#braving the elements

[neo-kid-funk]

Back in my Avatar phase and I lovvve Yangchen 😭😭

(Ya'll need to read the books if you haven't already 😵‍💫)

[avrelia]

The children of Aang and the problems of memory

It's been some time since I posted anything...

I am still listening to the Braving the Elements podcast. Legend of Korra discussion doesn’t bring me lots of interesting tidbits about the creative process and production, the way the first seasons about AtLA did, but I love listening to Janet and Dante having a good time discussing it. It is fun. They are enjoying it, and I am enjoying it.

Now we are in season 2 of TLoK, and it is obvious that season is not much loved but anyone, including the creators. The highlight so far are Varrick and his antics, and baby air bison.

However, as we got to infamous “Aang’s children are on vacation” both Janet and Dante were totally on board with the emotional story there, and not just because of the company obligations, but because their personal experiences that resonated with the story.

And since I was thinking along this lines myself, I wanted to share my ramblings with you.

There was a lot said about Air Acolytes not knowing of Kya and Bumi. And well, yes, bad. But as you can see, if you watch that scene, that clueless Air Acolyte is pretty young. A bit older than Korra, so it is clear they never met Aang in person, beyond the acolyte’s early childhood. After Aang died, Kya was with her mother at the South Pole, and Bumi was sailing, none of them wanted to come to the Air Temples – and it was their right. I, for one, glad that they are not worshiped.

The conversations between siblings it rather painful, there is no other way to put it.

We see that Tenzin’s memory is unreliable, but are Kya and Bumi’s memories are loss-proof? We can hardly know, everyone remembers parts of the past. Sometimes those are parts are imaginary or faulty in some other way. It is what it is. We know that Tenzin remembers that they all traveled with his father to various places, Kya and Bumi don’t remember that. It is interesting that we all tend to believe in older siblings’ memories immediately, but not in Tenzin’s. Of course, the fact that those travels were not that memorable if they happened, also is telling in itself. I just wish we’d get more information or none at all.

Going back to the Braving the Elements podcast, Dante Basco shared that he could relate to Tenzin in being the most famous brother. He has several brothers, all are in the show business, yet most people only know about existence of Dante, which over the years lead to some cringeworthy moments, like the whole family being announced as The Dante brothers. I don’t think it is Dante’s fault, or his parents, but his brothers don’t enjoy being invisible either.

What happened with the Aang’s family? Kya and Bumi, being older left the nest earlier. It seems they both inherited the nomad part of their Air Nomad legacy, while Tenzin inherited more of the community-minded part of the mother’s Water Tribe spirit and the burden of being the last Air Bender after his father.

I don’t mean to completely exonerate either Aang, or his creators. The authors of the story could have made it deeper, clearer, and more nuanced. A single photo as a proof of happy family is rather unsatisfactory. A photo album, even a handful more photos could have told a more interesting and lively story. I can absolutely see Sokka bringing the new photo device and experimenting with it. After all, we have a silly photo of Aang hanging somewhere in season 4. Why not a silly picture of Aang with his children?

Was Aang a perfect parent? Of course not, they don’t exist. He was a deeply traumatized man in a deeply traumatized world, a man burdened with too many contradictory obligations and responsibilities and too much loss.

And yet, he loved his children, I can see nothing that contradicts that. He could have done better, but so can we all. I see proof of Aang and Katara’s good parenting in the result – of three good persons who love and support each other despite arguments. And despite unresolved problems. We all have them. I love my parents and think they are great, but I also can count the mistakes they made with me and my sister. And I am terrified to think what my own children will think of my parenting efforts when they grow old.

I think of Bumi, obviously distraught, talking to the statue of his father. My heart goes out to him, it is difficult to try to measure up to immeasurable. And yet, Bumi was obviously able to make his own way in the world, not bound to his parents’ lives. Which is also something Tenzin is unable to do. He is stuck in his airbending destiny. Oh, those grown-up lives… They suck when you lived most of it and think of all the possibilities missed forever...

[dragondruk]

i totally lost it at Dante’s face—he was trying so hard not to react, but deep down I know he was thinking, “OMG why did you guys do this???” LMAO

[finallyyy the new season of braving the elements is out on youtube https://youtu.be/Rm9IQQ3WxN8?si=ZCzyAti53ISq3_B1]

[allgremlinyaps]

also ok listen, I finally got into the Braving The Elements podcast because I saw somewhere that James Sie brings up wuko, and, like, DUH I have to watch now. I've only watched one random episode, but I lucked out cus why does Varrick's VA make so many insightful comments...

tbh if you're looking for more Korra character and plot discussion that's not rife with discourse.... I mean, there are worse places you could look

I think you can skip seasons 1-3, as the recap of Korra starts in season 4. I don't know if ALL the episodes are on the tube, but certainly a good amount are.

The aforementioned John Michael Higgins ep <3

[avatar-legends-confessionblog]

Dante definitely sees himself as Zuko and it’s so annoying. You’re not Zuko. What really turned me off recently is that I saw an interview with him and the actors playing Mai and Ty Lee.

The women were great but it was so weird how Dante was freaking out acting like The Beach was some horrible episode for Zuko just because according to Dante poor Zuko was stuck with his sister and her friends. I mean since when is it so bad for a guy to be friends with a bunch of girls? God forbid. Came across sexist to me, like oh my male character suffers by hanging out with some girls instead of being in a fight scene with men.

It’s also not Azula’s fault that Zuko had no friends aside from Iroh so don’t blame the girls. Oh and Dante was downplaying the struggles Ty Lee and Mai had acting like they were just privileged which is hypocritical considering Zuko was the most privileged prince of all 😬

X

[bring-mai-flowers]

Braving the Elements: Boiling Rock pt 2 Thoughts

The Boiling Rock pt 2 episode of Braving the Elements came out today and was highly anticipated by me personally. Here are some thoughts:

- finally seeing some Mai appreciation from Dante😭🙏 he was riding for Mai to earn the non-bending MVP

- not enough appreciation for Mai’s absolute banger lines this ep (saving the jerk who dumped me erasure)

- there was a lot of debate about the MVP non-bender for this episode 🤨 in my opinion, Mai’s sacrifice is one of the most important non- bending moments of the whole show so I was surprised at how much they debated between Mai, Ty Lee, and Suki (no need to pit bad bitches against each other!!)

- loved Josh Hamilton’s emphasis that Mai and Ty Lee didn’t betray Azula for the good of the world, but acted out of their own personal, powerful love for someone they care about!! even though she acts apathetic, this is the peak example of Mai’s actions speaking louder than words

- Dante makes a great comment at one point about how when Mai betrays Azula, she is consciously giving up her life as she’s known it for Zuko. I think that’s just beautiful 😌 all hail Boiling Rock pt 2 as the win of all time for Maiko nation

[nono-bunny]

Janet talking about how Katara's bending is fueled by her emotions and immediately Dante gives voice to my own thoughts of her being similar to Zuko in that way

True captain of the Zutara ship moment right there lol

[giffypudding]

It's Super Snowy