scans_daily | Avatar: the Promise Part 2

espanolbot posting in

Two Pages, where Sokka has gone to visit Toph's metalbending school,

http://www.buzzfeed.com/donnad/exclusive-avatar-the-last-airbender-the-teen-y

Well, there are worst origins for a police force.

Oh, and I just got the double meaning for Toph's statue in the Republic City police department's building: She's both the founder AND it's a representation of the regular statues of Justice that are in court houses and the like.

Also looks like she's not always going to be so short.

Oh, I have recaps and reviews for the first two episodes of Legend of Korra on my blog with links at No_Scans, but I can link them to individual posts here if people are interested.

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From:

silverzeo

About time Sokka got some fan girls.... too bad not on the "foaming mouth" level...

From:

espanolbot

Girls love Sokka, was canon in the previous show too. *nods*

From:

icon_uk

He's the Xander of their little gang.

From:

auggie18

Hmm, let's see. Yue, that spirit panda thingy...

They just need to throw in comics where Koh the Face Stealer and the Painted Lady hit on him and and the Xanderfication will be complete!

From:

salinea

except without all the controlling hatefulness.

From:

icon_uk

All the what now?

Xander had his problems, but I'm not sure controlling was one of them. if anything I'd have said he tended towards doormat status.

From:

salinea

I saw an article, not very long ago, about how Xander was written that reminded me how hateful he was acting by the end. Some of the worst sort of Nice Guy-ism and entitlement and passive aggressive controlling behaviour, yes. Meant to link you to it, but apparently I didn't save the link like I thought I did *sheepish*

From:

salinea

oh, googling got it: http://hoodedutilitarian.com/2012/03/xander-harris-hyena-boy/

From:

icon_uk

Thanks I'll take a read of that one, but given my slightly defensive nature about my favourite characters, I may hold off for a little while. :)

From:

auggie18

Wow, there are so many issues I have with that article. (And a lot of the comments.) None of the Buffy women had any real power because Xander, um, made jokes? Which were, I thought, very clearly his way to compensate for self esteem issues that sprung from his consistently being the least useful member of the group? I mean, I really don't want to get started on other points made in that. Seriously. I've typed a whole bunch of stuff and deleted it because I don't want to get into a huge thing.

From:

salinea

You certainly seem to have read it differently than I did.

From:

shadowpsykie

yeahi pretty much had the same reaction as auggie. xander May have his i issues, but controlling and hateful? I mean i could see some of the issues people would have had with early Xander... even some issues in late seasons, but for the most part, he was just a nice guy the last few seasons. at least IMHO

From:

auggie18

...how are you reading it? It seems pretty clear that the point of the essay is that Xander somehow devalues every other aspect of the show. Some choice quotes.

"It couldn’t be, as long as Buffy was friends with Xander Harris, the thorn destroying any so-called feminism in Sunnydale."

"In the next episode he carelessly removes Buffy’s agency and tells Dawn about Spike’s attempted rape. Not only that, but he continually and persistently brings it up through the rest of the series. He takes that power and repeatedly uses it against her." (Using the power of not trusting an attempted rapist?)

"The series continually, passively, upholds Xander’s skewed viewpoint, never forcing him to repent and never allowing him to change. Instead, they give him the ultimate gift – Buffy’s strength. In the series’ penultimate episode “End of Days,” Buffy says: “You’re my strength, Xander. You’re the reason I made it this far.”

"And now she attributes her strength and survival to the man who constantly sexualized her, belittled her, and condemned her."

"Buffy cannot be a feminist heroine if her strength comes from a do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do man, especially one happy to remove her agency and morally judge her."

The article is all about how Xander somehow makes Buffy an anti-feminist show through a mixture of snarking at main characters and making bad life decisions. How did you read it?

From:

salinea

what part do you disagree with, that Xander's behaviour was problematic, or that his problematic behaviour combined with the fact he was framed as heart/strength of the team and Buffy in particular, undermines some of the feminism of the show?

What I disagreed with from your comment is that the article's thesis can be summed up as saying that "women have no power". They discuss, amongst other things, a pattern of undermining some female characters' agency when it comes to matters of romance/relationship; or at least, of Xander behaving very controlling on those topics without being called out on it (in fact the opposite is truth). That's not the same thing.

From:

auggie18

Okay, maybe I misphrased in my original complaint about the article. The point isn't that women in Buffy have no power, but rather that their power is somehow diminished because Xander is a dick. That a strong woman can be devalued because some guy acts like an idiot.

Which I don't get.

At all.

In fact, one of my big problems with it is the idea that Xander is the heart of the team. Xander's position as the heart of the team is a weird thing to bring up because it's mentioned twice in the series and, even then, it doesn't really have any solid basis. You get the impression that the role falls to him because there is literally nothing else for him to be. He's not really seen as any kind of moral center for the team, that usually falls to Willow, Giles, or Tara. He's not often portrayed as being in the right and when he is, it's usually by accident. (Mistrust of Angel, for example.) The article makes it seem like most of his choices are supported by the show when, really, they aren't. He comes off as the bad guy in both of his major relationships. (Anya and Cordelia.) He comes off as a jerk for his treatment of Angel, even on the occasions were he is in the right. (Because it seems like he's being petty, not moral.)

From:

salinea

Okay, I understand your point better. I think the essay tries to make a point about what's the narrative of the series as far as Xander's relationship with the women of the show rather than saying that a strong woman is devalued because some guy acts like an idiot. That said, I didn't find all of it convincing; as you say sometimes Xander being a jerk was just him coming off as a jerk; but I do think it points out at a pattern of him getting away, or getting away while still being framed as heroic/support more than his share of time. By the end of the series, I felt that he definitely didn't get call out on some of his own bullshit + judgemental attitude he had versus other people as much as he should have; and that did turn me off the character a great deal.

When I was watching Buffy, I remember the part of the fandom I was in, we did make a great deal about all that "heart of the team" thing - then again we were big into all the symbolical and metaphorical aspects of the shows. When you see the role he had in the finale of S6, for example, I definitely not something that's never here - it's not the same thing as being the moral center, no; but it is here.

From:

auggie18

Sorry about the repeated "how are you reading it?" I forgot I asked it at the beginning of my comment.

Again, a lot of writing and deleting.

From:

mourirdemain

Oh Toph xD I love those two <33

From:

sherkahn

I <3 Toph!

From:

mistygeek

Why is this not mine yet.

I need back story before Korra, darn it!

From:

espanolbot

Well I can give you some backstory right now.

Sockapow! The family trees of the Avatar characters and how they relate to the Korra generation!

That and an Amon-focused trailer can be found on my blog,
http://espanolbot.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/legend-of-korra-season-preview.html

Apparently Lin's father is being officially kept underwraps. Most interesting, considering the setting and the presumed contraversy this would have caused, especially with Lin inheriting her mother's name if her father's identity is public knowledge. That is depending on how "traditionalist" people are in the Avatarverse about that kind of thing, as the deal with arranged marriages showed they could be kind of... judgey.

Amon looks like he might be shaping up to be a cool villain also.

From:

arilou_skiff

Or they might be doing the entire "husband adopts wife's family name if of inferior status" thing?

From:

espanolbot

Possibly. Might be the case considering Toph's wealth, skill at bending and relationship with Aang and co.

From:

long_silence

Or maybe Lin's father didn't have a last name. Think about it, the Beifongs were one of the few families to have a family name in the Avatar Universe.

Everyone else just has their given names and where they came from. ex. Bato of the Water Tribe.

Not even Zuko's family had their own last name.

From:

baihu

It was not unusual in Chinese culture that if a man is obviously not going to be able to support his wife as the primary caregiver, he marries into the wife's family instead. Since Toph's family were famously rich, I can see this situation happening.

From:

janegray

...How old was Toph when she gave birth? She was 12 when the series ended, Korra takes place 70 years later, and Lin looks 35 years old tops.

Can I woman give birth in her late forties?

From:

captain_ziggy

My mom had my sister in her mid forties, so it's not too much of a stretch.

That being said, I think Lin's a bit older than thirty five, given the graying hair. She probably just has one of those really well-aging faces

From:

sir_razorback

Oh my god.. Meelo.. From that profile picture, I can see him Airbending to 'get that wascally wabbit!'

From:

venatosapiens

Because Justice, after all, is blind. And Toph don't need no scales, fool.

From:

okkult3000

Even Toph's statue is yelling at somebody.

From:

icon_uk

I think her mouth is closed, that's her chin (I can see it look open too, but that seems a very disrespectful thing to do with a statue in her honour)

From:

aeolos_sakya

Maybe her spirit enters in the statue and she makes it yell at people through Metalbending?
.
.
.

That's my canon now.
I don't care if it doesn't make sense.

From:

pyrotwilight

Part two is out in May, right?

From:

espanolbot

Yep. May 30th, I think.

From:

omgwtflolbbqbye

I wish that the last two books could have come out before "Korra" could start airing so I could experience it all in chronological order.

I did watch the first two episodes was really surprised that **mild spoiler** Katara is still alive. But from her dialog it sounds like she's the last of the Aang gang. Of all of them I expected Toph to be the last one standing into old age ala Bumi.

From:

espanolbot

To be fair, she only confirmed that Sokka was dead (Aang's death being obvious, Korra being his reincarnation and all) along with "most" of her friends were dead. There's still wiggle room for one or two others to still be about.

From:

skemono

I desperately want to see Toph metalbending her own statue to go on a rampage through the town. It can be in flashback, I won't mind!

From:

amaniwolf

I'm really curious as to whether Kya or Bumi had any children? I've so enjoyed the first 2 episodes.

From:

introverted_excavator

Judging by her necklace I'd say she's at least married, or was married at some point.

From:

introverted_excavator

I am kinda side eyeing the bender genetics here, but yessss Kyaaaaa

From:

shadur

Also looks like she's not always going to be so short.

Or they just made the statue six times larger than life. Given Toph's gleeful reaction to her actor in _Ember Island Players_ she'd be all for it.

... Assuming she isn't the one who literally stamped the statue into existence while she was shaping the building in the first place -- and then hired everyone who had enough of a spine to dare to call her on the ego of it..

From:

eyz

An adult Toph statue! Badass!! :D

From:

baihu

Not gonna be surprised if a surprise reveal is Mako's third generation descendant of Zuko.

Actually I really kinda want to see what Zuko's kids look like, hope they're in the show!

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