So I had a few ideas for fics kicking around in my head.

The first one started as a slash fic as a joke between me and my friend (we joked I was good enough to even make a slash fic compelling for more than hot boylove) between Sokka and Zuko. As I fleshed out ideas, it became less "Sokka is totally hot for Zuko and vice versa" and more a...well, a bro-fic. Where Zuko and Sokka are totally hetero best friends.

Sokka is selected(hired? appointed?) as Zuko's chief of the Royal Guard. It focuses on Sokka and Suki's relationship being strained by his never being around (the initial plot point, hurr hurr). This leads to Toph struggling with the idea that this is a good thing (she can move in on him!) and an awful thing (her best friend might get dumped by the girl he loves).

So a lot of it went from "Sexy Time" to "Bro Time", with the two of them talking about all the drastic changes going on in their lives.

Second idea was an ultra depressing, soul-crushing fic involving Toph and Sokkas relationship. Might just weave it into the first one.
Essentially, something majorly destructive happens between Suki and Sokka and they break up. Toph "suddenly" starts spending more time with Sokka, eventually telling him how she feels. Sokka, of course, completely reciprocates and...wait, no, he gets annoyed that she wasn't hanging out with a friend in his time of need but squeezing in when he was single, tears into her, and leaves her in tears as he tells her to stay out of his life and he would never be with her. because their are too many goddamn happy fanfics :D

Third one was also kind of dark. An "Everything goes wrong" fic. Aang doesn't defeat the Firelord. In fact, he falls in battle and is killed. Azula manages to hit Zuko AND Sokka with a fireball while he's redirecting his lightning, blinding Zuko (and mocking him with a "matching scar"), and burning Katara.

Sokkas leg doesn't set or heal right, and it has to be amputated, Aang is dead, Katara has to focus on healing herself and keeping Zukos second scar from festering (hence why Sokkas leg never heals). Suki goes into hiding with the Kiyoshi Warriors rather than staying by Sokka's side, Toph nearly has a breakdown when this all goes down and runs off.
The story itself takes place about 10 years later. Katara's already going gray from stress and trying to organize the remaining rebels, trying to find the next Avatar before the Fire Nation does, etc. When Sokka brings news of a once-in-a-lifetime event.

A Solar eclipse followed by a lunar eclipse. They know damn well the Fire Lord is going to attack during the Lunar eclipse, but they can't squander the solar eclipse again. So both sides launch an all-out attack.

I've got some big stuff planned for it :D
Not sure how I'll end it though...

Bumping this thread because I wanted to talk about fanfics but didn't feel like creating a new thread.

I recently rewatched through AtLA and I'm in a desperate need for more Avatar content. In those situations, I tend to go look for fanfiction. However, I'm really picky about the stuff I read; I only care for fanfics where everyone feels as in-character as possible, and the story sticks to the original work's tone. So basically I'm asking if anyone can offer any nice Avatar recommendations like that? I keep finding way too much Zutara and OC shipping, as well as hurt/comfort with elements of rape and violence.

I'm particularly looking for anything Zuko-centric; either the cranky exile jerk from season 2, or socially awkward season 3 Zuko.

Posting links to some random fanfics that I found and enjoyed:

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4398381/1/First_Name_Basis
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7054586/1/Dancing
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5896841/1/Better_Left_Unsaid
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6668680/1/Kaleidoscope
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6676043/1/Drinking_Tea_and_Waiting

I found this little gem and everyone in the universe should read it as well.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5154273/13/prends_garde_a_toi

If I was ever going to make an AtLA VN, I'd have to do this first.

I was reading some fanfics, and found a really nice one that I enjoyed a lot:

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6441562/1/From_the_Ashes_A_New_Hope

It's an AU with the premise that Aang emerges from the iceberg ten years later than in the TV show. During those additional years, the Fire Nation manages to crush almost all of its opposition. Aang is now fresh off the iceberg in a world that doesn't have much hope or optimism left. He ends up encountering and joining two sailors; Iroh and Zuko.

Certain themes in this story heavily remind me of Rufftoon's Avatar AU fan comic (pic related; that comic is also very much worth reading if you haven't done so yet). Both stories take existing characters and put them into new situations, while still keeping their characterization feel very show-accurate.

It's also nice that the fanfic is complete, although it ends with a possible promise of a sequel.

bump because I still like OP's idea

Okay, Korra AU ideas that I heard or came up with (apart from the big one currently in the works).

>Tarrlok becomes Korra's waterbending teacher instead of Katara. He has a hugh influence on her and even goes as far as to teach her bloodbending

>Amon removes Korra's bending early on and she commits suicide in a fit of desperation before Aang can reach her. The AU centers on Mako, Asami and Bolin trying to stop an Amon who has much less resistance to fear. Basically, what would happen if you took Korra out of the equation early...

>the Firenation won. Korra is born in captivity and must fight the global regime of the aging Firelord Azula. Amon might actually be an ally.

>a bizzarro Universe in which the Equalists are unquestionable goodguys and the oppression via Benders is a real thing. Society would be quite different, far more feudal. And Korra is more akin to somebody like Joffrey Baratheon or a Darkseid in the making

>>101945
Just read through the first chapter, and it looks pretty good. I'll probably bookmark it.

>>107089
>the Firenation won. Korra is born in captivity and must fight the global regime of the aging Firelord Azula. Amon might actually be an ally.

Me and a friend have been working on a story where FN wins the war, but it takes place shortly after the original series and focuses on the resistance led by Katara and Toph. How Korra (and Yakone and Tarlokk and Amon) would fit into this universe isn't something I'd considered before, though. Now I can't help but want to start planning a sequel for the story I haven't even finished yet...

Now here's an interesting idea.
What would happen if a de-aged Tarrlok joined the Krew (bump his age down by about 8-10 years), in oder to find his big brother in Republic City.

That'd make for an interesting Team Avatar.

A cute, short fic about Asami teaching Korra how to drive: http://veridianvixen.tumblr.com/post/26377200949/prompt-asami-teaches-korra-to-drive

It has Korra and Asami as a couple but it's not very 'shippy' so to speak. A nice drabble that will make ya smile :)

The Element of Freedom Minutia_R -- http://archiveofourown.org/works/462829

The Tenzin Clan travels to the Northern Air Temple to investigate claims of airbending there. A fic with Original Flavor and good characterization, plus some interesting worldbuilding. The village at the Northern Air Temple has become a sort of proto Adeptus Mechanicus.

>>107233
Do you think Tarrlok was ever an honest politician (or even person)? Clearly, he was already damaged from the gate, but was the ruthlessness an aspect of that or did it evolve from experience?

>>108578
He's manipulative and sneaky. But not really ruthless when you get right down to it. He would have caused a lot more damage in episode 8 and 9 if he were. And remember that he swore to never bloodbend again before that point. That speaks for him having a moral core buried deep down inside of him.
But I do think he was dishonest right out of the gate. He was always a weakling in his father's eyes and then he sort of embraced that role, by never fighting fair, by lying and by manipulating rather than meeting challenges head-on.
But I think he'd still make an interesting character on Team Avatar, since he really, really wants to be the hero. He wants recognition and he wants to succeed where his father failed. But he also wants the people to love him. He never tries to intimidate, he's always bargaining.

He'd weasel his way into Korra's circle of friends, but not with an outright malicious intend. He'd want to profit from that connection though, perhaps exploit it.

Confirm my fears for me please:

Fanfic writers/readers do not like space operas. Fans of space operas do not like fanfic.

Any attempt at making a Avatar space opera would end miserably.

>>108707
> Fanfic writers/readers do not like space operas. Fans of space operas do not like fanfic.

i'm laughing really hard. do you know the show that spawned the first major fanzines and fan conventions, effectively making it the first modern fandom? do you know where the term mary-sue came from?

hint: it's a space opera

>>108748
Actually, Star Trek is not a space opera.

Pic related is.

And the difference is galactic

Did someone say Space Opera?

>>108750
Space Opera, you say?
www.adistantsoil.com

Shadow Raiders is a Space Opera, right?

Okay, so I guess I'll gauge interest then since a surprising amount of people seem familiar with space operas.


>After Aang gets caught in the storm and put into an iceberg. The spirits act to save the balance of the world from the war that will inevitably happen with the Avatar out of commission. They split the four nations into four worlds and put them on opposite ends of the whole galaxy.

>Unfortunately, four thousand years later each nation still manages to advance technologically enough to get to space. Each nation except for the Air Nomads. Content and at peace, they're completely unprepared for the Fire Empire bombardment that bakes the entire planet and are wiped out almost immediately. FE is expanding through the galaxy at a rapid pace, exterminating life wherever they meet it for the crime of dirtying the universe with their mere existence. While not every soldier ends up brainwashed, they're bound to obey their commanders and most of all the Supreme Fire Emperor.

>Fortunately for the rest of the galaxy, the industrial power of the United Earth Federation rises up to meet the FE expansion and fights them to a standstill not with the quality of their ships, but with the sheer quantity of them. A dead man's land that spans millions of light years across an entire galaxy is made. It is a slow, but never-ending war because although the UEF has the forces to repel any major attack by the FE, they can't cover every lightyear of the galaxy and small FE fleets still dart through the UEF's defenses and wipe out vulnerable planets wherever they can.

>Eventually the UEF will not be able to sustain ship production and the FE will finally be able to strike at the heart of the UEF production facilities, the Ba Sing Se system.

>After a thousand years of war, that final attack looks close to happening.

>Meanwhile, the Water Coalition - a minor player in the galactic war compared to the UEF or FE - sends out a lone science vessel to the Air Nomad planet in search of an old legend.

>Although her research partner and brother tells her she's delusional, Science Officer Katara still believes that one day the Avatar will return to restore balance to the four worlds.


...

So my biggest obstacle right now is how to (or even whether I should) incorporate bending in a universe where the primary mode of combat is giant ships shooting lasers that would make Hiroshima look like a joke.

>>108796
Well, the first thing that came to mind was giant robots...

>>108707

We had a few tiny plot-bunnies for an AU where Aang was the last human, and the other four nations were genetically modified humans meant to adapt to new worlds and eco-systems. The Water Tribe were Zora/Abe Sapien-like fish people, it was neat.

>>108797
Ah the old days...

>>108799

I liked that.

>>108800
Equalists = Zeon?

>>108805
>>108800
>>108797
Mech-Korra.

>>108797
Well in some Gundam series to differentiate between them, the Zion forces were technologically superior and better trained, but vastly outnumbered. They used the mobile suits primarily and were well-suited to the rigors of space-combat.

The Earth forces primarily used spaceships and fighters which were far less capable on the battlefield but much easier to produce. Their soldiers while numerous were nowhere near the capability of the Zion pilots.

So using certain Gundam series as inspiration it's actually a pretty fitting scenario.

But I'm not sure how the Avatar would have a place in this.

I mean I know that a lot of Gundam series often feature a third-party in the Zion vs. Earth war that is interested in bringing about peace with a few awesome Gundams, but I'm not sure if it would make much sense for Aang to pilot one of the Gundams. For one thing, the technological disparity would be insane, Aang would probably be paralyzed with incomprehension if he was ever in a Gundam. Although that could conceivably be written off as the Gundam just using an intuitive system. But then there's the fact that's it's not really Aang the Avatar who's bringing about peace, but Aang the Gundam Pilot. Piloting a Gundam and being the Avatar are as about as far away from each other as you can get. If Aang is a Gundam pilot then there's no meaning behind being the Avatar anymore.

>>108809
In a sense, it might work better with Korra.

Make the equalists more about technique than raw power of their mechs. More based on trickery, subversion and espionage. Hell, Chi-Blocking can just be equipment that knocks out the mech's movement.

What the actual story for them would be, I don't know, but the actual application is easier.

>>108810
>A new era of equality has begun!

I could swear I've seen this guy before...

Oh well, probably nothing.

And this guy, looks just like...

>>108810
But seriously, I think AtLA just has a larger and more well-defined cast of characters to draw from.

>>108814
>>I think AtLA just has a larger and more well-defined cast of characters to draw from.

Or you could mash them up.


Universe Century 0100. Mankind lives amongst the heavens, and the Imperial Fire Co-Properity Sphere rules the Earth and its colonies with an iron fist. But Colony Three has a secret: the mobile suit. With this key to military dominance, the Principality of Amon has declared war on the Fire Empire and 'Oldtypes' known as benders. Against both these superpower stand four elite soldiers, fighting for their bygone nations using legendary mobile suits called 'Gundams.

TOPH: "You thought I was a kid and underestimated me."

SOKKA: "Maaan, I'm going to have nightmares over this one."

MAI: "Mission accepted."

JINORA: "There is nothing more valuable than life in this universe. Sandrock has taught me that."

AMON: "Those Gundam pilots are desperate. They'll battle even if it means sacrificing their lives."

Humanity is engaged in its final war, stretching from the Earth to the stars, with nothing less than its ultimate destiny as a species at stake.

AZULA: "Take your sorrow, and turn it into anger!"

As Imperial, Equalist, and Nationalist forces march towards oblivion, mankind's only hope for peace is a time-lost boy with powers beyond comprehension. His name? Aang.

KATARA: "All of you are very mistaken, and the Avatar will soon come to rectify your mistakes."

TARRLOK: "Silence!"

HIROSHI: "Impossible! He's... he's bending the colony back into orbit!"

Now, Avatar Aang and his friends will shake the foundation of all mankind and change the course of history. If they can stay alive.

>>108815
I'd watch it.

>>108815
>I understand now... these pilots have been infected with the power of Sozin's Comet, corrupting them into pawns of the Agni-Gundam with the help of KYOSHI!

>>108819
>Take this! My love! My anger! And all of my Honor!

>>108828
>Meat and patriotism! That's my thing! That's my whole identity!

>Answer me, Zuko! School of... THE DRAGON OF THE WEST!

So I'm rewatching LoGH because it's awesome and I saw this plot device that could be used to bring back bending at least in some form in a tactically sound way.

>Seffle particles are highly explosive and combustible particles used primarily in demolition work. Their exceptional destructive power quickly led to them being used in combat situations. Seffle particles are too small to be seen with the naked eye, have no odour, and don't require oxygen to explode, so they can be used both in space and within an atmosphere. However, they do need to be activated with an energy beam, such as gunfire or warship cannons.

Not only would this allow for hand-to-hand mobile suit fights in space or on land, it could mean the return of boarding parties - a tactic which hasn't seen action since the existence of pirates and wooden navies. Bending itself could have actual use in space combat via boarding parties.

The alternative is more of a G Gundam sort of thing where mobile suits just fight hand-to-hand incorporating the bending styles of their respective people.

equalist uniform

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8386991/1/A_Little_Help

Toph gives birth to Lin while the Gaang witnesses. The Toph and Sokka brOTP is extra strength in this one.

Episode where Lieutenant is drowning his sorrows in a bar.

Commotion outside, some bending aristocrat and his cronies are bullying the peasantry.

Lieutenant ignores the cries for help, including a young patron of the bar who recognizes him from his own days as an Equalist.

Eventually, the aristocrat makes a grand speech on how we are all born into our roles and to try to go above or below them leads to disaster, citing the sinister spawn of Yakone as lowly dogs whose ambitions brought ruin and pain to those around them.

Those at the bottom are simply stools for the elite to rest their divine feet upon and that's all they should aspire to.

We get some flashbacks of the Lieutenant's past while this is all going on.

Lieutenant has enough. Goes out, asks them to leave but is earthbended by one of the thugs into a furniture store.

The fiends laugh until the Lieutenant comes charging out of there, armed with snapped-off chair legs no less. He manages to beat all the aristocrats bodyguards and goes to take out their boss.

Unfortunately he turns out to be a powerful firebender, in that he's capable of dishing out large amounts of firepower, lacking the restraint and sense to reign it in ala Zhao.

The whole district starts to be set ablaze. The aristocrat is nonplussed, the Lieutenant is furious that he put them all in danger. The aristocrat shoots back that if the Lieutenant hadn't attacked him, tried to do something great, then none of it wouldn't have happened. However, as a skilled firebender, he can dissapate the flames and save the civilians if the Lieutenant will bow before him and take his punishment for attacking an elite.

"Besides, Equalists are naturals at obeying Benders. Aren't they?"

The Lieutenant kneels, head bowed, hands on his lap, clasped in regretful submission.

The aristocrat brings all the flames in the area to surround his hand and makes to bring the inferno down on the Lieutenant in one, grand lethal chop.

Then Korra swoops in and kicks him in the shirt. The aristocrat is initially put on the offensive but for all his former ferocity, backs off upon realizing that she's the avatar, reduced to groveling due to his own convictions, babbling that he was just delivering justice to an equalist swine that escaped her "divine and impeccable gaze whose flawless wisdom sees all and knows all."

Korra looks upon the Lieutenant but eventually says that he's just some drunk who tried to stand up for the peasants. It's ambiguous, as to whether she actually recognizes him. She berates the noble for his misdeeds and he scurries off while shouting her praises with disturbing sincerity.

The crowd begins to praise Korra for saving them. The Lieutenant looks a bit annoyed that she's getting all the credit, but softly smiles, walks back into the bar:

And orders a glass of water.

Idea:

High School AU except kind of keeping the premise of a 100 year war by making it a 100 day gang war.

Everyone already dresses up in gang colors and divide themselves ethnically, so that's done. Fire gang headed by Azula, won't rest till the whole school's under her thumb. Water bros, just want to chill, but will step up if they have to. Rock gang is the only real opposition to Azula, headed by Toph. Aang transfers in mid-year while the gang's are just fighting it out and story follows him trying to unite the gangs and stop the violence.

>>91228

So, it's funny that I go back on here for the first time in literally FOREVER and see the OP, because ... I seem to have pretty much done that. Or at least a little ficlet about it.

It's been a long time since I've written Avatar ANYTHING, so it's probably pretty rough, but eh, felt good to write a fic again.

http://blueflamequeen.livejournal.com/9053.html#cutid1

>>110765
very nice. I liked the image of Azula offering some raw meat especially.

>>110657
Aang is always tough to fit in High School. He's the last of his people, shares the skills of all the other social groups, and has some inherit authority. His age is also tough. If he was aged up from 12 to 14-15, how different would he be?

>>Aang is always tough to fit in High School. He's the last of his people, shares the skills of all the other social groups, and has some inherit authority. His age is also tough. If he was aged up from 12 to 14-15, how different would he be?

I once wrote up a high school AU idea about that. Lemme go dig it out of my Scrivener...

Okay. Found it. The **exact** POD from canon is something I hadn't settled on. I was torn between the Earth Kingdom balkanizing under Kyoshi due to the Earth King dying in a peasant rebellion, or perhaps Emperor Chin rethinking his attempt to make Kyoshi bend her knee to him and ends up controlling the whole EK minus Kyoshi Village and BSS. It doesn't particularly matter. The end result is the same -- the Earth Kingdom(s) end up stronger than in canon. Not a powerhouse by any means, but strong enough that Sozin's imperial ambitions aren't viable.

So as an alternative means of increasing the Fire Lord's political power, and fending off any challenges from the rising merchant or nascent industrial classes, Sozin pulls a Sakoku-esq closure of the Fire Nation. The Comet passes, but the only fighting is Sozin's forces smashing the last of his internal opposition. Aang grows to sixteen, learns he's the Avatar, takes a flight on Appa to clear his head, and gets broadsided by the Canon Railroad's choo-choo train.

96 years pass.

Aang defrosts. He starts training because, hey, he's the Avatar and it's a way to explore this new world. But when he gets to the Fire Nation, Aang is dropped into the vipers nest that is the Royal Fire Academy for Girls. Why? Well, this Sakoku!FN isn't entirely amicable to foreigners, and sticking THE foreigner into a testosterone-soaked Boys Academy is asking for Aang to get Agni Kai'd. Plus, Fire Lord Azulon is something of a dirty old man, and he's hoping that sticking the Avatar into a haven of refined FN womanhood that he'll endear the Avatar to his country.

For you see, there's new challenges to the FN's closure brewing. The Earth Kingdom hasn't stood still in terms of industrialization this past century, and *something* has to be done. Azulon's two sons are leading rival factions on a collision course as to what: Iroh, the internationalist, and Ozai, the militarist.


CAST OF CHARACTERS:

* AZULA: (14) the Avatar's firebending sifu, and a daughter of the Militarist Faction's leader. The Fire Lord hopes to split father and daughter with Aang as a wedge. Where will Azula's loyalties ultimately lie?

* MAI: (15) the betrothed to Fourth Prince of the Fire Nation, Zuko, and childhood friend of Azula. Apathetic to the politics of the situation, and the seemingly inevitable course of her destiny, she's unsettled by the intrusion of the Avatar into her life.

* TY LEE: (13) childhood friend of Azula, and persistent nail that won't be hammered down. Latches onto the Avatar as a way to learn about the forbidden outside world. Dreams of running away to join the circus. As far as she has any political opinions whatsoever, Ty Lee is an internationalist... at least whenever Azula isn't in the room.

* KORI: (17) the half-Earth daughter of a port city governor. Mostly tolerated by her xenophobic classmates because her family is 1) a valuable connection to the country's limited trade, and 2) rich. The Dangerous Ladies do not associate with her socially. Avatar Aang is one of the few other earthbenders she has ever met. Politically, she's an arch militarist.

* AANG: (16) the Avatar. Our tall and lanky lead, he's unknowingly arrived in a rat-viper nest of intrigue and romantic entanglement. As this is also a Harem story in addition to a High School AU, he's also the only boy in the entire school. Why? Because.

(Additionally, Toph and Katara could potentially be added to the mix as Aang's teachers, but I never settled on if they should be included.)

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7679074/1/The-Dragon-King-s-Temple

ATLA and Stargate SG1 crossover.

Works surprisingly well.

>>110853
Which reminds me of this fanfiction
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5154273/13/prends_garde_a_toi
Which inspired me to write a Visual Novel in Ren'Py
Which I never finished.

I wasn't comfortable with making Aang the main character for two reasons 1. to give the option to play as a female 2. to keep Aang open as a romance option.

And to give the school setting a more international feel, the events would take place entirely after the war, albeit with some minor changes that prevent any of the canon BAD endings as well unship everyone. The school would be purposed as a proto-United Republic. The idea being that they'll start change with the young and so on. However the rivalries between the Gaang and the Fire kids is still intense and the player would be caught right in the middle of it.

The ultimate goal would be laying the foundation for the United Republic. Or wrecking it depending on what the player wants to do.

Some stuff I've written in an AU where Suki is the Avatar.

"I Am" http://blueflamequeen.livejournal.com/9291.html (Assorted drabbles with a pretty heavy Sukka leaning)

"Friendly Sparring" http://blueflamequeen.livejournal.com/9520.html (Hakoda gets to know Suki through sparring)

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8426211/1/The-Night-Spirit

>Also known as Batsami Begins. In the aftermath of Amon's rebellion, Republic City is left in ruin. The question the Equalists posed was never answered, and now crime and war are surging. A new evil is rising, and the old protectors of Republic City cannot stop it. Now is the time for Asami Sato to take up the mantle of the Batwoman, and show this city that it's still worth saving.

Seven chapters so far, good stuff.

>>111004
Re-endorsing because it's worth it