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how can you possibly justify a duel with a child?
So I thought making some ~half or so of this a rant post, but I loved the last two seasons too much to soil this with bad thoughts so screw that, I'll just leave it for another day.
MY EXPERIENCES WITH THE SECOND SEASON-ish, VERY SUPERFICIALLY (= understatement):
- how the hell could anyone watch this show and think these characters could be represented by caucasian actors
+ iroh's priorities
+ hippies
+ but the lovers dug too greedily.... and too deep
+ "I'm saying I'd rather kiss you than die, that's a compliment!"
+ bored lady from the fire nation I love you already!!
+ "pentapox!!! .... I'm pretty sure I've heard of that"
+ "momo, you need to be a little bit more considerate towards my boundaries"
+ azula.... USES HER BRAIN
+ I love how azula is DAMN STRONG but not made to be INVINCIBLE
+ "just take the bear" maiii sob
+ iroh -> zuko: son i am disappoint
+ king goes to see the world with his BEAR, this heals me in my post-The Last Emperor places, and is it sad or is it sad that I have had so little exposure to Chinese popular media (even though the movie wasn't necessarily.... Chinese...) that I can immediately name individual movies that Ba Sing Se's court reminded me of
Endgame: where I'm glad to have been wrong:
lake laogai, holeee shit. I'm sorry for ever doubting that you would make this all black and white, show.
(Ba Sing Se is what finally made the world real to me: all sorts of issues exist, even without there ever being The War.)
another one: roku totally had a point for being there from the beginning and I WAS WRONG I admit this freely (btw previous airbending avatar = hot)
and I'm sorry for even having thought that zuko would join the gang because of the heroes ~moralizing~ all over him. it's just a place where i've been badly burned before is all
Endgame: ...endgame:
Oh god the play. And the end. Oh how perfect it would have been if the final scene before the credits had been of the triumphant fire nation royalty. Because it was so fucking creepy and perfect and CREEPY.
lol fandom spoof
But what REALLY impressed me about that play was the thought that had been put to all the special effects and the scenery! You could just watch the animation and BUILD a play from that, no need to figure out how things work, because the work has already been done.
And that it was a female actor playing Aang. That was good. (Ember Island version of his personality was so entertaining, no lie. "Have I mentioned I am an incurable trickster?")
TOPH was very excellent to the very end, but it seems like she was sort of... forgotten occasionally. Like, in the episode where Aang has disappeared and she goes on a "field trip" with Zuko because THOSE ARE IN THE AIR, but it's only a short comedic scene. Most of the rest of the posse didn't get many of such character building episodes either, for most of the final season, but that's the thing: they already had that in the first season. What the first season lacked in finesse it made up in building the characters and their relationships from scratch, and Toph wasn't present for that. So in comes the last two seasons and though she's in the majority of the show, sometimes she feels like an afterthought. An awesome one, but still an afterthought.
And this is sad because Toph is in the special position of contesting for my favourite character of all my favourite characters in this show. Both in personality and presentation. (She makes her own way and rules every moment of it. Gah.)
Katara: I love her, and I admire many, many of her character traits (the bullheaded justice, the adaptability, her caring, her depth, how she DOESN'T GIVE UP, how she goes with the flow with some of the most ridiculous things without batting an eyelash = "Sapphire Fire"), and she brings with her many of the best moments in the show (revenge for her mother, that episode was CHILLING and have I mentioned how much I love the camaraderie between her and Zuko once it gets going; the "am I motherly" episode and her struggle with that and the conclusion of that struggle), and most of all I am so, so impressed that she's allowed to be both a combatant AND a medic, and be ace at BOTH (KIND OF LIKE WHY ROSA IS THE BEST PC IN FINAL FANTASY IV, THAT IS THE COOLEST), but somehow she still leaves me a bit... cold. And it is sad. Same with the romance between her and Aang: cute, touching, heartwarming, and so very boring.
(Their FRIENDSHIP, on the other hand, is beautiful and so true and I'm behind it 101%)
why is this post turning into complaining when it's supposed to be all about love
Oh and Sokka. Is also one of my absolute favourites. His inventiveness + the varieties of his humour!! And how he didn't really have specific CHARACTER CHANGING MOMENTS so much (wait or did he, there was the invasion and more of that tribe stuff and then the bit with kissing suki in front of the moon), but he's still come a long way from where he was in the first episodes, his change was more subtle. .........I just enjoyed him a lot ok
Suki was also impressive overall but especially at the end, the whole thing with the zeppelins and all
And I guess I should be saying something about Aang here, but he's just... there. Not in a bad, boring way - in the "the whole show is a continuation of his existence" kind of way. Of course I love Aang, why does it even bear a mention? And of course it's because he's Aang, why else could I, what other reason could there be?
AZULA was a wonderful, wonderful character, but it took me a long time to warm up (...) to her. Until the beach episode, actually! Up to that point she had just been a crazyawesome villain (although with the occasional deeper moment - she was totally happy and SATISFIED when Zuko sided with her in the second season finale, and I totally read that as her being content because it was Zuko specifically, not just any person she had successfully manipulated*. or even any such person whom she bore a massive grudge against. it's her stupid brother).
*not that she's "to blame" for that, it was totally his decision
In the beach episode she got to shine in a more normal environment without losing all her crazy and her theatrics. She got actual human moments, not just baseless sociopathy. IT WAS PRETTY SWEET. That whole episode was my favourite probably. That bittersweet nostalgia and the way the siblings and their girlfriends (oh yeah) got something of that more innocent time back at the end. Because that makes the way their situations finally solved themselves all the more heartbreaking. And yes the episode was pretty heavyhanded at times, but who cares.
Besides, that episode had Mai and Zuko just LEANING ON EACH OTHER ALL OVER THE PLACE, Zuko being all "I am unhappy with EVERYTHING EVER" (lol i am never happy) and Mai being all "whatever" aljfsaljfal I love how their relationship didn't NEED any unnecessary buildup, just jumped right into the middle. I assume that they had something going on LONG BEFORE Zuko was banished, but it was just too stable and normal to warrant any attention earlier.
(Watch me be proven wrong when I uncover something the authors have said about them.)
In general, I can't really find the words to express my love for AND ENJOYMENT OF Mai, I just wanted to roll around whenever she was on screen. Mai. ♥
ANYWAY Azula's unraveling was done masterfully (the scene with the mirror? I forgot to breathe for a moment there. And everything leading up to it. When she finally should have had her rightful glory, she was left behind to WATCH THE FUCKING HOUSE. And by that time that glory was all she had to stand on. Everyone had betrayed her in one way or another. Her family. Mai. Ty Lee.), but was also one of the only big disappointments I had in the ending. The buildup was done so well, but her story was abandoned right at its climax and she was not even addressed after that ONCE, it felt kind of like.... stepping on air? Not that she needed redemption or that we needed to see her regain some of her sanity, just showing where she WAS at the end would have brought enough closure.
...And I just remembered that one flashback where Zuko gets a knife and Azula gets a doll. Oh god. The way it must have felt when it's him that manages to best her in an even match, and how exactly it is that Katara finishes her. Azula's completely immobilized, powerless to do anything but WATCH
...and the music in the duel. That was a fatal blow. Solemn, suspenseful, mourning.
So yeah, even though I love Aang and the gang, the fire family was where all the most emotional drama came from.
...like zuko and iroh falling out and being forced to find uncomfortable truths about their feelings for each other (hurts like shit, doesn't it)
like iroh's single tear at zuko destroying himself
like zuko finally humbling himself before iroh's memory and wisdom, utterly and completely
like them reuniting in the last episodes
because i actually had to pause the episode to cry at that
Not even going into detail about Zuko here.
(and about how that was one of the most satisfying stories of growth I have had the joy to witness)
(and how, in the end, he got there by himself)
("What an amazing lie that was.")
...Sssspeaking of old people. I WOULD have kind of liked it if the order of the white lotus hadn't been... laid out in the open? Even though doing it meant that we got to see old people kick as and take names (and Iroh grimly burn the fire nation flag, only for the Earth Kingdom emblem to surface oh man TALK ABOUT EMOTIONALLY LOADED SCENES). They were EXCELLENT but somehow they weren't excellent enough (to be fair, the heights of excellence I had managed to raise them to would be pretty hard to reach).
(!! SOKKA IS TOTALLY ONE OF THEM and did I shout out loud or what when he got that lotus tile oh)
But Iroh got his own agency YES no more old sidekick who USED to be glorious back in the day (now he saves his awesome for saving his stupid nephew and the occasional moon spirit)!!
The Ursa thing being left open-ended was good for the show, I think. The buildup to that final line before scene cut...! We don't need to know the answer, it would have only been disappointing if they had left it unaddressed. What matters is that ZUKO WILL KNOW.
oh and
aang and zuko. the avatar and the fire lord.
That was, in the end, the relationship on which most of the story's success or failure hinged for me. And it was everything I could have hoped for and more.
...the end?
eta: is it just me or does the entry title make it look like I have something meaningful to say about aang vs ozai WHOOPS SORRY
Two links that are definitely worth a look:
- gaming disabled
- vintage lgbtq photos
Yeah and I made a dreamwidth account (finally without an underscore)! ....which I don't know what to do with! But I do have some ideas, yes I do. For now it is empty except for one night's worth of fiddling around with icons (the most important part, surely).
MY EXPERIENCES WITH THE SECOND SEASON-ish, VERY SUPERFICIALLY (= understatement):
- how the hell could anyone watch this show and think these characters could be represented by caucasian actors
+ iroh's priorities
+ hippies
+ but the lovers dug too greedily.... and too deep
+ "I'm saying I'd rather kiss you than die, that's a compliment!"
+ bored lady from the fire nation I love you already!!
+ "pentapox!!! .... I'm pretty sure I've heard of that"
+ "momo, you need to be a little bit more considerate towards my boundaries"
+ azula.... USES HER BRAIN
+ I love how azula is DAMN STRONG but not made to be INVINCIBLE
+ "just take the bear" maiii sob
+ iroh -> zuko: son i am disappoint
+ king goes to see the world with his BEAR, this heals me in my post-The Last Emperor places, and is it sad or is it sad that I have had so little exposure to Chinese popular media (even though the movie wasn't necessarily.... Chinese...) that I can immediately name individual movies that Ba Sing Se's court reminded me of
Endgame: where I'm glad to have been wrong:
lake laogai, holeee shit. I'm sorry for ever doubting that you would make this all black and white, show.
(Ba Sing Se is what finally made the world real to me: all sorts of issues exist, even without there ever being The War.)
another one: roku totally had a point for being there from the beginning and I WAS WRONG I admit this freely (btw previous airbending avatar = hot)
and I'm sorry for even having thought that zuko would join the gang because of the heroes ~moralizing~ all over him. it's just a place where i've been badly burned before is all
Endgame: ...endgame:
Oh god the play. And the end. Oh how perfect it would have been if the final scene before the credits had been of the triumphant fire nation royalty. Because it was so fucking creepy and perfect and CREEPY.
But what REALLY impressed me about that play was the thought that had been put to all the special effects and the scenery! You could just watch the animation and BUILD a play from that, no need to figure out how things work, because the work has already been done.
And that it was a female actor playing Aang. That was good. (Ember Island version of his personality was so entertaining, no lie. "Have I mentioned I am an incurable trickster?")
TOPH was very excellent to the very end, but it seems like she was sort of... forgotten occasionally. Like, in the episode where Aang has disappeared and she goes on a "field trip" with Zuko because THOSE ARE IN THE AIR, but it's only a short comedic scene. Most of the rest of the posse didn't get many of such character building episodes either, for most of the final season, but that's the thing: they already had that in the first season. What the first season lacked in finesse it made up in building the characters and their relationships from scratch, and Toph wasn't present for that. So in comes the last two seasons and though she's in the majority of the show, sometimes she feels like an afterthought. An awesome one, but still an afterthought.
And this is sad because Toph is in the special position of contesting for my favourite character of all my favourite characters in this show. Both in personality and presentation. (She makes her own way and rules every moment of it. Gah.)
Katara: I love her, and I admire many, many of her character traits (the bullheaded justice, the adaptability, her caring, her depth, how she DOESN'T GIVE UP, how she goes with the flow with some of the most ridiculous things without batting an eyelash = "Sapphire Fire"), and she brings with her many of the best moments in the show (revenge for her mother, that episode was CHILLING and have I mentioned how much I love the camaraderie between her and Zuko once it gets going; the "am I motherly" episode and her struggle with that and the conclusion of that struggle), and most of all I am so, so impressed that she's allowed to be both a combatant AND a medic, and be ace at BOTH (KIND OF LIKE WHY ROSA IS THE BEST PC IN FINAL FANTASY IV, THAT IS THE COOLEST), but somehow she still leaves me a bit... cold. And it is sad. Same with the romance between her and Aang: cute, touching, heartwarming, and so very boring.
(Their FRIENDSHIP, on the other hand, is beautiful and so true and I'm behind it 101%)
why is this post turning into complaining when it's supposed to be all about love
Oh and Sokka. Is also one of my absolute favourites. His inventiveness + the varieties of his humour!! And how he didn't really have specific CHARACTER CHANGING MOMENTS so much (wait or did he, there was the invasion and more of that tribe stuff and then the bit with kissing suki in front of the moon), but he's still come a long way from where he was in the first episodes, his change was more subtle. .........I just enjoyed him a lot ok
Suki was also impressive overall but especially at the end, the whole thing with the zeppelins and all
And I guess I should be saying something about Aang here, but he's just... there. Not in a bad, boring way - in the "the whole show is a continuation of his existence" kind of way. Of course I love Aang, why does it even bear a mention? And of course it's because he's Aang, why else could I, what other reason could there be?
AZULA was a wonderful, wonderful character, but it took me a long time to warm up (...) to her. Until the beach episode, actually! Up to that point she had just been a crazyawesome villain (although with the occasional deeper moment - she was totally happy and SATISFIED when Zuko sided with her in the second season finale, and I totally read that as her being content because it was Zuko specifically, not just any person she had successfully manipulated*. or even any such person whom she bore a massive grudge against. it's her stupid brother).
*not that she's "to blame" for that, it was totally his decision
In the beach episode she got to shine in a more normal environment without losing all her crazy and her theatrics. She got actual human moments, not just baseless sociopathy. IT WAS PRETTY SWEET. That whole episode was my favourite probably. That bittersweet nostalgia and the way the siblings and their girlfriends (oh yeah) got something of that more innocent time back at the end. Because that makes the way their situations finally solved themselves all the more heartbreaking. And yes the episode was pretty heavyhanded at times, but who cares.
Besides, that episode had Mai and Zuko just LEANING ON EACH OTHER ALL OVER THE PLACE, Zuko being all "I am unhappy with EVERYTHING EVER" (lol i am never happy) and Mai being all "whatever" aljfsaljfal I love how their relationship didn't NEED any unnecessary buildup, just jumped right into the middle. I assume that they had something going on LONG BEFORE Zuko was banished, but it was just too stable and normal to warrant any attention earlier.
(Watch me be proven wrong when I uncover something the authors have said about them.)
In general, I can't really find the words to express my love for AND ENJOYMENT OF Mai, I just wanted to roll around whenever she was on screen. Mai. ♥
ANYWAY Azula's unraveling was done masterfully (the scene with the mirror? I forgot to breathe for a moment there. And everything leading up to it. When she finally should have had her rightful glory, she was left behind to WATCH THE FUCKING HOUSE. And by that time that glory was all she had to stand on. Everyone had betrayed her in one way or another. Her family. Mai. Ty Lee.), but was also one of the only big disappointments I had in the ending. The buildup was done so well, but her story was abandoned right at its climax and she was not even addressed after that ONCE, it felt kind of like.... stepping on air? Not that she needed redemption or that we needed to see her regain some of her sanity, just showing where she WAS at the end would have brought enough closure.
...And I just remembered that one flashback where Zuko gets a knife and Azula gets a doll. Oh god. The way it must have felt when it's him that manages to best her in an even match, and how exactly it is that Katara finishes her. Azula's completely immobilized, powerless to do anything but WATCH
...and the music in the duel. That was a fatal blow. Solemn, suspenseful, mourning.
So yeah, even though I love Aang and the gang, the fire family was where all the most emotional drama came from.
...like zuko and iroh falling out and being forced to find uncomfortable truths about their feelings for each other (hurts like shit, doesn't it)
like iroh's single tear at zuko destroying himself
like zuko finally humbling himself before iroh's memory and wisdom, utterly and completely
like them reuniting in the last episodes
because i actually had to pause the episode to cry at that
Not even going into detail about Zuko here.
(and about how that was one of the most satisfying stories of growth I have had the joy to witness)
(and how, in the end, he got there by himself)
("What an amazing lie that was.")
...Sssspeaking of old people. I WOULD have kind of liked it if the order of the white lotus hadn't been... laid out in the open? Even though doing it meant that we got to see old people kick as and take names (and Iroh grimly burn the fire nation flag, only for the Earth Kingdom emblem to surface oh man TALK ABOUT EMOTIONALLY LOADED SCENES). They were EXCELLENT but somehow they weren't excellent enough (to be fair, the heights of excellence I had managed to raise them to would be pretty hard to reach).
(!! SOKKA IS TOTALLY ONE OF THEM and did I shout out loud or what when he got that lotus tile oh)
But Iroh got his own agency YES no more old sidekick who USED to be glorious back in the day (now he saves his awesome for saving his stupid nephew and the occasional moon spirit)!!
The Ursa thing being left open-ended was good for the show, I think. The buildup to that final line before scene cut...! We don't need to know the answer, it would have only been disappointing if they had left it unaddressed. What matters is that ZUKO WILL KNOW.
oh and
aang and zuko. the avatar and the fire lord.
That was, in the end, the relationship on which most of the story's success or failure hinged for me. And it was everything I could have hoped for and more.
...the end?
eta: is it just me or does the entry title make it look like I have something meaningful to say about aang vs ozai WHOOPS SORRY
Two links that are definitely worth a look:
- gaming disabled
- vintage lgbtq photos
Yeah and I made a dreamwidth account (finally without an underscore)! ....which I don't know what to do with! But I do have some ideas, yes I do. For now it is empty except for one night's worth of fiddling around with icons (the most important part, surely).