#zuko!!

Yeah, you didn’t specify so I’m going to use this to do both separately. Probably I could be extra sneaky and do three but I really don’t care about the blue alien movie and anyway I only saw it once.

The first character I first fell in love with: 

A:tLA – Aaaah, it was Zuko. *flaps hand* You’re shocked.

LoK – Asami. I spent basically the whole season terrified she’d turn out to be evil/become evil. When she picked up the gauntlet I was practically eating my hands going “Shock him! Shooooock hiiiiiiiim! She’s going to shock him, right???? Agh!” (But I was glad I had faith I her.)The character I never expected to love as much as I do now: 

A:tLA – I rejected several possibilities, including Iroh and Pian Diao, before settling on Appa (even if you love cute animals, no one could even anticipate how much they’re going to love Appa) – but then I remember Mai. I LOVE MAI. (That’s why I have to rewatch, because I wasn’t paying attention to her when she was introduced.)

LoK – Zhu Li. I mean, she was just a running gag for Varrick plus a pun which I couldn’t even spell (I thought it was Ju Lee for the longest time) and then somewhere around the end of Season Two it’s like… wow. AND WHO CALLED THAT HER ACT WAS AN ACT FROM THE VERY VERY BEGINNING THAT WOULD BE ME I DID.The character everyone else loves that I don’t: 

A:tLA – Bumi. I just… he annoyed me so much. SO MUCH. The general fan reaction seems to be ‘he’s so wacky and crazy and it’s great’ but I was standing over to the side yelling “I AM RIPPING MY HAIR OUT WITH FRUSTRATION JUST WATCHING THIS GUY ON SCREEN DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I’D HATE HIM IN REAL LIFE????” And why was it necessary for him to test Aang like that, wtf? If he was never going to hurt Sokka and Katara WHY LET THEM ALL THINK HE WAS jfc these are KIDS and for god’s sake they’re under enough stress already.  And if he was going to hurt them, WHY DO WE LIKE THIS GUY AGAIN? Like, pulling that kind of shit wasn’t acceptable when that Earth Kingdom general guy screwed with them, and he had better reasons even if he was a dick, so WHY IS IT ACCEPTABLE WHEN BUMI DOES IT why do people over the age of eight like this guy I DON’T GET IT.

LoK – Erm… Bumi…? *winces* Look, I like him much better than I did when he first showed up! But… he was always a bit childish for me. And it’s not that I mind childish, necessarily, but with him it just rubbed me the wrong way. And then there’s the fact that he echoes a character I really did dislike. (And tbh it also annoyed me that he acted exactly like his namesake because… that’s a bit too convenient, isn’t it, when they’re no blood relation and probably never met, or met only when Bumi II was very young? It seemed like a bit of a cheap laugh to me. I mean General Iroh II isn’t a carbon copy of General Iroh I, and they are related.) I think I am also the only person on the face of the earth who found Wan actually really annoying.The character I love that everyone else hates: 

A:tLA – *chews on fingers* God, I don’t know. Uhm. Are there that many characters everyone hates? Aside from Ozai, who I do not like. Or Zhao, who I also loathe. Um…

Dude, even EXPLODEY EYE GUY is popular! Who does everyone hate,then?

I. Like… M. Night Shayamalan?

I only did that to be funny, actually I don’t like him either but I can’t think of a real answer.

LoK – Mako. I know that everyone doesn’t hate Mako, but apparently he was criticized enough for the actor to joke about it. I just… I don’t get it. I mean, Mako made mistakes, but… he’s not exactly alone? Is it only okay for a character to make mistakes if they’re funny enough? Or more overtly angsty?

I mean, I love Zuko, okay, but if you try to tell me that he didn’t do worse things than Mako ever considered, I will hit you with a lizard.The character I used to love but don’t any longer:

A:tLA – Erg. That’s hard. Aang? I will say that it was kind of impressive that they got me to liking him in anything more than a casual manner in the first place (and pretty quickly, too); I don’t ordinarily like characters like Aang. But… well, the finale bugged me, and I really didn’t like the way they handled his romantic subplot, and maybe some of it’s displaced anger but I also have some definite philosophical and ethical beefs with absolute pacifism so there’s that too. I don’t hate him, I just… meh. I try not to think about it too much, really.

LoK – Korra? No, still like her. Mako? Still like him. Asami? ASAMI! Lin? …Hah. Naga? LOVE NAGA!

Yeah, I don’t really… yeah. I still like everyone. I guess the closest I can come is to say I was kind of annoyed with Toph for going to LIVE IN A SWAMP without even sending her kids a Christmas card so they’d know she was freaking alive? But she’s still awesome, mostly.The character I would totally smooch: 

A:tLA – Zuko doesn’t really seem like the kind of person I’d be able to casually smooch, does he? And Mai would probably kill me. Maybe Hakoda? Idk, he’s hot.

LoK – ALL OF THEM. (No but seriously, that cast.) I’d kiss Pabu. On the head. And then I would steal him.The character I’d want to be like: 

A:tLA – Suki. Hands down, Suki. Alternately Avatar Kyoshi, but I can cheat and pick both, right? Great.  I want to be Suki overall with Kyoshi’s -1000% bullshit tolerance. Just turn up and be like “Yeah, I killed him, deal.”

LoK –I will now read my Facebook status from approximately a year ago aloud. *clear throat* “I want to be Asami Sato when I grow up.” …That’s all, folks.The character I’d slap: A:tLA – See, the problem is that there are lots of people who I want to slap, but not who I would slap. I like living; slapping Ozai or Azula is not terribly conducive to the continuation of that state. I’d slap General Zhao, but honourable mention goes to that Avatar-state Earth King general. (And I’d do it sometime when he was distracted chasing Aang/the Blue Spirit.

LoK – Kuvira. I figure that if I’m close enough to do it, she’s probably going to kill me or do something else horrible to me regardless. And it would be a badass way to go out; otherwise if I was in that universe I’d probably be an extra shrieking and hiding behind a cabbage crate. Or foamy mouth guy, oh god am I foamy mouth guy?

A pairing that I love:A:tLA – My shipping for The Last Airbender is really complicated. (“Lemme splain you a thing…”) The only things I ship unreservedly and without notation or commentary or direct relation to the other things I ship (or only ship kind of casually in passing) are Sokka/Suki and Sokka/boomerang.

But. Yeah.  I like Zuko/Mai. And stuff. It took me a long time to warm up to it though because I was so convinced Mai and Ty Lee were together and see what I meant?

LoK – ASAMI/KORRA!!! *dances around you sprinkling rose petals on your head* ASAMI/KORRA AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

(Interesting fact: I shipped Mako/Asami a little bit harder than I shipped Asami/Korra, but I wanted Asami/Korra to be canon more. And now it is and I love it MOST OF ALL THE SHIPS EVER!!!)

(Interesting fact the second: As you may have guessed by now, I don’t really like portmanteau names. Although unusually for me I actually don’t mind ‘Korrasami’. Zutara sounds like a mutant zeppelin though.

A pairing that I despise: 

A:tLA – Aang/Katara.

*sighs* I know there’s a giant fandom mess around this, but it just felt like a giant Relationship Writing Fumble to me. Aang’s crush on Katara was well-executed, but I never got the impression that she had any kind of romantic feelings for him except when the writers wanted to shoehorn it in (like the ‘kiss’ scene in the Secret Tunnel episode). Also dd I ship Zuko/Katara in Season Three and while I like him with his canon girlfriend, at the time I was 113% sure she was a lesbian so… I was kind of upset when she wasn’t. And then Aang and Katara got together at the end and it seemed so… forced. Hero gets the girl. Like, couldn’t Katara have ended up with Haru instead, or something? Or even no one? That would have been pretty great, kick-ass woman doesn’t need boyfriend.

Also I probably wouldn’t have minded so much that they got married if they hadn’t been dating since Aang was a preteen.

Why I Like Them:

UNCLE IROH.

In case that’s not enough answer for… I don’t know who that wouldn’t be enough answer for. But Uncle Iroh is… he believes in Zuko without ignoring or forgetting about some of the nasty/stupid things Zuko’s done. It’s not blind belief. His love is unconditional but his approval isn’t. I love that.

And also there’s the way he’s the positive father figure in Zuko’s life - but he doesn’t forget about Lu Ten and he doesn’t pretend that Zuko is Lu Ten and it’s never implied that Lu Ten’s death is all fixed now when Zuko finally comes around.

And I also love that he’s a wise old mentor who’s allowed to be human and make stupid mistakes. Like, not great cosmic Dumbledore mistakes - stupid mistakes like heating his tea with firebending in the middle of Earth Kingdom refugees because he just wanted a hot drink.

Basically, UNCLE IROH!

Why I Don’t Like Them:

So there was that one time he was stupid and heated his tea?

Favourite Episode:

Oh, God. That’s hard. (Also I watched all three seasons of Avatar in a week last year, so there aren’t always clear distinctions.)

I’m going to have to say Tales Of Ba Sing Sae. :”’( Runners up are The One Where He Hugged Zuko And Everyone Cried (in the finale-four) and THAT TIME HE SHOWED UP ON KORRA.

Favourite Season:

I think I’m actually going to say Season One. But all of them. I like all of them.

Favourite Line:

"I was never angry with you."

I mean, all the rest of that scene, too, but…

Favourite Outfit:

I like his Earth Kingdom clothes, I think.

OTP:

…Um… Iroh/Lu Ten’s mom?

BroUncletp:

Iroh and Zuko. Duh.

(I like Toph-Iroh brotp also though.)

Head Canon:

Iroh gives the best hugs.

That’s canon though, isn’t it oops

Unpopular Opinion:

I think his most unpopular in-universe opinion was that Zuko was redeemable. Of course, he was right, so…

(I do understand the question, I’m just being a smartass.)

A Wish:

Um. More.

Yeah, more. That’s my wish. More Iroh.

(Maybe Iroh meeting General Iroh II? That would be cool. Or Fire Lord Azumi, before she’s Fire Lord. (i.e. bby Azumi.))

An Oh-God-Please-Don’t-Ever-Happen:

I don’t… I mean, can we never see evil!Iroh? Please? Even if it’s a dream or a lie or a spirit or something? Okay, thanks.

5 Words To Best Describe Them:

-patient

-tea-loving

-wise

-strategist

-uncle

My Nickname For Them:

Push off a cliff: Ozai. (Waste of time pushing Azula, she has her fire-rocket thing. Besides, I think I hate Ozai more.)

Sleep with: (I am an adult, I’m not saying frick frack) Zuko

Marry: Asami (And as a bonus, that way I get to sleep with her, too!)

Set on fire: The Earth Queen

Wrap a blanket around: Lin would probably hit me if I tried. Katara.