Ozai’s angels!

new purpose

(don't tag as ship)

redraw my old art from 2021 miss the time when i spent all night drawing fanart for new ep

how aang changed them

this is so beautiful i’m cryin

AU where Sokka’s high-on-cactus-juice encounter with the giant mushroom takes a dark turn. (Also he has a gun)

based on this beautiful tumblr post

bonus:

Nice going ruining Aang’s day.

inspired by this post!

bonus:

none of them know how to appreciate a joke

AU where Sokka’s high-on-cactus-juice encounter with the giant mushroom takes a dark turn. (Also he has a gun)

based on this beautiful tumblr post

bonus:

Absolutely hilarious. 😭😭😭

This is the best interpretation of the mushroom post.

Fighting Styles: Toph Bei Fong

Today is Earth Day and since I can never pass up an opportunity to make a good pun, I’m going to analyze the physicality/fighting style of everyone’s favorite earthbender, Toph Bei Fong. 

Toph is unique in her usage of Chu Family (Zhujia/Chugar) Southern Praying Mantis Style (tanglangquan/tonglongchuan) kung fu, as opposed to the Hung Gar style kung fu (a popular style that is used by one of the most famous martial artists of Chinese folklore and protagonist of many a wuxia film, Wong Fei Hung) every other earthbender in the series uses. Unlike Hung Gar, which is heavily external and thus relies on physical strength, Chu Gar Tonglong is an internal style that emphasizes turning your opponent’s strength against them. This synchronizes with Toph’s preferred method of combat, which is deeply rooted in counter-attacks. 

Chu Gar Tonglong is a very unique martial art, characterized by its bizarre rhythm and unconventional movements. It’s been compared to the Drunken Fist, only without the seemingly off-balance aspect. Unlike Azula’s Chachuan, Chu Gar Tonglong is not a particularly elegant or beautiful style (in fact, some martial artists even refer to it as the fighting style of the undead due to its off-putting movements),  which also makes sense given Toph’s rough exterior.  

Other characteristics of Chu Gar Tonglong include:

1. Striking in rapid succession, without withdrawing your limbs to their initial position

2. Bent elbows, like those of a mantis, hence its namesake (Unlike Northern Praying Mantis, Chu Gar Tonglong does not commonly use the “mantis fist” that most people associate with mantis-style)

3. Stances usually involve the feet separated wider than shoulder-width apart, with the majority of your weight on the front leg. The back leg is slightly curved and enables maneuverability. 

4. Close-range combat with a heavy emphasis on arm and hand strikes. Typical uses of the hands include…

5. Simultaneous offense and defense with every strike. Again, this is very fitting with Toph’s preferred method of counter-attacks. 

In contrast with Northern Tonglong, Chu Gar Tonglong is very grounded and places almost zero emphasis on kicking techniques. The few kicks there are are very low to the ground, and usually aimed at the opponent’s ankles.

This suits Toph well, due to her blindness and her need to “see” with her feet, as she would require both feet on the ground as frequently as possible, which would make high kicks and flying kicks not ideal for her to use.

In short, Chu Gar is a close-range internal style well-suited for those who don’t possess particularly high physical strength, are fast with their hands, and prefer to remain grounded. Its no-frills approach to fighting and equal emphasis on both offense and defensive maneuvers make it a very unique martial art, and perfectly suited for Toph’s  gruff and belligerent personality. 

I’ll write more on Toph’s non-combat physicality some other time. 

Random Trivia!

Even though Bei Fong sounds very similar to the Chinese phrase meaning “north” (beifang), Toph uses a Southern fighting style.

Chu Gar Praying Mantis is a dying art. There are very few teachers left in the world who know this style and even fewer who are willing to pass it on. Martial arts enthusiasts and Toph lovers should go seek out a Chu Gar master and learn the art while they still can. 

Happy Earth(bending) Day!

Since I have exactly zero knowledge of martial arts, this post was very eye-opening.

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whaoh why is uncle iroh giving zuko drugs

uncle highroh lol

Here is the full comic I did for the Team Avatar zine!

#iroh your brother is a crazy dictator but TEA is where you draw the line?

I uhh redrew Zuko as the girl laying by the pool meme, someone help me find a funny caption

I always love painting Toph and Katara ^^ Which of these pieces is your favourite?

obsessed with the guy who just won gold in windsurfing

Wasn’t there a whole thing in the comics about aang getting offended over some air nomad super fans using the arrow since you have to be a master to get your arrow tattoos? And basically the super fan group was doing a cultural appropriation by having arrow tats? I feel like that was a whole ass thing in the comics.

And if you read the comic, you'd remember that Aang was actually fine with it when he thought they were paint, and only had a problem with it when he realised they were actually tattoos.

The problem wasn't that they were dressing up as Air Nomads, the problem was that they were basically committing Stolen Valour.

Besides, air benders aren't real, so who the hell cares?

And Aang was called out as an asshole in this issue

And an Olympian would be the closest we'd have to a master in this world. So given the nuance would Aang be that mad to begin with?

Why are we talking about the opinions and feelings of a fictional character as if they were real?!