Kuro the black kitsune

Finished! Now for boardgame night with siblings @v@”’

tags:
#general Iroh
#General Iroh II
#legend of korra

Character + character design appreciation post: Iroh (II).

(I know I promised an Asami post after Mako and Bolin, but the new Iroh’s just… well, I wanted to make some analysis despite him having only 2 minutes screentime—~~does that say something about the show’s writing??~~) (there wasn’t any concept art, so I took way too many liberties with a lot of details, like rounding the shoulders, making up the front, the pants… took me a long time and I’m still not satisfied with these sketches; shows how much I rely on refs! posting anyway because I gotta get my feels out of the way)
(didn’t draw him stripping ~~yet~~ because 1. don’t have full body concept so I don’t know where to start, and I already improv’d the front, 2. pretty sure his voice is enough haha)
(the third pose should be familiar though, too bad I didn’t use as many refs as I should have; 1000 points if you know where it’s from)
(…prepare for rambling)

Only two minutes, and I already have too many feels for his design.
Weirdly, I notice where Mako’s colours are lighter Iroh’s are darker, vice versa, except at the feet. But also, his design’s closest to Mako’s? Analogous things„ long coat (back tapered/flat), sash/belt thing around waist, something around neck (cravat/scarf), something underneath (Fire Nation collar/some undershirt), gloves (full/fingerless)…
From behind, somehow reminded me of Korra with the shape, so I kind of went with making the front shapes parallel too? Haven’t seen him completely from front, had to make it up; guess I’ll make another set of sketches, post-finale.
[Is it weird that I think of his design as combining elements from Mako and Korra and adding a whole lot more Fire Nation and military influence… yes.]
Probably the straightest posture of the major characters. Body’s kind of like Mako’s, which is to say leaner than Bolin, but more upright.
Also, third major character to wear gloves.
Looks like military awards. (Question is… is that pocket real or not?)
Deep red and gold lines for Fire Nation, classic Fire Nation royalty collar, but everything else is modernized; I like how the uniforms have evolved compared to ATLA.
Looks like a seam going through the pocket, seems unnecessary, but then looks odd without that line—which I think shows good character design—
Shoulders broad, darker band of colour right at the shoulder that goes around the arm, and lots more military-type details.

Alright, now a separate paragraph just about his head.
Hairline from the back kind of tapers to two points, where Mako and Bolin (and Korra) only one. I’m guessing it’s two because something military (yeah just throwing that out there because inferences = smart lol!).
Black hair, hair at the ears (side burn-ish) somewhat like Mako and Bolin, probably not as dramatically angled…? (We only have two angles of his face from the show give me a breaaakk)
Model in-show seemed to be oddly detailed about the hairline at the forehead; on his left half, looks pulled back, right half, some side-swept bang?
Hair shape reminds me a bit of Tahno, more official-looking, ~~like a much less fabulous version??~~ Actually, it’s a LOT like Hiroshi’s hair. Hm. ~~Irosami anyone?~~
Eyebrows thick, I like how they were oddly detailed again, drawing the left eyebrow cocked up a bit on some of his expressions. Shape kind of reminds me of Mai, but way thicker than hers or Zuko’s; thick like Bumi’s. [Which might lead you to believe he’s blood related to Bumi…]
Long face (took me a while to conclude this, but yeah), angular, cheek bones! (but not as prominent as Lin’s), strong jaw, and
are those… cheek dimples? I don’t know what to call them, but I like to think it’s actually from tensing up so much ~~like Zuko did so many times before~~.

Which brings me to character…
wayyy too many feels get carried over from ATLA’s Uncle Iroh and Zuko, not to mention Lu Ten (Iroh’s son/soldier boy). I’m thinking this Iroh is what Zuko would’ve been like older and scarless, in a more modern time. That scowl, and the way they animated his mouth (the shape?), not to mention the voice and the connection to the Avatar, reminds me more of Zuko than anything.

His character right now is a mystery, but at the very least, he’s on Team Avatar’s side for reclaiming Republic City from the Equalists.
Lots of hopes that he’ll be the “actual Disney prince” that his classic(?) appearance seems to imply, charming, well-spoken, but I think it’s just going to be mature Zuko. Hopefully awkward when meeting Team Avatar, a bunch of teenagers + polarbeardog + fireferret, though I’m not sure if this meet will actually happen. (Please, please, please let there be interaction with Bolin… I’m thinking, father figure that knows just what to say to bring out the best in everyone—orz, right in the feels for the orphans ; _;) Throwing speculah out there, I think Korra might disagree with him at some point about how to go about getting Equalists. I want there to be a struggle for knowing the right thing to do—classic Zuko—though I wouldn’t mind just leader-like confidence. Will he be like Iroh or Zuko when it comes to being wise? Who knows, he seems to know what he’s doing. Right now, he’s the character we love to love, easily the most of all the characters (unless you have a thing for Bolin), he is practically flawless as far as we can see.
As for whether he’s actually a firebender… seems very likely, every other official military position’s been taken by benders (Lin and the metalbending cops, Tarrlok and the task force). Though if he wields swords or something (seems kind of outdated!), that might be interesting. I’d always been wondering why Mako said his parents got “cut down.”
Skeletons In The Closet? There better be flashbacks to younger Mako and Bolin and Asami and Hiroshi and Amon, THERE BETTER BE.

All in all, I’m less convinced he’s Bumi’s kid—
People seem to be hung up on the being Bumi and Zuko’s daughter’s boy, though, which would put him around 20 to 30 (makes sense), but that seems a bit too distant for them to name him Iroh.
Considering his saviour role right now in LOK, what with inheriting Dante Basco’s distinctive voice and all, I’d think he’s actually Zuko’s son„ the connection just has a lot more feels that way.
Considering Tenzin’s got Rohan at 51, this Iroh (despite the voice!) could range at most from 30 to 50.
By the way, Zuko’s 87, supposedly travelling the world. I’m guessing the daughter’s actually an older sister to have taken over as Fire Lord (three years ago by the way); though it wouldn’t really make a difference if she were the younger one, like Azula.
There has GOT to be a backstory on how Iroh became General of the United Forces, and I hope the finale would address it really quickly. I wonder if it ties into Amon’s intent to take over Republic City…
Iroh probably inherited the role, though, like Lin from Toph… from Zuko?
Oh man, my feels.

Wonder what the new Fire Nation royalty family dynamics must have been like over the years (assuming I’ve got the relations right). The brother and sister as siblings, to contrast with Zuko and Azula, parents probably still together, to contrast with Ozai and Ursa. I’m guessing Mai and Zuko worked it out.
…

WHAT IF ZUKO’S WITH IROH ON THAT SHIP——

Remember how messed up Zuko’s relationship with his father was?
Zuko’s “defeating the father lord” line, not realizing he mistook it for “Fire Lord”—such a telling line.
Imagine the reversal of that kind of relationship now with Iroh II.
…

Zuko please make hot leaf juice (i.e. jasmine tea) and play Pai Sho with your son on your three day way to Republic City while also generating flashback scenes to reveal all secrets.

That is all.

On the matter of age, I’m going to play Devil’s advocate and give reasons to why it’s possible that Iroh could be Zuko’s grandson.

Zuko may be 87 currently and traveling the world, but if he had kids around the same time Aang did, his children would be knocking on age 60 soon enough since Tenzin was the youngest of Aang’s kids and is currently 51 (and Aang had him at age 31). It all depends on the circumstances.

Plus, if Zuko only ever had his daughter (which was the only child mentioned in the Republic), there could be the chance that he’d ask her or suggest the name Iroh to her when she and her husband were trying to think of possible names for their child.

Also depending on how long Iroh lived after the original series ~~(/sobbing)~~ Zuko’s daughter/Honora could have had the chance to know him and spend time with him and he could’ve been pretty close to her as well as a grandfather figure. I’d like to think that was something that happened whether Iroh II is Zuko’s grandson or not.

And if Iroh died whenever Honora was young, Zuko very well could have continued telling her stories of him in honor of his memory and those stories and those distant memories would probably give her a fondness for the name too.

Gotta open your mind to the possibilities and all that.

It can go either way, but we’ll find out next episode or we can ask Bill.