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soc_puppetYeah, so, uh, wrote this all up last night. 'Cuz I couldn't sleep due to attack of awesomeness. And stuff. Because my little brother was beyond awesome to me and stuck a tape in before he left for his Friday Night Magic gig ♥♥♥ Anyway.
My reactions to the season finale of Avatar:
* Dammit, Zuko! For one shining moment, you were actually happy! You were optimistic! I could finally see what the rest of the world saw in you, dammit! And you had to go and throw it all away! You had so better make this up to me.
* On that note, Zuko's real problem is probably that his father never hugged him as a child.
* ...To complete that train of thought, I suppose that Zuko just wouldn't be Zuko if he didn't make himself suffer.
* Toph ♥♥♥ You are so the most awesome earthbender ever, and there is no one, at all, anywhere, who would be able to deny it.Marry me?
* Also, I hope you manage to teach Aang how to do that. Or, failing that, at least teach someone. Because that is way too awesome to die out with you. (Oh shit, I just made myself contemplate the fact that Toph will someday die. Someone hold me. Please.)
* Related, I was sorta wondering why earthbenders couldn't bend metal. (And also Mom, when she watched some over my shoulder. And probably a bunch of other people out there.) We have an explanation at last! Thank you, writers and show creators! ♥ I would not be surprised in the least if it turns out you planned that since before episode six. In which case, you are quite sneaky and I admire you even more.
* ...O-OMG. This episode? Or rather, these episodes? The finale in its entirety? Just so completely reaffirmed my OTP for me.
* Which is to say, wow. Just... wow. I am overwhelmed here. Speechless even, for the value of speechless that means "unable to coherently voice what this made me feel." Possibly even with "because it is just too big for me to fathom" tacked onto the end for good measure. So. I'm just going to be over here. Staring off into space for a while.
* Also, at the end of the first episode? I was totally ready to change Aang's name to Luke. 'Cuz yeah. Even if I kinda agreed with Uncle for the most part and his reasons made me do flips inside.
* Which brings us to my big worry. My big worry being: Aang got seriously hurt while in the Avatar State. If this were The Princess Bride, I'd say he even made it into one of the stages of death (the stages being Partly Dead, Mostly Dead, and All Dead, and I'd gauge it at the first or second). That being the case! Is the Avatar cycle broken? Is Aang even still an/the Avatar?And, if it follows that the answer to both of these questions is "no," how soon should I expect to avoid crappy fics in which one of the female characters inexplicably gives birth to the next Avatar? ...Pardon my digression; being in fandoms too long seems to have made me cynical.
* In closing, The Ascention. Which is technically based on Dante's Divine Comedy, and his ascention with Beatrice (I think?), but that doesn't matter. (8.01 MB, MegaUpload file; you'll need to turn the sound up a bit to hear it.) (YSI mirror)
Now, if you'll excuse me for a moment, I'm going to take a moment to plot out Zuko's past a pit, since I think it'll help me understand what makes him tick better and stuff. So if a million people have already done this, don't tell me, 'cuz it's important to me that I do this on my ownand also that I don't think it's redundant/useless/otherwise pointless. Anyway, Zuko's timeline:
1) Ursa gives birth to a son; Fire Lord obviously proud.
2) Zuko's early childhood. His introduction to bending is probably somewhere in here.
3) Azula is born. Zuko has to deal with not being the only child. (How he deals with this is not yet known)
4) Azula is introduced to bending. It is discovered that not only is she better than Zuko was at that age, she's probably also better than he is now.
--- As a direct result, Azula probably becomes Ozai's "favorite," and Zuko, while still heir, loses status in his father's eyes.
----- Zuko is probably left to find love and acknowedgement with his mother; he feels the loss of his father's acknowledgement sharply.
------- It is unkown how Azula reacts to this, other than the fact that she can probably get just about anything she wants before she asks for it.
5) Lu Ten dies and Iroh abandons the warfront in grief. Ozai bids for the throne.
6) Ursa departs, either from the palace or from the world (unclear which as yet).
7) Zuko deals with the loss of Ursa; continues to strive for the love and acknowledgement of his father
8) The War Chamber incident; Zuko loses honor and is exiled
9) Aang is reawakened
Near as I can figure, it's around step eight that Iroh begins trying to rehabilitate (for lack of a better word) Zuko. Thus, it is over these three years that Zuko starts to react to it, but it is slow going. The Avatar's reawakening acts as a sort of catalyst in that Zuko is now chasing something that is actually tangible, and speeds up Zuko's reaction to Iroh's efforts. It is unknown whether it would have worked with more time, or if Zuko would have continued chasing misery.
Anyway, this somewhat justifies Zuko's actions to me, and a lot of his seemingly and consistantly self-contradicting behavior from the first season.
[Edit]: Considering I wrote this last night, that's what we're going to call it. Anyway, here's![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
memlu's explanation. Which is totally awesome and probably makes more sense and stuff. [/Edit]
Moving right along, five things I like about myself:
1) I can read and mentally translate legalese at a fairly good pace
2) I am good at mimicking tones needed for certain writing situations (formal, speech, etc.)
3) I'm actually pretty good at math and enjoy balancing chemical equations
4) I can pretty much freehand costumes with only basic sketches for patterns and a somewhat similar piece of clothing to work off of
5) Given the right amount of time and enough information, I can come up with pretty good arguments for or against just about anything
Taking a second look at this, it's more like five less-than-obvious talents, but I think that works for my intended purpose. ...I'm also tempted to try turning it into a meme, 'cuz I think it might work if I worded it right.
And that's about it for now. Tomorrow I'll probably try and do things like rave about Re:Play, the Law of Ueki manga, and Stranger Than Fiction.
My reactions to the season finale of Avatar:
* Dammit, Zuko! For one shining moment, you were actually happy! You were optimistic! I could finally see what the rest of the world saw in you, dammit! And you had to go and throw it all away! You had so better make this up to me.
* On that note, Zuko's real problem is probably that his father never hugged him as a child.
* ...To complete that train of thought, I suppose that Zuko just wouldn't be Zuko if he didn't make himself suffer.
* Toph ♥♥♥ You are so the most awesome earthbender ever, and there is no one, at all, anywhere, who would be able to deny it.
* Also, I hope you manage to teach Aang how to do that. Or, failing that, at least teach someone. Because that is way too awesome to die out with you. (Oh shit, I just made myself contemplate the fact that Toph will someday die. Someone hold me. Please.)
* Related, I was sorta wondering why earthbenders couldn't bend metal. (And also Mom, when she watched some over my shoulder. And probably a bunch of other people out there.) We have an explanation at last! Thank you, writers and show creators! ♥ I would not be surprised in the least if it turns out you planned that since before episode six. In which case, you are quite sneaky and I admire you even more.
* ...O-OMG. This episode? Or rather, these episodes? The finale in its entirety? Just so completely reaffirmed my OTP for me.
* Which is to say, wow. Just... wow. I am overwhelmed here. Speechless even, for the value of speechless that means "unable to coherently voice what this made me feel." Possibly even with "because it is just too big for me to fathom" tacked onto the end for good measure. So. I'm just going to be over here. Staring off into space for a while.
* Also, at the end of the first episode? I was totally ready to change Aang's name to Luke. 'Cuz yeah. Even if I kinda agreed with Uncle for the most part and his reasons made me do flips inside.
* Which brings us to my big worry. My big worry being: Aang got seriously hurt while in the Avatar State. If this were The Princess Bride, I'd say he even made it into one of the stages of death (the stages being Partly Dead, Mostly Dead, and All Dead, and I'd gauge it at the first or second). That being the case! Is the Avatar cycle broken? Is Aang even still an/the Avatar?
* In closing, The Ascention. Which is technically based on Dante's Divine Comedy, and his ascention with Beatrice (I think?), but that doesn't matter. (8.01 MB, MegaUpload file; you'll need to turn the sound up a bit to hear it.) (YSI mirror)
Now, if you'll excuse me for a moment, I'm going to take a moment to plot out Zuko's past a pit, since I think it'll help me understand what makes him tick better and stuff. So if a million people have already done this, don't tell me, 'cuz it's important to me that I do this on my own
1) Ursa gives birth to a son; Fire Lord obviously proud.
2) Zuko's early childhood. His introduction to bending is probably somewhere in here.
3) Azula is born. Zuko has to deal with not being the only child. (How he deals with this is not yet known)
4) Azula is introduced to bending. It is discovered that not only is she better than Zuko was at that age, she's probably also better than he is now.
--- As a direct result, Azula probably becomes Ozai's "favorite," and Zuko, while still heir, loses status in his father's eyes.
----- Zuko is probably left to find love and acknowedgement with his mother; he feels the loss of his father's acknowledgement sharply.
------- It is unkown how Azula reacts to this, other than the fact that she can probably get just about anything she wants before she asks for it.
5) Lu Ten dies and Iroh abandons the warfront in grief. Ozai bids for the throne.
6) Ursa departs, either from the palace or from the world (unclear which as yet).
7) Zuko deals with the loss of Ursa; continues to strive for the love and acknowledgement of his father
8) The War Chamber incident; Zuko loses honor and is exiled
9) Aang is reawakened
Near as I can figure, it's around step eight that Iroh begins trying to rehabilitate (for lack of a better word) Zuko. Thus, it is over these three years that Zuko starts to react to it, but it is slow going. The Avatar's reawakening acts as a sort of catalyst in that Zuko is now chasing something that is actually tangible, and speeds up Zuko's reaction to Iroh's efforts. It is unknown whether it would have worked with more time, or if Zuko would have continued chasing misery.
Anyway, this somewhat justifies Zuko's actions to me, and a lot of his seemingly and consistantly self-contradicting behavior from the first season.
[Edit]: Considering I wrote this last night, that's what we're going to call it. Anyway, here's
memlu's explanation. Which is totally awesome and probably makes more sense and stuff. [/Edit]Moving right along, five things I like about myself:
1) I can read and mentally translate legalese at a fairly good pace
2) I am good at mimicking tones needed for certain writing situations (formal, speech, etc.)
3) I'm actually pretty good at math and enjoy balancing chemical equations
4) I can pretty much freehand costumes with only basic sketches for patterns and a somewhat similar piece of clothing to work off of
5) Given the right amount of time and enough information, I can come up with pretty good arguments for or against just about anything
Taking a second look at this, it's more like five less-than-obvious talents, but I think that works for my intended purpose. ...I'm also tempted to try turning it into a meme, 'cuz I think it might work if I worded it right.
And that's about it for now. Tomorrow I'll probably try and do things like rave about Re:Play, the Law of Ueki manga, and Stranger Than Fiction.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-12-02 10:04 pm (UTC)As for Avatar...I didn't get to watch it, 'cause our campus cable doesn't have Nickelodeon. But I've read enough online to know what happens, and...when is this season coming out on DVD? *whimpers* AND WHEN DOES SEASON THREE START??
no subject
Date: 2006-12-03 08:04 pm (UTC)*cuddle-pets* DD: I have no idea. The first disc had better be out soon, though! (Also, glance at my userinfo for a comm that might be able to help you with that early... The name should be pretty self-explanitory.) I have no idea DD: I've only seen something about it once, and it's either April/May-ish (NOES!!! DDDD:) or January-ish, and I don't know which so I don't want to get my hopes up, aargh!
no subject
Date: 2006-12-03 03:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-03 08:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-03 08:47 pm (UTC)I don't believe the injury will have a lasting effect. Aang not being the Avatar anymore would seriously mess up the plot. Sooo, it will probably not have anything to do with it.
RE: Zuko timeline.
This seems very plausible and sensible and all that good stuff which more or less translates to "I approve!" Basically, I agree with both what you said and what Mem said, as both explanations make a good deal of sense. At least, more sense than what I came up with, which was, "Zuko is a retard."
no subject
Date: 2006-12-03 08:55 pm (UTC)too muchfrom an overdose of Avatar-related awesome.I sure as heck hope it won't. Though I do like Phantom Kaito's explanation (down there).
Yay, thank you ^___^ And who says "Zuko is a retard" doesn't make sense, huh?
no subject
Date: 2006-12-03 09:08 pm (UTC)Um. The... sense fairy? :D
no subject
Date: 2006-12-03 04:28 am (UTC)Anyway, that is a good point about Aang being almost dead. I didn't think about that. The big shiny Avatar thingy did fall over... But if he's not the Avatar anymore and if the whole thing is erased, wouldn't they have to change the title of the show? XD
no subject
Date: 2006-12-03 08:11 pm (UTC)Yeah, that was in the first episode of season two, and then only mentioned briefly in the "Previously on Avatar..." section. Very good point there. It probably won't work that way, but it still worries me D:
no subject
Date: 2006-12-03 04:25 pm (UTC)I don't think Aang lost being an avatar or the avatar state because he isn't all dead (to keep with your analogy), he just lost the ability to control it absolutely he was striving for. At least that's what I keep telling myself. :P
I wonder, if Katara hd healed his scar, would he have chosen to siide with Aang and Co.?
no subject
Date: 2006-12-03 08:42 pm (UTC)Okay, that sounds like a good explanation. I guess we'll find out next season :P
...Probably not, no.