nonlinear nowhere

it did not. it is public knowledge the slave trade worked like this

Now, somehow, their entire mental health is based on the continued life and happiness of this fairground goldfish that they picked up.

Neither of you know the first thing about how to care for even a healthy fish. This fish has been poorly cared for, has multiple diseases and the person who handed it over explicitly didn't expect it to live nearly as long as it already has.

You're frantically googling how to set up a fish tank, where to buy fish food, can you even take a fish to the vet? Your partner wants you to know that they're happy they made it home and survived their horrific ordeal, but also that if anything happens to the fish then they're going to kill everyone on this planet and then themself.

You're honestly wondering if you're even helping the fish, or just prolonging its suffering, but your partner will only accept medical help for their many injuries or engage in basic self-care once they're confident that the fish is being looked after.

So you get a tank. You set up a filter and all that stuff. You learn way more than you ever wanted to know about water temperature and ph and nitrate levels. The fish is safe. You start to develop some affection for the little guy. Your partner begins to recover. The fish begins to recover.

Which is when you learn that in its 'healthy' state, the fish regularly refuses to sleep when tired, keeps begging for food that is obviously unhealthy for it (and struggling to eat the food that you do provide because “it tastes gross”), and continually tries to persuade your partner to take it out of its nice safe tank so it can go explore the wonderful world of Outside, where the slightest mishap will kill it instantly.

You have a big work project?

Odysseus: Regret it why?

Cassandra: You won’t believe me if I tell you. If I prophecy, nobody believes me. That is my curse.

Odysseus: … I’m Nobody. Fill me in. 

*A couple of months later* 

Odysseus: HELLO PENELOPE, I AM HERE PRECISELY ON TIME AND NOT YEARS LATE incidentally I rescued and adopted a Trojan seer while I was away, she’s great, got me home really fast, Cassandra this is your new mother who’s not going to treat you like shit. 

Penelope: … I’m going to need more details, but okay, sure. 

Dude spends the entire show moping around not doing anything of note, but Zuko still tells him stuff like “your constant jokes and happiness are annoying” even though dude is a walking depression factory. We see him in the original ATLA having come to terms with his past actions and mistakes, but in NATLA he’s just now realizing how bad they were? What was he doing in the meantime? Just nothing? Why is he treated as a mentor if he hasn’t even come to terms with his own dark history? That’s what makes him so inspirational in the original show! He’s been through it and is at peace with what he did, which allows him to come to Zuko with experience and a calming nature, not one that is even more sad. And the other characters via dialogue still insist he’s the Uncle Iroh from the cartoon? Trash.

Not to mention, Aang comes to him saying something like “I’ve been mean to my friends and selfish. I should probably be a better person.” And Iroh immediately says “No, you shouldn’t change who you are.” WTF!? Why would he say that? What does Aang being mean to his friends have to do with his destiny or achieving his goals? Does Iroh have vested interest in Aang treating everyone around him like shit? What the hell is even happening?

And make sure to miss me with that “Ohhhhhh he’s so much better here because he shows so much guilt in Ba Sing Se ooohhhh”. Fuck that. The reason the scene with him mourning his son and feeling the weight of his mistakes hits so hard in the original is because it all comes to him at once and is a break from the jovial character he is consistently beforehand. It hurts to watch, and you feel the weight of his mistakes so much. Now they’ve not only shoved in the song about his son into a random scene way earlier for fan service; they made him a moping sack of depression the entire show so we don’t even really get any effect from his moping here. This coming after he literally tells the criminal to just kill him rather than helping him like he did in the original show.

The whole point of Iroh is to show that his past mistakes help him to help others. He sacrificed any luxury of the Fire Nation to help Zuko. He randomly aided other strangers and even the children actively against his nephew. His passion is owning a tea shop and serving others. Having him be some depressed war veteran who begs for death doesn’t add depth; it permanently freezes him in a state he’s already grown past in the original series. He can help others in the original because he learned that he can help himself. In NATLA, he just spouts endless basic self-help phrases that he clearly doesn’t follow and did not come to through experience. It adds nothing to the story. And being constantly told by dialogue that he is, in fact, the same character from the original show is insulting.

Comic test page from way back when (I forgot comics are read left-to-right)

look how much fun they’re both having! yes!

and also this couple, who are both wheelchair users

these smiles belong to Shane Hollander and Shane Hollander only. (part 4)

bonus+