EJ 💚🐠💿💙🌊 @serious-dilemma - Tumblr Blog

Follow the money behind America's data center boom. Track 2,300+ projects, PAC spending, and the politicians who sign off on it.

Not to be an anti because I do enjoy Mai as a character, but something just always bothered me about MaixZuko within the greater narrative. Like no matter Mai’s later actions in the show, she’s still representative of Zuko’s “perfect and destined” life in the colonial fire nation. As a narrative element, she embodies the perfect Fire Nation citizen under Azula’s thumb for a lot of the show and then kind of returns to this role in the comics in Smoke and Shadow.

Another element of Mai embodying everything about Zuko’s old life in the Fire Nation empire is in the Lost Adventures comic. I’m unsure about the canon status of these comics but the implications of this story are pretty interesting which shows how Mai and Zuko got together at the end of book 2 before they leave the Earth Kingdom. They are honestly kind of cute, BUT their relationship is intentionally incited by Azula to further manipulate/convince Zuko to return to the Fire Nation.

Like there is clearly real love in their relationship shown later on, but as told by this maybe not canon comic it was built on S2 Zuko’s moral dilemmas and Azula’s manipulation of his internal conflict. I just think, no matter my opinions on Mai, she’s kind of narratively stunting for Zuko and somewhat representative of his former identity within the empire of the Fire Nation and his familial trauma and I just don’t think there’s enough storytelling and character development for Mai in the later show/comics to undo this.

And again unsure on the Lost Adventures canon status but interesting character beats nonetheless!!

#avatar the last airbender #atla #atla zuko #Zuko #maiko #Maiko analysis #atla the lost adventures #azula #not anti

Rewatching Avatar and made it to season 3 and forgot how killer of an episode The Awakening is for character insight and general symbolism. There’s of course the classic Aang and Zuko foil that’s been set up in season 2, but the language and imagery in the animation is much more overt:

This is then followed up and more established in The Avatar and the Fire Lord, and I’m just now realizing on this rewatch continues into The Day of Black Sun and the Finale with Zuko and Aang confronting Ozai respectively. In the Awakening, Aang is sullen and angry and has lost his identity, purpose, and so called destiny (for the time being) while Zuko is restored to his rightful position and destiny. They’re immediately such perfect foils in season 3, it’s so genius.

Another parallel and duality I really appreciated that’s a bit more subtle is Katara’s anger at Hakoda and his response versus Zuko’s fear of Ozai and Ozai’s praise of him. Hakoda loves Katara and Sokka so much and he tells her that: “I love you more than anything. You and your brother are my entire world. I thought about you every day when I was gone and every night when I went to sleep, I would lie awake missing you so much it would ache.”

Like UGH it gets me every time :,((

Immediately followed ofc by Ozai telling Zuko how proud he is for Zuko’s ferocity and conquering of Ba Sing Se. There’s no love there, only the ruthlessness of a tyrant and his love of war finally manifested in his son. God it’s so good to set these scenes directly against each other and this whole episode is just perfection, I never appreciated it as a kid.

And season 3 just gets better and better!! All the Gaang’s adventures in the fire nation (The Headband, The Painted Lady) while being BANGER episodes, go to show that the average person in the Fire Nation isn’t evil, it’s the mechanisms of the imperialist war machine that they’re all living under upheld by propaganda and nationalism. Again, GENIUS!!

#avatar the last airbender #atla #the awakening #avatar aang #aang #atla zuko #katara #atla appreciation #atla season 3

This is the funniest Beardsley Bit and character like actually ever. Old timey coked out businessman with a life/business partner that makes him better/worse does diy plastic surgery to go to a state college house party to pick up people who take ssris. And he gets around on a Lime scooter.

#city council of darkness #dimension 20 #d20 #d20 ccod #ally beardsley #hj wingstreet

song-of-baldy-ron

Ally Beardsley setting out to finally answer the age-old literary question “what if Jay Gatsby took SSRIs”

sledgehannah

did they finally reveal which one is Dan and which one is Phil????

Original collage made by me! My second one ever, but made out of my omnipresent environmental solastalgia and meditating on all the horrors committed against human rights and the environment this earth week.

#take back earth day #collage #artwork #artists on tumblr #papercraft