The lowest bar for N/etflix's live action A:tLA is that they not only cast pan-asian & indigenous actors, but also that they hire asian & indigenous writers, directors, & cinematographers. That said,I have a lot of thoughts on how it could improve on its source material. 1/

It should be an adaptation, not a remake, & should establish its own alternate canon. By that I do not mean that it should change endgame ships (an unrealistic expectation), but that its story choices should not beholden to minutiae of the atla cartoon's sequel comics & LoK. 2/

The exciting thing about this production is that its source material is complete, so there's an opportunity look at the whole shape of the story & tweak the execution to strengthen its weaker areas. If it's a shot-by-shot remake, then what is the point? 3/

I'm also kinda hoping that, since the atla cartoon's original audience are now adults, the netflix version goes slightly more mature for the live-action. Kinda like how star wars films are pg-13 and can depict death onscreen, but are still intended for the whole family. 4/

The weakest storytelling in atla happens around its romances: namely that most of them are written inconsistently, accidentally undercut established series themes & imagery, and do not do a good job considering things from the female characters' points of view. 5/

But let's consider the Team Avatar member who did get a well-written romantic arc: Sokka. Suki only appears once in s1, but it's very early on. She challenges Sokka's worldview, their signature weapons are parallel & complementary, and they do not have an insta-romance. 6/

Insta-romance works well for interim ships like Jet/Katara and Sokka/Yue, not for endgame ships in stories involving young people coming of age. 7/

For reference,

canon interim ships: katara/jet, sokka/yue

teased pairings that go nowhere & that tptb insist weren't teased: zuko/katara, toph/aang, toph/sokka

canon endgame ships: katara/aang, zuko/mai, sokka/suki

8/

s1 of the atla cartoon is its least interesting partly because it features so few of the series' many great female characters. Even if they don't intersect with the Gaang or Zuko until later, i think Toph, Azula, Mai, & Tai Lee should be introduced very early on. 9/

This is especially important for Mai: part of the problem with not introducing a main character's endgame love interests early (even if the audience doesn't know) is that the audience is often already more attached to other characters & dynamics once you do. 10/

Another good thing to emphasize with zuko/mai is the fact that they are both excellent blade-wielders. Have a flashback to them as kids where they practice together, or zuko gives her tips, oblivious of her crush. Have them fight each other at some point, bc that's hot. 11/

Have Z/M bond over being older siblings who feel kinda replaced by their younger ones. Tom-Tom is no Azula, lol, but sexism exists in atla canon, so i can imagine Mai's parents being like "AT LAST A SON" & that hurting. Z & M both working so hard only to be overlooked. 12/

If you're going to have Z/M get together before the finale, then when he leaves have him tell her he is, instead of leaving a note. "Competent gal pines for broody prince who takes awhile to realize he can be into her" is a ship type i've loved in other media. 13/

But it works best if we witness her being his confidant at least to some extent. "I love zuko more than i fear you" is such a powerful line, but it needed to feel more earned/foreshadowed. As it is, in the cartoon they feel like makeout buddies & not separated love interests. 14/

I don't recall the cartoon doing a good job of showing that Z misses M as she does him. Have her hit him with a dart to cover her letting him escape; have him keep it next to his heart & look at it longingly when he's with the Gaang or something like that. 15/

Have him ask for her after the final battle."Don't ever [leave] me again" could be a rare moment of M being verbally vulnerable (even better if they weren't a couple before), & him finally admitting he likes her back. In the cartoon their reunion feels smug & perfunctory. 16/

And now i turn to the Aang-Katara-Zuko tangle, which of course can't truly be separate from everything i said above about Mai/Zuko, or from Toph's writing either. 17/

For reference, here's an off-the-cuff mini-thread I did earlier about romance in atla, specifically with regard to the disservice it does to Katara & Toph. 18/ https://twitter.com/smolswordrider/status/1280998216490762241?s=20

I also listed some of Kataang's main flaws in a thread i did about a comparable ship from another cartoon. 19/ https://twitter.com/smolswordrider/status/1282443416652206080?s=20

second kataang relevant tweet from that other ship meta thread. 20/ https://twitter.com/smolswordrider/status/1282443418116001794?s=20

Yes, I think that even if all the other characters stayed the same ages, aang & toph at least ought to be aged up by two years. It just isn't practically feasible or friendly to suspension-of-disbelief for them to be twelve-year-olds in a live action version. 21/

This is for stunt/action reasons, but in aang's case also because of the aforementioned difference being 14 as opposed to 12 makes wrt to romance. If he & katara are 14 & 16, or both 14, that goes a long way toward making endgame kataang feel less like babysitter/babysittee. 22/

Fourteen is still younger-than-usual to be informed you're the avatar, so the change doesn't really have any worldbuilding impact. 23/

Next: to sell endgame kataang, there needs to be less romantic zutara ship tease, subtext, & thematic symbolism. If those remain unaltered, then zutara should be made explicitly canon as a textual interim ship. However, that option is beyond this thread's scope to explore. 24/

Zuko shouldn't wear Katara's necklace like a lady's favor (or at all). Have something else be used to track them. No "girlfriend" jokes from Jun to Z, in s1 or later. Alter the visit to the fortune-teller or don't include it at all. 25/ https://twitter.com/jakkugerblin/status/1281406499076669442?s=20

The Cave of Two Lovers situation is a mess. Aang is reluctant at katara's kissing theory, even though it's already been established that he has a crush on her, & later in the show he doesn't hesitate at all to kiss her WITHOUT her indicating he do so.26/

Oma & Shu are enemies-to-lovers, & even worse are depicted wearing the exact same colors Z & K wear during their later sympathetic meeting in ANOTHER cave with crystals. So kataang in the lover's cave, like the fortune-teller's prophecy, feels set up to NOT happen. 27/

unlike the fortuneteller, i'd hate to see Omashu's beautiful founding legend simply not be included, so some ideas:
- obviously don't do omashu-zutara matching outfits
- make oma & shu an m/m couple, because it dulls potential parallels with m/f pairings. 28/

- &/or have aang get stuck there with Sokka instead of Katara (i'd suggest Toph, but she'd be able to get them out of the cave no problem). It's an opportunity to subvert no-homing while acknowledging same-gender attraction's existence. Plus they hardly interact w/o Katara. 29/

Since Zutara are elemental opposites & nearly always share scenes during climactic battles, people will always ship them. But Katara & Azula have a lot of parallels: both are younger sisters who are bending prodigies, etc. 30/

Emphasizing those parallels, & fleshing out Zuko & Azula's relationship more might help give more dimension to non-romantic zutara interpretations. Have zuko say "you're just like my sister, everything comes easy to you" to Katara instead of Aang. 31/

atla begins with Katara's out-of-control bending waking Aang from the iceberg. So there IS a source text opportunity to associate Katara's symbolic sexual awakening/coming of age with Aang. It would need to be framed differently, to feel less like a mom waking up a baby. 32/

Maybe have Katara bending in proximity to the iceberg be the first time she's been able to since her mom's death, things like that. 33/

Aang & Katara spend so much time together over the series' course of events that it would also be good to
- have them be slightly less insta-friends
- emphasize the conflicts they DO have with each other.

Their dynamic needs to feel less static. 34/

the MOST massive problem with Kataang is that, in order for him to not ever have detach from his feelings for her, the writers sidestepped him having a spiritual break through to open his last chakra, & instead had him bump his back on a rock Just Right. This is so insulting. 35/

More than any other alteration the adaptation does, i want that stupid rock bullshit to be gone. Aang isn't even ever told to stop loving Katara, he's told to work thru & let go of his possessive/proprietary feelings toward her. The writers just give up. 36/

Anakin Skywalker couldn't let go of his possessive/proprietary feelings toward Padme, & became Vader. Aang never experiencing consequences for holding onto those same kinds of feelings is utterly ridiculous in this genre of Balancing Chosen One story. 37/

So how do you fix this & keep a convincing Kataang endgame? Well, I'm sure there are many non-lazy ways to approach this, especially if you're a PROFESSIONAL WRITER, but here's mine: instead of katara, have aang be in over-attached, unrequited love with Toph. 38/

Aang has a vision in the swamp of a laughing Toph (bc she's his future earthbending teacher). Have him romanticize the FUCK out of that dream. This look when he sees Toph fight for the first time already resembles smitten looks in other stories, make that actual canon. 39/

Have AANG build up in his mind an epic romance between he & toph as elemental opposites who are the same age & grew up fairly sheltered, only for her to
1) just not be into him like that at all
2) be reminded of her father as Aang's feelings turn more serious/possessive. 40/

You could also just write Aang having a moment where they tell us or show us somehow that he HAS let go of his possessive feelings for Katara, but imo it would feel cheap for him to then get together with her after all. 41/

Aang & Katara growing from allies to friends, their friendship feeling less static + maternal, his canon Nice Guying being aimed at someone else, them being attracted to each other but not realizing it for the longest time: that would help me ship them. 42/

It's probably not as necessary for Kataang for Katara to have canon interim ship as it is for Aang. But it might be helpful if she had another significant non-familial relationship with a young dude who isn't Aang or Zuko, so: make Jet/Katara canon. 43/

Jet is already an interesting character who it would be neat to see even a little more of. And they already low key are crushing on each other in s1 of the cartoon. Play it up. Have Jet be to Katara as Yue is to Sokka: a tragic interim romance (with KISSING). 44/

(I also think Princess Yue get more screentime so that we feel her loss a little more, and for more besides Sokka's feelings. As I said up thread: introduce ALL the girls earlier in the show: toph, yue, azula, mai, ty lee, suki. Give them ALL more screentime. But I digress). 45/

I know it's kind of funny that i'm saying the way to improve the romance writing for canon endgame atla ships is to ADD MORE CANON SHIPS, but I'm Right. Pretty much everyone in the spop ensemble got a romance, because they're important for coming-of-age stories. 46/

So here's my last romance idea for the adaptation. Probably the most out there, but it's in response to a couple things:
1) oma & shu should foreshadow an enemies-to-lovers relationship for SOMEONE in the main cast right? Every war + redemption story should have canon etl.
47/

2) I want canon queer content in The Last Airbender. Mention Avatar Kyoshi's bisexuality onscreen, for a start.
3) Toph's background of being hidden from the world by her parents means i think she should get requited romantic love. Rowdy, disabled girls are allowed love. 48/

So, my proposed queer enemies-to-lovers canon pairing is Toph/Ty Lee.

- Ty Lee seems like the youngest of ozai's angels
- Like Toph she ALSO felt stifled by her upper class upbringing & ran away (the sequel comics contradict this backstory but the comics suck, so). 49/

- Ty Lee calls sokka cute multiple times & flirts with him; Toph has a crush sokka. They should kiss (or be on the road to kissing) each other instead.
- The concept of Aang's removal of ozai's being being inspired by his love rival's chi blocking. 50/

- Ty Lee is a non-bender, but she's very "airy" and bubbly, in contrast to grumbly, rumbly earthbender Toph
- Kyoshi is an earthbender & bi; toph should be a bi earthbender too
- I already suggested that oma & shu be a same-gender couple; they're also earthbenders. 51/

Maybe Ty Lee briefly hid in the Beifong estate on her way to join the circus, met toph & suggested toph join her, but toph couldn't take that step. It's easy enough to have them both be present at the same conflicts. 52/

Ty Lee & Mai both need to be fleshed out more, partially in service to Azula & Zuko, since they are supporting characters to that relationship. Ty Lee protects Mai when she turns on Azula, so there's their friendship, but giving TL a dynamic outside that group would be good. 53/

Other things: don't make Zuko & Azula's mother an unsolved mystery. I think Ursa should just explicitly be dead, bc it strengthens parallels between the fire siblings and water siblings (& also bc the answer the sequel comics gave us sucks). Live-action alternate canon. 54/

don't have the narrative treat azula like a disposable crazy child. Have her foes & loved ones be sad AND angry about her, even if she won't stop. She's ozai's victim too, just a different kind than her brother. Leave her on a note of hope. 55/

Lastly: just because Aang is the last living airbender doesn't mean he has to be the last living Air Nomad. The bender air temples being wiped out & remnants of non-bender air folk assimilating/hiding in other nations to self-protect makes more sense. 56/

There's more to the nations than magic. Dropping hints about those deeply hidden remnants wouldn't drastically alter the plot or aang's canon arc in any way, and would honor the real people groups who were & are subjected to genocides. They're still here. 57/

Thank you to everyone who stuck around to read my thoughts on how an adaptation could strengthen the story without changing the broad events of canon. I don't expect this, but I think we should think about what is possible! I'd love to hear other people's thoughts. 58/58

addendum 1: expand the in-universe timeline of the show to take place over longer than a year, because that makes more sense logistically with live action.

addendum 2: having Ty Lee be of secret non-bender air nomad heritage is a way to expand her as a character & simultaneously further the "last airbender but not last air nomad" thing i mention above.

addendum 3: BE LOUDER ABOUT HOW SMELLERBEE IS TRANS