#alta meta

[trials-of-a-spirit-worker]

This is mostly for Zutarians, but I guess it can be for anyone who wants to talk about this.

I have a theory that Zuko does not have any game whatsoever. He's too shy and dorky for that. However!

However...

I do believe he has rare moments of unexpected rizz.

Hear me out. It's the little dramatic lines of dialogue he has. Very rarely does this work and it's 101% never intentional, but when it works, it works.

Tell me I'm not the only one who thinks this.

[whaletailradio]

There are some beautiful parallels between Mako and Suki and the sacrifices they make, and I haven’t seen anyone mention it so this is my contribution. When Mai, Ty Lee, and Azula find Appa and the Kyoshi warriors, Suki puts herself in between Appa and Azula. When Azula jumps over Suki’s katana and bats it away, Suki realizes she’s not going to win this fight. But she calculates that she can buy enough time for Appa to escape and hopefully find Aang on his own. To an outsider, such a sacrifice for one lost sky bison seems a bit steep, but to Suki, it’s the most important mission she’s ever carried out. Unfortunately, this sacrifice has greater consequences as Suki is separated from the other Kyoshi warriors and can't protect them. She is taken to a high-security prison somewhere in the Fire Nation. She has no idea if Appa ever finds Aang. 

When Kuvira marches into Republic City with a deadly spirit weapon mounted to a giant mecha suit, Mako is on the front lines, fighting alongside the avatar. Mako and Bolin’s job is to shut down the spirit vines giving the cannon its power. They manage to incapacitate the engineers, but the shutdown sequence doesn’t work. They appear to be all out of options. With the spirit vines intact, Kuvira still has a chance at victory. The weapon must be destroyed by any means necessary. And so, ignoring the protests of his brother, Mako decides that the only way to destroy the spirit vines is with lightning. He doesn’t need Bolin to tell him how dangerous it is to use lightning in a room full of supercharged spirit vines. He already understands the magnitude of lightning and the damage it can cause under normal circumstances. But this is the only way.

Both Mako and Suki are confident in their fighting abilities. They tie their abilities to their own survival and the survival of the ones they love. Both can sense defeat when it’s on the horizon and both have exceeded in self-preservation. That is, until they are called upon to make a choice. Someone else might consider Appa fighting along side the Kyoshi warriors could lead to a positive outcome. Someone else might consider that Korra or the Airbenders have another way to take down the giant mecha suit. Not Suki and not Mako. Optimism won’t cloud their tactical judgement. The only hope for Appa is for him to escape now. The only hope for Republic City is for Mako to destroy the spirit weapon now. The costs will come later.

Neither gains any glory from these acts. Suki gets sent to the highest security prison in the Fire Nation alone. Mako gets his arm fried. Both Suki and Mako grow up too fast. They are very protective of their people only until they meet the avatar and find greater purpose. Yes, they are willing to sacrifice themselves, but more importantly, they are willing to sacrifice their role as protector and caretaker. If Suki doesn’t make it, then who will protect her village? If Mako doesn’t make it, then who will look after Bolin? All they can do is hope their sacrifice will play off in long run to help the avatar succeed. 

But in the end, both are rescued by someone very important to them. Sokka breaks Suki out of prison and Bolin comes back for an unconscious Mako. Neither have ever asked for thanks or recognition for their sacrifices, but it doesn’t matter because they are seen and loved by the ones who matter most, the ones worth protecting. And that’s all they could ever ask for.

[fandomsarefamily1966]

(Spoilers ahead)

Okay so

I finally watched the latest Owl House episode

And I am definitely seeing all the Zuko vibes that the Golden Guard/Hunter gives off

But I want to talk about this scene in particular

I honestly feel like it has maybe not the same energy as, but very similar energy to, this scene:

Katara: Oh, everyone trusts you now? I was the first person to trust you, remember? Back in Ba Sing Se. And you turned around and betrayed me. Betrayed all of us!

Let me make it quite clear: as anyone who follows me will know, I love Zutara to death, and it's one of the few enemies to lovers ships I can actually get behind. However, I do not ship Luz and Hunter because we already have another great enemies to lovers ship in Lumity, and I think most of us are too invested in that to look at other options (plus, they honestly act more like siblings to me, as I'm sure everyone else has said).

Anyway, my point is that both Luz and Katara start to see a former enemy as what they really are- a love starved boy who's trying to please his evil father figure the only way he knows how- and try to reach out to them. While Hunter and Zuko do soften up a little, in the end they still fall back on their worst impulses, leaving Luz disappointed and Katara angry and heartbroken. What both girls are essentially saying is this: "I hoped you were better than this, I honestly thought you were better than this, and I thought we had something that meant something to you and I could've meant something to you, but I guess I was wrong." (Although only time will tell if this inspires Hunter to try and make amends like it does for Zuko.)

[firequeensrules]

My problems with Avatar the last airbender: The case of uncle Iroh

Avatar the last airbender was the series who get me into animes and still remains one of my favourite shows on this day, but Uncle Iroh was always a character I was consider even as a child to be a little off about his morality and here are my reasons why so far:

1) He used to be a war lord

First off all, we all know that Iroh used to be a great general who tried to concure for the glory of the fire Nation the capital of the Earth Kingdom, even breaking a part of the city's walls and joking on his letters back home, how he will burn the city to the ground, so his relatives better hurry to visit the country, before this happend ....The death of his only son was enough to make him stop this horrible behaviour, but not once he gets punishment for his crimes or did anything to stop the war before Aang's return...Let me explain further: Even though he travel the Spirit world and had ties all over the world (White Lotus) and strong connections inside his own nation as a well the fully respect of many fire nation politicians, generals, soldiers, citizens as a the dragon of the west, as the greatest fire nation general and former prince, the heir of the fire nation throne for many years after his defeat, even after as a prisoner from the guards of his cell, he literally left the throne to his little brother, who continued the war further the next 5 years, costing the lives of thousand of earth kingdom and fire nation soldiers and families, while Iroh was attending all the war meetings and enjoying his wealth inside the emperial palace.

2) His relantionship with Zuko

We all know how he considered Zuko as a son, but he he did little things to protect him, before the events of the north tribe invation:

First, he was the one who let Zuko inside the war meeting, did nothing to stop him, defend him or protect him against the general who Zuko offend or during the Agni kai with the boy's own father and his brother...Ozai could have been the current Fire Lord at the time, but as I mentioned before, Iroh had enough power to prevent all of this suffering towards his little nephiew, but despite that he didn't even try...He just sit and wacth or better turn away his face, while Ozai was melting his young son's face...And he never properly apolosized or excused himself for his passive behaviour...He could just prevent the Agni Kai, take resposibility and get himself and Zuko banised without all this pain, permanent physical and emotional damage and humiliation towards poor Zuko..!

Second, during their years at the sea searching, he never tried to train Zuko to lightbending or help Zuko with his firebending by teaching him the dragon moves and the importance of having a different goal...He let Zuko to believe that Ozai still loved him, that his punnisment was fair and he did nothing to prevent Zuko from hunting down the Avatar...He could have much earlier taught Zuko, about the importance of the other elements and train Zuko to be the face of the rebelion against his father.

3)Third he was a liar and a manipulator

He was against the violence towards the other nations during book 2 and 3, but he stay behind and did nothing when Zuko tried to burn down the South Water tribe or the Kioshi island. He was angry with Zuko when he steal for the sake of both of them to survive , while he did nothing to stop Zuko from stealing the ostrich horse from the family who helped them, while himself was hiding items inside his sleeves.

He was very dissapointed with Zuko, about his secret identity , while himself hide for years his tides with the white lotus.

He was more than happy to return back to the fire nation with Zuko, trusting Azula words or when he assist Zhao( while hiding Zuko) to reach the North tribe, before he change his mind and protect the moon spirit or express his hatred against his nation.

He was all about family, but he was ok with Azula's downfall, his own niece by telling Zuko that he should put her down cause she was crazy...Why he didn't do the same with Ozai then??

He lied about his and Zuko's indentities, while trapping Jet, who end up being brain washed by the Dai li and most propably died choking his own blood in the end horrible, by Long Feng.

He tell Zuko that the war shouldn't end with his and Ozai's fight- a brother-brother fight with two adults who were fair towards power , had history while being both firebending Masters, with Iroh to be consider the best , but it was okk for Zuko (a sixteen years old) who was the former fire prince and Azula ( a forteen years old) and current heir and princess of the fire nation, a brother and sister to fight to the death??? And it becomes worse when Aang had to face Ozai as a twelve year old,despite being the Avatar, from Iroh who had a powerfull army to his side???!!

Let's consider that the fight between Zuko and Azula, almost costed Zuko's life , while drived Azula to her final breakdown, costing her own sanity...!!

Finally, after the war he choose to remain inside the Earth kingdom capital, running his tea shop, from being besides Zuko's throne as a Advisor, a new Firelord with many enemies besides him and assasins, trying to take away his life daily, while being still underage. Let's not forget that Zuko end up taking advises from Ozai about how to rule properly (suprising usefull) and trying to rebuild his relantioship with his sister, taking own himself to find his mother, while taking huge risks with his right to the throne to be at risk due to false informations (Ursa's letters) about his family tree (not be Ozai's child) , while Iroh was nowhere to be found, enjoying his tea until Zuko finally colapsed, from tiresome..!!!

[drpepperfucker]

Im fully aware the real reason that Zuko and Azula are hunting Aang at the same time is kids show- give the kids who have beef with their siblings someone to relate to. But if one were to take it too seriously, its comically stupid on Ozai's part

Right after his coup, the fire nation throne is down to 2 direct heirs and Iroh in an emergency. This isn't ideal obviously, but not yet we are fucked territory.

But after Zuko gets banished and Iroh goes with him, they're down to one (1) heir. With no immediate chance for more. If Ozai was gonna use half his brain, he should've put Azula under constant guard and went out ASAP to get a new gf

And still, he sends Azula on, totally unsupervised, to hunt both Zuko and Aang. Like: what if they did capture Zuko in her first try and the ship sank? Or Aang freaks in the chase episode and flattens everyone? Or the earth king trap makes Zuko set the whole palace on fire?

Then the fire nation would be f u c k e d. Ozai is one fall down the stairs, one choking hazard away from an all-out worldwide land grab. Forget the avatar, your own officers are gonna fuck your deal up more

[planetoflovers]

Atla puts way too much emphasis on the suffering of its imperialist cast and completely sidelines the trauma of the victims of imperialism. It’s really overt in season 3. The way the narrative manages to make katara and aang’s problems about zuko and iroh to some extent is so weird

[bellow-marshmallows]

“So you mean after all Roku and Sozin went through together, even after Roku showed him mercy, Sozin betrayed him like that?”

“It’s like these people are born bad.”

“No, that’s wrong.  I don’t think that was the point of what Roku showed me at all.”  

“Than what was the point?”

“Roku was just as much Fire Nation as Sozin was, right?  If anything, their story proves anyone’s capable of great good and great evil.  Everyone; even the Firelord in the Fire Nation have to be treated like they’re worth giving a chance.”

This is such an emotional conversation because it’s Aang’s explanation of what equality is, and how to overcome racism.