Okay, Zuko is undeniably the most developed and in depth character in Avatar but honestly I fucking love Sokka’s character development just as much if not more.
Sokka started out a sexist, cocky, weak, immature character–he constantly mocked Katara, wouldn’t accept the fact that the Kyoshi warriors were women far stronger than him, was constantly skeptical and pessimistic, couldn’t hold his own in a fight for a lot of the first season… He was honestly just quite a weak person.
But even as early as the Kyoshi episodes you begin to see how he’s not afraid to learn and change his perspective on things. Suki shows him that he’s not superior just because he’s male, and he comes to understand and accept that. He constantly praises and admires Toph, and never once calls her weak. He learns to stop being so protective over Suki, because he knows that she can take care of herself. He doesn’t once underestimate Azula, even though she’s a girl who’s two years younger than him.
He learns patience and strategy. His invasion plan was genius, his inventions are genius, he was able to tell when Azula was messing with him, Aang and Toph to buy time. He managed to orchestrate the first ever jail break out of the highest security prison in the fire nation. He’s really, really intelligent, and we got to see him learn to let go of his cockiness and ego so that he could utilise his intelligence and develop it.
And then there’s the fact that he’s just so caring underneath all the sarcasm and pessimism. He cared deeply for Yue, even though he only knew her for a matter of days, and her death haunted him to the point where he’s constantly afraid of losing the other people he loves- you can see the terror and guilt he feels when he finds out Azula captured Suki, and that he failed yet another woman he loves. He’s so kind and supportive to Aang, reassuring him when he begins to lose confidence and telling him how strong he is. And he’s so tender with Toph as well. Like when he was talking about Katara and his mother, and he was so open and honest and unashamed in telling Toph such personal truths. And in the entire finale you can see his protectiveness over her (still while not treating her as if she’s weak, just knowing he needs to look out for her because she’s at a disadvantage on the airships) when he’s constantly shielding her and catching her and holding her hand to make sure she doesn’t wander off. Also, there’s so many scenes throughout the show with him leading Toph and letting her hold onto him and I love these wee details so much. Also, one thing that stuck out to me in a recent rewatch was when he and Katara find out about their father’s location, and he immediately volunteers to stay behind and allow Katara to go find him instead. Even though he’s desperately missed his father, and everything that he’s done since they last saw each other was arguably to become strong enough to make his father proud – this just shows how selfless Sokka can actually be when it comes down to serious situations.
He was so quick to accommodate Zuko, and accept him into the group, maybe because he understands that people can change, and can become better. I wish we could’ve gotten more scenes with the two of them because their friendship is bloody great.
Sokka’s training with Master Piandao is one of my favourite episodes, because we see how Sokka has learned to balance his goofiness with his intelligence, we see how he’s learned to discipline himself, and how he really does want to become stronger. He takes this seriously, even if it doesn’t always seem like it.
Honestly I think Sokka is one of the most powerful members of the group, and he and Zuko are definitely the most developed characters in the show. Azula has always been one of my faves because of how her character turned out, but most of her development happened within the last 7 episodes, unlike Sokka and Zuko who have been changing and growing since episode 1.
dwarfs evolved in deep subterranean societies, and it shows. their eyesight is shit; their skin is intensely sensitive to the sun. the first human diplomats to come in contact with them mistakenly labeled the dwarfs a war-like people because they were so seldom seen without layers of protective clothing; it was a while before anyone realized that dwarven skin just burns easily and needs to be kept safe under layers.
due to their tendency to stay covered up when aboveground, it was longer much longer before anyone found out that dwarfs also glow.
they’ve since developed much fancier ways of keeping track of each other down in the tunnels, of course, but there’s this fun little holdover, stripes of faint blue or green (think of the way veins look on pale humans) swirling over their entire bodies, each dwarf boasting a pattern that’s entirely unique.
topside they look like nothing more than interesting or possibly puzzling tattoos – why did you need that stripe crossing right over your eye like that? – but get them down in a cavern, let them shed their protective suits, and marvel. they live and work down in the deepest levels, where humans can’t see their own hands in front of themselves but can sure as hell see the familiar lines of their dwarf buddies, shining to show them the way.
or, okay, if we do want to get into fighty dwarfs
nighttime is fine; as soon as the sun goes down they’re free to remove their heavy protective suits (dwarfs going sleeveless to let their skin glow)
and, thus unencumbered, surround their enemies’ little campsite
and the last thing anyone sees before everything goes to hell are ghostly blue and green swirls floating through the night
jesus crust makenzie this is horrifying and i love it
When I worked in a tea shop, I actually got a few people coming in requesting jasmine tea. Why jasmine? Because that’s what Uncle Iroh would drink on Avatar: The Last Airbender.
So here’s something to think about:
Even though he was royalty, Uncle Iroh was a master of preparing his own tea– even after he left with Zuko, he could always be seen preparing it on his own, eventually opening a successful tea shop when the one he worked at turned out to be awful.
For a firebender, heating a pot of water wouldn’t be difficult– a few seconds of rage and you’d have it at a rolling boil– but a rolling boil would ruin the tea.
The secret to a good cup of tea is often in the temperature of water that you use.
Jasmine, green and white tea tends to need between 160-180* F (71-82*C)– go any higher than that, and you’ll scald the leaves and wind up with bitter tea. Let it steep for too long, and it’ll scald anyway. So you can’t just boil the hell out of it and walk away; to be really good, a cup of tea needs a lower temperature and a softer flame. It needs patience and attention. And that’s where Uncle Iroh excelled.
It was such a wonderful character detail, and I love it so.
…I…wait…I just…b…
*Gags* “This tea is nothing more than hot leaf juice!”
“Uncle…that’s what all tea is.”
“How could a member of my own family say something so horrible?”
DO YOU MEAN THAT ZUKO NEVER PREPARED A GOOD CUP OF TEA BEFORE BECAUSE HE WAS TOO IMPATIENT TO PROPERLY HEAT IT AND THAT IROH PUT TWO AND TWO TOGETHER RIGHT THEN AND THERE?
“We’ll have to make some major changes around here!” — His next line which he says firmly, grabbing the teapot and looking at Zuko as he turns.
Like literally after this the main plotpoint between these two is Iroh teaching Zuko how to be more patient/kind/open-minded while also teaching him how to properly work in the tea shop and I just…do you mean to tell me those two were actually not just random meshing plotpoints but were a direct correlation?
Inspired by #TheInternetNamesAnimals, I’ve compiled this helpful list of alternate names for the Doctor’s various incarnations. I haven’t gotten to the New Series Doctors yet, and I’m definitely open to revising this list, so feel free to add on your own suggestions.
DarkestElemental616 