#the drill | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

oneatlatime · 7 months

Text

The Journey to Ba Sing Se Part 2: The Drill

Could I have Appa back please?

The Previously On segment actually didn't spoil anything for once. Nice.

I do like these tank things. In fact I like all Fire Nation technology. Not what it's used for. But the designs are neat. And more interesting than most actual military tech. You ever look at something techy, and think to yourself 'there was an artist involved here,' because that's the impression FN tech gives me. It's not beautiful, but there's a pleasing toothiness to it.

Excellent sound design on the metal screechy moving bits. And is that tank escort really necessary?

I know this is a kids' cartoon, with characters that are designed to be the audience's age. I know! And usually I can suspend my disbelief and forget that I'm watching children do very adult jobs! But this caught me so off guard I laughed. The Fire Nation's big secret project to break through the wall once and for all, that would be an absolute career making achievement for whoever is in charge, and they've given it to a bunch of teenage girls. This is where my suspension of disbelief stops.

Can you imagine the meeting where this was proposed? The Fire Lord being like "Who can lead the attack on Ba Sing Se? We lost Zhao at the North Pole, does whoever it is who occupies his equivalent rank in the Army want the job? Or even Zhao's second in command perhaps? Or how about: three middle school girls, two of which aren't even members of the military? Doesn't that sound like a good plan?" And of course all his advisors have to agree and be like "that sounds like an excellent plan your lordship; did you have any particular girls in mind or should we go scout out the local Claire's?" because the last guy who disagreed with him got his face blown off. I don't care how viciously talented Azula and friends are; a country that puts eighth graders in charge of invasion plans should have lost the war in year one, not still be winning it in year 99.

Did that random commander guy just smack Ty Lee in the face?

Problem the first of this plan: unless the Fire Nation has invented pocket dimensions or bags of holding, there is no way that that drill, even stuffed full of soldiers, would hold enough people to take a city that seemingly contains every single refugee in the entire Earth Kingdom.

Do you think those refugees got preferential treatment for arriving on an Avatar powered elevator?

"I'm the Avatar. Take me to whoever's in charge." OWN IT BABY!!!

That's one hell of an irrigation system they must have.

"He was quickly expunged." Was he? I got the impression he quit. Of his own accord.

Something tells me like forty guys throwing rocks won't stop that thing.

So... what was Mai doing that whole fight? Hanging decoratively off a rope?

I'd forgotten how stupid Earth Kingdom generals were. Luckily Sokka is there to vicariously express my opinion of them. A reverse beat up Sokka quota fulfillment!

Toph is such a little shit and I love her.

Aang sure does put up with a lot sometimes. Part of being the Avatar. It's a good thing he has such patience. Can we talk about how lucky the world is that Aang is the one tasked with putting up with nonsense like this? Imagine if Sokka or Toph were the Avatar. There would be casualties.

I like complaining too buddy. Nice to see Sokka's worth being recognised. Now can we do that outside of a life or death situation too please?

I joke about Zuko's dumbass behaviour, but let's be honest, it's inherited.

Jet. Fuckboy. You do not make it easy to even slightly like you. Guy is missing the point as much as Zuko usually does. Going straight MEANS leaving the freedom fighters behind. It doesn't mean reforming them somewhere else. And what Fire Nation threat are you going to find in Ba Sing Se for your Freedom Fighters to fight? You know, if this idiot was actually serious about fighting for Freedom rather than blowing stuff up for fun, he'd fudge his age and enlist in the Earth Kingdom Army.

Four points: How does Katara know Ty Lee's name? Is this confirmation that waterbending healing cannot remove a Chi block? I love that the trait that gives away Ty Lee's identity is the fact that she cartwheeled away. I love Sokka. Just in general.

There is no way this girl is not tripping.

Can you imagine how loud standing right next to that drill must be?

ABS

Normally I'd say that one earthbender trying to slow the drill down with spikes will work even worse than the Terra Team who tried and failed with like 40, but this is Toph we're talking about. It could work.

These children are so polite when they're committing industrial sabotage. Truly, they were raised well.

Do you ever get the feeling that whoever is in charge of designing Fire Nation armour is into a few things that he's trying to repress so hard that they're coming out in all the wrong places?

Jet seems to have lost all the manipulative abilities he had in his episode. Suddenly he's very bad at reading body language and keeps saying the exact opposite of what he should.

New achievement unlocked! 1000% agreeing with something Zuko said! That was a pretty stupid move.

Cups made out of leaves are neat.

Katara, you can't have it both ways. You can't look to Sokka to make the plan, then get snippy when the plan correctly plays to all of your strengths. He physically CAN'T bend. Either you come up with a better plan yourself, or you do as the guy you appointed planner suggests.

Points in favour of allowing Katara to murder people, exhibit 1.

Confirmed: Sokka is catnip for girls.

Even in comparison to the others, Ty Lee has a bad case of cartoon physics.

Did Katara just disarm herself? That'll come back to bite her in 3, 2, 1...

Mai gets a second personality trait! Yay!

There is no way this is actually practical armour. This is someone in procurement with a thing for sweaty bulging muscles and puppy masks.

And thus, the log ride was born. Later versions would go on to perfect the concept by introducing a log.

I felt Sokka's mud freakout in my bones. Looks like Katara giving away her water isn't going to be a problem.

Petition to let Katara say bitch. The voice actress said Circus Freak but I know what I heard in my heart.

Remember that time Sokka smacked his forehead so many times that his face was permanently red? My turn now.

Aang. I know you love your friends. But maybe a battle on top of a moving machine of destruction in the midst of an aerial assault from your idiotic allies while facing off with the single most powerful and amoral firebender in existence, isn't a place to bring your pet lemur?

Beat up Sokka quota fulfilled by little sister. It's surprising that isn't the case more often. I know Sokka took it too far, but if you don't want him telling you what to do, maybe you shouldn't have looked to him for a plan?

Toph is here! Day saved.

Finally some sense re: Momo safety.

Time for the Western showdown. There's even something that could stand in for a water tower in the background.

If Azula had just struck at Aang the second he got knocked unconscious, rather than waiting until he woke up for dramatic purposes, she would have won this. I give Zuko Hell for being a theatre kid, but he's not the only one in the family.

I would love to know what they make Fire Nation boot soles out of. They have supernatural traction.

I take back everything I said about pet safety. That was a really cool Momo assist.

Aang invents the pneumatic hammer.

I LOVE that the cut braces had an effect after all. Sokka's contribution counts!

I bet this guy's wishing he'd been eaten by a giant fishman like Zhao right about now. Have fun explaining that one to the Firelord!

HOW is Ty Lee still alive?

HOW does Azula still have knees after that drop?

HOW does Mai have such perfect timing?

ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN ROCK TRAIN

They really ought to put wheels on all but the back car to reduce friction and save energy. Then again, if the Earth Kingdom is one thing, it's stupid.

So... Jet's change of heart lasted a bit less than one episode. Good job fuckboy!

So precious.

So Pretty.

Final Thoughts

This was like 90% action, with the other 10% being split between Zuko & Iroh plot stuff and Sokka playing comic relief. So there's not that much to talk about here really (she says, having found a whole post's worth of stuff to talk about).

Sokka had his bossy pants on, admittedly because he was asked to don them. Aang got to do some proper Avataring. Katara and Toph got to exercise their bending muscles. I'm not surprised that Toph was absent for much of the middle of the episode, because - let's be honest - given the right tools, Toph would have finished the Drill in one move. And then they'd be out of episode.

Actually, Mai got to have a personality beyond Too Bored To Live this episode. This is probably the most personality I've seen out of her so far. She's much more expressive when she's with just Ty Lee, rather than Ty Lee and Azula.

And Zuko! Had! Common! Sense! Iroh had to be a dumbass for Zuko to shine, but Zuko was, once again, the most reasonable character in his little B plot. For future reference: If you want to make Zuko reasonable, all you have to do is nerf his uncle and juxtapose him with a terrorist.

I loathe Jet. Always have, probably always will. But I'm still disappointed in him. His 'turning over a new leaf' - if it was sincere at all - lasted like 10 on-screen minutes. I feel sorry for Smellerbee and Longshot. I don't think their faith in their glorious leader is going to be repaid. He seems to brush off Smellerbee's opinions.

The strangest thing this episode was how few lines Azula had. I guess maybe they were using silence to try to show how calculating and collected she is compared to others, but honestly my first thought was that the voice actress had something going on. A cold? A previous engagement? It felt really weird to hear her speak so little, since previous episodes have shown she's not averse to gloating and dramatic monologues. She didn't even have much in the way of facial expressions.

I think the winners this episode were Mai, who got to have a personality; Zuko, who got a turn with the brain cell; and Aang, who got to work out pretty much all the bending he knows so far and successfully Avatar.

I did notice with some of the shots of Aang moving the big boulders the idiots were chucking down, that there was a kind of fuzziness to the air between Aang and what he was moving. Was I seeing the actual bending energy (Chi I guess) moving?

#atla #avatar: the last airbender #avatar the last airbender #the drill

103 notes · View notes

unorthodoxx-page · 1 year

Note

I think that the earlier Anon who asked if ATOS takes place before the movie is because Raph said, "“Although that thing is definitely bigger than anything he’s ever lifted.”" when talking about Mikey throwing the drill. In the movie, Mikey throws a skyscraper. Is the drill bigger than the skyscraper?

Well, not to take away from Mikey's accomplishments, but it was only the top of a building. Not an entire skyscraper.

The Avatar Drill is canonically set to be between 1-2 miles in length; that's over 5k feet at it's smallest estimate (over 1.5k meters for my metric folk).

That’s a length longer than the Empire State building, and it’s made mostly from metal. That thing is going to be heavy.

This is the bottom of the drill with the tanks and a sideview of the weapon.

Personally, it makes sense to me for the boys to question if they could move this thing. The scale is just ridiculous.

But yeah, A Tale of Spirits is set after the ROTTMNT movie

#Rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #Avatar The Last Airbender #rottmnt #atla #atla fanfic #atla fic #A tale of Spirits #avatar the last airbender drill #the drill #crossover #Crossover fanfiction #crossover fanfic #crossover fic #ao3 #ao3 fic #tmnt #rottmnt mikey #tmnt mikey

336 notes · View notes

bezixx · 5 months

Text

You have seen many Azulas, but have you seen this one?

#avatar the last airbender #atla #azula #princess azula #atla azula #avatar azula #avatar #the drill #atla shitpost #avatar shitpost

92 notes · View notes

iee-kee · 2 years

Photo

#guilty gear #sol badguy #The Drill

189 notes · View notes

azulasnailtech · 2 years

Photo

ATLA If they were allowed to swear

part 14/?? [suggested by anonymous] [I’d love to hear suggestions for more]

#atla #atlaedit #avatar the last airbender #avataredit #tvedit #cartoonedit #iroh #zuko #the drill #ifatlacouldcuss #obligatorytag

415 notes · View notes

jonesyjonesyjonesy · 1 year

Text

who said symmetrical was more attractive

#it’s beyond me what I ahve and haven’t posted anymore so I’m just gonna go feral #lippies #nose #you know #the drill #john paul jones #led zeppelin #jonesy #classic rock #jimmy page #robert plant #john bonham

61 notes · View notes

bestepisode · 4 months

Text

Vote on more episodes here!

Find the full list of round 3 polls here.

#atla #avatar the last airbender #atla best episode #atla best episode 3 #the blue spirit #the drill #zuko #sokka #toph beifong #princess azula

14 notes · View notes

machinepixie · 3 months

Text

im so fond of these machines this is my whole aesthetic actually.

guilty gear 2 overture sol's tribe my beloved

i would include more but like i have too many critters here

#guilty gear #guilty gear 2 #guilty gear 2 overture #sol's tribe #gun tw #the drill #the blade #pencil guy #gigant

8 notes · View notes

juniperhillpatient · 2 years

Text

The Drill Re-watch

The Dangerous Ladies are back! And they have a big scary drill. I love how Mai is just happy to get something to do & I had honestly forgotten how consistently ecstatic Ty Lee is at any opportunity for violence. She's so adorable & scary at the same time. Have I mentioned lately how much I love Ty Lee? +1000 iconic behavior points to her for taking out all those earth-benders & scaring Katara. I had also forgotten just how scared of Ty Lee Katara is & how much she dislikes her. Katara yelling & calling Ty Lee a circus freak was a badass moment. +1000 iconic behavior points. Mai disobeying Azula just because she doesn't want to get muddy & popping up in the end like "we lost" in a deadpan voice was hilarious & very based of her, +500 iconic behavior points. Sokka's plan to take out the drill from the inside was pretty smart. +500 iconic behavior points.

My favorite part of the conflict with the drill was actually Ty Lee. I also really loved the flirty moment between her & Sokka, & Katara having to drag Sokka away. Honestly, I've never given much thought to Ty Lee/Sokka as a potential ship until this re-watch but their flirty banter during fights is so funny & cute. And I just can't get enough of Ty Lee happily kicking ass.

Surprisingly, I don't have that much to say about Azula in this episode which is rare for me but this was pretty much standard hero vs. villain "let's keep the Fire Nation out of Ba Sing Se" stuff. I mean, the Azula vs. Aang fight was badass, but I don't have any meaningful analysis of it. I think the most meaningful takeaway I have about Azula in this episode is regarding her relationship with Mai & Ty Lee. It's been commented on a hundred times that Mai disobeys Azula's order in this episode, but still, I'll comment on it again. I think it says a lot about the dynamic between Azula & Mai. Mai is a subordinate, & there is a power imbalance but Mai knows what she can & can't get away with & isn't afraid to do what she wants under certain circumstances. I think that the dynamic between these three girls is layered & this episode gives evidence to the idea that Azula does treat Mai & Ty Lee like friends to the extent that Azula can treat anyone like friends. Mai never felt coerced & if she was reluctant to follow specific orders, she simply didn't.

Jet & Zuko were my favorite part of this episode, actually. I can't believe it took me as long as it did spending time in this fandom to warm up to Jet/Zuko as a romantic pairing. Shocking & disappointing for me, really, I feel like I usually have good taste right away. SMH past me. Oh well, I see the truth now. They're literally Thee Template. Like, they met each other, said "be gay do crime" & had a touching heart to heart about both being traumatized & Zuko realized that he didn't always have to be alone & by the next episode Jet is following Zuko around like a lost puppy begging him to join his little found family. THEN freaking Iroh warms up his tea with fire-bending. Iroh, I was just warming up to you & starting to stand up for you, dude. What are you DOING? Zuko is right. For a supposedly wise old man, that's just.....really fucking stupid. I don't even know what to say. I guess Iroh got a little too comfortable? Like....what? Anyway....

Despite the rather contrived way in which it happened (yeah, sorry, I'm gonna say the writing is a LITTLE contrived like, I just don't get it is Iroh supposed to be smart or not?) I DO love a dramatic breakup between two characters who technically never even dated. Jet now knows that Zuko & Iroh are fire-benders. And MAN. A hundred smarter people than me have written fascinating essays & analyses & metas about the tragedy that Jet is right that they're fire-benders & more right than he knows because they're literally Fire Nation royalty & both personally responsible for a lot of harm inflicted by the Fire Nation but he's wrong because they are actually refugees now & not causing any new harm & also because he needs to let go of this obsessive hate because it will (& does) lead to his downfall like....We'll get to my thoughts on Jet's tragedy & his death when we get there but this set up for drama (by itself!!! pretending I'm watching for the first time!!!) IS excellent writing (if the specifics weren’t so contrived.) If only they ---- never mind, I'm done for now. I'm ending this ramble. Goodnight. Oh yes, Zuko & Jet get +1000 iconic behavior points for their quick little fling that will change them both forever & for having a dramatic breakup without Zuzu (king of drama on any other occasion!) even knowing about it.

Anyway, this was a great episode. I'm surprised I had so little to say about Azula & that she earned no iconic behavior points, but it's okay because she will blow everyone else out of the running in Crossroads of Destiny, I already know 100% for sure. Yeah, my favorite parts of this episode were the Dangerous Ladies & Jet & Zuko but I should also mention that I liked Sokka joking about the different group names even though "gaang" hasn't come up yet. And the hints about metal-bending & its potential were fun subtle foreshadowing.

#atla re watch #atla book 2 #the drill

26 notes · View notes

jasvvy · 1 year

Photo

#drill #the drill #primates

9 notes · View notes

theowritesfiction · 2 years

Text

'The Drill'

Ah, I really love this episode. The drill itself is just such an amazing and ominous piece of machinery and it looks absolutely fantastic.

I love that Azula has these little extra seats next to her center seat on the throne for Mai and Ty Lee. That's more than likely custom made. Would Azula request something like that if she didn't consider Mai and Ty Lee her friends? Also, let's not forget about the moment when Mai just plainly refuses to jump into the slurry pipeline. Mai knows she's not going to face any actual punishment. I think Ty Lee is simply someone who is much more eager to please, while Mai is not. And maybe Ty Lee still remembers the way she was recruited. ;)

I think the arrogant attitudes of the Earth Kingdom generals are very realistic. Their city has stood unconquered for 100 years. It's understandable for it to create a myth of invincibility. They never planned for someone like Azula, though.

Ty Lee taking out a platoon of elite earthbenders is a glorious moment. I really need to remember that this girl can be vicious. And come on, Ty Lee flirting with Sokka when they catch up inside the drill... that's just so cute. I totally should include this ship in one of my future stories.

It's the 13th episode of the season and finally Sokka is being asked to stop being a comic relief and come up with a plan. He gets the idea from Katara, but fair enough, he does develop it into an actual working plan. The plan also works, so Sokka is 1/1 for Book 2. I do love that moment inside the drill when Sokka tells Katara and Aang to work faster, and Katara just gets so pissed she comes within an inch of waterbending at Sokka. <3

More Jetko stuff this episode and oh boy, is Jet chasing Zuko hard. <3 But Zuko is playing hard to get :( Iroh warming his tea with firebending and giving himself away. It's like Zuko says, for a supposedly wise old man it was a stupid move. I'll be honest - Iroh does so many stupid things that it's becoming very hard for me to reconcile it with the idea that he is in any way smart.

Poor Ty Lee probably really regretted jumping into that slurry pipeline though. It was pretty mean of Katara to trap her in that disgusting sludge lol. Katara calling her 'circus freak' was a bit weird, though. She doesn't know Ty Lee has anything to do with circus, and circus would be a fairly alien concept to Katara, so I think this was a writing goof. Sokka telling Katara to 'just bend the water, woman!'... yeah, I'm not going to give him Jerk Points for that. Katara took care of him perfectly herself <3

I love the rare occasions where Azula and Aang get to fight. Aang was usually handling Zuko or any other firebender without much issue. Azula destroys Aang in this fight. Aang just gets cleanly knocked out. I'll be honest - on my original watch of the show, this was the first episode where I was rooting for Azula to win against Aang. She had already won, and I felt like her victory was cheaply and unfairly stolen.

I love the different and telling reactions from the dangerous ladies at the end. Ty Lee is just grossed out by all the sludge, while Azula shows absolutely no reaction to it or to anything else. She is already calculating her next move. Mai's gloomy 'we lost' comment is just so her.

Sokka's ideas about the team nickname... honestly, they should have gone with the boomerang squad, but only spelling it as 'Boomer Aang Squad'. I mean, Aang is 112... total boomer. ;)

No Jerk Points to hand out this chapter. Nobody annoyed me for once. <3

#my atla rewatch #atla book 2 #the drill

27 notes · View notes