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Katara in Ba Sing Se

Ba Sing Se is based rather directly on Qing Dynasty fashion. And while this illustration isn't accurate (specifically I went with the show style headdress instead of a real Liangbatou) it was fun to draw!

(Reoccurring disclaimer for this art series: This is for fun, they are inspired by the show's costume designs and then extrapolated out with historical fashion or things I think will be fun to draw. These are not meant to be accurate, only inspired. I hope you like them!)

I am the artist! Do not post without permission & credit! Thank you! Come visit me over on: instagram, tiktok or check out my coloring book available now \ („• ֊ •„) /

https://linktr.ee/ellen.artistic

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Aang and Katara by @/ampalayeah on Instagram. From the artist’s modern ATLA art series, check out her blog to see more (also available to buy as prints). Posted here with the artist’s permission. Please reblog, do not repost. 

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the waterbenderrrr

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2x02, the Cave of Two Lovers / 2x20, the Crossroads of Destiny

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My cynical mind reads "more feminine" as more sexualized since we have an attractive 18 year old actress playing the part of Toph, so they can lean in hard(er) to any scenes with that in mind and/or dress her more "feminine" (read: show some cleavage). I expect it to have some weirdness added to the little crush Toph had on Sokka in the original and make that more mature - which is fine on the one hand with older characters, but given how weird the whole Suki/Sokka scenes were I have no faith in it working out.

Anyone else notice, that Sokka had all has edges worn off, but he still go to have a lot of pull on any good looking girl nearby. (Hell, he even went through the Cave of Two Lovers with his own sister! lol) I expect more of that.

I absolutely love Miya Cech, I follow her on insta and she seems adorable. But I doubt this is the right track to follow for a character like Toph. (I'm also certain this wasn't Miya's decision but rather the writers, but they are once again letting the young actors take the fall for them just like they did with the changes in Sokka's character, I'm noticing a bad pattern here.)

The whole point of Toph is that she was raised with femininity and grace forced upon her, manners and etiquette being an important part of high society. Being feminine for her also meant not being able to fully embrace her element, seeing as earth is often associated with brute force and strength.

Being feminine just wasn't her, and in running away and embracing who she really is she rejected it completely, learning to love herself in her own way. Toph being Toph drove forward the story! And yes, this came with a bunch of flaws. Toph had a big mouth, was aggressive, rude (which she chose to be), not hygienic, and chose to exhibit bad manners.

I once again notice this pattern of the Netflix writers taking any flaws a character might have and trying their damnest to erase them. Katara wasn't allowed to be a thief, or decisive, or angry. Sokka wasn't allowed his sexist -> feminist arc. Aang wasn't allowed to actually run away from responsibilities. And now Toph isn't allowed to be the brutish girl she is.

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I really appreciate your response. It shows a lot of maturity in that level of self-reflection and willingness to break away from those bad takes you were inundated with, when you revisit the original source material. It really speaks to one of the big issues I run into in the greater fandom, which is people creating analysis and metas that have no real touchstone or connection to the actual show. Really, those are more the people my first response was aimed at, rather than those who consumed those and didn't realize - until revisiting the source - how intellectually hollow they actually are.

To be clear, I don't mind the ship itself. There's nothing wrong with people doing what they want with fictional characters for their own amusement. I've read a number of people who are very upfront about finding Zuko hot (lol) when they watched the show in their youth and self-inserting for Katara. I've read others talk about how they love the ship and then go on to talk about they've changed Zuko and Katara to make it work. While, I have no interest in those works, I have no issues with people who are honest about changing the characters, setting (AU's), etc. in order to create the dynamic they enjoy. (OK, this particular ship has some real squickiness for me personally, due to my background, but I'm still not going to say someone else is bad for enjoying it, so long as they don't push it on me.)

Since you shared, my own journey into fandom and eventually shipping was quite a lot different, and probably different from many in it. I first watched the show in 2020 during covid lockdown and netflix peak popularity. People had pushed me to watch it since it came out, but I'd never watched anything in this genre or even associated genres. I completely fell in love with the deep world development, the three-dimensional, multi-facetted characters, and just the overall story. (I understand why people pushed it so hard!)

When I finished, I wanted more. The graphic novels only provided a quick fix, so I dipped my toes into fan-created material for the first time ever. I quickly learned that a good way to parse fics to something that had a reasonable chance of staying true the characterization of the show, was to search the kataang tag. The entire concept of shipping was new to me at the time, and I wasn't really into it for the ship per se, just a good chance of finding accurate characterization. (I even steered clear of AU's, and still don't engage very often with them. Once the characters are removed from the canon setting, much of what i want from them is lost.)

Over time, the wonderful community and some of the excellent writers got me to slowly get into some AU's, though I'm still mostly limited to those in the same general world/setting, with variances, rather than complete rewrites. Again, I don't mind people doing the other. It just isn't for me.

I came across a screenshot of a certian anti kataang post, and even though it's been done before, I wanted to give my two cents.

‼️ DO NOT HARASS OP IF YOU FIND THE POST. DON'T GO AFTER THEM, DON'T INSULT OR BERATE THEM, DON'T ACT CONDESCENDING, NONE OF THAT SHIT.

The fact that Aang didn't call Katara Sifu is a bit concerning on the surface, but the reason to why is quite wholesome when you think about it. When Katara started teaching Aang, it was after a whole season of them bonding as friends. He didn't see her as just his sifu, he saw her as his friend. Not because he doesn't acknowledge her abilities, (he clearly does: "I'm lucky enough to have a great teacher". "Go Katara"!), but because she's so much more than a Sifu.

Meanwhile, he hasn't spent nearly as much time with Toph. She originally joined the Gaang on episode 06×02. Episode 7 is solely about Zuko and episode 8 focuses more on Katara and Toph's dynamic, with Aang only coming in to defend Appa. He calls her Sifu in episode 9. Obviously he was bonded to her, he helped her, they had a connection, but one episode ago, he referred to her as his earthbending teacher after insulting her.

In the direct aftermath, he was hardly concerned about hurting her feelings. Back then, he simply didn't view her the same way he views Katara. Therefore, the label "Sifu" came naturally with one but not the other.

In the screenshot of the original post, this is the only direct evidence presented to support op's idea. However, there's another flaw in their argument despite the lack of examples I have access to. I urge you to read one sentence again:

Meanwhile, in canon, the focus of Aang's crush is how pretty Katara is and how she takes care of him.

The only times Aang and Katara's connection is framed in a romantic light are mostly when he thinks she's pretty or when the feeling appears to be mutual (The Headbend & The Cave of Two Lovers). We can safely assume that how Katara looks out for him is a factor, but it's never directly shown romantically.

They're friends first and foremost, so most of their interactions are presented that way. Yes, one can easily infer that Aang loves Katara because of how she cares for him as well. However, if you do take those interactions into account, then you mustn't ignore the many other qualities he is shown to appreciate.

He doesn't appreciate her fierceness,

or even how good at waterbending she is.

So there you have it. Aang loves Katara for who she is inside. While he does appreciate her appearance, he also appreciates her skills and her strong sense of justice.

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The study of Zuko and Azula's journey is an interesting comparison, as Zuko's banishment gets him out into the world, where he has three years to see reality, and to get guidance from Iroh. When he goes back, he's done everything his dad wants of him, but that background allows him to see through the veil.

Azula never gets that chance. She's always what her dad wants from her, and she's always striving to be his perfect little daughter. When she fails, there's no one there for her - closest is really Zuko himself, who isn't mature and healed enough to really do more than offer general support. (I do think he cares for her, and tries). In a way, Azula represents the loss the Fire Nation suffers from the war, how even those at the very top, and ostensibly winning the war, are also victims suffering from it.

Trauma that the both of them have from their parents and their fucked up upbringing. One of them was able to overcome it and find peace, and the other one did not.

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Yes! I really love how both Yangchen and Kyoshi still perfectly fit their small amount of time in ATLA and yet were built out into excellent three dimensional characters with a host of strong support characters around them.

For that matter, what we get second hand of Kuruk is similar in fitting the little we saw, but turning him into a far more interesting, more complex character.

it's so awesome how f.c. yee took avatar yangchen's 30 second appearance in atla and was able to extrapolate from it a fully three dimensional morally complex character whose fundamental traits can all be traced back to that 30 second appearance

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If you watched avatar the last Airbender and walk out hating Katara and believe aang should've killed ozai, then you have a fundamental misunderstanding of the source material

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If Aang is all the bad things that ZK shippers on this app say he is than why are they comfortable shipping him with other characters?

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[ Aang fights an evil!Katara and comes seconds away from killing her. ] Katara: What are you doing? You won! Take your revenge! Aang: There are no winners with revenge. Katara:...The last time I sat beneath stars like this I was with my mother. I've felt this pain for so long, it's all I know. Aang: When I lost Gyatso, I felt the same way. Katara: Did your pain eventually go away? Aang: No. But in time, I learned there's something even more powerful than pain. The love we felt for each other. That's what you need to hold onto, Katara. Your mom might be gone, but your love will always remain.

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The Boy in the Iceberg

Awwwwwwww it's so cute to see them in together as they would be in episode 1. The ages I've drawn them at is really... vague. Hopefully they look like teens? But a lot of the pose reference I could find was of adults so I was editing stances based on vibes a lot of the time.

(Reoccurring disclaimer for this art series: This is for fun, they are inspired by the show's costume designs and then extrapolated out with historical fashion or things I think will be fun to draw. These are not meant to be accurate, only inspired. I hope you like them!)

I am the artist! Do not post without permission & credit! Thank you! Come visit me over on: instagram, tiktok or check out my coloring book available now \ („• ֊ •„) /

https://linktr.ee/ellen.artistic

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How do people manage to mangle their canon relationship as badly as the quoted op? That takes real effort to completely misread and misrepresent the two most central characters in the entire franchise to that extent. Is that really what getting overly fixated on a fanon ship does to people - removes any ability for actual, honest literary analysis?

I came across a screenshot of a certian anti kataang post, and even though it's been done before, I wanted to give my two cents.

‼️ DO NOT HARASS OP IF YOU FIND THE POST. DON'T GO AFTER THEM, DON'T INSULT OR BERATE THEM, DON'T ACT CONDESCENDING, NONE OF THAT SHIT.

The fact that Aang didn't call Katara Sifu is a bit concerning on the surface, but the reason to why is quite wholesome when you think about it. When Katara started teaching Aang, it was after a whole season of them bonding as friends. He didn't see her as just his sifu, he saw her as his friend. Not because he doesn't acknowledge her abilities, (he clearly does: "I'm lucky enough to have a great teacher". "Go Katara"!), but because she's so much more than a Sifu.

Meanwhile, he hasn't spent nearly as much time with Toph. She originally joined the Gaang on episode 06×02. Episode 7 is solely about Zuko and episode 8 focuses more on Katara and Toph's dynamic, with Aang only coming in to defend Appa. He calls her Sifu in episode 9. Obviously he was bonded to her, he helped her, they had a connection, but one episode ago, he referred to her as his earthbending teacher after insulting her.

In the direct aftermath, he was hardly concerned about hurting her feelings. Back then, he simply didn't view her the same way he views Katara. Therefore, the label "Sifu" came naturally with one but not the other.

In the screenshot of the original post, this is the only direct evidence presented to support op's idea. However, there's another flaw in their argument despite the lack of examples I have access to. I urge you to read one sentence again:

Meanwhile, in canon, the focus of Aang's crush is how pretty Katara is and how she takes care of him.

The only times Aang and Katara's connection is framed in a romantic light are mostly when he thinks she's pretty or when the feeling appears to be mutual (The Headbend & The Cave of Two Lovers). We can safely assume that how Katara looks out for him is a factor, but it's never directly shown romantically.

They're friends first and foremost, so most of their interactions are presented that way. Yes, one can easily infer that Aang loves Katara because of how she cares for him as well. However, if you do take those interactions into account, then you mustn't ignore the many other qualities he is shown to appreciate.

He doesn't appreciate her fierceness,

or even how good at waterbending she is.

So there you have it. Aang loves Katara for who she is inside. While he does appreciate her appearance, he also appreciates her skills and her strong sense of justice.

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commission for @mai-fruit-tarts

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Kataang week 2024 day 3. Parenthood. A little continuation of a previous entry.

Yes. I am still drawing kataang week 2024 stuff in 2025 cause my motivation/energy has no concept of time 😅✌️✨️

(I only have one more wip, and we're done)

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Aang in College background🧡

I think he must be a Very popular student！/(＞人＜;)

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A good Kataang drawing to welcome myself back to tumblr ✨🥰