History YMMV / HowIBecameYours

** [[DesignatedHero Zuko]] is supposed to be the romantic, male lead that is torn between duty and the love of his life. However, his actions could be seen as a philanderer who puts his heart before his country and his [[DomesticAbuse hitting Mai when he found she hid the letters about his child with Katara]] showed that he doesn't give a damn about his wife, who he cheated on.

* HilariousInHindsight

** It's astonishing how similar Zuko confronting Mai about hiding the existence of his love child with Katara by hiding her letters until a servant showed them to him is to Ozai confronting Ursa in a flashback in ''[[ComicBook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheSearch The Search]]'' over [[spoiler:Zuko being Ikem's son rather than Ozai's- he was wrong but didn't know it at the time]], something he learned by the servant Ursa entrusted to deliver her letters betraying her and giving them to Ozai. [[GenerationXerox Zuko may be turning out more like Ozai]] than he thought here.

** Just about everything that goes on in the background could have made a more interesting story than the actual story. Aang finding a [[HiddenElfVillage underground temple of surviving Air Nomads]]? Glossed over in the prologue. Azula's adventures, which somehow involved her blackmailing Mai to get a seat in the new Fire Senate while simultaneously dressing like a ninja? Never elaborated upon. Sho's ''[[RememberTheNewGuy existence]]''? Nope. We get to focus almost exclusively on Team Avatar's increasingly convoluted romance stories.

** Hana also has a bit with an amnesiac Azula, telling her how beautiful she is several times in the conversation.

* IKnewIt: [[spoiler:Daytime bloodbending]] is canon now. [[spoiler:Yakone, Amon, and Tarrlok]] pulled it off in ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' [[spoiler:not only without a full moon, but Yakone did it at every point in time without a full moon]]. ''[[TheCuckoolanderWasRight Jackie Diaz]]'' [[TheCuckoolanderWasRight managed to make a halfway correct guess about Avatar metaphysics]].

* FetishRetardant: The sex scenes. Even the most militant Zutarians don't like it!

** Mai hides letters from Katara to Zuko telling him that she's pregnant. When confronted by Zuko, she gives a reason that [[http://i762.photobucket.com/albums/xx265/ReneeLuvsZutara/HIBY%20Chapter%201/028.jpg does make sense]]: She wants to prevent a possible civil war coming from all the succession problems that the existence of a bastard child of the Fire Lord would bring. (And, well, Zuko impregnated Katara ''when he already was married to Mai''). However, since this is Mai and she is Katara's [[DieForOurShip love rival for Zuko]], she's [[DerailingLoveInterests presented as a]] [[ClingyJealousGirl petty and clingy]] DesignatedVillain who does this only out of bitterness and jealousy... and we're supposed to side with ''Zuko'' [[DomesticAbuse when, in response to her rant, he humiliates and beats her]] before abandoning his war-torn nation to run away with his babymama. Interestingly enough, Katara herself, who is not a strawman, has similar reasons for not telling Zuko.

** Katara's dialogue with Azula when she is braiding her hair. They're talking about her and Sokka, but it'd be quite easy to edit it to mean something else.
--->'''Katara:''' Where you come from or who you were doesn't matter when it comes to love. (...) It wouldn't be wrong. You're a beautiful woman, and I'm glad I know you as such now ...
** In the same conversation, she (Katara) thinks Sokka would have to be crazy not to be attracted to her (Azula), given how gorgeous she is, and spends several speech bubbles giving a detailed description, from her figure to her beautiful eyes. All while affectionately clasping her shoulders.
** What seemingly drives Katara to finally bloodbend Mai to death is not the revelation that she murdered her and Zuko's child, but that she (appears to have) killed ''Azula''.

** In the same vein as DesignatedVillain below, it's not uncommon for Mei to be depicted as an OnlySaneMan in a crowd of emotional, lovesick teenagers.

* NightmareFuel
** Those half-headed spirit monsters looked ''freaky''.
** Mai's TearsOfBlood [[spoiler:as Katara murders her]].
** Mai herself all throughout her confrontation with Katara; The way her eyes are drawn come off as soulless and almost demonic as she readies herself to kill Katara.
** The bedroom scene with Toph and Aang, already described under FridgeHorror. On top of that, Aang's very young face is pasted on to a character from ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' with a long, slender body, making him look creepily [[OffModel very disproportionate]], not to mention that his face seems to be stuck in a permanent SlasherSmile.

** There's a bit of Toph/Katara LesYay early on.

* EvilIsSexy: Diaz tries to dial this down with Sho as much as possible because he's supposed to be [[DesignatedVillain evil]]. However, interested readers will notice that Sho is more muscular than Zuko, Sokka, and Aang.

* WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs: The plot gets so increasingly bizarre and confusing (especially by chapter 5) that you gotta wonder if Diaz was high while writing certain parts of it.

* DiagnosedByTheAudience: Sho's perfectionism, macabre philosophical speculations, formal and somewhat idiosyncratic speech patterns, and LackOfEmpathy combine to give an unsettling impression. He is obviously high-functioning, competent, intelligent and even intellectual, but ''something'' is definitely not right about him.

* DesignatedVillain: Mai. She gets mad at her husband--with whom she's genuinely in love--for having an affair, whereupon he strikes her. Not only that, but the fact she hid the letters telling Zuko about his child is apparently hideous treason. It's not a nice thing to do, sure, but she had good reasons to do so and it's certainly not ''treason''. Particularly when Katara had every intention of hiding the child from Zuko anyway, and the only reason the letter came anywhere close to Mai or Zuko is a clerical error. It does later turn out she did commit a genuinely villainous act in [[spoiler:deliberately causing Katara to miscarry via sending her poisoned fruit]] but it doesn't help that the revelation comes very late into the story and she was treated like a villain by the main characters even before they (or the readers) knew what she did.

* DesignatedVillain: Mai. She gets mad at her husband--with whom she's genuinely in love--for having an affair, whereupon he strikes her. Not only that, but the fact she hid the letters telling Zuko about his child is apparently hideous treason. It's not a nice thing to do, sure, but she had good reasons to do so and it's certainly not ''treason''. Particularly when Katara had every intention of hiding the child from Zuko anyway, and the only reason the letter came anywhere close to Mai or Zuko is a clerical error. She does have a genuinely villainous act when it is revealed [[spoiler:she poisoned Katara which directly caused her miscarriage]] but that revelation comes very late into the story and she is still treated like a villain by the main characters even before they find out about this.

* DesignatedVillain: Mai. She gets mad at her husband--with whom she's genuinely in love--for having an affair, whereupon he strikes her. Not only that, but the fact she hid the letters telling Zuko about his child is apparently hideous treason. It's not a nice thing to do, sure, but she had good reasons to do so and it's certainly not ''treason''. Particularly when Katara had every intention of hiding the child from Zuko anyway, and the only reason the letter came anywhere close to Mai or Zuko is a clerical error.

* FanonDiscontinuity: Zuko and Mai were very much in love with each other in the series and there was not even a mention that their relationship was even arranged. Even in the official comic ''[[ComicBook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderSmokeAndShadow Smoke And Shadow]]'', which was written after the fanfic was released, [[spoiler:Zuko pleaded with Mai to stay when she breaks up with him for very personal reasons.]] Of course, [[DieForOurShip Diaz rewrites their relationship so her favored ship looks good in comparison or give an excuse for the reason why Zuko does not love Mai]].

* [[HoYay Les Yay]]:

* MoralEventHorizon: Mai killing Katara's unborn baby via poisoned fruit is meant to be this. For many readers, it's actually [[spoiler:Katara [[CruelAndUnusualDeath bloodbending Mai to death]], when she was perfectly capable of merely incapacitating her so she would be taken to trial for attempted murder.]]

* StrawmanHasAPoint: Mai hides letters from Katara to Zuko telling him that she's pregnant. When confronted by Zuko, she gives a reason that [[http://i762.photobucket.com/albums/xx265/ReneeLuvsZutara/HIBY%20Chapter%201/028.jpg does make sense]]: She wants to prevent a possible civil war coming from all the succession problems that the existence of a bastard child of the Fire Lord would bring. (And, well, Zuko impregnated Katara ''when he already was married to Mai''.) However, since this is [[RonTheDeathEater Mai]] and she is [[DesignatedHero Katara's]] [[DieForOurShip love rival for Zuko]], she's [[DerailingLoveInterests presented as a]] [[ClingyJealousGirl petty and clingy]] DesignatedVillain who does this only out of bitterness and jealousy... and we're supposed to side with ''Zuko'' [[DomesticAbuse when, in response to her rant, he humiliates and beats her]] before abandoning his war-torn nation to run away with his babymama. Interestingly enough, Katara herself, who is not a strawman, has similar reasons for not telling Zuko.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: Mai hides letters from Katara to Zuko telling him that she's pregnant. When confronted by Zuko, she gives a reason that [[http://i762.photobucket.com/albums/xx265/ReneeLuvsZutara/HIBY%20Chapter%201/028.jpg does make sense]]: She wants to prevent a possible civil war coming from all the succession problems that the existence of a bastard child of the Fire Lord would bring. (And, well, Zuko impregnated Katara ''when he already was married to Mai''.) However, since this is [[RonTheDeathEater Mai]] and she is [[DesignatedHero Katara's]] [[DieForOurShip love rival for Zuko]], she's [[DerailingLoveInterests presented as a]] [[ClingyJealousGirl petty and clingy]] DesignatedVillain who does this only out of bitterness and jealousy... and we're supposed to side with ''Zuko'' [[DomesticAbuse when, in response to her rant, he humiliates and beats her]] before abandoning his war-torn nation to run away with his babymama. Interestingly enough, Katara herself, who is not a strawman, has similar reasons for not telling Zuko. Though Mai's position would be much stronger if she had not also ''poisoned Katara'' and ''murdered the unborn baby.''

* IdiotPlot: Had Sokka not been an idiot and checked where the Messenger Hawks were going, Mai would never have got the letter. Had Zuko not been an idiot and contacted Katara on his own, many misunderstandings would have been cleared up before they became problems (and he'd have less to {{Wangst}} about). Had Mai not been an idiot and burnt the letter from Katara, Zuko would never have found out about the baby. Common sense would have made for a much shorter and far less melodramatic plot.
** The later chapters of the comic when Aang, Katara and Sokka need to go to the Spirit Oasis [[spoiler: to revive Azula]] they're stopped in their tracks because the entrance to the oasis is blocked by a massive snow drift, forcing them to find another way in. [[ForgotAboutHisPowers Because it's not like they have the means to magically blow the snow away, or melt it with fire, or even physically push it aside at all.]]

** There's only [[http://sarajaye.superbusnet.com/Icons/Humor/HIBY%20mocks/azutara2.gif so many cuddly, affectionate scenes Azula and Katara can share]] before you start to wonder what the real OTP of this comic is.

* {{Squick}}: [[spoiler:The miscarriage.]]

* UnfortunateImplications: As [[http://www.projectafterforums.com/index.php?s=88ce4a7f1f107ccd2593676b5fa0d833&showtopic=2711&pid=124372&st=0&#entry124372 this]] review states, this story is written by a woman who portrays the women she writes as completely useless without men. Either that, or said women pull all kinds of crap on others either just to get the men to look at them, or to punish other women for taking away "their" men's attentions.

** The bedroom scene with Toph and Aang, already described under FridgeHorror. On top of that, Aang's very young face is pasted on to a character from ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' with a long, slender body, making him look creepily [[OffModel very disproportionate]], not to mention that his face seems to be stuck in a permanent UncannyValley SlasherSmile.

* UncannyValley: Virtually ''everybody'', due to the very blatantly traced artwork. Specific examples include:
** Aang. Good ''lord'', Aang. He's usually drawn with a preteen's head, an adult's body, and grotesquely extended limbs.
** Katara, due to her skinny limbs, creepy ''uwu'' eyes and weird fish lips. Not helping is the fact that she keeps that same exact face for about 90 percent of the comic.
** Toph at several points in the comic sports perhaps one of the most (unintentionally) ''frightening'' {{Slasher Smile}}s ever...
** Sokka’s lips can be sometimes jarring.
* UnfortunateImplications: As [[http://www.projectafterforums.com/index.php?s=88ce4a7f1f107ccd2593676b5fa0d833&showtopic=2711&pid=124372&st=0&#entry124372 this]] review states, this story is written by a [[FemaleMisogynist woman]] who portrays the women she writes as completely useless without men. Either that, or said women pull all kinds of crap on others either just to get the men to look at them, or to punish other women for taking away "their" men's attentions.
%%** Not to mention that Diaz completely removes Suki from the plot, instead giving Sokka a "happy" ending with the ''extremely'' {{Chickifi|cation}}ed Azula... but then steals Suki's design to create two servants, one Mai's maid another Toph's.
%%** All the heroic women wear European-style fancy dresses. Mai is the only one to retain the show's Asian themes, and she's the villain.
%%** ''How I Became Yours'' is a WorldOfBuxom... except for the antagonist Mai.
%%** Azula is told that her entire purpose is to give birth to a child, and that even her relationship with Sokka was manipulated by the gods.
%%** On a more subtle level, the fic erodes Katara's and Azula's agency by having their brothers blame themselves for the girls' actions. Sokka says that [[spoiler: Azula getting stabbed]] is because of him, despite him having no hand in the events that lead to it. Zuko hopes the gods will forgive ''him'' for his and Azula's actions [[spoiler: and save Azula]].

** Katara [[spoiler:bloodbending Mai to death]], is fairly well remembered, given that it's not only highly morally questionable, it's also a blatant violation of canon ''and'' [[spoiler:an AccidentallyAccurate look into [[WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra the future]]]].