#anti Zutara

[punkeropercyjackson]

Bestie how is kataang deep its just crushing on your babysitter 😆 also please, i cant speak for everyone, but you can dislike kataang regardless of who you ship katara with. Such as, you do not stand for nonconsensual kissing. I personally think ATLA should’ve stuck to friendships because they really do not do any ship justice. I do ship Zutara but if they wanted to go that route they probably needed another season. They had 3 seasons of kataang and botched the ending anyways imo. So no, ideally no endgame romantic relationships

Aang is Katara's best friend.He looks after and takes care of her as much as she does him and i bet you're also calling her behavior 'babysitting' because you're one of those geeks who lets their friends bully them as 'affection'.Kataang is for people with actual dating experience and not 'female fantasies'

But you're fine with constant physical assaults,a kidnapping and tons of racism?And just gonna leave out the context where Katara got mad at Aang for denying he wants to kiss her and kissed him multiple times throught the show to flirt?How convinient for you

Zutara would've never happened because realistically Zuko will always view Katara as a child and Katara is too high maintenance to crush on Zuko(a compliment to her btw and proof Aang is a good match for her since he's so openly down bad)

You are projecting so bad so like i said,please just make an Atlasona.I'll give you picrew links and everything.And a link to an article on what adultification is since it's gonna be 20 years since Atla dropped and you still haven't learned to treat Katara as a 14 year old girl and not 'too mature for childish things'

[tedkaczynskiofficial]

I love Zutara as much as the next girlie, but I think people romanticizing Zuko catching Azula's lightning in the Final Agni Kai are doing Zuko's character a massive disservice. He would have done that for anyone. Not just anyone in the Gaang, anyone.

He did it for the division he ended up getting burned over. He did it for his subordinate that was going to fall to his death after the ship was struck by lightning. He did it for Lee, when he was kidnapped by Gao. He did it for Iroh, when he confronted his dad and tried to break him out of prison. He did it for the whole Gaang at the Western Air Temple. He did it for Sokka, Suki, and Hakoda at the Boiling Rock.

His whole character revolves around saving everyone else first. Hell, he tried to save Zhao of all people! There's no way that would have gone well for Zuko if Zhao had actually taken his hand. He always does what he thinks is right first before considering his own safety.

Zuko always saves other people. Even if, especially if, he can't save himself.

[bru1sed-apple]

I think that one of the reasons I hate zutara and I like zukka is because the zukka fandom is pretty much the opposite of the zutara fandom.

I've never ever seen a post where someone tries to prove that zukka should've been canon or that it IS canon. Zutara shippers take every scene between the two and over analyze everything to the point that it's exhausting and annoying.

Zukka shippers don't do that, and most of the fandom is just like, "Haha, what if these two kissed?" And honestly, I love that sm more than the over analyzing

[queen-morgana91]

They way certain people here want Katara to be a woman with no agency over her life and marriage, miserable, unhappy, abused and used as an incubator by the evil monk Aang....so sad.

She's a hero, powerful, the master of water bending, in love and happy :) And she’s loved and respected by Aang

If she was unhappy with Aang, she would have dropped his ass in 0.5 seconds. Yes the real Katara can do that, unlike your cinderella self insert

You all reducing one of the strongest, most interesting, and dynamically written characters in the show to misogynistic tropes and theories just because you don't like the boy she ended up with. You are literally making up things to be mad about. This is hilarious

Well you can stay mad forever lol

[katy-89]

save me characters who are still hated and mischaracterized in 2024 for the sake of a fanon ship save meeeee

[dukeofdelirium]

“Aang’s shorter than Katara-“

Jokes on you dude. Their in-show height diff makes it 10000000x cuter than it already is. Find a new argument or maybe get a life idk

Kataang height difference is sacred and if you don’t think so then just know that it’s ok to be wrong <3

[mal3vol3nt]

list of aang’s crimes according to tumblr

vegetarian

pacifist

short (he’s 12)

he’s 12

being the avatar

having a crush

his crush liking him back

bald (his culture)

his culture

being a genocide survivor

expressing his grief

not expressing his grief

getting angry

not getting angry

allowing his friends to comfort him

not allowing his friends to comfort him

getting married

being 2 years younger than his gf/wife

growing facial hair when he’s older

having too many children

not having enough children

having children in general

breathing

[corgoship]

actually going insane from this take. holy shit.

It's one thing to point out that Katara and Zuko losing their mom in a traumatic way is something specific they have in common (note how Sokka is never included there either, despite literally having the same mother as his sister). It's another to invalidate and downplay Aang's loss of his ENTIRE RACE AND CULTURE just to boost your ship. He literally says in the show that he knows how Katara feels because of his loss. He's been depicted entering the same pain-induced anger as Katara has.

Not to mention, Aang and Katara have that to bond over too - as her culture has been decimated by the very same people that killed Aang's. Zuko's people, by the way.

Lastly it's just blatantly untrue and frankly insulting to say that Aang "got over" the genocide of his people "in one season" (given that it's mentioned in every season and plays an important role to Aang's character each time). This isn't something one can "get over". It's very likely that Aang will never recover from this. And it's disgusting to say that he hasn't been cut as deeply just because he doesn't mention it every 5 seconds and rage about it.

[wilcze-kudly]

I do find it annoying how a lot of Zutara fans tweak the character's stories, personalities and even the timelines to suit their own needs.

Once again, there's nothing wrong with fanon and headcanons, however if looking through the lense of canon, you're objectively wrong.

I ended up stumbling on a post from a Zutara shipper. (At this point I'm regretfully considering not following the tags for Zuko or Katara because I get way too much Zutara content lol) I'm not replying directly to her because I don't want this to turn into an argument, and I know she doesn't take criticism very well.

Ok, So let's break this down.

The character who was first out of the group to trust Zuko?

I'm quite sure this is referring to the scene in Ba Sing Se's caves. And yes, that is a very important scene. I think it's a very important scene preceeding Zuko's 'relapse'. It shows how he's matured during his time in Ba Sing Se and therefore it serves to add to our dismay when he joins Azula. I adore the fact that Zuko's journey to redemption is not linear, it certainly adds a lot to the character and shows us how his trauma affected him.

It's also a horrific moment for Katara. To have her worldview on Zuko and firebenders as a whole challenged, and then for it to go blowing up in her face. It rips open old wounds of her childhood. It refreshes her resentment of Zuko and the Fire Nation as a whole. It parallels the death of her mother when Aang dies due to Azula's lighting and she is unable to do anything about it. It places her back in that spot of helplessness. Even though she's grown up, even though she's a master waterbender, she still comes a hair's breadth to losing one of the most important people in her life.

No wonder she hated Zuko so much after this.

It's an important moment for both characters, but I wouldn't say it is that in a romantic sense. It's a sweet, hopeful moment that then turns absolutely horrific and visceral for both parties.

I could argue that there are other characters who could be given the title of 'first to trust Zuko'. Funnily, Appa being one of them lol.

But other characters trusting Zuko dovetails nicely into the next point.

The character who emotionally connects to Zuko?

Well, technically, I'd argue that most members of the Gaang connect emotionally on one level or another with him?

But I'd argue that Aang is the person Zuko connected with the most. Aang is Zuko's parallel. Aang is the first person to reach out to Zuko. Aang is the person who showed mercy to Zuko, multiple times. Aang is the person who valued Zuko's life, the life of someone whose whole life goal is to capture him.

This was also an incredibly important moment to Zuko. This is the thing he brings up when trying to convince the Gaang to let him join.

Zuko: Why aren't you saying anything? You once said you thought we could be friends. You know I have good in me.

The character Zuko feels safest letting his guard down around?

It's Mai. Love her or hate her, her relationship with Zuko is incredibly important to him. Maiko isn't my favourite Zuko ship, in full honesty. But even platonically, Mai and Zuko are one another's reprieve from their respective shitty lives.

People often talk about Katara touching Zuko's scar while discussing healing his scar, however one could argue that she did so as a medical examination. Mai touching Zuko's scar is a casual thing, neither of them really make a big deal of it and that's the beauty of it.

I'm mainly talking out of my own personal experience, as someone with a huge amount of burn scars, but there is a world of difference between someone inspecting my scars like Katara did and simply accepting them as a part of me, like Mai does for Zuko.

With Mai, Zuko isn't the scarred banished prince, Ozai's son or Azula's brother. He's just Zuko. And they speak freely with one another, arguing like real people do. Often, being comfortable having arguments is actually a sign of being comfortable with one another.

The character who helps Zuko heal from his trauma?

Once again, this is a bit of a flawed question. By the end of the show, Zuko isn't even fully healed, in my opinion. He has made leaps and bounds on the road to recovery, but when he will truly heal if ever is yet to be seen.

Zuko's journey to recovery includes plenty of people. This includes Iroh, Aang, Song and Jin. People who show him the error of his coping mechanism. Who challenge his worldview, who coax him out of the his shell of pain and anger.

The character known for showing most compassion to others?

Yes, Katara's compassion is a huge part of her character. Her need to help and protect those who cannot do that for themselves cannot be understated.

But Aang's compassion for others and all beings is just as great, if not greater than Katara's. Compassion and nonviolence are huge parts of his culture and his own philosophy.

Aang: Wait, we can't just leave him here. Sokka: Sure we can. Let's go. Aang :No, if we leave him he'll die. Aang airbends himself off Appa and retrieves Zuko, bringing him to Appa. Sokka: [Sarcastically.] Yeah, this makes a lot of sense. Let's bring the guy who's constantly trying to kill us.

Friendly reminder that Aang could've absolutely wrecked Ozai, but held back because his own moral compass was so powerful. Hell, he was friendly and nice to Azula, the woman who literally killed him.

This is why Aang and Katara work so well together. They're both incredibly compassionate people who will immediately jump in to help others in need. Like they did during the Painted Lady, destroying the factiry together.

The character who primarily bears the burden of having to step up into a parental role?

I think "parental role" is an incredibly vague term. There's a lot of things that go into a "parental role". Katara plays a stereotypically "maternal" role, while someone who plays a "paternal" one would probably be Sokka.

Katara deals with very "homemaking" tasks like sewing and cooking, etc. And Sokka often takes on the role of leader, hunter, gatherer and also protector, despite being a nonbender.

This coincides nicely with their core childhood traumas. The loss of Katara's mother impacted her greatly, leading her to have to step up into a motherly role. While Sokka was clearly heavily traumatised by his father departing and the crushing responsibility of having to care for his entire village.

Sexism also probably played a part in this dichotomy.

The character who represses their emotions to be strong for others?

I'd argue that this could apply to all the members of the Gaang in some capacity.

Aang's pain is something most of us will never experience and cannot hope to understand. The complete horrific destruction of his culture and home followed him through the entire show. He was entitled to his grief and rage, yet he supressed it. We see during Appa's kidnapping, how easy it would be for Aang to rage, to let himself be destructive. And yet, he wakes up every day and chooses to smile and goof off, because his friends need someone to remind them how to be children.

Sokka puts on a very impressive bravado, despite having a lot of insecurities. However, as the oldest member of the Gaang (pre Zuko) he puts on a facade of the confident and unbothered older brother. Even if he's the butt of almost every joke, he still keeps that demeanour up, letting it slip only a few times.

I'd actually argue that Toph is the person whom this label fits best. While we know Toph as witty, callous and strong, we have to remember that she kept up the facade of her parents' good, helpless little blind girl for no reason other than her mother and father's comfort. She actually hides a lot of her hurt, covering it up with a prickly exterior.

I want to do longer think pieces about Toph and Katara so apologies if this isn't complete.

I'm actually baffled by the idea of Katara repressing her emotions. She's actually quite straightforward and open about her feelings. She yells and feels a lot of emotions and lets them be heard. She gets angry and sad. She's actually kinda bitchy sometimes and that's honestly why I love her so much.

The whole inciting incident of the show was her getting so pissed off she somehow pulls a giant iceberg from the bottom of the sea.

She is anything but repressed.

She is angry.

She's angry at the fire nation, at Sokka, at her father, at men, and with good right to be so.

This is what makes her an amazing character and one who broke the mould of a lot of female characters at the time. Her anger and unrestrained emotions rang true with a lot of watchers at the time. I'm not sure why this is being taken away from her rather than celebrated.

I reiterate the point I made at the beginning of this post: there is nothing wrong with headcanons and fanon interpretations for one's enjoyment. I do find it a bit odd when it changes a character too much (because then, why not just create an oc?) but it's all in good fun. However, you shouldn't push that onto other people and how they perceive canon and you certainly shouldn't use it to take away from other characters. It's a very unfair way of entering discourse.

[katerina-q]

We know

Except on tumblr and TikTok

[punkeropercyjackson]

Basic normie straight girl Katara is insane because why y'all acting like she didn't spend the whole show being an activist and baby revolutionary out of love for other minorities and hate for imperalism🤨What gives 'homophobic' or 'obviously cishet' about that on top of how heavy on unconventional girlhood her personality and story and drive is which is very obviously accidental transfem-coding and the peak bisexuality that is crushing on Aang and Jet and her bickering like an old married butch4femme couple subtext with Toph.Katara's a brown native punk weirdgirl,not a sheltered upperclass white girl,and in a modern au she'd literally just be Percy Jackson.Also contrasting her to Sokka and mfing ZUKO to make her look less 'woke' and more 'lame' is so unserious because Sokka spent their childhood tormenting her with his sexism and didn't unlearn it until he got a girlfriend over treating his little sister with decency and Zuko was the stereotypical entitled macho man pre-redemption arc Z/Ks frame Aang and Jet as.I understand y'all are american but the raceblindness to how radical Katara is in-universe so you can treat her as the horrible wench in your yaoi only aus is genuinely liberal as hell.Calling Katara an annoying nag just shows you me you think punk women are just shrill and not actual punks and don't consider adultification to be child abuse or that female queerness deserves to be centered.And you wonder why Katara stans are so hardcore all the time

[maikingsenseofit]

I think almost all of the anti Mai discourse from namely Zutara shippers boils down to this.

You can try and deliberately misconstrue the writing to say Zuko forgot Mai, was never happy around her, never loved her, etc etc

But not once can you say Zuko ever looked at Katara, Jin, or any other female character you ship him with the same way he looks at Mai in these four panels.

What I love about the art of animation is it conveys so much when words can’t.

The eyes, Chico. They never lie.

This single scene conveys so much love, adoration, and the happiness of finally reuniting with your soulmate. And no amount of dissertations on how a fanon ship would’ve made a children’s tv show more enjoyable to you will never change that.

The curse of canon weighs on Maiko and Kataang shippers, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.

[thethiefandtheairbender]

popular fandom: Katara does all the chores and emotional labour around camp, no one ever helps her (except Zuko) and she just suffers in silence!!

actual canon:

and most of all, from Katara's actual goddamn mouth:

but yeah Zuko serving the gaang tea two (2) times (which is mostly about his relationship with Iroh obviously, given that both times his connection to Uncle is highlighted in dialogue or in action) clearly disregards all of the above

[emrys-merlin]

"Zutara was robbed"

No?

Ship what you want, but atla writers don't owe you shit and they can draw/write whatever they want. Zutara was never meant to happen and they made it clear many times

This series doesn't revolve around you

[queen-morgana91]

i love how the runaway episode tells us that katara does not like to be perceived as motherly. and what do people do? perceive everything she does as motherly. except when she's with zuko, of course

this poor girl will never be free

[katy-89]

I swear every time I read a post from the badger mole and any other hardcore zutara shipper i'm losing braincells. How can people take her seriously? :/ I get it, you all like zutara, but do you also like this series at all? Because you are literally rewriting this show and the main character to make a crack ship looks better, which is insane 🤦‍♂️

Mind you, this is Aang in the CANON SERIES

There are many other moments but i'm not wasting my time posting it

Also...Aang acknowledge Katara's beauty three times in the whole show. Oh my God, what a crime. That's means he only care about her beauty and nothing else 🤦‍♂️

It's insane how much this character is demonized because he had the audacity to fell in love with Katara

People, it's 2024