yes, no; maybe

20s, ATLA, other animation, art, tiny bit of science

[terikanae]

ah, he'll figure it out later

[filialdisciple]

thinking of toph and zuko’s life changing field being just toph dragging zuko around the world and making him tell her which guys are attractive or not.

the gaang wants to tag along but toph absolutely refuses because (1) aang and katara literally only have eyes for each other and will never give toph actual input, (2) suki’s inputs are 50% sarcasm, and (3) sokka.

zuko’s the only one she trusts because they both have the same taste in men (see their individual crushes on sokka at some point) but he doesn’t even realize it and just thinks he’s being completely objective

[veryever]

Good news, the script wasn't final (I did get that)

Bad news, Shonen filler nature of the film confirmed.

[veryever]

My biggest issue with the new Avatar movie is... I just have zero intrest is spending most of the runtime with a one off villian. I don't want him around. I don't want to see him. He should be threatening but... not taking up precious screen time.

I never had high hopes or was really resting a lot on this project, so even if it mid I could enjoy the gaang: animated, again! aspect. But I did not ask for mommy to get a new boyfriend.

[veryever]

I do not think the movie would have done well in theaters, so I think its wise to not go down that path.

But the fact Avatar Studios has failed to make themselves more valuable in this time of upheaval with their parent company, is very funny. This 'franchise' is so cursed.

Like the problem is Bryke at once, are hacks and not hacks enough. They refuse to give the people What They Want on a workable time scale. Which is. Gaang content that is more than just Korra-set-up, or something like a Kyoshi series. But they also can't get their hair brained "must move story forward!" stuff out (even if it pisses people off and turns them off, at least you have work to show)

If this was my company, I'd have multiple shows already milking the series. Avatar fans have kids now, and they'd love to plop the littles down in front a Avatar-Bluey hybrid or two.

If you're making moeny they'll let you do you "what if we kill everything fans love?" stuff to your hearts content

The synergy of the movie+ Seven Havens will probably be enough power on until the end of that just because it's already been in production. But after that? We'll see

[veryever]

Pulled back in because I was reminded NATLA is still happening.

Good riddance to the volume. Aang sweetie its okay you grew. Toph, I'm sorry that's your wig. Suki, good for you.

[atlaculture]

This has been bugging me for ages and I feel like you’re the only other blog who would appreciate my conundrum here. Do you think people in the avatar-verse drink cow’s milk?

On the one hand the lost lore archive seemingly confirms that cow-pigs produce “delicious” milk, but how canon can we really consider that? On the other hand, if you didn’t already know, most humans are lactose intolerant. The gene for lactase persistence (the ability to digest milk past babyhood) originated in the Middle East or Europe and spread from there. Even today East Asia has some of the highest rates of lactose intolerance in the world, and lactase tolerance was virtually nonexistent in North America pre-colonisation. Not drinking cow’s milk is the norm for humanity, not the exception, so I just think it would be cool to have at least one fantasy world where the main characters are lactose intolerant and soy milk is the norm.

Granted, given that cheese can be made to be palatable to lactose intolerant people and that there does seem to have been some lactase persistence traditionally in northern Indian and Himalayan regions (at least at a cursory research glance), you would probably expect it to vary by region and culture. Maybe cow-pig milk is consumed in only certain regions and otherwise usually made into cheese. I personally headcanon that air nomads eat sky bison cheese, which might taste similar to chhurpi.

From what I've read, dairy cows aren't native to East Asia, hence the lack of cow milk in most of the traditional cuisine of that region. I would say that cow-pig milk in Avatar might just be a local delicacy unique to the EK town from "Zuko Alone".

However, a predisposition towards lactose intolerance is not necessarily a permanent roadblock to enjoying milk products. Speaking from personal experience, I can generally build up my tolerance for dairy if I make a point of drinking milk every day. However, if I take a break of more than a week, then I have to start the whole process over again.

As for the consumption of other animal milks...

Based off cultural inspiration, the Air Nomads likely had close to 100% lactase persistence. Dairy is a huge part of Tibetan and other Himalayan cuisine. Plus, if Appa is any indication, sky bisons were roughly the size of sperm whales. Assuming there was a sky bison for every nomad, there was probably enough extra milk produced for it to become a staple of the Air Nomad diet.

The Northern Water Tribe probably has some lactase persistence, since they have Mongolian and Sakha cultural influence in addition to Inuit. Both Mongolian and Sakha culture are known for their consumption of mare's milk, both as a drink and as an ingredient in dishes. Plus, the NWT canonically has Buffalo-Yaks, which is a combination of two animals whose milk is commonly consumed in parts of Asia. Lactase persistence might not be as strong in the Southern Water Tribe, who don't seem to have domesticated any milk-producing animals.

The Earth Kingdom probably only has lactase persistence in certain regions, such as the village in "Zuko Alone". This aligns with its primary cultural inspiration, China. While most of China does not have a cheese-making tradition, there are pockets of regional cheeses: cow and goat cheeses in Yunnan, fermented cow milk cheeses in Xinjiang, and yak cheeses in the Tibetan and Mongolian autonomous provinces. However, on the whole, I think most EK citizens stick to non-dairy milks made from soy or nuts.

Finally, there's the Fire Nation. I don't think they drink much milk. In addition to China, the Fire Nation's other major cultural influences are Southeast Asia (Thailand, especially) and Japan. Historically, none of these cultures consumed much animal milk. I think the Fire Nation's choice of milks would be soy, coconut, or peanut.

[atlaculture]

@moonlightcrazyphoenix: "Do plant milks even happen in a culture that doesn't already have dairy milk?"

Yes, although they were treated as their own drink, rather than as a milk substitute. For example, traditional soy milk is called doujiang in Mandarin, meaning "bean broth". Whereas soy milk that's used as a dairy substitute is called dounai ("bean milk") and is often used for western-style drinks like lattes.

I bring this up because I have a funny story related to this distinction. I had a friend in high school who grew up only ever drinking traditional Asian soy milk. Asian soy milk is very simple; it's just soy beans that have been blended up with water and strained, sometimes with sugar added at the end. It's a light and refreshing drink. One day, I brought some Silk-brand, American soy milk. I offered her some, since I knew she loved soy milk. As she's sipping the drink with her straw, tears begin welling up in her eyes. I ask her what's wrong and she answers in the most heartbroken voice, "It's soy milk, but it's trying to taste like normal milk. It doesn't taste like either. It's so gross!"

And, that day, I learned that there could be an uncanny valley for milk.

[marsoid]

any of yall watch キングオブザヒル

[jimmyhoffathecat]

Is he… you know… 💅🏽

[veryever]

Fire & Family boxset? Mai is not a firebender. So Mai is family? Interesting.

[plaguedocboi]

One of my coworkers owns this shirt and wears it to work almost every Saturday and I can’t stay silent about it any longer

[10001gecs]

imagining someone hatching clownfish in this tshirt and absolutely losing my shit

[wolpertinger-prince]

"Pair of aliens that are definitely a gay couple even though we're not going to explicitly say so, one half of which is voiced by Kevin McDonald" really was a cartoon character dynamic niche in the early 2000s huh.

[wolpertinger-prince]

[lizardlicks]

@rockpapertheodore you don't get to leave that in the tags.

[dailynarnia]

is jake gyllenhaal gay??

why would you ask us, a narnia blog, this

[helloitsbees]

happy pride month to this post specifically

[alisonzai]

[liminalbeauty]

Dirt is fascinating. There’s an entire universe going on under your feet. The more you know about it the better your garden grows.

[veryever]

like I get why people ship Azula and Ty Lee. They're left overs first of all. And the mean one and really nice one is a popular dynamic.

But it is crazy to me that Mai x Azula is not more popular. They are what people try and force with Tenzin, Lin and Kya. They are text. You barely have to squint to see it. "You should have feared me more" = "you should have loved me more"

[quix5gg]

[bluespiritshonour-deactivated20]

I am a fan of dead beat sister Mai and I also believe that Mai giving up Tom Tom in Return to Omashu is supposed to parallel her finally refusing to do so with Zuko in The Boiling Rock. It really isn't hard to reconcile the two.

Mai might not have had any love lost for Tom Tom, but that doesn't mean she appreciated having to give him up like that. He's still her brother and she doesn't necessarily hate him or wish him harm. And Azula knows Mai's family dynamics pretty well, she wouldn't have pulled the whole thing if Mai really was that uncaring about Tom Tom: it was supposed to prove Mai's loyalty to Azula and to the Fire Nation. Mai didn't have to be a simpering doting elder sister for the hostage exchange situation at Omashu to work.

An authoritarian state asks for complete submission, even that of your family, and Mai is well aware, and dare I say, not a fan of it. Yes, she wasn't too broken up about Tom Tom later either when her mother was crying: because for her, she did what was expected of her. Her parents, even though they're worried and crying, do not reprimand her for not bringing Tom Tom back. They're a cog in the imperial war machine that is FN and they know their place. And they made sure Mai knows hers too.

She might be quiet and never voice these opinions but there's so much resentment she harbours under the surface: for her parents, for Azula. I think she's, at most, indifferent towards Tom Tom. Mai wants to be treated with respect, that she never is. You might think, "when did anyone disrespect her?"

Well, being forced to conform and being ordered around and stripped of autonomy and most of all, not being taken seriously is insulting! It's one of the many forms misogyny manifests in in general. And with FN, since it's an authoritarian state with an established hierarchy, that's how the power structure manifests too. I think so many people misunderstand Mai because they don't take into account the society she was born into.

So many girls who have an upbringing similar to hers have such low sense of self!—I think it's incredible that throughout this all, Mai has somehow managed to cling to her self-esteem. Of course she conforms and bends herself into what's expected of her but it doesn't mean she appreciates it! Even her rebellion is either quiet in a way she can get away with (disobeying Azula she isn't around) or it finds acceptable avenues (accompanying Azula on her mission). There's always that undercurrent of resentment with her and I honestly love her for it: it means she knows she deserves better. (I think more women should be like her).

It feels like people on this site have never seen this elder sister younger brother dynamic where the younger brother is the child the parents always wanted. They don't even try to hide their favouritism, worse, the sister is asked to be just as dedicated as her parents to the said brother. And she's considered a monster if she isn't (whoa, reminds me of ATLA fandom, y'all are gonna make a bunch of boymoms for sure). God forbid women have less than positive emotions ever. I've seen girls as young as five-years-old being asked to compromise and prioritise their brothers over their own well being and happiness.

So, don't tell me Mai being an exception to the sacrificial elder sister trope isn't refreshing.

Besides, Mai is only indifferent to Tom Tom? Even if her parents weren't the "male heir is everything" kind and Mai wasn't fucked up by it... Even then, with the kind of age difference between her and Tom Tom, it's normal for them to be a little distant.

I don't care what the fandom thinks. And I don't care if misogynistic losers who think women are incapable of negative emotions and if they have them then there's something wrong with them (it's understandable for men though UWU) don't like Mai for it. I would forever defend dead beat sister Mai.

"She didn't like her brother waaaa—"

Well, good for her.

So thank you very much avatar comics, I'll take my dead beat sister Mai. I love her without reservations. You can keep your motherly one with you.

And no, it doesn't dilute her character development from Return to Omashu to The Boiling Rock if she isn't a doting sister! She still has a sense of familial loyalty underneath all that resentment (she wouldn't bend herself into a "big blah" otherwise).

[caius263]

Oh as a Chinese I personally know nearly a dozen of girls at my age whose parents immediately got them a younger brother (if they found out the fetus was female, abortion followed in most cases) in the one year or two when they lifted the one-child policy. These girls were 16-17 ages older than their younger brother and to make it worse, it happened during their time in high school, aka right before the university entrance exam, the most most important thing in the life of a Chinese teenager but somehow parents no longer thought diverting their attention away from their daughters was a huge issue cuz you know we finally had a boy now! And guess how many boys at my age got a younger sibling when the one child policy was lifted? None I knew of personally.

Yep I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Mai was indifferent about her brother who is 15 years younger than her.

[veryever]

I've always thought the stuff with Mai was pretty intentional in channeling of both the common "feeling replaced by new baby" stuff all kids go through *and* the matter of Asian parents favoring sons (as that was a very commonly covered matter of asian culture and the one child policy in the west)

It doesn't end up being a top note over the series because Azula's the favorite and Zuko's the scape goat, flipping the gender dynamics -and Mai is just a supporting character to them and their dynamic. But there's a reason TomTom is a boy.