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Coming from the zk side of the fandom is fun because u can say something like "I think the writing choices of two adult men in the 2000s suffer from some implicit sexism " And it's treated like you've killed a person

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Just saw a comment praising Toph for being "mature" for blaming herself for Appa getting taken in the desert and internalizing Aang's anger at her, by someone who is notorious for trying to stir up shit in "defense" of Aang.

And like, first of all, yes, Toph is incredibly emotionally mature, but it's actually really sad how she blames herself here. And it's not that Toph should not be sad, it's not that no one understands how close Aang is to Appa, it's that Aang's reaction is really unfair, not because he doesn't have a right to be upset, but because he directly blames Toph for what happened and literally accuses her of wanting Appa to get taken.

And it's never actually something Aang ever apologizes for, while Toph constantly beats herself up about the fact that she couldn't save Appa and the gaang at the same time.

And part of the reason this bothers me isn't just related to how Aang is never really forced to grow by the narrative, but I also see this trend of people assuming that Toph's feelings don't actually matter here. Yeah, I know she's presented as the rough and tumble tomboy, but as a disabled person, it bothers me that Aang takes Toph's discomfort with Appa, that she has because of being uncomfortable when she can't have her feet on the ground, and uses it to blame her and accuse her of secretly wanting him gone. And honestly, this is an overlooked plot point that pretty realistically shows the prejudice and suspicion towards the disabled, the idea that they might actually be faking their disability and could have actually done more if they tried, and because they didn't overcome their disability, they must not really care. Plus as I said, there's a very real assumption that Toph's feelings can't be hurt because she's blunt and unfeminine. Toph is emotionally mature and empathetic, more than people give her credit for, but she's also a child, and she should not have to deal with that burden alone, while Aang takes advantage of her caring and her friendship here.

"The Desert" is not one of Aang's shining moments, and it could have been a good opportunity to show how people can act their worst when they are under stress, and have Aang realize that his grief over Appa should not allow him to take it out on his friends, who are just trying to help him.

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You want to prove Zuko is the better man so bad but he only got 1 kid and Aang got 3 so who’s the ‘alpha’ now?

😬😬😬 Maybe I spoke too soon when I said Kataang shippers weren’t as outwardly misogynistic as they used to be

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Look I’m not going to pretend I graduated on top of my class in the school of psychology. I know she’s not a really a narcissist as they usually have very bad relationships with their children which Suyin evidently (mostly) does not. It was not my intention to trivialize actual narcissism. Admittedly this post may have been shortsighted on my part

Not to be an armchair psychologist but did Suyin give anyone else ✨narcissistic sibling✨ vibes?

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I’m really sorry to say but I’ve got a hard time seeing Aang as anything besides a self-insert of the creators. Like I want to like him sincerely like he has been through a lot but my view on him has never been the same after seeing a side by side comparison of his adult design with you know who 😭 because of that I can’t take his popularity with girls seriously as it just feels like blatant wish fulfillment to me.

like Zutara shippers get pelted with accusations of how shallow they are for liking Zutara meanwhile the Anti KZ/Pro KA crowd regularly brag how Aang ended up being the tallest(!) and how he made Katara pregnant at least three times(!) and like I mentioned before he has oodles of fangirls and female attention(!) particularly in the comics like…it really feels like we’re living through some dudes’ boyhood dreams but a bunch of girls liking the troubled but cute boy is obviously punishable by online verbal abuse.

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the anti-Zutara criticism that “Zutara shippers are teenage girls who only like the ship because they self-insert as Katara” is actually so funny because how does that delegitimize the ship? So…girls who relate to Katara like Zuko, and they think Katara would like Zuko, and that’s bad because…girls are wrong? Girls are shallow? Girls don’t know what’s good for them? Anyway if I were a grown ass man who created a fictional teenage girl that lots of real teenage girls relate to, and these girls believe she would like character B instead of character A, I hope I’d have the humility to say to myself “hmm I wonder why people who relate to this character’s feelings and motivations think she would react this way” instead of jumping straight to “these girls are doomed to like toxic relationships”

(And I know Zutara shippers like the ship for many different reasons, and self-insert is not the most popular by a long shot, I’m just saying that the criticism of self-insert stems from dismissal of what teenage girls like, and that feels kinda misogynistic to me)

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oh you'd think that video was made by some 10 year olds for 2008 youtube but no, it was made by the creators of the show. using, without permission, fanart that was sent to you just to mock said artists and other shippers (by then, teenagers and children i assume) is so nasty.

now i know why kataang shippers are very nasty on here and twitter too, under every zutara post... these two encourage them with this kind of behavior.

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Tfw the fans who ship you with your forever girl insinuate you’re the ‘ugly option’ 😢

"yall only ship zutara because they’re both pretty"

yeah theyre pretty and I'm sorry that you think your fav ship is ugly😭

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Apparently you can read the post-series comics now on webtoons. Good news for the people who genuinely enjoyed them.

All I can think about is the ungodly amount of ‘sweetie’s…to this day I can’t even think of that term of endearment without breaking out into hives. That alone is the reason you can’t even pay me to read those comics (well not the sole reason ofc but in a matter of speaking)

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Anti Zutara shippers ‘fully intending to stay out of it’:

Umm… HELLO?!?!

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All we wanted to do was giggle about a scarf and suddenly here come all the freaking Anti-ZKs to yell and scream at us about how we're evil for shipping them for any number of extremely silly reasons.

and it's not just here on Tumblr. Twitter's always been a dodgy place for a ZK post to go somewhat viral because inevitably someone who still can't get over the ship existing will sweatily comment some "funny" remark about how Zutara shippers are "freaks" or something. But now it's far worse.

I just don't get why they have such a bug up their asses about our shipping preferences. Like, go fucking take a walk or something and leave us alone instead of getting so mad that we exist as a fandom.

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‘I see why the creators left eww 🤢🤮’ dudes never left the production of the 2010 movie. They only distanced themselves from it when it bombed 💀

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"zutara is SO problematic when you think about it i can actually write thesis about that and the self insert? omg-"

"anyways i love my zukka💙💜❤"

some of you are just typing words you do realize that the self insert argument fits into ANY zuko ship right ? zukka too.... these ships are literally cousins you cant say u think zk is problematic and then go and ship zukka bitch are u dumb ??

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But apparently Zutara is self-insert...

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ZS shippers saying zutara would fight all the time and get divorced and then Zuko would marry Sokka is like. Whatever. Ship what you want. But maybe examine why you think Katara is the only character who gets angry when Zuko and Sokka's canon dynamic is like this:

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Toph is highly emotionally intelligent but a lot of people don’t see it because we tend to associate empathy with femininity and Toph is an unfeminine girl who is unapologetic about who she is and what she wants and a lot of people will look at those types of characters and go “unfeeling murder child.”

I mean, she gives advice to Iroh about his relationship with Zuko, despite never having met zuko and despite Iroh being one of the wisest characters in the series who usually gives advice to others.

She cares deeply about her parents, despite knowing that they don’t understand her, and tries to live up to what they want from her and doesn’t want to worry them. WIth the money she was making in the earth rumble, she actually could have left on her own, but she obviously loves them and even after she runs away, she worries about causing them pain.

She was gutted when she couldn’t save Appa, and Aang accuses her of not caring but that’s clearly not true at all. She holds herself accountable for not being able to save everyone and spent most of that episode blaming herself for him getting taken.

She makes an effort to enjoy the spa day with Katara even though it wasn’t what she wanted to do because Katara is her friend and that was what Katara wanted to do.

She takes a “tough love” approach to teaching Aang earthbending but also tries to build up his confidence and is super excited for him when he finally gets it.

Her face when Iroh is hurt

and Jet

The way that she quickly forms emotional bonds with every single member of the gaang and gives them ridiculous affectionate nicknames.

“Do you really think friendships can last more than one lifetime?”

The way that she is the first one to believe in Zuko’s sincerity and defends him multiple times to the gaang even though he burned her because she knows it was an accident.

The way that she comforts Zuko and reassures him that Iroh still cares about him.

The way that she does rely on Katara as a motherly figure but also reassures Katara that she can still be a kid, too.

The way that she clings to Sokka, the guy who wants to be needed and feels like he needs to be the protector of this group of kids, but also has playful banter with him and can rival him for sarcasm.

The way that she gave up her comfortable life to join a fight that she wasn’t even involved in because other people needed her.

Yes, she can be rude and crude (and often does so on purpose), but she also deeply cares about people and forms strong bonds with every member of the gaang. She also has a deep understanding of other people that goes beyond just being able to detect when they’re lying through earthbending. She is really good at assessing people’s flaws and strengths. She sees no problem with cheating a cheater or pummeling some jerks into the dirt, and ignores stuffy social conventions if she sees no value in them, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have morals and doesn’t care about people.

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@phoebester if the captains of your ship, especially if they so happen to be the creators of the show, add to the conflict rather than try to validate the message ‘different strokes for different folks’ it definitely sours my view on how I perceive their favored endgame. Especially if it’s already as cliche in a stale way rather than a comforting way like Kat.aang is. Like it’s one thing if fans act super entitled and are hostile to other shippers. But if the creators get themselves involved and contribute to the antagonism in the fandom it’s a whole other thing entirely and it’s infuriating they get a pass for it. They’re not being sassy or quirky- they’re just d*cks

tbh anytime Bry.ke says anything to devalue/discredit Zutara all it does is make me loathe Kat.aang even more