Blend With Inner Self

i’m literally going to end it all

i like the lore that piandao trained zuko but i don't think it was exactly the wholesome adoption that people like to do with zuko and any father figures. like in my mind piandao receives a letter from the fire lord like "the crown prince sucks at firebending and you're the best swordsman in the nation so we are sending him to be trained. this is non-optional" and piandao's legitimately contemplating committing treason rather than compromise his values and then the end of the the letter is like "we know you're usually selective we'll pay whatever" and piandao's like. okay FINE please pay me an absolutely ridiculous amount. and ozai agrees bc anything to get his failson out of his hair and piandao sends the money to the white lotus to fund a resistance group in the earth kingdom

and baby zuko, that turtleduck-loving mama's boy theater nerd, arrives on his doorstep and this is where most people would have him change his tune but piandao's just like "sure he seems cute now but he'll grow up to do imperialism". he teaches zuko the dual swords, a commoner's weapon, bc the ideal path for this kid who seems way too nice to be part of the royal family is to give it all up. but he doesn't think that's gonna happen. like iroh comes for a visit and he also seems nicer than the rest of the royal family but he did the siege of ba sing se so like. what does it matter that zuko likes theater and turtleducks and his mommy? he can still hate the earth kingdom and water tribes.

all of this is going on in his head, of course. in his actual interactions with zuko he's a very kind and patient teacher. he knows ozai's a bad dad and he wants to at least try to help this kid onto a better path. but it's not until he hears about the banishment and reports of a guy in a theater mask with dual swords committing treason that he's actually like "oh shit maybe there's some hope for this kid after all"

and he only really adopts him post-canon when iroh fucks off to ba sing se and SOMEBODY needs to help this poor kid navigate fire nation politics and i guess that's gonna be me. okay actually i like him now :) maybe i'll set him up with sokka

mark/eve development if it was good

let them slow-burn it all throughout season 3. if they aren't a couple yet, what does it really rob us of? a montage of romantic moments, of which there were about three? the invincible inc. arc, and even then it only being specifically about them getting a house together? conversations on the rooftop where she behaves like his therapist and he shows very little interest in her inner life?

for starters: future eve does NOT tell mark that eve loves him and needs him to give her an answer. this was terrible for her character, and that's even acknowledged in the show, so i cannot fathom why this was necessary to get them together. a meaningful look would have conveyed everything that needed to be said

instead, mark sees future eve - beaten down by time, but always resilient - and thinks, wow, she looks so sad. she doesn't want to admit it, but i know her. i want to do more to be there for my eve, my friend eve, in the present. we're in a unique position to understand each other, but that doesn't mean we always will, so i'm going to make an effort

things we could focus on to show mark falling for eve gradually: her interactions with oliver, and how she's able to get through to him better than mark can sometimes. her desire to keep up with "mundane" things like taking classes to be more responsible with her powers. her actually disagreeing with mark, maybe on something big, and him realizing how much he values her opinions. her being in both worlds with him, the hero and the civilian, and how that gives him the ability to share it all with her fully. show don't tell. please

show eve's perspective, too. her wondering if it's right for her to feel something for mark when she's so close with amber, when mark has so much on his plate... she needs to be sure, too. she doesn't want to feel like they're only together because it's easy. maybe she could have a non-specific conversation about it with her new friend from college

when mark is being attacked and thinks he's going to die, we should see him thinking of eve. not just eve, though. maybe brief flashes of everyone who's important to him - and eve is one of those people! don't just have him say that he thought of her, because it feels cheap, and that she's the only one he thought of, because it feels unearned

...but he gets in his own head about why he saw her that way. does he want to protect her the same way he does his fanily & friends, or does he just want her close? maybe he started seeing their possible future together and it felt different, and she didn't look so sad as she did in that abandoned earth, and he doesn't know how to tell her any of this?

when eve is attacked by conquest, that's the breaking point. that's when mark has to confess to her, if she's even able to hear it. he's realized just how important she is to him and in what way - and eve, who has had time to really think about her own feelings too, is able to reciprocate. in near death and rebirth, in vulnerability and openess, they finally come together. a new beginning. now they know

the hand is williams ❤️ click for full res

the gang’s all here we’re like so fucking back

I love omniverse but I hate what they did with Benkai. It could have worked if they didn't write it the way they did but I can't stand how it's meant to be like a bickering couple trope. I hate those kind of couples and it was too last minute. I just don't like how she treats Bens aliens as if they aren't him I know it's meant to be a jokey thing but it just comes off as rude. Like oh no I meant your alien. And it sometimes really isn't in a joking tone for her. 1/2

2/2 I feel like that sort of thing could cause a lotta resentment. I also feel like it could give kids the wrong impression for relationships. Like the way Kai treats Ben should not be shown as good at all. Bickering couples rarely ever works. It might give kids the idea that hey it's okay to be rude and condescending to someone you like. It's that dumb girls treat boys they like badly trope as well. Which has the same problems as bickering couples

I like that you brought up the fact that their relationship should not be framed as good at all, and I would add especially since they're also trying to frame them as an "endgame" relationship. That makes normalizing it in animation even worse. Pushing through borderline abuse for some true love destiny hanging over your heads? Lol let's not glorify that narrative.

When I talk about Benkai's "dynamic," I'm usually coming from the perspective of Ben not being deserving of this kind of end (game) for his story because he's the best boy, but you've got the right idea in saying this could influence people in real life. Absolutely.

*stab wound* deep in the *hospital suite* and you’re *seeking me out* IS IT CASUAL NOW

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