So I've Come Up With This Crack Idea That Werebeasts Could Be Possible In The Avatarverse. Hear Me Out.

reblog if your inbox is always open for new members of the fandom who may be a little shy or intimidated. doesn’t matter whether or not you’re a “popular blog”; everyone here is equal and if you’re reading this as a new person/someone considering entering the fandom, we will not turn you away!!!! talk to us!! make friends!! i more than understand being shy but trust me this fandom is chill come join us in this hellhole

Wolves!!!!

mutuals i wanna know what your favorite animal is

Azula fanart by @hammling on twitter

AMEN🙏

THIS.

Aang: Zuli! Look what I bought you!

Azula: you know I don't like cheesy stuff.

Aang: yeah I know, but when I looked at them I thought about you... I can gave them back if you want

Azula: *looking at both flowers and plush and blushing hard* I never said that.

I couldn't decide which version I prefer, so here both!

Image description in alt text.

Dude I would buy some of the masks off you. Unmodified that is

I have a question. How did you come to the wonderful conclusion that Aloy and Talanah would be a good couple? I can see the appeal in it, but I'd rather hear it from you

[CRACKS KNUCKLES] Watch me try to stay as concise as I can with this post, hahaha.

First thing I'll say is--I'm an absolute sucker for a strong-based friends to lovers ship. The loyalty, the devotion, the knowing each other before and after the world changes them and every stage between, the slow strengthening of feelings, the contending with blurred boundaries, the oh moment, the it was this all along, the I have always been here and so have you and so we will, the settling into even deeper contentment with the other, hoo boy I can go on and on. I especially like it when it comes in a sapphic flavor of the Burdened Chosen One and their Tender, Caring, Supportive Best Friend.

[looks directly at camera]

So you can already see where I'm coming from, here. But--truly, for me--it comes down to 1) the similarities AND innate differences in their life stories/situations and 2) their interactions in HZD. A combined one-two punch that crushed my windpipe and stole my lunch money.

I'm a sucker for a friends to lovers ship, and I'm also a sucker for a ship with compelling parallels. What interests me most about the Aloy/Talanah dynamic is that they're narrative mirrors, but foils in situation. Both are highly-skilled hunters; both driven by their fixation on a parental figure (either avenging or uncovering); both lost their father (figure) to a cruelty much too large for them, with their fathers' shared desire for them to survive; both inheriting new titles (Sunhawk, Alpha Prime) and shouldering the burdens of their deceased parental figure; both proving their place and worth in the world as based on, in Talanah's words, more than the nature of their birth alone; I could keep going. (Don't tempt me.) But here Aloy was an outcast, while Talanah is from one of the noblest houses of her tribe--the difference of change from without versus change from within, and all the ways in which both are complicated. So narrative mirrors coming from opposing situations--how does that make them alike, and how does it make them different? How does it change they way they navigated through the world, and how does it change the way they would navigate one another?

I also love to point out the fact that Talanah is the perfect example of what Rost was trying to demonstrate to Aloy in his final lesson. The strength to stand alone and to make a stand. Her dedication to a selfless cause--ambition not for her own sake, but to restore her family's legacy, and to change her culture. GOD. My fingers are going numb just thinking about it.

What I'm trying to say is that Talanah is in a unique position to see and empathize with the burden Aloy feels post-HZD, and I'm not sure I'll ever forgive the writers for not capitalizing on that during the pivotal time of HFW. Carrying on of your parent's legacy is not easy, and even if Talanah doesn't know it by weight, she knows it by shape. Importantly, to me--Talanah understands--she's lived analogous experiences to Aloy's--but she's also different enough to challenge her. In fact, it goes both ways. There's a mutuality to the way that they make up for what the other has maybe lacked--puzzle pieces instead of cognate shapes, or the same image repeated twice, amplifying itself. There's harmony where there could just be volume.

That got away from me, so I'll just keep on going with how their interactions in HZD fishhooked me. I made a post the other day about Aloy's joy in the Redmaw victory, and that's a major part of it. The rest is just--the sense of ease and understanding that comes out in all of their conversations? And how Talanah always and consistently from the beginning sees Aloy as Aloy, not a Seeker, not a savior, not an oddity, just based on her own merit alone? How she heard Aloy give herself a name--Aloy despite the Nora--says she'll remember it, and then does, TWICE? Every smile she brings out of Aloy, every moment of bare genuineness between them, that giggle from Aloy post-quest? And don't get me started on the "you made this possible, Aloy" parallel. Don't even let me think about "you'll always have a special home here, if you want it." It'll end badly for all of us, category 10 blorbo emergency.

But it's not only what Talanah can offer Aloy (a deep bond of loyalty and fondness, a sense of belongingness, the simple fact of being seen as exactly how you yourself want to be seen)--Aloy gives back to Talanah as well!! Much more deeply than just helping her earn the Sunhawk title and restoring her family's legacy. Think about their pre-Alight conversation: "I won't stand aside while one of mine fights alone. Not again." Aloy has become one of Talanah's--a person who has lost everyone dear to her. Something that must be absolutely terrifying (see my post-HZD Lanah characterization, lmao) but still worth fighting for.

I was lucky enough to read the entire Sunhawk comic directly after the credits rolled on HZD, and that again just blew me out of the water with how much sense they make. The fact that Talanah was the only one to see Aloy leave makes my brain wanna come gushing out of my ears. And how they just--keep running into one another (more on this in the next paragraph). But perhaps the most important comic moment is Talanah's affirmation of "you don't owe me anything" after Aloy apologizes for leaving. That right there is respect to Aloy's agency and personhood (versus instrumentality!!) and the burden Talanah can sense she's under. She trusts Aloy to have told her what was up, if she had wanted her to know. And trusts that whatever she is doing must be important. Even if it's been difficult to be without her, Talanah knows she can't ask Aloy for more than what she is or what she can give.

(that's not to say Talanah isn't hurt. I think she still is--and projects a lot of that hurt and attachment onto another woodsy hermit--but that's a topic for a different post. You can trust and accept something like this while still being hurt by it.)

You asked how I came to the conclusion of THEM, so I haven't really included HFW in this analysis (I was clearly a goner from HZD), but it's there too. The way Aloy just happens to find out Talanah is nearby after her entire worldview is cracked open at Latopolis, how seeking her out and finding her seems to just make things okay again despite everything? (again, the constant finding of each other.) The fondness of their reunion? "It feels good to hunt by your side again"? The easy way they settle into old comfortable patterns of conversation? The tone of You love him, don't you and Really??? and Come here.? It's just all there screaming at me. I can't.

I just. I love them so much. It's so clear to me how they already have helped and can continue to help each other grow. Especially now that the series has placed them in yet another paralleled situation post-HBS. From where I see it, they've been dancing around each other since the beginning. And the way they've both sought things with others (ALSO EACH HAVING PARALLELS TO THE OTHER) only to walk away makes me wanna go absolutely feral. I can very, very clearly see this playing out into an what was I looking for when there was you moment and it might actually be the thing that makes me perish

I'm so sorry if this was totally incoherent. I've got a lot of feelings about this ship and I'm gonna continue to make them your problem.

3A Limited Edition Destiny Figures - Hunter and Warlock

$190 Each - Pre-orders start in July 7th for Warlock and July 21st for Hunter. There are different version of each one for a respective retailer.

Bambaland site Bunge Store 3A Retail

Hunters: (Pre-orders Start July 21st)

Specs for all:

12.2-inches Tall (31cm)

27 Points of Articulation 

Bambaland Edition

Chatterwhite Shader

Shattered Vault Cloak

Ghost - Standard Shell

Primary Weapon - Imago Loop Hand Cannon

Special Weapon - Broken Truth-LR1 Sniper Rifle

Heavy Weapon - Dowager SA/3 Heavy Rocket Launcher

Exotic Weapon - Ice Breaker Sniper Rifle

Bungie Store Edition

Goldspiral Shader

Dead Revolution Cloak

Ghost - Quest Shell

Primary Weapon - Fatebringer Hand Cannon

Special Weapon - Efrideet’s Spear Sniper Rifle

Heavy Weapon - Dauphine SA/4 Heavy Rocket Launcher

Exotic Weapon - Ice Breaker Sniper Rifle 

Retail Edition

Autumn Splendor Shader

Cloak of Taniks Cloak

Ghost - Vanguard Shell

Primary Weapon - Imago Loop Hand Cannon

Special Weapon - LDR-5001 Sniper Rifle

Heavy Weapon - Tomorrow’s Answer Heavy Rocket Launcher

Warlocks (Pre-orders Start July 7th)

Specs for all:

12.6-Inches (32cm) tall

27 Points of Articulation 

Bambaland Edition

Chatterwhite Shader

Ghost - Bold Red Shell

Primary Weapon - No Time To Explain Pulse Rifle

Special Weapon - Murmur Fusion Rifle

Heavy Weapon - Bretomart’s Stand Heavy Machine Gun

Exotic Weapon - Thorn Hand Cannon

Bunige Store Edition

Old Guard Shader

Ghost - Dread Explorer Shell

Primary Weapon - Strangers Rifle Pulse Rifle

Special Weapon - Murmur Fusion Rifle

Heavy Weapon - Jolder’s Hammer Heavy Machine Gun

Exotic Weapon - Thorn Hand Cannon

Retail Version

Lunar Elegy Shader

Ghost - Brave Shell

Primary Weapon - Strangers Rifle Pulse Rifle

Special Weapon - Murmur Fusion Rifle

Heavy Weapon - Bretomart’s Stand Heavy Machine Gun

Please note that these figures will only be made once. 3A doesn’t do re-stocks. Do not expect to get one for a cheaper price after release; most people will sell them back for double+ the $190 price tag.

Which ape has the strongest concept of sin

All chimps are devout catholics but go to hell by choice