#and saying that zuko has to be in love with katara perpetuates the idea that romantic love is the only kind of strong love out there

[whineandcheese24]

I think one of the reasons I dislike zutara as a ship so much is because their friendship is so beautiful on its own without romance and such a huge sign of growth and character development. zuko and katara were one of the first m/f relationships I saw in media where the characters weren’t related or love interests. and while there are several other m/f friendships katara was my favorite character when I first saw the show and as such their friendship was (and still is) very dear to me. 

also, I know everyone loves a good enemies-to-lovers, and I do too, but y’all are sleeping on the criminally underused trope of enemies-to-friends. in almost every enemies-to-lovers story I’ve read the reason that they get from enemies to lovers is because of some undeniable and immutable attraction. but what if we didn’t have that? what if you didn’t haunt my dreams at night? what if it wasn’t a struggle to pull my eyes away from you? what if I had every reason to hate you and all you had to give me was a late apology and a promise to do better? what if forgiving you was a choice I didn’t have to make? then what? I’d have to know you on purpose. you’d have to trust me when I forgive you because I’ve thought of every reason not to. 

and I hear some of you saying “oh but that could be a great enemies-to-lovers story too” and maybe it could, but you’re missing the point. the reason zuko and katara hits so hard for me is because they didn’t have to be friends. they both had other friends and other family and they both would have had happy and full lives. but they got past it anyways. and it didn’t have anything to do with romance or love. it was purely growth and self-improvement. zuko didn’t apologize because of a crush on a cute girl, he apologized because he regretted what he did and was maturing into a better and kinder and more thoughtful person. katara didn’t forgive him because he was hot, she forgave him because she understood that her anger and hate was poisoning her and she wanted to move on. 

tl;dr: the beauty of zutara’s friendship is that they became friends because of growth and maturity that had nothing to do with romance and throwing in that they were attracted to or in love with each other cheapens the significance of their character development and shows that romantic love is the only way to overcome personal challenges.

[kitttttchaos]

My thoughts on Ursa from Avatar the Last Airbender

In terms of how she’s written in the comics, Ursa is very very human. She regrets leaving her kids, regrets saying what she said to Ozai to make him treat Zuko so horribly. She makes mistakes, and then she learns from them, in parenting her other kid whose name is very close to Katara’s mother’s name so I forgot what it was. But there’s one mistake she made that she doesn’t seem to regret, or even notice. I don’t think Ursa played favorites, because she did try to parent Azula, but it stopped there. Whenever Zuko was upset, Ursa would help him, but she never tried to understand WHY Azula was so mean. She never considered that maybe Azula had been brought up in an environment where her emotions were considered weaknesses, where she was never going to be enough because she could never rule. There is nothing that Ursa has in common with Azula’s thinking, but as a mother, she should’ve tried to talk to Azula the way she talked to Zuko, instead of dismissing her as a monster. Maybe then Azula could’ve learned that she wasn’t loved conditionally, but Ursa telling Zuko how amazing he is and never asking Azula why she did the things she did and how she felt only perpetuated the idea that Azula wasn’t enough. Yeah, I don’t love Ursa.

[the-genius-az]

It's all sad. Everyone Azula loved unconditionally left her, and everyone that loved her unconditionally betrayed her. My dragon cub with a tragic life.

Azula has "invisible" consequences, as in not branded on her face (but in the end, both end up punished for loving their father, their nation, for wanting the best for their people – of course, the best in the context of war).

According to my research, I have the maturity of a 17 year-old, but thank you!

Having Azula's loyalty should be the source of competition, because once she's loyal to you? You're one of the luckiest people in the world.

I'm adding that to the list (I already have Mai deciding to bring their pup to meet Azula).

It's all quite overwhelming, the whole Gaang helps (and even Zuko, with all his flaws, is actually quite helpful). It's Katara that manages to fight for Azula's right to at least know she does have a cub (Azula has a feeling that there's something missing, but she thinks it's her broken mind, her broken self, just making everything worse).

When the cub is born and everything, Azula is so deep in her state of distress and of delusion (she keeps hallucinating Ursa all the time, to the point it becomes comfortable) that if Mai comes around, Azula wouldn't believe it's her. It's a genuine danger to Mai, the cub and Azula to try anything.

There are a couple of happy AU ideas, but y'know, I'm the perpetually sad guy.

- Ash 🔥��

My dragon cub with a tragic life.

Oh...do you feel sad, Ash? You didn't know you could feel that. 😃

Azula has "invisible" consequences, as in not branded on her face.

Yes, that's why a lot of people say that Azula was never a victim, she is!

According to my research, I have the maturity of a 17 year-old, but thank you!

Wait..Me too! what a coincidence!

Having Azula's loyalty should be the source of competition, because once she's loyal to you? You're one of the luckiest people in the world.

Definitely!

I'm adding that to the list (I already have Mai deciding to bring their pup to meet Azula).

I hope it's nice and soft, Ash! I WILL NOT ACCEPT SADNESS AND DISTRESS.... Okay, a little bit of tears on Azula's part, but that's all!

It's Katara that manages to fight for Azula's right to at least know she does have a cub.

I already see Katara advocating with everyone for Azula to see her cub.

Azula has a feeling that there's something missing, but she thinks it's her broken mind, her broken self, just making everything worse.

I love how he simply knows that something, or someone, is missing.

There are a couple of happy AU ideas, but y'know, I'm the perpetually sad guy.

Go to therapy Ash, you're ruining my life with sadness.

[kizzyking]

I've been forcing myself to read a terrible book, with the help of a friend, because I spent to much on it not to read it. I've been reading it aloud to my friend and we've been discussing all of the things we hate about it, one of which is that the author named a group of people 'shamanfolk' and their magic users 'shaman' then made them violent extremist outsiders experiencing genocide. I need to share a conversation we just had about it. The conversation turned to Avatar the last Airbender because the book was advertised as "a fantasy book for people who like zuko/katara vibes, written in a brandonesque way"

Here is the Convo;

(me) I found good words for why the use of 'shaman' in this book upsets me, beyond the way it uses an existing word with cultural ties extremely inappropriately

(me) This part of a post is from Tumblr explains it; If you want to make a metaphor for racism, you have to remember that racism is literally based on nothing. Africans weren’t enslaved en masse because the Robo-Musa threatened to destroy the world, they were enslaved because it was economically rewarding and politically convenient. If at any point your allegory for racism includes “so <oppressed group> did this major catastrophe and” then you have not only missed the point but you are literally reinforcing the ideas that racism have let racism self-perpetuate (that e.g. black people are naturally dangerous and violent and must be contained or begrudgingly accepted by the Nice White People)

(Friend) But its not even used only as an insult Its literally the only word used for them

(me) I might have phrased poorly, I mean that I felt my issue with using shaman to label a group of people went beyond just the insensitivity of using a real word that isn't his and using it incorrectly. I've now realized that it made it hard for me to get distracted from the racist undertones through the book

(Friend) Ah yes I understand, Its the white "romanticism" of it

(me) Yeah exactly, leaning way to heavy on the perspective some people have of zuko being kataras oppressor

In my opinion

I don't think he has the skills to back up what he's planning, like having an engaging romance and working to improve the society

(Friend) Kataras "oppressors" is the entire watertribe as a whole. What do they mean its Zuko?

(me) Do you mean fire nation? And the men in their society in general perpetuating misogyny but the ones actually killing them are zukos people. But not zuko himself!(unlike migo) the main pushback I see against zutara online is from people of color who feel that katara would never fall for a fire kingdom prince of she respects herself and that anyone who thinks she would has drank too much white savior koolaid

(Friend) Did you forget how sexist Soka was in the beginning? He didn't think Katara could do anything or be a good bender because she was a girl. And did you forget how when they went to the Northern Watertribe, she was completely barred from learning fighting?

(me) You're right that there are many forms of oppression throughout the show, from all sides really. I just meant to clarify that 'opressor' is referring to the fire nation specifically within the specific complaints people make against zutara.

(me) Also I'd say personally, I believe that word refers to the ruling class subjugating a people, not every ism within intersectional bias

(Friend) I honestly don't have the energy to debate over a kids show

That's where the conversation ended but I am still very frustrated by it the next day and if anyone has an opinion I'd love to hear it. I felt like my friend riled me up and then cut it off when I didn't agree with them and left me with so many questions

[my-bated-breath]

gosh, i hope this is not another post about tsr

rewatching the southern raiders and aang saying “i understand that this is a journey you have to take for your own closure, katara” right before she’s about to leave is the most frustrating whiplash ever because! just a few hours ago you weren’t even taking her need to process her emotions and her agency seriously and! just a second ago you were pulling some BS about “i forgive you for taking appa... that give you any ideas??? :D” -- it’s clear that aang doesn’t actually understand that “this is a journey you have to take” and it’s just something the writers threw in there to keep aang on the moral high ground in every aspect possible. it’s maddening smh.

i do agree with the general principle that violence begets more violence, and that if katara chose to kill yon rha she would have been perpetuating this cycle, but i also don’t understand why aang says “doing nothing is easy, but forgiveness is hard” -- aang never had been truly known what “doing nothing” means for a day of his life after getting out of the iceberg. he’s nearly constantly being proactive in his mission to defeat the firelord, and everything he does do (even if he doesn’t do it right on the first try) is somewhat morally infallible because he’s the avatar and he’s the only one who can restore peace to the world.

you know what doing nothing is? it’s running away into the storm and being consumed by grief, wracked by this writhing pain inside yet being unable to escape it no matter where you go. it’s knowing you lost your pet and companion, your one last living connection to the air nomads, but no matter how much you lash out, all you can do is wait and wait and wait.

and it’s knowing that your father has banished you from your homeland on fool’s errand to obtain his unobtainable love, but all you can do is keep going, not questioning it in spite of the thousands of doubts arising in your mind, because this is all you know.

i interpret “that’s the same as doing nothing” to be zuko’s warning to aang and katara that grief cannot fester into hope -- it must confronted to know that your agency is not lost. it must be seen before you can decide that there will be a means of going on.

[peony-pearl]

I’ve got a fic idea I want to pursue of Iroh watching Hakoda interact with Sokka and Katara and he sees remorse in Hakoda. Iroh invites him to share a private cup of tea as he tells Hakoda he sees a great father, and he asks why he looks so sorrowful. Hakoda tells him about how he left them for years to fight - when he hesitates to explain because he knows very well who Iroh is, Iroh urges him to continue, he knows what he and his family did. He wants to hear Hakoda’s story.

Hakoda mentions how proud he is, but also that he missed watching his children grow into such amazing people - but they’re still children, and they had to grow so fast; again without him; because he wasn’t there and they ended up becoming what the world needed at such young ages. He keeps going in circles. They’re amazing - but I had to be away and couldn’t see them, and in being away they had to step up more than they needed to.

Iroh reassures Hakoda that his children are stalwart and strong because of the role models they had in him and their grandmother, and he asks about Kya.

Hakoda can tell Iroh has endured parenthood beyond Zuko, and Iroh tells him about Lu Ten, and how he led his son to his death because of the roles they were fed by Iroh’s father, and that Iroh perpetuated this role in Lu Ten. How he loved his son, but he led him to war while Hakoda had to leave his behind to fight against the war Iroh and Lu Ten were helping to lead.

They lament that yes, these children had to grow so fast; and Iroh says that even if they’ve had to step up, the adults are still there, and when their descendants need them, they will be there to support their saplings - after all, Iroh was once part of the heart and helm of what caused so much misery. He can spare his final years ensuring they have all of the tools he can offer to continue keeping peace.

That leads Hakoda to asking about Iroh’s relationship with Azula. Iroh is unsure on how to answer. Zuko has been trying to talk to her, but to no avail.

Hakoda tells Iroh that she needs just as much time to come to terms with her pain and history that Iroh and Zuko had. The amount of trust they want from her has to also be reciprocated. They cannot force her to be anything other than what she wants to be, and right now she doesn’t have any other example than what Ozai taught her. She is intelligent and should be treated as such; she is in pain and needs as much support as Katara and Sokka and Zuko and the Gaang.

Iroh listens, taking in Hakoda’s wisdom and advice. He may not be a waterbender, but his words and demeanor are smooth and soothing and gentle, like a cool stream. Iroh promises he will honor Hakoda’s words, and they share another cup of tea before Hakoda challenges him to a game of Pai Sho

[sokkastyles]

Do you think Katara felt like she had no other choice but to end up with Aang especially after Aunt Wu's prediction of marrying a powerful bender and Aang’s outbursts in The Ember Island Players and Love is a Battlefield comic?

It's not made explicit that Katara feels that way, but I think it's likely that she did, and I think the show encourages this, and that's a major reason why I don't like KA.

Katara's belief in destiny and faith in Aang as the Avatar has a strong potential to be misused in the context of a romantic relationship. Katara already sees Aang as this nearly god-like being who will solve all the world's problems, even before and from the moment she meets him, even when given evidence to the contrary. And every time she doesn't see him that way she is given more reasons to idolize him, or punished by the narrative when she doesn't.

This idea is directly contrasted with Katara's arc with Zuko and the theme of destiny being something you make yourself and how we as people have a moral responsibility.

It's interesting to me that antis will make a lot of noise about potential power dynamics in zutara but will never point out the inherent power dynamic in Aang being the most powerful being in the world who Katara worshipped before even meeting him, and how every time she is dissuaded from this notion, the show treats it as a flaw on her part. Every time the show makes her feel guilty for disagreeing with Aang or standing up for her own feelings it just breaks my heart. I'm talking about things like Aang ignoring her in favor of showing off for his fans, while the narrative makes her feel bad for being upset. Which happens in the series and continues after they become a couple in the comics. I'm talking about the way Aang made her feel guilty for her feelings in "The Southern Raiders" and how he couldn't support her during a time of emotional turmoil. I'm talking about how she's held responsible for not reciprocating Aang's feelings for her in exactly the way he wants when he wants, and how this is never solved in the show except that it would make Katara look bad if she was still confused in the end. He did save the world, after all, right?

The show assures us that Aang deserves this worship from Katara because he's a pure ray of sunshine, but that just encourages us to ignore every time he isn't.

This also is a problem that carries into LoK discourse and how every time someone says Aang treated his kids unfairly, people are like "how dare you, Aang did x thing," or "Aang is a spiritually pure pacifist how dare you say he did anything wrong!" Do people really not understand how harmful this type of thinking is? Aang shouldn't have to be Ozai for you to say that he did anything wrong, and he shouldn't have to be a rapist for you to say that Katara is not obligated to reciprocate his feelings, at any point in time, or to act on them even if she does have feelings for him. This is why the more intense Aang stanning I've seen often reeks of purity culture, because it goes along with the idea that if a person/thing is ideologically pure, they are immune from criticism. Which is a dangerous, fascist way of thinking about things. And it's ironic that the show itself is all about defying this kind of manipulative ideology but then tries to justify it for their hero. Ozai wasn't just a bad person because he burned his son's face and perpetuated a genocide. Those things happened because of an inherent belief in his own superiority. Which is why no one should be treated as above reproach, even if they appear to be morally righteous. The history of the world is full of people who used the guise of moral righteousness to commit atrocities. Which is why the discussion should have never been about how good Aang is or what he deserves from others; not from Katara, not from his children, not from the world as a result of being born into power. But a lot of that also results from the nature of "chosen one" fantasy stories, especially if they are not carefully handled.

[rosaaeles]

i've seen a few people discussing how katniss should be drawn/not drawn and i wanted to add my two cents to the situation. 

let’s start with my initial thoughts on drawing katniss as Native American:

i think it’s great for artists to draw katniss as a poc and as native (esp seen as many readers perceive her as native-coded!) and i truly love seeing art where she is depicted as a woman of colour ��- it feels true to my perception of her and the perception i know a lot of other non-white (and white!) readers had whilst reading the books! 

however, i also think that an effort should be made to portray her heritage accurately and respectfully if depicting her as native american is an aim the artist has. 

that is to say, by not hypersexualising her/her clothes, not reducing her clothing to a stereotype

it reminds me of an instagram post i saw a while ago by @soia-jpg​ regarding piper mclean (a Cherokee character from the Heroes Of Olympus series). in the second slide of the post it reads “there are more ways to portray a native character without using their heritage as a prop, or using it wrong and in an irrespecutful way”

this is true for piper, and I think it should be true for katniss too if the intention of an artist drawing her is to depict her as native american. 

okay, now lets move onto my thoughts regarding katniss being drawn as pocahontas;

whilst i do not think the artist who drew her as pocahontas had any harmful intentions, i do think that the piece was harmful/perpetuated a harmful idea. 

pocahontas is a movie which many people enjoy and love because of its nice animation and catchy songs and environmentalist message (I get it, it was one of my favourite movies too when i was younger!) but it is also a movie which romanticises the violent history of genocide and colonisation in North America and that isn’t something that can or should just be forgotten for the sake of how pretty it is visually. frankly, drawing any character as pocahontas - the main character from a disney movie which is largely deemed to be disrespectful and problematic due to the way it represents indigenous cultures and colonisation -  is harmful and ignores the damage that pocahontas as a movie did to how the history of colonisation in America is perceived, and the way it whitewashed the true story of Matoaka. 

like,, disney chose to make a movie vaguely based on the life of a Native American girl who actually existed, but didn’t have had any intention of making a historically accurate story when they could have. if Matoaka’s story was considered too gruesome, they could have chosen to retell a tale from Native American folk lore/mythology. rather than, you know, basing a movie off the life of someone who existed and underwent enormous pain but deciding to ignore that completely and change the narrative. 

basically, i think that it’s important to remember that the disney movie pocahontas does a great disservice to history and is harmful in its depiction of Native American societies and colonisation - largely whitewashing and romanticising history and the life of a young Native American girl who’s life was anything but the fairytale it is shown to be in the movie. pushing the entirely fabricated romantic relationship of pocahontas and john smith (who were in reality 10 and 27 years old when they first met) onto two characters is tone deaf and is unfortunately something ive seen it done time and time over, not only with everlark but also with zutara (zuko and katara from A;TLA).

here are some links to places where people have discussed why pocahontas as a piece of media is problematic;

poverty, alcoholism and suicide - but at least the natives can paint with all the colours of the wind

Disney’s Racist History of Native American Caricatures

Inside The True Story Of Pocahontas That Disney Didn’t Tell

Pocahontas: Separating Fact From Fiction About the Native American

[queeranesearch]

So recently people have been talking about a post that claims that Azula is a pacifist, which is certainly...a take, that I want to counter. 

[ID: A tumblr post reading “there’s a very compelling argument to be made that, after aang, azula is the most pacifistic/anti-violence character in the whole show. but no one wants to hear me back on my bullshit so i’m just gonna leave this here.]

Before we start, I would like to preface that this is not me attacking them, or wishing any hate towards them; I just think it’s important for this topic to be discussed, and for white atla fans to acknowledge how comparing Aang and Azula in this way is wrong.

First off, let’s start with the bold claim that Azula has a kill count of zero. Now, the show itself seems to tell us that Azula kills Aang when she shoots him with lightning; Katara was literally cradling his unresponsive body, and later in ‘The Awakening’, Aang says  “I didn’t just get hurt, did I? It was worse than that. I was gone.” So, it’s safe to say that Aang was dead, or at least the brink of death before Katara used the spirit water on him. Even if you wanted to argue that Aang didn’t die, but was just close to death, it’s very clear that Azula shot him with the intent to kill him. Not a very pacifistic move. 

Second off, the god awful take that the Ba Sing Se coup wasn’t violent. She colonized that city. Azula is actively upholds imperialistic views that are inherently violent; the entire Earth Kingdom was subjected to violence from the Fire Nation, and Azula perpetuated that by seizing Ba Sing Se in the name of her father, stating herself that she believes the Fire Nation has the “divine right to rule”, and that she was “born” with this right. In case you haven’t got the message: The idea that one group of people is superior to another, and has the right to rule over them, is violent and actively harms people.

Then there’s the argument that Azula’s non-violent because she didn’t order for Mai and Ty Lee to be executed for treason at Boiling Rock, but instead has them thrown in prison. Firstly, we can see that Azula was preparing to shoot Mai with lightning; even if not with intent to kill, definitely with the intent to harm. Secondly, having Mai and Ty Lee thrown into prison to- and I quote- “rot”, is again wishing harm on them.

Additionally, the “friendship” between the three is debatable. Perhaps when they were younger their relationship was different, but as we see them in the show, it’s certainly not a friendship; or at least, not a healthy one. Ty Lee didn’t want to join Azula, but was threatened into doing so; if Mai didn’t comply, she would have been threatened too. Both Mai and Azula state that their relationship is built off fear, not love. Although I think that Azula on some level would call Mai and Ty Lee friends, she clearly has a warped idea of what friendship should be like; even Azula’s hallucination of Ursa states that she “used fear to control people, like [her] friends Mai and Ty Lee”, showing again that Azula is conscious of her power over others. Even if she doesn’t “like” violence, she uses it to her advantage. 

Which leads me to my next counter argument; Azula is not conflict-avoidant. Quite the opposite, she uses it to her advantage; saying that Zuko killed the Avatar when it was her is not avoiding conflict; getting with a one on one fight with Zuko to capture Aang is not avoiding conflict. She had a hunch that Aang survived and therefore let Zuko take the ‘glory’ so she would be spared the punishment; she engaged in a fight with Zuko because she wanted Aang. She only fled when she was outnumbered. She doesn’t agree to have an agni kai with Zuko in Ba Sing Se because she gains nothing from doing so. Azula takes into account the pros and cons of engaging with others; just because she doesn’t mindlessly use violence doesn’t mean she’s somehow a pacifist. Really, Azula’s trauma response is to try and gain as much control as possible, because she was raised in an environment that encouraged power and punished ‘weakness’. (Side Note: it should also be mentioned that whilst she doesn’t always use physical violence, she most certainly uses emotional and mental violence, particularly against Zuko, Mai and Ty Lee.)

Thirdly, I want to address the franky horrible take that Aang’s pacifism is childish. Apparently since people need a reminder; Aang is a survivor of genocide. He’s not a pacifist because violence “makes him uncomfortable”, he’s a pacifist because pacifism is an integral part of his culture; the Air Nomads were deeply in touch with the spiritual world and so they saw all life as sacred. Aang carries the grief of a civilisation lost; he’s the only one left to carry on its culture; submitting to murder would literally mean abandoning the Air Nomad way of life and therefore, letting the Fire Nation complete that cultural genocide. It’s baffling and quite frankly abhorent to even try and compare Azula, the daughter of the imperialist, colonizing nation, to Aang, the sole surviver of genocide from the hands of said nation. ( @herglowinggirl​ has made a good post about this here)

The imperial system of the Fire Nation is what caused Azula’s trauma (Ozai instilled abusive behaviours in her, as he was by his father, etc etc). It is only when after achieving the goal she’s been groomed to achieve from the start, does she realise that she is left alone with nothing but these manipulative, violent behaviors. With quite literally nothing else to lose, no reason to be pragmatic, she engages in the final agni kai. 

Tl;dr: Azula is not pacificistic or anti-violence, she is smart about when she uses it, and repeatedly uses it against friends and family. It’s only when she has nothing else to lose does she get careless with it.

[xaibaugrove]

Everyone in the Krew is Problematic

I was inspired to go on this rant by someone who recently brought up a question in a server I’m in, asking why so many people in the fandom seem to hate Mako and Makorra and why. This wouldn’t be the first time I defend Mako and it most likely won’t be the last, but it might be the first time I tear him and everyone else in the Krew down in the process, only to bring them back up. Hear me out though.

I think I’ve totally accepted that a lot of people in this fandom will always hate Mako and that I will have to perpetually defend him, I understand that this is the relationship I’ve chosen with this world. But what I still will never understand are the reasons why people hate/dislike him because compared to how much they love other characters in the Krew who honestly aren’t that much better than him (in some cases, even worse!), it doesn’t make any sense.

Let me also preface this by saying, I love these characters with all my heart and soul, probably more than I should love fictional characters, but this is the life I live and with that being said, I am going to tear them apart just to prove a point. Okay, here we go.

MAKO

Most of his detractors list the usual criticisms, which are valid when isolated. He cheated on Asami, he lied to Korra, he was a terrible boyfriend and essentially he treated the women he claimed to love or care about horribly. Gee, it’s almost like the man was a teenager with no experience in having long-lasting, healthy relationships and was raised in the streets by gangmembers while doing anything to survive and provide for his younger sibling after seeing his parents killed right in front of him and suddenly being orphaned…

I think Mako has been torn down enough, so I won’t get too deep into the tearing down part for him. It really does baffle me how someone can claim to be woke and not comprehend how someone coming from poverty could possibly be a product of their environment. Like, does everyone think that poor people automatically have hearts of gold and turn out like Little Orphan Annie? Why are people surprised that when someone has a shitty life, they might do shitty things?

Also, sooo many people love Zuko, who actively tried to cause harm to Aang, Katara and Sokka numerous times, and sympathize with his troubled past. But like, sure Zuko had an abusive father and his mother peaced out of his life for whatever reasons but at least he had his uncle. Mako had his parents for maybe 8 years before they were murdered in front of him and then had...no one for the next 10 years? Except for Bolin, sure, but no other parental figure in his life. Dude literally had to become him and his brother’s own parent and joined a gang to survive, and after all that, the worst he does is acts as a bad boyfriend toward Korra and Asami and he is instantly thrown to the wolves. Something doesn’t add up. It’s just...I don’t get it.

Yes, the way he treated people was bad, but people can grow? That’s a thing humans can do. And he was a teenager, my god. No, we cannot allow our past to be an excuse for how we treat others, but we have to be aware that there is a growth process to being human. And being human in and of itself, isn’t pretty. You think Mako is problematic? Don’t get me started on your fave.

KORRA

Ok, I love this woman to death but she is ridiculously problematic. She pursued someone in a relationship and essentially forced Mako to cheat on Asami by kissing him against his will, that’s already pretty awful and shows a lack of empathy on her part, also kissing people without their consent is no bueno. But also I just have to say it for the people who might not know this. One of the fundamental reasons why Makorra didn’t work was because KORRA WAS ABUSIVE. Okay? It wasn’t just that Mako was inadequate at relationships and didn’t know how to people, it wasn’t that she was secretly confused and wanting Asami the entire time (biphobia at it’s best) one of the main problems in the pairing was that Korra was crazy abusive towards Mako. Seriously, why don’t I see this more often in those discussions??

If we need examples, I have dozens. Honestly, it’s really easy to see how terrible Korra was to Mako, I’d actually argue that she treated him worse than he treated her. I mean, they were both terrible to one another, but in Korra’s case she went through the motions of being completely infatuated with your first teenage crush, getting with said crush, then crashing and burning once you realize that you have no idea how to treat a romantic partner so after the butterflies wear off you subject them to all the wonderful aspects of your anger issues. Not only did she scream at Mako during every argument they had, she also threatened him with bodily harm if she got really angry. Remember how their relationship crashed and burned in Book 2? Here are the things that Korra did during that time. Let me reiterate, this was not okay.

Mako is visibly shaken by this!

This woman burst into her boyfriend’s place of work and violently kicked his desk out from in front of him with all his coworkers present. That is not normal behavior. That is a red flag. And after she came back, had amnesia or whatever and forgot they broke up after that scene, let’s not forget that Mako was legitimately Afraid to break up with her again. Korra made her partner frightened that they might suffer bodily harm if they upset her. Again, and I can’t stress this enough, this is not okay!

The little scene in Book 3 when Korra is lifting Mako like 100 feet off the ground with airbending while he’s screaming in fear just to make Asami laugh is cute, right? I’ll admit, I loved that little moment too, it’s one of the only instances of Korrasami development that we got, but also, there were sooo many things wrong with that scene lol. Not only does Korra terrify Mako for literally no reason, it’s also sort of just her continuing to exercise some degree of power over him for her own amusement. Almost like a subtle reminder to him saying, “I am stronger than you in every way and I can break your femur like a twig if I wanted to… but I won’t, so look how much fun we’re having!”

Now of course, there are reasons why Korra acts like this. She was isolated for almost her entire life and never learned how to treat people and be around people. The Avatar is human because they must live amongst the people they protect and that helps them develop empathy and cherish life. The White Lotus deprived her of that fundamental aspect of her duty as the Avatar and it showed throughout the beginning of the series. Clearly, she was young, didn’t see how her actions could negatively affect others and hurt the feelings of not just her partner but also friends and family (she was really awful towards a lot of people in her life!). But as the series went on, we see her having less outbursts and learning to control her temper more.

One can only assume that she does not have the same behavior with Asami because for one, I don’t think Asami would play that shit, she seems like she would electrocute a bitch in a heartbeat and not hesitate if needed, but also Korra is not the same shitty partner she used to be as a teenager. Again, kids do stupid things. Adults do stupid things. And we learn and we grow. Korra will probably make some more mistakes in her relationship with Asami. I don't think anyone can have one bad relationship and suddenly learn all the lessons they can from it and have a perfect one the next go around. I can totally picture Korra losing her temper and raising her voice at Asami if she gets frustrated and forgets who she’s dealing with. Managing anger issues is hard, I know this from experience, and it doesn’t magically get easier. Of course, if Korra does pop off, Asami would definitely put her in her place because she’s a bad bitch who doesn’t take anyone’s shit, next character.

ASAMI

You know her, you love her, you fantasize about her and you probably have her on your list of fictional characters you would totally bang if you had the chance (I know I do), yes, even your best girl is problematic. It’s interesting to me that a lot of people sympathize with Asami and very few openly criticize her (so few that I’ve never seen anyone say a bad thing about her). What’s there to criticize though? The poor girl was cheated on by Mako, had her feelings disregarded by Korra, who claimed to be her friend but pursued her then-boyfriend behind her back and then made up for it by simping for her for the rest of her life? Also her mom was murdered when she was just 6 years old, her father threatened to kill her once and physically abused her, then died right after they started repairing their relationship, essentially making her an orphan at the ripe age of 22. Suffice it to say, Asami has been through it.

So, how could she be problematic, you ask? Why, of course, through the classic Bryke technique of romance progression in storylines called Kissing People Without Their Consent

To be honest, I did gloss over this with Korra, simply because there were sooo many other issues with that woman and I just couldn’t go through every single one in as much detail but that doesn’t negate how serious this whole sneak attack kissing thing is. Sure, Asami is very emotional and lonely and sort of desperate too, (it's a little sad, really) but Mako is clearly uncomfortable and completely caught off guard by the kiss. This is also the second time this happens to him in the series! There are a couple factors that might contribute to why Asami does this and acts this way, maybe Korra’s general awfulness rubbed off on her (don’t make a dirty joke) but this is still wrong.

AND that’s...pretty much it. Kissing people without their permission is a big no no, though. Not wanting to gloss over that, but Asami really is a good person who just did a not-so-great thing. Getting burned by Mako twice probably made her a little less inclined to be as forward with anyone though, and it looks like she now takes her time and is patient in her relationship with Korra. It even seems like Asami is the only person Korra is afraid to upset, as Korra does seem more gentle and calm when around her. And who knows? Maybe Asami living a life where a majority of the time she got whatever she wanted when she wanted it might have also influenced her to be more assertive or even imposing within her relationships.

If anything, those three fools getting into relationships with each other just showed how not ready they were to be in relationships in the first place and also how not okay they were.

BOLIN

Originally I titled this as “Everyone in the Krew is problematic (except Bolin)” but then I remembered that Bolin totally kissed a woman without her consent so I deleted the shit out of that!

This asshole looks genuinely pleased with himself after essentially assaulting Ginger. Not a good look.

Sure, Bolin is baby. He will always be baby to me. But that does not erase the fact that he also actively supported a fascist dictator. Not only was the kissing without consent thing bad, but there’s also that. No matter how many times people around him warned him about the fact that he was on the wrong side of things, that he was helping someone who was putting people into concentration camps...Bolin wanted to believe the best of Kuvira. He ignored obvious signs that the woman was a dictator committing human rights violations like crazy and you know, there’s gotta be a reason for that too.

Maybe Bolin wanted to feel like he was doing something good for once. When you think about it, with his role as the comic relief in the Krew, and sort of constantly being infantilized by his older brother, I wouldn’t be surprised if the man developed some insecurity in his ability to do anything good or useful for anyone without screwing it up in some way. In Kuvira’s army, it seemed like he was actually taken seriously, he felt like he was doing something that mattered. Korra had being the Avatar, Asami had her business and mindblowing philanthropy (honestly, her ability to be as charitable as she is profitable is insane) and Mako had his police work (ACAB, tho). Bolin had...the role of being a joke. A superficial actor. A former pro-bending meathead.

Bolin lived his entire life following after his brother that once they were adults and Mako finally decided to live his own life for once, it left Bolin completely lost. And lost young men are perfect recruits for fascists.

So, in conclusion, my whole reasoning behind destroying the integrity of my favorite characters is to prove a huge point. All of these characters are problematic. They have flaws, some bigger than others (looking at you, Korra. Just...wow), but ultimately, even if your fave is problematic... that’s okay. A lot of people, mostly younger people it seems, are really obsessed with being right about everything that they do and stan. And that’s a wonderful thing, so much change has come about by the younger generations calling out people who do fucked up shit, don’t want or try to improve, and get away with it. But it’s also caused a lot of people to be unforgiving and completely unwilling to acknowledge when people do improve and try to be better.

Personally, I love my problematic Krew because having issues that you’re constantly working on internally is human. It’s human to make mistakes, it’s human to grow from those mistakes. And it’s inspiring to me, who is wholly imperfect, to see myself reflected in fictional characters who aren’t perpetuating unrealistic ideals of human nature, characters who are messy, crazy and ultimately human.

As one of my favorite manga artists and queen of impeccable character creation Rumiko Takahashi once said:

“I think that perfect people are not very interesting.”

And I will always wholeheartedly agree.

[whattheheehaw]

Hi! I’m sorry you’re getting shitty anons about this and you’re probably sick of it so I apologise for asking this but I’m genuinely curious what made you start actively disliking zutara? Like, considering how much excellent and insightful content/meta you yourself used to make/write? I get that interests change over time and you’re totally valid!! the anons sending you hate over it are really dumb, but if you’d be ok with sharing, I’d be really interested in hearing why you’ve done almost a complete 180 on the ship? Was is just burnout/end of a hyper-obsession? Or was it some of us in the rest of the fandom that turned you off? Or was it even something about the ship/characters themselves that you changed your mind about? xx

In short, it was a combination of burnout, dissatisfaction with fandom, and disappointment in myself that caused my disinterest for Zvtara.

I got asks similar to this one a couple of times before, but I never gave a comprehensive answer, mainly because I didn't know how to articulate my reasons why I don't like it anymore. But now that I've been out of ZK fandom for a month and have had some time to reflect, I think I can give a much more thorough response. Beware, this is long and I heavily critique the Zvtara fandom, so if you're a ZK shipper, keep reading at your own risk.

My first minor annoyance with Zvtara is that the fandom has a tendency to idolize certain fics and creators. And while there’s certainly nothing inherently wrong about that, I feel like the Zvtara fandom does it to such an extent that it influences the type of content that content creators make in order to get recognition. And to illustrate my point, I’m going to talk about one of the most famous Zvtara fics of all time: Once Around The Sun by eleventy7.

Don’t get me wrong, I love OATS. I think it’s a great fanfic and I think the author devoted a lot of time and effort to make it such an excellent fic. The plot, the development of the characters and their relationships to one other, and the messages about family and love were all brilliantly written. I mean, there is a reason why it’s regarded as the “Zvtara Bible”. This one fanfic had such a profound impact upon the ZK fandom, and I think the biggest impact that came from it is the dramatic influx of post-war Zvtara AU fanfiction. 

Because so many people kept reading OATS and recommending it to others, I think there was an overall interest in ZK fics that take place in a post-war setting. And I think that all of the high praise towards OATS made more fic writers start to write post-war fanfics because of this demand for post-war AU.* I normally wouldn't complain about it because more content is more content, but in my opinion, 99% of ZK post-war fics are the same fic but in different fonts.

Like, there's at least 3 of these elements in every ZK post-war fanfic:

Ambassador Katara

An assassination attempt (usually on Zuko's life)

A healing scene between Zuko and Katara (usually Katara heals Zuko)

Aang and/or Mai is pushed to the side or vilified to some extent in order to make ZK happen

A private journey between Zuko and Katara to facilitate #6

S L O W B U R N (that's not really slowburn and more like "I love you and I very much want to be vocal about my feelings but #7 is in this fic" but the love story takes up like 30 chapters so I guess it's a slowburn?)

Zuko's advisers don't want him to get married to Katara because ✨racism✨

Ursa is found

Azula is in the fic because a) she's going to get a healing arc ft. Zuko and Katara and thereby helps them get together or b) she's the villain and thereby helps them get together

ZK wedding happens in the FN

After reading multiple post-war fics back to back, I could tell that the format was pretty much the same across the board, which isn't very interesting for me to read. My only other fic options in the Zvtara tag on AO3 are canon divergence fics which almost always take place during The Crossroads of Destiny or after The Southern Raiders. And to some extent, those stories are pretty much the same too. There's nothing really new or creative going on in the ZK fandom fic-wise, and because of that, my interest in ZK fandom started to dwindle.

My second issue with Zvtara is that it's a very old ship from a very old show. Because there's been 10+ years since the end of A:TLA, every nuanced point about shipping and the show itself have been talked to death.** There's just nothing new to say. It's the same arguments being rehashed over and over again in the tag because there's no other interpretation one can come up with.

For example, there's so many people who talk about why Zvtara as depicted in The Southern Raiders is not toxic and that's great and all, but I (and most likely many others) have read those same points about five times already. And for some reason, each time this happens, people act like someone just discovered the lost city of Atlantis when they bring up their new-but-not-new argument in defense of Zvtara. Honestly, I'm ashamed to say that I'm not exempt from being part of the group of people that reiterate old arguments. I've done it with one of my posts about The Southern Raiders and I've done it again with my Zutara/Omashu parallels post.

There's no new content to really dissect and analyze (especially considering Zuko and Katara are rarely in the same panel in any of the post-war comics), and because of this, people are just restating points that someone else made several years ago.*** And even if someone did have a different interpretation of an episode, their ideas would most likely be shut down because for the past several years, the same interpretation has been recycled through the fandom repeatedly and people are resistant to new perspectives.

This brings me to the third thing that I dislike about Zvtara: the insistence that there can only be one way to interpret The Southern Raiders. For the longest time, I've read take after take that said if Katara decided to kill Yon Rha, it would be ok because that's her grief to deal with and if she thinks that's the best way to mete out justice, then good for her. And again, I'm ashamed to say that I perpetuated that idea in a few of my own posts. I have always thought that "Katara killing Yon Rha is ok" is just a bad take in general, but I didn't want to vocalize that opinion when so many people—so many of the nice mutuals that I made—all shared that same opinion. Taking down a popular opinion of your own ship is completely different from taking down a popular opinion of a ship that you dislike. The Zvtara fandom is the first fandom that I was actually active in and I wanted to fit in so badly with everyone else that I just parroted whatever other people said, even if I didn't agree with those sentiments.

This leads me to my final reason why I don't want to be a part of ZK fandom anymore. I think I established myself as a "meta" person pretty early on and because of that, I constantly felt pressured to come up with new takes on the ship. And when people started flooding my ask box with stuff like "Can you write a meta about your thoughts on the idea that 'Zuko only took Katara on that field trip in TSR because he wanted her to forgive him'?" and "What are your thoughts about antis saying Zuko and Katara are toxic because of TSR?", I realized that I don't need to come up with new takes. People just want me to paraphrase something that 10 other people said about the same exact topic, because if I said what I actually thought about the subject (i.e. there is some truth in what antis say about TSR and it's not as much of a "Zvtara episode" that most people make it out to be), I'd probably get ZK shippers in the replies telling me that I'm wrong because x, y, and z or "you shouldn't tag this as Zvtara".

And that was pretty much how my love for ZK turned into disinterest. I was and still am disappointed that I didn't stick to my personal opinions. For as much as I talk about herd mentality on Twitter, I certainly don't practice what I preach. In all honesty, the only reason why I held on so long to ZK fandom was because I had so many nice mutuals there and we all shared this collective distaste for antis. I think I started to become more anti-Zvkka and anti-Kataang than pro-Zvtara, which isn't what I wanted to do when I made this Tumblr blog.

The thing that made me joke about becoming anti-Zvtara was the fact that some ZK shippers just like to send shitty anons to people whom they've reblogged countless different metas from. Sending shitty anons to people in the first place is wrong, but sending them to people who tagged their posts correctly and did nothing wrong is just disgusting.

*I'm not a fic writer and can't speak for fic writers, but it definitely feels like a lot of ZK fic authors are pushing themselves to write the next OATS, and by doing so, they are proliferating the tag with post-war fics that have very similar aspects to OATS.

**I think that as more people point out the same nuanced points about Zvtara, it diminishes the actual significance of those points. Like, it's hard to explain but the more people talk about the subtleties of the ship, the more those parts become glaringly obvious and I become numb to their actual impact on the characters and the show.

***At this point, if someone wanted to make a new argument about Zvtara, I think they would have to look very closely at every little detail in every single one of their scenes together to find a crumb of new meta material. And speaking from experience, it's not very fun trying to make a mountain out of a molehill. Whenever I post a "meta" like that, I feel like I'm reaching to make a point that doesn't exist.

[ssaltbending]

Ok, guys, hear me out: Zuko is a Capricorn, Katara is a Cancer —and here’s why (it would be so poetic).

Part 1: Zuko

TW: explicit mentions of child abuse.

I know this statement might seem weird and out of place, but in the last couple weeks I’ve been digging a lot into astrology and, in order not to forget my roots, I thoroughly felt the need to combine both of my most recent obsessions in one post, given that this headcanon hasn’t been able to leave my mind ever since I came up with it: if we applied astrology to the Avatar world, I’m sure Cancer and Capricorn would be Katara and Zuko’s signs, respectively. And I don’t say this in a superficial way, just by looking at zodiac memes and associating Katara with the crybabies Cancers are portrayed as or saying Zuko is a Capricorn buzzkill as people who know astrology on a surface level would assume they are —those are some of the most common stereotypes about the signs. No, I’m saying that they embody those signs on an archetypal leve: in the way their stories, especially Zuko’s, resemble the myths that originate the zodiac signs and their respective traits.

Therefore, without further ado, let me explain.

The Capricorn archetype: the sins of the father...

As any casual astrology enthusiast may probably know, the sign of Capricorn is connected to qualities such as perseverance, integrity, resilience and ambition, typically treated as the CEO or boss of the zodiac. However, the sign itself has a richer and much more complex story as we look at the deities it is associated with as well as the planet that rules it: Saturn, linked to the Roman god of the same name and the greek gods Cronus, Zeus, Hestia and Pan. Some astrologers choose Cronus as Capricorn’s patron god and others prefer his children, but that can be explained very easily.

The myth goes like this: Cronus, a giant and father of what we would know as some of the main greek gods (Hestia, Demeter, Hades, Poseidon, Hera and Zeus), was actually the son of Uranos, who he subverted thanks to the advice of his mother Gaia to use an agricultural tool to kill him. But as time went by and Cronus had started having children with his partner, Rhea, the fear of his descendants becoming stronger than him and doing the same thing he had done to his father took over him, which led to his decision of swallowing them all whole. He started with Hestia all the way back to Zeus, whom he couldn’t swallow right after he was born, unlike his other children, because this time Rhea had hid him in the island of Crete to protect him from his father. To deceive him, Rhea then covered a rock in cloth to make it resemble a baby for Cronus to eat it, thinking that it was a newborn Zeus.

Time passed and Zeus grew stronger until he was ready to confront his father and save his siblings from his womb, and when he finally did it, he managed to force Cronus into disgorge them one by one, in the reverse order they had been swallowed —which left Hestia as the last sibling to be disgorged.

After that, Zeus was left with a prophecy, where he would also be possibly overthrown by a son of his. And after Métis, the woman he was told would bear said child, gave birth he swallowed the newborn whole just like Cronus had done with his brothers and sisters. The child in question, however, started giving him headaches as it grew older and bigger inside of him and would become the goddess we know as Athena. What Zeus did with her was the repetition of a cycle perpetuated by his forefathers, a cycle of abuse and trauma that seems inescapable. What this part of the duality of the Capricorn archetype shows one of the ways in which those ideas of tradition and legacy can be carried on (a very negative one, to be honest), but that’s not the only way they can manifest, which gives the archetype this… almost cinematic quality, in my opinion. (And if we take this into account, I might headcanon Azula as a Capricorn rising due not only to the archetypal coincidences but the overall mastermind outlook she has and how much of a natural, domineering and calculating leader she is, but that’s besides the point.)

Now, let’s talk about the other side of the archetype, which gives it this incredible dual quality: Hestia’s path. Unlike her brother Zeus, Hestia was the one who not only had been devoured by her father, but she had spent the most time inside him as well. This is often associated with the emotional isolation many Capricorns experience in their youth, the lack of warmth and love by one of their parents, along with the desire not to become the abusive parent they were exposed to. Hestia is the other side of the story, the unspoken leader of the Olympians, the one who broke the toxic cycle running in her family for generations, vowing to become an eternal virgin and protector of the earth. Besides, Hestia means “hearth”: the inner fire, the one that is never allowed to go out.

(art by @elisebrave​)

That is the soul of the Capricorn archetype: the crossroads of destiny, the moment when the child decides whether to become like their parents, or forge their own path like Hestia did. Do you guys see what I see now? Are the similarities clear enough?

As my dear friend @persephobeee​ points out in her Capricorn essay (a crucial source for this one): “The Capricorn archetype is a cycle of stuck parents putting stress on their children at such a young age so then their kid ends up making money in retaliation, but then treat their kids the same as well due to the lack of warmth and freedom they had in their own childhood. The intense pressure put onto them as a child [then] leads to isolation and depression. It’s a cycle. ‘I don’t want to be my parent, but also… how they have ruined me’. The chain can continue with Zeus (projecting sorrows and nightmares onto their own children) or it could break with Hestia (the path of love, light and protection).”

This is why Capricorn’s planetary ruler, Saturn, is also associated with ideas found in this myth: restriction, limitation, order, boundaries, leadership, responsibility… pretty much dad vibes, to be honest. Do you guys see what I see or do I have to dig deeper?

“But isn’t zuko a firebender?? Why would he be an earth sign??”, you may ask.

The way that I might be making headcanons about the Gaang’s western zodiac signs isn’t gonna be based on which element they bend, because that would be quite reductive and restrictive for me as an astrology junkie, but their similarities to each sign’s archetype and overall characteristics. And yes, I do see Zuko as an earth sun, but that wouldn’t be his only sign, there is also the moon and the rising sign, which also have an important impact on the individual. In my opinion, Zuko’s personality embodies the qualities of fire signs as well: competitiveness, drive, passion, impulsiveness and loyalty. But to me those qualities are better shown in his character through his moon sign: an Aries moon, to be specific. See those anger outbursts? The “I don’t need any [fucking] calming tea!!”? The “you never think these things through”? Aries moon behavior, right there. But I’m not going to focus on moon signs right now. Let’s get back to the behavior I am the most well-versed at: Capricorn behavior.

So, the sign of Capricorn is also a cardinal sign, a leader, since they are the ones that begin each season. In the Northern Hemisphere, Capricorn season starts right on the winter solstice, and the opposite happens in the South. However, since all the astrology lore comes from the North thanks to the Greeks, Babylonians and more, the seasonal connections are related to the seasons there. As a consequence, Capricorn is the cardinal sign that brings the coldest, darkest season of the year: winter. And incorporating that into Zuko’s character would be incredibly fitting, in my opinion, because of some stuff I’ve read here on Tumblr saying that making him being born during the coldest time of the year would make it a terrible omen for a firebender, worse in this case due to him being born into the royal family, symbols of the power and “supremacy” of the Fire Nation. The fact that he would be born in winter, if we follow this reasoning, would have made him seem as a disappointment to his father ever since birth. 

… or maybe I’m just cruel, guys.

Moreover, I think Zuko embodies many of the Capricorn qualities in the way he carries himself (because no, not all Capricorns are confident managers with the world in our hands) and how hard he has to work to earn everything he gets. A key part of what this sign represents is “the path of hardships the goat has to overcome in order to reach the top of the mountain”, which along with the myth I have described before, could easily be applied to Zuko. It describes values of endurance, hard work, discipline and drive in order to achieve your goals, something that can be seen in Zuko all throughout the series, but changes its focus as the seasons go by. Besides, uhm… have you guys seen “The Day of Black Sun, Part 2”? That is literally the positive outcome of the Capricorn myth made into animation: the confrontation between an abusive father figure and his abused child who has decided to part ways with him in order to become a better person.

On another note, I think it is important to highlight how the Capricorn in Zuko could be seen based on how the rest of the Gaang treats him as well when he changes sides and he’s accepted into the group. How?, you may be wondering: as a father figure, but in a positive way. In many scenes it can be noticed how he naturally takes a position of leadership within the group as well as he takes care of the younger members such as Aang and Toph but, especially in Aang’s case, tries to ground them and teach them. As examples, take the following: Zuko reminding Aang that soon he will have to face the fact that he might have to kill Ozai, him trying to get everyone to train when the comet is about to arrive; how when Aang gets lost, it is him the one people look to in order to lead the group, etc.

Another thing that is well-known in Capricorns is our resilience and perseverance and, honestly: do I even need to explain that? When it comes to the guy who would get his ass beaten again and again and again for one season straight in order to get what he wanted which would also give him the approval of his father, what he craved most? It screams earth sign behavior to me, but with a heavy saturnian influence due to Zuko’s background which, to me, can be quite an interesting reflection of the Saturn/Cronus myth with his children. Said tenacity could also be exacerbated by the willpower and energy brought by the possibility of him having a fire moon, I don’t know, think about it. I stick to that headcanon.

That perseverance can also be seen when it comes to Zuko’s firebending, given how much he’s always trying to improve his skills. Although it could be argued that in reality he’s doing so due to the expectations put on him to be a proficient bender just like his sister in order to be accepted by his father, and his constant training to the point of exhaustion is just a manifestation of that toxic behavior. I am sorry to tell you, but that’s textbook Capricorn behavior, associated with the symbolism of the hardworking goat in general: working the hardest in order to get what you want is always on-brand when it comes to important Capricorn placements, and in my opinion Zuko is no exception.

Final thoughts.

Anyway, what I think would be most relevant is what I mentioned before about the Capricorn archetype and how it could tie in nicely to Zuko’s character arc with him as a representation of Hestia, who could grow out of the abuse she experienced and got a chance not to make her father’s mistakes and break that horrendous cycle she had been a victim of. I would go into this more deeply, but I think it has been enough for now. However, I’ll be back soon with a part two, talking about my water queen Katara. What do you think about this headcanon? Do you agree? If not, why? 

Thanks for coming to my weird-ass TedTalk at 1am. I needed to vent and I haven’t been able to put the computer down since 9pm, I literally only stopped to eat, lol.

See you soon, 

a Capricorn sun.

[thinkingisadangerouspastime]

I just want to say, before I say anything, I'm not accusing you of saying this and I understand that you feel how you feel. I'm just asking this in a very general way and was wondering your thoughts. Why is it so verboten to think Zuko might have had a slight crush on Katara? There seems to be a rush to not just deny it but to treat it like it's some sort of horrible thing to even suggest it and I'm not sure why that is?

Katara is presented as a beautiful, lively girl who is a powerful bender. Why wouldn’t Zuko be a little starry eyed over that? It doesn’t mean she likes him back. Idk, I’m not exactly sure where my point is, except that being shouted down for just advancing the idea that maybe Zuko had the hots for Katara is a little frustrating? I’m not saying he was wacking off in his bunk thinking about her or expected to get some while they were hunting Yon Rha.

Also, unrequited crushes happen in ATLA-verse? Toph/Sokka anyone? Why does that never get screeched on but saying “Hey, Zuko loved Mai but he was probably looking at Katara and thinking ‘noice!’ a couple of times” the worst thing in the world? Is it the Water Tribe/Fire Nation thing? I mean, if it’s that, I wish people would just say that and stop screaming at people for their headcanons and whatnot. [theend]

Lol do not worry anon I know this isn’t an accusation!! Not only have I myself never perpetuated this rhetoric, but I don’t think I’ve really heard it before! Maybe once or twice?? I might just keep to chill parts of fandom, lmao, and that’s why I’m not very familiar with it. But I’ll do my best to theorize what may spark conflict based on the info you provided me!

(I’ve talked very briefly here about Zuko having/not having a crush on Katara before, if you were wondering.)

My main guess is that it’s not the headcanon itself that makes people frustrated, but how some shippers probably treat the HEADcanon as canon-canon (not an issue exclusive to Zvtara, btw; all big fanon ships have this problem - Zvkka, anyone? lmao). I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with headcanoning that Zuko had a crush on Katara! But in that same vein, there’s nothing inherently wrong with others acknowledging that the headcanon has no basis in canon either, if that makes sense. And headcanons don’t need canon basis! Headcanons are fanon! That’s why they’re so much fun! I ship Kuzaang like there’s no tomorrow, but I can also acknowledge that there wasn’t anything in canon that demonstrated Aang having a crush on Kuzon. Kuzaang is strictly fanon, and I love that about the pairing! It means I have incredible free reign, hehe.

But yeah. I don’t think it has anything to do with their different nations! Like I said - it’s probably solely an issue of some shippers (and undoubtedly just a loud minority) treating the headcanon as canon.

I don’t think saying “Hey, Zuko loved Mai but he was probably looking at Katara and thinking ‘noice!’ a couple of times” is the worst thing in the world, lmao. I do want to make a distinction here, though; this example you provide is actually an example of aesthetic attraction, which is not the same as a crush (crushes are indicative of romantic attraction)! So saying/headcanoning that Zuko thought Katara was pretty (as anyone with a brain would say, let’s be real) does not actually equate to him having a crush on her.

But back to the crush headcanon. I mentioned that I (personally!) don’t think it has canon basis. I will admit that I am not alloromantic, so crushes in themselves are a little confusing to me (I mean,, people just randomly like someone?? based on their appearance?? without even knowing them?? hell nah), but even disregarding that, I don’t think it would make much sense within canon for Zuko to have had a crush on Katara.

Again, disclaimer: there’s nothing wrong with the headcanon! Fanon is meant to contradict canon! To expand canon! To rewrite canon! Fanon is transformative. That’s the entire purpose of fanon. Go wild with that headcanon!! Make art!! Produce fics!! Support content creators!! Hell yeah!!

So what do I mean when I say that I personally feel there’s no canon basis for Zuko having a crush on Katara? Well, for one, he joined the Gaang in episode 12 of Book 3. That’s episode 52 of 61 overall. So in everything prior to that, Zuko not only has no idea who Katara is but he is also neck-deep in imperialistic rhetoric (you know, racism, superiority complexes, all that jazz. not fun for anyone non-FN). No possible crush there. In “The Western Air Temple” episode itself, Katara (understandably) threatens Zuko. She means what she says, and I think Zuko recognizes that. A crush there wouldn’t make sense - they’ve only properly met this second time and Katara (understandably) hates Zuko’s guts for what he’s done to the Gaang and to her personally.

Episode 53 is “The Firebending Masters” - Zuko’s too hung up on his firebending not working to think about anything else (Katara obviously still does not trust him yet, either, meaning Zuko is pretty much on edge around her. again, she threatened him, and Zuko no doubt took her threat seriously).

54 and 55 are “The Boiling Rock” episodes; not only are these Maiko-heavy but also in general… I mean, Katara’s not really in them. At least not from Zuko’s POV. So nothing implies a crush there. And then after those episodes, it’s worth considering that Zuko probably thinks Mai is dead. That he left her, the girl he loves, to die at Azula’s hands. We know Zuko tends to hold guilt to his chest, so concluding he blamed himself for Mai’s “death” is not illogical. Why would he all of sudden switch his sights to Katara, even if it was just a simple crush? While he’s grieving? That doesn’t track to me.

And then, of course, “The Southern Raiders.” This episode has been talked about to death, so I’ll keep it brief, lmao. I will draw attention to only one line, spoken by Zuko:

This isn’t fair! Everyone else seems to trust me now! What is it with you?

As we all know, TSR was not a flattering episode for Zuko. He was a racist asshole to Aang and - as aforementioned - acted as if he was entitled to Katara’s trust. Obviously, Zuko grows through the episode, and we see by the end that he respects Aang’s wisdom and respects Katara’s decision to walk away from Yon Rha (which is awesome!! I adore this brief but incredibly crucial arc of his!!). But my point is that nothing demonstrates romantic interest from Zuko to Katara. If anything, his initial motives are pretty damn selfish (i.e. demanding her to trust him because he feels like he “deserves” it already).

Emphasis on “initial” motives, of course. Obviously he grows more sincere!! (Tis the point of the episode for Zuko.)

So they end TSR on new, peaceful terms. Personally, I don’t think their relationship would be magically sunshine and roses after that (Zuko did some fucked up shit to the Gaang, lmao), but I do think things are getting better between them! Still, there is nothing indicative of a canon crush.

Next episode, in EIP, they scoot away from each other at the possibility of being together, yk? That doesn’t mean they hate each other’s guts, lmfao, but EIP is meant to depict imperialist Fire Nation propaganda - who wouldn’t be uncomfortable with that? Like, the entire Gaang is demeaned in that play. There’s nothing romantic about it. It’s a similar situation later with June - this is a lady that doesn’t know anything remotely personal about Zuko or Katara. Of course they’d react in a horrified and flustered manner when this - for all intents and purposes - total stranger suggests that they’re together! That’s creepy as hell! Definitely not indicative of a crush, lmao. And considering that the Gaang never teases Zuko about having a crush on Katara (compared to how I think Toph teases Katara about Haru?), i.e. the people who know them the best, there’s no reason for the audience to think anything is going on between them.

For other references, here are a few addressing EIP, June, etc.

And after all that… Well, now we’re in the finale. What time is there for romance? There’s a reason the canon couples don’t reunite until after the war is won! (Minus Sukka, I guess, but they’re not professing their love on the battlefield, per se, lmao.) Zuko chooses Katara to go with him because she’s a powerful waterbender and the only person who’s been able to handle Azula in the past (besides Aang, arguably, who’s obviously occupied with Ozai), not because he “likes” her in a romantic sense.

All of this is to say that to me, Zuko having a crush on Katara is strictly fanon. Which is awesome! Fanon is fantastic, and I actually really like these types of headcanons (like, Teo having a crush on Aang? GOOD SHIT). Some people are just jerks about it. That said, I can still understand why people might get frustrated by those who preach this headcanon as if it’s pulled straight from the text itself. I absolutely think it’s ridiculous to harass others over a headcanon (which unfortunately you see on both sides of the ship war), but in that same vein - of course it’s frustrating when those loud few act like their fanon is canon and proceed to shove it down others�� throats, lmao. It’s an imperfect situation, basically.

TL;DR - The headcanon in itself is great, and no one should be getting freaking harassed over it. But it is strictly fanon, so when some shippers treat it like canon, that’s understandably going to frustrate the rest of the fandom. Headcanons are a double-edged sword, lmao.

So that’s my personal theory as to why people get pressed over this headcanon. If anyone else has a different idea, please feel free to rb/comment with it!

[firelxdykatara]

unquestionably-queer replied to your post “I mean, since we're at it, could you maybe talk about the double...”

i agree w a lot of this!! i dont want to speak out of turn but from what ive heard from indigenous women (which im not) the problem isnt the ship itself but its representation ig? basically my understanding is that in fanfic n what not katara is often stripped of her autonomy and relocated and Thats what people have problems with? i think youre right just bc zuko and sokka and are close and age and its Gay doesnt suddenly make it not vaguely racist (for lack of better terms)

That is a perfectly fair and valid criticism of the corners in fandom in which that happens. However, at that point, it’s an issue with racism in general in fandoms at large--and, I promise you, this is not an issue that’s exclusive to Zutara. I can only speak for my own experience, of course, but the Zutara discord server of which I am part has a lot of poc as well as queer people (including some queer poc!!!), some of whom are indigenous, and so when people call the entire fandom ‘white, straight, and racist’ (which is effectively what happens when they say that just shipping zk is racist/heteronormative, regardless of like, context), it not only erases all of us and our contributions to the fandom, but it also like... ignores the fact that those fics and metas are soooo not the norm.

Like, I’ve lost count of how many ‘fire lady Katara’ metas take into account how much of her culture she would bring with her to the Fire Nation. Everything from spectacular fanart designing clothing that incorporates her own culture with her husbands, to having her called Lady of the Moon rather than Fire Lady, to having their courtship extend over the years she spent as an ambassador and making so many changes for the better to the nation she would eventually marry into.

I almost never see meta or fanart where Katara marries Zuko and then completely assimilates and abandons her culture. But you know where I do see Katara stripped of her autonomy, made an accessory of her husband, denied agency, and having her legacy completely erased to the point where if you hadn’t watched AtLA you’d have no idea why she’d be well known at all except for who she married?

Canon.

That’s what the comics and LoK did to Katara, so I really don’t understand how these things get flung at the Zutara fandom as if we haven’t been fighting back against that future for her for years. The Northern and Southern Water Tribes went into a full blown civil war and Katara didn’t lift a finger to try and use her political clout or just her fierce passion and love for her people to knock some sense into them. Her son and his entire family were kidnapped by zealots and threatened with death and she didn’t even try to help the rescue effort. I get that LoK wasn’t the Gaang’s story, but AtLA wasn’t the White Lotus’ story either, and those old ass men got to kick ass and take names all over the place, so don’t hand me that ‘Katara was too old’ crap. She was, what, eighty something? Bumi was 112 in AtLA!!!

Sorry, I didn’t mean to go off on an LoK rant, but my ultimate point is, it doesn’t make sense to me to come after zutara shippers when, by and large, we wish canon had done better by Katara and that is reflected in much of our fanworks and metas. Does this mean there won’t be racist shlock in our fandom??? Of course not! Because racism is insidious and no fandom is free from it, so of course if there are works that perpetuate harmful ideals it’s perfectly fine to talk about them and ask that the people involved do better in the future, or just avoid those who refuse to change. But slamming an entire fandom for the actions of a few, while ignoring the fact that their preferred ship pulls from the same exact fanbase (and I’m sorry, but white gays are no less racist than white straights, that’s just a fact), is hypocritical in the extreme.

Tl;dr: people in glass houses really shouldn’t throw stones.

[fruitlicense]

Driving in Legend of Korra

@kiyomizuki and I were talking about how different characters would drive because we were wondering what would happen when/if Bolin learned to drive and this was the result

Disclaimer: as queer people ourselves, we went into this knowing that gay people can’t drive and also that it’s a joke, this whole thing is a joke

The Krew

Korra can’t drive because she’s gay (bisexual but the point stands)

Asami can drive the best out of all of them, but she also likes to drive fast, so she’s maybe not the ideal teacher

Mako can drive well but he has no patience on the road. If he’s “cool under fire” when bending the stress has to come out somewhere and that somewhere is ROAD RAGE

Bolin can’t drive because he’s Bolin (sorry Bolin, but this is funny)

Pabu is banned from the front seat on Mako’s orders after he jumped onto the steering wheel and almost killed them

Naga can’t even fit in a car, but yes she absolutely would hang out the window with a blissful doggy smile

Republic City & Air Temple Island

Wu doesn’t know what a steering wheel is. Just kidding, he actually knows a ton about cars (rich kid thing?), he just can’t drive

Lin can drive, but where do you think Mako picked up the road rage from? She’s used to car chases where saving the car is low priority and she can hang out the window throwing rocks at people

Bumi can drive, but no one’s ever seen him do it and they don’t believe him when he says he can

Kya claims she can’t drive or do math because she’s gay. Bumi drives her places, but she also perpetuates the “Bumi can’t drive” rumor

Tenzin knows how to drive in theory, but he’s been traveling by sky bison for so long that his knowledge is useless

Pema is one of the the few safe drivers Korra knows. She’s a mom, so this is correct

Kai and Jinora drive like your average high schoolers on their learner’s permits (badly, but they’re trying their best)

Ikki is a distracted driver who blasts music, but it’s good music

Never put Meelo behind a wheel ever

Rohan’s a baby, he can’t drive

The Metal Clan

Baatar Sr. is a good driver too. I can’t tell you why, he just seems like a safe driver.

Suyin is the LoK version of a soccer mom with a minivan and shit music taste, don’t give her the aux cord (we love her, but seriously, don’t)

Baatar Jr. has road rage worse than Lin and Mako’s. He also drives Huan places to answer for his war crimes

Huan doesn’t give a fuck about cars until Ikki suggests painting them. He goes on a two-week-long spray painting spree with the Zaofu jeeps

Opal knows how to drive, but she hasn’t driven since she became an airbender, so she’s a useless driving teacher. She told Bolin she couldn’t teach him and there was a terrifying week or so where he went to Wei and Wing before Pema and Baatar Sr. intervened and took over

Wei and Wing are a danger to the public behind the wheel, near-Korra levels of Bad. Every grocery run is NOT actually a race, but you wouldn’t know it based on their driving

Kuvira can drive, but she doesn’t do it often because she says it ruins her aesthetic. She knows how because it’s a useful skill, she just doesn’t and it pisses Baatar Jr. off to no end

The Gaang

The only person worse at driving than Korra is Toph. Yes, she has attempted to drive on multiple occasions, and no it was not a good idea

Even Zuko is a better driver than Korra, and he’s gay and half-blind. He has a dragon though, he doesn’t need cars

Aang never learned to drive and he’s fine with that, he has Appa

Sokka is a decent driver, but just bad enough that you notice. He definitely takes corners too fast and merges lanes like an asshole, but he’s a better driver than Toph and Zuko so you take what you can get

No one thinks Katara can drive but she’s pretty good at it. Maybe a little slower as she’s aged, but she’s average. Tenzin is jealous

Suki is a good driver. She knows the rules of the road, follows them when necessary, and also will drive down empty highways at 95 miles an hour because she’s just that cool 

Water Tribes

Tonraq can drive a snowmobile but not a car? He seems fine with it

Korra: dad you need to learn to drive Tonraq: on what road

Varrick can drive, but he doesn’t listen to the rules of the road and he blasts fuckboi rap

Zhu Li drives, mostly, because she’s a law-abiding citizen

Eska and Desna have a chauffeur

Fire Nation

Does Izumi drive? We’ll never know

Iroh II has only ever driven military jeeps. He can drive a getaway car, but he doesn’t know what a traffic light means. He can drive boats and planes though (drive isn’t the word but I don’t know what the word is)

[jbtbas]

ATLA AU

So there’s a lot of ATLA AUs of course, but the main one that’s bouncing around in my head rn is the one Sokka and Katara are the ‘villians’, and YALL can i just say -Scratch anything I was going to write, while researching to formulate my interpretation of the AU I came across Distorted Reality, and OMG. Haven’t even read a single word but I know it’s amazing, and the author decided to keep writing after a decade hiatus, wowza.-

I came across this BEAUTIFUL piece of work by Axxonu and that’s what made me drop everything to find out more. I probably shouldn’t read the spoilers on their tropes page, but let me write down my interpretation before I jump down the rabbit hole that are these beautiful pieces of fanworks.

----

SO i’m trying to recall all the little ideas I had when I was thinking about this a few days ago but the main points are:

The roles are reversed ofc

The fire nation still attacked the SWT but this time they were able to unite and fight back

We now see a united SWT under chief Hakoda

My babies Katara and Sokka are now royalty

Katara is still the sole waterbender of the SWT because the FN got as far capturing/wiping out in this timeline

But that’s how her family is super OP and part of the reason, besides the great leadership and ingenuity of her Papa and Sokka, why they’re able to hold leadership

The NWT isn’t in the fold YET but they are being brought in through an arranged marriage of you guessed it, Sokka and... Hahn, jp Yue ofc

SO in the start of the series S and K are journeying to the NWT for S’s marriage when they come across the avatar

S and K are still their classic selves, just a bit more manipulative and focused on 

Sokka is more developed but still has that underlying insecurity of not living up to his father which will obviously be exploited later on

Katara is also much more developed but without a proper teacher hasn’t reached her full potential yet

I want to say that A NWT teacher was sent to teach her as a sign of good faith

Both sibs will have their charm and leadership though, bending people to their will with subtly instead of brute force

The SWT has become more combative and focused on raiding so lots of ships

The FN turned to attack the NWT(since the SWT was able to fight them off)

The SWT lifted the FN siege on NWT and that’s how the latter became indebted and decided to ally/lowkey unite with the SWT

Also saw a fanart for exiled Zuko and Azula skipping around the world for refuge since their family was dethroned and fell a little in love with the idea

The FN is now reduced to a very fragile state, with their shorelines constantly harassed by the SWT

Idk who’s the avatar yet because love Aangy of course but with how the timeline is turning out Toph is also a strong contender

SO FN is slowly losing the war, they still have their evil motives

SWT is taking the ‘honorable’ route and getting revenge on the FN for what they’ve done

Thought I hate to perpetuate the Dead Mother trope, Kya is still dead

This time it’s Sokka who shares Kya’s last moments and in that split second he’s given a ‘surprise tool that will help us later’

Hakoda will then irrationally blame Sokka for his mother’s death (Sokka should’ve stayed and protected his mom instead of running to get his dad like he was told)

Sokka will eventually get lost during a storm and become separated from his people for the first time in his life

He’ll find it freeing, but at the same time his ideologies run strong 

Clearly this was very WT-centric but if I keep developing this idea I’ll post more