Suyin Beifong - Tumblr Posts

A hidden moment between scenes... according to my imagination. Ko-fi / Art Tag

Has anyone ever noticed that the end of Suyin's metal gauntlets are kinda shaped like airbender tattoos? I wonder if it's a coincidence or if Suyin also had a relationship with Aang similar to Lin and this is a little memento she likes to carry around.

In the ROTE comic, Opal is also shown with a little Aang doll, air bison picture, (and possibly an otter penguin plush??), so I wonder if this indicates he used to tell Suyin stories that she passed onto her kids.

We do know from Opal's little quip to Lin in season 3 ("... my mom has told me so many stories about you") that Suyin seems to be fond of talking about that sort of stuff.

"It's going to be okay, Su." Lin really cut off Suyin for 30 years just to be this soft on the return. Look at that protective little side-hug :')

The Chief and The Chef - Ep1. Missed Meal

Buy me a coffee☕?/Art Tag More on Chief/Chef 1 2 3 4

Easiest/hardest character to draw for you

I think Tenzin is hard to draw tbh, because of the lack of hair, lol. You can't just cover up the anatomy with it and also you have to think about where the arrow runs.

Recently, I have had fun drawing Suyin. It think her face and hair is easier to draw than Lin's.

Lmaoo Lin should have known Suyin was about to pull some bs behind her back...

Lin: Thank you Su 😊

Su: 😟

"Kuvira was smart, a natural leader, and quickly rose through the ranks. I saw myself in her." So, the situations here are quite different. In the top screencap, Suyin is shoving the kid against the wall because she believes he played a part in the Red Lotus breaking in. In the bottom, Kuvira wants Varrick to continue pursuing the spirit vine technology and do her bidding. However, I still find it interesting and worthy of examining, because there are themes in LOK of "good" people and "bad" people having similar personality traits, but the bad or "unbalanced" person taking it too far.

Lin and Suyin - On Why Sometimes Love Means Saying "No"

In cases where you are raising a child, caring about them can often mean saying "no" or presenting as the opposition. This is particularly true when the child in question is displaying harmful behaviors.

The most blatant example of this between the Beifong sisters is the flashback in Old Wounds, wherein you see Suyin skipping school with a couple of other kids— a bag of items that they have likely stolen spilling over on a coffee table.

Teenage Lin confronts Suyin with a blatant look of disproval. Her inquires are met with:

"Oh no, are you going to tell mom? It's not like she is going to care."

ERRRT. Back up. What is really going on here?

A cry for attention.

It is not normal for a twelve year-old child to say that their mom is not going to care about them engaging in dangerous behaviors. I would even argue that the most important sentiment behind that statement is "she isn't going to care."

And what we see in the next flashback a few years later proves that Suyin was and is, in fact, testing the waters. She is now driving a getaway vehicle after a robbery. Her behavior is doomed to escalate, because it is not being met with any parental opposition.

How far can I take it? When will it matter?

This is the part where a parent should be stepping in to intervene. They should be trying to figure out what is lacking in the child's life or what they are seeking. However, what we witness instead is that this burden/role has fallen to Lin.

Mind you, in the first flashback Lin herself is a teenager. She lacks the experience or maturity to be dealing with a child displaying these behaviors, which is shown when she escalates the situation by insulting the two boys. And yet, she still tells Suyin :

"Su stop. You have so much potential. You're ruining your life."

In the second flashback, her words are:

"I'm not letting you get away with this." "So, once again, Su gets to do whatever she wants, and there are no consequences."

Lin is acting as a psuedo-parent in the absence of Toph. She cares about her younger sister and is attempting to show this by drawing a line. Suyin is lashing out against Lin like she would an authority figure.

Toph in this situation, I believe, would not be that concerned with Suyin's behavior, because she herself engaged in rebellious behavior as a kid. The key difference— and what I think Toph failed to realize in raising Suyin— is that she herself grew up with extremely strict parents from the get go. In Toph's case, breaking away from them and finding her independence was key to her growth. It was a good thing.

This is completely different from a kid being raised and allowed to do what they want from the beginning like Suyin. The lack of parental guidance and attention as a foundation produced an entirely different issue than what Toph faced.

"We didn't have a normal childhood. Neither of us knew our fathers, and Toph was always busy being Chief of Police. Because mom grew up in such a strict house, she gave us all the freedom in the world, hoping we'd figure out our own paths."

"That sounds like a good thing."

"And in a way, it was. But we both ended up fighting for mom's attention. Lin followed in her footsteps and became a cop. I was more of a rebel."

Bingo. Here we have Suyin admitting her rebellious behavior was attention-seeking towards her mom. Unfortunately, due to Toph being often absent due to her job, it would seem this behavior often went most noticed by Lin.

An older/younger sibling tale as old as time.

Lin and Suyin were both acting in accordance with the hands they were dealt. They were young. Mistakes were made. Lin should never have had to act as an opposition to her sister's behavior as a teenager; she should have been able to act like a kid herself. Suyin should not have been left to her own devices to the point where she is acting out to seek attention.

So, what do we arrive at? Compelling backstory for two middle-aged women, who present as awesome, strong characters 😎 Something rare in media, animation being more scarce. I love them so much. Almost as much as they love each other.

On one of my rewatches of The Legend of Korra, I noticed something about metal bending. All of the metal benders we're shown are either in the police force or have status. Think about it, Toph's kids with the Beifong name and probably some money (look at how fancy the metal clan is), Kuvira, and the police force. And when Kuvira fights the earth kingdom bandits, she takes them down with ease because they can't metal bend.

Could there be a 'class' divide between metal benders and earth benders? Bolin probably never received metal bending instruction when he was living on the streets with Mako. It's possible the first time he was taught (although unsuccessfully) was when he went to the metal clan. So the only way to learn how to metal bend is to have the money to learn or join the police force.

The Gaang being 'bad parents' didn't ruin their characters.

I've seen this argument tossed around a couple times and it's honestly one of my least favourite criticisms of lok.

Katara (and Sokka but we have no confirmed kids for him, which seems unrealistic with how much game he had) lost their mother as children and their father was forced to abandon them when they were barely starting their teens. They were raised by their grandmother with little to no peers of their own age.

Aang did not know his parents and a huge chunk of his childhood was him being groomed into taking up the mantle of the avatar and mastering airbending. He also was isolated from other kids his age. His closest parental figure was Gyatso who was more of a teacher than a father. Also the Air Nomads were literally wiped out so that adds to the trauma pile.

I really don't think i have to talk about Zuko's family life here, but at least he had relatively positive parental figures in the form of Ursa (though i do have a burning personal dislike of ursa) and Iroh. Despite this his struggle around the subject of his family and his trauma relating to his upbringing was a focal point of his character arc.

Toph was raised in isolation by her asshole abelist parents who did not listen to her, sent people to capture and bring her back and then disowned her. (If my cursory understanding of 'the rift' is correct, I need to actually read it because i am unreasonably obsessed with the Beifong family.)

Where, pray tell, were they supposed to learn proper parenting skills? On their brief stint as child soldiers? While fighting a war as literal children?

There is the argument that they must've matured later in their lives, of course. But you can only recover so much from copious amounts of childhood trauma.

Being a bad parent doesn't necessarily make you a bad person. Sure it makes you a failure in an incredibly delicate and important aspect of human life but it doesn't make you a bad person. And saying that it does takes a lot of nuance out of the conversation.

Like, do you know how easy it is to fuck up a child?

Especially that the ways the members of the Gaang 'fucked up' as parents feel mostly in character.

Bumi was going to face some struggles with self worth due to being the firstborn child of the Avatar and arguably one of the most powerful waterbenders in history, while being a nonbender himself. That much was unavoidable, no matter how his parents approached the issue.

And Aang was obviously going to be over the moon when Tenzin was born. Think about it. He's literally the last of his people. He has no one else 'like him'. No one else to pass down the traditions, the teachings that Gyatso and everyone else he cared about and who were horrifically murdered to. Aang is getting older and he feels like his culture and history and his entire life before he got trapped in that damned iceberg will die along with him. And then Tenzin is born and Tenzin can take up the mantle that had been thrust upon Aang.

I'm going to withhold my judgement on Izumi and Zuko, since we barely know anything about them. She seems well adjusted but that's all i can say right now. But Zuko has also been shown to be extremely, painfully aware of how fucked up his family is and has clearly been putting in a lot of work to unscrew what his ancestors have screwed up.

Toph situation feels very tragic to me,because it's obvious that she thought she thought she was doing better than her parents. She gave her daughters the freedom to do what they want, to not feel opressed and trapped like she had. How was she supposed to know that she was making her girls feel like she didn't love them? (Here's another post of mine about the Beifong family and how they just feel like they're cursed or something at this point.)

TLDR; I get annoyed by people saying that the Gaang being 'bad parents' ruined their characters, because to me it felt like it actually enhanced them.

Neither Aang nor Toph acted out of malice or a lack of love. On the contrary, Toph was trying not to repeat her parents mistakes, accidentally committing a bunch of her own. While Aang probably didn't even realise that he was neglecting Kya and Bumi.

But just loving your children doesn't always make you a good parent.

I think these flaws only add to them as characters. It makes them feel more real.

It's unrealistic and, frankly, just plain boring to go 'oh the Gaang were all good people so they would be good parents too.'

The Gaang were a gaggle of traumatised children forced into saving the world, because the adults around them failed them, that then grew into traumatised adults who have no idea how to be good parents.

Most powerful, best, favorite, underrated and guilty pleasure with the beifongs

Most Powerful: Toph. She could be deadlier than Ozai if she weren't one of the good guys. One of those days I gotta make a dark!Toph AU just out of curiosity.

Best: Lin. Lin definitely. She's the best Bei Fong, the purest person and it's kind of frustrating to know that she did everything right and the world kept showing her the middle finger. I love Kyalin because it gives Lin the happy ending she deserves. Lin is the best thing that ever happened to that family.

Favorite: Suyin. She wasn't a good sister but I think she's a good mom. She's like a mini Toph but with some common sense 😂. And her children and husband are adorable (except for Baatar Jr, the dumbass Bei Fong)

Underrated: Opal. Opal deserves more love. Airbending Bei Fong. Why no one is fangirling over her?

Guilty Pleasure: Lao. What a jerk. Why do I even love him?

Family members fighting side by side 😍

[Warning: Anyone complaining on behalf of their favorite character]

I'm finishing watching TLOK and all I can think about is how mean the writers are to Lin, it's like... No one ever makes a real measly apology to Lin, with Tenzin there's a tiny "Hey, like old times?" and we must forget with her all the pain that that breakup entailed.

Continue Suyin and her apologies in letters off camera, hey at least make Lin read some of those fucking letters to see what the hell she wrote there because what comes out of her mouth Suyin isn't worthy of forgiveness after everything she went through.

And don't get me started on Toph! I love her, I got hooked on ATLA because of her and when her last name appeared in TLOK I was unsalvageable but... How can you be so cynical about your own daughter? She literally spits out being able to see everything from where she lives, blurts out the father thing out of nowhere and then just pushes Lin into one awkward situation after another without ever pulling her away to have a real, intimate conversation between mother and daughter and the culprit is Lin, the one who Lin asks for forgiveness, the one who must make amends to the other Lin. ENOUGH FOR GOD WHAT DID THAT WOMAN DO TO YOU? There is not a single time that they allow her to feel pain without marking her as "a resentful stagnant", Lin is honestly too good for the shit that surrounds her, she deserved more.

[Warning: No, no, it's over yet]

The one that annoys me the most is Toph, we're talking about someone who was raised by people who didn't bother to listen to her, who ignored her and took her feelings for granted, never took the time to get to know her daughter and settled for it. with the "fragile girl" mask that better fit her narrative. Are you telling me that Toph lived through all of that and decided it was a good idea not to stop and talk to her daughters, to Lin?

I'm not even telling you to put Suyin in jail because it's excessive, but you're the fucking police chief! Put her to do community work or something, make her accept her mistake and then support her in finding a better path, show Lin that her injuries are not a trifle, that Suyin is not above her, because THE SPIRITS SHELTER US Toph gives it to her putting Suyin over Lin time and time again, the mere fact that Amon could have easily tortured or killed Lin by capturing her and Toph lifted a single finger, or when the Unalaq was destroying the city. Don't you wish you had saved your daughter to die there? NAH better let her rest so she is in shape when she has to go rescue her favorite girl from the dictator.

How those twenty years don't seem to have been much for her but God knows how many times your daughter was staring at the face of death and you were just left to watch it sitting in your comfortable swamp like... Hey, your parents were bad at all times. the letters but even they looked for ways to have you close.

A real apology? No, not at all, we better see Toph put down Lin's feelings because "she only knows how to hold on to the past" as if the fucking past wasn't relevant. Don't you think that if she hasn't been able to heal him it's because IT REALLY AFFECTS HIM? Naaaaaaaah She's just old and bitter

Ready, it's official, Toph, get off the podium and let Lin take first place, it's hers, She earned it.

I was exchanging comments with @roseeycreates-blog and that made me think about how much I like Tokka and I ended up drawing this scenario.

Toph comes home from work to find her boyfriend-not-boyfriend playing with her daughters and her heart melts... but discreetly

Ups!

The excitement can come anywhere, and so can the visits!

(My favorite part was drawing Lin's kisses and they ended up anywhere on Tenzin... After that, Lin probably got a mark that didn't stain so much)

🌿[AU Linzin Kids]🌿

✨1✨2✨

Suyin always wanted to fix her situation with Lin because she hoped that when she married Tenzin and they started a family she could be part of that.

It didn't happen as is, but now she can enjoy being an aunt without having to share her sister and nephews with anyone.

"Loving is comforting... Until it feels unrequited"

Sometimes Lin just wishes things were more "equal," but it's too late to ask for changes.

COSTUME PARTY!!

So imagine this in a more modern era and let's go from there:

Bumi and Izumi obviously combine like the newly established couple that they are, they want to be the coolest in the place (Zuko has problems with that design and Katara is proud of how the embroidery turned out).

Kya is not properly disguised, her outfit is inspired by a Lana del Rey outfit, in her head the ideal was "beautiful and mysterious", now she just needs to wait for her date to arrive.

My favorites, Tenzin, Lin and little Suyin. Tenzin went with everything, the beautiful costume that his mother made him with a lot of love, prepared to show off and receive a couple of compliments from Lin, who is combined with his sister, being her a bee and Su a flower (The idea was obviously Sokka, Toph only provided the money and permission), however Tenzin is not getting the attention he wants because Su is committed to hoarding his sister.

And that would be, you don't know how much I enjoyed doing this, it's consuming me 🤭✨

An pregnant Suyin has tried the best food possible and has been told that the person responsible is a hopeless pirate.

Did that stop her? No, she went all out and got a meeting, however the subject is dissolved.

🍴

I was watching TLOK again and I decided to give lore to that cook (And to Suyin's past).

Now it seems so obvious to me that the guy was flirting with Lin with that juice thing that I now have as HC that she is his celebrity crush and he is happy to interact with her in the future.

(The chef will be called Cheng now, his companions are Mayu (The red-haired woman) and Pion (The one with the hat))