Tumblr crosspost (4 November 2019)

I reblogged a manip of young Noatak against an Amon background, subtitled with his line, "I'd almost forgotten the sound of my own name."

I added:

I don't know if it's sadder that he nearly lost himself, or that he never quite did.

(I do appreciate how emphatic he is that "Noatak" is his name.)

Tumblr crosspost (4 November 2019)

I reblogged a gif of Noatak's single tear as Tarrlok prepares to blow them up, and added:

:(((

Yeah, he knows what Tarrlok's going to do. I do think it's interesting that he swerved from desperation to cheer to passive resignation to the murder-suicide. Like—fast. It actually seems appropriate for me just because he's such a fractured person beneath the persona, and pretty self-destructive at that point. I don't think he wanted to die but was ... willing to, when the moment came.

:(

Tumblr crosspost (5 November 2019)

An anon asked:

Why do you think Noatak never told Tarrlok who he was?

I replied:

It was far too much of a risk, given who and what Tarrlok was.

I do headcanon that when Tarrlok arrived in Republic City, Noatak considered telling him and decided to wait and observe him to see if there was any possibility of bringing him into the plot. But Tarrlok was Tarrlok, so Noatak quickly determined any revelation was much too dangerous.

In the tags, I added: #thank you for the lok asks btw #they are making my day :)

Tumblr crosspost (5 November 2019)

I reblogged a post from 2012, in which I was re-watching Episode 4 of B1:

I love that pretty much everybody makes valid points, no matter how misled they are. Korra’s fear leads her to say some pretty sensible things. Amon is horrifying, but his criticisms strike a chord with an apparently shocking number of people (I do not think they are just making their oppression up). And I love Tenzin, and he’s definitely right about not further antagonizing non-benders … but he’s kind of inept at politics and ineffective at getting anything done. Or even getting anything not done. And he doesn’t seem to have any plan for dealing with the Equalist threat himself, he just complains about Tarrlok’s.

Tarrlok is easy to dismiss as just out for power, and while he is definitely eking every scrap of authority he can out of the situation, he’s right that they have to deal with the Equalists, and I think he genuinely opposes them. Though invoking the specter of his own father, Yakone, who has haunted him all his life, while sitting on the council that condemned him, to the son of the man who set Yakone on his twisted path of revenge, while implicitly comparing himself to that man, is … wow. Tarrlok, that’s some commitment to your role. But then, this is the man who deliberately electrocuted himself to make his story more convincing. If he’d been Amon, he totally would have scarred his face for real.

Anyway, his task force is actually pretty effective (and those people were definitely Equalists and not random citizens, as I heard some fans arguing at the time). But it’s also pretty skeevy, especially how he brought Korra into it. (♫ Nobody uses innocent teenage girls like Tarrlok! ♫)

(I really, really wish Korra’s ominous agreement that they make a good team - what seemed to be her starting to fall under Tarrlok’s undoubtedly creeptastic influence - had gone ANYWHERE AT ALL. Are we ever given the slightest idea what happened to turn her completely against him?)

( Read more... )

Tumblr crosspost (5 November 2019)

An anon on Tumblr said:

I'm the same anon who's been sending you asks over the past few days. Seven months ago, I looked up and watched Amon's backstory (I was never into the show). After crying like a little bitch, drowning in a puddle of my tears, the brothers have consumed my mind. I looked up all the info I could about them, both official and fan content. It wasn't easy on here, considering the deactivations, deleted posts, and flagged posts over the years. But I did find your posts, among others, and I love them.

I wanted to ask you a whole bunch of questions, but since it happened years ago, it’d be weird. So seeing you fall back into them is a godsend. I’m glad I can talk to you! :-D

I replied:

Oh, thank you! You’re definitely welcome to ask whatever you’d like—it’s been great to know that somebody out there still cares enough about them to talk to me, and a very welcome relief from the day job.

Tumblr crosspost (5 November 2019)

I reblogged a screenshot of young Noatak looking concerned/upset as Yakone drives Tarrlok to tears, and added:

Noatak does not approve.

(As in my original tags, I really love that no matter how fucked-up he gets, he never stops calling Yakone out.)

Tumblr crosspost (5 November 2019)

I reblogged a collection of screenshots of Noatak's awesome waterspout, and added:

If you're going to fail that hard, you should do it with that much style.

Tumblr crosspost (5 November 2019)

An anon asked:

why do you think korra doesn't have any siblings? almost everyone else in avatarland raised in a family structure has siblings, unlike most other media where everyone's an only child for simplicity - why do you think that doesn't apply to korra? did her parents find out she was the avatar at four and just go, lol nope we got our hands full? or is it an avatar thing, that they stand alone? aang had the monks and the 100-year nap to explain away a lack of family connections, but korra doesn't.

I replied:

Hmm, interesting question! I think there are, as always, two angles to consider—in-story reasons and storytelling reasons.

In-story—well, I certainly never imagined that Avatars are always only children. But I can definitely see Senna and Tonraq going “lol nope” after Korra (I love her, but she’d have been … a handful). Of course, it’s also possible that they would have been willing to have more children but it just never happened.

As far as the storytelling goes, siblings could well diminish the sense of Korra’s isolation, and even if not, unnecessarily crowd an already very dense story. The creators don’t tend to treat sibling dynamics as an afterthought the way some media does; their relationships are very much foregrounded in some way or another, so Korra+siblings would almost certainly take up valuable space in the story, especially with the effort required to square it with her characterization. So I can see why Korra-the-only-child made the most sense for them.

steinbecks responded:

your bloodbender bro reblogs and korra asks are seriously like, what year is it… where am i

I said:

Party like it’s 2012! 🎉🎉🎉

Tumblr crosspost (5 November 2019)

I reblogged a gifset of young Tarrlok and Noatak transitioning to their adult selves, and added:

You know, there are depressing character arcs. And then there's the one where we see their horrifically abusive childhood, and realize their lives only go downhill from there.

I just .. :( :( :( :( :(