Friendly reminder: when people say ‘as long as you tried your best’ it doesn’t mean ‘the best you could possibly have done ever’ it means ‘the best you were capable of at the time.’ Sometimes ‘trying your best’ is just getting out of bed in the morning. Just because you weren’t working yourself to the bone doesn’t mean you weren’t trying your best. 

I love when people are like “this character is a war criminal” and show a character from a setting where we have no idea what the rules of war are. Like yeah they’re a torturer or murderer or whatever but if you wanna call them a criminal over it you gotta back it up with some kind of indication of what things might be in their conventions.

They don’t even have a Geneva

the concept of characters being turned into something monstrous and destined for evil but still CHOOSING to be good and to do good for as long as possible is a good trope. the best trope possibly.

Only made better when combined with the Found Family trope

When Zuko apologized to uncle Iroh in the tent cause he was so ashamed of his actions and what he’d done to the only person who unconditionally believed in his ability to do good >>>>>

So okay, I’ve given this rant before but this is another good time for it.

Structurally speaking, ATLA did something important with Zuko that, in a purely mechanistic sense of narrative development, I think a lot of people don’t notice immediately, and that even fewer people who want to emulate what was done with him get.

Which is Zuko is made a protagonist VERY early, and the show goes out of its way to continually place Zuko into situations where the audience empathizes and roots for him.

This happens in literally the second episode of the series, if we count the two-part premiere as a single episode, which I think we should. The A-plot of that episode, “The Southern Air Temple,” is Aang reckoning with the genocide of his people… but the B-plot?

The B-plot is the introduction of Zhao, and more specifically, his introduction in a way that is calculate to shift the audience, whose introduction to Zuko did NOT engender a ton of sympathy to him, directly and forcefully onto his side. They want Zuko to kick Zhao’s ass.

This continues all through book one and book two. Remember, Zuko is never, ever the main villain of this series. That’s initially Zhao, followed by Azula and Ozai. (Plus various temporary players like Long Feng.) Whenever Zuko isn’t placed into direct conflict with the other protagonists, he’s always written and presented in a way that is careful, VERY VERY careful, not to make him too monstrous, and to make us root for him. He’s placed right next to Iroh, who is designed for people to like, and that reflects back onto Zuko; we want Zuko to be better than he is because we want Iroh to have good things.

Put aside for the moment whether any specific character, including Zuko, deserves their redemption. If you’ve decided you’re going to do that, you have to erect the proper narrative scaffolding around them, and it extends to far more things than “did this person not do things that were too horrible” and “is this person genuinely sorry and is working really hard to atone.” There’s a difference between protagonist and white hat, but if you want someone to eventually wear that white hat, you REALLY need to establish them as a plausible protagonist early on.

Yeah, it was made obvious from the get go that Zuko is definitely nowhere near Zhao’s level of nasty, which in turn means he’s nowhere near Azula’s and nowhere in the scope of Ozai’s.

1.) 

He made a deal with Aang to leave the Southern Water Tribe alone if Aang went with him. When Aang escaped with help from two of those tribe members, Zuko didn’t demand they go back and destroy what was left of the tribe as revenge. He didn’t even think of it as an option. There was no split second where he went, should I/shouldn’t I?

2.) 

This is repeated. He corners the Avatar somewhere, causes some damage to the area in the ensuing fight, but does not stick around to raze the village/monastery to the ground and kill the people when he doesn’t get what he wants. Doesn’t consider this a necessary action even once.

3.) 

The Iroh&Zuko relationship is juxtaposed with the Zhao&Zuko relationship. Both older men have more power over him. Iroh is a retired War General and Prince who is not banished. Zhao is a Commander in favor of the Firelord, who is also not banished. We could tell early on that Iroh is wise and despite being on the bad side, seems to be pretty chill. We took a liking to him immediately. Zhao is the opposite. He is very much like early!Zuko. Impulsive, rude, loud, cocky, etc… But why is he more annoying? Why do we root for Zuko as opposed to him? 

Because we see what Zuko is like with his Uncle Iroh. Iroh does not rub in the fact that he’s banished. He doesn’t use that when reprimanding him for his attitude or his failings. That is a hot iron and he knows it. It’s to the point where Iroh can bend fire in Zuko’s face and Zuko is perfectly relaxed over it and doesn’t once believe his uncle will hurt him. There is a lot of faith in Iroh, from this angsty teenager, and it’s very obvious with their interactions.

Zhao is not trustworthy from the start. We’re shown this by how both Zuko and Iroh are hesitant to interact with him and don’t want to linger in areas he has control over, for too long. They even lie to him despite him obviously having more favor in the Firelord’s eyes than either of them do. Zhao’s personality opposes both Zuko and Iroh. And as we like Iroh, we want him to win and have nice things, as stated above. But Zuko&Iroh is a package deal. And as Zhao reveals himself more and more to be nasty even if it’s subtle, we want Zuko to win even harder.

And even when Zuko wins and he’s in the prime position to do to Zhao what Ozai did to Zuko for also ‘speaking out of turn’… he doesn’t do it. He walks away. He is the bigger man in that scenario. And Iroh further puts shame onto Zhao when he goes against the sacred rules of the Agni Kai because he can’t handle a loss to a banished teen. We are shown that Zuko follows rules and has honor, which is reinforced by Iroh’s, ‘even in exile, my nephew is more honorable than you’. Iroh’s Word is basically Law at this point. Sf he says it is so, then he must be right and the audience accepts that. He knows Zuko better than us and hopefully we’ll get to understand more as the story progresses.

Already by the 3rd episode, we’re shown that Zuko is in no way the worst person from the Fire Nation. In fact, we’re given a sort of scale now from the four major Fire Nation people we know of. Iroh–Zuko——-Zhao–Firelord.

We’re also hoping that Iroh rubs off on Zuko enough for him to also become wise and learn to chill out.

4.) 

When “The Storm” finally rolls around, we’re pretty invested by then in the Iroh&Zuko relationship and that episode gives us so much more info into Zuko’s character and we are shown that Iroh is right. He has honor and he cares for others. And yet it’s obvious the Firelord doesn’t because we see Zuko do the right thing(protesting the plan to treat new recruits as cannon fodder) in the wrong place, and then his face gets burned off by his father because of it. And further, he’s banished for refusing to fight his own father. What sane parent wants to do battle with their own child? What sane parent banishes their child for speaking out of turn at the defense of their own peoples’ lives? What the fuck is wrong with the Firelord?

Zuko was punished severely for showing compassion and having a kind heart. And Iroh(and the ship crew even) is properly mortified by the punishments his nephew received for it, which in turn affects the audience’s perception of this situation. Iroh doesn’t like it, it’s especially bad then.

Now we start wondering why does Zuko wants to go back to the guy who burned his face off?! Iroh, talk some sense into him! PLEASE!

Halfway through S1, they got us to the point of wanting Zuko to have a redemption arc. 

Making the audience want a character to be redeemed is also very important in this. We were shown he has redeemable qualities. We want that pay off! Do it justice!

If anyone wants any more reasons why Zuko’s arc is really good, I recommend the Trope Talks video about reformed villains

Red talks about Zuko a lot

Let's not forget "Winter Solstice: Part 1" where we see Zuko delay his plans to capture the avatar just to save his uncle who, up until that point, he often treated as a nuisance (obviously we all know he actually loved and respected him very much). At one point, he even actively chose to follow the trail that would lead to Iroh instead of following Appa.

To add to this, we also see Iroh throw himself to the ground JUST to leave Zuko a clue to follow, showing that he had no doubt that Zuko would come looking for him even after he threatened to leave Iroh behind if he was late.

We are shown very early on that Zuko does have a caring side and a side that wants to follow his own path to happiness (in this case, through reuniting with his beloved uncle). The audience already likes Iroh at this point, so this leads them even deeper into appreciating Zuko as a complicated character we're rooting for in this precise moment, as opposed to a simple evil villain we want to see defeated. They do this so cleverly that the audience even wants the prince of the fire nation to defeat some earth kingdom soldiers.

Prediction for other Americans: In a year or two when COVID-19 is winding down either just due to burnout or a vaccine there will emerge a narrative that it was tragic, and sad, but unavoidable, and people did what they could in the face of overwhelming odds.

This will be false.

The US has been far, far too slow in responding. Contrast our response with South Korea's, with their aggressive testing, containment, and mitigation. Notice how slow we have been in implementing measures that can slow the virus's spread. Notice how lack of insurance, paid time off, and a robust safety bet will speed the virus's spread. Notice the lack of testing, and the spread of misinformation. This was, perhaps, not something that can be prevented, but it is absolutely something that can be mitigated, and our leaders and our country failed and continue to fail to take actions that can mitigate it.

Vietnam had eliminated all cases until 35 infections were caused by European travelers.

Leaving Healthcare up to the market literally can only increase disease rates among the poor. Capitalist Accumulation cannot outpace herd immunity.

Single Payer Now, or else.

Let's not forget how bad England has been despite this now being labelled as a pandemic. The leader of our country refused to get tested, even though he'd interacted with someone who tested positive. His only advice was to stay home with a cough. Like, thanks love, didn't think of that!

Credit: @juliehangart

This cat is a tsundere

Oops, I started a ridiculous challenge.

This is why it’s ridiculous, fyi:

Listen… my entire personal life is fucked… but I have written over 2000 words without using the letter ‘i’ even once… does that count for anything…

This is… I mean. Incredible. But terrifying.

You’ve written over 2000 words with no ‘it’. No ‘ing’. Oh God, no ‘ing’.

You’re a force to be reckoned with.

No ‘it’, no ‘is’, no ‘-ing’, no ‘in’, no ‘I’. I’m on 2,700 words now, and I’m… not sure how I’ve managed to do this. Dialogue is proving the biggest challenge, unsurprisingly. Why did I do this to myself?

So this is going to be like 15-20k when it’s done… um

If I finish this, I will probably count it amongst my greatest achievements.

Op you’re the most powerful person on writeblr right now

That’s good to hear because I’ve lost all semblance of control with respect to every other facet of my life, but

I’m maybe a third of the way through now?? So that’s good???? And now I’m going to have a very relaxing bath??????

I probably have about another 14,000 words to go and honestly, when I hit 10k (the expected halfway point), I’m going to treat myself to writing 100 words of something else that has the dang letter ‘i’ in it

Nearly wept when I realised I couldn’t use the word ‘frantic’ earlier, but

7.5k is my next milestone, and it actually might happen tomorrow, which is unnerving. How should I celebrate??

Getting really bad impostor syndrome today and feeling 95% sure that I will never amount to a thing and will probably never finish this story, and so in response to that dumb brain thought I did this

Suck it, subconscious.

You are a force of nature and I am both impressed and terrified.

Please publish this somewhere when you a e done so we can read it holy shit

I absolutely will!! In other news I hit 10k today and that’s without a thesaurus and oh golly, my poor think-box

This author is a sleeping God among mortals

The Earth fears their awakening into their full powers

Full powers yet to be confirmed, but after a short hiatus, I have returned

When I get to 12k, I might do a very elaborate jig

I really hope the title of your story is “Team.”

#my brain is hurting trying to even consider doing this

What is it about???

It is a retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice (and no, I can’t use her name because it has an i in it, but this is in fact part of the theme of lacking agency and identity, so it is not a problem) in which Eurydice is the architect of her own descent into the Underworld and Orpheus can’t take no for an answer!

And also:

I have a more up to date version on my computer with quite a few more words but I don’t remember how many oh no

please raise your children to wash their hands after they use the restroom I’ve watched too many men walk straight out of the bathroom from the stall without a second thought and it’s keeping me up at night

I mean if you taking a piss who cares if you don’t wash your hands, unless you just like go full power and spray yourself like a out of control fire hose

stay the fuck away from me

people who wash their hands after peeing are weak and must be culled

The only excuse for not washing your hands after you piss is mastering the art of pissing without touching your genitals.

You wash your hands every time you touch your dick? How grimy is your dick?

I’m literally never shaking a man’s hand ever again in my life y'all need jesus

remember how i told y'all?

(they don’t wash their hands after shitting either)

What I’m learning is that men are the reason for “employees must wash their hands” signs and why I never put 2 and 2 together is beyond me

Just out of curiosity, do yall wash your hands every time you touch your arm or the back of your hand or any other part if your body?

wash your fucking hands, dickfingers mcgee

what the fuck is wrong with these dudes bruh

I want to spray this post with Lysol

AHEM.

“According to epidemiologist Richard T. Ellison III, it doesn’t matter what you do in the bathroom when it comes to keeping your hands clean. ‘The rationale is that when toileting, it’s possible to have fecal material and fecal bacteria get onto your hands … So it’s wisest to always wash with soap and water even after urinating. Neither plain water nor alcohol hand sanitizers are effective at removing fecal material or killing bacteria in fecal material.’ 

“According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, handwashing can prevent various illnesses and infections. Ellison added that it can also keep us from coming in contact with E. Coli and hepatitis.This is especially important for men to bear in mind because of perianal sweat. This type of sweat forms around the perianal area, which is the patch of skin outside the rectum. It can then spread to one’s underwear and to other parts of the body like the penis. Biology professor Pat Fidopiastis explained, ‘The point is that simply touching the penis in an effort to direct your urine flow can be more than enough to transfer harmful microbes to your hands, and then on to the pretzels sitting in bowl on the bar.’“

WASH.

YOUR.

HANDS.

I reblog this every time I see it. Don’t be disgusting, wash your fucking HANDS.

The bar is so low for men, holy shit.

the bar is on the ground and these chucklefucks have brought shovels

iiiiiiiiiiiiiyyyyyyyyiiiiiiiyyyyyyyiiiim

HOOKED ON A FELINE

BAH DUN DEN DUN

‘Lost’ in the woods but ready for a fight! Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Photos x Final Part x 

*faints*

Maui’s You’re Welcome from Disney’s Moana

This is so amazing!! I love it!! ❤️😊

The Hylian Hood was really time consuming to plan and paint but I was happy with the results when it was finished ^^ x LOZ: BOTW photos, Part 2. 

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, photoshoot photos Part 1. Hope you guys enjoy ^^ x 

Omg this looks so good!

It’s not just men who think they are entitled to sex or a woman’s body. 

Consent is needed every time, no matter what the relationship is

shes terrifying, 

What the actual fuck?

Wow she’s scary.

You’re no feminist if this doesn’t bother you, that you don’t see the rape vibes here. Women can and do rape men. They use force, they use words, they can manipulate- just like men do. And it is just as wrong.

No means no, friends. Gender does not matter. No. Means. No.

You don’t need a reason to not want sex. No is a complete sentence.

Consent comes from all parties not just one or another!!! 🙂

Hey this is important!

This is appearently considered controversial by some people so please reblog if you agree!

“Omg don’t look now but the person behind you-”

Me:

That Awkward Moment When Someone Compliments You But You Don’t Know How To Respond So You Kinda Just...