History YMMV / HowIBecameYours

* FunnyAneurysmMoment[=/=]HarsherInHindsight

** Depending on how seriously you take the feudalism of the setting (and for HIBY, that would be "very much"), a son who is a potential claimant to the throne can be a very big deal, to the point where it actually ''would'' be treason to hide his existence from the monarch. Illegitimate sons, especially with a princess of another state, are just the sort of thing that can easily start ''wars'' in a feudal system. Zuko isn't being unreasonable about ''that'', even if he's being a jerk to Mai in a number of other ways.
*** Still, even when taking such considerations into account, Katara is just as guilty as Mai when it comes to hiding the Firelord’s son. Not to mention, every single one of her friends at Toph’s estate is complicit in the matter, seeing that they lied about Katara’s pregnancy a number of times, possibly even to Zuko’s face. And yet none of them get accused of treason or receive any treatment similar to what Mai gets from Zuko...and this is when Mai seems to be the only one who actually thinks about the political implications of the pregnancy.
*** The others aren't Fire Nation citizens, so by definition can't commit treason against the Fire Nation. You'd still expect Zuko to be pretty mad at them, though--which doesn't really happen.

* 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 ''[[YourCheatingHeart 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'' [[DomesticAbuser 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.''

* WhatMeasureIsANonBadass: Many fans seem to hate HIBY's interpretation of the female characters in general, and Azula in particular, for showing a more vulnerable and feminine side of them than their typical portrayal in the show.
** To be completely fair, their portrayals in the show included many such vulnerable moments, and highlighted their feminine attributes. The problem many detractors see is that even those canonical character developments involving femininity are largely disregarded throughout the comic, even when they are intrinsic to the characters in question.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Upon realizing what position Azula is in at the end, many have posited that she doesn't actually have amnesia, as it's all a ploy to get in good with the Water Tribe royalty so she can dismantle the entire civilization from the inside.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: 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 on a convoluted and increasingly stupid romance story between six fatally brain-dead people.

*** Still, even when taking such considerations into account, Katara is just as guilty as Mai when it comes to hiding the Firelord’s son. Not to mention, every single one of her friends at Toph’s estate is complicit in the matter, seeing that they lied about Katara’s pregnancy a number of times, possibly even to Zuko’s face. And yet ’’none’’ of them get accused of treason or receive any treatment similar to what Mai gets from Zuko...and this is when Mai seems to be the only one who ‘‘actually thinks’’ about the political implications of the pregnancy.

*** Still, even when taking such considerations into account, Katara is *just as guilty as Mai* when it comes to hiding the Firelord’s son. Not to mention, every single one of her friends at Toph’s estate is complicit in the matter, seeing that they lied about Katara’s pregnancy a number of times, possibly even to Zuko’s face. And yet *none* of them get accused of treason or receive any treatment similar to what Mai gets from Zuko...and this is when Mai seems to be the only one who *actually thinks* about the political implications of the pregnancy.

* RootingForTheEmpire: Given how our "heroes" are more or less [[DesignatedHero complete assholes]], it's no surprise that most of the comics detractors root for Mai and Sho due to Mai being a lot more sympathetic than Katara and Sho being a badass.

* DieForOurShip:
** Mai is evil because if she wasn't, then Zuko wouldn't be justified in leaving her for a girl he met a few years ago.
** The fandom is comprised almost entirely of Zutara fangirls/Mai bashers looking for a quick fix.

* {{Narm}}: A lot of the "romantic" or "sad" scenes are absolutely ''hysterical'', such as Aang glowing avatar-style when having sex with Toph, Azula asking the [[SpecialEffectFailure badly Photoshopped]] turtleduck to be her friend, the Photoshopped talking panda, etc.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment[=/=]HarsherInHindsight: Toph, after hearing that Sokka revealed Kuzon's existence by sending a letter to Zuko, says "Katara is going to kill you... I can only imagine what Mai will do to Zuko...". A {{d|ieForOurShip}}emonized, OutOfCharacter, {{Yandere}} Mai poisons Katara, causing her to miscarry [[note]]it had happened at the time, but Katara was unaware of Mai's involvement at this point in the story[[/note]], and later tries to kill her herself.
** 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 ''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.
* HilariousInHindsight: Bloodbending is performed without requiring the full moon, which became canon in ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra''.

* NightmareFuel: Those half-headed spirit monsters looked ''freaky''.

** Katara [[spoiler:bloodbending Mai to death]], is fairly well remembered, given that it's not only highly morally questionable, but also a blatant violation of canon.

* 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. Of course, [[DieForOurShip Diaz rewrites their relationship so her favored ship looks good in comparison or give a lame excuse for the reason why Zuko does not love Mai]].

* BileFascination

* FridgeHorror:
** Toph has sex with Aang, who starts glowing Avatar-state style. This is [[GlowingEyesOfDoom probably]] [[PhysicalGod not a]] [[SuperMode good]] [[PersonOfMassDestruction sign]] [[SphereOfPower in]] [[OneManArmy the]] [[OhCrap bedroom]]. That's right, folks. Toph is being subjected to a potential ManOfSteelWomanOfKleenex situation.
*** Speaking of Toph having sex with Aang, let's recall that this comic takes place on Katara's 18th birthday. That means that Zuko [[TeenPregnancy knocked up a 14 year old girl,]] Toph and Aang consummated their marriage at ''15.'' All together now, EWWWWWWW!
** Ursa's reunion with Azula, though intended to be heartwarming, becomes downright depressing when you realize that Ursa basically confirms all of Azula's suspicions - she did favor Zuko and [[WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent couldn't accept and love Azula for who she was]]. It's almost a good thing Azula was [[EasyAmnesia mindwiped]] by then, because this would have [[DespairEventHorizon broken her completely]].
** From [[DesignatedVillain Mai's]] perspective, it's almost a horror story, as pointed out before: Her beloved husband cheats on her and fathers a love child, but she's willing to let it pass and destroys the evidence. When her husband finds out, he [[DomesticAbuse hits and shoves her]] and abandons her, and his babymama horrifically and painfully kills her.
** And now, with the [[SerialEscalation recent development of daytime bloodbending]] in ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', think about Katara's bloodbending scene. She not only bloodbent Mai in broad daylight, but she used that technique to ''kill'' her in front of witnesses. Yes, daytime bloodbending is possible now, according to canon, but it's also ''highly illegal'' even when it ''isn't'' being used to kill. Sho has solid evidence to convict Katara, not only of his sister's murder, but also of a notable in-universe ''war crime'' - but he can't get that evidence into court. Because Katara is Princess of the Water Tribe and now a Fire Lady, with high-ranking friends in every other government on the planet, she is effectively safe from ''ever'' having to withstand a fair trial. In the eyes of the law, Katara can do no wrong - what's to stop her from being even more horrible to her subjects than Ozai and Azula ever were? Especially since her subjects are ''Fire Nation,'' her tribe's long-term ''enemies'' - and she obviously hasn't acquired the same forgiving nature she had toward the end of the series? [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen All hail Fire Lady Katara]], folks. And the main characters wonder why Sho's revolution is able to gain ground so fast in the sequel...
** When you get right down to it, half of this is Sokka's fault; if he hadn't accidentally sent a letter about Katara's pregnancy to the Fire Naion, Mai would have never suspected anything and most of this could have been avoided.

* 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]].

** '''''CHARD MONSTER!!!'''''

* {{Narm}}: A lot of the "romantic" or "sad" scenes are absolutely ''hysterical''. Such as Aang glowing avatar-style when having sex with Toph, Azula asking the badly photoshopped turtleduck to be her friend, the photoshop talking panda, etc.

** Zuko confronting Mai about her actions regarding his love child with Katara. It's memorable partly because it's a good indicator of the comic's sense of morality (the "hero" cheats on his devoted wife and sires a bastard, his wife secretly has the child aborted to avoid any backlash from the scandal, and her husband physically assaults her for it), and writing (two words: "[[RougeAnglesOfSatin chard]] {{m|emeticMutation}}onster").

** Except for the fact that most bloodbenders still ''cannot'' bloodbend during the day (which is why [[spoiler:Yakone]] only did it during the day, so that people would not suspect that bloodbending was taking place). [[spoiler:Yakone's family]] had a unique special bending ability, much like Combustion Man.

* DesignatedHero: Katara. She's presented as vain ("I'm sure that Kuzon will come out quite charming, with me as his mom."), self-absorbed ("[Kuzon] died years ago, ''a day before my birthday...''" emphasis ''not'' added), and murderous (do we even really need to mention [[spoiler: Mai's horrifying death]] again?). Yet she's somehow always right and no one ever questions her.

* DesignatedVillain: Mai. She gets mad at her husband- whom she's genuinely in love with- for having an affair, whereupon he strikes her. We're supposed to hate her, why?
** 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.
* DieForOurShip: Mai is evil because if she wasn't, then Zuko wouldn't be justified in leaving her for a girl he met a few years ago.

* FridgeHorror: Toph has sex with Aang, who starts glowing Avatar-state style. This is [[GlowingEyesOfDoom probably]] [[PhysicalGod not a]] [[SuperMode good]] [[PersonOfMassDestruction sign]] [[SphereOfPower in]] [[OneManArmy the]] [[OhCrap bedroom]]. That's right, folks. Toph is being subjected to a potential ManOfSteelWomanOfKleenex situation.

* 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]].

* MemeticMutation: '''''CHARD MONSTER!!!'''''

* TheissTitillationTheory: How on ''earth'' has Azula's epilogue dress not suffered some kind of catastrophic malfunction?

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Katara is supposed to be seen as the [[StarCrossedLovers torn heroine who has to fight to be with the man she loves even with the stigma]]. However, the story portrays her as being very shallow and self-centered,who does not care about the fact that she is a homewrecker whose actions could affect an entire nation. Her miscarriage was supposed to give her sympathy, but all it showed that she would make even her dead child all about her.

* {{Wangst}}: Most of the couples, particularly Aang and Toph, wangst over how they can't be with the one their love, despite having no real reason why they can't.

** Zuko confronting Mai about her actions regarding his love child with Katara. It's memorable partly because it's a good indicator of the comic's sense of morality (the guy who had a child out of wedlock is the sympathetic character), and writing (two words: "[[RougeAnglesOfSatin chard]] {{m|emeticMutation}}onster").

* DesignatedVillain: Mai. She gets mad at the husband whom she's genuinely in love with for having an affair, whereupon he strikes her. We're supposed to hate her, why?

* AssPull: [[spoiler:Ursa's return; we never get any explanation about where she's been or why Iroh waited until that moment to bring her around and no one seems to address it in story at all.]]
* BadassDecay[=/=]{{Chickification}}: Azula, we hardly knew ye.
** Toph gets this treatment as well, going from a devil-may-care fighter to a soft-spoken, nervous flower of a girl who willingly bottoms to a guy she calls "twinkle-toes".
** Katara, too. The things she does the most in this fic? Whining. Being self-centered. Making even her unborn child's death all about her. Only caring about being Zuko's love interest. Wearing pretty dresses (which isn't bad in and of itself, but considering the canon setting, they're very out of place). The only scene in which she's ever seen ''using'' the ActionGirl skills that she worked so far for in the series? When she [[spoiler:bloodbends Mai to death]].
** Actually lampshaded in [[http://s762.photobucket.com/albums/xx265/ReneeLuvsZutara/HIBY%20Chapter%202/?action=view¤t=056.jpg Chapter 2.]]
--->'''Toph''': Look Katara what happened to that fearless sugar queen I know? I know she's in there!

* {{Narm}}: Some of the "romantic" or "sad" scenes are absolutely ''hysterical''. Such as Aang glowing avatar-style when having sex with Toph, Azula asking the badly photoshopped turtleduck to be her friend, the photoshop talking panda, etc.

* UncannyValley: Good ''lord'', Aang. He's usually drawn with a preteen's head, an adult's body, and grotesquely extended limbs.
** Katara also falls into this a couple times because of Diaz's lazy artwork.

* {{Wangst}}: Most of the couples - particularly Aang and Toph, wangst over how they can't be with the one their love, despite having no real reason why they can't. While Katara's angst over losing her unborn son is understandable, mourning for three years and building a giant tombstone for him is a bit extreme.
** It's not just about Katara's extreme mourning, it's about how she makes it [[ItsAllAboutMe all about her]]. "Kuzon" died ''a day before her birthday'', after all. The dead child is treated as just an extension of Katara's derailed personality and a plot device to have her [[spoiler:''murdering'' Mai in the worst way possible]].

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Sho, to an extent. Probably because (a) he's an original character, and therefore does not bastardize any Avatar characters simply by his presence, (b) his "evil" alignment means he's generally trying to kill off said bastardizations of Avatar characters, and (c) he's pretty much the only {{badass}} and good-looking character in the comic.

* RootingForTheEmpire: Given how our "heroes" are more or less [[DesignatedHero complete assholes]], it's no surprise that most of the comics detractors root for Mai and Sho due to Mai being a lot more sympathetic than Katara and Sho being a {{Badass}}.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: [[{{Badass}} Sho]] is far and away the best thing about this story. Unfortunately, he barely appears in it.