Keep alive, stay alive

Running a lot of concepts.

[fleshst4r]

.

we're not going to make it

we will make it

it'll take too long to rebuild ourselves

we will make it

but what if we don't wake up in the morning

we will make it

i don't see a future with me in it

we will make it

we'll give up long before then

we will make it

im scared

i love you. we will make it

Voting ended onApr 11

[animnightmare]

The votes on this post. Oh. A poem in poll form, interactive art, the fact we can see how the other people reading it felt. im. this is really good.

[rustandruin]

the ghost of one specific homosexual cowboy regularly possesses Tumblr gays

[antidisneyinc]

when hayao miyazaki said that true love was two people inspiring each other to live…recognizing just how hard living is, putting one foot in front of the other every day, how easy it is to lose our passion for it…… that’s the real shit

[hystericalgirlblogger]

this is what makes us girls (decaying in our rooms fantasizing about scenarios with our non existent lovers)

[ash-and-starlight-deact]

Girlfriends under the cherry trees, k i s s i n g

(click for better quality + ID under the cut!)

[ID: a colored digital illustration of Mai and Ty-Lee from ATLA. They are both drawn in full body with their profiles facing the viewer and kneeling in front of each other, leaning in for a kiss. Ty-Lee is wearing pink clothes with floral patterns, she has golden bracelets around her biceps and forearms, her hair is tied up in two braided loops ornate with pink flowers. Mai is wearing dark red robes with white and gold lining, she has her hair pulled in a low bun kept in place with silver pins, and she’s holding a red umbrella with both hands. Pink cherry blossom petals are falling all around them, the background is a soft cream color block. /END ID]

[ash-and-starlight-deact]

I had a few doodles of izumi lying around so piled them all together

Yes izumi is a sweet, shy, soft spoken kid, yes she knows how to use 27 different weapons

Some additional ramblings — her weapons are inspired by wind and fire wheels (they’re not throw weapons but let’s pretend that sokka customized them to fly just like boomerang so that he & zuko could gift their daughter the coolest weapons imaginable.) Izumi is the first firelord to go ice dodging as a coming of age ritual and got the mark of the wise (sokka is So Smug.) And I love love love the hc of Senna as zukka’s second daughter because it means that zuko is related to Yet Another Avatar like,, the comedic potential,,, he’d freak out so bad

[ash-and-starlight-deact]

D3, coconut mall, Yue

beloved moon girl 💙

[ash-and-starlight-deact]

seven mimir

[ash-and-starlight-deact]

✨✨🌙✨✨

[ash-and-starlight-deact]

hades atla bisexual simulator

[andreehanart]

ID in alt text.

part 1 | part 2

what if… we were trapped together in a library… and we were both boys🥵

[wikiipediabf]

cannot stress this enough but sokka is literally how u are supposed to handle a comic relief character like he's funny but he's also smart, he's a leader, he's charming and strategic and is respected by everyone. he's allowed to be vulnerable and emotional but that doesn't stop him from being brave and courageous, that doesn't make him any less of a fighter. he's allowed to be himself and flaunt ALL of his qualities. he's allowed to have flaws, but he's allowed to grow and learn to be a better person.

[bernard-the-rabbit]

friendship bracelets for the gaang <3

[ID found by clicking alt on the piece]

[comradekatara]

whenever i remember what a genuinely compelling and lovable protagonist korra is, whose identity issues ultimately conclude with her bracing her fallible humanity and choosing to find meaning in her suffering, and how her relationship with asami is so subtle and meaningful because it involves their mutual unconditional support and understanding as two young women who were both raised in privilege but also under the autocratic thumb of these dominant hegemonic societal forces, and how they are consequently torn down by the world over and over again but by choosing to remain by each other's side they are able to overcome their grief and doubt, and how this message of finding meaning in vulnerability and mutual support is amplified further by korra's role as a brown indigenous disabled queer woman protagonist and how her struggles with identity and proud yet nuanced assertion thereafter is so particularly significant... i'm like damn. sure is a shame that the political landscape sucks so bad that i cannot even praise lok for doing all that without adding this necessary caveat every single time.!

[comradekatara]

it bothers me when people say sokka never got “closure” over the loss of kya the way katara did when facing yon rha, because that was such an important moment for katara personally, and sokka simply didn’t need that. of course losing kya was devastating for sokka, but her death wasn’t personal for him the way it was for katara. she literally died to protect katara.

to sokka, kya’s death was a casualty of the war, a loss at the hands of the fire nation, and he got “closure” when he won the war. but he didn’t need to face his mother’s killer the way katara did because he never built up an entire personal mythology of avenging her not only through facing her killer (he never saw yon rha, unlike katara) but also through working as hard as possible to become a master waterbender so as to be “worthy” of such a sacrifice.

katara carries the burden of being the last waterbender of her tribe not only on a cultural level, but also a personal one. it is an enormous burden that she must contend with on many levels, and katara needed to face yon rha because seeing his humanity, his vulnerability, helped her to confront and embrace her own.

when sokka says “she was my mother too” and katara responds “then you didn’t love her the way i did,” she’s wrong to say that, but only because what she really means is “then you didn’t grieve her the way i did.” which is true. sokka did not have that personal connection to kya’s death, and therefore did not feel the need to avenge her, to prove that her sacrifice was not in vain.

if anything, sokka felt more impacted by hakoda’s absence, because he felt the need to inhabit his role. katara felt the need to inhabit kya’s role because she knows that kya is gone because of her, she died for her. of course, neither of them are very good at pretending to be their parents, and over course of the show they both learn how to be their own people and embrace their humanity outside of the roles the war forced them into.

but facing yon rha was a crucial step in katara’s journey, because this man took up so much space in katara’s narrative, and looking him in the eyes helped katara realize that he didn’t need to. that he was nothing, actually, and she is everything.

[northerngoshawk]

Let’s talk about Katara.

Let’s talk about Katara, who had been born to a culture already decimated by the war and bloodshed and violence, who had been born the last waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe because the Fire Nation took them all.

Let’s talk about Katara, who had to watch her mother die to protect her, who had to watch her father leave with every man left in the tribe - and with him, many of those who were keeping the Southern Water Tribe’s cultures and traditions alive.

Let’s talk about Katara, who had to watch her own brother become obsessed with surviving and fighting, who pushed again and again and again to teach the younger children how to fight, until all that the tribe’s culture became is fighting and surviving.

Let’s talk about Katara, who had forgotten (and how everyone had forgotten) what it means to have fun until Aang arrives (“Don’t you see? Aang’s brought us something we haven’t had in a long time: fun.”) because the war took that from her and her tribe and all they remember is how to fight and survive.

Let’s talk about Katara, who is the only one alive who could possibly understand what Aang has gone through, and how Aang is the only one who could understand what Katara has gone through. How they are both the last benders of their respective cultures, and how those cultures were destroyed by the imperialist Fire Nation. How they are holding on to every shred of their cultures in a world that continually rips that away from them.

Let’s talk about Katara, who lashed out in anger at Aang because he picked up waterbending so quickly (and it’s not fair, it’s not, it’s not, because she should’ve learned it growing up in the first place, but it was taken from her with every waterbender taken from the Southern Water Tribe) and she was the waterbender, what does it mean when she can’t even learn her own bending?

Let’s talk about Katara, who finally found a shred of her culture that wasn’t lost to the war, who sat in Bato’s tent that was built to resemble their home and joined in the ceremonial ice dodging as a rite of passage for Sokka - and how even then, it was tainted by the war (because Hakoda left when Sokka was supposed to do it and they didn’t dodge ice like they’re supposed to).

Let’s talk about Katara, who had traveled from the bottom of the world to the top in the hopes of learning waterbending - only to be told that no, you can’t learn because you’re a girl, who had to literally fight for her right to learning waterbending - her right to learning about her own culture.

Let’s talk about Katara, who learned that the necklace she and her mother and her grandmother wore was a betrothal necklace from the Northern Water Tribe - just another piece of her culture that didn’t truly belong to the Southern Water Tribe.

Let’s talk about Katara, who fought, and won, and could now learn waterbending alongside Aang, but all she is taught is the Northern style of waterbending. She will never learn the Southern style - the style native to her tribe, the style she should’ve learned (and yes, maybe it should be enough that she was even being taught, but war takes and takes and takes and you can’t help but grieve what was taken).

Let’s talk about Katara, who had been so eager to learn from Hama because she was the only other Southern waterbender, who had begged Hama to teach her their tribe’s culture, and all she was taught was use every resource at hand to survive and bloodbending - not even a shard of the Southern Water Tribe’s culture can survive without being tainted by war and bloodshed and violence.

Let’s talk about Katara, who looked Yon Rha in the eye - the man who killed her mother, the man who led the Southern Raiders in destroying every last piece of the Southern waterbenders’ culture - and chose to walk away instead (and maybe it’s because she’s strong enough to do it, maybe it’s because she’s too weak not to do it, but it’s more than he deserves).

Let’s talk about Katara, who looked Zuko in the eye and forgave him - Zuko, who had been part of the nation that instigated the destruction of her culture, who had been part of the royal family that commanded that destruction (and maybe she understands that it wasn’t his fault, not entirely, but maybe it’s also hard to see his face without remembering the ash and smoke and fire that consumed the Southern Water Tribe) - and that takes strength.

Because listen, listen. Katara is a character shaped by cultural genocide and loss and colonialism and assimilation. Her title as “The Last Waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe” defines her as much as how Aang’s title as “The Last Airbender” defines him. Every choice she makes, every action she takes, has always been built upon loss - of her mother, of her culture, of her people.

Culture has always defined Katara so intimately, and by missing that, we miss who she is and who she’s meant to be.

[avataraang]

While A:TLA is probably one of the most feminist tv shows out there, what do you think are the top 10 most feminist moments? I'm just curious.

You would be spot on with that assertion. Not only does ATLA master Bechdel bending it’s has fantastic female role models of all persuasions. 

Top 10 feminist moments in ATLA! 

#10. Ladies Showing Off Their Skills

If there is one thing ATLA is overflowing with, it’s ladies absolutely walloping the shit out of everyone. Nothing says gender equality like breaking people’s bones. And while there were many exceptional fights involving ladies, Suki channeling her inner spider-man is a definite highlight. Plus she made Sokka really hot while doing it. 

#9. Ladies Performing The Ultimate Sacrifice 

Yue’s sacrifice in the season 1 finale is one of the most outstanding moments of the entire series. Excellently foreshadowed, emotionally poignant and above all heroic. Up until that point her narrative arc had been rather traditional and romance focused, but in her final moments it completely transcends that as she makes the noble decision to give her life back. It’s heartbreaking and she’s rightly remembered throughout the series for the choice she makes. 

#8. Ladies Outsmart Everyone  

Politics is more often that not dominated by men, but that doesn’t mean they are better at it. It’s a fabulous moment in the series where two villains face off, and there was only ever going to be one winner. Azula absolutely wiped the floor with Long Feng with her superior cunning, wit and ruthlessness. In return she gets control of an army of well dressed men. Oh and it should be mentioned that it took men 100 years to try and defeat Ba Sing Se, Azula does it in less than a week. You go, gurl. 

#7. Ladies Choosing Their Romantic Destiny 

This may seem an odd choice for one of the most feminist moments, but I actually think it’s crucial. So many people completely misinterpret this scene and write if off as ‘The Hero Getting The Girl!’ It implies that Katara is a prize and has no agency in this decision. Utterly and completely missing the point. Katara makes a big statement in 3x17 about how she and Aang are not ready for a relationship with a war going on and that he should back off. Aang respects this decision and promptly gets lost (literally, actually). When the war is done Katara turns up on that balcony and makes the clear decision that she wants him. She initiates the kiss. They make a massive point of this on the DVD commentary about how it’s Katara that properly starts their relationship. It sends a great signal that ladies should operate on their own romantic schedules and that if the dudes worth it, he’ll still be there. 

#6. Ladies Beating Up Fully Grown Men

What is more feminist than a 12 year blind old girl emasculating and then promptly beating the shit out of a fully grown man. Nothing I tell you. Nothing. 

#5. Ladies Defying Gender Norms And Expectations 

There’s a whole lot of this in ATLA of course, but one of my favourite moments is Kyoshi’s whole philosophical attitude. It’s really unconventional for a hardline consequentialist philosophy to come from a woman. Avatar Kyoshi is just a brilliantly fascinating character that show upmost conviction in her beliefs and fulfills them with great assurance. Her speech about killing Chin the Conqueror and what that meant to her is a lesson in great character writing. Plus she’s the oldest ever Avatar, ladies represent. 

#4. Ladies Having Excellent Friendships 

So many outstanding female friendships in this show, all with different dynamics and nuances. And while the relationship between the Azula/Ty Lee/Mai is fascinating, I think the interaction between Toph and Katara is in the end obviously more satisfying. They represent polar opposites in terms of gender norms. Katara with her traditional girly tendencies, while Toph with her far more masculine rough approach. They clash over their perceived differences but in the end they find common ground over mutual admiration for each other’s strengths. 

#3. Ladies Being Both Girls And Warriors

If there was a tagline for ATLA’s feminism, this would be it. It’s a complete inversion of the pervasive line of thinking that warriors have to be masculine. ATLA was fantastic at showing that being a girl and being a warrior are not mutually exclusive. 

#2. Ladies Being Dangerous 

The Dangerous Ladies are everything that I could have wanted and more. An elite hit squad filled with intricate and well written ladies that have hugely satisfying individual and cumulative plot lines. Not only do they beat virtually everyone they come up against, they always to do it with such style and great punch lines. “Don’t you know fans just makes flames stronger?” or of course Mai’s eternal classic, “Oh well, victory is boring.” The Dangerous Ladies might not have won in the end, but they certainly made a fantastic team. 

#1. Ladies Fighting Patriarchy 

A defining moment in Katara’s character arc and the series as a whole. The whole of season one had built up to Aang and Katara finding a powerful Waterbending Master, only to realize they were trapped in a society that had institutional sexism. Despite her male peers telling her to find another solution, Katara takes matters into her own hands. What follows is nothing less than a sensational battle where Katara proves definitively that actions speak louder than words. It’s a groundbreaking moment in the series, both highlighting that the “good” guys are not always that good and equally that change can come despite the odds. 

[weaseltotheface]

#it should be noted that toph beating the crap out of a fully grown man is feminist because the context is that they are in a fighting ring f#and are competing for a prize#and the first words out of his mouth were that he wasn’t sure how he felt fighting a helpless blind girl#he was judging her skill by her size age and gender#and disregarding the fact that she was the defending champion and she made the personal informed choice to enter