Childhood Obsession Blog

[zuko-the-agni-guy]

This is what Zuko with my ideal hairstyle for him would look like.

I hope google didn’t lie to me about how to write Zuko’s name in Chinese

[thefourthnorn]

A woodblock style piece I did a few years ago. It's about time I did a new version of this 🤔

[memopmiff]

Figure skating au 🧊⛸️

[kertaspink-a4]

“You’ve beaten me at my own game”

“Don’t flatter yourself you were never even a player”’

[astraios-art]

Rewatching atla for the 100th time, here's some doodles

[azehearts]

In honor of the clickbait scarf scene and artist! Zuko, WE'RE BACK, BABYYY 😎

I'm a little rusty but yey! An art!

[beechu-beechu]

Crossroads of Destiny

[sokkastyles]

personal opinion, I dont like how the comics made ozai and usra relationship. I always headcanon that they were in love and happy at first but slowly ozai became more greedy and abusive to his kids and kept playing mind games with them. I think Ozai does love usra but he loves power more and is willing to sacrifice anything to get it. I know everyone hates the live action, but I like it because they give ozai some dept. He's still an abusive asshole. But an abusive asshole that does have love for his family. Or did. But he cares more about power. And is willing to do anything to get it. I feel like with abusive parents they always make it seem all black and white and stuff when its not.

I didn't hate the live action and I do think they were attempting to give Ozai more depth, but I think they weren't successful in this, partially because I think there's a misconception about what "depth" means, especially when it comes to morally black and gray characters.

Original Ozai does have depth. It is hinted that he loved Ursa, and I think that he would say that he loves his children. Even when Zuko confronts him with what he did to him, he doesn't just laugh evilly, he justifies himself, and looks outraged by Zuko's accusation that what he did was cruel and wrong.

My problem with the attempts to give Ozai, and Azula to an extent, more "depth" in the live action is that they seem to mistake depth for sympathy, and it's not the same thing. The show kind of attempts to "explain" Ozai in a way that actually flattens the character, in my view, and misunderstands how abuse and abusive people work. Ozai isn't playing mind games with his children because he's looking for a "strong" heir (although he may tell himself that.) He's doing it because of his own insecurity and deep need to feed that insecurity. It's all about him.

I think he loved Ursa because she belonged to him, and loved that his children also belonged to him. I think he started to resent Ursa after she had children, actually, at the same time that his view of ownership strengthened. Because having his children both affirms that she is his and, simultaneously, means that he has to share her with the children, who demand so much of her time. I think this is at the heart of his resentment for Zuko (Ursa's firstborn and a boy, who Ozai sees himself and his own weak need in) and his to mold Azula in his image and distance herself from her mother (because he won't make the same mistake he did when Zuko was born, and because Azula is a mini version of her mother that Ozai can mold in the way he can't an adult Ursa.)

This is pretty psychologically complex stuff, which I feel adds more depth to a character than attempts to rationalize their actions, which often fall flat, particularly since Ozai's behavior should not be rationalized. I don't love the explanation the comics give of Ozai and Ursa's relationship, but I'm not a fan of the idea that they were in love, either, especially with the implication that Ozai might have once been a good husband, because like, there are people like this in the real world who never once had good intentions. There are people who get into relationships like this all the time. I believe Ozai would have been capable of charming Ursa once, but does that mean that the relationship was ever good, or does it just mean that Ozai is a good manipulator?

I actually think that the situation was probably similar to what we see Zuko (and Azula) slowly come to realize in the show: that the relationship was never good, but Ozai was good at convincing his family that it was good or at least, that he knew what was best for them.

I mean, Ozai was able to convince Ursa that the only way out of her situation was to commit murder, an act that would brand her as a traitor, put her out of her children's lives forever, and give Ozai everything he wanted. She was being manipulated in much the same way that Zuko was manipulated - banished and made to think it was her fault, made to be complicit in Ozai's crimes.

That tells me more about their relationship and about Ozai as a person than the comics or the live action do with, as I said before, much less exposition.

[miss-sweetea-pie]

It awesome how you put together all these ideas but the show keeps it somewhat vague. It’s Similar to how children can’t go back in time and witness their parents marriage like a tv show And decided for themselves if it was good or bad. The audience only know what Zuko and Azula know about their parents relationship and it’s pretty bleak.

I personally like only knowing a little bit about Ozai and ursa because most people who come from abusive or toxic households they normally don’t get a complete picture of why their family is that way and sometimes there is no reason at all.

[marycrispies]

Team Avatar having a fun time 🦆🐢✨

[yukswl0v3]

Life and death

[akittyk]

Baby Zuko and his momma :)

[sevrinve]

Sokka studies :D

[bakedbeanchan]

Drawing from scrapped comic where the timeline is reset but Zuko still has all his memories

[green-moonie]

peace at last.

[narrativelysignificantturtleduck]

one thing i think is so Neat about atla is how all the main bender characters have an arc that corresponds to their "opposite" element. zuko's arc is about the capacity to change yourself and your worldview, and the culmination of his arc is learning a move inspired by waterbending. katara is all about passion and drive, wanting to become a great waterbender and fight for what she believes in, and over the course of the show she comes into her power. toph's arc involves getting free of her restrictive family and connecting with a community, and aang's arc is about learning to stand fast in his beliefs and confront difficult issues head-on. it's a beautiful bit of symmetry that reinforces the show's point about the illusion of separation

[mugentakeda]

people like to woobify zuko by acting as if he was shaking in his boots whenever katara was even slightly (and deservedly) mean to him during the western air temple when this was the actual dynamic

[late-draft]

[longing-for-rain]

Hurt Zuko, my beloved ❤️‍🩹

He was doing something heroic, probably