#the wasted potential of aang's arc gets to me so bad | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

jubilantmedusa · 2 months

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Episode 3 thoughts - I liked it better than the first two episodes. But... still not hitting. Spoilers.

What Worked:

Sokka and a mechanist's talk. Sokka as an engineer is underrated. I was so thrilled that they kept his involvement in creating air balloons, but his conversation with the mechanist about the value of being an engineer was genuinely affecting. Of all the Gaang, Sokka is translating the best so far.

Katara having a climactic moment - more on Katara later, but I'm happy she had a moment here!

Azula and Zhao potential alliance. I'm not 100% on board with the changes to Zhao's character overall, but I am on board with this. It makes Zhao's position more interesting, and it gives Azula a chance to show her calculating nature.

Azula intro - I think it worked. And it's horrifying. I'm not someone who thinks Azula was owed redemption by any means, but I do find her into here sympathetically horrifying. She's a child, and her father's turned her into a spy and is comfortably burning people in front of her. Yikes.

Jet - I will say he mostly worked. The actor did pretty well, even with some clunky dialogue. Love the touch about his mothing teaching him swords. And I think swapping out "Jet is willing to destroy a village" with "Jet is going to get the mechanist and Teo killed" works from a stakes perspective.

Zuko being incensed at the idea of Fire Nation terrorists in Omashu. This boy is made niave by honor worship and the rose colored glasses that he views his father with, but it does work to show us - before Zuko's full story is told - who he is.

Zuko burning the cabbages. LOL.

And honestly, Zuko being willing to try to take Aang without his bending isn't bad.

Iroh sacrificing himself to keep Zuko safe. Feels.

The flashback of Katara's mom smiling at sunrise - it was just a nice moment, and the actress was beautiful.

Aang and Teo flying - it was cool.

Mid:

Freedom fighter village - it felt a little Peter Pan for me, but it wasn't bad.

Zhao. I'm not completely onboard with this, frankly, different character who shares Zhao's name. I might honestly being having an easier time if they just made him an OC, because it does kinda work. This Zhao is sneaky, slippery, interesting. Iroh can respect his thought process while at the same time not trusting him. It's interesting. But its... not the Zhao I was looking for?

The addition of a fire nation resistance. I dig it, but the execution was awful. Awful.

What's Not Working:

They bungled the point of the Mechanist and Teo re: Aang. These characters don't hit the same way when they don't live in the Northern Air Temple. Aang does not feel the emotions in the LA that he did in the original, to the LA show's detriment. It was very significant in the cartoon that Aang had just a big reaction to the possibility that there were still airbenders, only to have that hope dashed. But here its just wasted.

Aang is still not quite hitting for me. I'm not necessarily mad that he feels more actively compelled to stop the war in this version, but... it doesn't feel quite earned.

Also it makes no sense that he's semi-training Katara in waterbending despite not being a waterbender? I'm sure there are universal truths to bending, but... what?

Aang sidequest with Teo, who is a boring side character in this version.

Katara. I think there were at least four times when Katara was asked to have a non-verbal reaction to something that she should have been SCREAMING at. The writers of the Live Action just don't get her. At all.

There was also a scene where they were walking by people who were injured from the bombing and Katara doesn't try to help... I know she hasn't acquired healing, but we know Katara always has t help.

Okay... so I think Katara's emotional arc worked here, in terms of her being held back from her bending due to her trauma. However, what doesn't work is that Aang was not there. Katara and Aang's friendship is so vital to the show. I'm not mad at Jet being a part of things, but Aang needs to be there too. They need to be on this journey together.

It says a lot, actually, that its episode three and Aang, Sokka, and Katara are split into separate subplots. Hmmm. The Gaang's bond is so important.

Sokka and Katara get to surf the mail system, but non Aang? Really?

No mention of Bumi?

Waterbending just doesn't look as good on screen as the other bending disciplines so far, hope this improves. It just... needs to look fiercer? And like the water isn't going to collapse? Katara needs to figure out ice, lol.

#avatar: the last airbender #natla #live action atla #avatar the last airbender netflix

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zkfanworkweek · 4 years

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ZFAW Fan Content Creator Interviews: HayleyNFoster

Hey everyone! We hope you’re all excited for ZFAW, and to honor (ha!) ZFAW’s commitment to supporting and celebrating fan content creators in the Zutara fandom, we’re going to be rolling out a series of interviews with well-known and widely-beloved content creators over the next few weeks. We’ve got artists and fanfiction authors, some names you recognize as well as a few phenomenal up-and-coming talents, and we can’t wait for you to meet them all!

For the second interview in this cycle, we have our best propaganda creator and this fandom’s hottest new artist/undisputed queen of the animatic, @hayleynfoster!

1. Tell us about how you came to ship Zutara. What does this ship mean to you?

When I was around 14 or 15 and caught Avatar: The Last Airbender on television, I was drawn in by the art style, the humor, and the wonderful characters. I caught the episodes out of order, and the first one I saw and wasn’t prepared to be sucked in by was The Waterbending Scroll. It intrigued me at that age, and the line “I’ll save you from the pirates” combined with the tension between Katara and Zuko in that whole scene was electrifying. I remember my teenage self thinking these two have so much chemistry! And when I saw a commercial on Nickelodeon that featured fanart submitted by fellow Avatar fans, I realized that I could do that to! So I set about making Zutara fanart for myself. I stumbled onto Youtube, practically in its infancy, and discovered that people set clips of Zuko and Katara set to music (And this was still in season 1 days… so people who made these amvs were the real mvps because they were able to make compelling narratives in their amvs with like practically nothing to work with!). The AMVs really spurred my interest in this couple, I remember distinctly one Zutara AMV using the Dido song White Flag utterly capturing my imagination. I found fandom shortly after, getting into deviantart and forums. But the ship really began to mean something to me when, as I was working on my drawings in the computer lab at school, a buoyant presence hovered over my shoulder noticing my Zutara art on the computer screen. The girl was someone I had never really talked to and had only seen from afar but she immediately started excitedly saying she shipped Zuko and Katara too! In this simple shared obsession, I made one of the best friends I’ve ever had and we’re still friends to this day. We would theorize and fangirl over Avatar like it was nobody’s business; we poured over bootleg San Diego Comic Con footage that showed spoilers for season 2 before it aired; we lost our freaking minds when we finally saw The Crossroads of Destiny. We had watch parties every week as Season 3 of A:TLA aired, and comforted each other when the show ended as it did (much ranting was shared). Those are some of my happiest memories from high school… all because this one pairing from this wonderful show. Even though Zutara didn’t happen, we still chat every now and then about it. Zutara will probably be a lifelong obsession, always bubbling under the surface. And without it, I would have never realized that animation was a viable career path. It really did inspire everything including the work I’m doing to this day in the animation industry. I owe a lot to this ship and to Avatar: the Last Airbender.

2. What inspires you to create zutara fanworks?

The resurgence of Avatar: The Last Airbender this year really helped sort of spark that dormant love I had for Zutara. The show’s ending still disappointed me on the rewatch, but Zuko and Katara’s relationship arc was as captivating as ever, so I turned to some fanfiction and looking at people’s pretty Zutara art and AMVs to just revel in fanon instead of getting to hung up on the actual ending of the show. But then I realized, with quarantine and my work load being pretty light, I had time to actually make all new Zutara art for myself, art I was never fully capable of making as a kid, but now could do with my 7 years of industry experience and just… life experience. And I was inspired to do some corrective animatics to satisfy my own desire for a different ending. I just really like exploring these two characters, doing different and interesting things with them, and frankly I’m inspired to make cute, fluffy, romantic art simply by virtue of living in a really sad and depressing world. Things are so crazy right now, creating art about two characters I love being in love, is comforting. And it helps to have inspiring music and amazing Zutara amvs to just sort of stir up my emotions and imagery in my head to make into animatics and art.

3. Be selfish - if you could request one fanwork based on your own art/fanfic, what would it be? What would you absolutely love to see someone create?

Ohhhh… Well, It’s always nice to have people write fanfiction that puts words to my animatics. I am not that great at coming up with dialog myself, so I’ve just chosen to indulge in visuals and emotions for my boards. But when I read things like RideBoldlyRide’s take on my Reunion Animatic, it makes me pretty giddy. (They finally have voices!) :) And this is the MOST selfish thing I could request, but I’m not shy about saying how much I love well done amvs, so I will literally kill for someone to make Zutara AMVs to songs I like… Like, most of AURORA’s songs but especially Exist for Love, Sunseeker by The Naked and Famous, Promises or Take Me by Aly & AJ, Adore You by Harry Styles, Human Enough by ONR, Never Let Me Go by Florence + The Machine, and/or Almost (Sweet Music) by Hozier just… I can see the AMVs so clearly to any of these songs in my head, but I don’t have the tools or skill set at my disposal to make a compelling fan video. When I was in high school, I originally thought I wanted to go into video editing simply because I loved making very crappy AMVs (they were so bad you guys), but I figured out being a storyboard artist was more in my wheelhouse. haha

4. Any words for people who are new to the fandom and/or nervous about sharing their work for the first time?

If you’re new to the Zutara fandom, just have a good time! Don’t waste too much time arguing with people over your shipping preferences. I wasted so much of my teen years having pointless shipping wars with people on DeviantArt, and I’m just so much happier nowadays because I’m just making Zutara art in my little corner of the internet, and honestly, in the politest of ways, I don’t give a shit if people don’t like my art or Zutara. haha I think that’s sort of a key thing for people thinking of posting creative works here in the fandom, just make art for yourself, satisfy your own desires for the pairing, get your creative sparks flying, and create just for the joy of creating. It’s always nice to get comments and such, but simply making the art should be what spurs you on, not the external validation. And have a good time, don’t worry too much - I say as someone who worries about EVERYTHING. But honestly, making art for A:TLA is some of the most relaxed I’ve been because I make it just for me. I’m lucky others seem to like it too!

5. What’s an idea for a fanwork that you have but haven't gotten around to making?

I have an idea for a second generation storyline with my Zutara kids that involves Kya (the eldest firebending daughter) falling in love with an airbender boy (tentatively named Gora in my headcanon who’s a bit of a rabble rouser and one of Aang’s kids he had with a Kyoshi Warrior), and then they start a socialist revolution in the Fire Nation in order to dismantle all of the hierarchical societies across the Avatar world… Together Kya and Gora Fan the Flames of revolution… ehhhhh... Get it?? Oh! Oh, and then Katara, who had put in legit liberal reforms in her time as Fire Lady listens to her daughter after resisting in the first part of the story, but then realizes she can actually play a part in the dissolution of the royalty and is also active in the revolution realizing that moderate liberal reforms are no substitute for a society free of serving royalty (which she had always been uncomfortable with but had rationalized with herself that she was doing good in her capacity as Fire Lady.) I just feel like there’s a lot of cool potential for discussing these ideas and also having some aspirational change in the Avatar world. lol For aesthetics and just happy fluffy times, I can indulge in Fire Lady and Fire Lord Zuko stuff, but really at the end of the day, I take issue with the structures in a society that have to exist for monarchies to exist. Soooo, I kind of want to do my own corrective story for that… if I ever have the time or guts. On a less ambitious note, I would love to do a Zutara sparring animatic to practice doing action, but I need a good story; I am not good at doing fights just for fighting’s sake. Those are just some things I have rattling around in my head.

6. Are you participating in ZFAW? If so want to give us a hint as to your plans?

Yes! The most I can say is I have one animatic almost finished and one that’s still being thumbnailed. The rest are probably going to be comics or emotive single pieces based on the fanfics I really like right now. :)

#interviews #zutara fanworks appreciation week #zfaw #hayleynfoster #zutara

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shinidamachu · 3 years

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I often give Kikyo a hard time and is probably one of my least favourite characters. But she's a tragic character who didn't deserve her fate. I think it would have been more exciting that after her resurrection, she would turn into a villain with so much bitterness and hatred towards Inuyasha and Kagome, to then having one of the most greatest and compelling redemption arcs in the series. It would kind of be a parallel to Naraku. I would of loved Kikyo if that were the case. What do you think?

Do you really give her a hard time? Or are you just being critical of the way her character was portrayed? Because let me tell you, that’s not a crime. No piece of media or character is above criticism. As long as it’s not unnecessary bashing, I think it’s perfectly okay and healthy to use our critical skills, just like it’s fine to unapologetically enjoy something without thinking about it too hard.

ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ is probably one of my least favorite characters as well, but she had gorgeous character design, her backstory was intriguing and she had a crazy amount of potential. It's not her fault that it was all wasted.

The biggest problem, at least to me, is that the narrative was constantly trying to paint ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ as a victim only of Onigumo's obsession, of Naraku's traps and of fate itself. Because she was also victim of her own wrong choices and of bad writing. That was the real tragedy.

The narrative barely holds her accountable for anything she did and therefore her character has no room to improve or grow. And yes, I know this might be the case for several characters, such as Koga. The difference is that they were never treated as the epitome of purity and didn’t have the same level of importance to the story as she did.

It was essential to give her more backstory, to truly make her face and regret the consequences of her actions, to make her reevaluate herself, to challenge her belief system. The way they tried to do that, mostly with Kohaku and a little bit with Kagome, was unsatisfactory to me.

The way it happened, it felt like she was a side character who was there just to be sad, pretty and to create angst between the protagonists. And could have been so much more!

Personally, I love the idea of ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ as a spiritual guide to Kagome, the way Roku was to Aang in Avatar: The Last Airbender. In this scenario, ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ and Inuyasha truly loved each other, not just the idea of having someone. She still helps Onigomu and it still bites her in the ass, but the difference is that when he became Naraku, he couldn’t fool Inuyasha and ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ into turning against each other. What he achieved instead was killing her and putting the blame on Inuyasha, who is then sealed to the Tree of Ages as a punishment.

ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ reincarnates as Kagome and everything else is pretty much the same, but using her spiritual powers, Kagome has the option to go to ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ for guidance and ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ is always there to help her clean up the mess she made, as well as Inuyasha’s name. They then could have focused more on Kagome’s struggle to measure up to ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ, getting out of her shadow, finding her own place in the world. The romance with Inuyasha would be held back by the fear that ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ is the one he is seeing whenever he looks at her.

And Inuyasha could have trouble with the same doubts, until they find out together that it was a “yes and” situation. Yes, he loved ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ. And now he loves Kagome. For her part, ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ would have achieved nirvana once Naraku was defeated and Inuyasha is finally, truly happy again, instead of doing it by spending ten seconds in the arms of a man who's not in love with her anymore and maybe never really was.

Now, if that couldn’t have been done, everything was the same and it was essential to bring her back, she should have been brought back as a human. Flesh, bones, blood, the whole package. That would have given her a fighting chance, it would have made the love triangle less shallow. It would have given ɪɴᴜᴋɪᴋ a second chance, let them try to fix what was wrong in their relationship.

To me, narratively speaking, Inuyasha ending up with Kagome still would have made much more sense, but at least they would get to see for themselves why they don’t work and never again be haunted by “what if’s.” ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ would have realized that she wanted to be an ordinary woman more than she ever wanted Inuyasha. That she doesn’t need him or any man to achieve that. So this is what she finally becomes. Inuyasha would have realized that what he felt for ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ was infatuation and that Kagome was the one he truly loves, that they were born for each other.

In the meantime, ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ could have been working as a double agent, pretending to be consumed by hatred and evil only to give the Inugang precious information and trying to destroy Naraku from the inside. This could have given us an amazing dynamic with ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ, Kanna, Kohaku and especially Kagura. I get chills just thinking about the parallel between ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ wanting to be an ordinary woman and Kagura wanting to be the free wind. By extension, she could have actually interacted with Sesshomaru, which would also be cool.

And finally, I would have made ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ show affection for her sister. It felt like Kagome had more quality time with Kaede than her own blood, who didn’t seem to care about her at all. Do you have any idea how crazy that was? They only had each other, ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ died and Kaede had to grow up without her. Then she comes back from the death as young as she was before, to a gray Kaede. And none of this was explored. Nor this dynamic shift, nor the feelings they had about her ressurection. Nada.

But I also love your idea. I agree that ᴋɪᴋʏᴏ as an actual villain would have been exciting to see! A fallen priestess, consumed by darkness. Struggling with the good and the bad within. The parallel to Naraku, to Tsubaki. I think this would actually be the easier choice to go with in the original, because she did some pretty questionable things already. It would be a simple matter of taking a step forward and making the narrative call it out rather than just brush it off.

#Inuyasha #Thank you for the ask babe #Sidmailing

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kikiscastleinthesky · 4 years

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THE SOKKASM ZUTARA

I’ve seen a lot of tumblr blogs that ship zutara and I decided that is time for me to open mine too. So, yes, I’m a zutara shipper. And for the time being, my posts are going to be dedicated principally to analyze the ships in ATLA.

Disclaimer alert: I’m not forcing anyone to ship zutara. And I won’t accept hate because I (and many others) may have a different opinion, If you are one of those persons I invite you to leave, don’t waste my time and yours, because I’m not even going to reply. Everyone has the right to ship whatever they like and want, without been mocked, harrassed and humiliated.

Well... now that everything is settled: 3...2...1 go!

I’m starting with this small analysis, because every zutara shipper has been attacked on why zutara and zutara is horrible yada yada but, this ocassion I’m gonna use all the attacks we get and defend it.

I. Zutara is way the worst toxic relationship:

You call Zuko the abuser, the toxic and the bad tempered? Then you didn’t get a clue of his redemption arc.

You call zutara toxic for:

a) giving your mother’s closure and final acceptance into the group?

b) saving each other’s life?

c) being the “leading co-parenting” of the group?

d) support you when you’re about to beg for his uncle forgiveness?

II. The cave scene didn’t mean anything, and just think about it, they would never ever get along well:•

Of course, I misunderstood Zuko confessing his own grief, probably he just hates her.

When Katara opens to her mother sorrow like she never did with anyone was like no big deal.

That part when she offers to heal his scar with SACRED water was totally illogical.

And being the first person who he let touch his scar really said to me that they were absolutely toxic.

Yes, he betrayed her initial trust. And it hurt, but guess who betrayed worst? The man who for three years was his father. But nope, Iroh, should never forgive Zuko, for what he did. (Right? Katara was betrayed and she should bever have interest in him, so Iroh would never forgive his abuser, right?)

III. Zutara is about getting in love with your abuser:

The abuser love? When did Zuko abused Katara? When did he forced to do something she didn’t want? Did he ever physically abused her or sexually assaulted her? Even if he tied her to a tree, he never humiliated her, he never hurt her or overpass against her. Or are you trying to make up his whole plot to eliminate all his attacks towards team avatar only rest in the female character? (Have you forgot how he betrayed his uncle? Or even himself?)

IV. Zutara is an age gap, it would be underage thing. “You don’t like Aang because he is a child and still pair Zuko, being a minor.” You want to hypersexualize two kids (Aang and Katara) into having sexual interest.

Katara would have been dating an underage guy too. She would have been 18 and Aang 16. I know! Age gap only matter when the man’s older. Both Katara and Zuko had gone through puberty, and both were in adolescence, both shared the same maturity level. Yes dude, there a huge difference in being a CHILD and being a TEENAGER, yes, still minor, But with puberty hit already.

Actually, I still believe even being 11-12 you can get like a… spark… a hint. Even if its not a relationship whatsoever, and not having sexual interest of any kind. If you really want to see what closest we get to a “real” attraction and potential between kiddos that age, you get S1Mike and Eleven (stranger things) / you get Chihiro and Haku (Spirited away) / you get Pazu and Sheeta. (The castle in the sky) –Wooo, that really changes things right?

But yet there are people that believe shipping zutara is “pedophile” I thought in seriously not replying to this stupidities but, here I am, dismantling their theories.

So, this is real life. An adult person trying to sleep with a prepubescent kid. So… there is no support on this. Because a ship is about two fictional characters in a fictional story.

What about fictional pedophilia? Well, we can change that: Fictional pedophilia is a psychosexual disorder when you ship an adult fictional character (+18) to have a sexual interest in a fictional prepubescent child (-12) and / or attempt to engage both characters in sexual acts.

So step one… are either Zuko or Katara either an adult or prepubescent child? As you can see in the image at the right, both have gone through puberty. Step two, are you trying to a couple of minors to get sexually involved? No, this is a love story, not porn. And before you yell at me for the porn zutara comics/fics on the web, I guess you should see the porn Kataang /fics comics on the web too.

But I don’t hate any ship. So, technically, neither Kataang, nor Sukka, nor Yukka, nor Jetara, nor Maiko is pedophilia.

Ok, yeah yeah its not pedo, but is statutory rape, so yet it’s illegal.

Oh yes, if we state that 18 is the age where you are considered an adult (at least in my country) both are minors, your term is partially correct. But guess what would be statutory rape too?

Sukka (15) and Maiko (16-17), both implied to have sex relationships and canon during the series.

The episode "The Southern Raiders" became (in)famous among the fandom for what is a truly epic instance of this trope. Zuko bumps into a very flustered Suki on the way to Sokka's tent, and she hurriedly excuses herself. He walks into Sokka's tent to ask him a question and finds him pants-less and surrounded by flowers and candles. He even greets Zuko with a suggestive "Well helloooo..." before he realizes who itis. After a short talk, he rushes Zuko out and sticks his head out to call for Suki. And if there was any doubt, Sokka is shown the next morning fiddling with a flower necklace for no apparent reason... except to indicate that maybe Suki had been “deflowered”.

And yet, if Kataang had sex, it would be statutory sex at some point too: 16 and 18 -Conclusions: Statutory sex takes all ships equally.

V. Poor Aang he would be devastated.

Kid, he’s 12, in the comics he’s 13-14. Or what? Haven’t you guys had a broken heart ever? Your high school sweetie? Or Aang’s so frail to not be able to find love? To close himself for a better opportunity? Seeking your own happiness in not selfish. What is selfish is seeking your own happiness at the other expenses.

And even that, we all know what would Aang do if Katara starts a relationship with Zuko. (Even if it wasn’t Zuko, I highly doubt he would like Katara dating someone else) He would go on avatar rampage. That is NOT healthy, that is NOT romantic. That is extremely possessive and selfish to do. It’s psychotic. Because Aang cares more about himself than Katara’s feelings, even if she would be happier without him.

VI. Zutara is all about sex interest.

Well once more you mistake chemistry with sexual needs. Wanting me to sleep with my husband means I only use him for sex relief? If I find myself sexually attracted to anyone probably means I just want to sleep with that person and nothing else.

VII. A hug is all zutarians have to acknowledge zutara:

We have a complete extended analysis in all the small details, but we like to use that forgiveness hug because in that hug you have more potential that all the kataang scenes all together. We have thousands of complete analyses, pages dedicated exclusively zutara.

VIII. Katara “fell in love with Aang” and it’s not one sided.

Uh... Nope, just because two persons are good friends it doesn’t mean they are a good couple. Yes, the way the both of them interact is absolutely beautiful, But not romantically.

Do we see Katara’s view on romantically being drawn towards Aang? Yes, we see it, and yes, unfortunately, is one sided.

How Kataangers complete this:

· The fortune-teller: I didn’t see like “Wow omg the avatar is going to be my future husband!” But… was like “uh… really?… well, I guess it’s him” Zutarians and Aunt Wu are the base for many backs up theories. ;) Aang is not the only powerful bender you know? And actually, that episode is way trying too hard to demonstrate the crush Meng has for Aang and Aang has to Katara. How is even healthy to accept that sometimes persons don’t like you back and it’s not the end of the world.

· The cave scene: I forgot that Katara is telling him to be her boyfriend and they will live happily ever after. And really, it all gets us to a real Oma and Shu theory. Not to mention that they were “forced” to kiss because their kids innocence believed if they kissed, they wouldn’t die, and that Aang messed up things as well. But if you see it beneath, if she was truly interested, she would have told Aang: “wow omg we kissed, ok. let’s give him a clue…” nothing, she goes back in treating him same as always.

· The headband dance: Well that’s a fair point yes. Actually, I felt something different…unfortunately Katara later had to tell him not to kiss her.

IX. Zutara is because you projected on Katara and had a crush on Zuko, because Katara and Zuko were your favourite characters and because is the bad boy style romance.

My crush was Jet <3, and zutara was the most logical endgame for girls. Ask any girl, ANY 14 yo who would like to date: A high school, nice and handsome guy or a 7th grader that had potential to be her best friend. (See the logic)

And nope is not like “Insert fav characters of the opposite sex to ship them” You need to see real development.

I don’t know why they stereotype Zuko as the “bad boy” – relationship archetype. Zuko is never seen to be the classic fuck boy who treats girls like shit and suddenly there comes a lady to change him. Maybe he is a “bad boy” (confused though) in S1 and S2, but his redemption arc is literally the answer of why he is not “bad boy” anymore.

If Katara was truly and really romantically interested then she wouldn’t have friendzoned Aang. Once? Nope 4 times. And also… are we forgetting kind of imagery…

Friendzoned

When Aang fixes her a small necklace with the fishing thread.

When he kissed her at the invasion. She didn’t reciprocate it. (I’m not even mentioning the mommy proud speech)

When he wanted to talk about the kiss in the western air temple (Comic love is a battlefield)

When he kissed her at the play and she had to told him to back off.

Strange imagery

She was June Pippinpaddleopsokopolis (Aang’s granddaughter)

When Aang got shot, she held his body in her arms in the exact way Mary held Jesus in Pieta’s sculpture.

She was Sapphire Fire. (Aang’s pregnant mother)

After they got married, in the book legacy, she said she enjoyed most seeing Aang becoming a man. (Honestly ladies if I got a BF the least I want is seeing how the kid transforms into a man)

I’m looking forward to watch you grow into manhood as I did to your father (Katara’s letter to Tenzin)

I’m really trying to deny Oedipus complex here.

Still hard for me to track Katara’s love interest for little Aang since all we see is more a relationship mom/sister or Harry/Hermione. I have heard rumours that Bryke wanted to give the ship “mystery” and “expectation” but I think they really messed up, I didn’t see expectation or mystery, I saw a child insisting to a girl that didn’t reciprocate. It wasn’t even like she didn’t have much of a chance, because her love interests:

Was killed by Long Feng

Gave him a hideous mustache and disappeared him after Azula’s attack in the western air temple.

Forced to be attached to a toxic relationship.

Apart that all those points I’ve mentioned, Kataang is not a relationship for me. Staying in a formal relationship with the first person they met of the opposite sex at 14 -12 (guys not even Disney does that, jeez not even studio Ghibli) and not having any chance to experience any other relationship. Never experiencing a broken heart, or someone better. I think that it gives the wrong idea, telling guys that no matter how long they are placed in friendzone, eventually the girl will fall for them. They just have to keep insisting.

You could say, but what a hypocrite! Snow White was 14 years old when she went to live with that prince! Many princesses are 16! And not to mention that many men were the first they met! Like Aurora, Rapunzel, and Cinderella. Well, you are right at one point. But ... the interaction of these characters changes radically, mainly because they never "give cute kisses" to their future husbands, nor do they treat them like their brothers or their children and ... the men were never friendzoned, except for Naveen at the beginning. You see the real attraction of teenage girls with an older boy. And I'm not saying that they should never be friends or support each other. Mulan and Chang were allies, friends, they supported each other, they saved their lives. But at no time was there the kind of interaction Katara and Aang had.

If Kataang was to be endgame, we would see Katara’s reaction to Jet, totally different, THAT kind of reaction was what I was waiting. (That kind of reaction is what every princess do, at least one time)

The same chemistry we saw in Yukka / Sukka. Honestly, I saw more chemistry between Haru and Katara.

Or at least give us some character development like: Aang, I know my feelings where not as you wanted but now I decided I want to be with you because (list everything here except he being the avatar), I really like you, perhaps we can give it a shot. Or like several things that could clue us that she is interested (come on people, two persons can kiss/hug/ have sex and that doesn’t imply they will be together in a formal relationship) But all we got was: Oh, right, he’s the avatar... suddenly I fell for him and I’m gonna kiss him fully in the mouth and that’s how I’ll tell him and that all my confusion has magically disappeared.

X. I’ve never saw that kind of spark between them. Again, it was “Just a hug”

Yes! That’s initially the whole point of it, a friendship hug, the truth of why we don’t need silly blushes. Because that forgiveness hug shows their initial relationship, they are friends! All their love needs to come first from a truthful friendship, by the contrary of calling the “immediate falling” like Aang did for Katara, it shows us that friendship love can evolve into something more beautiful, and that’s why we like the ship, because all zutara shippers know Zuko and Katara wouldn’t fall in love like that all of the sudden, they have to create the romantic relationship, and that’s what we portray in the fics.

What makes Zutara exceptional is that he, sees her, he hears her, he listens what she had to do, at anytime he forced her to do something she didn’t. And before a “teenager adolescence ship” he sees her as a human, with feelings with own ideals and goals.

And there is a complete and extremely well based analysis in: The crossroads of destiny + The southern raiders + The lighting saving.

XI. The comics show us how toxic they really where.

Their interaction in the comics was something I like to call: destroying a character. Not only Katara, who turned to be that awesome badass to the submissive girlfriend. From how I see it in the series to the comics there’s all I have to say: That’s not my girl.

XII. How Katara could be queen of a country that almost aniquilates her tribe and killed her mother? It would be a betrayal.

I think this argument is out. Not valid. Is like saying a Jew can’t date a German because of the holocaust. (German doesn’t mean nazi, just as Zuko, who was from the Fire Nation and didn’t order Katara’s mother assassination, and not every citizen of the fire nation means a ruthless killer). Is like saying that a Japanese can’t date a us citizen because of the bombs in WW2. And even if we see it “political”, is like… an aphrodescendant can’t rule a country that is racist, then Mr. Obama would have never reached the presidency.

Two persons can unify them, because they can demonstrate that being from different country that initally has not good terms can reach peace. The union between those countries represents the power of maturity, of overcoming adversities and the power of forgiveness. *Our lands now connected by love* And I want her to be queen, I want her to rule, I want her in charge, I want her in power. Imagine all the potential she could have (politics, business, negotiations, rebuilding, restoration, education, public health!! ***faints***) Not only for the fire Nation but for the whole world! Imagine that once Zuko abdicated they left to the south pole and she opened a fighting school and a healing school of her own (like master Pakku, but now her students are given a medical license that acknowledges them as professional healers) And this is just an idea. Like these ideas are hundreds. It would have been the perfect feminist role model!

XIII. Since the beginning, Katara was always interested in Aang and she always supported him and was for him when he needed her. That’s proof they were meant to each other.

If a girl expresses faith in your abilities, she loves you, she hugs you, and she supports you clearly she’s completely into you. Because obviously female best friends don’t exist.

#zutara #ATLA #Zutaradefense #Ifyoudon'tlikeitscrollaway #Noreplytohaters #Katarandzuko #Dismantlingtheattacks

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hillnerd · 4 years

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Did you like Legend of Korra? I was so excited to watch it but it never made me feel anything and after a while it became a chore to watch it until the end. Obviously it was impossible to reach ATLA's standard of perfection, but i never expected it would be this bad, because 4 seasons and i never understood what the story was or what's the moral of the story. Everything seemed rushed and were happening just to happen without having a bigger picture in mind.

So, I didn't much like Legend of Korra. Like you, I was very excited for the series, and like you I felt there was no ‘bigger picture’ in mind.

It started off with me not getting invested with the main teen cast. I found them to be a little one-dimensional with character arcs that fell flat or did not feel earned.

Example- Korra's first character arc in season 1- with her being unable to be spiritual, she loses her tie to her bending/spirituality- then, apropos of nothing, she can avatar state and has it all back because she randomly talked with Aang. This was a repeating pattern within the series. More thoughts:

There would be big character reveals that are interesting, then they'd immediately get thrown out and/or nothing much would be done with them.

The characters were knocked unconscious/kidnapped just about every episode.

The different villains would start off as interesting, but then they'd kill them off.

Character relationships between the teens felt flimsy and didn't have build ups I got invested in.

I felt like the creators used humbling Korra via torture/trauma counted as a character arc/growth- and honestly it felt a bit liek torture porn for no reason. Like, how DARE this woman be cocky? Let's DESTROY her episode after episode.

It had some AMAZING ideas for alternate bending practices, and I loved some of the cast (Tenzin and Lin Beifong I LOVED.) But the main teens felt more like tropes than fully fleshed out characters for me.

Mako and Asami were so stiff and boring when their backstories were super interesting and could have been these amazing motivators. Bolin was adorable, and my fave of those main four- but I didn't like a few of the arcs they chose for him.

Korra was never going to be my fave character because of her personality and dumb decisions, but she was fine and I think they WASTED her character arcs. (I've never been big on dumb cocky jock characters who aren't funny/clever/lovable and don’t even have a tragic backstory. They just aren't my fave. :P)

Korra had a few moments in there that were very powerful, and I loved when she had that moment with the airbender dude on the bridge- moments like that were really great, but too few and far between. Even the animal characters were more about the DESIGN than their personality.

I loved the look/design of much of the world they developed. It was interesting, though felt waaaay too 'American' instead of feeling like a truly asian-based culture? It felt like they thought 'ah, the 1920s! Aka, new york!' which was sad, because the way traditional culture of Asia got blighted out by Westernization in real life was a huge tragedy- and they had this chance to really go 'alternate development of technology/culture' with the world- but instead were like 'Modern=Super Western.' Varrick was a fun guy- I had a ball when he was on screen- but yet again it all felt very 'we're taking this straight from American history.'

I love that they had a bit of a lesbian ending to the series- but not gonna lie, I felt like Korra and Asami's actual on page relationship was lackluster, had no chemistry besides what they LOOKED like together, and just felt as flat as every romantic relationship we saw. (Seriously, the only one that had something going on was Jinora/Kai? Like, even Tenzin and his wife didn’t do much dynamically.)

The best characters were the ones tied directly to the original Avatar cast- Aang and Toph's progeny. They had some amazing characters and moments there. Honestly, they could have made Korra be Sokka's grandkid and had her take a bit more after him and Suki- that could have been cool, but instead they did nothing with either of them. :(

They kind of took a huge dump on our original cast at times, I felt- and honestly seeing the original Avatar and having the mechanics of the spiritual world/Avatar cycle so spelled out felt a whole lot like when star wars did midichlorians. It just took away a lot of the magic and didn't do much for the series, to me at least.

So yeah... There is interesting stuff, great designs, and it had a bunch of potential- I just think it never was fully realized as it could have been. I feel like the strongest suits of the creators are their imaginative takes on ways to use bending, ways to fuck with people, and their designs. They seemed WAY more invested in the adult characters when it came to internal motivation/character arcs/personality/history etc. and I WISH they’d just stuck with them when they were younger, to be honest. They were way more interesting than any of the teens/kids. I’d love to see ‘the Aang Gaang’s’ kids doing adventures way more than anything I saw with Korra and her pals.

#Anonymous #legend of korra #lok critical #legend of korra critical

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neven-ebrez · 4 years

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I just saw your tags and your latest post and just wanted to say agree! Watched SheRa so felt more hopeful in a destiel and then I remembered that this is supernatural

Shows aimed at kids owe certain messages, which is why I prefer them most of the time. I think we all could do with feeling a little more hope, even when that hope comes from a fictional place. The feelings are real. That said, I’ve just started Dreamworks’ SheRa S2 and it is absolutely the best emotional cleanser I’ve felt in a long ass time. After the edited/censored mess with Dreamsworks’ VLD I wasn’t absolutely sure if I trusted Dreamworks anymore, if there was some blame to lay there after all but now there’s like... no doubt in my mind. Dreamworks definitely didn’t butcher VLD. You can’t go from the values set on fire by VLD to a production standard like SheRa unless someone else had a say.

This isn’t another bitter VLD post tho, it’s a happy SheRa post!

The structure of Adora and Catra is very similar to Destiel on an emotional character level, particularly with the examination of trauma, a big SPN focal point (to various degrees of effective execution). The devotion Catra has to Adora is very much like Cas’ to Dean. But also, Catra has the same abandonment issues Dean has about Cas leaving him only she actually talks about them a fair bit (and weaponizes those feelings against Glimmer in defense, for example). “Oh Adora left me so believe me she’ll eventually leave you, too!” This abandonment issue is the focal point of everything Catra does towards Adora. This makes Catra’s reasoning and emotions far more visible than Cas’ and Dean’s, who mostly just look at each other sadly and repeat misunderstandings to the other’s face without the other correcting them in the most tragic display of wasted writing potential I’ve honestly ever seen lol.

It’s funny. Adora and Catra are much like Gamora and Nebula from Guardians of the Galaxy only there’s clearly more complex feelings between them with the “together forever” desire very clear on Catra’s end (instead of Nebula’s “I just wanted a sister”, language SheRa pointedly avoids), much to her individual mental detriment (I’d argue). Moreso for Catra’s than Adora, the relationship is also what drives Catra to carry on. She’s learned to thrive on trauma mixed with love so everything is pretty confusing for her. The show treats the relationship as both noose and bridge to salvation which is so nuanced for a kids’ show! The relationship hurts them, but also saves them. It’s like everything SPN could be doing with Destiel if they had bigger balls than a kids show lol. The other closest comparison I have for them is Aang and Zuko. Zuko, for most of AtLA, is driven by the desire to please an authority figure, thinking it will bring him happiness and peace, until he realizes he’s wrong and that only he can shape his own destiny. SheRa’s production imo clearly looked at Zuko’s arc as a standard (and it’s about time someone fucking did) and wrote Catra to the standard. I’ve seen enough spoilers to know at least this.

So it’s like SheRa took Aang/Zuko (characters with intertwined destinies) on a character level and mixed it with Gamora/Nebula trauma (children stolen and raised by an evil force) but made it gay and hopeful. And it’s just super compelling??? The characters talk about their fears and feelings and get support from the people around them?? The “”bad”” guys are still people you think could do better under better circumstances with the right support (like in The Good Place)????? The animation is bright and cute??? Gender and sexuality positivity is just EVERYWHERE???? Just everyone should watch it and feel better about everything!!

#ask zerbe #shera and the princesses of power #SheRa #spn is never gonna be the show we know it could be #and that’s always gonna make me sad #but the longer this hiatus goes on the less emotionally invested I find myself with that impeding disappointment #so there’s that

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meggannn · 6 years

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(based on your previous ask) do you mind if I ask how you feel about lok? is there a general consensus if it's good or bad? youre really insightful and just wanted to know if there were any major issues you had with it

yeah sure, i’ll do my best. if you want a quick answer to your question, here is a link to some of my other korra posts where i say pretty much the same thing as i do here, just in fewer words. cause this post will be mostly an unhappy summary of my experience watching the show. this post will contain spoilers, and disclaimer, i am a really biased, disappointed asshole, so i’ll just admit that now.

short answer: i liked the concept of lok more than the product we got. a lot of that is because you had a physically buff brown wlw protagonist written mostly by cishet white men and, as you can imagine, it wasn’t handled great. when i think of lok now i tend to fluctuate between bittersweet nostalgia and quiet, simmering rage.

if you don’t care about the show summary, skip at the middle paragraph break down to my tldr.

so for those who don’t know, LOK was really my first “big” fandom on tumblr. when it was announced, a bunch of ATLA purists were already hating on it because 1) brown woman, 2) it was unrealistic to go from ATLA’s technology to streampunk in 70 years, and 3) it wasn’t ATLA, basically. it was my first big interest that i got to participate in as it was airing, and i was really excited about it. i defended it, i wrote meta, i liveblogged, i wrote tons of fic and spammed theories/wants before the damn show even had a release date. all that is to say, i was Invested, and i believed in it before i even saw it. people called me a bnf, i’m not sure if that’s true, but i did gain a lot my followers in my first few years on tumblr by posting korra stuff. a lot of them – hello – i think are still around today (i’m not certain how all the video games hasn’t scared them off yet)

i should say at this point that my opinion of LOK the show has been really wrapped up in the ugly stain left by the fanbase. korra the character has been the subject of tons of racist, misogynistic criticism since the moment we saw her back; when she showed up on screen as a proud young woman who fought with authority and stood up for herself, that was the nail in the coffin for her reputation. i agreed that she had a bit of growing up to do, because ATLA/LOK have always been stories about coming of age and maturing, but i disagreed strongly with this notion that she deserved to be “humbled,” which is what a lot of fans were looking for.

the overall consensus on if it’s “good” depends on who you ask. most people agree that ATLA is better overall: it was better plotted because it benefited from more writers in the room and more episodes to flesh out the world. opinions on LOK specifically range based a lot on their opinions of the K/orra/sami pairing, if they were involved in or what side they were on in any of the fandom wank, and also just complete random chance.

i’ll go more in depth into my ‘history’ with the show below, but i just wanted to mention that all the while the show was airing, korra was being hit with waves of criticism by so-called fans for basically being a confident brown woman who were calling for her to learn her place, respect her elders, etc. another common theme was fandom’s brilliant fucking idea that asami, a light-skinned feminine non-bending woman who was more polite and reserved than korra, would’ve made a better avatar. because you know why. (korra was often described as brutal, rough, unsophisticated, next to pretty, perfect asami. and asami is a fine character, to be clear, but that’s what she was – fine. nothing really stands out about her, which is a fault of the writing, because she had a lot of potential too.) so anyway all of this did sour my mood toward engaging with other fans outside my friend circle.

–

it was around maybe the middle of book 1 that i realized the writing for the show was simpler than what i was expecting – not that it was childish, which it was (because it was written for children, i understood that), but i felt like the plot meandered and the twists came out of nowhere. it felt like they were making it up as they were going, and it opened threads it didn’t answer. one of the biggest threads was the equalist revolution, which was a very sensitive topic that got jettisoned when the leader was revealed to be a fraud, and that devalued the entire movement in an instant. really disappointing, because i was looking forward to seeing that addressed. for a lot of people, this was a dealbreaker, and they started walking. i stuck with it, but loosely.

book 2 aired, focusing on the spiritual world and some really cool history. it still suffered a lot from awkward b-plots and loose threads it didn’t know how to tackle. korra lost her memory and then regained it 2 episodes later with no consequences, mako flip-flopped between korra and asami because bryke don’t know how to write teenage romances without making it a love triangle, and at some point bolin kissed a girl against her will and they didnt acknowledge that at all? i honestly don’t remember. anyway at the end of book 2, even though korra saves the day and prevents the world from descending into darkness for ten thousand years, due to events beyond her control, korra loses the spiritual connection that ties her to all of the previous avatars – aang, roku, kyoshi, wan, everyone. and people hit the fucking ceiling. “korra’s not a real avatar if she lost her connection to the old ones! that’s the entire point of the cycle! this show is bullshit, it’s not canon anymore!” (the entire point that finale demonstrated that korra’s power alone was enough to save the world and she didn’t need anyone else. but people found that ~unrealistic~ i guess). as you can imagine, being a fan of LOK is starting to get a little tiring by now.

books 3-4 is where the korra haters got to love the show again, because they were both straight-up torture porn. after everything she did saving the world, this is the arc where korra got beat down, tortured, dragged into the dirt, swallowed and spat back out. book 3 is a lot of people’s favorites because it was the first book that felt fully plotted out before it was put on air, which is why i enjoyed it too. but for me it was difficult to see a girl, whose identity revolved around being the avatar after being raised and sheltered to think it was all she was good for, effectively abandon her life and even her name by the beginning of book 4 because the events of book 3 were that traumatizing for her. somehow this was character development. we were encouraged to stick with it because we hoped korra would find herself again. and she did, sorta.

but it makes me furious that people who had quit in books 1-2 came back during 3 because they heard these books were better – aka book 3, the book that featured korra the least, and books 3-4 in which korra got her ass handed to her in some of the hardest fights vs some of the cruelest villains of the series. (nevermind that the book 3 villains suffer from the anime villain curse: they quickly went from “cool character design” to “wait, how does this rando group of villains show up with powers literally no one in the universe has ever heard before?” – questions no one ever answers)

anyway book 4 is a mish-mash of… i’m not sure. i’ve rewatched all the books but i don’t know if i’ll ever touch this one again. the culturally appropriating airbender wannabe, zaheer (a complete rando who somehow masters airbending enough to fly, which was a huge middle finger to airbending masters aang and tenzin for no reason) a guy who literally tortured korra one season before and put her in a wheelchair, is the one who the writers send korra to for her spiritual awakening that lets her save the day. not tenzin or jinora, her spiritual teachers with whom she has positive, healthy relationships – they send her back to her abuser who terrifies and degrades her a bit more before deciding to help. this was a pattern: the writers made both korra and asami face their abusers (in asami’s case, her father) for catharsis instead of gaining peace over their trauma another, healthier way because…. i’m not sure why. there is no reason why. and then there’s the guilt tripping nonsense of asami feeling as if she had to forgive her father, who tried to kill her, because he said he was sorry and sacrificed himself for her in the finale. it’s angst galore, if you like that kind of thing, which i normally do, except this is less angst and more just the writers trying to hammer in torture porn, grimdark, and poor attempts at morally gray nonsense into their finale season.

anyway at the end of her journey, korra, our buff brown woc, learns that she had to suffer to learn how to be compassionate and relate to her enemy. i’m not exaggerating, she literally says that. which is lovely.

–

tldr: i wasted a lot of emotional time and energy into this show and was extremely disappointed when some of the ending’s notes were “you had to suffer to become a better person” and “forgive your abusers/villains because aren’t we all the same in the end?”

but also on a strictly narrative level, LOK also bit off way more than it could chew both emotionally and thematically. it had an amazing premise, but it was not committed to

utilizing the steampunk genre to its best potential in the bending world (after the creativity in the rest of the worldbuilding, the LOK series finale was literally fighting a giant robot – seriously?)

giving its hero the respect and character arc she deserved. and i don’t say that because i think korra had no growing up to do in b1, she did, but she didn’t deserve for it to happen like that.

so basically i realized that a lot of the writers that made ATLA great weren’t brought back for LOK, and it showed. i realized that the LOK writers, when they listened to fans, were listening to the fans that whined the loudest, or (more likely, since they plan seasons years before we see them) they thought from the beginning that it was a good idea for korra to go through years’ worth of pain just to be spat out a humbler, “better” person

the reason i told you all that about me defending LOK in the beginning is because i need you to understand that i believed in LOK longer than i probably should’ve. i wanted it to be everything i was expecting in a diverse children’s show with an unorthodox female protaganist. but just because they had a brown wlw heroine doesn’t mean that they deserved to be praised for it when they treated her like garbage.

and korra and asami walk into a beam of light together in the last second of the show and i’m supposed to applaud the writers for their bravery or something

#megan talks about korra #Anonymous #askbox #this is a very condensed summary because otherwise i'd be here all day talking about the pro-asami anti-korra fandom wank

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feychannel · 7 years

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5, 30, 31 and 33 :)

Do you ever have a moment where you look at your inbox and go “I swore I answered that” and then you… never did?? If not, this is my life and my incredibly poor choices :’) I AM SO SORRY BUT HERE WE GO:

Ask me my top 3′s!

5) Top 3 Romantic Relationships Between Characters

Sora/Kairi, Kingdom Hearts. There aren’t many ships I’ve been ride or die for - either my multishipping habits get the best of me, or I’m simply not That Invested in their story. Sora/Kairi (or SoKai) hold a very special place in my heart for being the first real fandom ship I’ve ever had. They hit so many of my narrative benchmarks - friends to lovers, “making each other better, reminding each other that they’re whole, keeping each other safe without realizing it,” etc - that bitty me was invested from the very first time I saw them on screen. I don’t want to think about how much fanfic I’ve written for them either …

Damon Salvatore / Bonnie Bennett (”Bamon”), The Vampire Diaries. I could write a whole thesis on why their entire relationship is wasted potential and how their entire fandom was baited into thinking it could actually happen (see: my otp tag), but the short version is that Damon is a better person in Bonnie’s presence, and not because anyone’s forcing him to. He wants to be better for himself. If that’s not a compelling story, I’m not sure what would be.

Dick Grayson/Kori Anders, DC Comics. While I’m not as hardcore about them as I was in high school, they receive a spot because they balanced each other out so well - and I was far more intrigued by them than any of Dick’s other romantic interests.

Honorable mention: Stefan Salvatore/Elena Gilbert, the Vampire Diaries, but only because their entire dynamic is grown-up Sora/Kairi. I’m… not actually kidding, @seventhdoctor is the Worst for pointing out that TVD is “Kingdom Hearts but with vampires.”

30) Top 3 Tearjerking Moments in Fiction

Zelos’ betrayal (Tales of Symphonia): I thought it was pretty bad when Kratos abandoned you right before the Tower of Salvation? Nah, the fight against Zelos was worse. If you wanted to get Kratos back in your party, you had to fight Zelos to the death - and that still strikes a chord with me in a way that much else doesn’t now. And to think, saying you don’t trust Zelos is what triggers the entire “bad end” for him.

Hikaru/Umi/Fuu learning the truth about Cephiro’s Pillar (Magic Knight Rayearth): I don’t want to spoil this moment for you or anyone who hasn’t read MKR, but the last few chapters of the manga blindsided me. I didn’t see it coming, and even now, I’m impressed at how masterfully it had been foreshadowed.

Sora sacrificing his heart for Kairi (Kingdom Hearts I): this scene still gets me every time. In Kingdom Hearts, your heart is like your essence - you sacrifice your heart, and you become a Heartless, lost to the darkness. When Sora heard that the only way to get Kairi’s heart back was to unlock his own, and essentially give himself up, he didn’t hesitate. He went and did it, and how many people could say they’d do that at 14??

31) Top 3 Heartwarming Moments in Fiction

Alan Matthews beating up a cult leader for Shawn Hunter’s sake (Boy Meets World): Alan Matthews served as a second father to Cory’s best friend, and this instance highlighted that bond best - Alan was willing to maim and potentially kill for Shawn’s sake, just because he knew what family was, and he knew that he + the entire Matthews family had unofficially taken Shawn into the fold.

“Ohana means family, and family means no one gets left behind.” (Lilo and Stitch). The entire movie is one big moment of heartwarming for me - but that quote sums it up, and is something I subconsciously quote to this day.

Eleanor, Chidi, Jason, and Tahini affirming that they made each other better (The Good Place). Saying any more about this moment would make this a true spoiler, but it’s so telling that their friendship - meant to bring out the worst in each other - actually did the opposite, and they found strength in each other instead. I’m excited to see how s2 will continue this theme because their friendship was downright my favorite part of this show.

33) Top 3 Awesome Moments in Fiction

Phoenix Wright cross-interrogating the parrot AND THEN LATER A WHALE (Phoenix Wright: Justice for All, I think?): basically, whenever Nick’s interrogating an animal, you know you’re in for a treat. Neither of these disappointed.

Hikaru dismantling the Pillar system in Cephiro (Magic Knight Rayearth): look, I don’t talk often about how formative Magic Knight Rayearth was for me, but it was SUPER FORMATIVE. Hikaru deciding that nah, she didn’t want to be a pillar, and nah, Cephiro would never have one again??? That was huge. Also downright badass.

Zuko’s entire redemption arc (Avatar: The Last Airbender). I can’t narrow this down at *all*, but it was so incredible to watch a serious antagonist grow and learn from his mistakes - and to become someone that Aang trusted with his entire being. I don’t talk a lot about my love for this show, but dang - when it was on point, it was seriously on point.

#meme time!#escapist90 #long post #magic knight rayearth spoilers #(does anyone actually care for mkr spoilers now?? idk i'm tagging it anyway)

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