✨ Aria ✨ (SSL)

11 July 2025

⠀ Decided to port over my Deltarune × Smash Bros Codec concept thread from the hellsite onto BlueSky. Since I'm reuploading, I also used the opportunity to fix some typos and remaster the intro. Set after Chapter 4, potential spoilers inbound, but mostly vague. #Deltarune #SuperSmashBros #SmashBros

Avatar: Seven Havens Book 1 - Survival Chapter 8 - The Envoys - Part 1 Holy Peak. I loved this one. Best one so far, by far. Perfect mix of action, comedy, intrigue, and character drama. Nisha's trial was super cool, and basically served to confirm that the stripped back…

Every interaction she has with Jay is rather passive aggressive, and when the Benders were at her shop, SHE was the one who suggested that they protest against Kayoko. Very good twist and redeems a bit of the anticlimacticness of Zi's defeat last episode…

…(though the structure of that whole thing was still a little chopped). 10/10 Super excited to watch the sequel today.

Meanwhile Jae's encounter with The Faceless, trying to intervene with their sabotage of the summit, followed by the reveal that the "Faceless Queen" from last episode (Zi) was actually just a decoy, and that the real one was *Agum* of all people, was awesome.

I'll admit that I didn't see it coming at all, but it makes perfect sense when you consider all of her previous scenes. She claimed that The Faceless' raids were wreaking havoc on her dough supply, and yet she had no trouble giving Pavi and Nisha 2 huge packs of them on the house.

…utilitarian style of bending that we've seen so far in Ellora, is a them thing. Earth lady had some very cool uses of bending. Fire guy really dove into the spiritual side. Nisha's growing conflict with Pavi and herself is very well done so far. You really feel for her.

Not to mention that the final argument between the lotuses that Nisha runs away from is a clear parallel to the argument that caused Aang to run away in ATLA. Pavi's quest to the eastern outskirts was great, and had some of the best jokes so far. Amow coming back was sick, I was hoping she would.

Avatar: Seven Havens Book 1 - Survival Chapter 7 - What Lies Beneath This one felt a little bit messier than the last in terms of plot. Probably just because it had more going on. I still loved it a lot though. Uki being a Brigade defector is cool, & the topic of the conscription was tackled in a…

While it had a lot of great elements I don't think it lived up to its own potential as well as the previous did. 9/10.

I'm a dumbass there literally was a bang before the Faceless got Pavi and Nisha, I just missed it lmao. My bad. That criticism is void.

…and is subsequently and immediately defeated in a very anticlimactic manner. I hope that the anti-climacticness doesn't miss the point, and it's setting up for something later, but I didn't really get that impression.

I hope that the anti-climacticness is the point*

Jae also literally loses the girls *three times in a row* because he was just standing there while they ran away and that's duuuuumb. Thus far the series has had a very natural cause and effect. I.e., things happen because of the things before them…

…but the latter half of this episode (and a bit of the first) was pretty stilted. With plot points happening in sequence without really leading into each other super well. "This happened and then this happened and then this happened."

…then the exposition The Faceless Queen gives about their brooches is pretty hamfisted, saved slightly by the reveal that she knows it because she planned on selling them. Uki's standoff against Jae lasts all of 2 seconds before she saves them and is suddenly 100% on board with letting them escape…

It honestly would have felt more natural if she didn't have that standoff at all, since she was already clearly not on board with the Queen threatening him. Then after Uki provides them the safe route that she assured they wouldn't be found in, the Queen spawns in front of them…

Perhaps Pavi will go on the run, while Nisha stays with Karthik? The visions of Republic city were all so very cool. The show is definitely not ashamed of Korra, and I'm excited to see where her subplot goes.

The main messy element in my opinion was the whole section where they're captured by the faceless. It was already initially kind of abrupt since we never saw Pavi and Nisha get captured (which could have easily been solved by them hearing a door slam or something at the end of their scene together)…

To her, it's starting to feel like probing into the past isn't worth it. It's only making her feel worse, and she'd prefer to just look forward with the family she has left. Pavi's insistence is starting to feel more like a betrayal. "Am I not good enough?" type of thing.

Even rolling her eyes when Pavi wasted time escaping to play The Melody to Uki. Nisha's proclivity towards settling for a comfortable ignorance is starting to align more and more with Karthik's philosophy, which makes me wonder if that's going to be the culmination of their rift.

…very interesting way. I also like how thoroughly propagandized Jae has been. We lost a little bit of that potential development when he accepted the girls so quickly, so it's nice that it's been explored here. The Brigade is part of his identity, so the implication that it's unjust is an attack.

The twins are also growing increasingly at odds. Nisha already had seeds of resentment for her parents planted by Karthik, as a consequence of them trying to dig deeper, and now in that pursuit of knowledge they've been confronted with the "realization" that Korra was horrible too.

Avatar: Seven Havens Book 1 - Survival Chapter 6 - Night of the Afflicted By far the best episode. If I have one issue, just get it out of the way, it's the fact that near the middle, it devolves into a repetitive structure, where there are basically "Waves" of afflicted coincidentally running…

One can't survive without humility. You need to confront challenges head on, but also acknowledge your shortcomings. Survival means remaining calm in the face of adversity. Leaning on any shoulder you can, and providing a shoulder to lean on *when* you can.

Through eachother, the girls overcame fear and achieved survival. That's why they energybent. All in all. 10/10

People are probably going to be mad about Energybending appearing so early, but to be honest, Energybending has *always* been an asspull anyway. It's existence in the narrative is more to serve a thematic purpose than a logical one. I honestly prefer Aang & Pavi/Nisha's use of it to Korra's.

Korra basically just got it out of nepotism at the same time that she completely undeservedly unlocked the Avatar state. At least for the twins it was related to them confronting an actual theme in the story. The anomaly represents the Root Chakra, which deals with survival and is blocked by fear.

At the same time though, it's not some trivial thing to be overlooked either. It does measurably make her struggle more in certain instances, and the people who care about her, patronizing as they may act, genuinely do just want to see her stop hurting herself, and help.

The final scene with the anomaly is fantastic. Even Nisha is terrified, probably seconds away from becoming afflicted, but Pavi finally asking her for help *immediately* causes her to steel her courage because she knows Pavi is depending on her.

…into the Parti within the same two hallways one after the other like it's CoD Zombies or smth. Aside from that though, great interpersonal character work, pretty solid action, really cool atmosphere, and a great sense of pathos.

Pavi's amputated leg becoming plot relevant is really nice, and I like how thoughtfully the episode tackles the subject. Her disability isn't something that makes her helpless. She has, after all, survived on her own all these years, and the show acknowledges that.

Avatar: Seven Havens Book 1 - Survival Chapter 5 - The One Left Behind Very good episode. This one made me love Karthik a lot more. He's by far the most interesting character. It's abundantly clear that he's being set up as an antagonist of sorts, and I don't buy for a second that his story…

Part of me wonders if the Red Lotus had something to do with The Cataclysm, & taking up the mantle of the White Lotus, while deceptive, is, in Karthik's mind, a potential for redemption. That's all conjecture though, & it relies on the Red Lotus Theory. Plus he doesn't seem to be Pro-Korra anyway.

All in all, great episode. 9.5/10 My only real issue with it is the fact that Datu's temporary betrayal is under baked & given little reverence. Like, yeah sure bro, when I'm suspicious of my lover, I too write treasonous manifestos calling for his workplace to be exposed "by any means necessary"

B: Despite this darkness, there is also a restraint. He doesn't kill the guard, but merely incapacitates him. He is philosophically opposed to Zaheer. Where Zaheer was not at all above murder, & fought for the dismantling of order, Karthik retains a level of conscience, and fights to preserve order.

This further ties into why he's such a control freak when it comes to information. To Karthik, the world represents chaos. It's unpredictable, unsafe, & unfair. It's broken; And it needs *fixed.* (Note, not "saved") "People think the truth will keep them safe. Usually the opposite is true"

More interesting than just the fact that Breathbends is the context in which he does it, which is a direct parallel to when Zaheer does. Where Zaheer used it to murder a monarch, Karthik used it to incapacitate one's assassin, and save her.

Whether he's directly related to Zaheer or not, this serves a very interesting thematic role. It tells us 2 things. A: Like Zaheer, Karthik holds a certain darkness. He is not above brutal and cruel means to accomplish what he sees as important.

Which is increasingly feeling like it may actually be descended from the Red Lotus. When that theory was first proposed, I thought it was interesting, but struggled to understand how it'd be significant. It's not like this incarnation of the White Lotus is in any way directly related to begin with.

I had kinda just assumed that they were a people who took up the mantle themselves, whether benevolently, or for manipulative purposes, but if Karthik actually was a descendant of Zaheer, that would bring with it actual plot relevance to the Red Lotus history behind it.

He doesn't get on to Jae for slacking off. Like some part of him acknowledges that they don't deserve that, yet he retains his conviction that the ends justify the means. He's building a genuine connection with them all, and it's likely going to make his underlying secrets all the more complicated.

Now that we've seen him Breathbend (which was a standout moment by the way), I'm fully on the train that he is a descendant of Zaheer. (His Zaheir if you will.) Same hair color with the same white streaks, bushy sharp eyebrows, big nose, grey eyes, and a member of the "White Lotus…"

…he fed to the girls is the truth, or at least all of it. He's overflowing with charisma and an expert manipulator, and yet at the same time, you can't help but get the sense that there is a true earnestness to his motivations. He dissuades the girl's fears with his likely deceitful explanation…

…but the way he treats both them and Jae afterward isn't cold. Its almost subtly apologetic. He doesn't blame them for going through his stuff and nearly getting him caught, despite this being by far the closest call, and him absolutely laying into them last episode.