#daisy2chains

Hey there!

Something that I find interesting is that while Aang and Korra are clearly different, they both share a sense of wonder at the world in this first episode. Aang because he's literally been gone for one-hundred years, and Korra because she's seemingly not often been let out of the fortress that she's trained in, let alone away from the Water Tribe's territory. I like that there's similarities.

The post-war world is gorgeous, but unsettling?? Kind of?? I feel like, what with the homeless comment, that Empire City in particular is going to be a nice front with lots of unsettling truths on the inside. There’s always going to be evil around, but this time, it’s not going to be so easy to find.

Thanks!

Lapis is not really... necessary for that to happen. But even if she was, I have ideas of how she can be released, and trust me it’s going to be the most innocent and dumbest one I can come up with (Pearl being like “oh shit it’s time for my once in a millennia spring Cleaning look at that!” and being about to discard the mirror before Rose asks her if she can heal it and keep it, and then its like “ah well the mirror is alive, that may as well happen”). Not sure where in the plot it’s gonna fit yet though.

Yes to all of this!!! Zuko has always been unbalanced, fighting within himself, so to see him like this now, dancing with Aang and teaching firebending while also allowing himself to learn it... warms my heart. He's finding balance within himself and within the world - both he and the rest of them are learning there is kindness in everything, Fire Nation included.

I know, I know, it's just... I'm still not over the "sacrificing the whole town to take out the Fire Nation invaders." That's fucked up. I don't hate Jet, and I understand where he's coming from, but... I don't like him, either. On some level, I get the mentality that he has - that all of the Fire Nation, all firebenders are bad, and I can understand where he would assume that. That's fine. Even Sokka still has that same mentality, which is fine. It's not sustainable in the long run, and he's going to have to confront that eventually, but it's understandable as to why. But "the end justifies the means", in the situation Jet was in.... irks me, to say the least. You cannot wipe out an entire town just to drive away the invaders and then still call yourself the good guys. You can't.

However, that being said, I am always open to characters growing and changing. I don't like Jet, but I do hope I can grow to like him as he matures as a character. I do think that he should drop the "Zuko and Iroh" thing, though, for his own health, if nothing else. Though I doubt he will.

Thank you so much!! I guess we were both a little late to party then, but that's okay! Thank you for joining me on my journey :)

Oh, lord, how do I even go to describe the Kyoshi novels? Let me try. Spoiler-free, as well: 

Kyoshi is a phenomenal protagonist. The cast of characters is delightfully balanced and Kyoshi herself is written beautifully. Nothing is retconned, but her character is expanded upon in ways that you might not expect in the moment, but utterly make sense. Her struggles and triumphs feel so very real, and while she’s not (always) as overtly emotional as Aang tends to be, the books being in her perspective provide you with what she’s thinking - and feeling - through the entire story. And I gotta tell ya, there are times when you just want to pick her up and shake her until she gets some things through her head, but those are the side effects of a bit of a dunder-headed protagonist. She gets it eventually <3

Also, with these books having happened obviously hundreds of years before Sozin’s war, there’s also a ton of differences between the people that I’m fascinated with. Fire Nation is strict, sure, but they’re not seen as evil, and their strictness is honestly used as a joke more often than not (to the agony of the firebender characters). The Earth Kingdom is shabbier than it in in ATLA. The Water Tribe are recluses, practically. The Air Nomads are everyone’s favorite. That’s fascinating to me, the progression of how people have been seen throughout the world. It also gives some insight on how the Avatar was handled, the systems that were in place to take care of the next Avatar, back before he disappeared for one-hundred years. Which makes sense, because if you have a cycle as consistent as the Avatar is, then there’d undoubtedly be ways for people to try and track when the next one will be born. And how they figure out if they’re right about who the Avatar is, even before the child can bend. It’s very cool. 

Overall, the books are fantastic and gripping; I read the first one in two days and the second in one. They’re beautiful insights into both Earth Kingdom culture, but the others as well, and it’s honestly sad seeing the Countries in ATLA, considering how broken up they are now. They’re fantastic reads, and I will always recommend them.

The Avatar State remains one of my favorite episodes period, as well as The Chase (because WOW)... I also loved The Tales of Ba Sing Se for obvious reasons, even if rewatching it still made me cry. 

As for characters, It baffles me that there was an entire Book without Toph. If I rewatch Book 1, it confuses me that she’s not there with them; she’s blended in so perfectly with the rest of the group, it kind of blows my mind. She’s so good. I love her, and of course I am loving Azula, Ty Lee, and Mai. Absolutely adore them. Murder girls. I support women’s rights AND women’s wrongs. 

Hi! First of all, I never like to abandon things, so I can definitely say that yes, I will continue TLOK at some point, no matter what.

If I'm completely honest, I don't know how on earth I managed to watch A:TLA like I did, what with the speed of episodes and how many posts I made about each one. When I do return, it'll likely be structured a little differently, but that's not really important right now anyway.

Again, yes. Currently my plans right now are to get through this semester and then start watching again next semester, which will be my final in college and therefore be less demanding.