my swamp now

I wanted to share only Painted Lady Katara in a separate post too from my previous kataang pic, because I can't get enough Painted Lady fanart 🌊 😊

-----------

Katara (c)  by Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko

Art (c) Me

Done in Krita

Katara as the Painted Lady is everything.

This has definitely been said before, but besides the obvious reasons like “he’s from the fire nation” and “he betrayed her,” I’m pretty sure at least part of the reason Katara was so awful to Zuko when he joined the Gaang was because he reminded her of Jet. I mean, we figured out these two are narrative foils a long time ago, and we’ve figured out that deep down Katara already trusted Zuko and knew he had changed - she let him join the Gaang, let him take Aang, the person she literally gave him a death threat over, to some strange place alone...

Then there’s this little tidbit...

And yet, she continued to be downright vicious...until the literal moment he proved himself to her, that is, at which point she swung as hard as she could the opposite direction with no hesitation and then acted like nothing had ever happened.

It was almost like she was trying to convince herself she hated him, or was at least overcorrecting ...trying to make herself hate him, trying to make sure they could could never get close...which was definitely possible.

Because her abandonment issues told her that if she let her guard down, there would always be the off chance that he would betray her again, or worse...die

Also, side note: it cannot be a coincidence that these shots are almost identical

i thought it would be fun to put all the little scenes i've animated from the circumnavigators of celestial bodies into one post, even if the fic for the last one isn't up yet

art only blog - insta - inprnt - redbubble (image description in alt)

The Terrible Brothers (they suck and are terrible)

happy 9th anniversary Korrasami 💙❤️

no firebending allowed

happy korrasami anniversary! korrasary if you will. (it was yesterday but better late than never)

many things have already been said about how the southern raiders proves that katara and aang are incompatible, but i think the real nail in the coffin isn’t just that TSR reveals a lack of understanding between the two, but a lack of trust. 

the minute katara tells aang she’s going to find yon rha, her mother’s murderer, his first question is “um… and what exactly do you think this will accomplish?”

right off the bat, his response to katara’s serious, emotionally-charged announcement comes off as accusatory and condescending, so it’s no wonder that katara responds defensively:

“i knew you wouldn’t understand.” 

at this point, aang is supposed to be katara’s closest friend. they’re just weeks away from getting into a lifelong romantic relationship. and yet katara doesn’t respond to aang’s remark the way you would expect someone in her position to react: she shows no betrayal, no disbelief, doesn’t even seem to really be hurt by the fact that her dear, trusted friend doesn’t see why she would want to find the man who murdered her mother.

her choice of words is also particularly telling: she doesn’t say “you know what it will accomplish” (which would indicate that she at least has enough faith in aang to believe that he realizes what this means to her) or even “you don’t understand” (which would be a more realistic response stemming from hurt and anger) but rather “i knew you wouldn’t understand.” 

this means that katara, at the point where she and aang should have been closer than ever, didn’t expect his understanding. she didn’t expect his support, or his sympathy, or his compassion. in fact, her reaction suggests that she was prepared for this exact response all along, that all she did expect from aang was precisely what she got —disagreement, dissuasion, and a complete lack of empathy and understanding.

why is this something you would expect of your best friend? shouldn’t you believe that you can count on them for support? shouldn’t you be hurt if they don’t support you? shouldn’t you at least be surprised if they don’t?

katara doesn’t trust aang to do for her even the bare minimum of what a friend should — and at the same time, neither does aang trust katara. he immediately assumes that her trip is about revenge, and then compares her to jet. shouldn’t aang know katara, his dearest friend and the girl he loves, better than this? shouldn’t aang know what katara is and isn’t capable of? shouldn’t he trust her to make the right decision?

instead, it’s zuko, who isn’t even katara’s friend at this point, who insists that it’s about justice and closure, not revenge. it’s zuko who stands by her side without judgement and believes in her to make the right choice. it’s zuko who trusts katara to stay true to herself. 

kas love to talk about how kat.aang’s friendship is the perfect basis for their romance, but in TSR it seems like katara and aang aren’t even friends. neither of them trust or understand each other the way friends should, let alone best friends who supposedly harbour romantic feelings. the southern raiders doesn’t just prove that katara and aang would be incompatible in a relationship — it calls the very foundation of their friendship itself into doubt.

Toph Beifong

[ID found by clicking alt on the piece provided by maileesque]

Son of the dragon, of night and the slaughter Whose wisdom his unshaven youth will belie

This episode man

namesake