PRINCESS

choose your fictional romance

part 7: ricky bowen and gina porter

Paul Wesley answering at a fan who said they became Team Stefan after their frontal lobe developed will never stop being funny. 😭

The best part is that every year more people rewatch The Vampire Diaries as adults and end up saying the exact same thing.

“and when nobody wakes you up in the morning, and when nobody waits for you at night, and when you can do whatever you want. what do you call it, freedom or loneliness?”

Can I just say that the best thing about Azula is her strength. Not as a fire bender, or a leader, but as a character. 

She gets half the screen time of her brother but still manages to get at least 2/3 as large a fanbase of his own. Her fan base is also much more intelligent. 

They give her red lipstick and other “older girl” things. Note the way Katara is constantly acknowledged as the pretty girl and despite Azula being just as if not more beautiful, every other guy in the series describes her as scary or weird. Is Azula those things? Yes. However, Katara got that attention without saying anything, and Azula got her own attention without saying anything. Like the beach episode where the guys are all over Mai and Ty Lee before Azula even does anything when she’s prettier than both of them. I know it sounds dumb that I’m comparing the beauty of cartoon characters but the idea behind that is because Azula is conventionally beautiful but that’s not the image the story is trying to project. The story is trying to project an older, seductive, and dangerous woman and rarely show her without makeup to downplay the fact that she’s a child. Fandom edits the makeup right off her and shows the little girl underneath.

The writers joke about her breaking down on Sozin’s Comet and call her a soulless, scary mess. It’s supposed to be funny. Instead it’s the most tragic ending in the story, it gains her twice the sympathy she had prior, and unleashes all this media and a new part of the atla fandom. 

Now this one isn’t on Bryke. It’s on Gene Luen Yang (I’ll do another post on him later). Azula’s mother is her kryptonite, she’s the Ozai to Azula’s Zuko on a less physically violent note. Instead of following that development, Yang tries to make Ursa this perfect woman and writes just the stupidest snap shots of Azula doing “bad things” (stealing mochi and burning flowers). The only thing is shows anyone with a brain is Ursa’s terrible parenting. He tries to perpetuate the idea that the love and affection Azula doesn’t receive is a result of her own behavior which is just the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen. But the best thing is Azula fans noticing this and it only adds fuel to the dislike for Ursa and leaves more sympathy for Azula.

But by far, the worst sin those comics did was Kiyi. Yes, I’m talking about the toddler, and I do mean everything I say. Kiyi is Ursa’s other daughter. She’s a great firebender for her age and calls Zuko by the name Zuzu. Her very existence crushes half of Azula’s chance of redemption and all the chance of her reconciliation with Ursa. Aside from the fact that the child and Ikem feel like a huge blemish to the Royal Family’s story line, she is exactly Angelic Child! Azula. I get to say that because there is absolutely no other personality to her. And I am so thankful that she didn’t popularize like Yang wanted her to. Most people don’t know she exists and the ones who do haven’t forgotten about Azula. 

Zuko: "Uncle... you were unconscious. Azula did this to you. It was a surprise attack."

Iroh: "Somehow, that's not so surprising."[Groans.]

Zuko: [Hands Iroh some tea.] "I hope I made it the way you like it."

[Iroh takes a sip from the cup and his eyes widen. He lets out a cry of disgust, but manages to mask it.]

Iroh: [Grimaces.] "Good. That was very ... uhhh ... bracing."

[He is handed another cup, which he throws out secretly behind his shoulder.]

Zuko: "So Uncle, I've been thinking. It's only a matter of time before I run into Azula again. I'm going to need to know more advanced firebending if I want to stand a chance against her. I know what you're going to say: she's my sister and I should be trying to get along with her."

Iroh: [With the exact opposite of Zuko's thoughts.] "No, she's crazy, and she needs to go down."

[Zuko nods.]