i’ve learned everything

“and i had to learn it on my own.” 20+, ze/they/she, Chinese call me Li ! welcome to my ATLA blog, where I excitedly chatter about the incredible universe of Avatar :D 🌊 ⛰🔥💨

[aberrate]

so texas is doing statewide outages in 6 degree weather after a snowstorm and they took down their website and the non emergency phone line claiming it's "because of the outage" as if the internet works like that

many people have been without power for over 12 hours

‘Grave’ situation as planned temporary power blackouts in Texas instead last for hours

Area providers Austin Energy, Oncor and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, trended nationally on Twitter, with many critic

[aberrate]

update feb 15 2pm:

they're now just keeping the power off "until conditions improve" and weather forecast predicts it will remain below freezing until WEDNESDAY

this is going to have a body count

[aberrate]

update 2.16 12p

dozens of cases of frostbite, 8 confirmed dead in Travis county alone. meanwhile many are reporting rich neighborhoods are up and running, many car dealerships have all their floodlights on

gas companies are also shutting off, water is off in some places, and North Texas is on a boil water notice in a situation where people can't boil their water. most stores are closed, noone can get cold weather gear, firewood, or no-cook food. people can't get to the warming centers because they're snowed in

dallas and houston both have high black populations, DFW has a high vietnamese population, and all of TX has a high mexican and other latine population. TX overall has many old poor disabled people of various races. the south isn't just white rich people

weather forecasters are saying power likely won't be back until thurs/fri

there is a second snowstorm coming tonight

[solstice-snakes]

feb. 16 5:30 pm

Several neighborhoods inside the North Texas "boil water" notice have been completely without water for over 24 hours because the power was mysteriously shut off to an entire water treatment facility. The facility still has no power and officials have no explanation to how it happened. The water tower supplying water to tons of people is EMPTY.

Power outages have been anywhere from 1 to 36 hours long with spotty cell reception.

My neighbors and I have been bringing buckets of snow in to melt by the fire because its the only water we have for toilets, washing, etc.

This area without any water is largely Mexican and Lao.

Texan officials failed us.

There is a mutual aid fridge currently getting food and other supplies to folks in Fort Worth who need it- their cashapp is $FunkyTownFridge

[aberrate]

update 2.16 9pm

evidence ercot unplugged powerplants before it even snowed to save money

mutual aid fund | mutual aid fund

outage has been ongoing (NOT rolling) since Feb 14/15 for many people including majority of Austin

[comradekatara]

gay people...

[transtenzin]

[ID: several screenshots of text from The Rise of Kyoshi and The Shadows of Kyoshi. The first says:

"Oh, Kyoshi," Rangi cried with sudden dismay. "Your hands."

They'd been the first injuries she'd noticed after the duel as well. Kyoshi held them up to show they'd healed. "They feel fine."

"But the scars." Rangi entwined her fingers with Kyoshi's and brought them to her cheek. Kyoshi was glad she'd washed thoroughly.

"You had such beautiful hands," Rangi said, nuzzling at her palm. "Your skin was so smooth and--"

The second screenshot reads:

"Oh, so then I suppose you fell neck-first into a sharp object by accident?" Rangi said. A deep scowl crossed her features. "Don't think I haven't noticed your new scars. It's like you're ruining my favorite parts on purpose."

The third screenshot:

"You better get your fill of this now," Rangi murmured as Kyoshi brushed her lips against her. "When we're in public, you cannot touch my head or my face or my hair."

But those were Kyoshi's favorite parts. "Really? You've always let me."

End ID.]

[afragileline]

Tonight (March 17 2021) in Atlanta, at least eight workers are dead after a series of targeted shootings in massage spas. The shooting is the latest in escalating Anti-Asian hate crimes, which have increased nearly 150% over the past year alone.

Below are a few links to organizations to consider supporting, all of whom are fighting for the rights of AAPI, as always feel free to add on any (credible) links or updates:

Gofundme for the AAPI Community Fund

Stop AAPI Hate

Asian Americans Advancing Justice

Red Canary Song

[afragileline]

Here is a Twitter thread with a more extensive list of orgs to support!

[cherrystrawberrie]

Yue edit because she deserves it and Yue with normal colors because she deserves it

[background-kw-reblogs]

[Image IDs: two digital illustrations of Yue from Avatar: the Last Airbender. The images are the same except in the second image Yue’s hair and eyes are dark brown, rather than white and blue respectively. No artist’s signature is visible. End IDs.]

[crossroadszine]

Mod Apps are open!

It’s time! Moderator applications are open until Monday, March 8th, 2021 11:59 pm CST. 

-> Mod applications here! <-

Please be sure to give yourself some time to fill out the application properly!

cross|roads is a zine focused on Avatar: the Last Airbender. This version of the zine will center around the theme of new beginnings. More information about the timeline and this project’s goals can be found in the links below.

FAQ

Schedule

Stay tuned for announcements about participant applications!

[crossroadszine]

@atozines @zinedreams @zineforall @zinefeed @fanzinewatch @faneventshub @fandomzines @zinefeast @zinesubmissions @zinesunlimited @welovezines @anizines @zinefans @zineapps

[ducktollers]

sometimes ur sleepy after trying to fix an entire nation but ur boyfriend is a genius and busy inventing the next big thing so u take a power nap on his head instead of going to bed

[ID: coloured digital art of Sokka and Zuko against a dark red background. Sokka is sitting at a desk surrounded by books and papers, along with an empty tea cup and a discarded paper featuring a poorly drawn Appa. Zuko is standing behind Sokka, with his arms draped around Sokka’s shoulders and his cheek resting against Sokka’s head. One of Sokka’s hands is writing with a brush and the other is holding Zuko’s forearm. Zuko’s eyes are closed and his facial expression looks tired. His topknot with the fire lord headpiece is falling down, and he’s wearing a red short-sleeved robe with a waist sash. Sokka is wearing his usual water tribe tunic and wolf-tail. He has a single blue earring and a fond facial expression as he looks at the desk. End ID.]

[bum-ju]

HELP GIRL

[bum-ju]

[Video Transcript: A tik tok by user noomycabbages. It is a comic set to a tik tok audio taken from another media. 

Zuko, wearing his season three outfit, opens a cabinet and says “Can I make you some tea?” He gestures to the cabinet with his other hand. The dialogue is written above his head.

Sokka is sitting at a table, resting his chin on one hand. He says “Uh” while thinking, then smiles when he says “Yeah, sure.”

Zuko looks back into the cabinet and says, “Alright, we have...” Then the point of view switches to inside the cabinet, where Zuko looks at multiple boxes of tea. He says “Uh- green tea, detox, and...” then holds another box, reading the label. The next shot has Zuko having taken out the box, holding it in his hand. He says, “Uh... Shamamalay.” The word Shamamalay is written above him with stars around it. 

Sokka, sitting at the table, looks straight forward, head up. His eyes have been made comically small, his mouth slightly open, to express shock. He pauses, then says, “What did you call it?” smiling hesitantly but widely.

Zuko looks back, shoulders tensed, clutching the tea box to his chest and eyes also made comically small, as if nervous. He says, “Sh- Shamamalay” looking to the side uncomfortably. 

Sokka looks back at him with a tight smile, as if holding back a laugh, then says, “It’s Chamomile.”

Zuko, drawn from the shoulders up in lineart without color, and several horizontal lines on the side of his face to show embarrassment and shock, stares back silently. 

Sokka looks back, smiling mischievously. He is writing letters, which are spread across the table. Several messenger hawks flutter around him, one on his head and another on his hand. He looks at Zuko silently as if holding back a laugh.

Zuko looks back at Sokka tensely, saying “Wait.” Then his eyes widen in realization, and he says “Wait!” more urgently.

Sokka is standing up, pointing out the door, grinning widely. Outside the door, the silhouettes of the several messenger hawks can be seen flying to their destinations in the sunset. The audio says “I texted everyone” but the written dialogue above Sokka’s head says “I messaged everyone”. Each of the hawks is labelled “To Toph (lol)”, “To Suki”, “To Katara”, and “To Aang”.

Zuko lunges forward, his hand outstretched towards the hawks, crying and screaming “NO” loudly. End Video Transcript.]

[silima]

katara is down for crime just not down to get caught 😎

[background-kw-reblogs]

[Image ID: a four part digital illustration of Toph and Katara from Avatar: the Last Airbender by the artist silima.

The first part shows Toph drawn from below the shoulders up, saying in all caps, “Hey Katara! Wanna commit a felony with me?”. She is smiling widely and her hands are in loose fists below her shoulders.

The second part shows Katara from Avatar: the Last Airbender drawn from below the shoulders up, responding, “Toph, what the hell?!”. Her eyes are brown and she is glaring at Toph.

The third part shows Toph still drawn from below the shoulders up, saying, “Wait sorry, my bad”. She is no longer smiling and her right hand is drawn with the fingers only slightly curled.

The fourth part has both Katara and Toph, drawn from the hips up. Toph is shown from the right, leaning towards Katara with her hands raised to cover her mouth on either side. She is whispering, “wanna commit a felony with me?”. Katara is shown from the front, but is slightly turned towards Toph. Her eyes are still brown, and her hands are loosely placed at her stomach, with the left hand over the right hand, but the right hand isn’t finished and is just labeled “hand”. Katara smiles and whispers back, “yeah of course :)”.

End ID.]

[desiatla]

Hello!

This is a blog designed to promote desi content and voices from the shows ATLA and LOK and from the comics. 

To get your content, such as edits, fanart, fanfics, and gifs, on this blog, you can:

I. Tag us @desiatla

II. Use the tag #desiatla

III. Send a DM to this blog

IV.  Send an ask!

An important thing to remember..do NOT erase a character’s pre-existing culture such as making katara desi or making any of the couples with asian and indigenous cultures have an indian wedding, etc. Although we want more desi content, it is not right to erase pre existing cultures in order to do so. ATLA and LOK provide rep for many cultures, and we need to respect that. 

Also, I will be having mod applications if you would like to apply. More information will be coming. 

It is nice to meet you all!

[emily-charlton]

korrasami + the legend of korra: ruins of the empire

[antimonarchy]

[Image IDs: 10 panels showing Korra and Asami from the comic Ruins of the Empire. 

The first image is over a light red background, and shows Asami and Korra, both shown in profile, turned towards each other and holding hands. They are wearing their usual outfits from the show, and Korra’s hair is cut just below her ears. Korra has a slightly concerned expression and her mouth open as if talking to Asami. 

The second image is over a light yellow background, and is focused on Asami and Korra’s faces, showing them kissing. Korra has a pleasantly surprised expression on her face, and Asami has her eyes closed as if in a contented way. 

The third image is over a light yellow background, and shows Asami sitting in a metal chair pushing a metal contraption off her head, with Korra kneeling in front of her with a concerned expression, placing her right hand on Asami’s left arm. Korra is wearing her usual outfit, and Asami is wearing a dark green tunic with a blue belt. 

The fourth image is over a light green background, and shows Asami and Korra hugging. Korra has her back turned to the viewer, and Asami is facing the viewer. Asami’s hands are tightly wrapped around Korra’s back as if holding her close, and Korra’s left arm is resting on Asami’s right shoulder. They both have relieved but sad expressions on their faces. 

The fifth image is over a green background, and shows Asami and Korra, both turned away from the viewer, looking at something in the distance. Korra has her left hand on Asami’s shoulder, and Asami has her right hand on Korra’s shoulder. 

The sixth image is over a blue background, and shows Asami and Korra turned toward the viewer, standing with their hands clasped together. Korra is wearing a short-sleeved blue tunic with a high white collar and dark blue armbands, and Asami is wearing a white button-down shirt over a dark blue skirt with red trim. Korra is smiling slightly, and Asami has a nervous smile on her face. 

The seventh image is over a light purple background, and shows Korra guiding Asami towards what appears to be a bed. Korra is wearing a white tank top over light purple pants, and Asami is wearing a purple nightgown with light purple sleeves over a pink top. Korra has her left knee resting on the bed. 

The eighth image now shows Korra sitting on the bed, turned away from the viewer towards Asami, who is holding Korra’s right hand in her left hand and looking at something in the distance with a focused expression. 

The ninth image shows Asami and Korra turned away from the viewer, and is over a grey background. Asami is wearing her Future Industries outfit, and her right arm is resting over Korra’s waist. They are both smiling and looking off into the distance. 

The tenth image shows Asami and Korra, in the same outfits as before, kissing over a light grey background. They both have their eyes closed and content expressions, and Asami’s left hand, which has a light brown work glove on it, is resting over Korra’s shoulder. 

/.End ID]

[sokkahugs]

sokka: i’m cold

zuko, moving to cuddle him:

aang: i’m cold too

zuko:

sokka:

aang:

zuko: okay come here

aang, climbing between them: :)

[hootersasuke]

Zuko:

[elimentals]

[ID: GIF of Steven Yeun wearing a suit and yelling, “I’m gay, I’m Asian, and I’m popular!” End ID.]

[silima]

this was funnier in my head 😭

[elimentals]

[ID: A three-panel comic featuring Zuko, Katara, Toph, and Azula from ATLA. They are all wearing modern clothing; Zuko wears a red sweater vest, Katara wears a flowy blue shirt, and Toph wears a green t-shirt with a frog on it and carries a white cane. Katara is also carrying a small white purse over one shoulder.

Panel 1: Zuko peers around a wall and extends a hand toward Katara, who stands beside him. Zuko says, “Quick, Katara, give me your flamethrower.” Katara asks, “My what?” Toph, who stands beside Katara, adds, “What are you talking about?”

Panel 2: Zuko looks over at Katara and Toph with a puzzled expression. He says, “Don’t you carry one in your purse?” Katara crosses her arms and gives Zuko an unimpressed look. She asks, “Have you ever met a human woman?”

Panel 3: Close-up on Zuko as he pulls out his phone. He asks over the phone, “Hey, do you have a flamethrower in your purse?” The image is split to show Azula answering Zuko’s call. She says, “Of course, I’m not an animal.” Azula does, in fact, have a flamethrower hanging over one shoulder as she says this. End ID.]

[bixels]

Sokka, Suki, and Toph watching Aang energybend Ozai from the airship.

[mustdang-100]

@otterbender​ i YELLED

[elimentals]

[ID: Comic featuring Toph, Suki, and Sokka from ATLA. They are all standing on the airship, watching Aang battle Ozai during the final battle.

Panel 1: Toph, Suki, and Sokka stand at the railing of the airship, watching the off-screen battle intently. Suki and Sokka grip the railing and look concerned; Toph’s face is expressionless/unreadable. Red and blue light shine upon them, representing the powers of Ozai and Aang respectively as they battle each other.

Panel 2: The red light (Ozai) starts overtaking the blue light (Aang). Suki sweats and Sokka’s eyes widen. Toph’s expression doesn’t change.

Panel 3: The red light appears to completely overwhelm the blue light. Both Suki and Sokka look taken aback, and Sokka is sweating.

Panel 4: The blue light suddenly resurges and takes over the red light entirely. Toph cheers, Suki grips her chest in relief, and Sokka fist-pumps and cries with joy.

After the comic in the reblog, there is a screenshot of @/otterbender’s tags, which read, “#the election”. End ID.]

[muffinlance]

Li’s Friends: Horrible Pets to Protect You From the Horrible World

An original coloring book bestiary, brought to you by the Avatar: The Last Airbender fan community.

45 artists, 113 illustrations, 100% of profits donated. Featuring such timeless terrors as the giant isopuppy, mimic catopus, polar bear goose, and more, with nerdy world building descriptions by MuffinLance, author of Salvage.

Appropriate for all ages, from the fantasy-loving kids in your life to the adults who could use some terrible-animal-themed stress relief. Make the world a better place, one coloring book at a time.

PDF Book: Free With Donation

Donate 10 USD (14 AUD) or more to WIRES, a leader in Australian wildlife conservation and our community-chosen charity

Forward your donation confirmation to [email protected]

Softcover Book + PDF: $14.99 USD

Purchase on Amazon; all profits will be donated to WIRES. Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.es, Amazon.fr, Amazon.it, Amazon.co.jp, Amazon.co.uk (Depending on your area, your local bookstore or library may be able to order it for you, too!)

Physical book purchasers get the PDF version for free! Follow the directions in the back of your book.

[id: Various pictures of the physical book showing the cover, dedication page, and example two-page spreads with animal descriptions and illustrations.

Animal hybrids shown: swan anglerfish, hawkmoth weasel caterpillar, poison dart frog widow bird, polar bear goose, jellyfish whale, mantis shrimp badger, llama lion, and artic lobster wolf.

End id.]

[sword-and-stars]

Literally ordered this right now!! I’m so excited and pleased to have watched the process of creating this book, from the initial idea all the way up to seeing the first physical copy. This is amazing and I’m so happy to have been able to get one. ♥️

[obobro]

Kataang × Earth Kingdom girls × 'that's rough buddy' duo

[pronouncingitwang]

[ID: 6 realistic digital paintings of ATLA characters. From left to right, up to down, they are Aang, Katara, Toph, Suki, Zuko, and Sokka. Each stands in front of a background that contains the colors and symbol of their nation, except Suki, who stands in front of a brown wall. /end ID]

[hollypunkers]

Ok, so in the Waterbending Scroll episode Iroh buys a tsungi horn and Zuko is surprised, but doesnt sound like, angry, just surprised “You bought a tsungi horn?” and later, as Iroh is arranging music night on the ship, Zuko admonishes “For the last time I am not playing the tsungi horn!” indicading Iroh has not only asked him to play the taungi horn a lot, but enough to be annoying, therefore… the logical conclusion: Zuko is a tsungi horn prodigy and Iroh is desperately trying to steer him toward a life of music.

[the-hot-zone]

Zuko is canonically a prodigy, actually! See here:

[Image ID: a screenshot from the Avatar wiki. It reads: “Zuko was very gifted at playing the tsungi horn, however, he adamantly refused to play on his ship’s music night.[5][6].” End ID.]

[Image ID: another screenshot from the Avatar wiki. It is footnotes 5 and 6 that are referred to above. 5 reads. “↑ DiMartino, Michael Dante (writer) & Volpe, Giancarlo (director). (November 18, 2005). “The Waterbending Master”. Avatar: The Last Airbender. Season 1. Episode 18. Nickelodeon.” 6 reads, “↑ Avatar Extras for “The Waterbending Master” on Nicktoons Network.” End ID.]

So, there you have it, folks. Zuko is a tsungi horn prodigy. Another tidbit: the horn music in the background of The Blue Spirit’s theme is the Tsungi horn. It sounds very haunting. 

[hollypunkers]

[the-hot-zone]

So, I have this headcanon about breath control and instruments. I was (am) a flute player, so that’s where I’m going to speak from. 

One of the exercises I did every day was to focus my breath stream. I would hold my sheet music about arm’s length away from my face and focus a stream of air in that direction. I would have to shape my lips in a certain way so the stream was thin, long, and strong–so the paper would indent with the force of it. That was for the flute, and I’m not sure about the breath exercises brass do, but I think learning an instrument has more use in the canon universe beyond classical education. 

Other instrument players, feel free to chime (HAH) in. 

I think flute breath control would be useful for breathing fire in a thin, controlled stream for length purposes. There’s value in a wide spray of flames, but it would take mouth and lip control to shoot a focused stream far in front of you. I’ve never played the shakuhachi, but from videos I’ve seen, the focused breath stream looks applicable.

TL;DR: instruments can be used to learn methods of breath control for firebending, and I think that’s really cool. 

[elimentals]

[ID: GIF of Captain Holt from Brooklyn 99 pumping his fist and triumphantly yelling, “VINDICATION!” End ID.]

[elimentals]

Adding on as a brass (trombone) player: in my experience, our breathing exercises are pretty similar to woodwinds (though I welcome input from other brass players), but also some of the exercises I did dealt more with embouchure/“buzzing” than breathing. Like other brass/reed/wind instruments, you definitely need a lot of air to support your playing, especially with lower notes, and precise air control and articulation is essential to playing any fiddlier higher notes.

Either way, this makes me wonder if different “embouchures” produce different streams of fire. Would the intensity/speed/heat/pattern of the flames change depending on the mouth, tongue, and lip positions?

Also also: Constant practice with buzzing is essential to maintaining your endurance as a brass player, so lots of brass players I know like to run through their music by just “playing” on their mouthpieces in order to strengthen their embouchure.

So now I’m imagining Zuko carrying a little tsungi horn mouthpiece with him after he breaks out of the palace to travel with the Gaang. He can’t bring his entire tsungi horn with him, but just picture him sitting in a corner of the Western Air Temple quietly buzzing to himself to maintain his embouchure so he can play for Uncle Iroh again later. :’)