gray hoodie underneath and black hockey skates. Sokka has his hair pulled back in his signature wolf tail. Katara is wearing a black jacket and a light blue quarter zip sweater underneath it. The jacket has her name written in tiny white letters on the right and the arm has a white Water Tribe symbol on it. She is wearing her hair down and she also has black hockey skates on. The second image is a closer crop of Sokka and Katara from the first image. End ID.]

Gift for @2us2kstuukkarask for the @atlanewyearexchange! Happy new year!!

[tarisilmarwen]

Oma and Shu were not narrative parallels to Zuko and Katara

Yes yes I know it’s so very easy to make the whole “Opposite sides of a war!” “Forbidden lovers!” comparisons (even though Zuko and Katara objectively never had a Forbidden Love dynamic, if anything they would have been Enemies-To-Friends-To-Lovers), but hear me out.

The basic and essential narrative elements of the Oma-Shu story are:

Opposite sides of a war.

Fell in love.

Met up in secret.

One of them is killed.

The survivor unleashes hell.

(For the last two points we actually had a bit of pre-foreshadowing for the Oma-Shu story in the form of Tui and La.  Remember Koizilla?  The Water elemental getting pissed off and raging on the Fire Nation in grief is going to be important later.)

The only actual component Zuko and Katara had that was similar to Oma and Shu’s was the fact that they were on opposite sides of a war.  This similarity might well satisfy some fans who are, let’s just say, a little overzealous to find narrative “proof” for Zuko/Katara in the text but going past that initial shallow archetypal surface reading into any kind of objective scrutiny reveals that the supposed “parallel” falls apart.

I’ll explain.

How does Oma and Shu’s love story start?

“They met on top of the mountain that divided their two villages.”

So.  The two were basically strangers who encountered each other in “neutral territory”, had good first impressions of each other free of the bias of their villages’ enmity, and hit it off.  We presume.

Right away the Zuko/Katara comparison dissolves, because Shu did not invade Oma’s village with a small military force to terrorize her and her people.

Continuing on…

“The villages were enemies so they could not be together.”

As mentioned, this is the only part in which Zuko and Katara are similar to Oma and Shu, and even then it’s a thin comparison because while Oma and Shu were all, “We are in love but we’re supposed to be enemies!” Zuko and Katara were… well… Actually Enemies.  The thing getting in the way of them being together was not merely the war, it was the fact that Katara genuinely loathed him and considered him the face of the enemy and Zuko barely paid attention to her except as a means of getting to Aang or as an obstacle in the way of his getting to Aang.

This is the bit where shippers get a little too excited because, “OMG!  Red and blue!  Color symbolism!”  Ignoring of course that Oma was also wearing yellow just a few seconds earlier and wears gray just a few seconds after and also that if we’re taking the whole red/blue color symbolism legitimately that would make the Oma figure Zuko.  This is too obviously false because Katara never “dies” during the war and Zuko doesn’t put on a rageful display of bending power in grief so most shippers just kind of… ignore that part and rely solely on the inaccurate broad surface read.

Well okay, but surely there must be other parts of the story that Zuko and Katara meet, right?

Nope.  They don’t spend any time or effort trying to reach across the divide between their two sides to meet.  Zuko gets hurt in the series finale and if we’re reeeaally reaching I guess we could claim that as his symbolic “death” but Katara’s reaction is hardly the emotional, grief-stricken lashing out that Oma did.

In fact the two times I can recall Katara unleashing some serious bending power because someone close to her “died” was her whole ninja mission to confront the man who killed her mother and before that–

Oh.

OH.  Lol.

Am I saying that the Oma-Shu story is really foreshadowing for Aang/Katara instead?

Yes.  Yes I am.

Obviously it’s not a note-for-note parallel, wouldn’t dream of claiming it is.  But they hit more of the beats than Zuko/Katara, with the added bonus of also being echoed/foreshadowed in Tui and La–”push” and “pull” soulmates who work in harmony…

…and who experience an incident where their Sky elemental mate dies…

…and the Water elemental goes apeshit and drowns Fire Nation soldiers in large waves…

…before the beloved is reborn.

So really, think about it.  Which ship is really the one where they meet and fall in love but can’t be together because of a war–

–which leads to one of them being killed–

–releasing a “powerful display of bending” from the devastated survivor?

Hint: It’s the one whose romance theme is the same music cue as the one for the story of the two lovers. XD

[penguinsledder]

Modern AU Aang would be that guy who does a lot of volunteer work for cancer patients at hospitals. He has a soft spot for the pediatric ward.

The kids think he's the absolute coolest, and they're always excited to see him. Plus, they don't feel so bad about losing their hair to chemo because Aangy is such a great person and he's bald just like them!

And of course, Aang just adores those kids and the kids love him right back.

[mostly-mundane-atla]

Do you guys ever wonder if Jin and Jet crossed paths like specifically when she went into the tea shop and he was skulking around the corner, looking all piss-and-vinegar, peering inside with hate and betrayal all over his face?

And she asks if she could buy him anything and he says he doesn't want anything from some shop with such a nasty infestation. She doesn't ask and knows it's one of the cleanest shops in the Lower Ring but doesn't argue.

She takes his hand and slips some coins in it. Before he can tell her he doesn't need her alms she says to put some food in his belly before he starves, and that if he stands up straight and doesn't look so mean he'll have girls lining up to buy him dinner. Maybe she pats his cheek or ruffles his hair before going inside.

And he's just kind of stunned because he was always the one looking out for everyone else. He never let anyone help or make things easier on him because it was his burden. Smellerbee cried once because he wouldn't let her help. And this stranger saw fit to be sweet to him? For no reason? She wanted to feed him because that was the nice thing to do and not because she was hoping to get anything out of it?

Do you ever wonder if that happened? Because I do.

[soozencreates-deactivated202110]

You think Azula isn't abusive? Can you elaborate on your opinion and NO I won't be sarcastic like last time.

Okay, I legit struggle at reading the tone in writing sometimes, but seriously; this reeks of sarcasm, right? Is it just me?

But fine. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that you are genuinely curious about my stance on this.

No, I do not think Azula is abusive. And I am going to preface my answer by explaining that, as someone who has lived through and is still recovering from multiple decades of almost every kind of abuse that exists, I am extremely sensitive to how the term 'abusive' is used fairly casually in fandom, and usually just as a substitution for 'really mean and I hate them.'

To be abusive, a person has to regularly engage in abuse; they can't just do something violent or cruel once. If that were the case, every single character in ATLA would be abusive, and I think we all can agree that simply isn't the case.

Abuse is defined by repeated cruelty and/or violence, and without actually taking a close look at Azula, it can seem like this is something she does. But I'm going to argue that Azula is neither repeatedly cruel nor violent.

Azula is manipulative, yes, but she isn't cruel. She manipulated Ty Lee into joining by scaring her, and then never did anything like that again. There wasn't any repeated manipulative actions against Ty Lee, no other instance where she scares or threatens her. In fact, she largely listens and respects Ty Lee. For example, The Drill. Ty Lee saw the Terra Team coming to stop the drill, and voiced her concerns to Azula. An advisor on the drill dismissed Ty Lee's concerns, but Azula didn't. She listened to her, understood that there could be an issue by letting an opposing force attack the drill, and let Ty Lee take care of them before they could do anything.

Another example of Azula not being cruel? She had Zuko imprisoned, as her father wanted, and had the opportunity to take him home in chains, as her father wanted, and instead have Zuko the opportunity to change his mind and come home as a hero. She had been trying to find him and capture him at her father's orders, and finally had him, but because she had the chance to have him come home and be welcomed home, she opted for that instead.

And, perhaps, I think the very best example to show that she isn't cruel is in The Boiling Rock, when she walks in on Chit Sang being interrogated rather violently (if I remember correctly. I may be wrong that he was being knocked around, but I don't think so). She recognizes that Chit Sang is definitely not the mastermind behind the escape attempt and says so, and even says to let him go. She didn't need to do that. Who the idea guy behind the escape attempt doesn't even concern her or her goal at the Boiling Rock. She still have the order to stop hurting Chit Sang anyway, because she isn't cruel.

Azula can be mean, I'll definitely agree to that. But there is a huge difference between being mean and being cruel.

So moving on to violence. Where was Azula more violent than any other character in the show, and especially in comparison to Zuko? She doesn't use physical attacks unless it is absolutely necessary, and only against those that are fighting back against her. When she's in the Fire Nation (prior to the events of the eclipse), she doesn't pick fights or punch walls. She doesn't fight at all. Azula just is not a violent person; or if she is, so is everyone in the show.

If Azula were abusive, she would be constantly and repeatedly exhibiting cruel and/or violent behaviors, probably to one particular person, and she just does not do this. The only reason fandom views Azula as abusive is because she's a) an antagonist and b) fandom throws around the word 'abusive' very casually without actually thinking of what it means and just how severe of a label it is, and honestly probably a little of c) sexism.

Azula is mean. Azula is manipulative. But she is not abusive.

[thenixkat]

Jet said “Colonizers should die” and the show really tried to make him look like a bad guy

[sailorcuba]

bruwhhrbbbfhgebnnfhhbbrrruu KORRASAMI

[tunameltd0wn]

[ID: fanart of Korra and Asami from the legend of Korra. they are almost side by side (Asami is slightly in front off Korra) and both dressed in modern clothes. Asami has her hair pinned behind her ear with a red barrette, and she’s wearing a flowy red top that crosses over in the front, on top of a mustard coloured undershirt, and light brown pants. she’s also holding a red rose behind her back! Korra has a light blue baseball cap with white stripes, worn backwards on top of her chin length haircut. she’s wearing a baggy t shirt in a slightly darker shade of blue than her hat, and she’s holding a longboard at her side.

Asami is smiling lovingly at Korra while Korra grins and says “sorry, but have you seen my girlfriend? she’s insanely beautiful, pretty hard to miss”. end ID]

[ljf613]

So I was working on a post-canon Azula fic (that probably won’t see the light of day for months), and I realized that children probably love Azula, because she treats them as if they’re actual people, rather than stupid kids. 

“Oh, someone told you that five-year-olds can’t play Pai Sho? Whoever said that was wrong.” 

“Just because your brother is older than you doesn’t mean he’s necessarily smarter.” 

“Well, how do you think we should do it?” 

“Who decided you should have to wait until you’re older for proper bending training? If you’re old enough to know that you can bend fire, you’re old enough to learn how to do it properly.” 

And of course, the classic, “Why yes, this game of hide-and-explode is the most important thing I could be doing right now!”

[azuwulastan]

she is also very playful in her own way

[quentyl]

“We’re home, buddy. We’re home.” - Aang, The Southern Air Temple

The difference in Aang’s expression between these two shots is so sad to me. In The Southern Air Temple, he looks so happy to see his home again. It’s a clear day, and he’s just happy, nothing much behind it. He has hope:

Aang: Just because no one has seen an airbender doesn’t mean the Fire Nation killed them all. They probably escaped. Katara: I know it’s hard to accept. Aang: You don’t understand, Katara. The only way to get to an airbender temple is on a flying bison, and I doubt the Fire Nation has any flying bison. Right, Appa?

In The Guru, upon seeing the Eastern Air Temple, he’s also smiling, but this time it’s hidden behind a fog, and he’s almost tearing up. He doesn’t have any delusion that he’ll find living Air Nomads in this temple anymore. He knows he’s alone, he’s just glad for the memories.

What’s so tragic is that back in the days, he didn’t even want to go there: “How could they do that to me! They wanted to take away everything I knew and everyone I loved!”. It wasn’t home to him back then. But now, after he did end up losing everything and everyone he loved, he’ll cherish just about any piece, any souvenir, any ruin which reminds him of his people with all he’s got.

[visit-ba-sing-se]

Status: experiencing strong emotions due to the fact that Aang brought hope back to the world, but Katara brought hope back to Aang 

[blurbery]

tiredtiredtiredtiredtired

[comradekatara]

drawing the best boy 2 cope 

[avatraang]

the picture won’t load but it’s aang, isn’t it

[background-kw-reblogs]

[Image ID: a drawing of Aang from Avatar the Last Airbender in orange and yellow monk robes. He is sitting with his feet in a pool of water surrounded by grey rocks. Aang’s head is tilted down, and his eyes are closed. His left hand is resting on his left knee, palm up and fingers open. His right hand is gently raised slightly above his head. His right hand holds water that he is bending down towards his left hand. End ID.]

[paintedpatroclus]

baby sokka takes good care of his tiny baby!

[korragirls]

[ID: two versions of a painting of Sokka and Katara from Avatar: the Last Airbender. They are depicted as small children. Sokka sits cross-legged with his arms around Katara, who sits in his lap and looks up at him with wide eyes, her mouth in a little O. Sokka’s head is propped on top of Katara’s, and he smiles proudly. Sokka’s hair is in a little wolftail, and Katara’s is in a short braid with loopies. They both wear blue Southern Water Tribe clothes lined with puffy fur, Katara’s with a yellow crescent moon on the front. The first version has them in front of a dark gray-green background, surrounded by a white outline. The second version is a close-up on their faces with a white background. End ID]

[jovaline]

can’t get boba with friends so draw the atla girls getting boba with friends.

[unclefather]