Based On My Own Experience With Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive, Rabbits, And Inland Empire...yep, That’s

“This place is someone’s memory of a town...and the memory’s fading.”

I have to admit, I liked the conceit of Suyin being on the side of our heroes despite not actually being a good person herself, but I feel like the Suyin/Kuvira conflict was mishandled, in large part because Bryke couldn’t decide whether Kuvira was a well-intentioned hardliner who went a little too far in places or Hitler with geomancy powers. The way I see it, when Suyin refused to take any role in stabilizing the Earth Kingdom, she essentially threw away Zaofu’s one chance to influence events in the civil conflict(s) and left its fate to the whims of chance. By the time Book 4 rolled around the question was not if, but when Zaofu would be annexed. Even so, I’d argue that Kuvira considered Zaofu to be the spiritual home for the new modernized Earth Empire she wished to create, and as such may have been prepared to offer a sweetheart deal to Zaofu in exchange for its peaceful entry into the empire. Of course, if they when with that deal, Suyin wouldn’t be top dog of her own little modernist fiefdom, so Suyin attacked Kuvira under cover of truce, placing the safety of her citizens and their accomplishments in jeopardy because her pride had been stung. And this would have been great, dramatic stuff if Bryke had acknowledged it! Have Kuvira annex Zaofu, but have Korra and gang hold Suyin responsible for escalating the conflict. Heck, have her escape with them, then have them worry about the repercussions of their actions on Kuvira’s strategic goals, the United Republic’s diplomatic relationship to the Earth Empire, and with whatever the hell Suyin’s doing with the anti-imperial exile groups in Republic City. But instead of that, Bryke made Suyin the victim, Kuvira the tyrant, and we ended the show with a giant mech with a death laser. If there’s one thing Korra taught me about writing stories, it’s this: if you want to be political, commit to your premise. Consider the implications, and follow them through. If you pull up and settle for half-measures, you’ll make a farce of the whole thing.

She was more than that. She was like a daughter to me. I took her in when she was eight years old and nourished her talents. Kuvira was smart, a natural leader, and quickly rose through the ranks. I saw myself in her.

“He reminds me of that delightful FBI agent with the future-glasses from that old David Cage game.”

These aliens have names like Garvin, Skorin, and Talur. And this kid comes up with Jayden. The hell, writers?

If your ever feeling embarrassed or frustrated with your voice just remember S.H.O.D.A.N from System Shock got to remake herself in her ideal of beauty and decided to have a stutter and inconsistent tone.

Me too, Madiha, me too.

i feel like my tastes are so bizarre and inhuman that i can never share things with anyone or be part of a fandom without feeling like the biggest weirdo

@nick-nocturn, isn’t this basically what Keratin Garden was?

a beauty guru that is haunted by a demonic entity

Can and should! All those polar bears sitting around up there, thinking they’re better than me! I’ll settle their hash!!!!

I’ve always been very reluctant to equate Kuvira to either Chaing or Mao. Part of the problem is that if you start looking for 1:1 historical analogies in fantasy worlds you end up developing tunnel vision you miss out on what the writer is actually trying to do with their setting. The other issue is that Bryke never really made it clear what Kuvira’s beliefs and ideology were beyond a few speeches and a handful of background details that don’t entirely fit together. Back when B4 was airing the revelation of the Earth Empire’s internment camps caused a stir in the fandom (at least among the Kuvira fans), since there was literally nothing in Kuvira’s backstory or behavior to explain why she would be an ethnic chauvinist. This old blog post took an interesting tack by discussing Kuvira’s context in the world history of Avatar and suggesting that she might be closer to Kemal Atatürk than any figure from modern Chinese history. (There’s also some neat discussion of the personal and political relationship between Kuvira and Suyin too!)

A piece I did for avatarfanzine - Children of the Earth zine, which if you pre-ordered it, should be getting it real soon. I wished Kuvira would’ve had a longer season to shine a lot more. She genuinely saw herself as the hero of the people.

With 3 “a”s, even!

It’s Madiha Day!