There Are A Lot Of Bad Takes In The Atla Fandom (like, Atla Fandom May As Well Be A Bad Take Generator)

there are a lot of bad takes in the atla fandom (like, atla fandom may as well be a bad take generator) but something that has really been pissing me off lately is the assumption that you can categorize the fire nation royal family into good guys and bad guys. first of all, obviously, they're all bad guys. they are imperialists. but the idea that "sozin ozai azula bad" and "iroh lu ten ursa zuko azulon(?!) good" is actually insane.

lu ten died attempting to conquer the earth kingdom. lu ten was there because his father, iroh, was leading the siege. ursa laughed when iroh joked about burning ba sing se to the ground. zuko laughed too, mirroring his dear mother who taught him about the wonders of imperialism. and the fact that some people think that azulon was a good guy because he favored iroh is crazy. he favored iroh because iroh was the better imperialist, was more charming and tactically savvy as he bent the world to his will. people who think that azulon didn't like ozai because ozai was cruel literally have it backwards. ozai was cruel because azulon didn't like him. sozin shaped azulon, and azulon shaped iroh and ozai. azulon reigned for most of the war, and he was responsible for decimating the southern water tribe and colonizing the earth kingdom.

iroh only realizes the error of his ways well into middle age, after spending a majority of his life colonizing the world. he only stops to reconsider once he experiences the adverse effects of war for himself through the loss of his son. likewise, zuko can only gain empathy for the victims of the war by being one himself, as a refugee in the earth kingdom, and bonding with people who have been hurt by the fire nation. azula doesn't get that chance. ozai doesn't get that chance. azulon, lu ten, and ursa are dead, so they will never get that chance. but it's not like there is some ontological moral divide separating azula from zuko. zuko was a sensitive child whereas azula was better at embodying fire nation values of power and cunning. zuko was punished for his outbursts whereas azula knew how to keep her mouth shut. therefore, zuko experienced circumstances that led him to disavow fire nation imperialism.

but that doesn't mean that azula is ontologically evil. azula was the iroh of her generation to zuko's ozai, and iroh (eventually) disavowed conquest as well. there is no inherent divide between good and bad, monster and human. ursa was a warm and loving mother to zuko, just as iroh was a warm and loving father to lu ten, but they both laughed at others' suffering. their values were shaped by their circumstances and experiences. their ideologies do not make them less human, or less capable of change, just as their interpersonal behaviors do not negate their abhorrent ideologies.

More Posts from Mari-say and Others

2 months ago

the assholes of the current admin removed the incredible, thorough, scholarly research study that was sponsored by the NPS about LGBTQ+ life in America and American LGBTQ+ history from the NPS website. Suspecting that they would, in fact do this, I downloaded a copy of it, which you can now find (and download) here.

Fuck them for deleting this important piece of scholarly research and writing about LGBTQ+ history in America. We're here and we're queer (as in fuck you). We have ALWAYS been here and no matter what they do, they can't change that.

7 months ago
Sleep Alone
Sleep Alone
Sleep Alone
Sleep Alone
Sleep Alone
Sleep Alone
Sleep Alone

Sleep alone

"Ah, so he is just a boy."

4 months ago
So Can We Start Hunting Down White Liberals Now Or What
So Can We Start Hunting Down White Liberals Now Or What

so can we start hunting down white liberals now or what

10 months ago
♦️DOWN MEMORY LANE. Part. 1.♦️

♦️DOWN MEMORY LANE. Part. 1.♦️

Ah screw it, I'm compiling them all in one post instead. It's just more convenient. :V

♦️DOWN MEMORY LANE. Part. 1.♦️
♦️DOWN MEMORY LANE. Part. 1.♦️
♦️DOWN MEMORY LANE. Part. 1.♦️
♦️DOWN MEMORY LANE. Part. 1.♦️
♦️DOWN MEMORY LANE. Part. 1.♦️
♦️DOWN MEMORY LANE. Part. 1.♦️
♦️DOWN MEMORY LANE. Part. 1.♦️
♦️DOWN MEMORY LANE. Part. 1.♦️
♦️DOWN MEMORY LANE. Part. 1.♦️
♦️DOWN MEMORY LANE. Part. 1.♦️
♦️DOWN MEMORY LANE. Part. 1.♦️
♦️DOWN MEMORY LANE. Part. 1.♦️
♦️DOWN MEMORY LANE. Part. 1.♦️
♦️DOWN MEMORY LANE. Part. 1.♦️
♦️DOWN MEMORY LANE. Part. 1.♦️
♦️DOWN MEMORY LANE. Part. 1.♦️
♦️DOWN MEMORY LANE. Part. 1.♦️
♦️DOWN MEMORY LANE. Part. 1.♦️
♦️DOWN MEMORY LANE. Part. 1.♦️
♦️DOWN MEMORY LANE. Part. 1.♦️
♦️DOWN MEMORY LANE. Part. 1.♦️
♦️DOWN MEMORY LANE. Part. 1.♦️

This is part 1. More to come eventually.

Caleb let Evelyn go into his mind to show her he's totally fine!

4 months ago

ok...but maybe you've been giving too much credit to some fan theories forgetting what the actual elements of the story are thus are now blaming the author for not giving you what you wanted in a misplaced sense of betrayal when you are the one who's been feeding yourself lies the whole time

3 months ago

Something I find incredibly cool is that they’ve found neandertal bone tools made from polished rib bones, and they couldn’t figure out what they were for for the life of them. 

Until, of course, they showed it to a traditional leatherworker and she took one look at it and said “Oh yeah sure that’s a leather burnisher, you use it to close the pores of leather and work oil into the hide to make it waterproof. Mine looks just the same.” 

“Wait you’re still using the exact same fucking thing 50,000 years later???”

“Well, yeah. We’ve tried other things. Metal scratches up and damages the hide. Wood splinters and wears out. Bone lasts forever and gives the best polish. There are new, cheaper plastic ones, but they crack and break after a couple years. A bone polisher is nearly indestructible, and only gets better with age. The more you use a bone polisher the better it works.”

It’s just. 

50,000 years. 50,000. And over that huge arc of time, we’ve been quietly using the exact same thing, unchanged, because we simply haven’t found anything better to do the job. 

2 months ago

Surnames are just as important as given names. So, I compiled a list of the websites I use to find my surnames.

English Surnames

Dutch Surnames

Spanish Surnames

Scottish Surnames

German Surnames

Italian Surnames

Irish Surnames

French Surnames

Scandinavian Surnames

Welsh Surnames

Jewish Surnames

Surnames By Ethnicity

Most Common Surnames in the USA

Most Common Surnames in Great Britan

Most Common Surnames in Asia

3 months ago
First Of All, WOOHOO A Tweet About Sailor Moon Got Almost 200k Likes!

First of all, WOOHOO a tweet about Sailor Moon got almost 200k likes!

Secondly, YES this is an aspect of Sailor Moon that I've always loved but hesitated to voice just because I don't want to be mistaken for a creep, lol. Both the anime and manga/Crystal reboot utilize nudity not only in an artistic sense, but as a way to represent a character being stripped down to their truest self, the essence of their very soul.

In fact, in the manga, characters in dreams, visions, or in the space between life and death (among other situations) are shown to be entirely naked or are depicted with clothes that seamlessly blend into their bodies.

First Of All, WOOHOO A Tweet About Sailor Moon Got Almost 200k Likes!
First Of All, WOOHOO A Tweet About Sailor Moon Got Almost 200k Likes!
First Of All, WOOHOO A Tweet About Sailor Moon Got Almost 200k Likes!
First Of All, WOOHOO A Tweet About Sailor Moon Got Almost 200k Likes!

And of course, the finale of the final arc has Usagi saving the day not through a last-minute power-up form, but by stripping down to her purest, truest self:

First Of All, WOOHOO A Tweet About Sailor Moon Got Almost 200k Likes!
First Of All, WOOHOO A Tweet About Sailor Moon Got Almost 200k Likes!

Sailor Moon has so many great examples of non-sexual artistic nudity and I hate when people are too immature to see what Naoko Takeuchi was going for.

I also love how, at the same time, Naoko doesn't portray sexuality/sex as something dirty and impure. I've said this before, but in the manga Usagi is heavily implied to be sexually active with Mamoru (in fact, it's outright stated that she's already pregnant with Chibiusa on their wedding day), but in no way does that diminish her role as the purest being in the universe and the star that shines the brightest.

I will keep screaming this into the void forever: Naoko Takeuchi and Sailor Moon really were ahead of their time, and that's why the series still resonates with so many people today.

3 months ago

Let’s not forget to acknowledge Alexandre Dumas this Black History Month

The writer of two of the most well known stories worldwide, The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo was a black man. 

That’s excellence.

2 months ago
He's So Tall He's Basically A Humanization Of Eiffel Tower

He's so tall he's basically a humanization of Eiffel tower

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mari-say - Mari Say
Mari Say

Person with wild imagination 🌌✨ | she/her | Rus/Eng

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