#anti LoK

[burst-of-iridescent]

seeing people say they knew all along the live action would be bad after seeing the news about them toning down sokka’s misogyny bc “the original creators never would’ve let this happen! that’s why they left!”… ohhh my god. oh my god. the original creators made the legend of korra. the original creators had story direction on most of the post-atla comics. the original creators were involved with the goddamn m. night shyamalan film for fuck’s sake & spoke positively about it (at least, right up until it bombed upon release and then… *crickets*.) they cannot be trusted on jack, and i for one am immensely glad they are staying far, far away from the project.

regardless of whether the live action succeeds or not, bryke were never going to singlehandedly make it a cinematic masterpiece so please get that out of your heads and start judging the live action on its own merit — not by the inclusion (or lack thereof) of two men who have proven over and over again that they know fuck all about what truly made their show great.

#besides if recent adaptations have taught me anything #it’s that sometimes… creators being involved with adaptations is Bad Actually #anti bryke #anti lok #anti atla comics #atla live action

[theotterpenguin]

Katara's Legacy in LOK: "Healer Wife of the Avatar" (part I)

I only recently finished watching all of The Legend of Korra from start to finish. Based on the analyses I’ve read from the time the show was airing, there seemed to be a decent amount of backlash against how the adult gaang was portrayed - particularly Katara. LOK’s fanbase has grown since then, though, especially during the 2020 renaissance, and I was surprised by how many recent positive comments I’ve seen from fans on Katara’s role.

Because if you paid attention at all to Katara’s characterization compared to Aang, Sokka, Toph, and Zuko, it’s clear just how much Legend of Korra has tarnished her “legacy” or lack thereof.

I will be splitting this analysis of lok!Katara into two parts:

First, I will break down her portrayal in the show compared to the other members of the gaang to demonstrate how Katara received the worst treatment from the writers. Though I did have problems with the other characters’ portrayals as well, I don't have time to discuss them in-depth in this post. Then, I will counter common arguments used in defense of lok!Katara’s portrayal on the grounds that they do not provide an adequate in-universe explanation for her character’s drastic change from ATLA.

For part 1, I decided to examine everything we know about the gaang after the original series only based on the information provided via Legend of Korra (excluding poor Suki, who is never mentioned at all). For each character, I will answer the question “What do we know about [character] based solely on their role in Legend of Korra?”

Sokka

Assuming we have never watched ATLA before, what do we know about Sokka based on LOK?

Well-respected for his wisdom and leadership, as he was Chief of the Southern Water Tribe, a councilman in Republic City (Representative of the Southern Water Tribe), and the chairman of the United Republic Council

Played a significant role in Yakone’s bloodbending trial - moderated the Council’s deliberations and announced their decision to find Yakone guilty

Worked together with other political/military leaders - Zuko, Tenzin, and Tonraq - to protect Avatar Korra by designing prisons for Red Lotus members that would be impervious to their bending

Toph mentioned they were friends in their youth, describing a time he was stuck in a hole when she was trying to teach Aang earthbending

Sokka, Toph, and Aang seemed to have remained friends into adulthood as they all worked together to defeat Yakone

Fond of his trusty boomerang, which he claimed to have used to win a fight against a man with combustion abilities

Due to his achievements, has a statue built in his honor in front of the Southern Water Tribe Cultural Center in Republic City

Zuko

Assuming we have never watched ATLA before, what do we know about Zuko based on LOK?

Former Fire Lord and co-founder of the United Republic, who worked with Avatar Aang after the 100 years war to transform the Fire Nation colonies into the United Republic of Nations

Zuko and Avatar Aang had a rocky start, as Zuko described a time when he once hired a man with combustion abilities to kill Aang in his youth, but they eventually became close friends

Acted as Aang’s counsel and was described as being the person who knew Aang better than everyone else, leading Korra to turn to him for advice

Good friends with the Southern Water Tribe - worked with Sokka, Tonraq, and Tenzin to imprison Red Lotus members that wanted to kidnap Korra, specifically working with Unalaq and Tonraq to build a prison to hold P’Li

Years later, continued to work against the Red Lotus when they broke out of prison

Investigated the prison break of Ming-Hua, sent word to Lin Beifong to protect Korra, then flew off on his dragon to stop the Red Lotus from breaking P’Li out of prison

Fought Ghazan using his firebending during the Red Lotus break-in

Discussed the Red Lotus situation with Lin, Korra, and the others, before leaving early on Druk (his dragon) to return to the Fire Nation and protect his family

Despite being in “retirement,” remains an active participant in international relations - makes appearances as Prince Wu’s coronation and Jinora’s airbending master ceremony, along with engaging in discussions with President Raiko, Tenzin, and Tonraq about the future of the Red Lotus after Zaheer was imprisoned again

Highly respected and honored for his achievements - Bolin and Mako were impressed to meet him, statue was built in his honor in Republic City

Had a close relationship with his Uncle and his surviving family include his daughter, Fire Lord Izumi, and his grandson, General Iroh II

Toph

Assuming we have never watched ATLA before, what do we know about Toph based on LOK?

Previous Chief of Police in Republic City, founder of the first metalbending police force, founder of the first metalbending academy

Renowned for inventing metalbending, which is utilized for the development of modern technology and innovation in Republic City and the Earth Kingdom (particularly, Zaofu, is regarded as the safest city in the world due to it being made entirely out of metal)

To honor her metalbending achievements, there are several statues of her in Zaofu

Good friends with Avatar Aang, whom she affectionately named Twinkletoes, and was his earthbending teacher

Worked with Aang to arrest Yakone and was present at Yakone’s trial

Acted as a mentor to Korra, helping Korra face her fears and trained with her

Despite her old age and grumpy personality, Toph remained a strong fighter - easily able to beat Korra during training sessions, take down Kuvira’s sentries, and successfully break into Kuvira’s prison using her earthbending and metalbending abilities

States that her fighting days are over due to her old age, but has no problem fighting to save her family when they are captured by Kuvira (twice)

No interest in involving herself in current political problems in the Earth Kingdom, but will defend her family from political forces that threaten them

Strained relationship with her daughters (Suyin and Lin) because of how busy she was with her job, giving them too much freedom as she didn’t want to be as strict as her own parents

Covered up for Suyin’s crimes to save her reputation, leading her to retire early from guilt

Eventually repairs her relationship with her daughters - admitting she wasn’t a great mother but had great kids

Spent rest of her life living alone in a swamp, mentioning she has previous experiences with the visions it produces

High reputation in Republic City - has a statue of her built in front of police headquarters, Asami is impressed by her, Bolin calls her his hero

Aang

Assuming we have never watched ATLA before, what do we know about Aang based on LOK?

Previous Avatar before Korra, negotiated relations between people of all nations to keep peace and balance and served as the bridge between the Spirit World and natural world

Worked with his closest friend Zuko to transform the Fire Nation Colonies into the United Republic of Nations after the war

Lost his entire culture of Air Nomads to genocide during the hundred year war and was devastated - his greatest dream was frequently described as rebuilding the Air Nation and reviving Air Nomad culture

He began to do this by founding the Air Acolytes, who preserved the culture, practices, and teachings of the Air Nomads passed on from Aang

Placed all of his hopes and dreams for the future on Tenzin's shoulders, his only airbender son

Deeply connected to the Spirit World and was an esteemed spiritual leader, hoping his son would one day experience the same

Traveled the world with Tenzin so he could learn as much as possible, but was so focused on doing his duty to the world that he never had time for his other kids, Kya and Bumi, whom he had with his wife, Katara

Kya and Bumi felt like a disappointment to their father for not being airbenders and Bumi never felt connected to his father’s culture until he became an airbender later in life

Aang’s acolytes did not even know Aang had other children besides Tenzin

All of this seems to indicate Aang valued the ability to airbend the most in his children, leading to his waterbending/nonbending kids being neglected

Greatest flaw mentioned as his tendency to cut and run when things get tough

Despite all this, he was highly respected and admired by most characters in the show for all his achievements as Avatar and his wisdom

Assisted in the arrest of Yakone with Toph, a friend of his, and used energybending to remove Yakone’s bending

Gave Korra advice along with restoring her bending and bestowed upon her the ability to energybend

His grandkids (Meelo, Jinora, and Ikki) enjoyed hearing stories about his youth, such as his visit to Wan Shi Tong’s spirit library and his time with Guru Pathik at the Eastern Air Temple

Described as natural leader by Tenzin, sweet-tempered by Lin, and was good friends with Iroh

He built the air temple on Air Temple Island and in his honor, Aang Memorial Island was named after him and a statue of him was built

He’s so well-known and respected that there are even Aang-themed carnival games at the South Pole

Katara

Assuming we have never watched ATLA before, what do we know about Katara based on LOK?

Described as the best healer in the world, responsible for teaching Korra how to heal, and mentioned to be a waterbending master

Monitored Korra’s avatar training and spoke to the Order of the White Lotus when Korra was ready to begin airbending training

Declared bloodbending illegal, but was not present for Yakone’s capture or trial

Attempted to restore Korra’s bending after Amon took it, but failed

Failed to heal Jinora when she was trapped in the Spirit World

Tries to guide Korra’s healing process after she is poisoned, but is unable to heal her on her own

Worked to heal the injured after Unalaq’s attack

According to Toph, Katara didn’t get involved in the civil war taking place in her homeland because of her old age

Mentions to Korra she knows what it’s like to go through a traumatic experience but doesn’t elaborate, instead describing Aang’s trauma

Married to Avatar Aang and had three kids - Tenzin, Kya, and Bumi - and three grandchildren - Ikki, Jinora, and Meelo

After Aang and her brother died, she was incredibly lonely, prompting Kya to move to the south pole to be with her. Misses her family that has passed away.

Her kids don’t visit her much, Meelo doesn’t even recognize his grandmother. She cries when Tenzin and his family leave.

Never speaks about her own life, but Jinora asks her once about what happened to Zuko’s mom, indicating they may have known each other.

By reading those summaries, it should be obvious just how differently Katara’s character was treated by the writers compared to the others. Katara’s legacy is reduced to simply being the “healer wife of the Avatar.”

And before anyone tries to twist my words: The problem is not that she is a mother, a wife, and a healer. The problem that is all she is ever allowed to be. Her entire identity revolves around:

Trying to heal people

Being the Avatar’s wife and occasionally offering random pieces of advice about what Aang would do (instead of, you know, giving advice based on her own experiences)

Missing her family

Again, none of these characteristics are inherently negative - the problem is how poorly they are written for Katara’s character. We are told things about her that just don't match up with what is shown in LOK canon. We're told that she’s a world renowned healer, but every time we see her use these abilities, she fails. We’re told that she’s the Avatar’s wife, but he was closest to his friend, Zuko. We’re told that she’s a mother who cares about her family, but we don’t know anything about her relationship with her children (and in fact, we know far more about her children's relationship with Aang).

Katara has no characteristics, no personality outside of her relationship to others - whether she’s acting as a healer, a mother, or a wife (this is some textbook misogynistic writing). She never speaks about herself, never mentions having any friends - only ever speaking about her husband, never describes her life before being a mother or a wife, is never shown to be honored or respected in the way the rest of the gaang is, has no political titles, and has only one post-atla accomplishment to her name. This is in contrast to Aang, Zuko, and Toph - all of whom have children but are never reduced solely to being a parent, all of whom are implied to be close friends, and all of whom have made multiple important contributions to the world of LOK. Even Sokka - who is barely in the show - is shown as having more achievements than Katara. I’m not sure how anyone could see this as doing Katara’s character justice.

I want to end with this excerpt from the book Avatar: The Last Airbender: Legacy - while not from Legend of Korra, this letter written by Katara to her and Aang's son, Tenzin, is a perfect demonstration of Katara's poor characterization post-ATLA. Despite being written by Katara, this entire letter is about Aang. I'm honestly not sure why the writers didn't just have this letter written by Aang himself because there are no insights that Katara adds to it.

The letter starts with Katara saying that she hopes this letter will help Tenzin "feel the pride of [his] heritage and gain a deeper understanding of who [he is]." And yet this letter never discusses the fact that Tenzin is the son of a waterbender and an airbender, never discusses any of the lessons Katara has learned in her life or the hardships she's overcome, never mentions any part of water tribe culture, never even mentions her own brother or father or mother (family is important to Katara, but apparently the writers only think that her family with Aang matters). The letter is entirely about Aang's struggles and triumphs because post-ATLA Katara doesn't matter outside of her relationship to her husband and kids.

Part 2

#katara #katara analysis #atla #zutara #anti lok #lok critical #this is not shipping related at all but tagging zutara for visibility #pls show up in the tags tumblr i don't want to repost this a third time #my post #my meta

[dreamchasernina]

Am I the only one worried about adult gaang movie? I know Bryke are the ones working on it, but honestly…I don’t have much faith in them.

Look, Avatar is like this sacred prefect thing to me, and I cannot handle a thought of something ruining this perfect story and characters. It ended so perfectly, but to be able to write another story with these characters they’re gonna have to create problems, right?

Like for instance, how are they going to create a villain that will be an actual threat to Aang (especially Aang in the avatar state), without breaking the rules of the world they built? They broke those rules over and over again in Korra to one up a previous villain.

Another conern is, are they going to ruin the relationships? Writers don’t like seeing the characters in happy relationships, case and point, Korra and Mako. I don’t really care about them, I just found it wierd spending the whole first season building up their relationship just to break them up in the second season. It’s a problem with a lot of writers, they’d rather break a couple up and get them back together again by the end, than let them be in a happy and healthy relationships. Same said for the friendships. I’m scared to discover the movie starts with “I haven’t talked to Zuko in years because A B C happened”.

Another thing, is there going to be an arc for every single character? If so, how are they going to accomplish that in 2 hours? I love love love how every single character in ATLA gets an amazing personal arc, and well, if they’re going to to the same in the movie, how will that work? Or will some of the characters get a backseat and become not as significant. Again, I have to bring up an example from LoK. You can’t say Mako and Bolin’s parts in the last seasons were as important as the rest of the characters’. Again, I personally don’t care about those characters, so I don’t have a problem with it, but the balance between the characters in ATLA is what makes it superior to LoK, so I’m sure if they decide to make Sokka’s (for example) journey less significant than others’, it would make a lot of people angry.

Anyway, these are just my thoughts. Of course I want to see more content from the Avatar universe, especially the gaang, but I’m just scarred from LoK and not sure I can handle them ruining characters even more.

Can we just have 2 hours of the gaang on vacation on ember island just getting in all kinds of shenanigans?

#avatar the last airbender #avatar #avatar: the last airbender #the last airbender #atla #aang #sokka #zuko #katara #Bryke #toph #anti LoK #the legend of korra #kataang #maiko #sukka #team avatar

[punkeropercyjackson]

Liberal brain:It's important to humanize fascist/cop/etc characters because irl ones are not inhuman monsters but people like you and me and the transformation from a good person into one of them can happen to anyone

Punk brain:Fascists,cops and other equivalents shouldn't humanized because their beliefs and following actions inherently rely on dehumanizing minorities so it's unfair and just plain objectively incorrect to put us on the same level.In real life,women and trans folks and disabled people and especially poc(and so forth)don't have the privilige to cope with our trauma by ruining society and committing acts of abuse and other violence to get at the world for hurting us without consequences.Irl corrupted authorities are almost always not 'everymen' but those with high places in society like cis men and ableds and especially white (gentile) people who use their positions to their advantage.'Fascists are people too' is propaganda

#anti fma #anti luke castellan #anti george stacy #anti harry potter #both the canon franchise and the canon #anti lok #zuko/katara shippers dni #anti mcu #anti aot #anarchism #punk #afropunk #autipunk #genderpunk #solarpunk #hopepunk #crustpunk #goth punk #capepunk #pastel punk tag #trans #actuallyautistic #actuallydisabled #blackness #summerposting

[azulaang-chakras]

"Maiko isn't canon anymore! Mai isn't Izumi's mother!"

Bryke, the heads of Nickelodeon and Paramount, and whoever the fuck is writing the comics nowadays could all come out tomorrow and say those exact words while introducing their new Izumi-producing OC and I'd still be like "It sure is nice that Mai and Zuko are happily married and doing a great job governing the Fire Nation while raising their kids together."

#maiko #anti comics #anti lok #technically #as it's that show's fault for leaving izumi up in the air #this reminds me: i should work on my maiko baby ocs #fandom bullshit

[fanfic-lover-girl]

LOK did Sokka and Katara dirty

Nowadays, I forget LOK even exists but I realized how LOK did the water tribe siblings dirty in opposite ways.

For Sokka, we know he had a great political career. He helped to protect Korra from the Red Lotus and he served as a councilman in Republic City. And he has the statue to prove it. But what about his personal life?? What happened to Suki? Did he have a family?? Was Sokka's life career-driven with no loving home life?

For Katara, her legacy is mainly about her family. Besides the bloodbending law and teaching Korra, there is hardly anything else of note that Katara did. She's a world-class healer but where is the evidence for that? She was not even present at Yakon's blood-bending trial. While Zuko and Toph get to be badasses in their old age, Katara is just a lonely old woman tucked away at the South Pole, not even lifting a finger when her family is in danger.

So Sokka got the better end of the deal!

What little we got of Sokka painted him in a good light. He was an accomplished politician so at least that facet of his life was explored well. Meanwhile, Katara doesn't seem to interact with her own grandkids enough for Meelo to recognize her :(. It's bad enough that she wasn't present for a high-profile bloodbending trial, but Katara couldn't be bothered to attend Jinora's master ceremony. So Katara fails at family too. Poor Katara. Look what Bryke did to you Queen. Bryke couldn't even give you a waterbending grandchild as a token of appreciation :(

#anti lok #atla sokka #atla katara #lok katara is not my katara #water tribe siblings #anti bryke #katara deserved better #katara's character arc is just depressing

[survivalove]

the dumbest take I’ve ever seen is that because bumi, tenzin and kya didn’t mention katara when they were complaining about aang, she must have been some absentee mother…..💀

even tho both kya and tenzin have very explosive reactions when katara is the topic of conversation, or how bumi thinks of her as soon as he starts airbending, when you would expect him to mention, idk, his airbending father.

this is the problem when you try to analyze a whole family dynamic based on 5 scenes of SOMEONE ELSE’S SHOW. just idiotic, but that’s nothing new in this fandom lol.

#atla #anti lok #katara #bumi ii #kya ii #tenzin #atla fandom problems #anti zutara fandom #yes it came from that group who else is surprised

[evsalonyx]

Do you ever think about LOK creators writing Katara, the fighting, mothering, feminine boss as a helpless old woman in the healing huts, incapable of doing anything, lacking a relationship with her kids and grandkids, none of her grandkids having any connections to her dying South Pole culture or bending, and get really freaking FURIOUS?

Or maybe about how she didn't have any sort of companion after Aang died? (geriatric Zutara is so freaking cute) she didn't even keep in contact with her friends?!? How her identity was centered around a loving, mothering nature only for her to rarely see her grandkids and be very distant from them?????

She lacked a legacy, a statue, any sense of importance to the plot, and perhaps the most importantly, a family, all because to some creators, her worth evaporated after she gave birth to Tenzin.

#zutara #antikataang #anti lok #oh yeah we're going there today

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

You realize Asian countries have big cities, and skyscrapers. And modern technology, that all of that is not only a thing in the West???

My guy, the Aang statue is very obviously inspired by the statue of liberty and the creator of Ford lives there. Republic city is "New York, but in the 1920s", and so I'm gonna point out that this american bullshit where it does not belong. Looking at a New York City inspired thing and saying "That's an american thing" is not the same as saying "And every asian city is just a tiny little vilage where everyoen is dirt poor and has to walk for a whole hour to have any acess to water."

And even if Republic City had instead been inspired by Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Seul or literally any major asian city - that still doesn't explain the HUGE leap in technology in between those shows that are last than 100 years apart. We went from a mostly feudal world with ocasional bare-bones industrial stuff that only one nation really had any access to (and that the show was constantly highlight could often be BAD for them) all the way to the prohibition era and World War I stuff. One more season and they'd reach the point of Korra having to airbend to save people from the deadly smog that is fucking up their lungs.

And even the name REPUBLIC city is peak "Americans have to remind everyone that their form of government is the only valid one, and thus force it in a world that clearly only works with absolute monarchies, tribal chiefs, or a crazy dictator." It's really no wonder the first villain Korra ever went up against was a shady dude that you knew was shady because he said the word "equality" a lot and that the whole fandom keeps saying is communist even though he didn't say anything communist-like.

#anti lok #anti legend of korra #anti korra

[miss-sweetea-pie]

Been thinking about that new avatar movie and bestie I’m scared that Katara is just going to give us stepford wives energy the whole time. And everyone’s just gonna be like wow such a cute couple they are so wholesome.

#anti kataang #katara #katara deserved better #anti bryke #anti lok #zutara #I have very little faith in this movie #what if she’s not even a main character #I dont trust bryke to not ruin this

[burst-of-iridescent]

“the live action watered down katara’s character!” yeah and so did the comics and the legend of korra but i don’t remember seeing yall complain about that. or is it only bad when bryke aren’t the ones doing it?

#don’t get me wrong i’m annoyed at what they did to katara in the LA too #but if you had nothing to say about what LOK did to katara i don’t wanna hear a peep out of yall now #at least the LA let katara be interested in fighting #which is a lot more than we can say for LOK #anti kataang #anti bryke #anti lok #just say you wanna hate on the live action bc your precious creators weren’t involved and go

[theotterpenguin]

How LOK Fails to Do Katara Justice (part II)

In part one of this meta, I explained how Katara's character received the worst treatment in Legend of Korra compared to the other members of the gaang, and the sexist writing of lok!Katara so that she is only defined by her relationships to her husband and children. In the second part of this analysis, I will explain how the common arguments that are used in defense of LOK's poor writing do not provide an adequate in-universe explanation for Katara's drastic change from ATLA.

Defense of lok!Katara seems to boil down to three main points: 

1) The “leave it to the kids” excuse: Katara is from the previous generation so she shouldn’t be expected to be involved in the plot - it’s time for Korra’s team to have a turn.

2) The “old lady” excuse: Katara is too old to be fighting wars or getting involved in international politics.

3) The “people change” excuse: Katara’s character, personality, and goals would change over time because she’s older now.

I would be willing to accept these excuses under the condition that they are also applied to the other members of the gaang. Ignoring the fact that the Order of the White Lotus is literally a bunch of old guys fighting in wars in ATLA, if Toph and Zuko are also portrayed as too old to be fighting and leaving all their problems to the next generation to fix, along with Katara, it wouldn’t be as much of a problem. If Sokka, Aang, Toph, and Zuko are all portrayed as having different goals and motivations and characteristics than when they were younger, along with Katara, then again, it wouldn’t be as much of a problem. (It might be bad writing, but hey, at least it’s bad writing applied equally to every character). 

The problem is that it’s only Katara’s character that takes a complete 180 from how it was set up in ATLA, it’s only Katara’s character that is too old to fight to defend her family, it’s only Katara’s character who leaves all her problems to the kids and stays completely uninvolved from the geopolitical conflicts brewing around her.

 Returning to our original three excuses, let’s see how well they match with rest of the gaang’s portrayal in LOK:

1) “Leave it to the kids” excuse: 

I will be leaving Sokka and Aang out of this since they are dead at the time of the show (though it should be noted that flashbacks show both of them being heavily involved in global leadership roles and managing political conflicts). 

This excuse is not even close to applicable to Zuko. As soon as he finds out Zaheer has escaped from prison, he flies off on a dragon to check the other prisons. He warns Lin to look after Korra, but this doesn’t stop him from investigating with Tonraq on his own, without Korra and co's involvement. As soon as he hears his family may be in danger, he flies off on a dragon to protect them.

This excuse doesn’t apply to Toph. She does state that she agrees with Katara that it’s time to leave things to the kids, but her actions say differently. As soon as she finds out Suyin has been captured, she immediately attempts to find her - on her own, without consulting with the younger generation. When she realizes Suyin has been moved somewhere else, she works together with Korra and co to save her family - twice actually. She also involves herself in Korra’s life by helping her train and recover from her PTSD.

Meanwhile, Katara does nothing when her home is dragged into a civil war, does nothing when her family is kidnapped, and does nothing when a bloodbender is using his abilities to oppress others (despite being the one to outlaw bloodbending).

2) “Old lady” excuse:

Again, also not applicable to Aang and Sokka because they’re dead at the start of the show.

This excuse does not apply to Zuko whatsoever. He never mentions that being old prevents him from fighting or getting involved in the political conflicts that arise. He has no problem fighting Ghazan during the Red Lotus prison break-in and has no problem riding his dragon. He stays involved in international relations despite being “retired” from his position as Fire Lord - helping to track down the Red Lotus, attending important international events, and holding meetings with leaders of other nations (Tenzin, Raiko, Tonraq).

Toph tells Korra that her fighting days are over due to having back problems, but has no problem fighting Korra during training and easily takes out Kuvira’s army. 

Katara never fights during the entire show. And as far as I can remember, she never waterbends at all beyond healing on a few occasions.

I feel like it’s important to note that both excuses 1 and 2 are never even mentioned in regard to Zuko (or the Order of the White Lotus) - it’s only Toph and Katara that seem to be “too old” to fight and have to leave everything to the kids. Toph’s actions don’t align with her words, unlike Katara, but it doesn’t change the fact that these excuses are unequally applied to old women in Legend of Korra compared to the old men in Legend of Korra (and ATLA). Good old misogyny at work!

3) “People change” excuse:

Sokka: Begins his story in ATLA as son of the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe, desperately trying to fill his father's shoes when Hakoda goes off to war. He becomes the defacto leader of the gaang over time due to his fondness for schedules, his leadership abilities, and analytical thinking skills. Despite being a nonbender, he held his own with his trusty boomerang and strategic thinking. Ends his story in LOK having taken over from his father as Chief of the Southern Water Tribe, putting those leadership skills to use. His intelligence and strategic thinking made him an ideal candidate to be a Representative for the Southern Water Tribe on the Republic City Council, as he could be trusted to make smart decisions that were the best for his tribe. He was even elected chairman of the council due to these skills. A statue was built in his honor, which included his favorite boomerang.

Zuko: Begins his story in ATLA learning to heal from his father’s abuse and, in the process, slowly comes to understand the evils of Fire Nation imperialism. He replaces his father as Fire Lord and vows to start a new era of peace and harmony, ending the war and the Fire Nation’s colonialism and imperialism. He also vowed to work together with the Avatar to maintain balance. Ends his story in LOK having achieved peace and prosperity in the Fire Nation again. Turned previous Fire Nation colonies into the United Republic of Nations - meant to be a safe haven for anyone, regardless of nationality or bender status - by working together with Aang. Fights against the Red Lotus to protect Avatar Korra and his family. His statue, in contrast to Ozai’s former statue, is one representing peace and hope.

Toph: Begins her story in ATLA rebelling against her strict parents, who are overprotective of her due to her blindness. She learns to rely on and trust others over the course of the series, realizing that accepting help from others doesn’t mean she’s weak. She enjoyed pulling scams on naive civilians in the show using her earthbending seismic abilities and participated in the Earth Rumble in her youth. She also invented metalbending and worked as Aang’s earthbending teacher. Ends her story in LOK having created a metalbending academy to teach others the bending speciality, along with establishing the first metalbending police force. Metalbending is shown as having made significant contributions to technological innovation and progress in the avatar world. Helped to train Korra while she’s recovering from the her capture by the Red Lotus. Though she liked breaking the rules when she was younger, she found it more fun to be the person in charge of the rules - leading her to become Captain of the Police Force. Still suffering the consequences of poor parenting as a child, she became an overly-lenient parent, leading to problems with her daughters. She states that her fighting days are over, but still seems to enjoy fighting Korra.

(As a side note: I do not agree with how the writers chose to take Toph’s story. Do I think they should have - and realistically, could have - gone in a different direction that did more justice to Toph’s character? Yes. However, I also see how it could potentially be possible that she became a cop and uninvolved parent based on her background. I don’t like it, but I can at least see some logic behind her storyline - unlike Katara’s. If anyone feels differently, I'd love to know your thoughts.)

Aang: Begins his story in ATLA learning to become the Avatar by mastering all four elements, mastering the Avatar State, and acting as a bridge between the human world and Spirit World. Struggles with being the sole survivor of the Air Nomads and attempting to keep his culture alive. Works to keep balance in the world among the four nations by defeating the imperial Fire Nation. Ends his story in LOK having achieved his goals as Avatar, successfully keeping peace amongst the four nations and establishing the United Republic of Nations as a sanctuary for all, no matter nationality or bender status. Considered a spiritual leader and successfully kept peace between the spirit world and human world. Had an airbender child and airbender grandkids, traveled the world to spread his culture, including building a temple on Air Temple Island in the United Republic, and other characters repeatedly state that for his entire life, his dream was to revive Air Nomad culture. 

Katara: Begins her story in ATLA trying to master her waterbending abilities, trying to teach herself on their journey. Views waterbending as a way to connect with her culture. She challenges the Northern Water Tribe’s sexism for the right to learn how to fight. Famously declares, “I don’t want to heal, I want to fight!” Passionate about standing up against injustice - causes a prison riot through an inspiring speech she gives, dresses up as a Fire Nation spirit to heal sick villagers, and goes after her mother’s killer. She is forced to bloodbend, a traumatic experience for her. Teaches Aang how to waterbend and is eventually bestowed the title of “master waterbender” by Pakku. Occasionally heals others when they get injured, but main focus is on development of her waterbending fighting abilities. Ends her story in LOK known as the best healer in the world, but fails to heal Korra and Jinora. Spends her time during the civil war on the sidelines, healing the injured. Marries and has kids with Aang. She’s lonely and her family doesn’t visit much. No known achievements beyond outlawing bloodbending (which she is somehow able to do without holding any political titles beyond that of the Avatar’s wife).

Hopefully it should be clear that Sokka, Aang, Toph, and Zuko's characteristics, goals, and motivations don't change as drastically as Katara's do. The writing of Katara in LOK did a disservice to her character. I've always deeply admired Katara for never failing to stand up against injustice, for her empathy and kindness even for those who are different from her, and for her determination not to let patriarchal norms define what she can and can't do. While LOK's portrayal of other characters provides a glimpse at how their character arcs in atla influenced the way they shaped the world, we never get a glimpse of the original Katara - only a lackluster imitation of someone with the same name.

If the Avatar franchise continues to expand with more post-ATLA content of the gaang as adults, I certainly hope Katara's characterization is improved.

#katara #katara analysis #atla #zutara #anti lok #lok critical #once again not shipping related only tagging zutara for visibility #my post #my meta

[fancylala4]

Lok will always be a trash ass show for how they handle korra’s ptsd in season 4.

How they literally have her go to the person who CAUSED her trauma for help, how she “overcame” it and how she said she deserved it because she needed to learn true suffering to be a kind person. Who wrote this trash? It’s so disgusting they put this in a kids show and thought it was a good idea.

I don’t care what anyone says, this was an awful and poorly written storyline.

#mine #anti lok #anti bryke

[punkeropercyjackson]

Avatar:The Last Airbender,show of extremely bad and liberal messages such as 'Genocide and imperialism is the ultimate evil','being gendernonforming is good and empowering and dosen't make you unattractive or lame','women are just as good as men and don't have to conform to be a specific type of femininity or behavior to be considered female','all cultures of color are valid and deserve to be preserved after being oppressed' and 'kids are people'

#zutaras stfu and go donate to palestine and sudan and congo and the dozens of other contries in need of help instead of harrasing poc minors #atla geekery #anti bryke #aang #katara #sokka #zuko #suki atla #azula #mai atla #ty lee #toph beifong #hakoda #kya atla #bato atla #ursa atla #kyoshi #jet atla #anti lok #pro kataang #kataang defense squad #pro aang #aang defense squad #pro mai #pro maiko #t4t maiko #punk katara #💌 #anti zutara #summerposting

[loveamongdragons]

I don't know exactly what it was, but when a friend of mine started watching LoK back in the day and I glimpsed a few scenes, I got that weird feeling that something is off and I don't wanna watch it - despite having loved ATLA.

I haven't watched it to this day and truth be told, considering the treatment of Katara and Toph turning into a cop, among other things, my motivation to catch up with it is minimal.

I've read The Promise and The Search, and found both disappointing and, again off, and haven't read any of the ATLA comics since.

Idk, I love to live in a bubble where canon ended with ATLA.

#anti lok #anti legend of korra #atla #avatar the last airbender #mine #anti atla comics

[fanfic-lover-girl]

Tenzin is How Old!?

I recently discovered that Tenzin got together with Pema in his thirties while scrolling through the Lin Beifong and Tenzin tags. And there is a 16-year age gap between him and Pema. I was like, this must be a mistake. Tenzin and Lin dated and broke up as teenagers right? Tenzin is in his thirties, going on to his forties right???!

Never knew LOK could make me feel even more nauseous than it already does. I have some issues:

If Lin and Tenzin broke up as adults, then Lin destroying Air Temple Island on her way out makes her look even worse. I know female violent behavior is supposed to be funny but I don't find it funny. A grown-ass woman acting like a hormonal teenager. Get a grip, Lin!

Pemzin is now icky. The age gap is not a total dealbreaker...but wasn't Pema an air acolyte? Considering Tenzin was basically deemed the saviour of the air nomads and the only kid recognized by the acolytes, I am not liking this dynamic. Especially when you remember how those first-gen acolyte girls worshipped Aang in the comics. I am sure any acolyte would be honoured to mother the next airbender generation. A similar sentiment to Mary accepting to get pregnant with Jesus. Just eww. And when you factor in Pema's homewrecker advice to Korra...ugh. It's the same kind of vibe as the CEO divorcing his nagging wife to get frisky with the young, adoring, just-out-of-college secretary :(

I swear LOK gets worse and worse every day. Tenzin is still one of my favourite characters from the series (not that the bar is very high) but I am reconsidering my view of this guy. And of his wife.

#anti pemzin #anti pemaxtenzin #air acolytes #tenzin critical #lin beifong critical #anti lok #avatar the legend of korra #tenzin #lin beifong #anti pema #pema critical