#Shipping Wars

[kyasarinkishinuma]

How the fandom feels ever since Rebirth dropped

[shikoslady]

woke up to mean comments on a chaggie meme i posted on another media site. so again ...

Ship and let ship!! I will die on this hill!

[wickjump]

those in the utmv fandom, especially on amino, prior to let’s say 2019, what side were you on:

(i was on the side of crossmare where cross said senpai left and right btw… it was a curse)

[nartml]

Nah, you know what makes my blood boil?

Seeing characters degraded, vilified, and desecrated in the name of ship wars.

No, Aang did not strip Katara of her agency nor did he only accept the "digestible" parts of her, leave my baby alone.

No, Zuko isn't just a selfish colonizer, bro did not have one of the greatest arcs of all time for you to reduce him to that.

No, Katara wasn't just a mother to everyone, for fuck's sake, did we watch the same show?

I can go on and on and fucking on, but all I'm gonna say is I'm fucking tired of y'all's shipping discourse.

It was never that serious, it will never be that serious.

I think that both Zutara and Kataang are great ships in their own right, with their respective pros and cons. I also think it comes down to personal taste.

Of course, people can have differing opinions on characters, regardless of the inclusion of ships or not. But at the very least, stick to your own.

Ship and let ship. Remember when this was fun?

Don't invade spaces that aren't yours to start trouble, and stay appropriate with the tags. Fandom etiquette, it's pretty neat.

Y'all suck the joy out of everything.

[littleblackraincloudofcourse]

Probably about to piss someone off but. . .

I pointed this out to a friend recently while trying to get them hooked on One Piece, then I thought given what's happening in several other fandoms right now, it's worth sharing it with everyone I can.

One Piece has been running since the 90's and has fans that have been there since the beginning. Since the live action last year, there has been a surge of new fans, myself included, who knew next to nothing coming in.

Some of us have chosen to go back to the beginning and read or watch everything while others are only watching the new series.

There are also numerous "conflicting" ships that some are diehards for. There are fem and trans variants of many of those characters and ships (mostly many fan created) as well.

The one thing I've seen almost nothing of is wars between fans about any of this. Older fans have been willing to answer questions and help new fans find info about backstories and lore without judging them for not going back and finding it themselves. I've never seen (for example) Zosan fans telling Zolu fans they can't ship them for any reason. Canon, crack ships, rare pairs, none of it matters. We're just having fun.

One Piece is one of (if not the most) well loved anime and manga series in existence and I've seen less drama from them than in fandoms of some one season series.

So to all the One Piece fans, thank you for being kind and welcoming!

And to everyone else that bothered to read all this, what are we doing?

[chompisatheatrekid]

sorry starkid moots this ones for my other fandom

bla bla rb for biger sample size

[haley-harrison]

tbh the main cause of shipping wars is that jackles is too good at his job. Man has convincing chemistry with most of his coworkers, so depending on which scenes you focus on, you can gather a convincing argument for your ship of choice.

like if you look just at the first three seasons, j2 have such insane chemistry you have to be blind not to notice. (case in point, even my mother, who is otherwise a normal 62-y-o was like 'well that's not a normal brother relationship'). add the lack of significant alternative options, and it's clear why the early days had so many wincest shippers. Like, duh. You see two hot guys who look at each other with adoration (and lip-licking), brain's gonna ship. Fiction isn't reality anyway.

However, then comes s4. Now, I think Misha is awesome and funny and great, and obviously he and Jensen hit it off. Enough that it shows on screen. That said, the script was still written as Kripke intended, which is that Sam and Dean are obsessed with each other.

Because it's a fact, that Kripke read Siken's Crush, and also On the Road, and wrote Sam and Dean very much under that influence. And if you read either of those, you know they're about gay lovers.

So. There's a conflict between the script (which is samdean coded), and the acting (where jenmish actually gets more and more intense with time).

And the thing is, both sides of the fandom have solid 'evidence' on why their ship is (practically) canon. And it sucks to see people actually fight and insult each other.

I am a multishipper: I have an OTP but I see the appeal of other pairings and occasionally read those too. And I wish we could all see that plurality of opinions is good. Fiction is meant to be discussed, there isn't one correct answer.

At the end of the day, we're here to have fun with this trash show (affectionate), so maybe let's do that without judging?

[queerlyvictorian]

I reblogged about this on another person's post, but it's too important to me to not have my own post about it.

I'm hearing that some people might be coming for Crystal Palace of Dead Boy Detectives for "getting in the way" of Charles x Edwin, i.e. Payneland.

Let's be clear. I adore angsty friends to lovers as much the next hopelessly romantic queer (sort of) guy. But what we're not going to do is become yet another fandom that denigrates a female character because we see her as an obstacle to a mlm ship. It honestly kind of triggers me, and it can never not feel at least a little biphobic to me. I am sure that is not the intention of the vast majority of people with this take, but that's just what my past experience in the numerous fandoms that have done this makes me jump to first.

I want us to think about this. If Charles is currently or eventually in love with Edwin back, he will be confired bisexual, or some other non-monosexual identity, or just fucking queer and vibing. And that means his attraction and feelings for Crystal, and their ship, should be respected as a part of his story and the story of the show. Let a girl live. Don't erase Charles's attraction to women, and leave space for non-monosexual identities. Let's all be mature queers about this, and breaking the fucking cycle.

We're not about to tear a bestie down just so our male leads can kiss. We're better than that. I hope we can be better than that.

[bridgerteon]

Everywhere I see, there's always a ship pairing battle between Kataang vs Zutara vs Zukka. But what I have seen so far in both Tumblr and Twitter (or X 😒):

Kataang (Katara/Aang) shippers are the worst bullies you would ever see. With their childish excuses and constant harassment. There's even worse things from them that could be triggering for some people. I understand it's canon (I know man, it's everywhere 🙄), but don't boast it. On this day and age, the tropes for Kataang would be unacceptable, for example, lack of consent or lack of meaningful conversations between two people (both from Aang, sorry kid). In contrast, I like their artworks; it's fun and cheerful. In the past, I had seen Kataang shippers who were neutral to other ships, but that's rare these days.

Zutara (Katara/Zuko) shippers are humble or passionate (depends on the person), supportive and have the best resilience than all the ships. I've seen some people writing University-style essays about why Zutara is better, with actual evidence and quotes from the show, that would make literature professors proud. Also, I love witnessing how they defend or provide comfort whenever someone is bullied or harassed. Additionally, they create beautiful artworks. Unfortunately, I hear a few Zutara shippers bullying others, but I've not witnessed it so far. I would be disappointed and angry if I do see it.

Zukka (Sokka/Zuko) shippers are chill. I love their quiet emergence and possibly overtaking both ships, like a renaissance. They don't argue or bully, rather just stand back as wallflowers; I would like to be with them in that situation as well. Besides, Zukka is Zutara, but with more man-to-man tropes. I like their artworks - it's comedic like a rom-com style and it does make me chuckle - and their neutrality to anything. Fortunately no homophobic comments from other ships against them, but I'll be very pissed if someone would do that.

[I acknowledge there's also Taang (Toph/Aang), Sukka (Suki/Sokka) and Jinko (Jin/Zuko), but I always see positive contributions to all of them, with no negativity. So I don't mention them. There's also Maiko (Mai/Zuko)... but that's another story to tell.]

But come on, let people enjoy their favourite ships or even just the show! I'm not against any ship pairing as everyone has their own favourite thing and all of us are unique. I've seen way worse in Bridgerton shipping wars between Kanthony (Kate/Anthony) and Polin (Penelope/Colin) on Twitter, but I like both ships!

[iamonlyhereforthefood]

Is anybody else tired of how much of the conversation in this fandom is dedicated to shipping the main character? Especially since none of her love interests was anywhere close to being good for her?

[shikoslady]

Why do you ship?

I've been wondering, why fans ship certain characters together? And then it came to me while I was writing my own fic. I wrote a Niffty origin fic that featured domestic abuse and implied sexual abuse. It felt therapeutic to write it as I went through similar situations in my own life. And apparently it did the same for other fans. Some of the comments I received where about how pleased they were to see an abuser get what he deserved.

Which led me to think about the taboo ships in the fandom. What if the reason why fans gravitate towards those ships is because of their own trauma? They use the ship to either heal from their own experiences or flock to it because it's what they know. Despite how some of us may feel about these ships, it's not fair to the fans who do like the ships to receive hate.

SHIP AND LET SHIP I always say. These are fictional characters. no one is hurting anyone writing/drawing them how they see them. It doesn't change the canon story Vivziepop has planned. And if you don't like it, just scroll past. It's that easy.

It takes more effort to type out a nasty comment then to just ignore. Remember fans, we have no idea what these fans have experienced and why they ship what they ship. We can just be nice and not say anything at all if it's not what we ship.

[junkopottershima]

An Early 2000's Child's Observation on Zutara Shipping War.

I awoke from my slumber upon discovering the Avatar fanbase, and the absolute shipping war that I never really gave a shit about until now. Zutara is a relatively new ship to me, as is any other ship that isn’t canon, so I’m gonna run through the list of anti-zutara arguments that I’ve found, and list out my takes on them. I’m doing this, because although I see lots of love for Zutara, there’s some aspects about Katara and Zuko’s relationship in the show that makes me question how well their “chemistry” would actually work. For that, I’m genuinely curious and even politely asking “Zutarians” to please step up and respond with their takes on arguments against Zutara. Though, I should mention that there's going to be some anti-zutara takes that I don't agree with. I'll just be getting them off my chest. Welp, here we go now:

"Zutara can't work because it's Oppressor x Oppressed".

I've seen people saying this, and then saying that you can only "truly" agree/disagree with this point if you're an oppressed ethnicity, class, or whatever. Well, I guess as an African American woman, I honestly think the argument that "Zuko and Katara absolutely cannot work out because he's the colonizer and she's the victim" is rather dumb and blatantly ignores the fact that Zuko was trying to change his ways. Like, that argument is so stupid to me, it's almost offensive. We see Zuko change and try to keep changing his perspective on other nations and foreigners, and the step he takes to do that is by standing up to his father on the day of the eclipse and declaring his new mission to find and help Aang and his friends stop the war. Ozai wasted no time trying to do what he wanted since day 1 of Zuko's life, which was to end him. Zuko put his life on the line to change his ways. If we're going by the logic that Zuko can't be healthy for Katara because he's an oppressor...what the fuck was the point of him trying to gain their trust and trying to help Aang take down his father...if he's an oppressor? If we're going off the logic that Katara should not trust Zuko because he (more like his father and father's army) is an oppressor, shouldn't that apply to the rest of the Gaang as well by the fact that each of their nations and cultures were/are threatened by the Fire Nation? Going off of that logic, it becomes easy to say that Zuko should have never gotten a chance to even be friends with Aang, Sokka, Katara, Toph, and Suki just because his family consists of war-mongering assholes, but why would anyone say that when it's shown that Zuko is actively trying to change his ways at that point? Also, if we're go there (the colonizer stuff), it's almost like saying white people should never be dating any nonwhite solely because many whites in positions of power abuse it to subjugate nonwhites. It blatantly ignores the real-life contexts and instances where individual whites mean no harm and are able to get along with other races. It blatantly ignores the instances of whites being able to find genuine love with people from other races, even in hard times like the Civil Rights Era and various wars. We can see that it's fucked up to generalize...so why do we gotta do that with Zuko? Keep in mind, I'm talking about the point where Zuko is officially redeeming himself.

"It would make no sense for Katara and Zuko to end up together at the end--They only had limited time together".

Now this, I definitely agree with. I understand that Zutarians loved the hell out of Zutara and rooted for them to be together at the series finale, but the in-lore time and development Katara had with Aang, and Zuko with Mai is objectively more grounded and overwhelming than all the "evidence" that Zuko would have had a great romance with Katara. Even with Zuko having redeemed a lot about himself in his arc at season 3 and AFTER Katara learns to trust him, there's literally no time for them to develop any romantic feelings or a relationship because Sozin's Comet was just like several days away at that point. Even in the catacombs of Ba Sing Se, Katara's moment with offering to heal Zuko's scar and to really establish a bond was interrupted by Aang and Iroh before she could waste her spirit water on him--THEY HAD NO TIME. Meanwhile, Mai and Zuko were childhood friends, and knew each other for basically their whole lives. Plus, they were dating throughout the series. In practicality, isn't it going to be Mai that would make the most sense as a love interest due to the fact that of all candidates, Mai understands Zuko the most? Isn't it Mai that Zuko has took the time to write a letter for in the prison, smile and laugh for? With Mai, we see Zuko at his most happy. Point is, Mai is objectively a very important love interest to Zuko, so even though they broke up several times before, I don't think Zuko is the type to just throw his tears away and immediately move on. I mean seriously, Jin was more like a rebound fling and Zuko didn't even blink when he dipped back to the Fire Nation. And I don't think I need to pull up the entire show just to list examples of Aang and Katara having each other's backs and developing an unbreakable bond. Zuko and Katara didn't have the time to develop romantic feeling for each other at their best and even if they had an infatuation for one another, wouldn't Zuko's bond and romantic feelings for Mai predictably just bubble to the surface again? I mean Zuko lost no sleep when he basically ditched Jin and went straight back to Mai. No offense to anyone who loves Jin/Zuko, I'm just telling it as it is.

"Zuko does not consistently consider Katara's feelings".

Again, this is true. After returning to the Fire Nation, Zuko isn't shown to be shaken by his betrayal to Katara. He's just not thinking about her during his time back home. But what I definitely want to talk about is the part where he joins the Gaang, and Katara is vocally distrustful of him. This is the aspect of Zuko and Katara's relationship that has always stopped me from actually shipping them together. Katara is vocal, again and again, that she doesn't trust Zuko because of his history with basically being a serious asshole bounty hunter for the avatar, because of him betraying her trust back in Ba Sing Se, and the fact that she personally blamed Zuko for her mother's death due to associating him with Fire Nation scum. Now while Katara is clearly bothered by his presence in the Gaang, Zuko literally didn't care and was on-board to keep on trucking. It's only after it gets too annoying does Zuko now care about Katara's feelings, and what does he lead with? "This is so unfair!". Upon confronting Katara about her feelings, Zuko immediately declaring that Katara was being unfair just reveals that Zuko was thinking more about himself in this moment. That Zuko didn't do anything wrong, that Zuko must not have done anything wrong because Zuko does not even remember what he did to piss off Katara. Katara is the one that has to check him by explaining why she doesn't like him: his betrayal, her perception of his affiliation with the Fire Nation, and PROBABLY the fact that he sent 'sparky sparky boom boom' man after Aang. Right after that, Zuko goes to see Sokka about he and Katara's mother, and while that's very considerate of Zuko...it shows that he's kind of ignorant about properly apologizing for his wrongs. He skipped doing any apology for what happened in Ba Sing Se, and went straight to "Okay, what's the deal with her mom?". It's nice that Zuko gave Katara the option to do a Quentin Tarantino mission on the dude that murked her mom, but the fact that Zuko put Katara's vocal disapproval and Ba Sing Se event kind of on the back burner of his concerns isn't quite a good look. It shows that Zuko, although in redemption, still possessed from listening problems.

Also, when searching for different takes on Zutara, I found a post by a particular user that I don't remember. But basically, in critiquing Zutara the user mentioned Katara threatening Zuko that she would "end his destiny personally" was 'abuse'. I believe this user is called, 'erin-the-brave'. Well in my opinion, that just wasn't an intelligent perspective on Katara's dialogue. In Katara's perspective, Zuko has been chasing her, Sokka, and Aang across the world to capture him, which to her would mean the doom for the world. Zuko taunts Katara about her mother's necklace, using it to try bringing her into giving up Aang. Zuko is randomly living in Ba Sing Se, and right after she has a short bonding moment with him, he immediately choses to help Azula kill Aang. Zuko then sends an assassin after Aang, in which that assassin locks Katara and Toph up in a jail cell as bait. I get that Zuko helped free her dad and Suki from prison, but goddamn, how the fuck else do you expect Katara to react to Zuko's sudden redemption? Even if he IS trying? Katara isn't a fucking mind reader. Like how did you genuinely expect her to react? "Oh you poor thing! Let me welcome you with wide open arms so I can kiss your ass and wipe it with a sample of spirit water"???

"Oh Katara's being abusive to Zuko because she was telling him that she'll end his life if he hurts Aang again, even though Zuko HAS repeatedly tested everybody in the Gaang". Could it serve as an argument that Katara wasn't given much time to learn with, and trust Zuko in order for a romantic relationship to work? I think so. But would I say Katara's reaction to Zuko's second redemption is 'abuse'? No. I think it would be overreacting to even call that verbal abuse, because in Katara's shoes, who wouldn't be wary of Zuko?

"Zuko was pushing Katara to be a murderer in The Southern Raiders, he was bringing out the worst in her".

I actually disagree with this. Zuko merely told Katara that he knows the guy who killed her mother, and that would help her find him. If I recall correctly, he didn't push or pressure her into actually killing him. He merely offered her a journey to find the fucker who took her mother's life. Katara contemplating murder, going on the trip, and even blood bending during the mission was 100% her own choice. The fact that Katara almost instantly chose this journey with Zuko seems to imply that this was something she always wanted to do, but just never got the chance for: confronting her mother's killer. Even after Katara chose not to kill the guy, Zuko didn't hold her choice against her. He doesn't belittle her, nor did he ever pressure her to twist Yon Rha to death like a pretzel. Zuko actually tells Katara that her ability to be better than Yon Rha was a person strength, and Zuko even seems proud of her in that moment. He gave Katara the chance for closure, she took it, she tackled the confrontation in her own way as Zuko let her have her spotlight, and they walked away with him being proud of her.

"Zutara would be better if you just replaced Zuko with Azula in the ship".

This is a joke, right? Because the only way this could get funnier is if you threw in Ozai.

"a fic which does 'ATLA’s plot goes almost exactly as canon, except my favorite ship happens' is not clever or innovative".

....it's fanfiction with endless creativity, writing styles, and brains behind it. Rewriting the show's beginning, midsection, endgame, or all of the above is objectively creative and at least a little innovative. Fanfiction absolutely can be creative and innovative, you don't have to lie just because you don't like a ship, my brother.

"Katara offering to heal Zuko's scar is actually evidence that she does NOT fully understand Zuko"

I've seen this take and I think it's one of the best arguments against Zutara, to be honest. A user named 'Maikingsenseofit' explained it so well, I'm just gonna copy and paste it:

"Upon seeing his scar, her immediate thought is to use spirit water to heal it. While this is an outstanding demonstration of kindness for someone she is not obliged to show it to, let’s remember that right before this Zuko says:

“It's okay. I used to think this scar marked me. The mark of the banished prince, cursed to chase the Avatar forever. But lately... I've realized that I'm free to determine my own destiny, even if I'll never be free of my mark.”

This. Right here. It is so important to understand. Zuko’s scar is so much more than a scar. It represents his trauma from his father, the trials and tribulations he faced to earn Ozai’s approval, and is a further reminder that he is the black sheep of the family both figuratively (a son who could never live up to his title, who could never bend like he was supposed to) and literally (the only member of a pristine royal family with an ugly brand on his face).

But his journey with Uncle Iroh in Ba Sing Se allows him to come to terms this trauma, or moreover this scar. It’s a reminder that we cannot escape our past or try to stifle it. We must embrace it and learn to accept it. It is only then that we are fully liberated from the shackles of our trauma and can fully determine our paths forward.

Katara’s offer to get rid of Zuko’s scar represents a regression of Zuko’s hard earned realization. He had just come to terms with his troubled past and accepts the ephemeral mark on his face. He even wears it with pride. He doesn’t try to hide his past or stifle his trauma, not anymore. It is an integral part of who he is. It is what makes Zuko, Zuko.He vocalizes this to Katara immediately before this. Katara however, fails to understand the significance and the journey behind this mark, largely in part because she wasn’t there to witness it. Her attempt to heal his scar falls flat in several ways, but one main reason is because just because something is healed physically, doesn’t mean it’s healed emotionally. But it’s important to consider something else here: Zuko never explicitly asks Katara or verbalizes a desire to get rid of his scar. Based on the earlier conversation, he’s finally gotten around to embracing it and welcoming the significance behind it. What Katara offers is in stark contrast to what he said. He allows her to touch his scar, but it is evident that she would never heal it. Why?

From Belen Edwards, despite the traumatic memories associated with his scar, Zuko never seems particularly ashamed of it. Throughout season 1, his hairstyle ensures that it's completely exposed, showing his identity to the world. In the second season, Zuko tells Katara that he's beginning to accept that he won't be rid of the scar.

And yet despite hearing the last part, Katara still offers a solution to Zuko to get rid of it.

This is where we see that the so called deep understanding and caring that Zuko and Katara held for each other is beginning to crack. Where is Katara’s deep and profound, soul-ular (get it, like cellular?) understanding of Zuko that no one else, other than Iroh, had of him? It begs us to ask if Iroh was in that room, given the journey he embarked on with his nephew both physically and emotionally, would he have encouraged Katara to get rid of this mark? The answer is obviously no. If there is a deep vulnerability and intimacy that they share with each other, and no one else, it does seem pointless given on both ends neither understands the full depth of the other’s situation. This is exemplified by Zuko immediately forgetting his entire interaction with Katara (but not His interaction with Aang interestingly) afterwards and still failing to understand why Katara was mad at him, even AFTER she explicitly tells him. And this is exemplified by Katara not fully acknowledging and understanding Zuko’s acceptance of his scar and offering a surface level solution that will never address the emotional significance and tribulations that come with it. Nothing against either of the characters by the way, and I need to emphasize that in bold font. I am simply observing their interactions and dispelling these “Word of God”-like claims.

Consider Zuko’s interactions with Mai. When he first sees her after years of banishment she gently his scar and touches in it not in an attempt to get rid of it, but because it is a part of Zuko. And when it comes to kissing Zuko, it means touching his scar, touching him in his entirety- including his physical and emotional marks. There’s a deliberate reason why the storyboard artists included Zuko’s scar in the scene. Because she’s known Zuko her whole life and was there when he first received it. Zuko and his scar are not two separate entities for her. They are one and the same"

End dialogue.

What should be mentioned is that Zutarians do like to say that "Katara is the first person to ever touch his scar"...which to be honest, I just don't believe. I just don't believe that Katara got to touch his scar before Iroh or Mai ever did, because it would insinuate that Iroh and Mai have never caressed the side of Zuko's face to comfort him, and after all those years of being close with them. Then there's the claim that Katara is the only person Zuko opens up to in the Gaang, even though he talked about some of his feelings to Toph, talked about some of his feelings to Sokka, and talked about some of his feelings to Aang. When Zuko snatched Aang and hustled themselves into a cave in the middle of blizzard nowhere, Zuko opens up about his rough childhood to Aang. Yes, Aang wasn't conscious to listen, but Zuko DID talk to him. Perhaps Katara is the first member of the Gaang that Zuko opened up to (the "mom talk" in Ba Sing Se) without the other person being too out-of-conscious to listen, but she's definitely not the only one that Zuko opened up to. She's technically not the first person to give Zuko a chance, but Aang was the one who did it right after he was freed by Zuko (who was disguised as the Blue Spirit).

"Toko = Zutara = Zukka = just about any fan pairing/OT100 involving Zuko".

I don't entirely agree with this. For context, a user by the name of 'atla-recluse' posted this in regard to Zuko shipping:

"Toph, who actually wanted to go on one just to hang out with him. Toph, who tried to speak to him about her personal struggles (as they walked together in search of Aang). The sort of thing an actually compassionate and reflective boy would have at least tried to sympathize with, even if only briefly. Instead, he immediately shuts her down. Seems he didn’t have a second to waste on some dumb little girl, right? This same girl who would later on take moments out of her time to sit down with him and comfort him (The Ember Island Players). Someone’s always there when he wants support. An emotionally volatile 12 - 13 year-old comforting an even more emotionally volatile 16 - 17 year-old. Not a good look. And yet…Toko = Zutara = Zukka = just about any fan pairing/OT100 involving Zuko. And the reasons why they’re shipped always seem to be the same, save one little difference here and there. It’s always about pleasing Zuko and his you-know-what. Pardon the innuendo and my mood."

I agree that Zuko was kind of a jerk to Toph with how he dismissed her, even though he dumped his emotions out and let her give some reassurance. Zuko went on a journey to free Hadoka from prison with Sokka, and Zuko went on a journey to give Katara closure for the fucker that murdered her mother. Although Zuko has streaks of selfishness in his good deeds, it should still be noted that he does care enough about Sokka and Katara to help them in regard to their families. Meanwhile, Zuko factually never even said Toph's name during the entire show's runtime. I'm not saying that Zutara is a perfect ship, but I am saying that it IS different than Toko.

The Final Point to mention: They just ain't into each other".

And although I like checking out Zutara fics and seeing what creative combinations the Zutarans had to bring for over ten years, I still don't truly ship Katara and Zuko because they're just not into each other. Look at the Ember Island play scene that depicted Katara and Zuko being secret lovers in an affair. They literally cringed away from each other. They didn't blush or smile, they CRINGED.

So far, those are my takes on this apparent "war" with the Zutara shipping. So here's where I casually call up hardcore Zutarans to ask a genuine and polite question: what is your response to these arguments against Zutara? Will you still ship them after these arguments? I would really like to know your perspectives, and to see if my mind can change. I don't hate Zutara, though I'm not sure if I ship Zuko and Katara either. Again, that's my actual take, and I would super like to read what Zutarans would like to say about all this.

[tawney]

There's gotta be something scientifically deeper with whatever the hell is going on in bakudeku hate.

People who love toxic romance tropes, who ship characters that literally kill/try to kill each other, absolutely strangle at this ship when Katsuki was being abusive back when he was 14 and has been through active soul-crushing development ever since then (if you don't like toxic tropes that's okay, but these people are just being hypocrites. Plus, considering current manga events, i dont even think bkdk counts as a toxic trope anymore).

And not just on his side, Izuku learned to focus on himself and become more confident after the abuse he endured in middle school. They are currently Horikoshi's main and only focuses, he's putting all of the plot attention on these two. These are basic things you'll understand if you go through the manga or even if you're just observing the plot in fractions.

So I'm being completely serious; there must be some sort of psychological influence going on here with how absolutely despised Bakudeku is despite just being another funky mlm anime ship if you look at the surface. And I don't think it's about the shippers, because a big portion of the hate is completely towards the ship. Like it’s a red cape and these people are bulls.

I cannot speak on how toxic bkdk shippers were before 2020 because I wasn't there, but from my current experience bkdk's are the ones dealing with the toxicity being thrown AT them more than being toxic themselves. It takes one bkdk being toxic and bad for all of the normal ones to get hounded, but it's completely okay to send violence and death threats over this fictional ship?

I wish I only enjoyed rarepairs, they never have this kind of drama.

[vaguelyaperson]

there are two ways a fandom responds to conflicting headcanons

[hazbinbossbrainrot]

Dustmoth / Radiohusk fans: Eww! You like Huskerdust/Stolitz? That’s so toxic! Don’t you know that’s Stockholm Syndrome?

Stolitz / Huskerdust fans:

[kinardsevan]

please tell me I'm not the only one who saw the post commenting that it's bucktommy fans (and bucktommy fans ONLY) dismissing Eddie's trauma.....when I've quite literally NEVER seen a post such as the kind its suggesting on my dash? (I won't say they don't exist because I can't see the entire internet, but .... seriously?) I have a serious problem with trauma olympics. But please, you whose using the anti bucktommy tag in your hashtags, consider who you're referring to before you say that it's the "bummy" fans shooting down Eddie's trauma, or that Eddie doesn't also deserve recognition.

I'm genuinely baffled by the amount of people seriously don't understand basic psychology and trauma counseling in this fandom, especially for a show that discusses it quite a bit.